Help Us Save Transit, the Parks and EMS - Sign Our Petition

From Milwaukee County First, of which I am the Chair:

For many years, riders of the Milwaukee County Transit System has seen its routes get cut and the fares go up, as less and less money is available for it. Once a standard for the nation, it has been in steady decline. This year, it has been recommended by the current administration, contrary to all advice, to again slash routes by up to 40% and raise fares by charging a quarter for each transfer. This will have a devastating effect on the local economy, not just of Milwaukee County, but for the entire southeast region of Wisconsin.

Likewise, the Milwaukee County Parks System has seen cuts for each of the past 27 years. This year will be no different, except that it appears that the parks will suffer the most severe cuts yet. Some of the options being considered by the current administration is closing ALL of the outdoor swimming pools, closing both community centers, and cutting maintenance at the senior centers.

Also being threatened is the money that Milwaukee County puts towards the Emergency Medical System. Without this money being in the budget, there will be people in areas of Milwaukee County that will not receive paramedic services for medical emergencies.

Because of these growing concerns, the County Board repeatedly tried to get a referendum to the voters to see if they would approve of a sales tax increase to save these systems and give the voters relief on their property taxes. But each time, County Executive Scott Walker blocked the people from having the right to express themselves.

Finally, in November 2008, the Board was able to put the referendum on the ballot. The people spoke, and the referendum was approved. Unfortunately, despite the hard work of community-minded groups like Quality of Life Alliance and others, the proposed sales tax was distorted during the budget process, and ultimately vetoed by Governor Jim Doyle.

Without this dedicated funding source, the situation in Milwaukee County will quickly become untenable. That is why Milwaukee County First is asking you to join your voice to ours, and to the many others who also put Milwaukee County first, and are calling on Governor Doyle and the State Legislature to pass this sales tax, and to allow us to help ourselves before it is too late.

Please sign our petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Milwaukee-County-First

and let those in Madison know that we will not quietly stand by and allow Milwaukee County to fall apart before our very eyes. It will only take a few seconds to sign the petition, and we will do the rest.

After you have signed the petition, please pass the word to your family, your friends, your neighbors and your coworkers, and ask them to sign the petition as well. Again the link to the petition is:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Milwaukee-County-First

If we do this separately, we will be just whistling into the wind. Together, we will create a voice that those in Madison will have to hear.

Privatize The Fire Department

I do love me some good satire, don't you?



I wonder if Charlie Sykes or Patrick McIlheran will even get it.

It Doesn't Get Any Worse Than Rush Limbaugh

From Brewtown Gumshoe:

It really doesn’t get any worse than Rush Limbaugh. He’s a truly despicable and repulsive person (I use the noun ‘person’ loosely).

Go to the post to read why he says that.

The Clairvoyant Charlie Sykes

I didn't realize that Sykes could predict the future so adequately. The only thing he got wrong was the party.

Harris Kane explains.

McBride Takes The High Road

And of course, by high road, we really mean low road.

In her article in the Waukesha Freeman today, discussing the life and death of Senator Ted Kennedy, McBride states (emphasis mine):

I’m not going to be one of those tossing cheap ideological arrows at his casket, however. I didn’t always agree with his politics, but I recognize that he strived [sic] to make a difference in matters relating to the public interest. I am able to separate that from Chappaquiddick and recognize him for those actions, but I am not able to separate Chappaquiddick from the life story of the man. So, it’s not that the media should have mentioned only Chappaquiddick or trashed the man in death. But a little more restraint, a little less “lionization” was due.

That's a fair and honest approach for a conservative to take, right? I would say so.

The problem is, the above paragraph came after this one (again, emphasis mine):

There were many Ted Kennedys, certainly. He deserves, even in death, sadly, to be defined by his worst act, even if it was 40 years ago, because those are 40 years that Mary Jo Kopechne never got to live. However, he also deserves to be recognized for contributing something positive to the community as well, even as he bore what must have been an almost insurmountable family sorrow and even as his life was occasionally troubled in the years that followed. The Kennedy story has always been one of great highs and lows. To whom much is given, much is expected.

Something tells me that she didn't do the same thing for Reagan when he died.

PaddyMac: Who Cares If They're Miserable, They Have Low Taxes!

During all this hubbub about Mercenary Marine giving the shaft to their employees and to Fond du Lac, there has been a lot of whining from the right trying to blame it all on taxes. Never mind that even MM has never complained about the taxes.

But PaddyMac takes it one step farther. He basically tries to tell us that it doesn't matter that people in Oklahoma apparently can't afford to go out, they have low taxes! It doesn't matter that they have a substandard quality of life, they have low taxes! It doesn't matter that the entire state embraced an economic policy that put and has kept the nation in a deep recession, they have low taxes!

Something tells me that on Sundays, Paddy doesn't go to St. Mary's to pray. He does it outside the local M & I Bank.

Why BizTimes.com Beats JSOnline Hands Down

BizTimes.com has JSOnline beat hands down. Why?

Simple.

JSOnline has PaddyMac as one of their columnists, complete with his unearned smugness and easily discounted posts, which are full of falsehoods and propaganda.

BizTimes.com only publishes the best of the best as their guest columnists. (Yeah, that's me.)

Belling The Misogynist

Mark Belling is at again. If he is not making an ass out of himself with racist comments, he is doing it with misogynist comments.

This time, he is going after New Berlin blogger Linda Richter.

Belling's vulgarity goes like this, per MMT:

“Out in New Berlin the teachers union is starting a whispering campaign to trash the school superintendent. The person behind all of this is a person who is a former school board member who whored herself out to the teachers union when she was on the school board there. What’s her name: Linda Richter. They are sending out blanket mailings all over the community implying all sorts of wrong doing. It’s all coming from the teachers union that doesn’t like the fact that New Berlin keeps passing budgets that don’t include tax increases. ”

Ms. Richter was actually out of town seeing her son off to fight in the Middle East, when Belling chose to attack her like the coward he is. She's back now, and doesn't need Whallah! to back her up. She can give as good as she gets:

Whored herself out? What a vulgar and vile allegation! Sadly, denigrating women and using repugnant rhetoric is nothing new for Belling, who has been known to refer to breastfeeding mothers as sows.
Belling has a penchant for crude remarks. Is he also a conspiracy nut? A propagandist?
For the record: I am a nurse not a teacher. I’ve never been a member of the teachers union or any union. I am not employed by a teacher, teachers union, or New Berlin Public Schools. I am a district taxpayer. I know of no “blanket mailings all over the community implying wrong doing” being sent by the teachers union. Given that I can easily communicate information and my views publicly on a regular basis via the Internet on my blog Inside New Berlin (NOW/Journal Communications hosts it), it should be obvious to Belling and everyone else that I have no need to launch “whispering campaigns to trash the school superintendent.” My blog has addressed many topics, including the superintendent and his hefty salary/benefits increase approved recently by the school board. My blog posts are often displayed on the MetroMilwaukeeToday and Blognetnews Websites. Yes, I have served on the New Berlin School Board--from April 1999 until April 2002. Note that my school board term ended over 7 years ago! I did not solicit or accept campaign contributions from the teachers union. I was elected to office on a campaign platform of better communication and more accountability. While on the school board, I pushed NBPS/Board to comply with policy and laws which it had been disregarding for years, publish the minutes of school board meetings, televise and tape board meetings, etc. If Belling considers such efforts whoring for the teachers union, it wouldn't be hard to conclude that his blind hatred for and obsession with the teachers union has addled his brain.

Now, you may wonder, why is WISN and Clear Channel putting up with this noise? Well, if you go their website, it is obvious that the whole station management is a bunch of misogynist perverts. But that is not the real reason why they allow Belling to get away time after time with this sort of crap.

The real reason is that we let them.

UPS Pulls Advertising From Faux News

Off of Twitter (did you know that you can find Whallah! on twitter now?) is some good news. UPS has pulled all advertising from not only Glenn Beck, but from Faux News altogether:

Rich Hallabran, spokesman for UPS Stores, said today he has not only temporarily halted buying ads on the Glenn Beck Show but also on the Fox News Channel altogether as reported by AP Television writer David Bauder

Congratulations to Color of Change for a boycott that has successfully driven 33 companies away from the odious and racist rantings of Glenn Beck! Beck is returning from vacation to even fewer advertisers than when he left!

UPDATE: You can send UPS a thank you email at customer.service@ups.com
And while you're at it, please urge them to make this temporary move a permanent one!

Go Big Brown!

And Now For The Rest Of The Story

PaddyMac thinks that he is pulling a faster one on us.

He cites on his blog that a Canadian conservationist is talking about how polar bears were able to stay on the ice for two extra weeks to hunt seals. Paddy even included a little quote:

"The cooler-than-usual summer produced thicker ice on Hudson Bay, giving the area's polar bear population several extra days to feed on tasty ringed seals."

But if you go to the actual article and read it, like Paddy hopes you won't, you'll see this as well:

That's resulted in fatter, healthier bears this summer, Hedman said. He added, however, the development is not likely a long-term trend.

"It's probably a blip," Hedman said of the thicker ice and cooler temperatures.

And the paper thinks they will get people to pay to read this drivel on line? Good luck with that.

I Don't Think So, Scooter

A tweet from a twit:


Something tells me there is an intern in trouble somewhere in Walker World.

Does anyone else have a problem with their boss stalking them?

See also: Well, I Hope He's Taking Notes

That Bad Borad

Fischer really hates when I do this, which makes it all the more fun:

And then he tries to rip on other people for their spelling mishaps. Go figure.

Sykes' No Confidence Vote In Scott Walker

Sykes has been pandering to Scott Walker for the past seven years. Recently we found out why, namely because Charlie's boss is endorsing him.

When Neumann decided to enter the race, Sykes bemoaned the fact that he was running for governor and not against Russ Feingold.

Now that Governor Doyle has announced that he is not going to seek a third term, the governor's race is wide open and becoming a free for all. One of the latest Republicans that announced an interest in entering is Tim Michels. Sykes is begging him not to get into it.

It sure says something about Walker's chances when one of his biggest supporters doesn't have faith in his ability to win.

Stupidity, Bigotry Does Not Pay

From Media Matters:

Eight more Glenn Beck advertisers, including Wal-Mart – the world’s largest retailer – have confirmed to ColorOfChange.org that they pulled their ads from the controversial Fox News Channel broadcaster’s eponymous show. Allergan (maker of Restasis), Ally Bank (a unit of GMAC Financial Services), Best Buy, Broadview Security, CVS, Re-Bath, Travelocity and Wal-Mart join the dozen other companies who previously distanced themselves from Beck.

Twenty companies have pulled their ads from Beck’s show in just the last two weeks. The moves come after the Fox News host called President Obama a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people” during an appearance on Fox & Friends. Previous companies who pulled their ads include ConAgra, GEICO, Lawyers.com, Men’s Wearhouse, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, RadioShack, Roche, SC Johnson, Sanofi-Aventis, Sargento, and State Farm Insurance.

“We are heartened to see so many corporate citizens step up in support of our campaign against Glenn Beck,” said James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org. “Their action sends a clear a message to Glenn Beck: Broadcasters shouldn’t abuse the privilege they enjoy by spewing dangerous and racially charged hate language over the air. No matter their political affiliation, hate language doesn’t belong in our national dialogue.”

Gotta love it. I just wonder when they will start paying attention to local talk radio stations and pull out of supporting that hate speech.

H/T Caffeinated Politics

Blame It On The Gall Bladder Surgery

We told you about the friend of Jay Weber and Kevin Fischer, who repeatedly shown her true colors in her repeated, vile attacks on Mayor Barrett for his heroic feats from over the weekend.

Other Side has the scoop behind this vitriol:

"I took the piece from somebody else and reposted it on my blog. Additionally, I did this shortly after having gall bladder surgery and while under the influence of painkillers and anesthesia. In that state I didn't notice anything wrong with the post. I'm from the Town of Merton (where Jessica McBride resides as well) and to me what was posted was not stupid, it was a Merton thing. If I had not been under the effects of anesthesia I would have likely noticed that it could have been taken the wrong way and would have passed on it."

People Just Like Them

Sykes, McIlheran and the rest of the Posse Comatose tell us that the so called teabaggers and the anti-health care thugs are just like them. After seeing this, I must say, I see their point:




The woman in the video reminds of any and all of them.

Source: Think Progress

Tip of the crown: Recess Supervisor

But Our Talk Show Hosts Are...

Mayor Barrett is our own hometown hero.

Unfortunately, there are some lunacy coming from the right wing, mostly in the name of Amy Geiger-Hemmer.

AGH blogs at The Right View Wisconsin. RVW also has Kevin Fischer and Jay Weber has contributors.

Somehow, I don't have much expectation that these two cream puffs will have the decency or testicular fortitude to call her on her boorish behavior.

Preventive Care Costs Too Much. Let 'Em Die

Charlie The Strident channels Charles The Clueless as saying we can't afford to prevent your cancer.

Prevention is only for those who can afford it, apparently. See? No need for EOL discussions. No Cash, No Care.

Whallah! Has International Appeal

Got some spam in the email, but this is worth sharing. It is reproduced exactly how I received it, with the exception that I have removed the spam link:

Bonjour,

J'aimerais vous faire part d'une proposition commerciale au sujet de votre site Web, qui pourrait très fort vous intéresser.

En effet, ma société Promotion-Time, souhaiterait vous rémunérer pour la publication d'une petite annonce textuelle sur votre site pour un de nos clients.

Il s'agit d’une annonce francophone ciblée qui convient à certaines pages de votre site.

N’hésitez pas à me contacter je suis à votre disposition.

Sincèrement,
Francq Petit


Si vous ne souhaitez plus recevoir d’emails de Promotion-Time, répondez à cet email avec comme sujet : STOP.

It is possible to continue this correspondence in English, if you prefer to do so.

Whallah!, The International Language

Krazy Kapanke's Continuing Capers

The other day, Michael Horne reported that the DPW was suing State Senator Dan Kapakne for failing to fully comply with a open records request for his emails and other documents regarding using state time, staff and equipment for a campaign event.

Mr. Horne then followed up on the story and found that Kapanke was lying through his teeth regarding getting the go ahead to use the campaign money for these events. Turned out he didn't ask about using campaign money, but corporate funding instead, and even then was told that he couldn't.

Kapanke, apparently thinking he could head an implosion off by taking action, went himself to the GAB, and only ended up throwing one of his staffers under the campaign bus.

I wonder if Kapanke thinks that he is now off the hook. If he does, he is about to be subjected to a very rude awakening.

Next Wednesday is the court date regarding the Dems accusations that Kapanke either concealed and/or destroyed the documents they requested. The evidence is pretty clear that the requested documents exist or at least existed, since the Dems already had gotten some of them in their possession.

The reason Kapanke is not following the law and cooperating is due to the fact that the requested documents will show that his using state staff, time and equipment for campaign events is not just a one time deal, as one might be led to believe from the vague news accounts. Rather, it was an ongoing thing, such that would make Scott Jensen proud.

I wonder how much Maalox Kapanke is using these days.

Cross posted all over the place.

Why The Squawkers Should Be For Health Care Reform

The right wing should be all for health care reform. After all, it's pretty obvious that their current coverage lacks the mental health treatment they need.

Case Study #1:

James Rowen shows us how Mark Belling is forced to keep altering his reality to be able to keep up with his unrealistic rants against health care. Unfortunately, the only thing that was real about Belling's screed was his blatant racism.

Case Study #2

Kevin Fischer, who has never been in touch with reality, shows how delusional he really is when he states that Congresswoman Gwen Moore wouldn't interact with the crowd. Fortunately, we have Zach Wisniewski who, unlike Fischer, actually gives a damn about his community, and went there and found the reality would be something to scare Fischer sober.

Belling and Fischer obviously need psychiatric care, which they apparently lack under their own coverage. Call your U.S. Representative and Senator and tell them to support health care reform, so that we are no longer exposed to the insane ramblings of these racist, delusional and schizophrenic madmen.

Sykes, WTMJ Web site promoting comparisons between Obama and Hitler

Radio squawker Charlie Sykes is now using his Journal Communications Web site to make comparisons between Hitler and Obama and his administration and Nazis. Here's a sampling of the comments Sykes had approved at this post as of 7:53 AM this morning:

6:57 AM Ollie Green wrote ...Obama sends out his gestapo, the union thugs, to deal with citizens exercising their right to petition Congress.

7:06 AM Reba again wrote ...Hitler himself said "The day of individual happiness has passed." Obama keeps trying to deter the individual from thinking and acting on his own, and instead wants one collective populace that is easy to persuade. To be "free of freedom," just like the Nazi motto. If that isn't political terrorism, I don't know what is."The individual is the central, rarest, most precious capital resource of our society." - Peter Drucker. A nation of one can only go in 1 direction, failure. FREEDOM!!!

And another one from Reba:

I am not a racist, a Nazi, or a political terrorist. Neither is anyone in my family who shares my beliefs, or any of my friends. Although President Obama did side with Gates knowing only one fact, that he was African American and the officer was white. He also appointed Sototmayor, who believes a Latina can be a better judge simply because she is a Latina. Antisemitism was an ugly part of Nazi ideology, but so was the desire to gain control of every aspect of the citizen's life.

I don't expect to agree with Sykes, but I used to think he had some standards, some lines he wouldn't cross; that he wasn't, for example, Mark Belling, who uses his show to promote racial stereotypes. Remember when Sykes threw a flag on Mike Gableman? Yeah, good times.

I don't know if Sykes himself actually believes what the crazies above are suggesting, but since he's allowing these comments to appear at his site, he's probably decided it's good for his pocketbook. Pathetic.

Cross posted at Pundit Nation.

No Honor Among Thieves

Charlie Sykes is a thief:

...stealing my material from Heartland Hollar.

Check out the whole post to get the details.

Neumann Says "It's The People."

He should try telling that to Senator Kapanke.

McIlheran: It's Easy To Write With Blinders On

Simple question: Who are you going to believe, McIlheran (conservatives would never use swastikas!) or your lying eyes?

The answer to this simple question, and much more, can be found at folkbum's.

Happy Belated Anniversary, Charlie!

Brawler reminds us that last Sunday was a very special day for Charlie Sykes (which might also explain why he was off the following Monday):

It was 13 years ago Sunday that Charlie Sykes was busted for shooting off illegal fireworks with woman-not-then-his-wife-but-periodic-radio-guest-under-pseudonym-Liz Woodhouse Janet Riordan.

That wasn't disclosed until the following January, after The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tim Cuprisin had been lying to his listeners about the identity of Woodhouse, er Riordan (and yes, the Brawler apologizes for not honoring this anniversary earlier).

Laughable Item Of The Day, Indeed

Aaron Rodriguez* of the Hispanic Conservative figures that he is going to take a cheap shot at Eugene Kane, one of the few remaining employees at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Rodriguez' whole argument is trying to poke fun at Kane for saying Obama's economic policies are working. To do so, Rodriguez shows that he has all the economic savvy of a rock, and ignores the reality that his hero, George Bush and his failed policies are the one that got us into this mess.

But if he is going to criticize Obama on his economic policies, or Kane on his journalistic musings that even Senator John McCain, who lost the election to Obama, acknowledges that things are getting better, Rodriguez would be smart to do one thing first.

Make sure his spell check is working. Here is the title of Rodriguez' post:


*Hysterically, Rodriguez, according to my Google reader, goes by the name of A-Rod.

Remember when booing Bush at the inaugural was bad form?

From the illustrious Brawler:

WTMJ talker Charlie Sykes once again hailed the howling mob that's been trying to shut down Dem listening sessions. Indeed, while yesterday Sykes tried to distance himself from people who were yelling, today (unless The Brawler missed it) Sykes made no concession to civility. Indeed, Sykes suggested to his benighted listeners that they should not listen to moderate Republicans who suggest that the howling mob showing up at Dem listening sessions makes them look bad.

Funny thing is, the Brawler remembers how disheartened Charlie was when an infinitesmal number of the million people attending Obama's inauguration booed Bush. "You stay classy, libs," Charlie blubbered.

Read the whole thing, he also decimates PaddyMac.

Make Up Your Mind, McIlheran!

Ever since politicians have started to speak more earnestly about developing a rail system, right wingers like Charlie Sykes, Patrick McIlheran and others in the Posse Comatose have told us that building a rail system would be a waste of money because no one would ride on it.

In Wednesday's paper, McIlheran is now griping about high speed rail because it might be too popular and take away riders from the airlines.

I wish he would make up his mind. It's getting so bad that he is even beginning to parody himself.

PaddyMac Shorter

There's nothing wrong with usury...that's why God invented poor people.


Best comment on the post:

Coming soon, McIlheran defends pyramid schemes and Nigerian 419 scams. Stay tuned.

O'Reilly - Explained

From Brewtown Gumshoe, commenting on another piece of offal spewed by Bill O'Reilly:

This is just inciting anger into listeners that do not know any better. He is playing up the caricatures the right-wing has created. [You know] those elitist, latte-drinking, Volvo-driving liberals. There really is no point to this type of reporting other than riling up the base.

I can't believe some of the things these talking-heads say, do they seriously believe the vitriol they speak? The more I listen to O'Reilly and his cronies, I'm starting to think they don't believe it either. They are just salesmen. (Snakeoil salesmen, but salesmen nonetheless.) They're just doing their job: inciting fear and anger to attract viewers moved by the lowest-common-denomiator emotional pleas and invective, and trying to sell books. Spewing anger and hatred is quicker and cheaper than doing actual research, trying to add something constructive to the discussion, or trying reach a compromise and find solutions to issues facing us.

Do go read the whole post.

Talk Radio Explained

Someone Needs A Reality Check

From McBride's weekly (and weakly) column from the Waukesha Freeman:

This is a crisis for Milwaukee print media. So, I say it’s time we stop dealing with this piecemeal and come together for a summit to fix this thing. Contrary to what many ideological critics often say about the newspaper biz, it’s not the product that really needs fixing. Sure, it would be nice to have more conservative opinion. And it would be nice if ideological double standards didn’t filter into the news hole sometimes (they do). It would also be nice if the news didn’t diverge sometimes into selective sensationalism that has nothing to do with the public good.

But I’d argue the newspaper business is NOT like the auto business, where union contracts are boosting the cost of production and the product is sometimes inferior to foreign producers. As I’ve written before, no one presents consistent, detailed reporting like newspapers do. Bloggers (when they’re not calling people names) present an inferior reporting product to newspapers in most cases, delivering what are essentially opinion columns online that react to the reporting done by newspapers.

Talk radio hosts largely react to the reporting done by newspapers (Mark Belling is an exception; he actually does some reporting). Skeleton radio news staffs often take wire copy about stories that were reported by newspapers. Ditto for television news staffs, which you won’t see shrinking much because they are already so incredibly small comparatively. Anyway, they often follow stories reported by newspapers.

Um, excuse us for a moment, Ms. McBride, but what the heck are you talking about?

The local papers, both the Freeman and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel are decidedly conservative. How else can one explain the fact that coherent columnists like Tim Cuprisin are out, but PaddyMac is still there?

I can think of several examples of where bloggers have broken news before the newspaper, and often times things that the newspaper doesn't even report on at all. Perhaps that is why she is so grumpy about bloggers. One of the breaking stories was first alluded to on this very blog, and it involved her.

Others include Jay Bullock reporting well before the local paper that MPS was going to drop the contract with Milwaukee County Transit system, Michael Horne has done a splendid job repeatedly being the first to shed light on multiple subjects, and I've been known to find the occasional nugget over at Cognitive Dissidence.

And has far as Mark Belling goes, I don't think I've ever seen anyone else have to have a retraction of this magnitude issued due to their incompetence.

I don't know if the stress of her recent self-induced publicity problems is the cause for this type of irresponsible writing, but whatever the cause, I hope she gets some help soon.