Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend: 

Velma Hart: Citizen Journalist

“Shaming the White House press corps, a regular American named Velma Hart recently asked President Barack Obama the toughest question he has heard since being elected to the Oval Office.

Devastating.

The president was taken aback ..”

Top 10 Failures of Obamanomics

“Simply put, candidates who propose job-creating policies and show how their opponent’s policies are killing jobs will win decisively in 2010……so let’s examine the top 10 job-killing policies of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid machine.”

The Tax Hikes Cometh

“Let’s examine what the 111th Congress has accomplished so far. There was a $1 trillion stimulus bill that failed to jumpstart the economy. There was a $1 trillion health care overhaul that the public did not want. There was a financial bill that gave huge amounts of power to unelected regulators. And now, for their final trick, the Democrats who run Congress have decided to leave Washington without doing anything to prevent the largest tax increase in history. God only knows what they are planning for an encore.”

House Democrats Pass Bill to Grill School Children about Sexual Preference

“Introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), H.R. 6109 requires HHS to obtain, retain and analyze sexual identity information from patients who seek healthcare, including children.”

A two-step process to fight poverty

“Everybody wants to make themselves feel better by throwing someone else’s money at the problem, but what many people don’t seem to notice is that it seldom improves the situation. Yes, it will cost money to fight poverty, but there’s a smart way and a dumb way to do it. The dumb way to do it is our current system. Here’s the smart way to do it.”

The waste of recycling

“Green evangelists believe that recycling our trash is ‘good for the planet’ — that it conserves resources and is more environmentally friendly. But recycling household waste consumes resources, too.”

Happy Smelly Cheese Day

“These early autumn months are filled with some ‘holidays’ that are worth paying attention to.”

Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend:

9/11, a 2061 memorial

“On the 60^th anniversary of 9/11 memorial service, president of the United States of America, Hussein Ali, delivered an uplifting speech at the Cordoba House mosque at ground zero in lower Manhattan. New York City mayor Mohammed Ahmed Abdullah as well as many other dignitaries and a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands filling the surrounding streets with their prayer rugs, also joined to commemorate the 60 year old tragedy.

Below is the text of President Ali speech:”

How Obama Thinks

“Barack Obama is the most antibusiness president in a generation, perhaps in American history. Thanks to him the era of big government is back. Obama runs up taxpayer debt not in the billions but in the trillions. He has expanded the federal government’s control over home mortgages, investment banking, health care, autos and energy. The Weekly Standard summarizes Obama’s approach as omnipotence at home, impotence abroad.”

Like, is Sarah Palin totally conceited?

“’Sometimes when she went out in public, people were unkind. Once, while shopping at Target, a man saw Palin and hollered, ‘Oh my God! It’s Tina Fey! I love Tina Fey!’ When other shoppers started laughing, the governor parked her cart, walked out of the store, and drove away.’ (That jackass was lucky Sarah didn’t have her moose rifle with her.)

A random encounter with a rude, abusive jerk in public is supposed to make her look bad? Liberals have really lost their minds about Palin. They’d laugh if someone hit her with a baseball bat.”

The evolution of the Tea Party movement

“The Tea Party movement is broad-based with wide support. Over half of the electorate now say they favor the Tea Party movement, around 35 percent say they support the movement, 20 to 25 percent self-identify as members of the movement, and 2 to 7 percent say they are activists.

The data is particularly clear, and some polls have shown that the Tea Party movement is the most popular force in American politics … and is increasingly been recognized as such by a media that was, at the very least, late to the party”

Throwing the bums out is harder than it looks

“Before everyone succumbs to election season delirium, it’s worth taking a moment to remember that no matter how peeved the American population fancies itself, no matter how dramatic a change of partisan control in one or both houses might seem, one thing is certain: The vast majority of the current Congress can count on returning to Washington and business as usual.”

Lessons of the Koran’s non-burning

“While it’s fashionable in some precincts to smear America as a nation of Islamophobes whose bigotry plays into the hands of extremists, the reverse is closer to the truth.”

Money is not what schools need

“U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently claimed: ‘Districts around the country have literally been cutting for five, six, seven years in a row. And, many of them, you know, are through, you know, fat, through flesh and into bone … .’

Really? They cut spending five to seven consecutive years?

Give me a break!

Andrew Coulson, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, writes that out of 14,000 school districts in the United States, just seven have cut their budgets seven years in a row. How about five years in a row? Just 87. That’s a fraction of 1 percent in each case.”

American priorities out of sync

“Because our so-called news media is focused on telling us what they think we want to hear instead of what we need to hear, we are deluged with celebrity sludge stories. Americans know Lindsay Lohan spent time in jail, that Paris Hilton was recently busted for possessing cocaine, and that Mel Gibson left some angry messages on his former girlfriend’s phone. If these stories were food they would be junk food.”

State’s vehicle testing program emits no common sense

“Making people drive cars of any age to a special emissions testing center is a colossal waste of time and money.”

Recession?

What recession?

I bet ol’ Michelle  is proud to be an American now!

From  Charlie Sykes’ blog: 

Scott Walker

Milwaukee County 74%

Ozaukee County 80%

Racine County 68%

Washington 78%

Waukesha County 77%

Rebecca Kleefisch

Waukesha County 71%

Racine County 66%

Ozaukee County 65%

Milwaukee County 67%

Washington County 69%

Turnout gap: GOP votes for governor: 614,231. DEM vote: 233,119.

Mark Neumann lost the primary by 20 points…. but still got more votes than Tom Barrett: Neumann 237,755; Barrett 210,866.

Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend:

Why We Treat Obama Like a Dog

“The only person who has ever likened President Obama to a dog is President Obama, who once declared that he was a ‘mutt’ and a member of a ‘mongrel people.’

In reality, there’s a reason nobody has compared Obama to a dog: dogs are likeable. They are friendly and loyal. They are man’s best friend, as opposed to King Abdullah’s best friend.”

Why we miss Bush

“Various polls report that George W. Bush in some states is now better liked than President Obama. Even some liberal pundits call for Bush to weigh in on the Ground Zero mosque or the Arizona anti-immigration legislation.

Suddenly, Bush is missed. Why? Let me list 10 likely reasons.”

2011: Major tax shocks coming

“Guess what could be coming to a paycheck near you?

Some of the largest tax increases in American history, by almost all objective analyses, unless Congress acts.

Federal tax hikes set to take effect in 2011 would hit virtually every working American, regardless of the level of household income.

Because of the protracted health care debate this past year, many citizens missed the words and actions – in some cases, inactions – of the Obama administration and Congress on taxes, so here’s a summary of the changes scheduled to take place next year.”

What Liberals Say vs. What They Mean

“Many of us have been raised to think that words mean things. Then there’s Democrats. From those infamous phrases like ‘It depends on what the definition of what ‘is’ is’ of yore to the newfangled ‘man-caused disasters’ of today, Democrats have so abused the English language as to make it completely unrecognizable to Mr. Johnson.

Here are a few words and phrases that liberals use all the time that are conundrums in as much as the words themselves actually say just the opposite of what liberals mean by them.”

Voter rolls. We see dead people. Does the DOJ?

“America’s voter rolls are a mess. But you can’t count on the Deparrtment of Social Justice and corruptocrat Attorney General Eric Holder to clean them up. It’s another job the feds won’t do. Time for ordinary citizens to step up to the plate. Thanks to a provision in federal law, you can pick up the slack.”

Smartest President in History Botches Oval Office Rug Quote

“The botched Oval Office rug becomes a precious symbol of the Obama presidency, based on an image fabricated out of symbols rather than substance and misappropriating valuable elements of America’s history. The only question remaining is whether or not President Obama will choose to keep the rug in his office.”

Wait, Pay, Cough

“In an effort to pass a ridiculous regulation and then declare a victory in the drug war, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering a rule that would require a physician’s prescription for your favorite off-the-shelf cough medicine.

Yes, I know; I can’t believe it either.”

Cities increasingly turning to ‘trash police’

“Beware the green police. They don’t carry guns and there’s no police academy to train them, but if you don’t recycle your trash properly, they can walk up your driveway and give you a $100 ticket. 

They know what’s in your trash, they know what you eat, they know how often you bring your recycles to the curb — and they may be coming to your town soon. That is, if they’re not already there.”

Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend:

Seriously, you people have a problem with restoring honor?

“The venom-mill has been churning in regard to this event for weeks now, but it’s been in overdrive today, and Glenn Beck and those who turned out for the rally are being mocked. No real surprise there.  Personally, I think anyone who can find anything to mock in the sentiment of restoring honor to our country and its leaders must be one sad sack of a person.”

Beware of the Obama tax increases

“Democrats want Americans to believe that by letting tax rates rise they have discovered religion as deficit cutters. But after a two-year assault on the federal trough in which Congress passed the notoriously wasteful stimulus and added a new health care entitlement, few Americans are even bothering to listen. In reality, the harm this tax increase will inflict on jobs and gross domestic product will strongly outweigh any presumed boost in tax revenues.”

How ‘brilliant’ can Obama be?

“What and where is the proof that Obama is such a sharp fellow? The recorded evidence is unavailable since his academic records, and test scores from three universities are sealed at his demand. Sure, he graduated from Harvard, But so did George Bush, who earned an MBA but is still pilloried by some as dumber than dirt. We shall have to examine Obama’s performance and make our own assumptions based on observations.”

Obama’s Achilles Hell: He’s not African-American

“When Obama declared himself African-American, and not mixed race or biracial as some had hoped, the African American community celebrated with jubilee. To us, Obama’s bold assertion meant that he identified with the African-American experience.  It was proof that he’d accepted the chivalrous invitation of the African-American community and would soon glide into our open arms to meet our soft far embrace.  So far, much to our dismay, he’s proven to be a bit of a playboy.”

Our failing immigration courts

“One month ago – without notice to Congress, without a word to the American people – the Department of Homeland Security began dismissing from U.S. immigration courts the cases of thousands of illegal aliens. The department says it will focus its efforts on removing criminal aliens. Aliens without serious criminal histories – 250,000 by some estimates – will be left alone. This policy closely follows last August’s announcement by the department that it would not deport fugitive aliens – aliens who skipped court or disobeyed orders to leave the United States. These policies assure that more illegal immigration will follow – with illegals confident that the administration, which refuses to secure this nation’s borders, will not remove those who enter and remain illegally.”

Liberals losing the cultural wars

“Beginning in the 1960s, God was driven out of American public life because liberals said the Constitution demanded a separation of church and state.

Planned Parenthood was part of a campaign that convinced many Americans that killing unborn babies was really a defense of a woman’s constitutional right to choose.

The ACLU sued to define ‘free speech’  to include vandalism, sacrilegious art, and spitting on returning veterans of the Vietnam War.

Even more depressing, the drive for equal rights for liberated slaves, begun by Republicans during and after the Civil War, morphed into a liberal affirmative action program which reintroduced privilege based on skin color.

In 2010, the tide has turned.”

In campaigns, entrepreneurs get busy

“In his campaign for Congress, Wisconsin Republican Chad Lee bought cut-outs of Nancy Pelosi and other politicians he opposes from VictoryStore.com. Some of the signs have been stolen.”

A slower Labor Day road trip

“I’m planning a road trip this Labor Day weekend, along with as many as 34.4 million of my fellow Americans. I just hope I can get out of town.”

Your love and respect for our troops is REAL!

President Obama addresses the nation tonight about the war in Iraq.

I strongly suspect he will not use the word “victory.” He will not admit he was wrong about the surge he adamantly opposed with other leading Democrats. He will not give credit to President Bush.

Our arrogant, egotistical Commander-in-Chief has already begun touting his successes. From his weekly radio address Saturday:

“As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war.  As President, that is what I am doing.  We have brought home more than 90,000 troops since I took office.  We have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases.  In many parts of the country, Iraqis have already taken the lead for security.

In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counterterrorism missions, and protect our civilian and military efforts.  But the bottom line is this: the war is ending.  Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course.  And by the end of next year, all of our troops will be home.”

Earlier this month in Atlanta, the president told disabled veterans he was keeping a campaign promise to end the war “on schedule.” The problem is, the timetable for ending the war was scheduled long before he took office. It occurred on President Bush’s watch. CNS News reports:

“The timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops in Iraq was decided during the Bush administration with the signing of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) by U.S. and Iraq officials on Nov. 16, 2008. The Iraqi parliament signed SOFA on Nov. 27, 2008.
 
The agreement, which had been in negotiations since 2007, set a timetable calling for most U.S. troops to leave Iraqi towns and cities by June 30, 2009, with about 50,000 troops left in place until the final withdrawal of all U.S. military forces by Dec. 31, 2011.”

Stephen Hadley writes in today’s Wall Street Journal:

“The U.S. effort in Iraq is not over. Some 50,000 U.S. troops, together with a robust diplomatic presence, continue to train and assist Iraq’s security forces and support its democratic progress. The American people, our coalition allies and especially the Iraqi people have paid an enormous price. It is important to remember why.

For over two decades, the regime of Saddam Hussein had threatened the national security of the United States, its key allies and the stability of the Middle East. It had invaded some of its neighbors (Iran and Kuwait) and threatened others (including Saudi Arabia and Israel). It had produced weapons of mass destruction, used them on its own people and the people of Iran, and threatened to use them against others.

Perhaps the most critical moment was President Bush’s decision in January 2007 to add over 20,000 American combat troops and change the military strategy. He was actively opposed by a majority of the Congress and a commentariat that argued for everything from withdrawing immediately to partitioning the country.

Following Mr. Bush’s decision, U.S. military forces and diplomats forged an unprecedented partnership to implement the new strategy and break the back of an insurgency that threatened to tear the country apart. Their success permitted the United States to begin withdrawing its troops in December 2007. By December 2008, Mr. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could sign agreements providing both a long-term U.S.-Iraqi partnership and the withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 2011.”

President Obama deserves no credit for the current developments in Iraq. He opposed the war, and until recently, has shown little regard for our troops. Don’t be fooled by anything he pontificates tonight.

Every Sunday morning on my blog at FranklinNOW.com, I post a list of highly recommended columns from the previous week.  Here is this week’s compilation that should keep you busy:

Cheapskating to victory

“(Scott) Walker is running for governor hoping to galvanize what he calls a ‘Brown Bag Movement.’ He visits workplaces around the state during lunch hour and after a short speech takes questions from the workers who show up to hear him. Every seat has a brown paper lunch bag with a short saying. ‘I have to brown bag it so I can pay Wisconsin’s taxes’ or ‘I’d be eating out if government wasn’t gobbling up all of my money’ or ‘Wisconsin is Tax Hell!’

It’s cheesy, but, like the salary ad, it seems to be working. When I mentioned to a Washington-based political reporter that I was headed to Wisconsin to profile Walker, he said: ‘Oh, the Brown Bag guy’.”

Is it time to listen to Paul Ryan’s economic prescription?

“Who is this guy? It would be no surprise if he turned out to be a wealthy financier who had taken up budget policy as a retirement hobby (like Peter G. Peterson) or a professional forecaster whose views on consumer spending are bearish (like Gary Shilling). The surprise is that Ryan is an elected official. He’s running for election to a seventh term in Congress, representing a district with a razor-thin Republican edge south of Milwaukee.

Mess with Social Security? Are voters ready for this? Maybe they are. Those trillion-dollar deficits can’t go on much longer.”

Democrats betrayed us

“Wonder why voters will hand the GOP a crushing victory in November? It’s the trust, stupid.”

It’s the stupid season, stupid

“If you vote for Tom Barrett because you think Scott Walker gleefully employs racists at the highest levels of his campaign, you’re stupid, and shouldn’t be voting. If you vote for Russ Feingold because you think Ron Johnson will make it even slightly harder for you to kill animals and people with barely regulated deadly weapons, you’re stupid.”

The last refuge of a liberal

“Now we know why the country has become ‘ungovernable,’  last year’s excuse for the Democrats’ failure of governance: Who can possibly govern a nation of racist, nativist, homophobic Islamophobes?

Note what connects these issues. In every one, liberals have lost the argument in the court of public opinion. Majorities — often lopsided majorities — oppose President Obama’s social-democratic agenda (e.g., the stimulus, Obamacare), support the Arizona law, oppose gay marriage and reject a mosque near Ground Zero.

What’s a liberal to do? Pull out the bigotry charge, the trump that preempts debate and gives no credit to the seriousness and substance of the contrary argument. The most venerable of these trumps is, of course, the race card.”

Women behaving badly

“I hereby present—with full chromosomal immunity—a rundown of things women have been doing to totally screw themselves since winning the right to vote.”

Where are the new jobs?

“The problem today is that the economy is not being left alone. Instead, it is haunted by uncertainty on a hundred fronts. When rules are unintelligible and unpredictable, when new workers are potential threats because of Labor Department regulations, businesses have little confidence to hire. President Obama’s vaunted legislative record not only left entrepreneurs with the burden of bigger government, it also makes it impossible for them to accurately estimate the new burden.

In at least three big areas—health insurance, financial regulation, and taxes—no one can know what will happen.”

Public pensions and our fiscal future

“Few Californians in the private sector have $1 million in savings, but that’s effectively the retirement account they guarantee to public employees who opt to retire at age 55 and are entitled to a monthly, inflation-protected check of $3,000 for the rest of their lives.”

Pols clueless on Ground Zero mosque

“The angry national debate over Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s intention to build a mosque two blocks north of the horror of 9/11 at Ground Zero has been further fueled by supporter Nancy Pelosi declaring, ‘I join those who have called for looking into how … this opposition to the mosque is being funded.’ If one of her sleuths knocks on my door, this opponent will readily state that I need no outside funding as a reporter who is deeply investigating the motivation of Imam Rauf’s choice of this site of mass murder for the mosque.” 

The real radio hatemongers

“The hypocrites. Leftists say outrageous things on the radio routinely, things they truly mean, too, and those remarks never see the light of day on ABC, CBS and NBC. Talking about the N-word is wrong but wishing death on political enemies is OK when the rhetorical bombs are dropped on conservatives. The

Media has a new report chronicling who the real radio hatemongers are. Research Center

Start with …”

It is incredibly uproarious to watch unfold. Democrats, who historically eat their own, with critical elections coming in the fall, are beating each other up.

Seems a fair a number of liberal bloggers, you know, oh, let’s just pick one to give you a clear picture………..

Yes, I’m talking about the ones who generally hide behind cowardly anonymous monikers and can’t argue their way through a wet paper bag and resort to sophomoric attacks generally laced with profanities….yeh, that’s the bunch…..have been moaning and groaning and whining and crying that the great Obamessiah, the almighty who was going to turn us into the USSR overnight has just been too slow in ramming socialism and uber-liberalism down our throats. It’s bad enough how he’s damaged the country. These ignoramuses want him to do more and they want it NOW!

Out behind the curtain, stepping up to the podium is the Commander- in -chief’s  #1 butt kisser, Robert Gibbs!!!

Obama’s top spokesman angered the Rhoades scholars by saying they need to be drug-tested.

Bravo, Mr. Gibbs! The first thing you got right since you took the job!

Again, does November sound or seem like anything important to the donkey party?

Fight!

Fight!

There’s a fight over here!

There goes Gibbs!

And there goes one knuckle-dragging liberal blogger after another!

This is an honest to God real hoot! Some yahoos propped behind their computers attacking, not right-wingers, but their own leader and the guy who speaks for their own leader!

And my goodness. Shouldn’t Gibbs just be ignoring this sorry lot of nobodies?

What harmony!

What unity!

The warm and fuzzy party, giving each other bolo punches and brass knuckles!

Here’s what I’m talking about. For conservatives, this will mean a million laughs.

John Hawkins at Right Wing News (what candor, huh?) has compiled a list of numerous liberal bloggers and their angst over Robert Gibbs suggesting they’re high on dope. Here is just one example:

“Joe and I are upset with Obama, and we, for example, raised nearly $43,000 for the man, According to the White House, our money now doesn’t count. Great, would they like to give it back? I for one, would love the $1000 back that I personally donated to the Obama campaign. Joe gave even more. I suspect a lot of our readers wouldn’t mind their contributions back too, since apparently they’re not appreciated.

Then there’s all that work we did for the campaign, all the dirty work they asked us to do – and we did it, gladly, and quietly – none of that counted either, apparently.”
John Aravosis, AmericaBlog

OMG!

That is…..

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
SUH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEETTT!

Liberal Democrats, especially the dimwit liberal bloggers, have taken their eyes OFF the prize.

Maybe they think the prize is a lost cause this year.

Conservatives, you want some laughs? Click HERE. 

Libs? Only do it if you’re really brave and tough, and you know you’re not.

Just go write a nasty gram to Robert Gibbs at…..

Is the White House frustrated? Yeh, they’re frustrated.

I vehemently oppose a mosque and Muslim community center being constructed in the shadows of Ground Zero.

I find this to be incredibly, and I would argue, intentionally, insensitive.

Some readers at my blog on FranklinNOW.com aren’t happy about my outrage. Their PC-ness and inability to reason has them painting me as hating all Muslims. I don’t hate anybody. I do have a major, serious, huge problem with the many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many Muslims that want to kill Americans. And I don’t apologize for that, to anyone.

Let’s be even more direct and in your face by calling in one of my favorite columnists, Doug Giles (I’ve just got to get him on my show when I fill in at WISN). From his just released column…take it away, Doug:

“Building a mosque at Ground Zero is like OJ’s mom putting a glamour shot of Orenthal over Nicole Brown’s gravestone. In other words, it’s very wrong and extremely disgusting, as every person with a lick of decency would agree.

What’s next, Awad? Are you going to demand a Nidal Malik Hasan Avenue on Ft.Hood’s military base? What about an Abdulmutallab Upgrade Package on Northwest Airlines?

To me, the question is not if a mosque could be built right next to the place where Muslims slaughtered 3,000 innocent people, but should it be built. The “no duh” answer to that insane inquiry is: Hell no, it should not be erected because that is simply gross.

The irony in this Islamic insult is the nine years of living hell the daft and duplicitous NYC bureaucrats have been giving St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in getting their church rebuilt after the TwinTowers flattened it on 9/11. But those same NYC bureaucrats are giddy as schoolgirls in erecting a mega-mosque to Mohammed on that macabre scene.

This is sick, twisted, rancid, pathetic, profane and offensive in the extreme. But this is what they historically do. Muslims see our 3,000 murdered citizens as a conquest to be celebrated, so they’re going to memorialize their bloody victory by establishing a mosque in honor of that sad morning.”

That’s most of Giles’ outstanding column. Read the entire masterpiece here.

Every August 7 is Purple Heart Day in Wisconsin.

So many brave men and women have been awarded the Purple Heart. Meet one of them, John Kriesel.
 

Sgt. John Kriesel wears prosthetic legs while resting at his home in Cottage Grove, Minn., Monday, April 7, 2008. Kriesel lost both of his legs in a roadside bomb attack while patrolling near Fallujah, Iraq in December 2006. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sgt. John Kriesel comforts his son, Broden, 5, outside a mall in Roseville, Minn., Monday, April 7, 2008. Kriesel lost both of his legs in a roadside bomb attack while patrolling near Fallujah, Iraq in December 2006. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sgt. John Kriesel and his son, Broden, 5, leave a mall after buying a birthday present for John’s wife, Katie, in Roseville, Minn., Monday, April 7, 2008. Kriesel lost both of his legs in a roadside bomb attack while patrolling near Fallujah, Iraq in December 2006. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

President Bush awarded Kriesel his Purple Heart just before Christmas in 2006.

In this White House handout, U.S. President George W. Bush (2nd L) presents a Purple Heart to National Guard Sgt. John Kriesel (L), of Twin Cities, Minnesota, during a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center as first lady Laura Bush (3rd L) and Kriesel’s wife, Katie, his four-year-old son Broden, and five-year-old Elijah watch December 22, 2006, in Washigton, DC. (Photo by Eric Draper/White House via Getty Images)

Read more about Kriesel here.

Here’s an interview Kriesel did with CBS reporter Cynthia Bowers at Volk Field in Wisconsin on the day that Bravo Company landed from Iraq, along with a photo of Kriesel being interviewed.

God bless our fine fighting men and women!

Photo: ericiniraq.scrappydog.com

Once again, an activist judge strikes.

This time, it was a George H.W. Bush appointee.

But nowhere in the story does it mention that the judge is gay.

Sign the petition!

From a plain old American citizen:

“Calls for an investigation into the questionable funding of the mosque have been made, but New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg said such a probe would be an ‘insensitive’ and ‘un-American’ display of intolerance to a religious group.

Read the entire column.

DISCLAIMER: I am not picking on Franklin Superintendent Steve Patz or any other super…..just stay with me, ok.

You cannot make this stuff up.

I was driving to a meeting today listening to Charlie Sykes. He was devoting a segment of his program to a breaking story, and kudos to them, on Milwaukeenewsbuzz.com. It is mind blowing and mind boggling:

“Some Milwaukee Public Schools teachers could be getting their hotel accommodations or other Spring Break vacation expenses paid by the district under an agreement reached with the teachers union.”

The details follow.

Now this comes after yours truly blogged information received earlier this month from the MacIver Institute:

“Information provided by MPS and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and compiled by the MacIver Institute shows that in 2002, the average MPS teacher made $63,413 in salary and benefits. Next year, the average teacher will make $98,423*.

Now they’re getting vacation expenses paid for them??!!

Holy phone lines, Batman! That’s a talk show topic.

So Charlie opened up the airwaves to the audience.

Some teacher union sympathizer got in and tried to go head to head with Charlie.

Mistake.

The talk show host always has the upper hand. He’s a better communicator, debater, and he has studied up on the facts.

He defended this sweetheart vacation deal the teachers were getting.

He claimed that the poor, whiny, moaning teachers deserve far more than what they get.

And Sykes, as you might expect, had him for lunch. Whiny, moaning crybaby teachers don’t need whiny, moaning, crybaby sympathizers to rush to their defense…..because they have no defense.

Alright, alright, Kevin. Why drag Steve Patz into this?? Huh??

OK, I’ll tell you, and again, I have nothing against Patz per se.

It’s just that this ignoramus that foolishly called into the Sykes program said, and you can hear it on the podcast, that school superintendents deserve a lot more than what they are currently being compensated.

Oh really?

Yes, really.

How much?

Try, in the millions.

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Say what?

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
“

School superintendents need to be paid in the millions.

That’s WAY WAY WAY more than
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

THE GREAT OBAMESSIAH!

Sorry.

Superintendents,  and that would include Franklin’s Steve Patz, don’t deserve more than the governor. Those of you who were in on negotiating Patz’s contract, you got screwed and so did the Franklin taxpayers.

Millions for school superintendents who are running districts cranking out failing student after failing student?

Wow. Are we in trouble.

This past weekend, countless Milwaukee households grappled with what to do next to put their very existence together following life-threatening rain storms last Thursday. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, still battling the severe injuries he suffered when he singlehandedly took on a weapon-wielding fanatic gone berserk last August managed to somehow on his rare day off from Milwaukee City Hall reject spending time with his family so he could survey the damage to the city he loves more than freedom itself.

Barrett emerged from his home early Saturday morning while the overwhelming majority of his constituents slept safely in their warm beds thanks to the mayor’s ongoing efforts that have stifled violent criminals in Milwaukee, The mayor saw a young woman walking a parched poodle down the street. Without hesitation, Barrett ran to his outdoor hose, and grabbing it with his still injured hand, turned the water on and hustled back to quench the animal’s thirst, the dog now lying on its side from the early morning July heat.

Aides to Barrett repeatedly asked the mayor if he wanted to drive him to the damaged areas. Barrett stoically replied, “No. I’ll walk.”

Along his path, Barrett encountered numerous constituents. One young boy, wearing knee braces and with a tear in his eye asked the mayor, “Could you help me, someday?” Barrett, choking back tears of his own replied, “Son, when I’m governor, the sick, the ill, the fragile couldn’t ask for a better friend in the state Capitol than me.”

“Thank you, Mayor,” the young boy responded.

Barrett smiled and winked to the young lad who looked happier than he’s been in months.

Before arriving at his first stop of what would be many to see the havoc Mother Nature caused, the mayor thought it best to enter a nearby church and pray for the victims and their recovery. While inside, some nuns who gathered to recite the Rosary, normally unflappable, found themselves overcome, unable to hide their emotions and show how impressed they were with Barrett.

“God bless you, sir,” said one of the nuns.

“All in a day’s work, Sister,” said Barrett.

On his route, Barrett passed four children’s lemonade stands and bought drinks at all four, offering to come to each child’s classroom in September to discuss how each and every one of them deserves a great school.

In the absence of crossing guards, Barrett also escorted nine elderly men and women, six with canes, three in wheelchairs across busy intersections.

During one stretch of his walk, Barrett encountered at least a half dozen gang members congregating on a busy street corner. Completely forgetting  and ignoring the peril that struck him last year when he courageously stood up to a mad man armed with a tire iron, Barrett stopped, and after first asking the gang members if their mothers knew what they were doing, implored the young men to give up their life of crime before he enthusiastically handed them schedules to Milwaukee’s summer ethnic and church festivals.

Despite being urged by aides to pick up his pace and get to the scene of storm-ravaged homes, Barrett insisted that these were necessary stops for the good of the community and all mankind.

Barrett would, indeed, conduct his own personal assessment of the damage, visiting over 175 homes personally before the sun completely set.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, the right-wing conservative candidate who stands in the way of a fine gentleman like Tom Barrett becoming governor and whose party has often been characterized as mean-spirited had a slightly different weekend.

Having watched the 10:00 news on all local TV stations the night before and having been advised by staff that a tour of the mass destruction in Milwaukee County Saturday might be a good idea, Walker slept in until at least 10:00 the next morning.

Upon finally waking up as thousands of Milwaukee County residents feverishly worked to clean up their basements, Walker ate two rather unhealthy bowls of Captain Crunch that have caused many Wisconsinites of voting age to become obese while watching an hour of the Cartoon Network. Too much Tv viewing has also been said to contribute to obesity.

Walker then called his bookie, believed to be located in Las Vegas, and placed at least three bets against the Milwaukee Brewers, the most beloved team in our city, the team that drew three million fans the past two seasons at Miler Park, many of whom vote.

After taking a two-minute shower, Walker briefly toweled himself off, got dressed and went to Potawatomi to play some slots.

“I just love the second-hand smoke,” Walker was overheard saying to a fellow gambler. “Annoys those damn liberals.”

Upon leaving Potawatomi, a casino that has, by its very existenece destroyed numerous lives, Walker was met by a young Indian child soliciting donations for blankets. Walker refused to contribute after the girl couldn’t come up with a large campaign donation in return.

Most of the afternoon, Walker spent reading the National Review in his hammock on his outdoor patio while snacking on liver pate, crab legs, and caviar.

“Hell, it’s the weekend. Screw the brown bag crap,” said Walker.

When asked by an aide if he might want to take a personal look at the storm damage for great shots with struggling families, Walker became indignant. “This is Milwaukee. We’re a hearty bunch. Don’t they have shop vacs?”

The rest of the afternoon, Walker spent time envisioning his very first state budget as governor that would end all state aid to hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Saturday night, Walker sat on his front porch, throwing rocks at senior citizens walking by.
###

Folks, this has been a satirical look at how the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported how Tom Barrett and Scott Walker acted this past weekend following last week’s storms.

Here is the actual article the paper published.

Milwaukee’s daily, that so desperately wants Barrett to defeat Walker, may as well have gone with what I just blogged.

That was quite an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today giving detail after detail about the sentencing hearing for Anthony Peters. Giving key testimony was Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who was attacked by Peters with a tire iron last summer as Barrett and his family were making their way to their car following a visit to the Wisconsin State Fair.

Barrett, you’ll recall was attempting to intervene in a domestic dispute when he was hit repeatedly with a tire iron by Peters.  Many, including yours truly, found Barrett’s actions highly commendable and heroic.

The newspaper’s coverage of the sentencing hearing, a bona fide news story, was legitimate. I have zero qualms about the reporting.

However, the cynic in me feels that Journal Sentinel editors were more than happy to gift wrap all that free campaign publicity to their guy who they want desperately to be the next governor.

Quote after quote after quote from an emotional Barrett. Graphic pictures. A sidebar story about the mayor’s bionic hand. They would deny it, but you know darn well the newspaper brass was thinking that you add it all up, the emotional quotes, the pictures of a badly beaten face and bloodied hand, and you just might stir up enough sympathy, dare I say, votes for the Democrat gubernatorial hopeful.

Again, I want to clear. This clearly is a story that deserved coverage. And Barrett’s biggest print cheerleaders were more than happy to go overboard.

Absolutely not.

So claims William J. Astore, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, teaches history at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Astore makes his case in a column published in the LA Times that originated on the web site, TomDispatch.com. Here are excerpts from, “Our American Heroes.”

“Ever since the events of 9/11, there’s been an almost religious veneration of U.S. service members as ‘Our American Heroes’ (as a well-intentioned sign puts it at my local post office). But a snappy uniform — or even dented body armor — is not a magical shortcut to hero status.

When we create a legion of heroes in our minds, we blind ourselves to evidence of destructive, sometimes atrocious, behavior. Heroes, after all, don’t commit atrocities. They don’t, for instance, dig bullets out of pregnant women’s bodies in an attempt to cover up deadly mistakes, as the Times of London recently reported may have happened in Gardez, Afghanistan.

So, next time you talk to our soldiers, Marines, sailors or airmen, do them (and your country) a small favor. Thank them for their service. Let them know you appreciate them. Just don’t call them heroes.”

You can read Astore’s entire piece here.

I respectfully disagree with Astore.

Dictionary.com defines hero:

1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.

Now, there certainly are bad soldiers. Granted, some are better than others. But what criteria does one use to determine which soldiers are heroes and which ones are not? I would hate to have to make that call.

A young man or woman that volunteers for extremely dangerous, risky duty for his/her country that could result in the ultimate sacrifice, to me, is a hero in every sense of the word. In my view, it would take inappropriate action or behavior on the part of a soldier to relinquish that well-deserved description.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

The following blog has the dullest opening in the history of the Internet, but is relevant and significant nonetheless and will become quite apparent as you read along and you know you will. Here is our guest blogger, Kevin Fischer:

According to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WISTAX), “Municipal operating expenditures in Wisconsin’s 237 largest cities and villages increased an average of 3.7% per year for the five years ending in 2008.”

That’s it? No jail photos of Lindsay Lohan? No close-ups of her fingernails? No Wisconsin candidate for higher office using the words “bitch” and “ho?”

No. I’m afraid not.

However, let’s talk about an issue just a bit more important than the food Lohan is eating while incarcerated…..your pocketbook.

That 3.7% figure cited by WISTAX might seem small and insignificant. Keep in mind it’s an average. The trend is that locals, your counties, cities, towns, and villages keep spending and spending and spending and spending and spending.

They will hide behind their notorious and tired old whine that the big, bad, state of Wisconsin simply doesn’t give enough assistance. This is especially true of local school boards. At budget time, school board members, not a single one of them truly fiscally conservative, will stand up in their best Oscar performance, tears rolling down their cheeks, and proclaim that they hate what they are about to approve, but they must for the children, and that they have no other alternative but to increase the property tax levy. That, of course, is baloney. Forget all those phony speeches, door-to-door promises, pamphlets and brochures that got them elected.

Like an Easter ham and a Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas presents under the tree, jacking up taxes and spending is tradition for county, city, town and village officials. It’s like a disease. They simply can’t help themselves. It’s all they’ve ever known. Suggest another course of action? That might cause cardiac arrests. All they’ve ever done is vote yes to send taxes skyward. The only question is by how much.

At the risk of being simplistic, let me assert, and I’ve worked in government for some time so I ought to know, that the public sector does not operate like a business. Hell, it doesn’t even come close to operating like your household.

America, and that includes Tax Hell USA, aka Wisconsin has been wrapped firmly in the grips of a long, brutal recession. How has Washington responded? Spend, spend spend. Hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars…..no jobs in return.

How has the state of Wisconsin with Democrats in control responded? Spend almost 10% more in the last state budget and create a bunch of new programs that normally have warm fuzzy names like BadgerCare, only to find ourselves $2.5 BILLION in the hole.

How have the locals at your town, village, or city hall responded? With people sitting at home having been handed pink slips? They jack up taxes and spending. Why?

1) Because they can.

2) Because that’s the only “solution” they know.

3) Because they don’t care.

4) Because you will re-elect them anyway.

Oooooooohh. That last one hurt. Sometimes the truth does.

OK, property taxpayers. The last couple of years, be honest. How did you respond to the economy that found itself sharing company with the Tidy-Bowl man? Did you:

A) Run out and buy a new car?

B) Book a trip to the Bahamas?

C) Put in a glamorous new rec room in the basement?

D) Have a family discussion and resolve that certain frills and luxuries needed to be cut back until things turned around?

I think I know your response.

You probably cut back on expenditures and have survived. Government could, too, but refuses.

Government officials with taxing authority will use that power because they can. Very recently, I asked a local official to endorse a property tax freeze. After all, if hard-working families have cut back and are getting by, why can’t City Hall.

Are you ready for the weak-kneed response?

No can do, baby!

Property tax freeze?

Here’s what I was told:

“Which politician that ever proposed a tax freeze actually carried it out? – it’s just rhetoric and playing politics.”

Translation: I don’t support such an idea and I dismiss it outright. Won’t even think about it.

That’s very revealing. Why? Because moms and dads all across Wisconsin have done what many officials with taxing authority would consider unthinkable: they have cut back on their expenses. Would it be too crazy to think taxpayers spent this year what they spent last year, in effect a spending freeze? I certainly don’t think so. But suggest that at a budget meeting? Suddenly it’s Armageddon. Blood will flow down the streets. People will die. Life as we know it will end.

So while the locals won’t even fathom the thought of a freeze, can you imagine tax/spending cuts? OH MY GOD, WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!

The big, bad state of Wisconsin is a villain, having increased spending by close to 10% in the current state budget and increasing taxes and fees by over $3 billion. Let’s not forget those directly capable of jacking up your local property taxes: your mayors, your village presidents, your aldermen, your county supervisors, especially your school board members.

This December, your taxes will go up again. While you are deciding whether it’s a brat or an Italian on the grill this weekend, your local officials are already calculating how much they will screw you.

You can do something about that this November 2, and next April when some of your locals are up for re-election.