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.
(H/T – Michelle Malkin)
Little Green Footballs found some disgusting pictures from a pro-jihadi rally in…wait for it…
wait for it…
Portland, Oregon.
Michelle says, “Yes, question their patriotism”. I say, “What patriotism?” At least it gives me an excuse to bring out the best flaming protest pic ever…
(H/T – Jib over at the BBA)
Due to decades of high crime, high taxes, and high unemployment colliding with rising interest rates, Reuters is reporting houses in Detroit are routinely selling at auction for less than the average price of a new car. Realtor Ron Walraven, who had a house in a suburb of Detroit he listed at $525,000 go for $130,000 at auction, has the money quote at the end of the article – “Once we’ve seen the last person leave Michigan, then I think we’ll be able to say we’ve seen the bottom.
For those that haven’t been paying attention, Milwaukee has suffered through decades of high taxes and high unemployment. Now, we’re suffering through historically-high crime. With everybody in government other than Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker thinking that taxes aren’t high enough, there will only not be a reduction in the growth of taxes, but there will not be any solution to the unemployment crisis. Thanks to Milwaukee Mayor Tom “Milk Carton” Barrett’s refusal to acknowledge there is a crisis of crime, even those few who long for the days of the USSR won’t move in. It’s only a matter of time before Milwaukee follows the death spiral that Detroit is going through.
Revisions/extensions (7:50 pm 3/19/2007) – Bob Dohnal expands on the failure of leadership in Milwaukee. Go, read.
Since I can’t say it nearly as well as Scott Malensek (guest-blogging at Flopping Aces), I’ll simply give you a very brief Cliff’s Notes version and send you over there for the well-researched and lengthy read (do note I’ve disabled comments/pings for this post; if I get requests, I’ll consider opening them up here).
He notes that almost nobody on Capitol Hill has read one report or heard one briefing on Iraq; this despite repeated public requests from the Congresscritters for those reports and briefings. One particularily-embarrassing episode:
This week, after having been unanimously appointed by Congress, America’s commander in Iraq, General Petraeus took a break from his duties to make a public statement for the first time since taking command. Prior to his press conference, the general (who submits reports to the President every single day) offered to take time for a teleconference with the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority leader (both Democrats). They declined. Instead, they chose to meet with leaders from anti-war groups like Moveon.org and others (some of which are actually socialist groups like ANSWER). After meeting with the anti-war lobby instead of the General that Congress appointed to lead operations in Iraq, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid held their own press conference and unveiled their latest attempt at ending the war in Iraq by any means other than success. They did not consult with the commanders in Iraq, the experts.
Then, he outlines how the wealthy use essentially-unlimited PACs (the only limit is that a PAC can donate $5,000 to a Congresscritter candidate, twice as much as an individual, and contributions of under $200 to a PAC doesn’t have to be reported at all) to funnel literally millions of dollars into politics.
If you do nothing else this weekend, go read the whole thing.
Well, I guess the honeymoon between the presstitutes in Wisconsin and Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) is over. Today’s Journal Sentinel has as its banner headline the fact that the Crappy budget has, according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, $1.74 billion in tax and fee increases, broken down thusly:
– $1.37 billion in tax increases:
– $376.2 million in fee increases:
Damn, but it looks like the Pubbies were right when they said last month that it was a $1.7 billion tax increase. Just how big is that? The last sentence of the story starts the thinking, but since the Journtinel couldn’t bring itself to give a percentage, and because public schools tend to de-emphasize math, allow me to run the numbers. It is a 6.78% tax increase over 2 years, or if you prefer it by annum, 3.33%. That is not, repeat, NOT including the “automatic” increases built into the income and sales tax structures that essentially match both inflation and increases in pay. That is in addition to those increases.
But, wait, there’s more. You remember the Craps Anti-Tax Freeze that expired at the end of last year? Doyle wants to bring that back, sans lower jaw (it already lacked teeth). Instead of allowing property tax increases of 2% plus growth and borrowing, he wants 4% plus growth and borrowing. That, folks, is more than what it had gone up prior to the original CATF. Senate Minority “Republican” Leader (dunno whether I should put that last word in quotes yet like I did for the three previous “permanent” holders of that title) Scott Fitzgerald points out that the property taxes that are driving people out of Wisconsin would go up by $350 million this year if CATF Ver. II happens (it would go up about that amount without it as well). Half of that increase would happen under the expired original anti-freeze, but since Fitzgerald only talked about this coming year, you can essentially add that entire amount to the $1.74 billion (actually, a bit more because it’s exponential) to come up with a $2.1 billion tax increase.
However, Christian Schneider, the sole survivor of the death of Dennis York, does. He’s putting his new bully pulpit over at The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute to good use, whacking the idea that raising taxes to coerce a desired behavior is a good thing. He even shows a few flashes of the dearly departed York and Pork in that piece.
If you try to compete with Potawatomi’s exclusivity on gambling in Southeast Wisconsin by lavishing Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) with hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations, you have the feds string you up on fraud charges.
If you try to compete with Potawatomi’s exclusivity on gambling in Southeast Wisconsin without paying off Craps, you get shut down by the Department of Administration’s Division of Gaming.
Sorry about not following the races as much as I should. I should know better than to trust the presstitutes to do so. Anyway, let’s get rolling:
– There is one statewide race that, despite the silence, is a doozy. It is a 3-way battle for an open seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, one that will decide whether the Lawgivers-In-Black will still have to depend on turncoat Patrick Crooks or gain an absolute majority. In the right corner (at least by default), we have Washington County Circuit Judge Annette Ziegler. In the far-left corner, we have the Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) candidate, Linda Clifford. Out of left field, we have a defense lawyer trying to get a vote on the pending suspension of his law license (and endorsed by Cousin Ed Thompson), Joseph Sommers.
Fortunately, GOP3 has been doing my homework for me. Like Brandon, I am endorsing Annette Ziegler in the primary tomorrow, and will be repeating this in the general election should she survive.
One more thing; while I can’t quite agree with Brandon and the letter-chucking Brad V that there is a “reverse” gender gap, the fact that the unknown Nick Voegeli got as close as he did against the relatively-well-known Jean Hundertmark is strong circumstantial evidence. Of course, outside of the Pubbie insiders, very few people knew that Hundertmark was running either, and there were a lot of non-insiders in the primary.
– The third aldermanic district in Oak Creek (my new district) also has a primary. I’m endorsing Mark Verhalen as he is the only person who is talking tax cuts.
With a lot more details and updates over at Hot Air…
Iraqi police got into a firefight with a bunch of Al Qaeda in Iraq members on the road between Fallujah and Samarrah, killed a top aide in that organization and, depending on who you believe, wounded and/or captured one Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the successor to the very deceased Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
‘Tis nice to know that the ‘Rats in the House still have the Algore sense of timing, with their retreat-and-defeat proposal (“unencumbered” by those “pesky” Republicans who wanted to put a support-the-troops amendment in) coming up for a vote tomorrow.
(H/T – Drudge)
Quoting the Drudge scoop:
The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled "Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?"….
DC WEATHER REPORT:
Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning…then a chance of snow in the afternoon. Ice accumulation of less than one quarter of an inch. Highs in the mid 30s. Northwest winds around 20 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 18. Northwest winds around 20 mph.
Considering the normal high/low for DC is 44/24, and there currently is a winter storm warning for the DC area, I guess we have our answer.
…I would have had the brains to link this…
…to this…
…like Mary Katharine Ham, then to produce this…
…like John Hawkins.
(H/T – Sister Toldjah)
The North Koreans appear to have folded on the nuclear issue, tentatively agreeing to initial steps to nuclear disarmament, including what Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill termed specific committments for the North Koreans and a working group to begin meeting in a month.
For those of you that thought that unilateral engagement was the way to go, this was reached through the 6-party talks you poo-poohed.
Of course, the devil, as always with Krazy Kim and company, is not only in the unreleased details, but in the verification. We thought we had a deal with the Kims back in 1994, but a lack of verification and proper details let North Korea continue their parallel nuclear program before the ink was even dry, and ultimately let them reintegrate the supposedly-shut-down program into it.
Revisions/extensions (3:15 pm 2/12/2007) – A further update from the AP gives a rough timeline (North Korea demanded 2 gigawatts of electricity or 2 million barrels of heavy fuel oil; the sources of that energy, South Korea and Russia, balked; the US told North Korea to compromise or the talks were over; and after 16 marathon hours, the North Koreans cracked). Meanwhile, AFP said that it was the Red Chinese that offered that breakthrough and has circulated a “final draft” (unavailable on the wires when I started the update).
Revisions/extensions part 2 (5:04 pm 2/12/2007) – The Japanese Kyodo News Agency says that the NK demand was for both the electricity and oil, Fox News is reporting that the Communists at State bargained away the $25 million sanction slapped on North Korea for counterfeiting American currency, and the latest version of the AP story has both Russia and Japan throwing cold water on the whole works.
On top of massive increases in the cigarette tax, car registration tax and driver’s licenses taxes, his push to end the QEO, and plans to essentially end the “limits” of the Craps Tax Anti-Freeze by allowing municipalities to raise taxes 4% annually, Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) now wants to pay for his $1.1 billion raid on the transportation fund to pay off WEAC by slapping a 2.5% tax on each barrel of oil used in Wisconsin (with corn-a-hole and “junk” diesel, of course, exempt because ADM has bought Craps) and forcing them to not pass the increased taxes on to Wisconsin residents pass it on to the rest of the country.
Economics 101 – Corporations ultimately do not pay taxes. Each and every penny eventually gets paid by the consumer. Even if Craps can con his packed State Supreme Court into saying he can “force” the oil companies to not pass it along to the Wisconsin consumers, they will pass it along to the rest of the country.
I wonder if KY Jelly is also exempt; as the Asian Badger has been saying, we’re going to need it.
Revisions/extensions (3:21 pm 2/9/2007) – Corrected the committee John “Mr. Redeploy To a Country We’ve ‘Occupied’ for 61 Years” Murtha chairs)
The Washington Times reported that Queen SanFranNan, the Speaker of the House, wanted to permanently tie up one of the 4 C-32s in the Air Force inventory (that would be a custom-built Boeing 757-200) for her exclusive use. She (or more-correctly, the House Sergeant-at-Arms at her insistence) claimed she needed that particular aircraft because she couldn’t be inconvenienced with a refueling stop.
Some quick background before I continue: In the aftermath of 9/11, the Speaker of the House, as 2nd in line to the Presidency, became entitled to military transport. The Air Force routinely supplied the previous Speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, with a C-21 (the military version of the Learjet 35) or C-20 (if it was the -B, it was the military version of the Gulfstream III, if it was the -H, it was the military version of the Gulfstream IV) for travel between DC and his suburban Chicago district.
I call bullshat on SanFranNan’s specific request. First, let’s review the tale of the tape. The C-21 indeed would not have the range to fly coast-to-coast, as it is a tick over 2,300 miles. Morever, they’re currently based (as of 1997) in Illinois. Either of the C-20s, as well as the follow-on C-37A (the military version of the Gulfstream V) would have the range. The -20B can go 4,250 miles, the -20H can go 4,750 miles, the -32 can go 5,500 miles, and the -37 can go 6,300 miles. Yep, you heard me right; they all can go coast-to-coast without stopping for gas. As a bonus, she’d get there faster on the Gulfstreams.
Morever, the refuelling-is-unsafe line is a canard. Refuellings would be done at Air Force bases, not at commercial airports, and would be accomplished at speeds that even Fed-Ex would only hope to approach.
As for passengers, the Gulfstreams can carry 12 plus its crew of 5, and the Boeing can carry 45 plus its crew of up to 16. The Pentagon limits the entourage to 10 (with no room for the grandkids or hubby’s lobbyists), which is another point of contention between Queen Plastic and the Pentagon.
Communications on the Gulfstreams are a step down from those on the Boeing, but they still offer secure voice and data transmissions. The fact that Hastert lived with them renders that point moot.
So, if it’s not range, not passengers (at least as long as SanFranNan can keep the entourage under the limits) and not communications, what’s driving her to demand the C-32, using the House Sergeant-at-Arms and the chair of the House Armed Services Committee Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to threaten the Pentagon? It’s primary use is as Air Force Two, the Vice Presidential transport. Indeed, it is fitted out so similarily to the VC-25 (known by all as Air Force One), complete with a conference room and a private section for the VIP including a separate entertainment center and fold-out bed, that it is used by the President when the airport cannot accomodate the VC-25.
The reason I ask is the presumptive Democratic front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, has shown neither leadership nor conviction on Iraq. Today’s OpinionJournal featured article outlines her move from her husband’s position that Hussein needed to be ousted to Retreat and Defeat. To answer their question, that is precisely the stalwart drift she would bring to the Oval Orifice.
The Wall Street Journal has a story on how ultralow-sulfur diesel fuel has left school buses throughout the country unable to run during the ongoing bout of “global warming”. A couple of observations:
I’ve been frozen by Global Warming (or is it the natural state of the High Priestess of Global Warming?).
Hopefully my Super Parlay on The Game That Can Not Be Named will come through, but until then, enjoy this cartoon, with a hat tip to The Blogfather –
And NO, I will NOT be live-blogging the Game That Can Not Be Named. You can head over to Badger Blogger, Hot Air or Free Republic if zoning out in front of just the big screen isn’t your thing.
In case you missed the State of the Union speech, one of the few major policy initiatives announced was a massive rewrite of the federal tax code designed to bring more people into the health insurance cabal. I haven’t quite decided whether President Bush was channeling FDR or the head of Aurora Health Care when he made the announcements that he would seek to make all health insurance expenditures taxable income and then give a standard $7,500 (for individuals)/$15,000 (for families) deduction for those that purchase or have their employer purchase health insurance. What I do know is that this has the potential to be more destructive than Bush’s previous meddling in health care, the grafting of prescription drugs onto Medicare.
First, let’s take a look at the current mess that is the tax code as it relates to health insurance. After a bit of research (thanks to the National Coalition on Health Care and National Association of the Self-Employed), I believe I have it down. First off, the portion of health insurance costs paid for by a “C”-corporation is a deductable business expense for the employer and tax-exempt in-kind income for the employee (which means that neither income, the employee’s portion of FICA, nor the employer’s portion of FICA taxes are paid). This was instituted under Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a way to get around his wage controls in World War II.
Next, those employees of “C”-corporations that participate in Section 125 health plans similarily have that portion of the health insurance costs declared tax-exempt (again, neither income nor either portion of FICA taxes are paid). I don’t know exactly when this came about, but apparently most employees have this as an option.
Thirdly, the self-employed (sole-proprietors, partnerships, and “S”-corporations), at least those not eligible to get in on a spouse’s or parent’s health insurance plan, get to deduct the cost of the health insurance from their income tax, but not the self-employment tax (the same as both the employee and employer portions of FICA). This is a more-recent change, starting off with a portion deductable from income taxes in the 1980s and slowly rising to 100% deductable a few years ago.
Those “C”-corporation employees unlucky enough to be paying health insurance costs out of their pocket outside of Section 125 plans, and those self-employed who don’t take advantage of a spouse’s health plan, use after-tax dollars, where both income and FICA taxes (both employee and employer) are paid.
Now, let’s jump to Bush’s proposal. It’s a Rube Goldberg attempt to get everybody into the health insurance cabal. First, it removes the unlimited tax breaks for health insurance costs on employees and self-employed individuals (leaving the deduction for “C”-corporations alone) and treats it as taxable income. Then, it gives every individual tax filer who buys or has bought for him/her health insurance a $7,500 deduction on both income and payroll tax (it’s unclear whether that applies only to the employee’s portion or both that and the employer’s portion), with a joint/head of household filer getting a $15,000 deduction.
Problem #1 – In order to make this appear “revenue-neutral”, the employer’s portion of FICA (and the “employer’s” half of the self-employment tax) would have to be collected on that first $7,500/$15,000. Guess what that is, kids? A tax increase on every employer who provides health insurance, and any tax increase on the employers gets passed along to the employees and the consumers. That could take the form of reduced pay, reduced health benefits, reduced jobs or higher prices, or any combination of the four. Worse, at least from the perspective of the Party In Government, if most of the plans above the limit dropped down to the limit, there is no hope of “revenue-neutrality”. What happens when gubmint runs short of cash? If you said, “They raise taxes,” give yourself a gold star. If you said, “They’ll cut spending,” smack yourself in the forehead.
Problem #2 – Since that first $7,500/$15,000 is taxable income, and without a redefinition of “taxable income”, it would be added to the Social Security obligations, where is the FICA money going to come from? It definitely isn’t coming from the employee (and half isn’t coming from the self-employed). Elsewhere in the State of the Union speech, President Bush pointed out the impending collapse of the three programs dependent on FICA (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) without offering up any plan (side note – where’s the ‘Rat plan for this time bomb?). Increasing those obligations without any thought to how to pay for said obligations is a recipe for a faster disaster.
Problem #3 – This does not address the underlying causes of escalating health care costs – the lack of a free market where the consumer has an incentive to hold down the costs and out-of-control malpractice litigation/insurance costs. It might drive down the costs of insurance at the very high end, as the Rolls-Royce health benefits (usually enjoyed by gubmint employees) are scaled back to avoid the adverse tax consequences. It won’t have any effect on the costs of those plans that are underneath the limits, and not many people who currently have employer-provided health insurance where the total cost is underneath the limits will have the savvy to seek out cheaper plans to get the “free money” from the feds. Indeed, by adding more people to the no-cost-incentive scheme, it will drive costs even higher.
Problem #4 – By making the employer’s portion of health insurance as well as the Section 125 portion taxable, this probably opens that up to state taxation. My money says that ‘Rat-infested states, such as Wisconsin, will seek to capture all of that money, including the portion the feds don’t.
Problem #5 – This would adjust using the Consumer Price Index. Last I checked, health insurance costs have gone up much faster than the CPI since who-knows-when. Simply putting a cap on the tax benefits won’t stop that, at least not without stripping the plans of essentially all coverage.
So, what’s the solution? Short of changing the dominant American mindset of wanting to live forever, preferably on somebody else’s dime, there is none.
Call me a sucker, but somebody has to live-blog the abomination, and with Blogger down (again), it falls to the likes of Captain Ed, Mary Katharine Ham, Erick at RedState and me. They’ll probably do a better job than me, but let’s roll with it anyway.
7:58 (all times will be Central; deal with it) – Plastic Pelosi is looking pleased she won this war.
8:01 – The First and Second Ladies have arrived, and the intros have started.
8:06 – Couldn’t we go back to messages transmitted by paper? This intro is worse than a prize fight.
8:09 – Here comes the Pres, and the first person who got his hand shook is Dennis the Menace. NOT a good sign. In better news, Mary Katharine Ham is serving Cheetos on her live thread (link is now above).
8:13 – Bush too pleased with his intro as the first “fe”male Speaker. I have to keep reminding myself, “Justices Roberts and Alito”. “Justices Roberts and Alito”. Class move noting the 2 members who are out with health reasons.
8:17 – Oxymoron alert – how can the ‘Rats keep true to their faith and honor the troops and respect the citizenry? Oh, that’s right, it’s Bush that’s signaling retreat and defeat.
8:18 – Charlie Rangel got up too early. He cheered the kill-the-deficit line, then Bush dropped the “no new taxes” line on them. Pres pointing out he halved the deficit 3 years early, then wants it eliminated in 5. Onto earmarks, noting they’re snuck in “when even C-Span isn’t watching”. Time to end the process, but issues a tepid halve-them challenge.
8:21 – Onto entitlements. 3 bad choices if they’re not fixed; tax increases, end to programs, benefit cuts. Doesn’t mention any fixes, but wants one from the ‘Rats. Nice try, but the presstitutes won’t let the blame be pinned on them. Now to education. Something for everyone (to hate) – choice and mo’ money.
8:23 – Tax shift time – health insurance “reform”. Stage 1, make health insurance a standard deduction of $7,500 for singles and $15,000 for families instead of an unlimited untaxed benefit available only to corporations. Stage 2, mo’ money to the states. Hey Jefe, if the fed taxes weren’t so damn high, we wouldn’t have to have the feds do subsidizing.
Now something for conservatives – more health savings accounts, medical liability reform (which draws the first boos of the evening). I can’t believe this line drew ‘Rat support – the best health care decisions are made by patients and their doctors.
8:27 – Border (in)security – “Guest worker” program. Say, would that have stopped the Mexican Army’s repeated incursions? Now lying about amnesty; not throwing the illegals out and granting them a special means of “legalization” is the very definition of amnesty.
8:29 – Energy – Complaining about dependence on foreign oil. Talks about clean coal, solar and wind, nuclear for electricity, NO mention of increased drilling. The ethanol mention wasn’t as bad as I thought; not talking inefficient corn-a-hole.
Spoke too soon – triple the corn-a-hole usage. Er, if we’re using corn-a-hole, we’re not saving anything. Shrink the cars again.
Ah, here’s the drilling. Double the Strategic Oil Reserve.
8:33 – Where’s High Priestess Heidi Cullen? Sounds like the Prez abandoned us on Global Warning.
8:34 – Second round of boos – ‘Rats won’t let you have votes on your judges.
Onto the Global War on Terror. Still no mention that the terrorists are Islamokazis (or “radical” Islamists). Plastic must’ve been watching Hiliary for approval to applaud the take-the-fight-to-the-enemy line; her applause was delayed.
Success stories time. First time I heard the Al Qaeda anthrax plot (still no official word on who sent the anthrax back in 2001).
8:37 – Did I hear right; the Pres actually called Al Qaeda Sunnis. I didn’t hear Muslims though.
8:40 – Positively Wilsonian call for making the world Safe for Democracy. Bush has the right idea, but the wrong reason why it works; the more people that have a voice, the less likely their leaders will act like Hitler or Stalin because of the instinct for self-preservation, not because of a non-existant sense of goodness.
8:43 – Tossing out Shi’a now. Still no mention that they’re Muslims. It might not be like Pubbies to abandon friends and break our word, but it’s been the ‘Rat motto since 1968.
8:46 – Line of the night – “We didn’t drive Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan only to have them set up in a free Iraq.” There are benchmarks agreed to by Iraq (but because we don’t want the Islamokazis to bust them, we won’t make them public).
Most Pubbies might understand the costs of failure in Iraq, but other than Lieberman, the ‘Rats either don’t know or don’t give a damn. If I were Pres, I would point out that the costs of failure were proven once before; when S(l)ick Willie Clinton bailed out of Somalia. Predictably, the ‘Rats sat on their hands (which got crushed by their fat asses).
8:51 – Good luck in getting the ‘Rats behind you, even with this new “bi-partisan” commission you’re doing. Time to increase the authorized strength of the Army and Marines and establish a civilian reserve corps.
8:54 – All the plastic in the world couldn’t hide Pelosi’s disgust at the revelation that Cuba is still not free. Darfur got a special mention (though once again, left unmentioned is the fact that Islamokazis are doing the killing). Is Bono in the house?
8:56 – Gallery time. Dikembe Mutombo first up, and he turned his unplanned NBA career into a partial realization of his original doctor dream, building a hospital back in the Congo. ‘Rats conflicted on whether to cheer the founder of Baby Einstein because she’s a woman that did it for the chilrun or vilify her for daring to become very successful out of nothing. Wesley Autrey IS a hero, as much a hero as the troops overseas he says are the real heroes – someone who will leap into the path of an oncoming subway train to save somebody who fell onto the tracks is one. One of those is next – Sgt. Rieman, who did much the same with enemy fire pouring in.
9:02 – “God bless,” and we’re out.
You can look elsewhere for the canned ‘Rat response.
Or at least that’s what the likes of the Sierra Club would be calling the guv if he were a Pubbie after finding out that he directed the state DNR to petition the federal EPA to reclassify southeast Wisconsin as in compliance for ozone so that the business climate in this part of the state could improve a bit. Doyle’s request, if approved, will mean that businesses in southeast Wisconsin seeking to build or expand won’t necessarily have to install the most-expensive pollution controls anymore, pushing the entire burden of keeping ozone in check on motorists.
While I do applaud Doyle for realizing that onerous envirowhacko regulations do cause serious economic harm, there’s a couple points I still need to make:
Of course, with an out-of-control tax and lawsuit environment fostered by Doyle, this will amount to nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the R.M.S. Titanic.
Item #1 – Hitlery (or if you prefer, Hiliary) Rotten Von Der Schlikmeister has tossed Old Crusty Black Pantsuit into the Presidential ring. The game is now afoot. Unlike Allahpundit, who called the timing an “amateur mistake”, I declare it a masterpiece. One of the most-watched weekends of the (mostly-)liberal Sunday morning talk shows, made so because those liberals without fax machines need their pre-State of the Union Address marching orders, now gets dominated by Hiliary, and the hosts “Meet the Press”, “Face the Nation”, “This Week”, and “Late Edition” won’t have to temper their genuflection before her with any criticisms from Limbaugh and the weekday Fox News crew.
Item #2 (with a H/T to Kate) – It sure looks like we’re about to get a massive tax increase from yet another President Bush. Take a gander at this line from this week’s Presidential radio address (the last one before his State of the Union Address)
Americans are fortunate to have the best health care system in the world. The government has an important role to play in our system. We have an obligation to provide care for the most vulnerable members of our society — the elderly, the disabled, and poor children and their parents. We are meeting this responsibility through Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. We must strengthen these vital programs so that they are around when future generations need them.
It even comes with Jefe’s own “read my lips” moment:
We must address these rising costs, so that more Americans can afford basic health insurance. And we need to do it without creating a new Federal entitlement program or raising taxes.
Item #3 – Investor’s Business Daily is reporting that a tax hike in the form of a cap on tax breaks for employer-provided health care is just one of the hard turns to the left that is expected to be announced on Tuesday night. He will also announce that, unlike Jim Ott (a major hat-tip to Josh Schroeder for getting that exclusive), he doesn’t want to lose his AMS certification, that making his 2001 and 2003 temporary tax cuts permanent are off the table, and that corn-a-hole will get a fresh massive federal influx.
(H/T – Nick)
In order to give instant gratification to the fine folks of the Town of Oregon that were screwed over by the Department of Revenue on their 2006 property taxes to the tune of at least $578,000 through an error in the equalized assessed values of the properties in the town, the Legislature is fast-tracking a “no-interest” loan program.
What happens when the DOR screws up that equalized assessed value? In three words – taxes go up. Longer explanation – there are three potential ways the taxes go up. First, there is at least the potential for a reduction in state aid to the property-taxing authority, and taxing authorities being the charter members of the Party In Government they are, tend to refuse to cut their plans of spending accordingly. This affects the entire taxing district negatively, not just the portion in the directly-affected municpality.
Second, in property-taxing districts that include other municipalities, the ratio of the equalized assessed value in the municipality where the value was inflated to that in the municipality (or municipalities) where the value was not inflated. This automatically inflates the tax bill in the directly-affected municipality, while artifically reducing the tax bill in the remainder of the district.
Finally, under the now-expired Craps Tax Anti-Freeze, the various property-taxing authorities had the authority to increase taxes by the value of new construction. If the value of new construction was artifically inflated by the DOR, guess what? The authorization to further jack up taxes just showed up fraudulently, and knowing the PIGS that are the taxing authorities, they wouldn’t pass up this opportunity. To be fair, this would also have happened under the various versions of the Republican tax freezes that were vetoed by Doyle.
The current “fix” for an error in the calculation of equalized value that results in a higher-than-otherwise-allowed property tax bill is to have the DOR to adjust the following year’s equalized value downward in the hope that that tax bill will be lowered by the amount that it was “mistakenly” raised. Since the equalized value is frozen months before the budgets of the various property-taxing authorities, and thus their mill rates, are set, it is merely a hope on the part of the DOR that they got it right the second time.
Becuase this imperfect relief comes late, the Legislature got this bright idea to create a mechanism for a no-interest loan to those affected by a major foul-up by the DOR (one that is at least 10% high) in the form of AB-20. In short, it gives the affected property owners a more-or-less exact relief in the form of a no-interest loan from the state through the taxing municipality at the beginning of the year, with the amount of that loan added to the tax bill at the end of the year. In theory, the current “fix” outlined above pays off the loan with no additional money coming from the taxpayer. Unfortunately, since that relief is imperfect, if the DOR doesn’t get it right and the year-end relief is less than the loan, guess who has to come up with the money?
On to the reason why this bad fix is headed on the fast track. The fraudulent overtaxation of the fine folks in the Town of Oregon that spurred this “fix” was a result of an error on the part of the state Department of Revenue back in August 2006. At that point, they certified that the property in the Town of Oregon was worth $47 million more than the amount at which should have been certified. Take a good look at that date. That is roughly 3 months prior to the date the state figures out how much aid to give various units of local government, and 4 months prior to the date those governments set their budgets and determine their mill rates. You mean to tell me that, in those months between the foul-up by the DOR and the fraudulent increases in the tax bills, nobody figured this out?
A major part of that fraudulent tax increase is blamed on the effect of that foul-up on the school district’s levy; in fact, the linked Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story focused solely on that. Since the school district also includes the Village of Oregon, there are two parts to that; the reduction of state aid to the district, and the change in balance between the property values in the town and those in the village. Color me cynical, but both the new “fix” and the existing “fix” sure seem to only address the latter, and the folks in both the town and the village just got screwed.
So, what’s the fix? First, don’t wait 5 months to double-check those equalized values. In this case, if the DOR would have caught this in early October, none of this would have happened. Next, instead of guessing how much relief is going to occur in the portion of the district that was screwed the previous year, implement an actual amount and dun those that improperly got a break (be it the state or the property owners outside the directly-affected municipality) appropriately. Then and only then can the “instant gratification” loan work.
(H/T – Allahpundit)
Haaretz reports on a 2-year secret effort by a former Israeli Foreign Ministry director general and former Israeli ambassador to Turkey, a Syrian-Alawite businessman with close ties to Syrian President Bashar Assad (both acting with the knowledge and approval of their governments), and a European mediator to create peaceful Israeli-Syrian relations. One of the tidbits from the Haaretz background story –
“Farouk Shara (the Syrian Vice-President) told me radical Islam constitutes a threat to Syria and that peace is the only way to halt it,” the mediator said. He said the Syrians told him that in a few years, they would lose their oil sources and need significant amounts of foreign currency to purchase energy from external sources. The Alawite regime realizes, the European mediator said, that in order to survive, it has to bring foreign currency into Syria, and that no sane businessman would invest his fortune in a country that is not at peace with its neighbors.
They got as far as drafting a “non-paper” (that linked version is one of the early versions). If it were to have been adopted, it would have returned the Golan Heights to the Syrians as a demilitarized zone, with much of the area turned into a park where Israelis could enter without a Syrian visa, introduced a zone of reduced military presence on either side of the Golan (with a larger zone on the Syrian side), secured the Jordan River water for Israel, and ultimately resulted in a peace treaty between Israel and Syria.
Alas, the effort died in the midst of the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting in August, 2006. Syria demanded to make the talks official (but still secret) at that point, with C. David Welch, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, also involved, but the Israelis balked.
I’ll have to sleep on this and try to figure out what’s what, who all got played here (I’m smelling something), and all that good stuff.
(H/T – Slublog)
You might remember that one of San Fran Nan’s goals of her 100 Hours gimick was to end earmarks as we know them by forcing disclosure of who dumped the earmark in. It actually is one thing I can cheer out of the Rat-infested House.
However, I have some bad news. Much like the every-other-year dance of pay increases for Congress, it was all a sham. It seems our “brave” new leaders in the Senate, Dick Turbin, Dingy Harry Reid, and Ted “The Swimmer” Kennedy, don’t want to kill earmarks in the Senate. While they did not manage to table the attempt by Jim DeMint (R-SC) to adopt the House language on earmarks instead of a competing definition that would exempt 95% of the earmarks (vote was 51-45, more on that in a moment), the Swimmer objected to unanimous consent, allowing Turbin and Dingy Harry to keep on twisting arms to try to keep the pork alive.
So, who voted how? It was close to party-line, with most of the Pubbies jumping onto the reform wagon a bit late and most of the ‘Rats clinging to the pork like a liferaft. Beyond the three that didn’t vote (Johnson, Brownback and Inouye), the ones that jumped ship were:
The final votes are expected next week.
It’s not often that I give any credit to state Sen. Mike Ellis (RINO-Neenah), but I have to this time. According to JSOnline’s PoliticsWatch, he found a possibly-fatal flaw in the plan to replace the Ethics and Elections Boards with a newly-constituted Government Accountability Board. In Ellis’ jealous eyes (jealous because his plan at “reform” got shot down last year and will never see the light of day), the requirement that those that serve on that GAB cannot run for office within 1 year of leaving that board is “patently unconstitutional”, as he seems to see a near-absolute constitutional right to run for office. I’ll leave that to the likes of Rick Esenberg and Jeff Wagner to comment intelligently on whether that could be a legitimate concern or just another one of Ellis’ stunts.
Worse, there is an unusual clause in the bill that not only requires the entire package to be made void if any portion is ruled unconstitutional, but that the Ethics and Election Boards remain defunct. Usually, lawmakers include “severability” clauses to bills that expressly state if a portion is ruled unconstitutional, the remainder remains in force.
Either way, Craps wins. Either he gets a board where he picked every last member to replace one board where he has effective control of half the members (one directly, the other 3 through his party apparatus, and a tie-breaking 5th picked by the überliberal Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson) and another where he would have full control before 2010, or he has nobody other than an attorney general who saw nothing wrong at the governor’s mansion while US Attorney for western Wisconsin to worry about at the state level.
Harriet Miers, not-at-all-affectionately refered to on this blog as the Mushroom when President Bush floated her as a Supreme Court nominee, is leaving her post as White House Counsel as of January 31. According to Fox News the real reason for her resignation was the fact that Karl Rove is anticipating non-stop lawsuits from the ‘Rat-infested Congress, and Miers’ career as a civil litigator left her woefully unprepared in either the criminal law or separation-of-powers disciplines.
And this is the broad that Bush wanted us conservatives to swallow on the Supreme Court? Most of SCOTUS’ work is in those two disciplines.
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