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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 the 'Politics' Category

August 20, 2007

SF Chronicle – We’re for Democraticy, not democracy

by @ 11:56. Filed under Idiotorial of the Day, Politics - National.

Thanks to the fine folks at Free Republic, I’ve expanded my search for stupid idiotorials. The San Francisco Chronicle obliged with a missive (mis)titled “In defense of 55 electoral votes”. How is this idiotorial wrong? Let’s count the ways…

AMERICANS DON’T like the Electoral College. It’s unwieldy, it seems anti-democratic and it has given rise to one of the more despicable facts of modern presidential campaigning: rather than addressing the concerns of the entire country, major-party candidates choose to do most of their post-primary campaigning in just a few battleground states – Ohio and Florida happen to be the most popular ones right now. So, in the face of a proposed California ballot measure that means to erode it, allow us to explain why the Electoral College system is worth defending – at least until someone comes up with a nonpartisan, effective means of abolishing it.

It’s meant to be unwieldy. Indeed, it’s meant to preserve, after a fashion, the last bit of rights the states have over the federal government. I’m sure that, especially now, Plastic Pelosi’s hometown paper would love the British system of the party that runs the legislative automatically running the executive. Oh, and if anything, that’s less-democratic (small “d”) than what we have now.

I’ll wait until a bit later to take a whack at their “defense”, but I will note right now that a ballot initiative is of questionable constitutionality. The US Constitution specifically gives the various state legislatures sole determination of how to allocate the electors. It could easily be argued that a change in the allocation via California’s ballot initiative, which does not involve the Legislature at all, would be explicitly unconstitutional.

The ballot measure, known right now only as No. 07-0032, was filed by Thomas W. Hiltachk, managing partner of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk. This is the law firm for the California Republican Party. The measure would do away with the custom of awarding all of California’s 55 electoral votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote. Instead, 2 electoral votes would be given to the statewide winner and the rest would be given to whoever won in each of 53 congressional districts. Because 19 of California’s 53 districts are represented by Republicans, and 22 districts voted for President Bush in 2004, this initiative would probably offer around 20 electoral votes to a Republican in the 2008 presidential election.

But, but, but I thought the Chronicle wanted democracy. Two states (Maine and Nebraska) already allocate their electors this way.

“What can be more fair than this?” said Kevin Eckery, spokesman for Californians for Equal Representation, which is the nominal entity sponsoring the initiative. “Everyone’s voice is going to be heard. It could even help third-party candidates, like the Green Party, in a place like San Francisco.”

It definitely would boost turnout in various portions of California. Of course, most of them would be Pubbies that would finally have a reason to vote, and the rest would be the Naderites.

Also, placing a good number of formerly-safe ‘Rat votes into the mix will get the candidates into California. Then again, that’s not the Chronicle’s goal; it is to get DhimmiRATs elected no matter what.

Please. This is nothing but dirty politics. Nor are snatch-and-grab initiatives just like this one the sole province of Republican interests. In 2004, Colorado voters rejected a similar initiative that would’ve benefited the Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. John Kerry. (President Bush beat Kerry 52 to 42 percent, but had the initiative passed, Kerry would’ve gotten 4 electoral votes to Bush’s 5.)…

STOP THE TAPE! Giving 100% of one state’s electoral vote to somebody who garners a plurality is the very definition of dirty politics. As an aside, the emphasis was in the original. Roll tape.

…Colorado voters, who initially supported the measure, realized a couple of things that Californians must come to recognize should No. 07-0032 make it onto our June 3 ballot:

— Splitting the number of electoral votes a candidate can win from any one state is highly unlikely to motivate them to spend more time here,…

STOP THE TAPE!!! When was the last time a Presidential candidate really invested time in California? The ‘Rats currently considers those 55 almost as safe as New York’s, while the wiser Pubbies have completely ignored California since 1988. The only thing that might change that calculus under the current system is if the Pubbie hails from California, and neither half of the ‘Rat ticket is from west of the Rockies. Put at least some of those votes in play, and attention will necessarily follow.

…and

— Measures such as this are useless and, usually, highly partisan, unless the entire country adopts them.

Which explains why Nebraska and Maine do this already </sarcasm>.

That’s why any credible measure to reform the Electoral College – and there have been hundreds of them, nearly all as flawed as the existing system – must be launched on a national level, preferably by a disinterested party.

Acutally, it can’t, at least without Congressional approval. Those schemes would involve either interstate compacts or a Constitutional amendment, and both have to go through Congress.

For instance, the efforts of John Koza – a genetic programming professor at Stanford University – to circumvent the Electoral College in favor of having each state ensure its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote merit attention. This isn’t because his idea is perfect (it’s certainly not). But what’s worth noting are the facts that he spearheaded a national movement (his group, National Popular Vote, has found 364 sponsors for bills in 47 states) and that Koza has fought hard to appeal to both political parties. (He’s been a Democratic elector, but he’s enthusiastically sought out Republican bill sponsors.) Koza understands that democracy can only work if everyone agrees to play by the same rules – and at the same time.

I do believe I whacked this before.

Would that the sponsors of No. 07-0032 felt the same way. To qualify for the June 3 primary ballot – a ballot that is expected to have low turnout, now that the Legislature has moved the presidential primary portion to Feb. 5 – they must collect more than 400,000 valid signatures. (Eckery said that, to be safe, they’ll need to collect a figure in the range of 700,000.) If the California Republican Party jumps in with money and support, California voters must consider who this measure will truly benefit – we promise that it’s not them.

As a change via ballot initiative would inevitably be tied up in the courts and likely struck down, I agree. However, if the California Legislature were to adopt that plan, I would be in favor.

August 17, 2007

Helpful hint to the Dem Presidential candidates

by @ 4:40. Filed under Politics - National.

To: Biden, Joseph; Clinton, Hillary; Dodd, Christopher; Edwards, John; Gravel, Mike; Kucinich, Dennis; Obama, Barack; Richardson, Bill
Cc: ABC News; CBS News; NBC News; CNN; New York Times; Washington Post; et al
Re: Your Republican opponent

With the abandonment of Tommy “The Other” Thompson’s long-shot campaign, there are currently no Republican candidates, either announced or likely, with any ties to the Bush Administration. Please make a note of it.

/s/
Emergency Blogging System
(What, you expected Steve to sign this one? He’s too busy laughing at your insistence on riding BDS with a Communistic backup plan to ruin, or that’s just a lack of sleep.)

P.S. With the Republican versions of Zero Personality and Human Gaffe Machine out of the race, you think you could get rid of the Gravel Road and Dennis the Menace?

August 8, 2007

8th Supervisory District to the rest of Milwaukee County – we want your taxes raised

by @ 0:22. Filed under Politics - Milwaukee County, Taxes.

(H/T – a pissed-off Croc)

Unofficial vote totals:

Patricia Jursik: 3,104 votes (54.1%)
Christopher Kujawa: 2,622 votes (45.7%)
Write-in: 14 votes (0.3%)

And yes, this is a bad omen, not only for Scott Walker, not only for Milwaukee County, and not only for Pubbies, but for the entirety of Wisconsin. Cudahy was the flashpoint of the never-quite-realized 2002 Clean Up County Government movement, and South Milwaukee was (a bit less than) half the nascient tax-freeze movement. This 9+-point failure, especially with another pension grab in the news, has the distinct feel of the final shovel of dirt being dumped on the graves of those movements. I might just have to keep packing.

Now, I REALLY need a vacation. Patrick, Fred and Aaron, take it away.

August 7, 2007

Congrats Sean

by @ 15:49. Filed under Politics - National.

The Cheddar invasion of DC continues with Sean Hackbarth’s acceptance of a job on Team Fred. Outstanding.

Between him and Kevin (formerly of Lakeshore Laments), we’ll clean up DC yet.

August 5, 2007

Pubbie ABC News debate from Iowa – almost live thread

by @ 8:05. Filed under Politics - National, Presstitute Follies.

Or at least I had hoped to make it live. WISN is the worst ABC affiliate in the nation, as they’re blathering on local crap for a second hour.

8:17 – Forgot to mention that Free Republic, as always, has a rolling live thread. Meanwhile, Jim of bRight & Early has an equally-sucky affiliate.

9:00 – Missed the current ABC/WaPo poll, but The Other Thompson is a dead duck.

9:01 – We start with the Brownback robo-call pointing out that Romney wasn’t always pro-life. Brownback sticking by it. Romney trying to say it’s untrue, and Steffie trying to draw out what is untrue about it. Romney ducking and shucking.

9:03 – Brownback ain’t afraid of no YouTube. Next hit piece aired; Romney slamming Rudi for being essentially a ‘Rat. Romney soft-pedaling, and Rudi pushes the pro-abort line.

9:06 – Next hit piece – The Other Thompson on Rudi for stating the obvious; a pro-abort candidate will put the Pubbies against the Catholics (specifically). Tommy trying to get this out of the abortion gutter that Steffi drove it into.

9:08 – To McShame from Steffi – Shouldn’t we de-emphasize abortion in favor of national security? No, but the transcendent issue is defeating Islamokazis.

9:10 – YouTuber – “What would be your strategy for ending the war in Iraq?” Paul – “Just march home; this is an illegal, undeclared war” (I guess that authorization of use of force never happened </sarcasm>. Hunter – “I was here when the Rooskies threatened Central Europe, and when the Sandanistas threatened Central America…. The Marines have turned around Al Anbar… and the ‘Rats to a person didn’t pause in their rush to the exits to thank them.”

9:13 – Steffi – Is there a middle ground? Huckabee – Yes. Let’s become energy independent. “If we can feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and manufacture for ourselves, we’ll stay free.” Brownback – The problem is political (say, isn’t Congress taking most of the month off?), and make it 3 states.

9:15 – McCain – “We are winning. We must win. If we lose,… we will be back…. The morale is high.” To Rudi – Is there any difference between you and McCain. Rudi – “I noticed that no ‘Rat has mentioned the words ‘Islamic terrorism.'”

9:18 – To the Romney third of Rudi McRomney – Are you all of the same mind on Iraq? Romney – Yes. On Obama – “He’s gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week.” “It’s time to give the troops a surge of support.”

9:19 – Immediately to the Tanc to find differences – “Can we win? Yes.” Review the rules of engagement and let loose the dogs of war without the muzzle. “Iraq has got to take control of Iraq”

9:21 – To The Other Thompson – I’ve got a plan, and that’s to demand payment from Iraq and state elections.

9:22 – To the Toofer Paul – “I’m in the wrong primary.”

9:24 – To McCain – “The war was mismanaged for 4 years, but now it’s being managed right…. I’m going to be judged by history and not by public polls.”

9:25 – Steffi and company pushing CubaCare for the kids by raising taxes – “Do you side with Grassley or Bush?” Huckabee – “Either give America the same kind of health care Congress has or Congress the same kind of health care America has.” We’re not going to fix it until this country focuses on wellness and prevention. TOT – Neither. Huckabee is right. Don’t raise taxes.

9:28 – To Tanc – “It’s not the responsibilty of government to provide womb-to-tomb health care to America.” Let’s expand HSAs (good), reimport drugs (bad), and boot the illegals.

9:29 – Steffi – “Are you in favor of expanding CubaCare for Kids?” TOT – Not the way they did it. Tanc – No. Romney – We have to make “private” health insurance mandatory. Rudi – Points out that this is a step toward full-blown CubaCare.

9:32 – Hunter – Allow interstate commerce for health insurance.

9:33 – Stupid question of the day – “How do you provide health care without raising taxes?” Brownback whacks it out of the park – “Keep it private.”

9:34 – Barack Strangelove comments up now. Debate between Rudi and Romney on this. Rudi (who would keep the option open) – Obama had diarreah of the mouth. Steffi brings up Rudi’s diarreah, and he backs off somewhat. Romney (who was portrayed as he wouldn’t do it) – Points out the paradox of Obama. Steffi tries to draw out what Romney would do if Pakistan tries to block an extraction of Osama bin Laden. He’ll keep the option on the table.

9:37 – Hunter pointing to what Pakistan has done (er, it isn’t much).

9:38 – Free elections in Iran? That’s funny; the Mad Mullahs banned just about everybody except their boy Ahmaddhimmijob. Brownback Huckabee – We can’t force everybody to accept our way of life (well, we managed in Germany and Japan; of course, we killed just about everybody who waged war on us first). Let’s spread it by example To Toofer – “I’m definitely in the wrong primary.”

9:41 – To Rudi – Democracy also requires the rule of law. Question from Steffi – Did we go to elections too quickly in Gaza? Rudy – Perhaps. First, we have to build respect of rights and security. McCain – Rule of law is starting to happen in Iraq. It’s naiive to say we’re going to attack Pakistan without thinking it through. Brings up that Kennedy said essentially the same thing regarding democracy as Bush.

9:44 – Romney – Reach out with all our capabilities. Steffi tries to draw out a cheap shot at Bush, Romney declines. Hey Toofer, they attacked us on 9/11.

9:46 – Steffi to Tanc – Foggy Bottom called your plan to nuke Mecca/Medina “reckless”. Tanc – That’s why they’re called Foggy Bottom. To TOT – It would unify 1 billion Islamokazis against us (true, but there are already 800 or so million unified against us; what’s another 200 million, give or take whoever’s there during the nuclear Hajj).

9:49 – Brownback – If you push democracy in certain parts of the Islamic world now, you’re going to get more Islamokazi gubmints.

9:50 – YouTuber #2 – “Should we raise taxes for infrastructure?” Huckabee – “No on taxes, but we do need to rebuild.”

9:50 part 2 – “Rudy, how can the Pubbies rebuild without raising taxes?” (me – cut the damn spending on the welfare state) Rudy – You don’t have to increase tax rates to increase revenues. And here’s a special for Breck Girl – the last time we raised the capital gains tax, we reduced revenue.

9:52 – Romney – Economic growth is how you grow revenue. Back in Taxachusetts, I said, “Fix it first.”

9:53 – McCain – Everything in that latest transportation bill has been pork, and nothing for fixing.

9:54 – To commercial.

9:59 – BoobTube part 3 – “Would you restrict the role of the VP and put it in the Constitution?” (I think this left tilt is the reason why the Pubbies aren’t warm to the CNN/YouTube debate) McCain – “There’s only 2 roles…be president of the Senate and check on the health of the President daily.” TOT – “Vice President Cheney’s criticized for a lot of things he doesn’t do.” Rudy – The VP has to be capable to take over the office on a moment’s notice, and then the division is something to discuss. Steffi pushes on whether Rudy would take Cheney. You can’t keep the VP in the dark like Truman was.

10:03 – Romney – “They have kept us safe the last 6 years.” Brownback – I wouldn’t delegate, but I would involve. Bush overrelied on Cheney. Toofer – “I belong in the DhimmiRAT primary.” Hunter – Depends on the credentials of the President. I’m a vet, my son’s a vet, and I wouldn’t share the role of CinC with a VP.

10:05 – “Fair”Tax time (23% sales tax) Huckabee – I like a 23% sales tax because “it ends the underground economy” (no; it moves it to the black market). Romney – It’s not that good. One thing; as it is proposed, it would kill the new home construction industry. Rudy – Kill the death tax. Simplify the tax code, and the flat-“fair” tax is intriguing if we were starting at the beginning. Question from Rudy – who would administer it and those exempt from it (guess the IRS isn’t going away).

10:09 – McCain – Get rid of the AMT. Tanc – I’m a co-sponsor (pushes a Boortz book). The power of taxation is that it manipulates behavior (and a 23% sales tax wouldn’t manipulate behavior into a lack of consumption outside of the black market?) Brownback – Flat tax, not a 23% sales tax.

10:12 – E-mailed Q – “What is the defining mistake of your life and why?” Hunter – “I considered running as a ‘Rat my first time.” Paul – “Not speaking out on the Constitution” (not running as a ‘Rat?). Huckabee – “Not taking better care of myself the first half of my life.” Romney – “Taking a pro-abort position when I first ran.” Rudi – “30 seconds isn’t enough time. I’ll explain it to your pappy priest.” McCain – “Moving off the Forestal after nearly getting blown off. (missed the other one). Brownback – “Not telling my wife and kids I love them often enough. TOT – “Not being supportive enough when my mother-in-law died of breast cancer.” Tanc – “It took me 30 years to accept Christ.”

10:15 – Steffi – “What will you restore to the Oval Office?” Tanc – Hope. TOT – Be bi-partisan and un-PC in the war on jihad. Brownback – Rebuilding the family, and providing Justice #5 to reverse Roe v Wade McCain – Fight Islamokazis and never surrender. Rudy – Hope part deux, oh and the top 3 ‘Rats didn’t run anything. Romney – Strengthen the military, strengthen the economy and strengthen the family. Huckabee – Put a frame that says “Boss” in the Oval Office and put ordinary Americans’ mugs in it like I did in Arkansas. Toofer – Openness. Tell Congress everything (which would tell everyone everything including our enemies). Hunter – Economic patriotism.

10:22 – And we’re out of here.

10:38 – I see that Matt Lewis also has a sucky ABC affiliate. He’s declared Rudi the winner almost by default. I’ll decide later.

August 3, 2007

MJS 5th Column to residents of the 8th Supervisor District – raise taxes

by @ 9:56. Filed under Idiotorial of the Day, Politics - Milwaukee County.

Charlie beat me to this by bringing up the special election of the 21st Assembly District back in 2003, but since he’s stuck in the technological hell that’s the State Fair Fish Bowl, I’ve got the ability to fisk the idiotorial of the day endorsing free-spending and tax-hiking advocate Patricia Jursik in the special election on Tuesday, August 7 to fill the County Board seat vacated by Ryan McCue –

Holding an election in the dog days of summer is not the best way to choose elected representatives for reasons so obvious we don’t need to list them here.

I’m sure they would rather have Lee “Thug” Holloway appoint free-spenders to fill vacancies created by those leaving office, or alternatively, have some schmoe like McCue double-dip into the trough. Unfortunately for them, Lee and Ryan, that’s not how things work.

But voters in Milwaukee County’s 8th Supervisory District don’t have a choice. The special election is Tuesday to fill the County Board vacancy prompted by the spring election of Ryan McCue as Cudahy mayor. The district includes Cudahy, South Milwaukee, St. Francis and part of Oak Creek.

ATTENTION! YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! This includes those of you in Oak Creek east of Quincy Avenue between Rawson and Drexel, or north of Carrolton/Maderia between 15th Ave and Chicago. The election is on Tuesday, August 7, 2007 between 7 am and 8 pm.

Patricia Jursik, an attorney in Cudahy in private practice, gets our strong recommendation.

And hopefully the Journtinel idiotorial board kiss of death.

Her opponent, Chris Kujawa of South Milwaukee, clearly has business skills and experience to offer; he is vice president of his family’s landscape business, Kujawa Enterprises Inc. But Jursik is the better bet for a variety of reasons, including her past experience on numerous public boards and commissions, her sense of independence and her deeply felt belief that the county cannot continue to cut spending and stubbornly hold the line on taxes without sacrificing such things as parks, transit and services to the elderly that people in her district care so much about.

The irony here is that the elderly in the district won’t be able to afford the higher taxes that the Journtinel wants so desperately, so they won’t be around to use said services.

She is much more open than Kujawa to new sources of county revenue, including tapping into existing sales taxes, to relieve the burden on the property tax.

Charlie said it best in this week’s CNI column – “We’ve been here before. In 1991, the last time we had a big county tax increase, county pols promised that the windfall would go for property tax relief, parks and transit. In the next decade property taxes went up, support for the parks dropped, and transit is still a mess.

“Instead, the pols spent the money and stole the rest.”

Say, wasn’t 1991 the year that the floodgates really opened up on the pension grab that just came to light this week?

Jursik says Kujawa is County Executive Scott Walker’s hand-picked candidate. That’s overstating it. But we know what she’s getting at. Walker endorsed Kujawa even before the six-person primary, and, in turn, Kujawa says he philosophically agrees with Walker most of the time.

Here we go again. Can we question the 5th Column’s claims to fairness now? For the record, Kujawa was the only candidate that recognizes that taxes are too damn high.

There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but as Jursik points out, electing a supervisor with a more independent voice is the best way to assure checks and balances.

Allow me to ReWrite™ that to reflect the actual thinking (such as it is) – “There’s nothing everything wrong with that per se, but as Jursik points out, electing a supervisor with a more independent liberal, free-spending, tax-hiking voice is the best way to assure checks and balances a 2/3rds majority ready, willing and able to jack up taxes and spending to levels not seen outside of the Soviet Union in its prime.”

Kujawa says supervisors are overpaid and promises to give back $20,000 of his salary. And he does offer some good ideas, including putting the House of Correction under the sheriff’s authority. But Kujawa seems too willing to embrace privatization to help solve the county’s fiscal problems, including having the county turning over mental health services to private providers.

Hell, the private sector cannot possibly do a worse job of that than the county, which did such a poor job that the Journtinel ran a series on just how poor a job the county did.

We’re also troubled by his opposition to the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail proposal, which even Walker supports.

That’s not the kind of “independence” the Journtinel wants. Of course, I’m heartened by Kujawa’s opposition to that boondoggle.

Jursik finished first in the primary, and 8th District voters would be wise to put her in the winner’s column on Tuesday.

No, they would be monumentally-stupid.

Vote Chris Kujawa on Tuesday, August 7, 2007.

August 2, 2007

Hiliary flip-flops on Pakistan

by @ 10:48. Filed under Politics - National, War on Terror.

(H/T – Mary Katharine Ham)

Jim Geraghty at NRO discovers a Hiliarious flip-flop on Pakistan:
Flip –

July 27 : US Democratic presidential candidate and New York Senator Hillary Clinton has rejected suggestions of a unilateral US strike in Pakistan’s tribal region, American troops should accompany Pakistan troops.

Addressing a fund-raising dinner organised by the National Association of Pakistani-Americans, Hillary said a unilateral US strike would not produce the desired results, but would create fresh problems.

Only a combined effort could destroy militant hideouts in the area, she added.

Flop (yesterday) –

But she did not rule out U.S. attacks inside Pakistan, citing the missile attacks her husband, then-President Bill Clinton, ordered against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1998.

“If we had actionable intelligence that Osama bin Laden or other high-value targets were in Pakistan I would ensure that they were targeted and killed or captured,” she said.


Nice example, Hiliary. That empty-tent strike wasn’t even successful in its primary mission, much less the secondary mission of doing anything to Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden.

I know she doesn’t have the balls to do the job right, especially if it can’t be done quickly.

July 30, 2007

Contest time

by @ 19:27. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

There is a minor benefit of rolling through some of the more-coherent lefty blogs. Sometimes they do have some news. Case in point – Jay Bullock brings news of a contest being run by WisPolitics:

Enter the WisPolitics Budget Pool and win a WisPolitics ADD-ON or SILVER Subscription!

When will the Legislature formally pass a budget compromise? Provide the date and time of the final vote that sends the budget bill to Gov. Jim Doyle and win!

For example: August 20, 8:45 p.m.

Send your entry to webmaster@wispolitics.com. Please include your guess, your name and your phone number.

The deadline for entries is July 31, 2007 at 5 p.m.

WisPolitics will announce the winner after the budget is passed to Doyle. In the event of a tie, WisPolitics will award the person who made the prediction first.

If you’re a current WisPolitics.com subscriber, you will be awarded a free add-on subscription for a colleague. If you aren’t a current subscriber, you will be awarded a Silver level subscription.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

My only question is whether they cleared it with the Indians and Craps first.

Sen. Ted Stevens’ house raided – where’s Reid?

by @ 19:13. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Bryan I really need to remember to check the author; sorry about that)

Fox News is reporting that the FBI and the IRS searched the Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens (“R”-AK), presumably as part of an investigation for exchanging federal contracts for bribes from VECO Corp, Alaska’s largest oil-field engineering firm. They also note that the remainder of Alaska’s Congressional delegation, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young (also “Pubbies”), are entangled in this mess.

Given that then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert decided that congeniality was the better part of either the law or partisanship and condemned the investigation into corruption on the part of William “The Freezer” Jefferson (D-LA), I expect nothing less from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. </sarcasm> Of course; he won’t do it, but not because of a sense of respect for the law; he’ll see it as a way to get another seat or two for his party. Neither would current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should Young get further emeshed in this, and for the same reason.

Great fucking job, RINOs, from Stevens to Hastert. </sarcasm_dripping>

Pension Grab II redux/reax/questions for all

by @ 15:36. Filed under Politics - Milwaukee County.

First things first; though the Journal Sentinel was late to the reporting party, they’ve done a bang-up job in outlining just how egregious the scam was. From news that some, like former supervisor Tom Bailey, received multiple invites into the “buy back” scheme (in Bailey’s case, he knew he could buy back when he got elected; he chose to blow the 2-year window and later got in under the scam by lying about his prior knowledge and refusal to buy back in), to more-than-incidential knowledge among seasonal employees that they could have entered the county pension system as seasonal employees (that same story notes that; the change to allow those that had never been in the pension system to buy in as though they had was one of the key killers in this scam), to a listing of some teat-suckers who were to a person unrepentant for participating in the scam, Dave Umhoefer has done yeoman’s work.

I see that I got picked up by WisOpinion. Thanks, guys. Beyond those I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I noticed that Capper (filling in at Jay Bullock’s place), James Rowen, and Dan Cody have noticed. I have to thank Capper for linking to me (and Technorati for finding the link), and WisOpinion for finding James’ and Dan’s words.

Speaking of reactions, this morning’s paper has a few from various county pols. Supervisor Mark Borowski asked, “What bothers me is how does the county in essence shaft the IRS? Doesn’t somebody, somewhere say something?” He ought to know the answer to the second, especially since he voted for the Big Grab of 2000; hell no. As for the first, I’m not a lawyer, but based on what the paper reported, the county enabled its employees to shaft the IRS. If there’s more than that, I’m presuming that Umhoefer’s holding that to prevent any tainting of the potential jury pool. Paging the shark. Paging Mr. Rick Esenberg. What beyond enabling employees to bust the 25%-of-salary limit on “buy backs” is a violation of federal law?

County Executive Scott Walker asked (once again) for an independent review of the pension situation. I could’ve swore we had one after the Scam of 2000; how did that miss this? As for the pension board’s suggestion that most of the grabbers be “grandfathered” by the Board and Walker, he said, “There’s no way we’re doing down that path. That certainly won’t be our approach,….” Even money says that it will be county board chair Lee Holloway’s.

Supervisor Jim “Luigi” Schmitt gasped out, “How do two wrongs make a right? I’m not going to be party to that.” Oh, really? You were a party to one hell of a wrong with your vote for the Big Grab of 2000.

Guess I’ve already started with the questions, so let them roll:

– How did this miss EVERYBODY’S attention, especially in the wake of the Big Grab of 2000? That particular grab came to light in January, 2002. The pension board quietly put in a sunset provision for this grab in question in 2005, and it finally sunsetted in January 2007.

– How did the Journtinel twig onto this? If one winds the calendar back the 6 months they’ve been digging into this, that would be the month that this abomination was shut down. I rather suspect that it was a teat-sucker who was a bit late to the grab party and was hoping that the paper would be sympathetic to him/her.

– Prior to yesterday, where was the paper’s reporting? The pension board may have been spurred to self-report to the IRS by questioning by a reporter, but unless I missed the story, they sure weren’t spurred to do so by anything that actually appeared in the paper.

– This one’s a special to the lefties (though righties are welcome to chime in as well); just how are we going to pull this back for those that already “bought back”, especially considering that your kind of politicians made it all-but-impossible to pull back anything related to pensions, even those that were improperly and/or illegally granted?

– Related to that, other than a risky pull-back attempt and the end of the program by the pension board once the teat-suckers were booted (which already happened), what more can be done? Other than Michael Mayo, there is nobody in an elected office that had a hand in implementing this.

– For those that would say criminal charges, what’s the statute of limitations on that? It’s been 9 years since federal laws were likely violated.

– Is there an exemption to the end of the “buy back” scheme for existing unionized employees, like there is for the end of the pension “enhancements” that was the Big Grab of 2000?

Revisions/extensions (6:47 pm 7/30/2007) – Add Mike Nichols to the list of reax, and he points out that Sue Baldwin resumed her suit to get even more money than she and her husband, former sheriff Lev, ran out the door with.

Revisions/extensions part 2 (7:44 pm 7/30/2007) – Cleaned up who appeared to know what when a bit. After a re-reading and a comment from “Concerned reader”, the original made it appear that this might have came to light outside the pension board before it did.

He’ll always be “Breck Girl”

by @ 7:03. Filed under Politics - National.

I just can’t keep up with Zombie Reagan/see-dubya. First, he mandates that we retire Silky Pony as John Edwards’ nickname, then retire Pink Sapphire. Now, after Sweaty Pretzel disappeared without any fanfare, Zombie Reagan has issued another retire Pink Sapphire memo, this time to be replaced with Chamois Butt’r. Seeing that despite biking about a dozen miles with a brain bucket, he didn’t have helmet hair, I’m sticking with Breck Girl.

However, we’ve got a new name for the rest of his team – Team Trousermouse.

July 29, 2007

Once again, MJS says “cooperation” really means “suburbs feed Milwaukee’s bottomless pits”

by @ 14:36. Filed under Idiotorial of the Day, Politics - Milwaukee, Politics - Milwaukee County, Politics - Wisconsin.

Revisions/extensions (6:16 pm 7/30/2007) – I was a bit harsh on Jason Fields. The editorial didn’t have the extended quote from Fields, which provides a reason for his lack of ideas, and I failed to pick it up in the extended excerpt linked to below. Here it is:

Here’s what bothers me whenever we talk about these issues, because I respect and admire everyone in this room. We all agree that it should be about valuing kids, it should be about the child’s education. But once we leave here, we get into these political battles between opponents, but everybody’s saying it’s about the kids, it’s about the kids.

But if I go back and say, “Listen, we need to break up MPS; we need to make it smaller,” I’ll get raked over the coals for saying something like that, even though we all know at this table that’s probably the best idea. . . .

Of course, that brings up a couple of other issues, namely the stranglehold the teachers’ unions have on the ‘Rats, and the lack of courage on the part of Fields to buck that stranglehold.

(H/T – Reaganite)

While everybody’s favorite croc merely focuses on the “metropolitan fiscal control board” portion of this morning’s editorial on the latest round table of community leaders. Let’s expand the focus some and do some fisking (since it’s been, what, 2 weeks since I took a machete to one of their editorials):

The amazing thing was how fast the conversation turned to education. In a discussion last week among key area leaders on regional cooperation, education quickly became the topic of discussion.

The importance of an educated work force, of good schools and of a regional community that places a high value on education was stressed again and again by the nine speakers in a round-table discussion hosted by the Editorial Board. What became immediately clear is that education is not just an issue faced by one school district – Milwaukee Public Schools – or one community.

So why the focus on MPS?

Failure at MPS or any other district affects communities and businesses throughout the region. Everyone in southeastern Wisconsin has a stake in what happens in MPS, in Racine Unified, in the Waukesha School District and in all of the other school districts in the area.

AHHROOOOOGAH! AHHROOOOOOGAH! The BOHICA siren is going off; I hope you’re listening out in Brookfield, Mequon, Germantown, and other assorted out-of-Milwaukee-County locations.

What’s needed is a regional response, which should include more involvement of businesses outside Milwaukee County in MPS and other school districts’ programs, more collaborative efforts such as the Kern Family Foundation and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Lead the Way program and a debate on what fundamental changes need to be made at MPS and other troubled districts, including whether to change their governing structure. Such a debate should be considered for other local governments, the idea being to make them more manageable, more accountable and more in control of their own affairs and budgets.

After all, it is all the gubmint’s money, and there’s no bigger gubmint outside of Madistan than in Milwaukee, so they need EVERYBODY’S cash.

Businessman Sheldon Lubar of the Greater Milwaukee Committee put his finger on the problem early in the discussion: “You cannot reach the levels that I think all of you want to see us reach if you have a dropout rate of 50% of your high school students.”

I’ll point out that the problem isn’t the lack of money. If money is what solves education problems, MPS, RUSD, and the like would be the best districts in the state.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said one of his biggest surprises after taking office was the need to improve work force development. “If there’s one issue where I would love to take this community and shake it by the shoulders, it is how important education is in this world economy now,” he said.

How could he be surprised? Before taking the job of milk-carton photographee, he had spent a bunch of years in perhaps the only city with worse schools than Milwaukee.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker talked about breaking up MPS into several districts; Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas argued for the need to reduce health care costs, the single biggest driver of government and school district costs; state Rep. Jason Fields (D-Milwaukee) talked about the politics of changing the educational system.

“This issue has been occurring for the last 20 years, but nothing’s been done about it,” Fields said. “If I sit at this table and we all agree that we need to do something, when we leave this room not a damn thing will change, and those black kids, kids in my neighborhood and my community, will still be in the same position.”

Irony, thy name is Jason Fields. Walker suggested something potentially constructive. Vrakas, who doesn’t really have a dog in the MPS fight, suggested something that would free up money. Fields blathered on without any suggestions. Guess who got the extended quote?

That needs to change for the sake of giving those kids a reasonable chance at a better life but also for the sake of southeastern Wisconsin’s ability to compete in the global marketplace.

Again, mo’ money is not the solution.

Other things need to change, too, as the discussion made clear:

Transportation: Barrett and Walker need to come to terms on transportation issues and how to spend $91.5 million in federal funds that has been sitting unused for 16 years. Bringing in a mediator or transportation experts to resolve the dispute, as suggested by Lubar, makes sense. The onus for compromise lies more on Walker, who supports some rail components such as KRM and a regional approach but who needs to push harder for his ideas and who still remains stubbornly opposed to other rail components. Rosemary Potter of Transit NOW was right when she argued that the area needs a truly regional transit system governed by a regional authority and funded in a way that takes the burden off property taxpayers. But judging by the discussion, compromise on transportation issues is a ways off.

No, the onus is on the free-spending choo-choo fans because rail, whether it’s the Milk Carton’s light-rail-lite or the KRM, is not an answer. I’ve previously gone on the record as saying that $91.5 million would be better spent retiring some of the bonds held by Red China, and I’m sticking with it.

Did I not sound the BOHICA alarm? That “truly regional transit system” governed by a “regional authority” is code for Milwaukee dominating everything while the burbs feed the bottomless pit. Morever, we do not need a RTA, especially one which spent all of its money trying to get more.

Water: Compromise needs to be reached on water quality and supply issues; the region can start with the request of New Berlin to obtain Lake Michigan water. Water, as state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) pointed out, is “our oil” and critical for economic health. There is a good model for agreement – worked out by William Mielke of the Waukesha engineering firm Ruekert & Mielke Inc. – in Racine County for supplying services and sharing the benefits of growth. To his credit, Barrett said such an agreement was possible involving Milwaukee and New Berlin.

Before I comment, I need to find out more about that. Considering the Journtinel supports it, it sounds like BOHICA. Fred? Unreal? Peter? Another of the Racine readers? Could you provide some missing info on this?

Governance: Lubar’s insistence on the need to change the state’s governance structure brought to light a critical issue. Wisconsin’s system of governance is out of date and out of touch. Too many decisions that affect taxes are made by bodies with little or no accountability to the public. Elected officials often have too little say over their costs and revenue. He suggested creating a metropolitan fiscal control board that would have budgetary control over certain entities, such as Milwaukee Public Schools, Miller Park, Milwaukee Area Technical College and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. Margaret Farrow, former lieutenant governor and president of the Waukesha County Action Network, pointed out that a review of the state constitution and of how government works and is paid for in Wisconsin is long overdue.

STOP THE TAPE! There’s so much to hammer here, and Reaganite only hammered one small part. I don’t have time to deliver a lengthy beatdown, so I’ll be brief. The problem is shared revenue, and a metropolitan fiscal control board, dominated by the city of Milwaukee, doling out the cash to “everybody” (I note that only Milwaukee-specific entities are listed) would only make it worse.

Specifically with regard to MPS, I refer you to the title of this piece. All that state aid those of you in Glendale, River Hills, Oak Creek, Brookfield, Thiensville, New Berlin, Union Grove, West Bend, and Oconomowoc (among others) send to MPS isn’t enough for the monster.

Oh, and those of you in Mequon and Germantown can forget about getting out of MATC. Not only aren’t you getting out, everybody else is getting sucked in.

Maybe if we stick Racine, western Waukesha, and northern Ozaukee and Washington Counties in MMSD’s taxing reach, they’ll finally build a deep-enough tunnel. NAH!

Economic development and basic cooperation: Asked what he’d like to point to as an achievement a year from now, attorney and former state Commerce Secretary Cory Nettles suggested creating a “regional top 10 collaborative list, and to make the list, you would have to very clearly demonstrate your impact in creating jobs within the region and reducing the cost of government.”

Allow me to start – lower spending. Oh, that’s right; we’re talking about PIGs in gubmint.

A good idea. What’s needed, as several speakers pointed out, are fewer words and more action. Certainly, the work of the Milwaukee 7 on regional economic development has been groundbreaking, but regional leaders have to build on those efforts to keep that momentum going.

Oh, it’s been groundbreaking all right. Everybody out of state is breaking ground…

Bickering among ourselves in southeastern Wisconsin does nothing to help us compete against Southeast Asia or the rest of the world. We must get our act together.

…especially in Southeast Asia. Part of that’s federal because they’ve listened to the likes of the Journtinel idiotorial board for many moons. Do we want to listen to that kind of advice and turn southeast WisTAXsin into so much a tax hell, the rest of the state looks attractive by comparison?

Here we go again – Yet another illegal Milwaukee County pension grab

by @ 9:30. Filed under Politics - Milwaukee County.

Revisions/extensions part 4 (3:40 pm 7/30/2007) – I usually don’t put these on top, but I do have to thank WisOpinion for including this missive in their editorial links of today. Since some of you just pop into this post without checking out the main page, I do want to point you to today’s missive, where I have a few questions.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel does us all a major service by exposing on the top of the front page of the most-circulated paper of the week yet another pension grab by a certain class of seasonal county employees, including the now-retired retirement system director Jac Amerell, who orchestrated the biggest part of the grab, former county executive Dave Schultz, who used the grab to become pension-eligible, former parks director Susan Baldwin, who was granted a grab despite no record of prior seasonal county employment that would have made her eligible, and current county board member and former county pension board member Michael Mayo, who used this grab to help him make the Big Grab of 2001 (which if I remember, he also voted for). The opening slug on the $50+ million grab starts it off right –

Ignoring county law and federal tax rules, Milwaukee County let employees change history by ‘buying back’ pension time from summer jobs in their youth.

The scam came in multiple parts:

– Prior to 1990, those that had a previous stint both on the county payroll and in the county pension system, and pulled their money out of the pension system when they left the first time had 2 years upon returning to the county payroll to “buy back” into the pension with the amount they pulled out plus 5% annual interest. The kicker of the “buy back” program is that it allows employees to claim the date they first worked for the county as their start date in the pension fund (I’ll get back to this in a bit).

– In 1990, the pension board, under pressure from a “small group” of ineligible teat-suckers who missed the 2-year cut-off and without authorization from the county board, eliminated the 2-year rule. This change was not codified by the pension board. The pension board attempted to change the interest to the amount that the pension fund had earned, but the teat-suckers got a judge to block it for them. Also in 1990, Robert Nehls, the city of Milwaukee’s pension chief, applied for and got a “buy back” despite not even being on the county payroll at the time or participating in the pension fund when he was with the county.

– In 1991, Amerell, who had just become the county’s retirement chief, decided to get in on the act by making this grab despite the fact that he did not participate in the pension fund his first time around. He then proceeded to “legitimize” it by using a pension board directive to notify eligible employees of a pending interest rate increase at the end of 1991 to extend the “buy back” offer to virtually everybody who ever worked for the county, whether or not they participated in the pension fund or were currently working for the county. Again, this change was not codified by the pension board. The pending rate increase, combined with the opening of the flood-gates, helped lead over 100 county “workers” to violate the federal tax code, which states that no more than 25% of one’s salary can be used in this “buy back” scheme in any one year.

– Remember what I said about the start date in the pension fund? Those that had not participated in the fund their first go-around with the county also got their start date reset to the date of their first go-around with the county. Those who have “start dates” with the county pension system prior to 1982 get more money, partly thanks to the Big Grab of 2001. Also, those who have “start dates” with the county pension system prior to 1994 get lifetime free health insurance.

– In 1996, the pension board finally put the new policies in writing after an outside legal adviser raised concerns. They had put in a 5-year sunset provision.

– In 1998, the county board finally realized that those not currently working for the county could get in on the “buy back” program and shut them out.

– Possibly in response to that (I do not know whether this happened prior to or after the county board action), the pension board took out the sunset provision, and in a move designed to help out folks like Michael Mayo, who was a member of the pension board at that time and who had a “buy back” request pending, allowed a 4-year payment plan instead of a 1-year lump-sum. Mayo voted for this.

– In 2005, after control of the pension board was wrested away from county employees, the board voted to sunset this abomination, and that finally took effect at the beginning of this year.

– Former pension board lawyer Robert G. Ott, who was ousted for his role in the Big Grab of 2001, had several conflicts of interest, including cementing the backdating of the “start date” the day after he started making payments for his son and allowing Susan Baldwin, a family friend, to get in despite no records of her claims of previous seasonal employment and eventual records of employment that made her inelgible for even the enhanced grabs.

The pension board has proposed taking away the grabs of 10 people, including Baldwin (though apparently, not Mayo’s grab). They claim that without retroactive changes authorized by the county board (who is busy killing taxpayers with raises and tax-hike bills), they’ll have to take away another 160 grabs. That still leaves something north of 340 grabs untouched.

I say, take away all the grabs, then toss Mayo out on his ass.

Revisions/extensions (12:47 pm 7/29/2007) – Bruce, who has a blogging “guest house” at Badger Blogger, proves my memory is not yet shot on Mayo, as he dug up The Journal Sentinel endorsement of his opponent in 2004.

Also weighing in (so far) – Peter, Reaganite, Patrick and Dad29. The rest of youse mugs must be out enjoying the Sunday weather after church services.

Revisions/extensions part 2 (3:35 pm 7/29/2007) – Brian at GOP3 weighs in with a focus on the squealers.

Revisions/extensions part 3 (7:39 am 7/30/2007) – Owen came back from enjoying the weekend to this. Also, Jay Weber wondered why it took so long to catch THIS one. Damn good question

July 26, 2007

Craps gas tax – a legal perspective

by @ 8:25. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

One of the nice things about taking those (almost) twice-monthly trips to Madistan for the Center Right Coalition meetings is I find out some very interesting stuff. Case in point; on my desk is the executive summary of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP’s analysis of the Gross Receipts Tax proposal. Lest you think that just because the firm is Pubbie-friendly, it is fatally-tainted, Peg Lautenschlager came to the same conclusion.

In any case, on with a very brief summary-of-a-summary from someone who does not have legal training. There are three Constitutional faults that Michael Best & Friedrich found:

  • It violates the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution because the anti-pass through provision impermissibly insulates Wisconsin and only Wisconsin consumers from the effects of the tax. Indeed, the only federal case made under the Commerce Clause against an anti-pass through tax was ruled in favor of the taxed industry.
  • It likely violates the Commerce Clause and the Equal Protection Clauses of both the state and US Constitutions because it exempts Wisconsin-produced corn-a-hole and biodiesel. Morever, by basing it on profits, there is no basis for not including other industries with “high” profit margins.
  • Given that even the Department of Revenue has conceded that it can’t tell what price fluctuations would be “legal” versus “illegal”, it likely violates the Due Process Clauses of both the state and US Constitutions.

So, what happens when the US Supreme Court strikes this down in 6 or so years? First, let me explain why it would be SCOTUS, and why it would be about 6 years. Because it involves state tax law, it must go through the state appeals process first, which in this case is the DOR, the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission, the Circuit Court, the Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court. Given that Doyle controls the first two and the last 3 are all elected, it is rather unlikely that members of those 6 organizations will risk the wrath of Doyle or the public.

Now, let’s go forward those 6 years. Every penny of that tax collected would need to be repaid in full and immediately. Doyle’s office estimated that would be $912 million, and they also estimated that gasoline would be roughly $2.50/gallon into perpetuity. Given that gasoline hasn’t been $2.50/gallon for several months, and shows no sign of ever returning to that level, a fairer estimate would be somewhere north of $1 billion.

But wait, it gets worse. State law provides that there is a 9% annual interest paid on a refunded tax. Using that $912 million as a base, Michael Best & Friedrich estimated that penalty would be $330 million. As if that weren’t enough, the state would be liable for 6 years’ worth of legal fees.

Where would all that money go? It wouldn’t be going back to the individual taxpayers of the state. Remember; according to Craps and the ‘Rats, we wouldn’t be “paying” this. Rather, the refund and the interest would be going into the pockets of “Big Oil”, while the lawyers would be taking their cut.

Where would that money come from? Knowing Doyle’s penchant for spending every penny twice, not one cent of that collected tax would be in the coffers when the refund bill comes due, much less the money for the interest and lawyers’ fees. Yipee; </sarcasm> another massive tax increase to pay for one that backfired.

July 23, 2007

Should the DailyKos be Subject to the Federal Election Commission?

by @ 22:23. Filed under Politics - National.

That is the question posed by one John Bambenek, who filed a complaint with the FEC asking them to regulate the Daily Kos as a political committee. I cannot answer it better than Jim Robinson, the founder of Free Republic, did in the Free Republic thread on it:

Not only no, but hell no! The first amendment protects our God-given unalienable rights to free speech, free press, freedom to dissent and freedom of association. All of the campaign laws enacted by congress in violation of the first amendment should be repealed as unconstitutional and the FEC disbanded.

Unleash the Photoshoppers on the enemies of John Doe

by @ 7:25. Filed under Lawsuit madness, Politics - National, War on Terror.

Head on down to Michelle’s blog and take in the brilliance that is the army of Photoshoppers as we take on the DhimmiRATs’ elimination of protections for John Doe. Since this will in all likelyhood trigger a pingback, I don’t want to be empty-handed, and created a rotating sign.

report-sign.gif

July 20, 2007

How screwed up are elections in Milwaukee?

by @ 12:53. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

John Washburn has been doing yeoman’s work in trying to figure that out. After 2 years of lies from the Milwaukee Election Commission on the legal status of the records of the November 2004 election, some of those records have been released, others destroyed, and those that have been released are quite disturbing:

– In Ward 1, there were a pair of major problems. None of the three measures of the number of ballots cast (the machine total, the poll book certification page, and the cover page for the inspectors’ report) match, with the machine total and thus, presumably, the ballot bag, stuffed with 148 balllots not recorded in the poll book and 238 ballots not accounted for in the inspectors’ report. The inspectors’ report (filled out in duplicate) was “certified” by “three” individuals using false names, and signing with the same handwriting, handwriting that appears nowhere in the poll book.

– A further review of wards 1-100 revealed a rather lengthy list of irregularities including:

  • Over 1,300 more ballots recorded as processed by the voting machines on the machine tapes than recorded in the poll books
  • 12 wards that had no numbers recorded in the poll book
  • 68 wards that had no inspectors’ report at all
  • 12 wards that had no numbers recorded in the inspectors’ report
  • 13 wards that did not have a discrepancy between the machine tape and the poll book, including only 1 ward that also had the identical number on the inspectors’ report

State law requires that the number of ballots cast be recorded in the poll book, and that number matches the machine tape total.

– John has a written assurance that, unlike 2004, the city properly recorded the 2006 elections. They might be interested in the video he took of the post-voting canvass of Wards 259, 260 and 265 in the fall 2006 primary election. Doesn’t exactly look like proper recording of the election to me.

Paging Mr. Van Hollen. Paging Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen. Seeing everybody else, from former Milwaukee County DA E. Michael McCann to US Attorney Steve Biskupic to current Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm (who was one of McCann’s top deputies until last year), dropped the ball, it’s up to you to clean up Milwaukee’s elections.

Suggestion for whoever the Pubbie nominee for President is next year; demand a recount in Wisconsin.

Now that’s a compromise I can live with

by @ 11:14. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Jessica McBride runs with a crAP dispatch that lambastes the Pubbies for passing a budget that the Legislative Fiscal Bureau says raises fees by $256 million and features a heap of ‘Rats piling on (while ignoring the billions-upon-billions the ‘Rats are increasing taxes and fees) and offers a grand compromise – “… how about if they agree to a budget that strips out the tax increases AND fee hikes?”

“Healthy” (And Depopulated Due to Excessive Taxation) Wisconsin

by @ 10:49. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

There are a lot of bloggers taking whacks at the pinata of a plan the Senate ‘Rats spewed forth into the budget (too many to link to here; just search the Cheddarsphere). With a big tip of the hat to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and their presentation at the July 11th Center-Right Coalition, here’s a couple more whacks:

– First, the alleged $15.2 billion cost for FY2009 is a willful underestimation. “Healthy” (ADDtET) Wisconsin (henceforth refered to as CubaCare Wisconsin because it is shorter) uses the existing health plan as its base (with certain additions and no deletions). The state currently spends somewhere north of $7,000 per participant; yet CubaCare Wisconsin assumes that it would pay just over $4,000 per participant. I know there’s such a thing as volume discounts; however, the state is pretty close to maxed out on that benefit.

Oh, and I didn’t touch on the fact that those teachers insured through WEA Health will keep their level of coverage while “paying” the same amount as everybody else. Guess I just did, and the reason why I put “paying” in quotes is because they and other public employees, and only that group can have their employer (specifically government) pay the 4% that is supposed to be the employees’ contribution without either a decrease in take-home pay or an increase in gross pay (and thus an increase in income taxes). Guess CubaCare Wisconsin isn’t going to come in under budget.

– Second, this is a time bomb waiting to happen. Do note that, as of the end of June, there had not been any analysis by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, which is required of any item that spends state money. The AARP-funded study by the Lewin Group, which assumed that $15.2 billion initial cost would hold, estimated that health-care costs would go up by 6.5% annually, which is actually less than the 8% annual increase of the cost of the state employee plan. Meanwhile, according to the Department of Revenue, wages, and thus the increase in revenues from the taxes intended to pay for this monster, are expected to go up only by 4.6% annually.

Let’s run the numbers, and remember that, while the rate on employees is a total of 14% (10% from the private employers, 4% from the employee except for government employees and 14% from government-paid wages), since the rate on the self-employed is 10%, and that income not subject to the Social Security tax is captured to the tune of 10%, the revenue is “just” a ballpark number (probably a bit high based on the likelyhood that the ‘Rats wouldn’t be bright enough to create a temporary surplus and the certainty that the bipartisan P-I-G wouldn’t have enough self-restraint to keep their mitts off said temporary surplus):

(Numbers in $billion)
                 Taxes    Cost   Cost
Year  SS Wages    @14%   +6.5%  +8.0%
----  --------  -------  -----  -----
2009    115.0    16.1    15.2   15.2
2010    120.8    16.8    16.2   16.4
2011    126.1    17.6    17.2   17.7
2012    131.8    18.4    18.4   19.1
2013    137.9    19.2    19.6   20.7
2014    144.2    20.1    20.8   22.3
2015    150.8    21.0    22.2   24.1
2016    157.6    22.0    23.6   26.1
2017    164.8    23.0    25.2   28.1

Assuming the “lower” 6.5% increase in health care costs, and assuming that the “ballpark” revenue isn’t high, the program flips into a yearly deficit by 2013 and an overall deficit by 2015. Bump up the increase to the recent history of the state employee health care, and the yearly deficits begin in 2011 and the overall deficit happens in 2012. Since the ‘Rats are starting to take heat for robbing bus systems across the state to pay for the Kenosha-to-Milwaukee choo-choo, I doubt they’ll take the lower-spending route to balance the budget.

Can we sue the lawyers, CAIR and the DhimmiRATs when the next successful terrorist attack takes place?

by @ 8:00. Filed under Lawsuit madness, Politics - National, War on Terror.

Revisions/extensions (10:55 am 7/20/2007) – It was (as likely as I can determine) Justin Higgins at Right on the Right that created the graphic. Sorry about not passing along proper credit earlier.

(H/T – Michelle)

The Dhimms, including Wisconsin’s twin embarrassments, Russ el-Slimeroad (Moonbat-Al Qaeda) and Nobody’s Senator, Herb Kohl, as well as Dhimm Presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, voted to kill protections for John Does mere hours after the House killed it. The John Doe amendment was intended to protect those that report suspicious behavior from lawsuits such as the one filed by the infamous Flying Imams. In “honor” of this, CDR Salamander has created a new PSA poster

dhimms-v-john-doe.jpg

I have a message for them – I am STILL John Doe, and if your minions decide to pull any shit in my presence, I won’t just be informing on them and waiting for the police to do something.

Revisions/extensions part 2 (11:22 am 7/20/2007) – WisCon, commenting on Michelle’s thread, has el-Slimeroad’s initial statement on his support of the Islamokazis and lawyers:

From Russ Feingold’s office:

"The bill is too ambiguous and too complex blah blah blah."

So that’s why he voted against it, because it’s too complex?

"He is preparing a statement right now and I can send it to you."

I put in a request to WisCon to get a copy if he does.

July 18, 2007

Walker on transit – the expanded version

by @ 18:14. Filed under Choo-choos, Politics - Wisconsin.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker previously made his feelings on City of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s desire for streetcars known via Owen and Charlie. Now, it’s my turn to get the (expanded) Walker e-mail:

Two weeks ago, I was part of a group that traveled from Milwaukee to visit transit operations in Portland and Denver. While the sizes of these cities are similar to Milwaukee, the demographics are much different. According to 2006 census estimates, Portland had a 1.5% population increase while Denver went up by 2.4%. Milwaukee, on the other hand, went down by 4%. These growing urban centers have much greater congestion problems than we do in Milwaukee.

The transit system in Portland is paid for largely through a payroll tax that funds the bus and light rail system.

The streetcar system opened in 2001. It cost $56.9 million and there were no federal funds used to start the system. The streetcars are subsidized by a combination of support from the Tri-Met system and aid from the City of Portland and local business owners. Most of the streetcar line runs in a fare-free zone.

In Denver, the bus and light rail systems are funded through a 1% sales tax on all of 7 counties and part of an eighth county in the metro Denver area. In addition, one of the most requested additions to the system is a Bus Rapid Transit line between Denver and Boulder.

Other systems were mentioned on the trip, including Tampa (which was featured in a publication handed out in Portland). Tampa has a 2.4 mile system that cost $63 million and was opened in 2002.

Last year the number of riders declined 10%. A $4.75 million endowment originally set up to operate the streetcar system for 10 years is losing $1 million per year. The City of Tampa is not willing to put any more money into the system.

Bus Rapid Transit is Best

While the systems in Portland and Denver were nice, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is still the best option for Milwaukee. BRT works well in other cities: Boston, Kansas City, Miami, Santa Monica, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Eugene, Los Angeles, Oakland, etc. It is more cost effective, yet has many of the same attractions of a fixed rail system.

A report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) of the federal government compared light rail and BRT and found that BRT capital costs are as little as 2% of those of rail. The report on BRT (which uses Denver for part of its data) makes a strong case to “think rail, use buses.”

Furthermore, a 1998 lawsuit alleged that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation disproportionately funded freeways with federal funds while ignoring transit investments that would otherwise benefit minorities and low-income individuals. The BRT plan is the only option that directly benefits the areas referenced in the 1998 lawsuit.

Bus System Needs Help

The current bus system needs help. While the $91.5 million cannot be used to operate the bus system, it can be used to replace existing routes with new lines that improve and upgrade the bus system.

Conversely, the Mayor’s plan – which covers a 3-mile area in downtown Milwaukee – would use approximately half of the federal funds for a streetcar system. This system would ultimately compete with the bus system for state and federal funding.

All of the data shows that the people most dependent on transit live in the north and northwestern parts of the City of Milwaukee. These individuals would not directly benefit from a streetcar system, but would benefit from an improved and upgraded bus transit system.

The Mayor’s original plan does, however, propose using about half of the federal funds on BRT. I suggest that we take the parts of each plan where we are close to agreement and merge them together. My plan spends $59.5 million of the $91.5 million on BRT. We can combine our routes and debate about the remaining $32 million on another day. That would be a real compromise.

Future Vision for Mass Transit

Finally, I want to share with you a long-term vision for action needed to protect and improve the transit system in Milwaukee County:

· Lobby state government to capture the growth in the existing sales tax collected on motor vehicle related sales ($103.5 million statewide in 2009/2011 biennial budget) and apply it to transit (about half would go to Milwaukee County Transit System).
· Move forward with a pilot phase of Bus Rapid Transit plan that uses $59.5 million of the $91.5 million.
· Expand BRT throughout the major corridors of Milwaukee County over the next five to ten years.

As always, I look forward to your comments on this important matter. I thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on the issue of mass transit.

Scott

Time for my two cents. Street-level rail does not make an ounce of sense. Unless you have a strip of land (which Milwaukee does NOT have), you take away at least one lane from the street, whether that is parking or driving. The fact that choo-choos automatically have the right of way screws up traffic further. The only way to change a route is to rip up the existing tracks and lay new tracks. The route that the Milk Carton wants is utterly stupid as the only thing it does is connect the Bradley Center and the perpetually-empty convention center with the perpetually-empty train station (never mind that they are all within walking distance of each other). The history of downtown-specific transit is one of utter failure.

I’m not exactly sold on buses either. Many of the MCTS buses do nothing but move air from one part of the county to the other. The one advantage they have over trains, be they trolleys, that commuter rail the lefties are also trying to jam down our throats despite the facts that Kenosha is more-aligned with Chicago than either Racine or Milwaukee and that Racine is pretty much its own little island, is that there is almost no effort or cost to change the routes to reflect changes.

Personally, I’d tell the feds to take that $91 million and buy back some of the Treasury bonds that Red China has.

This day in history – the Swimmer edition

by @ 9:18. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T for the memory jog) – Sister Toldjah)

I know that the 38th anniversary of the negligent homicide of Mary Jo Kopechne by Ted Kennedy (or at least that’s what he would have likely been convicted of had he not been a Kennedy) won’t get nearly as much attention as the murders of the Swimmer’s brothers, but I can’t let this day pass without noting the most-infamous trip ever taken in an Oldsmobile.

There’s so much that Mary Jo hasn’t been able to comment on.

Top Iraqi in Al Qaeda captured, Dingy Harry deeply saddened

by @ 8:18. Filed under Politics - National, War on Terror.

(H/T – Allahpundit)

ABC News is reporting the capture of Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani (aka Abu Shahid), the highest-ranking Iraqi in the Al Qaeda in Iraq terror group. What is interesting is what ABC News has put in its story:

(Brigadier General Kevin) Bergner said al-Mashhadani served as an intermediary between al-Masri and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

“In fact, communication between the senior al-Qaida leadership and al-Masri frequently went through al-Mashhadani,” Bergner said….

“In his words, the Islamic State of Iraq is a front organization that masks the foreign influence and leadership within al-Qaida in Iraq in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq,” Bergner said.

Golly, sure looks like that surge is a “failure”, and that Al Qaeda isn’t trying to do to Iraq what they did to Afghanistan under Clinton’s watch </sarcasm>.

Tell me again why the DhimmiRATs and the sycophant cut-and-runners among the RINO Senators want to retreat and defeat from Iraq so badly, they’re holding a sleepover. Is it because they would rather be slaves under dhimmitude and die under Sharia than suffer another term under Republican rule, much less conservative rule? Oh, I’m not questioning the patriotism of you lefties who support immediate retreat-and-defeat; after all, it’s pointless to question what does not exist.

July 17, 2007

Question for WPR – How does WJJA-TV stay on the air?

by @ 10:27. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

The latest claim from Wisconsin Welfare Radio and TV is that cutting the number of field engineers from 12 to 6 will endanger the Amber Alert system. That’s funny; WJJA-TV (Channel 49 on your analog dial; I don’t remember what the digital signal is at) is able to operate with pretty much just a machine, and their analog and digital antennas are about 20 miles apart. Tell me again how, if Amber Alert were to be made as robust as the remainder of the Wisconsin EAS (which would actually save money because the fine folks at the state Emergency Operations Center would actually have something to do) and WTMJ-AM/WKTI-FM were involved in the primary loop, it would suffer if 6 people couldn’t do the job of perhaps 2 plus a machine?

Oh, and one more thing; no Wisconsin TV station, whether it be welfare or for-profit, has anything beyond a passive participatory role in either the main EAS or Amber Alert systems. Those are both radio-based.

Add Mitt Romney to the list of those looking at Illinois for fashion tips

by @ 8:08. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Slublog)

The only positive is that, unlike Blags, he “only” paid $300.

Just another reason why I’ll never be a pol; nothing is going to make me look good.

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