Construction companies, computer makers, auto manufacturers - everyone is going "green." I will not be outdone.
Starting with today's effort, Blaska's Blog will be made only from 100 percent recycled, organic electricity generated by windmills constructed by Amish craftsmen on conservation acreage (saved from development!) purchased by The Kathleen, Our Lady of the Marshes. These windmills are powered by fair-trade winds guaranteed to be low in ozone, soothing and very pleasantly scented.
Blaska's Blog: serving our community, protecting the environment, and feeling all superior.
Blaska to Bob Dole. Over.
I am channeling Bob Dole: Where is the outrage?
A few blogs ago I reported that the state teachers union poured $2.1 million on five key Assembly races, ultimately helping to tilt that legislative body to the Democrats. Outrage at this huge, third-party outlay from the usual campaign reform goody two-shoes? Not that I could find.
Thank heavens it wasn't WMC that poured on the coals. In fact, they were well behind the pack (PAC). Here is the tally:
- WEAC (supported Democrats) - $2.1 million
- Coalition for America's Families (Republicans) - $1.4 million
- Greater Wisconsin Committee (Democrats) - $1.3 million
- All Children Matter (Republicans) - $900,000
- WMC (Republicans and, yes, Democrats) - $120,000
WEAC has a built-in advantage; it can automatically tap into its members dues for its political action committee. Members must request a refund if they do not want their money to go to the PAC, potentially subjecting them to pressure from union officials, say Mark Jefferson, Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He argues that "employers and unions should be prohibited from automatically deducting money for a PAC from an employee's wage without prior consent.
"If election officials really want reform, they cannot allow WEAC to circumvent the spirit of the law by continuing to keep their loopholes in place." [Republican Party of Wisconsin]
There's good news tonight
- Thuy Pham-Remmele is running for a second term representing the 20th District (Orchard Ridge, Meadowood, Midvale neighborhoods) on the Madison Common Council. She announces Monday.
- Marc Eisen has landed on his feet. The former editor and executive editor of Isthmus has signed on as managing editor of Wisconsin Interest magazine, published by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, "Wisconsin's Free Market Think Tank." Hey, that's a conservative magazine, isn't it? Edited by Charlie Sykes?
Marc tells me "the plan is to make it more like a magazine and less like a journal, and to up its game overall."
- A grateful nation thanks George W. Bush for keeping America safe from attack for a seventh straight year. (A boy can dream, can't he?) As op ed writer Thane Rosenbaum wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "despite all the trash-talking videos, either (Al Qaeda) has been taking a long, leisurely breather or something serious has been done to thwart and disable its operations." But not its Size 10 shoes.
Cousin Johann sends this along
Dateline Green Bay:
A seven-year old boy was at the center of a courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible.
The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.
After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Green Bay Packers, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.