Davis Party-Line Towing For Hire

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On Tuesday, the Janesville Gazette endorsed Republican incumbent Brett Davis for the 80th Assembly District while eagerly reminding readers that Davis was the lone Republican to vote for the failed “compromise” budget proposed by Gov. Doyle.

But in a Gazette Editorial from October 18th , 2007, the newspaper charged that Gov. Jim Doyle dangled earmarks to Republicans in exchange for their vote approving his “compromise” budget.

JG Excerpt: (Oct, 2007)
Doyle has no one to blame but himself for calling an unprecedented special session, including most of his tax increases in his "compromise" and then sweetening the deal with regional favors-political pork-in a blatant attempt to bribe Republicans.

Included was a $4 million soybean crusher in Republican Brett Davis’ district, a seat Democrats would love to claim. Davis was the lone Republican to vote for Doyle's plan.

Yeah, sure. Doyle has no one to blame but himself if a blatant attempt to bribe Republicans nearly succeeds? If Doyle or any Democrat for that matter attempts to offer legislative deals to the other side, those spoils, according to the newspaper, are called regional political-pork favors. Doyle gets the blame, the lone legislator taking the bribe (Gazette term) in exchange for his allegiance gets the credit.

JG Endorsement Editorial Excerpt:
Those who suggest that Davis religiously toes the Republican Party line aren’t paying attention.
His was the lone Republican vote for a long-delayed state budget deal last year.

In GOP-land, when a single Republican sells his soul for pork in exchange for his support – why – the pork suddenly transforms itself into “angel investment capital” and serves as proof the legislator deserves credit for rising above party-line politics. Those rotten Democrats should be ashamed of themselves. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Note: The soybean crusher referenced in the Gazette article is actually a very expensive ($4 million) feasibility study!!

Unbeatable Congressman Pours A Million Into Race

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After publicly noting (with a straight face)during the run-up of the $700 Billion Wall Street Bail-Out the horrendous failures of the Bush Administration, Rep. Paul Ryan found it politically expedient just over one week away from Election Tuesday to pound a wedge between himself and the McCain campaign trainwreck.

AlterNet Excerpt:
The prospect of defeat has unleashed what insiders describe as an "every man for himself" culture within the McCain campaign, with aides in a "circular firing squad" as blame is assigned.

We’ve now seen that same desperation in Ryan’s latest comments tearing into the style and substance of McCain’s campaign. In light of recent polls showing the Republican presidential ticket trailing behind in Wisconsin, Ryan has imitated Sarah Palin’s apparent dissatisfaction with the top of the ticket and has seemingly “gone rogue.”

Globe and Mail Excerpt:
Amid reports that Sarah Palin has "gone rogue" - ignoring advisers and slamming her party's campaign tactics…….

Ryan too ignored advice from his campaign aides by spending over a million dollars on ads to defeat the William Proxmire-like challenger, Marge Krupp. This despite some observers insisting Ryan is unbeatable.

Wisconsin State Journal Excerpt:
"My pollsters told me not to bother doing this," Ryan said.

To counter any possibility of losing, he is presenting himself to the public in television ads for the first time since his re-election in 2000, but this time his ads are running in areas outside of the district.

Wisconsin State Journal Excerpt:
Krupp has not run any TV ads of her own and has raised $100,000, compared with Ryan's $1.7 million this cycle.

She doesn't have Ryan's riches, or the backing of the special interests like he does.

Excerpt:
"I think that there's only one reason he would put a million dollars into this campaign: He's a little nervous," Wineke said. "Why would you do it otherwise?"

Will Final Stretch Offer October Surprise?

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DPW Excerpt:
Both Ryan and Thompson told reporters that McCain has failed to articulate an economic message and both praised Barack Obama for clearly defining an economic message.

Paul Ryan Trashes McCain campaign.

Ryan verbally trash-canned George W. Bush during the Bail-Out fiasco and now drops this on McCain in the final week? I don't trust in any of Ryan's comments. Ryan is one and the same with both of them.

Krupp: Ryan hoodwinking voters with misleading ads

Capital Times endorse Krupp for 1st CD.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel endorsed Marge Krupp in the primary.

Capital Times endorse John Waelti for 80th Assembly.

Excerpt:
Waelti's opponent, Republican Brett Davis, is a State Capitol hanger-on who got himself elected to the Assembly in 2004 on George Bush's coattails and is trying this year to get re-elected by suggesting that he is an ally of Gov. Jim Doyle.

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WISCONSIN'S LARGEST NEWSPAPER JOINS OTHER DAILIES IN BACKING OBAMA

Excerpt:
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Capital Times newspapers have never endorsed the same candidate for president. Until this year.

The Wisconsin State Journal endorsed Obama but also endorses Ryan? That simply doesn't make sense. Part of our problem here in America - voting for change and then voting against it for balance.

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Quote Of The Week

Channel 3000 Excerpt:
"I'm my own man. I vote the way I see things. I vote the way people in this district see things and I believe our best days as a country are ahead of us," -- Rep. Paul Ryan.

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Beloit Daily News Endorses Debi Towns Editorial:
Towns is conservative, but she's not a closed-minded partisan. She was able to work, for example, with Democrat Gov. Jim Doyle on legislation to improve the state's business climate.

We’ve been seeing this more and more in the final weeks of the election. How certain Republicans in Wisconsin have suddenly found bi-partisanship and are not afraid to include Jim Doyle in their campaigns. Two locals, Debi Towns and Brett Davis are most obvious singing "Kumbaya" in their television ads.

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Excerpt:
Feingold receives PERFECT score for record on environmental conservation and energy independence.

Now THAT is really something to be proud of. Go - Russ – Go – Yeah! – Yeah!- Yeah!

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If those worried about paying more taxes under President Obama were the only one’s to vote against him, he'd win by a landslide of 95% to 5%.

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Newspapers Endorsements:
Stay tuned, but keep in mind that more and more newspapers -- afraid of offending their shadows in this grim economic climate for print -- are coming up with reasons not to endorse at all.

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Farm Bureau Burned By McCain and Congressional Republicans

La Crosse Tribune Excerpt:
One factor could be the Milk Income Loss Contract, a price support subsidy that kicks in if the price of milk falls below a certain point. The program is weighted in favor of smaller dairy farms like those in Wisconsin and has delivered $511 million to farmers here since December 2001 — more than twice as much as any other state.

Obama supported the dairy subsidy as part of the 2008 Farm Bill passed in May because it provides a safety net for farmers and because he supported conservation measures in the bill.

John McCain, Sensenbrenner and Ryan voted against Wisconsin farmers when they voted against the Farm Bill. The conservative farm group knows it - they just can't bring themselves up to admit it.

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Some Humor

Capital Times Excerpt:
"It is the Democrats, including my opponent, who had control of Congress the last two years … so now we have a Democratic stock market crash and a Tammy Baldwin recession," he said to considerable chuckling from the audience of about 100 in a large auditorium of the Brogden Psychology Building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Theron's partisan ranting suggests that after eight years of Bush, a GOP-led Congress for twelve of the past 14 years including Republican rule in 20 from the past 28 years in the White House - the Democrats were in charge all along.

Wisconsin Voters Eligible - For Now

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Sunday’s (Oct. 19) Janesville Messenger contained an editorial comprised of excerpts from three national publications attempting to divert attention away from the important issues of the day with the overheated rhetoric of voter registration fraud.

Messenger Editorial Excerpt:
If we learned anything from the mess in Florida in 2000, it’s this: When elections don’t end on Election Day, things get ugly quickly. That is why today, and not the day after Election Day, is the day for Americans of all political stripes to aggressively press for more robust safeguards against vote fraud….. —National Review

Wrong. The day AFTER election day is the BEST time for states, attorney generals and local jurisdictions to prepare for and aggressively press for more voter safeguards for the next election.

In a bold-faced move just eight weeks before Election Day, Wisconsin’s Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (R)started a frivolous voter registration lawsuit only after he became McCain's state campaign co-chair. Designed to deflate voter confidence and gum up democratic efforts, Van Hollen's suit was finally seen for what it is and thrown out of court on Thursday.

After Election Day '08, Van Hollen will have two more years until his own election day of reckoning, lets hope he finds the time then to do something about his newfound crusade against voters.

Read Marge Krupp's statement on the court ruling here.

Messenger Editorial Excerpt:
McCain and Palin are common sense conservatives and proven reformers. Their record of reform can be emphasized and contrasted with Obama’s and Biden’s record of conventional, go-along, get along liberalism. -- The Weekly Standard

But isn't the "go-along, get along" theme the social doctrine conservatives apply on those ever-changing liberals to participate in and join the status quo? Since when is liberalism "conventional" and conservatism anything else but "the same old?"

Messenger Editorial Excerpt:
ACORN helped make the term ”affordable housing” a Washington staple. So as the roots of the financial crisis are laid bare, take a hard look at ACORN. – The Washington Times

But everyone knows “unaffordable housing” caused the crisis, who do we blame for that?The Messenger also contained a confusing article written by Star Parker who blames government for the financial crisis when the masters of Wall Street speculated on an inch of deregulation and greedily turned it into a mile. Parker regularly and naively blames the government for creating the hold the “welfare state” has on the free markets, and its effect on urban centers, bankers and financiers. Yet, she implies – the free markets can regulate themselves. Our problem is - WE just don't understand.

If anything, Parker should at least convince herself with her own rationale and celebrate the financial crisis because after all, she writes - what we are watching is the latest failure of the welfare state. If you've read Parker's columns in the past, nothing should make her happier than this.

But if we are watching the failure of the welfare state as she alone understands and gleefully explains, will it still continue to fail if the rest of us don't understand it?

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The League of Women Voters put the fabricated crisis surrounding Wisconsin's voter registration in clear perspective.

League of Women Voters Urges Citizens to Vote:
People should not be put off by scare tactics, nor confused by misinformation and myths about voter fraud. Our system in Wisconsin is a model for the nation.

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Read humans refusing to smear Obama for McCain campaign.

Get More Than Just The Facts Before Voting

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Tuesday’s Janesville Gazette editorial titled In this election, get the facts before before you vote, attempted to debunk the brave new world of individual weblogs and internet mash-up resources as illegitimate sources for information. Obviously, I couldn’t disagree more.

Most political blogs and Webpages like this one are usually written by folks who possess strong opinions and ideas built around a logic template grounded on a definitive philosophical foundation. This blog and thousands like it rethink what journalists write into a custom-made opinion piece that can help a seeker of information expand their peripheral view of a single news event, issue or candidate for public office. Does that make this work illegitimate? Knowledge does tend to liberalize one's thinking.

Blog authors, contributing posters and commenter's who embed multiple source links into their writings actually add a new dimension of credibility to the message they are trying to convey. Obviously for physical reasons, newspapers, talk radio and news telecasts lack this depth advantage.

Newspapers in particular treat information and observation like a controlled substance, omitting pertinent bits of information while adding curbs and guide posts to keep the information limited. They turn the informational experience into a prescription. In that regard, this blog and others like it carry more credibility than the daily op-ed page of your local newspaper.

Besides themselves of course, the Gazette listed three popular Internet resources for supplying “legitimate” information on the candidates. Vote Smart, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and Fact Check are all reasonable, yet like any other medium presenting the facts, they often don’t or can’t tell the full story. Fact Check in particular is limited - shall I be bold enough to say – by the facts.

Take Rep. Paul Ryan’s position on Wisconsin’s popular SeniorCare program as just one example of voting with just the facts. Ryan can say he voted for SeniorCare and that would be a fact. But there's more to the story.

House Gov Excerpt:
First District Congressman Paul Ryan voted in favor of the troop-funding portion of the bill, but opposed adding unrelated, non-emergency spending to the emergency war supplemental bill – even though he supports some provisions that are included in the non-defense related part, including an extension of the waiver for Wisconsin’s SeniorCare program through December 2009.

Yes, that is a Ryan press release stating he supports an extension of SeniorCare. But Ryan left out important information when he earlier voted for the Medicare Part D supplement, a program designed to swallow Senior Care.

Rock Netroots Excerpt:
When HR 1 Medicare Part D passed in the 108th Congress, Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri and Green all voted for it, while all Wisconsin Democrats voted against it.

Soon after this vote back in April of 2007, Ryan announced that Gov. Jim Doyle and state leaders had six more months to do two things: either help more than 106,000 SeniorCare participants enroll in the federal Medicare Part D program; or design a new package of state assistance to help cover some of the higher out-of-pocket costs seniors face under Medicare Part D. As far as Ryan was concerned at the time, SeniorCare will end in December of 2007. Democrats scrambled to save the program. Even after this, Ryan implied he would rather see earmarks such as SeniorCare stand on their own for a vote.

Medill Northwestern Excerpt:
The House split the funding bill into two amendments. The first amendment contained money for domestic spending projects, such as Gulf Coast reconstruction programs, SeniorCare and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Milk Income Loss Contract program. The second amendment was comprised of mostly of funds for military operations in Iraq.

The domestic spending amendment passed 348-73, with most of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation voting in favor, with the exception of Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls, and Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, who voted against.

The fact is, Ryan can say he voted for the SeniorCare extension after he voted against it. But the truth is, if SeniorCare was left up to Paul Ryan, he would have ended it. This is self-explanatory and more than just the facts.

The point is, if you limit yourself to the newspaper and accept statements from "fact" Websites as if they are the final word on candidates and the issues, you will probably be voting for the wrong candidate. Consider any and all sources of information and trust in yourself to connect the dots. If the information jibes, it probably is worth considering, whether the Gazette or your uncle thinks otherwise. And THAT is just my opinion.

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Beloit Daily News Endorses Paul Ryan For Congress

BDN Endorsement:
Ryan is quickly developing into a rising star for the Republican Party, not because he's a hard-line partisan, but rather because he's an independent thinker who puts more emphasis on solutions than politics.

Just what we need more of in Congress – a hardline partisan. There's a ton of contradiction in their perspective.

Taxes - An Investment In Our Country

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The GOP News Channels along with the traditional media have been making a big deal over Obama’s “Spreading the Wealth Around” comment he made to Joe the plumber. So it only figures I was asked by my favorite Republican neighbor about what I thought about Obama’s comment. This is basically what I said except with better sequence:

Think about what's happened over the past eight years. Americans have gone through the greatest re-distribution of wealth the country has ever seen. Under Republican policies beginning in the eighties with Ronald Reagan and shifting into second gear with the “Contract with America,” and culminating with the George W. Bush tax cuts, the wealthiest have gone into over-drive confiscating more wealth than ever before, the poor have gotten poorer, while the wages of the middle have remained flat during a time when costs for commodities such as health care and energy have gone through the roof. The fact is, the income gap between the rich and the poor is wider now than ever before. More people live in poverty. This is not success.

In addition to the obvious, the Bush tax cuts coupled with GOP-led spending, legislative loopholes and deregulation have shortchanged our Treasury tremendously, causing the nation’s debt to double over a period of just eight years, for what previously took 225 years to accumulate. To top it off, the majority of American corporations pay no taxes. Something here tells me we need to reverse direction.

Our wage scales are upside down when workers performing the hardest labor over long hours with few benefits are paid the least. So in my view, a successful national economic stimulus plan should be an anti-poverty policy first and foremost, creating jobs from the bottom up. I also think any legislative action or policy that can reverse the top heavy wealth distribution trends of the past twenty years will go a long way to restoring the great American promise of equal opportunity and prosperity for all people including Joe the Plumber. Others can call Obama’s “spread the wealth around” tax policy comment a re-distribution of wealth and a step towards Socialism if they must, I call it an investment in our country.

American Carol Humor For Sarah

Endorsements For Obama 'Transformational'

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Soon after the Wisconsin State Journal(R) published their endorsement for Barack Obama(D) came another endorsement from the mid-west's largest newspaper, the Chicago Tribune(R). The Tribune's endorsement is extra-ordinary because despite the democratic machine style politics Chicago is known for, the Tribune has never ever endorsed a Democrat for president during their 161- year history.

Chicago Tribune Excerpt:
This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president.

One word of caution here against over-exuberance regarding the endorsements of Barack Obama from the nation's republican news rags - nearly all of them are half-baked endorsements holding McCain in high regard, only placing the blame on the content and style of his campaign as his major weakness.

Of course, the Conservative Republican newspapers can say what they want about what persuaded them away from John McCain, but I’d bet it was Sarah Palin. As one commenter on this blog early on said, “She's good for the Obama ticket."

Obama wins endorsement from unlikely newspapers, among them the Wisconsin State Journal.

Major newspapers presidential endorsements so far.

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Perhaps one of the most important individual endorsements for Barack Obama also came on Sunday from Colin Powell.

Excerpt:
Making his decision public on NBC News' "Meet the Press," the long-time fixture in Republican administrations effectively reinforced the sense of momentum Obama has been building, declaring the Senator from Illinois as a "transformational figure." "I think that Senator Obama brings a fresh set of eyes, a fresh set of ideas to the table," said Powell. "I think we need a generational change, and I think Senator Obama has captured the feelings of the young people of America, and is reaching out in a more diverse, inclusive way across our society."

The GOP (Fox) News Channel staff of Chris Wallace, Brit Hume, Williams and Kristol wasted little time dissing Powell's endorsement as racially motivated by repeatedly reminding viewers of Powell's African-Americanness.

McCain Gloating Over Palin

Another Smear Group To Watch For In Wisconsin

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Thursday’s Janesville Gazette contained two letters to the editor warning of a campaign flyer received in the mail from an organization based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, known as All Children Matter. Judging by their mission statement, it appears this is a politically active organization advocating to defund the public school system under the guise of school choice.

JG Letter Excerpt:
Somebody, we don’t know exactly who, is spending lots of money to send out very nasty pieces of campaign literature about Kim’s (Hixson) two years representing the 43rd District. – R.S. Whitewater

Apparently this group has different flyers for each Wisconsin district, promoting Republicans they want re-elected, and targeting incumbents they don’t, mostly Democrats, with the usual cheap shots and false information. That letter was followed by the next one, where the writer feels the special interest group owns Brett Davis, a Republican.

JG Letter Excerpt:
All Children Matter, should have residents asking the question of Brett Davis, what these people want from you if they are willing to dump thousands of dollars into your campaign.-- K.T. New Glarus

A quick surf of the net returned another letter sharing the same concerns sent to the Crescent Post in Appleton. In Appleton, All Children Matter targets Penny Bernard Schaber, a Democrat.

Post Crescent Letter Excerpt: (Oct.13)
I find this distasteful and unpatriotic. I take my right to vote seriously and resent these flyers and ads that are trying to scare people by making false, misleading and inaccurate claims. -- E.W.R.

All Children Matter was fined over $5 million by the Ohio Elections Commission back in April of this year.

Columbus Dispatch Excerpt:
A record $5.2 million fine was levied yesterday by the Ohio Elections Commission against a pro-charter-school group that helped elect Republicans across Ohio in 2006.

The whopping fine fell on All Children Matter, a Michigan-based organization that the commission said illegally funneled $870,000 in campaign contributions through its Virginia political-action committee to its PAC in Ohio in 2006.

That didn't stop them.

Rip Rap

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Registering Voters Faster than they can Purge Them

GOP Attacks ACORN

Excerpt:
Why are they after ACORN? Well, I'm sure they're going to come up with a lot of "reasons" in the coming days. But the real reason is obvious: Because ACORN, along with Project Vote, just announced that they had successfully registered 1.3 million poor people this year.

I’m thoroughly convinced - that the media hype on ACORN's ability to register voters is meant to divert attention away from the GOP's drive to purge legitimate voters from state rolls.

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Jobs, Baby, Jobs!!

Huff Post:
At the Republican National Convention and various GOP rallies, an oft-repeated chant was "drill, baby, drill," a plea for more oil drilling. McCain and GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin back more offshore oil drilling; Palin favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Hillary said Democrats have a better answer: "Jobs, baby, jobs."

You bet'cha.

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Surge In Financial Markets Reflect Growing Hope.
Is this because the world's prospects for hope have gotten audaciously better now that Barack Obama has been surging in the polls?

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Hockey Mom Booed Loudly At Flyers Game

"I thought I'd put (daughter) Piper in a Flyers jersey
and bring her out with me. How dare they boo Piper!"-- Sarah Never Cuda

What mom would deliberately use her children as political shields much less subject them to this kind of public humiliation?

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Actor Duvall Blasts Palin Critics

ABC News Excerpt:
Introducing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at a GOP fundraiser Monday, actor Robert Duvall blasted conservatives who have criticized the McCain-Palin ticket in recent days, calling conservative columnist George Will a "super-nerd" and former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson a "block of wood".

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I still think Androgynous Pat is a better Palin

Much has been made of Tina Fey’s riotous rendition of Sarah Palin and I don’t mean to take anything away from her, but I still think Julia Sweeney, the comedienne who played the Androgynous Pat character from Saturday Night Live (circa 1990-1994) has all the moves, looks and annoying speech patterns from her Pat routine to do Sarah at her best.

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Walworth Judge Confirms Man’s Suspicions
Doesn't Like Attitude - Jails Juror

Excerpt:
"Well, it's pretty much the police will say and do anything they want to make a case, and the courts aren't really fair about it. Because if they got money, you can get out of it." In response, Gibbs ordered Jutz in contempt of court and ordered him to spend 24 hours in the Walworth County Jail and pay a $50 fine.

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Shocker Endorsement
The Wisconsin State Journal soft-pedaled their endorsement for Barack Obama. Still, this came as a shock to me because the Wisconsin State Journal has a long, long history of promoting a right-wing platform and endorsing Republicans - they endorsed George W. Bush!
Read the Capital Times take on the Journal's Obama endorsement.

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Michelle Malkin: Fannie Mae Fatcat friend of Obama buys $4.9 million penthouse.

More proof that the private sector pays better. Goldman Sachs Fatcat Hank Paulson confiscated over $500 million hedging his bets against Wall Street investors only to be rewarded with the keys to the U.S. Treasury. For that matter, Obama's friend got gypped.

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McCain's Unrepentant Terrorist Friend

Congressional Candidate Forum Set For Tuesday

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Journal Times Excerpt

The candidates for the 1st Congressional District seat are scheduled to meet in a forum sponsored by the Racine Taxpayers Association at noon Tuesday at the Racine YMCA, 725 Lake Ave., second floor.

The forum starts at noon, but those attending are invited for lunch beginning at 11:30 a.m. The cost for lunch is $8.

Invited to participate are incumbent U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Democrat Marge Krupp of Kenosha and Libertarian Joe Kexel of Kenosha. Questions will be taken from the audience.

Also on the net: Racine Taxpayers Association

Where To Go For Early Voting In Janesville

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Janesville residents can register to vote or vote early through absentee ballot at the Clerk-Treasurer’s Office in the Municipal Building during normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-4:30PM).

The City of Janesville will also hold special voter registration and absentee balloting opportunities at night and on the weekend during the month of October. Janesville residents interested in registering to vote or voting early through absentee ballot are encouraged to visit the Clerk-Treasurer’s Office in the Municipal Building (4th floor, Room 416, 18 N. Jackson Street) during the following special times:

* Tuesday, October 14, 4:30-8PM;
* Saturday, October 25, 8AM-noon; and
* Monday, October 27, 4:30-6:30PM.

Get more Wisconsin voter news and information here.

Did Bush and Paulson Cause Global Panic?

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The editorial in Sunday’s Janesville Messenger titled “Some lies are worse than others” was another one-sided but amusing attempt by the newspaper to throw the blame for the current economic catastrophe onto the back of yet another Democrat.

Janesville Messenger Editorial Excerpt:
The feckless Reid, …..said last week that quick action was needed to bail out the ailing financial industry because a “major” insurance company would go bankrupt if markets weren’t calmed. Already skittish investors reacted immediately, sending stock prices for three of the largest insurance companies plunging.

Reid could have said “major” automaker just as well, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone. But the truth is, it was soon revealed that AIG, the world’s largest insurance firm needed an additional $38 billion on top of the $85 billion loan they received from the Fed just two weeks earlier. There was no need for Reid to apologize for his statement. There was some truth behind it.

But the consequences resulting from Reid’s remarks posed little danger and were easily repairable when compared to statements made by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on September 24th when he waltzed into Congress like a man yelling "fire!" into a crowded movie theatre.……

Paulson Warns Of Consequences:
Architects of a $700 billion bailout plan urged US lawmakers to act swiftly or face dire economic consequences as global stock markets fell for a second day on growing concern the rescue may be delayed.

Unlike the vague warning Reid spoke of mentioning a “major” insurance company, no one had to guess which global stock market Paulson was referring to, there’s only one.

Or how about on September 25th, when the incompetent President Bush had a few comments of his own to soothe the jittery markets.

Bush Warns of Danger:
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday that lawmakers risk a cascade of wiped-out retirement savings, rising home foreclosures, lost jobs and closed businesses if they fail to act on a massive financial rescue plan. "Our entire economy is in danger," he said. Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold,"

Speculators needn't speculate which America Bush was referring to. But was he afraid his bail out bill might fail? Ever since Paulson and Bush opened up their big mouths, the DOW lost 2,500 points, 401k’s lost over two trillion dollars and it could take years before those losses are recouped. Yes indeed, some lies are worse than others.

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Also on the editorial page of the Sunday Messenger was an article written by Richard Rahn, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, he writes.....

Who really caused financial meltdown?:
"Following the stock market collapse of 1929, the Hoover Administration tried to spend its way out of Great Depression, increasing federal spending by 47 percent between 1929 and 1932..........

Just a week earlier, Rep. Paul Ryan, who we've been repeatedly reminded by his Bail-Out defenders that he holds a bachelors degree in economics and political science had this to say.

Wall Street Journal Excerpt:
"This is a Herbert Hoover moment, where he sat by and let a Wall Street crash turn into a Great Depression . . . There are times when free-markets stop and rational thinking goes out the window. It then isn't enough to be a laissez-faire conservative and let Rome burn . . ." — Rep.Paul Ryan

One says Hoover did too much - the other said Hoover didn't do enough. But the best blurp from Ryan is perhaps his self-describing "laissez-faire conservative." Now that's a good one.

Capital Times Editorial Avoids Partisan Media Context

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The Capital Times posted an editorial titled, A financial panic, and four who resisted it about Wisconsin members of the House and Senate who voted against the Wall Street Bail Out. Instead of putting the four on some lofty pedestal and defending their position on the bail out with some rhetorical spit-shining, the newspaper simply concludes the four just kept their heads and used common sense. But what was unusual about this editorial is the absence of the partisanship that we’ve come to expect from most in the local media.

Capital Times Editorial Excerpt:
What does that tell us? Common sense, especially when it comes to money matters, is not a Democratic or Republican possession. It is not a liberal or a conservative calculation. It is the product of an ability to thoughtfully assess what is happening, even when others panic.

Feingold, Sensenbrenner, Kagen and Petri displayed it last week. They deserve high marks.

The Capital Times, often accused of being run by loony lefties, could have easily ignored Sensenbrenner and Petri in this editorial, but they chose not to. They could have easily used the divide-and-conquer approach to help further the careers of those they (newspaper) are politically aligned with, but they chose not to. And they could have used their editorial pulpit to add to the local political rancor even more over this explosive issue, but they chose not to. This one editorial is not a mountain, but it is a good step forward in a direction we seldom see from the Fourth Estate. They deserve high marks.

Bail-Out Maintains Wall Street - Subverts Free Markets

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If there's one thing about Republicans and their supporters is, they tend to heap all the blame for the Wall Street collapse on Fannie/Freddie because it’s all they’ve got. But AIG, Lehman Bros., Bear Stearns and the rest of the free-market bunch certainly can’t be blamed when their greed got the best of them - they are the ones who took a chance when they purchased bundles of mortgages and ……lost.

Potomac Watch Excerpt:
There were a few conservatives who for years took unpopular positions against the government-inspired credit mania, yet this week had the guts to act to calm the markets. And there were many Republicans who for years aided and abetted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, yet this week ran for political cover.

Few Republicans were against the credit mania because it kept the consumer-driven disposable society fueled with more working stiffs who were snookered into the delusion that they too can afford a home and a new car – just say “charge it.” This is what the phony American pro-growth economic doctrine is built on. Yet they have the guts to act? When these same “new” GOP Conservatives, if I may call them that, voted their guts for the bail-out, they voted to corrupt the free markets - they voted to maintain the status quo - an economy built on debt.

The article titled, What leadership looks like carried several examples to illustrate Rep. Ryan’s position on sub-prime mortgage legislation. Except this one; Ryan voted NO on regulating the subprime mortgage industry. (Nov 15, 2007)

Republicans voted NO because:

On The Issues Excerpt:
Rep. HENSARLING: This is a bad bill for homeowners in America. There is no doubt that this Nation faces a great challenge in the subprime market, but this piece of legislation is going to make the situation worse. Clearly, there has to be enforcement against fraud in the subprime market. But what Congress should not do is essentially outlaw the American Dream for many struggling families who may be of low income, who may have checkered credit pasts, for whom a subprime mortgage is the only means to purchase a home.

And from as recent as May 13th of this year......

Rock Netroots Excerpt:
Ryan voted against this bill and HR 3221, another bill offering FHA backing to mortgage lenders willing to rework up to 500,000 loans now headed for default.

The Republican position was to keep predatory credit lines open to people who could not afford it. The Democrats tried to tighten the strings but it was too little too late – still, that was no excuse to not vote for it. Ryan knows what Republican leadership looks like, he votes it 92% of the time.

No longer should we wonder why it's only "In God We Trust" printed on our money.

UW Reports: McCain Gone 100% Negative

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Swamp Excerpt:
During the week of Sept 28 through Oct. 4, "nearly 100 percent of the McCain campaign's advertisements were negative," the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin reports today. "During the same period, 34 percent of the Obama campaign's ads were negative."

Financial Crisis Caused By Era Of Greed

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Last Sunday's Janesville Messenger (Sept.28) contained an editorial titled,"Facts of financial crisis elude Obama" in which the editor(s) refers to Obama as either a shameless fabulist or a political ninny for implying it was the deregulation policies of Republicans that allowed Wall street firms to bankrupt themselves only after paying executives and CEO's millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and severance.

JM Editorial Excerpt:
John McCain in fact, sounded the alarm in 2005, and sponsored legislation, perhaps too late even then, that would have reduced the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac threat. Obama? He stayed on the sidelines while fellow Democrats torpedoed McCain's efforts.

Where were the Republicans? After all, back then there were more of them in Congress including on all the committees.

I'm assuming the legislation the Messenger editorial is referring to was S-190, which John McCain co-sponsored back in '05. All things being equal including the political wrangling that goes on in committees, the bottom line is the Republican-led majority killed it. The bill never made it past introduction and apparently died in committee. During the 109th Congress (2005-2006), the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs was comprised of 11 Republicans and 9 Democrats.

Last Action on S-190: Jul 28, 2005: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

Status: Dead

On the House side during the 109th Congress, the Committee on Financial Services was also majority Republican chaired by Rep. Michael Oxley, a Republican. Despite this, Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Dodd, both chairmen of current committees dealing with banking and financial services were recently accused of not doing enough to stop the fallout leading up to the Wall street crisis by flaming loudmouth Bill O'Reilly. Meanwhile, President Bush and John McCain both exclaim,"the fundamentals of the economy are strong" as recently as two weeks ago.

Comment from GovTrack:
On December 16, 2003 President Bush signed the American Dream Downpayment Initiative into law. That was an interesting bill. Why don't you focus on the bills that passed in the last 8 years instead of dithering about failed initiatives?

One piece of legislation that did pass was the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). It was enacted in the 70s in a bipartisan vote and strengthened under Bill Clinton, also in a bipartisan manner. The point is....the CRA may have been lobbied for by the banks and Wall Street investment firms to loosen up credit standards to gain more markets, but this legislation is not even a partial explanation for why we are here today. Intentions of the CRA were meant to discourage discriminatory(prejudicial) lending practices, not encourage or replace it with predatory lending practices and lower standards.

The reality is, the two issues John McCain, George W. Bush and Republicans are most closely associated with – invading Iraq and deregulating the economy – have produced treasury-snatching national catastrophes. The blame for the worst financial crisis in U.S. history might never be disposed onto one person or event. But the policies and positions enabling an "era of greed" to run wild lay at the foundation of the deregulators - and they happen to be Republicans.

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Masters of the Universe

After investing $5 billion into the floundering Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, Warren Buffett implored Congress to rubber stamp the former GS CEO Hank Paulson-brokered $700 billion Bail-Out. Now comes word the Bush Administration has selected another former Goldman Sachs executive to be the interim head of the bail-out effort.

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Bush: Hurry up - Then Wait

After repeatedly urging Congress to hurry up and pass the bail-out bill, Bush now says this is going to take time - be patient.

Note to e-mail subscribers: Ooops, by accident you may have received this post over the weekend in the incomplete draft form - please discard. Thanks.

Newspaper Weighs Political News For Balance?

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Sunday’s Janesville Gazette contained an op-ed written by the editor titled, ”Consider your own biases before accusing newspaper” which attempted to rebut the evidence of reasoning used in a letter writer’s criticism against the paper. Apparently, someone out there thinks the Gazette is a left-wing publication.

In it, the editor describes a caller saying “You really outdid yourself by printing the worst photo of Bush you could find and then tinting it red. Classic Gazette.” I have to agree with the editor's point of view here, seriously, anyone who accuses the Gazette of a liberal bias (pro-Liberal) is simply not paying attention, to put it mildly.

But the editor’s defensive perspective opens up the door for even more scrutiny, at least in my view, of the checks and balances the paper employs to assure that they walk down the political middle in their news columns.

On one hand he writes that they have barely the time to get stories written and edited to meet deadline, yet on the other they find the time to count stories and pictures to be sure they matched between the Democrats and Republicans. Is that a fair way to present the news? How do they decipher which stories carry the kind of content they must counter-balance with an equal and opposite one? Or whether it merits counterbalancing at all? Is a pro-Democratic article balanced with a pro-Republican one? Or with an anti-democrat one? What about all of the writer’s artwork in between, the little nuances and rebuttal some journalists apply within the articles to achieve some type of balance themselves? What about titles and how they’re created and balanced? Despite all of this, if the news week itself happens to be a really bad one for Republicans let’s say, is this reality changed to keep the political bias balanced?

Still, the editor lays out enough evidence in his op-ed to convince most people why the newspaper has a conservative bias, despite all the liberals working there. To this I agree again. But the one thing the editor concludes with hardly qualifies as proof for a balanced news presentation in the face of all of his support to the contrary. He suggests that the mere existence of those liberal bias complaints confirms they’re doing something right.

I also welcome any evidence and a clean discussion from anyone who thinks the Janesville Gazette has a liberal bias. I’ve issued an invitation like this before without any takers. On the other hand, this blog already contains dozens of examples that I believe are strong enough to support the editor's claims - the Gazette does not promote or incorporate a Liberal or Democratic slant into their product. I find myself laughing AT myself on this one, here, I’m defending the Gazette against a politically motivated accusation of bias.

Will Political Winds Backlash Into Perfect Storm?

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What a difference a change in ownership can make. One of the things the Janesville Messenger used to do well in the past was with their local election stories and coverage. They were usually written with a neutral bias, in sort of a “I write ‘em as I sees ‘em – you decide” kind of way. Those days are over.

Sunday’s Janesville Messenger front page story titled, “Ryan’s challengers face uphill battle” contained several passages that were heavily weighted against his challengers and glossed over Ryan’s record of party-line votes with opinions from biased observers.

JM Excerpt:
“I see little dissatisfaction with Rep. Ryan……….Second, unless there is an amazing backlash to the stock market plunge (Tuesday) that outweighs the backlash from the Republican House vote against the current plan, Republicans in the House probably are on the right side of the public." -- observer

You know he's not talking about Democrats here. Presumably, this article was written before the bill eventually passed. But on Tuesday, the majority of House Republicans voted against the bill and were on the public’s side – except Ryan……he voted for it. So, Ryan is not representative of that "right side of the public" group. Secondly, once Ryan dropped his purported free-market principles, with or without the addition of capital gains tax cuts or earmarks, his position on the bill was to tow the GOP house party-line which was for the bail-out.

Folkbum Excerpt:
It's simple, really: Paul Ryan voted for this bill because John Boehner told him to.

When a majority of republican’s voted against the bill, they also voted against GOP house leadership. This exposed a deep fracture within the party. But not Ryan, he boldly tows the party-line. Throw in his propensity towards Wall Street and there was no way Ryan would vote against this bail-out bill. Principles and constituents be damned.

On top of it all, Republicans complained it was the Democrats who lacked leadership and blamed them for the failed bail out. Never mind that 2/3 of democrats voted for the bill.

The article, and this was not an op-ed, also conjectured about Ryan’s future in government by purposely placing his skill set above his duties and abilities as representative while implying that his challengers are not his equals.

JM Excerpt:
So good, in fact, that political observers regard the 38-year-old as one of the party's rising stars.

So good – in fact? The key here of course is Ryan is “one of his party’s rising stars.” I won’t deny that, and you too would be a star if you towed the “party-line” 90% of the time and pushed the party’s ideology in bills and policy. Constituents? Why…. those are the political winds.

It comes down to this. If we don’t like where things have been headed for the past ten years, why in the world would anyone vote for the same party policies, principles and partisans that got us to where we are today, more so particularly, that party's rising stars?

Congress Fails – Passed Bail Out To Nowhere

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This will mark the second time in the past eight years where I believe Congress has taken the wrong direction on a major issue. The last time came with their approval to allow Bush to invade Iraq under false pretenses using doctored intelligence.

Interestingly enough, both episodes were built on a foundation of fear and imminent threat, along with the pressure from our complicit media sources who faithfully published false presumptions about the dire consequences if we fail to act. If there’s any consolation it will be that this second huge lapse in judgement will come without the loss of life. That’s the good news.

This bill will do nothing to restrict negative amortization practices, adjustable rate mortgages or stem the tide of new foreclosures. Home values continue to head south.

The Wall Street crime syndicate is back in business.

I find it bizarre that anyone would think that the government handing out $700 billion in exchange for risky Wall Street investment deals is Socialism-lite. Now, if it were the other way around, where the the government demanded Wall Street firms buy $100 billion worth of US bonds for $700 billion in cash, well.....now that's a different story.

Now that Congress has approved of the bail out to nowhere, when will they address the looming credit crisis?

"Never let us negotiate out of fear" -- John F. Kennedy

Senate Favors Intervention Of Free Markets

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The plan to bail out Wall Street investment brokers of 700B in toxic mortgage assets experienced price creep as it sailed through the Senate Wednesday evening. The sweeteners drove the $700B price tag higher in hopes it will yield more yes-votes from House partisans. Wall Street should approve. Expect the DOW to climb today.

However, some congressional leaders still think the plan is wrong.

CNN Money Excerpt:
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a champion of the energy tax breaks in the bill, said on Wednesday afternoon she nevertheless would vote against the bill because she opposes "giving the keys to the Treasury over to the private sector."

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said the Senate will have "failed the American people" by acting hastily. "I agree we need to do something. ... [But] we haven't spent any time figuring out whether we've picked the best choice."

See how they voted here.

Wisconsin
Feingold (D) No; Kohl (D) Yes.

Statement From U.S. Senator Russ Feingold

On Opposing the Bailout

“I will oppose the Wall Street bailout plan because though well intentioned, and certainly much improved over the administration’s original proposal, it remains deeply flawed. It fails to offset the cost of the plan, leaving taxpayers to bear the burden of serious lapses of judgment by private financial institutions, their regulators, and the enablers in Washington who paved the way for this catastrophe by removing the safeguards that had protected consumers and the economy since the great depression. The bailout legislation also fails to reform the flawed regulatory structure that permitted this crisis to arise in the first place. And it doesn’t do enough to address the root cause of the credit market collapse, namely the housing crisis. Taxpayers deserve a plan that puts their concerns ahead of those who got us into this mess.”

Constituent's Will Equals Political Wind

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JG Editorial Excerpt:
Ryan said most constituents who contacted his office opposed the bail-out.......Instead, Ryan voted for a bill he didn't love, because he knew it was the right thing to do for the good of the economy. Too many others - many of whom face tough re-election bids next month, voted with the political winds while silently hoping the bill would pass.

As long as people continue to vote against their interests, I can't blame Ryan for defying his constituents. He's entitled to that House Seat.

From Bail-Out To Buy-In To Credit Crisis - When's The Surge?

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We all know that the $700 billion bailout bill failed 205-228 in the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Monday and Rep. Paul Ryan was one of 65 Republicans to vote for the bill. I also know why 2/3 of the Democratic majority voted for the revised “Buy-in” bill. But why did Ryan?

Rep. Paul Ryan In The House:
“The bill offends my principles,” he said. “But I’m going to vote for this bill in order to preserve my principles, in order to preserve this free enterprise system.”

Whaaaa? I’m not going to debate over what Ryan’s perception is of the free enterprise system or even whether free enterprise truly exists or not. After all, he’s been studying the economy all of his life. But obviously, that statement was contradictory for his own good. My only concern as a constituent in the 1st CD is what exactly offended his principles? Was it that a Treasury-backed safety net to insure Wall Street toxic debt was only limited to a “consideration’? Did that offend him? Or that capital gains tax caps or a reformed expansion of “deregulation” was not part of the failed bailout? This is what concerns me the most, that there were too many regulations and oversight provisions for his taste, including the idea that taxpayers might gain some equity leverage in exchange for their purchases.

The other point here is, I'll admit I did not think Ryan would vote for the revised bailout, even with Bush's support. But knowing that Wall Street fat cats are no different than the “wealthy” Wisconsin farmers he voted against in the Farm Bill or the $35 billion SCHIP expansion - what are those "free enterprise" principles he wants to preserve? Whatever is different this time, Ryan sounds like he is out of his element.

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Who said this?
“In light of the political expediency of my colleagues and the horrendous failures of the Bush Administration, we will have to roll up our sleeves and go back to the drawing board to enact a meaningful solution to our financial crisis.”
A. Nancy Pelosi
B. John McCain
C. Paul Ryan
D. Barney Frank

Answer at bottom of this post.

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Quote
"The market is not functioning properly. There is a widespread loss of confidence. America could slip into a financial panic." -- George W. Bush

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CNN Money Excerpt:
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index fell a record 16.3% in July from a year earlier, the largest drop since its inception in 2000.

Common sense would dictate that property tax assessed values will remain flat or drop, including in Wisconsin. But who says common sense is dictating?

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McCain: Economic Disaster

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C. Paul Ryan, approximately five weeks before Election Day.