Walker, Wisconsin's Absentee Landlord?

Digging deep to sound as petty as Scott Walker and his legislative plundering pirates, I thought this fit the bill. Rain hit the entire state (we might need more, but what the heck):

So is Walker still paying attention to Wisconsin, or just calling it in? You be the judge from this little tidbit:

According to the DNR's website Monday fire danger was considered low in every Wisconsin county.

Walker's office said in a news release announcing the declaration, however, that much of the state has experienced abnormally dry weather that's expected to continue through May.

It also appears Walker spent very little time thinking about his cobbled together mistake filled budget. He can't even get that right, as State Sen. Jon Erpenbach explained below on Capitol City Sunday. Struggling to save Walker's credibility, get a load of Dale Kooyenga's embarrassing comment about cranberries and motorcycles:

Walker's Free Sweaters, Shirts and Shorts from Kohl's bought with Taxpayer Handouts to Company.

Leave it to Bloomberg Business to take a more critical look at Scott Walker's claims of frugality and almost laughable lie, “I believe people create jobs, not the government.” The way he's doled out corporate welfare checks from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, without having them pee in cup, is an open admission he's just bullshitting us.

Like the title above states, Walker's closet full of free sweaters are compliments of another handout using taxpayer money:

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker can’t stop talking about Kohl’s as he crisscrosses the U.S. before a likely presidential run. “The next thing you know, they’re paying me to buy that shirt,” Walker told an audience Saturday evening in New Hampshire.

What Walker doesn't mention is his biggest interaction with the third-largest U.S. department store chain: a state incentive package worth as much as $62.5 million. The credits, offered in 2012 when there was a chance the company would relocate to another state, arrived despite Walker’s limited-government philosophy. “I believe people create jobs, not the government,” Walker said in that same New Hampshire speech.

As of February 2014, Kohl’s had … received about $8.8 million in credits. 

Media okay with Republican schemes to play off middle-class fears and insecurity, yet blame Democrats for not being real.

The media continues to hold each party to completely different standards, giving the edge and advantage to Republicans who can just make things up on the fly. 

While Democrats are expected to explain their positions and act like normal Americans, republicans are allowed to be the schemers, hoping to fear monger the public into submission.

These two headlines tell the story. I'm not making it up. I see this all the time:

It’s fascinating to watch republicans use their economic failings as weapons against Democrats by shifting the blame. For instance their own deregulation nightmare…the Great Recession:

Republican presidential candidates are trying tap into a lingering sense of insecurity among Americans seven years after the global financial crisis.

Their refusal to raise the minimum wage, even suggesting we get rid of it altogether:

And some are striking a sympathetic tone with lower-income workers…

Praise from GOP marketing word smith and spin-meister Frank Luntz for playing up the negative effects of the GOP’s free market failure - the Great Recession:

Republican pollster Frank Luntz said Bush and other contenders are taking the right tack. “We do not have the full-time jobs we once had. We do not have the upwardly mobile economy that we once had. The public is still afraid that we are one bump in the road away from a serious recession.”

Stupidly pointing out the drop in new business formation that started, and I’m not kidding, during the Reagan years. They do know we can hear them say these things?

Bush would like to see the economy hum at closer to 4 percent and frequently points out that the rate of new business formation has dropped steadily since the 1980s and that business deaths now eclipse starts.

Cry alligator tears over all the massive corporate tax cuts they passed out and continue to this day:

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry contended that it was unfair that “large corporations don’t pay taxes but single moms working two jobs do.”

Many in the comments section were also in complete disbelief:

“More of those I've heard want to eliminate or not raise the minimum wage, privatize (read, "make inoperative") Social Security, get us into more expensive (in both money and the lives of our young soldiers) wars, raise the age for retirement, and cut funding for public schools than want to do ANYTHING for anyone outside the 1%.”

“Once in office we are their target for scorn, ridicule and as a source of money that they can take from us to give to the military/industrial complex and their plutocrat friends.”

“Republican "trickle on" theory didn't work, giving big business massive tax breaks didn't work, cutting working American's benefits and retirements didn't work nor did removing regulations that resulted in the meltdown in real estate and loansharking. However, a small percentage of the population has made enormous gains due to their policies.”

Huckabee rips Ryan and other Republicans for trying to break the trust between government and the people, defends Social Security and Medicare

Mike Huckabee has certainly changed his tune since August of 2012. 

But I don't care what got him to change his opinion about Medicare and Social Security, as long as his message gets out to other republican voters who normally march in lockstep to the party edicts. 

And Democrats, take a hint at how Huckabee frames his defense of our social safety nets, because it kicks ass. Take it, quote him and get the message out. The Weekly Standard:

All it took was a kiss...?

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is making a big break with the Republican party on the issue of entitlement reform. "I don't know why Republicans want to insult Americans by pretending they don't understand what their Social Security program and Medicare program is," Huckabee said in response to a question about Christie's proposal to gradually raise the retirement age and implement a means test. 

Huckabee said: "Not just no, it's you-know-what no ... what we are really embracing at that point is we are embracing a government that lied to its people--that took money from its people under one pretense and then took it away at the time when they started wanting to actually get what they have paid for all these years."

Huckabee also said he wouldn't sign congressman Paul Ryan's plan to reform Medicare for Americans who are 55 years old and younger ... "that I'd be paying in and suddenly you're telling me they're going to be changing the rules for you here."

Paul Ryan and other advocates of Medicare reform have argued government will ratchet up medical rationing of care for Medicare recipients, but Huckabee dismissed such concerns, saying that "all medical care is rationed."

Huckabee said Republican proposals to reform entitlements are "disastrous, not only politically but I think they be disastrous in terms of further breaking the trust between the government and its people."

Huckabee said this morning that the only entitlement reforms he would support would be giving retirees the option to take a lump-sum cash payment upon retirement and changing the existing programs for people who are just now entering the workforce. 

Walker's "Open for Business" should be changed to "Under New Ownership!!!"

So where in the world did big business get the idea they can do almost anything they want in Wisconsin? You don't think it came from the not so subtle messages ballyhoo'd by Scott Walker and his band of plundering pirates in the legislature?

We're beyond warning signs at this point. The following jaw dropping ad demonstrates the actual corrupting influence of money; a former state commerce secretary, now a consultant, is selling his companies lobbying expertise to businesses trying to influence legislation. And if that doesn't work, at least take their case to the state supreme court:

At least Capitol Consultants is upfront about their intentions. 

A business group in Milwaukee, trying to get off the hook for converting a coal plant to natural gas (trying to get regular consumers to pay instead), is getting just what they want. And conservative "stand with Walker" voters and ratepayers will fork over more of their hard earned cash to big energy. jsonline:

Milwaukee's primary business booster group is pushing state lawmakers to cut funding for the Citizens Utility Board, a move that would cripple the group that represents consumers when utilities like We Energies seek state approval for rate increases.

Spearheaded by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce … If approved by the Legislature, it would eliminate a grant that provides $300,000 a year in utility ratepayer dollars to CUB, which was created by state law more than 35 years ago.

Last year alone, CUB — which has a total budget of $771,580 — helped persuade the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to reduce utilities' initial rate proposals enough to save customers a total of $161 million. So this cut would represent savings of less than a penny for every $100 that electric customers pay. "We are truly a bargain," said Kira Loehr, CUB's executive director and general counsel. "There is no other state agency or group in the country that does what we do on the budget we have."

Just so you weren't confused over the intentions of the MMAC big business partners:

The change would also limit funding for CUB and other groups to hire expert witnesses in utility cases. The Republican-dominated finance committee adopted on a 12-4 party-line vote … (saying) they can't see why ratepayers should fund advocacy groups...

...ah, because they saved ratepayers $161 million? What am I missing in this debate? And we as ratepayers have been taking it in shorts for years in Wisconsin, even with the help of CUB:

The move to cut funding for CUB and other groups that advocate at the PSC comes at a time when the state's utility rates have risen faster than the rate of inflation and rank second-highest in the Midwest. 

Is Walker "arguably" the best Republican candidate?

I love it how petty political partisan republicans convulse over the little stuff and phony outrage.

The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes got the ball rolling with his tweet below, spurring on a funny response I just had to pass along to you here. Our word salad non-answer specialist Scott Walker gets justifiably picked apart:

After Wisconsin, Walker looking to Divide U.S. and World with "Unitary Executive" Powers.

History is filled with stories of great leaders who came at just the right time to wreak havoc and destruction for their countries and the world. Are we in such a time?

Wisconsin went from blue, to purple, to deep throbbing red in a very short time under Scott Walker. Throw in a abiding rubber stamp from an overwhelmingly republican legislature, and you've got the makings of "bold" leader who can, not surprisingly, get things done. For republicans, the failure of individual policies isn't as important as having their great party leader in power.

What I'm saying is this; Walker's style of politics is coming at the right time for him and our ideologically divided nation. The mood of partisan politics is everywhere, especially in D.C.. So it's not odd to think this authoritarian and dictatorial little coward may just have a chance at becoming president after all.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank offered up the research that explains what is happening:

The ultimate Unitary Executive!!?

It has long been agreed that race is the deepest divide in American society. But that is no longer true, say Shanto Iyengar and Sean Westwood, the academics who led the study. Using a variety of social science methods (for example, having study participants review résumés of people that make both their race and party affiliation clear), they document that “the level of partisan animus in the American public exceeds racial hostility.”

Americans now discriminate more on the basis of party than on race, gender or any of the other divides we typically think of — and that discrimination extends beyond politics into personal relationships and non-political behaviors. Americans increasingly live in neighborhoods with like-minded partisans, marry fellow partisans and disapprove of their children marrying mates from the other party, and they are more likely to choose partners based on partisanship than physical or personality attributes.

“Unlike race,  there are no corresponding pressures to temper disapproval of political opponents,” they conclude. “If anything, the rhetoric and actions of political leaders demonstrate that hostility directed at the opposition is acceptable, even appropriate. Partisans therefore feel free to express animus and engage in discriminatory behavior toward opposing partisans.” The vast majority of self-described independents actually lean toward one party or the other, and they are often even more partisan in their views than those who identify themselves with a party.

Also of note is that the partisan polarization occurs even though Americans aren't all that split on policies or ideology. Their partisanship is more tribal than anything — the result of an ill-informed electorate. Westwood said, “However, most people understand their side is good and the opposing side is bad, so it’s much easier for them to form these emotional opinions of political parties.”

This leads to a grim conclusion: The problem with politics isn't Washington but the electorate. 

Republicans wrong on Term Limits and Balanced Budget Amendment.

If you ask conservatives who regularly read this site and other more liberal bloggers, you'd think we were partisan or something. But really, this and other sites continue to suggest solutions, instead of just whining about the problem.

Two guys who have been right on so many levels, Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, took a look at a few "solutions" from the right will only make things worse. There take on "term limits" is the one that stands out. Dumb Ron Johnson recently said in an interview that Mitt Romney told him how he would only be president one term, get what he wanted done, and move on. That didn't sit well with me, and Mann and Ornstein's trashing of term limits explains why:

We’ve all heard the laments — we’ve made some of them ourselves — that Washington is broken. Here are (some) much-praised solutions we should avoid:

Term limits will save us: Term limits, we’re told, would replace them with citizen-lawmakers who cared less about reelection and more about acting on behalf of their fellow citizens — thus restoring Congress to its intended role as the citadel of deliberative democracy.

Does it work? Instead of channeling ambition in the right, public-interest direction, term limits have the opposite effect: New lawmakers immediately begin planning for ways to reach the next level, or to find lucrative lobbying jobs when they are term-limited out. They have no incentive to do things for the long-term and no regard for maintaining their own institutions. With the loss of expertise among senior lawmakers, power devolves to permanent staff members and to lobbyists.

The magic of a Balanced Budget Amendment:

Another hardy perennial … After all, 49 states have such an amendment in their constitutions, so why not Washington?

In fact, the states’ balanced budgets are the best reason to avoid one at the federal level. When a downturn occurs, basic economic theory tells us that we need “counter-cyclical” policies to inject adrenaline into a fatigued economy — meaning more government spending and/or lower taxes. States do the opposite: A downturn means less revenue and more demands from unemployed residents … The fiscal drag from states in the recent Great Recession amounted to $800 billion, which the Obama administration’s stimulus plan barely offset. A federal balanced-budget amendment would only have aggravated the downturn — the economic equivalent of bleeding an anemic patient.

Maintaining fiscal flexibility is critical in the American political system, particularly in a globalized economy where less and less of our destiny is under our control. And the experience of the 1990s demonstrates that the White House and Congress together can take the steps needed to balance the budget under existing rules. 

Again, Walker threatens World with boots on the ground preemptive war "on their soil."

Who knew preemptive war was still a good idea, especially after Iraq.

And yet, our meek and cowering career politician and sometimes Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is coming across like the most unapologetic hawk since Dick Cheney, and then some. For a guy who's foreign policy experience doesn't extend beyond the Illinois and Minnesota borders, Walker is turning out to be one of the scariest authoritarian threats to world peace ever.

What are you supposed to think after this menacing Walker dictate to the world:

This protester sign
wasn't to far off.

The GOP's hawks were well represented at the event, led by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has limited foreign policy experience but articulated a muscular vision during his Saturday keynote address (in N.H.). Walker said the threats posed by radical Islamic terrorism won't be handled simply with "a couple bombings."

"We're not going to wait till they bring the fight to us. We're going to bring the fight to them and fight on their soil."

Is this getting ridiculous or what? Photo ID for Food Stamp Purchases?

Yea, let’s keep dumping on the poor lower paid worker using food stamps. It feels so good.

They've always said, “busy hands are happy hands,” and nowhere is that more evident than in our own “small government” republican legislature (it’s small “r” republican now because they’re not a legitimate party anymore, just a bunch of taxpayer supported petty bullies too weak to make in the private sector).

And GOP voters continue to betray their “small government” credentials (assuming this myth was ever true in the first place), by not asking why they’re seeing an array of convoluted regulations when government was supposed to get out of the way. 

I've got a feeling it has more to do with conservative voter envy over "the lifestyles of the poor and downtrodden." These dummies are still getting mad over “large screen plasma TV’s,” despite the fact no one’s made a tube TV for decades. Here's another retreaded unoriginal idea from the right wing:

Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, says the proposal is an effort to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse and to make programs like FoodShare more efficient. But detractors say it would shame those living in poverty, with no discernible benefit.

The only thing stopping republicans right now are federal laws preventing these onerous added layers of “special scrutiny.” It’s all about equal treatment under the law. If charge or debit card customers don’t have to show a photo ID, why would someone on food stamps?  These idiotic ideas would be on the fast track if the GOP ever turned programs like this into state run block grants, free of government fairness “strings.”

Rep. Jesse Kremer is a sick paranoid.  

Penalize the poor, deduct $3.50 worth of food. 

"It sickens me to see all of the fraud and abuses … From some of the tenants in our rental homes that make more than I do and can't afford rent to the people using Quest cards at Potawatomi or using these benefits to purchase steaks for their dogs because dog food is not covered. They are there as a crutch and a lifeline, not a lifestyle."

Let me see if I've got this right; government always screws things up and can’t do anything right, but it can do a great job running big government food stamp pantry outlets?

Kremer also wrote in his "term paper" … limiting the use of QUEST cards to privately-run food pantries overseen by the government. " 

Heck, republicans want to create a federal regulation requiring the photo ID for Foodshare. The argument is this: It would crack down on the sales of cards on social media or the black market. But that's a lot of BS too: 1.3 percent in 2009-11.

And this will blow your mind: Talk about irresponsible public policy. Kremer is willing to make this malicious change, knowing the law is flawed and unworkable:

The central problem is that an EBT card is issued to the head of a household, but all members of that household are allowed to make purchases with it, per federal law. Kremer acknowledges that the ability for other household members to use a card presents a problem for his bill. "The way we’ve drafted the bill is it would still be head of household getting the card with the photo ID on it, but everyone else in the household still would have to be able to use that card," Kremer said. "So it’s kind of, yeah, a double-edged sword. It works in some cases and won’t in others."

But screw it, right Kremer, because that's just too much work to try and solve.

But we know what this is all about really. And this feigned "we're just worried about fraud" thing has gone beyond credulity:

A 2013 move to put photo IDs on EBT cards in Massachusetts prompted complaints from the USDA that the state was using the requirement to improperly cut benefits and similar concerns were raised when Maine implemented the requirement in 2014.

Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, flagged the bill as an "appalling" move … He said Wisconsinites are struggling financially in large part due to policies passed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican legislative majority. "Shaming a mother in poverty who's trying to feed her kids isn't going to make her less poor. Basing policies on ridiculous allegations isn't going to solve any real problems," Ross said. "Jesse Kremer needs to provide the evidence to back up his call for this despicable policy, and if he can't, the first thing he should do after apologizing to the people of Wisconsin is resign."

Really, Justice Abrahamson is making the State Supreme Court the laughing Stock? Not the Tea Party Kangaroo Court?

Just guessing but the court became a laughing stock when the nation read about how one particular conservative justice (David Prosser) decided to choke a liberal justice (Ann Walsh Bradley) over a simple disagreement. Or when he spewed profanities and threats at the chief justice. Ya think?

   

Add to that this amazing self-promotion; swing vote Justice Patrick Crooks ripped into Chief Justice Abrahamson for challenging the new constitutional amendment allowing the conservative majority to oust her...just after throwing his hat into the chief justice ring. Would I kid you?

National laughing stock? No doubt about it.   

(Crooks) had hoped she would act with more dignity after voters approved the change."I think it's not only sad, it's unfortunate. I won't give you my view of the merits of that lawsuit, but I will tell you I think it's something that should not have been done. We've become a little bit of a laughingstock, or at least she has."

In the interview, Crooks said he was considering seeking the position of chief justice himself after some of his colleagues talked to him about it. He declined to name them.

Laughing stock? My god yes. Just as interesting, Republicans have also pushed capping the age limit to eject Abrahamson, setting it at 75 or 80. That would be bad news for Crooks:

The 76-year-old justice also held out the possibility of running for re-election next year, despite suggesting to his colleagues last year that he would not seek another 10-year term.

One Party Authority over Everything: Am I the only one who’s noticed how the conservative activist justices have wreaked havoc on the court since becoming the majority, and then have the nerve to complain about all that havoc. Didn't you know, it's those minority liberal justices again.

  

So wouldn't it be better if the conservatives took over the court, becoming team players, where one philosophy rules the day? None of that dissent stuff. Crooks said exactly that…be amazed:

Crooks distanced himself from Abrahamson, saying he had a "very different" judicial philosophy than her. Regardless, he argued the decision on who should lead the court should be about who is best able to bring members of the court together, not a "philosophical tug of war." He said he felt he could serve that function. "I view the job of chief justices I think very differently than Justice Abrahamson does. I think that the chief justice is a first among equals. I think the approach that's appropriate is that you're a team player and you try to get everyone involved in the team."

Conservative voters would never tolerate tactics like those listed above from the Democrats. Like for instance; Republican politicians actually promise to nominate only conservative candidates to the courts; only conservatives have the higher calling from God and the founding fathers; “Corporations are people too” lobbyists are encouraged to spend, and win in those decidedly corporate friendly courts.

Republicans/Walker not on the same page as Wisconsinites by a long shot.

We've heard it from Republicans for years; they’re doing what the public elected them to do. Elections have consequences. Not a positive sounding message. Really, the public wants this?

The public is saying no.

Is this enough to get conservative voters to “throw the bums out,” and go with a Democrat? We can only hope.

Gov. Scott Walker's approval rating of 41 percent is its lowest in three years, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll … the public overwhelmingly opposes Walker's proposed cuts to K-12 education and the University of Wisconsin System, the poll shows.

How could a guy get it so wrong? The media never seems to ask that one simple question. Walker and the majority Republicans can try to adjust the original budget, but that doesn't change the governor’s out-of-touch and out of whack priorities. And the public doesn't like it.

Walker’s promise to do for the country, what he’s done for Wisconsin, is not really a good thing:

Those polled who said Wisconsin is headed in the right direction -- 43 percent in the recent poll compared to 51 percent in October.

And Dumb Ron Johnson isn't fooling anybody either, according to the poll.

And former Sen. Russ Feingold, a Democrat, outpaces the man who defeated him, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson 54-38 in a hypothetical matchup for 2016.

Hyperbolic BS about their Success: This is common theme for Republican governors running for president. Almost all of them are tanking their state economies with over-the-top tax cuts, forcing their legislatures to make draconian, just to pay their existing bills. And they want to do that nationwide?

The poll also showed widespread opposition to Walker's proposal to cut $300 million from the University of Wisconsin System: 70 percent oppose the proposed UW System cuts. Lawmakers have also suggested possible restoration of a portion of the proposed cuts.

Like that’ll be enough to make things right? Or how about this no brainer:

$127 million from K-12 schools: 78 percent oppose the school cuts, which Franklin called an "eye catching level of opinion." 

Buying Walker’s tax cut bullshit for just $5 a year…don’t think so. Scottie actually thinks this silly statement explains away everything:

He said there has been “little or no talk” about how the budget lowers property taxes and caps UW System undergraduate tuition. The budget lowers property taxes on an average Wisconsin home by $5 in each of the next two years. “Those are all really positive things and really nobody is talking about those things,” Walker said. “They’re only talking about things where there might be some level of disagreement.”

The master of understatement…yes, funny thing, we’re talking about a very disagreeable budget.

The poll also found that 60 percent of those surveyed opposed Walker's plan to make the Department of Natural Resources board advisory only, putting more control in the hands of the administration.

Gee, who could have predicted such opposition. Certainly not Walker, who seems surprised:

Republican leaders of the state budget committee announced this week they removed that proposal from the budget.

Last, but definitely not least: 

In a potential 2016 matchup, Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, leads Walker 52-40.

• 54 percent oppose, and 37 percent support, lifting the 1,000-student cap on vouchers statewide, as Walker has proposed.

• 48 oppose Walker's plan to kill funding for state tests linked to the Common Core State Standards in math and language arts.

• 44 percent oppose making those on Senior Care drug coverage use Medicare Part-D while 30 percent support the idea. One quarter of those surveyed had no opinion.

Dumb Ron Johnson loses ObamaCare lawsuit!!! Court to Dummy: "He could not be accused of participating in an illegal scheme if he declined to participate."

Poor Dumb Ron Johnson. Once a fool always a fool...

A federal appeals panel sided with a lower court Tuesday to throw out a lawsuit over Obamacare brought by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and one of his aides.

Even funnier than some of the things Johnson's says is the judges decision to throw the suit out. I just love this:

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago on Tuesday unanimously agreed: "Respectfully, we do not see how Senator Johnson's reputation could be sullied or his electability diminished by being offered, against his will, a benefit that he then decided to refuse," the panel wrote. "He could not be accused of participating in an illegal scheme if he declined to participate."

Yikes, did I detect a little sarcasm? Of course, like the clown we know him to be, Johnson had a quick unintentionally humorous comeback:

In a statement, Johnson expressed frustration at losing for a second time because of a "legal technicality." "We've lost a battle in court, but we will continue to move forward in our effort to return sanity, fairness and balance to government on behalf of the American people."

 Isn't it the court moving forward with sanity, fairness and balance?

Walker tax cuts a wash? Maybe, as Wisconsinites vote to raise area taxes to fund their schools.

Just how disconnected are the Republicans from reality as they cut, cut, cut taxes?

Well, just take a look at the number of passed school referendums; these are tax increases. While Scott Walker and the Republicans can brag about their cut taxes, communities all over the state are raising them, pretty much negating any savings.  

It's odd to think this doesn't send them a message. Taxpayers get it, they understand, and they're a whole lot more responsible than their own elected officials.

The Republican obsession over tax cuts and their feigned concern for the taxpayers doesn't come close to the public's desire to spend money wisely, and not to mention educate the next generation.

Wisconsin voters approved ballot initiatives in 43 school districts (in April 2015), voluntarily raising property taxes in order to fund academics or improve infrastructure in their districts.Wisconsin voters approved ballot initiatives in 27 school districts (Nov. 2014).Wisconsin voters approved ballot initiatives in 25 districts (April 2014).

Since the Walker authority took over, Wisconsin schools have seen rapid declines and increases in all the wrong places. The graphs below, from the Wisconsin Budget Project, prove that. Thanks to our already high ranking in the country, actual declines may not be as noticeable, at least, right away.

Obama's Affordable Care Act getting better all the time.

The numbers are looking great for the Affordable Care Act, and that means everything the Republicans said about it were wrong. 

But conservatives have a knack for flat out ignoring the truth, counting on their voters to never know the difference, and they'd be right. One of the biggest twists on reality should be coming in late June, when the supreme court could decided that despite the ACA's tax credits going to both state and federal exchanges (what congress intended) - it really wasn't what congress intended.

Opponents of the law argue that its literal language only allows the government to subsidize premiums in states that set up their own online insurance markets. Most have not done so, defaulting to the federal HealthCare.gov.

Supporters say that while some provisions may be confusing when read in isolation, the intent of Congress was to help consumers in every state pay their premiums. 

So the progress we've made with the ACA, despite being premised on the flawed private insurance industry model may go up in smoke, thanks to what is decidedly an activist conservative court of justices legislating from the bench.

Here's another chart that no Republican can argue with...which is why they won't acknowledge how wrong they were about ObamaCare being a "job killer:"

Walker embraces Bush failed and disastrous Preemptive War Policy, with Dumb Ron Johnson's support.

If there ever was a failed policy, and an outright scary one at that, it was the Bush/Cheney preemptive war policy. It made the U.S. the global bully. It also went horribly wrong, spreading al Qaeda throughout Iraq and spin off groups like ISIS.

What, learn from the past...never!!! Scott Walker apparently wasn't paying attention when we were fighting two wars on the credit card, a common problem on the right, where petty distractions have run amok.

Walker made it clear, preemptive, never ending war is coming. Walker mentioned watching the horrific ISIS videos. Maybe it's just me, but I never felt the need to watch a caged prisoner burned to death or get others get beheaded. Guys like Scott Walker had to watch, and take in the moment. And like your typical conservative terror junkie, it motivated him to breathlessly fear monger an already paranoid tea party gun toting audience.



While Sen. Tom Cotton thinks bombing Iran, for just a couple of days is cool (it won't result in any kind of military blowback?), our own frightened Dumb Ron Johnson is taking Walker's side; war, war, war. Wipe ISIS off the map:

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said his preferred method for dealing with ISIS is to "wipe them off the face of the Earth" as he blasted President Obama for being too soft on the issue.

"For me, defeat is, you know, defeat. Get rid of them, kill them! Wipe them off the face of the Earth. Wipe that evil, that barbarity off the face of the Earth. President Obama's definition of defeat is 'Let's kind of just contain this thing, kick it down the road and let the next guy or gal take care of it.'"

Johnson even thinks we should have stayed in Iraq. Both Bush and Obama tried to keep some military presence in Iraq but backed away when told our soldiers would be exposed to the whims of Iraqi law. Johnson is unaware the facts, as usual:

Johnson also blasted Obama for pulling U.S troops from Iraq, saying "the war had been won" but that the U.S should have stayed to build a stable democracy. Obama, Johnson said, "bugged out," causing U.S. casualties and money spent to be "wasted." Johnson told WisPolitics.com afterward that he would not vote to authorize troops to fight ISIS in Syria and elsewhere because he doubts Obama's commitment to success. 

As an added bonus, here's my little tribute to that grating Walker "head-bob & believe" gimmick:

NRA Myths Busted & Gun crazy convention goers were sitting targets for armed attackers (yet nothing happened).

It appears our fanatical gun drooling concealed carry bots don't even trust their fellow armed and obsessed "law abiding citizens:"

The National Rifle Association will hold its annual convention April 10-12 in Nashville. Here's a breakdown of what you need to know:  "16 acres of guns," according to an ad for the event; All guns on the convention floor will be nonoperational, with the firing pins removed, and any guns purchased during the NRA convention will have to be picked up at a Federal Firearms License dealer…

Media Matter's hit the nail on the head by throwing the NRA's own talking points back at them. Funny, gun hobbyists have not yet responded to this obvious hypocrisy:

NRA To Host "Marquee" Event In A "Gun-Free Zone" After Describing Such Places As Advertisements For An "Insane Killer" - NRA's Wayne LaPierre Recently Fear-mongered About Terror Attack On Gun-Free Mall.

At the same time, new research is backing up what has been painfully obvious to many of us; guns kill people, and don't make us safer. What a revelation...from MotherJones:

New Harvard Research Debunks the NRA's Favorite Talking Points: 

Anyone familiar with the gun debate has heard the talking points of the National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates: "Carrying a gun for self-defense makes you safer." Or: "If only more ordinary citizens were armed, they could stop mass shootings" ... these arguments don't stand up to scrutiny. After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, commented on another long-running assertion from the gun lobby: "There is no evidence that having more guns reduces crime," he told the New York Times.

Here's a little background, and a graph showing some of their findings:

Hemenway says that some in the media have continued to treat such assertions as legitimate points of debate. That leaves the public thinking, "Okay, so there's disagreement on this," he says … so he set about surveying a wide range of experts on guns. The Harvard team has completed nine surveys so far, with about 100 researchers responding to each: They show that a clear majority of experts do not buy the NRA's arguments (see the growing dataset here). 

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From Media Matters, this bombshell of a comment:

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