Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone is having a great day!

But don’t forget we have a lot of work to do here in Wisconsin…

From the Tax Foundation Tax Policy Blog: State Budgets: Wisconsin Governor Boosts Spending, Hopes for Federal Bailout

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Talk about buzz kill!!!

CourierMail.com.au: Scientists warn Christmas lights harm the planet

SCIENTISTS have warned that Christmas lights are bad for the planet due to huge electricity waste and urged people to get energy efficient festive bulbs.

CSIRO researchers said householders should know that each bulb turned on in the name of Christmas will increase emissions of greenhouse gases.”

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H/T: Watts Up With That?

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Name that Place

Jean got the place from 2 weeks ago…Kid’s Cove down at North Beach!!

Name this Place:


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The holidays are looming…

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The blog post to end all blog posts…

Wow…it is amazing how hectic the season and travel can make a person. I just realized last night that I had not posted on my blog all week.

Sorry about that so here is the week in review:

Monday, December 8, 2008

A big thank you to all of you that contributed to the Arthritis Foundation, because of you I was able to raise $475!!! Now I know that it was short of my goal but in tough times you just have to face facts!

The Las Vegas Marathon was a perfect race for me the weather was great for running (50 degrees and overcast) and due to the training I was able to put together a new personal record…even after completing 4 other marathons this year!! My time was 4:45:05.


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The Minnesota recount is still on going!!

Club for Growth: Minnesota Senate Recount: Clear as Mud

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Farm Subsidy Database

A big thank you to Keith over at Government BYTES! For this one: Farm Subsidy Database!


Did you know that is 2006 Wisconsin received over $382,000,000 in USDA subsidies?!?! And that 52% of all farms and ranches DO NOT collect USDA subsidies?!?!

Racine County received $3,877,000 in USDA subsidies in 2006.

Have fun!

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New energy? Could be – Scientific American: Wave power put to the test in California
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Name that Place

Last week was pretty easy with those nice big blue roofs and CU got it right they are Culvers!

Name this Place:



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Caledonia Politics – Businessman to run for Seat #5

Woodward announces for Caledonia Village Trustee, vows to run aggressive campaign to earn seat

December 8, 2008

Caledonia resident Curt Woodward announced his candidacy today for the Village Board of Trustees.

“Caledonia is such a wonderful place to live,” said Woodward. “I decided to run to help make sure our community continues to be a great place to live, work and raise a family.”

Woodward has been involved in the community for many years and is the owner of Retail Fixture LLC, a small business providing custom fixtures to retail industry world wide. Woodward and his wife Lisa founded the firm over 15 years ago and have grown it from a few employees to now over 100. In addition Woodward recently opened Artistry Furniture and Gift Gallery in downtown Racine.

“My parents always said that if you want to keep something great you have to work hard to make it happen,” said Woodward. “My lifelong dream was never to run for public office, but after being encouraged by many, many community leaders, I felt it was my turn to step up.”

Since becoming a Village, Caledonia elected officials have been working hard to move our community forward. Woodward wants to be a part of insuring that the Village maintains an adequate balance of growth and development along with the high quality of life so many residents have come to love about the Village.

“We need to make sure that our community grows but we also have to remember that families won’t be able to afford to live here if we don’t keep property taxes in check,” Woodward said.

Curt is an avid outdoorsman and lover of nature, along with the four acre pond he had dug, one of his proudest accomplishments is that his property contains hundreds of trees planted by him and his family.

“I look forward to running an aggressive campaign going door to door in every part of the village. I want everyone to know that I intend to work hard to earn their votes,” Woodward said.

Woodward is a member of RAMAC, Grace Lutheran Church LCMS, where he is a Trustee and usher captain, ARE (Association of Retail Environments) NFIB, Downtown Racine Corporation, RCEDC and has coached youth basketball for over 8 years.

Curt & his wife Lisa have five children Jade 19, Andrea 18, Joseph 15, Samantha 11 and Jack 5.

Woodward is running for seat #5, currently held by Bob Bradley.

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Illinois Governor Arrested…you got to love headlines like that!!!

I know that the Obama camp (set up behind the fictitious “office of the President Elect”) is saying that Obama is clean but a shooting star in the Democrat party, out of Chicago, with ties to the Governor, an unrepentant domestic terrorist, and a felon (can you say Rezko?) can not be as clean as he has stated.

Think about it…the guy that will soon be president has gone to a church and has been baptized, married, and had his children baptized by a pastor that says “God da** America!” but then claims that “that isn’t the pastor I knew.”

How long before the ties between the Chicago machine and Obama really come to light?

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Interesting…New Scientist: Hot landslides may have set off mystery wildfires

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Obama calls for Blago to resign…What?!?
Democrats don’t do that!
What is going on here?
Have I lost my mind?
Yeah…Obama isn’t part of the Chicago machine…and I’m an Olympic Sprinter.

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The auto bailout is still on the table…would someone just kill the damn thing!!!

Silent e does some math for us:


“In 2007, Toyota sold 9.37 milion cars world wide.


They MADE 17.7 BILLION dollars.


In 2007, GM sold 9.37 million cars world wide.


They LOST 38.7 BILLION dollars.


We’re talking bailout WHY?”


Excellent question…can you say UAW?

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

Name that Country:

I need to give credit once again to CU for hitting this one out of the park! I just want to know how CU figured it out?!?!

The country was Luxemburg!

On my 1-10 scale this week’s country is only a 3.


PLEASE DO NOT POST THE ANSWER...supply info or a hint that proves you know it...there are others playing!!!THANK YOU – gopfolk

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I don’t believe it but it is true…Congressman Paul Ryan voted for the auto bailout…how sad.
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I thought Obama was the “Change” candidate:

Obama picks Daschle to spearhead healthcare

Clinton for Sec. of State

Holder as Attorney General

Richardson as Commerce Sec.

Orszag as Teasury Sec. (although I like this one!)

Same old names not a lot of “change” here.

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Senate says NO!

UAW not willing to work a deal…no bailout.

I do have a big question though…shouldn’t the auto execs have done this years ago? You know what I mean…say NO to the UAW?!?

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Look at that…a whole weeks worth of posts…hmm…maybe this is how I should do it regularly! LOL!!!!

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Name that Place

Jean hit last weeks pretty quickly! It was Racine’s Memorial Hall.

This week is really easy…so much so that I am providing 2 images from Google Earth!!

Name this Place:


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Please Donate!!!!

I have been running the Jingle Bell Run 5k for the Arthritis Foundation for that past few years.

Well this year I will not be in town to run it since I will be in Las Vegas running my 5th marathon of the year!

Since the Arthritis Foundation is important to me I’ve decided to dedicate the last 5k of my marathon (a marathon is 26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometers!!) to the cause. I’d like to raise $750 and I am half way there with less than a week to go!!!

So I ask you to please click on the picture below and donate to the Arthritis Foundation!

THANKS!!!


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Comic Relief...sort of...















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Odd News…

AP: Why won't polar bears mate? They're both female
Didn’t anyone check?!?!

AP: Accused drunk driver ends up running over himself
Wow! Now that was a hell of a feat! At least it wasn’t here in Wisconsin.

Reuters: Panda attacks Chinese man who wanted a cuddle
20 year old student…I’m thinking alcohol was involved!

Reuters: Obese have right to 2 airline seats
That is just wrong…so wrong.

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Name that Place

I had to ask mkfolks if she was asking me or telling me the place last week…her response was that she didn’t know the proper name but knew the exact location. I’ll give her 80% correct. It is the North Beach “pavilion” or as the locals call it the North Beach Oasis!


Name this Place:

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Name that Country

Oh no! You guys aren't going to get away without trying to get this country!!!


Here is a hint that will guarantee that you will get it...This county consumes more alcohol than any other.


So here it is again...have at it!


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Sale of Cigar Banned!

That was not a typo in the title…it looks like Prince George County in Maryland has banned the sale of single cigars!

Now if you guessed it is because smoking is bad for you…well you’d be wrong!

It seems that there is a trend among the drug crowd to hollow out cigars and to smoke marijuana.

Now if the legislation seems odd you are correct since as this article in the Washington Post points out “The new law will also make it easier to charge someone possessing a cigar with a drug paraphernalia offense,” and that “Tobacco stores that specialize in cigar sales…are excluded from the legislation's restrictions.”

I’m confused…if I buy a cigar from a high end tobacco store, place it in my shirt pocket, and then get pulled over for speeding, will I get a fine (or worse arrested) for carrying ‘drug paraphernalia’?

h/t Andrew Roth at the Club for Growth

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“Houston…We have a problem…”

I would have to say that NASA is not having a good week:


AP: Lost tool bag forces changes to planned spacewalks

FOX News: Spider Missing Aboard International Space Station

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Name that Place

After having the Iron Skillet/Petro Truck Stop posted for almost 2 months…Caledonia Unplugged nailed it!!!

Name this Place:

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Ouch!

I may not like the guy’s politics and I sure didn’t vote for him but this hurts!!!

AP: Obama may have to give up his beloved BlackBerry

Talk about withdrawal pains!!!

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This is Funny…


…but not funny the way the cartoonist meant it.


I guess God did send her a message on Nov. 4th…it went something like this…”Hey look Sarah, they beat you up because as a VP nominee you knew as much as their Presidential candidate. But they still elected him as President…I’m telling you that you should run in 2012.”

I’m sure that my quote is paraphrased…you know, God and I aren’t on a first name basis…I’m quite sure that was blasphemous and I’ll be going to hell!!

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Just wondering…

…why the MSM is still questioning Governor Sarah Palin’s credentials to be a Presidential Candidate in 2012!?!

I mean…didn’t we just elect a guy that has never governed anything or anyone, someone that served less time in the US Senate than he spent running to be President, a guy that even on election night the MSM was saying that they “knew nothing of Obama.”

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Name that Country

It has been quite a while since we did this one but here it is just as hard as it ever was.

9 out of 10…

PLEASE DO NOT POST THE ANSWER...supply info or a hint that proves you know it...there are others playing!!!

THANK YOU – gopfolk

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Name that Place

Well this one has been out there since Sept. 23rd and no one has yet to guess it…so I’ll offer a hint on the location.

HintEyes may go past this daily – but “I” go past it 24/7.


Name this Place:


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THANK YOU!!!


To all those that serve (d) past, present and future, thank you.












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I’m back.

Well it has been one hell of a month!

I got back from Australia and launched right into the campaigns.

I do have to say Racine County has some awesome volunteers! They worked tirelessly to get the job done.

In the end we McCain did not win Racine County…I’m still troubled by this. On the positive side all Republicans that ran for seats in Racine County…Won in Racine County!!

I think that the next 2 years will provide a lot of fodder for us conservative bloggers…sit back and enjoy the show.

We will be returning to our regular line up this week. Welcome back!

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Tax Foundation – CompeteUSA

With the election going on I’m working hard to ensure that Racine turns Red next week so blogging has not been a priority but this morning I saw the following come across my desktop and knew that I had to post something about it.

As most of you know I absolutely love the Tax Foundation. They are a non-profit non-partisan group focusing on sound tax policy. Well they created the CompeteUSA project designed to “raise public awareness of America’s high business taxes” and had a video contest and the following videos are the winners…everyone of them is worth watching!!!!


First Prize ($5,000): Andrew Patterson of Edmond, OK - "Tax Attack"



Second Prize ($1,000): Craig Kirchoff of Alexandria, VA - "Sally, the Corporate Income Tax and You"



Third Prize ($500): Lori Harfenist of Brooklyn, NY - "Taxes, Schmaxes"

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Algore was right?!?!

OMG!!!!


Oops! Never mind!!! It looks like we forgot some data…




H/T Watts Up With That?

The National Post today posted the following article: Thirty years of warmer temperatures go poof

Other than the graph above here are a few highlights from the article:
“Dr. Hackbart also pointed out that periods of solar inactivity known as "solar minimums" magnify cold spells on his continent. So, given that August was the first month since 1913 in which no sunspot activity was recorded -- none -- and during which solar winds were at a 50-year low, he was not surprised that Brazilians were suffering (for them) a brutal cold snap. "This is no
coincidence," he said as he scoffed at the notion that manmade carbon emissions had more impact than the sun and oceans on global climate.”

And

"An analytical chemist who works in spectroscopy and atmospheric sensing, Michael J. Myers of Hilton Head, S. C., declared, "Man-made global warming is junk science," explaining that worldwide manmade CO2 emission each year "equals about 0.0168% of the atmosphere's CO2 concentration ... This results in a 0.00064% increase in the absorption of the sun's radiation. This is an insignificantly small number.""

And

“For nearly 30 years, Professor Christy has been in charge of NASA's eight weather satellites that take more than 300,000 temperature readings daily around the globe. In a paper co-written with Dr. Douglass, he concludes that while manmade emissions may be having a slight impact, "variations in global temperatures since 1978 ... cannot be attributed to carbon dioxide."”

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SUPER SATURDAY!!!!

Press Release From the Racine County Republican Party

For Immediate Release

October 16, 2008
Contact: Bill Folk, Chairman, 414-975-3600

Racine County embraces the football season in the final 2 weeks of the campaign.

The Racine McCain-Palin Victory Center announced today that the campaign season has hit the 2 minute warning!

What this means is this Saturday, October 18th, is our last Super Saturday before the biggest push of the season…and we need everyone to get off the bench and huddle up.

We have a game plan for Saturday. We need all of our reserve players to come out and devote a minimum of 2 hours of time in the field between 9:00 am - 6:00 pm and here is how you can contribute to the team:

Yard signs!! You’ve seen them around town and we need to get another 500-600 out. Additionally we have some large signs that will require 2 people with a truck!

Doors!! We have “walk books” so you can choose the distance and neighborhood you are able to walk! We will also be combining this with a lit drop…no knocks for the lit…just a drop.

Phones!! Call our Victory Center and reserve a time and phone just for you. We have plenty of phones and numbers that need your attention.

We have two locations:

In Racine
6500 Washington Ave
262-664-9423

In Burlington
248 N. Pine St
608-381-1251

Call your closest location and reserve a time slot today


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I did not believe it…

I heard about this the other day and could not believe it…but Fred over at RealDebateWisconsin has got the goods: Racine schools hand out textbook with 15 page Obama love-fest...

I guess that schools are not for education but for indoctrination…”long live RUSD!”

Such a shame.

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I’m back…

…and I’m still working out the kinks.

What that means is this page will still be a “blogging lite” area for a while, sorry people!

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WOW! That was fast!

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1st Presidential Debate – my perspective

I’d give the edge to Obama (50.1 – 49.9)…mainly due to style.

Obama seemed to be a little out of his element when talking budget. He seemed to want us to buy the notion that we can cut spending by not cutting a single program…I guess I’m still confused.

Both presented their points like Presidents…Obama was willing to say over and over “when I’m President” McCain did not do so. But Obama while seemed presidential did not seem to have any depth of the information.

I think that Obama got a schooling when it came to how government works…he seems to not understand the intricacy of the office of the President and McCain did a good job of pointing that out time and again.

Obama was willing to use the format of talking toward McCain and McCain did not meet his gaze once…McCain talked to the audience and the moderator and did not talk to Obama…I think that was a mistake the format offered it and since McCain was schooling him on the operation of the government it would have scored higher marks if those jabs would have been directed toward Obama not about him.

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I’m GOING CRAZY!!!!!


You know I’m down here in Australia and you’d think I would be happy…springtime, sunny, warm weather, nice people, no political ads on TV…Well I’m here to tell you I’m going nuts!!!

“Hi, my name is Bill and I’m a political junkie.”

I do not have internet at the apartment I’m staying at…except when I can’t take it any more and spend $5/hour for access…so I’m relegated to checking while I’m at work. Well that ain’t happening nearly enough since I have so much work to get done and a limited amount of time.

What this means is with the exception of knowing what is going on at the Racine County HQ…I have no idea what is going on with the campaigns as a whole!!

Poll numbers…nope, haven’t seen any.
Talking heads (even Olbermann)…no idea what they are talking about.
Strategies…I can tell you that a grapple tackle will get you a 2 game suspension but that is it.

I think this weekend I’m going to sit indoors and get pasty white reading nothing but news from my google reader – I’ll be kissing a load of money away but I’ve got to find out!!!

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Name that Place

Well nos1 guessed the same place when we first started this game:

NOS1 said...
is it the Golden Rondelle? I can't tell if the top of that pic is round or
not! Maybe its my computer
Wed Jun 04, 03:13:00 PM
And last week:

NOS1 said...
Is it the goldan rondell! Is that the name? hmm
Thu Sep 18, 07:35:00 AM
My question is this…Do I give credit for getting this correct or do I dock him for thinking that this…



Equals this…

Just joking…it is the Golden Rondelle and for those that remember the other one was the Racine Lighthouse.

Name this Place:

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Blogging lite

As most of you may have noticed I will be able to blog as much as normal. This is in part due to the fact that I am currently overseas and with limited internet access.

So what does this mean?

Well what it means is a few things…the usual “name that place” will still be going on every Tuesday but it looks like I forgot to pack my country listings so “name that country” will be on hiatus until I’m back stateside.

I will try to blog while I’m here but I can not guarantee anything at this point in time.

If you are interested in where I’m located I have provided the following images from Google Earth.

Cheers

gopfolk


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Name that Place

While I am not in Racine…Wisconsin…or even the USA….that does not mean that I can not post things on my blog right!??!

Well it is still Tuesday back home…for a few more minutes…and that means we need to Name that Place.

Last week’s was tough but nos1 was close enough with what the area is used for. This area is right next to the Mt Pleasant Compost area off of Hwy 20 and is home to the Racine R/C Club. It is a great place to watch people fly their remote controlled airplanes from time to time!

Name this Place:

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Name that Country

Last week was fun…two countries and J. Gravelle did a great job putting together new photo clues for those that we confused by the shape of the countries. The first one was Mozambique while the second one, and by far the best clue so far, was Nigeria!!

This week is only 4 out of 10.

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Name that Place

Last week had a clue if you had really good eye sight and could see the RWU in front of the pool. It was the Racine Water Utility…right in front of the Racine Yacht Club and South of North Beach.

This week is by far the hardest one that I have found so good luck!!

Name this Place:

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Don’t tell me the base isn’t energized!!

Reuters: John McCain speech draws record TV ratings

Yeah the Dems thought that the show was over when “The Obama” hit a whopping 38.3 million viewers…then along comes our VP candidate and she gets 37.2 million…next night McCain with 38.9 million...a new record!!

Yep the base is here and we are ready.

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Name that Country

I know that I forgot to get last week’s country up…in fact I forgot to blog for a week! I think I’m going to be dizzy!!

Well I’m back and I’m ready to go…Last week our friend over at the DailyScoff.com posted on my wordpress blog instead of blogger (yes I’m considering the move and will probably make the jump by years end so pay attention!!)

His guess was “How’s it hanging?”

The country was Chad.

This week you are getting 2 for the price of 1.

I would rate both 8 out of 10.

Good luck.

Country #1


Country #2

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“IF I WERE SUPPORTING OBAMA....”

I swiped this whole post from The Volokh Conspiracy h/t David Bernstein:

If I were supporting Obama....

here are three things I'd keep quiet about with regard to Sarah Palin.

(1) How can she do her job as vice-president and take care of her kids? Which leads to the question, how can Obama do the much more demanding job of president and take care of his kids?

(2) What makes anyone think that Palin has enough experience to be "one heartbeat from the presidency?" Which leads to the question, what makes anyone think that a one-term Senator from Illinois who has been running for president for most of his term has enough experience to actually be president?

(3) Is Sarah Palin's church/pastor nutty? Which leads to such an obvious question that I won't bother raising it!

In short, it strikes me that Obama's allies may be succeeding at discrediting Palin to some extent, but only at the expense of undermining Obama. Even if raising such questions undermines Palin more than it does Obama, even much more, given how many people vote based on the top of the ticket versus based on the bottom, this is hardly a winning strategy.”

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Name that Place…a day late…

Last week CU guessed that the place was Mound Cemetery…and of course she is correct! She pointed out that it is a beautiful place to bike…I much prefer to run through this one and look at all the ‘famous’ Racine names buried here…watch the Saturday Morning Running Club site for the next “Cemetery Run” and come join us!!

Name this Place:

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Boy, oh, boy!

My wife noticed that I never posted a country last week…I’ll post 2 this week…

Then she pointed out that I had not posted on the blog for more than a week…

I have been so busy I just have not had time to do any of this…

My bad!!!

I’ll be headed overseas for work in 2 weeks so I had better get posting!!

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Republican Party of Racine to Open HQ











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I love it!!!

The lefties are upset because the AP reported the following:

“It is, indeed, a last hurrah.

Edward M. Kennedy is taking the stage at the Democratic National Convention Monday night for what likely is his final appearance in a familiar setting.”

Posters on the Daily Kos were completely outraged!!

The Associated Press Should Be Ashamed

…beyond tasteless” posted by BarbinMD

Time for Congress to hold hearings on media” posted by CTony


By far my favorite post was by MrvnMouse

“I know a bunch of young Republicans. So young, they never knew Kennedy in any real fashion. Yet, even they have this massive hate on for the Kennedys.

Did the Kennedys' do something I don't know about short of winning an election against Nixon?"


You have got to be kidding me?!?! Hate for the Kennedy's...you mean for Teddy Kennedy!

Have these people never heard of Chappaquiddick or of Mary Jo Kopechne?

We on the Right are outraged that the democrats continue to idolize a man who by his own admission “repeatedly dove down to the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car” but then did not contact the police until some time the next morning. He is conspired to cover up the death of Mary Jo Kopechne and democrats continue to carry water for him…year after year after year.

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Name that Place

Last week turns out to be harder than I thought but it looks like I can’t fool everyone! Kudos to Jean for coming up with the Racine County Youthful Offenders Facilityover on Memorial Drive!!

Name this place:

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What would you look for?

I have been pondering the selection of Senator Joe Biden for VP and the upcoming selection of McCain’s VP and I began to wonder…What would I look for in a running mate?

For instance would you want to select a VP that would balance out where you are weak, thus making your weakness a front page story?

Would you tend toward a more moderate (or radical – depending on your position) VP to help garner votes from that which you have not swayed?

Do you look for a popular figure or someone that is less known to the masses?

Is the choice purely strategic and it makes no difference if that person balances the ticket, your positions, or if you like them?

If you were McCain what would you do now?

Obama opted for same old tired message by picking a guy that has been in the Senate as along as I’ve been alive and who has had no other experience other than being one of 100 Senators.

Should McCain do the strategic thing and go for a woman or minority regardless of the qualifications? Or should he concern himself with qualifications first and then if they happen to be a minority or female it is just a bonus? Would he be best to pick a person that rounds him out…younger, financially savvy, and has governed?

I see Governor Sarah Palin fitting nearly every one of those requirements to be McCain’s VP…and at this point I would choose her…I think she would make an excellent President.

I have not abandoned Romney as VP; I just think that a McCain-Palin ticket is by far a stronger ticket than a McCain-Romney ticket is to defeat ObamaBiden.

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