Apparently, Mark Belling seems to think he’s a savvy political prognosticator. In an opinion piece Belling wrote at GM Today Belling predicts Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker will be a force to be reckoned with once the 2010 gubernatorial election rolls around:
Walker’s fiscal responsibility message will be especially powerful in 2010 if, as expected, the Democrats deal with a massive state budget deficit by passing monster tax hikes. He is a political nightmare for the Democrats.
Interestingly enough, back in 2005 Belling predicted Walker would crush Mark Green in the GOP gubernatorial primary in 2006, a prediction which never came close to coming true. As Xoff points out over at Uppity Wisconsin, Belling also predicted Russ Darrow would be the Republican Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate race against Russ Feingold, and we all know how that turned out. Belling’s no Nostradamus, and instead of trying to play political prognosticator, he should stick to something he’s good at - like hurling racial epithets from the safety and comfort of the WISN studios.
I’m no fan of waterboarding, because it’s torture, plain and simple. I’ve heard the argument from some that it’s not really torture, and I’ve also heard the argument that the ends justify the means when it comes to waterboarding, but in my book, this is the very definition of torture:
Is it (waterboarding) torture? Yes, but I will not lose any sleep, nor will I feel my morals and principles compromised.
After reading Randy’s comment that he doesn’t feel his morals or principles would be compromised by supporting torture, I can’t help but wonder what exactly Randy’s morals and principles are, because my morals and principles tell me that torture is wrong, no matter what the circumstances. What’s more, I’d love to hear Randy explain if he’d be okay with Americans being waterboarded, and I’d love to hear him - or anyone else - rationalize how our nation can claim moral superiority over any other nation when we engage in waterboarding - a technique that was also used by Nazi Germany and Japan during World War II.
Cindy over at Fairly Conservativehas been critical of president-elect Barack Obama’s choices to fill his Cabinet and administration one more than one occasion, and Cindy’s not alone in questioning president-elect Obama’s decision to choose experienced individuals who have previously served in a Democratic administration.
As pointed out by Jay Bullock over at folkbum’s rambles and rants, the criticisms leveled against president-elect Obama for his decision to choose folks with experience to serve in his administration are basically a “heads-I-win-tails-you-lose” argument. While president-elect Obama was criticized for choosing folks who had experience in a previous Democratic administration to serve in his administration, as if in doing so he had abandoned his message of change, the same folks who’ve criticized Obama would no doubt be criticizing him just as much (if not more) if he had chosen folks with no Washington experience to serve in his Cabinet and administration. I’ve also made the argument that choosing individuals with Washington experience to serve in his administration doesn’t mean the agenda of change Barack Obama talked about during his presidential campaign can’t be implemented - in fact, I think choosing individuals to serve in his administration who know how Washington works will only make the implementation of Obama’s agenda easier. I think it would have been incredibly naive of president-elect Obama to fill his administration with individuals who weren’t wise to the way Washington works - because Washington is no place for on the job training when it comes to the individuals who would be staffing the Obama administration.
No doubt aware of the criticisms leveled against him for choosing folks with Washington experience to serve in his administration, president-elect Obama addressed the issue today at a press conference in Chicago:
“When it comes to the people that we’ve pulled together — because I know this has been sort of conventional wisdom floating around Washington — that, well, you know, there’s a recycling of people who were in the Clinton administration,” Obama replied, referring specifically to the economic team he introduced on Monday. “And so it would be surprising if I selected a Treasury secretary who had had no connection with the last Democratic administration because that would mean that the person had no experience in Washington whatsoever.”
He added that it would be troubling had he made appointments with no government experience given the severity of the market meltdown.
In terms of breaking from the past, his team of advisers combine experience with fresh thinking, Obama said, adding that the “vision for change comes first and foremost…from me.”
“That’s my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure, then, that my team is implementing it,” he said. “I think that when you ultimately look at what this advisory board looks like, you’ll say this is a cross-section of opinion that in some ways reinforces conventional wisdom, in some ways breaks with orthodoxy in all sorts of ways.”
It’s like president-elect Obama read Cindy’s blog!
The Dow dropped again today, finishing below 8,000 for the first time since March 2003. While some folks on the conservative end of the political spectrum have become fond of blaming president-elect Barack Obama for any bad economic news, I blame George W. Bush.
After all, we can only have one president at a time, and until January 20, 2009 George W. Bush is the president, and as President Harry S. Truman was fond of saying, the buck stops with him.
So it looks like the U.S. Senate will be felon-free for the session to commence in January. The Associated Press is reporting incumbent U.S. Senator Ted Stevens has lost to Democratic challenger Mark Begich, saving the Republican Party from the embarrassment of having to expel one of their own.
Now we just have to wait to see how things turn out in Minnesota and Georgia…
State Rep. Mark Honadel wants residents of the 21st Assembly District to know he is at their service, especially the 14,000 who voted for his opponent, Glen Brower.
Honadel won re-election Nov. 4. A Republican and a lifelong resident of the district, Honadel said he will make himself available to voters who would like to discuss policy.
“Pick up the phone and let’s talk about it, because I’m at your service,” Honadel said. “I’m here to serve everybody.
The fact is, Rep. Mark Honadel doesn’t work for everybody in his district; he’s really only working for those folks who support and agree with his far-right beliefs.
According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, handgun purchases in Wisconsin skyrocketed 82% in the days before and after Barack Obama’s election as president compared with the same 13 days in November last year. Now while I can understand why some folks might rush to buy assault rifles with the notion those types of firearms might be subject to increased restriction during an Obama administration, but it’s not assault rifles these folks are rushing to buy:
Tom Smith of Eagle said Friday that he purchased two handguns, a .22-caliber snub nose and a .45-caliber semiautomatic, in the days before the election when it became clear Obama would win.
“I bought them because I was afraid they were going to be outlawed . . . ,” said Smith, who was at the McMiller Sports Center shooting range near Eagle in western Waukesha County.
Here’s what Barack Obama has said about gun control and the Second Amendment:
I know I’m biased, but that doesn’t sound to me like a man who wants to take away everyone’s guns…
No, you didn’t read the title of this blog entry wrong. At a press conference today, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said she and her fellow Republican governors were ready to put aside “extreme partisanship” and act if Washington fails to provide the leadership America needs, according to CNN. Gov. Palin even went so far as to praise President-elect Barack Obama, saying, “If he governs with the skill, and the grace, and the greatness of which he is capable, we’re going to be just fine.”
Now here’s where things get a little weird. In the 48 hours before Gov. Palin appeared at today’s press conference, Gov. Palin had given television interviews in which she defended her previous claims that President-elect Obama had “palled around with terrorists,” a reference to his past work with William Ayers, the Vietnam-era domestic bomber. However, by today Gov. Palin was singing a different tune, praising President-elect Obama as mentioned above.
I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I’m far from being a fan of Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. Putting aside the fact that he’s a conservative masquerading as a Democrat for political expediency, I’ve never been impressed with Sheriff Clarke as a crime fighter. His GRIP program proved to be woefully ineffective before being ended, and he’s famous (or infamous) for his mismanagement of the Milwaukee County Jail.
So imagine my surprise when as I was surfing the intertubes I came across a story about how “helpful” Sheriff Clarke was to a drunken, stranded motorist back in February of this year:
On a frigid and snowy Sunday afternoon in February, Brian Allen drove his car off the Good Hope Road entrance ramp to Highway 41/45 and into a nearby snow bank.
It looked, at first glance, like a run-of-the-mill winter accident.
At least that’s the way Sheriff David Clarke Jr. treated it.
But he couldn’t have been more wrong.
Clarke, the first cop at the scene, instantly moved into helper mode. First, he tried to push and then pull Allen’s vehicle out of the snow bank. But even with the help of another motorist, Clarke couldn’t get Allen and his Ford Taurus back on the road.
That’s when the second officer arrived.
Deputy Sandra Santoro did what any good cop should have done from the start.
Santoro ran a check on the driver and found that his license was suspended. She then sized up Allen, noticing his eyes were bloodshot and glassy and that he reeked of alcohol. Visible inside his car were two empty beer bottles, one empty beer can and an open beer can, still three-quarters full.
“I’m not gonna lie to you,” Allen told Santoro, according to her police report. “I was drinking. I had a few beers. I knew I was busted when you guys came.
“I almost got away with it.”
As it turned out, Allen’s blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit. The 43-year-old driver later pleaded no contest to drunken driving, agreeing to pay a $764 fine.
Putting aside the fact that Sheriff Clarke attempted to help get an obviously drunk driver back onto the roads - where he could potentially kill someone - I’m more than a little disturbed by Sheriff Clarke’s behavior after the incident:
In response to the open records query, Clarke’s office released the reports by the two deputies and other documents related to Allen’s arrest. Absent from the material, however, is any written report by Clarke on the incident.
Since he was the first officer at the scene, shouldn’t the twice-elected Democratic sheriff have filed a report?
“You would think so,” said Felber, the union boss.
But that would have meant the sheriff would have put in writing how he tried to help a drunken driver get back on the highway.
Considering the tough stand Sheriff Clarke has taken against drunk driving, shouldn’t he be practicing what he preaches when it comes to doing his job properly? After all, what kind of message does it send to folks when Milwaukee County’s “top cop” is trying to assist drunk drivers get back onto our roads?
What’s more, how can anyone be certain this is the first time Sheriff Clarke’s been in a situation where he’s helped a drunken motorist get back onto the road?
If I had the money, I’d put a bounty on his melon. Seriously.
That’s what Peter DiGaudio, formerly of Texas Hold ‘Em blogger fame, said in response to Barack Obama being elected president. Now call me crazy, but that sure sounds like a threat to me, and I wasn’t alone in expressing disbelief over Peter’s comments. That wasn’t Peter’s only comment in regards to the election of Barack Obama as president, but it was certainly the most disconcerting of all his comments.
Shortly after expressing his opinions regarding the election of Barack Obama as president, Peter deleted the Texas Hold ‘Em blog and was banned from contributing at the Badger Blog Alliance, leaving many to wonder about his well-being and state of mind. However, it wasn’t long before Peter returned to the Cheddarsphere with a new blog, The Underground Conservative. Predictably, Peter’s up to his old tricks, including some harsh anti-Muslim rhetoric, and curiously enough, conservative blogs have been putting links to Peter’s new blog on their blogrolls, leaving me to wonder if those folks who linked back to Peter’s new blog condone his inflammatory rhetoric.
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
Entries (RSS)