Saturday, July 7, 2018
Our Yard!
This morning I was sitting out on our patio just watching the birds flying around. The I had a Hummingbird go by the feeder and the next thing the Hummingbird is about a foot away from my face. I guess he was telling me he wanted new food. Do I went in the house and made new food for the Hummingbirds and had to let it cool off. They got there new food here are a couple pictures of the Hummingbird.
From "A Better Mt. Pleasant"
https://www.facebook.com/abettermtpleasant/
This is an updated
re-post from earlier - we wanted to clarify some points. :)
Over the last few
weeks, we have watched while the Foxconn deal has changed - from a giant screen
facility, requiring Corning to locate here and build a plant in Area 2 - to a
smaller screen plant - not in need of a Corning facility.
We also have seen
the water usage drop. It was first (probably incorrectly) reported Foxconn
would need over 12 million gallons of water, then 7 million, and now 2.5
million gallons.
The amount of water
returned to the Racine Wastewater Utility has also drastically changed. With
the recently announced ZLD system - it is possible that little to no water will
be treated by Racine.
Deals change, but
the deal for a big screen plant and 7 million gallons of water was the one
local officials agreed to.
The Racine Water
Utility makes money in water. Selling and treating water. When Foxconn was
announced, the deal for them in selling and treating water was a miracle. That
revenue would lower water charges and build capacity and infrastructure for
years to come - all on Foxconn's dime.
Now? Not so much. In
talking with a person who served on the wastewater commission - they estimate
the difference between the original deal the city signed and what they have now
will cost the Racine Water Utility approximately a billion dollars over the
next 25 years. That means no relief for water bills for anyone in the area.
It also means that
instead of being able to monitor what effluent Foxconn puts out - the discharge
will sit in tanks in Mt. Pleasant - doing who knows what.
Do you really think
Foxconn didn't know about ZLD systems last year? Do you really think they got
the water usage so critically wrong OR did they paint an extremely profitable
picture to get a deal signed?
Friday, July 6, 2018
Four for Fridays!
Good morning everyone I hope you made it through the 4th of July festivities. I hope the fireworks didn't keep you up all night long. Here are your questions.
1) What is the best vacation you remember with your family?
2) What is the worst vacation you remember with your family?
3) Did your parents ever let you bring a friend with on vacation?
4) When you went on vacation did you have to buy your things to remember the vacation?
I hope you have a safe and happy weekend!
1) What is the best vacation you remember with your family?
2) What is the worst vacation you remember with your family?
3) Did your parents ever let you bring a friend with on vacation?
4) When you went on vacation did you have to buy your things to remember the vacation?
I hope you have a safe and happy weekend!
Dispossessed in the Midwest
Dear Village Board,
For your review, from The Progressive:
The Operation: Shake the Ground! protest opposing a new Foxconn factory in Wisconsin was a spectacle of resistance and solidarity against corporate invasion.
"They stole people’s houses to build TV screens!”
(but NOT Village President David DeGroots!)
Remarks like these––reflecting anguish, resentment, and disbelief––filled the momentary pauses between speakers’ remarks at the Smolenski Park rally.
Kelly Gallaher, director of operations for A Better Mt. Pleasant, spoke of the government’s use of “shock-and-awe” tactics against Mt. Pleasant residents––an assault strategy that minimizes resistance through speed and disorientation.
“Fifty-seven days after the proposed Foxconn site had been announced, the village board approved the development agreement, conducted completely in closed session and without input from Mt. Pleasant residents,” she said in a speech. “Fifty-seven days to rush through the largest, most expensive development project in the United States. The town’s bakery took longer to approve than that.”
Resident Kim Mahoney spoke on behalf of homeowners whose properties had been wrested from them under the pretense of eminent domain.
“What’s at risk here is private property rights,” said Mahoney. “If the Village of Mt. Pleasant is allowed to bully and intimidate its residents for the benefit of a private, wealthy corporation, then the government could take your property any time it wants.”
After the rally, the protest took to the streets in a mile-long procession from Smolenski Park to the Mt. Pleasant Village Hall. The march was led by three Native American delegates, followed closely by Mt. Pleasant locals bearing a sign: “OUR LAKES FOXCONNED.”
Native Americans stood alongside white property owners in a united front against corporate invasion.
The irony was not lost on Marin Denning, indigenous activist and lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In an impassioned speech at the Village Hall, he said, “You all standing out there have to ask yourselves the same question now that my ancestors did a hundred years ago, when they looked out across these lands that had been taken from them: Who is in charge here?”
“The politics of Walker and Ryan and Trump are all cut from the same cloth,” Christine Neumann-Ortíz, a delegate from Voces de la Frontera, said at the Village Hall. “They have built their careers on dividing one group against another, blaming immigrants, blaming refugees, blaming teachers, blaming the unemployed, while they give more money to the rich, and the poor get poorer, and the Wisconsin middle class erodes.”
As for next steps, the residents of Mt. Pleasant intend to build off the momentum of the protests. “We’re continuing what we’re doing in terms of asking questions, keeping the heat on the village board, and looking towards the next election,” Gallaher says. “If we’re not getting accountability and transparency from this board, then we’ll elect people who will give us those things.”
http://progressive.org/dispatches/dispossessed-in-the-midwest-FoxConn-invades-property-180705/
(but NOT Village President David DeGroots!)
Remarks like these––reflecting anguish, resentment, and disbelief––filled the momentary pauses between speakers’ remarks at the Smolenski Park rally.
Kelly Gallaher, director of operations for A Better Mt. Pleasant, spoke of the government’s use of “shock-and-awe” tactics against Mt. Pleasant residents––an assault strategy that minimizes resistance through speed and disorientation.
“Fifty-seven days after the proposed Foxconn site had been announced, the village board approved the development agreement, conducted completely in closed session and without input from Mt. Pleasant residents,” she said in a speech. “Fifty-seven days to rush through the largest, most expensive development project in the United States. The town’s bakery took longer to approve than that.”
Resident Kim Mahoney spoke on behalf of homeowners whose properties had been wrested from them under the pretense of eminent domain.
“What’s at risk here is private property rights,” said Mahoney. “If the Village of Mt. Pleasant is allowed to bully and intimidate its residents for the benefit of a private, wealthy corporation, then the government could take your property any time it wants.”
After the rally, the protest took to the streets in a mile-long procession from Smolenski Park to the Mt. Pleasant Village Hall. The march was led by three Native American delegates, followed closely by Mt. Pleasant locals bearing a sign: “OUR LAKES FOXCONNED.”
Native Americans stood alongside white property owners in a united front against corporate invasion.
The irony was not lost on Marin Denning, indigenous activist and lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In an impassioned speech at the Village Hall, he said, “You all standing out there have to ask yourselves the same question now that my ancestors did a hundred years ago, when they looked out across these lands that had been taken from them: Who is in charge here?”
“The politics of Walker and Ryan and Trump are all cut from the same cloth,” Christine Neumann-Ortíz, a delegate from Voces de la Frontera, said at the Village Hall. “They have built their careers on dividing one group against another, blaming immigrants, blaming refugees, blaming teachers, blaming the unemployed, while they give more money to the rich, and the poor get poorer, and the Wisconsin middle class erodes.”
As for next steps, the residents of Mt. Pleasant intend to build off the momentum of the protests. “We’re continuing what we’re doing in terms of asking questions, keeping the heat on the village board, and looking towards the next election,” Gallaher says. “If we’re not getting accountability and transparency from this board, then we’ll elect people who will give us those things.”
http://progressive.org/dispatches/dispossessed-in-the-midwest-FoxConn-invades-property-180705/
It's time to end the Foxconn deception and scam!
Sincerely,
Tim & Cindy
Fleeing Populations
Dear City of Racine Alderpersons,
No surprise here:
2 of the top 50 locations where people are moving out include SE Wisconsin! The other area is Rockford Illinois – where Racine Police Chief Art Howell was a finalist for their Chief of Police.
1. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin
- Population decrease due to migration, 2010-2017: -296,320
- Population change, 2010-2017: +0.8% (9,461,541 to 9,533,040)
- Natural growth, 2010-2017: 869,178 births, 501,469 deaths
- Median home value: $229,900
7. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin
- Population decrease due to migration, 2010-2017: -27,959
- Population change, 2010-2017: +1.3% (1,555,954 to 1,576,236)
- Natural growth, 2010-2017: 144,429 births, 95,601 death
- Median home value: $204,000
11. Rockford, Illinois
- Population decrease due to migration, 2010-2017: -18,789
- Population change, 2010-2017: -3.2% (349,431 to 338,291)
- Natural growth, 2010-2017: 30,366 births, 22,915 deaths
- Median home value: $121,600
Sincerely,
Tim & Cindy
Las Vegas & Tesla
Dear County Board,
Please be sure to read this article by the Guardian which concerns Las Vegas and their gamble with the Tesla Battery mega-factory. There is no reason to believe that Racine Counties experience with Foxconn will be any different. County Executive Jonathan Delagrave can continue to cheer-lead for the Foxconn turd which will flush SE WI into a never ending cycle of tax increases and eventually bankruptcy - which only buys time.
Already, Foxconn is scaling back, local Police Departments are demanding increases in personnel & spending, and the agreed upon set of lies by Politicians - the patently false claim of 13,000 jobs paying $53,000 is revolting to those who have any sort of critical thinking skills.
See:
'All humanity has left the area': paying for Tesla's Gigafactory
Tesla’s battery factory brought high-paid tech jobs to Nevada – but is soaking up huge tax breaks that critics say have seriously depleted public services
Sincerely,
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Is Foxconn Double Crossing Walker?
Murphy’s Law
Is Foxconn Double Crossing Walker?
Latest admission by company gives the game away.
 |
| Foxconn chairman Terry Gou and Governor Scott Walker signing a memorandum of understanding. Photo from the State of Wisconsin. |
Oh no, said Foxconn officials, quickly releasing a statement denying the story: “Foxconn can categorically state that our commitment to create 13,000 jobs and to invest US$10 billion to build our state-of-the-art Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park in Wisconsin remains unchanged,” the company said, as a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel assured its readers.
But others in the media did some investigating and found the story was true. As Arthur Thomas reported for the Biz Times on June 20th: “The first LCD fabrication facility on the Foxconn Technology Group campus in Mount Pleasant will be a Gen 6 plant, not a Gen 10.5 plant as originally planned.”
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Talking Racine Episode 77 "Let's Hire a Friend"
Talking Racine episode 77 discusses the hiring of a city employee thru Racine County Economic Development Corporation (RCEDC) to avoid the City of Racine hiring procedures. Also discussed is the purchasing of Johnson Bank drive thru at 441 Lake Ave by the City of Racine and a video of the collapsed roof at 900 Water St. (Machinery Row).We bring the perspective down to the local level to discuss issues that affect our own city of Racine, WI
"#WalkAway Campaign- WHY I LEFT LIBERALISM & THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY"
The same could be said for conservatives and the Republican Party.
Dear Madame Zoltar
How about this weather? When it gets into the 90s and above, I just hide in my home with the shades drawn and the blinds closed. I curse the heat and try another spell, but nothing works. Mother Nature where are you? If you aren't coming back, send us a trainee. We'll watch over him or her. Just get the temperature down into the 80s at the highest, and normally in the 70s. Ahhh. Wouldn't that be wonderful? It's supposed to cool down for a few days, but a week from now we'll be pushing 90 again. It never ends.
Like the news. Always negative. Blaring murder death at us all day long. No one is even interested in good news anymore. We assume the worst and often we get it. "If it bleeds, it leads." We all love others' dirty laundry. The dirtier, the better. Gossip, rumour, and scandal. Even the National Enquirer aspires to general acceptance. That badger really did steal that truck, buy a case of beer, and partied all night in your trash cans. If it's online, then it must be true.
I stumbled across a piece of history the other day while searching for something on YouTube. Ever hear of Sister Rosetta Tharpe? She was a mean proto-rocker doing the Lord's work. Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis studied her moves. Without further ado, here she is:
I would think that Sister Tharpe would scare the hell out of most people. She played like Robert Johnson while singing to the Lord. Hallelujah!
Of course, Robert Johnson was pre-electrification. That had to wait for Les Paul to create the electric guitar. If Johnson suspected an audience member was learning his licks, he would turn his back to the audience. You'd have to forgive him - he played two parts with his right hand.
Enough with the guitar history. Congratulations to Mr. OrbsCorbs on his reent biopsy result: no cancer. Remember what I told you: they don't know what to do with someone with abnormal body chemistry. Let them play their games, then tell you what you already know: your chemistry is screwed up. Yup, it certainly is, yet you operate quite well, so please don't mess with it. Mr. OC's primary care physician has given up on knocking down his blood pressure any further. He says, "Maybe 140 over 60 is 'normal' for you." C'mon, you've been his patient for over 25 years. When did blood pressure norms change?
Thank you, my dears, so much for reading my blog today. I know it's a holiday and you're probably quite busy, so thank you for taking the time to check me out. I love you all. Yes, I do. And I'm grateful that you follow my blogs.
madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com
Enjoy the weather if you can. Some days will be quite warm while others will be cool. Get out there and get some sun and fun. Six months from now, we'll be craving some heat. So enjoy it while we have it.
__________________________
Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelis
If you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order. Thank you.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
"You Won't Be My Neighbor"
From The Shepherd Express:
Anyways, I’m a little too busy to whip out a regular essay here since I am presently blowing the dust and cobwebs off my résumé, such as it is, ’cause I abso-focking-lutely would like to grab that vacant seat on the Supreme Court, you betcha. Pays $250 grand each and every year with plenty of time off, plus you get to wear a robe to work. Sign me up. Cripes, I’d like to be the Hugh Hefner of the court—show up in a swanky silk robe, a nice bourbon Manhattan in one hand, the other around the waist of my latest squeeze. Could be a sweet gig to swing the gavel, I kid you not.
Of course, I’d need Trumpel-thinskin to give me the high sign to get on the court, which could prove a bit problematic since we don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on, say, anything. Especially that immigration bug he’s got lodged up his fat ass sideways, what the fock. He’s like the Bizarro Mr. Rogers when it comes to the huddled masses, ain’a? “No way, José. You won’t be my neighbor.” What a complete fockstick that guy is. (Think he’d invite the Russian soccer squad to the White House if they win the World Cup? Bet on it.)
On the other hand, he could take a gander at the orange topgear I wear and be bamboozled into thinking I’m trying to emulate his hirsute style and take it as a compliment. But the bottom line is that I am as equally qualified to be a Supreme Court justice as the Orange Circus Peanut is to be president of the United States, so what the fock, what a world.
And I’m hearing a load of yakety yak about how a reconfigured Trumpenstein Supreme Court would take a hard look at Roe v. Wade, which I thought was settled law for christ sakes. Hey, how long does this focking abortion uproar have to linger like hell’s hangover anyways, huh? Is there some compromise that could be had here? Theoretically personally speaking, when I figure the cost of an abortion I might have to chip in on versus 18 years’ worth of youthful gym sneakers, I light a votive for Harry Blackmun.
Yeah, whatever did happen to compromise anyways, I’d like to focking know. It could mean the best of both possible worlds: Abortion, OK, but maybe not according to the druthers of your most ideal time; so maybe instead of a second trimester thing, you’d wait ’til about the fifty-focking-second trimester, like when the kid’s about 13 and gives you some sass talk. Sure, that may seem late in the pregnancy to your average right-to-lifer who curiously is often gung-ho on the death penalty, so you could placate them by agreeing to meet them halfway and let them execute young shoplifters and masturbators at around the age of 13, or something like that.
People these days in all three branches of government have got to learn to compromise, like that great old American statesman Henry Clay. In Whitefish focking Bay, they even named a street after his butt. Nobody remembers what political party he belonged to, but party and Whitefish Bay don’t seem to go together anyways, so what the fock.
So in conclusion, in the event that my essays may be used in some kind of school-age summertime remedial reading program, here’s a little riddle the youngsters might enjoy: What’s green and hangs on trees? Give up? Giraffe snot.
Ba-ding-ding-ding! ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.
From: https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/art-kumbalek/you-wont-be-my-neighbor/
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh man manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, I hear that the shebang down by the lake is faring finely, but I got to say that for an old fart like myself, Summerfest might be OK to visit if there wasn’t so much rackety music everywhere all the time. I stopped shining around the joint ever since they got rid of the Midway activities years ago. That was the only area worth perusing because it was educational. How often does one get to see mummies with shrunken heads, or alligator boy? Not often enough.
Used to be the attractions of the Midway were the only thing for the family to enjoy down there. Dad could attempt to toss a 10-inch basketball through a 2-inch hoop and drop ten bucks on a 79-cent felt rodent while the kids could scramble their gray matter on amusing rides always well-maintained and operated by the finest staff of tattooed, toothless safety experts this side of a halfway house for biker Nazis from hell, what the fock.Anyways, I’m a little too busy to whip out a regular essay here since I am presently blowing the dust and cobwebs off my résumé, such as it is, ’cause I abso-focking-lutely would like to grab that vacant seat on the Supreme Court, you betcha. Pays $250 grand each and every year with plenty of time off, plus you get to wear a robe to work. Sign me up. Cripes, I’d like to be the Hugh Hefner of the court—show up in a swanky silk robe, a nice bourbon Manhattan in one hand, the other around the waist of my latest squeeze. Could be a sweet gig to swing the gavel, I kid you not.
Of course, I’d need Trumpel-thinskin to give me the high sign to get on the court, which could prove a bit problematic since we don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on, say, anything. Especially that immigration bug he’s got lodged up his fat ass sideways, what the fock. He’s like the Bizarro Mr. Rogers when it comes to the huddled masses, ain’a? “No way, José. You won’t be my neighbor.” What a complete fockstick that guy is. (Think he’d invite the Russian soccer squad to the White House if they win the World Cup? Bet on it.)
On the other hand, he could take a gander at the orange topgear I wear and be bamboozled into thinking I’m trying to emulate his hirsute style and take it as a compliment. But the bottom line is that I am as equally qualified to be a Supreme Court justice as the Orange Circus Peanut is to be president of the United States, so what the fock, what a world.
And I’m hearing a load of yakety yak about how a reconfigured Trumpenstein Supreme Court would take a hard look at Roe v. Wade, which I thought was settled law for christ sakes. Hey, how long does this focking abortion uproar have to linger like hell’s hangover anyways, huh? Is there some compromise that could be had here? Theoretically personally speaking, when I figure the cost of an abortion I might have to chip in on versus 18 years’ worth of youthful gym sneakers, I light a votive for Harry Blackmun.
Yeah, whatever did happen to compromise anyways, I’d like to focking know. It could mean the best of both possible worlds: Abortion, OK, but maybe not according to the druthers of your most ideal time; so maybe instead of a second trimester thing, you’d wait ’til about the fifty-focking-second trimester, like when the kid’s about 13 and gives you some sass talk. Sure, that may seem late in the pregnancy to your average right-to-lifer who curiously is often gung-ho on the death penalty, so you could placate them by agreeing to meet them halfway and let them execute young shoplifters and masturbators at around the age of 13, or something like that.
People these days in all three branches of government have got to learn to compromise, like that great old American statesman Henry Clay. In Whitefish focking Bay, they even named a street after his butt. Nobody remembers what political party he belonged to, but party and Whitefish Bay don’t seem to go together anyways, so what the fock.
So in conclusion, in the event that my essays may be used in some kind of school-age summertime remedial reading program, here’s a little riddle the youngsters might enjoy: What’s green and hangs on trees? Give up? Giraffe snot.
Ba-ding-ding-ding! ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.
From: https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/art-kumbalek/you-wont-be-my-neighbor/
