Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version

I can't describe..no..words...

Walker gets techie

Just as I received a teletown hall call last night...

Around 11 on a recent morning, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker got online and did what his gubernatorial campaign manager has asked him to do several times a day. He reached out to his political supporters with a message that was simultaneously posted on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, two of today's more popular social networking websites.

By day's end, Walker had sent out six messages; enough to maintain his online presence without overpowering his followers. Peppered between more personal comments on the Milwaukee Brewers were a few cyber shots at the man whose office he is aspiring to assume. "Doyle: In or Out? Doesn't matter. Only focused on Nov. 2, 2010 + getting state working again," wrote Walker. The update, including a link to a newspaper article, was instantly sent to some 7,000 people who choose to follow him on Twitter or are friends with him on Facebook.

"What we're doing is very calculated," says Keith Gilkes, Walker's campaign manager. "It is our intent to have the most savvy social media campaign of this race."

Those running for Wisconsin's highest office have taken a page from the playbook of Barack Obama. While running for president, Obama took social media to new heights by amassing a powerful grassroots base that could be reached for financial contributions and mobilized instantly.

I wonder if Howard Dean is scratching his head at this whole "Obama's king of the internet campaign" stuff. Wasn't he supposed to be the guy that led the way with internet fundraising and campaigning?

Too bad Twitter wasn't really hoppin' then. Or twoppin.

We'll see if it works for Walker.

Paul Ryan: Washington spending is "slow, wasteful and ineffective"

Supreme Court deadlocked

I would prefer spirited debate and 3-3 deadlocks over 7-0 rulings...wouldn't you?

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Some lawyers say they are disappointed the Wisconsin Supreme Court has refused to issue rulings in a number of recent cases after reviewing them for months.

In one case, the justices deadlocked 3-3 after a member recused herself. In three others since March, they said they shouldn't have taken the cases at all.

The non-decisions have disappointed lawyers looking for legal guidance on issues ranging from the open meetings law to corporate governance, as well as clients who had hoped for resolutions.

Former Justice Janine Geske, a law professor at Marquette University, says that in each case the court had "technical, legal reasons" for declining to rule. But she says the number of such cases is unusual this year for reasons that are unclear.

To me it shows the importance of these issues, and the necessary discussion and consideration that goes into these decisions.

Truth commission

Here is one time I think Obama has his head on straight, and needs to continue to LEAD.

President Barack Obama has been reluctant to probe Bush-era torture and anti-terrorism policies, but his Democratic allies aren't likely to let the matters rest.

"I've always preferred my idea of a commission of inquiry to look at all these issues," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Sunday.

Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., head of the intelligence committee, suggested that the George W. Bush administration broke the law by concealing a CIA counterterrorism program from Congress.

The Wall Street Journal, anonymously citing former intelligence officials, reported Monday the secret program was a plan to kill or capture al-Qaida operatives.

The Journal's sources said the plan, which was halted by CIA Director Leon Panetta, was an attempt to carry out a presidential finding authorized in 2001 by President George W. Bush.

The Journal said the agency spent money on planning and maybe some training, but it never became fully operational. The plan was highly classified and the CIA has refused to comment on it.

The assertion that Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the program kept secret from Congress came amid word that Attorney General Eric Holder is contemplating opening a criminal probe of possible CIA torture.

A move to appoint a criminal prosecutor is certain to stir partisan bickering that could prove a distraction to Obama's efforts to push ambitious health care and energy reform.

Obama has resisted an effort by congressional Democrats to establish a "truth commission," saying the nation should be "looking forward and not backwards."

Wow, Dems. Wow. Even your most liberal member- our President- is saying "get over it, let's move forward."

To point the finger at years past and a plan that never came to fruition? Members of Congress, you have so many MORE IMPORTANT things to worry about.

Focus.

Kim Jong- ILL

Pancreatic cancer, it appears.

North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, is suffering from cancer of the pancreas and is in danger of dying of the disease, South Korean television reported this morning, the latest and most specific in a series of reports on the dictator’s health...

Thee are no obvious signs are that Kim Jong Il is in anything less than complete control, but close examination of recent internal developments leads many Pyongyang-watchers to the conclusion that he is leaning towards military hardliners, and away from the more reform-oriented advisers whom he favoured in the middle of the present decade.

I don't wish that disease on anyone...but I do wonder if his son will be as freakin' crazy.

The Killers - Mr. Brightside (original version)

Sweet.

BY YOUR SIDE - Sade

This song graced a late-night episode of Sex and the City and I can't get it out of my head...

Kagen v. 3

Finally, the GOP got the message: The 8th CD needs some help!

A 53-year-old Kaukauna roofing contractor with no experience in politics is the third Republican to announce his candidacy for the 8th Congressional District.

Reid Ribble says he filed nomination papers this week because he thinks the ballooning federal debt in the trillions of dollars is crippling the economy.

Other Republicans who announced earlier are Door County Supervisor Marc Savard and Brown County Supervisor Andy Williams.

Let's hope 2010 reverses the damage of the past 4 years...

Help us, Feds, Help us!

What else can we ask the Federal Government for?

Rain: MADISON — The state is seeking disaster assistance for victims of flooding last month in Kenosha and Racine counties.

Thunderstorms that moved through June 18 and 19 dumped more than 5 inches of rain in parts of southeastern Wisconsin.

And

Buses: Kenosha will receive $2.5 million in federal stimulus funds for transit improvements, federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced.

The funds will partially be used to purchase five buses.

Everytime I hear about stimulus funds and grants, I cringe.

We're becoming a state of dependency...

"I want an A"

This is disappointing to read.

And yet, over the past two years Thoma has observed a surprising uptick in the number of students who e-mail her at the end of the semester, asking if she'd reconsider the grade she awarded them "because they worked so hard."

Thoma estimates she received 20 such e-mails this spring out of some 850 students. "They'll typically say, 'I know you said there won't be any grade adjustments, but I worked really hard and I don't feel that the grade reflects the effort I put into the class,'" says Thoma, who stresses most students work hard in class and understand the ground rules. "And so I have a new standard reply: 'I can't quantitate your effort.'"

UW-Madison engineering physics professor Greg Moses is all too familiar with this scenario, and is frustrated by how some students feel they are practically entitled to better grades.

"The point is that we are in the business of higher education, not mediocre education," Moses wrote in an e-mail while traveling in Europe. "This sounds elitist but the challenge of global competition to the U.S. way of life does not call for trying hard, it calls for performance. Students tell me they spend hours on the homework and therefore deserve better grades, even when my exams are mostly made up of homework questions, often verbatim, and they cannot do them."

Is this a peer-made cultural response?

Is it a parental issue?

I, personally, was not raised to believe I was entitled to anything - except the paycheck I worked hard for at the end of the week. And even then, I refused an allowance because, let's face it, my participation in chores was less than adequate.

The grade you get is clearly the grade you earn, and I would make no exceptions as a TA or professor - UNLESS that student was clearly in my office every week trying to improve and despite their best efforts, sucking.

If you're the kind of kid who emails after the semester is out to try to get a better grade, I can tell you that kind of laziness won't get you far in the real world.

Milwaukee Mayor's sweet ride

How did I miss this?

The gold Cadillac SRX wasn't Mayor Tom Barrett's style.

He'd prefer a Buick, but he has spent the past few weeks being driven around by his security detail in the 2006 Cadillac SUV.

A tipster asked Public Investigator to look into the mayor's swanky car choice, especially during a time when the city budget is crunched and workers are being ordered to take furloughs to save the city money.

As it turns out, taxpayers didn't spend a dime on the high-end vehicle.

It was seized in a drug raid and was turned over to the Milwaukee Police Department, which provides vehicles for the mayor's security detail.

Patrick Curley, the mayor's chief of staff, said the Cadillac was a temporary fix while fleet services figured out what to do with a 1998 Chevy Tahoe that is now in the shop but had previously been part of the mayor's security detail.

The Cadillac was returned to the Police Department on Thursday, the day after Public Investigator started asking questions.

"The mayor would be more comfortable in another vehicle," said Patrick Curley, the mayor's chief of staff.

I'm sure he would be more comfortable.

We wouldn't want Mayor Barrett looking like a pimp or a dealer, now would we.