Owen Robinson, co-blogger at Boots and Sabers has pened a great column in Wisconsin Conservative Digest. He explains TABOR and the Wisconsin tax situation pretty well. It is also appropriately well sprinkled with several "Wisconsin is a tax hell."

With tax day just a couple of weeks away it is a good time for a reminder that Wisconsin needs TABOR (TAxpayers Bill Of Rights). Especially with Gov. Doyle's $799 million dollar out-of-control proposed budget, and Republicans as well as Democrats unwilling to hold the line.

Tomorrow April 1st is the date set to begin the Minuteman Project. Last fall a call went out on the internet to anyone interested in spending up to 30 days as part of a force to restrict entry into the US by illegal aliens.

The men who put out the call — a small-town Arizona newspaper publisher and a retired Southern California accountant — were frustrated by what they viewed as the federal government's inability to police its vast desert border with Mexico. So, they argued, why not enlist volunteers to help?

The Minuteman Project, set to begin tomorrow in Tombstone, Ariz., had no trouble finding any. About 1,300 people are expected to show up for some part of the month-long protest, say the organizers, who hope to place them at half-mile intervals to monitor a 23-mile stretch of border said to be the most porous in the nation.

"You sit here on a hilltop, and you watch people walk unabatedly into this country," organizer Chris Simcox said. "It's shocking."

But the project's unexpected popularity is raising serious safety concerns among federal and local officials and watchdog groups fearing it will attract extremists or spark violent confrontations. Postings about the event have been spotted on white-supremacist Web sites, and fliers from hate groups have been found in mailboxes in recent days.

"They are going to draw every misfit, every renegade, everyone with an ax to grind about ethnic preference," said Ray Borane, mayor of Douglas, Ariz., a border town that will be ground zero for much of the month. "They are not welcome here."

Across the border, Mexican President Vicente Fox has condemned the program, calling it an "immigrant hunter." President Bush echoed those concerns last week.

Although the Minuteman project may have started with stronger measures in mind, they have now pledged to "observe and report" to the Border Patrol, with no direct contact with illegal aliens. If there are problems and confrontations it will probably come from opposition (see La Shawn Barber's post on Mara Salvatrucha MS-13) and others in this country that is doing there best to smear and discredit the Minutemen.

"This country has lost control of its borders. No country can do that and survive." ~Ronald Reagan~

As much trouble President Bush is having getting traction for Social Security reform, he may have even a tougher road with his ideas for immigration reform if border security concerns in congress continues to rise. Lou Dobbs in this US News & World Report column says immigration control in congress is growing.

The president rationalizes his guest-worker program by constantly referring to the nation's need to match willing workers with willing employers. The American people disagree. A USA Today /CNN/Gallup poll shows only 34 percent of those surveyed approve of President Bush's immigration policies. For an example of potential "guest workers" see The Immigration Blog post MEET THE "GUEST WORKERS" from yesterday.

Bush's lackluster attitude towards border securitiy is difficult to understand at best. Last week when he met with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Bush said speaking of the Arizona Minutemen, "I'm against vigilantes in the United States of America," Mr. Bush said at a joint press conference. "I'm for enforcing the law in a rational way."

But there is nothing rational about calling good concerned American citizens "vigilantes". I don't know who the President is listening to, probably one of the opposition smear campaigns, but the Minutemen are not "vigilantes," and Bush's characterization is blatently wrong. They have in fact pledged not to confront anyone, but instead to observe only, and call the Border Patrol when they spot crossings.

What they are doing is trying to have an effect on border security—something that he so far has refused to do. Yet it appears that many of our elected officials are finally grasping the importance border security. Whether they are comming around out of real concern for national security or because of pressure from the American people isn't clear to me, but I'll not complain either way. Secure borders our top legislative priority.

Lou Dobbs column lays out the situation pretty clear along with his opinions for reform of momentous significance to controling our borders.

"The American people don't want open borders; they don't want amnesty," says Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican. "It's a message that is beginning to get through to the Congress. We've just got to get it through to the president."

That message has gotten through to one of the administration's most cheerful and energetic loyalists on Capitol Hill, Rep. David Dreier of California. After ignoring the realities of illegal immigration for nearly all of his long tenure in Congress, Republican Dreier now says he will introduce legislation to stop American businesses from hiring illegal aliens, using a photo-embedded Social Security card, which employers would be required to check with a national database to determine whether the job applicant is legal or illegal.

It is not clear whether Rep. Dreier is serious about border control or is just looking for a more palatable bill that would, as Dobbs believes, likely just be ignored by most employers and illegal immigrants.

Lou Dobbs goes on to say that; "These shameless border games must end," and has excelent ideas for reform.

That reform, in my opinion, begins at our borders. Here's what real reform should entail: No matter how much money or manpower is required, we must be able to control the flow of people and goods across our borders and through our ports. We must exact heavy penalties on businesses, large and small, as well as individuals who hire illegal aliens. Not only do illegal aliens cost the nations tens of billions of dollars in social services, principally in healthcare and education, but they depress wages for American citizens by an estimated $200 billion a year. American business is exploiting cheap labor and paradoxically doing so with the blessing and support of national unions.

Skipping taxes. The burden of our failed immigration and homeland security policies, if they can be called policies, falls crushingly on working men and women in the form of higher taxes, lower wages, and an all but total lack of representation by the government they support through their votes and tax dollars. An estimated 6 million illegal aliens work in the underground economy, where neither they nor those who employ them pay taxes. That accounts for part of an additional $400 billion a year in taxes that should be paid to the Internal Revenue Service. Once again, the middle class is under assault by a government that is functioning as if it had never heard of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.

Dobbs closing thought is that if the Dreier proposal is given precedence over Sensenbrenner's, it will be a clear indication of whether the House and Senate will represent the national interest, or continue serving special interest with their votes. He is spot on.

President Bush's proposals for immigration reform are wrong and costly to taxpayers. His policies for border control (if any) are woefully inept and dangerous.

Following back one of my sitemeter refering URL's I see someone nominated me for the "mke blog of the week." Although I am not sure exactly what it is, I think I am honored.*grin*

The blogs come from MKEonline’s 1000 Voices blog directory, a collection of blogs written in, for, or about Wisconsin.

Now I would be even more impressed if you go to mkeonline.com and vote for me. (Vote early and often) This round ends April 6th.

Why are people so intollerant? Another dumb controversy at a Salem Oregon High School because a girl wanted post her brother's Marine picture on the class bulletin board for an assignment that was to show McKay High School graduates at work.

A picture of a Marine holding an assault rifle has sparked a wave of controversy at a Salem high school.

The problem began when the Marine's sister brought the picture to McKay High School to post on a classroom bulletin board....

However, the principal of the school, Cynthia Richardson, would not allow the picture to go up because of the school's zero tolerance policy on weapons....

All it takes is one look around the school to see that there may be a problem with that logic, considering that the school mascot is seen carrying a sword.

The left has lost all sense of reason. The school did offer to post the picture with the guns removed digitally, but the soldier and his family rightly say that is not enough.

Update: More in this story at Marine Corps Moms and Michelle Malkin.

The loony left is at it again in The Peoples’ Republic of Berkeley. An April vote will be held by parents, teachers and students at the city’s Thomas Jefferson Elementary School on whether to change the school’s name because Jefferson owned slaves.

Yesterday Vigrinia's Governor Mark Warner signed into law a bill that denies public benefits to illegal aliens, including access to welfare, Medicaid and local health care.

"I [Gov. Mark Warner] have signed this legislation into law but will ask the Latino Advisory Commission to study and monitor the legislation to ensure that it is fairly implemented and does not impose undue costs on local governments," said Mr. Warner, a Democrat who is in his last year in office....

"It will help the state," the Fairfax County Republican said yesterday. "I expect it will save us millions and millions of dollars. This bill stops subsidizing the behavior of illegal immigration."

There is no official local or state estimate of how many taxpayer dollars would be saved, since the agencies do not track how many illegals currently receive such benefits.

Virginia spends about $2 billion on Medicaid and an estimated $60.5 million on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program annually.

Lawmakers and immigration experts have said there are an estimated 200,000 illegal aliens in Virginia, which has an estimated population of 7.4 million.

This is good news and will save Virginia taxpayers a lot of money, but still doesn't help much with border security. At least some of the states are taking action, even if the Federal government denies the problem.

Read more...

A new ray of hope for the Schindler family and those that do not wish to see Terri Schiavo die of starvation. The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to concider a petition by Terri's parents for a new hearing on whether to reconnect their daughters feeding tube. The court ruled without comment and is the same court that ruled twice against the Shindlers.

In seeking a new hearing late Tuesday, attorneys for Schiavo's parents argued that the District Court "committed plain error when it reviewed only the state court case and outcome history."

Now, the court will consider the request for a new hearing based on the facts of the case, rather than whether previous Florida court rulings have met legal standards under state law.

There was no time frame for the court to consider the motion, but the Schindler's attorneys asked to have the tube reinserted immediately "in light of the magnitude of what is at stake and the urgency of the action required."

Throughout this sad case my mind has often flashed back to something I read a very long time ago in Readers Digest. Even before the internet, but now I date myself.

It was about a man who had been in a similar state that Terri is in although I don't remember how long he had been in the state. Anyway the medical community was amazed when he recovered because at least 80 percent of his cerebral cortex was gone. Turned to liquid jell. Somehow his brain was rewired. He had to re-learn just about everything, but he learned to talk, even walk again.

On another point, when all the doctors say there is no hope (which they don't agree in this case), there are often supprises.

Case in point, Jeanna Giese a 15-year-old, from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Although she only spent about 80 days in the hospital the doctors had given up and told her parents there was nothing they could do, and that there was no hope.

Jeanna Giese was bitten on the hand by a bat and cotracted rabies from it, although no one new it at the time. By the time she was sick enough to go to the hospital it was too late for the serries of shots, but Jeanna made a medical history.

The 15-year-old Fond du Lac girl is said to be the first person in medical history to have survived the disease [rabies] without having received a vaccination after becoming infected through a bat bite.

Equally as impressive is Jeanna Giese's recovery. Her body is undergoing a "rebirth," physicians said Saturday. Nerves ravaged by the disease are reconnecting to muscles and organs including her heart, a phenomenon that the medical community will monitor for years to come.

The physician who led her treatment team during almost 80 days of hospitalization said he had never seen an "evolution of healing" like this, nor had his colleagues at other national and international medical institutions.

"She's one of a kind," said Rodney E. Willoughby, the pediatric infectious disease physician.

The new growth is forcing the resilient girl to again learn the use of her arms and legs, to speak and to swallow.

Physicians expressed amazement Saturday that she can mostly dress herself, walk from a wheelchair to bed and send e-mail to high school school friends.

So when your loved ones are in a similar position and the doctors say there is no hope. That it is impossible to recover, just remember Jeanna Giese.

On The Immigration Blog, Bonnie Eggle has posted a call to Stand For Something. Bonnie Eggle is mom to Kris Eggle, who was shot and killed in the line of duty at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on August 9, 2002, while pursuing members of a drug cartel hit squad who fled into the United States after committing a string of murders in Mexico.

America is not nearly as safe as the leaders want us to believe. We have "wolves in sheep's clothing" among us, and the battle to gain back the heart and soul of America is going to be a long drawn out fight. BUT fight we must because there is no other choice.

Our southern neighbors and "friends" continue to barrage us with complaints of how we are discriminating against their migrants...they only want a better way of life. Fox bitterly detests any legal American citizen standing in the way of his citizens coming to "view the land of the free, the home of the brave, and to take a piece of it while they are here." I guess the old adage "What is yours is mine" applies in this case....

We need to keep the fires lit and to hold our members of Congress, our President, and any other elected official responsible for the safety and well-being of the American citizenry. Two and one-half years ago, no one was being held accountable, borders were unsecured, drugs, weapons, criminals entered.........and Kris Eggle was trying to hold the line just like the story of the little Dutch boy Peter who put his finger in the dike to hold back the waters. Our story had a horrible ending because Kris Eggle was ambushed and murdered for real by invading illegal alien drug traffickers. This is the reality I will live with all of my life.

Politicians don't want to get tough either because they don't want raise the ire of potential voters, or loose support of business' that use the cheap labor. Let your representatives and senators know that porous boarder are unacceptable. We must demand full enforcement and secure borders.

Bloggers are still swarming around the Terri Schiavo "talking points" memo reported by ABC and The Washington Post. I'll say that it seems a little strange, but there is no hard evidence. So far the worst element seems to be that no knows who wrote it.

So I'm just letting you, my readers, know that until there is some smoke I am staying out of this one. If you want to read the latest Post story, it is right here.

When President Bush arrives in Iowa to talk about provate account proposals, the AARP will be there with a counter campaign. AARP is has plans for two news conferences, full-page newspaper ads, radio and TV comercials and the release of national a poll.

AARP, the nations largest lobby over the last two weeks will have spent almost three times as much on ads ($5 million plus) attacking the presidents private account plan. as all the supporters of his proposal put together.

Every state that has a swing-vote senator will have AARP forums, which have been drawing about 300 people each. And every time a member of Congress holds a town meeting, AARP volunteers are dispatched there to protest the president's plan for individual accounts.

"We're going to do this as long as it takes," said William D. Novelli, AARP's chief executive. "We will put just about everything we have into it." ...

AARP's 35 million membership base is 10 times the size of the National Rifle Association's, and its $800 million budget is five times that of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country's biggest business association. In number of members, AARP is surpassed only by the Roman Catholic Church.

Private accounts don't effect seniors, and their benefits are not going to be cut under the presidents plan. So why is AARP so staunchly against it? Lets take a look behind the scenes.

Do you know that AARP is in the business of selling seniors mutual funds, which by any conventional standard are far riskier than anything anybody has contemplated" for Social Security? This is a conflict of interest on their part, at least a huge appearance of one at best.

This is a report from March 14th in Progress for America, Inc., that raises the question of AARP's conflict of intrest.

At the same time, AARP's role in the Social Security debate has focused new attention on the hundreds of millions of dollars the group makes by endorsing and co-branding health insurance, financial products, and travel services that are sold to its members. Some of those products suffer from lackluster performance, particularly the mutual funds it co-brands with Scudder Investments, a unit of Deutsche Bank. As a result, AARP is considering an overhaul of its mutual-fund program, BusinessWeek has learned. Sources say the group may even replace Scudder for some or all of its offerings.

Just as important is the question of whether a group that makes millions selling financial services to its members is quite as impartial a player in the debate over private accounts as it would appear. While wearing its policy hat, AARP, headed by CEO William D. Novelli, presents itself as a nonpartisan organization serving the interests of its over-50 members. And there's little doubt that most do not want to see any change to the current system for fear of benefits cuts.

But it is equally clear that AARP makes a substantial sum of money from its partners' sales of mutual funds and other investment products to members. That raises the appearance of a potential conflict of interest. Whatever version of reform passes — whether Bush's accounts carved out from payroll taxes, or the "add-on" accounts that many liberals favor to encourage retirement savings — the overhaul is likely to create new markets and opportunities for some suppliers of financial products and lead to diminished opportunities for others. AARP has a stake in that debate. Unlike financial firms, however, AARP has the flexibility to drop waning products and team up with other partners on any new alternatives that emerge...

If critics have focused on its policy role, AARP has received less scrutiny for the quality of its products. Many of the funds and insurance policies that AARP markets provide considerably less benefit than seniors could get on their own, a BusinessWeek analysis reveals. Some of its insurance products charge high premiums compared with those of rivals. And many of the 38 funds Scudder markets through AARP offer average performance at best. Over both the last year and the last three years, only one Scudder-AARP fund delivered returns ranked in the top 20% of its asset class, according to mutual-fund researcher Lipper Inc. Similar conclusions were reached by two other independent firms that rate mutual funds, Morningstar Inc. and Standard & Poor's, a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, which also owns BusinessWeek.

It is pretty obvious that if the presidents plan was enacted that AARP in the future would have to compete directly with private accounts. That they would have to do so with lackluster performers like their present Scudder Investments and others.

The time has come for AARP to be exposed for what it is. I don't understand exactly how it works but AARP while non-profit is set up with a for-profit subsidiary AARP Services Inc. At any rate the conflict between the two doesn't pass the smell test.

Bill Steigerwald of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had a good definition: "AARP, in case you're too young to be subjected to its direct-mail barrage, is the discount-club-for-people-over-50 formerly known as the American Association for Retired Persons."

Below are some pictures to chuckle over. You can surf on over to StrangeCosmos for more pictures, catagories and a lot more other humor.


I don't know why - but every time I do a cannonball - it hurts!!!



Just a Redneck Doorbell



Maybe it was last weekends date?


Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says.

Update: Link fixed; Thanks Nick.

Monday the UN reversed it's decision to pay hundreds of thousands in legal bills for the senior UN official accused of ethical wrong doing while administering Iraq's $64 billion oil-for-food program. The decision came on the heels of US, British and Iraqi officials voiced their concerns.

But the decision will have little effect softening the blow of the critical report coming out today by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker.

Senior U.N. officials said the report by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker will clear Kofi Annan of any personal wrongdoing but fault him for lax oversight of the U.N.'s largest humanitarian aid program.

They also expect Volcker to criticize Kofi Annan for failing to more forcefully address the potential conflict of interest posed by the U.N.'s hiring of Geneva-based Cotecna Inspection Services SA, which paid more than $160,000 in consulting fees to Kojo Annan while it worked for the United Nations.

"The secretary general expects to be cleared of any wrongdoing" in the report, said Fred Eckhard, Annan's chief spokesman.

Sevan has denied any wrong doing and has no public comment at this time according to his attorney.

Some interesting studies show exercise produces significant results for curing depression that is comparable to taking anit-depressant medications. It further shows that if continuing to exercise beyond an initial trial, depression is less likely to return than those in the group taking anti-depressants.

DEPRESSED patients should be offered exercise "on prescription" by their GPs in place of drugs, according to a report by mental health campaigners published today...

The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) said GPs should be offering all patients with depression a programme of exercise to help combat their symptoms.

A report titled Up and Running?, published by the charity today, marks the start of a year-long campaign calling for more exercise therapy for people with mild or moderate depression.

It comes amid growing concern about the side-effects and over-prescribing of anti-depressants in the UK.

Guidelines now state that anti-depressants should not be used as a "first-line" treatment for mild depression.

The majority of the drugs are also no longer recommended for under-18s due to possible side-effects including the increased risk of suicide.

MHF said that growing evidence showed that a supervised programme of exercise on prescription could be as effective as anti-depressants in mild to moderate depression.

But its report said GPs were still turning to the drugs as their first option because they believed there was a lack of available alternatives, such as counselling.

Throw away your anti-depressants and get off your tush. Go to the gym or get out and run off your depression.

One wonders if insurance would pay for a gym membership if exercise was "prescribed" by a physician.

We have our fringe right Christian elements that are often predicting the end of the world or great calamities, so I guess it isn't supprising that Islam also has theirs also. Don't get me wrong I am not down on Christianity or Islam, nor do I blame Islam for terrorism. Blaming Islam for terrorism would be like blaming Christianity for the Jim Jones mass suicide Massacre in Jonestown.

Ziad Silwadi from from the village of Silwad, though not a world-renowned scholar speaking of the Koran predicts the following.

...It predicts that the US will be hit by a tsunami larger than that which recently struck southeast Asia.

"The tsunami waves are a minor rehearsal in comparison with what awaits the US in 2007," the researcher concluded in his study. "The Holy Koran warns against the Omnipotent Allah's force. A great sin will cause a huge flood in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans." ...

His fear, he said, is that the world economy, which relies heavily on the US dollar, would be deeply affected by the collapse of the US.

"It would be fair to say that the world would be better off with a US that is not a superpower and that does not take advantage of weak nations than a world where this country does not exist at all," he added."The world will certainly lose a lot if and when this disaster occurs because of the great services that American society has rendered to the economy, industry and science."

He goes on to quote some US history inaccurately and condems the US for past slavery. Slavery was wrong, but he fails to remember Islam's own history, and I won't even get into treatment of women.

The Arabs invaded Northeastern Afrika in the 7th century A.D., in the name of Islam. Afrikans were captured, treated brutally and inhumanely, then shipped off to other Arab countries in Asia, or other parts of Afrika that they controlled. This happened approximately 600 years before the European Christians got involved.

In any event slavery was/is wrong no matter who does it, and it still goes on today in some parts of the world.

A major earthquake of magnitude at 8.7 struck off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island. The quake damaged hundreds of buildings and sent paniced residents fleeing. Officials issued a tsunami warning for as far away as Sri Lanka.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor, which occurred at 11:09 p.m. local time (11:09 a.m. EST), measured a magnitude of 8.2. A later reading put the magnitude at 8.7, said Paul Earle, a USGS research geophysicist.

Hundreds of buildings were badly damaged on Nias island, off the Sumatran coast, close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Dozens of people may be buried in the rubble, said Agus Mendrofa, deputy district head on the island...

Tsunami warnings were issued in Thailand, Japan and Sri Lanka. Authorities said it could take several hours to know whether the quake had generated a devastating tsunami.

The quake probably didn't trigger a tsunami because if it had, it would have hit the coastline of Sumatra by now.

Last Friday I reported on a new Google Like Search For Blogs that is called IceRocket. In the post I mentioned that it needs a little prioritizing, but that it has interesting future potential. At the time I wasn't aware of how the search works, so I was premature in my criticism.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Blake Rhodes at IceRocket which set me straight.

Thanks for blogging about us!! I wanted to shhot you a quick email , same as I did Jack, just to explain our blog search b/c a lot of people dont understand how we rank results.

Everything is done according to date, so you get the newest, freshest , blog posts out there. We do not rank blogs as more important than others or anything like that, it's all about the dates.

Let's say you wanted to see what people were saying about a new TV show you just watched, you would go to the IceRocket blog search and type the name of the show in there and get results ordered by date. Alot of people try searching the name of their own blog and get no results, the only way they would get them is if other blogs had written about them b/c we search blog content.

I hope this helps, feel free to email me anytime if you have questions or comments, am online 24/7. Thanks again.

Blake Rhodes
IceRocket.com

Thanks Blake.

I stand corrected. Ranking results by date seems like a good idea as it cuts out the old and very old posts that you have to wade through with other search engines. Now I am more enthused than ever for using IceRocket. It also works as well in the normal websearch as Google does.

Today Michelle Malkin has reported a new group blog offshoot startup called The Immigration Blog.

Please take a moment to visit my new group blog offshoot, The Immigration Blog. I've invited a few of the writers, researchers, and citizen activists I consider among the most compelling and insightful analysts on immigration and border security to join me in this new venture. Those joining me are:

-Bonnie Eggle
-Peter Gadiel
-Chris Kelly
-Heather Mac Donald
-Juan Mann
-David Orland
-Bryan Preston

Our specialties vary and our political views are not uniform. But we share a common interest in exposing chaotic, selective, or pretend enforcement of immigration laws driven by political panderers and multicultural extremists. We'll be covering breaking news, making news, providing political and legislative analysis, reporting on immigration controversies abroad, and bringing you a one-stop shop for the best border/immigration resources online. Learn more about The Immigration Blog contributors here.

Ms Malkin has been at the forefront of the fight for better border security and in the past has had many posts on the subject. Starting a separate blog to handle the subject of immigrations is a good idea and is going on my blogroll.

Today The Immigration Blog reports that MS-13, a violent Central American gang will be stalking the "Minutemen" when they start operations April 1st.

Update on my post from last Thursday about the Wendy's customer in San Jose, CA who spit out a human finger found in the soup and vomiting upon recognition.

All Wendy's employees have been checked and no partial fingers are missing. A spokesman for Wendy's International Inc. said:

...there have been no reports to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of injuries at any supplier of chili ingredients to Wendy's.

"All of our chili suppliers report no accidents," he said.

Health officials said the fingertip was approximately 1 1/2 inches long. They believe it belongs to a woman because of the long, manicured nail.

Lets just apply a little deductive logic to this. Apparently it is obvious no one at the restaurant where the chili was served could hide a missing finger. If one of the suppliers lost a finger on the job it would definately be reported, and Wendy's International Inc. would have a record of it.

It is feasable that it could have happened off the job, but there would certainly be questions asked if an employee came to work with a missing finger, especially in light of the story that you know has to be circulating among the Wendy's employees everywhere.

So unless this finger can (like the yellow page fingers) do their own walking, this almost certainly has to be an intentional act. But why would someone do such a morbid thing? Who knows, but there are a lot of sick people out there, and whoever the finger came from may have a lot more than just the finger missing if even alive.

Some lucky customers using a bill changing machine at a casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa got the best payoff in the place. The changer was spitting out $100's instead of $20's. After about six hours of payoff the machine was shut down, but it turned up $46,640 short.

State records say casino employee Judith Roederer-Dillard - who has since been fired - mistakenly placed the $100 bills in the machine about 5 a.m. Dec. 18.

"You know, some of the guests had figured out that there was a malfunction and they went back - over and over and over," Sternberg testified at Roederer-Dillard's unemployment-benefits hearing. Casino spokeswoman Christie Scott said Thursday that the casino reviewed surveillance tapes to try to recover some of the money but had little luck.

The fired employee was still able to draw full unemployment because the judge said there was no evidence of deliberate misconduct. So much for firing incompetent workers.

As much as I would like to believe I am an honest person, I see myself sticking a few $100 bills back into this sure jackpot with perfect 5 out of 1 odds.

All that pass by this Sunday I want to wish:

Blogs:

• ScrappleFace has Gov. Bush's end of options in the Schiavo matter.


• Captain's Quaters notes UK media acknowledge Iraqi success while US media is still clueless.


• La Shawn Barber's Corner has an excelent post for Easter He Is Not Here; He Has Risen!


• Dean's World has a collection of several great news aggregators.


• Marine Corps Moms celebrates Easter with a message of hope for moms of fallen Marines.


• Democracy Project has background information on FEC commissioner Bradley Smith's comments with lots of links.

Wisconsin blogs:

• BRAINPOST says state GOP will launch ads targeting Democrats on Voter ID


• Boots and Sabers blogger Owen needs support for his son Calvin who has recently been involved in a controversy regarding his use of the phrase “God Bless America” over the intercom as part of his message for the school Republican Club’s “Take a Soldier to the Movies” Drive.


• My View of the World has the audio of Terri’s brother Bobby speaking about her true condition.


• On the Borderline has a neat Happy Easter flash greeting.


• Sanity in Mad City is taking a break from blogging. His wife had a baby girl "Ava" last week, but he left a couple of cute picures.

In the news:

• Reuters reports Al Jazeera TV Says Threatened Over Beirut Blast


• Chicago Sun-Times carries Mark Steyn's column "No compelling reason to kill Terri Schiavo"


• The Washington Times reports a survey that says Social Security puzzles voters.

Sorry to put so much on your reading plate today, but this will be the last post unless WWIII breaks out. Couldn't sleep last night and stayed up posting, so I will probably nap all afternoon instead.

This guy must have been trying for the 2005 "Darwin Awards." (The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally kill themselves in really stupid ways. Of necessity, this honor is generally bestowed posthumously.)

Michael W. Mitchell, of Rockford, Ill., entered Randall's Firearms Inc. in Seminole just before 6 p.m. Thursday with a box cutter and tried to steal a gun, said Marianne Pasha, a spokeswoman for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Mitchell, 50, told deputies he wanted to "take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo" after he visited the Pinellas Park hospice where she lives, Pasha said.

When Mitchell busted a couple of glass display cases the owner Randy McKenzie, pointed his own gun at Mitchell and ordered him to lie on the ground. Mitchell fled out the store's back door before police arrived.

Just a few minutes ago I saw this gun shop owner on FOX News. Big fella, one that not very many would mess with, let alone in his own gun shop. Besides what kind of idiot would try to ROB A GUN STORE with only a box cutter. Duh!

Update: The link above has been fixed for the Rockford Register Star.

While checking trackback pings today I found one from Jack Of Clubs who has an very good website, and is going on my blogroll.

Reading a few posts I came across this IceRocket blog search gem that Jack found. It works pretty slick if you want to search just other blogs instead of just the main stream news sources. However it also has the normal news, image, web etc searches. But as Jack points out it needs a little work on the "blogs" search feature.

This section could probably use some work since it is not clear how search results are prioritized. I did a search on Ward Churchill (which is Instapundit's most recent topic at the time of this writing) but Instapundit is nowhere on the list, despite being the number one blog and having covered this topic extensively. In fact I didn't recognize any of the sources on the first two pages (Vodka Pundit was on page 3). However, to be fair, I tried searching for "Eason Jordan" and came up cherries with Captain's Quarters at the number 1 spot. So maybe the indexing needs a little tweaking.

Still, I certainly appreciate the attempt to fill a need that has been bugging me for quite a while. I look forward to seeing where this goes in the coming months. I wonder if this will challenge Google to add such a feature, since after all they own the Blogger software on which this humble post was written. (Similar point made here.)

It does need a little prioritizing, but has interesting future potential with a little work. I will also be watching to see where this goes.

Also lifted from "Jack Of Clubs blog."

Ok I admit it. If there is a chunk of bubble wrap in site I can't resist reaching for it and popping a few bubbles. I don't know what it is about this silly packing stuff, but it is just so damn addictive. Of course Jack didn't help any by saying:

Just pop it. (You know you want to.)

Here is a working example of private accounts very much like the administration is proposing that has a proven quarter century record. Lets stop the scare tactics BS and look at how it can actually work. The Galveston County, Texas plan is real and it's time for us to follow this 25-year-old example.

In 1980, 72 % of municipal employees in Galveston County, Texas, approved creation of a privately funded retirement plan that also included life insurance and disability components similar to Social Security. Over the next two years, Brazoria and Matagorda counties joined Galveston's plan. At the time, local governments could opt out of the Social Security system if they provided an alternative retirement plan (that loophole was closed in 1983).

Galveston's plan has been a success on every level. Since 1981, over 5,000 retirees in the three counties have enjoyed market retirement yields averaging 7.5 %, compared to less than 2 % under Social Security. Here's how the Galveston Plan works: Workers' payroll taxes are deposited in personal retirement accounts that are then used to purchase commercial banking and life insurance products, such as certificates of deposit and annuities, as well as conservative government and commercial bonds. Former Galveston County Judge Roy Holbrook, who helped implement the idea, says workers backed it "because it essentially eliminated risk from the program."

"Our plan provides better retirement, survivorship and disability benefits than Social Security," says Mr. Holbrook. "And our plan uses no risky investments, only commercial banking products, annuities and bonds that provide guaranteed fixed interest rates and no risk." And unlike Social Security, the Galveston Plan accounts are individually owned, and accumulated savings can be passed on to heirs.

Fund goes on to say that the local unions as well as local officials fought it, but here's proof that the Presidents plan not only works, but it works better.

The article talks about a Galveston county commissioner who died a few years ago and his widow received $255 from Social Security. However the Galveston Plan paid her a lump-sum benefit of $150,000, plus she is entitled to another $125,000, available to her any time she wants it. That is 1000% greater than Social Security.

There is a lot more to convince you so read the rest...

Here is another good reason for the Wisconsin anti-ethanol crowd to be jubilant.

GM service managers from dealerships across Milwaukee said they were told by a high-level company engineer at a managers' meeting March 17 that sulfuric acid residue from ethanol tanks was the culprit that led to more than 700 complaints of clogged fuel injectors beginning in August. Sulfuric acid is used in processing ethanol for blending in Milwaukee-area fuel as required by the federal Clean Air Act.

But GM corporate executives are not ready to proclaim the problem solved yet.

"We have not determined a root cause," GM spokesman Tom Henderson said. "GM is continuing to investigate sulfate salts to understand the impact on fuel injectors in the Milwaukee area."

Unless three quarters of milwaukee residents drive GM products, the stats say that it is more porblematic in GM.

Motorists and mechanics around Milwaukee began reporting a surge in plugged fuel injectors last fall. More than 300 drivers complained to the Journal Sentinel in an online survey. According to the data, roughly 75% of the problems occurred in GM vehicles.

Look for further developing as testing continues.

I have been a bit pissed every since Bush's Wednesday meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin when the President Bush said:

"I'm against vigilantes in the United States of America," Mr. Bush said at a joint press conference. "I'm for enforcing the law in a rational way."...

But this Washinton Times editorial makes me feel better.

We've reached a very strange moment in the immigration debate. On Wednesday President Bush condemned a group of good American citizens worried about the breaking of U.S. immigration law. He condemned the organizers of Project Minuteman as "vigilantes" even though they have broken no law and pledge not to do so. An hour or two later, Mr. Bush welcomed to his Texas ranch a man who insults the United States for its immigration policy and leads a government that routinely flouts U.S. immigration law.

Mexican President Vicente Fox hit a trifecta of contempt for the United States and its laws over the past week. First, he accused Americans of taking no pride in their country because the government is building fences in San Diego to keep out those who try to enter the country in defiance of the law. Next, he scoffed at the concern of U.S. authorities that terrorists may be crossing the U.S. border. Then, he vowed to stamp out the work of Project Minuteman and other efforts by Americans to protect their country. When Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona told Mr. Fox to show "a little less disdain for the rule of law north of the border," he was being only too polite. Nevertheless, Mr. Bush welcomed Mr. Fox to his home.

From Fox I have come to expect contempt, but not from our own President against our own citizens.

Read the rest, it should make you feel good too...

The Milwaukee ballot counting debacle deepens. Polling-place discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and the count of voters at many wards went completely undiscovered. If the wards had followed the law this would have been caught and the ballots could have been set aside for later checking.

The State Elections Board on Thursday opened a review into why the city did not comply with a state law that requires it to provide copies of key materials to the county by 2 p.m. the day after the election - and why the county OK'd the results without seeing the documents.

Kevin Kennedy, executive director of the state board, said the sequence of events, only now coming to light, meant key safeguards were ignored.

Indeed, had officials caught those polling-place gaps - at the ward level, or later by the city or by county canvassers - hundreds of ballots could have been set aside and not counted to adjust for the difference, as called for by state law.

Or, at minimum, discrepancies could have been resolved to help