A joint study from the conservative MacIver Institute and the anti public school Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice makes the claim that high school dropouts are a burden to taxpayers of Wisconsin. Fair enough. But the source and timing of the study raise some serious eyebrows.Besides being a conservative think tank with a staff of […]
Maybe pressure from the public kept Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce on the sidelines in the spring Supreme Court race. Perhaps a new progressive majority at the Capitol forced WMC to ‘reassess’ its pro-corporate, anti-worker lobbying efforts. Or maybe the corporate titans at WMC were just biding time, saving their money, energy and whatever modicum of […]
Paul Ryan is officially the poster boy for the Bush economic legacy tour. Despite representing the three cities in Wisconsin with the highest unemployment rates, Ryan’s stepped up front and center to offer a GOP budget plan that continues the worst of the Bush economic policies — tax cuts for the rich, privatization and ignoring […]
GOP Seat-filler Kevin Petersen is cheesed. He’s more than cheesed. He’s a whole lotta angry. He says veterans are getting shortchanged in the proposed state. The Waupaca state legie never had a thing to say about the endless shortfunding at the federal level under George Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress, but now he’s in a […]
One Wisconsin Now released the following statement from Executive Director Scot Ross regarding the finally-has-some-numbers House Republican Budget plan that cuts tax rates for the wealthiest Americans (like Paul Ryan) by another 30% and the fact that Ryan’s budget has utterly no chance to pass given his current status in the minority. “Whew.”
Keith Ripp used to be a farmer and heifer raiser. Now he’s ‘representing’ the good people of the 47th district’his home town is Lodi. According to his campaign website, ‘Agriculture is one of my main issues..it contributes $51.5 billion to the state’s economy.’ But as soon as Ripp fell in with the State Republican Bad […]
Ever wonder where Randy Koschnick’s campaign gets the funny numbers it uses in its bogus claims about Shirley Abrahamson’s record? Now it can be told, thanks to the latest campaign finance report Koschnick filed with the Government Accountability Board. Koshnick has gone to Ms. New Math herself — Jessica McBride Bucher. She can be relied […]
Randy Koschnick today broke his clean campaign pledge in rip-roarin’ style, attacking Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in a 30 second TV ad, that for now, is only available on the “internets.” Judicial integrity and ethics are critical for Wisconsin’s courts and Koschnick’s ad is the latest in a series of half-truths and distortions […]
To read the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page (and I would try and avoid), Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen is a lone midwestern warrior who has drawn a line in the sand to stop the endless victimization of the big corporations like AIG which serve our nation so selflessly. But a month later he […]
The last debate is over, and you have to say one thing for Randy Koschnick: He’s consistent. There’s another thing you can say, too. With him on the Supreme Court, you can forget about those pesky checks and balances. What the legislature wants, the legislature gets. His message in the final debate had a familiar […]
The endless distortions of Randy Koschnick made news this week after the Jefferson County judge made a statement about the Greater Wisconsin Committee that was patently false according to the Associated Press. GWC always has meticulous fact-checking for the media for its issue pieces, but Koschnick wasn’t going to let a couple facts get in […]
“Young Gun” Paul Ryan (cue shootin’ sound effect) wants to answer critics who say the numbers don’t add up when it comes to the GOP’s fiscal policy of helping working families by making them pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest billionaires and millionaires. He’s offered a budget plan that includes no numbers. This is […]
Just in time for the 30th anniversary of the Three Mile Island accident on March 28 comes more evidence that the nuclear industry is making Wisconsin a prime target for making nuclear power an option again. In the last month, Wisconsin has seen a stacked legislative hearing, a drumbeat of pro-nuclear articles in Madison’s daily […]
Scott Walker had some real balls to say he wouldn’t accept federal stimulus dollars to help keep Milwaukee Co. from plunging further into an economic fubar. And while everyone around him could think of exceptional ways to utilize the available money, Walker insisted his plan for Milwaukee Co. wouldn’t rely on government dollars. Instead, Scott […]
If Randy Koschnick is one thing, he’s consistent. Time and time again, he has grossly distorted Chief Justice Abrahamson’s record. Fortunately, we here at OWN are willing to do the due diligence and research that Koschnick has no interest in doing. Randy Koschnick has claimed over and over again that Chief Justice Abrahamson ‘sides with […]
A campaign to challenge the deployment of National Guard troops to Iraq and Afghanistan is about to ramp up in Wisconsin, with a three-day visit by the lead national legal counsel next week, and five events in Madison and Milwaukee. Part of a national campaign that is now in some 20 states, it challenges the […]
So should we expect fireworks enthusiast Charlie Sykes, and the Mr. Pibb to his right wing Dr. Pepper Mark Belling, to call for Rep. Don Pridemore to be sent to Gitmo over the press release sent from his state office using state tax dollars attacking DPI candidate Tony Evers and to support anti-public education advocate […]
GOP Rep. Paul Ryan, our state’s most reliable Bush lap dog and in whose failed policies are the foundation, walls and roof of our global economic collapse, continues to complain about President Obama’s budget. This is an alarming 2009 trend. President Obama announces steps to clean up the Bush-GOP economic disaster and Ryan dashes to […]
Thursday marks six years since the “shock and awe” invasion rocked Iraq and the US kept the world safe from Saddam Hussein’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Dick Cheney continues to insist we “won” the war in Iraq because there is a new democratic government there. There’s also a new Democratic government here, and that, […]
Outagamie County Executive Toby Paltzer, a GOPer, issued a press release today that makes Scott Walker look even more like a jerk for denying Milwaukee Co. their deserved share of stimulus dollars.It reads: ‘Executive Paltzer is very supportive of the successes of Milwaukee County’¦ However, if the Milwaukee County Executive feels reluctant to accept stimulus […]
It just never ends, does it? Now, rich corporate CEO’s are all a-flutter over *gasp* paying workers a fair wage. In Gov. Doyle’s budget, a new provision requires companies that receive help from the state to pay their workers the prevailing wage. J. Michael Mooney, chairman of the MLG group, an investment and real estate […]
Your March Badness 2009 bracket is ready. http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/marchbadness/ March Badness is One Wisconsin Now’s tournament where you choose what’s the worst of the worst on the right so far in 2009. Click here to go directly to your March Badness 2009 bracket and pick what you think is the worst of the worst from conservatives. […]
Tournament time is here, and we need your help to pick the winners. We designed our own bracket and filled it with the worst-of-the-worst we’ve heard from the right so far this year — it’s called March Badness 2009 and your vote decides the winner. http://www.OneWisconsinNow.org/MarchBadness We’re stuck on 17 entries, so we’ve got to […]
There’s a huge rift in conservatism these days. On the one hand, you have a faction that looks back in dismay at three losing election cycles and is trying to retool their message in hope for a better outcome in the future. On the other hand, you have a faction too stubborn to abandon their […]
Now that the Republicans have opened the MacIver Institute, One Wisconsin Now thought it might be good for the media to have information on exactly who the leaders of this Republican operation are.
Judge Randy Koschnick, would-be Supreme Court member, defends his willingness to try to get killer Ted Oswald off, while working as a public defender, by saying that Paul Bucher, then Waukesha County DA, who prosecuted the case, said Koschnick did a great job and has endorsed him. That’s certainly not what Bucher said at the […]
Sudden media economic darling Paul Ryan was on CNBC this morning. Before going forward, if you haven’t watched last night’s Daily Show analysis of the utter and complete failure of CNBC to do anything other than give bad financial tips and suck up to corporate CEOs, go to www.ComedyCentral.com and watch it. It starts with […]
An unusual closed hearing on nuclear power — closed in the sense that only invited speakers will get to talk — has been scheduled by two legislative committees for next Thursday, March 12. At first glance, it looks like one more stop in the railroad job that seems to be barreling down on Wisconsin, with […]
The envelope, please. The winner is… Madison’s Capital Times: Randy Koschnick is soft on facts.
Last week, One Wisconsin Now pointed out how the non, non-ideological Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and its long-time face Todd Berry can be found this coming weekend speaking to the right-wing freakfest that is the Americans for Petroleum, er… Americans for Prosperity event in Milwaukee. A who’s who of state Republican electeds will be on hand […]
You may have seen this story last week in the Wisconsin State Journal about a four-way jabfest between One Wisconsin Now, Mark Pocan, Nass, and the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (Leah Vukmir took a swing too, but her press release was so ridiculous nobody really took it serious). The rundown is basically as follows: OWN called […]
From Stephanie Bloomingdale of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. An idea whose time is way past. Bloomingdale is a member of OWN’s board of directors. Senator Judy Robson and Representative Sandra Pasch, both registered nurses, announced legislation to ban mandatory overtime for nurses and health care workers. The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses […]
Judicial ethics are essential in Wisconsin. Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick has made the claim Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson sides with criminals 60 percent of the time. While a number of media outlets have reported this phantom figure, Koschnick has refused to adequately explain what this number represents or how he arrived […]
Whether Mark Belling will say something stupid or offensive or both appears to be a question in the same vein as, “Well, is it a day of the week that has vowels in it?” This one is a doozy, even for him On his show Wednesday, Belling was fired up against legislation to protect moms […]
Another headshaker from the Assembly Republican braintrust — this time bringing the same budget shackles to Wisconsin which helped drive California into its near economic collapse and nearly killed a bipartisan solution to their woes. Leah Vukmir and Rich Zipperer, who apparently have created their own Assembly Bad Ideas Caucus, are now pushing for a […]
Among the many head-shaking claims made by conservatives is that of the “liberal” media bias. As we know, the vast majority of American media: radio, TV, music, books, magazines, newspapers — is owned by six corporations. That number was 50 in 1983. Basic common sense says the biggest corporations in the world use their media […]
Much to the chagrin of the corporate honchos at WMC, strong unions ARE actually good for the economy, according to a new report by the Center for American Progress. Better yet, unions are good for the Wisconsin economy. But perhaps most importantly, unions can actually help Wisconsin businesses weather this economic storm. Of course, those […]
Dan Kenney has a message for Blackwater, the controversial private security firm that just changed its name to try to escape its bloody past: “Blackwater’s new name is Xe, the symbol for an odorless, colorless gas. But the smell from its actions won’t go away, and the company will never be invisible,” said Kenney, who […]
What is it with Bucyrus in Milwaukee that attracts the worst of the worst on the right? It was only a short time ago that epic failure of a candidate John McCain visited the plant to tell us all ‘the fundamentals of the economy are strong.’ That worked out well. Now Scott Walker, literally and […]
C-SPAN’s Survey of Presidential Leadership is now out, take a look. Of note: – FDR made the top 3 per the usual. – FDR, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, & Woodrow Wilson all outranked Ronald Reagan. – FDR scored more points than Reagan in all criteria, including Public Persuasion and Economic Management. – Bill Clinton moved […]
WMC is always against corporations paying their fair share in taxes. Now, they’re using the economic downturn to try and frighten all of us into laying down while WMC rams its radical pro-corporate agenda down our throats. In a new radio ad out this week, WMC is subjecting hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin citizens who […]
Last year, financial industry Banksters jetted into DC and made off with $700 billion aided by the likes of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). But this week, when millions of Americans looked forward to a stimulus package of their own, Cornyn was surprisingly absent. Where was he, you ask? PARTYING AT A COCKTAIL PARTY WITH WALL STREET GOP […]
A story in the Wisconsin State Journal today inexplicably gives a forum to some blow-hard from Dallas named Barry Asmus who spent the better part of his speaking engagement at the WMC annual Business Day in Madison railing against making the super-rich and gigantic corporations actually pay their fair share for the services they so […]
Remember last year when Sheldon Wasserman got called out by Alberta Darling for reneging on Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform “No New Taxes” pledge and everyone was like ‘Duh, Sheldon, you shouldn’t have signed that stupid P.O.S. pledge in the first place!’? Thankfully some people, like Gov. Doyle, aren’t insane enough to put their […]
A critical piece of legislation that would protect workers all across the state is up for a vote in the WI State Senate, and we need your help. The Employee Wage Protection Act, Senate Bill 2, would put workers first in the event a business closes or goes bankrupt. In these tough times, it’s more […]
In all the hubbub surrounding the landing of Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, there’s one consistent and serious omission in nearly all of the reporting: U.S. Airways pilot Chelsea Sullenberger is union-trained. For all of the attacks unions have sustained over the years from the rabid right, the benefits unions have brought to ALL […]
As an organization that believes everybody has a right to their day in court, One Wisconsin Now is keenly aware that Wisconsin conservatives have championed the smearing of defense attorneys and the erosion of the rights of the accused. Ask former Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, the subject of millions of dollars worth of attacks […]
Ironically, I finished reading the Wispolitics.com weekly report today at 4:20, because a couple of the items led me to believe something wafting in the air over there is contributing to the report’s most recent odd pronoucement. In sum: the weekly “rising” segment led off with the GOP as a winner this week. Yes, that […]
The Courage Campaign, a California organization with a similar mission as One Wisconsin Now, has produced a powerful video about efforts to overturn more than 18,000 previously-legal same sex marriages in the Golden State. http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/divorce Despite some great gains for progressives in the last two years, one of the most distressing setbacks has been the […]
They’re both regularly overturned. Koschnick at an alarming rate if you look at judges across Wisconsin. Koschnick, the Jefferson County Circuit Court judge whose ineffective leadership is causing one senior judge to retire rather than deal with him, distinguished him as a below-average jurist, according to statistics released by the Wisconsin Law Journal. Turns out […]