Halloween: This is a night that I hated for seven years of my life… No, it’s not because I was afraid of the boogie man when I was a kid, but because I was a cab driver here in Milwaukee. It was a dangerous job to begin with , then add people sitting behind you wearing a disguise could make things a little more unnerving.
Milwaukee World is reporting: FOE EYES BARRETT SEAT
Attorney Andrew J. Shaw filed the paperwork that makes him the first announced candidate against Mayor Tom Barrett. I sure hope we get better choices as time goes on…
Alderman Bob Bauman’s home in the area of 29 & Wisconsin was burglarized this morning. Fortunately no one was home and they only lost a laptop, TV and other small electronics.
Brian Fraley has the details, but the short story is, earlier this morning, The Slumlord (County Board Chair Lee Holloway) and Supervisor Gerry Broderick have slipped in a pay increase for the board, something they have tried to do in the past. We need to put an end to this last minute attempt by the already bloated and under-worked county board.
You can find phone numbers at Fraley’s or at my County Board Contact List.
Technorati Tags: Milwaukee County Board
[where: Milwaukee Wi.]I would like to direct this post only at people who: a) Have children in the MPS system, and/or; b) Own a home in the City of Milwaukee, and ACTUALLY pay your property taxes.
Yesterday, in an underhanded attempt to stick it to Milwaukee taxpayers yet again, MPS went public with a plan to increase the school tax levy on properties in the City of Milwaukee by 16.4% on the SAME DAY they planned to vote on it. How many of you increased your incomes last year by 16.4%? Did any of your costs of living (gas, heating, electric, groceries, etc.) decrease by 16.4%?
This morning, J/S Online reports that a grand total of six of you showed up at the MPS Board meeting last night to speak on this proposed 16.4% tax increase. Oh, there were a bunch of hacks there, as usual, shilling for the unions (it’s their job, they get paid to do it) telling the MPS Board why it MUST pass this tax increase (on the day they disclosed it to the public)… the hacks all got quoted by the reporters, talking about how it would be “courageous” to pass this tax increase…
No, what would be courageous would be to stand up to this failing system, with administrators spilling out the windows of that building over on Vliet, and telling them: “Enough is enough. We’re not going to accept failure anymore. You have historically proven that more money does not produce better results, yet you keep coming back to steal from the property taxpayers time and time again. Well, not this time.”
But instead, six of you showed up to oppose this larceny - SIX - and only one of you gets quoted in the paper as being “forced into the dilemma” of whether you can afford to stay in Milwaukee. Your “dilemma” should be why you keep voting such ineffective leaders into positions where they spend your money. They’re laughing their arses off at what a bunch of sheep you all are.
City of Milwaukee residents, if you honestly have enough money to take a 16.4% property tax increase to support a system that has historically failed miserably, lying down, without so much as putting up a little bit of a fight, my advice to you would be to take ALL that extra money that’s burning holes in your pockets and get yourselves out of the City of Milwaukee; get your kids out of MPS, give them a chance at a real education, and a real livelihood someday… instead of substandard schools run by a bunch of trough-feeders who are more concerned about their pensions and benefits than the fact that your kids are statistically most likely not to graduate from MPS with a high school diploma.
Stop letting these people spread crap on your toast and then convince you it’s a prime rib sandwich. Milwaukee has the second highest unemployment in the United States, second only to the cesspool of Detroit, and this school system is largely to blame. Don’t let them keep raping the taxpayers, with the taxpayers just saying, “thank you, please do it again”. If not for yourselves, do it for your fellow Wisconsinites, who keep pumping money into that one little corner of the state, hoping taxpaying citizens in Milwaukee come to their senses some day.
State Representative Garey Bies gets the picture. This article about truth in sentencing in Wisconsin also quotes a couple of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judges who apparently have little tolerance for those in the system who violate terms of their ”extended supervision”.
From the article:
“I think the (parole/probation) agent’s recommendation is getting lost in the process,” Bizzaro said. “This is the person who has had the most contact with the offender, and it’s important that the recommendation not be overlooked.”
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David A. Hansher termed the department’s resentencing recommendations “ludicrously low” in a case that advanced to the state Supreme Court. The court upheld Hansher’s rejection of the recommendation in that case, and Hansher said this week that his position hasn’t changed.
“I stand by what I said in that case,” he said. “The recommendations are ridiculously low, and they’re based on an inflexible grid.”
DON’T PANIC!
Presidential hopeful, Rep. Dennis Kucinich has just received the dual endorsement of Zaphod Beeblebrox, the former President of the Galaxy. He get the dual endorsement only after Zaphod’s left head poured the second Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster down the right heads throat, in effect, beating it into submission, garnering the endorsement of both heads.
In his statement, Beeblebrox said that since the Earth is mostly harmless, what difference does it make who leads the third most intelligent species in sector zed zed 9 plural zed alpha? And if Humma Kavula can win with his “Don’t vote for stupid” campaign, Kucinich is a shoe in! However, we must remember that, “the purpose of the president of the galaxy is not to exercise power, it is to distract attention from the people who are really exercising power.”
Beeblebrox’s semi half brother, (sharing three of the same mothers) Ford Prefect cryptically said of the endorsement, “If you want to survive out here, you’ve got to know where your towel is.”
When long time confidant, Marvin was asked of his bosses endorsement, he simply replied, “Depressing, isn’t it? It will all end in tears!”
When asked who he would vote for on the first Tuesday of November, the ape decedent Arthur Dent replied, “I never could get the hang of Tuesdays”
Trillian warns us that when we enter the voting booth, remember, buttons aren’t toys!
Democratic candidate ’saw UFO’
In the US election campaign’s most startling revelation yet, a Democratic congressman running for president said he once saw a UFO over actress Shirley MacLaine’s home.Dennis Kucinich was asked during a Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia about the claim in a book by MacLaine, quoted in US media in advance of publication.
“I did,” said Kucinich to laughter from the audience.
Left unclear were details of the alleged sighting in Washington state, during which MacLaine says the politician saw a silent, triangular craft and “felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind”.
Just breaking, but there was a moderate earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area.
I know we have been overdosing on the Alderthug today with one of Milwaukee’s biggest poverty pimps blaming the system for having McGee in jail instead of finding a way to give her money to misuse, instead of blaming McGee for being a criminal… She’s such a great roll model, huh?
We also have McGee, from jail, trying to use police department funding to finance citizen patrols.
But we have some more court updates in the case. One of McGee’s co-defendants, Dimitrius L. Jackson, accepted a plea deal and agreed to testify against McGee. Jackson still faces up to 18 months in prison. Proof & Hearsay has details and documents.
Also, McGee’s attorney has had the state charges delayed again. As of now, the trial will begin on March 3rd.
With the holidays fast approaching, keep this guy in mind the next time you head over to Mayfair to do a little shopping. A man received his seventh disorderly conduct citation in eight years at Mayfair Mall last week, WauwatosaNow reports:
“According to police, a mall security guard watched as the man came up behind a woman entering the mall and caught her in a big bear hug. The guard walked over to the woman to make sure all was OK and the woman responded that she knew the man, so all was fine.
The man then asked the guard what his problem was and proceeded to challenge the guard, saying “You want a piece of me? It’s going to take more than seven of you.”
He continued to challenge the guard as he walked into the mall.
Security asked the couple to leave, but the man refused and yelled profanities.
He also yelled that the police would need more officers to restrain him and that he had been locked up before for beating up cops.
After a struggle to get him out of the mall and into a squad car, the man started banging his head on the rear window of the squad. Once at the police station the man refused to get out of the squad car, and once officers got him out, he pulled up his legs so he dropped on the ground, landing on his face, according to the report. He did not allow police to take any fingerprints or photos, and he refused to answer questions.”
Upon arrival to the police station, was he greeted by Mayor Estness with a warm embrace?
When our system mollycoddles the anti-social, it should surprise no one that our society is becoming filled with jerks like this, walking around like they’re the only people who matter, making life less pleasant for all the rest of us. It makes me wonder: What could this guy possibly do for a living?
At a time when we are trying to find more money for the Milwaukee Police Department to fight the violent crime in this city, jailed alderman Michael McGee/Jackson Jr. believes that we should remove a half million dollars from the MPD budget to pay for civilian patrols like his own Rapid Response Team
Ald. McGee Offers Budget Amendment Favoring Civilian Patrols
A 2008 budget amendment being offered by Ald. Mike McGee, Jr. would take $500,000 from the Milwaukee Police Department and use it to fund unarmed civilian patrols, according to the alderman’s office.The amendment proposes reducing the MPD’s salary account (which includes overtime funds) and establishes a special purpose account whereby Common Council members could offer resolutions requesting a release of funds.
UPDATE: $500,000 for McGee’s Citizens On Patrol, will the results be any different than this?
Eugene Kane “calls for answers” in a rant in today’s Journal/Sentinel, claiming that the residents of the 6th District (specifically Jeannetta Robinson, and her denied funding requests) are victims of “taxation without representation”:
“The gist of her long voice mail was that residents in the 6th District are in dire straits. Their alderman is still behind bars, so they have no voice at City Hall.
After McGee was taken into custody in May without bail on myriad charges, Robinson said she was assured by some in City Hall that the 6th District’s business would continue uninterrupted.
She said that hasn’t been the case. She’s particularly upset that African-American aldermen haven’t stepped up to help the 6th District. She named Willie Hines, Willie Wade and Ashanti Hamilton.
“I think he’s been denied due process. He should be allowed to represent us. Otherwise, it’s taxation without representation.
I [Kane] couldn’t argue with her.”
Why is Eugene Kane so willing to point Jeannetta Robinson’s finger at everyone other than the thug alderman that 6th District residents anointed “bigger than Jesus” in a recall election? It’s not like the guy ran a red light and got tossed in jail for four months. (Does he even have a driver’s license? We are, after all, still paying him a car allowance, remember?) He’s “The Gatekeeper“, right?
According to Kane, Robinson says, it’s time to “save the children, stop the killing“… and having McGee out of jail would accomplish this how, exactly? This is how screwed up Milwaukee is. An elected official sits in jail on twenty-one state and federal charges for things that would make the Lombardo family blush, and his defenders blame “the system” for robbing them of their voice at city hall.
With all due respect to Ms. Robinson, who has done good things for the community, “the system” never really provisioned for elected leaders planning a “beat down” on the taxpayers’ time. “Taxation without representation“, what an unbelievable joke.
Try being a middle-aged male business owner, with no children in the public school system, who receives no government assistance whatsoever, and who isn’t part of a protected class. I’ll show you “taxation without representation”, Eugene. Quit your whining and stop looking to city hall to solve all the problems that fatherless families, bad education, drug abuse, liberal policy and lack of a moral compass have brought upon your community.
Kane and his disciples are living in a different world.
Our failure of a school system is coming to the trough again
MPS wants to increase property tax levy by 16.4%
And that’s not all, remember last year when some bureaucrat made a mistake and MPS didn’t get everything they wanted, they are tacking it on to this years tax bill, so you can expect to actually see your MPS portion of your property tax bill bloat by some 21%.
I don’t know about any of you, but I didn’t get a 21%, or even a 16% increase in my wages last year… not even close, like most of you. So we get less (again) and the school system in Milwaukee will continue to fail. More money, should equal better results, but not here.
So assume the position… INCOMING!
UPDATE: Before accepting this tax increase, watch this video from WISN TV news:
Sorry gang, I have been quiet today because my brain has shut down… Okay, some think it has been shut down for a while now, but I thought I would give you all a heads up and a chance to drive the blog again. Consider this an open thread to use and abuse as you please. If you want to talk about the Packers game tonight, feel free, since I doubt I will make it to kick-off, I’ll need a recap of the huge Packers victory in the morning.
V/STOL: Vertical / Short Take Off & Landing
This edition of Warbird Porn will look at the fighter jets that have the amazing capability to take off straight up, or, with a heavy payload, use a very short runway, or even a straight stretch of road.
Development: Harrier Jump Jet
In the late 1950s, NATO was looking for a new aircraft to fulfill the Light Tactical Support Fighter role. The British company Hawker Aircraft began work on a new aircraft type with a directed thrust engine that they believed would suit this roll. They began work with no funding from the British government, though they did get some funding through NATO its self. NATO had expected an aircraft with greater performance and canceled the project in 1965.
However, Hawker (later Hawker Siddeley) continued with the project and a group of British, US and German pilots evaluated the aircraft in 1966 and it was adopted by the British as the GR.1 and by 1970, the United States Marine Corps convinced Congress that this was the perfect aircraft for the Marines because of its ability to land and take off from the forward bases that Marines operate from, and it became the AV-8 Harrier.
In the 1980s, there was an improved version adopted, the British called it the Sea Harrier, because of their use from aircraft carriers, and the USMC version, built under contract by McDonnell Douglas-BAe/Boeing became the AV-8B Harrier II.
How it works
All versions of the Harrier use a single engine, but instead of the exhaust being directed out the back to produce thrust, as it is in conventional aircraft, the Harrier thrust is directed into ducts that are placed around the aircraft. The four main ducts are placed against the side of the craft, and each has a swiveling nozzle that can be pointed back for normal flight, or down for the vertical and short take off and landings. There are also smaller ducts in the wing tips, the nose and tail of the plane, these ducts allow the aircraft to maneuver while in V/STOL operation. This means that the Harrier can fly sideways, backward or pivot on its axis.
This ability to vector, or direct the thrust of the aircraft has another advantage, it can be used in in air to air combat. While in a dogfight, the Harrier pilot can use the movable nozzles to push the aircraft in ways that a conventional fighter jet can not, giving this slow fighter an extreme maneuverability advantage over faster opponents.
The main disadvantage of the Harrier is its slow speed. The maximum speed of the latest models of AV-8B’s is only 675mph at sea level, well below Mach 1. However, the fighter role is not the primary mission of the Harrier, it’s main mission is the ground attack role. The Harrier has a 25MM cannon mounted in a pod on the belly, and it also has sever hardpoints that can carry 13,200lbs of ordinance including iron bombs, cluster bombs, napalm canisters, laser-guided bombs, AGM-65 Maverick missiles, a LITENING targeting pod, up to four AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. Radar equipped AV-8B+ variants can carry up to four AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles.
V/STOL in the future
There is a new V/STOL fighter on the horizon, it is the Joint Strike Fighter program F-35 Lightning II. This aircraft has the advantages of the Harrier, with the ability to fly at Mach 1.6 (1,200 mph). It also uses Stealth technology. Unlike the Harrier’s directed thrust engines, the F-35’s entire rear engine nozzle can rotate down, and behind the cockpit, there is a very powerful fan that is embedded in the plane, when in the V/STOL mode, doors open on the top and bottom of the plane and this fan is used to provide lift at low speeds
While the U.S. will be the major user of the F-35 in the future, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Australia and Turkey have all contributed to the development of this aircraft and are expected to purchase over 3,000 F-35’s over the next 20 years, making this one of the most commonly used aircraft in the world.
Let’s take a look!
This video shows the special capabilities of both the Harrier and the F-35.
A Marine Corps Harrier hovering over the flight deck of an American Aircraft Carrier.
The next generation of V/STOL, the F-35 Lighting II.
A great look at the fan that provides the vertical lift on the F-35 at low speeds. When in normal flight, the doors on the top and bottom close, allowing this sleek little fighter to fly at Mach 1.6.