Waukesha Carnival 02/08/2009

Welcome to this week’s edition. It’s gettin’ late and I have to work tomorrow, so let’s get to it.

First sad news, Darryl Enriquez at Waukesha FYI tells us about the Waukesha Freeman layoffs. One of those laid off was photographer and Waukesha blogger Byron Houlgrave, who shared the last picture he clicked for the Freeman.

Continuing in Waukesha city, Jeff reviews the fish fry at Michael’s Italian America Restaurant at Five Points Blog.

James Wigderson went to the Waukesha Common Council meeting and shares his thoughts with us at Wigderson Library & Pub.

Spiralling out a little, Linda Richter at Inside New Berlin finds the security cameras in schools unsettling and it’s not just the price tag.

At peterepublic, Pete Fanning drops by to remind us he’s still alive, just very, very very busy.

Kyle Prast at Practically Speaking reminds us that US Rep. Sensenbrenner and state Rep. Leah Vukmir will have several town halls. One is past, two are upcoming.

In posts about state news, Wisconsin Sen. Mary Lazich (chief aide Kevin Fischer?) points out at Conservatively Speaking that the Wisconsin Covenant program could be costly.

In a couple of miscellaneous posts, Curt Otto gives us the question to last week’s answer, or something like that. Any way it’s all over at Maple & Main.

Meanwhile, over at the Spring City Chronicle, Michael Phelps gets the Bonehead of the Week award. Pretty much a unanimous vote, I would say.

Then in posts on national issues, MommaBlogger takes time out to rant over that Florida case of the botched abortion at Homemakers Guide to the Galaxy.

Dan Deibert shows us how fast government can move when they want to, with pictures at The D Spot.

Alex has some thoughts about Republican votes and raises at A Little off Main.

At The Other Side of  My Mouth, Tim Rock has some thoughts on the Republican vote on the stimulus package.

Silent e tells us why Democrats are unpatriotic at silent e speaks.

Cindy Kilkenny has a two-parter over at Fairly Conservative on building our own stimulus package.

Dad29 points out that the American people seem to be understanding the ramifications of the stimulus package.

Whew, that’s it for another long one. As usual, if you have one you liked add the link in the comments below or e-mail me at thoughtfulconservative [at] yahoo [dot] com. Same for posts you’d like to nominate for next week’s carnival. It doesn’t have to be one of your own. Links to our archives and future editions can be found here.

Taxes and spending

The Chief, who I don’t think would mind being called left-of-center, reminds us of something all conservative should know.

[L]et’s make something perfectly clear: any program introduced by a legislator — no matter how well-meaning, how virtuous, how essential to the public good — costs money.

The Chief is pointing at Sen. Mary Lazich’s Silver Alert legislation, which she plans to submit and, frankly, rightly calls it hypocritical. Now perhaps the senator is looking at cutting spending elsewhere to make room for this expense, but with Wisconsin already looking at having a $5 billion deficit, it’s hard to see where this would come from.

But maybe she’s looking elsewhere. In another post Sen. Lazich wrote,

Congress is considering giving grants to states to start their own Silver Alert programs. Another bill to be introduced in Congress this month would make Silver Alert a federally-run program in every state. [Emphasis mine]

Even if a federal program, it will be paid with my taxes. Is a state tax increase bad and a federal increase good?

But as a Stateline.org article notes

Silver Alert has few opponents, although proposals in some states have been rejected because of budget concerns and worries that law enforcers already are overburdened. Some state policymakers also have cautioned that too many alerts could make the public less likely to respond. [Emphasis mine]

Popular, but concerns.

So how much will it cost? I guess we’ll have to wait for the state bureau to look at it.

Senate district 28 town hall meetings

State Sen. Mary Lazich posted her upcoming Town Hall meetings.

MONDAY, MAY 5

FRANKLIN 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Franklin Public Library • 9151 West Loomis Road

GREENDALE 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Greendale Public Library
5647 Broad Street

MONDAY, MAY 19

GREENFIELD 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Greenfield City Hall, Council Chambers
7325 West Forest Home AvenueHALES CORNERS 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Hales Corners Public Library • 5885 South 116th Street

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21

BIG BEND/VERNON 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Big Bend Village Hall • W230 S9185 Nevins Street

MUSKEGO 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Muskego Public Library • S73 W16663 Janesville Road

THURSDAY, MAY 22

MUKWONAGO 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Mukwonago Town Hall • W320 S8315 Beulah Road

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28

WATERFORD 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Waterford Public Library • 101 North River Street

EAST TROY 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
East Troy Village Hall • 2106 Church Street

THURSDAY, MAY 29

NEW BERLIN 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
New Berlin Public Library • 15105 Library Lane

WAUKESHA 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Waukesha Town Hall • W250 S3567 Center Road

No word if Kevin Fischer will answer any of the questions posed to her.

You can use this map (PDF file) or this tool to find out if Sen. Lazich is your senator.

The Great Lakes Compact

I haven’t written much on it because, Lord knows, enough has been written already. Jim Rowen posts something every day, it seems. Mr. Rowen, himself, realizes this as he expressed in this comment to James Wigderson’s post.

Sorry this went on so long. Just send people to my blog for more than they will ever want to know about all this.

And there’s been more as the Compact legislation approached a vote in Wisconsin.

I’ve been influenced by points on both sides as, it seems, has Wigderson, who, in the above link, raised some points that I’ve thought about.

[For opponents,] if it doesn’t pass (as has been pointed out time and again) we go back to the old rule of any governor can divert any diversion for any reason.

I really, really, can’t see Waukesha “returning” water through the Root River.

I’m also concerned about the governor of one state (of, say, Michigan or Illinois) being able to veto, although this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel piece, if accurate would allay that concern somewhat.

Waukesha County Executive Daniel Vrakas, among others, wants to get it right. Some say that we can’t change it now. But wait, Senator Mary Lazich (or perhaps aide/blogger/radio personality Kevin Fischer) says 33 amendments were added to the bill that passed the Wisconsin Senate. What gives here?

Both Rowen and Wigderson linked to this article by Barbara Miner which took a look at water in the area and its history. A piece well worth reading.

Predictably in this often partisan process, Mayor Larry Nelson has been criticized by Waukesha County’s Republican legislators. They contend he had secret meetings with Democratic legislators without notifying them and colluded with them in getting it passed.

I have concerns about water and growth. As I wrote a couple of years back in the Journal Sentinel,

Seriously, though, water problems are important. Water is basic to life.

That’s why it’s curious that in all of the talk about new malls, hospitals and other construction going on, there’s little talk about how all of that will affect the water supply.

We hear a lot of talk from the politicians about conservation but very little on controlling growth. They ask lots of questions about tax issues, permits and what the developments will look like but not too much about the relationship to the water supply.

Nothing has changed in the last two years.

Those who read this blog know I’m not an environmentalist by any means. But water is a critical resource and until we know more what’s going on with drops in lake levels and the effects of diversion, I would favor ratifying this compact and having a process requests for diversion could go through.

It’s not perfect, but nothing often is.

A Waukesha Carnival 2-10-2008

Time again for another edition. Listed below are those posts I found most interesting and thought provoking, or were submitted via Blog Carnival. You can read past editions here or click on Waukesha Carnival under “Categories” on the left hand side of the page. You can submit a post for future editions here or e-mail me at thoughtfulconservative [at] yahoo [dot] com.

David B. Bohl submits a post entitled, If You Don?t Do It Now, You?ll Regret It Later. David has a 262 area code and submitted a post before that I didn’t use. Here’s some of what he said,

“I’m a relatively happy guy, but sometimes I can get pretty out of sorts. Usually that is related to something I’ve been meaning to do, or always wanted to do. Something, of course, that remains on my “to do” list, and never quite makes it to my did list.”

Then we’ve got additions to the Waukesha part of the blog roll, some long overdue. First, Blog Waukesha (hat tip to Spring City Chronicle). Then courtesy of Hobo Springs blog roll we have Homemaker’s Guide to the Galaxy and silent e has started a new site Wales Wisconsin which is bloggish in character. silent e tells us it’s informational, so no bomb throwing.

Then let’s do a picture. Bryan Houlgrave, a photographer for the Waukesha Freeman, has an interesting one of a truck stuck in last week’s snow on the corner of Barstow and South.

Then let’s take care of our elected officials. Mayor Nelson posts about an event Monday, Feb. 11, with the mayor, Gov. Doyle, and officials from the Barack Obama campaign. I would love to go, but I am not undecided about the fact that I will not be voting for Barack Obama.

Sen. Mary Lazich (Kevin Fischer?) writes about keeping the estate tax dead.

Jeff wrote at Eat Wisconsin about his visit to North Star American Bistro. Then on his Five Points Blog he covers the fire at the Wisconsin House last week.

Speaking of the fire, Curt Otto, whose business is just down the street, had some pictures of the scene.

UPDATE: I overlooked DarrylEnriquez’s coverage of the fire which can be found here and here.

Fox Head opines about Global Warming, particularly the lack of practical sense.

Sancho, posting at Hobo Springs, gives us another “Hobo Sandwich,” his carnival. On La Raza de Waukesha, he shares his reasoning over not voting for John McCain.

Pete Fanning was at the Defending the American Dream conference on Saturday and gave a report in two posts at peterepublic. As a side note, Steveegg, the king of southeastern Wisconsin live blogging, live blogged the whole thing. You can find his posts here.

Kyle Prast, writing at Practically Speaking, muses about Super Tuesday and the future. Troy Fullerton at Rendezvous with Destiny also shared his thoughts about last Tuesday’s results in the presidential primaries.

Staying on the presidential race, Scott Feldstein sums up his thoughts on the upcoming race in two pictures and 11 words!

silent e posted a political cartoon he swiped from Ol’ Broad. It sums up the feelings of many of us in the Republican party toward our presumptive nominee.

And in one more post, James Wigderson gives his opinion on James Dobson’s endorsement of Mike Huckabee.

Lisa, blogging at Sequentially Speaking, shares a post with a few links to happenings in the comic book/gaming/movie world.

Spring City Chronicle dumps on the proposed smoking ban in Wisconsin.

Finally, Wiggy shares an old family recipe for ground hog. Oh, maybe it’s not. Looks tasty. Waukesha Winnie should watch her back.

Whew! That’s it for this week. As usual, you can leave your choices in the comment section or e-mail them to me at the address above.

A Waukesha Carnival 01-29-2008

I apologize for not posting over the weekend. Just wiped out from work, I guess.

Anyway, following are those posts in the Waukesha County portion of the Cheddarsphere that I found most interesting. They appear in no particular order.

Mayor Nelson posted his memo that he usually posts before a Common Council meeting.

James Wigderson had some advice on picking the new school superintendent.

The Asian Badger posted his thoughts about a piece that was printed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last Sunday concerning the business climate in Milwaukee.

Jessica McBride wants folks to stop “disrespecting social conservatives” not that many folks will listen, but I agree.

Troy Fullerton ponders whether a conservative of conscience could vote for John McCain. I say yes, since McCain’s conservative rating matches closely with Fred Thompson’s rating among other well-known conservatives.

Kyle Prast at Practically Speaking tells about the trials of going green.

Scott Feldstein asks, “If there were a magic button which would make it so that no sexually active couple ever became pregnant unless they explicitly wanted to, would you push it?” As he says, as a group, pro-lifers would say no, but I’m one of those who would say yes.

If you haven’t followed the Kevin Fischer brouhaha, you’ve missed a doosie. Cindy Kilkenny, now blogging at Fairly Conservative, was involved and even James Wigderson got pulled into it. Be ready to do some reading and clicking if you hope to follow this.[ed. – For those surfing over here, please note, I have no horse in this race. Some of the posts and comments have been removed and I have not followed it from the beginning, nor do I particularly want to. My interest is the amount of bandwidth that has been expended in this endeavor.]

Yorick’s Persiflage reports on a health care forum held at Carroll College.

Jeff, whose posts at Five Points Blog are usually found here, has another blog, Eat Wisconsin, which is going under some reconstruction. Keep your eye on it.

Spring City Chronicle proposes something called the Larry Nelson Memorial Auditorium. I just give his warning,

This post advocates public spending on what some might call a grand scale. This may cause my more sensitive conservative and libertarian readers to suffer the vapors or have a conniption.

Ya gotta love it when anyone uses the word conniption.

Finally, Lisa at Sequentially Speaking has a list of the Marvel comic books that have “Lost” easter eggs in them.

That’s all there is this week. If you have some you’d like to suggest for this week or next week, let me know, either in the comments or e-mail to thoughtfulconservative [at] yahoo [dot] com .