It's so hot and dry the nuts are falling from their trees.

The Big Corn lobby must have called the Wisconsin gubernatorial "rockstar" hotline for some attention. Hope jumping through the hoop didn't affect Walker's recitation! ; )

Bren, What would you have wanted Barrett to do?

@Bren -

So, I guess you wanted Walker to tell the farmers to go shove it, thus allowing their crops to be ruined, right?

Not at all, Mr. Hoffa. I'm very pleased that Scott Walker took the time from his summer touring gig to actually do something for the state he's supposed to represent.

Has anyone checked out his tour bus for sponsors? Americans for Prosperity, Republican Governor's Association, Wisconsin taxpayers?

@Bren -

Funny you mention Walker's bus, which just so happens to have been manufactured right here in the good old USA, just like Romney's tour bus, but unlike our President, who just had to order his busses from Canada a month before making a jobs speech to the nation at a special session of Congress that he called wherein he stated that he wanted to see more products stamped "made in U.S.A." on them, but couldn't even buy American himself! Yep, that's our President and Hypocrite in Chief Obama!

Didn't you recently say that our politicians should walk their talk?

Walker's bus - made in USA!

Romney's bus - made in USA!

Obama's bus - made in Canada :-(

So, what can we conclude from this - Walker and Romney support American jobs! Obama supports Canadian jobs.

So, I guess you'll be supporting Romney in November, right?

Last time I was car shopping I was told that there's really no such thing as a vehicle made solely in the U.S.A.; parts are made all over. Where did you read this about the buses? I do remember seeing something about a Romney ad where he's driving a Canadian-made car. I was more interested in the sponsors.

Why would I support Romney and why would you? His "personal mandate" is destroying our country and taking away "our one last shred of freedom." Just ask Ron Johnson. ; )

@Bren -

You brought up the busses!

Apparently, your salesmen wasn't the best at explaining the situation honestly, and your own independent thought wasn't keen enough to allow you to properly analyze the situation for yourself. So, I'll help you out on this one, cause that's the kind of guy that Hoffa is!

On all federal law mandated new vehicle window stickers, also know as the Monroney sticker, it states the domestic parts content in percentage form, the nation in which the engine was made, the nation in which the transmission was made, and the final vehicle assembly point.

The gold standard of automobiles is:

A domestic parts content of 70% or higher.

A US made engine.

A US made transmission.

A vehicle assembled in the US.

By a US based manufacturer.

Obviously, the more US you buy, the more US jobs you're supporting. Hoffa's current primary vehicle is a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4x4 with a break down that looks like this:

Domestic parts content: 87%

Engine: 4.7L PowerTech V8 made at the Mack Avenue Engine Complex, Detroit, MI USA

Transmission: Chrysler 545RFE made at the Indiana Transmission Plant, Kokomo, Indiana USA

Final Assembly Point: with pride by the UAW at the Jefferson North Assembly, Detroit, MI USA

As you can see, Hoffa supports American family sustaining jobs, just like Walker and Romney!

How American are you Bren - what sits in your garage?

@Bren -

Romney's bus is an MCI E4500 manufactured in Pembina, North Dakota USA. Also, the Romney campaign paid for Romney's bus.

Walker's bus is also a North Dakota built MCI.

Here's a story about Obama's campaign busses, that we the taxpayers foot the bill for, which I don't quite understand how that's at all legal:

http://patdollard.com/2012/07/flashback-obama-campaign-bus-made-in-canada/

Romney = American family sustaining jobs

Obama = Canadian family sustaining jobs

Come on Bren, you're the one who said that politicians should be walking their talk, and I agree with you about that!

But if you're going to be consistent with your words, then you have to admit that Romney is better at walking his talk about AMERICAN jobs, meanwhile, Obama appears to have a fascination with giving Canadians good paying jobs.

How can you support the HYPOCRITE in Chief Obama on this point?

The Cordoba is made from 93% American recycled bean cans.

@Greg -

Bean cans, eh? Bush's Baked, or do you figure it was some other brand ;-)

Actually, the Cordoba was assembled with pride by the UAW in Windsor, Ontario, Canada - with soft leather direct from Corinth (actually, Newark, NJ)!

Mr. Hoffa, that 70% domestic parts content proves that the salesman wasn't wrong, doesn't it. Actually my current vehicle is a Toyota Camry assembled in the U.S., which I accepted as partial payment for consulting work.

Concerning the buses, I'll accept your word. I'm sure the intern who ordered Obama's campaign bus didn't think about where it was made. If you wish to believe that Romney is capable of creating jobs, do so, even though his numerous offshore accounts (Ireland, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, etc.) suggest that investing in the U.S. economy isn't Priority #1.

Regardless, let's hope for rain soon.

@Bren -

A Toyota Camry - not very American. First off, Toyota is a foreign company, thus most of the profits from the sale of such vehicles go overseas. And yet, you have a problem with Romney's overseas investments! Although Toyota has increased their domestic parts content considerably, most Toyota engines and transmissions still come from Japan. And while they may be assembled here in the US, they are done so with non-unionized labor in places that you like to refer to as right-to-work-for-less states and are very resistant to unionization.

What happened to walking your talk Bren? Your choice of car appears to directly contradict everything that you've ever espoused on the Patch boards. SHAME on you Bren! Hoffa at least walks his talk in all aspects of his life!

Obama should have personally made sure that the buses he ordered were made here, especially considering that the order was made a month before his big jobs speech! It also didn't help having jobs czar Jeffrey Immelt in his box at that speech, after Immelt had just announced the off-shoring of two major GE divisions to China!

At least when Carter held the White House and pushed for green energy, he actually had solar panels installed on the roof. Carter was a man who walked his talk. But Obama hasn't walked his talk since getting elected, so how can you continue to support such a 'do as I say but not as I do' President? Why didn't Obama insist that the ACA apply to all federally elected officials Bren?

Romney has shown time and again that he is able to wear different pants, appropriate for the job that he's undertaking at the time.

Yes, let's hope for rain soon!

Haven't you been paying attention? Almost every post on this site gets political comments no matter what the subject.

The dictionary defines politics as "the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area." The story is about administrative action taken by Wisconsin's governor in his governing of the area known as Wisconsin. It is, by definition, a political story.

The drought is hard on people too;apparently, some appear to be suffering political delusions due to lack of hydration.

Bren- You really need some psycho-therapy. You are obviously suffering from severe post-election depression.

Brian, Scott Walker is touring the U.S. and was in NY last night helping others get their "fiscal house in order." That's the simple, verifiable truth. Instead of mocking the ill you should just verify the story.

That is really all that you got out of that short article?

@ Greg - Shocked that someone stayed on topic. Your political ramblings are getting old. Go troll somewhere else.

OK, but only because you asked so nicely.

@Bucky -

You must have missed the title to this article - "Gov. Walker Declares State of Emergency for Drought Conditions."

So the drought in S.E. Wisconsin is due to global warming. How do you explain the flooding in N.W. Wisconsin? Of course, it's global warming...

Yes. Global warming causes more volatile weather -- both drought and floods. The arctic ice cap will soon be gone, removing a great insulator from the northern hemisphere. It's counterintuitive, but that can produce monster blizzards AND parching droughts.

Strange that there was a similar cycle of monster blizzards and parching droughts in the mid '30s, leading to the Dust Bowl.

Yeah, I'm sure we don't need an arctic ice cap for anything. Please return to the fascinating discussion about bus manufacture.

I don't know why we need to form up two polarized teams to fight battles over global warming in the first place. Any decent scientist can tell you about the geological history of North America including clear indications of decades long periods of heat and drought centuries before our nation was formed. Some natural cycles are thousands of years long. For our actions today, it's completely irrelevant whether a particular global warming theory is correct.

Would be a such a terrible thing for us to plan ahead a little and be ready to handle extreme weather and potential climate changes, regardless of what may or may not cause them? But no, it seems to be about ignorant egotistical fools bickering over who wins more political points on the "global warming issue" than it is about having common-sense plans in place for how to handle a drought (which has happened before, you know, the term "drought" wasn't invented by climate change scientists in the 1990's).

Naturally, some are always slower to recognize a crisis than others. But it's irritating that an elected official would both deny the problem and seek federal help to mitigate it.

@Mark -

Are you honestly dissing the bus manufacture discussion?

How exactly has Scott Walker "oppose[d] efforts to address this crisis," and what exactly can he do as a Governor that would satisfy your concerns regarding this issue of global warming?

@FakeName: Scott Walker made a big show of opposing global warming legislation backed by Mayor Tom Barrett and Governor Jim Doyle. Also, if you have not heard, Scott Walker will be the featured speaker to the climate-change-denying Heartland Institute on August 9.

Just like every other issue with the right, it has nothing to do with the topic, but is around their idea that the Democrats came up with it.

I love Romneycare.

Greg, your questions are indicative of someone who cares less about meteorology, and more about what is being fed to them, kind of like Jim Ott. A few minutes on Google will answer those questions, if you could only pry yourself away from this blog.

@Mark -

Your comment fails to show how the Doyle/Barrett legislation would have combated global warming. Personally, I support a comprehensive nuclear energy program, similar to that in use by the French!

@Schmitzy -

Once again, you're right on time with your completely meaningless comments!

I just firmly believe that prosperity in the U.S. will lead to environmentalism worldwide. The left hides behind feel good regulations and programs, that have yet to be proven to do anything for our environment. These are implemented at any cost, then they do not practice what they preach. Air Force One doesn't run on D cells ya know. I never said that I do not agree there is climate change, I just take exception to those that relate every weather change to a global warming crisis.

"Obama's focus on the Colorado fires came at the end of an eventful week at the White House capped by Thursday's Supreme Court decision upholding Obama's health care law and congressional passage of two Obama priorities -- a highway construction bill and an extension of lower student loan rates. Obama acknowledged that choosing the fires as the topic of his Saturday address was unusual, but said it was an opportunity to focus on the problem facing the people of Colorado."

Strange, his week was not filled with environmental issues. He was not talking about harvesting the trees, to prevent the wildfires. He did not talk about how the smoke from the wild fires is a major contributor to greenhouse gasses.

Meaningless only to the ignorant Jimmy. From what I hear from my legion of fans -- all of whom are intelligent -- they get it.

You're a legend in your own mind, Schmitz!

Bren has their acquaintances and relatives and Keith's got a legion of fans. So what have you got, JRH?

(Doesn't have to be verifiable. Just pull something out of where the sun don't shine and go with that.)

BTW, I'd like to suggest someone find out where Scott Walker had lunch last Thursday so we can debate the political implications of that, next.

It's true that our continent has weather shifts (temperature, drought, etc.). But surface temperatures are affected/warmed in heavily cemented areas and metal surfaces, which is why cities are warmer than rural areas.

I knew that legion of fans comment would yank McBride's chain.

Your stupidity is always hard to resist, Keith.

Hoffa has been graced with the power and insight of divinity ever since his immaculate conception!

Schmitzy may have a legion of fans, but Hoffa has worshipers!

Is that enough of the commentary from my ass?

As to the issue of global warming, I don't think that any of us have personally studied it enough to intelligently comment as to such! Even in science, it's only just a theory until concrete enough to become a law. Theories are proven wrong every day. It's in properly testing these theories that we learn. And the learning is more important than the eventual law that we arrive at.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

The arctic ice cap will soon be gone.