David Blaska envisions the ad that would take down Dane County Executive Kathleen M. Falk, now that people in Madison are less keen on upscale enhancements and more concerned about safety. As Blaska puts it:
Against a backdrop of the degradation of our public spaces by chronic vagrancy, the murders of Joel Marino and Brittany Zimmermann — in their homes! — have taken the issue simultaneously to the ground zero of leftist downtown Madison and to the wider county government.Yes, that sentence is atrociously written, but in its own way, it's an eloquent cry for help.
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It's going to be a long summer.
"It's going to be a long summer."
Sure is, especially if you live in Madison, where homicides go unsolved because the PD appoints detectives on the basis of political correctness rather than skills and qualifications. And where vagrancy is considered a protected lifestyle.
And where aggressive panhandling is just another career option.
And where Carleton Armstrong, who was responsible for the bombing death of a post-doc physics researcher in the early 70s is now just a local character who sells fruit from a cart near the UW campus.
Most people who write atrociously are crying for help in one form or another.
No, it’s going to be a long summer because it is very hard to write creative pastiches about cheese.
"Most people who write atrociously are crying for help in one form or another."
If they are really, really bad they go into advertising.
"You're soaking in it!"
"Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."
"Fly me."
"I've fallen and I can't get up!"
There was an article in the local paper this AM to the effect that CA is no longer threatening WI's dominance in cheese manufacturing.
I was help captive in this asylum they call University at Madison. Constant questioning, waterboarding, and watching long bouts of reality television. But there is nothing I can tell them. Why don’t they leave me alone. I just want to live my life in peace thinking about breasts and taking pictures of dogs urinating. Why is my life so hard.
(I am the Cheese, Robert Cormier)
Ann Althouse is new to the concept of David Blaska, apparently.
Blowhard Blaska routinely inflates, misleads and exploits news items to further his own fame and issues. He has been bashing Falk for over a decade now. It's really nothing new.
If we had a meteorite land here, Blowhard Blaska would blame Falk.
Blaming Falk for a murder or for the 911 system error is political opportunism. It was human error that caused the call not to be returned.
The Wisconsin State journal ran a responsible story on the issue on Sunday. They show how the 911 center has received increasing funding for years.
Blaska adds nothing of value.
Well, Falk was through politically anyway after her two disastrous runs for higher office outside of Dane County. After stabbing former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager in the back, she went on to loose that office for the Democrats.
However, Madison isn't just Dane County and Dane county isn't just Madison. Both the county board and the Madison Common Council need to confront issues of importance to the residents of this city and this county.
It's time for Progressive Dane to be voted out of power. These folks have done more to destroy the quality of life in Madison and in the county than any other political entity. By their constant focus on issues of total irrelevance to the citizens of Madison such as trying to impeach GWB and trying to waste taxpayer dollars on funneling money to Hamas while public safety disintegrates, is typical of the Left in this town.
Agreed with lumiere's first paragraph. Disagree with the second.
A long, long summer.
Isn't the ad kind of racist, against HomeLess Americans?
We're fast turning into England, where the criminal is free to rob you while you're home, and you cannot resist, a police-criminal industrial complex designed to be a permanent parasite on the public.
I agree with Lumiere's 3rd paragraph. I'm also happy that Falk never got to run to be AG. I think JBvH is doing an okay job so far.
...and can I be just incredibly shallow and suggest that Kathleen Falk can afford a decent dye job so why doesn't she just go ahead and get one already?
I now know who Alpha Liberal is!
Clues... clues... eventually there are enough clues. Ha ha ha.
Falk has died her hair. She's a redhead now.
And, to AA, there's a difference between what we know and what we think we know. Never so much as with internet identities.
She's been dying her hair forEVER. Does it look natural now? That would be a vast improvement over the home dye jobs she's apparently been getting from her blind neighbor.
I'm not going to get in the middle of a Falk v. Blaska fight -- IMO they deserve each other!
But let's take a gander at the Dane County priorities. If you look at Falk's website, you can see the four divisions that report to her:
- Cultural Affairs, "a unique governmental arts and historical agency," fully staffed and headed by Karen Crossley.
- Legislative Lobbying, let's get more money from the state to fund cool programs, lots of people here headed by Mary Ann (Mickey) Beil.
- Office of Equal Opportunity, must have one of those, staffed and headed by Isadore Knox, Jr.
- Finally, division of Policy & Program Development, all the rest of those mundane optional county services. Cultural, Lobbying and Equal Opportunity are much more important but I guess we should have some other programs, too, dontcha think? Oops, this division officer position is Vacant.
Now, Madison is a wonderful place to visit my three siblings and their families . . . my family is there every summer. But to be a Dane County taxpayer? No thanks!
Ann:
Give us a tip as to how you figured out who Alpha is. Did he use the same terminology or phrasing in another place?
How frequent is crime in Madison?
Is this complaint accurate or way off base?
There have been two murders this year -- as yet unsolved -- within a mile or so of each other downtown. In the 2nd murder, the victim called 911. Didn't help. 911 didn't dispatch police because it was a hang-up call from a cell phone.
"It’s 3 a.m. The computer pings. Another public safety crisis. A woman with a shaggy blonde haircut picks up her mouse. And puts it back down. She just couldn’t get back into the swing of things. Her cerebral cortex is not stimulated by bucolic pursuits. The only thing to worry about here is the hairstyle of the meter maid. She was glad that she had left the city. She sort of missed it. But now she is home. Now she has the cheese."
(I Cut the Cheese, by You a Law Professor, 2008 Simon & Schuster)
Pogo, speak for yourself. AFAICT, it's only the Britain-wannabe places that are as you describe. In most of the country, on the other hand, "Castle Doctrine" laws are being passed, reducing or eliminating the duty to retreat (or clarifying what was already the case); sometimes in public places, too, and not just at home; and often, as a final flourish, prohibiting the bringing of civil actions in cases where lethal-force event has been ruled justifiable self-defense.
Pogo said: We're fast turning into England, where the criminal is free to rob you while you're home, and you cannot resist, a police-criminal industrial complex designed to be a permanent parasite on the public.
Not all states! Texas certainly hasn't gone that direction yet, and there are others as well. Look at the Brady Campaign ranking of the states, and consider a low score good.
Kirk
from Ed Morrissey:
"Britain banned handguns of all kinds ten years ago. Within just a couple of years, the homicide rate had risen over 40%. Violent crime rates more than doubled in three years.
Four years later, Britain still can't figure out why disarming the victims has created a spike in gun-related violence. When criminals have a near-certainty that they outgun potential victims, it removes the most immediate disincentive for an attack. Instead of rethinking the entire idea of criminalizing law-abiding citizens who only want to defend themselves, now British authorities want to criminalize law-abiding citizens who won't volunteer testimony about criminals.
And they don't stop there. The Telegraph reports that one candidate to be the next Metropolitan police commissioner wants to press charges against victims of gun violence who are too terrified of reprisals to testify. That's correct; they want to arrest the victims they've disarmed. He's already ordering police to "stop and search suspects regularly", which at least sounds as if British police have started to conduct searches without any probable cause to find guns.
Instead of rethinking the entire idea of criminalizing law-abiding citizens who only want to defend themselves, now British authorities want to criminalize law-abiding citizens who won't volunteer testimony about criminals."
If the laws are indeed changing for the better, it suggests, there has been some sanity returning there.
____________________
Kathy,
Hurray for Texas. I recall the outcry against KDFW TV reporter Rebecca Aguilar when she went after an old man who killed 2 men who were robbing his home and business.
If I were smarter, I'd compare the Brady chart with the state crime rates.
Althouse has figured out who AlphaLiberal is.
Maybe she could get a job with the Madison P.D. I hear they need the help.
"We're fast turning into England, where the criminal is free to rob you while you're home, and you cannot resist, a police-criminal industrial complex designed to be a permanent parasite on the public."
And as a result, the Labour party just had its most severe defeat since the mid-30s, including the ousting of London's mayor. An interesting bit of news for Mayor Dave and County Exec Katy, one would think.
Pogo,
You completely misunderstand me. You said, "We're fast turning into England", and I meant to say that your "we" could not possibly be the entire US, but only those few benighted areas who (for whatever reason) wanted to emulate the UK's ridiculous anti-self-defense mentality. The "Castle Doctrine" movement is happening in the US, and is taking us further from England's position--not, so far, something that's happening over there.
I would advise some caution in understanding the situation in England, however. It seems to me the real problem is not the virtual self-defense ban per se, but rather the fact that British voters keep returning nanny-staters to office who feel far differently about such subjects as the constituents to themselves.
Remember Radio 4's debacle a few years back when they asked listeners what new law they would most want proposed, and lined up an MP who promised to introduce whatever bill got the top vote? Oops! The winning entry was: "Homeowners should be able to use any means to defend their home from intruders."
Alas, as the UK slips further into the grip of the EU, I expect this kind of disconnect to grow, not abate.
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