What’s in your basement? How about the garage? 

Toxic waste is what is in your basement and garage. I would bet anything on that. Stuff that shouldn’t be “thrown out.” Stuff that should be carefully and properly disposed of.  So, what does the government do?

 They cut the funds for Clean Sweep programs.

I’ve been keeping a mental list of what I want to dispose next Clean Sweep.

Maybe I won’t wait.

Maybe I’ll dump it down the storm drain now?

No place else to take it.

Are you happy?

I am and I didn’t even have to be told I was.

You might not  be aware there is a Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index that tells us if we are happy or not. 

Supposedly this survey finds … The people of Utah are the happiest. The people of West Virginia are the unhappiest.

You know what I find?

Happy people are happy people no matter where they live. 

Unhappy people are unhappy people no matter where they live.

No map is required.

“What’s in it for me”  has been released.

The projects in my little corner of the world (NW Wisconsin) have been announced which will be funded by the Stimulus Bill. Let me say without hesitation that I support the idea of a massive public works program to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. I am willing to stretch my imagination a bit on what is “infrastructure.”  So, I looked at the list from this “stimulus” point of view. Will these funds produce jobs and improve our crumbling infrastructure? That’s what we were told …right?

$4.2 million for the St. Croix Falls wastewater treatment plant.

Yes, this will create jobs and is needed infrastructure.

$1.9 million for US 53 intersection improvements.

Well, they first have to be studied and designed. Not  shovel ready. These intersections have been studied to death over the past 10 years. Still no consensus what to do to improve safety. This $1.9 will be pissed away in the study stage giving make work to a couple planner for a couple of years. By the time anything does get decided, it will be passed the time we need stimulus work.

$1.33 million for after school programs funded by CESA 10 and 11.

After school programs?  Stimulus package?  I don’t think so.

$950,000 for Chippewa Valley Regional Airport expansion.

Yes, it will create jobs and is transportation infrastructure.

$500,000 for water infrastructure improvements in Cumberland.

You bet. 

$335,000 for zebra mussel control on the St. Croix River.

The list gets pretty hard to defend starting now.

$263,000 for environmental studies on the St. Croix River watershed.

Starting to get the picture?

$174,000 for some kind of program at UW-Stout to use technology to improve efficiency.

Whatever?

$70,000 for a water quality study on Cedar Lake in Barron County.

Yet another water quality study.

So, we have about $5.65 million in stimulus shovel ready jobs and $4 million not. Let’s call it 60-40.

If this is the percentage of shovel ready stimulus vs. non shovel ready stimulus in my area, why would I think the percentage would be different elsewhere.

Forty Percent Non-Stimulus Waste.

That’s too high for me.

I read a newspaper ad for a City Council candidate. Doesn’t matter who it is or where they are from. It could be anywhere.

 The ad simply said “Real World Common Sense” .

That’s it. It doesn’t do a thing for me.

I want examples!!! Give me a couple bullet points below that statement proving it. I love common sense. I agree there isn’t enough common sense in government. But, give me an example or two!

I love elections. I love the competition of it. I like to see candidates who stand for something get elected. 

What exactly would you have done different than your opponent in the past … or what exactly is your plans and agenda for the future? I might not agree with you but I would at least know you can think through a problem.

If you don’t have any specific plans or agenda for the future why are you running?  Why should I vote for you?

Real World Common Sense isn’t enough.

Sorry.

I want to alert all my “green” friends to a new option that may be available in the future.

Xcel Energy customers could choose to have more of the electricity they use come from renewable sources if the Wisconsin Public Service Commission approves a new request by the company.

Who would do this?

Everything I learned in high school physics class can be summed up in one sentence. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I don’t remember what was being discussed when that law of physics was first explained to me. I do remember it quickly turned into a discussion of the recoil of different caliber rifles.

That law of physics is also a law of politics.

If someone feels passionate, very passionate, on an issue, there is someone else just as passionate on the issue that has a view diametrically opposed to the original idea. The more passionate a view on an issue, the more passionate the opposing view.

Never forget this law of politics when advancing a new idea and prepare to deal early on with the opposition. 

Psst … Moving Mountains and Molehills Local Politics 101  can help you.

I’m going on vacation in four weeks. We are heading out to Virginia/Washington D.C. area. I’ve been there three times for work. Caught a few sites but not many. My wife has never been there. We are really looking forward to the trip.

This morning at coffee one of the guys asked me a hypothetical question. Who would I like to bump into and say “Hi?”  He expected me to name someone he knew. You know…  a big name. I assumed that it should be someone who might actually be walking the streets for me to bump into. Not so big of a name.

I said, “Fred Barnes.”

My friend looked at me very puzzled and said, “Who the hell is Fred Barnes?”

Don’t feel bad Fred. He didn’t know who Chris Matthews was either.

In fact, most of the people I come into contact each day don’t watch cable news. At all. They don’t read blogs and they sure don’t twitter. Yet, somehow they manage to get along quite well. At times I even envy them.

With every passing day I see and hear the growing lack of confidence in our political leaders at all levels of government. There is even a word for it …  Kakistocracy.

Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

Note the definition states “or” not “and”. Some are unqualified … some are unprincipled. But not both at the same time. Not every elected leader, but enough of them to really screw things up. Enough to be in control at any one time. Party affiliation is irrelevant as the unqualified or unpricipled are everywhere. 

I remember an old time Town Chairman.  He was publicly called “backward” by opponents.  There was no way that the Town could find anyone worse. It turns out they could. I learned then, no matter how bad things were, they could get worse.

Have we found the least competent or most unprincipled yet?  Have we reached Kakistocracy?

Sorry to say, probably not.

Apathy. Political Apathy. It’s killing us. On all levels of government, it is killing us. Just look at all the bozos we have serving in government at all levels. We re-elect them term after term after term even after we know they are bozos. Some of them, especially on the local level continue to get re-elected with no opposition.

Luckily a cure for political apathy has been discovered. The cure isn’t easy. The cure isn’t pain free. But, there is a cure. The cure is …Involvement.

Get off your dead ass and get involved.

Go to meetings. Write letters. Run for office.

Oh, that’s right. You’re too busy.

Sorry.