Badger BloggerCovering Wisconsin the way the media won't. |  |
Badger BloggerCovering Wisconsin the way the media won't. | |
The Public Brewery handled this weeks Carnival of the Badger this week and did a great job! Check it, and all of the other great bloggers out!
A great new look to the WTMJ website. I love the new look of Charlie Sykes’ Blog! Check it out. Newsradio 620 WTMJ: Charlie Sykes
By the way, all of the WTMJ pages now have new URL’s so I suggest starting at the main page http://www.620wtmj.com/
Russ Feingold votes to approve Judge Roberts.
This is of course this is a strategic move on Feingold’s part. He knows Robert’s is going to win overwhelming support and it is of course the next seat is where the real fight will be, the one that tips the balance. Feingold knows the Robert’s battle has already been lost, so he is getting on the winning side so when he fights the full out battle he will be able to point to this vote and say, “see how reasonable I am…”
The paper has finally caught on to what the Alternative Media (talk radio & blogs) has been talking about for a week or so.
A picture of President Bush with a gun to his head is called art, but if it was a picture of one of the Clintons with a gun to the head, it would be called proof that Conservatives are mean hateful people… Nope, no double standard here.
JS Online: Ban on anti-Bush artwork stirs up dispute
There is nothing confusing about the image in “Patriot Act,” a work of art that has the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in an uproar. The face of President Bush is clear. So is the revolver being held to his head.What has sparked fierce debate is what the image means and whether it belongs on a college campus.
In the eyes of UW-Green Bay’s chancellor, “Patriot Act” is an endorsement of assassination. He has banned it from the university’s gallery, where it was scheduled to be shown as part of a traveling exhibit, saying in a letter to faculty and staff that “in a society all too violence prone, using these or other venues to appear to advocate or suggest assassination is not something the UW-Green Bay may do.”
To the artist, the work expresses nothing more than a desire to see Bush voted out of office. Faculty members and students say the chancellor violated principles of free speech and academic freedom, no matter what the artist intended. When the traveling exhibit opened on campus last week, a blank frame hung in the place of “Patriot Act.”
I’m glad to see that Charlie’s thoughts mirror my own when it comes to our Republican 
supposed majority in the state legislature. More and more true Republicans 
are saying the same things, I hope the GOP is listening…
If you think gas is expensive, check the list Dean has posted Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative: Price Gouging
Yikes! This is happening NOW. Best of luck to all on board!
CNN.com - Jet readies for emergency landing - Sep 21, 2005
A JetBlue airliner with landing gear problems circled the Los Angeles area for more than two hours Wednesday as the pilots dumped fuel over the ocean and officials tried to determine how to make an emergency landing.The pilots discovered the plane’s front wheels were turned sideways and stuck as they tried to retract the gear shortly after takeoff.
MSNBC has streaming live video running now. (Note: You must use Internet Explorer for this video to play)
UPDATE: Safe Landing!
WOW! What an outstanding job by that pilot! With the landing gear turned at 90 degrees, the plane landed , the tires blew out, but the nose gear held and he kept it right on the center line. Outstanding!
Big Hat Tip to Charlie Sykes. This is STILL not being reported anywhere that I can find. Last night (Tuesday 9/20 about 5 p.m.), Jim Doyle (
) has made an appointment to the Wisconsin Technical College System Board. The man that Jim Doyle appointed to this position is Michael Rosen.
Michael Rosen has now been appointed to oversee the Wisconsin Technical College System even though he is the union representative for the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). How can someone both oversee this and other colleges and still be the union representative? This is a HUGE conflict of interest!
Michael Rosen is also a huge Liberal hack in the Milwaukee area. He has been a part of many of the big fringe left wing movements around here for a long time. What this is, is Doyle shoring up his fringe Moonbat wing of his party.
This can be stopped
This appointment can be stopped by the Wisconsin Senate, they have to approve this appointment, this will mean we need to get Dale Schultz () to pretend to be a Republican leader and oppose this appointment.
If you would like to email your senator to tell them that they must oppose this appointment, you can find their email addresses here. (Make sure you use the Senate addresses)
SCIENTISTS WARN OF CLIMATE CHANGES — ON MARS!
Orbiter’s Long Life Helps Scientists Track Changes on Mars
New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune.
That’s just one of the surprising discoveries that have resulted from the extended life of NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, which this month began its ninth year in orbit around Mars. Boulders tumbling down a Martian slope left tracks that weren’t there two years ago. New impact craters formed since the 1970s suggest changes to age-estimating models. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars’ south pole have shrunk from the previous year’s size, suggesting a climate change in progress.
This has GOT to be Bush’s fault! It’s got to be those two Mars Rovers SUV’s he made NASA send up there!
Assembly Speaker John Gard has been in for a lot of criticism lately. He has suddenly become the Republican leader that we have been calling for.
Photo ID veto override fails by one vote
- State Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) said today that amending the constitution does not require the governor’s approval, so Republicans will go “straight to the people.”
- Gard derides governor over veto action
Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) today accused Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of ignoring state law he created when he vetoed additional state aid for nursing homes and pharmacists who fill prescriptions for Medicaid patients.- Gard paints Crooks with ‘activist’ brush
Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) Tuesday accused another native son of northeast Wisconsin, Supreme Court Justice N. Patrick Crooks, a former Brown County judge, of turning into an “activist” judge and even uttered the dreaded “L” word (”liberal”). Gard stopped just short of saying that Crooks, who was first elected to the court in April 1996, has lived in out-of-touch Madison too long.Crooks is now part of a new “activist, liberal court” majority, an outraged Gard told reporters. “They are legislating from the bench.”
Hopefully he is feeling the pressure from Wisconsin Republicans and will either lead, follow or get the hell out of the way!
Ya gotta love General Honore! This “John Wayne Dude” tells it like it is! Charlie has a link to General Honore lashing out at reporters telling them that they are “stuck on stupid”.
Newsradio 620 WTMJ: Charlie Sykes
This is awesome, citizens fighting sexual predators!
JS Online: Vigilantes stake out chat rooms
If the Internet sex cases against Antony Periathamby and Joseph Kinney advance to trial later this year, the prosecution’s star witnesses won’t be professional detectives but the modern-day vigilantes who went looking for them in online chat rooms.Periathamby was arrested after a woman in Michigan contacted Brookfield police and reported that the Marquette University researcher made a date to meet her in a supermarket parking lot after she met him in an Internet chat room while posing as a 13-year-old girl.
Sheriff’s detectives showed up at Kinney’s front door with a search warrant after a man from a citizens group based in Oregon reported that he received a vulgar streaming video from the Town of Brookfield man while posing as a 13-year-old Menomonee Falls girl on the Internet.
The Michigan woman belongs to U.S. Cyberwatch, a group with an Internet home page featuring, among other things, a bald eagle in stars and stripes and the motto, “Exposing Internet Predators. Protecting Your Children.”
The paper didn’t give links to the citizens groups websites, but I dug them up for you, they have some awesome information. They also include chat transcripts so you can see how brazen these perverts are.
Bill’s got to be so proud.
JS Online: News:
A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America’s 42nd president.Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.
He said that after the promotion ends, the Clinton condoms will go on sale in southern China for 29.8 Yuan ($3.72) for a box of 12, while the Lewinsky model will be priced at 18.8 Yuan ($2.35) for the same quantity.
“The Clinton condom will be the top of our line,” he said. “The Lewinsky condom is not quite as good.”
Good, track them down like the dogs that they are!
News Talk 1130 WISN - News! Every Hour! Every Day!
The governor says a team of retired detectives will try to hunt down more than 1,300 sex offenders whose whereabouts have been lost by the state. Jim Doyle says the state will also use satellite monitoring to track 200 of the most dangerous child sex predators in Wisconsin. About 18,000 sex offenders are listed on a registry maintained by the Department of Corrections, but hundreds of them have never registered as required under their sentences. Plans call for a team of five retired detectives to focus on finding the 1,300 whose whereabouts aren’t known and helping law enforcement agencies find them once an arrest warrant is issued.
I wish Doyle would ask the Supreme Court Chief Justice her views on the released child molesters. Maybe he will have to read it here when my Open Records Request is answered.
A two year old girl that was left on a day care van all day and died was a big news story here in Milwaukee a few months ago, today we learn that every criminal’s best friend E. Michael McCann couldn’t find a crime, how ever he now wants a new law, McCann says he wants a new law to require day care centers check vehicles for leftover children. Yeah, that’s it Mike, we just need more laws, to hell with enforcing the ones that should have protected this little girl!
Kudos to Tim Carpenter and Jeff Plale for doing what a huge majority of the voters want.
Now let’s get the Constitutional Amendment rolling!
JS Online: Photo ID veto override fails by one vote
Without debate, the state Senate fell one vote short today of overriding Gov. Jim Doyle’s veto of a bill that would have required voters to show a photo ID.The vote means Republicans will now push to amend the state Constitution to add that requirement.
The override effort failed, 21-12, with two Democrats - Tim Carpenter of Milwaukee and Jeff Plale of South Milwaukee - joining all 19 Republicans. An override requires a two-thirds majority, or 22 votes, in the Senate.
Republicans have fought for the photo ID requirement for years, saying it would halt what they say is a growing trend of Election Day problems and fraud.
Doyle has repeatedly vetoed the photo ID requirement, saying that requirement would disenfranchise the old, elderly and some poor who do not have driver’s licenses and would not be able to get state-issued ID cards. The governor has offered his own package of election-law changes that would better train poll workers and cut waiting times for voters.
Republicans say they will begin the process of amending the Wisconsin Constitution to require voters to display a photo ID, although that could not become law until April 2007, at the earliest.
State Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) said today that amending the constitution does not require the governor’s approval, so Republicans will go “straight to the people.”
Constitutional amendments must be approved by two consecutive sessions of the Legislature, and then by voters in a statewide referendum.
Patrick Hynes: Bad News in New Orleans
It now appears that the estimate of 10,000 lost souls in New Orleans alone as a result of Katrina’s wrath was greatly exaggerated. While New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was the source of this dubious figure, the mainstream media turned it into a tautology. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes a fact. And a damn good story.But then rescuers began the grisly chore of searching for and counting the dead. Now you can almost hear the nation’s assignment editors shouting at the top of their lungs: “That’s it!? 700? Oh, you gotta do better than that!”
Just as the federal government’s response to Katrina provides us yet another chapter in the chronicles of big government ineptitude (a multi-volume series, to be sure), the mainstream media’s coverage of Katrina sits shamefully upon the mantle alongside the Jayson Blair saga, Dan Rather’s magic memo, the early exit polls results on Election Day, 2004 and countless other examples of mainstream media malfeasance. Simply put, big media is irredeemably broken.
So frustrating!
JS Online: Homeowners may see tax bills, then TABOR plan
A year ago, political intrigue in the Capitol centered around then-state Rep. Glenn Grothman’s attempt to knock fellow West Bend Republican Sen. Mary Panzer from her perch as Senate Majority Leader and 11-year incumbency.Grothman’s candidacy for the Republican primary gathered steam when Panzer fumbled an attempt by legislative leaders to pass a Taxpayer Bill of Rights. First, she adjourned the regular session without acting on a constitutional amendment to strictly limit government spending, then caved to political pressure by calling senators back for an extraordinary session that ultimately never happened.
Grothman went on to beat Panzer in the primary by a 4-to-1 margin, then won last November’s general election. Not long after, he was put in charge of a committee to develop a proposal for the constitutional amendment, known as TABOR.
Nearly a year later, no single plan has been made public, but Assembly Minority Leader Jim Kreuser (D-Kenosha) said he’s heard there are up to 11 versions of the proposal floating within the Republican caucus.
Go Get ‘Em Scott!
JS Online: Walker wants to trim court costs
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and top aides opened what he called a budget “skirmish” with the courts Monday, warning that they will propose cuts in clerical workers and bailiffs because those support staffers are not needed in courtrooms all day.Walker blasted the court system as unconcerned with his tax-levy freeze plans, telling a meeting of fellow county officials: “Their response is, ‘We don’t care if you close the parks and we don’t care if you serve the poor’ ” because judicial funding is mandated by the state.
The Pewaukee disgrace Mayor is not going to leave quietly, he is challenging more than 3,000 of the signatures for a variety of reasons. PBG will be holding news conference later today.
JS Online: Nowak fights recall effort
In a challenge to a recall movement against him, Mayor Jeff Nowak contends that the 3,025 signatures seeking a mayoral election are invalid, a move a citizens group spokeswoman likened Monday to former Milwaukee County Executive F. Thomas Ament’s efforts to thwart his recall election.The challenge, filed late Friday, alleges that the 3,025 recall signatures Pewaukeeans for Better Government collected are invalid because the group organized before formalizing its intent to recall Nowak, because the stated reason for the recall is “defective,” because the stated reason for the recall is not Nowak’s responsibility and because the recall group used circulators who do not live in the City of Pewaukee. He also claims various signatures are invalid, but did not specify which are the invalid ones.
I think this story is great! America is planning on a return to the Moon by 2018. The Shuttle Program has been a great advance in technology, but what have you done for me lately?
Before Columbia blew up on reentry, shuttle missions had become routine and almost boring, certainly nothing like the space program of the past. Ask a child now to name an astronaut and he will look at you and ask “what is an astronaut?” Ask someone that was a child when the Mercury and Apollo missions, and even the early Shuttle missions were going strong and all of the kids knew who they were. Today’s children have lost that sense of adventure, that hero worship for true hero’s, We should have that back. The manned space program was once a huge source of national pride, boldly challenging the unknown… Today, to many of us are afraid to make that challenge.
President Kennedy captured bold spirit and America rose to the occasion, We can do it again…We should do it again… We will do it again!
NASA: How We’ll Get Back to the Moon
About a month and a half ago, readers learned that the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, Shirley Abrahamson made what I and others believe to be highly unethical comments about placement of Chapter 980 sexually violent persons in Milwaukee. The Chief Justices office has been very uncooperative, even to an elected official.
In an effort to independently confirm details of the comments attributed to Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson I have contacted her office to obtain: 1) the speech, 2) the name of the organization where the speech was presented and 3) the date. Again, in an effort to get another perspective.
-Alderman Steve Olson
In the weeks following this incident, Abrahamson and her office have stopped answering all questions from Olson and Kevin Fisher, who has talked on WISN radio twice about this.
A time for further action
Since the Chief Justice refuses to respond or clarify her comments, today I have exercised my rights as a citizen and filed an Open Records Request with the Clerk if the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an attempt to gather any records, transcripts, notes or emails dealing with meetings with law enforcement agencies around the time of her speech.
This was later confirmed by Kevin Fisher on WISN (audio included).
Thanks to Alderman Olson for his efforts on behalf of the taxpayers. I know he will not give up this fight. Also thanks to Jessica McBride for taking the time to answer a few question.
UPDATE: Post moved to the top
Since I am now getting traffic from the Wisconsin Court Computer System, I thought I would move this back to the top so they can find it easier… I guess they got their weekend mail.
Former President Carter didn’t get the memo…He hs calling for states to require Photo ID’s for voting. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of course buried this story on I believe it was A-8
Photo IDs for all voters urged by commission
Warning that public confidence in the nation’s election system is flagging, a commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state James A. Baker III will call today for significant changes in how Americans vote, including photo IDs for all voters, verifiable paper trails for electronic voting machines and impartial administration of elections.The report concludes that, despite changes required under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, far more must be done to restore integrity to an election system that suffers from sloppy management, treats voters differently from state to state and within states, and that too often frustrates rather than encourages voters’ efforts to participate in what is considered a basic American right.
Thanks to Charlie Sykes for pointing this out, I’m sure the paper placed the story where it was to limit viewers. I’m sure the JS Editorial Board is already writing yet another breathless editorial calling photo ID’s discriminatory, but they will have to do it in such a way as to not make Carter look to foolish 
Kudos to the Journal Sentinel for broaching a tough and emotional subject. All over Milwaukee’s Central City, you find these memorials to the dead. I sympathize with the families, but I don’t think that these impromptu memorials are an acceptable way to grieve. Your loved one is not there in that location, and there are more appropriate places to remember. If these memorials are allowed for a short time, I personally would have no problem with it, but a tree that has had teddy bears duct tapped to it for a year is not appropriate.
JS Online: Memorials draw complaints
Drive through Milwaukee’s central city neighborhoods these days and it’s hard to miss the makeshift memorials of stuffed animals lashed to light poles, trees and traffic signs.They are tributes created by family and friends to people killed there - in homicides, crashes or other tragedies.
Shrines with teddy bears, liquor bottles, photographs, crosses and candles have appeared on Milwaukee streets before, but not to this extent. Fueled by a spike in killings this summer, dozens of memorials now dot certain neighborhoods.
Some memorials have been up for months and are falling into disrepair, prompting complaints from residents who say they are eyesores and have become gathering places that foster trouble.
——-
Ald. Michael McGee, who represents the area, agrees. He wants them makeshift memorials gone after 30 days and is planning to introduce legislation to require that.
“To me it makes our community look like a morgue,” he said. “We have to find other ways to show that we care.”
Common Council President Willie Hines, who also has a number of shrines in his district, said he respects the need of families to mourn but said the memorials are becoming blights.
“I understand their pain and suffering,” he said. “I am hard-pressed to see how it adds value to the neighborhood.”
Now this could really get interesting! If Democrats have been coordinating judicial opposition with their shill groups, this could be the next big Blog driven story, because the media will run far and fast to try to avoid this story.
Stop the ACLU: Give Us The Memos
Conservative strategists are drafting a letter to Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee demanding the release of hundreds of internal memos detailing contacts between the lawmakers and liberal interest groups opposing John Roberts’s nomination to the Supreme Court.By planning to press Democrats on the sensitive subject, conservatives seem to be pulling a page from the Democrats’ own political playbook. In the weeks leading up to the confirmation hearings, Senate Democrats have repeatedly called on the White House to give them memos Roberts penned while he was deputy solicitor general in President George H.W. Bush’s administration.The Hill
Definitely one to keep an eye on. Thanks for the heads up Jay.
As I said the other day, can you imagine what would have happened if a Republican said something like this?
Sen. Mary Landrieu: I’ll Still Punch Bush
Sen. Mary Landrieu refused on Friday to withdraw or apologize for her threat to punch President Bush if he criticized Louisiana officials - despite Bush’s magnanimous speech Thursday night and a federal downpayment of more than $60 billion dollars to rebuild her state.“I do not take it back, I don’t apologize for it. I said I would punch anybody, including the president,” she told the Chicago Tribune.
“Though threatening the president is a crime,” the Tribune noted - “the Secret Service took it as a joke and the White House brushed off her remarks.”
Standing in the Capitol, however, Landrieu made it clear she wasn’t joking.
Hat tip: Michelle Malkin
Check Chris Christner’s Blog, he is keeping score of the elections around the world, so far he has it 8-1 Bush, but this is not including the Afghanistan elections that were held today. Just being able top hold those elections is a great thing.
Chris Christner’s Blog - Bush 7, Axis of Weasels 1
Jim Stingl has a great column answering Jerry Ann Hamilton’s cry that the background checks on Katrina evacuees was somehow racially motivated. Other African-American leaders involved with the process, including former Mayor Marvin Pratt all agree that the background checks were the right thing to do, and none of the evacuees has a problem with it. I would think they felt safer knowing that their children were not being housed with a sexual predator.
Jerry Ann Hamilton has recently shown some good leadership and has had some very good comments on personal responsibility and police relations, but as Stingl says, she “picked a battle that didn’t need to be fought.”
Background checks of evacuees not out of order
No reasonable person would throw a sleepover party and invite 200 or more strangers. You just know somebody wouldn’t play nice.So the officials who coordinated the arrival and shelter arrangements in Milwaukee for evacuees from Hurricane Katrina thought it would be a good idea to run criminal background checks to identify any sex offenders or anyone wanted for a violent crime.
Makes sense to me.
Note: The text of this post has been emailed to every Wisconsin Republican state representative. It may not change the minds of the RINO’s, but they must know how we feel!
Note to all Republican elected officials in Wisconsin:
As a conservative voter in Wisconsin, I would like to ask all Republican elected officials in Wisconsin to rethink your party affiliation. You all claim to be Republicans, when running for office you express conservative ideas, but once in office, when you think no one is watching, you start legislating to the left. We have a term for you. Republicans In Name Only (RINO).
One of the core principals of Conservatism is a less intrusive government. But more and more, we see our Republican representatives trash this idea. When a Republican tries to change something like the Minimum Markup Law and can only get a few cosponsors from a supposed Republican majority, and the leadership wants nothing at all to do with the idea, something needs to change! He didn’t even try to totally abolish the law, just reduce this arcane legislation that was enacted in the 1930’s to help businessmen through the Great Depression. Now it is said that it helps out the small “mom & pop” gas stations and convenience stores, but look at who is fighting to keep the minimum markup law, it is the big oil companies and chains, not Joe’s Gas on the corner, you can’t even find an independent gas station anymore. This is a bad law and should be totally scrapped, but the so called Republican majority can’t even bring them selves to reduce it to help the consumers (read voters).
This is an issue that should be a no-brainer for Republicans, even Jim Doyle has seen this and seized the opportunity to steal the thunder by claiming that he would sign it if it made it to his desk. We all know he only said this because he knows that the Wisconsin Republicans would never pass it! He [Doyle] knows that most Wisconsin Republicans don’t believe in the conservative principals that they spout when running for office, so just like he did with with calling his budget tax hike a “tax freeze” to steal the thunder, he is doing it again and we have the RINO’s to thank. Will this solve our gas price problem in Wisconsin? No, it will help a few cents a gallon, but it is a bad law and a good place to start.
When another legislator wants to do what several other states have already done and give their citizens a “Gas Tax Holiday” to temporarily lower prices for consumers, again, our RINO Republicans can’t bring themselves to even pretend to support it. They see tax dollars in the same way as do Democrats, they think of it as “Their Money” and a tax cut of any type has to be “Paid For”. A true Conservative would know better. Tax dollars are not your money, it is OUR MONEY! Allowing us to keep some of it is not an expense. You are not entitled to that money!
Remember that we here in Wisconsin have the second highest gas tax in the nation. About 30 cents of every gallon goes to state government, and since Jim Doyle has been in office, he has raided this money, not to pay for the roads, the expressed purpose for this money, but Doyle spends it as if it were in the general fund and Wisconsin’s Republicans have done nothing at all to stop this!
Now we have Republicans, including the leadership pushing for a state mandate that will force taxpayers to use ethanol in all of the gas for the entire state! This fuel isn’t even supported by environmentalists any more. It has been found to INCREASE pollution, Decrease performance, Increase the price five to eight cents per gallon while reducing efficiency by one to three miles per gallon. This is nothing but a big sloppy kiss to the farmers and ethanol producers like Archer Danials Midland, in return, ADM will write nice juicy checks to the politicians that vote “the right way.” We thought we defeated this fiasco several months ago, but the idea has resurfaced.
Wisconsin’s working people are in need of a responsible state government. Your wasteful spending is harming our economy and the taxpayers personally. We can’t do as you in government do, if we run short of money, we have to cut spending in another area. If my car breaks down or my furnace goes out, I may have to cut back on noncritical spending. Maybe no movies for a while, chicken instead of steak, putting off the purchase of the new iPod, whatever it takes. I can’t go to my employer and “force” him to give me more money, but that is exactly what this irresponsible government is doing. The citizens are your employers, and you demand more from us all the time! It is time for you to live within your means like we do. Instead of skipping a movie like I have to do, the state can cut something like travel to useless seminars or use their own employees to study some project instead of spending hundreds of thousands on “consultants” to do the job for them. There is waste in government, cut there before you harm us more.
A LITTLE REBELLION NOW AND THEN IS A GOOD THING
-Thomas Jefferson
I think it is time for a revolution in the Republican Party in Wisconsin. It is time we get real Conservatives to challenge the RINO’s in primary elections. Some may see this as a weakening of the party in Wisconsin, but how much weaker can we possibly be? We have a strong majority in both the Senate and Assembly, but the leadership is so weak that no Conservative ideas can be moved forward, so what is the use in having a majority if you are afraid (or to ineffectual) to use it to govern?
We need to start with our Republican leadership. I join Mark Belling in calling for John Gard to step down. Over the past year or so I have become more and more skeptical of Gard. He has stopped representing the principals he was elected to uphold. His siding with ADM and the Ethanol Lobby coincides with his decision to run for Mark Green’s congressional seat. John Gard has stopped looking out for Wisconsin’s voters and is looking only to his own future. Gard has had a Republican majority for several years now, yet no Conservative ideas have been moved forward. No property tax freeze, no TABOR, no nothing! He has squandered the majority that the voters have entrusted him with. Leave or be removed.
As for the State Senate, Dale Schultz is a disgrace! One year ago yesterday, Wisconsin’s Republican voters spoke loud and clear. State Rep. Glenn Grothman destroyed Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer in the Republican primary. Grothman won by a huge 4-1 margin because he was clearly the conservative candidate, while Panzer, the RINO that she is, was dragging her feet on TABOR and only seemed interested in “getting along” by boosting state and local spending, just like a good Democrat. With this message sent, the Republicans in the State Senate slapped the voters in the face yet again by electing the RINO Schultz over a strong conservative Scott Fitzgerald. Remember Mary Lazich stabbed Fitzgerald in the back then tried to lie about it? Since Schultz has been leading the Senate, not a single conservative principal has been advanced! TABOR is dead, our taxes rise every year, and Doyle pushes through anything he wants and this pathetic excuse for a leader does nothing!
Elected Republican representatives are supposed to be working for us, the voters, the consumers, the hard working people that make this a great place to live, but to many of them have forgotten this, it is time to remind them that they do not work for the lobbyists and special interests!
Why doesn’t the MSM bring us stories like this? I found this via an Egyptian Blogger Big Pharaoh.
Iraqi Soldiers Donate to Katrina Victims
TAJI, Iraq, Sept. 9, 2005 — Iraqi soldiers serving at Taji military base collected 1,000,000 Iraqi dinars for victims of Hurricane Katrina.Iraqi Col. Abbas Fadhil, Iraqi base commander, presented the money to U.S. Col. Paul D. Linkenhoker, Taji Coalition base commander, at a Sept. 5 staff meeting.
“We are all brothers,” said Abbas. “When one suffers tragedy, we all suffer their pain.”
The amount of money is small in American dollars - roughly $680 - but it represents a huge act of compassion from Iraqi soldiers to their American counterparts, said U.S. Army Maj. Michael Goyne.
“I was overwhelmed by the amount of their generosity,” Goyne said. “I was proud and happy to know Col. Abbas, his officers, NCOs and fellow soldiers. That amount represents a month’s salary for most of those soldiers.”
Abbas read a letter he wrote after giving the envelope to Linkenhoker.
“I am Colonel Abbas Fadhil; Tadji Military Base Commander,” Abbas wrote. “On behalf of myself and all the People of Tadji Military Base; I would like to console the American People and Government for getting this horrible disaster. So we would like to donate 1.000.000 Iraqi Dinars to help the government and the People also I would like to console all the ASTs who helped us rebuilding our country and our Army. We appreciate the American’s help and support. Thank you.”
Another awesome story of a local business going above and beyond the call of duity.
JS Online: Soda-bottling workers pour hearts into aid
Pete Caruso, president of Black Bear Bottling Group, which produces Black Bear soda, and his 32 employees have been working longer hours these days to produce bottled water for shipment to hurricane victims in the Gulf Coast region. The Oak Creek-based company took on the task in cooperation with the City of Oak Creek and the Oak Creek Water Utility, for which Black Bear produces the Claire Baie-brand bottled water. About 15,552 bottles of water were taken by truck by Karl’s Event Rental to the disaster area two weeks ago. Oak Creek Mayor Dick Bolender and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) have worked feverishly in the last two weeks to get have more shipments taken on an expedited basis by the 440th Airlift Wing, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency canceled the order, saying the region had enough water. However, Bolender spoke with a pastor in Jackson, Miss., who said more water was needed, so the mayor lined up local trucking companies willing to help. Quad/Graphics will drive 51,840 more bottles of water to the region today. Caruso, 45, chatted with reporter Linda Spice.
Go read the whole interview and buy a case of Black Bear today!
I guess she missed her spotlight so she had to do something stupid enough to be noticed again. What a moron!
DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005®
Celebrity anti-war protester, fresh off inking a lucrative deal with Speaker’s Bureau, has demanded at the HUFFINGTON POST and MICHAEL MOORE’S website that the United States military must immediately leave ‘occupied’ New Orleans.“I don’t care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I donÕt care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don’t care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they donÕt fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest.”
Sheehan is in the middle of a bus trip across America in support of her cause.
Developing…
Just a quick comment on the Milwaukee NAACP and ACLU’s protesting cursory background checks on those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Why do they always have to see these things as racial moves? They are doing it to protect everyone there, especially the kids. When you have a few hundred people including many children, living in close proximity, wouldn’t it be wise to know if there is someone there that may prey on these people? Or would they rather wait until some child was molested? How loud would they scream if a predator would have rapped a child in their midst? If that happened, you know they would be angry that no one knew there was a sexual predator among them.
I should dedicate more time on this, but all this “made up” hate is just sickening, but you can read more here.
I forgot to mention this the other day, but the federal version of Amie’s Law is moving ahead.
Amie’s Law passes House, now heading to Senate
A bill that would focus more attention on sexual predators that has been pushed by a Waukesha County victim is one step closer to reality.The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the bill known as “Amie’s Law,” after the 17-year-old Hamilton High School student who has pushed for changes in sex offender notification. It now goes to the U.S. Senate.
Amie Zyla was assaulted when she was 8 by Joshua Wade, of Waukesha, when he was 14. Wade was eventually convicted and served time at the Ethan Allen school.
Wade was again arrested in January on charges of sexual assault and that’s when Amie Zyla and her father, Mark, of Waukesha, decided to take action.
Check the full story for full details.
As I mentioned in my Open Letter to Wisconsin Republicans, Mark Belling has called for changes in the state GOP.
GMTODAY.com: Gard becoming a GOP sellout
State legislative Republicans, having been rolled all year by Gov. Jim Doyle, need to fire their coaches. The state Senate Republican leader, Dale Schultz, has been a disaster, offering no alternative to Doyle’s taxing and spending while trying to kill proposals like the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. State Assembly Speaker John Gard has far more ability and potential than Schultz, which makes him a much bigger disappointment.Gard is running for the Green Bay-area congressional seat being vacated by Mark Green’s decision to run for governor. Two other Assembly members are also considering the race. This gives Gard an incredible conflict of interest in trying to lead Assembly Republicans. Gard the congressional candidate has a very different agenda than Gard the speaker. Gard’s failure to support a state budget that spent less money than Doyle’s bloated proposal had a lot to do with his congressional race and not wanting to offend political interests. Likewise, his opposition to a proposal to cut the state gas tax stems from his courting of road builders for campaign contributions in the congressional campaign.
Gard has been co-opted. The John Gard I used to know sneered at tired GOP sellouts like Dale Schultz and Mike Ellis (another Senate Republican moderate). But the Gard of 2005 has become what he used to detest. The combination of his personal political motivations and his frustration over being outmaneuvered by Doyle has rendered him useless to his Republican Assembly members. If he doesn’t know enough to quit, they need to replace him.
(more…)
Can you imagine what would have happened if a Republican threatened to punch President Clinton? But a Democratic Senator threatens to punch President Bush on national TV and no one notices… Nope, no media bias here.
Sen. Landrieu Threatens to ‘Punch’ President
Senator Mary Landrieu, the Democrat of Louisiana (whose father was a mayor of New Orleans), appears to have finally found her voice after offering only cautious criticism of the federal relief effort in the hurricane catastrophe earlier in the week. Today she promised to literally “punch” anyone, “including the president,” who continued to question the local response to the tragedy, considering the gross federal misconduct.Appearing on ABC’s “The Week” TV program this morning, Senator Landrieu still appeared to be smarting from President Bush’s comments, during his national radio address, that state and local bore a fair share of blame for the slow response. On a copter tour of the area, Landrieu said that if she heard any more criticism from federal officials, particularly about the evacuation of New Orleans, she might lose control.
“If one person criticizes them or says one more thing - including the president of the United States - he will hear from me,” she said on the ABC program. “One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally.”
Does Senator Landrieu realize that threatening violence against the President is illegal?
The Legislative Audit Bureau has finished their investigation of Wisconsin’s vote fraud… What a mess, but we knew that already.
(Full report in .pdf)
Voter Registration - Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau
Voter registration helps to ensure that qualified electors are allowed to vote and to prevent ineligible persons from voting. In Wisconsin, it is required by statute in 172 municipalities with populations of more than 5,000, and locally in 167 smaller municipalities. Currently, 28.9 percent of the voting-age population is not required to register before voting. However, beginning in January 2006, the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 and 2003 Wisconsin Act 265 will require voter registration statewide.
Rep. Jeskewitz, Sen. Roessler: Audit Finds Significant Problems With Voter Registration Practices
Today, the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) released an audit of voter registration in Wisconsin. Representative Suzanne Jeskewitz (R-Menomonee Falls) and Senator Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh), co-chairpersons of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, stated that the audit addresses 11 specific recommendations to the State Elections Board to improve administration of the voter registration process.Roessler stated, “We want to strictly adhere to the Legislative Audit Bureau’s recommendations to eliminate statutory conflicts and provide uniform voter registration procedures training.”
Voter registration is required by statute in only 172 large municipalities. Another 167 smaller municipalities have chosen to maintain voter registration lists. LAB surveyed municipal clerks from the 172 large municipalities and found great variation in the implementation of existing voter registration laws. For example, although address verification cards are the primary tool available to municipal clerks for verifying the residency of registered voters and detecting improper registrations, 46.0 percent of municipalities responding to the survey did not send address verification cards to individuals who registered by mail or at the polls on Election Day in November 2004.
JS Online: State audit shows voter list inconsistencies
Inconsistencies on voter registration lists across the state mean that the election rolls contain duplicate records and names of voters who aren’t eligible to vote, according to a legislative audit released this morning.In one of the first looks at statewide voting registration procedures, the audit by the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau reviewed more than 348,000 electronic voter registration records from eight municipalities and found 3,116 records that showed individuals who are registered more than once.
Thanks to reader Michael Litscher for passing along Madison’s coverage of the report.
The Capital Times
Can one vote early and often in Madison?According to state auditors, Madison’s voter registration list from the November 2004 election had the names of 388 deceased people on it.
The Legislative Audit Bureau report, released this morning, also found that 57 felons voted illegally in Madison during that election.
Jessica McBride got her second stint on WTMJ last night. With my power outage problems, things have been hectic around here and I almost forgot she was on last night, but I was able to record the last 40 minutes of her show and listen to it this morning at work (I love my mp3 player )
I hope she gets more time, she has a real knack for talk radio.
Does this even surprise anyone anymore?
The Badger Herald: Sex offender returned to UW office Aug. 22
A professor who was convicted of child enticement reported to work at the University of Wisconsin Aug. 22, the first official day of the faculty semester, according to the chair of the Department of Comparative Literature.Registered sex offender Lewis Keith Cohen, a professor in the department, continued to occupy his office in Van Hise Hall until yesterday, remaining on the UW payroll the entire time.
Hat tip: Charlie Sykes
Milwaukee has a few things we do better than anywhere else in the country. Milwaukee has earned the nickname City of Festivals for good reason, we host the worlds largest music festival with Summerfest, we also hold some of the largest ethnic festivals in the world, including Festa Italiana, Polish Fest, German Fest, Irish Fest, African World Festival, Indian Summer, Mexican Fiesta. This is something we actually do right. Most, if not all of these festivals include fireworks displays, and thanks to Bartolotta Fireworks, we have several of the best fireworks displays in the word… Or I should say, we had some of the best fireworks in the world.
Thanks to a bonehead in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the small island that is in the little bay adjacent to the Henry Maier Festival Grounds that has been used for years as the launching pad of the several massive fireworks displays each year was given by the city to the state a few years ago. The state made this tiny island a state park (even though it is so small that you can stand in the middle and almost spit into the water on all four sides). The DNR has notified Summerfest, which runs the grounds, that they will no longer be allowed to use the island for fireworks. They claim that since it is now a state park, it must be open to the public 365 days of the year and with the fireworks, the island would have to be closed for 45 days. This DNR Knothead Clarke Johnson the park superintendent thinks that it is more important that the island stay open for the 5 people and flocks of seagulls that infest that little piece of grass than it is for the hundreds of thousands of people each year that enjoy The Big Bang and all of the other festival fireworks throughout the summer.
The DNR clown Johnson suggests they get a barge or use the Pier Wisconsin breakwater to launch the fireworks, but a barge is too small and expensive and they would never be able to do the ground effect fireworks that they can do in the island. The Pier Wisconsin idea is even more asinine… You can’t see it from most of the Summerfest Grounds.
I think a few people need to get phone calls and emails so we can get this asinine ruling reversed!
We can change this foolish decision folks, start writing, calling and don’t forget to pass this along to your friends!
JS Online: Lakeshore State Park ejects fireworks
The Department of Natural Resources lighted a fuse Thursday by saying that the traditional fireworks displays at Summerfest and many ethnic festivals would have to be launched from some other location than the new Lakeshore State Park.The site, which juts from the Lake Michigan shoreline and has been used by Summerfest for the past several years, was acquired from the City of Milwaukee in May by the Department of Natural Resources.
Clarke Johnson of the DNR, who is superintendent of the park, told the Milwaukee World Festival Inc. Board of Directors that construction of new facilities on the peninsula would prevent any fireworks there next year.
But DNR officials say the larger issue - even after construction is completed - is access. The park is supposed to be open to the public 365 days a year, but fireworks displays force it to be closed for safety reasons.
The jury got the case in mid-afternoon and returned a guilty verdict on all counts before dinner, now that’s the way it should be done!
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