Commentary Update For December 17, 2002: Commentary Status, Madison Reform, Budget Forums, Brigade Strikes Again, Katers Raps Gannett, Trent Lott, Harold Pinter, Apostrophe Catastrophe, Kunstler Eyesore

Dear Friends of Commentary:

It's official: No new Commentary shows will be produced until around mid-February when the spring semester at UW Oshkosh is back in gear. Nathan Wardinski will continue to direct the program in spring. University Relations is currently working on creating a television studio facility that could eventually become a permanent home for Commentary. By late spring that new studio should be ready to test.

From now until February we will continue to broadcast reruns. This week (starting tonight) in Commentary's time slot we will broadcast a debate on the issue of campaign finance reform between Representative Gregg Underheim and Winnebago County Board Supervisor Tom Pech, Jr. The debate was originally held in 1998 in my "Communication in Contemporary Society" course. It is being shown now because, as Jim Doyle gets ready to assume the governor's chair, the issue of campaign finance reform is hot. Most of the issues discussed by Gregg and Tom still have great relevance, especially since the legislature has done literally nothing to fix the system since 1998 except pass a disgraceful "reform" earlier this year that they knew would be struck down in the courts as unconstitutional, as it was last week by judge Barbara Crabb.

In other news:

*Did you say reform?: Cliff Miller of the Post-Crescent wrote this interesting piece about who among the key players down in Madison is on board for reforms. Our friend Jay Heck of Common Cause has been quoted extensively on this topic. Heck called new Speaker Jon Gard's decision to appoint alleged felon Scott Jensen chair of some key committees "business as usual," with Gard providing a Jensen-like response: "When Jay Heck is speaker, he can do whatever the hell he wants . . . (Heck) thinks he is smarter than the voters of Waukesha County."

*Sham Budget Forum? Governor-Elect Doyle is going around the state soliciting input on how to solve the state's budget crisis. Somehow years of campaigning for the office, a Democratic primary season, and campaigning against McClueless did not provide him with enough ideas, hence the need for the forums. The Post-Crescent says the Appleton session was hijacked by special interests, while our friend Steve Walters reports that Doyle won't eliminate the so-called "school choice" program in Milwaukee. By the way, I got an email today from Reform Party candidate for governor Alan Eisenberg saying this: "got a call from a reporter at the Racine Journal Times, he claims that he has discovered that all of the main issues in the entire guber campaign came out of my mouth and brain first, and he had the research to prove it, he is doing a story on it this week.."

*The Brigade Strikes Again: The Oshkosh Northwestern Editorial Brigade (ONEB) is at it again, as reported here.

*Katers Raps Gannett: Clean Water Action Council leader Becky Katers had this to say about the quality of Gannett's news. Meanwhile CWAC has joined a lawsuit trying to get the state's Department of Natural Resources to do its job. CWAC member Curt Andersen wrote recently about privatized water scams, while John Nichols today writes about the dangers of "biopharming" for the Cap Times.

*The Lott Plot Thickens: I don't think Trent Lott is going to last as Senate Majority leader, though in this piece I wonder what would have happened if Strom Thurmond had actually won the 1948 election. The Smoking Gun provided some good historical information about the 1948 campaign recently.

*This playwright doesn't mince words: British playwright Harold Pinter was presented with an honorary degree recently at the University of Turin. He used the occasion to say that "The American Administration is a bloodthirsty wild animal." The text of his remarks can be found here.

*The Apostrophe Catastrophe: We just got through finals week here at UW Oshkosh, with the grades due this Wednesday. I am reading some truly atrocious term papers this week, many of them with appalling grammar. I think that's why I found Arianna Huffington's most recent column appealing. Actually her essay reminded me of a line from one of the great rock songs of all time, Frank Zappa's "Stinkfoot:" A dog tells a man, "The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe." Every now and then Pugsley awakens from his nap to tell me just that.

Finally, be sure to check out James Howard Kunstler's December Eyesore of the Month.

Best,

-Tony