Upside Down, Dr. Seuss World of Reince Priebus, or…can he really get away with that?

Talk about having it both ways, and not a peep from his loyal Republican voters. Reince spun this odd conflicting GOP position Tuesday morning:

ABC News: "And the Supreme Court has stated that Obamacare is a tax, and so since they have ruled that it's a tax, it is a tax."

Reince added…

"Our position is the same as Mitt Romney's position. It's a tax."  

But as we all know, the day before Reince made it so clear he and Mitt both considered the freeloader penalty a tax:

Eric Fehrnstrom, chief strategist for Mitt Romney,  said Monday that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee did not consider the mandate to be a "tax" (but a penalty).

See? And yet, conservative voters never even noticed. Wow.

Important: One thing I heard over and over from from conservative talk hosts, was that Justice Roberts legislated from the bench when he changed what the Obama administration insisted was not a tax, to a tax. Yet:

While Congress was debating the bill in 2010, Obama insisted that the individual mandate was not a tax … while the president's solicitor general was defending the constitutionality of the case before the Supreme Court in March 2012, he expressly argued that it was a tax, in hopes that if the court found the mandate to be unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause, the taxing power could be used as a lifeline.

Do Republicans ever have to tell the truth about anything? 

Republicans will not replace the Affordable Care Act.

According to Mitch McConnell, health care is not the issue, we've already got the greatest system in the world. Believe that?

Watch Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Boehner ignore the plight of uninsured Americans. Gov. Bobby Jindhal compared the Mardi Gras to health care. Ed Schultz points out the Frank Luntz focus group approved term "patient centered" health care, something Paul Ryan can't say enough.

Hedging our bets on Global Warming, We could have been safe, not sorry.

Kinda hot? It couldn't be climate change...could it!! Thom Hartmann wrote this:

Hundreds of thousands of people are still without power around the nation's capital - and left to deal with a record breaking heat wave alone. Fueled by all-time temperature highs on Friday, a massive freak storm ripped across the Mid-Atlantic Friday night - killing at least 15 people and knocking out power to more than three million. West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Washington, DC have all declared states of emergency.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the nation - a wildfire continues to scorch Colorado - where tens of thousands of people have been evacuated out of harm's way and more than 350 homes destroyed. On the heels of this freak weather is a new report from climate scientists around the world warning that when it comes to rising sea levels, the tipping point has already been passed.

Scientists with U.S. research group Climate Central warned that even with drastic cuts in CO2 emissions, rising sea levels cannot be stopped over the next few hundred years - threatening roughly a tenth of the world's population that lives in low-lying areas. So here we have massive wildfires, catastrophic storms, and rising oceans - welcome to the new normal - brought to us by transnational oil barons and the politicians they own.

Romney Campaigns Smashes Right Wing "Tax" Outrage.

The most amazing thing happened. Just when the right wing loons were gathering up steam over the Affordable Care Act's tax on freeloaders, the Romney campaign let the air out by claiming it's not a tax, but an "unconstitutional penalty." A what?

Fox News: The Romney campaign attempted Monday to clarify the candidate’s position on what consequence Americans will face for failing to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, saying the candidate considers the fine an “unconstitutional penalty” rather than a tax.

MSNBC had some fun with this....



Here's the short version of senior campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom comment, with Fox News' "The Five's" reaction...priceless:




http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/02/romney-others-still-honing-message-on-obamacare-tax-or-penalty/

Walker to go after state Pension Plan: "I am currently not planning...However....."

No one is really so neive that they would think Scott Walker would want to leave the state pension plan alone?

jsonline: A report Monday gave Gov. Scott Walker and lawmakers this advice for keeping Wisconsin's $77 billion pension fund strong: Leave it alone.

Immediately, Walker said he was taking that advice: "I want to be very clear: I am currently not planning to make any substantial changes to the WRS. However, I will continue to work to ensure that the WRS is fiscally sustainable for both taxpayers and retirees."

Anybody think that sounds like he’s going to “leave it alone?” From WKOW: 

What’s at stake for workers: 

The report comes as some states facing financial challenges have moved away from traditional pensions, which guarantee a certain retirement level to employees, to models more like the 401(k) plans offered by private businesses, in which employers contribute to an investment plan for employees but don't guarantee results. 

Moving to an optional defined contribution plan would have the advantage for workers of being portable if they moved to jobs in the private sector and would give them more say over how their money is invested. But the report noted that defined benefit plans are better for the great majority of workers because assets in retirement funds are pooled and professionally managed.

Ah, so that’s why Republicans want to do away with defined benefits
 plans…who needs guarantees? 

Republicans Embrace Freeloading, Take Health Care Money from Other Peoples Premiums. Thanks you.

This is the picture making the rounds on the conservative blogs. The "tax," or as Mitt Romney calls it, a penalty or a fee, is on freeloaders. They want to stick me with their bill. Suddenly, Republicans are all for freeloading (they've been doing it for years, they call it small government).

Nice to know, and I'm so glad they're finally admitting it. Freeloaders!!!

The picture, no matter how you look at it, clearly shows that those who don't buy insurance get a penalty...a fee...a tax, no matte what the income. If you making very little, you'll be on Medicaid, if you make a little more, you'll get subsidies that pay almost all of your premiums. It's a progressive system of subsidies.

Republican Governors choose to Break the Law, won't adopt Health Care Exchanges.

The next lawless trick up the GOP's sleeve: It's the movement for nullification of the Affordable Care Act.

Remember how Scott Walker passed Act 10, essentially killing unions, passed voter ID, passed concealed carry, passed abstinence only, made the biggest cuts to school funding ever, and then told millions of protesters to shut up, the people have spoken?

Now that Obama's Affordable Care Act passed constitutional muster, what's all the whining about for the last 3 years? The people elected Democrats to pass health care reform, and they did, so why all the complaining in between elections?

Guess the same rules don't apply to our conservative authoritarian leaders who act like 14 year old's throwing a tantrum.

So Republicans are now going to break the law of the land. Who thinks these guys should be lawmakers if they can't follow the law? To conservatives, we don't need law; we need a Republican Authority to make it all up as they go along.

American Commitment: 73 Republican House and Senate conservatives sent a letter to the National Governors Association, urging the states not to adopt state health care exchanges.  These exchanges are the centerpiece of Obama’s new entitlement. 

The IRS has asserted that the subsidies and penalties apply in states that refuse to set up exchanges.  The Senate will likely vote soon on overturning that lawless IRS rule.

Governors and state legislators who oppose the president’s health care law must oppose any creation of a state exchange to keep alive this option of defeating the law.

Voter Machine Memory Cards not in Secure Custody for 21 Day Requirement.

Wisconsin does not check the accuracy of electronic voting machines to the actual paper votes. No spot checks. Republicans must know something I don't, since these guardians of election integrity, aren't concerned with election fraud. These machines have been known to make big mistakes, yet no verification system. At Free Wisconsin, Dennis Kern wrote this:

Vote Security Compromised:  The record of the official vote count (on memory cards) for the June 5 recall election was compromised. The count was not kept in custody by the County Clerks. If you live in the following Wisconsin Counties, listed, the security of your June 5 vote was compromised.

ADAMS,  BUFFALO (responded in writing),  BURNETT,  CRAWFORD,  FLORENCE,  FOREST,  IRON (responded in writing),  JUNEAU,  LANGLADE,  MANITOWOC,  MARINETTE,  OCONTO,  ONEIDA, OUTAGAMIE,  PIERCE,  PRICE (responded in writing),  RICHLAND (later retracted that), TREMPEALEAU, VERNON,  WASHBURN,  WAUSHARA

County Clerks failed to keep the record of your vote in secure custody. The record (on the cards) was sent out of state before the required 21 days required by law. WI Stats. 7.23(1)(g) the record retention period for the removable memory cards is 21 days.

The discovery was first made in Crawford County when the County Clerk admitted to me that the memory cards were not in her office. Read “Cartridges, Clerks, and Men in White Suits. 

The custody of your vote was compromised and if there had been a recall, you would not have had access to the memory cards since they were lying in the office of Command Central near St. Cloud Minnesota.

When the vote count was discovered to be compromised a Freedom of Information Act request was sent to all of the counties known to use the Edge voting machine and the memory card therein to tally the vote.

There's a lot more at link above.

Three Affordable Care Act Truths Republicans are lying about.

Here are some fact check answers from AP, that should be considered by conservatives before they sound like idiots spouting the GOP talking points. 

ROMNEY: After saying the new law cuts Medicare by $500 billion and raises taxes by a like amount, adds: "And even with those cuts and tax increases, Obamacare adds trillions to our deficits and to our national debt, and pushes those obligations onto coming generations."

THE FACTS: In its most recent complete estimate, in March 2011, the Congressional Budget Office said the new health care law would actually reduce the federal budget deficit by $210 billion over the next 10 years. In the following decade, the law would continue to reduce deficits by about one-half of one percent ($1 trillion) of the nation's gross domestic product, the office said.

But the CBO assessment offers no backup for Romney's claim that the law "adds trillions to our deficits."

ROMNEY: "Obamacare raises taxes on the American people by approximately $500 billion."

AJC: THE FACTS: The tax increases fall heavily on upper-income people, health insurance companies, drug makers and medical device manufacturers.

People who fail to obtain health insurance as required by the law will face a tax penalty, although that's expected to hit relatively few because the vast majority of Americans have insurance and many who don't will end up getting it. Also, a 10 percent tax has been imposed on tanning bed use as part of the health care law. There are no other across-the-board tax increases in the law, although some tax benefits such as flexible savings accounts are scaled back. Of course, higher taxes on businesses can be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices.

Individuals making over $200,000 and couples making over $250,000 will pay 0.9 percent more in Medicare payroll tax and a 3.8 percent tax on investments. As well, a tax starts in 2018 on high-value insurance plans.

ROMNEY: "Obamacare is a job-killer."

THE FACTS: The CBO estimated in 2010 that the law would reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent.

But that's mostly because the law will give many people the opportunity to retire, stay at home with family or switch to part-time work, since they will be able to get health insurance more easily outside of their jobs. That voluntary retreat from the workforce, made possible by the law's benefits, is not the same as employers slashing jobs because of the law's costs, as Romney implies.

GAB Investigating Recall Groups from Out-of-State for Fraud.

What can you say about Republicans that hasn't already been said a thousand times; they can't be trusted. While the governor insisted all his troubles stemmed from "out-of-stater's," his own party brought out-of-stater's in to phony up a few Democratic recall drives. 

Now those same outsiders are being investigated for recall petition fraud. 

WTAQ: The Government Accountability Board is investigating recall petition signature fraud involving last year’s recall Senator Dave Hansen committee.

Chad Fradette came forward with the information to WTAQ. He was originally involved in the Recall Dave Hansen group organized by David VanderLeest, who would later run against Hansen in the recall election.

“David VanderLeest was hording all the signatures, wouldn’t let anyone look at them or to verify them if they were real or not or keep count of what we had and it got really strange, so we broke off.” Fradette says questions also arose about VanderLeest’s involvement.

Chad Fradette said in a phone conversation the GAB is investigating signature collectors that came from out of state, fraudulent signatures, forgeries, and try to ascertain who paid for them. Fradette said he opposed employing the out of state groups, especially after one was arrested for stealing a backpack from Lambeau Field while collecting signatures.

VanderLeest lost to Hansen and is now currently running for state assembly district 90.

But VanderLeest did get people to vote for him, even though bloggers revealed:

In a report, dated 10/26/06, VanderLeest was alleged to have told his wife he would kill her if she testified against him in a previous domestic abuse case that was still pending. And this is the man who thinks he’s eminently more qualified and capable of serving the public.

Politiscoop: The former wife of David VanderLeest. spoke of VanderLeest’s inability to handle his own finances, his inability to pay his taxes or to provide adequately for her son by buying him basics like shoes or even by providing a stove in his apartment so he is able to cook his son dinner.

Another closing and 45 jobs lost in northern Wisconsin

I don't need to criticize Scott Walker by throwing more job losses at him, when I've got all I need from his horrific job creation record. So sadly, 45 more people are out of work, this time in Gillett. You'll notice that had they been union members, the dislocated experienced workers would be able to relocate to another facility and keep their current position.

Shawano Leader: Oconto County area officials are calling the closing of the Wausaukee Composites plant in Gillett "disappointing" and "disconcerting" but have vowed to dialogue with company representatives about helping the 45 workers who will lose their jobs in August.

The fiberglass component manufacturer recently informed its employees that due to business reasons it will permanently close its East Main Street facility by Aug. 31.

"Gillett employees are not represented by a union. ... And will not have bumping rights to positions at our other facilities," Joseph McKindles, chief operating officer wrote in a June 25 letter to the Department of Workforce Development. "We have informed Gillett employees that they may post for any open positions at our Wausaukee/Cuba City plants."

Scott Walker: Where are the jobs?

Here's what I saw on the Center on Wisconsin Strategy press release. Just how did Scott Walker sell the success of his austerity platform and get away with it? 

Whatever the Data, Wisconsin’s 2011 was a Bad Jobs Year: QCEW Shows Wisconsin 42nd in job growth, 43rd in wage trends .

The federal BLS released the QCEW for all states yesterday finally allowing for comparison of Wisconsin’s job trends to other states in this data. The data shows that in 2011, Wisconsin’s job performance was at the back of states. Wisconsin posted poor performance both in job creation, where we ranked 42nd, and in wage trends, where our performance was 44th in the nation. Wisconsin’s jobs and wage performance was worst of all states in the region.  From the QCEW data:

WI gained 19,551 jobs from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter of 2011. 

WI’s rate of job growth was slowest among all states in the Midwest. Only Missouri, Idaho, Maine, New Jersey, Delaware, Mississippi, Alabama, Rhode Island and New Mexico posted worse job trends.
 
WI’s rate of job growth was slowest among all states in the Midwest. Only Missouri, Idaho, Maine, New Jersey, Delaware, Mississippi, Alabama, Rhode Island and New Mexico posted worse job trends.
 
WI’s rate of job growth was slowest among all states in the Midwest. Only Missouri, Idaho, Maine, New Jersey, Delaware, Mississippi, Alabama, Rhode Island and New Mexico posted worse job trends. 

So really, this is the bottom line:

WI’s rate of job growth, 0.73 percent, was the 42nd slowest performance of all states and Washington DC

WI’s wage data also shows weakness, with average weekly wages down 2.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter of 2011.

Filling in for Sly in the Morning all week.

Here's a link to the WTDY homepage. I was asked about guests, but unfortunately, this is not just a holiday weekend for Sly, but everybody else apparently. I will try later in the week, but who knows. I encourage all Republicans and know-it-all conservatives to challenge me.

The Justice John Roberts Flip!

Here's the story on Justice Roberts last minute reversal, and his resistance to the conservative members to change his mind. The reaction to Roberts decision shows how conservatives nationwide expect this court to be, and their alright with that.



According to Think Progress, there might be a problem with leaked information:

To be clear, at this point only two facts are confirmed: 1) According to Crawford, Roberts flipped his vote midstream; and 2) someone within the Court must have leaked her this information. It is perfectly appropriate for Justice Kennedy, or any other justice, for that matter, to internally lobby Roberts to try to obtain his vote in an important case. If a member of the Court has turned to conservative columnists like Will or reporters like Crawford in order to pressure and then embarrass Roberts, however, that would be a significant and unusual escalation from the justices’ regular tactics.

Gov. O'Malley rips into Walker over Freeloader Tax.

Scott Walker claimed the state found out that people will end up paying more for their insurance  under the Affordable Care Act. The research that makes this claim is no where to be found. It would be interesting to see how shopping competitively for insurance in the exchanges would raise premiums, unless a poll they solicited is that "research." 

The state's Office of Free Market Health Care is seeking input from consumers and other stakeholders that would be used in designing an online marketplace for individuals and small employers to buy health insurance.

Here's what Walker said:

Walker said he "learned" from Romney's example in Massachusetts: "In the case of Wisconsin, we learned looking at that state, Massachusetts is a good example, we learned from what we found from our actuarial assessment that we did this past year that it was not a good measure for the state of Wisconsin," Walker said.

Romney Care actually brought down the cost, covered more people and has high approval ratings, which is just the opposite of what Walker is saying here.

Democrats, heads up, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley just demonstrated how to fight these carnival barkers. Check it out from CBS.



One more thing: Walker thinks if people have more "skin in the game" costs will go down. Think about that conservative voters. "Skin in the game" is another way of saying you'll be paying more of your hard earned money on insurance premiums and medical bills. Walker's betting you'll put off seeing a doctor, thus save money and ration care.

Reporter Nora O'Donnell does homework, stumps John Boehner on Health Care!!!

You've got to see the disaster that was John Boehner on Face the Nation today. Boehner continued to falsely claim the Affordable Care Act was a government takeover of health care...which is is NOT.

Boehner, like all Republicans, never has grasped the idea of buying in quantity and getting a lower price. That’s the whole insurance system model. Or they do understand it, ignore it, and want to shift the high cost of preexisting conditions off onto the public, saving private insurers the cost of treating the sick while boosting their profits.

NORAH O'DONNELL: What about preexisting conditions? What about the millions of Americans that have preexisting conditions and are discriminated against?

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: We believe that the way it is done within Obamacare is-- is pushing the cost of health insurance for all Americans much too high. We believe that the state high-risk pools are a much more effective way to making sure that those with preexisting conditions have access to affordable health insurance.

Here’s were O’Donnell catches Boehner in the Republican lie that they intend to anything at all (my emphasis parenthetical):

NORAH O'DONNELL: So when you repeal this, what are you going to replace it with?

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: (Long pause, stumped) …I just started pointing out. We're going take a common-sense, step-by-step approach…

Those companies 50 or larger are doing alright. If they can’t provide health care for their employees then they’re freeloading off the system and forcing their employees into state Medicaid programs:

NORAH O'DONNELL (overlapping): The White House says for employers if you have twenty-five or fewer employees, you actually get a tax benefit. If you have fifty or fewer employers, you don't have to provide them health insurance. So how is that hurting small businesses?

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: ….a lot of employers are just going to pay the tax and dump their employees into these health exchanges. Well, they are not going to be able to keep their health insurance that they have. 

Hypocrite! Republicans want to make individuals health care payments tax deductible, just like business, which means businesses will drop coverage in a second. Sen. McCain wanted to do away with the business tax deduction completely, which again, would have dumped everyone into the individual market. So letting people “keep their health insurance” is complete bull and not a concern.

NORAH O'DONNELL: Why not, then, if you like some of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act, why not work with it rather than ap-- repeal the whole thing.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (overlapping): No, no, no.

NORAH O'DONNELL: Even Mitt Romney said--

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (overlapping): No, this has to be-- this has to be ripped out by its roots. This is government taking over the entire health insurance industry.

Which it is not. 

Sky is Falling "Obamacare," the End of America!

Republicans just love the private sector health care system we have right now, with premium hikes and all the exclusions, so why not ram total privatization down everyone's throat? 

Who would have thought giving people health care was so horrific? The following radical right wingers, that's who...

Breaking News from Newsmax.com:

Dick Morris: Court Decision Hurts Obama, Helps Romney

Mike Reagan: Ruling Keeps US on Path to Socialism

Bill McCollum: War Against Obamacare ‘Has Just Begun’

Ken Cuccinelli: ‘Dark Day for American Liberty’

Newt Gingrich: Obamacare Repeal ‘Defining Issue of Fall Campaign’

Thanks Tea Party, you just made the odds that life on other planets is way more advanced than we are.

Newsmax: University of Connecticut’s Center for Survey Research and Analysis Survey: More Advanced Life on Other Planets ‘Likely’: Nearly 40 percent of Americans believe it is “very likely” that intelligent life forms more advanced than humans exist on other planets.

What's so bad about Unfettered Oil Production? N. Dakota has the answer.

Talk about spin, check this very recent revisionist history connecting a tax referendum, to N. Dakota’s energy boom, to President Obama:

Newsmax Newsletter: N. Dakota Oil Boom Exposes Obama’s ‘Self-Serving Falsehood’: North Dakota is experiencing such a boom in revenues from oil production that voters actually considered a measure to abolish the state’s property taxes.

They “actually considered” should be emphasized:

ABC News: Voters ultimately rejected the ballot measure to eliminate the state's property taxes, with a reported 76.5 percent rejecting the proposal and 23.5 percent favoring. 

A small matter, according to those who like "unfettered oil production" dotting our American landscape: 

Although the measure was defeated in the June 12 vote, the fact that it was even considered points to the incredible economic opportunities enjoyed by North Dakota residents due to unfettered oil production. “It turns out that, yes, we can drill our way out of our problems,” Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) observes in an editorial.

Forget the fact that N. Dakota residents pretty much thought abolishing the property tax was shear lunacy. 

Good-Bye Michele Bachmann? We can only hope.

Michele Bachmann went for the presidential brass ring and failed, pissing everyone who supported her off, with her erratic antics. So it goes. Here's an update from my Newsmax newsletter, on a race we don't want to spend any time following: 

Bachmann Faces Tough Race, Losing Conservatives: Three-term Congresswoman and former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is facing a stiff re-election challenge from Democratic hotel magnate Jim Graves in Minnesota. And after respondents were read brief biographies of the two candidates, Graves received 51 percent of their votes to Bachmann’s 44 percent.

Equally troubling for the incumbent, just 14 percent of those surveyed rated her job performance as “excellent,” and 34 percent rated it as “poor” … many grass-roots conservatives have turned sour on her as a tea party leader … conservatives and tea partyers are less inclined to fork over money to Bachmann this time around, citing the fact she raised millions in 2010 promising to remain in Congress as a thorn against Obama and the GOP establishment … After winning re-election, she soon launched a presidential bid and diverted millions from her congressional coffers. Her bid, which many conservatives saw as an ego trip, failed disastrously … and this year the congresswoman was carved out of her former seat due to redistricting.