FEC and Online Free Speech

There's important FEC weblog news. Is internet free speech sunk unless you have lots of good lawyers? Discuss.

Confirmed

Felt is Deep Throat.

Did we try to take over NRO, or are they taking over us?

I just ask because I mused about Hilary Clinton-Jeb Bush race on Friday, and NRO The Corner participant John Podhoretz runs with the idea today.

Hmmm. Lance, this may backfire on us yet.

re: Who Blabbed?

My bad. I think I left some Widmer's Brick Cheese on K-Lo's keyboard. Drat! So close!

WHO BLABBED?

K-Lo: Wisconsin tries to take over the world.

Hey, does anybody know how to keep the picture on there? I'm linking to geocities, and it's obviously exceeding its bandwidth.

UPDATE - never mind. Got it covered.

Knew It Was a Bad Idea

Looks like your little plan was uncovered boys.

There Go the Book Plans

I'm laughing myself silly over this report that a 91 year-old ex-FBI agent, Mark Felt, has come out in Vanity Fair admitting he was "Deep Throat."

Who really cares?

One things for certain, that book that Woodward and Berstein had planned, if Felt is indeed the one, where they officially revealed the identity just went up in smoke.

That had to be the plan for those two. Or another movie at least?

Danica Patrick!

My Uncle Jawbone, on why Danica Patrick is better off in IRL than she would be in NASCAR:

In NASCAR, she might have only been the 5th or 6th best looking in the field of pretty boys.

Danica Patrick! Led Indy 500 with 25 laps to go

Yahoo Sports has more about her than about the actual winner...um...hang on, I'll check and see who that was.

Ah, it was some guy named Dan Wheldon. Well, who really cares, anyway?

Here's the story about Danica Patrick.

Here's another one with some more detail about the race.

Re: Danica Patrick!

Derbyshire would switch if any of them would, but here's another idea: just keep Owen talking about Danica Patrick until Wendy starts getting grumpy - then we'll just pretend she's British.

Or...have we at least got any Yoopers in the group?

On second thought, Jib, maybe you don't want to go down that road. We start choosing up which of us corresponds to which of them - you know, you're K-Lo.

RE: RE: Danica Patrick

Don't worry, Jib. I'm firing up the Improbability Drive....


.....just in case.

re: Danica Patrick

I'm in! Danica Patrick, Danica Patrick, Danica Patrick...oh wait, I have to do that over at NRO, don't I?

Does anyone else have a trans-quadraplennial transmorgrifying distributor with 2.367 Hzp/mg acceleration capability? Mine only has 1.857 Hzp/Mg acceleration capability.

Hey Lance, I think we'll need a grumpy Brit to complete this task. Do you think John Derbyshire would flip sides and join this coup?

Danica Patrick!

Okay, I’ve got it all figured out. The way I see it, we have three options for rushing in and seizing power while the guys at NRO are away.

1. A quick but violent and bloody coup followed by vicious infighting and decades of political instability. I’m not really endorsing this option.

2. Also known as “The Jib Doctrine,” we simply repeat the name “Danica Patrick” over and over and over again, with links to her picture whenever possible. .

3. This is the one I really like: all we need is a crowbar, at least one laptop with wireless capability (a good one, preferably), several stocking masks and/or plastic eggs with pantyhose in them, flashlights, screwdrivers, a French-Hungarian dictionary, either a charter plane or a dozen tickets (first class, natch) to New York, a trans-quadraplennial transmogrifying distributor with 2.367 Hzp/Mg acceleration capability, and a spoon. So far, I’ve got the spoon.

Who's in?

UPDATE:


Deploy the trans-quadraplennial transmogrifying distributor! Deploy! Deploy! Deploy!

Update (~ed)
Welcome to the Badger Blog Alliance, Corner readers. Make yourselves at home and take a look around.

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr.

Jessica McBride has a good piece on David Clarke at OnMilwaukee.com, for those of you who missed it earlier this week as I did.

Wisconsin abortions down in 2004

I am going to offer this up without comment. Wisconsin abortions in 2004 were at a post 1974 low.

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend

Although I'm sure most of you are already at or on the way to your destination, the Badger Blog Alliance would like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend. Don't drink and drive, be aware on Wisconsin's water ways, and remember that state police are telling you "click it or ticket," and from what I've heard, they're serious about that ticket.

The Badger Blog Alliance will be open for business all weekend. No server work here. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'll be here off and on all weekend. Well, at least when Lance and I aren't trying to take over National Review Online and planting badgers in K-Lo's, Rich Lowry's, and Jonah Goldberg's homes.

Congratulations, Brian & Family

Congratulations to Brian from Anno Domini. Brian's wife gave birth to a 7 lb, 12 oz little girl on Monday.

Okay, the hazing ban is now lifted against Brian. I'll let everyone figure out how to haze over the internet on their own.

Lights Out at NRO

The Corner is on hiatus for the whole 3-day weekend! Jib! Jib! Now's our chance to rush in and sieze power!

Because nearly everybody is sitting at their computers all weekend, right? Pray for rain, I guess.

Man. I think I'm ready for three days off.

Extraordinary Circumstances

Heh. Found this through Villians Vanquished.

Open Thread

I'm opening up the comments to names that we can have for the "Gang of 14" and its now quickly unraveling deal. (How's the "Coalition of the Chillin'" handling this news?)

I got the idea from the Corner (which is officially closed until Tuesday morning) as the editors and contributors fought for a good analogy.

My name: "The Munich of 2005"

It's a reference to the 1938 Munich agreement by British PM Neville Chamberlain who told us that "There Will be Peace in Our Time," in October 1938 as he let Hitler roll into Czechoslovakia unabated.

11 months later - Britain was at war with Germany.

Feel free to go nuts in the comments folks.

Vikings sold?

Did I miss a memo? This news is two days old already, and it's the first I heard of it.

Owners approve Wilf as Vikes' new owner

WASHINGTON (May 25, 2005) -- Shortly after being welcomed into the NFL as the new owner of the Minnesota Vikings, New Jersey real-estate developer Zygmunt Wilf pledged that the team would "be in the Minneapolis area forever."

"I'm not changing that at all," said Wilf, who leads a group that has agreed to purchase the team for $600 million from Red McCombs.

By a vote of 32-0, NFL owners approved the transfer of the franchise during their annual May meeting.

Re: Embryonic stem cells

What kind of culture destroys its own young? What kind of horrific high-tech cannibalism is this, that we would create and then destroy human life to incorporate it into our own bodies?

The term "research" sounds so noble, but it hides the fact that what we're doing is destroying life and preventing children from being born for our own needs.

Read this Weekly Standard article about the next likely scenario: Human embryos cloned and implanted in animal wombs to develop for spare parts. (Actually, the "harvesting" of stem cells from embryos is exactly that: destruction of human life for parts.)

Here's a quote:

In America, there are currently no prohibitions and no limits on human cloning. There are no limits on the creation and destruction of human embryos. There are no limits on the implantation of human embryos into animal wombs to generate fetuses for spare parts. There are no limits on the creation of man-animal hybrids using animal sperm and human eggs or human sperm and animal eggs. There are no real ethical limits on anything.

As a woman and a mother, I have to ask, is this really the culture we want for our children?

MKE Online is picking on me next

MKE online has run a few Badger Blog Alliance members, well, it's my turn. Political/Current Events type blogs never seem to do well over there, but heck, maybe it will help a few people find the truth.

Noonan on the Senate 14

If you only read one column today, read Peggy Noonan on the U.S. Senate's "Gang of 14." One small excerpt:

Listening to them I thought of some of the great and hallowed phrases of our Republic. "The rooster who thought he brought the dawn." "The only man who can strut sitting down."

Green Bay is Talking about Workplace Smoking.

Green Bay is now discussing banning smoking in the workplace. What a euphemism! Does anyone reading this blog know of a workplace that allows smoking? No, what they really mean are bars and restaurants. Yes, they are a workplace in the narrow sense of what it means to be a workplace, but they are not what leaps to mind when one says workplace.

Many workplaces now completely prohibit smoking both inside and outside on their property. The office where my boss calls work there is no smoking anywhere on the property, unless you go into your car to smoke. Mercury Marine recently went from smoking allowed (for those in the factory) during breaks in the aisles to 100% smoke free (in and out). Actually, the one office building where I recall hearing smoking to be allowed is Miller Brewing (does anyone know if that is still the case?). This is what most people think of when one mentions "smoking in the workplace". Not prohibition in the bars and supper clubs.

The report I heard has Mayor Jim Schmidt opposing the ban, based on principle (not on preference). However, I bet this is going in the same direction it went in Appleton.

Re: Stem Cells

Time for me to toss in my two cents:

I'm with Kevin. Government funding of science is too close to central planning for my economic libertarian blood. The free market should decide where limited research dollars should go. South Korea might take the lead in such research. So what? About a decade ago Japan's government went gung-ho with a certain high definition televison technology. They sputtered when other nations, such as the U.S., used a different technology. Government just doesn't have the knowledge to make good decisions.

Now, a pro-life case could be made that embryonic stem cell research should be banned. But no one is even whispering that.

Re:Re: Stem Cells

Didn't know we were playing the adjective game already?

Lance, I understand the ethics of embryonic stem cell research. All of which are fine points. My beef with the entire concept of this bill is more libertarian than socially conservative.

I believe that it is not the job of the federal government's job to fund science. Plain and simple. Call me crazy, but my philosophy on the federal government goes something like this.

• Have the best military on God's Earth
• Pave my roads
  
• Teach the children facts, not feelings or other NEA crap
  
• Set the rules for commerce - then get the hell out of the way.

Paying scientists to play Frankenstein isn't on that list.

Re: Stem Cells

There just is no reason for embryonic stem cell research, there is no evidence that embryonic stem cells can do anything that cells from other sources can't do.

Many of us will always believe that it is never acceptable to destroy a human life for experimentation.

Re: Stem Cells

Kevin, don't start sounding like a liberal, now. It's not "stem cell research" that's the problem - nobody objects to that, not even the most strident pro-lifers. It's embryonic stem cell research - research that requires the destruction of a human embryo.

Re: Stem Cells

Count me the odd one on this issue, but I have nothing against stem cell research.

Now before you all come calling for my copy of the keys to this place - hear me out. I have nothing against the science behind it, but I don't like the bill for purely economic conservative reasons.

Government should not be forking out taxpayer dollars for something that the private sector seems more than willing to do. After all, we're getting to the point of privately funded space travel and tourism. Privately funded stem cell research (which has and never will be banned) can pick up the pace.

That's what's shocked me with guys like Glenn Reynolds going all ape over the likely Bush veto on this. Dude, for a guy who clamors for less government, how is state-sponsored science a good thing?

Of course, I'm thinking a large number of liberals are backing this idea for the most obvious of reasons: it expands governments role in the private sector and it ticks of the Religious Right. Their backing is dubious at best.

Judge Owen Confirmation Roll Call

Democratic Underground Forums - Owen confirmation ROLL CALL

Byrd and Landrieu (democrats) voted aye, Chaffee (republican?) voted nay.

Of course our two senators voted nay.

I'm curious as to why Chafee voted leftist, anyone have ay insights?

Stem Cells

The House of Representatives yesterday approved two bills regarding stem cell research: the first loosens federal restrictions on using tax money to fund embryonic stem cell research - it passed 238-194.

The second is the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act (H.R. 2520), which establishes a federal program to make umbilical cord blood stem cells available to patients. That one passed 431-1.

Regarding the first of these bills, I found this passage in an NRO editorial:

Congressmen also referred to the possibility that America would lose its scientific and economic “edge” if the federal government did not subsidize this research.

Now here's some info from a Wisconsin Right to Life news release, issued yesterday:

EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH TREATMENTS = 0
None. No known cures or successful human therapies

ADULT STEM CELL RESEARCH TREATMENTS = 56
56 known successful human therapies

1. Brain Cancer
2. Retinoblastoma
3. Ovarian Cancer
4. Merkel Cell Cancer
5. Testicular Cancer
6. Lymphoma
7. Acute Lymphobolastic Leukemia
8. Acute Myelogenous Leukemia
9. Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia
10. Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia
11. Angioimmunoblastic Lymphadenopathy with Dysproteinemia
12. Multiple Myeloma
13. Myelodysplasia
14. Breast Cancer
15. Neuroblastoma
16. Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
17. Hodgkin's Lymphoma
18. Renal Cell Carcinoma
19. Various Solid Tumors
20. Soft Tissue Sarcoma
21. Scleromyxedema
22. Multiple Sclerosis
23. Crohn's Disease
24. Rheumatoid Arthritis
25. Juvenile Arthritis
26. Systemic Lupus
27. Polychondritis
28. Systemic Vasculitis
29. Sjogren's Syndrome
30. Behcet's Disease
31. Myasthenia
32. Red Cell Aplasia
33. Autoimmune Cytopenia
34. X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Syndrome
35. X-Linked Hyperimmunoglobuline-M Syndrome
36. Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Syndrome-X1
37. Sickle Cell Anemia
38. Sideroblastic Anemia
39. Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia
40. Aplastic Anemia
41. Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
42. Chronic Epstein-Barr Infection
43. Fanconi's Anemia
44. Diamond Blackfan Anemia
45. Thalassemia
46. Stroke
47. Osteogenesis Imperfecta
48. Sandhoff Disease
49. Corneal Regeneration
50. Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis
51. Primary Amyloidosis
52. Limb Gangrene
53. Surface Wound Healing
54. Heart Damage
55. Parkinson's Disease
56. Spinal Cord Injury

Seems to me we're in greater danger of losing our scientific edge by wasting precious research dollars on embryonic research, instead of funneling them into areas that have actually shown results.

I know, there's the possibility that embryonic research may eventually, at some undefined point in a hazy future, provide real medical advances.

But it hasn't yet, while other forms of stem cell research have.

UPDATE - similar comments on Townhall.com's blog.

Democrats - Devoid of Ideas

Democrats propose 750 million dollar tax shift

A group of legislators in Madison (who actually do call themselves Democrats) were running around the state on Monday trying to sell a new tax scheme. One of these socialists, Judy Robson (Beloit) is trying to argue that this “plan” would restore tax “fairness”. So, what do these brilliant believers in bigger and more intrusive government have in mind? What is a “fair” way to tax, according to this particular group of looters?

The plan is set up to shift tax from property taxes collected (school tax portion) on a portion of a home’s value and recapture those taxes by increasing certain taxes and taxing things that previously were not (principally $3 billion in sales tax exemptions on things such as food, prescription drugs and farm equipment and other corporate and franchise taxes).

The problem with any such schemes is that it is clearly not providing tax relief, rather it is another in a long line of tax manipulations that simply shift the burden of taxes from one group to another, with no recognition of who uses the services paid for by the taxes in the first place. Furthermore, such a plan also fails to introduce any market forces in the socialist paradigm of government education. Democrats and RINO’s in Madison really have no ideas, such as paying for what you actually use (that’s cruel and unfair, they say). The game is about finding ways to tax people behind their backs in ways they don’t see directly to feed the leviathan. So, let’s soak corporations and franchises more - and we’ll sell it as property tax relief.

This is just another pathetic scheme for legislators to feather their own nests. The “corporations” these people are talking about are principally small corporations (S-Corps), small to medium businesses and individuals (proprietors and partners) that represent the majority of the job creation ability in this state(including agriculture). This is a terrible idea that will only alienate the producers and induce them to either leave the state or to not hire new employees. In the case of farmers, its even worse because we already subsidize significant areas in farming, and to then tax that very subsidy is an insideous way of increasing the cost of everything we buy just to raise taxes. In the end, any tax plan that does not reduce the level of taxation and/or incorporates more market based mechanisms (especially in education) are simply job and business killers.

What we need are rational caps on spending and direct incentives to privatize education, and legislators with the guts to get it done. What we don’t need are pathetic attempts (once again) by Doyle and his cronies to incorporate hidden taxes - this whole crowd is devoid of any rational ideas…

bildanielson @ On the Borderline

FYI

Got this from ABC's The Note.

The Keynote Speaker at this year's Democratic Party of Wisconsin Convention in Oshkosh (Jef Hall must be so proud.) on June 10th is:

Evan Bayh.

He must really be serious about running for President in 2008.

DPW has yet to announce this news. They are expected to today. (Did I just leak something and break news? heh)

UPDATE 11:15 - WisPolitcs reports that DPW has confirmed this news.

What is you home worth?

And what would it be worth if it were located in California? In San Diego, the median price of a home is $593,000. Most of us here in Wisconsin envision a luxurious mansion at $593,000. Not so in California. This last winter, I had the pleasure of taking a ride with a client in his home town in Southern California. He pointed at a dilapidated box of house which couldn't have been more than 900 square feet, and he asked me how much I thought the house was going for. I guessed $200,000, thinking that I had covered the California price inflation. Not quite. He said that a house like that beat down, tiny place was worth between $350,000 and $400,000. The moral of this story? Be thankful housing is affordable in Wisconsin.

Madison Referendum

The early results are in, and Boots and Sabers is reporting the results. The good news for those of you weary of Wisconsin election controversy is that all the referenda were decided by a greater margin than the incorrect absentee ballots. Madison voters rejected the first two questions which were on building a new school and exceeding revenue caps. They did approve funds for maintenance and technolical spending. All in all, a pretty good outcome considering the city we are talking about.

My View of the Senate Deal: Take 2.

My God, my blog this morning responding to Sean, Jib, and James on the filibuster deal was awful. Not only do I miss the entire point of Sean's response but the blog itself is all muddled and pointless. Now that the coffee intoxication (coupled with sleep deprivation) is gone let me state more clearly my take on the deal.

As I have been able to think about the deal and read some of the commentary I am smiling more often than not.

I think we need to remember some things. The MoveOns, PFAW, the ACTs and so on are ticked about this. They worked hard and long to block the three nominees from senate approval; it was a serious defeat for them. I do not recall them complaining about Mr. Saad and the other nominee but it is what they have to settle for, a chicken nugget to a famished lion. Schadenfreude is one reason to like this deal.

Here are the positives from the deal (above and beyond simple schadenfreude). We get three justices through the filibuster gauntlet and not just any judges. The Democrats have really done a good job sticking together on opposing these three and now that opposition is broken. They have spent long months telling us how radical and out of the mainstream they are; well, the standard for mainstream just shifted in our favor. This is the biggest victory in this situation. Now, the MoveOns need to do more than just assert a given judge is radical.

The Democrats fired before they were able to see the whites of their eyes and they were using an elephant gun to shoot a mouse. That is to say, they used the filibuster weapon inappropriately to achieve their goals. Their chief goal should be to keep the SCOTUS balanced or at least close and not to worry inordinately about the lesser courts. They should have reserved the filibuster's use against supreme court appointments only. The GOP is now ready for the use of the filibuster against supreme court nominees. The Dems also increased the profile of Pryor, Rodgers-Brown, and Owens and if they thought it terrible those three are on the circuit courts my guess is they will shortly be confirming one of them for an even higher seat and the Dems will have a hard time
resisting that promotion, as according to the gang of 14 they are now not "extreme judges." Another truism comes to mind, they that defend everything defend nothing.

The negatives of course are it is a deal that depends on some vague wording. Whenever a critical mass of the agreeing Democrats decide that a justice is "too extreme" then, the deal is off. There too are the justices on the no-list. They will obviously have to wait until after 2006 to get their day on the bench (or a recess appointment). Still if the deal breaks down, provided it happens between now and 2006 (or after provided we keep or expand the number of Republican senators) we are no worse off.

No the glass is not full, it is probably about 3/4ths full. Now, let us dust off our feet and get to work on claiming another six or seven senatorial seats.

RE: WIVA

That's truly great news for WIVA.

Of course, with results that show it doing better than those "great schools" run by WEAC (even though WIVA teachers are WEAC members) means that the "Wisconsin Education Mafia" will try only harder to kill it.

Hopefully, this lawsuit is tossed like the last one was.

With luck, both Green and Walker will use the WIVA fight as an issue against Governor Jim Doyle, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WEAC, next year.

Test Results Prove WIVA is a Great Public School

Just got this press release via email:

Test Results Prove WIVA is a Great Public School

Students at Academy Threatened by Union and State Excel

Fourth grade students at the Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA), an online public
school under siege by the state teachers' union and department of education, are among the highest achievers according to the most recent statewide test results.

On Wednesday the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) results for WIVA were released. WIVA joined all the public schools in Wisconsin in taking statewide tests in reading, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies in November of last year. Wednesday's findings show WIVA fourth graders' scores were phenomenal.

		WIVA	Statewide Average
Reading		91	82
Language Arts		85	79
Mathematics		73	72
Science		90	78
Social Studies		93	91

Read the whole thing here.

WIVA is the virtual school, based in Ozaukee, that is the target of a WEAC lawsuit. More details here.

And an update on the lawsuit here.

Happiness on a Cloudy Day

Hey, if true, this is great news.

Al Qaeda's group in Iraq said on Tuesday its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been wounded and urged Muslims to pray for him, according to a Web posting.

"O nation of Islam... Pray for the healing of our Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an injury he suffered in the path of God," said a statement from the Al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq. It's authenticity could not be verified.

Now where did I put my "Prayer for Murdering Scumbags to be Welcomed into the Fires of Hell" prayer book?
Had it around here somewhere.

Re: Senate Compromise

I just haven't been able to care about the filibuster issue.

Yes, I know, sacrelige. Abomination. Tar and feathers.

No, wait, save that one for Anno Domini, who, if I'm not mistaken, has yet to be initiated into the fold. How does one haze via Internet, anyway?

Back to the filibuster: I just can't get excited about the issue, and I question whether it is really going to become a campaign issue for anyone other than the people who have already chosen their side.

That said, here's something that interests me, from Stanley Kurtz at NRO (emphasis added):

THE SENATE AGREEMENT HAS PUT THE DEMOCRATS IN QUITE A FIX...on Social Security that is. Whether this agreement is a bad deal that truly surrenders the constitutional option, or simply a temporary compromise that leaves all possibilities open, the effect will be to make the Democrats’ continued obstruction on Social Security look bad.

If that's the case, then the whole thing is worth it.

Madison Referendum today

The Madison School Referendum is today, flawed absentee ballots and all. WKOW has a couple of disturbing notes. First, School District employees were tasked with with switching out the old ballots for the new. That is pretty minor, but logic would dictate that you shouldn't have people with a vested interest in the outcome of the referenda doing that task. Second, it appears that the errors in the original ballots had been flagged weeks ago, but the assistant city clerk never followed up on it.

Maybe I Like the Deal

Feingold is pissed. That makes me curious. If he is unhappy, I have to think I am happy about it.

This is not a good deal for the U.S. Senate or for the American people. Democrats should have stood together firmly against the bullying tactics of the Republican leadership abusing their power as they control both houses of Congress and the White House. Confirming unacceptable judicial nominations is simply a green light for the Bush administration to send more nominees who lack the judicial temperament or record to serve in these lifetime positions. I value the many traditions of the Senate, including the tradition of bipartisanship to forge consensus. I do not, however, value threatening to disregard an important Senate tradition, like occasional unlimited debate, when necessary. I respect all my colleagues very much who thought to end this playground squabble over judges, but I am disappointed in this deal.

When it comes down to it, I don't think it is possible to like/dislike this deal until a Supreme Court judge comes up. Once that happens the demeanor of the leftists will dictate if this was a good deal or a bad deal.

Lets Be Clear.

While I agree with Sean, Jib, and James the filibuster deal is a bad one for the conservative movement lets recall who entered into it and note a few things about them. This group with one exception consisted (what was Byrd doing in that gang?) of those senators considered to be "moderate". These people are people afraid of the Mainstream Mastodons (aka the MSM) or are craven appeasers to the MSM. There was only one senator in that group I have respect for and I tell you that senator is not a Republican.

I do believe this is going to end badly for Republicans. The justices we were fighting most vigorously for are going to get their seats a few of the lesser known ones (funny, if a Republican minority held up Henry Saad we'ld be condemned night n day for being bigoted against Arabs, especially these days) are going to get "the deal". How much you want to bet the President's nominee for the SCOTUS is going to be deemed an extremist worthy of being filibustered?

IMO, the only concession we get is the essentially the statement the three being confirmed are not as radical as they have been painted and the Left did put a lot of effort into that cause.

Anyway, the Dems managed to recover from what should have been a very serious mistake. That mistake was not holding their fire until they saw the whites of their eyes. That is, they should not have filibustered these appointments instead held off until the President nominated a supreme court candidate. We all see what is coming now.

This soft and squishy middle is shrinking and I do believe it will be even smaller after 2006. They get their pictures in the paper and glowing warm-fuzzy mentions from the NYT, but the people they really represent are now seething. I do not consider this to be a case of Republicans at large shrinking from the fight.

Update:
*7:33 am 5/24/05
Sean, sorry for lumping you in with those PO'ed about the filibuster. It is not a complete loss nor a complete win. In the overall struggle I think the Dems fumbled badly.

Re: Senate Republicans=gullible losers

Everyone who's ticked at the GOP Senate moderates should take a deep breath. Then read this Stephen Bainbridge post. Dumping the filibuster would hurt the GOP when (not if) they're not in power. More importantly the "nuclear option" wasn't the most conservative thing to do.

Also realize this doesn't end the debate. It only postpones the final battle, and then there's always those unintended consequences. Let's just wait a few days, let our passions settle, then really think about what just happened.

Senate Republicans=gullible losers

Wow. I'm a little stunned that a compromise developed. The GOP seemed to have the upper hand. I've heard one reason bandied about as to why the GOP should compromise, and that was that Republicans will want that fillibuster opportunity when the day comes that the Senate is run by the Democrats again and there is a Democratic President. Unfortunately, that was a pretty foolish reason to support a compromise. If and when the Democrats regain control of the Senate and the Presidency, they'll lose the fillibuster on judicial nominations because the Democrats will find religion and change the rules themselves.

Fools. That's the only word I can think of to describe the Senate Repbulicans that struck this deal with the devils themselves. Wow, I hope Senate Democrats are breaking into Teddy Kennedy's private stash of whiskey tonight and living large. They stole one tonight.

Tonight, the Republicans just took a beating in next years' midterm elections.

Wisconsin college baseball

I know that the topic dujour tonight is "compromise," but I think that the success of some of Wisconsin's college baseball teams warrants a quick note.

UW Whitewater Warhawks are going to the NCAA Division III College World Series.

Madison Area Technical College will be going to the NJCAA World Series.

The UW Eau Claire Blugolds club baseball team will be going to the National Club Baseball Association World Series where they will be playing Division I schools such as Colorado State and the University of Illinois.

Congrats and good luck to all of the state teams.

Print Story: Senators Said to Reach Filibuster Deal on Yahoo! Newe

Print Story: Senators Said to Reach Filibuster Deal on Yahoo! News

So what does everyone think?

My thoughts (quick and dirty)

-GOP didn't get enough
-Bolton will probably go through this week
-It means little/nothing in regards to Supreme Court nominees
-Frist is the biggest loser here (and the two judges who got thrown overboard)

Awful

JS Online: DayWatch

There really is nothing else to say. I was hoping for a miracle, it has not yet come.

Marquette University today released 10 different suggestions for a new school nickname.

* Explorers
* Saints
* Wolves
* Golden Knights
* Golden Eagles
* Voyagers
* Spirit
* Blue and Gold
* Hilltoppers
* Golden Avalanche

Missed Opportunity

Would just like to say, we all missed a prime chance to get together yesterday.

The beer gods smiled Sunday on the 14th annual Wisconsin Microbrewers Beer Fest at the Calumet County Fairgrounds.

“After four years of nasty weather, we had this coming,” said Bob Rowland of Calumet Brewing, the host brewer for the festival and one of the 24 Wisconsin brewers dispensing beer at the sold-out event, which drew 2,000 people.

Rowland’s Calumet Rye was the first keg to be emptied. “We opened at 1 (p.m.) and it was gone by 2,” he said.

“This is a great time,” said Joel Zentner of Oshkosh. “Especially days like this, with beautiful scenery and excellent beer.”

Zentner was making his seventh appearance at the festival.

“This is a beautiful day for beer drinking,” said Bob Warren of Appleton, who has attended the festival since 1999. “All the brewers are pretty good. There’s lots of variety.”

Warren was in a group of 20 people who had staked out a grassy area behind one of the two buildings at which beer was being served.

“I’m a beer fest virgin,” said Lynette Warren, Bob Warren’s sister, who came with her fiance, Ramon Garcia Montez Jr., in a group from Bettendorf, Iowa. “I’m a huge beer fan and this is a very good time.”

“I wish we had something like this in Iowa,” Montez said.

About 100 different kinds of beer were being served, including varieties such as Moustache Ride Pale Ale from Onopa Brewing of Milwaukee and Warped Speed Scotch Ale from Lake Louie of Arena.

Fred Brocker, president of the Chilton Lions Club, did well selling cigars.

“We sell out every year,” Brocker said of the cigars, which cost from $2 to $10 apiece. “By the end of the day, they’ll all be gone, and all of the money raised goes back to the community.”

Also doing well was the Chilton Athletic Club, which sold brats, hamburgers and pork sandwiches during the five-hour event.

Theo Bialk of Elkhart Lake accessorized with a functional baby’s bib that read “My Daddy Drinks Beer at Rowlands.”

“I expect I’ll be needing that later on,” Bialk said.

This was Bialk’s second time at the festival. He came on one of the record 25 buses that brought beer lovers from around the state and as far away as Rockford, Ill.

The only complaint heard at the festival was word that Rowland was thinking of selling more tickets for next year’s event. He sold all 2,000 tickets several weeks before this year’s festival.

“It’s definitely going to get bigger next year,” Rowland said.

He said details have to be worked out, but he expects to sell 400 to 500 more tickets next year. To accommodate the increased crowd, he would add a beer-serving tent.

Anyone else want to mark their calendars for next year?

Welcome to new BBA participant Anno Domini

I'd like to welcome new Badger Blog Alliance participant Brian from Anno Domini. Remember, hazing the newbie is allowed at the BBA.

Update
I take back the hazing comment in this instance. As I understand it, Brian will be becoming a daddy in the next couple of days, which earns him a no haze exception. Our prayers are with Brian and his wife. We will see him here once things have settled down a bit for him.

Sunday Insight review

Incase anyone that wanted to see it, but missed it, I heave a recap of Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes

Disappointment with the State Journal

I am disappointed, but not surprised, by the the Wisconsin State Journal this morning. Their editorial board opines on Tuesday's school referendum, and they come down in support of questions 1 and 3, and opposed to question 2. I could really care less about the State Journal's editorial position on the questions right now. We are looking at a flawed election before it even takes place, yet the State Journal is silent on that issue. Established news media wonder why they experience circulation or ratings drops, yet they are unable or unwilling to get at the crux of issues, like whether this referendum on Tuesday should even go forward as scheduled.

Commentary On Hitchens' Article.

The article is worth reading as those leftists are making Galloway a saint. In the article contains good material on which to base anti-Galloway arguments.

The main question many ask is was Galloway on the take. The Hithens' article does not take a strong position on that point. In fact, the impression I get is Mr. Hitchens does not believe that to be the case, that is Galloway's love of Saddam and the terrorist is simply reactionary anti-Americanism. In the piece I quote below Mr. Hitchens discusses the alliance of the Iraqi Communists and Saddam's Baath party. Eventually the Communists came to regret the alliance:

The consequence of this, in Britain, was the setting-up of a group named CARDRI: the Campaign Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq. Many democratic socialists and liberals supported this organization, but there was no doubting that its letterhead and its active staff were Communist volunteers. And Galloway joined it. At the time, it is at least half true to say, the United States distinctly preferred Saddam's Iraq to Khomeini's Iran, and acted accordingly. Thus a leftist could attack Saddam for being, among other things, an American client. We ought not to forget the shame of American policy at that time, because the preference for Saddam outlived the war with Iran, and continued into the postwar Anfal campaign to exterminate the Kurds. In today's "antiwar" movement, you may still hear the echoes of that filthy compromise, in the pseudo-ironic jibe that "we" used to be Saddam's ally.



But mark the sequel. It must have been in full knowledge, then, of that repression, and that genocide, and of the invasion of Kuwait and all that ensued from it, that George Galloway shifted his position and became an outright partisan of the Iraqi Baath. There can be only two explanations for this, and they do not by any means exclude one another. The first explanation, which would apply to many leftists of different stripes, is that anti-Americanism simply trumps everything, and that once Saddam Hussein became an official enemy of Washington the whole case was altered. Given what Galloway has said at other times, in defense of Slobodan Milosevic for example, it is fair to assume that he would have taken such a position for nothing: without, in other words, the hope of remuneration.

Source: Christopher Hitchens in The Weekly Standard - Unmitigated Galloway page 2

This argument is one we have all come to know all too well. The fact that Saddam was once an ally of convenience and then of inertia is not reason to be forever supportive of Saddam.

The case Hitchens makes is the stain of serious impropriety stains a close associate of Galloway's and there very likely was financial hanky-panky going on with Galloway's Mariam Fund charity.

I am of the mind this is more the case than anything. I have no doubt that Galloway's name pops up over and over again in official Baathist documents. I have little doubt Galloway abused the Mariam charity and I have little doubt Galloway's friend Fawaz Zureikat is guilty of oil-for-food abuses. I have no doubt that George Galloway would be screaming for Saddam's ouster if we were supporting his government.

The best case of Galloway benefiting financially from the oil-for-food scandal is that Galloway has an unparalleled skill at being uninformed about shady dealings under his nose.

On the whole I am disappointed that there is not much discussion of Galloway in the blogosphere. Perhaps, many people think if ignored he will simply go away. The time to ignore that stuffed suit disappeared when Norm Coleman's committee made the mistake of inviting him to testify.

Hitchens on Galloway.

I was at Powerline Blog and they noted The Weekly Standard published an article on Galloway. In my searches on this topic I had neglected to visit The Weekly Standard, silly me!

I don't have time for analytical comments (at the moment) and just provide a link Christopher Hitchens on George Galloway at The Weekly Standard.

Madison referendum questions

To view the Madison referendum questions (the correct ones, I believe) go here.

Madison referendum problems, Madison bloggers

I'd be curious to hear some of the bigger Madison bloggers on this. People like Althouse, Sanity in Mad City, maybe even Dummocrats.

I know that some of the smaller Mad-bloggers are looking at this.

Madison referendum problems favor "Yes" supporters

Madison has a major problem with the ballots for Tuesday's referendum on whether the school district can permanently exceed spending caps. The ballots were printed incorrectly, and they are hustling to print correct ballots for the city voting locations. The problem is absentee ballots will be cast with the old, incorrect ballots. 2200 of them, in fact. Because of this, the "yes" supporters have every advantage to get their way.

If the vote ends up a 'Yes' by less than 2200 votes, the yes supporters are going to say the differences in the ballots are so small as to be insignificant. The vote will be thrown into the courts, and given that this is Dane county we're talking about, the yeses will probably have a sympathetic judge. If this ends up as a no by less than 2200 votes, this vote will be in the courts so fast it'll make your head spin. Given the funny timing of all this falling on weekend, which is a dead news period, I'd be surprised if the 'Yes' supporters don't already have lawyers working on it. Should they go to court on a No vote, they will claim that the absentee ballots caused this vote to flip to a no.

So, it seems to me that there is only one solution. Reschedule this election. This referendum cannot take place fairly, so the entire thing should be postponed. This would likely require a court order, and I'll be curious to see if anyone tries to contest this on Monday.

If bleeding hearts in Madison really care at all about preventing the disenfrachisement of the elderly and the poor, they will be the ones in front of the Court on Monday. If they go forward with this, they disenfranchise every single person holding an absentee ballot, regardless of the outcome.

(cross posted at Jiblog)

Sorry to Spring the Silliness

There was a six-legged Holstein calf born in Oostburg (south of Sheboygan, home of Lord Ben) yesterday.

I have the picture on my blog. The story itself is here.

Freak animal mutations rule!!

RE: Post Crescent Editorial

FYI - this issue will go high profile on monday.

May 24 Madison school referendum-serious ballot problems!

Heads up to those of you in Madison. Random 10 is clueing us into an NBC 15 report that the ballots for Tuesday's school referendum in Madison were misprinted. Officials are claiming that the ballots at the voting places will be corrected in time, but information more information at sketchy at this point. This referendum, if given the tumbs up, would allow the Madison school district to permanently exceed spending caps. Madisonians, you will need to perform extreme dilligence on Tuesday to make sure that you don't get played into writing the school board a blank check in perpetuity.

The timing of this discovery, the Friday before the referendum, is highly suspicious. If there was ever a time for a Wisconsin blog swarm, this is probably it.

Update
Absentee ballots is where the potential problem will lay. A close vote will probably take the decision out of the people's hands and put it into the courts.

(cross posted at Jiblog)

Post Crescent Editorial!

Hits a century! FYI, a century is when a cricket batsman scores 100 points in a game (I can not recall the exact details, but it is along the lines of a homerun). Now that roundabouts are coming to Wisconsin we need to learn cricket! Hahaha

Anyway the Post Crescent does a good job with their editorial today.

Government programs that permit illegal residents to subsist here only encourage them to take those risks, and Wisconsin offers more encouragement than most.

For example, in Wisconsin, undocumented immigrants can take out a mortgage, underwritten by a quasi-governmental agency, without a Social Security number. They can also get a drivers license.

All it takes now to get a drivers license in Wisconsin is something that gives the applicant’s name and date of birth, like a birth certificate; a second form of ID, like a credit card; and evidence they live in Wisconsin, like a utility bill.

Sensibly, a state Assembly committee voted Wednesday to end the practice of issuing Wisconsin drivers licenses without proof of citizenship.

Source: Appleton Post Crescent Friday May 20, 2005 Editorial: End state encouragement for illegal immigrants

Why end this encouragement?

It’s hypocritical to tell undocumented immigrants it’s illegal for them to be here and to work here, then issue a drivers license so they can get to jobs they hold illegally, and often, for lower wages than someone could pay a documented worker.

How can lawmakers who would continue the practice call themselves advocates for immigrants?

Next, the Legislature should pass legislation that would stop the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority from backing mortgages on which illegal immigrants pay interest they earned working illegally.

Source: Appleton Post Crescent Friday May 20, 2005 Editorial: End state encouragement for illegal immigrants

Wow! I have blogged similar sentiments over at Blogger Beer. I am not opposed to immigration, just illegal immigration. The argument we should be having is about the levels of LEGAL immigration.

Wouldn't it be much better for Mexico (or other nations that offer lots of Illegal immigrants) if people would not have the need to emigrate en-masse? Until Mexico figures out it can not send all of its unemployed citizens to the USA they have no incentive to reform and improve their own economy. With immigration in its current form all we are doing is pushing off the inevitable for Mexico.

Need more Walker-Favre?

Then Mike Lucas has a column for you. Here's a taste:

"I'm my own man," Walker said. "Javon is going to do what is best for Javon."

This is where Mike got out of Mike's seat and screamed at Mike's television screen.

Read it. It's good stuff if you fall on the Favre side of this dispute.

Capital Times finally reports on cost of Churchill visit

This is odd. 30 plus days after Patrick (and Jeff Wagner) told us the costs of the Ward Chuchill visit to UW Whitewater, the Capital Times runs a very small piece on it. A month. Why bother?

Lutheran Group Opposes Defense of Marriage?

A lot was made about this story earlier this week:

State Lutheran Group Supports Gays, Opposes Marriage Amendment

The regional branch of the nation's largest Lutheran domination is opposing an amendment to the state Constitution that would prohibit marriage or civil unions among gays and lesbians.

The South-Central Wisconsin Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America includes 13 counties and 150 congregations. The Synod Assembly vote opposing the proposed constitutional amendment took place May 7 in Middleton. About 450 representatives of the congregations attended, and the resolution was approved with a voice vote, said David Berggren, secretary of the Synod Council and pastor of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Sun Prairie.

Here's how the Wisconsin State Journal put it, in another story:

Meanwhile, a group of mainline Wisconsin Lutherans voted this month to oppose a state constitutional amendment that would ban marriage and civil unions among gays and lesbians.

But it's not because the 110,000 members of the South Central Wisconsin Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America favor gay marriage, Bishop George Carlson of Mount Horeb said Monday.

It's because the amendment would also refuse to legally recognize unions similar to marriage. That goes too far in curbing human rights, Carlson said.

And now, here's an email I got on Wednesday. I'm posting it with the writer's permission:

It was a big surprise to read the remarks by ELCA Bishop George Carlson in Tuesday's State Journal. A report given by our congregations' delegates, after the Synod convention, made no mention of the adopted resolution opposing the proposed Wisconsin constitutional amendment on same sex marriage and unions. There was no prior notification of a vote on sexual issues and no information in the Synod convention packets. It appears skilled parliamentary moves slipped this past. Bishop Carlson now purports to speak for all the church with his tacit approval of same sex unions "similar to marriage". He does not speak for me or for thousands of ELCA members. Lutherans in the pews were not given an opportunity to weigh in on the issue before "our church" spoke. I assure Bishop Carlson we will have an opportunity to let our views be known at the ballot box.

Ed James, Janesville

Bush in Milwaukee

President Bush's comments while he was in Wisconsin are posted here.

And as we discuss Social Security, it's important for the people of Milwaukee to understand, and Wisconsin to understand, that this discussion we're having really is not about you, but it's about your children and your grandchildren -- because I can look in the camera and say with absolute certainty, if you're on Social Security today, nothing will change, you will get your check. The system is solvent enough -- (applause.) The system is solvent for people born before 1950.

The reason I have to say that is because many of you are aware of what takes place in politics. People say the darndest things to try to change people's opinions. They might say, if old so-and-so gets elected you're not going to get your Social Security check. In other words, people have been using Social Security to scare seniors to vote one way or the other for a long period of time. And so, therefore, when I'm talking about the reform, I want you to recognize, one, Social Security is important; and two, if you're a senior, you have nothing to worry about. You will get your check.

But if you've got a grandchild, you've got plenty to worry about if you care about your children and your grandchildren.

Lots of Bush-style humor in there. Worth the read.

Jim Lampley Has Intimate Knowledge of Steroid "Pipeline"

Jim Lampley: The Truth About Steroids

I think this is a pretty darn big story, since Lampley has been a sports reporter for something like 30 years, and has been intimately involved in boxing and the Olympics. For this reason I have posted it here and at my place. I think this needs to get some legs so that pressure can be put on Lampley to uncover his "pipeline" which he says includes "athletes, trainers, doctors, other medical personnel, agents, coaches, bodyguards, sycophants and hangers-on of all descriptions."

Steroids and their imitators have been readily available to top athletes in every major sport for up to thirty years, and they are distributed through a massive pipeline that involves athletes, trainers, doctors, other medical personnel, agents, coaches, bodyguards, sycophants and hangers-on of all descriptions. The number of big-time athletes who have used them regularly is much larger than the public would ever want to know. The number who have used them situationally, just to recover from injury, dramatically expands the pool.

so uh, Jimmy, I think it's time you spill the beans. The first step to ending this absurdity is to crack down. So lets hear it. The who what when where and why's of the steroid "pipeline" as you call it. You claim trainers, doctors other medical personnel, agents, COACHES...Who are they? You must know. I can't imagine you would just be spouting off to sound important, come on, you do boxing commentary, you're a big shot!

I especially want to know the "big-time athletes" who you know are doping, and who have doped situationally as you call it.

This should be jaw-dropping, headlining, subpoena generating news.

Waupaca Natives for Galloway.

Today I received a note from a buddy originally from Waupaca who returned to Dubai (United Arab Emirates) some years ago and is still there.

He was shilling on behalf of George Galloway how he absolutely made Norm Coleman look dumb and how he wished how our press had the conjones that Galloway does. I responded to him telling him bluff and bluster work very well and Galloway is a master of it. Later on I got a note with the usual leftist points against the Iraq war. He informed me my support of W would make me a lonely person in the UAE. Funny, I don't recall that when I was in the UAE my conservatism was real popular even before W. Ex-pats tend leftward (IIRC Jim Geragty from TKS has observed this as well).

It got me in a bit of a funk today. Anyway, I have done some searching tonight and there is suprsingly little on Galloway's appearance out there on the usual blogs. LGF makes some comments on it, Powerline does not (which is a shock to me, being the Norm is their senator), I don't recall seeing a whole lot on Michelle Malkin's blog either. NRO does a better job and I found some useful tidbits, including this article by Alex Massie

It was hard to know quite what Senators Norm Coleman and Carl Levin expected from the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow; it was impossible not to suspect they got more than they bargained for. As a rule senators are not, I think, accustomed to being accused by their witnesses of committing “schoolboy howlers.”

This is not the only suggestion that the difference between the UK Parliament and the US Congress was responsible for the showing that Galloway came away with. In fact, the Alex suggests it was a bad mistake by Norm to invite Galloway. The Corner too quotes Christopher Hitchens on slamming Galloway and the story goes they exchanged insults with each other in passing.

Protest Pics

I was able to get a couple friends over to the protest with my camera and they took some pretty good pictures. They said there were fewer than 50 protestors, and a handful of Bush supporters. I scanned through the pics and they are pretty much what you'd expect, I'll have them over at my site this afternoon sometime when I'm done with work. I'll link to them (there are a bunch so I don't want to overrun BBA with em) when they're up.

It seems they have a new chant also: "Stop and smell the bodies." Fantastic.

EDIT: Pics are being uploaded as we speak. Some good, some lame, such is life.

(admin-link fixed)

Drink for Thought

Since we've unofficially declared Leinenkugel's as the "Official Beer of the BBA," I took a gamble and googled "blog Leinenkugel's." (For the record, google "Leinie's blog," you find the BBA is No. 6)

Did anyone know they were the target of a Daily Kos-boycott?

It appears when the American Left was throwing a fit back in October 2004 over the Sinclair Broadcast Group and its showing of "Stolen Honor", the big anti-Kerry movie featuring POWs who who were read Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony, those little Kos-heads got themselves the list of Sinclair advertisers. Leinie's was on the list.

Sinclair later caved in and did not show the "Stolen Honor" documentary.

So I'm thinking, with the sudden discovery of the "Official Beer of the BBA" being targeted by liberal fringe kooks, we raise a cold one for Jake, John, and Dick.

Or in my case, go out and buy a six-pack of your favorite kind of Leinies.

Congressional Progress Tracker

Plogress.com (found via lifehacker) gives a blog of what each and every congressional representative is doing and when. Pretty nice tool for political junkies. It lists what they have their names attached to and is sort of an "effort tracker." Not surprisingly, Herb Kohl is still worthless.

RE: Bleg

Thanks to all who have commented on my early post about ROTC at universities and colleges in the UW System and private schools.

My intention was simply to get a feel of where the program is functioning.

No doubt there are many reason why an ROTC program might not be at a certain school. The biggest of course being liberal-institutional bias against ROTC. (No doubt the UW-Stout reason.) Then there is student apathy to ROTC, or simply lack of funding.

Since UW-Stout now feels like it can willingly fight the Solomon Amendment, it can willingly go without the $16.3 million in federal aid it's been getting.

Just don't come crying to Madison when you suddenly need $16.3 million more dollars.

SocialSecurityChoice.org

Hey, we got mentioned on SocialSecurityChoice.org - they listed us among about twenty blogs mentioning their post on the 450 economists who say personal accounts are a good idea.

Yep, that spike in traffic was all thanks to me. You're welcome.

Lynn Adelman frees OIC cellphone scammer

Can you believe this? Lynn Adelman just freed a woman that stole $46,000 from an anti-poverty agency and bought over 500 cellphones to send to Africa on the same day she resigned from OIC.

More info here

Outrageous! This is why we need to get the President's judges on the bench!

Plastic Bracelet Sold to Raise Money for the Fight Against the Spread of Plastic Bracelets

I think this is a hoax. You'd think they'd have their own website.

Anyway:

An Austin, Texas-based non-profit organization founded last year to prevent the further spread of cause-based plastic bracelets, has announced it will begin selling a black plastic bracelet for $1 to raise money for its mission.

An End To The Bracelet Fad, Inc. (AETTBF) said it has sold 30,000 of the plastic bands to the bracelet-starved public in the first week it has made them available, tripling the organization’s bank account.

“Those Lance Armstrong LIVESTRONG bracelets started this fad when they came out a year ago, and now they’re everywhere. It’s out of control,” said Daniel Vance, the executive director of AETTBF. “

...

The AETTBF has compiled a 30-page brochure listing all of the 13,000 cause-based plastic bracelets that are currently on the market as a way to illustrate the absurdity of the fad.

“Here’s one – chartreuse bracelets mean the person is against paper cuts. Friggin’ paper cuts!” said Vance. “Indigo bracelets are for the fight against gingivitis. Mauve means the wearer is opposed to telephone calls by telemarketers between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Central Time. Pea green is for people who want to eradicate explosive diarrhea. Charcoal-colored bracelets support the push to make charcoal part of the periodic table of elements. And adobe yellow bands support the eradication of lead-based sunflowers from our elementary schools, which doesn’t even make sense. And that’s just a few of the more tame examples.”

While Vance acknowledges a certain hypocrisy in an organization created to prevent the spread of cause-based plastic bracelets selling a cause-based plastic bracelet, he said it was the only way for AETTBF to stay in business.

“Whether we like it or not, no one will support a non-profit organization these days if they don’t get some stupid plastic bracelet in exchange for doing so,” said Vance. “We needed to raise some money and this was all that will work. While maybe we can’t put an end to this fad altogether, at the very least we might be able to get people to only wear our black AETTBF bands. I suppose one colored bracelet on someone’s arm would be better than 50.”

Normally I'd save something this goofy for Grandpa John's, but I'm only doing nerd stuff over there this week.

Bleg

Place this in the comments, but I have a question for our college-aged readers.

Does your school in the UW-System, or even a private college or university have an ROTC program?

My reason for asking this is that I noticed an effort by three Republican State Senators (Brown, Harsdorf, and Zien) to make sure the wishes of the faculty and students of UW-Stout are fulfilled. They are proposing a ROTC program, the UW-Stout Chancellor is standing in the way of implementing the program.

I know my alma mater, UW-Eau Claire, lacked an ROTC when I was there. Where else in the state is there not an ROTC program?

Drat

The Kathy Ireland-NRO post has been deleted. It was meant for Jiblog, not the BBA.

Walker v. Green

A few days ago, Wigderson Library and Pub mused about whether whether or not Scott Walker or Mark Green should drop out of the race for Governor to allow one of the two to mount the strongest cmpaign possible against Jim Doyle. While I agree with him that an uncontested race would allow the Republican nominee to carry less bagage into the Governor's race, it won't happen. Both candidates (deservedly) feel like they can win this nomination. Because of that, yyou won't see wither back out. Personally, I like Waker's odds over Green's, even though Green seems to have a better organization in place. Additionally, while you don't want same party candidates slinging so much mud against each other as to render their campaigns moot, the competition could lead to a candidate against Doyle who is both battle tested and over the the strongest claims against him.

Washington and Wisconsin: The Woes of Voter Fraud

Here's some info from Michael DuHaime, the Republican National Committee Political Director, about the election shenanigans in the Great State of Washington.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi first won the vote, and next he won the re-count, but then

Democrat-controlled King County "found" 566 new votes just in time for the second recount, enough to overturn the results of Election Day and the first recount.

Interesting, isn't it? And it gets better. So far,

943 felons illegally voted
49 dead people voted
3 people voted in Washington and another state
2 illegal aliens voted
12 people voted multiple times
174 provisional votes were counted but later found to be cast [by] people who had already voted or were unregistered.

Also, at least another 1,600 ballots are still in question:

875 more absentee votes were cast in King County than there were absentee voters
95 more ballots in King County and 50 ballots in Whitman County were "found" after both recounts, and have never been counted
At least 660 provisional ballots were improperly counted in King County.

Here's a link, although the email I received doesn't seem to be posted on GOP.com.

And guess what? They're having a Photo ID battle in Washington, too. Only in their case, the Dems are the majority party in the State Senate, and they voted it down.

In our case, all we need is one Democrat in the Executive Office to block the will of the people.

UPDATE: You never know who will read a blog post. Today I got an email from Katie Harbath (who also added a comment below); she said she'd read this post and the RNC has decided to post the text of emails on the GOP website. So, here's the link to the email I got yesterday; here's the GOP home page with an icon for "GOP Emails".

From the BBA's lips to the RNC's ears, in just one day. Thanks, Katie!

Re: Of Course!

I'm taking the blame for this. As soon as I pointed out Wes' perfect game on TAM the Nats got a hit. I just discovered the TAM jinx. Faster than the S.I. version.

Of Course!

I was just informed via phone of the perfect game in the works against The Nationals. I went to the living room to watch it and Obermueller. Obermueller K'ed the first batter (bottom of seventh) and was working the second batter and whack, the perfect game and no-hitter comes to an end. I should have stayed in the office!

Oswald Found Sane

Back to prison for Lynn Adelman's pet cop killer

Thank You Russ and Herb

There are few reasons Wisconsin GOPers have to thank our Democratic Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold for.

Today there is one.

They were two of the 11 U.S. Senators to vote "Nay" on this pork-filled Highway Bill. (NRO is urging Bush to veto it.)

My guess is this won't be a habit here - thanking Russ and Herb that is.

450 Reminders to the Liberal Media

Found this post by Andrew Roth, at Socialsecuritychoice.org, through Townhall.com (emphasis added):

Last week, the Cato Institute issued a new advertisement listing 450 economists, including 5 Nobel laureates, from across the country who have publicly endorsed personal accounts for Social Security. This may be the first time you’ve heard about this because the Washington Post and the New York Times haven’t reported it. Neither has USA Today or the LA Times. According to a spokesman at Cato, it hasn’t been reported on any of the major TV networks, either. No one is reporting this story.

All of this, of course, is completely unconscionable.

Would it be newsworthy if 450 climatologists signed a joint petition saying that the ozone layer was being depleted? Or, to stay on point, would it be newsworthy if 450 economists jointly agreed that President Bush was WRONG to endorse personal accounts? Would the liberal media report it then? Of course they would. They would report the story even if 450 Hollywood actors agreed that personal accounts were wrong, and they aren’t even experts.

But when 450 economists — people whose expertise we rely on when it comes to fiscal matters like Social Security — collectively agree that personal accounts are the way to go, the liberal media turns into a pack of church mice.

Roth suggests we not let this go unnoticed. I'm with him.

Fund it 'cause it's old!

JS Online: Editorial: Reinventing the Domes

Let me state that I have never once been to the domes in all my 23+ years of existence, most of which I lived in Waukesha, but for the past three I live probably two miles from the compeltely useless money pits. I know plenty of people from outside the state that figured they had to go because well, I can't fathom a reason to go. Maybe they're pretty, I don't know. Gardens aren't my thing.

Anyway, yesterday was a doom and gloom story cooked up by the Journal (fund raising a la Circus Parade perhaps?) and today they followed up with the incredibly shocking editorial calling for their favorite solution to every problem facing man...RAISE TAXES! (A new dedicated sales tax to be precise.

But without a steady stream of additional public revenue besides the property tax - a county task force has suggested a dedicated sales tax - we fear the Domes could still end up short.

Perhaps it is time to face the fact that just because something is old and has been here a long time doesn't mean we have to keep flushing money away on it. If the domes are failing it is undoubtedly due to a lack of visitors and a lack of public will to keep them afloat. The brilliant minds on the editorial board however, have a much more pressing reason than "it's old" to support their proposed tax hike:

Even with the broken glass and peeling paint, this botanical oasis still offers a priceless, year-round emotional lift for residents and visitors alike, which is more important in this intemperate climate than almost anywhere else. Many people, and that includes schoolchildren, can't afford in the middle of winter - or for that matter what passes for spring around here - to jet to Florida to see subtropical vegetation or to Arizona to behold the beauty of the desert.

Is that a joke? These domes are somehow a glimpse into other worlds that some might not ever see otherwise? If that is true, and this is the sole reason for their existence, I want a tax payer funded dome featuring the inside of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader dressing room, or perhaps Jupiter. While I can go to Florida or Arizona, I know I can't afford a trip to space. What about those of us not fortunate enough to have been in a boy band that want to experience outer space Mr. Pimentel? Isn't a nice hefty tax raise just the thing to solve that problem?

Perhaps these folks don't remember what it was like to be a teenager. I'll tell you what, if I was fifteen or sixteen and went on a field trip to the domes I would not be awe struck by some plants and a giant sandbox, I would be bored.

I do agree with the Journal on one point, that there is a solution without forcing another sales tax down our throats:

One ray of hope is the Domes' dedicated 1,000-member Friends group, which could spearhead a private fund-raising campaign.

No one will argue with using private funds, just don't force everyone in the state to pay for more of your useless and outdated public pet projects.

To the Tarpits.

Newsweak is in a bind. No one trusts them anymore, the right was always suspicious and now the left doesn't trust their retraction (and yet again find themselves with the radical Islamists). Yes, this is all about the Qur'ran desecration story.

Dan Rather and CBS, Jordan Eason, and now Newsweak are all in the tarpit together and are on their way to extinction. The MainStream Mastadons (MSM) have always been fond of dancing right on the edge of the tarpit and from time to time they would fall in. In the past though, they were able to keep a hold onto solid ground and pull themselves out, clean up, and start the dance all over again. Times are changing.

Now, when a MSM falls into the tarpit the crowd on the edge is not blissfully ignoring their desperate hold on life, that crowd is working to break their hold on life; to push that MSM all the way into the tarpit. That crowd is the blogosphere. The same crowd dissed for not having editors, not having fact checkers, working in their PJs etc. Well, all the king's horses and all the king's men are not going to be able to piece Newsweak back together and did not prevent Newsweak from blundering badly.

This is too bad, because I am not going to be able to become a news correspondent digging up facts from which to base my analysis and pontificating upon. The only time I am going to become a "news correspondent" is if I am fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to find myself in close proximity to a news event. Bloggers need to have an honest press looking for facts rather than an agenda.

Garvey: Hold On Governor!

Ed Garvey is wondering why Governor Doyle would compromise on the minimum wage, when in essence his side has already won - the minimum wage will go up, at the latest, in December of 2006. The legislature can only delay it until then - they can't stop it.

He writes:

If Doyle leaves it alone, the minimum will go up in December of 2006 -- so, asks, (Madison Democrat Terese) Berceau, 'why compromise over six months?' She has a point.

The compromise, as I understand it, will allow one increase in the minimum wage to $5.70 on July 1 of this year, and a second increase to $6.50 on July 1 of next year.

Can anybody tell me what important event will happen between July 1, 2006, and December of 2006?

Anyone? Bueller? Hetue? Binversie?

That's right! The gubernatorial election! Now somebody go tell Garvey and Berceau.

Or better yet, don't. Let's see if they figure it out for themselves.

Alternate meaning of "Warriors"

I hinted at it here, but didn't really develop the concept of "Warrior" as being a fully Catholic term that is not solely related to Native Americans.

Does it count if I say I was going to post about the concept of the Church Militant, and how we're all supposed to be spiritual warriors in the battle of good vs. evil?

No, I didn't think that counted.

Fortunately, somebody else actually did it instead of just thinking about it, and in a much better way than I would have: here is a beautifully put together video on the concept of Warrior in Catholic, Jesuit tradition.

(Hat tip to Marquette Warrior).

Nerd Central

In honor of the week between the "Star Trek - Enterprise" finale (which I haven't watched yet) and the opening of "Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith," I've decided to temporarily re-name Grandpa John's "Nerd Central." Unofficially, of course.

In other words, it's pretty much business as usual over there.

Warrior debate moot?

Could be, if the NCAA applies pressure later this year for all schools to drop Indian team names.

Abortions plummet in Wisconsin: good news for both sides of the debate, right?

I received this press release from Wisconsin Right to Life recently. Good news: abortions are on the decline in Wisconsin (which I believe mirrors a national trend but am not going to do the search right now. Sorry.)

You would think the pro-choice side would be as happy about this as the pro-life side. After all, they're always saying that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare".

(By the way, of those three things -- safe, legal, rare -- the only term that applies right now is legal. Abortion is never safe for the baby, and not for the mother, either -- emotionally or physically -- and it's definitely not rare, even with this decline.)

Anyway, I did a little research this morning and found absolutely nothing from the pro-abortion side, as represented by Planned Parenthood and NARAL, about this good news.

Even a phone call to the national media contact for Planned Parenthood didn't help. He had nothing to say about it, but referred me to the Wisconsin contact. I'm waiting to hear back from her; she said she'd try to find something they'd written about it and email it to me. If I get anything, I'll be sure to share.

So what's all that business about wanting abortions to be "rare"? It's always been nothing more than a sop to conservatives, and this deafening silence about the decline in abortion is more evidence of that.

Danica Patrick

Wisconsin racing fans, you have someone to chear for in the 2005 Indy 500. Not only is Danica Patrick only the 4th woman to race in the Indy 500, and not only did she qualify 4th, but she also was born in Beloit, Wisconsin. And for you boys out there, Danica is easier on the eyes than the rest of the drivers.

Q.E.O. Law is Too Generous.

I read with horror this morning an article referred to me by a concerned citizen. The article was outlining a debate going on down in Madison regarding whether or not to consider taking a referendum to the public for additional operating revenues above and beyond the amounts currently allowed by state law (The Revenue Cap).

What was alarming about this news is that sixty some-odd school districts have exceeded the QEO (Qualified Economic Offer Law) giving raises to teachers and staff above and beyond the 3.8% limit that these various school boards could have imposed under the QEO law, thus working to keep local taxes somewhat lower (and avoiding a referendum later to exceed the revenue cap). Readers should be reminded that well over 60% of the operating budgets of school districts are salaries and benefits for teachers, administrators and other staff.

The fact that so many district school boards are engaging in such financial shenannigans (read, irresponsibility) leads me to believe that there is an organized effort by WEAC to entice board members to engage in a statewide strategy of exceeding the QEO (and thus rendering it meaningless). As was done here in Hudson, these meetings are typically done in relatively secret, closed door, late night, meetings out of the public eye. In fact, here in Hudson the last meeting they had was very likely another illegal meeting by this school board. By engaging in these behind the back of taxpayer schemes, they will be accomplishing one of the teachers union's biggest goals, and one that they could never accomplish at the ballot box, which is to bypass the one mechanism taxpayers have to exert any real control of total spending by local school boards. The combination of both the QEO and Revenue Caps should have been enough to keep matters in check but it required/assumed fiscally responsible school board members. What a joke!

The answer to this situation is clear - the QEO law it too generous in that it allows rogue school boards (like Hudson) to be way too generous with teacher salaries and benefits by negotiating increases above and beyond 3.8% (reasonable by any standard, and the health insurance argument is an absolute cannard because they won't allow it to be shopped out, or to implement HSA's)- it needs to be strengthend dramatically to not just offer boards the option of imposing a 3.8% cap on salaries and wages, but mandate it! As long as the state controls education (compulsory education, no legitimate economic choice - the monopoly), then Local school boards should be limited by law from raising revenues beyond the cap to support both their exceeding of the QEO and all the other spending they engage in... You see folks, this is the rub. These boards secretly blow the roof off the QEO, build that into the budget, and then scream that programs will have to be eliminated unless the taxpayers bend over and vote YES on a referendum to exceed the revenue cap! In effect, getting a backdoor raise for teachers, administrators and others on the gravey train that they would never get if that was the matter citizens were voting on.

To allow them to play both sides of this coin is to open the door to financial shenannigans by sneaky, ill-equiped local school board members who have no sense of the long run problems they are creating. We have experienced it here in Hudson, it's going on in 65 other districts (soon to be many more) and it is the type of problem the QEO was designed to avoid.

The question now is, which state representative will have the guts to quickly propose meaningful reform to strenghten the QEO law OR let's just get on with passing TABOR. One or the other, please, before this state is so far down the toilet in taxes that no one will stick around to clean up the clog.

bildanielson On The BorderLine

More Packer Turbulation

I'm listening to Dan Patrick right now and he's dealing with the whole Drew Rosenhaus thing. Seems earlier he had Mike Flannagan on and Flannagan took numerous shots at Javon Walker. Walker in turn took some shots at Flannagan later on either 1510 of 1290, I didn't catch which one.

This is just getting worse, and its only May. Get ready for one heck of an ugly summer, as I am sure most Packers and Packer fans agree with Flannagan's point of view than Walkers. Hopefully this gets figured out and everyone can put it behind them, but if more and more players start talking, this could turn into a terrible situation real fast.

A defense of Wisconsin newspapers

At least we don't have to deal with Illinois newspapers, whose editors advocate kissin' cousins getting married.

Long after Bolsheviks, the bikes are back

Minimum wage, voter ID, blah, blah, blah.

Here's the really big news:

Moscow - Harley-Davidson Inc., the largest U.S. motorcycle maker, on Thursday opened its first dealership in Russia since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, seeking to tap demand as wages and spending surge.

Here's the part I find really interesting:

Harley opened its first dealership in Russia in 1913 in St. Petersburg, then the capital of the czarist empire, said Maxim Belousov, director of the Moscow outlet. That office was closed after the communist revolution. Harley will aim to sell about 200 motorcycles in Russia this year, Belousov said. The company plans to boost sales in coming years to less wealthy individuals by arranging for consumer loans.