Rowen looking for his public

On the Koschnick-Abrahamson race, Jim Rowen engages in some wonderful projection:

If these one-note conservative ideologues keep it up we'll end up with appointed, not elected, Justices. The public, nauseated, will demand it.

Um, Jim? If the public keeps voting for conservatives, why would the public demand justices get their seats by appointment? Or is Governor Doyle suddenly going to start appointing conservatives?

This just in

Because of a reference to Lee Holloway as "Wile Lee Holloway", competing pickets have formed outside the headquarters of the blog No Runny Eggs. PETA members and Warner Brothers cartoon characters are both protesting the blog's association of a thug like Holloway with the noble coyote (PETA) and cartoon characters.

PETA spokesmammal Sandi Madhen accused the blogger of speciesism, saying that associating Holloway with Wile E. Coyote was a reinforcement of the stereotype that coyotes are sneaky, dangerous scavengers.

Tensions rose between the two picketing groups when some PETA members accused the Road Runner of engaging in anti-coyote bigotry and oppression. Police moved the PETA demonstration across the street when boxes from Acme with unknown contents were delivered to the cartoon characters.

Blogger Jim Rowen was arrested when he attempted to drive an Acme train as part of the cartoon protest.

What's a motto with you?

James Rowen notes the Cap Times Mike Ivey's attempts to find a brand image for Wisconsin ("ash tray of the midwest", "the state that doesn't care about the Great Lakes") and suggests a motto he claims is inspired by WMAC, "Wisconsin. You Won't Like It Here."

Hahahaha.

Problem is, Dane County Executive and general scold Kathleen Falk did Rowen one better, and she wasn't kidding, “No state is worse than we are.”

I'm ready to put it on my license plate with a picture of a bottle of brandy.

After all, what Wisconsinites really like about our state only brings out a snobbish sneer from people like, well, Mike Ivey: "But instead of playing up the state's scenic beauty, progressive political tradition or world class research university, they put cows, corn and a barn on the flip side of the 25-cent piece. Go figure."

I'm beginning to think the Left doesn't like Wisconsin anymore.

I'm going to need more hose

Owen Robinson celebrates the state assembly's failure to pass the Great Lakes Water Compact during the most recent session.

Good.

The Republican majority in the state Assembly tonight blocked an effort by Democrats to hold a vote on the Great Lakes compact.

There is no reason that Wisconsin should surrender its water policy to the neighboring states, who have no interest in Wisconsin’s well being.

I agree. Iowa should have absolutely no say in the water coming from Lake Michigan. Screw 'em.

However, since we kinda share the Great Lakes with a bunch of other states, we're kinda stuck with sharing the decision making. It's not like we can say we'll give this part of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior to Wisconsin, this part of Lake Superior to Minnesota, this part of the Great Lakes to Michigan, etc. It's one big interdependent freshwater system with the state of Michigan in the middle.

To mask this as an issue of a state's sovereignty over it's resources is just silly. (What are we going to do? "Fresh water or fight! Manifest Destiny for Wisconsin! Knock those UP'ers right in the lake!") Even if we could have Senator Mary Lazich's dream of no controlling authority over the lakes we would be faced with a long-term losing proposition. Doesn't anyone remember the "tragedy of the commons"? What do Lazich and Huebsch think is going to happen with unlimited straws in the drink?

Unfortunately for Lazich and Huebsch and Robinson and the Waukesha Chamber of Commerce, even if they could convince themselves some anarchic utopia is possible, current law won't allow it. D'oh!

Current law allows each state veto authority over any diversion from the lakes. Unlike what life would be under the compact, there would be no defined criteria for a diversion. There would be no process. It would be at the capricious whim of each of the Great Lakes governors. Don't trust Michigan now? Why would you feel better if they didn't have to justify their veto?

Now I'm not going to lose any sleep over the state assembly not taking up the Compact because there's going to be a special session, etc. And seriously, a couple of weeks or even a couple of months isn't going to make much difference except wear down the opposition. I suspect that some of the screams of partisanship about the Great Lakes Compact are really just partisan ploys themselves. (Republicans bad. Republicans want Great Lakes to be Arizona's bath tub. yadda yadda yadda.) Besides, a delay keeps Jim Rowen busy and out of trouble.

And in the meantime, Owen Robinson has promised everyone in Waukesha we can borrow some of his radium-free drinking water. We'll just need to run a hose to his house in West Bend and help ourselves to as much as we want. Who has got a Fleet Farm charge card to buy a really big hose?

Jim Rowen's psychological disorder

Jim Rowen wonders if conservatives suffer from a malady he found in the pages of the Washington Post, Empathy Deficiency Disorder. To test his pop psychology theory, he asks his conservative readers to comment on the story (as a Rorshach test) of an elderly woman who lost a large sum of money as "lost property" to the state of Wisconsin. The state can find no record and the woman is now suing the bank. What Rowen misses in his one-sentence summary is this from the original article,

{Willie Floyd } hired a lawyer, Tarena Washington Franklin, who said she was directed to bank officials in Louisiana, who told her that the money had been given to the State of Wisconsin as unclaimed.

"I checked with the state, and it was not there," Franklin said. "That money has to be somewhere, and we couldn't get any answer from them. We filed a lawsuit to get their attention."

Franklin noted that the check does not have an expiration date.

"What they're doing, it's unjust," Franklin said of bank officials. "It will clearly be unjust enrichment for the bank if they are allowed to keep the money."

Joshua Stubbins, a local lawyer representing the bank, filed a written response to Franklin's lawsuit. He said a cashier's check that is uncashed after five years is presumed to be "abandoned" under state law. He added that the bank "did not willfully or negligently commit a wrongful, illegal or inappropriate act," and that the case should be dismissed.

Yes, it's a horrible story. Let's add a few details not in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story. The bank is correct in stating what happens to unclaimed money. For years State Treasurer Jack Voight (Republican) worked hard to make sure people like Willie Floyd found out when the state claimed their property, taking out newspaper ads and travelling the state with his lists to educate the public about Wisconsin's unclaimed property law. Voight was the first state treasurer to do so, and if Voight were state treasurer today I have no doubt he would have personally combed through every record to find Floyd her money.

Unfortunately Voight did not spend enough money to get re-elected in 2006 and was replaced by the inexperienced Dawn Marie Sass (Democrat) whom the Journal Sentinel reporter shockingly does not quote in the story.

I confess this story moved me. I propose that if Dawn Marie Sass does not personally reimburse Floyd for the money seized by the state of Wisconsin, she gets tossed out on her ass as quickly as state recall elections allow. Furthermore, I strongly suggest that anyone who helped Sass get elected be publicly horsewhipped and driven to the Illinois border never to return. I want to thank Rowen for bringing this story to my attention and when he starts the recall petition he can count on my public support and the pledge of the first $25 towards his efforts.