NewsMax Excerpt:...and then concludes with... "Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem."
Obama Risks a Domestic Military ‘Intervention’
Military intervention is what Obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible. -- John L. Perry
Janesville Messenger Editorial Excerpt: (Page 6)It's strange they would suggest that ACORN would have to take up murder before certain members of Congress would defund them. Because that's exactly what many Private Military Companies (PMC's) and other right-leaning organizations leeching off of taxpayers take up along with prostitution and fraud, and they're still in business. Of course the crimes alleged against ACORN pale in comparison.
All of which begs the question: What would ACORN have to do, short of murder, to convince Baldwin that it doesn't deserve a hand-out from the American taxpayer.
Janesville Messenger Editorial Excerpt: (Page 6)
Baldwin was one of just 75 Democrats to vote against cutting off the cash for the federally funded community organization ACORN, which has been implicated in cases of voter-registration, and most widely in a sting that exposed various employees across the county who were willing to....
With mounting evidence and intense pressure from a media campaign against the group, Democrats for the most part, have become increasingly unwilling to defend the group's large body of good works. Given that, would anyone doubt it took incredible courage to cast that vote in the face of the conspiratorial driven media campaign against the community organization? Despite video taped allegations, ACORN should have been allowed to defend itself against the evidence before the House entertained the Republicans amendment to defund the group. Instead, the weak-kneed congress buckled under the pressure from media stooge Glenn Beck and his cast of clowns at Fox News. What an embarrassment.
has been trying his best to "take down" citizen groups such as Tides in an effort to re-legitimize the expansion of a corporate-driven and controlled throw-away society. His latest "target" promotion is the video titled "The story of stuff." Yesterday, Beck introduced a father and his two sons on the show in what can only be described as an extremely lame testimonial to discredit the group's sustainability mission. The founder of Tides responded to Beck in an open letter.Think Progress Excerpt:
DEMINT: The problem is, the war in Afghanistan and our economy are our two biggest issues. But he’s working on other issues such as health care and he’s putting off the decision on Afghanistan which I think puts our troops at risk. So he needs to focus on priorities right now...
JSonline Excerpt:I know..I know..this was all legal for competitive bargaining reasons. Like Milton was approached by several ethanol producers just aching to build a new plant in the city.
March 18, 2008 -- Over a period of nine months in 2004 and 2005, the city secretly negotiated the deal and promised to provide more than $800,000 in subsidies and to borrow another $3 million to pay for infrastructure improvements to get United Ethanol to open the plant.
JSonline Excerpt:
A group called Citizens for Responsible Development sued, but a Rock County circuit judge ruled that the city did not violate any laws. The group appealed.
Highbeam Excerpt:Today's article also puts the onus back onto the city to prove that the objectionable odor is coming from the ethanol plant in the first place, instead of focusing on a business that is operating without a permit. A splendid defense put on by the newspaper if I must say. It's all back to square one.
Citizens for Responsible Development has revised a lawsuit it filed May 6 in Rock County Court against the Milton City Council and Plan Commission. The original suit challenges the legality of the conditional-use permit granted to the Beaver Dam co-op.
JG Excerpt:Does that mean the plant is operating under an UNconditional-use permit? After dealing illegally behind closed doors, it only now becomes apparent Milton officials didn't need the ethanol plant if they wanted to stink up the place. Those officials rendered the community powerless by a quandary of their own making. Was the entire agreement declared null and void? Or just the conditional-use permit? This all sounds too convenient to believe.
The city issued a conditional-use permit to the plant in 2005, but that permit was declared null and void by the court when it declared Milton held too many closed meetings in reaching an agreement with United Ethanol, O’Callaghan said.
Washington Times Excerpt:One in four? The hard work of these “illegal” immigrants helped make Texas the twelfth largest economy in the world. How can the Texas business community get away with hiring illegal immigrants, confiscate part of their meager wages for taxes and Social Security and then deny these hard working people, health care? Have they no heart? Have they no soul? Texas makes Al Capone look like a choir boy.
Health coverage swung widely by region, based partly on levels of unemployment. Massachusetts, with its universal coverage law, had fewer than 1 in 20 uninsured residents - the lowest in the nation. Texas had the highest share, at 1 in 4, largely because of illegal immigrants excluded from government-sponsored and employer-provided plans.
JG Blog Excerpt:At first the editor's comments seemed to focus on readers who send in “canned” letters to publishers. However, his advice quickly mutated into a fear-based warning suggesting the risks are too great to interact with political Web sites.
So that's a fair warning to you. You might want to avoid responding to such political Web sites to avoid any risk of winding up with opinions printed in your local newspaper when you didn't want them published.
"Also the comment made that teachers have been "frozen for the past 15 years at 3.8% because of the QEO" is NOT TRUE. Most settlements have been above 3.8% and some of them substantially so. The QEO has NEVER been implemented here in Janesville." – Janesville School Board Member
JG Editorial Excerpt:I don't want elected officials to vote as they see fit. They are representing what we see fit. I don't mean for this to sound selfish, but to take it even further, they are representing what I see fit. That doesn't mean they can't vote against my ideals, it's just that when they do and it repeatedly runs against my sense of virtues, it's up to me or concerned citizens to call them out and check their votes. Vote them out of office if we must, but to just sit back and let officials run wild while in office is not a good example of democracy - it breeds complacency and corruption. We then get what we deserve.
We elect people to represent us. That means we give them power to vote as they see fit. If council members choose to appoint someone rather than spend money on a special election, that's within their rights.
Republican Jobs Agenda Excerpt:– what’s wrong with that picture? Lets ignore the fact that Republicans are the first to swear that “guv’mint doesn’t create jobs,” and look more closely at the actual premise behind the “give employers a financial incentive to hire employees” idea. Whatever happened to the time when businesses hired more employees because demand for their services or products picked up – you know, the free markets. Instead we have government helping create an illusion of false hope for the unemployed while stuffing the pockets of the wealthiest among us.
Jobs Tax Credit NOW (Williams)
Assembly Republicans would give employers a financial incentive to hire employees, through the Jobs Tax Credit, in 2009.
Republican Jobs Agenda Excerpt:More of the same big government influence applied to change the course of the free markets. This solution sets the stage for even more of the same cash give-aways, tax credits and deregulation. You don’t honestly think “retention methods” are simply a nice conversation over a cup of hot chocolate discussing how much better Wisconsin workers are – do you? Again, many democrats have bought into the anti-free market government intervention process.
Recruit & Retain Jobs NOW (Budget Motion & LRB-3431; Rhoades)
Assembly Republicans would require Wisconsin’s Department of Commerce to submit a report to the Joint Finance Committee detailing its business retention methods, a plan identifying businesses seeking to expand or relocate, and develop a Rapid Response Team for relocation or expansion prospects.
Republican Jobs Agenda Excerpt:That is one I could actually agree with providing the state legislature stops writing tax laws that intentionally leaves room for mis-interpretation.
Banning Secret Tax Increases (Zipperer)
Assembly Republicans would restore legislative accountability and protect families and employers from this bureaucratic overreach by banning this practice all together.
Republican Jobs Agenda Excerpt:How often do we see republicans promoting federal tax code? Only when it puts more money in the pockets of their masters I suppose. But this one is my personal favorite. Lets expand the business expense deduction so maybe now employers can finally afford to buy the Chinese-built Romby-the-robot “worker” machine they’ve always dreamed about when they need a few extra bodies on the job. Fewer employees with no benefits means increased profits.
Small Business Expense Flexibility NOW (AB 184; Roth)
Assembly Republicans would increase the expense deduction limit to $50,000 (up from the current $25,000) to more closely mirror the federal tax code. Putting more money in the hands of small business employers in a quicker manner will allow them the ability to hire more employees.
Republican Jobs Agenda Excerpt:Folks collecting $10 million in capital gains need an incentive to invest and earn even more!! This one speaks for itself.
Wisconsin Jobs Investment Act NOW (AB 38; Strachota)
Assembly Republicans would give individual employers and shareholders a financial incentive to reinvest their assets in a Wisconsin business, through the Wisconsin Investment Act, in 2009. These individuals would be eligible for a capital gains exclusion of up to $10 million for long-term reinvestment in a Wisconsin business, under certain circumstances, NOW.
Republican Jobs Agenda Excerpt:I had no idea Republicans wanted to facilitate competition in the health insurance industry. It’s never too late to support the public option.
Health Insurance Flexibility NOW (Vukmir)
Assembly Republicans would allow Wisconsin’s employers to purchase health insurance plans from out-of-state insurers, which would facilitate some competition among all health insurance providers.
Republican Jobs Agenda Excerpt:Halt everything!! Except tax cuts to millionaires and deregulation of course.
Sunset Phone Line Tax, Cap Gains Tax Increase & Combined Reporting
Assembly Republicans would sunset these new taxes and tax increases in 2011.
JG Excerpt:Janesville residential customers would pay less per unit of water as their household water usage decreases, a reverse of the current billing system. This is good news for residents who are looking for ways to not only save water but also save money. All rate hikes being equal, it will reward water conservation and hopefully instill the proper respect our natural resources deserve.
Sept. 11, 2009 -- An agreement between the Janesville Water Utility and an environmental group would fundamentally change how residents are charged for the water they use.
JG Excerpt:The city administration and council couldn’t ignore Clean Wisconsin like they've ignored their own concerned constituents. Why? Because...
Aug. 22, 2009 -- The agreement the council will consider on Monday was created by the water utility after negotiations with Clean Wisconsin. The $75,000 annual budget included in that plan was “more than the city wanted, but significantly less than originally requested (by Clean Wisconsin),” according to a memo to the council from Director of Utilities Dan Lynch.
JG Excerpt:Clean Wisconsin was empowered by the State of Wisconsin and given equal authoritative status with local officials - they had to be accommodated. The bottom line is that Janesville will no longer reward excessive water consumption with volume discounts. This is great news providing someone can't "buy" an exemption.
Aug. 26, 2009 ... Clean Wisconsin is an advocacy group that was awarded intervener status when the city applied for a water rate increase with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. The city will develop a water conservation plan that will include community education, residential rebates and commercial/industrial audits.
JG Editorial Excerpt:And the Gazette editor doesn’t I suppose?
(Title: Janesville’s real story requires better look)
Sept.13, 2009 -- You might have noticed something in those descriptions. If not, I’ll point it out to you. This man’s vision is bad. He sees things as he wants to see them, even if reality is a bit different.
Mother jones Excerpt:How does that seemingly harmless yet poignant comment reflect on the city's recent consideration to add more liquor licenses to the post-GM environment of Janesville? Is there any connection here or is it simply a coincidence? Does that proposition even exist if the Gazette doesn't raise it?
"There ain't no job around here for $21 an hour," the autoworker says. "I might as well drink."
JG Excerpt:Threatened?? to picket. Besides hearing Obama’s speech, that would have served as the ultimate civic lesson to teach the children. The school could have spent the entire day afterwards discussing the merits of community organizing, our constitutional right to assemble, boycotting and picketing. Instead, they taught the children to "go along to get along" when they receive direct or veiled threats from haters and bullies.
Schulte said district officials heard from parents who threatened to do just that. A few other callers threatened to picket, and there were "veiled threats" along the lines of "you'd better not," Schulte said.
JSonline Excerpt:God forbid if a competitor offered a client a better deal or if a watchdog found out a lawmaker sponsored legislation handing a business client a government contract before receiving a $$$ campaign donation. We wouldn't want that.
Rep. Robin Vos (R-Caledonia), who owns a popcorn business and pushed for limited access to client information, said he's concerned about a competitor accessing his customer list online.
Yahoo Excerpt:That could have been Obama's direct reply to Rep. Paul Ryan since he has been among the most aloof and vocal insisting congress scrap the health care bill and start over.
Obama said he remains ready to listen to all ideas but added in a clear reference to Republicans, "I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than to improve it."
Washington Monthly ExcerptThe budget bill written by Paul Ryan did not - but could have had language to defund the U.S. Navy to meet his budget objectives. If it's in the bill it can't be denied it's there. Clearly the eventual "conversion" of what everyone understands as Medicare today was part and parcel to Ryan's arithmetic to accomplish his goal. In fact it could be said, without Ryan's deliberate conversion of Medicare out of existence, his budget as written would fail to reach its' projected goals.
But did Republicans vote to "end," "abolish," and "kill" Medicare? It's provocative, but it's a supportable claim. In April, 137 Republicans voted in support of a GOP alternative budget. It didn't generate a lot of attention, but the plan, drafted by the House Budget Committee's Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called for "replacing the traditional Medicare program with subsidies to help retirees enroll in private health care plans."
Factcheck Excerpt:Oh, well why didn't you say so the first time - hah! Pure semantics here. What exactly is Medicare right now? Paul Ryan insists Medicare is not a single-payer system. He said anyone can get Medicare through Aetna, Blue Cross or any other government approved private insurance providers. It is private insurance subsidized by the government. So why would Ryan and the GOP bother to make the motions to convert Medicare away from something Factcheck falsely claims it is? It's not only a government insurance program - at least according to Ryan.
The GOP alternative budget contained a "policy statement on Medicare" calling for gradual conversion of Medicare from government insurance to government-subsidized and government-approved private insurance.
Excerpt:Against all common sense for the sake of the failed free markets, Doyle played into the extortion game when state and locals offered a very respectable "bribery" package to General Motors at the 11th hour on behalf of Janesville and the State of Wisconsin. We were out-extorted and lost. But it wasn't because Doyle's heart is not in saving jobs. On the other hand, Doyle and the state supposedly played a much lesser role with Mercury Marine and.....won. And despite limited details on reports indicating that state government and Fond du Lac officials "imposed" themselves into the private negotiations carried out between Mercury Marine and the union, I only hope a tax raising "bribery" package was not part of the equation.
People are right to ask why is there such reluctance on the part of our governor to impose himself in the discussion to get a deal so the jobs can remain in Wisconsin? Where was the passion he tried to show at the eleventh hour in Janesville?
NewsPress Excerpt:The only market the folks at the Wisconsin Policy Institute are thinking about is free access into our government's department of revenue to fund their version of private enterprise. You know, they are one of them.
One team member, Rep, Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, said Thursday he will look into repealing state tax credits the state gave Mercury Marine in legislation he helped get passed this spring.
WTOP Excerpt:The states weren't so lucky.
Mercury Marine President Mark Schwabero said in a statement after the vote that the company will begin consolidating work in Fond du Lac this year, including moving work from a nonunion plant in Stillwater, Okla., within two years.
WTOP Excerpt:The folks in Stillwater had no problem playing the extortion game with Mercury Marine all the way until they lost.
The only winner was the company, he said. "They extorted Stillwater," he said. "They extorted Fond du Lac. They extorted us."
FDL Reporter Excerpt:What contract changes?
Members of the union representing approximately 850 manufacturing employees at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac have approved contract changes sought by the company.
Northwestern.com Excerpt:
"It’s a fairly significant financial commitment, but if we’re going to keep jobs here we’re going to have to fund it. My recommendation to do that would be for funding it with a sales tax rather than with the property tax," Buechel said Monday.
"I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today," -- Phoenix-area Pastor Steven Anderson, Faithful Word Baptist ChurchWe can appreciate he's a man of God and not like that liberal racist Rev. Wright character - huh?
In “Me and Mrs. Palin,” Johnston’s first-person account accuses Palin of being a bad mother, of being a bad wife, of not knowing how to shoot a gun, and even -- get this! -- of not even being a real hockey mom! (She only attended 15% of her son's games, says Johnston, who was his teammate.) In short, he accuses Palin of being an all-around phony.
Capital Times Excerpt:Sure, capitalism works… until your life is on the line – then its’ called extortion.
The real answer to the health care crisis, Stossel argues, is to "unleash the free market." Just look at how you can travel overseas and "stick a piece of plastic" into a machine and the right amount of cash comes out, he said in conclusion. "And the government can't even count the votes accurately." The audience howled with laughter and gave him a standing ovation. "Capitalism works!" he said.
Malcontends Excerpt:
After the city and county of Fond du Lac and Wisconsin put together incentives to keep Mercury Marine jobs in Wisconsin, new word comes that Mercury Marine and the (IAM) Local 1947 [now updated] may strike a deal not only retaining manufacturing jobs but actually moving jobs from Stillwater, Oklahoma, to Fond du Lac.
FDLReporter Excerpt:Since they insist the contract remains the same, did state and local officials promise to make up for the difference in the worker’s pay cuts and concessions by subsidizing them (instead of corporate MM) with collections from a new county sales tax? Or, worse yet, were the tax payers put on the hook to line the pockets and parachutes of the corporate fatcats? Is this what they meant by “Through the efforts of state and local officials”….? While MM maintains the contract is identical to the one the union resoundly rejected only a week ago?
Aug.30,2009 -- If Mercury Marine accepts local government's incentive package to keep its headquarters in Fond du Lac, a county sales tax would likely be imposed for the first time to help pay the costs.
JSonline Excerpt:Touche.
"It's sad that we have laws allowing states to try and compete with each other like this," Michalski said. "This is all about jobs and people doing things like making house payments, buying groceries, and just trying to survive."
Racine Post Excerpt:
At one point during his response, Gallaher attempted to break in, and Ryan said, "Don't interrupt, or I'll have to ask you to leave." That garnered a few boos from the crowd.
Ryan Q & A Excerpt:Ryan laughably implies that families receiving the $5,700 tax credit will experience overages...overages!! because after all they only pay about $4,200 in annual premiums. And he doesn’t clarify the fact that if you enroll into his “Patients Choice” plan, you will no longer be subsidized the $8,600 from your employer. He does not acknowledge that the $5,700 tax credit will defund your employer's sponsorship. Ryan knows this will happen of course because this is his primary objective to health care reform. He
2. Why create a tax credit ($5,710) that costs less than the average cost of insurance for a family of four? How are individuals and families supposed to make up the difference?
Ryans answer: As a result of biases in the current tax code, Americans who receive their health benefits from their employer pay roughly one-third of the total health coverage costs, while their employer pays roughly two-thirds. For example, the average family’s annual health insurance plan cost about $13,000 last year, with an employer paying about $8,600, while the employee only paid about $4,200 in annual premiums. Under the Patients’ Choice Act, all Americans would receive a tax credit – over $5,700 for families – which can only be used to pay for health insurance or medical expenses. Individuals and families will be able to use any overages to pay for preventive care, which can be rolled over at the end of the year.
Excerpt:But the congressman not only explains that individuals should have the power to make the decision to drop their employer health insurance, he also offers several reasons why workers should leave the system, disingenuously implying that by keeping it, they are victims of arbitrary tax rules among other things.
4. Doesn't this undermine existing employer-based health care, and push workers into the private market to fight big insurance companies on their own?
Ryan's answer: No.
Excerpt:Tax breaks, remember the $5,700 tax credit? Instead of it going to your employer to help subsidize the $8,600 portion of your insurance, he’ll give the tax credit to you. What happens to the employers premium co-pay? Poof! It disappears. Congressman Ryan of course doesn’t say it like this and consistently avoids the connection.
Ryan's answer: But individual Americans should make that decision – instead of falling victim to arbitrary tax rules or staying in a job only because they can’t afford to lose their health insurance. Tax breaks should go directly to every individual with a health insurance plan.
