Also, too: Set your DVRs

by folkbum

Once again, this Sunday morning Owen Robinson and I face off on UpFront with Mike Gousha featuring guest host Patrick Paolantonio. I'm the one rocking the tweed jacket with the leather elbow patches; Owen's the one with the tie that doesn't match.

We talked about the 2010 Wisconsin governor's race, FIFA World Cup Soccer, intricacies of the Large Hadron Collider, and the proper treatment of spider bites. They may have to edit that down to six minutes, though, so who knows how much of the conversation will actually make it to air.

Welcome Mike Gousha Viewers!

by folkbum

(Updated: If you missed the show, our segment is online here.)

I'm quite certain that tens of thousands of people all across the state are waking up this morning and watching "UpFront with Mike Gousha" and, impressed by my madd debating skillz, are immediately firing up teh great gizoogle and finding this here blog.

Owen and I had about 4 seconds to debate about a million things, so I thought I would add a few things here that I didn't get to say.

I spent the most time boning up on the sate budget and was able to get the fewest of my talking points in about that topic. In fact, the more I read up on the budget, the more impressed I was with it.

Owen's a bit lucky that Republican talking points on the budget are easily reducible to the lazy conservative dog whistles: increased spending, benefits for gays, illegal immigrants, blahdy blah blah blah.

The truth about the budget is a bit more wonky and a bit more important to the actual real lives of people across the state. For example, the budget was done on time this year for the first time since 1977. In these difficult economic times--indeed, in worsening economic times, as the revenue news was revised downward several times since the beginning of the year--Democrats were able to come together and get a budget done on time.

It's also a budget that does not raise the sales tax, income tax (for 99% of people), property tax, or gas tax. State workers and state agencies took a big hit so that education and shared revenue could be spared the worst. The spending from General Purpose Revenue--the big pot of tax dollars the state collects from you and me--is lower, in real dollars, in actual total dollars spent, in this budget than in the previous one, but 2.5%. The total increase in spending (yes, $61b for 09-11 is larger than the $58b for 07-09) is almost entirely accounted for by federal stimulus dollars, not tax increases--and don't let the Republicans tell you any differently. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated that the median home's property taxes would increase a grand total of just $94 if schools and municipalities taxed to the max under revenue limits.

Wonky, yes. But also worth being proud of--and not something that petty little issues like gay-bashing and immigrant-bashing should be allowed to overcome.

As for Jim Doyle, and whether he's running for re-election, I will reiterate what I said on the show: No one has told me any differently. However, Doyle has indeed been invisible lately, not even taking much credit for the budget. Some Democrats have expressed quite a bit of displeasure over Doyle's relative absence lately, and they have a legitimate beef. However, if you remember four years ago, Doyle was perfectly happy just to go about doing his job and letting his opponents beat each other up. I firmly believe the Republican primary will get ugly, soon, and I will be happy to watch that happen. So will Jim Doyle.

UPDATED to add something else: One other thing I wanted to say on the show but that I didn't is that the single toughest opponent Jim Doyle will face next year is the economy. It doesn't matter which Republican's name is on the ballot; if the economy is still in the toilet, Doyle's re-election is less secure.

ALSO: I'm watching Mark Neumann on the program this morning, and he's taking credit for the Clinton economy of the 1990s that he voted against consistently. Ugh.

Must-Listen TV

by folkbum

I'll be appearing in a way too brief segment Sunday morning during "UpFront with Mike Gousha." Milwaukeeans can see it on channel 12 at 9 AM; others should check listings here. The program will also be archived and available online by early next week, too.

I'm up against (natch) Owen Robinson. I got in a few good shots, but I didn't have quite enough time to get to everything I wanted to.

Also, the regular make-up person was not available when we taped, so anyone with HD should probably watch blindfolded. That is all.

Daytime TV

by folkbum

I'm pretty sure I just heard Oprah say, "We scored a hook up for every person in America." I don't watch enough daytime TV to know whether that means what I think it means, but I may have to TiVo her show tomorrow to find out.

Dick Golembiewski's Book--Buy It

by folkbum

Dick Golembiewski--occasionally known as Dick Nitelinger--was kind enough to swing by my communications media class today (ably taught now by my student teacher) to talk TV. This guy knows everything--we talked past, present, future, DTV, HDTV, robot cameras (they really are stealing your soul, I would bet), and more. I found it fascinating; my students, less so (teenagers).

Dick's written the book, literally, on the history of TV in Milwaukee. I got a chance to see it, today, and it is incredible. I didn't grow up in Milwaukee, but I imagine anyone who did (and who had a TV) would love to have the book, which is really a channel-by-channel history of TV--personalities, programs, plenty of pictures. Totally worth it.

Dick's doing an event this Saturday at the central library, and if you want to know anything about TV, that's the place to be. I understand the books will even be on sale there.

(See MJS columns about Dick and the book here and here.)

The Facts Are These

by folkbum

Apparently, ABC--like FOX and Showtime before it--has decided that Bryan Fuller's twisted sensibilities have no place on television. Sadly, I enjoy those sensibilities more than just about anything else on TV in recent years.

The present victim is "Pushing Daisies," which is as fun an hour of TV as I've seen in many years. Like "Wonderfalls" and "Dead Like Me," the two previous victims, it takes place in a world just different enough from our own to be familiar, though with bizarre supernatural tendencies. Actually, the tone of "Daisies" leans significantly more toward the odd, which might be part of why normal people like you won't watch it. I, however, will miss it dearly when its gone.

It's even more frustrating, in fact: Last year, the strike-shortened season meant a promising sub-plot involving Paul Reubens (playing, fittingly, a sewer-dwelling necrophile) was simply abandoned. This year, the writers were developing a couple of other plots--one involving a long-lost daughter and one involving a long-lost father--that also seem like they will be left without resolution.

Well, at least "Reaper" will be back soon.

I don't have HBO

And I have never watched an episode of "The Sopranos."

Instead, I am grading papers and doing laundry. I feel good about myself--and I know how it ends.

Living With Ed

I have never seen "The Osbournes." I will never watch "Being Bobby Brown." I refuse even to think about the Hulk Hogan show.

Ed Begley, Jr., though? I'm all over that.