The purpose of government: I attended Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s town hall meeting at the Elm Grove Village Hall on Jan. 15. A man asked the congressman what the purpose of the federal government was. Sensenbrenner answered that the role of government is spelled out in the Constitution, and, he added, the Constitution also describes what the federal government cannot do. It was a concise, illuminating answer to a provocative question.
Coincidently, copies of the U.S. Constitution were handed out at the start of the meeting. They were 43 pages, including index, fit easily in a shirt pocket and are perfectly readable. I couldn’t help contrasting this historic document with the 2,000-page impenetrable mess that is the Democratic health care reform bill. The founders must be rolling over in their graves.
Fudging numbers: I spent most of 2009 dieting. I used a purchased software package to help me keep track of calories consumed and calories burned, weighed myself daily and charted the results. From the start to the end of the year, I gained nine pounds. I figure if I hadn’t been dieting, I would have gained 15 pounds. Thus, I “lost” six pounds during the year, and my diet was successful.
The Obama administration has done some similar figuring. In an Associated Press report in the Jan. 14 Journal Sentinel, the President’s Council of Economic Advisers claimed that last February’s stimulus bill saved or created up to 2 million jobs, even though an estimated 3 million jobs have been lost since then! The council’s chairwoman said, “That’s truly a stunning and important effect. It has done exactly what we have anticipated it would do.” Just like my diet.
Furloughs and bike polo: A recent Journal Sentinel article related Milwaukee County officials’ concerns that budget furloughs could compromise public safety, slow prosecutions, delay trials and slow restraining orders in domestic violence cases.
Why then the concern about bicycle polo players? On Jan. 10, sheriff’s deputies arrested 10 bike polo players and one spectator for trespassing in the O’Donnell Park parking structure. The bikers’ version of the incident appears on their Web site, www.mkebikepolo.com. It is fascinating reading. They were spread-eagle against the wall, hauled to the courthouse in zip ties and detained for 10 hours.
Joe Burge, a member of the Milwaukee Bike Polo Club and one of those arrested, told me the parking structure was a perfect place for club members to get out and do what they love to do in the winter. They couldn’t do any damage if they tried, he stated. He acknowledged that they have been warned not to play there several times in the past few years, but he didn’t know why. Joe Roszak of the Parks Department told me they were working with the polo group to find a site for them where they could obtain appropriate permits.
I’d vote for the county to stop worrying about young adults engaging in wholesome activities in empty parking structures on cold winter days. Use the time saved to lessen the impact of furloughs on public safety.
Jack Bruss of Elm Grove is a retired chemical engineer who is married with three children. E-mail jackbruss@yahoo.com
