Health care rationing a good thing say Republicans...if it saves money & protects doctors and hospitals!

Warnings of health care rationing and death panels by the Republicans Party has turned out to be more of the same, "projection." Bureaucratic meddling only works if you're a Republican.

It’s actually something Republicans have had in the works for some time, and it's something they've rationalized as a good thing. Perhaps “rationalization” should be mentioned more often when describing conservative contradictions.

Anytime State Sen. Glenn Grothman is involved, with tag along former bad weather man Rep. Jim Ott, you know somebody’s going to get hurt or die.

Both want to ration a doctors advice, by not requiring physicians to fully explain a patients treatment options as declared by the state Supreme Court:

Post Crescent: Doctors would not be required to give patients as much information about alternative treatments available to them under a Republican-sponsored bill on a fast track … reaction to a 2012 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that said a doctor’s “informed consent” duty includes telling a patient about medical tests and treatments that may be appropriate for a patient’s symptoms, even if the doctor doesn't believe the patient has the underlying condition or disease. Ott/Grothman said the 4-3 Supreme Court ruling was likely to increase medical costs and result in “defensive medicine.”

And who knows, may even save a life or two? The health care industry doesn't like it so...there’s nothing worse than “defensive medicine.” 

Patient’s aren't the focus of Ott and Grothman, oddly enough. These are our supposed representatives,right? So how horrible is the current standard, and why does it need to be changed so quickly? 

Their proposal would change the law from a “reasonable patient standard” to a “reasonable physician standard.” The law currently requires a doctor to inform the patient about the availability of all alternate, viable medical modes of treatment and the benefits and risks associated with those, with some exceptions. The current law doesn’t require doctors to overwhelm patients with details that may not be important, it simply requires they be given information they would want to know.

Democratic lawmakers oppose the measure, saying the current law protects patient rights. “The consumer being given knowledge is a good thing, particularly when you’re making decisions about your own body,” said Democratic state Rep. Dana Wachs.

And like everything done by Republicans, who often complain when Democrats are in power that not enough time was given for a full debate and public input, “Ott is moving quickly on the bill.” 

Lori Compas' is back with Wisconsin's real business group!

WBA Executive Director Lori Compas is circulating the letter (below) with the intent of hand-delivering it to state legislators on their very own day, Wisconsin Business Alliance Lobby Day, April 17, 2013.

What Compas has done is set up a better and more nimble business group that focuses on the essentials of making our state economy work.

WMC is a lumbering dinosaur, whose strictly conservative predator special interests have successfully smothered the little guy to the point where it’s almost impossible to start or maintain a small business.

Lori Compas’ agenda targets the basics, the very elements big corporate donors pushed aside long ago for the bottom line. Behold the kind of future we should be leaving our kids, and not the austere baron agenda pushed by Walker:

PUBLIC EDUCATION      
Our public schools are the heart and soul of our communities. If our schools fail, our communities — and our businesses — suffer the consequences.

Please remove all privatization proposals (vouchers and private charter schools) from the state budget.

Please provide all Wisconsin schoolchildren with a $250 increase in per-pupil funding.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

As a business owner and utility customer, I support policies that expand opportunities to access renewable energy. More than 20 states (including Illinois, Michigan, California, Colorado, Missouri and New Jersey) expressly allow third-party ownership of renewable energy systems on a customer’s premises. Clean Energy Choice embraces the virtues of customer choice, fiscal responsibility, property rights and social responsibility. It is a policy tool that allows citizens to exercise their preferences for renewable energy at no extra cost to ratepayers and taxpayers. Please support the Clean Energy Choice initiative.

BROADBAND ACCESS

Decades ago, our state’s leaders literally paved the way for the Wisconsin dairy industry’s success by paving nearly every road that led to a dairy farm. This was a tremendous government investment and it paid off not only for dairy farmers, but also for their communities and our state as a whole. Today, you have a similar opportunity to help businesses in Wisconsin’s small towns and rural areas form connections to the larger world.

Please protect and expand WiscNet, the low-cost internet service provider that has reliably served our small-town schools, hospitals, libraries, and universities for more than 20 years.

In areas where WiscNet isn’t available, I encourage the state to work with private internet service providers to ensure reliable access at fair prices.  Please register here. 

Give Walker's Charted Coarse Time?

I don't think we can afford to wait out the rigid inflexibility of the Walker Authority's failed experiment.

Green Bay Public Schools will get less funding than Private Voucher Schools, and More.

I've been saying for a whole bunch of years that charter and voucher schools complicate education, by creating parallel systems that make it even harder to watchdog taxpayers money. Others are just now getting the message.

"Report cards" and tests should be used to improve schools, not dissolve them.

From WPT's Here and Now, these are the two best news stories I've seen on the voucher threat. You'll see that it's a lot more complicated that the ridiculous reason given by a school voucher advocate; it's a parents right. Really, the constitution says that? Do parents really know what's best, or have they been out of the loop for 10 to 15 years, since they left school? It comes down to feel good advertising, sloganeering, by the privateers who are almost all former Republican Assembly Speakers. That should tell you something.

Here's what were looking at in Green Bay. This is edited and features only the highlights. Check out the whole piece from Zac Schultz here:



Anchor Frederica Freyberg takes a closer look at Racine, where a voucher supporter and now budget director warns schools will be closed. What he has to say is very unsettling:

Conservative Voters would gut First Amendment. They're the real Americans.

We know there’s a strong Republican base of voters who are unswayed by anything and everything that that conflicts with their strong belief system. Even the constitution.

For these pocket constitutionalist's  their support only goes as far as their inability to make excuses to get around the details of our founding document.

The First Amendment falls short for almost all of them, when you consider the percentage of Americans who would establish a national religion:

Huffington Post: Although the North Carolina House of Representatives killed a bill Thursday that would have paved the way for establishing an official state religion, a new national HuffPost/YouGov poll finds widespread support for doing so. The new survey finds:

34 percent of adults would favor establishing Christianity as the official state religion in their own state, while 47 percent would oppose doing so.

32 percent said that they would favor a constitutional amendment making Christianity the official religion of the United States, with 52 percent saying they were opposed.

Gee, I wonder what percentage of Americans are Republican? 

In a very related development:

A conservative Christian who helped to lead President George W. Bush's faith-based initiative but then criticized the effort has died. David Kuo was 44 when he died Friday … he had suffered from brain cancer for the last decade.

Kuo left the White House in 2003. In a book he described the Bush White House as having sought political gain through the manipulation of religious faith and called the initiative a "sad charade." Kuo had been a policy adviser to Republican Sen. John Ashcroft and a speechwriter for conservative Republicans Ralph Reed and Pat Robertson and for Republican Sen. Bob Dole. He joined the Bush administration in 2001 as deputy of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

Private schools failing? They see huge declines in attendance, so Republicans want taxpayers to bribe parents with tax credits to leave Public Schools.

It’s simple really; in a free market, consumers speak with their feet, and their money. So when tea party State Sen. Glenn Grothman offers up lousy numbers for private and voucher schools, you've gotta ask why we should care, and why we would want to throw more money at them.

“Private school attendance has fallen from 147,000 in year 2000 to 123,784 last year," Grothman said in a statement on his website. "Also, 23,200 of these students are choice students. If we do not act quickly the situation will continue to get worse for private schools." 

Like that's our problem? And besides, "parents know what’s best," right? They’re not choosing private and voucher schools, for a reason. But Grothman wants to “act quickly” anyway, by offering revenue draining tax credits.   

Mt. Pleasant Patch: Grothman's and Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah reasoning is that public schools get up to $15,000 per child in taxpayer support but parents who choose private schools don't get any public assistance. Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos, R-Burlington, told the Associated Press that he's open to the idea of such a tax credit.

And as usual, Republicans have no way of paying for it:

As for how the tax credit would be funded, Grothman told Patch he's not sure.

Reader reactions included the clueless who believe private schools are just better, to the single person (probably a public school graduates) who doesn’t think it’s fair that they have to pay for something they’re not using. But the smart ones made the point so much better than I could:

Bobbi Barrows disagrees because parents who choose to send their kids to private school understand the cost of that choice. "If the school isn't meeting my child's needs and I home school, I don't get a tax credit. We are all paying for schools … even if we don't have kids IN school. Just like we pay for parks. If I don't use the Parks at all and choose to pay to go to monkey Joe's instead should I get credit for that?"

Denise Predny sends her kids to private schools and doesn't expect a tax credit in return. "As a parent who sends their children to private school, I say 'no. I made the choice based on our belief in Montessori education (and) do not expect someone to be compensated for the decision."

Jeff Woosley agrees. "They are choosing to not avail themselves of a service provided by their tax dollars. It's a choice they make," he posted. "They aren't forced by anyone to 'double-pay' on education."

Perhaps lower wages and job insecurity has forced parents out of private schools for financial reasons. Austerity and pure ideology aren't solving our state's problems, and the sooner voters see that, the faster we'll see Republicans voted out of office. 

After Vilification of Public schools and Vouchers shift, Republicans move away from testing and higher standards. Big Business Blindsided, Betrayed and Apoplectic.

Wanna know how sincere Republicans are about improving education, now they've bashed public schools and sold for-profit private voucher schools?

After strapping public schools with a heavy load of testing under NCLB, which turned a big profit for closely tied Republican businesses that wrote the tests (all in an effort to fail public schools), they’re now reversing course.

Since Republicans have successfully shifted taxpayer dollars to private schools through dozens of voucher schemes, Texas politicians are now lowering standards.

Ed Week: Leading Texas lawmakers are working to rewrite the state's high school graduation requirements with plans to change the default course of study and lower from 15 to five the number of end-of-course exams most students must pass to earn a diploma. Proponents call the legislative effort a reasonable approach to reduce testing and give students more flexibility in selecting high school courses.

You can just hear the Republicans now saying, “Suckers!”

Some observers say the plans would take Texas in the opposite direction of states that have worked to ratchet up their graduation requirements and embrace end-of-course exams.

The legislation, in a landslide vote, would replace the state's "recommended" high school pathway known as "4x4" (where) students must successfully complete four years of coursework in English, mathematics, science, and social studies … the measure would create a new "foundation" diploma, with fewer specific course requirements. Students would able to earn specified "endorsements" for such areas as STEM and business/industry if they wished. Students also would have to pass far fewer end-of-course exams. Among those no longer required would be Algebra 2, chemistry, physics, and English 3.

Keep in mind, Democrats have always argued for more flexibility to improve and change education for the better, and with fewer tests, but Republicans had a different more destructive idea; vouchers and the end of public schools.

Republicans screw over big business:

Sixteen business groups and large companies, including the Texas Association of Business, the Austin Chamber of Commerce, ExxonMobil, and Texas Instruments, sharply criticized the measures in a letter to state lawmakers last month. "We have been a national leader in promoting higher expectations for all students, and our young people have reaped big rewards," they wrote. "Now is not the time to reverse progress when Texas needs a more skilled workforce to meet the demands of the 21st-century economy."

Ideology of smaller government trumps everything. And all those Republican tough on education tests? Now they're saying "overboard" and "gone wild:"

Catherine Clark, the government-relations director for the Texas Association of School Boards, called the changes a common-sense approach to rein in state requirements that have gone too far. "What we have done to change public education in the last four or five years has gone overboard," she said, "requiring students to take 15 end-of-course tests that count for graduation. That is just high-stakes testing gone wild."

Ya think?

La Raza and the Education Trust, in a letter last month to Texas lawmakers call the legislation a "retreat from progress Texas has made" in recent years. "The proposed changes would take Texas back to the bad old days of pervasive tracking…”

Just in time for vouchers…?

Walker Authority turning on Farmers & Rural Voters now!!! They have been all along.

Farmers are known to died-in-the-wool conservatives. They’re self-made, hardworking, no nonsense businessmen and women.

Surprise! They’re now on the receiving end of Scott Walker’s big business, big government takeover of Wisconsin. Conservative voters who celebrated Walker’s big recall win are suddenly not so happy.

I don’t think farmers ever knew it was their party holding up high speed internet access. They should also ask State Sen. Frank Lasee why he wants to give anyone living near a leased wind turbine the ability to sue farmers into bankruptcy with frivolous lawsuits. Now the Walker Authority is coming for their land.

Daily Reporter: A group representing Wisconsin farmers said its lobbying agenda this

spring will include opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to eliminate limits on foreign land ownership. No foreign person, company or government can buy more than 640 acres of land in Wisconsin. A provision eliminating that cap is included in Walker’s budget proposal, which the Legislature is reviewing.

“Under this proposal, any foreign individual, corporation or government can come in and buy up as much land as they want. This will drive up land prices so high that Wisconsinites won’t be able to buy the neighbor’s farm that comes up for sale or the neighboring 40 acres at a decent price that they can afford,” Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden told the Fond du Lac Reporter.

“What’s that going to do to the Wisconsin landscape and our ability to produce food for our people?” he added.

How quaint, "food for the people." Sounds like socialism to me. Catching up slowly, farmers are also starting to wake-up to who’s been blocking their ability to expand their business online:

The group’s legislative agenda also includes a push for expanding broadband services in rural areas. Von Ruden said many farm families still lack Internet access.

What, they can’t wait for the free market to eventually provide service like the Republican Party insists will happen someday, when it's profitable?

And even more ironic, the rural voter has more political power overall by virtual of land size and the number of district’s, and Republicans are using their legislative majorities to now block out farmers.

Don’t even get me started on affordable health care for farmers or the delayed farm bill. I still don't get why farmers would keep voting Republican. On every issue above, Democrats have supported them

Obama gives up Social Security as Government Welfare Program that needs cutting.

Proposing any cuts to Social Security and Medicare is not only the opposite of what should happen, but adds credibility to the argument that these programs are truly handouts and not lifesaving safety nets. Click pictures to enlarge.

And yet President Obama, after running on a second term campaign to make no cuts, has essentially harmed the programs credibility in a permanent way. Believe me, I’m not overstating what has happened.

There’s no going back now on the idea seniors need to spend more, with less, for private sector profits. That’s not to say some future congress will return to the original idea of the programs, that will happen, it’s just that we didn't have to repeat the whole process FDR and Johnson fought so hard to create. It's the Republicans who wanted to kick that can down the road for the easy way out today.

Wouldn't it make more sense to lift the cap a little, or even a lot, to shore up SS. Why that’s not still a part of the plan is mystifying.

Fox News: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., fired off a statement: "In 2008, candidate Barack Obama told the American people that he would not cut Social Security.  Having him go back on his word will only add to the rampant political cynicism that our country is experiencing today."

Chained CPI-a provision to lower cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security: The inflation adjustment would reduce federal spending over 10 years by about $130 billion, according to past White House estimates. Because it also affects how tax brackets are adjusted, it would also generate about $100 in higher taxes and affect even middle income taxpayers.

The reductions in growth of benefit programs, which would affect veterans, the poor and the older Americans, is sure to anger many Democrats. 

Madison #2 in Country for Active Retirees. Protesting Walker is one Great Cardio Workout.

Let this be a warning, folks. Another example of how liberal policies keep luring unsuspecting seniors into our dark web of socialism.

Huffington Post: Rated by Forbes as one of the best cities for an active retirement,

older residents of Madison, Wisconsin take advantage of the city's many opportunities to spend time in nature, as well as enjoy attractions like the botanical gardens and museums.

Ranked #2 among large cities for successful aging by the Milken Institute, Madison also received high marks for good healthcare, wellness, and active community.

Thanks to America United, again.... 

Walker's "Victim, Blame and Excuses" Reelection Campaign Begins. Can't Take the Heat for Failed Governorship!

Scott Walker is starting to build up his "victim, blame and excuses" image early in his campaign. If he cow's the media, Walker could just get away with mismanaging state government, irresponsible spending and borrowing, and being near the bottom in job creation. Don't forget the tax cut bribe no ones gonna notice, but will certainly hear about endlessly on radio and TV.

Conservatives love to play the victim, and poor, poor Scotty can't seem to handle the oppositions criticism of his under performing administration. Has there ever been a weaker looking "leader."

The whiny groveling in his recent fund raising letter is embarrassingly pathetic:

jsonline-Dan Bice:  Gov. Scott Walker likes to tell people and politicians not to

Walker, Reckless Ranger Jacket?

"personalize your differences." But in his latest fundraising letter, the first-term Republican governor accuses his "vengeful" and "bitter" opponents of doing just that by making their fight with him "personal." He then predicted that those critics will "rant, rave, smear and distort" his message. "Our rivals are gearing up with their usual bad ideas and shameless TV attacks," writes Walker, who is penning a memoir entitled "Unintimidated." "They are bitter and vengeful and defeating me is personal for them."

Just the opposite, has anyone come across more "intimidated?" Our touring governor sure has it hard wielding complete control over state government and crushing the minority party with big money donors.

Walker's life didn't have to be this way, filled with ranting, raving, smearing, bitter, vengeful attacks. It's a world he created all by himself, and now the big bad Democratic Party and voters are coming to get him.

Walker Authority Targets Democratic Dane and Milwaukee Counties.

While Scott Walker's henchmen in the state legislature work to cut Milwaukee Counties Board in half and reduce its size, all the while trying to repeal residency rules, Walker is now playfully trying to screw up the legal system in Dane County.

Walker's first temper tantrum came in the form of his refusal to appoint replacement judges, because it wasn't certain they could win. Is any election like that? Don't answer that.

After an uproar, he relented a little by suggesting the placement of retired judges or attorneys in those open judge seats. Walker claimed no one would want to take a judge position knowing they might not get elected when they finally had to run. But isn't that how elections work?

Here's the story from WISC and WKOW:

Voucher Schools Don't Graduate More Students, Recent Updated Study Says.

This is all I'm hearing from right wingers. More kids graduated from voucher schools than public.

It's not true.

For Immediate Release: Study analysis shows voucher schools have no significant effect on high school, college attainment -Parental factors more important. In February 2012, the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) at the University of Arkansas released a study aimed at discerning whether Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP; voucher) school students in Milwaukee, who were enrolled in 8th and 9th grade in 2006, had higher graduation rates and college attainment rates than matched peers in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).

An updated version of the SCDP study was published in the Policy Studies Journal (PSJ) recently. The SCDP study authors acknowledge the study is only able to examine exposure to the voucher schools, as students who started in an MPCP school at 8th grade may have switched to an MPS school prior to graduation. That student would be counted as an MPCP graduate, and vice versa. There is no accounting for which students switched at what point and to/from what school. Third, only 44% of the MPCP sample remained in a voucher school through grade 12.

The study authors have also remained silent on the mischaracterization of their study findings by Milwaukee voucher school advocates. s. In addition, when factoring in parental characteristics, the effect of voucher school exposure on high school and college attainments disappear completely.-Forward Institute

Oral Sex Illegal? Will Repressive Virginia Law make criminals of us all?

You know, it’s not easy finding another job, in another state, upending the kids, packing up the van and get the hell out of Dodge. But what happens when a repressive Republican regime takes power and makes it illegal to have oral sex. What parent wants to expose their kids to a legal system that could criminalize them for life. Oral sex, really?

Jonathan Turley: Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has decided to continue the fight to preserve the state’s “crimes against nature” law that bans both oral and anal sex in both heterosexual and homosexual relations. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (considered by many to be the country’s most conservative circuit) struck down the law on obvious constitutional grounds. 

However, Cuccinelli has filed a motion for reconsideration to try to get that decision reversed. 

Glenn Grothman screaming for attention spews right wing lunacy about UW Chancellors Liberalism.

Senator Glenn Grothman (growth-men) is deeply troubled by the appointment of Rebecca Blank as the next Chancellor of UW Madison, Didn't she get the message Walker's fascist policies, handing control of everything over to business, is in full force now. So Grothman had to released the following statement. He' such a wonderfully open book:

“I was hoping the new chancellor would have three qualifications: One, unlike Biddy

Martin with her women’s studies background the new Chancellor would have an ideologically neutral background which would lead him or her to move UW Madison away from the stereotype of a left-wing university. Two, I was hoping we would get an overtly pro-business Chancellor who would try to connect with the business community turning the University into a better economic engine for the state. Three, I was hoping we would get a Chancellor who would look to make the University more efficient so that we could stop the spiraling tuition increases which are driving our young people deeper into debt –debt which will not be paid off until many are in their forties."

So what makes Blank so bad? She’s doesn't “serve” the business community.

“Instead we have the following: Rebecca Blank’s economic background is focused on poverty; her writings can be classified as far left. Her redistribution rhetoric is not only inconsistent with the goals of the business community, but should worry them."

I’m fascinated at how Republicans could slash the UW funding year after year, and then turn around and whine about outrageous tuition hikes to make up for lost revenues. They’re either conning us, or can’t connect the dots.

"UW-Madison had the opportunity to choose a Chancellor focused on entrepreneurship and prosperity policies, instead they have chosen a bureaucrat focused on policies that continue poverty ... She has declared war on the next generation by advocating for tuition increases, not only among more practical majors, but also on those who do not come from a low income background. If Rebecca Blank’s priorities are implemented, we would further hammer the middle and upper-middle classes with tuition increases in order to redistribute wealth."

Redistribute wealth to who..teachers? Wow. The age of creativity is past for Grothman, it’s now time to spend taxpayer money on training students for businesses who stand to reap the harvest, at the same time piling higher student loans on our future middle class.

Grothman is very clear about one thing; asking questions of our corporate/government authority is not encouraged. It’s creeping fascism plain and simple. Take it away Glenn:

The University needs someone who is an unabashed advocate for our free market system rather than someone whose writings question the free market’s morality. If the Board of Regents approves Blank it will force the legislature to enact protections for Wisconsin students.” 

That's a monetary threat, what some call blackmail.

Mortality Rate of Rural and Southern Women Rising.

Check out where women are least likely to survive in "the greatest nation in the world." Sparsely populated rural conservative voters now control our government by virtual of their district size, and it's there we're seeing women's mortality rates plummeting:

WonkBlog: There is a frightening graph in a recent article in Health Affairs by David Kindig and Erika Cheng. Kindig and Cheng looked at trends in male and female mortality rates from 1992–96 to 2002–06 in 3,140 US counties. What they found was that female mortality rates increased in 42.8% of counties (male mortality rates increased in only 3.4%). The counties are mapped below: red means that female mortality worsened.

Republican State Sen. Lasee can't prove Wind Farms Harm Health, so now he Demands Proponents Prove No Harm!

Republicans hate wind energy. The fact that it's free...they hate that. The one time cost of the turbines and connection to the grid is really all that's involved. Very little maintenance is required. It doesn't pollute, which over the long term save lives and reduces health care costs.

To their chagrin, Republicans have seen many of their arguments against wind energy fall flat on its "bird and­ bat deaths, the cost (which are now declining), and disrupting the appearance of natural landscapes (which I like)." -How Science Works
ass;

Proving the Negative-From the department of "How dumb do they think we are?" Sen. Frank Lasee (la'-say) now wants to reverse the burden of proof from opponents, to proponents of wind energy. Since there's no substantive proof wind turbines cause harm with inaudible low frequency sound (infrasound), he wants supporters of the job creating wind industry to prove his unprovable allegations are wrong.

Recent Testing: Currently, setbacks for wind turbines must be 1,250 ft. or greater. That's about a quarter of a mile. Recent testing was done and here's what happened:

WindWatch: The recently released sound study conducted at the Shirley Wind Farm in eastern Wisconsin did verify that sound levels in a home 1,280 feet away from one turbine could have caused the illnesses reported by the family that lived there. Two homes that were further away from the turbines (3,300 feet and 7,100 feet away) had limited or no low-frequency or infrasound detected by the sound tests.

3,300 ft. is over a half mile,which might be a compromise distance for both sides of the issue.

People who live near a highway or busy street may have trouble sleeping, which can lead to other health problems like irritability, anxiety, concentration and dizziness.

Beyond the skyline water based wind farms is another solution. If Frank Lasee really cared for his constituents, why not propose a bill instituting the latest noise canceling technology:

To solve this sound issue, new wind-power technology employs sound-dampening systems. Engineers are hoping that these newer systems -- which can block or cancel out multiple sound frequencies -- will reduce any sound-related problems associated with wind farm communities [source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft].

The truth is this isn't about the health affects, it's about a politically rigid ideology of the right, doing just what they say government shouldn't be doing; picking winners and losers.  

Conservative Elitists like Pat Robertson would love Americans to be "simple, humble" and believe in what their told.

While State Rep. Don Pridemore ran and lost his bid to become the state's schools superintendent on a platform of protecting our kids from the European plot to dumb down America with the common core standard, the religious right's Pat Robertson thinks we're not dumb enough. Gee, conservatives taking both sides of the education issue, big surprise. 

Rev. Pat Robertson appears to have isolated the reason for the decline in miracles and faith in general — education. In a recent answer to why there are more miracles in places like Africa.

Pat Robertson then described the perfect American:

"Overseas, their simple, humble. You tell ‘em God loves ‘em and they say, ‘Okay, he loves me’. You say God will do miracles and they say, ‘Okay, we believe him’.”

They just accept what you tell them.That's what conservatives want, dumber American voters, who will "just accept what you tell them." 

TPM: “People overseas didn’t go to Ivy League schools. We are so sophisticated, we think we’ve got everything figured out. We know about evolution, we know about Darwin, we know about all these things that say’s God isn’t real, we know about all this stuff.”

According to Robertson, it’s the “skepticism and secularism” that is being taught at “the most advanced schools” around the country that is keeping God’s miracles at bay. 

You say Scott Walker is creating jobs, and they say "Okay, we love and believe him."

Taxpayers picking up bill for Frac Sand Mining Costs, not companies.

I guess we’re supposed to be so grateful to have a frac sand mine in our community that we’d even offer to use taxpayer money to help restore the damaged area for them. That's what's happening:

WPR: A 2008 Department of Natural Resources report showed that 13 Wisconsin Counties were operating their reclamation programs at a deficit.

County Zoning Administrator David Gifford says they are not breaking even: “I would say at this time we are not covering 100 percent of the time that is invested into non-metallic mining.”

Corporate welfare for jobs? It looks like big business can smell the public's desperation.

Think Sequester Painless way to Cut Spending?

Republican voters seemingly unaffected by the sequester cuts are sabotaging the economic future and jobs creation abilities of the country.