By Steve Erbach on Friday, October 24, 2008 6:13 AM

By Steve Erbach on Monday, October 13, 2008 4:14 AM

By Steve Erbach on Friday, October 03, 2008 6:03 AM

The proposed ordinance to regulate newspaper vending machines (NVM) in Neenah was passed last night on a 6-3 vote.  The separate ordinance establishing a permit fee for NVM's also passed on a 6-3 vote.  On the way to those votes, however, there were five motions to amend or delay adoption of one or the other of the ordinances.  There was also some assistance in our glorious cause from an unexpected quarter on the Council.  The whole debate lasted for over half an hour. Combined with the 18 minutes for presentations during the  Public Forum, the NVM ordinances took up 50 of the 90 minutes of the Council meeting.

There were three Public Forum presentations.  The first was made by the owner of The Scene magazine, Jim Moran of Neenah (http://scenenewspaper.com/home.html).  I'd never met the man, but he sat a few seats away from my wife and me.&a ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Friday, October 03, 2008 5:59 AM

In a separate posting I'll give a report of what happened with the newspaper vending machine ordinance.  Here's the text of my speech:

I'd like to clear the air about things that were said at last week's Public Services and Safety Committee meeting.  Both Mayor Scherck and Council President Stevenson were absolutely right:

• That the people responsible for the newspaper vending machines in downtown Neenah have in large part fallen down on the job. They're not properly maintaining their boxes, especially in the winter.
• That the city has a responsibility to maintain the public right-of-way.
• That store owners are entitled to expect a clear path to their doors from that public right-of-way.
• And that the city has the right and the responsibility to step in -- even with a new ordinance -- when people don't pay attention to THEIR responsibilities.
... Read More »
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By Steve Erbach on Monday, September 29, 2008 6:45 PM

The story that started it all:

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Appleton Post-Crescent - August 5, 2008

Neenah seeks to regulate newspaper vending machines

Rule would add $25 permit, limit location and size

By Duke Behnke
Post-Crescent staff writer

NEENAH — City planners have introduced an ordinance to restrict the placement, style, size and color of newspaper vending machines along Neenah ... Read More »

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By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 8:39 AM

I've been "invested" -- to use Council President Todd Stevenson's term -- in the fight against the proposed newspaper vending machine ordinance since August 5th when I first found out about it. (The text of my speech to the Common Council on August 6th can be found here and the audio here.)

I'm only going to post the speech I made last night, September 23rd, at the Public Services and Safety Committee meeting, as well as the rebuttals by Mayor George Scherck and Stevenson. Commentary will come later after I've slept off the cold I have right now.

First, my speech. This was given before the PS&SC. In the audience were three members of the Neenah Business Improvement District who all were "invested" in the outcome, too:

... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 7:39 PM

How do you feel about Obama's choice of Sen. Joe Biden as a running mate?

(published 1-Sep-2008, Appleton Post-Crescent)

How do I feel?  Lets see, now ... I feel ... I feel ... I feel a feeling of ... something akin to ... on the order of ... a close approximation of ... not unrelated to ... more or less ... with a tendency towards ... can't really nail it down ... completely, that is ... kinda, sorta ... mmmmm ... getting sleepy ... what was I saying? ... oh, yeah ... let me sit up straight, here ... OK ... Obama ... who did he pick for vice-whatchamacallit? ... Hillary, wasn't it? ... No, wait! ... Biden, yeah ... Congresscritter from Vermont ... hmmm ... what? ... oh, Delaware, right ... if I could just keep my eyes open ... um ... feel ... I feel ... where was I? ... ZZZzzzzz ...

By Steve Erbach on Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:20 PM

http://www.swerbach.com/Speech/Neenah_Council_Speech_Ord1374_0820.wma

By Steve Erbach on Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:17 PM

This speech was delivered at the August 20th Neenah City Council meeting.  I had intended to speak at the Public Services and Safety Committee meeting on August 9th, but that meeting was canceled:

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In the rush to throw myself in front of the bus of the August 6th Council vote on Ordinance 1374, I didn't fact check adequately...meaning: I was wrong.  Two facts would have been apparent if, given time, I'd questioned the proper people:

1) The permit mentioned in Ordinance 1374 would NOT be subject to approval by the Council.  To acquire a permit for a newspaper vending machine the vendor would go through a process similar to acquiring a building permit.  That's according to Community Development Director Buckingham.

2) The manufacturer of newspaper vending machines mentioned in the ordinance is not intended to be the sole provider.  ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Sunday, August 17, 2008 7:26 PM

I went to the Neenah City Council web site to view the video of the August 6th Council meeting.  I'm there all right, all 13-1/2 minutes...but it's a puppet show, a pantomime.  The video engineer didn't have the public microphone patched into his board, and all the mikes on the Council members were noise-canceling.

Be that as it may, here's the audio of my presentation that evening caputred on an Olympus DS-30 right at the podium:

http://www.swerbach.com/speech/NeenahCouncil_6_Aug_2008.wma

Windows Media format.

 

By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 9:56 PM

My name is Steve Erbach and I live at 1017 Babcock St.

I'd like to begin by expressing thanks to the crews that repaved Cecil Street. There was very little disruption or re-routing - just a couple of days of driving over the ground-down pavement before it was re-surfaced. But when those guys were ready to pour the asphalt they did it in one day…and it's beautiful. Thank you.

The thing I'd really like to talk about though, is proposed city ordinance number 1374. I'm here to speak in opposition to it.

First, in the interests of FULL DISCLOSURE: My only association with newspapers is as a regular correspondent for the Appleton Post-Crescent. I am not paid for my submissions. I do not own any of the publications that place vending machines. I am not employed by any of them either. I don't even have subscriptions to any of them, though I think The Scene is a dandy alternative paper... ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Friday, August 01, 2008 10:49 AM

How big of a role do you think Wisconsin will play in the presidential election?

(published 4-Aug-2008, Appleton Post-Crescent)

Very little, I'm afraid.  I'm sure Senator Obama can count on Wisconsin to go "blue" and deliver its 10 electoral votes.  Not that I'm thrilled about that; I'm not thrilled about either major party candidate, to tell you the truth.  I haven't had a cable TV subscription since '99; so I've been spared the endless, fawning coverage of the Messiah and the faux sincerity and doomsday predictions of the McCain political ads with their ploddingly emotional music cues and content-free blather.  Of course, I can't escape the political badinage on the GoreNet.  Today I see where Angelina Jolie's father, Jon Voigt, has written an op-ed ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Monday, July 21, 2008 5:05 PM

Read it for yourself.  Here are the high points:

• The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change models have most decidedly not predicted the climate events of the past 50 years
• Those models do not account for the high solar activity in the past 7 decades, higher than at any time in the past 110 centuries
• The models did not account for the cooling that has taken place since 1998

The conclusion of the paper is a doozy.  I've reformated it:

1. Even if temperature had risen above natural variability, the recent solar Grand Maximum may have been chiefly responsible.
Read More »
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By Steve Erbach on Monday, July 21, 2008 4:58 PM

This Der Spiegel article outlines how the oil-rich Persian Gulf states are selling oil as fast as they can pump it, but are looking to build coal-fired power plants because they're cheaper:

Why the Gulf Is Switching to Coal

By Wolfgang Reuter

The Persian Gulf may be sitting atop massive oil reserves. But with prices for crude skyrocketing, it makes more sense to sell it than to burn it. Instead, the Gulf is turning to coal for its energy needs -- to the detriment of the climate.

 

&l ... Read More »

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By Steve Erbach on Thursday, July 17, 2008 7:10 PM

By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 10:13 PM

Remember David Howard, the Washington, DC, aide to then-mayor, Anthony Williams, who resigned because of the furor raised after he said that he'd have to be "niggardly" with the city budget? 

Well, something along the same lines has happened in Dallas County, Texas:

County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John W ... Read More »

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By Steve Erbach on Thursday, July 03, 2008 4:34 AM

By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, July 02, 2008 6:26 AM

What are your summer reading picks?

(published 7-Jul-2008, Appleton Post-Crescent)

The Godfather of Law, Gary Malkmus, lent me the excellent "Wisconsin Criminal Practice and Procedure"; I promised my African missionary friend, Bwana Jonathan, to finish Chris Cock's "Fireforce", the author's thrilling story  of fighting with the Rhodesian light infantry; an early compilation of Scientific American "Mathematical ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Sunday, June 29, 2008 8:28 AM

By Steve Erbach on Friday, June 27, 2008 4:37 AM

From the latest newsletter of the Advocates for Self-Government:

Japan's Weird War on Waistlines

We've reported in the past on proposals to create "fat taxes" to penalize the selling or eating of politically-incorrect (i.e., high-fat or high-calorie) foods.

But now busybody bodyweight bureaucrats in Japan have gone way, way beyond that.

A new national law requires all citizens between the ages of 40 and 74 to have their waists regularly measured annually. That's over 56 million waistlines, about 44 percent of the population.

According to U.S. News & Worl ... Read More »

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By Steve Erbach on Thursday, June 26, 2008 6:20 PM

The 2nd Amendment is definitely something worth thinking about.  I've never owned a gun, but my strong feeling as time goes by is that, if and when I ever do acquire one, I would attempt to get one through "informal" channels.  Having to register something that I have the right to own seems to me like having to register my religion or my position on sustainable development.

My understanding of the Bill of Rights is that it carves out individual and states' rights and their associated areas of the law that the federal government may not touch.  The words "the people", however one capitalizes them, refer to people as individuals in every Amendment in the Bill of Rights where the term appears.

Attempting to limit "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" to ownership only insofar as "the people" are members of a militia is very odd.  Since the grammar assum ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 5:42 PM

By Steve Erbach on Monday, June 23, 2008 4:11 AM

James Hansen of NASA is shooting to become the man most likely to be mistaken for Al Gore.  Either that or he hopes to have his picture published in the next Funk & Wagnall's next to the definition of grand-standing:

Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist

· Testimony to US Congress will also criticise lobbyists
· 'Revolutionary' policies needed to tackle crisis

by Ed Pilkington in New York
Monday June 23, 2008

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about gl ... Read More »

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By Steve Erbach on Sunday, June 22, 2008 6:30 PM

I followed a link posted by one of the more colorful members of our local Ron Paul for President group. The link led to a blog entry by "Nathanael" titled "Ron 'The Poseur' Paul". Read it if you like. I lost interest before the end, especially when he brought up the following "gross failures" of the Paul campaign:

It is time to face the gross failures of his campaign. It is fact and not fiction that Ron Paul...

• Shirked his duty to the American people and violated his oath of office by not pursuing criminal indictments against the war criminal and traitor GWBush.
• Did nothing to pursue the reality of McCain being disqualified under the Constitution to be president.
• Publicly denied the obvious, root cause and core reality of America's neo-con attempt at global hegem ... Read More »
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By Steve Erbach on Sunday, June 22, 2008 7:03 AM

I've been looking at the global warming issue for so long that I've become convinced that no matter what we skeptics do ("skeptic" here meaning I don't believe that our activities are the major cause for global warming), the world governments will eventually figure out a way to make everything more expensive and onerous by imposing huge new environmental regulations on us to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  But now there's hope...

This article from the UK Guardian was very heartening to read:

Poll: most Britons doubt cause of climate change

Juliette Jowit, environment editor
The Observer

T ... Read More »

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By Steve Erbach on Friday, June 20, 2008 4:40 AM

I was sitting in our car for a few minutes waiting for my wife and daughter to come out of the store the other evening.  I heard this almost subsonic, thumping bass line coming from somewhere.  Knowing that bass is omnidirectional, I didn't crane my neck around trying to locate it.  I waited a few seconds and, just as I expected, here comes a small, beat up car that's been tricked out in a sad sort of way.  That's where the thumping bass was coming from.  Windows closed, too; I couldn't hear any lyrics, if you can call them lyrical.

This time, though, I actually tried to figure out what the deal was.  I mean, we've all heard about the effects of subsonics on emotional state.  I figured that the producers of this form of rythmic atmospheric vibration (aka, music) must know that it messes with the emotions, too.  I couldn't detect notes, as in musical notes.  But it wasn't drumming; I'm pretty su ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Friday, June 06, 2008 5:18 AM

Jo Egelhoff wrote a piece on her FoxPolitics.net blog the other day dealing with the upcoming Foth Conference on Sustainability: Balancing People, Planet and Profit, June 19th at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton.

She started off promisingly with "What the heck is 'sustainability?'" I figured that she might add a bit more oomph to the subject by actually saying what she thinks about it.

I was disappointed, however, to read the tepid:

Whether or not you believe global warming is a real and proven phenomenon, advocates say sustainability makes sense on a purely fiscal basis. And I’m all for that.

The Foth Conference will focus o ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Friday, June 06, 2008 5:17 AM

Should the presidential primary season be shortened?

(published 9-Jun-2008, Appleton Post-Crescent)

Forget it.  It's one of the only things left that states can do on their own without permission from the federal guvmint.  Besides, it's about the only time when public vivisection is considered acceptable.  It's the highest (lowest?) form of human comedy.  There is no way that TV networks would go for a shorter primary season.  They thrive on scandals.  Differently than the tabloids do, of course, though the differences are evaporating.  The tabloids get lots of mileage out of celebrity infidelities, pregnancies, ugly clothes, etc.  The networks get to indulge their video paparazzi aspirations by hounding politicians.  For that brief ... Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 3:52 PM

The perfect answer to World Jump Day, the Green Hannukia Campaign, Gas Outs, and Earth Hour: Carbon Belch Day, June 12th!

Discover just how big a carbon footprint you can make by using the Carbon Belch Day Calculator.  I weighed in at 192 lbs. of carbon that I'll belch into the atmosphere on that glorious day.  (The American average is 41 lbs!)

Then sign the Carbon Belch Day petition.  Finally purchase a "Read More »

By Steve Erbach on Friday, May 16, 2008 4:42 AM

All you can do is laugh:

Obesity contributes to global warming: study

Thu May 15, 2008 7:03pm EDT
 
By Michael Kahn

GENEVA (Reuters) - Obesity contributes to global warming, too.

Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and the problem will worsen as the population literally swells in size, a team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says.

This adds to food shortages and higher energy prices, the school's researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in the journal Lancet on Friday.

"We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibilit ... Read More »

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