It isn't as though we in Wisconsin are clueless frogs, slowly coming to boil in a pot of water on the stove. We know what's happened to the state's economy, both before and after Scott Walker's assumption of the governor's office. Some among us doubtlessly continue to believe Walker saved a state whose government was "broke" even while it kept on cutting taxes, but more and more -- such as in the state's latest, dismal quarterly labor statistics -- it is becoming clear that Walker's fiscal decisions have been disastrous.

Join me at a Town Hall Meeting to discuss the state budget. The two-year budget affects you in ways you may never have imagined.

There’s almost $70 billion in spending in this budget. The economy’s slowly improving; more money is coming in from taxes and fees. This budget spends about $3.2 billion more than the last budget

Scott Walker, again defending his support of legislation to end local government residency requirements for public employees, is now pushing a new angle in the face of resistance not just from his biggest target, Milwaukee, but also from smaller communities. Local ordinances mandating that public employees including municipal workers, police and school teachers reside in the communities and districts where they work suddenly aren't, in Walker talking points, just an issue about "freedom." Oh, no, they're also about improving public education. But governor, how does that work, exactly?

Everyone knew long before the recent news of the "Vote For Me For President" book, that Scott Walker was running for president in 2016.  But, according to Republican strategists I have spoken with, there is a very real possibility that Walker may skip his 2014 re-election to focus on winning the GOP nomination.

Submitted for your approval: Another pair of cases that demonstrate the hoary truism that, "It's okay if you're a Republican."

First, State Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) announces he wants to regulate what kinds of foods that poor people on federal food stamps may consume. Kaufert's proposal would require Food Stamp recipients to spend more on foods with higher nutritional value and less on snacks. Kaufert would require that the state Department of Health Services establish guidelines over the, er, federal program.

Yes, Rep. Kaufert is from the same political party some of whose other members heavily criticized New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg when he pushed a plan in that city to limit the size of super-gulp-sized sugar soda drinks, in his own campaign to improve the health of residents. In the case of Bloomberg (who happens to be a moderate Republican), GOP and conservative critics argued the plan was an assault on personal freedom. Of course, that New York measure didn't discriminate based on income or enrollment in a particular government program. It affected everyone. Everyone! Bad! Bad! 

On the other hand, in Republicanland, it's never an assault on personal freedom to boss around poor people, telling them what to do, especially if they're so poor they're on public assistance.

Republicans of the Scott Walker breed have dissed the few moderates left in their increasingly wingnut party on any number of issues, but among the most breath-taking among these assaults in Wisconsin has been the party's increasing disdain for mass transit. Because, apparently, mass transit isn't necessary, it's wasteful, no one uses it, and -- perhaps most important == too many of the many people who do use it are, ah, you know, people of ... another persuasion.

Last week, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Pat Roggensack told Wisconsin Eye that she and the rest of the court "otta get some credit" for the fact that there have been no "innapropriate interactions" since June of 2011, when she had to physically stop fellow conservative Justice David Prosser's attempt to strangle Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.

Life is never fun if it's not changing.  Around here life is really fun.  So, in that spirit we are conducting a new experiment. On many of the pages on the site you will now see a "REPOST" button.  Clicking on that button will let you embed that article in your own web site by putting in a little snippet of code, much like embedding a YouTube video. I'm not at all sure if this feature will stick around for the long run, but we're trying it out. Let us know what you think.