Welcome to Bizarro Amerika!

Not sure what his wife does exactly but that is a bullshit number for a full time public school teachers starting pay.

If they don't like the job - and don't like taking a pay cut when their company has no money - then they need to move on. Just like any other employee in any other business. There are a shitload...

pissing people off as an art form

For the moment, a group of Democratic senators have blocked the bill by refusing to attend a midday vote and leaving the Capitol. The sergeant at arms was looking for them.

A Wisconsin state senator says the 14 Democratic lawmakers who are boycotting a vote on a controversial anti-union bill have left the state.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach says the group wants to force negotiations over the Republican-backed bill, which would strip most public employees of their collective-bargaining rights.

The legislature needs a quorum to conduct business, and unless one of the Dems is in the chamber, there's no quorum.

The state's right-wing governor, Scott Walker (R), could in theory send the police to retrieve the Democrats and bring them to the state capitol, but apparently, the Dem lawmakers have left Wisconsin altogether -- knowing the state police wouldn't have any jurisdiction outside state lines.

In the meantime, tens of thousands of protestors demonstrated in Madison again today, with the backing of state and national Democrats. Fox News, true to form, labeled the protests a "hate rally."

And while we're on the subject, let's also note that the rationales behind the Wisconsin GOP's union-busting efforts aren't even close to being accurate:

Wisconsin's new Republican governor has framed his assault on public worker's collective bargaining rights as a needed measure of fiscal austerity during tough times.

The reality is radically different. Unlike true austerity measures -- service rollbacks, furloughs, and other temporary measures that cause pain but save money -- rolling back worker's bargaining rights by itself saves almost nothing on its own. But Walker's doing it anyhow, to knock down a barrier and allow him to cut state employee benefits immediately.

Furthermore, this broadside comes less than a month after the state's fiscal bureau -- the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office -- concluded that Wisconsin isn't even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus. In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax cut policies Walker enacted in his first days in office.

Boehner wades into Wisconsin labor battle, backing GOP governor
By Michael O'Brien - 02/17/11 03:44 PM ET

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped into the heated labor debate in Wisconsin on Thursday, backing GOP Gov. Scott Walker's proposed reforms to collective bargaining rights.

Boehner released a statement on Thursday afternoon backing Walker and his package of aggressive labor reforms that would force increased contributions by state workers to benefits and pension plans, and limit collective bargaining rights for some.

“Republicans in Congress — and reform-minded GOP governors like Scott Walker, John Kasich and Chris Christie — are daring to speak the truth about the dire fiscal challenges Americans face at all levels of government, and daring to commit themselves to solutions that will liberate our economy and help put our citizens on a path to prosperity," Boehner said in a statement. "I’m disappointed that instead of providing similar leadership from the White House, the president has chosen to attack leaders such as Gov. Walker, who are listening to the people and confronting problems that have been neglected for years at the expense of jobs and economic growth."

"I’m disappointed that instead of providing similar leadership from the White House, the president has chosen to attack leaders such as Gov. Walker, who are listening to the people

I'd say there is about 25,000+ people outside the door he ain't listening to... in fact, Walker and Boehner are pretty much ignoring them..

"Maybe the new governor doesn't understand yet -- but the National Guard is not his own personal intimidation force to be mobilized to quash political dissent," said Robin Eckstein, a former Wisconsin National Guard member and Iraq war veteran who lives in Wisconsin and has been active with Vote Vets. "The Guard is to be used in case of true emergencies and disasters, to help the people of Wisconsin, not to bully political opponents. Considering many veterans and Guard members are union members, it's even more inappropriate to use the Guard in this way. This is a very dangerous line the governor is about to cross."

The peaceful protests in Madison, WI are the beginning of a wave of the poor and middle class in America reclaiming our country from the grasp of the rich. People around the world are finally standing up to their leader's attempts to stifle them.

As the political showdown between Republicans and labor unions in Wisconsin continues unabated, an anti-union bill in Ohio has also begun inflaming similar tensions. Thousands of protesters descended upon Columbus on Thursday to register their opposition to a Republican bill that would abolish or weaken collective bargaining rights for public-sector union members, ban public worker strikes, and weaken bargaining rights for police and firefighters prohibited from striking, according to the Lancaster Eagle Gazette. In addition, the Ohio paper adds, "Local unions' right to bargain for health insurance would be limited, automatic pay increases for public employees would be eliminated and teachers would lose their right to pick their classes or schools if the bill passes."

In one of the most prominent union strongholds in the country, the crowd—"estimated between 3,800 and 5,000"—was the biggest turnout that Columbus had seen for any legislation in a decade. As in Wisconsin, partisan tensions are exceedingly high in wake of the 2010 election results. In both states, the governorship and the statehouse flipped from Democratic to Republican control last year in highly contested races with heavy union involvement. In Ohio, the ousted former governor, Democrat Ted Strickland, even showed up at the Capitol to display solidarity with the thousands of protesting union members. "This has little to do with balancing this year's budget," he told the AP. "I think it's a power grab. It's an attempt to diminish the rights of working people. I think it's an assault of the middle class of this state and it's so unfair and out of balance."

I just got the full story on Wisconsin. I guess the governor gave out a shitload of tax breaks TO THE RICH and expects the unions to cover it. I wonder how much he contributes to his pension and benefits?

I just got the full story on Wisconsin. I guess the governor gave out a shitload of tax breaks and expects the unions to cover it. I wonder how much he contributes to his pension and benefits?

You're going to love this, ekg.

Listen to what the people are saying!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/18/fox-reporter-greeted-with-fox-lies-chants_n_825393.html

I undersand the Koch Brothers are organizing a counter-protest in Madison for tomorrow, bussing in Teabaggers from across the country...

Damn. I wish I wasn't so anti-violence!

Koch Industries is a major player in Wisconsin: Koch owns a coal company subsidiary with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan; six timber plants throughout the state; and a large network of pipelines in Wisconsin. While Koch controls much of the infrastructure in the state, they have laid off workers to boost profits. At a time when Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch awarded themselves an extra $11 billion of income from the company, Koch slashed jobs at their Green Bay plant:

Officials at Georgia-Pacific said the company is laying off 158 workers at its Day Street plant because out-of-date equipment at the facility is being replaced with newer, more-efficient equipment. The company said much of the new, papermaking equipment will be automated. [...] Malach tells FOX 11 that the layoffs are not because of a drop in demand. In fact, Malach said demand is high for the bath tissue and napkins manufactured at the plant.

Koch Industries was one of the biggest contributors to Walker’s gubernatorial campaign, funneling $43,000 over the course of last year. In return, Koch front groups are closely guiding the Walker agenda. The American Legislative Exchange Council, another Koch-funded group, advised Walker and the GOP legislature on its anti-labor legislation and its first corporate tax cuts.

According to the EPA, Koch businesses are huge polluters, emitting thousands of pounds of toxic pollutants. As soon as he got into office Walker started cutting environmental regulations and appointed a Republican known for her disregard for environmental regulations to lead the Department of Natural Resources. In addition, Walker has stated his opposition to clean energy jobs policies that might draw workers away from Koch-owned interests.

Moreover, other organizers for the pro-Walker protest are from groups associated with corporate and Koch interests. American Majority, a Virginia-based front group founded by organizers funded by millionaire investor Howie Rich, is on the ground contacting Wisconsin Tea Parties to support Walker in Madison. Austin James, an American Majority official who was caught teaching Tea Party members to spam Amazon.com profiles of liberal books with negative comments, is the contact for the Facebook page organizing the pro-Walker protest. Eric O’Keefe, a longtime conservative operative who helps lead American Majority, attends Koch strategy meetings.

Update Koch's Americans for Prosperity group has launched a new website and petition called www.standwithwalker.com. The new site attacks all collective bargaining, not just for public sector unions. Koch's front group also declares: "In fact, every state should adopt Governor Scott Walker's common sense reforms.

Koch Industries is a major player in Wisconsin: Koch owns a coal company subsidiary with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan; six timber plants throughout the state; and a large network of pipelines in Wisconsin. While Koch controls much of the infrastructure in the state, they have laid off workers to boost profits. At a time when Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch awarded themselves an extra $11 billion of income from the company, Koch slashed jobs at their Green Bay plant:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/145313-wis-governor-were-going-to-take-this-as-long-as-it-takes
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) is not planning to make concessions to end the budget standoff any time soon, he indicated on "Fox News Sunday."

"We're going to take this as long as it takes," he said. "In the end we're doing the right thing for Wisconsin."

He said proposals to resolve the budget dispute without reining in union power would not suffice and are simply "red herrings" because they would not fix underlying problems.

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we're a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we're more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Given this reality, it's important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.

You don't have to love unions, you don't have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they're among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years -- which it has -- that's to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.

There's a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America's oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

» Tolerant Left Wishes Death on Governor Scott Walker - Big Government
You may remember President Obama’s recent call for civil discourse this past January. Well, it appears that the Left is still very much struggling with the #newtone online. Unless, of course, you consider a persistent stream of steady death threats against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker a display..

Wow. Full of marxist terminology and viewpoints. In fact, with most of the unions' valid functions being absorbed by federal agencies such as OSHA, MSHA, etc, unions really only serve to drive artificially high wages, and therefore high product and service prices.

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can f...ield armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we're a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we're more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Given this reality, it's important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.

You don't have to love unions, you don't have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they're among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years -- which it has -- that's to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.

There's a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America's oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

The protests and demonstrations in Wisconsin over Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to break the back of organized labor at the direction of the Koch Brothers have brought forth a barrage of lies and misinformation from Fox News, The Heritage Foundation, and Tea Party groups meant to subvert the narrative into an attack on America. As support grows for the public employees protesting for nothing more than the right to bargain collectively, conservatives have ramped up the level of noise and misinformation to enrage citizens ignorant of the nature of the protests and on a larger scale, union representation.

The issue in Wisconsin is not the budget or that teachers, police officers, and firefighters are making too much money, but simply the right to bargain for wages. Without collective bargaining, the governor has the right to dictate the wages and working conditions public employees must accept without recourse or input into the process. If one were to listen to conservative pundits, public employees are draining the state treasury and thumbing their noses at taxpayers while their students are failing miserably. Although that nonsense plays well with tea party members who believe all public employees are bad and Republicans who are hell-bent on privatizing every last vestige of government, it is nothing but propaganda.

There are many misconceptions about employee unions that the public is unaware of because they only hear that unions are anti-American. Union representation only gives its members a collective voice during negotiations and little else. Wisconsin’s governor has singled out public school teachers, but his bill affects all unions and their members including firefighters, policemen, and various civil servants. Walker has targeted teachers because in general, people revere police and fire fighters as a necessary part of society and are less inclined to think of them in a negative light. Conversely, teachers are thought of as little more than overpriced babysitters who have jobs they cannot be fired from and are draining valuable resources from the rest of society.

Wisconsin's union employees are upset about a loss of collective bargaining and a mandated increase in benefit payments, including for health insurance. But at least these employees would still have health insurance. What has been widely ignored about Walker's bill (in part because of the speed with which he's fisting it down Wisconsin's gullet) is a sneaky provision that paves the way for him to cut, or eliminate, Medicaid and BadgerCare healthcare benefits for low-income people.

Administrative rules changes sound about as interesting as the words "administrative rules." And Walker's "administrative rule" change is the kind of complex, procedural legislative legalese that few reporters are sickly masochistic enough to slog though through. (And it's especially true that nobody reports on America's rising war on the poor. This was evidenced by the fact that major network stars have yet to appear in Madison, and, until this weekend, the tens of thousands sleeping in the capitol warranted segment bites equal in length and depth to the latest update on reporter Serene Branson's migraine.)

So in short: Walker's administrative rules change would allow the Department of Health Services, via the overwhelmingly GOP-controlled budget committee, to change state laws unilaterally, skipping the legislative process altogether...this means Walker's bill will allow the governor to subvert the legislative process and make his own laws without going through the tiresome and long American tradition of lawmaking. But wait, there's more!

Not only should there be no doubt Walker would do this, his statements foreshadow who he would blame it on. On Feb 11th, before Madison got in the labor movement time machine, the governor said, "The alternative [to state employee health and pension changes] is to look at 1,500 layoffs of state employees or close to 200,000 children who would be bumped off Medicaid-related programs." At the time, PolitiFact Wisconsin asked, "But can he remove children from Medicaid, the state-federal program that pays medical bills for low-income individuals and families?"

Not without the administrative rules change he can't--the changes he's going to get when this bill passes.

If you prefer it in non-graph form: "Wisconsin public-sector workers face an annual compensation penalty of 11%. Adjusting for the slightly fewer hours worked per week on average, these public workers still face a compensation penalty of 5% for choosing to work in the public sector."

The deal that unions, state government and -- by extension -- state residents have made to defer the compensation of public employees was a bad deal -- but it was a bad deal for the public employees, not for the state government. State and local governments were able to hire better workers now by promising higher pay later. They essentially hired on an installment plan. And now they might not follow through on it. The ones who got played here are the public employees, not the residents of the various states. The residents of the various states, when all is said and done, will probably have gotten the work at a steep discount. They'll force a renegotiation of the contracts and blame overprivileged public employees for resisting shared sacrifice.

Today 11:43 AM Little-Noticed Provision In Walker's Bill Could Reap Huge Gains For Koch Industries

The Huffington Post's Amanda Terkel reports:

While there has been significant attention devoted to the fact that Walker's 144-page budget repair bill would strip away collective bargaining rights for public employees, the site "Rortybomb" points out a less noticed provision that would allow the state to sell or contract out any state-owned energy asset in no-bid deals with private corporations. From the legislation (emphasis added):

   It's unclear what "the best interest of the state" is.

But if this deal goes through, one of the companies that could stand to benefit significantly is Koch Industries. Koch already has several companies in the state, including a coal subsidiary, timber plants and a large network of pipelines.

During the 2010 election cycle, Walker received $43,000 from the Koch Industries PAC, his second-largest contribution. The PAC also gave significantly to the Republican Governors Association, which in turn helped out Walker considerably in his race. Koch also contributed $6,500 to support 16 Republican legislative candidates in the state.

The Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity has also been standing with Walker throughout his budget battles, busing in Tea Party activists and launching the site, Stand With Walker. After the election, Walker and other Republican governors received guidance from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that is also funded by Koch dollars and has pushed anti-union measures.

Madison's right wing radio host Vicki McKenna. Mckenna, as we noted last week, had manufactured a claim that liberals were calling for Walker's assassination.

I smell a set-up here.... ::)

This is the type of stuff Shannon was talking about today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0DuqAi6gFQ

The only thing is...What? Five, six tweets out of the Twitterverse composed of hundreds of millions of people?

I'm not surprised. What is surprising to me is that Breitbart and Big Government (Shannon's source, how credible!) were able to find a few tweets without a hashtag mentioning Walker.

What they did find (those in the video) seem to be students.

I smell a set-up here.... ::)

Nailed it!

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/21/mark-williams-infiltrate-seiu/

Don't you remember Crash The Party?  Maybe this attempt at infiltration will be as big a failure as that was.

Or... well it is Think Progress.  It seems that every time I scratch one of their articles, lies fall out.

that's his source?  huh, see I was going to say I hope those people are found and arrested for making threats, but since it BB/BG I hold out no hope of them ever being found..

all joking aside, how does this equate that the Dems don't want civility?  I've never understood that.. out of the months and hours of Right-wing hate,threats,racism, and lies being told.. without a single right-winger saying 'boo' about it.. how does a handful of Dem examples of the same thing make the 'right' ok with what they do?

what's been the problem is not just that people are saying this stuff.. it's that the right-wingers and their leaders ignore,endorse,encourage and even join in with it... that's the problem. But show it to a liberal and they condemn it, and that's been the example they've tried to set, only to be mocked like Michelle Obama is being mocked now..

galoots.. all of them

nah, more like scumbags..

I've never seen a party of people go to such scum-bag lengths before.. it's a shame, there were a few good GOP'ers.. they've since been swallowed by the bottom-feeders I fear..

Seats on one side of the Indiana House were nearly empty today as House Democrats departed the the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation.

A source tells The Indianapolis Star that Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.

While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has painted a dire picture of his state's pension obligations, Wisconsin's pension fund for public employees is among the nation's strongest, according to a report by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

The Pew report, issued last year, concluded that Wisconsin is a "national leader in managing its long-term liabilities for both pension and retiree health care." Walker has cited the fund's lack of sustainability as grounds for his plan to revoke collective bargaining rights for state employees, but that proposal has sparked outrage among state employees and drawn tens of thousands of protesters to the state's capitol.

"We're going to ask our state and local workers ... to pay a little bit more, to sacrifice, to help to balance this budget," Walker said in a Sunday interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, adding that he would be forced to lay off 5,000 to 6,000 state employees if his budget plan was not approved, as well as a comparable number of local public employees.

But the Wisconsin pension fund is simply not in fiscal trouble. Its managers weren't burned by subprime mortgage assets or mortgage-backed securities as the housing bubble collapsed. The fund also relies on an automated dividend system, which pays out benefits in years the system is making gains while restricting payouts in years when it takes losses. And while the pension fund had a rough year during 2008 due to stock market losses, it remains robust, both in terms of fundamental financial stability and in comparison to other state pension programs.

Wait.

lilMike...Are you actually saying that Think Progress (whom I rarely use) is full of lies yet are sitting there defending Breitbart's Big Government as the bastion of honesty?

Really?

Sheesh....You'll get along great with Shannon when he gets here.  :P

What is the deal with Shannon?  You are acting like he is walking across the entire internet (a long and hazardous journey) and you don't know how long his quest will take.  Hopefully a shorter period of time than 3 Rings movies.

Hundreds of people from across the state gathered outside the state Capitol Monday to protest what they say are unprecedented GOP attacks on public services and education and laws that protect land, air, water and wildlife.

The Legislature is approaching Thursday’s transmittal deadline, the critical midway point of the session when most nonrevenue bills have to receive a green light in the House or Senate or die.

On Saturday night, when Mother Jones staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep demonstrators out of the Wisconsin capitol building—something that didn't end up happening—one Twitter user sent out a chilling public response: "Use live ammunition."

From my own Twitter account, I confronted the user, JCCentCom. He tweeted back that the demonstrators were "political enemies" and "thugs" who were "physically threatening legally elected officials." In response to such behavior, he said, "You're damned right I advocate deadly force." He later called me a "typical leftist," adding, "liberals hate police."

Only later did we realize that JCCentCom was a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana.

As one of 144 attorneys in that office, Jeff Cox has represented the people of his state for 10 years. And for much of that time, it turns out, he's vented similar feelings on Twitter and on his blog, Pro Cynic. In his nonpolitical tweets and blog posts, Cox displays a keen litigator's mind, writing sharply and often wittily on military history and professional basketball. But he evinces contempt for political opponents—from labeling President Obama an "incompetent and treasonous" enemy of the nation to comparing "enviro-Nazis" to Osama bin Laden, likening ex-Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Service Employees International Union members to Nazi "brownshirts" on multiple occasions, and referring to an Indianapolis teen as "a black teenage thug who was (deservedly) beaten up" by local police. A "sensible policy for handling Afghanistan," he offered, could be summed up as: "KILL! KILL! ANNIHILATE!"

On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade claimed, along with an on-screen graphic, that a recent USA Today/Gallup poll found that  “61 percent” of Americans are in favor of taking away collective bargaining rights from public unions. In fact, Fox aired the results of the poll completely backward: the Gallup poll found that 61 percent of Americans are opposed to taking away collective bargaining rights.

Americans strongly oppose laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. The poll found 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to such a proposal in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law.

I didn't see a reference to Breitbart.

This is the type of stuff Shannon was talking about today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0DuqAi6gFQ

The only thing is...What? Five, six tweets out of the Twitterverse composed of hundreds of millions of people?

I'm not surprised. What is surprising to me is that Breitbart and Big Government (Shannon's source, how credible!) were able to find a few tweets without a hashtag mentioning Walker.

What they did find (those in the video) seem to be students.

I smell a set-up here.... ::)

The art of Fox News Undoing the news:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/?p=1908

(http://piczasso.com/i/27vkd.jpg) (http://www.imagehosting.com/)

The real poll:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-22-poll-public-unions-wisconsin_N.htm


Herein lies the problem with BizarroAmerika. The idiots who watch Fox news believe it! Of course, since the source is Media Matters, lilMike would say they're liars and the whole thing is fabricated.  :P

all joking aside, how does this equate that the Dems don't want civility?  I've never understood that.. out of the months and hours of Right-wing hate,threats,racism, and lies being told.. without a single right-winger saying 'boo' about it.. how does a handful of Dem examples of the same thing make the 'right' ok with what they do?

what's been the problem is not just that people are saying this stuff.. it's that the right-wingers and their leaders ignore,endorse,encourage and even join in with it... that's the problem. But show it to a liberal and they condemn it, and that's been the example they've tried to set, only to be mocked like Michelle Obama is being mocked now..

case in point...


The Athens Banner-Herald in Georgia reports that a shocking question was asked at a town hall event held by Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) on Tuesday. According to the article, an audience member asked the congressman, "Who is going to shoot Obama?"


now, does this guy stop the townhall and severely chastise this person for saying such a thing? Does Breitbart put a video of it so Hannity and Palin can condemn all GOP'ers for their lack of civility? Does really anyone on that side of the aisle say anything about this? Or do they just reply the same way this congressman did..


The paper reports that Broun responded to the stunning inquiry as follows:

    "The thing is, I know there's a lot of frustration with this president. We're going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we'll elect somebody that's going to be a conservative, limited-government president that will take a smaller, who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare."

as for the crowd of people? How 'civil' were they? did the boo,gasp, or otherwise react in a horrified manner that a question like this was posed?

uh, no... they roared with laughter..

http://athenscms.com/blogs/2487/

But hey, let's point to a cpl of breitbart found Dems who said something mean on twitter... because that's what is really the issue here, not a room full of towns people and an elected official laughing and ignoring when someone asks "who is going to kill  the president"... ::)

this is why I say they've reduced themselves to the level of scum. Not a single one will take the initiative to condemn this kind of talk..while taking every ounce of initiative to denounce a slight, no matter how fanciful or minor, deemed to be from the left...

"Tuesday night at a town hall meeting in Oglethorpe County, Georgia an elderly man asked the abhorrent question, 'Who's going to shoot Obama?' I was stunned by the question and chose not to dignify it with a response; therefore, at that moment I moved on to the next person with a question. After the event, my office took action with the appropriate authorities.

"I deeply regret that this incident happened at all. Furthermore, I condemn all statements -- made in sincerity or jest -- that threaten or suggest the use of violence against the President of the United States or any other public official. Such rhetoric cannot and will not be tolerated."

The thing is, I know there’s a lot of frustration with this president. We’re going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we’ll elect somebody that’s going to be a conservative, limited-government president that will take a smaller, who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.

As usual...The time-delayed response from Broun. Made long after the initial comments and hidden away on a Friday afternoon so nobody would see it:

Wait...

WHY CAN'T THESE ASSHOLES EVER TELL THE FUCKING TRUTH?

Sure does sound like a response to me!

holy shit..

see this is what I'm talking about.. will Fox go out and let everyone know they fucked up? doubt it, why should they, it served its purpose and now they can move on to something else..

THIS is not something Keith or Rachel would ever do.. and that is the major glaring difference between Fox and MSNBC.. yes, MSNBC gives you the liberal slant, but it's based in fact... Fox just makes shit up and then gives to the conservative slant on that make-believe...

Interesting. Why is it the protestors have full 100% freedom of speech and this guy doesn't?

Guess who said this about the AG who wanted to shoot the Madison protesters?

The Wisconsin police have entered the fray at the State Capitol building in Madison -- and in dramatic fashion. More than a hundred police officers entered the Capitol today and joined up with the hundreds of protesters who have waged demonstrations in the building for a week and a half.

According to the Understory:


From inside the Wisconsin State Capitol, RAN ally Ryan Harvey reports:

“Hundreds of cops have just marched into the Wisconsin state capitol building to protest the anti-Union bill, to massive applause. They now join up to 600 people who are inside.”

I was so glad to see this today. Wisconsin police join up with anti-Walker protesters (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/02/26/wisconsin_police_enter_protests/index.html)

This refutes AJones' statements of all police departments being federalized and becoming HLS bitches.

That was linked in my post but hyperlinks don't show up unless the cursor is hovering(not to be confused w/hovercraft or bases on the moon :D). I suppose when linking something I will change the color or make it bold or something.

Fox News has been making a lot of hay about one of their reporters allegedly being "punched" by a protester in Madison, Wisconsin.

Turns out, that didn't happen.

Mike Tobin, reporting from amid the massive demonstration on Friday, claimed that one of the protesters "punched" him in the arm. In another broadcast, he claimed a man threatened to break his neck.

In both cases, supporting evidence for these claims was not broadcast -- yet still, Tobin's reports have been widely cited across conservative blogs that seem eager to depict union workers as hateful and violent.

What's worse, Tobin's allegation that he was assaulted might have slipped past without rebuttal were it not for a camera-equipped bystander, who captured the scene.

Turns out, someone merely touched his shoulder, as evidenced in the video below. The incident he claimed was a "punch" could instead be described as a pat, at most.

That was apparently enough for him to later declare that even after being "punched, he was just too nice of a guy to press charges.

Fox News lies again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOqBpsh94xQ

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/03/02/you-provide-the-pictures-i-ll-provide-the-war.aspx




btw...this "reporter" is the same guy who accused some protester of beating him up the other day. Not!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/01/fox-news-reporter-appears-to-have-lied-about-being-punched-by-protester/

We need police. We need teachers. We need fire departments. We need military. We need roads. We need jails. We need courts. It has to be paid for somehow, and I really think it's absurd to say it's unfair to take away Trump's fourth yacht to pay for these things, but it's okay to take an Xbox away from a minimum wage earner.

The Badger Herald reports that a couple Wisconsin Republicans are introducing a bill to ban prank calls. The hilarious thing is that they insist this has nothing to do with the recent prank phone call to Scott Walker:

Although representatives deny any connection to the recent prank call on the governor, two legislators began circulating a bill Monday that would ban making trick calls masking the caller’s true identity.
Sen. Mary Lazich, R-Waukesha, and Rep. Mark Honadel, R-Milwaukee, authored a bill that would prohibit tricking the call’s recipient into believing the caller is someone they are not for malicious purposes.
“While use of spoofing is said to have some legitimate uses, it can also be used to frighten, harass and potentially defraud,” Lazich and Honadel said in an e-mail to legislators.
The bill language forbids a caller from intentionally providing a false phone number and convincing the person receiving the call that it comes from someone other than the actual caller.

MADISON (WKOW) -- Representative Nick Milroy (D-South Range) had a confrontation with Capitol police as he tried to enter the building Thursday night.

Milroy was trying to get clothes from his office but police would not let him into the building.  They tackled him as he tried to get past officers guarding a door.  He was able to get the door open and struggled with policy before they took him to the ground.

So it's come down to this: A Democrat representative in Wisconsin being beat up by Capital police because he wanted to get some clothes from his office. (Video at link)

Hello, Libya!

http://www.wkow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14185537

He tried to push his way past the cops and you think we're Libya now?

Even in places that are not Libya you can't try to bull rush the cops.

I watched the video again. Where do you see him pushing his way past the cops? I see the cops beating him across the room. My understanding is that a judge barred entry into the building by protesters, not legislators. Milroy was going in to get a change of clothes and was attacked before he could show his state ID.  :-[

Slow motion video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXEPmUUueM

See, we had different "understandings" of events that the video doesn't clear up since it doesn't show what happened prior.  But one thing is clear that if you think this is Libya like behavior you've totally lost perspective.

Feel free to post a video of the events leading up prior to this video. Let's just hope Fox News and Mike Tobin aren't involved, ok? They've kinda lost all credibility.

At a press conference Monday afternoon, Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) fired back at state Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D), the leader of the 14 Democrats who have fled the state in order to block budget quorum on Walker's anti-public employee union proposals, who this morning sent Walker a letter calling for a meeting at the Illinois state line. And in his attacks on Miller, Walker suggested - with no apparent irony - that perhaps Miller has been having secret phone calls with special interest backers in organized labor.

Readers will recall Walker's own phone call two weeks ago with blogger Ian Murphy, who was posing as Republican financier David Koch. During that call, Walker discussed his ideas about tricking the Dems into coming back, his passion for busting the public employee unions in the mold of President Reagan firing the air traffic controllers, and other fun business. On Monday morning, state Dems announced that they were filing an ethics complaints against Walker, regarding things discussed on the call.

The irony of this is incredible. How can this guy look at himself in the mirror without cracking up at the stupidity?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/walker-accuses-dems-of-secret-phone-calls-with-special-interest-backers.php

After nearly three weeks of protests, including large groups of people sleeping in the Wisconsin Capitol, the administration of Gov. Scott Walker decided to clean up the joint.

On the eve of Walker’s March 1, 2011, budget address, the building was shut down to almost everyone. You had to have an appointment with a legislator and make it through a police checkpoint to get inside.

Organizers of protests against Walker’s plans to curtail collective bargaining rights for most public employees went to court to demand the Capitol be reopened. A three-day hearing was held before Dane County Circuit Judge John Albert.

We won’t rehash all the details here.

But in the spirit of spring cleaning, we want to return to a statement -- since withdrawn -- that was made about how much the Capitol cleanup would cost.

The number, stated in court on March 3, 2011: A whopping $7.5 million.

Think of it this way: If you paid someone $20 an hour, with a standard 40-hour workweek, that person would be peeling tape and scrubbing marble for 180 years.

t’s assess the damages.

While urging a judge to scale back protests, a state Department of Administration official said the state Capitol sustained $7.5 million in damage. State officials could not immediately provide a basis for the number, and later backtracked from it.  The new estimate: $347,500, some 20 times less than the original one. And there are indications that even that could be high.

This smells like an effort to pour gas on the anti-protester fire. The claim was ridiculously high. And that gets a Pants on Fire rating.[/quote]

Wait. I thought it was because the state was broke?

I see now why lilmike rarely visits here. He's ashamed.

Why would I be ashamed?  If you read my blog on the subject, you know I think the concept of unionized government workers is ridiculous. 

So you support Walker's rape of the Constitution of Wisconsin, bypass of the parlimentary laws of Wisconsin, and utter disregard for the laws of Wisconsin?

Funny shit coming from the guy who railed against Obama "ramming" health care reform through congress, huh?

The weird thing about this is there was no rape.  Wisconsin was askin' for it!

They mentioned on the news the very first week of this "crisis" that they had the option of disconnecting the repeal of the collective bargaining rights from the budget bill.  The budget bill needed a quorum under Wisconsin law but a law repealing the collective bargaining rights didn't.  So I couldn't figure out why they didn't do this in the very beginning.  I still can't really, unless Walker wanted to stretch this out and make it a national issue.  When Indiana did this there wasn't a peep.

So it was legal.  If there is any question of it's legality, they can take it to court, where it will almost surely go.  But the Wisconsin constitution grants a presumption of constitutionality on acts of the legislature so there will have to be a very effective suit.

Now as far as being embaressed...

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20110311/WDH0101/303110067/Multimedia-18-GOP-senators-report-getting-death-threats?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE (http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20110311/WDH0101/303110067/Multimedia-18-GOP-senators-report-getting-death-threats?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE)

18 Republican senators from Wisconsin report getting death threats after passing bill to end collective bargaining for most public workers

http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes/117764004.html?blog=y (http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes/117764004.html?blog=y)

UNIONS THREATEN BUSINESS

Death threats are bad, even in times of extreme passion. I do not support them. That said, did the said death threats come from Koch plants or Breitbart?

Thanks, but no thanks. I won't pay any attention to any off the wall radio show whose website starts with the phrase:

WELCOME DRUDGE FANS!

c'mon Mike, aren't you better than that? Has that radio station exposed any spurrious toll booths too?

It said welcome Drudge fans because the article was linked on Drudge. 

If Drudge linked one of my blogs, you're damn right I would put up a comment like that!

Now what death threats  has Koch or Breitbart leveled against anyone?


Oh, in our own News Journal, one of the best reasons why I oppose public sector unions:

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/politics/legislature/2011/03/06/will-florida-lawmakers-target-unions.html (http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/politics/legislature/2011/03/06/will-florida-lawmakers-target-unions.html)

Fred Costello was content to serve on the planning or development review boards in Ormond Beach until he watched firefighters actively campaign against -- and help defeat -- his friend Ed Kelley in the 1997 city elections.

Two months after firefighters helped elect a new majority, they received a 19 percent raise.

Firefighters had received raises of at least 3 percent in each of the preceding five years. No firefighters had quit the year before. And the city had received 76 applications for the last opening in the department. Yet after commissioners approved the raise, one said it was about correcting "years of inequities."



Case, as they say, closed.

Representative Costello,

My name is Doug Lashbrook. I’m 47-years-old, married and have a 13-year-old son. I have been in the Florida Retirement System since age 18. For the past 20 years I have been proudly employed by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office as a Deputy Sheriff who earns the 3% Special Risk service credit. After reading HB 303, a proposal by you, a Dentist/State Representative, I must say that I and all of my co-workers are thoroughly appalled with your bill.

Allow me to give you some of my employment background with the State of Florida. I was in my high school senior year in 1981 when I took a job with the Florida Park Service as a Park Ranger in Flagler Beach. I’ll be the first to say the money was not the reason for working at the park it was the Florida Retirement System. I earned the 1.6% service credit per year as did many other employees. I continued my state employment for 8 ½ years and had the opportunity to work and travel throughout this beautiful state. In 1987, I attended the Law Enforcement academy in Quincy, Florida where I obtained my Law Enforcement certificate. Now in South Florida, I continued working for the Park Service in places like Bahia Honda State Recreation Area in Big Pine Key, John Pennekamp in Key Largo and lastly, North Shore State Recreation Area in Miami Beach. It was there I worked closely with the Miami Beach Police Department and became very good friends with the Police Officers and liked what they represented. This was a turning point in my career that led me to becoming a Deputy Sheriff and increasing my service credit from 1.6% to the 3% high risk.

I and many others throughout the state are nearing the end of our careers. This proposal is a slap in the face to us who have given everything we have to a career that promised security and peace of mind after retirement. The same type of security and peace of mind that for 20 years I have strived to provide to the citizens of the county I serve. Your proposal of HB 303 will take that all away and force the next generation of Law Enforcement Officers to think twice about this career.

It’s very clear to my colleagues and me, that you do not support Law Enforcement or any profession that puts their own life on the line to protect the citizens of this great State. Nor have you researched (or maybe you have and didn’t care) the lifespan of a Law Enforcement Officer after retirement. I ask you Representative Costello, are you familiar with “fight or flight”, “adrenaline dumps”, or “stress”? I’m sure you may have heard of the terminology, but have you ever experienced it? Again, you may have, but look at it from another perspective. Put on a uniform, badge and gun, then patrol the mean streets everyday for 25 years (our current time allowed for retirement). Experience what it’s like to “fight or flight”, have an adrenaline dump and continuous stress then multiply that, on a low end of once per shift, five times per week for 25 years. Do you see where I’m going with this? Stress Kills. We as Law Enforcement Officers are sworn to protect and serve life and property die at a much younger age than other professionals because of job-related stress compared to those who sit behind a desk! And you’re proposing we work longer and reduce our retirement benefits?

I invite you to attend the funerals for Miami-Dade Police Officer’s Roger Castillo and Amanda Haworth who were brutally murdered on January 20, 2011 attempting to arrest a murder suspect. In fact, why don’t you speak to the families, friends and fellow Law Enforcement Officer’s who have gathered from around the country who are grieving over the senseless deaths of more Law Enforcement Officers? Please do so and tell the widow and three children of Officer Castillo and Officer Haworth’s 13-year-old child that there ultimate sacrifice’s mean nothing to you.

For those of us who have chosen Law Enforcement as a profession, we know the dangers that are present. But we do this with pride, because we want to make a difference. We remove the dangerous criminals from the streets and protect the innocent, knowing that when our career has ended, we will live out our last few years rewarded with a good retirement for the sacrifices we made and with any luck, pass that tradition off to our children.

We in the Law Enforcement community know all about your proposal. You see, it’s easy for you to sit behind your desk and propose HB 303 not knowing the sacrifices we make everyday to protect people like yourself. Or maybe this proposal is your way of retaliation for the “smear” campaign that you allege. Sadly, those allegations go hand-in-hand in the political world. Get over it. Whatever the case may be, hopefully your political career will be short-lived just for being vindictive.

If you haven’t already, ride along with the Ormond Beach Police Department or Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. But if you feel real brave, come to South Florida and get a first hand look at what we experience practically every day of our career.

God Bless you.

TALLAHASSEE — Put on the backburner a couple years ago, the idea of swapping a sales tax increase for property tax cuts has emerged again in the Florida Legislature.


Bills filed in both chambers last week would boost the state sales tax by 2.5 cents to 8.5 percent, a 42 percent increase, while at the same time axing the state's required property tax levy for education by more than $7 billion a year.


Floated originally when property taxes were flying through the roof, the renewed interest in the idea coincides with Gov. Rick Scott's campaign promise to reduce property taxes 25 percent by ratcheting back on the state required local levy for schools.


"Everything we do should be about jobs," said Rep. Fred Costello, R-Ormond Beach and co-sponsor of the House version (HB 995). "One of the things we can do to attract business is to lower their fixed costs."

Costello is teaming up with fellow freshman Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey, who is in line to become House speaker in 2016, to sponsor the bill in the House. An identical measure (SB 1406) has been filed in the Senate by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Tax Committee.

Costello, the mayor of Ormond Beach from 2002 until his election to the House in 2010, said shifting the tax burden to consumers would result in a fairer system in which tourists would help pick up a quarter of the tab.

He's trying to take away our retirement! I wish I hadn't voted for him!

Puhleeze! You don't think I know who Fred Costello (or Kelly for that matter) is? The Reformed Mormon (ya know...so he can smoke and drink but still thump his Book of Mormon and try to drive out the evil bikini bars so the planned development - Ormond Crossings - he's backing as a former member of the Planning Commission and has a financial interest in can be built) is? He's the king of the teabaggers here in Ormond! Of course, you know that too, since you're probably a member of the same 9/12 group he's in, huh? Can you share with us the racial joke posted on the 9/12 website? He's also hated by every cop in town.

Why is he hated. HB303. Look it up. Here's a letter: (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CEIQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.leoaffairs.com%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D296%26t%3D107800&ei=TN18TbTtCpCO0QGI5o3MAw&usg=AFQjCNG9yNWgnTvTmqpNd9bSg2v89Jy5kQ)

Oh. And now he wants to raise our taxes! (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/swapping-sales-tax-increase-for-property-tax-cuts-1290650.html) so his buddies in Ormond Crossing won't have to pay as much property taxes!

Edited to add: I just spoke to an Ormond Police Officer about Costello.

Ahh...the sweet smell of voter's remorse. Coming soon to 2012!

You totally missed my point.  Although I suspect it was purposeful.  You're firing blanks.

Oh, in our own News Journal, one of the best reasons why I oppose public sector unions:

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/politics/legislature/2011/03/06/will-florida-lawmakers-target-unions.html (http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/politics/legislature/2011/03/06/will-florida-lawmakers-target-unions.html)

Two months after firefighters helped elect a new majority, they received a 19 percent raise.

Case, as they say, closed.

I can't judge any of that until I know what they were paid before the big raise. Perhaps there was "years of inequity".

Well, well, well. Look who's right (me) and look who's misrepresenting lying (Costello)!

After an exhaustive Google search, I sent an email to the local Firefighters Union requesting information on this super-duper raise. And got a reply (emphasis added mine):

No one's retirement should ever be cut for any reason. It also shouldn't be stolen. When Enron had the 'accounting firm' give it all the fake numbers and people lost their 401K's the president said that nothing like that would ever happen again. Then the bailout made Enron look like a kool aid stand.

spin:

Two months after firefighters helped elect a new majority, they received a 19 percent raise.

Public sector unions help select the people who determine their salary and benefits.  Apparently taxpayers are left out of the boardroom on this.

I guess your intent was to disprove that there was such a contract, or to show firefighters were working for minimum wage before the contract, but as is often the case, you do this to avoid the point, and unfortunately your research just confirmed the contract.

I can't judge any of that until I know what they were paid before the big raise. Perhaps there was "years of inequity".

The reason for the increase in question was that Ormond’s Firefighters at that time were being paid about that much less than the average of the other comparable departments in the area. This essentially brought Ormond up to the standard at the time.

I don't think the situations are comparable.  The employees that lost their shirt in their 401ks did so because they had most of the 401ks invested in Enron stock.  So when the stock tanked, so did their retirement.

How would you save everyone's retirement when they were based on promises that just can't be met?  I mean, that's a question a lot of people are asking now, but if you are saying no one's retirement should be cut for any reason... I'd like to know how to make that happen.

So it sounds like a fairly popular job for being paid less than average.  So would someone in charge of the city's finances reasonably conclude that firefighters were underpaid if you had so many new applicants, and no one left for greener pastures?

Domestic Preparedness was incorporated under the Department of Homeland Security to provide of terrorism incidents (chemical, biological, In 2002, the federal budget offered $4.8 billion for was set aside for new equipment and technology Responder Program was proposed as a way for the federal government to fund planning, training,

No. This is spin:

Nowhere does that state the 19% was spread out over a period of time. Nowhere does it state that 3% of that had already been negotiated in prior contracts.

That is misleading at best, and an intentional lie at worst.

Sorry. I can't see anything wrong with the first statement. Politicians promise all the time. If a politician runs on a campaign of "If elected, I will raise the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour.", then the people of course, will vote for him.

As far as taxpayers being "left out of the boardroom", where were they when Citizens United allowed corporations the right to back politicians with nearly unlimited funds in order to pimp their agenda?

Seems to me a hell of a lot more of the taxpayers (which also consist of firefighters and policemen and teachers) were "left out of the boardroom" in that situation...

More spin:

Nope. I knew there was a contract. I never said firefighters were working for minimum wage, either. But you knew that too, didn't you?

Apparently, since a new contract was negotiated, there were "years of inequity". As I was told:

The similarity is in the corruption that allows those super rich to largely remain untouched in these things. My thought that retirement should be untouchable is possibly based on a false premise. It's my understanding that 'retirement' is something that people pay regularly into out of their income and in a best case there will be at least some interest to boot. Realizing that's never guaranteed, I would think that at the least, the saved money would be available. Wouldn't it be the same idea as banks insuring your funds in the event of a robbery? Of course any stock market investment is a gamble so I understand false projections lead to new balance sheets. And if the entire retirement is based on a gamble then that's what you've signed up for. Perhaps this will better help you explain what I'm missing. Is it not similar to us paying into social security because it's our money and therefor shouldn't have ever been touched by the gov in the first place.

I think it's a fair point to say it didn't tell the whole story but this came directly from the News Journal.  I didn't embelish it, and it wasn't a lie.

Citizens United again?  I guess like the 2nd amendment, you must think that the 1st only applies to governments too.  At least you're consistent...

I think the problem here is that you don't see anything wrong with the first statement.  To you, promising bread and circuses is how the art of politics is supposed to work.  I don't think I can cross that bridge to explain to you why I disagree with that.  I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I don't think the fact that there was a new contract is a prima facie proof that there were "years of inequity".

Now maybe you could explain to me, what exactly were you looking for when you were googling to reply to me on this issue?  I mean, the fact that you tracked down a union rep shows you put some effort into it, but for what?  What exactly were you looking for and what did you ask him?  I

I think lilMike's missing another point here.

The contract granting the raise was negotiated in 2004. Times were different then. The economy was booming. First responders, such as firefighters and policemen, were rightfully riding the wave of respectability (http://www.iwu.edu/economics/PPE14/Frawley.pdf) following 9/11, cities and municipalities across America appreciated and honored their service to our country and cities by recognizing the tremendous effort of their duty in protecting us. Funds, allocated by George Bush, were flooding into local economies to strengthen, improve, and enhance the salaries of first responders.

My. How times change...

Today, the very people who honored our first responders are vilifying them.

Shame!

So I think there is a big difference between people who have their own money invested and those that just have someone else's promises invested.

Judge Maryann Sumi of Dane County issued the order in response to a request by District Attorney Ismael Ozanne (D). As The Associated Press summarized, Ozanne contended that the legislative committee that passed the bill "met without the 24-hour notice required by Wisconsin's open meetings law."

It was a lie by (go figure) Costello, who (duh) happens to be a Republican State Senator (or whatever). Not you. Although I do implicitly blame the N-J, in their newly christened Teabagger-Libertarian philosophy of perpetuating that lie. This was, as opposed to the last piece you published from the N-J a news story, not an opinion piece.

As a purveyor of news stories, the N-J was remiss in not checking what was quoted as fact (but was, in fact, a lie) by Costello (will he be burning in Reorganized Mormon hell for this lie? Ask him at the next 9/12 meeting.)

But...like Fox News...that's the way they roll now.

Incorrect. I'm consistent in believing that the 1st Amendment only applies to people, not corporations. I have no idea what you mean about the 2nd Amendment, but that's another discussion.

Funny how you should mention "bridge". Was that a Palin-inspired Freudian Slip? Let's put it this way: If a Libertarian candidate tells you "Vote for me and I'll shut down the government.", you'd vote for him.

I don't understand why a group of people so literal in their philosophy are so obtuse in their philosophy! Do you really think politicians shouldn't promise anything to get elected?

Of course you don't.  ::)

The answer to that question is in here too.

I'm still waiting on a response to this:

The News Journal has been liberal for as long as I can remember.  When did they turn conservative?

No comment.

I forgot all about this. Sorry. The N-J last year was bought by one "Halifax Media". It's taken on a tone far different than liberal...

After originally calling me to say they were publishing my reply to the Costello article, the N-J apparently changed their mind when I asked them if they would "clarify" Costello's 19% claim.  ::)

I thought they did publish your letter?  Or are you referring to another letter?

CHICAGO — The tally of a close Wisconsin Supreme Court election, which had come to be a referendum on Republican leadership in the state, turned upside down on Thursday evening: the incumbent justice, viewed as a conservative, took a lead of more than 7,000 votes after a clerk in one Republican-leaning county announced she had initially failed to report some 14,000 votes.

“Wisconsin voters as well as the Kloppenburg for Justice Committee deserve a full explanation of how and why these 14,000 votes from an entire city were missed,” said Melissa Mulliken, the campaign manager for JoAnne Kloppenburg. Ms. Kloppenburg declared victory over Justice Prosser on Wednesday when an unofficial vote count showed her with a 204-vote lead out of more than 1.4 million cast.

The margin had shifted slightly several times Thursday as local election officials began reviewing their counts, a process that may still change the margin in the days ahead. But the disclosure of overlooked votes from Waukesha County, a Republican, suburban stronghold near Milwaukee, was a dramatic swing.

The Waukesha County clerk, Kathy Nickolaus, said she had failed on election night to save votes from Brookfield in her computer, according to The Associated Press. The result: 10,859 more votes for Justice Prosser, who won strong support from Republicans, and 3,456 more for Ms. Kloppenburg, an assistant state attorney general.

According to The A.P., Ms. Nickolaus was granted immunity in 2002 in a criminal investigation into illegal acts by members of the Republican Caucus in the State Assembly, where she had worked as a data analyst and computer specialist. Before being appointed to the court in 1998, Justice Prosser served as a Republican in the Assembly, and rose to be speaker.

“We’ve always maintained faith in the voters and trust the election officials involved in the canvassing will reaffirm the lead we’ve taken,” Justice Prosser said.

At one time I thought Florida was headed to garner the title for Most Corrupt State in the Union.

Not anymore...

It's Definitely Wisconsin! (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/us/08wisconsin.html?_r=1&ref=us)
 

OOps, I just happened to find more votes on my personal computer that,even over past objections, is in my office at my insistence..

yeah, could you image if this was a dem?

As a key sign of just how much Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser’s corporate supporters are willing to spend to keep him on the bench, Prosser’s campaign just announced its hire of one of the most high-profile election lawyers in the country — Bush v. Gore recount attorney Ben Ginsberg. Ginsberg, who also spearheaded former Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-MN) unsuccessful legal team in the 2008 Minnesota recount, is not simply known for his key role in two high profile elections. Ginsberg is also a victim of his own unintentional honesty. In a 2006 speech at Duke Law School, Ginsberg made a surprising admission about what the GOP really thinks about voting rights:
 

A quick note on perhaps the most interesting issue that came up [during Bush v. Gore] as we dealt with it, and that was Equal Protection . … Now, just like really with the Voting Rights Act, Republicans have some fundamental philosophical difficulties with the whole notion of Equal Protection.

In the most bizarre twist in an election filled with bizarre twists, an elections official claims to have found more than 13,000 new votes in a highly Republican county, giving Prosser a more than 7000 vote lead. The official, who is a former GOP staffer, also has a long history of voting irregularities.

Believe it or not, it gets worse. From lilMike's favorite website:

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/07/prosser-hires-bush-v-gore-recount-lawyer-who-claims-gop-opposes-equal-protection/

And more on the election "fraud". (I thought I'd put that in quotes, cuz, you know...)

if when this goes to court, the right will be screaming about  the judge who will decide who hears the recount case... why? Because the judge making that decision will be the one Prosser called a 'total bitch' and promised to 'destroy'..HA!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/19/gov-walker-planning-financial-martial-law-in-wisconsin/

"[T]he Walker legislation would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so," according to Forbes.