U.S. economy and jobs grow, while jobless Wisconsin struggles, downsizes, plundered.

We've missed this train folks:

State to be renamed Wisgop!

Look, I've never claimed to know everything about politics, but I feel like I should have known this; inauguration donations are no longer going to charities like they did under the Democrats, they're going instead to prop up our one political authority, Republicans, whether you like it or not.

And Republican voters will think nothing of it:

WaPo-Wonkette: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got re-elected somehow — mandate of heaven, we guess — and he’s putting together plans for a big inaugural hootenanny. Now, in years past, inaugural events in Wisconsin used to also double as fundraisers for charities, like Boys and Girls Clubs or other worthy causes. But that was merely a tradition, and an apparently outmoded one, so with his 2011 inauguration, Walker turned the admission fees for inaugural events into a Scott Walker/Republican Party of Wisconsin fundraiser, which raised quite a bit of campaign cash and not a few eyebrows. So it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that for 2015, he’s doing the same thing, raising money for a great Wisconsin charity: Scott Walker. Tell us more, Saul Newton of One Wisconsin Now:

For $20, the public can go ice-skating with the Scott Walker. [sic] For $50, the public is allowed to listen to music with Scott Walker. For anyone who wants to pray with Scott Walker, the cost is $25. The money raised from these events goes to Walker’s campaign and the Republican Party of Wisconsin. The Boys and Girls Club recently received their consolation prize: a photo opportunity with the Governor himself.

Again, I didn't know this, but it fits into the rightwing authoritarian movement. Everything is centralized and funneled into maintaining the GOP's grip on power.

One Wisconsin Now's Scott Ross: "The Republican Party of Wisconsin isn't being inaugurated and the idea Wisconsinites have to donate to a political party to participate in activities like this is another disgraceful example of a governor whose only concern is partisan political politics." Ross said it was "reprehensible" that Walker recently had a "photo op" with the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County when the group won't receive any inaugural celebration proceeds.

Walker's decision exposes our "pay-to-play" corporate Wisconsin marketplace, not that it seems to matter anymore to conservative voters. This is the natural way of things:

Walker's decision to give funds to the state GOP comes after a court ruling in September that lifted limits on contributions from political action committees and blocked the portion of the law that puts limits on the amount a candidate can receive from political parties and legislative campaign committees.

Blue Minnesota vs Red Wisconsin; Minnesota has surplus, Wisconsin doesn't.

We kinda knew this would happen, didn't we?

Democratic economic policies work, when given the chance, while the Republicans "fiscally conservative" policies stink up the place as usual. Who can forget the Great Recession, right? Check out the analysis at Jake's Economic TA Funhouse between Minnesota's projected surplus and Wisconsin's projected deficit.

I thought the following details were worth highlighting from a more partisan prospective:

Star Tribune: Minnesota tax collections beat expectations for the final three months of the fiscal year, and Minnesota is now expected to finish the fiscal year with $168 million more in revenues than projected state finance officials said. The update will undoubtedly factor into the governor's race.

Desperate to a point of being laughable, minority Republicans struggled to find something to whine about:

Jeff Johnson's firm grasp of the surplus problem...Democrats!

Republicans contend the economy is sputtering while Dayton has tried to present a more-upbeat picture. House GOP Leader Kurt Daudt accused Dayton and Democrats of trying to distract Minnesotans from other issues such as the federal health care overhaul or a planned new government office building for state senators that opponents view as wasteful. "The reality is: Governor Dayton and Democrats continue to put themselves and their extreme special interests before the best interests of hardworking Minnesotans."

Yea, Democrats are just distracting Minnesotans with the good economic news. God their funny. 

It’s better than Wisconsin’s projected $200 million shortfall, or the $2 billion deficit in the next fiscal budget, which is best explained at Jake’s Economic TA Funhouse (where I found this story). 

One Party Rule not the same for both Parties.

It's those damn Democrats again, making  society safer with popular common sense gun regulations and safety nets for the displace worker.

The Washington Times article starts with the false premise that both parties are the same:

The Colorado and North Carolina state legislatures were unusually productive in 2013 … Polar opposites ideologically, Colorado Democrats wielded the same unchecked control this year over state government in Denver as North Carolina Republicans did in Raleigh, with predictable results.

Then they trotted out the false equivalencies. In reality, the Democrats are pushing a populist agenda based on issues receiving high polling numbers, and Republicans are passing laws that appeal only to their base in safe gerrymandered districts. They don't trust us, so instead, they would rather attack voters, labor, local control and push gun crazy vigilantism.

In Colorado, the upshot was a legislative session marked by sweeping new laws on gun control, election reform and benefits for illegal immigrants.

In Raleigh, the legislature proposed a record 18 amendments to the North Carolina Constitution, including measures aimed at curbing the government’s power of eminent domain, an anti-union right-to-work provision and an expansion of concealed-carry gun laws.

As the conservative Washington Times puts it;

The concentrated power has sparked backlashes in Colorado and Minnesota on the left and Wisconsin and Michigan on the right.

Poll numbers support tax increases on the wealthy and the elimination of corporate welfare:

In Minnesota, Democrats passed a $2.1 billion tax increase at the behest of Gov. Mark Dayton targeting high-income earners, smokers and businesses.

Yet that compares somehow to the Republican wrecking ball to every Democratic law that came before:

“Republican-led Indiana sliced income taxes and Alaska slashed oil taxes,” said a June 10 report in Stateline.org, which tracks trends at the state level. “Kansas is paying for an income tax cut by hiking sales taxes (the rate will still decline next year).

Midwestern Republican governors such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio have had their agendas challenged as they moved to cut the power of public-sector unions.

The first Republican-dominated state government in more than a century in North Carolina is now the target of so-called Moral Monday weekly protests in Raleigh, led by liberal clergy members, teachers unions and environmentalists. 

The difference: Republicans ante up lots of money through special interest groups during elections. Democrats hit the pavement and protest. Still hurting from the anti-war protests of the 60’s, Republicans resent descent, and are happy to push an authoritarian one party government, vilifying the Democrats as outcasts:

State Sen. Thom Goolsby, New Hanover County Republican, dismissed the protests as “Moron Monday” in a biting op-ed this month. “The circus came to the State Capitol this week, complete with clowns, a carnival barker and a sideshow,” he wrote in the Chatham Journal.

The same has been said about the protesters in Madison, as if the First Amendment doesn't apply to Democrats. And you know, maybe under their authority, it won't apply.

Republicans winning Public Support; Kick the can down the road, Freeloading is fun.

While the states around us progress, even with tax increases on the well off, Wisconsin Republicans are stuck in time. They've taken Wisconsin's national character and trashed it, with attempts to take butter off our restaurant tables, ban cheese from Foodshare, slow broadband to rural farmers, delay wind and solar development, ban cloning again, reduce funding to education, ignore transportation effecting the delivery of goods and services, back out of contracts, spread the failed voucher program, ignore half the population filled with liberals and independents, make voting harder, bust up unions, bypass the judicial branch...etc. We're not Wisconsin anymore, we're Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and N. Carolina. And we didn't even have to drive there.

My point is Republicans have successfully sold the public on the idea that we don't need to pay for anything anymore. Below is a clip from WPT's Here and Now, with the results of the latest Marquette University Law School poll that makes if very clear the public knows what needs to be done, but would rather live off the sweat, work and investment others made to our infrastructure and services. Kick the can down the road:



When Republicans blame others, like the poor and unemployed for freeloading, they're projecting, knowing full well that's exactly what they plan on doing. In fact they're doing it now. Republican legislators never break a sweat making slight changes to ALEX written legislation. Lawmakers collect a paycheck and soak the taxpayers for doing nothing, because that's what you get when you make government smaller. And just to rub it in, they get free health care, the kind they're so dead set against sharing with the voters.

And these guys keep getting reelected. Are we crazy? Is this the end of the experiment?

Pass me a Beer....

In Milwaukee, we don't just HAND each other beer:

Hey, Pass Me A Beer! from Almost Twins      

Protests boost Dane County to Number 2 for Tourism Spending!!! We beat the Dells.

There is one bright spot in Wisconsin’s eceonomy; tourism. That’s only temporary of course until the Republicans pass new mining legislation.

jsonline: Visitors to Wisconsin spent near­ly $10 billion in 2011, an 8% increase from the previous year, according to a study released Friday by the state Department of Tourism. The spending, by both business and leisure travelers, directly sup­ports more than 128,000 jobs. Tourism is a core strength of the state's economy.

While Scott Walker blames protesters for killing jobs during the months the state actually saw job growth, I’ll bet he won’t give credit to those same protesters for boosting tourism spending:

WSJ: In Dane County, tourism spending rose 9.3 percent to $894 million, putting it behind only Milwaukee County ($1.5 billion) as the state's top tourism county. Ironically, part of Dane County's increase was the result of thousands of protesters converging on the State Capitol in 2011 to protest Walker's plan to restrict collective bargaining. 

Thanks to all the civil unrest, we beat out the wonderland of water parks in America, Sauk County.

Sauk County, home to many of the Wisconsin Dells area tourist attractions, ranked third in spending at $809 million, an increase of 7.3 percent.

And let’s give credit to Walker for using the conservative activist Waukesha courts for boosting tourism spending there:

Waukesha County ($617 million, an increase of 8.2 percent) was fourth.

Wisconsin Concealed Carry's Big Day

The Journal Sentinal reports on the concealed carry legislation which goes into effect today in Wisconsin.

The NRA was upset at rumors that Wisconsin’s Department of Justice would require live-fire training and mandate at least four hours of safety instruction overall. Meanwhile, critics feared that online video courses might be deemed enough to get a permit.

Some of those rumors were unfounded -- permit applicants need not fire a gun (as in Minnesota), and training must be face-to-face with a certified instructor. The four-hour length was approved, though, in the emergency rulesissued by Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.

Nevertheless, despite the specific rules that drew criticism from gun advocates, Wisconsin’s overall law is still in the Top 10 for ease of access to permits, according to Nik Clark, head of Wisconsin Carry Inc., a nonprofit gun-rights organization.

The NRA and the Wisconsin Carry folks oppose live-fire training and feel four hours in the classroom is too much. Is that incredible, or what?

If these gun-rights people had any sense they'd be the ones crying for more qualifying requirements not less. The laxity of concealed carry laws are directly related to the frequency of incidents involving CCW permit holders. They say they're too few to worry about, we say they're too many, but the fact is whatever the true percentage, they are largely preventable.

The counter-intuitive thinking which leads most gun-rights people to fight against common sense regulations is always surprising, but I think I understand where it comes from. Years ago the NRA began a campaign which basically said any and all gun control laws were evil because they violate the 2nd Amendment Rights of American citizens. The real reason for their campaign of propaganda was the "slippery slope theory" and a good bit of paranoia.

This was picked up by the mindless masses, NRA members and other gun owners, and repeated over and over again with reference to gun registration and gun-owner licensing, with regards to eliminating private sales of guns, about the AWB of course, magazine capacity, and every other restriction or regulation you can think of.

The irony is that through the years of practicing this united effort against the "gun controllers," they've lost sight of reality. Case in point, Wisconsin Concealed Carry. The requirements are so lax that Wisconsin went from one of only two states to not allow it to among the top ten most lenient. This will guarantee blowback which will be used by their critics against them.

The real problem is this is not an academic exercise or an argument over the dinner table. Lives are at stake. There will be more incidents of domestic violence against women, there will be more incidents of disgruntled employees going berserk, there will be more trouble in bars. Then the proponents of the legislation will cherry pick stats and manipulate the facts in order to appease their critics and please their followers. And meanwhile, people will have unnecessarily suffered and died.

What's your opinion? Is this a good day in Wisconsin or a bad one?

Please leave a comment.

Wisconsin Concealed Carry Confusion

Yahoo News published a wonderful article by Joshua Huffman (not to be confused with Joe Huffman because Joshua sounds quite reasonable).

Fortunately, Lambeau Field officials will have ample time to interpret the law for the new Wisconsin concealed gun law that should be passed this October. Green Bay police aren't aware of how the law impacts their ability to prevent fans from entering the stadium with a handgun.

The NFL prohibits fans from carrying guns into any stadium. However, they could be prohibited from enforcing their own policy on Lambeau Field. The NFL doesn't own the stadium, therefore can't impose their anti-gun policy. Pat Webb, the stadium's executive director, stated, "I don't know enough about Wisconsin's specific law to know if the stadiums are exempt or not or can be exempt."

I wouldn't be comfortable with people carrying guns in an environment of 50,000 people or greater. Post-game driving is hardly safe with the alcohol that's consumed at these sporting events. It only takes one person to create a chaotic scene. I'd be worried about someone trying to pry the gun away from the holder. Some people make irrational decisions when angered. That irrationality is magnified under intoxication.

What's your opinion? How does it work in other states with lax gun laws? Are folks permitted to carry concealed at sporting events in say Florida or Arizona?

I would think the fanaticism of some sports fans is even worse when mixed with guns than your general bar and drinking environment. At huge sporting events some of those sports nuts might also be CCW permit holders and some of them might decide to drink a few beers, you know, bad-rules-be-damned and all that.


(cross posted at Mikeb302000)



What do you think? Good idea or bad idea?

Please leave a comment.

The phony “will they or won’t they” meme in the media about Wisconsin's Republican one party rule is pathetic.

Wisconsin Republicans are kids in a candy store, literally, getting everything they want with no adult supervision. Take this ridiculous Journal Sentinel framing:

jsonline: Gov. Scott Walker's plan to erase almost all collective bargaining rights for most public workers is now squarely in the domain of the Legislature, which could act on it within days. 

The question now becomes: Can the bill pass in its current form or will it need to undergo significant changes to win the approval of key GOP lawmakers who might have qualms about some of its provisions?

Gee, I wonder? Like the controversial job killing wind farm setbacks proposed by Walker, or the "possible" expansion of the voter ID bill to include students and passports, legislator "resistance" is a “journalistic” creation made to portray Republicans as “thoughtfully” deliberative.

What a laugh.

Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison) said he expects many if not all of them to unite behind the governor. "He has a group of Republican legislators that seem to vote for him regardless of what the issue is. They've voted as a bloc so far without deviation. It's sort of like a herd of sheep, and he's the herder and they follow him along."

The “rubber stamp” Bush congress will look tame when compared to Wisconsin’s one party rule in the next couple of years. And I thought the Republican states of Florida and Texas were the crazy ones to watch crash under the failed theories of Milton Friedman.

Surprise, Wisconsin is the new leader. But will the tea party's famous "you're not listening to us" work for the Democrats? Are you kidding!!

Concealed Carry Killers. And these are only the ones we know about.

Wisconsin will soon become the 49th state to endanger unarmed citizens with a gun crazy concealed carry law. While normal Wisconsinites prefer having no guns around as a way of ensuring a safe secure society, immature thugs and their guns will soon get their way via the party of bullying, the GOP. Click the picture to enlarge.

While these paranoid wing nuts insist there’s nothing safer than a load gun in the hands of an angry anti-government whiner, the public has no choice but to fight back. Raise your voice, contact the police or business owner and tell them you feel threatened for you and your family.

Check out the “safe” concealed carry owners below, in new numbers compiled by the Violence Policy Center, who are only scratching the surface since many states don’t want you to know how many CC owners commit crime.

Connecticut beer truck driver Omar Thornton, who in August shot to death eight co-workers before taking his own life, was a concealed handgun permit holder according to new information obtained under Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) for the October update to Concealed Carry Killers. In his permit application, Thornton listed “job” as the reason for his requiring the permit.

Concealed Carry Killers is an on-line VPC resource that tallies news reports of killings by concealed handgun permit holders that have not been determined to be legitimate self defense. According to the October update, concealed handgun permit holders have killed at least 213 individuals since May 2007--including 17 mass shootings claiming a total of 73 lives.

“It is now commonplace for mass shooters to be licensed to carry concealed handguns. It is clear that the licensing systems are completely ineffective at weeding out applicants who are likely to kill in anger rather than self-defense.

Of the 125 incidents in 28 states that resulted in the 213 deaths, in more than half (71 incidents) the concealed handgun permit holder has already been convicted, committed suicide after the incident, or was killed in the incident. Of the 54 cases still pending, the vast majority (44) of concealed handgun permit holders have been charged with criminal homicide, two were deemed incompetent to stand trial, two incidents were unintentional shootings, and six incidents are still under investigation.

A summary of each of the 125 incidents is available at http://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm, clicking on each category leads to a state-by-state breakout for the incidents with current known status.

Related articles

• Class teaches key facts about guns, concealed-carry (dispatch.com)

Energy Bills through the roof even without Cap and Trade? Are the Republicans Wrong again? Does a Grizzly Bear...?

I don’t believe there will ever come a time when Republicans could imagine "their" America making the switch to green energy. The business climate is never ready to make the move. The economy is never strong enough to invest in the future. And most of all, consumers can’t take another increase in their energy bills. It would kill consumer spending and then jobs. We’re just stuck at this point, forever, according to conservatives.

So imagine my surprise when this shocking and never mentioned report came out that dashed the Republican claims green energy will cost too much. The price of COAL went through the roof!!!

Jsonline: The simple truth is this: we don’t produce energy products like natural gas and coal, so that leaves us at the mercy of the marketplace and high prices. Republicans have opposed alternative energy options because their costs will result in higher bills for consumers. They claim the abundance of coal and natural gas will help consumer with lower energy bills during this devastating recession.

Wrong again.

The price of electricity has shot up faster in Wisconsin than in all but five other states since 2000, which could pose a threat to the state's economic competitiveness, a new analysis by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance says … Wisconsin businesses and homeowners are paying more than most surrounding states, as the state continues to pay for power plant upgrades … coupled with rising natural gas and coal prices, has pushed rates up.

Kyle Christianson, policy research analyst at the nonpartisan Taxpayers Alliance said the price of coal has doubled since 2000, "We need to recognize that energy prices really do have an effect on the competitiveness of the state," said Christianson. "We're talking about trying to attract employers and adding new jobs, and particularly in a manufacturing-intensive economy like Wisconsin, energy prices are a major cost of doing business."

Here’s the part that not only stuns the mind, but makes all your home energy saving efforts worthless:

The recession has exacerbated the rate pressure on Wisconsin because utilities have had to respond to slowing sales with rate hikes to cover their fixed costs.

Got that? Since you didn’t use enough energy, and the utilities lost manufacturing business income, they had to increase their rates to make up the difference. No, really.

Charlie Higley, executive director of the Wisconsin Citizens' Utility Board, is concerned that rate increases will continue for residential customers. "Our households are paying a high price for electricity, and it's hurting their ability to make ends meet," Higley said. "It underlies our calls for moving toward cleaner energy solutions like renewable energy and energy efficiency, which don't have fuel costs."

Wisconsin now has a power glut that prompted the state Public Service Commission to launch an investigation into whether some of the state's older power plants should be mothballed or shut down.

Related articles

• Statewide Poll Shows Illinois Voters Overwhelmingly Favor Cleaner Power From Illinois Coal; Creating Jobs is Top Energy Priority (eon.businesswire.com)
• Vision of Green Economy Includes More Gas-Fired Power, Deutsche Bank (nytimes.com)
• Debating new strategies for curbing global warming (grist.org)

One Party Rule in Wisconsin Good Again, Declare Republicans.

The Fitzgerald brothers are in charge of our Republican legislature now, and Sen. Scott is now oddly touting the benefits of one party rule in Wisconsin, something they whined was unfair to the minority party and voters in the state once. Now it's "magically" good again.

You know how bad that bipartisan "horse trading" was when a Republican House held up the budget for no particular reason except for the fact that they could. Let's watch Scotty grow testy:

Related articles

• Republicans near extinction in Hawaii Senate (sfgate.com)
• Wisconsin Evokes Democrats' Dilemma (online.wsj.com)

Watch for it: State GOP Control means tax benefits for Business, Citizen Sacrifices of public services and safety nets.

The citizens of Wisconsin just asked for and voted in cuts to programs and services they appear to have taken for granted, just so they could pay for corporate welfare. What deal.

Maybe we were all living well beyond our means and needed a few draconian reality checks Republicans have been chomping at the bit to put in place.

Wisconsin State Journal: State Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, who is expected to co-chair the Legislature's budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, stressed that the first priority will be to spur the state's economy by passing a major economic growth package, which he said would include tax cuts, regulatory reform and a continuation of essential public services.

How will Republicans create jobs and continue Wisconsin's shrinking wages?

Senate majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald, wouldn't say what those cuts will be but predicted there may be an "all-out war" with unions this spring "based on their typical approach to anything that touches their bargaining process."

Think about it. The war against unions is really a cover for their real agenda; They think wages and benefits are too high and detrimental to attracting busisness to our state. What Sen. Ron Johnson calls "creative destruction." Why can't we match the wage structure in China? And we will.

But business friendly Republicans are selective when it comes to contributors and who they'll be business friendly too, especially if they happen to be start-ups brought in by Democratic governors.

Trainmaker Talgo Inc. said Friday it can't promise it will stay in Milwaukee if Wisconsin scuttles its plans for a high-speed rail project as Gov.-elect Scott Walker has proposed.

Walker has criticized the high-speed rail project that would link Madison and Milwaukee as a waste of taxpayer money. He has vowed to shut down the $810
million project, which is being funded by federal stimulus money.

Walker spokeswoman Jill Bader said in an e-mail that the governor-elect is "reaching out to leadership at Talgo to encourage them to stay in Wisconsin."

Talgo said at the time it planned to create 125 local jobs, not including additional
work for vendors and suppliers. Friend said the company expected to have 40
employees by the end of the month, but said she could no longer make any staffing predictions beyond that.

Sacrificing a few jobs for their grander plan of loosening business regulations and environmental controls is well worth the risk. After all, Republicans have waited a long time to turn our beautiful state for tourism into a business cesspool and dump.

Related articles

• Trainmaker Talgo Says Its Future in Wis. Uncertain (abcnews.go.com)
• Trainmaker Talgo says its future in Wis. uncertain (washingtonpost.com)
• Outgoing Wis. gov. suspends high-speed train work (seattletimes.nwsource.com)