Read This Before You Buy/Sell Home

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Want to watch the value of your home plummet in a single keystroke? Are you having trouble selling your home and wonder why? Are you looking to buy a home and want to know if a released sex offender lives nearby?

JG Sound Off Excerpt:
Regarding a Web site for sex offenders, a really good one is at familywatchdog.us. You can go on there and it will pop up a map and show everyone in your area. You can zoom in and out. Please educate yourself. -- Anonymous

Gazette: Rock County Rejected Snappers

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The Janesville Gazette wanted to make sure they had all their reader bases covered when they continued with a third installment of their change-the-county-board campaign camouflaged in the sports section of the February 7th edition as a news report. Making sure die-hard sports fans who typically throw away the rest of the paper didn’t miss their special two-day misinformation campaign targeting the Rock County Board, the newspaper ran a front page sports headline Stadium issue remains hot topic which contained a misleading sub-title and continued to assume that the Rock County Board denied the Snappers a new stadium when a poorly presented land swap deal fell through.

JG Excerpt:
(sub-title)
Despite county rejection, Snappers stay optimistic

Implying that the county rejected the Snappers is wrong, and Snappers officials know this. But what exactly did the county reject, regarding the Snappers? Only the Gazette knows. But, the opening paragraph says it all. The Gazette writes….

JG Excerpt:
Terry Ryan didn’t want to have anything to do with the proposed Rock County land swap deal that would have paved the way for a potential 4-H fairgrounds and a baseball stadium along I-90 near Avalon Road for the Beloit Snappers.

I’m not going to rehash the land swap deal here, but when the wealthy buyers were asked to put their plan to the pavement with a guaranteed line of credit, they refused, the stadium and fairgrounds were not part of the deal. When high noon arrived we were told repeatedly by Fitzgerald, Hendricks, Watson and Mulder to forget everything else and just make the land deal, that it is a simple real estate transaction, nothing more, nothing less. But to this day, the Gazette continues to tie-in the stadium/fairgrounds despite comments and intentions to the contrary from everybody involved.

After reading quotes from the Snappers management, it becomes evident through their optimism they are satisfied that the Rock County Board fully understands the teams situation. The Snappers seem to share the same trust I have for the county board, that they are fully engaged in local issue’s and will continue to protect the interests of the county in future efforts to build a new stadium or fairgrounds in Rock County. Everybody understands this except the Gazette.....and at least one of their admirers.

JG Sound Off Excerpt:
On Gazette: Although I disagree with 85 percent of Gazette editorials and many viewpoints in Sound Off, I praise the Gazette for being very well balanced and fair. It is one of the better papers inside and outside of the state. Keep doing a good job. -- Anonymous

Frankenstein Budgets Require Sharp Pen

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Following an appeal by Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R)-Juneau, the Janesville Gazette ran an open letter editorial to Majority Leader Judy Robson, asking the democratic leader to support a proposal that would restrict the Governors veto power. It would have been suggestion worth taking if the timing was right, but why should Robson take the advice from anyone who starts out their request by demeaning the senator right at the beginning.

JG Excerpt:
Dear Sen. Judy Robson:
As new majority leader of the state Senate, we urge you to do one thing. And that is well, lead.

As you probably know, Gov. Doyle has had to use the power of his veto pen to basically balance the budget. The Republicans claim that Doyle’s veto was the first to increase spending, without offering any details as to how his action actually did that. Unless of course you consider the schools as wasteful spending, past Republican legislatures need some explaining to do when they carved out $675 million in 2003 from the transportation fund to help fund the schools. But that doesn’t count.

In his defense, Gov. Doyle should enlist the help from none other than Rep. Paul Ryan to speak on his behalf about the advantages of a powerful executive veto pen. If you may recall, Ryan is the author of a bill that would give the President line-item veto power never before wielded by any other president. Ryan insists that the President must have the ability to carve up massive appropriations bills submitted by Congress in order to balance the budget.

Or perhaps we should demand a federal referendum on Ryan's proposal as well and let the voters decide. Meanwhile, state Republicans want to take away partial-veto powers that every Wisconsin Governor enjoyed since 1930. Either way you slice it, if you balance the budget, Republicans want to take away that power, and if you haven't balanced the budget, they want to give you more power. What would make Republicans happy?

I can’t answer that, but as a concerned citizen I urge Sen. Judy Robson to shelve this reform for another time. Past Republican-led state legislatures have been creating Frankenstein budgets for years, forcing the Governors hand requiring extensive surgery just to make it float.

The new state legislature must find within themselves the ability to communicate a balanced and equitable budget, not just to the governor, but to voters in their districts as well. They need to start telling their constituents what cuts and other sacrifices they must make to help curb state spending. When they can develop at least two consecutive budgets that have the ability to stand on their own, then perhaps the senate should resurrect some veto power reform.

The Governor will no longer need the surgical tools to save the monster, if you no longer send him a patient.

Bush: Democrats Share Same Patriotism

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Six weeks before the mid-term elections, at a time when both Houses were controlled by Republicans, Bush had these kind words for members of the “other” party. Remember?

Media Matters Excerpt:
”Americans face the choice between two parties with two different attitudes on this war on terror. Five years after 9-11, the worst attack on American homeland in our history, the Democrats offer nothing but criticism and obstruction, and endless second-guessing. The party of FDR and the party of Harry Truman has become the party of cut and run. ” – George W. Bush, Sept. 28, 2006

Now that the American people have had enough and booted out the party of Hoover and Nixon, we find George W. Bush changing his tune again to sell his ill-advised wars.

Bush: Politics is hard
“Nor do I consider a belief that if you don't happen to agree with me you don't share the same sense of patriotism I do. You can get that thought out of your mind, if that's what some believe.” – George W. Bush, 2-3-2007

Suddenly, political bloggers are deranged, partisanship is evil and the stench of politics is everywhere now that Republicans are no longer in the majority.

Gazette Up To Same Old Tricks

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Reeling from heavy endorsement losses in the November mid-term election, the Janesville Gazette has refocused its attention back towards the Walworth and Rock County Boards. In the past six months, the Rock County board has debated two important issues both resulting in decisions running against the directives of the Gazette editorial staff. Reflecting the will of their constituents, the board voted to enact a half-cent county sales tax to pay for needed services and also voted against a special interest land swap deal.

So what does the Gazette do? They write two-day front page multi-faceted articles scrutinizing of all things the age of the members and the size of the board. The average age of the Rock County board members is 59 years, which by today’s standards is closer to 49 than it is to 69, if you know what I mean.

The fact of the matter is, regardless of their politics, this ripe old age of the board members is by far more an asset than a liability. But the newspaper takes the opposite view, and paints the board as a group of stodgy old cigar chomping stubborn men, when in truth, they are simply old enough to know better and not easily swayed. As a resident, I have not always agreed with the board, but by and large they have made decisions withstanding the test of time and have not caved in to the will of the few at the expense of the many. For this they deserve applause, not criticism or plots to undermine the process or their determination.

County Board Chairman Richard Ott responded to the suggestion that seven people might be easier to deal with than 29 with this.

JG Excerpt:
Ott responded that a resident with a sound proposal should be able to convince 29 people just as easily as seven. “If John Smith is right,” Ott said, “he should be able to sell his righteousness to a lot of people.”

Gulp! Took the words right out of my mouth.

The article titled, County Boards show their Age acknowledges the diverse composition of the county board but questions whether county supervisors are representative of their constituents based only on the narrow criteria of age, and here’s why. One of the county board members, Adam Peer is 29 years old and has consistently voted more to the liking of the newspaper. So it only figures that without dragging politics into their presentation, the paper may feel the only chance to change public sentiment toward the board is to make them appear antiquated and cumbersome.

The paper takes it a step further in the second day of their change-the-county-board campaign running three articles in the February 5th front section of the newspaper. On the back page (8A), a reader only has to scan the three titles in a row to collect enough information to see where the Gazette wants to take you. The first title is a question the newspaper feels the need to ask, Boards/Is bigger better? which the paper then replies back with the next title, Rock County Board isn’t looking to downsize soon which is followed by the papers suggestion in the third and final headline, Residents can call for change. Why one may ask, is the Gazette doing this? Well, it is their newspaper, they can do as they please. We just have to not let them take away our county board.

Because of the recent Democratic victories including the display of an efficient county board unwilling to be compromised, the Gazette has experienced an unprecedented loss of political clout and will do whatever it takes to restore some influential leverage within local government.

This episode really brings out what lies at the center of the core. Which is that the Gazette enjoys a huge advantage over the residents of Rock County and Janesville because the Gazette can exert influence through their endorsements and promote a political agenda largely on an unsuspecting population. Both the Janesville City Council and the County Boards are non-partisan, but the Gazette is not. This is important to realize when you consider the political demographics of Rock County, and reasons why their endorsements lost. Something is getting old here, but it’s not the county board.

Insurgency Greater In American Cities

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Janesville Gazette Sound Off Excerpt:
On Iraq- In 2006, 821 soldiers were killed in Iraq. It was safer in Iraq than some of our cities where crime is out of control. -- Anonymous 1-31-2007

It was safer in Iraq? Not quite. But radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh agrees with you, the only difference is, he gets paid to talk crazy.

Civilian casualties in Iraq

Media Matters Summary:
Rush Limbaugh compared the number of murders in Philadelphia to American military deaths in Iraq; in fact, the rate of military deaths in Iraq is far higher than the murder rate in Philadelphia.

What about the 34,000 Iraqi civilians (conservative figure) who were violently killed in 2006? Did you forget them? They don’t count? They were not murdered? What is it about Iraqis, Rush, that you don’t count them as human casualties? Their religion? The color of their skin? Or that they’re Arabs? What is it?

American Right And Bin Laden Target Same Enemy

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Consortium News Excerpt:
Dinesh D’Souza, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, has raised a ruckus in his new book The Enemy at Home. In the book, he contends that the 9/11 attackers were motivated by neither U.S. foreign policy abroad nor by a hatred of U.S. freedom, as President Bush has repeatedly argued.

Instead, D’Souza declares that Osama bin Laden hates the liberal U.S. culture that promotes contraception, abortion, and homosexuality. In a recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post defending the book, D’Souza says that he doesn’t “hate America.” No, he just hates liberal America and is reprehensibly trying to use the horrible 9/11 attacks to score points against the Democrats of the Left.

Why the ruckus? If bin laden and his murderous religio-fanatics view liberals and the liberal culture as their sole and mortal enemy, I hate to use an old cliché but, I will wear it (liberalism) as a badge of honor.

Dinesh D,Souza shot himself in the foot by announcing his hatred for the same American culture that bin Laden hates. When D,Souza and his kind exclude themselves from the reasons why Bin Laden attacked America, they put themselves on the same side with America’s enemy. Bin Laden(and D,Souza) has no greater enemy than the purveyors of the American Revolution and the culture of personal liberty and freedom from religion its ancestors continue to fight for today. Since the right can’t face up to the fact that imperialism supported by their own brand of religious fanaticism has inspired suicidal maniacs to crash airplanes into our buildings, they must lay blame elsewhere.

The left should be extremely proud to be on the opposite side from that of bin Laden, and I would like to thank Dinesh D,Souza for pointing that out.

GOP: Going Up In Smoke

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The Janesville Messenger editorial today used a quote from Gov. Jim Doyle as proof he is flip-flopping on his promises when he vetoed a cigarette tax hike in 2003.

JM excerpt:
Such a tax hike, Doyle said at the time,” puts the state in the very untenable position in which we want people to smoke, and (we) become reliant on that money.”

Times have changed – not Doyle. Doyle’s statement proves how difficult this issue is, he knows that a low cigarette tax only makes it easier for people to smoke, an indefensible position for the state to maintain. And he knows that it is indefensible for the state to rely on revenue raised by hiking taxes on something as indefensible as cigarette smoking. Because of the times, Doyle was smart to veto this hike in 2003, but even smarter to propose the hike in 2007.

Just for fun, I’m going to use the same rhetoric President Bush and Rep. Paul Ryan use to support their taxcuts as a fair analogy to support the Wisconsin cigarette tax increase. As you probably know by now, the GOP wants to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent and to my dismay, it appears some Democrats have bought into their reasoning. The reasoning of course is the idea that the taxcuts have, counter-intuitively by the way, produced more revenue for the government – to spend, so therefore we must make them permanent. Now lets turn to the cigarette tax and apply the same logic. Since the Governor implies that the motivation to increase the tax is health based, if he were to cut the current cigarette tax, more people will smoke and the state will collect more revenue – to spend. That's what a tax cut does, according to the GOP.

But instead, the Governor wants to increase the tax, thereby encouraging people to smoke less, and thereby, returning less revenue to the state. That's what a tax increase does, according to the GOP. Well, we know things don’t work that way, but that is what the GOP would want us to believe, so long as its their tax policy.

Regarding the Bush tax cut however, supporters also link it to our growing economy and decreasing the national deficit. However it appears that whatever life our economy has shown since 9-11, it happened despite the Bush tax cuts and one could only speculate now how much greater things would be if the taxcuts, particularly to the top 5% never happened. We might have a budget surplus today, an economy more than just struggling to hold its head above water, and God forbid, more money for the government to spend.