Epitome of stupidity = WI Governor Doyle and WI legislature.

Back in March 2009, I blogged about Wisconsin raising cigarette taxes and its efforts to ban smoking within indoor facilities. Since then, the Wisconsin legislature has passed the smoking ban, which will take effect on July 5 of this year.

But will it? According to the April 29 edition of The Shepherd Express, Milwaukee's alternative newspaper, there might be a slight loophole - actually two loopholes. One loophole was fixed last week but one apparently still remains.

After the correction (according to the bill), The Shepherd Express states:

...if there are two or more walls with windows that cover more than one quarter of the wall's surface, and those windows are open, then smokers are free to light up.
Thanks, Wisconsin legislature. I still think the bill is bullshit. I don't understand how the government can tell the owner of any establishment how to run his or her business. If non-smokers don't like the smoke, go somewhere else. There are probably plenty of non-smoking business owners who have smoke-free establishments. If employees are bothered by the smoke, work someplace else. Can I come into your home and tell you what to do?

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"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank Lloyd Wright passed away 50 years ago today.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle declared “Frank Lloyd Wright Remembrance Day in Wisconsin, in memory of Wisconsin’s most famous son.” I'm positive this proclamation will go down as Doyle's only meaningful accomplishment in an otherwise lackluster career as governor of the great state of Wisconsin.

Wright, who was declared the “greatest American architect of all time” by the American Institute of Architects, according to the proclamation, was born June 8, 1867, in Richland County and made his home and studio in Spring Green. Six properties in Wisconsin designed by Wright are listed as National Historic Landmarks, according to the proclamation.

Wright referred to himself as "the world's greatest architect" - while he was living. He was not a modest man (and that's putting it lightly). No - Wright can be called many things. Ladies man. Egotist. Manipulator. Conniver. Debaucherer. Control freak. Perfectionist (loosely). Opinionated. Firm. Genius. But "modest" would never make that list.

However those close to him - his wives (married three times + one lover), his close friends and associates and his apprentices - paint Wright in another way. Family man (depends on which child you talk to). Loving husband (depends on which wife you talk to). Generous. A great teacher. When it concerns FLW, emotions run the gamut.

Myself? I'm a fan. I finally got to visit Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin last May, and I toured his Oak Brook home and office in Illinois a couple years ago. I love his Prairie-style homes, Fallingwater, Taliesin - though is block house style in California I could do with out.

Fallingwater, Bear Run, Pennsylvania.

I've been researching two play projects on Wright. Unfortunately, they've been on the back burner while I tackle other plays, but I'll get to them...when the time's Wright (laugh - it's funny). The ideas are gestating inside my head. Wright was famous for that. His apprentices recall that the designs and architectural sketches (whatever you call them) for Fallingwater (above) were drawn on paper in just two hours in anticipation of owner Edward Kaufman's impromptu visit to Taliesin. Kaufman approved them immediately.

What I adore most about Frank Lloyd Wright is his candor and his passion for "organic architecture", a term he introduced and used in his philosophy of architecture as early as 1908. Wright explained it as “form and function are one,” using nature as the best example of this integration. Organic architecture is also an attempt to integrate the spaces into a coherent whole: a marriage between the site and the structure and a union between the context and the structure. for merging architecture and Nature into one. Look at pictures of Taliesin and you'll see how the building itself has become a part of the landscape. Fallingwater is another example.

For past blogs on Wright, check out the following posts: my visit to Taliesin, Architecture as Art and Wright's textile block home, La Minatura in California.

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No public smoking. But we're gonna raise taxes on cigarettes so we can benefit from your addiction.

I laugh every time I read this sort of quote in the newspaper or online, "This is the kind of thing you should do no matter what, because it is going to lower health care costs," stated Maureen Busalacchi, executive director of Smokefree Wisconsin.

At the same time, Wisconsin - like so many other states - is proposing a 75 cent raise in cigarette taxes on top of the 61 cent federal cigarette tax increase - as reported in Tuesday's Wisconsin State Journal - so the state can profit off current smokers. Well...it doesn't say that but, in fact, that's what the state is doing. Sounds bizarre, doesn't it? We want a smoke-free state; we're concerned about second-hand smoke; we want you to quit, but while you're trying to quit we're going to take advantage of your smoking and tax the shit out of you so everyone else can profit from your addiction.

In an article from the Appleton Post-Crescent, "Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is again pushing is statewide ban on smoking for 2009-2011," Busalacchi stated that even if the state-wide ban doesn't pass, there's a reasonable chance that more cities and communities will pass their own smoking bans. Fine. So why not just let individual cities determine the nature of their own smoking bans?

And the tricky thing about Governor Douche's, I mean, Doyle's proposed smoking ban this time around is that it is being "folded" into a document that directs state spending, so that opponents like the Tavern League of Wisconsin have less of an ability to influence the proposal when it's in the budget, bundled with other items.

The constant struggle of trying to placate one's constituents yet take your constituent's money in order to benefit the state must make it difficult for politicians like Doyle to sleep at night. Or maybe not. Non-smokers bitch about THEIR rights mostly when it concerns second-hand smoke and I see their point. But should smoker's rights be swept under the carpet? Segregate smokers to one corner or a separate room, or ban them altogether from bars and restaurants, shunned like lepers of society, yet reap monetary gain from their addictions? I'm curious where the money raised from taxing cigarettes goes. I understand Wisconsin paid out nearly $480 million in Medicaid costs last year related to smoking. OK - why can't taxes raised from cigarettes be earmarked to offset money paid out by Medicaid for smoking-related expenses as long as it is proven the expenses are DIRECTLY RELATED to smoking?

Smokers are told their sick because they knowingly pollute their body with tar and nicotine and other cancer-causing agents. Isn't taking advantage of a smoker's addiction just as sick?

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Obama says college should be affordable for everyone. Should it?

“We need to put a college education within reach of every American. That's the best investment we can make in our future. I'll create a new and fully refundable tax credit worth $4,000 for tuition and fees every year, which will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. I'll also simplify the financial aid application process so that we don't have a million students who aren't applying for aid because it's too difficult. I will start by eliminating the current student aid form altogether - we'll use tax data instead.”
[Barack Obama, Reclaiming the American Dream Speech, Bettendorf, IA, 11/7/07]

The catch? The recipients of the $4,000 have to do a 100 hours of community work. Over a year's time. Now that's equal to $40 an hour. Tee hee. You've gotta be kidding me? I mean, at least give the plan some credence by creating the appearance that the student is really working for the money, huh? Try 500 hours of community work. That's $8 an hour...better than minimum wage, and it'll show the student is really sacrificing himself for his education. Or her education. Read about Obama's plan here.

My alumni center at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Do we really need to make college affordable for everyone? Making it part of the American Dream - something to shoot for, yeh. But that's different. Owning a home is part of the American Dream and we all know the sad, fucked up state of affairs that industry is in. Greed - by both the lender and the borrower. And the Democrats wanna help the assholes who lost their homes who shouldn't have signed the mortgage papers in the first place.

Do I believe everyone deserves the best education they can get? No, as a matter of fact. I think they should get the best education they can afford. I believe that today any education beyond high school is a privilege - not a right. And I don't think the government should be handing out free money to everyone and anyone - particularly in this day and age.

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1986 but I wasn't handed $4000 as President Obama is suggesting.

1. I come from a middle-class family. I received a $500 scholarship for graduating in the top 10% of my class. That's all the free money my hands touched. The rest was one loan. And I was in debt after graduating but I paid it off. "Best education"? No. Good? Yes. Would I have opted for Harvard? Sure. I got what my parent's could afford.

2. I worked for two years as an RA (resident assistant) which paid for my room and board.

3. I worked as a bartender for the student union my senior year. Learned to love green olives.

4. I graduated in 4 years. I didn't dick around. I took the classes that I needed, studied, partied and got out.

I'd like a new car. Should a new car be made affordable to me? It'll probably get better gas mileage than the one I'm driving and the environmentalists would eat that shit up. I need to get out of my current living situation. Why doesn't the government give me money toward an affordable one-bedroom apartment? It'll help me keep my peace-of-mind intact and I'll be able to get more writing done. The more plays I complete, the more work I'll have to submit for production and the more I can contribute to the arts in our country. The arts are big on Democrat's agendas.

I want, I want, I want. Two points, in particular, in Obama's plan that made me wince:

A. Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid. Why? I had to apply that way. If you can't fill out a 5-page, 127 question document, you shouldn't be attending college.

B. Help Students Become Aware of College Readiness. Another common reason that high school students decide not to attend college is that they discover they are unprepared for it in 12th grade. That's because the teachers are too busy teaching English to kids who can't speak it and the classrooms are too crowded. I know plenty of teachers. Overall, our K-12 educational system sucks.

If one can't afford a four-year college, try a technical college or a two-year college. Learn a trade. Join the military. Put it off until you can afford it. Go to school for a year than work for a year. Those options have always been available. They still there. Here's an idea - why don't individual states stop giving money to illegal aliens to attend college? Sounds like a brilliant fucking idea to me. That would free up additional monies for each state - free for students who are actual U.S. citizens. Two years ago in Wisconsin, for example, a Mexican advocacy group was bitching because the state was cutting funds it was giving to illegal aliens to attend college. Excuse me? "Cutting"? How about "NO MONEY PERIOD"? And in May last year, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and senate Democrats submitted budget proposals to provide in-state resident tuition to illegal aliens who attend UW system schools or technical colleges. I don't know if this was in addition to what was already being given illegal aliens, but the state assembly Republicans defeated this. I've been told by Kark Van Roy's office (State Assembly, 90th District, R-WI) that the Democrats and Doyle will be resubmitting their proposal again this year. Why - I haven't the slightest idea. But I've got a call in Doyle's office to find out.

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Vacation: Part 24 - Wisconsin says "hello" and "goodbye".

That's it - the last of my "Vacation" posts. Had an excellent time - great weather, friends and family, finally saw Frank Lloyd Wight's home, Taliesin, relaxed and sometimes didn't do jack - you can't really ask for more than that. So...as Wisconsin greeted me and you, we say goodbye to the Dairy State until the next visit.

GO PACK IN 2008 (even if it is without Brett Favre).

By the way, our Governor Jim Doyle is a douche bag and seriously needs to be run out of office.

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