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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.

Another Shady and Secret Maneuver – This Time it is Aimed at Babies, Mothers, Families, and Seniors

How does one create a greater enemy of the people than Scott Walker and his administration? Charles Dickens might be hard pressed to imagine such a villainous regime as has been foisted on the backs of the folks of Badgerland. Not a week goes by without a new unethical trick, maneuver, or side long crash into the heart of state statutes, and constitution. The only fear is that the people have grown so accustomed to this unceasing dissonance that the constant sway against the harsh political wind has encouraged a complacent bend of acceptance or even apathy. How may petitions must we sign? How many signatures must we canvass? How much more can we possibly take? It’s gotten to the point where I feel I am retelling the same story over and over and just changing the names – Kathy Nickolaus, Prosser, Van Holen, Kapanke, Fitzgerald 1 & 2 and on and on.

The bottom line of “ENOUGH!”
Yet, with all the long fought actions of recalls, canvases, and perpetual activism there has finally come an injustice, a horror, and heart rending leap of inhumanity to which I must scream – that is when babies are allowed to die. That is the latest sociopathic action of the Walker administration. Like most of their machinations it is being done on the sly, without regard for legislative rules and behind the cloak of controlling spending, supporting job creators, and reigning in on government regulations.

Ted Nickel (pictured left in photo) is the grim reaper in the latest scenario. Nickels was a appointed State Insurance Commissioner by Walker in what appears to be yet another in a long line of pay-to-play appointments. (Yes. I have told this story before) Back in July the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed complaints accusing Walker and 10 wealthy contributors of 24 violations of state campaign finance law. Ted Nickel was just one of the contributors named in the complaint who contributed more than the $10,000 state law allows. Walker, Donors Accused Of 24 Violations Of Campaign Finance Law

Before the Walker appointment Ted Nickel was Chairman of WISCONSIN INSURANCE ALLIANCE. The Alliance is a campaign contribution wheel of fortune. The total Given from 2004 to 2011: $121,247 (284 records). You can check the link above for a complete and detailed track of Alliance money trail.

Ted Nickel stealthy scenario

Without issuing any press release or public announcement Nickel did his “dirty”. He 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.

Waiving these requirements is waving good by to a lot of money, and leads to cutting 350,000 people from Badger Care. The waiver will cost Wisconsin consumers millions of dollars in rebates that health insurers would otherwise have to pay back if their profits and overhead exceed the new standards. Note: this money would not come from government or tax payers, but from the insurance companies. Yet, Walker, Nickel, and Public Health Service Director Dennis Smith are all for it.

As usual, the Walker administration’s sympathy is not with Wisconsin workers struggling to afford health insurance, but with a for-profit health insurance industry that is enjoying record profits. Waiver

To add death to insult, this callous request for a waiver comes at a time when the infant mortality rate in places like Milwaukee is at epidemic proportions.

Why have Walker and Nickel done this quietly?

The Federal Government has 90 days to respond or the waiver is granted. The waiver request was submitted quietly because, if no one raises their voice, chances are the time limit will expire, the waiver will take effect by default, Badger Care will cut mothers, families, and seniors from its roles and babies will die.

Would you take second to make your voice known? Will you help solve the epedemic infant mortality rate?

You don’t need to march or occupy any street, building, or park. It takes less than a minute to sign a petition directly to the Obama administration. With 25,000 signatures the issue will be addressed and answered via email. You are not asked to donate or sign up for anything. Your only risk is to surrender you email address to the “We the People” petition site administered by the White House. Your action will send out an alarm about the Walker/Nickel secret waiver. Your action might help a pregnant mother, a sick child, or strapped senior citizen.

Please help. Please Sign and Share.

Post Fetal abortion is practiced daily in Wisconsin. It’s time to extend the pro-life vision for the protection of life past the point of conception and into the harsh reality of birth. The GOP, evangelicals, and faith groups will spare no measure to point out the injustice of ending the life of a fetus, but once that fetus becomes a real live and kicking baby, it is thrown out with the bath water.

Pro Life begins at conception – ENDS AT BIRTH

In Milwaukee, babies die every day. During their first year of life they die at a rate greater than all but six of the nation’s 53 largest cities. (Dennis Smith pictured left over empty cradle

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

The number of infant deaths is staggering: 501 babies died in Wisconsin in 2008
That is more than three times the number of homicides, more than twice the number of drunken-driving deaths. In Milwaukee, the infant mortality rate for all children, regardless of race, exceeds that of Uruguay, Bosnia or Kuwait.

The factors that drive the leading causes of infant mortality also drive the leading causes of death, illness and disability for all of us.

The city Health Department on Monday is to release the 2010 Fetal Infant Mortality Review Report, based on an examination of all 499 infant deaths that occurred in Milwaukee from 2005 to 2008. In that time frame, for every 1,000 babies born, 11 died. “We have a public health crisis,” said Bevan K. Baker, Milwaukee’s commissioner of health. “We have moved beyond the tipping point.”
Read “For Milwaukees Children, an Early Grave” JS Online

How are Walker and Health Czar Dennis Smith facing this crisis?

They are seeking a waiver – a waiver to give insurance companies a viagra boost. In medical, political jargon the “waiver” is what’s known as the “medical loss ratio.” Wisconsin’s Commissioner of Insurance sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services requesting a change in a formula which largely determines insurer profits and the amount spent on patients. The request is to guess what? Lower the amount spent on patients, like the mother’s of new born babies.
Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin says allowing the state to go lower would not benefit consumers, “So insurance companies would be able to take more profit, more overhead and spend less on medical claims at a time when consumers across the state are struggling to afford skyrocketing health insurance premiums.”PREMIUMS, PROFITS AND PATIENT CARE

In case you were wondering what “Occupy Wall Street” and “We are the 99%” is all about – this is it.

The 1% in this example are the health insurance companies. The 99% are the dead and dying babies. The 1% is where the money is. The life expectancy rates for the U.S. were not published by the U.S. media, but by the BBC. Wonder why? The 1% are the insurance companies, Americans for Prosperity, and ALEC. The 99% are the mother’s, seniors, and families expected to accept cuts in Badger Care so the insurance companies can enjoy higher profits.

If the federal government doesn’t grant Wisconsin a waiver from the medical loss ratio, insurers which don’t spend at least 80 percent on patient care would have to give consumers refunds. If the waiver is not granted it will also save 350,000 people from being cut from Badger Care (many of the pregnant mothers).

You can take action

The We the People tool on the WhiteHouse.gov is intended to foster a focused and civil conversation about how the federal government should address a range of issues. Only petitions that reach a certain number of signatures, or “threshold,” within a given amount of time will generate an official response.

The current threshold is 25,000 signatures within 30 days.

We petition the Obama administration to: Petition title: Take action in Wisconsin against Secretary of Health Services, Dennis Smith’s request for a federal waiver. The goal is 25,000 Signatures by November 28, 2011. The issue will be addressed by the administration and a response will be personally delivered to you via email. Please use the sign and share options on the link below to alert your friends on face book and twitter to unacceptable infant mortality rates in Wisconsin that the requested waiver will serve to ignore. Read and sign the petition

Remember the Death Panel scare that swept the media during the Affordable Health Care Debate?

It is real. It has arrived. It is coming to Wisconsin. It has come for the seniors and children of the State.

According to the Department of Health Services, the plan of Health Czar Dennis Smith (grim reaper far left) would cripple Badger Care and cut 350,000 children and working families from the the low-income health care plan. Do you remember how Scott Walker (grim reaper far right) spent nearly a year trying to win the Republican gubernatorial primary by traveling around the state calling for time limits for Badger Care so he could help finance his $3 billion in tax cuts, loopholes and shifts that benefit the rich and corporations? The Death Panel originally invented by the ALEC, Koch, American for Prosperity to scare seniors away from the Affordable Health Care Plan, has morphed into an ironic reality. The Death Panel idea is now befriended by the ALEC, Koch, Americans for Prosperity, Walker, and Smith to become a tool to pronounce a death sentence on children and seniors of Wisconsin.

Sound too Dramatic?

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. (Dennis Smith pictured left over empty cradle

In Milwaukee, babies die at rates associated with the Third World.
The number of infant deaths is staggering: 501 babies died in Wisconsin in 2008 - more than three times the number of homicides, more than twice the number of drunken-driving deaths. In Milwaukee, the infant mortality rate for all children, regardless of race, exceeds that of Uruguay, Bosnia or Kuwait.
Read “For Milwaukees Children, an Early Grave” JS Online

The “funny” quip is not funny anymore

The quip is, “If you want to be loved by the GOP, remain a fetus”. Now, that we are faced with the statisitics of infant mortality in the state of the Brewers, the Packers, and the Badgers, are we ready to swallow the shame of allowing babies to die at such an alarming rate? Is this the time when the Smith, Walker Death panel should be looking to cut heath services to the poor children and families of Wisconsin? The shear disgrace of such a proposal makes you cry. This is not Wisconsin. We are not the kind of people who turn their backs on dying babies. The Proposals of Walker and Smith do not represent or reflect the deep and generous passions of the people who live, work, and pay taxes in this State.

What can you do? STOP the Death Panel.

The heroes here are Brynne McBride and Bobby Peterson of Healthcare Watch. They are now in the fourth season of producing on line videos dealing with health issues in the state. The latest episode 8 deals specifically with the changes Dennis Smith is proposing to cut 350,000 children and working families from the Badger Care safety net and that saves the babies of Wisconsin. You can watch the full episode:Healthcare Watch You can join with them to help stop this shameful infant mortality within our State.

The Smith Cut needs a Federal Waiver

If the waiver is not approved with 90 days – then the death panel goes into effect. This is a political hour glass game that Smith is playing, and is the kind of ploy that is taught to legislators through the covert conservative organization ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council). He is confident that any review by the Feds will take longer than 90 days, so the review will be late, and the death panel cuts go into effect – that is IF the citizens of Wisconsin do nothing.

Take the time to save a baby’s life

Take the time (5 minutes) to let Obama and the U.S. Department of Health know that the infant mortality rate in Wisconsin is unacceptable to you, and that you do not support cuts in the Badger Care safety net.

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