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Without issuing any press release or public announcement Ted Nickel did his “dirty”
How Can Walker Rationalize His Appearance?

Walker To Appear At MLK Ceremony
Gov. Will Start Day At Milwaukee Event

Posted: 6:55 am CST January 16, 2012

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker plans to participate in the state’s official Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday ceremony Monday.

The state’s ceremony is planned over the noon hour in the Capitol rotunda. It is one of several ceremonies planned to mark the day across the state.

Walker was starting his day at the annual Milwaukee YMCA Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast.

Nickel (pictured far left) quietly filed an official request asking the federal government for a three-year waiver from new standards requiring that health insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care. The reform went into effect this year, and is part of the legislation that is most despised by the GOP; the national health care law, the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare.

Lakisha Stinson and her daughter, Rashyia, who was born last month and is healthy, live in a Milwaukee neighborhood where the rate at which African-American babies die is worse than Botswana.

In Milwaukee, babies die during their first year of life at a rate greater than all but six of the nation’s 53 largest cities.

In Milwaukee, babies die at rates associated with the Third World.

In Milwaukee, the infant mortality rate for all children, regardless of race, exceeds that of Uruguay, Bosnia or Kuwait.

The Walker Lie

Now Walker and Smith make it sound like they deserve the credit for Badger Care (Family Care) expansion!

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Governor Walker Announces Plan to Lift Family Care Enrollment Cap, Expand to New Counties
Legislative action needed to lift cap and expand long-term care program

Madison–Earlier this year an enrollment cap was placed on Family Care in response to a Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) evaluation which found a number of areas the program could be improved and made more efficient. After a briefing on the hard work done by DHS over the past couple of months, today Governor Walker announced a plan to lift the Family Care cap. Governor Walker’s plan also calls for Family Care to be expanded to additional counties.
Walker Press Release

Just for a Laugh – Read This Sentence from the Release

A very critical issue raised in the report was that the cost effectiveness of Family Care was difficult to assess. Because the Department was able to take the time to strengthen the program, Wisconsin now has the detailed data needed to develop solutions to ensure Family Care is on sound financial footing for those in the program now and for future enrollees.

The Critical issue – “Cost effectiveness was difficult to access” – yet they strengthened the program? No! They desperately used every deceitful trick like seeking a waiver to protect Insurance Company Profits!

Will Walker/Smith take full credit for Obama’s 23.1 Million Bonus?

Note the Bonus was a reward for children enrolled BEFORE Walker/Smith worked to CUT 35,000 families from the program:

“number of children enrolled monthly in Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) increased by 121,000 between 2007 and 2010. Wisconsin received the second largest bonus in the country.”
INCREASED ACCESS TO HEALTH INSURANCE FOR CHILDREN QUALIFIES STATE FOR FEDERAL BONUS
Wisconsin Receives $23.1 Million Performance Bonus for 2010.

Great News for the Children of Wisconsin – NO THANKS TO WALKER/SMITH

MADISON—Increased access to health care services for children through the BadgerCare Plus program qualified Wisconsin for a federal bonus of $23.1 million for this year, federal officials announced today. The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) provides performance bonus payments to encourage states to enroll more uninsured Medicaid-eligible children and help offset increased enrollment costs.

Wisconsin received the bonus from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) because the average number of children enrolled monthly in Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) increased by 121,000 between 2007 and 2010. Wisconsin received the second largest bonus in the country.

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Read Reauthorization Act Reward Document

To Add Insult to Injury

The video captures Scott Walker singing “We Shall Overcome” at the celebration at the Capitol at noon today.

Only a sociopath could lie in song in face of the memory of Martin Luther King.

Scheduling or Strategy?

Time to Stand with Wisconsin

Double checking the map Wisconsin is a gray shaded battleground state.

A day after his State of the Union address, President Obama visited the headquarters of power technology company Orion Energy Systems, Inc. in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In a speech, Obama called for the U.S. to “up [its] game” in a time of increasing global competition. The decision to make Wisconsin the first state Obama visited following his State of the Union address was seen as making political sense, given the upcoming 2012 presidential election and the state’s central position in the “Midwest battleground”.Obama national visits

February – November a long, long time

Wisconsin has been engaged in the struggle of its live over the past 9 months. Many have noticed how Obama has been less than aggressive in his mounting the bully pulpit in support of the unions, teachers, seniors, and children of Wisconsin. As time passes without some message of strong support from the President through this whirlwind of vilification and attack, progressives can only begin to question his virtual silence through a challenged Spring Supreme Court race, an historic recall action against 6 GOP state Senators, a ruling of the State Supreme Court that dismissed the legislature from constitutional impertives regarding open meetings rules, and now, another historic recall effort against the governor of the state.

Bully Up

Why the silence? Wisconsin looks to Obama to take a stand against the Koch Bros., ALEC, Americans for Prosperity whose largess threatens the very heart of democracy. Secretary of Health Services (or Czar) is seeking a federal waiver exempting Wisconsin from receiving funds promised by the Heath Care Law that would will leave seniors cut from medicare and families, mothers, and children stripped of the safety net of Badger Care. This at a time when the infant mortality rate in Milwaukee is that of a third world country.

Climb up that bully pulpit and talk to us. We are on your side.

OCCUPY

The 1% wants to cut Badger Care for the 99%

While Milwaukee has been shown to have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country, Dennis Smith – Wisconsin Health Czar plans to cut 350,000 seniors, families and children from the Badger Care Program.

As with most Walker Administration events, the date was not released until Sunday Oct. 16 or just 3 days before the meeting in order to decrease attendance.

Please share this with your friends, and associates.

Town Hall Meeting On Medicaid Savings Initiatives

Goodman Community Center
Evjue Community Room D
149 Waubesa Street, Madison, WI
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
1:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M

WHERE:

Mapit

Madison, WI 53704
Evjue Community Room D

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Department of Health Services will hold a town hall meeting in Madison about proposed changes to Medicaid.

Town Hall Meeting in Milwaukee Oct.21
Save Badger Care Coalition

On January 3, 2011 Just hours after Scott Walker became Governor, Dennis Smith was appointed to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health Services . Dennis G. Smith, a consultant with (ultra conservative) Leavitt Partners, is a former (Koch supported) Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow and former Director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Under Bush/Cheney).
More than just a the head of the Department – He is the czar

Smith was given unprecedented power through language buried deep in the budget-repair bill that would give Smith and the Walker administration unprecedented power to revamp the state’s Badger Care program without following the legislative processes, public vetting, and even state laws normally required.
Read more

On January 3, 2011 Just hours after Scott Walker became Governor, Dennis Smith was appointed to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health Services . Dennis G. Smith, a consultant with (ultra conservative) Leavitt Partners, is a former (Koch supported) Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow and former Director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Under Bush/Cheney).

More than just a the head of the Department – He is the czar

Smith was given unprecedented power through language buried deep in the budget-repair bill that would give Smith and the Walker administration unprecedented power to revamp the state’s Badger Care program without following the legislative processes, public vetting, and even state laws normally required. Read more

Does the power grabbing tactic awarded Dennis Smith sound familiar? Wisconsin now has one of the most practiced proponents of the fringe, ultra right, Koch conservative, anti Obama, vigilantism holding untoward power to cut, slash, and burn health care coverage for Wisconsin seniors, children and families.

Back in late August, Czar Smith made a surgical stab at a full documented report(a Gruberectemy), sucking and slicing facts out of a study by Johnathan Gruber (pictured left) who was commissioned to look at how federal health care reform will impact Wisconsin. Smith’s irresponsible edit of the facts of Gruber’s report such as, how 340,000 uninsured people in Wisconsin will gain coverage by 2016, seems grounds for copyright infringement since it intentionally misrepresents much of Gruber’s original findings.

Once the extraction of the information was performed, it was completely safe to demonstrate the new documents in forums such as an-invitation-only-press conferences.

Where does Smith’s “Let them die” attitude come from?

If you google his name and past associations you will find page after page filled with the language of litigation, and health care hyperbola filled with collaborative efforts in pursuit of principled freedoms endemic to the fair health sourcing of patient doctor relationships generated…etc. etc. etc. When you see this, it can all be boiled down to just four letters” ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council). ALEC is the a delinquent child of the John Birch Society and a well funded covert organization that coddles state and national legislators from across the country by inviting them to swank resorts to instruct them on how to develop legislation that will further their goals of profits to big business like (say it with me) Insurance Companies.

But where does the ALEC “Let them die” attitude come from?

We Need to Protect Badger Care from the Ayn Rand conservatives

The latest Ayn Rand, ALEC, Ryan, Walker, Smith ploy is to manipulate a deadline to cripple Badger Care by cutting 350,000 children and working families from the the low-income health care plan at a time when the number of babies that die during their first year of life in our state is at a rate that approaches that of a third world country.

Smith will cut 400,000 people and families from Badger Care unless a waiver is answered by the federal government within 90 days. Smith is confident that any review by the Feds will take longer than 90 days, so the review will be late, and the cuts go into effect – that is IF the citizens of Wisconsin do nothing.

Post a Leave Badger Care Alone message to the Healthcare.gov face book page. POST a “Leave Badger Care Alone” message on face book Healthcare.gov page Contact the White House Contact President Obama with a Leave Badger Care alone message Message the President Obama page

Those present at a debate find themselves caught up in the same sort of pulsing energy as any mob, and sometimes the core truth of the mob escapes in the words of a single statement.

In the instance, of the Tea Party Sponsored debate of the Republican Candidates, the statement “Let him die!”was scary enough, but when it was followed by the burst of laughter it was downright psycho. It began to carry an eerie resemblance of the kind of almost gleeful cruelty of racist mobs in history that lynch, torture, and abuse their victims as they feed off each others hateful energy.

Does this crowd or Congressman Paul really believe that most people who can afford health insurance choose instead to go without it? Has it been that long since they sat at an American kitchen table and tried to figure out how to keep their benefits after a layoff? Or how to get care when they’ve never had insurance, ever? Or even how to schedule an appointment with an overbooked doctor in an HMO system? Maddow Blog

Senator Ron Johnson and Paul Ryan Do they seriously not know anyone who has struggled with those questions, even if they themselves have not?

Is Poverty a Hilarious Death Sentence? If so, Are You Ready for the Really Big Joke?

A new census report:
The United States has both the highest overall poverty rate and the highest childhood poverty rate of any major industrialized country on earth.

More Opportunities for GOP Tea Party Laughter

You see the posters, and fliers in all the restaurants, convenience stores, and community centers, and you see them all the time. Not a week goes by when you don’t see a poster for yet another benefit to ask for help for a loved one who is deathly ill and can’t afford further treatment. Sometimes you even see an “update” note of the current condition of the person. For most of us, it is really heartbreaking to read the specific and personal messages, but for the tea party crowd it is another opportunity to laugh at the irresponsibility of the poor sucker getting himself in such a situation and expecting his fellow citizens to take care of him.

Back in October, if you drove around the county roads and byways you couldn’t miss the dominating presence of signs to vote for Johnson or Walker. The signs were in the same people’s yards who called the health care bill “Obamacare” and want it repealed. I know some of these people well enough to expect they do not agree with psycho tea party “Let Him Die” laughter that chilled my spine.

I hope they were watching the Tea Party death panel of clowns last night, laughing and laughing.

Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis G. Smith (pictured right) said in the press release, that he first learned the fact extracting procedure during his tenure at the Koch Brothers supported Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C..

Among his dangerous ideas over the years has been to minimize the importance of health insurance, outright advocacy against Medicare and Medicaid and Wisconsin’s successful SeniorCare program, and the end of programs like BadgerCare, which insures almost 400,000 working Wisconsin families and their children. Read More

He smiled broadly as he described the procedure of sucking the truth out of studies and documents to come up with the story that supports his ultra conservative positions. Once the extraction of the information is performed, it is completely safe to demonstrate the new documents in forums such as a by-invitation-only-press conferences.

Jonathan Gruber, the author of the study – Calls it “Spin”.

Smith’s most recent surgical stab at the documented facts was labeled a Gruberectemy, since he sucked and sliced the findings out of a study by Johnathan Gruber (pictured left) who was commissioned to look at how federal health care reform will impact Wisconsin. Smith’s irresponsible edit of the facts of Gruber’s report such as, how 340,000 uninsured people in Wisconsin will gain coverage by 2016, seems grounds for copyright infringement since it intentionally misrepresents much of Gruber’s original findings.

Read more: “Economist Jonathan Gruber says state officials spun the results of his health care reform study”

While people wonder when and how to recall Walker, these “spins”, orchestrations, and misrepresentations continue to impose false messages from the fringe conservative right on the lives of working people of Wisconsin.

125 Days – 4 Hours – 38 Minutes – 20 Seconds to Recall Walker as of this posting

I posted the picture above in my status window on face book with statement:

Sarah Palin’s Map (I highlighted the circle of the shooting)

This is the dialogue exchanged with one responder over the course of a couple of  hours.

#
Response – What do you think she had to do with the shooting??????
2 hours ago · LikeUnlike
#
Dennis Kern - I said nothing about her involvement. Just posted the map from her web site. Why do you ask?
2 hours ago · LikeUnlike
#
Response – You;ve connected the two in your posting.
2 hours ago · LikeUnlike

#
Dennis Kern – I posted a map…You connected the two. This implies that a connection must exist.
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike
#
Response -  Only on your post.
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike
#
Dennis Kern – One post can be all it takes to incite an unstable mind.
about an hour ago · Like

I am sure this sort of dialogue is happening all over the country today.  I don’t know if the shooter had any knowledge of the Sarah Palin’s web site or even knew who she was. The point is that our words matter. They matter even more when we are public figures who are  locked in the identity of a mass of people.  Within this mass of people are a few highly unstable sorts who read symbols, hateful words, and violent slogans or threats as a call to violent action. We know this from past experience.

Short of making a map with cross hairs for those you use such language in the media….what can be done?

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