Gotta Save them $ - interesting idea

Randy Melchert asks the million and a half dollar question of the day.

Secretary of State: What does he do?

Follow the Law

One of the things that is wrong with our political system is being demonstrated in the wake of Ted Kennedy's death.

Current Massachusetts law, enacted in 2004, mandates a special election 145-160 days after a vacancy occurs, which means the primaries would be held in December with an election in January. This was changed from earlier law which the Governor would appoint a successor. Problem was the Dems didn't want a Republican Gov to appoint John Kerry's successor if he were to be elected President. So to keep the seat safe for the Dems, they changed the law.

Now instead of letting the people choose though a special election as mandated by the law they changed, the Dems want to again change the law in their favor again to make Kennedy's successor one chosen by the Democratic Gov.

It seems the choice and freedoms of the people of Mass. are being assaulted in this sham of political hijinks. No matter how you look at it, it's wrong on all levels. Let the people decide.

Hate Crime? Dang Right !

Slain pastor was discovered nude in a ‘crucifix position’

No need to go into the ugly details, but this was more than just a random exercise in hate.

Good for her

Carrie Prejean Takes Legal Action Against Miss California USA Officials

Sometimes you gotta stand up for yourself.

On Tuesday the sales tax on cigarettes goes up another 75 cents taking the state tax to $2.52 per pack, comes less than two years after a $1 per pack increase in 2008. In April, federal cigarette taxes went up 62 cents to $1.01 per pack.

Taxes on other tobacco products are also going up Tuesday in Wisconsin. The chewing tobacco tax goes up to 100 percent of the manufacturer's wholesale price and the tax on other tobacco products, including cigars and pipe tobacco, goes from 50 percent to 71 percent of the wholesale price. The amount of the tax will vary depending on the price of each product: the cheaper the tobacco or cigar, the less the tax. However, the tax on cigars is capped at no more than 50 cents per cigarNow.

According to the article linked above we go from 16th to 5th nationally in rank.

What I'm not sure of is if this tax is to help people quit or to raise cash for the state. it can't do both.

U Turn

Senator Jim Sullivan and Representative John Steinbrink have introduced legislation allowing U-Turns at all intersections unless they are specifically denied.

Ummm, Sen Sullivan introducing U-Turn legislation, sorta like his budget stance.

Ted Kennedy

I was working on the computer late last night when I heard of the passing of Ted Kennedy stepping out of our time/space dimensions into eternity. My first thought is that the truly important judgment of his life has happened, when he faced God. I claim no knowledge of how that event ended.

My truly heart felt sadness goes out to his family, they are the ones who need prayer. My disgust is felt toward those who are using Sen Kennedy's death to move along political agenda's.

What Partisanship is she talking about.

In a negative response to the takeover of MPS by the Mayor of Milwaukee, State Representative Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) says the following "Partnership, not partisanship, is what students need today."

What the heck is she talking about. Is she claiming that Mayor Barrett, Gov Doyle and Department of Public Instruction head Tony Evers are Republicans? What a hogwash line.

Hello - Sen Taylor

Sen Lena Taylor sends out a press release saying "we were really able to feel the pulse of the people here in the community."

I know another way you can feel that pulse Sen Taylor, acknowledge emails and phone calls from constituents instead of ignoring them.

I don't Understand

From the WFRV-TV 5 website.

Union rejects Mercury Marine’s offer

I'm sure they have their reasons and I do hope this works out for everyone involved, but if and when Mercury Marine moves those jobs out of state, I don't see how anyone could be considered a winner.

So I got to wondering if the state needed to cut back like Mercury Marine and the union objected could the state government move to Texas or Oklahoma or maybe somewhere that has lower taxes?

Campaign No No

The Republican Party called candidate for Governor Barb Lawton for being "the first candidate in Wisconsin history to use a taxpayer-paid staffer to kick off a campaign for Governor."

Well it seems that State Senator Lena Taylor not wanting to be left behind in seeking a higher state office, Lt. Gov, is following the example of her hoped for running mate.

h/t Badger Blogger

Suspect Arrested in Beating of Mayor Barrett

According to the MJS,

A suspect has been arrested in connection with Saturday's beating of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, according to a report from a dispatcher over the police radio.

One of my concerns with Mayor Barrett has been his inaction in both congress and as mayor. I do congratulate him on the action he took Saturday night when he called 911 to help protect a lady in need. I wish him a speedy recovery and an emotional healing for his family.

Doyle Gone?

Gotta love that twitter. @kevinbinversie was the first to jump on Politico's scoop that Gov Jim Doyle will not be that in 2010. He's told his staff that he is not going to seek re-election.

This makes the whole Governor's race very interesting from both sides of the political spectrum.
1) Will Doyle finish out his term and let Lt Gov Lawton run as incumbent with all the garbage tied to that.
2) Who else will run, Congressman Ron Kind, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, state Sen. Joe Erpenbach, any other darkhorse cnadidates.
3) What will be strategy for the Republican candidates, Scott Walker, Mark Todd and Mark Neumann.

It's shaping up to be an exciting 2010 election. Me, I'm still running for the Wisconsin Assembly in the 12th District, not interested in being Gov.

Mayor of MP$

Well the Gov & Mayor are moving to take over MPS, but sadly the rush is for federal money. They've set up a website which I have not traveled through yet.

I'm up in the air on this at the moment. Something has to be done, but I don't know if the Mayor, who's married to an MPS teacher, and the Gov have the fortitude to start from scratch and do whatever needs to be done. And I mean WHATEVER.

Some Fair Thoughts

It was fun at the fair tonight. Here's some random thoughts.

Lots of old folks holding hands. At first look and the romantic at me wanted to believe it was because they were in love. I don't doubt this, but then I also had the feeling they were doing it to also keep track of one another.

Guitar hero is a boring event to watch. Saw 2 "matches" inside the expo center. The people doing it just stood there. No stage presence at all. One guy was smoking an e-cigarette. That was as wild as it got.

A nice amount of youth in their teens to thirties stopped by the Republican booth and very proud to be a conservative. That is exciting.

Always a couple of booth trolls. One guy walk past, looked at me and booed. I played sports in the City Conference, you need to do more than that to get to me.

Three guys just wanted to argue and spew out "facts." We just let them ramble on. They threw out lines like "where's your gay republican bumper stickers?" and the sort. Answered we didn't have any but if he'd leave his contact info, we could get him one.

One couple from Janesville lectured me about school choice and how good Obamacare would be because if they weren't given the correct care they could go their congress person and they would make everything alright. I thought, you don't have Gwen Moore as a representative, she doesn't acknowledge issue oriented email even when you specifically ask for it, good luck on her setting health care problems right.

Lots of excitement and anticipation that if the Republicans get back in control that they don't "blow" it again by forgetting why they were elected to office in the first place.

All's Fair Tonight

All showered up and shaved and ready to head out to volunteer at the Republican booth at the Wisconsin State Fair. We're in row 1000 at the Expo Center (makes you wonder how big the place is).

Looking forward to seeing the response and listening to peoples concerns. Will bring along a sheet for campaign volunteers to help me win the 12th District Assembly seat. Not personally expecting much help there, but if 1 or 2 people show interest that will be fine with me. Now if you're interested in helping, click the ad on the left and let me know how you can help.

RIP Les Paul

Working in the music section of a bookstore has it's advantages. One is to pick the music that is played in the store. One of the great pleasures was a while back when Les Paul was one of our corporate choices.

It was amazing how many people came up to ask "Who is that you're playing?" When told it was Les Paul & Mary Ford they were surprised because though they knew the music, they didn't know the artist.

His death will bring the same response. Truly more influential than a majority of the people (including most artists) will ever know.

Catholic Family Knight

Catholic Knights merging with Catholic Family.

It's an insurance thing.

Senator Debbie Stabenow feels global warming.

According to DetNews, Sen Debbie Stabenow of Michigan says "Climate change is very real," she confessed as she embraced cap and trade's massive tax increase on Michigan industry - at the same time claiming, against all the evidence, that it would not lead to an increase in manufacturing costs or energy prices. "Global warming creates volatility. I feel it when I'm flying.

As a non doctor, my advice is stop flying, take one of those car's made in your state (they still do that don't they?) or the train.

Drinking Right

Drinking Right will be happening at Papa's on 77th & Burleigh, beginning at 7pm. Come and join area conservatives for some fun and interesting conversation. All are welcome. I'll be there after work.

Ivory Tower Speak

'Un-American' attacks can't derail health care debate says the headline in the USA Today.

That's embarrassing talk from 2 heads of congress who deal behind closed doors with iron fists when it comes to legislation they want passed. If health coverage for all has been on the agenda since 1912 and it's so good for us, why hasn't the congress moved a bit quicker on it? Maybe the answer is that there is something wrong in the formula.

Moore Health Care Get Together

No matter how you feel on the subject, if you have the time you should try to make this. It's important the Ms Moore know people care and are listening to her.

MOORE TO HOST INFORMATIONAL SESSION ON HEALTH CARE REFORM

Constituents of Wisconsin’s 4th Congressional District are invited to attend:

WHO: Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc.

WHAT: Informational session on health care reform

WHEN: Tuesday, August 11, 2009
4-6 p.m., CST

WHERE: North Division High School
10th and Center
Milwaukee, WI

MILWAUKEE – Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) will Tuesday hold an informational session to hear from her constituents on the proposed health care reform legislation that the House of Representatives will likely consider in September.

A representative from the University of Wisconsin is expected to be on hand to give a non-partisan, informational presentation on the bill’s specifics.

Congresswoman Moore will also answer questions that constituents have submitted online on health care reform. Those who plan to attend need to submit their questions online prior to the event. Please e-mail your questions to moorehealthevent@mail.house.gov

Cross Cultural Music

Watching the "Rock, Rhythm & Doo Wop" special on local PBS station and am especially taken with how color blind the music is. Obviously the years have taken some of the luster off the voices of these men & women, but most can still hit it.

Hi - Hello - Hola - Pedro

The Current Headline


"MPS targeted in complaint over instruction of English as second language." That's the headline in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

LULAC, League of United Latin American Citizens, of Wisconsin filed the complaint after 2 years of negotiations with MPS. The complaint, "filed at the Office of Civil Rights in the U. S. Department of Education office in Chicago, claims MPS and the Milwaukee School Board are not complying with the Civil Rights Act."

According to the MJS article, MPS gets federal funding for teaching English to those who speak another language and 26 schools in MPS had bilingual schools last year. Darryl Morin, state director of LULAC, says MPS is using "uncertified and unqualified teachers in the program."

Interestingly enough Rep Pedro Colon introduced a bill in this years budget that would "that would require private schools with more than 10 percent limited-English proficient students to teach students in a bilingual-bicultural fashion." His motivation was supposedly "there's been a concern in the bilingual teacher community" in Milwaukee Public Schools about what private schools might or might not be doing, according to a June 2nd article by Patrick McIlheran.

I have a few concerns myself when looking at the whole of this story. We again seem to be seeing students being used as pawns for money and political power.

The Larger Picture

What we have here are 3 factions: MPS & Rep Colon, LULAC, and choice schools (represented by St. Anthony's School) in a tug of war of philosophies using students as the rope.

LULAC is no friend of choice schools, according to their website:
LULAC strongly opposes vouchers.
LULAC supports full-funding of the No Child Left Behind Act.
LULAC strongly opposes all legislation that designates English as the official language of the United States or of any individual state.

There is no question that MPS is struggling. In this circumstance they are being attacked by LULAC who wants more out of them then maybe is warranted. Yet MPS through its conduit, Rep Colon, is expecting even more from choice schools.

St. Anthony's on Milwaukee's south side is one of the largest and by most accounts successful choice schools. The assault by Rep Colon even seems unfair to Jesus Santos, who oversees bilingual education for MPS.

Says Santos, there are two big problems with what Colon demands. One is his 10% figure. Public schools are required to start offering courses in a student’s native language only when a certain number of students – not a percentage of them – are weak in English. That’s to keep small schools from incurring big costs for, say, 10 students. But this paradox could exactly hit small choice schools...
Worse, it’s really hard to find teachers licensed to staff bilingual programs.

So how would have Rep Colon's bill affected St. Anthony's? According to Terry Brown, St. Anthony would have to replace 10% to 15% of its staff. This at a time when jobs are difficult to come by and when there are not enough teachers to fill the perceived problem of "uncertified and unqualified teachers" LULAC sees in MPS.

There is also an underlying battle of culture and teaching philosophies here.

On the one hand we have St. Anthony's method of teaching students English quickly and then immersing them in it in the way that specialty language schools immerse English-speaking children in, say, German. The idea, said Ramon Cruz, is to get students fluent as quickly as possible. The school even had an expert design a rapid-English program for middle-schoolers who transfer in. "It's very effective."

On the other hand we have LULAC who "supports bilingual education to ensure English proficiency while encouraging students to retain proficiency in their native language. English language acquisition is imperative, but bilingualism and multilingualism are assets to be valued and preserved."

MPS seems to be in the middle here, working to do their best with unwarranted pressure from LULAC and their own struggles not helping the situation.

The lawsuit by LULAC is another example of why the Federal Government should have no say in local education. Yet the money the Feds dangle in front of public education is to alluring for local goverments to turn down.

Either way, the students must be the first concern. If something is working, the players need to back away and allow the success to flourish, not hinder it.

Write this down - if you can find a good pen

Courtesy of the Wisconsin State Journal "Janesville's former Parker Pen plant may close; 153 jobs would be lost"

What a shot for this community, first GM and now more. I guess the question is what can the state, county and city governments do to stop this job hemorrhaging? Maybe some change in the way they're doing business.

I'm thinking they could make the business climate better.

Campaign Website Launch

I'd like to announce the launching of my campaign website here. I'm running for the Wisconsin State Assembly in the 12th District. This will be a daunting task, but I'm up for the run and excited about the possibilities.

As a conservative I truly believe our views are the ones that will help our city, county, state and nation. I also believe that by talking to my neighbors and district mates, they will support this effort and vote for me on November 2, 2010.

Your help in spreading the word is greatly appreciated.

With all due respect and humility,
Sam Hagedorn
aka - yoSAMite

A Political Meeting

Rep Fred Kessler, my opponent for the Wisconsin Assembly stopped by my house today to introduce himself. A nice gesture. I was hoping he was going to concede, but no such luck.

We both agreed to a clean campaign, with both of us concentrating on issues. We don't agree on many things and it will be up to each of us to present our cases to the people of the 12th Assembly District and allow them to make the choice of whom they want to represent them in Madison.

I choose me as I hope a majority of voters will in November 2010.

Thank You

H/T Badger Blooger.