John Kerry says he supports the troops

It is a little hard to believe considering the stupid things that continue to come out of his mouth.

James Taranto says it best:

John Kerry appeared yesterday at Pasadena City College to campaign for Phil Angelides, Democratic challenger to California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is from the Pasadena Star-News's report on the event:

Kerry then told the students that if they were able to navigate the education system, they could get comfortable jobs--"If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said to a mixture of laughter and gasps.

YouTube has video. It turns out "comfortable jobs" was a paraphrase; here is the direct quote:

You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq[**].

What a stirring call to self-service from this war hero and patriot.

* But he supports the troops!

** He might have added, "fighting in a war that I voted for."

Forum/Debate tonight

A liberal group is putting on a forum/debate tonight at Kenosha's Northside Library.

Several of our candidates and friends will be involved in this forum.

Dave Beth for Kenosha County Sheriff

Brenda Maurer Witthun for Clerk of Courts

Matt Augustine will be supporting the argument for the death penalty referendum.

We also have a person supporting the constitutional amendment on defining marriage between one man and one women.

Everyone attending the forum will be given a chance to write up questions to be asked during the forum.

Any friendly faces that we can get to this forum/debate to support our people would be great.

See you tonight @ 7:00 at the Northside Library in Kenosha, the library is on the corner of 15 Street and 27th Avenue. 1500 27th Avenue

Kate has moved

Kate, from Ol' Broad's ramblings has made the switch from Blogger to Word Press.

Visit Kate at her new website- http://olbroad.wordpress.com/

Crime is on the rise

Yet, MJS has decided that Dolye is tougher on crime than Mark Green. There #1 reason for supporting Doyle over Green?

Conceal and carry!



But the state's top executive must be more than just tough. He must be smart. Our review of the record suggests that Doyle is both tougher and smarter than Green on crime and that in one critical area, Green is too soft. We base this on his views on guns.

Green faults Doyle for Wisconsin's rising rate of violent crime, particularly in Milwaukee. According to FBI data, the state rate fell by 2% in 2003 from the previous year and by 5% in 2004 and then rose sharply, by 15%, in 2005. The corresponding Milwaukee rate fluctuated more dramatically, falling by 7% and 12% and then soaring by 31% - worrisome, indeed. Though it wasn't as steep as here, an uptick took place throughout the nation in 2005 - suggesting the causes may transcend state borders.

On one important issue - guns - Doyle is head and shoulders above Green. Through his veto power, Doyle kept Wisconsin from adopting a misguided concealed-carry law. There are already too many guns out there, and there are some places they should never be, concealed or not. Green, in contrast, backs a concealed-carry law.

Here is how MJS feels about conceal and carry-

On one important issue - guns - Doyle is head and shoulders above Green. Through his veto power, Doyle kept Wisconsin from adopting a misguided concealed-carry law. There are already too many guns out there, and there are some places they should never be, concealed or not. Green, in contrast, backs a concealed-carry law.

It's called the internet

USA Today headline-

Daily circulation falls 2.8% at U.S. newspapers, 3.4% on Sunday

That would be the influence of the internet and the fact that a percentage of Americans are disenchanted with the media coverage today.

By the way, Al Gore said he invented the internet. Hopefully he is cashing in on the internet rampage.

When does this stop?

Drinking and driving- when does it stop?

Three innocent young men died at the hands of a drunk driver this weekend-

Two of Sia Her's sons, Ju Her, 22, and Pelg Her, 17, both of the 5200 block of N. 58th St., and their cousin, Anthony Herr, 17, of the 7900 block of W. Mill Road, were killed early Saturday on their way home from a visit to a haunted house by a suspected drunken driver. The Hers' 23-year-old brother, Touyia Her, was in critical condition at Froedtert on Saturday night.

We all know drinking and driving is against the law and yet, millions across America continue to do it. Why?

It is time to prevent drinking and driving.

MJS endorses a candidate for the 5th congressional district

This is almost laughable.

It comes as no shock that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has not endorsed Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner.

Editorial: It's time to send the congressman home

This is what they have to say:

Sensenbrenner has been wrong on too much, from an immigration policy that puts him at odds with much of his own party and the business community to failure to exert meaningful oversight over White House domestic spying policies.

What is staggering is this is exactly the reason the most conservative district in Wisconsin will overwhelmingly send Sensenbrenner back to Washington.

Without looking it up- quickly name Sensenbrenner's opponent. Can't do it?

His name is Bryan Kennedy and the MJS has chosen to endorse him.

The really funny thing about this ringing endorsement for Kennedy is that Sensenbrenner's name is mentioned 17 times in this article. Kennedy's is only mention 5 times.

Clearly MJS is only concerned about having a moderate in the 5th congressional district.

No doubt, the district loses something in experience and seniority if Sensenbrenner goes. But a return to more moderate positions and tone, especially on immigration and guns, is well worth that price.

Obviously, MJS believes that the representative that would best represent their values is Kennedy. However, Sensenbrenner represents the people in the 5th congressional distict.

Careful now, MJS, your bias and hatred towards conservatives is starting to show again.

This guy is running for Senate?

From the Drudge Report-

ALLEN'S REVENGE: EXPOSES UNDERAGE SEX SCENES IN OPPONENT'S NOVELS

Sen. George Allen, R-VA, unleashed a press release late Thursday that exposed his rival's(Jim Webb) fiction writing, which includes graphic underage sex scenes.

Jim Webb defends himself-

"It's not a sexual act," Webb told Plotkin regarding the "Lost Soldiers" excerpt. "I actually saw this happen in a slum in Bangkok when I was there as a journalist."

Not a sexual act? These same Democrats were not spouting this garbage when the Foley scandal broke.

I cannot believe that the guy who wrote lurid novels is running for the US Senate. But he is a Democrat so he gets a pass.

Congratulations St. Louis Cardinals!

After backing their way into the playoffs, the St. Louis Cardinals just won the world series.

Cardinals rule baseball world

Just think- the Brewers almost knocked the Cardinals out of the playoffs during the last weekend of regular season baseball.

This is not a joke

I have no idea who's idea of a sick joke this might be, but it isn't funny.

Substance at Clinton's office not toxic

What I do not understand is how this package managed to get thru to Clinton's assistant. After all, Bill Clinton is a former President and is still protected by the secret service.

Real Debate Wisconsin: Breaking News: Governor Doyle to Wisconsin Realtors, endorse me or else!

Real Debate Wisconsin: Breaking News: Governor Doyle to Wisconsin Realtors, endorse me or else!

Fred from Real Debate Wisconsin has broken another pay for play scandal.

Of course, the Doyle campaign will deny any wrongdoing and this will come down to the word of the WRA against Jim Doyle's reputation.

It is easy to say that Doyle's reputation when it comes to "pay for play" politics is no longer credible.

What has clearly become evident over the last couple of years is that if you pay Doyle's campaign, you will be richly rewarded. I you do not pay the Doyle campaign, you are on the outside looking in.

Sorry folks.

Sorry folks, I have been attempting to post today and Blogger has been down.

After the election, I am thru with Blogger.

Is the Greater Wisconsin PAC misrepresenting the real facts

This email was sent to me by my friend Deborah Bowers. Deb was told by her local newspaper that they would not print this letter to the editor this close to the election. (Clearly the media have no problem running an ad that is not truthful, but they do take issue with anyone trying to tell the real truth and get the real facts out to the Wisconsin voters)

It appears that once again the Greater Wisconsin PAC are really confused or they are purposefully misrepresenting the real facts.

Deborah Bowers writes:

It has come to my attention that a commercial currently being aired on the radio paid for by the Greater Wisconsin PAC accuses State Senator Tom Reynolds of being too extreme to hire women on his staff. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Deborah Bowers and I have been on Senator Reynolds’ staff since January 31, 2005. Furthermore, unlike a song made popular by Johnny Cash a few decades ago, I am not male with a female name.

Such an obvious misrepresentation leads me to believe that either these critics of Senator Reynolds are purposely trying to mislead his constituents, or are too lazy to do their research. Neither conclusion puts his critics in a favorable light. If a fact as easy as the sex of Senator Reynolds’ staff is misrepresented, what other pieces of information are untrue?

Keeping this personal let me start with my job interview with Senator Reynolds. He did not ask me anything about my beliefs about Heaven, nor did he ask me about my marital fidelity. Rather, he stuck to job appropriate questions, such as experience and education. I never felt that he pried into my personal life between my husband and me. Since he is a Legislator, we did discuss political beliefs, realizing that we were of like mind on many, but not all topics.

Senator Tom Reynolds has been falsely accused of being too extreme to have women on his staff. I am a woman working for him. With such an easy accusation refuted, imagine how many other false statements about Senator Reynolds are hanging out there.

Deborah Bowers

Gay marriage- What really happened in New Jersey today

The main stream media is trying to spin this as best they can, but in reality, the activist judges in New Jersey have decided that gay marriage or civil unions will move forward, whether or not the people approve or disapprove of this action.

The legislature in New Jersey were given two choices today, either they approve gay marriages or they approve civil unions. Period.

Breitbart-

New Jersey's highest court ruled Wednesday that gay couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but that lawmakers must determine whether the state will honor gay marriage or some other form of civil union.

Advocates on both sides of the issue believed the state posed best chance for gay marriage to win approval since Massachusetts became the only state to do so in 2003 because the New Jersey Supreme Court has a history of extending civil rights protections.

Instead, the high court stopped short of fully approving gay marriage and gave lawmakers 180 days to rewrite marriage laws to either include gay couples or create new civil unions.



The people of New Jersey were never given the chance to voice their opinion on this issue. Instead, the activist judges made the decision for the people.

It is activist judges just like this that are telling me how to define marriage that I want to stop.

I will be voting "YES" on November 7th in order to protect the institution of marriage that is defined by God, not by activist judges.

"Squeaker of the House"

The Democrats and Nancy Pelosi have not even taken over the house and already Pelosi has a new nick name-

“Squeaker of the House”

Whether the Dems win or not in November, I say that we officially nickname Nancy Pelosi, “Squeaker of the House”. We can just call her “Squeaker” for short. Either way, the nickname fits.

Hat tip- James Taranto from WJS Best of the Web

Today's MJS Daywatch

There were some items in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's "Daywatch" today.

For example-

This is just funny-

The Common Council voted 9-5 to rename the large green object in Red Arrow Park as the city's "Christmas tree," dumping the "holiday tree" label that has been used since 1995.

Large green object? I say we just permanently change the name to "large green object" so absolutely no one will be offended!

We can just file this next bit of information as "something I already knew and it is about time the MJS finally reported this info"-

A group running negative ads against Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green landed more than $700,000 over two months from unions and a Democratic group, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reported today.

More property tax increases

This is another headline that Governor Jim Doyle did not need, exactly two weeks out from the election:

MPS gets a tax surprise

Less than expected state aid means larger tax increase

Check out this sentence in the article:

The state aid total left a choice for MPS of either cutting expenses or increasing the amount of property taxes.

Horror of all horrors, taxpayers actually expect our government to cut expenses, not increase our taxes.

Check out this sentence in the article:

On the question of who should pay, the answer is property-tax payers when state aid doesn't meet forecasts, though state aid still covers the largest percentage of MPS spending.

Where is Governor Jim Doyle? I thought he said he cut the budget and cut property taxes!

If the revised budget is approved as proposed, it will bring a $16.5 million increase in property tax revenue for MPS, up from $213.8 million last year to $230.3 million this year. The 7.7% increase would be lower than a 13.2% increase two years ago, but higher than any other year since 1998-'99.

The two largest property tax increases since 1998-1999 have taken place under Governor Jim Doyle's leadership.

Wow- 12116.91

Today, the stock market shot up another 114.54 points to close at another all time high of 12116.91

This is great news, not only for high rolling investors, but even us poor folks with a simple 401K made some money this month.

This is great news because I am going to need that money. Since Democrats will not let anyone fix the huge problems with Social Security, I will need a lot more in my retirement account to cover for the promised 25% Social Security cut in benefits that I will get the year I retire.

I know that President Bush and Congressman Paul Ryan have been leading the charge to save my Social Security.

However, the Democrats and the AARP actually believe that they own the social security issue and any attempt to fix it by the evil Republicans will be canned in Congress.

I know the only plan the Democrats have for fixing the my Social Security crisis is to raise my taxes even more. This is the same plan they have for fixing any problem- raise my taxes!

Note to Congressman Paul Ryan:

Dear Congressman Ryan,

SAVE ME, CONGRESSMAN RYAN.

I am getting desperate. My future is at stake here and I am counting on you and President Bush.

I know that you and President Bush are still working really hard to gather support to save my Social Security. Unfortunately, another two years have been wasted without a real fix to Social Security due to the Democrat's stall tactics. Think of how much money I could have stashed away for my future with this record breaking run up in the stock market.

Whatever you can do to stop the Democrat's stall tactics would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. I know that you are not going to give up on this issue and neither am I. You know that I will have your back and will continue to support you 100%.

Signed-
Desperate in Kenosha

Oh no, not again.

For the second day in a row, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is touting Governor Jim Doyle as a centrist.

Doyle proposals are generally centrist, and rival Green sees some role for the state.

Doyle's non-majority election win, Republican Legislature have given policies a centrist bent

This deserves a larger response and I will later.

Perhaps the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel actually believe that Jim Doyle's repeated vetoing of a property tax freeze is what the people of Wisconsin actually want. MJS would be wrong in this belief because poll numbers suggest that over 70% of Wisconsin actually want property tax relief. A real centrist would not veto property tax relief.

Perhaps the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel actually believe that Jim Doyle's repeated vetoing of voter ID is what the people of Wisconsin actually want. MJS would be wrong in their belief because poll numbers suggest that over 70% of Wisconsin actually want some type of voter ID. A real centrist would not voter ID, as Governor Jim Doyle has done.


I also know that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel should not be allowed to judge whether or not someone is a centrist. Why? Clearly the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is no where near the political center themselves.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel continuous demands that government should INCREASE OUR TAXES, proves that they are no where near the political center.

At the same time, their proposals are incremental reforms. Neither candidate has proposed raising taxes to help provide health insurance to people in low-wage jobs or to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

How many people, in the political center, actually believe that their taxes should be increased?

Real Debate Wisconsin: Where'd I put that thing..... Oh there it is.

Real Debate Wisconsin: Where'd I put that thing..... Oh there it is.

Waiting patiently for Fred's big news.

Another good victory for Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Badger football team have proven all of the critics wrong. Many predicted that the Badgers would not finish above .500.

The critics were wrong. Very wrong.

Wisconsin's record now stands at 7-1, with 4 games remaining in the regular season. After defeating a good Purdue team yesterday, 24-3, Wisconsin can now dream of a bowl berth.

If we close our eyes and really dream big, Wisconsin could even end up playing at the Rose Bowl.

Rose Bowl?

Yes, this is what would need to happen.

Wisconsin would have to win out against some really tough teams. This includes a very tough Penn State team. However, it is possible.

Currently, Michigan and Ohio State are ranked #1 and #2 in the BCS rankings. These two teams do not play each other in the regular season. (I am dead wrong about this. Thanks DJ. I checked the schedule on ESPN and it wasn't up yet. These two teams do play each other. It is still possible, although not like, that these teams end up #1 and #2)

If Michigan and Ohio State end the regular season ranked #1 and #2, they could play each other in the BCS national championship game.(I am not sure what the BCS rules are when it comes to two teams from the same division playing each other)

This could very well send Wisconsin, with the next best record in the Big Ten, to the Rose Bowl.

Thank you Wisconsin. Now that we are allowed to start dreaming of a bowl game, perhaps it is also okay to start dreaming of the watching them play in the Rose Bowl.

Debate Roundup

For more extensive debate coverage, follow the links-


Live blogging-

Fred at Real Debate Wisconsin

Brian at Fraley's Dailytakes

Owen at Boots and Sabers


Extended coverage

Sean at The American mind

Patrick at Badger Blogger

James at Wigderson's Library and Pub

Live Blog Debate #3

Quality of life issues

First question: What will you do specifically to reduce health care costs in the state of Wisconsin?

Doyle: Thanks to everyone- wishes we had a congress has spent some time fixing health care. Allow people to buy drugs at the same cost state employees. Buying pool for catastrophic cases. Slams Congress. Deduct 100% from savings

Green: Thanks to everyone- health care costs are rising faster today than most other states. He has a plan that gives Wisconsin people choices. Tax credit for long term care costs. Governor Doyle blaming Congress, President, Washington. Wisconsin has the highest healthcare costs in the nation.

Promotes health savings account.



Second Question: Education- how do you plan on funding education.

Doyle: I restored $400 million in education. Blames Congress for education problems. Fund 2/3. Help with declining schools. Green in favor of cutting funding.

How do you know when Doyle is lying? HIS LIPS ARE MOVING!

Green: There was no cut by $400 million. Merit pay to Wisconsin. More money in classes. Taught high school in Kenya. Kids are desperate to learn. Doyle promised to fix schools.



Third Question: Crime rate is on the rise.

Green: certainly need to spend everything we need to keep people safe. Corrections policies. Help those folks to stay safe that run the prisons. Tough on crime. Make sure sex criminals are in prison, not on the streets. Break the cycle of violence. Wrote bill protecting women against domestic abuse. Disagree with Doyle releasing those folks early who are extremely violent.

Doyle: went back to question 2- I have no idea what he said. Prisoners back in the state of Wisconsin. Drug rehab for non-violent offenders. We need to continue to get better at this. Prevention is vital???? (perhaps we need some more officers on the street) But... How do we make sure that kids stay safe?

4th question: Ethics- Strengthen peoples trust in candidates

Doyle: Republican leadership would not let the ethics bill on the floor. No fundraising during budget talks.

Green: goes back to question #3. Franklin not notified about criminal in there area. Doyle promised he would oppose expanding gambling interests yet turned around and took money from the Indians to expand gambling. Opposed any governor taking contributions from groups he negotiates contracts with. (this was a huge slug at Governor Doyle)

Doyle: Whined about Green's congressional money.

Green: Retorted with Tom Barrett converting his congressional money in 2002. Accused Diamond Jim of rigging the Elections Board. Accused Doyle of presiding over the biggest expansion of gambling in state history.

Doyle: Keeps talking about a loophole.

Green: Responds that it wasn't a loophole for Barrett in 2002 and that Diamond Jim gets 1 out of 5 dollars from out of state interests.

(Someone had mention that Jim Doyle actually interrupted Mark Green. I was too busy typing to notice. Now that I am watching the debate for a second time, sure enough. Jim Doyle was trying to talk over Mark Green. This is a huge debate no-no.)

I took a small break on Question 5- Solving problem with access to healthcare.

I did not notice that Doyle blamed Congress for cutting Medicaid.(I thought Medicaid had been increased, not cut)

Green: uninsured people are going up. What people need is a chance.

Doyle: fight for healthcare. Access to Canadian drugs.

Question 6: State of the Wisconsin education- achievement gap

Doyle: Making sure kids of off to a good start. 4 year old kindergarten. Proposes smaller class. Give kids a good breakfast.(that's the parents job) Wisconsin convenant. Guarantee that kids go to college.

Green: Achievement gap is an outrage. This state will never get ahead until we fix the achievement gap. Huge supporter of school choice and charter schools. Doyle vetoed expansion of charter schools. Wisconsin covenant for years. Every person who works hard has a promise of a future. UW went up 50%. Wisconsin giving education to illegal aliens.

Note: Jim Doyle never once addressed the achievement gap.

Question #7 : Required energy changes

Green: conserve energy. Believes in nuclear energy. Our energy costs are highest in the Midwest.

Doyle: fault of the oil companies. Blamed congress. Renewables???

How can you tell if Doyle is lying? His lips are moving

Question 8: how would you improve the quality of our health care

Doyle: make system electronic. Need transparency

Green: Doyle raided 1 billion dollars that would keep fuel costs down. We need transparency. We have high liability costs. Increased liability costs hurts health care companies

Question 9: Tort reform

Green: worked to increased liability reform. Believes in tort reform. Reintroduce common sense and still compensated. Outrageous lawsuits- we pay, not physicians. We need to reintroduce liability reforms.

Doyle: Green is a member of congress. Green's fault. Vetoed only stuff that was unconstitutional. Lead paint lost in court.

Closing statements:

Doyle: Green should let me go last. He was joking. Washington has failed us. Balanced out budget. Supports stem cell research. Clearly Jim Doyle's #1 issue is stem cell research. This is the second debate in a row that he closed with stem cell research. (Does Doyle really believe that people will come to the polls for stem cell research?)

Green: Are you satisfied with the current path? Taxes taking more. UW costs are going up. Health care costs are raising faster that any other state. If you believe we can do better, vote for me. I believe in the people of Wisconsin. I am asking for your help. Make Wisconsin great again.

My opinion- this was it, the debate we had been waiting for. Jim Doyle was supposed to clobber Green on these issues. On each and every issue, Mark Green either held his own or he clobbered Jim Doyle. The ethics question alone, Green was able to clobber Doyle on. Doyle kept talking about Green taking out of state money that he could not take- Green plastered him when he stated that $1 out of every $5 donated to Jim Doyle is from out of state. They then moved on to the next question and Jim Doyle never responded to Mark Green's charge. People do not understand the specifics of the case, they just know that Doyle was making accusations. To have this question end with Green telling Wisconsinites that Doyle was taking out of state money, because Doyle never responded, Doyle looks like a liar.

Even asking the question a second time about the achievement gap and to have Doyle not even address the issue at all, makes Doyle look uninterested in the achievement gap. This governor likes to call himself the education governor, and yet one of the most major problems that we have in this state in education, and Doyle never bothered to address it.

Once again- Mark Green was the clear winner. Why? Because Doyle was never able to land a solid punch to Green. Not one single time. Even on the issues that Doyle was supposed to be strong on, Green came very well prepared.

I will break down each question and the responses tomorrow.

A special thanks to Peter from Texas Hold 'em blog that jumped in for a few minutes and helped blog.

Also live blogging the debate... Owen, Fred and Brian.

$460,000 donated to Doyle campaign

There are some folks, here in Kenosha, that so desperately want a casino, they have dumped $460,000 into Doyle's campaign.

I know there are still plenty of folks out there who actually believe that Governor Jim Doyle is not for sale.

Well, down here in Kenosha, there is no doubt about it, we know Governor Doyle is for sale.

As you can see, some folks here in Kenosha are trying to buy Governor Doyle.

This is truly pathetic. More evidence that Jim Doyle is for sale and some folks will do whatever it takes to buy the governor-

Kenosha casino developer Dennis Troha has pitched in another $50,000 to the Democratic Governors Association, a channel that's previously been used to direct money to the campaign of Gov. Jim Doyle.

Troha heads a group that would help develop the proposed $808 million casino complex in Kenosha proposed by Wisconsin's Menominee tribe. The Connecticut-based Mohegan tribe would also partner with the Menominees on the project. The Mohegans run one of the largest casinos in the world near Uncasville, Conn., about midway between Boston and New York City.

The latest Troha donation was made Sept. 8 and reported last week to the IRS, which tracks such contributions. Troha's latest gift brings to over $460,000 the sums donated by Troha, his family members and others linked to the Kenosha casino to Doyle or Democratic Party committees.

"The donation, which is legal and properly disclosed, is intended to help the (Democratic Governors') Association acheive its goal of helping elect governors who are Democrats," said Evan Zeppos, a spokesman for the Kenosha casino project.

Are you ready to rumble?

I am certain most folks know that tomorrow night is the third and final televised debate between Mark Green and Gov. Jim Doyle.

The Racine County Republicans have extended an invitation to the surrounding counties to join them at their offices to watch this debate.

This last debate may turn out to be pretty eventful in Racine.

The Democrats have also scheduled a debate party at the bar right next door to the Racine campaign offices. Basically there is only a wall seperating the parties.

I will be live blogging this debate from Racine. If there are any extra curricular activities taking place, I will be live blogging that also.

As I am logged on and blogging this event, I will be asking others at the party to post their own thoughts and impressions about the debate.

This could get interesting or it could just be a boring debate! We'll see!

Click on photo to enlarge for details-

First District Fall Fest is this Saturday Oct. 21st

Please join us in welcoming RNC Chair Ken Mehlman and former Packer Bob Long at this year's Fall Fest.

Here are the details-

Wow- Republicans get ahold of Democrat's playbook

This is quite an incredible story broken by a blogger, Owen at Boots and Sabers. Now this story is featured in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Here is the gist:

Republicans managed to get their hands on the Democratic's proposals on how they planned on taking over the State Senate in this November's election.

State Senate Republicans put their hands on the campaign plans of Democrats in June - strategic help they say they lucked into after a legislative aide found the political documents in a Capitol copier five months before the Nov. 7 election.

Democrats are now accusing the Republicans of stealing that plan from them.

But Senate Democratic Leader Judy Robson of Beloit on Wednesday accused Republicans of stealing the material from Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona) and said she was contemplating referring the matter to Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard.


Republicans are stating that they found the document on a copier in the state capital building.

Keith Gilkes, executive director of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate, said Wednesday that an aide to a Republican senator found copies of the political plans in the copier early this summer after duplicates had been made.

Here is what we do know- it is a violation of state law to do campaign work at the state capital. It is also a violation of state law for candidates to be coordinating with the so-called "independent" special interest groups.

It is almost laughable that the Democrats are blaming the Republicans for this.

According to Democratic Senator Miller, this is what happened:

Miller said Wednesday that he inadvertently brought the materials into the Capitol in late spring or early summer after picking up a similar binder that belonged to Matt Swentkofske, director of the State Senate Democratic Committee. He then left that binder in a copy room next to his Capitol office where he hangs his coat and leaves his lunch.

Miller said he did not make any copies of the documents, and he was confident that members of his staff had not done so. Using state resources for campaign purposes is illegal. Five former legislative leaders were convicted in the past year for developing a campaign structure that relied heavily on the use of state staff and office equipment.

I am just not buying Senator Miller's innocence in all of this. He "accidently" picked up someone else's binder. He then "accidently" took it into the state capital building. He then "accidently" left it in the copier room.

Alot of "accidents" have happened to the little ole binder.

More later...

The Dems, with the help of the NYTs, are already working on excuses for losing in Nov.

The Democrats and the New York Times are working out their excuses for not winning everything they believe they deserve from these elections.

They are starting with the same ole' garbage.... Long lines, electronic voting machines, yada, yada, yada.

From the Drudge report-

NYT: BE PREPARED FOR CHAOS ON ELECTION DAY; NEW MACHINES, LINES, CONFUSION
Wed Oct 18 2006 19:12:07 ET

With an unusually large number of tight races and dozens of states shifting to new electronic voting systems, election officials across the country are bracing for long lines and heightened confusion at the polls on Election Day, Nov. 7, the NEW YORK TIMES will front on Thursday.

"North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Mississippi and Missouri are among the states considered most likely to experience difficulties, according to voting experts who have been tracking the new technology and other election changes.

Developing...

How many times are the Dems allowed to claim "voter disenfranchisement" before people stop believing a single word they say?

Kenosha County Sheriff Debate today WLIP 1050AM

Lenny from WLIP is hosting today's debate between Sheriff Dave Beth and Larry Zarletti.

Tune in today at 10:00AM to AM radio 1050

Live on the Lenny Palmer Show You've seen the political signs now hear the men behind the lines.
Date Changed - Wednesday, October 18th @ 10AM
If you have a question that you'd like Lenny to ask the candidates, e-mail Lenny@wlip

Uh Oh- McGee/Jackson to be recalled?

Apparently a woman has filed a petition to recall goofball Milwaukee alderman McGee/Jackson.

First of all- it's about time.

However, not much seems to be known about this woman, so it is hard to say whether or not she would be a better alternative.

Either way, someone in this community has got to step up and get McGee/Jackson out of office.

A Milwaukee woman has launched a recall drive against controversial Ald. Michael McGee.

ViAnna Jordan filed papers earlier this month in a bid to force a recall election, Sue Edman, executive director of the city Election Commission, confirmed today.

The Oct. 3 filing started a 60-day clock for Jordan and her supporters to gather at least 1,620 signatures on petitions demanding a recall of the alderman, whose north side district includes the Riverwest and Brewers Hill neighborhoods. She lists herself on the papers as the candidate who would oppose McGee in the recall.

Jordan named her recall committee "Friends to Recall Ald. Michael McGee Jr./Jackson," a reference to this spring's revelation that McGee's legal name is actually Jackson, although he has been known as McGee his whole life.

Among the reasons she lists for the recall are "fraudulent use of alias names to avoid responsibility for accident damages," referring to the discovery that McGee held driver's licenses under both names, and other well-known incidents, such as arrests for disorderly conduct, perjury allegations in a trial involving the mother of his child and alleged slurs against gays. Other reasons are more general, such as "has become an embarrassment to our community."

Edman said Jordan complained that she was being harassed by McGee supporters who were following her around and telling voters not to back the recall. The elections chief said she referred Jordan to police, who later called Edman to follow up on the complaint. Police could not immediately confirm their involvement.

Jordan did not return calls seeking comment. Her campaign treasurer, Deonna Johnson, referred questions to Jordan. McGee said he was aware of the recall but declined to comment further.

If Jordan files a sufficient number of signatures, the Election Commission would decide whether they are valid, and McGee could challenge their validity. If authorities decide the recall has the minimum number of valid signatures, an election would be scheduled for six weeks later, probably in early 2007. The winner would serve until McGee's regular term expires in spring 2008.

A 2004 obituary for Jordan's father, longtime city public works employee Robert Jordan, said ViAnna Jordan served in the U.S. Army.

Phone Banks for the Green Team

From Kenosha's Green Team phone bank leader, Tom DeFazio-

Phone Bank Wed., Oct. 18th: Kenosha Rep. HQ, 4103-60th St., 5 - 8:30 PM

Wednesdays may come and Wednesdays may go,
But we continue our phone bank operation show.
We are now in high gear--Get Out The Vote;
Mark Green and Republicans we proudly promote.
The script is flexible--there are lines you can pick;
We remind and seek help--our calls are quite quick.
Come when you can, 5 to 8:30 we wll run;
We'll have food and drink for everyone.
You may also call at other times of your choice;
From the office or your home--we do need your voice.
Our quota is high but reachable, too;
Please do join us--we depend on you!

Have you forgotten?

I know that I have not forgotten that we were attacked on 9/11 and that we are currently fighting a war on terror. Apparently, the President and the Republican Congress have not forgotten either.

Bush signs bill to interrogate and prosecute suspected terrorists

President Bush signed a sweeping terror interrogation and trial law this morning, creating a legal process for trying terrorism suspects and giving the president the power to determine whether interrogation methods violate international treaties.

"We will meet our obligation to protect our people. And no matter how long it takes, justice will be done," Bush said at a White House bill-signing ceremony. "With the bill I'm about to sign, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent people will face justice."

The legislation applies to those selected by the military for prosecution and leaves mostly unaffected the majority of the 14,000 prisoners in U.S. custody, most of whom are in Iraq. Bush needed the legislation because the Supreme Court in June said the administration's plan for trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.

continued...

Kudos to the the Democrats who voted for this bill also. They have not forgotten either. Roll Call vote results for HR 6166

Karl Rove is coming to town

Great news, Karl Rove is coming to town to support the RPW's Get Out The Vote effort.

Join us on Friday, October 27th. 12:30pm at the Marriot Milwaukee West, W231N1600 Corportate Ct. Waukesha

Contact the Waukesha County Republican Party for details and reservations.

A headline Jim Doyle didn't need before an election

For a governor who has billed himself as "the education governor", this headline does not look good.

State aid to drop at many schools

Some districts may boost levy increases to offset reduced help from equalization fund

Yes, there will be some property tax increases for many communities in the area. Right here in Kenosha, we were just walloped with another 11% school tax levy increase. This was following last year's 11% school tax levy increase.

But at $4.7 billion for the current school year, the equalization aid pool is by far the state's largest funding source for public schools. And because the aid helps offset local property taxes, it could affect upcoming tax bills.

"No fair, no fair" cries the Justice department

This is it? This is all they have?

The Justice Department is stating- "No fair, no fair, Mark Green waited a month before petitioning the Supreme Court."

The only thing the Justice Department could come up with is that this should not be considered an "emergency".


Worse yet, those fancy lawyers from the Justice Department cannot count. The judge ruled against Mark Green on September 25. Mark Green's campaign filed their petition with the high court on October 11. No matter how a person may add and subtract that only amounts to 15 days, not a month.

State Justice Department lawyers today asked the state Supreme Court to reject the emergency appeal of Mark Green, the Republican candidate for governor who is fighting an Elections Board order that his campaign give up $467,844 in donations.

Meeting a noon deadline to respond to Green's appeal, Justice Department officials filed a legal brief that accused Green's campaign of "manufacturing" a crisis by saying its rights are being violated by not being able to use the $467,844. The campaign has placed that money in a separate fund, pending the appeal.

Green's campaign "cannot assert that this matter is urgent when they waited more than a month to petition the court" to step into the controversy, Justice Department lawyers told the court.

Justice Department lawyers also said Green's campaign decided to ask the seven-member court to rule before the Nov. 7 election "only after they lost" an appeal in Dane County Circuit Court.

Green could have appealed to the high court days after receiving the official Elections Board order of Aug. 30, but did not do so until last week, the lawyers added.

The Elections Board told Green, a member of the U.S. House, to give up $467,844 in donations from political action committees not registered in Wisconsin. The money was part of almost $1.3 million Green transferred from his congressional campaign fund to his state fund to start in run for governor in January 2005.

What is wrong with the Justice Department? Are they just mad because the Supreme Court gave them a deadline?

Duke Rape Case

For almost 8 months we have heard all kinds of things said about the Duke rape case. Immediately after this story broke, the media were having a field day. That is all anyone saw on the news.

With the help of district attorney running for reelection, the Duke lacrosse team members were tried and convicted of rape in the media.

CBS did an interview with the young men accused of the rape.

Now that a few facts are coming out, were see that the district attorney may have been misleading the media and the community in order to win reelection-

The district attorney, Mike Nifong, took to the airwaves giving dozens of interviews, expressing with absolute certainty that Duke lacrosse players had committed a horrific crime. His comments fueled explosive news coverage and fed public suspicion of the team, before much of the evidence was gathered.

"There’s no doubt in my mind that she was raped and assaulted at this location," he said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." D.A. Nifong referred to the lacrosse players “a bunch of hooligans” whose “daddies could buy them expensive lawyers.”

He played up the racial aspects of the case, but insisted that his public comments had nothing to do with the hotly contested election campaign he was waging in a city with a large black population.

What is staggering to me, in order to win reelection, this DA has destroyed the lives of three young men, destroyed the reputation of the school and destroyed the reputation of the media.

This DA told America with certainty that the Duke Lacrosse team had raped a women, now we see that any attempt these young men made to prove they were innocent was completely ignored.

But based on 60 Minutes' six-month review of the case file, it appears that standard police procedures were violated and evidence disregarded – evidence that may have pointed toward the players’ innocence.

The DNA did not match to a single player-

"I mean, we were kinda, I mean, shocked by the fact that we – that we had to actually go to a police station to give DNA. But everyone – we were told it would help to clear everything up. So we were happy to go," Finnerty explains. They were even happier when the results came back: there was no match. No DNA from any member of the lacrosse team was found on or inside the accuser or on her clothing. Reade Seligmann thought the case would now be closed, but he was wrong.

"It’s so frustrating because that was an opportunity for us to exonerate ourselves, and we were told that," he says. "We trusted that you know if we cooperated, we would, you know, those that were innocent would be shown to be innocent. And that's just, it didn't play out that way."

District Attorney Mike Nifong, who had declared that DNA would be the crux of his case, played down the results, speculating that the absence of DNA meant that the attackers may have used condoms, although the accuser had already stated that there were “no condoms used”, and that at least one of her three attackers had ejaculated inside her. Although it was a major setback for his case, the D.A. said he was undeterred.

When the young men, accused of this crime, attempted to clear their names, the DA completely ignored them-

Seligmann says his lawyer offered to present proof of his whereabouts to authorities, but said they didn’t want to hear it.

He says he never once talked to the police about the night. Seligmann says he was never interviewed by police or anyone from the district attorney's office about what happened that night.

Now here these men sit, accused of a crime, tried and convicted in the court of public opinion, and they could be innocent.

There lives have been destroyed, all because of a politician. The DA was so worried about his political career, he was actually willing to sacrifice these three men.

Now that the DA has already been re-elected, perhaps now is the time to actually address the evidence against these men.

Now, I have no idea whether or not these men are actually innocent or guilty of the crime they are accused of. Seems to me, the DA should have plenty of time to figure this out now that he is not running for re-election.

Where's the governor's friend? (Blagojevich, Rezko)

Yes, this scandal also touches Doyle as noted by Spivak and Bice.

My Illinois friends are always asking why I do not write about Illinois politics a little me.

I live in Wisconsin, but I work in Illinois. Illinois politics also affects my life to a certain extent.

Here are some questions being asked of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich by today's Chicago Tribune .

Where's the governor's friend?

Published October 15, 2006

Could everyone take a moment to look for Gov. Rod Blagojevich's friend? No, not the friend who expresses his devotion at $1,500 a crack. We'd like to locate another gubernatorial friend, Antoin "Tony" Rezko. He's under indictment for allegedly scheming to squeeze millions in secret kickbacks from companies that wanted business from the state. Rezko didn't make it to federal court Friday for arraignment. Maybe this week.

If we all pitch in, though, maybe we can help the FBI find him. The alley, the closets, you never know. It's worth the effort, because locating Rezko might resolve matters the governor hasn't.

In fact, Blagojevich hasn't had much at all that's substantive to say about the charges against his pal and fundraiser. Blagojevich has talked mostly about how Rezko's indictment surprised him--as in this exchange Thursday with the editorial board of the Daily Southtown:

Q: "Ever since you became a candidate for governor, you've talked about the old way of doing business and you were going to change that whole thing, and now you're telling us that you were naive and you didn't suspect this guy could be involved in the same kind of stuff you accused your predecessors of doing. I think you're expecting us to be a little naive."

A: "I'll answer that. No, not at all. I trusted someone who, up until yesterday, had never given me any reason to believe in my personal dealings with him that--"

Q: "--despite all the rumors and reports over more than two years?"

A: "Right. That's my point. I don't judge friends by rumors and innuendo. There's a real difference between this and a systemic form of corruption in the [George] Ryan administration where they were not interested in rooting things out and trying to change things and were part of covering those kinds of things up. This is a guy and supporter and friend who, unfortunately, if these allegations are true, deceived me, and more importantly, betrayed the trust of the public and now finds himself facing criminal charges. Am I surprised? Yes. Angry? I haven't really had a chance to get to that point yet because it's a strange sense of betrayal. I think about his family and I care for his family, and this is never something you'd want to see happen to anybody."

So Blagojevich essentially is channeling George Ryan: In case of crime spree, I knew nothing. The problem with this, three weeks shy of an election, is that it forces voters to ask unpleasant questions: Is my governor clueless? Or worse?

There are other questions too. They first appeared on this page Thursday. Illinois voters--and the journalists who represent their interests--should insist that Blagojevich answer:

- Who are the "certain State of Illinois officials" with whom Rezko allegedly had clout to influence appointments to state boards?

- In the early Blagojevich years, who in the governor's office--other than the governor himself, of course--had the authority to suggest formal appointments to state boards whose decisions had huge financial impacts?

- Did any staff member ever express concern to Blagojevich that Rezko was exerting influence over his appointment process?

- Who, if the indictment is correct, preserved a scheme to steer decisions on teacher pension system investments by derailing a proposed consolidation of that fund with two others?

- The indictment describes a pay-to-play plot in which a company was told it had to pay $2 million to Rezko and fellow defendant Stuart Levine via a middleman, or it had to make a $1.5 million political donation to an unnamed public official. Who could that public official be? And was anyone else aware of an extortion plot?

- And, what does this indictment say about your 2002 campaign pledge to end "business as usual" in Illinois if you became governor?

The worst thing about all of this is that Blagojevich will probably win re-election. Why? Because he is a Democrat. It is a simple as that.

Illinois just put a former Republican governor in jail for doing exactly what this Democrat has done.

Republican George Ryan gets 6 years in prison(which he deserves) and Democrat Rod Blagojevich probably wins re-election(which he doesn't).

This is what we call a double standard!

State Ethics Board

Yesterday, the State Ethics Board ruled that Doyle's campaign lawyer did not violate the law when contacting members of the State Elections Board.

I will have more on this later. I have got a very busy day working at the GOP offices, making calls for Green and doing lit drops.


For further details, Jessica McBride addresses the issue here.

Democrats are bankrupt?

I always believed that extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party are morally bankrupt.

Now it appears that the extreme liberal's radio show, Air America, is bankrupt also.

Air America Radio Files for Chapter 11

This is too bad

Mark Warner, Virginia democrat, announced today that he would not make a run at the presidency.

IMO, Warner was the best chance the democrats had for avoiding a Clinton nomination. Warner is a moderate that would have attracted alot of moderate votes.

Plus, Warner seems to be a very nice man.

Best of luck to Mark Warner. I am certain this is not the last that we have heard from him.

Mark Warner announced today he will not seek the presidential nomination in 2008. The former Virginia governor had been exploring a White House bid since he left office in January, with frequent visits to Iowa and New Hampshire and generous fundraising for national Democratic candidates.

Mr. Warner, who said the pressures of a national campaign weren't fair for his family, didn't rule out seeking the vice presidency, or even running for governor again.

continued...

Do overs!

Harry Reid is now offering to file a "do-over" with the Senate Ethics committee.

My Way News

"Everything I did was transparent," Reid said. "I paid all the taxes. Everything is fully disclosed to the ethics committee and everyone else. As I said, if there is some technical change that the ethics committee wants, I'll be happy to do that."

Technical change?

What does that mean?

"Technically" Reid was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so he is offering to amend the reports with the ethics board.

Does this mean that Foley can have all of his IM's pulled back and redo them? I bet with a few "technical changes", Foley can make this whole mess go away.

Harry Reid's Culture of Corruption

Where was the leadership on the sneaky deal? Oops, hold on. Harry Reid is the leadership in the Senate.

Why hasn't Reid resigned?

It's a coverup!

Reid got $1 Million in land sale-

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.

In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company, according to records and interviews.

The Nevada Democrat's deal was engineered by Jay Brown, a longtime friend and former casino lawyer whose name surfaced in a major political bribery trial this summer and in other prior organized crime investigations. He's never been charged with wrongdoing - except for a 1981 federal securities complaint that was settled out of court.

continued...

More on this tomorrow. Bedtime.

Just imagine...

Just imagine what the deficit would look like if the legislature made a small attempt to control spending-

Federal deficit falls to smallest level in 4 years

By the way, I cannot help but notice the Democrats whining-

Republicans said the big improvement showed that Bush’s economic policies were working to stimulate growth and boost tax revenues. But Democrats said the narrowing of the deficit would be temporary as the pending retirement of 78 million baby boomers will send costs of the government’s big benefit programs soaring.

Wasn't it the Democrats that were in complete and utter hysterics because Republicans were trying to fix the Social Security problem? They kept telling us there was not really a problem.

When Bush tried talking about the pending retirements of the baby boomers, the Democrats freaked out. Now, the Democrats are concerned about Social Security????

Better, but not great

As good as it is to see the price of gas drop, it would be great to get the price back under $2 a gallon.

It is also good to see that home heating costs will not be as high as last year-

Warm winter could cool heat bills 14%

Phone bank Kenosha County Wednesday Night Oct. 11th

We are thrilled to announce that

Milwaukee County Executive
Scott Walker

is coming to Kenosha on Wed., Oct. 11,
to promote Mark Green
and all of our Republican candidates
at our weekly Wednesday
phone bank operation.

Location: 1 Month Realty, 2801 Roosevelt Rd.
Time: 5:30 to 8:30 PM
Details: Below!

Our phone bank this week will have a new look;
So please note the details in your appointment book.
We have some news we are happy to report:
Scott Walker is coming to lend his support!
The location is different, so please note the change:
We'll be at 1 Month Realty, which is right in our range.
Diana and Ron Dahlberg are our gracious hosts, whom we thank,
For offering their realty office for this week's phone bank.

2801 Roosevelt Road will be the phone bank address;
From our Kenosha GOP HQ go east on 60th Street, we sugges'.
On 30th Avenue make a turn south (to the right);
Continue until Roosevelt Road where there's a stoplight.
Go a couple blocks left (east) and you can disembark;
There should be enough places nearby to park.
We ask that about 5:30 PM you arrive.
That will give us time to set up our phone bank drive.

We will serve pizza and soft drinks for those making calls;
Our phoning will take place in the office space and halls.
We know you'll respect the office we borrow;
So it'll be back in good shape for the 'morrow.
Inside the office for our callers will be a sign-in book;
We need you to sign it--so for it please look!

Some office land phones we'll be able to use
To supplement our cell phones--that's really good news!
But we still may be short, so if you could use your own cell,
Please bring it, by all means--that would do us well!
We hope that we have the space that we need;
We will use party HQ if our max we exceed.

There is a limit to the numbers that we can seat;
So priority is for callers--we've a quota to meet.
The callers will be bunched--it may be quite hard to hear;
So we need to maintain a quiet atmosphere.
We really need your help with this major event;
Any disruptions from our goal please help us prevent.

We thank Scott Walker and his staff for their generous offer;
Our sincerest gratitude we humbly do proffer.
We are grateful, in particular, to our friend, Joe Fadness;
For this boost to Mark's campaign we respond with gladness.
Our goal is to beat back the Doyle machine;
We need your help to elect Mark Green

Go it alone?

Okay, now the Democrats are just confusing people again-

From the Washington Times-

President Bush yesterday called for an "immediate response" from the United Nations Security Council to North Korea's assertion that it had tested a nuclear weapon, as Senate Democrats demanded that the administration engage in one-on-one talks with the nation's increasingly belligerent leader, Kim Jong-il.

One on one talks? The Democrats are now demanding the rest of the world step aside and George Bush should go it alone.

What happened to all that garbage about "go it alone", "Cowboy George Bush", and "King George"?

For heaven's sake, now they are demanding President Bush go it alone.

The entire Democratic party has become flip floppers, just like John Kerry.

Where are all the Wisconsin jobs going?

Yesterday a story came out about Menards taking their 600 to 800 jobs to another state instead of staying right here in Wisconsin. Two new facilities are opening in Iowa and Ohio, but a new Wisconsin facility has hit DNR roadblocks.

Today we hear from MJS about the wonderful relationship between Doyle and Menards. John Menard has even donated $20,000 to Doyle's campaigns over the years.

That's all fine and dandy, but no one seems to be able to come up with the answers as to why businesses are taking their business and their jobs to another state.

Charlie Sykes is pointing out the disparities between new jobs in Wisconsin and new jobs in the rest of the Midwest.

What is the problem here, people?

What is it about Wisconsin that it cannot attract new business and keep the current businesses from leaving the state?

There has got to be an explanation.

Jim Doyle certainaly does not have the answer.

Oh spare me the insults...

The MJS editorial is calling for clean elections.

Well, actually, if you read the article, they are kinda supporting clean elections. However, in reality, it appears that the entire editorial was actually written to take a cheap political shot at Republicans.

Wow, did they ever take a swing at the Republicans. Check it out-

We also have a pie-in-the-sky desire that legislators, in particular, would spend more time trying to fix what really ails the elections system than trying to pass voter ID, which fixes a problem that doesn't really much exist.

Because, truth be known, voter ID is really about discouraging turnout from folks believed to skew Democratic.

Oh, good grief!

Reading thru the article, there is little to no explanation on how they plan on insuring clean elections. The article wanders around talking about the State Elections board, computer systems, the Department of Administration, and the Federal Government's $27 million.

However, at no time does this editorial article explain how the computer systems can go about identifying legal voters and illegal voters. They do not explain how it works or the benefits of this new fancy system.

They do not bother to explain how the computer systems will work with local computers. They do not explain what kind of information these computers will track and how it will bring about clean elections.

They did not even bother to explain that the new computer system is currently not working correctly and will not be working by the November elections. They do not bother to explain in this article that Wisconsin was required by a federal mandate to have this computer system completely updated and working correctly by January of 2006.

Until the Wisconsin State Elections Board can assure us that every single vote cast in an election is legal, the cries for voter ID will not go away.

As a US citizen and a Wisconsin resident, I have every right to demand clean elections.

I want clean elections. I want to know that my vote counts. I want to know that each vote that is cast is legal. I do not want illegal immigrants voting. I do not want non-citizens voting. I do not want dead people voting. I do not want felons voting.

I demand voter ID, even if it is nothing more than a deterrent to those willing to steal someone else’s vote.

Because of the State Elections board’s refusal to comply with federal election laws and the “Help America Vote Act” until recently, we are way behind on getting clean and fair elections in Wisconsin.

This State Elections Board has had at least three years to work on this system by getting all of the information updated and all of the state and local computers linked together. There is still a problem with the felon’s list that will not be corrected until after the November elections.

Should taxpayers really hand over another $1 million to Jim Doyle’s State Elections Board?

They have proven themselves to be not only incompetent because this system is still not up and entirely running correctly(see MJS, August 3, 2006), but they have also proven themselves to be political hacks out to rig an election is Jim Doyle’s favor.(see MJS, September 20, 2006)

For the State Elections board to come out and ask for another million dollars was down right insulting to the intelligence of Wisconsinites.

Wisconsinites demand clean elections and clearly, this State Elections board cannot guarantee clean elections.

If the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wants to state their opinions on their pages, they certainly have the right to do this. However, clearly and precisely making their arguments is what they should have done.

Instead, the MJS editorial board chose to use their pages to hurls insults at Republicans instead of making a clear and concise argument about the benefits of this new system and the benefits of spending even more money.

The editorial was plainly childish and not worthy of Wisconsin’s largest newspaper.

North Korea is going nuclear

Here is today's headline-

North Korea's claim of a nuclear test brings world condemnation, concern

My guess is that North Korea could care less about our condemnation and concern.

Perhaps now would be a good time to address this!

Ssshhh! Don't tell anyone...

It appears that AG candidate Kathleen Falk is a tax hiking liberal by day and crime fighting BATGIRL by night...

At least, that is what Wiggy says ...

This must be the impression that Falk's campaign finance director is under when he made this statement, or he never would have said something this silly:

I don't need to tell you that Kathleen has more experience, broader experience, and stronger experience than JB Van Hollen. You know that Kathleen has spent her life prioritizing public safety, fighting crime, as well as protecting consumers and the environment.

I promise not to tell anyone, Wiggy.

OPEC is playing with us

Of course, we have heard for weeks how it is all George Bush's doing that the price of oil is collapsing for political gain.

Now we hear that OPEC is in a panic over prices dropping, so they are going to cut production. Cutting production of oil will increase the prices, unless more and more Americans continue to cut their usage of oil.

The president of Opec on Sunday called on members of the cartel to put into immediate effect an agreement to cut output by 1m barrels a day, underscoring the group’s determination to curb falls in the oil price.

As much as we would like to blame George Bush for the prices going up and down, in reality- OPEC is pulling the string on prices.

How is it possible that America has gotten themselves into such a quandry that we would actually let OPEC dictate the US economy?

After all, we have plenty of our own oil to keep the country chugging along for a number of years. In the meantime, we can look for new and improved ways of cutting our oil consumption and finding different sources of fuel.

Instead of using our own oil, we let the environmentalists and the Democrats stop us from using our own oil.

Sorry, but if the Democrats still cannot figure out simple "supply and demand" economics, why in heaven's name would we let them actually have control of this country?

For pete's sake, it is time to stop selling our souls to OPEC for a few barrells of oil.

It is time to demand that our leaders use our own oil resources and stop selling our souls to OPEC.

A Good article

I read a good article written by Jessica McBride in GM Today. Check it out-

Mixed messages
Dems stirring election pot by touting Foley connections that don’t exist
By JESSICA McBRIDE

We should be able to agree on two things:

Disgraced former Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley is a scumbag.

Disgraced Florida Republican Mark Foley has nothing to do with John Gard, Jim Sensenbrenner and Mark Green.

You’d think they were the ones caught IM’ing a teenage page with the hyperbolic press releases from the state Democratic Party this week. (For the record, they haven’t.)

Sample headline: John Gard should give back campaign cash from top Republicans who covered up Foley scandal!

Is this the new standard for corruption in Wisconsin? If you once took money a really long time ago from someone who might not have done enough (at least, according to the media and Democrats) to ferret out a congressman who later turns out to be a scumbag ... you’re corrupt? Forgive me for thinking that real corruption had to do with things like rigging bids to favor campaign contributors. Or making sexual overtures to teenage pages.

Mark Foley is corrupt. He just has nothing whatsoever to do with Wisconsin. Or at least he shouldn’t have anything to do with Wisconsin politics. But, in truth, he does. He’s become the latest Washingtonian bogeyman in the state races, following Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and even Dick Cheney. The Democrats keep trying to put scary Washington Halloween masks - Foley, DeLay - on every decent Wisconsin Republican.

The Democratic strategy is not to educate you on issues. It’s not to run on their record. They are trying to federalize our state elections. All politics is local? Not to the Democrats. They aren’t talking much about local issues because the public largely isn’t on their side when it comes to vetoing real property tax freezes. They want you to forget Jim Doyle is even on the ballot. They want you to think Mark Foley is.

It’s clearly orchestrated. They’re calling it the Foley Effect. The national Hotline blog outlines the strategy: Tar every single Republican candidate in a major race around the country with the Foley mess. Do it with distortion. Conflate the sexually explicit IMs (which House leadership apparently knew nothing about) with the weird but nonsexual e-mails (which they decided weren’t enough to do more than tell Foley to knock it off.) Several media organizations and the FBI also had the nonsexual e-mails months ago and decided they weren’t enough to act, by the way. And who sat on the sexually explicit IMs until right before the midterm elections?

It’s interesting how only Republican congressional scandals are painted as endemic corruption. I don’t recall Nancy Pelosi and Jim Doyle being on the media hot seat for weeks after a Louisiana congressman was caught stuffing $90,000 into his freezer. Democratic Rep. Gerry Studds actually had sex with a teenage page back in the 1980s and was merely censured for it. And I haven’t even gotten to Bill Clinton and Barney Frank yet. Republicans tended to see those matters as personal failures.

If the Democrats in Wisconsin can get you to see every race on the ballot as a contest between Washington values and Wisconsin values, they could win. One recent poll showed that the Washington tag is hurting Mark Green, especially with seniors. Gard faces a tough fight against a millionaire allergist up in the Fox Valley who is so out there he thinks tax freezes are an ethics problem and should be prohibited. And Sensenbrenner? Well, he’s just vulnerable in liberal dreams.

It’s not that the Republican leadership in Washington has done everything well. They haven’t. It’s just that connections to anyone in Wisconsin are tenuous at best. John Gard isn’t even in Congress yet! And he didn’t even take money from Foley.

One of the most prominent liberal bloggers in the state admitted the Democratic strategy. He wrote:

"In the spirit of all politics being local, I thought I’d make sure that all of my fellow Wisconsinites had the full skinny on the various Mark Foley connections to be made. For those keeping score, we can slightly ding Mark Green (who is currently running for governor), bother F. Jim Sensenbrenner (running for re-election in the WI-05), and nail John Gard (running to replace Green in the WI-08

No Wisconsin Republicans are in the House leadership, which covered up Mark Foley’s inappropriate and possibly illegal activity. The closest we get is F. Jim Sensenbrenner who, as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, helped shepherd the Adam Walsh Act through Congress, and, in fact, stood near Foley as Bush signed the bill.

That nefarious Jim Sensenbrenner. He once shepherded a bill to protect children. Let’s tar him with it! Let’s tell voters we’re doing it because we’re concerned about "protecting the children."

Disgusting.

Yes, I agree with Jessica, it is disgusting.

Quick- someone name me one issue the national Democrats are working on right now. Taxes, minimum wage, health care, national security? Can anyone think of anything?

On Wisconsin, Go Wisconsin, On to Victory...

The score may look a little lopsided, in reality, this victory was extremely lopsided.

Wisconsin over Northwestern 41-9

Three first half turnovers made the game look even closer than it actually was at halftime.

Either way, congratulations Wisconsin!

The Debate #2

As you can already tell, I did not live blog the debate. Sorry folks, I am just not feeling well enough to type that fast. However, I sat with a group of about 15 friends and we watched the debate together. I asked them all to write down their favorite quote during the debate.

Hands done, this one by Mark Green was the winner:

Politicians look for issues, leaders look for answers.

Fred, from RealDebateWisconsin, did some great live blogging:

Real Debate Wisconsin: Live blogging the Gubernatorial debate.

Pretty fast fingers there Fred.

I am going to post some more of people's favorite quotes tomorrow. There are more.

Also, I am going to cruise the blog world and see if there are others that blogged the debate live. I may be posting some additions.

Update: Brian Fraley was also live blogging the debate.

Sorry Sheriff Beth

My apologies, Sheriff. When updating my blog this past week and adding candidate Jeff Kehl, I mistakenly copied over the link to Sheriff Beth.

I am working on correcting it now.

Sorry, feeling a little feverish these days.

P.S. Why do they call it a head cold? My head is not actually cold. In fact, it is completely the opposite.

P.S.S- I think it is time for bed.

Goodnight all!

To live blog the debate or not to live blog the debate is the question

I still have not decided if I will be live blogging the debate. I will be at a friend's house watching, so it may be difficult to blog during the debate. Either way, I will post my impression after the debate.

Have a great Friday night and a great weekend, everyone!

MJS whining?

Is it just me, or does the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel seem to be whining in this so-called article?

Both campaigns maintain limited access to the candidates; both loathe veering from preset themes of the day; both have even stopped releasing daily schedules of events where the candidates will appear. They frequently walk past or ignore reporters, leaving aides to answer questions and claim the candidates are too busy to respond.

Yet both become almost instantly accessible if they can talk strictly about a subject the candidate feels is a winner, or if there is a chance they can sling some dirt at their opponent.
Case in point: After the first candidates debate, Green walked away from reporters pressing him for details on just how he thinks he would fix the state budget deficit. But when his campaign manager heard that one of the questions was about property taxes - an issue Green has used against Doyle - the aide tugged at Green's sleeve and brought him back to answer that one question.

In the same vein, on the day the State Elections Board ordered Green's campaign to divest itself of $467,844 from out-of-state political action committees, he was "unavailable." But when a former state purchasing supervisor was sentenced to prison for steering a travel contract to a company with two executives who had given $10,000 each to Doyle's campaign, Green quickly and personally returned a reporter's call to offer his reaction, calling it a "sad day for Wisconsin."

As for Doyle, after a recent news conference in Madison on his proposal for a tax break for health care premiums, his driver attempted to leave by driving down a recreational pathway to avoid reporters' questions. When a moped blocked the SUV's path, Doyle had to be driven past reporters still holding tape recorders and notebooks, waiting.

Later, a Doyle aide said it was all a misunderstanding, and the governor thought the reporters didn't have any questions not related to his proposal.

Perhaps it is the lynch mob mentality of the media that makes politicians go out of their way to avoid them.

Breaking News???

Really, there is no real breaking news.

Jim Doyle is still selling Wisconsin to his election donors.

The democrats on the State Elections board are still partisan hacks.

Foley is still a pervert.



I just always wanted to post one of Drudge's screaming sirens, so I did.

Mexico is telling on us

Mexico is very upset that a border wall will be built. They plan on telling on us to the UN-

The Mexican government on Wednesday warned that it may refer Washington's plan to build fences on the U.S.- Mexico border to the United Nations.

The U.S. plan to build about 1,125 km of new fencing along the U.S.- Mexico border was an "offense," Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez told a news briefing here

When asked if the Mexican government would refer the issue to the United Nations, he said it was "examining with the foreign relations legal team what options are open at an international level, and we will take them."

He said the fences would hurt the bilateral relations. "Just the idea of a wall, a fence ... is an insult to good neighbors."

The plan has aroused strong opposition from Mexico. The outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox called the fence plan "shameful," while President-elect Felipe Calderon said the fences were not the solution to illegal immigration.

Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar on Wednesday said the fences would not be built as the U.S. Congress was unlikely to provide enough funding to finish the project.

"There is no money to build it, so it will not be built," he told reporters.

Despite Mexico's efforts to lobby for a veto, U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday signed a bill, which had been passed earlier by the U.S. Congress and will pay for the new fences which are aimed at preventing illegal immigration.

Under the bill, about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars would be spent during the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1 for southwest border fencing and other barriers.

However, no one knows how much the proposed project will cost. A 23-km segment of fencing under construction in San Diego has been priced at 126.5 million dollars.

How in the world would Mexican President Fox's spokesman have any idea what the US may or may not be willing to spend on the fence?

ABC screws up and may have blown any chance of getting Foley

Drudge is reporting that ABC had a glitch in their computer program and they accidentally exposed the former congressional page to the world when they posted the instant messages.

ABCNEWS said in a statement: "We go to great lengths to prevent the names of alleged sex crime victims from being revealed. On Friday there was a very brief technical glitch on our site which was overridden immediately. It is possible that during that very brief interval a screen name could have been captured. Reviews of the site since then show no unredacted screen names."

Even worse yet, Drudge is also reporting that this young page, was actually 18 years old at the time of some of these IMs.

On Tuesday ABC news released a high-impact instant message exchange between Foley and, as ABC explained, a young man "under the age of 18."

ABC headlined the story: "New Foley Instant Messages; Had Internet Sex While Awaiting House Vote"

But upon reviewing the records, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, the young man was in fact over the age of 18 at the time of the exchange.

ABC is actually confirming that the page was over the age of 18 with some of the IMs. However, they are stating that some of the IMs took place before the page turned 18.

A network source explains exchanges with the young man and disgraced former Congressman Foley took place before and after the 18th birthday.

With this little revelation, ABC may have to prove that this young man was under that magic age of 18. (However the legal age of consensual sex in the District of Columbia is 16.)

Unless ABC can prove this, then Foley's status just changed from being a pedophilia to being a sicko pervert. I don't want either a sicko pervert or a pedophilia in my congress. I am glad Foley is gone. IMO, Mr. Foley still crossed way over the line of decency.

Being a sicko pervert is not illegal. Which is how the porn business continues to survive.

Either way, there is something terrible wrong with a 50 year old man and a 18 year old young man having IM sex. YUK!