Out Like a Lamb.

We hit 60 -- repeat 60!-- on the 29th and 30th for the first time since Oct. 13, and only the rain today kept it cool in the 40s.

I saw a robin each day as well, my first this Spring. The dog got a haircut, nails trimmed, the works... so easy now to hose off the belly and paws in the sink. For a smaller one, we do get out "stretching our legs" and it is officially mud season.

I start temp work next week -- grading scoring the state achievement tests as they roll in from the schools; the precursors to the Common Core. It's enlightening, but confidential.*

We've finally turned the page** up here, from what has no doubt been the longest, coldest winter of my life. The snow cover came in November, then more and more, though most of it was weightless, waterless, and fluffy. Then it got cooold.

I don't snowshow, but at most temperatures this year, I could walk on the snow banks that got to be 2 and 3 feet, deeper in the drifts. Now, and for the few sunny nice days we've had earlier, if you step off a trail, you can sink knee deep. Today, I momentarily lost my shoe lifting my leg out (yes, this is why we wear boots...) It was pretty fun, like cracking the edges of the ice off the sidewalk, or stomping through a good clean puddle... ('git snow! begone!)

My Mom wrote of being out doing yard work weeks ago; the snow here has receded only about 2 feet from the sidewalks into the lawns now, but is still a good foot or two deep, and there's no sign at all of any buds, or flowers, or green shoots coming up that I can see. I'm keeping looking though; but not out all that much...

So in closing, here's a tune that's been in my mind, a nice one to close out March, no?:

It's a world of laughter
a world of tears.
It's a world of hope
and a world of fears.
There's so much that we share
that it's time we're aware
it's a small world, after all.

Here's another (on your feet now):

"And righteous men
must make our land
a Nation once again."

------------

* Label your answers!
Show your work!
(Paul gets it.)

** Also, good news: street parking restrictions are lifted tonight!
(It was getting soggy in my spot.)

As with Everything in Life...

I believe it will start
with Conviction of the Heart.

"I think politicians are willing to let history be the judge because they know they won't be around for the sentencing."
~Frank & Ernest, by Bob Thayes.

You say you're aware
believing you care...
but do you care enough?

Where's your conviction of the heart?
~Kenny Loggins.

Let it Rain on my Windowpane...

... well I got my own rainbow.

~Mac Davis.

If Only What Happened in Vegas...

... stayed in Vegas.
----------------------
GOP hopefuls betting on mega donor in Vegas:

Chris Christie, Scott Walker Court Casino Mogul Sheldon Adelson, GOP Donors

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two of the nation's highest-profile Republican governors on Saturday called for more aggressive leadership on America's challenges abroad, emphasizing their support for Israel as they courted powerful Jewish donors.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker also stoked speculation about their own presidential ambitions as they gave frustrated Republicans advice on how to reclaim the White House in 2016 after losing two straight elections.

The Republican speakers at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual spring gathering largely avoided criticizing President Barack Obama by name in remarks that were thick with rhetoric faulting Obama's foreign policy while offering few specifics.

--------------------------
Somebody should tell Scott, we got casinos in the northwoods too.

{A}fter the recent passage of a bill that would allow for the construction of what could be the world’s largest open-pit iron ore mine, Wisconsin’s admirable history of environmental stewardship is under attack.

The mine, to be built by Gogebic Taconite (GTac), owned by the coal magnate Chris Cline, would be in the Penokee Hills, in the state’s far north — part of a vast, water-rich ecosystem that President John F. Kennedy described in 1963, in a speech he delivered in the area, as “a central and significant portion of the freshwater assets of this country.”

The $1.5 billion mine would initially be close to four miles long, up to a half-mile wide and nearly 1,000 feet deep, but it could be extended as long as 21 miles. In its footprint lie the headwaters of the Bad River, which flows into Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world and by far the cleanest of the Great Lakes. Six miles downstream from the site is the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose livelihood is threatened by the mine.

To facilitate the construction of the mine and the company’s promise of 700 long-term jobs, Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation last year granting GTac astonishing latitude. The new law allows the company to fill in pristine streams and ponds with mine waste. It eliminates a public hearing that had been mandated before the issuing of a permit, which required the company to testify, under oath, that the project had complied with all environmental standards. It allows GTac to pay taxes solely on profit, not on the amount of ore removed, raising the possibility that the communities affected by the mine’s impact on the area’s roads and schools would receive only token compensation.

The legislation has generated fierce opposition since it was first introduced in 2011. The following year, the bill was actually defeated in the State Senate, 17 to 16, owing to the defection of one Republican, Dale Schultz. After the vote, the Republican majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald, told me that “the corporation and their attorneys drafted a bill that may have been acceptable in other states,” with the implication being that the company had perhaps gone too far for Wisconsin.
....
Last September, several hundred people gathered outside John F. Kennedy Memorial Airport in Ashland, a few miles from GTac’s mining site, to commemorate Kennedy’s 1963 speech, which called for legislation to protect the area’s natural resources and promoted its economic potential as a scenic region for recreation. One of the last to speak at the event was Mike Wiggins Jr., the chairman of the Bad River tribe and the mine’s most formidable opponent.

The Bad River fear the contamination of the fish they depend on for food and the destruction of sensitive wild rice beds that they harvest on the coast of Lake Superior. Mr. Wiggins has voiced his opposition to the mining legislation in private meetings with Mr. Walker, led Wisconsin’s tribes in demonstrations at the State Capitol in Madison and allocated hundreds of thousands of dollars of the Bad River tribe’s scant resources to legal fees to fight the mine.

The Bad River and several other tribes assert that the state has no right to permit the enormous mine without their agreement since the site lies in “ceded territory,” an area covering a large portion of Northern Wisconsin where tribal members maintain special hunting, fishing and harvesting rights enshrined in federal treaties. Last June, one of the tribes established an educational camp near the mining site to draw attention to how the mine would violate its treaty rights, as well as to highlight sustainable alternatives to mining. GTac responded to a minor altercation with protesters unconnected to the camp by hiring an Arizona-based private-security firm, which sent guards armed with semiautomatic weapons to patrol the mine site. (The guards have since been withdrawn; the camp is still there.)

In the Chippewa tradition, a decision is made based on how it will affect people seven generations forward. By contrast, the company’s optimistic estimate for the life span of the first phase of the mine is 35 years. Last summer Mr. Wiggins played Governor Walker a recording of Kennedy’s speech. Mr. Wiggins said that the governor appeared indifferent to Kennedy’s words; Mr. Walker has never wavered in his support of the mine.

Though GTac has already begun bulk sampling iron ore at the site, the mine still faces many hurdles before it can be permitted. The company has filed incomplete sampling applications with the state’s Department of Natural Resources. GTac’s president, Bill Williams, is facing a criminal inquiry in Spain for alleged environmental crimes, which are unrelated to the GTac mine. The charges state that runoff from an open-pit mine where he once worked as an executive contaminated local groundwater. (Mr. Williams denies the charges and declined to comment on them.) Most important, the tribes will almost certainly challenge the mine in federal court.

Mr. Wiggins and five other tribal leaders have already begun seeking redress from the federal government. Last August, they sent President Obama a letter asking him to direct the Interior Department to prevent the construction of GTac’s mine, citing their claims that the mine would infringe on their treaty rights.

Though the letter did not mention it, five years ago Mr. Obama told nearly 400 Native American tribal leaders, “We have a lot to learn from your nations in order to create the kind of sustainability in our environment that we so desperately need.” The president said that the tribes “deserve to have a voice” and “will not be forgotten as long as I’m in this White House.” Last week, Mr. Wiggins said that although he has gotten preliminary responses from two federal agencies, he is still awaiting an answer from the president.

~Dan Kaufman

UPDATE:
Scott to Sheldon? "Teach Me Everything I Need to Know..."

Adelson is known for his devotion to Israel, in addition to an aggressive American foreign policy.

Walker conceded that he does not have extensive foreign policy experience, having been focused on state issues as the Wisconsin governor. But he called for a more consistent foreign policy, reflecting upon lessons he learned from raising his family.

"We make sure with both parents and grandparents that we were unified," Walker said. "We didn't waver. We didn't allow our sons to push the line."

He's a great Dad!
and the bald spot would be nicely hidden under a little round jewish prayer cap. Just sayin'.

But let's not forget how Sheldon's last pick fared with the people: Newt Gingrich. For the record, the article acknowledges that Mr. Adelson was front and center for Mr. Christie's speech to the Jewish group, but did not attend Walker's speech about his family-raising experience.

ADDED:
And Chris Christie tossed in a few funny one-liners too...

Christie briefly addressed his challenges in New Jersey just days after a report he commissioned cleared him of any involvement in the politically motivated plot to create huge traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge last year.

He promised to be more questioning of his staff going forward. "I am going to be responsible for all that happens on my watch," he said.

Heh. Dream of a cleaner tomorrow.
But I bet the crowd ate that shit up...

MORE pandering:

Walker, who is not Jewish, noted that his son's name, Matthew, is from the Hebrew word for "gift from God." He later added that he decorates his residence with Christmas lights and a "menorah candle."

Christie, a Catholic, said he was overwhelmed by displays of religious tolerance during a recent trip to Jerusalem. "I took a helicopter ride from occupied territories across ... and just felt, personally, how extraordinary that was to understand the military risk that Israel faces every day," he said.

The comment about "occupied territories" drew murmurs from some in the audience. The Israeli government and by extension most of Israel's supporters in the U.S. don't consider the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be occupied territory.

"I Sing; I'm Singing..."

Well now, here's a beautiful rendition of a traditional March, non-marching tune.  The lad has a lovely, even if short-lived, talent.

We can debate the song's origin and meaning, or we can each take from it what we need...

Reminds me, of Michael Furey:  Separations, deaths, remembrances, coming back home to the living and the dead:

Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,
'Tis you, 'Tis you, must go and I must bide...


But come ye back! when summer's in the meadow,
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow...
Yes, I'll be here... in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so!


But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
You'll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Avè there for me.

And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!

------------------


* Free Bird !

Keep Smiling, Kiddo.

Happy Spring.

Compromised Independence is not Neutrality

Paul Krugman, kvetching:
So how can this disastrous a failure of the canon’s predictions have failed to make a debt in its dominance — especially when us unicorns were predicting exactly this result?
-----------------
We unicorns, Paul, we...
(and do you mean "dent" for "debt"?)

To answer your question respectfully, I don't think you realize how much overall credibility was lost when you willingly participated in the behind-the-scenes Journolist enterprise.

Now, when you quote Annie Lowrey, or link to her husband Ezra Klein, people wonder if you are reporting independently, or still spinning for the team.  

By forfeiting your neutrality to participate in the behind-the-scenes liberal talking points, even if you would maintain you did no such thing and just wanted to share your expertise with a select few, people no longer listen the way they would had you never chosen up a side, and had merely kept reporting where the data led you.

Both Klein and Krugman advocated for the passage of the ACA, and perhaps in retrospect, if they had been more traditional reporters/probers/questioners or content with just being an economic scientist offering opinions -- instead of operating as defenders or deniers -- they might have helped the administration more in the longrun in identifying potential fixable problems in the rollout "selling" years than they are now able to do from their compromised positions of neutrality.

That's my theory of why Paul Krugman is compromised, no matter how much he preaches the "correctness" of his track record, honest apologies for his errors and misses, or touts the predictions he's made that are coming true... People have doubts.  It's as simple as that.

Late, Last, Night... When We Were All in Bed...*

Although I follow hockey (not basketball) , I do read the entire award-winning sports section of our local paper -- the outdoors stories are personable, knowledgeable and often, beautiful.  Our basketball team never made it past sectionals the past two years, but made it to state this year and yesterday I finally got to see them play, catching the second half of the game on tv.

Wow.

Fun to watch, and you could see the love in the way the whole team played together. 

I know the point guard Widdes had a sore night:  he took a hit onto the hardwood floor, and basketball offers no padding.  He hurt.  And will feel it more this morning, and today.  That's the game though, and we wish them luck and playing together at the top of their games tonight.

ART KABELOWSKY | Wisconsin State Journal

The strategy seemed sound: Chop away at the tallest tree and the others will tumble with it. 

What Greendale boys basketball coach Ryan Johnsen didn’t know, though, is that those other trees have some strong roots, too.

Rice Lake’s 6-foot-10 Henry Ellenson was the center of attention of Greendale’s defense, but he was just one of multiple standout players who came through with big efforts as the Warriors beat the Panthers 70-58 in a WIAA Division 2 state semifinal at the Kohl Center.

Ellenson, a junior who is one of the nation’s most sought-after recruits, still led Rice Lake. He scored 21 points on 10-for-17 shooting (10-for-13 from 2-point point range), with 22 rebounds and two blocks.


But others made equally important contributions as the Warriors (23-2) earned a spot in today’s 6:35 p.m. championship game against Wisconsin Lutheran.


“Obviously, their game plan was to take Henry out of the game,” Rice Lake coach Kevin Orr said. “They had two guys on him in a box-and-one for just about the whole game.


“But when he gets double-teamed, he’s just going to skip the ball to one of his open teammates. ... (Those other) guys stepped up,” Orr said. “It’s hard to make your game plan against one player.”


Rice Lake senior wing Shawn Magee scored 18 points and had seven assists and a steal. Ben Widdes, a 6-foot junior guard, scored 18 points, hitting 6 of 11 shots (and 2 of 3 3-point tries) and notching seven assists.


“Our game plan was to limit Henry as much as possible,” Johnsen said. “(Senior Mitch) Brees and (junior Chris) Carloni did a great job face-guarding Henry. But Rice Lake has some phenomenal other players ... (and they’re) well-coached.”

UPDATE:  Alas, it was not to be... This year.
--------------------------------

* Mrs. O'Leary left the lantern in the shed...
and when the cow kicked it over
she blinked her eyes and said:
Ther'll be a hot time, in the old town, tonight!


I suspect other people just know that tune as a Fight/Cheer song...

A Murder in Barron County.

Death in Clinton ruled a homicide

by Eileen Nimm, Chronotype staff
3/12/2014 12:50:00 PM

The suspicious death of a 33-year old man in the Town of Clinton early Monday, March 10, has been ruled a homicide and continues to be investigated by the Barron County Sheriff's Department.
Dead from multiple gunshot wounds is 33-year old Daniel J. Raven of Barron. At 12:32 a.m. a Sheriff's Department dispatcher received a call of a man possibly dead at his residence on a turkey breeder farm about 3 miles north of Poskin where Raven was a farm manager. Deputies responded to the scene and found the man dead.

"At this time we are following up on leads and possible suspects in the case," said Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald, who said he would not reveal the type of weapon used in the crime. "We believe the public is not in any danger."

Also involved in the investigation are the state Department of Criminal Investigation, the State Patrol and the Barron County medical examiner.

He said Barron County's last homicide was the murder of Daniel A. "Griz" Grindheim, who was beaten to death by David M. Makowski, 37, and Bradley S. Tiegs, 42, both of Barron in January 2009.

In 2010, Barron County Circuit Court Judge James Babbitt sentenced Makowski to 13 years in prison and Tiegs to 12 years in prison for second-degree reckless homicide as a party to a crime.
-----------------------------
STORY UPDATE

Three held on first-degree intentional homicide

Two men and the ex-wife of Daniel J. Raven, are in custody for the shooting death of Raven, 33, of Barron, in Raven's Town of Clinton residence early Monday. Trista Hrabak, 29, and her boyfriend, Ian Skjerly, 34, both of 1809 22nd St., Rice Lake, and their friend, Robert McBain, 37, of Cameron were taken into custody Wednesday, each for first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime. Formal charges by the Barron County District Attorney's Office are expected Monday. The case along with a motive remains under investigation, said Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald at a press conference this Thursday morning. He said Raven died of two gun shot wounds caused by a rifle-type weapon. He did not divulge who shot the weapon. Raven's girlfriend, Tiffany Workman, 33, called the Sheriff's Department at 12:32 a.m. and reported that Raven was possibly dead at his residence on a turkey breeder farm about 3 miles north of Poskin where Raven was farm manager. Raven's girlfriend's two children were sleeping at the time of the incident, and Workman and they were not harmed. Thursday, March 13, 2014

-----------------------
Reader Comments

Posted: Friday, March 14, 2014
Article comment by: Mary E. Glynn

Good investigative work in making the arrests so quickly and protecting the public at large. Now we pray the Barron County district attorney's office has enough evidence to work with to secure 3 solid convictions, without settling for guilty pleas on lesser charges to avoid the expense, long hours, extensive preparation, and hard work of a courtroom trial.

If convicted, there needs to be an appropriate sentence in our non-death-penalty state, not just a decade or so in prison, which seems to many out here a mere slap on the wrist for taking another man's life...

Life is precious, not cheap, and real men and women who are not barnyard animals know that it is better to use reason, not physical force, to solve problems. Brainwork. We seem to have forgotten this in the war years, and those attitudes are trickling into our local civil society to our own detriment.

Remember Payne Stewart's plane?

For my money, I suspect mechanical error -- not terrorism -- is at play in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Like with the o-ring on the Challenger,
it's the banality of product failure, simple science sometimes, and not the presence of evil that can make the loss of human life so hard to accept.

Break It Out for Me Now...

Didn't want Neneh Cherry's groove to get lost in that last post, challenging the newly minted journolists, and their ensconced enablers, to prove themselves at the plate already...

"I Got Mine, Now Did You Get Yours?"

My Brother's Keeper ?

Cook County news:

Rev. Jeremiah Wright's daughter found guilty of money laundering

By Ray Long, Tribune reporter | March 7, 2014

 

SPRINGFIELD - The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama's former minister, was convicted by a federal jury Friday of laundering thousands of dollars from a $1.25 million state grant for a Chicago-based job-training program.

Jeri Wright said she would "definitely" appeal the verdict in U.S. District Court, which found her guilty of 11 counts that included money laundering, lying to federal agents and lying to a grand jury.

"I didn't do anything," Wright, 48, of Hazel Crest, said as she left the Springfield courtroom.
...
Her attorney described Wright as a victim of a web spun by longtime friend Regina Evans, the former Country Club Hills police chief who has pleaded guilty to corruption in the case. Evans had secured the state loan for the job-training program but allegedly diverted the money rather than use it for the purpose she proposed.

Prosecutor Timothy Bass contended Wright took as much as $11,000 in cash from more than $30,000 in checks in a scheme where she also sent money back to Evans. Bass maintained Wright lied “over and over” when quizzed about the case.

Bass maintained in closing arguments that Wright was “given an opportunity” and took it in a state that has a “well-earned” reputation for corruption.

Evans applied for the grant in February 2009 for a group called We Are Our Brother's Keepers. The proposal called for 40 people to get training in bricklaying and electrician skills, but the money allegedly was diverted.

Within months, Evans began tapping the funds for what Bass had called a "spending spree," including a trip to Las Vegas, a basement remodeling and the purchase of vehicles for a security business with her husband.

------------

*With all the fresh Millennial journolists working the clean government beat, and all the independently financed new journolist start-ups coming into the business, I'm sure there will be an alert, non-swallowing, Mike Royko-type to keep these grant programs honest this time around...

Question, Question, Question...
and when they feed you an answer that sounds too suspiciously good to be true, question them some more...

It will take practice, and time, which some of these freshly minted liberal arts majors newly installed in their mainstream news positions, might not want to put in. They want to analyze, crack jokes, appear on the talking heads programs, sign a book contract and bank the advance.

Report honestly?
Question authority?
Risk losing friendly power networks?
That's the news-gathering business, babe.

The rest of it is just pure business sales, and tolerating black youth without serious economic or union job prospects because somebody on the team seized the reparation dollars before they could advance the mission intended.


"I Got Mine, now did you Get Yours?"

Championship Saturday.

Verona wins their first state title over unranked Onalaska, 6-1, and the Onalaska co-op girls' team came to life in the 3rd period, but lost by one, 6-5.


Let the games... end.

Smooth Criminal.

Crazy days at the state hockey tourney:
number one seed Notre Dame Academy gets bumped off by Verona, who blanked Superior* the night before.  NDA had crushed last year's champs Eau Claire Memorial to advance, and Onalaska almost needed overtime --  =a fresh sheet of ice -- to get past University School Milwaukee to get into the final round.

Good to see the public schools compete -- some of the privates have team psychologists to help the kids ... visualize winning and be the champions they were born to be, by birthright...  haha.

Good to see hard work and honest play trump entitlement.

Eventually in this country, we're going to see the same shift, as the younger hungrier better competitors overcome those current fatcats, lifting and stealing and pretending they're winning in a real game. 

Once we get a fair field, and each one reaps what he sows without taking from others... boy will we usher in a fresh cast of characters.  That's when America starts winning again.  Now, it's just a lot wallowing... letting the rich lead us down and pretending they lead us all.

Be careful what you inherit,
what it costs your children to entitle them without earning it.
----------------------

* and Superior got to state by dominating the always overrated New Richmond, 3-2, despite their number 4 seed in the sectional.  The score does not indicate the level of dominance by the Spartans though, as NR had a few goals called off. The Spartans outshot the Tigers 40-23.

2014 State Boys Hockey Tournament
Thursday-Saturday, March 6-8, 2014
Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Alliant Energy Center, Madison


Thursday, March 6 - Boys Quarterfinals
Game-1:   Superior vs. Verona Area - 12 p.m.
Game-2:   Eau Claire Memorial vs. Notre Dame (following Game 1)
Game-3:   Wausau West vs. University School of Milwaukee - 6 p.m.
Game-4:   Onalaska vs. Kettle Moraine Co-op (following Game 3)

Friday, March 7 - Boys Semifinals
Game-7:  Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 at 6 p.m.
Game-8:  Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 (following Game 7)
Saturday, March 8 - Championships
Game-10 (Boys Finals) Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (following Game 9)