Banned at UW-Madison

It had to happen, I suppose. Mel Brook's comedy classic "Blazing Saddles" is no longer suitable for even adult viewing on a university campus.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has apologized to a black student who during a class last year was shown a clip of the movie "Blazing Saddles" that features racial epithets.

During a seminar for working professionals, an instructor showed a scene of the 1974 comedy in which blacks are shown working on a railroad, according to a complaint filed by the student. Whites call the workers racial epithets and an overseer orders them to sing like slaves.

The student complained and the school's Office of Equity and Diversity, which investigates racial discrimination, got involved. That prompted an apology in March from the Department of Professional Development and Applied Studies, which offered the course.

"It was an insensitive error to use a video clip that included inflammatory and offensive language, and it will not happen again," department official James Campbell wrote. "We strive to plan and offer quality programming that meets the needs of an array of professionals and are sorry we fell short of that goal in this instance."

Here, I think, is the scene in question. (Warning: language)

I suppose if they don't set some sort of standard for the classroom, somebody in the English department might get the bright idea to teach the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Guess they'll just have to go back to showing porn films instead.

Do I know you?

The Associated Press is reporting UW-Madison is giving seven liquor stores and a grocery store scanners that spot fake id's.

Wouldn't it be great if poll workers had scanners like these available on election day?

Wouldn't it be great if poll workers actually had to ask for identification?

Circus World museum closed due to flooding, clowns set loose in world of politics

The circus museum in Baraboo was closed this week due to the flooding. The clowns were let loose in the world of politics as we begin this week’s search for the Idiot Politician of the Week.

This week I promise an all-badger state connection, unfortunately. Despite the record rainfall and flooding disasters, some politicians still couldn’t wait to be idiots.

This week we go right to the top. President Bush must have run out of people willing to stand still for photo ops with him. He’s giving former UW-Madison Chancellor Donna Shalala the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She probably agreed because any camera shot with the president is likely to go right over her head.

Let’s speculate why she won the award.

1. Revitalized the Badger football program
2. Created unconstitutional student speech codes that created a climate of fear on the UW-Madison campus.
3. Also created PC speech codes for faculty that took a decade to get rid of.
4. Created a program of admissions at UW Madison whose sole purpose was to determine racial winners and losers.
5. As a cabinet member to President Bill Clinton, spoke publicly defending the president against charges that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton would later be impeached for perjury after he lied under oath.
6. Allowed a thug atmosphere at the University of Miami’s athletic department.
7. She was Health and Human Services Secretary when the Clintons attempted to nationalize health care.

Shouldn’t someone who wins the Presidential Medal of Freedom at least have a passing acquaintance with attempts to broaden the reach of freedom rather than have a record of trying to restrict the freedom of others?

Like other totalitarian wannabes, I understand Shalala attempted to get a life-size statue built of herself in Miami, but the university couldn’t find an adequate sculptor with experience working in miniature.

The Democrats are gathered in Stevens Point this weekend and they are struggling with a delegate who refuses to become an Obamaton, preferring Senator John McCain since Senator Clinton is no longer available as a choice. Of course, in a convention of Obama supporters, the independent thinker is the IQ Queen. And who can blame the apostate delegate for not supporting her party’s nominee when he can’t even make an appearance at their state convention?

Which makes us wonder, who is the more incompetent? The Obama campaign team that schedules him for the Fox Valley on Friday but not Stevens Point on Saturday, or hapless state party chairman Joe Wineke who cannot convince Obama’s schedulers to make the minor change?

Tough to decide, tough to decide. I guess our key decision depends on the keynote speaker, Governor Jim Doyle. Will Wineke greet the governor with, “Nice tan, Governor. Did you get that on the golf course?” I’d deliver the award in person, but the roads keep flooding out between here and the Point. Perhaps one of the attending lobbyists would be so kind to drop off the governor’s Idiot Politician of the Week Award the next chance they have on the driving range?

And is it true the governor uses state contracts for scorecards?

Good to see Democrats can always find a job

In this week's "WisOpinion: The Show", Jeff Mayers interviewed Bryan Kennedy, the president of the AFT. Kennedy endorses the appointment of Biddy Martin as UW Madison chancellor because she supports collective bargaining rights for faculty. In other words, you can't say you weren't warned. Kennedy also wants to tax businesses more rather than make any cuts in the state budget.

Gee, I can't understand why he lost to Congressman Sensenbrenner twice. I'm just wondering if Kennedy is paying himself a salary and paying himself from the union's political fund. After all, in his second run against Sensenbrenner he had no problem paying himself a salary out of donated campaign contributions. (Oh yeah, his campaign treasurer was Ruth Page Jones, who is currently running for assembly against State Representative Bill Kramer.)

Meanwhile, Brian Fraley is not nearly as bald as Michael Wilbon. Shouldn't Nichols and Fraley just fire the two minute drill at each other?

Don't mend it. End it.

Over at the Critical Badger the students are lamenting the student body's apathy towards the UW-Madison student government and the apparent incompetence of the incumbents. The "state of the ASM" speech only attracted an audience of three reporters and six ASM members. If you read through the Critical Badger's post down to the comments, someone else proposes (yet again) a list of "reforms" needed to generate more interest by the students in their student government.

It's an issue dealt with time and again, but someday I'll get a group of students to listen to me. There is no need for a student government. Student governments are only good for taxing their fellow students so a few can have offices and salaries while attenting college. The other purpose of student government is to rubber stamp the desires of the administration.

If a student or group of students really wanted to make a difference on campus, they would form a single-issue ad hoc committee to tackle a problem and then quickly disband it when the problem is solved. The administration would take such a committee more seriously than it ever has the student government and it wouldn't cost the students any money.

Reform of student government in Madison has been tried before and it will be tried again. The same holds true at any UW system campus, or even Marquette. Each time I root for them to succeed, but each time I know it won't be long before the student government lapses into corruption and apathy. Sadly, the students in it will still believe they are doing something noble. And even if they achieve something, the next student government will just change things back.

Meanwhile, student governments are never representative of the students. They get less than ten percent of the student population to vote. After the election there is so much turnover that soon the student government doesn't look anything like the body that was elected the previous spring. Of those holding office, only a few will actually participate. They'll be the ones with titles, office space and salaries.

Are you not entertained?

I wasn't aware of the changing mission of the UW System. Apparently the new mission of UW-Madison is to provide free entertainment for the rest of the state.

In a letter sent to the co-chairs of the Joint Audit Committee last week, Reps. David Travis, D-Madison, Frank Boyle, D-Superior, and Mary Hubler, D-Rice Lake, asked for an audit of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics at the UW-Madison.

Specifically, the trio asked auditors to examine the division's revenues and expenditures as well as a request to "specifically enumerate the amount of revenue the division has or will receive from any agreements involving the broadcast of sporting events on the Big Ten Network."

The three lawmakers said that their request stemmed from constituents' complaints over not being able to watch the Nov. 3 UW-Ohio State football game.

The Big Ten Network is operated under an agreement between Big Ten universities and the Fox Sports network. The universities have agreed to allow the channel exclusive broadcast rights for certain games -- including some UW football games and a number of Badger basketball games -- in exchange for revenues from the new network. (Ht: Dad29)

While I have found Dave Travis' antics to be highly entertaining, I'm not sure he's qualified to chair the entertainment committee for the entire state. Rather than worry about whether we can create a Public Television version of ESPN perhaps the state senators should be more interested in how much of a big business NCAA football has become. It might shatter some of senators' illusions, and lead to better compensation for the atheletes. Surely that's far more interesting than whether a few constituents can get their football fix for free. Who knows? It might even be entertaining.

Governor Doyle and the Extremes

Governor Doyle's constituency groups are whining, and Doyle responded by lashing out at "extreme Republicans" in the legislature.

“Whenever both sides are close to an agreement, extreme voices in the Republican caucus let out a howl and the leaders shy away.” Governor Doyle said. “If the Legislature has not come to an agreement by Monday, then I expect both houses to pass this compromise bill – because Wisconsin families cannot afford to wait any longer. Every additional day that the Republican leaders play politics and ignore their responsibility, real people suffer. It is time Speaker Huebsch and extreme Republicans put partisan interests aside and do what’s best for Wisconsin.”

Excuse me? Who are the extremists?

That's the question I take up in this week's column for the Waukesha Freeman (always worth the 50 cents).

Gov. Jim Doyle blames the "extreme Republicans," the "right wingers," for preventing a state budget agreement. Wow, they must be really extreme. They must be outrageous. Because the last I checked, many of the Republican positions are those that the governor has taken in the past or is currently adopting,
Republicans don’t want a tax increase. Until this year neither did Governor Doyle. As recently as his State of the State address in 2006, Governor Doyle bragged about not raising the sales tax, the income tax and excise taxes. "All together, I have signed into law tax cuts worth more than $660 million. That’s right, more than half a billion dollars in tax cuts."

Then Doyle was re-elected and proposed $1.7 billion in new taxes.

Just how far to extremes are the governor's minions willing to go to try to put pressure on Republicans? They're even willing to raid the personal files of college kids just to find a few props for Doyle's "extreme Republicans" rant.

Let’s talk about some real extremism, and decide whether it’s a vice. After all, most of us would find it pretty extreme to have private records invaded to find potential "victims" of the budget impasse.

Allies of the Democrats did just that when they dug through the financial aid files at the University of Wisconsin-Madison looking for students whose financial aid requests were delayed because the state budget has not passed. The students were then "invited" via e-mail to attend Governor Doyle’s rally Tuesday at the Memorial Union where Governor Doyle complained of Republican extremism.

Who exactly ordered the file dive is still a mystery, although university spokesman John Lucas told Wispolitics.com "the university followed the guidelines of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to protect student privacy." We might question if Lucas’ statement that the students’ privacy remained inviolate is extremely disingenuous.

Local politicians would be recalled if they tried this. Pewaukee's mayor was recalled for less. For Doyle's people, it's just one more petty act of extremism.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Exploiting the workers

It's March Madness time, and college basketball teams from across the country are competing for a national championship. Many of the players have dreams of turning professional, but for most of them this is as far in their basketball career as they will get. Some will go down to injury while others will just never be good enough for the next level.

Meanwhile universities will have made millions of dollars off of them for the small cost of adding a few extra kids to classes, many of which the kids will never attend. Sportswriters, network television, cable companies, shoe companies, athletic wear companies will all make more money between now and the end of the tournament.

But hey, this is business. Big business, actually. And those kids, most of them, will end up with a college diploma and lots of memories when they're done, even if they are forbidden from seeking any of that college basketball money for themselves. They don't need the money for a possible endorsement deal or even a free pair of shoes. This is about amateur athletics, not pro athletics, and amateur athletics is big business, so let's not screw it up.

Of course, if we're not going to let the star employees in on the cash, are we really going to let the people who make the basketball uniforms make any money?

Find conservative books at Amazon.com