The Capital Times has endorsed The Kathleen for re-election as protectoress in chief of Dane County's lands with high-water tables. Surely the bullfrogs are croaking their approval. ("Rib-it. Rib-it.")
The endorsement is vexatious news to greedy developers who had high hopes of building suburban pleasure palaces with a Weber grill out back amid the cattails and bull rushes. Not on my watch, sayeth Our Lady of the Swamps, palm courageously up-raised to stop the advancing yellow earth-moving machines. Pogo in Tiananmen Square.
This is true courage. Who else would have made as her life's mission the preservation of our soggy places? Or run for state attorney general - the state's top cop - wearing nothing more than the Sierra Club's fig leaf? (Who, for that matter, would have thought to build on wetlands except Capital Newspapers Inc.? Have you driven by their place on Fish Hatchery road? It's the lowest spot on the road, right across from the UW Arboretum. Frog butcherers!)
While our county's police, fire, and emergency medical personnel were worried about the ability of our emergency communications center to handle life-threatening incidents, The Kathleen was posing with Brett Hulsey and Gary Werner in picturesque mudscapes numbly recorded by sleepy TV camera operators. ("Didn't' we do this marsh last month, Ed? After awhile, they begin to all look ...")
The principles wore stylish hip boots and spoke of lady's slippers. Caked with now-protected mud. Never-to-be-developed mud. Taxpayer-supported mud. Pearl Buck's The Good Mud. Elmer Fudd mudd.
It is possible that The Capital Times' endorsement is worth something. [Read it and weep.]
You may have just come to town after an all-night drive from, say, Fort Wayne, Indiana, or Council Bluffs, Iowa. Numbed by the flatscape you're thinking none too clearly. "Lookie here, dear. This Falk can't be too crazy, she was endorsed by this free weekly insert."
You would be excused for not knowing that the same purveyor of opinion endorsed a rodent by the name of Chuckie over Governor Tommy G. Thompson. That continues to offer aid and comfort to the public pissing campaign of Progressive Dane and Madame Brenda of Konkel. Worshiper of pretend-Native American Ward Churchill, Tawana Brawley hoaxer Al Sharpton, and that reptile with a hair-do John Edwards. A congeries of Velvet Elvis salesmen and nose pickers.
Its prescription for our current economic difficulties? Trade wars! Worked in the 1930s! ("Come right over, Mr. Illegal Immigrant. Sign up for Dane County's generous benefits. You have been pre-approved! Wait a minute! Was that bicycle made in China?") So, by all means, let's fill 'er up at The Capital Times pump.
I especially like the section where Our Kathleen is credited with "reach(ing) out to small-town and rural residents who sometimes felt neglected by Madison-centric county government." Umm, sometimes felt neglected? That would be Brittany Zimmerman, late of East Doty Street, city of Madison, would it not?
("911 Center. Could you hold please?")
Take this from Jerry Derr of the Town of Bristol:
As President of the Dane County Town's Association, I have seen first-hand how heavy-handed, misguided policies have been imposed from County Government on Dane County towns, villages and cities. [Read Jerry's endorsement of Nancy Mistele]
Not as first-hand as ... Well you get the idea.
- Of course, The Capital Times also endorsed teachers union toady Tony Evers. Unless your children are schooled in a unionized public school house, you will sometimes feel neglected by the teachers union and its Department of Public Instruction.
- Supporters of his opponent, Rose Fernandez, just want to pick fights with the teachers union, the ghost of Evjue alleges. Even if it were true, wouldn't that be reason enough? The teachers union is also behind The Kathleen. So much for "Change."
- A local office holder who must go nameless did an admittedly unscientific survey and found that Nancy Mistele beats Kathleen Falk in his/her district, located entirely within the City of Madison. Something's happening here. What's that sound? Everybody look what's going down.
Help Thuy help our neighborhoods
Has anyone earned more credibility as a champion for livable neighborhoods than Ald. Thuy Pham-Remmele? I didn't think so. Ald. Thuy blew the whistle on the mayor's trolley system (and The Capital Times promote Brenda Konkel as the mayor's check and balance!) so that the city could concentrate its resources on stopping the erosion of neighborhoods like Meadowood.
She has co-sponsored a resolution that moves the curfew for teenagers under age 17 up one hour to 10 p.m. from 11 p.m. from Sunday through Thursday and to 11 p.m. from midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
"I co-sponsored this ordinance with Alder Jed Sanborn to keep youth from staying out late, especially on school nights, to protect vulnerable juveniles from the dark side as well as to curb negative activities that affect the quality of life in our neighborhoods," Thuy explains.
Admittedly, those hours would be the most stringent in Dane County. Ten jurisdictions have no curfew for "youth" over age 16 - Town of Madison, Stoughton, Verona, Cambridge, Sun Prairie, Blooming Grove, Shorewood Hills, Oregon, DeForest, and Waunakee.
Thuy reports that, at the full EOC commission meeting on March 12, Dane County Supervisors Carousel Bayrd and Matt Veldran spoke in strong opposition, "citing civil rights issues and the need to NOT create a previous record lest it jeopardize these youth's future if/when they may have to face court decisions later in life!"
Using that logic, perhaps we should decriminalize crime. More evidence that these guys don't get the broken windows theory of policing. It is simply this: stop the graffiti, the intimidation at store and parking lot entrances, stop litter, loud parties, foul language, panhandling and other anti-social activities. Stop those things and you have stopped the big things.
I wrote Veldran asking for his side of the story but have received no reply. (Matt, Matt, Matt!)
Thuy reports that after hearing from Veldran/Bayrd, EOC Chair Bert Zipperer, Ald. Brian Solomon and the remainder of the Commission voted against this ordinance amendment.
Thuy says the amendment is coming up at the City Council meeting of Tuesday, April 21. Let's show up and support Thuy and our neighborhoods. [Ordinance Amendment to modify the Curfew hours for Juveniles.]
Nancy Pelosi is a saint
This just in from Cousin Johan, so it must be true:
On a Saturday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aide visited the Catholic archbishop of Washington D.C.
He told the archbishop that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day's sermon, and he asked if the archbishop would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words that would include calling Pelosi a saint.
The archbishop replied, "No. I don't really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over certain of Pelosi's views."
Pelosi's aide then said, "Look. I'll write a check here and now for a donation of $100,000 to your church if you'll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a saint."
The archbishop thought about it and said, "Well, the church can use the money, so I'll work your request into tomorrow's sermon." As Pelosi's aide promised, House Speaker Pelosi appeared for the Sunday sermon and seated herself prominently at the edge of the main aisle.
During the sermon, the archbishop pointed out that House Speaker Pelosi was present.
Then the archbishop went on to explain to the congregation: "While Speaker Pelosi's presence is probably an honor to some, she is not my favorite person. Some of her views are contrary to those of the Church and she tends to flip-flop on many other views. Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker and a nit-wit. Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat and a thief. Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed.
"She married for money and is using it to lie to the American people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington and in California. She simply is not to be trusted."
The archbishop completed his view of Pelosi with, "But, when compared to Senators Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, and John Kerry, House Speaker Pelosi is a saint."
