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Archive for the ‘wisconsin’ Category

Milwaukee sure has a habit of giving the rest of Wisconsin a black eye (no pun intended).  Enter Ieshuh Griffin.

Madison — State elections officials Wednesday narrowly rejected a Milwaukee Assembly candidate’s attempt to run with the slogan “NOT the ‘whiteman’s bitch’ ” under her name on the ballot.

Ieshuh Griffin, an independent candidate with a history of feuds with local officials, said in response she would sue the state Government Accountability Board for infringing on her freedom of speech.

She is running to replace retiring Rep. Annette “Polly” Williams (D-Milwaukee).

“I’m not making a derogatory statement toward an ethnic group. I’m stating what I’m not,” Griffin told board members. “It’s my constitutional right to freedom of speech.”

Maybe she should sit down and have an intellectual conversation with Peggy West, geographically challenged Democrat Milwaukee County Board Supervisor who didn’t know that Arizona is a border state.   You stay classy Milwaukee.

Feingold did his best to look responsible by opposing the financial reform bill to win points among voters in the upcoming election. Here is what he had to say.

Feingold’s stand has made it more difficult for his party to muster the 60 Senate votes it needs to pass what is a huge priority for the White House and frustrated some progressive groups who are his natural allies.

His position on the issue is unique in the 100-member Senate.

All the measure’s other opponents in that body are Republicans. Feingold is the only senator opposing the bill from the progressive side of the debate and the only one who is arguing that the new regulations are so timid and easy on Wall Street that passage would do more harm than good.

“It doesn’t do the job, and I’m not going to be part of basically defrauding the American people into thinking it does,” said Feingold in an interview that underscored his pointed differences with his own party on a reform package intended to prevent a repeat of the catastrophic financial meltdown of 2008.

It was all for show though, as I rightly predicted.  Much like the Democrats in Arizona begging Obama not to sue their state, Feingold is only worried about the upcoming election.  Feingold gladly voted for the $787 billion “stimulus” and the unconstitutional health care mandate.  My prediction was that Feingold could be a dissenting vote on the finance reform bill and look good for his constituents, while the two RINOs in Maine pick up the slack and help ram the bill through anyway.  Other than Scott Brown’s vote, I was right.   The bill readily passed without him, and will be signed into law next week. Meanwhile, Feingold doubles down on his campaign rhetoric as the November election gets closer.

I agree with the Journal Sentinel that the bill includes some positive consumer protections. But after listening to Wisconsinites frustrated about the prospect of future bailouts, I cannot support a bill that simply doesn’t get the job done.

I work for the people of Wisconsin, not Wall Street, and the people of Wisconsin deserve a bill that will protect them and their families from the pain of another financial crisis.

Feingold is doing his best to paint himself as a maverick who bucks the trend of the liberal Democratic Party’s  big spending, big government agenda.  But the facts of his record say otherwise.

According to the US Congress Votes Database Feingold voted with the Democratic Party 79.8 percent of 598 votes in the current congress.  Feingold is a rank-and-file Democrat according to GovTrack’s own analysis of bill sponsorship.

What about campaign contributions? He’s a man of the people who bucks the liberal trend of being in the pocket of corrupt union influence, stays away from the influence of greedy lawyers, and whose voting on health care is not determined by campaign contributions, right?  Well, no.

Top 20 Feingold Contributors

Nearly all of his contributions come from unions, lawyers, and health care industries.  Feingold is no different than Pelosi, Reid, and Obama. Its time to give this career politician the boot this November.

Update

I’ve had a couple people comment on the large number of contributions from the University of Wisconsin.  First, you need to remember that nationwide roughly 72% of college professors identify themselves as liberal (shocking, I know) while  only 15% identify as conservative. You also need to know a little something about Madison, WI (home of the largest UW school in the system).  Madison is such a large liberal stronghold, that around the rest of the state it’s commonly referred to as “The People’s Republic of Madison,” also commonly known as “78 square miles surrounded by the real world.”

I think this clip from Ghostbusters pretty much sums things up.

If there is one city in Wisconsin that begs for reform it’s Milwaukee.  With one of the worst school systems in the state (one of the lowest graduation rates in the nation for black students) one of the highest crime rates in the country, and a corrupt Democrat stronghold, it’s easy to find reasons why. Lately Milwaukee has been stuck on stupid (more than usual).  Enter Peggy West, geographically challenged Democrat Milwaukee County Board Supervisor who is obviously a graduate of the Milwaukee school system.  She is a perfect example of the lack of intelligence behind those opposed to Arizona’s immigration bill.

While looking for some school stats for Milwaukee I stumbled across a handful of videos taken by students in the Milwaukee public school system.  As you take a good close look at this video of the Bayview High School 2010 graduation ceremony keep this fact in mind: only 41% of black students graduate from Milwaukee public schools.

Well color me surprised:

Up to 1,000 jobs at Bucyrus International Inc. and its suppliers could be in jeopardy as the result of a decision by the U.S. Export-Import Bank, funded by Congress, to deny several hundred million dollars in loan guarantees to a coal-fired power plant and mine in India.

About 300 of those jobs are at the Bucyrus plant in South Milwaukee, where the company has 1,410 employees and its headquarters. The remaining jobs are spread across 13 states, including Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana.

On Thursday, the Export-Import Bank denied financing for Reliance Power Ltd., an Indian power plant company, effectively wiping out about $600 million in coal mining equipment sales for Bucyrus, chief executive Tim Sullivan said.

The fossil fuel project was the first to come before the government-run bank since it adopted a climate-change policy to settle a lawsuit and to meet Obama administration directives.

“President Obama has made clear his administration’s commitment to transition away from high-carbon investments and toward a cleaner-energy future,” Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg said in a statement. “After careful deliberation, the Export-Import Bank board voted not to proceed with this project because of the projected adverse environmental impact.”

Its important to note that this isnt even a coal plant in the U.S., but in India, so Obama’s efforts to stop coal really won’t accomplish anything.  As Ed Morrissey chimes in, it will actually make it worse:

This decision won’t stop one carbon molecule from hitting the air.  In fact, it will likely make carbon emissions worse.  India will look for other vendors to supply the equipment, probably from neighboring Russia or China, as they will continue to build and operate the plant.  Both nations compete in the same marketplace as Bucyrus, but they don’t work as cleanly as the American company does, which means the end result will be lower efficiency and more pollution.

Democrats like Obama keep talking about eeeeeevil corporations that export jobs overseas to save costs rather than keep them in the US.  Well, Obama and his Congress just sent 1,000 jobs overseas — jobs Americans lost, and jobs that either Russian or Chinese workers will get instead. And instead of bankrupting this new coal plant, they just made it dirtier.  Good job!

Two Democrats in Wisconsin, neither up for re-election, scrambled to find political cover in the wake of the devastating decision.  Governor Jim Doyle and Senator Herb Kohl both publicly objected to the decision and promised to push for a reversal, even though there is no appeal at the Export-Import Bank.  Senator Russ Feingold, who is running for re-election, has been quiet about the debacle thus far.  The most liberal member of the Senate has expressed skepticism about cap-and-trade, but only in the way carbon allotments punish Wisconsin in order to benefit California and Massachusetts — the two states where the bill’s authors reside in both the House and Senate versions of the bill.

A whole lot of us (not the state run media of course) were shouting about Obama’s desire to kill the coal industry when he was running for president.  But obviously those on the left in places like Milwaukee and Madison didn’t want to listen.   So as the old saying goes, you reap what you sow.  How’s that hopen’change working out for you Wisconsin? Here is a refresher for everyone who wouldn’t listen during the election.

Uh oh:

MADISON, Wis. – Until recently, Wisconsin seemed to be a Democratic strategist’s dream — a blue state getting bluer. Its two U.S. senators were well-established liberal Democrats. The governor’s office and both houses of the Legislature were in Democratic control after years of divided government. And President Barack Obama won the state in 2008 by 14 percentage points, one of his largest victory margins anywhere.

But something went awry on the way to Democratic hegemony.

A conservative insurgency — headed by a Republican candidate who actively courts, of all things, the tea party — is now making a strong bid for governor. And across the state, Democrats suddenly find themselves fighting to hold seats they once took for granted.

“Obviously we’re all nervous about our own situations,” said state Rep. Marlin Schneider, a Democrat who has served in the Legislature since 1970 and now faces two Republican challengers and an Independent. “There is a nasty mood there that has been there since the 2008 election.”

I have never understood why many Wisconsinites have leaned left. Madison and Milwaukee I can understand because they live in their own little independent universe where everything is rainbows, unicorns and anti-gun laws (which explains why Milwaukee is one of the deadliest cities in the nation).  Democrats have always been in favor of higher taxes, expansion of the welfare system, and increased regulation on small businesses that drive our state’s economy.   With Democrats in power Wisconsin has been run into the ground fiscally, with a record 5.4 billion dollar shortfall being shouldered by the private sector while government grows and state employee pensions skyrocket.  In fact, earlier today it was announced that Wisconsin lost 7,900 private sector jobs in the month of May while it added thousands of government jobs that will undoubtedly worsen the already dire fiscal situation. Are Wisconsinites finally waking up to the failed policies of the elected Democrats?