World Record for Hugs in an Hour?

Another thing to do at Rhythm & Booms, volunteers needed! This was unusual, so I thought I'd pass it along.

Help Us Set the World Record for the Number of Hugs Given in One Hour!!!

Volunteer Opportunity

Join us at Rhythm and Booms on Saturday, June 27th (rain date Sunday, June 28th) to help raise money for With Wings and a Halo-R.E.A.C.H. a Child. We are a nationwide nonprofit that supplies emergency providers with backpacks full of books to distribute to children in crisis. The Mascot and Celebrity Charity Hug is a way to raise funds for With Wings and a Halo-R.E.A.C.H. a Child and be part of the Guinness Book of World Records. The Mascot and Celebrity Charity Hug will set a new world record for the most hugs given simultaneously in one hour during the Rhythm and Booms event. When you are finished with your shift, feel free to stick around for free music and the fireworks at Rhythm and Booms.

Each volunteer will receive a t-shirt for the event and a chance to be part of setting the Guinness Record. Groups that participate in the event will also receive ten percent of the donations they collect before the event and on the day of the event.

Below is a list of the volunteers that we need.

Wrist Band Promoters/Donation Collectors (2 Shifts Available)

Shift #1 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Shift #2 5:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

· Walk through the crowds to promote the event.
· Accept donations for wrist bands and books.
· Work at stations as needed to accept donations and promote the event.

Shift #1 40 people**
Shift #2 40 people**

**All volunteers must be at least 14 years-old.

Counters

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

· Assigned to one mascot/celebrity.
· Tally the number of hugs for that one mascot/celebrity in an hour.

10 – 15 people**

Monitor Lines/Celebrity and Mascot Sign Holders

6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

· Assigned to one mascot/celebrity.
· Instruct people to form two lines as they gather for the mascot/celebrity.
· Hold the sign identifying that mascot/celebrity.

10-15 people**

There are two ways to volunteer:

1. Individuals--We are looking for individuals that would love to help out at our event. Please contact Julie Cruz at chefjulie@wislug.net or (608) 445-9903 with your name, email address and phone number as well as what volunteer position you are looking for (first and second choices).

2. Groups—We are also looking for groups to participate. If you have a group that is interested, please provide your name and contact information as well as the name of your group and number of people able to volunteer to Julie Cruz at chefjulie@wislug.net or (608) 445-9903

Read more!

Friday Round Up

Due to the short week, lots of topics left to cover, so little time, so here's a recap of some important, some snarky, items I haven't had time to get to.

TASERS
In the important category. Anyone surprised that minorities, especially blacks, get tasered twice as much as whites compared to their arrest? Anyone? This article makes me sick to my stomach. I'd say its "worthy of closer study"!

CLEAN ELECTIONS
Also important, there was a first of its kind public hearing on overhauling Supreme Court races and election disclosure laws. Here's an update from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

At a rare joint public hearing held by Senate and Assembly committees in Eau Claire and Madison, citizens and advocacy groups were given a chance to put in their two cents on the Impartial Justice bill overhauling state Supreme Court elections and the Electioneering Disclosure bill closing the "issue ad" loophole in state law. To read the Democracy Campaign's testimony, go here.

The hearing made history as it marked the first time a legislative public hearing was held simultaneously at the State Capitol and a satellite site via teleconferencing.

USELESS LOBBYING ORDINANCE
In response to my blog post about the non-public meeting held by Alder Schumacher, I got this list of questions among many:

I'd like to know too who hired Organizational Skills Associates, and how much that contract is worth. Was it large enough to trigger competitive bidding? If not, did anyone at least shop around? Who's even paying for the facilitator, and why was a facilitator needed, particularly if this was a meeting of a city committee which after all, does have a chair?

Sadly, those questions should be answered in lobbying reports if the facilitator was paid for by the lobbyists. But I think we sufficiently gutted our lobbyist law so that we will never know because they generally don't have to report on lobbying on a piece of legislation. And only having reports every six months makes the information so much less accessible in a timely manner.

"A BIT OF A DICK"
On the snarkier end of things, who's a bit of a dick? Last time I posted something unflattering (but true) about the dick in question, he posted this up at his house so that while sitting on my porch you can't help but see it - he happens to live kitty corner from me.


(Sorry, bad picture, but its a Maniaci sign that "the dick" made sure faced my house instead of the street during the election and reappeared in a more obvious taunt to me when he got mad at me, I think over something that I posted in my blog, but what exactly his anger towards me was about was unclear since I'm no longer his alder. He pretty much can't say anything civil to me.) I gotta say, I'm glad he didn't support me, I wouldn't want to win with supporters like that.

BUDGET GLOOM AND DOOM
I haven't forgotten or ignored the Mayor's latest budget gloom and doom reports over the past week or so, just haven't gotten to it yet. I'm a little reluctant to help spread "the fear" (best read while imagining a loud deep booming voice) without having more time to analyze what is being said and especially when we keep getting relatively good news.

WHO'S THE MEANY?
I had wondered why, for the first time in years, the forensics team didn't perform in front of the council. A blog reader explained:

At the CC meeting on Tuesday, I was sitting with the Memorial Forensics team and Mark Clear came over just before the start and told them there wouldn't be time to give a presentation since the meeting was going to be so long. You want to talk about disappointed and ticked off! They had two people scheduled to do a joint presentation which was supposed to be very good. Oh well.

Seriously? I wonder if this was his decision, or for whom (ok, I'm pretty sure I know) was he carrying water?

That's as much snark as I should probably share for a Friday . . .enjoy the weekend!!
Read more!

Gotta love Wisconsin Winters . . .

Last night I ran a few errands and picked up a few things, lightbulbs, garbage bags, diet coke etc. But the hardest decision was . . .

Gloves?


Or flipflops?

It almost seemed like some sort of cruel joke! Read more!

What's going on?

People keep asking me, why have you been quiet lately?

Ok - I don't think that I have. We just got done with budget - and you might have noticed I did a little work there (thanks to the Mayor complaining about it constantly). And I'll be speaking to essentially the only two items of interest at tonight's meeting (Housing Diversity Committee and end of year budget adjustments).

I'll admit, I'm very, very busy with other things. Work sucks up and extra 10 - 15 hours a week these days. And I'm buying a new house. Which means I was busy getting my old house ready to sell. And I'm getting ready for a campaign if I have one (Yes! I'm running!! I'm only moving a block away!! From 511 E Mifflin to 30 N Hancock - corner of Mifflin and Hancock.)

I think the real issue is . . . that I haven't blogged alot because, well, there isn't much going on - this is a quiet City Council. Ask yourself, who is working on anything these days? And, you haven't read much about me in the papers, because, well, the papers have cut back so much.

So, don't fear, December will be a slow month for blogging topics. The only City Council meeting this month is tonight and many committees cancel their meetings in December, so I'm taking advantage to move and collect my signatures for re-election and use the down time to get some personal things done. And I'll blog every day . . . but I might need some suggestions for topics . . . then, get ready for a new year!! And a new council. Read more!

Check it out before it melts!

If you get a chance to be in the area of the Yahara River on the Isthmus, check this out. Let's hear it for temporary art!



More Pictures

About the project and location.

Read more!

Family Humor

My mom voted for George Bush. (That's not the humor I was talking about, but I could see how many would find that humorous.) She's one of those independent voters and actually is all over the map, she has voted republican, democrat, green and who knows what else. I'm not sure what she was thinking when she voted for George Bush, except that she was concerned about the economy and thought she was doing well under his reign of terror. It's been great fun harassing her about her vote for the last few years, as she, of course, realizes what a mistake it has been.

Yesterday my sister, who is a CPA and kind of quiet about her politics, sent us this email which just made me laugh.

Oh George…at least he is finally doing some thing good…oh wait won’t this increase the deficit by billions. Idiot.

Sometime in June you should be getting a “rebate” check from the IRS of $600 per person. Check out CNN for the article. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/24/economic.stimulus/index.html

Poor Mom. I bet she won't tell us who she votes for next time!
Read more!

Mayor Bans Certain Phrases

This could be fun.

If you were Mayor, what phrases might you ban? In Russia, one mayor banned some phrases for City workers, saying he doesn't want any more excuses about why employees aren't customer friendly.

Admittedly, the person who sent this article to me is on the city-is-anti-business-and-we-need-better-services-for-businesses bandwagon, but it is an interesting concept. Since it's budget time, and we are essentially being blackmailed into approving a request for 30 new police officers and the Mayor has already agreed to it, I think one of the phrases to be banned is particularly interesting - "There's no money".

When one department has nearly 25% of the over $200 million budget, isn't required to make 3% cuts like other departments, is essentially off limits to questioning and tells us its none of our business how new officers are used, we have a problem. The council made a huge mistake last year when we gave in to the police department's temper tantrum and decided we didn't need to be part of the police staffing report process.

Now, we have no answers to our questions about how we use our police resources, an unprecedented request for new officers and no choice but to say "yes"? Or will the Council find its backbone and stand up and ask some serious questions about this plan? And if they do, will Chief Wray tell us to mind our own business again?

I guess that new plan for neighborhood policing didn't work out so well, eh? At least, the public didn't fall for it. And that plan to cut back on neighborhood officers? Now maybe some of those neighborhoods will get their neighborhood police officers back? Or are neighborhood police officers only for white middle class people? And what happened to promises made last year when we added 10 officers, did that end up being effective?

p.s. No, Mayor Dave isn't banning phases, the Mayor in Russia is. Read more!

Konkel Productivity: Back Up!

I re-learned a couple of valuable and obvious consumer lessons yesterday.

1. Know your rights.

2. Never accept the first answer you're given. If you don't get what you need, find another way to get what you need.

It seems, an appropriately placed call to the the City's Cable Coordinator was the key to getting my cable/internet fixed yesterday, instead of waiting until Tuesday.
Read more!

Konkel Productivity . . . D. O. W. N.

When they started construction in front of my house, I was prepared for many things, but not this. I was prepared to have no parking on my street. I was prepared to have noise every morning. I was prepared to wake up some morning and not have water. I was prepared to not be able to park in my driveway. I was prepared to have dust all over everything in my house. However, I was not prepared for this:

"This" is my cable/internet connection. At first I thought, no problem, I'm just going to sleep tonight anyways and they'll be out to fix it tomorrow, right? WRONG. Sure, they'll be out to fix it. Charter can be out . . . next Tuesday! That's 6 nights and 6 mornings, including a weekend, with no cable/internet access on my computer and no Tivo. This, I was not prepared for!

I wonder, what is the value of 6 days and 6 nights without an internet connection for a person like me? There's gotta be a work around! Read more!

Uh . . . Microsoft Sucks.

I don't know why my blog isn't showing up correctly on Internet Explorer . . . except that it is a Microsoft product. What can I say, try a different browser and I'll see if I can get it fixed. Firefox is working just fine! Read more!

Madison's Shit Spread Across the Internet!

At first, I thought this was a joke, but apparently, Alds. Cnare and Compton are making headlines for Madison. Check it out.

Associated Press
Chicago TV
Kentucky Paper
Blogs, blogs and more blogs (Compton, CA via Mobile, AL).
And of course, channel 27, covering all the best news.

This is on the agenda for tomorrow night along with several other items. I can't wait to have this discussion!
Read more!

When toy guns are outlawed, only churches . . .

This is just too weird not to share. From the East Side Police Newsletter:

CHURCH ORGANIZES WAR GAMES

On 6/17, an officer was on routine patrol, shortly after midnight, when she observed several juveniles in the back of a pick up truck in a church parking lot. Her attention was drawn to the boys because of the late hour and they appeared to be holding handguns and rifles. A nearby adult contacted the officer and explained that the boys had air soft guns. He stated that the church organizes this activity for the boys where half of them hide in the woods with their "guns" and the other half go and find them with their "guns". Some of the boys were dressed in black trench coats and gas masks. The air soft guns looked like AK47's, shot guns and handguns.

The officers attempted explain that juveniles carrying guns, dressed in dark clothing during the middle of the night may alarm anyone who sees them and might result in a tragedy if confronted by police who believe the guns to be real. A follow up contact was made with the pastor of the church. While he acknowledged our concerns, he did not commit to ending this practice.

So, is that what this is about? I guess the paintball guns weren't enough?

And I thought it was the lefties that were supposed to be the "nanny-staters"? This is going to be confusing to the AM talk radio listeners!

Read more!