Fete De Marquette

The Fete De Marquette benefit for the Wilmar Neighborhood Center has had to move around a bit over the last few years but it has not suffered for the relocations. Once again the fine music line up has made it the closest successor to the late lamented Madison Blues Fest, if not in the breadth of the acts, at least in the joyousness of celebrating musical genres. Here's a couple of shots of the music.

Tab Benoit Friday night.

The Radiators on Sunday night.

A great time was had by all. Make sure that you don't miss it next year.

My habit of reading the local fishwrap every morning goes back decades and has descended into ritual rather that any real attempt at gathering anything more than local gossip. Of course if you follow the blind squirrel philosophy, you occasionally find the requisite acorn. Or acorns.
I read three articles today that seemed to follow a common thread. The theme became apparent by the third story, but I think I'll relate them in reverse order.

Third headline: Many Iraqis Held By US Will Go Free This Summer.
As we wind down the active occupation of Iraq, we will release thousands of prisoners that are being held with no charges and little or no proof of wrong doing. The US has admitted to detaining over 100,000, but that figure is undoubtedly low. The prisoners were to be screened for prosecution but only 129 of the over 13,000 still in custody are slated for trial. Mostly this has been classic concentration camp internment with fores into depravity like Abu Graib.

Second headline: Unit Returns Home From Gitmo.
A digest story about the return of 13 Wisconsin National Guard members who are returning from a year long stint of public relations from Guantonamo Bay.
"Unit members escorted about 400 journalists on tours of the detention facility and wrote articles on the military commissions for dissemination by military radio stations and publications. Members also took official photographs of dignitaries who visited."
Capt. Kim Kleiman was quoted as saying, "We were able to affect world opinion on Gitmo"

First headline: Ex-Nazi Guard, Living Here, Sent Back To Austria.
Josias Kumpf, now 83, was drafted at age 17 into the SSDeath's Head guard forces in 1942 and went on to oversee prisoners at camps in Poland and France. Kumpf's lawyer maintained that he never actually killed anyone but was present when killings occurred. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "...he presided over and witnessed the torture and murder of helpless people."

Three stories. Three different places. Three unconnected events. I wonder if Capt. Kleiman or one of the US troops who guarded Iraqis prisoners will find themselves somewhere outside of the US, maybe even 40 years from now, and will have to explain just what they were doing in 2009. I guess I won't be reading the morning fishwrap by then.

Justice

The best thing I've read on line this week:

"Michael Vick goes to jail, loses millions, and now is on house arrest for torturing and killing a few dogs. George Bush tortures thousands, kills a million, loots the treasury and retires to a gated community in Dallas."

One of my great hopes for the future is that I will be able to come back and amend this post.

Fallout

In the wake of the recent arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich there appears to be a number of people who my also be losers in this scandal. Number one on the Republican hopeful list is , of course, President Elect Barack Obama. The Rethug machine is already trying to put Obama in the Blago camp. "Tarred" as you will, with the taint of Illinois politics in general. Jesse Jackson Jr. has been outed as Senate Hopeful #5 and has had a presser where he insisted he had no designs to buy the Senate seat.
There is one person who has no direct connection with Blogo's corruption but is the one who is going to get the biggest screwing out of it: Former Illinois Governor George Ryan. Ryan was convicted of corruption several years ago and has been in prison since 2007. He currently resides in a federal correction institution in Terre Haute. He has been prominently listed as one of Bush's number one pardon choices. No less than Dem Senator Dick Durbin has pushed for George's release. Some how it seems unlikely that even the increasingly out-of-touch Bush White House would be tone deaf enough to pardon the previous Felonious Governor in the wake of his own Justice Dept trying to send the current Gov to the same big house.
So, it would seem, Ryan will take it on the chin. Or, considering his current living situation, lower.

Joe Hill rolls over

The ever idiotic Doughy Pantload hit his usual stride today with a column on schools. The topic was on the Obama girls going to a private school but of course the real topic was bashing the left. His target? Teachers unions. Once again the left is the direct off-spring Hitler, as we see in this quote:

The main reason politicians adopt a policy of malign neglect: teachers unions, arguably the single worst mainstream institution in our country today.

It seems amazing than any children get educated with the evil teachers unions strangling the life out of public schools.
The thing to remember here is not the attack against the teachers' unions, but that the right and all the supporters thereof are ramping up their pogrom against all unions. The number one target right now is the UAW. The talk of bailout for the big three auto makers is bringing out the meme that it's the labor costs that are causing their failure. The big lie this week is that auto workers receive $70 plus dollars an hour for their work. In reality the figure is about $28. (If that sounds like a lot, remember that's about $56000 a year for a 40 hour week/50 week year) While the right remains quite quiet about the white collar sharks getting millions (sometimes billions) in pay from companies that get bailout money, they can not talk enough about how the union worker is dragging the same companies down.
The real need in this country is not fewer unions but universal health care. It's the health care costs that are driving up the labor portion of auto making (the other costs are materials, debt service, and management pay) and it's not going into the workers pocket. The one good thing about the economic collapse is that maybe major manufacturers will finally jump on to the Universal Healthcare bandwagon. We can only hope. (And, of course, lobby your congress critter)

All the news that fits

I saw this in my local fishwrap yesterday. In case you don't find the economic news grim enough. Wasn't ther a war goin on a couple of months ago? (Click title for photo)

Oh Oh!

Three months ago to the day, I wrote about VP selection and suggested that the real powers behind the Bush administration would go to a dark horse. I said at that time they might look for a Bush-like politician to set up for another run at securing both the election and a second shot of fulfilling the NeoCon agenda. When Caribou Barbie came up as the choice I thought initially I was wrong and that they were going for the Hail Mary just to maybe save the election.
After a few days of Alaska watch, I started to think maybe I wasn't so far off to begin with. Her style of governance bears a striking resemblance to the Bush Whitehouse. The moment you get in office you demand total loyalty to Dear Leader. Anyone who doesn't start fawning from day one either gets the boot or is marginalized. Her speech at the Convention was a study in Rovian obfuscation. Attack your opponent, lie about your record, and keep repeating whatever line of crap you want your followers to mimic. Jeff Yang at Salon yesterday had a great article that spells it out much better than I ever could.
I'm getting a sinking feeling that this election could be a lot tougher for Obama and the Dems to win then many people think. Palin doesn't have to be bright or a great politician. She has others to do that for her. If the Rethugs can continue the story line of her being the fresh new reformer and with her fundie cred bringing in the Christian wingnuts, she might just be capable swinging the election in McStain's favor. I think the next few weeks will be some of the most interesting politicking you've ever seen.
Oh, and by the way: Grampy, if you do win in Nov, I'd be real careful around all the staircases in the Whitehouse. You never know when the Moose killer is behind you.