Just to show how bent out of shape conservative opportunists
are, wacko Wall Street columnist John Fund tried to jump on the IRS tea party
controversy, but instead showed just how big a scam the tax exempt status was
for teatards.
But that’s not all, Scott Walker has even weighed in, as he
appeals to the easier to convince low information voter we know as teabillies.
Fund is outraged that many tea party groups didn't get the
chance to get out the vote. Oops, that’s social welfare and not politics? John
Fund must know tea parties could have just filed the paper work, advocating under the radar. He did make it clear tea parties were all about
politics, which could end up being exhibit b in the case against allowing any
of these groups tax exempt status (including liberal ones).
Here’s what Fund wrote, featuring our very own hot ticket the
imperial Scott Walker:
Newsmax: The IRS could be directly to blame for lower voter turnout
during the 2012
election after conservative groups were left sidelined by the
IRS decision to target them, according to John Fund … it now turns out there
may have [been] suppression of the vote after all," he wrote, pointing to
a conversation he had with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who said, "It
looks like a lot of tea-party groups were less active or never got off the
ground because of the IRS actions. Sure seems like people were discouraged by
it."
So voting suppressed is good under Walker's view that hoop after hoop be put in place, but tea party costumed freaks and retirees should electioneer tax free with no regulation?
Since dropping the bomb that her division of the IRS had been improperly giving extra scrutiny to conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, Lois Lerner, head of the IRS Exempt Organizations division, has kept quiet. Tuesday, she made it official,pleading the Fifth at a House Oversight Committee.
But why? We can thank Rep. Darrell Issa. Here's the explanation from Martin Bashir and former House counsel Julian Epstein:
Teabilly’s are up in arms over the quick implementation of
the Common Core Standards that had been in the planning stages for years, and
implemented nationwide over the last three years.
Catching up as usual, the slow low information tea party
voter only heard of Common Core after extremist former congressman and now Republican Gov. Mike Pence
blocked implementation in Indiana.
Common Core is nothing new and has been in place world wide
for years. The U.S. has seen their success rates and have adopted many of the
more successful standards. Tea Party dunderheads assume it’s a curriculum,
which it is not. They are…”Standards,” it’s right in the name.
WKOW-Greg Neumann: Opponents of new national education standards are
hoping to put a stop to them here in Wisconsin, but public school officials say
that would be a big mistake. Since 2010, Wisconsin public schools have been
working to meet Common Core Standards. Those are nationwide achievement
goals the National Governor's Association established and that 45 states have
now adopted. "They're skill based standards. It’s what kids
will be able to demonstrate and how they will be able to apply their knowledge
versus just knowing. That's a pretty big difference," said West Bend Superintendent Ted
Neitzke, one of a handful of people invited to speak to the Joint Education
Committee.
And wouldn't you know it, Teabillies don’t like the idea of tougher educational
standards:
Neitzke says Common Core Standards are much tougher than what Wisconsin had
previously.
Understandably, Wisconsin’s own Northwoods Patriots are
having a hard time grasping even the underlying concept of Common Core, not to
mention its success rate in countries that are testing much higher than the
U.S.. And since it's new, it’s also a work in progress.
But the Northwoods Patriots just noticed something started way back in 2010:
But a group donning T-shirts that read "Stop Common
Core" is challenging that idea. "In January when we came to ask
'please can you explain to us what's going on with Common Core Standards?'
I don't often bring up appearances, but just check out the blank look in the CCS opponents face (Kim Simac), and her embarrassingly uninformed observation. She ran unsuccessfully for our state senate:
"In my mind it’s a prototype that was put together and
sent out there and we've adopted it without even having anything to go on to
prove that it’s going to help our children to excel," said Simac, a member
of the Northwoods Patriots tea party group. "This is an old issue for us, we're already mapping
into other things," said Neitzke. "And then to stop the
momentum that's been behind it in the State of Wisconsin would be pretty
difficult."
There's a very good reason why we call tea party members "teatards" or "teabillies." The following recent protest over the IRS's targeting of crooked tea party groups lying to get tax exempt status in Green Bay is exhibit A.
Teabillies aimed their rifles at stacks of paper representing the tax code. I'm utterly speechless. This was a good idea? One teatard whined about the complicated tax code, which by the way was created by big business seeking every loophole possible, all the while wearing a US Bank hat. Maybe he didn't understand what caused the Great Recession? Breathtakingly bizarre and mind numbing, these sheeple will continue to parrot their big donor talking points, oblivious to the world around them.
My conservative friend in Milwaukee likes to blame Obama for
making cuts to Medicare that will drive hospitals and doctors out of the program.
But Obama and the Republicans are both trying to rein in costs by cutting payments
to hospitals and doctors.
But surprise, it looks like Republicans are now in the
driver’s seat when it comes to stripping Medicare of provider hospitals and
doctors. With their backing of high deductible Health Savings Accounts and the
sequester, folly they said would not result in anything dramatic, providers are
losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Here's the audio:
Like I've been saying for years because I've had them, HSA’s discourage the insured from
seeking care, which is great for insurers but lousy for the sick and medical
community.
WPR: Ministry Health Care plans
to cut between 225 and 250 full-time-equivalent workers at its 15 hospitals and
47 clinics. In a news release, two factors were cited: high deductible health
insurance plans that are keeping people from seeking medical care, and federal sequestration budget
cuts, which include a 2 percent reduction in Medicare payments to hospitals and
physicians. Ministry officials say those cuts are costing them $10 million. Steve Brenton, president of the Wisconsin Hospital Association,
says Ministry is not the only medical organization being hurt by sequestration.
“We have estimated that the one-year impact of sequestration — these Medicare
budget cuts — is about $100 million for Wisconsin's 140 hospitals.”
I actually talked my doctors ear off asking him questions
about the fate of Medicare, and he pretty much said the following:
Brenton there's another $30 million dollars in Medicare cuts
for the physicians who are employed by those hospitals. He says other Wisconsin
medical facilities may have to join Ministry in laying off workers. “I would not be surprised at all. I know based
on anecdotal information that many organizations have implemented targeted
hiring freezes. And the bottom line is, if your revenues are going to be down
$130 million dollars, it's going to have an impact on your ability to pay for
expenses.”
Having been a real estate agent, I know the importance of
contracts, and my jaw dropped to the floor when I read this:
jsonline: Rent-to-own stores could encourage customers to sign
agreements that
included blank spaces that would be filled in later, under a
plan by Gov. Scott Walker coming before a key committee Thursday.
If this is anything, it’s a lesson for voters who put to
much faith into completely unqualified elected officials. These guys couldn't do anything else, so they got into freeloading small government politics.
The following will make you gasp.
The provision is one of several in the Republican governor's
2013-'15 budget bill that would weaken consumer protections for those who shop
at rent-to-own stores, such as potentially keeping spouses from learning of
contracts they were liable for and preventing state regulators from shutting
down stores that intentionally violated disclosure laws. A liberal Democratic and conservative Republican lawmaker on
opposite sides of the overall rent-to-own provision both criticized the blank
spaces section in the bill Wednesday, suggesting it might be changed. "Oh my God, that is a horrendously bad idea," said
Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee), a member of the Legislature's budget
committee. "You're asking people to sign a blank check." Currently, state law requires that a statement appear on
rent-to-own contracts and other credit agreements that says, "Do not sign
this before you read the writing on the reverse side, even if otherwise
advised. Do not sign this if it contains any blank spaces. You are entitled to
an exact copy of any agreement you sign." That requirement would go away under Walker's proposal, according to a detailed analysis by the nonpartisan
Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Consumers can wind up paying as much as 500% more than what
they would if they bought the products outright with cash, according to the
state Department of Financial Institutions.
The ego enveloped arrogance of Dumb Ron Johnson is just too much to take anymore. Did Wisconsinites vote for this kind of unencumbered cruelty in pursuit of a balanced budget?
Conservative GOP senator Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said
that any emergency aid bill must include matching spending cuts to ensure there
is no increase in the budget deficit.
“We should be able to find plenty of areas in the budget to
offset that,” said Mr. Johnson, a tea-party backed lawmaker from Wisconsin. “I
would vote against a bill that didn’t include offsets.”
This ABC video summary should tell you everything you need to know about Johnson's detached irrational response. One more thing, anyone want to continue to beat up on teachers?:
Esquire: We haven't looked in recently on the activities of Scott
Walker, the twice-elected goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to
manage their Midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin. It
seems that he and his pet legislature has decided to put what's left of
the state's public patrimony out on card tables in the driveway to see who
pulls up the old minivan to haul it away.
What could possibly go wrong there? And if there really is an explanation for
how negotiations with a single buyer can be competitive that does not include
the phrase, "schizophrenic episode," I'd like to hear it.
The plan has generated fierce opposition from supporters of the University of
Wisconsin System, who say allowing the sale of UW buildings without the
approval of the Board of Regents could be detrimental … Student unions, built
with student fees, are central to student life, as are residence halls that
also potentially could be sold under the governor's proposal, said Matt Guidry,
communications director for United Council of UW Students.
Go to sleep in your dorm. Wake up in a Taco Bell. Sounds like a plan. From WKOW:
Even some of the Republicans in the pet legislature seem to
think this plan is dangerously ill-conceived. Oh, and the $8 billion debt that
this bill is supposed to address? That is not exactly hard to explain, either (jsonline: “Scott
Walker's budget to lower income tax rates, freeze local aid”)
Taking further aim at the teaching profession, Republicans hate it so much when teachers collect benefits earned previously and get them after going back to work for less, that they want to penalize them or just stop them completely. We're talking just 2,800 employees. Worth it?
jsonline: Public workers would have to wait longer, 75 days after retirement before they could return to the government workforce and in some cases would be barred from receiving retirement benefits while working the new job, under a double-dipping provision Republicans on the Legislature's budget committee … The measure passed 12-4, with all Republicans voting for it and all Democrats voting against it.
This will cost taxpayers...of course, like everything else base on pure ideology. They are the great envious judges of unfairness.
It seems almost everything Scott Walker and his "pet legislature" is doing is costing taxpayers more and more. Job training for FoodShare will cost taxpayers $26 million a year, turning down Medicaid expansion will cost $73 million, not to mention businesses paying up to $36 million a year for employees, interest on borrowed road construction costs and interest, costly changes to voting regulations, public schools raising taxes to make up for lost voucher money...that's just a sample. And then on top of that, he wants to throw away the upcoming internet sales tax revenue on cutting income taxes even more.
And when we go from feast to famine...how's that going to work out?
We've already covered this part of the plan for draconian FoodShare
cut backs:
jsonline: Requiring basic job training from able-bodied participants
in the state's food stamp program would cause about half of them to drop out of
the program — a total of tens of thousands of people statewide and 14,500 in
just Milwaukee.
But did you know it will actually cost taxpayers $26 million a year? And state government will see no financial gain. WPR’s
Shawn Johnson:
What does it mean when more kids are eligible for free or
reduced school lunches? It says their parents incomes are falling behind, or they’re
not working at all. So is this the time to cut back on FoodShare? Get tougher
on unemployment job searches? Dump families off Badgercare?
This is what Walker meant by turning out State Red?
If you’re Scott Walker, yes. Who hasn't been angered by the following irresponsible and inappropriate argument Walker gave for achieving "freedom?" When he repeats, "not because we...kick them out to the street...to the curb," it's an acknowledgement that that's exactly what will happen, and he's okay with that.
Walker: "We measure success in government by just the opposite:
by how many fewer people are dependent on government, not because we kicked
them out to the street, not because we pushed then out to the curb, but because
we understand that true freedom and prosperity come when we empower people to
take control of their own lives and their own destinies."
These are destinies that empower people as they live on the “street,” or
off to the “curb.”
The truth is, free and reduced school lunches shines a bright
light on what real prosperity is…Walker style; low wages and lousy desperate jobs.
WPR: The larger numbers of students in Wisconsin receiving free and
reduced-price school meals has increased for the ninth straight school year. Over
43 percent of public school students in the state qualified for subsidized
breakfast and lunch this school year - up nearly a percent from last year. Ten
years ago, (it was) around 30 percent. 110 Wisconsin school districts now have
50 percent or more of their students who are eligible for free or reduced-price
meals. That's out of a total of 414 districts in the state that participate in
the National School Lunch Program.
One of the dumbest guys in our state assembly, Rep. Don
Pridemore, is proposing the ultimate in what appears to be an outright voter
intimidation bill. In his view, election observers need to be closer to voters
at every stage of the process, close enough to get names and addresses or make
the experience
Poll Observer?
itself very unpleasant.
Current law allows conservative whack jobs to shout at you
from 6-12 feet away; Pridemore moves that up to only 5 feet away (originally he
wanted 3 feet).
Racine’s experience during the recall elections should have
been a warning to everyone, but it wasn't. Shouting matches, conflicting eye
witness accounts, conspiracy theories about voter fraud…what’s not to
like?
This is only the beginning of in-your-face
bullying tactics surrounding elections. These are tactics you’d expect to see
in third world nations.
WPR: The bill sponsored by Rep. Don Pridemore (R-Erin)
originally allowed election observers to be within three feet. He's now pushed
it back (to 5) feet. But for some, that's still too close. Pewaukee election
clerk Nancy Zastrow says poll workers need elbow room. But an election board
commissioner in Milwaukee, Bob Spindell, supports the bill: “When
somebody can't see what's going on they immediately think fraud, problems, et
cetera.”
Ah, that's why we have election officials...never mind. We’re not talking about liberal poll observers either; both
sides don’t do it. The question is, why do "they" need to “see what’s going on?”
Democrats on the Assembly election committee repeatedly
asked anyone mentioning or asserting fraud to verify how widespread it is.
During the 2012 election, Milwaukee County prosecuted only 10 people for voter
fraud. The election commission director for Milwaukee, Neil Albrecht, told
lawmakers this is problematic: “Observing their production of confidential
documents is concerning and intimidating, particularly in an era of increasing
awareness of identity theft.”
I was just fascinated by this article by Shawn Bean, a great columnist for Parenting Magazine. He writes the Pop Culture section, and if like this, he's got more of the same at his site.
Why Do Women Even Start Families With Men? By Shawn Bean Over the past five years, sperm banks have emerged as one of America’s biggest growth industries, to the tune of $320 million in annual revenue. California Cryobank, one of the largest sperm banks in the country, is doing all kinds of things to woo potential clients, including letting them shop for sperm donors based on the celebrities they resemble. As a byproduct of the unimaginable crimes allegedly perpetrated by a man in Cleveland, I’m betting that California Cryobank adds a few more zeroes to its next quarterly earnings report. I’m betting that more and more women start acing men out of the family planning process. And well they should. In his last HBO stand-up comedy special, Louis CK makes a funny but astute point about women dating men. “How do women still go out with guys, when you consider that there is no greater threat to women than men? We’re the number one threat to women. Globally and historically, we’re the number one cause of injury and mayhem to women… You know what the number one threat [to men] is? Heart disease.” Sad but true. One in 6 women have experienced stalking victimization, compared to 1 in 19 men. Nearly 1 in 5 women report experiencing rape at some time in their lives. (For men, it’s 1 in 71.) Men are the child sex abusers in 86 percent of the cases reported against boys and 94 percent of the cases reported against girls. In cases of non-family-related abductions, 86 percent of the kidnappers are male, and the victims are almost exclusively female. In 80 percent of intimate partner homicides, no matter which partner was killed, the man physically abused the woman before the murder. The murder of women is so common it has its own term: Femicide. There is no mascucide. Headline News recently asked the question: why is the Jodi Arias trail so popular with moms? Because for women, it’s like watching the trial of a golden-mantled tree kangaroo, or some other endangered species. It’s simply something they never see. Try this exercise: Think of all the men who have been tried and/or convicted of murdering a woman or multiple women. Run out of fingers yet? Now try the same exercise with women who have killed men. OK, let’s see. Arias. That woman Charlize Theron portrayed in Monster. Uhhh…. When it comes to scaring, threatening, killing, or causing bodily harm to the opposite sex, men are the New York Yankees, and women are a middle school intramural squad who have to borrow their cleats and jerseys. Yet women continue to go on first dates with us. They keep friending us. They haven’t stopped saying, “I do.” And most amazingly, they still start families with us. These kinds of violent behaviors are passed down like burdensome heirlooms. Consider this: Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults. It must be the men and fathers here today who break the cycle, and raise sons free of the horror that preceded them. It’s either that, or one day California Cryobank stock will be soaring alongside Apple and Google.
