Ron Paul raises most campaign cash from military workers- On Politics - USATODAY.com

Ron Paul raises most campaign cash from military workers- On Politics - USATODAY.com

Concealed Carry Informational Meeting!

La Crosse, Wi. — Residents are urged to attend an informational meeting regarding the new concealed carry law that goes into effect in November. The La Crosse Tea Party is organizing the meeting which is set for Monday August 8th, 6:30 p.m. at the Holmen Rod & Gun Club W7503 County Road T, Holmen, WI. Hubert Hoffman, Vice President of Wisconsin Carry, Inc. will give a presentation and answer questions regarding the legislative process, training required, permit process. Also attending will be Senator Kapanke who cosponsored the legislation and was instrumental in getting it passed.

La Crosse Police Allow Convicted Murder/Rapist To Live Within A Half A Block From Grade School!

I can't believe I find myself in favor of a new law, but something must be done! http://wisconsindoc.familywatchdog.us if you look at the map around 809 Rose St. in La Crosse, it shows that the Three Rivers Waldorf School has an offender living 256 feet away. And the COULEE MONTESSORI CHARTER SCHOOL has an offender living only 100 feet away!

The news story about Alvin Hughes' release said "He will be monitored by GPS and cannot have contact with minors or be within two blocks of parks, schools, libraries or day cares." If that is his sentence, he is in violation right now!

I was researching today after hearing of Alvin Hughes convicted murderer and rapist that was released (after a light sentence from former liberal Judge Roger LeGrand) tuesday to 809 Rose St. the "Attic" facility. I called the LAXPD to find out what the law is about how far sex offenders have to be from a school and was told by the "duty sergeant" there that the law was 1000 feet. I called the Department of Corrections who runs the Attic facility and spoke with Jane Jacobsen (Alvin Hughes' parole officer) and they said there is NO state law or local ordinance in LAX regarding this. The only restriction is the person's sentence and/or Department of Correction "rules". I called back to the LAXPD and the sergeant admitted he was wrong that there is no law, but that's what they "go by".

I then talked to the chief of police and he said the "the Attic facility got grandfathered in". I said "grandfathered in to what"? Since there's no law about it. He then said he would have to research it and get back to me on it. This is just frightening that our police department has no real idea of the laws, and no one seems very concerned about a sexual predators living across the street from grade schools and playgrounds!

Laws that restrict where registered sex offenders may live have become increasingly popular during the past decade. At least 30 states and hundreds of municipalities have enacted laws that bar sex offenders from residing near schools, parks, playgrounds and day care centers. The specified distance from a school or other venue is typically 1,000 feet but varies from 500 to 2,500 feet.

Waste In The La Crosse Fire Department's Budget

The Second Supper published a excellent article by Thomas Brown exposing how the La Crosse Fire Department waste taxpayer's money through inefficiencies. Basically the fire department is running a first responders service with big rig fire trucks. Below is the article. 

On a Monday night on the southside of La Crosse, a softball was lifted softly to right field for a single. As the ball was tossed back into the infield, the woman playing second base was caught unaware; her glove not ready, her face becoming the unintended target. The woman's teammates cried out to the umpire to call an ambulance. At their behest, an ambulance was called. It arrived promptly with medical professionals ready to administer any and all type of care to her as she sat there, blood flowing steadily from her nose. Then, for some reason, a fire truck came. Fully equipped with four firefighters and all the essentials of fighting fires, scaling tall buildings and hosing down half a city block — completely unnecessary at Powell Park where a bloody nose was being tended to by paramedics. 

All of this happened shortly after mayor Matt Harter had been publicly castigated for stating that there are redundancies that take place with La Crosse Fire Department. He essentially pointed out that, based on the numbers, our fire department is overstaffed, and the cost burden is tremendous when compared to their necessity to the population of La Crosse. 

But the city council, afraid to err on the side of common sense and terrified to make a decision that would initiate change, backed Fire Chief Gregg Cleveland and decided that the city actually needs more firefighters. Emboldened, Cleveland is now asking for an unprecedented fifth fire station to be built in La Crosse. Why, because of all the bloody noses and paramedic calls that the department responds to? Come on, now. Let's look at the numbers. 

La Crosse has not grown significantly in either population or area in decades, and given our geographic boundaries and demographic trends, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. So why does our fire department need to get any bigger? 

When Harter made the call to freeze firefighter overtime in May, it would have reduced staff by one and a half people per station. For a well run department/company/business of any kind, that kind of minor subtraction will not be felt. 

The La Crosse Tribune has certainly told one side of this story, and anyone will get riled up when told about supposed cuts to “public safety.” But isn’t it the mayor’s job to find the most effective way to run the city? 

Don’t get me wrong: La Crosse's firefighters do a good job. Let's not complain about the service. But La Crosse is already one of Wisconsin's most heavily taxed cities, so it's ludicrous to think we can't at least trim the fire department's $10 million budget. 

Here is what La Crosse taxpayers are actually paying for: In 2010, the La Crosse Fire Department responded to 155 fire-related calls. Seventy-five of these calls were for structural fires (the kind that one may see in the newspaper). Of no fault of its own, the department actually responds to nearly 3.5 times as many false alarms as it does actual fires. 

Oh yeah, guess how many calls the La Crosse Police Department respond to with essentially the same budget and staff: If you guessed almost 58,000 calls, you would be correct. 

To think that the city of La Crosse can't cut back on the roughly 100 people it takes to respond to 155 fire-related instances is ridiculous. What about the other ways in which they serve the community? Well, last year, there were a total of 4,818 incidents reported in the Fire Department's operation report. 

What else do firefighters do? In a document presented to the City Council in January, the department listed that in 2009, there were a total of 5,412 inspections. And that's how the department can justify all the spending: They prevent fires from happening. 

So, if we're going by the numbers, that's a total of 10,230 incidents and inspections performed by the LCFD on a yearly basis. For all the firefighters that Chief Cleveland claims to need, that's a total of three and a half duties performed each day by each firefighter. 

That seems reasonable, yet from Dec. 28, 2010, to Jan. 28, 2011, the chief still managed to find a way to rack up 5,619.75 overtime hours. That comes in at 305.4 percent of the department’s overtime budget. 

It's kind of impressive, actually. Impressive that nobody has bothered to look at these numbers before — or if they have, they never bothered to call the La Crosse fire chief out, not for decades. 

Last year, I coached a baseball team. One of the young men on it was a high school senior from La Crosse. I asked him what he wanted to do post-graduation, and he said that he wanted to become a firefighter. I asked him why he chose to pursue that career path and he told me it's because they watch SportsCenter. Apparently that's what he did for five hours when he went to visit the department this past fall. (I was delighted to hear that he has recently chosen to go to school to be a teacher.) 

Just because 100 people (a very small percentage of the city's population) show up to a meeting and the city council is too scared to make an unpopular decision doesn't mean that there isn't an issue here. There clearly is. The city's streets are falling apart; the sewage system needs to be revamped; Bliss Road hasn't been operational since Clinton was in the White House; and nobody can figure out where the city will get the money to pay for these necessities. 

Meanwhile, the fire department soaks up a third of the city tax base answering in full force to bloody noses. One-hundred and fifty-five fire-related calls, a few calls each day between catching highlights on SportsCenter — and still, the chief wants more. 

If Cleveland could make the argument that the city needs a fifth fire station, that it needs more personnel, then fine. That’s a dialogue we can all have. But inflating the numbers and duplicating services that could easily be performed by the police department or medical professionals alone is not the way to plead a case. Neither is calling up a favorite newspaper reporter and fanning the flames that an overtime freeze is somehow a threat to public safety. 

How long will the city of La Crosse let this budget inequality smolder? Do the math. Be reasonable. Men lie, women lie, numbers don't.

La Crosse City Council Overrides Mayor's Veto Of Marijuana Ordinance

Tonight the La Crosse City Council has voted to override Mayor Matt Harter's veto of a city ordinance that would make first-time possession of small amounts of marijuana a municipal rather than criminal offense. Although there are probably few cops in La Crosse who will actually write just a ticket for marijuana users, this is a step in the right direction. I usually agree with the mayor on most things, but on this one he was wrong. Marijuana should be legalized. It is proven to be much safer then alcohol. Anyone who has been around those who have been high on marijuana can testify to that fact. Props go to council man Chris Olsen for his work on getting this passed.

No doubt some will say this is a waste of time for the city council to be doing this. I totally disagree. Why is it a waste of time to pass a law where if followed cops wouldn't be wasting their time arresting and booking nonviolent pot smokers? Seems to me it is probably one of the best decisions the city council has ever made. Almost everything the council does is in the direction of taking away liberties. At least this time they moved in the opposite direction. I rather have them spend time on something like this then figuring out ways to bankrupt the city at a faster pace.


The conservative that wants to keep fighting the war on drugs is no different then the statist that wants to ban trans fats and fast food. The statist that wants to regulate our healthcare decisions (ObamaCare). Why should a cancer patient be prevented by a tyrannical government made up of busy bodies and nanny staters from trying every possible medicine to relieve their pain ?

Below are a few of my favorite quotes dealing with the drug war. Author unknown

"As long as the government can arbitrarily decide which substances are legal and which are illegal, then those who remain behind bars for illegal substances are political prisoners." 

"It has become clear that the consequences of trying to enforce a ban on drugs outweigh the benefits. The ban on drugs makes the potential for profit enormous. This naturally attracts criminal enterprises to endeavor to capture those profits. It also causes rival criminal enterprises to engage in massive amounts of violence and the criminal activity necessary to realize and protect those profits"

Ron Paul Schools Ben Bernanke About Gold As Money (7/13/201)

This What Hypocrisy Looks Like! Jennifer Shilling's Double Standard On Civility

According to multiple sources LaCrosseWatchdog has learned that Jennifer Shilling is making the claim that she did not particapate in the mob that yelled "SHAME!" on the her Republican colleagues as they left the Assembly floor after the vote was taken on the collective bargaining bill. She is trying to paint a false narrative that she has remained civil towards the Republican side throughout the collective bargaining debate. This video shows otherwise. Shilling is seen at the front of the mob participating in this show of physical intimidation towards the Republicans who voted for the measure. You can see Shilling wagging her finger shaming Rep. Lee Nerison from Westby who ironically voted against the bill with the democrats.



Back in January Shilling wrote this editorial to the La Crosse Trib calling for a change in the tone of our civic discourse in wake of Rep. Gabby Gifford's shooting. Here are some exerts from her editorial entitled: "Moment of Silence Isn't Enough"

But we need to take more than a moment of silence. We need a sustained call to action of civility and nonviolence in our communities, be it at city hall, the state capitol or in Congress. 

I call upon my colleagues across the country, as well as commentators, and other community leaders, to examine the tone of debate and the inflammatory remarks that are used to ignite supporters and create political chaos. We must find a way to restore civility and decorum to the way our elected officials tackle the very difficult and pressing issues of our time. 

those involved in political discourse have a responsibility to engage in meaningful debate over very serious issues, but to do it in a way that does not tear down our country or each other.
Our words are powerful, and they can be used to hurt and to heal. I know the pain of words — as well as the power of words
We must pause longer than a moment, if we expect responsibility and accountability in the tone of our civic discourse.

I guess Shilling didn't think that she needed make good on her on call for more civility in the political discourse. The video below is an example of the kind of people Shilling was encouraging by trying to fist bump or show solidarity by a clinched fist as the protesters were getting arrested by the state patrol.  Shilling has tired to lecture everyone on civility in her editorial back in January, but when the true test came to show some of that new civility she failed the test miserably.

Cops Arrest Man For Calling Abusive Cop A Nazi

The True History of The Pledge (Judge Andrew Napolitano)

Vintage Ron Paul 1983 On Paper Money