Haas414

As a friend said, Senator McCain’s farewell address to his friend and colleague Senator Russ Feingold shows us why so many people had liked John McCain’s public persona. And it is a great reminder of the many qualities that I admire in Senator Feingold. While McCain’s statement is available at his Senate website, it bears printing here as well. There is a bitter irony about how these the two men worked for years to pass campaign finance reform regulation, only to have it be gutted by the activist Supreme Court. For it was that, in part, which enabled Feingold’s defeat. • • •…

While driving to the new Asian supermarket on South 27th Street, I remembered how back in the 1980s, going out for Chinese food seemed like the coolest thing to do. Compared to the predictable fare at any of the fast food places I knew as a kid in the ’80s, getting Chinese food was a veritable dining adventure. Many of the ingredients weren’t like the ones my mother used in her home cooking. And the fortune cookies that we got at the end of the meal ensured that at some point I would insist on coming back for more. Thirty-some years later, Asian…

Our friends at CRG, the so-called Citizens for Responsible Government (which may be the greatest misnomer in history) are now saying that they will “assist” a person who wants to recall Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic. What, you may ask, was her high crime? Did she commit a grievous misdemeanor? No. Rather, she voted against outgoing County Executive Scott Walker’s vetoes on the 2011 budget. Evidently the voters of her district by and large approve of Dimitrijevic consistently having done so for the past many budget cycles . As my good friend (and close personal target friend of CRG) Chris Liebenthal wote,…

This past week, the new issue of the Bay View Compass came out, and with it is my profile of the hard-pickin’ country band known as God’s Outlaw. These boys play music in the style of Merle Haggard, Box Car Willie, and Johnny Cash. Their music is bawdy and boisterous—outlaw country. No columns of fire or synchronized chicken line dances at their shows. Just genuine country music, with songs about people struggling and tryin’, cussing and surviving. Give them a listen, and you’ll find it hard to reckon you’d heard anything else and called it “country” before. The article is in every copy of the Compass that is…

As my county supervisor Chris Larson has won election to the State Senate, I will be running for his seat. While we don’t yet know when the election to fill the seat will be held, I filed my papers of candidacy earlier today. And this time, I am in it to win. Here’s the announcement: —- For Immediate Release November 3rd, 2010 Contact: Jason Haas, 414-747-9514 COMMUNITY LEADER JASON HAAS TO RUN FOR MILWAUKEE COUNTY SUPERVISOR MILWAUKEE – Jason Haas, a community leader and activist in Southeast Milwaukee, announced today that he will run for Milwaukee County Supervisor, District 14,…

Save for Brussels sprouts, the months of October and November mark a close of the growing season for Wisconsin gardeners. (Unless you have a hoop house, but that’s another story. Next year!) (Brussels sprouts are usually the last thing that I bring in. They are not harvested until the day after the first frost. The frost mutes the sprouts’ bitterness, making them much more palatable. This year I decapitated the stalks at about a knee-high level. This to prevent them from growing high, thus devoting growth to the sprouts. We’ll see in a month or so how they turned out.) Anyhow, I harvested several…

In a sense, you know you’ve arrived when The Onion is making fun of you. “My Opponent Knows Where Washington Is On A Map; I Don’t, And I Never Will” Do enjoy! OBTW: Hopefully this won’t get him too many votes.

There are few words that are appropriate for this, other than “TOTALLY UNACCETABLE,” which must be written in huge capital letters. Rand Paul has yet to condemn this—which is exactly what he must do. Update 1: Mr. Paul has condemned the attack. How about you, Mr. Halbert? And the men who did this—you just committed assault.  Better get yourselves a lawyer. Update 2: The assailant has come forward. He is Tim Profitt, the now-former Paul campaign Bourbon County coordinator. And he has been served with a criminal summons. Justice may yet occur.

I have to say, it’s true. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson has glossed over huge swaths of major issues, from the economy to veterans benefits. As he said at the UW-Milwaukee candidate forum on October 21, “I don’t believe this election really is about details, it just isn’t.” Too bad they don’t matter to you. The devil’s in the details, Mr. Johnson. Perhaps that’s why Senator Feingold has received an endorsement from the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the first time the conservative paper has ever endorsed him. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has joined the Press-Gazette in endorsing Feingold, as has…

Perusing Tom Daykin‘s Land and Space blog tonight, these pieces caught my eye: • New King Drive apartment building, food market opening • Everest College wins approval for downtown campus; • New apartments opening at Grand Avenue’s Plankinton building That is in reverse chronological order, but follow in geographical order, north to south. So let’s start at the top. The first story seems the most significant to me, as it is about north side redevelopment. Milwaukee’s north side is home to a majority of its African-American population, and—sadly—much of its deepest poverty. The city has had multiple generations of deep…