Good morning dear members of Sconz nation! We've got a dreary but temperate day ahead of us, with a high of 52 and a low of 41, some showers and a strong whiff of Spring.
The first brunch should probably be somewhat sophisticated, to convey the intellectual nature of the blog's content. I was going to grab a picture from Fat Sandwich company but they were too big, so this BLT from JJ's ought to do the trick. Here's the review of the restaurant by the good people of Eating in Madison A to Z.
Mayor Dave is calling on everybody to make Madison a top contender for Google Fiber.
Apparently local activist Erik Paulson took the advice seriously.
UW Political Science Professor Ken Goldstein is facing a storm of criticism over a polling partnership with the Wisconsin Policy Research Insitute, a right wing think tank.
Tom Barrett rightfully calls out Scott Walker's absurd promise to create 250,000 jobs in four years and counters with a slightly less empty promise to create 180,000. The dialogue would be more honest if each candidate simply made up numbers for how many jobs his opponent would lose the state.
CFACT, the "environmental" group which on one occasion claimed that Earth Day was a Leninist conspiracy, sadly lost yet another attempt to get university funding. Apparently the Leninists have gotten to the judges as well.
UW is in the midst of finding a new name for the new Union South . It's great how blunt university administrators are about the hopes of luring donors during the process. "We want [to] pick names that would preserve the possibility of a future donor," Union Director Mark Guthier said." What does that mean? I'll have to ask him.
Holocaust denial is not the only debate over free speech on campus. The Faculty Senate is set to vote on a measure which would ensure UW employees the right to criticize administration. The Daily Cardinal ed board writes in favor of the proposal, which will almost definitely pass.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving is advocating sobriety check points in Wisconsin. I don't think it's going to happen. Nevertheless, a lot of people in Wisconsin may think there are checkpoints because they see them in the national ads against DUI.
Don't be deterred by the boring look of a press release. Anything from Rep. Glenn Grothman is guaranteed hilarity, albeit in a very dark sense of the word. The man who recently said that homosexuality didn't exist when he was in high school is now very upset about the naming of a part of I-43 in honor of a community activist. He writes a letter to Doyle in protest.
Mayor Dave pumped about signs of economic recovery in Dane County and Madison. That 5.1 percent unemployment is double the norm in Madison is absolutely incredible, although I wouldn't be surprised to see similar situations in other cities with large public institutions.
The numbers in Milwaukee spell out the importance of good public transportation: "52% of county bus riders don't have a valid driver's license; 75% have no other form of transportation; 43% ride the bus to work; and 42% of residents below the poverty line don't have access to a car."
Of course, calls for a sales tax to fund transportation inconveniently corresponded with that calls for the continuation of the Miller Park sales tax in Milwaukee.
