Howard from Racine

Budget Cuts and Unrest

2009-11-09T18:51:00.005-06:00

UPDATE 11/10/09 @ 9AM: Overnight, the Milwaukee County Board passed a budget with none of Walker's privatiztion plans included. Of course, Scott Walker has veto power over the budget and is planning to use it. If you live in Milwaukee County, call your county supervisor and request they override Walker's veto. Find who your supervisor is here.

Reading about the fight against Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's budget cuts brings a smile to my face. The Journal Sentinel article lies here. If you don't know the history, Mr. Walker wants to privatize a large amount of Milwaukee County jobs to encourage a balanced budget. What particularly troubled me is the hundreds, if not thousands of jobs that would be lost by outsourcing such things as the security element of the Milwaukee County courthouse and the Milwaukee County Zoo. Scenario: privatize two jobs and the private employer will figure out how to do those two jobs with one person, sloppily and with an unqualified employee.

I'm reminded of what the Caledonia Village Board did to attempt to reduce budget deficit: cut the BUS service in Caledonia. Idiotic, in my opinion. I personally know two people who use that system to get to school or work. Luckily, today it was announced that the Village Board will reconsider removing the 26K from next year's budget. This is a direct result of published opinions and phone calls to board members.

What does Mr. Walker think he is going to accomplish by cutting all of these positions? I swear, if it were up to people like himself, the government budget would be zero. Pave your own roads! Teach your own kids! Face it, Milwaukee's tax revenue will continue to sink as long as people with money move out and the impoverished are forced to bear the costs. Shouldn't Mr. Walker be spending more time trying to get people back into the city and not driving them away? Bring tax revenue back up, don't watch it slip and cut services to match its demise. It is impossible to cut all city services, you'll have riots bigger than Rodney King's. I'm just afraid that it will be too late when everyone realizes what's going on. I know that I don't live in Milwaukee County, but I did for a period of time and I would encourage those who do to support the Milwaukee County Board as they attempt to deflate Mr. Walker's job-sucker.

PS: If you are an employee with the State of Wisconsin or any municipality within it, you'll certainly be in danger if and when Scott Walker's bid for governor is successful.

Accidental Spillage of Economic Thoughts

2009-10-02T16:43:00.005-05:00

I've become cynical.

Example one and only: capitalism. Why is capitalism bad? Well, it's not completely bad. It's only bad if you are on the wrong end of the income range. The Gini coefficient is a number that reflects the level of equality in a given country; 0 would reflect a perfectly equal income distribution, 1 would reflect one person earning every single dollar. The United States is becoming more unequal, meaning we are slowly floating towards one guy having all the money. The United States Census Bureau shows that in 1969 the Gini coefficient was .361 and increased to .463 in 1999. It will be higher this year, I promise. I use the Census Bureau's numbers to eliminate the chance of integrity accusations (or produce them, depending whose side you're on).

Back to the question: why is capitalism bad? A person's goal within a capitalist society is none other than to accumulate wealth. Endlessly and ruthlessly. It thrives off of big cities, large homes, fast cars, and brainless television shows. Those who are not fortunate enough to accumulate wealth (most often it is inherited through various means) are the ones who live miserable lives. No health insurance, with bankruptcy often looming within one slip into the mop closet. No large, beautiful homes; maybe an iPod or decent car to make one feel somewhat important. No three month vacations to tropical paradise, only a trip to Disneyland for the baby-kids.

Anyways, I know how to fix it. Get rid of capitalism. Where does the cynicism come in? Right here: those in power are not going to get rid of capitalism. Sure, comrade, start a revolution. Good luck battling the nuclear warheads, Captain Planet. What's my problem, you ask; when and where did I go soft? When I realized that the amount of people on my side equals the amount of people in Rush Limbaugh's doctor-shopping network. I love huge cities! I love making and spending money! I love the stock market, watching my stock in horribly unethical companies SPLIT and RISE AGAIN! As many of you know, I love my iPhone!

Wait...

There's my inspiration. Hi, inspiration, I missed you.

If trend continues, America will ultimately be left with one guy with every single dollar, right? How many people do you know that can successfully beat up a few hundred million people? I'm playing a game that does not yet have enough players. Once people get educated on what is actually underneath all of their money (or lack of it), I'm convinced that the world will change for the better. Until then, I'm going to get rich. I'm going to get rich enough to give 99.9% of my money away and still be rich.

Be grateful that you have the ability to take a hot shower. Be grateful that you have the ability to shower. Be grateful that you can cleanse your body with clean water, while there are currently millions of children in hospitals as we speak dying of diseases related to water-borne bacteria. Be grateful that you don't have to walk thirty miles each day to gather firewood for fuel. Be grateful that your parents weren't killed by a militia fighting over basic necessities. Be grateful that you live in America and stop being such an asshole.

To the 417 people that wrote Jody Harding's name on the ballot.

2009-05-07T00:42:00.002-05:00

Way to attempt to disenfranchise yourself. If you don't know what I'm talking about... scroll down a couple months or so.

On the Liberation of Nonhumans (Animals, duh)

2009-04-28T20:34:00.002-05:00

This is something I had to write for class, but it was fun to write, so I thought I'd share it.

Considering that killing animals for food has been a dominate pastime in the United States, it is hard to imagine that America could ever accept any such theory such as Peter Singer's. In "All Animals are Equal", Singer defends other species as oppressed, which is not much of a surprise. The focus of his argument is that other species should be given the same type of consideration that humans do when dealt with. Singer's thesis is best said on the first page: "…I am urging that we extend to other species the basic principle of equality that most of us recognize should be extended to all members of our own species" (Singer 402).

Singer argues that many movements have succeeded in changing peoples' attitudes toward different groups of humans. Instead of becoming complacent in the wake of this, it is important for us to understand that oppression may still exist in different places. His main interest is to extend a liberation movement to animals. Referring to a satirizing letter by a relevant philosopher, Singer argues that just as women's rights have been laughed at, so have nonhuman's rights.

Since it is true that not all humans are equal in every capacity, it is unacceptable to say that animals cannot have rights because they are not equal to humans, according to the author. To help us understand more, Singer has included a passage from Jeremy Bentham that supports his point. Bentham argues that based on the fact that something may suffer, it deserves the same respects as suffering human beings.

Singer brings up many relevant points to support his argument. Humans can thrive off of vegetables. Animals are treated poorly just to give advantages to humans in the dietary, scientific, and recreational fields. Even though a dog may be able to outwit a human at certain moments, humans treat dogs as if humans were deities.

The author then goes on to criticize philosophy for being anthropocentric. Philosophers should have figured this out a long time ago, but they are humans. Singer also battles philosophers who have defended being human-centered. It is hard for him to accept that humans have no problems giving the same treatment to handicapped humans, especially ones that maybe of the comatose sort, and continue to harm fully functional animals.

Overall, Singer wants humans to stop being universally dominant to other species so that animals can enjoy themselves just as racial minorities may have. Singer concedes that humans and animals are not equals, but also points out that tall humans and short humans are not equal. The best way to realize this is to give nonhumans just as much "consideration" as humans may give their sociological counterpart.

Reflection

Singer's argument is very persuasive, as he proposes giving animals rights is a moral necessity. It is hard for me to argue against this, but a few questions remain. I would love to agree with Singer and rely solely on vegetables to help lower my obscene cholesterol level, but I cannot eat too many pizzas without eventually asking for pepperoni.

If we were to give the same consideration to animals as we do to disabled humans, for example, could we expect animals to give the same consideration to their disabled brethren? If a baby bird breaks its back flying into a pane of glass, will its mother care for the bird for the rest of its life? Will any bird from any species care for the disable bird? I would not think so. Humans take care of their disabled simply because they have the means to do it. As far as I'm concerned, birds have been around a lot longer than our species has, and it has not learned a millionth of what we have as human beings.

To address the issue of suffering, I will agree that an animal suffers when it is poked, prodded, or sliced. Will the animal remember the suffering? In the case of a dog getting hit with a newspaper, it will. On the other hand, humans have not even solved this problem themselves. If a human gets struck by lightning, it may very well develop a fear of lightning. Not only lightning, but it may develop a fear of anything that buzzes, glows, or hisses with the power of electricity. Is it true, then, that the relationship between a cloud and land may actually be an oppressive one to human beings? How can we prevent, or even abstain from causing, the suffering of animals, when humans still suffer themselves?

I love my golden retriever, and yes, I do believe she has some sort of soul. If she was the last object on Earth, and I was hungry, she would probably have to die. On the other hand, if the dog were smart enough to realize that I was the last food source available on Earth, I would not blame her for eating me. This is not going to happen because I have tricked the dog into believing that either I am a combination of its biological father and mother, or that I am a dog superior to her in many ways. Her abstention from eating me, is not because I am her friend and certainly not because I am a human with morals.

No matter how I feel on the subject, I believe Singer's point is still very relevant. The author did an excellent job explaining his position on the issue.

Singer, Peter. "All Animals are Equal." Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader. Ed. Terrence Ball and

Richard Dagger. Pearson: New York, 2009. 402-411.

New Orleans

2009-03-20T18:05:00.002-05:00

I feel so at home in this city... it's sunny and warm, halfway underwater, and always moving. The .357 String Band (from Milwaukee) played a show last night in Jackson, MS. We were pretty much the only ones there; it was booked at the last minute, but it was still great. Tonight they're playing here in NOLA and it will be even better. This city is extremely touristy, but the locals make up for it. Anyways, I left my phone charge in MS and I'm debating whether to pick up another one or just wait to get back to Jackson. Regardless, don't be surprised if I don't respond any to any messages til Sunday after later tonight. Hopefully this weekend will be good enough to make up for the 16.5 hour drive we have to get back to Racine. Holler, at me if you want anything. I will see ya'll back home!

To Racine Mayoral Candidate Jody Harding

2009-02-20T16:39:00.002-06:00

EDIT: To be fair, she says she no longer agrees with the statements she made that I've addressed here. To be unfair, I don't believe her. :)

It has recently been called to my attention by Racinepost.com that Ms. Harding supports the disenfranchisement of "any individual who is receiving a government subsidy". She's not kidding when she says this, and adds that she will exempt the following government subsidies:

"payments for work that would receive a wage in the private sector, social security retirement benefits, short term unemployment benefits," and "any benefit that improves the community at large, such as provisions for police, public schools, public roads, etc."

What?

Immediately I thought, "Wow, this lady must be a moron". But after finishing the glass of wine my mother and I shared while watching Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dodge too many questions, I figured it out. There are very few people who run for office that I don't think are morons (Secretary Gibbs did have a very nice tie on, however).

Ok… calm down… don't freak out Howard… she's not going to win. At least I hope not!

Here is the problem. This lady's proposition would disenfranchise a lot of people. Since Ms. Harding (I have no idea if she's married and really don't care) confuses the hell out of me by saying, "any benefit that improves the community at large," I can only assume that she sees nearly every subsidy as an evil. I mean, isn't that the point of government subsidization and aid, improving the community? Is it there to degrade the community? Shall we let people in multiple social, racial, and economic classes drift into poverty because we think that doing otherwise would not benefit the community?

After all, what is the community? Is it a network of people who earn living wages and own/ manage businesses? Well how do I get in? I worked seven days a week for all of last semester! I'm going to graduate college in May! When I go to apply for government aid for law school, why the hell would I want to consider my voting rights along with that?

Anyways, there are more pressing matters at hand. Let's see who her plan would exclude.

-Adoptive parents who receive funds from the state,

-College students who take financial aid from the government,

-Mothers who use government funds to help pay for their child's exorbitant health insurance,

-Lots and lots of farmers who compete with corporate farms by receiving government subsidies,

-Those who cannot afford food for their families,

-Those that get housing assistance,

-Those who have been victims of human trafficking,

-Those that get help heating and cooling their home,

-People who receive Title 19 benefits (Medicare and Medicaid),

-Children who get their school breakfasts paid for (I highly doubt she would consider this part of the community at large),

-People with disabilities.

There are more, but I'm pretty sure we've already disenfranchised at least ten percent of the country, if not more. Is she including tax credits? If yes, count out most Americans.

Now before I continue, I must show my bias. I like the fact that people can vote. One hundred years ago, my mother would not have been able to vote. Fifty years ago, my father may have been killed for trying to vote. In my opinion, felons should be able to vote. I really don't like the idea of disenfranchising anyone.

Ms. Harding uses a few arguments to support her position. One deals with the Soviet Union (we are not the Soviet Union, sorry McCarthy). One deals with work ethic. Single mothers who are abusing the system and farmers who don't grow crops. So on and so on…

This story of hers in particular strikes me as naughty:

"Our current practices actually encourage people not to work! I have been told by a number of single mothers that they control more spendable income by staying at home with their child and collecting welfare, than they would by going to work and paying for child care."

Well guess what Ms. Harding, these single mothers have a point! Is it that all single mothers have no work ethic, are lazy, and spend all their money on heroin? Or is it that the employers who hire the single mothers aren't paying them enough? Have you ever worked for seven dollars an hour when gas prices are at four dollars a gallon and milk is at three? (Yes, I know gas isn't that much anymore.)

The other thing I have to say deals with her argument altogether. As a CPA, this woman should know that the rich spend half of their lives trying very, very hard to avoid the taxes they are supposed to pay! Not only that, but if you want a nation with a more balanced budget, move to Europe where they love welfare!

Man… if I could afford to move out of Caledoniawood, I would run for mayor myself!

Before I Nap

2009-02-15T19:28:00.003-06:00

I really am not sure why I'm posting, as there's nothing particularly imminent on my fingertips. I do feel, however, that it's been a while.
I've been feeling pretty ambitious about what I'm going to do after May 16 (Graduation). As most of you know, I'm going to law school in the fall of '10, but haven't decided where yet. My eyes were set on Madison (WI) for quite a while but after being out east last month, I've been thinking about applying to some of the East Coasty schools. Harvard and Yale are the two notoriously dangerous schools to apply for, but there are also plenty others out there. My grades haven't been the best, but I'm looking to make up for that with my LSAT in the summer. I also have sort of an advantage with my motive to do public service law, as opposed to craving a jump into a six-figure($$$greed$$$$) private practice. I'm sorry did I call someone greedy?
My tenure at Jimmy John's is coming to an end, as I submitted my one-month resignation yesterday (hopefully for the last time [at least this time I was only working weekends... ha]). I figure that I'll survive the less-than-two-months period between coming home from New Orleans and graduating and hopefully start to work full time at the law firm.
Anyways, I'd like to go out tonight, so I'm going to take a nap. Cheers!

Corporations

2009-02-02T11:02:00.002-06:00

Microsoft can't seem to keep their IP's in their pants, as the whole of Parkside keeps getting emails that appear to originate from the Microsoft campus saying that their password has been changed. My mail order prescription company (Medco) has charged me twice, on two occasions in the past month, for two orders. Whoever drew up the W-2's (I'm pretty sure it wasn't our accountant) at my law firm got my address wrong. My General Motors car is falling apart (6 years old). My Toshiba computer's reboot disk won't work no matter how many fixes I try or how many copies of it I burn. When eFollett ran the bookstore at UW-Parkside, and you ordered books online from textbooksNow.com, you were paying less for books from the same company. Washington Mutual, the ex-largest savings and loan bank went bankrupt, turning my WAMU stock into WAMUQ stock and rendering it worthless. Circuit City's liquidation has drawn a large number of customers to the store here in Racine, despite the fact that liquidations usually RAISE prices.

Corporations suck!

The Journal Times (garbage)

2009-01-15T19:08:00.002-06:00

They are accusing racinenews.org of copyright infringement. Next they are going to be accusing racinepost.com of stealing their sunshine.

Get a life JT, you read at an 8th grade level (I was reading at an 8th grade level in 3rd grade). Your website is being censored. Your readership and circulation stinks. If you are still around when I become an attorney I'm buying you out and turning your building into the grocery store that downtown needs.

read this:
http://racinenews.org/?p=10093

Really just a prayer I suppose

2009-01-15T02:53:00.002-06:00

"Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip reach 1,028 according to Gaza medical sources. Nearly a third of the dead are said to be children." - The BBC News.

CHILDREN? C'mon Israel, c'mon Bush... both ya'll know this ain't right. You're telling me CHILDREN are the one's launching rockets from the Gaza Strip? Or are you going to say that they're putting children directly under the IDF jets before they airstrike residential areas to make it look bad. This is so unreal.

Mayor Becker of Racine

2009-01-14T14:11:00.001-06:00

For those of you who don't know, Mayor Becker was arrested very late last night at Brookfield Square in Milwaukee.
The charges pressing against him according to the Journal Times and Racinepost.com are: misconduct in public office, possession of child pornography, exposing a child to harmful materials, attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child, and use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. The mayor is (the last I've heard) being held in the Kenosha County Jail with a bond set at 165,000 dollars.

!The above is purported fact, the rest is opinion.

Considering the charges, Becker has very little chance to defend himself. He was found in possession of child pornography which in itself is grounds for a long prison sentence and a spot on the sex offenders map.

I assume the rest of the charges stem from the mayor being enticed by an online law enforcement agent to meet up at Brookfield Square. The Department of Criminal Investigation of WI is known to do this, and the fact that he was at Brookfield Square at such a late hour is probably kicking out the door any notion that he was there getting a Cinnabon.

Anyways, I assume that the mayor will resign his position (unlike Illinois Governor Blagojevich) leading to a mandatory election within 6 weeks. Alderman David Maack is currently running the city, and I don't think he'd be a bad candidate himself.

whoa......

2009-01-05T03:23:00.001-06:00

I have a blog....? ohhhh yeah that thing. Back from New York, will get back to this piece in a few days, once I dig my last load of laundry out of my carpet.

The Artful Craft of Staying In

2008-12-04T00:27:00.003-06:00

I remember what I was doing last Wednesday at this time: walking between packed downtown bars in the freezing cold with an Irish guy to meet up with another Irish guy to walk in to massive drunk crowds. Although this was the day before Thanksgiving, this is not too unusual. This Wednesday, I'm in bed and it is 12:30 AM. I cannot remember the last time I actually went home after leaving school on a Wednesday. It feels pretty good (save for a toothache) to know I'm going to get enough sleep. The reason I'm doing this is because Tom and I are driving to New York City for the New Years week, so we have to save money so we can spend money. Anyways, I could write all night if my eyes were not closing themselves.

Nicotine

2008-11-28T19:18:00.002-06:00

First, there's the sociological dependence. Every time I drive somewhere, every dull moment at work (imagine that, one of my jobs is delivery driving). Every time someone walks past me to go outside at the law firm. Every time I'm standing outside waiting for someone. Every time you're sitting at a restaurant waiting for food, with nothing to say, with nowhere to go.
Then, there's the physical dependence. Every time it hits, creeps up like a snake and pulls on your leg like a diesel tractor. The falling levels of nicotine in your body creates withdrawal symptoms nearly as bad as a heroin cessation and worse than a cocaine cessation. Ever heard of Pavlov's dog? Hundreds of chemical receptors are being deprived of nicotine after years of being trained to rely on it. 2-3 days..... It's been about 38 hours. More after this commercial break from Kraft... I mean Altria... I mean Phillip Morris..........

Idiots/Morons

2008-11-21T18:50:00.002-06:00

News agencies (specifically the big rich ones) need to straighten up. I could complain all day about CNN and Fox News both; I much rather prefer the Journal Sentinel or another local news agency over any obese one. One thing has really bothered me recently, though. Why is it that they feel the need to spread gossip and/or confidential information all over the Earth? Not only is it ridiculously none-of-your-business, but making money off of luring people to read stupid articles is only contributing to the loss of societal brain-power. A lot of people say they don't care. I know why you don't care: you were raised to care more about Lindsay Lohan's (or Li-Lo for extra lameness) drug addictions and eating disorder. In return, you now have a drug addiction and eating disorder (calling yourself fat when you wear a size four is definitely an eating disorder). Another example, reporting leaked information that will probably destroy the economy further, or put someone's life in danger. There's a reason why some stuff is classified (Obama's families Secret Service codenames). Obama is the biggest target in the country, and you want to endanger that further so you can shove more advertising down the throat of your consumer? Go home Rupert Murdoch.

Friday

2008-11-21T13:08:00.001-06:00

This is exactly what I didn't want to happen with this: I stop posting. I really don't care if anyone reads this or not, but I'm going to force myself to update this thing regularly. Naptime, I'm going to post after.

Love Howard

The Office of the President-Elect

2008-11-13T10:35:00.002-06:00

As much as I hate American politics and the way people expect their lives to change overnight, I find it quite interesting how the Senator from Illinois is already doing things. His administration already has its own .gov website, almost two months before he is actually inaugurated. www.change.gov, in fact. This man has already barreled his way through the White House; has held multiple press conferences. By doing this, he is pulling himself to an area which requires complete transparency. I would be surprised if this would happen, but he's certainly making it look good.

H3

For some reason...

2008-11-11T02:29:00.002-06:00

For some reason, my dog likes to endlessly lick the part of my bed where my upper back/neck goes. Apparently dogs like salty sweat? Thus, I must make my bed in order to prevent this from happening. What's even worse though, if I don't cover my pillows, they too are soaked in Pup's saliva. Yeah, you can all say grossssssssssssss, but at least I don't have any siblings to pee on my bed. 2:33 am and I'm sober... yes!

Some people in this city...

2008-11-09T20:49:00.002-06:00

This was my response to some moron who thought it would be funny to go on Journaltimes.com and justify the death of a 29 year old man who got hit by a car this morning. The story mentioned the guy was turning his life around, after somewhat screwing up for a while. This guy had the nerve to say that going to Gateway is not going to college, and this was the ground for him saying that he was not turning his life around.
--------
howeezy November 9, 2008 8:46PM CST Gateway has college in its name. Gateway allowed my dad to give me a full ride for a university. A lot of the police officers that protect you probably at some point went to Gateway. Furthermore, maybe he was taking some prerequisites before a university.

For you to think that a technical college is not a college is ridiculous. Who do you think keeps on your power, kids with liberal arts degrees? Who do you think keeps your water on, maintains your sewer system? Who do you think builds your infrastructure and maintains traffic signals?
My question to you: who the hell are you to criticize a college student for going to school in Racine?

Applesauce

2008-11-09T09:53:00.002-06:00

Last night I went to a movie. I haven't done that since..... Indiana Jones? What is my excuse for not going to the movies: it costs too much. On the contrary, it's a lot cheaper than going to the bar and that's usually what I end up doing... all the time. The people I hung out with last night were sober and planning on staying that way. Why can't I do that? I'm so far in debt, yet I keep on wasting money on beer.

After thinking this over, I've come to a rational conclusion. Howard, stop going to the bar so much (duh). I will still see my friends, as I don't even think they go to the bar as much as I do. I've actually been thinking this for quite a while, but maybe writing it will actually help me get the motivation to carry it out.

Now I'm off to church and then work for another eight hours, woooooooooooooooooo.

Friday

2008-11-07T08:15:00.002-06:00

There's big news today: unemployment is at 6.5%, and over 1.2 million jobs have been lost this year. I would even venture to say that 1.2 million is an underestimation. Does this surprise anyone? Probably not.

I like Fridays. It's almost my day off. Considering I work seven days a week and have school four of those days, working only 9-noon is sort of a relief. I'll probably come home at noon, pass out for a couple hours, do some homework, and then go out. So if you're reading this and you want to go out, give me a call.

I must now get ready for work, so I can go through the McDonald's drive-thru (yuck).

Exodus

2008-11-07T00:20:00.000-06:00

Good night. I'll be here tomorrow.

Genesis

2008-11-06T11:52:00.000-06:00

Good morning.