After months of dithering, our President will tell us our new national policy in Afghanistan tomorrow night. I, for one, am hopeful. Here’s what I will be looking for:
1) A definite objective. Stabilizing, a stable regime, containment, occupation, kill the most bad guys, [...]
Doesn’t this seem quite strange?
A joint venture titled Milwaukee Constructors LLC was the lone company to submit a proposal to do emergency repairs to three Zoo Interchange bridges.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation on Nov. 19 released an RFP for the estimated $12- to $22-million project. Proposals [...]
This is an interesting case.
During her freshman semester, Temple was enrolled in both a calculus course and a computer programming course. Temple said her instructors had difficulty speaking English and were hard to understand. As the semester progressed, her grades dropped, and she considered Q-dropping the [...]
Neat.
Australia has overtaken the United States, the heartland of the McMansion, to boast the world’s largest homes, according to a report by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Research commissioned by the bank’s broking arm, CommSec, shows the Australian house has grown on average by 10 percent in the [...]
Man, I wish I was paid for my commute.
The state until recently paid for mileage for nine emergency management officials as they commuted to and from work, even though an internal review discovered five years ago it shouldn’t have been paying for commutes [...]
Jessica McBride has penned what I believe to be another unfortunate column that has its roots in her current personal issues. But she addresses some things that are pertinent to this medium, so I thought I would address them.
This is a challenge to some mainstream [...]
A Rock County man sentenced to two years in federal prison for shooting a deer while he was on probation for domestic violence has had his case overturned by a federal appeals court.
The case could have far-ranging impact in the gun-rights debate. For [...]
I hunted this morning. The land that we hunt is on the Wolf River. Across the river is some public hunting land. Usually it works out well because the hunters across the river start shooting early and drive the deer across the river to us. It was not to [...]
We went hunting until about 1100. Didn’t see any deer except three little does wandering around. We did see 11 turkeys about 20 yards from my stand. I would have shot one for Thanksgiving, but that would be illegal and whatnot. My daughter did GREAT. She’s a born hunter. [...]
I would suggest that someone who considers his every action to be “unprecedented” is ignorant of history.
Obama has relied on “unprecedented” in more than 90 instances, using the word at least 129 times in everything from major addresses to small speeches, statements, memorandums and [...]
I’m taking my 10-year-old daughter hunting with me in the morning. I’ve been prepping her for it for months. Last night at dinner, I asked, “what is the most important thing to do when hunting?” The answer, of course, is “be safe.” We went through some of the mechanics [...]
My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. It’s called, “Political zoo.” Let’s skip right to the point.
The moral of the story is that actions have consequences. Wisconsin’s voters elected Jim Doyle. Milwaukee’s voters elected Tom Barrett. Doyle took transportation funds and squandered [...]
This is just stunning. At least it would be if many of us hadn’t suspected such behavior for years.
If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; [...]
Gleefully stolen from a friend on FaceBook.
[...]Yet we find money for useless stuff.
A state lab is facing a backlog of nearly 1,000 blood samples from suspected intoxicated drivers.
The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene is now taking five to seven months to determine if drivers had drugs such as [...]
Remember that discussion we had about Wisconsin’s police taking DNA upon every arrest?
Britain has built the world’s biggest DNA database without proper political debate and police routinely arrest people just to get their DNA profiles onto the system, the genetics [...]
Yum. I could go for some stir-fried pig fallopian tubes.
[...]Thanks, politicians!
But shortly after my post went up, alert readers found discrepancies on several items, including one listed in the comments section below. Prices are higher in Wisconsin on movies and video games, too.
The retail giant for several years has printed a different version of its Black [...]
The long national nightmare is over.
Luckily, the big O’s mama is once again leaving the headline-grabbing to her daughter, thanks to the recent settlement of the lawsuit filed against her for failing to make good on a $155,547 debt at a Wisconsin clothing boutique.
Valentina Inc. [...]
Ouch.
The Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Board has fired Department Secretary John Scocos just two months after he returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.
The board fired Scocos during a special meeting in Madison after spending 90 minutes berating him for a series of missteps and miscommunications. [...]
MADISON - After eleven public hearings across the state and 6,500 written comments, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is recommending expanding the gun deer hunt from nine to sixteen days beginning in 2010. The hunt would begin the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
The 16-day season is intended to [...]
I hunted all of yesterday and today until early afternoon. It’s raining now and is supposed to keep it up through tomorrow. I’ll go back out on Thursday morning. I saw a mess of turkeys and every other form of wildlife, but no deer. I could hear something big [...]
I haven’t commented on the whole Flynn/McBride/Bucher affair (no pun intended) for a variety of reasons. First, it’s a tawdry circumstance and I feel bad for the children involved to have it play out in public. Second, the Buchers and I have a rather unfortunate history and any commentary [...]
On Monday, the state Department of Natural Resources released preliminary statistics bearing out those field observations.
Statewide, a total of 100,330 deer were bagged, down sharply from the 133,838 taken during the opening weekend of the 2008 hunt.
In the DNR’s 15-county northeastern [...]
I’ve never understood why things like this are considered by some to be controversial.
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A month of harsh words between Rep. Patrick Kennedy and a strident critic, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, escalated Sunday when the bishop acknowledged asking Kennedy not [...]
Uhhhhh… not so much.
“Our first priority is safety,” state Transportation secretary Frank Busalacchi said. “These ramps will continue to safely handle traffic in the busy interchange. By restricting heavy loads, we decrease wear and tear on the bridges and preserve the integrity of the structures [...]
Opening weekend is over and I haven’t shot a deer yet. It was a successful hunt in that everyone is safe.
On opening morning, I saw three deer, but not well enough to see what they were or to take a shot. The group I hunted with didn’t see [...]
The Obama Administration is continuing to be impotent in foreign policy.
The Obama administration is shifting the focus of its Iran policy from talk to sanctions, but the prospect of winning early international support for toughened new penalties appears dim.
Equally problematic is finding a set [...]
Their own jobs, I suspect.
Growing discontent over the economy and frustration with efforts to speed its recovery boiled over Thursday on Capitol Hill in a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the Obama administration.
Episodes in both houses of Congress exposed the raw [...]
Via the MacIver Institute.
[...]For all of y’all getting ready to go hunt… here’s a friendly reminder.
Hat tip to Berry Laker.
[...]
The bright side is that those happen to be the bridges in that interchange that I use the least
Three bridges in the Zoo Interchange have reached such dire condition that the state Department of Transportation acted Thursday to replace them, [...]
This is just stupid.
One day after the Milwaukee County Board agreed to privatize scores of county housekeepers, 19 of the 25 custodial staff at the Courthouse complex called in sick, county officials said Thursday.
Jack Takerian, the county’s interim director of public works, said he didn’t know [...]
Ouch, that smarts.
Wisconsin employers cut 129,600 jobs since October 2008, the steepest year-to-year plunge in 70 years of data.
The state Department of Workforce Development is scheduled report on job losses and unemployment midday Thursday. But preliminary estimates from a state database and historical figures from the [...]
Thirty-seven-year-old Charles A. Avey of Grafton was charged Tuesday with first-degree intentional homicide and felony bail jumping. He is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon.
The criminal complaint says Avey killed 14-year-old Cody A. Reetz on Sunday.
Avey’s ex-wife told investigators' [...]
Here’s a good example of the failure of a command economy.
The long-stalled Park East Square project, which Chicago developer Richard Curto wants to build on a vacant lot his firm bought from Milwaukee County, may be moving forward with the sale of a [...]
West Bend’s Common Council approved a zero percent increase in the assessed value tax rate and a 2.94 percent increase in the tax levy as part of the city’s 2010 budget Monday night.
[...]
Overall, the 2010 budget represents a [...]
Waiting lists and lines for government-run health care? Preposterous! Absurd! Oh wait...
About 7,000 people are on a waiting list for the state’s health-care program for childless adults, and that list could grow to 20,000 or more by March.
[...]
The program extends the BadgerCare Plus program to adults [...]
It’s becoming more and more difficult to trust anything the government is telling us about how they are spending our money.
Here’s a stimulus success story: In Arizona’s 15th congressional district, 30 jobs have been saved [...]
My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. It’s called, “Enter Barrett – stage left.”
[...]Investigators want to know what former West Allis swim coach Daniel J. Acker, awaiting sentencing for sexually assaulting two boys, was doing during a six-day trip to Florida earlier this month.
Acker’s mother told authorities Acker was visiting Disney World, which Acker denied Monday [...]
If it’s still good, this will be some expensive whiskey.
A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica’s ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whiskey that has been on the rocks since a century ago.
The drillers will be trying [...]
Just because I’m procrastinating about writing my column…
Greece with my Mom.
Egypt with the whole fam damily. Half of them are dead now. Well, I’m sure all of the camels are dead. Half of the people are dead.
Here’s some ol’ buds at Final [...]
No, we’re not having another kid… our old Whirlpool Gold dishwasher went out… again. It’s the second time in less than a year. Rather than get it fixed again, we decided to buy a new one. It’ll be here on Tuesday. I’m going to attempt installation by myself. Wish [...]
Posted: Nov. 15, 2009 2:44 p.m.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett made it official Sunday, announcing his candidacy to become Wisconsin’s governor in 2010.
With his family at his side, Barrett stood in front of his west side home and declared, “I’m [...]
Open thread…
I’m wearing my Jay Novacek jersey. Is that wrong?
UPDATE: Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers. I think I’ll try this recipe.
Potted Crow:
6 crows
3 bacon slices
stuffing of your choice
1 diced carrot
1 diced onion
chopped parsley
P&H Mining Equipment Inc., maker of some of the world’s largest machines, celebrates its 125th anniversary in Milwaukee on Sunday with an open-house for employees and their families.
The company, with its headquarters on National Ave., currently has more than 1 million square feet of factory space under [...]
I’ll be on Sunday Insight tomorrow morning at 10 on TMJ4. Be sure to tune in! I’m sure that you will all agree with my losers of the week.
[...]Cool.
The Museum of Wisconsin Art has identified a riverfront site for its new $12 million museum in West Bend, museum officials announced today. The site, part of the Veteran’s Avenue Redevelopment, sits snug along the Milwaukee river near downtown West Bend.
The announcement marks a change in plans. [...]
I can say that I have one source who confirms this.
Mayor Tom Barrett will announce this weekend that he is running for governor, the Journal Sentinel has learned.
“You would not be inaccurate to write that,” a top adviser to the two-term mayor said today.
A second [...]
It’s been a long week. I’m tired. I’m hoping to be energized by the Cowboys’ defeat of the Packers, but we’ll see.
[...]I was sitting in Hartsfield today in concourse D. About every half an hour, a voice would come over the paging system telling folks that they must have their liquids in a 1 qt. plastic bag and yadda yadda yadda. So my thought was… we’re already past [...]
This is a busy travel time of year for me. Between roughly Labor Day and Thanksgiving, I tend to me out of town more often than not. Since September, I’ve spent two weeks in Minneapolis, 4 days in Indianapolis, 2 days in Columbus, GA, couple of days in Des [...]
Guess I’ll have to start picking up dish soap when I travel.
A law that will limit phosphorus content in automatic dishwasher soap sold in Wisconsin has been signed by Gov. Doyle. The law will take effect July 1 to give retailers time to [...]
Oh, but not in a good way.
A new analysis of Wisconsin’s budget woes puts the state among the 10 most fiscally challenged in the country, joining California in a group struggling to sustain solvency.
The rise in unemployment and steep drop in state revenue [...]
It’s funny because it’s true…
[...]
An ex-US astronaut accused of attacking and trying to kidnap a love rival has been given a year’s probation after pleading guilty to lesser charges.
Lisa Nowak, 46, admitted charges of third-degree felony burglary and misdemeanour battery over the 2007 incident, in a deal with prosecutors. [...]
Women with curvy figures are likely to be brighter than waif-like counterparts and may well produce more intelligent offspring, a US study suggests.
Researchers studied 16,000 women and girls and found the more voluptuous performed better on cognitive tests - as did their children. [...]
Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad was executed Tuesday by lethal injection, a Virginia prisons spokesman said.
He was declared dead at 9:11 p.m., said Larry Traylor, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Corrections.
[...]
During three weeks in October 2002, Muhammad and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, then [...]
D’oh!
Wick Building Systems said Tuesday it’s closing plants and cutting nearly 500 jobs.
Most of the job cuts will occur in Mazomanie, west of Madison, where the company has its headquarters.
Wick makes modular homes and pre-fabricated buildings and has been in business since 1960, according to the company’s' [...]
The corporate parent of Midwest Airlines plans to add up to 800 jobs over the next year in Milwaukee and Oak Creek, including 400 positions that are being consolidated from outside Wisconsin, rebuilding Midwest’s hub at Mitchell International Airport and doubling the local workforce.
Indianapolis-based Republic [...]
My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. It’s called, “Hope doesn’t pay the bills.” Here’s a sniff:
When President Obama was arguing to pass his Recovery Act (a.k.a. Stimulus Bill), the U3 unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. The President published a [...]
Might I suggest that their best defense is that they are too stupid to be spies?
Three young Americans detained in Iran over alleged illegal entry are to be charged with espionage, Iranian state news agency Irna says.
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal [...]
Arrggghhhh...
Somali pirates have attacked an oil tanker some 1,000 nautical miles (1,850km) off the coast, the EU’s anti-piracy mission says.
The Hong Kong-registered BW Lion managed to evade an attack by two fast skiffs, firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, it says.
This is said to be the [...]
This went out to UWWC folks today:
From: Butschlick, Debbie
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 2:06:22 PM
To: WSH-Students; WSH-Staff
Subject: UWWC Blood Drivel
Oops… Now that I’m done chuckling… go donate!
[...]I’m very pleased to announce that B&S has won the MacIver Public Investigator Prize for our coverage of the West Bend School Board over the past few months. While we did provide quite a bit of original coverage, many others [...]
So true…
No nation has ever produced a military history of such verbal nobility as the British. Retreat or advance, win or lose, blunder or bravery, murderous folly or unyielding resolution, all emerge alike clothed in dignity and touched with glory. Every engagement is gallant, every battle a decisive action. [...]
The first worm to infect the Apple iPhone has been discovered spreading “in the wild” in Australia.
The self-propagating program changes the phone’s wallpaper to a picture of 80s singer Rick Astley with the message “ikee is never going to give you [...]
Could the whole government seizure of the health care industry break on the political juggernaut of abortion?
The abortion issue had been rumbling within the House Democratic caucus for weeks, but Saturday’s votes revealed the depths of the fault lines. The amendment [...]
The truth is always a good defense.
HR 3962 now also contains language that allows illegal immigrants to be covered under the legislation. When The Gouverneur Times attempted to contact Mr. Owens for clarification of this language, we received no response other than the press release [...]
What’s interesting is remembering the vastly different experiences citizens of these countries had with capitalism and the Soviet Union.
[...]
We haven’t done one of these in a while. Where is this?
UPDATE: Congrats to Rick. This is the square in Prishtina, Kosovo, where President Clinton’s statue now stands erect.
[...]Start bribing your local health commissar now to get your ration card.
The House of Representatives on Saturday night passed a sweeping health care bill by a vote of 220-215.
Seriously, is there anyone who thinks it’s good governance to take over one-sixth of the economy [...]
