Brew City Brawler

Charlie Sykes' crappity crap crap economic analysis

Charlie Sykes is a rich man who nevertheless keeps (or recently kept) a balance on high-interest-rate credit cards -- and then complained to his audience when he switched to a different card and found he'd been hoodwinked by the small print and didn't get the low rate he thought he would receive.

Clearly, Sykes is preeminently qualified for serious economic analysis. And on Monday he lived up to his home ec standards, by suggesting that the decline in stocks is attributable to Wall Street nervousness over Obama's seemingly inevitable march to the White House.

To buttress his point --actually buttress is too weak a word as all Sykes did is recast it and link to it on his blog -- he refers to some dumbass columnist at MSN Money by the name of Jon Markman.

Markman's piece is amusing insofar as it refers to "common wealthy people" -- just like you and me! -- as opposed to institutional investors (who, including folks like Warren Buffett and Bill Gross, don't seem to overly mind Obama):

It's just that Obama's rhetoric on taxes and health care is scaring common wealthy people with large capital gains from investments made over the past decade, and a lot of them don't want to wait around to see whether it's just populist fluff that might be set aside once he takes office.

Plus, the Democrats who run Congress know that a weaker economy favors their nominee -- and they are loath to pass banking or trade legislation now to improve the nation's industrial standing over fears that it could backfire and give comfort to the Republicans. And finally, there is a well-founded anxiety that one-party rule in Washington for at least the next two years will bring about the sort of abuse of power that has gotten both parties into trouble over the past few decades.

Er, what trade bill in Congress would dramatically improve our industrial standing? And there's no comparison in the "abuse of power" on matters fiscal between Dem one-party rule and GOP one-party rule in the past 40 years. None.

Markman's dumbassery goes tilt with this paragraph however:

For one measure of investors' fear that their hard-won battle for better tax treatment of stock dividends is in danger of being overturned, look at the behavior of the iShares Select Dividend Index Fund (DVY, news, msgs), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the stocks that pay the highest dividend yields. It's down 24% this year -- almost twice the 13% decline of the broad market. The steepest part of that decline came after June 1, when it became clear that Obama had bested New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Dude, maybe the reason that ETF has tanked is because it's 42.3 percent invested in financial services -- which have taken a beating as, you know, the whole financial services sector is in near meltdown mode with talk of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being bailed out, Bear Stearns imploding and IndyMac exploding.

But Markman pins it on Obama clearly besting Hillary for the nom -- as if it weren;t obvious to the smart money long before that. (And why would Hillary be less threatening to the innarrests on health care, f'rinstance?)

A "high level" of economic discussion.

And, this just in ... the economy and the markets fare better under Democratic presidents!

Shark and Shepherd's Rick Esenberg is teh funny

Recently, Rick Esenberg had this to say:

My second post ("Being serious ...) was prompted by commenters who repeated the slander that "Bush lied and people died." If you believe that, I do think that you are either misinformed or hopelessly partisan; even not serious.

He had this to say of Charlie Sykes:

 I do listen regularly to Sykes and I think your description of him is just wrong. He needs to be entertaining so he gets polemical but, for a general audience talk show, I think the discussion on his show takes place on a remarkably high level.

So let's see..."Bush Lied, People Died" -- a slogan based on the absolutely correct premise that the Bush administration deliberately misrepresented and overhyped the intelligence on Iraq to justify the invasion -- is slander. While Sykes -- who has cast Jim Doyle as a segregationist, a criminal or just calls him "despicable;" who insinuates that the people who voted for Michael McGee were thugs themselves; who routinely calls liberals unpatriotic or worse; who routinely twists facts to make his "point" -- somehow represents a "high level" of discussion.

Got it.

Also on the topic of Sykes, Esenberg seems wildly overgenerous in his interpretation of how Sykes discusses issues in the "central city"(i.e. black people).

But so is every conservative I know - even the dread Charlie Sykes who I have yet to hear, as Mike claims, give a lecture about "racism being understandable and black people getting what they deserve." To the contrary, what underlies his concern - and mine - about street violence is a strong conviction that black people - who are overwhelmingly its victims - don't "deserve it."

I don't know ... but when I listen to Charlie Sykes I hear him:

• call people lined up at the Coggs Center for free food vouchers moochers and suggest they're all chiselers
• say Milwaukee voters (i.e. blacks) will vote to require private employers offer sick days because they're shiftless
• read a story of some teens robbing a Wauwatosa family and conclude by asking if people seriously believes a summer jobs program would have stopped them (this was some years ago)
• categorically reject any argument that economics have played a role in the central city's meltdown and instead blame it on the "culture" or people just not taking responsibility for their lives
• use the tragic drowning of a child at a family pool party at a downtown hotel to riff on the sickness of the "culture" yet ignore the story of a Waterford girl who nearly drowned at a house party

And so on.

The Brawler allows that Charlie Sykes has some compassion for inner city crime victims. But the Brawler also suggests that he's more concerned with trundling out right wing talking points (Charles Murray, your office is calling) or stoking the flames of self-righteous indignation among his listeners in Oconomowoc. You know: entertainment.

UPDATE: The Brawler realizes he has been whinging on about Esenberg for some time now ... All the Brawler can say that the whole myth of  "Bush acted in good faith/everyone else got it wrong" is so well-established now that it's going to enter into the rightwing canon of big lies along with "the media lost Vietnam," "The New Deal dragged out the Depression" and "Wisconsin's generous welfare benefits attracted shiftless African Americans up from Chicago."

This despite the facts that, as the Brawler has been whinging, the Bush Administration made claims about Iraqi and WMDs that went far beyond what the intelligence showed; that the Bush Administration was packed with proven prevaricators; and that people in the intelligence community at the time -- including a Marine general -- believed the Administration was cherry-picking intelligence.

The Shark is by all reports a mensch (the Brawler wouldn't use the world "soulless" to describe him), but his embrace of arguments that are only going to be more threadbare with the passing of time is disappointing.

What cities is Charlie Sykes talking about?

On the rare occasions when Charlie Sykes permits people who disagree with him on his show, he doesn't argue with them. He leaps from conservative talking point to conservative talking point in a surreal fashion that baffles anyone who's trying to follow an intellectual thread vs. merely say, "You go, Charlie."

Oh, and when he runs out of talking points he just makes shit up.

And so it went when Charlie "debated" Earl on Tuesday. Earl took issue with Sykes slandering of people gathered at the Coggs center as moochers and his characterization of people in the inner city (i.e. black folks) in general. Earl would say things are the hardest now that he's ever seen in his 54 years. Charlie asked when was this golden age. Earl says in the 70s. The 70s? Charlie snorts. Earl points out in the 70s African Americans in Milwaukee had, relatively, a high standard of living and the issue is jobs. Charlie says don't you think those jobs in manufacturing left because of EPA standards and a litigious environment (LOL). Earl blames Nafta. And on it goes until Charlie's shifted the goal posts many times, apparently shuts down Earl's mike, and explains why Earl is confused.

My recollection is strained at this point,but Charlie says other cities have bounced back -- in context, bounced back from difficult economic situations. Why not Milwaukee? But he never cites an example. And so the Brawler asks: what cities is Charlie referring to. Because, to be frank, as far as rust belt cities that were hammered during the restructurings/sky high interest rates/recessionary environment of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Milwaukee is faring fairly well. The Brawler recently was speaking with a highly paid consultant type who's bounced around and lived in any number of Midwestern burgs and was pleasantly surprised when he landed in Milwaukee. "It's not Detroit," he said. "It's not Cleveland." No, it's not, and it's not any other number of Midwestern burgs that have gone through wrenching economic transitions. It is far, far from perfect -- and the opening of a new hip  restaurant in the Third Ward or a hipster bar in Bayview should not be mistaken for overwhelming progress while the central city continues to suffer -- but compared to its peers, it's doing all right.

So the Brawler asks: What cities does Sykes wish Milwaukee were more like?

The ABCs of Milwaukee's Right Wing

It's 2008 and an election year. That means the full force of the Milwaukee's Stupider Media -- the bloggers, the columnists, the yakkers -- are going to be upon you. 

Here's a handy A-Z guide on what you can expect to hear from them. Because to Milwaukee's right wing, words mean what they want them to mean!

A is for affirmative action. V. bad -- except when it gets Patrick McIlheran a job as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's conservative columnist!

B is for Bush Derangement Syndrome. A condition marked by the belief that George Bush is a good, if not great president,when nearly 7o percent of the country disapproves of the job he's doing. In extreme cases, sufferers will suggest that it's liberals who actually are alienated from America.

C is for Catholic. Against abortion and in favor of vouchers. As for following the Vatican's opposition to the war and support for labor and liberal economic social policies and dialogue with Islamic peoples (including Iran) ... not so much. You can adhere to the Vatican's opposition to the death penalty so long as you mention that (quietly) only once a year.

D is for Democrats. See N is for Nazis.

E is for Evangelicals. S0 long as they mind their place -- dutifully voting for establishment Republicans -- they're fine. Should they try to push one of their own as a presidentail candidate -- Mike Huckabee -- well, that's just unseemly.

F is for France. Because France was right about this whole Iraq War/occupation not being a good idea, they deserve to have abuse heaped upon them. (Neglect to mention that French troops actually are in Afghanistan.) Boycott all things French, including words (laissez faire doesn't count).

G is for Government. Governments that seek to protect the environment, protect workers and administer health care are big bad nannygestapo states. Governments that engage in illegal surveillance of its citizenry, mislead their people into a war and never-ending occupation of another  country and actively seek to push people off the voting rolls are called limited governments.

H is for humor. Retard jokes? Hilarious! Irony? That's hard!

I is for Iraq. As long as we stay there, we're winning. No matter how many people (our own and others) are killed or wounded, no matter how many hundreds of billions go down the drain, no matter how much it exacerbates regional tensions or inspires hatred of the US, we're winning. What are we trying to accomplish? We'll tell you that later!

J is for journalism.  "The smarter the journalists are, the  better off society is. [For] to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves -- and the better the teacher, the better the student body."  Warren Buffet said that. It's unclear whether he knew Jessica McBride teaches journalism at UW-M.

K is for Ku Klux Klan. A white supremacist group. A member of this group might call a group of Latinos "chihuahuas" (particularly if it was a bunch of women and kids) and inform them they should learn English or leave -- as did a prominent Wisconsin right wing blogger.

L is for Liberal. See N is for Nazis.

M is for McBride, Jessica. See here.

N is for Nazis. The political party that, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, led Germany from 1933 to 1945. It was responsible for the bloodiest war in Europe's history and its rein of terror was marked by the Holocaust, the deliberate extermination of six million Jews and many more others deemed as "unfit." Because liberals (i.e. Democrats) see an activist role for government, this puts them on a continuum with the Nazi Party.

O is for Once Upon a Time. A fictitious past that conservatives frequently hark back to in advancing arguments. For example, Owen Robinson believes that in "once upon a time" people grew old with dignity -- and without the indignity of the welfare state. The fact is, of course, that until big gummint came along, old age mean impoverishment for most working people. History is hard!

P is for Pinochet, Augusto. Chilean general who ousted the democratically elected Salvador Allende in a military coup in 1973 and ruled the country until 1990. Even though he was a dictator whose regime killed thousands of people (including the American Ronni Moffitt, who, along with the actual target Orlando Letelier, who was killed in a car bomb assassination in Washington DC in 1976), some righties think he's OK -- or at least his sins are mitigated -- because he instituted a variety of "free market" reforms. The fact that his economic policies proved disastrous and were often reversed is seldom noted.

Q is for quicheoise. A term of opprobrium for Madison lefties that was invoked by Charlie Sykes in a recent column. The coinage earned him all sorts of huzzahs from other right wing bloggers. Obviously -- as with virtually all other bon mots or insights made by this man -- he lifted it. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. But the Brawler wonders where Sykes get the stones to questions some peoples' manliness when he admitted recently that he was incapable of shoveling out his driveway so his car would get through. Charlie, it's not the length of your driveway that matters -- a real man can always carve a path through the snow!

R is for Robinson, Owen. Proprietor of the rightwing blog Boots and Sabers. He doesn't know much about history. He thinks the only things Justice Louis Butler has to run on are his incumbency and his race. He booted off a commenter over dubious charges of sockpuppetry. He posted a retard joke on his blog and said it was OK because his mom had been a special ed teacher. So you can see why he's the keynote speaker for Green Lake County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner on March 2! See also here and here.

S is for Sykes, Charlie. The latest issue of Milwaukee Magazine summed it up nicely with some quotes from yesteryear.  "Syked Out:“Away from his professional cronies … his books and his daily blows against the status quo, [WTMJ-AM radio host Charlie] Sykes is an isolated man.” (July 2000). “A man of immense talent and ambitions, yet unsure what to do next in life, a man who has gained the respect and fear of the power elite while failing to win the long-term loyalty of even a single friend.” (h/t Whallah!) The Brawler would add that the man seems to get only pettier -- and lazier (want to know what Chuck's going to talk about tomorrow? read conservative blogs the night before) -- with the passage of time.

T is for T-Shirt. Few things exercise Patrick McIlheran more than kids wearing Che T-shirts. Paddy: Don't worry! You can get a Pinochet t-shirt if you want!

U is for urban. Adj. Scary.

V is for voter fraud. There's never been any evidence of organized voter fraud in Milwaukee (it never had the sort of machine that would drive such abuse, for one, at least in the Twentieth Century), but that won't stop the state GOP and its fellow travelers from raising this charge in election cycle after election cycle -- or advocating Voter ID to address an illusory problem. Meanwhile, it will never occur to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to investigate GOP-instigated voter suppression.

W is for Walker, Scott. The Milwaukee County executive whose strongest base of supprt may be with right wing pundits who live outside Milwaukee County. Ma Brawler, meanwhile, thinks he's a weasel.

X is for Xoff. A prominent member of a group known to the right wing as the "hate left." The evidence of this group's hate? Its tireless effort to poke holes in the bogus arguments of the right. (However, equating Muslims with Nazis is not hate -- it's just freedom of expression!)

Y is for yacht. Yacht is one of many many words that F. Scott Fitzgerald could not spell. Right-wing blogger and attorney Rick Esenberg is known to make a spelling mistake two, misspelling Favre -- twice! -- in one recent post.  According to the formidable logic typical of Jessica McBride (and, frankly, not a few other denizens of Milwaukee's right), this means Rick Esenberg wrote The Great Gatsby.

Z is for Ziegler, Annette. Ethics -- indeed, professionalism -- are for suckers!

(This column, particularly the intro, was "inspired" in part by a recent Patrick McIlerhan column, addressed by Mike Plaisted here.)

Is the Interfaith Conference anti-Semitic?

Rightwingers are blasting with both barrels at the Interfaith Council of Greater Milwaukee for having the temerity to ask (note, not demand as some have said) WTMJ to remove an image from Charlie Sykes' blog that equates Islam with Naziism.

Perhaps the most scurrilous attack is the insinuation that the Interfaith Conference is anti-Semitic as it includes the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, and its leader Zufiqir Ali Shah.

Leading this charge is, not surprisingly, Marquette University professor/Wal-Mart apologist John McAdams.

Here's what McAdams says:

Who is Anti-Semitic?

Perhaps the most bizarre thing about the Interfaith Conference statement is the claim that the parody bumper sticker is somehow anti-Semitic. Yet the actions of the Conference raise serious questions. For example:

When the Toledo charity KindHearts was shut down this past February, for raising millions of dollars for Hamas, the group’s leaders got off scott free. One of those leaders was KindHearts’ President, Khaled Smaili. Another was KindHearts’ South Asia Director, Zulfiqar Ali Shah. Unlike Smaili, who has remained virtually silent since the closure, Shah has continued to bask in the spotlight. He now sits in his new digs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Religious Director of a large Islamic institution and the toast of the media. Today, the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee will be sponsoring a Shah talk, taking place at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church.

And further:

. . . Shah’s love for his fellow man was not manifest, when, just a few years prior, in June of 2001, he spoke of a wild conspiracy regarding Jews retaking the Saudi city of Medina. He said, “If we are unable to stop the Jews now, their next stop is Yathrib (The Prophet’s city of Medina), where the Jews used to live until their expulsion by Prophet Muhammad. That’s the pinnacle of their motives.”

You can find further information on Shah here. Local Milwaukee columnists Cary Spivak & Dan Bice raised a variety of questions about Shah in a 2006 article.

But Shah’s group, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, is a member of the Interfaith Conference!

The simple fact is that the Interfaith Conference lacks any credibility in attacking Sykes, or making any assertions about religious tolerance.

They are simply a bunch of liberals and leftists who dislike Sykes because they don’t like conservatives.

Sykes reprints the attack here.

Oddly, though, neither quote a letter to the Journal Sentinel after the Spice boys ran their hit piece that casts Shah -- who, let's remember, does not face any kind of charges -- in a different light:

Columnists engaged in character assassination

Congratulations to columnists Cary Spivak and Dan Bice for their character assassination of the new religious director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Dr. Zulfiqar Shah, through their use of guilt by association and providing quotes out of context ("Questions arise about Muslim scholar," May 19).

Spivak and Bice said that a Saudi imam who made offensive remarks about Jews in 2002 was Dr. Shah's "guest" in 2003. Unfortunately, they didn't clearly explain that Dr. Shah did not know about the offensive remarks before he invited the imam, he categorically condemned the remarks and the invitation was withdrawn.

Spivak and Bice also made reference to KindHearts, whose assets were frozen in February for alleged dealings with Hamas in Palestine. However, Dr. Shah's work with KindHearts related only to relief work in Pakistan for the October 2005 earthquake; neither he nor the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, which indicated that there was nothing of concern about KindHearts in December 2005, knew about KindHearts' alleged dealings with Hamas.

Spivak and Bice also provided inadequate context for Dr. Shah's remark about Jews going to Medina, saying only that "it was a joke in response to a question about Israel." In fact, this was a sarcastic remark by Dr. Shah regarding claims of an extremist Jewish group and its dreams of a Greater Israel between the Nile and Euphrates, which could include Medina.

Again, congratulations.

Ahmed Quereshi

Wauwatosa

(Quereshi is secretary for the Islamic Society)

Maybe Sykes and McAdams should ask Rabbi Jacob Herber, Interfaith board member and spiritual leader of the Congregation Beth Israel, whether he's anti-Semitic.

The Journal Sentinel Edit Board Ate Its Wheaties!

A very Catholic mazel tov to the Journal Sentinel edit board for heaping derision (albeit without naming names) on the likes of Charlie Sykes, Owen Robinson and its very own Patrick McIlheran for their baying over Wisconsin's "tax hell" status. In this case, it related to the announced deal between Miller and Coors.

The barking over taxes last week came as Miller Brewing Co. was announcing that it had formed a joint venture with Coors Brewing Co., of Golden, Colo., to create a much larger, more competitive business.

But . . . owoooo! We've got such a problem with taxes - owoooo! - that maybe we can't compete with Colorado!

Let's put a muzzle on that argument for just a moment.

Listening to Charlie Sykes whine about the article this morning -- the gist of his plaint was "The JS is saying we should just shush and pretend there's not a problem" -- was eminently entertaining.

Because, of course, for all of Chuck's purported toughminded realism, tax rates are not at the top of the list in a major corporation's HQ location decision. Talent pool, yes. Proximity to customers, yes. Physical assets, yes. But tax rates? Last the Brawler's checked, the tax hells of California (#47 compared to Wisconsin's #39) and the East Coast (New York is #47) are home to a fair number of businesses.

The JS makes that point:

The best cards include a skilled work force across a range of industries, a convenient airport with proximity to one of the largest air hubs in the world, expertise in business finance, a location astride one of the largest fresh water sources in the world and Milwaukee's many cultural amenities. And don't forget that businesses and their employees have ready access to knowledge, cultural and technical centers in Chicago and Madison.

Thirty-seven Fortune 500 companies call the Chicago/Milwaukee corridor home - eight in the Milwaukee region alone. Milwaukee is a national leader in business clout by that measure on a per-capita basis. There is a reason for that. It's still a good place to do business.

"This is a vibrant corridor, in terms of what would trip the trigger on a corporate headquarters location," said Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

Now, the Brawler wishes the JS would have skewered the study that Sykes et al cite in their moanings - it cherrypicks data, it doesn't measure how tax rates affect a company's cost of doing business -- as did Paul Soglin. But you can't have everything.

In the meantime. though, it's good to see the JS have the stones to actually stand up to Sykes' know-nothing rhetoric. Perhaps they recognize not challenging Sykes' BS rhetoric is bad for the city.

More, please.

The Socrates of West Bend has more.

Jessica McBride-Sykes suck up watch

The funniest part of Jessica McBride's unintentionally hilarious "refutation" of WI lefty bloggers' parody of Charlie Sykes' latest non Pulitzer book 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School?

That her onetime benefactor still won't add her to his blogroll!

Nor will Paddy Mack, for that matter.

UPDATE: The indefatigable Zach Dub, commenter extraordinairre and proprietor of the excellent 13 Circles, points out in comments that Charlie links to her under "polemics" -- an insult to the fine and worthy art of polemicism. But note even Charlie doesn't call her a "journalist."

Sykes Rules or The Sweet Smell of Sykes

Amazon.com is talking about this book called 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School" which purportedly contains "truths about what kids will encounter in the world post-schooling, and ideas for how parents can reclaim lost ground---not with pep talks and touchy-feely negotiations, but with honesty and respect. [The] rules are frank, funny, and tough minded..."

Sounds great. Except for one thing: It's written by this guy named Charlie Sykes. What business does a thrice married guy with a personal history that can be charitably be described as messy; a guy who lies like other people breathe; a guy who bounced around jobs (fired from one) before finding out you can make a living demonizing and lying about half the people in the country have "offering truths about the world?"

Certainly not much in a platitudinous book like 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School. But the Brawler admits: If Charlie wrote a no-holds-barred, unapologetic, honest account of his life and cynical ambition, the Brawler might be tempted to pick it up. A "What Makes Sammy Run" or "The Sweet Smell of Success" for our times.

So the Brawler offers you the Sykes Rules. Editing out the namby-pamby stuff offered in 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School and getting to the real deal. (Example rules lifted from Amazon.)

#1  Life is not fair. Get used to it.

Because it's going to get a lot less fair! The tax burden is shifting to people who can't afford it while the rich get richer. We're not taking any real action on improving schools. The social safety net hopefully will continue fraying while middle class "entitlements" are under attack. Cry me a river! There are jobs at McDonald's, gramps! Go find one!

#7  If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you FEEL about it.

As a broadcaster, my boss is ultimately my audience. If they don't like me I'm gone. But you know what: I lie to my boss all the time! I bend facts, omit facts, Jeez, make up facts to make my arguments and tar my enemies. My favorite lie is of course when I misled my audience about the identity of a woman panelist , a "family friend," on my show.  I got caught, yeah, but so what? For some media folks that kind of hoax would be firing grounds. For me it wasn't even a blip. And it didn't seem to stop her -- or someone who shares her last name -- from getting a job at the Bradley Foundation!

#9  Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t.

See Rule #1. Plus, if current trends hold, there are going to be a lot more losers in this world. The middle class has melted away in other countries, spectacularly so in Argentina in recent years. Don't think that can't happen here. And I'll take fries with that, Gramps!

#14  Looking like a slut does not empower you.

But looking like a doofus does! Don't believe the hype: Hair is not supposed to move!

#15  Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it “opportunity.”

Fighting wars is not for my kids. It's for somebody else's. But I can still call opponents of the war "the surrender caucus."

#29  Learn to deal with Revel in hypocrisy!.

#32  Television The reality of the world around us as discussed on my radio show is not real life.

But the rubes keep listening, so who cares!

#38  Look people in the eye when you meet them.

Hang up on people when they disagree with you. Better yet: Don't take their calls at all!

#42  Change the oil.

Don't repair old infrastructure. You might have to actually pay to do it -- and that could cost you a couple extra cents a year. I mean, what are the odds of you being on a collapsing bridge, anyway?

#43  Don’t let the success of others depress you.

Don't be afraid to say anything too low about your political opponents. Remember when I compared Jim Doyle to Southern segregationists? If you know anything about Jim Doyle, you know what a truly vile thing that was to say. But I didn't let that stop me, did I?

#48  Tell yourself the story of your life. Have a point.

Make up a story and stick to it. Like: "We're winning in Iraq." Or: "Officer, this woman I'm lighting fireworks with after hours at the park is a family friend."

#47  You are not perfect, and you don’t have to be.

But I am and remember that.

#50  Enjoy this while you can.

It's been a great run for me!

50+ Things You Won't Hear on Talk Radio

The Brawler's enjoyed poking gentle fun at Charlie Sykes' forthcoming "50 Things Kids Won't Learn in School" in recent days. 

But the Brawler's had even more fun collaborating with some of the finer minds in the state -- he's referring of course to Wisconsin's lefty bloggers -- to draft a list of 50+ items that Charlie and his fellow barkers won't say on the radio.

That said, there are just so many things that can't be said on talk radio -- given the way they screen callers -- that we must have missed a few. If you see something missing, please drop a line in comments.

Without further ado, 50+ things you won't hear on talk radio.

1. Might does not make right.

2. Repetetion doesn't make anything right.

3. Ditto wishful thinking.

4. Ditto the size of you IQ.

5. Size only matters if you're insecure.

6. Guns do kill people.

7. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer: it's the Republican way.

8. You are you brother's and sister's keeper.

9. People don't choose to be poor, any more than they choose to be gay.

10. The Fairness Doctrine is not an "Equal Time" rule.

11. The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around -- Gaylord Nelson

12. When you go to war, God is not on anyone's side.

13. Reagan raised taxes.

14. I'm sorry.

15. I was wrong.

16. I shouldn't have interrupted you.

17. Bill Clinton isn't still president.

18. George Bush made a mistake.

19. Gays are human beings.

20. The American public turned against the Vietnam war before the press did.

21. There were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq.

22. Saddam Hussein was not behind 9/11.

23. Abstinence programs don't stop teens from having sex.

24. Abortion is a choice best left to a woman and her doctor, not the government.

25. Prayer doesn't improve test scores.

26. You are not entitled to your own facts.

27. Joe Wilson didn't lie. Valerie Plame was covert.

28. Bill Clinton was incredibly popular.

29. Al Gore didn't say all those things you think he said.

30. Climate change is real.

31. Tax cuts don't increase revenue.

32. The Clinton Administration employed more women and minorities in top positions than the Bush administration.

33. Illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than American citizens.

34. Universal health care is cheaper and of better quality in most Western nations than our "free market" approach in the U.S.

35. Compassionate conservatism is neither.

36. When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. -- Mother Teresa.

37. Blaming parents for their out-of-control teenagers may feel good, but it does not lower homicide rates.

38. Iraq was not a breeding ground for Al Qaeda terrorists until the United States invaded.

39. No Democrat was ever caught fondling a FEMA director and saying, "You are doing a heckuva job,  Brownie."

40. Politicians should leave to science to the scientists.

41. Political scientists should learn that politics is not a science.

42. Medical decisions should be between doctors and patients, not between big insurance companies and accountants.

43. Even people that I disagree with are innocent until proven guilty.

44. Being poor is not a character defect.

45. You didn't grow up rich in the suburbs because you're so smart. (You were born on third base; that doesn't mean you hit a triple.)

46. Radio airwaves belong to the public; broadcasting on them is a privilege, not a right.

47. The greatest tragedy in mankind's history may be the hijacking of morality by fundamentalists.

48. The poor go to heaven, too.

49. In fact, it has been said that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."

50. Taxes are not inherently evil.

51. The US health care system really isn't the best in the world.

52. Dick Cheney is not omniscient.

53. The president really can't just do anything he damn well pleases. Evenif he's a Republican.

54. The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people are full of doubts. - -Bertrand Russell.

55. Gay marriage won't hurt your marriage.

56. Poverty causes social problems.

57. The Constitution mandates a separation of church and state.

58. The right to privacy is a constitutional guarantee.

59. Justice Scalia has expressly repudiated strict constructionism.

60. The U.S. was founded not on Christian but on Enlightenment principles.

61. Bill Clinton was, at worst, slightly right of center.

62. It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. -- attributed to Theodore Roosevelt.

63. The United States is the conly country in the world to have dropped atomic bombs on a civilian population -- twice.

64. Be a class act. Class seems to be inextricably linked to kindness, consideration, and a general recognition of human worth. -- Roy Beers.

65. Being black in America is hard. It doesn't give you special privileges.

66. Being gay could not possibly be a choice because no child who ever heard the hatred tossed around playgrounds would ever choose it.

67. Living in poverty is hard work. It's not for the lazy.

68. The truly conservative position on gay marriage would be to insist upon it.

69. We're going to need all the immigrants we can get in here to pay into Social Security to support the Baby Boomers in retirement.

70. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

71. Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.

72. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

73. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be satisfied.

74. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

75. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

76. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

77. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

78. Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.

79. If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.

And finally, a few of local interest to Sykes & Company...

80.Really -- hair is supposed to move.

81. Jessica McBride is not a journalist.

82. Midnight fireworks can backfire.

83. Paul Bucher has never been a judge, not even for one day.

The Brawler greatly enjoyed collaborating with the likes of the Political Environment, Pundit Nation, Paul Soglin, One Wisconsin Now, Xoff and Hanson at Uppity Wisconsin, Folkbum, Joel McNally, Milwaukee Rising and the Illusory Tenant.

Awesome review of Charlie Sykes' new book

A reader comment about Charles J. Sykes' forthcoming "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School" from the site wearyparent.com:

Hsien Lei
Jul 28, 2007 at 5:27 am

Do you think kids will read this book? I can imagine parents nodding their heads but kids giving it the finger and throwing it aside, if not in the garbage. lol

Sounds about right.