Video of the Day: Thanksgiving Message From Robert De Nero and Billy Crystal

Krauthammer on the Petraeus-Benghazi Connection

Gen. David Petraeus will testify before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees (now there’s an oxymoron) on the Libya embassy attack this morning, despite the ongoing FBI investigation into an extramarital affair that led to his resignation as director of the CIA.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who we believe should also testify before these congressional committees just happens to be out of the country—how convenient for Obama (this guy should really buy a lottery ticket).

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer weighs in on the timing of Petraeus' resignation.

Video of the Day: The Far Left Running Wild

This Bill O'Reilly “Talking Points Memo” commentary segment originally aired on The O’Reilly Factor on Tuesday November 13.

RELATED STORY

• Sean Hannity Warns America: ‘You Get The Government You Deserve’ With Barack Obama — ‘Good Luck With That’

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

PLEASE NOTE: Portions (most) of this story are/is political satire and opinion, written with my tounge firmly implanted in my cheek!

It only took five years for your Franklin School Board to bounce back from its 2007, $78 million voter-rejected referendum for the Board to claim a partial victory for the district in last night’s referenda (or is it referndum?) vote.    THANK YOU, THANK YOU Franklin School Board!   You either saved taxpayers $28 million by waiting five years, or the the $78 million you said you  “needed” then. was a "cock & bull story.”

MORE GOOD NEWS

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The $50 Million Questions?

School Board Member DEBBIE LARSONBefore you vote on the School Referenda next Tuesday, ask yourself whether the intentions of the Franklin school board are really in the best interests of the students and FPS District taxpayers and can I be certain that this nearly  $50 million will be used as the District told a  FranklinNOW reporter in this article published on October 31?

That is “security, parking, traffic flow and so-called ‘right-sized educational space’ and other important elements...”

We raise these question because in 2007, another FPS refendum was put to voters "based on another FPS survey which voters were told supported building a new high school, when in fact the survey showed voters supported two middle schools.  The 2007 referendum failed.  This decite and maleficence on the part of certain school board members, including current member Debbie Larson (Term expires April 2013) a board member since 2003.

Emails obtained through an open records request revealed then-board vice president Jim Ward (not the state senate candidate) was also heavily involved in this betrayalof taxpayers.

Also, keep in mind that with new and larger facilities, etc., including new football practice fields, utilities and maintainence costs will likely increase.  Where are the estimates from the District for those ongoing expenses?  How can voters be expected to to make an informed decision without all the necessary information?  TRUST?!

Is Franklin Public School District unique to most school districts in America?

We present this qestion to readers because according to the findings in this 32-page, 2012 report on the surge in school staffing  by The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and nonpartisan organization. 

The Friedman Foundation is solely dedicated to advancing Rose and Milton Friedman’s vision of school choice for all children.  The Friedman Foundation was first known as the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation and was established in 1996 to promote school choice as the most effective and equitable way to improve the quality of K-12 education in America.  Teachers and their unions view school choice as the West Nile Virus of public education.  Competition is bad--monopolies are good, as long as they are the monopoly.

The Friedman Foundation is dedicated to research, education, and outreach on the vital issues and implications related to choice in K-12 education and in 2012 issued this 32-page report on school staffing.

In its Executive Summary this report begins:

America’s K-12 public education system has experienced tremendous historical growth in employment, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.  Between fiscal year (FY) 1950 and FY 2009, the number of K-12 public school students in the United States increased by 96 percent while the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) school employees grew 386 percent.

Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period.

Of those personnel, teachers’ numbers increased 252 percent while administrators and other staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students.

That said, exactly who are taxpayers footing the bill to "right-size educational space" for?

Opinions & Commentary From Around the Web: Week of October 25

• Paul Ryan: How Conservatism Helps the Poor (The Heritage Foundation)
• Looking Beyond Election Day: The Issues That Threaten to Derail the Nation (John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute)
• Why Is Mexico Drug War Being Ignored? (CATO Institute)
• A Critical Look at Administrative Bloat in Public Schools (Heritage—Foundry)

Opinions & Commentary From Around the Web: Week of October 21

We pick em you click em…

• How Might The National Park System Fare Under A "President Romney"?  (National Parks Traveler)
• Capitalizing on the “99 Percent” (Heritage Foundation)
• How Escalating Education Spending Is Killing Crucial Reform (Heritage Foundation)
• Is America Exceptional? (Imprimis (Hillsdale College)

Dear Liberals and Progressives We Want a Divorce

Painting: “The Forgotten Man”—Jon McNaughton

I received this email the other day from a friend and wanted to share it with my like-minded readers.  You may have already received it but for those who haven’t and my Liberal friends—this is for you.

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and different tastes.

We have stuck together since the late 1950's for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election has made us realize that we want a divorce. 

I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.  It’s not me it’s you!

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on somewhat friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.  We offer you this separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and different world views.

We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them.

You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.

Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.

We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and bio-fuels.

You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them to your country.

We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street.

You can have your beloved Big Bird, PBS, generational able-bodied welfare cheats food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, dopers and illegal aliens.

We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey Moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks.

We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with China, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and destroy countries that threaten us.

You can have The Hague, peaceniks, war protesters and “occupiers.”   When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.

You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness, Roseanne Barr and Arianna Huffington.

You may also have the United Nations, but know this, we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone "afordable health care," if you can find any practicing doctors.

We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem."

I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing,” "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World.”

We'll practice trickle-down economics, and you can continue to give Keynesianism, trickle up poverty your best shot.

Since it so often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name, our flag and Country Music.

Would you agree to this?   If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots.  If not, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, we’ll let you answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Most Sincerely,

Fred Keller

Proud Conservative American

P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, “Hanoi Jane” Fonda and Cindy Sheehan with you.

P.S.S.  And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.

U.S. officials: Russian Submarine Sailed in Gulf of Mexico Undetected for Weeks

For those readers too young to remember the so-called cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States of America or the Cuban Missile Crisis in October, 1962, you may be wondering, using the vernacular of VP Biden, “what’s the big F-ing deal with a Russian submarine entering the Gulf of Mexico?”

The Washington Free Beacon reported on August 14 that a Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks.

Now who do you suppose might have invited our Russian friends to play with their nuclear-powered attack submarines in the United States’ backyard?

But first, let's recap a couple a few of the facts:

A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in U.S. strategic waters was only confirmed after it left the region.  Where was the U.S. Coast Guard?  That's a pretty big fish to go undeteced for weeks.

What about the Department of Homeland Security?  Where was Janet Napolitano at some frat house party?

Below is A file photo taken in Brest harbor, western France, on September 21, 2004, showing the Vepr Russian nuclear submarine of the Project 971 Shchuka-B type, or Akula-class (Shark) by NATO classification, the same type as the Nerpa Russian nuclear submarine.

For all of you cynics out there, I am—of course—aware that Obama has "reset" U.S. relations with this one-time enemy.  And I am keenly aware that Obama has discussed campaign strategy with Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev several months ago, right before Medvedev left office.

The risk of another war with Georgia, a former Soviet Union satellite is certainly not “bloody likely.”

Then again, it isn’t as though Russia, under its current president, Vladimir Putin is yuckin’ it up with many  sworn enemies of the United States and our closest ally in the Middle East.

RELATED STORY

• Janet Napolitano's Homeland Security Department a frat house?

ObamaCare and Business Growth: A Not So Beautiful Relationship

On July 11 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke to delegates at the NAACP Convention in Houston and explained that his plans include reducing government spending by eliminating "every nonessential expensive program I can find, and that includes ObamaCare."

Although several other Romney policy proposals were met with applause, the ObamaCare remark was met with significant booing.

For once, a little courage and integrity from a politician.  Romney's Obamacare message is the same for every audience.

Although President Obama declined the NAACP’s invitation to speak he did send the the bumbling and condescending, boob, Joe Biden in his stead.  Here is a snippet of Biden’s “barn-burner" of a speech.”  Here is the full speech for those looking for greater context.

Turning Point: It’s Constitutional—Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare Mandate as a Tax

This morning a divided Supreme Court largely upheld the Obama administration's health-care law, saying the law's penalty for those who ignore a mandate to carry health insurance counted as a tax and was therefore justified by Congress's constitutional taxing power. As vice president Biden might say, "This is really Bleeping big..."

From Merriam-Webster:

Turning Point (noun)

A point at which a significant change occurs.

A time when an important change happens.

Wake–Up Call (noun)

Something that serves to alert a person to a problem, danger, or need.

Early political commentary on the Supreme Court’s judgment suggests this ruling will take some time to sort out.  One thing is certain however, struggling American families will now have a new tax to deal with.

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News Barack Obama insisted that the government forcing people to buy Health Care Insurance was not a TAX.

This man could have had a great career as a car salesman or a carnival barker at the "guess your weight" booth. 

This administration reminds me of a freak show without a tent.

Here the court’s 193 page ruling.

VOTE TODAY!

I was reminded by a close friend the other day to please vote on Tuesday and that “There’s a lot at stake in this year’s election...”   I could not agree more.

After reading a column that she sent with her plea to vote, I thought to myself, isn’t a lot at stake in every election?  If only every eligible voter looked at every election as a crucial election with a lot at stake, maybe we would not reach the point where one particular election is described as having “a lot at stake.”

Americans take their right to vote for their government representatives for granted and generally don't vet candidates themselves, accepting what the so-called mainstream media chooses to feed us. 

We should never forget that a lot of Americans have fought and died to protect our individual rights, but our freedoms are directly linked to our right to vote. And that includes your right to vote for local school board members and all the way up the political totem pole to President of the United States of America.

I’ll leave you with this quote attributed to who many historians consider the Father of the American Revolution.

SAMUEL ADAMS, Founding memberThe Sons of Liberty.“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual — or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.”

—Samuel Adams, in the Boston Gazette, 1781

EDITORIAL: Franklin School Board Deserves a "F" From Taxpayers and Students

Please watch the following reminder...

A look at our follow-up file revealed that we are approaching one year since the Franklin School Board initially discussed its employee Health Insurance bidding process, another tax saving tool provided to local governments through Act 10 by Governor Scott Walker and Conservatives in the Wisconsin State Legislature.   The topic appeared on the school board’s July 20, 2012 agenda (See Agenda item 9.a.) .  FIJ attended this meeting and prior to this meeting published this story on July 19, 2012.  Here is a summary of the provision of Act 10.

The Baraboo school board saved an estimated $660,000 per year by dumping WEA Trust insurance and purchasing its employee health insurance from Dean Health Plan.

The Baraboo school board  is now free to put this $660,000 savings into the classroom, putting its students first, which most school districts claim is their priority: “It’s for the students…”

Enough of the rhetoric.  Quit the stalling.   It’s time to walk-the-talk and show Franklin parents, taxpayers and students you are serious about saving taxpayer dollars and actually willing to put Franklin kids first.  NOT WEAC or WEAC TRUST.

Call or email School Board president Janet Evans or other school board members to express your views on this issue and ask the Board to please place the employee Health Insurancetopic on the Board’s next meeting agenda.

It is time to take a stand against this garbage from outsiders brought in by the unions and demand that our elected representatives on the Franklin School Board do their job.

RELATED STORIES

• Franklin School Board to Discuss, Insurance Bidding Process (FIJ)
• Union fights district plan to save $1 million on insurance (EAGNews.org)
• Pro-reform Wisconsin teacher stands her ground, despite union harassment (EAGnews.org)

"The PROTESTER”: Time Magazine’s Person of the Year

"I wanted to die right then. I hear a voice yelling, 'Lieutenant ... Lieutenant ... oh my God ... I think the lieutenant is dead. ...' I remember being drug and put into a vehicle. ... I was screaming the whole time ... but with most of my face blown off and my mouth destroyed ... it came out as this ghostlike hollow sound ... not even human. The next thing I remember was waking up weeks later at Walter Reed Army Hospital in D.C."

--Lieutenant D.J. Skelton

You likely know by now that the last U.S. soldiers rolled out of Iraq across the border into neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday.

The un-declared war cost nearly 4,500 American lives and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives and almost $1 trillion ($800 billion) from the U.S. Treasury.

With this in mind, from our point of view Time Magazine has its priorities all wrong with its choice of “The Protestor,” for its 2011 Person of the year. 

Our Person of the Year is the American soldier—especially as the last U.S. soldiers left Iraq—who through their service and sacrifice to this country for 236 years have defended and protected the rights of “The Protestor" to protest.

Roy Exum a so-called “grassroots contributor" to THE PATRIOT POST has a similar point of view in his commentary piece entitled: My 2011 Man of the Year (MUST READ). And although our troops have left the battlefields of Iraq, many will face another, potentially lifelong, battle here at home .  ABC’s Christiane Amanpour interviewed Army General Peter Chiarelli about the devastating “invisible wounds and scars” of war facing our returning troops and their families.

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• VA claims backlog approaches 1 million mark
• VA hopes to eliminate backlog in benefits claims by end of 2015
• Legion: 'Treat the root' of VA claims backlog
• Support Our Wounded Warriors This Christmas

EDITORIAL: Mayor Taylor to the Rescue?

After reading Franklin mayor promotes redistricting fight in the FranklinNOW, we cannot understand Mayor Taylor’s interest in picking a fight with the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, over its vote on a plan to reduce the board by one seat, from 19 to 18, or why it matters to "his honor" that in drawing the map for the new districts, the North Shore's 6th District was eliminated. The Board’s plan cuts Whitefish Bay in half and leaves Supervisor Joe Rice without a job.

We hardly heard a peep out of the mayor when the Harley Davidson Distribution Center in the Franklin Business Park pulled up stakes in Franklin, eliminating 150 jobs and leaving another tenantless building in the business park.    Mayor Taylor needs to  reset his priorities and get to work for the taxpayers in the City of Franklin.  There is plenty for Mayor Taylor to do here, without getting himself involved with issues involving North Shore suburbs.

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EDITORIAL: Achieving the Height of Incompetence: A not so hypothetical Case

Let’s say, hypothetically, you are the mayor of a city of 35,451 with pathetically little to no economic growth, a city where more businesses are leaving than setting up shop, and yet despite all of this, in the midst of a deep recession, you decide to gamble more than $31 million of taxpayer dollars for a sewer project to create a so-called “building boom” that would add an unsubstantiated $1.2 billion to the city's property tax base by 2025.  Here is how this “hypothetical case” might play-out in the newspaper.

But as mayor, you want this controversial project completed by 2014, 11-years early (coincidently, a mayoral election year).

If you were mayor of this hypothetical city wouldn’t you work closely with County and State officials to reconstruct South 76th Street to ensure a potential main artery into your “$1.2 billion” revenue project had an adequate roadway?

We will have more coverage on the hypothetical roadway issue in the days ahead.

Follows is a letter pertaining to the Ryan Creek Interceptor Project from my Alderman, Kristen Wilhelm (District 3) sent to her constituents this month, Kristen Wilhelm (District 3) sent to her constituents this month.

AUG 2011 Alderman Wilhelm Letter to constituents

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$3.1 million Paid to Top Franklin School Administrators Over Past Five Years

"We are returning to frugality and making the long-term decisions to balance our budget now and more importantly into the future. We will do the heavy lifting to protect our children and grandchildren from having to make the hard decisions that were once avoided."

—Gov. Scott Walker, March 1, 2011

In its 2011-12 Budget Draft Franklin Public Schools (FPS) asks: What in the World is Affecting Franklin Public Schools?  Here are the answers provided by FPS’ administration.

• The Economy
• State Budget Problems
• Possible State Law Changes
• Revenue Limits
• More Federal money means more time spent reporting

Like any government monopoly, over-spending didn’t even make the list.

"Since our primary purpose is to be advocates for the students in our community, it is imperative that we place some of the best teachers in our state in front of our students for a quality educational experience to occur.”

—Steve Patz, Superintendent, Franklin Public Schools, FPS2011-12 Budget introduction : Looking Back, and Forward

Huh?!  I thought the school district's primary purpose was to educate its students.

In his July 5 story entitled: Franklin schools tackle challenging budget by FranklinNOW’s Rick Romano we get a good sense for what some Franklin School District administrators and school board members think of the 2011-12 Franklin Public Schools (FPS) budget and budgeting process in light of Governor Scott Walker’s two-year $66 billion state budget deal designed to balance the state’s budget and close the $3.5 billion budget gap without raising taxes or fees, while reining-in local government’s taxation and spending. (e.g. public school boards and municipalities).

From Romano’s piece:

Quoting Franklin’s complaining Superintendent Steve Patz, Romano writes “Every school district is different, but we all face difficulty that has been complicated by the state budget process this year.  Just like in every year, we approve a budget and then wait until we have the final student count in October to finalize the numbers."

How did our neighbors in New Berlin react to Walker’s budget?

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