Michael McGee still earning G's from jail

Hat tip to Wigderson on this one. Apparently Mcgee is still getting his car allowance from the county board. How is he still an alderman? He has been convicted! Isn't that enough? Wasn't it enough that he was IN JAIL? This completely blows my mind. It's like some weird episode of the Twighlight Zone. Way to go Milwaukee. Way to be the joke of the state. You guys are right up there with the crazies out in Madison.

In other news Mark Belling gets ripped on the front page of the Waukesha Freeman. I tried to get a link up here for it but for some reason it's not working for me. I'm on a computer that's running on Windows 2000 and IE 4. That might explain it. Anyway, Belling got ripped for his article on the Transit situation in this part of the state. He is adamantly against a rail line (as he should be) and his comments have really helped to create a lot of oposition to the line. The rail line is a bad idea regardless of what Belling says but since he is one of, if not the most influential conservative radio hosts in the area he is obviously going to get bashed. I don't see any good coming of the rail line. This area just isn't big enough yet. If it ran out to the suburbs then maybe but a lot of people in the suburbs can afford the gas to drive into the city and a lot of people like the independence and flexibility their cars give them. I don't think the rail is a bad idea in general but right now it just won't work. Give it some time and when Milwaukee becomes part of Chicagoland, then put in the line.

Israeli Military Practices Long Range Bombing

I found an interesting article on the International Herald Tribune via Drudge. It appears that Israel is making darn sure they will be able to carry out a strike against Iran if the Iranians refuse to put a stop to their uranium enrichment program. According to the article they, Israel, have already carried out such strikes twice. One strike in Iraq and one strike in Syria.

How will the world view such a strike? We Americans took a lot of gruff from a lot of nations over our reaction to 9/11. Will Israel get the same treatment? I highly doubt it. After all, they aren't Americans so how can we give them crap? But I digress. If Israel does strike Iran's nuclear plants their action will be seen as justified by everyone other than Iran's supporters which are few and far between. It will be interesting to see if they do strike. I hope someone does something other than talk. Israel seems to have the right idea. Talk softly but carry a big stick. They have talked and talked and begged and pleaded as has most of the rest of the world and yet Iran just covers its ears and says "la la la la la we can't hear you la la la la la".

I have yet to hear a good reason for them to even have nuclear weapons. Who is going to attack them? It's not like they are a major world power or even a minor one. They have oil. That's it. Oh and lots of sand. Maybe they should start a glass factory or two. Who would bomb them if they made glass mirrors? Can you imagine the bad luck you'd incur? Seriously!

Let Israel do some dirty work for once. It will save us the hassle, not to mention some much needed money.

IQ Academy Waukesha

Today's class syllabus for my Technology in Education class said we were going to look at IQ Academy. I of course just happened to sleep in today and I missed the class, however, I do find it very interesting that it would be brought up in my class. It does make sense to talk about IQ Academy in an education technology class but with all of the hubbub about it last January I didn't expect to have someone from the education field actually promote it (particularly one from a very liberal school, Carroll University). I went back and read a post by Representative Bill Kramer on Boots and Sabers that covered the issue back in January. I have not heard anything about it since but with the recent skirmishes over the voucher system and charter schools we have had, I wonder if IQ Academy will have some larger battles to fight?

Obama Self Smear

I just came across this from Boots and Sabers. Owen nails this one. On Obama's Fight the Smears site he makes the disclaimer that he is NOT a Muslim. How is being a Muslim a bad thing. I myself am not one but I respect anyone who is and doesn't think everyone who isn't should be killed. This is after all America and the freedom to choose what religion you want to follow is your right. In the comments section of Owen's post are some interesting ideas. The arguement is made that the lie about Obama being a Muslim was meant to make him look bad. How can he look bad by being a Muslim? If he is truly tolerant of all religions and peoples then this shouldnt be such an issue to him. If he wants America to be totally tolerant than why react in the way he did by making it abundantly clear he is NOT a Muslim? Why even respond to those lies? Because there is a negative connotation to many Americans, that's why. That is a shame but it is what it is. Like Owen points out:

"So why would Obama’s campaign label a false accusation of being Muslim a “smear?” Yes, it’s untrue, but so what if he was? Is that morally repugnant? No. It would possibly make one question what he would do in fighting Islamic terrorists, but the simple fact of being a Muslim is no more morally repugnant than adhering to any other religion."

"It's interesting that Obama is so worried about that incorrect information perpetuating that he would label it a smear."

All is well here

All is well in my neck of the woods, at least my neighborhood. The bank I work for lost power for about 4 hours but that was it. And the dam is still holding. Apparently it will continue to hold. That's good news.

UW Madison's Ivory Towers and Biddy's Conquest

Just read this JSOnline article via NRO Phi Beta Cons. What piqued my interest was that this paragraph was added in for no apparent reason.

(A look at Martin's vitae shows her accomplishments at Cornell do include several diversity initiatives, not to mention dean searches, faculty recruitment and retention, a focus on undergraduate teaching, health benefits for graduate students, funding for a new Life Sciences Initiative, technology transfer and other priorities. The majority of her publications do touch on issues of sexuality and gender.)

The parentheses are not mine. They were part of the article but an obvious addition by the article's author Erica Perez. This parenthetical addition seems to be saying that Biddy Martin's "accomplishments" in the above mentioned areas FAR outweigh her leftist gender/sexual/gay/lesbian/transgender/diversity studies. How you become an authority on these subjects with a doctorate in German Literature I don't know but she has managed to do it. Whatever happened to educatin the public? What happened to the classics like Aristotle, Plato, Seneca, Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, or Pythagorus? Obviously it is more important that we learn political correctness and diversity than it is for us to learn how to think for ourselves. Indoctrination over Education (that should be UW Madison's new motto).

Flooding in Mukwonago: Update

Its about 2:09pm and the rain just started. It's coming down in huge drops. I think this rain, assuming it keeps up, is going to be what breaks the dam here. I sure hope Doyle's dinner plans don't get interrupted by this storm.

UEFA Euro 2008

For those of you who think that title is written in a foreign language you're half right. It's one of the world's best football tournaments. And by football I mean European football and by European football I mean soccer. That's right, you heard me, soccer. It's an amazing sport. Granted it's not a high scoring sport but it is amazing none the less. Blood, broken bones, fights, head-butts, groin kicks, what more do you want? Points? Who F***ING cares about points. It's about the game and talent. Most games have at least one point scored. These guys are amazing. they run, nonstop, for two forty-five minute halves which usually go beyond forty-five minutes. Then they get about a 25 minute half time after which they come back to run for another forty-five plus minutes. No commercials until halftime and great announcers. The footballers do the most amazing acrobatic stunts I have ever seen and still manage to control a soccer ball enough to head it past 3 or 4 guys into a net guarded by a guy with the wingspan of a 747 and hands the size of baseball mitts.

Then there's the fans. You think Green Bay Packer fans are crazy? You ain't seen nothin! These fans travel around the world to watch their teams. Soccer is big EVERYWHERE but here in the US. Why? I don't have a clue. Maybe it's our need to be outcasts. (Any wonder why no other countries like us?) This is a sport anyone can get into and that anyone can play but only a few are good at. Sure there are 8 gagillion little suburbanite kids being carted around in minivans and SUVs to the local football field that has been converted to a soccer field for the summer but those kids don't have skills. When was the last time you saw a high school soccer player do a bicycle kick over his head just to pass the ball to his team's striker so the striker could head the ball into the corner of the goal? Never? That's what I thought.

Seriously, watch a game or two. They are on ESPN2 all week and weekend. Get some use out of that DVR. Forget all those LAME reality shows and watch something worth while. If you do happen to take my advice watch a game in which Germany, France, or Portugal is playing. Portugal has the world's greatest soccer player on its team (Christiano Ronaldo). Germany's captain is Micheal Ballack who plays for Chelsea FC (my favorite English Premier League team and the second best team in England right behind Manchester United the team Ronaldo plays for). France has two players from Chelsea FC: Makelele and Malouda as well as Thierry Henry. Italy also has a great team but I do not know a whole lot about any of the Italian teams.

You gotta see this so tune in or record a game.

Leftist Propaganda: Censure of the Military

There is an interesting article on Redstate about some congressional dems wanting to censure the military.



This bill is supposed to stop the military from sending "any form of communication in support of national objectives designed to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes or behavior of the people of the United States in order to benefit the sponsor, either directly or indirectly."



So then who gets to decide what information gets disseminated to the public? I am going to venture a guess here and say it's not people who like the military. Since the dems own Congress, my guess is they will want to be the mouthpiece for the military. Does this remind anyone of something? Communism perhaps? "You will say what we, the government, approve.

Mukwonago under water

Well the dam hasn't broken yet here but rumor has it that within a week it will. Water began to flow around it thereby loosening the soil to the point that the dam is no longer structurally sound. Every local news station is here and they all have a camera trained on the dam. I rode by on my morning bike ride and I just didn't see what the excitement was all about. If it breaks it will probably wash out part of Hwy 83 that crosses the river not 100 yards away. It might even possibly shut down I-43 for a while since it too runs over the river and the water was already touching the bottom of that bridge. Oh, and Lower Phantom lake will probably drain as well. Lower Phantom is fairly shallow. The lake bed can be seen from anywhere on the lake. It's a very weedy lake so I'm hoping that if it drains there won't be a nasty smell wafting into my neighborhood which just happens to line the lake.

As I was writing this I happened to come across today's issue of the Freeman and sure enough Mukwonago is on the front page.

I have been living here for 15 years and I don't remember anything like this.

Drinking Right

For those of you who missed it, Drinking Right was a great time. Mark your calendar for the next one. Be there!

Objectivity in the Humanities

This just came across my blog reader from NRO's Phi Beta Cons. It's an article by Herbert London on TCS Daily about his daughter's experience in a college history class titled "The Cold War At Home". In his article he articulates many of the same points I have put forth here on this blog. The gist: college history professors are using their classes to indoctrinate naive college students in the ideals of the far left. According to London the class's overarching theme was "victimization". This brought back a flood of memories from my "America and the war in Vietnam" class I took during my time in the UW system. Victimization, I wish I would have brought that up in class! That would have sparked some serious conversations.

Public Screwl: The removal of the voucher system.

Patrick McIlheran comments on a WaPo article today regarding the removal of a working voucher system in Washington. Why is it being removed? MONEY! Why else? The big issue here is that the democrats want full control over where and how the vouchers are spent. When parents use the vouchers to send their kids to private school, be it a charter or parochial school, the state no longer has a say in that particular school's activities. That's right no more mandatory sexual education classes or leftist ideologies being crammed down students' throats! This was bad news for the democrats in Washington so what did they do? They took away the voucher system. What does this do for the students? It hurts them:

But what about the children? Norton says they're "the innocent victims here," even as she works out how she'll victimize them. Because what they've got now seems to work well. The Post reports:

"Parents of scholarship recipients offer high praise for the program, crediting it with changing the direction of their children's lives. Patricia William, whose son Fransoir, 11, is a sixth-grader at Sacred Heart, a Catholic school in Northwest, said his growth has been striking.

"'He's been developed in many ways, intellectually, emotionally and in his values,' she said. 'I couldn't ask for anything better.'"

Why would you change something that seems to be working so well? Control, that's why. So much more could be done for our future generations if the government would just get its clumsy fingers out of the education system. Open it up to charter schools. Let parents decide where their kids will go to school. Parents know what is best for their children.

As someone with a personal interest in the education system this annoys me greatly. Education should be about the education of students not money. There is no reason, other than an incessant need for control, that the voucher system in Washington should be removed. Milwaukee's system is working. It could be better but it's not doing too bad of a job right now. However, this blow to the D.C. system only gives opponents of the system more ammunition. "See it didn't work in D.C. so what makes you think it will work here?" Any and all accomplishments the system has obtained will be swept under the rug and buried under piles of articles attacking the system (thank you MJS).

Obviously the system works. Let's hope Milwaukee continues its program and maybe even expands it. Who knows, we might even end up with the best public education system in the nation instead of one of the worst.

Obama Clinches the Democratic Nomination?

Do people really think Obama clinched the Democratic nomination? On a majority of the politcal sites I read there seems to be at least one or two commentators/bloggers/analysts that seem to think so. I just read an article on Townhall.com about polls showing a dislike for Hillary Clinton and it mentioned Obama's clinching of the nomination. The NY Times said the same thing. Another thing I have been pondering over the weekend is the expected endorsement of Obama by Clinton. Has it happened yet? It was purported to happen this past Saturday but I did not hear anything about it. In fact, I just did a Google search and the first page of results contained links with dates previous to the weekend. How interesting. I really do not think she is giving up. As I have mentioned before I believe she has some tricks up her sleve. I dont know what they are but I am sure she has not given up on the Superdelegates. It will be a tight race. (And yes I realize that my last sentence was lacking any profundity.) I also believe that a combined Obama/Clinton ticket will doom them from gaining any conservative votes or for that matter any conservative independents. They are the two most liberal canditates out there. If either of them wants to win they will have to pick a more middle of the road running mate to appeal to the independents and other swing voters.

The times they are a changing: First non-white candidate nominated to be President

As I said yesterday, Barack Obama has been "nominated" by the Democrats as their candidate for the office of President. The catch is that he has been nominated by promised votes which coming from the liberal party means absolutely nothing. (Democrats follow through with a promise? Isn't that against their party lines?) Assuming the superdelegates follow through with their promises Obama will be the Democratic Party nominee. However, I don't think Hillary is going to give up that easily. Her husband was the master of back-room negotiations which makes you wonder if she won't do the same. The Clintons still have quite a bit of pull within the Democratic party. This is obviously evidenced by Hillary's campaign making it this far. She will not give up. By expressing her openness to accepting the Vice Presidential spot on Obama's ticket she is doing two things. She is testing the waters to see if he would even accept her and she is forcing him to consider her. I realize these seem like opposing ideas so allow me to explain.

She is putting the idea out there to see what the reactions of Obama, her people, and the rest of the nation will be. Will Obama be accepting of her offer to run with him as his VP? According to Joshua Tabin at the American Spectator, if he does he will have to put up with a lot of the Clinton baggage that follows Hillary, and by baggage I mean Bill. Obama cannot run on a platform of change if his VP is a Clinton and would put Bill back into the Whitehouse. What is the reaction of her followers going to be? Will they like it? From what I have been hearing around the office and around town yes. I think most Hillary supporters are behind her becoming the VP. The Obama people on the other hand are slightly more apprehensive. They know how influential the Clintons can be (most of them voted for Bill Clinton...how interesting). And the reaction of the rest of the nation has yet to be determined. Hillary did, after all, disseminate this information yesterday.

Obama is forced to consider her now. He is in a hard place right now. If he rejects her he is in for a world of hurt. She will make this a bloody campaign for the next 2 months. He has not yet declared a VP, not that he has had to, but Hillary's offer now necessitates her consideration. Obama cannot win on his own. He needs a Hillary-like running mate but there really isn't anyone out there with the pull she has and he knows it. He does not have to take her as his running mate but he has to consider her and make it evident that he has considered her. He will have to do some serious footwork to make that work.

All of this is complete speculation because when it comes down to it no one is guaranteed the nomination until the delegates and superdelegates vote. Until then it's still anyone's game although it does appear that Obama is winning.

Clinton tells NY lawmakers she is open to being VP

AP via FOX News: Hillary Clinton has just told the AP that she is open to being Obama's vice president. Is she trying to negotiate her way out of the race? Is this a graceful bow out? Maybe. If these two join forces the Democrats may have their winning ticket. They would be nearly impossible to beat. Together they cover a majority of minorities and all of the democratic voters in the US. What this means for McCain is that he is going to have an extremely intense uphill battle ahead of him. If they join forces they will not be attacking each other.

I wonder if Obama will accept the offer or if she will withdraw her offer?

More to come...