Gov. Scott Walker (R): Wisconsin Won't be Bullied!

If the Governor's proposed budget cuts are implemented, Wisconsin’s public employees will still have benefit plans more generous than most workers across the country, especially when compared to those middle class workers in the private sector - the ones paying the taxes which employ these protesting unionists!

Obviously, no one taught these spoiled children that there is no money tree.

FOX News' Greta Van Susteren interviewed the Governor last night.

"...the vast majority of state and local government employees -- most of those employees, 300,000, showed up for work today, unlike those around the capital and unlike those 14 state senators, Democrats, who decided to hide out, apparently, down in Rockford, Illinois.

...They're hiding out in hopes that somehow, that will test the resolve. If anything, I think it's made the Republicans in the assembly and the senate stronger. They're not going to be bullied. They're not going to be intimidated."

The real problem with the Progressive agenda is a fanatical embrace - and subsequent disregard of their own core philosophy: pure and unfettered democracy now. What the more sane among us consider 'mob rule.'

But the Progressive don't really want 'democracy now.' If they did, they would respect the will of Wisconsin's voters who voted in the current crop of fiscally responsible adults to clean up the mess left by the previous profligate progressives.

What the protesting progressives in Wisconsin's capital really want is a totalitarian implementation of their socialist agenda for wealth redistribution, regardless of cost. In short, gimme mine as long as some else is burdened with the obligation.

The blithering hypocrisy of these progressives is nauseating.

Related: more Wisconsin districts shut down as teachers prove they care more about money than educating children.

Saturday Saunter

 Leawood (Kansas) Reverend Selected to Deliver Inaugural Prayer Sermon.
(no word yet if anti-religious bigots will demand 'separation of church/state' from Dear Leader)

Sioux Chief Manufacturing sues U.S. over ObamaCare.

"The Peculiar (Missouri) -based company wants relief from provisions of the act that require it to cover abortion and contraception in its self-insured health plan, contrary to its owners’ Catholic beliefs."

Bank seeks judgment in U.S. Rep. Cleaver's(D-MO) business loan.

"Bank of America sued the Cleavers and Cleaver Co. LLC last March, claiming they had defaulted on a 2002 loan to buy and operate a car wash in Grandview. In the initial lawsuit, the bank asked for $1,526,738 to end the default. Grandview Auto Wash remains open.

But the filing Thursday said the amount owed has increased nearly $86,000 because payments still aren’t being made. It isn’t known when the judge might rule."

11 years and no judgment? The congressman is obviously a member of the protected class.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/18/4018212/bank-seeks-judgment-in-cleaver.html#storylink=cpy

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Madison WI Schools Closed as Teachers Stage "Sick Out" to Protest Budget Cuts

Raise your hand if you can walk off your job to protest govt. policy or legislation and not get fired. I can't do that. Can you do that?

From the Madison Wisconsin Journal:

"Madison schools will be closed Wednesday as teachers planned a district-wide absence to attend protests against Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to limit union bargaining.

District Superintendent Dan Nerad made the announcement at 11 p.m. Tuesday after 40 percent of the 2,600 members of the teachers union had called in sick and more were expected to do so through Wednesday morning.

"At this ratio we have serious concerns about our ability to maintain safe and secure school environments," Nerad said in the announcement."

It's unclear whether school will be held Thursday or Friday. Because, obviously, the teachers care more about money than educating children. Or am I being too cynical?

Last Friday, Gov. Walker(R) issued a budget repair proposal stating "Emergency measure is needed to balance the state budget and give government the tools to manage during economic crisis." It's designed to help plug a $3.6 billion shortfall in Wisconsin's budget, including debt restructuring, Medicaid appropriations, selling state assets, and renegotiating employee compensation, etc.  The Governor's proposal has been sent to Wisconsin's Republican controlled legislature for debate in the coming week. Walker said the changes are necessary to avoid up to 6,000 state employee layoffs and the removal of more than 200,000 children from the Medicaid program.

The cutbacks will effect many state & local union workers, including teachers. The key items which have the protesters' panties in a twist are:

1) collective bargaining will only include salary considerations, and exclude pension and health benefits.
2) 'right to work' provision so workers can opt out of paying union dues.
3) increase from zero to 5.8 percent of salary into employee pension fund.
4) increase from 6% to at least 12.6 percent of salary into employee health insurance costs.

I know. It's almost inhuman to make people contribute to their own pension and health benefits, but those last two items alone would generate $30 million in savings by July 1, and roughly $300 million over the next two years when combined with the other concessions.

Or perhaps these unionists don't care about lil kiddies being kick off Medicaid? Surely not.

Yet, last night, hundreds of unionists took to the streets in front of the governor's private residence to voice their anger, before walking off the job Wednesday morning, closing Madison schools, abandoning students, and leaving working families scrambling for last minute day care.

Unlike most of us who can't demand our neighbors pony up more money simply because we want it, these unionists obviously never learned that there is no money tree.

A Few Headlines - best of the interwebs

Impeachment or Attainder? The House Democrats undertake a lawless act.

Shmuel Klatzkin at the American Spectator writes 6 brilliant paragraphs:

"The great responsibility that is required to exercise this great power is the key. Every presidential impeachment has failed; only in the case of Nixon, which didn’t quite make it to impeachment, was there success in forcing a president out of office."

Read it all.

DEVIN NUNES ON THE FISA COURT: Shut It Down. Shut It All Down.

"Unfortunately, Nunes noted, the American media helped the government cover up its gross misconduct. “In order to get back to normalcy in this country, we have to have a free and fair press, but we don’t have that today,” he lamented.

When asked by MacCallum whether he believes that the FISA court really needs to be eliminated, Nunes replied, “I’m not going to speak in absolutes, but I will say that the way that the court’s conducted themselves is totally inappropriate. They ignored clear evidence that we presented to them.”

Nunes stressed that the damning information was not yet available to the general public, but the court had it “and did nothing about it.”

According to Nunes, the court was not being entirely truthful when it claimed in the letter that it had just found out about the FBI’s misconduct because he had already tipped them off to the problems."

That 1st and last sentence are contradictory, but set that aside; I agree with Nunes and others who correctly discern the FISC is systemically flawed and ripe for abuse. IG Horowitz report proved it. Yet, the Republicans had control of Congress until the mid-terms in 2018. So, my question still & again is "Where was this vaunted Congressional oversight during all this FISC abuse by the FBI?"

LOL, Guy Reads Adam Schiff His Miranda Rights While He Ordered His Coffee
If only; if only...

Name That Party!

Racine mayor arrested on attempted sexual assault of a child and other charges.

"Becker was taken into custody at Brookfield Square Mall in Brookfield on Tuesday afternoon. He was arrested for child enticement, possession of child pornography, exposing a child to harmful materials, attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child, use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and misconduct in public office, according to the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation."

Nope. No word on party affiliation, but the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper is a statewide paper, and maybe it's assumed that all know this mayor's political affiliation.

Racine, Wis., mayor accused of attempted sexual assault of child, possessing child pornography.

That's from an AP story, and no party affiliation there, either. Lots of info on sleepy lil Racine, but not a word on the mayor's political affiliation.

NBC news in Green Bay won't say, either. Racine Mayor Arrested.

Perhaps if the guy was a republican it would have been proclaimed in the headline instead of buried on an obscure city web page.

Union Mob Molests GOP Legislator in Wisconsin

Another day, another assault by Neo-Bolsheviks - and another day of MSM crickets chirping.

Plus, Video Interviews with Mostly Clueless Wisconsin Protesters. Or, as the pollsters like to boast, "a representative sampling of likely voters."

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

BAD: Orderly, Clean Tea Party Rallies. GOOD: Angry, Dirty Union Protests

From W.J. at L.I.:

"And what process is it that the (NY Times) Editors find so distasteful that they feel mob rule is needed? Why, it's the democratic process in the Wisconsin state legislature."

So, you ask, just how angry are these union protests?

Why, they're so angry they plum forgot all about the democrats 'new civility' memo. Top 15 Photos From the Wisconsin Hate Rallies You'll Never See in Legacy Media.

OK, but, just how dirty are these union protests? Althouse has many pictures of their disrespect for what tax payers fund.

I wonder if public union workers will be dispatched to clean up?

Wisconsin Neo-Bolsheviks Issue More Death Threats, Intimidation

This time in La Crosse, on the west side of the state.

From WTAQ:

"Wisconsin Senate Republican Dan Kapanke has called off public meetings in his La Crosse area district, after his property was vandalized and had death threats....

 Kapanke is one of the 8 Republican senators targeted for recall, for his vote in favor of the bill that virtually ends collective bargaining for most public employee unions.

The state Justice Department is investigating e-mail threats against Governor Scott Walker and the 8 targeted senators. One message said in part, “If you and your goonies feel that it’s necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, we will get rid of the eight of you.”

The Blog Father offers a sensible solution to these vile, hate mongering Neo-Bolsheviks: "If it were me, I’d respond by introducing a bill abolishing public education entirely and replacing it with vouchers. Why fund a violent, entitled class at taxpayers’ expense?"

Indeed.

Ezra Klein, Troglodyte

To say that Ezra Klein leans left is an understatement. His uber-leftist tilt is so severe as to explain his dizzy thinking. I believe the same analysis can be applied to economist Paul Krugman of the NY Times.

Mr. Klein writes a self-described "opinionated blog" for the Washington Post. I can't fault him for that pursuit. I can admire people for adhering to strongly held beliefs to the exclusion of outside influence. In short, "opinionated" is simply a euphemism for "bigoted" - a much maligned quality, IMHO. But that doesn't mean I have to agree with him. In fact, it makes it imperative to counter-argue this "community-based reality" embraced by the Left.

This morning, Mr. Klein published an Op/Ed touting the popularity of unions VS the eeebil Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker(R) based upon a newly released PPP poll.

John Steele Gordon at Commentary Magazine disassembles Klein's muddled argument:

"Finally, he (Klein) argues that a “world without organized labor is a world where workers have less voice and corporations are even more dominant and unchecked across both the economy and the political system.”

What Klein very carefully fails to point out, of course, is that the fight in Wisconsin is not over unions and collective bargaining with corporations (an argument that was settled in the 1930s); it is over unions and collective bargaining with governments. The evidence that that is a recipe for fiscal disaster is now overwhelming.

Of course, most of that evidence postdates the 1950s, when public-employee unions were very rare and collective bargaining with governments even rarer. George Meany, who headed up the AFL-CIO after their merger in 1955, thought collective bargaining with governments was “impossible.”

Like so many of the confusions uber-Leftists espouse - "govt. spending are investments," "social programs are charity," "smaller spending increases are a budget cuts,"  etc - the term "unions" is an insincere generalization, one that elicits a visceral response of power and pride in skilled workmanship by individual members of said unions. This generalization is one that Klein and the PPP exploited, and one that John Steele Gordon disassembled.

So, what about that PPP poll? Let's simply say the PPP suffers from similar dizzy thinking as Klein and Krugman. W.J. at L.I. explains their tilted methodology.

More Thuggery in Wisconsin

Some Neo-Bolsheviks attempted to take over the offices of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

More Progressive Hate-mongering

"Emboldened twitterers, unfazed by President Obama's call for healing and civility after last month's shooting in Tucson, called for Wisconsin's Governor to be killed. A person named ‘Josh' asked for a "crazy man with sniper experience" [sic] to "do wut you do."

A protester outside the Capitol building in Madison carried a sign that read "Walker Dead or Alive" with ‘alive' crossed out."

I'm no longer surprised by their hate-mongering and calls to violence, nor the MSM's refusal to report it.

Update: And let's not forget Progressive protesters calling for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be lynched - or failing that - "put back in the field."

Or, Progressive Hate Site "AlterNet" Calling GOP Pres. Candidate Herman Cain a "monkey."

Plus, another video of liberal vitriol from Madison last week - with the obligatory "If Tea Partiers had behaved this way, the entire Progressive collective brain would have exploded in indignation."

Cue chirping crickets.

Updated update: Democrat Congressman Calling for Blood in the Streets

"US Representative Michael E. Capuano (D - MA), who decried violent political rhetoric after last month’s shooting of his Democratic colleague, Gabrielle Giffords, used some belligerent language of his own at a union rally in Boston yesterday.

"Every once in a while you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary,” Capuano told about 1,000 union workers who were protesting Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at a raucous rally outside the State House."

The Left's hate and hypocrisy just goes on, and on, and on....

post cross posted

Wisconsin Neo-Bolsheviks Employ Children in Their Climate of Hate

The object of that hate being the legitimately elected Governor of Wisconsin.

Althouse wants to know if these teachers are so obtuse as to think the actions of defiance and disobedience being taught to these children won't someday turnabout and rend the teacher's authority in the classroom? (VIDEO)

But more immediate, when does this become child abuse, or at a minimum, a violation of child labor laws?

Just wondering... 

TY IP

Wisconsin Senate to Convene Without Democrats

"The 14 Senate Democrats who skipped town Thursday to indefinitely delay a vote on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's bill stripping most collective bargaining rights from nearly all public employees remained missing in action for a fifth day.

Walker refused to back down and again called on the Democrats to return and vote on the bill.

"For those 14 Senate Democrats, you've had your time," he said. "It's time for them to come back and participate in democracy."

Perhaps Gov. Walker should do what Texas Gov. Perry did back in 2003 when the Dems ran out of town to prevent a vote: revoke their congressional credit cards. Those Texas Dems panicked and slinked back once they found out they couldn't screw the tax payers into paying for their silly game of hide-n-seek.

Meanwhile:
Democrats Call Government Shutdown a Sign of Failure, Except in Wisconsin

Union Protester Arrested For Trying to Sabotage Tea Party Sound System 

Voters back Scott Walker over unions, 48%-38%.

Thousands Bussed into Wisconsin by Obama's Group Organizing for America

 Astroturf as far as the eye can see.

"But Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the state AFL-CIO, said another large protest was expected Monday, when many state workers are being furloughed to save money.


Walker has been targeted by protesters for nearly a week for negotiating a bill now in the state Senate that would require workers to increase their contributions to pensions and health care coverage, would limit collective bargaining rules and tie raises to inflation. Senate Democrats fled Wisconsin to avoid voting on the legislation.

The Republican governor said that while the state enjoys a lower-than-average unemployment rate -- about 7.5 percent compared to 9 percent nationally -- about 5,000-6,000 state workers and 5,000-6,000 local government workers will find their jobs on the chopping block as the state looks to close a $3.6 billion biennial budget gap."

Back to Iraq

From Midnight in Iraq comes one marine's response to an email he received from a journalism student about his perspective on the war in Iraq.

Kathryn,

Thank you for the email. I will be happy to field your questions, as this is a vastly interesting and controversial topic. I speak for myself and myself only.

What is your attitude (and that of other soldiers in Iraq, as far as you know) to homefront protest against the war or non-support of the war?

I believe free speech is a vital and healthy tenet of our society. When the drafters of the Bill of Rights sat down to make a list of things the .gov should absolutely not touch, free speech was #1. The right to keep and bear arms was #2, by the way, and I’d hate to see this country trample on the First Ammendment as it has the Second Ammendment. You can never please all of the people all the time. If you ever see that happening, you may very well be in the middle of a dictatorship, and while DougS says “there are worse things than a dictatorship,” I would certainly hate for it to be me. The bottom line is that I think it’s fine that people protest the war. I don’t happen to agree with their opinion, but part of respect is being able to disagree with someone.

Do you equate that to non-support of the troops?

I have met several people who have told me “I am against the war, but I support you.” It’s hard for me personally to wrap my mind around not supporting a war yet supporting those who execute that war, but it does appear possible. I have yet to met anyone hostile towards me or my Marines because we are warfighers. I have read their articles on blogs and in newspapers, so I know they do exist, but the vast majority of dissenters tend to carry the “I support the troops, but not the war” attitude. I think this may be a product of trend. How many protesters have the gall to actively oppose our troops when most of their peers do not? September 11th made it trendy to be a patriot, and much like everything else in American pop culture, nobody wants to get caught with their own ideas that no one else agrees with. Do I equate protesting the war with non-support of the troops? No. Do I scrutinize the motivations of war protesters and wonder what they really believe in those deep, dark places they don’t like to talk about at parties? Yes.

Does support of the troops require unquestioning support of the mission?

Nothing should ever be unquestioning. Even military orders given to us by our commanders are only to be executed if they are “lawful orders.” It’s up to the individual to determine whether an order is lawful. I think I expounded on this enough during the previous question. I think it is possible for someone to support our troops but not support their mission.

How does opposition to the war at home make you and other soldiers in Iraq feel?

I can only speak to what I think about the situation. I understand there will always be dissenting opinion to any decision made by anyone. I deal with it everyday. When someone doesn’t like one of my decisions my standard question in return is ‘OK, do you have a better idea?” My personal opinion is that opposition to the war doesn’t bother me. I think it’s naive and narrow-minded. What should we have done? Do they really want us to pack our bags and pull out tomorrow? Do they understand that will leave this job undone, for another generation. Thomas Paine once said “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”

Is it demoralizing?

Well, it certainly doesn’t build morale. However, I am fine with people disagreeing with me. I also don’t mind that not everyone in the world wants to be my friend. In the words of Doc Holliday: You know, if I didn’t think you were my friend, I don’t think I could bear it.

Does it make your job more difficult?

I am very separated from any protest against the war, and it is unable to affect my job. Furthermore, my wife is as resolved as I am, so I do not have to deal with any dissenting opinion on the homefront. I can pretty much deal with anything else. To let a few war protesters in the states affect the execution of my job would be lunacy, and I would consider myself weak because of it.

Additionally, last week many Wisconsin counties held referenda regarding whether or not the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq? What is your opinion about this?

My opinion? Did they also discuss corporate marketing strategies? I’m guessing Bill Gates and Steve Jobs made it a point to attend. Perhaps they have an opinion on whether I should put my left boot on first or my right? The way this system works is simple: You elect a representative that best reflects your personal values. That representative votes on your behalf. If you can’t elect a representative that shares your values you either move or accept the fact that your opinion may be in the minority. The way it DOESN’T work is by random counties in a random state holding a referenda on national military policy and thinking anyone gives two shits. Let General Pace and the rest of the Chiefs of Staff do their job. Let the Commandant do his job. They get paid plenty to do it, have been doing it for 30+ years, and are vastly more qualified than you, me, and any county commission in Wisconsin. If these county referendums would really like to do something useful perhaps they could send me some cheese. I’m a fan of smoked Gouda.

Your comparison to the Vietnam era protests is interesting. In “On Killing” Dave Grossman explores the effects of these protests in depth. He concludes that they contributed heavily to the dramatically increased numbers of PTSD that is present in Vietnam veterans. He contends that the inability of society to help these veterans cope with having to kill their fellow man caused the psychological train wrecks that are often present in veterans of that war. I am not 100% convinced of his theories, but it does present some interesting food for thought, especially for the protester who actively DOES NOT support our troops. One thing that comes to mind is the final scene in James Webb’s book “Fields of Fire” where one of the characters (I think it is Senator) gives a speech about the war and returns to find his car defaced. I am certainly laisse-fare about the war protesters, but my opinion might change if I returned to booing, spitting, and accusations. I also can’t accurately predict how I would feel if I was a parent who lost a son or daughter in the war. It might change my opinion. However, a good perspective of one’s place in the universe may also be in order. I joined the Marine Corps because I believe in values that are bigger and more important than myself. The Declaration of Independence states that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. It doesn’t state “all Americans,” but “all men” (all of humanity). Because of what we’re doing over here millions of people will now come closer to enjoying those inalienable rights that were suppressed from them for so long. I hope that if I fall my loved ones will know that my death served a greater good, and I hope they would be level-headed enough to view the issue through an untainted lens.

I like this guy.

More Neo-Bolshevik Thuggery in Wisconsin

From Althouse:

"In front of the Capitol today, protesters dressed as zombies stood between Governor Scott Walker and the group of Special Olympics participants he was honoring.

Quite aside from the unbelievable rudeness, how can the protesters be so blind about their own public relations? (VIDEO)"

20 Days of Left-Wing Thuggery in Wisconsin

I would term it "Neo-Bolshevik Thuggery," but details, details...

John Nolte at BG rightly asks, "When Will Obama, Democrats, and MSM Call for Civility?"

Short answer: only when it suits their political narrative.

And WJ at LI inserts the obligatory 'what if the TEA Party had done anything remotely as vile as these neo-bolsheviks?' here.

This Just In...

Republicans had their best day in years. See? That wasn't so hard.

The Talk Clock: guess which one man monopolized the most time yesterday?

More double down on stupid: Dems' Sneak Attack on CIA Fails.

Old school & wicked cool: Nikola Tesla's Letterhead.

Life ain't fair or easy, but if you just give me a chance... Wealth Theory.

Number nine, and counting. Wisconsin Planned Parenthood Covers Up Statutory Rape. So when does it become organized crime?

Utah to D.C.: Anything you can do, I can do better than you.

John Stossel: Practices that would bankrupt private companies considered normal for public sector.

Wisconsin Protester Is Suspect In Bomb Threat

Oops. We must not jump to conclusions.

Unless Tea Party supporters are involved.

14,500 y.o. woolly mammoth skeleton unveiled at Museum

Milwaukee museum unveils woolly mammoth skeleton, considered most complete in North America.

Few paleontological specimens are as complete as the Hebior mammoth. The skeleton lacks a rib as well as a few bones in the tail and feet, but is otherwise nearly whole.

Standing more than twice the height of a person, the woolly mammoth is among three with scientific significance for southern Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee museum already had skeletons of a mastodon and Chinese elephant. This is its first woolly mammoth.

Link to the Milwaukee Public Museum.