Undecided Voters want Answers...?

Finally, thanks to Lawrence O'Donnell, I am now able to feature this Saturday Night Live bit on undecided voters.

Ohio continues early voting, but at very limited ridiculous hours.

If you ever wanted to prove Republicans were trying to suppress the vote, the following example should be it. Lawrence O'Donnell shows how creative the Republican Secretary of State in Ohio is at avoiding a directive from the Supreme Court. Amazing stuff:

The old saying "The bane of my existence" now U.S. policy, as in Bain Capital.

The whole outsourcing debate isn't really a debate anymore, it's now a necessary evil in our global economy. We don't have a choice, so what's all the whining about? Many Americans just hope they won't see $1 an hour jobs while they're in the workplace. But our kids...well, at least we won't leave the large deficits? Even that won't be true.

The days of being a good corporate citizen are over now, since discovering community outreach programs, local support of public facilities and area sports teams weren't necessary to their success. 

In fact, it's just the opposite. With conservative pundits and radio talkers more concerned with vilifying liberal policy, they don't seem at all concerned that the following party attitude will drain the U.S. of its buying power, cause the deaths of its citizens, see a decline in educating the public, leave our seniors homeless and humiliated, avoid social responsibility, and protect corporations from the whims of any political party. 

MSNBC: In his book “Unintended Consequences,” Edward Conard, the former Bain Capital partner and an outspoken supporter of Romney, championed offshoring as a way to improve cost-efficiency and deliver value to consumers:

"Let’s not kid ourselves about just how cheap offshore labor really is. We not only pay substantially less per hour, we also avoid the costs we would incur if these workers immigrated here. We don’t pay for their medical expenses when they show up in the emergency room without insurance. We don’t pay for their pension costs if they don’t save for retirement. We don’t pay for their children’s public education. Nor do we pay for their out-of-wedlock children, their unemployment benefits and workers’ compensation, their slip and fall torts, their wear and tear on our public infrastructure, and the cost of their drunk driving, drug use and other crimes. We outsource pollution, its adverse effects on our health, and its clean-up costs. Neither the employees nor their employers are here to vote and seek political handouts."

Walker's Voter ID Suppression Law makes it harder to background check registration workers.

Thanks to the new voter ID law passed by Scott Walker, background checks on voter registration workers is a whole lot more difficult and no longer centralized. But what the heck, that nonexistent problem we had with workers signing people up to vote in multiple districts was just too much...to count?

Now we've got more chaos from the unintended consequences of passing purely partisan ideological laws.     

jsonline: Three felons - including one man convicted of multiple counts of forgery - have had their status revoked as voter registration workers in Milwaukee and have been referred to county prosecutors after the Journal Sentinel flagged their criminal backgrounds to city officials.

Here’s the problem:

Neil Albrecht, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said his agency does not run criminal background checks on deputies when they are signed up…

Who hatched this nonsensical law to prevent…what?

As part of legislation requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls, Republican legislators and Gov. Scott Walker last year changed state law to make it harder for voter registration workers to move between communities in Wisconsin … But makes it harder for watchdogs such as the Journal Sentinel to easily gather information about who is now doing voter registration work.

The old system needed to change? Yes, too many people voted.

Previously, a volunteer or worker seeking to register voters in more than one community could simply get training from the state Government Accountability Board and be certified to register voters across the entire state rather than in a single community. Now these workers don't have that option and have to go to clerks or election officials in each of Wisconsin's roughly 1,800 municipalities to work in those jurisdictions, no matter how small.

That scatters the records on who is serving as registration deputies in clerk's offices around the state and makes it harder to run checks on them as the newspaper did in 2010.

Not hiding it anymore, for Scott Walker, things go better with Koch.

With corporate power about to take control, Scott Walker knows he no longer has to go through all the trouble of hiding his tight and subservient connections to the brothers Koch.

jsonline: Gov. Scott Walker is the "special guest" at a New York City fundraiser Nov. 1 that is co-hosted by billionaire businessman and conservative activist David Koch, the Huffington Post reports today. Attendees paying $2,500 can get their photo taken with Walker at the luncheon fundraiser for the New York State Republican Party. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative foundation funded by David Koch and his brother Charles, paid for a pro-Walker TV ad campaign during the recall campaign against Walker.
 

New Medicare Facts Trash Thompson/Ryan plans!!!

Forget the senate race for a moment. I want to highlight two facts revealed in a recent article about that race pitting Rep. Tammy Baldwin against former Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Thompson just released his irresponsible plan to remake Medicare into something similar to the federal employee plan. Not a good idea! According to the article, he didn't know whether his latest plan will save recipients or the federal government money. Is he senile?

Right off the bat Tommy crushes seniors with higher costs. Brilliant. Here's what would happen:

WSJ: The organization reported that the data analysis and interviews with experts showed the federal employee plan "had not held down costs per enrollee as efficiently as Medicare during the past decade."

A side-by-side evaluation of Medicare and the federal employee health insurance program done in September found the federal plan grew by an average of 7.1 percent per enrollee per year compared to a 5.8 percent average growth rate for traditional Medicare.

According to Thompson: "This is a plan by Paul Ryan, I've modified it. I think my plan is better." Great plan Tommy.

The graphs and additional costs discussed below are all based on Ryan's premium support model, and NOT the current system. Private bidding will affect both traditional and private plans.

Paul Ryan's plan crushes seniors too: Ryan's plan includes the option to stay in the traditional plan, or take premium support. He's used that change to confuse and avoid the real numbers. Sorry Paul, the numbers came out last week:

click picture to enlarge

Last week, a Kaiser Family Foundation study concluded that under Ryan's plan, 59 percent of retirees and the disabled on Medicare would pay more for health care, ranging from hundreds to thousands more per year, depending on where they live. In Wisconsin, 10 percent of Medicare recipients would pay at least $100 more per month, the study predicted.

The simple question reporters never ask: "If Medicare is going broke; is too expensive now; and doesn't pay out enough to retain health care providers, how can reducing government premiums save the program, without costing more for seniors and shedding even more providers?"

Magic? A bidding war between providers to take on very high risk seniors?

Sadly, the huge number of conservative low information voters will "all be surprised" when they finally realize what Medicare reform really means.

After Squeezing the life out of Badgercare, the state is running a surplus. Smart.

After Scott Walker set Wisconsin up for a downhill slide into mediocrity, and that's if we're lucky, the state revenues are up thanks to President Obama's recovery efforts...I'm sorry, thanks to Walker's dreadful jobs record.

Part of the state surplus is now is headed into the rainy day fund apparently:

Rep. Joel Kleefisch: “The Department of Administration announced on Monday that the state finished the fiscal year with a surplus of $342 million. Governor Walker promptly deposited $108.7 million of that in the state’s rainy day fund – the largest such deposit ever.

Do we really need to keep pointing out the obvious?”

I guess so Joel…

The system of managed care for the almost 300,000 children and adults covered by BadgerCare Plus in southeastern Wisconsin may be crumbling. The state cut payment rates to the managed care organizations by 11% in 2011 and then again this year as it struggled to balance its budget.

So yeah, we've got a surplus. Now we know how important revenue surpluses are to business friendly Republicans. Gee I wonder what “job creator” needs a "free market" government handout. 

European Union demands privatization of water supplies in return for future bailouts.

Mitt Romney as president will insist on exploiting government land for every natural resource they can make money on, including oil of course. Drilling rigs are fairly decorative, aren't they?

But what many of us would never consider up for grabs in the privatization movement, water for instance, is now “on the market.” In Europe of all places too.

Thom Hartmann sent this out in his daily email, and should serve as a warning to all of us that we’re just a breath away from having no freedoms at all, unless there’s a profit in it for someone.

The Nobel Prize winning European Union is trying to force indebted nations to privatize critical natural resources. The European Commission is insisting that privatization of municipal water supplies must be a condition to receive future bailouts. As in, if nations like Greece, Portugal, and Spain want to receive bailouts in the future - then they have to hand of their most critical resources - like water - over to transnational corporations to run for profit.

Several organizations including Food & Water Europe and the Blue Planet Project have pushed back against these demands. As the Directors of European Affairs with Food & Water Europe said about the privatization demands, "This really demonstrates how the Commission has lost touch with reality. Their ideological arguments are not based on substantiated facts and goes to the extreme of ignoring the democratic will of the people." A letter has been sent to the Vice President of the European Commission, calling for the privatization plan to be ditched.

The battle happening right now - and well into the future - will be over our commons. And we must make sure that "We the people" remain the stewards of our commons - and not transnational corporations looking to exploit resources for a profit.
 

Ryan and Romney Treat Women like special needs workers.

The bottom line: equal pay for equal work. It’s not about “flexible hours” or other perceived Republican drawbacks to hiring women.  In fact, according to this headline, “800,000 more women than men on payrolls in January 2010.”

Perhaps we should treat men the same way...?   

I don’t know about you, but when I started reading the following comments from Paul Ryan about helping women in the workplace, my blood began to boil. How much will women take from this condescending "leader" of the war on women?

ABC News: Ryan then talked about job skills and training and how that can help women seeking employment. “Now, what we need is a growing economy that gives people more flexibility in their schedules, adding that states should customize their own job training programs “to meet the unique needs of women.”

“What so many women need is the ability to have flexibility,” Ryan said. “Especially if you’re women with children, you want to have flexibility to have the kind of a job that gives you the ability to meet all of your needs and your family. That’s what job training skills are all about, that’s what growth is all about.”  Ryan said, “Most women get their jobs from successful small businesses,” and promised a Romney-Ryan administration would help grow those businesses, which he said are more flexible about many women’s schedules.

Ryan assumes small businesses are more flexible. Really, is Ryan guaranteeing that? Or are small businesses going to offer “flexibility” out of the goodness of their hearts when they're not pursuing the almighty dollar? Don't hold your breath.

But even more insulting is the way Ryan treats women’s jobs like low paying entry level positions. We certainly can’t expect big corporations to hire women with all of their special needs, can we?

“We’ve got to champion small businesses which are the kinds of companies that have flexible job schedules that women can get easily back in to the work force. Most people don’t get their jobs from the really big corporations, they get their jobs from successful small businesses,” Ryan said. “And of all the things we can do to get women back into the workforce, get them the skills they need, get an economy, and help those small businesses bring them back into the work force so they can provide for themselves and their families.”

Yes, we have to prepare women first. Not surprisingly, equal pay never came up:

Ryan never mentioned pay equity; However, after the debate, the Romney campaign also wavered on the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act with Romney adviser Ed Gillespie first telling reporters after the debate Romney “was opposed to” the proposed legislation “at the time,” but would not repeal it once in office. The next day Gillespie said he was wrong, and Romney “never weighed in on it,” and if Romney became president he would not repeal it. In Congress, Ryan voted against the Ledbetter Act.

I think this comment summed up what Ryan was really say, ‘I’m here to serve business:”

Today, Ryan said his job in the House of Representatives has “always been to listen to our employers.”

Thank you for that shocking admission! By the way, the above article was written by a woman, Shushanna Walshe. Guess she didn't notice? 

Isn't it about time the Boy Scouts banned straight white guys?

How will Republicans ever explain this one?

Advocate: Again and again, decade after decade, an array of authorities police chiefs, prosecutors, pastors and local Boy Scout leaders among them quietly shielded scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children, a newly opened trove of confidential papers shows.

That the list makes no distinction between pedophiles and volunteers declared ineligible solely because of their sexual orientation shows the Scouts perpetuated the stereotype that gay people are compulsive pedophiles. That assertion is plainly false, but it hasn't stopped conservative pundits from also feeding the lie as reason to back a gay ban in Scouting. 

Romney flip flops four times in four days on Lily Ledbetter Fair pay Act. Presidential?

I can’t believe how the press continues to bend over backwards to give the benefits of the doubt to Republicans misstatements, lies and back tracking.

In a series of non-story coverage, ABC News actually posted this mindless eye rolling nonsense:

The courting of female voters has intensified since … Tuesday, with the candidates pivoting to focus on women after Romney’s “binders full of women” comment, as well as some waffling by a Romney senior adviser on the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was even asked about jobs for women at his town hall here Thursday … Ryan was asked by a female attendee if his ticket had “any plan in place for jobs specifically for women.”

He immediately answered much as his running mate has in the past: “Get the economy growing, number one.”

Really, that’s an answer? More importantly…that’s a story?

Yet the real story is even more surreal and insulting. Here’s what really happened, and what the “female attendee” will never see covered seriously. If voters were exposed to the Romney campaign follow-up to the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, they would abandon these hucksters in a heartbeat:

Scott Walker on WEDC: "Being a good steward of taxpayer money...is my top priority." Liar!

Here's the followup report from WKOW's Greg Neumann, on WEDC's continued administrative problems reported here a few days ago. Republicans and Scott Walker were warned, and this is only two years into their political mutiny:

On Wednesday, outgoing Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Secretary and CEO Paul Jadin told members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that they should know more about what his agency is up to. But, he apparently had no intention of publicly telling them anything about this most recent problem. In more than 30 minutes of testimony, Jadin didn't mention anything about how the WEDC failed, for more than a year, to keep track of $8.2 million dollars in loans it paid out to 99 Wisconsin businesses.

"This hearing went on late into the night, and so he didn't decide to mention that until we were all gone. It doesn't smell right," said Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee), who sits on the JLAC.

Voter Suppression Billboards an Embarrassing Con!

While the courts strike down voter suppression laws that deal the mythical idea of "voter fraud," right wing radio talk hosts are of course, doubling down. They are the designated voices in the Republican echo chamber, willingly broadcasting to an exclusive audience of pliable paranoid minds.

Devoid of idea's and policies that appeal to a majority of voters, suppression is the easiest of scams. Listen to the following audio message from WIBA's Vicki McKenna, who breathlessly splatters a endless stream of disconnected words and idea's together, that to a conservative listener, makes perfect sense:

Vicki McKenna kisses another bottom feeder...

And to think I had I sat across from her for an entire year...

Next door in Minnesota, elected officials have seen their share of voter suppression billboards:

“The proposition that Minnesota leads the nation in voter fraud is laughable. If anything, we lead the country in successful prosecutions,” said Ramsey County Elections Manager Joe Mansky. “This (Voter Photo ID) proposal that will go on the ballot deterred none of the cases that we prosecuted.”

Mansky was responding to a question by WCCO-TV’s Pat Kessler about a freeway billboard outside of the Twin Cities which erroneously alleges that Minnesota leads the nation in voter fraud.

If the picture to the right doesn't tell the whole story, check out this video coverage from WCCO-TV, who is at least attempting to get the word out about the right wings voter suppression tricks.Remember that despite the fact that voting is a constitutional right, supposed "constitutional conservatives" want to take that right away. Go figure:

Paul Ryan turns everything into political poison.

The divide and conquer strategy adopted by the Republican Party has destroyed whatever it was that united us.

So is it any surprise a simple exploitative visit by huckster Paul Ryan would resulted in what might have been unthinkable 10 years ago; the loss of charitable donors?  

Ryan brings along a little toxic poison to his St. Vincent visit!

Gawker: ‘Substantial’ Donor Losses for Soup Kitchen in Aftermath of Paul Ryan’s Embarrassing Photo Op: Most voters may have already put Paul Ryan's faker-than-usual soup kitchen photo op in their rearview, but the charity that runs the hunger relief center says it is still dealing with the financial ramifications of "Dishwatergate."

Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society president Brian J. Antal said "I can't say how much [in] donations we lost," Antal said, but noted that financial losses have been "substantial."

Walker Destroys Badgercare Plus by Cutting Rates!

While Republicans whine about Obamacare’s rate cuts to doctors in Medicare, saying seniors will soon find themselves without a doctor to see, they’re doing just that in Wisconsin’s Medicaid program Badgercare. Hypocrites beyond words…

jsonline- Guy Boulton: The system of managed care for the almost 300,000 children and adults covered by BadgerCare Plus in southeastern Wisconsin may be crumbling. The state cut payment rates to the managed care organizations by 11% in 2011 and then again this year as it struggled to balance its budget.

At issue: At least three of the four organizations managing the BadgerCare Plus program in the region say they are losing money on it. One of the organizations, United HealthCare, is dropping its contract with the state at the end of this month. Now a second, Molina Healthcare Inc., is warning it may soon have to do the same, for the same reason.

I’m on Badgercare, so I’m familiar with the new rate structure, one that already charges larger co-pays. If they get any larger, there will be only a slight difference between private rates and Medicaid’s. And rate increases are already on their way. This is what will happen to block granted Medicare plans pushed by Republicans too.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said it is working to develop rates for next year to ensure that adequate networks are in place. BadgerCare Plus, a Medicaid program, covers families with children under 19 that have incomes of less than 200% of the federal poverty threshold - or about $46,100 for a family of four. By federal law, the state must pay the health insurers rates that are based on their expected costs.

And that apparently isn't happening so, I guess you could correctly say, the Walker Authority is breaking the law, again.

Ben Stein Blows Fox News Hosts Minds with Talk of Tax Increases

Ben Stein openly apologized to Fox News for suggesting the necessity of balancing the budget by including tax increases. Just amazing stuff:

Hearkening in the new Gilded Age with Employer Voter Intimidation.

Ed Schultz and John Nichols take a look at the latest conservative ploy to take down the country through employer intimidation of their employees voting choices. It's the return of the Gilded Age.

Thanks to Citizens United, such practices are now legally allowed in this country. It's really all over isn't it?

Early Votes going Big for Obama in Wisconsin and Iowa

Here's a nice breakdown of the MSNBC/Wall Street Journal poll numbers on early voting in Wisconsin and Iowa from Rachel Maddow.

It looks like there aren't a whole lot of people heading out early here.

Tommy Thompson Unhinged, Incoherent!!! Baldwin only Adult in Room.

Republicans love bullies, that's why they had Gov. Chris Christie stump for Thompson recently.

Christie must have inspired Tommy Thompson to batter his debate victim bloody, in the most reckless, incoherent drunken way tonight.

In this clip, Rep. Tammy Baldwin reminded Tommy he endorsed Paul Ryan's plan in speeches and radio ads. He also forgot he signed the Grover Norquist no tax pledge. He denied it at first...but then didn't. And best of all, he bashed Baldwin for heading up the Democratic Progressive Caucus' budget plan that, unbeknownst to Tommy, bested Obama's and Ryan's plan to balance the budget sooner, and without draconian cuts. Tommy didn't even know that the tax increases he whined about in her budget were ten year projections, not one year:



Here Thompson bullies his way into Tammy's time to speak, and when she corrects his endless lunacy:

Thompson: "You want to interupt me Joe Biden, just give me a chance." 

The silent studio crowd let out a loud grown. It sounded to me like "What an asshole." Just saying.

But Tommy insisted Tammy received $60,000 in a campaign contribution, which if done all at once, is not even legally possible. Again, Tommy mistakenly thought the whole $60,000 contribution from a group mentioned in the Journal Sentinel came all at once, and not through multiple legal avenues over 1 1/2 years. The group is anti-nuke, and also anti-sanctions. When Tammy accused Tommy of owning stock in a company that deals with Iran, Tommy got a big uncomfortable laugh from the crowd when he declared..."I sold it, I sold it today." Oops, that didn't come out right?:

Finally, Tammy and Tommy got to Medicare. Under Thompson's watch as head of the HHS, he brought Medicare 9 years closer to bankruptcy. Nice huh? Tommy also blamed the non-negotiable drug plan on Clinton and other Democrats, even though Thompson often calls himself the "quarterback and mastermind" of the unfunded Medicare part D plan. Then after claiming he had nothing to do with the law:

Tommy: "I tell the seniors out there, if you go to the drug store and buy your drugs, remember it was Tommy Thompson that past part D to allow you to do that." 

Huh? But you just said you had nothing to do with...never mind:

Wirch opponent for state senate Stevens delinquent on Taxes.

The Root River Siren discovered this major problem shadowing another “responsible, rugged conservative” candidate for state senate. Looks like another small government freeloader needs the rest of us taxpayers:

If you check out Wisconsin State Senate, Bob Wirch's opponent, Pam Stevenswebsite - under her "platform" section you'll find toward the bottom her thoughts on Government. The last sentence says: "Self-responsibility is what we need to promote."

Good for Pam, self-responsibility is a great thing. So we thought that maybe since Pam was all about the responsibility - surely she must have decided to pay the $21,000 in delinquent taxes she owes the state of Wisconsin. We clicked over to the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website to check on the three separate delinquency warrants the state has filed against her. To our surprise, it said she hasn't paid the state back yet. So much for personal responsibility.

When we first wrote about Pam and her accounting troubles back in May, a few people got a little huffy and said Pam's delinquent tax problem just showed she was more like the rest of us - just trying to get by.

The Siren doesn't know about you, but we don't have any warrants filed against us for delinquent taxes...or any warrants filed in general at all.