Scott Walker's Ironic Independence Day Email Is Ironic

Walker's campaign sent out an Independence Day email which was stunning for its irony and a classic example of Walker's hypocrisy and lack of insight. It reads as follows, with the italicized part his, the bold section is mine:

Not too long ago, I visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia and was struck by the great presence imposed on me by that historic site. When I was young, I always imagined our Founders to be larger-than-life figures, almost superhero-like in stature. But only when I stepped into the small, humble Assembly Room, did I truly realize that these were ordinary men who exhibited extraordinary courage. They were willing to sacrifice their lives in order to advance the cause of human freedom and self-governance.

July 4, 2012 marks the 236th Anniversary of our nation’s inception as a free and constitutional republic, and I am reminded of this passage from Thomas Jefferson’s exceptionally eloquent Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Those words give us the great lesson of our republic. We must always remember that we the people have the power over our government and that the will of the people is the law of the land.

Today, we celebrate another year of freedom and remember the lives of those lost who fought to protect that freedom. We must never forget the ultimate sacrifice so many Americans made to protect our way of life. Today, as we gather around our barbecues and watch outstanding fireworks displays, we pay homage to those heroes who are no longer with us. We must honor them not only today, but everyday that freedom prevails over tyranny.

Tonette, Matt, Alex, and I wish you and your family a blessed and happy Independence Day!

Sincerely,

Scott Walker
45th Governor of Wisconsin

A few things pop out at me immediately.

He obviously didn't write this himself since there aren't nearly as many spelling and grammatical errors as we have come to expect when he tries to write something.

It absolutely sickens and enrages me that this man, who is at the beck and call of the corporations, and whose every action is to benefit the corporate interests that bought the governor's seat for him - twice - regardless of how many real people might get hurt, should now try to utter such hypocrisy that he gives a damn about what the real people have to say or what their desires are.

And it's particularly disturbing that a man who has assailed just about every single right we have* should even speak of freedom much less it prevailing over tyranny.

Telling women what they can and cannot do with their bodies or their health is not freedom, it's tyranny.  Teaching kids only the things you want them to know is not freedom, it's tyranny.  Telling workers they don't have the civil rights they've fought so long for and which has made the state the success it was until a year and a half ago is not freedom, it's tyranny.  Telling people they do not have the right to the Freedom of Speech and cannot hold up a sign of protest is not freedom, it's tyranny.  Sending state troopers to arrest political opponents is not freedom, it's tyranny.  Denying or hindering people from exercising their right to vote is not freedom, it's tyranny.

And the list goes on and on.

Yes, what Walker is foisting upon us isn't freedom. It isn't the will of the people. It's a corporate-backed tyranny.  And Walker is a puppet tyrant.  Or a dictator if you'd rather.

*I can just hear the pro-Walker acolytes and apologists denying that their rights have been impacted or diminished, but this is only symptomatic of their cognitive dissonance and how deeply in denial they truly are. Sadly, when they do realize that they've screwed themselves by supporting Walker, they'll form some sort of twisted rationale that it's really the Democrat's fault somehow.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! Thanks to everyone for welcoming me here!

"These are the times that try mens’ souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." Thomas Paine.

This Independence Day

A-focking-men!

Zerban Statement on Ryan’s Faux Fiscal Credentials

Rob Zerban has done taken the gloves off with this press release:

“Congressman Ryan had 10 years in Congress – almost all with a House Republican majority – to reduce the deficit, prior to President Obama’s election. He did nothing.”

KENOSHA, Wis. – Today, prior to hosting his small business roundtable on Thursday, Rob Zerban, the small-businessman challenging Congressman Paul Ryan, released the following statement regarding Paul Ryan’s faux fiscal credentials.

“Congressman Paul Ryan can grandstand about the debt all he wants, but at the end of the day, Ryan is a root cause of many of the financial issues our country faces today,” said Rob Zerban.

“From supporting two unfunded wars, to dumping millions of senior citizens into the Medicare Part D “donut hole” while tying the hands of the government to negotiate prescription drug prices, and from fighting for subsidies for Big Oil that his family personally benefits from, to supporting the unfunded Bush tax cuts for his wealthiest campaign contributors, Paul Ryan’s hypocrisy is astounding.

“Congressman Ryan fell down on the job, and is now trying to push the blame for his bad policy decisions onto President Obama.

“Congressman Ryan had 10 years in Congress – almost all with a House Republican majority – to reduce the deficit, prior to President Obama’s election. He did nothing.”

That's gotta smart.

Fact Checkers Come And Go And Sometimes Are Far Gone

President Barack Obama's campaign is running this ad highlighting his opponent's track record at Bain in which he would push jobs overseas and reap the profits.



One of these truthier-than-thou fact check group, with the unoriginal name of FactCheckers, took umbrage with Obama's ads and described them as making unsubstantiated claims.

Team Obama sent them a courteous six-page letter explaining why their complaints were what truly was unsubstantiated.

Well, just like PolitiFact, FactCheckers doesn't like being second guessed or corrected, so they came out with a second article, but were now not calling Obama's claims as unsubstantiated, but outright false.

The basis for their claim to having more truthiness is their claim that Romney wasn't really in charge of Bain in 1999, before the time the events in Obama's commercial occurred. They said he was at first an absentee executive and then a silent investor. Their basis for this claim? Romney said so.

Well. that clears that up! Romney wouldn't lie about something like this would he?

Here's what the Fact Checkers are using as their "proof":

Here’s what Romney has said:

Mitt Romney Public Financial Disclosure Report, Aug. 11, 2011: Mr. Romney retired from Bain Capital on February 11, 1999 to head the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way.

Romney’s signature appears on the line that states: “I certify that statements I have made on this form and all attached schedules are true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge.”

They follow this up with a Bain spokesman iterating the claim.

But then there is this from BizJournals (note the date of the article, August 23, 2001):

W. Mitt Romney is quitting Boston-based Bain Capital, the $13 billion investment firm he started with $35 million in 1984. The son of a former governor and himself a presidential candidate is going into politics in either Massachusetts or Utah after he completes work helping organize next year's Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Romney, 54, is giving up his 100 percent control of Bain Capital to 26 managing directors. The firm has made 170 venture and buyout investments in companies like pizza delivery chain Domino's Pizza Inc., brokerage Datek Online Holdings Corp. and retailers Staples Inc. and the Sports Authority Inc.

Both of these claims cannot be true, since they directly contradict each other. So was Romney lying in 1999 or was he lying in 2001?

For Romney's sake, he'd better have been lying in 2001. For if he was lying in 1999, on official government forms, he would be in deep trouble, per the same Fact Checkers who are defending him:

Making false statements to the federal government is a serious crime (under 18 USC 1001) carrying possible fines and up to five years in federal prison....

Hmmm, maybe we won't need Scott Walker to take Romney down when he gets perpwalked later this year. It looks like Romney should be doing his own perpwalk.

For a full debunking of FactCheckers bunk, I would refer the gentle reader to karoli's article, for which I give her a tip of the crown, for my article.

Scott Walker: Hero of Independence

From Lipstick Liberal:



Heh!

Republican crazies - part 2!

After writing about three republican crazies, this is a whole new brand of crazies that were too insane not too share!

1. Illinois republican congressman and deadbeat dad Joe Walsh.Joe Walsh has a democratic opponent in the November elections  Tammy Duckworth who is a military hero who was severely wounded in service to our country.   Most people would say thank you for your service and sorry for your injuries.  Joe Walsh is just annoyed by them.   

 Walsh has apparently had enough of her histrionics. He told an Elk Grove town hall on Friday that Sen. John McCain was a “noble hero” because he didn’t often talk about his military service. “Now I’m running against a woman who, my God, that’s all she talks about,” Walsh said.

 “I have so much respect for what she did in the fact that she sacrificed her body for this country,” said Walsh. Then, according to Politico, he paused for dramatic effect: “Ehhh. Now let’s move on.”

 Though he never joined the military himself, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) disparaged his Democratic opponent’s military service at a town hall on Sunday, saying that she’s not a “true hero.”

 2. A Republican running for Congress in one of the nation’s most competitive districts claimed that Americans “don’t die from prostate cancer, breast cancer”in order to justify his opposition to health care reform: 

“People now don’t die from prostate cancer, breast cancer and some of the other things,” Collins said. “The fact of the matter is, our healthcare today is so much better, we’re living so much longer, because of innovations in drug development, surgical procedures, stents, implantable cardiac defibrillators, neural stimulators—they didn’t exist 10 years ago. The increase in cost is not because doctors are making a lot more money. It’s what you can get for healthcare, extending your life and curing diseases.”

In reality, 28,000 men die from prostate cancer and 40,000 women die from breast cancer every year! Of course people dieing of cancer mean nothing to the republican party.

3.  ladies if you are not busy on July 24th, I recommend flying to New York where republican male state senator Marty Golden will teach you how to act like a proper lady: 

As part of a summer series on career development directed at his female constituents, Golden is hosting a taxpayer-funded event called “Posture, Deportment and the Feminine Presence” on July 24. Golden promises to teach Bay Ridge women “the art of feminine presence,” which includes tips on how to “sit, stand and walk like a model” and “walk up and down a stair elegantly”:

Dr. Tim's Comedy Tour

local "tea party" speaker and comedian, Dr, Tim Nerenz, is at it again.  Earlier this year, he had a routine where he completely misconstrued and lied about the protests and the recalls.   While his blog is one of the funniest around(although I am not sure that comedy is what he is shooting for), he occasionally comes up with some that stand out.

He did it again. This time trying to attack the Wisconsin Pension system.  

If government securities will return only 3%, then corporate investments must return 10, 12 or even 15% to bring the average returns up to the 7% needed to pay out their pension liabilities.  The YTD return on the S&P 500 is only 7.6%, so corporate profits must roughly double in order to rescue the public pension systems.  

That cracks the room up! 

As Capper shared with us, the Wisconsin Pensions System is strong but the righties still want to get their hands on it! 

But the sad fact is that it's not only the public sector workers' money that would go to feed the monsters of Wall Street, but the taxpayers' money as well. After all, defined benefits plans like the one the state has right now is almost twice as cost effective as the defined contribution plans they want to force on us.

 The reality is that no matter what the Dr. Tim's of the state or the Magyver Institute tries to throw at us, they are lying to you and their one goal is to cash in on YOUR pension system, not to save it!   The Wisconsin Pension system is doing just great without their help! 

A highly anticipated report ordered by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature and released on Monday recommended no changes to Wisconsin’s $77 billion pension system.

But the report’s findings that Wisconsin’s system is strong and should not be changed are not a surprise, Holden said.

“This is a very well-managed system, and I think the report came to that judgment with very good data,” she said.

The report, written by the Department of Administration, the Department of Employee Trust Funds and the Office of State Employment Relations, cited numerous problems that could occur if the state instigated changes.

Defined contribution plans, like a 401(k), are common in private businesses and have no guaranteed payout to retirees. Benefits are guaranteed to workers in a defined benefit plan, as Wisconsin offers its employees. While a defined contribution plan would provide no risk to taxpayers, the report said the professional management of all pooled assets under the current system increases the performance of the defined benefit plan.

Employers and employees would have to pay more to get the same level of benefit they have now if the state would move to a defined contribution system, the report said. It also said such plans typically have higher administrative costs.

The study also raised concerns about allowing workers to opt out of making required payments to the system. Doing that could negatively affect contribution rates for those already in the system and present tax qualification issues with the Internal Revenue Service for the current plan, the report said.

So we see with the report that was written by the Governor's own departments that the best thing to do with our pension system is to leave it alone.   We all know that will not stop Dr. Tim and the rest of the red meaters, from trying to write and talk about how we must change it!   

You can not blame them though, Dr. Tim, Brian Fraley, Christian Schneider , Jimmy Wigderson, are all just political hacks who are unemployable in the real world.  Their best bet is to keep doing, writing and saying what they are told by their corporate masters so they can continue to collect the paychecks. 

 

Of course if college was affordable, maybe they could go back and get an education and realize how silly they actually are!   

Governor Chris Christie Can't Handle Difficult Tasks

  

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently opened up about his weight.  

In an interview with ABC News, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) discussed the issue of his weight, saying, "It's a really difficult thing to deal with."

The Republican governor said, "I've been living with it for a long time, and I'm going to try to get better." He added, "And if I can get better, that'll be great for me and for my family and for the public who likes me ... it's something that's not easy. If it were easy, I'd already have it fixed.”

Christie signaled that he's never considered gastric bypass surgery as a viable solution to address his weight, calling the procedure "too risky."

So very touching.  It is nice that he wants to work on his weight problem.   There was however no mention on if he has plans on trying to control his massive spending of taxpayer dollars on personal luxury items,

Right before the lineup cards were being exchanged on the field, a noise from above distracted the spectators as the 55-foot long helicopter buzzed over trees in left field, circled the outfield and landed in an adjacent football field. Christie disembarked from the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about a 100 yards to the baseball field…

The governor had no public events on his schedule, offering no insight to where he might have been traveling from. He had a private meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion, in Princeton. He is meeting with a group of Iowa donors who have publically expressed a desire to persuade him to run for president in 2012

Or if there is a surgery or treatment to stop him from being an ass:

Or if he can somehow work on telling the truth for a change!    

“Clearly there has been a pattern of the governor playing fast and loose with the details,” said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University. “But so far, he’s been adept at getting the public to believe what he says.”

Mr. Christie, a Republican who took office in January 2010, would hardly be the first politician to indulge in hyperbole or gloss over facts. But his misstatements, exaggerations and carefully constructed claims belie the national image he has built as a blunt talker who gives straight answers to hard questions, especially about budgets and labor relations. Candor is central to Mr. Christie’s appeal, and a review of his public statements over the past year shows some of them do not hold up to scrutiny.

What would you expect I guess with someone who is so tight with Scott Walker?

 "Gov. Christie, I think you might be misunderstanding New Jersey’s slogan -- it's not ‘The Olive Garden State'."  - Jimmy Kimmel

Walker Won't Touch Pension System....Not Yet Anyway.

The long awaited study on the Wisconsin Retirement System has finally been released. And to no one's great surprise, it found that the current system is strong and the best that there is, even though Scott Walker and his Republican henchmen in the state legislature were hoping for different results.

So that means that Walker won't touch the pension system, right? Well, yes, if you're the kind to believe the pap that comes out of squawk radio and Faux News or if you're angling to be David Koch's cabana boy.

In order to test that hypothesis, the best place to start is with what Walker had to say about the study (emphasis mine):

The report released today confirms that both taxpayers and pensioners are getting a great deal with the WRS. Compared to other states, Wisconsin consistently rates among the best performing public pension systems in the country.

Both the State of Wisconsin and WRS must be fiscally sustainable moving forward to ensure that we can meet our outstanding benefit obligations, which I am confident we can do. The long term structural changes we made last year will help ensure that the state is able to fulfill the commitment it has made to pensioners.

I want to be very clear: I am currently not planning to make any substantial changes to the WRS. However, I will continue to work to ensure that the WRS is fiscally sustainable for both taxpayers and retirees.

Well, he certainly leaves himself a lot of wiggle room in between all those code words. But it is not conclusive in itself one way or the other as to what his true intentions are.

Ah, but we have an assist by Walker's right hand man, Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch. His statement regarding the study and the retirement system is a lot more ominous (again, emphasis mine):

DOA Secretary Mike Huebsch stated, “Wisconsin will continue to monitor the health of the current system. It is our duty to make sure Wisconsin taxpayers know their tax dollars are being invested efficiently and state employees know their retirement plans are being well managed.”

The study also evaluated the potential effects of establishing an optional Defined Contribution plan. The findings show a Defined Contribution plan would provide zero risk to taxpayers and provide the portability necessary for a highly qualified and robust 21st century workforce. The Defined Contribution plan would also place an emphasis on individual employee investment choices. However, the study notes the professional management of all pooled assets boosts the current Defined Benefit plan.

“The state will continue to look at potential options for reforming the current system because the workforce of the future may not look like our current workforce,” Secretary Huebsch continued. “Taxpayers deserve to have the best and hardest working employees and a 21st century workforce may prefer portability of benefits and freedom offered by other retirement options.”

In addition, the study reviewed an option for employees to opt-out of required contributions and receive the money purchase annuity. The study raised concerns about the impact of this option on the current Defined Benefit plan, since it would reduce overall contributions to the current system’s cash flow position, which may negatively affect contribution rates for those in the current Defined Benefit plan. This option could also raise qualification issues with the IRS for the current plan.

Given the current financial health of the current system, at this time, the study recommends against implementing either the Defined Contribution or the opt-out option for employees.

I need to point out that there is no way in Fitzwalkerstan that Walker would not have let this release be issued, much less stand pat, unless he approved of it first.

It clearly indicates that the Walker administration will not be satisfied to leave it alone for long.

Indeed, history shows that Walker has an infinity to mucking up pension systems and that he has telegraphed his intention to do the same with the state's system.

As Milwaukee County Executive, he repeatedly and willfully failed to properly fund the pension system (which is separate from the state's system). This quickly led to a debt to the pension fund which was becoming untenable.

To resolve this self-created crisis, Walker proposed a ponzi-like scheme of selling pension obligation bonds. The chosen company to do this was Bearns-Sterns of Chicago. Just because his friend and campaign donor Nick Hurtgen was Vice-President of the company had nothing to do with it.

This proposal, to Walker's chagrin, was shot down in a referendum put to the voters in Milwaukee County. Not to be deterred, Walker still did a pay for play by doing some bid rigging and giving a $300,000 contract for debt restructuring to Hurtgen's company, just about the same time Hurtgen held a fundraiser for Walker which netted $25,000.

Unsurpringly, Hurtgen was later indicted for another pay for play scheme.

But this still left the mess that Walker created in the pension by underfunding it. This was only made worse when the markets crashed at the beginning of the Bush/Cheney recession.

Ha ha! Made you think your
pension is safe with me!

Walker again tried the pension obligation bond scheme. This time he was successful even though the whole thing seemed, and still seems, to be rather sketchy on how well it would work.

Leading up to the 2010 elections, there was a lot of fear that Walker would want to dip into the pension fund. After all, there is a helluva lot of money in there that could be going to benefit and even further enrich his filthy rich campaign donors, instead of being used as the deferred compensation for the workers, who have paid for it in full.

This fear wasn't necessarily misplaced or overblown when one considered what the Bradley Foundation-funded staff at WPRI had to say about it:

Candidate Walker is not the only one taking aim at worker pensions. Earlier this year, former state DOA Secretary George Lightbourn, who now heads the corporate-funded conservative Wisconsin Public Research Institute, described the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) as having “overstayed its welcome” and “far out of the mainstream”. He said Wisconsin’s next governor should “make it a priority to eliminate the insularity that has defined the WRS.” WPRI’s agenda is to privatize the WRS and shift it to a defined contribution plan, transferring billions in Wisconsin investment earnings to the Wall Street banks and investment houses that destroyed our economy and the retirement security of the millions of American workers whowere shifted to defined contribution plans over the last 20 years.

Lightbourn’s group published the study showing that the average worker earning $48,000 may be eligible to receive a monthly pension of $1,712. The same study showed that, in contrast, a private sector worker who earned $70,000 would getapproximately $1,300 a month in retirement. Lightbourn noted that the economic downturn has reduced private sector pensions and that public employee pensions are somehow unfairly insulated from the recession. Like Walker, Lightbourn argues that all public sector workers ought to pay more of pension costs, and that state and local governments should use the savings to offset budget deficits.

The observations of the WPRI called attention to a crisis in the lack of retirement security for many, if not most, American workers. Attacking the WRS misses the point. ETF Secretary Stella noted that there is a retirement crisis in this country,“but it’s not a crisis of having too much income…it’s so disappointing to see the WPRI advocate for slashing benefits for the men and women who protect our communities, teach our children, and serve the public in so many different ways rather than offering solutions to make sure retirement security is achievable by all. We ought to be talking about improving retirement security for everyone in Wisconsin rather than reducing it for some.” We could not agree more. AFSCME,along with other unions, supports enhancing retirement security for all workers.

Indeed, a similar reason not to take Walker's words at face value is the simple fact that the whole idea of attacking public pension systems was one of the evils let loose by the Pandora Box known as ALEC.

And even as Walker is saying he won't touch the pension system - for now - well, even that is a lie.

Due to "an oversight" in Act 10, there is suddenly a need to contribute another $87.5 million to the fund. And that money is going to come from the workers who already took a massive pay cut.

I'm sure that all this sounds real good to the Kool Aid drinkers who listen to squawk radio, watch Fox News or work for the Kochs.

But the sad fact is that it's not only the public sector workers' money that would go to feed the monsters of Wall Street, but the taxpayers' money as well. After all, defined benefits plans like the one the state has right now is almost twice as cost effective as the defined contribution plans they want to force on us.

Then again, there has been an abundance of evidence that Walker's agenda is not one to protect the workers and the taxpayers, but how the best to get every last cent from them and give it to the ones he really cares about - the ones that bought him the governorship and who will, he hopes, by him the presidency some day.

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.

Tommy Thompson: A Week Late and $350 dollars short!

Well known manure farmer Tommy Thompson gave a speech recently where he attempted to show his credentials as a serious politician who wants to be your Senator.  Unfortunately for Tommy all he did was show why he needs to just go away,    His failed attempts at coming out of retirement make Wisconsinites yearn for Bret Favre.     Tommy while speaking of his "leadership" skills, tells us of his leadership skills after 9/18.   Yes he got the date wrong of THE defining event of our lifetime(one of which he was part of the administration in charge).  It has to be heard to be believed!  




of course whats even worse than Tommy messing up the date is his campaign failed and feeble attempt to explain this flub.

"There are two plausible explanations as to the recent 9/18 versus 9/11 reference made by Tommy Thompson at a recent event," said campaign spokesman Brian Nemoir. "First, the entire civilized world has the wrong date of this historic and tragic attack on our nation's soil; second, during a spirited campaign appearance Tommy Thompson misspoke regarding an horrific episode in our country’s history during which he played a key leadership role. The campaign is fully examining both scenarios."

He declined to answer a follow-up question on whether that meant Thompson had misspoken.

Tommy can't even be honest when he mis speaks and he thinks the people of Wisconsin will not notice or hold him accountable?  

Now we see why he has donated to democrats throughout his career, he needs all of the help he can get!  It is not really surprising though, taking a cue from Mitt Romney, Tommy Thompson is denouncing everything he ever accomplished in his political career!    

Maybe he is better off not speaking until he has had a few cold ones:



Tammy Baldwin is the only real choice for the Wisconsin US Senate seat!

Scott Michalak For The 38th Assembly District

This evening, I had the opportunity to speak with Scott Michalak, who is running against Rep. Joel "Get in mah bellay" Kleefisch.

Scott is a plain spoken man who doesn't have a glamorous history.  He doesn't have a history in politics.  He isn't what you might call a "rock star."

Who Scott is is a good husband, proud father and a hard-working man who, like so many of us, can't stand to see what is happening to our state.  And what he brings is what he wants to bring to the Capitol - common sense.

He is sickened by the continuous attack on the middle class and on workers like you and I.  And he knows what is going on because he's experienced it first hand.  Scott worked for 20 years in dairy food plants, making things like International Delight Coffee Creamer. (Did you know that International Delight was never meant to be put in coffee? It was originally made to be an additive to pancake batter.  The fact that it was good in coffee was found purely accidentally.)

Scott lost his job when, like we've been seeing all to often in our state, the companies decided that they wanted to increase their profit margins by closing plants and laying off workers.  Now he drives a truck for a living.

Scott's worked in both union shops and in non-union ones, and so he knows first hand the importance of unions in protecting workers' rights and making sure they are able to get paid a fair wage for the work they do to make the company successful.

Another reason why Scott knows what is going on and is outraged by it is because his wife is a teacher.  He compared Wisconsin's high ranking in ACT scores, graduation rates and other measures against the non-unionized states like Texas, which came in dead last in the nation in these same categories.  He knows that the Republicans' agenda will bring our schools down to these pitiful examples. As Scott pointed out, when it comes to the quality of education, you get what you pay for.  And people like Joel Kleefisch don't want to pay for a quality education for our children.

Scott is also fed up with the blatant disregard and disrespect that Joel Kleefisch has shown for his own constituents.

Scott has already been calling his opponent out on the prime example of how much disdain Kleefisch holds for the people - the way Kleefisch used his influence to protect the wealthy Richard Herr, the man who dumped many times the legal limit of effluence on fields near the drinking wells of dozens of homes.  Kleefisch did so for no other reason that the fact that Herr is a campaign contributor to both him and his wife, Lt. Governor Rebecca "Stop looking at me that way, end table" Kleefisch.  From Scott's press release on this matter:

“Out on doors I heard a theme from voters: What the heck are they thinking in Madison?” stated Michalak. “Their questions were simple, but blunt: Is my drinking water clean after Herr Environmental dumped human waste in our neighborhood? Why isn’t Herr Environmental paying to test my well? How did Herr Environmental get such a light punishment from the DNR? And why did Joel Kleefisch stand up for polluters instead of me?”  

An investigation by the Wisconsin State Journal found that Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc) quietly lobbied the DNR for leniency for a campaign contributor that dumped human waste near drinking water wells.  

“Rep. Kleefisch doesn’t need to answer my questions; he needs to answer the questions of the good people of our district,” said Michalak. “The fact that he’s putting the interests of a campaign contributor ahead of constituents is sleazy and wrong. These people deserve answers from their representative in Madison.”  

Recently, the Department of Natural Resources stated that they would not order Herr Environmental to pay for private well tests to see if their wells have been contaminated. For the human waste spreading violations in the Town of Concord, Herr Environmental has only been fined $4000; a figurative slap-on-the-wrist.  

Michalak finished with: “It’s disgusting that spreading human waste has drawn such light punishment from the DNR, which is charged with protecting our natural resources. But for Rep. Kleefisch to stand up for polluters and not have the guts to answer these questions is reprehensible.” 

Scott told me that he has spoken to many of the people that were affected by Herr's dumping of effluence which worked its way into their drinking water.  People reported getting sick and even developing serious illnesses they believe are attributable to their drinking this now tainted water.  

One of these wells were tested for the pollutants and came out way above safe limits.  It cost the owner $1,000 for the test and another $300 to get the water potable again.  The well owner will have to do it again in a few months as well.  And this money is coming out of the owner's pocket since Kleefisch didn't think that this family, or any of the others likewise affected, were as important as his campaign contributor.

Kleefisch also turned the blind eye when Herr had a second, unapproved and unlicensed storage tank put in or when he tried to charge people $6,000 for a job that another company charged only $350.

Other things that Scott mentioned is Kleefisch's hypocrisy by supporting the Voter ID bill and then turning around and voting for all of his Republican friends, betraying his own stance of one person, one vote.

You can learn more of the common sense ideas he stands for and wants to bring to Madison at his website and his Facebook page.  It is these common sense ideas which has earned him the endorsements of the Teamsters, SEIU and Clean Wisconsin.

But Scott does have one problem. He's going up against a guy that has the wealth of the Koch brothers and the Bradley Foundation behind him.  Meanwhile, everyone was donating to Tom Barrett and Lori Compas.  He doesn't begrudge them this, but he is in need of raising some money fast.

You can either donate to his Act Blue page or attend his kickoff fundraiser at the Keystone Grill in Cambridge, WI on July 11.  He is going to have State Representatives Andy Jorgensen and Brett Hulsey as guest speakers.

But whatever you can do, please help. We need people like Scott to stand up for us as opposed to people like Kleefisch who would rather stand on our necks.

Republican Goonies - Follow up!

I wrote recently about the fact that our congressmen are speaking like a bunch of tenth graders and how that fit well with one of Bill Maher's recent New Rules segments:

 "I'm not trying to slam these kids, because being an asshole is totally understandable when you're fourteen," Maher says. "But my point is to Republican adults. When 14-year old boys sound exactly like you do... maybe you should rethink the shit that's coming out of your mouth."

Politico took notice of this segment also and did a follow up on 13 year old republican author and hero of the right Jonathan Krohn.   It turns out Mr. Krohn is not the darling of the right anymore, he received an education! 

Jonathan Krohn took the political world by storm at 2009’s Conservative Political Action Conference when, at just 13 years old, he delivered an impromptu rallying cry for conservatism that became a viral hit and had some pegging him as a future star of the Republican Party.

Now 17, Krohn — who went on to write a book, “Defining Conservatism,” that was blurbed by the likes of Newt Gingrich and Bill Bennett — still watches that speech from time to time, but it mostly makes him cringe because, well, he’s not a conservative anymore.

Then the former republican golden boy gives his thoughts on the former 13 year old right wing star, but his inner reflection could also be a nice review of the right wing hate sqaukers who are only one trick ponies.  

“I think it was naive,” Krohn now says of the speech. “It’s a 13-year-old kid saying stuff that he had heard for a long time.… I live in Georgia. We’re inundated with conservative talk in Georgia.… The speech was something that a 13-year-old does. You haven’t formed all your opinions. You’re really defeating yourself if you think you have all of your ideas in your head when you were 12 or 13. It’s impossible. You haven’t done enough.”

Krohn is basically saying that when all you hear is one thing your whole life all you do is parrot it you have no idea the nuances of an issue.  So what is the cure to this?  Education of course!

“One of the first things that changed was that I stopped being a social conservative,” said Krohn. “It just didn’t seem right to me anymore. From there, it branched into other issues, everything from health care to economic issues.… I think I’ve changed a lot, and it’s not because I’ve become a liberal from being a conservative — it’s just that I thought about it more. The issues are so complex, you can’t just go with some ideological mantra for each substantive issue.”

Krohn is bucking the received wisdom that people become more conservative as they get older, a shift he attributes partly to philosophy.

“I started reflecting on a lot of what I wrote, just thinking about what I had said and what I had done and started reading a lot of other stuff, and not just political stuff,” Krohn said. “I started getting into philosophy — Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Kant and lots of other German philosophers. And then into present philosophers — Saul Kripke, David Chalmers. It was really reading philosophy that didn’t have anything to do with politics that gave me a breather and made me realize that a lot of what I said was ideological blather that really wasn’t meaningful. It wasn’t me thinking. It was just me saying things I had heard so long from people I thought were interesting and just came to believe for some reason, without really understanding it. I understood it enough to talk about it but not really enough to have a conversation about it.”

Open your mind, think critically and continue your education and all of sudden the republican philosophy and politicians just are not so interesting or exciting anymore.

Of course Scott Walker is fully aware of this!   

 

Scott Walker's Political Philosophy

Yup, sounds about right to me.