Failing Charter Schools Turned into Voucher Schools, and ALEC's One-Size-Fits-All State Board to Take Local Education Control Away

The following from historian Dianne Ravich’s education blog is just one of many sites shining a light on all the schemes and cons already a part of the private schools system. Just think what it’ll be like 10 years from now.

ALEC advances the destruction of local school boards:

Julie Underwood, dean of the school of education at the University of Wisconsin, has been watching ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and warns that their agenda includes the elimination of local school boards.

School boards are a basic democratic institution. Some 95% are elected. They hire and fire superintendents and set each district’s policy goals. Most people would see them as an expression of local control, a place where citizens may voice their views.

But ALEC has a radical agenda of privatization, and the school boards get in the way. ALEC would like to see more vouchers and charters, and the creation of unelected state boards that can override local decision-making.

Parents know best? Did they know that failed Charter Schools are now great voucher schools? Come on parents, keep up:

Two low-performing for-profit Imagine charter schools in Fort Wayne, Indiana, were supposed to close because of their poor academic records. But instead of closing, they are merging with Horizon Christian Academy, where students will be encouraged to apply for vouchers.

Karen Francisco, the editorial page editor of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, says that we now know that school “reform” has nothing to do with accountability as this move enables failing charters to evade any accountability for their performance.

Meanwhile, some public schools in Indiana are closing because of budget cuts.

Deport Kids of Illegal Immigrants? Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Duffy and Ribble vote YES!

Deporting the children of illegal immigrants would seem like an unusually cruel act to many, but not to our own Republican representatives in Congress, who feel a need to discipline those they feel are undeserving. This is the authoritarian nature of a party hell bent on one party control of the country. And like in Wisconsin, Republicans have little tolerance for those who don’t fit their party profile.

Send the kids packing: I still can’t really wrap my mind around this very repugnant mean spirited act:

WSJ: ‘DREAM ACT’ DISPUTE: The House on June 6 voted, 224 for and 201 against, to block a year-old administration policy that achieves the objectives of the so-called Dream Act, a June 2012 executive order (preventing) (ICE) (from) deporting illegal aliens brought to America as children if they meet certain conditions. Among the terms are that they are now age 30 or younger, have been in the U.S. for at least five years, were under 16 when they arrived, have a clean record and have received a high school (or equivalent) degree or honorable military discharge.

A yes vote was to block an executive order in support of the Dream Act.Voting yes: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble

Voting no: Pocan, Kind, Moore

Here's Chris Hayes with this deplorable and bizarre story:

Let Parents Decide on a Curriculum? Vouchers turn "Public" Education into "Parent" Education. Who Needs Professional Educators?

Public Parent Education is the new norm. The uncomfortable reality is this; critics of the voucher movement cannot just come right out and say, "what do parents know about education?" We've been circling around that obvious question for years, because of the fragile ego's of parents who are sincerely concerned about their kids. 

As a parent of two boys, 11 and 14 year old, I'm seeing the process close-up by getting deeply involved in their class work and their teachers interactions. I'm not only impressed by their responses, but I'm also realizing teaching techniques and curriculum have dramatically changed from my days at school. And even then, I was a kid, what did I know about the process. Being away from school ten, twenty, or thirty years is a long time ago, and reason enough to call into question "parents know what's best."

Parents Know What's Best? Really?: A theme I've been harping on here, and may just be wildly offensive to some, is that parents don't know squat about education, and shouldn't be in charge of educating our kids...my kids especially. It's like saying parents know what's best about treating childhood illnesses, or developing  their own building safety codes. That's why we rely on "professionals," who specialize in specific areas that are continually being researched, like education. 

Voucher P.T. Barnum's want you to equate knowing your child's weaknesses and strengths in certain subjects to a degree in education and child psychology. Do we really want parents to decide curriculum?  Do we really want to completely discount the years of research? If you're honest...no.

I think that's why so many parents around the state, including conservatives, don't want to lose their top schools to profit driven private schools that spew "parents know what's best" drivel.  

The Con Man Cometh: Think I'm just making this stuff up? Check out what School Choice Wisconsin's Jim Bender is saying below. From WKOW and WPT's Here and Now: 

"If parents are given that ability to control what's going on in the education of their children, you take it away from the status qua, and there are people who don't want see that POWER taken away from the status qua." 

For conservatives, it all comes down to POWER and profits, not quality, data or research. It's pure projection. They want power without the responsibility of governing.

Parents will be in control alright, to pick schools based on advertising brochures, TV commercials, door fliers and junk mail. And voucher con artists will continue to appeal to a parents deepest insecurities about being a good mom or dad.  

Anyone else feel a little violated yet? If Jim Bender's final statement didn't send up any red flags or make you feel a little manipulated, then maybe you're the one who needs to go back to school:

"As the education establishment often does, they omit what parents want in the equation, and they're looking for other standards by which they can apply what THEY want to see happen, which is to retain control and retain power over education. We think that the parents should have that option. They just seem to conveniently forget, what do parents want to see happen in the state? And I think we need to have a conversation about what parents want in the state as opposed to what the "education establishment" want in the state."

You mean...education professionals? Yeah, what do they know?

Watch out for Walker's line item veto to remove the caps written into the budget bill that will send unlimited amounts of taxpayer money into the voucher program. 

Walker to crowd, "People looking into state from outside...have false impression...(that) what we've done is about austerity."

As a preview to his reelection and possible run for president, Scott Walker is laying the groundwork  for a media data base of searchable lies and fictions for future press coverage, and trying out his carefully orchestrated misinformation campaign to his party friendly crowds. They appear to eat this stuff up.

He's already created the fiction that what he's done is working, and that out-of-state folks have the wrong impression of his governing style. That they mistakenly think Walker is pushing austerity. Hey, don't you know "prosperity" when you see it? WKOW:



Walker's unimpressive work so far simply mirrors what every other governor has done-balanced their budget. And those revenue increases? Walker is benefiting from Obama's policies and the gradual recovery from the Great Recession. That's all.

While every economic indicator shows us 49 for growth and 44 for jobs, Walker misleads the gullible press with opinion surveys that rely on corporate CEO's rating Wisconsin tops for business. Pure hyperbolic hearsay. Show me the actual numbers.

Republican Attack continues on Center for Investigative Journalism, and may lead to other banned partnerships.

The Center for Investigative Journalism is a nonpartisan organization that offers its stories free to mainstream media outlets. It’s not liberal leaning in any way shape of form. But Republicans consider the cold hard truth, or the reality based competing story, as liberal. So it must be stopped, and can be if Republicans can sell the public on the absurd comparison to right wing groups like the MacIver Institute.

Rep. John Nygren said Democrats would support removing a news organization they viewed as being right-leaning.

Here's the latest from Greg Neumann at WKOW:

I'm going to agree with Charlie Sykes on this no brainer (so don’t give him too much credit):

Journal Times: A conservative radio talk show host … bashed a move to quash the Center for Investigative Journalism on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus … The state budget amendment would also prohibit UW employees from doing any work related to the news center.

WTMJ-AM radio host Charlie Sykes called the move ``a vindictive attack on a journalistic operation on ideological grounds.’’ Sykes said the budget provision ``should especially appall those of us in the conservative media.’’

``Imagine how we would have reacted if Jim Doyle and Democrat legislature had passed legislation targeting conservative talk radio or any of the independent new media watchdog groups that have arisen in recent years,’’ Sykes wrote.

He went on to praise the center, saying it does good work that irritates conservatives and liberals alike.  ``Part of its job is to harass and annoy those in power and ask difficult questions and that makes political enemies no both sides of the aisle,’’ Sykes said. ``That’s what a free press does.’’

Wal-Mart soaks Taxpayers for their Employee Health Care Coverage. They Blame Clinton for Raising Poverty Ceiling...couldn't resist Exploiting Public.

The shocking report below is even more so after reading Wal-Mart’s incredible response.

Bottom Line: Wal-Mart is using the Clinton era policy that raised Medicaid eligibility up to 300 percent of the poverty line to keep wages just under that mark to siphon taxpayer health care support for their employees. To a tune of over $1 million in Wisconsin. That’s the free market?

You've got to check out Wal-Mart’s response, it’s hilarious and an utter admission that hey, everybody else is trying to do it too. Although Wal-Mart makes a baseless claim the research is all wrong, it’s hard to argue with the Wisconsin’s “superior records” regarding Medicaid participation. Other state’s may not be exactly like Wisconsin, but some are, and some are worse or slightly better. Talk about splitting hairs.

Cap Times-Pat Schneider: Report: Wal-Mart costs taxpayers $1 million in worker safety net for each state store: Wal-Mart keeps wages and benefits low, relying on taxpayers to foot the bill for basic needs for its workers, according to a new study that used Wisconsin data to draw its conclusions. Assistance programs for Wal-Mart workers can run $904,542 to $1.74 million a year for each of the retail giant’s 75 super stores in Wisconsin, the congressional staff report found.

The report — which used Wisconsin data because of the state’s superior records on Medicaid participation — calculated the cost of a range of benefits programs, from health care to food stamps and housing subsidies and more for the number of workers likely to be eligible at a typical super store. 

This very odd spin from Forbes should appeal to low information teabillies everywhere who are afraid of "union thugs:"

The report drew criticism from Forbes as a vehicle for lobbying for initiatives to raise the minimum wage and make collective bargaining easier. But even that skeptical look took note of the report's "important" observation that the last 10 years have been a “lost decade” for working families, as their wages fell  to the lowest share of GDP on record and corporate profits rose to their greatest share. 

The report, “Wal-Mart’s The Low‐Wage Drag on Our Economy," drew renewed attention this week, with Mother Jones publishing a post Thursday noting that as the country's largest low-wage employer, Wal-Mart's policies are a driving force in keeping wages low.

Don’t laugh too hard over Wal-Mart’s unintentional admissionthe report is absolutely true when it comes to Wisconsin, and their childish attempt to blame Clinton for making it too easy for them to scam taxpayers:

Wal-Mart calls the congressional report inaccurate and based on unrealistic scenarios.

In a 2005 paper, Jason Furman, an Obama administration adviser, noted that President Clinton’s welfare reform law changed public assistance programs to focus on helping working families, increasing Medicaid eligibility by as much as 300 percent above the poverty line. Furman also indicated that the percentage of Walmart associates on Medicaid is similar to the percentage for other large retailers and comparable to the national average of 4 %.

President Bill Clinton, “changed the nature of social assistance in America, shifting from assistance to the non-working indigent to assistance that supports families who work…. In some states, Medicaid eligibility extends up to as much as 200 percent of the poverty line for parents and 300 percent of the poverty line for children.”

See, soaking the taxpayers for Wal-Mart's health care coverage is all President Clinton’s fault. 

Republicans Exploiting and Politicizing Health Care via the Plight of a 10 Year Old Girl!

Here’s a story my conservative friend in Milwaukee has been haranguing me about for awhile now. So I looked it up, and oops, he’s wrong again. Big surprise.

And the conservative source taking my Republican friend to task for his reason to hate Obamacare? The National Review. No summary from me, the story speaks for itself, but it does show how conservatives will try to politicize everything, even the life of a ten year old girl:

Mona Charen: The parents of ten-year-old Sarah Murnaghan have made her an Internet and cable-news celebrity in a desperate effort to get her on the adult list for a lung

transplant is completely understandable.

The story, however, has loosed a torrent of demagoguery — some of it coming from the very people who should be most alarmed about the politicization of cases like Sarah’s and of health care generally. Talk radio and TV have been ringing with strident and even hysterical accusations that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is “letting this little girl die,” or “choosing who will live and who will die.” Some are linking Sebelius’s supposed callousness to the terrible, politicized rationing of health care that Obamacare will inaugurate.

This is all backwards. The people calling upon Sebelius to intervene and grant a waiver from the usual rules regarding children and transplants are the ones urging the politicization of medical care — at least in this case. They would be the ones responsible for setting a terrible precedent. The lesson would be this: If you can muster public pressure through social media, the press, and politicians, your loved one can get an advantage over others waiting for a lung or kidney or liver. Photogenic patients or those with media-savvy or even politically well-connected relatives would go to the head of the line. That is exactly what conservatives ought to fear.

It may well be that the rules about eligibility for lung transplants need an overhaul. As Sebelius noted, 222 people are waiting for lung transplants in Sarah’s region alone, including six children aged ten and younger. Nationally, about 1,700 people are waiting for lung transplants, including 31 children ten and younger. Lung transplants are very high risk — only 50 percent of recipients survive longer than five years.

Deciding who among the desperately sick should get a lung or other organ when they become available is managed by a nonprofit called the United Network for Organ Sharing.

The following point made me think of time when an opponent of Obamacare takes Sebelius’ place, and politicizes who gets treatment and who doesn't…for real.

Sebelius has agreed to order a review of the policy that separates pediatric and adult cases, but those pressing her to help one particular patient are corrupting the system. This kind of politicization of medical care is one of the chief objections to Obamacare. Kathleen Sebelius isn’t in control of whether Sarah Murnaghan lives or dies. But if Obamacare is fully implemented, she and her successors will have such power over all of us.

Will of the Voters denied, Gov. Chris Christie appoints Republicans to Democratic seat! Any Republican, tea party or conservative Outrage?

I'm so tired of the hypocrisy on display day after day, of Republican politicians and voters who constantly scream about the "will of the people," but never broadly apply those same standards to themselves. What will it take for the media to notice?

This part of the Gov. Chris Christie story, appointing a Republican to take a Democratic seat, is not getting any attention...until now.

On WPR's morning show, host Joy Cardin asked Dan Kapanke (kuh-PANG-kee), former Republican State Senator from La Crosse, if Christie did the right thing; of course he agreed without hesitation. 

Thankfully, Kathleen Falk, former Dane County Executive, pushed back asking Kapanke why that was fair when the will of the people elected a Democrat to that seat. Republicans would have been screaming bloody murder if a Democratic governor pulled a similar stunt:

Latest Fabrication: Obama Court Packing Power Play.

Republican filibusters have kept George W. Bush’s courts unchanged and very conservative. The fact that Republicans believes U.S. "law" leans very conservative allows them the cover of supporting judges who mistakenly make outrageously conservative declarations and judgement.  

Their attack on Obama for his insistence Republicans approve or deny nominee’s, is getting downright destructive to the judicial branch of government. Here are a few jaw dropping details reported by Media Matters:

Filibuster Reform Has Right-Wing Media Frantically Condemning Judicial "Power Play": By shamelessly repeating Sen. Chuck Grassley's debunked analogy that the 

president's current nominations to the important U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit are a "type of court-packing reminiscent of FDR's era," right-wing media appear to be running out of excuses for rampant Republican obstructionism.

This "radical and different" treatment of the president's nominees as opposed to that of past Republican presidents has led to the real possibility that Senate rules will be changed in July.

Grassley and now Rep. Tom Cotton have introduced bills that would block the president's nominations by eliminating the vacant seats -- literally court-packing in reverse. 

The Wall Street Journal similarly warned that the president wanted judges who "rubber stamp liberal laws," leading him to his "flood-the-zone strategy" for the D.C. Circuit, "a liberal power play that shows contempt for traditional political checks and balances."

Breitbart.com is breathlessly proclaiming the nominations show "Obama has declared war on judicial independence" and is "trying to declare law by executive fiat."

As American Enterprise Institute scholar and congressional expert Norm Ornstein reported, Grassley's court-packing rhetoric made him "laugh out loud" at the absurdity of the comparison: “I remain deeply uneasy about a nuclear option … But if senators who know better … continue to obstruct nominations, they and their colleagues will be the ones responsible for the damage done.”

How can you describe any of the following Republican picks as “impartial,” when they've made comments that show a “complete contempt for traditional political checks and balances?”

The last three Republican presidents actually have been quite successful at "flood-the-zone" strategies. The ensuing right-wing tilt of the federal judiciary, especially at the upper levels, has been dramatic.

Take the Reagan-pick Judge David Sentelle, currently on the heavily conservative D.C. Circuit the president is trying to balance, whose latest shocking decision overthrew decades if not centuries of precedent in order to disallow the president further recess appointments. Or his possibly more extreme colleague, Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who has criticized New Deal programs as "the triumph of our own socialist revolution" and formally advocated for a rejection of the results of the "democratic process" that led to such progressive legislation, a blend of "political and judicial roles" that even conservative legal experts have balked at. 

Just this week it was reported that at an unrecorded Federalist Society speech, Judge Edith H. Jones of the Fifth Circuit - another Reagan nominee - allegedly claimed "blacks and Hispanics were more prone than others to commit violent crimes and that a death sentence was a service to defendants because it allowed them to make peace with God." Jones has been repeatedly pushed by right-wing media as suitable for the Supreme Court.

NEWSMAX headline shocker: Sarah Palin's reaction to Nat. Sec. Adviser Susan Rice- "America, we are so screwed."

Another brilliant piece of analysis, that's not a bit incendiary or a sop to the teabilly base.

But NEWSMAX isn't the only reliable media outlet coming from the alternative conservative reality. Palin's source for dazzling political commentary should be a warning to everyone:

Palin goes on to cite articles from TheBlaze.com, Breitbart.com, and Townhall.com

that should "help wake up Obama supporters who naively and blindly (despite failure after failure and scandal after scandal) continue to give him the benefit of the doubt."

Palin called Rice and (UN ambassador) Samantha Power Obama's "chosen ones."

Never one to let her genius or snappy statements go unnoticed, Palin repeats her punchline for the many teatards who didn't get it the first time:

"Nah, America... I shouldn't have prefaced this post with a warning to hang on because 'we're in for a helluva' ride.' Sorry. That was crass and inaccurate. I should have just said about Obama's judgment and unchecked power, 'America, we are so screwed.'"

Proof, Walker turned down Medicaid Expansion for Purely Political Reasons, and believe it or not, he wants to Run on his Record?

Here’s what Walker clearly said recently to USA Today that utterly betrays his ruthless self-centered plan to advance his career:

Walker, vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association, warns it could be dangerous for governors who were elected with the help of Tea Party supporters to facilitate the law. After all, opposition to Obamacare drew many of those voters into politics.

"I think for the handful who have taken it, on other issues they've been very strong," he says. "If that was the one blemish in their minds, maybe alone it wouldn't (hurt), but if it's part of a series of things, quite possibly" it would.

While Walker supporters insist that liberals stop their whining and accept the election results, they don’t seem to feel the same way about Obama or the Constitutionality of Obamacare:

Walker says, "Clearly, there was an overall sentiment in the country and state-by-state of frustration that government had grown out of control, particularly after the health care act and other things," he says.

This is the most ridiculous statement yet, and easily Walker’s Achilles Heel. I can't believe he's even bringing this up:

"For all of us who were elected for the first time in '10, running again in '14 - if we can show that things are markedly improved both economically and fiscally in our states, I think it's a pretty compelling case going forward."

Walker continues to blame the protests for poor consumer demand and slow business growth. I’m still mystified by that. Does he really think businesses put themselves on hold until they were sure Walker returned as governor? This was an austerity agenda, stripping public employees of their discretionary cash:

He blames the disruption of the recall election and the uncertainty it created for small-business owners and other employers. "We lost about a year, a year and a half of time of really aggressive job growth because of their reaction and the recall," the governor says, sitting for an interview in a gazebo overlooking the river. "I hope things continue to pick up. The good news is that we're accelerating."

In the middle of Walker's third year and he’s “hoping things continue to pick-up?” The map above doesn't’ show acceleration. 

Kleefisch Bow Hunting near Schools bill renamed Deer Collision Reduction Act. Stop Laughing....

Congratulations Rep. Joel Kleefisch, for giving us the dumbest and most misleading name for a bill yet this year.

Trying to steer attention away from bow hunting next to schools, madman of the Assembly, the disheveled and whacked out husband of our air-headed Lt. Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, decided car deer collisions might just get somebody's attention and votes.

You can’t make this stuff up:

The Wisconsin State Assembly passed Assembly Bill 8, the Deer Collision Reduction Act,

on a bi-partisan voice vote. 

Bi-partisan? I would like to know what Democrat voted for this lunatic’s attempt to bow hunt near schools.

Representative Joel Kleefisch is the lead author of the Deer Collision Reduction Act, which seeks to curb the number of motor vehicle deer crashes in the state by increasing the opportunities archery enthusiasts will have to hunt deer on their property. “Bow hunting is a safe and effective management tool that can be used to help manage the population and ultimately reduce the instances of motor vehicle collisions.” Kleefisch said.

It’s safe, even near schools. Anyone want to volunteer their kids or school and test this genius' theory?  

Republicans have the UW right where they want them, running deficits by 2015.

I don’t think it mattered how much the UW tucked away, $648 million in reserves for current and future spending, because Republicans would have been outraged no matter what.

Grovel at their feet: It all comes down to insecurity. Republicans need to feel respected and wanted. The only way to do that is to make everyone so desperate that they would beg and plead for help from our conservative authoritarian overseers.

They will have that by breaking the back of the state's premier university:

jsonline: The University of Wisconsin System would sustain $202 million in cuts, funding transfers and unfunded expenses if the state budget advanced by the Legislature's budget-writing committee stays intact, according to a UW System analysis … the "significant cuts" by the Joint Finance Committee would create an ongoing structural deficit of $62 million in the UW System's annual operating budgets beginning in fiscal 2015-'16. The Joint Finance Committee … also took control away from the Board of Regents over many of its campus buildings, largely supporting the governor's move to gain broader authority to sell state buildings.

UW buildings not funded by at least 50% in private donations or federal dollars could potentially be sold, including dormitories, parking ramps and student unions, all of which are self-supporting, and built with student fees.

Rest assured they'll sell off university property, look how they got back at Milwaukee. And this is what the founding fathers envisioned? 

Gov. Scott “Humpty Dumpty” Walker bestows “empowerment” and “dignity” on Jobless by taking away their Unemployment. He cares too much….

Scott Walker is filled with Humpty Dumptyisms. What’s that? From Wiktionary: "The practice of insisting that a word means whatever one wishes it to."

This great line from “Through the Looking-glass” says it all:

Humpty Dumpty replies "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."

Walker goes beyond Humpty Dumpty's word play though, by including phrases and concepts. Which brings me to the following unexplainable, explanation. WKOW:

Humpty Walker: "Ultimately the best thing that we can do for people who are unfortunately in a difficult position today is find ways to empower them through the dignity that comes from work, to ensure that they're only temporarily dependent on the government supports we provide."

Inspired yet? Can anyone make sense of Walker's upside down reason to kick people off unemployment, just so businesses are off the hook from paying more into the insurance fund?

Republicans all but guarantee Student Loan rates will go up, wiping out their discretionary spending and depress future economies.

If Republicans succeed in tying the student loan interest rates to the financial markets, parents and students alike will have only their conservative politicians to blame. Oddly, if history tells us anything, Republicans will get of scot free. Here's what it means in dollars:

jsonline: The failure comes with just three weeks before interest rates increase on those loans back to 2008 levels. For students who max out their student loans, the rate shift means a $1,000 increase each year.

Republican State Rep. Dale Kooyenga dismisses Wisconsin's 49th Place Ranking in Economic growth and Recovery. "I talked to a lot of families, who feel like we're turning a corner here."

Taking relativism to new breathtaking levels, bad accountant State Rep. Dale Kooyenga compared the most recent index from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, to CEO opinion polls and the hearsay comments from "a lot of families." What a way to dismiss Wisconsin's poor economic outlook ranking of 49th from the Fed. It's all the same...



Oh, here's the actual index, as reported in the Journal Sentinel....you might have noticed that there are a few "red states" not doing so well.

The question remains; will all this be forgotten during Walker's reelection? It's not like this ranking is the only failing grade for Walker:

The most accurate reading of the state's employment trends show Wisconsin ranks at No. 44 in private-sector job creation in the most recent 12-month period. In the same time frame, also using accurate data,Wisconsin ranks as the nation's fifth worst in terms of the erosion in private-sector wages, in which the state's 2.2% decline is twice the rate of the national 1.1% average.

Republican Sen. Dale Schultz Blasts Budget..."It Smacks of the kind of Tactics you'd expect from Vladimir Putin."

This is a must listen to audio from WPR's Joy Cardin's morning radio show. State Sen. Dale Schultz took on his fellow Republicans with a blistering assessment of their late night back room budget dealings. If only one Democrat could be this honest, this blunt! Schultz kicks ass basically.

Republican Wise Ass Rep. Dale Kooyenga's advice to rich who don't want tax cut; give it to charity.

Where do bad accountants go, like Dumb Ron Johnson? Into politics of course. We've got another one. More on that shortly.

It seems Republicans can’t stop making condescending comments to the public. As adults, we should be getting fed up with this stuff.

On WPR’s Joy Cardin radio program, a caller who made over $100,000 a year complained she didn't need the tax cut, and that it should have been geared to those with much lower incomes.

On his way to pose for holy pictures, accountant and Republican Rep. Dale Kooyenga called in to give his self-righteous advice to the concerned carry citizen; give the surplus to her church or charity:

Kooyenga could have targeted to those tax cuts to those who really needed them. Instead, he broadly gave them out to the wealthy who’ll obviously get the most money back:

A memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau showed almost 55 percent of the tax cut would go to people who make more than $100,000 or more.  

Kooyenga’s response? 

"We are just giving back what people have paid us, and it's in proportion to what was paid, nothing more, nothing less."

He could have easily suggested taking that unwanted surplus and hand it over to his reelection campaign.

Walker's Wisconsin ranked 49th in Nation for economic growth.

Scott Walker continues to show the nation just how NOT to run government...unless you're trying to not just make government smaller, but incompetent as well. 

jsonline: In the latest economic indicator that casts Wisconsin in a negative light, the Badger state ranks 49th in the nation in the most recent index from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. "Wisconsin clearly is not leading the recovery," said William Delwiche, an economist in Milwaukee at Robert W. Baird & Co.

The Philadelphia Fed data is from its monthly state-by-state index of leading economic growth indicators, and is meant to predict how the state's economy will grow in the next six months. The 50-state Leading Index report for April showed only five states with contraction, assigning Wisconsin an index rank of -0.74%. Wyoming, with a rank of -1.29%, is the only state with a lower index.

Of course, it’s always good to protect the guilty, just in case  they run for president….

And the Philadelephia Fed's report is imperfect. 

Republican Hypocrites!! Concern over massive Student loan Debt in State, a mismatch for Rate Hike by Congressional Republicans.

Thank you Scott Walker, for freezing student tuition at the UW, and draining the surplus fund for new buildings and academics. That'll teach em. Soon they'll be begging once again for any kind of handout, or at least no funding cuts. Student debt is out of control, making life difficult once they're out in the job market and on the line for monthly payments. Thank god Walker has come to their rescue. From Channel3000:



But on a national level, Republicans don't seem to give a rats-ass about how much students end up pay for their student loans, if they're adding to big bank profits. Rachel Maddow points out how Republicans are unsuited for policy right now: 

EdWeek: Unless lawmakers act by July 1, interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans, available to those demonstrating financial need, will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. The same scenarioplayed out last summer, and students were able to persuade Congress to keep rates low—but just for one year.