Curmudgeon's Corner

Bits and Pieces - May 14th

Posted by Al Campbell on May 14, 2010

Political, Quality of Life, Economy

The Roman Polanski story of the supposed rape of a 13year-old girl in Los Angeles has been in the news off and on for 33 years.  He is the movie director who fled the United States to avoid prosecution.  He is a citizen of France and had been safe until he was arrested on a warrant while in Switzerland.

He originally pled guilty to get a plea deal from the judge and then fled our country when the judge said he would not honor the plea deal.

This story has long shown the feelings amongst the Hollywood elite that they are above the law, and it has, in my opinion, given us all an intimate view of the general morals of that community.

The Mark Neumann saga took an unseemly turn this morning with Jay Weber’s disclosure of the behind-the-scenes efforts that have been attempted by Neumann to cause the Republican Party to avoid any endorsement for the gubernatorial race this year.

There was little doubt in my mind that when Neumann came out saying he didn’t want the party’s endorsement, he knew he stood virtually no chance of getting that endorsement over Scott Walker who has been working for years to get to this point in his political career.  Walker was no doubt the preferred person amongst the Party loyalists and had been seen as a team player ever since he stepped aside to permit Mark Green the opportunity to run against Doyle.

This sullies Neumann’s effort and was ill-thought on his part.  Even in politics, there ought to be some rules of conduct.

The idea that Ford is doing so well without having had to be bailed out by us taxpayers is a great story.  There was doubt about how quickly it could recover but that seems to be in the past at this point.  They have produced some very nice automobiles including the new Taurus that seem to have attracted a lot of interest.

The Ginseng crop for this year has been lost and will cost a relatively small group of Wisconsin farmers some $18 million.  The Mother’s Day week-end snows essentially killed any chance for the crop this year, and, given the several years that are required for a mature crop, there will be economic damage for several years to come.  Our state is reported to produce 95% of the entire Ginseng crop that comes from the United States.