No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for June 10th, 2008

Obama conceding Wisconsin?

by @ 18:29. Filed under Politics - National, Politics - Wisconsin.

From the Wisconsin GOP into my mailbox…

Obama Campaign Pulling Out of Wisconsin?

MADISON – After a series of puff articles over the weekend raving about Senator Barack Obama’s Wisconsin operation, it was discovered Obama actually doesn’t have any campaign offices in the state.

"Perhaps Democrats realize that the most liberal member of the United States Senate is no fit for Wisconsin voters and took their field offices back to Chicago," said Mark Jefferson, Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. "This isn’t the first time the Obama campaign has sought to mislead folks in Wisconsin, and it no doubt won’t be the last."

Phone numbers listed on the Obama website for Wisconsin campaign offices were discovered to be inoperable this week. Obama’s national campaign said there hasn’t been campaign offices since the state’s February primary and didn’t know when they would reopen.

According to Jefferson, Obama’s visit this week could be to mask his anemic state operation or it might be a farewell visit to the Badger State.

"It will take more than overblown pep rallies to convince Wisconsin voters that Barack Obama shares their values," Jefferson said. "John McCain has a history of independent leadership that appeals to Wisconsin. Senator Obama has never put partisan interests aside to bring about progress. Maybe that’s why Democrats have to exaggerate their campaign operations."

###

I think it’s a bit too early to say that the Obama campaign isn’t looking at Wisconsin as a battleground state. After all, the Dems are but one Presidential election away from removing the last roadblock to unfettered vote fraud here. Also, Obama is fresh off a protracted, high-cost battle for his party’s nomination coronation, and Wisconsin’s primary came in relatively-early in that.

Still, it is rather interesting that there is no effective Presidential ground game on the other side. That draining of the Obama coffers and resulting lack of Wisconsin offices are a couple benefits of Operation Chaos.

Law of unintended consequences, burnt food edition

by @ 16:14. Filed under Corn-a-hole.

In today’s editorial on the status of slave labor as compiled by the State Department, the editors of The Wall Street Journal noted that the “successful” Brazilian sugar-to-ethanol program comes at a terrible price; a growing use of slave labor in the sugar cane plantations.

Is it any end to the drive to waste our food supply at all costs on transportation?

Law of unintended consequences, minimum wage edition

by @ 16:09. Filed under Business, Politics - National.

(H/T – Charlie Sykes)

Kristen Lopez Eastlick links the increases in the minimum wage to the two worst years since World War II for teen summer employment:

You don’t need a business degree to understand why employers are making these cuts. The classic summer jobs "” cashier, waiter, grocery clerk "” can help an employer with increased service or make up for full-time employees who take vacations.

When the minimum wage gets boosted, however, employers cut down on hiring teens who typically fill lower-priority slots. Most of the work still gets done, but customers may get stuck standing in longer lines, and teens suffer because they’ve been priced out of work.

These summer jobs are often teens’ first exposure to the workplace. They are where teens learn that life is a 52-week-a-year mix of work and fun, and how to balance the two. Take that away, and you get the shooting gallery that is the north side of Milwaukee (where unemployment both measured and unmeasured has always been far worse than average) as the unemployed youth seek “less-than-legal” means of getting the cash to fuel their “fun” and “less-than-legal” means of having that “fun”.

The Obama Policy Generator

by @ 15:21. Filed under Politics - National.

Moron Pundit decided to fire up his mad programming skillz and create a Obama Policy Generator. My favorite (so far):

Live From Spread Eagle
by Moron Pundit

Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama gave a speech here today detailing his breathtaking new policy proposals:

Hello! It’s so wonderful to be here in Hell today!

You see, the thing is er… um… I can’t hear myself think… The cost would be… I’m glad you’re fired up… this misguided War in Iraq has taken money away that we could be spending on something important, like Palestinian/American toddler exchange.

Bravo Zulu, MP.

Drinking Right – TONIGHT!

by @ 14:28. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I’m sure you need a break from the water. Fortunately, we bloggers of souteast Wisconsin have one – Drinking Right. As usual, it will start at 7 pm over at Papa’s Social Club (7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee).

BE THERE!

Official Oak Creek storm update

by @ 14:20. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Sorry I’m late with this one, but I’ve been out of it the last few hours. Direct from the Oak Creek Emergency Operations Center:

The state of emergency declared by Mayor Bolender, Saturday, June 7th remains in effect in response to flooding that has occurred, or has the potential to occur in the City of Oak Creek.

As of Tuesday, June 10th at 9:00 a.m. the following major roads remain closed due to flooding:

East Forest Hill Avenue from 1400 block East to 2000 block East
South Pennsylvania Ave. from Oakwood Road north to STH 100
East Elm Road from 2000 block to 3000 block
South 13th Street at Racine County line
East County Line Road from 1600 East to Chicago Road
South Howell Avenue at Racine County Line
South 27th Street at Racine County Line

Road closure information will be updated at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, June 11th.

It is not safe to drive through these areas, as well as any road that may have standing water. It is strongly advised that people, especially children should avoid creeks, flooded areas, ditches and areas of standing water, as they represent potentially dangerous situations.

Please contact the City of Oak Creek Emergency Operations non-emergency line at (414) 766-6600 if you:

  • are in need of evacuation assistance, or are unable to access or exit your property
  • are in need of shelter
  • are experiencing, or have experienced flooding damage
  • have other, non-emergency questions

Oak Creek businesses are also encouraged to call this number if they have experienced flood related problems.

The City of Oak Creek Streets Department will be having a special midweek curb-side pick-up today and Wednesday for flood damaged items. Please contact (414) 570-6582 to request this service.

Flood clean up kits are available for pick up at Oak Creek Fire Station No. 1 (240 East Puetz Road) and at Fire Station No. 3 (7000 South 6th Street).

For more information please contact Doug Seymour, Public Information Officer for the City of Oak Creek, at (414) 768-6526 or dseymour@oakcreekwi.org

News Release By Authority Of:

Doug Seymour,
Public Information Officer
on behalf of Dick Bolender

Of particular note, there will be a special curbside pickup of flood-damaged items. Do contact the city at 570-6582 if you need to have flood-damaged items picked up. Also, since it is summer, the city recycling yard at 720 W. Puetz Rd. is open until 8 pm tonight and every Tuesday through September (it normally closes at 3 pm).

Revisions/extensions (3:23 pm 6/10/2008) – Fixed formatting.

The Morning Scramble – 6/10/2008

by @ 9:39. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

As bad as things are in southeast Wisconsin, they don’t compare to losing an entire town (Gays Mills) or lake vital for the local tourism industry (Lake Delton)….

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-AanPHMbC4[/youtube]

Still only 2 ways out of Oak Creek to the south

by @ 7:45. Filed under Weather.

The tour didn’t take as long today because a couple of streets reopened, but there are still significant closures in Oak Creek due to flooding:

– S. Nicholson Rd. at County Line Rd. going south into Caledonia and Vista Dr.
– S. Howell Ave. (STH 38) at Oakwood Rd. (yesterday, the barricades were at Elm) going south into Caledonia and Caddy Ln.
– S. 13th St at Oakwood Rd. (yesterday, the barricades were at the Milwaukee/Racine county line) going south into Caledonia and 7 1/2 Mile Rd.
– S. 27th St. south of Elm Rd. to I-94 (again, this includes the north/westbound I-94 off-ramp).
– S. Pennsylvania Ave. between Puetz Rd. and Oakwood Rd. (if there is no additional rain, I expect the city will reopen the stretch between Puetz and Ryan Rd.)
– E. Ryan Rd. between Pennsylvania Ave. and Nicholson Ave. (the dead-end west of Nicholson is now open, as is the stretch between 15th Ave. and Pennsylvania, though the latter is effectively a dead-end at Pennsylvania).
– E. Oakwood Rd. between John Aron Dr. and Redwood Ln. (a bit further west than yesterday)
– E. Elm Rd. between 10th Ave. and Nicholson Rd.
– E. County Line Rd. between 10th Ave. and Nicholson Rd.

I didn’t take my camera, so I can’t show you the red pickup that is now visible in the middle of the swollen Root River on 27th St.

I’m Not The Al Franken I’ve Known For 57 Years

by @ 5:56. Filed under Politics - Minnesota.

From AL Franken’s “apology” over “satire” aritcles that were anti woman and pornographic, given at the Minnesota Democrat convention on Saturday:

It kills me that things I said and wrote sent a message … that they can’t count on me to be a champion for women, for all Minnesotans. I’m sorry for that. Because that’s not who I am,” Franken told delegates.

Does anyone else notice a similarity here?

Barack Obama at an April 29th press conference:

The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago.

Now it’s bad enough when you’re surprised by the behavior of someone you’ve intimately known for 20 years but how bad must it be when you don’t recognize yourself after 57 years?

Is there some kind of a “How to make an excuse” handbook being handed out this year by the DNC?

 

A Not Made Up Inconvenient Truth

by @ 5:10. Filed under Taxes.

Barack Obama came out yesterday hammering John McCain over his support for making President Bush’s tax cuts permanent.   Instead of extending the cuts, Obama wants to remove them and reinstitute higher rates for people he considers “wealthy.”

Along with increasing personal taxes, Obama is now calling for increasing taxes on oil companies.   Obama has the mistaken belief that taxing the oil companies will somehow make Americans feel better about increasing prices  for gasoline.   Of course one item that Obama has overlooked in this effort is that the result of his additional taxes will either be higher costs for gasoline as the oil companies pass those taxes along or higher costs for gasoline and oil companies are disincented to produce gas and lower supply will drive prices higher.

And here is where the inconvenient truth comes in….

Barack Obama believes he can increase revenues to pay for all his social support programs by increasing taxes. That simply won’t work.

Tax increasing on corporations get passed along to consumers in the form of increased prices which causes consumers to buy less of the product which minimizes any tax increase and in some extreme situations, can actually reduce the overall taxes remitted.

Tax increases on individuals don’t increase revenue either. A new and significant economic law states that regardless of what the individual tax rates are, total taxes collected will equal 19.5% of GDP. This law has been dubbed Hauser’s Law after the man who did the research.

According to Mr. Hauser, the reason the rate stays constant is:

What makes Hauser’s Law work? For supply-siders there is no mystery. As Mr. Hauser said: “Raising taxes encourages taxpayers to shift, hide and underreport income. . . . Higher taxes reduce the incentives to work, produce, invest and save, thereby dampening overall economic activity and job creation.”

Putting it a different way, capital migrates away from regimes in which it is treated harshly, and toward regimes in which it is free to be invested profitably and safely. In this regard, the capital controlled by our richest citizens is especially tax-intolerant.

Now here’s where the truth become really inconvenient.

Allowing fuel prices to continue to increase will have one certain impact on the American economy, it will hurt it. Whether for truck traffic, farming, commuting for work or driving for commerce this economy relies on fuel for transportation. If we increase the price of fuel we will either increase costs or decrease transportation. Either one will ultimately have a negative impact on GDP.

Someone ought to take Obama aside, point to Hauser’s law and help him understand that no matter what he does to taxes, he won’t get any additional income without an increase in GDP. Also, to the extent he increases fuel costs or restricts transportation by either by his cap and trade nonsense, windfall profit tax, no drilling anywhere, anytime mentality, betting on “green” solutions that are no where near viability he will hurt GDP and in turn, drive revenues lower.

It must stink to be a socialist when your only real solutions are to turn back to the free market and capitalism and cry “Uncle!”

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