Fundrace 2004 let’s you search by address & zip code to view who in your nieghborhood has donated to national politicians.
via Dan Gillmor

Must we?
Don Walker writes:

Milwaukee Bucks owner Herb Kohl said Tuesday that it did not make sense to spend $50 million to $100 million to remodel the Bradley Center and said the community would have to discuss in the future the need for a new arena.
The Democratic U.S. senator, noting that it had been a joy this season to own the team, said spending millions more to remodel the facility “would not extend its useful life.”
Rather, he said, the Bradley Center board ought to consider more modest upgrades to the building that will generate new revenue for the Bucks.

The Minnesota Legislative References Library has a useful page on Minnesota Issues facing Financing Professional Sports Facilities.
[Google] [Yahoo Search] [Teoma] [All the web]
Evidently, former Governor Tommy Thompson’s recently destroyed papers included those pertaining to the financing and construction of Miller Park.

While we in Madison argue over how to spend $300+m annually to educate our 25,000+ children, the Economist rightly points out that

“the world is becoming more unequal and justice demands a remedy. Right? Wrong on both counts” Poverty and inequality….

Glenn Reynolds has a nice summary of today’s Washington DC Silent March at the Spanish Embassy.
From Jeff Jarvis: a 4.2MB PDF of El Pais amazing coverage.

Senators beat market by 12%
Corporate insiders beat the market by 5%
Typical US Household underperformed the market by 1.45%
“The results clearly support the notion that members of the Senate trade with a substantial informational advantage over ordinary investors,” says the author of the report, Professor Alan Ziobrowski of the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.
From the Financial Times….

Wisconsin Senate Bill 477 otherwise known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, would cut the inflationary spending increase school districts are allowed under state-set revenue limits from $241 per pupil to $120 in the 2004-’05 school year and to $100 in subsequent years.
This article’s premise that spending more money increases quality does not always hold. My brief interactions with candidates, the board and interested observers indicates that state & federal mandates (not always fully funded), services beyond the core educational programs, along with rising administrative costs are driving spending increases.
Wisconsin, like other states, needs to consider additional sources of education dollars. Residents are largely tired of ever growing property taxes. [Editor: how about auto license fees or sales tax changes]
Wisconsin Property Tax Information: Teoma All the Web Yahoo Search Google

I’ve added several items to my site for the April 6, 2004 Madison School Board Election:

• Interview with Sam Johnson (2.4MB MP3, video/transcript on the way)
• Madison Teachers, Inc. Candidate Survey [48K pdf] Interesting reading. MTI Site
• MP3’s from the recent Candidate Forums, including opening and closing statements.

This initiative was inspired by Dave Winer, Glenn Reynolds, Doc Searls, Jeff Jarvis, Dan Gillmor, Jay Rosen and many others….

Moveon.org generated quite a bit of publicity with it’s anti-Bush movies (CBS refused to run these during the SuperBowl!).
There are more here (from my friend Steve).
I’m amazed that the candidates continue to spend so much of their money on TV…..
President Bush has posted his TV ads here. John Kerry’s videos.

Dave Farber’s IP List has an interesting post on controlled economies:
Einar Stefferud writes:
“Reminds me of efforts to [support] Wisconsin.
I well remember how we had to buy margarine by mail order and hand mix
in the yellow coloring because it was against to law there to sell it
any other way.
And, the law required that all apple pie served in any state institution,
like the University of Wisconsin had to be served with a slice of Wisconsin
Cheese. Most of that cheese went into the garbage because most people did
not want cheese with their apple pie.
This kind of foolishness does not help an economy to grow jobs. It just
causes stagnation and waste and loss of incentives.
And higher taxes to pay for the waste.
Economies do not thrive under central control.
Economies and Internets do better without central control of details.
And, in the international situation, this is the beginning of a trade war,
ala the beginning to the 1930’s depression, which lasted for approximately
10 years until WW-II finally bailed us out.
BTW, the trade wars were a major aspect of the causes of WW-II.”