warmmidwest's blog

Hold on!

Hold on tight to your seats!

Leaks about the Wisconsin State Budget,

Are about to increase!

$400 million will seem,

Like a drop in the hat,

Compared to $1.2 billion,

It ain't all that,

We'll long for the days,

When we used to ask,

"How will I pay for my family's healthcare?"

And instead now say,

"I was able to get some tomatoes,

from the food pantry today,"

At least we're in a good state,

To start life back on the farm.

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!

I guess somebody had to take up the anti-Wisconsin rantings in place of WMC, and it looks like Governor Jim Doyle's former co-chair of the Economic Growth Council is up to the task! The Wisconsin State Journal thinks his point of view has enough credibility to publish this OpEd, "State of Wisconsin still a welfare magnet," without so much as providing numbers to substantiate any aspect of his argument.

"Wisconsin had one of the five worst migration patterns in the United States from 2000 to 2006. Higher income individuals left Wisconsin. Individuals on the lowest rung of the economic ladder migrated to Wisconsin."

Are these statements, or facts? Who knows!

A few questions for Mr. Hefty:

Is the word "migration" your quaint, racist euphemism for non-white people moving here from Chicago and other parts south?

Why don't you use real numbers from Wisconsin and neighboring states rather than relying on some Brookings Institute and Princeton studies? And why don't you name these studies, or link to them in the article? Do they exist?

Are you kidding me? Madison couldn't come up with $680,000 to help fund the Metro Bus System, so they're raising fares by 50 cents?

What's wrong with you people? As reported in the WSJ, there seems to be all kinds of ways the City Council could've scrapped together this money.

The roads transportation budget was increased 60%! You couldn't take a little money from that? Really, State St. and Gillman need to be paved again? 

What a farce, and will someone with a modicum of credibility PULEEEZE run against this Mayor Dave guy in the next election?

UPDATE: Madison Mayor defends fare increase. I love the reader comments!

I'm sure others have beat me to this, but I just remembered all the hullabaloo about how the 2004 presidential election was a proven mandate for Bush to lead this country. Remember this?