The National Conversation (Raw)

Life's Aha Moments

 
Go to this link and choose my friend and Milwaukee's own Joe Heuer to be in Mutual of Omaha's 2011 "Life's Aha Moments" TV commercial.

Ahem... The Milwaukee NAACP

Wow. The dinosaurs have left the building! Generation X is telling people to stay put...

Why?

Hopefully, with new generational leadership, Change is gonna come?

 

HT Milwaukee Drum

Need A Laugh? Look At This #hit! (Flooding in the hood)

I tried not to laugh but when the camera babe said "Katrina" I hollaed! *Great Commercial for BMW!

HT Milwaukee Drum

Black-lash in the Age of Obama

If a black central city minister runs for political office, should other black ministers support his candidacy?

No, not really… it depends, I guess.

If a black central city minister runs for political office, should another black minister, because of my support, warn the good pastor of pending doom?

There is a lot more to this story. (My McCain moment lives on.) However...

Welcome to world of Pastor David King, whom I am supporting for Wisconsin’s Secretary of State.

Many Americans of African descent suffer from Democrat Stockholm Syndrome and, in my experience, black ministers are afflicted worst of all. Pastor King is unbowed. He is a man for God, a student of history, and a true representative of the Party of Lincoln.

He also deserves your support, in spite of mine!

Join me and other supporters at a fundraiser for Pastor David D. King... Wisconsin's next Secretary of State.

Monday, March 29^th, 2010

6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Stella’s Home Cooking

2730 N Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.

Milwaukee, WI 53212

 

Milwaukee to Madison

A Day In the Life Of Milwaukee Public Schools

Not every MPS High school is this bad. Most, however are.

This fight occurred in the hallway at Custer High School on 01/05/10. Last time I checked, Custer High was on the failing schools list.

It's the culture, stupid.

I'm tired of talking about this. Senseless violence is embedded in the DNA of this generation of Americans of African descent. Somebody get Barack Obama and Eric Holder on the phone...

MPS needs a healthy, heaping dose of Hope & Change.

Hope & Change.

HT Milwaukee Drum

Need a laugh?

Just Keeping It Real!

The Milwaukee Drum is calling Milwaukee's politicians out over the MPS takeover. The Drum is purporting that most of the city's elected officials will be powerless to oppose the takeover... They are right, but for reasons other than those they cite.

Study this picture, and then check out the Drum's insightful rift here.

After that, for kicks, read the comment that I left in their comment section.

Just keeping it real!

Nice Guys Finish Last

The chattering classes and talking heads clearly want Tom Barrett to run for governor. I don’t. It’s not because I think he would be a formidable candidate who would perhaps block a good conservative from obtaining that office. My reason is more basic than that: Tom Barrett has not been a good mayor.

Wow! Now I feel terrible.

Sure, Tom Barrett is a nice guy. (As I’ve stated in previous posts, this is always the first thing that everyone says about him.) Yes, he got beat up trying to help someone, so I understand that some people who may never have given any thought to him have joined his “nice-guy” fan club. But, really, what has he done as mayor of Wisconsin’s largest city?

Where's the beef?

Tom Barrett is to be admired for having done nothing to embarrass Milwaukee. But he has also done little of substance to help Milwaukee. He has appeared at press conferences, shaken hands, and given pats on the back. Aside from that, the most notable thing he’s done is shave his mustache.

(Looks nice!)

His saving grace may be the hiring of Police Chief Flynn, who has managed to change the perception of Milwaukee as a crime-ridden city. Other than that stroke of luck -- thanks to the Bradley Foundation’s intervention into the mayor’s failed search for a chief – Tom Barrett has merely gone through the motions.

I know this sounds harsh, but I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said at city hall – or worse. The word from inside is that the mayor has been totally hands off and has left a huge void in city government. In reality, rather than Tom Barrett running the city of Milwaukee, there are four other people doing the real work. They are named below in order of my ranking of them in power/influence:

First, Common Council President Willie Hines has basically taken the reins of city government and nearly single-handedly made Milwaukee more efficient. He’s the one who put forth the audit of police overtime (which Chief Flynn has followed); he cut waste and dedicated more funding to infrastructure. As my alderman, he has been easily accessible. At the same time, he seems to be constantly out working on behalf of the city. If there is one – and ONLY one – reason that I’d want Barrett to be governor, it’s so that Hines could be mayor.

(Barrett 2010. Bad for Wisconsin. Good for Milwaukee! …Hmmm, that needs work.)

Second, Chief of Police Ed Flynn has made MPD more effective and raised morale among officers. (Well maybe not the detectives but....) He has cut overtime and boosted Milwaukee’s confidence in its police force. AND...Thank God for a cool summer.

Third, Rocky Marcoux, as head of the Department of City Development, makes decisions totally independent of Barrett (not that he’s doing a great job) and has carte blanche to do whatever he wants. And fourth, Patrick Curley, the mayor’s chief of staff, is the one who makes day-to-day decisions about what’s good for Milwaukee.

Hines, Flynn, Marcoux and Curley. What.. No Moe?

I'm not a reporter, I just happen to be watching on the day the Mayor of Newark, N.J., Cory Booker, was on Meet the Press.  His demeanor impressed me. He referred to Newark as "his city." He had vision for the city and was passionate about the city’s issues. Ownership has its merits.

I see no such passion and vision in Tom Barrett.

What’s clear to me is that Mayor Barrett is hands-off. For example, did you hear the back-story on how 50 of Milwaukee’s finest were sent to Pittsburgh for the G20 Summit? As Dan Bice wrote in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Chief Flynn had decided it was a bad idea – Pittsburgh didn’t have its act together. But Barrett got a call from the mayor of the former Steel City and said, “Sure, why not?” The mayor had no clue what sending police officers to Pittsburgh entailed. A fiasco was born when, instead of sending the legislative file to the Common Council when he first got word, he sat on his hands and waited until the 11th hour. President Hines had to call a special Common Council meeting to get the proper approval.

I’m just saying… Barrett doesn’t run this city.

I’ve heard Mayor Barrett talk about the reasons why he might (or might not) run for governor: family, funds, campaign organization, etc. What I’ve never heard from him is what he would DO as governor. Why does he want the job? Because it’s the job he’s always wanted? (See 2004.) Because it’s a “promotion”? What’s his agenda? What are his goals? What is his vision?

No one knows.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin and Milwaukee are in trouble. They need visionary leadership, passionate involvement and innovative solutions from their executives. I am absolutely in agreement with those people who say Tom Barrett is a nice guy. But nice isn’t good enough.

Mayor Barrett attacked outside Wisconsin State Fair.

Mayor Barrett is in bad shape. You can read the story here, but what I was able to learn from behind the scenes was that the beating he received in West Allis was severe.

The mayor has broken bones in his right hand, missing teeth and a hell of a laceration to the head. I was told that the Mayor opted not to go with security because he was "only going to the fair," and that while he was brave to call in the attack he witnessed, he should have done it from the safety of his car.

I wish the Mayor's security detail would have been present. He would be fine and lead pipe boy would be dead.

The attacker has been apprehended on the North side of Milwaukee. His baby's momma has identified him as a "bipolar Native American who was off his meds."

Our prayers are with the Mayor and his family who witnessed the violent attack.