Check out the Politiwhat blog’s story “The American Imperative”
Folks, if you like my blog, you almost certainly will like the Politiwhat blog as well . . . a good friend of mine writes this and came up with a very scholarly and erudite post about the killing of Osama bin Laden and how it should not be the impetus to precipitously pull people out of Afghanistan.
Here’s a link to his very interesting blog post:
http://politiwhat.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/foreign-policy-the-american-imperative/
Go read it, and educate yourself.
Mandatory Judicial Recount in WI Continues– Waukesha County will not hit 5/9/11 deadline
The mandatory recount continues in Wisconsin with the April 5, 2011 judicial race between incumbent David Prosser and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg continuing to be properly recounted due to the less than 1/2 percent difference in their vote totals. All counties save Waukesha — the really big problem county for reasons I’ve detailed in several previous posts — will be finished by tomorrow, May 9, 2011, which was the date the Government Accountability Board had set for the completion of the mandatory recount. But Waukesha County — the biggest problem county in the state — will not.
What a surprise!
Here’s a story from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel regarding all this, available at http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/121414194.html:
A relevant quote:
All counties with the exception of Waukesha County are expected to complete the recount of the state Supreme Court election by the 5 p.m. Monday deadline, the Government Accountability Board said late Friday afternoon.
Waukesha County officials earlier in the week informed the board that the hand recount would not be completed by the deadline and the board will seek a court extension of the deadline on Monday.
Kevin Kennedy, accountability board director, said the court hearing on the extension for Waukesha County is scheduled for 8 a.m. Monday in Dane County Circuit Court.
Ellen Nowak, chief of staff to Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas, said Friday officials don’t know yet how much more time will be needed to complete the recount.
As of late Friday, the recount was only about 30% complete in Waukesha County, Nowak said.
Note that the date of this article was May 6, 2011 — this past Friday evening — and that as of that time, only 30% of Waukesha County was counted. This is not acceptable; they’ve had the same amount of time as everyone else (starting a week and a half ago on Wednesday, April 27, 2011) and yet they haven’t even counted 30% of the ballots yet?
Considering both Dane and Milwaukee Counties are much bigger, population-wise (thus more ballots were used in both counties than Waukesha), and considering there were at least two counties (Wausau County and Fond du Lac County) which actually ran out of ballots because so many people came out to vote (it would’ve been understandable had those two smaller counties needed more time), it is absolutely ridiculous that only 30% of Waukesha County’s vote total has been counted.
Yet it’s the truth.
I realize that there have been multiple problems in Waukesha County: bags with ballots have been improperly sealed — bags are supposed to be sealed up completely between voting day and a recount, and yet they weren’t. In some cases, the wrong numbers were on the bags — every ballot bag must have a number, and they must match the poll count from the poll workers, and yet, they haven’t in Waukesha County many, many times already. And quite a few ballots have been objected to because they look odd or don’t match the vote totals or they just don’t make any sense — which is part of the reason the vote count has been so slow, but isn’t the only reason, for certain.
I know observers from both the Prosser and Kloppenburg camps will be out in force in Waukesha County all week long. And that does slow things down — yet it’s the only way we have to make sure this election was a fair one. An ethical one. One that truly reflects the will of the Wisconsin voters who went out to vote on 4/5/2011.
I believe we can do better than this and we must do better than this in Wisconsin. Which is why I’ve observed the recount (a bit) in Racine and why I will once again go out to observe in Waukesha if all goes well sometime this week — because I am not convinced that what happened in Waukesha County, where their County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus found ballots one and a half days after the election had concluded (note this is solely the fault of Kathy Nickolaus, not the folks in Brookfield who had been telling her for the day and a half that their votes hadn’t been counted), was right. I’m sure Brookfield’s totals will be proven out — but I think something else happened there in that day and a half that wasn’t right and that the recount volunteers (either on the canvassing board or the observers themselves) will find it.
We may be heading to a state-wide re-vote, all because Kathy Nickolaus didn’t do her job correctly in Waukesha County. But whether we are or aren’t, at this point we must make sure that any future election, in Waukesha County or anywhere else, is conducted fairly, properly, and impartially.
Otherwise, elections are meaningless, and we may as well not even bother going out to vote.
Just reviewed Ellie Ferguson’s “Wedding Bell Blues” at SBR — and Brewers lose again
Folks, I just reviewed Ellie Ferguson’s WEDDING BELL BLUES (available at the Naked Reader Press, www.nakedreader.com) and enjoyed it thoroughly; before I forget, here’s the link to that review:
This was a funny, sexy, spicy book that made me laugh, and the plotting was good. Nice work, Ms. Ferguson! I look forward to whatever you write next.
Here’s a direct link to her book, which I might add is on sale right now for the low price of $1.99:
At any rate, I’m glad I had a book review to write for WEDDING BELL BLUES because otherwise, it was a somewhat depressing night again of baseball. At least, unless you’re a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, or possibly of pitcher Jaime Garcia in particular; Garcia threw a two-hit shutout that until the 8th inning was a perfect game — then Garcia walked Casey McGehee and gave up a solid single to Yuniesky Betancourt. It didn’t help the overall score, of course, as the Brewers still lost, 6-0.
But it might’ve made the Brewers feel better about the loss.
As for me, I think Corey Hart is close to snapping his slump because he’s had a few intelligent at-bats (though he’s also taken Ks and hit into double plays, just like the rest of the Brewers) and has battled some rather good pitchers lately, from Tim Hudson the other night to Jaime Garcia tonight. And he’s playing the field well, which is a big plus (especially as so many other Brewers are playing very poorly defensively; our infield, in particular, has no really good defenders and only two passable defenders, Rickie Weeks and Casey McGehee — though Prince Fielder improved a lot last year and maybe he’ll get back to that form this year. if he does, he’ll be passable, too).
But very few bright spots exist so far for this year’s Brewers except the hitting of Fielder and Ryan Braun — and right now they’re both in mini-slumps, which isn’t helping anything.
Now, has there been some good pitching here and there? Sure. But no pitcher can win without some hitting coming from somewhere . . . and right now the Brewers’ hitting is nonexistent (not what I was expecting as a Brewers fan, as the Brewers are stocked with good hitters — only Carlos Gomez is a flat-out liability as a hitter and Yuniesky Betancourt, over the course of a season, is probably a .250 hitter at best).
What I’m hoping for, as a Brewers fan, is that things will improve and that this will be the last really bad streak of the season. But to be one-hit the other night by Hudson, then two-hit tonight by Garcia, is really bad — I agree those two are very fine pitchers, but to have that happen two out of three games is nearly impossible unless you agree that the Brewers simply cannot hit the ball right now.
Nyjer Morgan breaks his finger; Brewers’ woes continue
This headline from tonight’s Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says it all: “Brewers Forced to Deal with More Bad News,” as outfielder Nyjer Morgan, who’d been back from the disabled list for two whole days, broke his middle finger tonight while in the act of laying down a sacrifice bunt.
Now, this has happened to Brewers’ players before, though all of ’em that I can recall with this issue were/are pitchers. Todd Coffey had to bat a year or so ago in a blowout, meaningless game, and he bunted and hurt himself; Ben Sheets sprained something (I don’t think he broke anything, but he was out a week or two) when he bunted the baseball in ’05 or ’06; Manny Parra, most famously, broke his finger while bunting in (IIRC) ’07.
But never, until now, had I been aware of a position player for the Brewers breaking a finger or spraining something and ending on the DL while bunting; poor Nyjer Morgan, one of the smartest and savviest players in the game today, ended up with just plain old bad luck, and now he’s right back on the disabled list. Again.
Of course this isn’t his fault whatsoever; in baseball, odd things happen. But it doesn’t help the Brewers players, nor the fans, nor probably the front office people, manager or coaches either, when odd things like this happen over and over again to a team that’s just lost six games in a row.
Here’s a quote from the article (written I believe by Tom Haudricourt, though at the present time no byline is present) at the Journal-Sentinel, which is available at http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/121355219.html :
How much bad news can one baseball team take?
As if it weren’t enough that the offense was shut down again Thursday night and the Milwaukee Brewers lost their sixth game in a row, they also suffered another casualty in what has become an incredibly injury-riddled year.
Outfielder Nyjer Morgan, just off the disabled list two days earlier, suffered a fractured left middle finger bunting a pitch in the eighth inning and is expected to be sidelined 2-4 weeks.
Moving on in the article:
Morgan was so disconsolate over the injury, suffered when the finger was struck by the ball on a sacrifice bunt, he sat for several minutes in front of his locker, a towel draped over his head. He then stormed around the clubhouse in outward frustration.
“It’s tough,” said Roenicke. “It’s not going good and we were all looking forward to getting the team back to full strength. Nyjer’s a big part of that. He was a big part early on when we got going. He’s a spark to our lineup; he does a good job defensively.
“He goes down with an injury, then we get him back and all of a sudden another one.”
Basically, what Roenicke seems to be saying is that Morgan is a “spark-plug” player and feisty clubhouse leader as well as an excellent defender, good baserunner with excellent speed, and someone with a surprisingly patient bat (Morgan is an ideal #2 hitter because he mostly is a contact hitter and can often leg out infield hits).
The Brewers needed Morgan because they haven’t been hitting. They scored only six runs against the Atlanta Braves in these past four games, and lost all four, wasting one decent pitching effort (Marco Estrada’s, the first game of the DH yesterday), one that could’ve been decent if not for really poor fielding (Zack Greinke’s season debut, second game of the DH yesterday), and one outstanding pitching effort tonight by Shawn Marcum, who gave up only one run in seven innings and did what a shut-down ace is supposed to do — he stopped the Braves, who are perhaps the hottest team in baseball right now, cold.
(Marcum’s not supposed to be the Brewers ace as there are two other very good pitchers on the staff — Greinke and Yovani Gallardo — and one pitcher who on paper should be about as good as Marcum, Randy Wolf. Wolf’s been pitching light’s-out lately, too — but between Wolf and Marcum, those two are the ones who’ve been stopping other teams. Not Gallardo, and not Greinke — at least, not yet.)
At any rate, I’m a Brewers fan through thick and thin and I’ll continue to watch the team and hope for the best. I also hope Nyjer Morgan realizes this isn’t his fault; it can happen to anyone, and I’m very sorry this happened to him.
More baseball updates — Greinke pitches, Hart plays
I wish I had a better update today to report, folks, but here it is.
Zack Greinke, while he looked really good at the start of the first inning, was done in partly by very poor defense behind him and partly because he had to throw too many pitches in the first inning (over thirty) — he lost his first game, giving up 5 runs (4 ERs) in 4 innings. Here’s the story from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/121289033.html
Note that the Brewers were swept by the Atlanta Braves and are currently 1-5 during this recent 10-game road trip. (That means we Brewers fans have four more games to endure before the Brewers finally return home.)
And while Corey Hart is back, and looks good in the field, he does not have his hitting stroke yet and it shows every time he’s at bat. (But I’m still glad he was finally put back in the #2 hole tonight; no way, ever, that Carlos Gomez should bat there due to Gomez’s awful on-base percentage much less Gomez’s propensity to strike out swinging as often as humanly possible.)
Now, the real story of this past game (which was an 8-0 loss to Atlanta) was pitcher Tim Hudson of the Braves; he pitched a one-hit, one walk shutout (both the hit and the walk came to Rickie Weeks, Brewers second-baseman). Unless it was the terrible defense by the Brewers — mind you, Hudson was on his game and the Brewers would’ve done poorly anyway. But it would’ve looked better and perhaps felt better for the Brewers if they hadn’t committed three errors in the field.
In other baseball updates, Vinny Rottino has started to hit at New Orleans; he’s hit .350 in his last ten games and his overall average for the season is up to .235 (remember, he started out something like 1 for 24 or the like, so it takes time to pull the average up). His OBP is a very fine .354 and he has 2 HRs, 7 RBI, 3 SB (no caught stealings, so a perfect 3-3 percentage), has taken 11 walks and has struck out 7 times. So it sounds like he’s having a much better time of it and he is playing often (every day or every other day — maybe in the fourth OF slot?) for the Zephyrs. (Good for him!)
Oh, yes — Rottino continues to hit left-handers better than right-handers, having an overall .286 BA against lefties, with an overall .222 against righties. (There appear to be many, many more left-handed pitchers in the minors than there are right-handers considering Rottino has batted at least four times as much against right-handers thus far this year.)
So at least there’s good news about Rottino, and about Hart and Greinke’s health as both are now healthy enough to play. But otherwise, the Brewers aren’t playing very well right now and it shows. Unfortunately.
Brewers Update, and two novellas by Kate Paulk reviewed by me at SBR
Folks, I just reviewed two excellent novellas by Kate Paulk, both available at the Naked Reader Press (www.nakedreader.com) — they’re called “Knights in Tarnished Armor” and “Born in Blood,” with the first being a really funny farce written in epistolary style (letters to one another) and the other being a very nice prequel to Paulk’s novel IMPALER, also out from the fine folks at the Naked Reader.
Before I get, here’s a link to my review of those two fine novellas at Shiny Book Review:
Now, as for updates: Zack Greinke will pitch tomorrow for the first time in the regular season for the Brewers against the Atlanta Braves in the second game of a doubleheader (as Tuesday night’s game was rained out). This is very good news, and I know I, for one, will be riveted to the television to see how well Greinke pitches.
I also have a political update of sorts; the drive to Recall the Republican 8 netted only six of the Republicans — to wit, the petitions against Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) and Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) both failed. Grothman’s failed by about 5,000 signatures, while Lazich’s was far closer — apparently they were less than two-thousand signatures short there.
I know some of the folks recalling both the Republicans and a few of the Democrats (though I don’t approve of the latter, as I think the Democratic Wisconsin Senators — often called the “Wisconsin 14” — did the only thing they could in leaving the state for three weeks in order for every citizen of the state to get a chance to read Governor Scott Walker’s “budget-repair bill” for themselves), and I know that folks in the Recall Grothman and Recall Lazich camps needed more resources — they weren’t able to start as soon as the others (from what I could tell, the really big efforts to get both Grothman and Lazich out started about two and a half or three weeks after the others yet had to meet the same deadline) and didn’t have the same monetary resources as both Grothman and Lazich are in heavily Republican districts — yet both found many people willing to sign recall petitions to remove both Lazich and Grothman. This bodes well for the future, at least so far as getting a decent candidate of some sort to run against both of these Senators . . . Grothman has not fared well in the media, especially due to his famous “slobs” comment (where he called Wisconsin voters, some from his own district, “slobs” for protesting in Madison against Walker’s “budget-repair bill”), and one would hope that he will indeed go down to defeat in 2012 (which is when his, and Lazich’s, seat is set for re-election).
What it looks like to me is, there will be six recall elections from the “recall the Republican 8” push, and there will be one or two or maybe three recall elections from the three Democratic petitions which were turned in. I am hesitant to say whether or not more than one of those petitions will hold up because in at least one case, a dead person’s name was used and a signature forged on a recall petition against the three Democratic Senators — and I find that disgraceful.
Also, because we have a mandatory recount going on in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court judicial race, the Government Accountability Board (which oversees that, and the recalls, among other things) cannot do much to look at the petitions against the Dems or the Rs until that recount has been completed. The GAB has mandated that the recount must finish by May 9, 2011, but the Waukesha County folks have already indicated that they wil be unable to do this as apparently many oddities have been found there. (So far, only about 15,000 votes have been counted in Waukesha County according to representatives from the Kloppenburg campaign.) Fourteen counties, including Milwaukee, Dane and Waukesha, have yet to complete their recount; the other counties in Wisconsin have completed their tallies (mind you, Dane and Milwaukee are the most populous counties in the state, so it’s not surprising they have not yet completed thier recount. It is surprising that smaller Waukesha is having so very many problems, but in another way I’m not at all surprised because as I’ve said and written before, Kathy Nickolaus’s procedures, at best, were highly suspect and have been since at least 2004.)
So that’s about it from here; watching the recount unfold, and continuing to read interesting stuff from the Naked Reader Press folks, along with a little baseball watching. (If the economy were a bit better, I’d even say it’s fun — as far as it goes.)
Just reviewed Erik Larson’s “In the Garden of Beasts” for SBR
Just reviewed Erik Larson’s IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS: LOVE, TERROR, AND AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN HITLER’S BERLIN at Shiny Book Review. Great book — another history that reads like fiction, except this all happened. Go grab it now (or at least go read my review).
Here’s the link, folks:
Kate and Prince William’s Nuptials: Who Cares?
Today is a recount-free zone here at my blog, mostly because I actually observed the statewide Wisconsin mandatory judicial recount for myself and am exhausted from doing so. This is why I decided to look at the other huge worldwide issue — that of Prince William of England’s upcoming wedding to Kate Middleton — and have come to a decision regarding my feelings on the matter.
To wit: who cares?
Honestly, I don’t get the hype here that has provoked story after story after story on network news, cable news, and on the Internet. It’s not like this is a sudden thing — after all, Kate and Prince William have dated for seven years, right? So while I’ll give Kate and the Prince some real props for their persistence, and some more for getting to know each other very well before committing to a marriage, I still do not understand the build-up to the royal wedding.
Yes, Prince William is the likely successor to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, as it’s rumored that his father, Prince Charles, will be bypassed in William’s favor. Yes, Prince William, like his brother Prince Harry, looks very much like his deceased mother, Princess Diana; yes, his mother would assuredly be very proud of her son getting married regardless of his station. (There’s more press when you’re royal, true. But any mother is likely to feel much the same, royalty or no, when her son is about to walk down the aisle and make a lifelong commitment.)
Still. I did understand some of the hype behind the Prince Charles and the then-Lady Diana Spencer because she was quite young (twenty, I think), appeared quite innocent, and she was leaving her entire way of life behind at such a young age. She was young, fresh-faced, entrancing in her perceived innocence and someone everyone in the world could root for because of all of these qualities.
This marriage — well, it’s not the same. Both Prince William and Kate Middleton are in their late twenties, and are not seen as young, innocent, immature, naïve, entrancing in their innocence — no, none of that. And while that’s actually helpful to their long-term hopes for a marriage (the better you know each other, the better chance you have for a successful marriage), it doesn’t exactly make for a riveting story-line.
Part of the reason the Prince Charles-Lady Diana wedding was so interesting to watch was the contrast between the then-kindergarten teacher/assistant Diana and her betrothed, Prince Charles — an international bon vivant, painter, polo player, sometime diplomat and much, much more. And Charles was considerably older than Diana when he married her; she was only 20, and he was 32.
So what we had in the Charles-Diana wedding was a handfasting of opposites, and that was compelling theatre that interested many. While what we have now in the William-Kate nuptials is more the meeting of the minds, two people who know each other well and seem much better-prepared to marry, and while that’s all well and good for both their personal and dynastic hopes, a compelling drama it does not make.
So I reiterate: Why should I care about this wedding, again?
My Review for “Nocturnal Origins” is Appreciated
Folks, Amanda S. Green, who wrote NOCTURNAL ORIGINS for Naked Reader Press, has thanked me for my review, which has to be a first. (Or is it a second? Whatever it is, it happens very infrequently, so I’m celebrating it.)
Here’s her blog:
http://amandasgreen.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/if-its-tuesday-it-must-be/
And her quote:
Nocturnal Origins is doing pretty good so far as an e-book. Actually, I’m thrilled with the preliminary numbers I’m seeing, but would, of course, love them to be better. What author doesn’t? And I’m absolutely ecstatic about the reviews it’s gotten so far. I have to give a special shout out to Barb Caffrey at Shiny Book Review and say thanks for her review.
Green also mentioned that a trade paperback version of NOCTURNAL ORIGINS is now available and can be ordered from Amazon.com here (note that I lifted this link verbatim from her Web site; I still don’t know how to embed links).
I think Amanda Green is a writer to keep your eye on, as I’ve said before; NOCTURNAL ORIGINS is a suspenseful urban fantasy with shape-shifters and is also a good, solid police procedural. I loved her main character, Detective Mackenzie “Mac” Santos (who goes from Sergeant to Lieutenant in the novel), as she’s strong but not invulnerable, and has obvious flaws. (I do love me some flawed characters; they’re easier to empathize with.) Best yet, it’s intended to be the first book in a series, which means we’ll have a great deal more to read and discuss in the months and years to come.
The Naked Reader is putting out high-quality fiction, and I urge you to check them out. Whether you’re a reader, a writer, or just a bibliophile, you’ll appreciate what NRP (the short-form version of Naked Reader Press) is doing.
Mandatory Recount Starts Tomorrow — and Kathy Nickolaus Recuses Herself in Waukesha County
Folks, the biggest thing to hit Wisconsin politics in twenty-two years starts tomorrow — the mandatory recount for the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court between challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg and incumbent Justice David Prosser. Prosser, as you might recall from my previous blog posts, is a former Republican Speaker of the Assembly, and though judges are officially non-partisan, JoAnne Kloppenburg was seen as an independent or perhaps as a left-leaning potential jurist (though truly none of us know what she’ll do, she seems honest and fair-minded, and potentially a very good judge).
Though I should have more to say on this tomorrow, right now I have one piece of news to report and it’s unexpected — it’s that Kathy Nickolaus, the under-fire County Clerk of Waukesha County, has recused herself from the upcoming proceedings. Nickolaus gained national fame (or infamy, take your pick) when she realized, a day and a half late, that she hadn’t properly counted Brookfield’s 14,000 votes, throwing the race to Prosser by 7,000 votes due to the pattern of votes in Brookfield. Nickolaus claimed she’d “not hit the save button” and blamed her failure to count Brookfield on “human error,” yet there have been multitudinous errors in Waukesha County for years (please see previous blogs on the subject, especially this one: https://elfyverse.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/recount-necessary-for-one-waukesha-county-voting-irregularities-go-back-to-2004/) and Nickolaus has always blamed “human error.”
Here’s the story from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/120739214.html
And a quote:
Nickolaus took herself out of the recount process, Nowak said, to avoid the appearance of conflict or to give the candidates the ability to raise objections about her performance.
Nickolaus sent out communications to local clerks who had to provide additional materials for the recount, which starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Nickolaus will still be present for the recount as the county clerk, Nowak said. She will not serve on the Canvass Board, which includes Democrat Ramona Kitzinger and Republican Pat Karcher.
As a result of Nickolaus’ election-night reporting error, the Government Accountability Board investigated her canvass and her business practices. Last week, the board said that despite some anomalies, the canvass was consistent with results reported by local municipal clerks.
Note that instead of Nickolaus, two others will be observing the mandatory recount in Waukesha county, these being retired Circuit Court Judge Robert Mawdsley and a retired state elections official, Barb Hansen from the Town of Delafield, who should be able to assist Mawdsley during the recount proceedings.
I am glad the recount is proceeding and look forward to more updates as the week progresses.
Oh, and one other update — the Committee to Recall sitting Republican state Senator Robert Cowles (from Green Bay) has announced they have enough signatures to force a recall election, but will turn in their signatures to the Government Accountability Board on Thursday (I’m assuming this is due to the mandatory recount for the judicial race) in Madison. Here’s a link:
So the recall efforts continue to progress as well.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 