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.
Mr. Bill, the guy in the “Sign of the Day” pic (let’s run that again just because I can)…
…has a read-worthy blog called mrbillsbraindrain. Since the “auto-discover” feed links are fouling up at the moment, I tracked down an alternate address for your feed-reading pleasure. Add him.
Here we go again, basically relying on my semi-drunk R-rated notes along with the tape from Stan to fill in the blanks from the HamNation Memorial Clinton Bashfest. It’s SOOO much nicer listening to Brit and company than Prissy Chrissy. I wonder if Clinton will continue to refuse to debate on Fox News once we get into the general election season.
Fox News – B – For the most part, they let the blood be spilled. Golner dragged down the team’s performance signifcantly, and the exclusion of Alan Keyes to include Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter isn’t exactly defensible.
Rudy Giuliani – B – Don’t let my constant “Rudi” calls in the live-blog fool you. Once he got done lying about his conservative creds (and that’s exactly what they are, lies), he became UPS Man and delivered the raw red meat. Those early lies knocked this down from a probable “A”.
Mike Huckabee – B+ – He wasn’t around much, and seems to be resigned to the fact that he won’t be President in 2009, but he’s making lemonade out of that by becoming the early front-runner for the Veep slot no matter the man on top.
Duncan Hunter – C – Once again ignored, but finally found something other than Red China to talk about. Caused Romney to stumble on CubaCare Taxachusetts. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been paying much attention to the recreation of the Soviet Union.
John McCain – A- – Delivered the Smackdown of the Night, and is committed to the protection of America. A couple bouts of vagueness hurt the final score some.
Ron Paul – F – Once again, proved he’s the wrong man for the wrong party in the wrong era, and that he’s clueless on history to boot. Couldn’t answer a single question without dipping into the Hussein Obama/Osama bin Laden playbook of foreign relations. If we could get at least one non-Paul-nut debate before the convention, I would get to remove the R-rating from my live-blogging efforts.
Mitt Romney – C+ – Easily his weakest performance. Revealed himself to have hands-so-soft when it came time to break out the brass knuckles, but eventually managed to get a good shot at Clinton. Worse, he doesn’t see that the Dems have no intentions of compromising on anything, and we all know what happened to the last guy who resolutely said he was a “uniter, not a divider”.
Tom Tancredo – C- – See the start to Duncan’s grade, but he got in a heck of a shot on Nancy Pelosi in between his one-issue anti-illegal-alien crusade. He was led into it by Thompson.
Fred Thompson – A- – Just call him Broadsides Thompson. Plenty of shots to be had for all within range. Still has a bit of a problem with specifics, however.
This press release from Americans For Prosperity just popped up in my mailbox:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 22, 2006
Contact: Mark Block (262) 617-2716 or Annie Patnaude (202) 349-5896Americans for Prosperity Delivers Pigs to Legislature, Hearing Aid to Governor in Strong Message: No New Taxes
MILWAUKEE – The Wisconsin chapter of the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) today delivered toy pigs to the Wisconsin legislature as symbols of the tax-hiking compromise budget slated to come up for a vote Tuesday. Governor Doyle and Speaker Huebsch unwisely continue to refuse to listen to Wisconsin citizens, the group says, so they will be sent hearing aids.
AFP Wisconsin Director Mark Block made the following statement:
“Governor Doyle and many members of the legislature chose to have selective hearing even after Wisconsin taxpayers brought their outrage over proposed new taxes to the steps of the Capitol. The proposed budget compromise ignores taxpayers wishes by including tax hikes and failing to deliver tax deductibility for Health Savings Accounts.
“"I said last week that if the Governor and the legislature did not hear the voices of the taxpayers in Wisconsin we would have little choice but to think they were deaf. We’ll be sending Speaker Huebsch and the Governor hearing aids to remind them to listen to taxpayers not just special interests.
“"Even as Wisconsin loses jobs, politicians are seeking ways to hike taxes. Today we are urging the legislature to defeat attempts to pass a budget compromise that raises taxes." Block said.
“"Decades ago Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen said of the grassroots, "˜’When I feel the heat, I see the light.’ We came to Madison last week to do just that – turn up the heat. Yet tax-happy politicians continue to refuse to listen."
###
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is the nation’s premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages Citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org
Can they hear us now?
I’m too drunk to go through everybody else’s notes and give out grades tonight. I will say, looking back through just my notes, McCain won, and Giuliani and Thompson had strong debates. Romney, not so much. Paul-nut, as usual, took his performance right off the rails (did he take driving lessons from Swimmer and Patches Kennedy?), even when it appeared like he would finally get through a question without doing so. Huckabee, Tancredo and Hunter were essentially non-entities, though Huckabee was usually strong when he would actually get into the act.
One more thought before I crash, with all the focus on Hiliary, I have to say this was the HamNation Memorial Debate. Thank you, Katie, for snapping Mary Katharine out of her Edy’s and Cheeze-It stupor, and thank you, MK, for putting it on the web in time for the candiates not of Italian extraction to focus on it like a laser with six-string razors and mouths like alligators.
Make that a second thought and a hell of a regret as I dug up Quiet Riot’s “Bang Your Head (Metal Health)”; if only I had video editing software and a TV tuner on the computer, I could’ve punched out a Metal Health review of the debate.
If I’m back home in time to do some live-blogging of the debate, which starts at 7 pm on Fox News Channel, sothis is where I will do it. Otherwise, The usual suspects (namely, Allahpundit, Free Republic and Matt Lewis, though I expect RedState to have it up as well should have it, along with Fred’s campaign in bilingual (DAMMIT!). Unlike the first, which featured nothing but 2nd- and 3rd-tier candidates and the introduction to Campaign 2008 of Alan Keyes, the 8 surviving “big” names will be the only ones invited to this pool.
As usual, I paraphrase a lot, even if it’s in quotes, the questions are in italics, my own comments are in parentheses, and the times are Central Daylight in 24-hour format (I won’t have time to keep on putting in “p.m.”). Also, as usual, I’ll probably insult every candidate before the end, some more than others. So, with 19 minutes before we go live to Florida, that’s that.
Actually, that’s not quite that; The Real Sporer is live-blogging as well, and the Vodkapundit will be drunk-blogging (he wasn’t real clear whether it would be at his place or at Pajamas Media). That reminds me; get the first beer out of the fridge.
18:45 – Hopefully Pixy Mixa fixed the commenting problems at Ace of Spades, because Ace has joined the party. Guess nothing is going to get done tomorrow morning as we’ll all be drunk.
18:51 – It’s Pajamas Media for Stephen Green. First gulp of Maximum Ice down. Meanwhile, the Spanish version of the Thompson Team take is now live.
18:57 – Supposedly, Fox News is streaming it. I can’t get it to work. Meanwhile, the Paul-nuts are busy itching their texting fingers.
19:00 – We go live to Brit Hume, the man the DhimmiRATs are most-afraid of. Joining him are Chris Wallace, Wendell Golner and Campaign Carl.
19:01 – Up come the Gang of 8 – Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Duncan Hunter. Brit lays down the ground rules, complete with the lights and the “ding-ding” (when I use that, that means they ran over).
19:03 – We start with Wallace to Rudy – Who is more conservative, you or Fred? – Rudi starts off with the lies, claiming he ran the most-conservative gubmint in the US in the last 50-60 years (that rumbling you hear from California is Reagan turning over in his grave). “You can always find one exception or two….” DING-DING! (I can think of more than 1 or 2)
To Mitt – Same question – I’m a uniter, not a divider. Mitt finally hits on Hiliary, and takes a swipe or two at Rudi. (oh, Mitt, you governed much like her as well, or doesn’t CubaCare Taxachusetts Edition count?)
To Thompson – SMACK upside Mitt’s head – “I didn’t know there was any room to the left of Ted Kennedy.” “I compiled a 100% pro-life voting record.” Oh, and Rudi supports fed funding of abortion, sanctuary cities and Mario Cuomo. DING-DING.
Rudi, retort – He voted against tort reform. DING-DING.
Back to Fred – I support state rights, and Rudi fought to keep sanctuary cities.
Back to Rudi – We reported everybody who committed a crime, but didn’t report anybody in school. Oh, and Fred doesn’t have executive experience.
19:10 – To McCain – Who’s more conservative, you or Mitt? – I’m running on my 25-year record (which is mostly liberal). I’m prepared because I led the largest squadron in the Navy, and not for profit.
To Mitt – Retort – “I respect McCain and his service.” I fought against Teddy in 1994, and fought against the Taxachusetts ‘Rats. I’m a uniter, not a divider.
Back to McCain – Defend hitting Mitt on his lawyers remark – When it’s time to piss or get off the pit, that’s the wrong time to call in the lawyers.
Back to Mitt – I’m backing off the lawyer comment if it’s an immediate security threat. The question was, ‘What role does Congress have?’ I won’t go off half-cocked, and another smack at Hiliary as Bush did go to Congress.
19:15 – To Paul-nut – Defend your support for gay marriage. – Pulls the TOT/McCain defense. Get gubmint out of marriage because it’s a religious. Trust the courts to read the dictionary and respect the states (have another toke, Paul). DING-DING
To Romney – Why do you support a traditional-only marriage amendment when your main opponents and Paul-nut don’t? – It’s because my state got fucked by those Lawgivers-In-Black. DING-DING
To Rudi – Defend your opposition – We don’t need an amendment until more states go down the Taxachusetts road (if memory serves, New Jersey and Hawaii already have, and Californica is on that road). DING-DING It’s not just a religious institution, it’s a civil institution, Paul-nut you dumbass.
To Huckabee – Can somebody like Rudi personally “oppose” abortion while publicly supporting it? – “I’m not interested in fighting these guys, I’m interested in fighting for the American people.” Most of those who wrote the Declaration of Independence were clergymen, and “I still believe in that” (refering to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness).
To Thompson – Defend your lawer’s defense of abortion – It was just professional, and I forgot about it.
To McCain – Are you mending fences with the evangelicals or are you a maverick – “I don’t change and I haven’t changed.” I won’t pander, and I’m proud to have engaged in reconciliation, even with the Vietnamese. “I believe in reconciliation, and I believe they’re an important part of the party…. I hope the (entire party) will support the nominee of the party.”
To Tancredo – Are the rest of the guys “hyphenated”? – “It’s not a sin to discuss (differences).” Touts his ACU and National Right-to-Life ratings. DING-DING. “Everybody runs to the right in the primary, but moves to the left, and that’s why people are so cynical>”
To Hunter (oh, he’s here) – “You’ve been dividing the party the last 10 minutes, Carl.” Contrasts the Bay of Pigs with El Salvador.
19:27 – Golner up now on health care. To McCain (missed the q) – “It’s an important issue.” If you don’t believe me, go to England. We want to move the tax incentives from the employer to the individual.
19:29 – To Paul-nut – Is charity the way we should provide health care to the poor? – Nobody is happy with HMOs except the HMOs. We need Dhimmitude, not freedom. (can someone please gong Paul-nut out of politics) DING-DING (thank you)
19:31 – E-mail Q from Kendrick from California – Why is CubaCare Taxachusetts good for Taxachusetts but CubaCare not good for the entire country? – “It’s different from HiliaryCare” because the gubmint isn’t running it (what’s the difference if it’s mandatory?)
19:33 – To Hunter – It’s the mandates that makes CubaCare Taxachusetts the equivalent to HiliaryCare.
19:34 – Romney – It’s the Rats’ fault. DING-DING I’m proud.
19:35 – To Huckabee – “We have a health care maze…and crisis.” Channels The Other Thompson and Suzie T (for those out-of-staters tuning in, that is “We’re going to make you healthy whether you want to or not”).
19:36 – To Tancredo – Your entire health care plan is anti-illegal-immigrant. What about the 50 million who don’t have health insurance? (ignoring that many of those 50 million are illegal aliens) – Hammers the original CubaCare and Michael Moore. What’s the Constitutional right of the feds to get involved? (none I can see) If there is any, let’s expand HSAs. DING-DING. Let’s get the feds out.
19:38 – To Thompson – Is No Child Left Behind a mistake? – Some states have taught to the test. “I like testing, but tests have to mean something.” We need to recognize the role of the federal government, currently 8% (Constitutionally, it is 0%). DING-DING. “We need more fathers to stay and raise their kids.”
19:40 – To Rudi – You met your match with the schools. You alienated the teachers, so how are you going to win back public school teachers? – Choice, and to hell with the tradesmen who masquerade as public school teachers. The problem with NCLB is the enforcer; it should be the parents. DING-DING. “It’s (education) the single biggest civil rights issue for the 21st Century”.
19:42 – BREAK!
Thanks for the traffic, ST. Meanwhile, while RedState hasn’t popped up on my feed reader, Team Thompson’s English live-blog has, as well as a corrected link to Matt Lewis’ TownHall live-blog.
19:45 – Chris Wallace asks how are the gang of 8 will beat Hitlery, while pointing out all of them are losing to her in the polls. First on the firing line, Romney, who’s 12 points behind – Is she fit to be CinC? – The Chinese tiger is rising, and somebody who never spent a day in private business isn’t the right person. I’ve done it, she hasn’t run anything, even in gubmint. DING-DING. Another 30 seconds to answer the question? – HELL NO!
19:48 – To Rudi, who’s 4 points behind – Is there any real difference between you and Hitlery? – “Are you kidding?” There’s 2 things we agree on, we’re both Yankees fans, though she discovered them in Chicago, and (missed the other one) caught it thanks to Ian, America can’t afford all her ideas. Takeaway line, which I did catch – “America can’t afford you.” But, but, but you’re down in all the key battleground states. – Well, Ketchup Boy was up in the polls in those same states. DING-DING!
19:50 – To McCain, who’s 3 points behind – Is continuing the Iraq War a winning strategy? – I’d rather lose a campaign than lose a war. I’ll hammer fairly on spending. Brings up the Hitlery/Upchuck Schumer $1 million Woodstock museum. Allahpundit and Ian had better have that monologue , and Ian does. I’ll win because she’s a liberal Democrat, and I’m a reliable conservative.” (well, half is right).
19:53 – To Huckabee – Was it a mistake for the front-runners to skip the minority debates? – Yes. “There’s nothing funny about Hillary Clinton being President.” DING-DING
19:54 – To Thompson, who’s down 12 – “Hillary is a good applause line.” Lists the heap of spending all the ‘Rats would fund on the backs of the rich, who are defined by the ‘Rats as everybody who works. “If we stick to our basic principles, we’ll win in November.” DING-DING.
19:56 – To Paul-nut – Since you and Hiliary are of the same mind on the War, how are you two different? – I’m the one that wants O-W-T OWT!
19:58 – Brit to Thompson – Expound on your touching the third rails of SocSecurity and Medicare. – “We’re bankrupt in the next generation…. It’s unsustainable…. Can you comprehend that not being discussed on the campaign trail?”
20:00 – To Rudi – That will open Thompson up to the “cut” charge. Will you be as bold? – Let’s start with private accounts. Medicare and Medicaid are going belly-up first, so let’s privatize them as well, as well as more people buying their own health insurance so the prices drop. Those not covered are not the poorest because they’re covered by Medicare, they’re buying stuff like TVs and cell phones.
20:02 – To Romney – Same question – Nope. I won’t open myself to the “cut” charge, at least to the poor (keep on redistributing, Bill Jr.). Brit – You saw what happened to the last guy who said he was a uniter, not a divider. – But, but, but I’m DIFFERENT (Bravo Sierra; the national DhimmiRATs will never find common ground with Pubbies.).
20:05 – Same question to Huckabee – Let’s call it personalization because of WorldCom. Points out the actuary tables were set up for people retiring at 65 and dying at 67.
20:06 – Same to Paul – We need to take care of those who are too old to get out, and let those younger out. Deal with the dollar (how do you propose to do that with the $oro$es and Red Chinese of the world manipulating the currency, Paul-nut?). Accept Dhimmitude (stock answer; I’m surprised he didn’t say “gold standard” in there as well).
20:07 – Same to McCain – Convince the populace with charts. It has to be bipartisan (which means it will never get done, as SocSecurity is the original 20th-Century Rat plan to create a one-party system).
20:09 – To the forgotten man, Hunter – Hammer Red China.
20:10 – To the other forgotten man, Tancredo – I agree with everything, especially with structural changes. Killing discretionary spending won’t fix it. There’s a plan to make it worse; give it to illegal aliens, who are also responsible for much of the health care problem.
20:11 – BREAK PART DEUX! I need a refill.
RedState shows up late with an open thread, and Jawa Ragnar joins the live-blogging. Meanwhile, Ian comes through with the three-way catfight over who is more conservative.
20:14 – And we’re back. Campaign Carl to McCain – It looks like the Soviet Union is back, and was Bush naiive dealing with Vladimir Putin – “I saw three letters: K-G-B.” Russia doesn’t have the territory or the capabilities to reignite the Cold War, but he wants to get them back. I don’t give a flying rip if Pootie-Poot doesn’t like US missile defense in Czechoslovakia (er, is it the Czech Republic or Slovakia) or Poland.
20:17 – To Hunter – Putin gave us an opening to put Aegis in the Black Sea (as if that’s going to float). We have to keep missile defense strong.
20:18 – To Rudi – Should we work with Mother Russia on missile defense? – It’s a good time to expand NATO well beyond the North Atlantic (say, don’t we have close working relationships with Japan and Australia?). Ronald Reagan quote time – “The answer is a very strong military no other country would consider challenging.” DING-DING. Increasing military spending would send that message to the Soviet Unio…er, Russia and Red China.
20:20 – To Thompson – Shouldn’t Turkey be allowed to go into Iraq? – Let’s hope it doesn’t go to that. Turkey is a friend who has the right to defend itself, and the PKK is a terror group. We should be able to work it out diplomatically DING-DING, but Plastic Pelosi fucked it up.
20:21 – To Tancredo – No shit she fucked it up to fuck up Iraq. Pelosi is not a good Speaker and a worse SecState.
20:22 – To Huckabee – Let’s arm the friendly Kurds to fight the bad Kurds, and make it clear to the Turks there’s no good to be gained by going in.
20:23 – To Paul – It’s all our fault (BULL FUCKING SHIT, YOU DUMB FUCK! The Kurds and the Turks have been at each others’ throats for centuries. Guess the Paul-nuts are NOT in the audience, as Paul-nut got boos.)
20:24 – To Romney – “We got the peace dividend, but not the peace…. The UN is failing in its mission to protect the world and prevent genocide.” DING-DING We also need a strong economy and a strong education system.
20:25 – Golner trying to invoke Reagan with Paul-nut – Have you left the party or have they? (er, Golner, Paul-nut is a literal definition of a RINO as he’s a Libertarian). – We have lost our way. (Hey dumbfuck, how many attacks on American cities have happened since 9/11/2001, which, BTW, you also blame on us).
20:27 – To Rudy (missed the Q) – “A nuclear-armed Iran is more dangerous.” If Iran and its Soviet partner thought we would use any means necessary to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons, sanctions would probably work. DING-DING. Contrasts Peanut Farmer’s and Reagan’s methods of dealing with Iran.
20:29 – Golner brings up the “lazy” question to Thompson – I’m a country boy who was an assistant US Attorney at 26, went to DC at 30, elected to the Senate twice in a state S(l)ick Willie carried twice, much more I missed. “If I could do all that and be lazy, I’d recommend that to everybody.” Brit ends, but not before Thompson gets in his big and young family.
20:31 – AND WE’RE CLEAR!
Revisions/extensions (10:05 pm 10/21/2007 and prior, and now 6:20 am 10/22/2007) – First, I added links to a few videos over at Ian Schwartz’s place. While I was doing that and bemoaning the fact that I have neither a TV tuner on either computer nor video editing software, Stan at Free Constitution found posted the full five- ten-part YouTube version. Thanks, Ian and Stan.
After the first over-.500 week of the season, I’m still scuffling along with a 34-47-8 record against the line, and my first loss against the over-unders puts me at 10-1-1 in that department. Treat your man like Home Depot during a fire sale on lumber with these nose picks:
Chicago @ Philadelphia (-6) – Chicago police will be cordoning off the streets around the Sears Tower Monday.
Tampa Bay (+2.5) @ Detroit – You know the drill by now. The fans at Ford Field will see what could’ve been if only Matt Millen weren’t GM.
Minnesota @ Dallas (-9) – Dallas defense, meet Mr. Peterson. Adrian, meet Astro-turf. Oh, and jump all over that over-46.5 for some extra cash.
Arizona @ Washington (-8.5) – I do believe I said the Redbirds are done.
Atlanta (+8) @ New Orleans – The fresh QB scenario is operative.
Baltimore (-3) @ Buffalo – When will Dick Jauron be fired in Buffalo? I say Week 11.
New England (-17) @ Miami – Normally, I wouldn’t lay the collegiate-worthy lumber, especially with the Pats not having a running game. However, who needs a running game against the Fins?
San Francisco @ NY Giants (-9.5) – Mr. Smith, meet Mr. Hoffa.
Tennessee (-1) @ Houston – Ignore the injury report; the former Houston team will run away with this one (literally).
Kansas City (+3) @ Oakland – If LT can get almost 200 yards and 4 scores against the Raiders, LJ can get 130 and 3.
NY Jets (+6.5) @ Cincinnati – Go under, way under the 47.5.
St. Louis @ Seattle (-8.5) – The Rams picked the wrong week to take a trip up to the Pacific Northwest.
Pittsburgh (-4) @ Denver – It just doesn’t get any better for the Broncos.
Indianapolis (-3.5) @ Jacksonville – It’s not the playoffs yet, so CBS will not be disappointed at the end of the week.
Sure, it’s a crushed-by-the-vig 6-5-2, and I only went 1-1 last week against the over/under, but a win’s a win!
Washington 14 (+3-TIE) @ Green Bay 17 – D-FENSE! D-FENSE! D-FENSE!
Minnesota 34 @ Chicago 31 (-5.5) – Unfortunately for me, all the D was up north.
Cincinnati 20 (-3) @ Kansas City 27 – Back to the BenGALS.
Houston 17 @ Jacksonville 37 (-7) – Mo-Jo Rising!
Miami 31 @ Cleveland 41 (-4.5) – Add Trent “Never Played a Full Season” Green to the dead pool.
Philadelphia 16 (-4) @ NY Jets 9 – 9-0, baby.
St. Louis 3 @ Baltimore 22 (-9) – Let’s party like it’s October 1962. On second thought,….
Tennessee 10 (+3-TIE) @ Tampa Bay 13 – The Bucs are the plague.
Carolina 25 @ Arizona 10 (-6) – Stick the fork in the Redbirds.
New England 48 @ Dallas 27 (+6.5) – Can ANYBODY stop the Pats? They came within 6 of doing the over themselves.
Oakland 14 @ San Diego 28 (-10) – I have two letters for you; LT!
New Orleans 28 @ Seattle 17 (-6.5) – Another night game, another extra-chunky call.
NY Giants 31 (-3.5) @ Atlanta 10 – Good thing it wasn’t an official over/under call.
Random10 points out that there appears to be a serious deal-breaker, at least if anybody knows the track record of one Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) – this budget agreement has no guarantee, at least from what I’ve seen, that Doyle won’t use his veto pen to strip out items such as the latest tax “freeze” or the prohibition of the offering of in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens.
While R10 would be content with a videotape, I want it in writing, notarized, and actionable if broken.
I also want a guarantee that any additional spending or additional taxes that gets added to the budget, like the KRM monster that Kreuser is still pushing for, will get line-itemed out in toto.
It seems to have crapped out on saying this place was last updated at 9:53 am Tuesday. BASTARDS!
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.
Let’s review the Cliff Notes version from today’s Journal Sentinel:
The compromise:
- Kills a proposed tax on hospitals, which dozens of Assembly Republicans opposed – even after the state’s hospitals endorsed it. After fighting it for months, hospitals began pushing for it this month, calling it the only way they would get the first Medicaid rate increase in more than 10 years. The tax would have been more than offset by additional federal dollars.
Good. I do have a note for Messrs. Walters and Marley and Ms. Forster – those “additional federal dollars” are also tax dollars; they just come from a different unit of government.
- Kills a new $233 million tax on oil companies, which Doyle had proposed to force them to help pay for the state’s highways and bridges.
Again, good. Not only does it save Wisconsin taxpayers $233 million $466 million (or however much was collected times two when it would have received the stake through the heart) in new taxes (while “Big Oil” would have been collecting said cash because they would have found a way to pass it along, they likely would also have won a full refund because they would have been “prohibited” from passing it along), but it saves us untold milllions that would have been turned around into Craps’ and the Rats’ pockets.
- Raises a tax credit to offset higher property taxes for schools resulting from the certification of last year’s state aid levels to local school districts. Schools are likely to raise property taxes higher than usual this year because the state budget is so late.
And thus it ensures higher taxes for schools, rather than merely making it likely. I was very uncomfortable with the Pubbies’ line of $600 million in tax hikes if their earlier capitulation on school funding wasn’t passed by the Senate.
- Raises the current 77-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1 to pay for health care costs. Doyle had recommended an increase of $1.25.
No wonder why the Assembly ‘Rats were included in negotiations; RINO P-I-G member Huebsch is going to need their votes to carry the day. Of note, the Senate Pubbies were absent from the table because the Senate ‘Rats have no problem whatsover with raising taxes.
- Increases the one-time $175 million transfer from the fund that helps pay legal awards in medical malpractice cases by at least $25 million. The transfer will be fought in a lawsuit to be filed by the Wisconsin Medical Society – a suit that may take years to resolve.
With a likely loss for the state, and $200 million-plus-interest tax increase upon said loss. Nothing like enriching lawyers, who will, as noted above, turn right around and enrich the ‘Rats.
- Includes one of Doyle’s top priorities, the Wisconsin Covenant, which guarantees eighth-grade students the ability to enroll in a Wisconsin college if they take college-prep courses in high school, maintain a B average and stay out of trouble. No one knows what the Covenant will cost when students who have already signed up for the program enroll in the state’s colleges and universities.
Let’s repeat that last line – No one knows what the Covenant will cost when students who have already signed up for the program enroll in the state’s colleges and universities. Allow me to put a preliminary, back-of-the-envelope price tag on that. Since I expect no less than the current total incoming freshman class between the UW system and the technical colleges to take advantage of this deal (worth roughly $43,000 to those who signed that formerly-worthless piece of paper the last month or so and who plan on a 4-year education, at an annual increase of 6% from the $7,600 annual cost of tuition), there will not be any room for those willing to pay, whether in-state or out-of-state. I haven’t been able to collate the various technical colleges’ tuition intake, nor have I been able to separate out the undergrad-vice-graduate portions of the UW tuition intake, but let’s use the UW total tuition intake as an approximation. For the 2006-07 school year, that was estimated to be roughly $865,000,000. Once the “Covenant” fully kicks in for the 2015-16 school year, we’ll be on the hook for an additional $1,379,000,000 that year. That will, like any Hugh Gubmint program, likely be way on the low side.
- Expands health care coverage to almost all Wisconsin children through the new BadgerCare Plus program.
Out goes CubaCare, in comes CubaCare Jr. We’re about to find out why the expansion of the federal S-CHIP was sunk the hard way.
- Includes $21 million in additional school aid for low-income districts – $17 million of which would go Milwaukee Public Schools. MPS would have to use the money to partially offset property taxes it levies for the school choice program. It would also give MPS $10 million for math and science classes.
And the money-laundering known as “revenue sharing” continues not only unabated, but ever larger.
- Puts a 2% limit on increases in 2008 and ’09 property tax levies for cities, towns and villages, or limits increases to the rate of actual growth, whichever is higher.
Un-fragging-believable; a win on property taxes. However, I won’t believe it until the ink is dry on the governor’s signature on the bill, and there aren’t any lines through that provision, and that’s assuming it’s not as full of holes as the previous Craps anti-freeze. The bad news; hold onto your wallets; there isn’t even the Craps anti-freeze for the 2007 property tax bills, and that’s the baseline for the 2008 and 2009 ones.
- Reduces spending from Doyle’s original proposal by more than $400 million.
Dirty little secret; it still pushes spending up by $4.6 billion over the last budget. As Dad29 pointed out, that’s a 2-year increase in taxes, both state and federal, of 8%, or 3.92% per year. How many of you in the private, non-union sector have been getting 3.92% raises? Bueller? Bueller?
With roughly half the budget coming from the trough known as federal taxpayers, that’s a $2.3 billion state tax increase, with $1 billion in brand-new state taxes. Allow me to repeat that last prase – $1 billion in brand-new state taxes. Judy Robson got exactly what she demanded.
- Funds free tuition for veterans, provides $32 million in new financial aid to University of Wisconsin System students and backs the system’s plan to expand enrollment. Killed, however, would be a plan to provide in-state tuition for illegal immigrants who graduate from Wisconsin high schools, as Doyle had wanted.
It’s a mish-mash of items. First, I could’ve swore the GI Bill dealt with with tuition for veterans, but if I’m off, I’m willing to give them free tuition. Second; guess that “Covenant” starts a bit early. Third, if I thought expanded enrollment wouldn’t involve more and more tax dollars going to the UW system, I could see the need. Finally, the question of the day is, will the “Covenant” also be illegal-alien-free?
- Increases the annual vehicle registration fee by $20, to $75, and raises registration fees for large commercial trucks.
Gotta keep on building those 4-lane bypasses of every Podunk last north-Wisconsin town </sarcasm>
- Drops a Democratic plan to extend the Metra commuter rail line from Kenosha to Milwaukee. But a last-minute effort to revive the rail-line plan will be made Monday, when a committee of legislative leaders votes on the deal, Kreuser said.
Allow me to introduce Smith & Wesson to silver bullets, and then introduce said bullets to the KRM disaster-in-waiting.
- Increases bonds to preserve recreational lands to $85 million a year, up from $60 million. The budget also will give the Legislature oversight of any land purchases – authority it lost in 2003.
I would like to see how that “oversight” is written before I comment on the last part. The first part, frankly, sucks, as it is an automatic property-tax increase.
I do note that nobody has yet seen the actual bill, so I can’t comment on how loosely certain provisions that currently appear to be Pubbie “wins” are written. I also note that there is no promise from Doyle to not wield his Frankenstein veto pen to take out items such as the “freeze”. Wendy already applied it to his pledge from his first state of the state address.
One thing the Journtinel doesn’t report; the pork Doyle threw in to try to get his previous plan past the Assembly is still there, including Brett Davis’ soybean crusher.
In sum, the Pubbies got rolled (again). For 30 pieces of silver and a few meaningless words, they’re signing onto a $2,300,000,000 tax increase now and untold billions down the road through unconsciable increases in the size of state gubmint. Everybody who votes for this budget, RINO, RepubicRAT or DemocRAT, needs to be ousted. If said Leggie signed a no-tax-increase pledge, whether it be Club For Growth’s very restrictive one, Owen’s less-restrictive one, or somebody else’s, the recall window is now open.
The paint-catcher company formerly known as CNI Newspapers has begun moving its cadre of community bloggers to the close-enough-to-real-for-journalistic-work JSOnline blogging software. This already affects all 3 of those on my blogroll, as well as a new-to-the-roll one, so pay attention to the new link addresses, throw them into your feed readers (that’s right, sports fans, they have real RSS feeds), and start commenting (if you have a JSOnline Blogs account, it will work at the MyCommunityNow.com blog sites as well):
– Conservatively Speaking (new to the roll; from state Senator Mary Lazich).
– Fraley’s Tosa Takes
– The Right Side of New Berlin
– This Just In
Hey Charlie, Jeff, James and Stacy; you paying attention?
In part to save us from uncensored cheesecake, but mostly because the writing is just that good, please welcome Daily Dollop to the kudzu of blogrolls.
If this week’s HamNation doesn’t improve your mood, check your pulse.
Guest-blogger extrodinaire see-dubya has a very interesting post over on Malkin’s site on a bill before Congress in 1790 that would have naturalized immigrants after only one year of residency.
I could simply steal see-dub’s material, but instead, I’ll just say go read and be edified.
Update #1 (10:58 am 10/2/2007) – Hillary’s unofficial numbers are in.
Update #2 (2:46 pm 10/3/2007) – So are Ron’s.
Massive revisions/extensions #3 (4:22 pm 10/15/2007) – The numbers are rolling into the FEC, so let’s roll with those.
R&E #4 (6:17 pm 10/15/2007) – Brownback’s, Kucinich’s, and Romney’s numbers are now in to add to Thompsons’ (both Fred and the dearly-departed-from-the-race Tommy), Guiliani’s and Huckabee’s. Guess the rest of the candidates are burning the midnight oil.
Almost the last revision/extension (12:03 am 10/16/2007) – Everybody else is in except Mike Gravel.
R&E #6 (12:34 am 10/16/2007) – Got a couple of the primary/general election splits courtesy Amanda Carpenter.
R/E #7 and 8 (8:32/8:40 am 10/16/2007) – Still no Gravel, but the link to Edwards’ report now goes directly there. Also, McCain fixed a clerical error, so that link goes to the amended report.
I’ve lost count of the revisions and extensions (9:52 am 10/16/2007) – Amanda dug up McCain’s “general-only” numbers, so I’ve updated again.
Last revision/extension unless the campaigns revise their numbers (5:11 pm 10/18/2007) – Gravel’s dog finally coughed up his homework.
When I was out in DC, Kevin told me to watch the burn rates of the various campaigns. With that in mind, the FEC official 3rd-quarter numbers are starting to get posted. Let’s get this party started:
As an aside, The Other Thompson is still looking for something north of $200,000 so he can pay off his debts and officially close his campaign.
Blacktygrrrr was at the Republican Jewish Coalition, and so was Fred Thompson. I’ll allow his words to do the talking in this shamelessly-ripped-off excerpt:
Senator Thompson then took questions, and I was the first person to ask him a question. I spoke quickly to pack many words in without droning on.
I stated, "Senator, it’s an honor sir." He thanked me. I then continued.
"Senator, I am a republican blogger (yes, this was a shameful attempt at self promotion, and it worked) who understands that with freedom of the press comes responsibility. Are you willing to enforce the Bush Doctrine that anyone harboring or aiding terrorists is a terrorist, even if it means cracking down on our own cultural institutions? Two examples are Poison Ivy League universities doing Tea With Mussolini and Columbian Coffee with Armageddonijad, and our troops getting killed because their movements are being given up by the Jayson Blair Times (the crowd and the Senator cracked up at that point, where I said, "The Jewish fellow running that paper does not speak for me")? How do you as a member of the media yourself balance freedom of speech with the fact that we cannot have our media getting our troops murdered, and we cannot have our students being lectured by a terrorist who belongs in Guantanamo Bay?"
Fred Thompson started out by wagging his finger at me in mock anger and indignation and said, "First of all, let me say that I resent being called a member of the media!"
The crowd erupted in laughter, and I said into the microphone, "I apologize." The Senator then continued.
"I was once a member of the media. I did a little television and movies now and then. I will do what is necessary to keep the American people safe. Yes, I will put pressure on institutions that break the law. If they cross the line, I will get them. Political pressure can be applied, but so can market pressure. We believe in the free market, and we have a right to apply pressure. The wingnuts have a right to speak, but they fail to understand that normal Americans also have a right to speak. There are more of us, and we need to make our voices loud and clear that we will not tolerate violations of law. We have the power to vote with our wallets."
If only Thompson had stopped in Bloggers Row at the Defending the American Dream Summit,….
While nobody from the Sam Brownback campaign is commenting on the record, everybody is reporting he will drop out of the race tomorrow. While money is being blamed (he only had $94,653.58 on hand at the end of September, but was eligible to get $2 million in taxpayer money), his unabashed support for North Mexico should get most of the blame.
Other than that, and his late call for a federal apology for slavery (H/T – Allahpundit), he and his hand cart of the federal tax code…
…will be missed.
Who knew putting up a couple of videos would really drive up the traffic? According to StatCounter:
– Something over 200 of the last 400 or so visitors (they track the last 500 page hits) popped in from Boots and Sabers.
– 172 of you viewed my mini-album of the rally, even though for space’s sake I put it below the fold.
– UJ (or somebody else at the Isthmus) gave me some link love. Thank you.
However you got here, welcome to the party. I’ve got some things I’m working up, but until then, consider this your Open Thread Thursday thread.
I’m about 2 weeks late to this, but it’s a big update:
– The American Infidels
– Tea Party – Sam Adams Alliance
– Dry Fly Politics
– Gay Patriot
– Fausta’s Blog
– Right Angle Blog
Now you guys and gals have even more good reading material, especially when I’ve got nothing and I forgot to tell the guest bloggers.
There is a mild language warning on this because of the oh-so-tolerant lieberal protestors.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfJCoAdwVyY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTyWb7L6T9A[/youtube]
If you’re looking for pics of the oh-so-tolerant left, this isn’t the place to find them. If you’re looking for rally pics, read on below the fold, and click on any of the thumbnails to make them as full-sized as I will make them and still save my bandwidth. If you’re wondering why I don’t have any pics of Fred or Owen, it’s because I have video of them.
While I finish prepping the pics and the videos (that’s right, my little camera does a passable job with the video), I may as well get a little bit more in-depth.
Ignoring the advice of AFP to hop the bus, mainly because there was a side trip I wanted to take after the rally, I rolled into downtown Madison right about 10 am. As a side benefit, I got to listen to Charlie and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch talk about the Jim “Craps” Doyle plan to unnecessarily shut down state government to try to force the issue.
Since the pre-rally point was several miles from the Capitol, I needed to take the “fine” Madistan mass transit. The bus was running about 10 minutes late, but that’s no excuse to just blow past the stop. Thankfully, the gridlock that is Madistan allowed me to catch up. It wasn’t like the bus was overloaded; there were maybe 8 on the bus.
Anyway, I made it to the pre-rally point, and had some delicious pulled pork. While there, I ran into Fred, the Unreal one, silent E, and Kathy. I also met RDW field agent #2, and some Milwaukee County Pubbies.
After some refreshments, we hopped the buses to the Capitol. The teat-sucking squealers were already there waiting for us (Messrs. Schneider and Fraley, both of whom I missed, have the details). Whilst waiting for high noon, the very lovely and talented Jenna dropped in, along with Lance Burri, Owen, Leah Vukmir, Rich Zipperer, Bill Kramer and many others I missed. I somehow missed Leslie, the OTB Chris, and Dad29.
Anyway, high noon rolled in, and the fun commenced. We started off with the emcee (my memory’s a bit hazy on his name), who reached out across the police line. Those on the other side of the line, being the teat-sucking, squealing oh-so-tolerant lieberals they are, booed him.
AFP president Tim Phillips was up next, and he encouraged us to keep on fighting the good fight. Mark Block was up next and pointed out most of the people up on the stage. There are some considerate public employees.
I missed who the next speaker was, but I do have a pic that will pop up when I’m to the point of posting them. Fred followed up; I’ll let the video speak for him when I have it up.
Pat Snyder, from WSAU in Wausau, proved that there are conservatives on the air “north of Highway 10”. He also pointed out that up in Wausau, the tax issue is a bipartisan one.
Owen drew the most vitriol from the teat-suckers; the video (again, once it’s up) will prove that.
Rience Priebus, hammering home the theme of the day, challenged Doyle to live up to his campaign promise. After him, somebody from New Berlin (again, I’m horrid with the names that weren’t in the program) came up with 7,000 or so postcards urging Doyle to live up to his campaign promise.
Vicki McKenna closed things off with a twist; a pig toss.
Once everybody was done speaking, the teat-suckers started milling in. While others reported they got hassled, I managed to get out of there completely unscathed.
It was good to get together with several hundred fellow taxpayers to deliver a simple message Jim “Craps” Doyle himself delivered not too long ago – NO MORE TAXES! Not even the teat-sucking squealers of AFSCME, who couldn’t be bothered to actually show up to work, and who were eternally and vulgarly ungrateful, couldn’t dampen the mood.
Since I made a few side trips on the way home, and I have somewhere to be in a few minutes, I’ll have the pics and the video of Fred’s and Owen’s speeches up either later tonight or early tomorrow.
Blogging will be light until I get back from this:
Who: Hundreds of grassroots activists, representatives of Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Republican Party, and many more
What: Rally for “No Tax Hike” Budget
When: Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 12:00 pm, noon
Where: Wisconsin State Capitol, King Street Entrance
2 E. Main Street
Madison, WI 53702
Details: Bus schedules, along with pre-rally and rally information can be found at AFP-Wisconsin’s web page, www.afpwi.org
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