The number one album today in 1960, “The Sound of Music” soundtrack, spent 16 weeks at number one:
The number one single today in 1964:
The number one single today in 1975:
No comments on Presty the DJ for Jan. 25
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Two weeks ago I wrote about turning famous Star Trek episodes into the next Star Trek movie. (Which could have included more underrated episodes.)
I also wrote some time ago about a Star Trek series that bridges what’s known as The Original Series and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
I am not the first person to think of doing my own “Star Trek,” though the concept belongs to Paramount Pictures. Facebook has “Star Trek: New Voyages,” which formerly was known as “Phase II,” which was sort of the original version of what became the first Star Trek movie; “Official Star Trek Continues“; and “Star Trek: Renegades,” the latter of which apparently has cast members from two of the TV series.
Independent of the various Star Trek novels — and there may not be, to quote Carl Sagan, “billions and billions” of them, but they’re probably more than you can count — the Star Trek Fan Fiction site has stories from all five TV series, plus crossovers therein. The Fan Fiction website has 5,300 fan-written stories of the original Star Trek, 3,400 stories for “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” 1,500 stories for “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” 8,100 stories for “Star Trek: Voyager,” 4,200 stories for “Star Trek: Enterprise,” and 1,600 stories for what’s labeled as “Star Trek: Other,” a series I don’t recall.
Actually, what you’re about to read would fit into “Star Trek: Other,” though that would be a terrible title. (“Space … the other final frontier …”) There are supposed to be 80 or so years between the first and second Star Treks, and it would be interesting to explore (get it?) what happened in between.
That would require creating a captain who stands out from the other five, of course, in keeping with the traditions of the series. They’ve had an Iowan, they’ve had a Frenchman with a British accent, they’ve had a black man, they’ve had a woman, and they’ve had whatever the first captain of the first Enterprise was supposed to be. They’ve never had (at least on TV) a captain who maybe is a doesn’t-play-well-with-others type, someone who is obviously talented and capable of leading people, but has a cynical and not-entirely-respectful attitude toward his superiors and so is sent away in a starship so they can be rid of him. Maybe he (or she) is the Starfleet Academy graduate voted Most Likely to Lead a Rebellion, or Most Likely to Command a Pirate Ship.
None of the Star Treks have had a Scandinavian captain. (Nor have any of them had a non-human captain, and that seems unlikely to happen given that readers and viewers naturally gravitate toward the lead character). The Vikings did a fair amount of exploring (though arguably more in the Klingon style of exploring), so Star Trek is overdue for a Scandinavian captain. As well as a tall captain, someone tall enough to look Klingons in the eye — the tallest actor to play a captain appears to be Avery Brooks, of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” who is 6-foot-1. (For comparison, William Shatner is allegedly 5–10, as is Patrick Stewart, while Kate Mulgrew is 5–5 and Scott Bakula is 6 feet tall. The only way Shatner is 5–10 is if he’s hung upside down from his feet overnight, or if you’re measuring from the top of his, uh, hair.)
I’ve written before that as far as I’m concerned my template for who a Star Trek captain should be is James T. Kirk. As portrayed by Shatner, Kirk is the captain whose crew would follow him down a black hole without hesitation.
One thing that prompts “Star Trek: Other” is what I believe is a major flaw in most of Star Trek, something that stood out most in “The Next Generation.” Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry fell into the utopian trap of believing that not only would things change in the future, but human nature would change. The characters of Star Trek are idealized people (not surprising given that they are staffing the flagship of their fleet), when the reality is that we flawed humans make mistakes, have always made mistakes, and will always make mistakes, some even with disastrous consequences. We have to consciously choose to do the right thing, every time we have a choice. That ability to make choices not only makes us human; it gives us reasons to get up in the morning.
That is demonstrated by the role of commerce and money in the series, particularly from “The Next Generation” onward. The first series presents such business people as Harcourt Fenton Mudd and Cyrano Jones as shady at best; the second invents a race fed by avarice, the Ferengi. An episode at the end of TNG’s first season includes the grand news that by then we have eliminated need. I won’t be around to see the 24th century, but I think that prediction won’t come true.
Dr. McCoy was portrayed in the first series as a cynic, except that he wasn’t; he was a skeptic, someone who wouldn’t accept the first opinion as settled. That would be a wonderful thing to imagine in a starship captain, particularly when directed not at his own crew, for whom he is responsible, but for those above him. The first book in the Star Trek: New Frontier series has its captain make a speech to his crew in which he emphasizes that their first loyalty should be to each other, not to Starfleet or the Federation. That makes sense because starships are supposed to be so far out in space that a call for help isn’t going to get answered until it’s too late. Perhaps our captain could so dislike Starfleet that he considers resigning, but is kept where he is out of his loyalty to and sense of responsibility for his crew.
An appropriate ship for this series might be, say, the U.S.S. Independence …
… which this is not. Real Trek geeks read a book called the Star Fleet Technical Manual (available in PDF in original and revised versions, in addition to blueprints), which included this depiction of a “dreadnaught,” which obviously has one more engine than the Enterprise and, one assumes, higher maximum speed, as does …
… an improved version from another website, and …
… the Starcruiser, from a later book for Trekkies. (The part that sticks up from the primary hull — on the left for non-Trekkers — is the weapons bridge, from where the photon torpedoes and megaphasers are fired.
Why would Starfleet give its biggest, baddest starship to a rebellious inexperienced captain? The answer is a story line.
As long as I am creating this series, this description sounds right for the captain, which you have, yes, read before:
People like you are generally quick decision makers, organized and efficient. Your personality is charismatic, friendly and energetic, but you take life seriously and can be a little opinionated on your own turf. You’re extremely outspoken when you feel you’re in the right. You have great trouble dealing with people who are dishonest and/or disorderly.
You’re highly productive, realistic and sensible. Somewhat of a traditionalist, you’re distrustful of new and untested ideas, and you’re more than a little blunt telling others how you feel about them, or about whatever other faults you see. When you give a compliment, however, you mean it.
Your primary goal in life is doing the right thing, and being in charge. Your reward is to be appreciated by others and have your opinion respected. You also enjoy having others willingly follow your orders.
If you clicked on the previous link, you’d find out that Myers-Briggs ESTJs are supposedly most like TNG’s Commander Riker. And as it happens, Jonathan Frakes is 6-4.
Riker brings up something missing from the Star Treks: family. You could count on one hand the number of married couples in all five Star Trek series, with fingers left over for the number of children: two. (Those would be Commander Sisko’s son in DS9, and TNG’s Dr. Crusher’s son, Wesley, who to some fans is the Star Trek equivalent of Jar Jar Binks.) Given the fact that people in the early 21st century live to their 80s, it seems unlikely that, for instance, Captain Kirk, who was the youngest captain in Starfleet when he took command of the Enterprise, wouldn’t have living parents, unless they were killed in a deep space accident. (Kirk did have a brother, who looked suspiciously like William Shatner with a mustache, but he died in the last episode of the first season.) Spock’s parents appeared a few times, as did, in an excellent episode of TNG, Riker’s father. So did TNG’s Deanna Troi’s mother, played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry. (Yes, wife of the only Roddenberry you’ve ever heard of.) Picard, the Frenchman with a British accent, had a brother, played by German actor Jeremy Kemp, in one episode.
Obviously when you’re on a five-year mission you won’t be home for Christmas, other than in your dreams. But you’d think there would be some contact, whether by the 24th century equivalent of email or running into a relative going a different direction at a starbase.
Another missing element is a character of advanced (compared with the rest of the cast) age. The original series’ Dr. McCoy was supposed to be 45, about the same age as Mr. Scott, both of whom 10 years older than Captain Kirk. Imagine, instead, a very young crew led by a young captain who picks the brain of his oldest officer — say, his chief engineer, who of course is required to be Scottish — on how to deal with his youthful crew.
(Two other things you don’t see are clutter or even dirt on a Star Trek ship. That’s how you know it’s fiction, though clutter would quickly rearrange itself after a Klingon disruptor hit upon your ship.)
One potential aspect of a new Star Trek captain came to mind when I wrote about the similarities of one of my two original-series favorite episodes, “Balance of Terror,” and its inspiration, the World War II movie “The Enemy Below.”
The captains of the former’s Starfleet and Romulan ships and the latter’s destroyer and German U-boat have a lot in common because they’re both captains. So it might be an interesting twist for our captain to have a regular rival on the other side, and that they have a history that predates the series. (The original Star Trek tried to do that with the Klingon captain in “The Trouble with Tribbles,” but actor William Campbell wasn’t available for the next Klingon episode.)
That is about as far as I’ve gotten. You can’t have Star Trek based only on its captain, of course. My lack of imagination made me consider one-appearance characters of early episodes, such as the first pilot’s navigator, Lt. Tyler …
… and Kirk’s friend Gary Mitchell …
… who inconveniently died in the second pilot, then was killed again in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Of course, with CGI you’re not necessarily limited to characters that look like humans with prosthetics. Viewers of the animated Star Trek might remember three-legged Arex and M’Ress …
… and, in an alternative universe, Kirk’s science officer and friend, Thelin the Andorian:
Successful TV series regardless of genre require two ingredients — compelling characters and compelling stories. Some of the aforementioned Star Trek remakes featured stories that didn’t get filmed for some reason. David Gerrold, who wrote the original series’ funniest episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles,” submitted five ideas to Star Trek’s producers. One involved a time-travel experiment that went wrong to where a person was stretched across portions of a second of time; Gerrold’s idea was to duplicate the red-yellow-bloe effect from Natalie Wood’s dance scene in “West Side Story.” (Today’s special effects could do much more, of course.) The other was an episode where the Enterprise came upon a huge ship inside which a multigenerational battle was being fought between halves of the ship, neither side of which was able to defeat the other.
I’m not sure if a better Star Trek is out there, but if it isn’t, it’s not from lack of trying by would-be Gene Roddenberrys.
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What in the world does an event between the 1949 and 1950 football seasons have to do with the Packers?
Read David Fleming and find out:
Located 17 miles outside of town, Rockwood Lodge was constructed in 1937 as a retreat for the Norbertine monks. The cross-shaped building featured a striking steeple portico, an oak front door the size of a drawbridge and an expansive lobby with a 10-foot European chalet-style hearth perfect for massive roaring fires.
The majestic estate had mesmerized Curly Lambeau, a Green Bay native and the Packers’ founder and coach. One of the game’s true visionaries, Lambeau imagined his entire team, and players’ families, living at the Lodge throughout the football season. And in May 1946, he persuaded the Packers’ top executives to buy the property and transform it — no matter the cost — into what is believed to be the NFL’s first stand-alone training facility, a living monument to the greatest franchise in sports.
The Packers paid $32,000 (about $380,000 today) for the Lodge, a cost that represented roughly 25 percent of the team’s entire operating budget. It cost an additional $8,000 to turn the building into a state-of-the-art football facility complete with lockers, classrooms, dorms and a restaurant-quality kitchen. To house married players and staff, the team shelled out $4,000 more on six prefabricated cottages, which were then named after Packers legends like Don Hutson and Johnny Blood. …
Lambeau had already won six NFL titles, more than any other coach. But for him, the ultimate football dream was fulfilled in May 1946, when his players and their families drove onto the immaculate grounds of his football utopia for the first time. “Curly was well ahead of his time with the idea of Rockwood Lodge,” says Bob Harlan, president and CEO of the Packers from 1989 to 2006 and now the team’s chairman emeritus. “Maybe too far ahead. Rockwood was a beautiful place that in the end turned out to be a total disaster.”
FOR NEARLY THREE decades, Curly Lambeau had played the role of hometown hero to perfection. After starring at halfback for Green Bay’s East High, he went on to play for Knute Rockne at Notre Dame. When his promising career was cut short by a severe case of tonsillitis, Lambeau returned home and founded the Packers in 1919. He then spent the next 27 years building his legend as a player, coach and GM, becoming the father of Green Bay football.
But by 1946, after those six NFL titles, Lambeau’s focus was drifting, to say the least. He was at odds with the Packers executive committee, a group of a dozen power-hungry civic leaders that served as the publicly owned team’s de facto front office. Lambeau also stubbornly clung to the Notre Dame box offense (basically the single wing) while the rest of pro football had moved on to the far more versatile T formation. And after divorcing his high school sweetheart, the coach’s philandering had become notorious around town. …
While the Lodge appeared to have it all, there were major issues just below the surface. Literally. The practice fields were made of a thin layer of soil and grass laid over the area’s natural jagged bed of limestone. During Lambeau’s typical three-hour scrimmages, the unforgiving grounds shredded the players’ feet, knees and shins. It got so bad that Lambeau sometimes had to bus the team back into town to practice on softer practice fields next to City Stadium. As former Packers offensive lineman Dick Wildung once said, “Rockwood Lodge was a beautiful place, but it was just no good for football because of that damn rock.”
In constant pain, desperate players began to self-medicate. Defensive end Don Wells would sneak out to bars in nearby Luxemburg and stumble back to the Lodge in the middle of the night singing rye-soaked renditions of the gospel song “When the Roll Is Called up Yonder.” But every time he woke from a bender, Wells wasn’t in heaven. Instead, he was stuck at the place the players had begun to call the Rock, presumably referring to Alcatraz.
Physically wrecked before the games even started, the Packers went 12-10-1 the next two seasons. In 1948 they fell to 3-9, suffering just the second losing season in team history. TheMilwaukee Sentinel placed the blame at the front door of Curly’s mansion: “What’s wrong with the Packers? Rockwood Lodge is No. 1 on the list.
The team had hit rock bottom on the field, and the franchise was headed for financial ruin off of it. Members of the executive committee could barely contain their vitriol for the Lodge or for the man who had stuffed the bill into their shirt pockets and whistled as he danced away in his fancy saddle shoes. George Calhoun, co-founder of the franchise, went so far as to proclaim, “I just want to live long enough to piss on Lambeau’s grave.” …
ON TUESDAY, Jan. 24, 1950, strong winds above the bay howled through the empty Lodge. The players had all scattered to their offseason homes. The lone remaining family was that of the caretakers, Melvin and Helen Flagstad. Home from school because of a forecast of freezing rain, the youngest Flagstad children, Danny, 12, and Sandra, 10, had wandered into the cavernous east wing of Rockwood to play blindman’s bluff. The children were in the middle of the game, climbing over a stack of mattresses, when Sandra stopped abruptly, a look of terror on her face. “I smell smoke,” she cried. Danny walked over and opened the door nearest the source, and a burst of flames knocked him to the floor. Still in their stocking feet, the children dashed down the grand staircase, out the front door and into the waist-deep snow, where they watched the wind-whipped flames engulf the once-magnificent Lodge. …
Neighboring farmers and volunteer firefighters arrived quickly on the scene, but efforts to save the despised Lodge seemed to lack urgency. The town of Preble sent a tiny truck, but it broke down four miles from Rockwood. The four-man crew from the Duquaine Lumber company in New Franken, armed with a Jeep and 600 feet of hose, made it to the fire but didn’t raise a finger. “It was no use,” one of the men told the Press-Gazette. “Nothing could have been done to keep that fire down.”
The idle crowd of about 40 onlookers, including Packers fullback Ted Fritsch and future Hall of Fame halfback Tony Canadeo, spotted smoke that soared 100 feet into the air and visited the site as though watching a bonfire. “Well, I guess it’s back to the Astor Hotel!” exclaimed Canadeo, referring to the team’s much-preferred former training-camp home in downtown Green Bay. Later, he added: “Hey, I didn’t set the Rockwood Lodge fire, but I was sure fanning it.”
The only official response from the team came from Frank Jonet, the Packers secretary-treasurer. He eagerly confirmed that the Lodge was fully insured and estimated the initial losses to be at least $50,000 — which just so happened to be almost the exact amount of the Packers’ debt. Says Harlan: “Rumors were rampant at the time that the Packers set that fire because they needed the money more than they needed the Lodge, but they certainly were never proven.” …
No report on the official cause of the blaze has ever been uncovered, and only circumstantial evidence remains. The insurance money immediately brought the franchise back from the brink of bankruptcy and protected the Packers from being disbanded by the NFL. Which means Rockwood Lodge was home to either the most perfectly timed spark of good luck any destitute franchise has ever known — or the most fantastic crime in NFL history. …
On the eve of the first 2013 preseason game at Lambeau, almost 20 miles to the northeast, the former site of Rockwood Lodge is once again awash in green and gold. Purchased by Brown County in 1974 and renamed Bay Shore Park, the land where the Lodge once stood is now a favorite pregame camping spot for Packers fans, most of whom are blissfully unaware of the history and controversy embedded in the rocky soil under their feet.
Many fans wait for the Packer-yellow sun to set below the greenish waters of Green Bay before returning from the bluffs to set up camp for the night. The order is always the same: Packers flags are unfurled first, then the camping gear. And as dusk blankets the woods in darkness, the fans honor the Green Bay Packers the same way they always have here on the site of Rockwood Lodge.
By lighting fires.
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The number one British single today in 1958 was the first in British chart history to start at the top:
Today in 1969, New Jersey authorities told record stores they would be charged with pornography if they sold the John Lennon and Yoko Ono album “Two Virgins,” whose cover showed all you could possibly see of John and Yoko.
The number one album today in 1976 was Bob Dylan’s “Desire”:
The number one single today in 1976:
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You may have read The New Yorker report …
“I would not let my son play pro football,” he conceded. “But, I mean, you wrote a lot about boxing, right? We’re sort of in the same realm.”
The Miami defense was taking on a Keystone Kops quality, and Obama, who had lost hope on a Bears contest, was starting to lose interest in the Dolphins. “At this point, there’s a little bit of caveat emptor,” he went on. “These guys, they know what they’re doing. They know what they’re buying into. It is no longer a secret. It’s sort of the feeling I have about smokers, you know?”
… which makes Tony Katz ask:
First, if smokers know what they’re buying into, why do we have those futile warning labels on my precious cigars?
Second, once again President Obama has made mention of his imaginary son. (The President has two daughters in real life.) The last time was about Trayvon Martin, the older teenager who was killed by George Zimmerman during an attack on Zimmerman in a Florida community.
At the time Obama said of Martin, “You know,” said Obama, “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. All of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen.”
What an odd, overly personal turn of phrase. As TownHall columnist Ben Shaprio commented at the time: “Leave aside the fact that while Obama’s theoretical son may have looked like Trayvon at age 12, he would likely look nothing like Trayvon at age 17, what with the tattoos and gold grill.”
I don’t argue the decision of parents to make decisions for their children. My own mother refused to let me play football in high school; a decision, I remind her, she was wrong about. But she was, justifiably or not, concerned. I respect that, like I would respect President Obama for his decision about his children. …
The problem with Obama’s imaginary son (and with Obama) is that he didn’t get the lessons that football – that team sports – teach. Luke Hilgemann is the Chief Operating Officer of Americans For Prosperity. But in college, he was Luke Hilgemann, offensive tackle for the Wisconsin Badgers. I asked him about his views on being a parent with real sons:
I have two young sons and if they so choose, I would be honored for them to follow in my footsteps on the gridiron. There is no greater way to build character and learn life lessons than to share your blood, sweat and tears with your teammates in the huddle. I’m not surprised that President Obama would opt out of letting his children play football. He doesn’t strike me as someone who most people would want in their huddle anyway.
Sports teaches great lessons; about team work, about tenacity, about not quitting when the going gets tough. It teaches – when taught right – sportsmanship, friendship, and graciousness in victory and defeat.
Obama isn’t about teamwork – he’s about self-serving. Obama isn’t about tenacity – just ask the people of Iran or Syria, or Blacks dealing with an unemployment rate of 11.9 percent (with just 60 percent participation in the labor force). Obama isn’t about sportsmanship – after all, as he reminded Republicans in 2009, he won. Obama isn’t about graciousness – after all, a selfie at a funeral speaks volumes, as does returning the bust of the great Winston Churchill
What Obama is about is hypocrisy, and using his imaginary son as his shield against criticism. He slaps football in the face while enjoying all the players who slap him on the back.
If Obama had been a football player, it’s pretty obvious what kind of player he would have been — a prima donna wide receiver who wants the ball thrown to him all the time and won’t do such dirty work as blocking. And of course he’d wear jersey number 1.
(As for actual football players-turned-presidents, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan were both linemen, in Reagan’s case even though he could barely see. Offensive linemen are not glory hounds. John F. Kennedy didn’t play at Harvard, but the Kennedy touch football games were legendary.)
One of mankind’s less attractive traits is hypocrisy. It’s also a bad example to set for your children.
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke wants politically unattached voters to think she’s different from your typical Democrat, because she has business experience.
Except that she isn’t. The Stevens Point City-Times reports:
One way she’d reinvigorate the state’s workforce is by reinstating collective bargaining.
“I just believe Act 10 divided our state and left us weakened. As governor, I would certainly be a firm but fair negotiator; make sure we do the things we have to do to balance the budget but do it in a way that left us stronger and united. I think we’ve seen the impact on our state’s economy by our state’s divisiveness. I believe we have to make sure we have a public sector workforce that is committed and qualified and engaged, and I think that can be done by collective bargaining.”
Burke said unions have the right to collectively bargain, and said it’s the only way to attract the best employees in the public sector.
“We need make sure we’re attracting great people, that they’re thriving and we have an effective and accountable public sector. I’m on the school board in Madison and I see that; we have to make sure we attract great people to the teaching profession, that we’re able to keep them, that they’re getting the support and the development because you can’t have thriving schools without thriving teachers.” …
Burke said she plans to work “very closely” with the Department of Public Instruction if she’s elected.
Someone should (and perhaps already has) create an ad in which a photo of Burke morphs into a photo of former Gov. James Doyle … though that would be hideous.
Read the story, by the way, and you’ll notice she touts her work at Trek Bicycles, but doesn’t mention her working with Trek’s unions. That’s because Trek doesn’t have unions. Screwing the taxpayer is OK, but messing with the family business? Can’t have that.
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Our first item comes from the Stupid Laws File: Today in 1956, Ohio youths younger than 18 were banned from dancing in public unless accompanied by an adult, the result of enforcing a law that dated back to 1931.
The number one single today in 1965:
The number one British single today in 1971 was the first number one by a singer from his previous group:
Today in 1977, Patti Smith broke a vertebra after falling off the stage at her concert in Tampa, Fla.
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The Washington Examiner:
Don’t believe the happy talk coming out of the White House, Federal Reserve and Treasury Department when it comes to the realunemployment rate and the true “Misery Index.” Because, according to an influential Wall Street advisor, the figures are a fraud.
In a memo to clients provided to Secrets, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of those not working at a sky-high 37.2 percent, not the 6.7 percent advertised by the Fed, and the Misery Index at over 14, not the 8 claimed by the government. …
“The unemployment rate only describes people who are currently working or looking for work,” he said. That leaves out a ton more.
“Unemployment in its truest definition, meaning the portion of people who do not have any job, is 37.2 percent. This number obviously includes some people who are not or never plan to seek employment. But it does describe how many people are not able to, do not want to or cannot find a way to work. Policies that remove the barriers to employment, thus decreasing this number, are obviously beneficial,” he and colleague Megan Russell in their new investors note from their offices in Charlottesville, Va.
They added that “officially-reported unemployment numbers decrease when enough time passes to discourage the unemployed from looking for work. A decrease is not necessarily beneficial; an increase is clearly detrimental.”
Then there is the Misery Index, which is a calculation based in inflation and unemployment, both numbers the duo say are underscored by the government. He said that the Index doesn’t properly calculate how Uncle Sam is propping up the economy with bond purchases and other actions.
“These tricks, along with a host of other dubious accounting schemes, underreport inflation by about 3 percent,” they wrote, adding that the official inflation rate is just 1.24 percent.
“Today, the Misery Index would be 7.54 using official numbers,” they wrote. But if calculations tabulating the full national unemployment including discouraged workers, which is 10.2 percent, and the historical method of calculating inflation, which is now 4.5 percent, ‘the current misery index is closer to 14.7, worse even than during the Ford administration.”
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WKOW-TV in Madison reports the remarkable statement from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke:
“If you look at, overall, all the money that state and local governments bring in from the people of Wisconsin, we’re more in the middle,” Burke told a gathering of Madison’s East Side Progressives on Sunday night.Burke was responding to a question from someone at the meeting who asked how she planned to win over more conservative, anti-tax voters.“In terms of a state, we’re not a high tax and fee state,” she said.Collin Roth begs to differ, and unlike Burke, he has statistics to prove his point:
Not a high tax and fee state? That quote will haunt Mary Burke throughout 2014.
First, Burke avoided taking a position on the $912 million revenue surge, the number one issue facing state government. Deferring on this question is a clear signal that Burke’s strategists haven’t yet crafted a way to spend the money.
Second and more important, Mary Burke doesn’t think Wisconsin is a “high tax and fee state.”
Really?
Some statistics from the Tax Foundation suggest otherwise.
- Wisconsin’s top income tax rate of 7.75% ranks 10th highest nationally.
- Wisconsin’s 2014 Business Tax Climate was ranked 43rd nationally.
- Wisconsin’s Tax Freedom Day is April 20, 11th latest nationally.
- The most recent rankings have Wisconsin’s overall property tax collections per capita rank 12th highest nationally.
But then again, Burke’s experience in the Doyle administration would suggest a different definition of “high taxes.” …
Wisconsin has a long way to go in order to lower the tax burden and reform the tax structure – but at least Gov. Walker and the legislature are making strong attempts to lower taxes each year. In fact, Rep. Dale Kooyenga has made it his mission to get Wisconsin out of the bottom ten of the Tax Foundation’s rankings.Mary Burke on the other hand doesn’t think Wisconsin’s taxes are very high.Her words, not mine.Gov. James Doyle, you’ll recall, promised to not raise taxes, and then did. The fallout from that continues to hamper the state’s economy today.
But Burke is not the only Wisconsinite who feels this way. Media Trackers reports:
A prominent liberal activist in Wisconsin is claiming that if Governor Scott Walker enacts yet another tax cut, it will be a misuse of “public office and public dollars.” Robert Kraig, the executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a prominent cheerleading organization for leftwing causes and policies such as ObamaCare, fumed in an interview late last week that another tax cut in Wisconsin would be a form of corruption.
“[I]ts not corruption at the level of Chris Christie, but it is an example of misusing public office and public dollars for personal, political gain rather than the public good,” Kraig said in his organization’s weekly podcast. …
Kraig then charged that by rolling out tax reform plan after tax reform plan, Governor Walker is just trying to boost his political profile headed into a re-election battle. The tax cut proposals amount to, “using the state’s resources for political gain,” he said. Walker is “just staging this stuff out so he can be in the headlines giving away money.” …
While Kraig’s accusation that tax cuts amount to illegal activity are pretty brazen, the voluble liberal policy wonk has a history of engaging in hyperbole to get his point across. In February of 2013 he asserted that if Walker didn’t expand Medicaid according to ObamaCare suggestions, people in Wisconsin would die.
“If Governor Walker turns down billions in federal money for BadgerCare, there is no doubt that many Wisconsinites will die as a consequence.”
Amazingly, his antics haven’t seemed to cost him his credibility with some media outlets who still seek him out for comment.
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Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 