Uppity Wisconsin

Last night at the Senate primary election debate, Senator Plale was mistaken about the facts.

 

And mistaken about democracy.

 

First of all the argument he used sabotages the idea of democracy. We had a county-wide vote and we won a county-wide vote. Some elected officials excused themselves from this fact by saying "my district" defeated the referendum. If this thinking spreads to other votes we end up with a governor and president of only half the nation.

 

The ruse is about as divisive as a politician can get with a straight face.

 

But Plale used it. And he should have checked the facts before trial ballooning this undemocratic excuse.

 

What he said.

 

About the November 4, 2008 ballot initiative to move parks, transit and emergency services to a sales tax, off the property tax, Senator Plale stated that the referendum actually failed "in this district." [the 7th Senate district made up of Milwaukee County's 19, 20, 21 assembly districts]

 

http://www.county.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cntyElectCommission/...

 

or

 

Cars Ride On The Backs Of Kids And Hummingbirds

 

 

... the faces of kids who had no idea what kind of energy pornography website their beautiful faces, good intentions, skateboards, bikes, and smiles would be hired off to sell cars.

 

 

Greenwashing used to be BP. Those mag and TV ads - so hip, so green. And today?

 

Dead in the water ? To wish. Now comes www.CleanAirTrek.com to save greenwashing from its near death experience in the Gulf.

 

You see, public transportation in Wisconsin is running out the clock. Fourth down came and went in April. No score and so the State of Wisconsin must turn the ball over to the car manufacturers.

 

Yes, to the car. That consumer of farmland, the unemployed squatter on precious downtown spaces, that indolent 20-hour a day sleeper in your household that gobbles up nearly as much green as your mortgage. The car is now promoted by the State of Wisconsin in a five-figure ad campaign promoting cars. Profits go to carmakers and road-builders and parking lot owners.

 

Bill Richardson of Middleton, the media coordinator for the Dane County Republican Party, greeting the news that Wisconsin will get $810-million for a rail initiative linking Madison and Milwaukee:

"Trains are a 19th century wonder," Richardson said. "To offer a train in the 21st century is like offering the public a telegraph instead of an iPhone."

Richardson must not get out much -- not even as far as Chicago, let alone the northeastern US, France or Japan.

Someone is indeed living in the dark ages, but it's not the railroads.

Ninety percent (90%) of the opinion in the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (WCIJ) report on high speed rail is status quo, anti-public investment, and emphatically Cato Institute doctrine.

This essay presents eleven (11) charges that WCIJ failed their ethical principles. And twelve (12) characteristics of sloppy writing that denigrate journalism as a profession.

 

This blog^! is the fourth in a series about a WCIJ Report High Speed Rail broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio July 22, 2009:

Part 1. The WCIJ Fraud. WCIJ falsified the conclusion in a US Government Accountability Office report.

Part 2. The WCIJ Virus - the Fraud over the GAO text has spread far and wide in the media.

A citizen call to the state’s Fraud, Waste and Mismanagement hotline led to an audit of quality of road construction in Wisconsin. The caller’s complaint specifically mentioned the thickness of concrete pavement used in state highway projects.

 

 

But as the Legislative Audit Bureau uncovered problems with monitoring of road construction quality, they expanded the scope of the audit to look at the role of contract engineering consultants in inspecting and assuring the quality of road construction, the tests of materials and the tracking system used for monitoring quality inspections and materials tests.

 

The audit provided evidence the Department of Transportation (DOT) failed to provide adequate oversight. Documentation on tests of materials was missing which suggested required testing was never done. The audit findings raised questions about the accuracy and completeness of tests measuring the thickness and roughness of concrete and the adequacy of materials used in road construction.

 

 

 

... Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism Violates 3 Principles in its Code of Ethics....

 

A Series of Commentaries.

Introduction. Open Letter to WPR.

Part 1. The WCIJ Fraud.

Part 2. The WCIJ Virus.

Part 3. "Nobody Knows..."

 

WCIJ Screenshot

 

---

WCIJ Says Nobody Knows...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

I point.

Notice the second sentence, beginning "Nobody knows..."?

This short sentence deserves attention but please don't quote it.

... Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has created a tenacious anti-rail virus, a "feathers-to-the-wind" media story that the U.S. Government Accountability Office is opposed to inter-city rail projects....

By Bill Sell

A Series of Commentaries.
Introduction. Open Letter to WPR.
Part 1. The Fraud.
(more to come)

Part 2. The Virus

Wikipedia:

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner.

I advocate for public transportation and so I am familiar with the benefits and limits of rail, and the proper role of government.

The efficiencies of bus and rail are well-known. WPR underwriter CSX touts that its trains can move 426 tons of freight on one gallon of gas. Even the old Milwaukee buses qualify:

 

One full bus takes 30 cars off the road reducing congestion and making the air healthier to breathe. That's comparable to a line of cars six blocks long traveling at 25 mph.

And so it happened, that when I visited the WCIJ website, I found myself staring in disbelief at what WCIJ calls the 'conclusion' in the U.S. GAO Report on High Speed Rail: I know the work of the GAO; and it commands respect.

Screen Shot of WCIJ Website

 

 

 

 

Part 1. UW Journalists Fabricate the US Government Accountability Office's Conclusion on High Speed Rail

... WCIJ finds a 'useful' phrase buried in the GAO report and represents those 17 words as the whole of the GAO report....

By Bill Sell

Introduction to this Series of Reports

Part 1. The Fraud

From Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism Code of Ethics:

Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.

Did they? Draw your own conclusion:

GAO Report

UW Journalists Violate Several Ethical Principles of Journalism, but WPR maintains partnership with WCIJ

 

Open Letter to Wisconsin Public Radio

 

...this July 22 radio program made me wonder about the ties that WPR has created to this group called the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism....

By Bill Sell

 

Introduction and Open Letter


Dear Wisconsin Public Radio

Re: "Questions remain as state pushes ahead with rail line," by Lexie Clinton of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, with Andy Hall and Jim Packard. Web: July 21 and Radio: July 22, 2009.

 

Water Panel Weak On Specifics

The Politics of Water. Thursday, May 21.

A panel ensconced by the Public Policy Forum in a Wauwatosa hotel, was strong on the language of cooperation, happy about the International Water Compact, and true believers in the new "work together" mood of our nation.

Michael Murphy,  Alderman from Milwaukee, spoke of the issues on which Milwaukee would like cooperation: affordable housing, transit, and economic development of distressed areas. What he might have added is some conceptual material - how all of these things work together in a healthy city. Unfortunately he did not bring to the table The Now Issue: why it is that Transit, today as they spoke, could be the most effective signal of cooperation from Waukesha (County and City). Nor did he suggest, and reasonably he could have, why Milwaukee officials are looking to a private, international water corporation for serious money after being rebuffed on many fronts in Madison over school funding, dedicated transit funding that brings federal dollars, and health care costs.

My Dear Republican

"While each member of the Senate caucuses with his Party, what each of us hopes to accomplish is distinct from his party affiliation. The American people do not care which Party solves the problems confronting our nation. And no Senator, no matter how loyal he is to his Party, should or would put party loyalty above his duty to the state and nation."  ---Arlen Specter, on changing from Republican to Democrat, April 28.

April 27, I mail this letter to to the Republicans of the Joint Finance Committee.
April 28, Senator Specter resigns from the Republican Party.

=========================

Dear Republican Elected Official


I am a small-business owner of a nationally known service located in downtown Milwaukee. For over 30 years, I have observed your allegiance to the larger corporations and their needs, while generally you are condescending to us small business owners.

Your party puzzles me, locked into old issues that are evaporating as fast as stimulus funds from Washington.

My impression is that to a Republican a "small business" has revenues from 10 million and upward to the value of Marquette Electronics when it was sold to GE. (By the way, the former owner of that business is someone you should spend time with: he understands the connection between public transportation and local economies; his streetcar plan is a homerun for our city. )

As previously posted by Dan Cody and Jason Haas, the Quality of Life Alliance, another group I have ties to, have released the following press release:

The Quality of Life Alliance, a group I’m a part of, released the following press release today asking for the Joint Finance Committee to include the voter approved 1% sales tax for Milwaukee County in the upcoming budget.

For the sake of our Park System, Transit, and Emergency Medical Systems, we are asking the Joint Finance Committee to include in the next State budget what the citizens of Milwaukee County have already approved: a one percent sales tax increase that will provide sustainable, dedicated funding for Parks, Transit and EMS.

“Please don?t continue to allow the voices of the 400,000 people who voted in November?s referendum to be ignored”, remarked Cheri Briscoe of Sierra Club-Great Waters Group and Quality of Life Alliance member. The referendum was advisory and requires action from the state to be enacted.

Re: Milwaukee County Transit System Development Plan: 2009–2013 Transit Service Improvement Alternatives.

A Response by Bill Sell

Dear Transit Planners 

I appreciate that you have a difficult job in a day of when politics is sometimes hostile to practical, wise investment in our infrastructure. Many believe Transit is a luxury because, they say, “I have a car. I don’t need it.” And elected officials pander to that tune rather than educate the citizen.

Your MCTS Plan 2009, however, too, is lacking. If anything it is not bold enough. You are open to serious criticism while your opening position on Plan 2009 does not reach far enough. While I understand the need to accommodate many interests, ... more at  http://www.milwaukeerenaissance.com/BusesAreGreen/MCTSPlan2009

Word from Transit is their concern that the demise of Transit TV will leave Transit but 'no choice' except to find a substitute system.  As a bus rider, I have a better idea. 

Dear Drivers

One bus driver on Route 15 announces all the stops. It is a pleasure to hear his voice and it gives him a commanding presence that is reassuring about the service as a whole. Why we needed Transit TV was that Transit management gave up on its efforts to get drivers to announce bus stops.

They might have thought that TTV filled the bill, but it does not. It announced only major stops, skipping the dark corners one can barely discern from inside the bus.  Dark corners are the corners the rider needs to get right.

Drivers, please spare us another version of TTV and call the stops, all of them.

Your riders have gone to bat for you against the cuts, against the fare increases that would reduce your hours. We need you on this one. Shout the stops. We'll thank you.