It is with some sadness that I announce to you all that the time has come to shutter the BBA. In the heady early days of political blogging, this site played a role in making the right side of the political blogosphere self aware. As blogging and individual bloggers grew, matured, and spread into other new media, the BBA has not kept up. As a result, this particular concept of an umbrella group blog for the right in the state of Wisconsin is a concept whose time has come and gone.
Thank you to everyone who participated here, read our bloggers, and supported this site. The BBA is officially on mothballs. If another concept arises that can be helped by what's left of the Badger Blog Alliance brand, perhaps something will appear in this space again.
As a request from one long time member of the BBA, I leave you with Freebird.
His priority must have been really important for him to stop with the ambulance for more than five minutes and bicker/choke the attending EMT (who's not the driver)/etc.:
As an EMT, I'd like to see Officer Martin in a more suitable job... say something at White Castle, if you know what I mean.
I could swear I hear the non-choking officer in the video respond to White's statement that they're transporting a man's mother to the hospital with, "Your momma."
Is it a sign of the Apocalypse when NOW aligns itself with a Republican front-runner?
Even that "women's advocacy group" - among others - took offense at Letterman's remarks about Palin's "slutty stewardess look" and her daughter (14-year-old Willow) getting "knocked up" by A Rod during their Yankees outing.
Who wants to sit by Letterman on his next flight? I'd keep my seatbelt on, 'cause it might be a bumpy ride.
Politically, Palin made an astute point that one can hope will be taken to heart (or any major organ) by the media:
[Palin] said there was a double standard where the media treats President Barack Obama's family as generally off-limits while her family was the target of jokes during last fall's presidential campaign and beyond.
Honey, that ain't the only double standard working here, but it's true.
Chelsea Clinton? The media called her horsey-faced and left her alone. When does that kid ever hit the radar? The Bush twins? Who do you think tipped the cops off so often to their bar-hopping antics? The Gore kids? Crap, I think the press used to buy them coke, hide their joints and alert them when the cops were in the neighborhood.
So now we know it's open season for anyone to take shots at Republicans and their children.
Kevin - they've been trying to blame the storms for this Air France crash from day one.
I appreciate the "global warming" humor, but if anyone believes it, pardon the pun, it won't fly. The pilot had been monitoring the storms and was/would have been flying fairly high in an attempt to get above them. The velocity theory doesn't work well either, for the same reason:
Both of these difficulties, had they become critical, would have been reported by the pilot, but no such transmission was received.
These theories will stand, however, unless the black box is found, which doesn't look like it'll happen - the proof is in the silence until the black box proves otherwise.
Best part of not knowing: If terrorists killed themselves and the rest of the Air France passengers and crew to draw publicity and support to their cause, they failed miserably.
As you know, I'm a big fan of MMA - it's a hundred times more exciting than boxing, or any other sport for that matter.
Of course I watched Mike Brown vs Urijah Faber 2 on Sunday - great fight! Mike Brown's great, but I root for Urijah Faber, who lost the Brown v Faber 1 fight after a wicked elbow strike left his jaw open for the first time; Brown caught him hard.
Here's why my man lost BvF2: a broken hand, which he carried for four of the five rounds, losing to Brown by decision.
Brown v Faber 2 replayed last night. Catch it when it replays again; check here for dates.
Not to take away from an amazing toddler, but this doesn't pass the smell test. For example,
"What do you use your eyes for?" brought the answer, "You close them when you go to sleep" and "You put your contact lenses in them."
The child-psychology expert who gave little Karina the classic Stanford-Binet IQ test "noted imaginative responses."
What if she'd quoted something she'd heard on the radio, like lines from "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," or some childrens' poem? What's a child who's had Uncle Shelby read to her bound to come up with?
As much as we shouldn't be surprised by the discovery of Islamic terrorists on Air France Flight 447, frankly this little discovery at Cafe Hayek is also unsurprising.
Speculation has blossomed concerning the causes of the loss of Air France Flight 447 ("Wreckage yields clues in jet crash," News, Thursday).
It would be irresponsible to get ahead of evidence, but important factors are emerging. First, some experts blame global warming for the increased severity and frequency of hurricanes (most of which originate at latitudes within 5 to 15 degrees of the equator). Second, the flight appears to have passed through a band of equatorial megastorms. Finally, levels of turbulence in such storms are being investigated in the crash.
Perhaps the memorial service in Paris will be recognized as the first for airline victims of global warming.
Gas plants explode. Oil refineries explode. Fireworks plants explode. But Slim Jims?
Maybe Beloit should rethink having the Frito Lay factory and the Hormel's plant near the main freeway exit. They should definitely not be right next to each other.
Jib makes me rethink the whole thing about selling your kids to pay your mortgage. If you do, remember to think like a capitalist and market that kid as an exotic baby:
He's not the second leader in the past quarter-century to encourage Americans to spend for the economy. Wasn't this one of the most comforting early calls from Bush in the days following September 11 when people were afraid the markets would collapse? The old "show 'em they can't stop our way of life with heinous, cowardly attacks, Islamofascist bastards!" Okay, I've modified that a tad, but same thing.
Final analysis:
Reagan's 'trickle down economics'? Successful. Bush's 'comfort in consumerism'? Successful. Obama's 'trickle blue economics'? Let me put it like this:
And the talking heads sing doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo, doo doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doo doo (that's an updated version of Lou Reed)
"Today's announcement is an acknowledgement that the Democrats' trillion-dollar stimulus is not working, and the American people know it," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement Monday.
"When they passed this spending plan, Democrats said it would immediately create jobs, yet nearly four months later unemployment has continued to climb and none of their rosy predictions have come true," he said.
Snark winner: "I think if you were to poll all of America they would probably think that there is $800 billion worth of asphalt in the Recovery Act," said Chris Whatley, Washington director of the Council of State Governments. That's a crack about Obama's never-ending road to recovery, in case you don't read the article.
Bad news?
The nation's jobless rate is at 9.4 percent, but the administration predicts that job creation will come next.
"The president said it was going to take some time for it to filter through the system and that employment was the last thing that was going to respond," White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
But by then, critics of the stimulus argue the economy will be staging a comeback on its own [emphasis mine].
Forget your mortgage foreclosure or the gas-guzzler you sold and all the macaroni-and-cheese grocery cuts you made that are starting to stick to your thighs. And for heavens' sake, don't sell the kids to the gypseys just yet!
It's simple. Go! Go now! Spend, spend, spend this country back to economic health!
Which reminds me of another call to "buy, buy, buy!":
Um... yeah, that didn't go well, what with spending fake money to make money and all.
I'm gonna go collect some bottles to recycle and buy a six pack of Miller Lite.
Since you're probably like me and will take a working holiday instead of a summer staycation this year, I give you one more good reason to avoid the beach and take five on the office dime:
Sometimes the Sea Shepherds' tactics are all too lamely pulled off, from what I've seen so far.
I find I'm rooting for both sides - the hippie pirates and their crazy antics and then the evil corporate killers.
First off, PIRATES!!!
Second, no one else will take on the job of making sure our seas aren't raped to death, even if in terms of "law" the hippie pirates only have a UN mandate (buried somewhere in here) to oversee restrictions on commercial whale hunting, with no specific procedure or oversight.
Which, of course, conflicts with my Libertarian-leaning stance on economics and free-market support of a business that happens to be repugnantly slaughtering whales. Under the pathetic guise of "research" and the loopholes between International Whaling Community regulations and UN Convention on the Law of the Sea recommendations.
I find the lynch pin if fascination is their tussle over notions of "International Law." I support coalitions of nations working together to protect common interests, but this crosses a line I just can't cross. The Japanese have a right to manage their waters, but they've ranged far beyond their own seas.
Does the UN have uhthoruh-tie in this situation? Should they?
If you read nothing else all weekend, or for the foreseeable future, read Ramesh's feature story in the new edition of NR about why senators do not owe deference to the president (in the form of a "yes" vote) on a judicial nominee — especially one who is not committed to the Constitution and judicial restraint. In a word, it is masterful.
What are the odds that a single public representative will be swayed an iota by the truth of their responsibility, let alone Ponnuru's pursuasive prose?
I'm watching Whale Wars season 2 episode 1 and wishing I could type fast enough to live-blog it. For those of you like me who don't live by the dial, it's a show about the greenies from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Just now we had try-outs for chemical bag throwing to find three crew members most likely to hit the deck of a whaler at about 100-plus feet with a compound that makes people puke uncontrollably, then the bad weather set in and the puking began (not the chemical bag-induced kind), along with the newbies describing sea sickness. Fun!
Why am I not surprised by the type of person that makes a Sea Shepherd? What do you think:
They look a lot more Berkeley on the show, but this is a cute pic.
We wondered who was financing this spendy endeavor. "Your cable dollars at work," said I. L guessed that a lot of the crew were probably paying their way to get their doctorates. Which begged the question:
"Do the interns get Glocks?"
Truth is, you can fund the SS Crew efforts with a Visa, a cool cap or other gear.
Favorite moment and quote from the show: They've located the main whaler and are frantically prepping to attack; an intern notes that one of the leaders was "waving his hands kind of confusingly and saying we need to head north while gesturing south." Then the narrator says
The Sea Shepherds crew and the Steve Irwin have missed their chance to catch the Nisha Maru and are extremely off course.
They needs some technologies 'n stuff. Like the helicopter they had in the sky not too long ago to point out the whaler in the small antarctic cove they just flew past.
Is it just me, or in another time, wouldn't a guy who makes a living taking video of himself and other "experts" hugging crocodiles, whales and other innocent aquatic bystanders be kind of anathema to the Sea Shepherds? You know, the guy known as "the Crocodile Hunter"? But somehow, now he's a good name for a ship of wildlife pirates?
That part about throwing "chemical bags," which are basically some kind of tear gas that make anyone who comes in contact with it wretch uncontrollably, reminds me: the website has a page titled "Is There a "Law of the Sea" All Ships Are Obliged to Follow?"
You know, laws, like the kind that hold you responsible for harrassing others and trying to put people "out of business. I'd like to send them to the bottom of the sea," as the captain put it.
If K-12 students master the academics, their launch into the working adult world can take them to career heights. Nothing will thwart that trajectory more conclusively than a pregnancy.
Young people must acquire skills early to resist the pressures to become sexually active. But because sexual activity often will occur, equally important is the knowledge to still avoid pregnancy and the health- and life-threatening diseases that can accompany unprotected sex.
Odd that the only mention of "abstinence" is in the title, but still.
To repeal the QEO in uncertain economic times is unwise. To do it without retaining fairness in arbitration rules is irresponsible.
...A QEO would impose necessary soberness. With it gone, arbitrators should be able to give heavy weight to the economic realities imposed by revenue limits and local conditions.
Since it is State Budget time and all, I was just wandering around the state's various websites for pending legislation, the Joint Finance Committee's website, and the LFB's website. And I just couldn't find it.
So the 'obvious unasked question' is...
Where the hell is the Joint Finance Amended Budget? It's been eight days since they passed it out of committee. Why hasn't the public seen it yet?
It has been over a week since the all-night session after all.
Sad news about Carradine - he appears to have commited suicide in a Thai hotel. Even after KillBill 2, most people suspected there wasn't anyone else who could have stood up to the man.
Most of us know him from the Kill Bill movie(s), later realizing that we've probably seen a lot of his more than 200 roles in movies and television. He's also produced, provided music and directed - who knew he was the eye behind the camera of several Lizzy Maguire episodes? Interesting.
And there was that Kung Fu show that Grandpa Steve always talks about. Sounds weird, but I bet it'll be dusted off and aired sometime soon.
Still, I have questions... Do you believe that a guy who has a career behind him like Carradine's and seven movies under way (six of them in post-production) would suddenly become so distraught that he'd hang himself naked in a foreign hotel closet?
It may be within the realm of the possible, but 72 is late for any kind of life crisis short of a terminal disease. Foul play seems to be ruled out; does a Michael Hutchence-type of accident seem possible?
Time will tell, but I expect it will be a sad footnote to an amazing career and actor.
If we could take the United States and divide it in half giving half to the Socialists and have to the rest of us normal people. Would you do it.
I know there are a million issues with this who gets what states who gets what resources how do you split the military etc.
But that is the beauty of hypothetical questions you can ignore facts that might get in the way.
I personally would take a country that was free of Socialists in a heart beat. Even if I was forced to move wouldn't it be nice to live in a country that actually appreciated us? It would also be fun to see the Socialist Workers Paradise fail like we all know it would. Then we could reoccupy that part of the country after its collapse ;)
So if it could be do would you be willing to move to a so called Red America half of the Country?
Oh and Hermann I do not care what your opinion is ok :)
Michael Roehling of Berlin is going to have a full dance card in Prison
Listen to this thief cry like a baby Oh yeah they are going to love him when he gets to Portage or Waupun
what little bitch anyone want to lay odds that Mr. Roehling might have needed a new pair of underwear and pants by the time the police arrived.
quick aside someone needs to explain to Heather Shannon that defending your home is not "taking the law into your own hands" Now if he had put him against a wall and executed him that would be taking the law into your own hands.
I really thing you should be allowed to at least pistol whip the thief if you capture them in the act. But that is just me
A BBA PSA in cases like this if you end up shooting the guy put one of your big kitchen knives in his hand. And when the police arrive make sure you repeat over and over "you feared for your life and the life of your family"
Trust me they will not doubt you claim too much, just do not go crazy and empty the gun into the guy I think any more than two shots and it stops being home defense.(that is if the first two shots have put the intruder down now if they are still coming at you feel free to keep putting holes in them till they stop coming)
Now in the world of a lot of our Socialist Friends the home owner would not have been able to use anything stronger than harsh language to defend his home.
Just great Obama Moters sells Hummer division to ChiComs
Well there goes my dream of some day buying a Hummer. I won't by a Chi Com Hummer I do not care where it is made. A man has to have some principles.(well if you are going to be a conservative I do not believe most of our socialist friends would know a principle if it bit them in the ass)
If Ford was smart they would start marketing themselves as the Anti Obama Motors Car company. That message would play in a lot of homes in this country.
Plus we need one American Car Company that will build real cars and trucks not the tiny recycled beer cans the Greens and Socialists want to call cars.
I own two Fords and doubt I will be buying many GM aka Obama Motors products in the future
Who knows in 10 years being able to afford and drive a car or truck that will seat more than 4 adults comfortably will be a status symbol.
The Federal Government does nothing well what makes people think they can run a car company well?
Economists interviewed "supply managers and other business executives in nine Midwest and Plains states" claim we've 'hit bottom' but won't turn around right away here in the Midwest.
Do you agree we've hit bottom in Wisconsin?
Who'd they surveyed: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Just because you're going to earn take fewer billions this year is no reason to shut down the party:
An Oshkosh opera house, a playground in the Town of Beloit and a stone barn in northeastern Wisconsin are among the beneficiaries of spending items quietly inserted into the state budget.
Democrats who control the Legislature's budget committee approved millions of dollars of spending in lawmakers' home districts on construction and road projects early Friday despite the state's $6.6 billion budget shortfall.
There's $500,000 for a climate change center in a park between Madison and Monona, $46,000 for recycling bins in Wrightstown, $50,000 for a shooting range in Eau Claire County, and much, much more. The earmarks need approval from the full Legislature and Gov. Jim Doyle to become law.
