Public Enemies

After months of anticipation, the new Johnny Depp Film, "Public Enemies" will be opening in theaters across the country. Much of the movie was filmed in Wisconsin, and every single person got to be a part of the productions. That's because the movie studio spent a measly $5 million dollars in Wisconsin during production, but received $4.6 million from Wisconsin tax payers in the form of tax credits.



I was hoping to see the movie in the theater this summer, but that might be difficult with an infant at home. I guess I'll just have to wait to rent it on DVD so I can see my tax dollars at work.

Republicans and Iran

I just read another column by a conservative condemning Obama for not adamantly supporting the protesters in Iran. I've now come to the conclusion that conservatives advocating U.S. involvement in Iran are either monumentally stupid or want this revolution for liberty and reform to fail.

I'm certain that Amadinejad is praying to allah that he can spin this revolution as the evil American empire trying to overthrow his just and pious Islamic Democracy. The last thing Obama needs to do is give him that opportunity.

Sometimes doing the right thing is doing nothing at all.

GM Bankruptcy

I was excited to learn that this cartoons was posted on CBC's website. You can see it here at http://www.cbc.ca/photogallery/diversions/2285/0/

Windpower vs. Coal

There is a growing group of people who are opposed to wind power in Wisconsin. They often live near the wind turbines and complain that the wind turbines cause all sorts of medical maladies, like migraines from shadow flicker, and that the noise keeps them awake at night. Other complain that wind turbines are dangerous for migratory birds and others just thing they are ugly and mar the landscape. I think it's important to remind them of the alternative. I also think it's fair to say that most of the people who complain of medical problems, don't have turbines on their property, but live on adjoining property. From what I've heard, not too many people who are being paid to live with turbines on their property have complained about shadow flicker.

Mallards Opening Day

Beer and baseball go together like summer and baseball, but especially at the Duck Pond, home of the Madison Mallards. There $30 will get you access to the Duck Blind, a special section of the stadium with all you can eat brats, and all you can drink beer.

Sonia Sotomayor and the Wisconsin Supreme Court

While electing supreme court justices like we do here in Wisconsin might seem more democratic, recent elections have been plagued by big money and nasty ads, that have landed the winning justices in trouble with the state's ethics board.

Cartoons from the weekend

Here is my weekend update of editorial cartoons. It's kind of strange but I didn't do a memorial day cartoon this year. I'm not sure why, I guess I figured there would be be enough of them around this week anyway.

Instead we have cartoon on development practices in Tampa.
The governor's opposition to a new and improved beer tax. Which seems like a no-brainer to me considering how minuscule our current beer tax is, and how expensive the excessive consumption of beer is for our state' s legal system (i.e. prison, jails, cops and prosecuters who deal with drunks and drunken driving).

And good ol' Brett Favre and the festival celebrating my favorite grilled sausage.
One additional note on the beer tax. From my understanding the tax is based on the volume of the beer rather than on the cost of the beer. This means that if the beer tax increase is 8 bucks a barrel, a $100 barrel of Natural Light would be $108 and experience and 8% increase in price, while a $200 barrel of Capital Brewery's Island Wheat would be $208 and experience a 4% increase in price.

At first this seems a little regressive, but I think it's good considering that more people are likely to rapidly pound cheap beer. It's this binging that then becomes an expensive problem for the legal system, and it should be taxed accordingly.