Today’s Journal Sentinel’s “Crossroads” section is a virtual festival of fallacious thinking, misunderstanding of reality, and just plain wrong-headedness.

Reader Advisory Committee Member Kelly Kasum Ressel, for instance, criticizes those meddling local bureaucrats who mandate that pool owners put up proper fencing to keep children out. She complains that this places the responsibility on the pool owner rather than where it belongs, on the children’s parents. What she actually has a quarrel with is the old common-law doctrine of the attractive nuisance, which does exactly that. The governments are actually helping pool owners, since if sued under that doctrine they can argue that erecting a fence that complies with local ordinances is exercising reasonable care.

Shouldn’t even “Advisory Hits” have some standards?

Patrick Dorwin of Badger Blogger is quoted in the so-called “Best of the Blogs” implying that drilling in the ANWR will bring down our heating-oil prices this winter. I hate to break it to you, Patrick, but any new drilling wouldn’t yield actual fuel for at least 10 to 15 years — until about 2030, according to the Bush Administration itself — and when it does, it’s not going to make much of a dent in prices. I know that polls show that half of Americans think expanded drilling will lower gas prices by next year, but one would hope our “best” bloggers would stick to the facts rather than faux populism.

Now let’s turn to the letters page. Hoo boy. James Pawlak thinks our history textbooks ignore all the “persons seeking religious freedom” who populated the U.S. Without going too deeply into the history of the American colonists, I can tell you that the most commonly used examples — the Pilgrims and Puritans — wanted the freedom to practice their religion and make sure everybody else in their colony practiced it, or else. That’s not the usually intended meaning of “religious freedom.” (I’m not even going to get into Pawlak’s views on the role of white men in American history.)

Retired MPD Captain Glenn D. Frankovis thinks Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn should send some officers to St. Paul to help with security at the Republican National Convention. What concerns me here is that he twice refers to this as sending “troops.” This paramilitary mindset is a dangerous one, and all too common in those running security for large political gatherings. I hate its spread to urban police forces.

Then there’s blockhead William A. Draves, who thinks that a small gap between Wisconsin males’ and females’ ACT scores — in favor of males — while Wisconsin colleges are graduating more women than men is evidence of some sort of anti-male conspiracy. Of course, Draves either doesn’t know or chooses to ignore that test scores are but one aspect of students’ qualifications that college admissions offices evaluate; high school grades weigh at least as heavily, if not more, and girls generally outdo boys in that arena. He also plays statistical games by not telling us the percentage of college applicants that are male, only the percentage of graduates, as if the other number doesn’t matter.

Well, I’m exhausted. It’s tough when people are being wrong in the newspaper. Especially those the newspaper itself chooses to feature.

Milwaukee businessman Sheldon Lubar believes that county government should be eliminated.

He’s right.

But he doesn’t go far enough. Counties should be eliminated all together.

The additional governmental level of counties is unnecessary and the role of County government could be divvied up between state and city government.

I say this as someone who has served as a County Supervisor.

Counties introduce an extra, unnecessary level of politicization which does little to serve its citizens.

Case in point, in Milwaukee County the rhetoric of cutting taxes has resulted in an erosion of responsibility from our elected leaders. A general decay of our park system, unprecedented cuts in our mass transit system and the recent talk of privatizing the airport for a quick fix of cash are not signs of responsible leadership.

At the same time, counties act as scapegoats for state politicians who shift costs, in the form of unfunded state mandates, onto local governments. This has resulted in an underfunded court system and overcrowded jails. Although state politicians pass the laws, county government must pay to hold the accused until they are convicted and sent to a state prison. With underfunded courts, counties struggle to house the accused.

In a trip to visit family in Germany my Grandfather struggled with how he would explain what I did to his brother. “They got rid of Counties when they got rid of Kings” he explained to me.

If counties were eliminated, city or village governments would be responsible for their own local parks and transportation. State government would have no one to blame for problems in the court system or in providing health and human services as it would be their people who would directly run things.

It would be the end of scapegoating and would result in enhanced services though a better definition of responsibilities and increased efficiencies.

Right after Senator Obama returned from his trip to Afghanistan, a lie written by a soldier in Afghanistan was circulating around the blogs. The soldier, CPT Jeffrey S. Porter, Battle Captain, TF Wasatch, claimed that Senator Obama “got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle…As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn’t say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General….”

Snopes.com dug into the story and proved that it was FALSE.

(They also said that because this has been such a common strategy used by Republicans that they started investigating it as soon as they started hearing that it was hitting blogs around the country.)

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp

This is just one of the latest chain email smears that are being used against Senator Obama.

According to an Army Spokesperson quoted in the New York Daily News:

“These comments are inappropriate and factually incorrect,” said Bagram spokeswoman Army Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, who added that such political commentary is barred for uniformed personnel.

In a follow-up Blog entry, the Daily News reported that the e-mail’s author has recanted his original message:

Now he is asking that everyone delete the email and not forward it on, claiming that after checking his sources, he found that the information that he put in his email was wrong.

Unfortunately, anyone not reading the retraction will still have the same negative perception of him.

In addition to the official military denials, a Department of Defense video shows Senator Obama meeting, talking, and eating breakfast with U.S. troops in Afghanistan (and includes a brief interview with a soldier who noted that Obama “took time out of his schedule to come over and visit with us, not just at this camp but at other surrounding camps in Afghanistan.”)

Snopes also received a flood of messages from U.S. troops who met Senator Obama in his Middle East trip in Afghanistan and elsewhere, who reported quite different experiences than CPT Jeffery Porter, including a letter from another soldier who says that CPT Porter wasn’t even there.

Another wrote: “I don’t know who this captain saw, but it wasn’t the Barack Obama I just saw in Afghanistan. Unlike most of the pols who breeze on through for nothing more than brief photo ops before leaving he was warm, friendly & engaging (as much as security would allow) with the troops he met and he was genuinely interested in us and our mission and how we could best serve our country. When Obama went to Jordan a few days ago they said “The guy gets it. Sharp, aware and a very good listener. He doesn’t seem stuck in any preconceived positions.” Those are the qualities I’d like to see in my Commander in Chief. While Obama was out visiting the troops, what was John McCain doing…?, playing golf with his rich cronies (Bush Sr.) in Kennebunkport and whining about how much press coverage Obama was getting. Definitely “not” the qualities I want to see in my Commander in Chief.”

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that it was unlikely that the e-mail’s author would face any disciplinary measures.

Can you imagine what would have happened if an Obama supporter had done something like this to McCain?

You may also recall, that while security was supposed to be tight, and the location and itinerary for Senator Obama was supposed to be kept secret until after he left, Senator McCain was blabbing to reporters about where Senator Obama was going to be and when!!!

I guess security for another American means nothing to Senator McCain if he can provide intelligence to our enemies, so that he can get them to do his dirty work for him, and get himself into the White House.

Or will Senator McCain claim that he didn’t know what he was doing when he was divulging sensitive information to the whole world?

How secure does that make you to trust McCain with the safety of the United States, or Democrats in general if he gains the White House?

How secure does it make you to consider that he has been a member of Congress for the last 26 years?

Maybe that explains the mess we are in.

July 30 2008 Bush Claims that releasing strategic oil reserves “would take time” yet claims that reversing the bans on offshore oil drilling would have affect on pricing. What? Releasing oil that we already have would take more time than drilling for oil that hasn’t yet been found?

Republicans also claim that speculators don’t have a significant effect on gas prices. Oh Really? Remember Enron and how they drove up energy prices over four times what it should have been, and joked about little old grandmothers who had to choose between their heating bills and feeding themselves?

But the real culprit is based on simple supply and demand based on the lack of fuel efficiency that we have in our vehicles and appliances, and the higher prices that prevent more and more people from having the freedom to use their expensive gas guzzlers.

The price of gas has recently dropped from its high by $25 a barrel of oil and $0.50 a gallon of gas or more only a month ago, which has nothing to do with increased oil supplies. We haven’t had any significant oil import increases, and we certainly haven’t gained more oil from drilling from that ban that was just lifted. (The offshore oil drilling bans were put into place by Presidents Ronald Reagan and the first President Bush, by the way. Both of them are Republicans.) And we haven’t had any oil companies build any more oil refineries in that time period either.

That demonstrates that it is high demand that drove up the prices initially. The reduced usage of the oil stocks that resulted because people couldn’t afford to drive dropped the prices next. This was followed by speculators reducing their expectation that oil prices would continue to rise in the near future, thereby dropping the price of oil and gasoline even further (and faster).

This only reinforces the conservation argument, that higher fuel/energy efficiency which reduces the overall consumption of the limited fuels that we do have, has a drastic effect on prices. It only stands to reason that if you increased your average vehicle fuel efficiency from 20 mpg to 50 mpg, that you would reduce your consumption, given the same miles driven over the same amount of time. (15,000 miles driven annually at 20 mpg uses 750 gallons of gas. 15,000 miles driven annually at 50 mpg uses 300 gallons of gas. That yields a savings of 450 gallons annually, or 60% of what you would have used before.) That also means you can drive 2 ½ years on the same amount of fuel that you used to use in 1 year. If every car on the road did that, we would more than double the length of time that our oil reserves and current oil imported would last us.

Chevy has a few vehicles that get a little over 30 mpg. The six speed four cylinder Malibu (22/32 mpg) and the Aveo (26-37 mpg). The Mini Cooper gets 26-37 mpg. The Smart fortwo gets 33-41 mpg. Honda has vehicles that get over 30 mpg (Accord 21-31) (Fit 27-34) and even up to 40/45 mpg (The Honda Civic Hybrid). Toyota’s Yaris (29-36) and Corolla (28-37) mpg. Toyota’s Prius is rated for 45 on the highway and 48 in the city. We have a Prius and regularly get in the mid 50 mpg range, and even up to the mid 60’s on occasion. We very rarely drop below 50 mpg.

A Bellevue, Washington company, AFS Trinity Corporation has developed an upgrade to the Saturn Vue gas/electric hybrid, so that it gets an effective 150 mpg. By adding super capacitors and a plug in module to the vehicle, it allows the vehicle to drive 40 miles on battery power alone, and regenerate the power to the battery by capturing the energy from braking and the vehicles downhill motion, in addition to using the plug in module to recharge the battery every night. It costs you about $1 a night to recharge the battery. If the vehicle was driving on gas alone, it would only be getting 26 mpg.

So getting that type of fuel mileage isn’t out of the question. It is only dependent on whether our political and industrial leaders have the will and the intelligence to act on this issue now. The AFS Trinity Corporation debuted its 150 mpg vehicle in Detroit in January of 2008 and hoped to gain the attention of the big three auto companies to mass produce them. They still don’t have any takers. The company is planning on building hybrid conversion kits and training people to install them on vehicles if GM, Ford and Chrysler don’t act on mass producing the 150 mpg vehicles themselves. See more by going to the URL below.

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/01/13/074940.html

The U.S. currently only has an average fleet fuel average of about 20-25 mpg. Communist China has an average fleet fuel average of 30-35 mpg. Japan has an average fleet fuel average of 40-45 mpg.

The U.S. uses 80% of the world’s oil, yet only has 5% of the world’s population. We cannot continue to use oil at that rate and not expect to pay a huge price for it in some way, either by its cost, or losses from war, or both.

Bush continues to push for drilling even after saying that we are addicted to oil (He forgot to say that he was the drug pusher). Cheney’s only response was “oil and gas, gas and oil, drill, drill, drill”. Not unexpected from the former CEO of Halliburton, a company that makes oil drilling equipment and also profits from no-bid construction and logistical contracts with the military in the Iraq War. And McCain? He just follows along with Bush and Cheney, pushing for off-shore oil drilling.

Senator Obama has been pushing for the accelerated development of alternative energy, and increased fuel efficiency in our vehicles.

And the truth about whether or not additional oil drilling would have an affect on our gas pricing? We import 70% of the oil that we currently use. There is no way that we can drill for, and process that amount of oil off of our shores to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil in the near future, regardless of how big any oil reserves we find happen to be, and regardless of their source, whether it be ANWR, or oil shale or offshore drilling.

The Energy Information Administration confirms that additional drilling in the Pacific and Atlantic Coast, in addition to any increase in drilling in the areas that currently produce, would not have any effect on prices until 2030.

And the oil companies? Exxon Mobil just reported another record profit for this quarter of 11.68 Billion, breaking its profit record from last quarter of $10.26 Billion.

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/exxon-reports-another-record-profit/109755

So this year, as you are forced to choose between filling your gas tank and feeding yourself and your kids, or paying for your prescription drugs, or your rent/mortgage, show up to vote and consider your choices at the ballot box very carefully.

The future you save may be your own.

Follow up on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on Conservatives running as Democrats.

You can find the original story at this link:

http://blogs.jsonline.com/allpoliticswatch/archive/tags/Elections/default.aspx

Madison - Leaders of Wisconsin’s political parties usually stay out of primary election fights, since they know they have to be on speaking terms with whoever wins the party’s nomination and goes on to the general election.

Not this year. The state Democratic Party’s Administrative Committee on Friday endorsed one Assembly incumbent, Rep. Gary Sherman of Port Wing, against his September primary challenger.

And, state Party Chairman Joe Wineke said, the same committee may soon convene again to offer the same endorsements to six Assembly Democrats from Milwaukee County who face intra-party opponents.

This year is different because “conservatives, if not outright Republicans” filed nomination papers to run as Democrats, Sherman told his fellow Democratic Party leaders during a conference call meeting Friday.
And, when non-Democrats line up to challenge one-of-us-Democrats, Sherman added, “We have a right to defend the integrity of our (party nomination) process.”

State Democratic Party leaders groused that some of the conservative challengers to the good-old-Democrats had been put up to it by former Republican state Sen. Tom Reynolds of West Allis, although linking a specific candidate to Reynolds can be hard to prove. The mischief-making Reynolds lost his re-election bid in 2006.

The six incumbent Democrats with challengers in the September primary are: Reps. Annette “Polly” Williams, Pedro Colon, Tony Staskunas, Leon Young, Barbara Toles and Christine Sinicki. Together, they have served 75 years in the Assembly.

OUR UPDATE FOLLOWS:

Republicans Running as Democrats in Milwaukee County AD Primary Race

The following list shows the Assembly Districts and the Republican
challengers posing as Democrats in the primaries, who are known to be
supported by Tom Reynolds ( R ), whose “Clean Sweep” organization and
Endeavor Press Print Shop are providing them with financial
contributions and printing services.

(The names listed in parenthesis after the District are the current
Democratic incumbents.)

8th District (Colon) – Jose Guzman
Cash on Hand - $25.00
Incurred obligations - $316.11 to Endeavor Press
Contributions from Committees:
Clean Sweep Wisconsin - $75.00 in-kind for graphic design
5.00 in-kind for voting data

10th District (Williams) - Charista Allen
Cash on Hand - $415.00
Incurred obligations - $158.00 to Endeavor Press
Contributions from Committees:
Clean Sweep Wisconsin - $75.00 in-kind graphic design

15th District (Staskunas) – Josh Hoisington
Cash on Hand - $25.00
Incurred Obligations - $310.11 to Endeavor Press
Contributions from Committees:
Clean Sweep Wisconsin - $75.00 in-kind for graphic design

16th District (Young) – David King
Report not available at GAB as of morning of 7/28/08
Contributions from Committees:
Clean Sweep Wisconsin (from their finance report): $75.00 in-
kind

17th District (Toles) – Samantha Bady
Cash on Hand - $200.00
Incurred Obligations - $158.40 to Endeavor Press
Contributions from Committees
Clean Sweep Wisconsin - $75.00 in-kind for graphic design
- $40.00 in-kind for flyers

20th District (Sinciki) – Phil Landowski
Cash on Hand - $4.51
Incurred Obligations – None
Contributions from Committees:
Clean Sweep Wisconsin - $75.00 in-kind for graphic design

Clean Sweep Wisconsin PAC was created and is operated by Tom
Reynolds. The address for the PAC is the same as his voting address
and his printing business, Endeavor Press: 9430 W Schlinger Avenue,
West Allis

All of the challengers to the Milwaukee area incumbents have all
received in-kind contributions from Clean Sweep Wisconsin and except
for Landowski and King, all have done business with Endeavor Press
and owe that business money, which is owned by Tom Reynolds.

More details on the candidates in the Democratic primary against Incumbents are:

State Assembly District 8:
Pedro Colon Democratic Incumbent (Paid member in good standing of the Democratic Party):
Challengers running as Democrats: Laura L. Manriquez (paid member of the Democratic Party), and (Jose Guzman FAKE)

State Assembly District 10
Annette Polly Williams Incumbent
Challenger running as Democrat: Charisha Allen FAKE

State Assembly District 15
Tony Staskunas Incumbent Paid member in good standing of the Democratic Party
Challenger running as a Democrat: Josh Hoisington FAKE

State Assembly District 16
Leon D. Young Incumbent Doesn’t show up at Democratic events and not a member of the Democratic Party.
Challengers running as Democrats: Andy Parker (showed up at a Milw. County Meeting recently), Richard M. Badger (showed up at a Milw. County Meeting recently – has support in the party) and (David D. King FAKE)

State Assembly District 17
Barbara L. Toles Incumbent
Challenger running as Democrat: (Samantha H. Bady FAKE)

State Assembly District 20
Christine M. Sinicki Incumbent (hasn’t paid her Democratic Party dues for awhile)
Challengers running as Democrats: Steve Sutherland (no information), and (Philip Landowski FAKE)

The Milwaukee County Democratic Party has not endorsed any candidates for these seats at this time, but it is being taken up by the Milwaukee County Party Executive Committee.

We are asking that the individuals funded by Tom Reynold’s “Clean Sweep” organization NOT be supported by Democrats, because they are considered FAKE democrats, (who are really conservatives running as Democrats rather than as Republicans because they couldn’t otherwise get elected).

Martha Love, Chair of the Milwaukee County Democratic Party is not willing to endorse candidates at this time, even those who are incumbent Democrats, if they are not Democrats in good standing. (That means that they need to be fully paid up members of the Democratic Party and working with the local Democratic Party in their districts.)

Fred Kessler has asked that members support all of the incumbent Democrats, but there are some districts that are being contested by legitimate Democratic challengers. Those are the individuals who are NOT being backed by Tom Reynold’s “Clean Sweep” organization.

We will update you as we get more information.

Journal Sentinel Community Columnist Al Smith shares some apocalyptic words about the proposal to require employers in Milwaukee to provide paid sick leave to all employees.

In truth, I think a requirement limited to Milwaukee is a bad idea that could backfire; I’d like to see a statewide mandate, or better yet (dreaming here), a national one. But that’s not Smith’s problem with the plan.

Our noble columnist ratchets up the class-war rhetoric, opening by informing us that “leftists … never stop coming up with new ideas to steal other people’s money” and sarcastically inquiring why 9to5 isn’t also demanding that all workers get company cars. Gee, Al, I dunno, maybe they’re holding out for corporate jets?

I might have more patience with Smith’s failure to understand the difference between paid sick leave and a company car, or with his complaints about confiscating people’s wealth, if I hadn’t recently finished reading an advance copy of Mystic River author Dennis Lehane’s new book, The Given Day, a historical novel about the years 1918-19 which focuses on labor unrest, climaxing with the disastrous Boston Police Strike of 1919. (Don’t look for it in stores yet, as it’s not coming out until late September, but you can pre-order it here.)

This isn’t a book review, so I won’t be going into detail, but I will say that, though flawed, the book is well worth reading, and not just because it provides a salutary reminder of what workers and labor organizers had to face less than a century ago — it’s also an entertaining story. (Before Patrick McIlheran’s Reality Patrol arrests me, I do understand the difference between fact and fiction, but there’s a great deal of verifiable historical fact behind this fiction.)

In the same way that the TV series Mad Men reminds us why we need feminism, The Given Day vividly illustrates the need for labor unions (and laws protecting the right to organize). Of course, if the last several decades hadn’t seen the systematic dismantling of organized labor, most Milwaukee workers would be unionized, and a proposal like 9to5’s would be unnecessary.

But it’s Smith’s rhetoric that reminds me most viscerally of the novel, and of the real-life anti-labor forces from which it draws its inspiration. Smith compares requiring sick leave with mob lootings of people’s homes, and clearly thinks those stuck in dead-end jobs with no benefits deserve their fate, given his casual admonition that if they don’t like it, they should “expand their skill set.” Those who opposed organized labor also compared workers’ demands to theft, and were similarly contemptuous of those who were anything but grateful to have employment, no matter how terrible the pay and conditions.

To move away from the fictional past to the semi-fictional present, Smith hauls out the old “tax hell” nonsense. This tired idea bears even less scrutiny given MillerCoors’s recent decision to leave Milwaukee for Chicago — not exactly known for its low-tax, low-regulation environment — in part because of Chicago’s transit system, the kind of improvement for Milwaukee that those of Smith’s ilk rabidly oppose.

It seems that conservatives have really taken to this idea of a Second Gilded Age. One little hint, guys: Mark Twain coined the term “Gilded Age,” and it wasn’t complimentary.