Uppity Wisconsin

It seems that many of those who are regular guests of this space are committed to a worldview based on some degree of reason and rationality.

That's a handy thing if the "Covert Alarm Locator Apparatus" in your Isaac Daniel® Compass Global 1000 GPS sneakers should happen to fail and you need to find your way back to where the rest of us are; sadly, not all voters are equipped with such a helpful worldview.

Luckily for them, there are lots of conservative "mouth organs" ready to fill the "information gap".

They send out lots of emails every day, spreading their Word, and as a public service I receive several of them; this to help keep track of just what's out there, exactly.

If you ever wondered why otherwise normal people believe some of the craziest things about "Obama's Secret Death Care And National Virgin Sacrifice Program", have a look at some of the things I get every single day, and it might all make a bit more sense.

LANGUAGE WARNING: Today’s story is uncharacteristically blunt, and from this moment forward we will be using lots of inappropriate language in making our points.

Gentle Reader, you have been officially...warned.

With that in mind, if you take offense when confronted with language strong enough to knock a fuckin’ buzzard off a shitwagon, please stop reading now.

It is by now fairly well known that Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s White House Chief of Staff, had a bit of a blow-up with liberals who were ready to start running ads against “blue dog” Democrats who were working very hard to shut down the health care reform effort.

Now we’re not gonna get in the middle of that argument today; instead, since we’re finally getting a chance to talk, I figured me and Rahm could get a few other things out of the way that have been on everyone’s mind for the past year or so.

Republican Testosterone PlummetsThe ever-reliable The Register reports a fascinating bit of research that indicates testosterone levels in Republican men dropped significantly immediately following the Obama Election.  Personally I think they should have continued to track this up to the present, since the continual whining and grouchiness ever since from the Party of No leads me to believe that they've lost all sense of manliness.

By the way - women were unaffected, which is an interesting data point in view of the often-raised issues about not trusting women in combat or other positions of reponsibility due to their hormonal surges - looks like the men are a lot more guilty, at least for election-based hormones.  (There's a sentence I never expected to write).

So it’s the day of the big speech, Mr. President, and we got trouble with a capital “T” right here in Health Care City.

What are you gonna do? Do we follow the traditional Democratic Party legislative process of passing...something...at any cost, assuming the entire time that the Left and the Netroots will “go along with the program”, or is there a risk that the calculus doesn’t work as well today as it did in 1994 and 1996?

Well, lucky for you, I’m a fake consultant, and I know a few things about your “target market”, so before you answer that question...we need to talk.

So if you’re like me, you have been wondering just exactly what all this “tea party” stuff is about. There’s going to be some sort of protest, that we know; but beyond that the whole thing seems a little...vague. Alternatively, it’s possible that you were unaware that “tea party” has recently become a word reborn in conservative political circles. Well, whether you knew it or not, April 15th was indeed a day of protest, with citizens gathering for what were reported to be a series of grassroots events across the nation that was intended to invoke the spirit of the Boston Tea Party. In an effort to find out exactly what is motivating these folks, and to find out what they are trying to accomplish, I took my handy recorder and captured a conversation with a “tea bag” protester. We will review that conversation, and we will follow it up with a few thoughts about how this group of voters might impact electoral politics going forward. Let’s begin by setting the stage: the city of Issaquah, Washington (population about 17,000) is more or less 15 miles east of downtown Seattle, in eastern King County. It’s a bedroom community, for the most part, with some light industrial and stores like Home Depot.

In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

Why do we need money for sexual healthcare problems?

Um,  because this country just endured eight years of ignorance / federally mandated abstinence only education, they know nothing about sexual health, and as a result got all kinds of diseases?

Just a guess.

Wisconsin Republicans vote for wars. They vote to deny low income children healthcare benefits. They vote for reducing financial regulations and oversight. They vote against tough restrictions on clean water and air.

These are Wisconsin representatives that voted in favor of giving taxpayer money to Wall Street fat cats, with NO strings attached, but when it comes to Wisconsin citizens, who do they represent?

Rep. James Sensenbrenner cries "same old song." Tom Petri says this stuff won't help the economy.

And every single one of the other Congressional House Republicans (plus 12 Democrats!) voted against the Federal stimulus package proposed by our new president. And they wonder how they lost the election? HA!

Update II: House passes Obama stimulus bill 244-188.

As America enters what is feared to be a long and deep recession, one question is whether we save or let fade our auto industry.

The GOP has long been hostile to the auto industry's unions so any union-busting opportunity not used is a wasted opportunity, in their view: Let 'em crash, millions of jobs lost, so what?

House Republicans sitting in their fantasy world spouting free market bromides are capable of anything.

But does anyone believe that saving the millions of jobs that depend on the domestic auto industry is not in itself sufficient cause to act?

The new Congress and President will act, and Republicans as a Party opposing comprehensive measures will find themselves by the political wayside very quickly.

The economy will be geared toward establishing a middle class and raising families by this new administration.

Health care reform and the whole array of initiatives addressing the concerns of real people will become policy next year, and the Republicans will scream while they lose a generation or two of voters who will see the results.

Okay, this is sad, but I can't help point out that Waukesha County is dominated by Republicans, many of whom suddenly found this website and have been railing on liberals being lazy, welfare-taking socialists (see ridiculous comments in this post).

Turns out, people in one of the "wealthiest" counties in Wisconsin can't pay their bills, however.

Waukesha County had more large claim money judgment lawsuits filed by September than in all of last year. Many were for failure to pay credit card debt. 

When last we met, Gentle Reader, we were talking about more or less $150,000 in clothing and beauty services that had been purchased mostly for Sarah Palin’s use by the Republican National Committee. Since then, we have learned that John McCain himself once tried to outlaw the very type of contribution that led to this situation, we’ve heard McCain’s campaign offer a very non-maverick-y denial...and we’ve learned that the highest paid member of the McCain campaign staff—the person who presumably has the magic touch needed to turn this thing around—will be working her magic with a makeup brush. As we discussed yesterday, I think I could have dressed Palin for 1/3 of what the RNC paid. Yesterday we “purchased” five of the outfits I think she needs...and with half the shopping done, we’re $670 over budget. Can she be dressed for a mere $43,000? Let’s see if we can pull it off...