Why isn't Dental Care a part of Health Care?

I've never understood the how dental health was somehow separated from the rest of our body. For gods sake, we breath, eat and communicate with our mouths. Kind of a top priority, yet it's not part of our general health insurance policies. It's insane, especially when you consider the thousands of people who showed up for a two day free clinic here in Madison. Last year they had 1,800 teeth pulled, this year more. People are walking around, and living with, the pain only dental care can stop. WKOW:

Ron Johnson vs former Representative and doctor Steve Kagan on Affordable Care Act.

Have I mentioned how dumb Ron Johnson is? Check out his comments about the passage of the Affordable Care Act-NBC26:

Johnson: “It’s now in the hands of Congress and the hands of American people.” 

Congress and the American people are one and the same...remember, we voted them in to represent us, right. That concept was used when a whole bunch of Democrats voted for the Affordable Care Act. They too were representing the people who were promised a national health care plan during the campaigns in 2008.

Ron Johnson, RoJo the Clown, is talking about losing individual choice. What does he mean? He's talking about the choice of buying less coverage, health care on the cheap, because most people can predict their next sickness or accident. Like all con men, Republicans are pushing junk insurance policies that rake in profits, and don't pay a dime out for coverage. Business friendly you might say.

Johnson said Thursday’s decision takes away the individual choice, and said his party will work to repeal. "It's about putting this country back on a path of an opportunity society, with people, individuals in control, not the government," said Sen. Johnson. 

Really, people don't have control over buying an insurance policy tailor made for them, but with basic coverage that creates consumer certainty? Only business is guaranteed certainty?

Our former congressman and doctor, Steve Kagan, had a much better answer to the courts decision:

But on the other side, former Democratic Congressman, Dr. Steve Kagan said this is a milestone. "Healthcare is no longer a privilege, it's a right," said Kagan. Kagan said it’s a benefit for not only physicians, but all Americans. He added, discrimination against preexisting conditions is gone. "We applied our civil rights to protect us against discrimination, not just at the lunch counter, but now at the pharmacy counter," said Kagan. 

I loved that answer. Wish he would run again, and win. 

Walker Begging for Federal Government Hand Out for State Orchards and Maple Syrup operators.

Republican governors want to stop all the spending, and downsize government, I got it. So what happens when these same cheapskates have a natural disaster on their hands? Cut food stamps or child health care programs? Sure. But you can cut just so much. Especially when so many conservative states are begging for more federal money to save their asses from climate change.

Watch this pointed, incredibly dry shot made by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper at reporters who asked him about Republican complaints not enough money had been spent on fire fighting equipment:



No, they're the same conservatives alright. Like 2016 presidential candidate Scott Walker, who cares more about orchards and maple syrup than citizens who need health care:

jsonline: State officials have requested two federal agricultural disaster declarations to help farmers who sustained losses this spring and summer as a result of extreme weather.

The first request would provide financial assistance to orchards that lost much of their crops, including apples and cherries, this spring.

The second request would be for maple-syrup operations that also had a poor season.

The requests, submitted by Gov. Scott Walker, cover the entire state for fruit-tree losses and 14 counties for maple syrup farms.

Obama celebratory Supreme Court Decision Dance, surreal.

Not only am I amazed at the following video, but I've also got to ask; how did they do that? If Obama were a Republican, this might just have happened.



This was a little less technical, but still fun:

Book "Twilight of the Elites;" can you say Ron Johnson and Eric Hovde?

As I've mentioned before, the senate is starting to look more like an elitist conservative country club, filled with millionaire politicians who describe themselves and citizen legislators but have nothing in common with, or any connection to everyday people.

Chris Hayes' new book "Twilight of the Elites," takes on the destructive nature of this governmental takeover, and the incompetence it breeds.

Shepard Smith hopes for car chase...to keep viewer interested in Health Care Decision.

Shepard Smith teases the Fox New network just about as well as an episode of the Simpsons.

While covering the Supreme Court's Affordable Care Act decision, Megyn Kelly promised a great lineup of guests to dissect the impact, only to have Shepard trash Fox viewers by suggesting that that alone might not be enough to keep them interested. Car chases....



note: blogged recently, reposted here.

Republicans Now Thanking Obama for Lowering Gas Prices?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; like the brutal bluntness of Maritn Bashir's coverage of the news.

Here, Bashir sarcastically nails the GOP for pushing the lie Obama had something to do with high gas prices. He's unrelenting.

WEDC leader Paul Jaden has message for Private Businesses, Bid Rigging Okay.

Let’s talk about certainty, shall we?

Just when you thought the state and Scott Walker did the right thing to make sure the state bidding process was fair to all businesses, Walker’s own corporate lackey Paul Jaden said not so fast. Jaden says bid rigging isn’t banned at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, so what's the big deal?

Talk about instilling a little “uncertainty” into the bidding process for companies hoping to create jobs through state contracting. 

Hey, if the state likes a certain campaign contributor…I mean company, who knows what backroom promises will be made to steer the winning bid their way. Bid rigging.

WSJ: From now on WEDC will ask companies if they are submitting or intend to submit a bid for state work before offering them incentives.

But ethically challenged Paul Jaden doesn’t see a problem:

AP: WEDC leader Paul Jadin told The Associated Press his legal team advised him that the offer to Skyward Inc. was allowed because the year-old agency isn't bound by procurement laws that forbid bid-rigging.

It's not illegal. Is he kidding?

"We're satisfied that we could make the offer. Jadin said he will be talking with Walker about pursuing legislation next year that would allow WEDC to make such contingency offers. He said his agency is still getting a "better handle on what areas we are clearly a state entity and what areas we are clearly private. That's evolving a bit yet."

It’s nice to know the “government” part of WEDC has to play fair, but the private part can bid rig. Don't you love the free market.

Dereliction of duty? It also looks like Jaden let the cat out of the bag concerning Walker’s national campaign fund raising tour at the state’s expense:

Jadin also said there was a breakdown in communication with the governor. He had been updating Walker weekly on pending projects, but those meetings ended in March as a "victim of the recall process," Jadin said.

Yeah, blame the recalls for forcing Walker to leave the state, ignoring the state's business, just to fund raise.  

Rep. Grigsby on Democrats playing safe all the time: "People don't see change, they see us maintaining status quo."

What lesson should Democrats learn from Scott Walker and the new radicalized Republican Party? 

Do something!!

(Her fight with cancer), and what Rep. Tamara Grigsby describes as the toxic environment in the Capitol, convinced the Milwaukee lawmaker that her time in the Legislature should end after four terms.

In her interview with the Cap Times, Grigsby said what I think every Democrat in the state, and every Democrat in the country should be thinking right now, and act on:

CT: You said Democrats “played it safe” when you had the majority. How did that hurt the party?

TG: People don’t see change. They don’t see movement. They see us maintaining the status quo. Whether or not we like Walker’s leadership style, he did something different. He did something bold. He did something radical.

We have not done that and it hurts my constituency. They see our time in charge as an opportunity missed to address some of their very dire needs. That puts us in a position where we lose steam and we lose support. We lose those folks who voted for the first time.

Lawless Scott Walker Ignores Health Care Law he doesn't Like, says Job Creators will now wait for November Elections!!

Imagine the U.S., where Republican "lawmakers" only enforce the laws they agree with, and ignore the ones they don't like, apologetically. Why even have laws? Oh yeah, that's the point, small government.

Sociopathic as ever, Gov. Scott Walker is willing to ignore the law and hold off on implementing health care exchanges (along with hurting Wisconsinites who need health care), so he can demonstrate to voters his courage and ideological vision for America.

As for jobs, Walker is very clear, businesses continue to care more about Republicans winning elections than running their business and keeping up with demand.

Not only that, Walker's excuse this time for not creating all those jobs he promised after winning the recall election: the Supreme Courts decision on the Affordable Care Act.

Walker plays for suckers those voters who believe businesses hire employees based the party in power. Forget about serving clients or produce products based on demand. I have to admit, this new wrinkle and reason to elect Republicans is crazy enough to make sense to many conservatives.

From WDTY's Dylan Brogan:

We Need to Vote out and Replace Rep. Ron Kind Now.

Ron Kind is everything that’s wrong with the Democratic Party. I don't even care if he's replaced by another Republican. We need to replace him with a real Democrat, and not a GOP/NRA lackey. The point Kind is missing is that this is a witch hunt over a program that never existed. We should not be Republican enablers, encouraging theri radical behavior. 

Get rid of him now!!!

Wispolitics: Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, joined all five GOP members of the Wisconsin House delegation in voting to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over disclosures related to a federal gun trafficking operation. 

Kind voted to on a contempt charge drummed up by the Republicans over a phony issue that didn’t actually happen, according to Fortune Magazine. If Kind can’t stay on top of this GOP sideshow, before the purely partisan vote took place, than we should replace him with someone who will. Hope the NRA ratings boost helps defeat him in Democratic voters eyes. 

Here's how he justified it on WPT's Here and Now:

Ron Kind has lost any support I had for him, even on the issues we agree on. 

Authoritarian Tea Party Losers now Whine, have Temper Tantrum, call for Armed Revolution.

The right wing is pissed. So much for accepting the final word of the conservative activist supreme court. Only a few laws should not be questioned, the ones they like, but the Affordable Care Act...?

Check out this outrageous response, and the America they see:

The former spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party sent out an email that questioned whether armed rebellion was justified over the Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare. Matthew Davis, an attorney in Lansing, sent the email  with the headline: “Is Armed Rebellion Now Justified?” Davis added his own personal note saying, “… here’s my response. And yes, I mean it.”

“There are times government has to do things to get what it wants and holds a gun to your head," Davis said. "I’m saying at some point, we have to ask the question when do we turn that gun around and say no and resist.

"Was the American Revolution justified?”

“You can’t have people walking with lattes and signs and think the object of your opposition is going to take you seriously,” Davis said. “Armed rebellion is the end point of that physical confrontation.”

Here's the whole letter. Know what we are dealing with as a nation from the radicalized right wing majority, a group that's just a hair away from repealing 2 centuries of progress. 

  Is Armed Rebellion Now Justified?

Implicit in Benjamin Franklin's fabled response at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention was a dire warning: That the Republic would one day devolve into tyranny unless we the people prevented it.

In 2008, we the people elected Barack Obama as president, and the 100-year progressive trek to tyranny begun in 1912 with Woodrow Wilson's election was complete. It cannot be said too many times — for the purposes of emphasis and clarity — that the Constitution was possible ONLY AFTER the American Revolution; and that the war itself would not have been possible without the collective agreement, as so eloquently articulated in the Declaration of Independence, that the course of human events will sometimes justify one group of people to sever themselves from their oppressors.

In other words, America itself was possible only after its people summoned the will to risk their lives and their futures — as well as those of their children — for a freedom they did not enjoy but knew was their gift from God. Along with their desire to be free came their willingness to engaged in armed rebellion for their freedom.

If government can mandate that I pay for something I don't want, then what is beyond its power? If the Supreme Court's decision Thursday paves the way for unprecedented intrusion into personal decisions, then has the Republic all but ceased to exist? If so, then is armed rebellion today justified?

God willing, this oppression will be lifted and America free again before the first shot is fired.

Vicki McKenna would prefer we don't tell seniors they might qualify for food stamps.

Conservative radio hag Vicki McKenna and guest David Blaska laugh in disgust at a public service announcement reaching out to those who qualify for food stamps.

The ad features two black retirees talking about their need for food stamps. Blaska chimes in, "That's almost like Kingfish and Saphire if you go back to Amos 'n Andy..." Nothing condescending or borderline racist about that. Ironically, McKenna called the ad racist.

And like when the Bush administrations didn't want to tell veterans of their benefits, McKenna would prefer not telling those who qualify for food stamps that they can eat again, so the government could save some money. 



Note; I have every episode of the TV version of Amos 'n Andy on DVD. It was a great show that I remember watching way back then. Great comedic actors and really funny story lines. I thought it was unfairly criticized by the NAACP, although I'll admit, I was too young to understand those times.

Affordable Care Act Constitutional, Pocket Constitutionalists Stunned!

Looks like all the tea party legal scholars were wrong. Now the big deal will be Medicaid.

PA State Rep. Mike Turzai admits Voter ID meant to defeat Obama.

Martin Bashir and NY Times' Charles Blow both try to explain why State Rep. Mike Turzai's let the cat out of the bag about voter suppression and voter ID. It's simple really; Republicans like to brag.

Supreme Court Decision on Affordable Care Act to compete with Car Chases? Only on Fox News.

What's not to like about Fox News' Sheppard Smith, who knows exactly what viewers like so much about the network. Car chases....

3 of the Dumbest Doctors against the Affordable Care Act Ever.

The following interview with 3 doctors is so mind numbing that I had to post it here. Not one of these guys answered any of Megyn Kelly's questions accurately, if at all, even the easy soft balls.

These unusually stupid "doctors" had a lot to say about the horrors of the Affordable Care Act, yet nothing they said made sense. Everything they're unhappy with are things we've had in health care for decades. And this thing about a shortage of doctors...a shortage creates demand, and demand creates jobs. That's a good thing, right? Megyn nailed them over and over, and this is Fox News.

One doctor was outraged that a healthy 18 year old would end up paying for an older obese diabetic. Yeah, so. That 18 year old may someday be an obese diabetic too, or disable, or need medical care...and this argument patients will over use care, visiting their doctors needlessly to what, just shoot the shit? This was more like a therapy session than an interview.

Fast and Furious never happened!!! Rogue Agent Made it Up.

Fortune Magazine's article on Fast and Furious took six months to put together, and turns the whole phony issue upside down. Agents couldn't charge anyone arrested with guns because of weak gun laws.

...mandate was to stop gun traffickers in Arizona, the state ranked by the gun-control advocacy group Legal Community Against Violence as having the nation's "weakest gun violence prevention laws." No federal statute outlaws firearms trafficking, so agents must build cases using a patchwork of often toothless laws. For six years, due to Beltway politics, the bureau has gone without permanent leadership, neutered in its fight for funding and authority.

The rogue agent went on to accuse ATF of something that was patently false, of a program that didn't exist. 

 ...an ATF agent named John Dodson, whom Voth had supervised, made startling allegations on the CBS Evening News. 

Get this; there are "853 gun dealers in Phoenix alone, the seven-agent Fast and Furious team never stood a chance." But there was no Fast and Furious plan, just lose gun laws in Arizona, that created 853 gun dealers in Phoenix. Martin Bashir:

Fortune Magazine: Irony abounds when it comes to the Fast and Furious scandal. But the ultimate irony is this: Republicans who support the National Rifle Association and its attempts to weaken gun laws are lambasting ATF agents for not seizing enough weapons—ones that, in this case, prosecutors deemed to be legal.

Teacher Reductions, School Closings more of those Courageous Decisions?

There's going to be an avalanche of school district news; where teacher reductions and school closing announcements will be made time and time again. Portage is thinking about closing up to 3 schools along with teacher reductions, even if a proposed referendum passes. From the Brookfield Patch:

Back in March, noted education historian Diane Ravitch penned a blog for Education Week called “Why Are Teachers So Upset?” Her blog cited a MetLife study stating that teacher job satisfaction was the lowest it has been in 20 years. In three years, it went from 59 percent to 44 percent while the percentage of teachers likely to leave the profession climbed from 17 percent to 29 percent.

For the best report on the current state of our schools, @the chalk face interviewed Diane Ravitch. It's a great site for the latest in educational news and interviews and can be heard on WTDY. 

Here's part 2:

Ravitch contends that job satisfaction is directly tied to feeling that the profession is respected by the community.

This calls to mind a story in Tuesday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the School District of New Berlin. The district is in danger of losing up to a third of its teachers. A total of 50 out of 314, more than 15 percent, have resigned or retired already this year.

High teacher turnover comes with serious consequences. For starters, studies show that teachers are at their best after seven years in a classroom. With nearly half quitting before their fifth year, there is a serious lack of experienced educators.

Fiscal conservatives take note; turnover is extremely expensive. The Alliance for Excellent Education says that schools and districts nationwide spend about $2.2 billion per year recruiting and training replacements.

The Scott Walker Commemorative Coin is Here, Finally! What's Next, Presidency?

I know there's a market for this, sadly. From Coins of America:

Walker for President?

Who knows what our recall efforts might have hatched, Politico:

Scott Walker has more political capital than any Republican in America ... Now he intends to spend it.

“A wise governor told me a long time ago, political capital you don’t get more of by keeping it. You get it by using it,” Walker told POLITICO this week.

The Wisconsin governor, who does not rule out running for president in 2016 after winning his June recall election, wants to help elect as many GOP candidates as possible in 2012.

Like the Weather? Couldn't be signs of Climate Change? Court Decides Probably.

Knowing that climate change might might in fact be real and not a hoax, you would think even Republicans would err on the side of caution, since the consequences would be devastating to animal survival and our global economy.

But that's not part of the radicalized Republican tea party agenda. Reckless would be one word to describe their behavior. Their solution is breathtaking, and included in the story below:  

McClatchy News: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the EPA’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and the environment was based on “an ocean of evidence,” saying the agency’s move to limit those emissions from cars and trucks was “neither arbitrary nor capricious.”

One complaint the court considered was that the EPA had “delegated” its judgment to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an international group that summarizes scientific papers on the subject … “It makes no difference that much of the scientific evidence in large part consisted of ‘syntheses’ of individual studies and research,” the court said. “Even individual studies and research papers often synthesize past work in an area and then build upon it. This is how science works. EPA is not required to re-prove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question.”

The National Association of Manufacturers president and CEO, Jay Timmons, said in a statement: “The debate to address climate change should take place in the U.S. Congress and should foster economic growth and job creation, not impose additional burdens on businesses.”

The most bizarre idea yet to come from the now radicalized GOP, is to pass a law prohibiting scientific evidence from effecting EPA regulations, especially if it’s costly to business.

The next steps could play out in Congress, where Republicans have proposed amending the Clean Air Act to prohibit the EPA from making any regulations of greenhouse gases due to climate change.

Campaign Promise Broken: Where's the Outpouring of Jobs, Scott Walker?

I’ve been meaning to write about, and follow-up on, Scott Walker’s recall election campaign promise that job creators were splitting at the seams waiting to hire people once they knew Walker had been reelected.

While getting ready to fill-in for Sly in the Morning and installing new carpeting in a house full of furniture, computers, and wiring, I ran across this perfect description at Rock Netroots. Here’s just a section of their commentary:

Just two weeks after the recall was over and the job creators favored and endorsed Scott Walker won the right to finish his term as governor, the WMC wasted no time to tamp down that one-month old campaign speculation of a jobs explosion. Sorry they basically said, it's not gonna happen anytime soon because there's a "workforce skills gap" in the state. That was just a minor inconvenience they forgot to tell us about in their jobs explosion campaign for re-election. Oh well, they never said anything about actually hiring anyone.

According to this article posted in the Janesville Gazette, they claimed it’ll be at least another year before the state will see any significant job growth. Now this week yet another article titled, Knowledge can help solve state’s workforce paradox continues with the skills gap excuse for no jobs. Notice the WMC and Walker enabler Gazette did not use the word “education” – now it’s "knowledge." Well, maybe because Scott Walker just cut $800 million a year from knowledge Doh!

 …ah, I mean education. You get the picture. It’s one excuse after another excuse after another and another. If excuses were jobs at the WMC, we’d be at full 100% employment.

Let's not forget the massive panicky ad campaign by business groups and the state to hedge Walker's promise of a jobs explosion.

Talk Host Sykes whines about John Doe Leaks, while hypocritically spreading them himself.

From the “you can’t make this stuff up department,” Walker henchman Sykes got caught in a little projection, illegally leaking John Doe investigation secrets while accusing everyone else of doing it.

jsonline; Responding to claims they had leaked information on the John Doe investigation involving some of Gov. Scott Walker's aides, Milwaukee County prosecutors say two disclosures came from attorneys for one of the defendants.

Michael Maistelman, a lawyer for defendant Timothy Russell, sent an email to radio talk show host Charlie Sykes on Jan. 22, tipping off Sykes to the likelihood that two other former Walker aides would be charged that week. Those aides, Darlene Wink and Kelly Rindfleisch, were charged four days later … it was remarkable Russell's lawyers had complained of a "not-so-secret" John Doe investigation when they disclosed information themselves.

Sykes and other defenders of the Republican governor have complained of illegal information leaks on the Doe investigation … Sykes said Tuesday he has referred to the investigation as "leaking like a sieve." Sykes declined to comment on the email he got from Maistelman or how prosecutors got it.

Sykes got caught. What else is he telling you someone else is doing, that in reality, he's doing? 

RNC's Reince Priebus secretly funded Rep. Robin Vos' Voter ID Intervention.

Rep. Robin Vos can’t be trusted, it’s that simple.

jsonline: The effort to intervene in a voter ID lawsuit that spurred controversy for two state lawmakers was funded by the Republican National Committee. Rep. Robin Vos (and) Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer withdrew their names from it last week after the state Government Accountability Board told them they could not receive free legal services under the state's ethics code … after the Journal Sentinel reported about the potential ethics violation and that Vos and Ziegelbauer were refusing to say who funded the effort. On Tuesday, RNC spokesman Ryan Mahoney said the Republican committee was paying for the effort … Vos said he deliberately did not ask who was funding the effort to minimize any allegations that he was doing the bidding of outside interests.

Imagine saying something so ridiculous; Vos would do the bidding of strangers, just so he could say he didn't know them? Is he hallucinating, or are we for not laughing in his lying face?  

Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, said Vos and Ziegelbauer should face penalties for receiving free legal work. He said the RNC's involvement in the case is telling … "I guess it's not surprising Reince Priebus would be behind something like that because he has a long and storied history of trying to prevent people from exercising the franchise," Ross said.

Vos also was caught in a fantasy, where he was initially given the go ahead from the GAB:

Both Vos and Ziegelbauer said they were approached by Joseph Louis Olson, an attorney ... Vos said … the agency initially told Louis Olson (Michael Best & Friedrich) the lawmakers could participate … (the GAB) later said in writing the lawmakers could not do that. Vos declined to release a copy of the letter or provide anything that showed the agency gave different advice initially.

And finally, comic relief. You won’t believe this down the rabbit hole comment from the RNC:

Mahoney, the RNC spokesman, disputed the accountability board's conclusions … "We have a different interpretation than the GAB and just because the GAB says something violates the law does not mean it does in fact violate the law," Mahoney said in a statement.

We don't need no stinkin' laws. How long will conservative voters put up with this con job?

Activist Conservative Supreme Court Ends Union Free Speech.

Citizens United allowed both corporations and unions to contribute money to campaigns, part of their "free speech" rights. But they decided to change that. Unions now have some new conservative court barriers put in place. This just ended labors influence. That might sound good to those twisted enough to be against labor, those workers who spend money supporting our economy, but in the end they and the rest of us are screwed.

Rachel Maddow couldn't have said it better:

After Montana Campaign Law Struck, Can we Finally say, "This is a radically activist conservative Supreme Court?

Here's Ed Schultz with Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer on the activist Supreme Court's reversal of their 100 year old law. This really is the end of democracy as we know it, and the beginning of a new "Investment State."



I don't usually include pundit comments, but this time E.J. Dionne added a few things I've been saying here for years. This is authoritarian conservative elitism on steroids:

Concealed Carry Owner thinks he's exempt from the Law!

Guess the immature, mentally 14 year old concealed carry owners don't think they need to "read the instructions" when it comes to their empty life altering concealed carry law. Channel3000:

Madison police said a man who was arrested by officers after pulling a gun on another man claimed his arrest was illegal because he held a concealed carry permit issued by the state of Wisconsin.

Pistol Whipping the Nuns on the Bus...isn't that funny?

Isn't it fun to have an authoritarian leader like Paul Ryan to show us how his policies influence our public debate? Check this out:

Raw Story: “There’s a bus full of nuns headed towards Washington to lobby against the Ryan plan,” radio host Jan Mickelson told Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA) last week. “Do you guys, do you have any power to pull the nuns on the bus over and pistol whip them?”

“They say he is evil, they say he is fake Catholic,” he added. “They’re the ones that threw the first punch.”

Listen to this audio from WHO’s Mickelson in the Morning, broadcast June 22, 2012.

The Walker no tax increase lie catching Republican voters by surprise!

Gov. Scott Walker declared victory over the budget: He held the line on taxes. Many conservatives liked the simple message, and wrapped their little mind around it. But like any business, even governmental, financial realities have a way of dispelling the simpleton view of the world.

State politicians went home bragging they pulled off a budgeting miracle.

Suckers!! Conservative voters in Racine are now shocked taxes are going up:

Caledonia Patch: More than 100 people spent their Monday night questioning why their taxes were going to increase again, but district officials said it's not their spending that has increased — it's the state funding that has decreased. The school portion of a property tax bills will rise almost 6.5 percent with that budget.

Check out of this clueless conservative true believer with all his meaningless cliches:

Wayne Clingman, of Racine, said the district needed to make difficult choices, not raise taxes. “You may not know it, but things have changed. The money is not coming and you have to make some very hard choices … and when taxes go up, people leave the state and the money that you have won’t be coming in anymore.”

I would love to see these freeloaders leave the state. It’s not like they didn’t know Wisconsinites have always paid a higher percentage of taxes, which has made our state so desirable for families, tourism and education. Please, do us all a favor and go to that tea party trailer camp paradise and don't come back.

The truth should open their eyes to the Republican budgeting deceit.

David Hazen, the chief financial officer for the school district, pointed out, “It’s important to note that we’re not spending more money in our budget, we’re seeing a shift in who is paying for it,” Hazen said.

While these conservative idiots rant about repealing “Obamacare,” they are directly causing health care costs to rise, hating every second of that too:

Other items that factored into the increase were: A 10 percent increase in health coverage costs. David Hazen, the chief financial officer for the school district said, “So we had a bump in spending, but when we get the numbers for this year my guess is that we’ll see a considerable drop,” he said. “Employees could pay up to $8,000 of their own healthcare costs. That’s why we had more savings in the year.”

That $8,000 will go to health care costs, and not to local businesses that need consumers. But that's not all. Let’s close more schools!!!

Roger Pfost, who ran for the School Board earlier this year, said the board was doing a disservice to the taxpayers and the students. “Under the voucher system, enrollment was brought down but you didn’t close the schools when you had the opportunity to.”

How dumb is that? Here’s one of the most important point every taxpayer needs to remember:

David Hazen, the chief financial officer for the school district, “So you as a taxpayer are still paying for vouchers — believe me the state is still paying — but we can’t count those students as being in the district and we lose state aid.”

I'll let that sink in for awhile.

Conservatives "act like 14 year old boys, there's no ideology here."

During the first week of July, I'll be filling in for Sly in the Morning on 1670, WTDY. One thing that I will beating into the ground unmercifully, is an idea hatched recently on Bill Maher's Real Time. His message to conservatives:

Maher: "You act like 14 year old boys, there's no ideology here."

That nailed it for me. It always felt that way, but I could never find the right words to say it. Bill Maher, thank you. (pronounced, Marr)

In this bit, Maher features two conservative kids making as much sense and two kids could, at around 14. And these two youthful freaks of nature tell us all we need to know about Republicans; "they act like 14 year old boys, there's no ideology here."

According to the CBO, the Affordable Care Act is saving health care dollars, no matter how many times Republicans say just the opposite...

I've blogged many times about the money saved by putting in place the Affordable Care Act, and the recent CBO numbers that take into consideration an almost fully implemented system. But on the other side of the aisle, conservatives reported the big lie that the ACA will actually cost more money-nearly $2 trillion. Sure, if you don't count the revenue sources built into the act, but why wouldn't we?

In fact, the CBO says the Affordable Care Act is saving more money then they originally figured. But conservatives have already created their own truth, in their opposite day is every day world. Bill Maher tried like hell to give them the cold hard facts. Was he successful? See for yourself as the editor for U.S. News and World Report Mort Zuckerman-who really should know better, struggles to understand. It's pathetic.

To China with Love-Ron Johnson and Eric Hovde

You gotta love China...really?

Mussolini's version of fascism, the co-mingling of government and business, is now politically fashionable for our current crop of conservative millionaire lawmakers and candidates. Two perfect recent examples; Ron Johnson and Eric Hovde. For them, Communist China's heavily subsidized corporate entities, and lenient policies that allow for low wage workers and lax environmental controls, is just what America should look like.

Both are featured in the audio clip below, reported by WTDY's Dylan Brogan. When you hear dumb Ron Johnson praise China, think of all the conservative voters who agreed with that message, and Johnson's love of "creative destruction." That leads into candidate for senate Eric Hovde, who in one breath accuses his Democratic opponent Rep. Tammy Baldwin of being a communist, and then in the next praise Communist China.

There's nothing like being a Republican these days, who can have it both ways, any old time they want. Their low information voters don't know the difference, they're too busy following Fast and Furious or the latest attack on contraception.

GAO suggests 9 ways to replace Affordable Care Mandate.

Yes, Republicans will never allow a fix to get people to sign on to the Affordable Care Act's benefits, but the GAO made these suggestions anyway. They received input from those listed at the bottom of this post. After hearing the partisan lunacy of the conservative activist Justices compare the mandate to forcing people to buy broccoli, food, and health club memberships, its no secret which way these guys will legislate from the bench.

Results in Brief: The experts we interviewed discussed several specific approaches to encourage voluntary health insurance enrollment during our interviews. The approaches are summarized below, generally presented in the order of frequency with which they were proposed by the experts for consideration.

• Modify open enrollment periods and impose late enrollment penalties.

• Expand employers’ roles in auto-enrolling and facilitating insurance enrollment.

• Conduct a public education and outreach campaign.

• Provide broad access to personalized assistance for health coverage enrollment. 

• Impose a tax to pay for uncompensated care.

• Allow greater variation in premium rates based on enrollee age. 

• Condition the receipt of certain government services upon proof of health insurance coverage.

• Use health insurance agents and brokers differently.

• Require or encourage credit rating agencies to use health insurance status as a factor in determining credit ratings. 

Four key themes emerged. First, experts emphasized that most people would prefer to purchase health insurance coverage; however, to the extent that high cost is a barrier, the use of financial incentives is key. Second, they stated the availability of affordable, high-quality health care plans with a basic set of benefits, and full coverage of preventive care services is essential to encouraging voluntary enrollment in the coverage. Third, experts said that strong marketing and public education from trusted, community-based sources informing people about their health care choices, their costs, and the consequences of not enrolling in a timely manner are important. And fourth, they said convenient access to multiple access points staffed by knowledgeable individuals would further facilitate enrollment.  

The problem with any marketing campaign to get the message out, is that most sources have been vilified by the conservative media already. And if they haven't been trashed yet, they will be. Expect corporate front groups like Concerned Women for America to advance their paranoid "what if" scenarios, that play so well on the conservative "someones getting something for nothing" psyche. 

America’s Health Insurance Plans, American Enterprise Institute, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, Assurant Health, Blackstone Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbia University, Consumers Union, Council of State Governments, Harvard University, Kaiser Family Foundation, The Heritage Foundation, The Lewin Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Business Group on Health, The Urban Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Hovde's Plea to the press to stop food stamp sob stories get Moyer'ed.

Bill Moyers couldn't help but point out Eric Hovde's incredibly arrogant comment to the press, to please stop covering those whining food stamp losers.

After listening to Hovde's comments again, I'm beginning to believe he's now more concerned with how the down economy is going to affect him,  when he says, "it's going to devastate everybody." Like Eric Hovde maybe?

Moyers also takes a nice shot at Paul Ryan via Nun's on the Bus.



Just what we need, another millionaire with the "courage" to dump on the poor and middle class.

Deceptive Faux Women's Group tool of Big Insurance, Doctors and Health Care Industry.

Really, "Concerned Women for America?" God I hate these contrived names used by conservative crooks to deceive and destroy their special interest targets.

Their new ad stood out for me as I casually watched Sunday morning news talk on TV. It's so heavy handed, fearful, and factually wrong that I had to post it here.

According to their website spin: 

"As the Supreme Court decides the fate of government-mandated health care, we must continue to seek real reform, not President Obama's plan which costs hardworking taxpayers too much money and gives Washington too much control over our personal health decisions."

Here's the ad's text and my corrections. 

"As a doctor, I do everything I can to make sure my patients get the very best care. But look at our health care system. Everyone agreed we needed reforms -- but this new health care law -- it just isn't fixing things.

It has fixed things.According to the latest CBO report, health care costs have started to stabilize, and in some cases, come down. That's because the whole industry knew they had to do something, forced by the Affordable Care Act, so they changed their business models. This would not have happened otherwise. 

President Obama promised my patients that they could keep me -- but what if because of this new health care law -- I can't keep them?

It's the tiresome "what if" conservative argument. Think of this: How many got to keep their physicians when they lost their jobs or their employer change insurers? That happens all the time, so this "keep your doctor" promise was always an empty one, even before the Affordable Care Act. 

Forewarning for the next part of the script: "Denied care" has been happening for decades, and will no longer exist with the Affordable Care Act. This deceptive ad states just the opposite. Additionally, it warns of "projected billions" when in fact, it's paid for. The same is true of the $1 trillion in spending, also paid for with citizen premiums. That's according to the CBO's latest report, which was turned inside out in the conservative media. 

I've looked at this law. I know the consequences: delayed care and worse yet -- denied care.Studies show the president's health care law is projected to add hundreds of billions to our deficit -- and increase spending by more than a trillion dollars. And the truth is -- we still don't know how much this law will eventually cost.

And finally, who would you trust, your own government guaranteeing you the right to health care, or an insurance company turning you down for coverage in the pursuit of profits? These concerned women really aren't. 

I don't want anything to come between my patients and me -- especially Washington bureaucrats. We need real reform that improves care, and the President's health care law just isn't it. It just isn't worth it. This is where health care decisions should be made. Not in Washington."

Again, between you and your doctor...is an insurance bureaucrat, denying you care. If you want to tell these corporate whores with the touchy feely women's name just what you think, here's their contact information. 

For Information Contact: Alison Howard (609) 517-7235   ahoward@cwfa.org    media.cwfa.org

Big Business Advice to keep down health care costs; "find the cheapest hospital."

So, a big shot corporate owner solved the problem of rising health care costs for himself, so what? The trouble is, his solution works for larger companies, ones that might have a few more spending options...like supplying in house health care centers and sticking everyone in a health savings account. Health savings accounts don't work well for the middle class and poor in smaller businesses and sole proprietorship's, because people on those plans would just end up rationing their own care.

But what's worse is the snake oil advice from John Torinus, from Serigraph in West Bend, who wants you to believe that the LOWEST COST HEART SURGEON will be your best choice. Like he said, it's counter intuitive. Yes it is. As an adult, consumer of really bad cheap products, and a long time small business owner shopping for insurance almost every year, I've found that not to be true.

Yet Torinus found one hospital he can recommend that might just be the exception. Anyone for cheap surgery, cheap doctor, cheap facility? Hey, it would be nice to think it could happen, but it would also be crazy.

Torinus: "So if you want to go get your heart bypassed, go find the cheapest hospital. Now that's counterintuitive, but if you think about it, it's not."

Yeahhhh, right. Mike Gousha couldn't end the interview quick enough.


 

Tommy Thompson muffs his own official Senate site address!!

After watching Tommy Thompson bullshit Mike Gousha on Upfront about the Affordable Care Act, I had to take a look at the plan he said was at tommyforsenate.org. Expired! The actual web address; tommyforwisconsin.com.

The only thing close to that is his Twitter page. This is no small mistake, this is incompetence.

One more thing, Thompson claims the Affordable Care Act isn't paid for...he's wrong. It's the one big talking point lie that the media never seems to want to correct. Heck, reporters could just read the latest estimates from the CBO and know Republicans are full of it. More on that in my next post featuring Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher. From Upfront with Mike Gousha (goo-shay):

Media Gets Challenge for Covering Fast and Furious; are they still Fox News Suckers?

There's a gun crazy loon behind the whole Fast and Furious phony controversy ginned by Fox News, and other rabid low information politicians. It really is amazing how something like this is taken so seriously by the news outlets without some context.

Rachel Maddow wonders if the media will play the suckers again. Gee, I wonder. This is Maddow's second attempt at trying to change the Fast and Furious media narrative. Still no change....

Walker's Act 10 to cost Hard working Taxpayers $87 million.

"Laws should be examined more carefully before they're passed!"

That's according to the Secretary of the Department of Employee Trust Fund Robert Conlin.

I know, conservative voters won't give a hoot over laws rammed down their throats, if its got an "R" behind it. From WKOW:

Baldwin gets tough on China in first, takes message to pub?

Only a communist would try to save American JOBS I guess, according to senate candidate Eric Hovde. The socialist rantings by Democratic senate candidate Tammy Baldwin will not be tolerated, especially the attack on China in her TV ad. Maybe Hovde, like dumb Ron Johnson, find China a great place for business expansion?

This serious ad (no smiling uplifting expressions of weakness) by Baldwin, is topped off with a final scene...in a bar? That's what it looks like, and it's so Wisconsin. The guy behind her should probably call it a night though.

Message to Free-Market/Anti-American Extremist Eric Hovde: “We’re not Communists, we’re Americans!!! Who’s Got the Sob Story Now?

Senate candidate and billionaire Eric Hovde is finding it difficult to reach out to, and talk to, the low life rabble in society otherwise known as working class Americans. 

Name calling and the vilification of the Democratic Party as commies is so…50’s. It’s odd too how conservatives want to take out country back to, what, a pure capitalist system? When was that? Please Eric, name the other industrialized countries that are pure free market systems?   From The Hill :

"I fundamentally disagree with Tammy on almost everything. She has a more liberal voting record than almost anybody in Congress. Her philosophy has its roots in Marxism, communism, socialism, extreme liberalism — she calls it progressivism — versus mine, which is rooted in free-market conservatism."

What is Hovde trying to do, channel Joe McCarthy? Our representative democracy is also rooted in the free-market experiment as well. It’s two systems in one, how original.  Republicans can’t image the possibility that half or more of the businesses in the country may very well be owned and run by liberals.

jsonline: Baldwin's campaign took sharp issue with Hovde. Spokesman John Kraus told the Hill that Baldwin has worked with Republicans to protect manufacturing in the United States against unfair trade practices by the Chinese. "Hovde clearly has no interest in bipartisan work to create jobs and move our economic recovery forward," Kraus said.

A better response; capitalism has resulted in offshoring, and the outsourcing jobs. Without worker protections put in place by the same government they pay taxes to support, the bloodletting of American jobs will continue. Hovde would consider that just another “sob story” though.

The Outrageous Republican Double Standard on Immigration Deportation. More Phony Outrage.

Why do we have to rely on a comedy show to present to Americans, what the news media should be doing without hesitation. The upside down political nature of the Republican Party is ripe for parody, sure, but it's also perfectly suited to provide the same entertain value cable and prime time news viewers, and isn't that what the networks are dying to accomplish?

Take this simple bit of research by the writers of the Daily Show. Obama's move to put in place a small piece of the Dream Act dealing with deportations, mirrors other previous administrations that made similar decisions. This should embarrass the hell out of "serious" all news channels. What, not enough time in the day to do a little work?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Scott Walker supports job killing Health Insurance "Freedoms" and Premiums.

What ails Milwaukee County, local and state federal governments is health care coverage. It's the most expensive in the world, yet we won't opt into a much less expensive single payer plan for purely ideological reasons.

But instead of going single payer, which would be a socialist commie takeover according to Republicans, conservatives have decided to take health care away, or at least make individuals pay exorbitantly more out of pocket.

Nice solution?

The story of Milwaukee County's financial woes can be laid at the feet of it's former county executive, Scott Walker. Two terms and near bankruptcy, Walker was given a pass on the Greater Milwaukee Committees devastating report that should have, and would have, taken down any potential candidate for governor. Instead, we put Walker in control of the state, and he has in turn, done everything he can to let health care take its toll on businesses and price consumer out of life saving services.

jsonline: Despite deep budget cuts and shifting substantial pension and health care costs onto its employees this year, Milwaukee County still faces a projected $28 million shortfall next year, a gap that could grow to $92 million in five years, according to a long-range forecast. Among the reasons for an ongoing county budget shortfall: high and still growing health care costs; continued steep pension costs; and the expectation of flat state and federal aid … expenses growing by an annual rate of 5.1% but revenues climbing by just 3.5%.

County Supervisor Jim "Luigi" Schmitt said the county has gone about as far as it can in program cuts and shifting benefit costs to employees. "The only answer seems to be we need another revenue source," Schmitt said during a meeting of the board's finance committee. "It's as plain as the nose on my face."

Actually, the answer lies in what could be a Democratic argument for universal health care. The door is wide open for it, inviting the clueless uncommitted Democrats, who continue to shy away from a fight, to finally make the case and appeal to the public’s desire for change. Instead though, it appears to still be off the table. 

Affordable Care Act Refund!!! Repeal, repeal...huh!

The Affordable Care Act required insurers to put most of your premium money into health care, not their pockets. If they take too much, they have to refund that amount. Simple, right?

But wait, Republicans want to repeal the law, and will probably get the activist Supreme Court to legislate from the bench and rule it unconstitutional. How lucky is that? Yeh, we get to pay more in premiums so tea party losers, who don't have coverage, can be free and freeload off the rest of us.

We've got a radically activist conservative Supreme Court legislating from the bench.

The media has fallen down on the job again. With all their 5-4 decisions, on highly controversial laundry list Republican issues, how could we as a nation not be talking about their activism? 

Especially now when a national health care plan is about to offend every small government Republican in the country, even though its not a government run program. Here's a great article from the Daily Beast tracing the historical nature of this court: 

We've heard conservatives say many times that the Warren Court overreached, legislated from the bench, and divided America. It’s typically called the most controversial court in American history … But the numbers tell a very different story. Even though Roberts has reigned on Maryland Avenue for just seven years as opposed to Earl Warren’s 16, the Roberts nonet (more accurately, quintet) has issued far more aggressive and in-your-face 5-4 rulings on controversial and high-profile cases and done far more to divide the country. I don’t know what they’ll do on health care, but they already deserve to displace the Warren Court in the controversy sweepstakes.

First I looked at (seven) representative and major Roberts Court decisions in hot-button issue areas.

Race: Parents v. Seattle & Meredith v. Jefferson, also known as the Seattle/Louisville desegregation case. The Court ruled that local school districts basically couldn’t do anything to ensure racial diversity in their schools.

Abortion: Gonzales v. Carhart upholding the federal partial-birth abortion ban.

Campaign finance: Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission, which prohibited restrictions on many independent expenditures; also McCain v. Wisconsin Right to Life, which weakened key provisions of the McCain-Feingold law.

Equal Rights: Ledbetter v. Goodyear, which made it harder for (female) employees to sue employers on equal-pay grounds.

Free Speech: Morse v. Frederick, the so-called Bong Hits 4 Jesus case, in which the court limited free-speech rights of students.

Punitive Damages: Philip Morris v. Williams overturning an Oregon court’s smoking-based award to one ex-smoker.

(ALL) Seven of them were 5-4 decisions. Exactly the same five in the majority, and exactly the same four in the minority. Then I went back and looked at eight historic hot-button Warren Court rulings. In fact, of the eight, only one was a 5-4 ruling.

Once Roberts and Samuel Alito hit the bench, the Federalist Society clock started ticking loudly: We’ve got our five now, boys, and we don’t know how long we’ll have them, so let’s get moving. Desegregation? Boom, 5-4! Equal pay? Bang, 5-4! Campaign finance? Zap, 5-4! And so on. The express point has been to radically remake society, without a hoot of concern about whether it was being done by five or seven or nine.

In fact, to most conservatives, if a decision infuriated the Court’s four liberals, so much the better. Some might argue here that I’d better just face the fact that the country has gotten more conservative … America has if anything become more liberal than it was 40 years ago. So no, we’re not “more conservative.”

The main thing that changed is that rabidly right-wing billionaires started throwing many millions of dollars into politics, forming and funding groups like the Federalist Society, which have managed to assert their will.

And so: If we get a 5-4 ruling against the Affordable Health Care act or any part of it, this is the context to keep in mind. It will be another in a series of ferociously ideological one-vote-margin decisions from the court that we do not need history’s perspective to decide is far and away America’s most ideological.

When Walker Won, it was a Mandate, When Republicans Lose, it's Voter Fraud. Get used to this Meme.

From Sly in the Morning, John Nichols highlighted a mounting portrayal and frame pushed by conservatives; they can only lose elections due to voter fraud.

A sidelight to this important movement to watch, is dumb Ron Johnson's claim busloads of out of state voters came to Racine and cast their ballots. From a previous blog I highlighted Johnson's source of all information; Fox News and conservative talk radio. It's true. WTDY reporter Dylan Brogan interviewed him, prodded him for more, and hit the mother lode:

Radical Communist Nuns on a Bus? The Genius flowing out of Talk Radio....

Upside down, inside out, black is white, down the rabbit hole of life, Vicki McKenna knows no bounds or limits on how low she'll go. The blathering talk host actually said,

Vicki: "I find it so amusing that the left wing, they love the Catholic Church today, because a bunch of radical communist nuns..."

That's odd; aren't the Republicans loving the Catholic Bishops right now, standing with them to oppose contraception in health care?  The word hypocrite is sounding a bit mild these days, ya think?

And that's only the beginning. In Vicki's mind, downsizing food stamps and Medicaid, kicking millions off the programs, will save the programs for those who "really need it"...like themselves, those hard working conservatives displaced by their own failed policies. Their dumb, but they're not that dumb. Here's the audio...it's short:

Fast and Furious, the real story.

I haven't paid any attention to the Fox News creation against AG Eric Holder, Fast and Furious. But had I known just how bizarre this whole thing really was, I might watched the congressional panel vote and charge Attorney General Eric Holder with contempt of Congress.

Ah, but the real story....Rachel Maddow will blow your mind. We, as a country, are in real trouble.

I thought this analysis later with Bob Herbert offered proof, this wasn't a wild liberal conspiracy theory by Rachel:

Finally, Stephen Colbert said in about 20 seconds what almost no news outlet has been able to explain for months, and what Rachel explained above. You might say it's the cliff notes, tea party version:

Average 270 Premature Deaths per Year in Wisconsin Resulting from our Current Free Market Health Care System.

While I don't believe the Affordable Care Act's mandate is unconstitutional, the manufactured interpretation of our founding document still allows the far right to grab at any possible excuse to get rid of it. It's all part of their new freeload society. Tea party losers and the Republican Party for the last 2 years, have encouraged the idea that they don't really have to buy health insurance anymore, so they won't now. No one takes away their freedom with mandates.

But this Looney Tunes attitude toward health care is deadly serious, and here's why:

Milwaukee: A new report from national health care advocacy organization Families USA, co-released by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, documents the number of premature deaths that result from lack of health care coverage.  This important report demonstrates the life and death significance of the impending decision by the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

According to the report, 1,204 Wisconsinites have died prematurely for lack of health insurance over the past 5 years for which data is available.  That is 22 deaths per month and 270 premature deaths per year in Wisconsin which are directly a result of our broken health care system.  As a comparison, that is almost 50% of the number of traffic deaths in Wisconsin each year.

“For thousands of Wisconsinites, whether the Affordable Care Act survives is not a political football but a matter of life and death,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin.

“These thousands of individual and family tragedies offer a compelling moral reason to fully implement the Affordable Care Act, which will guarantee affordable health coverage to 30 million additional Americans.

How original, Eric Hovde blames Liberal media for his comment, "Stop writing about...the person (who) couldn't get...food stamps. Another sob story..."

Oh boy, looks like another millionaire can't quite identify with the poor and middle class without taking a crap on them, and then whining about getting caught in the act.

That's our Eric Hovde. Great piece by jsonline's Dan Bice:  

U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde is lashing out at a liberal national website (Huffington Post) and its chief for posting a video this week in which the Republican businessman complained about what he said were too many sob stories about the plight of poor individuals.

In a press release, Hovde - a millionaire many times over - accused the Huffington Post of taking his remarks out of context to try to make him appear anti-poor during his Friday speech to the Greater Brookfield Chamber of Commerce.

Hovde then challenged Arianna Huffington to a debate. “I will gladly debate Ms. Huffington any time and any place in front of a room full of journalists on what she has done for the less fortunate versus what I have done," said Hovde, who ticked off a list of his charitable deeds.

But Huffington doesn’t have to respond, because his comments weren’t pulled out of context, and it’s not what you do personally for the poor, it’s what you want to do nationally to the them with public policy. What a childish reaction...a debate, really? Here's what he said, in context:

Hovde told the Brookfield business group: "I see a reporter here. I just pray that you start writing about these issues. I just pray. Stop always writing about, 'Oh, the person couldn't get, you know, their food stamps or this or that.' You know, I saw something the other day - it's like, another sob story, and I'm like, 'But what about what's happening to the country and the country as a whole?' That's going to devastate everybody."

Tough luck Eric, your wild high pitched adlibbing was all wrong, arrogant and downright asinine. But oh sure, blame the liberal media when you finally run through your list of weak excuses.

Hovde said he was decrying the "spin of liberal, elite media." “Nothing ever gets fixed in our country because you can’t even talk about the serious issues without suffering attacks against your character." 

Wood County votes to spend my money on their road repairs, not the frac haulers.

Hey Folks, Wood County wants me, a Dane County resident, to help pay for their frac sand mining road repairs. I say, go to hell. I guess this where industry can now insist it doesn’t even have to take responsibility for the public roads to and from their mine?  You got it! Marshfield News Herald:

Wood County officials are commended for taking a positive stance on frac sand hauling. At Tuesday's County Board meeting, supervisors voted 17 to 2 to approve a resolution to ask the state for assistance to improve local roads to withstand the weight of trucks hauling frac sand.

The approach is the right one for county leaders to take, and the tone is positive. Previous … Wood County Highway Commissioner Doug Passineau has been working with frac sand haulers to get commitments to repair any damage done by hauling.

It's more a heads up to the state that counties like ours will need some help to improve roads for this new industry … Perhaps the state can help by freeing up some road funds for these projects.

No wonder industry thinks they can do anything they want, because they can. But they can't spend my money for their servitude to industry and their own bad business behavior. 

It's the Bush Tax Cuts Stupid!!

The numbers are in on who is offering the best deal for the poor, middle class and rich. It's not even close, and yet, the Mitt'ster is still doing well in the polls. Voting against ones own best interest is the name of the game, and the tea party has bought into the scheme completely.

Citizens for Tax Justice: New figures from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) compare Congressional Republicans’ proposal to extend all the Bush tax cuts to President Obama’s more limited proposal to extend most, but not all, of the tax cuts ... the richest one percent would pay $50,660 less under the GOP approach than under the President’s approach next year. 

The situation is the reverse for lower income groups ... in 2013 taxes for the poorest fifth of Americans would be cut by $120 on average under the Republican approach and by $270 on average under the President’s approach ... the poorest fifth of would pay $150 more on average under the Republican approach than under the President’s approach.  

There's more bad news coming our way if Republicans get what they want:

The President’s approach would cost $1 trillion dollars less (including interest payments on the resulting debt) over the next decade than the GOP approach,