Brew City Brawler

Obama: They still call it the White House, but that's a temporary condition

Conservative commentators, including Milwaukee's own Rick Esenberg, are falling all over themselves trying to figure out ways to tar Barack Obama. He's a totalifascist! A false messiah! A guevarista! A member of the "hard left" who swapped ladies with Bill Ayers! A dark instrument of Louis Farrakhan who's going to ban pork, make us read the Final Call and eat bean pies!

Yes, the mounting hysteria is amusing to behold. But is it because they know the truth, as imparted by the illumanati at the Federalist Society, aka Fed Soc (h/t illusory) is too disturbing to reveal? That Barack is no mere earthling at all? That he in fact comes to us from something called a "mothership"? And an awesomely powerful fully operational mothership at that?

Behold this video, revealing the hidden truth,  obtained by the Fed Soc:

Dig  the blue print, as laid down by George Clinton, here:

Bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay.

Glenn Frankovis, Milwaukee treasure

In a comment string beneath a Badger Blogger post about the murder of Pam Roberts and the decision by the owner of Coop's Tiny Tap to close the bar, Glenn Frankovis offers the pithy opinions that demonstrate why many on the right believe he should be Milwaukee's police chief.

His first one:

Glenn D. Frankovis Says:

We (the City of Milwaukee) do have an endless supply of incompetent people either in public office or aspiring for public office. To ask a Mr. Rogers type question, “Can you say Detroit, Washington D.C., and New Orleans boys and girls?”

Followed by this intriguing counterfactual:

Glenn D. Frankovis Says:

I’m convinced if Jim Jones or David Koresh were alive and ran for public office in some parts of Milwaukee (including the east side), they’d win.

But he's got nothing on a sagacious Scott who posits:

Slowly, incrimentally the Liberals are destroying Milwaukee with their cowardice, and hate of capitalism. What was once the exception has now become the rule. Shame on us for allowing them to steal the pride, and order that prosperity brings to a community, and replace it with chaos, and destitution. We are giving up too much control of our lives to those who don’t know how to manage their own affairs.

He's figured it out!

Update: Scott quote fixed (the "He's figured it out" originally appeared as part of the quote). Also bumped up font size of a line...which was curiously small when originally posted. Thanks to Bruce in comments.

And the "point," Bruce, is I'm a nice guy. And I wanted to make sure my three readers were hip to the powerful insights of Glenn Frankovis and the well-reasoned opinions of Scott.

Norman Hill -- Activist for black labor

From the African American Registry:

Norman Hill was born on April 22, 1933. He is an African-American administrator, activist and labor leader.

From Summit, New Jersey he received his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Haverford College in 1956. Haverford (in Pennsylvania) is one of the oldest colleges in America and Hill was one their first Black graduates. After finishing military service, he joined the civil rights movement in Chicago and served as Chicago Coordinator. His efforts included Youth March for Integrated Schools; Secretary, Chicago Area Negro American Labor Council; Staff Chairman, Chicago March Conventions; and Secretary of the Chicago Wade-Ins, integrating Rainbow Beach.

Also in the early 1960’s, Hill joined the the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), first as East Coast Field Secretary, then as National Program Director from 1961 to 1964. During those years he coordinated the Route 40 (from Baltimore to Washington, D.C) restaurant desegregation campaign, the Waldorf Astoria, A&P Stores, the Trailways Bus Company campaigns and he planned and directed the civil rights demonstration at the 1964 Republican National Convention. Working with Bayard Rustin, Hill built coalitions that mobilized activists from Baltimore, Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, Minneapolis and St. Paul.

He represented James Farmer, the National Director of CORE, on the March on Washington Policy Board. From 1964 to 1967, Hill was Legislative Representative and Civil Rights Liaison of the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO. He also helped to coordinate Dr. Martin Luther King's six-city 1964 get-out-the-vote tour. He lobbied to increase the minimum wage and was in the labor delegation on the Selma-Montgomery March against racial discrimination in voting in the Deep South. In 1965 Hill was one of the key planners of the Joint Apprenticeship Program, sponsored by APRI and the Workers Defense League. This was a Recruitment and Training Program, dedicated to the interest of minority participation in the building trades and construction industry.

From 1967 to 1974, Hill was Associate Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. Here, he helped coordinate the Memphis March at the time of Dr. King's assassination in 1968. Norman Hill became Executive Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute in 1975. Since 1980, he has served as President of the APRI. Since joining the APRI, Hill has organized over 200 local A. Philip Randolph Institute affiliate chapters in America. Hill serves many community and labor related organizations.

Was MPD Chief Flynn blindsided by police voter fraud report?

These words jumped out at the Brawler as he read Wednesday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage of a police report on "voting fraud" in Milwaukee in 2004:

In a statement, Police Chief Edward Flynn said the report's findings are the views of the investigators, and the department would not take a stand on the policy issues.

And the Brawler thought, "Huh." Then he thought: Did Flynn know that MPD's Special Investigations Unit -- which authored the report -- was going to take a stand on policy issues (eliminating same-day registration, required Voter ID) in a report that is widely seen as having the stamp of the MPD on it?

The Brawler took a look at page 2 of the report -- disclaimers -- and notes that it says the "recommendations and findings in this report are those of the Special Investigations Unit of the Milwaukee Police Department and do not reflect the views of the United States Department of Justice, the United States Attorney's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or any other member of the task force."

Later it says the DA's office "is not endorsing the findings, opinions or recommendations of the report at this time."

Nowhere in the disclaimers does it say that the actual Milwaukee Police Department -- i.e., top brass -- endorsed or did not endorse the findings. Innocent omission or artful elision? Or did the investigators just not ask?

Which leads the Brawler to wonder: How much did Flynn know about this report given that he had to say in a statement that the department would not take a stand on the policy issues? Is he a guy who likes surprises?

And: Who are the investigators who authored the report? Given they've generated headlines nationwide saying that Wisconsin should change its voting system -- headlines attributed to the MPD even if it's not the view of the MPD -- one would think they'd want to enjoy the pride of authorship.

And, finally: If they did not vet this report with the chief, how will Mr. Broken Windows respond to one of his units freelancing?

Thelonious Monk -- 'Round About Midnight

Didn't some fool in these parts muse that Monk was "irrelevant"?

Best thing written about William F. Buckley...

...comes from lefty writer Rick Perlstein, a native son of White Fish BayBayside and Fox Point (see comments). His Before the Storm, charting the rise of the conservative movement in the 1950s and early 1960s, is essential reading. His followup, Nixonland, is sure to be essential as well. Buy local and get 'em both, when available, at Harry W. Schwartz's!

And, who could think of Buckley without thinking of this priceless exchange with Gore Vidal. Vidal's smile when Buckley calls him a queer is absolutely priceless:

More from that exchange:

Big LOL in police voter fraud report

Page 18 of the MPD"s Special Investigation Unit's report on "voter fraud" in the 2004 election says, apropos of race for the 4th congressional district race:

Although the final outcome of the election was a landslide victory for Ms. Moore, there were questions if the district would elect her.

Uh, "questions" from whom?

Do you remember who her opponent was that year?

A: It was Gerald "The Iraq was is a complete and utter success" Boyle Jr. That's right, the Iraq war vet Marine son of Gerry "I kicked Paul Bucher's ass" Boyle.

And on Sept. 15, 2004, in an AP story, Boyle "acknowledged Tuesday he is the underdog against Moore."

There were never any "questions" in that race.

Milwaukee Police find no evidence of voter fraud conspiracy

The Brawler is gratified that the Milwaukee Police Department issued a report that, following in the lead of Biskupic and others, concluded that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud conspiracy in Milwaukee in 2004.

It did find a lot of sloppy book keeping, some people who were likely confused about where to vote and some students who didn't know how to fill out their cards, a lot of honest mistakes (including some confused Wauwatosa voters drifting to a nearby City of Milwaukee polling station to cast their ballot) ... as well as some evidence of clear wrongdoing (a Chicago DJ voting in Milwaukee, f'rinstance).

Observes Rick Hasen, a law professor who closely tracks voter fraud issues:

From my skim it appears that the investigation found that most claims of double voting were the result of either clerical error or father and son having the same name, but that there was some evidence of some isolated cases of double voting and much more evidence of incompetence in running the electoral system making further investigation impossible. Given the administrative problems, the report strongly recommends against election day registration of voters, finding that many ineligible voters can be registered during the process.

I am sure that both sides in the "access" v. "integrity" debate will have much to tout and argue with in this report.

Now, obviously, the Brawler disagrees with the report's recommendation against same-day registration or implementation of voter ID.

It seems an excessive response to what are, at the end of the day, a small number of violations out of the sea of votes. It would likely stop more good people from voting than it would stop bad folks from doing wrong. And while the report makes the argument  that a group could theoretically conspire to abuse the system to win a local election, that's an extremely strained case to make. Organizing hundreds, if not thousands, of people to commit voter fraud is a  high risk endeavor in which the potential downside far outstrips the theoretical rewards.

The Brawler does agree with the report when it says if the systems remains the same that "it is recommended that the Election Inspectors be provided with the adequate training and resources to ensure that thay are not allowing persons who live outside the City of Milwaukee to vote."

XOff, as well as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, make the point that a lot of changes have already been made in the system since the 2004 election. That said, the Brawler was at one polling spot in Milwaukee in 06 in which the late-day surge was unreal -- and this was likely nothing compared to 2004. The valorous old ladies manning the tables did a bang up job. But it's clearly an environment in which honest mistakes can be made.

The MPD report does make helpful suggestions -- having people standing outside polling stations to screen people coming in to make sure they're in the right place, for instance -- but making the leap from what it found to overturning the way elections are done in Wisconsin goes way too far.

Margaret Henningsen -- "the black George Bailey"

From the 12/26/2004 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"I just don't think social service programs were doing it," said Margaret Henningsen, co-founder of Legacy Bank, at Fond du Lac and North avenues on the north side, the nation's only fully accredited lending institution owned by African-American women.

Legacy Bank epitomizes the new economic paradigm in all its promise and limitations.

As a federally insured commercial bank in the heart of the black community, it exists to inject capital into expansion-minded businesses and central-city start-ups. Legacy Bank began five years ago when it acquired a colonnaded 1928 bank edifice with a marble-festooned lobby that sparkles today with a fresh $2.9 million renovation.

In the past two years, Legacy Bank doubled its assets to $99 million - proof, Henningsen said, of bona fide opportunity in an area that other banks have ignored. It boasts a low rate of loan defaults.

Legacy Bank often finds itself working with the building blocks of basic enterprise: mom-and-pop businesses, filling stations, restaurants and construction firms. Innovative, knowledge-driven black firms are harder to find. More of its deposits come from outside the city and even outside the state than from its immediate surroundings in the heart of Milwaukee's oldest black community, once called Bronzeville.

"I remember this neighborhood when it was thriving," several decades ago, Henningsen said. She grew up nearby and admired the corner bank building her whole life. "I always wanted to be at this intersection because it's the heart of the city," she said.

"I've been called a black George Bailey," she said, referring to the 1946 film, "It's a Wonderful Life" in which the character heads a tiny savings cooperative that struggles to provide home and small business loans to the immigrants and poor in a small town.

Sun Ra -- Retrospect