hue
hue's JournalScott Walker Spending Tax Dollars Lavishly on Himself While Squeezing Everyone Else
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/11/1313330/-Scott-Walker-Spending-Lavishly-on-Himself-While-Squeezing-Everyone-Else#We now know how much Scott Walkers security detail is costing "the hardworking taxpayers of Wisconsin" (he always uses that phrase to cut spending, so it's a bit of Scottenfreuden for me to use it here).
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R-It's Never My Fault) has brought austerity to the state, Mississippi sink-to-the-bottom policies, bitter political divisiveness, extremism, anti-worker, anti-woman, crush the poor and disabled policies to Wisconsin. He granted a stingy 1% wage increase to state employees (denied to workers who have still managed to keep their unions) while sucking out 18% of their already low wages. "We're broke", he claimed repeatedly when he rolled out his budgets.
While he was doing that, however, he managed to implant his cronies not just in appointed positions, but embedded many in Civil Service positions with enormous salary increases over their predecessors. He recently hired another of his former Milwaukee County staffers, Cynthia Archer (who was involved in the original John Doe Probe, but kept her mouth shut), to a job she didn't apply for (overlooking the ones who had applied for the job), never interviewed for, with a salary of $113,000 per year (131% higher than the person she replaced).
And today we find out that her salary exceeds the top pay for that position.
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There are some days I can barely cope with the EVIL ETHER that encompasses Wisconsin & some days when I feel I can't! When will this end??
It's been a pattern for Walker hiring cronies into big positions along with big, big, big raises. Then again, those big salaries are buying a whole lot of loyalty ... and silence.
Then there was the major remodeling that Tonette Walker did to the Governors Mansion, including a full kitchen remodeling during the "We're Broke" time in 2011 and 2012. No problemo finding the bucks for that either.
ALEC has a new chief, and she's bullish on Scott Walker
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/alec-has-a-new-chief-and-she-s-bullish-on/article_22890cbb-134a-54f7-9d89-fe3deb020a8e.htmlThe American Legislative Exchange Council's new leader sees Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as a model for conservative reform.
"I think a lot of states should be looking at Gov. Walker and the Assembly in Madison in terms of looking at how you can make that change and how you can curtail the growth of whether it’s the unions or any other faction that is stemming growth and competition,” incoming ALEC CEO Lisa B. Nelson told Watchdog.org, the conservative news group that includes the Wisconsin Reporter.
Nelson was an aide to Newt Gingrich, serving for three years as his public liaison when Gingrich was speaker of the House in the 1990s. She also has worked on ALEC model legislation on behalf of AOL and Time-Warner and Visa, she said in this interview with Washington Post blogger Niraj Chokshi. She's also a former executive director of GOPAC, a group dedicated to recruiting and promoting new Republican leaders.
ALEC has gotten a lot of ink in recent years as left-leaning groups sought to expose the extent of its influence on legislation proposed by conservative state legislators.
Federal Judge Orders Release of 14 More Pages of Wisconsin John Doe Documents
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/08/1312641/-Federal-Judge-Orders-Release-of-14-More-Pages-of-Wisconsin-John-Doe-Documents#While the John Doe II investigation into whether there was illegal coordination between campaigns (including Scott Walkers) and dark money groups remains shut down pending appeal, a judge on the federal panel has ordered the release of 14 more pages of documents.
Judge Diane Wood of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ordered the court clerk to make available to the public two attachments to a motion that the Wisconsin Club for Growth had wanted to seal.
Her order did not say when the records would be available or make clear what they contain. They appear to total 14 pages, according to online court records.
The order is the latest in a series of decisions that has caused immense secrecy around the probe to fall away.
GOP congressional candidates boycott League of Women Voters forums (WI)
Source: WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL
Two Republican candidates for the 6th Congressional District are boycotting upcoming League of Women Voters forums because the organization is challenging a voter ID law they support.
Sens. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, and Glenn Grothman, R-Campbellsport, said they won’t attend an Ozaukee County forum on Monday or a Winnebago County forum on July 21.
“No Republican candidate dedicated to voter ID reform should be participating in events hosted by an organization dedicated to stopping the voter ID requirement I worked for nearly a decade to get signed into law,” Leibham said in a statement.
Grothman’s campaign spokesman Brandon VerVelde added that Grothman “doesn’t see it necessary to participate in a debate sponsored by an organization completely opposed to conservative Republican principles of election integrity, including common-sense bills authored by Sen. Grothman like requiring proof of residence when registering to vote and early voting uniformity, among others.”
Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/on-politics/gop-congressional-candidates-boycott-league-of-women-voters-forums/article_a456ec5e-9bbe-5bd0-813a-963a4b49453c.html
Another slap in the face to Women!! How could any Women vote R????
America's Richest Families: 185 Clans With Billion Dollar Fortunes.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2014/07/08/americas-richest-families-185-clans-with-billion-dollar-fortunes/The Mellons. The Kennedys. The Rockefellers. You know the names already. Now Forbes has compiled the first comprehensive ranking of the richest families in America: 185 dynasties with fortunes of at least $1 billion. They’re collectively worth $1.2 trillion. Many are working at increasing their fortunes. Others are merely sleepy heirs, several generations removed from their families’ heydays. Nearly all have ties to some of the most storied businesses and brands in American history, including Jack Daniel’s, L.L. Bean, Getty Oil, Hallmark and Budweiser .
The wealthiest family in America, and also the world, is the Walton family, which includes the three living children of Wal-Mart Stores WMT +0.76% founder Sam Walton; the wife of his son John, who died in 2005 in a plane crash; and the two daughters of his brother James “Bud” Walton, who helped found the Arkansas retailer in 1962. They are worth $152 billion, $63 billion more than the second richest family, headed by the politically active and often controversial Koch brothers. The three richest families are worth $301 billion, one fourth of cumulative net worth of all the wealthiest families.
WI DNR To Sell 10,000 Acres - - Nice Round Number - - Of Our Land
http://thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com/2014/07/wi-dnr-to-sell-10000-acres-nice-round.html[Updated 10:55 p.m.] The GOP-led Wisconsin Legislature and Governor Walker are gearing up for The Mother of All Garage Sales - - at least 10,000 acres - - with price tags you may never see. And not necessarily sold to the highest bidder [Sic].
Public sale through mandatory open, competitive bidding? Well, the DNR says on its website that procedure is in the "may occur" category.
Really - - That's such an old-fashioned business model.
And not 5,000 acres, or 9,000 or 14,000, or 15,839.5, or acreage as needed based on a long-range plan - - just 10,000 acres, minimum - - an easily remembered round number.
Heck - - Put a dollar $ign in front of it and you've got yourself a modest, modern day, post-Citizens United-era campaign or Governor's Defense Fund donation.
These days, Bucky keeps it simple!
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Desperate measures of a sinking ship! Wanker--it's NOT working!!
More Than 60 Shot, 9 Dead in Chicago's Bloody Holiday Weekend
Source: abc NEWS
Independence Day celebrations were marred by multiple shootings in Chicago that reportedly left at least nine dead and 60 injured.
The first fatal shooting occurred around 2:30 a.m. Friday, kicking off a violent weekend for the city.
Corey Hudson, 34, was killed after a car pulled up and someone inside shot him and a friend on the street. According to ABC News station WLS-TV in Chicago there were also three police-involved shootings on July 4th alone. At least one suspect involved in one of those shootings was killed.
The most recent shootings occurred Sunday night, according to WLS-TV.
They city has been actively combating gang and shooting violence in recent years after a bloody year in 2012, when it was the only city in the nation to record more than 500 homicides.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/violence-mars-chicago-holiday-weekend-50-reportedly-injured/story?id=24446308
Judge to Mull Senator's Suit Over Health Exchanges
Source: The New York Times
MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge is set to consider a Wisconsin senator's lawsuit challenging how President Barack Obama's administration has applied health care reforms to Congress.
At issue is a U.S. Office of Personnel Management rule that states congressional members and staffers must obtain health insurance through small business exchanges.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson filed a lawsuit in January alleging congressional employees aren't eligible for the exchanges because the federal government is too large. He also contends that the government's premium subsidies for congressional workers will create resentment among his constituents.
Government attorneys counter that Johnson hasn't shown how the rule harms him. They've asked Judge William Griesbach to dismiss the case.
Read more: Link thttp://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/07/06/us/ap-us-health-overhaul-senators-lawsuit.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=WireFeed&module=pocket-region®ion=pocket-region&WT.nav=pocket-region&_r=0o source
More craziness from our dumb Sen. Ro Jo...
WATCH: Now That Corporations Have Freedom of Religion, It's Time to Lay Out the Corporate Commandmen
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/07/watch-corporations-freedom-religion-corporate-commandments-fiore-cartoonMark Fiore is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications.
Hobby Lobby Funded Disgraced Fundamentalist Christian Leader Accused of Harassing Dozens of Women
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/hobby-lobby-bill-gothard-institute-basic-life-principlesThe crafts store chain and its owners gave millions in backing to controversial evangelical Bill Gothard and his Institute in Basic Life Principles.
For a decade or so, Hobby Lobby and its owners, the Green family, have been generous benefactors of a Christian ministry that until recently was run by Bill Gothard, a controversial religious leader who has long promoted a strict and authoritarian version of Christianity. Gothard, a prominent champion of Christian home-schooling, has decried the evils of dating, rock music, and Cabbage Patch dolls; claimed public education teaches children "how to commit suicide" and undermines spirituality; contended that mental illness is merely "varying degrees of irresponsibility"; and urged wives to "submit to the leadership" of their husbands. Critics of Gothard have associated him with Christian Reconstructionism, an ultrafundamentalist movement that yearns for a theocracy, and accused him of running a cultlike organization. In March, he was pressured to resign from his ministry, the Institute in Basic Life Principles, after being accused by more than 30 women of sexual harassment and molestation—a charge Gothard denies.
The Institute traces it origins to 1964, when Gothard designed a college seminar based on biblical principles to help teenagers. The ministry says it was established "for the purpose of introducing people to the Lord Jesus Christ" and to give individuals, families, businesses, and governments "clear instruction and training on how to find success by following God's principles found in Scripture." The group, which operates what it calls "training centers" across the United States and abroad, says more than 2.5 million people have attended its paid events, which have brought in tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Gothard and the Institute have drawn support from conservative politicians, including Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. The Duggar family, the stars of the reality show 19 Kids and Counting, have been high-profile advocates of Gothard's home-schooling curriculum and seminars. (One of Gothard's alleged victims has called on the Duggars to break with Gothard and the Institute.) Don Venoit, a conservative evangelical who has long been a critic of Gothard, contends that Gothard's approach to Christian theology emphasizing obedience to authority creates a "culture of fear." In 1984, Ronald Allen, now a professor of Bible exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary, observed that Gothard's teachings were "a parody of patriarchalism" and "the basest form of male chauvinism I have ever heard in a Christian context." He added, "Gothard has lost the biblical balance of the relationship between women and men as equals in relationship. His view is basically anti-woman."
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