Can Howard Dean be far behind?

Rael to bestow Honorary Priest title to Ward Churchill


Rael to bestow "Honorary Priest" title to Ward Churchill for his essaythe
60,000+ members of the Raelian Movement send Churchill their supportMiami, Feb
10, 2005. Rael, leader of the International Raelian Movement (www.rael.org) has
just given the "Honorary Priest" title to Ward Churchill (University of Colorado
professor) for his essay which most of the US is decrying as insensitive or
unpatriotic. Ricky Roehr (leader of the US Raelian Movement) is quoted: "Mr.
Churchill is exactly right in what he wrote! If we are to have peace, we must
take responsibility for our part in the violence and stop handing out blame as
if we have done nothing. Quite the contrary, we have done terrible things to
countless people. Churchill addressed the cause of the 9-11 attacks and people
want to shoot the messenger. Fox news and the right wing would have him thrown
out of the US for being unpatriotic and insensitive to the innocent people
killed in the 9-11 attacks. It is precisely Churchill's compassion for loss of
innocent life that prompted his essay - his words so easily twisted by the
right-wing who dare not think anything which conficts with the what the Bush
administration is spoon feeding a public blinded by the rhetoric of fear and
intolerance. Blind patriotism is precisely what created Nazi Germany by
instilling the same "culture of fear" which allows the normally peace loving
public to justify attacking countries who never attacked them. The current air
in America is eerily like that of pre-Nazi Germany.

(nod to little green footballs)

Breaking news from democraticunderground.com!!

It seems that the author of such classics as Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huck Finn was not actually named Mark Twain. Rather he was a GOP plant whose real name is Samuel Longhorn Clemens. Using his diabolic time machine, evil genius Karl Rove went back in time to convince Twain/Clemens to pepper his writings with racial and ethnic slurs. It seems this was all a plot by the Bush cabal to "keep the black man down." Obvioulsy this is incredibly important news, and we expect President Bush's resignation at any moment.

According to Daily Kos, the leftist bloggers are also frantically working on a rumor that William Shakespeare's real name was not in fact William Shakespeare.

In a lesser story, Dear Abbie is not really Dear Abbie. In fact, there have been multiple Dear Abbies over the years, and it seems Bush has installed nefarious neocon Paul Wolfowitz in the coveted position.

Mike Adams Tackles MU

Gotta love the Town Hall daily email, lots of great editorials daily...

Anyway, Mike Adams, a guy who is simply hillarious in dealing with his own academic persecution at UNC has taken a look at our very own Marquette (written as a letter to Dean McCarthy)...

You have, according to my research, at least two gay organizations on
campus. Both organizations seem to enjoy “unfettered pursuit of truth” at
Marquette. They are allowed freedom of speech on your website and freedom of
association on your campus. Although, as a private school, you are not bound by
the First Amendment, you seem to grant these organizations certain rights
voluntarily, in the name of academic freedom.
So, how are we to resolve the
university’s position that, a) pro-abortion speech is permissible, b) pro-gay
speech is permissible, and c) pro-war speech is impermissible?
The answer is
simple: Marquette University is not committed to serving God or the Catholic
Church. It is committed to advancing the policies of the Democratic Party.

Big Badger Weekend!

Another HUGE weekend for Badger hockey, with #4 Bucky heading to Denver to take on the #3 ranked Bulldogs. I thought it would be somewhat difficult to get up for this weekend because of the let down in the last minute of last Saturday's game, and while it has taken an extra day, I am pumped! Badgers need these games much more than last weekend, a sweep would put them in the drivers seat for the WCHA title:

This weekend's Wisconsin-Denver series has plenty of title implications. Both
teams also face Colorado College in the final three weeks of the season, so if
either can sweep this weekend, they'll likely go into that series with
everything on the line.

The top three teams in the division are on a razor thin margin, with each team having a series against the other remaining on their schedule. The good news for BAdger fans is that we get Colorado College at home next weekend. Basically these four games can make or break the mighty Badgers. I'm not positive about video, but you can definitely listen to the game here.

"Fake" reporter quits...Is Helen Thomas next?

I imagine the White House pool reporters for the NY and LA Times are quaking in their boots. It is only a matter of time (probably later today) until someone finds questions as biased and loaded against the President and administration coming from those camps. Will those reporters then quit as well?

How about the guy who simply made up the booing coming from people in West Allis when President Bush wished an ailing Slick Willy well? Someone check his credentials, how the heck did he get a job with AP?

What about the "fake" teacher down in Colorado? Teaching history while being a Holocaust denier? Seems like a strange way to teach. Anyone else remember the flap over Mel Gibson's dad denying the extermination of Jews and the demand from the leftists in Hollywood that he denounce his own father?

Paging Helen Thomas, Helen Thomas to the hack reporter phone. Mr. Gannon is waiting to share a cab to Partisan Alley with you. Seriously though, Helen must be shaking in her curled up little elfin boots right now...

"Her loathing for Bush is palpable. "This is the worst president ever," she
told the Torrance, Calif., Daily Breeze in January. "He is the worst
president in all of American history..."
Thomas to Fleischer: Will you
state for the record, for the historical record, why [Bush] wants to bomb Iraqi
people? —March 5, 2003
Thomas to Fleischer: [W]hy is [Bush] going to
bomb them? I mean, how do you bomb people back to democracy? This is a question
of conquest. They didn't ask to be "liberated" by the United States. This is our
self-imposed political solution for them. —Feb. 26, 2003
Thomas: At an earlier briefing, Ari, you said
that the president deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all
innocent lives in the world?Fleischer: Well, Helen—Thomas: And I have a
follow-up.Fleischer: —I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack in Tel
Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the president, as he said in a
statement yesterday, deplores in the strongest terms the taking of those lives
and the wounding of those people, innocents in Israel.Thomas: My follow-up is,
why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?—Jan. 6, 2003

I expect Rep. Louise Slaughter's letter about Helen Thomas to be coming any moment now

Okay, I'll give you my take on Ward Churchill

American Indians brought it on themselves. If they would have just let the early settlers and pioneers roam free without ever trying to protect themselves, then they would have never had any problems. In essence, the fate of the Indian is the fault of the Indian...

I wonder if I went to Mr. Churchill's class and started talking about these things what he would have to say? If I told him that since he claims to be a Native American, it would be okay for people to kill him and his relatives? Native American's probably wiped out Jamestown and Roanoake, so all Native American's should be killed. Well, maybe not all of them, but enough so that they "get it."

Isn't that basically what he is saying? All American's deserve to die because there have been people killed by American actions abroad? His comments are as ridiculous and heinous as those I wrote above (which I obviously do not believe, no thinking person could).

Firing him would not take away his freedom of speech, it would simply be taking away his tax payer funded income. Mr. Churchill would still be able to spout his American hate speech on the street corner or in the town square, Coloradoans just shouldn't have to pay for it.

Doyle's Budget

First, did anyone see on the Urinal online they had a live web cast of
the governor's speech? It was pretty cool aside from the gigantic
picture of Doyle that accompanied the video screen. Personally I have
no idea how much it costs (Badger hockey has live web casts from time to
time) and would be very interested to know, since both Doyle and UW
obviously are spending our money for these things.

Secondly, the budget is almost not worth commenting on since it will be
revamped and rewritten and argued over in every corner of the state for
the next few months. The thing I am most concerned about is the
elimination of the QEO for public school teacher negotiations. Without
these caps I can only imagine what MPS teachers will be acting like in
the next contract negotiations. I envision illegal strikes and "sick
days" and more childish behavior from a union which will be granted far
too much power with out the much needed cap of the QEO. While Doyle
calls this a tax "freeze" it is anything but. Teacher salaries alone
would skyrocket in the coming years, because Doyle will have backed
local governments into a corner.

The Deaniacs in a nutshell

Postitive outlook for Bush's SS plan?

Dick Morris has a compelling article in today's NY Post. He argues that the President's plan actually has a pretty good chance to get through, based on the will of the people (well, the will of the people under 50). It is nice to finally see someone (even if it is Morris) actually saying this impotant legislation has a shot. I will admit that some of the things I have been hearing are troubling (molasses slow phase in, mandatory annuities...) but all in all this plan must pass, the sooner the better for those of us in our early twenties.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that support for private investment skews
dramatically by age group. Those aged 18 to 29 back it by 65 percent to 22
percent. Thirtysomething voters support it by 63-28; those in their 40s,
59-30. But voters between the ages of 50 and 64 oppose the
private-investment option by 49-41, and those over 65, by 63-27. So the
only voters who oppose private investment are those whom the reforms won't
touch. Those for whom the changes are real, generally support them...It is not
that these programs are likely to fail. Democrats fear them because they suspect
that they will succeed — that government-run Social Security will henceforth
only be for those so poor that they could not amass much in their retirement
accounts...Democrats will rant and rave. But they won't find any mass
constituency for their passion — and the program will pass. Bush could
still get shipwrecked by the cuts he proposes in benefits to avoid bankruptcy. But his privatization proposal should pass easily.

Post pulls a Seinfeld: "Breathtaking"

Another impressively negative budget article from the impartil folks at the Washington Post.

the fiscal 2006 budget proposed yesterday by President Bush is breathtaking
-- in the first approach as farce, in the second as tragedy...cuts as draconian
as the administration proposes are not necessary and would fall too heavily on
those who can tolerate it least...maddeningly blinkered mindset ignores the
impact of the Bush tax cuts, which were at once unaffordable and tilted to the
wealthiest Americans...those priorities are flat wrong.

Wow, it's been something like seventeen minutes since I heard the tax cuts benefitted only the wealthy, very original indeed. The fact is the Post wants there to be no war spending and a tax increase ("roll back" means tax hike). The fact that Americans don't want to pay high taxes (notice the Republican majority) and want to be safe (again, that Republican majority thing) seems to go right over the Post editors heads.

A heartfelt thank you to our men and women

It turns out that Michelle Malkin wasn't the only reason I have been inundated (with extreme gratitude) today. A poster on www.snipershide.com reposted her post, which included the blurb about me.

I am not exactly sure who visits the sniper web site, but I have a pretty good idea they are mostly men and women who have served or are serving in our Armed Forces.

I just wanted to point out that these people have been personally insulted and I wanted to offer my utmost gratitude to each and every person involved with all United States military branches. It is truly an honor to have even a few of you read this page, and even a bigger honor that in some way, I am able to help (if only slightly) right this ridiculous wrong. I urge you to write Dr. Brower, if only to express your outrage at the comments he made.

I can't imagine the sacrifices, discipline, and courage it takes to be a forward scout and sniper. If I could I would thank each and every one of you personally, but for now this will have to do.

To all who are protecting me and our country on the front lines and here at home...thank you.

Very shrewd indeed

It seems that Governor Doyle can do more than veto sound legislation. In a shrewd political move he has proposed an enormous $850 million dollars on top of the normal public school (in other words failed schools) funding. In effect, he is going to be able to say that Republican legislators (who cannot let this stand) cut out nearly a billion dollars in new school funding. While all who follow this little political game understand that the additional money will be like throwing a gold fish at the enormous bureaucratic whale that is Wisconsin public schools (what do we have, seventy eight public universities? I swear, someone once told me they graduated from UW - Village of Elm Grove).

Thing is, this ploy will probably work, because of the media. The Urinal will lead the charge, blaming Republicans for effectively burning the kindergarten books (while at the same time stealing their illegal prescription drugs from their mail boxes). This is the time we in Wisconsin who understand the political gamesmanship must do everything we can to jump on this issue early and often. The louder the better. The path this absurd spending will take is obvious, so it is important to point out the absurdity of it now.

All the SB ads over at USA Today

Comprehensive page featuring all the ads and a chance to vote on best and worst. I thought the troop applause was one of the best advertisements I have ever seen personally...okay, I like the godaddy.com ad too.

They also have some clips of ads that weren't able to be aired, along with some Miller Lite ads that Fox yanked for poking fun at Anheiser Busch.

Scathing rhetoric from the Washington Post

Remember the Poor



"depressing numbers"
"budgetary times that try the nation's soul"
"In the face of this unhappy fiscal reality, the risk is that the budget
ax will fall most heavily on the poorest and most vulnerable"
"reckless tax cuts"
"we think the president's pledge to cut the deficit in half in five
years is a sham -- an inadequate target achieved by misleading
budgeting"
"cruelly disproportionate share of the cuts"


Hmm, that didn't take long at all.

I am shocked, shocked that there is this much waste...

In the federal budget. 150 programs are going to be eliminated or
"vastly scaled back."

I think it will be incredibly interesting to see how much of this is
slashed in the end. In particular, Feingold was on Q&A last night (not
at all interesting or exciting) talking about cutting the deficit. We
will see if he was being sincere or just paying lip service. I want to
see if he'll support ending the federal funding for Amtrak, basically
killing the program if I read their financial situation correctly.

The other interesting political fight to watch will be the cuts to farm
subsidies. Practically speaking it makes sense, paying farmers to rot
their crops and dump their milk has never made sense to me, from a
consumer standpoint. Already the leftists are making their age old
pitch "You're hurting farmers while giving tax cuts to your "fat cat"
cronies.

"This budget is part of the Republican plan to cut Social Security
benefits while handing out lavish tax breaks for multimillionaires,"
said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

I have to believe that the dems understand this argument isn't working
anymore, since almost all taxpayers in America got a break from this
president. It seems they haven't had a chance to get the spin machine
revved up and pumping out more "personal account's are like Vegas
gambling" style lies.

William Brower Update

Well, it's not really an update but since the popular Michelle Malkin has thrown a link to my site in one of her posts, I have seen a spike already (yes, for me ten people is a spike).

Anyway, I emailed professor Brower on Saturday morning and have yet to hear back from him. Specifically I asked him where he is getting his research funding from and if he is still receiving money from NASA. When I receive answers to these questions I will obviously let everyone know.

Here is my letter:

Dr. Brower,

I recently became aware of your statements and feelings about the recent
controversy surrounding Marquette University and the adopt a sniper
program. It seems in discussing this topic with a class you referred to a
bracelet, upon which you wrote "Adopt A Nazi." I was just curious as to
who it was you feel the Nazi's are? I have been thinking about it and can
only imagine you were talking about those of us who have supported this
important program, and those men and women performing as snipers and forward
scouts.

I am not quite sure if you were just taking this
opportunity to attack the current administration (which is your
right, while a bit tasteless to do it on the students dime) or if you
really feel that snipers and those of us who have supported them with donations
really are Nazi's. I am curious to find out however. I am also
curious to know whether or not you are still receiving money from
Briggs & Stratton or Johnson Controls. What really puzzles me
though is the fact that you took money from NASA. Wouldn't that
make you, in your terms, Nazi funded?

As a proud alum of Marquette
I plan to explore this topic further.

Thank you for
your time,

Feingold on C-Span at 7 tonight

On the program, Q&A. I plan to record it since I'll obviously be watching the Bowl.

I'll watch it sometime in the next week, and if it's interesting maybe I'll write a bit about it.

Program description: Senator Feingold will discuss the influence of money in politics, his campaign finance reform legislation, his position on different policy issues and if he will run for president in 2008.

All in all, a great game

After a few months of beating up on mediocre competition, Bucky proved this weekend that it has what it takes to take on the big boys. They played fairly well last night despite the poor result (5-3 loss, with a Gopher goal in the final 41 seconds and an empty netter to close it), and I am liking the future. I have already started formulating plans for the Frozen Four in Columbus and will hopefully be there to see the Badgers bring home another title!

Side note: if you're the girl sitting behind me at the game, I apologize for leaving so quickly and will give you a call next time I hit Madison.

Keeping with the sports theme, I'll be at a downtown dive enjoying the crappy game with some friends. I'll try to remember as much as I can about the commercials, and root for Freedy Mitchell and Dorse the Horse (my last miserable attempts at winning the playoff fantasy football).