Blogging Blue

Now maybe I’m wrong, but weren’t Republicans supposed to be the so-called “party of fiscal responsibility?” Aren’t Republicans the same folks who blast “tax and spend liberals” who if elected will raise taxes and ruin our economy?

If that’s really the case, then how do conservatives explain the fact that our current President, the esteemed George W. Bush, has run our economy into the ground, and in doing so, has run up a record budget deficit for the 2009 budget year? Jim Nussle, director of the Office of Budget and Management, has projected a record federal budget deficit of 482 billion dollars for 2009.

After news of the record budget deficit hit Washington, the knives came out as Democrats rushed to blame President Bush, with my favorite comments coming from Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, chairman of the Senate Committee on Budget:

“If they gave out Olympic medals for fiscal irresponsibility, President Bush would take the gold, silver and bronze,” Conrad said. “With his eight years in office, he will have had the five highest deficits ever recorded. And the highest of those deficits is now projected to come in 2009, as he leaves office.”

Sen. Conrad also blasted the administration for its “reckless fiscal policies,” blaming the president’s tax cuts for driving the government into deficit and saying Bush “will be remembered as the most fiscally irresponsible president in our nation’s history.”

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give George W. Bush a gold medal, or maybe a gold star, because he’s sure earned it for all the “good work” he’s done to keep our economy strong!

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Watchdog Milwaukee has done the Milwaukee area a great service by exposing those trying to ruin the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s name and integrity. It seems Tom Reynolds’ PAC organization, Clean Sweep Wisconsin, has chosen to take the route of planting candidates in Democratic districts and then run them as Democratic “challengers” to the incumbents. For those of you who don’t know who Tom Reynolds is, he was a former Republican State Senator and was quite controversial before being tossed out by his district for a Democrat, State Senator Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa).

It seems Wisconsinites are getting more than their fair share of unnecessary, sleazy campaigns. It wasn’t too long ago when we had a tug-of-war being fought over the TV for our Supreme Court seat. This, however, brings the entire 2008 campaign season to a new low. It’s shameful and outright disturbing that individuals would go to such lengths to unseat Democrats in November.

Members of Clean Sweep Wisconsin should be ashamed of themselves if they knew about this and understood what they were supporting with their contributions. If some contributors didn’t realize this level of trash was going to occur, I’d suggest that they’d ask for their contribution(s) back. To support something like this only shows off a negative characteristic of someone’s inner being.

As for the candidates who chosen to take on this role of being FAKE, I have no kind words for you. To run on a Party platform only to eliminate the true Party candidate is appalling and shouldn’t be acceptable by any means. If you don’t share in the views of the Party in question, you should run either as an independent or as a member of the opposing Party (Republicans). Period.

I agree with Watchdog Milwaukee in asking the Milwaukee County Democratic Party to NOT endorse these wolves in sheep’s clothing. Furthermore, any Democrat in those districts should be informed of the deception(s) right away so they don’t fall for Reynolds’ dirty tactics.

The individuals listed by Watchdog Milwaukee as FAKE are:

State Assembly District 8: Jose Guzman

State Assembly District 10: Charisha Allen

State Assembly District 15: Josh Hoisington

State Assembly District 16: David D. King

State Assembly District 17: Samantha H. Bady

State Assembly District 20: Philip Landowski

H/T: Fairly Conservative & Watchdog Milwaukee

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A recent report in the Milwaukee JournalSentinel highlighted the fact that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is raising more money than Republican John McCain in Southeastern Wisconsin. More notably, Obama is outraising McCain in counties like Waukesha County (the most Republican County in Wisconsin), Ozaukee County, and Racine County. In Waukesha County, Obama has raised $147,595 to $103,187 for McCain, while the $76,143 Obama has raised in Ozaukee County gives him a nearly $10,000 edge over McCain. Obama raised more cash than McCain in Racine County, and he trailed McCain by roughly $5,000 in Washington County.

Now obviously the lion’s share of the money raised by Obama - nearly $520,000 - came from Milwaukee County, but the fact that Barack Obama is outraising John McCain even in traditionally “red” counties can’t bode well for John McCain come November.

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By now you’ve no doubt heard the tragic reports of the church shooting in Knoxville, Tennessee this weekend. In perhaps the most disturbing twist to the crime, the victims were apparently targeted by the perpetrator, Jim Adkisson, solely because they happened to belong to a “liberal” church. To quote the BBC:

It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred for the liberal movement,” Chief Owen said.

“It appears that the church had received some publicity in the recent past regarding its liberal stance on things and that is at least one of the issues we believe caused that church to be selected.”

What’s worse, the day Adkisson picked for his rampage also happened to be the day children were putting on a play inside the church in question, the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. If not for church usher Greg McKendry, who put himself directly in the line of fire to protect others, who knows how bad this shooting could have been.

It’s a scary thought to imagine being targeted for death simply because of my political and social ideology. It’s difficult to wrap my brain around the idea that my beliefs could anger another to the point of wanting to put me to death, and while I realize the actions of Jim Adkisson are far from the norm, it’s not outside the realm of possibility something like this could happen again.

Grumps, Jason Haas, and illyT have more on this.

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So says Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn. Compared with the first half of last year, violent crime has decreased 19.4% in the City of Milwaukee, most notably in the following categories:

• Homicide, 33 in 2008, compared with 48 in 2007.
• Rape, 88 in 2008, compared with 124 in 2007.
• Robbery, 1,392 in 2008, compared with 1,607 in 2007.
• Aggravated assault, 1,703 in 2008, compared with 2,210 in 2007.

What’s most notable to me about the numbers released by Flynn is the fact that crime is down in Milwaukee even during the summer, when crime rates typically increase. As someone who works in Milwaukee and spends a lot of time in many of the worst neighborhoods the city has to offer, I’ve noticed a difference on Milwaukee’s streets, and while Milwaukee’s worst neighborhoods still don’t feel totally safe, they don’t feel quite as dangerous as they used to.

And now I know some folks might say they don’t feel like Milwaukee’s much safer now than it was last year, but a nearly 20% drop in violent crime rates is damn good, and it’s something to be proud of. Some folks will always consider Milwaukee to be unsafe and dangerous, no matter what, but I think these most recent numbers bode well for Milwaukee.

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