I can't believe what these cowards who took office to serve the people of WI are doing. Fleeing the state? Really? Can you imagine the backlash had republicans done this? All they did was vote against a bill and the mainstream media tried to tear them to pieces. These punks fled the state and hardly anyone is reporting on it. Disgusting cowards, they should all be fired.

"It's more about theatrics than anything else," Walker said, predicting that the group would come back in a day or two, after realizing "they're elected to do a job."Walker said Democrats could still offer amendments to change the bill, but he vowed not to concede on his plan to end most collective bargaining rights.

Republicans hold a 19-14 majority in the Senate, but rules mandate 20 members for a quorum. That means they needed at least one Democrat present before they could vote on the bill.

The republican political strategy explained:

A corporate CEO, a teapartier and a union worker sit down and 12 cookies are placed in front of them. The CEO takes 11 and says to the teapartier: "That union guy wants yours."

That Jesse Waters piece was classic. He confronted 3 or 4 people and not a single one could come up with anything whatsoever. It was hilarious. "uhhh fox lies...uhhh all the time....uhhh lies...and stuff" Oh, good facts you have there, way to come up with ONE simple example. They were a bunch of lemmings doing what they were told and not knowing why, and when they got called on they looked like deer in the headlights. Pathetic.

Now to move on to republican lies, cons and hypocrisy:

They claim to be about reducing the budget and deficit. Really? Then why did they cut $600 million from the IRS budget?

You see, for every $1 the IRS uses to go after tax cheats - it generates $10 in revenue ( for debt reduction).

Revenue is in their name - that's what they do - and it doesn't raise taxes or cost jobs. That's a pretty good return.

Now let me think for a millisecond why republicans would do this if they actually wanted more money (revenue) for debt reduction. Hmmm. Could be because those tax cheats are known as republican corporate donors.

You can of course prove that this $600 million is coming directly from budgetary items that are used to go after tax cheats right? That they aren't responsible cut backs, and reduction of overspending? I look forward to seeing the spreadsheet on this that proves the money comes from part of the IRS that goes after tax cheats with their 10:1 profit margin.

You can of course prove that this $600 million is coming directly from budgetary items that are used to go after tax cheats right? That they aren't responsible cut backs, and reduction of overspending? I look forward to seeing the spreadsheet on this that proves the money comes from part of the IRS that goes after tax cheats with their 10:1 profit margin.

I'll tell you what - why don't you call IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman - I am sure he would be glad to give you the information you seek. Another reason the republicans want to weaken the IRS through budget cuts is because they will have a large role in enforcing (through tax codes) the Affordable Health Care. Horrors, we can't have that.

WASHINGTON — Every dollar the Internal Revenue Service spends for audits, liens and seizing property from tax cheats brings in more than $10, a rate of return so good the Obama administration wants to boost the agency's budget.

House Republicans, seeing the heavy hand of a too-big government, beg to differ. They've already voted to cut the IRS budget by $600 million this year and want bigger cuts in 2012.

The IRS has dramatically increased its pursuit of tax cheats in the past decade: Audits are up, property liens are up and asset seizures are way up. President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress see stepped up enforcement as a good way to narrow the nation's staggering budget deficit without raising tax rates or cutting popular spending programs.

"It makes little sense to cut the agency that collects revenue," said Rep. Jose Serrano of New York, the top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees the IRS budget.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman told the committee Tuesday that the $600 million cut in this year's budget would result in the IRS collecting $4 billion less through tax enforcement programs

Like the Florida governor he turned this down because if it fails the fallout would be on the state with no support from the feds potentially bankrupting them. I don't blame him.

Florida Governor Rick Scott Rejects Funding for Tampa-Orlando Intercity Rail Project

Yonah Freemark

February 16th, 2011 | 328 Comments» Despite its capital costs being almost entirely covered by Washington and plenty of evidence that private investors want to move forward, project is off the tracks for now.

Just days after the White House revealed its ambitions for a $53 billion, six-year plan for an American high-speed rail network, the place where it was all supposed to begin now appears to be out of the running. Today, Florida Governor Rick Scott ® announced that he would refuse $2.4 billion in federal funds to build a rail line between Orlando and Tampa. The project’s construction would have required $280 million in state aid to be completed, but projections had indicated that the line would cover its own operating costs.

The Obama Administration has funded the project more than any other outside of California and hoped that the scheme, which would have opened in 2016 as the first line in a nationwide network, would serve as a model for the rest of the country. Numerous private corporations — including international conglomerates such as Siemens, Alstom, and JR East — have indicated that they would be willing to pick up the state’s tab and cover construction and operations risks, in exchange for the right to operate the trains.

Yet Mr. Scott has moved to squash the project nonetheless, acting before those companies were supposed to respond to the state high speed rail authority’s request for proposals. This is a shortsighted move that will only benefit others: The federal funding will be redistributed to projects in states such as California and Illinois.

Citing concerns that the project’s costs would spin out of control and that taxpayers would be burdened with operating subsidies, Mr. Scott argued that fiscal prudence gave him no choice. The Governor apparently has no trust in the private companies he claims to laud, failing to give them a chance to demonstrate their interest in the project. He apparently has no interest in offering his citizens the opportunity to pioneer a mode of transportation that has been repeatedly scuttled, in Florida and elsewhere, by the distinctively American ability to ignore the potential benefits of intercity rail.

Indeed, while the Governor’s decision may have been framed in a rhetoric of financial austerity, the hastiness of the announcement and its timing just after the unveiling of the President’s high-speed rail proposal indicates that intercity rail, more than ever, has become a tool for partisan disagreement. Republicans all over the country, inspired by the refusal of federal funds for rail systems by Governors in Ohio and Wisconsin, have rallied against almost every such project. The House GOP budget, which would gut the rail program — as well as transit capital projects — is only a continuation of this crusade.

What does this say about the state of American transportation? Is the status quo, in which the vast majority of Americans get around only by car for short to mid-range journeys, ramping up congestion and increasing environmental degradation, acceptable? Do we have any interest in developing a future vision for our cities or our society as a whole?

I'll tell you what - why don't you call IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman - I am sure he would be glad to give you the information you seek. Another reason the republicans want to weaken the IRS through budget cuts is because they will have a large role in enforcing (through tax codes) the Affordable Health Care. Horrors, we can't have that.

I'll tell you what- you made the claim that the $600 million will affect the IRS' ability to enforce tax evasion, so it would be your duty to prove your statement, or retract it as another lie.

I'll tell you what- you made the claim that the $600 million will affect the IRS' ability to enforce tax evasion, so it would be your duty to prove your statement, or retract it as another lie.

Nice try but the IRS Commissioner said it and it's good enough for me. I don't have anything beyond what he said to prove.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman told the committee Tuesday that the $600 million cut in this year's budget would result in the IRS collecting $4 billion less through tax enforcement programs

You didn't have this posted originally, if the commissioner says it, I'll believe it.

You didn't have this posted originally, if the commissioner says it, I'll believe it.

Yeah, I did. It's in post #155. You asked for proof in post #157.

Yeah, I did. It's in post #155. You asked for proof in post #157.

OMG I concede a point and thats still not good enough for you? WTF is wrong with you? And actually I asked for proof in post #154. Get over yourself.

Democrats held in contempt and fined $250 a day for fleeing the state like the whiny cowards they are.

][/font]Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate passed a resolution Thursday calling for police to take14 Democrats into custody for contempt after they fled to Illinois to avoid voting on a bill that would strip public-sector unions of nearly all their collective bargaining rights.

On the same day, Republicans in the Indiana House agreed to impose fines of $250 per day on Democrats who are also in Illinois, boycotting the legislature over labor and education bills they

oppose.

In Wisconsin, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald signed the orders after Republicans

voted 19-0 calling for the action unless Democrats returned to the chamber by 4 p.m.

Thursday.None of the Democrats did, prompting Fitzgerald to sign 14 orders of detainment in dramatic fashion in the center of the Senate chamber. State patrol officers watched silently from the gallery.

"We had not exhausted everything available to us to compel the senators back to the body,"

Fitzgerald said in an interview with Greta Van Susteren during On The Record. "If one of these

senators is identified or about to come into Wisconsin they could be picked up by law

enforcement and brought back to the senate chamber."

OMG I concede a point and thats still not good enough for you? WTF is wrong with you? And actually I asked for proof in post #154. Get over yourself.

Nice try, again. But you asked for proof in #154, I supplied it in post #155 - which you didn't read all the way through, because you again asked for proof in #157. And you call asking for proof a second time after I supplied it somehow my fault? Get over yourself.

Typical con thinking.

Nice try, again. But you asked for proof in #154, I supplied it in post #155 - which you didn't read all the way through, because you again asked for proof in #157. And you call asking for proof a second time after I supplied it somehow my fault? Get over yourself.

Typical con thinking.

You are elitist of EPIC proportions aren't you. Oh my someone didn't read through your whole post? What a surprise when 95% of your post are 10k plus word copy and paste articles you probably haven't even read. I conceded the point, I thought you might at least have enough class to take a win gracefully, but you've proven you definitely have just about 0 class whatsoever, typical LIBERAL.

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Great jobs democrats, you cost the state $7.5 Million, how many of those jobs you were protesting for would that have saved? Liberal idiots.

Madison

- State officials said Thursday that damage to the marble inside and out the State Capitol would cost an estimated $7.5 million.

Cari Anne Renlund, chief legal counsel for the state Department of Administration, said in Dane County court that estimates of damage to marble includes $6 million to repair damaged marble inside the Capitol, $1 million for damage outside and $500,000 for costs to supervise the damage.

Much of the damage apparently has come from tape used to put up signs and placards at the Capitol.

It was not immediately clear how the estimates were made, though the state is apparently relying on opinions by historical architects, one of whom works for the U.S. Park Service.

One concern is the residue from tape that the state says is causing damage to stone and other surfaces inside the Capitol.

You are elitist of EPIC proportions aren't you. Oh my someone didn't read through your whole post? What a surprise when 95% of your post are 10k plus word copy and paste articles you probably haven't even read. I conceded the point, I thought you might at least have enough class to take a win gracefully, but you've proven you definitely have just about 0 class whatsoever, typical LIBERAL.

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Hey, look over here, some of her posts are long, etc.. Oh, you can't read them. Boo hoo, but I do sympathize. I know it takes a certain amount of intelligence to read and understand my cut & paste posts, so I can understand why you can't do it.