Letter from Here

We don't have to leave Madison and go all the way to Delphi to consult an oracle. We have librarians.

2012-01-29T02:03:00.000-06:00

We don't need to go to Delphi anymore. We've got the library. Sure, Internet search can help, but only if we know enough to use the right search terms, and if what we're looking for is on the web. What if it isn't? What if we can't even really articulate our question? We need an oracle. We need a librarian.

(Photographed at "Bookless," the 1-day art and music festival, celebration and fundraiser at the downtown branch of the Madison Public Library, now closed for renovation.)

Has Walkergate enterered the "I'm not a crook" phase?

2012-01-28T21:02:00.000-06:00

On Nov. 17, 1973, Richard M. Nixon told the nation in a televised press conference, "I'm not a crook." Nine months later he resigned. That was in the old days. Today, everything happens faster.

I survived the monster in the lower stacks of the downtown Madison Public Library. You can, too.

2012-01-28T16:24:00.000-06:00

Actually, "Skulking Dragon" by Arnold Martin -- one of the many cool works of art at the downtown library's one-day celebration and fundraiser, "Bookless." Opens again tonight -- 7:00pm-1::00am --for music and dance and food and drink. Beware the dragon on your way to the Bibliotheque Discotheque.

Walker's final State of the State address?

2012-01-27T16:57:00.000-06:00

Maybe for more than one reason. (And who did write that atrocious mining bill, anyhow?)

The library has been sitting empty, awaiting renovation. But Saturday the word "Bookless" takes on a new meaning.

2012-01-27T15:33:00.000-06:00

The Central Branch of the Madison Public Library has been closed for weeks now, awaiting the construction crews that will give it a complete overhaul. Ice and snow are piling up on the steps, the books have all gone into storage, the shelves are bare and furniture and fixtures have been sold off. An orange snow fence marks off the site, draped with a banner showing the new library and noting its opening in the summer of 2013.

Even this work of public art by artist O. V. Shaffer, which has stood in front of the downtown library since it opened more than 4 decades ago, has been put into storage. It's a hammered copper sculpture called Hieroglyph. It will be in storage until the renovation is complete. Not everyone likes the sculpture, but I've always been fond of it. Last I heard, it will go in the roof garden of the renovated library when it opens in the summer of 2013.

But tomorrow this dark, empty building will reopen for one day only and come vibrantly alive. The occasion is the Bookless event featuring numerous local artists, fun for the whole family, music and a whole lot more. It's also a fundraiser for the library (free admission for the family events in the afternoon, paid admission for the evening event that includes food and drink and music). That's tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 28.

It's a unique, once-in-a-lifetime happening. Chances are, you'll never again have a chance to roam an empty library that's Bookless—filled with art instead of books, music instead of silence—and all for a good cause.

Ryan Lizza provides some answers to the question, "What happened to Barrack Obama?"

2012-01-27T13:40:00.000-06:00

In The Obama Memos, New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza uses internal memos from the first 2 years of the Obama Administration to show how the realities of Washington politics changed Barrack Obama from transformational leader to tactical "facilitator." The two years were filled with significant accomplishments, but also set the stage for the rise of the Tea Party and the Republican congressional victories in 2010.

Pres. Obama had hoped to work across party lines to bring about change. Not only did that prove impossible, but he learned things about the realities of presidential power that every previous president has also discovered. Lizza quotes Harry Truman.

Obama was learning the same lesson of many previous occupants of the Oval Office: he didn’t have the power that one might think he had. Harry Truman, one in a long line of Commanders-in-Chief frustrated by the limits of the office, once complained that the President “has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues. . . . The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make ’em behave. Well, all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.”

While his supporters wondered what had happened to the programs and ideals Obama had championed in the campaign, the president was running into the limits of power built into the American political system.

Yet our political system was designed to be infuriating. As George Edwards notes in his study of Presidents as facilitators, the American system “is too complicated, power too decentralized, and interests too diverse for one person, no matter how extraordinary, to dominate.” Obama, like many Presidents, came to office talking like a director. But he ended up governing like a facilitator, which is what the most successful Presidents have always done. Even Lincoln famously admitted, “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events controlled me.”

The article quotes internal White House communications to illustrate the roadblocks and realities Obama faced, as well as the tradeoffs and compromises he made in his domestic agenda as a result. It does not go into detail about military and foreign policy (presumably because so much of the discussion would be classified), but the pressures facing the president in that area would have been, if anything, greater.

What will a second term be like? Probably not much different—unless Democrats win back the House and elect a filibuster-proof Senate. That wouldn't eliminate all the barriers to presidential power, but it would certainly help. Want to support President Obama? Elect a Democrat to Congress.

Points of light in the dark wintry night of Fitzwalkerstan

2012-01-26T23:02:00.001-06:00

Lovely old historic building, with the latest in high-tech LED lights. Love the way the lights dress up the Capitol. As if someone put out holiday lights for the recall.

What a difference a year makes

2012-01-26T01:51:00.000-06:00

Last year, when Gov. Walker delivered his first State of the State address, the big news was the huge blizzard we were in the midst of. The speech was as short on specifics as his campaign had been and filled with platitudes and Republican applause lines. He didn't say much this year, either, but the Capitol was filled with reminders of the impending recall election and how much has changed in state politics.

One thing was the same in the 2011 and 2012 State of the State addresses. He didn't mention union-busting this year, and he didn't mention union-busting last year either. That was left for his "budget repair bill" about a week and a half later, which hit the state like a ton of bricks. He rammed through his extremist agenda through a Republican-controlled legislature that was in no mood for compromise with the minority party.

In less than a year, Scott Walker has deprived public employees of their collective bargaining rights, slashed health and education budgets, passed the most restrictive voter ~~identification~~ suppression law in the country and governed with a my-way-or-the-highway style. That's why more than a million voters signed recall petitions, and why this might be his last State of the State address.

Football in the January snow

2012-01-23T11:52:00.000-06:00

Not exactly the NFL -- but they were having fun in Wingra Park Sunday afternoon.

With winter comes the inevitable nostalgia for summer

2012-01-22T00:02:00.000-06:00

So here's a photo: Tenney Park Locks, Lake Mendota in background.

Here in Wisconsin we measure snow in Walker Recall Units

2012-01-20T23:20:00.000-06:00

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the Recall's so delightful,
And since a Million wrote "No!"
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Got 4-7 WRUs today. More on its way the next few days. Good omen!

"Balanced" media reporting gave Scott Walker a free ride in the 2010 election. Will the same thing happen in the recall?

2012-01-19T00:30:00.002-06:00

The signatures have been turned in. A million Wisconsin voters have demonstrated that the more they learn about Scott Walker, the less they like him. They don't want him as their governor anymore.

Actually, if voters statewide had known a little more about the real Scott Walker, he probably would not have been elected. But 2010 was the year of Obama fatigue and a bad year for Democrats in general. The the state's mainstream media didn't help -- especially their "on the one hand, and on the other hand" style of "balanced" reporting. Making the difference between truth and falsehood a mere matter of opinion, or equating minor exaggerations with major whoppers, tends to put both sides on an even footing, giving unscrupulous politicians like Scott Walker -- and Joe McCarthy many years before -- a free ride.

Scott Walker did not campaign on a union-busting agenda. There were union members who voted for him in good faith. And some people who weren't union members but nevertheless believed in fairness and collective bargaining also voted for him. His actions came as a total shock to many of the people who voted for him, even though they came as no surprise to the people who had been following Walker and knew his track record. This widespread feeling of betrayal is why Wisconsin is going to hold its first gubernatorial recall election. The failure of the state's mainstream media to probe deeply enough before the election helped pave the way.

One of the most egregious examples of this was this big cover story about the gubernatorial race in Isthmus several weeks before the election by Bill Lueders and Jack Craver, titled Tom Barrett and Scott Walker are lying! Our candidates for governor say the other can't be trusted. Our analysis confirms it. It was not one of the Madison weekly's shining moments.

The article had a veneer of scrupulous objectivity in treating both candidates as equally given to prevaricating and by portraying them as pragmatic centrists who would govern from the middle no matter what they said about each other. I thought the "they're politicians; they're all liars -- what do you expect?" tone was juvenile, superficial and sensationalistic. The story seemed irresponsible, given the real differences in the two candidates that anyone who researched Walker's and Barrett's careers in any depth would have known.

Everyone knows the American public has a low opinion of politicians. What's sometimes overlooked is why. And the biggest reason is the politicians themselves — not what they do, necessarily, but what they say about each other.

Take, for example, Tom Barrett, the Democratic nominee for Wisconsin governor. This is what he says about his Republican rival, in TV ads: "Scott Walker: Can't trust him with our money; can't trust him to tell the truth."

Probably can't trust him around little old ladies either. He might accost them on the sidewalk to steal their marble rye.

The first paragraph is downright wrong. The biggest reason the public has a low opinion of politicians is not because they say nasty things about their opponents (that's often sort of fun to watch, if truth be told -- take the hapless GOP presidential candidates and their endless debates, for example). The public has a low opinion of politicians because they don't keep their promises and all too often sell out to the highest bidder. Sound like anybody you know?

I don't know about stealing bread from "little old ladies" -- but Walker certainly took away healthcare and pension benefits that had been agreed to in good faith in collective bargaining. And then he took away collective bargaining, as well. Not bad for the "career politician" who was "unlikely to fundamentally revamp state government."

In truth, neither Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett nor Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is a confident visionary with a plan to solve all of the state's woes. And neither is a bumbling incompetent of low moral character.

Both, rather, are career politicians who've mostly played it safe and can claim only modest achievements. Neither is likely to fundamentally revamp state government or find painless solutions to endemic problems, as they promise.

Now the governor who wasn't really going to change much of anything is headed for a recall election. Why? Well, some people really like him a lot. Some people think he's really terrible.

That's the impression I get from reading The Polarizer: A look at what makes Scott Walker tick in the Wednesday Capital Times -- again by Bill Lueders. This time he's not comparing candidates. Instead, he reports competing Republican and Democratic views on Walker's character and governing style, quoting numerous politicians in both parties, friend and foe. Some say he's courageous and visionary. Some say he's stubborn and unwilling to compromise. Etc., etc. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but once again, it's a kind of faux even-handedness that focuses on competing opinions with very little reporting about the underlying facts. For example, Lueders quotes State Sen. Glenn Grothman.

Grothman alleges that Democrats are creating a false sense of crisis over what he feels are reasonable reforms. All that's really happened, he contends, is that some public employees, himself included, have had to take a "mild cut in take-home pay."

Sure, some school district administrators are complaining. But Grothman can't remember a time when they weren't. What's new, he says, is that he's heard from a few superintendents who are optimistic about the future.

What are "some school administrators" complaining about? What's been the real impact of the Walker budget on local schools? Who's so "optimistic," and why? The article doesn't say.

Reader J provided another dramatic example in the comments. (Thanks, J -- I missed it at the time.) This is an editorial in the Capital Times 6 weeks before the election: Two honorable men: Barrett and Walker. Read it and weep. What were they thinking?

I like Isthmus and the Capital Times. They are liberal media in Madison's most liberal city. They're hardly pro-Walker. Other media, especially the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, played a much larger role in Walker's victory in 2010. But all the mainstream media in Wisconsin were guilty of under-reporting the real differences between an extremist Republican with a secret agenda passing himself off as a moderate and his opponent, a Democratic politician who really was a moderate.

When Walker's policies provoked an unprecedented grassroots uprising, the mainstream media were caught by surprise and have been playing catch-up ever since. Twitter, Facebook, other new media and citizen journalists have all played a growing role in covering the protests and the recall movement.

But new media can't do it all, and once the recall campaign begins, the mainstream media will once again play a pivotal role. Scott Walker will have a huge financial advantage. Will he be able to buy his reelection? How the media cover the campaign will help decide that question. I hope they've learned from the last time around.

What Walker didn't know about librarians and other thugs

2012-01-18T14:32:00.002-06:00

I took this photo during the protests last March. A lot has changed since then. The recall petitions have been turned in. The thugs have spoken.

What Scott Walker never understood was that when you threaten librarians, you don't just threaten librarians; you threaten their families, their friends and neighbors,and all the people who respect and rely on them for the services they provide. When you threaten teachers, you don't just threaten teachers and their families; you threaten the children they teach, their parents and grandparents and their friends. When you threaten other public employees, you don't just threaten them; you threaten the entire community. When you bust unions, you threaten all workers. And when you threaten to cut medical care for the poor and their children, you threaten the fabric of decency that holds our society together.

It all adds up to a lot of people -- far more than the million who signed the recall petitions. Scott Walker takes comfort from the fact that (slightly) more people voted for him than signed the petitions. He shouldn't. After all, far more people voted for California Gov. Gray Davis than signed petitions to recall him, but he lost the recall election to Arnold Schwarzenegger nevertheless.

Scott Walker still doesn't understand, but he will eventually. There are just too many thugs.

For most of us, $374,327 in speaking fees would be a nice annual income. For some of us, it's "not very much."

2012-01-18T13:24:00.000-06:00

It's time to get rid of SOPA and PIPA and start over. And first, actually read the Constitution.

2012-01-18T12:17:00.001-06:00

I hadn't realized the Wikipedia blackout to protest SOPA and PIPA was starting right on the dot at midnight, so I encountered it within minutes of the site going dark while trying to check something out (among other things, the action made me aware of just how often I use Wikipedia during the average day, what an essential function it has come to provide.) I immediately sent off emails to my congressional peeps, though I couldn't get through to Sen. Ron Johnson then, and still can't now. I keep getting this message -- "Sorry, the web page you have requested is experiencing technical difficulties" -- which I guess is a message itself.

The protest is definitely having an impact. Sen. Marco Rubio announced he would no longer support the act he had cosponsored. Others seemed sure to follow. Meanwhile, RIAA, which has lobbied heavily for the bills along with MPAA, sent out a breathtakingly obnoxious, misspelled tweet and dug its head further into the sand.

Sure, Internet piracy is a problem, but SOPA and PIPA aren't the solution. Remember the Vietnam-era phrase "We had to destroy the village to save it"? Hollywood and the recording industry seem to be saying, "We have to destroy the Internet to fix it." And the problem is largely created by their own foot-dragging response to technological change.

If sheet music publishers had taken the same approach to technological innovation as RIAA and MPAA, the recording industry would never have gotten off the ground in the first place. After all, why buy sheet music for your piano when you can just play a recording?

We need to get back to the intent of the Constitution, which authorized copyrights and patents in the first place.

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

We've gotten further and further from that balance between the rights of creators and the needs of society as a whole. ("Limited times" has also been stretched beyond recognition.) As a result, intellectual property law today primarily protects the rights of corporations rich enough to throw their weight around in perpetuity.

In contrast, we should once again "promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts," as the Founding Fathers intended. The Internet should not be held hostage to corporate greed.

Of course it snowed in Madison the day they turned in the signatures of 1 million Wisconsin voters to recall Walker

2012-01-17T15:31:00.000-06:00

The grassroots uprising against Scott Walker and his Republican majority in the legislature began 11 months ago in the snows of 2011. Appropriately enough, it snowed in Madison today, the day 1 million signatures are being turned in to recall Gov. Scott Walker -- along with Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four state senators, including Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. A heartfelt "thank you" to everyone who helped make this possible -- with a special shoutout to Lori Compas, without whose efforts Fitzgerald would not have been recalled.

United Wisconsin called this the most participated-in recall effort in American history. It's not hard to see why. The successful drive to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in California, which eventually propelled Arnold Schwarzenegger into office, drew less than a quarter as many signatures relative to state population.

In the first heady days of the Walker revolution, his supporters dreamed of his being nominated the GOP vice presidential candidate and perhaps president someday. Now, a year later, he's looking at the ashes of his political career. Poetic justice for the man who became Milwaukee County Executive following the recall of the previous incumbent. Funny, he wasn't talking about out-of-state recall support back then. He was talking about the will of the people. Now he's facing the wrath of the people.

What goes around comes around. Today we're giving Scott Walker his layoff notice.

2012-01-17T02:30:00.000-06:00

Scott Walker has always been better at talking a good game than playing it, better at killing jobs than creating them, and now it's his own that's on the line.

There already were protests against Walker when I took this photo on Nov. 20, 2010 -- less than three weeks after his election, and more than a month before he was inaugurated. He wasn't even governor yet, but he had already provoked a day of statewide protest against his determination to turn down $800 billion in federal money for high-speed rail -- along with all the jobs that money would have created. Other states that would receive the money instead were vocal in their thanks.

Walker bulled ahead even before taking office. He so cowed outgoing Gov. Doyle that he didn't even try to seal the deal in his remaining days in office but instead put the rail project on hold. After that, it was just a formality for Gov. Walker to turn down the funds officially. It was a foretaste iof what Walker would go on to do in his first year in office. At the time, it was hard to imagine what he could do that was worse than turning down $800 million in free money. But with his blitzkrieg union-busting budget offensive Walker showed he knew exactly what he could do that was worse, and he did.

But he and his Republican cronies underestimated the people. Last summer we recalled two Republican state senators. Today signatures are being turned in for the recall of four more, including the majority leader, and it just takes one victory to take back the senate. And for the first time in Wisconsin history, the required signatures and then some are being turned in to force the recall of both Gov. Walker and Lt. Gov. Kleefisch.

Scott Walker is getting his layoff notice today. Sure, the severance formalities will take awhile to work out, but the search is on for his successor, and it's just a matter of time.

It's true: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

On to the election!

MLK Day 2012: The choice is as clear as it ever was

2012-01-16T00:41:00.000-06:00

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. -- Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” April 4, 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

I spent a haunting morning at Arlington National Cemetery several years ago. In front of these poignant reminders of the tragic toll taken by this nation's wars, I came across these dead leaves that had fallen next to a new acorn. They seemed symbolic of the basic choice faced by America as a nation. We can choose life, or we can choose death.

On the day that we honor Dr.King, people frequently quote from his "I Have a Dream" speech, and it's undoubtedly one of the great speeches. But repetition has worn off some of the edges. It's often invoked as a platitudinous call to universal brotherhood without reference to the social injustice Dr. King was addressing. The Riverside speech is less frequently quoted and has not suffered the same fate. It was a tough speech at the time, one that lost him the support of much of white America when he bluntly warned that the U.S. could not win the fight for social justice at home while waging endless war abroad. It's still a tough speech. The choice is clear. We can choose life, or we can choose death.

If you've never heard the speech, you can hear it at the link. If you have heard it before, listen again. It's a powerful reminder of the challenges we continue to face today.

Pioneering photojournalist who today is remembered only as a best-selling writer of fiction (and as a rich socialist)

2012-01-15T14:25:00.000-06:00

Jack London's fame now rests mainly on his fiction. "Call of the Wild" has never gone out of print. But in his time he was also known not only for his colorful lifestyle, but for his photojournalism. He was also an accomplished photographer, and his photos appeared with his stories in newspapers all over the world. This is from "The People of the Abyss," a pioneering book of photojournalism published in 1903 about the London poor. London became rich from his writing and was also a socialist, but he was no limousine liberal -- he had been poor in his youth, and he had an easy personal rapport with the poor, a visceral human sympathy, that other photographic chroniclers lof the time acked. He lived among the poor, spent nights walking the city streets with them and spent a night in a workhouse. These men are sleeping in a park early in the morning after walking all night so as not to be arrested for vagrancy. London left thousands of prints and negatives, and some of the best are collected in Jack London, Photographer.

One of the biggest stories covered by Jack London the photojournalist was right in his own backyard. His photos of the San Francisco earthquake were striking compositions by someone who was photographing familiar scenes rendered surreal and chaotic by the tragedy. Many were reprinted all over the world.

Yet today, few remember London's work as a photographer. His prints are stored in the Huntington Library, and his negatives are stored by the California State Parks system in the Sonoma Barracks. Authors Jeanne Campbell Reesman, Sara S. Hodson and Philip Adam have performed a real service by rescuing some of London's photographs from the dustbin of history and making them accesible to the public.

Snowboat

2012-01-15T12:53:00.000-06:00

Winter the way it's supposed to be. Wingra Boats, Madison.

I love it when Republicans accuse each other of being predatory capitalists

2012-01-14T03:56:00.000-06:00

At least nobody is going to accuse them of being socialists. These are screen captures from "When Mitt Romney Came to Town," the 28-min documentary that Newt Gingrich backers have put up on the web (and excerpts from which have been running as TV commercials in South Carolina). As a result, questions about Romney's track record as head of Bain Capital are starting to get some real traction in the campaign. Click here to see what all the fuss is about.

"When Mitt Romney Came to Town" turns out to be a powerful example of advocacy filmmaking. It paints with a broad brush -- and, who knows, Romney may be right about some details being off -- but the big picture is a scathing indictment of Mitt Romney and his colleagues in the 1% enriching themselves at the expense of the 99%. It's hard to discount the interviews with workers who lost their jobs when Bain Capital acquired their companies and basically ran them into the ground while Bain made substantial returns on its investment. The interviews, which are intercut with clips quoting Romney and illustrating his high-flying lifestyle (and mastery of French), are devastating. They could have been filmed by Michael Moore.

In the wake of Occupy Wall Street, this story about a corporate raider who wants to occupy the White House is bound to resonate with millions of Americans whose middle class jobs seem to have permanently gone away.

Jimmy Fallon covers Space Oddity with "Tebowie" lyrics

2012-01-13T18:49:00.000-06:00

Jimmy Fallon does some amazing musical parodies, but this may be his best ever. The performance is spot-on, and the lyrics are perfect.

In an age of media "truthiness," the NYT's public editor wonders if the paper should even try to find out the truth

2012-01-13T01:10:00.000-06:00

Curveball must be smiling, wherever he is. You'd think that the New York Times would have learned their lesson nearly a decade after their uncritical acceptance of official Washington's half truths and lies helped lead the U.S. into the Iraq War.

But they don't seem to have learned much in the years since then. They still seem journalistically challenged, at least by the standards of an earlier era, judging from their public editor's column titled Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante? Excuse me, but isn't that your job?

I've always enjoyed the NYT's "Public Editor's Journal." He's billed as the "readers' representative," although I'm not aware that we readers elected him. The column has always been a source of rich humor for anyone interested in the latest tortured twists and turns of the paper's institutional hypocrisy. By and large, the public editor's job seems to be to administer public lashings for minor infractions and the gentlest of slaps on the wrist for major offenses.

But public editor Arthur Brisbane's latest probing think piece really takes the cake. He asks readers to help answer this question:

I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.

That is, should reporters question lies and misleading representations that masquerade as fact in their stories. Who knew that was even an issue?

Don't get me wrong. The pages of a daily newspaper -- or, worse, a TV screen -- have never been a particularly promising place to prospect for absolute truth. Discovering the truth is hard under the best of circumstances, and daily journalism provides far from ideal circumstances. Plus, powerful corporate interests make life tough for reporters who probe too deeply. They risk losing a lucrative job and not being able to get another. The conventions of "objective reporting" as practiced in American journalism make it all too easy to slip into "on the one hand, on the other hand" reporting that favors truthiness more than truth. Joe McCarthy held up lists of imaginary Communists and made a career out of this sort of media laziness, so it's not a new problem. And it often seems the public itself has grown tired of facts and prefers the bloviations of bigfoot cable pundits.

Nevertheless, there have always been conscientious reporters who try to discover the truth and share it with their readers. Others have at least pretended to pursue the truth, and if hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, that's not necessarily a bad thing. At least it helps keep the idea alive that there is a truth out there, somewhere.

But Brisbane seems to be wondering whether it's even possible or advisable for a newspaper to pursue the truth or to hold sources accountable, whether there's even any point in trying. If truth has really become such an embarrassing issue for one of the icons of establishment journalism, perhaps the critics are right.

Maybe the mainstream media have become so compromised by corporate considerations they really are nothing but hidebound, obsolete dinosaurs. Maybe it's time to look for news to the smaller, more nimble mammals that are evolving in the new media landscape.

The snow really makes the Recall Walker signs pop

2012-01-12T16:25:00.000-06:00

Finally, some long overdue snow. Governor's long overdue departure to follow.

Madison’s 1%’s Vision for Downtown

2012-01-12T00:33:00.000-06:00

I stole my title from former alder Brenda Konkel's marvelous blog post about the Economic Development Committee's meeting the other day about the Downtown Plan. For most of us, the big downtown projects just happen -- by the time we hear about an Overture Center, an Edgewater redevelopment, or just another condo down the block, it's too late to have any input, if we even knew how to go about doing that anyhow. To follow the process from the beginning means sitting in on more meetings than most of us have the time or inclination to attend. That's where Konkel provides such an important service. She takes the time and reports back to the rest of us.

Looking at downtown development in Madison up close is like looking in a funhouse mirror or at Madison in some surreal parallel universe. It's a place where developers and bureaucrats and politicians meet and share their visions, which include frequent use of buzz phrases like "world class" and overreaching comparisons to cities much larger than Madison to promote flimsy concepts and ideas as lightweight as air. And they usually involve futuristic architectural dreams that combine grandiosity and post-modernist cliches with token reminders of Madison's past and present. End of rant.

Konkel writes, "Last night I checked in to the Economic Development Committee and got a really bizarre vision for the downtown. You gotta check this out." You really do. Here's the link.

The calendar says it's winter, but I find that hard to believe

2012-01-11T13:37:00.001-06:00

This isn't winter, it's Novembuary. Normally by this time of year I've put on my big, warm winter parka to protect myself from the elements, but this year I haven't touched it. It's been jacket weather all the way. (Edgewood College nature walk, Madison.)

The drifts in Madison so far this winter haven't been snow, but cattail fluff. The cattails in the Lake Wingra wetlands haven't had to worry about being weighed down by snow, and they've been merrily shedding little blizzards of fluff.

The cattails have been basking in the Novembuary sun. This is the view from the boardwalk on the Edgewood College nature walk. Normally by this time of year, the cattails would have been beaten down by wind and weather, snow and ice -- but they're standing tall, happily shedding little mini blizzards of fluff.

In Edgewood's Lake Jewel spring, the duckweed has been thriving. In Madison, Wisconsin. In midwinter. Everywhere you look, bits of green are popping up. The plants just can't help themselves.

On the Edgewood boardwalk, this Wooly Bear caterpillar saw its shadow the other day. Does that mean snow is on the way? Maybe. The weather forecasts say it should start snowing late tonight and then snow all day tomorrow. Finally -- though it's not as if they haven't said that before. I'll believe it when I see it, and deal with it then. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy our unexpected spring.

Muskrat takes a twilight dip in its icy pool on Lake Mendota

2012-01-07T19:45:00.000-06:00

Lake Mendota, Madison. (Most of the lake is open now, but this is along the remaining ice shelf near Picnic Point.)

Eve Arnold, perhaps best known for her photographs of Marilyn Monroe, dies at age 99

2012-01-06T12:49:00.000-06:00

I just found out that Magnum photojournalist Eve Arnold, the first woman taken on as a photographer by the famous photo agency, has died at age 99. Arnold was the only woman who regularly took photos of Marilyn Monroe, and the two women shared a rare, collaborative bond, which Arnold reminisces about in this video.

A couple years ago I blogged about one of Arnold's best known photos of Marilyn -- the summery photo of her reading Ulysses on a merry-go-round. In writing about their cover image, Poets and Writers editor Mary Gannon wrote this tribute to the actress and the photographer.

The photograph was taken in 1955 by Eve Arnold. In Joyce and Popular Culture, R.B. Kershner quotes a letter from Arnold about the day she took the shot:
We worked on a beach on Long Island…I asked her what she was reading when I went to pick her up (I was trying to get an idea of how she spent her time). She she kept Ulysses in her car and had been reading it for a long time. She said she loved the sound of it and would read it aloud to herself to try to make sense of it–but she found it hard going. She couldn’t read it consecutively. When we stopped at a local playground to photograph she got out the book and started to read while I loaded the film. So, of course, I photographed her.
Along with a certain irony (blonde bombshell tackles her century’s most baffling book), the photo–everything about it–has a nostalgic appeal. For those, like me, with a fetishistic attachment to books, there’s the well-worn hardback, the title and author’s name rendered elegantly on its cover. The merry-go-round Monroe sits on elicits memories of days filled with unstructured play. And behind her, the grassy clearing under the shade of the trees offers just the right place to get lost in a book.

Kodak teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, thanks to the digital photography revolution they helped invent

2012-01-05T23:29:00.001-06:00

For a long time, Kodak and photography seemed synonymous to me. The company played a major role in the development of modern photography, and once its products were everywhere, and their R&D was state of the art.

I still have a few of their old metal film canisters. I used to have a couple of them taped to my camera strap. They were handy for storing all sorts of little things, not just film. For me, that familiar Kodak yellow was the color of photography, even when I was shooting black and white.

Now the headline in the Wall Street Journal reads Kodak Teeters on the Brink.

Eastman Kodak Co. is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection in the coming weeks, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would cap a stunning comedown for a company that once ranked among America's corporate titans.

The 131-year-old company is still making last-ditch efforts to sell off some of its patent portfolio and could avoid Chapter 11 if it succeeds, one of the people said. But the company has started making preparations for a filing in case those efforts fail, including talking to banks about some $1 billion in financing to keep it afloat during bankruptcy proceedings, the people said.

It's a sad day. This great American company was knocked for a loop by the digital revolution, but it's not as if Kodak failed to anticipate it. Far from it. They not only saw digital imaging coming, their labs were responsible for developing much of the technology. They still make some of the best imaging chips for specialized applications ranging from astronomy to medicine. Many of those patents they're now trying to sell off are for digital technology. But they never were able to figure out how to convert their technology into a viable digital business model. They knew the digital tipping point was coming, though the speed with which the film business collapsed may have come as a surprise. They didn't have much time to adapt. Nor the management vision, it seems.

Like Xerox with the desktop personal computer interface, they weren't able to take the ball and actually run with it.

New Year's resolution for 2012

2012-01-01T18:59:00.000-06:00

Clean up the Capitol and take out the trash. And a few related things.

Will Hillary switch places in 2012 with Joe Biden and become Obama's running mate? Robert Reich thinks so.

2011-12-30T15:42:00.000-06:00

This was a poignant moment in 2008. Just before the Februrary Wisconsin primary, Hillary Clinton was making an election eve appearance. The nomination was already getting away from her and T and I were starting to switch to Barack Obama in our minds, though we would vote for her the next day out of lingering loyalty, knowing it wouldn't make much of a difference. On a cold, nasty night we turned out with thousands of other people at the Monona Terrace to hear her speak. She was electrifying.

Hillary has now been the most admired American woman for a total of 16 years, more than Eleanor Roosevelt, who led the list for 13. Will she add her unique excitement to the Democratic ticket in 2012 as a vice presidential candidate? Robert Reich thinks she will, writing on his website My Political Prediction for 2012: It’s Obama-Clinton.

My political prediction for 2012 (based on absolutely no inside information): Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap places. Biden becomes Secretary of State — a position he’s apparently coveted for years. And Hillary Clinton, Vice President.

So the Democratic ticket for 2012 is Obama-Clinton.

Why do I say this? Because Obama needs to stir the passions and enthusiasms of a Democratic base that’s been disillusioned with his cave-ins to regressive Republicans. Hillary Clinton on the ticket can do that.

I think it's potentially a great idea, although it doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense today, but I could see it happening before or at the convention.

Today Obama looks pretty secure and the Republican field looks like a collection of fools. But if there's anything recent events have shown, today's reality is not likely to be tomorrow's. There's still a good chance that economy will tank dramatically, the Iran situation could blow up, oil prices could spike, China's economic woes could have major impact on the world economy -- in short, there could be a lot of bad stuff out there completely out of President Obama's control that could affect his electability. At the same time, whatever Biden brought to the ticket in the past wouldn't help much in this scenario.

In a choice between what might then be an unpopular incumbent through little fault of his own and a lousy Republican alternative, the opportunity to elect the first woman VP might tip the balance. If so, this would show up in polling at the time, and that might encourage Obama to take this step. It's not as if changing the VP is unheard of for Democrats. FDR did it twice.

Hillary may well want to retire from politics after the 2012 election, as she's said. That doesn't mean she wouldn't accept if asked for the good of the ticket. And, yes, it would give her a good shot at 2016. And 12 years of Democratic incumbency would give us a chance to fix SCOTUS and a lot of other things.

On the other hand, if the economy and world situation improve, rather than getting worse, there's little need for this to happen and it probably won't.

Kurled up with Stephen King and my Kindle and my Kat

2011-12-28T22:28:00.011-06:00

The Kindle and the book I was reading were Christmas presents, but I expect that many in the future will be from the Madison Public Library—not every book I read is worth $10-15 for permanent ownership of what is, after all, an electronic file.

I spent several days glued to my chair reading 11/22/63, Stephen King's spellbinding page-turner about traveling in time and trying to prevent the Kennedy assassination (we know how the main plot point is eventually going to turn out, but there's no telling how King is going to get there). Templeton was my companion during much of this time. Stephen King is no Marcel Proust, but this book is a poignant and sometimes lyrical meditation on time, memory and loss. It's not a typical Stephen King book but it's his best book of the last decade, and one of his best ever.

The Kindle, btw, is a wonderful device for reading really big books (11/22/63 weighs in at 850 pages). First of all, the Kindle is much lighter. With its database and search capabilities and the ability to highlight and bookmark things, it's easier to find passages you want to go back to than flipping through a lot of pages. And if you read for hours straight and your eyes get tired, you can just make the type a little bigger and keep on going.

The Madison Public Library has a growing number of Kindle titles. Many have waiting lists, but reserve a few and soon you'll have a steady stream of library books waiting for you to download to your Kindle. You can bookmark, highlight passages and take notes the same as with your own books. They're saved in the cloud on Amazon's server, so the next time you check out the book—or happen to buy it—they'll be there.

High ISO holiday goodies

2011-12-28T20:22:00.000-06:00

I grew up in the heyday of film, when fast emulsions were just starting to come in. I'd shoot Tri-X and push it from its normal ISO 400 to 800 and, very occasionally, all the way to 1600. The results may have been sort of grainy, but they were thrilling -- WOW! SHOOTING IN LOW LIGHT WITH NO FLASH! It just doesn't get any better than that, I thought. Little did I know.

Of course, now even some of the better compacts can shoot clean images at ISO1600 -- and that's in color. In the old days, pushing film was mostly the province of black and white photographers. Above ISO 400 or so, images got terribly grainy -- nice for special effects, not if not.

Today, with DSLRs, especially the full-frame versions, the sky is the limit -- go ahead, shoot available light in that coal mine. My D90 is no longer the state of the art when it comes to high ISO photography, but it still has not lost the capacity to amaze me: This was shot in VERY low light at ISO 3200 with High ISO Noise Reduction turned on and cranked up high. Back in the old days, someone who claimed to have shot this at ISO 3200 would clearly have been lying. Today, it's a digital file that includes the ISO.

Highly sophisticated phishing attack? No, just the New York Times screwing up again.

2011-12-28T18:38:00.000-06:00

We started saving trees some time ago by canceling our daily New York Times subscription. But we've kept the Sunday NYT, partly because it's a Sunday morning ritual of long standing, and partly because it allows us full access to the NYT on all our devices. It seems a good compromise between going exclusively print or exclusively online. We have no intention of canceling it.

That's why this email today really freaked us out. We knew we hadn't canceled. Was it a sophisticated phishing attack? Had somebody hacked into the NYT's subscriber list emails? The last thing I was going to do was call that phone number. I did go to the home delivery tab at NYT.com to check my subscription. I couldn't get through -- the connection timed out. The next time I tried it said the page was down for maintenance. Yeah, right. That's when I figured it was a Times screwup.

And how, as it turned out later in the day. This Poynter.org headline says it all: New York Times sends subscriber email to 8.6 million readers instead of 300. Apparently somebody pushed the wrong button, sort of like accidentally hitting "reply all" on your email when that's the last thing you want to do.

Everybody makes mistakes, but you'd think the Times could design their system so that it takes a little more than an accidental keystroke (like a high-level admin code) to send an email to all of its readers. Or at least wait until April Fool's Day to pull a prank like this.

Wishing Everyone a Peaceful and Joyful Holiday!

2011-12-24T01:35:00.000-06:00

A blend of the old and the new: The peace symbol is from a potato-and-food-coloring print we did years ago as a family Christmas card. This was the letter "O" from "Noel," and each letter was carved out of a potato and printed on the card. The red letters are from my computer, Arial Narrow. Happy Holidays!!

Our second Solstice

2011-12-22T23:30:00.000-06:00

Since the Solstice arrived here, technically speaking, at 11:30 pm last night, we celebrated both days. We went out today and decorated a Solstice tree in the woods at dusk. T made ice candles and used a cookie cutter to fashion bread into edible decorations for the creatures. The new snow brought a wintry chill, and the candles were a welcome reminder that at least the days will start getting longer now.

Solstice swirl at Olbrich Botanical gardens -- taking the garden kaleidoscope for a spin

2011-12-22T11:07:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we stopped at Olbrich Botanical Gardens for a late afternoon walk before heading over to the Solstice bonfire across the street. We gave the garden kaleidoscope a spin, which was a treat, since it's usually snowbound this time of year. The swirling patterns looked as if someone were spinning a bowl of holiday hard candy..

2011 Winter Solstice at Olbrich Park

2011-12-22T00:32:00.000-06:00

In the Midwest, the astronomical time for this year's Winter Solstice is right on the cusp -- 11:30pm CST -- between Dec. 21 and 22, so we decided to celebrate on both days. The beautiful communal ritual in Olbrich Park on the 21st, and our little family ritual on the 22nd in which we leave food for the creatures and ice candles (if they don't melt) for Mother Nature at sunset.

It was great huddling together with a circle of people as the light faded over the lake to the west, waiting for the ritual lighting of the Solstice bonfire. "For ten years now, we have burned the Solstice fire, and the sun has returned. It will return again. We know our science." Loved that line about the "science" of making the sun return. A wonderful annual communal event by the Lake Monona shoreline on Madison's east side put on by the Friends of Starkweather Creek.

December thaw on Lake Wingra

2011-12-20T14:22:00.000-06:00

Earlier this month Lake Wingra, Madison's smallest lake, froze over with a thin coating of ice. Then it warmed up, and the ice disappeared (this photo was taken last Friday). Now there's a thin coating of ice again. But who knows? Maybe it will melt again. It's a weird year. In contrast, in 2009 there were already ice fishers on the lake on Nov. 28.

Just in time for the holidays, Monona Terrace has a deceptive little brush with winter

2011-12-19T13:33:00.000-06:00

Winter toyed with us over the weekend, and brushed the Monona Terrace with a light dusting of snow.

A cold front swept in Friday night, and Saturday morning we had our first shovelable snow of the season -- although you could probably have used a big broom just as well as a shovel. The slightly snowy exterior was a gray and wintry contrast to the bright colors inside, where the Monona Terrace was all dressed up for the holidays, complete with giant snowflakes projected on the ceiling.

The snow was deceptive. Now it's just as gray outside, and almost all the snow has already melted. They're forecasting sprinkles, not snowflakes, followed by sunny weather from Thursday through Tuesday. A white Christmas doesn't seem to be in the picture this year. (Something that's not all that rare in Wisconsin, though it's been five years since it last happened.)

Christmas in an Octopus Garden

2011-12-15T13:33:00.000-06:00

South Park Street Octopus Car Wash on a rainy night.

All dressed up for the holidays

2011-12-12T13:11:00.000-06:00

The Mallatt's Pumpkin is all dressed up for the holidays while it keeps a watchful eye on the construction construction of Parman Place, the mixed-use development on the site of the former Parman's Service Station on Monroe Street that will include a new restaurant from the owners of Sardine and Marigold Kitchen. I hope the project has enough of a setback to preserve the view of the Pumpkin. With its different seasonal decorations, it's always a cheery sight driving west on Monroe Street.

Lake Wingra has put on its winter coat

2011-12-12T02:06:00.000-06:00

Still no snow, but a nice slick skin of ice on the lake. Perfect for skating and ice boats, once the ice solidifies a bit.

Stills from Unmade Movies: Night Before Christmas Meets It's a Wonderful Life

2011-12-08T16:06:00.000-06:00

It was going to be the greatest Christmas blockbuster of all time, bringing together two powerful brands, The Night before Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life, with a special twist for modern times -- but the financial backers lost all their money in the Bernie Madoff scandal.

Shooting began with expensive sets at the North Pole, where it turns out all is not well at Santa's Workshop. It seems the workshop had been refinanced several times to buy toy supplies. The mortgage bubble has burst, and foreclosure is imminent. Santa is desperate. He yells at the elves and battles with his wife. Finally he storms out of the house, hitches up the reindeer and careens off into the night. He crashes the sleigh into a house on Drake Street in Madison, Wisconsin. Sadly he lurches off to throw himself into an ice fishing hole on nearby Lake Monona, to end his misery and Christmas as we know it.

Fortunately he's saved by an old ice fisherman named Clarence with a wry, angelic countenance who teaches him the true meaning of Christmas. When he returns to the North Pole, he finds benefactors from around the world have paid off the mortgage and his sleigh is loaded and ready to go. With his jolly spirit restored and a cheery wink at Rudolph, he sets off on his Christmas Eve journey.

The sleigh crash was as far as they got with filming. The screenplay is still making the rounds, but so far hasn't found new backing. Nobody seems interested in a nice, simple heartwarming Christmas story anymore.

At the end of the day, I got them all on the same page

2011-12-07T14:03:00.000-06:00

I'm no rockstar and I have a lot on my plate, but I figured if I think outside the box, do whatever it takes and work smarter, I just might be able to pull it off. I was hoping to come up with something both impactful and robust. Perhaps a new best practice might emerge, or at least a win-win. Net-net, it was a no-brainer, but it would require flawless execution. The low-hanging fruit was already gone. "Let's take this offline," I told myself. I needed to take it to the next level. I needed to take a more holistic approach. I would have to plus-up my best game.

I needed some seriously proactive synergy to leverage the value-added of the 30,00-foot view. I had to circle back and touch base with my Inner Jabberwock. That's when I was finally able to get all 20 most-hated buzzwords on the same page -- or at least use them in one blog post.

At the end of the day, it is what it is.

The University Avenue Tree Lights are dancing again

2011-12-07T00:35:00.001-06:00

A Madison holiday landmark is all aglow again -- the University Ave. Tree Lights are once again frolicking in a festive swirl of color, a wall of light stretching exuberantly as far as the eye can see. Even the straight, no-nonsense railroad tracks seem about to get up and start dancing.

My favorite upcoming holiday movie

2011-12-05T00:42:00.000-06:00

"Total Recall," which stars a villainous protagonist who fronts for a bunch of bad guys who don't even live in his state, along with a supporting cast of assorted WI GOP state senators.

The holidays are such a special season in Wisconsin

2011-12-03T17:01:00.000-06:00

Especially this year. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool Santa. He has a surprise up his sleeve for the boy who was really naughty.

Night Flight

2011-12-03T16:18:00.000-06:00

Canada Geese taking off at dusk from Tiedeman's Pond in Middleton -- wild, raucous honking, beating of powerful wings and water splashing everywhere. There's something primal about it.

What Scott Walker Fears Most of All

2011-12-02T18:14:00.000-06:00

He should. More and more of the 99% are waking up to what he has done to their state -- and their kids' schools. They're signing recall petitions because they want their state back.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like

2011-12-01T23:52:00.000-06:00

A Cheesehead reclaiming her state one "I Signed Recall Walker" sticker at a time.

They stopped laughing. Now they're fighting (dirty). Next we win.

2011-11-30T17:00:00.000-06:00

First the Republicans laughed at the Recall movement. Then they started fighting, and fighting dirty. That's what a lot of the voter suppression and redistricting funny business was all about. Now anti-recall fanatics are starting to go after people collecting signatures with their cars. Next we win.

"Wisconsin Can't Wait! Recall Walker."

2011-11-30T14:16:00.000-06:00

Why have 300,000 people signed recall petitions in less than two weeks? What's the rush?

Because Wisconsin can't wait. Normally, when we hold an election and are unhappy with the result, we wait until the next election to "throw the bum out." The social contract underlying democratic self-government gives elected officials a reasonable amount of time to try out their policies.

A politician who is runs on a stealth campaign with a secret agenda that even many supporters wouldn't agree with breaks that contract. Claiming a mandate for policies that violate most people's standards of fairness shows contempt for democracy.

That's why Wisconsin can't wait, and why recalling Scott Walker is the only recourse the people have. Three more years is too long to wait.

Vanishing Point

2011-11-29T22:58:00.000-06:00

Lake Michigan, Kohler-Andrae State Park, Sheboygan, WI.

The war on workers: At Walker's current rate of job creation, it will take Wisconsin until 2025 to climb back to pre-recession employment rates

2011-11-29T17:15:00.000-06:00

Scott Walker says his policies are working. He's right about one thing -- the Walker administration's war on workers certainly is working. In October, Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state. The Walker administration prefers to point out that Wisconsin actually gained 14,000 private-sector jobs in the last year (while losing 8,000 public sector jobs). True enough. But at this anemic job growth rate, it will take Wisconsin until 2025 to climb back up to pre-recession employment levels. That's one way to keep labor costs down. Walker's corporate sponsors must be beaming.

Fortunately, there is a way to stop this war on workers. It's called the recall.

"Hey, Walker -- The only 'tool' I see is you!"

2011-11-29T13:52:00.000-06:00

Speaking of tools: Scott Walker talks a lot about the "tools" his union-busting budget gives municipalities and school districts, but the sign suggests this woman at the Nov. 19 Recall Rally in Madison isn't buying it. Nor are most of the people of Wisconsin, judging from the 300,000 who signed recall petitions in just the first 12 days.

The Midvale Heights bison celebrate Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T17:33:00.000-06:00

Bison Prairie Gateway, built by residents of the Midvale Heights neighborhood in Madison, under the direction of artist Bill Grover, who designed the two concrete bison sculptures. It has become a neighborhood tradition to dress them for the holidays.

Festive, Timely and Functional Holiday Placemat from the "Recall" Collection

2011-11-24T11:28:00.000-06:00

Wisconsin Residents Only:: President Obama pardoned two turkeys for Thanksgiving, but here in Wisconsin we're not so much in a mood to pardon our turkeys as to recall them. Brighten your holidays with this specially designed holiday placemat from the "Recall" Collection (also available in Christmas red). It's guaranteed to be a stimulating icebreaker at your holiday table. This is the Walker model. There's also a matching Kleefisch. Mix and match! And after your holiday meals, brush off the crumbs and pass the pens! You'd be surprised how much fun it is to autograph one of these unique recall petition placemats. It's downright empowering!.

All kidding aside, Happy Thanksgiving and here's hoping the recall isn't too divisive at your celebration, a day to put family ahead of politics. There are plenty of other days remaining to sign those recall petitions.

Thanksgiving Eve Sunset on Lake Wingra

2011-11-24T01:41:00.002-06:00

Wednesday was a gorgeous day. Forecast for Thanksgiving is looking pretty good too. Happy Thanksgiving!

"The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice."

2011-11-23T13:13:00.000-06:00

The words of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Recall Walker Rally, Madison, Nov. 19, 2011.

Helping take back our state one signature at a time

2011-11-23T01:52:00.000-06:00

Peg and Steve Arnold were collecting signatures to recall Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch outside Trader Joe's on Monroe Street when I photographed them yesterday. Like all the people working on the recall I've seen there they were cordial and courteous, stayed on public property and didn't block access to the city parking lot. In short, there never was any need for Trader Joe's to put up either the firs or the second sign distancing themselves from what management seemed to think were the "barbarians at the gate." I'm glad they've apparently changed their minds and have come to realize that democracy isn't so bad after all -- the second sign came down today.

The Arnolds say most people have been friendly and receptive, and the location has produced lots of signatures. That's not surprising, given the location in a progressive neighborhood in liberal Madison.

But what about other parts of the state? What about rural Wisconsin? Margaret Krome has a story in the Capital Times about taking recall petitions door-to-door in a small town in southwest Wisconsin last weekend. It's a real eye-opener. Badgers far from Madison are also angry at their governor, and some of them are Republicans.

I believe that the Recall Walker campaign leaders significantly underestimated discontent in rural areas. When the Iowa County office opened up to train volunteers several days ago, over 100 people showed up. And in five days, they have gathered well over 50 percent of the total signatures they expected to gather in that county in the entire two months of the process.

An office volunteer recounted having a senior couple come in, seeming uncomfortable as they approached the counter. The wife said to her husband, “I don’t like to do this, but it’s got to be done.” Yes, he agreed, “It’s got to be done.” They were Republicans, they said, and it was difficult to abandon the party, but the state’s well-being was more important than party.

It was drizzling much of the afternoon as I walked, and many people invited me in. Probably the visit that I remember most was the elderly lady on oxygen, who apologized as she struggled to write, but was adamant that she wanted to sign. “How did Walker ever get elected?” she asked. “Didn’t people see what he did to Milwaukee County?”

Krome writes that about 20% or people declined to sign, but even they were mostly polite and friendly. The signatures she collected were far beyond her expectations. No wonder Republicans have pushed voter suppression measures so hard.

Scott Walker is definitely in trouble.

Wisconsin October job losses -- Scott Walker caught in the collision between ideology and reality.

2011-11-23T00:10:00.000-06:00

It was going to be so easy. Scott Walker was going to use his sunny disposition and the lure of lower taxes to suck jobs right out of high-tax Illinois and into the Badger state, which he had recently opened for business.

It didn't work out that way. Illinois gained 30,000 jobs in October, the biggest gain of all the states. Our other neighbors also added jobs. Wisconsin lost 9,700 jobs -- the biggest loss of all the states. It's damn near a controlled experiment -- 5 Rust Belt Midwestern states roughly similar in their economic situations. Four improve, and one doesn't. The one that doesn't is the one that was renamed Fitzwalkerstan and became a laboratory for union-busting rightwing panaceas.

No wonder even some long-time Republicans are joining the recall movement. Walker almost seems to be scaring the jobs away.

Scott Walker needs to read the paper -- here's why tax cuts for big business don't automatically produce jobs

2011-11-22T16:29:00.000-06:00

It sounds so intuitive, if you're prone to think that way -- just give tax cuts to big business, and they'll use the extra money in their pockets to invest in business expansion and that will create jobs. Wrong. Mostly, they'll just use the money to line their pockets.

That's the gist of a new report in the New York Times, As Layoffs Rise, Stock Buybacks Consume Cash.

The principle behind buybacks is simple. With fewer shares in circulation, earnings per share can rise smartly even if the company’s underlying growth is lackluster. In many cases, like that of the medical device maker Zimmer Holdings, executives are able to meet goals for profit growth and earn bigger bonuses despite poor stock performance.

“It’s clear there’s a conflict of interest,” said Charles M. Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “Unless earnings per share are adjusted to reflect the buyback, then to base a bonus on raw earnings per share is problematic. It doesn’t purely reflect performance.”

In addition, executives, who are often large shareholders, stand to benefit from even a small, short-term jump in stock prices.

In addition, if the stock buybacks are made mainly for the purpose of bumping short-term earnings-per-share, and thus executives' bonuses, the effect is often to weaken their companies by draining them of needed cash resources, creating major problems down the line. But by then their executives probably have used their golden parachutes to glide away to greener pastures.

Something for Scott Walker to ponder when he looks at the 9,700 jobs Wisconsin lost in October, despite his "job creating" tax cuts for the rich.

No, Scott -- It's NOT Working!

2011-11-21T12:42:00.000-06:00

Just look at the numbers -- Wisconsin lost 9,700 jobs in October. We're underperforming other states. Scott Walker knows nothing about creating jobs. What he knows is how to lie and misrepresent and use job creation as a pretext for busting unions and giving tax breaks to the rich. Wisconsin once led the nation in economic justice. Wisconsin's 99% deserve better and the 1% need to get out of the way.

Celebrating Walker recall with Solidarity Forever, dancing balloons, and one runaway balloon rising symbolically.

2011-11-20T19:54:00.000-06:00

Great scene inside the Capitol after the Recall Walker rally -- people singing Solidarity Forever, while the balloons do their dance. Note the runaway balloon at the end that rises symbolically.

The constitutional right "peaceably to assemble" is alive and well in Madison, where it's practiced without batons and pepper spray.

2011-11-20T19:42:00.002-06:00

Saturday was such an incredible day at the Capitol Square. All that pent-up frustration, anger and determination finally had the long-awaited chance to express itself in resolute and peaceful solidarity against Scott Walker and what he has done. I loved what Sue Pastor said about it on Facebook: "Like February, but warmer."

We Wrote It Out in Big Letters So Walker Would get the Message

2011-11-20T19:37:00.000-06:00

That felt so great! Signed our recall petitions for both Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch up at the Capitol Square, where it all started, and joined 40,000 people who care about the future of Wisconsin in solidarity. Judging from the relative proportion of recall supporters and opponents (a handful of the latter staged a rather pathetic march around the periphery), Scott Walker is toast.

Really, Trader Joe's, Really? Another Sign?

2011-11-19T10:21:00.000-06:00

So you took down the one sign and put up another. Really? At least this doesn't "apologize" for other people's perfectly legitimate political activity in public space. But it still equates it with something uncool and unpleasant, "solicitation." Having Recall Walker on the sidewalk outside your store seems to make you really nervous. Would you put up a sign like this if there were a Salvation Army Santa outside?

If you really want to be neutral, get rid of the sign. No comment is required. The Walker recall has nothing to do with you. The sign just makes it look as if you're taking sides even while you say you're not. "Lest they anger our customers" makes it sound as if you're speaking for all your customers, and you're not.

It also makes you look cowardly -- as if you're saying, "We're not like the Victory Cafe on Atwood Ave. Please don't throw a rock through our window. Thank you."

Either way, you'd do well to lose the sign.

PS: That really is beautiful hand lettering on the sign. Suggest you apply it to other topics.

WTF? Say it ain't so, Trader Joe!

2011-11-18T16:45:00.000-06:00

It's been a tough week for public space, with all the coordinated and often brutal assaults on people exercising their 1st Amendment rights all around the country. That's why, when I saw this sign at my local Trader Joe's, I just snapped. I was angry, and my first impulse was to abandon my cart and just leave.

Don't get me wrong. I love Trader Joe's and shop there frequently. So do a lot of people -- which is why people have been standing outside collecting Recall Walker signatures since Tuesday. The demographics are perfect, and the high foot traffic doesn't hurt. That's just another reason why I found the sign so appalling.

There had been people collecting signatures earlier in the day, and now there were none -- just this sign. Had Trader Joe's somehow managed to drive them off, even though they were on public property (the sidewalk and the entrance to the adjacent enclosed city-owned parking lot)? And even if they weren't responsible for their departure, what were they doing labeling people engaged in legitimate political action "solicitors"? What were they apolgizing for? Whose side were they on, anyhow?

We already have too many corporate infringements on free speech and public space. I hate confrontations, but I knew I had to talk to the manager. I asked him what the sign was about, and he said it was corporate policy not to take sides. Also, there were complaints about the recall petitioners hassling patrons on the way into the store. (Since I can't imagine anyone doing anything so counterproductive as hassling store customers while trying to collect their signatures, I figured the complaints were either from people with over-sensitive nerves, or more likely, pro-Walker troublemakers.)

I said I understood their not taking side, nobody expects a national corporation to endorse the recall. But the sign, with its "apology," made it look as if they were taking sides -- against the recall. Didn't he know they had a perfect right to be on public space outside the store? The sign made it look as if they made them leave.

He seemed shocked by the idea. Said he knew they were on public property, and that they had left for the day on their own (this was about 7:15pm). Of course they had a perfect right to be there. The sign was just Trader Joe's way of saying they were neutral.

I said I thought the "apology" was offensive and would be to many other customers as well. Likewise the "solicitors" appellation. I said I wouldn't be able to keep shopping there if the sign stayed up.

He said he saw what I meant and that he would talk to his boss about what to do. He was friendly and conciliatory, and I left it that.

This afternoon the sign was gone, and someone was collecting signatures out in front again. I showed him my photo of the sign and told him about my discussion the night before. He said he had been there yesterday, too, and had also complained -- but was only told that it was company policy. "You got further than I did," he said. I said I doubted it was just me, but that probably lots of people had complained.

We all need to let corporations know when they cross the line in infringing on public space. The Constitution guarantees us the right to free assembly, but it's one of those rights that tends to shrivel up if it's not exercised.

Winter Comes Early to Madison Thursday Night

2011-11-18T00:12:00.000-06:00

With 20 tons of snow hauled in by the Hoofers Ski and Snowboard Club for the 2-story slope they built at Union South at the UW-Madison. Mother Nature provided a cold night to match the snow, as the Hoofers held their 3rd Annual Rail Jam. It wasn't quite the Winter Olympics, but it was pretty cool.

No snow in the forecast, but they'll be snow boarding and skiing under the lights in Madison tonight

2011-11-17T01:46:00.000-06:00

They were putting up the hill last night in the Plaza of Union South at the UW-Madison. It's the 3rd Annual Hoofers Rail Jam, sponsored by the Hoofers Ski and Snowboarding Club. Tonight, from 5:00-8:00pm at Union South.

Recall Walker Countdown: November 15 begins with hope in Wisconsin and outrage in New York

2011-11-15T11:32:00.000-06:00

It started this morning at 12:01am at recall parties all over the state (the Packers trouncing the Vikings for a record 9th straight victory on Monday Night Football made for an auspicious lead-in). In Madison the party was at Hawk's Bar & Grill, where people awaited the stroke of midnight with growing excitement.

A new countdown starts today, the beginning of a long hard fight for Wisconsin's future -- 60 days to gather 544,000 signatures. It's guaranteed to be a holiday season unlike any other. To celebrate the moment, here's a slideshow of the entire Recall Countdown.

As the recall was getting underway in Wisconsin, New York police were just starting their brutal takedown of Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park. Everything that people couldn't carry out with a few minutes notice was contemptuously thrown into garbage dumpsters -- tents, computers, papers, and most shockingly of all -- the 5,000-book library of donated books that was the intellectual heart of Occupy Wall Street, and where just last Friday volunteers had taken turns reading Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street."

Something is deeply wrong in America. We have 60 days in Wisconsin to start making it right.

Recall Walker Countdown: Face of the WI protest -- teacher by day, freedom fighter by night, mom all the time.

2011-11-14T22:07:00.000-06:00

Of all the photos I took at the Wisconsin protests, this is probably my favorite. I took it March 25 near the Capitol Square, and when I think about the Walker Recall that starts tomorrow, it's the photo I think of most often. It seems to sum up the dedication of those thousands of individuals who fought for something larger than themselves, who turned the battle for simple fairness and decency into a family affair.

Millions of dollars are going to be spent by Walker's corporate allies and sponsors in trying to smear the opposition. They'll be playing for keeps, trying to portray Walker's opponents as crybabies, childish troublemakers and malcontents, bad losers and dirty hippie liberals.

Ignore the propaganda. This is the face of the Wisconsin protests -- concerned citizens who are determined to turn Fitzwalkerstan back into the Wisconsin we know and love, to make it a state we can be proud of again.

Recall Walker Countdown: None of us have enough middle fingers to deal with this. That's what the recall is for.

2011-11-13T23:45:00.000-06:00

Lord knows, we've all had plenty of occasions to use our middle fingers expressively since March 20, when I took this photo on the Capitol Square. But eventually you have to move beyond anger to action. That's what the recall is all about. Tuesday it starts.

Recall Walker Countdown: Scott Walker Thought All They Cared about Was Their Paychecks. He Was So Wrong.

2011-11-12T23:38:00.000-06:00

I took this photo on the Capitol grounds on March 4, 201.

Scott Walker and his buddies the Koch brothers love to play divide and conquer, playing different groups off against each other so that they're less likely to notice that the rich are getting all the goodies. They pitted union workers against non-union workers, public employees against private employees and the middle class against the poor in order to sell their "race to the bottom" budget that provided a lavish banquet for the rich and left the rest of us to fight over table scraps.

Because their minds are constructed to think in terms of narrow self-interest, Walker and his minions thought they were being really smart by exempting police and firefighters from the union-busting provisions of Walker's budget. The old divide and conquer tactic all over again. But they misjudged Wisconsin's police and firefighters. Instead of supporting Walker, they threw their support behind their fellow public employees in overwhelming numbers. They inspired a lot of people with their strong presence -- including entire families -- at the rallies last winter. This is the sort of solidarity that will help make Scott Walker a less-than-1-full-term governor -- and a footnote in the history books.

Taking the new lens on a ride

2011-11-12T23:33:00.000-06:00

I liked the interplay between the colors of this battered old truck and the landscape. My favorite birthday elf picked up on my interest in the 35mm f/1.8 DX Nikkor lens for my D90, and I've been playing with it. Nice to be shooting with a "normal" prime for a crop-sensor DSLR (the lens is equivalent to a 52mm on a full frame sensor). One of its nice features is that the fast aperture means the camera focuses more quickly and positively in Live View, without endless aimless focus-seeking -- handy for photography at the wheel.

For many years as a film photographer, a normal lens was all I used (ranging from 45 to 52mm depending on the camera), In many ways, photography then was more about what my eye saw rather than what a collection of zooms and other lenses saw. Nice to try it out again.

Recall Walker Countdown: It's a farmer's issue, too

2011-11-11T23:34:00.000-06:00

I took this photo during the Tractorcade on the Capitol Square March 12, 2011. That's when Tony Schultz so eloquently explained in this video why the Walker budget fiasco is also a farmer's issue. In four days we'll start to see what they do about it.

Recall Walker Countdown: Think of Them as Recall Petitions

2011-11-11T03:36:00.000-06:00

I photographed this March 2, 2011 at the Wisconsin State Capitol. One of the most moving things about the protests last winter was the way that people used the locked doors of the Capitol as community bulletin boards to post their grievances on brightly colored Post It Notes -- thousands of them.

Some were funny: "Dear Mr. Walker, Who hurt you so badly as a kid?"

Some were heartbreaking: "No Medicaid will KILL ME!"

Beautiful, poignant and prescient. Think of them as recall votes.

Recall Walker Countdown: Union busting isn't the only reason

2011-11-09T23:50:00.001-06:00

There's also Scott Walker's savage cuts that are coming soon to Badgercare and Medicaid to pay for his giveaways to the rich. Once again, the 1% being enriched at the expense of the other 99%. In six days and counting we can do something about it.

This is how it begins

2011-11-09T23:45:00.000-06:00

A little bit here, a little bit there, and all too soon the whole world is white.

Recall Walker Countdown: Ohio's SB5 repeal builds momentum for recall in Wisconsin

2011-11-08T23:49:00.000-06:00

I took this photo Feb. 15, 2011, the day after Valentine's Day, at one of the most thrilling moments of the protests that were just starting at the State Capitol. It was when the firefighters and the police showed up in support of the public workers who would bear the brunt of Scott Walker's union-busting budget bill. Walker had cynically exempted the police and firefighters from the bill. Their rejection of this strategy helped turn the demonstrations into a broad public uprising that united all walks of life in Wisconsin against Scott Walker's pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda. Scott Walker betrayed the voters' trust, and in in just one week the voters will begin the process of pursuing the remedy provided by the state Constitution:

The qualified electors of the state of any congressional, judicial or legislative district or of a county may petition for the recall of any incumbent elective officer after the first year of the term for which the incumbent was elected, by filing a petition with the filing officer with whom the nomination petition to the office in the primary is filed, demanding the recall of the incumbent.

It looks as if Ohio voters today are helping build momentum for our recall. Early returns show them rejecting former-GOP-rising-star Gov. John Kasich's union busting legislation in a binding referendum by an overwhelming margin -- despite being vastly overspent. The tide is turning.

Krugman's chart today says it all about what's been happening to the 99%

2011-11-08T20:37:00.000-06:00

What Reagan Revolution? It makes much more sense to call it the Reagan Counterrevolution -- against the postwar rise of the average, working Americans, under the guise of deregulation. Paul Krugman graphically illustrates the point in his blog today.

Here’s a comparison of the postwar boom with the deregulation alleged boom, using real average family income from the Census and real average income for the top 1 percent from Piketty and Saez.

If you’re looking at the average, the last generation is a poor shadow of the postwar boom. But if you’re talking about the 1 percent, wonderful things have happened.

No wonder then, that Very Serious People — who, after all, get to be considered Very Serious because the elite likes them — have retained faith in deregulation despite repeated disasters.

No wonder the Very Serious People are having a hard time understanding what Occupy Wall Street and local Occupy movements it inspired are all about.

Late Afternoon Walk Along Lake Michigan at Kohler-Andrae State Park

2011-11-08T19:33:00.000-06:00

We had Kohler-Andrae almost to ourselves yesterday for our late afternoon walk. Quiet and serene. The late afternoon sun slanting from the west turned the grasses along the dunes into golden flame. We were fortunate to see the park's little herd of deer, including a doe looking out over the crest of a dune at Lake Michigan. Later, as we walked along the beach we saw lots of deer tracks. They seemed to have been gamboling at the water's edge. Wish we had seen them.

Recall Walker Countdown: "People Have the Power to Wrestle the World from Fools"

2011-11-07T00:54:00.000-06:00

Love that sign. The wrestling match started last winter in the ice and snow (photo taken outside the Wisconsin State Capitol Feb. 26, 2011). Nine months later, the end game is in sight.

Return to Standard Time

2011-11-07T00:27:00.000-06:00

What a difference an hour makes. The sun sets a lot earlier, and the darkness seems darker.

Recall Walker Countdown: Soon librarians and the rest of us thugs will have our say

2011-11-06T12:23:00.000-06:00

Back last winter and spring, when many tens of thousands of Wisconsin people were coming to the Capitol to protest Scott Walker's union-busting budget "reform" bill, Walker's minions complained about the "union thugs" taking over the Capitol. I took this photo on March 5, 201 on the Capitol Square, and it's become one of my most-viewed photos on Flickr. Does she look like a thug to you? Yeah, me too. If she's a thug, sign me up. Last winter we protested with our feet. In just nine days, we'll be able to protest with our signatures on recall petitions.

Goodbye, Autumn's Golden Glory

2011-11-06T12:19:00.000-06:00

Now that it's November, not many afternoons like this left. Wingra Park, Madison.

I made a lot of exposures with a 200mm lens trying different focal points in the slanting light of a windy late afternoon. This is one in which the combination of sharply focused leaves and out-of-focus leaves and grasses seemed to perfectly suggest that windy, autumnal rustle of the last leaves blowing away.

Recall Walker Countdown: What Would Fighting Bob Do?

2011-11-05T03:01:00.000-05:00

If you asked Fighting Bob about the Walker recall, he'd probably say something like, "This is what we designed the recall procedure for -- those unfortunate times when elected officials so abuse the public trust they're no longer fit to hold office until the next election. Go for it!"

Photo taken Feb. 25, 2011 in the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Autumn Blues Encroach on the Leaf Pile

2011-11-05T02:57:00.000-05:00

Recall Walker Countdown: "We Are Wisconsin"

2011-11-04T01:08:00.000-05:00

And we've had it.

(Photo: Wisconsin State Capitol Feb. 21, 2011.)

Recall Walker Countdown: Unions Raise Standards for All Workers

2011-11-03T23:46:00.000-05:00

It's as true today as it was when I took this photo in the Wisconsin State Capitol Feb 18, 2011. Or, as Kevin Drum puts it in Mother Jones, Why Screwing Unions Screws the Entire Middle Class. Weaken unions, and living standards erode and the Democratic Party is forced to turn to other sources of money -- like Wall Street. Which is what Scott Walker's "budget repair bill" was all about. He would never have been elected if he had been open about his union-busting agenda, and that's why he needs to be recalled. 12 days and counting.

Recall Walker Countdown: Happy Birthday, Scott Walker!

2011-11-03T00:24:00.000-05:00

A year ago you received the keys to the Governor's Mansion as a birthday present from Wisconsin voters. Since then, they seem to have had second thoughts. Sorry this year's present isn't ready quite yet, but you should get it soon. It suits you perfectly.

(Photo taken Feb. 26, 2011, Wisconsin State Capitol.)

Rainy Day at Occupy Madison

2011-11-02T18:20:00.001-05:00

Day 27 of Occupy Madison is a dark, gloomy rainy November day, but that didn't do much to dampen their spirits. They apparently weathered a threat to shut them down because they didn't have a camping permit (local government agencies that didn't seem to be talking to each other) and had time to march to the Square in the rain, joined by some East High students, and stage an action against the banks.

Recall Walker Countdown: In 2 weeks Scott Walker begins learning that actions have consequences

2011-11-01T23:57:00.000-05:00

Last November, the people of Wisconsin made a big mistake. There was Obama fatigue, people were unhappy about outgoing Governor Doyle and Tom Barrett ran an uninspired campaign. Too many people thought the Democrats were part of the problem and figured it doesn't make any difference anyhow. They found out. And by the time tens of thousands of people started assembling at the Capitol, more and more Wisconsonites realized they had made a mistake in November. This November -- in just 2 weeks -- they can start to fix it.

Photo taken in the Wisconsin State Capitol Feb. 17, 2011.

Recall Walker Countdown: "We Cannot Rest in Peace As Long As Scott Walker Walks All Over Wisconsin"

2011-10-31T11:50:00.000-05:00

Photo taken at the Zombie Walk Against Walker, April 2, 2011, and this Halloween the Zombies' lament remains unchanged -- and shared by many people in Wisconsin. Starting in 15 days, will more than 540, 206 people sign their names to recall petitions to end this ghoulish state of affairs? You can help make sure that they do.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T11:27:00.000-05:00

This began as a photo I took five years ago with a 2mp Minolta Dimage X shooting through one eyepiece of my binoculars at Owen Park, Madison. The lens being recessed in the camera body behind a small window made it especially easy to hold the camera flush against the eyepiece. Bats and color tints added more recently. Happy Halloween!

Recall Walker Countdown: Walker is turning the working class into the walking dead

2011-10-30T15:35:00.000-05:00

Photographed at the Zombia Walk Against Walker, April 2, 2011. Seems more seasonal now -- and more true than ever.

Occupy Madison Day 23: Settled in at their new, more permanent home at 800 E. Washington (old Don Miller lot)

2011-10-30T15:01:00.001-05:00

Saturday was Day 23 of Occupy Madison. They're now in a more permanent home a short walk from the Capitol and actions in the downtown area -- including Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerc, just up the road at 501 E. Washington. The place already has a lived-in look after a few days, and in the old Don Miller car lot they have much more visibility on a major thoroughfare. There's room to grow and for people to drop in. They're in it for the long haul. Like Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy movements it launched around the country and around the world, Occupy Madison is not going away -- no matter how much critics try to marginalize it. It's hard to marginalize people representing the other 99%. You can find out more at their website.

This is one of the things Occupy Madison was doing Saturday, along with the Clarence Kailin Chapter of Veterans for peace -- the solidarity march for Scott Olsen and Occupy Oakland. Scott Olsen is the Wisconsin Marine from Onalaska who was hit by a police projectile and suffered a skull fracture in the police assault on Occupy Oakland -- a more dangerous place for Scott Olsen than two tours of duty in Iraq. Olsen's injury and the brutality of police in Oakland against peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment right to freedom of assembly has galvanized Occupy movements around the country.

Getting the woodpile ready for winter

2011-10-30T14:50:00.000-05:00

This looks as if it's far from Madison, but actually it's on River Road just north of the city (geotagged, click on photo to see map in Flickr).

Recall Walker Countdown: Zombie kids don't eat candy for Halloween

2011-10-29T01:08:00.000-05:00

They have a better idea. I took the photo at the Zombie Walk Against Walker April 2, 2011. I'll post a photo from that memorable event each day of the long Halloween Weekend. Happy Freakfest!