Posted on Sun, Aug 29th 2010 at 10:08 AM by Roland_Melnick

Snagged this from SilentE:

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Posted on Sat, Aug 28th 2010 at 11:08 PM by Patrick Dorwin

I’m a lucky guy, I got to spend the day with some of the most awesome people you could hope to meet. For the second year in a row, ChrisFromRacine and her family opened their home on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan, to a bunch of us bloggers. Fortunately, the weather was great, unlike last years freak cold snap, but last year we had a chili cook-off, so it all worked out!

I hate to start listing folks that were there, because I always forget someone, I appologize in advance if you are the one I forget Our favorite ‘Ol Broad drove all the way from Podunk Tn. again this year. Chad & Frank were also there before I arrived. Our own Glenn made it as did Mr. & Mrs. Real Debate & Dean. Phelony Jones joined us from the urban Hang Suite and Sarandipity even braved an attack from a wild beast to join the fun. Speaking of wild beasts, the The Asian Badger also joined us, as did The Silent E. After finishing his radio show for the day, WTMJ‘s James T. Harris came down to join us. He brought his iPad, pretty impressive gizmo! Jimi was also there, and I hope to link to some of his awesome pictures of the moonrise over the lake.

We finished the evening with a little bonfire, complete with marshmallows, and an awesome view of the moonrise over Lake Michigan.

Thanks again to Chris & Jamie, I’m sure I speak for everyone (even the people I forgot), we all had a wonderful day!

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Posted on Fri, Aug 27th 2010 at 05:08 AM by Patrick Dorwin

Time for another Weekend Open Line. Feel free to post anything you you think needs attention, it’s your chance to drive the conversation on the blog.

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Posted on Thu, Aug 26th 2010 at 10:08 PM by Roland_Melnick

So let me get this straight…the same Joe Conason who blames George W. Bush for the Gulf oil spill…refers to the Iraq/Afghanistan wars as the Crushing Legacy of Bush…and just thinks GWB is a plain old liar…now wants to call on his favorite pariah to clean up this whole mess over the Ground Zero mosque.

The deepest responsibility falls upon George W. Bush, who could silence the worst excesses of his fellow Republicans and conservatives with a simple statement backing his successor. [emphasis added]

Uh, Joe. Bush hasn’t been President for about 19 months now. In that time, President Obama has publicly blamed Bush for climate/economy/unemployment/etc/etc at least as many times as Obama has gone golfing. Now you want Bush’s help?

Unless Conason is trying to expand his appeal through the use of sarcasm…it amazes me that people can seriously write stuff like this. Conason is like the criminal who breaks into an old lady’s house, slips and falls in her kitchen then sues her for his medical bills. Such misplaced righteousness would have made a drunken Teddy Kennedy flinch.

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Posted on Thu, Aug 26th 2010 at 09:08 PM by Roland_Melnick

In the past year there has been a lot of talk about funding for the Milwaukee Public Schools. Everything from serious issues like gold-plated health plans to the embarrassing, unethical expenditures by board members have provided a constant theme that MPS lacks real fiscal responsibility. The teachers’ union, the MTEA, apparently feels no responsibility for and bears no concern about a budget out of control. They were willing to wager teachers’ jobs on a federal bailout that will let them keep all the pay and bennies while retaining some…not all…of the jobs once in peril. Those costs being picked up by the Feds will not only return next year, they will grow.

In a recent debate with incumbent State Senator Jeff Plale, his opponent, MilCo Supervisor Chris Larson, commented on funding for MPS. Demonstrating that he is the bought-and-paid-for union candidate, he invoked a rather crass characterization of this issue.

From Zach at BloggingBlue.com:

Larson noted battle #1 is fixing the funding flaw that results in MPS losing $50 million per year to districts in other parts of the state, adding, “the rest of the state is getting the butter off our bread.”

As in “we are entitled to that money.” REALLY? Last time I checked, the state picks up the tab for about 58% of MPS’ annual budget. According to the Office of the Milwaukee City Treasurer’s own numbers, the State kicks in $695,778,554 out of an approximate $1.2 billion dollar budget. Sounds like the State…as in EVERYONE in this State is doing a pretty good job at buttering your bread for you, Mr. Larson.

This guy wants access to our State budget? Anyone think Larson will be anything but a yes vote for anything and everything MTEA wants, including “Viva Viagra?”

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Posted on Thu, Aug 26th 2010 at 11:08 AM by Patrick Dorwin

Have you heard Mark Neumann’s latest ad? He is ripping Tom Barrett and Scott Walker for being career politicians running negative ads, while he himself has been running sleazy ads for months, and the only reason he isn’t a career politician, is because he has lost three election.

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Posted on Thu, Aug 26th 2010 at 10:08 AM by Patrick Dorwin

JS TO VOTERS: DROP DEAD

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Posted on Thu, Aug 26th 2010 at 09:08 AM by J. Rawson Schaller

Do you have any idea how hard you have to work to let a domain name expire? They start sending you renewal reminders like six months ahead of time!

This is how Tom Barrett treats matters of ‘general housekeeping’ related to something as sacred as his campaign’s website? And this guy seriously wants to be governor of a state his party has brought to the brink of fiscal insolvency?

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Posted on Tue, Aug 24th 2010 at 04:08 PM by J. Rawson Schaller

The Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard escape continues. Today, the FLOTUS lunched sans family at the exclusive private club The Boathouse in Edgartown, while nearly 200 onlookers braved the wind and rain, hoping to see her.

The Cape Cod Times probed one of Mrs. Obama’s smitten fans, asking why she’d endure the elements outside the exclusive restaurant in hopes of a brief wave from the first lady. Her response?

“I have two granddaughters, and they remind me of her two children.”

We’ve never accused Obama supporters of being deep thinkers.

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Posted on Tue, Aug 24th 2010 at 10:08 AM by Patrick Dorwin

As someone that knew Brandon Sprewer and many of his friends, this pleases me.

Conviction upheld in death of local Special Olympian

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