Charter School, after losing 7% of Students, Sues State over Decreased Taxpayer Funding. Double Standard?

For private educators at charter schools, syphoning taxpayer dollars from public schools is just part of a competitive market place, where only the strong survive. But if that "school for hire" loses students and state funding based on enrollment, suddenly, nothing could be more unfair. (Just a reminder: This is only the beginning. Private business interests will never want to stop reaching into the pockets of cash strapped taxpayers sold on the money saving promises of "choice.")

AP — A public charter school in Boise, Idaho needs an additional $180,000 to pay teachers their final paycheck for the 2008-2009 school year … Hidden Springs Charter School says administrators were counting on the outcome of a lawsuit to pay teachers through the end of the year.

The charter school lost 7 percent of its students during the 2007-2008 school year,
and filed a lawsuit in November after the state decreased its funding by about
$250,000 due to the enrollment drop. In June, an Idaho judge upheld the state
Department of Education's decision to reduce funding for the charter school based on the number of student enrolled.

How crazy is that? It appears the privateers are addicted to taxpayer handouts of support. Where’s all that free market talk now?

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Free Enterprise allows "the ability to fail or succeed beyond Wildest imaginations." And it did.

If you're still not sure what direction conservatives want to take this country economically, take a look at the following commentary from Thomas Donohue from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce's James Buchen.

Donohue wants to remind American's that "what creates the wealth, creates the jobs in this country is the free enterprise system, with free capital markets, with free trade and the ability to fail or succeed beyond your wildest imaginations." Well, we certainly succeeded at "failing," beyond anyones wildest imagination. Thank you Mr. Donohue. He ends with a real head scratcher on business and universal health care, saying if we remove the insurance obligation by employers, we would put the U.S. in a "non-competitive position." Huh?



WMC's James Buchen denies he ever said he wanted Wisconsin to be like Alabama, which is an outright lie. Upfront's host Mike Gousha reminds him that that's exactly what he said, and that Alabama has lower graduation rates, lower education achievement, higher poverty rates and lower median income. Buchen defends what he said he didn't say, by adding, "from the standpoint of what state government can do I think we can look at taxes and regulations, and we can say hmm, maybe some changes could be made." Adding some sanity to the debate, Zack Brandon from the Wisconsin Commerce Department dispels the "bad for business" message from the states largest, supposedly pro-business lobby.

The idea that business is in someway a separate system of government that should be left alone to make its own set of rules for the sole purpose of making a profit, operating along side the federal system as foreseen by our founding fathers, is a dysfunctional bizarro world vision doomed to fail. And it did.

Car Czars Drive Gas Guzzlers! Fox News is OUTRAGED.

Did you ever wonder why you get that panicky phone call from your conservative friend from time to time? Or have you wondered why a simple debate turns into a shouting match instantly, with your Republican friend calling you a socialist?


It's likely they were either listening to a frantic Conservative radio talk show host or watching Fox News predict the end of America. The day time Fox News hosts are always foaming at the mouth, talking over guests comments and answering their own questions. If it wasn't so scary it would be funny.


Like the following example. FBN's Eric Bolling, co-host of Happy Hour, is so outraged he lashes out at the Car Czars for owning quality "gas guzzling Lincoln Town cars and foreign vehicles, suggesting they could never get the American auto companies to produce small fuel efficient cars. Could it be that Ed Montgomery and Steven Ratner, lacking small green car ownership, have disqualified themselves from being America's Car Czar?


Oddly, this is what passes for an intelligent, fair and balanced discussion on Fox News daytime.

Forget the GOP, Palin's Persecution Party is Calling. Rachel Maddow Explains.

With varying success, I have tried to simplify the confusing mixed up messages flowing freely from the Republican Party. It ain't been easy. But rejoice, Rachel Maddow is also breaking down those crazy signals from the right, coming up with this classic Sarah Palinism "I'm not a quiter, I'm a fighter."

Mark McKinnon throws in a few memorable lines, like Palin's new "persecution movement." I suppose we could call it the Persecution Party, or PP. You know where I'm going with that.

Just a few Points about My Position on Vouchers

I hope voucher supporters are successful getting more of the conservative states to enact statewide programs. Advantage "blue" states.

Besides adding a profit motive to scarce taxpayer resources, voucher schools are already gaming the system, while private schools are already asking for more money to support and expand existing schools. These rising costs will soon meet or exceed per student prices conservatives complain about now in the public sector, and voucher advocates will eventually pay more, losing the current money saving advantage.

Here are two examples: Wasted Taxpayer dollars, Charters need More.

Most articles refer only of political wins, not actual program accountability or student improvements that can be quantified. It seems voucher advocates want to ignore the fact that private schools don't have to listen to or work with voucher parents. They can pretend like they care, just like the customer service departments at Wal-Mart, but that hardly passes as real concern.

My hope is the states taking this plunge will reap the costs and student failure rates we're seeing now in study after study. It may sacrifice a few million children's educational opportunities, but it would be better for few states to fail than the entire country. Keep up the down the "rabbit hole thinking" for purely ideological reasons. Voucher backer Mitch Daniels, who defended the Bush tax cuts by saying (paraphrasing)"Don't worry, we have surpluses as far as the eyes can see," is as right about vouchers as he was about federal tax cuts.

This proves once again that actual policy results take a back seat to the Republicans obsession with winning political battles base on ideology.

Wisconsin GOP Bashes Pro Business Group. Too Liberal.

When you see a headline like, “New Wis. business group draws GOP criticism,” you have to wonder why any organization supporting business would anger conservatives. The answer is simple:

AP- A Republican state lawmaker is criticizing a new statewide business group, saying it's nothing more than a front for Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

The truth is, Republicans are owned by big business, so how can a more centrist liberal organization ever represent the corporate/Republican Party business model? Rep. Robin Vos appears to be tearing back the curtain, and admitting that the GOP represents business, not the people who cast their votes for representation. Is it so impossible for the Wisconsin Business Council to include representatives from AT&T, Park Bank and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield?

The problem is (a problem for Democrats and not Republicans), is that the director is former Doyle administration official Marc Marotta. Republican former lawmakers can head up, own and represent any organization they want, but Democratic officials are barred from making a living once they leave office. They're not allowed to spread their liberal philosphy.

The very idea that “The council says its goal is to develop a pro-business, pro-employment agenda,” instead of declaring publicly every chance they get how bad Wisconsin is for business, is just the opposite message they want to give to the free market, anti-government zealots.

Republican state Rep. Robin Vos of Caledonia says if the group were serious it would have organized to fight parts of the recently passed budget. Those parts include higher taxes and fees that other businesses publicly opposed.

Of course, Vos isn’t going to mention the absense of WMC when the state tried to get GM to reopen the Janesville plant. They were a no show. They didn’t say a word or spend a penny. Rep. Vos must think there is only one side to the business philosophy. Vos apparently bought into the GOP’s misinformation campaign.

Are we about to see the return of corporate responsibility to states and local communities?

God help us.

Hey State Senator "Texas" Ted Kanavas, See Ya Later.

I love creative idea's like the one shown here. A week ago, one of the BIG thinkers at Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce suggested we be more like Alabama. Now we have a State Senator, Ted Kanavas, wishing we were more like Texas. Did you ever get the idea these Republican scoundrels would feel right at home in the southern United States? One Wisconsin Now is taking Texas Ted to task;

"If we don't change and change soon, I may bump into my lawyer friend again, but it just might be in Texas." -- Senator Ted Kanavas's threat to move to Texas, 6/30/09

Last week, I pointed out how ridiculous it is for Texas Ted to claim Texas is better than Wisconsin. Texas ranks dead last of all 50 states in health care coverage and children with health insurance, but first in teenage birthrate and the number of state-sponsored executions. The Lone Star State has the lowest high school graduation rate, the dirtiest air and water, the third highest number of convicted public officials and the lowest voter turnout in the nation.

So far, Sen. Ted Kanavas hasn't made good on his threat to take his failed ideas to the Lone Star State. The One Wisconsin Now community has taken notice. Many of you responded to our call to send Texas Ted a message about his desire to leave our great state, and one theme quickly emerged: "Love it or leave it!"-Arno M.

Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now

I love it.

If you thought Public Schools Wasted Taxpayer Dollars, Check out what Private Charter schools are doing.

Some Charter schools are robbing taxpayers blind, and more will follow once they start noticing how others are learning to game the system. In Republican states, where little if any regulation is in place, private schools will have a field day. Is the Obama administration paying attention?

The Dallas Morning News: Charter School Company’s Lease Deals Criticized

A national charter school company that plans to open new schools in Texas has run afoul of an education official in Nevada and two of its former principals, and they all pose the same question.

Does Imagine Schools Inc. force its charter schools to spend too much money on complex real estate deals and not enough money on teachers and academic programs?

Typically, after an Imagine-managed charter school gets approval to open, Schoolhouse Finance, Imagine's real estate arm, purchases a campus and charges the school rent. After the school begins to pay that rent, Schoolhouse sells the campus to a real estate investment trust, which then leases it back to Schoolhouse.

The charter school eventually sends rent payments – in one case upward of 40 percent of the school's entire publicly funded budget – to two for-profit companies.

"The arrangement is very lucrative because it's a direct conduit to public funds. The school [property] is paid off with public funds," said Gary Horton, who oversees charter school funding for the Nevada Department of Education.

Imagine executives say their business practices are sound and comply with all state laws, according to Barry Sharp, Imagine's chief financial officer. After hearing testimony about Imagine's complex deals to acquire land and construct school buildings, Texas Board of Education member David Bradley asked Sharp, "So are you in the real estate business or the charter [school] business?"

Sharp responded, "We are in the business of educating children and giving parents a choice, and part of that is real estate."

In Nevada, the state awarded 100 Academy of Excellence in North Las Vegas a charter, and the school hired Imagine to run its educational services. But 100 Academy of Excellence's annual rent, which represents 40 percent of its annual state-funded budget, leaves the school struggling to pay for textbooks, according to Nevada Department of Education records. "My concern is that I have to make payments [to the charter school], and I know the payments aren't going to the kids," said Guy Horton, who oversees charter school funding for the Nevada Department of Education.

In general, charter schools in Texas are exempt from the financial oversight that the state education officials give school districts. The agency annually grades how school districts spend their money, but not yet for charters. Hugh Wallace knew accepting the principal's job at 100 Academy of Excellence in North Las Vegas presented a challenge. Eight months into the job, he said, he realized that nearly 40 percent of his state funding went to pay rent to Schoolhouse Finance. And the rent jumps a few percent each year, according to the charter school's lease agreement.

So Wallace said he asked his boss if the school's lease on the 50,000-square-foot building could be reduced. "I was told to never ask about the lease payment or I would get fired," he said. "I was given a reprimand." But Wallace kept asking about the lease and about Imagine's control of the charter school. Wallace said Imagine fired him in early November. "I was asking too many questions about finances and operations," he said.

So if it’s legal, is it fair to use taxpayer money for high rents, allow private schools to profit from those rents and finally give parents a choice?
A nearby charter school unrelated to Imagine receives about the same state funding as 100 Academy of Excellence. But last year, it paid about 14 percent of its state funding for building rent, according to Nevada's education department.

Republican State Rep. Townsend: Tax Credits not enough for Businesses. How About a Sales Tax Holiday

The “free market” is a wonderful thing. It works best when you get government out of the way, right? Wrong. These firm Republican convictions are tossed out the door when it comes to the government stepping in with a little taxpayer handout. Even tax credits for business, paid for by taxpayers, aren’t enough to allow the “free market” to work.

Northwestern.com:"Republican State Rep. John Townsend said tax credits included in the Wisconsin state budget may not be the answer for retaining companies like Mercury Marine … considering consolidating operations at Fond du Lac or Stillwater, Okla., a plant currently employing about 400.

"The problem with tax credits are they're only good if the company is making money," the Fond du Lac Republican said. "They can be good if the economy is going well or you're trying to encourage a company to come to a state or expand in a state. They could be very good incentives."

So how do you allow the free market to work its magic and convince Mercury Marine to stay in Wisconsin? Do you convince people they’re not so poor? Do you tell them they're not going to lose their jobs? Or do you convince them that now is the right time go shopping? The answer is, GO SHOPPING!

"In an effort to shore up the boating sector, Townsend announced plans to introduce a bill that would encourage buyers to purchase new boats, motors and trailers by offering a one-year moratorium on Wisconsin state sales tax. The moratorium would apply on purchases up to $30,000."

Crazy talk? God yes. Either Townsend wants a law that only affects the boating industry, exempting them from paying a sales tax or, no sales tax on any purchases in the state for a whole year. Either way, Townsend must have forgotten that Wisconsin is having a problem paying its bills.

If we have learned anything in the past year, except for Democrats and Americans all over the country, people want to go on a spending spree.

Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Walker and Neumann Promise Freedom, Liberty and Corporate Welfare.

Republicans love to hand out corporate welfare, tax credits, to attracted and retain businesses in Wisconsin. The GOP grovels at the feet of anything that comes along that promises to create jobs. It matters little if it reduces the states general fund to pay its bills. There’s no balance for these conservative free marketers who don’t see a corporate responsibility for public services.

Which leads me to a major bone of contention when it comes to the Republican gubernatorial run in the upcoming 2010 elections.

Watch for the words freedom, liberty, business, jobs and any reference to environmental policy. Freedom and liberty refer to corporate deregulation and liability. It also allows “Joe Citizen” the freedom to take on big business in the courts, laws permitting and at their own expense, because individually we’ve got the power to scare their corporate trial lawyers.

Check out the following comments from the GOP candidates for governor from Upfront with Mike Gousha (goo-Shay): Failed Republican Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s promise of liberty and freedom, along with the corporate policy focus of former right wing crazy and politician Mark Neumann. Neumann already has corporate donors calling him up asking how they can help (donate?). And those other, more troublesome issues, like doing away with poverty, investing in education and replacing Wisconsin’s aging infrastructure? All in good time… like never. Have you noticed there's never a really good time to spend that extra money?



What I don't understand is how anyone can think (Republicans don't) that as state services increase in price, we can enact policies that reduce state coffers by cutting taxes or advocating year long sales tax holidays. I guess that's what makes them fiscal geniuses.

Palin Can’t take the Heat, the Pressure or get Her Way, so She Quits. Real Presidential Material.

Nine reasons, there are thousands more, why the Wasilla whiner Sarah Palin has been scaring so many people.

(AP) - Ever since Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin returned from the presidential campaign trail, many Alaskans felt her heart wasn't in the job.
1. One lawmaker quipped after her state of the state address … that the only eye contact she made in the legislative chamber was with the television camera.
2. Her recent appointments, including an attorney general candidate who became the first Cabinet appointment ever rejected by the Alaska Legislature.
3. A potential veto override of nearly $29 million in federal stimulus funds for energy efficiency programs. She rejected the funds, fearing … strings attached. Legislators said they could find no such strings.
4. Palin's natural gas: whether North Slope leaseholders will commit to shipping gas in the pipeline, which is still at least a decade away.
5. Palin's quitting may be more about something simpler: cutting her losses.
6. Political observers … say the governor was a disengaged presence around the state Capitol since she returned from the presidential campaign trail, and it was obvious her heart wasn't in the job. "She had a surprising amount of disinterest in state government after November," said state Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage. "She showed a complete lack of interest in solving them (problems)."
7. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, (now Governor), said, "I think what I heard from the governor really had to do with the weight on her, the concern she had for the cost of all the ethics investigations and the like, the way that that weighed on her with respect to her inability to just move forward Alaska's agenda on behalf of Alaskans in the current context of the environment. So that's what I saw," he told Fox News Sunday.
8. (A) Juneau political watcher says the governor's resignation makes sense. With the complete breakdown of her alliance with Democrats, she has no ability to move her policies forward in. Indeed, her Alaska agenda, the gas pipeline in particular, is likely to fare much better with her out of the picture."
9. Palin has also faced growing criticism within the Republican party. Vanity Fair magazine published a highly critical piece on Palin, with unnamed John McCain campaign aides questioning if Palin was ever really prepared for the presidency.

You can be on the Enterprise, a Star Trek Yourself, and waste a few unimportant Minutes.

Cheez-It has a weird Star Trek widget up on their site, cheez-it.com. I thought I would link to a few bizarre configurations using a "strangers" photo.

My Officer link.

My Vulcan Link.

My Captain Link.

You can do it too, and pick your dialog.

Victim Gov Palin Threatens Frivolous Lawsuits, Tearing Down Another “Republican Issue.” What do they stand for anymore?

I think it's sad that this isn't the last we'll hear of Sarah Palin. Someone so vindictive will hang around forever, or at least until every critic is in jail, or discredited in the conservative community.

"AP/Huffington Post - Outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin cast herself as a victim and blasted the media, calling the response to her announcement "predictable" and out of touch.
"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," the statement said. "And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make."

Palin doesn’t want people to think she’s a quiter, even though she is, or that she can’t take the heat, which she can’t. But if that weren’t enough, Palin’s status as a public figure opens her up to legally protected criticism, what private citizens would call defamation. My gut feel is that she wants to get even with someone, anyone liberal, for the cost of defending herself against alleged unethical and legal behavior. This could be entertaining:

"Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Saturday warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims.

"To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as 'fact' that Governor Palin resigned because she is 'under federal investigation' for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation," Van Flein said in a statement. "This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law."

Would such a God fearing American like Palin scratch out the First Amendment to the Constitution for the simple act of revenge? You betcha. Using her kids one more time for attention, outrage and public sympathy, this self important Republican carnival barker revealed all we needed to know.

"Palin gave many reasons for stepping down; she was tired of the tasteless jokes aimed at her five children, including her son Trig, who has Down syndrome…"

Right, liberals and Democrats typically make fun of the less fortunate in society and advocate abandoning them, claiming that they’re a drag on society and a waste of taxpayer dollars. I’ve never been aware of a “tasteless joke” aimed at Trig. Can you say projection? Finally, Palin is symbolized by the last clown in the 4th of July parade.

"The governor spent the Fourth of July weekend in the state capital, Juneau, but was only spotted briefly on the sidelines of the city's parade. She had been invited to ride in a convertible, as she did last year, but never told organizers whether she would attend.

Juneau parade director Jean Sztuk said officials drew up banners in case Palin showed and was willing to take part. As the last of the parade's clowns and marching bands headed past her, Sztuk gave up on Palin."

Most of us did, the moment she opened her mouth.

Republican Radicalism a result of taking Their Crazy Talk Seriously

The transformation of the Republican Party to a radical uncompromising fringe element is due in part to a lack of honest criticism by Democrats and the public. We entertained their rejection of science as an honest difference of opinion. We entertained their crazy comments about socialism and liberal support of terrorists as an honest debate about national security. We entertained the idea of deregulation and global competition even as American jobs and pay raced to the bottom. We enabled them. We nodded our heads in respectful disagreement.

Remember when tea bag Republicans declared that "they were the government" and demanded that their elected Representatives listen to their protests? It was an odd moment to say the least.

They are also anti-government, which would make them self loathing or hypocritical. It has never occurred to them that if they reduced government, they would have no one to protest to.

It hasn’t occurred to them that private means “not public,” that is the freedom of business to do what they want, without pubic accountability. Without the federal departments that regulate capitalism, the same bureaucracies they would do away with, angry protests would fall on deaf corporate ears.

It really is that simple.

So it should come as no surprise that the following letter to the Wisconsin State Journal from a concerned conservative reader, rants endlessly about the “cold-hearted bureaucrat” the public elected into his government.

"Join me and re-declare your independence from oppressive government. Refuse government assistance of all kinds, and refuse to do business with anyone who relies on handouts. If you need help, look to your friends and neighbors, not a cold-hearted bureaucrat."

“Refuse to do business with anyone who relies on handouts?” You mean like government handouts to corporations? You mean the minimum wage cleaning person excepting Section 8 housing vouchers trying to keep a roof over their family’s heads? You mean the person on unemployment or food stamps applying for work? Think about it, how would you feel if your neighbor stopped by asking for a handout? Oh boy! The readers letter continues…

"Don't fall for their attempts to pit the working class against the wealthy. They use economic hardship as an excuse to give more power to government while they demonize capitalism and those of us who take care of ourselves."

After watching the deluge of American’s hard earned investments and retirement accounts cut in half, and tens of millions of foreclosures due to voluntary and ignored regulations on Wall Street, demonizing capitalism is not a hard sell these days. Except maybe to the “cold hearted” conservative. He continues with the predictable flag waving section of his letter…

"In the United States of America, everyone who is willing to work hard can become anything they desire. The modern liberal philosophy rewards laziness while the modern capitalist philosophy rewards hard work. Which is more fair?"

Modern capitalists are still getting hefty bonuses and compensation packages in corporate board rooms on and off Wall Street while lazy Americans pick up the pieces of their now shattered lives and lost savings.

We encouraged this Ayn Rand BS without asking for proof their theories had any logical substance or practical application. The fact that no country has attempted unregulated free market capitalism should have told us something. But we, Democrats and the media, played along and our economy collapsed. Now they want to repeat the same failed theories, expecting a different outcome.

And we're still crazy as a nation to entertain their opinions as if they had substance.

Seder Plows Snow under with Common Sense Health Care.

Air America has been dumping on Sam Seder for years. Seder's insights and uncanny ability to see the next big story has gone unrewarded as well. While he may still work for them, and is still undervalued, his creative juices are still flowing.

Taking off on the rabbit hole logic of Republicans, Seder slams Olympia Snow's comment on the evils of good inexpensive health care doing away with a persons ability to choose a more expensive dysfunctional plan. We wouldn't want that to happen.

Free Market Conservatives Betrayed by One of their Own: Wal-Mart

The great Conservative retail success story, Wal-Mart, shocked the free market shoppers, pundits and think tanks when they agreed to a major plank in health care reform. They decided to side with Barack Obama. Even worse, Wal-Mart teamed up with the SEIU, the country's largest union, agreeing to back a plan that requires companies to pay for employee health care or be fined.

Fox News went ballistic and their show hosts twisted into pretzels. Stuart Varney didn't know what to make of it, and the Cato institute representative appeared dumbfounded. One guest blamed Wal-Mart's surrender on the White House's "Chicago style" politics.

Open Carry Gun Crazies try to Endanger Public by Scaring them into Acceptance

Nationwide, open carry and concealed carry advocates are pushing our communities into a state of fear, by first scaring people into acceptance, and also challenging armed criminals to a showdown. This is a slow process of social deterioration. Even gun nuts admit, as I’ve included below, not every proponent of open and concealed carry rights are stable upstanding citizens who are able to temper their enthusiasm. What’s even more outrageous is the fact that advocates willing to push the limits are not speaking from within the state, but are outsiders on a mission to force their agenda on others.

"The Capital Times: With two area murders in the past two weeks, two officers shot, and a popular candy store owner killed in Milwaukee -- all by gunfire -- it might seem to be an odd time to try to get more guns on the street. "That's just all the more reason why the good guys ought to be able to carry their guns," says Mark Stollenwerk, co-founder of OpenCarry.org, a Virginia-based pro-gun website that has targeted Wisconsin for a media and lobbying campaign to loosen restrictions on guns. Stollenwerk says of the 44 states that allow citizens to openly carry firearms, Wisconsin has the most obstacles in place…"

The next idea is the dangerous proposition that no-gun zones only encourage crazy people to attack, a shameless ploy of fear mongering. You’ll also meet Candace Dainty, who wants guns everywhere, even after admitting candidly that she’s afraid of some of the people within the legal, safe and sane community of gun advocacy.

"You make a store or a school or a bank a no-gun zone, you make it a prime target for somebody who wants to shoot the place up," says Sauk City gun advocate Candace Dainty. Dainty, statewide organizer for the national group Second Amendment Sisters, is outspoken in her belief that guns -- carried in the open or concealed -- should be allowed anywhere: schools, public buildings, hospitals.

Earlier this year, she tried to organize a rally to take place on June 16 on the grounds of the State Capitol. She scrubbed the plan, ironically, because she was afraid of who might show up with a gun. Reading an online forum on OpenCarry.org, she came upon discussions among several people who planned to show up with long guns, which would have taken the event in an unintended direction, she says.

"In every whole group, you're going to have a nut case or two," she says. "And my rally drew out the nut cases."

And carrying guns in public won’t draw out the nut cases?

Last word:

But a Google news search for accidental shootings reveals the downside of gun ownership: There's the 3-year-old girl in Bakersfield, Calif., who found a .45-caliber handgun under her parents' bed and shot her 2-year-old brother dead; the Newton County, Texas, man who went to his trailer home to retrieve a .40-caliber Glock pistol to settle a property dispute but instead shot his fiance in the head; the Hiram, Ohio, man who killed his 58-year-old wife while he was cleaning his gun.

But opencarry.com’s Stollenwerk is quick to provide the positives: the far more rare but less tragic stories of crimes thwarted by plucky armed citizens.

Angry “Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow” Just the Opposite, “…it won’t be difficult to adjust” to Global Warming. Threatens to Sue UW-Madison

Conservatives are so picked on, aren’t they? They are victims again of a liberal university. A group by the loony name of Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, which should raise a few red flags immediately, want their fringe stupidity and crazy talk to have the same weight of importance as scientific fact. This group of conservative college victims believe global warming is “overblown” and would “Let people adjust without government intervention. We don’t think global warming will be more than a degree or two over a century so we don’t think it will be difficult to adjust.” That’s a direct quote from CFACT national director Bill Gilles. Global warming to CFACT means dressing appropriately for the eventual environmental conditions.

Now they’re angry with UW-Madison:

(AP) - A conservative college group, Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, is threatening to sue the University of Wisconsin-Madison, claiming the school wiped out its funding as retaliation against its stance on global warming and other issues. Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, or CFACT, promotes the idea that environmental issues are better handled by the free market, not by government interference. (The) Student Services Finance Committee said CFACT failed to comply with a number of mandatory clerical issues, such as submitting its end-of-year reports on time.

State Republicans would blow a gasket if a Democrat demanded the university restore a liberal organizations student funding, screaming liberal bias and political meddling. That’s not how they see it when they step in to influence the political make-up of the university community.

State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, was one of nine state legislators to ask the chancellor to reconsider. “Without CFACT on campus, discussions about environmental and social issues will be completely one-sided,” they wrote in May. “The diversity that CFACT adds to these issues is invaluable to the UW campus and should be maintained. We have a huge problem in society. Too many of our universities hate any diversity of viewpoint other than that of the hard left. It’s appalling.”

“Hard left?” That certainly isn’t partisan, is it? No one is denying them a voice and platform within the rules and regulations governing every other campus organization. But for young Republicans, regulation is bad, and accountability and a level playing field governing all students groups are unfair to their scorched earth policies.

Wisconsin State Journal: They were one of a number of groups — including Vets for Vets, Engineers Without Borders, the Legal Information Center, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council — that lost funding last year because of stricter criteria. The new eligibility criteria requires that organizations benefit all students, not just a niche group.

These Conservative UW students are learning fast though. They’re finding it’s so much easier to whine, throw a tantrum and play the victim. That’s how Republicans get elected to political office.

Business Lobby WMC Silent on Retaining GM in State. Are They Affraid of a little Work?

The recent decision by GM to put a small-car assembly line in Michigan rather than in Janesville’s former truck plant was a real blow to the workers and the state. But there’s an element to this story that almost everyone missed, which we’ll get to in a moment. It strange how automatic it is for me to rule out certain Conservative lobbying groups because I expect them to continue to advocate low taxes and free markets policies.

Like “pro-life” zealots trying to ban abortions and contraceptives, yet never advocate childhood health care or senior services as a way of saving lives, Wisconsin’s business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, has done more to elect Supreme Court Justices than attract businesses to the state.

Ed Garvey, lawyer, political activist and the editor of the fightingbob.com wrote in his Capital Times opinion:

"Where do you suppose Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce was while the governor fought to keep the Janesville plant open? We hear from WMC on just about every issue from taxes to elections, but heard nothing on this one. Why not, Jim Haney? Don't you care about Wisconsin and the 1,200 families in Janesville?

This story does not have a happy ending. The 1,200 workers in Janesville join 7 million on the unemployment lines."

Stunning isn’t it. One would think they would be in the forefront of trying to retain the “manufacturing” base in Wisconsin along with living up to the "M" in their name. Instead, they’re churning out press releases telling companies how bad the state is for business. To everyone else reading their stuff, it’s really WMC that appears to be bad for business.

Rogue Broker Spikes Oil Prices. Proof Speculators Need Regulating in Commodities Markets

The Financial Times layed it out very simply:

The startling spike in oil prices to their highest level this year on Tuesday was caused by a rogue broker who placed a massive bet in the Brent oil market, triggering almost $10m of losses for his company. PVM Oil Associates, the world’s largest over-the-counter oil brokerage, said on Thursday it had been the “victim of unauthorised trading”.

Traders said the broker implicated had allegedly accounted for at least half of the
unusual activity, with the rest the result of others chasing the rally. The incidents come as regulators are considering tougher oversight of the commodities markets after policymakers complained that speculators fuelled last year’s surge in oil and agriculture prices.

The involvement of PVM is ironic considering the company’s head, David Hufton, has been an outspoken critic of speculators in the oil market, calling some of the exchanges “electronic oil casinos”. In 2006, he said that “if futures exchanges did not exist, oil prices would be a lot lower”.

I’m hoping my conservative friend will read this and back off his claim these guys are just doing their job and making a lot of money.

Yea, at ours and the countries expense.