Monday, April 23, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Free Movie Event!
Koch Brothers Exposed
The New Documentary Film by Robert Greenwald
The Plutoctopus’ Reach Revealed
Do You Know?
State Rep. Robin Vos is Public-Sector State Chairman of the
Koch-Funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Do You Know How This Affects YOUR Rights?
Wednesday May 2nd, 2012 at 7:00pm
Plaza Theater
448 Milwaukee Ave. (Hwy 36)
Downtown Burlington, WI
Beer, Wine & Dinners Available
Free to the Public!
(Donations Accepted)
For more infromation
e-mail: burlingtonareaprogressives@gmail.com
Phone: (262) 237-4351
Koch Brothers Exposed
The New Documentary Film by Robert Greenwald
The Plutoctopus’ Reach Revealed
Do You Know?
State Rep. Robin Vos is Public-Sector State Chairman of the
Koch-Funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Do You Know How This Affects YOUR Rights?
Wednesday May 2nd, 2012 at 7:00pm
Plaza Theater
448 Milwaukee Ave. (Hwy 36)
Downtown Burlington, WI
Beer, Wine & Dinners Available
Free to the Public!
(Donations Accepted)
For more infromation
e-mail: burlingtonareaprogressives@gmail.com
Phone: (262) 237-4351
Friday, March 30, 2012
Ketterhagen's Analysis Flawed . . . Again!
I obtained a copy of the Department of Public Instruction spreadsheet with numbers on teacher salaries and benefits state wide, which Teaparty School Board Candidate Phil Ketterhagen kept holding up and waving around at the forum Monday night claiming that BASD teachers averaged $69K in salary and were in the 97th percentile for the state.
I changed none of the original data, but took the liberty of modifying the spreadsheet by adding columns with formulas to yield the following numbers for BASD teachers:
Avg. Total Salary & Bennies: $90,337 = 87.77 percentile
Avg. Salary: $60,563 = 81.37 percentile (NOT $69K/97% as Ketterhagen claimed!)
Avg. Bennies: $29,375 = 69.12 percentile
I'd be happy to provide the original and modified spreadsheets if anyone wants to check my numbers.
I also highlighted the numbers for some other local districts and BASD numbers generally falls in line. Bottom line, once again we see ya just can’t trust Ketterhagen’s numbers or analysis! Nor do I suspect can you trust how nice he was trying to play that night.
On thing that is clear by looking at the spreadsheet is that in metro areas salaries are higher reflecting higher cost of living and as you go further north (where you can by a house for $30K) the salaries drop off. So a statewide comparison is really another apples to oranges analysis, which a specialty of Ketterhagen's. And he didn't get it right in the first place!
I changed none of the original data, but took the liberty of modifying the spreadsheet by adding columns with formulas to yield the following numbers for BASD teachers:
Avg. Total Salary & Bennies: $90,337 = 87.77 percentile
Avg. Salary: $60,563 = 81.37 percentile (NOT $69K/97% as Ketterhagen claimed!)
Avg. Bennies: $29,375 = 69.12 percentile
I'd be happy to provide the original and modified spreadsheets if anyone wants to check my numbers.
I also highlighted the numbers for some other local districts and BASD numbers generally falls in line. Bottom line, once again we see ya just can’t trust Ketterhagen’s numbers or analysis! Nor do I suspect can you trust how nice he was trying to play that night.
On thing that is clear by looking at the spreadsheet is that in metro areas salaries are higher reflecting higher cost of living and as you go further north (where you can by a house for $30K) the salaries drop off. So a statewide comparison is really another apples to oranges analysis, which a specialty of Ketterhagen's. And he didn't get it right in the first place!
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Barbarians at the School House Door!
Greetings citizens
and friends of the Burlington Area School District, the barbarians are again at
our gates! Our public schools are under a second round of attack by the Tea
Party (TP) group WeVoteBurlington. Four TP candidates are challenging the
incumbents John Anderson and Susan Kessler in the primary election for school
board on Tuesday February 21st.
These candidates are intent
on inflicting the TP agenda on our schools, an agenda crafted by the corporately
run feudal American Legislative Exchange Council (fALEC) with their local
vassal Robin of Vos who is tasked with enacting the agenda of his corporate
lords in their province of Wisconsin. It is an agenda disseminated to the TPs by
Americans for Plutocracy (they say “Prosperity”, but we know better than that).
The agenda of these special interests includes defunding, dismantling and
privatizing our public schools to make them profit centers and turn our
children and grandchildren into perpetual revenue streams for educational profiteers.
For information about fALEC’s private designs on public education go here: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
These TP candidates
think of themselves as “taxpayers” and they want you to think of yourself as a
taxpayer too. Personally, I find the term “taxpayer” to be an insulting
epithet. Taxpayers are passive, hapless victims from whom money is extracted. I
am not a “Taxpayer”, I am not a victim, I am a citizen. And as a citizen, one
of the things I do is to pay my dues for living in a civilized society, taxes.
I am very fortunate to have done well enough so that I can and do pay taxes. By
virtue of the public school education that was provided for me by my forbearers,
I have succeeded and therefore pay taxes. By virtue of the people of goodwill
who built this country and established public institutions, public roads,
courts and a system of laws that facilitate an organized and prosperous society,
I have succeeded and therefore, proudly pay my dues. My story is by no means
unique, none of us succeeds on our own, we all benefit from the achievements of
those that came and built before us. It seems that those who gave us so much
would have but one requirement of us, pass it on!
John
Adams said, “Laws for the liberal education of the youth, especially of the
lower class of the people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane
and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant”.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I have indeed two great
measures at heart, without which no republic can maintain itself in strength:
1. That of general education, to enable every man to judge for himself what
will secure or endanger his freedom. 2. To divide every county into hundreds,
of such size that all the children of each will be within reach of a central
school in it."
James Madison wrote,
"The liberal appropriations made by the Legislature of Kentucky for a
general system of Education cannot be too much applauded. A popular Government,
without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to
a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern
ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves
with the power which knowledge gives."
But a vibrant and
interdependent society, buoyed by public institutions and progressing over time
is not the TP vision. They believe in a country of everyman for himself. To
them “public” and “taxes” are dirty words. They want to sack these public institutions
because they don’t want to pay for them. These TP candidates for the Board are
focused on only one aspect of our schools, taxes, money and the “greedy
teachers” who victimize them by taking their beloved money. One of them even
believes that it is appropriate to compare the compensation of educators with
advanced degrees to that of average Wisconsinites with high school diplomas.
These self-centered values and myopic outlook are not what is needed on our
school board. We need rationalism and balance, not extremism and selfishness.
Ask yourself, are you
a citizen or a taxpayer? Do you believe in local control and self-governance or
would you act as a feudal serf and help advance an agenda that comes from your
corporatist lords far beyond Burlington, far beyond Wisconsin? Citizens I
implore you, behave in a manner becoming of humble freemen on February 21st,
vote and repulse the barbarians at our gates!
and friends of the Burlington Area School District, the barbarians are again at
our gates! Our public schools are under a second round of attack by the Tea
Party (TP) group WeVoteBurlington. Four TP candidates are challenging the
incumbents John Anderson and Susan Kessler in the primary election for school
board on Tuesday February 21st.
These candidates are intent
on inflicting the TP agenda on our schools, an agenda crafted by the corporately
run feudal American Legislative Exchange Council (fALEC) with their local
vassal Robin of Vos who is tasked with enacting the agenda of his corporate
lords in their province of Wisconsin. It is an agenda disseminated to the TPs by
Americans for Plutocracy (they say “Prosperity”, but we know better than that).
The agenda of these special interests includes defunding, dismantling and
privatizing our public schools to make them profit centers and turn our
children and grandchildren into perpetual revenue streams for educational profiteers.
For information about fALEC’s private designs on public education go here: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
These TP candidates
think of themselves as “taxpayers” and they want you to think of yourself as a
taxpayer too. Personally, I find the term “taxpayer” to be an insulting
epithet. Taxpayers are passive, hapless victims from whom money is extracted. I
am not a “Taxpayer”, I am not a victim, I am a citizen. And as a citizen, one
of the things I do is to pay my dues for living in a civilized society, taxes.
I am very fortunate to have done well enough so that I can and do pay taxes. By
virtue of the public school education that was provided for me by my forbearers,
I have succeeded and therefore pay taxes. By virtue of the people of goodwill
who built this country and established public institutions, public roads,
courts and a system of laws that facilitate an organized and prosperous society,
I have succeeded and therefore, proudly pay my dues. My story is by no means
unique, none of us succeeds on our own, we all benefit from the achievements of
those that came and built before us. It seems that those who gave us so much
would have but one requirement of us, pass it on!
John
Adams said, “Laws for the liberal education of the youth, especially of the
lower class of the people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane
and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant”.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I have indeed two great
measures at heart, without which no republic can maintain itself in strength:
1. That of general education, to enable every man to judge for himself what
will secure or endanger his freedom. 2. To divide every county into hundreds,
of such size that all the children of each will be within reach of a central
school in it."
James Madison wrote,
"The liberal appropriations made by the Legislature of Kentucky for a
general system of Education cannot be too much applauded. A popular Government,
without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to
a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern
ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves
with the power which knowledge gives."
But a vibrant and
interdependent society, buoyed by public institutions and progressing over time
is not the TP vision. They believe in a country of everyman for himself. To
them “public” and “taxes” are dirty words. They want to sack these public institutions
because they don’t want to pay for them. These TP candidates for the Board are
focused on only one aspect of our schools, taxes, money and the “greedy
teachers” who victimize them by taking their beloved money. One of them even
believes that it is appropriate to compare the compensation of educators with
advanced degrees to that of average Wisconsinites with high school diplomas.
These self-centered values and myopic outlook are not what is needed on our
school board. We need rationalism and balance, not extremism and selfishness.
Ask yourself, are you
a citizen or a taxpayer? Do you believe in local control and self-governance or
would you act as a feudal serf and help advance an agenda that comes from your
corporatist lords far beyond Burlington, far beyond Wisconsin? Citizens I
implore you, behave in a manner becoming of humble freemen on February 21st,
vote and repulse the barbarians at our gates!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Burlington Educators Attacked with Flawed Logic
Philip Ketterhagen must think the readers of the Standard Press are fools and wouldn't see through the apples to oranges analysis of Burlington Area School District (BASD) compensation he included in his letter to the editor last week. Ketterhagen's focus is on money alone as he states that "the BASD staff is in the elite percentile of income." True, but what he leaves out, is that the BASD staff is in an even more elite percentile for educational attainment. Philip says he's a college graduate so I'm going to assume the statistics he quotes are accurate. The way he uses them however, is deceptive and inappropriate as demonstrated below using 2010 census data for education level obtained here: http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/education/data/cps/2010/Table2-Both.xls and here: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0233.xls for adults 25 years and older.
For his analysis, Mr. Ketterhagen states that he used numbers from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal for the top 128 BASD employees in terms of compensation, skewing his sample right off the bat. He then goes on to compare BASD employee compensation to the of average income for Wisconsin citizens. Now the average income includes people who hold down jobs stocking shelves or driving a delivery van, for example. These jobs are critical to the functioning of our economy and the people who do them deserve our respect, a family supporting wage, family healthcare and a decent retirement, but they're not qualified to educate America's children and naturally they're not compensated as well as those who are and rightly so.
Ketterhagen stated that BASD administrator salaries are in the 76th percentile nationally and in the 86th percentile when benefits are considered, implying that they are over compensated. But BASD administrators have a minimum of a masters degree, putting them in the 92nd percentile for educational attainment nationally (92nd for Wisconsin). They are more likely to have a professional or doctoral degree, both in the 99th percentile nationally! These are management positions where people are responsible for million dollar budgets and hundreds of employees, corresponding to the highest paid jobs in the private sector. People in the 92-99 percentile for their education that are compensated in the 86th percentile nationally are clearly NOT over paid!
Then there are the teachers. First of all it should be recognized that all teachers have continuing education requirements and must obtain a teaching certificate which is an additional requirement beyond a bachelors degree that is not reflected separately in the census data for educational attainment. All of the teachers have minimum of a bachelors degree, which puts them in the 81st percentile nationally and the 74th percentile for citizens of Wisconsin. Fifty-two percent of Wisconsin teachers also have a masters degrees, which places those individuals in the 93rd percentile nationally and the 92nd percentile for Wisconsinites. Assuming the 52% also applies to BASD and aggregating these numbers for teachers with bachelors and masters degrees we come up with a teaching staff at BASD with average educational attainment levels that fall in the 86th percentile nationally and 83rd percentile for our once fair state. And where do the teachers fall in terms of compensation? According to Ketterhagen, the Wall Street Journal says they average in the 68th percentile nationally for pay and the 83rd percentile with benefits included, which they negotiated for in good faith. So BASD teachers are in the 86th percentile nationally for the level of education achieved, but they're compensation falls in the 83rd percentile.
What is Ketterhagen complaining about, why the need for flawed apples to oranges analysis and why his relentless and baseless attack on our educators?
For his analysis, Mr. Ketterhagen states that he used numbers from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal for the top 128 BASD employees in terms of compensation, skewing his sample right off the bat. He then goes on to compare BASD employee compensation to the of average income for Wisconsin citizens. Now the average income includes people who hold down jobs stocking shelves or driving a delivery van, for example. These jobs are critical to the functioning of our economy and the people who do them deserve our respect, a family supporting wage, family healthcare and a decent retirement, but they're not qualified to educate America's children and naturally they're not compensated as well as those who are and rightly so.
Ketterhagen stated that BASD administrator salaries are in the 76th percentile nationally and in the 86th percentile when benefits are considered, implying that they are over compensated. But BASD administrators have a minimum of a masters degree, putting them in the 92nd percentile for educational attainment nationally (92nd for Wisconsin). They are more likely to have a professional or doctoral degree, both in the 99th percentile nationally! These are management positions where people are responsible for million dollar budgets and hundreds of employees, corresponding to the highest paid jobs in the private sector. People in the 92-99 percentile for their education that are compensated in the 86th percentile nationally are clearly NOT over paid!
Then there are the teachers. First of all it should be recognized that all teachers have continuing education requirements and must obtain a teaching certificate which is an additional requirement beyond a bachelors degree that is not reflected separately in the census data for educational attainment. All of the teachers have minimum of a bachelors degree, which puts them in the 81st percentile nationally and the 74th percentile for citizens of Wisconsin. Fifty-two percent of Wisconsin teachers also have a masters degrees, which places those individuals in the 93rd percentile nationally and the 92nd percentile for Wisconsinites. Assuming the 52% also applies to BASD and aggregating these numbers for teachers with bachelors and masters degrees we come up with a teaching staff at BASD with average educational attainment levels that fall in the 86th percentile nationally and 83rd percentile for our once fair state. And where do the teachers fall in terms of compensation? According to Ketterhagen, the Wall Street Journal says they average in the 68th percentile nationally for pay and the 83rd percentile with benefits included, which they negotiated for in good faith. So BASD teachers are in the 86th percentile nationally for the level of education achieved, but they're compensation falls in the 83rd percentile.
What is Ketterhagen complaining about, why the need for flawed apples to oranges analysis and why his relentless and baseless attack on our educators?
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Recall Misinformation
There's some misinformation being spread about the recall effort. First let me tell you that if you want to sign legitimate recall petitions you can go to the SLUE office at 616 Droster Ave. Burlington from 9 am to 6 pm, 7 days per week, behind Coop Plus and across Hwy 36 from Miller Motors. However, if you're going to go there with the intent of destroying a petition as one couple did recently, don't. It's both a felony and an affront to freedom and democracy.
Secondly, the recall process is not being abused at all, but is operating as intended. The recall was put into the Wisconsin State Constitution by our forbearers who were far wiser than we. The founders left the grounds for recalling a public official up to the judgment of we the people. They set the bar high in terms of the number of signatures required to trigger a recall election, which is why they are rare. A lot of citizens have to be very unhappy with an official and very motivated to put forth the level of effort necessary to be successful in gathering the expressed will of the people in the form of their signatures. And there is no reason to change our Constitution or the recall process. Malfeasance or illegal activity in office is already grounds for removal under Wisconsin state law. Did State Senator George Petak commit malfeasance or an illegal act when he voted to include Racine County in the Brewers stadium tax prompting his recall? No. Heck it was the impending recall and subsequent resignation of Tom Ament that cleared the way for Scott Walker to become Milwaukee County Executive.
Then there is the GOPropaganda generated nonsense about Wisconsin being flooded with people from out of state being paid to circulate petitions. Even if I could, I wouldn’t go to another state and stick my nose in their business and we don’t need or want any outside help in this grassroots effort. I’ve yet to meet one person in this cause who is not a local resident, let alone from outside Wisconsin. But today's republicon party runs on this sort of misinformation so one should not be surprised by it. What is already flowing into the state from elsewhere is gobs of money which Walker is using to flood the airwaves in an attempt convince us that “it’s working” despite the fact that Wisconsin lost almost 10,000 mostly private sector jobs in October and that his budget was balanced with one time gimmicks that increase the debt service payments after 2012 according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Walker, like his republicon counter parts in states like Ohio, Michigan and Indiana has worked to implement a radical hidden agenda on which he did not campaign, that was handed down to him from far beyond Wisconsin. This agenda, including tax breaks for the wealthy few on the backs of the poor and middle class has divided our state as never before and Walker has shown nothing but disdain and disregard for the opinions of a large percentage of Wisconsinites. And in a stark demonstration of the kind of person he is the Governor is now poised to kick 75,000 of our fellow citizens off of Badger Care, a program started by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson. Some of these people will surely die without access to medical care. Apparently Walker doesn't care, better they do so and decrease the surplus population. 25,000 of these rejects are innocent children. No health care for you kiddies, only a lump of coal. Merry Christmas!
Actions have consequences and it’s time for Walker to face his, as provided for by our Wisconsin State Constitution.
Secondly, the recall process is not being abused at all, but is operating as intended. The recall was put into the Wisconsin State Constitution by our forbearers who were far wiser than we. The founders left the grounds for recalling a public official up to the judgment of we the people. They set the bar high in terms of the number of signatures required to trigger a recall election, which is why they are rare. A lot of citizens have to be very unhappy with an official and very motivated to put forth the level of effort necessary to be successful in gathering the expressed will of the people in the form of their signatures. And there is no reason to change our Constitution or the recall process. Malfeasance or illegal activity in office is already grounds for removal under Wisconsin state law. Did State Senator George Petak commit malfeasance or an illegal act when he voted to include Racine County in the Brewers stadium tax prompting his recall? No. Heck it was the impending recall and subsequent resignation of Tom Ament that cleared the way for Scott Walker to become Milwaukee County Executive.
Then there is the GOPropaganda generated nonsense about Wisconsin being flooded with people from out of state being paid to circulate petitions. Even if I could, I wouldn’t go to another state and stick my nose in their business and we don’t need or want any outside help in this grassroots effort. I’ve yet to meet one person in this cause who is not a local resident, let alone from outside Wisconsin. But today's republicon party runs on this sort of misinformation so one should not be surprised by it. What is already flowing into the state from elsewhere is gobs of money which Walker is using to flood the airwaves in an attempt convince us that “it’s working” despite the fact that Wisconsin lost almost 10,000 mostly private sector jobs in October and that his budget was balanced with one time gimmicks that increase the debt service payments after 2012 according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Walker, like his republicon counter parts in states like Ohio, Michigan and Indiana has worked to implement a radical hidden agenda on which he did not campaign, that was handed down to him from far beyond Wisconsin. This agenda, including tax breaks for the wealthy few on the backs of the poor and middle class has divided our state as never before and Walker has shown nothing but disdain and disregard for the opinions of a large percentage of Wisconsinites. And in a stark demonstration of the kind of person he is the Governor is now poised to kick 75,000 of our fellow citizens off of Badger Care, a program started by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson. Some of these people will surely die without access to medical care. Apparently Walker doesn't care, better they do so and decrease the surplus population. 25,000 of these rejects are innocent children. No health care for you kiddies, only a lump of coal. Merry Christmas!
Actions have consequences and it’s time for Walker to face his, as provided for by our Wisconsin State Constitution.
Thursday, December 01, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Recall Walker Training & A Movie!
RECALL SCOTT WALKER!
Free Training - Free Movie!
Inside Job
How Wall Street’s 1% Trashed Our Economy
The 2010 Documentary Film by Charles H. Ferguson
Academy Award Winner – Best Documentary
Recall Walker Petition Drive Training by United Wisconsin
Movie to Follow Immediately Thereafter
PUBLIC IS WELCOME - ADMISSION FREE!
Bring a snack and your favorite non-alcoholic beverage
SLUE/WEAC Office Center
616 Droster Ave. Burlington
Saturday Nov. 5th – 6:00pm
e-mail: burlingtonareaprogressives@gmail.com
JOIN US IN RESTORING WISCONSIN! – WE ARE THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT!
Friday, October 21, 2011
BASD's Frightening Emergency
Greetings progressive residents and friends of the Burlington Area School District, we have a frightful emergency. Our public schools are under a coordinated attack from a Tea Party (TP) group in the form of WeVoteBurlington (WVB). The outcome of the first battle (it won’t be the last) in this attack will be decided on Halloween at the School Board meeting to be held in the BHS auditorium on Monday October 31st at 7:30 where they will try to brow beat the members of the Board regarding adoption of the district’s budget.
I’d like to place this event in the broader context to better understand what is happening and why. Mark Belling has promoted this attack and Charlie Sykes is threatening to bring in bus loads of outside agitators, single-issue anti-tax zealots to flood the meeting. People of goodwill need to be present and ready to speak up (three minutes allotted per person) to provide a counter-balance to this coordinated TP attack and to support our elected representatives on the Board who have gone through the months-long process of developing a reasonable budget for our public schools which are the central organizing, social institution of our community! Please email your Board members regardless of whether you can be at this meeting and let them know your position: http://www.basd.k12.wi.us/boardmembers.cfm
Tea Party Connection: I know that “coordinated” sounds like conspiracy, that “attack” may seem like hyperbole and that representatives of WVB recently denied their TP status in the Standard Press. But I will demonstrate why all three are apt descriptions of what we face. WVB held a legislative night on October 8th at Burlington’s public high school which featured as one of the key guests Tim Dake of the Grandsons of Liberty, a bonafide TP group promoting the “Legislative Agenda for the Wisconsin TEA Party Movement – 2010/2012”. The legislative items listed in this agenda are noted as being sponsored by TP groups from all over the state including: Uninfringed Liberty, Campaign for Liberty, Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, Two Rivers Tea Party, Rock River Patriots, Menomonee/Marinette Sons and Daughters of Liberty, Manitowoc County TEA Movement, Americans for Constitutional Enforcement and the Rock County Voter Education Forum, a pungent brew indeed. The strategy is to have a Wisconsin TP group adopt a piece of legislation and through activism to help push it through our legislature. To see the disturbingly ill-willed TP legislative agenda which precisely mirrors that presented at the WeVoteBurlington event go here: http://www.wisconsingrandsonsofliberty.com/
Attack on Public Education: That takes care of the TP connection, now to justify my use of the words “coordinated attack”. The TP groups cited above are promoting this legislative agenda, but they didn’t draft the legislation. Most of these bills were written by members of the secretive, Koch brother funded, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where global corporations pay big bucks to sit down with Republican State Legislators and draft laws in their interest to rule you from your State House. Although the special interests behind this are narrow, their agenda is very broad and includes the dismantling and privatization our public school systems in the United States of America. Why? Power, including the power to make profits for the “Educational Entrepreneurs” and to destroy unions. For more information on ALEC’s moves to starve public education see this article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/14-12 and this website: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Privatizing_Public_Education,_Higher_Ed_Policy,_and_Teachers
For information on ALEC in general go here: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
Are the WVB folks aware of the selfish and sinister agenda they’re helping to advance and who is behind it? Probably not. When it comes to public education, they’ve been conditioned to focus on only two things, taxes and thugs (their term for our teachers). But the Tea Party movement has been co-opted and turned from grassroots to astroturf by Americans For Prosperity (Plutocracy), the Club For Growth and other well funded groups founded by one-percent folks like the billionaire Koch Brothers, Dick Armey and others. The agendas of these groups are handed down from on high by corporate sponsored conservative think tanks founded by the Koch brothers and others like them, to serve their self-interest. For some insight on the Americans For Plutocracy and the Koch Bros agenda for our public schools watch this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mbJhjCbwo8
Furthermore, the WVB people have probably never even heard of ALEC. After all, it is supposed to be a secret. The likes of Belling and Sykes are certainly not going to expose ALEC and its goals. It was only revealed last spring that local State Representative Robin Vos is also the ALEC state Co-chair, tasked with enacting the ALEC agenda in Wisconsin like his counter parts in the other states. You’d think he’d be proud of such a lofty distinction, but he doesn’t discuss it or campaign on its “merits”. Skirting Wisconsin’s good government campaign laws, Vos even got an ALEC “Scholarship” worth thousands of dollars for airfare and hotel accommodations to be wined and dined in a sunnier clime by the ALEC corporate lobbyists who fund the organization. A “Scholarship”, why that’s a major award to be illuminated and displayed prominently before your constituents! But modest Robin never mentions it. You know what they say, news is what people want to keep hidden, every thing else is publicity.
And now PR Watch has discovered who Wisconsin’s secret ALEC Corporate Co-chairs are: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11031/koch-lobbyist-alec-state-co-chair-wisconsin-scholarships-raise-ethics-concerns Every state has them and guess what, one of Wisconsin’s is a lobbyist for Koch Industries! Such a tangled web! And I’ve connected only a few of the dots here. There are more, many more.
The citizens of Burlington have elected a local School Board to represent our interests in our community. It’s called local control, a principle the Republican Party once stood for. We must not let a few vocal people, acting at the behest of squawk-radio propagandists, force on to us a hidden agenda that comes from selfish, narrow and far away special interests that have no stake in what becomes of our children or our community, other than how it advances their national political goals and their potential for future profits to be reaped at the expense of millions of students across the nation and right here at home. Scary!
Thank you for your attention. You are the 99%! Please make yourselves heard at the Board meeting on October 31st. Boo!
I’d like to place this event in the broader context to better understand what is happening and why. Mark Belling has promoted this attack and Charlie Sykes is threatening to bring in bus loads of outside agitators, single-issue anti-tax zealots to flood the meeting. People of goodwill need to be present and ready to speak up (three minutes allotted per person) to provide a counter-balance to this coordinated TP attack and to support our elected representatives on the Board who have gone through the months-long process of developing a reasonable budget for our public schools which are the central organizing, social institution of our community! Please email your Board members regardless of whether you can be at this meeting and let them know your position: http://www.basd.k12.wi.us/boardmembers.cfm
Tea Party Connection: I know that “coordinated” sounds like conspiracy, that “attack” may seem like hyperbole and that representatives of WVB recently denied their TP status in the Standard Press. But I will demonstrate why all three are apt descriptions of what we face. WVB held a legislative night on October 8th at Burlington’s public high school which featured as one of the key guests Tim Dake of the Grandsons of Liberty, a bonafide TP group promoting the “Legislative Agenda for the Wisconsin TEA Party Movement – 2010/2012”. The legislative items listed in this agenda are noted as being sponsored by TP groups from all over the state including: Uninfringed Liberty, Campaign for Liberty, Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, Two Rivers Tea Party, Rock River Patriots, Menomonee/Marinette Sons and Daughters of Liberty, Manitowoc County TEA Movement, Americans for Constitutional Enforcement and the Rock County Voter Education Forum, a pungent brew indeed. The strategy is to have a Wisconsin TP group adopt a piece of legislation and through activism to help push it through our legislature. To see the disturbingly ill-willed TP legislative agenda which precisely mirrors that presented at the WeVoteBurlington event go here: http://www.wisconsingrandsonsofliberty.com/
Attack on Public Education: That takes care of the TP connection, now to justify my use of the words “coordinated attack”. The TP groups cited above are promoting this legislative agenda, but they didn’t draft the legislation. Most of these bills were written by members of the secretive, Koch brother funded, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where global corporations pay big bucks to sit down with Republican State Legislators and draft laws in their interest to rule you from your State House. Although the special interests behind this are narrow, their agenda is very broad and includes the dismantling and privatization our public school systems in the United States of America. Why? Power, including the power to make profits for the “Educational Entrepreneurs” and to destroy unions. For more information on ALEC’s moves to starve public education see this article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/14-12 and this website: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Privatizing_Public_Education,_Higher_Ed_Policy,_and_Teachers
For information on ALEC in general go here: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
Are the WVB folks aware of the selfish and sinister agenda they’re helping to advance and who is behind it? Probably not. When it comes to public education, they’ve been conditioned to focus on only two things, taxes and thugs (their term for our teachers). But the Tea Party movement has been co-opted and turned from grassroots to astroturf by Americans For Prosperity (Plutocracy), the Club For Growth and other well funded groups founded by one-percent folks like the billionaire Koch Brothers, Dick Armey and others. The agendas of these groups are handed down from on high by corporate sponsored conservative think tanks founded by the Koch brothers and others like them, to serve their self-interest. For some insight on the Americans For Plutocracy and the Koch Bros agenda for our public schools watch this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mbJhjCbwo8
Furthermore, the WVB people have probably never even heard of ALEC. After all, it is supposed to be a secret. The likes of Belling and Sykes are certainly not going to expose ALEC and its goals. It was only revealed last spring that local State Representative Robin Vos is also the ALEC state Co-chair, tasked with enacting the ALEC agenda in Wisconsin like his counter parts in the other states. You’d think he’d be proud of such a lofty distinction, but he doesn’t discuss it or campaign on its “merits”. Skirting Wisconsin’s good government campaign laws, Vos even got an ALEC “Scholarship” worth thousands of dollars for airfare and hotel accommodations to be wined and dined in a sunnier clime by the ALEC corporate lobbyists who fund the organization. A “Scholarship”, why that’s a major award to be illuminated and displayed prominently before your constituents! But modest Robin never mentions it. You know what they say, news is what people want to keep hidden, every thing else is publicity.
And now PR Watch has discovered who Wisconsin’s secret ALEC Corporate Co-chairs are: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11031/koch-lobbyist-alec-state-co-chair-wisconsin-scholarships-raise-ethics-concerns Every state has them and guess what, one of Wisconsin’s is a lobbyist for Koch Industries! Such a tangled web! And I’ve connected only a few of the dots here. There are more, many more.
The citizens of Burlington have elected a local School Board to represent our interests in our community. It’s called local control, a principle the Republican Party once stood for. We must not let a few vocal people, acting at the behest of squawk-radio propagandists, force on to us a hidden agenda that comes from selfish, narrow and far away special interests that have no stake in what becomes of our children or our community, other than how it advances their national political goals and their potential for future profits to be reaped at the expense of millions of students across the nation and right here at home. Scary!
Thank you for your attention. You are the 99%! Please make yourselves heard at the Board meeting on October 31st. Boo!
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Live Feed from NY Occupy Wall Street in the middle of the night.
globalrevolution on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free
If you want to chat live with people across the country while watching at the Live Stream website here is the link. It's pretty damn cool.
While I was watching they showed the solar panel flat bed truck that supplies the power for the protesters to use. It's being provided by Green Peace and says "Give Up Coal" on the side of it. I'm just so impressed right now.
They have lots of great food available from donations made from all over the country. Most people have sleeping bags and are curled up sleeping on hard ground toughing it out.
The mainstream media won't even talk to the guys doing the live feed.
Awesome stuff here.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
fALEC State Private Sector Co-Chairs are Koch Lobbyists
The secret fALEC Wisconsin State Co-Chairs have been unveiled! Koch industry lobbyists Amy Boyer and Byron Wornson have been revealed by PR Watch as secret private sector Co-Chair that work along side Robin Vos to enact the fALEC agenda in our once proud state of clean and open politics: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11031/koch-lobbyist-alec-state-co-chair-wisconsin-scholarships-raise-ethics-concerns
Lavish all-expenses-paid "Scholarships" are used to skirt Wisconsin's lobbying laws that prohibit ANY gifts and to fly, house, wine, dine and buy corporate access to OUR representatives to enact THEIR laws.This is a traitorous betrayal of the foundational American principle of the right to the informed consent of the governed!
Why didn't Vos tell the voters he's in ALEC? Why didn't he tell us he's the State of Wisconsin Co-chair? Why all the secrecy? If Vos gets his legislative ideas from his constituents as he claims, then he doesn't need ALEC and should renounce ALEC and all it's works as the democracy betraying nest of corporatist vipers that they are.
Lavish all-expenses-paid "Scholarships" are used to skirt Wisconsin's lobbying laws that prohibit ANY gifts and to fly, house, wine, dine and buy corporate access to OUR representatives to enact THEIR laws.This is a traitorous betrayal of the foundational American principle of the right to the informed consent of the governed!
Why didn't Vos tell the voters he's in ALEC? Why didn't he tell us he's the State of Wisconsin Co-chair? Why all the secrecy? If Vos gets his legislative ideas from his constituents as he claims, then he doesn't need ALEC and should renounce ALEC and all it's works as the democracy betraying nest of corporatist vipers that they are.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Selling of School Choice
DeVoss (Amway) - Can you say Sen. Van "Amway or Highway" Wangaard?
Walton (Walmart) - Can you say Rep. Robin "I like $chool choice becau$e I like $chool choice" Vos?
Selling? I'd say it's more like buying school choice as people who don't live, vote or go to school in Wisconsin flood money into OUR state to fund groups and bribe OUR? representatives to advance their cynical, selfish, national, anti-worker/middle class, privateering agenda to destroy public education (my opinion, not necessarily the Author's). This is the first of an excellent 3 part series of investigative journalism on the subject and well worth the read. http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2011/09/18/school-choice-part-1/
Walton (Walmart) - Can you say Rep. Robin "I like $chool choice becau$e I like $chool choice" Vos?
Selling? I'd say it's more like buying school choice as people who don't live, vote or go to school in Wisconsin flood money into OUR state to fund groups and bribe OUR? representatives to advance their cynical, selfish, national, anti-worker/middle class, privateering agenda to destroy public education (my opinion, not necessarily the Author's). This is the first of an excellent 3 part series of investigative journalism on the subject and well worth the read. http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2011/09/18/school-choice-part-1/
Friday, September 23, 2011
IMF: Income Inequality Bad for Economic Growth
Well duh! In an economy driven 70% by consumption DEMAND is the ONLY "Job Creator" and income inequality means consumers cannot create demand. That's intuitively obvious, but here is a scholarly study based imperical evidence from the international monetary fund: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/income-inequality-economic-growth_n_969933.html
EXCERPT: The widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else in the United States may be hindering a broader economic recovery, according to a new study. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2011/09/Berg.htm
The study out of the International Monetary Fund found that greater income equality positively correlates with stronger economic growth. Released in September, the study more specifically concluded that a 10 percent decrease in inequality increased the expected duration of economic growth by 50 percent.
The IMF paper, which studied a sample of countries around the world between 1950 and 2006, found that in countries with more income inequality, such as Jordan and Cameroon, the economy more frequently plunged into deeper recessions, while economic growth lasted much longer in more equal societies.
Indeed, greater levels of income equality corresponded more strongly to sustained economic growth than other economic factors, including lower debt levels, according to the report. "Sustainable economic reform," the authors write, "is possible only when its benefits are widely shared." The United States
Income inequality has grown in the United States over the past four decades and now more closely compares to the income distributions of Russia and Iran than many other developed economies.
EXCERPT: The widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else in the United States may be hindering a broader economic recovery, according to a new study. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2011/09/Berg.htm
The study out of the International Monetary Fund found that greater income equality positively correlates with stronger economic growth. Released in September, the study more specifically concluded that a 10 percent decrease in inequality increased the expected duration of economic growth by 50 percent.
The IMF paper, which studied a sample of countries around the world between 1950 and 2006, found that in countries with more income inequality, such as Jordan and Cameroon, the economy more frequently plunged into deeper recessions, while economic growth lasted much longer in more equal societies.
Indeed, greater levels of income equality corresponded more strongly to sustained economic growth than other economic factors, including lower debt levels, according to the report. "Sustainable economic reform," the authors write, "is possible only when its benefits are widely shared." The United States
Income inequality has grown in the United States over the past four decades and now more closely compares to the income distributions of Russia and Iran than many other developed economies.
Monday, September 12, 2011
FALEC Member Exposed
If you're intersted in learning more about Robin Vos, particularly his activities with ALEC, or as I prefer FALEC, the fascist American Legislative Exchange Council because it embodies the merger of state and corporate rule, which the definition of facism or corporatism, there is a website for that: http://defeatvos.blogspot.com/2011/08/grassroots-effort-to-defeat-vos.html?spref=tw
In the interest of informed consent of the citizenry.
Your's Truely,
CorpSerf ID: IMFD-OURFD-2
In the interest of informed consent of the citizenry.
Your's Truely,
CorpSerf ID: IMFD-OURFD-2
Saturday, September 10, 2011
New - Rocking Fun Music, Records and Teen Outreach Grand Opening
Rocking Fun Music, Records and Teen Outreach has just opened and will be having their Grand OpeningTomorrow, Sunday 9/11 at 549 N. Pine St. in Burlington. http://www.rockingfunmusic.com/ A glitch with the Hi-Liter left them without a promo ad for their Grand Opening, so I said I would help get the word out on their new venture. Finally a local place to get strings and other music supplies!
Meet & greet at 5 PM with Recording Studio Manager & Guitar teacher Mark Hill, Owner Kellie Levans, Floor Manager Katie Joike, Administrator Michelle Dorrington and volunteers Chris and Randy. Sign up for guitar lessons (4 lessons, 45 min./session).
Rocking Fun Music tm Records and Teen Outreach is changing the way Burlington is dealing with the strong-hold of drugs, alcohol, and teen suicide rates have on the youth population. Milwaukee Rock Music Examiner Reporter, Kellie Levans, has planned, developed, and opened a retail music store and teen-wi-fi center fand recording studio for the reason of keeping teens talking and sharing through music. Rocking Fun Music tm Records:Teen Outreach, is a comfortable retail shop and hang out. The center will provide a safe environment for social contact with peers. Guitar, drums, vocal lessons, wi-fi access, and fun will be provided.
"The atmosphere is such as the show "Friends," providing a cafe' style setting without the coffee, lol " owner Kellie Levans says. Guitar lessons will be taught by Mark Hill , a community leader and trained in composition and music theory. Teen Wellness was a community program first accepted by the Burlington Wellness Center in 2004. Lack of funding cut the program. Kellie Levans approached the city of Burlington , Wisconsin in July of 2011 asking for a conditional use permit to allow 4 young adults in the store at a time. All counseling issues will be referred to local trained professionals.
Meet & greet at 5 PM with Recording Studio Manager & Guitar teacher Mark Hill, Owner Kellie Levans, Floor Manager Katie Joike, Administrator Michelle Dorrington and volunteers Chris and Randy. Sign up for guitar lessons (4 lessons, 45 min./session).
Rocking Fun Music tm Records and Teen Outreach is changing the way Burlington is dealing with the strong-hold of drugs, alcohol, and teen suicide rates have on the youth population. Milwaukee Rock Music Examiner Reporter, Kellie Levans, has planned, developed, and opened a retail music store and teen-wi-fi center fand recording studio for the reason of keeping teens talking and sharing through music. Rocking Fun Music tm Records:Teen Outreach, is a comfortable retail shop and hang out. The center will provide a safe environment for social contact with peers. Guitar, drums, vocal lessons, wi-fi access, and fun will be provided.
"The atmosphere is such as the show "Friends," providing a cafe' style setting without the coffee, lol " owner Kellie Levans says. Guitar lessons will be taught by Mark Hill , a community leader and trained in composition and music theory. Teen Wellness was a community program first accepted by the Burlington Wellness Center in 2004. Lack of funding cut the program. Kellie Levans approached the city of Burlington , Wisconsin in July of 2011 asking for a conditional use permit to allow 4 young adults in the store at a time. All counseling issues will be referred to local trained professionals.
Monday, August 29, 2011
GOPster Voter Suppression Promise from Sen Von Zipperer Hollow & Compassionless
So Sen. Von Zipperer (R-Peewaukee), right before pointing to his forehead and freezing his little FALEC brain said; “Any constituent, or anybody in the state…if there’s an individual with a legal right to vote, have them contact me or my office and I will make sure they get properly registered and have an ID,”. “If you know any individual, bring them to my attention. Even if they don’t live in the 33rd Senate District, I’ll get them to the office of their senator.”
http://brookfield-wi.patch.com/articles/zipperer-stands-behind-voter-id-law
So did, I called and I spoke with one of Von Zipperer's staff members and explained my Grandparent's situation and disenfranchisement.
He took their information and said he would pass it along to Senator Amway, I mean Wanggard. I asked him what Senator Wanggard would do. He said he would put them in touch with the local DMV. I reminded him that going to the DMV IS the problem and that putting them in touch with the DMV, was hardly necessary as they're in the phone book.
I asked if they are they going to need to go to the DMV and he said yes. I asked how that was going resolve the problem and he said he didn't know.
I asked if transportation would be provided and he said he didn't know. I said, well in this case transporation isn't an issue waiting at the DMV is, but what about other people who didn't have transportation, how would they be helped? He said he didn't know.
I said that some people who are in wheel chairs or have other disabilities need specialized transportation, would the senators be making arrangements and paying for that? He said he didn't know.
Empty words, hollow promises and no thought, planning, compassion or consideration given to the problem.
I love the comment made to Von Zipperer by one of his constituents: Resident Emil Glodoski hammered Zipperer for his support of the bill, saying it’s racist and is aimed at suppressing votes. He told the senator the number of people who have actually been caught in the state perpetrating vote fraud wouldn’t even “fill a basketball roster,” yet the number of people who will have their votes suppressed would “fill the Bradley Center two or three times.”
“That’s voter suppression and it moves us into 'Wississippi,'” he said. “(T)his is the first time we’re eliminating voters rights and it’s just racist.”
Right on Emil!
By the way, I've turned this little tidbit over to Disability Rights Wisconsin and they said they would get the word out to the disability community to contact his office. You bet they will!
http://brookfield-wi.patch.com/articles/zipperer-stands-behind-voter-id-law
So did, I called and I spoke with one of Von Zipperer's staff members and explained my Grandparent's situation and disenfranchisement.
He took their information and said he would pass it along to Senator Amway, I mean Wanggard. I asked him what Senator Wanggard would do. He said he would put them in touch with the local DMV. I reminded him that going to the DMV IS the problem and that putting them in touch with the DMV, was hardly necessary as they're in the phone book.
I asked if they are they going to need to go to the DMV and he said yes. I asked how that was going resolve the problem and he said he didn't know.
I asked if transportation would be provided and he said he didn't know. I said, well in this case transporation isn't an issue waiting at the DMV is, but what about other people who didn't have transportation, how would they be helped? He said he didn't know.
I said that some people who are in wheel chairs or have other disabilities need specialized transportation, would the senators be making arrangements and paying for that? He said he didn't know.
Empty words, hollow promises and no thought, planning, compassion or consideration given to the problem.
I love the comment made to Von Zipperer by one of his constituents: Resident Emil Glodoski hammered Zipperer for his support of the bill, saying it’s racist and is aimed at suppressing votes. He told the senator the number of people who have actually been caught in the state perpetrating vote fraud wouldn’t even “fill a basketball roster,” yet the number of people who will have their votes suppressed would “fill the Bradley Center two or three times.”
“That’s voter suppression and it moves us into 'Wississippi,'” he said. “(T)his is the first time we’re eliminating voters rights and it’s just racist.”
Right on Emil!
By the way, I've turned this little tidbit over to Disability Rights Wisconsin and they said they would get the word out to the disability community to contact his office. You bet they will!
Monday, August 22, 2011
While we're at it Let's Recall the Wingnut Judicial Hacktivitists on the WI Extreme Court
Judicial Hacktivist Michael Gabbleman was elected under a cloud of lying and ethical violations, which he was found guilt of in a court of law, but which his fellow nutbags on Wisconsin's Extreme Court let him get away with in a 3/3 tie. I know state FALEC Chairman Robbin Vos must be in agreement on thsi one as meets his proposed revised criteria for grounds for recall, right?
Now some are calling for his recall along with Gubnah Snott Wanker: http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-15786-after-the-recalls-whats-next-for-democrats.html
I agree, let's get this injudicious shithead off the bench. Gathering signitures for his recall while already collecting them for Wanker's recall is a miniscule additional effort.
But why stop there? Annette Ziegler is another extremist ideologue who doesn't have the ethics to know that she should recuse herself when her husband's business come before her in court. Let's purge her ass too while we're at it.
Then perhaps in a year we can get rid of Prosser, Extreme Court Strangler.
Remember 150,000 motivated protesters at the Capitol in March need only 3 signatures on the petitions, plus their own for 600,000 names, more than enough!
Now some are calling for his recall along with Gubnah Snott Wanker: http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-15786-after-the-recalls-whats-next-for-democrats.html
I agree, let's get this injudicious shithead off the bench. Gathering signitures for his recall while already collecting them for Wanker's recall is a miniscule additional effort.
But why stop there? Annette Ziegler is another extremist ideologue who doesn't have the ethics to know that she should recuse herself when her husband's business come before her in court. Let's purge her ass too while we're at it.
Then perhaps in a year we can get rid of Prosser, Extreme Court Strangler.
Remember 150,000 motivated protesters at the Capitol in March need only 3 signatures on the petitions, plus their own for 600,000 names, more than enough!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Gubnah Wanker WILL be Recalled, then Forgotten
In Ohio Gubnah Kasich forced through un-American, anti-union, anti-right of assembly, anti-right to petition legislation from the Fascist American Legislative Exchange Council - FALEC that is almost identical to the FALEC legislation pased by Gubnah Wanker in Wisconsin. People in Ohio took to the street and flooded the capitol in protest like in Wisconsin, but the Gubnah didn't care about the people, he was more invested in serving his FALEC masters. For more information on FALEC, see this link: http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
With 11.5 million citizens, Ohio has roughly twice the population of Wisconsin. In response, the good people of Ohio easily gathered 1.3 million signatures to force a referendum to over turn the FALEC law, which is expected to to win by a two to one margin. Kasich has now come begging to the unions to negotiate, which he refused to do when the shoe was on the other foot and the unions where willing to talk. In resonse the unions have now told the FALEC member to fuck off.
In Wisconsin we need 500,000 signatures, less than half of what was needed in Ohio, to force a recall of the exposed FALEC member Snott the Wanker who is also now trying to pretend to play nice. Fuck off Wanker, you're going down along with your 60% dsisapproval rating. There's WAY more energy in Wisconsin to flush your a$$ than there is in Ohio to castrate the thier FALEC law and ensure it never takes effect.
It's bad enough to have FALEC legislation shoved down our throats for the gratification of the corporatists, Americans For Plutocracy (AFP) and the Wisconsin Club for Growths, but it is totally unacceptable to for Wisconsin to represented by an A$$hole. And Wanker is surely that.
If every one of the 150,000 people that showed up in Madison that glorious gets only 4 signatures that's enough, 5 and it's guaranteed, 10 and it's a breeze. Wanker, you're a dick and you're going DOWN!
With 11.5 million citizens, Ohio has roughly twice the population of Wisconsin. In response, the good people of Ohio easily gathered 1.3 million signatures to force a referendum to over turn the FALEC law, which is expected to to win by a two to one margin. Kasich has now come begging to the unions to negotiate, which he refused to do when the shoe was on the other foot and the unions where willing to talk. In resonse the unions have now told the FALEC member to fuck off.
In Wisconsin we need 500,000 signatures, less than half of what was needed in Ohio, to force a recall of the exposed FALEC member Snott the Wanker who is also now trying to pretend to play nice. Fuck off Wanker, you're going down along with your 60% dsisapproval rating. There's WAY more energy in Wisconsin to flush your a$$ than there is in Ohio to castrate the thier FALEC law and ensure it never takes effect.
It's bad enough to have FALEC legislation shoved down our throats for the gratification of the corporatists, Americans For Plutocracy (AFP) and the Wisconsin Club for Growths, but it is totally unacceptable to for Wisconsin to represented by an A$$hole. And Wanker is surely that.
If every one of the 150,000 people that showed up in Madison that glorious gets only 4 signatures that's enough, 5 and it's guaranteed, 10 and it's a breeze. Wanker, you're a dick and you're going DOWN!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Warren Buffett - Stop Coddling the Super Rich
Warren Buffett asks where is the shared sacrifice from the super rich and calls for increased taxes on the wealthy to help put our fiscal house back in order, like it used to be when we could pay our bills and created many more jobs: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html
EXCERPTS: While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate.
Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.
I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.
Since 1992, the I.R.S. has compiled data from the returns of the 400 Americans reporting the largest income. In 1992, the top 400 had aggregate taxable income of $16.9 billion and paid federal taxes of 29.2 percent on that sum. In 2008, the aggregate income of the highest 400 had soared to $90.9 billion — a staggering $227.4 million on average — but the rate paid had fallen to 21.5 percent.
The taxes I refer to here include only federal income tax, but you can be sure that any payroll tax for the 400 was inconsequential compared to income. In fact, 88 of the 400 in 2008 reported no wages at all, though every one of them reported capital gains. Some of my brethren may shun work but they all like to invest. (I can relate to that.)
EXCERPTS: While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate.
Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.
I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.
Since 1992, the I.R.S. has compiled data from the returns of the 400 Americans reporting the largest income. In 1992, the top 400 had aggregate taxable income of $16.9 billion and paid federal taxes of 29.2 percent on that sum. In 2008, the aggregate income of the highest 400 had soared to $90.9 billion — a staggering $227.4 million on average — but the rate paid had fallen to 21.5 percent.
The taxes I refer to here include only federal income tax, but you can be sure that any payroll tax for the 400 was inconsequential compared to income. In fact, 88 of the 400 in 2008 reported no wages at all, though every one of them reported capital gains. Some of my brethren may shun work but they all like to invest. (I can relate to that.)
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