@Steve -

I noticed that right away!

I'm thinking we need to replace the anchor with the AFL-CIO logo - what do you think?

Also, let's get rid of the miner and replace with a guy leaning on a shovel!

When I get a chance I will keep plugging away. I have a WEAC logo planned in place of the center union pacific or whatever logo is there. The miner needs to be a teacher wearing an IL shirt, holding a petition and a sick note. Maybe your idea and the other guy as a teacher. We need to rid the lead bars and replace them with something else. Yep anchor gone, like the AFL-CIO logo idea.

OK, if we do the other guy as a teacher holding a petition and sick note, drinking coffee, while watching the other guy leaning on a shovel - I think that we just may be on to something here :-)

Steve a friend of mine made a great seal today......

I made it my profile picture......... miner is replaced with union worker on shovel, mariner has red heart balloon, 13 lead ingots are 14 blue fists for the 14 coward dems, drums, segway, union boss, bad apple with worm for the bad teachers, banners, sheep as mascot instead of a digging badger.... she did great work...

Awesome! Whats with the heart shaped balloon?!

Updated version http://tinyurl.com/73fgzl2

ROFLMAO!

@Heather A. -

Steve does nice work, doesn't he?

Apparently!

hahaha, I win at the internet. That made my night Heather, thanks.

Typical....

EARTH FIRST! We'll mine the Planets later.

The ore is still there Bob. Still time to get it right without pissing in our cups. a Bi
Partisan bill would go a long way towards getting the attention of the next mining interests.

Talk is cheap - as of right now there is no "next mining interest". The party that was interested in doing the work has bowed out. Do you think the "next mining interest" isn't going to have the same concerns as this one or that they haven't been keeping their eye on how this went down?

Your side continues to do all it can to make sure this state is business-unfriendly and it's working. You can't force people to make investments of their own money on your terms, just because you want them to. Your side never learns this.

The only thing you're right about is that the ore is still there. And thanks to you folks that most likely where it's going to stay.

Alfred - Keep it coming, love your comments! Thank you for your perspective from the Republican side. Your logic is a breath of fresh air to all of us. Well, maybe not moderate Republicans, if there are any left. Moderate Democrats are quickly filling in that space.

Ron and you keep standing for policies that are starving the families of the northwoods! Keep on foods stamps, right Ronny boy!

Alfred - If the people of the Northwoods are starving, they must have a lot of democratic principle and fortitude. The state senator from the mine location, Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) voted against the bill when the no-compromise Republicans refused his compromise bill, co-sponsored with a Republican senator, to put some better rules in to prevent the Land of Sky Blue Waters from becoming the Land of Dead Lakes and Sick People. Jauch is not being recalled, unlike many of those voting for the defeated mining bill.

Ron, you carry your water for the Democrat thugs well. Jauch voted against this constituants, and voted with the Peoples Republic Democrat party...I am sure you never leave your hovel in West Allis, but travel up north like we wealth Republicans do and you will see folks screaming for jobs and screaming for this mine.

Alfred - At least the water I carry for my Democratic thug friends, as you call my nature loving friends, is pure and cold from my artesian well at my cabin Up North. Time to get ready to hit those wonderful lakes and spend a lot of money up there fishing, boating, going to restaurants, visiting the many tourist attractions, and stopping at the gas stations. And a lot of that money people spend there is from Illinois, Minnesota, and other midwestern states.

Yes Ron, I know how much you lefties love those minimum wage jobs up north, but as you liberals harp almost daily, those are not family supporting jobs at 7.25 per hour...but at least tip the poor starving folks in the Northwoods, I know how cheap you liberals are about tipping....the people up north know how cheap you can be too.

Alfred, how come you can’t look at the long run implications? Geogebic promised 700 jobs. The area they wanted to mine has seen job loss and population decline over decades; therefore, not attributable to current recession. Do you think they would have employed only Wisconsin residents? More would have moved into the state to take some of these jobs. So, how many unemployed Wisconsinites would have gotten jobs? What would have happened when the mine is no longer operational? We would end up right back where we started – with a depressed unemployed area, only now with a larger population that the rest of us must support and nobody would want to vacation at. Our up north has for decades been considered our vacation playground and it is well known there isn’t much else to do for jobs up there other than to cater to tourists. Surely you must know this. Wouldn’t it make more sense to get people working in the southern part of the state since they are the tourists that support the northern part? There are certainly enough of them down here screaming for jobs and I am seeing very little effort in promoting real job growth down here.

What a load of crap. It is thousands of jobs not 700. Lets pull out of every industry and every mine worldwide since hey, some day it might dry up. The mine would have created plenty of jobs "down south" as we have mining suppliers and manufactures in this area. The mine would not have driven away tourism it would have increased it. It would have created a boom area where all services would have set up shop to handle the new mining employees. Thousands of jobs would have been created in the area. This is literal job CREATION.

Either you are completely clueless how all of us are where we are and live where we do and work who we work for. Or you don't want to give Walker any credit and would rather see everyone unemployed living off welfare.

Steve, check out http://gogebictaconite.com/ 700 jobs, not 1000. Please list the 1000's of jobs you are speaking of. And, then tell me with absolute certainty these jobs would be created, but you can't. And, yeah, everyone wants to vacation by a mine. And, mines don't "someday might dry up." They do dry up. Take a drive around upper Michigan through the old mining towns and get back to me. And no, I do not want to give Walker any credit because the reality of it is that this state isn't in any better shape since Mr. what's-in-it-for-me Walker took office. Feb 2012 - Badger Herald headline: Wisconsin leads Midwest in layoffs and unemployment. Please tell me where the improvement is. Or, are you under the impression that if unemployment rates go down that means more work? Sorry to burst your bubble on that one, but a decrease in unemployment rate only means less are collecting benefits, not that they have a job and these people are no longer counted as unemployed. Look at the numbers. Job creation has been dismal, but creating 700 jobs up there really isn't the answer. Try using some common sense and use your fingers to do a little research before spewing.

Steve, you said I should look around my own town and see every store open. Really? Are you kidding? Where are you from? Considering this forum is the MT PLEASANT PATCH, you must not be from around here - otherwise you'd know this area isn't exactly hopping with jobs and there are lots of closed stores and vacant factory building.

It was Fitz who was yapping about "thousands" of jobs. yup!!

You are either brain dead or blind. I have explained to you how this would have created thousands of jobs. Not just the jobs that are directly in the mine.

We all have LCDs now and use cell phones. Industries come and go if you want to go back to the stone age be my guest. We'll be mining iron for decades and progressing our livelyhood.

Yep you're brain dead. This story is posted across many local Patch sites, not just your little town with no more business open.

@Steve: I don't think he gets it. He'll come around; last month he thought Patch was a candidate for Governor :-)
"Midwest" must refer to that vast space between his ears.

Mist the RSS feed also is clueless. Midwest, those stores you see in your town that are closed. If there was 1.5 billion dollars about to be dumped into Mt. Pleasant I can guarantee you they would all reopen and new ones would move in.

Get it?

You guys complain about no jobs but you have no idea how they are created or the ones that do create you run out of the state.

Steve -
Maybe you should get back to maintaining your living for yourself and, supposedly, a family? That thriving business serving the 1%, the Cadillac you drive around for pleasure and love burning up the gas, the big pickup you deduct from your business taxes, your mortgaged house, etc.. These are all in your previous posts. Get to work there, because your repeatedly inane comments are not paying off here.

So you admit, they hate families by not allowing for thousands of jobs. Or does it just hurt that to realize the said point?

The Cadillac and the pickup are one in the same. Yes it has an internal combustion engine as with your vehicle. I do have a house, lucky me that I can afford one, it was a hard debate over a cardboard box or one with asphalt shingles.

I get paid to post no matter what.

Steve - Is your Cadillac Escalade a proper Republican base model, like Pat Nixon's cloth coat, or an ultraconservative's customized EXT Premium, like Wesley Snipes?

It's an EXT but mostly stock. Add a few touches but it still is a work vehicle. It's a shame they don't make the platinum edition for the EXT.

Steve, Geogebic only promised 700 jobs. The potential was for 1000's of jobs throughout the state is only a potential. Geogebic is a well established company with established vendors. I doubt thousands of jobs would have been created. Also, are you under the impression they would only hire Wisconsinites for these jobs?

No, it's thousands of jobs. If you think less then just look into your own town and see why every store is open.

Who cares if they bring in a few people to work the mine from out of State. This was not just a 3-5 year mine. Jobs would have been by Wisconsinites or future ones.

Do I really need to explain how a HUGE mine effects a local economy? Suppose I do.... miners need a truck, buy truck from local car dealer. Miner needs fuel and upgrades for truck, buys from local gas station and auto parts store. Miner needs food, buys from local grocery store. Miner's wife and children need all of above multiple purchase by 2-6. Miner's children need education, support local teachers. Miner needs a house, purchase or build house from local market. Miner needs a night out, goes to local bar. Miner needs clothing, furniture, living supplies, buys from local stores that provide this. Salesman come in on business, hotels are full. Full hotels need workforce to keep up with demand.

Mine needs equipment, purchases from many of the equipment manufacture company stores in southern Wisconsin. Mine needs bits, consumables. Purchase from same businesses. Mining supply company's demand increases need to hire more salespeple, customer service, shipping receiving, mechanics.

Products need to be shipped into mine, logistics companies revenue increases. Increase in demand means an increase in the need for workforce.

Do I have to keep going?

@Ron -

What's your beef exactly against Michigan built Cadillacs?

@Hoffa - The beef about Cadillacs - There should be a gas guzzlers tax. You and Steve believe it is patriotic to drive Cadillacs, but you are funding oppressive foreign dictatorships and terrorist hotbeds when you fill that tank. You are so worried about veterans, how about the dead U.S. soldiers in the Mideast oil areas that never got back to be veterans.. The gas guzzler tax would help defer the costs of waging war there.

Ron: Gas guzzler tax? Steve may need that truck for making a living. So should we tax tractor-trailers because they gulp fuel? Good luck affording the grocery bill- that tax will be passed onto the consumer.
Hey, let's tax railroads. Those hundred thousand horsepower locomotives must drink fuel. Obama wants no part of an oil pipeline, but would prefer to let Buffett's railcars move the oil cross country.
Next you are going to tell me I should pay a tax for my lawn mower because I could just have sheep that eat and mow my lawn.

You can't honestly believe that. Send your buddy Obama a tax bill then for the millions of gallons of fuel he burns going on vacation. And yourself one since I'm sure your car doesn't burn rainbows and sunshine.

I support domestic drilling so I can fill my V8 with American Oil that provides American jobs. My truck provides jobs and economic wealth to this economy. It is a tool to grow my business that has served me well. You guys are getting nuttier by the post. I'll be sure to floor it at every intersection on the way home in your name.

How about rid our dependancy on foreign oil by drilling here in the US?

They are against any drilling or mining, but also are against "foreign" oil. Progressives lol

Back to a tax Ron. I do pay taxes on my fuel, and if I burn more fuel than you I pay more taxes. For every gallon of fuel I burn in WI $0.309 goes to federal and state government.

"Drill baby drill" You may remember that was changed by the BP fiasco to "Spill baby spill", or, and so very sadly for the Gulf and its inhabitants, "Kill baby kill". Since then, astute Republicans have distanced themselves from the "Drill baby drill" rant. But I like to go around yelling it in my customized turbo charged V-12 Humvee , with a huge trailer of ATVs for exploring for iron mining sites in pristine locations Up North, pretending to be a Republican. Lots of liberals up there, even armed ones, not good to do that.

By all means keep doing that then Ron.

Burn all the fuel you want, drill baby drill.

This area was once pristine. Then you moved in, bulldozed all the tress to make way for your house and your employment and your stores and your roads. Why do you hate the environment?

Please do not use any products where it's resources were mined out the earth. I expect we won't be seeing much of you lying online anytime soon.

Bren and her ilk are happy that the folks in the Northwoods now do not have many prospects of making over 7.25 per hour, thats right, you folks in the Northwoods have to starve...or better yet, get on food stamps because King Obama is the food stamp president.

Alfred - You are saying the minimum wage is too low. Now you are talking some real sense about those concerned about others making a living wage.

Tim Carpenter is a coward!!! Grow a pair!!!

If it were up to Bren we all would be living like a cave man fighting over food. I suspect he would lose.

Steve, I suspect Bren is a SHE from her posts, which I read. I think you would be a wonderful cave man. You could club the hell out of liberal cave women.

Gear, simply not true. If up to me we will have a better understanding of soil composition before any drilling starts.

Bren, why are you still posing? Your computer has many products that came from mining and drilling.

The overburden (soil) is removed before mining can begin. It is a non factor.

:) like :)

I was born and raised in Hurley and attended the schools and my father was a miner, when I graduated the kids left to come to the city to look for work as the mines were starting to close because of the low grade of ore and the cost of keeping the mines pumped out and maintaince cost's involved. I kept the house for many years and it was a real shame to go home in the summer and see no employment for those people. That mine would have surly helped those people and kids coming out of high school could have stay there and had a job.I just don't get how the enviromentalist are against everything but then cry because companys move their business away. You can't expect a business to open shop and your going to tell them how to run their business. You cry about everything being made overseas but you don't want business in this country.Maybe when your head is as empty as your stomach a light will go on but I doubt it.Gee I wonder if the check from the tribes cleared the bank for Schultz and Jauch?

@mike dee
You need to get the mining company to think and act on the environment. And planting seeds for a vile story on these two good Senators is Wrong--and shameful.

..........Maybe when your head is as empty as your stomach a light will go on but I doubt it.Gee I wonder if the check from the tribes cleared the bank for Schultz and Jauch?

Gear, Steve, you are perhaps not understanding about the taconite mining process. The ore is mined from soil, and if the soil contains pyrite, sulfuric acid can be created through mining waste. The recent mining bill included language that suggested that iron ore body is defined as containing additional minerals, which is erroneous. The presence of additional minerals needs to be examined very closely.

There's nothing in my comments to suggest that I am anti-mining, so please stop going there. I am anti-sulfur and anti-arsenic in the water that northern Wisconsin relatives drink. That's why I state, rinse and repeat: let's test the soil and share the results. Then we know what we're dealing with when a RFP is prepared.

Does anyone other than me find it strange that GTAC backed out so quickly?

We can't get radium out of the water in Waukesha County, and there is no mine there. If there is poison in the ground- it eventually ends up in the wells.
At least with a mining operation, someone is on the hook to pay for clean drinking water.
Seriously, there should be little variation from State to State.

I guess we'll see. I don't see any other companies rushing in to fill the void left by GTAC at this point. I don't see any indication that, had the other bill been considered, GTAC would not have done the same thing. Jauch claimed to be "puzzled" by GTAC's pulling out after 426 was rejected. It shouldn't be puzzling to anyone.

The most toxic, polluted thing in this state right now is the business climate, thanks to those on the left who've made it very clear that, unless businesses are willing to operate according to their terms and their terms, only, they're not wanted here.

@Craig -- No sense hurrying the process along by digging it up and letting the tailings leach into the river. Isn't this about providing assurances that precautions will be put in place to keep this from happening?

Randy: worst case scenario is a multimillion dollar corporation pays for clean water to drink. Chances are many of those private wells are no good already.

Randy, there was no point in considering the so-called compromise plan of Jauch/Schultz. The bill was about modernizing Wisconsin's anti-business mining regulation. The mining company was on record for saying they wouldn't do business in WI if that poison pill bill passed. What do you not get about bringing business to WI? Yes this had everything to do with writing law that made it reasonable for Gogebic to come to WI. Passing a bill that they don't want is just mental masturbation... feel-good-ism. Get a grip. There is no mercury in iron. There are no disasters in either Michigan or Minnesota. And now there are no jobs up north, or in MKE. Thanks a lot, dude.

@GearHead -- http://www.ashlandcurrent.com/opinion/11/05/10/no-longer-support-gogebic-taconite-mine

"Even though taconite mining is not sulfide mining it still creates a sulfide and mercury pollution cycle. This cycle is unequivocally incompatible with fresh water. When sulfates enter the water they are acted on by a sulfide eating bacteria that turns mercury into methyl-mercury. This is the kind of mercury that gets transferred up the food chain and accumulates in the tissue of fish. It is the kind of mercury that turns into "do not eat fish from this body of water" warnings."

Randy....can you clarify that? Is the problem with fish from Lake MIchigan due to burning coal for power or from the example you just stated?
I don't eat fish, even if my heart is full of sludge from red meat- I couldn't eat enough fish for it to harm me.

@Craig -- I can't clarify. if I understood the science I'd be making a lot more money than I do. I just know that mercury is raised as an issue in the articles concerning this proposed mining operation.

the current laws prevent mining from every happening. At least no company would ever stick around and waste millions and years to find out if they are in business.

There is a reason that they need to be weakened. We have over regulated in years past. It's not evil, it's common sense.

@Craig - here is a link that discusses the by products of taconite mining. http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/view-document.html?gid=2323
If you are interested, do a web search on Northshore Mining, a taconite mine located in MN that just got hit for for 240,000 air pollution fine. Even after the mining has stopped, rain run off continues to collect hazardous materials that end up in the ground water. It takes years to fully recover the mined area because what's left won't support plant growth. There is always a risk that the company, whatever company, doing the polluting and damage to the land goes out of business leaving the tax payer left holding the clean up bill.

I remember something about the Lake Michigan watershed crossing the Subcontinental Divide; requiring other states and Canada's approval. Waukesha sets on the Superior watershed if my memory serves me correctly?
What was Ruekert and Mielke's proposed solution?

@Craig -- you're right. Waukesha County is on the other side of a subcontinental divide from Lake Michigan. It happens right round Moorland Road. Everything to the east flows into Lake Michigan and thence out the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic. Everything to the west, starting with Deer Creek to Poplar to the Fox River ends up in the Mississippi and thence to the Gulf.

And yes, my well water comes from Superior.

awesome! Thanks for the info.

@$$and Sense -- Just basing this on what my father told me once. Doesn't it depend partly on the depth of the well?

Iron county has a total population of 5,900. The Wisconsin counties that border it have a total population of 55,000. On a regional basis,this would be the economic equivalent of bringing more than 100,000 new jobs into the Milwaukee area.

@Ron Abalone... Downstate elitist, me? For pointing out the potential economic scale and significance of the mining project, to the local 'up north' economy.

Jay

It is "up nort", OK? get your lingo down, fer sure?

Limestone and dolomite sure sounds like my water. I'm chipping it off my porcelain fixtures constantly.

Boring? It is fascinating to me, especially having been up around Friendship with their sandstone rocks.

Whatever...

Nate the Hate -
There is a sailor on the flag also. There are still a few laker ships and charter boats. Not much happening on the big Lakes these days like days of yore though. Commercial fishing is almost dead.
There is also a stack of lead ingots on the flag, along with that miner. Bucky Badger is there also, as early miners in Wisconsin either lived in mine shafts or dug burrowlike huts resembling badger holes, down in there with the poisonous lead ore.
The flag also has the national shield in the center, and E Pluribus Unum, showing a respect for the U.S. government.
Ah, for the good old days of the mid-19th century when the flag was conceived.

Ron, the absence of fishing and shipping is due to a natural evolution of our current economy. It is just easier, cheaper or faster to ship by other means. And since seafood can be transported virtually overnight, it is not as profitable to fish in the Great Lakes. Unlike mining which COULD be profitable, but made impossible by artificial means, mainly an hyperactive Democratic party.

Nate, I don't think we could find a protester with an appropriate sign or gesture to put on the seal/flag.

Wow. Talk about being bitter.

I have been posting here all along. Unlike you and many of your Liberal friends, I do not feel the need to respond to every post. I know that if you and your ilk don't listen to a well thought and reasoned response the first time, repeating it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over will not make a difference.

Ron, that's just the point. If they thought they could live within the "reasonable rules" and make a profit, they would have stayed and done so. They didn't, so they backed out on the deal. What remains to be seen is if any other company jumps into the lurch, now the Gogebic is out. If not, then it could very well be that the "reasonable rules" are not reasonable from the standpoint of operating a mine profitably in Wisconsin.

Only time will tell. What will really be interesting, if another company does show interest, is the number of hoops the left is willing to put out there for them to jump through in order to get them to do the same thing Gogebic ultimately did.

Ron, I use the moniker "Anti-Alinsky" because I believe facts, not emotion should drive a discussion.

As I stated above the fact we no longer fish the great lakes is for economic reasons, part of which is invasive species and pollution. However, these are, for a lack of a better term, natural reasons. The legislatures from the states surrounding the great lakes did not sit down and say "no more fishing".

Mining on the other hand COULD be viable, except 17 of our Liberal senators decided they would rather kill any possibility of jobs rather than let the DNR, and EPA determine environmental impacts.

And I wouldn't consider Gogebic Taconite "running home like a crybaby". The rules we have in place make it impossible to mine in this state at this time.

As far as the sailor and miner being emblematic, that true. However the reason they were chosen rather than the cow or corn stalk is because they were a proud part of our early history. A history we are apparently trying to distance ourselves from. Nate was using a little something know as sarcasm. It would be like Texas removing their Lone Star from their flag, or Washington removing the image of George Washington from theirs.

You honestly want me to look at something over on the Daily Kos seriously, but when I point you in the direction of conservative blogs with exclusives, you scoff.

Yeah, right!!!

You are no conservative. Now let me quote
From http://muskego.patch.com/articles/gov-walker-bipartisan-and-pro-jobs :
Hi, I’m Scott Walker

Blah, blah blah

SSDD, Sie arsch loch!

And:
As much as I am disgusted with the man, I cannot support the recall movement. I believe in fair play but cannot back all the money being spent on the recall effort. History will be Walker's ultimate judge. I voted for him, but he turned out to be a shill for someone else...Put the pressure on your state reps and make them accountable for their decisions...

and from http://muskego.patch.com/blog_posts/no-jobs-under-walker

What gets me is that Walker and his ilk can pound the piss out of most public unions (excepting the corrupt badge unions which paid him off) but he can't control one GD department (WDNR) under his direct watch? How pathetic is this guy? Which just puts more credence on what I have been posting all along, NO MORE POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS! He should be on his hands and knees with his mouth open to get Gogebic back here. Another Doyle like POS.

You don't come off as a conservative, just a grumpy old man who isn't happy with anything.

Nicely said.

http://buffalobeast.com/?p=12820

How do you come off complaining about re-posting comments? You just did that with me on Friday. Check out your comment above with the 12:06 time-stamp.

I have stated time and again if it were my decision, I would have included police and fire. However, I am not an elected official and cannot make those decisions. I can see the reasoning behind it, but still disagree.

So how can you, as a self-proclaimed Conservative, blast Governor Walker as badly (in both senses of the word) as you do? Sure, I would love to have Ronald Regan as our Governor, but you know what? It ain't going to happen. Sure, I have talked to my representatives in Madison to let them know my opinions (for what good it does). But ya know what? You don't always score on every shot. Scott Walker is the best leader to start leading this state into the red.

Speaking of Reagan, do you remember the 11th commandment? Actually, I am sure you don't. It goes "Thou shalt not speak ill of other conservatives".

I have revised my original assessment. You are nothing but a grumpy old Liberal whose task is to try to bad talk Governor Walker posing as a Conservative.