Maine Liberal Group Distributes Flyer Accusing Wheelchair-Bound State Representative of Having "No Spine" in Not "Standing Up" To Governor

A left-wing Portland, ME advocacy group has sent out a mailer accusing state representative Dale Crafts [R- Lisbon Falls] of having 'no spine' and failing to 'stand up' to Gov Paul LePage's 'bullying'. Crafts, who also serves on the Lisbon, ME town council, is confined to a wheelchair.

The Maine's People Alliance mailer, which is done up like a mock prescription pad (shown above) was mailed throughout Craft's district in Androscoggin County just north of Portland.

The left-wing advocacy group Maine's People Alliance took issue with Governor LePage's veto of Medicaid expansion last month. In his veto letter to the state legislature, LePage said:

“Maine has been down this road before, and we must learn from previous experience,” he wrote. “Medicaid spending grew by $1 billion in a decade, hospital bills were not being paid by the state, budgets were broken and thousands of elderly, and people with disabilities were forced to wait for critical services.

“For the sake of the truly needy and Maine taxpayers, we cannot go down this path again,”

Expansion of Medicaid for each state was considered a linchpin of 0bamacare. Under 0bamacare, the federal government would pay for any state that expanded Medicaid to anyone making less than 138% of the poverty level, but only through 2016.

State House minority leader Ken Fredette blasted the mailed and called for the MPA to publicly apologize. The communications director for Maine's People's Alliance said he has personally apologized to Rep Crafts via telephone but will continue to attack him over his support for LePage and opposition to proposed Medicaid expansion in Maine.

This would not be the first time in the 2014 election cycle that a liberal group has mocked a Republican with a disability. In January, undercover reported James O'Keefe videotaped Battleground Texas staff and supporters of Democrat gubernatorial candidate Wendy David mocking Texas attorney general Greg Abbot's disability
as well as forging signatures on resignation forms.

FBI Investigating Death Threats Against Illinois Congressman Bobby Schilling

The FBI along with local and U.S. Capitol Police are investigating an online threat made against western Illinois congressman Bobby Schilling this week.

Schilling learned of the threat against him in an email alert Tuesday night, according to his spokeswoman, Andrea Pivarunas. Sherriff’s deputies reportedly responded to the congressman’s district home, and have passed the matter on to the FBI and Capitol Police.

“After receiving a very concerning email alert Tuesday evening, Rep. Schilling and his family are taking recommended precautions while the situation is investigated by relevant authorities,” wrote Pivarunas in an email to The Hill.



“He is grateful for the professionalism of local law enforcement in responding to this situation,” she added.



The email threat against Schilling states, "I will pay $75,000 for ASSASSINATING Illinois Congresswoman (sic) Bobby Schilling and any US Congressman, US Senator and FBI, CIA and NSA DIRECTORS and their FAMILY MEMBERS regardless of their age,” according to local news reports.



In late September, a Google user offered up to $100,000 for killing the president and his immediate family, as well as George W. Bush, several members of his administration and Congress, The New York Times reported Thursday.

“KILL the MASS MURDERERS, TERRORISTS, SADISTS, PERVERTS and PSYCHOPATHS George Bush, [Donald] Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, FBI director Robert Mueller III, NSA Director Keith Alexander, CIA Director David Patraeus, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and National Intelligence director Dennis Blair,” according to the posting obtained by the Hill.

The messages were posted by Google user FBInCIAnNSATerroristSlayer, and contain language parallel to that of the threat made against Schilling. Other messages included in the user’s profile include threats against FBI, CIA and NSA agents, as well as a $75,000 reward to assassinate Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.).

Schilling, a former pizzeria owner who enjoyed backing from the Tea Party during the 2010 midterms is a freshman who's western Illinois district includes the Rock Island Arsenal, the Illinois part of the Quad Cities and part of the state capitol of Springfield.

On Thursday, Schilling announced on his Congressional that he would be visiting towns in the district via his 'Mobile Office' starting in November.

Civility Update- Massachusetts Congressman Politicizes Aftermath of Springfield Tornadoes

At a press conference in Springfield, MA last week, Congressman Richard Neal (MA-2) bravely tore his way through an army of strawmen before declaring that nobody had said 'Too much government' in the wake of this month's tornadoes that struck Western Massachusetts.

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal made the case for prioritizing disaster relief spending at a press conference in downtown Springfield Thursday, appearing alongside Gov. Deval Patrick and Mayor Domenic Sarno to outline the federal response to tornado devastation in Massachusetts.

"Nobody said when this tornado hit, "Too much government,'" Neal said.

Truth be told, if my home was hit by a tornado and I survived, my first thought would probably be along the lines of 'Holy shit! Somebody just ran over my house with a huge lawnmower' as opposed to the national debt or spending cuts.

However, I would not the least bit surprised if people would say "too much government" when purchasing cereal, light bulbs or Happy meals (among other things), whether or not you can keep your insurance or when one tries moving their business from one state to another.

To say that others are complaining Fed overreach about disaster response when local officials are overwhelmed or a state of emergency declaration is dishonestly putting words into the mouths of others to say the least and likely a further justification for expanding the government into venues it has no business expanding into (see cap & trade, Card Check or 0bamcare).

Civility Update- Threats Made Against NY State Senator Opposing Gay Marriage

After passing in the New York state Assembly by an 80-63 margin, a same-sex marriage bill is expected to face a narrow vote in the State Senate up in Albany.

However, even with the GOP holding a narrow majority, opposition to New York's Marriage Equality Act does not fall uniformly across party lines.

South Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. (D- 32nd District) has lobbied against the measure and has held rallies against the upcoming bill in Brooklyn in the last few weeks. According to the New York Daily News, threats were made against him and his family last month.

Diaz said he and his family have received death threats due to his vocal stance on keeping gay marriage unlawful in New York State. They were reported to the FBI and Albany police, he said.

"We are in America; we are supposed to agree to disagree and respect each other's positions," the senator said.

On May 10, tweets by opponents of Diaz's May 15 rally included one in which the sender expressed the desire to sexually assault Diaz's daughter.

[BTW, notice how Diaz went to the FBI and local police instead of 'having his legal team look into it'. Just sayin'- NANESB!].

Last week, a Brooklyn gay bar sponsored a 'F*ck Ruben Diaz' Festival that promised to feature raunchy poetry and limericks about the state senator. While making a perfunctory and tepid denunciation of violence or death threats, the organizer claimed that 'Occasionally taking the low road is just the ticket'.

Hmm....so much for that 'civility' the President was calling for in the wake of the Giffords shooting.

Civility Update: Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Gov. Walker's Union Law; Dem Recall Candidate Wants to Reach Out & Smack Someone

Big news out of the Badger state this afternoon as the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Gov. Walker's contentious budget bill that would restrict public employee unions ability to collectively bargain.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state's contentious union rights law can go into effect, giving Republican Gov. Scott Walker a major victory.

Walker pushed the law that eliminates most of public employees' collective bargaining rights and forces them to pay more for their health and pension benefits. He says it's needed for the state to address its budget problems.

"The Supreme Court's ruling provides our state the opportunity to move forward together and focus on getting Wisconsin working again," Walker said in a statement.

The law passed in March after weeks of protests that drew tens of thousands of people to the state Capitol. But the law has been tied up in the courts since a Democrat filed a lawsuit accusing Republicans of violating the state open meetings law during the run-up to passage.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court said the judge had no authority to interfere with the legislative process

The ruling comes after a contentious mid-term judicial election in Wisconsin saw pro-union challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg prematurely declare victory before a tabulation error but her 7,000 votes behind incumbent David Prosser, with Kloppenburg eventually conceding defeat after a costly, month-long recount.

Student and union members had taken to the streets to protest Walker's legislation as Democrat state senators fled the state to prevent the required quorum and put off a vote on the bill. However, the remaining Republican state senators were eventually able to tweak the bill as a budgetary measure and get it passed without the Democrats being present in Madison, with intermittent protests taking place since it's passage. Dane County Circut Judge Maryann Sumi temporary blocked the law from being implemented in March. A nine page decision by the justices stated that Sumi had overstepped her authority and ventured into the legislative process with her March ruling.

ELSEWHERE IN WISCONSIN: A Democrat running in an upcoming recall campaign against Republican Luther Olsen (R- 14th Senate District) found himself in trouble after a short, terse exchange with a Baraboo woman in which he said he wanted to "smack around" the woman was picked up when her ansering machine continued recording after she hung up.

Aeemblyman Dan Clark (D- 42nd Assembly District) apologized on Tuesday after the woman, Sue Stapleman of Baraboo, WI, played the tape for co-workers at a hospital.

President Obama's 2012 Campagn Gets Underway With Petulant Speech, Unimpressive Budget Proposal at George Washignton University

President Obama took time out from his busy schedule on Wednesday to promote the upcoming Atlas Shrugged movie during an address at George Washington University.

Wait....what? He was being serious? Damn- that's unfortunate.

Several days after announcing his campaign for re-election, a government shutdown was narrowly averted and House Budget Committee chair Paul Ryan (R, WI-1) unveiled a budget proposal that would cut government spending by $4 trillion over the next 10 years, President Obama had the opportunity to show the public he was serious about this country's growing debt but instead decided to double down on the same rhetoric that cost his party control of the House last year. Here are some of the highlights (and I use the term loosely) with commentary from me where I thought appropriate:

In the speech at George Washington University, he positioned his spending plan as a more "compassionate" alternative to one introduced last week by Ryan. He applauded Republicans for putting a plan on the table to address entitlements, but the praise stopped there.

"The way this plan achieves those goals would lead to a fundamentally different America than the one we've known certainly in my lifetime," Obama said, calling the GOP plan "deeply pessimistic." He suggested Republicans were giving up on basic functions of government.

"It's a vision that says if our roads crumble and our bridges collapse, we can't afford to fix them. [Wait wait wait wait.....hold the phone- if you want to talk about infrastructure, THEN WHAT THE FUCKING HELL WAS THE STIMULUS SUPPOSED TO BE USED FOR!?- NANESB!]

If there are bright young Americans who have the drive and the will but not the money to go to college, we can't afford to send them," Obama said of the Republican plan.

"It's a vision that says America can't afford to keep the promise we've made to care for our seniors."

The president claimed his proposal would cut $4 trillion from the deficit in 12 years or less. He drew several lines in the sand as he explained how he planned to get there.

Accusing Republicans of cutting services to seniors and poor children while cutting taxes for the rich, Obama said: "That's not right, and that's not going to happen as long as I'm president." [oh good- so we can look forward to this happening sometime in January 2013 then? Please go away you colossal asshat- NANESB!]

The president's proposal would deal with entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid, but avoid the major changes being pushed by Ryan. The president opposes turning Medicaid into a block-grant program for states and making Medicare seniors purchase government-subsidized insurance, as Ryan proposed. Rather, he vowed to make other changes he claims will extract more than $300 billion in savings from those programs over the next decade. Plus he pushed cuts in discretionary spending, including to defense. [Of course! All military spending is wasteful- until Obama decides to start lobbing cruise missiles at Libya- NANESB!]

But where Obama departed most sharply from Republicans was his call for rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the most well-off Americans -- meaning a tax hike for households making more than $250,000, or the top 2 percent of wage-earners. Republicans and Democrats had agreed to extend all the Bush tax cuts for two years, but Obama said Wednesday, "I refuse to renew them again" for the top tier. [Gee- who didn't see that coming?- NANESB!]

"The most fortunate among us can afford to pay a little more. I don't need another tax cut," he said [how generous of the guy who hasn't created a single job in his life- NANESB].

Here's the thing- exactly how much did the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act cost? The more conservative estimates put it at a minimum of $787 billion dollars. Unemployment wasn't supposed to go above 8% and all sorts of public work projects were going to create jobs as a result. Except after a few months in, the Obama Administration decided to change the metric to jobs saved or created- and that revision didn't even last until the end of 2009.

And instead of being used for infrastructure as it's cheerleaders had promised, the stimulus went instead to researching the effects of cocaine on monkeys or sexual activity of college freshmen at Syracuse University. Supposedly, in some very abstract manner, it worked and the economy is in a recovery- oh...and any budget proposal by the republicans would endanger this 'recovery'. Except this recovery features near double-digit unemployment, the dollar taking a beating, a cratering housing market as well as skyrocketing food, fuel and commodity prices.

Now, after all the funds that went towards in the 'stimulus' the President wants to raise taxes on 'wealthy' Americans (and make no mistake, the Democrat party has a very malleable definition of 'wealthy'). This is not unlike Bernie Madoff demanding a raise after bilking investors out of their life savings.

If this is part of President Obama's 2012 campaign strategy, I have to say that it is indeed very powerful and effective materiel......for whoever winds up running against him

Dairlyand Drama Drags On- NY Teamsters Hop Bus To Wisconsin; Indiana Dems Skip Town

Does anybody else remember this chick from last year? Not only is she a Democrat, she's also on the Executive committee of the Milwaukee County Democrat party.

Odds are, she's a byproduct of Wisconsin public schools. Time to start contemplating if you're really getting any bang for your buck as far as the public schools are concerned, Cheeseheads.

As the protests got underway last week in Madison, an estimated 40% of the teachers in Madison staged a sickout, cancelling classes. As the teacher's protests against Gov. Scott Walker's measures in a bill limiting public employee unions ability to collectively bargain continued through the week, the teachers apparently continued to call in sick.

As absences from faculty increased, school district administrators warned that teachers would be docked pay for the days they were absent. However, University of Wisconsin Medical Center doctors were passing out doctors notes excusing absences to passersby on their way to or from the protests last week, standing next to handwritten placards with a red cross that read 'The Doctor is In- Come Get a Note'


Meanwhile. Union Locals from the New York metropolitan area, including the Teamsters Local 237 and Transportation Union Workers Local 100 promised to bus in hundreds of members to join the protesting teachers in Madison this week [after acquitting themselves so wonderfully during January's blizzard in NYC, it must be nice to have a government position with enough job security to skip several days for a bus trip to Wisconsin with no apparent repercussions- NANESB!].

Earlier this week, a 'journalist' named Ian Murphy managed to prank Gov. Walker by calling and saying he was one of the Koch Brothers and lulling him into a rather boring conversation that was supposedly scandalous and revealed his duplicitous side. For the record, Murphy's previous works include a lengthy 2008 screed directed at the US Military and veterans called 'Fuck The Troops'.

On Friday, the Wisconsin State Assembly had passed Walker's contentious budget bill after several days of heated debate on the House floor, but the 14 AWOL state senators prevent the measure from being taken up in the Wisconsin State Senate

I also thought it might be worth mentioning that at it's peak, crowd size for the protests in Madison was in the neighborhood of 70,000 last weekend, and that included several thousand counterdemonstrators from the Tea Party supporting Gov. Walker arriving on short notice. The total population of Dane County Wisconsin (which is where the Midwestern liberal bastion of Madison is located) is thought to be in the neighborhood of 491,000. For all the attempts by some of the media to portray this as a wildly popular spontaneous uprising in Dairyland, there's the undeniable fact that Union leadership and Obama's Organizing for America have taken an active role in coordinating much of the protests, despite media claims that the White House is distancing itself from these battles.

With such large, politically connected and well financed groups mobilizing against Gov. Walker, you'd think they wouldn't have to bus people in from out of state if these proposed budget cuts were so unpopular. But who knows? They could be just warming up for other states.....

In Indiana, a similar situation has developed earlier this week when 37 of the 40 Democrat state representatives also fled to Illinois to avoid a quorum on Right to Work legislation. About 3500 Union workers converged on the capitol to protest as House Bill 1468 passed the Indiana House, Labor and Pensions Committee and was supposed to go the the floor of the State House for a full debate.

[hat tip- Lonely Conservative; Jammie Wearing Fool]