Displaying 901 To 930 Of 2,320 Comments Hey HH, where did you get that kool smiley? Please share… 🙂 » Posted By BigDogMom On February 21, 2011 @ 10:44 am Wisconsin Governor Walker’s bill just keeps getting better, found this post this morning by accident. Walker is paying back his primary campaign backers, the Koch Bros. with this little gem, buried deep within the bill. The Koch Bros. will be direct beneficiaries of this… The Less Discussed Part of Walker’s Wisconsin Plan: No-Bid Energy Assets Firesales Have you heard about 16.896? The fight in Wisconsin is over Governor Walker’s 144-page Budget Repair Bill. The parts everyone is focusing on have to do with the right to collectively bargain being stripped from public sector unions (except for the unions that supported Walker running for Governor). Focusing on this misses a large part of what the bill would do. Check out this language, from the same bill (my bold): 16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b). The bill would allow for the selling of state-owned heating/cooling/power plants without bids and without concern for the legally-defined public interest. It’s important to think of this battle as a larger one over the role of the state. The attempt to break labor is part of the same continuous motion as saying that the crony, corporatist selling of state utilities to the Koch brothers and other energy interests is the new “public interest.” http://legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/data/JR1SB-11.pdf » Posted By BigDogMom On February 21, 2011 @ 9:19 am Just like every T-Partier/GOP candidate…this is what happens when people don’t go out to vote or vote against candidates because they didn’t get their pony…I just hope we have learned our lesson now and Americans wake up. Elections do have consequences. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 20, 2011 @ 7:58 am Morning boomer, thanks for the map, was thinking this morning of the ramification of what would happen if Wisc. passes the bill limiting the Unions collective bargaining ability…makes me shudder. Wonder if those who think Unions are evil and should be done away with realize that Unions are the only thing between us citizens and a 50 hour work week with no overtime; the lowering or doing away with the minimum wage; un-safe working conditions and loss of any type of benefits? That without the strength of the Union voice in Washington, Corporations will get their wish and with the help of the GOP and some Blue Dog Dems, destroy any law benefitting the worker…bringing us a new era of the “Robber Baron” Have these people thought that far ahead, or even have connected the dots….or do we have to wait until it effects them before anything is done. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 20, 2011 @ 7:34 am @liberallioness-This morning my husband had on “Morning Joe”, Micca was the only one who mentioned the “Union Busting” clause. She was then immediately yelled down by everyone on the panel, Joe being the biggest ass, yelling the loudest…just wanted to put my hand through the TV and smack him in the head! I just wish the MSM would report the “real news” with “real facts”….take care, need to get to work now, talk later. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 18, 2011 @ 6:57 am In their zeal to stop abortions, the GOP as usual have not thought about the unintended consequences of their actions: “While these politicians attack abortion coverage from every angle, they now want to deny funding for birth control, even though that’s the best way to prevent unintended pregnancy. Americans will not stand for this blatant hypocrisy.” Why is it that in the GOP world, 2 + 2 = 5? Do they ever think ahead? » Posted By BigDogMom On February 18, 2011 @ 6:37 am Wisconsin Gov. Walker Ginned Up Budget Shortfall To Undercut Worker Rights Wisconsin’s new Republican governor has framed his assault on public worker’s collective bargaining rights as a needed measure of fiscal austerity during tough times. The reality is radically different. Unlike true austerity measures — service rollbacks, furloughs, and other temporary measures that cause pain but save money — rolling back worker’s bargaining rights by itself saves almost nothing on its own. But Walker’s doing it anyhow, to knock down a barrier and allow him to cut state employee benefits immediately. In a Wednesday op-ed, the Capitol Times of Madison picked up on this theme. In its Jan. 31 memo to legislators on the condition of the state’s budget, the Fiscal Bureau determined that the state will end the year with a balance of $121.4 million. To the extent that there is an imbalance — Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit — it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. • $25 million for an economic development fund for job creation, which still holds $73 million because of anemic job growth. • $48 million for private health savings accounts — a perennial Republican favorite. • $67 million for a tax incentive plan that benefits employers, but at levels too low to spur hiring. In essence, public workers are being asked to pick up the tab for this agenda. “The provisions in his bill do two things simultaneously,” Norman says. “They remove bargaining rights, and having accomplished that, make changes in the benefit packages.” That’s how Walker’s plan saves money. And when it’s all said and done, these workers will have lost their bargaining rights going forward in perpetuity. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 18, 2011 @ 6:31 am @e’cat -With you on that, tonight I didn’t for some reason feel that he was, he was actually quite tame and had some good people on… » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:41 pm I’ve had several female bosses, I’m batting 50 – 50, half I wanted to smack up side their head, the other half I enjoyed working with them and learned a lot…but I do understand where your coming from. There are some women who once in power over another women, abuse that power, to me it’s a sign of insecurity of her own ability, they feel theatened by you, thus they lash out…many a time I wanted to lash back at them. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:36 pm Saw Ed’s show tonight, it was nice to finally see protester’s with correctly spelled signs tonight…that actually made sense. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:32 pm Well then it was worth it! 🙂 » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:30 pm Oh dear, what did she do now, pontificate on what is going in Wisconsin? Did she tweet that we need to use Conservative Constitutional Common sense when combatting the thugs protesting in Madison? » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:28 pm Hey betty, just got done watching Big Ed too, Rachel as usual laid it all out very nicely. I hope that this gets a little more national coverage on the morning programs, with the truth being told that this is not about the buget, it is about busting the Unions. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:26 pm Did you have to buy the Duchess any diamonds? She did love her bling…heard she was pretty good in bed too, learned all sorts of things from her days in Shanghai. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:21 pm From what everyone is saying about HP, it looks like the dregs of the earth, both left and right has bee attracted to the place… Sorry for your experience, glad you are with us here. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:19 pm Or represent a fear that needs to be faced and resolved, sometimes it’s easier for us to do this on a subconcious level. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 8:14 pm @e’cat, looking at his mugshot, looks like neutering would effect him tremendously….dickhead that he is. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 10:33 am @Sabreen, understand, I think I look for similar stories, always looking for the good, always hoping for better things to come our way. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 10:30 am Big ol’Ronald there needs to be put away for life and/or be neutured… » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 10:11 am @Sabreen – Great link, I like the second reason, and this is why he is called a “Chess Player” “President Obama is often mocked for failing to change Washington …. but behind the scenes of the Beltway perpetual-conflict machine, he has made quiet progress towards reforming Washington — not politically, but bureaucratically. The most important reform, launched two years ago today, was tucked inside his unpopular stimulus package, and inside his new budget, he’s trying to expand it. The reform is a simple concept that certainly ought to be post-partisan: Harnessing the power of competition in the spending of taxpayer dollars …. Obama has tried to divert funds into competition-based, peer-reviewed, results-oriented grant programs that reward only the worthiest applications. The best-known is the Race to the Top education program, but the stimulus hatched similar competitions in energy, transportation, housing, health care and broadband. And Obama’s 2012 budget proposes new races to the top in everything from juvenile justice to workforce development to agricultural research.” Good find! » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 10:09 am @celere, I expect that the good citizens of New Jersey will be next to take to the streets, they are having major cuts there and all are union jobs. Christie is towing the GOP party line, like all these other GOP governors, UNIONS = BAD. I don’t think many of these governors and mayors anticipated the citizens rising up against them, they think just because they got elected that they had a mandate to do whatever they wanted. Boy, are they in for a rude awakening! » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 9:57 am @Chase – What? Nothing on Lindsey Lohan or the Khardashian sisters today? » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 7:53 am Morning all, just here for a short time..just wanted to let you know that the situation in Madison, WI is catching, today government union employees will be having a protest march against fire, police and teacher cuts today in New Haven, CT. They expect non-union citizens to join them in the march, will keep everyone updated. Maybe this is what is needed for this country to move forward…a little fear of the common citizen uniting. » Posted By BigDogMom On February 17, 2011 @ 7:31 am Sure why not! 😆 » Posted By BigDogMom On February 16, 2011 @ 1:15 pm OMG, how crazy is that! ROFL 😆 (I shouldn’t talk, my dog stands over the sprinkler head for minutes at a time so that it soaks his belly…a practice my husband calls “Cooling his weeney”!) » Posted By BigDogMom On February 16, 2011 @ 1:13 pm ROFL!!!!!!!!!!! » Posted By BigDogMom On February 16, 2011 @ 1:00 pm @Adonai – Oh, I do love your post! 😆 » Posted By BigDogMom On February 16, 2011 @ 12:58 pm Cool! » Posted By BigDogMom On February 16, 2011 @ 12:47 pm Thanks for the laugh! 😆 On that note, time to walk the dog! (BigDog hates neighborhood cats, because the sit on the other side of the gate taunting him with their freedom!) » Posted By BigDogMom On February 16, 2011 @ 12:46 pm I love it! 😆 » Posted By BigDogMom On February 16, 2011 @ 12:28 pmComments Posted By BigDogMom
You can read the fiscal bureaus report here (PDF). It holds that “more than half” of the new shortfall comes from three of Walker’s initiatives:
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