'Jobs Not Cuts' Rally Set For Paul Ryan's Janesville Office

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Make it a full day in J'ville! Rally at noon then potluck picnic 4-9 (6pm food, 7pm speakers) at Riverside Park, North Pavillion).

While Congress embarks on another August recess, many in Paul Ryan's district have been looking for work since the LAST August recess; or longer. We need good paying jobs, jobs where the weekly take home pay exceeds the price of a bottle of Paul Ryan's favorite wine. On August 10th we'll go to his Janesville office and ask, "Where are the Jobs?"

"Jobs Not Cuts" Rally

Congressman Ryan's District Office, 20 S. Main St. (Map)

Janesville, WI 53545

Wednesday, August 10th, 12:00 PM

Sign up here for event.

From Chuck Ogg, Rock County Progressives

Republicans and Tea Party Using Disaster Capitalism To Ram Agenda

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“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” -- Rahm Emanuel

The recent debt-ceiling deal shows that Republicans and Tea Party Randroids have taken Rahm’s quote and made it their own – with a cherry on top.

When I look back at TARP through the lense of today's GOP operators in the debt deal, Democrats had a golden opportunity to use the Wall Street crisis as a hostage by demanding a ransom – the ransom being the raising of the income cap on Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes to the level of the annual salaries of congress – around $175,000. With the additional boost in participants, they could have also reduced the payroll tax by a half point or so. They did not. Apparently, taking ultimate advantage of a poor situation is not in our DNA. One way or another, TARP just like the debt-ceiling crisis, was going to be approved. It was just a matter if anyone cared about not letting a good crisis go to waste.

Instead, Democrats tackled that one crisis issue of TARP head-on and never once thought about Rahm’s rule. The most Obama was able to get out of the deal was his using of TARP funds to save hundreds of thousands of middle-class American jobs by reinvesting in a restructured GM and Chrysler. But that was not part of the original deal to get the votes to pass TARP. TARP passed under Bush, and Obama never really took a hostage in exchange to save GM.

The public got its first taste of discernible republican "disaster capitalism" or shock politics in December of 2010. Obama was skewered and cooked when he attempted to re-instate the unemployment compensation extension and raise tax revenues by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire. After the ransom was paid on that deal, Republicans wound up keeping the Bush tax cuts while handing Obama a dead and mutilated hostage worth about a NEGATIVE $900 billion over two years.

Now enter the next big national crisis.

Irresponsible Republicans took what should have been an informal increase in the debt ceiling limit, an event that has occurred routinely for decades and seven times under GW Bush, and turned it into a crisis threatening the nation’s ability to pay its bills. Instead of demanding Congress pass a one-page debt ceiling hike through 2012, Obama played along with their charade and attempted to corner the rigid Republicans into a compromise offering even deeper spending cuts for a slight tax revenue increase. No way would Republicans go for that since almost all them have superseded their oath of office with a pledge to one man, Grover Norquist, to never raise taxes. Ever.

In the end and yet again, Obama "compromised" with himself and shot the tax revenue increase ransom in the head while the terrorists released the hostage (debt-ceiling increase) in exchange for cutting trillions in active tax revenue dollars out of the U.S economy.

On two recent occasions now Republicans have brought the entire country down to the lowest common denominator, the potential for catastrophic shock, to achieve their goal. After the dust cleared, Obama leaves me scratching my head wondering if he's the inside man for them.

I totally agree with the observation that Republicans have mastered the art of political terrorism. They are not working for the good of the country, instead they are gauging the enemies weakness and strengths (anybody who opposes them) to formulate a legislative hostage/ransom plan to push through an ideological agenda. They know what the next hostage looks like and they know what the ransom demands will be. All they need is a crisis, or the framework to fabricate one. The problem is – do the Democrats even understand what’s going on? Asking whether they are fully prepared to repel this dastardly scheme seems like a punchline for a cruel joke.

Pelosi vows Dems won't get rolled again. Thanks for the boost in confidence.

Confirmation Of Disaster Capitalism Shock Politics - QUOTE

“The lesson from the debt ceiling brinksmanship is that it worked. I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage worth shooting. Most of us didn’t think that, what we did learn is this – it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming. And it focuses the congress on something what must be done” – Sen. Mitch McConnell Republican Senate Minority Hostage Taker.

Here's yet another spin-off of Rahm's quote being expertly explained by Kimberly-Clark's CEO Thomas Falk at a recent Senate finance hearing. This video uploaded by the Democurmudgeon also noted that not one eye brow in the hearing room was raised. Disaster capitalism now appears to be the lay of the land.



It’s seems almost unconstitutional if not downright ludicrous to consider the idea of a “super committee” controlled by K street lobbyists to formulate government spending cuts, but I have to agree with Lawrence O’donnell on this one. On today's show he suggested any congressmen who signed a pledge never to raise tax revenue under any circumstances be barred from serving on the committee. That would leave only 13 Republicans who did not abandon their oath to their office.

Republican's Debt Deal Signals A Shrinking Economy And More Uncertainty - Dow Dives

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Just days after the Tea Party led-GOP authored a deal cutting trillions of dollars in active capital out of the U.S economy, the DOW responds with a a steep dive.

JSonline Stock market plunges as economic concerns deepen:
Stocks plunged Thursday in a broad sell-off fueled by worries about a weakening U.S. economy and concern that Europe's debt troubles may spread.

It was the worst day in financial markets since the crisis of 2008-'09.

The Nasdaq was down 5% on the day and the S&P 500 wasn't far behind, posting a loss around 4.75%. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 500 points - more than 4%.

"It's giving the appearance that the stock market is finally realizing that the economy is in a very slow growth mode," said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co.

Once the profit-takers clean up and count their booty, I'm sure the market will rebound as usual for a slow and steady (market) recovery. It always does, it has to in order to set up for the next wave of profit-taking.

Constitutional Amendment Proposed To Repeal Partisan Election County Offices

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2011 ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTION 51

This constitutional amendment, proposed to the 2011 legislature on first consideration, makes elections for the office of district attorney, sheriff, register of deeds, county clerk, treasurer, surveyor, coroner, and clerk of circuit court nonpartisan and changes the term of office to begin on the first Monday in June.

Press Release Excerpt:
I could never understand why these positions were partisan in the first place,” Spanbauer explained. “As I asked my colleagues, is there really a Republican way to carry out the register of deeds’ duties, or a Democratic approach to being clerk of courts? With regard to sheriffs and district attorneys, their top priority should be public safety – they shouldn’t have to be distracted by party politics.”

Well, at least they are not trying to wrest the offices away from the ballot box, but I have a feeling that's not too far away.

Personally speaking, excluding the misinformation publishing campaign and repeated attacks against one county office holder from the Janesville Gazette newspaper, Rock County has been blessed with very low-key partisanship undertones between candidates during county office elections. Of course no constitutional amendment can stop people from asking where a candidate might stand on some political issues that are relevant to the office or stop individuals and interest groups from advocating for a candidate for non-partisan office, as the Wisconsin Supreme Court well demonstrates.

Read Resolution here.

Norquist: States like Wisconsin Cut Spending and Did Not Raise Taxes

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During a roundtable with George Will and Paul Krugman, the radioactive Grover Norquist rattled off a GOP party talking point claiming that states with Republican governors like New Jersey, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida, etc., have cut spending and not raised taxes. Paul Krugman said, "it's just not true." Krugman's right. Two recent mainstream media reports on Wisconsin alone show that Scott Walker's budget increased spending by $1.1 billion while property taxes are projected to rise an average of 2.6% this year with additional increases expected in each of the following years. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

As far as the debt ceiling deal goes, Krugman describes a shrinking national economy with the country now headed into a lost decade and looking to 90's Japan as an economic role model. With no light at the end of the tunnel and long-term unemployment expected, Krugman predicts the wrong-headed Republican-based debt deal will make things only worse.

Krugman's Debt ceiling Summary Begins at 2:60
Norquist's False statements at 6:30

Watch for it:

Rip Rap

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More Right-Wing Zombigots (Def.#2) Moving In to Defend Koch's Fitzwalkerstan

RD Magazine Excerpt:

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.

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GOP Representative Refers to Obama as Tar Baby

Think Progress Excerpt:
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.”

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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."

Below: Image from flier

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Is This Emblematic of Walker's Wisconsin?

a ...WARZONE?

LaCrosse Tribune Photo Slide

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 Tribune Excerpt:
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.

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Smart ALEC: How Corporations Are Writing State Laws

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Atlas Shrugged Conservative Pam Geller Devalues Victims of Breivik’s Terror On Skin Color

Think Progress Excerpt:
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.

Janesville School Taxes going up 7.6% under Walker Budget

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After increasing spending by $1.1 billion over previous Doyle budgets while promising to cut taxes, Republican assembly representative Joe Knilans of Janesville admits Walker's budget can’t help Janesville taxpayers facing a school-tax increase as high as 7.6 percent.

JG Excerpt:
“I understand the school board is in a tight situation, here, but the state budget was in a tight situation, too,” Knilans said when asked whether there’s something lawmakers can do now to help districts such as Janesville.

Cuts But No Revenue. Was Obama Ever Not a Sell-Out?

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Why can't they just get a clean one-page debt ceiling hike like they did seven times during the deficit-spending Bush era?

Voice of America Excerpt:
He said that panel will consider all options, including tax increases and cuts to social welfare programs like Medicare. [...] The president called the proposal a compromise that lets the country avoid default while making a serious down payment on deficit reduction.

Yeah right. In December, Obama called extending the Bush tax cuts in exchange for unemployment compensation, both deficit generators, a necessary compromise. Now he's throwing Social Security and Medicare under a bus as another necessary compromise for the nation to avoid default? I'm not buying it anymore. And they're going to consider tax increases later? Who are they trying to kid?

Republicans Already Plotting To Bind The Debt Reduction Committee

Even so, it appears Boehner is already pushing the goal posts. A bipartisan debt reduction committee established by the proposal is charged with looking for ways to reduce the deficit by either cutting spending or increasing revenue. But Boehner put out a statement tonight titled, “Two Step Approach To Hold President Obama Accountable,” saying Republicans intend to bind the commitee with accounting rules to “effectively mak[e] it impossible for Joint Committee to increase taxes.” Obama said in his address that he would push for a “balanced approach” on the committee.

Progressive Co-Chair Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, "This deal is a cure as bad as the disease. I reject it, and the American people reject it." Read More Here.

Fire Dog Lake - On Grijalva Statement Opposing the Bill He Voted For Yesterday When it was Reid's

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calls the deal a "catastrophe on multiple levels."

The White House, on the other hand, calls it "A Win for the Economy and Budget Discipline."

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich argues "the radical right has now won a huge tactical and strategic victory."

Debt madness was always about killing Social security