See a Theme Here? Unions, like Medicare/Obamacare/Social Security, need to be destroyed to save them.

I had reservations about giving Sarah Palin any further exposure, but I couldn't resist, after seeing a developing theme here. It's probably always been their intention all along, but under the Republican plan to use disaster capitalism to push their agenda, even the least educated voter will see through this scam.

One British pundit called Ryan's reform as "premeditated murder."

But that's off topic, here's Palin with one contradiction after the next. I've edited it massively, so it won't hurt so much.

Todays Tea Party Protest in Pictures....

This is about the size of the Palin rally, give or take a few anti-Walker protesters shuffling back and forth from their rally on the other side of the Capitol.

This is an EARLY picture of the anti-Walker rally, and I should know, I video taped it. The walkway up to the Capitol was filled. Of course most of us went to see the "accident," with Andrew Breitbart, superstar Vicki McKenna and Sarah Palin.

And here's my favorite costumed protester, reflecting the world in which our Humpty Dumpty Governor lives, and a poster of Sarah Palin at her finest:

The Tea Party Movements "narrow" Definition of Racism....

Crooks & Liars reported this racist gem from the right wing tea party movement:

Republicans seem to have a really, really narrow idea of what constitutes racism -- which is how they're able to claim that the Tea Parties aren't riddled with racism throughout.

But then little stories like this one from Orange County keep bubbling up to the surface of their fetid little Tea Party cesspool:

The Weekly has obtained a copy of an email sent to fellow conservatives this week by Marilyn Davenport, a Southern California Tea Party activist and member of the central committee of the Orange County Republican Party. 

Under the words, "Now you know why no birth certificate," there's an Obama family portrait showing them as apes.

As always, the "sweet little old lady" who sent the mail had no idea that anyone might possibly construe the mail as racist, even though comparing black people to various kinds of apes has always been a stock feature of racist denigration in America. Why, some of her best friends are black!

Reached by telephone and asked if she thought the email was appropriate, Davenport said,"Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people--mostly people I didn't think would be upset by it."

Breitbart: "Go to Hell." The "Paid" Palin Protest for America's Freedom? That's the Price of Freedom?

The class warfare hypocrites turned up on buses this morning to attend the paid appearance protest of the tea party, proudly sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers corporate front group. Hell, the speakers appeared at a podium that had a sign reading, and I kid you not, "I am AFP."

Here's a short clip of John Fund, who claimed the Milwaukee police just released a 2008 investigation of voter fraud that pretty much stole the presidential election, and Andrew Breitbart, the crackpot right wing supporter of video manipulator James O'Keefe. See his coverage here.

In a message heard around the world, Breitbart told the "rude" crowd of labor supporting protesters, protesting his protest:

Brietbart: "You have no right to lecture us on our language. Your Koch suckers business. Go to hell. No serious, go to hell, go to hell. You've been so rude. You're trying to divide America." 

As pointed out by one viewer, Fund actually messes up saying Waukesha, and says Walkersha County, at the 2 minute mark. Amazing.



I also made this short video when I was down there. It was amazing for me to hear Vicki McKenna telling the anti-Walker protesters, protesting them, to "shut up" a couple of times. It of course drew cheers by the Walker authoritarian supporters, who would love to silence any and all opposition. After all, "they won."

The Humpty Dumpty Governor? Will partisan Republican voters quietly allow Gov. Walker to increase taxes on working families?

Governor Walker is about to raise taxes. Are those crickets I hear?

Are Republican voters for or against us?

This isn't anything new. Did you notice what happened on Friday; What should be considered an outrage, we’re not hearing conservatives whining about our Republican congressional representatives “ramming” Paul Ryan’s budget down the throats of Americans on a strictly partisan vote, without one Democratic vote of support or debate!

Turnabout is fair play. As explained by the Wisconsin State Journal:

Walker repeatedly promised during his campaign for governor not to raise taxes. 

But…

Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget would reduce tax credits for the poor (A TAX INCREASE), effectively taking money out of their pockets, while decreasing taxes overall (TAX CUTS FOR BUSINESS), according to a nonpartisan report released Friday.

How much will working families lose?

Low and middle income people would lose tax credits worth about $49.4 million over two years, the new Legislative Fiscal Bureau report said. Those affected most … would include low-income families who qualify for the earned income tax credit program, and low-income homeowners who receive tax rebates under the homestead tax credit.

A JOB KILLING TAX INCREASE?  As Sarah Palin would say, “You betcha!” That will stop consumer spending in its tracks.  

HUMPTY DUMPTYISMS!!!

So how can Republicans explain their way out breaking their no tax increase pledge to the Club for Growth and fellow conservatives? Very easily; low income families are taking money from the rich, the ones paying all the taxes. Huh? Oh, and let’s be sure to use the buzz word, “redistribution” to stir things up:

Walker called the tax credit a "redistribution program" that involves "taking money from other taxpayers and giving it to individuals who have a limited tax liability."

Humpty Dumpty Walker says: "This is reducing how much money other taxpayers have to give to those individuals."  

And all the kings men…: 

Rep. Robin Vos agreed. He said the changes basically amount to sending people a smaller government check than they expected. "I don't know how you can call that a tax increase," Vos said.

Get that? Vos thinks it would be crazy to call a smaller tax refund, to low income working families, a tax increase. Maybe we should raise the tax bracket for the wealthy, and lament their smaller refund checks too?

If conservative voters accept this word smithing con, than everything they stand for can be easily reversed, which is essentially; Humpty Dumptyism.

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said. 

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’ ” 

“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected. 

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” 

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” 

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master      that’s all.”

Back at you Republicans....for backing Ryan's Plan.

NY Magazine headline:

"House Passes Paul Ryan Budget Plan, With Zero Democratic Support"

Grrrr. No way is America going to let Republicans ram their partisan, one party plan down our throats. We're taking our country back.

Sound familiar tea partiers? 

I told you Republicans were Ass Backwards. House Approves Ryan Plan for America's Future.

Self destruction, and out for themselves, conservatives jumped off the cliff with Rep. Paul Ryan. 

Fox News: On a party-line vote, the House of Representatives passed a Republican 2012 budget proposal which aims to start the country down the path of deficit reduction, but which Democrats warn will gut a vital safety net for seniors.  

The House voted 235-193 to approve the plan by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Here's Chris Matthews and Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings getting the latest "talking points" from Republican Rep. Dan Lungren who had been briefed on how to market Ryan's plan. I've superimposed a few of the talking points and commentary in the video below. Lungren's party expects the public to be amazingly gullible, or that masochistic. 

Here's another discussion the day before, where Republican Rep. Tom Cole tested out the idea that no one 55 and older will be effected, like that should make the Ryan plan magically more acceptable. Republicans feign the mild ignorance that future generations will in some way be different than today's seniors, especially when all the high paying jobs are gone and no safety net to depend on. Cole plays the innocent dupe, convinced in an insincere kind of way that as long as older seniors aren't effected, they can get away with it. We'll see.

Brave Tea Party protesters risk it all this Saturday at noon, outside the Capitol.

The big Tea Party event, at the east wing of the Capitol and King St. at noon, will show their support for their administrative genius, Scott Walker. Big money is busing in the tea party from around the state, compliments of Americans for Prosperity.  

Joe the Plumber wasn't a major draw last time, with only a few hundred protesters showing just one day over a month long protest. So to rev things up, Sarah Palin agreed to make an appearance. But even that didn't prevent the organizers from hedging their bets by playing the fear card. No event would be worth attending unless tea party members weren’t victimized by loud angry liberal thugs.

The liberals are planning to drown us out, claiming that it is “their house.” Let’s show them that it’s the taxpayers-NOT the tax spenders who actually pay the bills to keep the Capitol running.

Yeah, that's what liberals would say....Great word play too but a little outdated, by a few decades. Even back then, Democrats spent tax money on public services. But since then, government has cut through the bone. Did you notice any change in the rhetoric about government spending over the last decade? Which should tell you something about the substance of their movement? There will never be a bottom low enough for these bottom feeders.

    

And since the substance of their movement lacks credibility, you’ll hear a lot about WINNING. And that’s what this is all about.

This is a chance to celebrate our recent victories and to rededicate ourselves to the work that remains to turn our state and country around.  

Check out the brave survivors who stood up to the month long, million strong protest, of liberal thugs and slobs:

The War Against the Intellectual Mainstream. Ayn Randers and Tea Party Voters Unite.

We already know how greed and an unregulated Wall Street tanked the global economy and shed 8 million American jobs. So how would an everyday free market conservative change their economic theory? They wouldn't. 

According to the Ayn Rand Center: 

But today’s statist onslaught is the result of a deeply entrenched set of ideas about the proper purpose of government. Virtually everyone today believes that unrestricted capitalism is immoral and dangerous, and that the government’s role is to actively intervene in the economy in order to achieve the “public good.” So long as these ideas remain unchallenged, and no positive alternative is offered, no protest will be able to change the country's course. 

What’s needed today is not a tax revolt, but a revolt against today’s intellectual mainstream. 

And the opposite of the intellectual mainstream is....



Note: Her name is pronounced, eye'n rand.

More Anger, Frustration over Walker's Devastating Plans for Wisconsin, this time from Neenah.

The recent Finance Committee hearing in Neenah proved once again the Republicans and Gov. Walker are angering voters, scaring them even:

WRN: The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee held hearing at Neenah High School Wednesday, to hear what the public thinks about Governor Scott Walker’s two year budget proposal. Most of those testifying asked the panel to remove proposed cuts to municipalities, health care programs, and farmland preservation. Others, like Barbara Linder, spoke out against cuts to programs that help low income families. “Cutting the homestead and earned income tax credits that assist seniors and the working poor will result in a tax increase for them at the same time that the big tax breaks are being given to the CEOs and the large corporations,” said Linder. “Is this fair? I don’t think so.” 

Neenah Mayor George Scherck told the panel that cuts to shared revenue and other programs will have a major impact. “In 1983,45 percent of Neenah’s operating budget was financed by shared revenue. In 2012, if everything passes as proposed, it will be 5.9%,” said Scherk.

The Walker Hearing....

Link here.

Thank you Gov. Walker: Lamenting the loss of our best teachers...

I can’t describe how empty I feel watching the best teachers in our schools leaving the kids they care about behind. As a parent of an 8 and 12 year old, I’m especially close to this horrific loss of talent.

This isn’t the first time Republicans have affected my life.

The Bush/Republican administration obliterated my business, leaving me jobless and riveted to this uncompensated blog. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing this. This is a continuation of daily show prep I did for my old liberal talk radio show. But now these ideological snakes are messing with my kids. 

I can’t help but get emotional thinking about the teachers I met during our parent conferences, who cared and knew everything about my son, and the technics they came up with that improve his performance.

jsonline: (When) Karen Scharrer-Erickson teacher of 43 years entered the room … she burst into tears. "I am totally not ready," Scharrer-Erickson, a literacy coach at the Academy of Accelerated Learning, said this week. "I never thought about retiring until the (Gov.) Scott Walker situation, because this school is so special and I am working with the most incredibly caring teachers I have ever known." 

Some school districts are seeing record numbers of senior teachers such as Scharrer-Erickson turn in their retirement paperwork. 

In the Mukwonago School District … 40 teachers have submitted their retirement requests … double what Prairie View Elementary School music teacher Jan Rolfe said she has seen in her nearly three decades with the district. She's leaving sooner than she expected … also fears what will happen to the schools in her district when she and the other teachers leave.

Here’s the bottom line for me, as a dad:

"We're the teachers that these parents have been waiting for their kids to have," Rolfe said. "We're the teachers that their brothers and sisters have had. We're the teachers that mentor the newer teachers. And we're all going to be gone."

Gov. Scott Walker Attends Failed Ass Kissing Hearings, Gets Pummeled by Democrats.

Just in case you missed it:

jsonline: Introduced by fellow Republican Jim Sensenbrenner as a “very polarizing figure,” Gov. Scott Walker lived up to that mantle in a highly charged appearance Thursday at a congressional hearing on state budget problems. 

Lawmakers from his own party hailed him as a gutsy politician making tough choices, while Democrats seized the chance to cross-examine a governor they regard as a poster boy for conservative overreach. Democrats called him a union-buster, a divider and a vehicle for corporate interests. They derided his contention that cutting collective bargaining rights was a fiscal necessity rather than a politically motivated choice.

Here's a compilation of video clips of the event, featuring Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Bruce Braley of Iowa, and Gwen Moore of Milwaukee.

 

And again, like the true Republican he is, Walker did NOT take responsibility a bad hire:

jsonline: It's amazing how no one is willing to take the credit - or the blame - for hiring the son a prominent supporter of Gov. Scott Walker. In his testimony before a House committee, Walker responded by distancing himself from what happened:  

"That person was five levels below me. When that hiring was brought to my attention, I had my staff go back and have that person taken out of that position, and I acknowledged the fact that there were more qualified people, and I asked someone else to be put into that." 

Walker didn't mention that his chief of staff, Keith Gilkes, recommended Deschane for his first job in state government or that two cabinet secretaries signed off on his hiring.
 

State will Investigate Waukesha Votes Five Years Back as Well.

It looks like the Government Accountability Board is checking out past irregularities in Waukesha now. This from Brad Blog:

Guess what? As per our story published a few hours ago on the still-unexplained anomalies found in past Waukesha County, WI elections, it looks like the state's Government Accountability Board (the body which oversees elections in the state) can't understand County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus' explanations for the anomalous 2006 results either, where some 20,000 more votes were tallied than "ballots cast", according to her own reports.

Check this out from the Wisconsin State Journal:

The state's investigation into vote irregularities in Waukesha County will stretch back at least five years, the head of the Government Accountability Board said Thursday. Now questions have emerged over Nickolaus' published vote counts from as far back as the fall of 2006, when there were key statewide elections including races for governor and attorney general … The results for the 2006 attorney general's race, for example, show 174,047 votes for either Democrat Kathleen Falk, Republican J.B. Van Hollen or write-in candidates, a total that is 17,243 votes higher than the total ballots cast recorded elsewhere in the results.

In 2004, turn out was exceptionally high,

Apparently in 2004 the polls in Waukesha were teeming with voters as the Waukesha County Clerk's office showed a 97.63% turn out. No, that's not a typo. 97.63%

Judge Sumi threatened for doing her job; imprisonment, death. Conservative anti-union "Thugs?"

What would you say about an ideology that turns on the judicial branch of our government when it doesn't agree with a legal decision? When the outcome of a judges decision is predetermined by political force or majority? It would be a social cleansing of those who dissent from the acceptable point of view. 

A system like that would discourage challengers to the status quo. That's what the conservative, tea party movement is all about. And it's happening in Madison against a local judge here. A conservative judge.

Republicans are quick to whine out loud about threats they receive from the public, but that's not true of most everyone else. A death threat plays into there doom and gloom paranoid world view and is a badge of honor. From Isthmus' Bill Lueders and WTDY's Sly in the Morning:

Bill Lueders- 

Conservatives from all over, taking their cue from the harsh rhetoric of Wisconsin legislative leaders like Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, have unleashed a torrent of abuse on Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi, who has confounded Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union agenda. 

"You should be impeached," declares a letter addressed "Dear Comrade" from Richard McKee of Phoenix, Ariz. "Your alliance with large labor thugs and bullies is treasonous. Your salary should be confiscated, your pension cancelled, and you should be jailed as an enemy of democracy." 

Judge Sumi, an Isthmus review found, has drawn more than 70 letters, postcards and emails since March 18. That's when she issued a restraining order against Walker's bill to gut public employee union rights, slash Medicaid payments and tighten his grip over state agencies, saying its passage likely violated the state's Open Meetings Law. She later extended her order indefinitely, until the named defendants show up in court. 

"Why don't you do something about the people who willingly and maliciously did so much damage to your state capitol. They acted like a bunch of hippies at a rock concert. ... Many of us here in Arizona support Gov. Scott Walker and the people who passed this bill." Anonymous letter. 

"You are a disgrace to the bench." Letter from Maria G., Hialeah, Fla. 

"I would be interested in knowing how much money this judge was paid by union bosses. ... Was she bribed?. Email from Tim Malinas, address unknown. 

"She should be disbarred. If you fail to do anything about it, you yourself are just as liable for disbarment and/or impeachment...." Email from Greg Crews to a Dane County deputy clerk he believed to be a judge. 

"The law is the law. Uphold it don't remold it to fit socialism or big union bosses." Email from Frosty Woolridge, Detroit, Mich.

Lots more here... 

The Most Unbelievable Fox News Interview....

When I watched in stunned amazement the interview below, I couldn't resist posting it here.

Fox News host Gretchen Carlson "reported," now it's time you decide...is she friggin crazy or what?

Ryan's Shine Tarnished!!! Paul's Panicky Temper Tantrum Scary, Unnoticed by the Media.

After hearing a few short audio clips of Rep. Paul Ryan's response to Pres. Obama, I finally found the full video at CBS. (the audio's not so hot)

Rep. Paul Ryan had his feathers ruffled yesterday when Pres. Obama referred to Ryan's plan during his own budget proposal. The criticism was well deserved, with CBO numbers and all, and Ryan can't handle it.

It's wasn't so much the numbers for Ryan, which have been analyzed and discredited many times over. Instead, it was more a matter of someone daring to tarnish his undeserved reputation, that had him almost breathless in the video below. This is a public tempter tantrum. This is a hard line Ayn Randian, being called out for his extremist and partisan budgetary wish list of failed Republican policies.

Ryan's response, "I know you are but what am I?" Ryan made sweeping generalizations about the president. Ryan's personal attacks and fear mongering bordering on hysteria was what some would call unhinged. No substance, no grace, no class.

Ryan uncomfortably shifted back and forth in a frantic attempt to regain his credibility. Nice try.



If this is the guy driving our economic recovery, it's time to take away the keys. Ryan's apparently drunk and swerving all over the place with power.

Walker the True Progressive? And other lies.

Stooping to even newer lows, Gov. Walker is laying claim to the “progressive” mantle.

jsonline: Testifying in D.C. on the debt problems facing state and local governments, Gov. Scott Walker planned to tell a House committee Thursday morning that his own budget achieves “something truly progressive” by cutting compensation to public workers in order to avoid “massive layoffs, massive property tax increases or both.”

Progressive? Reversing policies to a time before unions. Let’s see if the definition of progressive hold up to a return to the Robber Baron age. 

Favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters: going forward or onward; 

No, that doesn’t work.

Another thing; did you know the “age” of bipartisanship passed just after the Republicans became the majority in the House. Makes me feel sorry for all those Republicans who expected bipartisanship the last two years, but have apparently, run out of time. 

“Sometimes, bipartisanship is not so good,” Walker said in his testimony.

Big Oil Documentary, Gashole, Exposes History of the Industries Ability to Stop Fuel Savings Progress.

Dylan Ratigan interviews the two producers of the documentary Gashole, who both come across like liberal green freaks, when in reality, they're both conservatives. I have gotta see this one.

In the late sixties and seventies, I clipped articles about fuel saving inventions so I could keep track of  them. Surprisingly, I never heard about them again. Here's the last one I added:

Ryan's Plan Cuts $4.3 Trillion, Countered by $4.2 Trillion in Tax Cuts. Insane!!

Under the reality that the bottom 90 percent of all working Americans saw their incomes declined, while the rich saw their incomes rise by an average of a quarter million dollars each, Lawrence O'Donnell's guest from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Robert Greenstein has a whole lot of ammunition to the insanity of Paul Ryan's budget folly.

Ryan's plan cuts $4.3 trillion from the budget, but uses most of that savings and spends $4.2 trillion on tax cuts for the wealthy. The CBO estimates the Ryan plan makes Medicare more expensive, with the additional cost paid out of pocket by seniors on a fixed income. It does save the government money, but doesn't lower health care costs. The human toll isn't even considered by Ryan, who believes self rationing is just part of living and dying, without a passing concern for the emotional and mental toll on families and friends.

O'Donnell makes a great point about what he calls "tax spending," tax cuts that take money out of the general fund, basically no different than irresponsible spending. Greenstein adds that "tax spending" amounts to $1 trillion a year, and costs more than Social Security and Medicare combined. He mentions means testing such things as the mortgage interest deduction for example.

And that doesn't even include the corporate tax gifts handed out each year.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn Follows the Leader, Paul Ryan, off the Dickensian Cliff.

Why shouldn't the very rich provide revenues needed to support our country, instead of squeezing "blood out of a rock," and going after the poor and middle class?

That's just one question Chris Matthews asked Rep. Marsha Blackburn yesterday, who stumbled around that answer with "What you don't understand, is Washington doesn't have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem." No, it's just the opposite. But then, this is what you get when you enter into the Republican Bizarro World of contrarian conversation. 

Stunningly revealing, Blackburn apparently has nothing in-depth to say to back up her clichéd talking points. For example: 

Matthews: "The reason Medicare was passed in the sixties, is because the private sector wasn't providing medical care to for people in their 60's....you're saying a private company is going to go out and insure somebody in their 70's and 80's against them having big medical costs? They're going to think that's a good investment?" 

Blackburn: "Ah, Chris, I gotta tell ya, we talk with our near seniors and with seniors, those that have more options like having more options..."

Dumb as a stump comes to mind. Matthews backed off once he saw Blackburn was on the verge of a mental meltdown. She was visibly teetering under the strain of his barrage of very simple questions. 

This wasn't just embarrassing for Blackburn and the radicalized Republican Party, but it was also a scary look at those who profess to know how to manage our country and care for our grandparents.   

Stop Blaming Home Buyers!! Senate Panel Blames Wall Street Crash on Goldman, Banks, Lax Regulation and the Push to Sell Risky Loans.

Republicans won’t like it, but it wasn’t poor people buying homes, or Fannie and Freddie, that crashed the global economy. Shocker: It was the banks and free market Randian regulators. Bankers even appeared in congress and lied, a violation of law, to thwart investigators.

Announcing the findings of a Senate panel investigating the financial crisis, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) called Goldman Sachs “a financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest, and wrongdoing,” adding that C.E.O. Lloyd Blankfein should possibly face perjury charges. 

[Washington Post] Goldman Sachs misled clients and Congress about the firm’s bets on securities tied to the housing market, the chairman of the U.S. Senate panel that investigated the causes of the financial crisis said. Senator Carl Levin, releasing the findings of a two-year inquiry yesterday, said he wants the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine whether Goldman Sachs violated the law by misleading clients who bought the complex securities known as collateralized debt obligations without knowing the firm would benefit if they fell in value. 

Levin said they denied under oath that Goldman Sachs took a financial position against the mortgage market solely for its own profit, statements the senator said were untrue. “In my judgment, Goldman clearly misled their clients and they misled the Congress,” Levin said at a press briefing yesterday where he and Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, discussed the 640-page report from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 

Much of the blame for the 2008 market collapse belongs to banks that earned billions of dollars in profits creating and selling financial products that imploded along with the housing market, according to the report. The Levin-Coburn panel levied its harshest criticism at investment banks, in particular accusing Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank AG of peddling collateralized debt obligations backed by risky loans that the banks’ own traders believed were likely to lose value. The panel’s report also examined the role of credit-rating firms in the meltdown, lax oversight by Washington regulators and the drop in lending standards that fueled the mortgage bubble and ultimately caused hundreds of bank failures.

Even right wing loon and political partisan Sen. Tom Coburn sounded like an activist liberal:

The subcommittee’s findings show “without a doubt the lack of ethics in some of our financial institutions who embraced known conflicts of interest to accomplish wealth for themselves, not caring about the outcome for their customers,” said Coburn. “When that happens, no country can survive and neither can their financial institutions.”

Yet Coburn and his fellow Republicans are trying to repeal Wall Street reform. Go figure.

Repealing Estate Tax would have saved $34 billion!!! Republicans Cancel Out Savings with Defense Spending.

Just to prove how bad Republicans are at budgeting, due mostly to a contradiction filled ideology, check out how easy the congress could have saved $38 billion without all the theatrics and tea party praise.

Here Heather McGhee, of Demos DC, points out that reinstating the estate tax would have saved $34 billion just like that. Done. No draconian cuts to the poorest in our country. McGhee calls it the Paris Hilton give-a-way.



Even more bad news. Republicans unending and unlimited monetary support of the military will cancel out their own hard fought savings. Doh!!!

Fox News: The $38 billion in budget cuts touted by Republicans over the weekend might end up being less. A lot less. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, the hard-fought budget deal funding the government for the rest of the year saves only $352 million from non-war accounts this year. 

About $8 billion in immediate cuts to domestic programs and foreign aid are offset by nearly equal increases in defense spending. When war funding is factored in the legislation would actually increase total federal outlays by $3.3 billion relative to current levels. 

Jesse Ventura: "You own our property, shipped away our jobs, shredded our unions...you will witness our revolution."

Great message from Jesse Ventura:

You control our world. You’ve poisoned the air we breathe, contaminated the water we drink, and copyrighted the food we eat. We fight in your wars, die for your causes, and sacrifice our freedoms to protect you. You’ve liquidated our savings, destroyed our middle class, and used our tax dollars to bailout your unending greed. We are slaves to your corporations, zombies to your airwaves, servants to your decadence. You’ve stolen our elections, assassinated our leaders, and abolished our basic rights as human beings. You own our property, shipped away our jobs, and shredded our unions. You’ve profited off of disaster, destabilized our currencies, and raised our cost of living. You’ve monopolized our freedom, stripped away our education, and have almost extinguished our flame. We are hit… we are bleeding… but we ain’t got time to bleed. We will bring the giants to their knees and you will witness our revolution!

After Long Court Battle, Paid Sick leave Repealed: the moral is…

You’ve seen the story:

Milwaukee's ordinance requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave would be voided under a bill Assembly Republicans sent Gov. Scott Walker.

But an odd thing happened; my conservative friend called me when he read the story this morning, and he was in utter amazement. He basically told me the following, as explained in the jsonline:

The bill would nullify Milwaukee's paid sick day ordinance, which had been in the courts since it was passed in November 2008. The recent appeals decision upholding the law may be the final word on the legal front because the state Supreme Court earlier was unable to issue a decision when it split 3-3.

He asked me if I noticed anything, and I asked him what he was getting at. He wondered why the Republican legislature continues to blame the Democrats for using the “courts” to hold up their agenda, while conservative business groups used those same “courts” since 2008, to prevent the will of the people from legally receiving paid sick leave at their jobs.

Did my very conservative friend just take down his own party? Good one. 

One more thing: The new authoritarian Walker administration decided this wrong needed to be dealt with immediately, so they passed a law banning paid sick leave. Such burdensome laws levied on our royal “job creators” was unthinkable. 

"I said all along that's something I'm interested in correcting," Walker said.

Obama Takes on Ryan and Wins. Offers actual solution to our deficit problem without throwing grandma under the bus.

Loved this particular passage of Obama's speech today, where he basically denounced the plan Paul Ryan thought we would actually take seriously.



This part of Obama's speech is his proposed solution to deficit problem:

GOP says they're for public debate, listening to the people, open government, law and order, fiscal conservative policy, blah, blah, blah....

Have you noticed a theme here...

House GOP was just kidding about that whole ‘72 hours’ thing — “Republicans campaigned on posting bills for ‘72 hours’ before voting on them, and a ‘transparency initiative’ website of House Speaker John Boehner still includes the promise in a number of hours format,” writes The Daily Caller’s Chris Moody. And yet, “the House will vote Wednesday on the hotly debated bill to fund the federal government through the fiscal year, approximately 36 hours after Republicans plan to make the language of the bill available online.” Does this mean the GOP is breaking its promise? Or does it just suck at math? Apparently, it is a combination of the two. “It is a three day rule,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told Moody. “That’s what was in the Pledge to America. It has always been calendar days.”

Stepping Out on a Limb, Congressional Progressive Caucus offers counter Budget to Ryan.

Finally some signs of life on the Democratic side of the isle.  

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has finally released its response to Rep. Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity.  ”The People’s Budget” raises taxes by $4 trillion over ten years and cutting spending (mostly defense) by $900 billion. (Ryan would cut spending by $6 trillion.) It would take tax revenue as a share of GDP to 22.3 percent vs. a previous all-time high of 20.9 percent in World War Two. 

Individual Income Tax Policies

• Allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012, but extend marriage relief, credits, and

incentives for children, families, and education

• Immediately rescind the upper-income tax cuts in December’s tax deal

• Index the AMT for inflation for a decade (the AMT patch is fully paid for)

• Schakowsky millionaire tax rates proposal (adding 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%, and 49% top rates)

• Tax all capital gains and qualified dividends as ordinary income

• Progressive estate tax (Sanders’ estate tax, repeal of Kyl-Lincoln)

• Limit the rate at which itemized deductions can reduce tax liability to 28%for high earners

• Replace the tax exclusion for interest on state and local bonds with a subsidy for the issuer

Corporate Tax Reform

• Tax U.S. corporate foreign income as it is earned

• Eliminate corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies

• Enact a financial crisis responsibility fee

• Financial speculation tax (derivatives, foreign exchange)

• Reinstate Superfund taxes 
Health Care

• Enact a public option

• Negotiate Rx payments with pharmaceutical companies

• CMS program integrity and other Medicare and Medicaid savings in the president’s budget

• Prevent a cut in Medicare physician payments for a decade (maintain doc fix) Social Security

• Raise the taxable maximum on the employee side to 90% of earnings and eliminate the taxable

maximum on the employer side

• Increase benefits based on higher contributions on the employee side 
Defense Savings

• End overseas contingency operations emergency supplementals starting in Fiscal Year 2013,

providing $170 billion in FY2012 to fund redeployment, while saving more than $1.8 trillion

from current law spending levels over ten years.

• Reduce baseline defense spending by reducing strategic capabilities, conventional forces,

procurement, and R&D programs

Krugman on Ryan Plan: "It's a Fraud."

Paul Krugman is to the point blunt about the Ryan plan for American prosperity.

The initial swooning has died down to some extent — but I’m struck by the extent to which news stories are still covering for Paul Ryan. I’ve already noted how “news analyses” write as if the objections of the critics were simply that his plan is too radical, as opposed to what people like me are actually saying, which is that it’s a fraud. My best guess here is that the press corps shies away, consciously or unconsciously, from giving the stark truth about this joke of a plan; after all the praise from VSPs, it’s hard either to report that knowledgeable people consider the plan a total fraud, or even to be frank about the plan’s extreme features. But saving pundits from embarrassment is not part of a reporter’s job.

Walker, Dismisses State Protesters for mythical out-of-state Influences, all the While attending Heritage Fund Raiser in Florida for out-of-state money, to aid 8 Republicans recall targets.

Calling Gov. Scott Walker a hypocrite is getting old for me. Many who hear it check out immediately.

But please, one more time, okay? Remember these backhanded swipes at hundreds of thousands of protesters statewide:



As the title clearly states, Scott Walker is trying to have it both ways:

WSJ: Gov. Scott Walker traveled to Florida last week at the invitation of a conservative public policy think tank. the Heritage Foundation"Newsmax, reported that Walker has launched a national fundraising tour in an effort to defend the eight Republican state senators facing recall elections and to drum up support for FrontlineWisconsin.com. The FrontlineWisconsin website urges people to donate up to $8,000, or $1,000 for each state senator, to "send a message across America that the people we elect can take courageous votes and stand by their convictions." 

Again, the most overused word used to describe Scott Walker is...HYPOCRITICAL!!!


...because he is.

Walker and Republican Legislative Corporate Whores Abandon Voters for Insurance Company Profits.

Let me know if your car insurance premiums are adjusted down when you re-up next time, okay?

Gov. Scott Walker is doing it for his kids, for the greater good of society and for all those who can’t pay a few dollars more a year. What a humanitarian!

At first I was against the mandate, thinking Democrats were in the back pocket of the insurance industry, but just a little research changed my mind in a big way. For example; “the lower minimums were outdated and overdue for an increase because they were set in the 1980s. Since then, health care costs for accident victims have skyrocketed.”

But besides supposedly “saving” money on your next renewal, what else did the Republicans add to their bill to repealed the insurance mandate on consumers? A phony promise:

jsonline: Walker said at a Capitol bill-signing, “Repealing this anti-consumer mandate is good for middle class Wisconsinites and small businesses and I am proud to sign its repeal and replacement … I also thank the Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin for providing important testimony that described the severe impact last session’s insurance law changes had on consumers. This is one more step toward empowering consumers across the state of Wisconsin,"

But it does just the opposite, taking insurers off the hook for larger accident payouts:

1. The repeal measure would ban "stacking" of coverage, in which drivers could use coverage from up to three of their vehicles to help pay costs from an accident involving just one of the vehicles. 

2. It also includes a provision that would allow insurers to insert clauses into their policies that could lower the amount drivers collect when they are hit by underinsured drivers.

Wow, that is business friendly....I mean...consumer empowerment. Oh, mom, dad, you’re going to love thinking about this when your kid finally shows you their first drivers license:

The measure also would allow insurers to put drivers buying insurance for the first time into a high-risk category, allowing them to charge higher premiums.

Thank you Gov. Walker!!!! You've made the insurance industry so happpppyyy!

The "Actor" Sen. Ron Johnson Side Show, Step right up...

According to Wispolitics: 

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson spoke on the floor for the first time Tuesday, telling his colleagues that the size of government in the country is nearing a "tipping point."

But what you’ll see is shallow impersonation of actor Gary Cooper in Fountainhead, the Ayn Rand film oddity, and an embarrassing first address about fear and phony patriotism. I've cut in Gary Cooper as Howard Roark delivering similar lines.

Scary to think, but I've got the funny feeling that Sen. Ron Johnson thinks he looks and talks like Gary Cooper. 

The video spectacles below are so embarrassing for this faux economic Randian nerd, that I fear we’re either in for real trouble or or a bizarre freak show performance. Ron Johnson first looks like an uninformed fool, as he's being schooled by Bob McIntyre, a long-time tax reform advocate who works as Director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a non-partisan research organization dedicated to progressive taxation.





Here Johnson's hatred for health care reform betrays just how uninformed he really is about a very complex but well thought out plan:

Republicans Finally Prove, Government is Bad!!! Of course, only under Republican Rule.

This is THE face of Republican incompetence. I blogged about this partisan County Clerk before, when all the red flags went up, but no one stepped up to stop her. 

One thing to keep in mind, there is no competency standard for Republican office holders, because government can do no good.  

Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus issued a statement Tuesday afternoon rejecting calls that she resign. "I will serve the remainder of my term," Nickolaus said. "I understand why people are upset and I am taking this matter seriously. Again, I am sorry for my mistake."

Wisconsin's Big Government Republicans Sweep Away local Voter Control, Attack and Repeal Paid Sick Leave!!!

In case you might have forgotten, the Republican won the last election and they are calling the shots now. So what if Milwaukee voters overwhelmingly approved, by 69%, a referendum requiring paid sick leave? Wanna make something of it..?

Business paid for and elected these Republican snakes and governor, and got what they wanted, the power to usurp the will of the peoples. When will these big moneyed corporate sycophants be held accountable?

jsonline: The state Assembly passed a bill that will void Milwaukee's ordinance requiring employers to provide workers with paid sick leave. Milwaukee voters approved the measure by referendum after 9to5, National Association of Working Women, got enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. The ordinance received 69% of the vote. 

The GOP-led Senate approved the bill last month 19-0, at a time when all 14 Democrats were out of state. The bill would pre-empt local governments from enacting paid sick day legislation.

There's more...from Wispolitics:

 "Who are we, as a legislative body, to question 69 percent of voters in the city of Milwaukee?" asked Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee, "We're questioning their ability to make decisions, we're questioning their ability to go to the voting booth." … No co-sponsors of the bill reside in Milwaukee. 

Rep. Cory Mason argued "You can't undo a local referendum just because you don't like the results ... "It's just wrong." 

 Typical of the Republican response, they do one thing and claim the other…

Rep. Richard Spanbauer, R-Oshkosh, countered that he supports local control … and that members of both parties voted to override local smoking ordinances in the statewide smoking ban bill. 

 The smoking ban? But that overrode different plans to created one big statewide smoking ban, it didn't wipe it out.

Spanbauer said "I think the bottom line on this is that it is hurting business," Spanbauer said.

 As opposed to hurting people who need a paid sick leave day? But there's more, with ZOMBIES, from this jsonline update:

"It allows them to run their business, not government," said Rep. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), one of the bill's authors. 

Rep. Terese Berceau (D-Madison) saying Republicans lacked humanity and were unable to look people in the eyes when they argued for their policies. "You don't want to look at anybody," she told them. "It's 'Night of the Living Dead.' It's zombies." 

When Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) asked Berceau if she was calling Republicans zombies, Berceau responded: "That would be a compliment." 

"We need to create a system where the rules are the same community by community," said Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale). Democrats countered the bill was an assault on local government and the will of voters. 

"Why don't we just eliminate local government and rule everything from Madison?" Rep. Chris Danou (D-Trempealeau) said sarcastically.

Which brings us back, full circle, to our Big Government Republicans.  

China is Beating the U.S. in Beer Drinking!!

This should be good news to Sen. Ron Johnson, who loves China's business opportunities so much, he probably had something to do with outsourcing our thirst.


HuffingtonPost: Take a look at this fascinating writeup by the by the American Association of Wine Economists. Is this the future of world politics as seen through beer? China has surged ahead of the United States over the last twenty years to become the largest beer economy in the world in the volume of beer consumed, rising from close to zero in 1980 to hit 40 billion liters in 2007. Among other things the study notes that the popularity of beer is not a simple function of economic well-being. "Beer consumption initially increases with rising incomes, but at higher levels of income beer consumption falls." The study does also observes interestingly that global beer consumption has increased by large margins compared to wine and spirits. Have a look at the full report: Beer Drinking Nations by Liesbeth Colen and Johan Swinnen