No, Bill. It Looks As If They Already Have Letterhead.

Navel gazing, Cheddarstyle.

WisOpinion posts a link to The Esteemed Mr Wigderson...

Which is almost all, and only a gush fest cut-and-paste of a Koshnick release which was originally posted on Wispolitics yesterday. That's kind of the long way round for what is basically a letter stating that the nascent campaign is fixin' to begin to get started on a mosey towards an office.

Now I'm certain that James doesn't have to resort to copying the release off the Internets, what with his connections and all. I'm just wondering where the news is here that warrants all this attention. It's pretty clear that Koschnick hasn't gotten his papers turned in yet. So far there is no campaign but there is a fundraising portal. Sing, "Hallelujah."

The release tells us far more about "Senior Campaign Advisor" Seamus Flaherty than about the candidate himself. Some enterprising soul might ask the judge about his own vision of how faith and the law should be integrated, perhaps. You know, if he had some one-on-one time with the judge he could see if he agrees with Flaherty's Alma Mater that it's a grand idea.

One might also ask about "Campaign Advisor" Tristan Cook. Young Mr Cook is shown as the manager of the Madison campaign HQ for John McCain. Now, it would take a great leap of faith to believe that McCampaign thought they should commit their heavy hitters to the Madison office. Young Mr Cook was perfect for the sacrificial position. He came to them on the rebound, having been Co-Chair of Students For Romney in Iowa. Before that Cook served as a Field Rep on an un-named-by-the-release Congressional campaign in Iowa. That would have been the 2006 campaign of Jim Leach, a 30-year incumbent who managed to eke out a loss to a Democrat who had qualified only as a write-in in the primary.

I'm also hoping that someone asks what became of the judge's erstwhile Campaign Manager, Todd Albaugh. There seems to be no mention of the failed candidate for Assembly in this latest release. What's become of Todd? Did he fianlly have to look for private sector work after years of suckling at the public teat? Is he consulting with GBG? (Probably not. Huh?)

BTW, Bill. The letterhead shows the scales of Justice tipped to the right. It's probably a coincidence.

Filet O'Fischer

Methinks that it is well documented indeed that Kevin Fischer, star of blog, TV, radio and his own delusions, can be, well, a bit of a pompous ass.

A while ago, Fischer went after David Hintzman, a developer that is working on the Fountains of Franklin. What Fischer's beef against Hintzman wasn't clear. Until now.

Greg Kowalski, at Metro Milwaukee Today, relays an email he received from some concerned Franklinites. The email is a letter from Mr. Hintzman, who addresses some of Fischer's malicious smear jobs. Here is an excerpt that makes things so much clearer:

Mr. Fischer continues to complain about our project, considering it has been on hold. It is interesting that he chooses to not complain about the Crossroads retail development that has been discussed since 2004 with community meetings, much planning, and attracted three major developers. Yet, nothing has been built on that site. On October 31st, 2006, the Target center was pitched to be an upscale town center like Greenway Station (in Middleton, WI) and the Brookfield Towne Center. However to date, three frontage buildings resemble a one-story strip mall, not what was initially presented. Furthermore, the only tenant that is under interior construction is a Cousin’s. It is very telling that Mr. Fischer elects only to complain about my project. I can only surmise that Mr. Fischer’s attacks on me relates to the fact that I laid off his wife after I contracted for services through a temporary employment agency.

I am still waiting for Mr. Fischer to use his vast development knowledge and experience to be productive and maybe even develop something himself instead of criticizing others from the ‘cheap seats’. Considering this hasn't happened yet, it appears that his method of attack is to over-compensate for his personal shortcomings and/or his self-esteem.

If you are someone who enjoys learning about local happenings via the blogs, but value receiving accurate information, I would recommend that you and your neighbors not waste your time reading Mr. Fischer’s blog. There is no point.

Even that made me wince. The sad part is that Mr. Hintzman is absolutely correct. Fischer's accuracy is almost as bad as Mark Belling's. Why does WISN keep these guys around anyway? In case the janitors go on strike or something?

The Rise And Fall Of Fischer

It was just about a year ago that yours truly stumbled upon a most disagreeable person, a miscreant, a regular brigand, if you will. Yes, I am speaking of Kevin Fischer.

Greg Kowalski, who Fischer thought he could bully with his bombastic belligerence, writes a post documenting the fall of Fischer, who has alienated almost everyone in Franklin:

It all came down to this: When both liberals and conservatives in Franklin cannot stand or tolerate the attitude or behavior of an individual that is paid with their tax dollars, you know there will be problems. That's exactly what happened after what some Milwaukee-area bloggers labeled a bit of late-night rowdiness in late January, where I was pinned against a wall and repeatedly taunted, attacked, and demoralized by Fischer. These comments were saved for all of the metropolitan area to read, and boy did they read! The childish actions by Fischer were plastered on tens of Milwaukee-area blogs, both liberal and conservative. Milwaukee Magazine ran two articles sharply criticizing Fischer's actions and his boss, State Senator Mary Lazich, for keeping such an individual on her staff. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if some politicians discussed the matter behind closed doors with their staff members, encouraging them to not repeat what just happened with Lazich's office. Simply put, Fischer was on his way tumbling down.

[...]

The rise and fall of Kevin Fischer is a well-documented case of an individual who thought that no matter what he said or what he did, there would be no consequences to rest on his shoulders. If he would have continued to maintain the solidarity he had with other Franklin bloggers, the whole political spectrum in Franklin could have been very, very different today. As with many mean-spirited individuals with a nasty attitude, Fischer ended up doing himself in. To be honest with all you, though, I don't have a sense of pity or remorse for what he ended up to be.

And to emphasize how Fischer has alienated even his former allies, Kowalski provides us two links to posts by Fred Keller, a one-time staunch ally of Fischer's.

Keller's first post highlights Fischer's hypocritical attitude towards ethics. I personally if Fischer even knows the definition of the word.

Keller's other post describes how Fischer went boom over Boomgaard.

Fischer must be feeling awfully lonely lately. Most bullies do, sooner or later.

PaddyMac Wants To Raise Your Taxes

For a long, long time, PaddyMac has kept up the pretense of hating taxes, even though he doesn't mind spending money like a drunken sailor if it means building more highways around the state, whether we need them or not.

Now, he has put up not just one, but two, posts ridiculing people for pointing out the efficiencies and pleasantries of rail systems. His argument is apparently he might have to walk a few blocks (although he thinks the elderly and disabled should do that with Transit Plus - go figure).

I have a question for Paddy.

In the past week, there have been seven or eight deaths around the state, related to weather induced traffic accidents, including a young mother and her seven month old son. Patrick, how many people around the state have died from weather-related train accidents?

For a bonus question: How many trains got stranded on a track due to the recent snow storms, and how does that compare to the hundreds of cars in Milwaukee alone that were stranded in the streets?

Second Page For Dr. McIlheran

A week or two ago, PaddyMac smugly posted something on his blog about how terrible the Canadian health care system is supposed to be. It was promptly refuted by Illy-T, and I pointed out that New York had it's own problems.

Paddy is a slow learner apparently. He now put up a post of an anecdotal story of a woman that gave birth on the floor in a hospital in Scotland.

That still doesn't compare to the NY story in which a woman died while being neglected for more than 24 hours.

It also doesn't address the issue of hospitals in LA, which is still in the American health care system, for dumping patients on Skid Row. Perhaps that is what he considers to be high quality health care.

Is This Talk Radio's Time To Shine?

From Dan Cody:

On a final note… One thing I never understood is local talk show hosts bragging about how they’re first or second in the Milwaukee market in terms of ratings and how at this very moment, there may be almost 10,000 or 15,000 people listening!

I always cringe when they go off on that rant because it’s rather pointless and embarrassing chest thumping. Yeah, 10k is a lot of people… but compared to what? It’s like the Division 20 High School football championship held in a stadium built for 100,000. Yeah it’s great all their supporters are there and the players are thrilled to have the biggest crowd of their lives, but even the massive turnout of 1,000 fans who made the trip look a little odd in the first 4 rows of the stadium built for 100 times their number. The kids are thrilled though because it’s one. thousand. people.

…and being first in the time slot between 3pm and 6pm is great too! But who exactly are you up against on the radio dial at that time? Old time Christian story hour on the WGOD? The home improvement call in show out of Beloit on WWTF? Minor league baseball coverage out of Appleton? I mean seriously… put me on from 2pm to 3pm with a harmonica and two spoons and I could probably win the time slot too.

As for me, I expect talk radio to be around for a while, although most people seem to be taking it less and less seriously as they continue to make complete asses out of themselves.

But it also shows me the fallacy of the right wing squawkers faux fear of the Fairness Doctrine. I doubt that anyone would be looking to get into a business they thought would be shut down anytime soon.

James T. Harris: Girlie Man

James T. shows off his superficiality with this post pondering the physique of Barack Obama. I thought it was jealousy at first, until he gets later into his post with this:

Now... I'll say it... What the hell is going on with Michelle?
Could there be a correlation between the towel she's wearing and the chip she's eating? And before you all start tripping on me, remember, Hillary showed hers first!

Getting rather catty there, aren't you James. I think this goes beyond mere sexism. Given that he is snarky with both Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, I think he is just afraid of strong women. That can happen to men that aren't secure in their masculinity, you know.

Pure Genius

When Tom McMahon came up with the anti-Semitic, prejudicial bastardization of the COEXIST bumper sticker, Sykes thought it was "pure genius."

McMahon has just posted one of his four squares that Sykes will probably wet himself over.

It has it all. Racism, anti-Semitism and most importantly, egocentrism. It is the trifecta of the Hate Right. I'm sure it will be only a matter of time before McMahon gets his own talk show, or at the very least, a regular column at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Showing Them The Money

During the election season, Charlie Sykes stated that he had a problem with the proposed bail out of the major financial institutions of Milwaukee, but he was relatively low key about it. After the election, Sykes remained low key about the bailout.

But once there was talking about bailing out the Big Three Automakers, he became a lot more noisome about the whole thing. I thought it was just Sykes following his spoon fed Republican talking points in attacking the UAW and unions in general.

Then it dawned on me. The reason why he was so mild about the financial institutions in comparison to the automakers is because he didn't want to bite the hand that feeds him.

M & I is a large sponsor of Sykes' show and of TMJ620 radio. They even bought air time when Sykes does "interviews" with M & I staff people and their Wealth Management group, supposedly to give tips of what to do regarding wealth management.

What makes this so delightfully hypocritical is that M & I took $1.7 billion in bail out money. If they can't manage their own wealth, why would anyone trust their wealth to them?

To add to the hypocrisy, my friend Illy-T points out that the auto makers are as eligible for bail out moneys as much as M & I.

It would seem that all that needs to happen is for GM, Ford, Mopar or even the UAW themselves to buy some ad time, and Sykes will be purring for them as well.

The man and the company that employs him have no shame.

Fischer The Scientist

Here's a screen cap from something Kevin Fischer just put up:



Um Kevin, old chum, old pal, old buddy...would you be kind enough to explain to the gentle reader how the weather affects the length of sunlight during a day? Is that the kind of basic elementary school science that you use to disprove global climate change?

Of course, I may be expecting to much from a glorified receptionist.

They Say It Like It's A Bad Thing

Chuckles has a link to a parody done of the New York Times. It is supposedly to mock all of the things that liberals have on their agenda. In other words, these are the things that Charlie and his listeners think are bad things or just plain silly:

• Ending the Iraq War and bringing our brave men and women home.
• The Bush Administration admitting that it lied to get us into Iraq.
• Bush being held accountable for his misdeeds.
• Everyone receiving affordable health care.
• The Constitution being restored.
• Stabilizing the economy.
• Creating jobs.
• Repairing the country's infrastructure.

If these things are wrong, I'm sure glad I'm not part of the Right.

Bush Did The Right Thing, Sykes Complains

From the prodigal Brawler:

What does it take for Charlie Sykes to turn on George Bush?

Torture? No. War? No. Huge deficits? No?

How did George W. Bush earn one of Charlie Sykes' deep tunnel awards? Throw a lifeline to the Big Three. The winners? The UAW (although they are looking at making serious givebacks). The losers, in Sykesland? The taxpayer (who apparently would be "winners" if the U.S. auto sector tanked.

It's odd. Charlie seems to think that -- at least he claims to think -- that a modest sales tax increase or a sick day mandate would decimate jobs in Milwaukee.

But in his eyes an effort (imperfect, yes, but an effort) to prevent the destruction of potentially hundreds of thousands of jobs (though job loss in the the U.S. based auto sector will measure in the tens of thousands in the coming years even in a best-case scenario) in the midst of a recession is a shitty thing to do...

Read the rest here.

Paging Dr. McIlheran. Paging Dr. McIlheran

PaddyMac put up a piece regarding a man that died in the waiting area of a Canadian hospital. He felt that this proved that universal health care is a complete flop and that this sort of thing wouldn't happen in the good old U.S. of A.

Illy-T, our friendly neighborhood Canadian transplant, takes on the issue:

Dr. Chaoulli gained some notoriety a couple of years ago when he successfully challenged the Province of Quebec's restrictions on privately insured health care. He's one of those brave mavericks who opt out of the "socialized medicine" that McIlheran so detests.

That's right: McIlheran has selected the alleged negligence of a physician that derives his livelihood from U.S.-style private insurance plans as an example of how bad a public health care system is.

Outstanding work, Mr. McIlheran. Way to pick those cherries.

(Canada, incidentally, ranks 14th in the world by overall life expectancy, according to the current CIA Factbook. The U.S. is 45th.)

I would humbly point out to Dr. Paddy that, according to the last time I checked, New York was not part of Canada. Perhaps he doesn't mind that this woman died after being in the ER's waiting area for over 24 hours and then having her body lie on the floor for a better part of an hour before anyone does anything. After all, if they had treated her, that might mean his taxes could have gone up.

Would An Organized Political Party Act Like This?

Nah. But that doesn't stop the RPW and their apologists.

Chris Schneider, the erstwhile Dennis York, blogging over at the WPRI Think Tank Command Central gets to take the official snark shot at Jeff Wood. It's replete with "joint committee" and Big Lebowski jokes and all those other compassionate, sympathetic bromides that the WPRI scribblers maintain are the hallmarks of Conservative action. One wonders what "policy" Schneider was researching when he wrote this attack.

Lest we forget, it wasn't so very long ago that Jeff Wood was one of the RPW's shining stars, tasked with being the saddle-pal of Crazy Frank as they ramrodded the ill-fated TABOR Bill to its quick and certain demise.

Now that Wood has turned his back on the "leadership" of RPW, his former groupies are only too happy to pile on him while he's down. Remember this post for the next time Charlie tries to convince us that conservatives are, somehow, travellers of a higher road. The next time Belling or Wagner start bitching that Liberals are mean you can point them in this direction.

Jeff Wood will pay for his transgressions. He will pay in time and money and honor. If he's smart he'll come out stronger and better. If he's smart he'll ignore the piffle falling off WPRI and their ilk. But then, that's just good policy any day.

Belling: Making Milwaukee proud again

Mark Belling's most recent racist rant -- -unless he's done another since Wednesday, which is certainly possible -- is noted by Media Matters. (No, that would not be McBride's Media Matters, which thankfully is on a long vacation. It's the real one.)

Mike Plaisted comments.