No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for October, 2007

October 31, 2007

Time Warner/Charter vs Big Ten Network/NFL Network

by @ 20:27. Filed under Business, Politics - Wisconsin, Sports.

I’m as pissed as anybody else that Time Warner (and Charter) and the BTN/NFLN can’t pull their collective heads out of their asses. Both sides want something that is not part of the deal between the networks and the satellite companies; the networks want on basic cable (that’s channels 2-99 that just about any TV made in the last dozen years can get) for ESPN money, while the cable companies want not only to put it on digital cable, but to bundle it with the likes of Fox Soccer Channel and the Outdoor Channel at an additional cost. By way of comparison, you have to get the 100-channel package from either DirecTV or Dish (or AT&T U-verse IF you can get it) to get either network. Funny thing is, that’s precisely what the “standard” digital package is on cable. However, both sides are too greedy to take the compromise.

What’s worse is the bi-partisan Party-In-Government in Madistan, full of self-righteous anger over not being able to watch the Wisconsin-OverratedSU football game live on Saturday. They want to step in and create a binding arbitration system to force the cable companies to take channels they don’t want at a price they aren’t willing to pay. What would be better is to simply get rid of the franchising monopoly altogether so more upstarts like AT&T can waltz in with better deals without giving tribute to either the locals as is the case now or the state as is the proposed case.

Hey Keyboard Islamokazis, come get some

by @ 13:26. Filed under War on Terror.

Head Jawa Rusty has blown the lid off some games keyboard Islamists want to start on the 11th.

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Buckingham Palace band equates King Abdullah to Darth Vader

by @ 13:16. Filed under International relations.

(H/T – Uncle Jimbo)

When Saudia Arabia’s King Abdullah stepped out of his limo on the first state visit by a Saudi king to Great Britain, the Buckingham Palace band broke out “Imperial March” from “Star Wars” (the first 35 seconds of the linked YouTube slice of Britain’s Channel 4 coverage).

Bravo Zulu.

Happy Reformation Day

by @ 13:03. Filed under Religion.

While the rest of the world celebrates Halloween, Lutherans and most other Protestants celebrate Reformation. On this date in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses, a call for a debate on the Catholic practice of selling indulgences for sins, on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg as well as other items of Catholic dogma, to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Saxony (modern-day Germany).

Is NOTHING safe from the tax man?

by @ 9:39. Filed under Taxes.

(H/T – Allahpundit/HotAir Headlines)

Iowa is taxing pumpkin purchases on the basis of their use as jack-o-lanterns. Those who are planning on making pumpkin pies can fill out a sales tax exemption certificate at the place of purchase stipulating to that.

Do notice that there is no checkbox for either “private citizen/end user” or “pumpkin for human consumption”. Indeed, the back of said form does not have that allowance on it. The Iowa Department of Revenue also “helpfully” points out that failure of the purchaser provide his/her telephone number or fill out any other portion of the form is grounds for prosecution for “fraudulent intent”.

Oh, and don’t plan on using the “dual-use” defense when the DOR agents start patrolling the neighborhood looking for Jack-O-Lanterns. This phrase on the back of that form has that covered – “If property or services purchased for resale or processing are used or disposed of by the purchaser in a nonexempt manner, the purchaser is then responsible for the tax.” So, when the DOR agents come a-knocking to take your pumpkins and cash away, don’t think that offering them a piece of pumpkin pie made from the innards of said pumpkins will save you; you’ll just lose the pie as well.

I’m only surprised that Doyle hasn’t thought of this first. Michelle put my thoughts into pictures

1vomit.jpg

Revisions/extensions (6:53 pm 11/1/2007) – After Iowa squeezed all the juice they could out of the jack-o-lanterns, they reversed course (H/T – Heather Radish)

October 30, 2007

Sorry about the lack of posts

by @ 18:58. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I’ve been recoving from the Packer game all day, and the only thing of note is the Dhimm debate. I won’t be covering it because I don’t want to come off that high just yet, but Chris Roberts will (thanks for the find, Michelle).

October 29, 2007

The Favre OT TD

by @ 23:18. Filed under Sports.

(H/T and many thanks – Ian Schwartz)

Just in case you missed it live, or on the news, or on the 1,238 airings on ESPN,…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5ssRj41Xs[/youtube]

I think Favre can still throw the deep ball.

Another happy week

by @ 23:07. Filed under Sports.

So I blew chunks again on the over/unders (down to 10-5-1 overall there); 9-4 against the spread made up for it. Let’s review the Man-crushing week that was:

Green Bay 19 (+3) @ Denver 13 – I knew Elway. Elway was an enemy of mine. Mr. Cutler, you are no Elway.
Detroit 16 @ Chicago 7 (-6) – I should’ve stuck with my initial thoughts.
Philadelphia 23 @ Minnesota 16 (+1.5) – Unhealthiest profession this year; Viqueens’ QB.
Cleveland 27 (-3) @ St. Louis 20 – It’s a dirty rotten shame that Duh Lambs and Duh Deadfins don’t meet </sarcasm>
Indianapolis 31 (-7) @ Carolina 7 – That’s how you go undefeated the “nice” way.
NY Giants 13 (-10-LOSS) "@" Miami 10 – The boo-birds made both the G-men and the Dolphins feel right at home.
Oakland 9 @ Tennessee 13 (-7-LOSS) – Too bad the Tennesseans are also a 1-AA school.
Pittsburgh 24 (-4) @ Cincinnati 13 – The trend is your friend.
Buffalo 13 (+3) @ NY Jets 3 – Come on, say it with me. J-E-T-S S*CK! SU*K! SUC*!
Houston 10 @ San Diego 35 (-9) – Vincent K. McMahon couldn’t script it better.
Jacksonville 24 (+4) @ Tampa Bay 23 – Not only did Garcia get picked (thrice), but the first pick was the margin.
New Orleans 31 (-3) @ San Francisco 10 – Algore must be playing for the Fourtiners.
Washington 7 @ New England 52 (-17) – Guess Belichick had the over.

I’m still 6 games under .500 and further out from break-even, but after the month from Hell, 51-57-8 is an accomplishment.

México Del Norte moment of the day

by @ 16:49. Filed under Business, Immigration.

Lao, the American Expat in SE Asia, recently tried to open up a bank account back in his hometown in Texas. First Bank and Trust East Texas wouldn’t take his United States passport, Social Security card or his birth certificate, so he couldn’t open up an account. The not-funny thing is, if he would have had the easy-to-forge Mexican matricula consular card, he could have opened up an account with them without any problems.

That is seriously, SERIOUSLY fucked up.

Project Valour-IT

by @ 16:14. Filed under Miscellaneous.

valour.gif
Cartoon courtesy Cox and Forkum

I don’t have a dog in this fight, as the blogroll is full of people on all 4 teams, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t get some money in to this 4-way battle royale between the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Soldiers’ Angels Project Valour-IT, which helps provide voice-controlled and adaptive laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries at major military medical centers, is holding their annual fundraising competition, with many bloggers choosing between the 4 branches. This goes until Veterans’ Day, and your donations, regardless of which team you support, are tax-deductible as Soldiers’ Angels is a qualifying non-profit organization.

Since, unlike Blackfive, CDR Salamander, Michelle and Mary Katharine, I can’t choose just one, I’ll instead give you all 4 options. Choose one, choose some, choose all, but choose.

Revisions/extensions (10:40 am 10/30/2007) – Due to technical issues with ChipIt, the widgets have been replaced here, and will be very shortly on the sidebar.

Comments are now open at the Blogfather’s place

by @ 15:34. Filed under Miscellaneous.

True, they’re moderated, and there is no way to link back to your own blog, but the fine folks at WTMJ have enabled commenting over at Sykes Writes.

I won’t mention who got the first volley in :-)

October 28, 2007

NFL Week 8

by @ 9:50. Filed under Sports.

After last week’s 8-6 money-making performance, I’m now only 11 games under .500 (we won’t talk about those over/unders). Guess I’m peaking just in time for the 2007 Weblog Awards (we’ll know if the Bar is going to the finals later this week, and if it is, we really should have somebody lined up to go out to Vegas for Blogworld where the awards will be handed out Nov. 8-9). With that in mind, let’s start making serious bank with this week’s picks.

Green Bay (+3) @ Denver – Which Bronco team will show up, the one that stiffed the Steelers or the one that got shocked out of existence by the Chargers? Walker’s out, so take the latter. Oh, and take the over-42.5.
Detroit @ Chicago (-6) – I was SOOOO tempted to take the Lions until I remembered that this is on the road in the cold.
Philadelphia @ Minnesota (+1.5) – If it were just the Vikes D versus the Eagles, I would still take my one-and-a-half. In fact, that’s pretty much what it is, so take the under-37.5.
Cleveland (-3) @ St. Louis – We could have two teams go 0-16 this year. I see nothing that will stop the Lambs from sinking further towards that hole this week.
Indianapolis (-7) @ Carolina – CBS will let NOTHING happen to its dream matchup next week.
NY Giants (-10) “@” Miami – Can someone tell me why we’re playing an NFL regular-season game in Londonistan? Oh, that’s right, the Fins aren’t an NFL team.
Oakland @ Tennessee (-7) – It does not matter who’s starting for the Tennesseans; they’re playing a 1-AA school.
Pittsburgh (-4) @ Cincinnati – Stat of the week: Pittsburgh is 6-0 in their last 6 trips to Cincy.
Buffalo (+3) @ NY Jets – You may like the points, you may want the points, and by law, you will get the points, but you’re not gonna need them; the Bills are starting their squeaky-new QB, the Jets are stuck on stupid.
Houston @ San Diego (-9) – If a fire can’t stop the Bolts, what makes the Texans think they can?
Jacksonville (+4) @ Tampa Bay – It’s a MASH-unit mash. Stat that won’t survive the day – Jeff Garcia does not have a pick yet this year.
New Orleans (-3) @ San Francisco – Three weeks ago, that -3 would’ve been in the Niners’ corner. Now, they’re the disfunctional team, while the Saints got their “S” back.
Washington @ New England (-17) – Lesson of the day: Don’t bring Jason Campbell to a shootout.

Viva Las Vegas

by @ 9:10. Filed under Sports.

Hopefully I’ll be doing this from Vegas inside of 2 weeks after The Wisconsin Sports Bar wins the 2007 Weblog Awards Sports Blog of the Year, so it’s good that I’m reversing the losing trend. Let’s review how the nose picks did….

Chicago 19 @ Philadelphia 16 (-6) – In other news, Rocky got booed.
Tampa Bay 16 (+2.5) @ Detroit 23 – Turnover, turnover, turnover.
Minnesota 14 @ Dallas 24 (-9) – Where did my sense of the over-unders go?
Arizona 19 @ Washington 21 (-8.5-LOSS) – Please send the bill to Messrs. Fletcher and Landry.
Atlanta 16 (+8-WIN) @ New Orleans 22 – Guess we know why the Jags gave up on Leftwich; he’s no Favre.
Baltimore 14 (-3) @ Buffalo 19 – The OldBrowns did everything right except win, dammit.
New England 49 (-17) @ Miami 28 – Start building.
San Francisco 15 @ NY Giants 33 (-9.5) – So it was Dilfer who put on the cement overshoes.
Tennessee 38 (-1) @ Houston 36 – And I ran, I ran so far away. Couldn’t get away, but I got just enough points.
Kansas City 12 (+3) @ Oakland 10 – I was only 28 yards and 2 scores off.
NY Jets 31 (+6.5) @ Cincinnati 38 – Where did these offenses come from?
St. Louis 6 @ Seattle (-8.5) – I picked the right week to go with the Hags.
Pittsburgh 28 (-4) @ Denver 31 – I think it’s safe to say that Pittsburgh is not a road team.
Indianapolis 29 (-3.5) @ Jacksonville 7 – The CBS dream is still alive.

If you stayed away from the now-toxic over/unders, you made bank last week to the tune of 8-6, at least if your vig is only 10%. That pushes the record to 42-53-8 against the spread and 10-3-1 against the over/under.

October 26, 2007

Roll bloat – from the logs edition

by @ 14:38. Filed under The Blog.

Sometimes, it pays to check the logs. This is one of those times, as without the logs telling me where people come from, I probably wouldn’t have found Thinking Out Loud.

This one’s a special for the mayor and five aldermen not named Verhalen in Oak Creek – Menomonee Falls found a way to raise their levy only 1.3%. If they can hold the line in a massively-growing community, why can’t you?

Let the local spending smash the ceiling, and other veto errata

by @ 12:49. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Let’s take a quick run through Gov. Doyle’s veto message (H/T – WisPolitics Budget Blog, which, though it lacks the words that were “Vannah White”ed, has a red-colored summary of each veto’s effects, shall we? For reference’s sake, here’s the Munich Acco…er, Grand Compromise. Late word from WisPolitics is Mike Huebsch won’t even try to override any of this. (“thanks” a lot, Neville) On your marks, get set,….

  • The Wisconsin Covenant – This is one of those times I wish we had the specific words that were whacked. While Doyle merely says he doesn’t want to set the financial eligibility requirements at this time (which the Grand Compromise set at Pell Grant/reduced-price school lunch), I find it extraordinarily odd that he mentioned “Wisconsin residents”, especially since he considers illegal aliens that have successfully invaded Wisconsin “Wisconsin residents”.

    Also, let the spending commence; we’re now on the hook for operating the “private” office that will run it.

  • Independent Purchase of Telecommunications Services – Message from Doyle to the UW system and the Legislature – How dare you let the UW system spend money they would spend anyway without going through me, Lord Craps. After all, I have a public union to keep happy, I don’t want them to turn on me like they have those that ultimately pay their salaries and benefits.
  • Information on Instructors – Nope, can’t let the students know who is going to run the class until they actually show up.</channel_Craps>
  • Levy Limits on Technical College Districts – A very modest 4% annual limit on the increase of taxpayer cash to overspenders like MATC just can’t be allowed to fly; after all, their teachers have to continue to earn more than UW professors.</channel_Craps>
  • Stewardship Review – Demandment XIII – I am Lord Craps. No one shall question how much land I remove from the property tax rolls in the name of envirowhackoism, or how much taxpayer money I use to do so.
  • Muskellunge Fishing Season and Catch and Release Bass Fishing – This is another time I wish I knew which words were axed. While the red-colored glasses review says he’s partially vetoing the provisions to not ensare those wishing to use barbed hooks or live bait to fish for other species during catch-and-release bass and musky seasons, I don’t see what words could be whacked to that end without whacking the entire relevant provisions.
  • Quarterly and Annual Reports from the State Fair Park Board – Demandment XIV – I am Lord Craps. No one shall question how much money is spent by the State Fair Park Board.
  • Technical Modification to Kenosha County Circuit Court Branch 8 – My mention of this one is my olive branch to Doyle. As the affected position was written, the election to the new-for-2009 branch would have happened in the spring of 2008. This was the fastest way to fix that.
  • Demonstration Waiver for Health Opportunity Accounts Under BadgerCare – Demandment XV – I am Lord Craps. No one shall question how much money is spent on BadgerCare Plus.
  • Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality and Morbidity – When it comes to sunsets, Doyle believes in the British Empire concept of none.
  • Municipality property tax limit – Hang onto your wallets, folks. While Doyle and company believe the munciipalities cannot be expected to find pork to defund this late in the budget process for this year, I fully expect them to find additional pork to fund this year just so the base for next year’s one-year 2%-or-growth “freeze” will be that much higher.
  • Reports and Approvals in the transportation budget – Demandment XVI – I am Lord Craps. No one shall question how much money I spend from the transportation fund, or whether I give it all to WEAC.
  • Department of Transportation Permits for Activities Along State Trunk
    Highways Within Municipal Limits
    – Those highways are mine, MINE!</channel_Craps_Daffy_edition>
  • Vehicle Immobilization and Impoundment for Repeated Parking Violations – Huzzah part deux. No Denver Boots for the foreseeable future.
  • Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Rail Extension Project – Night of the Living Dead lives! DAMMIT!

October 24, 2007

So much for the political advantage

by @ 21:15. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

In case you missed it below, or elsewhere around the Cheddarsphere, the spin is that this is a political win for the Pubbies. I hate to rain on that parade, but there’s a slight problem with that; namely, a no-new-taxes pledge from Americans for Tax Reform 24 Assemblymen signed. Here are the RepubicRATs who flat-out lied to their constituents when they signed that pledge:

– Donald Friske
– Eugene Hahn
– Jake Hines
– Terry Musser
– Scott Suder – Forgot originally
– Jeff Wood

For those counting along at home, or inside the Square, that’s more than the Pubbie margin in the Assembly. Further, it wasn’t necessary for any of those five six to break their word publicly; Mike Huebsch still had a 5 6 5-vote margin to work with.

Message to the wise; it’s not 1988 anymore. It’s a lot harder to bury duplicity; just ask former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle or former State Senate Republican Leader Mary Panzer.

Oh, and the recall window is now open.

Revisions/extensions (10:48 pm 10/24/2007) – Made a correction to the vote margin; Huebsch had even more room. Also added a reference the state Pubbies should have had burned into their collective memories.

R&E part 2 (12:06 am 10/25/2007) – I shouldn’t try this while watching the World Series and participating in a couple of open threads; I forgot Scott Suder. That also brings the vote margin back to where it was. Thanks, Jenny.

The budget – inside the Square view

by @ 20:19. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

I had the pleasure to talk with a couple of Republican Senate staffers today (don’t bother asking which ones; it was more of a “background” talk), and they’re actually pretty stoked about the budget. You know my views, but in the interest of fairness, and to explain both Fraley’s and Kevin’s optimism, I’ll go through the highlights:

– They’re pleased they got the most-odious of the taxes out, namely the combined reporting, the hospital tax, and the gas tax. Considering the original new-tax-increase estimates were $1.74 billion (at least officially), that’s an accomplishment.

– Healthy and Depopulated Wisconsin and KRM, a pair of Senate ‘Rat priorities, got shot down. While most of us, me included, figured and probably still figure H&DW was nothing more than a negotiating ploy, the reaction of the Senate ‘Rats is, in a word, priceless.

– Oh, and how about that reaction? It wasn’t yet official when we talked, but Robson’s gone. It’s odd when there’s a mid-term purge, especially when the side undergoing said purge can say it got most of what it wanted.

– Speaking of the Senate, all of the Senate Pubbies stuck together in voting against the budget. To be honest, nobody saw that coming.

– They see some political possibilities for 2008 and 2010, based mainly on the version that first went through the Assembly. After a review of the vote that I only got to after the conversation, I’m not nearly as optimistic.

Petulant Senate ‘Rats

by @ 19:23. Filed under Taxes.

I first saw the rumblings on a putsch in the Senate ‘Rat leadership over at Kevin Fischer’s place late last night, but it was a bit late to expound on it. I’ve been out all day, and it’s come to fruition. Russ Decker is now your State Senate Majority Leader.

Considering that they got over 75% of the additional taxes they wanted going into negotiations and better than 57% of the additional spending they voted for (less H&DW), despite being cut out of the negotiations, I was right when I said they wanted it all. Guess they forgot that the governor makes all the rules when it comes to the budget. I wonder whether they’ll try to knife him in 2010.

“Brilliant” negotiating Huebsch, part deux

by @ 1:12. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

It might just be the time of the night, but the more I think about the “Grand Compromise”, the more I realize those of us who don’t want to be #1 in taxation got rolled. First, let’s go back to the spending numbers, and assume that Healthy and Depopulated Wisconsin was never a serious proposal. Throwing that up against what was passed last night, Robson got 76.3% of her her $1,000,000,000 tax increase and 68.5% of difference in the increase in state-funds spending (the amount that comes directly from our pockets versus what comes from that plus what comes from the federal trough) between her plan and the sop thrown to us in southeast Wisconsin.

What’s worse is something that GOP 1st District vice-chair Bob Geason dug up (H/T – Recess Supervisor). Remember that total spending “reduction” from Doyle’s original budget? When all the bonding gets put into the spending equation, all but $345,091,300 of difference between the original and the Grand Compromise disappears. It’s way too late to come up with the bonding numbers from the three intermediate proposals, but the total bond-and-spend number in the original budget was $60,346,104,400. However, if memory serves, it’s safe to say say that the final bond-and-spend number of $59,998,013,100 is closer to Doyle’s original proposal and probably the H&DW-less Senate proposal than the Assembly “sop”.

Revisions/extensions (7:06 am 10/24/2007) – I took the time to make a quick run-through of both the Senate and Assembly plans for bonding. Adding the Senate-approved bonding to the Senate H&DW-less plan made that plan’s bond-and-spend number $61,292,741,000 (with H&DW, it would have been $68,892,741,000), and adding the Assembly-approved bonding to the Assembly’s “sop” plan made that plan’s bond-and-spend number $59,036,762,500. In short, Doyle got 73.4% of the difference in the total spending-and-bonding between his original plan and the Assembly plan, and Robson got 57.4% of the total spending-and-bonding between her plan and the Assembly plan, at least if you take out H&DW. Disgusting.

As Wile E. Coyote would say, “Brilliance! Sheer, unadulterated brillance!”

Revisions/extensions part 2 (7:07 pm 10/24/2007) – The tax increases were recalculated after I left for Madison early this morning.

Eggs on the road

by @ 0:05. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Partly because I need to put some more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but mostly because these are some good events, I’ll be at the following:

– Center-Right Coalition meeting 10/24/2007, 9 am, Madison Club (5 E Wilson St. in Madison) – Guest-speaker will be Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke.

Gathering of Eagles in Chicago, 1 pm, Federal Plaza (Dearborn and Adams in Chicago).

Be there or be somewhere, though I prefer you be there.

October 23, 2007

Higher taxes, more spending, bigger gubmint now a fait accompli

by @ 19:42. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Mike Huebsch, RINO member of the Party-In-Government and speaker of the Assembly, got 60 votes for the Munich Acco…er, Grand Compromise. Since the original tax-and-spend party runs the Senate and occupies the governor’s mansion, it’s all over but the packing.

For those of you interested in finding out the remainder of the RINO members of P-I-G sold us taxpayers out, they are – Joan Ballweg (41st Assembly District), Brett “Soybean” Davis (80th), Jeff Fitzgerald (39th; the Fitzgerald family Turkey Day dinner ought to be interesting), Donald Friske (35th), Eugene Hahn (47th), Jake Hines (42nd), Dan Meyer (34th), Terry Moulton (68th), Jeffrey Mursau (36th), John Murtha (29th), Terry Musser (92nd), Lee Nerison (96th), Alvin Ott (3rd), Kevin Petersen (40th), Jerry Petrowski (86th), Kitty Rhoades (30th), Scott Suder (69th), Gary Tauchen (6th), John Townsend (52nd), Karl Van Roy (90th), Mary Williams (87th) and Jeffrey Wood (67th). For those counting at home, that, including Huebsch, is less than half the Pubbie caucus and pretty much the entire outstate caucus. I could’ve swore there was a caucus rule that said more than half the caucus had to agree to bring it up for a vote; I would like to know who simply put on a good show, or alternatively, whether Huebsch decided to screw over most of the Pubbies.

I invite each and every one of those listed above, including and starting with Mike Huebsch, to renounce their Republican affiliation and just join the ‘Rats since they’re already 90.9% there.

Revisions/extensions (7:58 pm 10/23/2007) – While the Senate also passed this 18-15, the “Pubbies” know their politics a little bit better, as every one of them rejected it. As expected, East Side Plale voted for this to try to avoid a repeat of Double Vote Riley in 2010.

Now, on to Craps and the veto pen. Any takers on him excising the few good things while not taking out the pork?

Revisions/extensions part 2 (9:38 am 10/27/2007) – Had Mary Williams from the wrong district.

Roll bloat – the rabbit edition

by @ 11:05. Filed under The Blog.

Local, conservative, and a big football fan; yep, HeatherRadish’s place, Hasenpfeffer Incorporated is definitely a too-late addition to the roll. Now, don’t be like me and keep on putting off adding her.

Since I need the extra cash to pay for the extra taxes,…

I figure I ought to package up the assorted Paul-nuts that have shown up here and the TownHall version of this place and sell them. I’ve even ginned up a label (with all due apologies to Rebellion Brewing’s Roasted Nuts beer):

Maybe if the head Paul-nut would fight a tenth as hard for smaller government as he does for Dhimmitude,….

Make that budget 95% bad

by @ 10:00. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Revisions/extensions (5:36 pm 10/23/2007) – Upon reflection, and a bit of a “nudge” from Jib, I’ve taken out a cheap shot on those of you north of Hwy. 10. I apologize for that.

I knew about the fees that shocked, SHOCKED the folks at 4th and State, which never really disappeared from any of the budgets. I am not even really surprised that outstate Wisconsin is getting yet another 4-lane bypass that is not needed in the form of Highway 23 in Fond du Lac County (I do believe I said, “Gotta keep on building those 4-lane bypasses of every Podunk last north-Wisconsin town.” However, Christian Schneider delved in and found all sorts of “small-time” pork. Some of my “favorites”:

Short Course to Introduce Chinese Students to the Wisconsin Idea (p. 85) – What, the ChiComs don’t already know all about taxing and spending to death?

The Film Production Tax Credit for $1,000,000 (p. 113) – Ever since they took the stubs off the ends of the Hoan Bridge, Wisconsin hasn’t been on Hollywood’s radar screen. I mean, Scott Walker couldn’t even get them in to blow up the whaling wall.

$250,000 grant to the Painters and Allied Trades District Council 7 of the AFL-CIO for “training” (p. 447) – So that’s how Craps refunds his campaign contributors. Paging Mr. Biskupic. Paging US Attorney Steve Biskupic. Since that particular local is in New Berlin, and AG Kathleen Fal…er, JB Van Hollen won’t dig into anything related to Craps, you may as well go out with a bang.

Again, everybody who votes for this abomination of a budget need to be replaced forthwith.

October 22, 2007

Legislative Fiscal Bureau out with the spending numbers – ‘Rats win in a knockout

by @ 16:03. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

(H/Ts – Owen and WisPolitics)

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch released a memo from the LFB comparing spending increases over the FY2007 portion of budget doubled for the various budget plans. The middle chart, showing just the General Purpose Revenue increases without the new segergated funds that would have been created in the first 3 proposals (the governor’s original, the Joint Finance Committee, and the Senate’s), is completely worthless because those new segergated funds disappeared starting with the Assembly’s proposal, but allow me to repost the relevant numbers from the other two charts for you:

All spending, which includes all that cash from the federal taxpayer trough (FY2007 base times 2 – $53,673,360,200):
– Governor’s original plan – An increase of $4,563,146,100, for a 2-year percentage of 8.5% and an annualized percentage of 4.2%.
– JFC’s plan – $4,440,511,200, 8.3% over 2 years, 4.1% annualized.
– Senate’s plan (with Healthy-and-Depopulated Wisconsin) – $12,433,308,700 (and the $7,600,000,000 portion that would have been spent on H&PW is just for the last 6 months), 23.2% over 2 years, 11.0% annualized.
– Assembly’s plan – $2,628,330,200, 4.9% over 2 years, 2.4% annualized.
– Doyle’s first revision (with additions made by the Senate, including the transportation budget not included in Doyle’s revision) – $4,452,896,700, 8.3% over 2 years, 4.1% annualized.
– The Munich Acco…er, Grand Compromise – $3,561,071,400, 6.6% over 2 years, 3.2% annualized

Spending from GPR + “new SEG” funds, which are funds that directly to Madison, and which does not and would not include H&DW (FY2007 base times 2 – $26,622,083,800):
NOT in the memo and included just for comparison because this deals with spending, not taxation – Growth in taxation without a single vote for “new” taxes or fees (to the nearest $100 million) – $1,200,000,000, 4.5% over 2 years, 2.2% annualized.
– Governor’s original plan – $1,633,079,100, 6.1% over 2 years, 3.0% annualized.
– JFC’s plan – $1,618,446,400, 6.1% over 2 years, 3.0% annualized.
– Senate’s plan (again, H&PW is documented above and not here) – $1,776,652,900, 6.7% over 2 years, 3.3% annualized.
– Assembly’s plan – $1,193,792,900, 4.5% over 2 years, 2.2% annualized.
– Doyle’s first revision (with additions made by the Senate, including the transportation budget not included in Doyle’s revision) – $1,614,013,700, 6.1% over 2 years, 3.0% annualized.
– The Munich Acco…er, Grand Compromise – $1,593,003,100 – 6.0% over 2 years, 3.0% annualized.

I resubmit that it is an all-but-complete win for Doyle and the ‘Rats. While it is true that total spending is significantly less than what was originally proposed by both Doyle and the JFC, almost all of that is a result of taking less from the taxpayers of the entire country. The spending of Wisconsin taxpayer dollars is only $25,413,300 less than what came out of the Joint Finance Committee and $40,046,000 less than what Doyle wanted in the first place. To contrast, that spending is $399,210,200 more than what the Assembly wanted.

My calculator shows that Doyle got 90.9% of the difference. That, combined with both the present and future tax increases to pay for the excesses of Doyle’s spending in this and previous budgets, gives the ‘Rats a knockout win, and that’s before the worse-than-worthless KRM is added in.

Revisions/extensions (12:40 am 10/24/2007) – Forgot a few zeroes in the H&DW cost.

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