War is less dangerous than ducks.

During the First World War, ducks killed more people than bullets, bombs, mines and tanks combined. Ducks have weak immune systems and carry viruses that can infect humans. They were responsible for the outbreak of Spanish flu that killed 25 million people in 1918, more than died from military causes in the whole of WWI.

VOTE FRAUD MILWAUKEE

Friends in Milwaukee tell me that presidential voter fraud has already begun. The ACT/MoveOn/ACORN/Union team-up is bearing real fruit. Vans and buses pull up all day unloading "voters" at City Hall. The voters stand in line, register, and vote absentee. The line is usually about a half an hour long.

Interestingly the vans have Illinois liscense plates.

Prognostication:

There will never be a news story on this, or an investigation by D.A. McCann. It wouldn't be prudent.

x

Check out this:

Where are we with the Presidential election?

Check these sites out: Electoral-vote.com
Tripias.com
RealClear Politics

"The Smelliest Fundraiser Ever"
--Anonymous Observer of Wisconsin Politics

dan rather as seen in 1984

Well, Campers,

Panzer did get crushed. Fitzgerald is, in fact, the new leader of the Senate and Sen. Gwen Moore's reliance upon the color of her skin has actually won her a Congressional seat.

The last bit is unfortunate for a variety of reasons. The major one is she is a mean-spirited idiot. She may well end up as one of the dimmest bulbs in the US House. ...That is saying something. The other problem is the way her race trumped her other qualities. That is just too bad.

Editor's Conventional Wisdom Watch:

Mary Panzer is doomed. She'll lose the primary election to Spooky.

Fitzgerald is the next Senate Majority Leader.

Kanavas is holding Joint Finance.

Sen. Gwen Moore is (typically) relying on her credentials as a black woman to trump all other considerations in her run for the 4th CD race. Unfortunately for her, Matt Flynn has more announced support in the black community. Unfortunately for both of them, Tim Carpenter is apparently out-working them.

And Shirley Krug?...She's an idiot.

Mary Panzer.

Is she stooopid?

Yes.

Your Editor has heard that Gregg Underheim of Oshkosh will have his Chairmanship of the Assembly Health Committee pulled after the election.

He is not considered a team player.

Tanned rested and ready. 

IMAO: "Only You Can Prevent Terrorism
There are intelligence reports that more big terrorists attacks are coming to America. So what can the common man do?
Well, I now have a holster so I can conceal and carry two full-size .45's on me. If I see anything terroristy around... BANG! BANG! BANG! Everyone's dead.

I also stocked up on bacon. Bacon is to terrorists like garlic is to vampires. Also, it's tasty and good for an Atkins diet.
Of course, terrorists will probably attack with bombs. So, teach your dog to be a bomb-sniffing dog. The way to do that is to buy a bunch of bombs and keep them around your house so your dog can sniff them all the time.

Also, remember to punch hippies. That discourages terror, especially if after you punch the terrorist, you shout out, 'Hey! Any terrorists who are watching! That's what I'm going to do to you!' Terrorists don't like to be punched.
If you have any other ideas of what the average citizen can do to fight terror in America, put it in the comments section.

UPDATE: I was just thinking: What happens if the Muslim terrorists team up with the Irish terrorists? We would then have drunken suicide bombers stumbling around and blowing up in random places! We need to stop that from happening."

The Origin of the Kerry Campaign Slogan

How many rough drafts do you think the Kerry team went through to come with the campaign slogan, "Let America be America again"? It takes a lot of work to boil down an entire political platform into a single phrase of such astonishing meaninglessness. We'll give them this: It does capture the essence of Kerry's rhetorical style -- stilted, yet empty. Maybe Kerry himself provided an early version, something like, "To be sure, I would like it to be known, that who among us does not want this great country, America, to return to a state of being that country which it was and shall be again."

Of course, we heard the first version was just "Let America be France." Whatever. They both boil down to the same thing: "Let John Kerry be a Massachusetts senator again."

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Sinister Political Secret Society  

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From the Daily Dish: "QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the strong man stumbled, or where a doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, and who comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. The man who at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who never knew victory or defeat.' - Teddy Roosevelt."

A Frank Guide to Homeland Security Alert Levels

Everyone has heard of the Homeland Security Advisory System by now and its rainbow of colors, but most are confused of exactly what it means to them about how they should act and live when it is at its different levels of alert. That's why I've decided to create this guide make things clearer to the people.

First, here is what the alert levels mean in general:
*Green (Low): All evil had been destroyed. The world is now a peaceful utopia.
*Blue (Guarded): There's still the occasional pickpocket, so show a little caution.
*Yellow (Elevated): Terror lurks in the shadows; be wary.
*Orange (High): The terrorists are out there and they are coming for YOU!
*Red (Severe): The world is exploding around you. The only law is your own gun.

Layout of West Wing of the White House

From ABC's The Note:

NEWS SUMMARY

The only way to get The Note written on time every morning is to give exquisitely precise instructions every evening to the 500 Googling monkeys working the overnight shift.

------------------------------------

This Editor wishes for 500 Googling monkeys.

Look at Lying in Ponds:


This site takes a statistical approach to the biases of columnists. How does Ann Coulter stack up to Paul Krugman? You can evaluate it yourself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Fact Check:

See the Daniel Patrick Moynihan quote on the main page: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts."

Fact check is reviewing all election year ads for accuracy..

It is worth a look.

"Anymore questions?" Rumsfeld asked, "Or do all fully understand that Iraq and France will soon be destroyed?"

From a Minnesota blogger: Frozen North

What the truly great politcal divide is this year.

From Vanity Fair: The Ways Blogging Can Ruin Your Life.

Center for Public Integrity has an interesting article on the political destruction and character assassination of Howard Dean.

Remember hearing about those Japanese soldiers fighting on in their jungle islands long after the war had ended? Apparently the instinct lives!

Banzai! Dean Troops in Wisconsin fight on.

Some insanely large portion of the electorate gets its information from comedy outlets: Leno, Letterman, the Daily Show, and the Onion.

Its good to remember that the destruction of our civilization is being overseen by Onion staff who used to work at Badger Liquor on State Street.

Onion Staff worked at Badger Liquor

Matt Pommer: Badger State loves its booze


And politicians have long been known to tour taverns and greet the seemingly captive audience. Former Gov. Tommy Thompson, who worked as a bartender in college, would quip that tavern regulars were a factor in his first election to the Legislature.

Thompson said his father gave him $10 a day to campaign. Going into a small town, Thompson explained, he would stop at a bar early in the day and buy a drink for the town drunk.

"He'd be there all day telling others what a great guy I was."

Your editor has enjoyed the works of author Orson Scott Card for years. Aside from novels he also apparently writes insightful political and cultural pieces.

This timely piece, for example, is about the recent Mass. Supreme Court decision.

It begins:

Civilization Watch --

By Orson Scott Card February 15, 2004

Humpty Dumpty Logic

A little dialogue from Lewis Carroll:

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's all."

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has not yet declared that "day" shall now be construed to include that which was formerly known as "night," but it might as well.

Campaign finance reform laws are the biggest con ever pulled on the nation.

They take as their presumption that speech is dangerous and must be curtailed. It is a "Big Lie" behind which elected officials hide their endless efforts to make themselves immune from defeat at the polls, while at the same time being viewed by left-liberals and self-interested newspaper editorialists as saintly "reformers".

Here is a beautifully argued piece that discusses that flim-flam flummery:


George F. Will: McCain-Feingold pollutes free speech

From Charlie Sykes, In the column he describes the problem of RINOs:


Panzer, RINOs, and TABOR

"But the real problem may be the RINOs.

RINO is an acronym for 'Republicans In Name Only.'

Last Sunday, the Journal Sentinel reported that a handful of RINOs -- Reps. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh) and Michael Lehman (R-Hartford)- were staging a "mini-revolt" over the idea of a spending cap.

Lehmann is reported "to oppose any constitutional amendment that would limit state and local spending."

Underheim complains "There's this assumption out there that there is wanton waste and abuse and fraud in local government. That simply isn't true."

Somebody should give him a bus ticket to Milwaukee. We could show him around."

Your editor found a link on the front page at Slate that read:

"WHY YOU LEMMINGS WILL VOTE FOR KERRY"


It leads to an interesting article that examines why:

"Barring a miraculous comeback by Sen. John Edwards, Sen. John Kerry will win the Democratic presidential nomination-despite the fact that most Democratic voters know little about him and don't like him very much."

Bush begins his campaign.

In this transcript you will find the themes of his re-election campaign.

"I'll be in the bar."

The Willard Hotel is famous for having a lobby which runs an entire city block down the middle of the building. It is one block from the White House and, the story goes, in the 1860's people would wait in the lobby for senior Administration officials to happen by and would accost them with one request or another.

From this came the term, "Lobbyist."

From the great Ober Dicta:

Rumsfeld Fighting Technique


In return we send out to Ober Dicta:

''Skydiver lands on beer vendor at women's cole-slaw wrestling event.''

(thank you Dave Barry)

Holy Cow!!!:

Nader to Jump in Presidential Race

-- courtesy of Fox News

This wasn't in Wisconsin, but it should have been:

Woman Fined for Registering Cows As Voters

Feb 19, 9:50 AM (ET)

LONDON (AP) - Brenda Gould is in trouble again for registering her cows as voters.

For the second year running, the woman from Newmarket, near Cambridge in eastern England, has listed two names on the registration form who turned out to be cows, East Cambridgeshire District Council said Thursday.

The previous year, in addition to registering two cows as "Henry and Sophie Bull," she listed "Jake Woofles," later found to be a dog, as eligible to vote in local government elections, the council said.

WISCONSIN BRIEFING: MILWAUKEE:

Principal used voucher money for two Mercedes cars
A school principal used the proceeds from state voucher money to buy two Mercedes-Benz cars for about $65,000, a newspaper reported.
( 02/18/2004 03:01 AM CST)

From St. Paul Pioneer Press

The best Onion article since "Governor Thomspon changes title to Sexecutioner"

---thanks to andrew sullivan for link

GREAT MOMENTS IN WISCONSIN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING

[As transcribed by ABC's The Note from a visit by Howard Dean to room 102 at Longfellow Middle School in La Crosse where students were examining water samples under a microscope].

HOWARD DEAN : Which do you think is safer, to drink water from your toilet or from the river? It's true.

STUDENT: I'd rather drink from the toilet.

HD: That's right. . .

HD: Which has more bacteria, dog pee or river water?"

CLASS: Dog pee

HD: I do not recommend drinking urine, but if you drink water straight from the river you have a greater chance of getting an infection that if you drink urine.

This political blog is enormous fun: Wonkette!

GOVERNOR DOYLE HAS A NEWSLETTER The editor has received a copy.

We provide herewith the choice bits of the newsletter:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOVERNOR DOYLE NEWS

Don't Forget to Vote on Tuesday!

The eyes of the nation are on Wisconsin this week. For the first time in decades, Wisconsin will play a defining role in the selection of the Democratic nominee for president. No matter who you support in the presidential race, you need to make sure and exercise your constitutional duty and get out there and vote on Tuesday. Let's show the country that Wisconsin can rise to the occasion.


New GOP Poll Shows Governor Doyle's at 65 Percent Job Approval Rating
Gov's Approval Numbers Jump 14 Points During Concealed Carry Debate

A new poll released this week show Governor Jim Doyle's approval rating hitting a new high, having jumped 14 points over the last three months. During that time, the single issue that dominated the Wisconsin legislature has been the Governor's veto of a reckless GOP concealed carry bill.

Doyle for Vice President?

"What do Bill Richardson, Ed Rendell, Tom Vilsack and Jim Doyle have in common? Well, they are all Democratic governors - serving as the chief executive officers of New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Wisconsin, respectively. They are all viewed as highly competent politicians vital to the party's future, let alone this year's elections. And, oh, they are possible vice presidential candidates."

(New York Times, February 10, 2004)

Do You Support Legalizing Prescription Drugs From Canada?


During his State of the State, Governor Doyle unveiled a new website, www.drugsavings.wi.gov, a new resource for Wisconsin citizens to find out information about the fight for access to safe and less costly prescription drugs from Canada. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration is actively fighting against this issue.

You can help make a difference!

Governor Doyle Launches New Website to Fight Concealed Weapons

Last week, Governor Doyle launched a new website, noconcealedweapons.com. The website is designed to help get people active in their local communities - to support legislative candidates that agree with the vast majority of Wisconsin citizens and law enforcement who oppose concealed weapons. Legislative Republicans are counting on you to not take any action to fight for what you believe in. Can we all really afford to allow that to happen?

Also from Slate, a really good summary of Wisconsin's presidential debate:

The Wisconsin Debate
Kerry waffles, Edwards wallops, Dean wanes.

Here is a great article:

Selling Sleaze: A User's Guide
Ten ways to rationalize the publication of infidelity rumors.
By Timothy Noah

Your editor loves this site.

Want to have fun in DC?

The Wisconsin Procurement Institute will help you extract money from the Federal Government and put it in your pocket. What could be more fun than that?

They are having a special shakedown cruise in DC on March 2-4. You should probably attend.

FROM ANDREW SULLIVAN:

Thursday, February 12, 2004

THE CARNAGE IN IRAQ: The news of yesterday's latest suicide bombing is grim indeed. The strategy is so obvious it barely rewards repeating. Al Qaeda and Qaeda-like Islamists target innocent Iraqis involved in the rebuilding of their country's security and infrastructure. They kill dozens. Then they infiltrate and help spread rumors that it was actually some kind of bizarre plot by the Americans to kill people they need to win over. The aim is to keep the reconstruction off-kilter, fuel anti-coalition feeling and destabilize the place enough for it to be used as a base for Islamofascist revolt. Then you have this chorus, as reported in the Washington Post:

"There is no God but Allah. America is the enemy of God," the protesters chanted. "Hell to the Americans. Hell to the Jews."

The Jews? How did they get involved? Ah, yes. Of course they are involved. For fascists, it's always the Jews. If anyone thinks this war is over, they need to get real.

There are 266 days laft till the Presidential Election.

Prediction: One of Governor Doyle's appointees will be indicted this year for improper bid shenanigans. At a guess; someone from the Dept. of Admin.

Here is the graph of the Iowa Caucus' Electronic Market. Dean's numbers are sinking like the Titanic.