Arrested for a blog comment

This one will knock your socks off.

A person who commented on the Boots and Sabers blog was arrested for a supposed threat made on the blog in the comments-

An Oak Creek High School teacher who allegedly praised the actions of the Columbine School shooters and threatened local teachers on a Web site blog was arrested Thursday. The 46-year-old Cudahy man was arrested with the assistance of Oak Creek and Cudahy police departments after West Bend police were notified of a threatening post on Nov. 16.

Yep- someone stepped over the line and he has been arrested.

A school teacher, no less.

If you read through Owen's post on the subject, you will note, based on the comments made by this person, they appear to made by an angry school teacher attempting to make conservatives look bad. Clearly a troll.(if you hang around blogs or political forums enough, you will find out what a "troll" is)

Knowing that this guy making threats was a school teacher himself, this arrest may not go any further. We will see.

No matter what, there is a lesson to be learned here.

There is no such thing as anonymous. If there is a threat or a perceived threat of violence, it is good to know that the police will react and they can easily find out who you are.

Anytime you visit blog websites, your computer leaves an IP address. That address can be traced right back to the computer you posted from.

Remember that when you are posting stupid or threatening comments.

It's not about the snow

Whenever a snow storm is headed our way, sometimes the media blows it out of proportion.

Not this time.

Folks, it is not the snow that is going to be the problem.

It is the ice.

SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES...IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS CENTRAL AND
PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST WISCONSIN SATURDAY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL
MIX WITH SLEET...RAIN AND FREEZING RAIN SATURDAY NIGHT.
PRECIPITATION WILL TAPER OFF TO LIGHT RAIN OR FREEZING DRIZZLE
LATE SATURDAY NIGHT. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE
6 TO 10 INCHES BEFORE THE CHANGEOVER...WITH LESSER AMOUNTS NEAR
THE BAY OF GREEN BAY.

Now there are plenty of people that live here in Wisconsin that falsely assume that they can drive in anything.

NOBODY can drive on ICE!

I don't care if you have chains, special tires, or an SUV- you cannot drive on ice.

Stay safe everyone and do the smart thing.

Missed the whole thing

I missed the entire game.

I took a few hours off in the morning, while some maintenance men were doing some repair to my apartment. By the time I got to work, I ended up staying past 9pm in order to meet a deadline.

By the time I got home and found out what was going on, Favre was out of the game, our defense could not stop anyone and Aaron Rogers was trying to lead a comeback. I was too exhausted to even turn on the game when I got home.

I am disappointed by not devastated.

This Packers team has given us something to cheer for this year.

Brett is now stating that he should be ready to go for the Oakland game, so Dallas and the Pack may get a rematch somewhere down the road.

Great comment

Jeff Cassity, one of the regular commenter's on this blog made a great comment, so I had to bring it up top.

In the KRM post, Jeff wrote:

What do the KRM, Healthy Wisconsin and Dracula all have in common?
No matter how many times you drive a stake thru their hearts, they come back to life.

Great Joke, Jeff!

Iraq, still not great, but improving

Some of these Pew poll numbers are almost startling in their improvement...






Even the number of Democrats seeing improvement in Iraq has gone up-




Some still need to get better...



For the entire Pew poll results, see here.

Pray for our troops, they are doing great!

Hey Owen, two can play that game

Very funny, Owen.

Here is a totally unbiased poll for you...

What Will Be the Result of the Cowboys/Packers Game?
	Packers by 1
	Packers by 3
	Packers by 6
	Packers by 7
	Packers by 10
	Packers by 13
	Packers by 17
	Packers by more than 21
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Killing the KRM

On the front page of the Kenosha News today was another story on the KRM.

I had already heard from one of our state legislators that this was going to happen, but it is good to finally see it in print.

Another tax is being proposed to jump start the KRM. A tax of .35 cents for every one hundred dollars.

Only this tax would have to pass a referendum in each and every single municipality that the KRM affects.

A funding plan that could aid the proposed Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line would involve a new sales tax — but only if voters approve it in local referendums.

This could get interesting.

I 100% agree that the KRM and it's tax needs to be taken directly to the voters of each community.

What we do not read in this article is that if the tax referendum fails in any single community-does that mean the KRM is dead?

What if the tax referendums fail in half the communities? How are they going to pay for the entire project?

Does the entire county and each municipality have to pass the referendum? The reason I ask this question is simple. There is plenty of shopping at car dealerships and shopping malls in Pleasant Prairie and Bristol. Why not drive 30 seconds up the road and buy the really big ticket items in their locations? Would you hire a contractor based in Kenosha to work on your house, or hire someone with a business in Pleasant Prairie?

Okay-say the tax referendum does need to pass in all of the county's communities-Why would anyone from Wheatland or Randall(Kenosha County) even bother passing this tax referendum? They do not benefit a whole lot by having a rail line in downtown Kenosha. It would take them almost an hour just to drive to the downtown train station in Kenosha. They would then sit on the train for about 45 minutes to get to downtown Milwaukee(depending on the stops). They would then have to hop on the bus to get out to Miller Park or whatever they are visiting. That would take another hour. Total travel time is about 2 hours and 45 minutes. It would only take them an hour and fifteen minutes if they drove themselves- and it would probably cost them less in gas than what it would cost in travel fees on the train and bus.

Imagine if you will- what if the tax referendum failed in Kenosha? Would you just have a Racine-Milwaukee commuter line?

As I said before, if you are going to charge the people living in Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee for this rail line- doesn't it make sense to at the very least give the people the opportunity to decide if they want the KRM?

We have seen business, such as Johnson Wax and Tax, are fully supportive of having that rail line run through their front yards.

How about the people that live in these communities? Do they want the train rumbling through their front yards?

Now it is time to see if the people want it!!!

The KRM folks are really excited that the Republicans in the legislature might actually get behind the bill that would require tax referendums.

Eggleston said this appeals to legislative Republicans who have balked at the idea of creating new sales taxes without voter approval. Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, who led a fight against a previously proposed 650 percent rental car fee increase to fund KRM, said he approves of the alliance plan.

Hey Rep. Vos- I fully support this idea too!

Hmm, I wonder why?

Help yourself

Not that I really believe that the state legislators and our governor do not deserve a raise, but I do have a concern.

Pay raises for legislators, the governor and other elected state officials were approved today.

Was this pay raise figured into the budget 07-09, just passed by the legislature and signed by Doyle?

Or have we fallen deeper into debt?

Presidential Primary: I know we all want to feel relevant, but...

Howard Dean's claim that we will still have a heated presidential primary taking place by the time Feb. 19th rolls around is pretty unlikely.

I know we all want to feel relevant on both sides of the aisle, but really folks, the big guns are voting before we are, and we just have to live with it.

The problem is not necessarily how many states are voting in front of us, but which states are voting in front of us.

Some of the really big guns are California, New York, Illinois and Florida.

This thing will be over by Feb. 5th when 11 states vote ahead of us.

Any candidates lagging by the time the Feb 5th date has passed will most likely drop out of the race. It will be extremely expensive to continue running once the Feb. 5th date has passed and your name is not somewhere near the top.

A list of the primary dates

I know, I know- I have already heard the arguments that Hillary may not win Iowa. Beyond Iowa- Hillary is way up in the other early primary states-

Clinton +13 in New Hampshire
Clinton + 24 in Nevada
Clinton + 14 in South Carolina
Clinton +27 in Florida

It is a bit more interesting on the Republican side. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani could very well carry a snow ball effect, after the first half dozen states vote.

Romney +9 in Iowa
Romney +15 in New Hampshire
Giuliani +3 in Michigan
Romney +2 in South Carolina
Giuliani +16 in Florida

To you Thompson and McCain supporters out there, you need to be a little worried. If neither of them can put a dent in these early primary states- then they could easily get washed away in the first few weeks of primary voting.

Yes, I have seen the number on Huckabee in Iowa- he is a distant fourth and fifth once you get past Iowa. It is all over for him a few weeks later in New Hampshire and South Carolina. His people are hoping he gets a 10 days of good press and that will vault him up in these other states. The problem he has is that the other candidates will get the press also. We will see- I guess.

My guess is that with Howard Dean's pronouncement about Wisconsin, is that he is just trying to keep the troops fired up on the Democrat side of the aisle.

On the Republican side, all we need is the thought of a Hillary presidential candidate to keep us fired up.

Big Debt getting bigger

Although it is no surprise that both Democrats and Republicans have added to our state's debt, I could not help but get a giggle out of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel attempting to give Governor Jim Doyle a pass.

They went so far as to state that debt ballooned higher under Tommy Thompson. But if you look close you will note that the debt of $1.8 Billion under Thompson took place over a 6 year period. Jim Doyle's debt has ballooned $1.5 billion in three years.

Figures show that debt rose the most - by $1.8 billion- under Thompson between 1996 and 2001, when he resigned to become a cabinet secretary for President Bush. Debt increased by more than $1.5 billion in Doyle's first three years.

I would have been nice if the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel would have had the courage to highlight this information over a year ago as Doyle exclaimed over and over and over again that he had balanced the budget, as he was running for re-election.

We are quickly coming to the point when the Democrats and the media will not be allowed to continue to cover for Governor Doyle any longer. The man has been the governor for almost 5 years now- when does the statue of limits run out on bad excuses?

The typical liberal response to this type of bad news is "but, but, but, Tommy Thompson..."

Not buying it anymore.

By the way, normally I would say this is true with Bush also and the "But, but, but, Bill Clinton..." Unfortunately for the Democrats, Hillary's run for President has re-opened that can of worms. Since Senator Clinton is running on President Clinton's record, all of the "but, but, but, Bill Clinton..." issues are back.

Democrats and Iraq

Over the last several days, a lot has been made of Democrats and Iraq.

This is a new and interesting article from Noemie Emery at the Weekly Standard.

Apparently there are some Democrats that are worried that they will be blamed for the failures in Iraq.

Well, what did these Democrats expect?

At every single turn they have undermined the war in Iraq.

In less than a year's time, they have written 41 resolutions or amendments undermining the war in Iraq, including cutting off the funds to American soldiers in Iraq.

Emery states:

In the course of the past year, they have gone from attacking a plan that had not been effective to attacking one that hadn't been tried yet, to attacking one that exceeded all expectations, while in the process ignoring reality, slandering a commanding general, and denying American forces in battle due credit for what they had done.

Emery then proceeds to call out the step by step strategy that the Democrats used to insure failure in Iraq. It's a long read, but well worth it- I will only post part of it:

When our tale opens, it is the last month of 2006, Democrats have just scored a blowout in Congress, Iraq is in shambles, and the country is calling for Bush to change course. He does. But he changes course in the other direction, radically revising his Iraq strategy, adopting aggressive new rules of engagement, and sending in 30,000 more troops. Even before the plan was announced to the public on January 10, 2007, Democrats launched their assault. Senator Christopher Dodd declared the plan useless: "A 'surge' of American troops will do nothing." Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrats in the new Congress, released an open letter to Bush on January 5, decrying his redoubled effort as futile: "Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried, and that has already failed." The surge was "a sad, ominous echo of something we've lived through in this country," according to Illinois senator Richard Durbin. "I'm confident it will not work," said John Kerry at a Senate hearing, a sentiment echoed by Barack Obama. "Verdict first, trial afterwards," said the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, unaware of her future as a role model for America's congressional Democrats. And then it really got strange.

Senate Democrats joined the Republicans in late January in unanimously confirming the appointment of General David Petraeus, a counterinsurgency expert and coauthor of the new surge proposal, sending him off with godspeed and good wishes to the front. Then they began to try to kneecap his efforts, seeking to deny him troops and/or money in an ongoing series of votes of no confidence, coupled with predictions that he would not succeed. Lest anyone at home or abroad not get their message, they rapidly passed two resolutions declaring their profound lack of faith in his mission. One, from Carl Levin on February 5, declared the Senate's disagreement with the "plan to augment our forces"; the other, from Harry Reid two weeks later, declared it the sense of Congress that "Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq."

Afraid of moving directly to defund the armed forces, Democrats decided on a series of steps that would have the same effect without saying so, i.e., putting so many restrictions and regulations on troop deployments that the number available would in effect be greatly reduced. These would be sponsored by veterans (James Webb and John Murtha), and the stated goal would be to help the armed forces. The real goal, however, was to strangle the surge in its crib. "Top House Democrats, working in concert with antiwar groups, have decided against using congressional power to force a quick end to U.S. involvement .  .  . and instead will pursue a slow-bleed strategy designed to gradually limit the administration's options," Politico reported on February 13, adding that the "goal is to limit or sharply reduce the number of U.S. troops available for the Iraq conflict, rather than to openly cut off funding for the war itself."

At the beginning, it had been made abundantly clear that the surge would take place in stages, that it would build gradually over a three- to five-month period, and would not begin to take full effect until June. This did not stop Reid from declaring in April that the surge had been tried, and had failed. "I believe myself that the secretary of state, the secretary of defense--and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows--know that this war is lost and that the surge is not accomplishing anything," he said April 19.

continued...

To be certain, if Iraq fails- the Democrats will be blamed because they have done nothing to assure victory in Iraq.

Democrats have made it very clear, they do not want victory in Iraq, they want failure in Iraq. They will do everything in their power to fail in Iraq as they have shown through resolution after resolution.

Let's be honest, Democrats have promised failure to the anti-war zealots now controlling their party. Any success in Iraq means that the Democrats have failed their hard core constituents.

To those folks who think I am just being mean to the Democrats, consider this statement made by Senator Harry Reid:

"Senator Schumer has shown me numbers that are compelling and astounding," a gleeful Harry Reid said on April 12, 2007, to reporters. "We are going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war."

Clearly you can see from this statement, that Democrats are rooting for failure in Iraq and hoping they can use it to pick up seats in the Senate as a result.

Read the entire article- it is astounding.

No Call lists expiring

The no call lists are expiring again on Dec. 1st.

If you are not if you are on one of the lists expiring- sign up again.

For Wisconsin state no call registration lists-

https://nocall.wisconsin.gov/web/home.asp

For the National No call registration lists-

https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

H/T Appleton PostCrescent

Polls added

I added a couple of fun polls to this blog.

I thought I would keep them lite this time.

Check out the sidebar-

Which NFL playoff team from last year is this year's biggest failure?

Which NFL Non-Playoff Teams from last year are the biggest surprise success story?

Fired police officer's pay

An interesting article in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The question has once again risen about paying fired police officers while they are appealing their cases.

I agree with the mayor of Milwaukee when he states:

"If you're fired and charged with a crime, you don't get paid," he said. "That's the way it works in America."

The question that I have of the mayor is whether or not he supports the same when it comes to school teachers.

I think it is a fair question- Would the mayor insist that a school teacher be paid during the entire appellate process, even if they are charged with a crime or not?

How would WEAC feel if the mayor answers this question as "yes"?

End of the stem cell wars?

I don't know if the war is really over as suggested in this Weekly Standard piece by Ryan Anderson.

The stem cell wars are over. Leading scientists are telling us that they can pursue the most promising stem cell research without using--much less killing--human embryos. This breakthrough enables researchers to create human embryonic stem cells directly from adult cells. In fact, the new method may actually prove superior to embryo-destructive alternatives. This is the biggest stem cell advance since James Thomson became the first scientist to isolate embryonic stem cells, less than a decade ago.

As I said, folks- I don't know. Even as this new research was being announced to the world, there were those still continuing to push for the traditional embryonic stem cell research-

Thomson said much more research needs to be done using this approach, and it could take years before it is certain that the new cells work the same way as embryonic stem cells. He said it is premature for scientists to step away from ongoing embryonic stem cell research.

Now, I am not a scientist or an expert in any type of medical field, but it is a little hard to understand why some folks are still so insistent on crossing a moral barrier that so many find offensive. Especially since there are now other options.

The fever by which embryonic stem cell research has been defended is hard to understand when other forms of stem cell research have proven positive results and embryonic stem cell research has done nothing.

Even now, nine years later, embryonic stem cells are thought by many scientists to have greater potential than other types. This reputation persists even though adult stem cells are already used in therapies to treat several diseases and are being tested in hundreds of clinical trials, while not a single embryonic stem cell therapy exists, even in trials.

I am more and more convinced that there are many liberals still wanting to challenge the moral barrier of others, just like they did in the 60's and 70's.

The Michael J. Fox liberals now are forced to ask themselves this question-

Are you more interested in the science of healing or challenging people's moral barriers?

Imagine that Liberals-now you have to act like grown ups in this debate!

With this huge medical breakthrough, you will have to defend the destruction of human embryos, in the advancement of science, when there is no need to destroy these embryos.

Conservatives United!

Another new blog is rolling into the blogosphere.

Welcome to Jeremiah at Conservatives United!

Pay no attention to the man with his hand in your pocket

Anyone paying attention to what is going on in Congress these days, realizes how very true this comic is:


With two weeks left in the congressional year, the Democrats have every intention of fixing the AMT, but with a hefty price tag. The Democrats plan on replacing the AMT with a $1 TRILLION tax increase!

No respect for Green Bay Packers

This is annoying.

The Green Bay Packers have become the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL. They don't get any respect!

I just caught this headline on the Yahoo Sports Page

"Packers up next for impressive Cowboys"

Notice how it does not say, "Cowboys up next for impressive Packers".

If you actually read the article, the author raves on and on about the Cowboys.

As glorious as it all sounds for a franchise with such a proud history, these milestones will be pretty useless if the Cowboys don't win their next game -- at home, Thursday night, against Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, who happen to also be 10-1.

Catch that last part of this paragraph. Apparently, the Packers just "happen" to be 10-1 also.

The Cowboys just "happen" to be my second favorite team in the league, but this is really annoying. The only time I do not root for them is when they play the Packers.

Clearly the media has anointed the Cowboys the greatest NFC team and the Patriots the greatest AFC team.

Wouldn't it be fun if the Packers just "happen" to beat the Cowboys?

Maybe then they will get some respect around the league!

New poster on BBA

Good news, the Badger Blog Alliance has added a new poster to it's alliance posting membership- Todd Lohenry from The Right Side of Wisconsin.

Welcome Todd.

Vicki McKenna for Mayor

Hey Vicki- we have a spot opening up for mayor right here in Kenosha.

Unfortunately, Kenosha has already been suckered into a trolley.

Drunk Driving: Wisconsin is the worst in the nation

Worst in the nation and nobody wants to talk about it.

Why is that?

Do we like ou beer so much in this state that we are not willing to even try and do something about the staggering statistics?

Of all the deaths in traffic accidents last year, 42% of them had alcohol involved.

It's no surprise Wisconsin tops the list of worst states for drinking and driving, state and local officials say.

What they don't necessarily agree on is how to fix it.

The Badger State ranks 51st — behind all other states and the District of Columbia — in a recently issued Mothers Against Drunk Driving state progress report that looks at the percentage of traffic fatalities involving a drunken driver.

There were 305 drunken driving deaths in Wisconsin in 2006, according to the report. Those crashes made up 42.1 percent of total state traffic fatalities.

continued...

Wisconsin: Internet Access Tax

For years, Wisconsin has operated at a competitive disadvantage, which has Wisconsin into the tax hell that it is today.

Our state government's insistence on taxing everything is beginning to cost us in the free market.

One of the most ridiculous taxes that we pay in this state is the internet access tax.

Even the Democrats on the federal level recognize that taxing people to access the internet is a bad for business.

Every single Democrat and Republican voted to extend the ban on an Internet access tax nationwide.

Unfortunately, here in Wisconsin, we are one of nine states that is allowed to charge people a tax just to access the Internet.

Rep. Rich Zipperer has set out to change this policy.

Yesterday, Zipperer had a good opinion piece in Waukesha Freeman.

Zipperer states:

This bipartisan success story, however, has been stopped in its tracks at the Illinois border. Here in Wisconsin, the federal ban will do nothing for taxpayers because here the bipartisan efforts have been in the exact opposite direction. Since the early 1990s, governors of both parties in Wisconsin have decided that filling the government’s coffers takes precedence over preparing and growing our economy for the future.

Zipperer is determined to end this obnoxious tax.

To finally end this tax in Wisconsin and help our state compete in the Information Age, I have authored legislation in the state Assembly that prohibits the Department of Revenue from collecting the tax. My legislation, Assembly Bill 223, will stop the tax, but only if we can get bipartisan cooperation here like that which led to the federal ban.


As a nation, we have entered the technology era and it is ridiculous that our state government insists on taxing people just to be able to access this technology.

Governor Doyle and his cohorts on the Democrat side of the aisle are bound and determined to continue this tax and charge Wisconsinites another $100 million in taxes over the next two years.

It is time for Wisconsinites to put pressure on their government to eliminate this tax.

Call your legislators and insist that we eliminate this obnoxious tax.

HT Spring City Chronicle

An old friend

It was great seeing an old friend today and making a couple of new ones.

I met up with the Ol' Broad and her family in Wales. It had been a while since I had seen Kate. Since she has moved, it is a bit harder to meet.

I also had a chance to sit and talk with Silent E and his wonderful wife. I also met a quiet fellow Sancho.

It was a good day talking politics(my favorite thing to do)

Good seeing everyone!

Another new site

Check this out. A new blog site: The Northwoods View

I always wondered what went on up in the North Woods of Wisconsin.

Democrats: The real party of the rich

Nothing but political rhetoric coming from the Democrats about Republicans being the party of the rich.

The real truth, the Democrats control the pocketbooks of the country's richest. We already know they control Hollywood, but check this out from today's Washington Times:

Democrats like to define themselves as the party of poor and middle-income Americans, but a new study says they now represent the majority of the nation's wealthiest congressional districts.

In a state-by-state, district-by-district comparison of wealth concentrations based on Internal Revenue Service income data, Michael Franc, vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation, found that the majority of the nation's wealthiest congressional jurisdictions were represented by Democrats.

He also found that more than half of the wealthiest households were concentrated in the 18 states where Democrats hold both Senate seats.

continued...

New website- Pleasant Prairie Kenosha County

Here is a link to a new website for all the latest political news taking place in Pleasant Prairie.

Hopefully the real(reel) truth about Pleasant Prairie politics will now get out into the public.

http://pleasantprairiewi.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-more-do-we-need-we-already-have.html

Village Board Nov 19, 2007 clip 1/20

A citizen in Pleasant Prairie has decided that he has had enough. For years, Pleasant Prairie has made excuses as to why they cannot publish village meeting information in a more timely fashion. The people of Pleasant Prairie have every right to know what is taking place at these meetings. If for some reason you do not have time to go to a meeting or are having difficulty leaving your home, you are left in the dark for at least 6 weeks before they publish the meeting minutes.

A citizen has taken it upon himself to record and publish these meetings on You Tube.

Good for him.

I have been to a number of these meetings and they can get wild.

You can see the meeting in it's entirety if you visit this page and see all 21 videos. http://www.youtube.com/pleasantprairiewi

You can even subscribe to this page and stay in touch with all the happenings in Pleasant Prairie.

Offended

I have been following the whole bumper sticker issue with a keen interest.

Charlie Sykes has the latest and greatest info in this debate. Included are links to other websites currently battling over a bumper sticker-

Sykes updates

Let's be honest here- some liberals are always looking for a reason to blast Charlie Sykes and any conservative that does not agree with them.

The grand irony of this thing is that even though the liberals preach coexistence, these very same liberals cannot coexist with conservatives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The game is about to start and I am heading out the door.

Everybody have safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

A Thanksgiving Message to Tom McMahon

This is a special Thanksgiving message to Tom McMahon.

I am thankful that there are still good men left in the world.

Tom is the epitome of a good man.

He is currently dealing with a son that is wheelchair bound, a wife who just had a heart attack and a very sick mother. Just to pile on, he is being attacked by the lefties for a parody on a bumper sticker.

Still, Tom is thankful for his friends during this holiday season.

Best wishes to you and your family, Tom.

Bice exposes Ed Garvey as a hypocrite

Wow-

Two days after posting these words on his blog, Ed Garvey was exposed as a hypocrite by Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

WMC should not be permitted to buy seats on our Court. We need elections not auctions.

For months and months, Ed Garvey has blasted Annette Ziegler, newly seated Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, as unethical.

Recently, Ed Garvey had argued that Annette Ziegler should recuse herself from the Beaver Dam Area Development Corp. case because the Wisconsin Realtor Association had filed a friend of the Court brief in this case. The Wisconsin Realtor Association had also donated money to Ziegler's campaign.

As Bice exposes, in the same case, Ed Garvey has also filed a friend of the court papers for the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and a bunch of other groups.

As it turns out, Ed Garvey himself, has also donated money to a different sitting justice in the same case. Justice Louis Butler has taken $450 in campaign donations from Ed Garvey and his wife.

What is Ed Garvey's excuse for this hypocrisy?

He didn't think about it.

"If I'd even thought about it, I obviously wouldn't have sent the money," he said Wednesday.

You have got to be kidding me!

For months and months, Garvey and his cohorts have done nothing but blast Annette Ziegler's ethics.

He didn't think that a donation to sitting justice would be questioned when that is all he has talked about for months????

Also, as Bice points out, the donations by the Wisconsin Realtors Association were made to Ziegler BEFORE she was a sitting justice.

Ed Garvey's donations were made to a CURRENT SITTING JUSTICE!

Clearly, this type of stuff does nothing more than prove that the attempts by the lefties to get Ziegler off the bench, is purely political. They are interested in getting a conservative leaning judge off the bench, nothing more.

Let me be the first to say it-

Ed Garvey and his cohorts should not be permitted to buy seats on our Court!

Progress we can all celebrate

This is something that people on both sides of the stem cell research debate can celebrate:

If these new cells truly have all the beneficial qualities of embryonic stem cells without hidden hazards, it could pave the way to therapies that do not raise the moral concerns associated with the destruction of embryos or therapeutic cloning. At the same time, the new approach could avoid problems of immune rejection because the cells could be matched to the DNA of the patient.

Congratulations UW and Japanese scientists!

Now, let's do something with this new technology.

It is time to get this stuff out of the research labs and out into the world.

Billions of dollars have been spent looking for cures that have produced little results in the real world.

Singing a different tune

Nice post yesterday from Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard.

He notes that the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times have changed their tune a bit on Iraq.

He is calling it "herd journalism".

The herd? It consists, so far, of the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, New York Times, and Newsweek - and no doubt others that I have yet to come upon. And the herd is likely to grow larger because the evidence of success in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq is so palpable that reporters, regardless of their view of the war, were bound to acknowledge it at some point. Yes, they've taken a while to do so. For several months, the American press corps in Iraq merely - and sometimes grudgingly - reported the claims of American military officials that the number of American combat deaths, Iraqi deaths, suicide bombings, roadside attacks, and other forms of violence were declining precipitously. Now they're reporting progress that they've seen with their own eyes. This is a big step for a media contingent that appeared to be as locked into the idea that the war is lost as Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is.

Links to the stories:

The Washington Post

New York Times

Newsweek

Los Angeles Times

Let's hope the positive changes in Iraq continue.

Bush and Condi need to engage the national leaders in Iraq in order to keep the positive changes moving forward.

A blip?

"It seems to me Justice Ziegler's case is not even, forgive me, a blip on the screen compared to those cases," he said.

Seriously folks, can we just get the blip taken care of and move on?

Ziegler has admitted that she screwed up, and is willing to pay the fine.

So let's move on, okay?

The election is over.

Right on target

An interesting and insightful post from Patrick McIlheran

A suicidal killer blew himself up in Iraq on Sunday just where U.S. soldiers were handing out toys to children. Three children and three soldiers died. This isn't the first time the bombers have targeted toy giveaways, either.

So who is causing the mayhem in Iraq -- the guys handing out toys, or the terrorists who wait until children gather to blow them up?

I know it is hard for some folks to admit, but we are actually fighting terrorism in Iraq.

Liberal Bloggers: Anger and Nastiness at a whole new level

When should a person say that enough is enough?

The nastiness and the anger out of the liberal bloggers in the cheddarsphere has hit a new low.

Over the last several months, you can just feel the anger and the hatred dripping from their blogs.

Currently their favorite attack method is accusing conservatives of being racist.

It happened to me, on this very post.

Apparently, the blogger on Pundit Nation was upset over a post I made on Jimmy Carter.

Now, there was nothing that I wrote that could have been construed as racist or the KKK.

No, instead it was a twist on my name that gave this particular blogger the right to imply that I am a racist. (Kathy Karpenter FOR Kenosha / Koncerned Kristian Kitizen)

Certainly, this particular blogger could have disagreed with me on the Jimmy Carter issue, but instead the name calling began.

For no reason whatsoever, this blogger implied that I was a racist.

From there a couple of other liberal bloggers continued the name calling. I was called clueless and childish.

Of course, not to be outdone, every conservatives favorite blogger, Illusory Tenant, called me a bitch. For what reason, I don't know. I am pretty certain we have never met.

You may be wondering what has set me off to post this 6 weeks after the original post. At first, I ignored it, but there are other conservative women, having to tolerate this type of garbage.

I am not exactly sure what happened to Jeni at Sheboygan Shenanigans today. Clearly she has grown weary of the personal attacks also. Jeni has also been accused of being a racist, by the mayor of Sheboygan, no less.

The attacks have just gotten ridiculous. There is no rhyme or reason, other than the fact that someone may disagree with them politically.

Why is it that liberal bloggers have so many issues with conservative women bloggers?

I know the conservative men take their share of insults, but the most vile and hateful language seems to be targeted straight at conservative women.

Clearly, no conservative female blogger has taken more personal attacks than Jessica McBride. Every time I post about Jessica, the personal attacks against her seemed to be stepped up even more.(So sorry, Jessica. I could not keep it to myself any longer.)

The vile, hateful personal attacks against Jessica has reached a fevered pitch over the last several months.

The same liberal blogger that called me a bitch, Illusory Tenant, also called Jessica the "c" word. There are no excuses for this type of behavior. When called on it, there was an apology.

Of course, this did not stop some of these liberals from piling on her husband or stop them from dragging her children into this.

An entire website, dedicating to insulting and trashing Jessica, has been created.

How angry must a person be in order to create a website dedicated to trashing one private citizen writing her opinion?

These stuff has gone way beyond out of control.

There is no reason for this nastiness.

Seriously, if the conservative websites upset these people so much that they resort to personal attacks, then just stop reading the conservative websites.

It is just that simple.

I don't know if these bloggers believe they are advancing the cause of liberalism by writing this stuff. You would think that they would realize that they could not possibly be helping their cause.

This is nothing more than pure nastiness. Being mean, just to be mean.

Now, we have all heard the typical excuses for this behavior, so and so conservative said this and such.

It's a crock.

Clearly, it is quite a stretch to take a person's name and use it to accuse them of racism. We expect this type of name twisting out of fifth graders, not adults.

Either grow up or leave the blogosphere.

Clearly, these people cannot handle their emotions or control their tempers without reverting to name calling.

Faceplant

As excited as I am about watching the Packers win, I cannot help but get excited about the Seahawks vs. Bears.

Did you guys just see that play?

The "great" Devon Hester just got faceplanted onto the field by the Seattle kicker during a runback.

Devon Hester will be in another highlight reel, for the kicker.

Welcome home to a Kenosha Marine

I want to extend a special welcome home to a Kenosha Marine.

Jeremy arrived home last night, safe and sound, from Iraq.

Thank you for your service, Jeremy

Democrats piling on the pork(some Republicans too)

After all of the fuss and muss made by the Democrats about stopping earmarks, some these new pork projects are staggering-

The New York Times recently reported that members of the House earmarked an extra $1.8 billion to the military budget for projects the Pentagon did not request. This is despite cutting earmarks by half. The top earmarker at $166 million was the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee, John Murtha of Pennsylvania. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California asked for $32 million and majority leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland request $26 million.

Just check some of this wasted money-

• The Seattle Times detailed last month how Senator Patty Murray and Representatives Norm Dicks and Brian Baird, all Democrats, earmarked $17.65 million to a boat company for a vessel the Navy did not ask for and never used.
• Murray also earmarked $6 million to a company for battle gear the Army rejected.
• Representative David Wu, an Oregon Democrat, earmarked $2 million for combat T-shirts that were banned because their polyester was flammable.
• Several current and former members of Congress, including New York Democratic congressman Charles Rangel and former Senate Democratic majority leader Thomas Daschle, have up to $2 million apiece earmarked for "public service," "research," and "leadership" centers named after them.

Tom Daschle is not even in the senate anymore and he is piling up the pork!

Republicans too...

Republican congressman Ralph Regula of Ohio asked for $130,000 for a library founded by his wife and directed by his daughter.

Congress is out of control.

Lions for Lambs: I don't think he liked the movie

I think John Podhoretz, Weekly Standard, really did not like the new movie, Lion for Lambs, starring liberals Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise.

It seems that alot of folks like Podhoretz, did not like the movie either. It opened up at the Box Office at #4 in the country, in it's first week.

It is rather pathetic that a movie with the star power this movie has, opens up a very distant 4th to #3's Fred Clause.

Lions for Lambs, the new movie directed by and starring Robert Redford, is designed to move us away from the "black-and-white" rhetoric of the war on terror and instead draw our focus to the "gray areas." This is necessary so that there can be a debate on issues--a debate we have been "denied" over the past six years.

I know this because I heard Robert Redford say it before a screening of Lions for Lambs at the Museum of Modern Art, where the movie was met with rapturous applause by an audience studded with has-beens, including a Mohawk-sporting Randy Quaid, Andrew (Pretty in Pink) McCarthy, Adam (Counting Crows) Duritz, and Janine (Northern Exposure) Turner. Redford's main hope, he said just before his film unspooled itself over the course of 88 of the most barren minutes anyone has ever spent at MOMA, is that his new film will make us think. That is, indeed, a noble purpose. So let me say on behalf of the American filmgoing public that we collectively owe an inexpressible debt to Redford for deigning to slalom down from his pristine Utah mountaintop to compel us to make unaccustomed use of our underutilized gray matter.

continued...

Free lunch?

What in heaven's name is Sen. Chuck Schumer talking about?

Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday that if Congress was unable to pass legislation that sets a timetable on the war - the most likely scenario - they would drop the issue until next year. In the meantime, Democrats say, the Pentagon can eat into its $471 billion annual budget without being forced to take drastic steps.

"The days of a free lunch are over," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Does Schumer really believe that the entire US military is only after a "free lunch"?

Millions of Americans, all over the world, not just Iraq, are standing in defense of this country.

Chuck Schumer and his fellow Democrats are refusing to fund the US military.

They are not just refusing funding in Iraq, but the entire US military budget has been put on hold by the Democrats.

A Republican with some backbone

Boy, that was refreshing.

I just came from an event sponsored by the 1st District GOP on health care

Rep. Leah Vukmir was the speaker on "How Government run health care will make Wisconsin sick".

Of course, once again, the Democrats sent along a couple of people with some planted questions.

Wow, Rep. Vukmir stood toe to toe with these guys and did not back down.

Details later. Right now, it is time for bed.

Funny!

Hey, Ol' Broad, you knew I had to swipe this, right?

A Republican in a wheelchair entered a restaurant one afternoon and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee. The Republican looked across the restaurant and asked, “Is that Jesus sitting over there?”. The waitress nodded “yes,” so the Republican requested that she give Jesus a cup of coffee, on him.

The next patron to come in was a Libertarian with a hunched back. He shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked the waitress for a cup of hot tea. He also glanced across the restaurant and asked, “Is that Jesus over there?”. The waitress nodded, so the Libertarian asked her to give Jesus a cup of hot tea, “My treat.”

The third patron to come into the restaurant was a Democrat on crutches. He hobbled over to a booth, sat down and ordered, “Hey there, honey! How’s about gettin’ me a cold glass of Miller Light?” He too, looked across the restaurant and asked, “Is that God’s boy over there?”. The waitress once more nodded, so the Democrat directed her to give Jesus a cold glass of beer. “On my bill,” he said.

As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the Republican, touched him and said, “For your kindness, you are healed”. The Republican felt the strength come back into his legs, got up, and danced a jig out the door.

Jesus also passed by the Libertarian, touched him and said, “For your kindness, you are healed”. The Libertarian felt his back straightening up, and he raised his hands, praised the Lord and did a series of back flips out the door.

Then Jesus walked towards the Democrat. The Democrat jumped up and yelled, “Don’t touch me… I’m collecting disability!”.

Where does your school district rank?

I know that this was a study for Racine schools, but my eyes immediately went to Kenosha to see how my school district ranked. Double click on photo to enlarge.





Not good, Kenosha. Not good at all.

"Positive sense of Self Worth"

These were the words written by Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway, when trying to convince some of his fellow county board members to over-ride Scott Walker's veto of a pay raise for county board members.

The entire statement is as follows:

"What does mean something, however, is that the legislative policy-making branch of county government has a positive sense of self worth," he wrote
I was stunned when I read these words. It is not too often that you read this type of admission out of anyone. It is even more rare that you hear anyone admit that money drives their self worth.

Think about it for a second, Holloway is admitting that without a pay raise, their worth as county board supervisors, is somehow diminished.

How sad is that? Milwaukee County Board Chairman Holloway is not the only person to feel this way. Many people, in all walks of life, consider their self worth to be wrapped around the size of their paycheck.

We could probably go on talking about this point for hours, but their is a more important issue to discuss.

There was a time, not too long ago, when a life of a politician was considered a life of public service. The idea that elected officials are public servants is gone and has been replaced with a need for power.

Elected officials used to believe that serving the needs of their constituents was their only priority. Far too many politicians, in all levels of government, have strayed from the life of public service and instead their primary concern has become their own personal lives.

To hear Holloway say these words, takes us right back to the thinking that caused the massive pension scandal a few years ago. During this massive scandal, the primary concern of elected officials was their own paychecks and pension perks.

Clearly some on the Milwaukee County Board are still thinking of themselves and not their constituents. This is the very reason that the original pension scandal started in the first place.

For the last five years, the constituents of these board members have had to listen to stories of millions upon millions of their tax dollars being given away.

Wouldn't it be nice if some of these elected officials began to recognize that they are in a life of public service?

Instead some of these officials are concerned about the public serving them. These elected officials are concerned about their own pensions and their own paychecks.

What a sad state Wisconsin is living in right now. We have elected officials, who's primary concern is their paychecks.

We also have elected officials, who's primary concern is protecting their sick pay, so they can get a huge payout to buy health care insurance later.

We also have an elected official in this state, who has been sitting in jail for months, doing little for his constituents. That elected official will become officially eligible to collect a huge pension in a few short months. The taxpayers will then be paying this guy for the rest of his life.

It is time to boot all of these selfish elected officials out of office and start over again.

To the selfish elected officials- it is time to get back to serving the public that elected you.

Where is the media?

For months, The New Republic, and their mysterious soldier, wrote lies about his American soldiers. Initially the main stream media bought into them, hook-line-sinker.

Now that the soldier and The New Republic have been totally discredited, the main stream media is no where to be found.

When the stories about Haditha broke, the media descended onto our soldiers like vultures. They were guilty- They were all guilty- was the impression we all got from the media.

Standing behind the main stream media stories was the likes of Congressman John Murtha, calling our American soldiers murderers and stating that they "killed innocent civilians in cold blood".

Where is the main stream media? There has been a virtual blackout by main stream media sources to get the truth out about The New Republic and their discredited stories.

Why is it the MSM is so willing to believe the lies of a few, but are unwilling to print the truth about numerous acts of American heroism?

I just do not get it.

You would think the media would want to print the stories of heroism.

You would think the media would be looking for stories on great American soldiers.

Instead they are looking for stories of defeat and stories that make American soldiers look bad.

The American media has gotten worse since the Vietnam war-

In both Vietnam and Iraq, news stories about soldiers have been largely negative. But heroism and sacrifice were far more prevalent in Vietnam than atrocities, and the same holds true today. The TNR-Beauchamp affair illustrates just how little things have changed since Vietnam. In April of 2005, Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, U.S. Army, became the first soldier in the Iraq war to be awarded the Medal of Honor. He was killed in action when his outnumbered unit was attacked by Iraqi forces at the Baghdad airport on April 4, 2003, and is credited with saving hundreds of lives. Yet as Robert Kaplan observed in a piece in the Wall Street Journal that “according to LexisNexis, by June 2005, two months after his posthumous award, [Smith’s] stirring story had drawn only 90 media mentions, compared to 4,677 for the supposed Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay, and 5,159 for the court-martialed Abu Ghraib guard Lynndie England.

After I read this article in the National Review, all I could think about is how many in our media were out looking for a negative story on American soldiers during this time of Veteran's Day Remembrance.

It is one thing for those in the media to seek the truth. It is another thing altogether for today's media to manufacture their own truth about American soldiers.

Today's media has become an absolute disgrace to America.

In their relentless pursuit of a tawdry story, today's American media has become the tawdry story.

Leading the league

With all the talk about Tom Brady, Tony Romo and Peyton Manning- the old man is still leading the league in passing yards.

9 games-

NFL Leaders: Passing Yds (Thru Nov. 11, 2007)
Rank	Player	Team	Stats
1	Brett Favre	GB	2757
2	Tom Brady	NE	2686
3	Tony Romo	Dal	2555
4	Carson Palmer	Cin	2464
5	Drew Brees	NO	2447
6	Peyton Manning	Ind	2386
7	Donovan McNabb	Phi	2295
8	Jon Kitna	Det	2294
9	Derek Anderson	Cle	2231
10	Matt Hasselbeck	Sea	2023
11	Ben Roethlisberger	Pit	2020
12	Jeff Garcia	TB	1967
13	Jay Cutler	Den	1882
14	Eli Manning	NYG	1820
15	Damon Huard	KC	1766
16	Philip Rivers	SD	1743
17	Joey Harrington	Atl	1737
18	Jason Campbell	Was	1735
19	Matt Schaub	Hou	1658
20	Marc Bulger	StL	1602

Where do your tax dollars really go?

These are the types of things that really anger taxpayers.

Right now, taxpayers are paying a ton of money to have some roadwork done on 7th ave. Most taxpayers understand that if the work needs to be done, then do it. It's okay.

What we do not understand is why we are paying money to replace a bunch of street lights that do not need to be replaced.

The reason for replacing perfectly good street lights?

Apparently some folks wanted the pretty lights!

I clipped this out of the Kenosha News today-



So does every taxpayer get to pick the lights in their own neighborhood?

This is infuriating to taxpayers! Only Racine's taxes went up more than Kenosha's last year. This is how they use our tax dollars?

It would be one thing if the original lights were old and had a problem- they are not!

Good grief!

Anti-war protesters crash a Veteran's Day Parade

They could not leave the politics out of it for even one single day. A day meant to honor all veterans. Every single member of our military, both past and present, deserves better than this display of American hate.

Still they had to crash the parade with their politics-

DENVER — Antiwar veterans passed out leaflets and carried signs opposing the war in Iraq yesterday after winning a last-minute right to march in this city's annual Veterans Day parade.

About 50 marchers displayed peace signs and banners with messages like "Iraq is Just Vietnam in the Desert," "Bring Our Troops Home Where They Belong," and "Bush Lies."

Honoring all those who have served

Thank a veteran today.

We live in a great country, without the service of these fine men and woman, who knows what America would look like.

Thank you Dad. My father is a veteran of the Vietnam War. He served as a naval officer from beginning to end.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

The United States Marine Corp is 232 years old today. Established on November 10, 1775.

Thank you to ever single man and woman that has served in the Marine Corp.

The Marines Prayer

Almighty Father , whose command is over all and whose love never fails, make me aware of Thy presence and obedient to Thy will. Keep me true to my best self, guarding me against dishonesty in purpose and deed and helping me to live so that I can face my fellow Marines, my loved ones and Thee without shame or fear. Protect my family. Give me the will to do the work of a Marine and to accept my share of responsibilities with vigor and enthusiasm. Grant me the courage to be proficient in my daily performance. Keep me loyal and faithful to my superiors and to the duties my country and the Marine Corps have entrusted to me. Make me considerate of those committed to my leadership. Help me to wear my uniform with dignity, and let it remind me daily of the traditions which I must uphold.

If I am inclined to doubt, steady my faith; if I am tempted, make me strong to resist; if I should miss the mark, give me courage to try again.

Guide me with the light of truth and grant me wisdom by which I may understand the answer to my prayer. AMEN.

Oink - the piggies are out, bring your pooper scooper

The congressional oinkers are out and with the loads of pork they are dropping, you will need your pooper scooper.

From Citizens against Government Waste-

Here are some outrageous examples of pork that members of the House and Senate included in the Labor/HHS bill:

● “That $1,500,000 shall be for a non-competitive grant to the AFL-CIO Working for American Institute, which shall be awarded not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this act: provided further, that $2,200,000 shall be for a non-competitive grant to the AFL-CIO Appalachian Council, Inc, for Job Corps career transition services, which shall be awarded not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this act.” There is no member identified with this earmark.

● $1,000,000 for Bismarck State College for an instrumentation and control training program for the energy industry, inserted by Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.).

● $882,025 for 25 projects to organizations in Pennsylvania for “abstinence education and related services,” inserted by Senate Labor/HHS Subcommittee Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

● $500,000 for the Charter School Development Foundation in Las Vegas for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, inserted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. Shelley Berkeley (D-Nev.).

● $400,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center by Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). That amount more than doubled in the conference report from $150,000 in the House bill.

● $400,000 for Guam Community College for skilled craft training, inserted by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam).

● $350,000 for the Museum of Aviation Foundation, in Warner Robins, Georgia for educational programs, inserted by Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.).

● $320,000 for the American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, MO, for exhibits and educational programs, and an archival project, sponsored by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.).

● $300,000 for the Des Moines Art Center, for exhibits, sponsored by Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

● $250,000 for the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward for a marine ecosystem education program, sponsored by Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

● $175,000 for the Young at Art Children’s Museum, in Davie for the Global Village Project, inserted by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

● $150,000 for the Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, for exhibits and community outreach, sponsored by Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) and Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill).

● $150,000 for the Burpee Museum for educational programming and exhibits, sponsored by Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.).

● $150,000 for College Park Aviation Museum in College Park, for exhibits and educational programs, sponsored by House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

● $150,000 for the History Museum of East Ottertail County, Perham, Minnesota for exhibits and equipment, sponsored by Collin Peterson (D-Minn.).

● $150,000 for Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz, in New York for exhibits and programs, sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Sheboygan: Totally missing the point

There have been some interesting developments in the Sheboygan saga over the last several days. The City of Sheboygan is attempting to retract the letter sent to a private citizen, telling her that she must remove a link to the Sheboygan police department. Link.

The City of Sheboygan is backing down from its demand that a Sheboygan resident remove a link from her business Web site to the Sheboygan Police Department, the city attorney said this morning.


Basically, this is lawyer speak for calling a time out or a "do over". It has gotten a little too hot down at the mayor's office and now they are trying to claim a "do-over".

Unfortunately for the mayor and the city attorney, this may work in a court room when having evidence thrown out, but it does not work in the real world where most Americans live.

The city's aldermen have also weighed in on the subject.

I can certainly understand why the alderman are upset about this issue taking over their city, but I believe they are missing the bigger picture.

The city's now-retracted demand that a resident remove an Internet link to the Sheboygan Police Department is an embarrassment and a distraction for the city, some aldermen said Wednesday.

No where in this article do you read that a single alderman is condemning the actions of the mayor, they say they are embarrassed, but they do not condemn the actions. Now maybe some of them stated this to the media, but their statements did not make the paper.

Some of these alderman even go so far as to state that no real damage has been done here.

"What is the damage to this person if that link is up and running again and her Web site has been going all this time?" Montemayor said. "I'm sure her attorney will say there's been some damage, but I don't know what it would be."

I find this statement by this alderwoman to be highly offensive. Clearly the alderman in Sheboygan are missing the entire point.

This is not about a website or a link to the Police department. This is not about Sheboygan government, this is about the people of Sheboygan.

At issue here are the basic rights afforded every single American citizen.

A citizen in the city of Shebogan was denied her basic rights by her local government.

This very country was founded by men and women that were running from abusive governments.

The Sheboygan mayor used the taxpayer's money to go after a private citizen because of a personal political vendetta. He used the city attorney to send a threatening letter to a political opponent. The mayor also had this issue investigated by the local police department.

As American citizens, we have rights in this country. We also have laws in this country and some of these laws do protect from government officials using their power and position to enact personal vendettas.

I am more than a little curious as to why most of the alder persons in this city seem to have completely missed the point. The mayor of Sheboygan seems to have violated the rights of a citizens and they are miffed because they city is not getting good press.

Why are they not calling for an investigation?

If this mayor is allowed to do this to anyone in the city, who is next?

What happens if one of these alder persons makes the mayor angry- would these alder persons allow their rights to be violated?

I am pretty certain that not only the mayor, but the aldermen in Sheboygan took an oath of office. Did that oath include protecting the rights of every single Sheboygan citizen?

If not, it should include this.

If these aldermen want to protect the reputation of Sheboygan, they need to start by immediately calling for an investigation into this matter. They must then take whatever means necessary to protect the citizens of Sheboygan from an abusive government.

State sponsored Children's Health Care gets Slobberknockered

Even as Governor Doyle touts his new BadgerCare plus program, it might be time to rethink some of the state sponsored health care programs. On the front pages of today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, our governor is proudly touting his state sponsored health care program that will provide access for every single Wisconsin child to be given affordable health insurance. (Yes, this includes the rich people.)

In fact, state sponsored children's health care, has been all over the front pages of newspapers all across America. Schip, has been hotly debated all across the country.

Schip is a the federally approved "State Children's Health Insurance Program". This is a health insurance program designed to insure children of working parents. Even though the parents of these children are working, many still fall below the national poverty level.

This was a program created in 1990's by REPUBLICANS, to ensure that children of these working parents are still able to get proper health care. In general, each individual state administers the program and receives matching funds from the federal government.

This is truly a noble cause that was meant to help those parents that are working like crazy, but still cannot afford health insurance for their children.

Over the recent months, now that it is time to re-authorize the program, Schip has been hijacked by the Democrats and used as a campaign weapon against Republicans. Any Republican who voted against the Democrats expansion of Schip, has been under vicious attacks.

The Democrats have gone so far as to start phone and letter writing campaigns against those Republicans attempting to alert Americans to the serious new problems being created by the Democrats new Schip program.

In our own first congressional district, Congressman Paul Ryan, has been under continuous attack from letters to the editor and newspaper editors.

Let us set the politics aside for a moment and take a quick look at some of the problems that the Republicans in the US legislature are attempting to alert us.

One of the most major problems that we are being told about the Democrats proposal is that this new Schip program would be expanded to cover families that make as high as $80,ooo a year. This is not the working poor in America. Most Americans certainly believe that a family making $80,000 should be able to purchase their own health insurance for their children.

Another big problem is on how we should fund this massive expansion to the program. The Democrats new program would create a federal tax of 61 cents on cigarettes. This would fund the almost $35 billion program expansion.

There are many other problems with the Schip program, including the number of ADULTS on this children's health care program. Apparently, the Democrats want to include 25 year old adults on this program. We could also talk about illegal immigrants on the program.

The problems with this new Schip program that they are too numerous to list here.

What would be nice to know is exactly how the people of America view the Democrats new Schip proposal. We have seen polls on the subject, but the pollsters are accused of bias, so it is hard to get an accurate portrait of exactly what Americans are thinking.

This past Tuesday, a huge window opened up to America. This issue was on the ballot in the state of Oregon.

The voters in the blue state of Oregon voted on an expansion of health care for their children. The similarities between the Democrat Governor of Oregon and the national Democrat's Schip was erringly familiar.

The Democrat Governor of Oregon wanted to expand health care for his children's health care program. He wanted expand the program to reach those families making more money (up to $62,000 a year). He wanted to use a cigarette tax of 84.5 cents a pack in order to pay for the program.

Here was the perfect opportunity for every single person in the US to get an idea of exactly which direction this new Schip program should go.

Oregon is a blue state so this new Democrat proposal should have easily passed. And by the way, it was for the children.

Every single voter, in ever single Oregon county, had the opportunity to voice their opinion on this subject.

So which direction did the voters go in Oregon?

They crushed it. In a blaze of cigarette smoke, the voters of Oregon denied their governor the expanded children's health care.

Expanding the state sponsored children's health care program was not only defeated, it got slobberknockered. (Definition of slobberknockered is when someone gets hit so hard, it knocks the slobber out of their mouths)

Of the 36 counties in Oregon, only one county actually voted for the program expansion. Only the county that Portland is in, Multnomah, passed the new program.

So what does this mean for the rest of America?

If these state run entitlement programs are so popular with Americans, as we are told by the Democrats, why is it that health insurance designed "for the children" was so crushed by the voters of Oregon?

We are being told by the Democrats in Oregon that is was the millions of dollars worth of ads placed by the cigarette companies, the brought defeat to the expanded health care coverage.

Sorry, but that excuse does not fly. A majority of Americans do not smoke and most do not care about a cigarette tax.

It has to be more than that.

As Wisconsinites, we need to learn something from the voters of Oregon. Our state legislators need to be paying very close attention to what just happened in Oregon. Do your constituents really want to expand health care for all children in Wisconsin? If so, what price are they willing to pay for this new entitlement program?

Washington, DC should also be paying very close attention to what just happened in Oregon.

Why did the people of Oregon reject expansion of a children's health care program?

If a liberal blue state of Oregon rejected this, who is to say that many voters all across America have the same problem with government sponsored programs.

What happened in Oregon should give pause to every single elected official in every single state. Every legislator needs to head back to their voters and stop assuming they know how they think and feel. Perhaps now is a good time to actually sit down and listen to your constituents.

Perhaps voters have just had enough of the entitlement programs.

I do not know what the reason is, but I do know that now is the time for our leaders to start listening to the people.

This was a decisive defeat on a program and that is currently being shoved down the throats of voters here in Wisconsin and through out the rest of the United States.