Hold page one: McBride gets one right

It's the infinite monkey theorem at work.

When you offer as many opinions a day as Jessica McBride does -- and her blog has deteriorated to where many of the items are one-liners, so there is a daily barrage -- it's inevitable that you will eventually type something that makes sense.

Well, it's happened. McBride, usually Ms. Hard-Line Law 'n Order, speaks up for common sense on the question of allowing inner city youngsters to sell bottled water on the street. The city is cracking down.

Let's hope there are enough monkeys at the keyboard in City Hall and the Milwaukee Police Department to produce orders to leave those kids alone.

Telling it like it is

You have to say this for Illusory Tenant, whoever that may be. He/she doesn't pull any punches. Lead-in to a recent post:

Here's a perfect example of how dumb, irresponsible, lazy, and pandering university journalism "lecturer" Jessica McBride is.

Read it here.

Expanding on McBride Doctrine: If they're for it, we're against it

Jessica continues to explain the McBride Doctrine of foreign policy:

I don't know about you, but my instinct is to support the things al-Qaida does NOT want. That's usually a good idea with a mortal enemy.

We can be thankful that al-Qaida has not come out in favor of building more schools in Iraq. If they had, we'd be forced to be in favor of destroying schools.

But here's a stickier question: What if al-Qaida actually wants US troops to remain in Iraq, with 150,000 bogged down there more or less permanently, at the mercy of insurgents and their bombs?

There is some evidence that's just what al-Qaida wants. They've said as much, that they want the US to stay the course and remain in the quagmire.

Applying the McBride Doctrine, if al-Qaida wants us to stay, we should leave.

Maybe she is on to something.

That liberal MSM again

Here's another example of the kind of liberal bias in the mainstream print media, McBride & Co. argue, that makes people turn to right wing talk radio for balance.

See if you detect any difference between the story and the headline in the LaCrosse Tribune:

Top Doyle donor pleads guilty to making illegal donations

By SCOTT BAUER/The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. — Millionaire businessman Dennis Troha has always been an equal opportunity giver.

Whether it be to Republican President George Bush or Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, Troha and his family have been frequent, and generous, donors.

But a series of donations between $30,000 and $70,000 to both Bush and the Democratic Party led Troha on Friday to agree to plead guilty to a pair of misdemeanors that could land him in prison for two years.

How did Doyle get in that headline? This isn't even the Journal Sentinel.

The McBride Doctrine: Once an enemy, always an enemy

We have noted previously that when it comes to foreign policy, Jessica McBride makes the Bush-Cheney administration look like a collection of limp-wristed liberals.

She's out-Bushed Bush on Iraq. When Bush said US troops would leave if the Iraqi government asked them to, McBride said she'd keep them there anyway.

She has no problem with plotting the violent overthrow of the Laotian government from the US, and would not prosecute Gen. Vang Pao for doing so. After all, she says, Vang is simply doing what we asked him to do 40 years ago -- fighting communism.

And she blasts Bush for wanting to expand trade with Vietnam while that communist government stifles dissidents and doesn't allow democracy. That post also explains her Iraq doctrine:

(Note: I support the war in Iraq because I believe surrendering would be a victory for al-Qaida and would strengthen the hand of Iran in the Middle East. We also have a moral obligation to finish what we started. The people of Iraq deserve democracy...)

Where to begin?

Maybe by highlighting the irony of saying the people of Iraq deserve democracy, but we should ignore the wishes of Iraq's democratically-elected government when it comes to the question of US troops occupying the country.

Or by observing that al-Qaida was not in Iraq until the US invaded and occupied the country on trumped-up claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and somehow was linked to the 9/11 attacks.

Or maybe by noting that the US prevented Vietnam from having the democratic elections we promised them in 1954, because it was clear they would choose Ho Chi Minh and communism. Twenty years and millions of casualties later, we got the same result: a unified, communist Vietnam.

"Finishing what we started" in Iraq could take another 20 years. And we probably would still not like the outcome.

Finally, we might observe that the right wing loves democracy when it works the way it's "supposed" to. But when democracy "goes astray" and chooses a Salvador Allende in Chile or a Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, the right has no hesitation in trying to overthrow the elected government.

A McBride foreign policy would bring democracy to the world the way the Crusades brought Christianity -- by the sword, whether people want it or not.

Afterthought: We added the second line of the headline in an attempt to summarize the doctrine. That got us wondering: Do you think Japan, Germany, and Italy are still on her list as part of the axis of evil-doers, or have they been forgiven? It seems it's only when we lose that she doesn't think we should ever forget, but you never know. Her doctrine is still a work in progress.

Knowing mind-numbing when you hear it

A new report on talk radio says programming is over 90% conservative nationwide.

Jessica McBride, suffering from chronic and rampant paranoia, sees the report as more evidence that there is a movement afoot to shut up the conservatives.

Whallah! contributor Xoff says progressives have been shut up and shut out, which is the real point of the report.

McBride calls the report "mind-numbing." What's really mind-numbing is the argument that the radio audience wants wall-to-wall conservative programming. If you listen to talk radio all day, you'll know what mind-numbing feels like.

The straight scoop from Iraq

While the Frederic freelancer looks for the good news in Iraq, Doonesbury's Sandbox offers the straight scoop, both good and bad, from bloggers who are in the military and on the ground.

Here's one post that will remind you of the Caine Mutiny.

If we'd had blogs when I was in Vietnam, I'd have been in the brig for sure.

No such thing as a dumb question? Well ...

A new court ruling says Wisconsin's W2 program must provide benefits to people in the program who are employable but can't find jobs.

Paul Soglin gets it:

Think about it. It helps end poverty. Assuming the state does not want to increase the welfare rolls, people who want to work will be given an opportunity to work for a living.

As for increasing the welfare rolls, that is not a problem. The decision does not say "put them on the dole." It clearly says, "provide for job opportunity." Those offered meaningful work who turn it down, do not get welfare.

You know who doesn't have a clue, asking:

Isn't this called "unemployment"?
Don't they already have benefits for that?

As she would say, Umm, no.

Jack Bauer for terrorism czar

What do Jessica McBride and Justice Antonin Scalia have in common? Judicial philosophy? Intellectual curiosity? A love of Cuban cigars?

No, it's a wish that television's fictional Jack Bauer were in charge of Homeland Security.

"Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. ... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives," Judge Scalia said at a conference where Bauer's fictional exploits were the topic. Story.

Then there's McBride, who wrote:

One suspects that if [Bauer had] been at the controls before 9/11, the attacks might have been stopped.

They both acknowledge that Bauer is fictional. But they both wish he weren't.

At least McBride's not likely to end up on the Supreme Court.

So many words, so little to say

What do you do when you have an 800-word column due and have only 8 words worth of ideas?

Pad, pad, pad.

Some columnists have been known to write a column about having nothing to write a column about.

McBride's latest Waukesha Freeman column is in that vein, an obvious pad job. As she regales you with statistics about how many dog licenses are issued in the Town of Lisbon, it reminds you of a Senator reading the telephone book into the Congressional Record during a filibuster.

It would be hard to accept any pay for this "effort" with a clear conscience.

Hyperventilating about McGee

Milwaukee Magazine's Bruce Murphy, who generally treats Jessica McBride well, had this not-so-kind observation on the Michael McGee affair:

Last week, former Waukesha DA Paul Bucher filed formal charges asking that McGee be impeached by the Milwaukee Common Council. Bucher doesn’t even live in the city, but he is the husband of Jessica McBride, who, along with her former talk radio brethren, has been hyperventilating for some time about McGee. And Bucher, whose career in public service tanked after his defeat in the Republican primary for Wisconsin attorney general, is presumably looking for any publicity he can get.

Read it here.

Breakthrough -- Talk back to McBride

A new policy and a new blog address for Jessica McBride.

She doesn't say whether the comments will be "moderated" -- screened, in other words -- or not. Let's hope that if people are prepared to put their names on and stand by the comments that she'll have the courage to post them all.

We predict the thin-skinned Ms. McBride will not enjoy this. She already is giving herself an escape clause in case everyone doesn't behave nicely.

Monday, June 18, 2007
Comments

After giving it a lot of thought, I've decided to allow comments on my blog. I will not allow anonymous comments. If you have something to say, I believe you should put your name to it, and be prepared to stand by it.

I do this hesitantly. If you want to know why, read this article. I haven't experienced anything quite like this. However, some postings have come close, and I do relate to it. So, I simply ask that you stick to debating the issues, albeit vigorously. If it degenerates into the sort of thing I've seen on some blogs, I may reconsider.

Unfortunately, there's something wrong with this blog, and it won't let me activate the comment function. I've tried everything, including new templates, to no avail. So, to allow comments I've had to create a new blog.

The new blog address is http://mcbridesmediamatters.blogspot.com/.
...

Meanwhile, Jessica, you are welcome, as always, to comment here, in your own name, with a pseudonym, or anonymously.

To the rescue -- 10 years later McBride, Sykes get it wrong again

A classic example of how things spread on the Internet when bloggers are in such a rush to post something that they don't read carefully.

Jessica McBride on the "thought police:"

James Harris is under attack for quoting an author who said this:

“There is only one force in this world that is capable of controlling a teenage male: his father. Women, you can either let black men rule their households as husbands and fathers or hide in your homes with doors locked as they rule the streets in roving gangs. If you don’t believe me visit any inner-city neighborhood, if you dare.”

Her source was Charlie Sykes , who wrote:

James T. Harris infuriated some state bureaucrats the other day.... actually enraged them. How?

By quoting this:

“There is only one force in this world that is capable of controlling a teenage male: his father. Women, you can either let black men rule their households as husbands and fathers or hide in your homes with doors locked as they rule the streets in roving gangs. If you don’t believe me visit any inner-city neighborhood, if you dare.”

However, if you bother to read what Harris himself wrote, you'll find this:

“There is only one force in this world that is capable of controlling a teenage male: his father. Women, you can either let black men rule their households as husbands and fathers or hide in your homes with doors locked as they rule the streets in roving gangs. If you don’t believe me visit any inner-city neighborhood, if you dare.”

I spoke these words at a black state employees’ convention. It was part of an anti-affirmative action address that I gave for a breakout session.

Yikes!

My words were not well received.

I had to be escorted to the organizer’s room. Every step of the way, from the podium to the sanctuary, was a step through anger. People were pissed off. I got the feeling that I was no longer welcome.

I wasn’t. I left.

Those words, however, were not my own. I borrowed them from the famed sociologist, George Gilder. Mr. Gilder first uttered the same words on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the mid 1980s, and it got him kicked off the show. To this day, I believe Mr. Gilder has the distinction of being the first and only person kicked off ‘The Oprah.’

Oprah apologized to her audience for inviting a racist onto the show.

Here we are a decade removed from my borrowed comments and nearly two decades from Gilder’s original utterances, and as I write this I am looking at yet another story of a little girl shot in the face because she left the safety of her home, to play in streets, ruled by angry, aimless, homicidal black teenage males.

McBride tries to rally the wingnut blogosphere:

As conservatives, we should all speak up when a fellow conservative is under attack by the politically correct thought police for supposed "offensiveness," especially when it deals with race, which is the favorite tactic of the left (cry racism) in its efforts to silence conservatives. If any of us stays silent or mutes our response for any number of reasons, we hurt the conservative cause. I wonder what would happen if Harris said this same thing on his radio show?

My only problem with the passage above is that teenage girls need fathers just as badly. Everyone needs a father. Fathers matter, despite what some cartoonists think.

I strongly support James. Don't let them get you down, James. You are exactly what this community needs.

The fact is that he's not "under attack" and was relating a 10-year-old story.

But never let the facts get in the way of some good conservative outrage over race.

At last, the good news from Iraq

Wayne (The Whole Truth) Anderson -- a person in the mainstream media to admire, according to Jessica McBride -- has made it to Iraq.

Anderson is the part-time weekly newspaper writer from Frederic, Wisconsin who set off to write about the good news in Iraq. It turned out he wasn't exactly who McBride said he was, but he's there and writing his stories, so let's give him some credit and see what he has to say:

His first dispatch was filed from Kuwait City, where he randomly chose three members of the US military to interview. The first two are from Wisconsin:

They are sergeant siblings serving in the US Army with the 1157th Transportation Company. But if they were US senators they said they would vote to immediately pull the plug on funding the war and send the troops home.

Dustin Louden, 28, and Nichelle Louden, 33, of Oshkosh, serve together honorably at a forward operating base in Iraq. Back home, he talked her into joining the Wisconsin National Guard for the good college benefits it provides.

Now this close sister-and-brother team, who came to Iraq together, sees little hope for this sectarian, war-torn country.

“I don’t think the Iraqis will ever be able to take it over, to run this country the way it should be run,” said Nichelle. “They want us here because we do everything for them. So of course they want us here. They don’t have to do anything.”

Her brother agrees in part, but hangs on to a thin thread of optimism suspended above a very complex situation.

“I think we’re doing good for the local populace,” said Dustin. “But there’s so many different religious groups… the government isn’t stable enough because there’s so many feuding groups...”

His other interviewee is more optimistic:

Lt. Col. Joseph Yoswa, a native of St. Paul, Minn., wants to make one thing perfectly clear.

“The war is not lost,” he said.

Despite past senatorial pronouncements, he said the war in Iraq is not lost and is in fact moving slowly towards victory.

Yoswa, by the way, is a public affairs officer. In civilian terms, that's a flack.

So far, that's the good news he's found. Not an auspicious beginning.

Bucher: Have briefcase, will travel

We recognize that Jessica is not responsible for the actions of Paul Bucher, although she did marry him and does seem to espouse many of his political views. We know she shares his opinion of a Milwaukee alderman who's in the news.

Which brings us to Bucher's latest project, since joining the private sector: Impeaching Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee Jr. JS online reports:

Bucher asks council to impeach McGee
The lawyer for Ald. Michael McGee's unsuccessful recall election opponent has filed formal charges with the Milwaukee Common Council to open impeachment proceedings against the jailed alderman.

But Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. plans to reject the impeachment charges from former Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, because Bucher doesn't live in Milwaukee...

After news of the criminal charges came out, Jordan asked Bucher how to overturn the election, Bucher said today. Bucher said he outlined several options and she told him to pick the fastest one, which is for the council to remove McGee from office. He responded by filing impeachment charges against McGee with Hines.

Both city ordinances and state law provide for the council to remove an errant alderman upon a citizen's complaint. But City Attorney Grant Langley has said the state law supersedes the city ordinance where they conflict, and they conflict on who can file the charges to start the proceedings.

Bucher used the city ordinance, which doesn't specify who needs to file the charges, instead of the state law, which requires the charges to be leveled by "a resident taxpayer." He said he was aware of the state law, but was waiting for Langley or Hines to tell him whether he should use a different procedure...

Hines said through an aide that he will send Bucher a letter tomorrow that cites Langley's opinion about the state law overriding the city ordinance.

Another alternative: Bucher could establish residency in the City of Milwaukee. Maybe he could even do that in McGee's 6th Aldermanic District and run for alderman himself. Jessica, a self-styled expert on the central city, based on writing a few newspaper articles about gangs, could write his platform.

Or maybe this is just the first step for Bucher to expand his practice beyond his Waukesha County base. Any aldermen in Madison that need recalling? How about Minnesota? Canada?