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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 posts by steveegg.

November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

by @ 12:39. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Nothing follows as I’m enjoying the 2/3rds of the football tripleheader I’m going to be able to see.

November 21, 2006

Falk concedes

by @ 15:49. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

FINALLY! Note to future statewide candidates; 9,200 votes is simply too much to make up, even if you are the one ‘Rat who doesn’t win in the year of the ‘Rat.

I wonder if Doyle and company are now ordering Maalox by the truckload (I wouldn’t doubt for a second they’re ordering it with taxpayers’ money).

November 20, 2006

Mike Nichols injects a bit of reality into Florida North

by @ 16:42. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

I never thought I’d say that phrase, but he does inject a bit in his column in this morning’s paper titled “Falk has one more foe to face: Reality”. Selected newsworthy quotes:

“My position is if the numbers come within three or four thousand on the official canvass, I will ask for a recount,” Voight said Sunday. “I will be going to Madison tomorrow and making a decision to either concede or not concede.”

The choice would seem obvious. When the State Elections Board offices closed at the end of the day Friday, all but six Wisconsin counties had submitted canvassed totals, and it appeared he might narrow the gap slightly but still lose by some 6,000 votes.

Falk, for her part, has already lost. About 2.1 million Wisconsinites voted in her race against Republican J.B. Van Hollen and, according to uncanvassed totals, she lost by 9,071 votes. The only large county that hasn’t submitted canvassed numbers is Winnebago and, no matter how long she holds out, things are unlikely to move far in her direction there.

By the time the last six counties submit their canvassed totals, she’ll likely end up even shorter of victory than she already is.

We’re still waiting, Kathleen.

We’re waiting, Kathleen

by @ 16:25. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

JSOnline’s DayWatch is reporting that the other close statewide election, the narrow defeat of incumbent Republican Jack Voight, is officially over with the concession of Voight. The unofficial tally (courtesy AP via JSOnline) had Dawn Marie Sass winning 969,115 to 960,467 (0.42% of the vote cast, with about 116,600 votes scattered to the Green and Libertarian candidates). That is statistically identical to the margin of victory JB Van Hollen has in his victory over Kathleen Falk.

The official canvasses are due tomorrow at the State Elections Board.

November 18, 2006

Welcome to Florida part 5

by @ 16:08. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

(H/T – Josh Schroeder)

The Portage Daily Register says, add the 47th Assembly district to the list of recounts; Dem challenger Megan Yost, who lost 12,088 to 11,934 (0.64%, numbers again from AP/JSOnline, which though unofficial, appear to be the same as the official canvass), has won an order from the State Elections Board to recount at least the Columbia County portion of the district. As the State Elections Board does not yet have the official order up, we can only assume that the Dane County and Sauk County portions are also under that order.

Revisions/extensions (4:28 pm 11/20/2006) – The recall order is up at the SEB and it indeed includes Dane County and Sauk County.

November 17, 2006

The official Friday Silliness post…

by @ 19:11. Filed under Miscellaneous.

…is over at Hot Air. Allahpundit starts off with a rehash of the Jane Skinner Cock, er, Cock, er, Cop gaffe, then Slublog and RightWinged, among others, take it right off the tracks in the comments.

Dunno about the rest of you 4 readers, but I seriously need the humor break.

Welcome to Florida parts 3 and 4

by @ 17:14. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Item #1 in this update – The Journal Sentinel finally catches up to me, and provides the reason why the ‘Rat requested her recount – “Assembly Speaker-elect Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) said that clerks discovered an extra 100 votes for the Democrat after the election, prompting the candidate’s request for a recount.” Did I not say this was Florida without the good weather?

Item #2 – Waukesha County proves to be no help to the yet-to-concede loser Kathleen Falk – JB Van Hollen gained a net additional 109 votes in the official canvass of the county. As a reminder, the canvasses are due to the State Elections Board by Monday, November 21.

Race to stupidity in the House

by @ 8:44. Filed under Politics - National.

I missed blogging on the spectacular failure of Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi to promote her friend John Murtha to House Majority Leader. Quick comment on that; guess the ‘Rats don’t think the election was about either the war in Iraq or about Foleygate because we will have when the next Congress is seated House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. I wonder how those who abandoned the Pubbies feel about a guy who stood up for one Gerry Studds, who, unlike Mark Foley, actually boinked his underaged target page.

Over on the Pubbie side of the House, Michelle Malkin reports that it’s porksters John Boehner and Mel Blunt. Why, oh why couldn’t they have taken a lesson from the Wisconsin Assembly Pubbies, who didn’t make a left-hand turn in shaking up their leadership?

November 16, 2006

The Cheddarsphere react to Tommy for Pres Part 1/2 continues

by @ 19:28. Filed under Politics - National, Politics - Wisconsin.

(This will be updated more-or-less frequently, and if I can remember to change the time, I will. If I miss you, let me know below and I’ll add you.)

There is a reason why I call it Part 1/2; his abortive run in 2000 was only a quarter of an effort, and I doubt that, despite saying he’ll file to form an exploratory committee, Wisconsin’s biggest tease will go through with it. What the rest of the right side of the Cheddarsphere is saying (Folkbum, Feldstein and company need not apply):

James Wigderson – He promises as President to spend like a drunken sailor on asphalt from sea to shining sea, and a dog track in every community in America. He then said to the farmers of Iowa, “LET’S STICK IT TO MINNESOTA!”

Silent E – Not conservative enough. Not conservative at all. Not pretty enough. No Chance…………..

Peter over on RDW (expecting something similar on his blog shortly) – They don’t call the GOP the Stupid Party for nothing.

Michelle Malkin (so she’s not a Cheddarhead; I grant special dispensation based on this week’s Vent) – Five letters for you–L.O.S.E.R. (damn, but that’s harsh, but what do you expect from someone who displays a bigger set of balls than Fox News)

Aaron (who didn’t hear the news) – I say it’s time for Tommy to run.

Jib – Clearly his ego knows no bounds.

Sean Hackbarth – And soon after he’ll realize he can’t win then drop out.

Jenna – Thompson’s biggest problem is his complete and utter lack of foreign policy experience or knowledge.

Patrick – Tommy, please"¦ please"¦ Just don’t do it..

Charlie Sykes on the 11/16/2006 Sykes-Wagner Podcast – …(I)f the term “dark horse” doesn’t apply here, I don’t know when you would use the term “dark horse”.

Jeff Wagner on the same podcast – …(T)he reality is, it seems to me, that his time has passed.

Marcus Aurelius on the Badger Blog Alliance – I don’t think Tommy would be any better with the veto pen and pork than W or when he was The Guv.

More rolls please

by @ 19:18. Filed under The Blog.

Can the roll get any bigger? Yes, it can:

– Patrick McIlheran, the Journal Sentinel’s resident semi-conservative, makes an appearance.
– Frank Lasee, who tried to give us Cheddarheads some serious tax relief with both TABOR and the TPA, also rolls in.

It’s a good thing WordPress has a randomizer function for the roll.

Welcome to Florida part 2

by @ 18:13. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Silent E is wondering whether Wisconsin’s version of Al Gore has conceded. Kathleen Falk hasn’t conceded yet, and depending on when the last county reports its results to the State Elections Board, she’ll have until 11/27 to do so – a candidate has to wait for the final canvas to be reported to file for a recall (due no later than 11/21), then he or she has 3 days to do so (since the state takes a 4-day weekend Thanksgiving week, that extends the deadline from Friday to the following Monday).

That got me digging around the SEB website, and while there isn’t any news from the Falk campaign, there were three recalls ordered in Assembly races (unofficial vote totals courtesy AP/JSOnline:

By way of comparsion, Falk lost 1,062,657 to 1,053,856 (0.42%).

Out of the 3 ordered recounts and one likely recount, the only one with a realistic chance of changing the result is the one in the 43rd. Along those lines, I wonder if there are 10 people in far southern Dane County, western Rock County, and the city/town of Whitewater that are regretting not voting right about now.

Time for some fauxtography fun

by @ 8:46. Filed under Miscellaneous.

(H/T – Allahpundit)

Here is your chance to blow off some steam, check your eyes and the quality of your monitor, and try to figure out which of these 10 pictures are real and which ones have been digitally “enhanced”. AP got 9 of 10 right, I got 7, if you get less than 5, you a “punk-ass Adnan Hajj wannabe” (AP’s words), and if you drop below 3, you’re probably a Reuters employee.

One thing, don’t cheat by reading the comments there before taking the test (comments will be disabled on this post to prevent cheating).

Go to it, and good luck.

Carnival of the Badger; Christmas shopping edition

by @ 7:46. Filed under Carnival of the Badger.

Dean has it, so go read and plow through those that have submitted.

Next week, it is going to be at Wigderson Library and Pub.

One more bit of news; the Conservative Cat has taken down his carnival submission form, so you’re down to two ways to submit – e-mail to badgercarnival – at – gmail – dot – com or head to the Blog Carnival submission page.

November 15, 2006

Rudy and McShame and Tommy – oh my!

by @ 20:31. Filed under Politics - National, Politics - Wisconsin.

(H/T for the Tommy announcement – Fred)

Where, oh where has Ronald Reagan gone? The crop of “Republicans” that have announced a run for the Presidency so far, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Tommy Thompson do not exactly inspire me.

For you out-of-state readers who only know Thompson as an invisible HHS Secretary, he has exactly two conservative accomplishments to his name in his 15 years as governor; welfare reform and school choice (that’s right, both of those actually started in Wisconsin before the national party noticed). Other than that, he is a big-spending social moderate-to-liberal who views conservatives with such distain that he had the “Republican” Party of Wisconsin essentially abandon Mark Neumann in his run against Russ Feingold in 1998.

Of course that’s 2 more than I can think of for McCain, and one more than I can for Giuliani.

First two taxes to go up in Doyle’s second term – vehicles and drivers

by @ 17:50. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Here’s the increased “fee” schedule proposed by the Department of Transportation:

  • Cars – up from $55 to $80, a 44% increase
  • Light trucks weighing less than 4,501 pounds – up from $48.50 to $80, a 65% increase
  • Light trucks weighing between 4,501 and 6,000 pounds – up from $61.50 to $89, a 44.7% increase
  • Light trucks weighing between 6,001 and 8,000 pounds – up from $77.50 to $112, a 44.5% increase

Those tax hikes, which will dump $208 million into the coffers over the next 2 years, will allegedly go to “critical” road needs such as road maintenance and rebuilding the Vote Fraud/FIB Highway between Illinois and Milwaukee. More likely, it, like the $600+ million raided by Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) in the last budget, will go to contributors of Doyle.

Further, they want to increase the fees for the 8-year driver’s licenses from $24 to $34, a 42% increase. Supposedly, that $22 million over the next 2 years will go toward federal requirements to make the licenses a more secure form of ID.

Look for the ‘Rat-infested State Senate to propose a return to the automatic increase in gasoline taxes next year as well. Yipee; we can be COMPLETELY hostile to drivers now.

“Thank” you, Mary Panzer and Dale Schultz, for not taking any action to protect the taxpayers.

More for the roll

by @ 17:00. Filed under The Blog.

If you’re not reading these folks, you should be:

– PeteRepublic
– Slublog

I’ve also done what, for me is a major revamp of the roll (I removed a deactivated blog).

Craps Tax Anti-Freeze Sublimination now complete

by @ 14:29. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Jim "Craps" Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale), as quoted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in July 2005 – ""˜The result of the freeze that I will sign will be that the average property tax on the average home will not go up at all next year, and will actually go down $5"² in December 2006."

County Board Supervisors Gerry Broderick, Toni Clark, Elizabeth Coggs-Jones, Lynne De Bruin, Marina Dimitrijevic, Chairman Lee Holloway, Willie Johnson Jr, Michael Mayo Sr., Ryan McCue, Richard Nyklewicz Jr., Roger Quindel, John Weishan Jr., Peggy West and James White to the taxpayers of Milwaukee County – A 3.6% levy increase this year AND a guaranteed 5% levy increase next year because of irresponsible spending is just all right with us. PPPHHHHTTTTHHHHH!!!!!!

I want my $5, Doyle. I didn’t get it from the city of Oak Creek, the Oak Creek/Franklin School District, Milwaukee County because of the board, Milwaukee Area Technical College, or Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. I highly doubt I’m getting it from the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. That leaves it to come out of your pocket.

For the rest of you, this tax anti-freeze ends this year, and thanks to you dumbshits in the 5th, 21st, 23rd and 31st Senate Districts and to the 53% of Wisconsin that are too stupid to know a corrupt politician when you see one, there won’t even be this standing betwee the wallets of the taxpayers of Wisconsin and the vaccuum cleaners that have property tax levying authority. Hello, double-digit tax increases.

Let the recalls begin anew.

Republican Meltaway turns into a whole Lott of Cave

by @ 14:02. Filed under Politics - National.

Too many hat-tips to dole out, so I’ll just choose one at “random” – Michelle

Trent Lott is back in power. By a 25-24 vote, he edged out Lamar Alexander for minority whip, the #2 position in the Senate.

Personally, I would have left the position open like they did between 1937 and 1946. Alexander just proved how worthless he is at getting votes, the main job of a whip. While Lott was a moderately-successful whip back in 1995-1996, he has been caving to the ‘Rats ever since he assumed the “leadership” position. Just a couple of gems from Lott:

  • He couldn’t get 51 of 55 Pubbie Senators to convict Bill Clinton on either of the impeachment charges tried in the Senate in 1999.
  • On the Tony Snow radio show in 2005, when describing why he wouldn’t accept criticism from Pubbies for working with ‘Rats, he said, “(T)hey’re the same ones who threw me overboard. I’m free. I don’t have to work with them anymore.”

I don’t know if there’s enough Maalox in the world to fix this bleeding ulcer.

New toys added

by @ 10:25. Filed under The Blog.

Put SiteMeter and the TTLB Ecosystem on here.

Republican Meltaway to be complete by November 2008

by @ 7:10. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Michelle Malkin)

Reuters is reporting that RNC general-chair-to-be Sen. Mel Martinez (RINO-FL) will not be an “attack dog” (note; the excerpt is rearranged slightly to move Sen. Martinez’ quote to the top to replace Reuters’ summary of that quote) –

“One of the things that I made clear as I discussed this job role with the president is I was not going to be an attack dog, and I don’t intend to, and I wasn’t asked to be one,” (Sen. Mel Martinez) told reporters at the White House.

President (George W.) Bush gave Martinez his blessing at a meeting in the Oval Office, calling the Cuban-born senator an American success story.

“He’s going to be an excellent spokesman for the Republican Party,” Bush said. “He’ll be a person who’ll be able to carry our message as we go into an important year in 2008.”

Two comments:

  • Well, rolling over sure worked REAL well for the Republican Party in 2006…NOT! The Dems have both Houses of Congress and the majority of governorships. It may have worked out swell for President Bush, the One North America crowd, and fans of Gigantic Gubmint but I’m not part of those groups.
  • What message is the Republican Party carrying going into 2008? It sure isn’t small government or a unique American culture. The only thing left that separates Pubbies from Dems is social conservatism, and the secularists left in the Pubbie ranks sure seem hell-bent on driving social conservatives out of the party as well.

November 14, 2006

Even more fallout from the 2006 Republican Meltaway

by @ 16:52. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

JSOnline’s DayWatch – Mike Huebsch is the new Assembly Speaker and Jeff Fitzgerald is the new majority leader.

Will have more thoughts later.

The county budget is vetoed; now it is in our hands.

by @ 16:40. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

First things first, if you haven’t seen Patrick’s video of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s veto announcement, go do so. I was there, and I doubt the TV news will do the announcement justice.

Next, realize that, if the County Board overrides this veto and refuses to have a “do over” on the budget, here’s the cold, hard facts that will bite those of us who live in Milwaukee County:

  • This budget includes a $9 million levy increase.
  • Despite this levy increase, the fact that the County Board put back into the budget a whole slew of positions, but only funded a couple months’ worth of pay puts the county $6.55 million in the red on January 1, 2007.
  • Further, by not accepting Walker’s plan to issue bonds to cover the pension obligations, but assuming the savings from the issuance of those bonds, the county will fall another $6.25 million in the red by the end of the 2007 budget.

The County Board did pass this budget by a vote of 14-5 (with my supervisor, Paul Cesarz, among the 5). However, we can possibly sway three members of that majority to do the budget over: Ryan McCue, Lynne De Bruin, and Roger Quindel. Upholding this veto will give both the taxpayers and the county another chance to get the budget right by everybody.

There is not a moment to lose. The County Board will vote on overriding the veto of the budget tomorrow. Get a hold of your supervisor, especially if you live in the districts of the three I listed above, by callling 278-4222.

New toy in the comments section

by @ 10:17. Filed under The Blog.

Finally decided that the “live preview” much like on sites such as From Where I Sit and Spotted Horse 2 was too good to keep off the site. I’ve gone “minimalist” on my install of Softius’ Comment Live Preview, so you won’t see the “you say” line like you do over at the 2 blogs I mentioned.

It’s now a full veto party

by @ 8:18. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

In case you haven’t heard the news, Scott Walker is now going to veto the entire County Board “budget” later today. While he did find a way to bring the levy back to a zero increase through line-item vetoes, he couldn’t solve the pair of time bombs Lee Holloway and company threw in through the line-item veto pen – the re-adding and partial funding of the jobs Walker wanted to outsource like janitors for a few million (if memory serves, and it’s a bit hazy, somewhere around $6 million), and a shortfall in the pension funding caused by the board’s rejection of bonding the obligation and still taking the savings (again, if the hazy memory serves, right around $13 million).

For those of you with a sense of Bruce Lee films, this quote from Enter the Dragon is definitely appropriate – “What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content. Try again, this time with feeling.” I can easily see Walker saying that.

November 13, 2006

Yet another “no embryos killed” stem cell breakthrough

by @ 23:50. Filed under Miscellaneous.

(H/T – Free Republic)

KGO, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, has the story of a brand new treatment to grow new blood vessels using one’s own stem cells. Very promising stuff, and the best part is no humans were sacrificed in the production of yet another non-embryonic stem cell breakthrough.

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