It's Packers Day!

It is the Lord's day first.

Hopefully the Lord will be smiling down on our Green Bay Packers and the Frozen Tundra today.

The Packers Prayer:

"Our Favre,

Who art in Lambeau,

Hallowed be thine arm.

Thy bowl will come,

It will be won.

In Phoenix as it is in Lambeau.

And give us this Sunday,

Our weekly win.

And give us many touchdown passes.

But do not let others pass against us.

Lead us not into frustration,

But deliver us to the valley of the sun.

For thine is the MVP, the best of the NFC,

and the glory of the Cheeseheads,

now and forever.

Go get'em. Amen."

MPS school board screws it up again

It amazing to me how badly the MPS school board continues to operate.

The federal government and the state's DPI are standing there, ready, willing and able to throw millions upon millions of dollars into the schools in Milwaukee and still the MPS school board allows chaos to rule the day.

MPS stands to lose $30 million in federal funds because they refuse to cooperate and meet the minimum requirements set out in federal law to improve their school district.

MJS-

Joan Aguado Ware, a contract specialist for MPS, told the board, "I don't think I'm exaggerating to say $30 million is immediately at stake."

A few short months ago, MPS had agreed to follow the guidelines set up by the Department of Public Instruction, now they are refusing-

Reacting to the board's actions, Elizabeth Burmaster, state superintendent of public instruction, said Friday, "If they're not going to use the funds for what we directed them to do, which their board approved earlier, I guess we'd be looking at not giving them that money."

Who gets hurt in the end? The kids who are not receiving the help they need.

The MPS board had agreed to the required changes and the federal government was ready to throw millions of dollars at them to get it done.

Now the MPS board is refusing to comply with the plan that they had a hand in creating.

Of course this means that they are no longer in compliance and they will lose the money the government is trying to give them so they can better educate the kids.

What seems to be the problem now?

Hiring the first three assistants to Catherine Thome, the new director of the compliance program. Morales said it wasn't enough to hear that federal aid would pay for the positions - she wanted the U.S. Department of Education to write a check to MPS specifically for the full cost of the jobs. The board's finance committee voted 4-1 to hold up approval of the hiring, which, in effect, puts the jobs in the refrigerator and MPS out of compliance with the plan.

and...

Spending $1.6 million to purchase materials and software to start a program called Read 180 with about 2,050 students in 16 schools. The program, which has been popular around the country and is used in other MPS schools, targets middle and high school students with reading problems.

So basically, MPS wants to get paid before they actually do the work.

Out here in the real world, life does not work like that.

Worse yet, there is a reading program that has proven to work in other parts of the country, but MPS is so disorganized that the reading program will fail because the MPS Board has not done their job.

The reading program is scheduled to start in a little over a week and MPS has not even hired the teachers they need to implement the program, much less get them trained in how the program should work.

MPS officials said they had hired 14 of 37 teachers needed for the reading expansion, but that they were working hard to get the hiring, training and technology installation done within the next few days.

The next few days?????? MPS has known about this new since September!

Now the MPS Board are behaving like a bunch of defiant two year olds-

"I dare them to take money out of kids' classrooms," board member Jennifer Morales said. She has led the charge to oppose two steps required under a plan the board agreed to in September for dealing with MPS' label of District Identified for Improvement under the federal law.

She dares them to take the money out of the classrooms????

For heaven's sake, Ms. Morales! You won't even let them put the money into the classrooms!!! How in heaven's name do you think they are taking it away?

I swear their are a bunch of defiant two year olds running the Milwaukee Public Schools!

By the way folks, these are federal tax dollars that will be used. Every single Wisconsinite has a stake in what is taking place in Milwaukee.

On our shopping list...

Great bumper sticker

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

Okay, this is funny-


Hey, I am just trying to coexist here. Gotta show support for everybody running for President.

Of course Hillary has experience running the White House!

Careful now, your bias is showing

Hat Tip- Jessica McBride

Very interesting. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is walking a very fine line and their bias is showing.

In this story about an oil magnate, on several occasions the MJS takes a swipe at Republican politicians and their connections with this oil man. The two targets of the MJS is Tommy Thompson and President George Bush.

Unless you do a little investigative work on your own, you would never know from the MJS story that Mr. Darshan Dhaliwal was playing both sides of the aisle.

Not only has Mr. Darshan Dhaliwal donated to Tommy Thompson and President Bush, but he has also donated to a whole host of prominent Democrats and Republicans.

Never mentioned in the MJS story is that our current governor, Jim Doyle, has received quite a lot of pocket change from Mr. Darshan Dhaliwal.

In fact, not a single word from the MJS on the Democrats that received money.

Jessica posted this list of donations that is on the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign website.

A lot of interesting names also pop up on this list at Open Secrets.

To be certain, there are a lot of Republicans on these lists. There are also a lot of Democrats on these lists.

The average person picking up the newspaper and reading this story are clearly lead to believe that it is Republicans only that are receiving these donations.

This is untrue.

Careful now MJS, your bias against Republicans is showing again.

Virtual schools fight back

Maybe now, legislators will stop being lead around by their WEAC wallets and do what is best for every child in Wisconsin.

Why any single person would attempt to deny any single child access to a quality education is completely beyond me.

There is absolutely no excuse for the Senate Democrats attempt as destroying virtual. They apparently have just decided that they will cut the financing by 50%. That is that!

MJS-

Lehman's bill would cut funding for virtual schools in half, set new requirements on student-teacher contacts and impose residency requirements. Fernandez, Davis and LeMahieu said those changes would kill virtual schools.

Lehman's plan is scheduled to get a hearing before the Senate Education Committee at 10 this morning.

It is time to contact every single state senator that may dream of voting to support this horrifying piece of trash bill.

I understand that WEAC and their democrat friends do not like virtual schools, but to deny these kids a quality education in unfathomable!

This is personal with me!

My state senator, Bob Wirch, received $569,270 in WEAC funds during his re-election campaign in 2004.

$569,270 from WEAC!


Contact Senator Bob Wirch and let him know that denying children a quality education with these virtual schools in order to show support for WEAC will not be tolerated!

Wisconsin Government exposing Wisconsin residents

This is beyond an embarrassment, this is now incredible irresponsible and dangerous.

Add Governor Doyle's Department of Administration to the growing list of incompetent government agencies exposing the private information of it's residents to the public domain.

For the third time in a year, our government has accidentally exposed people's social security numbers to the viewing public-

MJS-

For the second time this month - and the third time in just over a year - a state mailing sent to thousands of people had visible Social Security numbers, officials said Tuesday.

This time it was the Department of Administration, of which Governor Doyle is directly responsible.

I am infuriated by the idea that this is no big deal to the Governor-

Gov. Jim Doyle, who was in Mequon to announce manufacturing tax credits, said residents should be confident that the mistake won't be repeated.

What?

This happened a year ago and again twice in the last month. Why would a single person in the state be confident that this mistake will not happen again?

"It should be very evident that this is a very high priority," Doyle said.

How is it evident that this is a priorioty when it has happened again after last year???

Holy cow! This statement is like adding insult to injury.

By the way, today's announcement-

JS Online: NewsWatch

Information technology workers discovered in late November that a group of university identification numbers that were collected from those who made purchases at the university's tech store was available on a public Web site.

About 205 of the numbers were based on Social Security numbers, said Brian Rust, spokesman for the Division of Information Technology for the UW-Madison.

Apparently, UW Madison is also playing fast and loose with the private information of it's public employees!

Yeah! I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now that Doyle has stated: "It should be very evident that this is a very high priority".

The polls were wrong again

Am I the only person that has realized that the polling done in Michigan on the Republican side was wrong, very wrong?

After the Democrat debacle in New Hampshire, so many excuses were made by the pollsters. One of the biggest excuses is that polling was not done the day before or the weekend before the votes were cast.

This time, polling was done the day before and the weekend before the votes were cast.

Most of these pollsters were off by 8 to 10 points, that is a huge margin of error-

Rasmussen- Romney +1 point( off by 8 points)

Reuters/Zogby- McCain +1 point(off by 10 points)

American Research Group- McCain +1 point(off by 10 points)

Only one pollster came close and they make their home in Michigan-

Mitchell Research- Romney +6 (off by 3 points)

Some of these guys have a margin of error at 3,4 or 5%.

This is unacceptable data from the pollsters.

Thank you Wisconsin!

Wow-the help that has been sent Kenosha's direction after the tornadoes has been staggering.

Walmart was a huge help. They showed up with hundreds of storage bins so people could save what they could.

Hundreds of volunteers also showed up. In fact, they were sent home on Saturday night. The initial cleanup is done.

One of the first badly damaged homes was torn completely down yesterday and the re-building will start shortly. Their contractors were there the day after the tornadoes and began cleaning up and started the plans for rebuilding.

The neighbors who did not suffer as much damage as some are currently storing their neighbors items.

Some of the rebuilding and repairing will have to wait until spring, but many folks have opened up their pocketbooks and their homes to those left homeless.

By Saturday, less than a week after the tornadoes hit, the cleanup was done and rebuilding and repairing had started.

Thanks to Walmart and all those individuals that donated food, water, clothes, lighting, storage, etc...

Kenosha survived and everybody is taking giant steps forward in starting over.

I believe that cash donations are still be accepted at area banks, so keep those dollars rolling in. If Kenosha keeps moving, all of this will be a distant memory in a few short months.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Packer Playoff Tickets for NFC Championship

More Packer tickets have been donated to the MS Society. You have a chance to bid on the tickets and all proceeds will go to the MS Society

The Packers playing for the NFC Title!
One more home game at Lambeau!
Another opportunity to see it live!

Didn’t get a chance to bid on last week’s Packer tickets? Once again, Tom Carlson, veteran participant of the MS Snowmobile Tour, is donating his tickets to this weekend’s playoff game for purchase on eBay, with all proceeds benefitting the National MS Society - Wisconsin Chapter.

This time it’s for the title!

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers
NFC Championship Game
Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI
Sunday, January 20, 2008
5:30 p.m.
Two (2) tickets, side by side

For more information, or to bid for these tickets, visit:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120210510467

Make a difference in the lives of people with multiple sclerosis and cheer the Packers on to the Super bowl!

City of Kenosha Tax Phenomenon

The Kenosha tax phenomenon has Kenosha city residents facing a problem that very few other Wisconsin residents are facing.

Kenosha city residents are now paying more out in municipal taxes than they are in school taxes. The phenomenon is almost unheard of in most Wisconsin cities, villages and towns.

A little background to help folks understand Kenosha. Kenosha County was a solid blue county that in the last few years has been fading. It is now considered a lite blue county. Still liberal, just not as solidly liberal as before.

Kenosha city government is solidly blue and has been for years and years. We have had 48.5 % in tax increases since 1998 to prove it. For years, the liberal leaders of Kenosha have stated that it was the schools fault for all of the tax increases.

As I said something has changed in the last few years. Kenosha city taxes have now risen so much, that most folks are paying as much in municipal taxes as they do in school taxes.

Kenosha residents paying their taxes will pay on average:

City- $1385.30 minus lottery tax credit of $85.60 equals $1299.70

Schools- $1472.64 minus school tax credit of $223.27 equals $1249.37

On average the city of Kenosha is charging it's residents $1299.70 in municipal taxes per year and $1249.37 on school taxes.

In comparison, Pleasant Prairie residents pay $797.38 in village taxes and $2019 in school taxes. Bristol pays $651.80 in town taxes to $1784.31 in school taxes.

This is a staggering blow to every single Kenosha resident. It is no longer a fair assumption to believe that the high taxes in Kenosha are solely the fault of our school systems. For years, the schools have taken the heat.

Somehow our mayor and our alderman have just skated without being asked the tough questions.

Certainly our city has more expenses than do the smaller towns and villages. Some of this is understandable.

There comes a point that where these high municipal taxes are no longer reasonable. Especially when residents are told that they are paying almost $10 million for a civil war museum that they never asked for.

With a record number of people running for alderman and mayor in our city, clearly the people of Kenosha are fed up.

For years the liberal government of Kenosha has lead us down a path of historically high taxes. It is almost as if the city and the schools are racing to see who can raise our taxes higher and faster.

To all those who may squawk and balk at the level of taxes in Kenosha, they are considered evil and diabolical. After all, the money is for the children. These liberal leaders believe that Kenosha's residents should just shut up and pay it.

So Kenosha, are you going to just shut and pay or are you ready to fight back?

William Kristol and the New York Times

I know some heads have been spinning and a few liberals are spitting nails, but it is very cool to see another point of view in the New York Times.

Kristol correctly points out hypocrisy the Dem's candidates Obama and Clinton are faced with-

When Obama was asked in the most recent Democratic presidential debate, “Would you have seen this kind of greater security in Iraq if we had followed your recommendations to pull the troops out last year?” he didn’t directly address the question. But he volunteered that “much of that violence has been reduced because there was an agreement with tribes in Anbar Province, Sunni tribes, who started to see, after the Democrats were elected in 2006, you know what? — the Americans may be leaving soon. And we are going to be left very vulnerable to the Shias. We should start negotiating now.”

Seriously, Obama is claiming that the success in Iraq is a result of Democrats claiming defeat in Iraq. That does not make sense to most common sense thinking folks, but he said it anyway.

Not to be outdone by Obama's ridiculous statements, Clinton was hot on his trail making another statement just as ridiculous-

Yesterday, on “Meet the Press,” Hillary Clinton claimed that the Iraqis are changing their ways in part because of the Democratic candidates’ “commitment to begin withdrawing our troops in January of 2009.” So the Democratic Party, having proclaimed that the war is lost and having sought to withdraw U.S. troops, deserves credit for any progress that may have been achieved in Iraq.

Kristol is right-

That is truly a fairy tale.

So is the New York Times balanced not that they have hired Kristol?

Not really, but it is certainly an improvement.

Are there any voices left in Wisconsin?

Late Saturday afternoon, the state of Wisconsin was rocking. The Packers were headed to the NFC Championship game.

By early Sunday afternoon, the state had turned simply giddy.

Hannah Montana was in town.

Actually, giddy is probably not the proper word for it, but I cannot think of any way to describe it. Watching the news last night and seeing the thousands of little girls bouncing up and down was fun. You know they were bouncing up and down for hours and hours yesterday.

My 7 year old niece is a Hannah Montana fan and she turns simply goofy at the mere mention of Miley Cyrus or Hannah Montana.

In honor of my niece, I will post this photo of Hannah Montana-



Then just to top off the weekend in Wisconsin, the Cowboys lost. Sending the road to the Super Bowl back thru Green Bay Wisconsin.

This, of course, sent the parents of the Hannah Montana fans right over the edge.

Most of the state of Wisconsin is hoarse from all of the cheering today.

Yes indeed, it was a great weekend for all of Wisconsin- adults and children alike!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

One more game in Green Bay!!!!

Way to go, Giants!

Giants 21, Dallas 17!!!

Tax cuts for the rich...

...or so the Senate Democrats would have you believe.

It is like the Democrats have uttered the "tax cuts for the rich" mantra for so long, they no longer recognize when they are hurting the middle class of Wisconsin.

When Governor Doyle finally showed some leadership and is now attempting to create incentives for businesses in Wisconsin, the Senate Democrats have already started their "tax cuts for the rich" mantra.

These statements out of the Senate Democrats are almost laughable, until you realize the destruction they will cause to Wisconsin's economy-

Senator Russ Decker-

Asked specifically about Doyle's plan to let some investors avoid taxes on capital gains if they plow the money back into state-based start-ups, Decker said, "We're very generous right now in the state of Wisconsin."

Generous???

Perhaps Decker does not realize that he lives in one of the most highly taxed states in the nation. Not a whole of folks that languish as Wisconsin's upper, middle or lower class taxpayers that would accuse the state of being too generous!

Senator Bob Jauch-

Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch of Poplar, who heads the Senate Committee on Tax Fairness and Economic Prosperity, said Wisconsin has already handed out too many tax breaks to "specific groups or well-connected individuals."

Too many tax breaks????

Good grief! Once again, Wisconsin is one of the highest taxed states in the nation and this senate Democrat is stating that we give too many tax breaks.

Something that the Senate Democrats have yet to figure out- Without economic developement in this state, every single resident in Wisconsin loses out.

WE NEED JOBS HERE IN WISCONSIN IN ORDER TO SURVIVE. WE NEED BUSINESSES HERE IN WISCONSIN IN ORDER TO SURVIVE.

Senate Democrats are so intent on blocking any tax cut to the rich that they do not realize that they are damaging Wisconsin's middle and lower class workers!

Welcome back to Green Bay, Coach!

Don't you just love it...

This is the way a field should look in Wisconsin in January-


Now about next week...

Go Giants???

Don't Stop Believing!

I was worried about the two turnovers to two touchdowns at the start of the game. After that, no worries!

Don't Stop Believing!

The coach and the team did not stop believing in this young man and it paid off!



Thank you, Ryan Grant!

Grow up, Huckabee!

Seriously, I think I was in junior high school the last time I cracked a "Metamucil" joke.

The man is cracking jokes that only a 13 year old and Joe Scarborough laugh at-

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Last night, now tell me what was happening. It certainly looked like Fred Thompson was doing John McCain's bidding. You know Fred, I love him, I served with him up in Congress, but he's been asleep for the last couple months. He woke up last night, and he had a hatchet, and he used it all over your head now. What's going on here?

MIKE HUCKABEE: That he did.

SCARBOROUGH: Why?

HUCKABEE: Well, I think Fred needs some Metamucil. I think it would help a lot if he gets some. You know, he was in a bad mood last night.

BRZEZINSKI: Did he just say that?

HUCKABEE: But the truth is he's going to have to hope that this writers' guild strike ends soon. He needs some new lines, and he needs to get some good research. Because when he was out there calling me things like a liberal, of all the things I've been called that's a laughable line, that's gotta be one of the great ones.

This man wants to be your President. Yeah, he might have won as our junior high president, but running a country????