You know it is easy when everyone gets the country!  Great Job! 

If you didn't know…I’m sorry…but the country was the Ukraine.

This week would be a 10 out of 10 but since I gave you a hint it is an 8 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

Here I am in Burlington Iowa again and late with my posting.  I look at this blog and wonder but why?

Well last week’s was pretty easy and Caledonia Unplugged got it right and even got the “motto”!!

It was 7 Mile Fair!  Right on I-94 and Seven mile road.

This one is a bit harder…

Name this Place

Well I told you all that it was going to be easy!  Anna830 came through and posted her clues first (by 3 hours!) but trainhead also had some very good clues…just a bit later.  :D

Did the rest of you get the country?  The clues had to of helped…The answer was Colombia.

This week is still pretty easy 2 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 

Last week had most of you stumped…mkfolks had it right but opted not to post…I wonder why?

For those of you wondering it was Karcher Middle School:

View Larger Map

This week’s place is pretty easy.

Name this Place:

Wow!  You people are good!  I was a bit confused by Anna830’s comments and looked it up for myself…trainhead is correct, again!  Anna830 was about 50 miles off with her hint!

The country is Samoa – formerly known as Western Samoa, not to be confused with the unincorporated territory that received the stimulus money that Anna830 talked about, American Samoa

Well know that we’ve all had some fun how about a fairly easy one: 2 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

A big H/T to Mr. Harris over at The National Conversation (Raw)

Would you suspend this kid?

What if he put up posters like this all over his high school?

Would it change your mind if you knew that 6 years ago he move to the US from his native country South Africa?

This is simply ridiculous!

I’ll be adding this to my Facebook page tonight back at the hotel.

The rest of you should check it out and get involved!

http://visiblevote.us/index.php

In the News:

Visible Vote beta, write congress letters and vote

Bucktown man devises Web app ‘Visible Vote’ to find how your congressman voted

 

I know today is Wednesday…which would mean that this is late.  What can I say?  I’m in Burlington, IA on an audit and unfortunately for you (and me) this is not the top priority.

But I will try to get some things set up over the next few days so it looks like I’m still back home.

Jean got the place last week…it was Humble Park.

This week is going to be much harder… 

Thank you Tom McMahon!

I guess I should have set the rating lower last week!

Everyone picked up on this one…it was Ireland.

This week 9 (maybe 10) 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

I’m just starting to read the “Terminations, Reductions, and Savings” book put out by the Office of Management and Budget and I know that we have been pounding on the Obama Budget’s outrageous spending that is creating a $1.3 trillion deficit in the first year but I think that we are missing the big picture that we should hit him on.

Now we have all heard this but I don’t think it is sinking in to the general mind of the taxpayers out there…in the 3^rd paragraph of the introduction they point out:

“the Budget will cut the deficit in half by the end of the President’s first term,”

So lets put that into perspective for a moment…the current budget deficit from Obama’s budget, for 1 year, will be greater than all of the budget deficits that President GW Bush had during his second term in office and they expect that they will be able to reduce the deficit to half, or $650 billion, by the end of Obama’s first term.

Using simple math (CBO’s numbers): $1.38 trillion + 970 billion + 658 billion + 672 billion = $3.68 trillion which is about the amount of money he is looking to spend this year alone!!!

But lets not stop there the quote I have above continues:

“and the Administration will bring non-defense discretionary spending to its lowest level as a share of GDP since 1962.”

Really?!?  I think they are trying their hardest to look good because the CBO shows that the discretionary spending on non-defense as a % of GDP in 1987-1991, 1996-2001, and again in 2007 were all below the % of GDP in 1969 (don’t ask me the CBO report only goes back that far and I have not had time to search the site for further data yet.)  They are whitewashing the fact that they are going to grow spending during this time including:

“a historic down payment on health care reform”

Once I get through this whole thing I’m quite sure I’ll have more to say…

Will you look at that…a week has just flown by and I’m not sure what to do!

Last week we had 2 places that needed to be found…Caledonia Unplugged managed to get the Sienna Center

 
View Larger Map

 

and Real Debate pulled out the Council House!

 
View Larger Map

 

Great job to both of them!

 

Name this Place!

If a choo-choo is a needed commodity here in SE Wisconsin why has the business community sat on their hands for nearly 20 years?

Now I have made it very clear that the idea of a train that runs from Kenosha to Milwaukee with no fewer than 10 stops in between is, in my opinion, an asinine idea.  While I feel that way I hear day in and day out how much the “business community” loves the idea of this train.

So I ask again, why has the “business community” sat on their hands and allowed this “vital link” waste away in the hands of government bureaucrats?

They have had 20 years to create a corporation, raise funds, build infrastructure, and make it happen…so why have they not done this?

Why wouldn’t profitable companies in SE Wisconsin want to create a company that, in their own words, “would bring people and business to the region”?

Would it not be prudent to invest in a business that would have about 1.7 million riders annually (www.transitnow.org)?

If this were such a “vital link” to Chicago why would we still be talking about it and not seeing it?

There isn’t a single business in Wisconsin that is willing to spend some of their own money on a venture like KRM because: 

1. no business is willing sell a $45 product for $5
2. there is not high demand for train service in this region because the population center (and business community) is not that large

 

So why are we still waiting for KRM?

 

The answer is simple…it will not succeed. 

 

…unfortunately I am not heading up to the State GOP Convention, but I am headed out to Fort Collins, Colorado to run in my 15^th marathon!

 

Blogging will be light until Tuesday…but if I get a chance maybe I’ll throw something up here.  ;^)

Today is May 1^st…

 

…the 121^st day of the year

…244 days left in the year

 

Births on this date include:

 

Tim McGraw (1967) – Musician

Joel Rosenberg (1954) – Author

Scott Carpenter (1925) – Astronaut

Art Fleming (1924) – Game show host

Jack Paar (1918) – TV host

Calamity Jane (1852) – Wild West Performer

 

 

Deaths on this date include:

 

Spike Jones (1965) – Musician

Joseph Goebbels (1945) – Minister of Propaganda for the Nazi’s

 

 

Events on this date include:

 

MGM Studio’s in Orlando opens (1989)

Worlds Fair opens in Knoxville, TN (1982)

Amtrak is formed (1971)

Francis Gary Powers U-2 plane is shot down (1960)

Empire State Building is dedicated (1931)

British colonies abolish slavery (1834)

The Illuminati is established (1776)

 

I thought that this was an interesting read and have included the map and the 8 questions that they answer about the internet.

I found it funny that they would even consider #6 as a question that people didn’t know about the internet!

From NewScientist.com:

Eight things you didn't know about the internet

1. Who controls the internet?
2. Could the net become self-aware?
3. How big is the net?
4. Is there only one internet?
5. Is the net caught in the credit crunch?
6. Where are the net’s dark corners?
7. Is the net hurting the environment?
8. Could we shut the net down?