It's about time

Are the dems comin' around?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A top U.S. Democratic senator said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling.

"I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move.

However, Durbin said his support for opening new areas to drilling was contingent on setting requirements that oil and gas companies begin production within a specified time frame on acreage they have leased from the government.

Just do it already.

More construction

Our road news.

The 200 block of South Carroll Street will be closed for five hours Thursday morning so a company can construct a portable crane...

Sidewalk access will be maintained at all times to buildings in the closed block.

Motorists are encouraged to use different routes to avoid delays.

OF course they are! Could any more of this city be torn up right now?

It makes me cranky.

Warehouse

Out with the girls... I heard Dave all night. He is stalking me.

Hey reckless mind
Don't throw away your playful beginnings
You and I
Will fumble around in the touches and be sure to...




And here I sit
Life goes on, end of tunnel, TV set
Spot in the middle
Static fade, statistical bit
And soon I'll fade away, I'll fade away


Leave all the lights on

Obama, the next Kerry?

I respect the opinion column in today's Cap Times, merely for the fact it suggests Obama isn't Jesus, reincarnated for once.

WASHINGTON -- When a candidate calls a second news conference to say the same thing he thought he said in the first one, you know he knows he has a problem.

Thus Barack Obama's twin news conferences last week in Fargo, N.D. At his first, Obama promised he would make a "thorough assessment" of his Iraq policy in his coming visit there and "continue to gather information" to "make sure that our troops are safe, and that Iraq is stable."

You might ask: What's wrong with that? A commander in chief willing to adjust his view to facts and realities should be a refreshing idea.

But when news reports suggested Obama was backing away from his commitment to withdrawing troops from Iraq in 16 months, Obama's lieutenants no doubt heard echoes of those cries of "flip-flop" that rocked the 2004 Republican National Convention and proved devastating to John Kerry.

So out Obama came again to reiterate his time line. "Apparently, I wasn't clear enough this morning on my position with respect to the war in Iraq," he said. "I intend to end this war. My first day in office I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in, and I will give them a new mission, and that is to end this war -- responsibly, deliberately, but decisively."

I love the comment section on this article, "Obama is just a talker. He likes to hear himself talk."

Republicans are pressing Obama on Iraq because they know that any new moves he makes will be interpreted, fairly or not, as a change in position, and that this will hurt him with two groups: the anti-war base of the Democratic Party, and independent voters, many of whom are just tuning into the campaign.

Painting Obama as a shameless shape-shifter is a way for his opponents to dull the enthusiasm (and inhibit the campaign contributions) of the war's staunchest foes. And if this image stuck, it could also hurt Obama among independents. They might vote for a hawk or a dove, but not a chameleon.

Over the last week, Obama has been crafty in the way he has sought the political middle ground. He has emphasized his "values" and touted his patriotism, his call to service and his faith, as he did Saturday at a conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. That is quite different from backing off his core promises.

Voters accept that a president may alter the details of campaign promises. What they expect is a clear sense of the direction he will take. At the moment, voters know that John McCain is far more likely than Barack Obama to continue the war in Iraq indefinitely. Obama would be foolish to blur that distinction.

Obama may bust out words like values, but it's just crafty- nothing more. It's rhetoric, and empty at that.

I don't want to say calling Obama a shape-shifter isn't accurate, nor less than a quality war tactic. We all know what the waffles and flip flops did to Kerry's campaign.

Family Values

Obama's new ad features photos of his family and campaign stops while his voice talks about "family," "values," and "country."

I'm sure it's running in targeted Midwestern states.

Why else would there be only white people in all the pictures? Food for thought...

Unluck

The past two times I have had a fortune cookie...there has been no fortune.



What does that mean?

CC, we're ready for ya

C.C. Sabathia, the Indians first Cy Young winner in 35 years, is gone. The Indians will announce his trade to Milwaukee today at a noon press conference.

Sabathia, a free agent at the end of the season, will head to Milwaukee and help the Brewers try to catch the Cubs in the NL Central. The Indians former No.1 pick leaves with a 106-71 record.

Balance

Just saw this on tv last night. They are wasting no time here in the midwest.

The Third Letter

Good morning, on July 7

Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all -

Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves.

And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

ever thine

ever mine

ever ours

~Ludwig von Beethoven

So long puppers

Sad, sad news.

For many of us GOP campaign faithful, Bob and Rocco are a staple at all things gun show.

After a lifetime spent promoting outdoor fun in Wisconsin, Rocco soon will swim his last pond and retrieve his final hunting trophy.

The canine half of the Bob and Rocco duo, known throughout the state for gun shows and hunting expeditions, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The 11-year-old black Labrador retriever is not expected to live more than a couple of weeks longer.

Bob and Rocco have been promoters of our 2nd Amendment rights here in Wisconsin for many years.

Let us all give a collective "Good Boy!"

Morale for the masses

Ed Garvey has outdone himself today.

We are on the verge of bankruptcy, flag lapel pin or not, because of the costs of a war and occupation we cannot win -- Iraq. It's costing us $341 million per day. Yes. Per day. We are rattling rockets at a country that we could never defeat and occupy, Iran, and while that is ongoing, our nuclear-armed ally, Pakistan, is teetering on the brink of chaos. And the Taliban is doing quite well in Afghanistan.

Watching Condi Rice flit around the Middle East from crisis to crisis would make a wonderful movie for the late Peter Ustinov, but it isn't funny.

The latest estimate of Iraqi refugees is in the millions. Homeless people add millions more. Nicholas Kristof, writing in the New York Times last week, said 8 percent of Jordan's population consists of 480,000 Iraqi refugees -- and they are not welcome at an annual cost of $1,000 per year per Jordanian family. (Jordan opposed the invasion but ends up paying for a large chunk of it.) Their schools are overflowing and so are the brothels in Amman, writes Kristof. Desperate people in dire straights.

The truth of the situation in Iraq, if you ask any soldier serving or having returned from a tour, violence is down and civilian casualties are down, as well as military casualties. Iraqi forces are beginning to emerge as controllers of independent missions. Taliban leaders are still out there- yet they are still hunted, tracked, and caught as the fight progresses. Perhaps Congress has hijacked spending- but don't forget a thank-you note to Senator Feingold for the pork tacked on to the spending bills in excess of what President Bush requested this quarter.

It's this that kills me:

What is John McCain talking about? Security has improved after the "surge." Suppose security is better. Is there a connection between the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, the flight of millions from their homes and the improved security? I don't know but I do know it will take years and billions of dollars to restore Iraq as a functioning nation. And has security improved to the point where our troops can leave, senator? Get serious.

But surge or no surge, what are we willing to spend to build infrastructure -- schools, libraries, roads, railroads? Can we find jobs for millions of Iraqis if we can't find work for millions of Americans?

This country had better be prepared to spend tens of billions per year in Iraq after peace is restored or face an explosion in the Middle East. Like it or not, there are consequences in going to war. More than 4,100 American soldiers have been killed and 25,000 seriously injured; millions of Iraqis have had their lives ruined. Thank you, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, George Bush, and Don Rumsfeld. Thank you.

"What are we willing to spend?" I'm sure you're cheap ass won't give a dime, Ed. But I'd rather ask "What are we NOT willing to do for the Iraqi people?" Out of compassion, out of faith, out of a greater will to shower freedom upon those as equally deserving, and out of it just being the right thing to do?

But you're right. Our country better be willing to spend and dedicate years to help maintain peace in Iraq - or we will face an explosion - and it'll be on our soil once again. They are still plotting and praying to kill us and take our freedoms away - to take your precious column away. And let's THANK the American soldiers: I think the Iraqis may see things differently - because of them more Iraqis will live in freedom, start businesses, see their daughters educated, pursue prominent careers, and take their rightful place at the global table of freedom.

It must be a dire life you lead- seeing only the worst in every situation?

Get a dog or something.

Makeup Heaven to arrive

SOON!

Thursday, July 3, marks the grand opening of Sephora in Madison.

Already the leading retail beauty chain in Europe, and with multiple locations in states like California, New York and Texas, Madison's newly constructed Sephora is only the second stand-alone location in Wisconsin.

The beauty retailer has made its name selling high-end cosmetics unavailable in some department stores while offering its customers educational services about its products.

Ladies of Madison, rejoice!