The first of the people who attended Americans for Prosperity’s Blogger Schools, held in Oshkosh and Madison earlier this week, has started a blog. Jessi has started up Wake Up America. Welcome to the Cheddarsphere.
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, 2008
June 13, 2008
New NRE poll – Should/will Doyle donate his golf fundraising money to flood relief?
I missed this Wisconsin GOP press release yesterday (thanks for waking me up, Kevin):
MADISON – After news broke yesterday that Governor Doyle held a campaign fundraiser instead of helping flood victims Tuesday, the Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Reince Priebus, along with conservatives across the state like radio hosts Jerry Bader and Vicki McKenna, called on Doyle to donate the money he raised golfing to the flood cause.
"With Barack Obama in the state, Obama’s top campaign staffer, Jim Doyle, gave voters a glimpse of the Democrats’ priorities this year – politics over Wisconsin families," said Priebus. "Thousands of families spent the day cleaning-up flood damage while Doyle raised thousands of dollars golfing, the least he can do is donate his proceeds to their behalf."
Governor Doyle held his golf outing Tuesday charging $1,250 a person.
###
With that, I’ve got a new poll up…
Should/will Gov. Doyle donate the proceeds of his golf outing fundraiser to flood relief?
Up to 1 answer(s) was/were allowed
- He should, but he'll hang onto all the money. (53%, 17 Vote(s))
- He shouldn't, and won't donate any of the money. (25%, 8 Vote(s))
- He should, and he will donate all of the money. (9%, 3 Vote(s))
- He shouldn't, but will donate at least some of the money. (9%, 3 Vote(s))
- He should, and he will donate some of the money. (3%, 1 Vote(s))
Total Voters: 32
Loading ...The Mornin…er, Afternoon Scramble – 6/13/2008
I have enough pseudophedrine in me to do another edition of Ask Egg, which combined with the fact that it’s Friday the 13th, means this thing’s late. Sorry about that. Hopefully this mega-edition of the Scramble will fix that.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X80Qjh9Yivs[/youtube]
- First, I’ll highlight someone at Wednesday’s AFP Blogger School who will be on my bloated roll presently. Jessi relays a whacking of Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-Madison, WI) weak response to rising gas prices by her presumptive opponent, Peter Theron.
- Charles Johnson wonders when Barack Hussein Obama will throw his brother Malik under the bus.
- Bull Dog Pundit fills Obama’s FICA tax increase full of holes.
- TexasFred finds a few ‘Rats not falling for Obama. Hopefully there’s more of them than those of us not falling for John McCain.
- Neo-Con Tastic comes back from the dead to do a wicked Photoshop as his entry to Red State’s Fake It contest. I’m a sucker for mushroom clouds.
- John Hawkins caught Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wishes the hottest ring of Hell for those of us who disagree with Michelle Obama. Sorry, Dick; that’s already occupied by your friend Saddam Hussein.
- Gabriel Malor caught another Obama supporter with a Che pic in his office. This time, it’s a Lawgiver-In-Black in Ohio.
- Ed Morrissey asks, “Think that the Florida issue is over?” Seems the Obama crowd is trying to get more delegates than they’re entitled to.
- Related to that, Jim Geraghty quotes from an e-mail sent by Obama’s Florida finance chair. Since Jim censored it, we need to do some character substitution: & = u, ^ = c, and % = k. Stay classy, Kirk Wagar.
- While I’m done with Obama, I’m not done with the ‘Rats. Jim Hoft notes the continued free-fall of the Pelosi Congress. As my fellow Morons would say, “Epic FAIL!”
- Hack-A-Chuck Part I – Shoebox hacks Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on his inconsistency over “windfall profits”. Last year, Schumer protected his constituents (investment fund managers) from an “windfall profits” tax.
- John McAdams teaches Economics 101 to the ‘Rats.
- Hack-A-Chuck Part II – Flip hacks Schumer on his inconsistency over the filibuster.
- Dupray exposes the reason behind the lack of a ‘Rat energy plan.
- Brian Faughnan notes the next step in the envirowhackos’ plan to return the US to the 17th Century – kill the Canadian oil industry through lawsuits. Considering that would put us even more at the mercy of the Islamokazis, maybe I should’ve said 8th Century.
- Headless Blogger renews his call for the end of ethanol mandates in the face of a lot of flooded-out corn fields.
- See-dubya teases us with news of 7 new refineries. Unfortunately, they’re in Iran.
- Gopfolk explores whether solar is a viable alternative. The short answer is “No”, but do read the extended answer.
- Michelle Malkin joins the calls for McCain to actually visit ANWR, and more importantly,
- Neocon catches McCain doing some waffling regarding drilling. Considering he is willing to let states veto offshore drilling, and the states with the largest unexploited developments are against it, it’s more of a case of being disingenuous than waffling.
- Uncle Jimbo takes President Bush to task for squandering the time that Club Gitmo bought us. Now, thanks to a power grab by the Lawgivers-In-Black, enemy combatants now hold more rights than the average citizen going before the IRS.
- Jim Hoft has some good news; the Brits are able to tell the difference between crossdressing Islamokazis and the women in countries dominated by Islamokazis. Since the dead tango was wearing pink, I wonder when Code Pink starts their protests.
- Elliot has the latest example of guns not killing people.
- David St. Lawrence has a timely tip for those job-hunting; beware of bait-and-switch on your salary.
- Gawfer celebrates his 500th post with a trip to the US Open. Lucky bastich; great pics.
- Speaking of Club Gitmo, Matt has pics of the American staffers having fun on the water.
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Change We Can Believe In?
Chuck Schumer, the senior Senator from New York, has been a vocal proponent of the windfall profits tax. In fact, Schumer was co-sponsor of the bill that was defeated this week in the Senate. Schumer’s rationale for the windfall profits tax was pretty straight forward:
"Oil companies are wracking up obscene profits while American families are stretched to the limit by skyrocketing gas prices," Schumer said. "It’s not asking too much to redirect a portion of these companies’ windfalls to rebuilding our roads, bridges, and tunnels that are in serious need of repair."
Schumer actually believes that some level of profit is unwarranted.
Interestingly, a year earlier, Schumer had a different perspective about obscene profits. In 2007, Schumer stood in the way of a windfall profits tax on investment fund executives who reaped enormous incomes.
From the NY Times:
But there is another way Mr. Schumer has been busy with hedge fund and private equity managers, an important part of his constituency in New York. He has been reassuring them that he will resist an effort led by members of his own party to single out the industry with a plan that would more than double the taxes on the enormous profits reaped by its executives.
Schumer’s hypocrisy is not noteworthy. What is noteworthy is the advice he was giving his Democrat colleagues when they wanted to increase the executive’s taxes:
"Unintended consequences often occur when you do major tax work. And you have to be careful," Mr. Schumer said in the interview, held in his office just off the Senate floor.
Wow, unintended consequences! Obviously Chuckie had figured out all of the consequences of a windfall profit tax on the oil companies…or maybe there was nothing that was unintended?
But wait, the best is this…Schumer had found a way to ensure that the bill would fail. He tied other industries to the tax. Industries he knew no one would possibly look to increase taxes on:
But in his conversations with Wall Street executives about the tax proposals, Mr. Schumer said, he has told them that he would oppose a tax increase as long as it did not also apply to other industries, like energy and real estate.
So let’s recap:
A year ago, it wasn’t fair to impose a windfall profit tax on one industry
A year ago, Schumer thought that energy companies were off limits for increased taxes
In the last year, Schumer has continued to fleece Wall Street execs for contributions to the Democrats
Maybe Schumer should be planning Obama’s campaign strategy. At least Schumer’s hypocritical and self serving change in position over the past year is change we can believe in!
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June 12, 2008
More incoming…
Constant thunder, but other than that, nothing yet…
TORNADO WARNING
WIC079-122000-
/O.NEW.KMKX.TO.W.0028.080612T1936Z-080612T2000Z/BULLETIN – EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
236 PM CDT THU JUN 12 2008THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR…
SOUTHERN MILWAUKEE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN…* UNTIL 300 PM CDT
* AT 233 PM CDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR FRANKLIN…
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 39 MPH.* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR…
MILWAUKEE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT…CUDAHY…SOUTH MILWAUKEE AND WEST
MILWAUKEE BY 245 PM CDT…
ST. FRANCIS…MILWAUKEE HOAN BRIDGE AND DOWNTOWN MILWAUKEE BY 250
PM CDT…A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM CDT THURSDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN.LAT…LON 4284 8804 4285 8805 4298 8805 4308 8785
4306 8784 4303 8787 4300 8786 4298 8782
4291 8782
TIME…MOT…LOC 1936Z 239DEG 34KT 4291 8800$$
BORGHOFF
R&E (2:48 pm 6/12/2008) – Storm passing north. Things got real quiet, almost clear to the southwest. Weather Underground isn’t showing a vortex signature.
R&E part 2 (2:55 pm 6/12/2008) – That was close. The warning’s cancelled, but the cancellation message included something ominous – trained spotters observed a rotating wall cloud about 1.5 miles west of the airport. That would be too close to comfort.
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The Morning Scramble/Open Thread Thursday – 6/12/2008
I wish the weather weren’t going to be changing for the worse, but you know what they say about sticking one hand under the wish fountain and the other under a faucet…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9bt3bmnsPY[/youtube]
- Dad29 has the latest piece of evidence that Red China is not our friend; they’re hacking into the federally-owned computers used by Representatives that see through the facade.
- Ace and Slublog proudly present the Obamination High Ground-Clearance Bus SluShop.
- Jim Hoft dips into the memory vault to catch what Jimmy Carter said about Barack Obama before the Peanut Farmer endorsed the Bus Driver.
- Josh Schroeder came up with the perfect slogan regarding Obama – “Chance We Can’t Afford To Take”.
- Stephan Tawney caught Obama with yet another flip-flop. I wonder what his Appeasment-At-All-Costs base will do once they catch wind of this one, especially since they rejected Hillary Clinton as a Joanie-Come-Lately.
- Plebian introduces Candidate GPS.
- Mary (and Mark Belling) catch Gov. Jim Doyle golfing at his personal annual fundraiser yesterday as towns wash away and freeways are threatened. Doyle essentially treated the flood as an inconvenience, starting his day at the outing, bailing for a short while to hold a press conference, and then returning. No wonder why his full title here at NRE is Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale).
- Bruce thanks the last ‘Rat President for $4/gallon gas. That’s right, even the USA Today admits that ANWR oil would be flowing now if Bill Clinton hadn’t vetoed the authorization to drill back in 1995.
- Second dose of the Gateway Pundit; he notes that the gas-price protests in Europe have turned deadly. And yet the ‘Rats want to emulate the European level of taxation.
One more thought on that; I guess it isn’t all the collapsed dollar’s fault that gas prices are high here.
- JammieWearingFool has some good news for those headed south of the border. From the halls of Montezuma….
- James T. Harris runs the Chicago carnage during National Bike to Work Week. 2 dead so far this week, 5 since October. That allows me to break out my favorite movie question, “Is it safe?”
So it’s a bit longer than the usual bare-bones Thursday. Don’t let that stop you from contributing.
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Oak Creek flood closures update – 6/12/2008 AM
As of 7 am this morning, there are only two roads closed in Oak Creek with either flooding or flood-related damage:
– E. County Line Rd. between 10th Ave. and Nicholson Rd.
– E. Drexel Ave. between Clement Ave. and Quincy Ave. (crews were working on repairing the damage a bit before 7).
Since 1-3 inches of rain is in the forecast for today and tomorrow, expect some roads that were closed and reopened to be closed again.
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June 11, 2008
Oak Creek flooding update – 1 pm 6/11/2008
Doug Seymour, the Director of Community Development, just released an update:
Oak Creek Storm Response Update
The state of emergency declared by Mayor Bolender, Saturday, June 7th remains in effect in response to flooding that has occurred in the City of Oak Creek.
As of Wednesday, June 11th at 12:30 p.m. the only road that remained closed due to flooding was South Pennsylvania Avenue from Oakwood Road to STH 100.
East Drexel Avenue between Clement Avenue and Quincy Avenue is closed until further notice because of road damage due to the flooding.
Future road closure information will be updated at the City of Oak Creek website. (www.oakcreekwi.org).
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 have experienced flooding damage or if you have other, non-emergency questions relating to this event.
Additional information and resources are available on the City’s website at www.oakcreekwi.org
The City of Oak Creek Streets Department will be having a special curb-side pick-up for flood damaged items. Please contact (414) 570-5682 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###
In addition, the recycling center at 720 W. Puetz Rd. will have extended hours on Friday, and will be open from 8 am until 8 pm.
Thanks for the fast response. Hopefully the rains in the forecast for tomorrow will hold off.
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27th Street southbound now reopened
Per JSOnline’s DayWatch, 27th Street between Elm Rd. and I-94 has been reopened. Earlier, I had noted that the barricades in the southbound lanes but not the northbound lanes just south of Elm had been moved aside, and that the “road closed ahead” signs at 27th and Ryan were still up.
However, the DOT still lists the off-ramp from north/westbound I-94 to 27th as closed. That ramp is, if memory serves, lower than the rest of the area, so it may well still be flooded.
I also have a request in to Oak Creek for an updated list of closures in the city. Their website hasn’t been updated yet today, but other than that bit of slowness, they’ve been quite good at providing information.
Hopefully the National Weather Service is going to be wrong about a fresh round of heavy-rainfall storms coming in tomorrow.
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Roll bloat – guest-blogging edition
Mainly because I’m guest-blogging at E’s place, I finally remembered to add a couple of friends of E:
– American and Proud
– TexasFred’s
I really should have done this long before now, but better late than never.
The Morning Scramble – 6/11/2008
How long have I been doing this? Oh well; let’s continue flying…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWw0BXpGwu4[/youtube]
- Ace caught Mad Vlad’s man in the oil business saying, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet on these prices.” Tell me again how the Sovie…er, Russia is now our friend.
- Lawhawk explores using the gas weapon on Iran. No, not the ones that Saddam Hussein used; the ones the lieberals are using against us (the lack of refining capacity).
- Jim Lynch puts the ‘Rat energy policy in a nutshell (with the emphasis on “nut”).
- Dad29 has a plan to get back to $2.10/gallon gas.
- It isn’t through biodiesel; James Wigderson asks whether we taxpayers can get our $250,000 back after construction on the biodiesel plant planned for Evansville was stopped because of "rapidly rising commodity prices and the decision by a key lender to withdraw from its loan commitment."
- Just because I can, Allahpundit has tape of Michelle Malkin offering the sane solution to the oil crisis. PSA time – Everybody, sign Newt Gingrich’s petition ; Wisconsinites, also sign Phil Williamson’s petition.
- Slublog wishes John McCain wouldn’t go off the rails. Same here, Slu; I just don’t have the mad SluShop Skillz.
- Ed Morrissey has news of a new “conservatives-only” PAC started up by Sen. Jim DeMint. Sounds interesting.
- Plebian breaks out in song to Barack Obama. Trust me, it’s wicked good (besides, would I Rick-roll you?).
- Dean has the dream ticket for Republicans. I will say this, an Obama/Hillary Clinton ticket would ensure that the Dems are not competitive in the “mushy middle”.
- Bull Dog Pundit asks, “What makes a profit a ‘windfall’?” Answer; not enough cash kicked back to the party in power, specifically, the ‘Rats.
- Anwyn lays the linguistic smackdown on “education”.
- Speaking of education, Chris the head barkeep (or more-accurately, his oldest son) found out the hard way that grades bear little correlation to one’s accomplishments. I’ll remind everybody that Albert Einstein was considered a failure in mathematics.
- Uncle Jimbo has unleashed the Dead Tangos: The Totally Unrated DVD. My birthday’s coming up soon (hint, hint).
- Doubleplusundead has some Peeps video for those of you already jonesing for more HamNation. Air Peeps!
- Paddy O’Furniture breaks out a laundry list of how stupid we’ve become over the last 50 years. I know Paddy usually doesn’t look for publicity, but this one’s just too good.
- William Teach figures out which party is truly responsible for Gorebal “Warming”. Do note that it is a demonstrated fact that highly-urban areas are warmer than rural areas, and also note which party tends to dominate highly-urban areas.
- Fred has the Drinking Right Quotes from last night. As always, they’re taken way out of context.
- There are a bunch of places I could have taken this one from, but since Kevin Fischer asked whether the NBA has turned into the WWE, I’ll use him as the source. To answer the question it’s not a corinkidink that the most-obvious examples, as well as the one that’s the subject of the hot-and-heavy rumors, happened while the NBA was on NBC, and that NBC is the longtime home of what is now the WWE on network TV.
Let’s see if I can come up with some good stuff for Silent E while he’s on vacation. I’m one of those he left the keys of the blog to (I helped move his and Kate’s blogs to a more-reliable server).
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Oak Creek flood closures winding down
Most of the east-west routes are now open, but most of the north-south routes are still closed. What is still closed:
– E. County Line Rd. between 10th Ave and Nicholson Rd.
– S. Pennsylvania Ave. between Ryan Rd. and Oakwood Rd.
– S. Nicholson Rd. between County Line Rd. and Vista Dr. in Caledonia (the first barricade is now at Oakwood; no barricade at Elm halfway between Oakwood and County Line; I expect it to reopen once Caledonia cleans up the road just south of County Line)
– S. Howell Ave (STH 38) between Oakwood Rd. and Caddy Ln. in Caledonia
– S. 27th St (STH 241) between Elm Rd. and I-94 (includes the I-94-to-27th off-ramp and the west frontage road in Racine County, but not 8 Mile Rd./County Line Rd.; somebody moved the barricades from the southbound lanes but not the northbound lanes at Elm; I expect it to officially reopen sometime today)
Roads closed yesterday that are now open:
– E. Forest Hill Ave. between Pennsylvania Ave. and Shepard Ave.
– E. Ryan Rd. between Pennsylvania Ave. and Nicholson Rd.
– E. Oakwood Rd. between John Aron Dr. and Redwood Ln.
– E. Elm Rd. between 10th Ave. and Nicholson Rd.
– S. 13th St. between Oakwood Rd. and the Milwaukee/Racine county line.
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It’s About Time!
Yesterday the Republicans formally introduced a petition that would force immediate consideration of the No More Excuses Energy Act (H.R. 3089). The act has over 50 authors, representing at least 24 states. The act is brief and to the point with a focus on growing energy production in the US. The act reads:
No More Excuses Energy Act of 2007 – Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations for the taxpayer election to expense the cost of certain refinery property not later than 60 days after the enactment of this Act.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow the issuance of tax exempt facility bonds for the financing of domestic use oil refinery facilities; (2) extend through 2018 the tax credit for producing electricity from wind facilities; and (3) allow tax credits for the production of electricity from nuclear energy, natural gas production, and carbon dioxide tertiary injectant processes.
Requires the President to designate at least 10 sites for oil or natural gas refineries on federal lands and make such sites available to the private sector for construction of refineries.
Prohibits the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from denying an application for nuclear waste disposal on the grounds of present or future insufficient capacity.
Terminates all existing federal laws prohibiting expenditures to conduct oil and natural gas leasing and preleasing activities in the Outer Continental Shelf.
American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act – Directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish and implement a competitive oil and gas leasing program in the Coastal Plain of Alaska.
Repeals the prohibition against producing oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Sets forth requirements for the sale of oil and natural gas leases in the Coastal Plain, environmental protection, transportation easements, and royalty payments to Alaska.
Establishes in the Treasury the Coastal Plain Local Government Impact Aid Assistance Fund to assist Alaska jurisdictions that are directly impacted by oil and gas exploration and production in the Coastal Plain.
The act has been held up in committee since July of last year. It will require signatures of by two-thirds of the House members to move it to the floor.
I consider getting the required number of signatures a long shot but it should show who’s willing to “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk!”
Make sure and ping your Representative, especially if they are a Dem and encourage, cajole, harass them until they sign the petition! If they don’t, this ought to be all the ammo required to put them in the unemployment line in November.
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That’s it, I’m Done
Yesterday the Senate had the “wind fall taxes” on oil companies bill before them. In a 51-43 vote, the Republicans were able to kill this ignorant, patronizing and pandering bill.
Unfortunately, 6 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, they were:
- Grassley, IA
- Collins, ME
- Snowe, ME
- Smith, OR
- Warner, VA
- Coleman, MN
And it’s that last vote that makes me say I’m done.
Coleman is a RINO in every bad connotation of that word. He was a Democrat for years and became a Republican only because it was expedient for him to do so to further his political career.
Coleman believes in global warming, he believes in cap and trade, he won’t drill in ANWR, he has a lifetime Conservative voting record of 68.
I don’t like his position on many issues but I could give him some cover under the “we’ll agree to disagree” argument. However, when a simple issue like artificially taxing a business because you don’t like them, comes up and he doesn’t have the courage of his convictions to vote NO, than I will show him how it’s done.
I will not vote for Coleman in November. Neither will I vote for Franken.
I wonder if the Libertarians have a candidate for Senate?
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
This article claims that Roger Clemens and other MLB players take Viagra to enhance their, ah, “game performance!”
No, really, the BALCO folks claim it’s better than other “nutritional” supplements players can take.
So I’ve got a couple of questions (pardon my Al Franken impression):
- I know it’s strengthens wood but how does it work with Aluminum?
- Would you need to wear a special cup during the game?
- What would happen if the team had provocative cheerleaders? Would the game get called?
The mind reels!
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June 10, 2008
Obama conceding 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
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?
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Law of unintended consequences, minimum wage edition
(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”.
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The Obama Policy Generator
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 PunditDemocratic 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.
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Drinking Right – TONIGHT!
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
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 LineRoad 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.
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The Morning Scramble – 6/10/2008
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]
- Americans for Prosperity and Phil Williamson are looking for a few thousand signatures on a petition urging the politicians to allow new drilling and refining here by July 26 to give to Sens. Kohl and Feingold. I’ll be repeating this on a regular basis until then.
- The gang at Blogs4Bauer unmasked “Abu Bubear”. It’s nice to see Dave Bauer was paying attention when Pappy was training the boys in torture.
- The Bar Slaves have issued the call for Morons to meet somewhere around Detroit the end of the month. I have but two words – ROAD TRIP!
- Tom McMahon delivers a coup de grace to the ‘Rat Race.
- Ace and Slublog proudly present the Surfin’ Messiah. Sort of looks familiar, has the same policies as the last windsurfing candidate.
- Charles Johnson has sent what Emperor Misha calls the Obamessiah Site Scrubber Teamâ„¢ on a futile chase to scrub the anti-Semites from the Barack Hussein Obama campaign blogs. Screencaps truly are a blogger’s best friend and worst enemy rolled into one.
- Ace points to the definitive ballistic review of the Toyota Prius.
- From the “Here we go again” bureau, Owen calls the ‘Rat plan to jack up taxes on “Big Oil” a joke. I’ll remind everybody once again that the ‘Rats are perfectly fine with obscenely-high gas prices…as long as government gets the money.
- Dagney Taggert asks, “Who is responsible for high gas prices?” I know, I’ve highlighted this before, but until it sinks in, I’ll keep on keeping on. Bonus item; there’s a lot of corn fields now under water in the Farm Belt. Care to guess what’s going to happen to the price of ethanol?
- Cindy Kilkenny catches Obama not getting the answer to that question.
- Gawfer found out that it’s all about the money for the Gorebal Warming crowd. In true Fascist fashion, the “green” companies are not satified with the natural marketplace and are using the power of gubmint mandates to create the market.
- Genes has the latest example of the decline and fall of the Royal Navy.
- The Vintage one asks why “no-government libertarians” want Big Gubmint to protect by fiat a particular theory on how we got to be. And Nick wonders why I’ll never be either a big-L or small-l libertarian….
- Ed Morrissey proves even a blind ‘Rat can find cheese now and again. Ed Markey has a great point about the US helping Saudi Arabia (yes, that Saudi Arabia) go nuclear.
- JammieWearingFool breaks out the world’s smallest violin for the Club Gitmo guests who some moonbat mental health group is worried about. I’ll say they lost their sanity when they chose to engage the US military.
- Michelle Malkin notes New York City is a hotbed of genital herpes despite giving out roughly 12 condoms for every male (sexually active or not) over the past year.
- The Game points out how nationalized health care of the type in (not-so) Great Britain would have killed Ted Kennedy before he was diagnosed with his cancer.
- Rick Moran has a plan to survive the next 8 years. Guess I’ll have a head start on the last item; Drinking Right is tonight.
- James Wigderson has been driven away from public education by the oh-so-tolerant </sarcasm> educrats.
Still only 2 ways out of Oak Creek to the south
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.
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I’m Not The Al Franken I’ve Known For 57 Years
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?
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A Not Made Up Inconvenient Truth
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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