"Why are national liberal groups treating Wisconsin as if it were their last stand?"

◼ "Why are national liberal groups treating Wisconsin as if it were their last stand?" - Althouse re: John Fund's article, What's at Stake in Wisconsin's Budget Battle - Who's in charge of our political system—voters or unions? at the Wall St. Journal

This week President Obama was roundly criticized, even by many of his allies, for submitting a federal budget that actually increases our already crushing deficit. But that didn't stop him Thursday from jumping into Wisconsin's titanic budget battle. He accused the new Republican governor, Scott Walker, of launching an "assault" on unions with his emergency legislation aimed at cutting the state budget.

The real assault this week was led by Organizing for America, the successor to President's Obama's 2008 campaign organization. It helped fill buses of protesters who flooded the state capital of Madison and ran 15 phone banks urging people to call state legislators....

Labor historian Fred Siegel offers further reasons why unions are manning the barricades. [Governor Scott] Walker would require that public-employee unions be recertified annually by a majority vote of all their members, not merely by a majority of those that choose to cast ballots. In addition, he would end the government's practice of automatically deducting union dues from employee paychecks. For Wisconsin teachers, union dues total between $700 and $1,000 a year.

"Ending dues deductions breaks the political cycle in which government collects dues, gives them to the unions, who then use the dues to back their favorite candidates and also lobby for bigger government and more pay and benefits,"

A History of Leadership - Women and the GOP

◼ From NFRW: For more than 150 years, women have been an active and vital force in the Republican Party.

Because it seems only natural for men and women to work together on matters that affect the nation, the GOP has focused not so much on advertising what they are “doing” for women, but instead on simply utilizing the talents and energies of any individual who wants to share in the work for the benefit of our country.

Through the utilization of the unique talents of individual Republican women – as well as the combined energies of multitudes of Republican women – the Republican Party has proven itself to be the party of opportunity, the party of true equality. Following are highlights of the role of women in the Republican Party and examples of the unique and vital contributions women have made to our Party:

Library books courtesy of Humboldt Republican Women

From the left: Kassidy Allardice, Stephanie Lentz, librarian Leanne McCulloch and Mary Scott.

Mary Scott, on behalf of the Humboldt Republican Women's Federated, recently donated several books to the Ferndale High School library. The titles included “Giant Surprise,” “San Francisco's 2010 World Champions,” “Decision Points” by President George W. Bush, “Pearl Harbor” by Newt Gingrich, and “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. Each year the group selects local school libraries for book donations. ◼ Library books courtesy of Humboldt Republican Women - Humboldt Beacon

Despite pledge for 'aggressive' talks with GOP, Obama has never called House Budget Committee chairman...

◼ Paul Ryan's Charge Up Entitlement Hill - The GOP's fiscal leader explains why House Republicans will vote to reform Medicare and why the public is ready to listen. - Wall St. Journal via Drudge
What's the White House political calculation behind its budget? "The fiscal strategy is to hang on to all the government we've grown, and hopefully rhetoric will get us through the moment. It strikes me as a posture or position to keep the gains of the last two years in place—the bump up in discretionary spending, the creation of these new entitlements—to lock in their gains, bank their wins, and then hang on through the rest of this year. And they believe they have the flourishing rhetorical skills to navigate the politics in the meantime," Mr. Ryan says.

He adds he was hoping for more, counting on at least some leadership on Social Security, but "we've seen triangulation in rhetoric, not in substance."

Gov. Scott Walker to Obama: We’re Focused on Balancing Our Budget. It Would Be Wise for the President to Focus on Balancing His Budget

◼ Gov. Scott Walker to Obama: We’re Focused on Balancing Our Budget. It Would Be Wise for the President to Focus on Balancing His Budget - Gateway Pundit

◼ Wis. governor: GOP won't be 'bullied' by union bill protesters - thehill.com
◼ “There is fear for Scott Walker’s safety but also for that of the Republican legislators as well” - cnsnews.com
◼ Republicans challenging unions in state capitols - apnews.myway
◼ Ohio Senate Bill 5 Would Eliminate Collective Bargaining for Public Workers - yahoo
◼ Public Worker Protests Spread From Wisconsin to Ohio (Update2) - Bloomberg
◼ And in Washington, Gregoire budget would slash programs, cut $4 billion seattletimes
◼ Obama Acted Stupidly In Picking Sides Against The Taxpayers - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
◼ Willie Brown On "Out of Control" Civil Servants - reason.com

The Economist’s Terrible Health Policy Coverage

◼ Addressing "an error-filled piece on the Florida court decision, unsigned (as all Economist pieces are) and published three weeks ago" - redstate
◼ Health Care Dead or alive? - Another blow for Barack Obama’s health reforms is struck by the courts The article in question.

Love this quote from Michael Crichton about the foolishness of trusting mass media. It applies to a number of situations:

Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

Defund-a-palooza

◼ House blocks health care law funds... - usatoday

Specifically, the House voted to prohibit any funds be used by the Internal Revenue Service to carry out the law's mandate that Americans buy health insurance. The individual mandate, one of the law's key tenets, has been struck down by federal courts.

The House also adopted an amendment by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., to bar the Labor and Health and Human Services Departments from spending any money for the rest of fiscal year 2011 on the health care law. Still another provision adopted today would ban the government from paying the salaries of any federal employee involved in implementing the health care law.

◼ Votes to defund Planned Parenthood... - politico
◼ Blocks 'net neutrality' funds... - nationaljournal
◼ Defund-a-palooza: Planned Parenthood, Obamacare on notice - Michelle Malkin
◼ Alaska Governor Refuses to Enact Health-Care Law - Wall St. Journal
◼ Government shutdown is likely, Pelosi aide says - politico

Our own Peter Hannaford has a new column up at The American Spectator

◼ THE NATION'S PULSE: The Day That Isn't The American Spectator Online

Next Monday, February 21, will be the Washington's Birthday Holiday. That is what it's been ever since an Act of Congress created it in 1880 to honor the nation's first president. Forty years ago, however, it metamorphosed into "Presidents' Day." How did this happen?

All eyes are on Wisconsin

All eyes are on Wisconsin, but several other state budgets are on the brink. Over 40 states are facing a combined projected shortfall of $125 billion for the fiscal year of 2012. The hardest hit are California, facing a $25.5 billion gap, Texas at $13 billion, Illinois at $15 billion, New York $9 billion and New Jersey at $10.5 billion.

◼ Protestors Take State Capitol in Wisconsin - Obama Says Wisconsin Governor Is Assaulting Unions; State Sen. Mark Miller Says 'This Is a Disaster' ◼ via Drudge

◼ Trouble in Wisconsin—and elsewhere - neoneocon
◼ Like a Broken Clock Twice a Day… - The Other McCain

occasionally Joe Klein is right: "Revolutions everywhere–in the middle east, in the middle west. But there is a difference: in the middle east, the protesters are marching for democracy; in the middle west, they’re protesting against it. I mean, Isn’t it, well, a bit ironic that the protesters in Madison, blocking the state senate chamber, are chanting “Freedom, Democracy, Union” while trying to prevent a vote? Isn’t it ironic that the Democratic Senators have fled the democratic process? Isn’t it interesting that some of those who –rightly — protest the assorted Republican efforts to stymie majority rule in the U.S. Senate are celebrating the Democratic efforts to stymie the same in the Wisconsin Senate?"

Wisconsin GOP might not need Democrats to pass controversial legislation

◼ Republicans might not need Democrats after all to pass some of the most controversial elements of Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial budget repair bill, Marquette University law assistant professor Richard Esenberg said.

The Senate convened Thursday morning to vote on the legislation that, among other provisions, strips 175,000 state employees of most of their collective bargaining rights.

But when roll call was held, Democratic senators were nowhere to be found. Because the legislation is deemed a fiscal bill, three-fifths of the Senate needed to be in attendance before a vote could be taken.

With 19 GOP senators, the Republican majority was one senator shy of the 20-senator requirement...

if Republicans included non-fiscal, but still controversial provisions, in a separate bill — including, potentially, the provisions regarding collective bargaining — legally they’d only need 17 senators for a vote to be held, Esenberg said. That means Republicans could vote without a single Democrat being present, he said.

◼ "What the Democrats don't like isn't dictatorship, it is democracy." - althouse

It’s the National Thug Convergence.

Lo-tech Twitter: Block all of South Wing to prevent Repub quorum

◼ Support Wisconsin: Trumka storms Madison tomorrow; Walker supporters to rally Saturday; a disgusted teacher calls out unions - Michelle Malkin
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka — refresh your memories of his violent rise to power here — announced that he’ll be storming Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow to join all the Hitler/Mubarak-sign toters and teachers ditching their jobs.
The showdown is scheduled for high noon...

Like many of you, (a reader at Michelle's blog) am watching in shock as “union thugs” try to intimidate the Wisconsin Legislators. The Left is using all the resources they can to stop the much needed budget cuts. If you thought we were going to take our country back without a fight, you were wrong. It is rumored that protesters were actually paid by the AFL-CIO and our “friends” from the SEIU who brought in organizers and protesters.

In response to these protests... Facebook Page at: www.StandWithWI.com

"I urge the president to order the DNC to suspend these tactics."

◼ Boehner wades into Wisconsin labor battle, backing GOP governor - thehill

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped into the heated labor debate in Wisconsin on Thursday, backing GOP Gov. Scott Walker's proposed reforms to collective bargaining rights. 

Boehner released a statement on Thursday afternoon backing Walker and his package of aggressive labor reforms that would force increased contributions by state workers to benefits and pension plans, and limit collective bargaining rights for some.

“Republicans in Congress — and reform-minded GOP governors like Scott Walker, John Kasich and Chris Christie — are daring to speak the truth about the dire fiscal challenges Americans face at all levels of government, and daring to commit themselves to solutions that will liberate our economy and help put our citizens on a path to prosperity," Boehner said in a statement. "I’m disappointed that instead of providing similar leadership from the White House, the president has chosen to attack leaders such as Gov. Walker, who are listening to the people and confronting problems that have been neglected for years at the expense of jobs and economic growth...."

The GOP Speaker referred specifically to an interview President Obama gave on Wednesday to Milwaukee television, in which he called the new law an "assault on unions." What's more, the Wisconsin chapter of the president's political arm within the Democratic National Committee (DNC), worked to promote rallies against the new law. 

Boehner called on Obama to have the DNC stand down in Wisconsin. 

"The White House has even unleashed the Democratic National Committee to spread disinformation and confusion in Wisconsin regarding the governor’s courageous actions," he said. "I urge the president to order the DNC to suspend these tactics."

◼ Wisconsin (Democrat) lawmakers flee state to block anti-union bill

MADISON, Wis. – Faced with a near-certain Republican victory that would end a half-century of collective bargaining for public workers, Wisconsin Democrats retaliated with the only weapon they had left: They fled.

◼ Madison schools, others closed amid call for demonstrations
◼ Obama On Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law: An "Assault On Unions"
◼ Budget Battle: Democrats Who Left State are Located at a resort.
◼ Wis. Gov. Walker calls Democrat boycott a 'stunt.'

Sessions To White House: Stop Repeating Budget Spin

◼ Not a Matter of Opinion

Breastfeeding, the IRS, and the creeping Nanny State

$31.99

Lansinoh Manual Breast Pump at Target

◼ Michelle Obama to Promote Breastfeeding as IRS Gives Tax Breaks for Nursing - politicsdaily

"We want to get into child-care centers, day-care centers, and start talking about how -- what kind of snacks they're getting there. We want to have those conversations at an earlier level. But those are just some of the things that you'll see."

◼ Rep. Michele Bachmann Raps First Lady Over Breastfeeding Crusade - politicsdaily

"I've given birth to five babies and I breast-fed every single one," Bachmann told Ingraham. "To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump...That's the new definition of a nanny state."

◼ IRS Says Breastfeeding Expenses Are Tax Write-Offs. Finally. - politicsdaily

The state-of-the-art Medela backpack pump rings up at $264.99 (the "pump-in-style" hand bag can set you back $360). And that's before you extra valves ($7), bags for freezing ($10 for 50), extra tubing ($6), the "hands free" bodice that lets you pump and use a computer ($32). Some estimates put the yearly cost between $500 to $1,000.

◼ Super Nanny: First Lady of Junk Science Michelle Obama - Michelle Malkin
What do you think?

Advocacy coming April 17-19

◼ California Federation of Republican Women Advocacy Day at the Hyatt in Sacramento
...In the 1990's a new facet was added to Advocacy Day and we invited High School students to participate in legislative action and awareness in our State Capitol. This has become a traditional part of our event and an exciting opportunity for students to see and hear how our State government works....

If you know any high school age girls who would like to attend - let's talk! We hear that Napa club is sending 20 young people!

Shasta Republicans welcome Peter Hannaford

◼ Lincoln & Reagan Birthday Bash

A celebration of the birthdays of former Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. The guest speaker will be Peter Hannaford, Public Relations mastermind for Ronald Reagan.

February 19, 2011
at The Community Center; 1887 Howard St.; Anderson, CA
Social Hour: 5:00, Dinner at 6:30
Tri-Tip and Chicken Dinner

For tickets and information: Ann Meyer (530) 722-1094 or Email: anfmeyer@charter.net
Tickets: $25 12 and Under $12.50 Tables of 10 $250

Video: Niall Ferguson on Obama and Egypt

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

◼ Video: Niall Ferguson destroys Obama over Egypt - hotair
◼ Obama gets good and bad reviews over Egypt
Historian Niall Ferguson, in his first column for Newsweek magazine, called it a "foreign policy debacle" that exposed Obama's lack of a "coherent grand strategy." Ferguson writes:

The president has alienated everybody: not only Mubarak's cronies in the military, but also the youthful crowds in the streets of Cairo. Whoever ultimately wins, Obama loses.

And the alienation doesn't end there. America's two closest friends in the region -- Israel and Saudi Arabia -- are both disgusted. The Saudis, who dread all manifestations of revolution, are appalled at Washington's failure to resolutely prop up Mubarak. The Israelis, meanwhile, are dismayed by the administration's apparent cluelessness....

The defining characteristic of Obama's foreign policy has been not just a failure to prioritize, but also a failure to recognize the need to do so. A succession of speeches saying in essence, I am not George W. Bush is no substitute for a strategy.... - further discussion of his article is in the vid, at msnbc

Speaker Boehner on President Obama's Job-Destroying Budget

◼ President’s Budget Will “Destroy Jobs By Spending Too Much, Borrowing Too Much, and Taxing Too Much” - speaker.gov

Office of the Speaker
H-232 The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-0600
Fax: (202) 225-5117
Contact vis webform (you can sign up to receive email updates)

◼ More links to Budget coverage at Humboldt Republicans http://web.humboldtgop.org/

Rep. Kristi Noem: Head of the Class

◼ Kristi Noem has a unique position in Congress as a member of both the influential freshman class and the powerful House leadership.

Noem was chosen by her 86 fellow freshmen to make sure their voices are heard inside the small House Republican leadership. The South Dakota Republican bridges the largest freshmen that came to change Washington and the so-called establishment leaders who are trying to enact their legislative agenda.... read the rest

The Gateway to California's Legislative websites

◼ http://www.legislature.ca.gov/
You'll find Bill Information (searchable), committees, hearings and events, budget information, calendars and schedules, lot's more... add it to your political bookmarks.

◼ California State Senate

◼ California State Assembly

How to Understand Rush Limbaugh

◼ How to Understand Rush Limbaugh - commentarymagazine
One of the many strategic errors made by the Obama administration in the early days of 2009 was its decision to take on talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh—though it was, perhaps, hard to blame the president and his people for trying. After all, they were riding the wave of a big electoral win and feeling pretty invincible, with large majorities in both houses of Congress and a messiah in the White House, and Limbaugh had just stunned the country, days before Obama was inaugurated, by summarizing his feelings about the new president in four simple words: “I hope he fails.” Limbaugh impatiently brushed aside the happy talk about compromise and bipartisan cooperation and scoffed at the claim that Obama was a pragmatic, post-ideological, post-partisan, post-racial conciliator and healer. Instead, he saw every reason to believe that Obama would aggressively pursue a leftist dream agenda: an exponential expansion of government’s size and power, a reordering of the American economic system, and a dismantling of America’s role as a world power. Limbaugh was not alone in such views, but he was the only major figure on the right willing to stick his neck out at a time when the rest of the nation seemed dazed into acquiescence by the so-far impeccably staged Obama ascendancy.

Such was the mood of the moment that it seemed a sullen breach of etiquette to utter any such criticism. In any event, the White House quickly concluded that Limbaugh’s statement was a rare blunder and that hay was to be made of it. What better way to sow division among the Republicans, and confine them to a tiny corner of American political life, than to identify Rush Limbaugh as the “real head” of their party and brand him as an unpatriotic extremist and sore loser—or, in the light-touch description of longtime Clinton adviser Paul Begala, as “a corpulent drug addict with an AM radio talk show”? If they could succeed in this angle of attack, they would kill two birds with one stone, marginalizing their most popular antagonist while rendering the opposition party impotent with embarrassment and internal squabbling. Each Republican would face a choice of embracing the glittering “new age” of Obama and gathering a few scraps from beneath the Democratic table or following Rush into the fever swamps of an embittered permanent minority and getting nothing at all.

The Democrats’ strategy backfired.... read the rest

◼ You may also like How to Understand the Tea Party