Finally, Reid nuked Filibuster on Judicial Nominations

Finally:

“It’s time to change,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor as almost all members sat at their desks in the chamber.  “It’s time to change the Senate before this institution becomes obsolete.”

I watched Sen. Mitch McConnell's jaw dropping objections to the nuclear option on judicial nominations, a tactic used by Republicans to pass two extremely partisan judges. McConnell actually called the Democratic move:

"...a fake fight over judges who aren't even needed" and said  Reid is trying to "break the rules to change the rules."

Judges on the influential, conservative leaning D.C. Circuit aren't needed? Vacant seats don't need to be filled? Just amazing. Oh, but if you're not convince yet, maybe this childish excuse will do:

McConnell argued that Republicans are merely using tactics pioneered by Democrats when the president's party was in the minority. 

Will Republicans appoint more openly activist conservative judges? You mean they've already done that?

...they will retaliate when they win back a majority in the Senate. "Some of us have been around here long enough to know that sometimes the shoe is on the other foot," McConnell said, telling Democrats "you may regret this a lot sooner than you think." 

 I also had to laugh at this CNN headline:

Controversial rules change may add to partisan divide

Oh no, not that.

Affordable Care Act Good News!!!

Gee, and my conservative friend in Milwaukee just told me how he hopes ObamaCare crashes and burns, along with everyone it could have been saved. Hey, he's "small" government, and he's got "princibles."

Sheboygan Press: Health care spending since the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act has risen by 1.3 percent a year, the lowest rate ever recorded, and health care inflation is the lowest it has been in 50 years, a report released Wednesday by the White House shows.

Lawrence O'Donnell talks with ObamaCare expert Jonathan Gruber with the truth:



Here are a few charts from Ezra Klein's WonkBlog showing the price of health care declining dramatically, especially Medicare, Medicaid and the individual Market:

Here's Chris Hayes with another look at the state controlled exchanges:

Facebook Ban on Links to Democurmudgeon continues, while Republican pages threaten that President's Life get Pass.

Facebook has determined that Democurmudgeon is a threat to visitors for some reason, refusing Facebook readers from linking to it, while this Facebook page is just peachy keen. The link from Political Carnival:

This is the typical stuff coming from the Republican Party now. 

Walker lap dogs WISGOP Spending Ad Dollars Big Time.

The WISGOP terrorists supporting Scott Walker continue to make themselves look silly, with trivial bait like this :

WISGOP

Walker Campaign Criminal Probe, John Doe 2, getting National Attention.

Liberal terrorists are once again threatening the GOP authority, like Scott Walker, and must be discredited and belittled before they destroy the country.

Here's the latest reaction by the GOP and big monied interests to dismiss that petty John Doe criminal probe relating to Scott Walker, the darling of tea party losers everywhere:

Here's what the articles author, Alex Ruthrauff said about the accusations:

Judson Phillips is known to your Wonkette as a guy who once wrote that Barack Obama just might be a crack-smoking gay sexer, which was fun. Now he’s got some words in the Washington Times (yeah but still) about how the current criminal probe into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s Forever Campaign (because he is always being recalled) is “political terrorism,” and the Bush-backed special prosecutor on the case is a “political terrorist.” Ha… ha?

See, Scott Walker had some friends who worked for him and/or gave him money, and now those folks  have been convicted of various crimes, so sad! Bad friends that they are, they’ve allegedly said some things that amount to: “Scott Walker’s campaign did such and such crimes.” None of this is mentioned in Judson’s column of course, because shut up, it’s political terrorism something something gay marriage.

The piece humorously concludes:

Partial credit to Judson Phillips however, because while he calls people who are just doing their jobs “terrorists” — you know, the word that means “it is okay and maybe even virtuous to kill this individual” — he does suggest a non-violent response:

Every conservative group that is served with one of those subpoenas should publicly say they have, refuse to comply and take the Wisconsin special prosecutor to Court.

That’ll show those gay marriages!

Walker helps BadgerCare families get on what he describes as a failed, "abysmal impact on our nation's economy" Affordable Care Act.

I'm getting the feeling that I don't swear enough when I blog about Scott Walker. From the Rude Pundit: 

GOP Gov. Scott Walker: Obamacare Sucks Except When It Doesn't
Okay, kids, let's all follow the bouncing ball of fuckery, this time starring Wisconsin

Governor Scott Walker, a Republican and a man who looks like he just huffed spray paint fumes while rubbing a dead possum against his face:

So Walker has been hatin' on the Affordable Care Act for a while now. No way, no how was he gonna allow his state to set up an evil state exchange of evil heath insurance because fuck Obama and the care that bears his name. And no way, no how was he gonna expand Medicaid in his state because a man can't have helping the poor on his conscience if he's set his narrow, child molester eyes on a presidential run. 

Indeed, Walker hates Obamacare so very much that he has been on TV touting his book that not a fucking person will read by choice and saying he hates him some Obamacare. He told the conservative shithouse Newsmax, "[I]f I had a direct line into the president, and he was listening, I'd tell him that you need to back off on Obamacare. It's not just a

failure in terms of the rollout, it's not just a failure in terms of getting people signed up, it has had an abysmal impact on our nation's economy."

Man, that dude is a drippy pustule of anti-Obamacare rhetoric. You can bet that he'll have not a goddamn thing to do with the president's health care folly. Except one thing.

See, Walker announced in February that the income level to get Wisconsin's Medicaid program, stupidly named "Badgercare," a previously "generous" 200% of the poverty rate, would be rolled back to 100%. What that would do is allow 83,000 childless adults to get health care by kicking 77,000 people, including families, off the badger teat. Now, this is where it gets fun.

What Walker expects is that the now-uninsured will get their health care coverage from...wait for it...the federal exchanges. Or, you know, Obamacare. According to NPR, "Walker says everyone losing coverage will be able to buy subsidized plans under the Affordable Care Act, and many will find monthly premiums under $20." Walker said that the federal subsidies bring down the cost a great deal. And then he added, "But Obamacare still sucks dog balls and I hate it. Really, really."

Do you get it? A Republican governor has proudly refused to legitimize the Affordable Care Act because it's just terrible, but he feels free to cancel insurance for tens of thousands under the pretense that the Affordable Care Act will get them the coverage they need because it's so good and affordable and saves the state money it can use to get others on Medicaid. And that's your right-wing fuckery for the day.

Liberal Hell Hole, Dane County, creating atmosphere for Job Creation.

Despite all the liberal efforts to destroy the country and turn people into dependent hammock swinging freeloaders, they've inadvertently done just the opposite. Oh those hapless Democrats.

WSJ: The report released Monday by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance shows south-

central Wisconsin tops the state in job gains from 2000 to 2012, while southeastern Wisconsin leads in total job losses. Dane County fueled the rise, with the addition of more than 65,000 residents and 31,000 jobs during the 13-year period. South-central Wisconsin’s population — identified as Dane, Columbia, Sauk, Iowa, Lafayette, Green and Rock counties — grew 11.7 percent from 2000 to 2012, nearly twice the state average of 6.3 percent, and employment rose 6.4 percent, the study shows.

Meanwhile, the 10-county southeast region, extending from Kenosha County to Sheboygan County, grew more slowly than the state, at 4.8 percent, and lost 5.7 percent of its jobs from 2000 to 2012. The figures deflate the common belief that some Milwaukee employers moved to the suburbs or nearby counties, said Dale Knapp, research director for the nonprofit, nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. “We knew southeast Wisconsin wasn't doing great, but for it to be the worst-performing region in the state was a surprise,” he said.

Milwaukee County lost 60,000 jobs during the 13-year period, but neighboring Waukesha County, for example, gained only about 4,500 jobs, a 2.1 percent increase. “That, to me, is troubling,” Knapp said.

GOP Blames Government for website problems, not Private Sector Contractor CGI.

The Journal Sentinel should be ashamed at what I would call an inaccurate commentary by blogger Christian Schneider. This time Schneider showcases the Affordable Care Act's website as another example government incompetence. Schneider is also quick to point out other government fumbles, including the GAB's website.

The governments fault? Seems to me a private contractor did all the work in both cases. I'd even go as far as saying government is only as good as their private contractors. Schneider should be happy for the privatization of the government. But of course he isn't, because he's still in the habit of blaming government for everything. Time to change the talking points Christian.

What becomes crystal clear is how confused Schneider is about what is private work and what is "government" work. Check out how he mixes the two together for his own political benefit, just so he can make his argument work (I've highlighted offending contradictions and conflations):

Just this week, we learned that back in March, the Obama administration was warned by a private contractor that Healthcare.gov was fraught with many of the problems that eventually came to fruition. Yet because the website is run by the government, failure simply means rewarding the project with more money, instead of extinction. The fact that the government was setting up the website should have been enough.

Beginning in 1999, the Elections Board spent millions trying to develop a website that allowed political candidates to report their fundraising electronically … But when campaigns began using the new GAB system, they found it to be incomprehensible ... In the end, the new GAB website cost taxpayers $2 million, an amount liberal blogger Dan Cody called a "fleecing" of the people of Wisconsin (The company who ended up getting the ... contract, PCC Technology Group, resided in Connecticut).

PCC Technology Group is a private contractor hired by the state. That would mean no public workers. Schneider also does what so many Republicans have done before; portray the private sector as infallible. They've never botched a website or had major technical problems? Hell, I can't tell you how many times Google's Blogger web hosting site has had major technical problems that spanned months before getting fixed. Oh, and speaking of Google:

The lesson here is that government creating functional high-volume websites is like a mouse trying to push a watermelon up a flight of stairs. If only there were a search engine to find competent private companies that could create high-traffic websites. Like Google maybe?

Here's a story from ABC News detailing how a private company screwed this up, not the government:

The Splits: Van Damme vs Mayor Rob Ford

Great ad and nice parody:

Big Money hopes to delay forever John Doe Investigation, or at least through Walker Reelection Effort.

This is one of those immensely convoluted legal matters that is best read for yourself here. Here's just a taste:

Targets seek stay of investigation into Scott Walker's recall campaign and other groups: Three unnamed petitioners are asking that a judge be ordered to temporarily halt a secret investigation into campaign activity by Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative political groups.

Panicky Republicans shocked by ObamaCare roll out seek immediate extension, but TAKE LOTS OF TIME extending care for Dropped Families on BadgerCare..

Congress acted mighty fast to poison pill the Affordable Care Act with a year extension on junk policies, but when it comes to 70,000 BadgerCare recipients dropped by Scott Walker...well that can wait. These phony bastards:

Channel3000: Assembly to convene in December on Medicaid: Bill would extend health coverage for almost 100,000 people for another 3 months … Assembly Majority Leader Bill Kramer said Tuesday the Assembly will convene on Dec. 4 to take up the bills.

Thanksgiving Spirit and Frozen Turkey, Yogurt and Bacon make for memorable Holiday.

I just loved this story. Happy Thanksgiving folks:

Channel3000: Two groups of women were involved in what Madison police are calling a melee near the meat counter at a Woodman’s Food Market.

Police said a dispute over money started in the store on Gammon Road on the afternoon of Nov. 12 and led to fisticuffs when one woman pulled out pepper spray. Two women facing off with four others were sprayed with the pepper spray … one combatant armed herself with a frozen turkey that was swung and tossed. Two women began exchanging punches. A pallet holding eight large boxes of bacon was toppled. A 62-year-old man who was on the phone with dispatchers told police he was struck in the head with a full container of yogurt.

The two women punching each other were fighting on the floor with the spilled yogurt and bacon, according to police. Police stopped the women who were pepper sprayed as they were about to drive away. One was cited for disorderly conduct. The other combatants were not immediately located.

“Jobs” Excuse Getting Old to Wary Residents Watching their Communities get Trashed by Frac Sand Mines.

It looks like another bunch of know-it-all conservative city officials, now justifiably up for recall, will do anything for “jobs,” including wheeling and dealing behind closed doors with a Texas frac sand mining company. As crazy as this sounds, they want to locate that mine within eye shot of their local K-12 schools football field.

These arrogant city officials are up for recall for putting kids in the line of cancer causing silica dust. But they wouldn't be if the latest Republican idea gets passed:

The Assembly voted 53-39 to approve a constitutional amendment that would limit recalls to statewide and county elected officials charged with crimes or convicted of ethics violations.

With that in mind, think about how helpless you would feel having the city ram a sand mine’s dust cloud down your nose, knowing they couldn't care less:

MINNPOST: GLENWOOD CITY, Wis.: In this small city in northwestern Wisconsin, the mayor and two City Council members are facing recall elections over their handling of a proposed frac-sand mine that would be built a half-mile south of a school … mine opponent Jim Laskin, owner of The Cafe, warned parents worried about health effects from silica dust — a known carcinogen in work-place settings — might pull their children from the schools. Families looking to move into the community, he said, might keep looking for an area without a mine so close to the school building, which educates students from preschool through 12th grade.

“I’m not against mining,” said gas station owner Deanna Schone, whose children attend the schools and who was involved in both the recall and referendum petitions. “But the location of this mine is ridiculous. It goes against common sense.”

The city’s mayor has an odd suggestion when it comes sand frac mining and keeping young people in town:

“We have a beautiful little town, great schools,” Glenwood City Mayor John Larson said. “But we educate our kids, then watch them move away because there are no jobs.” He added that the mine’s high-wage jobs might give young people an incentive to stay.  

Paul Ryan is a gift the Democrats refuse to take Advantage of....

Paul Ryan voted for everything that doubled our debt during the Bush W. years. Here’s an example:

Bush H.W: $4.4 trillion ... Clinton: $5.8 trillion ... Bush W: $11.657 trillion ... President Bush added the most to the debt, more than $6 trillion. 

Ryan oddly decided not to repeal or pay for anything that doubled our debt. Instead, he’s decided ignore his culpability, and go after the very safety nets that helped Americans during the Great Recession.

It’s that easy Democrats. Had we pointed that out, the media wouldn't have been able to tag Ryan as a policy wonk. He's nothing but a smooth talking partisan. 

That said, Ryan’s out with a new, cruel scheme, where he’s supposedly moving “center-right:”

WaPo: Ryan’s staff, meanwhile, has been trolling center-right think tanks and intellectuals for ideas to replace the “bureaucratic, top-down anti-poverty programs” that Ryan blames for “wrecking families and communities” since Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty in 1964.

These programs are being blamed for poverty and wrecking families? See, he's ridiculous. Ryan's anti-poverty rhetoric is just another way of saying, “we gave up on that jobs thing, so let's blame the safety nets.”

Next year, for the 50th anniversary of that crusade, Ryan hopes to roll out an anti-poverty plan to rival his budgetary Roadmap for America’s Future in scope and ambition. He is also writing a book about what’s next for the GOP…

With public opinion against him, Ryan is still determined to convince everyone food stamps, unemployment, Social Security and Medicare are responsible for poverty. He’s even encouraging the development of senior retirement programs that focus on work and upward mobility:

…to advance an expanded agenda that combines an overhaul of the tax code and federal health and retirement programs with kinder, gentler policies to encourage work and upward mobility.

Ryan's own policies have created the very problem he’s supposedly trying to solve, the gap between the rich and poor. He even acknowledged the problem:

Ryan told the Iowa crowd. “It’s made it harder for people to get ahead, and the idea of upward mobility, of equal opportunity, is slipping farther and farther away from people who haven’t seen it for generations. . . 

And under Obama?

...the debt accelerated during Bush's last two budget years. Obama's debt is a continuation of that trend and neither Bush nor Obama are directly responsible for that acceleration. It happened because of the recession. Bush set the all-time record by increasing the debt by $1.1 trillion in 100 days between July 30 and Nov 9, 2008.

Ryan's qualifications are right up there with Dick Cheney's. Despite efforts to blame the Democrats, Republicans had a chance to prevent the debt and Great Recession, but didn't:

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush's economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime ... O'Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter. We won the midterms. This is our due." A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.

Creepy site tells you if Someone Died in Your House.

Finally, diedinhouse.com can tell you what you may not want to know.

"Died in House blew me away. What an idea, whether you're hearing bumps in the night, or about to buy a home, DiedInHouse.com is an invaluable tool!"~Chip Franklin, talk show host 5 time winner Edward R. Murrow award

Thank you Chip, invaluable endorsement. It'll cost you $11.99 for each morbid inquiry:

The Chaos Agenda: After Shutdown, GOP again throwing tantrum over once Closed Federal Parks and lost Revenues.

Not only did the GOP waste $24 billion shutting down the government, they now want to fight about exempting “this and that” if they shut it all down again. Is it too much take responsibility, or learn any bitter lessons, ever?

This mind-boggling mess is about to get worse, thanks to Arizona Republicans still having a tantrum over their last fiasco. You can’t make this stuff up. The first line of this story from The Hill deceptively blames Obama for shutting down the federal parks, not the bumbling GOP:

House lawmakers are reopening the fight over the Obama administration’s closing of national parks during the government shutdown. Arizona’s congressional delegation is pressing the administration to pay their state for expenses from reopening national parks during the 16-day government shutdown.

Separately, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) is pushing a bill aimed at ensuring national parks remain open in the event that the government someday closes down again.

Adding insult to injury, and just in case the public still blames the GOP for the shutdown, Republicans will not miss a beat saying the whole thing was Obama's fault:

Republicans blasted President Obama and the Interior Department for barricading the World War II Memorial and other national park sites during the shutdown, arguing it was unnecessary. “The president realizes those are pressure points for people,” Stewart said. 

The problem with Democrats, is that they listened and do tried to help, like allowing states to keep some federal parks open if the states picked up the bill.

Relenting to pressure from governors, the administration agreed to let six states reopen their national parks during the shutdown: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, New York and Tennessee.

Instead of a big "THANK YOU," Republicans are demanding their states get paid back:  

Now, lawmakers from Arizona want the Interior Department to “follow past practice and provide a full refund” to the state for the $465,000 that was spent to reopen Grand Canyon National Park. “Past experience also suggests that the Park Service has existing authority to refund the State,” Sens. John McCain.  “After the 1995 shutdown, the Park Service ultimately refunded the State for the full amount ($370,125) it advanced to operate the park,” they wrote.

THE IRONY; the House GOP now has to find a way to pay the states back. Soooo sweet…..

But top Interior Department officials say Congress must authorize the back payments to states.

Still, the GOP won't let Americans forget who really shutdown the government:

Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) “I am deeply disappointed by the Obama administration’s decision to needlessly block the American people’s access to public lands and national monuments — whether it was barricading World War II veterans from visiting their memorial or denying Montana sportsmen access to unguarded trails through public lands,” Daines told The Hill. 

Pope Francis poses danger to Tea Party Republicans!

This amazing message seems to fly in the face of our own resident Roman Catholic in name only, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan:

Reuters: Pope Francis criticized what he called "savage capitalism" on a visit to a food kitchen on Tuesday, in an address in which he called for the values of generosity and charity to be revived. 

"A savage capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, of giving in order to get, of exploitation without thinking of people... and we see the results in the crisis we are experiencing," the pope said. 

The first non-European pontiff in centuries, the Argentine-born pope last week called for financial reform, condemning a "dictatorship of the economy" and a "cult of money".

Republicans, have you thanked Obama lately for Lowering Gas Prices...?

Republicans try to exempt failing grades at virtual schools from local districts report cards, so no ones accountable to taxpayers. Hey, how's privatization working out?

Private online virtual charter schools are failing, but you’d never know it by the way the media generally accepts how bad they are. It’s like we've had the debate, now move on. 

  

The following EdWeek article excerpt seems to just take our virtual schools failure for granted:

..."watchdogs maintain that given their generally poor academic performance and high student turnover, full-time online schools—particularly independent cyber charter schools run by for-profit management companies..."

That might come as a shock to a few parents. Online schools are generally doing a bad job academically.

At the same time, this Wisconsin State Journal article details how one district is trying to exempt their virtual charter schools bad grades from being included in their overall report cards. Outrageous? Yes:

The performance of Wisconsin virtual charter school students would no longer affect their school district’s overall state report card rating if more than half of the virtual school’s enrollment is from outside the district, under legislation proposed last month. Officials from the McFarland School District and its Wisconsin Virtual Academy, the state’s largest virtual charter school, are among those seeking the change … The McFarland School District created WIVA in 2009 … The K-12 virtual school has not been meeting state standards for two years, in contrast to the district’s traditional schools, which overall exceed state standards.

In September, District Superintendent Scott Brown noted in a letter to district parents that the overall district report card rating would have been “notably higher” without the virtual academy’s rating included in the cumulative score.

Many virtual charter schools are run by for-profit operators and have recently been scrutinized for poor performance statewide.

Of course Republicans have their fingerprints all over this virtual school cover-up:

The amendment proposed by Sens. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, is opposed by DPI, which releases the report cards.

Spokesman John Johnson said … no district would be held accountable for the virtual schools with high open-enrollment numbers under the proposal … “If the virtual charter schools don’t have those students accounted for in their district’s totals and they won’t be counted in their home districts, then they wouldn’t be counted anywhere,” Johnson said. “We oppose that amendment. We believe it goes against what we’re trying to do for accountability of school districts for taxpayers.”

Even more to the point:

“If the bill passes, McFarland and other host school districts will be able to enjoy the revenues they rake in from hosting a virtual charter school without worrying that the poor performance of the virtual school will pull down the report card score for the district,” wrote Madison School Board president Ed Hughes...

The superintendent made my case for good public school systems, and ending privatization:

“Having a good school district causes a good demand for housing in your area, attracts businesses to your area, and we want people to have an accurate view of our district, and the way it’s working out, it isn’t,” Brown said. “Ultimately, (the virtual school) can’t harm our bricks-and-mortar efforts, that’s kind of the bottom line.”

Trek Bikes makes Walker Blacklist, and now a reelection campaign target.

Since Scott Walker ran for governor, he’s made it clear there were good businesses and bad ones. Add another one to the blacklist of bad businesses. It’s a big reason why the states job growth has been miserable.

Trek, the nation’s largest bicycle manufacturer, hails from the red state of Wisconsin. That’s too bad for them. Like the blacklisted names on Walker’s recall petitions, perceived liberal businesses are not welcome in Wisconsin either.   

jsonline-Dan Bice: The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. — the quasi-public jobs agency created by Walker and GOP lawmakers — has been featuring Trek and four other companies as part of a yearlong marketing campaign to encourage businesses to move to or expand in Wisconsin. WEDC spokesman Mark Maley said Friday that his agency has decided to start phasing out the ads highlighting Trek and the other companies.

Big surprise? Perhaps someone will believe this too...

Maley said the decision to put the brakes on that campaign had nothing to do with Burke's recent decision to enter the governor's race. "Absolutely not," Maley said. "We're proud to have Trek, one of the good companies in Wisconsin,

One of the “good” companies? Like I've always said, Walker has lashed out at and turned down businesses that don’t have a conservative lean to them. That's noticeable in the video:

Maley said his agency won't mothball these promos of the Wisconsin-based firms permanently, he said. "They may surface every now and then…”

As Dan Bice noted: Don't look for Trek to be a part of it.