Winnebago To Study Shrinking County Board?

Details here.

The $2500 Sales Presentation

Here is a new post on my County Board blog about wasted time and money in Winnebago County.

No Wonder Green Wants Bush to Come...

Remember the WPRI Poll?

Is Green trying to get his 26% favorable rating all the way up to Bush's 37%?

How does that make Green feel that more people in Wisconsin approve of the most unpopular president in modern history than approve of him?

Blackwell Owned Diebold Stock...

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell made an embarrassing announcement Monday: He accidentally bought stock in Diebold Inc., a voting machine maker that benefited from decisions made by his office.

In a required filing with the Ohio Ethics Commission, the GOP gubernatorial hopeful said his hefty portfolio included 178 shares of Diebold stock, which sold for a loss.

"While I was unaware of this stock in my portfolio, its mere presence may be viewed as a conflict," Blackwell wrote in a letter that accompanies his annual financial disclosure statement.

In his duties as secretary of state, however, Blackwell's staff narrowed the list of companies eligible to replace Ohio's antiquated voting equipment with more modern technology. The Green-based Diebold made the cut, and a rival firm accused Blackwell of improperly favoring the Ohio company.

Diebold also drew the ire of critics after then-CEO Wally O'Dell sent a fund-raising letter in which he committed to deliver Ohio's electoral votes to President Bush in 2004.

LoParo maintains that Diebold's machines are safe and reliable and he described Blackwell's Diebold holdings as an honest mistake.

Gov's Against the Amendment - Where's Tommy?

Opponents of a constitutional amendment to ban all civil unions and same-sex marriages in Wisconsin scored a significant boost this past week when four former state governors issued a bipartisan letter against the proposed amendment.

Patrick Lucey, Martin Schreiber, Lee Sherman Dreyfus and Tony Earl banded together to reject calls for the amendment, which would prevent heterosexual civil unions as well as homosexual unions.

"When people realize that this amendment not only bans gay marriage but also bans civil unions and jeopardizes existing legal protection, public opinion shifts to a 'no' vote," said Josh Freker, spokesman for Fair Wisconsin, a group organized to defeat the amendment.

The former governors' statement issued Wednesday urges voters to reject the measure on grounds that it would be the first time the constitution would be amended "to limit freedom" instead of expand it.

Lucey served from 1971 to 1977; Schreiber, 1977 to 1979; Dreyfus, 1979 to 1983 and Earl, 1983 to 1987. Lucey, Schreiber and Earl are Democrats; Dreyfus is a Republican.

Where's Tommy? His brother is against it...

Ed Thompson says the No. 1 issue in Wisconsin this year is defeating a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would emphatically ban same-sex marriage and similar civil unions.

The proposed amendment is an "evil thing" that is "so incredibly wrong" it amounts to "lunacy," Thompson declared last weekend at the state Libertarian political convention in Madison.

Green Hitching to Bush Wagon...

President George W. Bush will be the main attraction at a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green next week.

Green's campaign confirmed today that Bush will head the Milwaukee event on Tuesday.

Republicans are hoping that the event will raise about $1 million for Green's effort to unseat Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

Although Bush narrowly lost Wisconsin in the 2004 election, recent polls show his popularity lagging among state residents.

The conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute last month found that only 37 percent of state residents approved of Bush's performance, while 68 percent said they believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction.

Here's our take on it:

Democrats plan to contrast Doyle's efforts to balance the state's budget, provide health care, fund education and support embryonic stem cell research with Green's support for Bush administration policies.

"The larger question in all this is: Does Mark Green support the job this president is doing for the people of Wisconsin and the American people?" said state Democratic Party Chairman Joe Wineke.

"Only 37 percent of the people in this state think (Bush) is doing a good job and yet Mark Green has voted with him 93 percent of the time," Wineke said. "They're twins."

Wineke charged that the Milwaukee event "is clearly designed to raise boatloads of cash and Mark Green is willing to do deals with the devil to do so. This shows how desperate he is."

Simple Question...

Why are they advertising 'Real California Cheese' on TV in Wisconsin - and during our own native son's show 'Monk'?

It just isn't right.

CIA Stopped bin Laden Search Last Year

The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

Jeff Hall, Gorilla Heart Surgeon...

Veterinary surgeon Doctor Jeffrey Hall, a cardiac specialist, says the gorilla's cardiac function decreased from the time doctors put him on the operating table.