Dumming Down Are Kidz

Apologies to The Blogfather for appropriating the title of his book then deliberately misspelling it.

Neal Boortz tells us about what academics in Great Britain are doing to combat commonly misspelled words: accept the misspellings as OK.

Says Boortz:

Translation: If a student simply can't come up with the right answers ... start accepting the wrong answers as right. That solves your problem. American education at work.

We've had that here in American gummint-run skoolz for years. It's called inventive spelling.

Huh?

I saw this on Malkin's site.

The Berkeley College Republicans are looking to get the same permit privileges that anti-war group Code Pink use to protest outside the Marine recruiting center in Downtown Berkeley.

The liberals there are of course fighting the petition, free speech for some, not for others...

But seriously, who knew there were College Republicans at Berkeley? What a lonely persecuted bunch they must be!

Keep fighting the good fight!

NBC Was Scared of This?

The "controversial" ads NBC originally wasn't going to air from Freedom's Watch.

We Need a Global Consensus!

"We need a global consensus! We have to go through the United Nations!"

Sounds familiar? Well, this time the issue is biofuels. The UN has warned:

“The economic, environmental and social impacts of bioenergy development must be assessed carefully before deciding if and how rapidly to develop the industry and what technologies, policies and investment strategies to pursue,” the report warned.

What's a liberal to do?

Will they join the rest of us in proclaiming the UN useless, or will they abandon the reckless pursuit of instant energy alternatives? More than likely, they'll want to have their cake and eat it, too. If only I could get inside the head of a liberal to see how they can reconcile their love of the UN and their hatred of gasoline.

That's the Best Reason He Could Come Up With?

I first heard this at the Brewers-Nats game from former Green Team staffers I was with last week.

It only took the Wisconsin media five days to catch up.

Glad to see that Sen. John Kerry once again shows things are more about revenge for losing in 2004 than anything.

Mark Green's nomination as ambassador to Tanzania appeared in jeopardy Friday because of opposition from Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

The senator has placed a "hold" on the nomination because Green is a political appointee, not a career Foreign Service officer, a Kerry aide said.

"There is no further action expected on this nomination," the aide said.

President Bush nominated Green for the post in early June.

It's within Bush's power to bypass the Senate and advance Green's nomination as a recess appointment, which he could do as early as August.

Green, 47, a Republican from Green Bay, served eight years in the House of Representatives, ending in January.

Last year, he made an unsuccessful bid for Wisconsin governor against incumbent Democrat Jim Doyle.

While in Congress, Green paid visits to Africa, and 20 years ago, he and his wife were volunteer teachers in Kenya.

As of April, there were 156 U.S. ambassadors, 65% of them career Foreign Service officers and 35% of them political appointees, the State Department said.

If approved, Green would replace the current ambassador, Michael Retzer, also a political appointee. Retzer took his oath of office in August 2005.

Yes Senator Kerry, and we're sure to know that every single one of your ambassadors wouldn't have been political appointments had you been elected President.

Right.

The reality is Kerry's been doing this to multiple Bush appointees since America rejected him. Most of them were either connected to groups that donated to Republicans (THE HORROR!!!), donated to the Swift Boat Vets, or served in some capacity during President Bush's re-election.

Mark Green was Wisconsin State Co-Chair of Bush-Cheney '04 with Scott Walker.

Ah well, the Recess swearing-in ceremony should still be a blast to attend.

Attention Steve Kagen

Your quest for Socialized Health Care is over!

San Francisco, home of Nancy Pelosi, started it's own program on Monday. (Do they still pay the homeless cash out there?)

But Steve, bit of a warning -- you may have to get in line. But relax, the wait apparently isn't long.

Mary Katharine Ham reports that a total of 29 signed up on Monday.

Power's Extra

Well, it was the thought that's counts. Right?

A Nigerian school has received a gift of 300 laptops -- one per pupil -- but has no electricity to power them up, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Friday.

Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, coordinator of the One-Laptop-Per-Child programme (OLPC) that donated the computer, said the two-block Galadima Primary School in the centre of the federal capital Abuja had no electricity.

Galadima Primary is the first school in the country where each pupil has his own laptop, NAN said.

"We have been browsing the Internet and we are very happy", Juliet Onah, an excited primary six pupil, was quoted as saying.

But she said powering the laptop remained difficult as the school had no electricity and the supply at home was irregular.

Electricity is indeed a big problem in Nigeria, the world's sixth largest exporter of crude oil. Electricity is provided mainly in the cities and even there the service is at best erratic.

Most homes and private businesses rely on generators.

The OLPC was founded by Nicholas Negroponte, an American professor, to provide laptops to all pupils at 100 dollars by 2008, as a way of ensuring the penetration of information and communication technology in developing countries.

Nigeria's also home to a history of constant coup attempts and governmental upheaval. These kids were just given really expensive paper weights.

Editorial Idiocy

The Racine Journal Times editorial board is at it again. Their love affair with tax increases and Governor Tax and Fee increases, uh Doyle, is really out of control.

I’m publishing this here rather than at RDW as this editorial no doubt will make its rounds in one form or another to every other paper in the state.

This thing needs to be addressed bit by bit.

Keep a perspective during budget debate

A $58 billion state budget remained mostly intact last week as it headed out of the state’s Joint Finance Committee and now goes to the Senate and Assembly.


There it will undoubtedly get serious makeovers from state Republicans who control the Assembly and state Democrats who control the Senate. Reconciling those disparate versions will be the difficult job of a conference committee — and then Gov. Jim Doyle will get one last whack at it with his veto pen.

An amazing work of fiction that will be as well, can you even imagine the horror story of this Frankenstein veto?

Given the split in the control of the state Capitol, there will undoubtedly be some major horse-trading on some tax and fee provisions that Doyle put into the state budget earlier this year to balance the budget.

Tax and fee provisions… Ok JT editors try this on for size. Tax and fee increases. Tax increase, there was that so hard?

Republicans have already lamented tax and fee increases and 23 Republicans in the Assembly, including state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, have pledged to vote against “any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

Ah the Darth Vader of the Journal Times, Robin Vos. They can not write any article or editorial about holding the line on taxes or tax cuts without mentioning the man. This is how I know he is doing a great job.

That means you also look forward to the inevitable radio and television harangues exhorting you to call either your governor, senator or representative to “demand” that they do this or that to block one tax or another. Those messages will come from lobbying groups from affected industries and also political groups.

God forbid, citizen action and disdain against tax increases. Oh the humanity!

And indeed, there are some tax and fee increases in this budget – on everything from cigarettes, an motor vehicle registration to shovelnose sturgeon permits. And on oil companies and hospitals.

Some?

The cries will soon get shrill and you’ll hear talk about the “$1.75 billion” in new fees and taxes, no doubt combined with a lament that Wisconsin has become a tax hell.

Wisconsin is a tax hell and has been for years, wake up you idiotic editors (Randy Brandt I'm sure). Shall we ignore the talk about the "$1.75 billion"? Is there something dishonest about that? Implication is so tawdry isn't it?

Before things get too shrill, let’s put some perspective to this. One of the big increase items is the tax on cigarettes which would go rise by $1.25 per pack to $2.02. That tax boost has popular support according to several polls. It would raise $500 million over the two-year life of this budget.

Shrill? I don’t smoke, it is still wrong. How about we put a huge tax increase on news print? Then you would see some shrill!

Another big one is the tax on major oil companies which would be forbidden to be passed on to state motorists. That would generate more than $275 million over the two-year budget period.

The state has admitted they have no way of knowing about this tax being passed on, you are smart enough to know that. However, you are too liberal to admit that. Keep on spinning those Jimmie Doyle talking points…

And a third big one is the hospital tax. That would generate more than $418 million for the state, but it would generate millions of dollars in federal funding for hospitals. After the tax, state hospitals would still have a net increase in revenues of something like $284 million because of increased Medicaid payments.

Someone explain to me again how Doyle campaigned on the issue of lowering health care costs by adding additional taxes onto our health care… He didn’t? Are you sure?

Together those three tax increases account for more than 60 percent of the tax and fee increases in the state budget that is now advancing through the Legislature.

Good, in three easy steps we can get rid of 60% of this nonsense.

Now let’s add another component to this. According to a Wisconsin Taxpayer’s Alliance report last week, Wisconsin is falling, not rising, in the proportion of personal income which go to state and local taxes. In dropped two spots in the ranking of states last year, down to eighth place. And when you look at more expansive cost comparisons – adding in user fees like vehicle registration and university tuition, Wisconsin is not in the top ten states. In the broadest measure of all, comparing states by all money raised by state and local government (but not that coming from Washington), Wisconsin ranked 20th in the country – not even in the top third.

Two whole spots! That certainly was not due to anything we did, if other states raised taxes why in your twisted liberal minds do you think that makes our tax burden any less onerous?

We hope the budget sessions move ahead with solid deliberation and hard work – and without the invective and shrillness that have too often become associated with this process. Yes, there will be honest differences on taxation and the value of various programs and spending, and, yes, there must be compromises.

Shrill = anything conservatives say. Tell me Journal Times editors how many of these tax and fee increases have Joint Finance Committee Democrats been against, including your precious John Lehman? Come on you can say it... Zero.

We would urge that work be done with perspective and with civility.

Lock the conservatives in a closet.

Amazingly the Journal Times got through this whole editorial without mentioning the Proposed KRM rail line... Someone is getting fired over that one.

So to summarize their premise, keeping a perspective on the budget debate:

• Tax & Fee provisions, good
• Doyle, good.
• Health care costs, too low.
• Republicans, bad.
• Vos, evil.
• Smokers, evil.
• Anyone in opposition, shrill.
• Wisconsin, not a tax hell.
• Tax on oil companies, will not come back on consumers.

I can some up this editorial in a much more concise way.

Journal Times Editors, idiots.

Where's the Investigation for This?

I demand answers!! I demand a strange, unenforceable definition of price-gouging for the FTC to be given!! I demand press conferences in Washington, Madison, in front of grocery stores, in front of farms.

Dammit, I demand to see Steve Kagen pouring milk...

Wait a minute, did I say 'milk?" That's made in Wisconsin.

Nevermind.

Suffer those forces of supply and demand consumers, you're helping the farmers.

Driven up by high transportation costs, an increase in feed prices and even a drought in Australia, the price of milk is likely to rise by up to 40 cents a gallon over the next few months, dairy market forecasters say. Cheese prices could go up by 60 cents a pound.

If the increases occur, a gallon of whole milk would cost an average of $3.78 nationwide, based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's monthly survey of milk prices in 30 metro areas.

Prices in the last survey, in May, ranged from $2.76 a gallon in Dallas to $3.86 in Chicago and $4.09 in New Orleans, where the dairy industry has struggled to bounce back from Hurricane Katrina.

In Wisconsin, whole milk averaged $2.86 a gallon in May, according to a Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation survey. At Pick 'n Save stores in the Milwaukee area, 2% milk was selling for $3.49 a gallon Friday.

Higher gasoline prices have increased the cost of moving milk from farm to market. Also, corn, the primary feed for dairy cattle, is being diverted for the production of the fuel additive ethanol.

"There is no free lunch. That corn has to come away from that dedicated resource," said Michael Hutjens, a University of Illinois Extension dairy specialist.

As early as July, consumers could see price increases for a wide range of foods that use dairy-product ingredients such as cheese, butter and whey.

"I think the shoe could hit the floor anytime now," Hutjens said.

Actually, I'd pay good money to go to the parallel universe where State Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) would be going ballistic on "Big Dairy."

That'd be quite a hoot.

This Ain't Going Away Anytime Soon...

Nor should it in a way, but it looks like Wisconsin Democrats are going to try to get as much bang for their buck as they can with it.

Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is calling on Congress to look into the prosecution of former state worker Georgia Thompson, whose conviction for rigging a bid was overturned by a federal appeals court last week.

In a statement, the Democrat from Madison says that the court's decision raises questions about the integrity and motivation of the prosecutor.

Thompson was accused of favoring a company with ties to Democratic Governor Jim Doyle. Her conviction became an issue last year when Doyle's opponents used it in ads against him in his run for re-election.

An aide to U-S Attorney Steven Biskupic says the office would welcome a review. The aide says Biskupic was not pressured by the Bush administration or the Republican Party to bring the case.

Anyone get a hold of Marc Marotta these days? He's got to have something to say, doesn't he?

'I am Spartacus'

As some of you may know, some nitwit has filed a complaint with the state Elections Board against Boots & Sabers for having a Blogs For Ziegler button on the blog.

Here's the button:

In an "I am Spartacus" moment, some BBA members have added the button to their blogs and effectively dared her to file a complaint as well.

• Badger Blogger.
• The American Mind.
• Texas Hold 'Em.
• Jiblog.
  
• The Asian Badger. (added)
• Pete Fanning. (added)
• No Runny Eggs. (added)
• Marcus Aurelius at Blogger Beer. (added)
• Kate the Not-So-Ol'-Broad. (added)
• The Thoughtful Conservative. (added)
• Silent E. (added)
• Triticale. (added)
• Lance Burri. (added)
• On The Borderline. (added)
  

Anyone else? BBA or non-BBA. Post 'em in the comments and I'll add you!

This is silly, but also a sign of how the Left plans on taking on the blogs under "campaign finance reform." We saw the taxers and spenders in Washington state shut down talk radio under campaign finance laws for opposing a tax hike referendum on the air by labeling it an "in-kind" contribution to a political campaign in violation of campaign finance laws.

Where do you think they are headed? The (Un)Fairness Doctrine to shut down talk radio and campaign finance "reform" to shut down the blogs.

If they get their way, we'll be reduced to recipe-swapping.

Pelosi: Bush lacks authority to invade

By DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent
AP
Photo/SAMIR MIZBAN

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
Thursday that President Bush lacks the authority to invade Iran without specific
approval from Congress, a fresh challenge to the commander in chief on the eve
of a symbolic vote critical of his troop buildup in Iraq.

Who the heck does Nancy Pelosi think she is? Last time I looked the Commander in Chief controlled foriegn policy and the military if George Bush decides he wants to invade Iran who is Nancy Pelosi to say no?