The Best Wisconsin Supreme Court Money Can Buy

We hear a lot of chatter about how the teachers' union is such a big influence in Wisconsin politics. Here's an interest story about the millions spent by the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce group to get Annette Zeigler elected to the state Supreme Court. No doubt, the WMC is a big proponent of the "free market" system.



By Doug Hissom

With the resounding victory by conservative Supreme Court candidate Annette Ziegler, expect an even more emboldened campaign effort next year from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's big business mouthpiece and lobby group. WMC pumped in millions on behalf of the Ziegler camp, producing inflammatory position papers and, of course, a plethora of TV and radio air time.

The latest lobs from WMC were an extension of the group's effort to support Mark Green against Jim Doyle for governor in November. But WMC is clearly getting better in the realm of being a political player and independent expenditure group. And they have no qualms about getting in the dirt and slinging mud for their anointed ones.

We should expect an even larger hyperbolic push from WMC next year as Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler faces voters for the first time. Butler, a former Milwaukee judge, was appointed by Doyle in 2004 and for the most part, represents everything that WMC finds evil. A key vote by Butler -- to the disdain of WMC -- was to overturn caps on medical malpractice suits. That issue was used to galvanize the conservative faithful against Linda Clifford in her race against Ziegler.

Read more @On Milwaukee.com

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Related stories on how WMC and other lobby groups influenced last Tuesday's Supreme Court race.

Wisconsin State Journal: Ziegler wins bitter race; Clifford dominates Dane County


Isthmus Daily Page: Linda Clifford's lost cause


Racine Journal Times: Calls for reform increase after contentious Supreme Court race
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Writing on the wall...

That night, in a letter, she wrote: "After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people. This deep desire exists in everyone, from the boy who writes dirty words in a public toilet to the Buddha who etches his image in the race mind. Life is so unreal. I think that we seriously doubt that we exist and go about trying to prove that we do." She kept a copy of the letter.

Miss Morgan
from The Pastures of Heaven
by John Steinbeck

Farewell Mr. Peanut

Evidently Size Doesn't Matter:

Thoughts On Bush's "Small Government"



"Even if you're a traditional, Barry Goldwater conservative, the kinds of budgets that Bush has sent to the Hill not only this year but this whole century are the worst-case scenario; they increase spending generally while cutting taxes and social programming. They commit taxpayers to giant subsidies of already Croseus-rich energy corporations, pharmaceutical companies and defense manufacturers while simultaneously cutting taxes on those who most directly benefit from those subsidies. Thus you're not cutting spending -- you're just cutting spending on people who actually need the money. (According to the Washington Times, which in a supremely ironic twist of fate did one of the better analyses of the budget, spending will be 1.6 percent of GDP higher in the 2008 budget than in was in 2000, while revenues will be 2.6 percent of GDP lower). This is something different from traditional conservatism and something different from big-government liberalism; this is a new kind of politics that transforms the state into a huge, ever-expanding instrument for converting private savings into corporate profit.

That's not only bad government, it's bad capitalism. It makes legalized bribery and political connections more important factors than performance and competition in the corporate marketplace. Beyond that, it's just plain fucking offensive to ordinary people. It's one thing to complain about paying taxes when those taxes are buying a bag of groceries once a month for some struggling single mom in eastern Kentucky. But when your taxes are buying a yacht for some asshole who hires African eight year-olds to pick cocoa beans for two cents an hour...I sure don't remember reading an excuse for that anywhere in the Federalist Papers."

From Medicare vs. Britney at Rolling Stone.

Bush & Cheney: The Sunshine Boys

"From what I gather, there's no real mechanism in the administration for looking at the downside of things. In the military, when they do a major study, they say something like "We give it to you with the pluses and minuses." They usually show it to you warts and all. But these guys in the White House don't want the warts. They just want the good side. I don't think they know all of the consequences."

Seymour Hersh
Rolling Stone

O'Reilly v. Rivera FOX News Spit Shower

It's 3:40 A.M.--- Do you know where your toddlers are?

Baby Bloggers Get Head Start in New Richmond

Corruption in the Public Schools: Is The Market Is the Answer?

To save the OTBL blogger from North Hudson the trouble of pasting the article below on every comment section of every post on this blog, I'll post it here. Personally, I have no doubt that there's corruption in public schools. Likewise, I have no doubt there's corruption is private schools. The anonymous poster only posted the review of the CATO Institute white paper. I have no problem discussing the issues surrounding public education.

This article pulls out some individual examples of problems with public education and uses the "peanut butter conspiracy" approach and spreads these examples over any thing to do with public education. Read on...

Read the article, Corruption Is Rampant in Public Schools, by Wendy Cloyd.The author of this article works for the Heartland Institute.

The Heartland Institute, according to the Institute's web site, is a nonprofit organization "devoted to turning ideas into social movements that empower people"[1]. It campaigns on "junk science", "common-sense environmentalism" (i.e. anti-Kyoto, pro-GM), smokers' rights (anti-tobacco tax, denial of problems from passive smoking), the introduction of school vouchers, and the deregulation of health care insurance. It also provides an online resource for finding right-wing think tank policy documents called PolicyBot.

The institute was founded in 1984 by David H. Padden and Joseph L. Bast.

Read more about the Heartland Institute.

Owl in flight on the drive to work...

There was an old man with a beard, Who said: 'It is just as I feared! Two owls and a hen, Four larks and a wren Have all built their nests in my beard.
Edward Lear

Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.
John Steinbeck

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.
John Steinbeck

Celebrate the ATBL Cartoon Network Gloatathon

Since we can't read here at the ATBL cartoon network, we'll let the picture do the talking.
Let the Gloatathon begin!

Thanks for your support

New Schools For New Richmond: 2,370 Yes v. 1,818 No

Good Night Mr. Peanut...It's Very Quiet On The Borderline.

Mr. Peanut Rejects Offer for Starring Role on ATBL Cartoon Network

An agent for famous area wingnut blogger Mr. Peanut informed the ATBL Cartoon Network
that he would not accept the starring role in any new ATBL Cartoon Network series, citing
conflicts of interest. Mr. Peanut's agent added that his client is extremely busy stealing the identities of public school supporters and posting malicious comments about them on area newspaper internet sites. Had Mr. Peanut accepted the ATBL Cartoon Network offer he would have starred in a brand new series on ATBL in the role of a Jack Ass.

Breaking News !!

Headline details after next breaking news!

OTBL's Educational Philosophy in a Nutshell

Whenever the bottom line is sagging in nearly all for profit enterprises. In order to cut costs and
increase revenues the first place managers look is at labor costs. In education, that would mean cutting teachers salaries and cutting teacher's numbers. Would anybody in their right mind want an educational system that would focus on cutting teachers to increase profits. How in the world would that improve education. It's beyond reason. Unless you're Mr. Luke Peanut, OTBL blogger and major league POS.

You Want My Tax Dollars To Pay For This?

Private School Teacher Faces Porn Charges

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) � A private high-school teacher was arrested for possession of child pornography after a student found his portable memory drive in a school computer lab, authorities reported.

Mark James Mason, 47, of Winter Haven, acknowledged that he owned the thumb drive and used it to download images of naked boys, according to a release from the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The boys appear to range in age from 5 to 12 years old.

The Sheriff's Office began its investigation after a student found the drive in a computer lab at Santa Fe Catholic High School and turned it over to the principal, the Sheriff's Office reported.

Read more of the disgusting details.

My Tax Dollars For This?

5 Private School Students Sexually Assaulted On Bus

PLANTATION, Fla. The family of a young girl who attends a prestigious private school in Plantation has sued the school for millions, after they say she was the victim of repeated sex assaults at the hands of other students on a school bus, and she may not be alone.

CBS-4’s Joan Murray has learned on Friday that Davie Police say there are five different victims who have come forward claiming to have been assaulted. All of the victims are claiming to be the victims of lewd & lascivious acts. One victim is saying they were sexually battered.

The family of the young girl involved in the lawsuit says the incidents against their daughter allegedly occurred in fall of 2006, with two boys repeatedly harassing the eighth grade student for months.

More of the disgusting details.

You Want My Taxes To Pay For This?

Private School Teacher Is Sex Offender

EDWARDSVILLE — A Metro-East Lutheran High School teacher convicted of sexually abusing a student disputed on Wednesday a prosecutor's claim that his probation should be revoked for not completing sex-offender counseling. A court hearing was scheduled for next week to decide the matter.

The offender, Michael Vonderohe, who taught art at the private school in Edwardsville, pleaded guilty in 2004 to abusing a 17-year-old girl and was sentenced to three years of probation. He was ordered to give up his teaching certificate and register as a sexual predator on the state's sex offender registry.

Read more of the disgusting deatails.

Do You Want Your Tax Dollars Funding This?

Private School Sodomy

NE W YORK — A headmistress and teacher at an exclusive private Manhattan Montessori school, accused of having sexual relations with two young teen students, was convicted Thursday of sodomizing one of them when he was 13.

Lina Sinha, 40, showed no emotion as the jury foreman reported a partial decision of 11 guilty and two not guilty verdicts on various other charges. The jurors had reported earlier they were deadlocked on the six rape counts against her.

Assistant District Attorney Rachel Hochhauser told the judge her office intended to retry Sinha on the six rape counts.

Read more about the private school sodomites!

Maybe Not The Only Thing....

"The only thing we have to fear is public education."

Dr. Fruitcake
Most Infamous Anonymous OnTheBorderLine Blogger

Hey! It's 6 AM Sunday Morning Time For Mr. Peanut On Stress Cracks

Hey Bobbie, Bobbie, Bobbie! It's 6 o'clock on Sunday morning. I can tell by the clock's tick! If you ain't me, you are sick! I'm up before the wife and kids so they don't find out what I did! You got a problem with an anonymous blogger anonymously using someone else's name to accuse them of being an anonymous bloggers? If you don't like it, tell the judge. If you use my name, I'll tell the judge. No ifs, ands or buts, people around here think I'm Mr. Nuts. There may be a crack in my shell, but I'll never tell. Bobbie, Bobbie, Bobbie?

Teacher Spouse Union Thugs Favorite Instrument Of Persuasion: The Baseball Bat!

Being a left-handed pitcher at Havana University, Castro was given a tryout by the Washington Senators (now Minnesota Twins) baseball team; he was turned down.

Fidel Castro's favorite major league baseball player was a pitcher for the Red Sox and Mets named Tracy Stallard.