From Dane County Circuit Judge Richard G. Niess’ decision striking down the Voter ID Law.
“But voter fraud is no more poisonous to our democracy than voter suppression. Indeed, they are two heads on the same monster.”
The Christmas train arrived in Wisconsin, loaded with toys for all the good boys and girls.
Then Gov. Walker said he did not want the train and sent it away.
The good little girls and boys cried and cried when they did not get their toys. Too bad, little boys! Too bad, little girls!
That year, like most of the years before, Santa did not bring Gov. Walker any toys, either, because Santa knows who has been naughty and who has been nice.
It was a fortunate turn of events. A bathroom window that gave me a clean line of sight into the robin’s nest on my neighbor’s garage light.
A pile of mulch in my driveway that I could climb to get a much better look at the nest next door.
A neck injury that prevented me from moving the pile of mulch into the garden beds, thus leaving it a climbable pile for much longer than I intended.
Mom robin at work
This is early on, mom robin at work, shot from the bathroom window. I watched this bird for a long time, worrying about her health and that of her eggs. Dad robin showed up every now and then to give Mom a break, but he really wasn’t into the whole nest-sitting thing. Mostly he just stood on the edge of the nest and stared at the eggs. I wonder if he was thinking, “Wow, what a miracle!” Mom would return soon and he would fly off.
The evil grackles would show up now and again, thinking they might score a little robin omelette. I saw one particularly close call, where Mom, who was on the ground, just beat a tree-lurking grackle back to the nest. It was better than watching the Packers win the Super Bowl.
There were moments of despair, when I saw no nest action at all and thought the worst must have happened. No, no, no! Oh, the humanity! Oh, the birdanity! Oh, the robinanity!
The Earth spun again when Mom returned.
It became an obsession, this nest-watching: Are you all right? Are you OK?
Finally, there was new movement in the nest and, ta-dah!
Very young robins
Once the kids are born, of course, there is a whole new set of worries. Will they fall out of the nest? Will my neighbor’s pugs get them? Will a grackle eat their eyeballs?
Who will pay for flight school?
The kids
They grew.
Last night I was headed across the back yard and there it was, sitting on my garden fence. Joy!
Independence day
I cannot swear it is one of “my” birds. I choose to believe it is — the nest is empty now – as I choose to believe it will live a long and happy life and have many robins of its own.
I watched it hop down from the fence and away, into the bushes.
Kathleen Gallagher’s outstanding story yesterday on the state’s pending $250 million corporate giveaway really brought home the almost unbelievable disregard for taxpayers, common sense and good government with which this political payback is being pursued. Gov. Scott Walker and legislators are proposing to Hand a “$250 million fund to out-of-state financial management companies that would not have to pay back the fund’s principal and would keep up to 80% of its profits.” Wow. What a great deal. For somebody.
The cherry on top of the scoop of outrage was the layout of the story’s jump. It was next to a jump of a story about 21 Milwaukee Public Schools nurses losing their jobs because Walker is proposing to cut a $1.5 million grant that helps pay for them.
A $250 million giveaway for big business vs. $1.5 million for nursing services for mostly impoverished children. Not a tough choice for the gov, apparently.
Nice package, JS.