It's True For Right Wing Squawkers, Too

Our own grumps, reflecting on the dilemma faced by teabagging right wingers:

You've got to believe that it's evil enough to give taxpayer dollars to private businesses that you're willing to march on the Capitol and at the same time believe that the state is evil for not getting in a bidding war and cutting huge incentive checks to private businesses.

Joint Finance Committee Asked to Include 1% Sales Tax For Milwaukee County in Budget

As previously posted by Dan Cody and Jason Haas, the Quality of Life Alliance, another group I have ties to, have released the following press release:

The Quality of Life Alliance, a group I’m a part of, released the following press release today asking for the Joint Finance Committee to include the voter approved 1% sales tax for Milwaukee County in the upcoming budget.

For the sake of our Park System, Transit, and Emergency Medical Systems, we are asking the Joint Finance Committee to include in the next State budget what the citizens of Milwaukee County have already approved: a one percent sales tax increase that will provide sustainable, dedicated funding for Parks, Transit and EMS.

“Please don?t continue to allow the voices of the 400,000 people who voted in November?s referendum to be ignored”, remarked Cheri Briscoe of Sierra Club-Great Waters Group and Quality of Life Alliance member. The referendum was advisory and requires action from the state to be enacted.

“Our Milwaukee County Park System, once proud and strong, is now limping along with an ever decreasing staff to perform daily maintenance and a log of deferred maintenance for its facilities of nearly $275 million,” added Jim Goulee, a QLA member who is also on the Board of Directors for Preserve our Parks.

This group’s attempt to gain local legislative support for enabling legislation from our state legislators was unfortunately, a tough sell. The Governor instead inserted the creation of RTA for Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Racine and funded by a sales and use tax in his proposed budget, leaving out any support for Milwaukee County Parks.

It is now becoming apparent that the proposal for the creation of the Southeastern Wisconsin RTA is not finding the necessary support from the Joint Finance Committee and may not be included in their version of the state budget. Instituting the sales tax increase in Milwaukee County would, in fact, provide the source of funding needed for a Milwaukee County RTA and could easily accommodate a broader RTA if and when it is created.

“Milwaukee County needs property tax relief and we need a solution to our looming transit and parks crisis,” commented County Supervisor Chris Larson, Quality of Life Alliance spokesperson. “Milwaukee County needs the 1% sales tax that was passed in referendum nearly months ago. Property tax payers can?t wait any longer, transit riders can?t wait, any longer, and all our neighbors who love our parks shouldn?t have to wait any longer to see these problems fixed.”

Quality of Life Alliance (QLA) is a grassroots organization made up of representing a wide swatch of Milwaukee County?s concerned citizens set out to improve our community for a stronger future. Members of the Quality of Life Alliance include transit riders, union leaders, parks supporters, and business men and women, and everyday citizens who are deeply concerned about the future of Milwaukee County and all of Southeastern Wisconsin. Quality of Life Alliance provided the advocacy effort that led to the passage of the sales tax/property tax relief referendum last November. The Quality of Life Alliance is a registered political action committee based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It’s important the members of the Joint Finance Committee understand the importance of this dedicated funding source to the regions well being for decades to come. All we’re asking is to let the voices of the people of Milwaukee County be heard on this issue.

If you know any of the members of the JFC from the Milwaukee area like Rep. Tamara Grigsby, Rep. Pedro Colon, Sen. Lena Taylor or Sen. Alberta Darling, please contact them to voice your support.

Crossposted at Cog Dis, folkbums, and Uppity Wisconsin.

The Hypocrisy Of Dope

My good buddy Scott Walker, unable to find a reputable place to have his views expressed, had an aide write an press release emailed to Charlie Sykes. You can tell someone other than Walker wrote it because there aren't the usual number of spelling errors.

In said email, Walker keeps his perpetual run for governor going by attacking Governor Jim Doyle.
The hypocrisy is so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

Walker attacks Doyle for taking stimulus dollars, on the very same day that Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out that he boldly lied to potential campaign donors by saying he didn't apply for them even though he did.

Walker also attack Doyle on the loss of jobs in the state. I seem to remember that about a little more than a year ago, Walker was bragging about how his tax freeze approach would save jobs, and then Miller Brewing left town. Miller officials stated point blank that taxes were not an issue.

In Walker's final triumph of hypocrisy, he bemoans Doyle not doing enough to help keep business here and keeping jobs in the community. Perhaps if Walker wasn't so busy campaigning, and had someone to help explain the big words to him, he would have noticed this piece by Tim Sullivan, the president of Bucyrus International asking for KRM and an efficient local mass transit system, something which Walker has vowed himself to be against.

Anyone that has read me here, at Cog Dis or at folkbum's, knows that I am well versed in all of Walker's hypocrisies. But the part that scares me are the twits in the comment thread that are accepting these lies without hesitation.

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

It Wasn't; But It Is

Please reconcile this from early in Fred's post;

The response from the left was typical -- they didn't understand. They squawked in unison about the top 1% of wage earners and waved signs proclaiming tax cuts for the rich.

Their narrow focus missed the mark.

This protest was not about income taxes, this protest was about spending and the sudden rapid growth of government presented as the only solution to our current economic malaise.

With this much later conclusion;

They've taken power in Wisconsin and across the country and if they keep their present course, in my view, they will tax themselves right out of power.

A noun, a verb and "taxes." It seems the motivation for the tea parties was less slippery than the justification for invading Iraq.

Meet the silent majority

Just a couple of regular guys, fed-up taxpayers taking part in a mainstream, grassroots revolt in Madison WI: 

WisPolitics photos.

Know Them By The Company They Keep

Who is excited by the upcoming Tea Parties?

The Storm Front folks are optimistic.

...estimates are there could be 100's across the country. What's so encouraging is that the organizers and participants are pre-dominantly whites. The remnants of traditional 1950's. Old white America. The historical, traditional population.

Might prove to be signifigant. Might be a meaningless last gasp. Have to see how it plays out. I'm going to take the day off and attend the local one, carrying my Gadsden flag. Encourage others to do the same. Hopefully the beginning of a sense of ethno-centrism.

This guy too. Note that the comment was edited by him for spelling.

Hope to be attending one in Effingham, IL

If your going to be there, let me know
__________________
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Red an yellow, black ain't right, you are only loved if you're white...
Nothing is as simple as it seems, if you must ask, your already lost.
Everything you post here can and will be sifted through to use against you.... :(
Last edited by billd73; 04-07-2009 at 07:40 PM. Reason:
Spelling

These guys see the tea parties as a logical first step to secession.

Starting a civil war at this time would just defeat everything we are doing. Obama has only been in office a few months. There is already a change going on in that small amount of time. You might not think the tea parties are doing any good, but you will notice they are getting bigger and bigger.

Truth is that the tea parties have become a dumping ground for all sorts of free-floating angst amongst the losers from the last elections. The tax dodge is silly on its surface given that the current administration is looking for a return to tax rates lower than Reagan's.

These GOP influenced, astroturf financed convocations are meant to stir the masses. Nothing more. By this time tomorrow the silliness will have passed and Reince Preibus can go back to preparing for the next GOP soiree in Pewaukee. Paul Ryan can go back to being a footnote to the governance process in Washington and Vicki McKenna can go back to making lame jokes on AM Radio.

Much self-congratulation will be undertaken. Little will have changed. WIN still won't have their ducks in a row. Barack Obama will carry on undoing the travesty of the Bush II presidency. Malkin will declare victory and Beck will still be nuts. Ain't Democracy grand?

Billing Tells The Tale

It seems like just a month ago Pompador Paulie Ryan was a "rising star" in the GOP. This week he's just the second banana to a third rate radio squawker at a street rally in Madison.

And could someone tell me what Julaine Appling has to do with taxes?

The Chief has more.

In Which Kevin Contemplates His Future...

[Because] some of our country's good-for-nothing bums are too chicken to rob
us at gunpoint. That would be members of Congress and the executive branch. How come we keep electing politicians who will tax the bejeezus out of us?
Especially Democrats? At least Republicans are smart enough to lie about
it."

How does Lazich keep getting re-elected if she does all of that?

Teabagging Is A Lifestyle Choice

All agree that David Vitter is the perfect spokesman for GOP tea-bagging.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Yakety Sax, Yakety Yak

This morning, on Charlie Syke's Incite show, as was promised, DPW ran the commercial slamming Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker for his flip-flops and outright lies regarding the stimulus money.

Sykes led a counter charge by devoting a segment to the commercial, in which they ran the commercial again. I'm sure that the DPW is very glad for the free plug. The main points of Charlie's attack was that it was all Governor Jim Doyle's doing, that Doyle was really scared of Walker and that this was some kind of record for launching an attack that hasn't even announced their candidacy yet (he kept repeating that it was nineteen months before the election.

Not once did Sykes or his panel address the charges in the commercial, which is rather telling in themselves. Apparently they were hoping to distract their viewers from the truth of that matter.

And considering that Doyle has little to be afraid of from Walker. Doyle has already four times the amount of money that Walker has, and a recent poll from a right wing group shows that Walker, despite six years of campaigning, still seven points behind Doyle, and in a virtual tie with Mark Neumann, who hasn't done much publicly in a decade.

And as the DPW's commercial setting a record, hardly. Nor is the DPW the only ones attacking a non-announced candidate.

Via Bruce at Badger Blogger, we find that even the Chicago Tribune covered this story. They had some very interesting facts that one would never find in the local newspaper, much less the radio station owned by the same parent company.

The Trib covers some of the common knowledge that regular readers of this site already know. Things like Walker's inconsistency regarding stimulus dollars or that he has been campaigning for months:

Walker, the Milwaukee County executive, is expected to seek the Republican nomination for governor next year. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle is widely expected to seek a third term.

Walker has spent months attacking Doyle's budget proposal and the federal stimulus package.

[...]

Walker said in January he wasn't going to seek federal stimulus money and didn't submit a list of potential projects to Doyle. In February, he wrote a column published in the Wall Street Journal that ran under the headline "Why I'm Not Lining Up for Stimulus Handouts."

But last month, Walker released a list of $130 million worth of potential stimulus projects in Milwaukee County that he said meets his criteria for accepting the money. Walker said he'll only accept the money if there is no long-term financial commitment, no required local match and no requirement for new operating or maintenance costs.

Walker said Thursday that has always been his position.

At the same time he released his list last month, Walker vetoed a county board resolution calling for aggressive pursuit of the stimulus money, calling the policy reckless and not in the best interest of taxpayers. A day later, the board overrode the veto and accused him of grandstanding as part of his expected gubernatorial run.

But then the Trib covers things that might not have been as commonly known among the public:

In a strongly worded November fundraising letter, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, Walker said Doyle and President Barack Obama "rolled out the red carpet for a cabal of militant activist thugs" who registered voters last year.

Walker accused Doyle of negligence, resulting in an election system "more akin to Hugo Chavez's rigged polls in Venezuela than the proud Wisconsin tradition."

Walker has also criticized tax increases in Doyle's budget and called for using some of Wisconsin's share of the federal stimulus money to cut taxes. He has called for eliminating sales taxes for the rest of the year and using stimulus money to fill that hole, instead of spending it on infrastructure or programs.

That idea has roundly been discounted as nearly impossible without an act of Congress.

If Doyle championed the idea, the sales tax cut could be a reality, Walker said.

So, Walker's been attacking Doyle, who hasn't announced whether he will seek re-election, at least 24 months before the election. That's a bit different than Sykes' assertions. But then again, Sykes, like Walker, has never been a strong one for being truthful or accurate.

I also get a kick out Walker comparing Wisconsin to Venezuela. If that is the case, what would one compare Milwaukee County to? Given its dying transit system, its decaying parks, and its recent history of not being able to deliver services as required by law, due to excessive staff shortages, I'd have to guess that it would have to be someplace in outer Mongolia or something.

I also like the last line. "If Doyle championed the idea, the sales tax could be a reality."

I know that Walker dropped out of college, but does he really not know that a governor of a state does not have authority over the federal government? Shouldn't there be some kind of basic aptitude test before one is allowed to run for office? (Well, maybe not, then there wouldn't be enough politicians to go around. Then again, would that be so bad?)

Either way, Sykes is as misleading in the truth of who did what as Walker is about where he stands, or doesn't stand, regarding stimulus money. It does make one stop and wonder why either of them even hold the jobs they have now.

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

If A Squawker Squawks In The Woods...

... and no one's around to listen, do they make a sound?

Apparently not.

The sagacious Paul Soglin on the matter of squawk radio:

Just as the national talk radio pundits marginalized themselves, so have Milwaukee's drive time extremists. The only audience they influence is the one that agrees with them. They have little opportunity for growth, and it is clear that when the undecided public is provided an alternative viewpoint Belling and Sykes are ineffectual.

Changing Times

One year ago this weekend the right side of the Quesosphere had their dinkies in a twist about an advertisement for a show about a couple of guys with their dinkies in a twist. There was thoughtful discussion about respect and appropriateness.

What is the big story for our conservative friends this year on Good Friday?

here and here

As They Cowered In Their Cave

Famous last words.

"That bear is more afraid of you than you are of it."

(Flip) Flop Sweat

The DPW is set to air this ad on TV:



The sweet part is that the first airing will be on Sunday morning, during Sykes' Incite show.

Reince Priebus, taking a break from doing damage control for Michael Steele, says that it is outrageous that this add will appear on Easter Sunday. I concur.

After all, Easter is one of the two days that Sykesian Christians make it to church. They should have waited another week when Sykes would have had his usual audience.

Also as funny is Preview Paddy's desperate spin, trying to paint as Governor Jim Doyle showing nervousness. The truth is that it is just more of Walker's self-inflicted bad luck.

Paddy Is Anti-Business

Preview Paddy writes one of his long, drawn out, verbose essays trying to rationalize why we would need to expand I-94, even though all of the experts agree that there is no reason for it.

But his own paper, just a few days before, reported on the fact that it is already affecting businesses:

A mom and pop cheese castle is moving, and a neighboring cheese shop is closing, at Wisconsin's most visible cheese interchange to make room for a $1.9 billion freeway-widening project.

The Merkt family, of cheese spread fame, on Friday will close its Tim & Tom's Cheese Shop at the state Highway 142 exit of I-94 in Kenosha County.

They will liquidate more than 1,000 pounds of Wisconsin cheese and sausage - selling everything at half price - on the same day throngs of Chicago Cubs fans whiz past for the Brewers baseball home opener at Miller Park.

Why does Preview Paddy hate capitalism so much that he would rather see business go through the expense of an unnecessary move, if not out right be forced out of business?

In a related matter, go see Jay's post in which he risks his own sanity by trying to channel his inner McIlerhan, showing how weird Paddy's arguments can be:

It's interesting how it sounds so natural for him to defend an expansion of a highway that the DOT's own studies suggest will have no impact on congestion (but great impact on neighbors and the environment), but it sounds so weird for him to support the actual men and women doing the hard work of educating Wisconsin's neediest children.