There is much to be admired about Europe. Fine French cheeses, Bavarian sausages...

Last week, Jim Doyle asked Washington for $519 million dollars to use to upgrade transit in Wisconsin. Would that money go for busses in the inner-city? Transit for the disabled? Bus ticket vouchers for homeless shelters?

Why would any private investor want to get into bed with the Federal Government? This is the sort of question that businesses have to ask themselves on a daily basis- why would a consumer want to do business with our company? With the government bailouts of companies like AIG, it is a question that the Federal Government needs to ask itself. Why would private investors want to accept bailout funds, or participate in the "toxic" asset relief plan proposed Monday by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner?

Some things are just unbelievable. They defy all common sense. Like the time my wife chose Cleveland as a vacation destination. It wasn't even a good idea at the time, yet somehow, it happened. Such was my thought when it was revealed that executives employed by the hapless insurance giant AIG were to be paid $165 million in bonuses.

When the barn is on fire, the bold will take action to douse the blaze, and the useless will stand around, jaws agape and scratching their beards, wondering just how the heck this thing got started in the first place. I fall squarely into the latter category, and anyway, voluntary participation in extinguishing conflagrant agricultural structures...

Lately, we've been hearing the word "inherited" a lot. Not in a good sense, as in "you've just inherited a million dollars from an uncle you'd never met". No, this word is being repeated ad nauseam by the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress to refer to the current economic crisis. They are stating categorically that they have inherited this state of affairs from President George W. Bush.

In his "first ever address to the nation" delivered to the Conservative Political Action Committee last Saturday, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh electrified attendees of the conference by distilling conservative ideals down to their essence- the freedom of every American to achieve greatness through individual effort, unencumbered by "onerous taxes, regulations, and too much government".Not surprisingly, liberal pundits and commentators heard a speech that was, according to CNN commentator Bill Schneider, "Angry, mocking, bullying, harsh, and full of contempt."

I first started listening to the Rush Limbaugh program during the Clinton Administration, or as Rush liked to call it “America Held Hostage.”  Regardless of what you may think of his political views, you must admit that the guy can be funny and charismatic in a way that Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity are not.

An AP story reporting on Jim Doyle's proposed budget starts with this sentence: "Taxes will go up on smokers, the rich, and large companies." What a surprise. Doyle's budget targets the Democrat's axis of evil- Big Tobacco, Big Money, and Big Oil. Doyle proposed his budget in a 34-minute speech last Tuesday. The speech was like an overlong car chase in a low-budget action movie- constant evasion of responsibility with the same old plot devices used to cover some gaping budget holes. "My budget stands up for the people who earn regular paychecks and the people who, through no fault of their own, have lost theirs," Doyle said.

Faced with a huge deficit, Governor Doyle unveiled his new budget plan last week, and was immediately attacked by everyone who happened to have a soapbox nearby. Unless you serve donuts for a living, you can't please all the people all the time. I'm not going to defend all aspects of 2009 Assembly Bill 75, but faced with a huge deficit, Doyle presented a realistic, if unfortunate, package of spending cuts and new taxes to keep the state operating.

Last week, Daniel Bice, writing in his "No Quarter" column for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported that Associated Bank took a $525 million handout from the federal government. No great shakes - I applied for some myself (denied, btw). However, Bice, in the same column, "Associated Bank plans its own fiesta after bailout party," also reported that Associated CEO Paul Beideman was planning on taking nearly a hundred Ass.Bankers with him to a Caribbean resort to celebrate a job well done.

Last week, Associated Bank's CEO, Paul Beideman, made several mistakes in rapid succession. First he proved to be completely tone-deaf in the face of media criticism about a "junket" planned for Associated Bank's 100 top performers. Then, he cancelled the trip. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Dan Bice certainly blew the lid off this scandal. A sales-based organization is rewarding its employees with a trip to Puerto Rico- the horror, the horror. Unfortunately, this particular bank took taxpayer funds as part of the TARP program. That means YOU BELONG TO US, Associated Bank. Welcome to the socialist machine.

"Never allow a crisis to go to waste… They are opportunities to do big things." This is the view that Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's resident pit bull and chief of staff, takes of the current economic downturn. President Obama has certainly taken this advice to heart, crafting an "economic stimulus package" that incorporates 40-plus years of unfulfilled Democratic Christmas list items. Is using an economic...

The slings and arrows are flying thicker than the skies at Agincourt over President Obama's economic stimulus package. Passed by the House and currently being debated in the Senate, the stimulus package, if passed, would be a much needed triumph for Obama, whose administration has been tarnished right out of the starting gate by financial misdeeds...

Given that today the world will see exactly how a messiah would be treated, if one was actually descending to earth, it seems like a good time to examine the major issues that Barack Obama will have to tackle in his first year as President of the United States, and the most powerful of all world leaders. The American liberal left has high expectations for our new president, even if many of them cannot articulate these expectations beyond the words "hope" and "change".

Merle Haggard once famously predicted that "when a President goes through the White House doors, and does what he says he'll do, we'll all be drinkin' that free Bubble-Up, and eatin' that Rainbow Stew."

It seems to be the progressive (read: liberal) modus operandi is to provide citizens protection from themselves. As the eye of the nanny state falls on outdoor smoking, cell phones and driving, and the types of cars GM should produce, it has turned blind to the sick-pay ordinance passed in Milwaukee- one of the most heinous acts the citizenry has ever perpetrated upon itself. On November 4th, 2008, City of Milwaukee voters decided to give themselves nine paid sick days every year. The ordinance was placed on the Nov. 4th ballot for a reason.

This is not about the merits about the paid-sick days referendum recently passed by an overwhelming majority of Milwaukee voters. Convincing arguments both against and for the law, which will require city employers to provide up to 9 paid sick days to their employees, were made to the public previous to the polling date. The referendum passed and is scheduled to become law on Feb. 10.

Earlier this month, the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think-tank based in Los Angeles, released a study conducted to assess the costs and benefits of a commuter light rail system being proposed for the corridor between Milwaukee and Racine. Interestingly, only those who listen to local talk radio would know that this study exists, as it was barely covered in the local media. The study was conducted by Thomas Rubin, a transit consultant also based in Los Angeles. Rubin's conclusion is that the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter light rail line (KRM) could not reach new rider goals, nor could it sustain the projected amount of riders.

My belief is that light rail should be expanded for reasons both economical and ecological. I propose that in addition to the KRM line, additional rail lines should be constructed connecting the city to the northern and western communities as well, perhaps as far north as Sheboygan and as far west as Oconomowoc.

There is a scene in Monty Python & The Holy Grail where a group of outraged peasants, desperate to scapegoat someone for their lot in life, eagerly produce an unfortunate young woman to the local authorities, proclaiming her to be a witch. "How do you know she's a witch?" asks the magistrate? "Well, she LOOKS LIKE ONE!" bellows the crowd! Following the unfolding saga of Illinois Governor Pete Blagojevich, I was frankly surprised that it took as long as it did...

Those among us who are sure that Barack Obama has descended from Heaven to cool the planet, calm the seas, and bring peace on earth are getting a full dose of reality from the Rod Blagojevich scandal. Obama, in reality, has crawled and clawed his way up from the sewer of corruption and graft that is the Chicago political machine. No one has stated definitively that Mr. Obama played any part in the attempted sale of his senate seat. In fact, the transcripts of Mr. Blagojevich's conversations, in which he repeatedly refers to Mr. Obama using language unfit for prime time would seem to imply the opposite.

If the American taxpayer ends up bailing out the failing automakers based on this piece of feigned frugality and humility- blatantly staged for the caravans of media trucks and the helicopters following their trek- then this country has finally become too vacuous, shallow, and gullible to continue running itself. It might just be time to call the Chinese for advice.

Let us briefly examine the objections to the so-called "auto industry bailout," and proceed to the reasons why I think the move is indeed a necessary one.