My new hero.

I'm sure many of you have seen the video of English MEP Daniel Hannan verbally pantsing British PM Gordon Brown on Tuesday, but I thought I'd post it here if you haven't. In three minutes, he managed to make one of the most articulate, sharp, and coherent arguments I've seen against the current Brown/Obama trend of spending like a drunken fool to allegedly improve the economy. Also, Brown's fuddy-duddy look near the end of the clip is priceless.




I believe my favorite quote is "It’s not that you’re not apologizing; like everyone else I have long accepted that you’re pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for these things." This is the problem with Congress, and President Obama, and before him, President Bush. Nobody accepts responsibility for anything anymore. And it's why I more or less hate every politician, Republican or Democrat.

The GOP needs to find one of these, and fast.

Soon-to-be ex-A.I.G. employee lays out Congress, boss in NYT

Great op-ed today in the NYT, which amounts to a copy of the resignation letter of a high-level employee in A.I.G.'s Financial Products unit.

Dear Mr. Liddy,

It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage...

As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

As usual, Congress doesn't care and has never cared about the truth as it pertains to A.I.G. It only cares about capitalizing on the frustration of the American taxpayer, a frustration that as usual is driven mostly by ignorance, jealousy, and class envy. The overwhelming majority of A.I.G. employees have been turned into an enormous straw man by Democrats in Congress, and sadly, many Republicans have chosen to join them out of political convenience. Truly pathetic.

A sad day in Wisconsin political history

It would appear that the DOT has indeed finalized the purchase of Supreme Video, on Washburn St. in Oshkosh, as part of its plan to widen and reconstruct the area around Highway 41.

OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) — The state Department of Transportation paid $1.4 million for an adult video store in Oshkosh, so that the building can be torn down to make way for a road reconstruction project.

The DOT purchase of Supreme Video in January followed years of unsuccessful negotiations to relocate the store, which is due for demolition next month. Oshkosh Director of Planning Services Darryn Burich said relocation would have cost closer to the property's assessed value of $348,000.

Congrats to the property owner for securing about four times the assessed value on the property. But wherever will ex-leggies go now to get their testicles munched on? (h/t Christian Schneider for locating this police report.)

This is why we don't let the leggies speak for themselves.

I have more to say about this whole Don Pridemore/Bill Savage "oopsie I didn't mean to send that campaign-related release on the state letterhead from my state email account and copy my coworker on his state account" debacle. But I think the bigger scandal may be that Don Pridemore can barely string three words together on his own without committing some grievous error in spelling or grammar. I'm just going to copy the whole thing for you and let you bask in its pathos. I'd also like to dedicate this post to my sixth-grade language arts teacher, Mrs. Yenchesky, who made me diagram all those sentences.

“The leaders (of?) DPW should be spending their time figuring out a way to justify their upcoming role in raising taxes to the tune of 1.7 billion dollars. The already highly taxed families of Wisconsin are facing a proposed budget that will not only raise state fee’s (um, not possessive, just plural) and taxes through the roof, it will have a devastating effect on property taxes (improperly formed independent clause).

Furthermore, although Tony Evers is running for DPI superintendEnt, a non-partisan race (you run IN a race, you run FOR an office), they (to what does this pronoun refer?) should be careful not to drawn to much attention to a press release that outlines a few very good reasons that Wisconsinites should not vote for Tony Evers. The fact that Mr. Evers said no to an audit of one of the most costly programs (SAGE) in the school budget cannot be denied or defended. Let Mr. Evers explain why he would like to remove revenue limits and the QEO so that teachers are caught up in battles all over the state between taxpayers and WEAC.

In regards to the press release on Thursday, March 19, 2009, I have asked the Government Accountability Board (GAB) for an opinion and I stand ready to take responsibility for any wronging that the board finds ("wronging" is a transitive verb, not a noun. You can't find a verb.).

I have no problem defending my positions to the taxpayers of the 99th assembly district; my question is; are you?” (Aside from the improper use of the semicolon, WTF does this even mean?!?!?!)

You know what, Don? I have no problem saying that you and your staffers are a bunch of hacks and idiots who've done nothing but cause problems for the caucus ever since your sorry ass got elected. My question is; are you?

Nothing says "we're serious" like a resolution.

While the Democrats continue to fight and bicker amongst themselves over their break-the-bank autism mandate, they've found something that everyone can rally around: a totally worthless resolution declaring April as Autism Awareness Month. I'm sure they'll have the kids up in the gallery and all that crap too. Gotta have props and stuff for the teevee cameras.

So African-Americans only get 28 days, but the autistic kids get thirty. Nice!

Earth to Democrats: if this is your best effort at sleight-of-hand, let's just say that everyone can see you pulling the cards off the bottom of the deck.

WEA Trust hangs price tag on autism mandate. Democrats cringe.

Many Democrats (and some Republicans) have blindly pursued the autism mandate as a piece of feel-good legislation for years. Of course, it's a great wedge issue that pits people who are charitable and compassionate against those who are heartless and would otherwise dare to demand that government not pass another unfunded mandate onto the shoulders of insurance companies, and as a result, policyholders. Or something like that.

But it gets a hell of a lot more interesting when the biggest political supporter of the Democrats decides it's got a problem with the concept.

WEA Trust, the insurance providing arm of WEAC, has reportedly run all the numbers and determined that the autism mandate would cost each of its members about $120 a year to fund. Needless to say, this has made WEAC unhappy, and they've let Democrats know it.

This of course has caused consternation within the Doyle administration. You know, how dare WEAC, a trade group, act in the interest of its members? Doesn't it exist solely to carry Jim Doyle's water?

Another interesting note is how poorly the autism folks have lobbied the legislature, and how near this is to the minds of so many who have dealt with them over the years.

As I spoke to some current and former staffers and lobbyists over the last few days, many have suggested that the autism parents are even worse than the prison guards that leggies and staff had to wrangle with during their contract impasses earlier this decade. They barge into offices without appointments, demand to meet with legislators (who frequently aren't in town and don't even represent them), and otherwise storm around like petulant little children. And all because they think that you, Joe Taxpayer, should have to pay for their child's health condition.

Those lobbying for the autism mandate are, as a whole, one of the most obnoxious and ill-mannered constituencies the legislature deals with on a regular basis. Personally, I would hope that Wisconsin politicians would resist their whiny complaints until they learned how to behave better than their kids.

But I digress. In any case, if WEA Trust is suggesting that each of its members will have to pony up $10 a month to make this happen, that probably means you will too. In fact, you'll probably be ponying up even more, since for those of you in smaller insurance pools, one instance of autism poisons the well to a far greater degree. In other words, there are far fewer people to share the risk.

How do you feel about that? That's like half of your monthly stimulus from President Obama! You barely got your first stimulus payment and now those greedy autism parents want half of it!

So often politicians, conservative or liberal, abandon any notion of fiscal responsibility when it comes to their own pet projects. Let's see how willingly the bleeding hearts of the Capitol pursue this mandate once the price tag gets hung more publicly on their forced brand of charity. And especially when the price tag is coming from the hand that feeds them.

Chris Dodd: Big Idiot, or Biggest Idiot Ever?

Seriously, it's great to watch politicians turn into raving hypocrites before our very eyes. You Democrats must be really proud of this guy.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.95, 0.1699, 21.78%) bonus recipients so the government could recoup some or all of the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax.

While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. The provision, now called “the Dodd Amendment” by the Obama Administration, provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” -- which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax.

From petulance to outright theft

That appears to be the direction that our mighty congressional Democrats are heading in.

WASHINGTON – Congressional Democrats vowed Tuesday to all but strip AIG executives of their $165 million in bonuses as expressions of outrage swelled in Congress over eye-catching extra income for employees of a firm that has received billions in taxpayer bailout funds.

"Recipients of these bonuses will not be able to keep all of their money," declared Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in an unusually strong threat delivered on the Senate floor.

"If you don't return it on your own we will do it for you," said Chuck Schumer of New York...

In the House, Reps. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, introduced a bill that would that would tax at 100 percent bonuses above $100,000 paid by companies that have received federal bailout money.

Politicians think indignation should trump contract law

Sound and fury signifying nothing.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared Monday that insurance giant American International Group is in financial straits because of "recklessness and greed" and said he intends to stop it from paying out millions in executive bonuses.

"It's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay," Obama said at the outset of an appearance to announce help for small businesses hurt by the deep recession.

"How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat," the president said.

Sorry, Mr. President. I don't think your moral outrage will trump a binding contract in court. C'mon, you went to Harvard Law. You should know this. Larry Summers knows it. Why don't you?

While AIG royally screwed the pooch, there's nothing the government can do now to rewrite contracts between AIG and its employees that existed at the time President Bush bestowed the first bailout on them. I get why politicians are upset, but most of them should've thought of this before the federal government wrote the first check. Or the second check. Or the third check.

Certainly they're free to make the nullification of these types of bonuses a contingency for future assistance, but they can't expect a mulligan now that they realize they should've done things differently.

I don't get it.

Really, not much else to say. I just don't get it. Do you? Please, if you get it, clue the rest of us in. Thanks.

More thoughts on DPI

After seeing one of our intrepid journalists make use of some of my old blog material in this week's Isthmus article about the DPI race, I thought I'd offer a few additional comments. (FYI, I like the fact that I was referred to as a "dissident Republican." It makes me feel like Solzhenitsyn or something.)

Tony Evers is white bread and totally unexciting, and yet will still probably win by 10+ points. There are three major reasons why, and absolutely none of them have to do with Tony Evers. Actually, pretty much nothing in this race has to do with Tony Evers - it's just about WEAC and Rose Fernandez.

First, Fernandez is going to get buried in the next few weeks on radio and TV. A lot of that advertising is going to be negative and it's going to be nasty. WEAC's DPI strategy is usually "why play ball with your opponent when you can just hit her with the bat?" Her $42,000 in public financing won't buy her much, so WEAC will own the airwaves like they always do. The only way to effectively communicate outstate is via television and radio. Papers don't write about the DPI race because it's boring and direct mail isn't worth a heck of a lot except to reinforce what's being said elsewhere.

The second reason is that she's running the trademark, Linda Cross, anti-establishment campaign. Fernandez says things like "(Evers) has experience doing everything that WEAC tells him to do." That is perhaps an assumed negative if your name is on the AFP mailing list, but most voters don't have a problem with WEAC. Conservatives are so busy arrogantly assuming that everyone should already think like they do that they never bother to adequately explain to voters why they shouldn't substitute WEAC's judgment for their own.

The final problem is that if you're going to run against the status quo, you better be pretty damn sure the voting public thinks the status quo sucks. Wisconsin's public schools, by and large, are excellent. Wisconsin students consistently rank among the top in the nation in standardized test scores. The overwhelming majority of parents send their kids to schools that are safe and where they learn from good teachers. Most parents like and are satisfied with their children's education opportunities.

Rose Fernandez wants voters to believe that she's the solution. But first, she needs to convince voters that there's actually a problem. She's got 3 1/2 weeks to do it, and the clock is ticking.

The more we know Scott Walker, the more we are indifferent to him.

For those of you who haven't seen the 2010 poll numbers put out by the MacIver Institute, they're pretty telling.

Jim Doyle 50%
Scott Walker 43%

Now for the fantastic news...

Jim Doyle 49%
Mark Neumann 42%

Scott Walker has whored himself around the state for the better part of five years, trying to get people to love the idea of electing a college dropout from Milwaukee County as their governor. Meanwhile, Mark Neumann has been completely off the political radar since nearly defeating Russ Feingold in 1998. What's it gotten Walker?

One point. Way to be, Scotty. Way to be.

Second verse, same as the first...

If they can stretch the Miller Park stadium tax until 2025, that'd be just around the time that the Brewers start grumbling for another new stadium.

A new financial analysis released Tuesday says the Miller Park stadium sales tax might have to stay in place as late as 2018.

That would be a worst-case scenario. But the two determining factors affecting the sunset date of the 0.1% tax, which is collected in Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha, Milwaukee and Racine counties, are sales tax revenue and the return on Miller Park stadium district investments.

And both of those are hard to predict.

Depending on the rate of return, the tax could end in 2014 or stay in place until 2017 or 2018, the Miller Park stadium district board was told Tuesday.

Idle voters to be moved to the inactive list

I've never understood why we haven't done this sooner. We require people to update vehicle registration information on an annual basis. Why we have not periodically required voters to do the same is confounding.

Oh, and spare me the disenfranchisement crap in advance. Asking an inactive voter to take one affirmative action to remain on a voter list is hardly an undue burden.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin voters who have not voted for at least four years have two weeks to respond to a notice sent to them last month by the state Government Accountability Board or they will be declared inactive.

The postcard was mailed to more than 313,000 Wisconsinites last month and tells then that if they want to be retained as active voters, they must respond to the agency by March 23. Voters who do not respond will be classified as inactive, which means, they will no longer be included on poll lists.

Van Hollen declines to appeal minimum markup ruling

Have I mentioned lately how nice it is to see an Attorney General base his decisions on analysis and good procedure and not prance around like a partisan hack with an agenda? And while I'm sure many conservative hacks will praise his decision for all the wrong reasons, it's good to see that Van Hollen isn't wrapping himself in an ideological flag.

Madison-- Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen released the following statement today announcing his decision not to appeal Flying J v. Van Hollen, a case in which the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin struck down as unconstitutional Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act with respect to its motor vehicle fuel provisions (the “minimum markup law”):

Last month, a United States District Court found the minimum markup law unconstitutional with respect to its motor vehicle fuel provisions because they were preempted by federal antitrust law.

As district attorney, my office prosecuted violations of the minimum markup law. As Attorney General, my office provided a vigorous defense of this law. And while we supplied the court with numerous arguments in defense of the statute as is our statutory obligation, the state lost.

Today, I am announcing that the Wisconsin Department of Justice will not be initiating an appeal of this decision to the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kagen on line-item veto: "Oink Oink Oink."

That Steve Kagen loves him some pork. Or so he basically said today in speaking against a proposal by Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. Paul Ryan (and some guy named McCain? McSame? McLame?) to grant the president line-item veto authority.

From WisPolitics:

Speaking with reporters this morning in a conference call, Kagen said the Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse, and that elected representatives from a congressional district know better than the president what the needs of a district are.

"The framers of our Constitution have put forward the authority within Article I of the Constitution, I think it should remain there," he said.

I believe that translates to "OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK."

As we all know well, Wisconsin's very own Doctor Do-Little loves to back the truck up for his district. And he's right of course - any Congressman will know better than the President as to what pet projects will help him endear himself to his constituents. So why have federal agencies attempt to use objective criteria to allocate funding authorized by Congress, when we can just let the idiot Congressmen do it themselves?

Long-time readers of this blog know that I tend to think of John Gard as the second coming of Wally Kunicki, the guy who was handed a kingdom and pissed it all away. And yet both in 2006 and 2008, I suggested voting for Gard over Kagen because Steve Kagen is just that incompetent as a politician.

Kagen is political roadkill the first time the GOP can find someone to run against him who isn't the electoral equivalent of kryptonite. Dear God, please let that be 2010.

West Bend library, gays conspire to brainwash Christian children.

Or so I hear. West Bend residents Ginny and Jim Maziarka are very concerned that the West Bend Public Library dares to stock books that portray homosexuality in a less than negative light. In an email sent to the West Bend Daily News, they offered the following commentary:

"We find the books for youth on homosexuality to be biased, gay-affirming, promotional and romanticized... We believe our library should be offering appropriate, wholesome literature to our youth instead of pursuing the illegitimate goals of transforming the views of other people's children on the contentious issue of homosexuality."

There's nothing I adore more than watching the lunatic fringe get up in arms about library books that talk about things they don't like. Once upon a time it was black people, now it's those darned gays.

So all hell is breaking loose because a couple of folks are wound up about the fact that the library is stocking "pro-homosexual" material and, horror of horrors, including a link to a LGBT booklist on its website. Here's the link.

Apparently our resident Christian soldiers did not notice that just a few spots down the list is a heading titled "Faithful Fiction," which lists a bunch of pro-Christian books. Quick, someone tell the Muslims of West Bend that the library is promoting a pro-Christian agenda on its website! Muslim kids might accidentally check out books that glorify Jesus!

I also love how in some communities, any book that doesn't advocate tying homosexuals to fence posts, beating them up, and leaving them to die is somehow labeled by a reporter as being "pro-homosexual." That, in and of itself, is a sad commentary on the mindset of some individuals. To simply write a book that acknowledges variations in sexual orientation without passing judgment is apparently unacceptable to some.

As we all know, it's entirely possible for heterosexual individuals to engage in behaviors that outwardly appear homosexual. This whole concept has made Joe Francis a millionaire many times over. Straight college girls + booze + free t-shirts + videocamera = hot, quasi-lesbian action. It's also entirely possible for a homosexual man to get married, have kids, and work to convince himself that it's what God wants or that it's the right thing to do.

But it doesn't change the fact that deep down, he wants to have sex with other men. Once again, we have a pile of legitimate scientific data on one side of the argument, and a bunch of religiously-inspired hocus pocus on the other side of the argument. And one more time, the hocus-pocus crowd wants an equal seat at the table.

It's the creationism in biology class discussion all over again. Religious conservatives have no qualitative argument to make that can withstand any type of scientific scrutiny, but they demand to be heard anyway simply because they don't like what science has to say.

The best part is when the Maziarkas complain that some of these books pursue "the illegitimate goals of transforming the views of other people's children on the contentious issue of homosexuality."

Isn't any book that a kid checks out that conflicts with their parents' worldview going to potentially transform their views? And what exactly is a non-contentious issue? Should we also pull all the books about flag burning, or abortion, or gun ownership, or religion? Last I checked, religion was the single most contentious issue on the planet. Maybe the library should also get rid of all those books it purchases that promote and romanticize Christianity. A lot of Christian fiction is nothing but faith-affirmative, agenda-pushing garbage - yet the library stocks some of it. I know because they have a link to it on their website!

In a society filled with people who clearly have no problems being outwardly condemning of homosexuality in a public forum, maybe it's an okay thing that a kid who is figuring out his or her sexual identity has some place to go where they can read about others who have similar experiences. I would imagine that growing up being attracted to people of the same gender isn't the easiest experience to comprehend in a world seemingly filled with straight people.

Finally, nobody at the library is forcing any kid to click on a link or check out a book, let alone read the darn thing. If this small handful of parents is so concerned, perhaps they should do a better job policing their children to make sure they aren't exposed to any contrarian viewpoints. Or perhaps they should purchase some of their favorite ex-gay books (you know, the hocus pocus ones) and donate them to the library. I'm guessing the library would stock them, even though it's a viewpoint that's been thoroughly discredited by scientists over and over and over again.

While I'm a Christian and do my best to abide by the teachings of Christ, I've always thought it better to love my neighbor and leave the judging part up to God. It saddens me to see people like this so poorly represent my faith. And some Christians wonder why young people keep turning away from the church? Maybe it's because this is the kind of closed-minded, judgmental, loveless Christianity they have to look at everyday.

WEAC's hypocrisy on school funding

Christian Schneider has an excellent column today on the WPRI blog that outlines how remarkably different WEAC's attitude is when a Democratic governor and a Republican governor do basically the same thing on K-12 spending. Do yourself a favor and take a look. Here's a preview:

Like Christmas in July, or Easter in September

I hope the UW-Madison College Republicans got a discount on this booking:

Greetings, Fellow Republicans!

We've got two really great events coming up in the coming week, so please take a break (or two!) from studying for midterms and join us for one of the following:

Thursday, March 5; 7:30 - 9 P.M. in 2080 Grainger Hall: The College Republicans are hosting STAR PARKER for Black History Month...