Fake News' MacIver Institute wrongly blames Dems for war on free speech & Climate Change!!!

The merry “fellows” at the MacIver Institute need a little self-awareness training, or should at the least pick up a newspaper from time to time.

Making their list of “under-reported stories” for 2016, was this amazingly ironic rant about the supposed free speech rights of climate change deniers. Aw, poor babies, can’t take a little criticism or responsibility? 

The Left's War on Free Speech: ...Democratic attorneys general banded together to intimidate climate change skeptics, including attempting to illegally seize private documents from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Then in July, 19 Senate Democrats took to the floor of the U.S. Senate in a fascist attempt to publicly intimidate and silence groups opposed to their policy positions. In response, the MacIver Institute joined ALEC ... in co-signing a letter fiercely defending the fundamental right to free speech ... Joe McCarthy would've been proud of Senate Democrats for their Putin-like tactics.

The ironic use of Trump’s puppet master, Putin, in making their case is amusing enough, but MacIver can’t hide what they’re really doing; protecting the reliable fossil fuel funding of right wing groups. Note: As usual, MacIver supplies no links in their post to explain or make their case. 

The 19 Senate Democrats simply called out by name the big oil players and “urged...” 

...fossil fuel companies and allied organizations to cooperate with active or future investigations into—(A) their climate-change related activities; (B) what they knew about climate change and when they knew that information; (C) what they knew about the harmful effects of fossil fuels on the climate; and (D) any activities to mislead the public about climate change.

Never mind that…

…Exxon seeks to separate itself from past public relations campaigns and statements questioning climate change research. Lately, the company has offered support for a carbon tax to account for the environmental cost of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Wanna talk about "free speech?"  The MacIver Institute must have missed or decided to ignore the Republican government censorship of climate change science in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin...

1. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has asked the Department of Energy to compile a list of all the employees and contractors who worked on a number of different initiatives related to climate change, sparking fears of witch hunts and drawing parallels to McCarthyism. (Trump backtracked, but you get the idea.)

2. Scott Walker dismantled Wisconsin’s environmental legacy … Since taking office in 2011 Walker has moved to reduce the role of science in environmental policy making and to silence discussion of controversial subjects, including climate change, by state employees.

3. Discussing climatechange is out of bounds for workers at a state agency in Wisconsin. So is any work related to climate change—even responding to e-mails about the topic … Wisconsin’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands enacted the staff ban on climate change. State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican who ran on the pledge to eliminate his position and sits on the board said … “I would prefer that we didn’t have to prohibit stuff (NY Times) like this. We live in Wisconsin and we don't need a subscription to this publication. It just seems silly that we would have to. But I’m not the one that’s been engaging on this topic (climate change) for years.”

4. In 2008 before he was governor, Walker, Sen. Ron Johnson, Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner, Sean Duffy, Reid Ribble, state Sens. Leah Vukmir, Alberta Darling, Rep. Glenn Grothman and Mary Lazich, and state Reps. Dale Kooyenga, Don Pridemore, Jim Ott and Bill Kramer and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch signed the Koch-backed “No Climate Tax Pledge,” vowing to oppose any climate legislation. 

5. NY Times: For Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, there is language promising that no trade deals can compel the United States to address climate change.

And the latest...

Political Environment writer James Rowen reported on Monday that the Walker administration had advanced their war on science by scrubbing information about climate change from a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website that was dedicated to explaining how the agency would deal with a warming planet.

Yea, Democratic fascism is the threat.

MacIver Institute's loony bin history lesson twists free speech into pretzel.

The right wing propaganda think tank MacIver Institute is at it again, pushing preposterous and tired ideas that have long been laughed out-of-the-room. Let’s explore quickly their nutty conclusions:  

“It is a long-established practice of so-called Progressives to confront speech they do not like by trying to silence the offending voices. Campus speech codes circumscribe debate while angry leftist mobs shout down public speakers. They organize boycotts and public ostracizing for anyone daring to not conform to left wing orthodoxy, no matter how recently it changed.”

Really? The facts offer up a different reality, like when GOP legislators demanded police “crack a few heads” to send a strong message to peaceful Capitol protesters. Sadly for Republicans that didn’t happen. One of the loudest voices, then Rep. Steve Nass, lead the assault:

Nass #1: In a news release Rep. Steve Nass stated protesters feel "entitled" to take action without serious consequences in the capital city. "The risk of a major incident continues to grow since protesters now feel immune to any real consequences." The JFC voted Wednesday to withhold roughly $750,000 from the Madison Police Department, (because they) believe there were "legitimate concerns about actions of individual officers." Nass said, "If they were arrested vigorously, I believe that would slow them [protesters]." Madison Police Chief Noble Wray (said) questions about his department's conduct during the protests constitute "almost a slap in the face."

Nass #2: Rep. Steve Nass sent Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen a letter asking for an investigation into Assistant Attorney General Thomas Bellavia for emailing the Democrats on Feb. 27 and telling them he supported their efforts … concerns that Bellavia could attempt to sabotage the defense of the Wisconsin Legislature.

Nass #3: …he expressed cutting funding of a UW-Madison center because its studies were "too far to the left."  

Nass #4: State Sen. Steve Nass blasted a UW-Madison economics professor ... calling the academic's report on right-to-work legislation "partisan, garbage research." "Attached is yet another example of wasted resources at the UW-Madison/UW Extension … Hiding behind academic freedom to issue partisan … I will certainly forward this email on to UW System President Ray Cross … as just one suggestion of a faculty member with time to teach more courses. Or maybe not!"

Nass #5: WRN: Republican Rep. Steve Nass has gotten the UW’s School for Workers to cancel an “Art in Protest” exhibit that had been scheduled for next month. “The problem with it is that it would be funded with taxpayer dollars and that’s through the Extension.”  Nass charges the exhibit would have provided a one-sided view of last year’s protests at the Capitol, with UW Extension taking the side of protesters. “I did indicate to Extension that … any problems that arise from that, or any misbehavior by the protesters – which I certainly would expect, it would probably be very despicable … and I will be watching.”

Permit to Protest? How about Walker’s attempt to silence free speech by charging a fee and permit to protest at the Capitol? Republicans desperately rationalized away free speech to get back at protesters:

McKenna of WIBA participated in the Liberty Singers event, and tells 27 News, "We just want folks to understand, the permit is easy to get, it's a way to protect all of us and our ability to come here to our beautiful capitol and express ourselves." 

Sound anything like the state Constitution's Article I, Section 4: “The right of the people peaceably to assemble, to consult for the common good, and to petition the government or any department thereof shall never be abridged.” Didn't think so.

Here's another MacIver nugget: 

“Here in Wisconsin the assault on free speech took a more ominous turn when a rogue partisan prosecutor in Milwaukee, District Attorney John Chisholm, unleashed the power of the state upon the Progressives' political enemies.”

They must have missed this historical inconvenient truth; the endless investigation of Gov. Doyle, and Walker’s demand to “purge” his liberal administrative staff:

Back in 2006 when Georgia Thompson was charged by then-U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic - who now represents Walker's campaign - Walker went on the attack against Doyle, even though Thompson was a civil service employee who was hired in 2001 under Gov. Scott McCallum, a Republican.

"Today's indictment provides further confirmation that the Doyle administration is damaged and must be removed from the Capitol," said Walker of his Democratic predecessor. "Governor Doyle needs to purge his administration of individuals who place politics and special interests ahead of the people of Wisconsin."

And as we all know, no one in Walker’s administration is political, or beholden to special interests. But let's cut to the chase. The Wisconsin State Journal reported:

“The controversial case … was used by Wisconsin Republicans to paint Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's administration as corrupt during his 2006 re-election campaign … An appeals court, though, tossed the conviction, saying the evidence against Thompson was "beyond thin." State investigators kept open the alleged corruption case for six months last year after a federal appeals court struck down the only prosecution in the high-profile case.

SIDE NOTE: I thought the rest of Walker's press release was just as interesting. Double standard maybe?

"I am also calling on the Governor to adopt the reforms I proposed earlier this month that would prohibit anyone bidding on a state contract from contributing to his campaign for Governor. 

I am calling on Governor Doyle’s campaign to return any contributions from individuals made while bidding on a state contract.

Additionally, I am calling on the Governor to prohibit his appointees from both giving to his campaign and/or hosting fundraisers on his behalf. Also, he should return any and all contributions from administration officials immediately.”

Love to see PolitiFact get a hold of this one.

MacIver Institute makes Dire 15 year energy prediction if we're crazy enough to go with Solar and Wind Power.

The fellows at the rightwing tabloid and think tank, MacIver Institute, have another phony drummed up "report."

The Nostradamus wing of the institute wants us to think they can look 15 years into the future and predict job losses totaling nearly 21,000, with electricity prices rising 19%. Of course that assumes solar and wind energy prices never come down, the cost of equipment never gets lower, or that new manufacturing plants filled with workers are never built to create the turbines and fuel cells. So...:

This isn't the first time MacIver Institute stuck their neck out with wild predictions. Who can forget their headline from the turn of the 20th century:

Promoting free markets, individual freedom, and personal responsibility, MacIver Institute's anti-Minimum Wage argument relies on government help.

The lunatic fringe at the conservative MacIver Institute performed another useless study based on a $15 hike in the minimum wage. I thought we were talking about $10.10? Hey guys, why not $50, $100, or maybe $1 million an hour? Let’s debate a hike that no one’s talking about?

An increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour would result in the loss of 91,000 jobs across Wisconsin, according to a new study from the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy. Of the 91,521 jobs that would be lost under a $15 minimum wage, more than half (51,292) of the losses would be for women.

Ouch. This is even worse than last year’s lengthy report using the same $15 hike, now scrubbed from their site. MacIver is definite about the job losses (not projected?), and ignores the real world data: “13 states raised their minimum wages at the beginning of this year. Those states have added jobs at a faster pace than those that did not raise the wage.”

But I couldn't resist posting this story for the following MacIver summation of their findings; forget DEMAND, get government involved?

The report is based on data collected by economists David Macpherson of Trinity University (TX) and William Even of Miami University (OH). "Instead of forcing local businesses to absorb excessive increases in labor costs, policy makers should be finding real solutions that help employers grow their business and create more, better paying jobs," Healy added.

That doesn't make sense. So now they're telling us that government does create jobs? These small government zealots now want government to find "solutions," so they can help business by doing the impossible; “create more, better paying jobs?” My head is hurting.

Only DEMAND does that. MacIver wants us to believe that business will “create” jobs out of kindness and/or because they feel sorry for the unemployed! Great report guys.

Conservative "Institute for Justice" tries to discredit Judicial Branch.

Recent conversations with my ideologically unmovable conservative friend in Milwaukee made it clear to me he no longer believes in debating the issues. You see, the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional and big government according to my friend, and any defense of it is a waste of time. That was easy.

This over simplification is consuming the whole Republican Party, who by the way, defeated the tea party by joining it.

The conservative fringe group, the MacIver Institute, is leading the way with the following finely crafted piece of propaganda dissing the entire judicial branch of government. When that’s gone, only then will we have real freedom and liberty. Love the crazy name "Institute for Justices:"

Clark Neily, Senior Attorney at the Institute for Justice, explains that judicial abdication is the deliberate attempt by judges to ignore their responsibility of enforcing constitutional limits on the size of government. One example Neily provides is the absolute overreach by the US Supreme Court when they rewrote the in individual mandate aspect of the Affordable Care Act law.

GOP successfully vilified legislative branch!

Neily now wants to extend the public’s loss of confidence in the legislative branch to the judicial branch. Heck, they're already working on reigning in all presidential power (only under the Democrats). 

From the judicial activism of Citizens United, to the ridiculous declaration that an object like money is free speech and state granted corporations are people, rightwing authoritarians are okay with these kinds of decisions. But if even one decision like the Affordable Care Act doesn’t go their way, suddenly judges everywhere are abdicating their responsibility to enforce the constitution? 

I’m getting the uneasy feeling that they're very close to getting their one party socially conservative dictatorship. It's already happened in Wisconsin.

Personal Emails now a part of new Right Wing Blacklist.

If you've ever emailed your lawmaker, then you are now open to political harassment and blacklisting.

The message is clear: Shut up!  

Wisconsinites just lost the power of representation in one fell swoop, when the conservative fringe group MacIver Institute forced State Sen. Jon Erpenbach to reveal the email addresses of everyone concerned about the passage of Act 10. You can also thank our conservative activist judges.

The conservative Waukesha Second Circuit Court handed down their first warning shot to all voters; we’ll know what you’re thinking, and we’ll know who are.

State Sen. Jon Erpenbach

Judge Brown: “This result is a notice to legislators and citizens, whoever they are and whatever their opinions, that communications to legislators are subject to the open records law, without redaction.”

Yes, Judge Brown gave us “notice” when it came to contacting our elected representatives via email.

“We conclude the redacted information is not ‘purely personal.”

Your email address isn't personal? Of course former Republican lawmakers make for great wise and wonderful judges too. Take Mark Gundrum’s remarkable "can't prove a negative" logic:

Appellate Court Judge Mark Gundrum, a former Republican lawmaker, wrote that Erpenbach couldn't prove those emailing his office could expect threats for their advocacy or that they had any expectation of privacy when emailing the senator. "In this day and age, it would be unreasonable for a person sending an email to a lawmaker in an attempt to influence public policy to believe that the email and all the information therein might not be seen by persons other than just the lawmaker," Gundrum wrote.

Really, ask any voter, I'll bet you get a different answer. Erpenback offered this:

Erpenbach believes the ruling creates “big problems” because it prevents lawmakers from shielding the identities of people who bring highly personal and possibly embarrassing problems to the attention of their elected representatives. “I think people don’t realize how far-reaching this is,” Erpenbach said … he fears people corresponding with his office could be subject to “McCarthy-like” harassment if their identities were released. He pointed to the negative publicity faced by some people who signed recall petitions against Walker.

“The Senate rules clearly say I can protect the privacy of the citizens of this state that contact my office … I can protect the rights of citizens over special interest groups. If we do not preserve the voice of individual people then we give all of the power in this state to those that can buy the best lobbyist. The issue becomes, is it possible to do a cost benefit analysis on the Constitutional rights of the citizens of this state?”

And while dark money pours into our pubic elections, these conservative activist judgers have the balls to say:

“Public awareness of ‘who’ is attempting to influence public policy is essential for effective oversight of our government,” the judges found.

The public is on notice:

“This result is a notice to legislators and citizens, whoever they are and whatever their opinions, that communications to legislators are subject to the open records law, without redaction.”

Great Recession deniers at MacIver Institute blame Minimum Wage on high unemployment.

Sshh, don't mention the Great Recession. The two charts below are being used by the right wing bumblers at the MacIver Institute to prove just how bad raising the minimum wage would be for the poor. Workers would even get their hours cut. Ouch.

Um...the Great Recession? Like Scott Walker blaming former Gov. Jim Doyle and Mary Burke for job losses around...2008, the MacIver Institute is blaming high unemployment on a hike in the minimum wage around...2008.

What happened around 2008? Oh yea, their glorious Great Recession.

Take ownership guys, after all, all your charts are base on it.

Walker's Business and Jobs failure explained by conservative MacIver Institute.

There's a reason why Scott Walker and his band of Republican pirates have failed to create jobs and attract businesses; corporate welfare doesn't work.

That's the shocking conclusion of a new report found in the most unlikely place: The MacIver Institute.

It's almost laughable the way Walker is getting played by big business. Of course corporate contributors are happy with the direction Walker has taken the state, reflected in the business survey's Scotty is all too happy to mention repeatedly. They get tax cuts and lawsuit protections with no accountability or job creation.

Despite trying to save face with reminders that lower taxes for everyone is the answer to all our problems, the MacIver Institute can't hide the fact that this study blasts the Walker administrations strategy, which has been a huge jobs and business failure from the start. Now we know why.

Give credit to the Democrats, who have been saying this all along:

Matt Mitchell, a Senior Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, looked to see if government incentives were all they cracked up to be. He discovered that states with more incentives per capita actually have slower real economic growth.

"If local subsidies worked as advertised, we'd expect to see greater economic growth in those states that give away more subsidies. But simple analysis of [Louise] Story's data suggests that, if anything, there is a negative relationship between per capita subsidies and economic growth," Mitchell wrote for Mercatus Center.

...per capita subsidies were negatively associated with state economic growth and often the relationship was statistically significant ... Only businesses that qualify for the tax credit are rewarded, which may give them an advantage over other firms in the market. Credits also pit state against state in a competition for businesses. The State of Washington's legislature recently approved $9 billion in tax credits for Boeing, and the company still considered moving to a state with a better business climate. 

Experts argue that offering these massive incentives are actually an admission of failure. A state with a great business climate should be able to attract business without the need for extra incentives.

A PEW study argues that such incentives could also drive other firms out of the market because of higher costs. "An incentive might prompt the opening of a new meatpacking plant, driving up the price of local livestock. The new plant might be able to pay the higher prices whereas older plants without the incentive cannot," the study reads.

I know, it's all just common sense stuff Republicans have been denying for decades:

Government incentives, however, change the environment between producers and consumers. Instead of providing a product or service that consumers demand, businesses will provide whatever they are incentivized to provide. In short, a company will expend resources to gain a government incentive, rather than produce what the consumer actually wants. This is known as "rent seeking."  

Subsidies are another form of government incentives that can actually hurt economic growth. They artificially inflate the price of many items, but typically spread it over the entire country.

And guess what party is based on picking winners and losers? Hint; not the Democrats:

While it may seem like a good idea to provide incentives to businesses in a state, the data shows that it is anything but. The government picks winners and losers, creates an unstable economy, and businesses will eventually make whatever gets them the best incentive from the government.

MacIver's opposition to taxes in general ignores the maintenance and replacement costs of our surrounding infrastructure:

It is simple. Low (or non-existent) taxes that are more equitable across the board and fewer "winners and losers" incentives will lead to greater prosperity within a state. After all, the best economic development program is to not need one.

The Mind Numbing Irrelevancy of the MacIver Institute's shot at ObamaCare.

I didn't know so many people loved their lousy unaffordable insurance policies, and their yearly 6 to 30 percent premium increases. These ornery rugged individuals don't need to comparison shop for insurance. That's for sissies.

The MacIver Institute tantrum continues with this pointless comparison:

Like the NationalJournal wrote:

"The healthy are subsidizing the sick. Insurance companies are tightening access to doctors. Plans with low premiums have high deductibles. Sometimes it rains, Nickelback is still a band, and people continue to die literally every day. But just because something is happening and Obamacare exists doesn't mean it's happening because Obamacare exists--even in health care. Don't tell that to the law's critics: The Affordable Care Act has become the go-to scapegoat for just about everything people don't like about health care, if not in the economy overall. The law is being blamed for trends, economic incentives, and basic realities that it did not create and that were part of the health care system long before President Obama was even elected. There's not a big difference between "how Obamacare works" and "how health insurance works"--and that, health experts said, is what makes the law such a convenient target."-Sam Baker.

Tea Party GOP against ObamaCare subsidies, but okay with taxpayer subsidies for high risk pools, business deductions, Ryan and McCain's reform plan, Medicaid and Medicare subsidies...etc.

In its futile efforts to appear news like, the MacIverInstitute reported another fact-less story specifically geared to low information knuckleheads who believe these scholarly “fellows.” Here’s the empty headline:

"Less than 50 Sign Up for Obamacare in Wisconsin."

Cool, I'm one of the 50 or less. After that attention getter, they unbelievably wrote this:

The Department of Health and Human Services is still not capable of providing official numbers, but after calling every insurer on the exchange in Wisconsin, the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance discovered "minimal participation" … through the online exchange is "under 50," according to Dan Schwartzer, deputy commissioner at OCI. Schwartzer said that figure is "really a guess," because there are no official numbers available from the feds. 

A guess? Now that's solid reporting.

But I found the following comment just as interesting, because it shows how little conservative health care whiners know about our anything:

Martin- "Just say ‘Thank you‘ to those of us who will be subsidizing your health insurance policy. If your premium dropped it's because you're relying on others who make more to pull you in the wagon."

Martin still doesn't know he's already subsidizing care for those who don't have insurance. He must be okay with that. Add to that the fact that taxpayers have supported high risk pools for years. Sen. John McCain's reform plan while running for president, including Paul Ryan, still gave a taxpayer subsidies (relying on others Martin?). Still want to complain?

But then I came across this story that Martin and his MacIver Institute losers should make note of:

WaPo: The political right has paralyzed government over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, on the grounds that the ACA represents an unacceptable government intrusion into what today is the province of private markets. But the premise is fundamentally untrue. Government’s hand has long shaped and subsidized health-care markets, for example, in Medicare and Medicaid, or the requirement that hospitals treat urgent care needs of indigents.

Government for decades has directly subsidized individuals’ costs of employer-based health care, to the tune of roughly $250 billion every year, sums far greater than the annual costs of the subsidized insurance coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

That fact makes the ongoing debate positively perverse. What we are witnessing today are individuals who already receive government health-care handouts attempting to prevent others from obtaining similar (but smaller in aggregate amount) health-care subsidies, as well. 

And if Martin and his friends get health insurance through their employer, they're also getting a subsidy: 

The vast majority of Americans get their health care through employer plans, which of course will continue under the Affordable Care Act … the tax code expressly allows you to ignore the value of the health-care costs that your employer pays on your behalf in calculating your taxable income. If your health-care insurance costs your employer $10,000 each year, you are saving up to $4,000 or so on your income tax bill, plus saving payroll tax costs on that $10,000, as well.

But so what? Why is the first subsidy somehow lost in a fog of flag waving and free enterprise talk, and the second the sure sign of galloping socialism? The plain fact is that those who have paralyzed government over the Affordable Care Act today feed at the trough of government health-care subsidies, while seeking to exclude others from sharing the bounty. This is simple selfishness in action.  If you claim to stand on principle in your demands to destroy the Affordable Care Act, first give back the $250 billion you’ve been taking every year in government help.----Edward D. Kleinbard is a law professor and former chief of staff of the U.S. Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation.

5 to 7 year old Kids at school draw up a few Scott Walker political cartoons.

Wouldn't you know it, our poor picked on Republicans can’t even take the heat from a few kids expressing themselves at the expense of our governor. It appears the kids got into it. Art Teacher Kati Walsh wrote this opening statement on her blog:

It’s no secret that Madison is a pretty political place. Today, students were engaged in our Garden Signs project when an interesting conversation happened. One student said something to the effect of ‘Scott Walker wants to close all the public schools.” I have no idea where this came from, I missed the beginning of their exchange. Another student, who’s father is a reporter, proceeded to correct the student with a surprisingly very factual and grown up answer. This began a whole conversation between kindergartners, first graders and second graders about our Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker.

Here's WKOW's coverage from Tony Galli:

A Madison teacher posted pictures on her personal blog of anti-Walker art work from her grade school students. According to teacher Kati Walsh's blog, the children's pictures involving Governor Walker emerged from one student's expression of an opinion of Walker.

The children ranged in age from five to seven.

Walsh says in her blog that when she realized the nature of the pictures was becoming inappropriate, she stopped and discussed with students what political cartoons were.

I love that. First grade kids drawing “inappropriate” pictures of our governor? Beautiful.

It also led to a discussion, she writes, on how people can disagree with one another without wishing harm on them. 

Gee, I wonder how the thought police at the right wing think tank MacIver Institute would try to intimidate and insert themselves into our public school rooms with unprofessional advice about teaching?

And don’t forget to get out the Walker Recall Blacklist:

Spokesperson Nick Novak of the conservative think-tank MacIver Institute says Walsh signed the recall petition against Walker, and has been a public opponent of Walker administration policies. Novak calls the class art work inappropriate, and says instruction for school children of that age should focus on core subjects.

Because he knows how to teach, right? Nick Novak’s not so subtle message; “We’re watching you.” And why is an opponent of Walker still working?

It’s sad when kids say the darnedest things and reflect their parents feeling about Scott Walker spontaneously:

"They have very strong feelings about Scott Walker," Walsh wrote in her blog. "It was...important to understand the role art plays in sharing one's opinion."

MacIver Institute falsely compares Minimum Wage hikes to Unemployment.

The MacIver Institute would like you to believe a whole list of silly minimum wage fictions, if they’re ever going to change your mind on the fair price for labor. But this is now getting ridiculous.

Take for example this giant piece of denial:

Brett Healy, President of the MacIver Institute, released the following statement regarding Raise Up MKE’s effort to increase the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour:

“Minimum wage jobs were never meant to be family-supporting jobs. A minimum wage job is a place where you get your foot in the door, learn what it means to show up on time, be courteous to customers and rise up the ranks through your hard work. A minimum wage job is a starting point, not a career.”

Where has this guy been for the last couple of decades? Supposing minimum wages jobs weren't meant to support families, that's just what they've become. And what makes it perfectly acceptable to pay even entry level employees slave wages? Isn't that the real issue they're trying to muck up with these false comparison?

MacIver would also like you believe Raise Up MKE has all the power of the states corporate business lobby and then some. WMC is now quivering in their boots:

“I wish these young people could see that Raise Up MKE is concerned about only one thing, brute political power. Raise Up MKE does not care about the well-being of these young people.

We wouldn't want labor to have political power, would we. And really, raising the minimum wage means they don't care. But MacIver isn't done lying yet. Discounting decades of deregulation and trade agreements that off shored manufacturing, not to mention the job killing Great Recession, our new low wage service economy can now be blamed on the minimum wage. They are truly insane:

“Since 2002 the minimum wage in Wisconsin has increased from $5.15 per hour to the current $7.25 per hour; meanwhile, the unemployment rate for Wisconsin teens has increased from 15.5 to 19.8, an increase of 27.7 percent over the decade. The higher you artificially inflate the minimum wage, the higher the unemployment rate for teenagers. 

A big lie, and research backs that up. 

Think Progress: There are at least five different academic studies focusing on increases to the minimum wage—including increases ranging from 7 percent to 12.3 percent made during periods of high unemployment—that find an increase in the minimum wage has no significant effect on employment levels.
 A simple analysis of increases to the minimum wage on the state level, even during periods of state unemployment rates above 8 percent, shows that the minimum wage does not kill jobs. Indeed the states in our simple analysis had job growth slightly above the national average. All the studies came to the same conclusion—that raising the minimum wage had no effect on employment.

MacIver then stoops lower by dredging up the words "entitlement" and "dependent," two anger points low information conservatives froth at the mouth over.

This plan would force more Wisconsinites into unemployment, which would lead them to be more dependent on government entitlement programs.”

The MacIver Institute released the following report previously that shows 7,109 fewer teenagers are working in Wisconsin today due to increases in minimum wage since 2005.

And in that report it made the same apple to oranges comparison. So if you repeat a report long enough, it becomes...true? Again, there is no relationship between the minimum wage and unemployment rate, unless businesses themselves haven't change at all over the last 40 years. Well, have they changed or not?

I think they would be happy doing away with the minimum wage, ya think?

MacIver Institute's lesson to our kids; lie, cheat, use religion and freeload to turn our state Red.

Okay, I get how Republicans are trying to defund the Democratic Party by defunding unions. Tipping the “money is free speech” scales in favor of the GOP is one thing, but teaching Americans how to cheat and freeload off of others is hardly something to celebrate. But they're doing just that with National Employee Freedom Week, a condescending assumption teachers are as stupid as Republican voters.

The spinmeisters and right wing con men from the MacIverInstitute don’t see anything morally or ethically challenging to their new scheme; convincing teachers they can get all the union benefits without paying for it, if they just lie.

These are the guys conservatives want on their side? That says an awful lot, doesn't it?

The MacIver Institute joined 59 other organizations to recognize National Employee Freedom Week (NEFW), "a national effort to inform union employees about the freedoms they have to opt out of union membership and let them make the decision that's best for them” … teachers and other union members have the ability to become an agency fee payer or opt-out as a religious or conscientious objector.

Here’s how MacIver describes their “ends justify the means” approach to gaining a monetary electoral advantage through lying and freeloading. Heck they clearly say defunding is their goal in rule #1:

#1. An agency fee payer is still a member of the union, but is only required to pay dues that are legally required for the costs of collective bargaining … No union dues would go toward the union's political activities.

Rule #2…lie:

#2. A religious or conscientious objector still is required to have union dues deducted. However, the member can decide to send the dues to a charitable organization of their choosing and is no longer a member of the union.

Here’s the freeloader kicker for both of the above:

In both cases, the worker is entitled to every benefit under the labor contract with the employer.

And here I thought union benefits and contracts were unfair to employers. MacIver in this case is all about the benefits, temporarily of course. 

MacIver Institute outraged over possible Chaos at Madison Obama rally, that never happened.

I'm beginning to understand the MacIver Institute's mission in politics; to out do the Onion.

The following "report," "Amazing Video of Obama's Madison Crowd," is an unintentional over-the-top self parody. The inane pettiness and degree of phony outrage is mind-bending, yet conservative talk host and author Charlie Sykes bought into the silliness hook, line and sinker.

The picture to the right is how he packaged it for his new site "RightWisconson powered by Charlie Sykes." No, I'm not linking to it, since that would be like intentionally spreading cancer.

Here's a sample of that "Amazing" video that twists itself into a pretzel trying to portray the Obama rally as something bordering on dangerous. It's actually funny stuff, and that's why I'm posting it. First, check out the panicky language in the first sentence, which they mindlessly take back in the second sentence. Priceless drivel:

Law enforcement and landlords were prepared for complete chaos when the Obama Campaign announced it would have a rally in downtown Madison during Monday rush hour. However, disruptions seemed minimal as most people drawn to the rally were able to fit onto a two block road hosting the event. 

Early Voting Students in Milwaukee get verbal Attacked by "fellows" at the MacIver Institute. This voting thing has got to stop.

Thank god we have those crazy “fellows” at the MacIver Institute watch dogging a “bus load” of students voting for the first time in their lives. Who do those kids think they are, citizens?

Early Voting Students Use Class Schedules to Prove Residency, Not Identity, at Milwaukee Polls: Last Friday a busload of students from Pulaski High School pulled up to the Zeidler Municipal Building here and more than two dozen students, accompanied by their teachers, voted during the early in-person absentee balloting period, many only using a printout of their class schedule to prove their identity. A witness reported seeing about 30 students at the polls around 10 am. About 10 or 11 of them used their class schedules to vote.

Ouch. What 18 year old wouldn’t want to commit a felony by fraudulently voting against the likes of Scott Walker? Will those that are educated stop at nothing to steal away some honest Republicans vote?

The MacIver News Service has confirmed that there was no date of birth listed on the class schedules. However, according to the Milwaukee Elections Commission and the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, voters do not need to provide proof of age in order to register. All they have to do is check off a box on the registration form.

"The whole system relies on the honesty and integrity of the individual," Sue Edmond, Milwaukee's Election Commission director, told the MacIver News Service. "If we find after the election that they lied, they could be charged with a felony."

Honesty and integrity from...people? Outraged over the act of voting, or what MacIver calls the “incident,” Republicans sprang into action:

When the Republican Party of Wisconsin learned of the incident, it contacted the GAB. After meeting with GAB officials, party representatives contended that this incident still raises eyebrows.

This was the first time Pulaski had bused students to the polls to vote early, but MPS said it is consistent with previous curriculum. Although they admitted two teachers organized the effort, MPS officials did not identify the employees involved in the incident.

Said Roseann St.Aubin, MPS Communications Director, "There are various activities used by our teachers to instruct students about voting in Social Studies, Civics or Citizenship classes. They include registration outreach and letting students view the actual polling activity that may be taking place in their schools (many are used as polling locations). Activities are to be completely non-partisan. Students are not told to vote for specific candidates."

The MacIver Institute cannot be fooled so easily! Were those teachers on the GOP “Black List” data base of recall signatures?

Without knowing the identities of the employees involved it is impossible to determine whether or not they were donors to Republicans or Democrats or if they signed the petition that initiated the current or past rounds of recalls.

And I loved this nonsensical conclusion of what is pretty much a drummed up story of outrage:

Republican Party officials said even though this was the first time Pulaski High School bused students to the polls, that activity is not unusual around the country. However, RPW is not aware of voting field trips taking place anywhere else in Wisconsin for this election.

Keep in mind that a public school teacher in Fond du Lac, Karl McCarty, has taken Republican Party field trips and has had Wisconsin congressmen and Senators as guests. Guess the "Fellowship of the Fringe" outraged enough to comment on that story.

MacIver Institute's Scrambled Mindlessness.

If you had nothing else to do in your life, you might be the guy employed by, and who put together the diagrams below for, the MacIver Institute. Known by some as the "fellowship of the fringe," can anything explain the upside down thinking on the right more than the illustrations below?

The mind bending diagrams featured here look like a twisted conservative hallucination of Shoots and Ladders. For the adventurous, here's the link for a detailed view.

MacIver Institute part of roving Walker Provocateurs?

The ambush video below, produced by the fringe right wing Koch brother think tank MacIver Institute, could not be more idiotic. Let's call it as we see it. Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs worked with both protesters and citizens to defuse a possible conflict of interests. For the MacIver Institute, this was a sign of weakness, and wanted to see heads roll and protesters dragged off in cuffs.

According to the MacIver Institute coverage:

While the rally was in violation of the policy governing access to state facilities, it appears protesters may have established an understanding with Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs. As he was speaking to veteran protester Miles Kristan about their understanding, the chief asked our reporter to leave.

"You told me you were going to help me with this," Tubbs is overheard saying to Kristan before the camera stopped rolling.

Imagine that, Police Chief Tubbs working with Miles Kristan to keep order at the Capitol. Outrageous? And what's this about a MacIver reporter? Give us all a break.



MacIver doesn't get it; the new rules dealing with public dissent and the ability to redress their government, instituted by the Walker administration, were meant to discourage protesters, not go to court. If the MacIver Institute had a problem with Tubbs, they should go after Mike Huebsch, head of the DOA. But these big talking brownshirts won't go after their own "leaders."

Walker's Department of Administration put into affect new regulations that appear to outright violate the constitution. Let's face it, that's all the Walker administration needs right now is another court case.

Is this divisive, crony laden, criminally investigated administration what voters had in mind back in November 2010?

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

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

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

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



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



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

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

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

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

Liberal "Assassin" spotted in State Fair crowd during Walker Opening Ceremony protest!!!-MacIver Institute.

The far right wing fringe organization MacIver Institute, a "think tank" wanna-be, suggests in the video below that a liberal assassin was spotted in the State Fair crowd shouting in Latin, "sic semper tyrannis," or "Thus always to Tyrants."

As the voice over announcer reminds us, "Brutus said it before stabbing Caesar, John Wilkes Booth said it when he shot Lincoln." This "potential" quiche eating, wine sipping, Prius driving "killer," like the other 60 assembled thugs at the State Fair, were not welcome.  



TMJ4 described how after a few in the crowd began shouting, the whole crowd joined in. Great stuff. Here are all the scary details:

WEST ALLIS - Amidst the fun and frivolity of the State Fair's opening day, some protesters of Republican Governor Scott Walker's policies came and showed their disapproval when he spoke at the fair.

As Walker gave the last speech of the opening ceremony at the fair on Thursday morning, protesters yelled "Shame, shame, shame!"

"Weasel!  Weasel!" came from one of the protesters.

TODAY'S TMJ4's Diane Pathieu tells us that what began as 20 to 30 protesters eventually turned into twice that many people shouting during the duration of Walker's speech.

Walker claimed that the protests shouldn't stop the fun of the fair.

"Out of 800,000 people, out of 650-60 people, they have their right to do that," said Walker. "Most people who come to the fair will tell you they set aside politics and business and have a good time."