Still Hurting over Past Republican Government Mismanagement and a Corrupt Wall Street? Vote Romney?

It looks like those who can least afford a return to the Republican policies of the past, are willing to vote for it all over again:

Oak Creek Patch: A closer look into the numbers revealed Wednesday in a new poll from Marquette University Law School shows a distinct divide among voters and whom they support when that question is linked to how they see the economy.

It boils down to this: Survey respondents who said the recession really hasn't taken a toll on their personal finances back Obama, while Romney has an edge over those still hurting from the economic turn-down.

Walker's Bizarre Health Care Avoidance Plan.

Scott Walker has finally found the right words to spin his refusal to provide Wisconsinites the  affordable health care they need. It’s all spin and all deception. Like any plan, even his own (if he has one), will have its successes and failures. It's kinda how we go through life. 

The WALKER SPIN: Instead of comparing the old systems rising costs, with the savings we'll see due to the Affordable Care Act, Walker wants you to think the improved numbers are the only numbers-where there are still a lot of people seeing rising premiums. He won't tell you how much more it'll cost for more people if we do nothing. Yes, there will be some increases for a few, which may or may not happen, depending on new information and rules yet to be put in place. The high risk pool may or may not be absorbed into ACA. If it is, the fees saved by insurers and providers could be applied to cost reductions...but we don't know yet.

Walker: “The good news is that responsible budgeting has put our state in a fairly unique position: Nearly 91 percent of Wisconsin residents have health insurance.”

That’s because the former Democratic Governor expanded Medicaid’s Badgercare program. That stat won’t last long under Walker and a Republican legislature.

By stressing the supposed, sky is falling negative effects of the Affordable Care Act, Walker’s doom and gloom spin covers up the incredibly good news and better outcomes in that report, written way back in 2009. A lot has changed, and the model in Massachusetts is leading the way with great results.  

An actuarial study commissioned by my predecessor, a Democrat, and completed last year found that if Obamacare is implemented in Wisconsin:

● 100,000 people will be dropped by their employer-sponsored health insurance. ● Approximately 122,000 parents, caretakers and pregnant women with an income of more than 133 percent of the federal poverty level will no longer be eligible for Medicaid.

I'm not sure how he came up with that, especially after reading this section of the report:

Status Quo (Without ACA): Based on the CBO's numbers, we are able to project forward from this 2009 baseline, and establish a 2016 pre-ACA status quo baseline. We focus on 2016 to allow three years for the ACA to phase in; Employer sponsored insurance (ESI) would expand by 8% absence of the ACA. Non-group, or individual, market insurance enrollment would remain steady. The public insurance membership would shrink by 7% (as the economy improves). The ranks of the uninsured would grow by 8%, rising from 480,000 individuals lacking coverage to 520,000 individuals.

With ACA: By 2016, the enacting of the ACA will have had a large impact on insurance coverage in Wisconsin. The expansion of Medicaid will add an additional 170,000 individuals to the public program. The creation of the exchanges will provide a large boost to the Individual Market. At the same time, these provisions will create a modest reduction in ESI. The net of these effects would be a significant decrease in the uninsured population of 340,000 individuals (by 65%). Table 2 below summarizes the 2016 coverage effects of the ACA. 

One big lie:

●150,000 people will stop buying health insurance in the private sector and will instead become dependent on the government and taxpayers;

No, that’s an outright lie. The Affordable Care Act is not “government healthcare,” and uses private insurers, hospitals and doctors, offering affordable and subsidized premiums in the exchanges.  People are no longer forced to work at companies, putting off starting their own, simply to keep their coverage. According to the report:

Wisconsin could wait to understand how the Individual Market Transitional Reinsurance Program would mitigate these increases before committing these funds to the Individual Market.

And then there's always the ideological brilliance of Scott Walker, even after the Supreme Court decision:

The law has also raised serious philosophical questions: Should the federal government force people to buy a product? What is the proper relationship between federal and state governments? Even setting aside those legitimate issues, one practical concern remains. 

Walker loves using language he knows pissed off conservatives, dog whistle politics at its most obvious:

I look at the effects that full implementation would have on my state, and I can’t help but conclude that Obamacare punishes Wisconsin for budgeting responsibly and providing access to affordable and quality health care. It punishes young people!!!!

Increasing access to health care won’t come through mandates, taxes or penalties. Truly improving access for families will require costs to go down. Unfortunately, Obamacare moves in the opposite direction by making insurance more expensive. 

That too is a lie, as demonstrated by the success of the Massachusetts plan, Romney Care, which turned the cost curve way down.

Government Borrowing now is Smart Financial Management. That's why Republicans won't do it.

I don’t usually post the entire contents of articles, but Ezra Klein wrote something so short and easy to understand that rewriting it would be ridiculous. Bottom line: Government borrowing now, for infrastructure, would mean zero interest. You read that right. We may even get some money back:

The Financial Times reports that there was record demand for 10-year Treasurys this week. “The $21 [billion] sale of 10-year paper sold at a yield of 1.459 per cent, the lowest ever in an auction.” William O’Donnell, a strategist at RBS Securities, told the FT that “we were expecting good auction results but this one has left me speechless.”

Remember: Low yields means we’re getting the money for a cheap. It means the market thinks we’re a safe bet. And it means we have the opportunity to get capital for almost nothing and invest it productively.

Actually, I got something wrong there. I said “almost nothing.” But that 1.459 percent doesn’t account for inflation. And so when you do account for inflation, it’s not “almost nothing.” It’s “less than nothing.” Here are the latest “real yield curves” for Treasurys, which is to say, the yields after adjusting for inflation.

They’re negative. Negative! The market will literally pay us a small premium to take their money and keep it safe for them for five, seven or 10 years. We could use that money to rebuild our roads and water filtration systems. We could use that money to cut taxes for any business that adds to its payrolls. We could use that to hire back the 600,000 state and local workers we’ve laid off in the last few years.

Or, as Larry Summers has written, we could simply accelerate payments we know we’ll need to make anyway. We could move up maintenance projects, replace our military equipment or buy space we’re currently leasing. All of that would leave the government in a better fiscal position going forward, not to mention help the economy.

The fact that we’re not doing any of this isn’t just a lost opportunity. It’s financial mismanagement on an epic scale.

That's what we can expect from "fiscal conservatives," a phrase developed for marketing purposes only.

Republicans Trash Election Process…because They Lost the Recall. If things don’t change for them, they might lose another one.

Losing just one election has caused the Republican authority in this state to go into an epileptic seizure. After gaming the system in every way, denouncing the necessary recount in the Prosser/Kloppenburg race, even after Waukesha filed late returns and staff found open and misnumbered ballot bags to boot, Republicans are suddenly the paragons of election integrity? But will spot check a few computers with their paper ballots after an election, just to see if the computer counts are accurate? Didn't think so. Integrity my ass.

MtPleasantPatch: Republican Legislature leadership on Wednesday requested the Government Accountability Board examine and resolve alleged irregularities at the polls that came to light in the District 21 recall race.

The usual cry baby Republicans have surfaced: Rep. Robin Vos and Jeff Fitzgerald. 

This wasn't a mockery of the electoral system in Waukesha?

"The situation in the 21 Senate District is a wake-up call to the state," the Republicans wrote. "We have laws in the books that are not being followed and a recall election that made a mockery of our election system."

What about the law on the books requiring states to set up health insurance exchanges? Oh, I forgot, that’s a law they don’t like.

You kind of get the idea that they’re just making this stuff up too, distracting from their own possible election fraud, with their over the top 1,000 objections! I kid you not, it’s that bad...but not bad enough to hold up in court.

Despite logging more than 1,000 objections over irregularities primarily in the City of Racine during the recount, including voters not signing poll books and unsealed ballot bags, Wanggaard would not file an appeal an appeal in Racine County Circuit Court to challenge the results.

As Wanggaard put it: "There was just so much smoke created by what happened in the city that it's overwhelming. We have smoke, but no gun, so it doesn't make sense to file an appeal even with over 1,000 objections."

After the embarrassing mess in we saw in Waukesha, twice, Republicans are now saying a Democratic win is really "electoral mockery." 

Big difference ignored in Waukesha

"It's an utter mockery of our system and clerks are simply not complying with the law." To make things worse, the recount prevented the city from making the deadline for sending out same-day voter registration postcards.

Having created the above problem due to an unnecessary recount:

Wanggaard said those cards need to be mailed within 10 days and even read the statute to prove his point.

Poor Republican Public School Teachers, Victimized by All.

Poor Republican teachers, it all start out so innocently:

Thousands pack(ed) a convention center, Barack Obama T-shirts, videos celebrating the health care law … But this Obama love fest in Washington (saw) nearly 9,000 gathered were teachers in town for the National Education Association's weeklong annual convention.

Get out the crying towel, here come the “victimized” Republican teachers comments:

Edweek: For the Republican teachers in attendance, the digs at their political views were impossible to overlook. "What I don't like is the harassment going on for people to be an 'EFO'—an educator for Obama," said Maureen van Wagner, a special education teacher … roughly a dozen teachers who identified themselves as Republicans said they felt pressure from union leaders and the rank-and-file to support Obama's re-election—and felt marginalized when they wouldn't. Some interviewed said they were so worried about retribution from their colleagues that they wouldn't provide their names for publication.

What a wonderful example of individualism, strength, free speech and liberty. What is striking is the lack of confidence shown by these losers unless their surrounded by likeminded ditto-heads.

So voting against their own best interest, their students best interest, and being vilified by their own party should be applauded and encouraged by their fellow teachers? Ideological idiocy.

But what did take Republican teachers off guard was the criticism they received for expressing support for Mitt Romney. A Republican teacher speaking at the convention was booed for doing just that. The incident prompted NEA President Dennis Van Roekel to intervene, saying that everyone had the right to speak. Then there were the T-shirts. Some Republicans said they were presented with NEA T-shirts featuring Obama's name—and that it felt like being forced to choose between their profession and their politics.

Say it together; “Poor babies.” Even a few conservative teachers understand just how dumb their party allegiance really is:

"For Republican teachers, it's almost like we're stepchildren in NEA, and then in the Republican Party we're also stepchildren, because we're public schoolteachers, and that's not part of their focus," said Keiser, who teaches high school math in Long Beach, Calif.

Doh! What many voters don’t know and should about the NEA:

NEA officials said the union, which has never endorsed a Republican for president, makes every effort to ensure all its members feel welcome. The union holds a Republican Leadership Conference the same week as the annual convention. Union dues are kept separate from the NEA's political action committee, which spends donated funds to promote candidates such as Obama. And the NEA has endorsed GOP candidates who are pro-public education. 

Time Consuming Home improvements.

Recarpeting the house is time consuming, so I hope you don't mind the few story posted today and maybe tomorrow. Moving furniture is a drag.

Van Wanggaard! The Bad, Bad Loser...goes after Criminal Voting Public!

It wasn't enough that Van Wanggaard held up conceding to recall winner and Democrat John Lehman by having a recount, no, now Wanggaard's goal in life is to vilify voters who had the gall to register in large numbers on election day. How dare they? If it wasn't for their votes, he would have won.

Wanggaard must thinks it's all part of a great citizen plot, where Racine Democrats conspired to turn out in large numbers, voting twice or more to oust the jolly old union buster himself. Only the paranoid conservative mind could dream up scenarios they alone would believe possible, and then project those daydreams onto Democrats.

What will Van Wanggaard do in his off time? The vindictive loser's goin' after voters. Patch:

Businesses Optimistic, still promising to hire soon, you just wait and see...

What a bunch of BS. Seriously. Take a look at this pathetic fiction created by the Walker administration and our local ridiculously conservative National Federation of Independent Business. 

I guess if you say it enough, people will believed we’re doing gangbuster job creation in the state.

We never saw the “jobs explosion” Walker promised right after his reelection. In all of 2011, this state ranked 42^nd in job growth. The truth is no jobs.

And yet, the NFIB director has the balls to tell D.C. to follow Walker’s lead, and get his advice. Remember; we’ve heard over the last year and a half how optimistic businesses are in the state with Walker at the helm, and how they couldn’t wait to start hiring. We’re still waiting.

On the same day that the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released its monthly optimism survey showing a sharp decline among small business owners, its office in Wisconsin said the administration in Washington should call Madison for advice on how to boost the economy.

“The evidence is very clear that one set of policies is working, and those policies are not coming from Washington,” said NFIB State Director Bill G. Smith. 

What in god’s name is he talking about? Smith is fabricating all this false optimism based on business attitudes from a simple survey:

NFIB today released its monthly Small Business Optimism Index, which gauges small business attitudes on the economy to predict its direction. The June report shows a decline in almost every indicator, including whether small business owners plan to hire new workers or cut payroll.

“The administrations in Madison and Washington are moving in opposite directions and we’re doing much better here,” said Smith. 

Show us the proof.

U.S. becoming less innovative as right wing takes control.

Let's face it, the Republicans have essentially vilified spending money on R&D and being smart. And it's starting to show. 

Edweek: According to a recent international study, our nation is becoming less innovative, at least compared to last year. After ranking 7th in 2011, the U.S. is ranked 10th in this year's Global Innovation Index, a massive report published by Insead, an international business school, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, an agency of the United Nations.

The report ranks 141 nations on nearly 100 factors related to innovation, in areas like "Business sophistication," "Human capital & research," and "Knowledge & technology outputs." Switzerland and Sweden are ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, for the second straight year. Rounding out the top five are Singapore, Finland, and the United Kingdom.

The survey is divided into 21 sub-groups which contain related metrics. In only "Creative intangibles" (No. 84), "Ecological sustainability" (No. 73), and "Trade & competition" (No. 69), does the U.S. rank worse than it does in two education sub-groups.

In a category related to K-12 education, the U.S. is ranked 31st, owing to low rankings in education expenditures. The U.S. ranks second in enrollment, but 74th in students graduating with science and engineering degrees. 

Tammy Baldwin even with Thompson and Hovde.

The double digit Tommy Thompson lead against his party opponents and Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin has disappeared in the senate race.

After a massive Hovde ad campaign, and the nice new ads from Baldwin, the race is tight. 

jsonline: Eric Hovde leads Tommy Thompson 31% to 29% among people who say they plan to vote in the GOP Senate primary, followed by former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann at 15% and state Assembly speaker Jeff Fitzgerald at 9%, with 16% undecided.

The Public Policy Polling survey shows a much tighter race than a poll last month by Marquette University Law School in which Thompson led Neumann and Hovde by double digits.

The new poll also shows both Hovde and Thompson running evenly with Democrat Baldwin in general election matchups. 

Lies, Lies and more Lies. New Republican Obama Outsourcing Site filled with BS.

Let’s face it, anything tied to RNC chair Reince Priebus, has to be so filled with BS it’s hard to know where to begin. Priebus leaves his slug like slime trail on everything he touches, and have never found a fact he couldn't lie about.

In this winner-take-all race to take this country back to its authoritarian and religious beginnings (he would have you believe), there is nothing he and his party won’t do.

Like this headline story on Fox News: Republicans fight back on outsourcing charge, accuse Obama of funding foreign jobs.

Republicans are turning the tables on the Obama campaign, launching an aggressive effort to cast the president as the "outsourcer in chief" in response to Democrats labeling Mitt Romney an "outsourcing pioneer."

The new website, Obamanomics Outsourced, includes a map with pop-up details about the administration's foreign-tied investments. It also includes a breakdown of myriad projects funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars, which the RNC says amounts to outsourcing. "Over his four years in office, Obama promised that he would focus on creating 'jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced,'" the site says.

“Promised?” every time I hear that allegation, I know a Republican is lying. Promising anything as a politician is extremely risky and rare (except for Obamacare). Can anyone point out a “promise” Obama made about jobs? Didn’t think so.

Priebus’ propagandist flair for old and failed Obama attacks, are all collected and presented anew at the Obamanomics site:

The website cites anecdotes of alleged "outsourcing" around the globe, though many of these cases are a bit of a gray area.

The RNC pointed to money that went to Fisker Automotive, which is producing a luxury electric sports car in Finland. FactCheck.org, though, says that while the firm got a $169 million federal loan guarantee, the loan money itself was spent in the U.S.

In Mexico, the new site notes solar firm SunPower is having some solar panels for its stimulus-backed solar facility manufactured at a plant in Mexico. According to FactCheck.org, though, that company will be getting most of its solar panels from a California plant. 

Bra Technology Studied.

I hope this wasn't another one of those big government, liberal, taxpayer supported studies Republicans love to whine about. Jezebel, one of the wittiest and sarcastic web sites around, brings us another look at the mundane…but in the most sensational way:

What happens when a bunch of ladies with breasts of different sizes take their shirts off and run? Besides boners? Dr. Joanna Scurr of the University of Portsmouth has made it her life's work to develop the perfect sports bra.

Her latest study, "Predictors of Three-Dimensional Breast Kinematics during Bare-Breasted Running" was just published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found, basically, that when you put a topless woman on a treadmill and have her run for awhile, the bigger her breasts, the more they'll jiggle around. While this sounds very Department of No Shit, Scurr's findings will help clothing manufacturers understand that larger sized sports bras must be made with larger amounts of support, lest big breasted women be left flopping uncomfortably. Science!

Higgs boson, meet Higgs bosom.

A Country Divided! Walker’s Wisconsin brings “Divide and Conquer” campaign to Presidential Election

Governor Scott Walker effectively carried out a plan he described as “divide and conquer” to a billionaire campaign contributor. He essentially eliminated the “undecided voter" category. It was a brutal nonstop campaign of liberal vilification, and it worked like gangbusters.

That same campaign had been generally been rolled out nationwide, as an untested “all or nothing” experiment. The experiment worked in Wisconsin, thanks to Scott Walker and massive amounts of special interest "free speech."

Reality and ideas are no longer in play, which might mean a Romney presidency based on nothing more than buzz words like “freedom,” “liberty,” and the cliché “take our country back.” 

I never thought I’d see the day the movie Idiocracy can now be looked at as something prophetic. As one reviewer put it, it’s about “a low-intelligence society influenced by dysgenics, cultural and moral devolution, and powerful corporate influence and consumerism.” Sound familiar? And this well delivered visceral hatred of human progress, packaged as big government, socialism, liberalism and entitlements, has mass appeal now.

Ezra Klein: The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows the presidential race tied, 47-47. (According to reporters) Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, “The stability persists despite the costliest blitz of early campaign advertising the country has ever seen.”

It’s also persisted despite bad jobs numbers, “the private sector is fine,” a Supreme Court ruling on the health-care law, substantial media coverage of Romney’s record at Bain and his unusually creative tax return, financial panic in Europe, and much more.

Here’s the key:

“The lack of movement underscores intense polarization -- about nine in 10 Republicans back Romney, and a similar proportion of Democrats support Obama -- and a relatively small percentage of voters say there is a ‘good chance’ that they could change their minds before November.”

I know how Wisconsin’s recall election turned out, and personally, I don't know if I can prepare for the worst...again. 

The Voucher Tax!!! David Hazen, chief financial officer for Racine District: “It’s a tax, and we might as well admit it."

Republicans voted for a tax increase, just to pay for Voucher Tax!!! That’s how much they hate public schools. Where's Grove Norquist when you need him?

Read the section below! This is the best explanation of vouchers, and the impact on taxes and schools, I’ve come across in my coverage of this whole privatization effort.

Republican voters are okay with paying more of their hard earned money in a “voucher tax.” If I’m not mistaken, that would be called a tax increase, wouldn’t it?

It’s about ideology, not about taxes. It’s about “big government,” and “big public schools.” Never mind every other industrial nation has a national system of education. We’ve got American Exceptionalism build into our DNA.

Scott Walker expanded vouchers in the Racine Unified School District, something he wanted to do statewide. How’s that working out?:

Mt. Pleasant Patch: Racine Unified School District officials are looking at possibly closing at least one elementary schools to avert an impending long-term structural deficit in the 2013-14 school year. David Hazen, chief financial officer for the district, said part of the reason the district's property tax is increasing in 2012-13 is because of what he calls a “voucher tax,” which will continue to take its toll on future budgets.

This is the easy explanation, something even your conservative neighbor can understand:

Last month, the school district raised the estimated property tax  (from) 6.42 percent to $9.51 per $1,000 equalized value. The rate includes "the voucher tax," Hazen said. Hazen explained that the district would lose $1.2 million in state aid in the 2012-13 budget because students are leaving the district to go to private schools (and) because the district can’t count the voucher students in their enrollment numbers, the district appears like a richer school district. This means it will receive less in equalized state aid and in order to maintain the funding for the existing student population at the same level, the cost is shifted onto the property taxpayers.

“That’s an additional few million dollars, and that’s another 20 to 30 cents added onto the tax levy,” Hazen said. “It’s a tax, and we might as well admit it and fix it.”

Think a few Republican readers might be in shock right now?

Remember Van Wanggaard! The Bad, Bad Loser...STOPS TANTRUM.

UPDATE: Tuesday 8:50 am- Mt. Pleasant: The recall appears to be over for residents of the 21st Senate District. A statement from incumbent Republican Van Wanggaard's campaign confirmed Tuesday morning that he will not file an appeal in Racine County Circuit Court today to challenge the results of the recall election against him. The deadline to file a lawsuit contesting election returns is end of business today.

Rachel Maddow with the latest on the Republican politician that wouldn't leave, Van Wanggaard:

Apparently Americans like empty, nonsensical, wealthy corporate candidates.

We're just one Republican president away from a total corporate takeover of our country. 

If this recent poll is a even a hint at trending public opinion, we're all in big trouble:

The Hill: Two-thirds of likely voters say President Obama has kept his 2008 campaign promise to change America — but it’s changed for the worse, according to a sizable majority. 

A new poll for The Hill found 56 percent of likely voters believe Obama’s first term has transformed the nation in a negative way, compared to 35 percent who believe the country has changed for the better under his leadership.

Strikingly, 1-in-5 Democrats say they feel Obama has changed the United States for the worse.
Compared to the sentiment about Obama’s impact, fewer people see presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a candidate who will change the country dramatically if elected.

Still, 50 percent of people think Romney will bring a “significant” level of change — a finding that may reflect the desire among anti-Obama voters for a reversal of the president’s policies. 

Waukesha's Kathy Nickolaus Typically Reckless Republican Loser: Incompetence cost Taxpayer $253,000.

Big surprise? We'll see if Republicans whine and complain about own $253,000 election mistakes:

jsonline: A consultant's report traces problems in reporting Waukesha County election results directly to mistakes by outgoing County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus - mistakes that will cost county taxpayers more than a quarter of a million dollars to fix. 

Obama's Affordable Care Act Biggest Tax Increase?

The lie is being pushed and in on the path to becoming reality, especially for low information voters.

The lie is promoted in an ad by the Koch brother's Americans (like them) for Prosperity, which I won't post here for obvious reasons. Here's a screen capture of the ads graphic:

Here's the truth, which by now, is no longer relevant in the new Republican reality: 

Mark Neumann wants to take Economic Stupidity to U.S. Senate.

Mark Neumann is another one of those millionaire “citizen legislators.” He’s a business man, and as such, knows money inside and out. He’ll bring that business expertise to government.

Problem is, he’s either dumb as a board, or is knowingly lying about finance and his business acumen. According to the headline in Politifact:

If the U.S. didn't borrow $1.2 trillion every year "to fund government operations," that money would be available "for entrepreneurs and business people to put to work creating jobs and building and expanding their businesses." Mark Neumann on Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 in an interview

Keep in mind: Neumann has been in state politics for years, and he liked the freeloading Republican lifestyle of doing nothing hard as lawmakers so much, he wants to do nothing in the U.S. Senate.

   

Since I hate Politifact so much, I’m only going to showcase the economic expert’s opinion of Neumann’s claim to fame about taking his economic business experience to Washington.

Neumann wasn’t shy about putting his stupidity on display:

Neumann: "They (fed) are borrowing that money and that's the point exactly. If they did not borrow that money, that money would be available out here in the private sector for entrepreneurs and business people to put to work creating jobs and building and expanding their businesses.

"As it is -- and listen, I'm a business owner myself, I've been in business for 35 years here in Wisconsin creating Wisconsin jobs -- and the reality is, I understand that I'm now competing against the federal government to borrow money to expand our businesses. We just expanded into the Madison market to the Dane County area with our business and it was a monumental task to arrange the financing to do that because the federal government is taking $1.2 trillion first, before any of us entrepreneurs get to compete to borrow money."

Wrong!!! But hey, he’s a business man and a citizen legislature, say it ain’t so:

"The U.S. government and American entrepreneurs are not running after the same pool of money," said Abdur Chowdhury, chairman of the economics department at Marquette University in Milwaukee. The U.S. borrows largely from overseas -- by selling securities -- while domestic businesses borrow mostly from domestic banks, he said.

That wasn't the only economic expert to trash Neumann:

The notion that the amount of federal borrowing limits money available to be loaned to businesses "is absurd on its face," said Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. "Every single measure of the interest rate (Aaa bonds, Baa bonds, mortgage loans, car loans etc.) is lower today than at any point in the (George W.) Bush administration," he said by email. "If government borrowing were pulling money away from businesses, it would be by pushing up interest rates."

Barry Bosworth, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, agreed. Neumann’s statement "makes little sense right now because the basic problem is the opposite -- no one wants to borrow, and hence interest rates are near zero.  If we could get more people to borrow and invest, the economy would quickly recover," he said.

Andrew Reschovsky, professor of public affairs and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that among other reasons, Neumann is proven wrong by "basic economics." Increased federal borrowing should increase demand for money and raise interest rates, which would discourage businesses from borrowing, but interest rates have been at or near historic lows, he said. We rate Neumann’s statement False.

Sen. Wanggaard was asked to leave office by voters! What's wrong with the will of the people now?

Ever wonder how Republican polling places handled identification, electioneering, intimidation, possible computer election fraud etc.? Me too, but it never occurs to liberals to watchdog Republican polling places. Perhaps the next time, you with me?

I’m so tired of hearing them whine about election integrity when they don’t even care to check computerized voting machines with paper ballots. But that's another story.

So imagine my surprise when Sen. Van Wanggaard had the balls to make a public statement trashing the electoral process and Racine citizens over “alleged” and “perceived” irregularities by partisan tea party losers bused in from out-of-state. If anything should leave a bad taste in Racine's voters mouths, it’s a bad loser kicking and screaming his way out of office. The following response alone says, “go away.”

Wanggaard thinks you're ignorant.

Journal Times: State Sen. Van Wanggaard editorial: Almost three weeks ago, I asked for a recount in my senate election under the philosophy of “trust but verify.” Unfortunately, following the recount, we only have a verified vote tally … my campaign received reports of suspect activities at polling places … Electioneering and valid (were they?) legal challenges to voters were ignored by election officials, many of whom signed recall petitions. Election observers witnessed polling places being open after the polls closed … There was a suspiciously high number of same-day registrations and numerous reports of same day voter registration requirements being disregarded.

Wow, suspiciously high registration? We wouldn’t want that to happen. Besides his outrage over hearsay, Wanggaard somehow knew how “perfect” every other city’s poll books were. Proof please?:

For hundreds of clerks across Wisconsin, including every other community in Racine County, the poll books were in perfect order. Racine was accepting hand-written receipts, advertisements, and mail addressed to “resident” or “occupant” as residence proof in violation of law.

Proof please, in Racine and around the state, Mr. Wanggaard.

But Wanggaard is an authoritarian, so his next move is to cast doubt on the citizens of Racine, if they’ll let him. Hey Racine, Wanggaard thinks you’re ignorant and a cheat. He does resent…represent you right:

To further protect our election integrity, a municipality must send out address verification postcards to new registrants within 10 days of the election. If those postcards are returned, the voter is struck from the polls. Wisconsin’s election day laws are designed to protect the reliability of our electoral process and to prevent and deter fraud. They are simple and easy to read. Yet in the City of Racine, many were disregarded. Whether this was because of ignorance, negligence or misconduct we may never know. 

The final slap in your face? Imagine if what happened in Racine happened in…say, Waukesha? Is this asshole out to lunch?:

Imagine the uproar if these mistakes were found in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Madison, La Crosse, or Appleton in November.

I've had it with these snakes.