Obama: Is American ready for this dangerous leftwinger?

From the other side of the pond, there are folks sounding alarm bells at the dangers of European style leftism.

Will we listen and learn from them?

Just like Beatlemania, Europe is the center of another cult, known as extreme leftism. As it moves it's way across the pond, it is showing it's impact on America in the form of Obamamania.

Like Beatlemania, Obamamana is complete with swooning masses, fainting girls and swaying crowds repeating the empty lyrical words they hear from the stage. "Yes, we can" they sing.

The difference between Beatlemania and Obamamania, is that the extreme leftism coming from Europe is dangerous. Beatlemania was not so dangerous.

In Europe, they have willing given up their personal freedoms to their governments. They stand is massively jammed health care systems waiting to get their government sponsored health care. They are even more jammed into an unemployment system, where there are few jobs and a lot of hunger mouths to feed.

During the '90s, the height of liberalism in Europe, unemployment rates reached staggering figures. Even as high as 18% unemployment in Spain in 1995.

Over the last several years, real changes have been taking place in Europe. They have slowly tossed aside the extreme liberal mentality and begun to embrace a more conservative agenda.

With horrifying unemployment rates in 2003(about 15%), Germany began to deregulate businesses. In loosening the noose they had tightened around German businesses, unemployment rates are beginning to plummet to about 8% right now.

Early in this new century, the UK with Tony Blair as their leader, began once again to rise to the military power it once was. Sure he was called a war monger, but is their any doubt that Great Britian can and will defend their country when forced to do so?

In 2005, Germany elected a conservative woman in Angela Merkel, that proceeded to move the country back to the right, leaving the liberals in Germany staggering.

In 2007, France also elected a more conservative leader in Nicholas Sarkozy.

So even as Europe has learned their lessons from their trek into the extreme world of liberalism, the Democrats in the US are bound and determined to walk that same path that almost destroyed Europe.

The Democrats in the US are being controlled by the extreme liberal wing of their party that is lead by Senator Barack Obama.

Senator Barack Obama has already agreed to punish successful businesses in America for doing business overseas.

Senator Obama has already promised to squeeze the life out of the rich in ridiculous taxes. Apparently, he is trying to force everyone to the bottom of the pay scale.

Common sense tells us that if you squeeze a tube of toothpaste from the top, the toothpaste is forced to the bottom of the tube.

Senator Obama wants to do nothing more than squeeze the top earners in America forcing them to join the rest of us at the bottom of the tube.

Senator Obama wants to create a universal health care plan. Probably one of the biggest failures of Europe has been universal health care. The quality of care in these nations have plummeted.

A study in 2002 had this to say-

In practice, pursuit of formal equality in the United Kingdom has meant that the poorest people ended up receiving a lower standard than was normal in mainland Europe.

The extreme left and Senator Obama have abandoned all common sense and instead are standing around singing catchy tunes like "Yes, we can!", instead of facing the real issues our country is burdened with.

Oddly enough, the liberals have seen the damage done to these European countries by high taxes, stringent government regulations and the throttling of basic rights to freedom, and still the liberals continue to run as fast as they can to embrace these failures.

One of the worst failed presidencies in American history was the Presidency of Jimmy Carter. Staggering unemployment, horrifying inflation, and military embarrassment ruled the day in President Carter's days in office.

If elected president, Senator Barack Obama appears to want to challenge President Carter's name at the bottom of the list of worst Presidents.

Staggering unemployment, horrifying inflation, and military embarrassment are awaiting us with a Barack Obama presidency.

Every single proposal by Senator Obama has already proven to be a failure. What makes anyone think he could make any of this a success? Great speeches will not fix these failures.

Ben Bakke for State Senate District 22

There was a nice writeup in today's Kenosha News about Ben Bakke, our newest candidate for state Senate District 22.

I know Ben personally, and am thrilled at this opportunity to work with this young man.

He is very likable, easy to talk to and full of hope for a bright future for Kenosha and Burlington.

Ben has taken a strong stand against Healthy Wisconsin, but also has recognized that health care costs are skyrocketing.

There needs to be a better way. Government is not the answer.

There was some concern about a primary for the Republican side of this state Senate race. As of today, Steve Brown of Salem, who had also shown interest on the Republican side, has officially withdrawn his name from this race.

Unless someone else steps forward, this is Ben Bakke's show and he is off with a bang.

Let's rally our support around this young man and get this party started. He is going to need a lot of money, so starting this early is not a bad thing.

Best of luck Ben, we are behind you all the way.

"Change you can Xerox"

This line is going to stick.

I don't care if the Democrats in the crowd booed Senator Clinton when she stated this, it is going to stick.

Even the most dedicated of supporters for Senator Obama have been forced to admit that he lacks serious experience. Most notably the state senator from Texas who could not name one single legislative accomplishment when asked by MSNBC's Chris Mathews.

Senator Obama's campaign revolves around someone else's ideas for change, someone else's health care plans, someone else's budget proposals, someone else's ideas for a better education and someone else's speeches.

As this political process rushes ahead, it is becoming more and more obvious that Senator Obama has no political accomplishments to hang his political hat on.

Meet Ben Bakke, Challenger to Senator Bob Wirch

If you have not meet Ben Bakke yet, tomorrow night is a great opportunity.

Ben is young, dynamic, fired up and ready to get this thing rolling.

Join me tomorrow night at the Italian American in Kenosha

Click on photo to enlarge

Just to be clear

Although I appreciate the calls and emails of condolences, I am still in this race and I believe that all signs point towards changing Kenosha's future.

The top two vote getters move on to the general election:

Alderperson District 5 11 Polls Reporting out of 11 1824 Total Votes With 100% of the Vote Reported

Candidates	Votes	%
Kurt A. Sinclair	816	44.73
Kathy Carpenter	571	31.3
JoEllyn M. Storz	429	23.51
Write-in 40	8	0.43

Behind the numbers:

If you look, clearly you can see that between the votes that I received and the votes the Ms. Storz received there are plenty of people out there ready for a clean start in Kenosha.

In fact, through out Kenosha, with 15 of 17 alderman's seats being challenged. This is a record for Kenosha. At no time in Kenosha's history have this many seats been challenged.

I started knocking on doors again last night. I aim to find every single one of those voters looking for a clean start in Kenosha

Tired of snow?

Obama campaign rep STUMPED on legislative accomplishments

Um! Um! Um!

This guy is really chugging the Obama koolaid, along with many other Democrats.

***I blame Scott Walker***

Okay, maybe I panicked a little early

I live to fight another day.

I just had to make it into the top two-

Alderperson District 5 11 Polls Reporting out of 11 1824 Total Votes With 100% of the Vote Reported

Candidates	Votes	%
Kurt A. Sinclair	816	44.73
Kathy Carpenter	571	31.3
JoEllyn M. Storz	429	23.51
Write-in 40	8	0.43

This battle turned into a Democrat vs. Republican- which should never have happened.

I do not know how many people I have talked to that said "You are the Republican, right?" Every person that asked me that always turned out to be a Democrat. But most were willing to have the conversation.

I am very excited.

I promise you this, no one will outwork me.

Just as good, my friend Dave Bogdala made it thru the 17th district. He did very well in fact.

Alderperson District 17 12 Polls Reporting out of 12 1649 Total Votes With 100% of the Vote Reported

Candidates	Votes	%
David F. Bogdala	618	37.47
Brian M. Weyrauch	471	28.56
Michael A. Coleman	262	15.88
Steven A. Mancusi	183	11.09
Mervin W. Johnson	96	5.82
Write-in 60	19	1.15

Thank you to everyone for the encouraging words.

That was heart-wrenching

So I am standing in long line to vote, and in walks a woman and her husband who happened to know the people standing in line in front of me.

They start chatting and the names of my two opponents came up. Yapping and yapping with both of their names flying around. They were not talking negative, just talking about them.

I thought I would get sick just listening to it.

There I stood and I could not say a word.

When I told you guys that I was running against two big names, that is what I meant.


Then I walked right in and voted for Senator Hillary Clinton.

To say I am pessimistic right now would be putting it mildly.

I think I have to take a shower now. I feel dirty.

Illegal phone calls for Obama?

Is this legal?

I just received this from the RPW-

“Already we’ve seen a public school used to send automated phone calls on Obama’s behalf. He raked in millions of dollars in the past two weeks but uses a taxpayer-funded school – one already suffering from a million dollar shortfall – to make campaign calls,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson’s comments were in response to a Green Bay television investigation into reports that the Kaukauna Area School District sent automated phone messages regarding a campaign event scheduled at the school. Yet, similar calls apparently have not been made to announce such things as school closings in the past. The story aired on WGBA-TV.

Is it legal to use our tax dollars to promote a political event.

Anybody else heard anything about this?

Just Words. Just not Obama's.

Seriously, Obama needs to look at something besides the teleprompter. He looks like he is reading this stuff verbatim.

This looks bad, because it is bad.

Seeing these two speeches side by side is pretty powerful stuff to those folks that do not live and breathe politics.

Those that live and breathe politics are aware that this is a common practice. These folks do not write their own speeches and these words are not really their own.

A whole lot of nervous...

Yes- I am nervous today.

Both of my opponents have the name recognition that I do not.

I knew going in this was an uphill battle.

Still, it is a battle worth fighting for.

Kenosha has been controlled by the same people for many years.

I feel I have done what I can do.

I have hiked thru rain, snow, sleet, ice and subzero temperatures to knock on doors. In fact, we faced most of that this past weekend alone.

I have yard signs out there, flyers out there, created a website and I have talked to a number of people.

We will see if 6 weeks is enough time to build some name recognition.

I just don't know.

Take a little time today and say a prayer for myself and my opponents. It will be nervous day for all of us today.

The crazy things people say...

Seriously, I am not sure what is worse, Kenosha's massive tax burden or the defenders of the Kenosha trolley.

In a post that is 6 months old, the attackers continue. If you follow the link to the homepage, you find this.

They have attacked me before and I am certain they will attack me again.

Posted just yesterday:

This complainer, the wanna-be alderman Kathy Carpenter, is very suspect. Recently she moved into a leased Kenosha rental unit within the 5th District in order to legally run, but her official base is in the village of Silver Lake. The registered campaign address for Carpenter is still 706 School Street, Silver Lake, Wisconsin 53170. Kathy Carpenter makes wild and inaccurate statements on city finances and attacks our popular HarborPark tourist attractions that were planned over a decade ago in numerous meetings she never attended, just like the armchair quarterbacks Pat Moran and Scott Barter.

This statement is a blatantly false.

Any person that knows me knows that I have lived in the same place for almost 10 years.

Obviously, if I had registered my campaign under the above address, the city of Kenosha would not allow me to run. So why in heaven's name would these guys assume my "REGISTERED" campaign address is in Silver Lake????

A little investigative work on the part of these folks would turn up the fact that I actually supported the work done in Harbor Park. Kenosha's biggest asset is Lake Michigan and those visiting it. Anyone visiting that area knows that the old AMC plant was a eye sore and reduced property values in an area that should have been our most prized possession.

A little more investigative work would have turned up that Pat Moran was the person to actually start the plans and development for HarborPark.

None of this stuff is secret information, so I am a little curious how these folks continue to be so wrong.

Think Senator Clinton has lost the woman?

You might want to double check that again.

We once again have a battle of the sexes in Wisconsin.

Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton against Gov. Jim Doyle-

Dirty tricks...

Interesting article from Time.

Republicans have pulled some dirty tricks before: Swift Boats, Watergate, you name it. But this time they have gone too far. In its desperate hunger for victory at any cost, the Republican Party is on the verge of choosing a presidential candidate, John McCain, who is widely regarded (everywhere except inside the Republican Party itself) as honest, courageous, likable and intelligent.

Have they no shame?

More important: Have they no principles? In a properly functioning two-party democracy, each party is supposed to nominate a person whom members of the other party will detest. Ordinarily this is not a problem. In recent years, the basic principles of each party have been anathema to the other. If a candidate in addition has a personality that gives the opposition fits, or a few character flaws it deplores, that is gravy. Indeed, since Ronald Reagan (who last ran for office a quarter-century ago), the parties haven't even liked their own candidates all that much. The dilemma of liking the opposition candidate just hasn't arisen.

continued...

I have to admit, I found the article amusing.

Several Democrats have approached me this week stating they plan on voting for McCain. One in particular told me that I needed to get the Republicans on board. I told the democrat voter that I did not know if that was even possible for me to do. Senator McCain holds the keys to those locked doors, only he will be able to open them.

We have all seen efforts by Senator McCain to do exactly that over the last several weeks. In the coming weeks, he has a long way to go.

We will see if his efforts pay off.

Ducking a debate

I don't care how in love with Obama the Wisconsin media is, Obama is ducking a debate.

The question is, why is he ducking a debate?

Could it be that when he actually has to deal with the issues, Obama's bumper sticker politics falls apart?

That is my guess.

Obama has a magical way with long eloquent speeches. He talks and talks and talks, but never actually has anything to say.

Wisconsin deserves a person who is actually willing to deal with the issues and someone who actually has something to say.

Every single media outlet in Wisconsin would actually show up to a debate. Wisconsin would actually get some national coverage.

Are Wisconsin voters not important enough, like Texas and Ohio, where debates are scheduled?

My choices for President

Okay, this February 19th could be a lot of fun.

Here are my choices for President:

Huckabee and Paul: Neither has a chance at winning the nomination, so I will not be voting for either of them.

Senator John McCain: He does not really need my vote at this time, so perhaps I should move to the Democratic side.

Senator Barack Obama: I could vote for Senator Obama and actually help the Democrats nominate the most inexperienced and under qualified candidate in the history of this country. I would compare Obama to President Carter, but even the former President had written a budget before when he was Governor of Georgia.

All we really know is that Obama was "present" for over 100 votes in the Illinois state senate. We also know that "yes, we can!" What "can " we really do? Who knows? Obama won't divulge that secret.

Senator Hillary Clinton: I could vote for her just to cast another vote against our illustrious governor who is such a Obama backer. If Senator Clinton wins Wisconsin, and that is a really big "if", she can look to the Republican side of the aisle. They may actually carry her over the top.

Who knows? I have not decided yet, but this could be really fun.

PS. I will be voting for myself on February 19th for alderman, so at least I get one vote.

Did I mention there was free food????

There will be two meet and greets held in the next several days for two candidates for alderman here in Kenosha.

Both Kathy Carpenter(District #5) and Dave Bogdala(District #17) are running in primaries this Tuesday and could use your support.

Even if you do not live in either of these districts, both candidates would love your encouragement.

The first meet and greet will be held for Dave Bogdala(District #17)

Friday, February 15, 2008
6229 95th Ave (Golden Meadows Subdivision)
6pm to 9pm


The second meet and greet will be held for Kathy Carpenter

Monday, February 18, 2008
Shagbark Apartments Clubhouse
4042 Washington Rd.
5pm to 8pm

If you have any questions, feel free to email Kathy @ stepping_right_up@yahoo.com

Thank you.

PS. There will be free food!

Cheating Patriots?

The cat is finally out of the bag. The Patriots had been taping since 2000, when Belichick took over as head coach.

Bill Belichick has been illegally taping opponents' defensive signals since he became the New England Patriots' coach in 2000, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told him that during a meeting Wednesday.

"There was confirmation that there has been taping since 2000, when Coach Belichick took over," Specter said.

There are a lot of teams that have every right to be angry.

The frustrating thing is that this is the most successful era the Patriots have had in their history. Now we know why.

Think Tom Brady is the best quarterback ever?

Not when your team is stealing defensive signals from the other teams. Kind of puts a damper on his success.

The KRM and the new mayor

Want to know where the new mayor will stand on the KRM?

Check out the Kenosha News today-

Kenosha's next mayor could see the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail link become a reality.

But there's a long track before that happens.

The proposal has been stalled after difficulties in determining a funding source for the program; a proposed rental car tax was taken out of the state budget.

A link to Milwaukee could assist Kenosha, but the questions of where the money would come from and how important this system could be still weigh on a number of mayoral candidates.

continued...

It is a three way race

The Kenosha News spotlighted the primary race taking place in my district for alderman.

Fifth District Alderman Kurt Sinclair hasn’t had an election opponent since he took office in 1994.

That changed in a big way this year, when two challengers filed to oppose him, setting up a three-way Feb. 19 primary. The top two finishers will advance to the April 1 general election.

The northwest side district borders Somers on the west and northwest and includes Bradford High School and a cluster of newer and still-developing subdivisions.

Sinclair, 42, said he believes the wide-open race to replace retiring Mayor John Antaramian might have inspired new interest in aldermanic challengers.

Challenger JoEllyn Storz, 53, said she entered the race for that very reason.

“I think that with the changes that are coming up in the community, that it’s a good time to get involved with the city,” Storz said. “I want to keep an eye on the direction that we take; be sure that the city continues to grow and prosper.”

Kathy Carpenter, 43, said she decided to run because of how the city has handled taxes and spending.

“The tax issue is huge,” she said. “People are rather frustrated at the amount of taxes, just seeing it go up year after year after year.” Carpenter said people do not believe money should not be spent, as much as they object to what it is and is not being spent on. She said she detects some opposition to the $15 million Civil War museum and a $5 million city commitment to a new Boys & Girls Club facility on 52nd Street and 14th Avenue.

Residents believe the city should put money toward roads and other infrastructure first, Carpenter said.

If elected, Storz said she would seek to attract good jobs and preserve the city’s aging homes.

“There’s still a lot of good, affordable housing stock in Kenosha,” Storz said. “I’d like to see it stay that way.”

Storz said she would like the city to invest in itself more to move it further forward into the 21st century. She said she believes Antaramian has done a good job with urban renewal; she would like to see more growth in that area.

Sinclair, meanwhile, said he would like to continue his work on the council, which he said has included chairing the Parks Commission, pushing for amenities at Anderson and Washington park pools and listening to and assisting constituents with concerns.

“I think that I’ve demonstrated being on the council that I use a common-sense and an educated approach to my responsibilities,” Sinclair said.

Within the district, Sinclair said he hopes to work on park developments at Sunrise Park near the Stonefield and Walnut Grove subdivisions and in the St. Peter’s Basin areas.

Carpenter’s focus is on roads.

“There’s a couple of streets right here in my district that are really having a tough time,” she said, adding that she would also angle to add lights to a popular sledding hill near Bradford.

Storz said she would focus on listening and following through on constituents’ concerns, and she would like to have the city look into establishing a hotline through which residents could phone comments and complaints.

“The people in the neighborhood are the people in the neighborhood, and they see what’s going on every day,” she said.

While Sinclair touts his council experience — “I think with me, they know what they’re going to get,” he said — Carpenter and Storz said they believe their respective careers suit them well for aldermanic duties.

Carpenter said her job as a purchaser plays into the need to balance needs. Storz said working in the Kenosha County register of deeds office lends her insights about budgeting and the functions of government.

Though city races are free from party politics, the two challengers give it a partisan hue.

Carpenter is the chairwoman of the Kenosha County Republican Party, while Storz previously sought a run for state Assembly on the Democratic ticket.

I guess there is a partisan hue. Although, when I entered this race in September, it did not.

I make it no secret that I am the chair of Republican Party of Kenosha County. In fact, it is something I consider an honor. The people I have met and the friends I have made that share my conservative values have been priceless.

In those moments that I become discouraged watching some of our political leaders, that is when I find my strength in my conservative friends.

The Republican party is what you make of it. If you are not willing to jump in and get involved, there is no way the party or it's elected officials will ever be what you want them to be.

I have discovered, no matter how many Republicans or conservatives I meet, I have never met one that 100% agrees with me. Not even my closest friends agree with me all of the time and that is the way I like it.

As far as my reasons for entering the race for alderman, there were several. First, I love Kenosha. I started my life off traveling a lot. My father was in the Navy.

I spent a lifetime looking for a home, a place to settle, a place to lay down roots. I found it in Kenosha. Kenosha is home.

I believe in Kenosha and her people so much, that I want to be part of her future because Kenosha is part of my future. Does that make sense?

Also, the tax issue is huge in Kenosha. I have talked to liberals, conservatives and independents and they all say the same thing- Kenosha's taxes are too high. We do not get enough bang for our buck. Citizens are frustrated with the way our government has been spending.

So get out and vote on February 19th- it is important.

Had enough?

Okay, I know that I am not the only one. Most of Wisconsin and Illinois are snow weary.

Today's travel to work was treacherous.

I am beginning to wonder if Kenosha and the surrounding areas are out of salt. We are still driving on the mess from last week. We never really cleaned up from that. Yesterday morning's travel was sheer ice.

This morning's travel was sheer ice with snow on top of it.

Since smacking a pothole late last week in Illinois, my car is really not handling this stuff at all. I ended up bending a rim. I replaced that rim with another older rim that I had that was bent a few years ago. They kind of pounded the older rim back into shape and I put an old tire on it and use it as a spare.

Little did I know that another year, another pot hole in Illinois would get me again.

When I changed to the alternate rim on Friday, it was on a front tire. The older rim wobbled really badly.

I kept calling the older tire and rim, that I am using, my John McCain tire. The darn thing kept yanking me hard to the left.

I traveled past my buddies at Merlin's on Hwy 50 and they moved that tire and rim from the front to the back of my car. It is now a little safer, but still wobbles.

These last several days have been a nightmare attempting to drive in this weather with a bent rim and old tire. I have been sliding all over the place.

So basically, the roads are a snow covered sheet of ice, I have a bad rim and tire and there appears to be a shortage of steel rims for my car out there.

This stuff needs to end now.

PS. Don't drive in the middle lane- too many potholes, both in Illinois and Wisconsin. When the roads are dark and snow covered- you cannot even see them. Things seem to be worse in the middle lane.

I am AFP!

I spent part of my day on Saturday defending the American dream and I am a better person for it.

If you were looking for inspiration to continue to fight government overspending, big government, earmarks and waste, you found that inspiration on Saturday.

The lineup of morning speakers was impressive. I really liked them all.

I was especially impressed with the Wall Street Journal's Steve Moore. To a numbers geek like I am, it was great to see another numbers geek who was funny, entertaining and inspirational.

As I said, they were all good, but if I speak about all of them, then this article would end up being too long.

We move on to the lunch time speakers.

Scott Walker was his usual wonderful self. We know that he is in for a battle in Milwaukee County. Is there any doubt that the man is up for the challenge? We are ready to stand and fight with him.

Now we get to talk about one of my most favorite people in the world. My congressman Paul Ryan. AFP members got to see what I have been able to watch for years. Congressman Paul Ryan is young, energetic, hard working, unyielding and conservative. Fighting for earmark reform and against an out of control liberally spending congress is a daily battle for the congressman. Congressman Ryan never gives up the fight and remains a true conservative through it all.

As a smiling Congressman Ryan addressed the pumped up AFP crowd, most are completely unaware of the continuous whithering attacks the Congressman suffers on a daily basis. Day after day the liberals in Congress and in Wisconsin's first district are flat out vicious.

The more vicious the liberal attackers get, the stronger and more stoic our Congressman gets.

Vicki McKenna. What can be said about her that has not already been said? She is funny, entertaining and a fighter. She gets it. The woman has lived on both sides of the aisle and she has got it figured out. Vicki McKenna has found a better(right) way to live and she is determined to tell others about it. She has made it her life's work to continually point out that government works for the people, not the other way around. Thank you, Vicki!

I saved the best for last.

My favorite speaker of the entire day was State Representative Leah Vukmir.

As a conservative woman in the crowd, I paid very close attention to what Rep. Vukmir had to say. Standing in front of us on Saturday was a conservative woman that has taken a strong dignified stand against the liberals power grab known as Healthy Wisconsin.

Clearly Rep. Vukmir understands that the moment we cave into Healthy Wisconsin, we all will be giving up a huge chunk of our freedom to the state government. There is no more important battle taking place in Wisconsin or in Kenosha right now than the fight against government control of our health care. Letting government control our very lives in no answer to expensive and ever rising health care costs.

Probably the reason the State Representative Leah Vukmir was my favorite speaker is because she is a woman and a conservative. Rep. Vukmir may not recognize it, but she has become a role model for every single conservative woman in the state.

Artfully, Rep. Vukmir has found a way of digging in her high heels and with class and dignity continues to make her case against government controlled health care. More than that, she continues to offer an alternate to rising health care costs. She believes that when control of our health care is back in consumer's hands, that is when health care costs will go down. It is called consumerism, competition and real American freedom. When we finally embrace these ideas, that is when we will finally win this battle against rising health care costs.

The conservative women in the crowd stood and clapped a little louder and little longer when Rep. Vukmir received her award. She deserved it.

We spend so much of our time complaining about the problems in Washington and Madison that we completely overlook those that are doing the job that we sent them there to do.

Unfortunately, I could not stay for the rest of days events. Some of us are running in a primary election and had some doors to knock on.

Thank you to Mark Block and Americans for Prosperity. You gave us a joyful and inspirational day to continue to build on.

The movement to stop earmarks, growing government and wasteful spending is alive, loud, strong, spirited and inspired.

I am AFP!

Anybody need a museum?

Cross posted at Kathy Carpenter for Kenosha Alderwoman

Someone brought this to my attention the other day.

Did you know that we have as many museums in Kenosha as they have in Milwaukee?

Now, I love museums. I love the history of Kenosha.

But four museums?????

Kenosha Public Museum

Dinosaur Discovery Museum

Kenosha Historical Society and Museum

And now...

Kenosha Civil War Museum

Of course, my absolute favorite museum was the Kenosha Military Museum. This museum does not really exist anymore, at least not in Kenosha county. Pleasant Prairie used their eminent domain powers to run this guy out of the state.

Our tax dollars subsidize these museums. We pay for these things. (we did not pay for the Military museum- that was private)

Somehow we cannot get the potholes or the roads fixed in our neighborhoods, but we managed to come up with another $10 million to build another museum.(Civil War museum, opening in March)

I about fell off my chair when I read this statement on the Historical Society's webpage-

The Kenosha History Center is the headquarters of Kenosha County Historical Society, a non-profit organization served by a volunteer Board of Directors and supported by memberships, Kenosha County government and private donations.

That's right folks, these guys think that the Kenosha County government actually has money. They have nothing except for what the people give them.
Taxpayers, the people, of Kenosha County pay for this museum, NOT THE GOVERNMENT!

Now I am not suggesting that we get rid of the museum.

I am suggesting that we take care of the needs of the Kenosha community before we build another museum.

I also believe that these museums need to be solely financed by private donations. Don't tell me it cannot be done because I do not believe it.

Another day, another dollar

The whole behind the scenes happenings is really intriguing on the Democratic side of the aisle.

For many years, the Democrats have sold people on the idea that they care about the working class of America.

Yet, another day has passed and another story is out about how well Obama is doing in the working class environment.

Besides the fact that the three celebrity women at the UCLA rally don't qualify as young in a state as young as California, such analysis suffered from a common cultural, class and geographic bias about the state. And thus the story was missed. Obama, for all the interest he generated in wealthy coastal precincts, was failing in a frantic effort to gain traction in the California heartland: the Inland Empire counties of San Bernardino and Riverside, and the Central Valley stalwarts, Fresno and Kern counties.

Obama supporters are the rich elitists in the Democratic party. From the Kennedy's to the Oprah in the Democrat Party, Obama has their support.

Clinton is clearly winning the support of the working class Democrats-

Inland California was Clinton country, providing her the huge margins that paved the way for her 10-point victory statewide. Her performance in the interior demonstrated once again her national stranglehold on poor and working-class voters. In California, she won big majorities among people who make less than $50,000 a year, while Obama won majorities among those making $100,000 or more, according to exit polls.

There are truly two Americas in the Democrat Party. The rich, powerful and education elitists are supporting Obama. The poor working class support Clinton.

It is just interesting.

Latte Liberals vs. Dunkin Donut Dems

Very interesting article from the Times of London.

I think that the Tmes perfectly identifies the battle taking place on the liberal side of the aisle.

The liberal elitists with their millions support Obama, the working class dems are for Hillary. Generally speaking, you would think this would trend the opposite direction. For years, Senator Clinton has been chasing Hollywood.

Mr Obama wins disproportionately among people who may be considered the winners in the global economy: the well educated, the mobile and the financially secure. Mrs Clinton's voters are the strugglers, the class that feels itself left behind by an increasingly unfair global economic system.

continued...

Okay- we have got to do that every week

Forget doing that once a month, we may need to do this once a week.

We had a great time at the Kenosha GOP's Pints & Politics.

There is not a subject that could not be broached tonight. If you wanted to sound off about McCain, you could.

Standing room only. We had Ron Paul supporters, conservatives and even a Democrat in the room.

As I said, we have got to do this every week.

Mitt Romney is out

Reports have it that Mitt Romney will drop out of the race today.



Well, your choices are McCain, Huckabee or Paul.

Hum?

How about none of the above?

Simply brilliant, Kenosha Unified

It is kind of scary that these are the same folks who are in charge of educating Kenosha's kids, but Kenosha Unified decided to stay open today.

I had actually taken the day off of work because I was planning on politicking today. Obviously, that did not happen.

I needed some butter and milk from the corner grocery store, so I walked the three blocks. My car is plowed in. Trudging in snow up to my knees was fun.

As I am huffing it past Bradford HS, it was interesting watching them try and push a school bus that is currently stuck in the parking lot. About 5 guys were trying to push it. Wasn't working out too well for them. Worse yet, a couple of cars are trapped in the student parking lot because the bus could not move. It appears as if a couple of kids were trapped at school with the bus. There parents must be thrilled along with the bus driver.

People are stuck in parking lots and have slid off the roads all over Kenosha.

If you read the comment section of this post, you will see that SW Side was working to help a bus for severely disabled students that was also trapped.

I talked to a couple of my neighbors this morning that were furious the schools were open. Many of them refused to send their children to school this morning. Others went ahead and put their kids on the bus anyway, thinking this would clear up soon. It didn't.

I just spoke to my neighbor who has a son that went to school today. Oh boy, the curse words coming out of her mouth were something else. I am not sure if the KUSD has been called so many bad names all in one sentence before. She picked her son up at 11:30 and it took until 1:00 before she got home. The school is not even 2 miles away. She said parents were stuck in parking lots, teachers were stuck.

What a mess!

Frequent commenter, RAG, may have discovered why schools were open in Kenosha. Check out his blog.

To the Kenosha Unified Administrators, this is perhaps one of the most dangerous decisions you have ever made. You endangered students, teachers, office personnel, bus drivers, parents and ever other person out on the roads today.

Here are a few choice comments from parents, students and teachers after being forced to go to school today. Click on the Kenosha News link.

Kenosha News

Kenosha Unified is open

They are the only school district open, but they are open.

It does not make sense.

Actually, it is Wednesday- which means a half day for most kids anyway. The district will not have to waste a snow day as long as they open the doors this morning.

They needed California

The real bell weather state in yesterday's primaries was California.

Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama needed to win California to prove they were real contenders.

They both lost.

They did not just lose, they both got walloped.

I know the media is enamored with Obama. If they apply the same set of standards to Obama as they did to Romney, they Obama got crushed in California.

Some Pollsters were wrong in both party nominations on California. It was no where near what they had predicted.

The Zogby polls were the worst. They predicted Obama would win by +13 the day before the elections. They also had Romney up by + 7 the day before the election.

California killed Romney. If the media were honest, they would realize that with the amount of money Obama spent to win California, may have killed Obama's bid also.

It's over

At least Super Tuesday is over.

California has been called:

Senator Hillary Clinton

Senator John McCain

Today was huge for Senator Clinton. In the states that she really needed, she won. Connecticut would have been nice for her, but necessary.

The shocker is that Senator John McCain did not sweep. Clearly conservatives are still not sold on McCain, neither are Christian conservatives. He did win all of the big states.

Obama is a great speaker

Amazingly he has nothing to say.

Bumper stickers- that's it.

"Yes, we can."

How many times did he state "what started as a whisper"?

Few surprises on the Democrats side

Very few surprises on the Democrats side so far.

Tennessee went stronger for Hillary than expected.

Closer than thought

I could have been wrong. Early number show McCain is not running away with it.

It looks like we have a 3 way race leaving today.

Pints & Politics

The Republican Party of Kenosha County is proud to present Pints & Politics.

This is a monthly event to be held on the first Thursday of every month at Birchwood Grill on Hwy 50(across the street from the Brat Stop)

This month's guests are RPW Chair Reince Priebus and State Senate Candidate Ben Bakke (challenging Senator Bob Wirch)

Everyone is invited to attend.

Click on flyer to enlarge:

Welcome

I would like to welcome many folks over to the dark side.

Thanks for joining the "I do not want any more snow" club. Even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has joined the club.

I have pretty much given up all hope that global warming will hit Wisconsin any time soon.

I have prayed for global warming this winter, but so far, my prayers have been answered by continual white stuff.

Tonight another 10 to 14 inches of the evil white stuff will bury us.

Grab your shovels and your snowblowers, we must battle on.

It's Super Tuesday

My predictions:

Obama and Clinton continue to battle well beyond today.

Once the Democrats dragged a person's race into the battle, everyone knew this battle would rage hotter and longer than normal. Nothing gets settled today.

Let the Democrats tear each other up.

McCain locks things up. He has won enough conservatives to his side that things will be no where near as close as many had hoped between him and Romney.

McCain has done little to sell this conservative.

Duller than dirt

You know, the half time shows at the Super Bowl have become duller than dirt.

Notice I did not say older than dirt, although...

Really, those planning this thing need to stop with their fascination with 50 to 60 year old men.

Tom Petty performed okay. However that monotone voice singing "Won't back down" inspires very few people.

I understand that they do not want another wardrobe malfunction, but seriously, they need to move forward a couple of decades.

Are the Patriots sore losers?

A lot of fuss and muss is being made over Coach Bill Belichick leaving the field before the game ended.

It appeared as if both teams thought the game was over, but you could see the refs informing both coaches that the game had not ended.

Bill Belichick left the field anyway.

A few years ago when Randy Moss did this, he was called every name in the book.

In this Yahoo comment section, a ton of people have something to say about it. Almost 10,000 comments and counting.

What do you think?

18-1

There was talk that the Patriots were the greatest team of all time.

There was more talk of Tom Brady being the greatest quarterback of all time.

Congratulations to the New York Giants. They did not believe any of it.

No help for Kenosha tornado victims

Due to irresponsible state government spending, the funds needed to help Kenosha get back on it's feet are not there.

In today's Kenosha News, basically the hammer has been lowered.

Kenosha will not receive any federal funds.

We do not qualify. Most of the homes and property that was damaged is covered under insurance.

This is great news.

Although, we still have some problems.

Who is going to pay for all of the damage done to county and municipal property?

Obviously a ton of money was poured into services sent scrambling to help tornado victims. All of this still costs taxpayers money.

The great news is that after the tornadoes in Stoughton a few years back, our legislators created a disaster relief fund. Just like Kenosha, at the time, Stoughton did not qualify for federal relief funds.

However, the Wisconsin Disaster Relief fund is broke already.

State Rep. Samantha Kerkman has been working the system attempting to find some funds that can be transferred over to the Wisconsin Disaster Relief fund.

She has no place to go. There is no money.

Kenosha News

"The hard part is when you face a $400 million (state) deficit, how and where are you going to get the money these days?" Kerkman said.

Representative Kerkman is right- where does Kenosha turn when it needs help?

We have over $21 million in damages. A majority of that is covered by insurance.

However, the county and municipal services working to clean up is not covered.

Kenosha County and municipal taxpayers will be paying for this. This means our taxes will be going up.

Wisconsin government has been spending money so irresponsibly for the last couple of years that there is now no place to turn when it's residents need help.

The question I have is where is Kenosha's disaster relief fund?

There needs to be a fund that is untouchable for anything but financing disaster relief.

Kenosha will do okay with this and we will certainly take care of ourselves, but better planning is needed in Kenosha and our state for disaster relief.

If we have learned nothing, anything can happen at any time. For heaven's sake we had tornadoes in Wisconsin, in January.

We can do better and it is time to demand that our government be better prepared for any and all weather disasters.

Superbowl

Are you rooting for the New York Giants to pull off an upset?

Are you rooting for the New England Patriots to make history?

Are you still mad about the Packers?

Do you care who wins?

Are you just going to a Super Bowl party, just because it is a party? (yes, this is what I will be doing)

Stop raiding the Transportation fund

That did not take long.

A few short weeks after our state government imposes increased fees in car registration and driver's license fees, they are once again attempting to swipe money from that transportation fund.

A few short months ago, Governor Doyle and the Democrats railed against the rich oil companies, demanding that they pay more in taxes. Of course, the demand out of the oil companies to pay more taxes would have just rolled downhill where both you and I are paying more taxes for gasoline.

Their reasoning is that our roads desperately needed repair and our bridges would collapse without more money.

Even though the Democrats did not manage to get the massive gas tax shoved down our throats, they did manage to get millions upon millions of tax dollars by increasing fees on driver's licenses and car registration fees.

So do we have a budget shortfall as proclaimed during the budget negotiations last year or do we have so much of a surplus that the state government is once again attempting to raid the fund?

According to Assembly Rep. Gary Hebl (D, Sun Prairie) we must have a surplus-

WisPolitics-

Hebl said the bill uses $500,000 in existing fund balance from the Transportation Fund to establish the Snowy Day Fund for the 2007-08 Fiscal Year. In future years, the Legislature will determine the amount of money that is available.

Existing fund balance? Sounds like a surplus to me.

What happened to all of the wailing and knashing of teeth over budget shortfalls for DOT?

Hat Tip- Jo from FoxPolitics.net

Congratulations kids

Some 93 extraordinary kids at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee just completed an incredible task-

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The 3,000- to 4,000-word papers - "extended essays" - are required for students who want to receive the International Baccalaureate diploma. For those who complete such a paper - a process that begins in the spring of their junior years - it is a tradition to present the final product on a silver platter to the teacher who advised the student along the way, followed by the student and the teacher each commenting on what was learned.

The silver platter ceremony was held this week, and the 93 who presented their work are the largest group to complete the formidable research project in King's nearly 30-year history as an IB school.

Wow, I have difficulty writing 10 word sentences without screwing it up. Congratulations to all of this young people.

Third Troha conspirator goes down

This is so discouraging for every resident of Kenosha-

Kenosha News

A third Kenosha businessman has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges related to a conspiracy to facilitate illegal political campaign contributions.

Achille F. "Kelly" Infusino, 54, and U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic signed off on a plea agreement Friday, in which Infusino admitted to aiding in a scheme in which more than $250,000 in illegal donations were made to federal and state campaigns.

Whether you were for or against the casino in Kenosha, the idea that so much illegal activity has taken place because of it, is very discouraging.

Kenosha Schools are closed

For the second time this week, Kenosha schools are closed.

Check out my sidebar to keep up with all of the closings and cancellations for today or click on this link.

The Boondoggle Awards

Do you remember "The Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere"?

Now it is called "The Ferry to Nowhere".

The "Ferry to Nowhere" is one of this year's Boondoggle Awards.

The Boondoggle awards identifies wasteful government spending.

The "Ferry to Nowhere" was dropped into the DOD appropriations bill.

What does this ferry have to do with the Department of Defense?

Apparently the ferry is going to help the Navy.

"The Ferry to Nowhere" is not the only winner of the Boondoggle award. Here is more.

Over 3 hours

It took over 3 hours for me to get home from work today.

It has been a while since I last stated- I do not like snow.

The roads are bad further south. It had been snowing in Illinois for over 4 hours by the time I left for home.

The longer I sat parked on the interstate, the worse the roads got.

I guess I expected the roads to get better the further north I got. I guess we sat too long. By the time I made it to Wisconsin, the roads were bad here too.

And....

I get to do it again tomorrow morning.

Drive safe, folks.

Senate Democrat’s proposal: The silence is deafening

The Senate Democrats are going to fix the economy. At least, that is what our state’s senate Democrats were proposing yesterday.

Judging from the media’s silence on the issue, it appears the Senate Democrat’s proposal is dead barely after it was announced.

The media’s virtual blackout is rather astounding. I went cruising the usual places this morning looking for any kind of details on this huge announcement made yesterday.

After all, this is a very big deal and first and foremost on the minds of many Wisconsin residents.

Which is why I was so very surprised to be able to find very little information on the Wisconsin senate Democrat’s plan.

Our economy is taking a hit right now. Not only in Wisconsin, but there are troubling signs all over the United States. The Fed is currently cutting rates in an attempt to stop the downward spiral. The US Senate, the House and the President are all hammering out plans to see what can be done to stabilize the economy.

So why are we getting the silent treatment on the stimulus package being proposed by the Wisconsin Senate Democrats?

Take a look at the proposal by the Democrats and you can very easily see why folks are attempting to sweep it under the rug.

First, the senates Democrats are proposing increases taxes on businesses in Wisconsin by $180 million dollars. They are attempting to close what they believe to be a loophole in the law.

Let’s stop right here for a moment. I will be honest, I am not an economist, but in all of the plans proposed over the years, I have to say, I have never seen an economic stimulus plan that includes tax increase.

Never.

It just does not make sense. In an unstable economy why would government raid businesses for more money, if you actually need those businesses to keep people employed.

To make matters worse, another part of the economic stimulus plan proposed by the Democrats is the approval of the KRM.

I understand that some would argue that the KRM would some day bring a windfall of profits to Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee. This though is debatable, but what isn’t debatable is whether or not the KRM will help stabilize the economy right now.

Even it the KRM is approved today, it will be around 2012 before it will be up and running correctly. So the idea that this will help us right now is ridiculous.

You still have that whole tax increase issue to deal with. Residents of Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee would have to pay more in taxes on car rentals in order to pay for the new KRM.

So far the Senate Democrats have proposed as part of their economic stimulus package the idea that you need to increase taxes on businesses and residents of Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee.

You will get a kick out of this next set of ideas from the Democrats.

They want to spend money and lots of it.

Now I ask you, when you and your family are suffering a budget crunch, do you go out and plan a vacation right away? Do you start spending money right away and just hope your financial crisis goes away?

Of you do not do these things. Your budget is tight, so you tighten your belt and stop spending money on unnecessary items!

Not the Senate Democrats, they want to spend more money.

Here are some of the plans the Democrats have for spending more money.

$5 million to train welders and health care workers, $1.3 million for vocational colleges, $15.1 million to offset child care costs and $50 million in new spending for road construction.

I have some questions about these new proposals-

$5 million to train welders and health care workers- Where are they going to work after they are trained, since the businesses that would need to hire them are now paying more money in increased taxes?

$1.3 million for vocational colleges- Where are they going to work after they graduate, since the businesses that would need to hire them are now paying more money in increased taxes?

$15.10 million to offset child care costs- Don’t people need a job before they actually need help in paying for child care? Once again, the Senate Democrats are proposing increasing taxes on businesses.

$50 million on new spending for road construction- As it is, state revenue is dropping. We have no idea how we are going to pay for the millions of dollars in road construction on the projects proposed a few months ago in the new budget. How in the world do the Democrats plan on paying for the new road construction?

There you have it.

The Senate Democrats plan for stimulating the economy is to increase taxes on businesses, increases taxes on individuals in Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee, and start spending more money on items we cannot afford.

No wonder we are getting the silent treatment from the media outlets around Wisconsin on the Senate Democrat’s new plan for economic stimulus. Even the media recognizes that this is a bad plan proposed by Democrats.

It appears that our Senate Democrats have it backwards and are confused. Apparently they do not realize that we are attempting to stimulate the economy, not crush it.

Unleashing the attack dogs against Scott Walker

An interesting battle is brewing over an outside group's attacks on Scott Walker.

Patrick from Badger Blogger has the inside scoop-

Todd Rongstad has formed a 501(c)(4) political education organization called “The Thomas Paine Democracy Network,” and has set it’s sights on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. You may not know who Todd Rongstad is, but he has quite a past in his political consulting jobs.

Currently, Tod Rongstad's group is hosting billboard ads trashing Scott Walker, called "We blame Scott Walker" An example of such billboard states "Milwaukee's mentally ill suffer deadly neglect- I blame Scott Walker".

These billboards are financed by someone. So far, nobody is fessing up.

Senator Lena Taylor, Walker's opponent, is claiming that it is not her.

These billboards are so inflammatory that they have caught the attention of the talk show hosts and now Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Daniel Bice.

A billboard ad costs tens of thousands of dollars, someone is behind this.

Who is it?

Now would be a great time to find out.

Raise taxes, spend more money, that will fix the economy

The entire state of Wisconsin is currently focused on how to help Wisconsin during a difficult economic problem.

In an absolutely stunning move, our State Senate has decided that the best way to handle a downturn in the economy is to spend more money and raise taxes on businesses.

MJS-

Wisconsin Senate Democrats formally broke with Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and Assembly Republicans on economic development today, recommending an immediate $50-million boost in highway spending and development of the KRM commuter rail line between Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee.

The Senate Democrats' package means the Legislature is not likely to pass any major economic development incentives before the session ends in mid-March.

"This is something that Senate Democrats want to push," said Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston). The Democrats' package would also spend $5 million more to train welders and health-care workers, give vocational colleges $1.3 million more in state aid, and spend $15.1 million more to subsidize child-care costs for middle-income parents.

Decker said the new package would immediately let "Wisconsin companies hire Wisconsin workers," giving them jobs that "can't go to China." Boosting highway spending by $50 million alone would result in 2,5000 new well-paying jobs, he said.

Decker said he hasn't seen details of the Democratic governor's $15-million package of tax credits, breaks and exemptions. Doyle has said his proposals, embraced by Republicans who control the state Assembly, would help create the next generation of jobs in technology and start-up companies.

Democratic Sens. John Lehman of Racine and Bob Wirch of Kenosha both said the KRM commuter rail line would be paid for a $13 increase in car rental costs in southeast Wisconsin and is backed by leaders from both parties.

Decker and Sen. Pat Kreitlow (D-Chippewa Falls) estimated that their economic development package would cost about $180 million - $90 million in the year that ends June 30 and another $90 million the following year. The money would be generated by ending a corporate tax loophole that allows businesses to create out-of-state companies that don't pay Wisconsin taxes.

That's right folks. When your family is going through a downtime, do you go out and immediately spend more money and expect your problems to disappear?

Businesses are struggling, so the Democrats plan on hammering them with another $180 Million in taxes.

Families are struggling, so the Democrats plan on hammering them with a $13 tax increase on car rentals.

The Senate Democrats clearly have no grasp on reality.

Who is advising them to do this?

Never forget- Daniel Pearl

An incredible powerful piece of journalism is in today's Wall Street Journal, written by Daniel Pearl's father.

Daniel Pearl was murdered 6 years ago, today. He was not murdered because he did anything wrong, but simply because he was an American.

In this article, Professor Judea Pearl, refuses to let the media off the hook. His son was a journalist for the Wall Street Journal.

Here are some excerpts-

The shocking element in Danny's murder was that he was killed, not for what he wrote or planned to write, but for what he represented -- America, modernity, openness, pluralism, curiosity, dialogue, fairness, objectivity, freedom of inquiry, truth and respect for all people. In short, each and every one of us was targeted in Karachi in January of 2002.

This new twist of killing journalists for what they represent has changed the course of journalism as well as the rest of society.

It was through Danny's face that people came to grasp the depth of cruelty and inhumanity into which this planet of ours has been allowed to sink in the past two decades. His murder proved that 9/11 was not an isolated event, and helped resurrect the age-old ideas of right and wrong, good and evil. Moral relativism died with Daniel Pearl in January 2002.

In this next article, Professor Pearl examines the media's responsibility in the murder of his son-

They are no longer perceived as neutral, information-gathering agents, but rather as representing political or ideological entities. The press and media has indeed become more polarized and agenda-driven. Journalists today are pressured to serve the ideologies of those who pay their salaries or those who supply them with sources of information. CNN's admission, in 2003, that it concealed information about the Iraqi regime in order to keep its office in Baghdad is a perfect example of this pressure. In the recent Gaza chaos, Western news agencies have willingly reported Hamas propaganda stunts as truth.

One of the things that saddens me most is that the press and media have had an active, perhaps even major role in fermenting hate and inhumanity. It was not religious fanaticism alone.

The whole Daniel Pearl murder is heart wrenching to hear about. Little is said in the media after it was discovered that chances were pretty good that Pearl was murdered as a tape of media staged scenes were playing in the background.

The answer was unveiled in 2004, when a friend told me that photos of Muhammad Al Dura were used as background in the video tape of Danny's murder.

Al Dura, readers may recall, is the 12-year-old Palestinian boy who allegedly died from Israeli bullets in Gaza in September of 2001. As we now know, the whole scene is very likely to have been a fraud, choreographed by stringers and cameramen of France 2, the official news channel of France. France 2 aired the tape repeatedly and distributed it all over the world to anyone who needed an excuse to ratchet up anger or violence, among them Danny's killers.

An yet, even though we are well aware of the fact that some in the media are faking stories, creating their own stories or lying about the truth, we still find ourselves believing every single story on TV or in the newspaper.

Folks, we have got to get smarter. We have got to get wiser. We have got to learn from the deaths of men just like Daniel Pearl.

Whether or not the media like the truth, we must make sure they tell the truth anyway.

Feel free to read the rest of the article written by Professor Pearl.

What a bunch of hooey!

The state screws up and accidentally refunds the taxpayers too much money. Once they recognize their mistake, the immediately re-bill the taxpayer, plus they add 1% in interest payments per month to the taxpayers charges.

Huh?

It didn't matter that the state, not taxpayers, miscalculated the refunds. By law, the government can collect 1% interest each month on money it is owed.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense to most people either.

Public Investigator

Senator Mary Lazich and the PI jumped in and got the Department of Revenue to wave the $44,754 worth of finances charges waved.

Of course, all of those that had already paid the finance charges on the state's mistake, will now be refunded that money.

Basicaly, the state will refund some money after refunding money when they not have. The taxpayers will be refunded money that was refunded to them accidently which they then re-paid with interest.

Got that?

Confusing?

Yep, that is government for you.

These are the same government that wants to control your health care.

Scary isn't it?

Kenosha Schools closed

Check my sidebar under Storm Center- Closings and Cancellations

All Kenosha schools appeared to be closed today.

I am guessing, but perhaps the buses were having problems.

No child should be standing out in this weather at a bus stop anyways.

Enjoy your day off, kids.

Congressman Paul Ryan for President

Let me be honest, I probably will not be completely happy with any of the Republican choices until we nominate Congressman Paul Ryan for President.

Who's with me?

Hmm? I wonder if Congressman Ryan would make a good vice Presidential candidate to offset McCain's liberalism?

Congressman Ryan is a true fiscal conservative. He is a true social conservative. He is young and energetic.

The man does not have one single ounce of "give up" in him. He does not waiver. He does not flip flop.

No matter what happens, you cannot break the man's spirit.

Who's with me?

Senator Clinton did the right thing

I know that it is really weird for me to make that statement, but I believe it to be true.

Senator Hillary Clinton did the right thing tonight by showing up in Florida and thanking the 1 million plus Democrat voters that spent part of their day doing their Democratic duty and cast a vote.

The people in Florida matter, no different than Michigan. It does not matter what the Democrat National Committee continues to say.

I think it is a huge risk for Senator Obama to continue to downplay Florida. Yes, he is correct to say that no delegates were at stake tonight. However there is something more important that happened today in Florida.

No single person put it better that Fred Barnes tonight when asked by Brit Hume whether or not the Florida Democrat race was important. Fred exclaimed- "Yes it is important, because the most important thing in the world happened today- PEOPLE VOTED!"

You tell 'em Fred!

I think it was proper for Senator Clinton to properly thank the voters in Florida and I think it is a mistake for Senator Obama not to thank the 300,000+ people who went to the polls today and voted for him.

McCain wins Florida

Republicans voted for McCain.

I know that question had been hanging out there for a while. Could McCain win over Republicans?

Apparently he can.

The hardcore conservatives do not control the party.

Personally, I have my doubts about McCain. There are things I like about McCain, but there are other things that I really do not like.

Honestly, I could say the same about President Bush and just about every single person I have voted for.

Romney is still in the race, but he is the only one still left in the race.

Despite what Huckabee says, he is done.

Giuliani is currently giving his concession speech. He has not pulled out of the race, but he sure sounds like he will pull out soon, perhaps tomorrow.

Good luck to McCain and Romney on Super Tuesday, just one week away.

Congress is paralyzed

As I sat thru last night's speech, I could not help but notice as the cameras continuously panned the crowd our elected congressional leaders, how many of them just sat there.

I remember thinking to myself, yes- this is pretty much what they have done all year long.

That symbolism pretty much represented the last year of Congress. Angry, bitter, sullen and pouty is pretty much what we have seen for a while now.

A year ago, the congressional leaders were a lot more raucous. With a newly elected Congress, dominated by Democrats, the people of this great country had sent a new Congress to the hill to handle the business of this country.

There the new Congress sat last night, with over half of them refusing to budge from their seats. Almost paralyzed with anger, is how they looked.

I have to say, I cannot blame the new Congress for sitting in their seats last night.

They have nothing to cheer for, they have accomplished next to nothing in a year's time.

Perhaps the newly elected leaders of Congress do not realize that the Democrats got exactly what they wanted. They are in charge.

To call them a "do nothing" Congress is putting it mildly.

I love to ask my democrat friends, what has this new congress done?

They immediately jump at the raising of the national minimum wage.

Okay, then, what else?

I usually get a perplexed look back from my democrat friends. They immediately start spouting off about President Bush, war in Iraq, and the usual drivel. They cannot name any other accomplishments in Congress this year. NONE!

Of course, upon closer inspection, even the raising of the national minimum wage was a paltry accomplishment.

If you look at this map, most states already had a minimum wage set well above the amount that Congress raised up. A whopping three states actually had minimum wages set lower than the rate raised by Congress. Three states! This is their major accomplishment?

What has happened here?

At the beginning of last year, we were promised a great deal, and nothing has been delivered.

Health Care reform? Nothing. They could not even extend Schip beyond a few months. Schip is a program created by Republicans and signed into law by a Democrat president.

Earmark reform? Nothing. Bills are still being shoved thru Congress chock full of billions of dollars in earmarks.

Spending reform? Nothing. Well, last year saw the rise and the collapse of the Democrat's Paygo plan. Paygo did not make it a few months before Congress set it aside.

Immigration reform? Nothing. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants poured across our borders last year.

AMT reform? Little to nothing. Congress did manage to propose the largest tax increase in American history. Amazingly, after this proposal hit the airwaves, and incredible amount of Congressional members learned how to do the backstroke. Congressional attempts to backstroke their way out of that proposal was amazing.

Taxes? The new Congress wants to raise these. Did Americans elect the new Congress so they could enact tax increases? That is doubtful.

Social Security reform? Nothing.

Medicare reform? Nothing.

I am not the least bit surprised to see over half of the Congress sitting on their hands last night with a frown on their faces and anger in their hearts.

Speaking of which, did you see the look on Senator Harry Reid's face? Have you ever seen a more grumpy and angry man before in your life? At least Speaker Pelosi managed to keep a smile plastered on her face for the first few moments of the speech.

Senator Harry Reid is in charge of the United States Senate, one of the most powerful leadership positions in the world. Apparently he hates the job.

Sitting in those chambers last night, were the men and women charged with leading our country forward.

Instead of embracing this, over half of them sat there. They are angry, bitter, sullen and full of hatred for the man standing in front of them, giving a speech.

Their hatred has grown to such bitter levels that they are now paralyzed and consumed by that hatred.

As a result, the growth and the natural changes we need as a country become paralyzed. No real issues can be addressed.

Instead we are left to deal with a continuous stream of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Get Bush at all costs. It does not matter what issues stand before our country as this time. Get Bush at all costs.

Last night was a embarrassing expression of a paralyzed Congress obsessed with destroying the President and letting everything else fall by the wayside.

KC for Alderwoman

I have a new webpage up strictly devoted to my aldermaic race.

KC for Alderwoman

Democrats- your choices are angry or angrier

The race wars taking place on the left side of the aisle has now become a complete embarrassment for America in general.

The 2006 election was an angry vote. The Democrats played into that anger and handily won the Senate and the House.

Now the Democrats have turned their anger against each other.

Anyone watching Obama's victory speech last night can clearly see that he is angry about a lot of things. It was not really the words in his speech, but the venom and anger in his voice. He behaved as if he was vindicated instead of victorious.

Before Obama's camp gets too excited, remember this is the same state that John Edwards carried 4 years ago and we can clearly see where that got him in the end game of winning the nomination in 2004.

The Clinton machine is even angrier. Senator Clinton has a screeching problem as it is, this is just getting awful.

Say what you will about Republican nominees, they have not made this a race about the color of a person's skin.

Racism has reared it's ugly head and it is the Democrats that have created this race war.

The media has been stoking this race war since almost the beginning. Talking about how white Iowa had no problems voting for Obama, but white New Hampshire did. How many times have we heard in the last week that at least 50% of those voting in South Carolina would be black voters?

Who cares what color their skin is? They are Americans.

The eventual winner of the Presidency will need voters with every skin color and every religious background voting for him or her.

Can you imagine the Iraqis sitting in their living rooms watching this thing play out?

They have got to wondering how Americans can sit back and smuggly talk about Iraqi civil war when they are watching this on their TVs. The Iraqis must be saying to themselves, Shiite vs. Sunni- no problems. Just check out those Americans tearing each other apart.

Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have turned their race for Presidency into a national embarrassment.

There you go Democrats. You have get to choose between a angry black man and a angry white woman. You must be so proud.

It's our money!

Wow, how egotistical can you get?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this pronouncement-

KRM: Climb on board or get out of the way

Seriously, who died and gave these folks at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the right to speak this way to their fellow Wisconsinites.

Of course, the MJS editorial board would claim that they are talking to the politicians this way and not the people.

My guess is that the MJS editorial board has no clue that the politicians are actually representatives of the people.

In fact, not only do they not recognize this, they are demanding that the politicians defy the wishes of the people and advanced the KRM anyway-

And the political reality may well be that referendums are the only way to
get something done on rail, although we would argue that politicians are elected
to make tough choices.

Tough choices?

Are they asking the politicians to ignore the people that elected them and cower in the face of the special interest businesses?

The MJS does seem to realize that the people should be on board, but they are telling the politicians to ignore the people anyway. They are calling it "tough choices"

The idea is to make sure that those who would be paying for transit have a say
in determining what kind of transit system is created.
That's an
understandable sentiment. And the political reality may well be that referendums
are the only way to get something done on rail, although we would argue that
politicians are elected to make tough choices.

Here are some more political realities for the MJS to ponder:

It's our money and if the people do not want to pay for it, why is it being shoved down our throats?

Politicians are to represent the people, if they do not honestly represent the people, they will be replaced!

Politicians work for the people, not Johnson Wax and Tax!

If Johnson Wax and Tax and the rest of their buddies want a commuter rail line, they can pay for it themselves. They can pay for the maintenance. They can even pay their own employees to ride it. If they choose to pay for it themselves, amazingly few people would say a peep about it.

I have to say, as I read thru this article, I could not help but giggle a little at this statement-

But that would mean that southeastern Wisconsin would fall further behind its competitors in the global marketplace.

Seriously, creating a commuter rail line between Kenosha and Milwaukee will turn us global?

The commuter rail line only covers about 50 miles. That does not exactly cover GLOBAL proportions.

Do you believe him?

The Governor says he will not raise taxes to fix the budget hole.

Gov. Jim Doyle is promising not to raise taxes to deal with the state's budget shortfall.

Too late....

The Governor already raised taxes and fees.

Perhaps the Governor does not remember that back in October, he raised taxes and fees.

Many of those increased taxes and fees went into affect less than a month ago. The cost to get a driver's license just went up January 1st. The cost to register your car, just went up on January 1st.

By doubling the cost of the real estate transfer fee, the cost to sell a home just doubled. So those folks trying to get out from underneath the sub prime crunch, will have to pay even more money when selling their homes.

And oh, by the way, the Governor also raised your property taxes by changing the cap from 2% to 4%.

Basically, this is the same Governor that a little more than a year ago, while he was running for re-election boldly stated, "I have balanced the budget" and "I have not raise taxes", has now raised taxes and the budget is seriously out of balance. Of course, the budget was out of balance a year ago when the legislature was providing emergency funding to fix the last budget hole.

Now the Governor expects us to believe that he will not raise taxes????

By the way, even though the Governor knew that we are facing this massive budget hole, less than a week ago he was announcing new programs to give away more money.

Yard signs

So I have to ask- Have any of you tried to ram a yard sign into the frozen earth when it was -3 degrees outside?

Well, I have and it does not work. I spent this past weekend and this week trying to do exactly that.

I finally went home and got some empty two liter bottles and filled them with hot tap water. With a little effort, I managed to get a few signs up.

Back at it again today. Only now I have a cordless drill. That works way better!

Anyone interested in a yard sign and you live in Kenosha's 5th district, just email me at kc_for_alderman@yahoo.com

I have a cordless drill and I will travel.

If you are not sure if you live in Kenosha's 5th Aldermanic District, click on this link for a map.





Paid for by Friends of Kathy Carpenter, Erin Decker, Treasurer.

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

Look who is staging a comeback....

New Kids on the Block Stage Comeback

After months of speculation and rumor, the Kids are coming back. A well-placed source tells PEOPLE exclusively that New Kids On The Block are indeed getting back together.

Can they really call themselves kids when they are now in their late 30's and early 40's?

Making the grade...

I completely missed the Republican debate on Thursday night. However, I heard pretty much the same thing from everyone I have spoken to that saw it- Romney helped himself, McCain and Giuliani did not help themselves- but did not do bad. Huckabee and Paul did poorly and probably hurt themselves.

Time graded the debate as follows-

Romney--- A-

Despite months of floundering, and his unofficial coronation as Most Unpopular by the media and his rivals, Romney is suddenly re-energized. Buoyed by his Michigan win, his delegate count, his promising poll numbers and a chaotic economy that boosts his CEO platform, Romney came out strong, unapologetic and on message. The man l-o-v-e-s to talk about the economy and it shows. Was less on edge—and less edgy—than in the last few debates, and settled comfortably into the 'looks and sounds like a president' zone that is one of his chief assets. Swiftly back-pedalled from a too-pointed barb about Bill Clinton, transforming his response into a crowd-pleasing poke at Hillary Clinton. Seemed to anticipate an eventual one-on-one contest with McCain, and displayed the confidence of a man who feels certain he has a spot in the finals. Bottom line: Benefited more than anyone else from the oddly low-key nature of a high-stakes forum.

McCain---- B+

Sober or grim? You make the call. Handled some early light jabs from questioners and rivals with ease, although he fumbled a bit when apparently denying his own quote about lacking economic expertise. Eagerly welcomed another opportunity to rhetorically run against Hillary Clinton on Iraq. To his great benefit, his elegant, vital, and sharp-tongued mother was more prominently referenced than either Clinton, and he charmingly parried a question about her televised comment that he had limited support from the Republican Party. Graciously offered unsolicited praise of Giuliani's 9/11 record. Overall, though, was too often tense and forced in his delivery, rather than presenting himself as the happy warrior with a frontrunner's breeze at his back.

Giuliani---- B-

As always, showed up without any strategy to win—on the night he most needed to win big. Offered shrewd, vigorous answers but without a schematic purpose that would define a rationale and theme for his candidacy. Nevertheless, he was a cool customer, with the same unflappable, calm delivery he has presented in every debate for nearly a year, regardless of polls, news-of-day, or media expectations. That persona was good when he was the national frontrunner, but on the eve of the most important election of his presidential career, it just wasn't good enough.

Huckabee--- B-

Low-key to the point of soporific. His patented one-liners did not seem to win over this audience as they had past debate audiences, although he kept on zipping and zinging whenever possible. Seemed to be playing out the string as a sidekick and quipster rather than a man who won Iowa three weeks ago.

Paul---- C

Did not stand out as a rousing alternative to the establishment, unlike in past debates. Didn't pick fights, wasn't the target of attacks—and launched no dramatic speeches, passionate outrage, or singular ideas. As always, however, he struck a chord with the anti-war wing of the party whenever he mentioned Iraq.

So what do you guys think?

Was Romney the clear winner?

What a fine mess...

You thought the Republicans had problems with their nominees, at least we are debating policy and not debating racial boundaries.

The good news for Democrats is that they finally get to vote in South Carolina tomorrow.

MJS-

But the GOP presidential campaign is looking stately compared with the emotion and acrimony overtaking the Democrats in South Carolina, which votes Saturday.

To the horror of party leaders, and glee of their GOP counterparts, the Hillary Rodham Clinton-Barack Obama rivalry has descended into an angry pitched battle, played out on the rocky ground of race, gender, credibility and character.

Remember back a few weeks ago, this mess all started a few weeks ago, after the New Hampshire.

The pollsters and the media got it dead wrong by glibly handing New Hampshire to Obama long before the people actually voted in that state.

When the vote did not turn out as predicted, in order to keep from having to admit they were wrong, the media and the pollsters immediately injected racism into the battle.

That battle has been raging ever since.

It is great to finally see the media recognize the fractured elements of the Democratic party. They have been denying it for weeks as this battle has raged.

Either in spite or because of the lack of big policy differences, the Democratic race has become more personal and rancorous than the Republican contest, which features larger philosophical divisions.

All of those folks that think Obama is just a nice guy and the Clinton machine is unfairly attacking him need to realize that Obama has gotten his shots in too.

"Hillary Clinton. She'll say anything and change nothing. It's time to turn the page," says a radio ad in South Carolina, Obama's answer to a Clinton ad accusing him of embracing Republican ideas.

$15 Million- That's it?

The MJS is touting Doyle's $15 million in tax breaks.

$15 Million? That's all Doyle has?

We currently have a budget shortfall of $200 million that the state's agencies have to fix by June 30th.

The only incentives that Doyle can find is $15 million?

Who voted for this guy?

Seriously- we have a huge economic crisis facing us nationwide and Doyle coughs up a measly $15 million!

We have 5.5 million people that live in this state.

That $15 million amounts to about $2.72 per per in Wisconsinite.

Wow- I wonder where I will manage to spend my $2.72 tax break from our governor.

Well, I know that I cannot buy a gallon of gas or even a pack of cigarettes.

Think! Think! Think!

Where can I spend my $2.72?

Hum?

Our governor is a joke!

Is Huckabee finished?

Personally, I believe Huckabee is finished, but it is not up to me to decide. A second place finish in a state that he should have easily carried with religious conservatives may have been the nail in his coffin.

Now it appears that Huckabee is close to bailing on Florida-

Battling to stay competitive after his weekend loss in South Carolina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is taking new steps to save money, including no longer scheduling planes and buses for journalists trying to cover his presidential campaign.

Huckabee said he will continue to campaign in Florida on a shoestring budget, but added that he may pull out of the state before its Jan. 29 Republican primary if his prospects look dim.

Huckabee's campaign has been diving since Iowa.