Health

Wisconsin's US Senators: One class act, one greedy corporate clown

September 9, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Dave Zweifel in The Capital Times, on today's corporate greed:

...[H]ere in Wisconsin all we need do is take a look at  our two U.S. senators, who both happen to be successful businessmen. Together,  they epitomize the two different worlds that Collins paints.

 

One, the soon-to-retire Herb Kohl, built a highly successful empire of  grocery stores, all the while following the rules, contributing his fair share  of taxes and helping promote the state's social and cultural life.

 

Then there's the new senator, Ron Johnson, who built a plastics business in  no small part thanks to some well-placed tax breaks, and who now spends his time  in Washington complaining about taxes, insisting that government needs to "get  out of the way," and opposing any kind of health care reform that might benefit  the uninsured.

 

Kohl spent his entire career espousing the belief that business and  government could partner to make this a better world. Johnson wants no such  partnership. Business needs to be left alone, no matter what means it must use  to achieve its ends.

 

Madison Capital Budget 2012: The Challenge

September 9, 2011 by Waxing America

The problem facing the city of Madison is similar to that of a homeowner who borrowed too much and then saw their household income drop. They are spending too much for debt and have insufficient funds to pay fro the basics - food, shelter, health care. To make matters worse, they are committed to borrowing more money this year. The city of Madison did some extraordinary borrowing the last several years. The chart below shows that the proposed 2012 borrowing...

An Open Letter to National Conservative Groups from Wisconsin’s Liberal Bloggers

September 8, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

To: Chris Chocola, Club for Growth
The Honorable Jim DeMint, junior Senator from the Great State of South Carolina

It is with great disappointment that we have learned of the efforts of some conservatives on the national level to try to dictate to Wisconsin conservatives their choice for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Senator Herb Kohl. This is a tremendous opportunity for Wisconsinites to elect a second conservative senator worthy of being able to self-fund a campaign (at least until the unseemly outside contributions can be tallied and repaid) and one that Wisconsin conservatives will take very, very, very, very seriously. This is not only a choice of ideology and of who looks best in a tri-corn hat while eating a cream puff, but one of character, charisma and compassion, and it is our responsibility to bring Mark Neumann’s lack of those attributes to your attention.

RoJo: Cut lower priorities to pay for disaster relief; Here are a few ideas

September 8, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Politico:  New disaster aid must be offset, GOP senators say.

Freshman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), whose state has experienced minor flooding this year, agreed, saying the this year’s $1.3 trillion federal deficit simply can’t be ignored. “I think helping states in a disaster should be a priority,” Johnson said. “We got to find things that are less of a priority.”

Here are a few ideas, RoJo:  How about the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan? 

Or subsidizing nuclear power?

Or paying for your Cadillac health care plan?

Just sayin'.

Stand Up For Milwaukee Transit, Now

September 7, 2011 by The Political E...

Scott Walker has sent a $6.8 million transit dagger Milwaukee County's way - - this is governance by payback - - and without new revenues, the County's bus system will further degrade at the very time that high unemployment makes transit a more vital option.

Several community meetings are set for this week to focus attention on the crisis. Here is the schedule, beginning tonight: