Noam on Madison and the World

Wisconsin is still Ground Zero

By Noam Chomsky in TomGram

The democracy uprising in the Arab world has been a spectacular display of courage, dedication, and commitment by popular forces -- coinciding, fortuitously, with a remarkable uprising of tens of thousands in support of working people and democracy in Madison, Wisconsin, and other U.S. cities. If the trajectories of revolt in Cairo and Madison intersected, however, they were headed in opposite directions: in Cairo toward gaining elementary rights denied by the dictatorship, in Madison towards defending rights that had been won in long and hard struggles and are now under severe attack.

Each is a microcosm of tendencies in global society, following varied courses. There are sure to be far-reaching consequences of what is taking place both in the decaying industrial heartland of the richest and most powerful country in human history, and in what President Dwight Eisenhower called "the most strategically important area in the world" -- "a stupendous source of strategic power" and "probably the richest economic prize in the world in the field of foreign investment," in the words of the State Department in the 1940s, a prize that the U.S. intended to keep for itself and its allies in the unfolding New World Order of that day. ...

Those with a sense of irony may recall that Benjamin Franklin, one of the leading figures of the Enlightenment, warned that the newly liberated colonies should be wary of allowing Germans to immigrate, because they were too swarthy; Swedes as well. Into the twentieth century, ludicrous myths of Anglo-Saxon purity were common in the U.S., including among presidents and other leading figures. Racism in the literary culture has been a rank obscenity; far worse in practice, needless to say. It is much easier to eradicate polio than this horrifying plague, which regularly becomes more virulent in times of economic distress.

I do not want to end without mentioning another externality that is dismissed in market systems: the fate of the species. Systemic risk in the financial system can be remedied by the taxpayer, but no one will come to the rescue if the environment is destroyed. That it must be destroyed is close to an institutional imperative. Business leaders who are conducting propaganda campaigns to convince the population that anthropogenic global warming is a liberal hoax understand full well how grave is the threat, but they must maximize short-term profit and market share. If they don't, someone else will.

This vicious cycle could well turn out to be lethal. To see how grave the danger is, simply have a look at the new Congress in the U.S., propelled into power by business funding and propaganda. Almost all are climate deniers. They have already begun to cut funding for measures that might mitigate environmental catastrophe. Worse, some are true believers; for example, the new head of a subcommittee on the environment who explained that global warming cannot be a problem because God promised Noah that there will not be another flood.

If such things were happening in some small and remote country, we might laugh. Not when they are happening in the richest and most powerful country in the world. And before we laugh, we might also bear in mind that the current economic crisis is traceable in no small measure to the fanatic faith in such dogmas as the efficient market hypothesis, and in general to what Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, 15 years ago, called the "religion" that markets know best -- which prevented the central bank and the economics profession from taking notice of an $8 trillion housing bubble that had no basis at all in economic fundamentals, and that devastated the economy when it burst.

All of this, and much more, can proceed as long as the Muashar doctrine prevails. As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome.

- Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor emeritus in the MIT Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. He is the author of numerous best-selling political works. His latest books are a new edition of Power and Terror, The Essential Chomsky (edited by Anthony Arnove), a collection of his writings on politics and on language from the 1950s to the present, Gaza in Crisis, with Ilan Pappé, and Hopes and Prospects, also available as an audiobook. This piece is adapted from a talk given in Amsterdam in March.

There's something happening here ...

Millwright among crowd on the square

Madison, Wisconsin—The rally to protect working Wisconsin families surged to an estimated 100,000 people as the coalition opposing Gov. Scott Walker and his budget bill appears to have broadened into a movement that has the governor desperate and Republican legislators on the defensive.



One characteristic of the crowd and those from the preceding days is the relatively apolitical and casual attitude toward politics that those interviewed demonstrated.

One woman, interviewed as she warmed-up in a bus shelter on State Street near the Capitol square, drove down from Rhinelander and is typical of  rally attendees from small Wisconsin cities, towns, and villages.

"No, I'm not real political. But Walker is hurting a lot of people and I had to do something."



Looking down East Washington Ave from the Capitol

Make no mistake, this is a highly charged political battle and professional political operatives in Wisconsin are uniting to defeat a governor they view as having created a critical mass of opposition that will see his recall in 2012.

For Walker's part, the Walker-Koch tapes (audio and text) alone may have damaged the good faith and confidence of mainstream Wisconsin citizens.

Massive Madison Rally Saturday for Working Families

- Live video coverage of rally -

Update: The Walker-Koch tapes (audio and text), and Citizen's Criminal Complaint Against Gov. Scott Walker. 

There is a constant presence at the Capital, inside and out. Crowds could swell to over 100,000 people.

Labor tents are sprawled around the capital square.

Would-be attendees can come at any time during day and night.

Some highlights and happenings

10:30 am  Protest at Koch Bros. Lobby Office; 10 East Doty St.
11:00 am SEIU meet-up at the UW-Madison Memorial Union.
11:00 LGBTQA Rally and march in support of Wisconsin families
12:00 pm TAA Teach-in: The Politics of the Wisconsin Labor Struggle
1:00 pm NAACP Rally at the State Capitol-Hilton Morona Terrace Hotel
1:00 pm Concert at the Capitol – performances by Tom Morello, Bascom Hill, Michael O'Brien, UW Alumni Band, Sam Frederic, Peter Yarrow
1:30 pm SEIU march from the Inn on the Park on the Square (22 S Carroll Street in Madison) to the rally
3:00 pm Rally to Save The American Way – Master of Ceremonies Brad Whitford

Some Rally Info and News Resources

• United Wisconsin
• Dem Party of Wisconsin   
• AFSCME
• SEIU WI
• Labor Notes
• Defend Wisconsin
• AFL-CIO WI
• Mark Pocan
• Progressives United
• Tammy Baldwin Solidarity Site
• Solidarity Wisconsin
• The Political Environment
• One Wisconsin Now
• The Daily Page - Isthmus
• Dane 101
• Uppity Wisconsin
• Madison.com
• WisPolitics

Watchdog calls for criminal probe of Gov Walker over 'Koch' tape

Protesters at Koch lobbying office in Madison

A national campaign finance watchdog, the Public Campaign Action Fund, sent a letter to the Dane County (WI) District Attorney and Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) today urging that they open concurrent investigations into Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-Wisc.) possible double violations of state campaign finance and ethics statutes.

Washington, D.C.—National campaign finance watchdog Public Campaign Action Fund sent a letter to the Dane County (WI) District Attorney and Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) today urging that they open concurrent investigations into Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-Wisc.) possible double violations of state campaign finance and ethics statutes. The letter is in response to yesterday’s release of a taped phone call between Gov. Walker and a person he thought was out-of-state, billionaire campaign donor David Koch.

The group asked the District Attorney and GAB to look at two questions:

1) Did Gov. Walker illegally solicit political expenditures for independent spending to benefit Republican Senators from swing districts?

2) Did Gov. Walker illegally solicit donations from the state capitol using state resources?

“Governor Walker, while on state grounds supposedly doing his job, thought he was speaking to out-of-state billionaire David Koch, and over the course of that conversation he asked Koch to spend money to help Republican Senators from electorally vulnerable districts,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for Public Campaign Action Fund. “The District Attorney of Dane County and the Government Accountability Board have concurrent jurisdiction over this matter, and both should immediately investigate whether Walker broke two state laws.”

The letters were faxed this afternoon to both offices. Download the letter to the District Attorney and the GAB [at Public Campaign Action Fund] .

The letter concludes:

“No one should be above the law. Governor Walker’s conduct in this reported conversation indicates he does not believe the Wisconsin campaign finance statutes or ethics rules apply to him. We strongly urge you to open an investigation into these violations to restore the confidence of Wisconsin’s citizens that theirs is a government of laws.”

“Of course, the bigger story here is the ease with which major donors can gain access to Gov. Walker,” said Donnelly. “While he can’t be bothered to talk to his political opponents, he found twenty minutes to spend with a wealthy oil tycoon. It’s a shameful statement on our broken political system.”

On Tuesday, blogger/reporter Ian Murphy released a recorded phone call between Gov. Walker and himself, pretending to be David Koch. During the discussion, Walker makes references to ways Koch could help state Republicans deal with the public opposition to Walker’s budget. Download the full transcript at Public Campaign Action Fund.

United with the Teamsters and All Labor

Gov. Scott Walker and his billionaire friends will lose, period.


Teamsters and I



Scott Walker Is Attacking the Livelihood of Wisconsin Families

It is God-awful bad.

Now is the time for every elected federal, state, county and municipal official to get out in the street.

We have a governor who can blithely tell the state in prime time that he has no compunction about firing workers, destroying the very livelihood of Wisconsin families for his own political ends that he believes "eventually" will become the consensus, as he tells George Will [who can't help but take gratuitous shots at the civil rights and peace movement in Madison].

In the mean time, families will just have to do without their jobs, as Walker and GOP legislative aides from Sen. Randy Hopper's office (R-Fond du Lac) smirk at callers.

This 'budget repair" bill is so loaded with weapons against Wisconsin families; it's difficult to address all the harm. Women, seniors, minorities, workers, anyone who is not a demonstrated Republican or Tea Partier is in some peril.

Here's one huge problem: Walker's threat to begin lay-offs next week if he does not get his way is a direct attack on families

Never has a Wisconsin governor so explicitly demonstrated genuine malice towards the people whom he is supposed to serve.

The sense of entitlement that Walker displays: Now that he is governor he can act in any manner he chooses reveals the mind-set that Norman Cousins described as the "pathology of power."

Walker is King George W. cubed at the height of his delusions from which we are still recovering.

It's crisis time alright; we have a maddened tyrant wreaking havoc onto our families.

People have fought and literally died for the rights such as collective bargaining that we take for granted today, or at least we did until Scott Walker assumed office.

As the great labor historians, Sidney Lens and Howard Zinn, remind us in their work, labor rights were won with blood, cracked skulls and destroyed families.

A recall will happen next year for Walker; and now is the time for militant action and civil disobedience.

This fool, and that is what Scott Walker is, has no conception of what he is doing.

Local Officials Fight Back as Nation Joins the Battle

Update: Scott Walker admits objective on collective bargaining: Weakening unions

- Live Coverage from Madison and AFLCIO Coverage and Not My Wisconsin -

"Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and more than 160 local officials from La Crosse to Milwaukee on Tuesday sent a letter to the governor and Legislature arguing that severe restrictions on collective bargaining undercut local control and the ability to deliver cost-effective, quality services," reports Dean Mosiman.

Democratic state senators say they are not giving up on Wisconsin families. They demand Walker halts the anti-collective bargaining vote until Gov. Walker says he'll negotiate.

Supporters are still coming to Madison from across the United States to what Rev. Jesse Jackson calls the "epicenter of the battle for America's democracy, and it is as American as Lexington, Concord, Gettysburg, Montgomery and Selma."

As Walker stays on target on Wisconsin families, it's worth noting that Finance, Insurance and Real Estate is the number one sector which contributed to Walker's campaign, according to the site, Follow the Money.

Jack E. Lohman has a new piece out. Writes Lohman:

Like, how about giving the governor the authority to sell off state assets (power plants), without bids, at any price they choose, even for pennies on the dollar, to private interests, even to those that fund Walker’s campaign???

As in Senate Bill 11: ...

So a no-bid contract to sell off the state power plants to the (4th highest Walker contributor) oil-tycoon Koch Brothers (see also here) will very likely occur, and consumer energy rates and corporate product prices will increase.

There is no other reasonable scenario. The taxpayers have no say in it, and the unions don’t yet realize that this isn’t an issue about worker rights.

Remember when Walker also wanted to sell off the Milwaukee airport when he was county executive.

Fireside Crap

Madison, Wisconsin—Gov. Scott Walker's chat with Wisconsin last night has all the sincerity of the AIG derivatives executive's 2008 assurance to investors that their money is safely and productively at work months before the economic catastrophe hit.

But Walker goes in for reverse-Enron accounting, claiming a deficit crisis when no such crisis exists.

Unfortunately for Walker, that pesky non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) has debunked the budget crisis notion, as State Rep, Mark Pocan (D-Madison) points out, a fact Walker refuses to address.

Worse, Walker claims he will be forced to lay off workers if he doesn't get his way on the budget; saying he doesn't want to lay people off, even as he refuses to negotiate.

Here is a partial list of highlights and significant omissions from Walker's chat:

• No mention of the corporate give-aways and their clear relevancy to the budget, or his promises to the super-wealthy
• Claimed appreciation for working families whose members he is threatening to lay off
• Using the passive voice to absolve himself of responsibility for laying off workers and devastating families; it's an old politician's trick in the tradition of 'mistakes were made,' Walker said, "If there is no agreement by July 1st, another 5-6 thousand state workers -- as well as 5-6 thousand local government employees would be also laid off," in addition to those workers Walker promises to axe next week if Walker does not get his way on ending collective bargaining, animated by what Walker assures us "isn't a battle with unions," or he would" have gone after the private-sector unions," the Wagner Act notwithstanding in Walker's most bizarre statement of the evening
• Continued lying about the "budget deficit" as though Walker has no choice but to accept the 6.2 percent increase in state agencies that the LFB says would lead to a short-fall in the vanishingly unlikely event that the legislature adopts the estimate as a budget
• No mention of the fact that all of Wisconsin's school districts, counties, and municipalities have never asked of Walker to implement his scheme to forbid collective bargaining, and in fact are requesting that he not end collective bargaining (Mosiman). Walker's proposed end to collective bargaining "goes far beyond what we asked for. We were not expecting to abolish the collective bargaining process altogether," said Dan Thompson, executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. [See also Tarr.]
• Implying that "millions of taxpayers from across the state" do not include those working families who disagree with Walker
• Deriding workers demonstrating solidarity as an ominous occurrence as "more and more protesters come in from Nevada, Chicago and elsewhere" overwhelming the voices of the millions of taxpayers from across the state, save public workers who do not pay taxes apparently in Walker world
• Calling for pension contributions increases without mentioning the unions' offer to do just that as Wisconsin's pension fund remains among the nation's healthiest (Carter)
• Refusing to mention that public unions have made good-faith offers on pensions, health care, salaries; and that Walker refuses to negotiate

Many more lies are found in the brief address.

The rest is typical divide-and-conquer rhetoric, pitting the unemployed against the employed, the pubic versus the private sector, and demonizing Democratic state senators who are fighting for collective bargain for Wisconsin families.

"Do the job you were elected to do," Walker said. "You don't have to like the outcome, or even vote yes, but as part of the world's greatest democracy, you should be here, in Madison, at the Capitol."

Yes, but aren't Democratic state senators protecting Wisconsin families? Walker refuses to engage the question.

This is not a governor. This is a ruler who is willing to terrorize Wisconsin working families for his petty pursuit of power and narrow ideology. And Walker thinks he is untouchable.

To conclude on a positive note when Walker looks at the camera and lies, he presents a visage more appealing than Richard Nixon's, though a viewer is left with the impression of a well-concealed smirk of someone who just got away with cheating on an exam.

This will change. Walker is desperate as polls show most Americans and an increasing number of GOP governors reject the idea of demonizing public workers and outlawing collective bargaining.

As Alex Pareene writes in Salon of Walker's chat, "It was not a particularly inspiring or convincing performance, and I imagine a lot of Wisconsinites are still suffering from buyer's remorse tonight."

No doubt, but Walker has revitalized the progressive movement in Wisconsin to a degree that this writer has never seen. The world is watching and outside of Appalachia and the Old South, the world stands with Wisconsin workers.

Walker: No Collective Bargaining or Lose Your Job

Forward!

Update II: Live Coverage from Madison-

Update: See Robert Reich: "America is the richest nation in the world, and “we’ve” never been richer. There’s no reason for us to turn on our teachers, our unionized workers, our poor and needy, and our elderly." And ThinkProgress' The Truth Behind The Anti-Union Assault; and Paul Krugman:

Walker isn’t interested in making a deal. Partly that’s because he doesn’t want to share the sacrifice: even as he proclaims that Wisconsin faces a terrible fiscal crisis, he has been pushing through tax cuts that make the deficit worse. Mainly, however, he has made it clear that rather than bargaining with workers, he wants to end workers’ ability to bargain.

Gov. Walker is threatening 1,000s of Wisconsin families. Lose your rights or lose your job.

This is not governing; this is terrorism of Wisconsin families.

See Walker warns state workers layoff notices could come next week if bill isn't passed (Bauer)

Politicalization of Wisconsin Families Will Hurt GOP

The fight to strip public unions of the right to bargain is obviously far from over.

One result is certain. The depoliticalization that allowed Gov. Walker to be elected by some 26 percent of the Wisconsin eletorate in 2010 is over.

The politicalization of Wisconsin citizens caused by this corrupt, mean-spirited weapon used against Wisconsin families and the resulting massive demonstrations and action is a phenomena not seen here since the civil rights and peace demonstrations of the 1960s-70s.

Republicans are having second thoughts now. They should.

The people speak against Gov. Walker

Madison Is Sixth "Smartest" College Town

This ranking is per the Daily Beast. Ranking does not mean much in itself but large academic-research centers are hotbeds of progressive movements that brought down the national GOP, what John Judis and Ruy Teixeira call the Ideopolis—enemy of bigotry, Palinesque ignorance and neo-McCarthyite politics of "terror" propaganda.

As the second largest city and capital of Wisconsin, Madison is the center of academia in a state once known for the strength of its lumber industry. The university and the government are the city’s biggest employers. The town supports a strong cultural scene, which includes a local repertory theater, opera, ballet, and symphony. The university is a leading venue for stem-cell research, since UW-Madison Professor James Thompson first isolated human embryonic cells in 1998, generating more than $800 million for research in 2008.

Madison in Top Five Lesbian Meccas

The Advocate asks "What’s a girl to do once she’s crossed off San Francisco, New York, West Hollywood, and Portland?"

Madison comes in at Number Two for things a girl could do.

Madison remains a spear in the side of bigots and morons everywhere, especially the state GOP that still can't believe that the 1960s happened, much less the 40 years hence.

First, they're helping the blacks down south vote, stopping a war and now letting women love, what's next?

Writes Aefa Mulholland:

Another academic hot spot, but also a city with serious political clout, Wisconsin’s capital is the seat of out lesbian representative Tammy Baldwin. The isthmus city (Madison is perched between lakes Mendota and Monona) is a dynamic, welcoming, and active college town of 230,000.

Best spot to meet the girls
You’ll find the U.W. girls -- and the women who teach them -- at the lesbian lounge the Foxhole, a women’s space within LGBT venue Club 5, or cruising shelves at A Room of One’s Own feminist bookstore.

Area Stores Seeking out Cub Foods Employees for Jobs

One positive aspect of the closing of Cub Foods on Madison’s southwest side on Verona Road is that the employees are getting attention from other grocery stores in Madison to work for them.

Cub Foods is scheduled to close in mid-March, leaving many residents without a place to buy their groceries and many employees without a job.

But a large area grocery chain is reportedly stepping up and offering employment to the Cub workers.

“Yeah, I heard that Roundy’s (who owns Copps and Pick n’ Save) is saying to (Cub) management ‘send your people over,’” according to one Cub employee.

That’s good to hear. We have been shopping at Cub Foods for years, and the employees are good people but several questioned on Friday had no clue what they are going to do for a new job.

Rightwing Catholic Bishop Hit in Open Letter

One wonders what the prince of peace and love would say were he to encounter the hate and hypocrisy inflicted in his name by such men as Bishop Robert Morlino, who in one sense supposedly leads 270,000 Catholics in the 11-county Madison, Wisconsin diocese.

Madison-area Catholics are speaking out today against Morlino in an open letter at the back of the Business section of Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal.

Peace, compassion, tolerance and love.

Such qualities seem to elude this priest of what the great humanistic writer Jimmy Breslin termed the "Church that Forgot Christ," after Breslin left the Catholic Church that abandoned many of the teachings of Christ and other great humanists in history.




















via mal contends

End of American Capitalism or Something

The End of American Capitalism? asks Anthony Faiola in this morning's Post.

The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is claiming another casualty: American-style capitalism.

What's interesting is that queries of a pharmacist, a dry-cleaning worker, a clerk, coffee shop workers, and a support staff person in the Madison area their opinions on the week-long crash get vague and Palinesque words of comprehension.

I don't get it.

Madison’s West Side Hit with Obama Sign Theft

Numerous reports of Barack Obama signs being stolen on Madison’s west side and the City of Fitchburg have been reported over the last few days.

“We have had a whole bunch of calls of stolen signs, and they're all on the west side of Madison,” said a Madison Obama staffer in a phone call from the Monroe Street headquarters.

The theft victims include the writer of this blog.

A Fitchburg resident on Monticello Way in Fitchburg reports that he heard several young males shouting “I hate that fucking guy! [Obama],” a few nights ago.

A police report has been filed with the City of Fitchburg Police Department (case # 08-14651).

Exclusive: Alleged Gruesome Kidnapper Described as “Outgoing and Friendly” by Former Coworker

© 2008 Michael Leon
A man charged with 12 felonies for "allegedly kidnapping ... two men, stripping them, chaining them up in his home, beating them and sexually assaulting them several times" (Wisconsin State Journal, July 15) outside Wisconsin Rapids is described by a former coworker interviewed by mal contends as "friendly, with a good sense of humor."

Edward Lanphear is also being investigated for possible links to the murder of UW-Madison student, Brittany Zimmermann, the Wisconsin State Journal reports, though police say at this time that there is no direct connection other than the facts that Lanphear and Zimmermann are both from Wood County, and that Lanphear had a newspaper article about the Zimmermann case at his residence.

In this exclusive interview conducted by phone, the former coworker, who worked with Lanphear for some eight years in the 1980s and 1990s at the then Consolidated Papers Inc., a paper company based in Wisconsin Rapids, now known as NewPage Corporation, said of Lanphear, "He never, ever gave you the impression of being violent, or even being capable of things like that."

The coworker, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the topic in the small town of Saratoga where the coworker lives, said, upon reading of the story in the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune online, "I was dumbfounded. I mean this is completely out of character of the guy I remembered. ... He was outgoing and a big hunter. ... He invited me to go hunting with him once at the Arctic Circle."

Tragedy - UW Med Helicoptor Crash, Three Dead

Three dead in Med Flight crash late Saturday night near La Crosse.
- Reportedly, on board the coptor were a pilot, doctor and nurse, all of whom were killed after flying from a La Crosse hospital after dropping off a patient late Saturday night. -

From UW Hospital Med Flight site:

.... Our Med Flight team is comprised of specially trained physicians, flight nurses, dispatchers and pilots, and works within a 225-mile radius of Madison. The Med Flight helicopter can be in the air within minutes to transport patients between hospitals or to care - including UW Hospital's Level One Trauma Center - for victims of crashes or disasters.

Med Flight's medical compartment is essentially a flying emergency room, equipped with airway equipment including a ventilator, blood pressure and heart monitors, IV equipment, defibrillators and pacemaker equipment. Also on board is a complete array of emergency medicine drugs, including those for treating heart attacks and brain injuries.

Citizens Leading, Dane County Officials Flailing

Update: Dane County Board spins wheels on Zimmermann 911 call controversy
Madison, WI - "The County Board's mood didn't mirror the public outrage," in questioning "embattled" 911 Center Director Joe Norwick yesterday, reads the Capital Times.

That's likely because the public is of the mind that 911 operators reached ought to err on the side of credulity over disbelief, and callers tend to view defects of these best and needed 911 practices with derision.

There is, the Zimmerman tragedy reveals, a culture of skepticism towards the public at the Dane County 911 Communications Center.

The truth of the matter is Kathleen Falk and her supporters seem interested in political damage control more than anything else.

Reports Nathan J. Comp from yesterday's Norwick appearance:

... Supervisor Eileen Bruskewitz (District 25) did criticize Kathleen Falk for attending a conference in New York rather than the meeting. This looks more to me like a cover up,' Bruskowitz exclaimed, before Board Chairman Scott McDonell (District 1) scolded her comment as inappropriate. ... Supervisor Kurt Schlicht (District 28) said he has been unimpressed with how Norwick, but particularly Falk, has handled the controversy. 'It does seem funny that the leader isn't here when her 911 director is testifying before two committees,' he said after the meeting. 'She isn't genuine and lacks direction. She is in panic mode, not directional mode.'

That seems about right to me. By the way, why in the hell does Joe Norwick still have a job?

Citizens' Committee Needed on 911 Center

Update: Dane County (Madison, WI) Board spins wheels on Zimmermann 911 call controversy

Two committees of the Dane County Board of Supervisors are meeting tonight to gather information on the performance of the Dane County 911 Communications Center in the wake of the murder of Brittany Zimmermann.

Board Chair Scott McDonell and others have called for an audit of the Center focusing on its procedures and whether its procedures are being followed.

It is suggested that such an audit be conducted by an outside firm, free of political considerations.

Good idea.

To complement this reasonable course of action, Dane County needs the establishment of a paid citizens' committee composed of broad communities of interests, devoid of elected officials, and certainly free of civil servants in Dane County, including those serving in the County Executive's office.

Such a committee ought to have as its deliverables:

- The establishment of specific directives to improve the performance of the 911 Communications Center

- A report based on testimony from citizens' use of the 911 service, testimony from UW officials in light of the administration's charge of in loco parentis (and the related duty to prevent the murder of UW students), and the testimony from law enforcement personnel on public safety.

Hard questions need to be asked.

The communities of interests ought to include representatives of the University administration, students, residents, bloggers, retirees, metaphorical bomb throwers, professors, and as wide a cross-section of the county as feasible, and should be fully funded by the City and County.

For example, the members ought include such people as the curmudgeon at the Rustic, the Vietnam vet on Butler Street, and most anybody free of 911-related career and political considerations, but indignant about the fact that We all failed Brittany Zimmerman.

Elected and non-elected civil servants, and law enforcement officials have been making statements today that they are saying too much, perhaps interfering with police investigations.

Maybe so, but many, perhaps most, residents feel a lack of trust toward the County and City on this matter, and secrecy in the absence of a citizens' committee is not the best course of action at this point.

It's worth noting that this issue came to light becaue of the investigative reporting of Jason Shepard in Isthmus and that the community and Shepard were obstructed during and after his piece.