Last post of 2008!

I think they meant "Burris" as in the plural of "Burri"

BBA Exclusive: a transcript of a conversation between two unidentified Democratic Party of Illinois operatives, regarding Governor Blago's choice for the U.S. Senate:

"Look, Blago's radioactive. Anybody who takes this appointment is screwed. We gotta give it to somebody we don't like."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Who're you thinking?"

"One of them Burris in Wisconsin. They're a pain in the ass. Give it to one of them."

"Burris, Wisconsin. Got it. Done deal."

Mistaking "Burris," plural, for "Burris," singular (because the educational system down there is pretty substandard), and noting that Roland W. Burris currently works for a Milwaukee-based law firm, Governor Blagojevich appointed Mr. Burris.

Which actually works out for me. It would have been a pain having to visit Steve in prison.

:(

A college up in the U.P. - where English is like a second language to them - has released its annual list of words "to be banned from the Queen's English."

Here's the 2009 list, and here's the whole list going back to 1976, when the list got started.

Included on this year's list, "<3." That's right: the sideways heart is outtahere.

Note: stevegg posted yesterday about Oxford U's top ten most irritating English phrases. Steve's pick - "shovel ready" - isn't on that list, or the Yoopers' list, either, ya der hey.

Anyway, I hear the phrase "shovel ready," and I figure it's a Cicilian talking.

"Yes, he swindled the left, but that’s a good thing."

That was Jennifer Rubin of Pajamas Media, writing how 2009 can (will) be a better year for the GOP.

One quick excerpt:

If you want a sane approach to the war on terror, no tax increases, free trade agreements, and a halt to the war on traditional values make it easier, not harder, for the new president to move right.

Give credit where it's due, and don't be like the Democrats. I'm sure I've read that somewhere before.

Maybe this is why there's been a rush on firearms lately?

Or maybe this is the big crisis Joe Biden warned us about during the election.

Some Russian thinks the U.S. is going to break up by sometime in 2010. From the Wall Street Journal:

MOSCOW -- For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument -- that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. -- very seriously. Now he's found an eager audience: Russian state media.

…Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control.

… California will form the nucleus of what he calls "The Californian Republic," and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of "The Texas Republic," a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an "Atlantic America" that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls "The Central North American Republic." Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.

They've even got a map (click for a bigger version):


Let's count all the reasons this guy is wrong. First, he's totally ignoring The Sovereign State of Burri. That's gotta be in there somewhere.

Second, Oklahoma is going to be part of the "Republic of Texas?" I don't think so (note: you're welcome here with us, Oklahoma).

Third, Texas is going to be "part of Mexico or under Mexican influence?"

And finally, Canada is going to "grab" all those Midwestern states? I don't think so. If anything, we're going to grab Canada.

And then Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, too. Or…well, we won't grab them. We'll invite them to join us – it'll be mutually beneficial: we get a coast (and then more of Canada – the conservative part), they get away from California.

On the other hand, this kind of thing would probably make it easier to get a college football playoff.

Odd Police Report

I read this yesterday, but I was waiting to see how the Madison papers reported on it before I commented. I didn't see anything in the WSJ or the Cap Times, so I'll forge on with out them. This is an "Incident Report" that popped up on the City of Madison website yesterday. Anything seem odd about it to you?

On December 29th, 2008, Madison Police Officers were dispatched to the 2500 block of Hwy 12 (west bound lanes) reference a male subject dangling from the overpass above Gammon Road. This call was dispatched at approximately 1:01AM, and there were numerous concerned citizens that contacted the 911 Center to report this alarming event. Police Officers immediately closed down portions of Gammon Road, and attempted to secure a safe area on Hwy 12 (Beltline Hwy) to start communicating with the 29-year-old male. As police attempted dialogue with the subject who was 40-50 feet above Gammon Road, and was in a precarious position of easily falling. Two officers managed to get close enough to the subject to quickly grasp him as he was partially off the side of the overpass!

The subject then put up what was described in one report as a “Ferocious fight”, and did not want to be taken into custody. The appropriate decision to utilize a taser to cease the combative behavior of the subject was made, due to the dangerous nature of this incident occurring on a major highway, and all parties being extremely close to the edge of the overpass. The 29-year-old subject was taken into custody with no injury. This was an outstanding display of resolve on the part of officers. These types of cases are extremely delicate, and windows of opportunity to control scenarios such as these are small at best. A clear determination as to why this subject decided to hang from the overpass is unknown. Alcohol was thought to be one factor among many that weighed heavily in the problematic decision that was made by the 29-year-old subject. The name of this individual is not being released based on the sensitive nature of this case.

Anything? Well, here's the first thing that struck me: There is an exclamation mark in this incident report. I've read a lot of police blotters and a handful of actual police reports over the years, and they tend to be very dry and fact oriented. This one is more, well, narrative. It is as though it was written by a freshly graduated PR major. Either the Madison Police Department was working it to get some positive press, or they need to sit their incident report writer down and explain what "just the facts" means.

This has got to be symbolic of something.

RNC members getting together

RNC members call unprecedented special meeting

For the first time in party history, members of the Republican National Committee have called their own unscheduled meeting without the aid of the Washington-based party apparatus.

...the meeting will convene for the specific purpose of hosting a forum for candidates running to chair the national committee. Members will meet at an as-of-yet-undecided location in Washington on January 7.

Among the candidates: former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell; South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson; former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele; Michigan Republican Party chairman Saul Anuzis; and current RNC chair Mike Duncan.

I'm kinda pulling for Steele. Not sure why, exactly. Maybe...


Nah. That can't be it.

Headline: Black lawmakers irked by Obama’s diverse Cabinet

Yeah, you know how minorities hate diversity.

Link.

Oh, and here's one paragraph from the story:

Obama’s Cabinet, if confirmed, will include 11 whites, four blacks, three Hispanics and two Asian Americans.

That's 55%, 20%, 15%, and 10%. I have no idea how that matches the country's actual demographic breakdown (and I have less idea whether the Cabinet's demographics match the nation's on gender, religion, etc.), but it sure seems diverse.

If this is going to be Brett Favre's final season...

...then he needs to fumble the ball four times to tie Warren Moon's all-time record of 161. Or five to break it.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Church should be fun tomorrow.

Seminoles 42, Badgers 6. Ouch. And the game isn't even over yet.

There's a couple at our church who attended Florida St. They cheer for the Badgers, but their first loyalty is still to the Seminoles. I've been trash talking them for about three weeks now. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to church tomorrow.

I suppose it's too late for me to consider converting to paganism, huh?

Is Christian Schneider writing editorials for the Baraboo News Republic these days?

On the Baraboo News Republic's editorial page today, a Wish List for 2009. It's the usual standard stuff: fix health care and school funding; no more war; nicer people and shorter winters.

And then, this:

And the re-emergence of 80s hair bands.

...

...

...

I've found that my cell phone makes a good flashlight in a pinch, too.

MP3 player lights rescuers' way to missing skiers

I did not know that.

Thomas Sowell on what did and did not cause the Great Depression:

Let's start at square one, with the stock market crash in October 1929. Was this what led to massive unemployment?

Official government statistics suggest otherwise. So do new statistics on unemployment by two current scholars, Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway, in their book "Out of Work."

The Vedder and Gallaway statistics allow us to follow unemployment month by month. They put the unemployment rate at 5 percent in November 1929, a month after the stock market crash. It hit 9 percent in December-- but then began a generally downward trend, subsiding to 6.3 percent in June 1930.

That doesn't fit my popular-media induced preconceived notions.

So what happened next?

That was when the Smoot-Hawley tariffs were passed, against the advice of economists across the country, who warned of dire consequences.

Five months after the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, the unemployment rate hit double digits for the first time in the 1930s.

Sowell seems to be saying that government intervention made things worse, instead of better. But that can't be right, can it? I mean, we look to the government to solve all our problems.

Don't we?

So maybe we can all just stop pretending that we know what's going to happen next.

Victor Davis Hanson:

As 2008 comes to a close, almost nothing has turned out as was expected at the beginning of the year - whether we consider oil prices, the war in Iraq, political corruption or the collapse of the U.S. financial system.

We were way off on all of it. Makes you wonder just how much we can depend on our own predictions.

Happy Birthday, Jib!

And...um...it's somebody else's birthday today, too, right? Isn't it?

Well, I hate to forget anybody, but whatever. Happy birthday to our fearless leader!

"All Iraqis are Christian today!"

Is this for real? Because, if so, hey: coexist!

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- From a distance, it looks like an apparition: a huge multi-colored hot-air balloon floating in the Baghdad sky, bearing a large poster of Jesus Christ. Below it, an Iraqi flag.

Welcome to the first-ever public Christmas celebration in Baghdad, held Saturday and sponsored by the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

…Even before I can ask Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul Karim Khalaf a question, he greets me with a big smile. "All Iraqis are Christian today!" he says.

…Many of the people attending the Christmas celebration appear to be Muslims, with women wearing head scarves. Suad Mahmoud, holding her 16-month-old daughter, Sara, tells me she is indeed Muslim, but she's very happy to be here. "My mother's birthday also is this month, so we celebrate all occasions," she says, "especially in this lovely month of Christmas and New Year."

Father Saad Sirop Hanna, a Chaldean Christian priest, is here too. He was kidnapped by militants in 2006 and held for 28 days. He knows firsthand how difficult the lot of Christians in Iraq is but, he tells me, "We are just attesting that things are changing in Baghdad, slowly, but we hope that this change actually is real. We will wait for the future to tell us the truth about this."

…The Christmas celebration has tables loaded with cookies and cakes. Families fill plates and chat in the warm winter sun. Santa balloons hang from trees. An artist uses oil paint to create a portrait of Jesus.

I've read that Islam recognizes Jesus as a prophet, same as Judaism. So I guess this isn't entirely beyond the pale. Still, what an amazing display of religious tolerance, and not just tolerance, but welcome.

Half a fisking

And only half, because I couldn’t follow the post past item #4.

Bill Kraus, writing at FightingBob.com:

A few things we now know for sure, or for pretty sure:

1. The vaunted Republican base cannot win elections.

Duh. Neither can the Democrat base. That’s why candidates try to appeal to the middle.

2. Covert, coded appeals to racial fears are not going to bring in a decisive number of voters anymore. George Wallace is dead and his followers are dying.

Someday, hopefully, lame wallowing about “covert, coded appeals to racial fears” – a.k.a. “covert, coded appeals to fear of being labeled racist” – will cease to bring in a decisive number of voters, too.

3. The theocratic strategy is a bad trade off. The remaining Republican moderates who have not already abandoned ship would have done so if the party had gone for Huckabee or even Romney this year, and the base would have lost even worse than it did.

There is no “theocratic strategy.” The 2008 election did not hinge on issues of life or marriage. And Sarah Palin, a staunch social conservative, brought immeasurable energy into the race and continues to be a favorite among Republicans of all stripes.

4. War weariness and military incompetence have trumped jingoism and xeonophobia [sic].

The War on Terror isn’t about “jingoism and xenophobia.” Never was. And even if it were, “war weariness” will always overtake whatever reasons we had for going to war in the first place. It takes a huge effort to stir our country to war - that kind of effort simply isn't sustainable over time.

The very fact that Kraus describes the war entirely as "jingoism and xenophobia," not to mention his references to George Wallace, racist code words, and theocracy, tell you just about everything important about his own political beliefs and his seriousness as a pundit.

Headline: Wisconsin senators have perfect voting attendance

WASHINGTON — Both of Wisconsin’s U.S. senators get an A for attendance.

In a statement, Russ Feingold says he and Herb Kohl had perfect voting attendance during the current legislative session, which ran from 2007 to 2008. Each Democrat cast 657 votes.

They were among seven senators who made every vote.

Good for them. Now if only their quality would match their quantity. Get into the same neighborhood, at least.

Is Tammy Baldwin selling out the gay community?

She's one of 16 co-chairs of Pres-elect Obama's inauguration committee.

Baldwin one of 16 co-chairs that include: former Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter along with relatives of Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

Debbie Mesloh, a spokeswoman for the inauguration, said she couldn't say whether criticism from gay rights groups over the Warren announcement contributed to the selection of Baldwin.

I'm shocked that would even come up. It smacks of quota-filling. Of cynical use of Baldwin's homosexuality as a political tool. It suggests that she herself, her politics, her accomplishments have nothing to do with her appointment - she's only there to smooth things over with the gay community. It makes her nothing but a token. A chip. A piece of chattel.

But wait:

Jerilyn Goodman, a spokeswoman for Baldwin, said the Madison Democrat was asked to co-chair the inaugural "a few weeks ago," before the Warren controversy erupted.

How could Goodman know the invitation came "before the Warren controversy erupted" when the inauguration spokeswoman didn’t know whether the two were connected?

Well, whatever. Surely, Baldwin will use this appointment to defend Gay-Americans and gay rights from the likes of Warren, a known homophobe.

Right? Won’t she?

Goodman said Baldwin would have no comment on Obama's pick of Warren to lead the invocation.

Slap in the face. Baldwin’s totally sold out.

Freezing to Death

A pair of stories about people dying from the cold:

A Sheboygan County man who would have turned 59 on Christmas Day froze to death over the weekend after his SUV veered off the road in a snowstorm less than a mile from his home, according to the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department.

The body of Bobby Lewin, of N2560 Sheboygan County CC in the town of Lima, was found about 8:15 a.m. today in a field about 750 feet from his Chevy Trailblazer, Capt. Dave Adams said. He crashed in white-out conditions on Highway CC in the town of Holland, about a mile south of Hingham.

And:

Donald L. Blum, 54, of Monticello, died about 5 a.m. Monday at University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, his death caused by hypothermia resulting in heart failure, Green County officials said.

Blum, an independent contractor who delivered the Wisconsin State Journal, was found still conscious outside his 1995 Buick at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday on Silver Road, about three miles east of Monticello.

A Mount Pleasant snowplow driver spotted his car, which Blum told sheriff's deputies had gotten stuck in a snowdrift at about 2:30 a.m., shortly after beginning his delivery route.

Blum apparently started to walk the three miles to town, but then headed back to the car, deputies said. He was taken to Monroe Clinic Hospital and then to UW Hospital, where he died.

I have to wonder whether they had cell phones or not, and if so, whether they simply decided not to use them.

If you have to be out in the cold, carry a cell phone. If you get stuck, use it. I'm sending myself an email right now to put some blankets or sleeping bags in our two vehicles tonight.

Ten Great Places to Retire, based solely on tax burden:

And oddly...or maybe not so oddly...none of them are in Wisconsin.

"Junior" Kindergarten?

Check the headline on this Journal Sentinel story about four-year-old kindergarten:

“Popularity of Junior Kindergarten Soars”

"Junior Kindergarten?" Who came up with that phrase, and why do I sense the presence of an attempt to re-package?

Regarding that story from the other day about humans having started global warming 5,000 years ago

This has been picking at my brain ever since I read about this study:

Global warming didn't start with the industrial revolution, but began 5,000 to 8,000 years ago with large-scale agriculture in Asia and extensive deforestation in Europe, according to new research by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists.

We on the Right often refer to Global Warming as a Lefty religion of sorts. They have faith in global warming. Faith that humans – and the U.S. in particular – are ruining the planet with our industry and our consumption and our incessant demand for G.I. Joes with the Kung Fu Grip.

Now, as the study suggests, we find that humans were enviro-cidal sons of bee-atches something like five millennia ago.

I can't help it: this reminds me of those hard-core Christian literalists who think the Earth is only a few thousand (or whatever it is) years old. That, if true, would mean Original Sin – Adam and Eve biting into that apple* – occurred at right around the same time that humans were starting to farm – the Original Sin of extreme environmentalism.

Extreme environmentalists. Christian literalists. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

* And we still haven't learned our lesson about fruits and vegetables!

Kathleen Parker asks:

It is a legitimate question: Why is the resume-thin Caroline Kennedy being treated seriously as a prospective appointee to the U.S. Senate when the comparatively more-qualified Gov. Sarah Palin received such a harsh review?

Link.

Answer #1: because we don't really care who our Senators are. Their jobs have no immediacy. They require no actual leadership qualities, no core skills. We could elect a blind squirrel to the U.S. Senate, give it a decent staff, and there'd be very little difference in output between that office and, say, Herb Kohl's.

Answer #2: she isn't being treated seriously except by the media, which responds to the name "Kennedy" the same way I respond to my wife spreading her homemade fudge frosting over her homemade chocolate cake.

Answer #3: for the same reason that the resume-thin Barack Obama was treated seriously as a prospective presidential candidate – they're Democrats.

Well, crap.

Mount Union 31, UW-Whitewater 26. They made a good run for it at the end, I guess, but geez. If only they could have figured out Mount Union's passing game a little better in the first half.



Next up: Wisconsin vs. Florida State, December 27. I have a couple friends who did their undergrad work at FSU, and yes, you know the trash talking has begun.

He's got a whey with words

Yes, I had to go there.

Richard Parins, writing over at FoxPolitics about the recent "Wisconsin Way" report:

Whey: A thin fluid left behind after milk curdles. A by-product of cheese making.

Similarly, the Wisconsin Way is a watery byproduct of politics.

And among the curds are policy pros – blue-ribbon commissioners occasionally tapped by politicians to develop reforms.

Professor Don Kettl ran two such commissions. They were jam packed not only with policy pros, but with 5 cabinet chiefs and 13 current or former elected officials – including lawmakers who could actually debate and champion bills arising from these commissions, as Sen. Margaret Farrow championed the Kettl Commission on State and Local Partnerships for the 21st Century.

And where are Kettl’s commission reports? Collecting cob webs, having never heard a chairman’s gavel.

If this is how lawmakers treat the curd, how seriously will they treat the watery whey?

Does anybody know where Paul Weyrich went to high school?

Conservative leader Paul Weyrich, a Racine native, passed away earlier this week at the age of 66.

Pajamas Media's Jennifer Rubin writes:

Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, the Free Congress Foundation, and numerous other conservative organizations, has passed away. His talent was organization: perceiving that ideas alone would not carry the conservative movement and then going out to create the organizations that would spread conservative ideas, develop future leaders, and energize the grassroots.

Weyrich is also credited with coining the phrase "moral majority."

To be honest, I never paid much attention to Weyrich himself, although I sure appreciate the Heritage Foundation. I didn't realize, until I read this JSOnline story, that he came from Racine.

Kinda makes me wonder where he went to high school. There were two public high schools in Racine when he was of the age - William Horlick (my alma mater), and Washington Park (boo!).

Ten minutes of internet searching hasn't answered my question, so I guess this is destined to become yet another great mystery of life.

UPDATE - Sam Hagedorn from yoSAMite Says says Weyrich went to St. Catherine's, Racine's Catholic school. So. Another potential claim to fame bites the dust.

Kinda looks like a giant bug, doesn't it?

Go Warhawks!

UW-Whitewater plays for the Division III championship tomorrow, 10 am, on ESPN2. As fate would have it, I get that channel. So try to keep it down between 10 and 2, please.

Wisconsinology

Stumbled across this site: Wisconsinology. Check it out, great read with all sorts of neat photos and facts about WI.

Re: Sorry about the spam, folks

You mean that comment to my last post is spam? Shoot!

Sorry about the spam, folks

Somebody named "Alyysa" apparently got a $12,000 federal grant (you know how well those bailouts are overseen), and she's so excited she's posted comments offering to tell us how she did it on several posts here at BBA.

Please ignore her. Jib will, I'm sure, unleash some sort of computer-fu in the near future to get rid of her. In the meantime, we strongly suggest that you not click on the link she has so helpfully supplied.

UPDATE: Jib says "Hiiii-ya!"

In other news, a stopped clock was briefly seen to be telling the correct time.

Jennifer Rubin writes:

This week the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act, which would dispense with secret ballot elections in labor organizing attempts, lost Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas who pronounced that now was not the time for what will certainly be a knock-down-drag-out fight. But the biggest blow may have come from an unlikely source.

On his radio show Al Sharpton announced that he would be opposing the EFCA and mobilizing the African American community against it.

My bet: the Obama administration will attempt to steer Congress away from any such legislation. So far, Obama's been trying to avoid the mistakes - read: the liberal excesses - of the Clinton administration. Seems so, anyway. This will be one more chance for him to do so.

It's been a bad day for landings

A bad couple of days, actually.

Small plane makes crash landing on golf course

A cargo plane that apparently ran out of fuel and was forced to make a hard landing about a half mile from the runway of the Dane County Regional Airport on Tuesday night had been attempting to fly from Appleton to Milwaukee, an airport spokeswoman said.

No word on whether the closest foursome was able to play through. Yes, I had to go there.

Story says the plane was a Cessna 402. I could look it up to find out how big that is, I guess, but it's more fun to imagine a C-130. The story does say "cargo plane."

Anyway, from the "it could always be worse" file:

LONDON (AP) -- A British pilot said he ran into an unusual hazard while making an emergency landing - a cow. Rob Wotton said he was trying to land his World War II-era Tiger Moth after the engine stalled just after takeoff southwest of London on Sept. 14. He was about to touch down in a field when the animal wandered into his way.

"Wandered into his way." Cows are quick like that.

Video of the event on YouTube shows the brown-and-white cow being knocked to the ground by the plane's lower left wing. The two-seater was damaged but landed safely.

Click here and take your pick for the video - there's one that asks whether the whole thing is faked.

An accident report said the cow was "apparently uninjured."

Cows are tough. Except around the ribs. Mmmm. Ribs.

Wotton said he might paint a cow on the plane to mark the event.

I like the way this guy thinks.

He says: "I have to say it is the first cow I have ever hit in 22 years' flying."

Funny thing is, it would be weirder for him to say it wasn't the first.

That's 750 parakeets per room, average

Just how big is one of those, anyway?

BERLIN (AP) -- Berlin officials said they have rescued 1,500 parakeets from a two-room apartment. City veterinarian Margit Platzer said the birds were flying freely around the apartment, which was "littered with feces, feathers and leftover food." Platzer said it took her team more than seven hours on Tuesday to catch all the birds with nets.

It's actually pretty easy at first: they pretty much fly into the nets on their own. Those last hundred or so, though...those ones are tough.

The birds were taken Wednesday to animal shelters in Berlin and elsewhere because there was not enough room for them at facilities in the capital.

Local media reported, without citing sources, that the owner gradually bought and bred the birds until his apartment was full, and that neighbors had complained about the noise and smell.

He probably started breeding them thinking they'd be good to eat, then found out just how little they are. But by then, the exponentiality factor had set in, and it was too late.

I wonder how the guy slept in there, with all those little birds flying around.

The Unwinding Spring of the Oil Market

The oil market is still swinging bear. Last summer a low wasta Saudi sheik could have farted and the price of oil would have reacted upwards by 5% and now OPEC announces cuts of 2 megabarrels/day and the price drops by more than 10%! Wow, last summer really went beyond rational (no matter the cause and this is no call for any sort of regulation change) and all the tension built into the market with the high prices is pushing the price far to the bear side.

I visit the US Energy Information Administration website regularly and this is what it is telling me of late. Petroleum stocks dipped slightly in the last week, but remain at the upper end of the five year moving average range. However, the most interesting tidbit is a story about an oil field coming into production in the coming year and the US EIA estimates by 2010 Thunder Horse will be pumping over one-half million barrels/day that would make up for a quarter of the "promised" OPEC production cut.

However, the current low prices are most likely shutting down exploration projects in the Bakken play. We can get back to that when the price of oil reverses itself.

Humans were insensitive eco-spoilers even before the combustion engine!

Humans started causing global warming 5,000 years ago, UW study says

Global warming didn't start with the industrial revolution, but began 5,000 to 8,000 years ago with large-scale agriculture in Asia and extensive deforestation in Europe, according to new research by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists.

Using powerful supercomputers and advanced climate models, the researchers concluded that methane and carbon dioxide - the building blocks of global warming - began rising with the introduction of rice cultivation and large-scale tree removal.

If only Al Gore had been there to stop them! Yeah, they'd probably have starved and died, but the planet would be safe!

Anyway, it’s not all bad:

The work of the UW team also shows that the build-up of greenhouse gases over thousands of years has prevented the start of a new glacial age.

Considering how cold it’s been already this year (and last year!), I think we should all be pretty damn glad those ignorant primitives were so far-sighted as to start emitting greenhouse gases when they did. Don’t you agree?

Now: compare that last excerpted paragraph with this one, from earlier in the story:

"I think that the take-home message is that this hypothesis shows that climates are extremely sensitive to small variations in greenhouse gases," said Steve Vavrus, a climatologist at UW's Center for Climatic Research.

If climates are “extremely sensitive,” then shouldn’t we be seeing a far greater effect from these thousands of years of human pollution?

If you round up, special interest spending grew by 2% a year the last four years

MADISON — Special interest groups spent a record $7.1 million on Wisconsin legislative races this year, according to a report released Wednesday by a government watchdog group.

The story goes on to say that this broke 2004's record of $6.6 million.

That means outside-group spending grew by 1.84% annually. What’s inflation been, again?

But is it the “nice” list, or the “naughty” one?

And how much pork can Santa fit into his bag, anyway?

Sauk County makes Doyle's list

Gov. Jim Doyle's list of 1,800 infrastructure projects that could use an injection of federal money includes a few projects slated for the Sauk County area.

This is, I think, the “list” Doyle took with him when he went to Washington to tell Congress that states are “too big to fail.”

I don’t want to be too snarky. I’ve long supported one of the projects on Doyle’s list: extending the runway at the Baraboo-Dells Airport. That’s an economic development project that – with active cooperation from the surrounding communities – could be a very big deal. Plus, federal money is already a huge component of airport funding everywhere.

Still, this amounts to asking your Dad for date money when Dad just lost his job after maxing out the credit cards and skipping the mortgage payment for three months.

Can someone explain this to me please?

Rob a bank no one gets killed and get 12 years in prison.

Murder your defenseless 5 month old baby by drowning and get 5 years in prison.

Worst part is if she had killed the baby 5 months earlier she would still be walking the streets. Hell he lawyer should have just said it was a really "late term abortion" and she would have walked.

But back to my original thought how could the judge only give her 5 years when the case involved a child being murdered. This was not an accident or a manslaughter case it was premeditated murder pure and simple.

Is there any branch of government that is not fraked up?

Chris

Harley CEO Stepping Down – where do I send my resume?

Jim Ziemer is planning to retire next year.

Harley-Davidson Inc. president and CEO Jim Ziemer said Monday he intends to retire in 2009, ending a 40-year career with the maker of Fat Boy and Softail motorcycles.

He's 58 years old - what does he think he is, a teacher?

Ziemer will remain in his current role until a new chief executive is in place, Harley said in a news release.

The company's board of directors has begun searching for his replacement.

Search no longer! I'm right here!

Yeah, okay, they're probably looking for somebody who actually has some experience running international corporations. Even Democrats want experience in their employees these days.

Still, though, thanks to the economy, there's really no way to go but up:

Ziemer, 58, has been CEO since 2005. He led Harley to consecutive annual profits in 2005 and 2006, but this year the company has reduced its 2008 earnings outlook to as little as $3 per share, down about 20% from $3.74 a year earlier.

Brand loyalty runs deep, yet even Harley, the largest U.S. motorcycle manufacturer, hasn't been able to overcome recent economic realities and a dearth in consumer spending.

Harley shares have lost more than 60% of their value this year.

Way I figure: go with the flow, wait for the economy to turn around, sign Danica Patrick for a new ad campaign, and then take my golden parachute once the numbers are up. That's a winning plan!

Iraqi reporter throws shoes at President Bush…

…Yankees make 4-year, $32 million offer.

Has that joke been made already? I haven’t been on the internet much today.



How about this: "Bush accepts supporting role in 'Dodgeball II.'”

Video courtesy of Hot Air.

It was so cold, we didn’t even have a temperature

Warhawks back in Stagg Bowl

Jeff Donovan threw for three touchdowns to lead defending national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater past Mary Hardin-Baylor 39-13 in the NCAA Division III semifinals Saturday.

The Warhawks (13-1) reached the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for the fourth consecutive year and will face Mount Union for the Division III title in Salem, Va., next Saturday. It will be the fourth straight title matchup between Whitewater and Mount Union. Mount Union beat Wheaton, 45-24, Saturday in Alliance, Ohio.

Game starts at 10 am our time. One would hope that it'll be on TV someplace.

Liberal Blogger Opposes Abrahamson

We had to wait until after Sarah Palin became the Veep candidate to find out that, yes, liberals really do want experience in their candidates.

Well, having declared a general disdain for inexperience, at least one liberal blogger is prepared to stick to it. Liberal blogger Xoff writes:

Perhaps someone told Esenberg, a Federalist Society member who helped elect the last two right-wing, ethically challenged ideologues/political hacks to the court, that it's a good idea to be a judge of some kind, at least for a little while, before you run for the state's highest court.

Esenberg responds, in part:

I don't think that being a judge is a necessary qualification for the state supreme court. The Chief Justice, I am sure, would agree with me because she herself was not a judge before joining the court...

Xoff notes that Abrahamson was appointed - not elected - to the court, and states:

...my comment was in the context of the odds of someone with zero judicial experience being elected to the Supremes by the voters. Very long odds indeed.

Indeed, it seems likely that the voters would have rejected Abrahamson, had they been given an honest chance. In all honesty, I have to agree.

I agree with Xoff: given an honest chance, the voters will likely reject Abrahamson. Kudos to him for going against the grain!

My, How Far We've Come

Not too long ago, at least as far as historians are concerned, New York considered Milwaukee and Wisconsin to be Bush League. In 2008, New York has stolen away Wisconsin institution Brett Favre and brief hero CC Sabathia, all the while considering other Sconnie athletic talent like Ben Sheets, Mike Cameron, and Bill Hall. Now, New Yorkers seem reliant upon building their present and future success on buying and bartering for talent from the former "Bush League." While we here in the cheese state may not be able to compete with the cash of the burroughs, there is some satisfaction in the fact that they need to buy our talent to compete.

Oh, no, this is so very, very right

The bacon cheese roll.

Needs jalapenos.

650 "Scientists" ignore "settled science"

Hat tip to Fred.

UN Blowback: More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims

Over 650 dissenting scientists from around the globe challenged man-made global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernemntal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President Al Gore.

A couple of quotes:

“Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly….As a scientist I remain skeptical.” - Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called “among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years.”

She can speak "frankly" because she's no longer "receiving any funding." Welcome to the team, Joanne, but what the hell? Hello? Scientific integrity?

Looks like we need some Science Finance Reform around here.

“Many [scientists] are now searching for a way to back out quietly (from promoting warming fears), without having their professional careers ruined.” - Atmospheric physicist James A. Peden, formerly of the Space Research and Coordination Center in Pittsburgh.

Tell you what, any scientist who comes out and honestly says "I was wrong," or "the evidence kinda looks like maybe I was a little bit off" or "I may have been a little irrationally exuberant about that" or simply "well, crap" deserves more respect for having the courage to admit that they were wrong, or that they were more certain than they should have been.

So let's all remember to be nice to those scientists who do so.

Define American Auto Industry

Is anyone else getting tired of hearing how the American Auto Industry will die if we do not give them a handout.

Correct me if I am wrong are not the cars and trucks made down South by Honda Toyota and Nissan and BMW build by Americans? Isn't that part of the American Auto Industry?

It might be the death of the American owned Auto Industry(it will not be) but it will not be the death of the American Auto Industry.

I wonder how those American Workers who build Honda's and Toyota's feel about this every time they hear the phrase American Auto Industry.


Chris

This is gonna be the best prom ever

Inventor builds She-3PO robot

Devoted Aiko — “in her 20s” — has a stunning 32-23-33 figure, pretty face and shiny hair.

She is always happy to clean the house for “husband” Le, help with his accounts or get him a drink.

Computer ace Le, 33, from Ontario, Canada, has spent two years and £14,000 building his dream girl.

He had planned to make an android to care for the elderly.

But his project — inspired by sci-fi robots like Star Wars’s C3PO — strayed off-course.

Or...maybe the project stayed right on course.

Pictures, and even video, at the link.

Regarding Blago…um…Blagod…uh…Regarding Illinois’ Disgraced Governor

Is everybody pretty well versed in the scandal swirling around now-arrested soon-t-be-former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich? He tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s now-vacant U.S. Senate seat, which is illegal. The FBI has wiretaps and everything. It’s bad.

The question, naturally, is: what did Obama know, and when did he know it? Somebody on Obama's team knew something. That's for sure.

However, I feel safe in saying that, no matter how the whole thing plays out, these questions will continue to circulate throughout Obama’s time in the Presidency. At the very least, the Obama’s-Not-a-Citizen crowd will keep it alive.

But unless somebody’s got Obama on tape – and it’s clearly Obama speaking, and he’s clearly speaking about a quid pro quo in exchange for Blago appointing someone Obama wants – it’ll never go anywhere.

Zip. Nada. Zilch. Next scandal, please.

Quote of the Day

"No compact among men ... can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other."

--George Washington, draft of first Inaugural Address, April 1789

The Patriot Post.

Tancredo: Immigration was seventh-most important issue to Hispanic voters

Very interesting column by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) regarding Hispanics and Election 2008. The gist: a lot of the conventional wisdom is wrong.

This part really caught my attention:

4. Was the immigration reform issue the main factor in winning Hispanic support for Obama over McCain in 2008?

No, the evidence suggests exactly the opposite. A poll of likely voters in July sponsored by Univision showed that only 11% of Hispanic voters considered immigration to be the most important issue of the election - compared to 54% who ranked jobs the number one issue. An exit poll conducted for CNN showed that Hispanic voters ranked immigration seventh in importance among all issues. The idea that Hispanic voters care mainly about immigration policy ahead of all other issues is a myth created by advocacy groups. A July survey by the Pew Hispanic Center showed Obama's margin of support over McCain on the immigration issue - 59% to 19% -- was nearly identical to his margin on other issues: health care (64%to 19%), education (66% to 18%) and jobs (65% to 19%).

I also appreciated this bit near the end:

It is a mistake to look upon Hispanic citizens as a special interest group interested only or primarily in immigration policy. That is condescending and stupid, stupid because Democrats will always outbid Republicans in that game.

Read the whole thing. Hat tip Conservative Grapevine.

First it was inflating your tires, then it was changing your lightbulbs, next...

...it'll be...well, this:

The Monona Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-1 Monday night to approve the installation of a composting toilet proposed by Dianne Aldrich for a home office and studio behind her home...

Yes, it's a toilet that saves what you put into it for future use.

Now, I know what you're thinking: if we're going to make use of our...um, waste...instead of flushing it away never to be seen again (we hope), then can't we use that waste for something other than compost? Like...oh, I dunno, bricks?

To that, I say: stop being ridiculous. Although I agree that, if every home were equipped with one of these, we'd have way more compost than we'd ever need. And then our problem would be getting rid of that.

But that's a problem for the future. For now:

"This is exciting," Aldrich said Tuesday. "It continues to open the door for people making healthy choices in the way they are living and building and creating."

Aldrich and Speight both emphasized such toilets might be one way of dealing with increasingly heavy rains that have stressed area wastewater and sewage systems, leading to some overflows into the basements of Monona residents during flooding in June.

Hat tip Jo Egelhoff.

Thanks, Illinois!

I'd like to give a big, hearty thank you to the state of Illinois. I've been harboring a lot of frustration with the Wisconsin government. And just when I think it is at its worst, Illinois, you come along and remind me that all I need to is hit the tollway to find worse. Our Governor may be for sale, but at least he isn't quite so flamboyant about it.

A fitting punishment

I had a thought today after we were all given another fine example of the "Chicago Way" of politics.

How about a law that said something along these lines

In corruption cases/capital crimes at the State or Federal level the convicted politician must be replaced by a politician from the opposition party.

Example the next Governor of Illinois would have to a Republican or if Senator Stevens in Alaska had not been voted out but then was convicted he would have to be replaced by a Democrat.

My reasoning is while most Dems will wail and mash their teeth over the corrupt bastard that ran Illinois they really do not care because he will be replaced by a Dem who will put a Dem in to replace President Elect Messiah.

Same way most of us would have not really cared what happened to Stevens since Gov. Palin would have replaced him with a member of the GOP.

My hope would be that if the party would lose a seat to the opposition if their member was convicted of a crime that warranted that person losing their seat(corruption, capital crimes etc) that they might police their members a bit more.

If we had a law like this can you imagine the real outrage we would be reading at the left leaning blogs not because their guy was a crook but because they would be costing them a Governorship and a a Senate seat since I doubt a GOP Gov. of Illinois would appoint a Dem to replace President Elect everything you want and a pony.

The party backed these people they should have to pay a penalty also.

I know this will never happen but it is a nice pipe dream

Chris

Senator Nanny

Fran Drescher wants to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate.

You remember Fran Drescher. Best known as the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard-voiced title character on the 90s TV show "The Nanny."



From New York Magazine:

“I was thinking I’d take the next four years to lay some groundwork, but I’m throwing my hat in the ring.” What else makes her a good candidate? “I’m an authentic and honest person,” she said. “And I think Capitol Hill needs more of that.”

Emphasis added. Blogger Robert Stacy McCain remembers seeing Drescher at the Democratic National Convention in Denver:

"My right to choose was taken away when I was given a radical hysterectomy to cure my cancer," Drescher said. "I hate that I lost my right to choose, and you will, too."

I wouldn't mind seeing that kind of honesty and authenticity from a Democrat Senator. It'd be like Joycelyn Elders' second coming!

No, wait, it'd be like Joycelyn Elders, but in a room full of helium, played at 78 rpm!

When all you've got is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

When all you've got is…um...well…

Wisconsin boasts most manure-to-energy projects

When it comes to generating renewable energy, Wisconsin lacks the high winds of the Great Plains and the steady sunlight of Arizona, but it has one abundant resource few others can match - cow power.

Although renewable energy makes up only a fraction of the state's total energy mix, one area that's growing fast is systems that convert cow manure into electricity and heat.

… Wisconsin leads the country in anaerobic digesters with 19 projects. California is second, with 16.

The story profiles the Crave Brothers dairy farm in Waterloo, where they're planning to add a second anaerobic digester. It doesn't say just how much of their electric bill is offset by burning cowpies.

This was interesting:

The manure is stored in large concrete tanks. When heated, the manure is converted into a biogas that is composed of 55% to 70% methane. The methane is then used to power a turbine or engine to produce electricity. Excess heat is used to heat farm buildings…

But:

…Wisconsin's leadership role in renewable energy is being challenged as other states deploy the digester systems, which help reduce waste runoff into streams and minimize odors.

And why is our "leadership role in renewable energy" being challenged?

At the moment, other states are more competitive than Wisconsin in attracting investment in the systems, either through special electricity rates, tax incentives or both.

Huh. Go figure.

California, which supplanted Wisconsin as the biggest dairy state several years ago, could soon overtake the state in anaerobic digesters.

Yeah, well, we always knew California was more full of it than we are.

These anaerobic digesters go way beyond making lemons into lemonade. They solve or alleviate several different problems all at once. We should keep in mind, though: unless the technology advances to the point that even family farms can use them (care to replace your septic tank?), this will be just one more advantage for the really big farms.

Scenes from my living room

Well, yes, that's a screen you're looking through. You didn't think I was going to go outside to take these, did you?

6 Gray Wolves shot during deer gun season

The State DNR is reporting that 6 Gray Wolves were shot and killed during the recent gun deer season.


You know what I call that.


A good start

Chris

True dat

Stephen Green:

Every word I type is a shovelful of snow I haven’t had to throw around. There could be lots of blogging today.

So I'm watching Monday Night Football...

...and one team that came back in the fourth quarter to beat the Packers earlier this year is beating another team that came back in the fourth quarter to beat the Packers earlier this year.

Unfortunately, that's not quite enough information for you to figure out exactly which two teams are playing.

Back in my day...

...we had to go to bed not knowing whether we'd get a snow day tomorrow. We had to get up like usual the next morning, and just hope that the guy on the radio would give us good news.

These days, the internet does that.

Or it would, if Dad wasn't hogging the computer.

Well that drive home was more adventurous than I normally like.

The White Death is upon us, people. Drive safe.

So I was listening to the Buffalo-Miami game on ESPN radio yesterday…

…and Dan Reeves was the color commentary guy. Reeves, from Rome, Georgia, has a very thick southern accent. Think Brett Favre, taken to the third power, with a fifth of whiskey warming his gullet.

I don't mean to put Reeves down: he does a great job at color commentary, and his accent is really fun to listen to.

That said, how much more fun would it be to partner Reeves with somebody who's got a really thick Boston accent? Pretty fun, I bet.

Where are the creative conservatives?

They're in the Blogosphere'o'Cheese, of course.

Josh Schroeder writes:

Hugh Hewitt has a post on his blog at TownHall called On The GOP's Communication Chasm. The Democrats owned us when it came to social media and they also did a better job at messaging.

Hewitt's got a question:

Still, as folks like Leahy and Neppell, All and Ruffini buildout the technical side, who are the "creatives" in the conservative movement under 40?

In response, Schroeder writes (emphasis in original):

I'M RIGHT HERE, HUGH!

Indeed, who can forget what will certainly become an internet classic, Josh Schroeder, impersonating Barack Obama, singing Gloria Stefan:

And this pre-Obamamercial bit of brilliance:

And, finally, Schroeder's greatest hit to date: "This is my wallet"

Quick, somebody throw Josh in front of Hugh's car!

Is the anti-gun tide turning in Britain?

Probably not, but, Richard Munday writes in the London Times:

For anybody who still believed in it, the Mumbai shootings exposed the myth of “gun control”. India had some of the strictest firearms laws in the world, going back to the Indian Arms Act of 1878, by which Britain had sought to prevent a recurrence of the Indian Mutiny.

The guns used in last week’s Bombay massacre were all “prohibited weapons” under Indian law, just as they are in Britain. In this country we have seen the irrelevance of such bans (handgun crime, for instance, doubled here within five years of the prohibition of legal pistol ownership)…

…in Britain we have no more legal deterrent to prevent an armed assault than did the people of Mumbai, and individually we would be just as helpless as victims. The Mumbai massacre could happen in London tomorrow; but probably it could not have happened to Londoners 100 years ago.

In January 1909 two such anarchists, lately come from an attempt to blow up the president of France, tried to commit a robbery in north London, armed with automatic pistols. Edwardian Londoners, however, shot back – and the anarchists were pursued through the streets by a spontaneous hue-and-cry. The police, who could not find the key to their own gun cupboard, borrowed at least four pistols from passers-by, while other citizens armed with revolvers and shotguns preferred to use their weapons themselves to bring the assailants down.

Okay, so an armed mob chasing down robbers isn't such a hot idea…or maybe it is, as long as you have a populace accustomed to and disciplined in the use of firearms.

That aside, let one thing like Mumbai happen in the U.S., and watch how many people start carrying regularly.

Badgers to defeat Florida St.

Friend of mine in Baraboo did his undergrad at FSU. The trash talking shall now begin.

Madison - Wisconsin tonight accepted an invitation to play in the Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 27 in Orlando, Fla..

The Badgers (7-5) will face Florida State (8-4) of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The game will be televised by ESPN starting at 3:30 p.m. (Milwaukee time).

This will be the fifth consecutive bowl game for UW in the state of Florida, including the third time in the last four years the Badgers have played in Orlando.

It will be the first meeting between UW and Florida State. UW is 5-2 all-time against teams currently in the ACC. In their last game against an ACC opponent, the Badgers won at North Carolina, 14-5, on Sept. 18, 2005.

UW has played an ACC team in a bowl game just once in school history, defeating Duke, 34-20, in the 1995 Hall of Fame Bowl.

No playoffs for you!

Texans 24, Packers 21, and for a second straight week, the Packers are unable to stop a late 4th-quarter scoring drive.

The Texans, though. The Texans. Isn't this like the first time they've ever won 6 games in a season?

On the upside, I tried some of that Budweiser American Ale. Pretty good, especially considering it's Budweiser.

A world gone mad

Conservative news: "Bush May Tap Unused $$."

Liberal news: "Obama: 'Won't Throw Money at Problem'."

CP @ GMC.

Re: the opposite of "turning a deaf ear?"

Hold on there, cowboy.

First, it would be fair enough if UW's Reilly were working within the capitalist system; his job is basically a government job since your tax dollars pay for it. So nix the raises and the astronomically out-of-sync pay. He should be on a scale above his group, not in the stratosphere. (If that means bringing them down to, do it.)

Second, the vicious circle doesn't stop if we feed it.

Third, him donating your money in his and the college's name for goodwill is the biggest sham of the whole thing. The people are still being bilked, they're just being hoodwinked into thinking it's all good now because his money is going to charity.

And I want a tax break on that money - it's mine, after all. Better yet, how about the state and fed putting that money back into my pocket and letting me decide which charity I find most compelling.

Keeping up with all this social media is turning into a full time job

First it was MySpace, then Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and now something called Plaxo. And I feel like I have to have profiles in all of them because WHAT IF I MISS AN OPPORTUNITY?

In the meantime, I'll be spending all my waking hours staring at my computer screen for the forseeable future.

What's the opposite of "turning a deaf ear?"

UW President donates his raise:

For most people, a raise at work serves as a reward for a job well done and the opportunity for self-indulgence.

But for the University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly and an increasing number of university officials throughout the nation, a raise is starting to serve an entirely different purpose.

According to Reilly, the UW Board of Regents approved a $73,000 raise for him in June, helping to keep his salary more competitive with other system and university presidents nationwide. Reilly then donated $70,000 of his raise to need-based financial aid, which would later be distributed to students throughout the UW System.

First of all, the sheer amount of Reilly's salary and raise shouldn't give us any pause: if he can convince somebody to pay him that much, then I say more power to him. Don’t begrudge him his salary.

I do think these salary increases are a vicious circle. See, the UW gives its top officials enormous raises to "keep his salary more competitive with other system and university presidents nationwide." Then other universities say: "geez, we better increase salaries to stay ahead of the game and stay competitive." Then other universities raise salaries to keep up, then others raise salaries to stay ahead...

They should all just stop.

But that's not why I'm writing this.

A raise that big - bigger than most people's annual income - at a time like this could – will – easily become a PR nightmare for the UW. With this gesture, Reilly has very deftly avoided that and, if anything, will increase public goodwill toward the university. Good for him.

I love this headline

From the NY Times:

Campaign Promises on Ending the War in Iraq Now Muted by Reality

Reality has muted one of Obama's biggest Leftcentric selling points. Thus is it shown: the Left cares not for reality.

How long until somebody suggests Earn-a-Doe?

The Journal Sentinel's outdoors editor (meaning the editor of outdoors news - not an editor whose desk is out on the sidewalk) Paul Smith, on the just-ended gun deer season (emphasis added):

...the DNR has said it likely overestimated the herd size, in part because of lower than expected fawn production in the north and northeast because of the harsh winter last year. A new population estimate will be made in coming months that will no doubt be lower.

The number of Earn-A-Buck units will also likely be scaled back next year.

That'll be good news for a lot of hunters, but I wonder: if the herd continues to shrink, how long before we start talking about Earn-a-Doe?

Deer Hunting Providing Less Protein to Wisconsin Families

Numbers from this year's 9-day gun deer season are down.

Preliminary figures show the 2008 gun deer season produced the lowest number of deer killed since at least 2002, when fears of chronic wasting disease kept many deer hunters out of the woods.

The state Department of Natural Resources reported Tuesday that 276,985 deer were killed during the nine-day hunt, which ended Sunday.

About 21% fewer bucks and 18.5% fewer antlerless deer were shot by hunters.

So what’s the deal?

The agency said one reason for the drop this year is that pre-season million to 1.7 million deer statewide were probably not estimates of 1.5 accurate.

Hunters are - anecdotally, at least - dissatisfied about that. But:

Nonetheless, the state's deer population is well above the DNR's goal of 709,000 deer.

Considering how many hunters – anecdotally – had trouble even finding any deer this season, I hope we never reach that particular goal.

I claim victory

Liberal Blogosphere’o’Cheesehead Jay Bullock says there’s no chance that Congress or soon-to-be President Obama try to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.

See? Conservatives are winning again already!

"Unless you're a vegetarian Muslim. Then it's all the hoofed hotness and fried okra you can handle."

Quote by Mr. Pterodactyl who, were he a Canadian, would find himself standing in front of a Human Rights Commission tribunal (or whatever) faster than you can say “Mark Steyn.”

This link is here so you can click it.

I made a vague reference to George Thorogood...

...over at FoxPolitics.net this morning, and so far nobody's caught it.

I'm really disappointed. In all of you.

Way to go Georgia

Who knows maybe this is the Dunkirk moment for the GOP.

The good people of Georgia have reelected Saxby Chambliss to the United States Senate. This ends any hope of the Socialists getting the Super Majority they so coveted. So the filibuster is safe and all the cheating going on in Minnesota to try and get Steward Smallie elected will not help them kill the filibuster.

Hopefully the GOP will learn from past experience and understand that Bipartisanship is a myth. Lets hope they use this gift the people of Georgia have given them wisely.

Time to throw sand in the gears of our Comrades on the lefts steam roller.

Now our only worry is, will some spineless Rino stab the party in the back when push comes to shove. Only time will tell.

No matter how dark the clouds get you can usually find a silver lining.

Chris

Public Service Announcement: New York Gov David Paterson is not going to appoint Bill Clinton to Hillary’s soon-to-be vacated Senate seat.

In other news, Blogger does put a limit on the length of blog titles.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled speculating about Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

It’s all part of the plan

I’m seeing a lot of discussion – on both sides of the political chasm (example) – about whether or not Hillary Clinton is eligible to be the U.S. Secretary of State.

Article I, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution is where the money is:

No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time…

Translation: if the Sec State’s salary was increased while Clinton was in the Senate, she can’t have the job because she benefits from the pay increase she helped enact. I assume from all the discussion that salaries (or something) were increased.

Tell you what, this right here is Rovian in its political brilliance.

Obama convinces Clinton – his biggest rival and, potentially, his biggest pain in the butt – to take a plum Cabinet job.

She resigns from the Senate to take the job, and then…bam! Not eligible!

Obama wouldn’t even have to wait until a court issues a decision. He could simply decide that his fledgling administration doesn’t need the controversy. Bye, Hillary!

And, just like that, Hillary is out of government completely. Out of the public eye. Brilliant!

I raise my bleary head momentarily...

Between the 5 a.m. wakeup calls (gotta get into that tree!) and the overindulgence in roasted turkey over the last...oh, week and a half, I had to go back to work. I can't handle any more holiday right now.