Ted Kennedy Hospitalized

Let’s hope he gets better. 

Kennedy was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for evaluation after initial treatment at Cape Cod Hospital, a statement from his office said.

The senator spent less than an hour in the Cape Cod facility, hospital spokesman David Reilly said.

Massachusetts General said it had no information on Kennedy.

A well-informed Democratic source in Massachusetts said the 76-year-old senator had “symptoms of a stroke” at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port.

Congressman Sensenbrenner Hits Speaker Huebsch For Budget Repair Bill

I covered this in my convention post, but I thought it deserved its own post.

This is the quote from Sensenbrenner’s speech in which he hammered Republican Speaker Mike Huebsch for the budget repair bill.

“Unfortunately, Speaker Huebsch decided to push it [the budget repair bill] through the Assembly.  And he did so in a manner which does not fix the problems of overtaxing, and replaces transportation fees with more state borrowing - exactly the same move which helped destroy the Republican brand.  Everyone can see this is a political shell game that simply postpones the hard decisions. 

Sometimes, leadership consists of saying “NO” to bad policies, rather than going along to get along.”

As usual, Sensenbrenner is 100% correct.  Good for him for trying to teach the Republican leadership what being a leader looks like. 

Incedentially, my spell checker wants to change “Sensenbrenner’s” to “Sensibleness.” Works for me

At the State Convention

0938:  I’m at the Wisconsin GOP State Convention.  Paul Ryan is speaking now.  I’ll add thoughts as the day progresses.  It’s always hard at things like this because I have to make the choice between participating or live-blogging.  We’ll see how it goes.  If I choose to participate more, I’ll have a recap later.  One little rumor floating around that I don’t think is true… there’s a resolution for supporting McCain.  Rumor is that it will fail.  I don’t think that will happen, but I expect some debate. 

In other news, I’m very proud to announce that Washington County won the Top County award.  Congrats to the Washington County Republican Party!

Ryan’s speech is good.  I’ve heard chunks of it before.  He got loud applause when he said that the Republicans are sinking because they aren’t forcefully advocating a Conservative agenda. 

0955: Steve is here.  I think I took his seat. 

1002: Troy Fullerton is here, laptop in lap.  I suspect we’ll see some commentary from him.

1007: WisPolitics has coverage and audio.

1030: I was out in the hallway and happened to see Paul Ryan’s family passing by.  As his kid walked past one of the displays with a picture of him, the kid said, “DADDY!!!” and went over and pointed.  It was cute. 

I was given a heads up that Sensenbrenner’s speech will be worthy of note.

1049: Huebsch is being introduced.  Robin Vos stood up and yelled “WOOO!!!!”

1110: Van Hollen just got done speaking.  Gee, I think he might be thinking about being governor some day.  You heard it here first. 

There’s a resolution about making it illegal to desecrate the American flag.  I intend to speak against that resolution.  There are a couple of other resolutions that may get me yammering.

1124: Sensenbrenner is being introduced. 

1126:  Starts out with Republicans need to act like Republicans and vote like Republicans.  “We lost our way because we spent too much money.” Similar examples of losing our way followed.

1130: Sensenbrenner just hammered Huebsch for the budget repair bill and accused him of damaging the Republican brand.

“If we act like RINOs, voters will see no difference between us and the Democrats and we will lose elections.”

1133: I just got the text of the speech.  Some quotes…

“Unfortunately, Speaker Huebsch decided to push it [the budget repair bill] through the Assembly.  And he did so in a manner which does not fix the problems of overtaxing, and replaces transportation fees with more state borrowing - exactly the same move which helped destroy the Republican brand.  Everyone can see this is a political shell game that simply postpones the hard decisions. 

Sometimes, leadership consists of saying “NO” to bad policies, rather than going along to get along.”

Strange Pulsar

Hmmm…

“You don’t want to just find hundreds of objects, you want to find the two or three that are plain weird and we’ve found one,” he said.

The pulsar, dubbed J1903+0327, is located 20,000 light-years away from Earth and has a mass of about 1.74 times that of the sun, making it heavier than usual.

It also has a speedy rotational period of 2.15 milliseconds, or 465 revolutions per second—making it the fifth fastest-spinning pulsar known in our galaxy.

“J1903+0327 is totally different in that it has a very eccentric orbit which is elliptical rather than circular,” Champion said. “So, the question is: How could it have formed?”

The international team of astronomers believes the pulsar may have been born in a dense region of stars known as a globular cluster before being thrown out by the star it once orbited.

Another theory is that the pulsar may have two companions instead of one. It would be the first tri-star system as about 100 pulsars are part of a two-star team.

Wisconsin GOP Convention 2008

It started today.  Guess where I am??? 

Not there. 

Due to a scheduling hurdle, I was unable to make it today.  I will be there tomorrow.  Even though the hospitality suites today are the most valuable for a blogger like myself (lots of side conversations), the resolutions part that will happen tomorrow is my favorite part.  The actions and reactions of the delegates - the heart and soul of the GOP - give me a good read on where the mind of the base is. 

Other bloggers are there and doing some coverage.  Check out Steve, Jo, Kathy, and Brandon.

Don’t worry… my spies are afoot.  Nothing will slip by unnoticed. 

Obama Doesn’t Notice When the Little People Applaud Him

Or, I suppose it’s possible that he’s a liar.  I don’t buy that he’s forgetful, because the video of the speech is readily available and a competent campaign would have checked. 

Hat tip Freedom Eden.

Doyle Signs Budget “Fix” With Vetoes

Congratulations, Assembly Republican Leadership… you’ve just been outflanked on the right by Doyle.  Way to set up the caucus for the election. 

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle carved up a budget-repair deal with his veto pen today, allowing him to make deeper cuts than lawmakers approved and take money from the state’s transportation fund.

Lawmakers voted this week to make $69 million in cuts through mid-2009, but Doyle increased the cuts to $270 million with his veto powers. He also vetoed a restriction that limited how much could come from the state transportation fund.

One of the Few Things I Have in Common With Angelina Jolie

Back when I was in high school in the early 90s, I had some dress shoes that had a Nike sole.  Yes, Nike Air dress shoes.  They were the most expensive and most comfortable shoes I had owned.  When they wore out, I looked for more, but I was told that they were no longer made. 

Thankfully, they’re back.  But they are more expensive now.

Says Ms. Jolie, “ “I’m going to do a shoe ad right now—Cole Haan makes a shoe with a Nike sole, so I have a low heel with a Nike sole.”

End the Ethanol Mandate

Wow.  I’m agreeing with the MJS that we should end the ethanol mandate. 

But federal mandates on ethanol should not be maintained or expanded. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other Republicans who have signed a letter urging the Environmental Protection Agency to consider an ethanol mandate waiver have a point. As does Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who has called for the repeal of tariffs on importing ethanol.

Questions remain on ethanol. There has been an impact on food prices, even if that impact is less than the impact of the rise in oil prices. There is an argument that ethanol is not as efficient as gasoline. Ethanol production is not environmentally benign; in addition to other issues, a report co-authored by a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher predicts that the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico will grow, thanks to ethanol production’s impact on the Mississippi watershed.

B&S Pledge Signers Remain True

The MJS is highlighting Republicans who signed an anti-tax pledge but voted for the repair bill.

Ten Assembly Republicans who made anti-tax pledges voted for a budget-repair bill this week that will raise taxes on businesses by $15 million through mid-2009.

[...]

Rep. Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay)
Rep. Don Friske (R-Merrill)
Rep. Eugene Hahn (R-Cambria)
Rep. J.A. “Doc” Hines (R-Oxford)
Rep. Mark Honadel (R-South Milwaukee)
Rep. Terry Musser (R-Black River Falls)
Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford)
Rep. Robin Vos (R-Racine)
Rep. Steve Wieckert (R-Appleton)
Rep. Jeff Wood (R-Chippewa Falls)

I’m happy to report that the 10 Republicans and 1 Democrat who signed the Boots & Sabers pledge stayed loyal to the taxpayers and voted ‘no.” Thanks to:

Representative Leah Vukmir
Representative LeMahieu
Representative Lothian
Representative Pridemore
Representative Lasee
Representative Zipperer
Representative Nass
Representative Kramer
Representative Nygren
Representative Gunderson
Representative Ziegelbauer

Obama Calls Reporter “Sweetie”

Is this a big deal?  Is it sexist? 

Nah… this is a non-story.  Having grown up in the South, it’s quite common for people to use terms of endearment with strangers.  “Would you like fries with that, honey?” Thanks for the extra biscuit, sweetie.” Etc. 

No big deal.  Move on. 

Queer Bridezillas of Orange County

Rachel Lucas has correctly identified the biggest ripple effect of the court ruling in California striking down the ban on gay marriage. 

All I know is, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a new reality show called Queer Bridezillas of Orange County.

Indeed.

Armed and Dangerous

I don’t remember where I got this, but it makes me laugh.

Such poor gun safety.  Tsk, tsk. 

Week In Review 5/16/08

I’ll be on Wisconsin Public Radio tomorrow from 8 AM to 9 AM for the Week in Review.  My foil will be Tony Palmeri. 

Don’t worry, Tony.  You don’t have to put “right” in quotes.  I’m definitely on the right. 

Tune in! 

Busalacchi Abused Authority

Nothing like a little political retaliation to get your hand slapped. 

State Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi abused his discretion when he transferred his chief counsel out of a job, a state hearing examiner has determined.

The proposed decision - the first formal ruling since Jim Thiel was moved out of the job 3 years ago - provides little remedy. It says Thiel, 64, can have his old job back when it next comes open, which could take years. He also may be able to recover his attorney’s fees.

Busalacchi transferred Thiel out of the chief counsel job and made him a staff attorney one business day after Thiel angered Busalacchi by releasing records to the Journal Sentinel before Gov. Jim Doyle’s office could be alerted to the disclosure. Thiel had held the job for 31 years.