The Persecution of Wisconsin Conservatives

For the crime of supporting Gov. Walker, the Left demands blood.  Conservative political entities who supported Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are being subjected to a secret investigation. Special Prosecutor Francis Schmitz has issued a series of subpoenas to 29 conservative groups, demanding that they submit all documentation related to the recall campaigns mounted by unions and their supporters against Walker in 2011 and 2012. The investigation is being conducted under the auspices of the state’s John Doe law, which forbids the targets of subpoenas from revealing the contents of those subpoenas to anyone other than their lawyers.

The effort reeks of political intimidation. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two subpoenas they’ve reviewed demand “all memoranda, email . . . correspondence, and communications” within the targets of the subpoenas themselves, and between those targets and conservative groups such as the Friends of Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Manufacturers &Commerce, Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin, American Crossroads, the Republican Governors Association, and the League of American Voters.

In a transparent effort to determine an entity’s list of campaign donors, one subpoena demands “all records of income received, including fundraising information and the identity of persons contributing to the corporation.”

CONTINUED:  http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/59351?utm_source=CFP+Mailout&utm_campaign=bea18a81a3-Call_to_Champions&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d8f503f036-bea18a81a3-291132961

Legislative Update: February 19, 2012

TPP Legislative Update & Newsletter

Compliments of Tea Party Patriots

February 19, 2012

Passion to Action
Your fellow patriots in Wisconsin desperately need your help to verify signatures in the recall elections!! From True the Vote: “We need your help! All we ask for is 100 minutes. In 100 minutes you can enter data for approximately 100 petition signatures. Nearly 13,000 volunteers from 49 states have signed up to participate in this recall effort. This is the real deal - citizens are taking control - let's stand together!” They are only 75% done and the deadline is February 27th!! Can you help?? If so, please click here to fill out the volunteer form and PLEASE FORWARD THIS!!!

Federal Budget
 

 No Budget: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 marks the 1028th day since the Senate has passed a budget under the leadership of Harry Reid (D-NV). Do not buy the spin that the Democrats passed a budget when they passed the debt ceiling deal. When we asked the RSC for a good explanation about why the debt ceiling deal was not a budget, this was their response:

• “The Budget Control Act is technically, functionally, and politically different from a budget. A budget is a ten-year document that lays out both a spending and policy direction for the country that includes spending, revenues, and economic projections—among other things. It is a message to the American people that outlines the direction that we think the country should go, and forces us to articulate and defend our choices. The only way that the Budget Control Act is all like a national budget is that it sets a top line spending figure for 2012 and 2013. But to call that a budget would be like a family sitting down at the beginning of the year and just saying, this is how much we want to spend this year, and leaving it at that. No discussion of how much money they expect to earn, where they need to make tough choices on cutting spending, or of the economic reality they expect to face”

 Payroll Deal: From Bob Williams of State Budget Solutions: “The recent payroll tax deal increases the national debt by $100 billion and is in violation of the PAYGO rules. Not only does it increase the national debt by $100 billion, but it also moves up the bankruptcy of the social security fund. Of course, Congress simply ignored the PAYGO rules. Repeatedly Speaker Boehner has caved in on principles and has been responsible for increasing the national debt. The Congressional Budget Office released a study showing than the Social Security Trust Fund had $1 billion less than expected. So rather than trying to put social security on a sound actuary basis Boehner caved in to the Democrats and once again raided the social security fund by cutting the payroll tax.”


 Rotten Highway Bill: According to Jim DeMint, the highway bill represents another example of DC politicians’ addiction to big spending. And he states, “Despite all the hyperventilating about a tea party takeover in Congress, the sad truth is that in 2011 Congress increased spending from the year before, raised the debt limit by $2 trillion, and funded ObamaCare.”

 No Solutions: Watch Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner laugh about the fact that the President’s budget doesn’t address our out-of-control debt, and admit that they have no solutions.
 
 Obama’s Budget: The President finally released his budget today, and as expected, it would give us deeper deficits, increased spending, bigger government, and higher taxes. Key facts from his budget:

• Spends Too Much:

               $47 trillion of government spending over the next decade
               Proposes a net increase over current spending projections

• Taxes Too Much:

              $1.9 trillion in new taxes
              Raises taxes, not to pay down the debt, but to fuel more government
                spending

• Borrows Too Much:

             Four straight years of trillion-dollar-plus deficits;
                no plan to reduce the debt
             Gross debt at the end of FY22: $25.9 trillion

• Budget Gimmicks & Broken Promises

             Overstates new deficit reduction by taking credit for savings already
                enacted
             Exploits discredited budget gimmick by “not spending” nearly $1
                trillion that was never going to be spent

Read more about President Obama’s budget here. And don’t forget, Obama has missed the budget deadline three out of four years. If you’d like to read the President’s one-pager on his budget, click here. Mercatus Center’s analysis is here.

 Crony Capitalist: Check out this graphic that shows the connections (i.e. flow of money) between the Obama administration and his cronies. (Note: It’s a graphic put out by the GOP and at the bottom they ask for donations. Including this graphic in TPP’s newsletter is not an endorsement or statement of support of the GOP. It’s just a good graphic to share.)

 Deficit Spending: Read a couple of good analyses of President Obama’s budget here and here. Also, check out this chart that highlights average annual deficit spending as a percentage of GDP.

Regulations & Jobs

• Stimulus Failure: Also from the RSC is a graph showing the jobs situation in relation to the stimulus. And read this report from the CBO on the failure of the stimulus.

Obamacare


Visit http://www.roadtorepeal.com/ to get info on the TPP rally in DC on 3/24!!!

• HSA Coalition files amicus brief
• Milliman, Inc. releases study of Medical Loss Ratio effects
• Sign the Virginia Tea Party Federation’s petition to repeal Obamacare!!
• Obama gives cabinet secretaries ability to fundraise for political organizations
• OMB Chief Contradicts Obama Brief: It's a Penalty, Not a Tax
• Payroll tax deal held some minor cuts to Obamacare
• Budgetary fraud
• Obama’s continued war on religious liberty: Chaplains treasonous?
• 45 Conservative leaders and organizations oppose HHS regulations
• Obamacare hurts small businesses hiring prospects
• United States Preventative Services Task Force – more bureaucrat control
•  Major “oops” in the law – don’t set up the state-based exchanges!!
• ACOs: HMOs Déjà Vu All Over Again
• AAPS opposes the individual mandate and filed an amicus brief
• Hidden mortgage tax

Education

• Disgraced Teacher Retires from NY City Schools. Former NYC "rubber room" teacher Alan Rosenfeld retires after making $100k a year since being removed from the classroom in 2001. NYC taxpayers will be on the hook to pay Rosenfeld $85,400 per year in retirement earnings plus health benefits for the rest of his life.
• Get Involved: Articles such as this demonstrate yet another symptom of a failed public education system. Rather than putting band-aids on the symptoms, why not join us at TEA for Education in our campaign to transform education? We are currently represented in 12 states and call on all concerned patriots to help us make education about the children. We cannot afford to waste another generation: get involved now!

Sustainable Development and Property Rights

• States Fighting Back: Tennessee is working on a bill to define
• Executive Order: Sign the petition opposing President Obama’s Executive Order that allows for the further implementation of Agenda 21.
• People Power: Vista, CA is no longer a part of ICLEI due to pressure from the citizens! Congrats!
• Get Involved: For more information on any of these issues, check out http://www.agenda21today.com/.

Illegal Immigration

• Documentary: TPP North Carolina State Coordinator Mark Hager assisted with the documentary titled, “Invasion: Freedom Under Fire!” about the struggles of American citizens who live along the southern border. If you would like to order a copy, please click here for more information.
• Waivermania: Kansas’ Agriculture Secretary is asking the Department of Homeland Security for a waiver so that agricultural businesses in Kansas could hire illegal immigrants. The agriculture businesses and others in the business community are supporting this effort. So far the Obama administration have handed out healthcare waivers and educational waivers. Are illegal immigrant waivers next? When waivers become the law of the land, there is no law.
• Alabama Too: The Attorney General in Alabama is trying to get the legislature to gut their new, stricter laws dealing with illegal aliens because he doesn’t want to have to go to court to fight for it. The Chamber of Commerce and the agricultural businesses are also supportive of the attempt to gut the laws.

Constitutional Issues

• New Website: Please check out a new website called the Intolerable Acts at http://www.theintolerableacts.org/. There you will find resources to fight against the unconstitutional provisions embedded within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). There are a number of states that are fighting back by passing resolutions. You can find templates, etc. on the website to use with your own local and state elected officials.
• Still Confused? Are you still confused about NDAA? Click here for a good explanation of why it’s so bad. And there’s more info here from the Tenth Amendment Center, refuting claims from pro-NDAA members of Congress.
• States Fighting Back: Tennessee (again!) is fighting back with legislation to help protect their residents from NDAA. North Carolina and Oklahoma are also fighting back against NDAA.
• Repeal: Ron Paul has a bill that would repeal NDAA, which would allow Congress to rewrite the funding portion of the bill without the unconstitutional portions.
• Enemy Expatriation Act: Read about it here.
• Fast and Furious: This larger-than-life scandal appears to run deep through three departments.

House of Representatives

Weekly Wrap Up – provided by the RSC

• Domestic Energy Production — Last week, the House approved H.R. 3408, Protecting Investment in Oil Shale the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy, and Resource Security (PIONEERS) Act, by a vote of 237-187. As you may have seen, the transportation bill was broken into several sections earlier in the week. The PIONEERS Act was the energy portion of the bill. The highway portion will likely be on the floor the week after recess. The following provisions in this legislation might be of interest to you:

           Keystone XL Pipeline - The legislation directs the Federal Energy Regulatory
           Commission (FERC) to, within 30 days, issue a permit for the construction for
           the Keystone XL Pipeline Project. If FERC does not issue this permit within 30
           days then the permit is deemed to have been issued.
           Oil Shale Leasing – It directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct at least
           15 commercial lease sales for oil shale development. According to Section
           17003, each sale must consist of 25,000 acres. The legislation also codifies the
           2008 regulations by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the November
           17, 2008 BLM Resource Management Plan Amendments. These both pertain to
           oil shale leasing on federal lands.
           Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing – It also directs the Secretary to conduct
           several oil and gas lease sales off the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf
           of Mexico, offshore Virginia, and offshore southern California. However, oil
           and gas exploration off the coast of California must be done with existing
           offshore infrastructure or from onshore-based drilling. The legislation also
           opens for development approximately 1,350 square miles in the Eastern Gulf of
           Mexico. The Eastern Gulf is currently closed to oil and gas development.
           Further, the legislation requires the Secretary to conduct the proposed lease sale
           in the North Aleutian Basin, in the Bering Sea off the Alaskan coast. The
           legislation also establishes guidelines for revenue sharing for coastal states. Of
           revenues received by the United States, 37.5% shall be allocated to coastal
           states that are affected by the lease sale.
           Alaska Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing – The legislation also repeals the
           ban on, and directs the Secretary to implement, an oil and gas leasing program
           for the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The
           Secretary is also directed to conduct oil and gas lease sales for no less than
           50,000 acres in ANWR, within 22 months of enactment. The Secretary is also
           required to lease oil and gas lease sales of an additional 50,000 acres (at a
           minimum), at 6, 12, and 18-month intervals. The Secretary is allowed to
          designate up to 45,000 acres as “special areas” that are off limits for oil and gas
          exploration. This legislation also requires that 50% of the amount of bonus, rent,
          and royalty revenues from oil and gas leases in the Coastal Plain be deposited in
          the Treasury.

• Payroll Tax Cut Deal — Friday, the House approved a Conference Report to H.R. 3630 (see attached), the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act by a vote of 293-192. The deal reached will provide an extension of the current payroll tax rates for the remainder of calendar year 2012. In addition, it provides a fully offset delay in the implementation of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (the so-called “Doc-fix”) and extends federally funded Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits (for the tenth time since 2008) for the remainder of calendar year 2012. Many conservatives argue that extending unemployment benefits creates incentives to delay returning to work, which has a negative effect on the economy. It offsets the cost of extended UI benefits and the Doc-fix with a number of provisions to reduce the deficit, including increasing pension contributions for new federal employees, cutting some funding of Obamacare, and auctioning spectrum frequencies. Some conservatives may be concerned that the new revenues generated from these provisions, rather than being used to pay down the national debt, are instead being used for new spending. In addition, the bill reforms the federal UI benefit structure by lowering the maximum number of weeks of UI eligibility and allowing states to require drug testing and job training. (NOTE: RSC Chairman Jordan voted against the conference report.)

            According to CBO, the Conference Report increases the deficit by $101.1
            billion in fiscal year 2012, and $89.3 billion over the 2012-2022 period. The bill
            reduces revenues by $77.6 billion over the 2012-2022 period and increases
            spending by $11.7 billion over the same period, according to CBO’s and
            JCT’s estimates. H.R. 3630 was approved in the House on December 13, 2011
            by a vote of 234–193. Currently these programs are operating under a
            two-month extension (H.R. 3765) set to expire on February 29, 2012.

The Week Ahead

The House will not be in session this coming week.

Senate:  No update has been sent as of this weekend. The Senate will not be in session this coming week.

• Read Mercatus Center’s "Blueprint for Regulatory Reform" and their analysis of the jobs situation. And here are a couple of their charts on employment/unemployment.

This Wisconsin Racket's Bluff Called

Remember the violent and disgusting demonstrations over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker doing away with the collective bargaining for teachers' unions? The results are in. Some school districts went from a $400,000 deficit to a $1,500,000 surplus as a result. Why?

It seems that the insurance company that provided all the "so-called" benefits to the teachers, was an insurance company owned and operated by the teacher's union. Since they were guaranteed to get the insurance business from the teachers and the State had to pay for it, and not the teachers, they were increasing the annual costs every single year to become the most expensive insurance company in the state. Then the insurance company was donating millions and millions of dollars to their favorite democrat politicians, who when they got elected, guaranteed to keep funding the unions outrageous costs. In other words, the insurance company was a "pass through" for Wisconsin taxpayer money directly to the democrat politicians.

Nice racket, and this is the racket that is going on in every single State that allows collective bargaining. No wonder the States are taking it away.
 
Now that the State of Wisconsin is free to put the insurance contract out for bid, and lo and behold, they have saved so much money it has turned deficits into surplus amounts. As a result, none of the teachers had to be laid off, everyone got a raise, etc., etc., and the taxpayers of Wisconsin don't have to pay more taxes to fund the union's political ambitions.

If you weren't aware of the reasons why Gov. Walker was fighting to take away collective bargaining, it gives you an idea of the problem the Republican Party has. Outside of one or two, none of them know how to speak up and explain properly what the problem was. We could sure use a Ronald Reagan now, someone who could explain things for people to understand, since we know that people don't like to read anymore.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/union-curbs-rescue-wisconsin-school-district

Report: Black ‘Mobs’ Attack White Patrons Outside Wis. State Fair

“It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people.” 

That’s how Norb Roffers described the scene outside the Wisconsin State Fair on Thursday night to Newsradio 620 WTMJ in Milwaukee. “They were attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever,” he added.

Roffers and others painted a grim and detailed picture of what unfolded during the first day of the fair.

“It was 100% racial,” claimed Eric, an Iraq war veteran who told the station that young people beat on his car.
VIDEO AND MORE:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-black-mobs-attack-white-patrons-outside-wis-state-fair/

Sun Journal Letter to the Editor by CCTA Vice Chairman, Nancy Murdoch

Unions
March 02, 2011 10:13 PM



I saw “Norma Rae,” read “How Green Was My Valley” and a number of other books about unions and the abuses workers suffered in the history of our country and the world. Unions have played an instrumental part in leveling the playing field for workers, especially in the United States. However, the unions played their part in creating the “Rust Belt,” empty textile mills, and outsourcing of jobs. As often is the case, those with the most power overuse that power and the pendulum swings in the opposite direction. Union bosses often have become wealthy, corrupt, powerful, and wield that power politically. Often the worker still loses.

With many states (and the nation) in debt up to their eyeballs, the rubber has met the road. Unions are fighting for their very survival in the Midwest. But is survival, especially public service unions, in the best interest of the American taxpayer in this point in history? Or is only in the best interest of the unions and their cronies?


Public service union members make about 45 percent more money than the private sector, get better benefits, have greater job security and retire earlier than their private counterparts — all on the taxpayers’ dime. Even FDR (certainly no one’s idea of a right winger) said that public service unions were “unthinkable and intolerable.”

The state of Wisconsin’s proposals seems reasonable: employees’ contribution to health care to rise from 6 percent to 12 percent, plus some contribution to their own pension plans, and unions will collect their own dues (instead of the state deducting them from paychecks). Wages could still be negotiated, and most other workplace grievances are part of law (Civil Service and Equal Employment Laws) and will protect the workers.

In 2008 the federal government provided over $600 million to Wisconsin for education. But according to 2009 records, only 32 percent of Wisconsin 8th graders earned a “proficient” reading rate (2 percent were advanced readers) and the other 66 percent were rated basic or below basic. But because of the power of the union, poor teachers are almost impossible to fire as seniority has more value than merit. Even though Wisconsin spends a huge amount per student, the results are a sorry return on the dollar. I don’t expect the scores to improve this year as in the last several weeks, many students have had a substitute teacher or none at all, as rallying at the state House and grounds was more important than teaching.

The demands of the unions and their workers are spreading to many other states, as the states find themselves slaves to a political system that has failed to see where their selfishness and greed are leading. The laws of economics are always true: you can’t spend more than you earn, whether you are an individual, county, state, or federal government.

I, as most Americans, value our police, firefighters and teachers. I want them to make a decent wage, and have fair benefits. However, we are all in this together, or at least should be. United we stand, divided we fall. Are the unions and their strong arm tactics going to divide this country once and for all?

Nancy Murdoch
Havelock

http://www.newbernsj.com/articles/saw-95363-unions-.html

A Union Education: What Wisconsin reveals about public workers and political power..

March 1, 2011
Wall Street Journal Online

The raucous Wisconsin debate over collective bargaining may be ugly at times, but it has been worth it for the splendid public education. For the first time in decades, Americans have been asked to look under the government hood at the causes of runaway spending. What they are discovering is the monopoly power of government unions that have long been on a collision course with taxpayers. Though it arrived in Madison first, this crack-up was inevitable.


We first started running the nearby chart on the trends in public and private union membership many years ago. It documents the great transformation in the American labor movement over the latter decades of the 20th century. A movement once led by workers in private trades and manufacturing evolved into one dominated by public workers at all levels of government but especially in the states and cities.

The trend is even starker if you go back a decade earlier. In 1960, 31.9% of the private work force belonged to a union, compared to only 10.8% of government workers. By 2010, the numbers had more than reversed, with 36.2% of public workers in unions but only 6.9% in the private economy.


READ THE ARTICLE AND SEE THE VIDEO:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704615504576172701898769040.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Chaos Summer: Why Wisconsin is Only the Beginning

"These protesters are being used. Vladimir Lenin coined the phrase “useful idiots.” These protesters are dupes. They are pawns in a very dangerous game that Barack Obama is playing with the United States of America. Barack Obama and his allies tell us that they are only supporting the Wisconsin demonstrations because they care about the teachers, because they care about the children, but the end result of Obama’s support for these demonstrations cannot be ignored."


THIS ARTICLE IS A MUST READ!
http://floydreports.com/chaos-summer-why-wisconsin-is-only-the-beginning/?utm_source=Floyd+Reports&utm_campaign=b4d86ef30f-FR_02_25_20112_25_2011&utm_medium=email

WORLD NET DAILY

The ultimate legal nightmare for America


Posted: October 04, 2010

By Judson Phillips  © 2010

There are many laws out there that make up the Lawyers' Full Employment Act.

Many of these laws seem to have only one purpose: That is, to put lawyers to work. Now, there is one proposal that puts all of these to shame. A group of liberal lawyers in Wisconsin has filed a petition with the Wisconsin Supreme Court for implementation of what is called "civil Gideon."

Gideon refers to the Gideon v. Wainwright, the 1963 case that established that if someone who is charged with a crime is indigent then the government must provide them with a lawyer. Since Gideon the cost of criminal cases has exploded. In many jurisdictions, lawyers actively seek out these appointments, as they are very lucrative.

Now, these liberal lawyers in Wisconsin want the Wisconsin Supreme Court to order that in certain civil cases if someone is "indigent" they have the right to a court-appointed lawyer. These cases involve issues of "sustenance, shelter, clothing, heat, medical care, safety, child custody and placement." What does this mean? If you can't afford clothing from Banana Republic, you get a lawyer to sue someone so you can afford it? If the Wisconsin Supreme Court grants this petition, the voters of Wisconsin are not even going to get a vote on the matter. They are going to get stuck with a tab that will start at $50 million to $80 million!

One thing we know about government programs is they never come in under budget. And if this program is approved, it will be copied in other states. At a minimum, this could cost taxpayers nationwide $3 billion to almost $5 billion. And that is if the costs are kept within budget. We know how often that happens with government programs.


Realistically, this is simply the beginning of the nightmare. First, there are no restrictions in the plan on who can receive these services. In other words, illegal aliens and their aiders and abettors will be lining up. Under the Gideon rule in criminal courts, a defendant gets an attorney, regardless of immigration status. Imagine you are a landlord and you do not want to rent to an illegal alien. Since this law provides for lawyers on issues of "shelter," your tax dollars are going to go to the lawyer so he can be paid to represent the illegal alien who is going to sue you.

For years, conservatives have complained about the Legal Services Corporation. This "corporation" was created by Congress to offer legal services to the poor. Instead, it has been used to advance left-wing issues through litigation. When Republicans control Congress, restrictions are put in place to keep it from being used for political purposes. If "civil Gideon" is enacted in all 50 states, any such regulation will be impossible. This will be the ultimate legal litigation nightmare for America.

The bad news is, this will cost billions of dollars America cannot afford. The good news is, if this goes through, at least the unemployment rate for lawyers will drop.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=211285



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