Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

This is the second installment of my short novel, Alien Parade. See the Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos website for the previous installment. 6. Opportunity  The Ottawa County courthouse was a beautiful old building in the center of the town square of Bosshardt, the county seat. Statues of young Union soldiers kept guard over eachContinue reading “Alien Parade: Installment 2”

Paul Chryst was fired as the Badgers’ head football coach only a handful of games into the season after being surprised by Washington State, destroyed by Ohio State, and embarrassed by Illinois. The Athletic Department paid him $11 million to clear out of his office.  Meanwhile, Shanel Bramschreiber had to sit out half of theContinue reading “Abolish the NCAA”

Yesterday marked the end of trout season in Wisconsin. So, on Thursday, amid scattered snow showers, I drove out to Gordon Creek in western Dane County to throw flies into cold water and see if anybody was home and interested in lunch. I walked a ways downstream, found some gravel creek bed and an easyContinue reading “Midwest: Last Day on the Trout Stream”

When I left my last job (I refuse to use the word “retired”, but that’s pretty much what I did), I decided I was going to write a book. I had all kinds of ideas, but I settled on two, a collection of essays on deer hunting and a book about how the Midwest wasContinue reading “Alien Parade, Installment One”

We’re out of the prediction business here at YSDA, but the latest Marquette University Law School poll is filled with bad news for Democrats. Rather than trying to predict how things will actually turn out in November, let’s just raise some interesting questions. Is it possible to have a split result? Democrat Mandela Barnes isContinue reading “New MU Poll: That Sinking Feeling”

If you live in Madison you almost can’t help but know a lot of lawyers. But how many of them seem to really enjoy their work?  Michael May often said, “I love the law.” It was said with a trademark overzealousness that suggested self-mockery. But it also became clear over the seven years that IContinue reading “He Loved the Law”

It’s not surprising that a guy who grew up in Scranton would see the revival of manufacturing jobs as the key to saving democracy. But that guy is only partially right. I’m in the 40% of Americans who approve of the job Joe Biden is doing. The most important thing about the guy is thatContinue reading “Lunch Pail Joe Has Part of the Answer”

This was the week I put summer away. I took my boat out of the water. For instructions on how to do this (actually it’s about how to put a boat in the water, but taking it out is just doing this in reverse) there’s none better than (who else?) Charlie Berens right here. AsContinue reading “Midwest: The Summer Ends”

Yesterday I offered a somewhat sobering take on the mid-term elections from a Democratic perspective. My analysis basically went like this: Everything is going to hell. The Democrats want to make the election all about abortion while the Republicans want to make it about crime. Crime is trumping abortion. It has occurred to me sinceContinue reading “Go After GOP on Crime”

Things are looking bleak for Democrats in the mid-terms. Inflation remains stubbornly high. Gas prices were heading back up even before OPEC announced a production cut yesterday. Mortgage rates have gone through the roof. Talk of a recession is getting louder. There’s little of that that Democrats could control, but they’ll take it on theContinue reading “In Crime v. Abortion, Crime Wins”