Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 8:42AM 
Thanks to the efforts of Franklin District 3 Alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm, Police Chief Rick Oliva and City Attorney Jesse Wesolowski, a new city ordinance passed unanimously at last night’s common council meeting, potentially making future criminal investigations easier for police. More>>
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 8:06AM On this day in 1916, British Commander in Chief Sir Douglas Haig calls a halt to his army’s offensive near the Somme River in northwestern France, ending the epic Battle of the Somme after more than four months of bloody conflict.
With the French under heavy siege at Verdun since February, the Somme offensive was Haig’s long-planned attempt to make an Allied breakthrough on the Western Front. After a full week of artillery bombardment, the offensive began in earnest on the morning of July 1, 1916, when soldiers from 11 British divisions emerged from their trenches near the Somme River in northwestern France and advanced toward the German front lines.
The initial advance was a disaster, as the six German divisions facing the advancing British mowed them down with their machine guns, killing or wounding some 60,000 men on the first day alone: the single heaviest day of casualties in British military history to that point. The failure of the advance was credited variously to the complete lack of surprise in the timing of the attack, incompetence on the part of Haig and the British command--namely, their failure to conceive that the Germans could build their trenches deep enough to protect their heavy weapons or bring them up so quickly once the artillery barrage had ended--and the inferior preparation of the British artillery, for which the infantry paid a heavy price.
Over the course of the next four-and-a-half months and no fewer than 90 attacks, the Allies were able to advance a total of only six miles in the Somme region, at the cost of 146,000 soldiers killed and over 200,000 more injured. On November 18, 1916, Haig finally called off the offensive, insisting in his official dispatch from the front that December that the Somme operation had achieved its objectives. "Verdun had been relieved; the main German forces had been held on the Western front; and the enemy's strength had been very considerably worn down. Any one of these three results is in itself sufficient to justify the Somme battle."
Despite its commander’s positive assessment, the Battle of the Somme would remain one of the most controversial operations of World War I. In the war’s aftermath, British Prime Minister David LloydGeorge, a nemesis of Haig’s, roundly condemned Haig’s offensive: "Over 400,000 of our men fell in this bullheaded fight and the slaughter amongst our young officers was appalling…Had it not been for the inexplicable stupidity of the Germans in provoking a quarrel with America and bringing that mighty people into the war against them just as they had succeeded in eliminating another powerful foe—Russia--the Somme would not have saved us from the inextricable stalemate."
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 12:15PM 
Many Americans, me included, believe we are at a critical crossroad in America's history. We as free citizens of the greatest nation on Earth, have the responsibility to stand up for the principles of freedom—inspired by our Founding Fathers—that made our country great. For starters, I would highly recommend reading the The 5000 Year Leap by Cleon Skousen founder of the National Center for Constitutional Studies.
Those who may have already read this inspiring book, are familiar with the 28 Principles of Liberty outlined in The 5000 Year Leap, are acquainted with the claim that these are the principles upon which the Founders based our new government, thereby assuring us of lasting peace , prosperity, and freedom. Occasionally critics of this book ask, “Where can one find these principles in our founding documents?” Over the next 28-days BATTLE JOINED will enumerate and summarize the 28 Principles of Liberty outlined in The 5000 Year Leap.
Before we begin this series, one point needs to be made clear. There is a belief in come corners that the Declaration of Independence is not really a part of American jurisprudence, and that the principles contained therein cannot be referred to as a basis of American law. This line of thought is usually concluded by saying that “if a principle cannot be found in the Constitution, such as a belief in a Creator, it is not part of American culture or law.” This idea is blatantly false. The Declaration of Independence has been repeatedly cited by the Supreme Court as part of the fundamental law of the United States of America.
Following, then, is Principle 1 of the 28 Principles of Liberty found in The 5000 Year Leap and emphasized as the Founders structured our government.
Those who may have already read this inspiring book, are familiar with the 28 Principles of Liberty outlined in The 5000 Year Leap, are acquainted with the claim that these are the principles upon which the Founders based our new government, thereby assuring us of lasting peace , prosperity, and freedom. Occasionally critics of this book ask, “Where can one find these principles in our founding documents?” Over the next 28-days BATTLE JOINED will enumerate and summarize the 28 Principles of Liberty outlined in The 5000 Year Leap.
Before we begin this series, one point needs to be made clear. There is a belief in come corners that the Declaration of Independence is not really a part of American jurisprudence, and that the principles contained therein cannot be referred to as a basis of American law. This line of thought is usually concluded by saying that “if a principle cannot be found in the Constitution, such as a belief in a Creator, it is not part of American culture or law.” This idea is blatantly false. The Declaration of Independence has been repeatedly cited by the Supreme Court as part of the fundamental law of the United States of America.
Following, then, is Principle 1 of the 28 Principles of Liberty found in The 5000 Year Leap and emphasized as the Founders structured our government.
Principle 1. The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law. Natural law was defined as the order in which the Creator made everything work properly. There are certain laws which govern the entire universe, and just as Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, there are laws which govern in the affairs of men which are "the laws of nature and of nature's God." If governments and human relationships are formed according to these laws, they will succeed, if not, they will surely fail, as history has proven. (First paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.)
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 11:00AM
Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.”
–John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776.
During tonight’s Common Council Meeting, your elected representatives will hold a Public Hearing regarding Mayor Taylor’s $24 million, 2010 Proposed Budget. During the November 4, 2009, Joint Finance Committee-Common Council Meeting, public safety seemed to be foremost on the minds of citizens and a number of Aldermen due to the fact that Mayor Taylor’s budget recommended leaving one Firefighter position vacant, as-well-as two Police Officer positions.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 6:09AM On this day in 1973, in the middle of the Watergate scandal that eventually brought down his presidency, President Richard Nixon tells a group of newspaper editors gathered at of all places, Walt Disney World, that he is "not a crook."
Nixon made the now-famous declaration during a televised question-and-answer session with Associated Press editors. Nixon, who appeared tense to a New York Times reporter, was questioned about his role in the Watergate burglary scandal and efforts to cover up the fact that members of his re-election committee had funded the break-in. Nixon replied "people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got." He did, however, admit that he was at fault for failing to supervise his campaign’s fund-raising activities.
At one point during the discussion, Nixon gave a morbid response to an unrelated question about why he chose not to fly with back-up to Air Force One when traveling, the usual security protocol for presidential flights. He told the crowd that by taking just one aircraft he was saving energy, money and possibly time spent in the impeachment process: "if this one [plane] goes down," he said, "they don’t have to impeach [me]." Nixon was trying to be funny, but in fact the scandal was taking a toll on his physical and mental health. A relentless federal investigation eventually eroded his protests of innocence with regard to the Watergate and on August 8, 1974, he resigned the following day.
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 5:00PM (Formerly “Caught My Eye”)
AN OCCASIONAL SERIES OF NOTEWORTHY OPINION
Barack Obama—Empty Vessel (S. E. Cupp, FOX News) Despite the insistence by the left that Obama somehow transcends politics, he is simply a politician. Nothing more, nothing less. A year after electing Barack Obama president, and five years after his star turn at the Democratic National Convention, we are still trying to figure him out. More>>
Our 'Constitutional Moment' (James Taranto, The Wall Street Journal) The New York newspaperman says our founding document is especially vital today, in an age of expanding state power. Seth Lipsky has a knack for seeing the bright side of things. A nearly 20-year veteran of this newspaper, including its editorial page, he cheerfully acknowledges the obvious: This is far from a golden age of free-market conservatism. Of President Obama, he tells me over lunch, "I sense that he has a very leftist, socialist-oriented worldview." More>>
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 12:00PM Komo 4 News (ABC Seattle) Reporter Shomari Stone asks House Speaker Nanci Pelosi a fair question about the following:
According to Committee On Ways & Means Republicans Ranking Member, Dave Camp, "the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain acceptable health insurance coverage and who choose not to pay the bills new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years."
Please note that the Pelosi supporter on the left uses the Obama Administration's officially sanctioned sneeze procedure. Good boy!
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 8:00AM 
On this day in 1973, President Richard Nixon declares that America’s energy requirements have outpaced its production capacity and urges Congress to pass Senate Bill 1081, which would authorize the construction of a pipeline to access oil from the North Slope of Alaska.
Nixon claimed the nation’s "dangerous reliance" on foreign oil, controlled mainly by the increasingly powerful, but politically unstable oil-rich nations of the Middle East, posed a threat to America’s economy. America had once relied on cheap domestic oil, but by the 1970s, dwindling supplies forced the nation to buy more expensive oil on the international market. An Arab oil embargo in 1973 exacerbated the problem. Saying that the conservation of existing domestic supplies was not enough, Nixon declared that America had to find and tap more oil resources closer to home.
If took four years before oil began flowing through the pipeline in 1977. Although the pipeline increased domestic oil supplies, America continued to rely primarily on crude exports from the Middle East. In 2001, President George W. Bush expressed the desire to open up more of the Alaskan North Slope to oil and gas exploration and production. He echoed Nixon’s original claim that to do so would ease America’s dependence on foreign oil and make the nation less vulnerable to political instability in the Middle East.
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 11:54AM Somewhere along the way I picked up the following quote and finally have the opportunity to use it in one of my posts:
I guess there are some things government can do right for WE THE PEOPLE out there in the bill-paying, profit-making world, but these things amount, mainly, just to doing a few things right and then shutting up about it.
But just try to get a politician to
(a) do something right, and
(b) shut up about it!
I’m fairly confident that everything described above will be on display in all its “grandeur” at Tuesday night’s Common Council Meeting; which includes on its agenda, a Public Hearing on the Mayor's 2010 Recommended Budget.
The Mayor’s Recommended 2010 budget is $24 million and 112 pages in length. Prior to Tuesday night’s hearing, I expect every member of the common council to have read and understood every page of the Mayor’s Budget, BEFORE voting on it. And if you vote to approve it, we will also expect each and every member of the common council to confine the city’s spending to at or below the approved budget, which we also expect (in its final version) to include filling the vacant firefighter, police officers, and the DPW position (winter roads need to be cleared fpr emergency vehicles). A similar $2.5 million over-spending spree—as witnessed this year—will result in a “career change” for those up for reelection in 2010 and 2011.
Related Reading: The Citizen's Obligation To Know
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 6:00PM 
Near the end of a weeklong national salute to Americans who served in the Vietnam War, this say in 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, capping a nearly week-long salute to Americans who served in the Vietnam War.
The overdue and long-awaited memorial was a simple V-shaped black-granite wall inscribed with the names of the 57,939 Americans who died in the war. Unlike most memorials of this type, the names of the dead were arranged in order of death, not rank.
Initially criticized for its lack of the standard heroic statues and stirring words, public opinion shifted within moths of it dedication. Veterans and families of the dead walked the long black reflective wall, seeking the names of their brothers-in-arms and loved ones killed in the conflict. Once the name was located, visitors often made an etching or left a private offering, from notes and flowers to dog tags and cans of beer.
Today, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the most visited memorials in the nation's capital. A Smithsonian Institution director called it "a community of feelings, almost a sacred precinct," and a veteran declared that "it's the parade we never got." "The Wall" drew together both those who fought and those who marched against the war and served to promote national healing a decade after the divisive conflict's end.
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 11:00AM A very good friend of mine sent me a link to a November 2003 piece in Haarez.com, an Israeli online news source. I make an effort to attend as many Franklin Common Council Meetings as possible, but I feel comfortable in saying that I attend far more meetings than the average Franklin citizen. Like the common council, I tend to see the same faces in the meager audience, meeting after meeting, UNLESS, someone or a group has an issue with the city that directly affects their property or neighborhood, then it’s, “All hands deck—NOT In My Backyard!”
Quoting from the Haarez.com piece entitled The citizen's obligation to know, here’s a question for Mayor Taylor, his administrators, members of the Franklin Common Council and the Franklin Board of Education:
What is the nature of the public interest and who serves it better - someone who exposes the truth about government actions, or someone who helps whitewash the facts? Is the public interest better served by someone who hides behind an administrative hierarchy and clings to dry regulations, or by someone who decides to act in breach of the regulations and thereby ensures that the public is informed about crucial facts?
I can go through a litany of examples where our elected city and school board representatives—and their unelected administrators, and appointees—have made what I believe to be conscientious decisions to tread a path to whitewash the facts. These actions are reprehensible and must no longer be tolerated or go unchallenged by the People of this city.
Again, from The citizen's obligation to know:
It's worth reminding those who may have forgotten that the government is a trust owned by the ordinary citizen and that those who hold government positions are no more than trustees. Therefore, to know the facts is not only the right of the citizen, it is [our] duty and obligation, so that [we] will be able to carry out [our] role as owner of the trust. In a democracy that is worthy of the name, the citizen is active day in and day out: his role is not confined to casting his vote every few years. It follows that without the free flow of information, democracy is voided of most of its content.
Unless citizens decide to engage on a regular basis and continuously remind their elected representatives on a local, state and federal level, that WeThe People are the government (owner of the Trust) and OUR TRUST and power is simply on loan to them in their role as trustee.
As I write this post I can think of no better example of the message I’m trying to convey than the exchange between Mayor Taylor and Franklin businessman Scott Thiness at the September 1, 2009, Common Council meeting during citizen comment period pertaining to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Cities of Franklin and Oak Creek related to the South 27th Street Corridor Project and the proposed, infamous Oak Creek, I-94 Interchange, discussed previously on BATTLE JOINED and other local blogs and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Knowledge is power.
Finally, the following sixty-second exchange between Mayor Taylor and Thiness should ALWAYS be on the minds of Franklin citizens and taxpayers. As I see it, Thiness’ statement is the corner stone of our Republic, and exactly what our Founders envisioned when they wrote and ratified the United States Constitution.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 6:00PM 
On this day in 1775 during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress passes a resolution stating that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces for the recently formed Continental Navy. The resolution, drafted by future U.S. president John Adams and adopted in Philadelphia, created the Continental Marines and is now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps.
Serving on land and at sea, the original U.S. Marines distinguished themselves in a number of important operations during the Revolutionary War. The first Marine landing on a hostile shore occurred when a force of Marines under Captain Samuel Nicholas captured New Province Island in the Bahamas from the British in March 1776. Nicholas was the first commissioned officer in the Continental Marines and is celebrated as the first Marine commandant. After American independence was achieved in 1783, the Continental Navy was demobilized and its Marines disbanded.
In the next decade, however, increasing conflict at sea with Revolutionary France led the U.S. Congress to establish formally the U.S. Navy in May 1798. Two months later, on July 11, President John Adams signed the bill establishing the U.S. Marine Corps as a permanent military force under the jurisdiction of the Department of Navy. U.S. Marines saw action in the so-called Quasi-War with France and then fought against the Barbary pirates of North Africa during the first years of the 19th century. Since then, Marines have participated in all the wars of the United States and in most cases were the first soldiers to fight. In all, Marines have executed more than 300 landings on foreign shores.
Today, there are more than 200,000 active-duty and reserve Marines, divided into three divisions stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Camp Pendleton, California; and Okinawa, Japan. Each division has one or more expeditionary units, ready to launch major operations anywhere in the world on two weeks' notice. Marines expeditionary units are self-sufficient, with their own tanks, artillery, and air forces. The motto of the service is Semper Fidelis, meaning "Always Faithful" in Latin.
Semper Fi
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 10:44AM WTF? Obama Speaks on Fort Hood Murders and Job Numbers in same press announcement.
This man is unfit to be Commander–in-Chief.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 8:45AM 
Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day and for those who may not know the history behind this day of honor and rememberance, here’s a brief history.
The signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919 marked the official end of World War I. The actual fighting between the Allies and Germany, however, had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. November 11 became officially known as Armistice Day and an official holiday in the United States in 1926; twelve years later on June 1 1954, it became a national holiday and its name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans.
In 1968, new legislation changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.
Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day, so on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, please take a few moments to remember and honor all U.S. Veterans who have selflessly served our country to ensure our freedom and liberty.
I also ask you to please remember all the men and women who are currently serving in the United States military the world.
Monday, November 9, 2009 at 6:00PM 
On this day in 1961, record store manager Brian Epstein (center) goes to a Liverpool nightclub called the Cavern Club to hear the Beatles. Two months later, he became their manager and helped them land their first record deal, in 1962. The "Fab Four"-Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison--recorded "Love Me Do," the group's first Top 20 hit in the United Kingdom, in September 1962.
Epstein gave the group their clean-cut suit-and-tie image; previously, the band had played in blue jeans and leather jackets. He also helped manage their rise to fame. By the time they went on their first U.S. tour, in 1964, Beatlemania was in full swing, and the band was mobbed when they landed at Kennedy Airport in New York. Their debut album in the United States, Meet the Beatles, became the fastest-selling album in U.S. history to that time. The Beatles went on to score more No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts than any other group in history, with 20 chart toppers. They received the Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 at Buckingham Palace.
The band became more experimental with time, moving from upbeat harmonies to concept albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Epstein, however, did not live to see the band's later years; he died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills in August 1967.
After Epstein's death, the band stayed together until 1970. Later, each member pursued a solo career or formed a new group. Although there was frequent speculation about the possibility of a reunion, Lennon's tragic murder by a deranged fan in 1980 brought that to an end.
Friday, November 6, 2009 at 6:00PM 
Ninety-two years ago on this day, led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin, leftist revolutionaries launch a nearly bloodless coup d'État against Russia's ineffectual Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other strategic locations in the Russian capital of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and within two days had formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Bolshevik Russia later renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was the world's first Marxist state.
Born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov in 1870, Lenin was drawn to the revolutionary cause after his brother was executed in 1887 for plotting to assassinate Czar Alexander III. He studied law and took up practice in Petrograd, where he associated with revolutionary Marxist circles. In 1895, he helped organize Marxist groups in the capital into the "Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class," which attempted to enlist workers to the Marxist cause. In December 1895, Lenin and the other leaders of the Union were arrested. Lenin was jailed for a year and then exiled to Siberia for a term of three years.
After the end of his exile, in 1900, Lenin went to Western Europe, where he continued his revolutionary activity. It was during this time that he adopted the pseudonym Lenin. In 1902, he published a pamphlet titled What Is to Be Done?, which argued that only a disciplined party of professional revolutionaries could bring socialism to Russia. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905, Lenin returned to Russia. The revolution, which consisted mainly of strikes throughout the Russian empire, came to an end when Nicholas II promised reforms, including the adoption of a Russian constitution and the establishment of an elected legislature. However, once order was restored, the czar nullified most of these reforms, and in 1907 Lenin was again forced into exile.
Meanwhile, the Russian economy was hopelessly disrupted by the costly war effort (WWI), and in March 1917 riots and strikes broke out in Petrograd over the scarcity of food. Demoralized army troops joined the strikers, and on March 15, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, ending centuries of czarist rule. In the aftermath of the February Revolution (known as such because of Russia's use of the Julian calendar), power was shared between the weak Provisional Government and the soviets, or "councils," of soldiers' and workers' committees.
After the outbreak of the February Revolution, German authorities allowed Lenin and his lieutenants to cross Germany en route from Switzerland to Sweden in a sealed railway car. Berlin hoped (correctly) that the return of the anti-war Socialists to Russia would undermine the Russian war effort, which was continuing under the Provisional Government. Lenin called for the overthrow of the Provisional Government by the soviets, and he was condemned as a "German agent" by the government's leaders. In July, he was forced to flee to Finland, but his call for "peace, land, and bread" met with increasing popular support, and the Bolsheviks won a majority in the Petrograd soviet. In October, Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd, and on November 6-8 the Bolshevik-led Red Guards deposed the Provisional Government and proclaimed soviet rule.
Lenin became the virtual dictator of the first Marxist state in the world. His government made peace with Germany, nationalized industry, and distributed land, but beginning in 1918 had to fight a devastating civil war against czarist forces. In 1920, the czarists were defeated, and in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established. Upon Lenin's death, in early 1924, his body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum near the Moscow Kremlin. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor. After a struggle for succession, fellow revolutionary Joseph Stalin succeeded Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.
Friday, November 6, 2009 at 4:01PM Following are the BATTLE JOINED Livescribe digital recordings of the November 4, 2009, Joint Franklin Finance Committee/Common Council Meeting.
Friday, November 6, 2009 at 6:43AM 
The November edition of Playboy magazine will feature the “blue-haired bombshell” Marge Simpson; no relation to Jessica. BATTLE JOINED has decided to give our readers a chance to pick which "animated beauty" they would have preferred over Marge. Here are the choices.
Pick your "rather-than-Marge" on the following BATTLE JOINED Poll.
Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 6:00PM On November 5, 1994, 45-year-old George Foreman knocks out 26-year-old Michael Moorer and becomes the oldest heavyweight champ in the history of boxing. Foreman had been the champ once before, until Muhammed Ali took the belt from him in 1974’s "Rumble in the Jungle," but he’d taken 10 years off from boxing to become an evangelical preacher, pitchman for mufflers and hamburgers, and sitcom star. Moorer, for his part, was a young lefty with a 35-0 record who expected to coast through the bout, collect a hefty paycheck and retire a champion. And he was coasting through the bout, until Foreman floored him in the 10th round. Though the older man was no longer the fighter he had once been, he was fighter enough: As one columnist observed, that day Moorer "floated like an elephant and got his trunk shoved down his throat."
Today, the affable Foreman is still a minister and rancher in Texas and the father of five daughters and five sons named George. He’s also the spokesman for the incredibly popular line of George Foreman indoor grills.
;)
