Decade

Ten years ago today, B&S was birthed by Jed. It’s been a fun ride. Thank you all for reading.

With that, I’m done. I’ll see you around town and the interwebs. Thanks for the memories.

Indeed.

Reflections On an Experience

Early this morning I had the opportunity to participate one a live show for Wisconsin Public Radio in the Pabst Theater Pub in downtown Milwaukee. I’ve done numerous media engagements on radio, television, and in person in the past few years, so this wasn’t new. It was fun. I thought I’d share a few random first hand perspectives of it in case it’s of any interest.

With few exceptions, I like the liberal folks against whom I’m usually pitted. In this case, I had never met Ed Fallone, but I found him to be personable, kind, grounded, and, with my limited exposure, a good guy. This is not unusual. It’s a good reminder that the folks with whom we vehemetly disagree are not necessarily bad people. They are just people with whom we disagree. Again, there are exceptions, but I won’t get into that today.

Doing radio is truly an art form. In the segment before the one I was on, they spent an hour discussing Wisconsin foods. While I love food, I have no idea how to get an hour of entertainment out of discussing it, but I was completely drawn into the discussion when sitting in the Green Room. I don’t know why. That’s part of the art.

Speaking of the Green Room… I spent a bit of time in the one at the Pabst Theater where I’m told the “rock stars” go. It was kind of cool. It had old arcade games, a fooz ball table, television and a radio. It also had dressing rooms with showers and such. It was neat but I really don’t want to speculate on what’s happened on the over-sized bean bag chair.

I’ve done radio countless times, but I’m usually in my jammies, sitting at my desk, with all of my normal technology in front of me. Doing it live is different. I had to put clothes on. I didn’t have a headset, so I had to talk into the mic (no pacing around). I didn’t have a mute button. And people were LOOKING AT ME! It’s not a big deal, but it is a different experience.

Speaking of difference experience, after the show an audience member named “Cletus” came up to me, stuck his finger in my face, and repeatedly called me a “damned liar.” Why? Because I dared to say that President Obama had a Democratically-controlled Congress for the first two years of his presidency. Eh… whatever. You can’t argue with idiots like that.

On the way out I had a delightful conversation with a young lad who works with the Latino community in Milwaukee. We had a great discussion about immigration policy. It was fun. If I hadn’t had to go to work, I would have loved to have shared a cup of coffee and furthered our conversation. Perhaps another time.

The Takeaway

If you happen to be up early tomorrow, I’ll be on The Takeaway from about 6:05 to 6:15 to discuss Paul Ryan.

Comment Preview

Should be working now.  If not, please let me know.

Happy Birthday to Us

My wife had to remind me that B&S is 9 years old today.  Thanks for reading, folks.

Why Don’t You Blog More?

I’m busy.

Swing and a Miss

As someone who has been expressing his opinion in the public space for many years, I have learned that ignoring stupid comments is usually the appropriate course of action. I should probably continue to follow my own advice, but this piece of idiocy deserves its own post - especially since it comes from someone who the taxpayers of Wisconsin pay to educate people.

From our delightful local lefty philosophy professor:

It was only a matter of time before our friend Owen Robinson tried to initiate a witch hunt against one of the few non-insane members of our local school board.

I love it. He accuses me of initiating a witch hunt in the same post that he declares the majority of the school board members to be insane. Fun stuff!

Apparently Owen believes that people who hold public office should not be allowed to exercise their rights as citizens.

Not at all. I did not once say that public official should not be allowed to sign a petition. In fact, in the comments, I specifically say that public officials have a right to sign the petition. This is what is known as a straw man. Peterson has invented an position that I did not espouse in order to vilify me with it. I wonder if he allows his students to do the same.

I guess this is another illustration of the common sense to be found among the true believers in our local Common Sense Citizens, (Inc.) Americans for Prosperity brigade and branch office.

I’m not even sure what he’s getting at here, but he is clearly ignorant of the facts. The CSC is a great group of guys, but I’m not a member. Nor are they affiliated with AFP anymore, but Peterson seems to think so. Perhaps Peterson should update his enemies list.

I noticed that 9 state judges signed the recall petitions, but clearly Owen is a better judge of the rights of American citizens than they are… or than you are, gentle reader.

Yet another straw man. I didn’t make an argument that I’m a better judge of rights. However, I do think that as a thinking member of society that I can disagree with judges. Apparently, Peterson thinks that judges are universally correct. I wonder if his opinion carries to the Citizens United case, Bush/Gore, or Heller. Or does Peterson accept that the judges were right in those cases?

What’s most remarkable is that most of the school board members did NOT sign the recall petition since their civic responsibility is to improve public education and Mr. Walker, more than any governor in history, has stood solidly against improving public education.

So wait… according to Peterson, I’m not allowed to question a public official signing the Walker recall petition, but he’s allowed to question those who didn’t? What happened to, “Apparently Owen believes that people who hold public office should not be allowed to exercise their rights as citizens?” Isn’t NOT signing the recall also an exercise in rights? Surely the right to do something also includes the right not to do something. After all, voting, carrying guns, and participating in religion are not mandatory in America.

There… I’ve given Mr. Peterson a far higher profile than his idiotic post deserves, but that was a fun diversion from the painting project we’re doing this weekend. Back to work…

And… We’re Back

We migrated servers last night, and all appears to be well at this point.  Sorry for the blackout.

MJS to Charge for Online Content

This is interesting.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s digital subscription program is set to begin Jan. 4.

With its digital offering, called “JS Everywhere,” the Journal Sentinel will offer access to JSOnline.com, the Journal Sentinel e-edition, its mobile site for smartphones, plus coming iPad and other digital applications for a subscriber’s fee. Readers who subscribe to the print edition of the newspaper will receive free access to all digital products. Web content previously available on the pay site Packer Insider will be included as part of JS Everywhere subscriptions.

Under the JS Everywhere plan, online readers will be able to read as many as 20 articles per month at no charge, but after reaching that threshold, will be prompted to become a print or digital subscriber.

I suppose it was only a matter of time. The MJS is in the business of making money and that’s hard to do when they give away their content for free. I suppose that I’m in the same boat as a lot of Wisconsin bloggers. I’ve been using the MJS’ online content for free for years. Will I pay for it? Do they provide enough vital and unique content to justify paying $100 a year or so for it? I’m not sure.

Spam, Egg, Sausage, and Spam

I’m testing a new anti-spam system.  If you’re not a spammer and your comments are getting caught in the crossfire, please drop me a line.

Lazy Thursday Open Thread

Awfully quiet around here since Owen and Wendy are cruisin’.

So feel free to toss out anything you want to talk about.  Will the Packers go undefeated?  How badly will the Angels regret Dec 2011 in 2016?  How much longer will Holder last before he meets the bus undercarriage?

An Open Letter to National Conservative Groups from Wisconsin’s Conservative Bloggers

To: Chris Chocola, Club for Growth
The Honorable Jim DeMint, junior Senator from the Great State of South Carolina

It is with great disappointment that we have learned of the efforts of some conservatives on the national level to try to dictate to Wisconsin conservatives their choice for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Senator Herb Kohl. This is a tremendous opportunity for Wisconsinites to elect a second conservative senator worthy of holding the office, and one that Wisconsin conservatives will take very seriously. This is not only a choice of ideology but of character, and it is our responsibility to bring Mark Neumann’s lack of character to your attention.

While we do not question Neumann’s past contributions to conservatism while he was a Congressman, his actions during last year’s campaign are completely unbecoming of a conservative candidate.

We respectfully request the national conservative groups and individuals to take a second look at their endorsement of Neumann. We ask that since many of them missed the opportunity to come to Wisconsin during the recent battles over collective bargaining for state employees and the recall elections, they come to Wisconsin now to talk to true Wisconsin conservatives to find out what they think of Neumann before attempting to foist their choice upon Wisconsin.

We do not write this under direction or duress from any candidate, potential candidate, or candidate’s campaign. We write this under the knowledge that as the primary for United State Senate commences in earnest, we will likely go our separate ways and support any number of candidates. That is our right as Americans.

If the past election in Wisconsin has shown national conservatives anything, it is to trust in the faith of Badger State conservative activists. We had the foresight to supply the movement with current leaders and rock stars like Janesville Congressman Paul Ryan, Ashland Congressman Sean Duffy, Green Bay Congressman Reid Ribble, Governor Scott Walker, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, and even Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

That is just in the past two years, and we assure you, there are plenty more where they came from.

Thank you,

(The Undersigned)

Owen Robinson
Blogger, Boots and Sabers, since 2003
West Bend, WI

Kevin Binversie
Blogger, Lakeshore Laments, since 2003
St. Francis, WI

James Wigderson,
Blogger, Wigderson Library & Pub, since 2005
Waukesha, WI

Steve Eggleston
Blogger, No Runny Eggs, since 2005
Oak Creek, WI

Patrick Dorwin
Blogger, Badger Blogger, since 2004
Milwaukee, WI

Tim Gray
Blogger, UseYourGrayMatter.com, since 2010
La Crosse, WI

Ben Froland
Blogger, BenFroland.com, since 2009
Neenah, WI

Pick a Number, Any Number

Testing the new polling module.

Blog Update

We just upgraded our blogging software, and I had to re-code a large chunk of the blog.  So, if you see something behaving badly, please let me know.

Blog Maintenance

I’m going to be doing some large-scale maintenance on the backend of the blog this weekend.  You shouldn’t see any hiccups, but if you do, don’t be alarmed.