Commentary Update for June 18th, 2003: President Clark, Get the Scene, Reclaiming the Media, Budget Follies/Fiscal Feudalism, Wal-Mart Watch, Is he talking about Oshkosh?, WMDs
On June 19th Jim Mather and I will begin taping some new shows. John Iwata of University Relations/Publications will serve as our director/camera operator. We are very grateful for the help.
We'll be taping half-hour segments. The first segment will be with Teresa Thiel,
a member of the Oshkosh Area School District Board of Education. Recently the
Oshkosh Northwestern called on Thiel to resign because she can't vote on contract
issues as her husband is a teacher in the district:
http://www.wisinfo.com/northwestern/news/archive/opinion_10778573.shtml
This is the second time the Brigade has called for Thiel's resignation. The
first was on February 8, 2002:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/commentary/tt.htm#northwestern
At that time, Commentary compiled relevant state documents affecting the situation:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/commentary/tt.htm
In our second segment we will interview regular guest James Simmons. Dr. Simmons
is chair of the UW Oshkosh Department of Political Science. He is co-author
(with Ben Page) of _What Government Can Do_:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0226644820/qid=1055946381/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/002-1399230-2116817?v=glance&s=books
In Other News:
*President Wesley Clark?: I watched former NATO Supreme Commander General
Wesley K. Clark interviewed by Tim Russert on Sunday and came to the conclusion
that it is entirely possible for him to get the Democratic Party nomination
for President and perhaps win the presidency:
http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/palmeri/commentary/clark1.htm
Meanwhile, Howard Dean seemed to be a crowd favorite at the Wisconsin Democratic
Party Convention last week:
http://www.wispolitics.com/freeser/features/f0306/f0306demconv/f03061304.html
*Get The Scene!: One of Wisconsin's most outstanding alternative papers, The Valley Scene, is available in hard copy for free at these locations: http://www.valleyscene.com/where.html
Okay, the fact that I write a column for the Scene makes me a bit biased.
*Reclaiming the Media: There's still a chance for the Congress to reverse
the FCC decision to eliminate media ownership restrictions. Bob McChesney and
John Nichols inform activists how to petition the Congress:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0616-02.htm
*Budget Follies/Fiscal Feudalism: I guess so that we won't forget who
his real masters are, Jim The New Democrat Doyle announced this week his support
for additional corporate tax breaks in the state:
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2003/06/17/news/z00lead.txt
Here's the Doyle press release: http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/Jun03/Jun16/0616govsinglesales.pdf
And Doyle has the gall to object to Common Cause's call for him to refrain
from fundraising during the budget deliberations?
http://commoncause.sitemanager.ims.net/press/pressreleases.php?category_id=327&subcategory_id=0&id=74
The Republican dominated Joint Finance Committee passed the corporate tax break
lunacy yesterday:
http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/jun03/148903.asp
Looks like Doyle is backing off somewhat on his threat to veto the entire Republican
budget:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jun03/148858.asp
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign accurately calls the Doyle/Republican disgraceful
budgets a kind of "fiscal feudalism":
http://www.wisdc.org/pr061803.html
*Wal-Mart Watch: Stan Cox has a solid piece in Corp Watch on the sorry
state of Wal-Mart wages:
http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=7048
He quotes Fortune Magazine, "Wal-Mart in 2003 is, in short, a lot like
America in 2003: a sole superpower with a down-home twang."
Derf imagines the Wal-Mart greeter 60 years from now: http://www.derfcity.com/n/newtoon1.html
*Is He Talking About Oshkosh?: Anti-Sprawl guru Jim Kunstler went to Grand Rapids, Michigan (home of Leslie Lynch King; A.K.A. Gerald Ford) and came to the conclusion that "the Midwest is so heartbreaking." I thought he was talking about Oshkosh when he said this: "Now there is something especially clueless about the civic leadership of the Midwest. Babbitry is truly alive and well in its pure form as first identified by Sinclair Lewis -- that is, the hyper-kenetic boosterism based on savage real estate exploitation with an overlay of hysterical optimism." Then an ominous conclusion: "The American public -- and these Midwesterners are the very soul of that public -- are going to keep on doing their thing until circumstances make it impossible. They're not interested in making good towns and cities. They just want to make money the way they know how. They're going to keep the pavers rolling, and keep the framers knocking up the McHouses, and keep putting in the Meijer hyper-stores, until the big red 'TILT' sign lights up the sky. And then they'll become a nation of vengeful crybabies, shooting things here, there, and everywhere. You heard it here first." http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary7.html
*What About Those WMD's?: Congressman Henry Waxman (D-California) wrote
a letter to Condi Rice asking why the president had forged evidence in his state
of the union speech:
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8069
Mark Fiore has discovered the WMD Finder: http://www.markfiore.com/animation/wmd.html
All the best,
-Tony