Hey State Senator "Texas" Ted Kanavas, See Ya Later.

I love creative idea's like the one shown here. A week ago, one of the BIG thinkers at Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce suggested we be more like Alabama. Now we have a State Senator, Ted Kanavas, wishing we were more like Texas. Did you ever get the idea these Republican scoundrels would feel right at home in the southern United States? One Wisconsin Now is taking Texas Ted to task;

"If we don't change and change soon, I may bump into my lawyer friend again, but it just might be in Texas." -- Senator Ted Kanavas's threat to move to Texas, 6/30/09

Last week, I pointed out how ridiculous it is for Texas Ted to claim Texas is better than Wisconsin. Texas ranks dead last of all 50 states in health care coverage and children with health insurance, but first in teenage birthrate and the number of state-sponsored executions. The Lone Star State has the lowest high school graduation rate, the dirtiest air and water, the third highest number of convicted public officials and the lowest voter turnout in the nation.

So far, Sen. Ted Kanavas hasn't made good on his threat to take his failed ideas to the Lone Star State. The One Wisconsin Now community has taken notice. Many of you responded to our call to send Texas Ted a message about his desire to leave our great state, and one theme quickly emerged: "Love it or leave it!"-Arno M.

Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now

I love it.

If you thought Public Schools Wasted Taxpayer Dollars, Check out what Private Charter schools are doing.

Some Charter schools are robbing taxpayers blind, and more will follow once they start noticing how others are learning to game the system. In Republican states, where little if any regulation is in place, private schools will have a field day. Is the Obama administration paying attention?

The Dallas Morning News: Charter School Company’s Lease Deals Criticized

A national charter school company that plans to open new schools in Texas has run afoul of an education official in Nevada and two of its former principals, and they all pose the same question.

Does Imagine Schools Inc. force its charter schools to spend too much money on complex real estate deals and not enough money on teachers and academic programs?

Typically, after an Imagine-managed charter school gets approval to open, Schoolhouse Finance, Imagine's real estate arm, purchases a campus and charges the school rent. After the school begins to pay that rent, Schoolhouse sells the campus to a real estate investment trust, which then leases it back to Schoolhouse.

The charter school eventually sends rent payments – in one case upward of 40 percent of the school's entire publicly funded budget – to two for-profit companies.

"The arrangement is very lucrative because it's a direct conduit to public funds. The school [property] is paid off with public funds," said Gary Horton, who oversees charter school funding for the Nevada Department of Education.

Imagine executives say their business practices are sound and comply with all state laws, according to Barry Sharp, Imagine's chief financial officer. After hearing testimony about Imagine's complex deals to acquire land and construct school buildings, Texas Board of Education member David Bradley asked Sharp, "So are you in the real estate business or the charter [school] business?"

Sharp responded, "We are in the business of educating children and giving parents a choice, and part of that is real estate."

In Nevada, the state awarded 100 Academy of Excellence in North Las Vegas a charter, and the school hired Imagine to run its educational services. But 100 Academy of Excellence's annual rent, which represents 40 percent of its annual state-funded budget, leaves the school struggling to pay for textbooks, according to Nevada Department of Education records. "My concern is that I have to make payments [to the charter school], and I know the payments aren't going to the kids," said Guy Horton, who oversees charter school funding for the Nevada Department of Education.

In general, charter schools in Texas are exempt from the financial oversight that the state education officials give school districts. The agency annually grades how school districts spend their money, but not yet for charters. Hugh Wallace knew accepting the principal's job at 100 Academy of Excellence in North Las Vegas presented a challenge. Eight months into the job, he said, he realized that nearly 40 percent of his state funding went to pay rent to Schoolhouse Finance. And the rent jumps a few percent each year, according to the charter school's lease agreement.

So Wallace said he asked his boss if the school's lease on the 50,000-square-foot building could be reduced. "I was told to never ask about the lease payment or I would get fired," he said. "I was given a reprimand." But Wallace kept asking about the lease and about Imagine's control of the charter school. Wallace said Imagine fired him in early November. "I was asking too many questions about finances and operations," he said.

So if it’s legal, is it fair to use taxpayer money for high rents, allow private schools to profit from those rents and finally give parents a choice?
A nearby charter school unrelated to Imagine receives about the same state funding as 100 Academy of Excellence. But last year, it paid about 14 percent of its state funding for building rent, according to Nevada's education department.

Republican State Rep. Townsend: Tax Credits not enough for Businesses. How About a Sales Tax Holiday

The “free market” is a wonderful thing. It works best when you get government out of the way, right? Wrong. These firm Republican convictions are tossed out the door when it comes to the government stepping in with a little taxpayer handout. Even tax credits for business, paid for by taxpayers, aren’t enough to allow the “free market” to work.

Northwestern.com:"Republican State Rep. John Townsend said tax credits included in the Wisconsin state budget may not be the answer for retaining companies like Mercury Marine … considering consolidating operations at Fond du Lac or Stillwater, Okla., a plant currently employing about 400.

"The problem with tax credits are they're only good if the company is making money," the Fond du Lac Republican said. "They can be good if the economy is going well or you're trying to encourage a company to come to a state or expand in a state. They could be very good incentives."

So how do you allow the free market to work its magic and convince Mercury Marine to stay in Wisconsin? Do you convince people they’re not so poor? Do you tell them they're not going to lose their jobs? Or do you convince them that now is the right time go shopping? The answer is, GO SHOPPING!

"In an effort to shore up the boating sector, Townsend announced plans to introduce a bill that would encourage buyers to purchase new boats, motors and trailers by offering a one-year moratorium on Wisconsin state sales tax. The moratorium would apply on purchases up to $30,000."

Crazy talk? God yes. Either Townsend wants a law that only affects the boating industry, exempting them from paying a sales tax or, no sales tax on any purchases in the state for a whole year. Either way, Townsend must have forgotten that Wisconsin is having a problem paying its bills.

If we have learned anything in the past year, except for Democrats and Americans all over the country, people want to go on a spending spree.

Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Walker and Neumann Promise Freedom, Liberty and Corporate Welfare.

Republicans love to hand out corporate welfare, tax credits, to attracted and retain businesses in Wisconsin. The GOP grovels at the feet of anything that comes along that promises to create jobs. It matters little if it reduces the states general fund to pay its bills. There’s no balance for these conservative free marketers who don’t see a corporate responsibility for public services.

Which leads me to a major bone of contention when it comes to the Republican gubernatorial run in the upcoming 2010 elections.

Watch for the words freedom, liberty, business, jobs and any reference to environmental policy. Freedom and liberty refer to corporate deregulation and liability. It also allows “Joe Citizen” the freedom to take on big business in the courts, laws permitting and at their own expense, because individually we’ve got the power to scare their corporate trial lawyers.

Check out the following comments from the GOP candidates for governor from Upfront with Mike Gousha (goo-Shay): Failed Republican Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s promise of liberty and freedom, along with the corporate policy focus of former right wing crazy and politician Mark Neumann. Neumann already has corporate donors calling him up asking how they can help (donate?). And those other, more troublesome issues, like doing away with poverty, investing in education and replacing Wisconsin’s aging infrastructure? All in good time… like never. Have you noticed there's never a really good time to spend that extra money?



What I don't understand is how anyone can think (Republicans don't) that as state services increase in price, we can enact policies that reduce state coffers by cutting taxes or advocating year long sales tax holidays. I guess that's what makes them fiscal geniuses.

Palin Can’t take the Heat, the Pressure or get Her Way, so She Quits. Real Presidential Material.

Nine reasons, there are thousands more, why the Wasilla whiner Sarah Palin has been scaring so many people.

(AP) - Ever since Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin returned from the presidential campaign trail, many Alaskans felt her heart wasn't in the job.
1. One lawmaker quipped after her state of the state address … that the only eye contact she made in the legislative chamber was with the television camera.
2. Her recent appointments, including an attorney general candidate who became the first Cabinet appointment ever rejected by the Alaska Legislature.
3. A potential veto override of nearly $29 million in federal stimulus funds for energy efficiency programs. She rejected the funds, fearing … strings attached. Legislators said they could find no such strings.
4. Palin's natural gas: whether North Slope leaseholders will commit to shipping gas in the pipeline, which is still at least a decade away.
5. Palin's quitting may be more about something simpler: cutting her losses.
6. Political observers … say the governor was a disengaged presence around the state Capitol since she returned from the presidential campaign trail, and it was obvious her heart wasn't in the job. "She had a surprising amount of disinterest in state government after November," said state Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage. "She showed a complete lack of interest in solving them (problems)."
7. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, (now Governor), said, "I think what I heard from the governor really had to do with the weight on her, the concern she had for the cost of all the ethics investigations and the like, the way that that weighed on her with respect to her inability to just move forward Alaska's agenda on behalf of Alaskans in the current context of the environment. So that's what I saw," he told Fox News Sunday.
8. (A) Juneau political watcher says the governor's resignation makes sense. With the complete breakdown of her alliance with Democrats, she has no ability to move her policies forward in. Indeed, her Alaska agenda, the gas pipeline in particular, is likely to fare much better with her out of the picture."
9. Palin has also faced growing criticism within the Republican party. Vanity Fair magazine published a highly critical piece on Palin, with unnamed John McCain campaign aides questioning if Palin was ever really prepared for the presidency.

You can be on the Enterprise, a Star Trek Yourself, and waste a few unimportant Minutes.

Cheez-It has a weird Star Trek widget up on their site, cheez-it.com. I thought I would link to a few bizarre configurations using a "strangers" photo.

My Officer link.

My Vulcan Link.

My Captain Link.

You can do it too, and pick your dialog.

Victim Gov Palin Threatens Frivolous Lawsuits, Tearing Down Another “Republican Issue.” What do they stand for anymore?

I think it's sad that this isn't the last we'll hear of Sarah Palin. Someone so vindictive will hang around forever, or at least until every critic is in jail, or discredited in the conservative community.

"AP/Huffington Post - Outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin cast herself as a victim and blasted the media, calling the response to her announcement "predictable" and out of touch.
"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," the statement said. "And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make."

Palin doesn’t want people to think she’s a quiter, even though she is, or that she can’t take the heat, which she can’t. But if that weren’t enough, Palin’s status as a public figure opens her up to legally protected criticism, what private citizens would call defamation. My gut feel is that she wants to get even with someone, anyone liberal, for the cost of defending herself against alleged unethical and legal behavior. This could be entertaining:

"Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Saturday warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims.

"To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as 'fact' that Governor Palin resigned because she is 'under federal investigation' for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation," Van Flein said in a statement. "This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law."

Would such a God fearing American like Palin scratch out the First Amendment to the Constitution for the simple act of revenge? You betcha. Using her kids one more time for attention, outrage and public sympathy, this self important Republican carnival barker revealed all we needed to know.

"Palin gave many reasons for stepping down; she was tired of the tasteless jokes aimed at her five children, including her son Trig, who has Down syndrome…"

Right, liberals and Democrats typically make fun of the less fortunate in society and advocate abandoning them, claiming that they’re a drag on society and a waste of taxpayer dollars. I’ve never been aware of a “tasteless joke” aimed at Trig. Can you say projection? Finally, Palin is symbolized by the last clown in the 4th of July parade.

"The governor spent the Fourth of July weekend in the state capital, Juneau, but was only spotted briefly on the sidelines of the city's parade. She had been invited to ride in a convertible, as she did last year, but never told organizers whether she would attend.

Juneau parade director Jean Sztuk said officials drew up banners in case Palin showed and was willing to take part. As the last of the parade's clowns and marching bands headed past her, Sztuk gave up on Palin."

Most of us did, the moment she opened her mouth.

Republican Radicalism a result of taking Their Crazy Talk Seriously

The transformation of the Republican Party to a radical uncompromising fringe element is due in part to a lack of honest criticism by Democrats and the public. We entertained their rejection of science as an honest difference of opinion. We entertained their crazy comments about socialism and liberal support of terrorists as an honest debate about national security. We entertained the idea of deregulation and global competition even as American jobs and pay raced to the bottom. We enabled them. We nodded our heads in respectful disagreement.

Remember when tea bag Republicans declared that "they were the government" and demanded that their elected Representatives listen to their protests? It was an odd moment to say the least.

They are also anti-government, which would make them self loathing or hypocritical. It has never occurred to them that if they reduced government, they would have no one to protest to.

It hasn’t occurred to them that private means “not public,” that is the freedom of business to do what they want, without pubic accountability. Without the federal departments that regulate capitalism, the same bureaucracies they would do away with, angry protests would fall on deaf corporate ears.

It really is that simple.

So it should come as no surprise that the following letter to the Wisconsin State Journal from a concerned conservative reader, rants endlessly about the “cold-hearted bureaucrat” the public elected into his government.

"Join me and re-declare your independence from oppressive government. Refuse government assistance of all kinds, and refuse to do business with anyone who relies on handouts. If you need help, look to your friends and neighbors, not a cold-hearted bureaucrat."

“Refuse to do business with anyone who relies on handouts?” You mean like government handouts to corporations? You mean the minimum wage cleaning person excepting Section 8 housing vouchers trying to keep a roof over their family’s heads? You mean the person on unemployment or food stamps applying for work? Think about it, how would you feel if your neighbor stopped by asking for a handout? Oh boy! The readers letter continues…

"Don't fall for their attempts to pit the working class against the wealthy. They use economic hardship as an excuse to give more power to government while they demonize capitalism and those of us who take care of ourselves."

After watching the deluge of American’s hard earned investments and retirement accounts cut in half, and tens of millions of foreclosures due to voluntary and ignored regulations on Wall Street, demonizing capitalism is not a hard sell these days. Except maybe to the “cold hearted” conservative. He continues with the predictable flag waving section of his letter…

"In the United States of America, everyone who is willing to work hard can become anything they desire. The modern liberal philosophy rewards laziness while the modern capitalist philosophy rewards hard work. Which is more fair?"

Modern capitalists are still getting hefty bonuses and compensation packages in corporate board rooms on and off Wall Street while lazy Americans pick up the pieces of their now shattered lives and lost savings.

We encouraged this Ayn Rand BS without asking for proof their theories had any logical substance or practical application. The fact that no country has attempted unregulated free market capitalism should have told us something. But we, Democrats and the media, played along and our economy collapsed. Now they want to repeat the same failed theories, expecting a different outcome.

And we're still crazy as a nation to entertain their opinions as if they had substance.

Seder Plows Snow under with Common Sense Health Care.

Air America has been dumping on Sam Seder for years. Seder's insights and uncanny ability to see the next big story has gone unrewarded as well. While he may still work for them, and is still undervalued, his creative juices are still flowing.

Taking off on the rabbit hole logic of Republicans, Seder slams Olympia Snow's comment on the evils of good inexpensive health care doing away with a persons ability to choose a more expensive dysfunctional plan. We wouldn't want that to happen.

Free Market Conservatives Betrayed by One of their Own: Wal-Mart

The great Conservative retail success story, Wal-Mart, shocked the free market shoppers, pundits and think tanks when they agreed to a major plank in health care reform. They decided to side with Barack Obama. Even worse, Wal-Mart teamed up with the SEIU, the country's largest union, agreeing to back a plan that requires companies to pay for employee health care or be fined.

Fox News went ballistic and their show hosts twisted into pretzels. Stuart Varney didn't know what to make of it, and the Cato institute representative appeared dumbfounded. One guest blamed Wal-Mart's surrender on the White House's "Chicago style" politics.

Open Carry Gun Crazies try to Endanger Public by Scaring them into Acceptance

Nationwide, open carry and concealed carry advocates are pushing our communities into a state of fear, by first scaring people into acceptance, and also challenging armed criminals to a showdown. This is a slow process of social deterioration. Even gun nuts admit, as I’ve included below, not every proponent of open and concealed carry rights are stable upstanding citizens who are able to temper their enthusiasm. What’s even more outrageous is the fact that advocates willing to push the limits are not speaking from within the state, but are outsiders on a mission to force their agenda on others.

"The Capital Times: With two area murders in the past two weeks, two officers shot, and a popular candy store owner killed in Milwaukee -- all by gunfire -- it might seem to be an odd time to try to get more guns on the street. "That's just all the more reason why the good guys ought to be able to carry their guns," says Mark Stollenwerk, co-founder of OpenCarry.org, a Virginia-based pro-gun website that has targeted Wisconsin for a media and lobbying campaign to loosen restrictions on guns. Stollenwerk says of the 44 states that allow citizens to openly carry firearms, Wisconsin has the most obstacles in place…"

The next idea is the dangerous proposition that no-gun zones only encourage crazy people to attack, a shameless ploy of fear mongering. You’ll also meet Candace Dainty, who wants guns everywhere, even after admitting candidly that she’s afraid of some of the people within the legal, safe and sane community of gun advocacy.

"You make a store or a school or a bank a no-gun zone, you make it a prime target for somebody who wants to shoot the place up," says Sauk City gun advocate Candace Dainty. Dainty, statewide organizer for the national group Second Amendment Sisters, is outspoken in her belief that guns -- carried in the open or concealed -- should be allowed anywhere: schools, public buildings, hospitals.

Earlier this year, she tried to organize a rally to take place on June 16 on the grounds of the State Capitol. She scrubbed the plan, ironically, because she was afraid of who might show up with a gun. Reading an online forum on OpenCarry.org, she came upon discussions among several people who planned to show up with long guns, which would have taken the event in an unintended direction, she says.

"In every whole group, you're going to have a nut case or two," she says. "And my rally drew out the nut cases."

And carrying guns in public won’t draw out the nut cases?

Last word:

But a Google news search for accidental shootings reveals the downside of gun ownership: There's the 3-year-old girl in Bakersfield, Calif., who found a .45-caliber handgun under her parents' bed and shot her 2-year-old brother dead; the Newton County, Texas, man who went to his trailer home to retrieve a .40-caliber Glock pistol to settle a property dispute but instead shot his fiance in the head; the Hiram, Ohio, man who killed his 58-year-old wife while he was cleaning his gun.

But opencarry.com’s Stollenwerk is quick to provide the positives: the far more rare but less tragic stories of crimes thwarted by plucky armed citizens.

Angry “Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow” Just the Opposite, “…it won’t be difficult to adjust” to Global Warming. Threatens to Sue UW-Madison

Conservatives are so picked on, aren’t they? They are victims again of a liberal university. A group by the loony name of Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, which should raise a few red flags immediately, want their fringe stupidity and crazy talk to have the same weight of importance as scientific fact. This group of conservative college victims believe global warming is “overblown” and would “Let people adjust without government intervention. We don’t think global warming will be more than a degree or two over a century so we don’t think it will be difficult to adjust.” That’s a direct quote from CFACT national director Bill Gilles. Global warming to CFACT means dressing appropriately for the eventual environmental conditions.

Now they’re angry with UW-Madison:

(AP) - A conservative college group, Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, is threatening to sue the University of Wisconsin-Madison, claiming the school wiped out its funding as retaliation against its stance on global warming and other issues. Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, or CFACT, promotes the idea that environmental issues are better handled by the free market, not by government interference. (The) Student Services Finance Committee said CFACT failed to comply with a number of mandatory clerical issues, such as submitting its end-of-year reports on time.

State Republicans would blow a gasket if a Democrat demanded the university restore a liberal organizations student funding, screaming liberal bias and political meddling. That’s not how they see it when they step in to influence the political make-up of the university community.

State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, was one of nine state legislators to ask the chancellor to reconsider. “Without CFACT on campus, discussions about environmental and social issues will be completely one-sided,” they wrote in May. “The diversity that CFACT adds to these issues is invaluable to the UW campus and should be maintained. We have a huge problem in society. Too many of our universities hate any diversity of viewpoint other than that of the hard left. It’s appalling.”

“Hard left?” That certainly isn’t partisan, is it? No one is denying them a voice and platform within the rules and regulations governing every other campus organization. But for young Republicans, regulation is bad, and accountability and a level playing field governing all students groups are unfair to their scorched earth policies.

Wisconsin State Journal: They were one of a number of groups — including Vets for Vets, Engineers Without Borders, the Legal Information Center, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council — that lost funding last year because of stricter criteria. The new eligibility criteria requires that organizations benefit all students, not just a niche group.

These Conservative UW students are learning fast though. They’re finding it’s so much easier to whine, throw a tantrum and play the victim. That’s how Republicans get elected to political office.

Business Lobby WMC Silent on Retaining GM in State. Are They Affraid of a little Work?

The recent decision by GM to put a small-car assembly line in Michigan rather than in Janesville’s former truck plant was a real blow to the workers and the state. But there’s an element to this story that almost everyone missed, which we’ll get to in a moment. It strange how automatic it is for me to rule out certain Conservative lobbying groups because I expect them to continue to advocate low taxes and free markets policies.

Like “pro-life” zealots trying to ban abortions and contraceptives, yet never advocate childhood health care or senior services as a way of saving lives, Wisconsin’s business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, has done more to elect Supreme Court Justices than attract businesses to the state.

Ed Garvey, lawyer, political activist and the editor of the fightingbob.com wrote in his Capital Times opinion:

"Where do you suppose Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce was while the governor fought to keep the Janesville plant open? We hear from WMC on just about every issue from taxes to elections, but heard nothing on this one. Why not, Jim Haney? Don't you care about Wisconsin and the 1,200 families in Janesville?

This story does not have a happy ending. The 1,200 workers in Janesville join 7 million on the unemployment lines."

Stunning isn’t it. One would think they would be in the forefront of trying to retain the “manufacturing” base in Wisconsin along with living up to the "M" in their name. Instead, they’re churning out press releases telling companies how bad the state is for business. To everyone else reading their stuff, it’s really WMC that appears to be bad for business.

Rogue Broker Spikes Oil Prices. Proof Speculators Need Regulating in Commodities Markets

The Financial Times layed it out very simply:

The startling spike in oil prices to their highest level this year on Tuesday was caused by a rogue broker who placed a massive bet in the Brent oil market, triggering almost $10m of losses for his company. PVM Oil Associates, the world’s largest over-the-counter oil brokerage, said on Thursday it had been the “victim of unauthorised trading”.

Traders said the broker implicated had allegedly accounted for at least half of the
unusual activity, with the rest the result of others chasing the rally. The incidents come as regulators are considering tougher oversight of the commodities markets after policymakers complained that speculators fuelled last year’s surge in oil and agriculture prices.

The involvement of PVM is ironic considering the company’s head, David Hufton, has been an outspoken critic of speculators in the oil market, calling some of the exchanges “electronic oil casinos”. In 2006, he said that “if futures exchanges did not exist, oil prices would be a lot lower”.

I’m hoping my conservative friend will read this and back off his claim these guys are just doing their job and making a lot of money.

Yea, at ours and the countries expense.

Obama Stimulus Can't Stop or Reverse Republican Caused Economic Recession. They Want you to Blame Obama.

Republicans would love it if we forgot entirely, despite unemployment at 9.5 percent and falling wages, that this is the end result of their ideologically driven theory of unregulated free market capitalism with tax cuts for the rich.

Conservative will focus on President Obama’s policy failure to reverse the GOP’s devastating economic blunders in just 6 months. Whether the administrations stimulus plan worked or not is not the issue, and they know it. What we’re still seeing is a Milton Friedman meltdown, starting with Ronald Reagan and ending with a steroidal number of Bush tax cuts, which sealed the fate of the Republican Party.

The following numbers were not created by Obama’s attempt to stop the economic slide, that’s another debate entirely. This is just the dust clearing around the Republican recession. Think how much worse it would be if they succeeded in not helping the auto industry soften its painful downsizing.

(AP) - Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent. Workers also saw weekly wages fall. All told, 14.7 million people were unemployed in June.

If laid-off workers (and) part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June … companies have turned to layoffs, holding down workers' hours and freezing or cutting pay. The average work week in June fell to 33 hours, the lowest on records dating to 1964.

…a good chunk of June's job losses likely were affected by shutdowns at General Motors Corp. The government said employment at factories making autos and parts fell by 27,000 last month.

European Free Market Conservatives Trying to Privatize Single Payer Countries. Intentional Underfunding Create Long Lines.

In an opinion article at Fox News.com, Jon Kraushar touches on the newer argument against universal health care coverage, a topic I'm sure we'll hear more about in the coming weeks.

"Single payer countries are starting to introduce private insurance because people are disatisfied with socialized medicine."

The simple answer: Conservative free market Canadians, Britians and Swedes (and elsewhere) are trying to tear down their own systems for an ideological theory that has proven itself not to work in the U.S.. Instead of investing resourses to improve their own health care plans, for profit interests are advancing privatization, just like in this country.

Here's Kraushar's upside down sell job:

Obama dismisses as "fear tactics" charges that his program amounts to "socialized medicine" similar to Canada, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Yet, ironically, Canada, the United Kingdom and Sweden are all beginning to open their socialized systems to private care due to citizen protests that critical treatments are delayed or denied. The past president of the Canadian Medical Association says that in Canada, "¦a dog can get a hip replaced in under a week but a human may wait two to three years."

Kraushar isn't telling you that conservservatives in Canada are starving health care funding, creating the supposed back logs for elective surgeries. Didn't the U.S. save money by incorporating FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security and staffing it with novices? How did that turn out? Predictably, Republicans are now using the FEMA disaster as an example of bad government, even though they destroyed what was once a competant well run department. In single payer countries, conservative elements are trying to do the same thing, thus creating the "horror stories" we hear so much about. But...

Is it not a U.S. horror story to let over 20,000 people die of curable deseases a year? Is it not a horror story to render unaffordable, health care coverage to 50 million citizens? Is it not a horror story to learn insurance companies have departments designed to find ways to deny life saving treatments for their customers.

Arizona's Republican State Rep. Barto's Proposition Shields Public from Universal Coverage. Yeah?

Arizona Republican State Rep. Nancy Barto appeared on the Ed Show on MSNBC and looked crazy enough to actually believe in her proposition titled the Health Care Freedom Act. It basically says people don’t have to have insurance if they don’t want it, allowing them to freeload off everyone else if they ever need care and poison pill a national plan that requires coverage for everyone. These people must stay up nights figuring out how they can create as much chaos as possible.



The legal-ledger:
Powerful political and business interests are pushing for the federal government to take a greater role in health care. But a few state legislators across the country are hoping to thwart that trend.

Last fall, Arizona voters considered Proposition 101, titled the “Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act.” The GOP-supported measure would prohibit laws that “restrict person’s choice of private health care systems or private plans.”


Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, opposed the idea. So did the state’s hospital association, and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among others. State Rep. Phil Lopes (head of the Democratic caucus) warned that it would “further push Arizonans into the iron grip of an industry that is failing us.” Still others argued that the act had ambiguous language that could set off expensive legal battles, and could inflate the cost of the state’s Medicaid by $2 billion.

It was no surprise, then, that the measure failed. Some supporters of Prop 101 called the defeat a “moral victory,” since it lost by just over 8,000 votes out of 1.8 million cast.
Advocates of Prop 101, including those in the Arizona Legislature, kept active. Republican Arizona Rep. Nancy Barto, chair of the House Health and Human Service Committee, filed a revised version of Prop 101, which became HCR2014, “The Healthcare Freedom Act.” The Legislature, on party-line votes, enacted the measure on June 22, and the measure will be placed on the Nov. 10 ballot in Arizona as a referendum.

If voters approve it, “The Healthcare Freedom Act” would, among other things, forbid any law that compels anyone “to participate in any health care system.” It would also allow patients to pay directly for health care services, and for doctors to receive such payments. (Such “topping off” is forbidden in some single-payer systems.) The amendment would also state that health insurance purchases could not be prohibited. The amendment, then, nails a stake through the heart of two essential elements of universal, single-payer system: Everybody in the system, and nobody outside the system. It also effectively forbids a Hawaii-style play-or-pay mandate on employers or a Massachusetts-style requirement that individuals obtain coverage.

In a press release, Barto claimed that the act would “prevent citizens from being compelled to join a government-run health care system” and “guarantee the right to purchase private health insurance.”

The mere fact that Arizona has been discussing this idea has national implications. According to a Fox News report, legislators in Indiana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming have floated similar measures, citing concerns related both to health care policy itself and the vibrancy of federalism.

Stephen Moore, an editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal and a fan of the Arizona measure, sees legal difficulties but political advantages for state legislators. He wrote: “Whether state initiatives can block a federal law is an open federalism question.

Senate Health Care Reform Takes Shape, Makes Sense. 10 years, $600 billion, down from a trillion.

The plan is out. Health care reform in the Senate will include a public plan with teeth and a way to keep employers from dumping employees off into the public plan.
AP:

Democrats on a key Senate Committee outlined a revised and far less costly health care plan Wednesday night that includes a government-run insurance option and an annual fee on employers who do not offer coverage to their workers.

The plan carries a 10-year price tag of slightly over $600 billion, and would lead toward an estimated 97 percent of all Americans having coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office,

The letter indicated the cost and coverage improvements resulted from two changes. The first calls for a government-run health insurance option to compete with private coverage plans, an option that has drawn intense opposition from Republicans.

"We must not settle for legislation that merely gestures at reform," the two Democrats wrote. "We must deliver on the promise of true change."

Additionally, the revised proposal calls for a $750 annual fee on employers for each full-time worker not offered coverage through their job. The fee would be set at $375 for part-time workers. Companies with fewer than 25 employees would be exempt. The fee was forecast to generate $52 billion over 10 years, money the government would use to help provide subsidies to those who cannot afford insurance.

The same provision is also estimated to greatly reduce the number of workers whose employers would drop coverage, thus addressing a major concern noted by CBO when it reviewed the earlier proposals.

Presidential Candidate Romney's Massachusetts Health Care Reform Good, then Bad, then Good...

Health care should be debated, Republicans say, so people can decide for themselves what is best for the nation. The flaw in that plan: The confusing mixed up information used in the debate. While grooming Mitt Romney for a 2012 presidential run, Fox News and the GOP are pushing Romney's record on reforming health care in Massachusetts. The only problem is, they hate it, then they like it, then they hate it again, then they.....

Fox News' Carl Cameron brags that Romney's plan in an example of a successful free market model, without government intervention. Stewart Varney apparently didn't get the Romney campaign memo and bashed the Massachusetts plan for its huge premium increases. Chiming in is Michael Cann from the Cato Institute and Glenn Beck, citing a recent poll showing dissatisfaction with the plan, complaining the poor find health care unaffordable (again?) and only a few who think its working (26%).

Does anyone know what they're talking about?

According to a June 1, 2009 article from Fox News:

On health care, Romney pointed to the successes of his own plan but criticized Obama's for its emphasis on a public option. "The president's plan makes an enormous error by saying we're going to put government into the insurance business. We got everyone in Massachusetts insured and we did it without putting government into the insurance business," he said. "We said instead we're going to help people get private free enterprise kind of insurance they can buy from a number of different companies." He said the system led to plunging premiums while offering a healthy choice of options for consumers.

There it is folks, an open admission by Romney himself that the Massachusetts plan is a shining example of the private free enterprise system. Now check out the video for a shocking surprise.



If memory serves me, I believe Romney did not want to take credit for the health care reform he signed into law, complaining it wasn't what he wanted.

Fox News Hosts Hate Public Health Plan, Love Current Broken System American's Want Changed.

Fox News' "fair and balanced" mumbo jumbo may still be in the minds of viewers, but the hosts featured here may need a reminder. I've strung together the fair and balanced questions on just one segment of programming. It is jaw dropping. Who needs opposing guests with host like these. One would guess they were pretty happy with the current health care system where 50 million Americans are uninsured and many families fall into bankruptcy do to illness. Can't beat it, can you? These talking heads are relentless.

Republicans Now Brag About France Cutting Taxes. Why Can’t U.S., they ask. Uh, Look A Little Closer Guys

I was watching Fox News for a few laughs, and came across a segment where Stuart Varney, filling in for Neil Cavuto, started taunting Air America’s Mike Papantonio about liberal loving France’s recent cut in taxes. Varney made it seem like France did something radical and more in line with Republican talking points. Guess again Varney:

France's finance minister, Christine Lagarde, dropped in on diners aimed at touting the government's new tactic to get the French spending again: lower taxes on restaurant food. The government's decision to slash the value-added tax, a levy similar to sales taxes in the U.S., in French restaurants to 5.5% from 19.6% starting July 1, But economists, and restaurateurs themselves, say they don't expect much of a windfall from the lower tax on France's restaurants, cafes and bars … restaurants may ultimately see an increase in business if they pass the tax cut onto their consumers. "But that will be very difficult to measure," he says.

Moreover, because restaurants are not under any obligation to reduce their overall prices, the effect of the tax cut on overall consumption could in fact be limited. "A share of this cut in VAT will be absorbed by restaurant owners to improve their margins," he said. The drop in tax … is expected to cost the French state more than $2.8 billion.

I’m sure Varney knows that Republicans would love to do away with the federal tax and put in place a value added tax, you know, like the one the French are cutting. The final value added tax is 5.5%, the average for many states in the U.S., from an incredible 19.6% in France. And it’s only on restaurants, who have no obligation pass that savings on to customers.

Good plan Stuart Varney.

If the Supreme Court Moves to the Right, Does that not mean it’s an Activist Court? Media thinks so.

I recently blogged about impeaching Justice Thomas. I also pointed out how the Roberts court has legislated from the bench. But even though the media has also noticed how starkly right wing the current Supreme Court is, they refuse to call it what it is, a “conservative activist” gang of Justices. Notice how the following piece from the NY Times considers the “move to the right” normal, like the sun rising in the east:

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. emerged as a canny strategist at the Supreme Court this term, laying the groundwork for bold changes that could take the court to the right even as the recent elections moved the nation to the left … voting rights, employment discrimination, criminal procedure and campaign finance … the chief justice’s fingerprints were on all of them, and he left clues that the court is only one decision away from fundamental change in many areas of the law.

“Fundamental change?” Sounds a bit “activist” to me. That’s not all.

Indeed, the court appears poised to move to the right in the Obama era. (If) Chief Justice Roberts … reasoning takes root in future cases, the law will move in a conservative direction … The two newest justices, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., both appointed by President George W. Bush, agreed 92 percent of time, the highest rate for any pair of justices. But Justice Alito … may well now be the court’s most conservative member. “Alito is staking out some room to the right of the chief justice,” said Pamela Harris, the executive director of the Supreme Court Institute at Georgetown University Law Center, “and you would have thought there is no such room.”

That’s right, Alito is even further right than Roberts. Would that make him a conservative “activist” Justice yet? There’s more.

At the Supreme Court, though, voting alignments are so predictable that “liberal” and “conservative” are as much shorthand as principle. The court reversed lower courts about three-quarters of the time, up from two-thirds in the last term.

Now that sounds like an “activist” Supreme Court, right? Not yet you say. One last decision:

In scheduling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission for re-argument in September, Chief Justice Roberts appeared to be setting the stage for an overhaul of the law governing campaign spending by corporations.

Justice Roberts would allow pseudo political documentaries critical of election candidates (like “Hillary” the movie) to run unabated, depending of course how deep the backers pockets were. This would take campaigns completely out of the hands of the people, and cede control to corporate power.

But then for many, corporations have “person hood.” Argue in support of that one kiddies.

Voucher Tests Show No Change. So Why have Two Competing Systems?

Voucher testing is proving that the advocates wrong: Students aren’t getting a better education. Results have shown students are doing as well, and in some cases worse, as their public student’s counterparts. Although the argument now has changed, that vouchers students only cost half of what public schools need, that doesn’t account for the size of the system and cost related to that. There are other reasons listed below, but the news isn’t good out of Florida.

The St. Petersburg Times: Supporters often say school vouchers are lifelines to low-income students trapped in subpar public schools. But academically, students using vouchers to attend private schools in Florida are doing no better and no worse than similar students in public schools, says a study ordered by the state Legislature.
"We consider the report a validation of what we've always said," said Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for the state teachers union. "There is no quick fix for struggling students."

Northwestern University economics professor David Figlio compared test scores of students in the voucher program to eligible public school students who opted not to participate. Mr. Figlio found students in the Corporate Tax Credit voucher program performed no better or worse academically than voucher-eligible students who chose to stay in public school. They claim Figlio's study demonstrates private schools can provide an equivalent education to poor children for less money. The voucher costs taxpayers $3,950 while public school per-pupil spending is $7,000. But that argument ignores the children who lose due to the voucher program siphoning money away from their public schools.

Not only does the voucher siphon money away, but the states general tax fund is greatly reduced. The state offers businesses a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in return for donations. That skews the numbers dramatically. Also consider the following comment.

Jim from Orlando: Money issue is a lie. $7000 is the average per student including much higher funding for ESE students and special programs for which CTS students are generally not eligible. Public school CTS students are funded at about the amount of the voucher.