joeklein

Milwaukee is working out its negotiating position in regards to the Midwest Fiber Network LLC proposal. I am on the committee and am interested in any public comment.

The Neoconservative Republican's have learned many new tricks thanks to the 'ol white southern Democrats switching to the Republican Party. Opposition to the spirit of the 14th and 15th Amendments has moved north into the homestate of the grand old Republican Party. Perhaps we can harness Lincoln's spinning corpse for power generation. No connection whatsoever here to the fact that minorities and the elderly who tend to vote "non Republican" would be most taxed by the current GOP Voter ID proposals? A network database with digital photos taken on site at polling places can provide the same security as photo ID cards with out being a de facto poll tax . We need not sacrifice liberty for a little (very little) security. Get real indeed. Properly translated vrsion of the posting at scottwalker.org : Walker Offers Solution to Wisconsin's Non Republican Vote Dilemma: Get REAL Plan Would Require a Photo ID to Vote and Repeal Same Day Registration [Wauwatosa...]...

Article 1 of 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. According to this George W. Bush only carries a handkerchief. No picture ID! Sorry George, if you live in the Wisconsin that the State Legislature wants, you will be denied the right to vote. Is, to deny a citizen the right to vote because they don't have an ID, to deny liberty without due process?

Article I, Section 8 The Congress shall have power ... To declare War, grant letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; It is not within the enumerated powers of the President to declare War, nor is it within his power to alter the rules concerning captives. Perhaps the strict Constitutionalists should strike down the War Powers Act , and return the full power to make war to Congress. The People and Congress should keep the Constitution in mind if they think the current administration is contemplating the invasion of Syria or Iran. We have done this little jaunt into Afghanistan and Iraq under the continuing resolution clause of the War Powers Act, and not in true keeping with the Constitution. I think most people would agree, that if George W. Bush had stood before Congress and asked for a declaration of War against Afghanistan, that he would have gotten it. The debate regarding a Declaration of War against Iraq, would have probably been mo...

A few brief proposals. Limit campaign spending to one dollar per capita for the political unit of local government being contested. An indexed version could be to limit the per capita spending to one dollar or the current rate for sending three US Postal Service regular size postcards ; whichever is higher. Modernize the redistricting process through the use of an open source computer algorithm rather than relying on the political judgment of the state legislature or courts. Allow IRV in all state and local races. Do also look at my prior posting on voter ID. I think that that the current proposal to force voters to go to the DMV for state IDs is equivalent to a poll tax . Any poll tax is a violation of the Twenty-fourth Ammendment to the Unted States Constitution . Let us see one of the proposing state legislators try and get an ID by taking a bus from 10th and Wright to the DMV office, and think about doing so without taking time off from a low paying job. Time is a critical co...

Perhaps my prior post about WiFi was somewhat judgemental. Doubt and self analysis are thought of as a weaknesses in todays political environment, but they are the hallmark of rational thinking and scientific analysis. Therefore I shall reserve further judgment on this WiFi proposal for Milwaukee until I have seen the details. I shall keep you posted.

We are completely confused as to the what, where, and how of the current proposal. We are, quite frankly, concerned because this announcement comes out a few weeks before we have an October 31st meeting set up with the Mayor on the same subject. We have been treated disdainfully by DPW in our efforts to get information on the city owned infrastructure and/or network. City Hall employees apparently believe that contractors and companies have more rights than citizens in access to government controlled information. While Presidents from Washington to Truman have held the citizen as true ruler of the Republic; modern political systems seem to believe that the corporation has true right of rule. The corporate owner and operators have become for American governance what the lords and ladies of old Europe where to that continent in its pre democratic era. One of the great hopes of the Internet is that it can be an enabling technology for class mobility. Politically, it is an enabler of open ...

The Republicans are proving that they are the party of fiscal irresponsibility. The Wisconsin Republicans keep hitting us on the head and talk about fiscal responsibility. They prove themselves as hypocrites when they continue to support the national Republican party's reckless cut and spend policy. Excessive debt endangers the United States. We are dependent on nations like China to absorb our debt. Anyone who thinks that our behavior is not affected by our relationship with our lender is a fool. China remains today the largest Communist power on earth. While they have developed a hybrid capitalism, the fact remains that a third of China's industries are controlled by the Peoples Liberation Army and the state, and the political structure is controlled by the Communist Party. China has a poor record with human rights and its regime oppresses effort to organize the labor force or establish institutions based on democratic principals. We borrow the money from China to pay for t...

In referring to the Milwaukee area economy Scott Walker said “ You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig, ”. Scott Walker apparently knows pigs when he sees them; his budgets have always been a pig in a poke. Cut taxes and eventually economic growth will give us more revenue ... yeah right. How about growing the Milwaukee economy, so each can pay less in taxes. Having been unwilling to tackle the issue of local economic growth, he has blamed poor economic growth for lack of tax revenue growth. He blames organized labor for the high cost of doing business in Milwaukee. Yet organized labor is only minor part of the modern work force. He blames health care costs for driving away business. Yet he initiates policies that increase the cost of health care. Lots of blame and no solutions. You who live in Milwaukee County, parse the words carefully . Walker wants you to work more, for less. He want to take away your parks and your bus ride to work. His concept of economic dev...

While contemplating my place on the political compass, it occurs to me that my philosophy tends to support diversity and liberty. To me the fundamental superiority of a society, economic system, defence system or ecological system based on diversity is self evident. To me, monopoly , duopoly , and oligopoly are bad things to have. I prefer cooperatives in place of " natural monopolies " and democratically controlled, government owned system, when market diversity and cooperatives are not possible. If diversity does exists, then I am all for the competitive free market. I am also for government intervention when markets become controlled by oligopolies, duopolies and monopolies. Big businesses evolve into lumbering dinosaurs. Systems that become highly specialized tend to develop flaws that only become apparent in times of change. Change can often result in a fatal blow to systems that lack diversity. For example ... In 1900 Milwaukee american elm trees became the preferred ...

FYI - Here is the result of my test on the political compass . So please call me a lefty libertarian when you pigeon-hole me. I am under the influence of Thomas Paine and these other writers . Currently I am reading America's Constitution : A Biography .

I happen to agree, that as currently proposed by the republican state legislature, voter ID is a bad idea. IDs should not be an impediment to voting, rather the ID process should be integrated into the voting process. Here is my suggestion. Each voter should provide a picture and a valid address. This does not need to be done at the Department of Motor Vehicles, because we have the technology to do this at the polls. Why pictures? Unlike ID cards ... faces are harder to forge. Put into a central database, no cards to carry, no forgeries. Suspect fraud ... check the pictures. All we need is a digital camera and an Internet connection at each polling place with a connection to a centralized database. Do the whole thing using public domain, open source software and we can kick Accenture out of the voting process. My view is that this can be done as a University Wisconsin gradute student project. What do we need? Internet connectivity - Avalible at most every tradition polling location g...

Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce is illegal. Every person who makes any contract or engages in any combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce is guilty of a Class H felony, except that, notwithstanding the maximum fine specified in s.939.50 (3) (h), the person may be fined not more than $100,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, may be fined not more than $50,000. -- Wisconsin State Statues 133.03 You be the judge. SBC is spending millions to limit competition. SBC, its lobbyists and the politicians who work with SBC are guilty of a felony. Former Bells Dial Up Big Numbers in Statehouses Telecoms Spend Millions to Influence Government Cashing in on candidates Communication Breakdown

Qwest is charging SBC with anti-competitive practices, including strong arming carrier business partners not to entertain acquisition offers from SBC competitors, such as Qwest.

Support S 1294: Community Broadband Act of 2005 This bill would amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to preserve and protect the ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and services. SBC has been a corrupting influence in Madison. BadgerNet II, 2003 Senate Bill 272, obstruction of efforts to interconnect public schools and colleges on municipal fiber, the effort to dismantal WiscNet, obstruction of community network projects across the state, all have been the result of SBC money flowing into the campaign coffers of state and local politicians. The SBC PAC has given more to state candidates than any other PAC. http://www.wisdc.org/WEB_PAC_Amt2005.php Elected officials get large contributions from SBC and ex-government employees get high paying consulting jobs from SBC. The quid pro quo for the money is to create laws that insure the preservation of SBC's local loop monopoly and the continued government purchase of large SBC contracts. The corrupting influen...

If Thomas Paine where alive today, perhaps he would view Hurricane Katrina is a reminder, sent by natures God, of the fragility of our petroleum dependent culture. Some Europeans are pointing to Katrina’s strength as a natural consequence the United States’ disregard of global warming issues. While the contribution of global warming to the strength of Katrina’s fury may never be scientifically correlated, a preponderance of data prior to Katrina was supporting the conclusion that global oceanic surface temperatures are on the rise as a result of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The strength of Hurricanes is driven by oceanic water temperatures. Drawing the line of logic based on current science a Deist such as Paine may view Katrina as a natural consequence of our disregard of a natural God’s natural order. As Thomas Paine wrote in his still controversial “Age of Reason” : “We can know God only through his works. We cannot have a conception of any one attribute but by follow...