VP News, Media Bias

Sarah Palin has been on my radar screen for a few months now. I had heard that she has relentlessly fought the corrupt political culture of Alaska and that she is a pro-life mother of five.

But now, after listening to the mainstream news , I have learned that she is a former beauty queen who hunts moose and owns an airplane.

The contrast between the mainstream media and alternative news sources couldn't be more apparent.

Life Not Fair

"One day, around the campfire, we decided, in a just world no one should have two homes until everyone has at least one" writes Kim Hunter of Burlington to the Journal Times.

Kim goes on to write that she has a master's degree. Did they discuss, around the campfire, whether Kim should have been allowed to pursue a master's degree when not everyone has a high school education?

And Kim would be living in her car were it not for her parents who are subsidizing her income. Kim, do you realize that some people are orphans without even a bicycle?

Stop yer bitchin Kim. Get back to work and reconsider your communist philosophy.

Oh, and one more thing. Your campfire was spewing CO2 into the air.

VP News

In an obvious nod to English speaking soap users, Barrack Obama today picked the clean and articulate Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

Defending a Question

Apparently some prominent local individual(s?) recently asked a forbidden question, prompting Racine County supervisor and Racine Parks director Donnie Snow to respond in a JT commentary entitled "Defending a race, setting an example." The question: "Where are the African American men?"Given the disproportiate incidence of violence perpetrated by black boys and men and other pathologies in our community, I think it is a fair question and one we all should consider.Unfortunately Donnie Snow reacted far too defensively to make a meaningful contribution to this discussion. Snow is a single father and a product of a single mother. He turned out OK, he gathers with other positive black men that are part of the solution etc... and he "refuse(s) to let anyone lump all black men and bring them down to the lowest, most mean-spirited stereotypes."Of course there are positive, decent, concerned, caring, and responsible black men in Racine and elsewhere. There are also far too many who are irresponsible and inclined towards criminal activity. By the way, I think this is a problem that exists outside the black community as well. However, the problem is more pronounced and obvious in the black community.Why can't we talk about the problems facing the black community? Why is Donnie Snow so defensive? When can we have a discussion without being accused of "lumping all blacks together" or contibuting to "mean-spirited stereotypes" or in other words, without being accused of racism?

Addicted to Government

Like most humans, Mayor Becker has vices. And like most liberals, he thinks there is a government solution to his problems. "Being a smoker,I'm for a statewide ban" (on smoking in public places) he says. "It might also help push him to quit smoking or at least cut back" he said in a Journal Times article today.

I have vices also. But they are my problem, not yours. Or at least they ought to be.

This is a key difference between liberals and conservatives. Liberals believe in collective responsibility while conservatives believe in individual responsibility.

I wish Mayor Becker well in his battle with his cigarette addiction. But it should be his battle, not yours or mine.

Question of the Day

Why is it legal to work for $8 per hour or $0 per hour but illegal to work for $4 per hour?

Planning to Fail

Thomas Sowell once wrote that the reason to have a planning department is to usurp other people's plans.

But we like to plan here in Racine. So when Emilio and Joanna Clarke purchased property on a dreadful stretch of vacant storefronts on State Street, they went to the city planning staff for approval of their plans to open a dance hall. And they got the approval.

But then they had to face the Racine Plan Commission and Alderman Greg Helding. Helding et al have their own plans for the area, preffering office and professional uses instead.

Helding apparently thinks that other areas of the city would be better for dance clubs. Like 6th Street. You might remember that the city had plans for 6th Street to be the "Heart of the Arts" area that now is being replanned for Uptown after artists didn't cooperate.

And Racine continues to send the message to business people: Your plans don't matter.

Fair Slavery?

Over the years I have sometimes made the mistake of buying and then selling "fair trade" products. It is a mistake insofar as it implies that my other products, not similarly labelled, are unfairly traded.

The Racine Post reports that a fair trade store and coffee shop will soon be opening in downtown Racine. To make a go of it, the owners, Racine Dominicans, will rely on volunteers to work the shop.

The irony here is that the same folks who are complaining about third world wages will be offering their own employees even less.

Solar Scamming

The village of Wind Point has recently installed solar panels, at a cost of $54,000. As a result, the village has saved $160 on last months electric bill. At that rate of savings, we will break even after 28 years, assuming zero inflation. And this "savings" is only possible because We Energies is buying the electricity and then selling it back to the village at half price. Note to would-be entrepreneurs: buying high and selling low is a risky business strategy.

Village Trustee Ann Brodek noted that the village received a grant from Focus on Energy, an organization that "helps install cost-effective energy efficient projects."

Install solar panels to save the world or to feel good about yourself or whatever, but please don't tell me that it is cost-effective.

Journal Times Bias

Some of you may remember a few years back when Racine County government was pushing for an indoor ice arena. The idea was contoversial and actively promoted by the Racine Journal Times.

Now fastforward a few years. Yesterday I read in the Milwaukee Journal that a huge indoor soccer complex has been approved by the Sturtevant Town Board. If this private project gets completed, the Racine area will be on its way to being the soccer capital of Wisconsin if not the midwest.

This is newsworthy IMHO. Yet I have found no mention of it in the Racine Journal Times. I don't conclude that JT prefers hockey or figure skating to soccer. I do conclude that they prefer public expenditures to private projects.

Scapegoating Landlords

"What we have is a concern that there are substandard conditions in a portion of our rental properties....It's not in the best interest of our city for the housing stock to be detiorating" said Alderman Greg Helding in response to those protesting an ordinance proposal which would allow or require city inspections of rental properties.

All righty then. Helding appears to be operating under the assumption that our housing stock is detiorating because city government has not been intrusive enough. If only government would step in and force the evil landlords to clean up, everything would be swell in the city of Racine.

The problem with scapegoating landlords is that it makes no sense. The problem is not landlords, it is politicians who espouse big government solutions to our problems.

Why would landlords want their investments to detiorate? Why don't landlords invest in their properties and make them beautiful?

Answer: Landlords don't want their properties to detiorate and they will only invest in their properties if they can recoup their investment with rent increases.

The problem is that in certain areas of Racine, people with the means to afford a nice home or a nice rental unit do not want to live there. Thus, a landlord that spends too much to update and improve his property will lose money because potential renters will not pay enough rent to recoup his investment.

Landlords operate under these conditions, they don't cause these conditions. Politicians have caused these conditions with excessive property tax rates. Over time, high taxes (and other factors) have caused residents to flee Racine, leaving a surplus of housing and a deficit of buyers. Landlords have stepped in to prevent a bad situation from getting worse.

The answer to this downward spiral is not more government, it is less government. If you want to reverse this trend, offer incentives for people to fix their properties via tax credits, lower tax rates, etc... that are regularly offered to the well connected developers.

Or scapegoat landlords, chase them out of town, and make the situation even worse.

Thought of the Day

The problem with Republicans is that they fail to live up to their ideals. The problem with Democrats is that they do.

Mysterious Illness

I know several people who work for Midwest Express, and I am concerned for their well being. It seems that many employees, especially those who have accumulated many unused sick days, have been afflicted lately with unspecified symptoms that renders them unable to work. The illnesses have somehow spared newer employees that don't have any sick days. Quick, someone call the CDC.

Obama Questions

"How do we keep ourselves safe and secure while preserving our liberties? How do we restore trust in a government that seems increasingly removed from its people and dominated by special interests? How do we ensure that in an increasingly global economy, the winners maintain allegiance to the less fortunate? And how do we resolve our differences at a time of increasing diversity?"

Barack Obama asked these questions in a recent speech announcing his patriotism. I will take a shot at answering them.

#1. We keep ourselves safe by confronting/addressing threats to our safety. We do not negotiate with those who wish to undermine our safety and security. We don't worry excessively about the liberties of those who intend to harm us.

#2. We don't worry too much about whether or not we trust our government. A bit of mistrust has been earned by our government. We restore trust by reducing the potential gains sought by the special interests. We do so by reducing the size and influence of government, thereby increasing the freedoms formerly enjoyed by our citizens.

#3. While "having an allegience to the less fortunate" is a laudable sentiment, it is not the role of government to enforce any such allegiences.

#4. We resolve differences at this "time of increasing diversity" by not favoring one group over another. Rather than create favored groups and unfavored groups that would pit citizens against one another, we should treat all individuals equally under the law.

I think Obama would answer his own questions quite differently.

Obama Anecdote

I am aquainted with a group of Racinians whom I thought would be slam dunk Obama voters. They are urban, mostly single, non religious. They tend to despise George Bush, want out of Iraq, favor gay marriage and are pro-choice.


So I was a bit surprised when one of them desribed himself as a McCain supporter. I was even more surprised when I learned that only one of this social group (of a dozen or so) intended to vote for Obama.


They tended to see Obama as just a slick politician and they were disgusted by the Wright assocoation.


I know the polls are showing Obama with a big lead in Wisconsin, and my observations are purely anecdotal, but I think an Obama win is not inevitable.

Strike Worries

The Journal Times reports that the 94 employees of the Belle Urban System may go on strike. I think this will cause a huge problem for the dozen or so passengers who use the system.

Moral Relativism on Display

JT letter to the editor writer Teresa Murphy-Dickert asks "What's the difference between aborting a fetus and blowing up a child in a U.S. bombing raid?" and "why is aborting a child in our country worse than killing innocent children in a different country?"

Answering her own question, Murphy-Dickert writes "I think it is because those who believe abortion is worse don't have to see those murdered children and torn bodies of women on the other side of the world. Since it is not staring us in the face every day, it's easy to decide that "being against abortion" is more important than being against an inhumane war."

I can't make heads or tails of M-D's answer to her question. Clearly she is opposed to the deaths of innocents in war, but is she also opposed to abortions? And is evidence of the 30 million or so aborted fetuses "staring us in the face every day" or have we sanitized abortion victims just as we have sanitized the war?

I would answer M-D's question quite differently. The difference between an abortion death and the death of an innocent in war is intent. With abortion, the intent to end life is purposeful. With an errant bomb, it is accidental. The moral difference is significant.

Of course if you have lost your wife and child to an errant bomb, the moral distinction may seem irrelevent. The effect is the same. You no longer have a wife and child.

Even so, we must be able to recognize moral distinctions in order to function properly as a society. Or should we make no distinctions between a murderer and a surgeon who's patient dies in surgery?

Good Deed Punished

Sorry for the lack of postings of late. I was out of town, working, and with little time to muse about the events of the day.

So I was parking my car the other day when I noticed a woman and her child apparently waiting for me to exit my vehicle. They said they were hungry and asked if I would buy them some food. I was about to buy some food for myself anyway and I will always try to honor a request for food, so I said yes. Then it started to get complicated.

I was in a hurry to get home after several days on the road and they were being very indecisive about what they wanted to eat. After some time they made a decision. They wanted enough food to feed the neighbors, or so it seemed. So I set some limits on quantity and waited until the food arrived.

And in the end, no thank you's from mom or child. Just pure entitlement. Oh, and a request for bus fare.

Fair and Balanced?

In today's Journal Times: Reverend Glen Halbe, a retired United Church of Christ minister from Racine, wants more Jeremiah Wrights. More divisive hate speech. More evidence free conspiracy theories about the US government trying to exterminate blacks with viruses. More damning of America. Our pastors "only pretend to preach" as they are"too afraid" to speak out. "Let the prophets cry out!"

The Journal Times can find room for Halbe's message, but conservative writers need not apply.

KRM, Partisanship, and Magic

The Racine Journal Times paraphrases RAMAC President Roger Caron on the KRM issue as follows: "politicians must drop partisan politics, vote to invest in transportation infrastructure and not use the excuse that constituants might object."

Interesting. So voting for a massive government transportation program is considered non-partisan while objecting to it would be partisan? The partisan objection would be conservative presumably, so wouldn't support for KRM be considered partisan and liberal?

Also, why shouldn't politicians consider the concerns and or objections of constituants? Caron obviously wants politicians to listen to his ideas.

Also in the article, it is apparent that Mayor Becker would like to take on the responsibilty for Milwaukee's transportation mess and is eager to raise the sales tax to the maximum currently allowed by law, as this is apparently the only "magic" remedy. Yes, he used the word magic. It is only politicians who can use magic to make money appear. The rest of us have to work for it.