Illy-T: Escape From Fitzwalkerstan

Ah, the emotional roller coaster which our lives in Fitzwalkerstan have become.

On Tuesday, my eyes welled up in tears of joy, gratitude and satisfaction as I learned that one million of my closest friends have stood up and shouted in one voice, "NO MORE!"

Just one day later, my eyes again well up, but the tears are now of sadness and loss.

One of my best friends and one of, if not the best, legal bloggers is about to make the great escape from Fitzwalkerstan.

Tom Foley, aka Illusory Tenant, or Illy-T to his friends, has come across one of those rare opportunities most people dream of, and is leaving our great state and his adopted home of many years for the arduous task of spending his days in the harsh clime of the Caribbean.  Quite a bit different than Canada, I'd imagine.

In his own terse but effective style, he has already said farewell.

I've known for weeks that Tom was leaving, but was able to successfully suppress that knowledge, and the sadness it brings, until I saw the finality in that one post.

It was only then that the full impact of his departure will have on my life.

Tom has been a wealth of information, especially when it came to matters of the law.  His wit and charm was ever present, as he would dissect, clarify and illustrate, with the casual flair of a true wordsmith, the issues that were happening in the legal aspect of our fight to win back our very rights.

I have leaned heavily on his knowledge, skill and artistry, whether he was jousting with the ineffective and hypocritical GOP activist named Esenberg, making light work of the squawking heads like Jessica McBride and Charlie Sykes, or taking on the boss anti-justice Michael Gableman.

This loss of the fountain of knowledge will greatly diminish the Cheddarsphere, without argument.

But it is also crushing on a personal level.

Tom has been more than a friend, but a brother to me.  He put up with my weeks of indecisiveness on what to call this blog when I decided it was time to go solo and even designed the header at the top of this page, again with the patience of a saint as I was overly demanding, wanting things just so.  I will miss the behind the scenes banter we had, the jokes and one liners we shared.

Most of all, in a debt I cannot ever repay, Tom was a stalwart supporter and stood by me and advised me as I was being assailed by Walker and his minions for daring to speak out against him.

In his final note, he thanks us "for all the cheese."

Indeed, it is all of us that owe him our thanks, and I owe him far more than that.

For another take from another one of Tom's close friends, and from who I hope becomes Tom's successor (but no replacement) as Royal Barrister, I would refer the gentle reader to Mike Plaisted's site.

And on a final note to Tom - once you get settled in, feel free to send me a line so that we can come an visit, especially in the winter.

Pewter Gryphon Receives Well-Earned Accolades

A quilt that honors all of
Diane's interests and
accomplishments.

Two weeks ago, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin put out a video celebrating the grassroots groundswell which has become the move to recall Scott Walker.  At the time of the showing, I noted that one of #wiunion's own heroes, Diane Echelberger, aka The Pewter Gryphon, had a cameo appearance in the video.  I went on to explain what a special woman Diane is and how she has given and continues to give Wisconsin her all.  Only thing is, I unintentionally gave her short shrift in exactly how amazing she is.

Graeme Zielinski, Communications Director for DPW, saw what I had written about Diane and felt that she deserved some sort of recognition.  Or as he later quoted to me:

"I'm a man of faith. And, with apologies to my non-religious friends, I believe that the Holy Spirit is alive among us. Clearly, she has been given breath by the Holy Spirit to do what she did over her remarkable life. This is a humble woman whose example we should exalt and which should humble those that exalt themselves."

And exalt her they did.

Steve and Ryan at DPW worked with Senator Jon Erpenbach and two of Diane's closest friends, Mariah Clark and Sarah Zepnick, in order to quickly arrange an opportunity to give Diane the credit she is due.

From left: Senator Jon Erpenbach, Sarah Zepnick,
Diane (Pewter Gryphon) and Mariah Clark.

On Thursday, Senator Erpenbach spent the better part of an hour with Diane, Mariah and Sarah.  During the visit, he presented her with a plaque of recognition from the Committee to Recall Scott Walker.  Even more impressive, at least to me, was an official Citation by the Senate* recognizing Diane for her "more than 30 years fighting for and upholding the values, interests and traditions of the State of Wisconsin and its residents."**

All of the people I've spoken with expressed how moved they were by the event and how wonderful Diane is.


I'll let Steve Potter tell you the story of how wonderful and truly remarkable Diane is.

I want to take this time to publicly thank Graeme, Steve, and Ryan for their hard work in organizing this so quickly and making it a beautiful event.

I also want to thank Mariah and Sarah for all the support and friendship they have given to Diane, as well as to me.

I also commend Senator Erpenbach for taking the time during the hectic holiday season to present this honor to Diane and doing it with such poise and dignity and compassion.

But most of all, I'd like to congratulate and thank Diane for all she has done for this state.  She truly is an inspiration for us all.

*Diane's Citation:
Diane's Citation

**It may be inappropriate, but I can't help but snicker at something that Mariah pointed out to me.  Diane's citation was signed by Republican Senator Mike Ellis, President of the Senate.  I wonder how Scott Walker feels about him endorsing a Citation honoring one of the most active volunteers in the recall efforts.

In Solidarity With My #wiunion* Brothers And Sisters.

Alternate title: "Just A Slob Like The Rest Of Us"

Yesterday, as advertised, I was part of a panel which discussed the role of social media in the Wisconsin protests, or as they are known by the Twitterati, #wiunion.

The forum was hosted by a group called New Organizing Institute. Apparently, in this case, the "new" is the same as when someone snarkly refers to the new math. It seemed that the entire forum was slapped together in haste and many issues were overlooked, such as simply archiving the video. Hopefully, I'm wrong, but I can't find it anywhere.

But despite the problems that we encountered, I believe we pulled it off with an amazing level of success.  Even with my hampering the whole affair. And true to nature, over the course of the last day, I have thought of dozens of things I wish I had said during the forum.

Tom Foley, aka Illusory Tenant, (@illusory_tenant for the Twitterati), proved to be the perfect moderator. His knowledge of the legal battles occurring in Madison and his dry wit helped keep things moving along apace and kept the audience more than entertained and interested. Note to Charlie Sykes: I know Tom personally and if you want lessons on how to moderate a panel the correct way, I'm sure some lessons could be arranged.

Click on photo to enlarge
From left to right: Melissa Ryan, Sen. Chris Larson,
Tom Foley, Emily Mills, myself, Maxwell John Love
Picture courtesy of @jjinsf

Melissa Ryan (@MelissaRyan) was also very entertaining and (rightfully) generous in her praise of the people of #wiunion.

Senator Chris Larson (@ChrisJLarson), as was predictable, was the rock star of the show and had people hanging on his every word. He made a good point, stating that no matter how useful social media is, it will never be a substitute for face to face contact and good old-fashioned "shoe leather politicking."

Emily Mills (@millbot), the Renaissance personified, is even more awesome and more fascinating in person than she is on teh Intertubes.  She also praised the people for their diligence and their tenacity in standing up for their rights and standing as one, without a leader per se, but just as a people.

Having been caught off guard when Tom introduced me and brought up my royal standing as King of the Hate Left, I then mumbled something about how I have been amazed by their strength and have come to use the people of Twitter and Facebook as my eyes and ears to supplant the corrupt and inept corporate media reporting that would allow people like Patrick McIlheran to use up ink or Charlie Sykes to pollute the airwaves.

Wish I had said it moment number one: I wish I had gone through the categorization of the mess Scott Walker had left us in Milwaukee County to contend with, including a failing transit system, hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs and maintenance to our parks and buildings, and an almost completely dysfunctional mental health system, to name but a few.

Finally, a young activist and college student at the University of Madison, Maxwell John Love (@MaxwellJohnLove) who is the ultimate geek. He had great insight in how Twitter helped the cause and his role in keeping it going.

After our spiels, there was a question/answer session and it was heartening to see so many people invested in the topic and asking rather intelligent and thoughtful questions.

Now, I will admit, I was as nervous as a person could be going into this thing. Public speaking has never been my strong suit. As I often joke, I have a face made for radio and a voice made for blogging.  To add to my stress, I got a late start and was often frustrated with the traffic due to all the construction between Milwaukee and Madison. Knowing that there would be scores of people in the room as well as people all around the nation watching the livestream broadcast of the panel only made me feel more on edge.

By the time I arrived at the place where the forum was being held, my hands were shaking like a leaf. I felt the panic rise as I tried to find my orientation and figure out where the room in which the forum was being held and where said room was in relation to my current position.

Finding that the room was on the third floor, I stepped off the elevator and the first thing I see was this beautiful woman who was my #wiunion adopted little sister, Sarah (@sjzep). It was our first real life meeting, and I found out that she was also the best damn hugger I've ever met.  We walked in the room together and as I found out where I was to sit, Sarah also found a seat.

The room started to quickly fill to the point of being standing room only.  As I nervously looked up and into the crowd, I noted many people from my Twitterati family, including Matt (@matt_t1), Carol (@bluecheddar1) (Carol is also a wonderful blogger in her own right), Anna (@annaironside), and one of my bestest friends, Heather. (@ari_WISCslob).  Later, I found out that there were others, but having not met them in real life, did not recognize them for who they were.

At first, I was surprised. This was quickly supplanted by a sense of control, when I realized that they had come to support me and my co-panelists.  I was still nervous for a while, but as things progressed, I relaxed more and more, emotionally leaning on my friends by concentrating on only their presence and taking strength from their quiet support.

After the session had ended, many people approached the table we were seated. I was again amazed as not everyone was on their way to see Senator Larson, as I would have suspected, but many came up to shake my hand and thank me for my work.  I felt a level of guilt, as it was these people that deserve my gratitude, all our gratitude, for being there day in and day out, being our eyes and our ears, and suffering the abuses of the corrupt government on a first hand basis. (For example, it's one thing to hear of the atrocities committed by Walker's police state inside the Capitol, but it's wholly another thing to personally experience, as I can attest to.)

We then adjourned downstairs to the bar on the first floor, where I had the pleasant surprise of seeing more friends who were unable to make it to the panel.  These included Jenni (@legaleagle) who is a rock star in her own right, the famous tweeter @edcetera aka @superbranch among several other handles, my dear friend Maverick (@marivic), and @theandingo. I also met some new friends, including Matt (@mwisniewski) and the beautiful Maria (@SeleneMSC).

I came home in the wee hours of the morning feeling exhausted and exhilarated.  I also felt humbled and honored by, and in awe of, all these wonderful people.

On the next day, as I reflected on the evening before, I had a small epiphany of sorts.

In the regular unions, members often address each other as Brother and Sister.  When signing a letter, or when parting ways, it is not uncommon to say "In Solidarity."  I thought I understood the bonding message behind these acts, but it was not until Thursday night that I truly appreciated its meaning.

These were my brothers and sisters of #wiunion.  Most of them did not know me in real life. The few that did, I only met once or twice.  Yet they took time out of their lives to support me, to stand by me in solidarity, to lend me their strength, and just to meet me.  Even now, just reflecting on it, I feel overwhelmed by a sea of emotions.

I've always had my other two families, the labor unions and the Bloggerati, both of whom I cherish. The best part is that #wiunion encompasses them both. It's like my family has grown exponentially. I am truly a lucky man.

State Senator Glen Grothmann once called the people of #wiunion slobs. Like true Wisconsinites, instead of being insulted, #wiunion embraced it, like we did when people thought calling us cheeseheads was an insult.

And I'm damned proud to say that I'm just another slob, like the rest of my #wiunion family.

*For those not familiar with Twitter, a hash tag as used in the title is a way of identifying and categorizing a tweet.

Serb Hall - Reborn

Two years ago, I wrote about Serb Hall's famous fish fry and how it went from one of the best in the entire state to one of the worst. There had been a recent change of management as the old manager had took a well-earned retirement. The new manager immediately set about putting his mark on the place by making some drastic and drastically unpopular changes to the way business was done:

We ordered the pollack. While we were waiting, we overheard a table with two couples telling one of the hosts that the food was terrible, the portions small, and that they weren't going to come back,. Already feeling perturbed, and knowing I wanted to write this, I went to talk to these people. They repeated their complaints. "The food wasn't warm." "The portions were much smaller." "The vegetables were terrible. And who serves vegetables with a fish fry, anyway?" They also repeated that they had been regular customers, but that they weren't coming back.

Then our food came. It was served with a cover that had an eerie, and rather nauseating yellow-colored lid, much akin to the kind they use in hospitals to keep the food warm while it comes up from the basement. We had to send the poor waitress back for more lemon wedges and more tartar sauce. Half the plate was taken up by mixed vegetables. The rest of the plate was taken up by a small pile of fries, five small pieces of fish, one tartar bucket, and a lemon end that was wrapped up like a wedding favor.

The other two couples had been correct. There was not enough fish or fries. In a feat of exceptional culinary ineptitude, they had managed to take what was obviously frozen vegetables, and overcook the green beans until they were soft and soggy, but undercook the carrot coins so that they were still hard and one was ice cold. They apparently never heard the phrase: Stir occasionally while cooking.

Needless to say, these changes did drive business away and things became very slow. So slow that they had to lay off a lot of staff people because there just weren't enough customers. One of the victims of these lay offs was our family friend. With the poor food and without our friend there, we saw no reason to go back. After a number of failed attempts, we found a suitable substitute at The Venice Club in Brookfield.

The fish fry there was pretty good, with the added bonus of potato pancakes. We also developed a rapport with one of the waitresses there. The rapport was so good that it got to the point where she would just start preparing our orders when she saw us enter the restaurant.

Life was good again.

During the Lenten season, our friend that had worked at Serb Hall said that they had called her back to work. We said we'd be there and we were. We were also pleased to see that the quality of the food and the service were coming back to snuff, but were concerned about the low number of diners that were there.

Word apparently has gotten out that Serb Hall is finding themselves again. The week before Good Friday, we went back again. The parking lot was jammed. I dropped my wife and my father off at the door and went to hunt for a parking spot. For the first time in two years, I actually had to park in the overflow lot, but I wasn't complaining.

I walked in and saw the hallway filled with people waiting to be called as a table opened. My family had already gotten a table and Tim, the Maitre d', told me to go right on in. I walked through the doorway and into the main dining hall and was stunned. There were about a dozen people standing in line waiting for the hostess to take them to their tables, but there were hardly any that were free. The place was abuzz with people talking and eating. It was like it had been before.

I found my wife and father and sat down. While they still use those plastic hospital plate covers to cover the plates, it is only to keep the food warm while it is being carried and not placed in front of you to help squelch your appetite before you even eat. The fish came family style again, instead of a few measly pieces on the plate. Same for the fries. The old style of cole slaw was back as well as the bread tray, but with the addition of a white Italian-style bread to go along with the traditional rye.

The goof that had driven the old business into the ground was involuntarily separated from his employment at Serb Hall and they brought in another new manager, George (?) Sweet. Mr. Sweet knew what he was doing by having the staff do what they did best. As the old adage goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The condiments were not being served stingily anymore. The waitstaff were literally running to keep up with things, but they also seemed happy to be back doing what they do best, being part of one of the best fish fries around.

For those that need more than a traditional fish fry, Serb still offers their buffet:


From what I could tell, the number seemed to be fairly evenly split between the fish fry purists such as ourselves and those that prefer the buffet option, which I would take as a sign that both are equally good.

As we were leaving, I stopped by the podium where Tim was, looked around, turned to Tim and said, "Welcome back." Tim smiled and said, "Yeah, it's good to be busy again. Now go write it on your blog."

So here it is. We've been back a couple of times since then, and while there has been a drop off in numbers, which is normal considering the nice weather and the increase in things to do like Brewers and Bucks games, it is not too surprising.

But I would suggest that you consider adding Serb Hall's fish fries back on your list of things to do on a Friday evening. And tell Tim that Cog Dis sent you.

Waupaca County Sends Their Respects to Scott Walker

I was at the northern castle last weekend and had to catch up with an old friend, Don Schmidt.

He asked me to forward his respects to Scott Walker, so I shall let Don do it himself:



OK, maybe respect wasn't the right word...

So, Who Are His Friends?

Team Walker takes advantage of another person's personal shortcomings to try to make political hay. But we should expect that from them since we already knew they had no class to begin with.

But TW did say that one is also defined by his friends, so let's look at who his friends are.

• Newt Gingrich - Hypocritical philanderer
• Charlie Sykes - Hypocritical philanderer
• State Senator Dan Kapanke - Violator of campaign rules and of open record request laws, stuck tax payers with his legal bills.
• Mark Belling - Misogynist and racist
• Jeb Bush - Drove Florida's deficit through the roof and friend of Cuban terrorists
• George Bush - Do I really need to go into details besides Worst. President. Ever.?

And that's just a few. No wonder why TW is so snarky. They have nothing positive to work with.

Team Walker: Milwaukee County's Problems Are Barrett's Fault

A friend of mine, whose husband also happens to be a county employee, sent me an email the other day telling of a email she received from Tonette Walker, Scott Walker's wife. The mailer was the usual "Scott so wonderful, please give money" type of dreck you would expect from a politician's campaign. It was only interesting because it was almost verbatim to a mailer my wife received a few months ago.

My friend sent me another email tonight that was hilarious and still has me chuckling.

My friend wrote that she received a phone call from Team Walker today looking for her husband. The conversation, according to my friend, went something like this (the names have been redacted to protect the innocent):

Team Walker: Hi, may I speak to Mr. County Worker.

Mrs. County Worker: He's not here right now, he is at work. For Milwaukee County.

TW: Oh, well then, may I speak with Mrs. County Worker?

Mrs. CW: This is she.

TW then went through his spiel for a while before she stopped him and reminded him again that her husband works for the county. He responded by asking her for a $75 donation to Walker's campaign.

Mrs. CW reminded TW for a third time that her husband was a county worker, and that he was working today, and that they did not have the $75 because they were trying to deal with the 12 days of furlough that all county employees had to contend with. She then reminded TW that the furloughs was Walker's idea, not theirs.

Mrs. CW also added that she had to take a pay cut at her job as well.

TW came back with the "compassionate" response of lowering his request to $50, " because it would help us to 'get jobs' if we can get Walker in as governor."

My friend went on to write (emphasis mine):

After that, he went on to blame the problems of Milwaukee County on Barrett's spending, which quite frankly whether I happen to agree with Barrett or not, the money problems of the county have NOTHING to do with Barrett, do they really think people are that stupid?!?!?!?!

My friend said that TW kept at it by dropping the request to $35, stating that the race was "just TOO close to call, blah, blah, blah, blah."

My friend ended her missive with this insightful thought:

You know, around Christmastime, when I would get charities call and ask for money, all I had to do was say that I had taken a pay cut, and all of them politely would say, "we understand" and that would be it. This was unnerving, and in fact, downright rude considering I told the guy my husband worked for the county... thanks for letting me vent! If you haven't already guessed, I've traditionally leaned to the right (though not always) as I do take careful consideration in looking at the individual, and I can tell you, this guy is NOT the right choice for WI, I don't care what party he is.

I, of course, asked her permission to share her story with you, Gentle Reader. She not only readily agreed, stating that she thought the story needed to be put out there, but added:

Sure, you can use it. I wish I would have tape-recorded it. The guy also told me he had been laid off and without a job for six months now. How can a guy who's been laid off (and seemingly knows how it feels) ask another person for money?!?!? If I were that guy, I don't know how I could sleep at night. Unbelievable. I wish I would have asked him if he was getting paid to do this.

She added that it was her intuition (which she claims is never wrong) that things aren't going as well for Team Walker as they would have the public believe.

While I agree with her, I also know that things are going to get much, much worse for Walker as the year progresses. Especially if this is the kind of treatment his campaign gives people.

Congratulations, Kids

My dear friends, Jason Haas and Stacie Rosenzweig, have tied the knot today.

It is my understanding that they were inspired by the video that was the rage a few months ago, in which the bridal party danced their way down the aisle. So much so, that they did something similar, with their own little twist to it (heavily influenced by Jason). I did manage to get some video of it for your pleasure:



Again, congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Rosenzweig

Please Support Your Local Blogger/Author

Seeing as I am now too a published author, of sorts, I just wanted to take a moment for a shameless plug for a friend and fellow blogger, Elliot Stearns of From Where I Sit.

Stearns had his friend (actually alter ego, Michael Caughill) right a book about Stearns and a case he was struggling to solve.

Caughill name the book "The Abortionist," whereas I would have called it something like "Heck on Wheels." Stearns/Caughill and whoever else is in that creative head of his also has a little clip to promote the book:



I cannot say that I have read the book. Yet. But even though I am not a big fan of this type of novel, I think that this novel would be novel enough to entertain royalty such as myself.

I am just holding out for a signed copy and some free time.

Because Our Health Care Is So Good

As I told you earlier this month, I am headed off to yon northern castle for the weekend.

We don't have to go, per se, but then again we do:

The weekend after next, my wife and I will be going up north. However, it won't be to relax, do yard work, or anything else. We are going for the sole purpose of attending a fund raiser for a friend of ours, (a different) Sharon.

Sharon and her husband, Pete, own a small diner in Rosholt. They also have a contract with Portage County to provide the meals for their meals on wheels program. Pete is covered by the VA for his health care needs. However, they could not afford decent insurance for her. Earlier this year, Sharon was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer.

She has undergone severe and multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation simultaneously, leaving her in a terribly weakened state and unable to work.

If Sharon could have had affordable health care to her, she would not have to rely on the kindness of her friends and family to spare what they can to help alleviate her costs.

You see, we're just not the type of folks that will turn our backs on our family, friends and neighbors, just because it might mean we have a couple less dollars for ourselves. Actually, we will be paying more to help this one person, than if the system was reformed and we were helping all the people at once. Think about that for a while.

Why I Support Health Care Reform

There has been a lot of noise flying around the Great Cheeseball regarding health care reform. This has spilled over into organized demonstrations by the sheep following Big Insurance and Big Pharma into thinking equal coverage for everyone at a lower price is a bad thing.

The right wingers have themselves whipped up into the largest case of mass hysteria, the likes of which have never been seen before. Some of the idiotic talking points they keep trying to make include "Do you want a bureaucrat rationing your health care?" and "They will make all the old people commit suicide" and other such drivel that a normally rational person would not even think about twice.

Jay Bullock has done a laudable job of highlighting the flat out lies that the right would have us believe. But it was this specific time of the year, and a post by Michael Mathias, pointing out that the family of a little boy severely burned in an accident had to hold a fund raiser to pay for the medical bills, that triggered me to write about this issue in more depth.

Later this month my family and I will be marking the tenth anniversary of my mother's passing.
She was diagnosed a few years earlier with breast cancer and uterine cancer. She underwent two major surgeries, a radical mastectomy and a hysterectomy, in short order. The oncologist then wanted to follow a standard procedure of chemotherapy and radiation for her chest, followed by another round of chemo and radiation for her abdomen. Due to the strong dosage of medicine, it was standard practice to do a bone marrow draw from the patient, freeze the sample, and then re-inject it after the treatment regimen was done to help speed the recovery and healing process.

This treatment was delayed by more than six months as she fought the insurance company to authorize the bone marrow transplant. Even though the procedure was recognized as the common course of treatment, and had been done for many years with great success, the insurance company called the procedure "experimental" and would not cover it. They only changed their mind when my father's employer advised us to contact the state ombudsman.

By the time that they finally authorized the procedure, she was very sick again, and the treatment didn't work as well as it should have. She had two episodes of recurrence of the cancer before she succumbed to it. I still remember holding her as she cried in frustration every time the insurance company gave her a run around and denied the claim.

I believe that if my mother was allowed health care coverage that did not put profit before people, and did not balk at an established treatment procedure, she might have lived.

*******************************************************

When my mom died, I was "adopted" by her two best friends, Valerie and Sharon. A couple of years before my mom died, Sharon suffered from a brain aneurysm. Fortunately, the city paramedics got to her in time and she suffered no lingering effects from it. However, her insurance decided that they could not cover her anymore and dropped her from her husband's policy, which he got through his job.

They went to find new coverage, but either the insurance companies rejected her due to a "pre-existing condition" or they would want to charge as high as $1,500 per month for her coverage. She eventually qualified for Badger Care and started receiving medical attention again. But by the time she did get coverage, it was too late. She was immediately diagnosed with cancer that was already mastestizing and she died about a year later.

As with my mother, if Sharon had coverage where profit did not proceed people, she could have had affordable health insurance, and her cancer might have been discovered earlier, giving her a better chance at survival.

***************************************************

The weekend after next, my wife and I will be going up north. However, it won't be to relax, do yard work, or anything else. We are going for the sole purpose of attending a fund raiser for a friend of ours, (a different) Sharon.

Sharon and her husband, Pete, own a small diner in Rosholt. They also have a contract with Portage County to provide the meals for their meals on wheels program. Pete is covered by the VA for his health care needs. However, they could not afford decent insurance for her. Earlier this year, Sharon was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer.

She has undergone severe and multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation simultaneously, leaving her in a terribly weakened state and unable to work.

If Sharon could have had affordable health care to her, she would not have to rely on the kindness of her friends and family to spare what they can to help alleviate her costs.

***********************************************

I realize that these are anecdotal examples, and could be met by some horror story from another type of system, but I have buried loved ones due to the crappy health care insurance system we have now. But these are just three examples from my personal life, and I could give you another half a dozen without thinking too hard about it. I do not consider myself to be particularly unfortunate, so I would find it easy to believe that most people could share similar stories.

The issue isn't the doctors or the hospitals or the clinics, per se. It is about people being greedy and putting their own profits before the greater good. But it is the people that profit so largely from people's illnesses that are funding the groups like the misnamed Americans for Prosperity, who are organizing these so-called rallies, trying to prevent true reform from happening. The exude their misinformation and outright lies in a fear and smear campaign that would make Karl Rove proud, and those that are so willing to distrust anything that has to do with a Democrat, a liberal, or a black President, are more than willing to glom onto these falsehoods in order to preserve their own skewed sense of reality.

I don't think that anyone would argue that the United States has some of the best doctors, hospitals and technology in the entire world. But what good does all that quality equipment, facilities and personnel do for someone that cannot afford to access it?

Let My Pupae Go!

Over the weekend, I told you about the beautiful gift that the Ladies of the Monarchs had given me. Overnight, Friday night, the first Monarch butterfly had emerged and left us. (I later found out that the first one was female.)

Last night, the second pupae started to get ready to emerge. I stayed up too late in hopes of seeing it emerge. I finally gave up and went to bed, resigned to missing. Much to our surprise, the butterfly was still encased in his chrysalis this morning. Like a nervous father-to-be, I kept pacing around waiting for it to happen. Then it started to get later in the morning and I had to get ready to go to work.



I kept checking in on the pupae, but when I was in the other room, it popped out. I came back and found it hanging from the branch, the moisture practically visible on its wings. Knowing better, I did not touch it, as not to harm the fragile wings of the butterfly, but just watched it with a silly grin on my face.

I only had a few more minutes before I had to leave, so I transported the port and the newly emerged butterfly outside where it could sun itself and where it could be free to fly when it was ready.

I went back in and finished throwing my lunch together and, on a spur, grabbed the camera on my way out. Unfortunately, the little guy (it was a male) was rather camera shy and did not want to cooperate with my efforts to take its picture. This was the only one where it wasn't facing me, with wings closed, making it almost invisible.


Now, my wife and I are going through empty nest syndrome. We never realized how excited we were to see this small miracle of nature until it was gone.


She now wants me to go back to the Ladies of the Butterflies to see if they would allow us this boon again. I'm just happy to share in it this little bit.

My Friends, The Pupae Of Milwaukee County

My friends, the Friends of the Monarch Trail, asked me to stop by because they had a gift for me. I was finally able to get over there for a few minutes yesterday.

Those dear Ladies of the Monarchs were kind enough to give me what they call a "pupa port." This generosity was truly a gift fit for a king.

What a pupa port is is a basket with a decorative (and most twisting) stick. On said stick were two pupae, or chrysalises. When I received my gift, both pupae were the same light green color. I was told that I could tell when one was about to emerge, the chrysalis would turn a dark color.

By the time I got home from dinner and errands last night, around 9 pm, one had already become noticeably darker:


To give you and idea of how tiny these pupae are, that is my thumb next to them (and no, I do not have a monstrously large thumb):

By about 11 pm, the chrysalis was starting to become transparent. You can see the wings of the future Monarch starting to show through.



Even though I tried to stay up, I couldn't any more and went to bed about 2:30 this morning. Before retiring to my bed, I placed the basket in an old popcorn tin and laid a swatch of light muslin over the top, just in case.

This morning, my wife woke me up at 7 am, and told me to check on the pupae. I gently lifted the muslin and found the Monarch hanging from it. I gently lowered the cloth again and carried the whole thing outside.

Once outside, I again lifted the cloth off the can and let the butterfly climb on my hand. When my wife acted as its roost, I grabbed our camera and got this shot:


We left it outside so that it could sun itself and take off when it was ready. I will admit that I kept a protective eye on my new ward. A little after nine this morning, the butterfly starting to stir more than it had before, slowly batting its wings and waving it antennae. I grabbed the camera, but before I could even turn it on, the little guy (or gal) took off and flew to the east.

Now, one of our "children" has left us forever. And the other pupa seems to be getting a little darker...

They never told me I was going to have to deal with empty nest syndrome.

For more information on the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly, please click here.

Friends Are Back

A couple of weeks ago, I was chose to take down the "Friends of the Realm" widget, due to a conflict between its updated programming and Internet Explorer.

I am hoping by now the fix is in place and I have added the feature back. If you use IE and are having problems downloading the site again, please let me know.

Thank you for your understanding.

For A Friend

Here you go, Mad Anthony:




(yeah, it's an inside joke)

Serb Hall Revisited

Back in its day, Serb Hall was one of, if not the, best fish fry place in Milwaukee. The fish was tender and tasty, the fries crisp and warm. The service staff was always friendly and efficient. The place just hummed along like a high performance machine, and everyone was happy.

Then new management came in and nearly destroyed their business with some really bad decisions. The customers were displeased and started to take their business elsewhere. In that post from last June, Dad29 recommended The Venice Club, which we found to our liking and have returned their numerous times.

Meanwhile, Serb Hall continued to suffer. I would drive by their parking lot on a Friday and would see only 20 or 30 cars where there used to be hundreds, with even more driving around looking for a parking spot. A friend of the family who works at Serb Hall as a waitress would tell us that she would only have three or four tables to wait on for an entire shift.

She even had to take a few months off during the winter because business was so slow, she couldn't afford to hire a babysitter.

Our friend called us last week, sounding very excited. She urged us to come back and give the fish fry another chance. She thought we would be very happy with what we found.

My wife and I were originally planning on going up north tonight, but changed our minds at the last minute due to my working late, the inclement weather that they had last night and this morning up there, and the fact that I was plainly too tired to drive that far and be safe on the road.

To make up for it, I suggested we go to Serb Hall tonight. We hadn't seen our friend since Christmas and missed her a lot. My wife eagerly jumped at the chance. I warned her that we didn't know what to expect, with the changes and with it being the first Friday of Lent.

Now, for those unfamiliar with Serb Hall, it is a large building with two good sized banquet halls, a roomy bar area, and of all things, a bowling alley. There is a small parking lot on the west side of the building and a larger one on the south side. Most people try to park in the smaller one, as that the two main entrances are on the west side of the building.

When we arrived, we were surprised to see that the parking lot was pretty full. They also had a long line of cars waiting to go through the drive through. We were lucky enough to find a spot in the small lot rather quickly. We entered through the northern doors.

Upon entering, the first thing we saw was the new manager, John S. Cwiklik, Ph.D., the guy who screwed everything up in the first place. We developed a deep sense of foreboding. But we went forward without trepidation, and told him that we were there for the fish fry. He pointed down the hall, which we saw was divided by some velvet ropes. The left side was for the a la cart menu, which included the all you can eat fish fry. The right side was for the buffet.

You could quickly see that this was Cwiklik's first Lenten season running a fish fry in Milwaukee, and was not ready for the crowd. The hall was packed with people waiting to be seated. To make matters worse, people that came in through the southern doors didn't know of Cwiklik's plan and just started to mingle in the lines. Added to this was two large groups of people that spent too much time in the bar area on an empty stomach. It was very chaotic in that little section of the hallway, to say the least.

Fortunately, the usual maitre d', Tim, was heading things up from there and was able to quickly restore order and get people seated in a more timely manner. Because we had asked to be seated at one of our friend's tables, which were all full at the moment, we had to wait for a little longer than we might have otherwise, but we knew it would be worth it.

They eventually ended up setting up a special table for us in the bar area, which was out of her serving area, but she readily agreed to take on that added responsibility when she realized it was for us.

She quickly brought us our bread, coleslaw and a pitcher of soda. The pitcher was the first surprise, since they had stopped doing that when they had stopped the all you can eat. The bread was also improved. It had two slices of dark rye, two slices of Itatlian bread, and a roll of light rye. This is opposed to the previous bread baskets which were all just slices of light rye.

The next new thing we noticed was that instead of the waitress bringing out the order, a young man would carry it out to the table. Then the waitress would serve it. We didn't have to experience this personally, since we are VIPs, at least to our friend, who brought out the food to us personally.

But while we were waiting for her to get our food, I had an opportunity to look around a bit, and saw this young man do his job, in a fashion of speaking. The young fellow was dressed in a manner that reminded me of a butcher, or some other worker at a slaughterhouse, which was a definite detriment to the ambiance. To make things worse, he would come out with this large tray of food, but not know what table he was supposed to take it to. It would end up in a comical farce of him going from waiter to waitress to see if this was the order from one of their tables. When they finally found the right table, the order seemed to be incorrect more often than not, thereby forcing the waitstaff to go to the kitchen anyway to get the right order. While it was amusing to watch, I would have been annoyed to have to go through that extended waiting period.

The other thing I noticed was that there were several vacant tables that were not being bussed. In fact, they were never bussed for the entire time we were there, which was approximately 90 minutes. (We had after dinner coffees and got a chance to chat with our friend briefly since the restaurant was slowing down with the later hour.)

Anywho, when our friend brought our food, I noticed that it still came with those sickly covers that still remind me of the food that one is served while convalescing in a hospital. However, I cannot describe my delighted surprise when she placed the covered dishes int he center of the table, taking the covers off and revealing a large bowl of fish and another bowl of fries. I swear that I almost teared up when she told us the family style dinners were back! (I could almost see my grandpa smiling down from heaven, seeing that at least this was coming back to normalcy. If you wonder what I mean, refer back to this post again.)

The fish fry was back to normal, tender and tasty. The fries were again crisp and warm, and not too salty. The downside for me was a very minor one. The lemons still came in the half a lemon instead of wedges, which I find easier to use, and less likely to overuse.

Our friend warned us that they also changed the tartar sauce. My wife liked it. Even though I don't care for tartar sauce, and am in no way an aficionado of the stuff, I thought I would try some, just for you, gentle reader. Like I said, I am no aficionado, but to me, it tasted like pure mayonnaise with chopped pickles mixed in. I found it to almost completely obliterate the taste of the fish. But like I said, my wife liked it, and she is a more discriminating eater than I am.

When I went to pay the bill, I saw what was the likely cause for the back up in the hallway, and the delays in seating. Previously, the buffet line was set up against one of the walls. To increase efficiency, they had now pulled the buffet tables away from the wall so that people could access both sides. Unfortunately, the pulled the buffet tables so far out that they were now in the middle of the dining area, in such a way that it was fairly obvious that even though people could get through the buffet faster, they would be stuck trying to navigate between the other diners hitting the buffet and the tables.

The bill for two all you can eat fish fries and a pitcher of soda came to be just over $25 dollars.

Overall, we found that the dining experience was much improved and worthy of more visits. It is still not as good as it used to be, back in the day, but the improvements have gone a long, long way towards getting there. Management now has to figure out a better way of controlling the flow of traffic, both for people waiting to get seated and for the people already seated and partaking of the buffet.

My recommendation would be for Mr. Cwiklik to stay in office and do balance sheets or something else, just as long as he is out of the way, and let the pros that have been doing this for years do their jobs they way they know they should be done.

And bring back the lemon wedges.

The Circle Gets Smaller

As my usual readers know, I love my northern castle. It gives me and my wife to renew ourselves and our relationship with each other. We are more relaxed. We are able to talk in a way that we don't often get, what with the usual grind of the work-a-day world. It is good for my soul. Usually.

Sometimes, life has a way of intruding, even up there.

Three years ago tomorrow, on December 6th, or next door neighbors, Richard and Geraldine, were involved in a head on collision. Geri died instantly. Richard hung on for seven weeks before succumbing to his injuries.

I took their deaths pretty hard. Not only did they take care of Grandpa when he lived up there, but they helped us out. A lot. Richard was a regular Bob Vila and any project that he turned his hand to would come out as good as any professional could have done.

But what hurt most was that they were our friends. Whenever we were up there, we would usually spend our evenings together, playing table games or just visiting. We became so close that my wife and I would semi-jokingly refer to them as Mom and Pops. We didn't know how much our friendship meant to them until after they had passed. His brothers and sisters told us with pride of our nicknames for them, and how glad that they were that we took over the land from Grandpa.

Well, after they died, there was a long probate battle, and when the dust, and the case, settled, the land went to Richard's brother, Dave. Dave was more than a bit reserved at first. I don't know if it was just in his nature, or part of his long history with the military, or something else. But, as most people do, he eventually warmed up to us, and while not as close as it was with Richard, we developed a friendly relationship. He was kind enough to let me store some of our bigger stuff in his garage, when ours collapsed.

But this friendship was destined to become even more short lived. David died on Tuesday after a short battle with cancer. Given the proximity of dates, it made both losses all the greater.

And to make matters worse, Dave and Richard's sister, Diane, and her husband, have decided that they are going to stay in Appleton permanently.

My wife and I are going up there this evening. The weather forecast calls for snow and bitter cold. I have a feeling that the cold will be sticking around for a while, in more ways than one.

Good bye, David. Say "Hi" to Richard and Geri for us, would you?

Shopping Madness, Indeed And In Deed

As I said this morning, I had to work today. In truth, I didn't have to. I could've taken off, but I chose to go in so that someone else could have the day off.

I chose to go to work because, well, besides having a boatload of work to do, I didn't feel like wasting a day off. I refuse to go to the stores on Black Friday, and for good reason. It brings out the basest nature of people.

This year, unfortunately, was no exception.

We have seen a report of an argument in southern California that led to two morons pulling out guns and shooting each other to death. At a toy store, none the less.

And in New York, we have the story of thousands of people so anxious to get whatever doodads they had on sale at Wally World that they broke down the door and stampeded into the store. In the resulting melee, one man was trampled to death and a woman who was eight months pregnant was injured to the point of losing her baby.

There is also this video showing a brawl at a Wally World over a some video games. I don't know which disturbs me most: The melee over an overpriced toy or the idiot taking the video and laughing about it.

And it's not only the shoppers or the store employees, but other people, who are just trying to go about with their lives, like my friend Billiam states in his strongly worded (read: adult language) on how his morning went while making deliveries to a store. (Here's a hint: It wasn't a happy one.)

The question Billiam and others like him and me are asking is: What the f**k is going on here? Many blame it on people being selfish, the me generation on steroids, if you will. They would get partial credit for that answer. The same holds true that would put it on mere materialism.

I believe that we are seeing the results of a combination of factors. Selfishness and materialism are parts of the entire problem.

I think the greater problem is that people have lost touch with themselves. All too often, people don't want to take a good look at themselves, because that might be too uncomfortable or even painful to them. It is even more uncomfortable to either accept the parts that they don't like, but have no control over, or to try to consciously try to change what they can.

But even if they actively avoid taking a hard, honest look at themselves, their subconscious is still aware of it. An example: The alcoholic that is in full denial of his disease, still knows, deep down, that is life is out of control. But instead of admitting he has a problem, and seeking help for it, tries to drown it out with more alcohol and/or anger. Thus the cycle continues.

The same is true for most of us.

To make matters worse, is that if we can't be honest and open with ourselves, we cannot do it with other people. You may love someone, be it a spouse, a child, a parent, a sibling, a friend, or anyone else, but if you don't accept yourself, you won't believe that they will accept you either.

To cover up that fear and that anxiety, we seek out materialistic things to make us feel better and/or more attractive. We go after the status symbol crap. The big screen TVs, where people think bigger is better. The new sports car. The furs. Jewelry. We also think that if we give these things to other people, they will like us better. That is, unfortunately, usually true, because they are going through the same denial of feelings that we are.

This has snowballed to the point that crap like we saw today happens with way too much frequency. There is no object, no matter how big, how fancy or how expensive, that is worth anyone's life.

What people seem to have forgotten is that it is the little things, that usually cost nothing or next to nothing, that mean the most.

Last winter, I had my first meeting with another blogger, Billiam. Bill gave me the best Christmas present I could have asked for: his friendship. For this I am ever humble and grateful.

Owen Robinson and I don't see eye to eye on almost everything. Yet, Owen has given me advice and helped me out throughout my entire blogging career. Even though I still think his politics is completely wrong, I still know Owen to be a good man. But his help, meant more to me than anything he could've bought for me, even if he was inclined to.

Jay Bullock gave me the opportunity, the guidance and the reassurance to get me into this whole crazy business of blogging. This required a risk on his part (not knowing what a complete goof I can be) and a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of patience. How do I repay this? I can't, except to say that I am damn proud to call him a friend.

There are many others: Tim Rock, James Widgerson, Dad29, commenter Dan, Gretchen Schuldt, Dan Cody, Illy-T, the Mathiases, the list goes on and on. They might not always agree with me, but they have all treated me with enough courtesy for me to be grateful. I would rather have their friendship (or the blogging equivalence anyway) than any materialistic gift.

And of course, the greatest gift I ever got, the one that makes the brightest diamond seem like a river pebble, that makes the biggest flat screen TV look like a poster board, that makes the fanciest car seem like a rusty roller skate, is the love I get from my wife every day.

I guess what I'm trying to say in my long, overly verbose, meandering way is that people need to realize the greatest thing they could give to another person is their time, their friendship, and good memories. Those are the things that should matter. And until we remember this, I am afraid that the idiocy that we saw today, will only continue.