Two poignant facts in a recent State Journal article: 1.) For the first time, enrollment in Medicaid, the state’s health insurance plan for the poor, has exceeded 1 million people. 2.) Medicaid, now covering 18 percent of Wisconsin’s population, has a $6 billion budget that makes up a fifth of the state budget. State Sen. […]
If there was any debate about the rising influence of corporate interests like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce before the State’s highest court, the last two weeks have ended the discussion. It now appears the Wisconsin Supreme Court is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wisconsin’s corporate crooks. Those of you following One WI Now’s reporting on […]
Anyone saddened by the coarse tenor to which much public discourse has devolved would see Scott Walker’s website as a nadir in our plummeting standards. Sadly, as this screen capture from Wednesday shows, right on the front page of his site appears in bold, underlined type: “What I hate about Doyle.” Is this how far […]
Here’s a link to the story about rank(ing) Judiciary Committee Member Sen. Jeff Session (R-Asshole, er…Alabama) that lays out his long career of racism. In fact, he was such a known racist that he was rejected by the U.S. Senate for a judgeship that Ronald Reagan nominted him for. http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=8dd230f6-355f-4362-89cc-2c756b9d8102 Just a couple of the […]
MADISON, Wis. — A One Wisconsin Now analysis of the political giving of the announced officials of the Wisconsin Business Council shows that conservatives and Republicans netted 77 percent of member giving, contradicting charges made by Rep. Robin Vos (R-Caledonia) the new organization is a liberal front group. “Robin Vos says an organization whose officials […]
Conservative go-to-guy Todd Berry of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WISTAX) landed front page real estate in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today without digging up any facts in his perpetual Wisconsin mudslinging. His attacks were seconded as usual by WMC as well as John Gard.The article, ‘Business leaders decry tax increases in state budget,’ is all […]
After threatening to move to the Eden that is the Lone Star State, Sen. Ted Kanavas has been poked fun at by your friends here at One Wisconsin Now. But after reading the front page of today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I think we might owe Kanavas (aka “Waukesha, Texas Ranger”) an apology. Seems like we […]
Bopping through the Wisopinion.com list of blogs of the day, I was amused to see not one, but two posts from the conservative and oft-error-plagued Wisconsin Policy Research Institute featuring former members of the so-called liberal media. Right there from Charlie Sykes’ yap tank, a post from Ken Lamke, former reporter with the Milwaukee Journal […]
Turns out Paul Ryan doesn’t want us to know almost four out of every 10 dollars he raised this finance period came from special interest PACs. Yep. Ryan tossed out a release claiming “Wisconsin residents account for 95 percent of Ryan’s individual contributions over the course of the past year.” You will be shocked, […]
Here’s an important read for you if interested in some actual facts to counter the nonsense being spun by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the Congressional Republicans who want to see America fail so they can wrestle back the power to continue the same failed Bush policies which destroyed our economy. The non-partisan Center on […]
Currently, the way the census works is that prison inmates are counted as residents of the district in which the prison resides, not from where they lived prior to being in prison. This obviously, creates a weird dynamic in which these thousands of inmates skew the size of political districts, giving extra power to the […]
Guess for Republican Assembly Minority “Leader” Jeff Fitzgerald, timing is everything: ‘I don’t have to solve that problem. Obviously, that’s the Democrats’ problem.’ — Fitz on the budget, 1/09 “Common sense would have dictated a very different budget.” — Fitz whiny column, 7/09 Nuff said.
That GM chose to locate its new small-car production line in Orion, Michigan and not Janesville is painful for Wisconsin to be sure. But forget everything WMC tells you, winning a race to the bottom has always been a long-term losing strategy for working families.GM’s decision to base its new operation in Michigan and not […]
Once again, the dependable corporate lapdogs on the Wisconsin Supreme Court bought and paid for by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce come through in the clutch for corporate interests. Justices Mike Gableman and Annette Ziegler, beneficiaries of millions of dollars in spending from WMC during their run for the Supreme Court, ruled yesterday that owners of […]
In April 2008, One Wisconsin Now requested Ashland County District Attorney Sean Duffy investigate allegations that Mike Gableman, while serving as Ashland District Attorney, made illegal fundraising calls from his state office for then-Gov. Scott McCallum. As the DA where the alleged violations took place, Duffy’s office would be the most logical place for the […]
Stories about conservative public figures disseminating racist “jokes” have grown in the past six months. And thanks to a story in the MJS we can now add the conservative MacIver Institute’s resident blogger Fred Dooley to the list. Via Twitter, Dooley wrote: “Got my stimulus package in the mail today. It contained watermelon seeds, […]
From Matt Taibbi’s article last year upon watching Gov. Palin deliver her speech to the fans in Minnesota. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she’s the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV ‘ and this country is going to eat […]
With news out the other day the number of abortions being performed in Wisconsin has fallen to 30-year lows, the anti-choicers did everything they could to credit themselves as opposed to the person most responsible: Governor Jim Doyle. Gov. Doyle has made increasing access to health care among his top priorities since his election in […]
…by proposing the same failed Bush policies that ran our economy into the ground in the first place. The MacIver Institute of Public Policy’s criticism of the recently passed budget reads like a loving tribute to the past 8 years of failed Bush fiscal policy. Their only solution to the record $6.6 billion budget deficit: […]
To dig us out of the historic economic crisis in Wisconsin, caused by disastrous policies of the Bush administration, our state legislators needed to come together. The massive $6.6 billion deficit we face, much like 47 other states, requires not only sacrifice, but also common sense and fairness. Democrats, who control both chambers of the […]
Since Scott Walker is proudly bringing serial hypocrite and philandering staff seducer Newt Gingrich to Wisconsin to hold a fundraiser tonight for his gubernatorial campaign, one can reasonably assume Walker doesn’t have a problem with the controversies, scandals, darkness and downright evil in Newt’s muppet-thoated past. There was the whole thing where ‘family values’ Newt […]
MADISON, Wis. — Constituents from across the congressional districts of U.S. Reps. Ron Kind, Steve Kagen, and Tom Petri have signed a petition urging them to both strengthen and vote in favor of critical legislation on the House floor Friday to transform the economy into one harnessing the power of green technology. “Wisconsin and the […]
Earlier this week, Paul Ryan went on the teevee to fondly recall voting to give $700 billion to banksters in the financial industry and then trash the idea of giving any such help to GM and the auto industry.Well yesterday evening, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via AP and Bloomberg) reported that a new small-car manufacturing […]
Stop me if you heard this one before. Fox News “accidententally” identified known-Argentian-loverboy Mark Sanford (R-Governor, South Carolina) as a Democrat today. Here’s a screen capture (via HuffingtonPost): Just an honest mistake the news network that slobbered all over the disastrous Bush administration would whoops mis-label Sanford as a D-sinner? Not quite. Here’s another screen […]
The legislative Republicans said it as early as 2008 — the state budget is the Democrats’ problem. Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald said it. He was quoted saying it. “I don’t have to solve that problem,” he said. “Obviously, that’s the Democrats’ problem.” At no point during the last six months did Fitzgerald nor his […]
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) has launched a newspaper ad campaign which argues the solution to the state’s $6.6 billion budget deficit is tax cuts for the rich “¢ the same economic plan enacted by George W. Bush and Congressional Republicans, which caused the nationwide economic crisis that plunged 47 states into […]
Just a few choice selections from twitter about adulterer & former “rising star” GOP Governor Mark Sanford: The Pro-Family Values Party: Larry Craig, Mark Foley, David Vitter, John Ensign, and now SC Gov. Mark Sanford. (progressflorida) It’s interesting to discover that the governor who didn’t want stimulus funds was getting stimulated elsewhere! (robschendel) Gov. Sanford: […]
On today’s CNBC “Corporate-Funded-Politicians-Share-Corporate-Talking-Points” Squawk Box Show, Rep. Paul Ryan unsurprisingly showed up to try and convince the 72 percent of Americans who want health care not controlled by Ryan’s pals in big insurance that they are wrong. Oh, and that the status quo is just ducky. When asked about the public plan option […]
Apologies to John Lennon. But that refrain was in my brain after reading Tom Still’s plea that Wisconsin consider nuclear power. “What do we have to lose?” he asks. (More on that later) Still, president of something called the Wisconsin Technology Council, thinks it’s a crying shame that Wisconsin has a moratorium law on the […]
Angry Joel Kleefisch wanted to be heard today. Oconomowoc’s GOP state rep took to the floor to protest what he considered, a lack of consideration given to members of the minority party. As a note: Kleefisch is crying on behalf of the Assembly Republicans, who refused to offer a comprehensive budget plan of their […]
When she’s not desperately trying to prevent the people of Wisconsin from having access to the same health care we pay to allow her to have, Wisconsin’s Michelle-Bachmann-in-training, GOP Rep. Leah Vukmir takes every opportunity to suck up to big business and industry, particularly polluters. During today’s debate and passage on AB 281 to restrict […]
In another sign that we desperately need to break the pharmaceutical industry’s grip on our broken health care system, the Journal Sentinel reports again on UW doctors receiving big payouts, as much as 6 figures, from drug and medical device companies, presumably to promote their products. “As part of an effort to enforce more stringent […]
So this weekend GOP Rep. Paul Ryan was on Fox News Sunday to chitchat with Chris Wallace. Among the issues discussed was Ryan’s support for TARP dollars to financial institutions but not for stimulus dollars to keep jobs in the auto industry.Yeah that’s right. Paul Ryan, who represents both Janesville and Kenosha’home to a GM […]
On Friday OWN executive director Scot Ross had the opportunity to be on WPR’s The Week in Review facing former GOP Lt. Governor Margaret Farrow. Among the topics was our nation’s health care system. During the debate on public health care, Farrow made the outrageous claim that the reason young adults can’t afford health care […]
When I asked last week whether AirTran would get naming rights for the Scott Walker for Governor Harley ride, in return for its corporate sponsorship, I thought I was being facetious. Sometimes a person’s imagination doesn’t stretch far enough. The Journal Sentinel reports: For this year’s trip, AirTran will pick up the estimated $2,800 gas, […]
GOP corporate shill Samuel Wurzelbacher is coming back to Wisconsin courtesy of ethically-challenged Mark Block and the Americans for Petroleum. We’ll have to see if Wurzelbacher displays his legendary lack of knowledge about critical issues, such as the Employee Free Choice Act, seen here courtesy of Pennsylvania’s Keystone Progress.As Keystone Progress showed, Wurzelbacher was in […]
No amount of spin can get Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker out of the glaring lie he included in a fundraising letter sent out as a 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate.As expected, Walker spends most of the letter calling for a return to those conservative economic principles that brought on the economic collapse, but in one […]
It is Iraq Moratorium weekend again, Friday-Sunday, with lots of Wisconsin events to call for an end to the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ll be at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair in Custer Friday morning for Pancakes for Peace, sponsored by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ), of which I […]
To the list of safety, environmental, and economic concerns about nuclear power, add another: Utilities do not have enough money set aside to decommission existing nuclear reactors when they are shut down, the Associated Press reports. The nuclear reactors themselves become huge mountains of radioactive waste when they are shut down, and need to be […]
As One Wisconsin Now showed at our comprehensive warehouse of information at WMCWatch.org, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has an ungodly lock on conservatives in the state legislature. In the 2005-2006 session, the legislature had 76 members (or 57.5%) score 80 percent or higher on the WMC scorecard. This included 19 legislators who never veered from […]
A year ago the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance tried to convince the media and its audience that there was no looming budget deficit in Wisconsin and thus no need to close corporate loopholes or raise taxes on the top one percent. And since May of this year’after official reports pegged the deficit at $6.6 billion’WISTAX has […]
Gov wannabe Scott Walker thinks big and small at the same time, it appears. He is taking major policy positions on Twitter, which limits users to 140 characters per message. So far, he’s proposed eliminating taxes on retirement income and requiring voters to approve all tax increases. That’s pretty much those two proposals in their […]
The third substitute amendment (AA3) written by the conservative bunchin the Assembly today seeks to tear up the ‘Truth in Auto Insurance’provisions of the state budget that would protect auto insuranceconsumers in Wisconsin. Amazingly, the amendment to destroy the provision was authored by JohnNygren (R-Marinette), an insurance agent and owner of Great LakesInsurance and Finance. […]
Are you kidding me? After months of complaining about Democratic efforts to get out of the ginormous deficit caused by the economic collapse brought to our fine state by the incompetence and corruption of George W. Bush, Assembly Republicans have outdone themselves. And they haven’t even started yet. Looking at the first two amendments to […]
Even I have trouble believing this one and in my mind there is no bottom to Scott Walker’s unending tolerance for hypocrisy, opportunism and sleaze. Milwaukee’s County Executive is threatening 310 immediate union layoffs for Milwaukee County workers. He’s starved vital government services to make political points with the ultra-right Republican base. And he continues […]
Keep an eye on the the One Wisconsin Now Town Hall blog for news and information and interesting tidbits from today’s budget marathon debate in the state Assembly. So far, Assembly Republicans have spent their time without a budget plan, tilting against windmills in some desperate attempt to convince the media and the people of […]
Energy independence, green economy, green collar jobs — the keys to our economic recovery and our national security. The new economy that will rise from the ashes of the de-regulated mess left by the Bush administration will be led new green manufacturers based in the US, employing American workers and developing green technologies. President Obama […]
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Wisconsin Justices Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman must disqualify themselves from hearing any cases involving Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. That is an oversimplification, but not by much. Here is how the NY Times summarized the decision in a front page story today: Elected judges must disqualify themselves from […]
Robert Mentzer of the Wausau Daily Herald reported today that a Republican Party of Marathon County spokesperson has been stripped of his duties for criticizing the colossal conservative mouthpiece Rush Limbaugh.The now former Marathon County GOP spokesperson, Kevin Stevenson, was let go after he poked Rush for hoping President Obama would fail. The remarks made […]
In the vein of his conservative, anti-government anything attitude, Scott Walker tried to veto $100,000 of the funding for a county parks jobs program put forth in a 2009 budget. Thankfully, the Milwaukee County Board overrode his veto.So you might have been scratching your head if you attended an outdoor ceremony last Friday when Walker […]