Well you see the way politics works is when you run on a set of things and then do a bunch of other things, people can and do get upset.

But the worst of the lot is the attempt to neutralize the other party. This is, to say the least, inappropriate, when it comes to running a two party system.

It is best to have two parties t keep each other in check. If one party can't run on the power of their ideas and feel compelled to game the system, then they are asking for it, plain and simple.

K, are you really this naive ? Do you not remember the national actions of the Dems 2008-2010 when they controlled both houses and the pres.? Or Doyle and the state Dem. controlled houses pushing thru his last budget in one overnite session, not alloying any Repub. amendments or discussion ?

Point is both parties drive the show when they control the playing field. That's why there are election so the winning party can implement its platform...be it Dem or Repub. Why in the world would a ruling party abducte power when it doesn't have to ? Not saying I fully agree, but that's the way it's been for over 240 years.

Reality check here pls. If you don't like the system, join Lyle in tearing it down. Better yet, help your party win in the next election. Don't waste time, union money and drumheads on bogus recalls doomed to fail ( + 6 and + 23k jobs ytd).

Let's list all your successful recall canidates you've backed : Klopy, Pasch, Falk, Barrett. Oops, never mind. It's clear the majority of Wi voters are far to the right of your politico thinking. Give it up

Democrats have come to expect that history can only ratchet one direction; from liberal to more liberal. The media and academia are also "slightly left of center" so even after a conservative/tea party tsunami like 2010 there was little analysis of their ideas or how they might be implemented. The cognitive dissonance experienced by those who cite the laundry list of lefty concerns is a reflection of the crisis of legitimacy in liberal and progressive thought.

Ever higher spending and crippling debt have put us on the dark road to Greece. Taxpayers can no longer afford to give public employee unions everything they want. Blue states like California and New York will experience a fiscal crises caused by unsustainable promises to state workers and open ended welfare programs first. A 2009 Tax Foundation study rated Wisconsin as having the 4th highest state and local tax burden so we may be next.

Lyle minimizes the revenue shortfall brought on by the recession and labels every decrease in spending as "draconian." Calling a decrease in the projected spending increase "draconian" is pure hyperbole. Draco put people to death; if Walker had completely eliminated a wasteful and redundant program like BadgerCare that might be called draconian. Let's keep it real, overall state spending will increase by 3 percent on Walker's watch through 2013.

Bewildered, you really live up to the screen name you hide behind. The Democrats have done nothing to compare to what is happening in Fitzwalkerstan.

Don't piss on our collective legs and tells us it's raining. Democrats have come no where spending what Reagan, Bush I and Bush II spent. And they did it to prevent Democrats from coming and funding needed investments in the America, only to defended by the high foreheads among us.

By the way, we can expect the childish plaint about the "Obama deficit," when there is abundant proof that most of that is a carryover from Bush.

But I don't expect you to agree After all, those are facts.

"Democrats have come no where spending what Reagan, Bush I and Bush II spent. And they did it to prevent Democrats from coming and funding needed investments in the America, only to defended by the high foreheads among us."

Right! (what?)

Posting while bombed is not easy, see any of keith's posts tonight for proof. 90 proof.

@Bob McBride...I consider that as only a little left of center. Am I trying to kindle the flames of the proletariat to rise up and overthrow the bourgeoisie?

Yes.

Lyle, if you're only little left of center, Barack Obama is a card carrying member of the Tea Party.

Being a proclaimed "democrat socialist" is not slightly left of center. I stopped reading after I hit that first lie.

Surprising Steve you made it that far, based on what you post vs what is written.

If you base your recall support on Walker as County Exec, I assume you felt this way during the last election. And your side lost. Not rubbing it in, just fact. What I don't understand, based on your stated reson for recall, is why you feel you have the right for a "do over".

As it certainly look like Barrett is in serious trouble.... down 6 and having his main campaign issue jobs blown out of the water with the new #s toda.... focus your efforts on the next "real" election. The unions have seriously hoodwinked wisconsin and spent millions of wasted $. The DNC has just announced they're pulling funds out of Wi for other races they think they can win.

Time for the majority ( in 2010 and now) to govern and the loyal opposition to gird their loins for this fall's pres. election. Too many $ wasted on both sides.

@Bren...Changes no matter what type, when introduced too quickly creates dissonance. What you and I would see as favorable changes, others would see as unfavorable and the sharp divide would develop.

Fortunately, for the entire state of Wisconsin - NOT just Republicans, but Democrats, Independents and all others - if Walker somehow gets by the Recall Election, he will NOT get by the prison sentence awaiting him. One way or another Walker will be leaving the position of Governor; that is as it should be, as that is the only thing he has earned as the Dictator of Wisconsin...

Finally, I find it deeply disturbing to read so many snarky, divisive and way out of line comments on this post, simply on the basis of whether one is a Democrat or a Republican; this is NOT the way to heal Wisconsin...

This is the Walker agenda: DIVIDE AND CONQUER...

@ John Wilson – You said, “Walker will NOT get by the prison sentence awaiting him.” Really!?!? What has Scott Walker been convicted of that would warrant a prison sentence? Better yet, what has he even been charged with that could potentially, possibly, maybe lead to a prison sentence?

Wait a minute, I get it now. You’re referring to the going on 2 years “secret” John Doe investigation that has yet to even pin an accusation on Scott Walker.

@John Wilson - Like a typical democrat you talk out of both sides of your face.
First you rant about a "prison sentence" and a "Dictator of Wisconsin" then you come out with this crap "Finally, I find it deeply disturbing to read so many snarky, divisive and way out of line comments on this post, simply on the basis of whether one is a Democrat or a Republican; this is NOT the way to heal Wisconsin..."

Typical "I want it only MY way" entitlement mentality. I bet when you were typing this you were banging your drum canting ---SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.

@Bewildered...Quack, Quack, Quack!

Lyle, that looks like a Keith style response ;-)

Have I advocated the violent overthrow by the proletariat?

I guess though, when you are a rabid right winger Ike is a commie.

@J.B. Schmidt...Not quite in a Hoveround yet. I think I'll stay awake until the 6th so that I can vote and cancel your vote.

Lyle: I think you can sleep before the 6th of June. Just ask someone for an alarm clock to be sure.
BTW: I see you got the memo about Democrats voting on the 6th, and Republicans cast their vote on the 5th.
If the election doesn't go the way I plan, I will be drinking a 5th on the 6th!

@Craig...Vote on the 5th and stay up to watch the returns.

@Jay Sykes....You nailed the point of the blog.

Wait, was it the change of power or the overwhelming dissonance of rapid changes?

Success has a funny way of shocking people. Especially when their entire lives they thought their way was what worked and what people should live by.

It worked. Wisconsin was overwhelmed by the economy that washed over the rest of the country.

In fact much of the job growth that Walker lays claim to was generated under the Doyle administration.

Now Walker is proving -- just like in Europe -- what an austerity economy leads to.

Further proof -- http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/here-is-the-full-inequality-speech-and-slideshow-that-was-too-hot-for-ted/257323/ -- of what the inequality economy is going to do for us, one that Walker and Ryan are trying to push.

You geniuses will not be able to howl at this -- not that you read anything in the first place -- because the talk was worked up by a venture capitalist, someone who knows more about business that just about any of you idlers who post ad nausea here.

OH, now there is job growth...But Doyle did it.....Give it a break, you know nothing but hate.

lol. A week ago we lost jobs and that was Walker's fault. Now the real numbers come out and the credit goes to Doyle.

Give it a rest.

@Alfred....Interesting point.

That might have thrilled you Alfred but Walker has already done enough to look sweaty and eager.

Yeah, that'll bring us together.

@Alfred -- The public workers of Wisconsin were precluded from striking in the same collective bargaining law that Walker trashed. I would argue that it gives them the right to strike now, but I'm no lawyer.

@Randy... Good question about the ability to strike. I do know the 'no strike' provisions (required mediation/arbitration)for teachers came about in the mid/late 70's(as a function of the Hortonville strike). I think that the original collective bargaining law(1959) did not make strikes illegal.

@CD ... I've been waiting for the co-opt bumper sticker marketing effort:
---"Wisconsin home of the 'New' Progressivism" ---
--- "Wisconsin: Progressive Again" ---

@Greg...Of course it's through lefty colored glasses, they're the ones upset and calling for the recall. My only new statement is that the reason for the recall is purely a psycho/social reaction to the dissonance of rapid change. The right probably would act similarly if the left came to power and did the same thing. It's just human nature to resist change, especially rapid change.

My point is, they did the same thing and we did not react the same way, due to good leadership. We waited it out, it costed us a ton of money, then we made the changes.
Yes it is a psycho/social reaction, but that of a child, starting with the democrat leadership ranting or fleeing from the state. You blame Governor Walker for his rapid change, but I blame the democrat leadership for their reaction and example.

@Greg...I am not putting any value qualifiers on it. You call it child like, but in reality it's just a reaction to overwhelming dissonance. I don't share your view that the Democrats pushed through this kind of legislative agenda. They pushed quite a bit through but at a slower pace.

The slower pace is pure fantasy, the reaction was not.
As for your value qualifiers, you tweek your posts to your advantage as much as I do. I would hope you could respect fair play.

Lyle, it wasn't the rapid change, it was what was behind it that riled people up, especially usurping the Wisconsin values of fair play and caring for each other.

Greg, there was never anything like this previously in terms of rapid change. I don't know who the hell you are referring to, but who ever did left the GOP's ability to respond in tact.

What disgust me about it is that deep in their psyches is the knowledge that no matter what they do, there are billions of dollars to back them up. And for anyone to think like Walker has asserted that those patrons don't want something for there money, that's childlike at best.

Bob, the Democrats would have gotten no where unless it was the tens of thousands of volunteers who got into this. If fact, the Democrats had very little to do with this.

Is the thought that people are assertive scary to you?

Keith, every party relies on those who aren't official party members for support. If they didn't no one would ever get elected. I know you're very proud of the 20K signatures you and your "over 1000" members collected and you think you worked very hard on that, but the bottom line is that you all vote Democrat - so what's the difference?

Are you so scared that your efforts might turn out to be less than successful that you can't seem to post your weak attempt to support them in the right thread?

Keith - You are old, but your memory should not be that bad. Let me see if I can help. When you say there was never anything like this, you are kinda correct. Doyle and the democrats were much more brazin in 2009, they bent us over and gave it to us in 24 hours. how's that for rapid?
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/23/scott-walker/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-says-democratic-senator/

"Accused by Senate Democrats of rushing a vote on his repair bill, Walker fired back with his own charge. He said that two years earlier, many of those senators had rammed through a billion-dollar tax hike contained in a Democratic repair bill -- in 24 hours and without public input. The record is clear."

That's who the hell i'm referring to.

What a whiner. That was nothing compared to what Walker did.

You don't get it Bob. It's the other way around. It was the Democrats who had to rely on us. In this case there was a ton more initiative taken by ordinary people all across the state. Look at how Lori Compass has Fitzgerald crapping bricks.

You need to do more reading up on what went on starting February 2011. If people didn't get fired up, the Democrats would have gotten no where. In fact the Democrats had little to do with this. It was organic.

Yes, Keith. Sort of like the daddy who hands his kid the plastic shovel. The kid proceeds to clear a 2 foot path of snow and then drops the shovel and can't do another inch.

Daddy says, "Good work Keith. Couldn't have done it without you."

"What a whiner. That was nothing compared to what Walker did."

Typical lefty, a massive Tax/Fee increase is "nothing", but Walker ballances the budget by making the public employee's unions stop stealing from the taxpayers and contribute a little to their own benefits, then it's the end of the world. Keith you seem to be the cry-baby.

@Bob McBride...Bob I respect your opinions, but in this case you're wrong. I am not saying that any of the causal conditions that I and others have listed were necessary or sufficient, but they are grievances extended to justify the action of recall. This is precisely why no one reason can be given to justify such action. What I am pointing out is that the rate of change came too quickly and people's natural reaction is to resist change, any change.

I am not attempting to place blame in any one camp, but the negative results are undeniable and predictable.

The people of the recall movement are running through 'The Five Stages of Grief'; Kubler-Ross model. Originally found in 'On Death and Dying' by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.

"What I am pointing out is that the rate of change came too quickly and people's natural reaction is to resist change, any change."

If this were true, why is it only the democrats that are having the reaction? Why not the majority of the state? Or even better, why not just the 18% that are in public employee unions?
The true rapid change is by the democrats and the recallers who can not pin point a specific reason for the recall. It seems to change weekly or even daily.
If we were to go with Lyle's theory, it could best be illustrated by the Simon and Garfunkel song, At The Zoo lyrics. "Orangutans are skeptical of changes in their cages".

I'm sure the GOP, and by that you mean national, was concerned about the Wisconsin Budget. Wrong.
Is or was WEA Trust ripping off the taxpayers in states like Ohio? There goes your national connection.
In the end i'd much rather have a "rock star" then to have to watch a mime, barrett, pretend he is stuck in a box.

Where did you dream that up. Your starving kids may be dropped from Badgercare while your income credit will be cut.

If that's what you believe, that is so pathetic. What makes you think that Nixonian sociopath cares about you or your kids?

I can't come up with a "cool" name for Barrett, but his record on caring for our kids is much worse than Walkers.
Barrett can't seem to educate the kids under his care and his soap-box stance on drunken mother/co-sleeping, has gone no further than the press conference. Yet he has been mayor for a pretty loooooong time.

We provide for our own children in the real world Keith.

Wow. Liberals run the banks. Liberals send jobs overseas. Liberals are pushing for even more tax cuts for the wealthy. Could we turn your mind into a fantasy theme park?

NO Keith ....Liberals create victims. You will always see the glass half empty. I see it as full as I am willing to work to fill it . Your class warfare is mindless. If you took all the wealth from the top 10 % you attack you have enough to run the out of control government for a few months. The problem is spending . Stop you whining already and Man up lie YOU are Suppose too. Government is the problem as it only can take what others have created . Its just a basic fact. It has a role . Mainly defense and taxes. But it has grown into this huge failed monster that has to be contained. Its the people you demonize that feed that beast. We all no it cant be sustained. Are you better off than you were 5 trillion ago? Not many are. Cause Government isn't efficient or accountable. Budgets matter . If the sink ships like it is in ILL and CALF ......ITS MANDATORY CUTS and TAXES and than people flea the state . WALKER in Wisconsin had a plan that the majority knows is working. You will be whining for a life time so Walkers victory wont change your tears regardless. Dont worry Be Happy! :)

@Randy1949...That's a different way of looking at it, but you're essentially correct. Change is better tolerated by most when it comes in manageable pieces.I don't know if any one of the single actions would have been enough to prompt the recall reaction, maybe passing ACT-10, but ACT-10 only directly impacted a small majority, teachers and government employees. The right likes to haul out Doyle's power play to justify their own. However, if you look at it in context over his entire tenure, this action was paced differently, being an exception rather than the rule; and, there was a movement to recall Doyle that went nowhere.

One of the issues that I addressed continuously in my business career was change and goal achievement. A good manager or business owner understands the process of change and knows full well how to introduce and manage change. An example I used to talk about with my consulting clients was how do you eat an elephant. If you try to eat an entire elephant in only one sitting, you're not going to be successful. If you eat the elephant over many meals, the elephant is eventually consumed completely.

For those that aren't familiar with psychology, the dissonance of change is a strange an abstract concept, but none the less well proven. The same holds true of group psychology.

Excuse me, Lyle, but my bigger problem was with the BRB, which had some more disturbing elements than just the change to public worker compensation. And then Voter ID. I saw the GOP absolutely refusing to entertain any reasonable amendments to either that were proposed by the Democrats.

I've been the frog in the pot since 1980, when Reagonomics began our slow slide toward a have and have-not society. I can honestly say I am much worse off now that I was then. I don't care how slowly and insidiously Scott Walker did things, he's taking the state in the wrong direction. Are you really saying that we should consume this particular elephant?

I don't know, Lyle, about your position on fast changes. In my many yeras of national marketing for a major 500 co., the "ready, aim, fire" approach often, if not most of the time, lost out to competitors with the " ready, fire, aim" strategy . With Wi in massive debt, Walker had no choice to move quickly. It was either that or massive program cutbacks and layoffs. Which do you prefer?

Oh yea, with your philosophy of slow change, how do you advocate Obamacre, perhaps the most major and rushed change in decades? And without any input from the other side? Seems to go against your thinking, does it not?

@Randy1949...You won't get any argument out of me concerning Reagan onward. I also agree that Walker and company are taking us in the wrong direction. Fundamentally I agree with the recall and want this nonsense to end. All I was attempting to do was establish the conditions that resulted in the push for a recall.

This whole last fourteen months has been nothing more than "storm trooper" power politics at its worst. You and I are both relatively of the same age and we know what has been lost.

@Bewildered....With you coming out of marketing, you know full well the necessity for strategic and tactical planning. Whenever one does a market analysis you always look at "down sides" and how they can interfere with achieving plan goals. I maintain that the Republicans approached this like a bunch of amateurs and now they are paying the costs. It is going to be very difficult for anyone to govern for quite some time since the state is so divided. That just didn't have to happen.

The Health Affordability Act is essentially the Republican plan from 1993. It was a compromise plan back then and remains so to this day. Do I like the plan in total, no. Of course, no conservative in their right mind would like the plan I would support. There are elements in the plan that I agree with and should be retained no matter what happens. But the USSC will settle much of that for us.

LOL Bewildered. Guess when you hide behind a screen name you can make up anything about yourself.

Back when I was brigadier general at West Point I saw plenty of people who make up stuff about themselves.

Usually someone in your imagined position would not allow themselves to be treated like a rube by a lightweight like Walker.

Fortune 500 company? What? The World Wide Widget Company.?You're a scream.

@Dave Koven
Really? That does seem to fit the outcome seen in Indiana.

Making them pay a very small percentage for their benefits is hardly how you describe. At least we finally have the power to fire these slackers that you admit are working for the state/local.

So they will leave the state job to find one in the private sector? Where they will pay more for the benefits, work longer hours and not receive a pension. Yeah that makes sense.

Collective bargaining provided no such thing. It was a one sided protective wall that let the corrupt unions rip-off the taxpayers for hundreds of millions of dollars. Dave, most of the state does not hide behind such a wall and we function pretty good. If it is like you stated, more services will have to be privatized and the middle class will thrive.

Dave who cares? If they don't do their best work, they get fired and someone else gets hired. Its all good.

Well, Keith Schmitz has given up. See you in 2014 Keith.

More kool aid
Real economics : jobs created, lower unemployment, budget balanced, budget surplus, revenues increased.

Environment? ►State officials on Thursday announced plans for the largest land conservation purchase in Wisconsin history - a transaction that protects more than 100 square miles of forest land in four northern counties.◄
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/forest-land-deal-sets-state-record-du5eq5q-151820355.html

We live in reality

Did K just admit that the recall is doomed by saying "Walker will be dispatched.....2014" ? Woo woo!

Hey Keith, what did your dad have to pay for your education? It's time to sue for educational malpractice, no one can be as dumb as you.

You misread my intent.

Really, considering the circumstances, which stink to high heaven, what Walker is doing here is laughable. Imagine if a Democrat had done the same thing. You'd all be hooting like a pack of baboons.

"if a Democrat had done the same thing"
I'd poop a brick, but it will never happen. A democrat and a ballanced budget will never meet.

Is that what that is? I've been searching for the sorce for a while.

Actualy we all smell the manure Geoff Tolley, United Wi Coordinator, advocates spreading around ( yup, real manure)

"Some of my fellow Walker recallers found the remedy for having their sign stolen was to put down sufficient amounts of manure around it"....

I think they are all already medicated. And why not? With their ultra-low health care deductibles, it hardy costs them anything.

Walker has the "real numbers", you goofs are holding on to surveys of 5% of the business community. Get a job Mike.

From the article:

"Thursday's numbers come amid an unprecedented level of skepticism about the validity and reliability of the monthly state jobs report."

"The census figures are considered by economists the more reliable of the two. Unlike the Quarterly Census figures cited by Walker, the monthly estimates released Thursday are based on surveys of only 3.5% to 5% of the state's businesses each month and then extrapolated statewide under a mathematical model that's routinely prone to error"

Hmmmm..."routinley prone to error" !!!! And Mike clls the monthly #s the "REAL" ones ? Soooo, who's #s do you believe. Obviously, the experts trust the census ( + 23k jobs)

'Nuff said !

Mike, since you glossed right over the paper's comments on the validity ( or lack of) of the monthly #s you using, here they are again. Might want to read the whole article and stop cherrypicking numbers you know are wrong just to support your Walker hatred

From the article:

"Thursday's numbers come amid an unprecedented level of skepticism about the validity and reliability of the monthly state jobs report."

"The census figures are considered by economists the more reliable of the two. Unlike the Quarterly Census figures cited by Walker, the monthly estimates released Thursday are based on surveys of only 3.5% to 5% of the state's businesses each month and then extrapolated statewide under a mathematical model that's routinely prone to error"

Hmmmm..."routinley prone to error" !!!! And Mike clls the monthly #s the "REAL" ones ? Soooo, who's #s do you believe. Obviously, the experts trust the census ( + 23k jobs)

'Nuff said !

Mike, do you know the difference between a 'survey' and 'actual census numbers'? Come on Mike, man up.

It's as credible as a business owner who wants Gov. Walker to run the state the way he ran Milwaukee County. Wackenhut, anybody?

How many Patch profiles do you have Al?

@Mike.... If I am reading the explanation for the source of the employment data correctly, it's the WI quarterly UI report. It is must be filled out by every employer and reconciled with the employer UI fund accounts. Not much room for significant error. Here is a link:

http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/ui201/images/forms/w_quarterly_wage_report.htm

Cut Al some slack, he's probably seeing double right now anyways.

@Jay Sykes -- That would mean that the very long-term unemployed whose benefits have run out are no longer counted. Neither would those who were laid off or terminated before reaching their six month eligibility. They're without a job too, but they wouldn't show in the statistics.

@Randy... This is only of measure of Employment (total jobs).
An Example: Count every individual listed (by SSI#) on the 2010 employer UI form and report the total of (X). Then in 2011, do the same count and the total is (X+32,000). In 2011 you reported 32,000 more people employed than in 2010. You have created 32k jobs.

Sorry, Jay -- I thought you were addressing the decline in the unemployment figures.

@Sara -- No, he's not my mommy, he's my employee. He's my employee as well as Diane Hendricks' employee, but he doesn't seem to comprehend that.

Only a damned fool would think anything Scott Walker puts into place will work for long. This is just the first year. It will all crumble, like the hard piece at the O'Donnell parking garage.

Oh, Kinda like Milwaukee City Hall... Barrett has been fixing that for 4 years and has spent $90 million on it. He could have bought another trolley instead.

Bet you wouldn't talk to your pimp like that.

Sara, I haven't covered my ears or my eyes, and I haven't done any screaming. I did some voting, some signing, and I plan to do some voting again. It may pass for wit with the thirty-something sassy-chick crowd to infantilize your opponents,but it doesn't impress me.

No votes are being stolen. Anyone who feels so inclined can repeat their vote for Walker. I sense you're afraid it won't go your way this time.

Sara...If you beat your employees more, you'd probably get more work out of them, and you could retire earlier. On the bright side, employees don't complain so much if they can be kept desperate with no voice in what happens to them.

Johnny Paycheck- Every county rejected the choo-choo that would have been affected by it on average 84% to 14%. So I guess Walker was just acting on the will of the people. And now the othr states will have to fork out the operational bailouts that will come when the ridership doesn't support it. But nice reach...

We also have to pay back $14 trillion of unadvised spending plus interest, but your post is way off on the billions rejected. It was under $900 million. How many permanent jobs would the train have provided? Not many, and they would have costed a ton. Now the thousands of mining jobs, that's another story.

Loaded again Keith? I hope you're drinking at home.

HA, another one cracked. They're dropping like flies.

I go back even further -- the the Carter days with his 'All-Saver' certificates of deposit that were designed to lure us all into saving more money. Mine paid a rate of 12%. Of course inflation was running something like 8%, but it was still a better deal than any bank account today.

Once again you prove you know NOTHING.