Rasmussen Presidential Poll

McCain has a shot at winning Wisconsin according to Rasmussen. However, this is only a poll at the end of March and it does not mean much-

John McCain (R) vs. Barack Obama (D)
John McCain	48%
Barack Obama	46%

John McCain (R) vs. Hillary Clinton (D)
John McCain	50%
Hillary Clinton	39%

With an endorsement like this...

Who needs enemies?

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel endorses Scott Walker, and boy are they ever nasty about it.

On numerous occasions, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has demanded tax increases and Scott Walker refuses to deliver.

But Walker exacerbates the county's woes by sticking to his pledge to freeze the county property tax. The sentiment is commendable, but his intransigence is anything but. He refuses to consider other options, including raising the sales tax by even a quarter-of-a-cent to come up with another revenue stream and relieve pressure on the overused property tax.

Even when the MJS gets the tax increases they are demanding, they are still mad at Walker, because Walker is not blamed the county board supervisors are:

In recent budgets, Walker has been playing a political shell game. He makes taxpayers think the county can get by with what it spent the previous year when it can't. To prevent more cuts in needed services, supervisors then are forced to raise the levy, last year by 3.6%. So Walker takes bows as a budget hawk and supervisors take unfair grief for raising taxes, much of the flak coming from Walker's cheerleading section in talk radio.

Well, duh- the County board supervisors are the ones raising the taxes- or isn't that obvious to the MJS editorial board?

An endorsement for the kid

In a unusual move, the Kenosha News has endorsed Carl Bryan, an 18 year old, running for school board.

Their reason?

Yet we find the need to send a message to the School Board that the voters want something different. The election of Carl Bryan, a candidate who is still in school, is the best way to send that message.

Residents of the district are frustrated by the lack of progress on so many fronts that it's hard to keep count. The graduation rate is disappointing, the test scores are disappointing, attendance isn't good, the performance gap between racial groups is frustrating and improvements, where there has been improvements, have been small.

I am seriously considering voting for the young man myself. It is time to shake things up a bit.

For years, Kenosha residents have watched insane decisions being made by the school board and still they never seem to make any progress.

In fact the biggest problem could be that with every single problem that arises in our school district, the first reaction of the board is to throw money at it.

Once that does not work, the board seems to be lost on what to do- so they just throw more money at it. Mysteriously, the problems still never seem to go away.

A fresh face is exactly what is needed on the school board. Perhaps some new fresh ideas is exactly what is needed.

WEAC is wrong

So will they pull the ads?

People have actually believed this ad and Gableman could lose because of it.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A prosecutor says more claims in an ad attacking Supreme Court challenger Michael Gableman as soft on sex offenders are misleading.

The Wisconsin Education Association Council is running the ad that claims Gableman gave lenient sentences to two sex offenders. The teacher's union has endorsed Justice Louis Butler in the April 1 election.

The ad cites the case of a man convicted of sexually assaulting a girl. It claims he videotaped the attacks and made her watch them, but Gableman only sentenced him to one year in jail.

Burnett County District Attorney Ken Kutz says investigators never found videotapes and charges related to them were dropped.

He also says Gableman sentenced the man to a stiffer sentence than he recommended.

All because of a WEAC lie!

Baloney!

This is absolute baloney.

Obama says he would have left if Wright stayed

"Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying at the church," Obama said Thursday during a taping of the ABC talk show, "The View." The interview will be broadcast Friday.

First of all, why the sudden revelation? Obama himself claimed that he heard some offensive comments, but chose not to leave the church for 20 years.

Secondly, when did Wright ever publicly state that he recognized the error of his ways and call the his own comments inappropriate or that he had mischaracterized anything?

Obama is full of baloney.

A new direction

Official Democratic Party campaign car designed exactly the way

Obama and Clinton lay out their campaign message

"A NEW DIRECTION"

You figure it out. I have a headache.

The sky is falling

Okay- maybe the sky is not falling, but I am pleasantly surprised.

I have been endorsed by the Kenosha News against a 14 year incumbent.

In all of the other city council races where there is a incumbent running, the Kenosha News has endorsed the incumbent except for the race I am running in:

District 5: Kathy Carpenter. This district, which includes the area around
Bradford High School, has had the same alderman since 1994, when Kurt Sinclair
was first elected. Since then he has not had an opponent until this year when he
faced two challengers in the primary in February. Kathy Carpenter and Sinclair
survived the primary to compete in Tuesday's election. Perhaps the reason for
the opposition after all these years is the challengers' sense that Sinclair,
now the principal of Round Lake Area High School in Illinois, is less engaged
with the district than in the past. While we have advocated keeping experience
on the City Council in most districts, in this case we see an opportunity for a
positive change. Carpenter has enthusiasm for politics and good ideas for the
district. We recommend a vote for Carpenter.

Taxes matter

cross posted at Kathy Carpenter for Alderwoman

Taxes matter

Not only do taxes matter, but spending matters also.

I visited with a nice gentleman in my district for almost an hour on Monday night.

He had been waiting for a while for someone on the local level of government to come by and talk to him about the taxes.

His concerns were for himself, his wife and many of his friends and neighbors.

This gentleman is partially retired and is living off of social security, his pension and a part time job.

The taxes are just too high in Kenosha and he stated that he can no longer afford to have the taxes raised $100, 200 or 300 a year- which is what has been happening.

Kenosha’s property tax bill went up on average by $138 this past year, per the Kenosha News.

The average Kenosha resident, including senior citizens, pays about $3431.62 per year in property taxes.

Now to some (including our current city council members), what is the big deal, right?

Well, to many of these senior citizens cannot afford a single increase in property tax costs when they are living off a relatively fixed income.

The average person in the city of Kenosha is paying $286 A MONTH in property taxes alone.

Even if you can ignore the cost of food, gas, electricity, water and fees going up, we cannot continue to pass one property tax increase after another year after year.

When I was at the NAACP event, several of the incumbents made the standard excuses of blaming the property tax increase on the school tax levy.

The incumbents are correct in stating that the school tax levy is going up year after year, but they are not telling the entire truth that they themselves continue to add to the property tax increases also.

From the following chart in the Kenosha News, the city council and the mayor are still playing a major roll in property tax increases.

Taxing body: Ave. Home Ave. Home $ Diff. % Diff.

City $1,336.17 $ 1,385.30 $ 49.13 3.7%

KUSD $1,382.74 $1,472.64 $ 89.90 6.5%

Gateway Tech Col. $ 204.74 $ 208.08 $ 3.34 1.6%

County $ 632.50 $ 644.99 $ 12.49 2.0%

State $ 29.10 $ 29.49 $ 0.39 1.3%

Gross Property Tax $3,585.24 $ 3,740.49 $155.26 4.3%

Minus: School Tax Credit $194.95$ 223.27 $ 28.32 14.5%

Minus: Lottery Credit $ 96.79 $ 85.60 $ (11.19) -11.6%

Net Property Tax $3,293.49 $3,431.62 $ 138.13 4.2%

Of the $138 property tax increase this year, the city council raised taxes by $49 on the average property tax owner this past year.

Think about the issues that our senior citizens are faced with year after year. They have a limited amount of money and they need to make that money last for the rest of their lives.

They must also absorb the cost of higher gas prices, higher food prices and higher living costs.

The biggest problem my new friend had with all of this is that he cannot stand the way our government is spending that money.

The wife of my new friend stated that she has heard ENOUGH out of him about the museums. He is so upset that we have to pay for new museums but we cannot get the roads repaired in a timely fashion.

He believes that our current aldermen are spending taxpayer dollars incorrectly.

I could not agree more.

Museums do not take priority over fire and police protection.

The trolley does not take priority over road repair.

It is time for the city council to put the people of Kenosha over the special interest groups squawking for our tax dollars.

My hope is that my new friends in the 5^th district will stick around Kenosha long enough to make the needed changes to Kenosha government.

They are both fibbing

It is rather entertaining watching the political pundits and the news media's reaction to the Clinton lie about Bosnia.

Hello, where have they been for the last 15 years? There have been a lot of lies from the Clinton's or don't they remember what the definition of "is" is.

Of course, these same media pundits are having difficulty remembering that Obama was fibbing, just like Clinton is right now, a little over a week ago.

Did the media forget the statement "I never heard these statements from Rev. Wright..."? Then in Tuesday's wonderful speech, he did admit hearing "controversial" stuff.

The media may not have noticed this lie, but the people have-

A day after the speech, local residents were left wondering whether Obama was candid in the last week when he said he hadn’t heard any of Wright’s most objectionable remarks, but then said Tuesday that he had heard “controversial” remarks while sitting in the pews.

“He lied to Anderson Cooper,” said Rodica Mitrea, an aesthetician and immigrant from Romania, referring to an Obama interview Friday with the CNN anchor.

The media may continue to treat Obama like the new messiah, but regular folks know the truth.

Sure many of the liberals are trying to redefine the word "is" again to prove that Obama was not lying, but people are smarter than that.

Both Clinton and Obama will say whatever is necessary to get themselves elected. Lying is no big deal to these politicians.

Just a wee bit of anger in this article

So- what do you think? Perhaps Christopher Hitchens was a smidgen upset when he wrote this article?

You often hear it said, of some political or other opportunist, that he would sell his own grandmother if it would suit his interests. But you seldom, if ever, see this notorious transaction actually being performed, which is why I am slightly surprised that Obama got away with it so easily. (Yet why do I say I am surprised? He still gets away with absolutely everything.)

Looking for a moral equivalent to a professional demagogue who thinks that AIDS and drugs are the result of a conspiracy by the white man, Obama settled on an 85-year-old lady named Madelyn Dunham, who spent a good deal of her youth helping to raise him and who now lives alone and unwell in a condo in Honolulu. It would be interesting to know whether her charismatic grandson made her aware that he was about to touch her with his grace and make her famous in this way. By sheer good fortune, she, too, could be a part of it all and serve her turn in the great enhancement.

This flabbergasting process, made up of glibness and ruthlessness in equal proportions, rolls on unstoppably with a phalanx of reporters and men of the cloth as its accomplices. Look at the accepted choice of words for the ravings of Jeremiah Wright: controversial, incendiary, inflammatory. These are adjectives that might have been—and were—applied to many eloquent speakers of the early civil rights movement. (In the Washington Post, for Good Friday last, the liberal Catholic apologist E.J. Dionne lamely attempted to stretch this very comparison.) But is it "inflammatory" to say that AIDS and drugs are wrecking the black community because the white power structure wishes it? No. Nor is it "controversial." It is wicked and stupid and false to say such a thing. And it not unimportantly negates everything that Obama says he stands for by way of advocating dignity and responsibility over the sick cults of paranoia and victimhood.

continued...

Kathy Carpenter for Alderwoman- "I'm listening"

cross posted at Kathy Carpenter for Kenosha Alderwoman

I have listened to the complaints for the last several months. The people of Kenosha's 5th district believe their needs are not being met.

You call with a problem and no one ever returns you phone call.

Years ago you used to get a newsletter about what was taking place in Kenosha city government, the newsletters have dried up.

Like many of Kenosha's 5th district, I have had the same problem. Years ago, I called and left a message- I received no response.

Kenosha's 5th district needs an advocate. Someone who will listen to your concerns and take those concerns directly to the other city council members.

You deserve someone who will address your concern about losing the fire station. This action directly affects the people in our district.

You deserve an advocate and a voice on the city council. I will be that advocate.

Call me anytime 262-657-5098 or email me kc_for_alderman@yahoo.com

I will respond.

My first act as your alderman would be to call a meeting together at Gateway, centered right in the middle of the 5th district, and listen to concerns of the residents and the business owners of the district.

My second act is to put together a plan to address the issues that have been ignored in our district for too long.

My third act is to take the plan and bring it to my fellow city council members and give the 5th district a voice in the Kenosha city government.

Let's build a better Kenosha together.

Lena Taylor: Doesn't like the questions

Oh boy- you gotta love Governor Doyle's choice for running Milwaukee County government. He must be so proud.

I cannot believe this woman would really sit at a county worker's retiree breakfast and get upset at the retired county workers when they ask her what her plans are for county retiree benefits.

Seriously, she responded: "I am not a county expert, I am your state senator".

I hope Taylor does not believe that this is a good or appropriate answer.

This is a legitimate question posed by retired county employees.

Then she gets accusatory by saying "...it's not quite fair..., gives an unfair advantage to the incumbent..."

She is running for county exec, right?

Oh what a tangled web

Obama could not have been more relieved on Friday when he was told that his passport files had been breached by unauthorized personnel. It got him off of the Wright hotseat for a few minutes.

We immediately began hearing from folks like Keith Olberman that the head of the passport division was a Clinton employee. So the Clinton folks were getting blamed.

Obama immediately hollered for a full investigation, even a congressional investigation.

Then we heard from the Clinton campaign that her passport had also been breached and they were defending themselves.

A couple of hours later, we heard from the state department that not only Obama, but Clinton and McCain's passports had also been illegal viewed.

Shortly thereafter, the media discovered that of the two companies that had contractors involved, one of the company's CEO(Stanley Inc.) had donated to the Clinton campaign for $1000.

Clinton back on the hotseat again!

The theory was that the Clinton camp had only had her filed breached to throw investigators off the trail.

The latest-

The CEO from the other contracting firm involved(TAC), gave $2300 to Obama!

Oh this is getting exciting now!!!!

In the meantime, McCain has his head down and is plodding along with his focus on carrying a real message to the people.

And the politics continues...

This was my yard sign yesterday about 10:00am

Yes, the politics continues. I am down to crunch time and snow, rain, sleet, subzero temperatures and more snow has not stopped me yet.

Although- it has really slowed the process down.

I need your help.

I need lit droppers. Most of my area is filled with walking routes, so sending people out for longer than an hour is difficult to do.

So, the more people I get the faster I can get this done.

We are meeting today at 9:00 am at the Fireside Restaurant. If you cannot make it at 9:00am, I will be at the Fireside again at 1:00pm

Meeting place:

Fireside Restuarant
2801 30th Ave.
Kenosha

Call me for any reason 262-960-1852

They should have been fired

Not only is it stupid, especially during a presidential year, but it is unethical, immoral and a betrayal of trust.

The two state department employees snooping into Obama's passport records should have been fired.

The idea that the Bush administration was plotting with these state department officials for some incendiary political purpose is ridiculous.

Update: The air just went out of Obama's balloon on this. Both Clinton's and McCain's passports were also breached.

So much for that whole incendiary political purpose stuff, huh?

Obama campaign: Take that Hillary!

The Obama campaign dumped a photo on the New York Times of Clinton and Reverend Wright Shaking hands:


And you guys just thought Obama was such a nice guy.

People have been claiming that it was the Clintons destroying today's Democrat Party.

As you can clearly see, now that it is Obama on his way down and the Clinton's on their way up, Obama is just as determined to take the Clinton's down with him.

I know this, there is no way that the Republicans or John McCain could damage the Democrat Party any better than they are destroying each other.

How can you argue with these folks?

How can you argue with these folks?

This is how they feel.

I know that the liberal pundits have been raving for the last two days on Barack Obama's speech. The liberal media elitists are actually claiming this to be one of the greatest speeches of all time.

The problem is, Obama still missed the mark. How can this possible be called one of the greatest speeches of all time, if the people you needed to reach, turned away.

America is not happy with Barack Obama and his poll numbers are starting to bare that out.

The people that Obama needed to reach are in the bars, in the middle class neighborhoods and in the working class neighborhoods all around America.

He missed his mark.

This is how the folks in Pennsylvania are reacting:

Politico:

More than a dozen interviews Wednesday found voters unmoved by Obama’s plea to move beyond racial divisions of the past. Despite baring himself with extraordinarily personal reflections on one of the most toxic issues of the day, a highly unusual move for a politician running for national office, the debate inside taverns and beauty shops here had barely moved beyond outrage aimed at the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Obama’s refusal to “disown” his longtime pastor.

Glenn Peter, 54, a patron at Rauchut’s Tavern, said he heard finger pointing, not reconciliation. He took issue with Obama’s explanation that Wright’s observations of a racist America were reflecting the racial scars of his past.

“I don’t want to hear that you are blaming us for him saying this,” said Peter, who is white and worked at an auto parts factory until it was shuttered several years ago. Cutting ties with the church “would have been the best way to do it. That way, I could have been able to listen to him again.”

“He lied to Anderson Cooper,” said Rodica Mitrea, an aesthetician and immigrant from Romania, referring to an Obama interview Friday with the CNN anchor.

Peter said he’s never voted for a Republican for president, but if Obama is the nominee, he will support Sen. John McCain.
“I would have a hard time if it is Clinton and McCain,” Peter said.

“It was a great speech,” one man said. “But what concerns me is that on the website for his church, they say they are unabashedly Afro-centric. … The underlying message is they are perpetual victims and they enjoy the victim status and by proxy, me as a white person is their victimizer. And as long as we perpetuate these divisions, we will never heal.”

Mitrea, the aesthetician on her cigarette break outside Beautyworx Salon and Day Spa in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia, said she watched the whole speech. And before the controversy over Wright’s sermons, Mitrea said she was 55 percent for Clinton, 45 percent for Obama.
“Now I am 100 percent for Clinton and zero percent for Obama,” Mitrea said.

These are the regular folks trying to make their voices heard above the elitist media and political pundits who immediately declared Obama as the new messiah with a new message.

Oh the Insanity

Am I the only person who is wondering what in the world is taking place in our local government right now?

Kenosha Unified is proudly announcing that they have unanimously approved the sale of Lincoln Elementary School to the city of Kenosha.

Kenosha News

The city of Kenosha would then proudly rent the new acquired building to Kenosha School of Enhanced Technology Curriculum for $30,000 a year. This is a way to get permanent building to KTEC.

Kenosha Unified and all of its building and land is owned by the taxpayers of Kenosha

The Municipality of Kenosha (the city) and all of its buildings and land is owned by the taxpayers of Kenosha

KTEC is another government agency bought and paid for by the taxpayers of Kenosha.


So follow this logic:

We are going to take a building that we already own as taxpayers, Lincoln Elementary, and sell that building to the city.

The city is we, the taxpayers. The city owns nothing, taxpayers own it all.

So as taxpayers, we are purchasing Lincoln Elementary, a building we already own.

We are then going to take the building, Lincoln Elementary, that we already own now twice over and lease that building KTEC- a school system that is currently paid for by the taxpayers for the low, low price of $30,000 a year.

Taxpayers are being told that we are taking a taxpayer owned building, and selling the taxpayer owned building back to the taxpayers that already own it and the taxpayers will have to pay for it again. Then we get to lease a building that we already own twice now for $30,000 a year.

Sound totally insane?

That is because it is.

This is one gigantic scam by Kenosha government against Kenosha’s taxpayers.

You take Lincoln Elementary and give it to KTEC for a permanent home.

It is just that simple.

Can't we play duck-duck-goose instead?

We have a game of musical chairs taking place in Kenosha government right now for the position of County Executive.

Currently Allen Kehl is our county exec- his last day is March 31st.

Next up is current County Board Chairman Terry Rose- April 1st

A couple of days later, County Board Supervisor Mike Wisnefski is to be appointed sometime around April 3rd( presumably)

Then the clock starts ticking on a special election.

So far, the folks showing interest are state Rep Jim Kreuser and County Board Supervisor Dennis Elverman, per the Kenosha News.

As you can see, the game of musical chairs is getting very exciting.

However, I still think I would rather see a rousing game of duck-duck-goose. Whomever wins gets to be our next Kenosha County Executive.

Maybe we can carry the contest live on cable channel 14.

PS. For the record, I know this post is disrespectful of our local government. I am so thoroughly disgusted by this Troha/Casino mess, that I am having a hard time trusting anyone in our county or municipal government. So this is my way of dealing with it.

Now they want to talk about the issues

Sure, when Geraldine Ferraro was on the hot seat, all the media wanted to talk about was Ferraro/Clinton.

Now that it is Obama on the hot seat, now they want to talk about the issues:

Surrogates for Barack Obama on Sunday downplayed the significance of Obama’s relationship to a controversial pastor and suggested the discussion is a diverson from bigger issues in the Democrat presidential race.

“The fact of the matter is people would like to move on to other things,” said Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, characterizing remarks by Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright as “outrageous,” but saying they are not relevant to Obama’s candidacy.

Sure, we can go back to talking about the NAFTA issue. How is that?

Obama says one thing and his surrogates run to Canada and say something else.

Wow- what spin

You have to love this. Senator Dodd attempting to defend Barack Obama to Chris Wallace:

WALLACE: Senator Dodd, let's start with Barack Obama's long-time pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and some of the things he has said from the pulpit. Here's part of his sermon from the first Sunday after 9/11. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: Now we are indignant because of stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yard! America's chickens are coming home to roost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Senator, over the years, Reverend Wright has said that the U.S. government created the AIDS virus to kill African Americans. He has said instead of singing "God Bless America," we -- blacks should sing "God Damn America."

How would you characterize Reverend Wright's remarks?

DODD: Well, I'd use the words of Barack Obama. He's totally rejected this as quickly as anything. He was not there when these statements were made. They're outrageous statements.

I don't know how much more clear Barack Obama could have been on all of this. Obviously, these things come up. We've seen a lot of invective being used over the last number of weeks in the campaign. It doesn't help, obviously. But guilt by association is not typically American.

We've all been around in places where people have given speeches or said things that we've thoroughly objected to, totally objected to.

The fact that he was as quick as he was -- I thought his comments yesterday, Barack Obama's comments yesterday, in Indianapolis recalling the words of Robert Kennedy with the death of Dr. Martin Luther King -- talking about we're never going to accomplish anything in this nation of ours as a divided people.

I think one of the qualities that Barack Obama's bringing to this candidacy is that ability to bring us back together again. President Bush talked about it six, seven years ago. We never came close to it.

The country wants that very, very much. And I don't think we helped that cause necessarily by focusing exclusively on these kind of comments that he has totally rejected.

WALLACE: Well, you say he is quick to condemn them. Even if you believe that Obama was unaware of all these comments, this is one statement that Reverend Wright said. These are statements that go back. And the one that you just saw goes back to September of 2001, six years ago.

Even if he says that he's unaware of that, he admits that he became aware of these statements last year. And yet just last month, here is what Obama had to say about Reverend Wright's statements, "He is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don't agree with, and I suspect there are some of the people in this room who have heard relatives say some things that they don't agree with."

An old uncle, he says. Senator, he only rejected these statements after these tapes became public.

DODD: Well, Chris, again, we can spend all morning talking about this. The American public are watching their foreclosure rates climb. Oil prices are going up.

WALLACE: Well, sir, you're changing the subject. I'm asking you...

DODD: Well, the question is -- well, this is subject matter...

WALLACE: You don't think it's relevant that this man was a member of this church for two decades and this fellow...

DODD: No, you made it relevant here for the last four or five days on this network. But the fact of the matter is...

WALLACE: It's not just this network, sir.

DODD: I know. But the fact of the matter is people would like to move on to other things. I've answered your question. Barack Obama has rejected this.

WALLACE: Well, no, I don't think you have answered it, because you said that he answered it -- that he rejected it very quickly.

DODD: Well, I don't think he's...

WALLACE: He didn't reject it quickly. The fact is last month, when he's known about it, he said he's a crazy old uncle.

DODD: Well, going back and reviewing at what point who said what to whom -- we can dwell on that. He's rejected it. He said he no -- he doesn't have any association with it. He finds these comments outrageous.

I don't know how much more clear he could be on the subject matter.

WALLACE: But he didn't find him outrageous and condemn them last month...

DODD: Well, I'm not sure he...

WALLACE: ... when we didn't have the videotapes.

DODD: Well, I'm not even sure he necessarily was aware of them until they became public. I can't say...

WALLACE: That's not true. He says that he was aware of them when he started running for president in 2007.

DODD: He has rejected them here. Whether he did it a month ago or a week ago, he's rejected them. I think that's the important point. And again, guilt by association here is something we've got to stay away from in this country. Anyone involved in public life, Chris, has been places, have been with people who have said and done things we totally reject. Running for president, obviously, revives a lot of this.

But I think it's implement about what he has said. What position has he taken? What sort of a campaign has he run? What is he calling upon Americans to be doing in this country?

These are not the words of Barack Obama.

WALLACE: But, Senator, it isn't...

DODD: So we can dwell on that, but I think we ought to move on. He's rejected it.

WALLACE: Senator, it isn't a question of guilt by association.

DODD: Sure it is.

WALLACE: Forgive me. If you read Barack Obama's book, "Dreams For My Father," he talks about what a huge role Reverend Wright played in his deciding his affirmation of his identity as an African American.

He's been a member of this church for two -- forgive me, for two decades. He was married by this reverend. His children were baptized in this church. It is not that he happened to walk into a room and Reverend Wright was there. He has been a member of this church, a member of Reverend Wright's flock, for 20 years.

DODD: Well, again, Chris, look. A member of a church and a parish where you may have a pastor, a minister or a rabbi who says and do things you totally disagree with -- you don't necessarily walk away from your church.

WALLACE: You would stay in a church that had a...

DODD: Well, I would -- no. I would certainly disagree with this individual. We've all been in situations like that.

But the idea somehow that this is deeply involved and ingrained, that this is -- this is really who Barack Obama is -- what you're suggesting, or those who are making these accusations, is this is really who Barack Obama is.

Anyone who knows this man, who has worked with him, who has spent time with him, would say this is totally unlike him. It's not him at all. And so the suggestion somehow that this is really who this candidate is I think it is an unfair accusation.

Dodd is correct in the fact that Obama is clearly rejecting these statements now.

The question most Americans have is why hasn't Obama rejected these types of statements for the last 20 years.

March 16th, 2008

Kathy Carpenter

Candidate 5th District Kenosha

and

Judge Michael Gableman
Candidate for WI Supreme Court

4-8pm

The Fireside Restaurant

2801 30th Ave.

Kenosha

Suggested donation $25.00 (Kathy Carpenter for Alderman)

Questions or to help with lit drops Call 262-960-1852

This is very easy to get to:

If you are coming from the north, down I-94

Exit at the Mars Cheese Castle/HWY 142
Turn Left after you exit onto Hwy 142/CR S/ Washington Road
You will travel about 6 miles east towards the lake
Turn left on 30th AVE
Fireside is about 10 blocks up the road on the right.

If you are coming from the north, down HWY 31
Turn left at Washington Road
Travel down Washington Road about a 1 1/2 miles
Turn left on 30th AVE
Fireside is about 10 blocks up the road on the right.

If you are coming from the south, you probably already know how to get here, cause you live in Kenosha county. The fireside is just a few blocks north of Gateway

If you get lost- call me. 262-960-1852

Uh Oh, Obama exposed within two hours

I don't have time to surf the internet to look this stuff up, but I appreciate the fact that other's do.

H/T Charlie Sykes

H/T Powerline

It appears that it only took two hours after Obama made this statement for Rich Lowry to prove that not only did Obama sit through one of these sermon's of hate, but Obama wrote about it in one of his books:

Rich Lowry at NRO

Wright was striking some of the same notes, saying racially venomous things and attacking the bombing of Hiroshima. Note this passage about the first sermon Obama heard from Wright, the source ultimately of the title of Obama's second book and one of the central themes of his presidential campaign:

Excerpts from Obama's first book:

The title of Reverend Wright’s sermon that morning was “The Audacity of Hope.” He began with a passage from the Book of Samuel—the story of Hannah, who, barren and taunted by her rivals, had wept and shaken in prayer before her God. The story reminded him, he said, of a sermon a fellow pastor had preached at a conference some years before, in which the pastor described going to a museum and being confronted by a painting title Hope.

“The painting depicts a harpist,” Reverend Wright explained, “a woman who at first glance appears to be sitting atop a great mountain. Until you take a closer look and see that the woman is bruised and bloodied, dressed in tattered rags, the harp reduced to a single frayed string. Your eye is then drawn down to the scene below, down to the valley below, where everywhere are the ravages of famine, the drumbeat of war, a world groaning under strife and deprivation.

“It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere…That’s the world! On which hope sits!”

And so it went, a meditation on a fallen world. While the boys next to me doodled on their church bulletin, Reverend Wright spoke of Sharpsville and Hiroshima, the callousness of policy makers in the White House and in the State House. As the sermon unfolded, though, the stories of strife became more prosaic, the pain more immediate. The reverend spoke of the hardship that the congregation would face tomorrow, the pain of those far from the mountaintop, worrying about paying the light bill…

Okay, Obama, feel free to tell us one more time how you condemn this type of talk when it hurts your presidential aspirations, but you highlight a sermon in your first book that is speaking to the same exact topic.

Obama is trying to distance himself

As fast as he can, Obama is attempting to distance himself from the pastor of his church.

For over a year and a half, Obama was given a chance to distance himself and he chose not to do it.

Suddenly, now the MSM is playing these hate filled videos, it is a problem. Why wasn't it a problem before? Why was it not a problem when the blogosphere picked up on this well over a year ago? In fact, Obama spent his time defending his "crazy uncle living in the basement".

By Obama's own admission, that "crazy uncle" married him and his wife, baptized his children and has been his spiritual leader for over 20 years.

The title to Obama's best selling book "The Audacity of Hope", which launch his presidential aspirations, was a knockoff from a sermon by the pastor in question. Obama even dedicated the title of his book to his pastor.

Now Obama wants us to believe that he never heard any of the repulsive statements made from the pulpit or in private that is being heavily played in the main stream media and the internet today.

"The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church. "

So do you believe Barack Obama?

Before you answer that question, think about these questions:

If Hillary Clinton or John McCain were members of the KKK, would you believe that the KKK had no influence over them?

If Hillary Clinton or John McCain had been attending KKK meetings for 20 years, would you believe that they never once heard a single vile word of hatred at these meetings?

If Hillary Clinton or John McCain had been attending KKK meetings for 20 years and had been giving money to them religiously, would you believe the KKK had no influence over their thinking?

Today's media would rightfully destroy the political careers of Hillary Clinton and John McCain if they discovered they had a 20 year relationship with the vile and hateful KKK.

So again, do you believe Barack Obama that he never heard any of this type of stuff at his church before these videos came out?

Obama's Pastor:

Thank you, Kenosha NAACP

I had the pleasure of joining with other candidates for local seats in Kenosha at a NAACP forum last night.

It was truly an amazing and enlightening evening.

Thanks to Rev. Michael Coleman and the Kenosha chapter of the NAACP for the invitation to address the members.

I will address the issues in a later post.

As I said- it was very enlightening.

Denying Florida and Michigan- Unconstitutional?

Once again, there is a split in the Democrat party about whether on not Michigan and Florida should be allowed to vote or re-vote. It is beginning to look like Florida can re-vote, but Michigan cannot.

The question has now turned to whether or not the Democrat party rules trumps the US Constitution.

Apparently the Democrats believe they have the right to tell Michigan and Florida that their votes do not count.

Last year, the Democrat party decided that if Florida and Michigan moved their primaries before the February 5th date that the Democrats had set, they would not count their votes as valid.

What right does the DNC have to deny these people their vote and to pick their leader in a primary vote?

They did not like the dates Michigan and Florida chose, so the DNC took away their voting rights.

Amazingly, very few question it. Very few people jumped up and made a fuss.

And when those people did fuss, the courts ruled in favor of the Democratic Party.

Amazing how the courts did not have enough respect for voters that they would tolerate this happening.

What is truly amazing to me is that the Democrat Party and Obama are going along with the line of thinking.(Clinton is fighting to get the votes to count, but she is not working real hard at it. It is like she is willing to let Obama take a dive for it)

It was not so long ago that woman and African Americans were denied the right to vote. It was abhorrent behavior then and just as abhorrent behavior now to deny anyone the right to cast a legal ballot and have that vote count.

Thank you Democrats

Cool, the Democrats in Florida's Congressional caucus now seem to pushing towards disenfranchising the Democrat voters.

It is beginning to look more and more like Obama does not want a re-vote in Michigan.

I want to send out a special thank-you to the DNC.

You know you are handing two very large battleground states to Republicans.

Makes you wonder, if the shoe were on the Barack Obama foot and he was likely to win both of these states, whether or not the Obamites would be rioting in the streets screaming disenfranchiment.

Most people with any common sense realizes this is not the way to handle you own party base, but hey- they broke the rules, so you are going to stick it to them.

Thank you, thank you! Life just got much easier for Republicans due to this boneheaded decision.

Kathy Carpenter for Alderman Kenosha District 5

March 16th, 2008

Kathy Carpenter

Candidate 5th District Kenosha

and

Judge Michael Gableman
Candidate for WI Supreme Court

4-8pm

The Fireside Restaurant

2801 30th Ave.

Kenosha

Suggested donation $25.00 (Kathy Carpenter for Alderman)

Questions or to help with lit drops Call 262-960-1852

Kenosha County Exec resigns

I guess it was only a matter of time.

Kenosha County Exec Allan Kehl resigns.

I am guessing it is very hard to focus with federal charges of bribery hanging over your head.

Rezko/Obama friendship

People still do not get this.

I know the Obama campaign is still spinning and spinning the friendship between Obama and Rezko.

Way too many folks think that that Rezko did nothing more than give a few dollars to Obama and that was it. Obama then gave the money to charity, no big deal.

Folks, that is not even close to the actually relationship and friendship Obama has with Rezko.

Let's start with the basics-

Obama and Rezko have been friends for 18 years.

Rezko was Obama's financial director for his 2004 US Senate campaign and helped Obama raise $14 million for that campaign.

Rezko and his partner were paid by the Illinois taxpayers to rehab building in Obama's district. In 1997, in the middle of dead winter, Rezko was so financially strapped that the heat was cut off in one of those buildings.

Chicago Sun Times:

For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in a government-subsidized apartment building on Chicago's South Side.

Barack Obama and Tony Rezko were great friends, with both men benefiting from that friendship. That friendship netted Obama millions and millions in donations and this fact is just barely scratching the surface of how these two men are connected.

Even the New York Times has jumped into the Rezko trial and they are trying to figure out what is going on-

An e-mail message made public on Monday in the fraud trial of Antoin Rezko, a businessman and political contributor, brought attention to Senator Barack Obama’s role in discussions involving a state health planning board that Mr. Rezko is accused of improperly influencing.

The message indicated that Mr. Obama, now a Democratic presidential candidate, and other top Illinois politicians consulted in 2003 on legislation to keep the board, which approved the construction of health facilities, from expiring under sunset provisions in state law.

Democrats- a party united?

I know that many Republicans (including myself) got really excited when Senator Clinton once again, injected herself back into the presidential race.

The hope was, of course, that the two Democrats could cause serious damage to one another’s campaign.

Political pundits on the Democrat’s side have been saying for months that Clinton and Obama plus their supporters would come together as one big happy family as soon as a nominee was decided. These political pundits completely ignored how testy this would become.

Now more and more it appears that a united Democratic party is falling by the wayside.

I have to admit, even though I had hoped that the Democrats would be inflicted with the same political strife that Republicans had faced over the last several years, even I did not see the kind of viciousness coming that is taking place at this moment.

The Internet is completely infected with hatred coming from both the Obama supporters and the Clinton supporters. Websites like the Huffington Post and Daily Kos is just steaming with hatred between Obama’s people and Hillary’s people.

Now the hatred has seeped out into the mainstream media’s website for the entire world to see. I was stunned when I visited the website of the Washington Post’s Trail. Normally websites like this are heavily moderated.

If you read through some of the comments, they would curl you hair with disgust.

It is almost like the Washington Post has just given up and allowed the supporters of both candidates to pretty much say whatever they would like to say. Either the moderators decided to allow a window to be opened to the rest of the world as to what is truly happening between Obama and Clinton supporters, or they are truly exhausted from controlling the chaos and have thrown in the towel.

Either way, this is not a pretty site.

Of course, I really should not be surprised.

All of this is coming from the party who has taken hatred and anger to a whole level. BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) has so thoroughly infected those of the left side, that they no longer can control their hate towards people.

This is the same party that is directed by Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who have turned hate mongering to normal everyday politics.

Eventually that hate mongering becomes so infectious that the Democrats cannot help but turn on each other.

Hatred is a weird thing. It consumes people. Literally consumes people. We have all seen it in one form or another. Wars have been started from hatred. Once you have become so infected with hate, you cannot turn it off.

Politics has become a game of hate. It is no longer about ideas or people.

It is hard to understand how the Democrats and Howard Dean allowed this thing to get away from them. How is it possible that the party full of optimism at the beginning of this year would allow them to be consumed by hate?

As I as earlier, I am stunned by the racism and sexism I see taking place. I expect better behavior out of Americans, whether they are Republicans or Democrats.

Obama already giving up in Pennsylvania?

That is what it looks like. Good grief, it is a little early to throw in the towel, right?

Obama is hedging his bets, so his campaign can be expected to talk about Pennsylvania as only one of several contests to watch. His aides reject the comparison to Iowa, viewing the six-week gap more as the break before the second semester in a long political school year.

The cold, hard truth for Pennsylvanians is that they won’t be the center of his universe. To the Illinois senator, delegates will decide the nomination, and the state can make only a minor dent in either candidate’s bottom line.

The Obama campaign is correct, only a small dent will be made in delegates, but momentum is everything. The campaigns are pretty much going dark for a couple of months, PA is the first state back and up for battle in the next two months.

The delegate haul is the biggest in the coming months- how do you throw in the towel now?

Every vote counts?

Senator Bill Nelson is still attempting to fight for Florida voters, which I admire.

Yes, the Republican side of things in Florida cost them delegates too. They had half of their delegates removed.

But the problem isn't on the Republican side of the aisle.

The difference is, the Republicans are seating their delegates- the Democrats are still refusing to recognize the Florida voters.

For the record, Barack Obama was the first Democrat to break the pledge not to campaign in Florida.

Obama also appeared to violate a pledge he and the other leading candidates took by holding a brief news conference outside the fundraiser. That was less than a day after the pledge took effect Saturday, and Obama is the first Democratic presidential candidate to visit Florida since then.

While he was in Florida, Obama made a commitment to the Florida voters:

According to Sanchez and Tom Scarritt, Obama was asked during the event about making sure Floridians have a role in the nomination, despite the DNC sanctions and the pledge. Scarritt said Obama responded that he'll "do what's right by Florida voters."

Now Obama does not want to recognize the Florida vote as a legitimate vote- he lost big in Florida.

Barack Obama was also the first to buy television ads in Florida.

It will be interesting to see if Barack Obama can legitimately call himself the nominee when he is refusing to count every vote- including the folks that voted against him.

Apparently every vote counts only if you are voting for Democrats.

Dems brokered convention: do the math

I know there are some Democrats out there still hoping against hope that a brokered convention will not take place.

They continue to prattle on about the HUGE lead Obama has in delegates.

The problem there is no huge lead.

It will take 2025 delegates for the Democrat nominee to win his party's nomination outright.

Including yesterday, Obama has 1588 and Clinton has 1465.

In order to win the nomination outright, even if Obama wins 100% of the delegates in the next 5 state or provinces, Obama will still NOT have won this thing outright.

From Real Clear Politics-

tate	Date	Delegates		Obama	Clinton
Mississippi	03/11	33
Pennsylvania	04/22	158 C		35.8	47.5
Guam	05/03	4 C
North Carolina	05/06	115		47.3	38.5
Indiana	05/06	72

Obama's total with 100% of these delegates would only be 1970 delegates, still 55 delegates short of winning this outright.

The chances of Obama winning each and every delegate in the next 5 states are astronomical.

With the exception of the Virgin Islands, where Obama picked up all three of their delegates, Obama has not completely won all of any single state's delegates to date. Clinton has picked up delegates in all of them.

So, we move on to the final six states or provinces still to vote:

State	Date	Delegates		Obama	Clinton
West Virginia	05/13	28
Oregon	05/20	52 C
Kentucky	05/20	51 C
Puerto Rico	06/01	55
Montana	06/03	16
South Dakota	06/03	15 C

It is not until Oregon on May 20 is Obama able to win this outright, if he wins 100% of all the delegates between now and then.

The Democrats have actually shot themselves in the foot with this strategy. Since there are no "winner take all" states, this was bound to happen eventually. The "every vote counts" strategy they have been preaching since 2000 may actually cost them big time in 2008. (Obviously the Democrats new theme is that "Every vote counts" unless you live in Florida or Michigan)

All of this would have meant nothing if it were not for a handful of states. If Obama could have won New Hampshire, the second state to vote, this would have been over on January 8th. If Obama had won California, this would have been over on February 5th. If Obama has won Ohio, this would have been over on March 4th.

None of that happened. This will not be over until August 28th in Denver- the end of the Democrats convention.

What is wrong with the New York Times

Just a couple of weeks ago, the NYT made every attempt to imply that John McCain had an affair. They had no evidence.

A week later, the NYT then made the suggestion that John McCain could not run for President because he was not born in America. Implying that since McCain was born in Panama, while his father served the US Military, he could not be President. The NY Times was wrong.

The latest attack by the NY Times is to imply that John McCain has cancer. Implying that since McCain has not turned over his health records to the NY Times, therefore McCain may not be healthy enough to be President.

But this time around, Mr. McCain has yet to make his full medical records or his physicians available to reporters. At least three times since March 2007, campaign officials have told The New York Times that they would provide the detailed information about his current state of health, but they have not done so.

First of all, doesn't every American have a right to keep their medical records private?

In the absense of knowing McCain's exact medical condition, the New York Times begins to imply that something more serious might be happening.

Some of these doctors have noted in e-mail messages and in comments to reporters that the surgery appeared to be so extensive that they were surprised his melanoma was not more serious — perhaps Stage III, which would give him a bleaker prognosis. These doctors said they would be surprised to learn that such an operation would be performed without evidence that the melanoma had spread.

It is official, the New York Times is the lowest denomination of media in the world.

Most reporters for the New York Times are bunch of left wing, liberal preaching extremist Democrats bent on destroying anything and anyone that does not agree with their agenda.

Gotta love the Obamedia

I love this headline from the AP:

Obama wins in Wyoming, adds 7 delegates

My first thought was "I thought Hillary won some delegates too???"

Actually, I was correct. Hillary did win some delegates, but that is not in the headline.

Sacked somewhere down in the middle of the article is the real truth-

Obama won seven delegates and Clinton won five.

Kinda evens things up a bit, don't you think?

Why should the Obamedia change their style now?

After all, they are trying to help Obama win an election.

Democrat WI Senators on why they voted to sack Voter ID

A friend of mine called each and every single state Democrat Senator and asked why they refuse to bring voter ID to the floor.

After hearing what state senate democrats did on the polling vote for the Voter ID Amendment, I decided to give them all a call and ask them why they voted against the polling vote.Here are the answers I got from their staffers. I was unable to talk to
some offices, so I left a message requesting they call me back.

Here are their responses:

Spencer Coggs, Milwaukee
Sen.coggs@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-2500
The reason why he voted against the poll was he is against Voter ID.

Russell Decker, Weston
Sen.decker@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-2502
The reason why he voted against the poll was he is against Voter ID.

Roger Breske, Eland
Sen.breske@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-2509
The person I spoke to did not know why he voted against the poll.
I requested they call me back and let me know why.

Tim Carpenter, Milwaukee
Sen.carpenter@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-8535
Tim does not support a constitutional amendment, he supports it being a law. When I asked if he had written any bills for voter ID the answer was no

Jon Erpenbach, Middleton
Sen.erpenbach@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-6670
He voted no on the poll because he never votes against his party on these types of votes. He is against Voter ID because he thinks the process of showing ID when registering to vote is sufficient.

Dave Hansen, Green Bay
Sen.hansen@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-5670
No answer on phone. Left a message to call me back.

Robert Jauch, Poplar
Sen.jauch@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-3510
The staffer I talked to didn't know why he voted no on the poll. I requested someone call me back and let me know why and his stand on the Voter ID amendment.

Pat Kreitlow, Chippewa Falls
Sen.Kreitlow@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-7511
He voted no on the poll because he was following party lines. Staffer does not know Kreitlow's stand on Voter ID. I requested a call back.

Julie Lassa, Stevens Point
Sen.lassa@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-3123
Staffer I talked to did not know why she voted no on the poll. Staffer also does not know her stand on Voter ID. I requested a call back.

John Lehman, Racine
Sen.Lehman@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-1832
I had a long discussion with Sen. Lehman. He voted against the poll because he follows party lines. When asked about the 66-80% of people that favor voter ID, he said he believes that if they knew more about what would happen if voter id went into affect, they would be against voter id. He also said most democrats are against voter ID. I told him I didn't realize a state senator only represents the party he belongs to, not the entire population he represents. In which he said he represents everyone. He is against a government issued id because he believes it would suppress turnout. When I asked him whether turnout numbers were more important than having an honest election, he said that the system we had in place was adequate for making sure fraud doesn't happen. From the way he talked, he believes that the Help America Vote Act will solve our problems. When asked about Gov. Doyle not following all the HAVA rules, he was unaware of that. I did get him to admit voter fraud does go on, he mentioned the case of the man running against Jeff Plale, but said having voter id is not worth suppressing turnout. He does believe there needs to be something done about someone vouching for another person voting. I told him that people against voter ID say fraud isn't going on because there's no proof of it happening, but when he speaks of suppressed turnout, he has no proof of that, how can he have it both ways? He then tried to speak of laws in Georgia, and I said Georiga's law isn't like Wisconsin's, so he couldn't compare the two. He said he would send me data that would prove Wisconsin's law will cause voter suppression, and I told him I look forward to seeing it.

Mark Miller, Monona
Sen.miller@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-9170
Staffer said he voted no because there was no public hearing on the Voter ID Amendment. I asked if he has requested a public hearing, and his staffer stated he is not on that committee so he will not request a hearing. Staffer told me he is against the Voter ID Amendment.

Jeffrey Plale, South Milwaukee
Sen.plale@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-7505
Left a message on their machine and requested his office call me back.

Fred Risser, Madison
Sen.risser@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-1627
His staffer told me Risser was not in favor of bringing it up. The staffer didn't know his stand on voter ID. Asked for a call back.

Judy Robson, Beloit
Sen.robson@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-2253
Staffer told me she believes it should follow the process of going to a hearing. I asked if Robson has urged Sen. Coggs to bring it a hearing, the answer was no because she is focusing on other items, like Autism. Staffer did not know her stand on the issue, but she has been against it in the past.

Jim Sullivan, Wauwatosa
Sen.Sullivan@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-2512
Tim does not support a constitutional amendment, he supports it being a law. When I asked if he had written any bills for voter ID the answer was no.

Lena Taylor, Milwaukee
Sen.taylor@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-5810
They will have someone from the office call me back.

Kathleen Vinehout, Alma
Sen.Vinehout@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 266-8546
Staffer did not her position. I asked for a call back.

Robert Wirch, Kenosha
Sen.wirch@legis.wisconsin.gov
(608) 267-8979
Left a message. Waiting for a call back.

My friend did get a call back from Senator Wirch. Senator Wirch is my friend's senator. He actually hung up on her.

More on that later.

A great question to ask Republicans

I caught this headline yesterday:

Will the GOP get behind McCain on earmarks?

That is a good question, folks.

One of the downfalls of the Republicans in Congress has been their addiction to spending.

Just like the Democrats in Congress, way too many Republicans have been using earmarks as a way to buy votes from their constituency.

One of the winning messages from the Democrats in 2006 was the promise to reign in earmarks. They have failed to do it. The Democrats can talk about new transparencies and reforms, but they have little to show for it.

The Democrats very own leading candidate for President, Barack Obama, has yet to come clean on his earmark requests for 2005 and 2006. Obama preaches transparency, but fails to deliver.

Obama's response to this talking out of both sides of his mouth?

The Obama response has been that they disclose more than Clinton, a reply I think shows calculation, not conviction.

That is the response of a four year old, pointing to their sandbox buddy as the real culprit of bad behavior.

Clearly, Obama has no intention of taking personal responsibility for his own actions.

The Democrats second leading candidate for President, Hillary Clinton, rakes in millions and millions of dollars for New York and does not apologize for it. She does it, she is not apologizing for it and it clearly wins her support. A pastor of a church received $1.5 million in earmarks and then the pastor threw his support behind Clinton for President.

This is a winning issue for McCain. This issue beats both of the top Democrat nominees for President.

Still there are many Republicans in Congress that are so enthralled with these earmarks, like Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens with his "Bridge to Nowhere" or "Ferry to Nowhere".

I understand that it will take an immense amount of courage to put an end to earmarks.

As conservatives, we are asking our elected leaders to place an immense amount of faith in the people that have voted for you.

Not listening to their own constituents in 2006 cost the Republicans big. From a poll taken in 2006 before the election, Americans were against earmarks. This sentiment has not changed.

The Republicans currently hanging in the shadows, trying to keep the people in their districts in the dark, need to have a strong showing that they are against the earmarks.

Conservatives have plenty of issues that they disagree on with Senator McCain, on this issue, there needs to be no divide.

Well said:

Republicans have a choice. They can unite behind the feisty Mr. McCain, and take a position that is true to their small-government principles, popular with the public and a smart political move. Or they can hurt themselves, and possibly their nominee, by sticking with the lard.

It just warms my heart

Obama and Clinton are beating each other up

On a series of morning television shows, Sen. Clinton claimed superior national-security experience, citing her service on the Senate Armed Services Committee and her role in her husband's administration dealing with conflicts in Northern Ireland and Kosovo. Separately, her lieutenants reiterated questions about Sen. Obama's relationship with a Chicago real-estate developer on trial for public corruption. The senator isn't implicated in the case.

For his part, Sen. Obama signaled to reporters aboard his campaign plane a newly aggressive tone. "One of the things I hope people start asking is what exactly is this foreign experience that she's claiming?" he said. "I know she talks about visiting 80 countries. It's not clear -- was she negotiating treaties or agreements, or was she handling crises during this period of time? My sense is, the answer is no.''

continued...

It’s an Obamanation!

For the third time, Barack Obama could not close the deal with voters.

He had the momentum. He has the money and he spent it 4 to 1 over Senator Clinton. He has all of the media attention.

Even with all this, he loses the popular vote in Texas and is absolutely crushed in Ohio.

For the third time in this election cycle, Senator Clinton held off Obama and survived to fight another day. Obama could have closed this thing out in New Hampshire, but did not. Obama could have closed this thing out in California on Super Tuesday, but did not. Obama could have closed this thing out last night in Ohio, but did not.

It’s an Obamanation!

So why was Senator Obama so badly crushed in Ohio?

I think the answer is simple.

Senator Barack Obama is a typical politician and he finally looked like it.

I know the myth that has been floating around for a couple of months is that Obama is different. He is not really a politician, but an outsider.

Those of us that actually pay attention to this stuff every day actually know differently. Senator Obama is not only a typical politician, but he is a liberal one at that.

The truth finally escaped passed the swooning political pundits and out into the real world- Senator Barack Obama will do anything and say anything necessary to get elected. Barack Obama is a politician.

I believe the NAFTA problem really hurt Senator Obama in Ohio and possibly even in Texas. Obama was caught waffling on North American Free Trade Agreement. Ohio doubted Obama’s sincerity in re-negotiating NAFTA. Texas worried that Obama was sincere and this would damage their state when it comes to trade with Mexico.

Obama got smacked from both sides of this issue. Clearly, Obama’s inexperience showed when he began to talk about NAFTA. This was both a foreign policy and a domestic issue that he could not handle.

Every single positive that could have come out of last night for Republicans actually did happen.

First, we need McCain to win the nomination outright and Huckabee to drop out. This happened, giving McCain the opportunity to deal with disenchanted Republicans.

Next, we need Senator Clinton to create enough doubt in Senator Obama’s inevitable nomination, to stop the super delegates from rushing to his side. Without this onslaught of super delegates, the chances of a brokered convention become that much stronger. Even if Clinton does not win another delegate, she will legitimately be able to argue that she has enough votes on her own and if they throw in Florida and Michigan at the convention, she still has a shot to win.

Lastly, Republicans needed Senator Barack Obama to look beatable. The drubbing Obama took in Ohio proved to Republicans that he is beatable. Despite what the media has been saying for the last several months, Obama is not a god to be worshiped and revered; he is only a man.

The cracks are beginning to show in the Obama media shield. Senator Obama is so lacking in experience, that as this race goes on, Obama will become more and more damaged. The media shield could only hold up for so long, even they get tired of holding up the shield after a while.

In the next several days, Obama will win a couple of small caucuses and the campaign will attempt to pick up the momentum again. Then we have a long 6-week wait until Pennsylvania. During that 6-week time frame, the Rezko trial will be front and center.

To me, Barack Obama has proven that he cannot close the deal with Democrats. This should give every single Democrat pause as they move forward. In the general election Obama will not get three shots at winning the election. He will get one shot.

Clearly, all the Republicans have to do is create a small element of doubt in the mind of voters and Obama can and will be defeated.

For McCain, he needs to continue to reach out to conservatives. Just because he won the nomination does not mean he will win conservative votes. He will have to earn their vote.

Clinton wins Texas

She wins the primary election, not the caucus election.

Who knows whether she has completely stopped Obama's momentum.

I do know this- the Rezko trial will be on the front pages of the Chicago newspapers for the next 6 weeks. Will this hurt Obama?

Will Obama lose Texas too?

Hillary is up by about 47,000 votes in Texas- is it possible that Obama loses Texas too?

Update: now she is up by 59,000.

Hillary had one job tonight- keep herself in the race and slow down the Obama momentum.

She has done that.

Clinton wins Ohio

Obama has, at least temporarily, been sidetracked.

Amazing how it took almost a year and a half for the spotlight to finally glance Obama's direction.

Now, the entire Democrat process is thrown back into turmoil.

With the delegates and support that Hillary has, she can contest this contest all the way to the convention.

Obama needed a knockout vote tonight- he will not get it.

McCain wins nomination

We know the Republican race is over, congrats McCain.

Does Hillary stay in?

She broke Obama's string of victories tonight and it appears that she pulls out another big state like Ohio.

I think the Ohio vote may actually prove that Obama can be damaged by Clinton. This NAFTA thing does not just go away. Obama played the game of political appeasement and got caught doing so by the people of Ohio.

Is there a crack in Obama's shield.

Kenosha city council takes a coward’s stance

Like most of Kenosha, I woke up this morning to quickly hit the paper and find out how our city council (alderman) voted on the extremely important issue of sexual predators in our city.

On last night’s docket was the issue that has been debated in Kenosha for a very long time. Restrictions on where sexual predators can live were front and center at the city council meeting last night.

Finally, the moment of truth had come.

Kenosha alderman would be given the opportunity to do their jobs and represent the people that elected them into office. Their jobs were to reflect how the community felt about where sexual offenders are allowed to live in our communities.

In a complete act of cowardice, our city council voted to table the ordinance. There would be no vote on the city ordinance limiting where sexual predators can live.

They chickened out. The city council shirked their responsibility to Kenosha residents. Instead of dealing with this very difficult issue, they tabled it.

Yes, the issue is difficult. We all know that. This issue is also very important to Kenosha residents.

Let me be clear, not all of them were our city’s alderman are cowards. The vote to table the motion was 11 to 6 in favor.

The 6 city council members that had the courage to do their jobs and voted NOT to table the ordinance were:

Alderwoman Julia Robinson- District 7
Alderman Ray Misner- District 13
Alderman Mike Pitts- District 14
Alderman Frank Pacetti- District 15
Alderman Jesse Downing- District 16
Alderman Ken Polzin- District 17


I applaud the Kenosha News for naming in today’s newspaper the Alderman that voted NOT to table this issue.

However, I believe that as important as it was to applaud the alderman that are willing to take a stand and be counted on this issue, it is equally as important to call out the alderman that shirked their responsibility to the people that have continually elected them.

Here is a list of Kenosha aldermen that shirked their responsibility and chose to hide from the issue instead of taking a stand either for or against this city ordinance:

Alderman Eric Haugaard- District 1
Alderman Don Moldenhauer- District 2
Alderman Donald Holland- District 3 (City council President)
Alderman G. John Ruffolo- District 4
Alderman Kurt Sinclair- District 5
Alderman Sam Spair- District 6
Alderwoman Katherine Marks- District 8
Alderman Donald Ruef- District 9
Alderman Everett Butler- District 10
Alderman Ronald Frederick- District 11
Alderman Stephen Casey- District 12

This issue has been debated in Kenosha for months and months. There was no excuse for not voting one way or another on this issue.

Yes, we have heard the typical excuses, such as:

The county government should be… blah, blah, blah.

The state government should be… blah, blah, blah.

The town of Somers is… blah, blah, blah.

Enough with the excuses for not dealing with this issue! The city council in Kenosha has had plenty of time to debate. There is plenty of information out in the public domain on recidivism rates of sexual offenders. The Kenosha community as a whole has spoken very clearly on this issue. The community does not want convicted sexual predators near their schools, parks and playgrounds.

I expect our aldermen to lead on this issue, not follow! Waiting for someone else like the state, county or Somers to make a decision on this issue and then follow along behind them is a cowardice stance.

We elected leaders, not followers!

On Monday night a previously convicted sexual predator stood and made his voice heard to city aldermen, which he has a right to do.
We elect our aldermen to be our voices as a community. Where were those voices?

Where was our representation when we need them the most?

Probably the worst part about this entire thing, the alderman don't really want to talk about it either.

From the Kenosha News-

The tabling of this ordinance happened with little discussion from
aldermen.

Not only do they not want to vote on this important issue, but now they do not feel they should have to talk about it either.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

On behalf of all the women around the world, I would like to extend our best birthday wishes to Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the modern day telephone. Born March 3, 1847.

You rock, Alex!

Obama vs. NAFTA

We all know that Barack (censored) Obama has been slamming NAFTA for several weeks, including sending out a mailer slamming Clinton about NAFTA.

This has upset Canada. They like the NAFTA agreement.

This is where Obama has traveled on NAFTA in the last week:

Obama slams NAFTA and Clinton

Canadian Government gets upset

Canadian Government reassured by Obama campaign that it nothing more that political rhetoric.

Canadian TV report was wrong, Obama campaign did not reassure Canadians on NAFTA

Today's report, Obama campaign did talk to Canadians but what was said was said to the Canadians was not accurately reported.

Barack Obama's senior economic policy adviser said Sunday that Canadian government officials wrote an inaccurate portrayal of his private discussion on the campaign's trade policy in a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Of course, according the Barack (censored) Obama campaign, even though Austan Goolsbee is a senior advisor, Goolsbee is not really part of of their campaign.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Goolsbee's visit was not as an emissary from the campaign, but as a professor from the University of Chicago. He was not authorized to share any messages from the campaign, Burton said.

Got that?

And they wonder why people are confused.

Either Obama supports NAFTA or he does not.

Does anyone know which it is?

Are you sure this is a good idea?

With the way our state and local governments have been releasing personal and private information on the internet, is this really such a good idea?

System to let county doctors track patients' prescription records

Yikes!

What can I say, I don't trust our government!

Since all of the cool kids are doing it...

Since cool kid blogger Fred is doing it...

I might as well join the movement.

Since we are not allowed to call him Barack Hussein Obama, we will now have to call him Barack (censored) Obama.

So Barack (censored) Obama, it is.

The part of his name that is censored is a "fear bomb", you know. Don't believe me? Just ask Ms. Obama...

Scott Walker: Common Sense for Park System

Scott Walker is bringing some common sense to Milwaukee County and still will save county taxpayers $3 million .

Obama's thin record

To say Obama's record is thin when it comes to real legislation is putting it mildly.

Obama can continue to tout his bipartisan approach to government, but seriously, you have to go to his website to find out about any of this stuff, because none of it has been out front where anyone knows about it.

McCain's bipartisan record is out front where everyone can see, starting with the gang of 14 or McCain/Feingold. It is so out front, in fact, many conservatives are angry when he reaches across the aisle.

If you don't believe me about Obama's complete lack of experience, read liberal leaning journalist David Ignatius's article on Obama's record-

But can he do it? The record is mixed, but it's fair to say that Obama has not shown much willingness to take risks or make enemies to try to restore a working center in Washington. Clinton, for all her reputation as a divisive figure, has a much stronger record of bipartisan achievement. And the likely Republican nominee, John McCain, has a better record still.

Obama's argument is that he can mobilize a new coalition that will embrace his proclamation that "yes, we can" break out of the straitjacket. But for voters to feel confident that he can achieve this transformation should he become president, they would need evidence that he has fought and won similar battles in the past. The record here, to put it mildly, is thin.

continued...

If you are looking for evidence that Obama can bring about positive change with a bipartisan effort, there just is no evidence. NONE!