WISGOP competes with Onion!!!

Fantasy world revealed...if only it was that easy.

No Fan of Apple iPhones? You'll love this...

My high schooler is just going to love watching the video below over and over. He hates Apple so much, and for all the right reasons; its bland proprietary features and obnoxious rabid fan base pictured below.

The crowd reaction is mind numbing. What is wrong with these people?

'It's all good,' he tells an onlooking crowd.

Check out this tech writers look at the latest crop of Apples. You'll laugh, you'll cry:

The Guardian-Charlie Brooker: Apple’s software updates are like changing the water in a fish tank. I’d rather let the fish die.

First they were implicated in the stolen celebrity nude photo disaster. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the iPhone is generally marketed as a diabolical timewasting device with the potential to wreak a grotesque and devastating invasion of your personal privacy. They tend to focus more on all the cool colours it comes in.

Then they launched the horrible-looking Apple Watch, which does everything an iPhone can do, but more expensively and pointlessly, and on a slightly different part of your body. Only an unhealthily devoted Apple fanatic could bear to wear a Apple Watch, and even that poor notional idiot would have to keep putting their iPhone down in order to operate the damn thing.

 It’s not a watch. It’s a gaudy wristband aimed at raising awareness of Chinese factory conditions. Or a handy visual tag that helps con artists instantly identify gullible rich idiots in a crowd.

Apple also unveiled the all-new bigger iPhone 6. By releasing two differently sized rectangles, which in turn differ from its previous range of differently sized rectangles, Apple has selfishly exhausted the global supply of differently sized rectangles. Wars will be fought to decide which dimension becomes the standard. And when mankind finally settles on a compromise, Apple is going to start on ovals.

But the other new development – the launch of iOS 8 – is impossible for iPhone users to ignore. But if I hold out, gradually nothing will work on my existing phone. They’ll freeze me out by degrees. Cut me out of the club. Plus I’ll miss out on great features such as slightly different icons and a terrifying new form of predictive text that precisely mimics the sensation of talking to an idiot who keeps finishing your sentences for you. 

All you want to do is watch TV and rot in your own filth. Part of the problem is that smartphones are so horribly addictive, as moreish as smoking. The difference between smartphones and cigarettes is this: a cigarette robs 10 minutes from your lifespan, but at least has the decency to wait and withdraw all that time in bulk as you near the end of your life – whereas a smartphone steals your time in the present moment, by degrees. Five minutes here. Five minutes there. Then you look up and you’re 85 years old. 

What's next after Voter ID? Skies the limit if Kansas Sec. of State Kris Kobach has his way...

Voting in Republican dominated states is intentionally becoming more difficult and inconvenient.

Some have suggested a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote with few restriction. That would take control out of the hands of a few very creative and repressive state governments.

The best argument against state control of elections? Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Rachel Maddow put together the most amazing timeline of voter suppression and partisan electioneering you'll probably ever see...until at least next year.

This proves Republicans will do anything to game the system, no matter how it looks, knowing their base of voters won't do a thing about it. After all, they're fuming over Benghazi, school lunches and Obama's presidential power grab:

Republican State Sen. Paul Farrow lied about Wisconsin never exceeding National Jobs Rate!

You've got to wonder if you can believe anything Republican State Sen. Paul Farrow is telling you after hearing his "confident" lie this morning on WPR's Joy Cardin Show. As usual, Farrow wasn't offered the chance to correct his confidently stated outright lie with the truth.

Sen. Farrow claimed unequivocally:

"Like I've said before, for the last ten years, we've never been better than the national average. We've always been below the national average across the entire 10 year cycle."

Here's a chart the papers have used over and over. Obviously the truth wouldn't have helped make Farrow point:

Farrow also justified Scott Walker's broken jobs promise as simply a great idea and goal to put out there. Perhaps Farrow could say the same for Obama's promise that we could keep the same doctor under ObamaCare. Let me help Farrow by changing a few words in the statement he made this morning discounting the mistake of over-promising on the jobs count:

"I don't know if it was a mistake, I think a goal of (getting to 250,000 jobs ) keeping your current doctor is a great idea to put out there. That we want a challenge to get back into the shape of things." 

We obviously don't operate under the same set of "pricibles."

Walker Campaign's "Wisconsin Comeback" plagiarizes not just Gov. Brownback's phony Kansas Comeback, but so many others!!!

Mary Burke has a few of the same economic proposals that other Democratic candidates have endorsed as a party platform...and that's bad.

Scott Walker has the same economic proposals that other Republican candidates have endorsed as a party platform...and that's good.

So the media is going after Burke. Got it. (UPDATE at bottom)

I'm simply amazed at how much life the jsonline reporters are giving these non-plagiarized sections of Mary Burke's proposed economic model. They have not held Walker's most unoriginal tax cut, corporate welfare, supply side agenda to the same standard. The Borg-like Republican politicians are never asked why their plans always mirror so many other candidates in states everywhere.

And never mind Burke's economic plan, Burke used the same words, end of story.

1. Fact: Scott Walker and his one party authority haven't had an original idea in 4 decades.

2. Fact: Scott Walker and the Republicans simply reworded the same old ideas they've pushed for 4 decades, something they're bashing Burke for not doing herself.

The thing is, it never occurred to Democrats to beat up opponents for their cut and paste plagiarism for vouchers, private insurance markets, tort reform, deregulation, think tank legislation, ALEC, identical red state agendas, same restrictive Planned Parenthood legislation, same tax cuts, same voter ID legislation like Indiana's because it passed Supreme Court muster, etc. It's just so much phony outrage.

Ironically, it was Journal Sentinel's Jason Stein that alerted me to the most blatant plagiarism yet, and the center of Walker's whole last minute campaign. See if the this sounds vaguely familiar:

Oops, how did that bottom picture get in there? Sorry about that, we were talking about "comebacks," right? As you can see below, Scott Walker plagiarized Gov. Sam Brownback's Kansas Comeback campaign.

WALKER'S PLAGIARISM WORD FOR WORD

Isn't it time Walker admits his mistake, and announces that he will not "comeback" for a second term?











From Walker's infamous "hole" ad:

My opponent criticizes the Wisconsin Comeback - she wants to undo our reforms and create another hole. Instead let's keep moving Wisconsin forward.

Heck, Walker and Brownback weren't the only one's plagiarizing the "comeback" campaign. Behold the long list of plagiarists:

UPDATE: Tues-The news media is catching up, but not before the Republicans got the mileage they wanted. The following should force Walker to resign, and voters should note former Gov. Tommy Thompson came right out and admitted he would (rewrite) ALEC legislation as a way to disguise what we're now calling plagiarism (policy isn't plagiarism):

Walker argued (in 2010) that a sign of his frugality was that he eats his lunch out of a brown paper bag every day. But Ohio Republican George Voinovich, being advised by the same New Hampshire consulting firm as Walker, tried the same approach in a Senate race 12 years earlier.

Shortly after he left office, former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson in 2002 spoke to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative group that proposes model legislation for state lawmakers to push back home. “I always loved going to these meetings because I always found new ideas,” Thompson said. “Then I’d take them back to Wisconsin, disguise them a little bit, and declare that ‘It’s mine.’”

Wisconsin Congressmen hold nation hostage; won't stop offshoring or inversions until Democrats agree to Corporate Tax Cut.

Despite not having gone far enough, Dodd Frank is trying desperately to regulate the financial industry while also trying to prevent another Great Recession.

Republicans Dare to have another Great Recession: But Republicans want to play a game of chicken with our economy and retirement investments again by smashing to pieces every line of reform. Like they told us after the global crash, “you knew the risks, you took your chances, and you lost. That’s the market.” Strangely that didn’t piss off a majority of tightwad conservative voters either who lost money. It’s an odd voting base to say the least.   

Congressional Veto Power over an administrations Department Regulations: Big government Republicans want veto power over regulations that might get in the way of business.  

Cut Corporate Income Tax or Else...: And worst of all, Republicans won’t stop companies shifting jobs overseas or prevent tax inversions until they get a cut in the corporate income tax. Never mind those inversions are permanent and lost forever as revenue. 

Sadly, there's more too...Roll Call:

REPUBLICAN JOBS PACKAGE: The House approved a package (HR 4) of 15 jobs bills that previously passed the House as individual measures, and then died in the Democratic-led Senate. In part, the bills would expedite logging in national forests, scale back the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law, make bonus depreciation and certain charitable contributions by businesses a permanent part of the U.S. tax code, ease certain environmental rules to promote job creation and give Congress veto power over federal regulations having at least a $100 million annual impact on the economy.

Voting yes to increase the deficit with permanent tax cuts and lost corporate revenues: Paul Ryan, Jim Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble. 

DEMOCRATS’ TAX CHANGES: The House on Thursday defeated a motion by Democrats to amend HR 4 (above) in a way that would deny federal tax breaks to companies that shift U.S. jobs overseas or which reincorporate abroad to avoid U.S. taxation, a process known as “inversion.” The motion also sought to require the Republican leadership to put Democratic issues such as a minimum-wage increase, pay equity for women and student-loan refinancing to House votes.

And you know who defeated cutting corporate handout to offshorers? They're pictured above. And Tom Petri is a moderate? 

Wisconsin Congressmen vote to sell Natural Gas and Oil to Terrorists, and raise our prices by depleting our surplus energy supplies.

Nothing says “irresponsible” more than drilling off our pristine coastlines, quickly approving the XL Pipeline and banning fracking regulation of our public/tribal lands.

The XL Pipeline’s one intended purpose is to export our own supply of oil out of the U.S. for Big Oil profits. It could destroy of our water supply or return us to Middle Eastern dependence on oil, but who cares right?   

Oh, and say goodbye to those low natural gas prices to heat our homes. Republicans want to provide quick approval to export more of that too.

Republicans also want to sell natural gas and oil to terrorists and the countries that harbor them.

In what would appear too many as a political death wish agenda is really a winning platform that might put Republicans in control of the Senate. None of this is hyperbole. Read for yourself the new Republican Energy plan from Roll Call endorsed by our Representatives:   

REPUBLICAN ENERGY PACKAGE: The House approved a package (HR 2) of 19 GOP-drafted energy bills that previously cleared the House as strand-alone measures before faltering in the Democratic-controlled Senate in the face of environmental concerns and other objections. In part, the bills would expand offshore drilling for oil and natural gas, require speedy administration approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, expedite Department of Energy approvals of applications for exporting liquefied natural gas and prohibit federal regulation on federal and tribal lands of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Higher gas prices at the pump and rising energy costs to heat our homes? Yes say Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble. Heck, any rise in natural gas would mean more drilling, and higher pump prices are always blamed on the Democratic President.   

OIL EXPORTS TO TERRORISM-ENABLERS: The House on Thursday defeated a Democratic motion that sought to amend HR 2 (above) so that it would “prohibit U.S. oil exports to any country, company or individual that supports or harbors terrorist organizations, including ISIS or al Qaeda.”

Voting no to the Democratic amendment, and yes to send our energy recources to terrorist; Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble. Your on the record now. 

Psst! Democrats quietly try to pass Midterm Agenda for America. Don’t tell anyone.

Who knew? Thanks to the weekly feature Roll Call, where the paper lists all the “action” in the House, there is now a slight chance we just might stumble upon the bold Democratic statement for the midterms.

It’s hard to imagine anyone with a job or experience handling the household income objecting to the following populist agenda…oh wait, Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble voted against it? 

Voters won’t like that:

DEMOCRATIC POLICY GOALS: The House on Wednesday turned back a bid by Democrats to add five of their policy goals to HJ Res 124 (government funding bill). The motion called for raising the minimum wage, requiring that women receive equal pay for equal work, allowing most student loans to be refinanced, denying government contracts to companies that move headquarters overseas and reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank for the long term.

Republican never, if ever, pass Democratic amendments that are logical no-brainers for the rest of us. 

Real Walker Brownshirts form armed "Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia," targeting Recall Petition Signers.

We kind of thought this would happen.

Scott Walker's recall blacklist has now morphed into a citizen police state of brownshirt "stand with Walker" thugs. Walker's liberal use of the black list, targeting individuals for punishment, set an example for his loyal followers.

And they're armed and quite seriously dangerous. We need to bring photo IDs AND guns to the polls in November or we can't vote? So many new rules!  Even Rush Limbaugh chimed in to promote their new "Poll Watcher Militia." And oh yea, the word salad talk queen herself, Vicki McKenna, jumped on the bandwagon as well. Radio station owners are okay with this?



I always kind of knew this was a possibility, because after all, Republicans have not only vilified Democrats but have said over and over they don't believe liberals have a place in government or in our legal system. That leaves us with a one party system, and we've seen through history what that leads to. Cap Times' Steve Elbow:

A self-described militia group claims to be checking names on the 2012 Scott Walker recall petition and plans to confront those found to have outstanding warrants or tax defaults at the polls on Nov. 4.

"We prefer our people be armed," reads a Facebook post by Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia, screen captured on a blog at Politicususa.com. "Some will be heading to some of Milwaukee, Racine, and Beloit's worst areas. We will be armed with a list of people to look for at each location."

To compile the list of names, the group is using the website Put Wisconsin First, which has divided petition signers into categories. For instance, the "Tax Delinquents for Recall" category lists 571 petition signers who are in tax arrears. One category lists 444 sex offenders and another lists Democratic political donors. Another page on the site allows users to search petition signers by offense, everything from homicide to speeding.

And I love this…

A Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia response on Facebook reads: "We can assure you that
we will be targeting all democrats, not just black ones. If you think we meant blacks only it is because you are a racist who thinks the only people with warrants are black. We know better because we have a nice list of people who are wanted democrat activist types. Most are actually white. We will target everyone."

Walker's unapologetic use of the recall blacklist opened the door for the party reactionaries to take it to the next step. Of course, it'll be interesting to see how Walker deals with this right wing authoritarian behavior, and the kind of press he might not like.

This is an attempt to frighten people so they could suppress the vote, plain and simple. There is a legal remedy:

According to the Justice Department, “The administration of elections is chiefly a function of state government. However, federal authorities may become involved where there are possible violations of federal law. In cases where intimidation, coercion, or threats are made or attempts to intimidate, threaten or coerce are made to any person for voting or attempting to vote, the Department of Justice can consider whether there is federal jurisdiction to bring civil claims or criminal charges under federal law. Depending on the nature of the allegations, they may fall into the jurisdiction of different parts of the Department. If you have information about allegations of intimidation, please contact us.” You can contact the Justice Department here, and request that the election be monitored.

Walker's WEDC Bosses get hefty salaries, Don't give out Loans, and actually wrote off Overdue Taxpayer Loans.

The Governor and Chairman of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Scott Walker is proving to be one heck of a bad boss. From a press Rep. Peter Barka press release:

Today the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau released a financial audit of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) that highlights the agency’s continued shortcomings. The report shows that the agency had top-heavy administrative and salary costs, stalled in its job creation programs, and dealt with overdue loans by writing them off. The audit revealed that WEDC has made only meager increases to its loan activities,

“The audit demonstrates that WEDC is significantly underperforming. Not only are they unable to get economic development funds out the door and document their spending, but they have given up on executing key loan collection functions of the agency,” Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha), said.

WEDC grant expenditures decreased 2.8 percent at the same time that administrative expenditures increased by more than a third (34 percent). In the midst of the Great Recession, Governor Walker and Republicans essentially wiped out the state’s job creation agency overnight, and replaced it with a semi-private corporation with virtually no planning for the transition. Today’s audit shows that WEDC continues to scramble to put basic accountability measures and fiscal controls in place.

It's now official: Walker Jobs Promise Broken....

Just happened today:

The admitted and laughable Phony Outrage over Burke's Economic Plan for Wisconsin

The Burke campaign blundered badly over supposed “plagiarized” language in her jobs plan. Instead of laughing at the phony outrage by Republicans who have no problem instituting the exact same agenda nationwide including ALEC legislation verbatim, Burke fired the consultant who used the same language of a well thought out Democratic economic policy to grow businesses and jobs.

Guess the Burke campaign was caught, guilty of finally accepting a party idea and repeating it. How awful. This was Burke’s whole campaign, and they blinked. In the words of Han Solo, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

On WPR radio, former Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin Peg Lautenschlager had the right answer, a no brainer that immediately occurred to me when I heard about this ginned up “controversy.” You'll first hear the voice of former GOP legislator Michelle Litjens who wonders if former Trek exec. Mary Burke has any real thoughts on how business works:

Don't just believe me, take the word of right wing loon Nik Nelson at the Morning Martini, who also got it right...kinda:

Let’s get something straight: Mary Burke didn’t plagiarize portions of her jobs plan from other governors’ campaigns.

She signed off on a platform for creating jobs in Wisconsin that was drafted by a well-paid consultant, reviewed by her team, and put into print to appease liberal voters and just enough moderates to get elected. And that’s the problem.

And in a moment of pure projection, Nelson spewed this...

This jobs plan is designed for political, not economic, gains. The Burke Campaign would have you believe she deserves your vote because she would bring an outsider’s business-oriented, solutions-based pragmatism to Madison to cure what ails it.

As we all know the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity are purely Wisconsin based interest groups, right?

In a major hyperbolic piece from Dan Bice, he wrote this:

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke swiped significant sections of her jobs plan from earlier proposals published by three Democratic candidates who ran for governor elsewhere. Burke spokesman Joe Zepecki said the campaign fired Schnurer Thursday evening. The sections in question, Zepecki said, represented "fewer than 10 paragraphs of a 49-page plan." He suggested that the main ideas in the proposal are Burke's alone. 

Of course everybody I've heard from is wondering how Scott Walker and the Republicans, who have used economic ideas and legislation verbatim themselves and have denied it with a straight face, could fain such outrage without calling attention to their own hypocrisy.

With the answer to that, check out the Political Environment for more.

UPDATE Saturday: The following response by Burke's should have been their first response. This is another misdirection play to distract from Burke's meaningful plan, which Walker can't debate because he doesn't have real world experience. It should also be noted that the following professional opinions stating none of this was plagiarism appeared later in the article, where many have already stopped reading.

Burke’s been clear since she introduced the plan in March that she also relied on experts throughout the country in an effort to spur economic growth and create jobs. “These are ideas that are based on best practices,” Burke said in an interview Friday. “He should not have used the same language, though” … she was proud of her jobs proposal and has no intentions of changing it.

Michael Wagner, a UW-Madison journalism professor and expert on elections, politics and media, said he doesn’t think the situation fits the traditional definition of plagiarism. “From an ethical perspective, it doesn’t meet the definition of plagiarism … The consultant, to me, has self-plagiarized,” Wagner said. “It doesn’t rise to the level of plagiarism...”

Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor also didn’t consider it a clear-cut case of plagiarism because the same consultant was using the same language.

Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said political consultants borrowing language from what they have previously written is “very common.” “Honestly, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. So much of what we see in politics is cookie-cutter language.”

After Destroying Election Process, Republicans seek to distract with Ballot Design Lawsuit!!! Here's the Truth Behind the Lawsuit from Republicans Fitzgerald and Vos.

The ridiculous and whiny ballot lawsuit by Sen. Scott Fitzgerald and Rep. Robin Vos is meant to muddy the election waters even more, with the hopes of discouraging and frustrating voters enough so they won’t turn out.

But the comments by the snarling unlikable Vos need some clarification. He said this on WKOW:

"Now, a simple Google search, if you were to type in a person that you were giving a special contract to that's dealing with elections, would have revealed that she had a partisan leaning."

Vos is simply saying that left leaning individuals in America cannot be trusted to do anything anymore, and only conservatives have higher more principled intentions. But that supposes Dana Chisnell is left leaning. Perhaps making election ballots easier to understand and free of possible errors does smack of liberalism, because it does run counter to the maze of regulations and hoops Republicans hope to send voters through year after year.

  

You be the judge. Here’s a quick video interview with this "known" electoral saboteur:

Dana Chisnell’s the person election bureaus call to create bulletproof ballots, ones that are clear enough and understandable enough to ensure that every vote counts. 

She went on to work on the Design for Democracy project — a group dedicated to using design tools to make ballots and voting more understandable; it researched and set forth the best practices for creating printed ballots, optical scan ballots, signs and posters at polling places … created tiny field-guide booklets with easy-to-implement, actionable tips — the boiled-down essence of their research. Her slogan: Democracy is a design problem.

Perhaps Fitzgerald and Vos didn't like the liberal leaning MacArthur Foundation, which “supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world, defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society.” You know, all the things Republicans hate the most because it empowers people with actual freedom and liberty, and not that meaningless version you see on their bumper stickers.

Chisnell is no partisan "hitperson" either. She’s done work in such “leftist” states like Georgia and Ohio:

The guides are now in their third printing, with 1,500 sets being used in 43 states and in four Canadian and European provinces. Demand has exceeded supply. Georgia requested one set for every county. So did Ohio … Matt Masterson, deputy chief of staff for the Ohio secretary of state, who noted that almost all of Chisnell’s ideas involved no additional costs.  

It's hard to get anymore partisan than Ohio, who's Republican Secretary of State tried to gum up the last few elections by restricting early voting and wanted to end early voting the last 3 heaviest days of turnout.

But she's just too partisan for Wisconsin. Poor Chisnell, destroying her own business to give Democrats in Wisconsin a leg up on sure thing gerrymanders Republicans. What a waste.

For fun, check out Chisnell's latest design for online voting:

The Anywhere Ballot: What if anyone could vote on any device? What if, rather than having separate voting systems for people who did and didn’t have disabilities, voters could vote on a device they already had and knew and had customized and personalized. This is a project sponsored by the Election Assistance Commission.

Try out the Anywhere Ballot on your computer or tablet

Blaska confirms, it was Doyle's Great Recession! Claims Walker cut the Working Poor's Earned Income Tax Credit because they didn't pay taxes.

Blogger and pundit David "Bluster" Blaska made a few incredible but very revealing statements today on WPR, that proved there is an alternative reality out there, and Republicans will be voting in it come November.

Point #1: In this short clip, Blaska's first comment will blow your mind. You know how Scott Walker continues to blame the Great Recessions jobs and business losses on former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, well Blaska confirms it with this:

"And we're only, ah, three and a half years out from the Doyle recession."

I chuckle every time I hear it. But that's not all.

Point 2: I've been pointing out how nationally, Republicans want to pair back safety nets by proposing an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit. That sounds nice until you realize on a statewide level, Republicans are reducing the credit, essentially raising taxes on the poor while advocating tax cuts for business and the wealthy.

Blustery Blaska lays out how Republicans really feel about the EITC,

"First of all, you can't raise taxes on people who don't pay any taxes...we simply couldn't afford to shell out that kind of money...there was a small cut made in the money we gave, say taxpayer gave to people who didn't pay taxes." 

Walker balanced the budget by reducing the money given to the working poor via the EITC...because they didn't pay any taxes in the first place.



Here's how the Republicans described the EITC cuts way back on May 31, 2011:

But Republicans said the state tax credit program was generous and that changes needed to be made to ensure the state balanced a $3 billion budget deficit over the next two years and still gave businesses incentives to create jobs. The cuts to the earned income credit would total $56.2 million over two years, $12.7 million more than the cuts proposed by Walker. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has described Walker's proposal as a state income tax increase.

Wow! Republican State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald brags "Any shortfall created by a tax cut is fine."

Facing a possible $4 billion deficit, using the same kind of math Scott Walker has is using to bash former Gov. Jim Doyle and Mary Burke, Republicans are now starting to work into their rhetoric the benefits of deficits. Believe it or not.

The Mic 92.1's Devil's Advocates show got this "Dick Cheney" like response about deficits from Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, and how they don't really matter much. Even worse, he was speaking for Scott Walker, who would say deficits caused by tax cuts are better than your everyday kind of deficits...basically.

Fitzgerald: "He's gonna say it's a deficit created by tax cuts, that's a much different situation than what we had...Any shortfall created by a tax cut is fine."

Bush and Cheney pushed this same supply side accounting logic, and how did that turn out? $7 trillion in additional debt and counting (war/veterans costs continue).



Fitzgerald's comment is at about the 30 minute mark at the Devil's Advocates podcast site.

Journal Sentinel Spin Discounts Gov. Doyle's 11th place jobs growth ranking, beating Scott Walker's dismal ranking of 33rd.

Good grief. Can you believe this irresponsible reporter mistake on Scott Walker's jobs growth ranking disaster, which is now at 33rd in the nation.

jsonline: Wisconsin's pace in the latest 12 months compares with a rate of 2.08% for the nation as a whole. Wisconsin has lagged the nation in the pace of private-sector job creation for most of the past decade, data show.

"Most of...?" Yeah, if you want to discount the efforts of the Doyle administration, who ranked 11th in the nation for job growth. In Doyle's last year, after making some tough uncharacteristic cuts and tax increases, job creation beat the national average.

In fact, the Journal Sentinel twisted itself into a pretzel discounting Doyle's accomplishment in the second identical graph's ridiculous description:

Walker's improved ranking isn't due to anything he's done, it's compliments of a few other states that saw declines in job creation. 

The latest jobs report is virtually unchanged from the state's previous quarter. However, other states appear to have slowed in the time between the two most recent quarters. As a result, Wisconsin's new rank of 33 improved from a revised rank of 38 in the previous quarter.

Walker cuts food stamps tied to heating assistance, just in time for winter.

Winters have always been difficult in the state for low income Wisconsinites. In the past, many who needed heating assistance also received food stamps. Not anymore, thanks to Scott Walker.

Perhaps Walker believes he's helping people pay their energy bills instead of living a life dependent on food:

AP: Cuts to the nation's food stamp program enacted this year are only affecting four states (Wisconsin is one of them), far from the sweeping overhaul that Republicans had pushed ... attempted to save money by scaling back what lawmakers called a loophole in the food stamp program that entitles low-income families to more food aid if they participate in a federal heating assistance program. Among the 16 states that allow the practice or some form of it, 12 governors have taken steps to avoid the food stamp cuts. The states' workaround — mostly by Democratic governors — has infuriated Republicans who pushed the cuts.

As of now, the cuts will only affect Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey and New Hampshire. It's unclear how many people will be affected. Officials in Wisconsin, New Jersey and New Hampshire said they don't track that number.

Dissent will not be tolerated say our "Stand with Walker" right wing authoritarians.

Stand with Walker supporters had to bus in protesters!

The wacky right and their envious spokesperson Vicki "I am AFP" McKenna failed to convince very many people to turn out at the Capitol, especially knowing their Americans for Prosperity buses could only transport a limited number of seniors at a time.

That wasn't true of the hard working Wisconsinites who turned out to support all labor, including the vilified teachers in our classrooms.

The tea party "counter protests" were so small and embarrassing that there is no photographic evidence available anywhere.

When it comes to Act 10, this is how Wisconsin Republicans saw the mass turnout of protesters standing up for workers. Guess we don't want to see American redressing their government again anytime soon? McKenna actually wrote this on her Facebook page...

You'll love this comment...

"This is one of the reasons why education should be entirely privatized. Wisconsinite turned against Wisconsinite with such rancor because teachers' salaries & benefits became a public matter."

Anyone else worried about that copy of your voter ID?

I'm wondering if "freedom and liberty" loving small government conservatives ever thought about what happens to those picture ID copies sent along with their absentee ballot?

Those seeking to vote absentee this fall will have to provide local clerks a copy of their photo ID before their ballots will be counted, GAB Director Kevin Kennedy said today.

Gee, I would hate to see a partisan election worker accidentally leave with a few copies in their pocket. Or maybe a quick smart phone pic when nobodies looking, so someone could print one out later just in time for another important election.

Spreading your ID around in the mail and left to the devices of a corrupt election official in a back room somewhere sounds like an even bigger problem than the mythical identity theft known as voter fraud.

Warm up the scanner folks, someone wants your ID...

Burke and Walker/Happ and Schimel races even, majority want to improve ObamaCare.

Here's the latest Marquette Law School Poll, still showing a dead heat between Mary Burke and Scott Walker, and closer race for the attorney general. You'll also notice how Wisconsinites who aren't happy with the Affordable Care Act actually want to overwhelmingly improve it, not repeal it. jsonline:

Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Mary Burke are tied among registered voters at 46%.
 Among likely voters, Walker leads Burke 49%-46%.

Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ, the Democratic candidate, led Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel, a Republican, by 39% to 38%, among registered voters.

Among likely voters, Schimel led Happ, 42% to 41%.

Poll director Charles Franklin noted that in the latest poll, "There is a substantial movement among Republicans to be more enthused and more likely to vote."


42% said Wisconsin was lagging other states in creating jobs, 37% about the same and 13% faster. In August, 48% said the state was lagging others.


On the state budget, 41% said it was better than a few years ago, while 27% said it was worse.

54% of voters said the state was headed in the right direction, 42% said it was on the wrong track, the same as in August.

Walker's job approval was 49%, with 46% disapproving of his performance as governor.

Burke was viewed favorably by 36% of voters and unfavorably by 35%.

Walker was viewed favorably by 49% and unfavorably by 45%.

Asked if marijuana use should be legal, 46% said it should be while 51% said it should not be legal.

Photo identification to vote is favored by 51% and opposed by 35% of those polled. Franklin said, "87% of Republicans backed photo ID and 62% of Democrats opposed it. Partisan differences here quite strong but overall pretty broad support."

40% have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act while 50% had an unfavorable view. Asked what to do with the act, 10% would keep it, 50% would improve it, 19% would replace it and 18% would repeal the measure that is known as Obamacare. 

On accepting federal dollars to expand Medicaid in the state, 61% would accept the cash, while 29% would reject the money.

Asked how to pay for highways, 30% said raise taxes, 5% said borrow money, 13% said build less while 42% said to take the money from other budgets. "Unfortunately, taking from other budgets was the easy out," Franklin said.

Support remains strong for approving a Kenosha casino, with 50% approving and 39% rejecting the proposal.

The sample leaned conservative though, and might be an "outlier." 

Franklin said. “But in the September poll, it is Republicans who have an advantage in enthusiasm. Eighty percent of Republicans said they are certain to vote in November, compared to 73 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of independents. In August, 82 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of independents were certain to vote.”

Differences in partisan enthusiasm were also reflected in the composition of this month’s sample. Republicans hold a 1-percentage-point advantage among registered voters polled, with 29 percent identifying themselves as Republicans and 28 percent saying that they are Democrats. A total of 41 percent say that they are independent. This is the first time in 24 Marquette Law School Polls that Republicans have held an edge among all registered voters. Among likely voters, Republicans have a 32 percent to 28 percent advantage over Democrats, with 38 percent independent. 

“Across all Marquette polls in 2013 and 2014, Democrats have averaged a 4-point advantage among registered voters and a 3-point advantage among likely voters. It is unusual to see a 5-point net shift in partisan composition,” Franklin said. “People should be appropriately skeptical since it is always possible this sample is simply an outlier.