Much to the chagrin of my wife, I dragged her to the Mifflin Street block party this past weekend in Madison, Wisconsin.  It was purely a journalistic quest.  I wanted to find out what's up down there these days.  My wife spent the couple hours in the library back up the street. 

    What struck me between the eyes was the Orwellian timbre the event has taken.  Having worked in the public safety sector a couple times in my travels, I like to snoop and see what the cops and EMS are up to from time to time.  I ran across at least two staging areas set up by the cops to process perps.  But this is not necessarily the part of the observation that forms my opinion here.  The officers from various agencies often in pairs, were strolling around plucking out alcohol violators from the horde. The cops and perps would then quietly make their way to the staging areas.  

    I won't bore you with the alcohol rules for a street party. What struck me as odd about the process was the almost creepy way the perps simply marched in hand restraints to their fate at the staging areas.  While the horde of revelers partied just yards away, their colleagues where being led to processing slaughter.  It had a capsulized, fortress-entertainment nature about it.  I was particularly interested in how banal the process was being facilitated; and how matter-of-fact the perps took their collective fate.  Here is your designated party area; it is your pen if you will - enjoy yourself kids. 

    In the end, it felt like I was in the set for a grade-B science fiction movie.  There has been a call from Madison officials to even further control the event in the future.  I got some news for them - it is already gone.  When I picked my wife up from the library, she asked, "How did it go?"  

    "Next year I will join you in the reading lounge," I said.


    - The horde swells on Mifflin, photo by Bob Keith, May 2008 -



    - Mifflin and Broom, photo by Bob Keith, May 2008 -



    - The cops use the car hood as a desk to do paper work during "Mifflin," photo by Bob Keith, May 2008 -



    - Mifflin and Basset, Photo by Bob Keith, May 2008 -



    - House parties on Mifflin, photo by Bob Keith, May 2008 -



    - The cops stage up off Mifflin, photo by Bob Keith, May 2008 -

                                    Wisconsin military service person of the week

    Major Mathew E. Schram, 36, was killed in Haditha, Iraq on Monday, May 26, 2003. Major Schram was attached to Headquarters Troop, Support Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army. Haditha is around 100 miles northwest of Baghdad. He was in a resupply convoy which came under enemy attack via rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. Mathew was a Brookfield native. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that Schram was in ROTC while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the Army in 1989. He was a veteran of the first Gulf War 12 years prior. He was also a veteran of America's mission in Somalia. The Journal Sentinel went on to say people that knew Schram said he had a long interest in the military. Mathew graduated from Brookfield Central High School in 1985. Major Schram is survived by five siblings; his father Earl; his mother died of cancer in 1991; brothers, David; Phil; Bob; sisters Carol and Sue; stepmother Audrey; and, eight nieces and nephews. Major Mathew E. Schram was the second Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Iraq.

    83,360 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
    
    8,219 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    4,071 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    492 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    308 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    301 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    29,911 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    1,937 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    90 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    10 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    127 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    15 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.

 

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