WALKER'S BUDGET BILL - CUTS FOR THE POOR - MORE FOR THE RICH

Assembly Bill 40 and SB 11 Summary – in red are my comments
16.896 (1)
The department (Governor) may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state.
(5) If the department sells or contracts for the operation of any state−owned
heating, cooling, and power plant under sub. (1), the secretary may identify any
full−time equivalent positions authorized for the state agency that has operating
authority for the plant, the duties of which primarily relate to the management or
operation of the plant, and may decrease the authorized full−time equivalent positions for that state agency by the number of positions so identified effective on the date that the state agency no longer has operating authority for the plant.

SECTION 112. 49.45 (2m)
the department may promulgate rules that do any of the following related to Medical Assistance programs:
1. Require cost sharing from program benefit recipients up to the maximum allowed by federal law or a waiver of federal law.
2. Authorize providers to deny care or services if a program benefit recipient
is unable to share costs, to the extent allowed by federal law or waiver.
3. Modify existing benefits or establish various benefit packages and offer
different packages to different groups of recipients.
4. Revise provider reimbursement models for particular services.
5. Mandate that program benefit recipients enroll in managed care.
6. Restrict or eliminate presumptive eligibility.
7. To the extent permitted by federal law, impose restrictions on providing
benefits to individuals who are not citizens of the United States.
8. Set standards for establishing and verifying eligibility requirements.
9. Develop standards and methodologies to assure accurate eligibility
determinations and redetermine continuing eligibility.
10. Reduce income levels for purposes of determining eligibility to the extent
allowed by federal law or waiver and subject to the limitations under par. (e) 2.
(The Budget Repair Bill includes a sweeping shift of authority for setting Medicaid policy. If passed, this unprecedented seizure of legislative authority would put critical decisions affecting the lives of 1.1 million Wisconsinites in the hands of unelected bureaucrats, with minimal public and legislative involvement.)

SECTION 124. 49.45 (23) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:
49.45 (23) (b) If the waiver is granted and in effect, the department may promulgate rules defining the health care benefit plan, including more specific eligibility requirements and cost−sharing requirements.

SECTION 151. 66.0508 of the statutes is created to read:
66.0508 Collective bargaining. (1) In this section, “local governmental
unit” has the meaning given in s. 66.0506 (1). (1m) Except as provided under subch. IV of ch. 111, no local governmental unit may collectively bargain with its employees.

ASSEMBLY BILL 40
Current law prohibits DCF from increasing the maximum Wisconsin Shares
child care provider reimbursement rates in 2009, 2010, or before June 30, 2011.
The bill authorizes DCF to do any of the following to reduce costs under Wisconsin Shares: 1) implement a waiting list; 2) increase the copayments paid by individuals who receive a child care subsidy; 3) adjust the amount of reimbursement paid to child care providers; or 4) adjust the gross income levels for eligibility for child care subsidies.

To be eligible for Senior Care, a person must be a resident of the state, be at least 65 years of age, not be a recipient of prescription drug coverage through MA, have a household income that does not exceed 240 percent of the federal poverty line, and pay a program enrollment fee. This bill adds as a requirement for eligibility for Senior Care that the person must apply for and, if eligible, enroll in Medicare Part D, which is a federal prescription drug assistance program.

Under current law, in certain counties, a person who meets certain functional
and financial criteria and who is either a frail elder or an adult with a physical
disability or a developmental disability is eligible for community−based services
through Family Care, a medical assistance waiver program known as Family Care
Partnership, the Program of All−Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), or a
self−directed supports options program (known as IRIS). In a county where Family
Care, Family Care Partnership, PACE, or IRIS is available, this bill caps enrollment
in an available program at the number of participants in that program on a specific
date for the 2011−13 biennium. This bill also prohibits the expansion of Family Care to counties in which the program is not available on July 1, 2011, during the 2011−13 biennium, unless DHS determines that the expansion is cost−effective.

The state life insurance fund (fund), administered by OCI, may issue any type
of life insurance policy, with a limit not exceeding $10,000, to any state resident. This
bill prohibits the fund from issuing any life insurance policies on or after the date on which this bill becomes a law except for policies issued on the basis of applications that were received before that date. (This program has existed for 100 years – elimate as a gift to private insurance companies. This insurance program is self funded and costs the state nothing)

Under current law, DOA makes grants from the utility public benefits fund
(UPBF) to provide assistance to low−income households for the following: 1)
weatherization and other energy conservation services (weatherization and
conservation assistance); and 2) payment of energy bills and early identification or
prevention of energy crises (bill and crisis assistance). In each fiscal year, DOA must
ensure that the amount spent under the program on grants for weatherization and
conservation assistance is equal to 47 percent of a specified sum. As a result, 53
percent of the specified sum is available to be spent on grants under the program for
bill and crisis assistance. (cuts money for heating assistance and weatherization) This bill allows DOA to make a $10,000,000 subtraction in fiscal years 2011−12 and 2012−13.


TAXATION
INCOME TAXATION
Under current law, for claims filed in 2011, based on property taxes or rent
constituting property taxes from the prior year, the homestead tax credit threshold
income is $8,060; the maximum amount of property taxes, or rent constituting
property taxes, that a claimant may use in calculating his or her credit is $1,460, and
the maximum household income is $24,680. Under the current law formula, as a
claimant’s income exceeds $8,060, the credit is phased out and equals zero when
income exceeds $24,680. Also under the formula, if the household income is $8,060
or less, the credit is 80 percent of the property taxes, or rent constituting property
taxes, accrued. For claims filed in 2011 and thereafter, the threshold income,
maximum property taxes, and maximum household income are all indexed for
inflation. Under this bill, the indexing provisions are repealed and, for claims filed in 2011 and thereafter, the threshold income, the maximum property taxes, and the maximum household income are the same as those for claims filed in 2011. (this will increase your income tax)

Under current law, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010, an
individual; an individual partner or member of a partnership, limited liability
company, or limited liability partnership; or an individual shareholder of a
tax−option corporation (claimant) may elect to defer the payment of income taxes on
up to $10,000,000 of the gain realized from the sale of any capital asset held more
than one year (original asset) that is treated as a long−term gain under the Internal
Revenue Code (IRC), if the claimant completes a number of requirements.
This bill creates another income tax deferral under which a claimant may elect to defer the payment of income taxes on any amount of the gain realized from the sale of any capital asset held more than one year (original new asset) that is treated as a long−term gain under the IRC, if the claimant completes a number of requirements. (a tax reduction for business)

Under current law, there is an income tax exclusion for individuals for 30
percent of the net capital gains realized from the sale of assets held for at least one
year, except a farm asset is subject to an exclusion for 60 percent of such gains. Under this bill, subject to some exceptions, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015, a claimant may subtract from federal adjusted gross income the lesser of the claimant’s federal net capital gain as reported on the claimant’s federal tax return if, in that year, the claimant had a qualifying gain, or the claimant’s qualifying gain. (no capital gains tax for the rich – its eliminated – and I thought we were broke!)

Under federal law, the earned income tax credit (EITC) is a refundable tax
credit for low−income workers. If the amount of the claim exceeds the worker’s tax
liability, the claimant receives a check for the excess amount from the Internal
Revenue Service. Under current law, an individual may claim the refundable Wisconsin EITC if he or she has one or more qualifying children. The Wisconsin EITC is equal to 4
percent of the federal EITC if the claimant has one qualifying child, 14 percent if the
claimant has two qualifying children, and 43 percent if the claimant has three or
more qualifying children. This bill changes for the Wisconsin EITC the percentages of the federal EITC that may be claimed for taxable years starting after December 31, 2010, to 5 percent if the claimant has one qualifying child, 8 percent if the claimant has two qualifying children, and 40 percent if the claimant has three or more qualifying children. (Earned income credit reduced – tax increased – for those with more than one child! Our poor.)

The Wisconsin budget repair bill does many other questionable actions besides union busting. SB 11 is 144 pages long.
1. It allows the gov to sell any state energy asset to whomever Walker chooses at any price without legislative approval.
2. It removes legislative approval for his cabinet positions.
3. It allows the gov to set up private state agency governing bodies responsible to no one but Walker.
It basically sets him up as a dictator with no balance of power from the legislature, democratic OR republican.

THE WORKING PERSONS RIGHT TO HAVE A UNION

In the colonial era, we lived under royal governors and were happy to abide by laws made half a world away. That was America then, but it’s not America now.
In 1783, the revolutionary War ended and soon we had a constitution. We could make our own laws, but there was no bill of rights. That was America then, but it’s not America now.
Men with property could vote, but most people could not. That was America then, but it’s not America now.
Before 1865 African Americans were enslaved by law. People could say in dispassionate conversation that they did not believe these people should have rights. It wasn’t a dispassionate issue with African Americans. Slavery was never right, but that was America then. It’s not America now.
Before 1920 most women could not vote. People dispassionately argued that women were not mature or intelligent or tough enough to make good choices with a vote. It wasn’t a dispassionate issue with women. It was never right, but that was America then. It’s not America now.
In the 19th and early twentieth century’s, Americans could not join unions legally. Children were forced to work; families labored long hours and still could not earn enough to live. People who favored the bosses could dispassionately say that there was no need for a minimum wage, or safety laws, or old age pensions, or eight hour days, or unemployment compensation. They could say that if you didn’t like the wage or your wretched working conditions, you should go somewhere else. It wasn’t a dispassionate issue with the working people who wanted decent homes, time with their children, a chance for their children to get an education, and enough food on the table. It was never right, but that was America then. It’s not America now.
Some think that we should politely discuss it and then let them take our workers rights away. That we should dispassionately let “democracy” take our workers rights away. Just like the night rider’s who took away the freedom of African Americans for a hundred years. Just like the elected government that sent women’s rights activists to jail in world war one. Just like the legislators that passed poll taxes and literacy laws to disenfranchise people in the south. The supporters of those attempting to take away union rights say “elections have consequences”. In 1948 our country signed the Universal declaration of human rights. Article 23 read:
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Some things can be changed by majority vote, but rights are not one of those things. When people are deprived of their rights by law, the law itself becomes illegitimate, and people have the right to organize collectively and demand the restoration of those rights. That is what is happening in Madison Wisconsin today. I went to march with many others and I am proud to say that I stand for workers rights. It isn’t an abstract, dispassionate, issue for discussion. It’s a matter of the preservation of the American way of life. If you let those with the wealth and power buy elections and take away these rights, your rights will surely be next. I don’t want that America of then to become the America of now. Depriving workers of their rights is in the most elemental way Un-American.

I OBJECT

"African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social, and a political blessing." - Jefferson Davis

A house in Lancaster at the corner of Pine and Jefferson streets has a Confederate flag flying (the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia). It is at the top of a long flag pole. No national flag flies above it. I can only imagine what the reaction to this would have been in the latter half of the nineteenth century, for this city sent many of its sons to fight against the slavery and rebellion represented by this flag. Many did not come home. To see a symbol such as that flag flying in the streets of their beloved city would probably have been cause for severe action. This county was also the home of the Pleasant Ridge African American community, many ex-slaves. Brave men paid a very high price to keep the nation whole and end the scourge of African-American slavery. Seven hundred men from Grant County were killed or wounded. Jefferson Coates lost his eyes in the Battle of Gettysburg and won a Medal Of Honor. General Callis, from Lancaster, was gravely injured there, and lay on the battlefield for three days. They fought at Antietem and Vicksburg and a hundred other places. There are as many stories as men who volunteered to fight for The Union, and now we have a flag, detestable to them and even more so today flying in our city. Of course the owner has the right to fly anything he wants, but I object.

Dennis Wilson

THE CONTROVERSY IS NOT NEW. WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN?

In this age of conflict over abortion it might be interesting to read the news of one hundred years ago. A judge ruled that life begins at birth and not before, and used the Bible as part of his rationale.

The Year Of Political Insanity

America has a long history of anti-intellectualism, but this election year is something much more than that. It is almost as if some infectious form of insanity (ergot poisoning?) has seized a large portion of the population and set them into a fool’s dance of self destruction. Of course the drumbeat for this dance is courtesy of FOX News. If Hitler had had FOX he wouldn’t have needed to burn the Reichstag or employ the services of Joseph Goebbels. FOX would say it and people would believe it. I have encountered more lunatic statements this year than ever before. A few examples: “Obama is a Muslim”, “Obama was born in Kenya”, “Obama wants to sell out our country to (you fill it in)”, “If you are a progressive you are a Communist”. This is not just normal political hyperbole. This is racism, and the members of the TEA party, and other right wing fringe groups now brought into the spotlight are preaching “Americanism”. If we don’t agree with them we are Godless Communists, and need to be exposed by Glen Beck. The last time I recall the term “Americanism” being used was in the 1920’s, and then by the Ku Klux Klan. So much about the TEA party reminds me of the Klan of the 1920’s: misplaced anger, rampant xenophobia, viewing anyone who disagrees as a “Progressive=Socialist= Communist” according to Glen Beck, the tear shedding, sometimes hysteric orator and hero of these folks. An ideological test is needed in their opinion to decide if you are a patriot: if you love your country. If you don’t agree with them, you’re a Communist trying to subvert the educational system and ruin the nation. Quack history is used to label Franklin Roosevelt as a Communist. I have even heard Glen Beck say that FDR caused the war. Honest to goodness. Do they have to try to fight the New Deal all these prosperous years later? That seems to be the agenda. According to them teachers are part of a plot to brainwash all children to accept a Socialist takeover. At one time people would have nervously laughed at such over the top paranoids. But now- now there is a willingness to believe any sort of conspiracy theory as an explanation for the failures of our society. After all, we couldn’t as a people be responsible for our own woes, so it must be some group of evil manipulators infiltrating us to bring us down. Education is failing our children we hear. It’s the bad teachers. But maybe, just maybe it is the bad parenting, the lack of time spent, the dearth of expectations that children study and learn. It’s just too easy and simple to say it is the bad teachers and their bad unions. And so they go running after bogeymen, after scapegoats, and there is no end of Glen Beck’s and Rush Limbaugh’s willing to get rich convincing you that it is all a conspiracy of the left. And apparently people believe it. They seem willing to flock to the polls to vote for people who will privatize their Social Security, end their Unemployment benefits, deny them health care, and pander to the rich sharks who run this country and the co-opted religionists who carry their water. I think that Lincoln may have been wrong with regard to Americans when he said “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time”. It is starting to look to me like you sure can – with enough money behind you.
UPDATE!!!! TODAY GLEN BECK ANNOUNCED THAT ALL ENVIRONMENTALISTS WORSHIP AN ANCIENT BABYLONIAN NATURE GOD. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!

A Timely Criticism of Big Money and Right Wing Religion

“The people have had of late no word in making and executing the laws; not more than five hundred men are the sovereign of the land and those are controlled by a religious faction on the one hand and moneyed sharks on the other. The republic, founded upon the principles of liberality and equality, is being transformed into a dogmatic hierarchy, under the assumption of being the only representations of law and order, and under this guise or pretext, they make war upon those who differ with them. If this crew of hypocrites, political and religious manipulators, were sailing under their true colors – a sect of religious fanatics of the old Puritan school – they would not be permitted to control State legislatures, cities and villages throughout the country. Laws have been enacted contrary to the spirit of true Democracy, as well as contrary to true Christianity.” ----- The Blunderbuss, Lancaster Wisconsin, July 1874

The Pleasures of a Camera and a Flower

I admit it. I love to photograph flowers. They show an endless display of colors and shapes. They just make me feel renewed and energized. Lots of people look at flowers, but not many really see them. Few look at them from all angles, compose them within their milieu, and look for the deeper meanings about life that they convey. A flower is a master of survival, but it uses its beauty to survive. For what it needs to live it gives back an enjoyment equaled by few things in this life. Maybe that is why, at this time of year most of us make our annual pilgrimage to purchase flowers to plant around our homes. What would springtime be without flowers?