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 – Wisconsin' Category

April 30, 2006

The ‘Rat platform for ’06

by @ 22:20. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, WTPA.

(H/T for the Robson e-mail – Owen)

For those of you disillusioned with the “Republican” Party of Wisconsin like me, it sometimes is helpful to remember what the DemocRAT Party of Wisconsin platform is. They’re brutally-honest in their belief that government must continue to grow faster than our ability to pay for it, and that taxes need to grow to match. Senate Minority Leader Judy Robson (D-Madison) articulates it so well in her Friday e-mail newsletter. That e-mail lends itself so well to fisking, I almost wish I had the whole thing instead of the part reprinted by Owen.

Dear Friend:

STOP THE TAPE! I’m surprised she isn’t using “Comrade” in her e-mails; it would fit so much better.

The good news in the Legislature this week was that the Republicans did not have enough votes to pass the original Taxpayer Deception Amendment in the Assembly.

I see the ‘Rats are honest about their belief that we don’t pay enough taxes, at least when they’re not up for re-election.

The bad news is that they mustered enough votes to pass a modified version of the amendment, one which writes rigid limits on state revenue growth into the constitution.

What does that mean for you and me? It means a huge shift in taxes to the property tax. Because the cost of state operations will grow faster than state revenue, the state will have to find places to scale back spending, and a prime target is state aid to communities and counties.

Allow me to explain something. Shifting the responsibility of raising the money to the entity that spends it will necessarily reduce the tax burden. First, it exposes just how much that entity is spending. Second, it costs money to transfer money from one government unit to another, even when it isn’t skimmed off illicitly. Once again, thank you ‘Rats for being honest in your belief that taxes aren’t too high and government isn’t too big.

As for the claim that the cost of state operations will grow faster than state revenue, thanks again, ‘Rats, for admitting your belief that a 5.13% growth in government just isn’t enough. Who here has had income growth average 5.13% lately?

Once again, I’ll point out that the filing deadline to replace those on my Rogues Gallery is July 11, 2006. The State Elections Board even has a helpful Ballot Access Checklist and Campaign Finance Checklist (I assume that, if you’re running to replace a RINO/RepubicRAT with a conserative, you won’t be needing the Campaign Finance Checklist for those applying for a Wisconsin Election Campaign Fund grant).

April 28, 2006

Rogues gallery

by @ 6:37. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, WTPA.

Sorry about being absent the last few weeks. First, taxes got me, then allergy season kicked off with a bang. I think I finally stocked up on enough FIB pseudophedrine to see me through, though. In honor of the resounding “FUCK YOU!” delivered to us taxpayers by the RepubicRATs and RINOs of the Assembly, I have assembled a photo album of sorts. Remember these faces. Remember these names. Remember them well, especially on September 12.

First up, the RepubicRATs who can’t even stand a weak spending limit on just state gubmint:        
Joan Ballweg
Robin Kreibich
Terri McCormick (who was hoping that the “R”PW would now back her with her true lieberal colors flying)
Lee Nerison
Alvin Ott
Jerry Petrowski

Next, the RINOs who think that local taxes aren’t high enough:
John Ainsworth
Sheryl Albers
Brett Davis
Stephen Freese
Curt Gielow
Eugene Hahn
J.A. Hines
Judy Krawczyk
Andy Lamb
Gabe Loeffelholz
Terry Moulton
Jeffrey Moursau
Terry Musser
Carol Owens
Mark L. Pettis
Debi Towns
John F. Townsend
Gregg Underheim
Karl Van Roy
David Ward
Steve Wieckert

Revisions/extensions: After reading Owen’s comments on the disaster that happened, I took Frank Lasee, Stephen Nass and Leah Vukmir off the rogues gallery. They recognized faster than I did what a complete disaster the WTRA (I’ll let you figure out what the “R” stands for – hint, it’s a 4-letter word) has become.

April 10, 2006

The Great Wisconsin Divide, the condensed version

by @ 8:47. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Joey has an “interesting” quote from an outstate Pubbie which goes a very long way in explaining certain actions by the RPW since 1998 –

First, this person called Southeast Republicans “nutso.”

Then, this representative declared, “There are three parties in this state. There are normal Republicans, normal Democrats, and Charlie Sykes Stormtroopers. He says jump, they ask ‘how high?'”

I humbly submit these as the differences between the 3 parties:

  • The Charlie Sykes “Stormtroopers” (er, we’re actually Jedis) are conservatives.
  • The ‘Rats don’t care one bit if they break the law or laws are broken on their behalf.
  • “Normal” outstate “Pubbies” want lawful liberalism implemented.

I’ll be back this afternoon to tie Tommy Thompson’s latest ruminations on running for governor again into this. A preview message for Mark Green; damn the “R”PW, full speed to starboard.

March 27, 2006

Green-Walker joint press conference

by @ 6:44. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Mark Green and Scott Walker will have a joint press conference at the Milwaukee headquarters of the RPW (7223 W. Greenfield Ave. in West Allis) at 3:15 pm today. They will be discussing the future of the governor’s race, and the Green and Walker teams are asking for a show of party unity. For those that can make it, they ask that you get there by 3 so the show can start on time.

March 25, 2006

Walker out of gov race; not-so-instant reaction

by @ 20:12. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Unless you’ve been in a cave since yesterday morning, you know that Scott Walker dropped out of the governor’s race yesterday afternoon. That leaves Mark Green to take on Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale). I don’t think I’ve made it much of a secret that I supported Walker in the Republican nomination, and I am sad to see him drop out because of a combination of a lack of money and the RPW (and indeed, the RNC) standard operating procedure to back the least-conservative of multiple candidates at all costs (in the RPW’s case, even pulling the rug out from the conservative should he survive the party bosses’ attempts to rig the primary). In this specific case, other than Green being in the same back pocket of ADM that Doyle is, he appears to be not much less conservative than Walker. Further, I’m relieved that the money differential won’t be magnified by a bitter and expensive primary fight.

Tomorrow’s Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes (10 am, Channel 4 in Milwaukee) will be a much-watch as Charlie dumped the regularily-scheduled format for an interview with Walker. Judging from the inaugural podcast he and Jeff Wagner did, it will be must-see TV. I will try to live-blog it.

It will be good to still have an upstanding young man (Walker’s only 38) here in charge of Milwaukee County for at least the next 2 years instead of a thug like Lee Holloway, who, assuming Walker would have been elected governor, would have assumed the duties of county executive effective Walker’s swearing-in. He ruled out jumping into the Senate race against Nobody’s Senator, Herb Kohl.

Beyond this helping Green and hurting Doyle, who now must start “prematurely” spending his massive war chest funded by WEAC, the Indian casinos, the trial lawyers, Archer Daniels Midland, and everybody else that bought Wisconsin policy the last 3 years, there are some other winners and losers. Paul Bucher has to be wondering whether Milwaukee County Pubbies and conservatives will be voting in the Republican Attorney General primary (and presumably for him) or the Democratic Sheriff primary for David Clarke. Over on the Dem side of that race, it wasn’t a coincidence that the chorus of “Damn it”s from Madistan had a high-pitched tone; both Kathleen Falk and Peg Lautenschlager are sweating it out to see which one of them is deemed the weaker candidate by those of us in Milwaukee County (and perhaps elsewhere) interested in not seeing a Dem in that office next year and no longer with a very-vested interest in being on the Pubbie side of the primary.

March 18, 2006

The Defense of Marriage amendment – part 2

by @ 1:56. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

In part 1, I stated why I am voting for the Defense of Marriage amendment in November. Now, I’ll specifically take on various conservative/libertarian arguments against this, mainly culled from Charlie’s Isthmus column.

– It’s unnecessary – As I stated previously, it is very necessary (at least if one is not in favor of government sanction of gay marriage), not only to pass something like this but to make it part of the Wisconsin Constitution, especially in Wisconsin. There already exists in the Wisconsin Constitution legitimate legal grounds for a court to overturn any statute that does not extend the full benefits of marriage to gay couples; a clause that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

– The “infamous” second sentence (“A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.”) will not only allow Wisconsin to ignore other states’ “gay marriages” that do not explicitly use the word “marriage”, but force Wisconsin to invalidate items such as “domestic partner” benefits for both public and private employees and for both gay and straight employees – To extend this sentence from invalidating a broadly-encompassing government sanction of gay marriage to invalidating a single benefit that has been extended to non-married couples would take an overreach essentially equal to that taken by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in forcing gay marriage there. As my non-lawyer mind reads that sentence, it would take a single legal status attempting to confer most of the legal privileges of marriage to unmarried individuals to trigger this. Morever, something such as “domestic partner” benefits, even one offered by government, is not a legal privilege restricted to marriage.

– This represents an absolute freeze on social and legal policy, which can never be changed – Again, wrong. The only “freezes” are that a gang of 4 lawgivers-in-black cannot cram their wishes down 5 million Wisconsinites’ throats, and that 50 Assemblymen and 17 Senators in the Legislature cannot unilaterally do the same. An “evolutionary” change instead will require those 50 Assemblymen and 17 Senators to vote for it in 2 separate biannual sessions, then a majority of the public that cares vote for it; just like this amendment.

– This limits the power of individuals, not government – Like a broken record; again, wrong. I don’t see any prohibition of two or more consenting individuals to do what they please; instead, I see a prohibition against government granting a special sanction to certain actions taken y those consenting individuals.

– But, but, but government needs to recognize stable relationships regardless of who enters it – No, it does not, even if other governments recognize “common-law marriages” (more-properly called long-term shack-ups). The main reason why government does recognize marriage is that society has recognized marriage as providing the best general situation for the raising of the next generation. Of course, it does so in what can be called a ham-handed fashion. Morever, with the advent of “no-fault” divorce, government has started to not recognize marriage as a stable, lifelong relationship.

– But, but, but gays only want “in” on marriage, not to destroy it – What legal privilege automatically granted to married couples, other than the special tax rate given to married couples, can gay couples not get? Tax deductions for children are marriage-neutral, and various legal contracts, including wills and life insurance, can easily be written to replicate the publicly-recognized situations enjoyed by married couples, right on down to the joint-property mandate unique to Wisconsin. That special tax rate is hardly special for a couple where both people work full-time, which I suspect describes nearly all gay couples; they would end up paying a higher tax than if they weren’t recognized as a “married” couple.

Since the governmental reasons for gays to merely want “in” on marriage through government recognition have been severely damaged, and society as a whole does not (at least not yet) accept that gays should enjoy the full privileges and benefits of marriage, what reasons other than its destruction in its present governmental form and a further damage to its religious form remains for the push for government recognition of gay marriage? The only one I can think of is to attempt to force companies that do not offer “domestic partner” benefits to offer benefits to both members of a gay couple. However, there is a “slight” flaw in this attempt; health coverage is not a right, and neither is spousal coverage. I strongly suspect that a large number of companies that do not offer “domestic partner” coverage will drop spousal coverage (if not health coverage entirely) rather than have the expanded definition of “spouse” imposed on them. The companies that don’t will quickly find themselves in court, sued by heterosexual unmarried couples wanting theirs. They’ll likely win, and everyone can start kissing health insurance for their significant other goodbye.

The Defense of Marriage amendment – part 1

by @ 0:14. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

I’ve delayed this as long as long as I could and then some, but Charlie called me out. This is part one of a 2-part series; part two will deal with the conservative/libertarian arguments against. I will be voting “yes” on the amendment in November for a mix of reasons.

The first reason is that it will, at least temporarily, keep the government definition of marriage as close to my religion’s (WELS) definition as government can keep it: 1 man and 1 woman. Despite the relatively-recent (and probably necessary) divergence between the Christian and government definitions of marriage (namely, “no-fault” divorce), the acceptance of adultery by society, and the rise of activism among both the gay and polygamist crowds, society as a whole still accepts the basic definition of marriage as being between 1 man and 1 woman.

Indeed, that divergence belies the claim that government does sanction a stable relationship through marriage. That leaves only special legal and tax statuses given to married couples based on the societial recognition that married couples do best with raising the next generation. Even here, most of those statuses can either be duplicated by non-married couples through legal processes or shifted into marriage-neutral policies. The only major “marriage-only” policy that cannot be replicated is the tax policy, which was written (imperfectly, as only government can write it) as a recognition that one parent works full-time and the other raises the children and maybe earns a small salary in a part-time job. Even though (in no small part due to goverment’s ever-growing appetite), this ideal is workable for fewer and fewer married couples, there are very few gay couples that would have children, and even fewer where that ideal would happen.

Related to keeping the government definition of marriage what it is, it is absolutely necessary to put this into the Wisconsin Constitution rather than Wisconsin state statute. As the lawgivers-in-black-robes in Massachusetts proved, activist liberal justices will use the most-obscure loopholes to void the will of the people as expressed by the Legislature. Indeed, it would be even easier in Wisconsin; we already have as part of the state Constitution an “equal-rights” clause based on sexual orientation. I’m surprised that the activists haven’t used this to hammer through gay marriage in Wisconsin.

Another reason for using the Constitutional process is that it is the only process that directly involves the people. Neither judges ruling by fiat nor the Legislature passing a statute does this. Morever, by putting it into the Constitution, it does not “freeze” the definition for all time; it merely takes the mechanism of change out of the hands of the state version of the lawgivers-in-black (only federal action could take it out of the hands of federal judges), as well as the unilateral hands of the Legislature. Instead, if Wisconsin society eventually does want to extend full marriage rights to gays, it will simply go through the same Constitutional process as this went through.

March 10, 2006

Speaking of Поле Выстраивает Chris…

by @ 9:45. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

…he has a message from him and Gen. Patton to our “friends” in Madison. The short version – the Glorious Guards Shock Army will be assaulting the shores of Lake Mendota, making the drive to the Mississippi, and basically raising a bunch of havoc with the status quo.

Jeff Wagner nails Craps for clueless drunkenness

by @ 8:56. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin.

It’s been a while since I highlighted Wagner on the Web, but Jeff just blows up Jim “Craps” Doyle’s (WEAC/ADM/Potawatomi-For Sale) claim that the near-death-blow to AB15, the bad-gas bill, was entirely the work of a couple of talk-show hosts. I don’t think Charlie’s, Jeff’s and Mark’s reach extends to the likes of Tim Carpenter, Dave Hansen and Carol Roessler, all of whom cited a massive constituent opposition to corn-a-hole.

Fortunately, we will be able to tell Craps he has no clothes soon in the way that truly matters. Unless my calendar is lying to me, there’s 242 days until the election. While Scott Walker is by far preferable to Mark Green, not least because Green also supports a corn-a-hole mandate, either Pubbie would make a better governor than Craps.

Unlike Jeff, however, I am one of those who opposes ethanol on the merits. We simply can’t grow enough corn to create enough corn-a-hole to replace gas. Even if we could, at the questionable maximum of E10 for unmodified engines (just ask owners of late-model GM cars, older-model cars of any type, boats, snowblowers, motorcycles, lawnmowers, et al), corn-a-hole gas simply can’t come close to matching the economics or physics of good gas. Indeed, the physics are so bad that we would be using more oil and natural gas, all bought from foreign sources because we import gobs of both oil and natural gas because many of the same weenies won’t let us explore and exploit in this country, to create the ethanol than we would save by replacing 10% of gasoline with corn-a-hole.

March 9, 2006

Death-to-corn-a-hole thanks

by @ 21:04. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin, The Blog.

Now that I’ve had a few hours to let the scope of our near-total victory over AB15 (the bad-gas bill), as well as some celebratory ethanol, sink in, it’s time to thank some of the people that helped drive it into the coffin known as “indefinite postponement”.

  • First, we have the 17 Senators that voted for the postponement –
    • Roger Breske (D-Town of Elderon in the northeast part of the state)
    • Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee), who believed his constituents and his gas gauge rather than ADM
    • Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay)
    • Alberta Darling (R-River Hills)
    • Mike Ellis (R-Neenah)
    • Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), though this is VERY qualified – more in a bit
    • Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend)
    • Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), who believed his constituents and the prices of gasoline in his district instead of ADM
    • Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield)
    • Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn)
    • Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin)
    • Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan)
    • Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee), my Senator
    • Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis), glad he saw that his vote was needed
    • Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh), who took a VERY long time to finally come down on the right side
    • Cathy Stepp (R-Sturtevant), our first convert in the Senate
    • Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha)

    Yes, at least one of these people really wanted to pass AB15, and a few more did a lot of hemming-and-hawing, but for the moment, it’s the result that matters.

  • Everybody who called their Senator to oppose AB15. We got no less than 4 Senators to come down against AB15 – Stepp, Carpenter, Hansen and Roessler – after they either announced support or didn’t announce either way.
  • The talk radio trifecta of Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling and Jeff Wagner. It sure is good to have a 50,000-watt antenna to amplify your voice.
  • The Cheddarsphere. I can’t thank James enough for being our whip on this issue, Jib for staying on top of the ethanol price spike, and countless others for bringing the message to the electron universe.
  • Scott Walker, who once again jumped into this with both feet.
  • A back-handed thanks to Rep. Stephen Freese (ADM-Hazel Green) and the 5 members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Insurance who unwittingly gave us Fitzgerald when they decided to act like ‘Rats and kowtow to the Sierra Club. Without this, Fitzie would have been vote #16 in favor of corn-a-hole, and I’d bet the farm that Luther Olsen would have ignored his self-imposed abstention to be vote #17 to enrich the family business.

Nice to know I’m still under the Craps radar

by @ 17:42. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin.

(H/T – Charlie)

Quote from Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/ADM/Potawatomi-For Sale) – “Outside of a couple of talk radio hosts in Milwaukee, ethanol has strong support in Wisconsin -and for good reason.”

To which I retort, “Outside of a minority of Senators, a shrinking majority of Assemblymen, a bought-and-paid-for governor, and ADM lobbyists, ethanol has weak support in Wisconsin – because the people realize that it is bad fuel that doesn’t do what ADM claims it does.”

Corn-a-hole “postponed indefinitely”

by @ 13:38. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin.

By a vote of 17-15, AB15 has been “postponed indefinitely”. While this isn’t a stake-through-the-heart killing, it’s dead until the end of April at the earliest.

The roll (they’re much faster than the US Senate) –

AYE (vote to indefinitely postpone) – Breske, Carpenter, Cowles, Darling, Ellis, Fitzgerald, Grothman, Hansen, Kanavas, Kedzie, Lazich, Leibham, Plale, Reynolds, Roessler, Stepp and Wirch

NAY (vote to not indefinitely postpone) – Brown, Coggs, Decker, Erpenbach, Harsdorf, Jauch, Kapanke, Lasee, Lassa, Miller, Risser, Robson, Schultz, Taylor, Zien

Not voting – Olsen (whose brother stood to get millions from the mandate)

Senate is back in session

by @ 11:49. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin.

This will be updated as I catch tidbits of the debate, available here in real-time. Warning; this contains strong language because of the asshats in the Senate. I am not responsible if your work’s filters declares NRE a porn site.

Interesting bit from Scott Fitzgerald – he’s just raised a point of order that AB15 has not been refered to the Joint Finance Committee. Sgt. Schultz is claiming it doesn’t have to be, using the “it’s done all the time” defense.

And add Robert Jauch (D-ADM) in the drunk category. He just announced that he supports AB15 on the floor, and wants the vote today. Erpenbach (D-ADM) wants more time to convince his fellow Senators to get drunk, while Harsdorf (R-ADM) continues the ADM lies and wants the vote now.

Brown (R-ADM) is making the ridiculous claim that it just a “change in the formula” and not a mandate. Hey dipshit, what part of “shall require” is not a mandate? He’s also praising Minnesota’s push for an E20 mandate (never mind that no auto manufacturer will honor a warranty if E20 is used).

Decker (D-ADM) is declaring war on us. Well FUCK YOU, Decker! You work for us, we don’t work for you, you dumbfuck. You’ll be sending more of our money out to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Brazil, not to a handful of your constituents.

Sgt. Schultz (RD-ADM) is praising Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/ADM/Potawatomi-For Sale). Just join the Rats already, Dale.

Zien (R-ADM) has lost his mind. Now, is it just me or are the only Senators being allowed to speak on this move are the ones that are drunk with ADM cash?

Back to Fitzgerald (R-ADM) – the bill is flawed and needs work. He wants a guarantee that the DNR won’t pull the plug a month after it starts. Well, fuck you too, Fitzie. The Glorious Guards Shock Army will steamroll you.

The chair rules that the issue of sending it to Joint Finance is valid. Harsdorf (R-ADM) doesn’t give a flying fuck that we’re $4,000/year less per capita than Minnesota. There may be a couple of plants hiring a couple people, but when everyone will be paying $0.10-$0.30 per gallon MORE because of your stupid mandate, that’ll take another huge chunk out of that paycheck. Speaking of environmental impacts, when the Sierra Club only signed on after getting a guarantee that the DNR would clamp down even harder on business, corn-a-hole is NOT environmentally-good.

Finally, a non-drunk Senator, Alberta Darling (R-not drunk). It’s all about the mandates. How convenient that Sgt. Schultz had his cronies pull the plug on the web feed. Was it something I said? If so, I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner.

How fucking convenient; the stream came back just as Kapanke (R-ADM) jumped to the floor. We missed Darling and Lazich (turncoat-but not drunk).

Kedzie (R-definitely not drunk) railing against the subsidies (71 cents/gallon total). Notes that the complaints against E10 is statewide. Asks why we need the mandate if corn-a-hole is growing as fast as the drunk crowd says it is (Chris asks the same thing). Wonders why the drunk crowd doesn’t want an educated voter (well duh, then the asshats can’t pull shit like this).

Jauch saying, “What’s one more mandate?” Well, jackass, it’s the straw that’s breaking our backs. Sorry about crashing your little tea party, but when you want to fuck us over, we’re going to crash your little tea party, you twit. Once again, you work for us, we don’t work for you.

Tim Carpenter (D-moment of clarity) – “If it looks like a mandate, walks like a mandate, it’s a mandate”. Welcome to the party, and thank you for believing your gas gauge. Calls to his office – 100s against, none for that he can recall.

Hansen (D-not drunk) – E10 in his district – $2.45/gallon. E0 – $2.31-2.39/gallon. That’s got to hurt. Once again, his constituents are complaining about corn-a-hole, both the mandate and the mileage loss.

Harsdorf again – claiming that we don’t have a choice at the pump. Well, in Milwaukee, she’s right. I don’t have a choice; I’m stuck with corn-a-hole unless I make a 64-mile round trip to East Troy. However, she wasn’t listening to Hansen. No part of his district has an E10 mandate, yet there are stations that offer E10. As for “choice” with AB15, Shelia, don’t be surprised when your bosses (namely, us) vote with our pocketbook and pay an extra 8-10 cents from what E0 regular for midgrade rather than pay that extra 8-10 cents for E10 regular. She also has no concept of economics.

Carol Roessler (R-almost drunk) has a hard time deciding between the vast majority of her constituents and the ADM cash. She finally came down against.

Erpenbach again – See my latest comments to Harsdorf. Not everybody is as rich as you and can afford new “E-friendly” motors (maybe we should cut your pay). I prefer to be “left behind” on a dying bad fuel, and even if the other 49 states are stupid enough to mandate corn-a-hole, what’s to prevent ADM from having their corn-a-hole plants in Wisconsin? Oh, that’s right, taxes. In fact, I prefer “Big Oil” to tell me what they’re providing rather than you and your fellow dumbshits tell me what they’re going to provide me.

Brown again – Question for this drunk RepublicRAT – when we do reject E10 regular in favor of E0 mid-grade, will you then push the mandate up to the mid-grade, and then when we head to E0 premium, will you then push the mandate there? You might want to fix that tin foil hat; I don’t think “Big Oil” is fixing the price of corn-a-hole.

Jauch again – demanding to be heard. Do you have any comment on what felon Chuck “Upchuckwalla” Chvala did to the Pubbies when he had the majority chair?

Voting on sending it to Joint Finance NOW (1:34 pm). POSTPONED INDEFINITELY 17-15.

March 8, 2006

Re: Does Schultz Have a Clue…

by @ 21:41. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin.

Since our friends at Journal Interactive don’t feel the need to enable comments, I guess I have to answer Charlie’s rhetorical questions for Sgt. Schultz here:

(A) Yes he does know how bad the ethanol mandate will split the base, but not only in southeastern Wisconsin. As, charitably, a “country-club” Pubbie, he’s far more comfortable with, say, Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) than Scott Walker. That also explains the visceral reaction from the RPW, especially those from the Green Bay area, to Scott Walker’s candidacy, and the abandonments by the RPW of the last 2 opponents to Russ el-Slimeroad.

(B) It will only hurt Mark Green up until the end of the primary. Unlike those country-club Pubbies, who tend to refuse to back conservative Pubbies, conservative Pubbies tend to back even moderates.

(C) Frankly, the GOP legislature had no backbone or principles before this, especially Sgt. Schultz’s Senate.

(D) He’s betting, much like Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale), that money solves everything. As an aside, we could stand to lose Kapanke and Brown, even if it costs the Pubbies those 2 seats; such are the benefits of a titular 3-seat majority.

In short, he does fully-understand this. As a RepublicRAT, he just doesn’t give a flying damn (I would use the f-bomb, but I don’t want Casper’s work filters declaring NRE a porn site again).

Sgt. Schultz – the dumbest Senator ADM could buy

by @ 15:42. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin.

Revisions/extensions (4:38 pm 3/8/2006) – Charlie is reporting that AB15 WILL be on the Senate calendar tomorrow. It’s show time.

Our anti-bad-gas whip, James, reports that despite losing a straw vote in the Republican caucus 13-5, and by James’ account, only having 11 of the 18 votes he needs to force corn-a-hole on everybody in Wisconsin make that 12 if his report that Senate Minority Leader Judy Robson (Chilrun will die!-Madistan) does the expected and rolls like the Sierra Club to make state gubmint ever larger, Senate Majority “Leader” Sgt. Dale Schultz (RepublicRAT-No talk radio here) is going to push AB15 to the floor tomorrow. The funny thing is, if the vote track is right, two of the drunk Pubbies had a moment of clarity because we had 7 big-gubmint, big-business Pubbies counted – Sgt. Schultz, Ron Brown, Shelia Harsdorf, Dan Kapanke, Alan Lasee, the no-longer-abstaining Luther Olsen (whose vote is apparently needed to enrich his family business) and Dave Zien.

This is it; I don’t care if you’ve already hammered your Senator or not, whether your Senator plans on voting against or for AB15, or if he or she still has the finger in the wind. Hammer them one more time to drive the stake into the cold heart of AB15. James has the Madison phone numbers on his vote chart, and if you don’t know who your Senator is, you can either head here to find your Senator and his or her contact info, or call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-362-9472 (1-800-228-2115 for the hearing-impaired) and have the staff pass along the message (they’ll help you find out who your Senator is).

Revisions/extensions part 2 (8:15 pm 3/8/2006) – And the war against Sgt. Schultz is on. Patrick called for a coup, Charlie asks whether Sgt. Schultz has a clue, and Поле Выстраивает Chris is mobilizing the Glorious Guards Shock Army for the drive to the Mississippi with an early stop in Richland Center. Since I’m about a quarter-mile behind enemy lines, I can’t do much more than promote this war, but promote it I will.

Part 3 of the Revisions/Extensions (10:48 pm 3/8/2006) – Chip uncorks the Mary Panzer award on Sgt. Schultz. Damn, but that’s appropriate.

What version of the R&E is this? (11:10 pm 3/8/2006) – Peter checks in with his official photo of Sgt. Schultz, wonders what kind of deal he cut with Robson, and calls for Schultz’s defeat, “even if it means putting a Democrat in the seat”. Note to Peter; there already is one there – Sgt. Schultz. Meanwhile, Owen explains everything that can still happen to AB15. I make it no secret I prefer it defeated on the floor, but if it’s sent back to committee, it’ll kill it for at least a month.

Show trial update

by @ 12:37. Filed under Law and order, Politics - Wisconsin.

Here’s something you won’t see in the LeftStream Media, and something that the Mad Hatter (Dane County assistant DA Roy Korte) and the Queen of Hearts (judge Steven Ebert) won’t let the jury even consider, taken from roughly 60:30 to 62:30 of part 2 of WisPolitics’ webcast of Jensen’s testimony – Scott Jensen actually led the charge in the Legislature to get rid of the caucuses, even offering to the State Ethics and Elections Boards to get rid of the Assembly Republican Caucus before the rest of the Legislative leaders were prepared to get rid of the other 3. Morever, when it came time to vote to implement the eventual deal to get rid of the caucuses, some of the Assembly Democrats voted against the bill necessary to dissolve them.

The Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts were so fearful that their engineered guilty verdict might be in jeopardy that the jury was was specifically instructed to ignore these facts. Guess they counted the votes on the state Supreme Court and found that there is no way for Jensen to get 4 Justices to rule in his favor for the eventual appeal on prosecutorial and judicial misconduct grounds. Remember, David Prosser would have to recuse himself as a former Assembly Republican leader, and even before Pat Crooks grew into a lieberal on the bench, there were 3 lieberals on the court.

March 5, 2006

If I were more on the ball,…

by @ 22:01. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

…I would have beat Patrick to the commenting on the Journtinel story of many fired Milwaukee officers quitting just before their appeals are heard.

I really can’t beat his commentary, or the current portrait of Assembly Speaker John “Rear” Gard (why thank you very much for foisting him and Keg Goldschlager on us, Blanchard).

Re: Selective Prosecution? (“From Hell’s heart, I stab at thee.”)

by @ 21:46. Filed under Law and order, Politics - Wisconsin.

Jenna has a very thought-provoking piece on the show trial of Scott Jensen that reads like a mix of Moby Dick and Alice In Wonderland. What set her off this time was Judge Queen of Hearts’, er, Ebert’s decision to not allow any evidence of what the Assembly Democratic Caucus did during the same time period as the crimes Jensen is accused of committing.

The second comment from an anonymous poster (thanks for the find, Charlie) has a wicked, if slightly flawed, explanation on why the Jensen prosecution is “selective prosecution”. About the only thing I can really see wrong with that poster’s line of thinking is that former Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Chvala was charged by E. Michael McCan’t because of the massive violations of the law. I don’t recall if I ever went all the way through my Caucus-gate charging theory here (or at the old Blogspot home, which was imported here), so better late than never:

– The four Legislative caucuses (one in each House for each party) all got nailed by the State Ethics Board for having state workers do campaign work on state time in 2001. Instead of refering the case to either the Dane County District Attorney, the aforementioned Brian Blanchard (D-Madison), or the Attorney General, Jim Doyle (D-Madison), for prosecution, the Ethics Board and the Legislature reach an agreement to stop the practice and disband the caucuses.

– Blanchard had a concurrent investigation into 3 of the caucuses, with the Senate Democratic Caucus refered to fellow DA E. Michael McCann (D-Milwaukee) because Blanchard and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Chvala shared a campaign office (and because McCann had a long history of not prosecuting dirty ‘Rats). McCann kicked the participation of Senator Brian Burke, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, back to Blanchard because of McCann’s close ties to Burke.

– While the investigations were still ongoing, two things happened that would later become pivotal in “Caucus-gate”: Assembly Democratic Leader Shirley Krug (Milwaukee) gave up her position in favor of Spencer Black (Madison), and Burke announced he would run for attorney general to succeed Doyle, who was running for governor.

– Rather than accept the deal that the Ethics Board reached with the Legislature, Blanchard decided to go after the enemies of the Madison wing of the Democratic Party, both Republicans and the Milwaukee wing of the Democratic Party.

Because Krug handed over power so willingly in mid-2001, the Assembly Democratic Caucus was spared. Senate Republican “Leader” Mike Ellis was the best Pubbie the ‘Rats could ever hope for because he kept on giving back control of the Senate to them; so the Senate Republican Caucus was spared. Because Scott Jensen was successful in getting and growing a Republican majority, he was targeted for legal extermination.

– That leaves us with the Senate Democratic Caucus. It was already in the hands of the Madison ‘Rats, but it appears the word came down from on high in the DPW that Burke was not to be allowed to become attorney general (in fact, going back through the JSOnline archives, it appears I am right in that assertion). Since time was of the essence to get an AG candidate the DPW could live with (or at least they thought they could live with), Burke was the first one charged, with a laundry list.

– In a rare fit of rage, McCann didn’t take the charging of Burke lying down. He uncorked his laundry list on Chvala. Blanchard dilly-dallied a bit more, finally getting a couple of charges in on Jensen and company.

– Except for Jensen, everybody else left the Legislature pretty quickly, and Burke left the AG race. The legal system took its sweet-natured time in getting trial dates set up.

– Once things cooled down and the trials started to approach, the plea deals started to come in. First, Burke copped to a pair of charges – the felony charge of use of state workers on campaigns and a reduced misdemeanor charge of attempting to hide supoenaed documents – in exchange for the rest of the charges, including fraudulently receiving the $88-per-day per-diem, being dropped.

– Shortly afteward, in appreciation for his friend only getting 6 months of Huber law jail, McCann’s office cut a deal with Chvala in which he pled guilty to a pair of felonies – funneling money illegally to a campaign and, you guessed it, using state employees for campaigns. In exchange, multiple charges of extortion were dropped. Of course, Chvala couldn’t leave well enough alone, and earned himself 9 months of Huber law jail instead of the recommended 6.

– Earlier this year, former Pubbie Assembly members Steve Foti and Bonnie Ladwig saw that Blanchard would use the plea bargains that Chvala and Burke reached to sink them along with the intended target of Jensen and turned state’s evidence in exchange for misdemeanors.

So, we are where we are – a kangaroo court bound and determined to drive Jensen out of the Legislature. Never mind that the ‘Rats couldn’t capitalize on this, getting fewer seats in both 2002 and 2004. Never mind that Blanchard used the services of the ‘Rat caucuses to get himself re-elected. Never mind that, especially if someone is found to run against and defeat Pat Crooks for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the kangaroo court will be slapped down on appeal. Captain Ahab, er, Brian Blanchard has his whale, oops, Assemblyman to hunt. Blanchard will get a harpoon in his whale, but the best he can hope for is that the rope breaks before the whale pulls him down.

March 1, 2006

Today’s sign the end of the world is nigh

by @ 14:25. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Jenna points out that Owen and Xoff agree on something; Assembly Speaker and Congressional candidate John “Rear” Gard’s (ADM-Police Union) blocking of a bill to partially end the ridiculous practice of forcing the city of Milwaukee, and only the city of Milwaukee, to continue to pay police officers that have been fired until their appeals are exhausted is “outrageous”.

I agree, so get your end-of-the-world kit together. This place is going bye-bye very soon (but hopefully not before I get this week’s Carnival up).

Can we get the ethanol madness to end tomorrow?

by @ 13:42. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin.

The hot rumor (courtesy Owen originally) is that state senate majority “leader” Sgt. Dale Schultz (ADM-No Talk Radio Here) is going to try to ram through AB15, the bad-gas mandate, tomorrow (update as I prepped this; they’re not voting tomorrow, but with Sgt. Schultz, who knows?). This is despite the fact that we have now pulled even with ADM on James’ count at 11 apiece (assuming that Luther Olsen, whose family stands to profit handsomely, decides to end his self-imposed abstention and vote to enrich his brother). According to his handy chart, that leaves these 11 Senators on the fence, complete with their Madison office numbers –

  • Democrat Roger Breske of the 12th district (far northeast Wisconsin) – 608-266-2509
  • Democrat Tim Carpenter of the 3rd district (south side of Milwaukee and much of Greenfield) – 608-266-8535
  • Democrat Spencer Coggs of the 6th district (near north side of Milwaukee) – 608-266-2500
  • Republican Robert Cowles of the 2nd district (pretty much just north and west of Green Bay) – 608-266-8546
  • Republican Mike Ellis of the 19th district (Neenah, most of Menasha and Appleton, and points west through Winneconne) – 608-266-0718
  • Republican Scott Fitzgerald of the 13th district (Oconomowoc, Beaver Dam, Watertown, Lake Mills, Cambridge, and surrounding areas) – 608-266-5660 – James notes he’s on the fence, and I can see the Glorious Guards Shock Army straining at the leash
  • Democrat Robert Jauch of the 25th district (far northwest Wisconsin) – 608-266-3510
  • Democrat Julie Lassa of the 24th district (Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, and surrounding areas) – 608-266-3123
  • Democrat Judith Robson of the 16th district (Beloit, Janesville and surrounding areas including Whitewater) – 608-266-2253, and James notes she’s on the fence
  • Republican Carol Roessler of the 18th district (Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Waupun) – 608-266-5300
  • Democrat Lena Taylor of the 4th district (far north side of Milwaukee and the RiverWest area) – 608-266-5810

They may be voting tomorrow; they may not be. I prefer that Sgt. Schultz miscalculates in his count, has the vote, and we drive the stake through it tomorrow; but if we have to just keep it bottled up in committee through the end of the year, that’ll kill it just as surely. In any case, politely hammer these 11 so that AB15 never sees Jim “Craps” Doyle’s (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) signature.

I didn’t know E. Michael McCan’t cloned himself

by @ 12:19. Filed under Law and order, Politics - Wisconsin.

Fred has all the sordid details on Jefferson County DA E. Michael McCan…er, David Wambach refusal to prosecute anybody at Voces de la Frontera for invading the Stepp property in an attempt to pressure state senator Cathy Stepp into support illegal invaders getting drivers’ licenses. He even dug up the letter that Wambach sent to Racine County DA E. Michael Mc…er, Michael Nieskes (there I go again), who punted the case over to him. Despite the admission that Christine Neumann-Ortiz did in fact commit a crime, disorderly conduct, Wambach refused to press even that charge.

Yep; Stepp was right when she said, “The reality is appearing to be that illegal immigrants certainly DO have rights in this country–rights that aren’t even extended to LEGALLY elected officials in this country. They have been passively granted the right to intimidate, harass, frighten and bully people into changing laws to suit their taste.” (also courtesy RDW).

You would think that at least one of the presstitutes would be interested in this, but Fred has all the exclusives.

February 19, 2006

Listen up, RINOs, RepublicRATs and the RPW (warning, strong language)

by @ 8:53. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, WTPA.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the language. I would have prefered not to type this at all, or at least not do it on a Sunday, but what has to be done has to get done.

Just in case you grabasstic pieces of puke didn’t get the gentle message from Owen and Peter and Patrick (added 9:36 am 2/19), the not-so-gentle messages from Поле Выстраивает Chris of the Glorious Guards Shock Army (that would be Russian for Field Marshall; added 10:05 am 2/19) and the tomato-chucking Dad29, who also chucks out that thanks to gubmint, the early-1970s standard of living supported by the average 1-earner income of $41,700 (constant 2005 dollars for all figures)/year ($1,600/month spending cash after taxes, mortgage, insurance and utilities) now takes 2 earners and more than $73,000/year (added 7:11 am 2/20), and the vote-with-our-feet threat from Clint (added 6:18 am 2/20) to not fuck with WTPA, let me put it on the line for you primitive screwheads. We of the base have been agitating for strong controls on taxes and spending for years because asshats like yourselves seem to think that our wallets are bottomless wells you can dip your greedy fingers into whenever the hell you feel like buying yourselves the next election. We ousted Mary “Panzy” Panzer because she wouldn’t even allow a vote on TABOR. We thought you buttheads would get the message that we were serious about this; it’s beginning to look like we were mistaken.

The best thing you can do is pass WTPA as-is or somehow find the backbone to actually strengthen it. If you do that, everything will be golden, kapish?

However, Owen’s spies are saying that you numbnuts are looking to water it down even further than letting the Miller Park and Lambeau Field boards off the hook. Let me explain what is going to happen to you suckies if WTPA is either watered down or dies altogether. We in the base are going to vote each and every one of you children of bitches out of office. If we have to remove you knuckleheads, it no longer matters to us whether we’re successful in removing you in the primary election or in the general election. While we would prefer to do it in the primaries so that the state government doesn’t officially fall into the hands of the DemocRATs, the fact that you are governing just like the ‘RATs means that your threats of, “The sky will fall if the ‘RATs get control!” ring hollow. The sky IS falling, and as you are the party allegedly in complete control of the Legislature, you are in a unique position to stop it. If you fail, we will lump you in with the ‘RATs you seem to want to be when you grow up and exterminate your terms accordingly and with extreme prejudice.

Know this: with or without you, we will make a strong WTPA happen. We would strongly prefer to see it happen in time for the 2008 Presidential election, but if it doesn’t, your W2 money is going to run out as we bring it to a referrendum, and you’ll be wishing you made it happen. Our patience ran out when you fucked us over on TABOR; our full and furious anger will be felt if you fuck us over on WTPA.

Choose wisely, and you’ll be in power after 2006. Choose poorly, and you will watch this maxim come true – “You fuck with us, we’ll fuck you up.”

I DID warn you again and again and again about the language, so if you have a problem with it, run home and cry to mama.

More asshattery out of UW

by @ 8:41. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

The Journal Sentinel has a semi-whine piece written by Megan Twohey that the UW system has become “too expensive” for the state’s poor. While the online edition has a couple links ot past stories about the recent abuses of the UW board of regents, the print version doesn’t make any kind of connection between the story and the pay raises being sought by said board of regents or between the story and the out-of-state tuition cut sought by said board of regents (yes, you heard me right; at a time when the state’s poor “can’t” afford UW, they want to cut tuition for the out-of-state crowd only). Further, neither version points out the “backup” jobs, or the outrageous salaries of underworked professors, or the Jim “Craps” Doyle plan to give in-state tuition to illegal invaders. Instead, Megan trots out the same tired lieberal lines of causes, then blindly bleats out Craps’ plan to have the taxpayers pay for college for every “B” student in the state as the “solution”.

Yet the RepublicRATs wonder why we want a strong WTPA, and the presstitutes wonder why they’re no longer taken seriously.

February 13, 2006

Did anybody check the price of ethanol lately? – UPDATE

by @ 19:36. Filed under Corn-a-hole, Politics - Wisconsin.

(H/T – Dad29)

It seems that Tom Reynolds did, and he found some interesting items:

  • On February 10, 2006, the average retail price of gasoline in Wisconsin was $2.375 per gallon.   On February 10, 2006, ethanol traded at $2.73 per gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade.
  • The Oil Price Information Service explains that increase in a February 2, 2006 article – “This latest round of price increases for domestic ethanol is tied predominantly to new demand for the Northeast as well as from huge metro RFG markets in Virginia and Texas. There clearly is more ethanol buying interest at the moment than there are sellers willing to commit barrels or term product for distribution in the pivotal second and third calendar quarters….   As February began, spot ethanol in the New York Harbor vicinity was pegged at nearly $2.70/gallon. Six-month term deals for April through September delivery were discussed at between $2.70 and $2.80/gallon”
  • The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration predicted “a very tight ethanol market” through the first half of 2006, and noted that a complete phase-out of MTBE in favor of ethanol on the East Coast would increase ethanol consumption 90,000 barrels per day (or more than double what the East Coast uses now).

Does anyone remember what other “clean-burning” product the “it’s cheaper” claims were made by its proponent, and what happened to the price of that product once a modest shift to that product was made?   I’ll give you a hint – its March 2006  futures  closed Friday on NYMEX at  $7.360 per million BTUs, roughly 22% higher than the March 2005 futures were at this point last year.

Revisions/extensions – The price differential is even worse than Sen. Reynolds says.   At the trading level, where we compare the proverbial apples to apples, unleaded gasoline futures (March 2006)  on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $1.4290 per gallon  while ethanol futures (March 2006)  closed at $2.730 per gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade.   Rounding to the nearest penny, ethanol is $1.30 per gallon more expensive than unleaded gasoline.

I know what you ethanol-sniffers will say next; what about the taxes slapped on gasoline?   They’re not reflected in the futures price.   True.   However, when ethanol is used as a fuel, it’s also slapped with those same taxes.   Morever, even in WisTAXsin, that’s “only” $0.513 per gallon.

Hell, let’s do some math.   There’s roughly an 12-cent/gallon profit margin for gasoline between the futures market and a Wisconsin terminal, then there’s the 51.3-cent/gallon taxes slapped on there, then a 3% markup mandated by the state at the terminal, and a 9.18% markup mandated by the state at the retail level.   With good, E0 gas, that brings the pump price up to about $2.30/gallon, which is where things stand. Now, let’s take E10 bad-gas.   9/10ths of that is made up of unleaded gas, so the price of that portion of the gas is $1.286/0.9 gallon (I’ll round to the nearest tenth).   Ethanol makes up the other tenth, so the price of that portion of the gas is $0.273/0.1 gallon.   Add the two together to get the net “futures” price – $1.559/gallon.   Add the 12-cent/gallon pre-terminal profit margin and the 51.3-cent/gallon taxes and you come up with a pre-state-mandated-profit price of $2.192/gallon.   Add the 3% state-mandated margin at the terminal, and it leaves there at $2.258/gallon.   Add the 9.18% state-mandated margin at the pump and you’re paying $2.465/gallon.

Last time I checked, $2.465 is $0.165 more than $2.30.   If AB15 were law today, and we ignored the fact that the increased consumption of ethanol forced by AB15 would further increase the market price of ethanol, unleaded gasoline would be 7.2% more expensive than it is now.   I’m not enough of an economist to forecast how much more expensive ethanol would be with AB15, but I do know that it would  make ethanol more expensive than it is now.

DNR gives the Italian salute to lakeshore property owners

by @ 18:57. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

(H/T – Charlie)

James Klauser, former administration secretary under Governor Thompson, unloads with both barrells on the DNR regarding their pier proposal.   When he asked  about the 3-foot depth limit under a pier, he got this response from a high-ranking DNR official – “No diving.   No swimming.   No fishing.   Piers are for access to a boat, that’s all."   Well, add  “no  modern boats” to that “banned”  list;   Klauser points out  that most modern inboard-outboard boats draw 36 inches, so they’ll be scraping bottom when they’re tied up dockside.

He goes on to rip the DNR for not differentiating between small lakes and larger lakes (larger lakes require larger piers to protect the boats tied to them), the arbitrary  limitation on the number of boats in the water based on shoreline frontage, the likelyhood that most newer piers will not be in compliance with the DNR rules, and the process used to come up with the new rules (no hearings in Lake Country, discouraged public participation).

Go, read the whole thing.

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