Increasing polarization between those who want to bring the ground troops from Iraq either immediately or say they want a time-table for withdrawal and those who want to stay the course and say a time-table tells the insurgents that they are winning alienates the American people who have conflicting feelings about the war. This polarization is exploited by candidates for President who play to their respective bases. Political posturing makes compromise difficult.
It is now indisputable that Saddam Hussein, his sons and his Baath party administration used rape, torture and murder to tyrannize the Iraqi people. Saddam behaved as if he still possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction after using nerve agents against the Iranians and the Kurds. After the first Gulf War, the U.S. encouraged the Shiites to rise up against Saddam and he put down this rebellion brutally. It was for this crime that he was hanged.
Hailed as liberators when we deposed Saddam, our attempt to be an occupying army has not gone well. Some of our children, parents and spouses have come home in boxes. Others have been severely wounded to come home to Walter Reed and other Veterans Administration hospitals that have poorly served them.
In the 24-hour news cycle, we have become so sensitive to immediate gratification. We think American losses as staggering but they pale in comparison to losses in World War II, the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War. Iraqi civilians are killed in droves by what has been called a sectarian civil war but there are so many factions, it is more properly understood as civil strife. If we pull out of Iraq, this killing will intensify as rival militia death squads round up the usual suspects.
Only former Wisconsin Governor and presidential candidate Tommy Thompson has proposed a reasonable Iraq policy. First, the people of Iraq need to vote on a referendum if the U.S. military should stay or go. If they no longer want us, we should go. Second, Iraq’s 14 districts should elect governments so Iraqis will gravitate to Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish areas. Third, Iraq’s oil revenue should be divided between the federal government, provisional governments and the Iraqi people, like in Alaska.
In the early going, Thompson has self-destructed in remarks about gays and Jews. He will not be considered a running mate by a Republican nominee because he has yet to hit double-digits anywhere outside Wisconsin. It is more likely that Thompson will remain in the more lucrative private sector and asked to lead international and domestic missions.
The Iraqi parliament is already wrestling with the future of oil revenue distribution because Iraq’s current oil wells are in Shiite and Kurdish areas and pipelines are frequent insurgent targets. Polarization is even more dramatic in Baghdad than in Washington and compromise is just as elusive.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Expectation of Privacy vs. Duty to Warn
Those of us who have worked in full-service and self-service copy centers are expected to guard the privacy of customer documents.
After all, we would want people to guard our Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and trade secrets. I have often told those copying sensitive documents not to leave the copies face up, leave the originals on self-service copy machines or shred accidental or bad copies. It is not permissible to make color copies of money, bonds, stamps and ID cards or any copies of copyrighted material to which the person who seeks copies does not own the rights.
I have seen otherwise sensible people succumb to variations of the Nigerian Bank Scam, faxing their Social Security Numbers and bank account information to claim international sweepstakes they never entered or biting on the potential of getting rich with the help of a person they have never met in the Ivory Coast. If I see them about to do this, I feel a duty to warn them.
There were two cases in which I absolutely refused to help persons and warned them that what they were seeking was illegal. A foreign friend and naturalized citizen wanted help making two-sided color copies of airline tickets, which is sort of like making two-sided color copies of money. Hispanics who barely spoke English wanted my help scanning a vehicle title and changing the Vehicle Identification Number. Squealing to the authorities never entered my mind.
The six who conspired to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey ordered a VHS tape of people shooting guns and making jihadist statements converted to a DVD. When the employee who was charged with making the copies realized that these were potential terrorists, he contacted the authorities. Thus began a 16 month FBI surveillance of the Fort Dix Six.
Some employers would not celebrate this tip or guard the worker’s identity, as this particular employer did. Some employers would look for an excuse to terminate this worker for not guarding customer confidentiality.
After all, we would want people to guard our Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and trade secrets. I have often told those copying sensitive documents not to leave the copies face up, leave the originals on self-service copy machines or shred accidental or bad copies. It is not permissible to make color copies of money, bonds, stamps and ID cards or any copies of copyrighted material to which the person who seeks copies does not own the rights.
I have seen otherwise sensible people succumb to variations of the Nigerian Bank Scam, faxing their Social Security Numbers and bank account information to claim international sweepstakes they never entered or biting on the potential of getting rich with the help of a person they have never met in the Ivory Coast. If I see them about to do this, I feel a duty to warn them.
There were two cases in which I absolutely refused to help persons and warned them that what they were seeking was illegal. A foreign friend and naturalized citizen wanted help making two-sided color copies of airline tickets, which is sort of like making two-sided color copies of money. Hispanics who barely spoke English wanted my help scanning a vehicle title and changing the Vehicle Identification Number. Squealing to the authorities never entered my mind.
The six who conspired to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey ordered a VHS tape of people shooting guns and making jihadist statements converted to a DVD. When the employee who was charged with making the copies realized that these were potential terrorists, he contacted the authorities. Thus began a 16 month FBI surveillance of the Fort Dix Six.
Some employers would not celebrate this tip or guard the worker’s identity, as this particular employer did. Some employers would look for an excuse to terminate this worker for not guarding customer confidentiality.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Wisconsin: A One-Plate State?
At the Joint Finance Committee, a motion to make Wisconsin join the list of one-plate state passed 9-6 yesterday. It made less news than issuing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants.
Opponents worried that law enforcement needs two license plates so that they can see from the front if a driver is wanted or a car is stolen. Rep. Kitty Rhodes said it made possible phoning in tips when a driver was driving erratically due to drunkenness or other possible distractions. Proponents said it could save money.
Current one-plate states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Of course, Wisconsin would move to a one-plate state after I moved here from living in a series of one-plate states and had to sink bolts into my front bumper because the holes on the bumper did not match the holes on the license plate.
Opponents worried that law enforcement needs two license plates so that they can see from the front if a driver is wanted or a car is stolen. Rep. Kitty Rhodes said it made possible phoning in tips when a driver was driving erratically due to drunkenness or other possible distractions. Proponents said it could save money.
Current one-plate states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Of course, Wisconsin would move to a one-plate state after I moved here from living in a series of one-plate states and had to sink bolts into my front bumper because the holes on the bumper did not match the holes on the license plate.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The New New New Chrysler
News that Daimler Benz is selling money-losing Chrysler Corporation to private investment firm and turnaround expert Cerberus Capital Management fills me with mixed feelings. Chrysler lost about $2 billion last year. Cerberus will pay $7.4 billion for the company. Cerberus turned around the Merwin’s department store chain, Air Canada, GMAC, and the car rental firms Alamo and National. They have lave slashed employees and brought companies out of bankruptcy. This is their biggest deal yet.
I lived in Michigan for about 25 years. Everyone knows people who work for the Big Three or for the industries that supply them and decisions made by management and the United Auto Workers dominate Michigan news. Employee ownership plans means that Dearborn is full of Fords, Flint is full of Buicks and Lansing is still full of Oldsmobiles. The Detroit Red Wings have a wheel on their jerseys. The Detroit Pistons are named for an engine part.
The old Chrysler Corporation meandered from building muscular cars to building big, bloated gas-guzzling boats when the OPEC embargo nearly killed it. The New Chrysler was bailed out by federal loan guarantees and headed by Lido Iacocca when Chrysler introduced the K Car and the Minivan. The new New Chrysler was created by Daimler Benz acquiring Chrysler. Now the acquisition by Cerberus is the new new New Chrysler. I was hoping Detroit financier Kirk Kerkorian would buy the corporation.
Daimler ownership has been a mixed blessing. Chrysler and Jeep make distinctive vehicles with superior engineering. They are more fuel-efficient. Unfortunately, the best Chrysler executives retired or were forced out by Daimler. The time from concept to development became longer, not shorter, and the company became less nimble. Many were suspicious the Germans were running Chrysler into the ground because their focus was on making and selling Mercedes Benz models. Daimler selling Chrysler to Cerberus Management is an admission that they made a mistake when they acquired Chrysler. Good riddance to Dieter Zetsche.
I have owned four Chryslers which are a microcosm of the company. The best was my first car, a 1966 Chrysler Newport. My first car after college was a 1977 Plymouth Fury, which was a Wisconsin Department of Transportation car my father bought at a state vehicle auction. Even though the energy-saving speed limit was 55 mph, I would often cruise at 85-90 mph with the assistance of a radar detector. People thought I might be a state trooper because they drove Plymouth Furies and they all slowed down and moved to the right lane. The transmission let go near Elkhart, IN, in a driving rainstorm and the car was never right after that. When I sold it, I had owned it less than four years. In movies from that era, like the “Blues Brothers,” the appearance of late 1970s Plymouth Furies means a car pile-up is coming.
I bought a 1992 Dodge Spirit in 1997 because it was cheap and had low mileage. It got nearly 30 miles per gallon of gasoline. I totalled that car in an accident in 2000 and the insurance settlement was more than I owed. I replaced it with a 1995 Plymouth which was cheap, had been a fleet car and had low mileage like the Spirit. Like the Spirit, it was a newer version of the K Car. This car has needed one major repair after another. Gas mileage is about 25 miles per gallon but it fell as low as 10 miles per gallon before another major repair. I’ve taken to calling it the Disclaim. When I am rid of it, it will be the Exclaim. I hope to never own another Chrysler. Mail offering special financing on new Chryslers goes straight into my recycling bin.
My parents and I have mostly owned General Motors vehicles. My children have only owned General Motors vehicles. My next vehicle will probably be made by General Motors.
I lived in Michigan for about 25 years. Everyone knows people who work for the Big Three or for the industries that supply them and decisions made by management and the United Auto Workers dominate Michigan news. Employee ownership plans means that Dearborn is full of Fords, Flint is full of Buicks and Lansing is still full of Oldsmobiles. The Detroit Red Wings have a wheel on their jerseys. The Detroit Pistons are named for an engine part.
The old Chrysler Corporation meandered from building muscular cars to building big, bloated gas-guzzling boats when the OPEC embargo nearly killed it. The New Chrysler was bailed out by federal loan guarantees and headed by Lido Iacocca when Chrysler introduced the K Car and the Minivan. The new New Chrysler was created by Daimler Benz acquiring Chrysler. Now the acquisition by Cerberus is the new new New Chrysler. I was hoping Detroit financier Kirk Kerkorian would buy the corporation.
Daimler ownership has been a mixed blessing. Chrysler and Jeep make distinctive vehicles with superior engineering. They are more fuel-efficient. Unfortunately, the best Chrysler executives retired or were forced out by Daimler. The time from concept to development became longer, not shorter, and the company became less nimble. Many were suspicious the Germans were running Chrysler into the ground because their focus was on making and selling Mercedes Benz models. Daimler selling Chrysler to Cerberus Management is an admission that they made a mistake when they acquired Chrysler. Good riddance to Dieter Zetsche.
I have owned four Chryslers which are a microcosm of the company. The best was my first car, a 1966 Chrysler Newport. My first car after college was a 1977 Plymouth Fury, which was a Wisconsin Department of Transportation car my father bought at a state vehicle auction. Even though the energy-saving speed limit was 55 mph, I would often cruise at 85-90 mph with the assistance of a radar detector. People thought I might be a state trooper because they drove Plymouth Furies and they all slowed down and moved to the right lane. The transmission let go near Elkhart, IN, in a driving rainstorm and the car was never right after that. When I sold it, I had owned it less than four years. In movies from that era, like the “Blues Brothers,” the appearance of late 1970s Plymouth Furies means a car pile-up is coming.
I bought a 1992 Dodge Spirit in 1997 because it was cheap and had low mileage. It got nearly 30 miles per gallon of gasoline. I totalled that car in an accident in 2000 and the insurance settlement was more than I owed. I replaced it with a 1995 Plymouth which was cheap, had been a fleet car and had low mileage like the Spirit. Like the Spirit, it was a newer version of the K Car. This car has needed one major repair after another. Gas mileage is about 25 miles per gallon but it fell as low as 10 miles per gallon before another major repair. I’ve taken to calling it the Disclaim. When I am rid of it, it will be the Exclaim. I hope to never own another Chrysler. Mail offering special financing on new Chryslers goes straight into my recycling bin.
My parents and I have mostly owned General Motors vehicles. My children have only owned General Motors vehicles. My next vehicle will probably be made by General Motors.
Friday, May 11, 2007
“A Nation’s Horse” II
NBC, having produced “Barbaro: A Nation’s Horse” and lined up advertisers, showed their documentary Saturday, May 5 in prime time.
Over a syrupy soundtrack was footage of Barbaro’s greatest wins, pulling up with a shattered leg in the Preakness, and slide from successful surgery to illness and death months later. Narrator Bob Costas, Roy and Gretchen Williams, trainer Michael Matz , jockey Edgar Prado and others must have called him a “special horse” and a “gifted athlete” at least 20 times. Barbaro was compared to Triple Crown winner Man O’ War.
It has been surprising to me how much interest has been expressed on websites about when the program would air on NBC and how many have tributes to Barbaro. It is such a relief that a DVD of this program is available from NBC Sports for only $19.95 so fans can beat a dead horse again and again.
The hero of this story is not Barbaro but Matz. Matz not only walked away from a fiery airplane crash but he saved three children in 1989. He went on to win a silver medal for equestrian jumping at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta and carried the U.S. flag at the closing ceremonies. The documentary, because it was about Barbaro, does not mention it was the third Olympics and first medal for Matz, that the medal was a team medal shared with two others and said only he had retired from jumping to go into racing. Actually Matz was at the pinnacle of equestrian jumping; he was U.S. national champion six times and retired as the all-time money winner in jumping.
Captain Brian Freeman was not as fortunate as either Barbaro or Matz. A West Point graduate, Freeman trained with other Olympic hopefuls from the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. Freeman began as a bobsled brakeman teamed with Olympic medalists and then started competing in skeleton. He never made it to the Olympics and he never will. He retired from active service but his reserve unit was called up and sent to Iraq. At 32, he was killed in a firefight near Karbala.
A documentary of Freeman’s sports competition is not available from NBC Sports. However, it would not surprise me if “Seung-Hui Cho: America’s Killer” is in development for NBC’s Infotainment Division.
Over a syrupy soundtrack was footage of Barbaro’s greatest wins, pulling up with a shattered leg in the Preakness, and slide from successful surgery to illness and death months later. Narrator Bob Costas, Roy and Gretchen Williams, trainer Michael Matz , jockey Edgar Prado and others must have called him a “special horse” and a “gifted athlete” at least 20 times. Barbaro was compared to Triple Crown winner Man O’ War.
It has been surprising to me how much interest has been expressed on websites about when the program would air on NBC and how many have tributes to Barbaro. It is such a relief that a DVD of this program is available from NBC Sports for only $19.95 so fans can beat a dead horse again and again.
The hero of this story is not Barbaro but Matz. Matz not only walked away from a fiery airplane crash but he saved three children in 1989. He went on to win a silver medal for equestrian jumping at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta and carried the U.S. flag at the closing ceremonies. The documentary, because it was about Barbaro, does not mention it was the third Olympics and first medal for Matz, that the medal was a team medal shared with two others and said only he had retired from jumping to go into racing. Actually Matz was at the pinnacle of equestrian jumping; he was U.S. national champion six times and retired as the all-time money winner in jumping.
Captain Brian Freeman was not as fortunate as either Barbaro or Matz. A West Point graduate, Freeman trained with other Olympic hopefuls from the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. Freeman began as a bobsled brakeman teamed with Olympic medalists and then started competing in skeleton. He never made it to the Olympics and he never will. He retired from active service but his reserve unit was called up and sent to Iraq. At 32, he was killed in a firefight near Karbala.
A documentary of Freeman’s sports competition is not available from NBC Sports. However, it would not surprise me if “Seung-Hui Cho: America’s Killer” is in development for NBC’s Infotainment Division.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Graduating Class of 2007
Soon the University of Wisconsin-Madison will graduate its senior class. Drivers near campus will have to dodge young people in caps and gowns. Some of them will soon start good jobs or have been accepted to graduate and professional schools. Proud parents will be driving slowly around town and turning randomly because they are not quite sure how to get where they are going.
I understand their pride in their children’s achievement, mixing their memories of childhood and this new chapter in their lives. My older son is their age and looks forward to the adventure of a new job.
In addition to the Wisconsin alumni sticker on my car is a sticker that really stands out in liberal Madison. It’s not “Kerry-Edwards” or “Attack Iraq? No.” but here it seems to be just as political. It’s “Navy Dad.”
A math and science whiz, Jens Michaelsen is starting the fifth year of an eight-year commitment to service. After four years at the Navy Nuclear Power Training Command – two as a student, two on staff – he will be flying to Pearl Harbor this month to serve on a nuclear-powered submarine. He is a Petty Officer Second Class, which makes him the equivalent of a Sergeant. Jens will be 22 next month; “Accelerate your life” is not just a U.S. Navy recruiting slogan.
My kids went to a high school in Michigan similar to Madison East. Inexplicably, Jens never sought admission to college in Michigan and rebuffed recruiting efforts by the University of Illinois. While in high school, I took him on campus visits to the University of Wisconsin - Madison and Auburn University. If he had gone to college, he would be graduating this year and it would be me driving around town slowly and turning at random.
Jens will have an undergraduate degree, courtesy of Uncle Sam, and can use his Montgomery GI Bill education benefits to attend graduate school. He knows that I now discourage him from going to the University of Wisconsin - Madison, despite the school’s leadership in Nuclear Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, because I perceive Madison as being hostile to servicemen and women.
We all empathize with those who have loved ones serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and we weep for those who are casualties. Calling for ground troops to come home is qualitatively different than opposing Selective Service registration and service recruiting, however. The 53 organizations in the Madison Area Peace Coalition, including Progressive Dane, think Jens was wrong to enlist. They want to keep military recruiters out of Madison’s high schools so other young adults don’t make his “mistake.”
Not every high school students wants to go or can afford college right away. Madison liberals seek to deny them the ability to choose the military as an option to minimum wage jobs and unhappy college experiences.
I understand their pride in their children’s achievement, mixing their memories of childhood and this new chapter in their lives. My older son is their age and looks forward to the adventure of a new job.
In addition to the Wisconsin alumni sticker on my car is a sticker that really stands out in liberal Madison. It’s not “Kerry-Edwards” or “Attack Iraq? No.” but here it seems to be just as political. It’s “Navy Dad.”
A math and science whiz, Jens Michaelsen is starting the fifth year of an eight-year commitment to service. After four years at the Navy Nuclear Power Training Command – two as a student, two on staff – he will be flying to Pearl Harbor this month to serve on a nuclear-powered submarine. He is a Petty Officer Second Class, which makes him the equivalent of a Sergeant. Jens will be 22 next month; “Accelerate your life” is not just a U.S. Navy recruiting slogan.
My kids went to a high school in Michigan similar to Madison East. Inexplicably, Jens never sought admission to college in Michigan and rebuffed recruiting efforts by the University of Illinois. While in high school, I took him on campus visits to the University of Wisconsin - Madison and Auburn University. If he had gone to college, he would be graduating this year and it would be me driving around town slowly and turning at random.
Jens will have an undergraduate degree, courtesy of Uncle Sam, and can use his Montgomery GI Bill education benefits to attend graduate school. He knows that I now discourage him from going to the University of Wisconsin - Madison, despite the school’s leadership in Nuclear Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, because I perceive Madison as being hostile to servicemen and women.
We all empathize with those who have loved ones serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and we weep for those who are casualties. Calling for ground troops to come home is qualitatively different than opposing Selective Service registration and service recruiting, however. The 53 organizations in the Madison Area Peace Coalition, including Progressive Dane, think Jens was wrong to enlist. They want to keep military recruiters out of Madison’s high schools so other young adults don’t make his “mistake.”
Not every high school students wants to go or can afford college right away. Madison liberals seek to deny them the ability to choose the military as an option to minimum wage jobs and unhappy college experiences.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
“A Nation’s Horse”
Not Seabiscuit, who came from nowhere to provide a needed diversion to people suffering from the Great Depression and to win the legendary match race against Man O’ War, the winner of the Triple Crown. Not Secretariat. Not even Affirmed.
No, NBC’s shameless run-up to the Kentucky Derby was the infotainment feature “Barbaro: A Nation’s Horse,” which was supposed to air on Sunday April 29. It was pushed to cable by the New York Rangers double-overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres in their Stanley Cup quarterfinal.
I’m sorry Barbaro shattered his leg on national TV at Pimlico, where the second race in the Triple Crown is run. I’m sorry that despite heroic measures to stabilize his leg, he never really recovered. I’m sorry he had to be put down.
But let’s get real. Barbaro was a horse bred for racing and could have looked forward to a retirement of stud service. He was owned by wealthy horse nuts Roy and Gretchen Jackson and Barbaro was one of 15 to 25 thoroughbreds they have in training at any time. They have owned 25 horses that have run in the Kentucky Derby, five each which finished second and third. Their horse won the English steeplechase equivalent of the Kentucky Derby on the same day that Barbaro won. They sold that winner and another horse for more than $2 million each.
Was he really a nation’s horse? Did we lower our flags to half-staff when he died?
No, NBC’s shameless run-up to the Kentucky Derby was the infotainment feature “Barbaro: A Nation’s Horse,” which was supposed to air on Sunday April 29. It was pushed to cable by the New York Rangers double-overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres in their Stanley Cup quarterfinal.
I’m sorry Barbaro shattered his leg on national TV at Pimlico, where the second race in the Triple Crown is run. I’m sorry that despite heroic measures to stabilize his leg, he never really recovered. I’m sorry he had to be put down.
But let’s get real. Barbaro was a horse bred for racing and could have looked forward to a retirement of stud service. He was owned by wealthy horse nuts Roy and Gretchen Jackson and Barbaro was one of 15 to 25 thoroughbreds they have in training at any time. They have owned 25 horses that have run in the Kentucky Derby, five each which finished second and third. Their horse won the English steeplechase equivalent of the Kentucky Derby on the same day that Barbaro won. They sold that winner and another horse for more than $2 million each.
Was he really a nation’s horse? Did we lower our flags to half-staff when he died?
Monday, April 16, 2007
Da Games
Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will fail when the Selection Committee meets in October 2009. Why? It is Chicago and not as exotic or as beautiful as Rio, Prague, Madrid, Tokyo or Rome, it’s competitors.
This won’t keep Illinois Governor Rod Blagjovic, who has had the kind of ethical challenges that so far have eluded Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, from raising millions to grease the palms of Committee members and put a happy face on Chicago. Constructing an Olympic Village and stadiums would reward his political contributors. Presidential candidates will soon advocate bringing the 2016 Summer Games to Illinois.
The Olympic Games have never been held in South America. The choice of Rio means that there will not be the weird tape delay problem for American television viewers and advertisers which plagued the Summer Games in Athens and Melbourne and will plague the forthcoming Summer Games in Beijing.
Rio needs the housing and employment that construction would bring. Chicago would be totally confused by Team Handball, too.
This won’t keep Illinois Governor Rod Blagjovic, who has had the kind of ethical challenges that so far have eluded Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, from raising millions to grease the palms of Committee members and put a happy face on Chicago. Constructing an Olympic Village and stadiums would reward his political contributors. Presidential candidates will soon advocate bringing the 2016 Summer Games to Illinois.
The Olympic Games have never been held in South America. The choice of Rio means that there will not be the weird tape delay problem for American television viewers and advertisers which plagued the Summer Games in Athens and Melbourne and will plague the forthcoming Summer Games in Beijing.
Rio needs the housing and employment that construction would bring. Chicago would be totally confused by Team Handball, too.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
My Big Adventure with Tommy & Newt
Former Wisconsin Tommy Thompson had already announced on ABC-TV’s “This Week” program on Sunday that he was formally declaring as a Republican candidate for President of the U.S.
As a result, the faithful and those who felt obligated to attend the first Wisconsin declaration by Thompson April 4 at Bishop Messmer High School in Milwaukee already knew that he was in. Nevertheless, the affection and pride for Tommy was great. There were at least 1,000 in attendance, more than half of which were students at Messmer and the allied Catholic elementary schools. Media trucks lined up outside Messmer beamed the images all across the state.
Fitting for a former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy spent much of his half-hour speech talking about health and health insurance issues. His Iraq plan will be stolen by candidates in both parties. It is a far better plan than Sen. Joe Biden’s forced Iraq partition plan, for example.
It starts with an Iraqi referendum on American presence. “If they say yes, we have a mandate to stay. If they say no, we will bring the troops home.” Second is election of state-like governors in the 18 Iraqi provinces. “Sunnis will elect Sunnis, Shiites will elect Shiites, Kurds will elect Kurds,” he said. Iraqi people will gravitate to provinces headed by leaders they trust. Third, give everyone a stake in the oil revenue: 1/3 to the federal government, 1/3 to the provinces and 1/3 to “every man, woman and child in Iraq,” similar to the Alaskan Dividend Plan which distributes a share of oil revenue in that state, so that Iraqis will hold their government leaders accountable.
Messmer was an obvious choice, both literally and figuratively. The school has prospered under Milwaukee’s schools of choice plan, which Thompson championed. The student body is mostly black and both the elementary students and high school students wear uniforms. High school attendance is 98 percent. About 90% of Messmer graduates attend college. The high school junior who sat next to me said he intends to attend UW- Madison and become a dermatologist. The gym where we sat is newer than most of the school and is named the Tommy G. Thompson Athletic Center.
Tommy, naturally, praised the school as an example of what No Child Left Behind really means and as President, there will be a thousand Messmers across the country.
Thompson flew to events in Iowa and New Hampshire later in the day. His strategy is to win Iowa to show legitimacy and to raise money from many sources. So far, Tommy has raised money from his long-time supporters.
Later that day, I heard former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speak at Monona Terrace in Madison. He was the final speaker on the Business Day in Madison, an annual production of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state business advocacy group.
Gingrich’s audience couldn’t have been more different than Thompson’s. Many people wore suits and there were no black faces. There were about 500 in the crowd, including several who have already given the maximum contribution to Thompson.
Although Gingrich’s speech was billed as “Saving Lives and Saving Money” as founder of the Center for Health Transformation, his hour-long speech was vintage Newt the visionary and policy critic. Only Gingrich could tie models of explosions of knowledge and technology with bureaucratic intransigence by government and health insurers, calling on them to offer health savings accounts and incentives for wellness.
Scientists say knowledge will grow 10 or 20 times in the next 25 years, so much that we might as well be living in the age of Sir Isaac Newton, he said. In his speech, Gingrich tied together innovations in technology in on-line overnight package delivery monitoring with the failure of the government to track undocumented workers and it would be cheaper for the government to send FedEx packages to all illegal aliens to conclude some states are paying a lot for poor health outcomes.
He likened the critics of the range of choice of Medicare Part D to private plans and opportunities for seniors to save money on prescriptions drugs to a Medicare cruise, on which all choices of cabins cost the same or a Wal-Mart where only people under 65 can gain admittance even if they work there.
Gingrich was lavish in his praise for Tommy as Governor and presidential candidate, calling him an innovator and a reform Governor, as important as Mike Leavitt in Utah and John Engler in Michigan. It was interesting that he cited Leavitt, who is Tommy’s successor as Secretary of Health and Human Services. No one mentioned Leavitt’s decision that very day to not grant a continued waiver for Wisconsin’s SeniorCare prescription drug benefit.
Gingrich is a conglomerate. He writes books which are variously manifestos and leadership studies. He has a 527 PAC called American Solutions for Winning the Future and mentioned the scheduled workshops on September 27, the 30th Anniversary of the Contract with America. He is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He created the Center for Health Transformation and Gingrich Communications. All maintain separate offices in Washington, Atlanta and Miami. They schedule Gingrich but Gingrich has always been a one-man band. If his speech is any indication, he doesn’t separate those organizations in his own mind.
A number of the people who have already declared for President are not acceptable to conservative activists. Newt is, and even undeclared he nevertheless finishes high on straw polls. Gingrich says he will make a decision about candidacy on September 30. It also is why many support a Fred Thompson candidacy. Some wags have called for a Thompson-Thompson ticket, with Fred and Tommy. It is clear that Wisconsin prefers Tommy to be at the head of the ticket.
As a result, the faithful and those who felt obligated to attend the first Wisconsin declaration by Thompson April 4 at Bishop Messmer High School in Milwaukee already knew that he was in. Nevertheless, the affection and pride for Tommy was great. There were at least 1,000 in attendance, more than half of which were students at Messmer and the allied Catholic elementary schools. Media trucks lined up outside Messmer beamed the images all across the state.
Fitting for a former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy spent much of his half-hour speech talking about health and health insurance issues. His Iraq plan will be stolen by candidates in both parties. It is a far better plan than Sen. Joe Biden’s forced Iraq partition plan, for example.
It starts with an Iraqi referendum on American presence. “If they say yes, we have a mandate to stay. If they say no, we will bring the troops home.” Second is election of state-like governors in the 18 Iraqi provinces. “Sunnis will elect Sunnis, Shiites will elect Shiites, Kurds will elect Kurds,” he said. Iraqi people will gravitate to provinces headed by leaders they trust. Third, give everyone a stake in the oil revenue: 1/3 to the federal government, 1/3 to the provinces and 1/3 to “every man, woman and child in Iraq,” similar to the Alaskan Dividend Plan which distributes a share of oil revenue in that state, so that Iraqis will hold their government leaders accountable.
Messmer was an obvious choice, both literally and figuratively. The school has prospered under Milwaukee’s schools of choice plan, which Thompson championed. The student body is mostly black and both the elementary students and high school students wear uniforms. High school attendance is 98 percent. About 90% of Messmer graduates attend college. The high school junior who sat next to me said he intends to attend UW- Madison and become a dermatologist. The gym where we sat is newer than most of the school and is named the Tommy G. Thompson Athletic Center.
Tommy, naturally, praised the school as an example of what No Child Left Behind really means and as President, there will be a thousand Messmers across the country.
Thompson flew to events in Iowa and New Hampshire later in the day. His strategy is to win Iowa to show legitimacy and to raise money from many sources. So far, Tommy has raised money from his long-time supporters.
Later that day, I heard former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speak at Monona Terrace in Madison. He was the final speaker on the Business Day in Madison, an annual production of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state business advocacy group.
Gingrich’s audience couldn’t have been more different than Thompson’s. Many people wore suits and there were no black faces. There were about 500 in the crowd, including several who have already given the maximum contribution to Thompson.
Although Gingrich’s speech was billed as “Saving Lives and Saving Money” as founder of the Center for Health Transformation, his hour-long speech was vintage Newt the visionary and policy critic. Only Gingrich could tie models of explosions of knowledge and technology with bureaucratic intransigence by government and health insurers, calling on them to offer health savings accounts and incentives for wellness.
Scientists say knowledge will grow 10 or 20 times in the next 25 years, so much that we might as well be living in the age of Sir Isaac Newton, he said. In his speech, Gingrich tied together innovations in technology in on-line overnight package delivery monitoring with the failure of the government to track undocumented workers and it would be cheaper for the government to send FedEx packages to all illegal aliens to conclude some states are paying a lot for poor health outcomes.
He likened the critics of the range of choice of Medicare Part D to private plans and opportunities for seniors to save money on prescriptions drugs to a Medicare cruise, on which all choices of cabins cost the same or a Wal-Mart where only people under 65 can gain admittance even if they work there.
Gingrich was lavish in his praise for Tommy as Governor and presidential candidate, calling him an innovator and a reform Governor, as important as Mike Leavitt in Utah and John Engler in Michigan. It was interesting that he cited Leavitt, who is Tommy’s successor as Secretary of Health and Human Services. No one mentioned Leavitt’s decision that very day to not grant a continued waiver for Wisconsin’s SeniorCare prescription drug benefit.
Gingrich is a conglomerate. He writes books which are variously manifestos and leadership studies. He has a 527 PAC called American Solutions for Winning the Future and mentioned the scheduled workshops on September 27, the 30th Anniversary of the Contract with America. He is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He created the Center for Health Transformation and Gingrich Communications. All maintain separate offices in Washington, Atlanta and Miami. They schedule Gingrich but Gingrich has always been a one-man band. If his speech is any indication, he doesn’t separate those organizations in his own mind.
A number of the people who have already declared for President are not acceptable to conservative activists. Newt is, and even undeclared he nevertheless finishes high on straw polls. Gingrich says he will make a decision about candidacy on September 30. It also is why many support a Fred Thompson candidacy. Some wags have called for a Thompson-Thompson ticket, with Fred and Tommy. It is clear that Wisconsin prefers Tommy to be at the head of the ticket.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
The Progressives Are Right
How could I have been so wrong in advocating ideas to empower citizens seeking lower taxes, protection from crime, and a range of customer choice? I have been guilty of Thought Crime.
Teacher unions put educating kids first. If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Charter schools and vouchers only cream the best students, leaving the public schools serving the worst students and the developmentally disabled.
Bush lied, people died. University of Wisconsin lecturer Kevin Butler was right: 9/11 was an inside job. Walter Reed was run by Halliburton.
Madison needs a streetcar. Progressive Dane is right. Personal autos are a symbol of the repression of the moneyed class and urban sprawl. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz deserves re-election over Ray Allen. Madison’s smoking ban protects workers in bars and restaurants from second-hand smoke. All of Madison’s drinking water is pure; even manganese levels are within federal standards. Now all employers in Madison should have to offer sick leave to even part-time workers. Landlords should have to install LCD bulbs in common areas.
I am lucky to be represented in Washington by dedicated leaders such as Tammy Baldwin, Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold. Governor Jim Doyle is right to seek a tax on hospital beds, $1.25 more per pack of cigarettes, a fee for filing taxes and a tax on Big Oil for exploiting Wisconsin drivers without passing the tax on to them. Of course, the Doyle Administration does favors for big donors but Doyle is still less corrupt than former Governor Tommy Thompson.
My long friendship with the Van Hollen family blinded me to what a good Attorney General Kathleen Falk would have been. I am fortunate that she is still managing Dane County. Now Wisconsin’s more centrist State Supreme Court should be tilted in favor of Trial Lawyers. It is crucial to elect Madison liberal Linda Clifford over the ethically-challenged Annette Ziegler. People don’t kill, guns do.
Those are just a few of the issues and candidates about which I have been wrong. I love Big Brother.
April Fool!
Teacher unions put educating kids first. If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Charter schools and vouchers only cream the best students, leaving the public schools serving the worst students and the developmentally disabled.
Bush lied, people died. University of Wisconsin lecturer Kevin Butler was right: 9/11 was an inside job. Walter Reed was run by Halliburton.
Madison needs a streetcar. Progressive Dane is right. Personal autos are a symbol of the repression of the moneyed class and urban sprawl. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz deserves re-election over Ray Allen. Madison’s smoking ban protects workers in bars and restaurants from second-hand smoke. All of Madison’s drinking water is pure; even manganese levels are within federal standards. Now all employers in Madison should have to offer sick leave to even part-time workers. Landlords should have to install LCD bulbs in common areas.
I am lucky to be represented in Washington by dedicated leaders such as Tammy Baldwin, Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold. Governor Jim Doyle is right to seek a tax on hospital beds, $1.25 more per pack of cigarettes, a fee for filing taxes and a tax on Big Oil for exploiting Wisconsin drivers without passing the tax on to them. Of course, the Doyle Administration does favors for big donors but Doyle is still less corrupt than former Governor Tommy Thompson.
My long friendship with the Van Hollen family blinded me to what a good Attorney General Kathleen Falk would have been. I am fortunate that she is still managing Dane County. Now Wisconsin’s more centrist State Supreme Court should be tilted in favor of Trial Lawyers. It is crucial to elect Madison liberal Linda Clifford over the ethically-challenged Annette Ziegler. People don’t kill, guns do.
Those are just a few of the issues and candidates about which I have been wrong. I love Big Brother.
April Fool!
Friday, March 30, 2007
British Marines and Iraq’s WMD
Iran’s seizure of 15 British sailors and marines who were operating in Iraqi territorial waters is the latest gambit in decades of dispute between Iran and Iraq over the Shatt Al-Arab waterway. Control over the Shatt Al-Arab triggered the Iran-Iraq War and Saddam’s use of nerve gas against Iran.
Iran has often tried to wrest control of the Shatt Al-Arab from Iraq. This boiled over into the Iran-Iraq War, which sporadically flared from 1980 to 1988. Convinced Iran’s military was in disarray following the Iranian revolution, Saddam Hussein tried to seize Iranian oil fields in 1980. The Iranian counter-attack was so successful that Saddam responded with at least 14 attacks of nerve gas against Iranian troops and civilians, causing massive casualties.
Using weapons of mass destruction against Iran and the subsequent failure of Saddam to renounce their use in the future led to American intelligence reports that Saddam currently had WMD, a pretext to the American invasion.
The Shatt Al-Arab is a 120-mile area where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers empty into the Persian Gulf, creating a swampy delta similar to the area in Louisiana where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The Shatt Al-Arab provides access to the ports of Kuwait, Iraq and Iran. The Iraqi port is the city of Basra, a Shiite Muslim city patrolled by British troops. Iraqi control over the Shatt Al-Arab has denied direct water access to Iran’s principal oil port Abadan. Iran built terminals closer to the Persian Gulf for international trade.
The disarray is Iraqi now, which is why Iran wants to enlarge control over the Shatt al-Arab. In a part of the world where recriminations often last centuries, there is also lingering resentment of Britain for carving up the map of the Middle East. Britain has also often led an international commission controlling the Shatt al-Arab since the 1935 treaty. British intelligence MI-6 is also thought to have partnered with the American Central Intelligence Agency in toppling Iranian nationalist Mohammed Mosaddeq after he led a Hugo Chavez-styled nationalization of British Petroleum assets and replacing him with the Shah in 1954.
The Iranians have released forced confessions by some captured Britons hoping to be freed. Pro-Iranian statements did not save Americans from enjoying Iranian hospitality for 444 days. Then, as now, some parts of the Iranian bureaucracy say the hostages will soon be free; other parts say probably not.
Almost forgotten in the international community’s reaction to Iran’s abduction of the British serve personnel is the potential assignment of Britain’s Prince Harry to Basra. If 15 British sailors and marines are pawns in the dispute over the Shatt al-Arab, how much more desirable would capturing a British Prince be?
Iran has often tried to wrest control of the Shatt Al-Arab from Iraq. This boiled over into the Iran-Iraq War, which sporadically flared from 1980 to 1988. Convinced Iran’s military was in disarray following the Iranian revolution, Saddam Hussein tried to seize Iranian oil fields in 1980. The Iranian counter-attack was so successful that Saddam responded with at least 14 attacks of nerve gas against Iranian troops and civilians, causing massive casualties.
Using weapons of mass destruction against Iran and the subsequent failure of Saddam to renounce their use in the future led to American intelligence reports that Saddam currently had WMD, a pretext to the American invasion.
The Shatt Al-Arab is a 120-mile area where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers empty into the Persian Gulf, creating a swampy delta similar to the area in Louisiana where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The Shatt Al-Arab provides access to the ports of Kuwait, Iraq and Iran. The Iraqi port is the city of Basra, a Shiite Muslim city patrolled by British troops. Iraqi control over the Shatt Al-Arab has denied direct water access to Iran’s principal oil port Abadan. Iran built terminals closer to the Persian Gulf for international trade.
The disarray is Iraqi now, which is why Iran wants to enlarge control over the Shatt al-Arab. In a part of the world where recriminations often last centuries, there is also lingering resentment of Britain for carving up the map of the Middle East. Britain has also often led an international commission controlling the Shatt al-Arab since the 1935 treaty. British intelligence MI-6 is also thought to have partnered with the American Central Intelligence Agency in toppling Iranian nationalist Mohammed Mosaddeq after he led a Hugo Chavez-styled nationalization of British Petroleum assets and replacing him with the Shah in 1954.
The Iranians have released forced confessions by some captured Britons hoping to be freed. Pro-Iranian statements did not save Americans from enjoying Iranian hospitality for 444 days. Then, as now, some parts of the Iranian bureaucracy say the hostages will soon be free; other parts say probably not.
Almost forgotten in the international community’s reaction to Iran’s abduction of the British serve personnel is the potential assignment of Britain’s Prince Harry to Basra. If 15 British sailors and marines are pawns in the dispute over the Shatt al-Arab, how much more desirable would capturing a British Prince be?
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