Excerpt:
The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. "The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."
Fierce Critic Of Obama Apologizes Now That She Has Cancer
Care2Excerpt:
“If you are fortunate enough to still be employed and have insurance through your employers, you may feel insulated from the sufferings of people like me right now,” Ward wrote. “But things can change abruptly. If you still have a good job with insurance, that doesn’t mean that you’re better than me, more deserving than me or smarter than me. It just means that you are luckier. And access to healthcare shouldn’t depend on luck.”
If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed. -- Mark Twain
Paul Ryan Stuffing Ballots on PolitiFact's Big Lie
Politifact, the quasi-non-partisan opinion editorial outfit masquerading as the all-seeing-eye-wizard-of-Oz, recently listed Democrat's claim that "Paul Ryan wants to end Medicare" among their finalists in it's "Lie of the Year" gimmick, even though the claim is absolutely 100% true. After hearing that Paul Ryan is attempting to stuff PolitiFact's online ballot box, Xoff from Uppity Wisconsin offers, "You'd think he would have better things to do..."
No tricks here - just a simple test to see if you are current on your information, then be ready to shudder when you see how others did!
Remember When Wisconsin Republicans bragged About How they turned the State Red?
Click the above map To find out what that means.
Ryan and Obama like water and oil when it comes to reasons why they entered public office
A couple weeks ago, President Obama Got Mic Checked. The crowd quickly drowned the protesters out with chants of “Obama,” but a few minutes later, Obama said “families like yours, young people like the ones here today — including the ones who were just chanting at me — you’re the reason that I ran for office in the first place.” Watch it:
Compare Obama's reason to our Congressman Paul Ryan who claimed Ayn Rand is the reason why he entered politics and came to Washington.
Ten Reasons The Occupy Movement Changes Everything
"Before the Occupy Wall Street movement, there was little discussion of the outsized power of Wall Street and the diminishing fortunes of the middle class... Occupy Wall Street changed that. In fact, it may represent the best hope in years that 'we the people' will step up to take on the critical challenges of our time. Here’s how the Occupy movement is already changing everything."
Ten Top Stories Of People Moving Their Money Out of Big Banks
Banks are shrugging off the 700,000 accounts they've lost the last six weeks and claim they don't want your business. That's right. 700,000 accounts is nothing to them. That's why we should aim to close out 2 million.
Sure. Why not start by ending all tax credits and subsidies to Big Oil? Then move on to all subsidies and tax credits for Big Corpse. Why not start taxing hedge funds and other exotic investment schemes on Wall Street? But nooooo. As George Carlin once said, "they're coming after our Social Security ...and they'll get it."
Will Eric Cantor or Paul Ryan demand Americans give up their Medicare and Social Security to offset disaster relief? Why not just come out and say it fellas, we know that's what you want.
The GOP's Murder Gun Raffle
Think ProgressExcerpt:
In Same District Where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Was Shot, GOP Auctioning Off A Glock .45 At Fundraiser
The GOP Must Be Saving the Raffle for the Ruger Mini-14, the weapon conservative hero Anders Breivik used to murder 69 children on an island retreat in Norway, for their big push fundraiser for 2012.
Are Republicans Taunting American Workers by participating In the Labor Day Celebration?
It's very possible. Remember when Tea Party activists spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and hurled epithets at Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) while walking to the Capitol to debate the health care reform bill? Some conservative pundits implied that the congressmen taunted the protesters by their mere presence because they could have avoided the situation by taking a different route. Not so with Wisconsin Republicans. After ramming through legislation designed to strip collective bargaining rights away and defund labor organizations, local Republicans seem proud to march with the victims of their legislative assaults. Are they hoping for something bad to happen? It's very possible.
Can Bachmann go far enough off the cliff to make Perry look sane?
Many Are Carrying Water For Paul Ryan and His Randian Proposal
Crooks and liarsExcerpt: (story & video)
Apparently toeing the line for Paul Ryan's budget proposal which contains massive cuts to transportation and infrastructure spending. Ryan's name was never used and his proposal was never mentioned here, but that doesn't matter much, because what they were doing is advocating for everything that's in it.
This is something we really have to start watching for. Some House Representatives, Senators and talking heads are parroting various provisions from Ryan's Kill Medicare Budget proposal without ever mentioning his name or referring to the proposal. It's sort of a way to test public reaction to it when a different salesman presents it. But in order to catch them in the act, you have to be fairly knowledgable about his dastardly proposal. For instance in Wisconsin, Sean Duffy and Ron Johnson parrot excerpts from Ryan's proposal almost exclusively while never mentioning Ryan or his proposal. Eric Cantor and Marco Rubio too. The list of folks on the right doing this is fairly large. Also, watch sneaky Democrats like Kent Conrad. They need to be called on it when they do it. You know, "Hey, isn't that in Paul Ryan's class war budget proposal? Why do you want to kill Medicare and give larger tax cuts to corporations and the super-wealthy?"
Your Honor, we are here today during the course of our bankruptcy proceedings, that despite declining performance, to ask for authority to pay management executives bonuses.
Video: Ed Shultz Calls Out Coward Rubio For Ryanesque Speech
From One Wisconsin Now:
Make no mistake, and we said it to the media: the Sauk County District Attorney’s decision that there was not a crime committed by Justice David Prosser prosecutable in a court of law in no way make Prosser’s physical conduct against a fellow Justice acceptable.
The same day after letting 90-year-old Nancy Reagan slip from his arm and almost crash to the floor, Tea Party Sen. Marco Rubio delivers a Ryanesque "hammock" speech about how Social Security weakened us and made us lazy. Wildly dumbfounded and amateurish, Rubio describes a time when "if someone was sick in your family, you took care of them. If a neighbor met misfortune, you took care of them. You saved for your retirement and your future because you had to."
This must be why Marco Rubio voted for Paul Ryan's kill Medicare bill because Ryan's proposal will force our children, grandchildren and neighbors to take care of us in our old age and they'll have plenty of excess cash left over to save for their own golden years. Oh, it'll be a glorious life!
Watch it:
Think ProgressExcerpt:
Indeed, prior to Medicare’s enactment in 1965, “about one-half of America’s seniors did not have hospital insurance,” “more than one in four elderly were estimated to go without medical care due to cost concerns,” and one in three seniors were living in poverty. Today, nearly all seniors have access to affordable health care and only about 14 percent of seniors are below the poverty line.
If you are not a member of the Fortune 500 family and are under the age of 55, your life is in danger
If Rep. Paul Ryan doesn't wind up completely pulling the rug out from under your senior years, this group certainly will.
Think ProgressExcerpt:
ThinkProgress previously reported on the network of front groups advancing the “Health Care Compact,” a massive deregulation idea to turn over federal money used for health reform, Medicare, Medicaid, and other health programs to state governments along with the power to use that money however they see fit, even if it has nothing to do with actual health care. The idea, hatched earlier this year by a political operative named Eric O’Keefe, is designed to dismantle major safety net programs and energize Tea Party activists into the 2012 elections.
Republican: Young People Aren't Worth Minimum Wage
"It's very discriminatory, particularly for young people. They're not worth the minimum" -- State Rep. Carol McGuire (R-NH)
Republicans Yearning For Pre-20th Century Era
Horse and buggy, guns and chickens for check-ups.
In the same vein of Marco Rubio's recent babbling, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn is also yearning for Ryan's regressive future. A future where the sick and elderly can bargain for care with baked goods and chickens for check-ups. Like they used to in the old days. Again, this must be why they all (GOP) voted for Ryan's "Path," a path that's little more than a legislated time-warp wormhole back into the 19th Century.
Multi-Millionaire: The Middle-Class Should Be Furious At The Rich
Another multi-millionaire says the rich should be paying more taxes. Registered Republican and co-founder of H&R Block, Henry Bloch knows his opinion is not popular with many in his party.
Like Warren Buffet, Bloch believes current tax code gives too many breaks to the rich. He also has strong opinions about how much these tax breaks really contribute to job creation.
"That's so baloney," Bloch said. "Rich people don't create jobs. Companies create jobs."
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages.
The $1.2 trillion peak on Dec. 5, 2008 -- the combined outstanding balance under the seven programs tallied by Bloomberg -- was almost three times the size of the U.S. federal budget deficit that year and more than the total earnings of all federally insured banks in the U.S. for the decade through 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
First of all, repeat after me Jack -- there is no tea party. The so-called "tea party" is nothing more than the far right-wing of the Republican Party that's been with us for ages now, with big monied corporate interests along with your sorry excuse for a "news" channel along with Fox promoting them. – Heather , Crooks & Liars
Pro-Ryan letter writer says future generations would be hurt under his plan.
"Ryan has proposed a fix to the Medicare program so future generations will be able to participate in it and no one older than 55 would be hurt." -- K.P., Franksville (Janesville Gazette)
"Man must be at the center of the economy, and the economy cannot be measured only by maximization of profit but rather according to the common good."
Click here to stand with Warren Buffett and demand the tax cuts on the rich be rolled back.
Jon Stewart On Warren Buffett
For those who have been too busy hating to notice
For those who insist that Obama did not produce a budget, click here.
Here's another great big lie - that Paul Ryan has the only plan out there. The Progressive Congressional Caucus developed a gutsy budget proposal that balances the budget through a blend of higher taxes and cuts to discretionary spending and defense. Click here for more.
Koch Brothers Exposed
The goal is wealth transfer -- from the public sector to the private sector through privatization of the school systems. But first you must systematically tear down the system, defund and legitimatize it, blame the parents, the teachers, the unions -- and then you have opened the door for "the solution," which is to bring in the corporations to run things using a "business model." It is all about greed and nothing about education. And it appears to be working.
Despite vicious attacks and misinformation campaigns against unions, they're still trusted more than mainstream media, Congress and Wall Street.
CepedaExcerpt:
A February 2010 Harris poll found that the public had about as little confidence in organized labor as they did in the mainstream media and big business -- only a few points above Wall Street and Congress.
Anders Breivik Holds “Savior” Mentality Common In Mainstream American Conservatives
Breivik's lawyer has said he has confessed to the terror attacks, but denies criminal guilt because he believes the massacre was necessary to save Norway and Europe from Muslims and punish politicians who have embraced multiculturalism.
Where should I begin? Just to keep this in the modern era, I'd say with heavy military action imminent immediately following 9/11, the Bush administration should have raised taxes to at least pay for the war effort. They did not. Instead, they went in the opposite direction and cut taxes.
In the beginning, Bush himself thought a tax cut for the wealthy was out of order but went along with it after being convinced that deficits don't matter. They took a CBO projected $6 trillion surplus and turned it into a $6 trillion deficit. It took a $12 trillion spending spree to accomplish that reversal! But at that time, Rep. Paul Ryan felt that in order to cut down on the projected surplus, the Bush tax cuts must be made even deeper. Remember too that Ryan strongly believes in voodoo economics. That tax cuts generate more revenue but somewhere along the Laffer Curve he felt if the Bush tax cuts were made even deeper than suggested, the surplus projected would be less large. Ryan's main fear was that if the too large surplus was not eliminated, the government would pay off the entire national debt and start buying up private industry. Really, this is not a joke.
Keep in mind Ryan is now the House Budget Chairman.
Ralph Reed’s Group Goes after “Union Thugs” in Wisconsin
[...] join the fight with 100 plus FFC activists who will be going door-to-door encouraging the Badger State to vote for candidates who share our values of lower taxes, less government, faith, and who will stand up to union thugs who support Obama’s tax and spend solutions. We need your financial support to make our Wisconsin get-out-the-vote program work.
Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers-backed group that backed the election of Scott Walker and his anti-union agenda, co-founded the political consulting firm Century Strategies with Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed.
Amazing how all of these organizations sprout from one cancerous tumor.
GOP Representative Refers to Obama as Tar Baby
Think ProgressExcerpt:
Appearing on the Caplis and Silverman radio show last Friday, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) said, “Now I don’t even want to have to be associated with [Obama], it’s like touching a tar baby and you’re stuck, you’re part of the problem now. You can’t get away.”
Americans For Prosperity: Running the elections like they'd run a Business - Fraudulently
The GOP's Koch machine was caught sending absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork days after the election is over.
The fliers, obtained by POLITICO, ask solidly Democratic voters to return ballots for the Aug. 9 election to the city clerk "before Aug. 11."
Are we this far under siege? According to a report by the LaCrosse Tribune, a fire in downtown LaCrosse destroyed downtown buildings Saturday, claiming six apartments, a warehouse and the local headquarters of a political organizing group just 10 days before an election.
LaCrosse TribuneExcerpt:
The La Crosse headquarters for We Are Wisconsin, a left-leaning political action committee, was a total loss, said group spokesman Kelly Steele.
Thank goodness that no one was seriously injured, but several firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion.
An investigation for the cause of the fire is under way.
Smart ALEC: How Corporations Are Writing State Laws
Atlas Shrugged Conservative Pam Geller Devalues Victims of Breivik’s Terror On Skin Color
Think ProgressExcerpt:
To get her point across, Geller posts a picture of the youth camp children Breivik targeted. The picture was taken on the Utøya island camp about 24 hours before Breivik killed over 30 children, so it is likely Geller is mocking many of the victims. Under the picture, Geller writes: “Note the faces which are more MIddle [sic] Eastern or mixed than pure Norwegian.”
Think Progress noted that Geller deleted the inflammatory race mixing line from her post. However a screenshot was saved here.
The Conservatives' ALEC Philosophy: Everything Related to Government Should Be Demonized, Starved or Privatized
Alternet - Excerpt:
"Any force in civil society that contests the right of business to grab all social surplus, and to treat people like roadkill and the earth like a sewer, should be crushed."
On Wednesday night the Wisconsin State Assembly voted to approve legislative and congressional redistricting maps that Representative Fred Kessler called, “the most vicious abuse of partisan power that I have ever seen in the Wisconsin Legislature, and I’ve been here since 1961.”
Comment at JS Online
tomkrag -- "Republicans have cleverly, cynically packed Democratic voters, who are more than 50% of Wisconsin voters into 40% of the Assembly districts.
Is there anything Wisconsin Republicans Push Without using Dirty Tricks?
But does he understand that there is no compromising when the other guy going the wrong way down a one-way street refuses to yield?
From the Business Insider - IT'S OFFICIAL: The Whole World Thinks Republicans Are Dangerous Maniacs Threatening Everyone
Rube Murdoch Explains Why He Is Ultimately Responsible For The People He Trusted
Think Progress - Excerpt:
“I do not accept ultimate responsibility. I hold responsible the people that I trusted to run it and the people they trusted,” Murdoch said.
The American Way
1. Tariffs to protect U.S. Industries
2. A National Bank To regulate Commerce
3. Government spending on U.S. Infrastructure
Watch video to find out who dismantled the American Way and sent our economy into a death spiral.
No comment necessary.
Saw an anti-liberalism book ad very similar to this somewhere in the internets and I thought; why not have the top anti-liberal world-renowned conservative plug the book? It only makes sense.
Fox6 Now.comExcerpt:
In Racine, teachers and union members greeted Governor Scott Walker with protest chants at a Gateway Technical College's Centennial event where he was speaking. More than half of the estimated 500 people at the event were wearing anti-Walker and pro-union clothing.
Title, "20% Drop in Housing to Cause Recession in 2012"
Excerpt:
The problem with the real estate market remains excess inventory. Based on Shilling's research, there are 2 million to 2.5 million excess homes in the country -- a supply that will take 4-5 years to work-off. The result: Housing prices will fall another 20% and underwater mortgages will balloon from 23% to 40%, he says.
With housing slumping again, Shilling says recession is coming to a town near you in 2012.
We know that home construction has been at a near standstill since the crash of 2008. So where did this new load of excess homes come from after two years of record foreclosures? They were always there. There was no excess of homes when workers were collecting a middle-class home-buying paycheck. In this case, when they say "excessive home inventory" - they really mean an insufficient inventory of employed home buyers.
Title, "U.S. companies sitting on a record $1.9 trillion in cash, and shareholders want their share"
Excerpt:
“We’ve been in bunker mentality for too long,” says Eric Jackson, who runs the hedge fund Ironfire Capital. He predicts that activist shareholders are about to become “a lot noisier.”
The loudest investors are finally being heard. Companies are letting go of some cash:
•Since the start of this year, 116 companies in the S&P 500 have raised their dividend, up from 78 a year ago. Overall, S&P 500 companies have paid out $16.6 billion more this year in dividends than last year.
Sure. After the capital/credit markets were bailed out with taxpayer dollars, why should they use their own cash to expand and create jobs when they have our government-doesn't-create-jobs deficit-spent tax treasuries to use as their jobs-for-ransom slush funds?
Republicans Would Crash U.S. Economy To Win Re-Election
From MoveOn: Republicans are threatening to plunge our economy into default and financial crisis. And all to protect tax breaks for the rich, while hurting American seniors and the middle class with huge cuts. Watch what Big Mike has to say about the Republican insanity. Video features image of the worst congressman at the beginning. Then share it with everyone you know:
Bill Maher: Republicans Killing Middle-class and We keep letting them get away with Murder
It's no secret that Bill Maher isn't a fan of fascist Republican policies. In the video below, he took aim at the party's economic thinking, and to illustrate what he saw as the absurdity of it, drew a parallel many might find more than a bit absurd themselves: he compared it to the Casey Anthony trial.
This one is right out of the Scott Walker, Scott Fitzgerald, Paul Ryan, Ron Johnson, Mitch McConnell, Grover Norquist playbook. Their plan in a nutshell: America must rewrite the Constitution to force conservative outcomes because we the people consistently elect lawmakers who disagree with them.
Care 2Excerpt:
Thanks to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) prison chain gangs are no longer a thing of the past. After successfully ramming through legislation that dismantles almost all collective bargaining rights for civil servants, Walker has now turned to prisoners to fill jobs that used to be held by unionized workers.
This really begs the question: Is this the beginning of state-run labor?
Finally, if you have the time (13 minutes), watch this interesting video about the movement Anonymous. It's about the group's (sprung from WikiLeaks) ideas to fight against corporate power.
TranscriptExcerpt:
"They [the Soviet Polish government] have made it clear that they never had any intention of restoring one of the most elemental human rights—the right to belong to a free trade union." -- President Ronald Reagan, Oct. 9, 1982
In his 1982 statement, Reagan even discussed how the Solidarity Union sought God-given rights.
First They Went After Unemployment Benefits - Now They're Going After The Benefits of the Employed
Bloomberg NewsExcerpt:
House Republicans’ $61 billion budget-cutting plan would cost 700,000 jobs, according to a report likely to inflame the debate over the U.S. government deficit.
Question: If layoffs happen and more people go on unemployment, where is that money going to come from?
Headline JS Online, "Walker's budget address to outline sharp cuts"
Right-Wing Goons Arrive To Carpet Bomb Wisconsin's Middle-Class
Uppity WisconsinExcerpt:
If there were any doubt that Gov. Scott Walker is losing support in his union-busting campaign, plans for two new television campaigns in support of Walker were announced today. There's one reason for this carpet-bombing campaign from the air. Walker is in trouble. The right-wing nationally has a lot at stake and needs to win this fight in Wisconsin.
Who Can't Be Trusted?
Political CorrectionExcerpt
So the would-be union buster threw out a new line of talking points on Meet the Press. Walker claimed that he's right to reject union concessions on pensions and benefits — the parts of his proposal that actually save the state money, unlike the assault on collective bargaining — because the unions can't be trusted.
Media Can't Even Cover Their Own Fabrications
DemocurmudgeonExcerpt:
Two things: The WKOW TV anchor first said, "Some projected the capitol clearing would lead to chaos and arrests, THAT didn't happen...." then a few breaths later, "Meanwhile Republican legislators are responding to the chaos downtown...."
Time For a Do Over!
Public Policy PollingExcerpt:
We'll have our full poll on the Wisconsin conflict out tomorrow but here's the most interesting finding: if voters in the state could do it over today they'd support defeated Democratic nominee Tom Barrett over Scott Walker by a a 52-45 margin.
Comment from the internets:
"A public union employee, a tea party activist, and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it. The CEO takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, 'Watch out for that union guy. He wants a piece of your cookie."
Anyone else notice the coincidence of UStream's live video streaming inside the Capitol going off-air while Fox News Channel remained on-air?
Tom Barrett Speaks - Man, Does He Sound Good
Scott Walker -- "Tim Cullen, he's not one of us....He's a pragmatist."
Corruption has nothing on the Culture Of Conservatism
In this video, conservative pundits and cable news hosts refer to a city with a crime rate ten times that of Chicago as "awesome," warn of gangster politics that'll make Al Capone so happy if the Olympics comes to Chicago, and insult American women as "fat people eating." Dennis Miller tries to channel his own racism onto the IOC. Michelle Malkin said the push for the Olympics is a "great way to white wash all of Chicago's ills." Lou Dobbs says, "Michelle Obama talking smack with the first lady of Brazil." The last time I heard such insulting anti-American rhetoric and cheering on for an American loss was from an enemy crashing airplanes into our buildings. And then these America haters wonder out loud about whether President Obama is pro-American? Video: Glenn Beck Laughing All The Way To The Bank More America Haters Trying To Cover Their Tracks
Besides Newsmax who recently deleted an article laying out plans for a military coup against the President, Weekly Standard deletes reference to "cheers" in their offices after Chicago lost bid for Olympics. Americans For ProsperityDuplicity Cheer for Olympic Loss
Stand Up With Rep. Alan Grayson
The more I read about this guy – the more I like. In this Huff posting, Grayson kept a cool head while Fox stooge Neil Cavuto became unhinged defending huge executive bonuses for performance failure. Grayson, "You should not get rich off public money, and you should not get rich off of abject failure." He argued in an op-ed on the Huffington Post that Congress must put an end to "theft" on Wall Street, "which is apparently the only place in the world where you can steal from the taxpayers and then bill them for services rendered."
Rep. Alan Grayson on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "I wish they would take their talent and practice their talent in Russia or China and bankrupt them instead of us."
Let Rep. Alan Grayson know you support him for having the backbone to stand up against the GOP machine. You can "heart" Rep. Grayson on Facebook here.According to professional hypocrite and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner - Losing in a Crooked Election Should Condemn a person for life.
Perhaps the most upsetting to Republicans about Louie Butler is he will now be in a position where the GOP's local anti-Wisconsin group, the WMC, will be unable to smear him off the bench.Illegal Immigrants Then: Good People Just Coming Here To Work. Illegal Immigrants Now: Don't Deserve Health Care.
Washington TimesExcerpt: Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, said proposals that include government coverage for illegal immigrants leave him incredulous.
"If anybody can, with a straight face, advocate that we should provide health insurance for people who broke into our country, broke our law and for the most part are criminals, I don't know where they ever would draw the line," he said.
How about drawing the line on every American business that allows an illegal immigrant to break into a job?Tommy Thompson Defines Emergency Rooms As Universal Health Care
Seattle TimesExcerpt: March 03, 2004 -- Congressional Democrats have criticized the administration for helping Iraq to establish universal health care without doing the same for U.S. citizens.
"Even if you don't have health insurance," said Thompson, who toured medical facilities in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Tikrit on Saturday and Sunday, "you are still taken care of in America. That certainly could be defined as universal coverage.
Psycho-Babble Bachmann “This [health care reform] cannot pass…What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass… -- Rep. Michelle BachmannWhat does Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Sam Brownback have in common? According to Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas, one of them could be the Republicans great white hope. We'll raise our taxes to keep private sector jobs
Northwestern.comExcerpt: "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 Church
Beck is an exercise in crazy. People watch him because they want to see how nuts someone can be and still avoid the looney bin...until we met Pastor Steven Anderson. Bob Dole On Health Care: “We shouldn’t be debating some congressman’s bill." Bill Moyers, whose comments focused on the recent health care debate, said that too many Democrats have had their spines surgically removed.Sarah Palin: Lame Duck Mom and Wife
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.
Texas Secessionists: We Hate the United States!
Stossel: ATM's Are Proof Capitalism Works
Capital TimesExcerpt: 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.
Sure, capitalism works… until your life is on the line – then its’ called extortion.What is Obamacare? Here’s an article wrongly titled Obamacare could cost you $4,000 a year. After demonstrating that health care reform without the public option would cost American’s about $4,000 more, the writer continues to call the optionless plan "Obamacare." Any health care reform plan without a public option is really “InsuroCorp Care,” or "GOPcare," otherwise known as "Patients Choice."
The private sector is not the solution to our problems, the private sector is the problem.
Tomah JournalPerspective: It was the private sector, not the government, that got the bright idea to insure bundled mortgages.
It’s a private-sector bureaucrat, not a government bureaucrat, who’s more likely to stand between a patient and the health care he or she needs.
It’s the private sector, not the government, that can change your credit card interest rate on a whim.
It’s the private sector, not the government, that outsources call centers to India.
It’s a private-sector executive, not a government bureaucrat, who can leverage an eight-figure golden parachute for running a failed enterprise.
It’s a private-sector executive, not a government bureaucrat, who’s more likely to spend $1.2 million renovating an office.
It’s not often we hear a newspaper editorial writer tell it like it is. Did Man Create God?
Chicago TribuneExcerpt: "In the Beginning, Man Created God." This provocative twist on the Bible’s opening line was plastered on the side of 25 Chicago buses this week as part of an advertising crusade by the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign. "The intent of the campaign is to stimulate discussion of religion and its place in our society," said Charlie Sitzes, a spokesman for the Indiana group who with help from the American Humanist Association has collected more than $10,000 in private donations to buy the ad space in Indiana and Illinois.
More Newspapers Losing Public Notice Income
USA TodayExcerpt: RALEIGH, N.C. — The tough economy means the growing suburb of Apex can't replace some computers and police vehicles. So the town's mayor is pleased to save $13,000 by posting public notices of rezoning requests and major land development plans on the town's website, rather than in the local newspaper.
It's Pelosi, She's The One That Lied
GuardianExcerpt (Oct. 11, 2007) Former US president Jimmy Carter last night told CNN the US tortured prisoners in violation of international law, following an assertion last week from George Bush that the US "does not torture". The 2002 winner of the Nobel peace prize accused Mr Bush of making up his own definition of torture and the hawkish vice president, Dick Cheney, of being a “a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military."
Still relevant in May, 2009.GOP, Cheney Should Be Tried At The Hague
JGExcerpt: On April 21, addressing congressional proposals for a bipartisan commission to study the interrogations, the president said: "I do worry about this getting so politicized that we cannot function effectively and it hampers our ability to carry out critical national security operations."
The AP writer somehow twisted that…into this.
JGExcerpt: Barack Obama warned Democrats in Congress against making a partisan cause out of the Bush administration's harsh interrogation tactics.
No doubt about it, it is the Republicans who are politicizing the interrogations committee and dragging Nancy Pelosi down with them. At the same time, my friends on the Left refuse to make any concessions to wrong-headed politicians, Democrats included. I can’t blame them.Wal-Mart Epitomizes WMC Business Model
Wal-MartExcerpt: “We’re not just changing how we do things, we’re changing our entire culture to embrace sustainability, ranging from education of our employees, offering more sustainable products, and reducing the environmental impact of our operations,” Nelson said.
And what about paying wages and benefits good enough to sustain a family and a mortgage? Oh - off topic, sorry.Fox Bigots Calls Russ Feingold A "Jew"
The New Anti-Union Global Economy
Last week's Time Magazine cover story was titled The Future of Work. It begins “Throw away the briefcase: you’re not going to the office. You can kiss your benefits goodbye too. And your new boss won't look much like your old one. There's no longer a ladder, and you may never get to retire, but there's a world of opportunity if you figure out a new path."
GM CEO Rick Wagoner is not overly optimistic about the future of the factory in Janesville.
Question: When will they build affordable cars everybody wants? And where? Obama should make sure that American companies receiving a taxpayer bailout who survive the Bush economy understand they were rescued to provide jobs for American labor – not for foreign labor.
But we know what will happen. The GOP will cry Socialism, they’ll say Democrats are beholden to union labor and instead should let the free markets dictate where to build cars. The Big 3 will then open new factories outside the US and the GOP will spin around and say Obama and the Democrats let them do it with weak provisions inserted into the bailout agreement. It never fails. Solution: Stop listening to Republicans.Elite liberal media gives Conservative President George W. Bush a seven-year ten-month free pass, Liberal Democrat Obama Gets Two months.Phony outrage from GOPers
Republicans are taking every opportunity to put the blame in the AIG bonus controversy on Democrats and the White House, saying Democrats, "went out of their way to protect those bonuses." However, in 2007, those same Republicans were very much against meddling in executive pay when Democrats pushed a bill that was called the Shareholder Vote on Executive Compensation Act.
That bill would have given shareholders in public companies the right to a nonbinding vote on executive compensation. The U.S. taxpayer now has an 80% stake in AIG. At the time, the Bush White House threatened to veto the bill as unnecessary. Ryan, Sennenbrenner and Petri voted against it. It never received a vote in the Senate.
Obama too, also caved in to advice from Republicans and Wall Street insiders like Tim Geithner about the executive pay bonuses. They said companies couldn't retain top "talent" without it and government dictating wages is socialism. He knew the bonuses were part of the deal. Time to 'fess up and stop taking advice from Republicans.
Obviously there is a huge problem with Wall Street and the employee bonus contracts. If you have a team of .400 hitters blasting 50 homers each, you shouldn't need to be bailed out. And if you have a starting line-up of .150 hitters on a bankrupt team, they shouldn't be getting bonuses.Quote Of The Week "The key word here is activist (trouble maker). Also known as hypocrite.” – Activist blog poster (over 800 comments) at the Gazette WebpagePrimed and Tuned GOP Sen. Charles Grassley(R) thinks top earners of the GOP base should resign or kill themselves.Vote 'YES' or commit suicide
Excerpt: Farmers continue to work harder than ever. Each American farmer feeds 144 people. Agriculture is needed to help sustain our local and national economy.
Excerpt: No matter how many times it’s been debunked, the Fox hosts keep repeating the falsehood that workers will no longer have access to a secret ballot under EFCA. The legislation does not eliminate the secret ballot. The bill would simply allow workers to choose whether to have a majority sign-up or a normal election process. And as American Rights At Work points out, a secret ballot is no guarantee to a fair election. Under current rules, union organizers do not have equal access to voters, the right to free speech, funding and resources equal to employers, or the ability to bring about elections in a timely manner.
Illinois Wasting No Time Vindicating Blago’s Delusions
While it's still fresh in memory. How many times have you heard Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois claim the only reason the Illinois Senate impeached him was because he was blocking tax hikes.
NewsvineExcerpt: (January 23) Blagojevich told a Chicago radio station today that he's being impeached not over his recent corruption indictment, but because legislators want to stop him from blocking tax increases.
With Blago out of the way, the Illinois Senate can’t hike the taxes fast enough.
Tax Hikes on the TableExcerpt: (February 4) The top two leaders of the Illinois House and Senate began paving the way Tuesday for increasing the state's gasoline tax to fund billions of dollars in highway and mass-transit projects.
Kathleen Parker Says Obama Is Just Like Bush...No Wait She begins......
Wichita EagleExcerpt: And the new president is sounding an awful lot like the old one. Let's roll the tape:
Then she says he needs to be more like Bush..........
Wichita EagleExcerpt: If Obama wants to rumble, he's got an eager foe in Limbaugh. But if he really wants to win, he might take a page from his predecessor's playbook: Never dignify your enemies with recognition.
Where has Parker been for the last two years? During his campaign, Obama pushed back at his detractors nearly every time when they spread falsehoods about his person or policies. During that time he even started a web site to confront the smears and refused to let the lies take root. And as president, it doesn’t look like he’s willing to give the upper hand to a lying liar like Limbaugh either. The reasons why Bush never answered back to criticism is because they were the truth. Most people understand that when the truth is answered by silence, the silence becomes the lie.
The Obama nothing like Bush clincher: Obama,"I screwed up."
The whole world is rioting - why aren't we?
AlterNetExcerpt: For the most part, those living in wealthier countries took little notice. But now, with the global economy crashing down around us, people in even the wealthiest nations are mad as hell and reacting violently to what they view as an inadequate response to their tumbling economies.
MoneyExcerpt: We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer," an enraged McCaskill said on the floor of the Senate. "They don't get it. These people are idiots. You can't use taxpayer money to pay out $18 billion in bonuses."
That's funny. Some folks in Janesville think public service professionals earn more than private service professionals. Looks like a huge raise is in order for public school teachers.
ReutersExcerpt: Obama told reporters he was outraged by a report of $18.4 billion paid out in Wall Street bonuses, as taxpayer money was being used to shore up the crumbling financial system. "That is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful," Obama said while hosting a meeting in the Oval Office with Treasury Secretary Timothy (mistake) Geithner and Vice President Joe Biden.
Wall Street thieves shot back at Obama and the Senator, saying they don’t understand that some firms have salesmen making over $1 million in commissions and bonuses. Great, but if you have salesmen earning over $1 million in bonuses, why exactly do you need taxpayer money?Janesville Emptying, U-Haul Rentals Up
WKOWExcerpt: U-haul is increasingly helping more people move out of than into town. In 2007, 7.6 percent more people moved out of Janesville than moved in. In 2008, the difference had grown to 14.3 percent. The GM plant shutting down has been a major factor in this trend.
Candidate's Criminal Record An Advantage
Speaking of Channel 27 News out of Madison, the Wednesday evening broadcast contained a short passage explaining that several candidates seeking various public offices in Rock County have a criminal record. The station though only targeted the history of one candidate running out of Evansville and then proceeded to spin the adverse publicity against him by claiming a candidate's criminal record can be an asset. A page stolen right out of the Janesville Gazette's style playbook. (Sorry, no link to the story)
Excerpt: LOCUST GROVE, Va. — Wal-Mart wants to build a Supercenter within a cannonshot of where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first fought, a proposal that has preservationists rallying to protect the key Civil War site.
AT & T's First Act With Video Competition?Hike Prices.
Before the Wisconsin legislature was paid off to approve the Video Competition Act, TV4US claimed consumers should see a reduction in prices ranging anywhere from 15% to as much as 40% for video services. What they really meant to say was the extra competition will bring higher prices, but the higher prices will prove the competition is undoubtedly "holding prices lower than they otherwise would be." Motorists' habits spur call for tax increases, OR Why consumer-based income-blind taxes are wrong.
Excerpt: WASHINGTON — Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren't raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs.
Excerpt: Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. retailers face a wave of store closings, bankruptcies and takeovers starting next month as holiday sales are shaping up to be the worst in 40 years.
Excerpt: "There's going to be a massive sea change in the retail landscape," said Nina Kampler, executive vice president with Hilco Real Estate, which advises retailers on their property management.
Less junk from China to buy and stack up in the garage. Less junk means fewer purchases - fewer purchases means less sales tax collected. Less sales tax collected means....... DOH! Here we go again.Grocery Assistance Up 22% State Wide
Considering grocery prices seemed to go up 30% over the past year, the 22% climb almost looks like a cut.
Excerpt: Speaking at the White House, he also said he didn't want to "leave the next president to confront the demise of a major American industry in his first days of office."
Bush certainly doesn’t want to wreck his eight years of fine presidential workmanship and pristine legacy with something like the American auto industry teetering on the brink of failure by the hands of his wild west deregulation of a phony capital system. Shoe Toss Game
Will Property Assessors Anticipate Falling Values?
More Home Owners appeal property assessment: Nationwide, home values are falling because of deeply discounted foreclosures, harder-to-get mortgages, and an economy in shambles. Faced with property tax bills that still reflect heady prices of the boom years, more homeowners are learning about the appeals process. The obscure and once rare process of appealing property taxes usually involves no fees and no need to hire an attorney or an appraiser.
Property tax assessors may have to throw out all of the real estate sales history from the past eight years and only keep new sales records beginning around June of 2008. Any sales history before that was part of the housing bubble and simply no longer valid – we are dealing with a whole new reality.
For the first time in recent memory, the anticipatory outlook calls for a depreciating housing market and prices declining for as long as the next 6 to 10 years. If you bought a house anytime between 2000 and 2006, chances are extremely high your house is worth less now than what you paid for it, and probably overpaid by at least 15% and as high as 30%. With that said, if you are lucky enough to afford the loan and bought a house after June of this year, you probably paid market value for it. But by the time you read this, you might have lost 5%.
Things are changing rapidly on the local and national level with no bottom yet in sight. Contrary to what some local realtors have said and despite an inflation inducing monetary policy by the Fed - sellers of Janesville area housing appear to be extremely motivated.Sean Hannity – Misinformer Of the Year
Media Matters: Along the way, he uncritically adopted and promoted countless Republican talking points and played host to numerous credibility-challenged smear artists who painted Obama as a dangerous radical. When he was not going after Obama, Hannity attacked members of Obama's family, as well as Sen. Hillary Clinton and other progressives, and denied all the while that he had unfairly attacked anyone.
Rezone My Property Or I’ll Sue: LAKE GENEVA — Illinois developer Robert Hummel has filed a notice of injury accusing Lake Geneva of "singling out" the developer by placing a "unique moratorium" on development of the 718 acres he owns on the city's south side.
That’s a new one. The "unique moratorium" in this case is "democracy." As far as I'm concerned, all annexations and rezoning of anything greater than one acre should be a referendum. Mark Mortgages To Market
Chicago TribuneExcerpt: The goal of lower borrowing costs is to entice people and businesses to spend more, which would revive the economy. So far, though, the Fed's aggressive rate reductions have failed to turn the economy around.
The Fed, still trying to tempt people to buy homes they can't afford at any interest rate. Great economic policy. Homeowners are defaulting on their mortgages regardless of interest rates simply because the mortgage note is worth 20-50% more than what the housing market says its worth. Wall Street defaulted on the mortgage bundles for the same reason. When homeowners default, they bought beyond their means and deserve the consequences - but when Wall Street defaults, they get their butt kissed with a $750 billion bail-out and demands from certain Congressmen to modify the value of the toxic mortgage securities with a "mark-to-market" write-down.
And it doesn't help that buyers are wary that the job or pension they've worked their lives for will be legislated away from them by Congressional Republicans.Paul Ryan A Freemason?
A graphic posted in the Wisconsin State Journal depicts Obey as 'The Money Man', Feingold as a sheriff and Rep. Paul Ryan as an architect?? wearing a square and compass symbol on his shirt medallion. Strange if not confusing. Why So Upset About Madoff?
Did Madoff Act alone?Excerpt: Madoff was subjected to electronic monitoring and a nighttime curfew earlier this week as angry investors who lost billions seek information about what happened to money they thought was safely invested with someone who was widely respected on Wall Street for nearly half a century.
Madoff did to investors what Republicans want the Big 3 to do to their assembly line workers. Screw them out of their wages, pension and negotiated benefits………legally.
Using Fuel Efficient/Environmental Program Money For Auto Bail-out Will Hurt Janesville GM Chances To Re-Open
JS onlineExcerpt: Local and state officials had said Janesville would have been particularly suited to the $25 billion in Energy Department retooling funding, because a key factor in getting funding was the improved mileage of the vehicles that would be made at a factory. Virtually any kind of car would get much better fuel economy than the Chevrolet Tahoes, Suburbans and Yukons assembled in Janesville.
It’s no wonder why Rep. Paul Ryan wants to divert the $25 billion previously earmarked for fuel efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles. If it's anything that might help the Janesville plant land a new vehicle or helps the UAW in any way to retain jobs – he’s against it.
JS onlineExcerpt: If GM and Chrysler were to merge, for instance, "you could see tens of thousands of job losses," Ryan said. "That's the frustration throughout this," he said. "If we give them these loans, it still results in massive layoffs and plant closures."
Ryan never bothered to make that statement with the Wall Street Bail-Out, and there was much more money at stake. On one hand Congress asks the Big 3 for a plan that must include streamlining and cuts in wasteful spending, etc. Now that they got the plan, Congress (Ryan) uses it against them. What did they expect?Republicans Still Running The Show
Obama: Auto Execs Should GoExcerpt: A breakthrough on the long-stalled rescue came Friday when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, yielded to President George W. Bush on a key point: allowing the aid to come from an existing fund set aside for the production of environmentally friendlier cars.
It sure looks like Republicans are still running things. It’s the same old story from them – trash fuel efficiency and environmental incentives just so someone get a loan – and the democrats are an embarrassment for going along with this charade.
The Big 3 are troubled American assets. They deserve a bail-out under the TARP.
Obama: Auto Execs Should GoExcerpt: One leading Democrat in Congress, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, was far blunter. Rick Wagoner, the chief executive of General Motors Corp., (GM, Fortune 500) "has to move on," said Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
The blame game, particularly calling out chief executives by name was absent from the Wall Street bail-out. Asking for Wagoner’s head will not bring back 2,000 jobs to the local GM plant and is certainly no replacement in lieu of support from Democrats for organized labor. The UAW should ask ‘what have you guys done for us lately?” This is beginning to smell really bad.Chicago Tribune Parent Company Files Chapter 11
Tribune Co. Filing bankruptcy: "Factors beyond our control have created a perfect storm - a precipitous decline in revenue and a tough economy coupled with a credit crisis that makes it extremely difficult to support our debt," said Sam Zell, chief executive of Tribune, in a statement.
They'll figure a way to blame it on the UAW - somehow. Homeowners Still Walking Away From Overvalued Homes
CNNMoney: WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than half of delinquent homeowners whose mortgages were modified earlier this year ended up redefaulting within six months, a top bank regulator said Monday.
Why keep paying a $200,000 mortgage bill at any interest rate - on a house that’s now only worth $160,000? Anybody See Capitalism Lately?
Capitalism, according to the Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, is "An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market."
When was the last time a middle to large size private or corporate owned development used their own accumulated profits solely to fund their projects, advancements and expansions without lobbying government, local or otherwise, for some kind of a hand-out, subsidy or grant under the guise of a “private-public partnership?” It pays to be a lobbyist.Obama doesn’t Plan To End War On Iraq
AlterNetExcerpt: The New York Times is reporting an "apparent evolution" in president-elect Barack Obama's thinking on Iraq, citing recent statements about his plan to keep a "residual force" in the country and his pledge to "listen to the recommendations of my commanders" as Obama prepares to assume actual command of U.S. forces."
What is it that happens to candidates once they win the presidency? It seems like they experience a mind–altering event sometime between Election Day and Inauguration Day. It’s like as if they’ve been blindfolded and taken on a ride deep into a dungeon somewhere under the Capital or the Washington Monument by a team of faceless secret service agents where the president-elect learns the secrets of the Masters Of the Universe or gets a mind-washing from an ancient 300-year-old Freemason still guarding the sacred algorithm of world supremacy. Whatever happens, one thing remains consistent. The candidate tends to become the person he promised not to be. Obama seems to be no different.
America has been beaten out of everything that matters to economic prosperity and progressive enlightenment. From technology to financials to steel to smokestack industry, there is little to claim or offer the world except military superiority.
