Politicians stick it to us (again!)

Gretchen Morgenson writes: A Great Fund (for them, not you):

It’s easy to see why the Washington political class feels no need to right the wrongs in the fund industry. Those folks know how to take care of themselves. Low-cost, conflict-free money management is just one of the many special privileges lawmakers have arranged for themselves. Too bad the 91 million ordinary Americans who invest in funds can’t get the same deal. As Mr. Fitzgerald said: “We’ve created one mutual fund world for ourselves that is great and fair and we’ve created another for the rest of America that stinks.”

via Dan Gillmor

2003 Wisconsin Political Lobbying

Katherine Skiba summarizes state political lobbying spending (data is from the Wisconsin Ethics Board). I was surprised at Wisconsin’s top spender(s):

Microsoft pays for Kind’s Trip to Seattle

Interesting example of money, technology & politics. Wisconsin voters have many other priorities, such as education, jobs, taxes and healthcare. How exactly, the Windows 2003 Server and Office 2003 product launches fit into those priorities is a mystery:
“If people really believe that something like this makes members of Congress bribable, obviously they have a very poor opinion of members of Congress.” Ron Kind, Wisconsin congressman. Katherine M. Skiba and Jeff Nelson follow the money….. The airfare prices look like first class… Why exactly would Microsoft spend money on a Congressman from La Crosse, WI?
Additional trips were timed to include product launches such as Windows Server 2003 and Office 2003….
Microsoft’s priorities include copyright, patent, purchasing and other issues…..

MGE Raising Rates?


Madison Gas & Electric, which already charges us the highest rates in the state, is seeking another in their series of annual rate hikes, according to Marv Balousek.
This chart is generated by the Public Service Commission’s online rate comparison tool (December, 2003 data):


Name & ID Billing Charges Total Bill
Customer Energy PCAC FAC
3270
MADISON GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY
$6.80$55.38($0.59)$61.59
6260
WAUNAKEE WATER AND LIGHT COMMISSION
$6.50$34.62($0.78)$40.34
6630
WISCONSIN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY
$5.95$44.70$4.05$54.70
6680
WISCONSIN POWER AND LIGHT
$7.00$49.55$0.00$56.55
6690
WISCONSIN PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION
$6.75$46.75$0.00$53.50

MGE should not get a dime more, until they agree to clean up their lobbying act (MGE was implicated in the caucus investigations for, in one case, routing money through the Kansas Democratic Party…. Wispolitics has the complaint.) I would also like to understand why their rates are so high?

Paying to Keep Green Space

Peter Maller writes about P. Richard Schumann’s efforts to purchase farmer’s development rights while they continue farming:

Schumann is preparing an advisory referendum for the November ballot asking residents in the Town of Hartford if they are willing to pay higher property taxes to fund such purchases of development rights.
The goal is for the land to remain undeveloped.
“I think we have very strong support,” said Schumann, founder and president of the community’s newly organized Town Preservation Committee. “Keeping the style of life we have, preserving farmland and green space, is very near and dear to people’s hearts.”

Pamela Bone on Women’s Rights in South Asia

Pamela Bone writes:

Osama, the first film to come out of Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, is about a 12-year-old girl who must shave her head and dress like a boy so she can work to support her widowed mother and grandmother. It is not about Osama bin Laden; “Osama” is the boy’s name the girl adopts.
I am sent a newsletter from a women’s rights group in Pakistan, which lists items from Pakistani newspapers. The following is a recent selection (I checked the items on the newspapers’ websites):
Lahore: A girl, Kauser, 17, was strangled by her elder brother because she had married of her own will. She returned home and asked her family to forgive her but her brother strangled her with a piece of cloth. – The Daily Times.
Ghotki district: Two women were killed over Karo-Kari (honour killing). One Nihar Jatoi tied his wife to a bed and electrocuted her. One Bachal axed his wife Salma to death and fled. No arrests were reported. – The News.
Sargodha: A woman is in hospital after having both legs amputated because of severe injuries inflicted by her brother-in-law and mother-in-law, who clubbed her for her alleged illicit affairs. The woman, who was fighting for life, said the real reason was that her brother-in-law was trying to force her to arrange his marriage to her younger sister, but her sister had instead eloped with her paramour. – Dawn.
What chance of this woman becoming an international symbol, as has the boy who so tragically lost his arms during the invasion of Iraq?
Why is international public opinion not outraged at the treatment of women in Islamic fundamentalist societies? Why is it easier for millions of people around the world to see America as the great evil, rather than the countries in which governments ignore such horrific abuses of women?

via instapundit.