Democurmudgeon

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.

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.

Colbert Explores Politics under Citizens United!

2012-01-15T13:40:00.000-06:00

Stephen Colbert continues to make his point, by playing up the absurdity of the Citizens United decision, on ABC this morning:

Mike Tate on Recall Issues.

2012-01-15T13:03:00.000-06:00

What are the issues? In review, again:

Upfront with Mike Gousha:

Alberta in Wonderland! What Lie will Sen. Darling Fabricate Next?

2012-01-15T12:58:00.001-06:00

Sen. Alberta Darling in Wonderland really does think her rabid conservative voter base must be that dumb. The following disturbingly "detached from reality" comments by Darling, cannot be dismissed. This is beyond hyperbole. On Upfront with Mike Gousha, she actually said this:

Darling: "When you look at what we did, compared to what Gov. Doyle did in a much better environment..."

Say what? 2007 and 2008 saw the entire U.S. economy collapse, along with the loss of 8 million jobs nationwide in what must have been a "much better environment." Doyle had to deal with a $5 billion state deficit. "A much better environment?" This continues the Walker narrative that Doyle, not the Great Recession, caused the state to lose thousands of jobs. This also subtly reinforces the lie that the jobs created in the first six months of the Walker administration were his doing, when in fact, it was the Doyle administration. Walker supporters of course will believe anything.

Conservatives continue to believe, wrongly, that Democrats and their liberal base are as gullible as they are when it comes to policy. They assume we're all union drones, that we would fall in line with a simple list of their talking points. Ridiculous nonsense. What goes unsaid in the following clip, is the influence of big business. If money is free speech, than isn't union money protected free speech? Darling in Wonderland claims the unions are driving the message:

Just to clarify, Democrats never claimed we would see massive layoffs, that's another fiction created by Darling in Wonderland. And finally, Mike Gousha asked Darling why she's so concerned about the cost of the recalls, when Republicans didn't mind the cost of running fake Democratic candidates in the earlier recalls? Hint, she doesn't answer the question. A glaring gotcha!

Darling in Wonderland can't help but whine that now that with recall supporters watching, and voting soon, that Republican radicals can't do everything they want to do now. That's right!

Major Outside Interference Coming from Tea Party's/Outside Radical Conservative groups for Recall Review.

2012-01-15T00:14:00.000-06:00

This article in the Brookfield Patch says it all about “out of state” interference in Wisconsin, by Republicans, and how phony Walker’s criticism have been about outsiders influencing the public protests.

There’s a new guest joining the recall party, and they’ll be sure all their “I’s” are dotted and their “Teas” are crossed.

Tea Party groups in Wisconsin and around the country have recruited nearly 10,000 volunteers from 49 states to scrutinize the signatures and verify that people who signed petitions are indeed who they say they are.

On top of that, the nationally known Tea Party Express is offering its support of the Republican governor and is actively raising funds to defend Walker in a recall. The group is sending regular emails its supporters, imploring them to make donations to "help us stand up for Walker and the Tea Party values that are under attack by Obama’s campaign machine and his radical union mobs!"

While Tea Party groups insist they’re simply doing their civic duty, not everyone is happy they’ve invited themselves to the party.

“They will accomplish nothing, except mischief on behalf of Scott Walker,” state Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski said. “That Scott Walker would take help from groups like this shows that his priority is with preserving his job, while not caring a thing about the rest of Wisconsin."

Republican's prepare phony recall petition outrage with angry volunteer base of checkers.

2012-01-14T23:35:00.001-06:00

How do you generate the Republican base? Offer them the chance to deprive recall petition signers their right to be counted.

What’s even more bizarre? They’re acting like nothing unusual happened to spur on the massive protests. Get a load of the hyperbole used to jazz up God’s chosen party:

jsonline: Republicans say they're ready to scour the signatures to make sure they're up to snuff. More than 5,000 people have volunteered for the verification effort through a website, while hundreds of others have signed up at county GOP headquarters. Ben Sparks, a GOP spokesman said "This is in response to the repeated allegations of fraud that have permeated this process from day one."

Allegations they created out of whole cloth. But the chance to spin the lie that there were fraudulent petitions is just too irresistible for many volunteers.

Democrats say, bring it on. "The Republican narrative that there are vast numbers of fraudulent petitions is a fiction designed to demean the people of Wisconsin who have voiced their opposition to Scott Walke," said Graeme Zielinski, the Democratic Party spokesman.

But here’s the disconnect; conservative voters think it’s all about winning, all about the sour grapes, and not about their arrogant anti-pubic approach to government. It’s also not about the lousy economy, or huge job losses.

David Karst, Milwaukee County GOP chair, said volunteers are determined to keep Walker in office. "We had an election (in 2010)," Karst said. "Their voice was heard. Now, we have to go ahead and confirm that vote again. We're in constant campaign mode. The opposition just won't let it go."

Even worse, conservatives are at it again; Democrats just don’t like Walker. That’s it, that simple. Being bold, and really pissing off the public, is a badge of honor to Republicans. Which isn’t bad if you think people will buy into being ruled by the “iron hand” of government.

"Effectively, our democracy is in jeopardy if they succeed in removing Walker. It sets the precedent that anytime you don't like someone, you can remove them from office. It will prevent people from being bold," added Procopis, a Republican activist who fell eight signatures short of qualifying for the ballot in 2010 to run against Rep. David Cullen (D-Milwaukee).

Sen. Sheila Harsdorf; Recalls “driven by special interests and activists.” Another Republican Bizarro World Lie.

2012-01-14T14:10:00.002-06:00

State Sen. Sheila Harsdorf has never been a deep thinker, and her recent Patch editorial proves that, and more. In fact, Harsdorf admits she and the Republican administrations dictatorial revamping of government may come to a stop because of the recall elections.

Yes Sheila, that’s the point.

First up, Harsdorf's blissfully clueless admission Republicans will do anything to maintain power, even amend the state constitution. To make it harder for citizens to redress their government, Harsdorf refers to protesting Wisconsinites as “special interests and activists,” a permanent vilification that would make it impossible to protest bad government in the future. It's possible. It doesn’t occur to Harsdorf that the total conservative makeover of government started all this. Two thirds of the state, voters and nonvoters alike, aren’t hard right wingers like they are:

The never-ending election cycle we find ourselves in has been driven by special interests and activists that insist on election after election until their desired result is obtained. In response to the concerns that the recall process is being abused for political agendas (is that ironic or not?), legislation has been drafted … AJR 63 … allow for a recall if an elected official has been charged with a serious crime or if probable cause is found that they violated the state code of ethics.

With jaw dropping stupidity, Harsdorf reaffirms the reason why we’re having the recalls in the first place:

The ongoing use of recalls to attempt to change the outcome of the most recent general election will not only be costly to taxpayers, but it will discourage elected officials from making the tough decisions that are inherent with public service.

Why would the recalls “discourage” Republicans from "making those tough decisions," unless...they know they’re not actually carrying out the will of the people?

Hitler Reference made public by Rep. Don Pridemore to stir up hate? Hartford voters can’t handle the truth.

2012-01-14T12:15:00.002-06:00

So a history teacher in Slinger made a reference to Hitler, big deal.

I’ve so had it with those on both sides of the other aisle who can’t talk about the most despised government in world history, Nazi Germany. It’s not like it can’t happen again in a much less brutal way. Those same tactics are going on right now around the world. But instead of talking about the characteristics of that government, or how it developed over time, it always comes back to political correctness. Like George Santayana wrote, in his “Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason,” "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

This story the of a HISTORY teacher calling out the authoritarian style of government we've seen under Walker, who without compromise or conscience, forced everyone to submit. This isn’t about some guy whose watches the history channel from time to time.

Having followed every twist and turn closely, here and in Michigan, Florida, Arizona and Ohio, how can anyone ignore the brutal verbal attacks on teachers, police, fire fighters, working Americans represented by unions, and anyone ungrateful or disloyal enough to sign a recall petition.

If Republican voters are satisfied with what they've seen so far, a one party authoritarian government, they should also “man up” to the bitter truth of their politics. Apparently, Slinger voters can’t handle the truth, and plan to punish the dissenter;

jsonline: In the Hartford area, they vote Republican. A Slinger teacher's reference to Hitler in an email to a state representative has stirred up a hornet's nest for him and his school district, and may result in disciplinary action. John Koszarek, a social studies teacher at Slinger High School … for 34 years, wrote the offending email from his home computer to Rep. Don Pridemore (R-Hartford), in response to an email newsletter Pridemore sent out about the effects of state legislation on area school districts.

Keep in mind, he wrote the email on his own personal computer, expressing his own personal opinion. An opinion that won’t be tolerated:

Koszarek identified himself in the email as a "proud WEAC Board member … Of course you are in Washington County where Hitler would have defeated Reagan had he the 'R' in front of his name on the ballot."

Robert Reynolds, district administrator, said he talked to Koszarek. " I asked, did you really mean to insult the great supporters of our school system - the good people of the Slinger area … When there's a concert or teacher conferences, you can't get into the parking lot," he said.

Irony Alert: Slinger parents are voting for Republican politician’s hell bent on doing away with public schools.

Koszarek then emailed an apology of sorts to Pridemore the next day. "I was right in saying that Washington County automatically votes for Republicans no matter the quality of the candidate . . . ," he wrote the next day. "I was wrong when I used Hitler as an example … I have known too many quality people from the area over my 34 years in Slinger."

Rep. Pridemore could have ignored or responded personally to Koszarek, but…are you kidding…such behavior must be punished:

Pridemore made the email public, and soon the district was inundated with angry calls and emails. Reynolds says the district is investigating "what our disciplinary options are" - they're not clear cut, especially because the email was written on Koszarek's own time, at home and on his own computer. Still, Reynolds says, the email did damage to the school district. "We still believe we have some options," he said.

Again, the email exchange didn’t have to go public. It’s a fair question to ask why Pridemore did release it. Expressing a personal opinion to an elected representative using any name; Hitler, Stalin, Atilla the Hun or Darth Vader, matters little, it’s now about the force government on dissent that we should be concerned with.

In an email received late Friday night, Koszarek declined to comment, except to say, "My emails express my views."

And they won’t be tolerated.

Walker's Texas Protest Riles haggard Supporters, like Ann Althouse.

2012-01-13T23:38:00.001-06:00

Scott Walker's recent fundraising visit to Texas was greeted by more protesters. Ann Althouse, blogger and one of a few frightened conservative UW Law School professors (or so says David Horowitz), attended Walker's speaking engagement, and appears to have had an issue with one of the signs.

Humor doesn't work well in conservative land, so any use of irony, or just a simple clever statement, is enough to make their head explode. As you can see from what Althouse wrote below the picture, the Walker recall has turned her and many other Walker thugs, into blathering belligerent animals.

Again, this is a UW Law professor, responding "Fuck you" in a not so clever way.

And the money? Do you really think Walker supporters will complain about outsider groups meddling in Wisconsin's affairs?

Channel3000: About 50 protesters gathered outside the hotel where Walker spoke, many from unions who oppose him. A spokeswoman for Walker said he would also meet with potential campaign donors while in Texas. Walker has traveled across the country speaking at similar venues and raising money for his campaign. His campaign records show he has recently raised $2.5 million from donors outside of Wisconsin, including more than $250,000 in Texas.

Packers Fans Shovel Out Lambeau Snow....

2012-01-13T19:24:00.000-06:00

This is so wonderfully Wisconsin. Just take a look at these Packers fans shoveling out Lambeau Field, like it was an all expense paid vacation. There's really is nothing like it. I've lived in Wisconsin all my life, grew up in Milwaukee, and I'm still fascinated with our accent. WKOW 27 News:

The Long Walker Recall Journey has Ended!!

2012-01-13T19:17:00.001-06:00

It looks like those in charge of the Walker recall were meticulous. From WKOW 27:

I hope to see the Wreck of the Scott Fitzgerald.....

2012-01-13T18:43:00.005-06:00

The most divisive A-hole in the senate, Scott Fitzgerald, may find himself in a recall soon. Thanks to all the work put in by Lori Compas, we have a chance to put this loser out to pasture, or at least make him explain himself to the voting public. Every time he opens his mouth though, a foul smell fills the room.

From Defend Wisconsin:

Just to give you an idea, check out this moving YouTube video, with this description:

The campaign to recall Wisconsin State Senator Scott Fitzgerald announced on Jan. 13, 2012 that they had enough signatures to trigger a recall. Gary Olsen spoke at the announcement as a Republican who is unhappy with the way the man he said he's voted for as taken the state.

Walker thugs from out of state asked for Collective Bargaining records from DA

2012-01-13T17:44:00.000-06:00

While the governor talks all about outside groups meddling in Wisconsin’s business, outside right wing groups continue to get a pass. Hello out there...

Not on my watch.

WSJ: The Dane County District Attorney's Office will pay $500 to settle an open records lawsuit brought last year by a Michigan group, the Education Action Group Foundation, that sought records related to challenges of the state law curtailing most public workers' collective bargaining rights.

The Muskegon, Mich., group sued District Attorney Ismael Ozannein early June after it received no response to its requests in April and May for communications regarding Ozanne's challenge of the collective bargaining law.

The “Education Action Group Foundation?” Yeah, sounds like that’s what they’re all about.

Rep. Robin Vos threatens safety of state citizens who signed recalls petitions.

2012-01-13T17:10:00.004-06:00

This amazing threat to Wisconsinites by Rep. Robin Vos, and dog whistle call to Walker thugs, needs a big explanation. This "we'll know who you are" sociopathic behavior is starting to spook the public in a very bad way.

I don't know about you, but I don't need some whack job Walker thug at my door asking if I'm who I say I am. Maybe we should have a data base of Walker voters, their ballots, so I can ask them why they voted for 5 months of job losses, taxpayer money give-a-ways to big business...etc.

Is anybody watching these brownshirted thugs at the Capitol? Holy crap. Here's part of Vos' letter to the GAB:

Clarification: As one person commented here, the recall petitions are available online. The GAB scans them in and presents the online pdf's to challengers and the public. What I am objecting to here is Vos' irresponsible suggestion the public take part in investigating neighbors with possible roving Walker thugs. This is clearly political intimidation.

Romney's Quiet Room...sshhhh!

2012-01-13T16:41:00.001-06:00

I loved this bit from Al Sharpton about Romney's idiotic comment where he relegated discussions about economic injustice to "quiet rooms..."

Election Fraud Preventable, Sen. Grothman doesn't care.

2012-01-13T16:22:00.000-06:00

We've seen election fraud, where businesses get employees to contribute to a candidate for them, and that's illegal. But instead of being outraged and over reacting like they did with voter ID, Republican Sen. Glenn Grothman wants to make sure it can happen again.

GBPressGazette: A legislative committee will take up a bill today that would roll back transparency for those contributing to political campaigns. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Glenn Grothman, would do away with a provision in state election law that requires those who donate more than $100 during a calendar year to reveal their employer. The disclosure law is meant to prevent business owners from secretly donating money to campaigns through their employees.

We found that to be true a number of times in the past.

Officials have used such campaign reports to build cases against violators, such as William Gardner, the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad CEO who pleaded guilty last April to funneling $62,800 in illegal campaign contributions to Gov. Scott Walker's campaigns.

Seems like a big problem to me...

But ... those same reports were sometimes used to protest or boycott businesses that supported Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans. "To restore civility and help our business climate, we have to leave businesses off these reports," Grothman said ... the "mean public unions don't care about business, they only care about creating friction." Grothman said he had only "anecdotal" evidence of this being a problem.

Grothman's fictional problem would actually encourage big business be as inventive as Wisconsin & Southern Railroad was.

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said Grothman's bill would be a big step back for the state. McCabe's organization tracks money in politics and uses the campaign reports to give a fuller view of the forces behind politicians. "It would be a dagger to the heart of our disclosure laws," he said.

And it looks like the recall elections coming up will be putting a little pressure on Republicans to temper their radical motivation.

Should the bill make it out of the transportation and elections committee, it would have a tough time getting approval in the state Senate. Republicans hold a slim 17-16 majority in the Senate, and four of them have been targeted for recall.

Rich is the New Gay? Can blind ideology get any more surreal?

2012-01-13T13:22:00.001-06:00

Dr. Tim Nerenz is a libertarian who came up with the following analogy, an insane one I might add, that being "rich" is the new gay. And he proves there's something else going on besides politics. There's a mental misfire somewhere in the thought process, that leads some people to come up with jaw dropping comparisons like this one.

As you listen to the insane rich/gay comparison, you’ll notice Nerenz is also admitting that Republicans do treat gay people in this nasty unfair way. It’s an open admission…doh!!

I've included conservative story teller and radio host Vicki McKenna's reading here, in case you want to gather the kids around to listen. I'll bet you never knew just how grateful you should be with our rich overlords, the ones that continue to stall the economy and lower wages to save our nation:

It’s ok to hate them for who they are. It’s ok to vandalize their property, taunt them, seize their assets, deny them government benefits, make them register and buy a license to practice their alternative lifestyle.

You can hound them at their workplace, you can bully them in schools, you can picket their homes, you can send them death threats with impunity, and you can occupy public buildings for months on end chanting bad things about them.

Rich is the new gay.

It is no longer permissible in our civil society to hate based on skin color, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, or sexual preference. But wealth – that’s a free-fire zone. Wealth is evil. Capitalism is sodomy. Free enterprise is lewd and lascivious conduct. Wall Street is the new Castro Street, only it’s ok to light it on fire. Even Tiffany Newt feels free to tee off on Mitt Romney for being (gasp) too rich – think Ellen reefing on Elton John to win George Michael’s vote.       You can say the most hateful things imaginable about rich people - even the President does it, cheered on by a wealth-o-phobic media. Imagine how the fur would fly if a President blamed all his failures on homosexuals, or if he expressed support for violent mobs rioting in the streets if it were the 3.6% instead of the 1% whose heads are demanded on a pole.

The left/right paradigms for wealth and sexual preference are pretty much the same: liberals insist that material preference is assigned at birth; conservatives believe it is a choice. Closet richos like Michael Moore or the Obamas possess the same self-loathing false piety as Ted Haggert or Larry Craig. Their response to being outed is loud, angry denial; wide stance or baseball cap, the disguise doesn’t fool anyone.

The rich even have their transgendered equivalents – trans-wealthered, I suppose - who have crossed over from the poor side to the rich side. I don’t think the abuse hurled against Herman Cain was because he was black; it was because he is black and refused to stay poor. To the haters, that is one
sick puppy. Tim Tebow is even worse – openly rich, openly humble, and openly Christian. Unforgivable.

I can’t explain the liberals’ reflexive hatred of wealthy people. Perhaps they are guilty about the way their own leaders have enriched themselves – Obama, Corzine, Soros, Pelosi, Kennedy, Gore, Trumka, Jackson, Hillary the pork belly whisperer. If all you know is swindling and influence peddling, then maybe that’s all you can imagine. There's so much more here....

Nerenz is a libertarian, so here’s how he sees the party’s: When it comes to social issues, freedom is difficult, but not complicated: "Conservatives think the law should punish what we don’t approve, libertarians think the law should make us tolerate what we don’t approve, and liberals think the law should make us pay for what we don’t approve."

I loved this exchange on McKenna's Facebook page. It shows how many conservatives would rather “Sit down” and shut up, instead of asking relevant questions like the ones being asked of Romney.

Legit question Mr Romney. Prove to us that you created the 100,000 jobs that you claimed you did as you ripped those companies apart and sold off their assets :)

Sit down, RINOsaur.

Obama can be Darth Socialist and he destroys America in the Debt Star.

James O'Keefe Commits 12 Counts of Voter Fraud!! How dumb is that?

2012-01-12T22:38:00.001-06:00

In a state that had only one case of voter fraud since 2000, New Hampshire election officials got punked by right wing zealot and edit room liar James O'Keefe.

The jokes on O'Keefe, who committed at least 12 acts of voter fraud to prove his point, something no one in their right mind would attempt...in the real world. Think about it, who would commit a felony to add just one vote more for your candidate? That's how crazy the voter fraud issue is.

The state attorney general is investigating. Al Sharpton interviews Nashau, NH city clerk Paul Bergeron, and it looks like O'Keefe is in real trouble this time:

I thought this description written up by Salon's Alex Pareene twisted the knife appropriately:

James O’Keefe (remember him? weird guy who’s always filming himself doing unethical and occasionally illegal things in order to somehow prove that liberals do unethical and illegal things?) has broken the law again, in his never-ending quest to prove that liberals have no respect for the rule of law. The conservative filmmaker and master of disguise attempted to commit voter fraud in the New Hampshire primaries.

Jim DeMint praises Walker; "Who's willing to take the pain in order to save the whole state."

2012-01-12T22:24:00.001-06:00

You know you've passed over to the dark side once Sen. Jim DeMint takes you under his wing. My favorite authoritarian reveal is this comment from DeMint:

DeMint: "We really need someone, like a governor Scott Walker, who's willing to take the pain in order to save the whole state."

So to be clear, Walker is the one taking the pain, sacrificing, saving the state? Really, saving the state? This is called the god complex, and it seems almost every Republican I can think of suffers from it; Paul Ryan wants to save Medicare, the Fitzgerald's want to save one party rule, Robin Vos wants people to forget about getting a beer poured over his head so he's saving from government assistance. Oh and Rebecca Kleefisch, she's never had anyone take her seriously, until now.

They're "leading," and doing it for us. Here's Ed Schultz with a great takedown:

Citizens Voice Major Concerns about Rushed Mining Bill, Lousy Deal for Public. But can't you hear the fat lady singing...

2012-01-12T14:45:00.001-06:00

If there were any conservatives in the crowd at the Hurley Inn, they’re probably Democrats now.

According to this account, mining special interests will make out like bandits under the new legislation. And it seems like everybody there understood the hearing was just for show, a listening session forced upon Republicans, who were criticized for holding only one meeting in faraway West Allis.

If conservative voters weren’t so loyal, these Republican con men would be out on their asses for bowing to mining interests, over the concerns of the public.

The Ashland Current: HURLEY — Nearly 300 people crowded into a conference room at the Hurley Inn to participate in a state committee hearing on the proposed mining bill. Lacking seating for everyone, the venue forced many other participants to stand and listen to the hearing from an adjacent room.

Some speakers questioned the legitimacy of the hearing, responding to news reports that the state assembly plans to vote on the bill as early as next week. Theron O'Connor, a Bayfield businessman, told a group of state legislators that they did not have enough time to make substantive changes to the bill. “I see this as being essentially a charade,” O'Connor said. Members of the Committee on Jobs, Economy, and Small Business held the hearing only in response to a “public outcry” after initially failing to schedule a hearing on the bill in Northern Wisconsin, he said. Few speakers fully endorsed the mining bill, even while expressing support.

Get a load of the "grand bargain" for the locals:

Advocates of the proposed mine largely focused on a provision reducing by 50 percent local government's share of tax revenue generated from mining operations … calling for 100 percent of those funds to be distributed to local municipalities. The proposed bill calls for giving 50 percent to the state general fund. Ashland Area Development Corporation Director Dale A. Kupczyk said tax revenue should go toward a variety of local uses, including property tax relief and economic development. Ashland Business Alliance representative Brian Matthys echoed Kupczyk's sentiment. “This area doesn't have a lot of income, a lot of money,” he said. “We need all those resources to come back to this area for roads, for infrastructure, to address any issues that come up with this mine.”

But because Walker Republicans had already made up their minds on the bill:

Both Rep. Klenke (R-Green Bay) and Rep. Mike Kuglitsch (R-New Berlin) repeatedly emphasized “Now you realize that the last mine in the state of Wisconsin was a 60-40 split,” Kuglitsch told Jessica Bolich, a representative from the Hurley Chamber of Commerce. “It wasn't 100 percent.”

State Treasurer Kurt Schuller refused to endorse giving 100 percent of mining tax revenue to local communities when pressed by Rep. Rep. Louis Molepske Jr. (D-Stevens Point). Schuller said, “I think the community would fair very well under a 60-40 (split of tax revenue) or a 70-30.”

Get the feeling that the locals are getting railroaded by these Walker thugs?

The proposed elimination of contested hearings, a legal avenue for the public to challenge the issuance of a mining permit, was addressed repeatedly … The bill's opponents portrayed contested hearings as an important safeguard against environmental degradation, while the bill's proponents argued that contested hearings were unnecessary. The director of environmental and energy policy, said the proposal to eliminate contested hearings would help to streamline the application process. But, he said, people can still file a lawsuit. Rep. Molepske defended the availability of contested hearings and said they provide a framework for allowing people to voice their objections. “Without the contested case there is no record for the court to begin the process of reviewing the case itself,” Molepske said. Molepske also said both Minnesota and Michigan allow for contested hearings.

So the Recall costs too much…

2012-01-12T14:15:00.000-06:00

It is so ridiculous to hear the Walker Republicans complain about the cost of the recall elections, when they’re the ones who ran up the bill with fake Democratic challengers, and paid out-of-state workers to come in and collect recall signatures of their own.

But their lunkhead voters don’t seem to care, or can’t figure it out on their own, so Democrats are left to try and explain the obvious, like Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca:

“Checking signatures to weed out duplicates on recall petitions or nomination papers has always been the responsibility of the candidates. Gov. Walker and his campaign venue-shopped to get a friendly judge in Waukesha County so that instead of his campaign taking on the cost and responsibility, it would be foisted on the taxpayers. Republicans strategy has clearly become to discredit the constitutionally and democratically protected right of citizens to vote in recall elections when they believe they have been betrayed by an elected official.

'Nuff said.

Legends of Lambeau Posters!!

2012-01-12T14:08:00.001-06:00

Press-Gazette editorial cartoonist Joe Heller just drew up his super hero line of Packer posters, which you can download by clicking on the link. Here's the Heller how-to video:

"Legends of Lambeau" — caricatures of several Green Bay Packers stars...

Are the Recalls killing jobs like Walker and the Fitzgerald brothers claiming?

2012-01-12T10:25:00.000-06:00

The numbers don't lie.

Here’s proof that shows Scott Walker took credit for jobs created under Gov. Doyle and the Democratic legislature, and...

...here’s proof that shows the protests in the first 3 months of the Walker administration didn’t stop private sector businesses from hiring, like Republicans are complaining now.

First; how can Walker supporters go along with the claim he created jobs in January 2011, when he just took office?

Politifact: The state jobs tally started out in an encouraging fashion for Walker, beginning with the report on January 2011 job growth, issued on March 9, 2011, that showed the state added a total of 11,300 jobs that month. Walker took credit. Walker said, "Adding over 10,000 private sector jobs in January shows that Wisconsin is on the right track toward fulfilling that important goal."

Second; after the protests and just before the Republican and Democratic senate recalls, the Wisconsin economy was roaring along:

Five months of job increases followed, concluding with a report for June … the largest single month increase in jobs since 2003.

The recalls ended, and the governors recall was still not decided, the state started losing jobs. And on the month the Walker recall started, the state lost the most jobs.

Then on Dec. 15, 2011, the state report said Wisconsin lost 11,700 jobs in November, the steepest decline in more than two years.

So can we believe Scott Walker, the Fitzgerald brothers and now businesses who are repeating the lie that political unrest and uncertainty is killing jobs?

Of course not!

They don’t just hate government, Fitzwalkerstan Republicans can’t run it either. Redistricting Debacle Proof they need to go!!!

2012-01-12T00:14:00.001-06:00

So jamming redistricting down the throats of local communities was a good idea huh? The story below is so unbelievable and messed up, the Republicans will have a hard time blaming this on "uncertainty" or unions.

jsonline: Clerks in the state are scrambling to assign voters to the right districts … with changes to the process putting voters in incorrect locations across town or even across the Atlantic Ocean. The errors affect thousands of voters around the state and stem from different sources, including inaccuracies in U.S. Census Bureau data and problems with a new way of assigning voters to districts in a state database.

You’d think these GOP knuckleheads could have seen this coming:

"We're not only changing and moving districts, we're changing the system beneath it," said Julie Glancey, the Sheboygan County clerk. "We had many, many voters who showed up (on the computer map) on the coast of Africa and we had to drag them back to the state of Wisconsin and put them where they belonged."

OMG! Just another Republican rush job:

They hope to fix the issues by the Feb. 21 election, but if they don't, some voters could wind up at the wrong polling place - or find that they don't appear on the polling list at their correct polling place. In past decades, lawmakers waited for local officials to draw their lines and then built legislative maps along those ward lines. But this time, Republicans who control the Legislature drew the state maps first, using U.S. census blocks. Republicans who control the Legislature acted quickly on the maps at a time when they faced recall elections that could have cost them the Senate majority.

Bottom line; they screwed up redistricting for purely political reasons, the recall. But our favorite incompetent Republicans dummy, who is impossible to fire even after she caused an election meltdown, is sounding more confused than ever:

Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus said she may ask for help with the work from the accountability board. "I would think we're in the thousands of things we have to check," Nickolaus said.

What the…does that make any sense? None of it does. Here's TMJ4's coverage, featuring Nickolaus:

New 7" Tablet too good to be true...

2012-01-11T23:45:00.000-06:00

If you were one of those people who went out during the Christmas holiday and bought a cheap 7" inch tablet under $150, then you're probably as disappointed as me.

All the cheap tablets have one big problem; they don't access the ANDROID MARKET. It's a must if you want to take advantage of Netflix movie streaming, top of the line games and software that makes the Android system experience just a little better. Always make sure the tablet accesses the ANDROID MARKET. Don't settle for Colby, Pandigital...etc.

My Colby broke, so I sent it back. But as I searched for a replacement tablet for my son, I ran across this...and what a price.

It has almost everything you'd want, except for a camera and blue tooth. It has the latest Android system; Ice Cream Sandwich, the Android Market, WiFi b/g/n, expandable microSD card up to 16 GB, on board 8 GB's, Flash support, and capacitive screen. Capacitive simply means you can use touch, your fingertips or special pens. The other type of screen is resistive, where you use a stylus point to press the screen, like a DS. This unit even comes with the latest Spider Man game.

$89 worked for me, with $19 shipping. Search for yourself, it's out everywhere. Prices range from $89 to $180. I hope this video, with no audio (foreign language) helps.