GOP Brings HIV To IN, WI Next!

By Jeff Simpson 

Republican test kitchen, Indiana has already been working to defund Planned Parenthood.   They passed a law that defunded Planned Parenthood, because some of them offered abortion services.

Luckily for some women in Indiana, a judge blocked this law from taking effect,  However, the Republicans in Indiana were able to slash funding, which with rising health care costs, has caused a few rural Planned Parenthood offices to close.

In 2005, Planned Parenthood of Indiana received a total of $3.3 million in funding from government contracts and grants. By 2014, that funding had dropped to $1.9 million. Five of Planned Parenthood’s smaller clinics in the state -- the health centers in Scottsburg, Madison, Richmond, Bedford and Warsaw -- were unable to keep up with the growing technology costs that were necessary to remain competitive as a medical provider. All five clinics that were forced to close had offered HIV testing. None had offered abortions.

What happens when we mix Hard Right Republican policies with the real world?   It usually turns into trouble for the people of America:

 Scott County, Indiana, the center of an exploding HIV outbreak, has been without an HIV testing center since early 2013, when the sole provider -- a Planned Parenthood clinic -- was forced to close its doors. The clinic did not offer abortion services.The Scott County clinic and four other Planned Parenthood facilities in the state, all of which provided HIV testing and information, have shuttered since 2011, in large part due to funding cuts to the state's public health infrastructure. Those cuts came amid a national and local political campaign to demonize the health care provider. Now, the state is scrambling to erect pop-up clinics to combat an unprecedented HIV epidemic caused by intravenous drug use.
The fact that Scott County was "without a testing facility until a few weeks ago is a glaring example of the kind of public health crisis that results when prevention and testing are left unfunded," said Patti Stauffer, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky's vice president for public policy

But wait there is more:

In 2011, Planned Parenthood ran five rural clinics in Indiana. They tested for HIV and offered prevention, intervention and counseling for better health. The one in Scott County performed no abortions.
Mothers-to-be in Scott County must drive 50 miles to visit a gynecologist or an obstetrician. That's not an isolated insight. Of Indiana's 92 counties, Scott County has ranked 92nd in unhealthiness for five straight years.
Fewer high school kids there go to college than anywhere else in the state. There is one mental health provider for every 3,500 residents.
There is one physician in town. He saw the HIV outbreak coming and begged the state for help. None came.

How exactly is it "pro-life" to make a pregnant woman living in poverty drive over 50 miles to see a gynecologist?  

While the Republicans, due to long debunked videos,  are fighting each other to decide who can punish Planned Parenthood the most,   What better way to play to their hardcore pseudo Christian base?

While they do that, women are suffering and dying.



Are you ready for this story to come to Wisconsin? Where will it hit first?  Rusk County?  Monroe County?  Sawyer County?  or maybe Washington County!

How long do we have?

The Legislature was too preoccupied before 2013 trying to defund Planned Parenthood and finally succeeded despite court objections.
Scott County has been without an HIV testing center for two years. That's how long it took the epidemic to flourish.

Instead of naming the outbreak(when it gets here) the WI HIV outbreak of 2017, maybe we can name it the "Common Sense Pro-Life Conservative Values" outbreak,  

Sorry Wisconsin women, you get sick, or pregnant you are on your own!

From Indiana to Enbridge - A Nation's Journey

By Jeff Simpson

We found out recently that Nation Consulting(where one of their four associates is trying to take over the Democratic Party Leadership) has close ties to right wing extremist groups Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks.  The IRS filing that was linked to was very telling.

It is even worse than you think at first glance.

Readers of Cogdis, know to wait - Because there is always more.

When we take a look at Nation Consulting's founder - Thad Nation, we see there is a whole lot more!

We see that he got his start in politics the old fashioned way - Daddy.

Thad Nation followed in the footsteps of his father -- literally.
Soon after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1994, Nation became the press secretary for former Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh. Nation's father, Fred, was the press secretary for Bayh before his son took over.
"I sat in the same chair at the same desk with the same photos on the wall," Nation said.

After a few years of working for the Governor of Indiana, Nation had enough.  He wanted to go to the private sector where the real money was.   This time he did not follow in daddy's footsteps, he laid his own path - literally!(emphasis mine). 

After Nation broke away from Wilhelm & Conlon, Wisconsin Energy became his first client. Nation still counts Wisconsin Energy as one of 20 companies on his client roster. Other clients include the Wisconsin Bio Industry Alliance, a coalition of companies that produce ethanol; New North, a regional development group based in Green Bay; TV4US, a trade coalition advertising on behalf of the Wisconsin video services bill; and Global Pipeline Partners.

"Two things distinguish Nation Consulting from the pack -- pragmatic advice and a superior network of media and political contacts throughout the state," said David Stegeman, an executive vice president for Michels Corp., Brownsville.

Stegeman is also a spokesman for Global Pipeline Partners, which is a joint venture made up of four companies building a new oil pipeline for Enbridge Inc. from Superior to Delavan. Nation Consulting works as the public relations and community affairs firm for Global Pipeline. Michels Corp. is the lead partner in the joint venture. Enbridge is an oil and gas distribution company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

If you have not heard of Michel's corp., that is fine by them, but Scott Walker has $129,000 reasons to know them very well.

If you have not heard of the Enbridge Pipeline, let's pray to God that you never do.  

Kaufman told CMD that Enbridge Line 61 hasn't received the national attention that the Keystone XL Pipeline has because "the pipeline itself already has been built and it is carrying roughly 400,000 barrels of Tar Sands-derived and lighter conventional crude oil already. Theenvironmental assessment that was done in 2006 was prior to one of the largest spills -- probably the largest inland oil spill -- in American history, which was a spill by this company, Enbridge, who also owns Line 61."

Kaufman was referring to Enbridge's disastrous Kalamazoo River oil spill in Michican in July 2010, which took an estimated $1.21 billion and four years to partially clean up. A Sierra Club report detailed that since 1999, Enbridge has had 800 spills, including spills in Wisconsin and neighboring states. Enbridge was fined a record $2.4 million in connection to an explosion that killed two workers in Clearbrook, Minnesota.

After the Kalamazoo spill, Enbridge was strongly criticized by the National Transportation Safety Board for lapses, including ignoring alarms in their system and trying to restart the pipeline twice, which discharged more oil.

Enbridge claims to have invested several billion dollars more in improving its response since the Kalamazoo River disaster, but as Kaufman noted, there have been spills since.

PS;  When it spills in your backyard, you do NOT get to keep the oil.

So how does a pipeline that carries dangerous crude oil from Canada through our backyard and we do not see any benefits of it but it could completely destroy our ecosystem, get approved?

Thad Nation.

"I have found something here I like and that I think I'm good at," Thad Nation said.

Thanks Nation!

As Meghan Trainor might say - "It's all about that bank, bout that bank -no morals".

Just Like Indiana

By Jeff Simpson

Wisconsin's disappearing Governor, Scott Walker, recently made an appearance in Wisconsin to sign a "Right-To-Work" bill that he spent years campaigning that he would not sign.  

The new law, which takes effect immediately, makes Wisconsin the 25th right-to-work state and the first to do it since Michigan and Indiana in 2012. Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee, said the action now puts pressure on other Midwest states to follow suit.

Yes, we want to be just like Indiana.   By the way this is the kind of thing happening in Indiana under their very own "right-to-work" laws:

The superintendent of an Indiana school district where a stage collapsed, injuring 16 high school students when they plunged into an orchestra pit, said Friday that the section that gave way was only a few years old, but it's unclear whether it was ever subject to inspection.
The uncertainty surrounding the regulation of the orchestra pit cover that collapsed during Thursday's finale of a musical at Westfield High School, 20 miles north of Indianapolis, is reminiscent of questions that arose in 2011, when heavy winds toppled stage rigging onto fans awaiting a performance by country duo Sugarland at the Indiana State Fair.
Seven people were killed and dozens injured in that collapse, which sparked new state rules on temporary, outdoor stage rigging equipment. Thursday's collapse wasn't deadly, and all of the students who were injured were out of the hospital by Friday afternoon.

Shitty work, done by cheap labor, on top of no regulations, is the ultimate Republican wet dream.   Luckily for us though, most people wont die and if they are young they will eventually heal.   

Can't wait until we can have some of our very own Wisconsin videos of massive groups of people  getting injured and enjoying the fruits of our very own "Right-to-Work" tree. 

AFSCME Pulls Conference Out Of Indiana, Citing Right To Bigotry Law

Unions stand up for everyone, regardless of whether they are members, their race, their age, their gender identity or sexual orientation.  And they are will to take action on this value, such as AFSCME pulling their convention out of Indiana due to their Right to Bigotry law:

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has decided to relocate its 2015 National Women's Conference "as a direct result" of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) signing a controversial religious freedom bill into law.

AFSCME's decision to pull out of Indianapolis, Indiana, where it was scheduled to host its conference in October, was announced by AFSCME President Lee Saunders (pictured) on Monday.

"This un-American law allowing businesses to refuse service to gay and lesbian customers sets Indiana and our nation back decades in the struggle for civil rights," Saunders said in a statement. "It is an embarrassment and cannot be tolerated. The 1.6 million members of AFSCME cannot in good conscience make such a sizeable financial investment in Indiana knowing that women and men in that state are deliberately being targeted for discrimination."

[...]

Saunders added that the conference would be relocated as "a sign of our disgust and disappointment with Pence's discriminatory law."

Indiana Governor Mike Pence is still trying to salvage what little is left of his reputation and his state's economic future by saying the law has nothing to do with discrimination and just needs a little further clarification. Pence has yet to explain why he was surrounded by known bigots when he signed the law into effect.

And so that there is no mistake about how the citizens of the state feel, check out Tuesday's front page of the Indianapolis Star:

Hat tip to the bestest blogress in the business - Anomaly

Indianapolis - A Great Place To Be A Bigot

Here's a couple of short videos from my home away from home, Crooks and Liars, which are too funny not to share:

Private Schools Dirty Little Secret

 

By Jeff Simpson

There is an epidemic going on and it is going under reported.  The epidemic I am speaking of is cheating in Voucher/private schools.   We have documented numerous times how the private school cadre is in it for one thing - profit.  Heck, even the "education reform" crowd has let it slip that they see "gold" in the classrooms.   When the ranks of the privatize school crowd is run by convicted felon Scott Jensen, and lobbied by people like John Gard - profits come first and ethics never enter the equation. 



When an industry is strictly about profits, you should expect problems and there are.  All over the country!

The first comes to us from Florida via Indiana:

Florida's education commissioner resigned today amid allegations that he changed the grade of a charter school run by a major Republican donor during his previous job as Indiana's school chief.

Tony Bennett announced his immediate resignation at a news conference, saying that he while he did nothing wrong he didn't want to be a distraction to Gov. Rick Scott's efforts to overhaul Florida's education system. Emails published by The Associated Press this week show that Bennett and his Indiana staff scrambled last fall to ensure Christel DeHaan's school received an A, despite poor 10th-grade algebra scores that initially earned it a C.

 In case you missed it:

 Emails published by The Associated Press this week show that Bennett and his Indiana staff scrambled last fall to ensure Christel DeHaan's school received an A, despite poor 10th-grade algebra scores that initially earned it a C.

Bennett, recently beaten as Indiana's head of education,  says that the charges against him are "malicious and unfounded".   Now we can look at his email and marching orders to his staff:

After Bennett learned about a likely low grade for Christel House, he fired off a Sept. 12 email to his chief of staff.

"This will be a HUGE problem for us," Bennett wrote. "They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work."

                           

While he has been disgraced in two red states now in his quest to "reform" education has two supporters left - "Waiting for Superman" right wing movie star - Michelle Rhee.  

Bennett’s leadership in IN showed his commitment to kids. With better grad rates & fewer failing schools, IN kids benefited from his tenure.
— Michelle Rhee (@MichelleRhee) August 1, 2013

Florida Governor and Medicare Fraud recipient Rock Scott, doing his best George Bush impression, said that Bennet is doing "A great job"!

After a couple days of radio silence about the scandal involving Florida's education commissioner, Gov. Rick Scott finally has something to say. He told Channel 5 in West Palm Beach that Tony Bennett is "doing a great job."
Scott praised Bennett for being "very focused on accountability" and reiterated how well Florida's students are doing. Scott didn't say whether Bennett's job is secure, however. See the interview here. Scott has been through several education commissioners during his tenure as governor.

Yes this is the future of public education money in the hands of the anti education republican party!  We have seen it enacted all over the country and we are seeing it right in front of our own eyes in WI.

We can stop it in Wisconsin, in the next election.     WE MUST STOP THIS IN 2014!  

if we allow republicans to maintain total control of our state after the next election, be prepared for more stories like this one.....lots more stories like it actually!  

A Milwaukee County judge has ordered the operator of a defunct private voucher school to repay about $300,000 in taxpayer money, after the state sued him for falsifying documents and forging his college diploma to get into the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, court records show.

But Wisconsin may not be seeing that money anytime soon from Corey C. Reed Daniels, who operated the disastrous Milwaukee Institute of Academic Achievement in 2011-'12 before reports of student endangerment prompted the Department of Public Instruction to terminate it from the choice program.

 His institute, which enrolled between 100 and 180 students in kindergarten through eighth grade at 4920 N. Sherman Blvd., is not the first private voucher school to get shut down by the state. But it remains one of the most recent examples of how quickly an operator — given the right circumstances — could start a private school, enroll students and receive hundreds of thousands of public dollars before being cut off after allegations of impropriety.

 

Gun Nuts

By Jeff Simpson

If someone ever asks you what "Gun nuts" look like.  Here are two examples!

1.  The Obama Victory in November(2008), so enraged a "responsible" gun owner, they he had his son pose for pictures with his rifle.  Then the fun began:

"While we were waiting, Julie(shawns wife) stood and spoke to us stating, Shawn has not been the same person since President Obama was elected. She stated he is obsessed with gun control, owning weapons and his right to bear arms," an officer wrote in the police report, obtained Tuesday by the Daily News. "Julie seemed embarrassed at her husband's behavior, however, she did not seem surprised."
Moore made national headlines last week after it was reported that someone saw a picture on Facebook of his son holding the military-looking .22-caliber rifle he received for his 11th birthday and called both police and New Jersey's Division of Children and Families. Moore wrote about the incident on an online firearms forum afterward, and the story went national after Glenn Beck's conservative news site, The Blaze, picked it up.
The police report said the anonymous caller had expressed other concerns as well, claiming that Julie Moore instructed her son to shoot "anyone who breaks in to their home" and that Shawn Moore had "issues with alcohol" and multiple DUI offenses.
When Moore got home, police said he smelled of alcohol and he definitely had an issue with officers and DCF workers being there. Moore had spoken with noted firearms attorney Evan Nappen on the phone before he arrived and immediately asked the officers and DCF workers to leave.

Who knew that Glenn beck would lead someone astray?  

2.  In Indianapolis, IN, a local peaceful chapter of Moms Demand Action(in favor of limiting theaccess to military assault rifles and requiring background checks) had a rally.  Guess who showed up(hint rhymes with fun buts):

Several men with assault rifles and hand guns crashed a Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns National Day to Demand Action event in Indianapolis, Indiana on Thursday and stood silently as the state chapter of Moms Demand Action held a rally in favor of limiting the availability of military style weapons and universal background checks.
At least two or three men showed up at the rally site before the event began and engaged in a discussion about gun regulations with the group, two participants in the action told ThinkProgress. The armed men — who were later joined by another man carrying a hand gun and a woman who runs Indiana Moms Against Gun Control — insisted that they had a right to carry the loaded weapons:

Wisconsin's Next Big Battle

H/T David Sirota for showing us what the fate of "School reform" in the last election, when the mainstream media ignored this story.  Not only did "education reform" fail in Colorado and Idaho(details in Sirota's column), but also in Indiana: 

In Indiana, the results were even more explicit. There, as the Indianapolis Star reports, Superintendent for Public Instruction Tony Bennett became “the darling of the reform movement” by “enthusiastically implement(ing) such major reforms as the nation’s most expansive private school voucher program; greater accountability measures for schools that led to the unprecedented state takeover of six schools last year; an expansion of charter schools; and an evaluation system for teachers that bases their raises, at least in part, on student test scores.” For waging such a scorched-earth campaign against teachers and public education, Bennett was rewarded with a whopping $1.3 million in campaign contributions, much of which came from out of state. According to Stateline, Bennett was underwritten by “some of the biggest supporters of education reform in the country, including Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, billionaire financier Eli Broad and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,” and NPR reports that he also received big donations from private corporations that stood to profit off his school takeover policies.

Ultimately, he was able to grossly outspend his underfinanced opponent, local educator Glenda Ritz, by more than $1 million. Yet, in the conservative union-averse state of Indiana, he was nonetheless booted out of office in what the Star called “the Election Night shocker.” That was thanks not to some brilliantly vague personality campaign by Ritz, but to a substantive, laser-focused assault on Bennett’s corporate-driven privatization agenda. As the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported, she “attack(ed) Bennett for his school and district accountability system, voucher program and use of student testing data for teacher evaluations”; “criticiz(ed) Bennett’s policies as funneling taxpayer dollars to private companies”; and slammed Bennett’s corporate donors — all while she “advocated returning local control to districts, ending the current administration’s focus on standardized testing and spending more on early childhood education”; and pushed to “provide more support for low-performing schools instead of threatening them with sanctions.”

 This is going to be the next big fight in WI.  Unfortunately due to their unethical redistricting, we are powerless to stop it.  The only chance we have is if we have a republican who will fight his party and champion public education.  The prospects look bleek!     It was beaten back in very republican anti union states like Idaho and Indiana and yet the private education profiteers will be lining up in WI to loot our coffers and  fill their pockets. 

The next two years will decide who wins.  If convicted felon Scooter Jensen has a good two years that means education in Wisconsin has greatly suffered.  

Do we make our children a priority or this guy? 

Paul Ryan Need's This Man

Indiana's U.S. Senate seat is up for grab this year, far right extremist Republican candidate Richard Mourdock was in a debate recently and he let his true republican colors come to light!

"I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God," Mourdock said. "And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

Luckily for the people of Indiana, there are some sane people in the state, including his opponent Democratic challenger Joe Donnelly.   

Democrats immediately pounced on his comments, and Donnelly -- who is also pro-life but who supports exceptions for rape and incest -- released a statement questioning the notion that God would "intend for rape to happen."

"The God I believe in and the God I know most Hoosiers believe in, does not intend for rape to happen -- ever," Donnelly said. "What Mr. Mourdock said is shocking, and it is stunning that he would be so disrespectful to survivors of rape.

Hmmm sound eerily similar to the views on rape and abortion of Todd Akin and Paul Ryan!    Let's check in and see what Paul Ryan(R-forcible rape) thinks of Mr. Mourdock, and his views on God Given Rape Gifts:

Voter Fraud Is A Problem!

When Republicans vote!   

There has been a nationwide(Koch Brothers Sponsored)push to enact restrictive voter ID laws throughout the Country. Luckily our restrictive voter ID laws, have been stopped by the courts. Despite J B Van Hollen's insistence on disenfranchising Wisconsin voters.  

Now, after an exhaustive study, we find out that the republicans perpetual claims of massive voter fraud is pure unadulterated bullshit!   

voter fraud in general is rare. And that particular form of voter fraud is "virtually non-existent," according to the extensive public-records search conducted by News21, a nonpartisan investigative news project funded by the Carnegie and Knight foundations. Researchers filed more than 2,000 public-records requests and reviewed nearly 5,000 court documents, official records and media reports to get their information.

They identified 2,068 alleged cases of voter fraud since the year 2000, a period during which there have been more than 600 million votes cast in presidential elections alone. That, the study noted, is an "infinitesimal amount." It also showed a total of 10 cases of in-person voter fraud during that period.

10 cases of in-person voter fraud in more than 600 million votes cast!!!  Let that sink in.  But wait there is more!

The News21 analysis of its election fraud database shows:

• In-person voter-impersonation fraud is rare. The database shows 207 cases of other types of fraud for every case of voter impersonation.

“The fraud that matters is the fraud that is organized. That’s why voter impersonation is practically non-existent because it is difficult to do and it is difficult to pull people into conspiracies to do it,” said Lorraine Minnite, professor of public policy and administration at Rutgers University.

• There is more fraud in absentee ballots and voter registration than any other categories. The analysis shows 491 cases of absentee ballot fraud and 400 cases of registration fraud. A required photo ID at the polls would not have prevented these cases.

“The one issue I think is potentially important, though more or less ignored, is the overuse of absentee balloting, which provides far more opportunity for fraud and intimidation than on-site voter fraud,” said Daniel Lowenstein, a UCLA School of Law professor.

• Of reported election-fraud allegations in the database whose resolution could be determined, 46 percent resulted in acquittals, dropped charges or decisions not to bring charges.

Minnite says prosecutions are rare. “You have to be able to show that people knew what they were doing and they knew it was wrong and they did it anyway,” she said. “It may be in the end they (prosecutors) can’t really show that the people who have cast technically illegal ballots did it on purpose.”

• Felons or noncitizens sometimes register to vote or cast votes because they are confused about their eligibility. The database shows 74 cases of felons voting and 56 cases of noncitizens voting.
• Voters make a lot of mistakes, from accidentally voting twice to voting in the wrong precinct.
• Election officials make a lot of mistakes, from clerical errors — giving voters ballots when they’ve already voted — to election workers confused about voters’ eligibility requirements.

 Their final result?

 Voter fraud at the polls is an insignificant aspect of American elections,” said elections expert David Schultz, professor of public policy at Hamline University School of Business in St. Paul, Minn.

“There is absolutely no evidence that (voter impersonation fraud) has affected the outcome of any election in the United States, at least any recent election in the United States,” Schultz said.

The problem with Professor Schultz, is he has not extensively studied the republican party!

Right here in Wisconsin, we know that powerful republican Robin Vos's third ex-wife, was recently caught voting in WI(during the recall election, when she was still married toVos),  despite the fact she is currently a resident of Idaho.

Secondly we have the video of Joel Kleefisch running down the line and voting for whoever is not around.

Then of course we have Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan buying votes at Cousins subs.

Let's also not forget the red state of Indiana, where Indiana Republican Secretary of State Charlie White was convicted on SIX counts of voter fraud!

White, a Republican, was accused of lying about his home address on voter registration forms in order to continue receiving a stipend for serving on his town's council. To comply with state law requiring the removal of convicted felons from office, Gov. Mitch Daniels, a fellow Republican, appointed White's deputy as an interim replacement.
  The irony is that White has been an outspoken defender of controversial voter identification laws, which are purportedly aimed at stamping out the kind of fraud he was found guilty of committing.

Finally, Mitt is no stranger to voter fraud, himself.  Since he committed it himself when he voted in some Massachusett's election.

Of course while the republicans continue to pretend they are just worried about everyone's vote being counted we know that is flat out not true!

How do we know it isn't true?

They keep telling us!    From the OHIO GOP Election official Doug Preisse: 

I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine. Let’s be fair and reasonable.

To Wisconsin's own, and one of the founders of the "tea party" movement Paul Weyrich!!!

It appears the best way to save the integrity of our elections are to keep republicans away from the polls!

Republican Crazies!

Do we really want these people running our country?

1.  Our very own Senator Ron Johnson thinks if employers can't deny coverage to cancer patients, its the end of the world as we know it. (Ed. note - I purposely left the video out, because the stupid burns)  

KEYES: I know Richard Murdock had said even though businesses should give people, for instance, with cancer, health coverage, they shouldn’t be legally required by the federal government.

JOHNSON: They shouldn’t. Listen, our rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And when we start expanding beyond that realm, when you create a right for somebody, you create an obligation for somebody else, and then you’re taking away that person’s right. And that maybe doesn’t seem all that great, but it’s just true. Our nation was based on the foundation of freedom and limited government.

2.  Indiana Congressman and gubernatorial candidate(what makes these guys think they are eligible for promotions?) Mike Pence  believes that the SCOTUS upholding Obamacare is equal to the terrorists attacks of  9-11.  

In a closed door House GOP meeting Thursday, Indiana congressman and gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence likened the Supreme Court's ruling upholding the Democratic health care law to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to several sources present.

3.   Mitt Romney invested in medical-waste firm that disposed of aborted Fetuses!

Here's what happened with Stericycle. In November 1999, Bain Capital and Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, filed with the SEC a Schedule 13D, which lists owners of publicly traded companies, noting that they had jointly purchased $75 million worth of shares in Stericycle, a fast-growing player in the medical-waste industry. (That April, Stericycle had announced plans to buy the medical-waste businesses of Browning Ferris Industries and Allied Waste Industries.) The SEC filing lists assorted Bain-related entities that were part of the deal, including Bain Capital (BCI), Bain Capital Partners VI (BCP VI), Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors (a Bermuda-based Bain affiliate), and Brookside Capital Investors (a Bain offshoot). And it notes that Romney was the "sole shareholder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of BCI, BCP VI Inc., Brookside Inc. and Sankaty Ltd."

The document also states that Romney "may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to" 2,116,588 shares of common stock in Stericycle "in his capacity as sole shareholder" of the Bain entities that invested in the company. That was about 11 percent of the outstanding shares of common stock. (The whole $75 million investment won Bain, Romney, and their partners 22.64 percent of the firm's stock—the largest bloc among the firm's owners.) The original copy of the filing was signed by Romney.

Maybe We Can Be Like Indiana

Our "friends" on the right love to point out that if we do not do everything Scott Walker tells us to(which in reality is what the Koch Brothers want) then we will be just like Illinois.    Forgetting the fact that Illinois is at least adding jobs and the fact that there are more than two ways to do things(the Illinois Way or the koch brothers way), lets look at what if we followed someone who they greatly admire.   Right To Work Indiana!

That way, like the failed path Rob Vos wants, of privatizing our public schools, we can let the churches handle the education of our kids.  Its working wonders in Indiana! 

GREENSBURG, Ind. — An Indiana church is on lock down and its pastor has left for an undisclosed location after a video recording surfaced this week of a toddler singing an anti-gay song at the church altar, that included the lyrics, “Ain’t no homo going to make it to heaven.”

In the video, church Pastor Jeff Sangl can been seen in smiling and nodding in approval behind the unidentified youth.

Church members can be seen applauding and cheering the toddler as he sings the anti-gay verse — “I know the Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong- Romans 1 and 27, ain’t no homo going to make it to heaven” — with one person shouting, “That’s my boy!”

After this disturbing video went viral, the church weakly attempted to backtrack with this statement:

The Pastor and members of Apostolic Truth Tabernacle do not condone, teach, or practice hate of any person for any reason. We believe and hope that every person can find true Bible salvation and the mercy and grace of God in their lives.

We are a strong advocate of the family unit according to the teachings and precepts found in the Holy Bible. We believe the Holy Bible is the Divinely-inspired Word of God and we will continue to uphold and preach that which is found in scripture.

Unfortunately no one told the congregation this:  

Despite the threats, all the members we spoke to have no regrets about the song getting posted online -- in fact one said, "The people who are upset just don't read the word of God. If we don't teach the children the truth early they will never learn."

As for the thunderous applause after the hate-filled song -- we're told, "Of course we applauded a child who is singing a song about God."

 By the way, it appears that the did not et to the part about not lying as it appears they have received their death threats from the same entity that Dan Kapanke did:

 “To my knowledge, there are no death threats at this time,” Decatur County Sheriff Gregory Allen told FoxNews.com.

Dan Savage has more here!  

 

Rumor has it this video has had an effect in WI.  Rebecca Kleefisch was beaming with pride, and Glen Shulfer has his next big hit!! 

Indiana: Home of the Outside Agitator

One of the stories of the day is about the Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist who resigned from his job after being caught emailing some rather questionable advise to Scott Walker:

Carlos F. Lam submitted his resignation shortly before the Center published a story quoting his Feb. 19 email, which praised Walker for standing up to unions but went on to say that the chaos in Wisconsin presented "a good opportunity for what's called a 'false flag' operation." 

"If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions' cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the unions," the email said. 

"Currently, the media is painting the union protest as a democratic uprising and failing to mention the role of the DNC and umbrella union organizations in the protest. Employing a false flag operation would assist in undercutting any support that the media may be creating in favor of the unions. God bless, Carlos F. Lam."

Those comment immediately bring to mind the admission by Scott Walker, in a phone conversation with whom he thought was David Koch, that his administration had actually considered using planted operatives to pose as union-friendly protesters.  Said operatives would then cause some sort of mayhem in an effort to discredit the protesters.  It also brings to mind the unexplained ammo that was mysteriously "found" around the Capitol Building on one day.

It also appears that Mr. Lam might have another issue besides a lack of political savvy.  In a grand find by The Political Carnival, it appears Mr. Lam might have some racist issues to resolve as well.

However, it should further be noted that Mr. Lam does not score any points for uniqueness or even for being first.  Jeff Cox, a former deputy attorney general for the State of Indiana, had already been fired for making a most egregious tweet of how the authorities should use live ammo on the Madison protesters.

The most disturbing part for me is not the inappropriate comments.  After all, there is a troll that has regularly been threatening me and fellow lefty bloggers for some time now.  What is more disturbing that the level that the Republicans will stoop to is the fact that these two were actually prosecuting attorneys and should really be above this sort of thing.  After all, isn't their job to uphold the law?