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Just Bites.

Badger Bites is up at Badger Blog Alliance.

A free 8 x 10 from Walgreens

Hey, I’m all over free stuff. So when I saw Cindy Kilkenny’s post, I rushed right over.

Go to Walgreen’s photo site and order an 8 x 10. Enter the code “4mom” at check out and you can pick up a free 8 x 10 the next day.

Sorry, but it’s good today only. Come on! You’ve got a few hours. I’ve already ordered mine.

“Wisconsin’s school systems should teach money management”

Wisconsin Rep. Scott Newcomer had an piece last week in the Waukesha Freeman.

The concerns he raises are valid.

Possessing an understanding of how to manage any purchase that is financed, invest money, budget properly and responsibly use a credit card is vital to a person’s well-being and is a key component of our country’s economic future.

[snip]

In a survey by Visa in 2007, only 5 percent of adults reported learning about money management in elementary or high school. More than 40 percent of people were self-educated about money management or had learned the hard way.

[snip]

By teaching the public financial responsibility we improve the economy as a whole. Such a large focus is placed on the housing, credit and financial market slumps, but how are these problems accounted for? An educated public could have made more intelligent investment decisions and behaved more responsibly when looking for a loan or home mortgage.

In spite of the good points, it also demonstrates how conservatives can get into a “government should do something” mentality.

Taking the tack that “parents can’t/don’t do it” is used to justify many things being taught in public schools today. Instead of requiring that schools stick to subjects that would benefit kids, math (and this is where economics could be taught without more “overhead”), science, civics (do they teach this anymore, or am I just showing my age again?), and other essentials, schools have gone into psychology, sociology, black history, women’s studies, etc.

What’s the answer? I believe it’s getting back to basics and ridding schools of “fluff” that should properly be taken care of in extracurricular activities.

Clinton out soon, Obama will win presidency

First the news everyone knows by now, via JS Online

Obama has 1,840.5 delegates to 1,688 for Clinton in The Associated Press tally. It takes 2,025 delegates to win the nomination in Denver this summer.

Clinton vows to remain in but has loaned her campaign $6.4 million, most likely a sign of money raising woes. Superdelegates appear to be headed toward Obama.

However, she is expected to take West Virginia and Kentucky next week and, perhaps, prolong her campaign and the Democrats agony further. She holds out hope for Florida and Michigan.

Clinton told reporters it would take 2,209 or 2,210 delegates to win the nomination, not the 2,025 in use by the Democratic National Committee. The higher total would come into play if the delegations were seated from Michigan and Florida, two states that held primaries outside the time frame that party rules required.

But here’s how I see it now. Obama wins the Democratic nomination. That’s obvious to all except Clinton supporters. He then eschews public funding of his campaign. If the voters let him get away with going back on his “promise,” he easily raises more money than McCain.

I’m not sure at this point if McCain ditches the “nice guy” campaigning he’s been engaging in till now, because any criticism of Obama will be proclaimed as racist.

Hey, we’re a long way away and I could be wrong. In fact, I hope I am.

UPDATE: Mac Ranger disagrees.

UPDATE II: Robert Novak says,

With Clinton about to be out of the picture, look for a big Obama jump in the polls to take a lead-maybe a commanding lead-against McCain. The dreadful state of the GOP, as reflected in its recent loss of a Louisiana congressional seat (see below), was bound to catch up with the presidential race. McCain cannot win without sustained battering of Obama, a tactic that McCain deplores.

That’s the way I see it. People want a change; they don’t really care what kind.

Round Two in VP Madness

It doesn’t mean a thing, but round two of CQ’s VP Madness has begun.

With record turnout, more than 6,000 votes were cast in the first round. Here are the big winners:

• Condoleezza Rice (69%) vs. Chuck Hagel (30%)
• Mike Huckabee (60%) vs. Lindsey Graham (39%)
• Mark Sanford (84%) vs. Jim DeMint (15%)
• Mitt Romney (75%) vs. Marsha Blackburn (24%)
• Tim Pawlenty (82%) vs. Phil Gramm (17%)
• Colin Powell (56%) vs. David Petraeus (43%)
• Tom Ridge (53%) vs. Haley Barbour (46%)
• Kay Bailey Hutchison (69%) vs. Rudy Guiliani (30%)
• Sarah Palin (59%) vs. Rick Perry (40%)
• Sam Brownback (61%) vs. Fred Thompson (38%)
• Michael Steele (65%) vs. Tom Coburn (34%)
• Bobby Jindal (58%) vs. Mike Pence (41%)
• Rob Portman (60%) vs. Eric Cantor (39%)
• Joe Lieberman (66%) vs. Jeb Bush (33%)
• John Thune (63%) vs. Jon Huntsman, Jr. (36%)
• Charlie Crist (66%) vs. J.C. Watts (33%)

Visit the site  to make your picks.

No ID, no vote, 10 retired nuns told

Via Stateline.org.

I don’t really have much on this story, although I’m sure our left of center friends will love it. What caught my eye was the fact of the Sacramento Bee doing a story on Indiana photo ID with a dateline of “Washington.”

Ok, so I’m amused by small things.

What recession?

Texas looking at $10.7 billion surplus (from the Houston Chronicle via Stateline.org).

Oil and gas employment in Texas grew by 7.5 percent between March 2007 and March 2008, leading an overall increase of 214,000 Texas jobs, comptroller’s spokesman R.J. DeSilva said.

Consequently, sales tax revenue, a major source of state government income, also continues to grow.

And, DeSilva added, Texas has been insulated more than other states from the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis. Texas, he said, avoided the housing price bubbles that hurt states like California and Florida.

At least some folks are doing OK.

BTW, is there a recession yet?

Waukesha’s chances of Lake Michigan water are slim to none

Unless Mayor Larry can convince his Democratic brethren either in Milwaukee/Wisconsin or Illinois, I don’t see Waukesha getting any Lake Michigan water.

The Great Lakes Compact requires the return of water to the lake. It will be expensive most likely. But logical, because that’s where the water came from. Makes sense to return it.

Now comes a story from Illinois that makes it seem as thought Illinois might not want wastewater going to the lake.

Illinois water officials are researching whether a provision of the Great Lakes water compact that could allow places such as Waukesha and Brookfield to receive Lake Michigan water would damage a lake recreation area that needs the Fox River to replenish it.

Under the compact, communities in Waukesha County receiving lake water would have to return treated wastewater to the lake instead of the Fox River.

That has Illinois water officials combing Waukesha Water Utility records to determine the possible effect on the river’s flow if Waukesha stopped sending its treated wastewater to the river.

If that happens, the Fox River would lose a contribution to its flow of at least 10 million to 11 million gallons a day, a wastewater treatment plant official said.

So Waukesha can’t send water down the Fox River because the Compact doesn’t allow it, and it’s possible Illinois would veto the city sending the water back to Lake Michigan.

Church has plot to tackle food prices

A Waukesha church wants to let people make gardens as food prices skyrocket. Good idea, right?

From the Journal Sentinel,

But before a shovel is put in the ground, city officials who were caught a bit off-guard by Southminster’s plan must give their blessings to the concept.

Gardening usually is done in the backyard, where it’s out of sight. Southminster’s garden would be in full view at the front of the church, creating zoning and setback issues that might be easily resolved, said David Kopp, a city planner.

To grow vegetable gardens instead of grass, Southminster must get a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals on Monday and a conditional use permit from the Plan Commission on May 14.

Some neighbors might speak in opposition, saying the gardens will be unsightly and decrease property values, Kopp said. The permits will be only temporary, he said.

Yep, government has got to have its say.

MRQ + TRQ

MRQ is up at Real Debate Wisconsin. He’s also added TRQ - Twitter Random Quotes.

At FoxPolitics.net

I already noted that James Wigderson will be blogging at FoxPolitics.net on Thursdays, now we see that Fred Dooley will be taking Mondays. Lance Burri has already blogged over there. More guest bloggers will undoubtedly be added later.

The reason, also as noted earlier, is that Jo Egelhoff is running for the 57th Assembly seat.

Waukesha Carnival 05/04/08

First of all, my apologies to anyone who has been submitting via Blog Carnival. It seems every time I try to logon (which was not often, I admit), they were down. I still get all the e-mail notices, as far as I know.

With that welcome to this week’s carnival. Let’s get to it.

The Asian Badger starts us off with this thought,

Local politicos and some screwy business leaders are blind to the obvious. They think business will relocate to Wisconsin simply because we have water availability thanks to Lake Michigan.

Josh at Blog Waukesha wants to identify wasteful spending locally and so he’s learned about the laws concerning public information and checked out some spending.

Fox Head shares a humorous story on government regulation.

Bryon Houlgrave has a stunning picture of a lightning strike.

In state related topics, Sen. Mary Lazich (or perhaps, aide Kevin Fischer) shares a study of what Americans say when asked about voter ID.

Dad29 looks toward the next Wisconsin Supreme Court election next April.

Closer to home, j gravelle points out that the Journal Sentinel thinks more highly of Eugene Kane (Laurel Walker, too, for that matter) than Patrick McIlheran.

Cindy Kilkenny shares a link to a Racine Post Blog post on what digging on Sixth Street has revealed.

Jeff at Five Points Blog attempts to answer a question posed at Tuesday night’s Blog n Grog. “If you could change one thing about Waukesha, what would it be?”

Speaking of Blog n Grog, Sancho announces at Hobo Springs that Blog n Grog will be a monthly event. He again stresses that any one who can get to Waukesha is invited.

Silent e celebrates his 2nd blogoversary. Congratulations.

Kyle Prast posts her observations on the recent Sensenbrenner town hall in Brookfield.

Linda Richter criticizes a couple of New Berlin school board members at Inside New Berlin. Matt Thomas replies.

James Wigderson will be guest blogging at FoxPolitics on Thursdays.

Nationally, Troy Fullerton examines Republican empathy for Hillary Clinton.

Tim at The Other Side of My Mouth made me crack-up, even though my ideology is the one he’s making fun of. I couldn’t help it.

Finally, David B. Bohl presents Do you have a personal plan for success? Want a Free One?

That concludes this edition. If you’d like to submit something, you can either us this form, or email the link directly to me at thoughtfulconservative [at] yahoo [dot] com. Past and future editions can be found on this page.

A Billion Dollar Home

From Yahoo Finance.

You would think for a billion bucks, they could build a house that looks nice from the outside.

Why gas prices are high

Fox Head lets us know why gas prices are up (briefly),

One, supply is down and demand is up.

Two, we are dependent on foreign oil because we choose to be dependant.

Three, there have been no new refineries built, oil companies have been at capacity, which helps to drive the profit margins we are seeing.

Dad29 notes another reason we have here in Wisconsin, and links to Counterterrorism Blog which lists a few more.

OPEC Oligarchy practices, intensified international competition for secure access to essential commodities, increased reliance on middlemen for oil lifting, profit-motive purchasing policies and upstream practices of major oil companies, the falling dollar, and intense speculative upward bidding of oil futures on the world’s merchantile exchanges.

A gas tax holiday is not going to solve that.

Geez. I hate agreeing with Obama.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in Pinellas County

From the St. Petersburg Times, it appears the county I grew up in has changing politics.

Pinellas County has turned blue, at least when it comes to voter registration in this GOP stronghold.

For the first time in more than two decades, figures from the Supervisor of Elections Office Friday showed registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans, 233,240 to 233,181.

The last time Democrats had the edge, according to records from the supervisor’s office, was in 1984. A decade ago, Republicans enjoyed a 30,000-voter advantage.

When my mom and dad moved there in 1963, they could only register as Democrats.

The reasons?

• National discontent with the GOP.
• Pinellas is becoming younger and more diverse

But what do voter registrations really tell us?

[R]egistration figures only tell part of the story. There are more Democrats in Florida than Republicans, yet the GOP controls nearly all levers [sic] of state government.

I guess we’ll see what happens. In Florida and nationwide.

Quote of the day 5/3/08

Thomas Jefferson via Wikiquote,

I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

From a letter to James Madison (January 30, 1787); referring to Shays’ Rebellion Lipscomb & Bergh ed. 6:65

(a tip of the conservative ball cap to Dad29).

James T. Harris

OnMilwaukee.com interviews James T. Harris blogger, motivational speaker, talk show host.

Don’t like negative political ads?

Also via techPresident comes the site called Look for the Good, which seeks, among other things, to counter act the effect of negative ads during the campaign season.

No, really.

Here’s their suggestion,

When a negative political ad comes on the TV or radio, mute the sound or change the channel.

Hey, I already do that.

VP Madness (GOP Edition)

Via techPresident comes this link to CQ Politics, which has a vice president bracket for the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Just select between the sixteen sets of two choices and whoever receives the most votes in each set goes on to the next round. After you’ve selected, a window pops up showing the current results.

UPDATE: For those of you interested, neither Carla Fiorina nor Paul Ryan is on the list.

MRQ snow in the forecast

While we’re on quotes and links in the Cheddarsphere, in my busy-ness I neglected this week’s MRQ at Real Debate Wisconsin.