US Senate

Mark Neumann's "truthful" math: Facts are pesky, pesky things

September 28, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

NeumannThe Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Politifact (I like to call it Politifactoid) feature today examined a statement by former GOP congressman and current US Senate candidate Mark Neumann and judged it "truthful." His statement:

Did you know that if the federal government spent $30,000 on behalf of every family of four or group of four in America, that the federal budget would be balanced today? They’re spending $46,000 on behalf of every family of four in America today, every year."

Which is the logical equivalent of saying this: If you trimmed the human population of Earth back down from the current seven billion to two billion, you'd balance the eco-system and save the planet. That may be true, just as Neumann's comment about the federal budget deficit may be true, but the devil, as usual, is in the details.

New study: Plutocrats like Paul Ryan often vote for the agenda of the wealthy

September 20, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Air campaignThe Center for Responsive Politics says the average US senator has a $13 million personal fortune. Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives average close to $5 million -- and here in Wisconsin, GOP Rep. Paul (Taxing The Rich is Class Warfare) Ryan is among the millionaires. Does that wealth matter when it comes to how these legislators vote? Short answer, which won't surprise progressives one bit: Yes, and a lot. Rich legislators tend to vote for measures that benefit rich Americans.

Duke University political scientist Nicholas Carnes put the issue to statistical analysis in a study matching members of Congress, their class backgrounds, and their votes in the near-century between 1901 and 1996.

Milwaukee Public Radio's odd preoccupation with conservative special interest groups

August 31, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Tune in, tune outIn terms of its news and cultural programming, WUWM-FM in Milwaukee is, like most public radio stations, a reasonably good alternative to the shock-jock, wingnut talkmeister, carnival-realilty programming you get on most commercial TV and radio outlets these days. Milwaukee Public Radio, as the station is also known, is every bit a complement to Wisconsin Public Radio.

But MPR, like WPR, lately has had a bit of a problem with balance. To some extent that's because both entities are surely stressed by the attack of right-wing "kill public radio" types, and their call to de-fund such public outlets altogether. In WUWM's case, a little bit of this problem also may spring from the fact that station manager Dave Edwards is, by several accounts, a somewhat conservative guy, like too many other people in modern American radio broadcasting.