Sotomayor cites poor wording

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, believes she used a poor choice of words when she indicated a Hispanic woman would make a better judge than a white man, the White House said Friday.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that he believes after having conversations with "people who have talked to her," that Sotomayor would do a better job of articulating her belief that "your experiences impact your understanding."

"I think she'd say that her word choice was poor," Gibbs said.

In her 2001 remarks, which have led many on the right to call her a racist, Sotomayor said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

Given a chance to clarify those remarks, Sotomayor said "I did not mean to offend, but it is known that Hispanic females possess an intrinsic aptitude which explains why these women have excelled in the judiciary."

Larry Summers could not be reached for comment.

Smoke Day, one day later

Smoke Day V was another great success. We fought off scattered morning showers and could not have asked for a more beautiful afternoon for the party.

Our neighbors did most of the party organizing, leaving my wife and I free to cook. I also had a couple of experienced barbecuing friends show up, and their help made my job much easier.

One of the first things served was my famous Redneck Sushi. It was fantastic and disappeared in an instant.



Here is my friend Brad preparing a batch of Big Bob Gibson chicken for our guests. That was only a small part of the over 170 pounds of meat and poultry that was cooked.



Mrs. Headless featured pies for our Smoke Day dessert. She offered over 30 different varieties. All homemade. All from scratch.



My smoker array. Four Weber Smokey Mountain cookers and two Weber kettles got the job done.



You are invited again next year. Just bring beer.

A solution to the WI budget hole

Don Surber had a post on Monday about the disparity between state government workers' pay versus that of private sector workers.

The average state government worker makes $50,350. The average private sector worker makes $43,889. That is a 14% difference.

And don’t get me started on fringe benefits.

The Las Vegas Sun had a story on Sunday comparing what state workers in Nevada compared to what state employees make in other states.

That’s not the question.

How much do they make compared to the people in Nevada who don’t work for the state. That is the pool of workers from which the state of Nevada hires.

State workers there make $54,831 a year.

Private sector workers make $42,825 a year.

State workers in Nevada make 28% more in pay alone. Plus better benefits — more state holidays, more sick leave, earlier retirement, defined benefits retirement — than the people in the private sector.

That makes no sense. These are mainly clerical jobs.

But in state after state, that is the case. Taxpayers make less than their employees.

In California, state workers make $66,928 a year.

Everyone else averages $50,182 a year.

That’s a 33% difference.

Is it any wonder that California state government is running up a $42 billion deficit?

Wow, 33% more than private jobs!

I had to check where Wisconsin stacks up. Darned if we don't make California look like misers.

Our under-compensated state employees make $16,974 more than private sector. And because WI private employees make significantly less than those in California, our discrepancy is 45.4% more being paid to our public servants. Only Iowa is worse.

Doing some simple math, if Wisconsin state employees were only paid the national average of $6,461 more than private workers, our $6+ billion dollar deficit would quickly evaporate.

Here's the list.

Disparity in state versus private employee pay
	U.S. average	$6,461	14.7%
1	New York	($691)	-1.2%
2	Missouri	($322)	-0.8%
3	Georgia	$700	1.7%
4	Texas	$1,443	3.3%
5	Virginia	$1,823	4.0%
6	Massachusetts	$1,867	3.4%
7	Delaware	$2,154	4.7%
8	Tennessee	$2,918	7.6%
9	Maryland	$3,352	7.0%
10	Wyoming	$3,639	9.4%
11	Connecticut	$4,108	7.2%
12	West Virginia	$4,270	12.7%
13	Florida	$4,457	11.3%
14	New Hampshire	$4,585	10.6%
15	South Carolina	$4,651	13.3%
16	North Carolina	$5,269	13.7%
17	Arkansas	$5,535	16.6%
18	Louisiana	$5,543	14.7%
19	Washington	$5,893	12.8%
20	Arizona	$5,919	14.4%
21	Nebraska	$6,083	17.2%
22	New Mexico	$6,135	17.1%
23	Hawaii	$6,357	15.7%
24	Kentucky	$6,472	18.0%
25	Pennsylvania	$6,511	15.4%
26	Mississippi	$6,853	21.5%
27	Oklahoma	$7,188	20.5%
28	Indiana	$7,266	19.7%
29	North Dakota	$7,387	22.6%
30	Kansas	$7,490	20.4%
31	Alabama	$7,822	21.3%
32	Oregon	$9,015	23.3%
33	Illinois	$9,522	20.3%
34	Alaska	$9,526	21.5%
35	Utah	$9,962	27.1%
36	New Jersey	$10,316	19.5%
37	South Dakota	$10,336	33.0%
38	Maine	$10,473	30.2%
39	Colorado	$10,812	24.1%
40	Nevada	$12,006	28.0%
41	Michigan	$12,276	28.7%
42	Montana	$12,589	39.2%
43	Minnesota	$13,153	30.3%
44	Ohio	$13,297	33.9%
45	Vermont	$13,321	37.0%
46	Idaho	$13,593	40.9%
47	Rhode Island	$15,469	37.7%
48	California	$16,746	33.4%
49	Wisconsin	$16,974	45.4%
50	Iowa	$23,027	65.8%

The next smoking ban

I don't think it was a coincidence that this was published in the Journal-Sentinel on the day after the Wisconsin smoking ban was passed.

The science run: Gas vs. charcoal

By Susanne Rust of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: May. 14, 2009

Worrying about climate change while cooking those brats on your charcoal grill?

Scientists say if you are, you might think of switching to a propane grill.

That's because propane is more environmentally friendly than carbon (sic - Ms. Rust meant charcoal).

Eric Johnson, lead author of Elsevier's Environmental Impact Assessment Review, reported that the carbon footprint for charcoal grilling is almost three times as large as that for liquid petroleum gas grilling.

The differences come in large part by how the grills work. Propane grills are like conventional ovens - they have power ratings and can easily be switched on and off. Charcoal grills, however, can't be switched on and off easily, and fuel consumption is difficult to regulate.

Mr. Johnson is absolutely ignorant about how my charcoal grills and smokers work. I maintain pinpoint control of temperature and I can quickly snuff out the coals by controlling air flow. It will burn minimally longer than my gasser after I finish cooking.

Like Dad29 exposed with bisphenol-A, the MJS is latching onto more junk science as they start their next witch hunt. Yesterday tobacco is banned, tomorrow it will be charcoal.

Cut to the bone

This is being circulated around Wisconsin state government.

The photo characterizes their modified first response unit after budget cuts impacted station staffing and equipment.

I can see a similar proposal for the state budget cuts!

Oh my!

Our poor, poor pitiful government employees. Having to get by with only 37.2% more spending than they had in 2003.

Belling knows brats

Boiling bratwurst is evil.

You don't do it for the same reason you do not boil ribs. It cooks the flavor out of them. I performed a scientific test to prove this hypothesis.

Stop it. And don't ever think of doing it again.