Man Assaults Police Officer With Member

Now that’s drunk. 

Police were called to his home by his girlfriend, who had complained about him being drunk last November.

They arrived to find the self-employed engineer sitting on the sofa wearing a pair of underpants.

Fiscal depute Elaine Lynch said: “The accused got to his feet and was standing over the police officer exposing his penis and thrusting it in her face, forcing her to take evasive action to avoid getting struck.”

Defence solicitor John Hardie said: “He was sitting on the couch drunk with his pants on.

“He can’t remember anything but accepts that if that’s what the police say then that’s what happened.

“He has never been so drunk before that day and accepts he has to take full responsibility. He apologises profusely and is extremely embarrassed.”

Open Book Co-op Out of Business

It’s never good to see a Wisconsin business close, but…

Open Book, the bookstore co-op that opened in Shorewood last fall, will close by April 30, the store’s directors said Friday.

The shop opened in November in the N. Oakland Ave. space previously occupied by a Harry W. Schwartz Bookstore. The organizers raised money from local residents and also secured a low-interest, $35,000 loan from the village.

Organizers cited “a confluence of events” for the closing, including the economy, a change in the public’s book-buying habits and strong competition from online booksellers.

“We had an expectation that we would have a much more robust holiday season than we did,” said Keith Schmitz, chairman of the Open Book co-op.

...seriously… what about the book industry has changed in six months?  The economy is about the same if not a bit better than it was when they opened.  Online booksellers, reading devices like a Kindle, and people’s book buying habits have been on this trend for quite some time.  The market hasn’t substantially changed.  It looks like the organizers here had some sort of fantasy that they could buck the trend and didn’t have enough capital to give themselves enough time to build a customer base. 

Clarke Improves House of Corrections

Nice to see some progress.

The once troubled House of Correction in Franklin has undergone a major transformation, with big improvements in security, staffing, maintenance and fiscal oversight, according to a report done by the National Institute of Corrections.

The turnaround over the past year under the management of Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. has turned a “deeply troubled” lockup into a good jail, according to the report, written by California-based corrections consultant Jeffrey A Schwartz.

Still, the jail - renamed by Clarke the “Milwaukee Correctional Center-South Facility” - has a long way to go before it could be deemed excellent, the report says. Ongoing problems include sometimes being too thinly staffed, a core group of embittered workers and inmate food and recreation problems, the report says.

Absentee Ballots Available

FYI.

The city of West Bend has received its shipment of absentee ballots for the April 6 general election. City Clerk Amy Reuteman ordered 2,075 absentee ballots. The races on the ballots include District II appellate judge, four aldermanic seats, two seats for the West Bend School Board, and several county supervisor races.

  West Bend residents are able to vote now during regular City Hall office hours. Ballots are available on the second floor of City Hall in the clerk’s office.

Word is that there were people voting yesterday already. 

Obamacare to Drive Costs Up

You didn’t actually believe that it was going to save you money, did you?

Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives would increase the company’s health-care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone.

In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Caterpillar urged lawmakers to vote against the plan “because of the substantial cost burdens it would place on our shareholders, employees and retirees.”
Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction machinery manufacturer by sales, said it’s particularly opposed to provisions in the bill that would expand Medicare taxes and mandate insurance coverage. The legislation would require nearly all companies to provide health insurance for their employees or face large fines.

The Peoria-based company said these provisions would increase its insurance costs by at least 20 percent, or more than $100 million, just in the first year of the health-care overhaul program.

Jobs Bill Unlikely to Actually Spur Hiring

Well, duh.

Don’t look for a burst of hiring by small businesses in Wisconsin as a result of the federal jobs bill signed into law on Thursday.

A number of small-business owners in the state say they make hiring decisions based on the business they generate, not whether they can save nine months’ worth of Social Security payroll taxes per newly hired worker, which is the main feature of the law.

But in an economy that seems stumped about which way it is heading - signs of growth one day are replaced by signs of stagnation the next - every bit of aid that business can get helps, they say, and they plan to take advantage of the new law if they can.

New jobs, though, won’t come in large numbers until there is enough work to justify them.

Neumann Benefited From Stimulus

This is a BS story.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann is against the stimulus package and the bailout plan.

Except when his private companies are benefiting from them.

In one of his recent ads, the former congressman chides D.C. types for pushing through these proposals.

“You know some days it’s hard to tell Republican insiders from liberal Democrats,” Neumann says. “Bailouts, stimulus, huge spending.”

It’s standard election-year stuff from a veteran politician.

But this is what is out of the ordinary:

Neumann owns a stake in two companies that are benefiting big time from the very same stimulus plan that he criticizes.

We all have to play by the rules of the game even if we disagree with the rules.  For example, I oppose the Earned Income Tax Credit, but if I qualified for it, I would most certainly take it.  Why?  Because those are the rules. 

Neumann didn’t do anything wrong here and this story is a stretch.

Obama Hung in Effigy

This is disgraceful.

A teacher at a failing school where he and all his colleagues are being fired hung an effigy of President Barack Obama in his classroom, apparently in reaction to Obama’s support of extreme measures to ensure accountability in schools.

[...]

Gallo told the AP on Thursday evening that the foot-tall Obama doll that she saw Monday was hung from its feet from a white board and was holding a sign that said, “Fire Central Falls teachers.”

[...]

She said that the teacher had been issued a “strong letter of reprimand” and that she considered it an internal matter.

Obama had called the firings in Central Falls an example of holding failing schools accountable. The White House declined to comment Thursday. U.S. Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said the agency was aware of the doll but declined to comment further.

The president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, Jane Sessums, said in a written statement that the teacher, whose name wasn’t disclosed, hung the doll “as part of what he described as a lesson plan.”

I’m all for hanging politicians in effigy as a means of political protest.  It’s a long tradition in this and many other countries.  But for a teacher to use classroom time to vent his political frustrations is an utter disgrace.  A letter of reprimand is not good enough.  He should have been fired on the spot. 

On a side note, good for Obama for backing the superintendent’s actions. 

Doyle Colluded with Veterans Affairs Board

So much for “independent boards.”

At least a week before Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos was fired, the department’s board members had secretly come up with a strategy to dismiss and replace him, complete with a “PR plan” and “talking points” about the decision, e-mails show.

And Gov. Jim Doyle’s office reportedly had advised a board member to openly criticize Scocos to “ensure public exposure prior to the actual removal vote,” according to the e-mails, which were obtained through a state open records request.

The board voted on Nov. 24 to fire Scocos and replace him with Ken Black, a department administrator. The governor’s office and board members have repeatedly said the board acted independently of Doyle, but the e-mails raise questions about whether that’s the case - and if the state’s open meetings law was violated.

If this is obviously a case of the governor imposing his will on an “independent” board, what other boards has he manipulated (PSC?)?

RIP Fess Parker

Davyyyyyy… DAYYYYYYVY Crocket… King of the wild frontier!

Fess Parker, a baby-boomer idol in the 1950s who launched a craze for coonskin caps as television’s Davy Crockett, died Thursday of natural causes. He was 85.

Family spokeswoman Sao Anash said Parker, who was also TV’s Daniel Boone and later a major California winemaker and developer, died at his Santa Ynez Valley home. His death comes on the 84th birthday of his wife of 50 years, Marcella.

Forced to Buy

I just want to make sure y’all are aware of what’s in the legislation that the House is considering:

Beginning in 2014, most Americans would be required for the first time to purchase insurance, and face penalties if they refused.

You got it.  The government would FORCE you to buy health insurance - even if you don’t want it.  Not only is this unconstitutional, it is tyranny. 

Unemployment Rate in West Bend 13.9%

Yikes.

The jobless rate in West Bend started the year higher than the previous month, according to statistics released Wednesday by the state Department of Workforce Development.

  The city’s January unemployment rate was 13.9 percent, up 1.5 percent from December.

  In 2009, the city’s jobless rate topped out at 14.6 percent in June after starting the year at its lowest point, 10.5 percent in January.

  In Washington County, the January 2010 jobless rate was 9.6 percent, up 1 percent from December, but lower than the 2009 high mark — June’s 10.1 percent. Washington County has the 46th highest unemployment rate from among Wisconsin’s 72 counties. The jobless rate is highest in Rusk County, at 14.3 percent, and lowest in Dane County, at 6.3 percent.

Cleptocrats

What a bunch of thugs.  They’ll cut everyone else’s pension, but won’t cut their own.  Shameful.

A proposal to cut pensions of elected Milwaukee County officials to match the same trim approved for other county workers was defeated Thursday by the County Board on a 7-7 vote.

The measure came up only after a substitute calling for a study of the county joining the state pension system also failed on a tie vote.

Voting in favor of imposing a 20% cut on future pension credit on supervisors, County Executive Scott Walker and a handful of other elected county officials were: supervisors Mark Borkowski, Paul Cesarz, Christopher Larson, Joseph Rice, Joe Sanfelippo, Jim “Luigi” Schmitt and Peggy West.

Voting against the pension cut were supervisors Marina Dimitrijevic, Willie Johnson Jr., Theo Lipscomb, Michael Mayo Sr., Johnny Thomas, John Weishan Jr. and Lee Holloway.

For the record, none of these jokers deserve a pension funded by the taxpayers. 

Senator Coburn Throws Down

Wow. 

“I want to send a couple of messages to my colleagues in the House. If you voted “no” and you vote “yes” and you lose your election, and you think any nomination for a federal position isn’t going to be held up in the Senate, I’ve got news for you. It will be held.

Number two is if you get a deal, a parochial deal for you or your district, I’ve already instructed my staff and the staff of 7 other senators that we will look at every appropriations bill at every level at every incidence and we will outline it by district and we will associate that with the buying of your vote. So, if you think you can cut a deal now and it can not come out until after the election, I want to tell you that that ain’t gonna happen. And, be prepared to defend selling your vote in the House.”

Awesome.  Those House members should realize that Obama is not a king and doesn’t have the sole authority to deliver on all of the deals he is making. 

Hat tip Dad29.

Earthquake in Hawaii?

Who knew!?!?  Smartest.  President.  Ever.