Democurmudgeon

Thugocracy promoters at the MacIver Institute ignore victims of domestic violence, bully insipid GAB to post Walker Recall Petitions.

2012-02-01T11:19:00.000-06:00

They won! Yet, this merry band of MacIver Institute brownshirts still aren’thappy, what a surprise:

WTMJ Radio: A spokesman for a conservative think tank claimed that whenthe Wisconsin Government Accountability Board posted online the signedpetitions to recall Governor Walker, they did it in a way to make it hard forpeople to search through. "They had purposely intended to not make it easyfor the public to search," said Brian Fraley of the MacIver Institute onNewsradio 620 WTMJ's "Midday with Charlie Sykes." "It's anincredibly cumbersome web site, slow to load, easy to crash, hard to get on,hard to sort through, not searchable."

And what authority does the MacIver Institute have when itcomes to name verification? None. Unfortunately, the GAB is a pliable dupe:

Fraley credited the GAB with following through on theMacIver open records request for those recall signatures. "They did whatwe asked them to do, which was to make this information public. That'snot to say that the petitions that are there, that this is an incredible act oftransparency."

Will the GAB also tell outside tea party organizations checking signatures to butt out of our state's recall election? My guess...no.

Democurmudgeon on the Radio next week.

2012-02-01T10:43:00.000-06:00

It's official, starting next Monday morning at 6 am, I will be filling in for Sly in the Morning the entire week. After many years of radio inactivity, I will once again be able to get a feel for the public's reaction to Scott Walker and the Fitzgerald brothers, the John Doe investigation etc. As Sly himself said about my previous stint in talk:

Nobody has endured more ear damage than this man, formerco-host on WIBA with none other than the HPV Queen herself, Vicki McKenna.

Hope you can join in the conversation, the variety of topic; politics, media, technology...you name it. As I've mentioned so many times before, this blog is an extension of the show prep I did everyday for my program. If you want to know what I'll be talking about, it'll all be right here.

Talker Charlie Sykes redefines Class Warfare; "...public employee unions, I think we have two America's here."

2012-01-31T23:52:00.001-06:00

Projection is the name of the game for the far right. For instance, who complains the most about class warfare, all the while creating new versions of it when the opportunity presents itself.

WTMJ's Charlie Sykes, that's who. Pushing his "Nation of Moochers" book, projection again, Charlie somehow creates a special class of public union workers who are getting unfairly paid with tax dollars. That's what's wrong with our economy, two Americas; where the private class of abused low wage workers envy the average middle class public worker making just enough to live paycheck to paycheck. Sweet! From Dylan Ratigan:

Sykes: "The power of the public employee unions, I think we have two Americas here. I think at some point we're going to have to address that. We can't have a class structure here, or otherwise...you know we kind of have these roving gangs out there, and these roving gangs looking for access to taxpayer money. This is not a kinder gentler society."

Republican thugs marking up petitions, MacIver Institute Dismisses Keeping Domestic Violence Victims off Internet, and so does GAB.

2012-01-31T18:20:00.002-06:00

Take a look at the video footage in this report. Are the Republican hacks checking the recall signatures, completely insane, marking up the meticulously accumulated recall petitions. I guess it's okay to drag the most partisan critics in to pour over and trash signatures for what...penmanship?

Ethan Shuh, of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, even started the rumor (where's the proof) that a dead relative was found on one petition.

I can't stress enough; any bogus names and fabrications are the work of conservative lawbreakers destroying the integrity of the electoral process. If there are any fake names, we can thank Walker thugs. WKOW News, Tony Galli:

The wacky and radically conservative MacIver Institute doesn't give a damn about victims of spousal abuse and domestic violence, when they demanded that names of all petition signers be released immediately. This not only gives this group of thugs a black eye, but puts them right up there with media charlatans James O'Keefe and Andrew Breitbart. TMJ4:

UPDATE: Abuse victim names will be made available, despite no requirement to post recall petition names on internet. GAB joins MacIver thugs.

Weighing all of these concerns and public interests, we haveconcluded that the balancing test of the Public Records Law favors disclosureof the entire recall petition without redaction of information on a recallpetition, even when individual signers have expressed a concern arising fromprior abuse or violence committed against them by a person who is now subjectto a restraining order.

Remember, Walker partisans already have the signatures, there's no hurry to give ~~gun~~...marker toting losers another reason to take the law into their own hands.

Check out the Walker recall site here. Note to Tony Galli; like the aerial view shot.

Democratic Challengers announce in Recalls.

2012-01-31T18:02:00.000-06:00

A flurry of Democrats announced their challenges today to the sitting radical Republican recalled senators. From the Patch:

Former State Sen. John Lehman, of Racine, has announced hewill challenge Sen. Van Wanggaard to retake the state senate seat he lost inNovember 2010. "In 2010, Mr. Wanggaard never once agreed to debate oranswer questions about what he would do in Madison," Lehman said."And, to my knowledge, Wanggaard has never once in his year in officeappeared at a listening session or a public meeting where the critical citizencould ask questions."

Wanggaard responded by making one huge mistake; followingthe talking points we’re already tired of hearing from Scott Walker. We alsoknow those talking points are inaccurate and purposely misleading. Willconservative voters tolerate being snow jobbed? Probably.

Wanggaard: "Voters are going to have a clear choice. Dothey want to go back to the Jim Doyle and John Lehman days of billion dollarbudget deficits, lost jobs and skyrocketing taxes, or do they want balancedbudgets, lower taxes and a Wisconsin that continues to move forward towards jobcreation, fiscal responsibility and common sense?"

Sorry, but Gov. Doyle and the Democratic legislature had to deal with the Great Recession. Ya think that might have been a problem? Under standard accounting practices, which include promisedtax cuts and budgeting, the Walker administration is over $3 billion dollars indeficit. Ooops. And lower taxes only applies to business. As a property tax payer, taxesdidn’t go down. That’s supposed to make me happy?

The Wisconsin Democrats just announced that former Rep.Kristen Dexter and Rep. Donna Seidel would take on other recalled senators.

Another good reason for the Buffett Rule; International investors say get rid of it.

2012-01-31T16:58:00.000-06:00

It may only come out to be $2.2 billion a year, taxing carried interest like the money Romney earns, but that's a damn good start.

Bloomberg News: The real reason the tax loophole for private equity mavensmust be closed once and for all is that American taxpayers subsidize theprivate-equity industry -- and its outsize paychecks -- and simple fairnessdemands that they don’t also get an additional break in the form of lower taxrates.

Investors are on board:

Bloomberg News: Most international investors say a taxbreak allowing private equity and hedgefund executives to pay lower tax ratesthan many average Americans isn’t warranted, according to a Bloomberg survey.

As the release of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s 2010 tax returnheats up debate over a 15% top rate on so-called carried interest, two-thirdsof those surveyed in the Bloomberg Global Poll say the tax break isunjustified. Romney, former head of Bain Capital LLC, paid an effective rateof 13.9% on $21.6 million of income, when the top income tax rate is 35%.

An effective tax rate for the wealthy is somewhere around 30percent, when you consider other right offs. This number is often given toargue against doing away with this ridiculous piece of corporate welfare. Iremain unconvinced.

Jonathan Sadowsky, chief investment officer at Vaca CreekAsset Management LLC in San Francisco, said he favors eliminating the breakbecause he’s concerned about government deficit spending. Gerhard Summerer,president of DZ Financial Markets LLC in New York, said the lower rate isnothing more than “welfare for the rich,” saying the “average Americancitizen” gets no such breaks. “No one is advocating confiscating anyone’spossessions, but the fair taxation of income,” he said.

Taxing carried interest as ordinary income would produceabout $22 billion over a decade, according to the nonpartisan CongressionalBudget Office.

Good bye Health Insurance Companies? We can only hope.

2012-01-31T13:10:00.000-06:00

Dumb Ron Johnson stupidly continues to rail on The Affordable Care Act, even though the CBO figures it'll save a trillion dollars or more over a 20 year period; cover a lot more people; get rid of pre-existing condition death sentences; and force reform.

In fact, if it wasn't for Obama's plan, innovation would not be rumbling along. Story after story of the changes, improvement and money savings have been well documented. The best sum total of these stories is below, where health insurers are tossed to trash bin of history. NYTimes:

Here’s a bold prediction … By 2020, the American healthinsurance industry will be extinct. Insurance companies will be replaced byaccountable care organizations — groups of doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers who come together to provide the full range of medical care forpatients.

Already, most insurance companies barely function asinsurers. Most non-elderly Americans — or 60 percent of Americans withemployer-provided health insurance — work for companies that are self-insured.In these cases it is the employer, not the insurance company that assumes mostof the risk of paying for the medical care of employees and their families. Allthat insurance companies do is process billing claims. For individuals andsmall businesses, health insurance companies usually do provide insurance.

A new system is on its way, one that will make insurancecompanies unnecessary … thanks to the accountable care organizations providedfor by the health care reform act, a new system is on its way, one that willmake insurance companies unnecessary. Accountable care organizations willincrease coordination of patient’s care and shift the focus of medicine awayfrom treating sickness and toward keeping people healthy.

Because most physicians and hospitals today are paid on afee-for-service basis, medical care is organized around treating a specificepisode of illness rather than the whole patient. This system encouragesovertreatment and leads to mistakes and miscommunication when patients are sentbetween their primary care doctors, specialists and hospitals. In contrast,accountable care organizations will typically be paid a fixed amount perpatient, along with bonuses for achieving quality targets. The organizationswill make money by keeping their patients healthy and out of the hospital andby avoiding unnecessary tests, drugs and procedures. Thus, they will actuallyhave a financial incentive to hire that nurse for follow-ups.

In addition to providing better and more efficient care,A.C.O.’s will also make health insurers superfluous. Because they will each beresponsible for a large group of patients (typically more than 15,000), theywill pool the risk of patients who have higher-than-average costs with thosewith lower costs. And with the end of fee-for-service payments, insurancecompanies will no longer be needed to handle complicated billing and claims processing,nor will they need to be paid a fee for doing so. Payments can flow directlyfrom an employer, Medicare or Medicaid to the accountable care organizations.

A.C.O.’s are not simply a return to the health maintenanceorganizations of the 1990s. H.M.O.’s were often large national corporations farremoved from their members. In contrast, A.C.O.’s will consist of local healthcare providers working as a team to take care of patients who are likely to bemembers for years at a time. A final bonus of A.C.O.’s is that they will leadto a better form of competition in health care markets. Today, consumers haveto choose among insurance plans with a bewildering array of copayments,deductibles and annual out of pocket maximums — choices that few of us are anygood at making. In the A.C.O. model, consumers will choose a primary carephysician and the team of doctors and hospitals that are in the same group.Choosing a doctor and provider group is a responsibility that consumers want tohave and are likely to be much better at.

A few health insurers see this asteroid coming. Wellpoint,for example, bought the clinic operator CareMore for $800 million last summerto make the transition into the A.C.O. business.

Sean Duffy Breaks into Tea Party Top Ten

2012-01-31T12:49:00.000-06:00

Look who's got the extremist cred's going for himself. Anytime you're standing shoulder to shoulder with an authoritarian militant dictator like Rep. Alan West, you know you've truly crossed over. Welcome guys, to the political rubber room:

According to CREDO action,

Sean Duffy – Lives in Gov. Walker's world, not the RealWorld
Once a reality TVstar on MTV's Real World: Boston, it's clear he has now lost touchwith the actual real world. Duffy has complained to constituents that he hastrouble paying his bills on his $174,000 Congressional salary. His policies are even moreout of touch: He haspraised Gov. Scott Walker and said he is "trying to doright" in Wisconsin. Duffy is a co-sponsor of every anti-choice billthat moved through this Congress, including H.R. 3 which would have redefined rape, and the "ProtectLife Act" which would literally let women die in addition to prohibiting federal fundsfrom being to used to cover any part of the costs of any health plan thatincludes coverage of abortion services.

Newt takes down Mitt, and chances of Republican presidential win.

2012-01-31T11:53:00.001-06:00

Want to know why Mitt Romney would be a bad president? I've got a list of reasons here, but not one written by the Democrats. Point by point, we cansay…

…thank you Newt Gingrich, for saying:

Romney, during his time as Massachusetts governor, vetoed funds to expand the provision of kosher foodfor Bay State retirees…"Romney cut off kosher food to elderly Jews onMedicare."

Romney for a 2005 decision as governor to require Roman Catholichospitals to provide emergency contraception, which many Catholics believe is aform of abortion, to rape victims.

"The conservative movement is not going to sit back andsay, 'Oh yes, let's let Wall Street and Mitt Romney buy the election,'"Gingrich said. "So you're going to see a real grassrootsfight. It will be people power vs. Goldman Sachs and Mitt Romney."

"How can a guy who's a great manager not file 23foreign holdings last year when he filed?"

"Romney has proved to be a disgraceful and despicablecandidate. He has no character," Rick Tyler, a former Gingrich aide said.

So there you have it, Mitt doesn’t even measure up by Republican standards, which are mighty low right now. Maybe Mitt needs thesympathetic shoulder of a corporate person to lean on. See Huffington Post for article.

NH Republicans give parents the ability to screw up public schools.

2012-01-30T14:16:00.000-06:00

If you ever had any doubts Republicans are out to destroy, like an aggressive cancer, this will convince you. I thought unaccountable taxpayer dollars going to voucher schools was irresponsible, as suggested by Gov. Scott Walker, but you should see this.

In New Hampshire-- if you don’t like what your kid islearning about-- just pull them out of class. A contributor for SeaCoast Online says New Hampshire House Bill 542 gives parents quote“unprecedented powers” over their children’s education.

“...Specifically, the law (a) allows parents to file anobjection to any course material, (b) requires a school district to devise analternative acceptable to the parent, and (c) the alternative must enable thechild to still meet state requirements for education in the particular subjectarea of the objection.”

The bill originally passed through the legislature lastyear-- but democratic Governor John Lynch vetoed the measure. Lawmakersrecently overrode that veto.

Breathtaking, absolutely. Is there one conservative voter out there who thinks the following is a good idea?

A reporter for Russia Today says--this bill really blurs that distinction.
“New Hampshire’s government is totally okay with parentspicking and choosing their child’s courses and putting them together like aLego set. And then placing the own-ness on the school to bend for their everywhim.”

And TheNew York Times highlights another concern of those who oppose themeasure.
“Should parents who are members of the Ku Klux Klan beallowed to create a special public school curriculum for their child thatsuggests that extension of voting rights to black Americans was a mistake?”

Just as bad, public schools must keep parental objections confidential. According the law:

The name of the parent or legal guardian and any specificreasons disclosed to school officials for the objection to the material shallnot be public information and shall be excluded from access under RSA 91-A.

Even worse:

The original bill was even broader, saying districts couldnot "compel a parent to send his child to any school or program to whichhe may be conscientiously opposed." "Parents love their children... and they have real big issues with the current curriculum that has beenshoved down their throat in some instances," says state Rep. JR Hoell (R),who sponsored the bill, HB 542. Representative Hoell and his wife homeschooltheir children.

What could go wrong?

The tea party and Free-Staters in the New HampshireLegislature were so intent on destroying public education in the state in orderto replace it with private schools and home schooling, that they pushed througha poorly thought-out bill (HB 542) … As stated by Bill Duncan in the PortsmouthHerald, a teacher at a committee meeting on the bill said members"specifically mentioned Everyday Math. They did not like Everyday Math,because parents didn't understand it."

I'll be honest, I never saw something this crazy coming. Good luck with that NH. Here's Newsy with the story:

The Ins and Outs of Wisconsin Budgeting, by Gov. Candidate Sen. Kathleen Vinehout.

2012-01-30T12:52:00.001-06:00

Uppity Wisconsin posted this clearly explained look at Wisconsin's financial state written by Senator and gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Vinehout. It's a must read that exposes the continued debt build up by Walker and the Fitzgerald's, along with the best reason to dump these hacks; they're throwing valuable taxpayer dollars away on escalating interest payments. No honest politician would have made the kind of promises Walker offered up in the campaign. Hell, his own party is trying to tank the economy to win the presidency. Let's be real. Having debt isn't a bad thing, every homeowner I knows has a massive debt with their mortgage company, but paying it off little by little is the goal.

I'm posting Vinehout's explanation here for my own reference. Enjoy the read:

People I meet ask me “Do we have a deficit?” “Did the statereally pay off all its debt?” To understand the numbers, I recently spent time with theLegislature’s financial and auditing experts. I asked them to help explain thefinancial state of the state. I learned ‘debt’ and ‘deficit’ are frequently confused.

Debt is money borrowed by the state and repaid over manyyears – like a home mortgage. A deficit occurs when expected current staterevenues aren’t enough to cover expected current expenditures – will yourpaychecks cover everything you have to pay for this year. Wisconsin’s debt is $13.5 billion and growing. The budgetdeficit – by accounting standards – is just under a negative $3 billion.

“I thought the governor balanced the budget,” I can hear yousay. Here’s the rest of the story.

Budgets look forward. They compare expected revenue withexpected expenditures. To start the process, Governors ask agency directorswhat money they need to keep their agencies running. New spending is added tocurrent spending. Often requests are ‘pie in the sky’. What agencydirectors ask for is compared to estimated revenue. If the mismatch is negativethere is a “deficit”. This is the origin of the $3.6 billion deficit oftencited at the beginning of 2011.

The budget gurus told me governors usually start the budgetprocess with a deficit and then, by law, are required to bring the budget intobalance – expected spending during the budget years can’t be more than expecteddollars coming in.

There is another type of deficit – an accountingdeficit. Unlike the budgetary deficit that just looks at cash in and cashout during the year, the accounting deficit looks at orders made over the year,bills paid, and bills due but postponed. It measures how far into the hole youare, even if your check book still balances. At the end of 2011 auditorsreported the accounting deficit was nearly $3 billion - somewhat larger than atthe end of last year. The accounting deficit has been growing for many years.

The state debt is not the accumulation of deficits. The debtis the money borrowed to pay for long-term projects. During the 1990s GovernorThompson authorized a large prison building program. This cost a lot of moneyand increased state debt. In 2003 the state took on new debt to pay offunfunded pension obligations. In just seven years, from the mid-nineties to2003, the state’s debt doubled.

During the Doyle administration, old university buildingswere replaced and money was added to the Stewardship Fund. This added to thestate’s debt.

A troubling aspect of state finances is “kicking the candown the road” or debt payments due but not paid. When the state fails to makea payment and adds this payment to future debt it costs taxpayers more. Financial staff called this practice “scoop and toss” asdebt payments that are due are scooped up and tossed into the future.

Many governors have followed this practice and GovernorWalker is no exception. In May of 2011 the state did not pay a $190 milliondebt payment. In addition, under the current budget the state delays another$338 million debt payment. Together the over-half-a-billion in delayed debtpayments will cost taxpayers nearly $150 million in additional interest.

Not making current debt payments that are due “kicks the candown the road,” increases interest obligations and leaves less money forschools, health care and roads.

Historically, Wisconsin’s annual debt payments as a percentof tax revenues are below four percent. Financial staff recommend that debtpayments should not exceed three and a half percent. Because of repeated delays in debt payments, including theover-half-a-billion delayed in 2011, the size of this important ratio grows toover five percent at the end of Governor Walker’s first budget. This placesWisconsin well in the danger-zone.

Wisconsin continues to face significant budget challenges. Apublic discussion about how to move Wisconsin forward must be based on thefacts. Facts are stubborn things and demand respect.

Tommy Thompson Bashes Unions after once saying "The relationship between labor and management...is harmonious...through collective bargaining."

2012-01-30T11:31:00.002-06:00

It's the OMG moment for Tommy Thompson in the race for Sen. Herb Kohl's seat. Flip flop would be putting it mildly. This is just part of the story you can find here:

josonline-Dan Bice: Sometimes it's hard to figure out who the real TommyThompson is. There's the Thompson who chided state employee unions thismonth for complaining about Gov. Scott Walker's proposals to increasethe amount worker’s pay for pensions and health care.

"He says to the unions and the bosses, 'We're going toask you to help.' Oh, isn't that tough? Awwww," Thompson saidsarcastically at the Walker rally on Jan. 21. "We're going to say wewould like you to pay 5% of your retirement. Now you tell me what's wrong withthat. And you tell me, is that a crime? And then (Walker) had the audacity tosay, 'We are going to ask you to pay 12% for your health care.' Isn't thatsad?"

Red meat for the red-state crowd.

But then there's the Thompson whom he and his campaign wouldhope conservatives forget - the four-term governor who gave a speech toPuerto Rico lawmakers (in 1997) touting collective bargaining laws in his homestate.

"The relationship between labor and management in thepublic and private sector (in Wisconsin) is harmonious, due in part to theongoing ability to communicate and solve problems through the collectivebargaining process. In respect to state government, Wisconsin has collectivelybargained with state employees for 25 years. By working together, we've createda positive atmosphere for state employees and enhanced services to our citizens(and) ensuring excellence in delivering services to our citizens,"Thompson said, according to the transcript. "Our efforts have cumulated inWisconsin's ranking as one of the most powerful economies in America for sevenconsecutive years."

Union leaders were trying to organize employees in PuertoRico's government at that time. Marty Beil, head of AFSCME, said he asked Thompsonto insert a plug for public employee collective bargaining in the speech. "We sent him some ideas, which ended upin the speech then." So AFSCME officials helped write that portion of Thompson'stalk? "Correct," said Beil, who was present for the 1997 speech inSan Juan. "He did it at our request."

You’ll love this surreal response from the Thompson campaign:

Thompson's campaign officials said Sunday they see nothinginconsistent between his 1997 speech and his current support for Walker'sagenda. Spokesman Darrin Schmitz in an email (said) "…the QualifiedEconomic Offer and other cost controls led to protests as well, so it's absurdto say Thompson's support of Gov. Walker's reforms is inconsistent with how hegoverned."

Beil isn't buying it … in 1998 - a year after the speech inSan Juan - the state workers union threw its support behind the incumbent overhis Democratic foe. Beil described their relationship as "close."

The not so final word on Apple's Chinese slave labor problem.

2012-01-30T10:50:00.002-06:00

If you haven't read the recent articles about Apple, and the sad state of workers rights in China, this article sums it up well. Apple is starting to realize they've got a problem. A big problem.

I always thought that China's labor practices would someday reach our shores, thanks to Republican efforts to lower wages and compete with third world nations. But that may not happen after all. China's has been transformed into the world's top competitor and manufacturer, all the while using third world labor practices. Instead of the U.S., maybe it will be China that will be forced to raise wages.

Foxnews: Apple began last week by basking in record quarterlyprofits, but then ended the week in a public relations retreat after reports ofexploited workers in factories in China assemblingits hot-selling iPads andiPhones.

Behind China's remarkable economic progress toil an estimated 120 millionmigrant workers, typically living and working in austere factory complexes.

Two decades into China's industrial transformation, questions are being askedabout how much responsibility authorities shoulder for its hukou (who-co, householdregistration) system that effectively institutionalizes migrant workers assecond-class citizens in their own country. But for now, it is Apple in the firing line … there isenough truth about worker conditions in mainland Chinese factories to offendmany of its customers and ultimately damage its premium brand.

Foxconn, which employs over a million workers in China, has been in theheadlines before after a spate of worker suicides at its factories in 2010. Itlater set up helplines and safety nets to stop employees jumping, as well asraising salaries. Basic pay was increased to 2,000 yuan (US$315) a month, upfrom 1,200 yuan (US$189). The company tends to attract attention because of itssize, with over 300,000 working and living in its Shenzhen complex that is thesize of small town.

The depressing prospect for migrant workers is they areprevented from joining this new China. Thanks to the decades-old hukou system,they cannot enjoy resident perks such as housing, education and medicalbenefits available to locals.

This suits provincial authorities, who avoid bearing thecosts of providing these services or the infrastructure that an influx apopulation the size of Foxconn's plant in Shenzhen would require. Meanwhile,they still get the tax revenue from the business located locally. Such a systemmight have been justified when China was starting out on its path ofindustrialization. But holding back a permanent rump of citizens as factorycannon fodder is inevitably going to lead to rising tensions.

Another unpalatable consequence of the hukou system on sucha scale is it makes it difficult for migrant families to resettle. It isestimated 58 million children of migrant workers are left behind with relativesor in care.

If consumers are willing to demand eggs fromchickens that were not factory farmed, it is not much of a stretch that theymight demand smartphones assembledby workers with some basic dignity.

What’s the point, Newsmax? Warren Buffet’s secretary bought a second home!!! Yeah, so?

2012-01-30T09:53:00.000-06:00

In what appears to be a pot shot at Warren Buffet’ssecretary, who pays more in taxes than her boss, Newsmax has apparently decidedher taxes aren’t high enough…or she’s living high on the hog…or that she’s notdoing too badly even if she does pay more in taxes than a billionaire?

To be honest, I can’t figure out what this voice of the radicalright is getting at, except to say in the most idiotic way, gotcha.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s secretary DebraBosanek has become the face of President Barack Obama’s so-called Buffett Rule,which maintains that the secretaries of wealthy Americans should not pay ahigher tax rate than their boss. Yet despite her presumably crushing taxburden, Bosanek and her husband last year were able to buy a second home inArizona complete with a swimming pool and putting green.

A cement pond? Wow, how unique is that in sunny Arizona? And that has what to do with Buffet's secretary paying more in taxes than a billionaire?

The Bosaneks bought the 2,100-square-foot home outsidePhoenix, paying $144,000 for the four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath property,according to The Smoking Gun website.

What a scoop! Smoking Gun, you’ve done it again? Think about it; this is just a $144,000 home, that's cheap. Any home owner would know that. Is it for retirement? Having been a Realtor at one time, that's not a luxury villa, and get a load of the low value of her main residence:

Their principal residence is in Bellevue, Neb., not far fromBuffett’s corporate headquarters in Omaha. That home, valued last year at$217,000, also has four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths — but no swimmingpool or putting green.

This story is a pathetic and pointless slap back at Obama's proposal to impose a minimum tax rate of 30 percent on those poor dears who's incomes are over $1 million a year, instead of 17.4 percent like Buffett pays, or the 13.9 percent Mitt Romney pays.

Any questions? Try to pull it together conservatives, really. This story has no link, and was part of an email allert with multiple stories.

Fox News + Paul Ryan + Dollar Bill Birthday Cake = Unforgettable Rich Boy Image

2012-01-29T23:05:00.002-06:00

My jaw dropped when Chris Wallace presented a cake adorned with a green dollar sign to Rep. Paul Ryan. How unbelievably appropriate, and what a Kodak moment for his Democratic opponent Rob Zerban.

What in gods name were they thinking? Let them eat cake.

Here's the screen capture for those who want to pass this mind searing image along to others.

Mitch Daniels Doom & Gloom Vision of America turned into Ads!

2012-01-29T22:56:00.000-06:00

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels helped Bush take the Clinton surplus and convert them into deficits. Now he's the know-it-all fiscal savior of the state, that's not doing so well.

Make no mistake, he's good at selling a more moderate message, that is anything but.

Thankfully, a few in the media picked up on this doom and gloomer and put together a number of parody ads that hit the mark:

Try this one on for size:

Walker starts early with his claims of innocence in the John Doe investigation.

2012-01-29T22:38:00.000-06:00

Sen. Chris Larson calls out Scott Walker for his feeble attempt to underplay the John Doe investigation and his part in it. Like Larson said:

"For him now to pretend that this was an elaborate network, and they were just going to be surprising him by doing political work on his behalf without him knowing it...like they were planning a surprise party. They're expecting way too much of us to be oblivious to it...to trust him."

Beautifully said. WKOW 27 News:

Can't figure out the latest sales ad, or missed the big one?

2012-01-29T14:22:00.000-06:00

JC Penny is changing the way they approach having sales. Getting an additional 10% off the already low sales price of an item, is adding confusion and mind numbing calculations to every purchase, with an additional discount if you use your charge card. JC Penny wants to end all that...I think.

I loved this add for its shear intensity:

Upside Down Economics: Clinton's Surpluses meant Taxes were too High.

2012-01-29T14:09:00.000-06:00

Remember when Clinton created a budget surplus? Times were good, and the government had a chance to pay down some bills. To George W. Bush, paying of America's debt was not the best way to buy votes. Bush instead said screw the deficit, Americans were obviously paying too much in taxes.

See how crazy conservatives are with money? If everything had been left alone, we'd have dramatically lower deficits with money left over. But no, it's better living on the edge of bankruptcy.

Here's a clip of Clinton and then Bush, to show you how and why we got into this mess:

Gun Web Site Requires Registration...

2012-01-29T13:45:00.000-06:00

...what were they thinking?

Let’s face it, Republicans have destroyed the Judicial Branch with activist judges.

2012-01-29T12:32:00.002-06:00

All the while Republicans screamed bloody murder over liberalactivist judges, they were installing their own conservative activist judges. Yes,it’s opposite day everyday in Republican world. And they're getting away with it. Republicans on the campaign trail have even gone as far as telling voters that they'll replace every judge with a conservative one. And it never gets any press. Yet, the public may be taking notice:

The Kaiser Foundation: With the Supreme Court just twomonths away from hearing a historic legal challenge to the 2010 health law,nearly 60 percent of the public expects the justices to depend more on personalideology than a legal analysis of the individual mandate, according to theKaiser Family Foundation's January healthtracking poll.

Just 28 percent of those surveyed believe the justices willbase their decision on the mandate without regard to politics and ideology,according to the survey.

Take a look at the abusive authoritarian bullying of our own more liberal justices here in Wisconsin by the conservative majority. There’s no conservative objection to thesad state of our top court's acrimony, because aggressive intimidation is consideredleadership now by Republican voters.

Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald and Assembly Republicans Prank Mining, the Environment and Democrats.

2012-01-28T18:55:00.004-06:00

For something as controversial as iron ore mining, nothing stood out more than the sick prank initiated by Jeff Fitzgerald, where he teased the Democrats with a "I am Spartacus" moment, by claiming every Republican was an author of the mining bill. Sweet.

The Republicans were having so much fun passing the author less bill (written by the industry), that they held a chaotic hand count of those who supported it, instead of asking for unanimous consent. It was an in your face insult to the assembly Democrats, the tribes, and concerned citizens who had so many serious questions left to be answered. The public hearings were simply side show performances by Republican representatives.

Is this kind of arrogance okay with the average conservative voter? Do mines pollute rivers?

You'll also notice Jeff Fitzgerald never once mentioned the environment. It was jobs or no jobs.

Scott Walker’s message to the nation: Help, they’re trying to overthrow the king!

2012-01-28T18:29:00.002-06:00

These self-anointed leaders, self-aggrandizing egomaniacslove all the attention, don’t they.

I love it when conservatives get a little too comfortable when commiserating with fellow loons, and start pounding their chest or whining endlessly about theirlot in life. It’s a peak into the behind the scenes trash talk that happenswhen control freaks like Walker spill their guts accidently in public to asympathetic corporate whore.

The Wall Street Journal did this little puff piece forScott Walker as a way to get his message out for purely fund raising purposes.Walker’s “sky is falling” description of what would happen if he were to lose his recall election is the ranting’s of adesperate man.

While conservatives laugh at Democrats for claiming “the skywould fall” under Walker’s policies, something they never said by the way, Walker is onthe national stage warning America that the Democrats are trying to overthrowthe king.

Whack job celebrity wingnut Stephen Moore wrote this:

jsonline: The stakes here "go well beyond who will be governor ofWisconsin … The recall's ultimate objective is to intimidate any officialacross the country who's thinking of crossing swords with the empire ofteachers and other public-employee unions. "This is about killing reforminitiatives in every state in the country," says Mr. Walker.

Nice. It looks like public disapproval by nearly half the voting publicis now “intimidation?”

The “empire of teachers?” Oops, Walker brags he’s never saidanything bad about teachers…until now. Anyone think he’s never dissed them in backroom discussions with his brownshirted lackey’s?

You’ll love the Wall Street Journal’s minimization of theJohn Doe investigation:

And local Democrats are smelling blood over a recentmini-scandal involving alleged embezzlement of public funds by two of Mr.Walker's top aides when he was Milwaukee County Commissioner.

Who knew that when Republicans get caught breaking the law, it’s just amini-scandal. But King Walker has a warning to all good Americans:

If unions succeed in getting voters to evict reformers, itcould "set back the conservative reform agenda across the states for ageneration," Mr. Walker warns.

The king has spoken. Yeah, that “conservative reform agenda’s” is popular.

Catholic Bishop describes public education as something Hitler and Mussolini would love.

2012-01-28T17:38:00.001-06:00

Say what? The push to vilify public education has goneoff the Richter scale, again.

One thing is for certain, the public school system in this country is anything but “monolithic.”

School boards and states have dramatic sway over what is taught, and testing checks whether the courses are being taught in an effective way. But...

Republican governors and legislatures have successfully portrayed teachers as public pariahs. That is clearly their image now. Playing off the idea that public education is the source of liberal indoctrination, public education must be dismantled too. If that were true, where did all the conservatives come from?

And the followingexample proves how far conservatives will go to push religious indoctrination and the profitable exploitation of education.

Harrisburg's Catholic bishop is facing heat … his wordchoice in describing a state without school choice.

The topic was school vouchers - specifically, Catholicschools closing under financial hardship and how vouchers would help. BishopMcFadden said he worries about state controlled public education and a lack ofchoice for parents. "In a totalitarian government, they would love oursystem. This is what Hitler and Mussolini and them tried to establish, a monolith,so all the children would be educated in one set of beliefs and one way ofdoing things."

The top educational systems in the world have nationalstandards. Where are the Hitler’s and Mussolini’s? Fear mongering much?Pointless and mindless drivel?

Sure. But it appeals to that part of the conservative mindthat loves conspiracy theories and elevated levels of paranoia.

Without knowing it, the defensive nature of conservativevoters minimizes the actual argument, for a more knee jerk reaction and threatto their ideology. They can’t be wrong, and they certainly wouldn’t be played for suckers by special interests.

In the U.S., corporate interests would love to make a littlemoney by privatizing education, and the religious right would like to surviveand indoctrinate students with public tax dollars.

That’s the real problem. The Anti-DefamationLeague describes it as trivializing the holocaust, I say it vilifies public schools.

Republican trashing of environment in mining bill may cancel out Federal Flood Insurance.

2012-01-27T13:28:00.002-06:00

I don’t know, do you think Republicans should have considered this major problem before they raced through the approval process ofa mining bill written by a magical all-knowing mysterious entity?

WSJ: A provision in the Assembly mine permitting bill beingconsidered in the state Legislature Thursday could jeopardize the state'saccess to federal flood insurance, according to the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency. The chief of FEMA's floodplain management branch said partof the Assembly bill that exempts mines from floodplain ordinances could promptthe agency to "seek enforcement of requirements that include suspensionfrom the program."

The bill gives the state Department of Natural Resources 360days to act on an iron permit application. It also relaxes a number ofenvironmental protections for lakes, rivers and wetlands. One of thoseprovisions would allow a mining company to dispose of mining waste in afloodplain.

But the letter from David Stearrett, chief of FEMA'sfloodplain management branch, said mining is specifically mentioned in a listof floodplain activities that would jeopardize communities' ability to qualifyfor federal flood insurance.

Maybe Walker can turn down big governments flood insurance policy in the state.

Conservative Pettiness Ugly, Stupid.

2012-01-27T13:10:00.001-06:00

I came across the following ridiculous article from the conservative whiner, Newsbusters, and boy did they get a scoop. Of course I’m kidding, but you won’t believe how they think, and what they find outrageous. I'm blogging it here because it's the perfect example of conservative pettiness. As written by Tim Graham:

Ed Schultz wasn’t kidding about his State of the Union affinities when he asserted on his radio show Tuesday that “I'll be in the Rotunda tonight, listening to the boss, rootin' for him, if you know what I mean.” He did not mean MSNBC boss Phil Griffin.

Oh, so Ed must be taking his orders from his “boss” Barack Obama? This is projection, because they actually do “follow the leader.” There’s more:

Schultz and CNN’s Paul Begala are participating Wednesday night in a House Democrat “Reignite the American Dream” retreat at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa & Marina in Cambridge, Maryland … the resort's website touts amenities including “pampering spa treatments, golf, sailing, fishing and swimming … [and] delicious meals in our many Cambridge, Maryland hotel resort restaurants.” It's not exactly sleeping in a tent with the rats at Occupy DC.

Projection again; Class envy much? I didn’t believe it at first, but these guys actually think Democrats have to live in squalor to be advocates of the poor.

Wisconsin Realtors Association's Big Misstep, Endorses Walker.

2012-01-27T12:33:00.000-06:00

Disclosure: I was once a Realtor. I've been waiting out the bad real estate market for some time, before stepping back in.

The Wisconsin Realtor's Association has just come out with their endorsement of Scott Walker.

Even before there is a Democratic opponent? What a horrible management decision, one that may produce a backlash by Democratic home buyers and sellers.

But before you decide to boycott the WRA, consider a group of Realtors who have banded together to be an alternative to the rabid right wingers in the association.

Wisconsin Real Estate Professionals in Support of a Progressive Environment. WI RISPE: We are a group of Realtors passionate about supporting schools, the environment, community and the very people that make Wisconsin strong. The strength of a community is tantamount to a sustainable and prosperous real estate market. If you are a Realtor in Wisconsin who shares these views please join us. If you are not a Realtor but support these views then please join us…

Having said that, I've been railing against the Wisconsin Realtors Association for years for its partisan politics and close ties to the Republican Party. As a real estate practitioner, the worst thing I could do is poison the trust and advocacy I have as agent, with an association to one of the political parties.

Agents represent the interest of the consumer, whether they're a buyer or seller, and would prefer to be a neutral party. Believe me. From Channel3000:

Walker, the Liar.

2012-01-27T11:57:00.001-06:00

I loved this moment, as much as Sly in the Morning does...from Walker's State of the State address:

Walker lied throughout his address, but the one claim that he didn't raise taxes, was one of the biggest. He raised taxes on the poor by reducing the Earned Income Tax Credit and Homestead Tax Credit. Why is that so hard for the news media to point out?

Mining Bill Anger Spills out in Assembly Gallery.

2012-01-27T11:49:00.001-06:00

Here's what the mayhem looked like when the mining bill was being forced down the throats of a disapproving public, from Channel3000:

TMJ4: Bury the Bill: The full State Assembly has removed the gallery Thursday evening after they put up a "Bury the Bill" banner and yelled as debate on final passage of mining law continues.

As the body began arguing over the bill Thursday afternoon, demonstrators hurled obscenities at Republicans from the Assembly's overhead galleries under the cover of group coughs and throat-clearing. Someone yelled out "Fascists!"

Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) then ordered the galleries cleared. Protesters moved from the galleries to outside the chamber, where they banged on the doors and chanted "Shame!"

Protesters in the gallery were yelling, being disruptive and shouting. Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha), threatened to clear the gallery, but Democrats like Representative Mark Pocan (D-Madison) spoke out about that action. "Y'all love the Second Amendment, but try the First (Amendment)...we have to start behaving a little differently here."

Pocan was referring to the drastic demand to clear the galleries, instead of just ousting the interrupters.

Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald and demonstrators continued to argue. "I'm not gonna let this institution have people, (interruptions), great people, great people, a lot of class."

Suckers all, public sold on Privatization and Profiting off “educating” Kids. Charter Schools the new poison pill.

2012-01-27T11:24:00.000-06:00

The battle is almost over, and the days of public educationare nearing an end. Vilification of teachers was their first success,portraying them as over paid and tools of their union bosses.

The second success was selling charter and voucher schoolsas an improvement over public education. You’ve heard it before, “parents knowwhat’s best for their kids.” They do, except when it comes to the complex worldof education reform, research on improved curriculum and teaching techniques.

Like the lazy freeloaders they are, Republicans would ratherrun from the hard work of education reform, to the easier solution of dumpingthe problem into the hands of profiteers. The private sector will then be able to “market”their “success” like the latest new and improved abs reducer, with manipulateddata and no transparency.

The following is just one story nationwide that shows agullible public, running from the hard work of improving their schools, tosending their kids to different buildings with private educators whose failuresare even more dramatic than our public schools. I've highlighted the marketing BS:

EdWeek: More Than 1,500 Rally for Ga. School Choice: More than 1,500students, teachers, parents and advocates of school choice stormed the GeorgiaCapitol on Wednesday, telling lawmakers that the state's children deserveeducational options … supporters marked National School Choice Week. Similarevents were held across the country. Rashaun Holliman, a former principal andactivist for the Center for an Educated Georgia, told the crowd that while thereare great public schools in Georgia, there are also great alternatives.

On Tuesday, state lawmakers filed a constitutional amendmentto address a state Supreme Court ruling that disbanded the Georgia CharterSchools Commission last year. The amendment has bipartisan support.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers said, "Educationis the great equalizer, if you have an education, you can succeed. Schoolchoice equals freedom."

John Trainor, a father of three whose children attend acharter school in Fulton County, said "Unlike every other politicalissue, school choice doesn't see politics, it doesn't see race, it doesn't seegender. All it sees is the success of our children."

Oh but it is all about politics. And "all it sees is" a profit. Goodluck with the mob mentality of education reform…so sad.

Bad Grades for Education Managemnet Organizations. Who are they? Part of the Privatization of Education.

2012-01-27T10:28:00.000-06:00

While Republicans demand teacher evaluations and schoolrankings be based on test scores, the privatization movement and managers broughtin to oversee many charter schools think it’s unfair to use those same standards.Huh?

It’s all part of the upside down world of conservatism,where platitudes about freedom and liberty are thrown in to fill the space leftby the lack of research and substance. “It’s what the founding fathersenvisioned…blah, blah, blah.”

The public is getting suckered into believing the privatesector is somehow better, like the following profit and non-profit managementcompanies (EMO's) in the story below. The Republican narrative has been a raving success, sweeping inmajor minority groups sold on the snake oil promises that they have the secretto closing the achievement gap. It’s all a lie, and it’s all about making moneyoff our kids. Is anything more deplorable?

EdWeek: The annual report, "Profilesof For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations," whose2010-11 edition was released this month by the National Education Policy Center, offers amixed picture on the academic success of outside operators of public schools,as measured by their schools' ability to make adequate yearly progress, themain yardstick (the same yardstick used to bash teachers and public schools).It offers a dimmer assessment of for-profit virtual schools' performance bythat oft-criticized standard.

You won’t believe how bad virtual schools look in thereport.

The academic showing of the EMOs profiled in the report wasuneven. Forty-eight percent of the schools run by for-profit EMOs made adequateyearly progress. Nonprofits fared better, with 56 percent of their schoolsmaking Academic Yearly Progress (AYP).

Those figures are comparable to overall public schoolperformance … 52 percent of the nation's schools made AYP during the mostrecent year studied. One for-profit organization listed in the report, EdisonLearning,was found to have just 34 percent of its schools making AYP.

Not a rip roaring solution to improving our educationalsystem, is it? But it gets worse when we look at virtual schooling, a popularRepublican idea being pushed heavily in Wisconsin:

The report found that a much smaller proportion of virtualschools managed by for-profit EMOs—27 percent—made AYP. Thoseacademic-performance figures were for full-time virtual schools … the poorperformance of virtual schools was "a bit of a mystery" and a causefor concern.

As Wisconsin adopts this ideologically driven movement offailure and profit taking off the education of our kid’s, many are captured by thehypnotic language and magical promises of improve learning through the privatesector.

Dismantling this mess will be all but impossible once our publicschools have disappeared.

Another Bunch of Walker Bad Apples Arrested. Just a Coincidence?

2012-01-26T22:44:00.000-06:00

The net is closing in the droopy eyed governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker. Ed Schultz and John Nichols hash it out:

Marquette University Law School Poll finds big support for Voter ID. Really?

2012-01-26T21:38:00.001-06:00

You know that poll that showed Scott Walker in the lead overall possible Democratic recall opponents? It seemed wrong for some reason. Well...

I’m beginning to believe we were duped, because the publiccan’t be this gullible in thinking we have a voter fraud problem. If Wisconsinites arethis supportive voter ID, without knowing the possible problems, then we’re in big trouble as a country.

Many have blamed the poll for taking samples in highlyconservative areas. Even so, are they this crazy?

AP: A new poll shows most people support a state law thatrequires voters to show photo identification at the ballot box starting nextmonth. The MarquetteUniversity Law School poll released Wednesday shows 66 percent of 701registered voters favor the law. Thirty-two percent oppose it.

Gov. Scott Walker andthe Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law last spring, saying it wasneeded to combat voter fraud even though there have been few instances reportedin Wisconsin.

Grothman/Vos/Ellis Bar Talk Exposes extra $200 million from somewhere for Venture Capital. Vouchers coming to Green Bay!

2012-01-26T20:21:00.002-06:00

Bar talk, with Rep. Robin Vos, Sen. Mike Ellis and Glen Grothman, caught on video. Thanks to Rock Netroots for blogging this breaking story.

If you can, in some way, contribute and fill in some of the blanks, we'd love to hear from you. There are some passages that are inaudible and not noted here. This is what I've been able to pick up:

Grothman: "What are you going to do about venture capital?"

Vos: "Well, there is a way to find $200 million in venture capital.

Mike Ellis: "I'd like to hear this..."

Sen. Sheila Harsdorf: "Don't they know that's a part of the state that wants (unclear)"

Grothman or Ellis: "I talked to Robin Vos last night, and he's gonna get it done without amendments. (unclear)...Fitzgerald...(said?)...'Well, my brother doesn't know if he can get enough votes.' I thought, you little bastard you...Fitzgerald brothers are the biggest grifters in the west, they play the odds, they play against each other and then they blame each other. And that's how they get...(unclear).

School vouchers is the subject matter here, and going after the Green Bay district next:

Ellis: "It was fucked up. So we voted for a bill we didn't like, or I didn't like, votes so we could get it, so Racine could get it...You know I'm not affraid. You're going to be running (unclear), and if you need to use the Democrats, use them."

Ellis: "We've got some great school districts in the Fox Valley, the only one getting close to the margins is the Green Bay area, that's not even the Green Bay school district, it's target schools, because of the demographic disbursment. You've got Preble out there because of all the poor people. So what we need to do, when we're done with this bill, is modify it so that a segment of the school district may move into the program. (unclear)...Green Bay east is fine, west is fine, Preble is a sewer...they got the poverty possum, we need to not make it the entire school district, we need to make that Preble, that geographic quadrant, they are illegible like Milwaukee is for a voucher program."

From WBAY, looks like Sen. Ellis is trying to explain...the unexplainable:

State Senator Mike Ellis is under fire after he was caughtcalling Green Bay Preble High School "a sewer." Looking into thecamera, Ellis said, "I feel it's an invasion of privacy, but that doesn'tdeny the fact that I made a bad choice using Preble, and I'm deeply sorry forit." Ellis's apology didn't stop Green Bay Preble parents and studentsfrom speaking out about the video. Teachers, students, and parents we spokewith say they're absolutely outraged by the senator's comments and they have noidea why he would say such a thing. A crowd of hundreds turned out at theschool's library to show their solidarity and school pride Thursday afternoon. "Wewere quite devastated by this a lot of us. Didn't sleep well last night. Wecouldn't believe that one of our elected officials, someone who's in charge ofcoordinating millions of dollars to decide which schools they should go to,would be saying this about a school like ours," teacher Jeff Kline said.

Late Thursday afternoon, the Green Bay Area Public SchoolDistrict and school board released a joint statement calling Ellis's remarks"grossly insulting to the Preble students, parents, staff, and the entirePreble neighborhood … Using inflammatory, inaccurate language about ourfamilies living in poverty appears to be nothing short of an attack, not onlyon the Preble neighborhood but on the wider Green Bay community."

Senator Ellis responded, "Absolutely, it's a bad choiceof words; I should have used a different word.

Why should Ellis have picked another word, when the one he used was the one he intended? Nice to know what our elected Republican representatives are thinking, isn't it?

Walker Staff willing to Break Law to serve their leader, on their own, behind his back?

2012-01-26T12:25:00.000-06:00

If we were to believe Scott Walker, all the illegalactivity emanating from his offices and from his appointees, were all risks taken bythose individuals who couldn’t wait to break the law for the benefit of Walker.

Even as the names continue to pile up, Walker is getting apass. It's as if “guilt through association” for some reason, doesn’t apply to Walker. Besidesbeing a bad judge of character, Walker surrounded himself with rogue politicalactivists. Yet Walker didn’t have a clue?

jsonline: Two staffers who worked directly for Gov. Scott Walker whilehe was county executive were charged Thursday with illegally doingextensive political work while being paid by taxpayers to do county jobs.

Kelly Rindfleisch, deputy chief of staff to Walker in 2010,faces four felony counts of misconduct in office for working for then-Rep.Brett Davis' 2010 campaign for lieutenant governor while on the countyclock. Davis, who lost in the Republican primary, is now Walker's stateMedicaid director. "In the course of the investigation, it was learnedthat a private e-mail network was established and operated out of the CountyExecutive's office and that the private network was used to communicate bothpolitical campaign and government work related information to selectindividuals," said a press release from District Attorney John Chisholm.

Connecting the dots, Rindfleisch worked illegally for BrettDavis, who Walker secretly wanted as Lt. Governor, but lost to RebeccaKleefisch, and was then given a post in the administration for his trouble.

Also facing two misdemeanors is Darlene Wink, Walker'sone-time constituent services coordinator, who is accused of using countyresources to raise money for Walker's 2010 gubernatorial bid. Wink, aformer vice chair of the Milwaukee County Republican Party, resigned in May2010 after admitting that she was spending part of her work day doing campaignwork.

Walker's chief of staff, Tom Nardelli, issued a statement atthe time saying that "no one in our office had any knowledge"that Wink was doing political work out of the county office.

Walker supporters are so dedicated they would willinglybreak the law, supposedly behind Walker’s back, to keep him and his cronies inpower? Here's the coverage from Channel3000:

Business Tax Climate in Wisconsin Slips under Walker. It's Working?

2012-01-26T11:45:00.001-06:00

I'm not an economist, so instead of getting it wildly wrong, I've posted the picture and chart showing the state business tax rankings for 2012. Oddly, with all the tax cuts and giveaways to Walker's corporate pay masters in 2011, Wisconsin lost ground in business favorability. What a mess.

Did any of this have anything to do with taxes going up on low income wage earners, or the biggest cuts to education in the nation? Or why we're seeing six straight months of job losses which almost negated any job creation numbers? And this is what Republican voters are cheering Scott Walker for?

Wisconsin is one of the 10 worst states in terms of taxes on businesses, according to the State Business Tax Climate Index released from the Tax Foundation. It rates Wisconsin 43, down from 41 a year ago. Illinois moved most dramatically in its Index rank over the past year, falling twelve places (from 16th place in 2011 to 28th place in 2012).

What all this means in the bigger picture, after seeing all the cuts in state spending so far...who knows. But if I had to take a guess, I would say we're just starting to see the public service cuts under Walker, and a major shift in the state livability index. Forget Wisconsin, we're really in Fitzwalkerstan.

It is obvious that the absence of a major tax is a dominantfactor in vaulting many of these 10 states to the top of the rankings. Propertytaxes and unemployment insurance taxes are levied in every state, but there areseveral states that do without one or more of the major taxes: the corporatetax, the individual income tax, or the sales tax. Wyoming, Nevada and SouthDakota have no corporate or individual income tax; Alaska has no individualincome or state-level sales tax; Florida has no individual income tax; and NewHampshire and Montana have no sales tax. The lesson is simple: a state that raises sufficient revenuewithout one of the major taxes will, all things being equal, have an advantageover those states that levy every tax in the state tax collector’s arsenal.

New Voter ID Law Comes with special Secret instructions, "Don't Register Voters."

2012-01-26T00:41:00.003-06:00

The new voter ID law also requires Special RegistrationDeputies (SRD) to be sworn in locally, instead of by the GAB. The SRD’s canregister voters in their districts. Oh, oh. That would increase voter turnoutand…we can’t have that.

The following story, from Denise Lockwood at the Caledonia Patch, is anotherexample of attempted election fraud, and should be a warning to anyone thinkingRepublicans were even slightly concerned about voting integrity.

When three Racine women wanted to register voters in Caledonia,they were told they couldn't by Village Clerk Karie Torkilsen. Now, two ofthose women have filed complaints with the Government Accountability Board anda third will likely be filed this week.

The GAB sent a memo outto municipal clerks, warning them not to arbitrarily deny appointments ofSpecial Registration Deputies for their communities. Reid Magney, spokesman forthe GAB, acknowledged the GAB received complaints about Torkilsen. Torkilsen said the details of how clerks were supposed tomanage the deputizing process were unclear to her and she needed clarificationbefore she issued them. “So it’s new. I needed to know more about what wasinvolved with this before I started swearing in people.”

Oh, and guess what, the three women turned away; Democrats.

Over the past few months, Nikki Aiello; Jane Witt, chair forthe Democratic Party of Racine County; and Kathleen Laru had already beencertified and deputized to register voters in the City of Racine, and thevillage of Mt. Pleasant and Sturtevant. But on separate occasions, they eachwent to turn in their applications to Torkilsen, who allegedly refused todeputize them when they came into Caledonia Village Hall.

Nikki Aiello said she approached Torkilsen about trainingclasses and being deputized in November. Torkilsen allegedly said she wasn’t“going to train just anyone,” that they would not be offering training classes.“But I said, ‘That means if people can’t register until election day, thatmight cause a problem because if they don’t come with the things they need onelection day, they wouldn’t be able to vote and she said, ‘That’s right,’”Aiello said. “I definitely did not like her tone, my impression is that shereally didn’t want other people registering voters.”

Torkilsen told Patch "...(I)f people come to registerat the polls and they don’t have proper ID they can vote a Provisional ballot,which will be counted as soon as they provide the proper ID … I would nothave told her ‘That’s right. They would not be able to vote.’”

Oh but it doesn't end there:

Witt said she requested to be sworn in early January. “(Torkilsen)said, ‘I don’t want everyone registering people all over the place, I don’thave control over this process’ and she refused to swear me in,” Witt said. “Iwas floored.” But Laru, who went to the Village Hall on Jan. 23, said shewasn’t asked her name, if she was certified or if she had any training when shecame to the Caledonia Village Hall. Laru said Torkilsen told her she will notcertify “random people.” “She immediately said she wasn’t going to certify me,”Laru said. “She didn’t say anything about checking things out first. Had shesaid that, I would have waited to turn in my complaint… But she turned me downflat.”

Walker's State of the State Spins out of Control, and out of Reality.

2012-01-26T00:09:00.001-06:00

I just couldn't go through the Walker state of the state bullshit. The lies and spin made my head spin. Who knows, his loyal followers probably thought it was a wonderful speech, and sure showed recallers how wrong they were. Actually, my conservative friend did call and say just that.

Here's Ed Schultz with State Sen. Lena Taylor on the speech and a few of the louder protests.

Poll Results for Kohl's Senate Seat.

2012-01-25T23:42:00.000-06:00

A new poll shows ex-Gov. Tommy Thompson has the highest namerecognition and the most favorable ratings in Wisconsin's U.S. Senate race.

But the Marquette University Law School poll released onWednesday shows the public is largely unfamiliar with the candidates who wantto replace retiring Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl.

The poll shows 49 percent think favorably of Thompsoncompared to 31 percent who don't. Other Republicans include former U.S. Rep.Mark Neumann, who has a 27 percent favorable rating and 18 percent unfavorable.

Fifteen percent view Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgeraldfavorably, while 18 percent were unfavorable. Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin had a 23 percentfavorable rating compared to 21 percent unfavorable.

Rep. Robin Vos: "I understand the other sides job is to continually tear down Wisconsin."

2012-01-25T22:36:00.001-06:00

Rep. Robin Vos is a classic authoritarian wise ass, that deserves another beer bath, maybe more. What is it with Republican projection?

In this interview, Vos is asked by WISC host Mark Koehn, "So it's full speed ahead, no reconciliation here?"

Vos' answer will if anything, fire up recall supporters, and burned an unforgettable image in your mind. Maybe even convince a few conservative voters to change their minds.

Vos: "I think the reconciliation is already happening. I think as we look all across Wisconsin...we saw a poll out today that showed Gov. Walker clearly in the lead over two potential Democratic challengers."

Need I transcribe more?

Rep. Peter Barca nails Vos' jobs numbers and well rehearsed talking points. I think we need to stop trying to seem needy, so willing to work the together.

It's time to wash down the marked territory left by the Walker regime.

Racine Can't Afford to Keep Street Lights on after Walker Budget Cuts.

2012-01-25T21:39:00.001-06:00

The continuing stream of nightmarish Walker budgeting stories will eventually turn public opinion against him, and may even have a major effect in the recall. The tragic story below is only the beginning of course, where cities and towns will have to deal with an administration more concerned with pleasing business than giving a damn about the people in this state.

Racine is starting to turn out street lights to save money after Walker's cuts. The same thing happened in Clintonville. And this is the greatest, richest country in the world? Fox 6:

Crewsin Racine spent Wednesday taking down several street lights! It's a measuremeant to save money, but some residents are trying to stop it, citing safetyconcerns.

Candice Gloede is one of many Racine residents who have signed a petition tostop the removal of street lights. Her block alone is set to lose two streetlights, and she feels this is unacceptable. "When the bar's full on Fridayand Saturday nights, and there's tons and tons of cars on the street, morebreak-ins, more kids getting injured. It just doesn't make any sense tome," Gloede said.

Racine lost more than $3 million in state funding this year. The elimination ofnearly 500 street lights throughout the city is only a small part of muchlarger cuts, saving around $80,000 per year. Racine Mayor John Dickert says thesestreet lights won't be back anytime soon. "There is not enough money. Thefact is, these cuts will become the norm, as long as this type of budgetingfrom the state keeps coming down to the cities," Dickert said. "It'snot good for any of us. We don't like it, but the fact is, this is what we haveto do," Dickert said.

Put a Stake through the Heart of the Ryan Lie Small Businesses will be Taxed by Obama.

2012-01-25T21:18:00.000-06:00

Facts, damn facts.

Paul Ryan's reputation as a numbers guy is so misplaced, especially when it comes to taxing "small businesses." He's flat out lying.

But, again the facts say something else:

IRS statistics indicate that only 3 percent of small businesses would be subject to the higher tax, and many studies of previous tax increases suggest that it would have minimal impact on hiring.

And it gets even worse for Ryan’s argument:

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, 97 percent of all businesses owners do not earn enough to be subject to the higher rates. Even among the 750,000 businesses that would be subjected to the higher rates in 2011, many are sole proprietors — a classification so amorphous it can include everyone from corporate executives who earn income on rental property to entertainers, hedge fund managers and investment bankers. THE FACTS: The U.S. has roughly 6 million businesses that employ people, and 20 million businesses without employees. The latter group includes solo operators, professionals in partnerships and those who organize themselves as a business for tax purposes but earn little if any income from the enterprise.

So when it comes to the government making money, like a business, Ryan's brain stalls.

Critics reason that owners of many small companies reportbusiness income on their personal tax returns instead of filing corporatetaxes. But most small businesses don't create jobs. They tend to be lawyers,accountants and other professionals who earn some of their money frompartnerships or otherwise organize themselves as a business entity. As well,many small businesses with employees don't earn enough to put their owners overthe threshold for the higher tax rates.

Small businesses are defined as having fewer than 500workers each. Sizable companies within that group wouldn't be snagged byObama's personal tax rates simply because they are too large to report incomeon the individual return of the owner. Many truly small operations simply don'tmake enough to qualify for the tax hit.

Spectrum Brands lied to State to get, and receive, $4 million! Walker administration Okay with that.

2012-01-25T18:43:00.001-06:00

This story is so outrageous, that it’s actually breathtaking in its deceit. But it is revealing. If Republicans get their way, and trust these corporatescoundrels by getting government out of the way, than we're in real trouble. The public, angry conservative voters, deserveseverything it willfully supported. Hallelujah, thank you Scott Walker.

Bill Lueders/Cap Times: Spectrum Brands began its successful quest for a $4 millionaward from the state without revealing its identity or that it was alreadybased in Wisconsin, public records show. Initial overtures were made by HarryJ. Joseph, an Atlanta-based real estate consultant. Joseph did not disclosewhich company he represented when he asked the state in January 2011 "whatincentives might be available to our client should they decide to consolidatein Wisconsin."

As reported here before, Spectrum Brands used the “unrest”state wide as a threat to leave, unless they get a monetary payout. You couldalso view this as corporate power dictating how government should deal with public unrest. I think they call the creeping fascism.

Emails obtained through an open records request by WTDYRadio in Madison and shared with the Wisconsin Center for InvestigativeJournalism show that Joseph suggested that the backlash over Gov. ScottWalker's budget repair bill made his unidentified client reluctant to pickMadison — where it was, in fact, already located.

"I am concerned (that)the recent protests and 'unrest' occurring in Madison and splashed all over thenational news could have a detrimental impact on my client's interest inchoosing Madison as its office consolidation location," Joseph wrote in aFeb. 21 email. "You may recall we were evaluating Des Moines, westernsuburbs of Chicago, and Milwaukee as our other alternatives."

Joseph, the president of Galaxy Partners Inc., asked howstate officials could help "incent my client to look past this apparentcommunity discord." Last week, Spectrum announced plans to close itsMadison headquarters and relocate to a new facility in nearby Middleton.

Another words, Spectrum Brand had this message forthe Walker administration; suckers.

Relax, Walker has Slim Lead in Recent Poll.

2012-01-25T16:41:00.001-06:00

DailyKos panicked today after Scott Walker appeared to beat every one of the potential candidates in the upcoming recall election. Not Russ Feingold, but hey, he's not running.

It appears the DailyKos is forgetting about the Democratic challengers, their arguments for change, and candidate debates. There's time enough to make our arguments and time enough for Walker's mess to spread.

Here's a few more comforting words, from the coverage on WBAY:

When Marquette pollsters asked, respondents were split rightdown the middle on changes to collective bargaining -- 48 percent were forthem, 47 percent were against them. But there is a huge difference on whetherstate workers should pay more for pension and health benefits -- 74 percentfavor them paying more, while 22 percent are opposed. Overall, half ofrespondents believe our state is headed in the right direction, while 46percent don't.

This may seem close, but Wegge says don't let this figurefool you. "The folks who are in opposition to Walker have a much greaterintensity. They strongly disapprove of him whereas those who approve of himhave a softer approval, so the intensity could come into play" in a recallelection, Wegge said.

Job Losses in Heavily Conservative Area of State, Couldn't Happen in a Better Place.

2012-01-25T16:24:00.003-06:00

It's working?

The four-county Milwaukee area - encompassing Milwaukee,Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties - lost an estimated 700 jobs inDecember from November, according to estimates released Wednesday by the state Departmentof Workforce Development. The figures follow a separatereport, released a week ago, that show that Wisconsin unexpectedly lostprivate-sector jobs in December for the sixth consecutive month.

Walker’s State of the State will include ONE BIG LIE, among many others. News media allowed it to happen.

2012-01-25T11:49:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: 4:05 pm-I just got an except of exactly what I've been talking about below: the BS line the Great Recession's job losses have anything to do with Walker's predecessor Gov. Doyle. Yes, it's driving me crazy!!!!

"When I addressed you in this chamber last January,Wisconsin had suffered through three years of 150,000 of our fellow citizenslosing their jobs. The unemployment rate was 7.5%. And after years of taxincreases and budget tricks, Wisconsin faced one of the largest budget deficitsin the country.

Now, our unemployment rate is down from a year ago. Infact, it's the lowest it’s been since 2008. We are turning thingsaround. We are heading in the right direction. During the past year, weadded thousands of new jobs.”

Here's what I predicted:
Gov. Scott Walker will lie tonight, and get away with it forat least a few days, if not weeks. The first lie is that he created the jobs in thefirst 6 months of his administration. Business doesn’t create jobs thatquickly, meaning those jobs were created under the Doyle administration. WhenWalker’ policies were passed, poof! No jobs. The second lie encompasses the threeyears that includes the Great Recession. Gov. Doyle’s fault? Walker will say it was.

jsonline: Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said in an email,“He'll discuss the problems the administration inherited, what was done toaddress them, and the foundation the state now has for the future.”

This lie has been repeated over and over, but not correctedby the news media. And that's why Walker will get away with telling that lie again tonight, because henow knows he can:

WSJ:Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, touted the same report as proofthat their leadership is working. "Wisconsin's unemployment rate droppedto 7.1 percent last month, and 21,400 more people have jobs in Wisconsin than ayear ago," noted Sen. Fitzgerald. "Facts are facts. In the past year,our job numbers are up and unemployment is down," he said. "We justhad our first year of job growth after three straight years of decline."

“Three straight years of decline?” In the last eleven months of the Doyle administration, 12,000 jobs were created. If you include the year of the Great Recession, which Sen. Fitzgerald is doing, yeah, I guess you could say jobs were lost overall. But that would by ignoring the job creation trend Doyle started, and that lasted into June of 2011. Walker will make the same claim.

Assembly Republicans outsourced writing mining legislation?

2012-01-25T11:15:00.000-06:00

So who wrote the mining bill in the assembly?

Something is very definitely wrong here. Look, it might be a bit disheartening to know the public in general still supports Scott Walker as our governor. We'll see how that morphs over time when an opponent is able to point out how bad things have gotten over last year.

But this recent video should say a lot about our free loading Republican legislators, who apparently don't even have to write their own bills anymore. In fact, they don't know who wrote the mining bill in the assembly, but liked it enough to pass it. Would I kid you?

From Arthurukr222:

From WPT's Here and Now, here's the scoop on the reaction by the tribes at the recent meeting in Hurley. It looks like the tribes were right:

Thank You Scott Walker! Not enough Firefighters in De Pere.

2012-01-25T10:41:00.001-06:00

While a recent poll shows Scott Walker with a slight lead over a few named opponents in the recall election, more and more of the effects of Walker's policies will hopefully change a few more minds.

That's why I'm here.

Besides corporate welfare and cronyism, policies that'll handicap Walker's successor, local communities around the state are convulsing under the lack of state funding and tax flexibility.

De Pere Firefighters are now short handed, dangerously so....WBAY:

Republican Response Rerun: Fear Mongering! The Doom and Gloom party warn of “National Danger.”

2012-01-25T10:09:00.000-06:00

Amazing wasn't it? Gov. Mitch Daniels gave the SOTU responselike a undertaker.

The GOP picked Daniels for the response so he could eventually enter the presidentialrace . Daniels' job was to talk down the economic recovery.Daniels defended the favoritism afforded the rich through the tax code, callingany fair adjustment an “effort to divide us.” Protect the rich, or we’ll all bein “danger.”

WaPo: “On these evenings, presidents naturally seek to find thesunny side of our national condition. But when President Obama claims that thestate of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that thisis not true. No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than itsconstant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans bycastigating others. As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans areall in the same boat.”

The GOP defiantly defends the wealthy, pushing the idea thatmost Americans envy the rich, and wish they too could be just as loaded. Isthat why Warren Buffet’s secretary is…a secretary? No. Is that why teachers become…teachers?Is that why a small businessman is happy with just making a living, raising afamily, and taking a vacation from time to time instead of becoming anationally syndicated chain?

We don’t all strive to be millionaires and billionaires.Surprise! But Daniels doesn’t get it:

We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of havesand have nots. We must always be a nation of haves and soon-to-haves."

Here's an ad Rachel Maddow featured on here show highlighting the doom and gloom of Daniels:

We can dream can’t we? Herman Cain continued the fearmongering. (keep in mind, we got here via Republican policy)

“We know that thisnation is broke,” Cain said. “Not almost broke, it is broke and Washington isbroken.” Obama’s health-care law must be repealed “because it was forced downour throats to begin with,” Cain said. “We heard more class warfare, where thepresident and his administration still want to manipulate the tax code, andpick winners and losers.”

Hasn't the tax code already been manipulated to pick winners…like thewealthy? I guess they don’t want government picking different winners andlosers.

Rep. Eric Cantor’s stone faced demeanors during the Obamaaddress was a signal to conservative voters not to listen. But Cantor is also under the impression we all envy the rich and want to be just like them.

“You know, I care about Warren Buffett’s secretary,” said Cantor on CBS’s “ThisMorning.” “I want her to do well. I want her to do better, just as I thinkeverybody in this country should have an opportunity to achieve and pursuetheir dreams.”

Rubio also doesn’t want to pit the rich against themiddle class, because, it’s so unfair to the rich.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Wednesday that he has never seen a president“pit Americans against each other” like the current president.

Here's a little piece from Rachel Maddow on Mitch Daniels. Daniels by the way saw nothing wrong with the Bush tax cuts, and laughed at the idea the Clinton surplus' were in danger. I'm paraphrasing: "We'll have surplus' as far as the eye can see."

Does Walker Really Hate Out of State Interference? Didn't think so.

2012-01-24T23:52:00.000-06:00

Gov. Scott Walker hates big union bosses from out of state, interfering in Wisconsin's business, but loves big corporate bosses influencing and buying our elections. What else can you say:

AP: More than 60 percent of the donations Gov. Scott Walker has received from individuals since Dec. 11 came from outside Wisconsin ... watchdog group the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign shows that 61 percent of his money came from out of state ... $1 million he got from three Missouri donors and one from Texas over a single week earlier in January ... roughly half of the $4.5 million Walker raised over the past five weeks came from 33 individual donors ... Walker has raised $12.1 million since last year, the most-ever by a candidate for governor in Wisconsin beating his previous $10 million record set in 2010.

Outside moneyed interests, not the union kind, are just helping Walker save the American way of life. That's what makes Walker's efforts so virtuous.

Walker strips future state revenues with corporate tax welfare. Like GE.

2012-01-24T23:42:00.001-06:00

GE is one of the biggest corporate freeloaders state wide and federally. Take a look at the sales taxes they ended up not paying over the years in the chart below:

From the Institute for Wisconsin's Future:

Thanks to new legislation signed into law by Gov. Walkerlast year, the official 7.9% income tax rate on corporations is in effect,being slashed to 0.4% by 2017, GE can look forward to a tax-free longer termfuture.

Check out the coverage of the recent GE protest here.

Robin Vos blames UW cuts on Medicaid Spending.

2012-01-24T17:39:00.002-06:00

Doing the people’s business is actually, really hard. Butfreeloading Republicans are making it easy on themselves by just makingdraconian cuts. That way, they don’t have to spend much time working on a well thought outsolution.

The UW has taken big cuts. Why, because it was easy, andRepublicans have never liked those liberal bastions of learning anyway.

jsonline: Wisconsin’s public universities face the third-largestbudget cuts in the country this year, according to an annual survey ofhigher-education funding, though University of Wisconsin officials say thefigures might overestimate the cuts here. Public funding for the state’suniversities dropped 20.9% from $1.46 billion to $1.15 billion.

But instead of sound analysis, or even providing one goodreason why those cuts were made, Rep. Robin Vos punts! Vos chose to blame everyone else for the bad decisions he’s made:

State Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chairman of the JointFinance committee, said the federal government is at fault for large cutsto the UW System and other state agencies because of a mandate requiring statesto avoid cuts in Medicaid. That made cuts to other state agencies worse, hesaid.

That’s right, blame Obama. But the Republican budget isbuilt on sand and relies exclusively on a recovering economy. That’s it? Ohyeah, no tax increases. Good luck with that.

If state revenue is looking better in figures that will bereported to the Legislature in mid-February, cuts to the UW System and otherstate agencies won't have to be as steep, Vos said.

Vos has a way to save millions.

Vos said that can be done by providing the universities withmore efficient technology, encouraging students to get degrees in fields thatproduce immediate employment and bringing employees into the UW System who workefficiently.

Gee, why hasn’t anyone tried that before? Because they have?

Republican Party sending Junk Mail Pushing Walker's Failed Jobs Agenda. But Businesses are making out like bandits.

2012-01-24T17:07:00.000-06:00

So far, I've received 5 card stock advertisements from the Republican Party of Wisconsin pushing Walker's successes. For the GOP, "Keep moving Wisconsin Forward" is a Humpty Dumptyism. Maybe no one will notice. Of course Republicans are playing up the myth of job creation, even though its really their biggest Achilles heal.

This is like the voucher argument, on steroids; never reveal the numbers, just tell people how good other people feel about (fill-in the blank). Vouchers are failing miserably under actual scrutiny, and the same is happening with Walker's jobs plan. See the misleading advertisement to the right. "Job creators "believe" Wisconsin is pro business now. Wow, doesn't create jobs, but they're believers. That's good enough for conservative voters. "CEO's feel" were going in the right direction. "Feeling" doesn't feed a family. Funny thing, with all the money Walker is milking from outside donors, none of the direct mail pieces are paid for by his campaign.

So are we on the right track? Check out the amazing graphic on right, the flip side of the GOP ad. Is that a phallic symbol?

But in the real world, pictured on the left, Walker has had his chance. He's going forward...backwards.

Walker gets his own goofy song.

2012-01-24T15:00:00.001-06:00

Sounding a bit like the Cheers theme, with a little of Styx mixed in...and a lot of wimp, here's the only song I can think of supporting Scott Walker.

One authoritarian subtlety I noticed was the use of "Governor" Walker, instead of the Scott. Singer songwriter Glen Shulfer pretty much treats Walker at the untouchable leader conservatives seem to like so much. Pretty impersonal, and pretty cold. Production value is good, but the subject matter...it's like singing about cancer.

Jim Irwin Died on Sunday.

2012-01-24T14:50:00.000-06:00

So many memories, so many heart pounding moments, and so many classic plays called by Jim Irwin and Max McGee.

Jim Irwin, 77, who was the radio voice of the Green BayPackers from 1969 to 1998, died Sunday. His son, Jay, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that hisfather died of complications of kidney cancer, which was diagnosed in 2010. JimIrwin had been in hospice care in southern California, where he lived.

Irwin did color commentary alongside Ted Moore and GaryBender on Packers radio broadcasts from 1969 to 1975, then did the play-by-playalongside Lionel Aldridge, Max McGee and Larry McCarren before retiring at theend of the 1998 season. He was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2003.

Paul Ryan Gets one well deserved Cold Shoulder for attending MLK Awards at Gateway College..

2012-01-24T14:43:00.000-06:00

The title of the YouTube video read, “Al Levie refuses award from Paul Ryan.

Al Levie walked away from Paul Ryan. Levie refused to go along with Ryan's hypocritical side show on stage, after he received the MLK Humanitarian Award.

Al Levie is one of three recipients of Gateway Technical College's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Awards bestowed Monday and made these remarks in his acceptance speech. Levie is a social studies teacher at Horlick High School and is on the state executive board of Voces de la Frontera and the Racine chapter of the NAACP. He is an advisor to the student youth group Youth Empowered in the Struggle.

Here's a part of Levie's speech:

Lincoln saw the rights of workers superseding the rights ofcapital. He said labor is prior to, and independent of capital. Capital is onlythe fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

The struggle for equality is not only a civil rights struggle; it is aneconomic justice struggle. There is no wealth problem in this country only adistribution problem. Our society needs to reorder its priorities and meethuman need instead of fostering individual human greed.

As a recipient of Gateway Technical College's HumanitarianAward, I pledge to redouble my efforts in the struggle for social and economicjustice. Concretely, that means fighting to roll back the power of thecorporate elite in our society, making the ultra-rich pay their fair share intaxes, fighting for adequate funding for our public schools, restoringcollective bargaining for public employees, fair and humane immigration reform,and restoring the voting rights for all people living within our state andcountry. That is what democracy looks like.

Walker Rally Losers Gather to Pound Chest, Look Stupid!!!

2012-01-22T12:07:00.002-06:00

Do these guys look worried. Of course. This is how authoritarians act when they're backed into a corner. You be the judge. From the Waukesha Patch:

And a few protesters:

About 3,000 people rally at a pro-Walker event Saturday at Hart Park in Wauwatosa, with some of the state's most powerful Republicans.

It would seem job losses and the loss of consumer rights works for them:

Supporters traveled from blocks away in Wauwatosa or hours away such as La Crosse and Rosholt in Marathon County. A trio from the La Crosse Tea Party drove three hours to cheer on Walker and sell $2 "No Recall" bumper stickers. Teachers came from Twin Lakes in Kenosha County to help with a bake sale, encouraging donations for goodies that covered long tables. Among the items: frosted red, white and blue cookies in the shapes of T, G, F, S and W — or as a sign explained: "Thank God For Scott Walker."

Star Trek's Sulu proud to be on Social Security.

2012-01-22T11:22:00.000-06:00

Who would have guessed? Just thought the ad campaign for the Social Security government web site was a bit on the fun, bizarre side. That's Patty Duke playing along as well.

Job Loss Trend really Job Growth Trend? Sen. Scott Fitzgerald thinks so.

2012-01-22T11:20:00.001-06:00

I hate it when the news media pretends "both sides are doing it" when it's so obvious only one side is.

The normally sharp reporting from Wisconsin State Journal reporter Mary Spicuzza gave way to idiocy in this foolish attempt at humor:

WSJ: Every month we are treated to a flurry of dueling pressreleases as Republicans and Democrats highlight different aspects of the jobstatistics to either tout or criticize the direction of the state under Gov.Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans. It happened again this week when itwas revealed that Wisconsin lost an estimated 3,900 private sector jobs inDecember, the sixth straight month of losses.

In rapid fire succession the press releases went out withpeople like state Reps. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison, and Brett Hulsey,D-Madison, attacking the governor. "At what point will Gov. Walkerand legislative Republicans wake up and recognize that their misplaced focus onspecial interest giveaways and furthering their extreme conservative agenda isharming our state?" said Roys.

At the same time, releases fired out of the offices ofSenate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and his brother, AssemblySpeaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, touted the same report as proof that theirleadership is working. "Wisconsin's unemployment rate dropped to 7.1percent last month, and 21,400 more people have jobs in Wisconsin than a yearago," noted Sen. Fitzgerald. "Facts are facts. In the past year, ourjob numbers are up and unemployment is down," he said. "We just hadour first year of job growth after three straight years of decline."

Again, I’m aware the two On the Capitol reporters are tryingto be funny/sarcastic, but really, they don’t know who is spinning, and who isn’t?Their answer:

Confused? So are we.

Hilarious. But the not so funny facts are right their in the press releases; the last six monthscontinue a job loss trend, which runs counter to the hype/talk/ideology that Walkerclaimed would be our job creator savior. No other state is as bad.

“Confuse?” No, not at all.

And the “three straight years of decline?” In the last elevenmonths of the Doyle administration, 12,000 jobs were created. If you includethe year of the Great Recession, which Sen. Fitzgerald is doing, yeah, I guess you couldsay jobs were lost overall. But that would by ignoring the Doyle job creationtrend that lasted into June of 2011.

Confused? I hope they're not anymore.

Will Farrell steps into the Surreal....is this for real.

2012-01-21T18:57:00.000-06:00

Justice Gableman above Ethics, above Law! We’ve let Republicans Trash the judicial system, and we’re paying for it!

2012-01-20T20:33:00.001-06:00

Conservatives think they can do no wrong, heck, we’re seeing that with the no apologies governor. Tough decisions may not be popular, but they’re doing it for our own good. They’re our leaders, our authority figures. And so it is with Justice Michael Gableman, a guy’s who’s had a dark cloud over his head since his election.

On a Friday afternoon, when scoundrels release information to the media to bury it, Gableman slinked out to give us his judicial opinion. And no one can do anything about it.

jsonline: State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman said Friday he would not step aside in three matters, including an attempt to reopen last year's decision that allowed a new law to take effect that curbed the power of public unions. The other cases Gableman was asked to step aside from were pending matters. One involves the siting of a large heifer facility in Rock County; the other is over whether to use old or new legislative maps for likely recall elections of state senators.

Attorneys in the cases asked Gableman to remove himself because other parties in the cases were represented by Michael Best & Friedrich, which defended Gableman against an ethics allegation without billing him. Lawyers have said the legal work was likely worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Now, the full court will have to decide whether to force Gableman from the cases.

Never before have we seen such arrogance in power, from all three branches of our Republican government. Here’s Mr. Perfects reasons for no longer recusing himself:

Gableman's written orders saying he was remaining on the case were released together and virtually identical. He cited state Supreme Court decisions from 2008 and 2011 that say justices can recuse themselves only when they cannot act fairly and impartially or where they give the appearance that they cannot do so. He also cited U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' recent report that said justices on the nation's highest court should not withdraw from cases because of "partisan demands, public clamor or considerations of personal popularity or notoriety."

In his orders, Gableman did not go into the merits of the allegations against him or explain why he did not believe there was an appearance of a conflict of interest.

Conservatives, Obamacare Haters; Newt has a message for you!

2012-01-20T15:41:00.001-06:00

I heard this clip on Randi Rhodes show today, and thought every conservative voters should have another chance to hear and see it.

Newt Gingrich lays out clearly why a health care mandate is necessary. It's base entirely on self reliance, the supposed foundation of the Republican Party. It's not, but that's another story.

Require health insurance or post a $100,000 to $150,000 bond. How easy was that?

Newt Gingrich, in a 2008 appearance at Alegent Health Clinicin Bellevue, Nebraska, expresses strong support for an individual mandate.

Don't Question Authority, Newt Bashes Media. Crowd cheers their Golden Idol.

2012-01-20T13:51:00.000-06:00

As Republicans fine tune their new conservative fascistmovement in the presidential debates, it seems the television crowd has become desensitized to that threat over the last 5months, and are now nodding in agreement that “leaders” are above such“destructive, vicious” topics.

Has anybody else noticed this frightening show of repressive power?

Newt Gingrich tapped back into the deep reservoir ofresentment in American conservatism Thursday night by lecturing a debatemoderator … CNN's John King (who) … chose to ask Gingrich about his ex-wifewith his very first question of the night, "I think the destructive,vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to governthis country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office,"Gingrich said. "And I am appalled that you would begin a presidentialdebate on a topic like that" … the crowd in the debate hall rose and gave Gingricha standing ovation … "To take an ex-wife and make it two days before theprimary, a significant question in a presidential campaign, is as close todespicable as anything I can imagine. I am, frankly, astounded that CNN wouldtake trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate," he said.

Gingrich went back to hitting the media, saying that ABCNews didn't quote his friends because "they would like to attack anyRepublican."

If there weren't enough BS in the above Gingrich rant, Newtgave them one more chuck of red meat:

"I'm tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obamaby attacking Republicans," Gingrich concluded, drawing more enthusiasticcheers inside the hall.
And Austin Barbour, one of Romney's national financechairmen, said that "a candidate's personal background should and isconsidered by voters."

"Personal principles matter to voters. Don't attack themoderator for trying to let the voters hear your response on issues that matterto voters," Barbour told HuffPost.

Apple takes a big bite out of School Budgets, with expensive iPad's, to access e-textbooks.

2012-01-20T12:34:00.001-06:00

iPads are still very expensive when you consider what youcan get now via Android tablets. While iPads hover around $400, a simple 7”android tablet has now plummeted to $80. I’m just guessing, but I think schooldistricts would be very happy ordering hundreds of $80 tablets as opposed to$400 tablets.

But Apple doesn’t give a damn, as usual, as it tries tocorner the e-textbook market.

Even more sinister; they’ll get their grubby little hooksinto the kids who will be required to own Apple’s typically overpricedexclusive product and accessories. Ah, I can remember my first 2nd grade iPad….wrong!The greed meisters at Apple would love that to happen though.

EdWeek: Apple Inc. announced aggressive new efforts yesterday tomove into the K-12 electronic-textbook market … through a partnership withthree major K-12 textbook publishers—McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Houghton MifflinHarcourt—Apple is offering interactive textbooks through its iBooks store at$14.99 or less. The textbooks feature multimedia elements, including video,three-dimensional graphics, and photo galleries. They also allow students tohighlight text to create flashcards and search within a glossary.

Big deal, right? Most Android tablets can do all that andmore. But Apple wants it all:

The publishers will give Apple a cut of the revenue; 30percent in the case of individual consumers, and an undetermined amount whenselling on a state or district level. Apple announced it is upgrading iTunes U to allow teachersto create entire online courses. iTunes U is also now expanding to the K-12market.

Slow down, what about the cost?

But some critics believe the cost of the devices couldprevent the innovative textbooks from being used by the students who need themmost. By the end of the year, for example, McGraw-Hill will produce fiveApple-only textbooks. If the textbooks can be used on Apple devices only, itcould require cash-strapped districts to decide on Apple or a lesser education.

“Unless the economy significantly improves and the stategovernments have a load of money, I’m not sure where the districts will findmoney for $400 devices, and textbooks,” said Osman Rashid, the chief executiveofficer and co-founder of Kno, ane-textbook company in Santa Clara, Calif., that focuses on higher education.

UPDATE: 1-30 Monday: Looks like Wisconsin schools won't have to break their budgets:

The Madison school district in Wisconsin is buying 1,400iPads for its classrooms, and the cash to land the deal is coming from asettlement with Microsoft. The district is starting by distributing 600 iPadsamong students and teachers and plans to add another 800 iPads by next fall, according tothe Wisconsin State Journal. Wisconsin and Microsoft settled asoftware-related lawsuit in 2009 that landed US$3.4 million for the state,along with $80 in technology vouchers.$2.1 million was divided between the schools, and the Madison district is usingsome of that to finance its iPad purchases.

Conservative Hit Man James O'Keefe nailed for Voter Fraud pt 2

2012-01-20T10:26:00.001-06:00

Al Sharpton interviews one of the people who James O'Keefe impersonated (he wasn't dead after all), while he was committing what appears to be 9 counts of voter fraud. He is also accused of illegally recording conversations without the other party's knowledge.

The premise itself is idiotic; the fraud committed by O'Keefe would never happen in the real world, because no one would commit multiple felonies to elect their candidate.

What, Discipline a Conservative Lawyer caught victimizing domestic violence victim? Outrageous.

2012-01-20T10:06:00.000-06:00

Republicans continue to get picked on needlessly. Nothingthey ever do wrong, or at least punishable. Their virtuous pursuits cannot bequestioned, no matter how it looks, no matter who they harm.

Check out the latest “victim” of a malicious and vindictive systemof justice:

jsonline: Kenneth Kratz is not going quietly into the lawyer disciplinenight. The disgraced former Calumet County district attorney lashed back Thursday atthe Office of Lawyer Regulation … Racy text messages Kratz sent to a domesticviolence victim … numerous contacts with women connected or exposed to hiswork in various ways amounted to exhibiting “offensive personality,” a violationof licensed lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct.

Kratz says it should be dismissed … or reviewed by an outside panel … He deniesexhibiting “offensive personality,” a violation he characterized as an overlyvague catchall. He accuses the OLR of acting in a malicious and vindictivemanner, noting that it has not tried to learn who leaked the records of theinitial investigation. Disclosing the confidential records itself is a sanctionableoffense, Kratz wrote.

That’s right, it’s the fault of the person who leaked the records. Drat! Kratz got found out. Kratz continuesthe victim act:

Furthermore, Kratz argued, the OLR’s request for a six month suspension,instead of a public reprimand, reveals a punitive and not correctivemotive. Kratz has never been disciplined in 25 years of practice.

The first four counts of the complaint relate to Kratz’s texts to the domesticviolence victim. Other counts of the complaint involve Kratz’s interactionswith three other women, none of whom, he argues, ever filed grievances with theOLR and therefore should not be brought into the matter — where they could besubjected to embarrassing cross examination — without their consent.

Another woman, who went on CNN about her claim that Kratz sent her sexually suggestivetexts after supporting her clemency request, simply lied, Kratz says in thefiling. Kratz resigned in October 2010 after then-Gov. Jim Doyle beganprocedures to remove Kratz from office. A referee will hear arguments in the disciplinary action later.

Walker's Education Reform, without the Educator.

2012-01-20T09:30:00.000-06:00

Gov. Scott Walker made his presentation to the right crowd.After all, when you put the power of education into the hands of partisan schoolboard members and “business” managers, instead of in the control of teachers whoare actually doing all the work, who would complain.

Channel3000: Gov. Scott Walker said legislation will soon be introducedon a number of education reforms, including creating a state accountabilitysystem … to about 2,000 school board members, district administrators andschool business managers during the 2012 State Education Convention inMilwaukee.

But there was one glaring omission:

However, the governor outlined his plans without theattendance of state Superintendent Tony Evers, who he said he would work withon the new programs. An Evers spokesman said he hadn't been apprised of thepackage of reforms … "I'm a little bit in the dark on the legislativepiece," Evers said "Despite my leadership in these arenas andconstitutional authority, I have not been involved in the drafting of theeducation proposals that have been announced.”

This is a partisan piece of public education meddling:

It looks like the teachers union's decision to not be a partof the Walker side show, throwing their name into the mix to add credibility toa purely partisan political attack, was a wise one:

The state teachers union declined to be part of one of thetask forces, instead holding education forums on its own. "Feeding thatinformation back to the task force was the way we thought we best could helpthe work they were doing, because we valued what the mission was.Unfortunately, the delivery seems to reflect a good deal of what we suspectedmight happen," said Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin EducationAssociation Council.

One of those team members, a Kettle Moraine teacher, calledthe information outlined by Walker on generic and said he would like to seemore details of how specific things … so it is meaningful for parents andteachers.

Republicans, the Defenders of Voting Integrity, can't Defend Voter Debacle in Iowa.

2012-01-19T22:55:00.001-06:00

Need more proof voter ID is nothing more than voter suppression? Here's a compilation of clips that tells the Iowa caucus vote story, lost votes and all. That's right, 8 districts votes just disappeared, and no one is whining. No outrage? No screams of fraud? Of course not, that's not why they're pushing voter ID.

This is the ultimate reveal. Like always, when it comes to voter integrity, it was opposite day in Republicans land.

The Universal Remote Bottle Opener is finally here!!!

2012-01-19T13:25:00.001-06:00

Groupon has another one of those deals you just can't help staring at....

Recall's not slowing down radical Walker agenda; Kids harmed by Lead Paint a nuisance, will lose day in court.

2012-01-19T12:32:00.000-06:00

The cruel truth of tort reform? Here’s something that is so horrific and unexplainable, I’m still trying towrap my brain around it, from Uppity Wisconsin via Cognitive Dissidence:

There must be a lot of anti-recall money at stake, becauseGov. Scott Walker and his Republican cronies in the legislature are moving atbreakneck speed to pass a bill to take away the rights of children poisoned bylead paint from collecting from the paint companies who manufactured the stuff,as wereported here.

On exactly 24 hours notice, the State Senate JudiciaryCommittee has scheduled a hearing for Thursday, Jan. 19, only on SB-373, the billthat would overturn a State Supreme Court decision allowing the victims to suepaint manufacturers. The bill was just introduced on Jan. 10, the day afterthings went badly for the poison merchants in a federal appeals court hearingin Chicago. Within hours of the hearing, State Sen. Glenn Grothman ordered thebill jacketed and introduced it the next day.

What the bill would do would throw out cases filed by 173victims trying to collect for injuries done to them by lead paint. Some havebeen pending for several years, but the bill would retroactively kill thoselawsuits.

What, they’re doing it for the kids? What's next, the new lead abate law?

The Leg Council's memo replying: “Although it isimpossible to predict how a court would apply this test in a similarcircumstance, based on prior holdings of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, theretroactive elements of the bill raise significant constitutional concerns.”

The memo went on to cite three specific cases in which thecourt found retroactive legislation to be unconstitutional.

You can’t tell me this won’t be a part of the recallelection for Walker and the 4 senators who are behind this assault.

Walker Claims Democrats "Outside the Mainstream of Majority of Wisconsinites." Radical Right Wingers aren't?

2012-01-19T11:55:00.001-06:00

Madison, despite being considered one of the most desirablecities in the country to live and work, is despised by Republicans. Even today,they’re still telling the rest of the world to stay away.

Having said that, I thought this press release comment by Friendsof Scott Walker was telling (highlights my emphasis):

Falk's record as Dane County executive falls in lockstepwith a Madison liberal ideology that is far outside the mainstream of themajority of Wisconsinites."

Is that true? Less than a quarter of Wisconsinites voted forScott Walker. How can conservatives make the claim that he reflects the will ofthe majority? He defeated his opponent by a slim margin too.

Check out this Friends of Scott Walker statement aboutFalk’s announcement to run for governor. It’s almost comical how they threw inalmost every right wing cliché they could think of. You would think theirvoters would be catching by this time:

"Kathleen Falk's announcement today comes as nosurprise, as we have long anticipated she would be the nominee hand-picked bybig-government, public employee union bosses.

Scott Walker, the hand-picked corporate lackey (remember the signs "I am AFP?), Scott Walker, apparentlyforgot his own failed run for governor in 2006:

Falk has already lost two statewide elections, failing toearn the trust of Wisconsin voters.

The strong emphasis by Walker on “hand-picked by biggovernment, public employee union bosses,” is a dead giveaway their record sofar stinks, and the voters will see that. And a correction; unions are not “biggovernment” anything. Writing laws that destroy unions is big government.

Note: I found this reminder of Walker's record on his Wikipedia page:

He cut the number of county employees by more than 20percent, and reduced the county's debt by ten percent. However, according tothe Associated Press, "overall county spending... increased 35 percent over his tenure".[15]

Scott Walker asks for Outsider Donations. Without Shame.

2012-01-18T20:35:00.001-06:00

Unless you're dead, you may have noticed Scott Walker's zillion appearances in the media. Ed Schultz compiles a few clips from those appearances, and one thing stands out like nothing I've ever seen. Scott Walker, who has vilified every protester in the state and now gubernatorial candidates, for taking out side money...is asking for OUTSIDE MONEY? In every appearance he has plugged his web site for donations.

Also in this clip, John Nichols talks about Walker's utter surprise over the recall count.

Glitter Nails Banned at Lambeau? It should be...

2012-01-18T20:23:00.001-06:00

Ed Schultz did a great bit on the YouTube video sensation of a Packers fan who blamed glitter nail polish and her Clay Matthews jersey for the Packers loss to the Giants. Ed surprises..

Here's the interview:

Dumbest Campaign Line Yet from Walker/Kleefisch: "Hand Picked by Out of State Union Bosses."

2012-01-18T19:37:00.000-06:00

I strung this nightmarish phrase together to give it the media beating it deserves, so it fades quickly or illicit's shout out load laughs. The "Dumb and dumber" campaign.

Falk Announces Run for Governor.

2012-01-18T17:42:00.000-06:00

I'm open minded about any of the possible candidates. But...

I'm not sure who said what in the interview below, but its bad enough to double check. Was it WKOW reporter Tony Galli's wording, or Kathleen Falk's?

"She's okay with the governors success at forcing the union workers to contribute more to their health premiums and pensions."

I remember the union members going along with the plan to contribute more, but objected to the limitations on collective bargaining.

From Channel3000, a little more from Falk and Jon Erpenbach, with the tag line, "hand picked by the unions."

Governor Refusing State Television interviews for the rest of week. Yawn.

2012-01-18T17:33:00.001-06:00

Get this; Gov. Walker in now "refusing" to do interviews with Wisconsin television stations for the "rest of the week." Ouch?

What a way to get attention!!! After Walker's recent media blitz on every television and radio show in the nation, suddenly, state television media is blocked out. And TV stations everywhere takes the bait and whines.

Watch Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch at a trucking trade group groveling and forcing participants to shake her sweaty, pleading hand. Uncomfortable to watch to say the least. Or watch Republican Party of Wisconsin Stephen Thompson's uncomfortable shifting in his seat, shoulder shrugging, and face twitching, knowing the party has big problems.

Thompson called all of the potential Democratic candidates "yesterdays news." Projection? And here I thought we were going to have a policy debate. Really, name calling? WKOW News:

Mitt Romney's Capital Gains Tax Disparity...

2012-01-18T16:41:00.000-06:00

So Mitt Romney is paying a 15 percent tax rate on his income, capital gains income. Hard working middle class Americans pay more. Here's the breakdown from my daily email by Ezra Klein:

To be fair to Mitt Romney, it's not his faultthat he pays a 15 percent tax rate. And most people don't spend much timethinking about the implications of the fact that many of the richest Americansin the country make their money through investments rather than wages. In fact, the code does not end up being progressive.

The Congressional Budget Office collects data on the"total effective federal tax rate." That's the tax rate that peopleactually pay to fund the federal government. It includes not just income taxes,and capital gains, but payrolls taxes and excise taxes. And what it shows isthat the tax code is progressive at the lowest levels and regressive at thehighest levels. The middle class, however, ends up having a bad time of it.

This, by the way, actually overstates the progressivity ofthe total taxes most Americans pay, as state and local tends to be moreregressive. Add them in and the share of the tax burden paid by the poor andmiddle class rises.

1.9 Million Petitions Turned in, Video.

2012-01-18T16:37:00.000-06:00

I found this nice piece of video on the Walker recall at the Oak Creek Patch :

Conservative Bloggers whine about Fake Names. If there are any, who put them there? Is this an Admission?

2012-01-18T16:12:00.001-06:00

I thought this was interesting:

Politico: Conservativebloggers rushed to defend Scott Walker Wednesday, dismissing many signatures onthe recall petition as fraudulent...

How would they know? No ones seen the petitions yet. Did they put those fake names there (if there were any or not)? Getting mileage out of repeating the lie does energize the base, I guess, but what a way to have to do that.

But this legitimate observation does say a lot:

...even as liberals celebrated the effort andderided Wisconsin’s Republican governor for being in New York City for a (AIG) fundraiser when the petitions were turned in.

I liked this comment:

“Yeah, I remember when AIG went broke and destroyed theglobal economy. Good to know they’ve got Scott Walker’s back,” wrote a bloggerat the BoomanTribune.

Democratic Governor Candidates start to Surface.

2012-01-18T15:21:00.000-06:00

I have to admit, I really like the first set of possibleDemocratic candidates to challenge Walker.

I’m referring to the those listed in the first paragraph ofthe following jsonline Dan Bice story:

Meeting face to face with officials from Wisconsin's threedistrict councils of the American Federation of State, County andMunicipal Employees were former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk,former two-term U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen of Appleton and state Sen. KathleenVinehout of Alma.

No! The unions can do all they want to fine tune their own endorsement process, but they will not be picking the candidate, as some drone Republicans would assume.

Check out Sen. Kathleen Vinehout’s spirit in this Ed Schultzinterview:

I’m less excited about the next two, but by no means,unhappy with the next two:

Richard Abelson, executive director of AFSCME's Council 48in Milwaukee, said the labor group also conducted endorsement interviews byphone with two more Democrats: Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca ofKenosha and state Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville.

My old buddy Sen. Jon Erpenbach has not decided yet.

When other Nations are spending on High Wage, High Tech R&D, Republicans want to Freeze and Cut Spending.

2012-01-18T14:15:00.001-06:00

Just like an older neighborhood that gets infused the next generation home owners, the U.S. is watching competing countries change, updating their economies by investing high tech development. Thanks to the Republicans, and their troglodyte tea party whiners, we’ve decided to stop spending and keep prettymuch to ourselves. As long as we keep muttering “we’re the greatest nation in theworld,” what could go wrong? Good luck with that.

After seeing the loss of manufacturing, you’d think we wouldhave learned our lesson. Nope. It’s happening again, this time with technology. Insteadof investing in high tech, the U.S. continues to pour money into keeping theold infrastructure working, protecting the legacy companies that have controledour political agenda for generations. Don't say we weren't warned.

WaPo:The United States lost more than a quarter of its high-techmanufacturing jobs during the past decade as U.S.-based multinational companiesplaced a growing percentage of their research-and-development operationsoverseas, the National Science Board reported Tuesday. The rapid expansion ofscience and engineering capabilities in China and its neighbors pose a moreformidable economic challenge to the United States, according to the group,with Asia rapidly boosting the number of engineering doctorates it produces andresearch dollars it spends.

The number of high-tech manufacturing jobs in the UnitedStates has declined by 687,000, or 28 percent between 2000 and 2010. China anddeveloping countries in Asia have in recent years sought to lure moresophisticated manufacturing operations — and better jobs — by expanding theirengineering prowess through government investment in education and research.

The decline in U.S. manufacturing “is not solely due tolow-wage competition,” the president’s Council of Advisors on Science andTechnology wrote recently … found that other nations, by increasing theirresearch and education spending, “challenge the world leadership role of theUnited States.”

There is one slow moving positive piece of news:

Other factors at work are expected to give a boost to U.S.manufacturing by making it more competitive with China. Wages in China havebeen growing rapidly, lessening their advantage over those in the UnitedStates. Moreover, increasing automation in the United States is lowering laborcosts. Finally, analysts said, U.S. workers are far more productive. “China’soverwhelming manufacturing cost advantage over the U.S. is shrinking fast,” thereport said.

So Drilling more Oil in the U.S., and adding it to the World Market, will do what...?

2012-01-18T09:43:00.002-06:00

...for the last 7 years or so, we've seen the old myth "supply and demand" disproved, smashed, trashed, dashed to smithereens, over and over again. So I thought this headline in the conservative Wisconsin State Journal was so revealing and so pathetically clueless. Drill baby drill?

Some aren't convinced that we've seen the death of supply and demand when it comes to gas prices. But I'm sticking with it. I've been watching this for years, mostly due to articles that have been written about the very problem. But Keystone XL is always brought up in the discussion. Here's a Washington Post article disputing some of the myths and sky is falling whining from House Republicans:

The pipeline would have reduced U.S. reliance on oil fromthe Middle East U.S. vulnerability to turmoilin the Middle East is linked to how much oil we consume, not where webuy it from. The price of oil is set on world markets: When convulsions inLibya sent the price of crude up 30 percent last year, prices for Canadianheavy oil (similar to what is produced from oil sands) rose by nearly 55percent.

If we don’t build the pipeline and buy their oil, the Canadians willsell it to China.
So what? World oil prices depend on how much oil is produced— not who sells what to whom. Whether the United States or China buys oil atthe world price from Canada or Brazil or Saudi Arabia or Nigeria won’t affectU.S. economic fortunes. Some argue that buying oil from Canada rather thanelsewhere would shrink the yawning U.S. trade deficit, since Canadians are morelikely than others to spend their petro-profits in the United States. ButCanada gets richer no matter whether it sells its oil to American or Chineseconsumers, and its newfound wealth spills over to the U.S. economy regardless.

The fate of the Keystone XL pipeline will be of limitedconsequence to either long-term U.S. energy security or climate change

How the Media Allowed the Republican Alternate Universe to Flourish.

2012-01-17T21:18:00.004-06:00

Rachel Maddow does a great job of pointing out how completely opposite the real world is to the GOP presidential candidates platform. If we had a real news media, not one of these conservative truisms would exists today. It's a nice list.

Lt. Gov. Kleefisch on Democratic Governor pick: "...hand picked by out of state union interests."

2012-01-17T21:05:00.001-06:00

AFSCME Executive Dir. Marty Beil states clearly unions aren't just the champion for labor rights, but a champion for all workers rights and the middle class.

On the other end of the labor argument, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch said, just as she and the other AFP foot soldiers have rehearsed, something that should fire up recall supporters for the rest of the year.

Kleefisch: "Regardless of who it is, their candidate is going to be hand picked by out of state union interests."

What's this thing conservatives have with projecting their own "follow the leader" tendencies on Democrats? Yeah, a million people around the state were mysteriously hypnotized by "union bosses" to do the bidding. We must take their orders or wonder aimlessly, leaderless and without hope.

And stop the "out-of-state" malarkey. It wasn't even funny the first time.

Recall Day Arrives, Wisconsin Definitely on Board.

2012-01-17T20:18:00.002-06:00

Here's a look at the recall celebration and a few a-hole comments from Sen. Scott Fitzgerald. WKOW 27 News:

Mayor Tom Barrett for Governor?

2012-01-17T20:13:00.000-06:00

The recent numbers from PPP shows Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett well ahead of any other possible candidate for governor. Here's Al Sharpton on the recall and with Barrett:

Ed Schultz and Mike Tate Talk Recall

2012-01-17T19:12:00.001-06:00

Chris Matthews checked in with Ed Schultz, in Madison, and DPW's Mike Tate. Ed's got a great perspective on labor, and doesn't hold back.

Over One Million Want to Recall Walker....

2012-01-17T14:50:00.002-06:00

Here's the latest on the Walker recall numbers:

jsonline: Democrats and organizers will file petitions with more thana million signatures Tuesday afternoon … a massive number that seems to cementa historic recall election against him for later this year.

The sheer number of signatures being filed - nearly as manyas the total votes cast for Walker in November 2010, and almost twice as thoseneeded to trigger a recall election - ensure the election will be held … "Itis beyond legal challenge," said Ryan Lawler, vice chairman of UnitedWisconsin. According to official election results, Walker got 1,128,941 votes(52.25%), while Barrett got 1,004,303 votes (46.48%).

Former U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, who has been in state politicsfor a half-century, called the recall effort "an amazingdevelopment." But, "what is unprecedented is the way that thegovernor and his allies ran roughshod over normal legislative and politicalprocedures," said Obey, declining to say whether he might run againstWalker. "He's abused the very process that elected him, and that's what'sgot people so angry."

In the Sykes interview, Walker acknowledged there would be arecall election, adding that it would give him a chance to get his message out …the governor said the recall effort and the millions of dollars that will beraised were being driven by big-government unions. "They want their handson that money … It's a lot easier to sign a recall petition than it is tovote," Walker said.

The state Democratic Party said they would submit more thana million signatures for Walker and more than 845,000 for Kleefisch … over21,000 for Pam Galloway of Wausau, over 21,000 for Terry Moulton of ChippewaFalls and over 24,000 for Van Wanggaard of Racine.

"It's typical of Scott Walker to avoid the people ofWisconsin and report to his East Coast masters," Graeme Zielinski said.

Tom Barrett takes big lead in PPP Poll for Governor

2012-01-17T12:33:00.003-06:00

A few unions may not like to hear this, but public opinion is on the side of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. PPP has been a fairly accurate barometer in the past:

jsonline: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett leads all Democratic contendersin a possible primary contest to face Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election,according to a new poll.

Public Policy Polling found in a survey conducted Mondaythat Barrett leads former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk 46% to 27% if thetwo were the only candidates in a Democratic primary, and leads former U.S.Rep. David Obey 42% to 32% under the same circumstances.

If the race were just between Obey and Falk, the formercongressman would lead 43% to 28%, the poll found.

Republicans Gearing up for 2012 elections; Steal DMV Computer and Printer for Driver Licenses?

2012-01-17T12:12:00.000-06:00

Gee, I wonder how may fake ID’s can be made with theofficial equipment?

HudsonPatch: According to HudsonPolice Chief Marty Jensen, the WisconsinDepartment of Motor Vehicles office in the St. Croix Business Park wasbroken into just before 5 a.m. Monday morning "Persons unknown enteredthe premises and took a computer and printer used to make driver licenses andID cards," "A bunch of blanks to make the cards were alsotaken." Jensen said it's too early to determine whether the motive for thecrime was for illegal immigration purposes, underage consumption purposes orvoter fraud purposes.

After a conservative crook like James O’Keefe committed 12counts of voter fraud so easily recently, in a state that has seen one casesince 2000, I was wondering if they weren’t testing the system early for a fullelectoral assault in 2012. Let’s face it, if voter fraud wasn’t a problembefore, it will be at the hands of the GOP. Only the far right would thinkcommitting a felony was worth giving their candidate those one or two extravotes.

Fitzgerald Recall collects 20,600 signatures, needed 16,742.

2012-01-17T11:51:00.001-06:00

Lori Compas did the impossible, in a red district, by getting the needed signatures to recall the biggest authoritarian bully in the legislature. Hey, maybe know one likes him.

jsonline; Recall organizers filed 20,600 signatures Tuesday to force arecall election against state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald - thefirst of what is expected to be six filings against Republicans including Gov.Scott Walker. The signatures filed by the group trying to recall Fitzgeraldamounted to 123% of the 16,742 valid signatures that would be needed to force arecall election. Fitzgerald had no immediate comment Tuesday, saying hiscampaign would release one later in the day.

Organizer Lori Compas said Friday she would not be acandidate, but on Monday she held out the possibility she might.

"A lot of people have been asking me that - I have noidea," she said when asked if she would run. "If no other suitablecandidate can be found, I guess I would be open to this."

Watching Scott Watching MLK Speaker Sherrilyn Ifill.

2012-01-17T10:11:00.002-06:00

Watching this video of the MLK celebration at the state Capitol, I couldn't help notice Scott Walker's reactions to Sherrilyn Ifill's speech, and his bizarre continuous nodding...until voter ID and labor rights came up. Lt. Gov. Kleefisch blissfully looked on, never quite connecting her version of reality, to the historical subject matter at hand.

According to the Cap Times’ Dave Zweifel: This year it was Sherrilyn Ifill, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and a former assistant counsel for the NAACP where she litigated numerous voting rights cases. Her message was that Dr. King never sat still. Instead of resting on his laurels after winning a battle, he'd ready himself for the next one. She added that it would be an insult to his memory if we pretended we didn't know how we stand on the issues today … She got the crowd standing and cheering when, with Gov. Scott Walker sitting directly behind her, she insisted that King would have been advocating for fair wages and working conditions for workers and would have been leading the charge against the voter ID laws that are sweeping the country. The crowd clearly took that as a rebuff to the governor and Legislature which have smashed public unions and passed one of the nation's most restrictive voter ID measures.

Public Sentiment Strong on Walker Recall in Green County.

2012-01-17T09:24:00.000-06:00

If you want to get a better idea of how people have responded to the Walker recall, read the following article from the Monroe Times, in Green County:

MONROE - More people in Green County signed a petition toput Gov. Scott Walker up for recall than voted for him or his opponent TomBarrett in 2010, according to an estimate by local volunteers in the recalleffort.

Coordinators Amy Sloan, Monroe, and Tim Sager, Belleville, say more than 9,000signatures have been collected in Green County … This represents about 43percent of all registered voters in the county (20,725 as of July 2011) andeclipses votes cast for Walker (6,391) and Barrett (6,567), according to datafrom the Government Accountability Board (GAB), the nonpartisan panel thatoversees Wisconsin elections. "People just came out in droves in Monroe. We didn't have to work veryhard to find them," she said.

The recall effort consumed her life … "I wouldn't have it any other way.This ranks right after the birth of my child," Sloan said.

Kay Krebs, another volunteer in Monroe, said she was stunned by the intensitysurrounding the campaign to recall Walker. "I haven't seen anything likethis since the Vietnam War," she said. "And I'm that old."

Sager, who lives in Dane County but stepped forward early on to help out inGreen County, also reported a mostly positive experience, besides gettingshooed off a few lawns - "to which I responded gladly, and quickly walkedoff their property."

Sager is a self-avowed independent voter and said, "I met severalRepublicans who came in to sign the petition who voted for him and weredisgusted with him," he said. Now that little is left for recallvolunteers to do, Sager said many have expressed interest in helping seniors inGreen County get correct identification, to prepare them for a new state lawthat requires a photo ID to vote. "There's a lot of concern that the newvoter ID law is going to disenfranchise senior citizens," he said.

Super PAK ad....

2012-01-17T09:13:00.002-06:00

Thank god someone is showing us how pathetically ridiculous the activist conservative Supreme Court Justices decision was in deciding Citizens United. From the Super PAK:

Lunchpail Republicans Defend Unions, Collective Bargaining. Threaten Gov. Mitch Daniels!!

2012-01-17T09:08:00.000-06:00

Rachel Maddow has this exclusive with Indiana's Lunchpail Republicans Chairman David Fagan, who points out the hypocrisy of the GOP's attempts to meddle in the private sector, telling small businesses that they can't enter into any kind of labor agreement.

If anyone should have been making this strong argument, it should have been the Democrats. It's embarrassing to watch the powerful ad the Lunchpail Republicans put together in the clip below, supporting unions, knowing Democratic politicians haven't shown the same kind of public support.

Walker thinks Everyone in Wisconsin a Voter!

2012-01-16T22:35:00.000-06:00

On the eve of the finalized recall numbers, Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch sang...you won't believe it until you see the video, "We Shall Overcome" in the Capitol rotunda celebrating MLK day. It'll stun your senses.

But if anyone thought Kleefisch was the one who held the official title of Administrative Airhead, check out the ultimate in stupid, from her boss Scott Walker:

Walker: "I'm an optimist, I look at the flip side and say, out of five and half million people, that's a small minority.

OMG! Walker really thinks EVERYONE in the state votes? Hey kids, you can vote too.

When it comes to voters, Walker is only off by about 3.3 million. A little over 2 million voted. About half of the voting age public.

Watch it again. He's amazing.

WSJ: The crowd erupted into loud and prolonged cheering whenthe guest speaker, Sherrilyn Ifill, a University of Maryland law professor,said King would have been against "onerous requirements" that requirecitizens to show government-issued identification to vote. King rallies inSouth Carolina and Georgia Monday also focused on such laws, with speakerscriticizing them as attempts to suppress the black vote.

Walker, who signed a controversial voter ID law in May, satstoically through the speech. He exited quickly at the event's end, trailed bya couple of protesters who were stopped by security as they yelled,"Shame! Shame!"

With that in mind, check out how liberal Dane Counties only paper, the conservative Wisconsin State Journal, negatively spun the work of MLK:

Americans for Prosperity Hatch Obama Plot against Labor! "No Climate Tax" pledge could have something to do with it?

2012-01-16T21:30:00.000-06:00

We've all heard of the "no tax" pledge, but did you know our elected Republican politicians have also taken a pledge to oppose any clean air legislation? Would I kid you.

Look, I haven't looked into how many Fitzwalkerstan politicians have taken that pledge, but would it be crazy to assume all Republicans have or would have taken such a loyalty oath if they had the chance? It would mean money, lots of it, and support of tea party fringers supported by Americans for Prosperity. It's the Koch brothers again, at their most bizarre:

SeattlePI: Four Washington lawmakers received “F” grades in alegislative scorecard issued Friday by Americans for Prosperity, a groupfinanced by the billionaire Koch brothers that has provided organizationalunderpinning for the Tea Party movement. Charles and David Koch, billionaireoil barons whose money seeded Americans for Prosperity, are arch-opponents ofclean air legislation as well as climate change doubters.

The AFP rating was based, in part, on signing a No ClimateTax pledge, and voting to block Environmental Protection Agency regulation ofgreenhouse gases. Another criteria was support for the Ryan budget plan,which would gradually privatize Medicare.

Now that you're familiar with the AFP pledge, which has nothing to do with representing the voters, check out the all out attack on green energy. Thank you Citizens United!

AFP has taken a failed solar panel business, backed by government money and Barack Obama, and ironically made the case that government should get out of the business of energy industry investment. I seemed to remember the debate over continuing subsidies to big oil, the kind of money the Koch brothers love, because they really, really, really need the help.

Plus, AFP has hatched a conspiracy plot ad, bashing Obama over Solyndra, as if this one company played a pivotal role in the 2010 elections. It's Onionesque;

More on the details of this scary ad soon....

Dumb Ron Johnson is a bad Accountant, and Bad Ayn Randian Second Rate Actor.

2012-01-16T20:14:00.002-06:00

Ron Johnson married into his business. That's what conservatives call success. But Johnson is taking his "Fountainhead" Gary Cooper impersonation on the road, and sternly denouncing all the wrong things. He wants to cut government spending for infrastructure rebuilding, when interest rates have never been lower, and borrowing would be smart. Hey, he's a former accountant in the private sector, and nothing ever goes wrong there.

Check out this well rehearsed line from dumb Ron Johnson:

DailyHarold: This opening response in a recent interview withthe conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation "I am a citizenlegislator with a background in accounting and a lifetime of experienceoperating within the private sector," Johnson said. "I understandbudgeting, how the private sector really works and how jobs and generalprosperity are created. I have a real world understanding of how governmentregulatory and tax and spending policies impact small to medium-sizedbusinesses and the greater economy."

So what does dumb Ron Johnson want to take down:

Johnson, 56, tells everyone he came to Washington to do twothings: repeal the health care law.

The CBO says reform will save some money in its first 10 years, and a massive amount of money the next ten years. If you don’t believe the CBO, then what explains the smallest increase in health care rates? That’s easy, the Affordable Care Act pushed the health care industry to reform, try different business models, form groups, organize and employ doctors, invest in cost saving technology and on and on. Before that, they NOTHING HAPPENED.

Dumb Ron Johnson would try and reverse that, with noworkable plan.

Walker admits Middle Class shouldering Cost of Government.

2012-01-16T14:54:00.000-06:00

The Democrats and unions made me do it? That’s what Gov.Scott Walker is saying now.

jsonline: During the conversation with AEI 's Andrew Biggs, (Walkersaid) "I wouldn't be raising a penny right now if it wasn't for theserecalls, largely driven by the national unions," he said.

But even worse, and a little noticed throwaway line, Walkermade this shocking admission:

"Let's be clear: Who pays for an expansivegovernment?" Walker added. "It is fundamentally the middle-classtaxpayers of our state and our country.

So the rich really don’t pay their fair share, do they?

Walker Republicans to Play Down Extremist Agenda before the Recalls.

2012-01-16T01:35:00.001-06:00

Walker's lackey legislators are going to tone down their extremist radical agenda during the upcoming recall elections, hoping no one will notice their open admission they're fully aware of their bullying.

WSJ: Republicans who control the Legislature have their sights set on passing just four major bills and little else … the negative influence of recalls against four Republican senators and the ongoing bitter partisan atmosphere that hinders building coalitions across party lines.

That slim majority and threat of more recalls leave lawmakers on edge. "When a legislator is under recall and looking down the barrel of a recall election they're going to be more sensitive," said Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, one of the four targeted for recall this year.

"Because of the fact that we have four senators under recall and uncertainty that surrounds the Capitol, that will mean that very few bills will pass," said Rep. Robin Vos, the GOP co-chair of the Legislature's budget committee.

The party that insists on long debates and a public’s right to know what’s in a bill, has rethought that idea, and came up with an excuse to make an exception…lots of ‘em:

Republicans also rushed through many major proposals before nine recall elections last year, like redrawing political boundaries and requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, leaving fewer items on their agenda for 2012.

But like that rush job, the few bills getting attention this time are as destructive as the previous right wing lunacy:

The four bills Republican leaders say they are working to pass would clear the way for an iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin, ease laws related to developing on wetlands and environmental regulation, and create a venture capital fund to assist start-up businesses.