Gov. Scott Walker: Refusing health care to low-income Americans helps them 'live the American dream'

I don't know what anti-healthcare conservatives suppose the "American Dream" to be, but I've yet to see one aspire to it themselves:

Defending his fellow Republican governors’ decision to block Medicaid expansion in their states, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Friday suggested that denying health coverage to additional low-income Americans helps more people “live the American Dream” because they won’t be “dependent on the American government.”

Denying health coverage to any low-income American would run afoul of living the American Dream primarily because of the living part, of course. Denying the Medicaid expansion is expected to kill thousands of Americans outright, and it's difficult to live the "American Dream" as a plastic bag of burnt cinders tossed very respectfully to your next-of-kin. No "American Dream" I am familiar with involves being plunged into sudden bankruptcy by the slightest of accidents; I have never heard a child say when I grow up, I am going to get a medically treated condition but then not be able to treat it because my employer does not cover that.

“Beyond that, I just ask the basic question: Why is more people on Medicaid a good thing?” he said. “I’d rather find a way, particularly for able-bodied adults without children, I’d like to find a way to get them into the workforce. [...]

Particularly able-bodied adults without children, and screw the rest of them. If you are poor and have a child you are out of luck, and had best hope your janitorial job will allow you to raise young Timmy in the mop bucket while you go about your shift; if you are poor and not able-bodied the American Dream dictates you suck it up, self-amputate whichever of your limbs is giving you the trouble using plastic utensils procured from the nearest fast-food restaurant, and apply for a job at that restaurant as soon as you have cauterized the wound on their industrial grill.

I think ideologically, that’s a better approach, not just as a conservative, but as an American. Have more people live the American dream if they’re not dependent on the American government.”

 Ideologically, it's a wonderful approach. Ideologically, it would be ideal if poor Americans rode unicorns to their fancy Wall Street jobs and got health insurance from the ghost of Ronald Reagan himself, who would smile as he helped them fill out the forms and would then quickly send them off to Jesus Christ to be processed. The chasm between ideologically andpracticality is wide, and at the bottom is a slow-moving river of Not Really Giving A Shit. If you are so determined to find an ideological solution to poor Americans dying from preventable diseases and not-poor Americans always one hospital visit away from becoming destitute, it is a clear announcement that the great vast sweep of those Americans and their problems is not concerning enough to bother with a non-ideological solution. Which would be, of course, the crux of the problem here.

I suspect what Gov. Scott Walker really means is that denying healthcare coverage to low-income Americans is necessary for his own American Dream, which is to be a respected and powerful member of a government that would do such things. The American Dream for Scott Walker means rising to a position where you can tell The Poors that they do not really need health care, and if they did need health care they should have thought of that before becoming Poors. The American Dream for Scott Walker is being able to sit in a very nice office and opine on how all of the Americans who are not governors should be happy to die for the cause of Scott Walker's personal ideology, because we are all in this together, you and I, and if you are not willing to be buried in a pauper's grave in order to provide a slight boost to Scott Walker's planned run for the presidency then you are not really a part of the Scott Walker team, now, are you. You should consider your diabetes or heart disease or sick child from a more ideological perspective, and I am sure then you will be able to appreciate how your existence runs afoul of Scott Walker's American Dream.

Walker: Minimum Wage Serves No Purpose

“Well, I’m not going to repeal it, but I don’t think it serves a purpose,” Gov. Scott Walker said of the minimum wage during a meeting with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board.

After avoiding the question in his first debate with Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, Gov. Scott Walker finally offered an answer during a live broadcast of his sit-down with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“What is your position on the minimum wage?” asked columnist Dan Bice. “Should we have it?”

“Well, I’m not going to repeal it, but I don’t think it serves a purpose,” Walker responded.

While the facts paint a clear picture that raising the minimum wage would boost earnings for 16 million people and bring 900,000 Americans out of poverty, Walker once again stands against middle-class values and on the wrong side of history.

According to a poll conducted by the Marquette University Law School, 59 percent of Wisconsinites support increasing the minimum wage.

Walker’s latest flub comes only days after his first debate with challenger Mary Burke during which, when asked about Wisconsin’s lack of job growth compared to the rest of the Midwest, Walker responded that the state “doesn’t have a jobs problem, we have a work problem.”

Agree to disagree, Governor. You might think sitting last in the Midwest for job growth is acceptable, but to the people of Wisconsin, last in the Midwest and 35th in the nation isn’t cutting it.

Corrupt Judge Tries To Protect GOP Governor Walker By Ordering Incriminating Evidence Destroyed

On Tuesday May 6, 2014, Federal Judge Rudolph Randa ordered a halt to the investigation into Scott Walker’s campaign finance dealings. Randa, who has close ties to the Walker administration, took that order a step further by demanding that prosecutors destroy all the evidence they had collected during the investigation.

Attorneys for the Walker administration asked Randa to halt the investigation, claiming that authorities examining and collecting evidence of illegal activity is a violation of their right to free speech. The judge ruled in support of this ridiculous notion, basically saying that illegal acts should be protected from the process of investigation, under the guise of free speech.

Randa, who was appointed by George W. Bush and is an adviser to the extreme right-wing Federalist Society, received a harsh reprimand from the 7th Circuit US Court of Appeals, who placed a stay on the judge’s ruling, less than 24 hours after it was handed it down. The three judge panel halted the order to destroy the evidence, saying it “effectively prevents appellate review.”

Randa reissued his order on Thursday, May 8, a move which blocks any further investigation into Walker’s illegal activities. The order does not reinstate his ruling that evidence in the case must be destroyed. The most absurd line from Randa’s latest ruling is this:

“As other histories tell us, attempts to purify the public square lead to places like the Guillotine and the Gulag.”

So what he’s saying here is that we should not attempt to stop illegal activity, because something bad could happen if we do? That is a frightening statement coming from a person who is appointed to oversee justice.

In addition to the state investigation, there is an ongoing federal investigation into Walker’s illegal activities. An earlier investigation led to the conviction of a half dozen members of Walker’s former administration.

Walker and his accomplices have attempted every possible tactic in order to squirm out of providing documents or testimony to investigating officers. Getting the case in front of a right wing judge with close ties to one of Walker’s lead attorneys, might have been luck of the draw, but it’s doubtful. Former US attorney Steven M. Biskupic, who was appointed by the George W. Bush administration, is leading the legal team for the Walker administration. Biskupic’s wife just happens to work for judge Randa.

Even more questionable, Randa scheduled sessions to hear motions related to the case, but then cancelled both, before handing his ruling without ever having heard the arguments.

In spite of the massive amount of corruption in the state of Wisconsin, the citizens continue to demand that the truth be known. The decision of the appeals court panel will allow the investigation into Walker’s money laundering and illegal campaign finance activities to continue, as much as Walker and his corrupt group of co-conspirators don’t want that to happen.

Federal Judge Blasts Homophobic Tea Party Gov. Scott Walker: ‘Traditional’ Marriage Was Polygamy!

If you haven’t already heard, Wisconsin recently became the 27th state to potentially allow for gay marriages. US District Judge Barbara Crabb struck down Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban, crushing every argument proponents of the ban put before her.

“Because my review of that law convinces me that plaintiffs are entitled to the same treatment as any heterosexual couple, I conclude that the Wisconsin laws banning marriage between same-sex couples are unconstitutional.”

One such argument given was that the “traditional view of marriage — between a man and a woman — has been recognized for millennia.” Judge Crabb blasted this claim too, reminding anti-gay bigots that “traditionally” marriage has more often been polygamy.

“Throughout History, the most ‘traditional’ form of marriage has not been one man and one woman, but between one man and multiple women, which presumably is not a tradition that defendants and amici would like to continue.”

Boom! Crabb goes on to state that, while tradition cannot simply be ignored, “there are darker traditions as well, which later generations have rejected as denials of equality.” While slavery, segregation, and denying women the right to vote were all once tradition, we have thankfully progressed from those ideas.

Crabb’s 88-page ruling tears apart one argument after the other, stating that their hateful claims are “bewildering” and “harken back to objections to interracial marriage”. In an especially amusing part of the ruling, addressing the claim that allowing gay marriage would somehow cheapen or otherwise injure straight marriages, Judge Crabb slams their nonsensical bigotry once more:

“Neither defendants nor amici cite any evidence or even develop a cogent argument to support their belief that allowing same-sex couples to marry somehow will lead to the de-valuing of children in marriage or have some other adverse effect on the marriages of heterosexual couples. Thus, it is doubtful whether defendants’ belief even has a rational basis.“

Double boom! With judges like Crabb willing to call these anti-equality thugs on their unconstitutional crap, there’s real hope for equal rights in the near future.Congratulations to all our fellow LGBT allies in Wisconsin!

Martin O’Malley Brilliantly Rages Against Tea Party Idiots Paul Ryan and Scott Walker

Have you heard of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley? In 2002 he was named by Esquire “The Best Young Mayor in the Country,” and in 2005 one of America’s “Top 5 Big City Mayors” by TIME. Still, even though he’s publicly considering a run for the Democratic nomination in 2016 (if Hillary doesn’t make up her mind soon), he’s not exactly a first-name figure for most. That just changed, at least in Wisconsin.

As the keynote speaker for 2014′s Democratic Founders Day Gala, O’Malley absolutely skewered several prominent Republican figures; most notably, Paul Ryan. He said of Ryan’s budget, which narrowly passed the House Budget Committee chamber this week:

“When Pope Francis urged American Catholics to fight poverty, Congressman Ryan thought he said, ‘Fight the poor.’ ” 

Ryan’s budget, which comes by its supposed “$5 trillion over ten years” in “savings” primarily by cutting everything that might in any way benefit the poor. And, of course, that includes repealing Obamacare. However, Ryan wasn’t afraid to count on the taxes or Medicare cost shifting that is part of Obamacare, but wouldn’t exist under his plan. One Kentucky Republican (who was one of the 12 who voted against it) said of Ryan’s numbers fudging ”I’m not sure that’s honest accounting.”

O’Malley reserved some of his harshest words for hometown boy Wisconson Gov. Scott Walker. Walker has consistently opposed wage increases in Wisconsin, which i was a cause championed by O’Malley in Maryland. He called Walker a “devoted follower of trickle-down economics if ever there was one,” and dropped the K-Bomb with:

“If your goal is to hold down wages and turn Wisconsin into a subsidiary of Koch Industries, then Governor Walker’s your guy.”

You might be wondering why O’Malley chose to target Walker, right on his home soil; or even why he was in Wisconsin in the first place. Lots of Wisconsonites have probably asked themselves the same question. But O’Malley wasn’t there for the beer and cheese: He was there for Walker. Walker has expressed some intent to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016…he already has some name recognition, after all.

Unfortunately, that recognition came from a series of massively racist emails circulated around his office, which were uncovered during a previous criminal probe. And he’s still under investigation for a second criminal charge. He’s also not only refused $11 billion from the Fed to expand Medicaid, he actually CUT $500 million from the state’s Medicaid budget.

He’s passed the usual battery of voter ID laws, and more recently, broadened Wisconson’s gun laws, two days later shelling out $175,000 to pay for a new “ShotSpotter” system for the police. ShotSpotter is an acoustic system that helps military and police personnel to pinpoint the location of gunfire and calculate the trajectory of bullets…which is probably a little more important after you throw open the door to residents purchasing out-of-state rifles.

So, pretty standard Republican.

Multiple Subpoenas, Search Warrants Issued in New Probe of Gov Scott Walker’s Recall Election

Trouble is brewing for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Walker is the target of probe conducted by Milwaukee County, issuing dozens of subpoenas requesting documents related to the 2011 and 2012 campaign to recall Walker and other state lawmakers.

“Copies of two subpoenas we’ve seen demand all memoranda, email […] correspondence, and communications” both internally and between the subpoena target and some 29 conservative groups, including Wisconsin and national nonprofits, political vendors and party committees,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “The groups include the League of American Voters, Wisconsin Family Action, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Americans for Prosperity — Wisconsin, American Crossroads, the Republican Governors Association, Friends of Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin.”

The Journal report goes on to say that the subpoenas are demanding “all records of income received, including fundraising information and the identity of persons contributing to the corporation.”

According to Madison.com:

According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, spending in the 2011 and 2012 recall elections by groups mentioned in the article include:

• Right Direction Wisconsin PAC (Republican Governors Association): $9.4 million
• Club for Growth Wisconsin: $9.1 million
• Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce: $4.7 million

Americans for Prosperity/MacIver Institute for Public Policy: $4.5 million

The liberal Center for Media and Democracy has tracked millions of dollars that has flowed among these groups in Wisconsin.

In an interview Saturday, the group’s general counsel, Brendan Fischer, described it as a “dark money shell game” in which thousands and in some cases millions of dollars from anonymous donors are moved from one organization to another with the goal of influencing elections.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Unmentioned in the editorial is that R.J. Johnson is an adviser to both Walker’s campaign and the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

The newspaper said the subpoenas sought records and fundraising information and were related to the 2011 and 2012 recall efforts against the Republican governor and state senators. The subpoenas come out of a second, secret John Doe investigation of Walker aides or allies. The first investigation was closed in February, but the second one is ongoing. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on both investigations.

John Doe probes give prosecutors the power to compel people to testify and bar them from speaking about their involvement in the investigations. The Wall Street Journal editorial page reported O’Keefe was willing to discuss his subpoena, saying he “realizes the personal risk but wants the public to know what is going on.”

Search warrants were executed based on affidavits filed by Dean Nickel, according to the newspaper. Nickel served as the special agent in charge for the state Department of Justice’s public integrity unit, and the newspaper reported he has served as an investigator for the state Government Accountability Board.

It’s clear that the groups listed in the subpoena were not exercising their free speech rights when they intentionally and illegally misinformed voters.

Although coincidence and incompetence may be an admissible defense in a limited number of cases, most investigators do not give credence to coincidence. The new investigation of the conservative groups that have invaded Wisconsin since the days before the 2010 election is a long time coming.

Thanks to Scott Walker, Wisconsin Will Pay Up To 99% Higher Insurance Costs

“Wisconsin health insurance exchange premiums for single coverage will be on average 79% to 99% higher than premiums in Minnesota, before tax credits are applied,” according to a new report.

If you’re wondering why there is such a disparity in healthcare insurance costs between similar states like Wisconsin and Minnesota, it’s because Republican Governor Scott Walker rejected enhanced federal Medicaid dollars and Wisconsin Republicans decided not to implement more robust rate reviews. Translation: Republicans rejected money to expand Medicaid and Republicans choose not to oversee rate regulation (if this doesn’t ring a bell, when Republicans discuss it, they call their refusal to check corporation’s “freedom” and “free markets”).

These decisions may cost Wisconsinites $1,800 or more a year over what their Minnesota counterparts pay for health insurance. Wisconsinites will pay between 79% and 99% higher premiums before tax credits are applied, and the middle class will be hit the hardest. Some cities will pay as much as 136% higher premiums.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin released a new report documenting the vast differences between Minnesota and Wisconsin in the cost for health insurance on the individual insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

• Wisconsin health insurance exchange premiums for single coverage will be on average 79% to 99% higher than premiums in Minnesota, before tax credits are applied. That is a difference of over $1,800 a year.
•The health insurance cost differential will be even worse for some major Wisconsin cities. Rates in La Crosse are 136% higher than the Minnesota average, rates in Eau Claire are 116% higher, and rates in Milwaukee are 112% higher.

• The cost gap with Minnesota has the biggest impact on middle class Wisconsinites because Affordable Care Act tax credits mitigate the impact on lower income people who buy insurance on the exchange.

Watch Scott Walker’s Police Illegally Arrest A Marine Veteran & Desecrate His Flag

Friday was the second day of the police crackdown to rein in daily protests at the Wisconsin Capitol building seeking to bring attention to Koch-sponsored Governor Scott Walker’s unprecedented attacks on Wisconsin's labor unions, minorities, the public sector, and the middle class.

After illegally declaring the peaceful demonstration an “unlawful assembly” the Wisconsin Capitol, which are under Walker’s control, have attempted to quell the demonstration by sending out waves of officers to unnecessarily arrest several peaceful protesters.

In the video below, they go as far as to arrest a completely peaceful US Marine Corps veteran, who had not yet been arrested, for “resisting arrest”, although he was simply standing there with a bandanna tied over his mouth, ensuring that he couldn’t possibly have been arrested for saying something disrespectful or threatening towards the police.

Adding insult to injury and providing a very fitting example of Governor Walker’s un-American trampling of his constituents First Amendment rights, the arresting officers either intentionally or inadvertently(it’s not clear in the video) stepped all over this ex-Marine’s American flag, trampling and desecrating it for all to see.

It’s important that all of America sees this video, so everyone can see just how brutal and un-American Scott Walker’s reign of terror is. Please do your part by sharing this literal trampling of American First Amendment Constitutional Rights on social media forums.

Scott Walker Nixes Appointment Of Student Who Signed Recall Petition

A student who backed the effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is evidently no longer a part of the Republican's plans.

After tapping 20-year-old Joshua Inglett to serve as a student representative on the University of Wisconsin System's Board of Regents on Monday, Walker's office confirmed today that the appointment has been withdrawn, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Inglett, a rising junior at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, signed a petition in 2011 to recall Walker. The governor's office did not respond to questions about reasons for Inglett's withdrawl, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Neither Inglett nor Walker's office immediately responded to TPM's request for comment.

Badger State Democrats blasted Walker over the move.

"If signing a recall petition disqualifies a person, that means a million citizens are no longer eligible for public service in this administration," state Sen. Fred Risser (D) told the Journal Sentinel, adding that Walker has created the "most partisan government we've ever had in my experience."