Wisconsin Judge Orders 'No Further Implementation' of Budget Law

The judge ordered "no further implementation", just about the same thing the judge ruled about obamacare. Hmmm, the obama administration decided to ignore the judge and continue forcing obamacare on us anyway. At least in the Wisconsin case, the law in question will actually be of benefit to the State and the non-public union citizens. And actually, the public union members still won't have to contribute as much to their health care and retirement as their non-union counterparts, so they still come out pretty good too.

Unfortunantly for our entire Country, the further implementation of obamacare will affect all of us in a negative way...

By Mike Tobin - FoxNews

A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday ordered "no further implementation" of the Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill that limits collective bargaining rights.

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi said that her earlier restraining order saying the law shouldn't be enacted had either been ignored or misinterpreted.

Sumi stopped short of saying the law was not already in effect. She said she will take more testimony on that issue.

The Legislative Reference Bureau posted the law on a legislative website Friday, leading Walker's administration to declare the law was in effect.

Sumi revised her original March temporary restraining order blocking the secretary of state from publishing the law, which is typically the last step before it becomes effective.

Sumi's ruling delivers a setback to Walker and his administration while Democrats rejoiced.

Earlier Tuesday, debate raged from Wisconsin state Supreme Court justices to law professors, on whether Walker is law and is in effect.

It states the obvious to say Wisconsin is now a big convoluted, partisan mess, but it is. Here is the skinny on what is happening: Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who is a Democrat, and Assembly Minority Leader Pete Barca, also a Democrat, filed a court challenge to the budget relief bill. The challenge argues that Wisconsin Republicans violated the open meetings laws but since that has not entered into the argument, set that aside for the moment.

As the open meetings suit was pending, Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order that prevented Secretary of State Ken LaFollete from publishing the law, now known as Act 10. Publication of the law is the last step to putting a bill into effect, and Democrats argue that the law is not in effect until LaFollete issues the publication.

However, another outlet can publish the law: the Legislative Review Board. That is exactly what it did last Friday, leaving Wisconsin Republicans to argue that the law is in effect. The Department of Administration has even begun implementing the part of the law where deductions for health care and pensions are made from the paychecks of state employees.

Sumi ordered a hearing Tuesday morning to decide if LaFollete should be enjoined from publication until the open meetings case is decided. But if the law is already in effect, the injunction is moot. So the focus of the hearing was changed to answer the question of whether the law is in effect.

Read the rest at the link above...

3 Disturbing Images of Obama

Once again, Karl Rove hits the nail on the head. obama's foreign policy or should I say, lack of foreign policy is lessening the United States in the eyes of the world. One would think that he would eventually keep his mouth shut on matters for which he has no head. Instead he continues to spout tough sounding rhetoric with very little substance and no follow up. It is our duty to assist those in Libya seeking freedom. In may not be in the form of troops or an invasion. But a simple no-fly zone would allow the rebels an opportunity to catch their breath and regroup. The airstrikes by the Libyan military keep the rebels on their heels and unable to gain ground.

obama's failure to lead on the budget, again, failure to lead is too light, his failure to participate in the process at all, has made him look foolish and immature. He criticizes, yet he adds nothing of substance to the conversation. The democrats, in return, try to get by with the bare minimum of participation, but thwart any progress by the Republicans. It has created an atmosphere similar to elementary school. The back and forth bickering with nothing being accomplished gives us in the real world very little to be hopeful about. We are not the idiots congress and obama take us for. We see the future of our Country and the financial ruin we are headed for.

obama claims to be uninvolved in the Wisconsin union battle. Yet he sent his pit bulls from organizing for America and makes snide little comments at every opportunity. His involvement runs much deeper than he would have us believe. He is very involved, but his refusal to admit it and show open support have angered many in his union base. He has revealed himself to be a coward on about every front. Just like his days in the Illinois senate voting present.

I'm still amazed that such a man has been able to ascend to such a level. He has no conviction, no strength and no spine. He is unwilling or unable to take a stand on any issue that opponents could use to pin him down. One would think that the president of the United States would do the right thing, always, and the critics be damned. I hope this experiment in socialism has reminded us why it has failed many times and in many places...

By Karl Rove - FoxNews

Last week was a bad week for America because it was a bad week for President Obama.

West Wing politicos may not share that opinion. They seem to think any week during which the president makes a speech or holds a news conference is a good week: Americans get to see the amazing, inspiring Mr. Obama. But three images of Mr. Obama from last week are hardly uplifting.

First, there was the president on Libya -- dithering, indecisive, unreliable, and weak. As Qaddafi’s mercenaries and bombers brutally grabbed back momentum from the democratic opposition, all Mr. Obama could say was, “My national security team has been working…to monitor the situation…to prepare the full range of options…”

If America’s failure to lead allows Qaddafi to snuff out the popular uprising against his dictatorship and regain power, the consequences for the U.S. will be severe. Dictators will know the U.S. president is a pushover. Our allies around the world will be dispirited and our adversaries emboldened.

Then there was the on-going budget battle. The failure of Mr. Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass a budget before the start of the fiscal year last October 1 is an astonishing act of incompetence. They controlled the entire process with wide margins in both houses. Now we are reduced to funding the government of the world’s most powerful nation with continuing resolutions that cover two or three-week periods. And Congressional Democrats are whining it is impossible to cut $60 billion out of a budget that consists of $3.8 trillion dollars.

At a Friday morning press conference Mr. Obama called the failure to pass a budget “irresponsible” and said “the notion that we can’t get resolved last year’s budget in a sensible way…defies common sense.” But he was not passive observer. He’s the president who failed to get his own budget approved by his own party last year.

Then Mr. Obama went on to say of the budget that “it shouldn’t be that complicated…to get this completed.” This came after weeks during which Democratic Congressional leaders criticized the president for providing no leadership, then the appointment by Mr. Obama of Vice President Joe Biden as his personal negotiator on the budget, and Mr. Biden’s almost immediate departure for a weeklong foreign trip. Mr. Obama still refused to get his hands dirty by offering a possible solution.

Then there were the president’s remarks to members of the National Governors Association on Wisconsin, last month, where he cautioned, “I don’t think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified.”

This was a classic Obama straw man. Who exactly is “vilifying” or “denigrating” whom? The president’s intimation was that it was Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, but Mr. Walker’s tone has been mild, even-tempered, restrained and entirely appropriate.

If there are people who needed a presidential admonishment about civility and respect, they are the protestors who broke into the Wisconsin capital building in a vain attempt to keep the legislature from voting, the protestors who compared Mr. Walker to Adolf Hitler, and the Democratic legislators who fled the state rather than do their duty. But those would be the president’s allies and admonition are only required of his opponents.

When Mr. Obama was in the Illinois State Senate, he had the annoying habit of voting “present” on controversial issues he felt might damage his future political ambitions. -- But at least Mr. Obama showed up then. The president’s refusal now to provide leadership on Libya or the budget and his readiness to score cheap political points with straw man attacks makes his days in the State Senate look like an era of true statesmanship.

Teachers Unions 101: "A" is for "Agitation"

I think there are a lot of very good teachers in this Country. There are also a lot of bad ones. I don't think that all teachers completely buy in to the whole union thing either. There plenty that do, and they are squeaky wheels. They whine and cry about how mistreated they are all the while the quality of education continues to plummet.

Believe me, I'm the first one to say that teachers need to fairly compensated for putting up with all those little snot nosed curtain climbers, but damn, there has to be a balance. If a teacher is worthless they should be encouraged to find a new profession by making them unemployed. The unions prevent that.

Maybe if all teachers that belong to unions knew exactly how much the union big shots make and how much they spend on democrat candidates they would think differently about the dues they pay. Maybe not. There have to a lot of teachers out there who don't agree with the unions polititics, but continue to pay dues because it is mandatory. How is that fair?

Thanks to Scott Walker in Wisconsin, we may be seeing the beginnings of a revamped system...

by Michelle Malkin - Human Events

If public school teachers spent more time teaching in classrooms and less time community-organizing in political war rooms, maybe taxpayers wouldn't feel as ripped off as they do. Before the Big Labor bosses start complaining about "teacher-bashing," let's be clear: An increasing number of rank-and-file teachers feel exactly the same way.

Retired New York teacher Vinne Cusimano, who was required to pay forced union dues in order to work, wrote me this week after receiving the March 2011 edition of his union's monthly publication. The cover of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) magazine reads: "Defend What Matters! Educate. Collaborate. AGITATE." Inside the pamphlet, NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi rails against "malicious politicians" in Wisconsin and elsewhere proposing "extreme anti-union" budget cuts. He urges his members to join "advocacy" efforts to "maintain critical resources" and lectures about the need to "value education over ideology and greed."

Cusimano, who taught for four decades in the Empire State, fired back at Ianuzzi in an open letter:

"As a member for over 40 years, I have never been so disappointed at the stand you are taking to call members to 'AGITATE!' We are trying to tamp down the rhetoric and you are outward(ly) inciting agitation. How dare you! You are supposed to be for the students/teachers. ... How can you support 'EDUCATE,' 'COLLABORATE,' and then encourage agitation?"

More to the point, what business does Iannuzzi -- a fat-cat union official who rakes in nearly $300,000 a year (plus a $100,000 pension) while his organization's net assets are more than $117 million in the red -- have lecturing anyone else about "ideology and greed"? Instead of imposing fiscal discipline on NYSUT, Iannuzzi and his cronies have gone on a spending spree -- dumping nearly $10.5 million into left-wing Democratic politics this past year alone. The NYSUT boasts a lobbying staff of 500, a 200,000-square-foot palace in Albany and a $213 million operating budget -- paid for through compulsory union dues of about $300 a year from some 600,000 members.

"Agitation," of course, is a full-time job for teachers union officials in New York and across the country. As the New York Post reported exclusively this week, the city Department of Education compensates some 1,500 teachers for their union activities and also subsidizes other teachers who take their places in the classroom: "It's a sweetheart deal that costs taxpayers an extra $9 million a year to pay fill-ins for instructors who are sprung -- at full pay -- to carry out responsibilities for the United Federation of Teachers."

The UFT soldiers "collect top pay and fringe benefits, but work just one class period a day." Nice non-work if you can get it.

NYSUT, by the way, is the parent of the double-dipping UFT, which itself rakes in $126 million in member dues -- but only reimburses the city less than $1 million out of the $9 million it costs to take teachers out of the classroom to serve at the altar of Big Labor. UFT is also a chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which spent nearly $2 million on the election of President Barack Obama in 2008. (In return, you may recall, the Obama administration granted the UFT one of its coveted health care Waivers for Favors last year -- exempting the behemoth union in a sweetheart deal from the federal mandate's costly rules on phasing out annual health coverage limits.)

The forced-dues racket is big business for teachers unions crying poor. In Ohio, the state's education association siphoned nearly $23 million from rank-and-file school workers to fatten up its union staff. The Ohio Education Association donated more than $1.6 million to Democratic campaigns last year and tossed off five-figure checks each to union and progressive allies in Oregon, Colorado and Policy Matters Ohio, a left-wing think tank funded by radical billionaire George Soros.

At the federal level, the National Education Association squandered $13 million in teachers' dues on every pet liberal cause and crony from the AFL-CIO ($150,000) and AFSCME ($90,000), to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate ($200,000), Media Matters for America ($100,000) and the White House brigade at Health Care for America Now! ($450,000).

The goals of the teachers union machine are not academic excellence, professional development and fairness. As former NEA official John Lloyd explained it: "You cannot possibly understand NEA without understanding Saul Alinsky. If you want to understand NEA, go to the library and get 'Rules for Radicals.'"

The goals are student indoctrination, social upheaval and perpetual agitation in pursuit of bigger government and spending without restraint. No wonder the signature "solidarity" color of the teachers union protests this month is red.

ATF Lied, Mexicans Died

If you are a fan of T.L. Davis, like I am, when you read this particular article you can sure tell this has pissed him off. His writing is usually full of passion, but this is overflowing, and with good reason. The media in this Country have completely forgotten what their job is. They have forgotten what the word objectivity means. They are fully, 100% in bed with obama and his gang of thugs.

When items as important as Project Gunwalker and obama's involvement with the union activity in Wisconsin are ignored, all credibility is lost.

I grew up watching the evening news. It was important to me. I keep hoping that the media will find their way back to the right path. That hope is fading. They are too far gone. I will never trust them again.

You would think that their failing ratings would be a hint that people are fed up with the onesided coverage. Wouldn't you think that they would see the truth about this administration eventually? I have had it with the media...

By T.L. Davis - TL in Exile

I've been thinking about this all day, but Alvie put the bellows to the furnace and brought the metal to a bright white color in my mind. It has been driving me crazy that Barack Obama had a press conference today and not one single question was asked about Project Gunwalker. There was not one single question about Wisconsin and the death threats made by union members against government officials. Okay, I know these are special subjects for me and all, but even objectively...right?

Am I crazy to think that a scandal that has finally gotten some light shed on it over the past few weeks isn't worthy of comment? Okay, the death of a U.S. Customs agent at the hands of a band of criminals down on the border which might have been the fault of the Department of Justice? No? No questions about that? Hmmmmm, what about the accusation that despite their friendly banter the other day when President Calderon visited, the Obama Administration might be responsible for the deaths of at least 150 Mexican nationals by letting guns flow south of the border? No? Still no? Dang.

What if the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee called for an independent investigation into the allegations that the ATF was complicit in the act of allowing guns to be purchased by a straw purchaser and "walked" down to Mexico? What if 13 members of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the Attorney General of the United States and asked for details on the project "Fast and Furious"? Nothing? Crap!

Well, I suppose if the Mexican government asked for detailed information on the investigations theoretically being conducted by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice and an internal investigation in the ATF? No? What if the Mexican Ambassador was summoned back to Mexico City to brief the Mexican government on these investigations? Nothing again? All right, this is starting to tick me off.

What if government officials of all three major political parties in Mexico demanded that U.S. agents guilty of gun trafficking and perhaps even the charge of accessory to murder be extradited to Mexico to face these charges? Would that inspire at least on question on Project Gunwalker? No? Still no?

All of these things have happened, you know...

Go read the rest at the link above. While you are there, click on the Project Gunwalker link near the top of the page. It will give you a chronological picture of the crimes committed by the atf.

Wisconsin Senate GOP Votes to Strip State Workers of Collective Bargaining Rights

Down in Texas we have a saying, there is more than one way to skin a cat. The Wisconsin Republicans finally figured that out. It's too bad for the people of the State that half of their elected senators chose to abandon the State in it's hour of need. They have shown their true colors, and it wouldn't surprise me if the did it "to their political peril".

From FoxNews

Bypassing Democrats hiding out in Illinois, Wisconsin Senate Republicans voted Wednesday night to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights.

Republicans voted 18-1 to pass the stripped-down budget bill in a hastily arranged meeting. None of the Senate Democrats were present.

The state Assembly votes on the bill Thursday.

All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker's so-called "budget repair bill" -- a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall..

The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday split from the legislation the proposal to curtail union rights, and a special conference committee of state lawmakers approved that bill a short time later.

The lone Democrat present on the conference committee, Rep. Tony Barca, shouted that the surprise meeting was a violation of the state's open meetings law but Republicans voted over his objections. The Senate then convened within minutes and passed it without discussion or debate.

Spectators in the gallery screamed "You are cowards."

Before the sudden votes, Democratic Sens. Bob Jauch said if Republicans "chose to ram this bill through in this fashion, it will be to their political peril. They're changing the rules. They will inflame a very frustrated public."

Walker praised the legislative action.

"The Senate Democrats have had three weeks to debate this bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come home, which they refused," he said in a statement.

"In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform the government," he said. "The action today will help ensure Wisconsin has a business climate that allows the private sector to create 250,000 new jobs."

State Senate Democratic Minority Leader Mark Miller issued a statement saying, "Tomorrow we will join the people of Wisconsin in taking back their government."

Wisconsin Governor Proposes Union Compromise in E-Mails

I hope this is just a ploy to get the democrats back in the State where Gov. Walker can lock them up. He has stood his ground this long, it would be a shame for him to cave now.

The democrats have refused to do their job. The people of the State of Wisconsin elected the Republican majority and Governor to clean up a broken budget. To show weakness now will doom him to compromise for the rest of his term...

From FoxNews

Appearing to blink first in a nearly three-week standoff with absent Senate Democrats, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker offered to keep certain collective bargaining rights in place for state workers in a proposed compromise, according to e-mails released Tuesday by his office.

But the e-mails weren't enough to end a stalemate that has drawn national attention and ignited a storm of protest from union workers and their supporters.

Sen. Bob Jauch, one of the 14 Democrats on the run in Illinois to block a vote on Walker's original proposal, said he hoped the compromise would serve as a blueprint for future negotiations. But he and Sen. Tim Cullen, who were both working with Walker's administration, said the latest offer was inadequate.

The e-mails, some dated as recently as Sunday, show a softened stance in Walker's talks with the 14 Democrats who object to his original proposal that would strip nearly all collective bargaining rights for public workers and force concessions amounting to an average 8 percent pay cut. Republicans, who control the Senate, can't vote on the budget measure unless at least one Democrat is present.

Under the compromise floated by Walker and detailed in the e-mails, workers would be able to continue bargaining over their salaries with no limit, a change from his original plan that banned negotiated salary increases beyond inflation. He also proposed compromises allowing collective bargaining to stay in place on mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay and classroom size for teachers.

The increased contributions for health insurance and pension, which would save the state $330 million by mid-2013, would remain. The unions and Democrats have agreed to those concessions to help balance a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall.

Layoffs coming in Wisconsin...

Governor Walker notified the unions in Wisconsin that layoffs are coming. With the refusal of the scumbag democrats to do their job, he has no choice but take a different approach.

I tink his approach is wrong though. I wouldn't lay off anyone, I would outright fire their asses and replace them with people who want a job. I would have fired the teachers on the morning of the third day they missed class. There are lots of unemployed teachers who would love to have the jobs that the teachers in Wisconsin seem to care so little for.

As far as the awol democrats, I would assist the people of the State in beginning recall proceedings. In my opinion, these people have abandoned their jobs and should be treated as such. These democrats are denying the people of their State representation...

Dems Galvanized By Union Issue at DNC Meeting

Let's look at this piece by piece...

by Trish Turner - FoxNews

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis fired up Democrats at the party's national winter meeting in Washington on Saturday, as the feisty former California congresswoman chastised Republican governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, and across the country for not sitting down with union workers to negotiate a compromise on state budget crises.

Unions are always willing to negotiate themselves better benefits and wages, if you can call it a negotiation. Usually it is give in or we will go on strike. It's almost impossible to get unions to negotiate a DECREASE in their salary or benefits, even it means driving their employer out of business.

"We know many states are facing tough budget decisions. We know there is room for shared sacrifice. Shared," Solis stressed, adding, "We've seen our brothers and sisters in public employee unions willing, willing to give up their fair share...The governors in Wisconsin and Ohio aren't just asking workers to tighten their belts, they're demanding they give up their uniquely American rights as workers."

Once again, unions aren't usually, hardly ever in fact, willing to share a sacrifice. Any claims otherwise is a lie. In this case, the unions saw that Governor Walker had the votes to pass laws that will help him in his quest to fix the budget of his State, forcing a sacrifice. "Uniquely American rights as workers", they left out a word, UNION. Most of us in the real world don't have the backing of a bunch of union thugs who will hold our employer prisoner unless we get raises and benefits that make our companies unprofitable or worse.

It was the issue that moved attendees most at their annual gathering, with many sporting bright red "Stand Up for Worker's Rights" badges and toting supportive signs. As members cheered and shouted their support, it was clear this issue could be one that galvanizes the party base in the future should the state budget wars continue deeper into the 2012 election season.

It will only help the Republicans further if the democrats decide to make a bigger issue out of this. The vast majority of Americans are non-union and from the polls lately, most people don't have much sympathy for union workers in general and government union workers specifically. It's hard to sympathize with people who make almost twice as much as you for less work and at your expense.

One senior Democratic official told Fox, "Regardless of how Wisconsin plays out, what's clear from the display today is that (Wisconsin Governor) Scott Walker has handed us a gift. He took a deflated, fractured party coming out of 2010 and as evidenced by what we saw in this room, given us a unified, energized and motivated base."

"The fight is on!" Solis cheered, as the formal speeches wrapped and the low-key gathering devolved into something more closely resembling a pep rally, and the microphones were opened up to audience members. First up, Gerald McEntee, head of the American Federation of State, Country, and Municipal Employees union, the third largest union in the country.

"This battle in Wisconsin is not just for public sector workers," McEntee cried, "It's really a battle for human rights!" The longtime union president chided Wisconsin's governor, as he invited a willing audience's "boo's" and asked for support picketing the Republican during an appearance he is scheduled to make on a Sunday morning political talk show.

This is just stupid. It is a battle about unions and the fact that they are driving States into bankruptcy. It's not the fault of the unions though. democrats are so dependant on the union vote that they are willing to sacrifice the very budgets of their States to keep that vote. The unions have taken full advantage of the relationship. It has nothing to do with human rights...

"This is where we go when we elect Republicans to these powerful offices," McEntee warned a rapt crowd, as a parade of union officials, as well as, current and retired union workers from Michigan to Florida to New Mexico followed him at the mics, all with one focus: protect the right to collectively bargain. Some even compared the current union fight to the democratic struggles in the Middle East. The crowd cheered for each, as they approved a resolution of solidarity with union workers in Wisconsin and beyond.

This IS what you get when Republicans are in charge, a reality check. State budgets are based on real dollars, revenue that the State takes in. When you exceed that income, there is a problem. Some States are spending their entire budgets on union salaries, union pensions and entitlement programs. When you are a democrat in charge that is easy to get around, you just run a deficit and wait for the next Republican to come in and clean up your mess.

For these pompous, spoiled democrats and union thugs to compare what they are doing to what is going on in the middle east is just crazy. It's playing politics with the lives of real people. There are citizens of Libya laying dead in the street. They have been murdered by mercenaries and thugs. These democrats and union people have absolutely NO CLUE what the people of the Middle East are facing. When these smug assholes are experiencing a hardship other than sleeping on the hard floor in the Wisconsin Capitol building maybe they can talk, when they face being mowed down by machine gun fire they can compare themselves to unarmed civilians in Cairo or Tripoli. Until that time comes, it is an insult for them to compare themselves to people who face life and death every day.

Walker and a number of other GOP governors across the U.S. are moving to end this long-time union mainstay, as these officials contend that the practice shoots up the cost of doing business in their cash-strapped states. Walker, who was elected in 2010 in the GOP wave that swept the country, has refused to negotiate, saying the state is broke and that the voters chose him and other governors like him to get their states' fiscal houses back in order.

Back at the winter meeting, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, himself a former governor, praised the union workers, but it was Solis, the first Latina Cabinet secretary in U.S. history who hails from "a union household," who really marshaled the rank and file.

"These are our neighbors, our friends and family. They teach our kids...risk their lives to protect our friends and families, and all they're asking for is to be treated with dignity. All they're really asking for is an opportunity to sit down at the table. And that's what collective bargaining is all about." Through a standing ovation, Solis shouted again, "The fight is on!"

In the State of Wisconsin, the Department of Education says that two thirds of children read at a below average level. Hmmm, maybe "They teach or kids..." is a stretch...

Obama Sitting Out State Fights With Unions

The Wall Street Journal has a story out today saying that obama is staying out of the fight between States and unions.

Umm, well, that's a load of bullshit. After his initial butting in and putting the dnc and his political action committee on the case, he may appear to be standing down, but behind the scenes, you can bet he is still very much involved.

obama and his gang of thugs would like us to believe that he was never involved at all, but it is another bunch of bullshit. We saw him, we heard him, there is no denying his involvement.

This administration feels that we are so stupid that we will believe whatever they tell us. About 30% of the population may be that gullible, they are called democrats, the rest of us can read this guy like a book. We know that when his mouth is moving he is lying, and when his mouth isn't moving he is thinking about his next lie.

He can't put the shit back in this horse. At some point, you would think some advisor would tell him to just keep his mouth shut. I'm willing to bet that lot's of people have told him that, but being the arrogant prick that he is, he knows better, until he steps on his dick...

Wisconsin battle gets ugly...

It's funny really, it's always liberals trying to paint conservatives as violent and hateful, but it always turns out to be the opposite.

In Wisconsin, the protestors against the Governor Scott Walker are comparing him to adolph hitler and the recently deposed dictator of Egypt, hosni mubarack.

I haven't seen Scott Walker order millions of government employees into a gas chamber for execution. I'm 100% positive that we never will. So the comparison to hitler is, well, stupid. Obviously these protestors either have no knowledge of history or they are going for some kind of shock factor. Since many of these people are teachers, I hope they have some idea of the history of hitler and World War II. So that leaves only their attempt at shock. It is deplorable and shameful to try to compare the murder of millions of people with the current events in Wisconsin. These protestor should be ashamed of themselves.

As for the comparison to mubarack, again, a situation where innocent people lost their lives. These protestors have no idea what it is like to have true violence aimed at them. In Egypt the military fired on unarmed civilians and the civilians held their ground. I have a hard time believing that the Wisconsin protestors are made of the same stuff as the people of Egypt. They are lucky enough to live in a Country where they never have to find out. This comparison is also stupid.

There have also been calls for the assassination of Governor Walker. Who is it again that are the violent ones?

michael moore decided to put his two cents worth in, and you can guess which side of the issue this idiot is on.

It seems that the liberal/democrat/union whackos are the violent ones. Maybe I'm wrong, but the evidence seem to support me on this...

Recall the AWOL Wisconsin Senators

I went to the Recall the AWOL web site this morning and signed their petition.  I also included a little personal note to those rat bastards:

"In the military, we would call what you are doing 'dereliction of duty.'  You are greedy, scum-sucking bottom-feeders who are refusing to do your jobs because you know you are in the wrong. Get back to work like us REAL Americans and stop being such whiny crybabies.  Maybe, if you're lucky, you won't be arrested for your criminal actions, and all that will happen to you is the voters see your cowardice for what it really is.

"By the way, how much are the unions paying you to commit your criminal acts?  How much are they paying to rent the mob in the capital?  Notice the only people who can afford to come to the capital to protest for very long are the liberals who suck off the government and union (read 'taxpayer') teat."

There.  That felt good. 

JoeTexan

Hezbollah Working with Cartels

Even with this new information, you can bet, that this lame administration won't do anything to secure the border. They are more interested in trying to secure amnesty for millions of people in this Country illegally than they are in the safety and security of American citizens.

obama and his gang of thugs care only about the next election. They prove it every day by neglecting the real issues in this Country. Border security, unemployment and the economy don't even appear to be on the radar of this bunch of incompetent buffoons.

Instead, they are more interested in garnering union support by attempting to thwart the efforts of a legally elected Governor, both in Wisconsin and in Arizona.

We have entered bizzaro world...

By Adam Housley - FoxNews

As if the threat of deadly drug cartels in Mexico wasn't enough, some of them are joining forces with Middle East terror groups.

"Hezbollah are absolute masters at identifying existing smuggling infrastructures," says former DEA Chief of Operations Mike Braun, adding that the group "is developing relations with those responsible for operating those smuggling operations and then forming close relations with them, so that they can move anything they have an interest into virtually anywhere in the world." That comment comes from former DEA Chief of Operations Mike Braun. He goes on to tell me that the Middle East terror group is "rubbing shoulders" with drug cartels around the globe.

My military and Department of Homeland Security contacts are insistent...it's not if Hezbollah operatives have been smuggled into the U.S....but how many? They note that drug tunnels are becoming much more sophisticated and striking similar as tunnels being used by terror organizations to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. My contacts also say they have real concern that bombing techniques used in the Middle East to promote terror are now also being used inside Mexico, as the cartels war with each other and anyone in their way.

This comes as Mexican authorities busted a senior Hezbollah operative who employed Mexicans nationals with family ties to Lebanon to set up the network, designed to target Israel and the West, according to multiple reports. The man's name is Jameel Nasr and he was arrested after a Mexican surveillance operation revealed that he traveled frequently to Lebanon to receive information and instructions from Hezbollah commanders and he also spent several months in Venezuela working with the terror group and Hugo Chavez's people. American security contacts say the Mexican operation was impressive and they are seeing some increased pressure on the cartels from Mexican authorities and thus...their friends.

Meantime, over this past weekend President Calderon of Mexico sent a significant number of troops to the border regions and while they are there to help battle the cartels, they have also been sent to deal with the growing connection to Hezbollah. As one contact told me, "Mexico knows the seriousness of a cartel connection with Hezbollah and the threat to their national security."

We also know from DHS documents that over 180,000 illegal aliens from countries Other than Mexico were apprehended from 2007 through mid-March 2010 and the State Department Country Reports on Terrorism said that "smuggling rings have been detected moving people from East Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia". I am told these people and drugs are then moved up through Central America and into the Unites States through Mexico.

Congressman Connie Mack chairs the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee and says, "I think the question that we all have to ask is, when the terrorist come into Latin America, when they move into Mexico, how many have come into the United States? Our government doesn't know the answer to that question. That should make all of us very fearful."

The Congressman is critical of the Administrations response to this increased threat, "What are we going to do to secure our border step one and step two what are we going to do to confront the drug cartels in Hezbollah from continuing to create a force inside Mexico that will destabilize the United States?"

In response to this story, I contacted DHS and various departments within the administration. To be fair, they are obviously not going to give up information on operations or threats that they are working to eliminate, however, we didn't get much in feedback about our story, or in a way of a statement. I did have testimony forwarded to me from Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela from February 15th where he acknowledges the threat to American security and says the U.S. will continue to assist in the region's need to combat drug trafficking and transnational crime.

Wisconsin Medical Examining Board Reviewing Sick Note Allegations

If any of the "doctors" caught on tape passing out fake sick notes still have a license to practice medicine after the investigation the Department of Regulation and Licensing is derelict in its duty. These "doctors" have broken laws and the hypocratic oath they swore to when becoming a doctor.

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is conducting it's own investigation. What do you think the findings will be? What do you think they should be? If a similar situation came up in the private sector, those employees would be fired. I doubt that will be the case here. There will probably be some minimal punishment if there is any at all.

I don't get how an investigation can take more than about five minutes for either one of these entities, there is a wealth of video footage of these "doctors" passing out the notes. It's not like they were wearing a Groucho mask and doing this stuff on the down low. They stood on the street corner yelling, "Get your fake sick notes here!"...

From FoxNews

The Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing is reviewing complaints that doctors wrote fake sick notes to people missing work while protesting Governor Scott Walker's proposed budget. The department oversees the state's Medical Examining Board.

Dave Ross, the department's secretary says "over the weekend the agency received numerous contacts concerning physicians involved in writing medical excuses for those attending rallies at the State Capitol."

"Any charge against a physician is taken seriously and this is no exception," Ross continued in a statement. "Rest assured, the agency is processing these complaints as quickly as possible. DRL will be working with the independent Medical Examining Board to appropriately review these complaints."

The statement goes on to say that part of both the Department of Regulation and Licensing and the Medical Examining Board's responsibility is to "discipline individuals who act improperly in the practice of their profession."

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is already investigating reports that some of its doctors were involved in writing fake sick notes at the protest.

Wisconsin's 'Phony' Budget Crisis

Give this a read, and when you hear some dumbass liberals talking about the debate in Wisconsin being a political stunt by the Governor, you can call them on it. The budget problems in Wisconsin are very real, they are not made up. What is made up is the liberal/union talking points.

Unless the public sector unions are willing to or are forced to make these concessions they are headed for massive layoffs. Up to this point, government workers have been spared what those of us in the real world have been facing. While there have been furloughs in some parts of the Country for government workers, I haven't heard of many, if any, government workers being laid off.

What the Governor is asking is for the union employees to pay a portion of their retirement and healthcare. What he is asking on the retirement is about the national average for private sector workers and the healthcare contribution is below what private sector workers contribute. How is this unfair? These union employees will still retain the right to negotiate their salaries. How many of us not working for the government have an opportunity to do that? I'm sure we can all ask, but what are your chances, really? I know what mine are, slim and none. And you know what? That's fine with me. I'm damn proud to have a decent job, many people aren't so lucky these days.

With each passing day, my lack of concern for these spoiled government workers turns to anger. They have no idea how those of us that pay their salary, benefits and retirement live. They don't have a clue how good they have it. They bitch and complain because they are being asked to pay a small portion of what it costs to keep them living large.

Each and every one of them are lucky I'm not the Governor of their State. I would have fired their asses on Friday.

And the "doctors" that are passing out the fake sick notes... oh damn, you can't even imagine the trouble they would be facing if I were in charge. I promise you, most of them would do a little prison time over this stunt. They have broken all kinds of laws and probably violated the oath they took to become a doctor in the first place.

By Elizabeth MacDonald - FoxBusiness

Opponents of Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker say that the governor is ginning up a phony deficit crisis. Opponents say Wisconsin is in surplus, not in deficit. They also say corporate tax cuts caused the deficit. Wrong on all counts.

The state's deficit is very real. Fox Business has Wisconsin's nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau report. There is a section that, read in isolation, does show a $121.4 million general fund gross balance as of June 30, 2011, and a net balance of $56.4 million. These are the figures used by the governor's opponents to say the state is in surplus.

But the fine print of the rest of the memo spells out at least $315.7 million in unpaid bills or expected shortfalls in programs such as Medicaid services for the needy ($153.2 million alone), the public defender’s office and for corrections. (EMac note: The figure rises to $437 million if you factor in all of the costs submarined in the footnotes).

The state owes Minnesota $58.7 million under a discontinued state income tax reciprocity deal. The deal covered individuals who live in Wisconsin and earn income in Minnesota. More individuals live in Wisconsin and earn income in Minnesota than live in Minnesota and earn income in Wisconsin.

Also, like most states Wisconsin has succumbed to budget gimmickry, which happened under the prior Democratic governor. The $121.4 million figure doesn't include $200 million Wisconsin raided out of its state’s “Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund,” representing a debt that the Wisconsin state supreme court declared resulted from an illegal raid on the fund under former Democrat governor Jim Doyle, which was done to balance the budget. Finally, the $121.4 million figure doesn’t include the $25.2 owed to the public defender’s office ($3.5 million) and the state’s department of corrections ($21.7 million).

And Governor Walker’s opponents’ claim that his corporate tax-cut bills approved in January is responsible for the deficit is wrong, too, because the cuts have not taken effect yet, so they cannot be part of the current problem.

These cuts do not take effect until the next two-year budget, from July 2011 to June 2013.

Set aside for now that many economists argue that corporate tax cuts actually keep businesses and jobs in the state, and create revenue. Look at companies fleeing Illinois and California due to tax hikes. Witness Indiana’s Republican Governor Mitch Daniels giving a shout out to Illinois businesses to pull stakes and relocate to Indiana, given Illinois dramatic tax hikes to cut its deficit.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s report shows that corporate income and franchise taxes “are estimated to increase from $834.5 million in 2009-10 to $935.0 million in 2010-11.” That’s right, increase.

The report notes: “The estimates also have been adjusted to reflect the impact of corporate income/franchise tax law changes enacted during the 2009-11 biennium.”

The report also says: “Collections are forecast to decrease to $900.0 million in 2011-12, and then increase to $925 million in 2012-13.”

However, the bureau’s “analysis indicates that for the three-year period, aggregate, general fund tax collections will be $202.8 million lower than those reflected in the November/December reports.”

Why? Not just because of corporate tax cuts, analysis which seems to rely on the static modeling technique, rather than dynamic scoring.

The bureau’s report says: “More than half of the lower estimate ($117.2 million) is due to the impact of Special Session Senate Bill 2 (health savings accounts), Assembly Bill 3 (tax deductions/credits for relocated businesses), and Assembly Bill 7 (tax exclusion for new employees).”

So individual cuts and business incentives to create jobs are behind the estimated shortfall here.

Like other states, Wisconsin has relied on federal aid. Wisconsin’s state pension has projected rosy stock market returns, which led it to in turn set aside less money in those funds, because heck the market will take care of it. Many states did likewise, betting on average 8% to 10% annual returns. That budget hole, among others, has led to the states to act like the tin can on the just married car always clamoring after federal money. When will the U.S. do what the International Monetary Fund does when it gives aid money out to reckless governments? The IMF ties federal aid to specific covenants like pension reform.

Taxpayers increasingly pay for rising government union compensation. Just as in Wisconsin, taxpayer funded government worker paychecks are dunned 1% to pay for union dues, which unions then use to lobby for tax and spend increases. Tax Foundation has data that shows that last year, 25 states saw unions lobbying for tax and spending hikes. Tax Foundation says 29 states raised taxes by $24 billion last year, the largest sum since 1979.

The real fight in Wisconsin is the governor’s push to end not just collective bargaining for benefits, but also for automatic payroll deduction of union dues.

State battles like the one in Wisconsin will get worse as the Administration’s stimulus money runs out this June.

obama's biggest mistake yet...

I just want to go on record as saying that obama siding with unions over a Governor attempting to get his State's budget on track will be the straw that broke the camels back.

There is very little, if any, support for government employees in this Country right now. And as the details are released about exactly what the argument with the unions is all about, lack of support will turn to anger.

Most people in this Country who still have a job, finance their own retirement plan. Some companies may do a partial match of an employees contribution, but the days of a fully employer funded retirement plan in the private sector are long gone.

Most people in the private sector pay a much larger percentage of their health insurance than union government employees do. And usually government employees have better plans.

For a Governor to ask government employees to pick up a little more of the costs associated with their retirement and health care is not the end of the world...

The Criminalization of Politics

obama has formed the biggest gang in the world. It is chock full of union thugs, chicago politician thugs and just thugs in general. We have put up with this activity for two years now. The city of chicago and the state of illinois put up with it for longer than that.

obama has used our TAX DOLLARS to pay off old debts to union thugs and garner present and future support.

It was no surprise to me to see him come out in support of his union buddies in the State of Wisconsin. It is a little surprising that he has declared war on a duly elected Governor. I don't know why I was surprised, especially after his war against Jan Brewer and the Law Enforcement community in Arizona.

The fight to save this State from union thugs hasn't come to Missouri yet, but when it does, I will be there. unions have killed the budgets of about every State in this Country. I refuse to stand silently by while union thugs demand more while the rest of have to get by with less...

Great job on this T.L., as usual...

From T.L. Davis at TL in Exile

The union thugs in Wisconsin are not there just on their own, they are the extension of the Obama Administration. This is the open declaration of hostility by the President of the United States against a duly elected government of a state. The President is already disobeying the courts on the drilling ban and the implementation of Obamacare. He is engaged in a legal war with Arizona, with Florida, with Louisiana and now Wisconsin. Before long he will have a chance to go to war with Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana.

How long will the American people tolerate this criminal behavior from the president? When does it go too far, even for Democrats? Are there no nation-loving Democrats left with the ethical obligation to call it for what it is, treason?

Look, terms like treason and war are not easy to speak in this nation, but are we all blind? Is it not obvious that after this president has taken the support of unions in his election as well as the opposition to the Tea Parties, who stood in the way of Obamacare, that he then funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into their accounts, paid off teacher's unions with stimulus dollars and then sided with the unions against the State of Wisconsin and against all of the citizens of that state who voted to install Republicans? If this isn't gang behavior, what is? This makes Nixon look like a doofus.

This is more important than just Wisconsin, this is the criminalization of politics. Is that what we want? Why not just get a bigger gang and overthrow the city, or state government? Tell me how this is different? Is this the sanctioned approach to politics now? Gangs? Thugs? We don't like a law we threaten to kill the governor? We pretend that there is a connection to Hitler and just do what? What are they proposing? Is the president complicit in these threats by backing those groups making the threats? Should we break some legs to get our political will done?

It is the responsibility of every able-bodied citizen to protest this in the greatest possible way. When the teachers unions stand in solidarity in your state, where will you be? I will be right across the line from those thugs. I will be prepared. I will be capable of self-defense and I will be there. I will not succumb to threats of violence, of the criminalization of my state. Will you?

obama continues to show his true colors...

obama will never be anything more than a community organizer. The definition of community organizer should be "professional shit starter.

obama has decided to take the side of the unions in Wisconsin and Ohio. This is a fight he should have at least stayed neutral on if he couldn't get behind the Republican efforts to get State budgets under control. But that would go completely against his nature. He has shown that on a National level he has no concern for curbing spending so why would he care that unions are helping drive many States to bankruptcy.

Ohio alone is 8 BILLION dollars in the hole. Governor Kasich isn't even asking union members to pay as much of their health care costs as private sector employees have to pay.

In Wisconsin, Governor Walker is asking public sector (government employees) union members to pay 12% of their healthcare premiums, up from 6%. He is also asking them to pay 5.6% of their pension costs. They don't currently pay anything, that bill is picked up by the taxpayers.

I think the part of this that bothers me the most is there are times that  I come in contact with government employees and they are either rude or incompetent. Not always, but enough to make me remember it clearly. If anything they should be extremely nice to their customers since those really are the people paying their salary, and their insurance and their pension. The least they could do is say "Thank You".

Wis. lawmakers flee state to block anti-union bill

democrats run away to avoid a vote they are going to lose. Wow, why am I not surprised. The people of Wisconsin elected these Republicans to do the difficult work that the democrats have refused to do. democrats are famous for giving away the farm to anyone who will vote for them. This is what they have done with the unions. It is unsustainable, the unwillingness of the unions to do the right thing and reduce their benefits or at least freeze them has put the State in a budget crisis. The non-union tax payers of the State shouldn't have to continue to support people who refuse to do their share...

By Scott Bauer, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. – Faced with a near-certain Republican victory that would end a half-century of collective bargaining for public workers, Wisconsin Democrats retaliated with the only weapon they had left: They fled.

Fourteen Democratic lawmakers disappeared from the Capitol on Thursday, just as the Senate was about to begin debating the measure aimed at easing the state's budget crunch.

By refusing to show up for a vote, the group brought the debate to a swift halt and hoped to pressure Republicans to the negotiating table.

"The plan is to try and slow this down because it's an extreme piece of legislation that's tearing this state apart," Sen. Jon Erpenbach said.

The move drew cheers from tens of thousands of protesters — teachers, prison guards and others targeted by the proposal — who filled the Statehouse during the past three days.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who took office just last month, has made the bill a top priority. He urged the group to return and called the boycott a "stunt."

"It's more about theatrics than anything else," Walker said, predicting that the group would come back in a day or two, after realizing "they're elected to do a job."

Walker said Democrats could still offer amendments to change the bill, but he vowed not to concede on his plan to end most collective bargaining rights.

With 19 seats, Republicans hold a majority in the 33-member Senate, but they are one vote short of the number necessary to conduct business. So the GOP needs at least one Democrat to be present before any voting can take place. Once the measure is brought to the floor, it needs 17 votes to pass.

Other lawmakers who fled sent messages over Twitter and issued written statements but did not disclose their location until hours later.

Erpenbach said the group had been in Rockford, Ill., but they dispersed by late afternoon.

In response to a question of where she was, Sen. Lena Taylor sent a tweet saying she was "doing the people's business. Power to the PEOPLE."

Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville said he was back in Wisconsin by Thursday night, but he did not expect Democrats to return to take up the bill until Saturday.

As Republicans tried to begin Senate business around midday, observers in the gallery screamed "Freedom! Democracy! Unions!" Opponents cheered when a legislative leader announced there were not enough senators present to proceed.

The sergeant-at-arms immediately began looking for the missing lawmakers. If authorized, he can seek help from police.

Senate rules and the state constitution say absent members can be compelled to appear, but it does not say how.

"Today they checked out, and I'm not sure where they're at," Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said. "This is the ultimate shutdown, what we're seeing today."

The Senate planned to try again Friday to convene. It was unclear when the state Assembly would conduct any business.

Elsewhere, some Democrats applauded the developments in Wisconsin as a long-awaited sign that their party was fighting back against the Republican wave created by November's midterm election.

"I am glad to see some Democrats, for a change, with a backbone. I'm really proud to hear that they did that," said Democratic state Sen. Judy Eason-McIntyre of Oklahoma, another state where Republicans won the governorship in November and also control both legislative chambers.

Across the Wisconsin Statehouse, Democrats showed up in the Assembly chamber wearing orange T-shirts that proclaimed their support for working families.

After a routine roll call, they exchanged high-fives with protesters, who cried "thank you" as the Democrats walked by. Protesters unleashed venomous boos and screams at Republicans.

Thursday's events were reminiscent of a 2003 dispute in Texas, where Democrats twice fled the state to prevent adoption of a redistricting bill designed to give Republicans more seats in Congress. The bill passed a few months later.

The drama in Wisconsin unfolded in a jam-packed Capitol. Madison police and the State Department of Administration estimated the crowd at 25,000 protesters, the largest number yet.

Demonstrators stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the building's hallways, sat cross-legged across the floor and made it difficult to move from room to room. The scene vacillated from being festive to angry or sometimes just plain weird: One protester rode across the marble floors of the Capitol on a Segway. Another pitched a tent for an overnight stay.

Protesters clogged the hallway outside the Senate chamber, beating on drums, holding signs deriding Walker and pleading for lawmakers to kill the bill. Some others even demonstrated outside lawmakers' homes.

Hundreds of teachers joined the protest by calling in sick, forcing a number of school districts to cancel classes. Madison schools, the state's second-largest district, with 24,000 students, closed for a second day.

Thousands more people, many of them students from the nearby University of Wisconsin, slept in the rotunda for a second night, with more planning to stay Thursday as well.

"We are all willing to come to the table. We've all been willing from day one," said Madison teacher Rita Miller. "But you can't take A, B, C, D and everything we've worked for in one fell swoop."

About 12 law enforcement agencies were helping guard the Capitol, which was scheduled to remain open around the clock for an indefinite period.

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney said authorities were ordered to show "extreme measures of tolerance."

"What we're seeing here is perhaps the most dramatic exercise of the democratic process," Mahoney said. "We're not only protecting the rights of organized labor, but also the rights of people supporting the bill."

Nine people were given citations for minor acts of civil disobedience, he said.

The proposal marks a dramatic shift for Wisconsin, which passed a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959 and was the birthplace of the national union representing all non-federal public employees.

In addition to eliminating collective-bargaining rights, the legislation also would make public workers pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care coverage — increases Walker calls "modest" compared with those in the private sector.

Republican leaders said they expected Wisconsin residents would be pleased with the savings the bill would achieve — $30 million by July 1 and $300 million over the next two years to address a $3.6 billion budget shortfall.

Unions still could represent workers, but could not seek pay increases above those pegged to the Consumer Price Index unless approved by a public referendum. Unions also could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized.

In exchange for bearing more costs and losing bargaining leverage, public employees were promised no furloughs or layoffs. Walker has threatened to order layoffs of up to 6,000 state workers if the measure does not pass.