Brewers Party with the Fans Before Playoffs Start

You know it when you feel it.
The "electricity" in a ballpark when a baseball team is making a postseason run is palpable, if not easily explained. It makes the hair on your neck stand at attention, pushes you toward the edge of your seat, changes the way you breathe, quickens your pulse.
It can't be manufactured, except by a winning team.
It can't be quantified, except by nerve endings.
It can't be defined, except by the senses.
So what is it, exactly, this energy we felt at Miller Park while the Milwaukee Brewers made their run toward the National League Central Division title and will reach a crescendo Saturday in Game 1 of the NL Division Series?
"It's kind of like the night before a math test and Christmas Eve rolled into one," said Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers' vice president of business operations. "It's excitement, but also you don't have control over what that first question will be on the math test.
"You have 42,000 people really focused on the exact same physical space and for the most part wanting the same outcome on every pitch and every at-bat." - JSOnline

The excitement the Milwaukee Brewers have ignited at Miller Park has been going for a majority of the season.  Now it is time to see if the Brewers, as well as the fans are ready to take it to the next level.  The Brewers and their fans have set expectations for a deep playoff run.

Obamacare Making Healthcare anything but Affordable

The signature legislation of the Obama Administration, the Affordable Care Act, came under damaging assault Wednesday from a Kaiser Family Foundation survey that found it has already partially contributed to increasing health care costs.

The Kaiser survey helps to shed some light on why so few employers are hiring, as health care costs for employers are spiraling upwards.

The survey found that insurance premiums rose by 9 percent in 2011. Healthcare costs for a single worker went up on average from $5,049 to $5,429, and for a family, costs rose from $13,770 to $15,073, on average.

The survey also found that some provisions of the Affordable Care Act already in place -- including the allowance for young people up to 26 years of age to remain on their parents insurance policy -- contributed to 20 percent of that increase. - FOX News

Who Pays Taxes and how Much?

 With all of the talk about making everyone pay their fair share, look at the charts below that shows who pays their fair share?  

National Taxpayers Union

Tax Year 2008

Percentiles Ranked by AGI	AGI Threshold on Percentiles	Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid
Top 1%	$380,354	38.02
Top 5%	$159,619	58.72
Top 10%	$113,799	69.94
Top 25%	$67,280	86.34
Top 50%	$33,048	97.30
Bottom 50%	<$33,048	2.7
Note: AGI is Adjusted Gross Income Source: Internal Revenue Service

Tax Year 2007

Percentiles Ranked by AGI	AGI Threshold on Percentiles	Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid
Top 1%	$410,096	40.42
Top 5%	$160,041	60.63
Top 10%	$113,018	71.22
Top 25%	$66,532	86.59
Top 50%	$32,879	97.11
Bottom 50%	<$32,879	2.89
Note: AGI is Adjusted Gross Income Source: Internal Revenue Service

Tax Year 2006

Percentiles Ranked by AGI	AGI Threshold on Percentiles	Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid
Top 1%	$388,806	39.89
Top 5%	$153,542	60.14
Top 10%	$108,904	70.79
Top 25%	$64,702	86.27
Top 50%	$31,987	97.01
Bottom 50%	<$31,987	2.99
Note: AGI is Adjusted Gross Income Source: Internal Revenue Service

Costs rise as terra cotta problems at City Hall

More than seven months after a chunk fell off Milwaukee's newly renovated City Hall, the investigation into what went wrong is still ongoing - lasting months longer and costing more than four times as much as originally estimated, city officials say.
The probe has already cost $425,000 and the price is still rising, said Ron Schoeneck, architectural manager for the $76 million renovation that wrapped up in December 2008. Testing and inspections first projected to take several months are now unlikely to be completed before the end of this year, and possibly not until spring, according to Schoeneck and his boss, city Facilities Director Venu Gupta.
Meanwhile, scaffolding continues to ring the iconic building. That will stay in place to protect pedestrians until city officials know what happened and can be sure no other pieces will fall off their 115-year-old headquarters, Schoeneck said.
None of this is what city leaders had in mind when they celebrated the end of the three-year restoration project. It was the biggest public works job in city history, and it came in on schedule and under budget. It later won multiple awards, including one from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The scaffolding had been down for more than two years when, on the evening of Feb. 17, a piece of masonry fell off the east side of the building. As it struck the ground, the terra cotta broke into three roughly 5-pound fragments, slightly damaging a car parked on N. Market St. - JSOnline

When a piece of concrete fell off of a parking garage and killed a person, many Dems cried out that it was due to the lack of spending by then County Exec Scott Walker.  But, a piece falls off of City Hall and very easily could have killed someone and there is no outcry? No, it is now about how much it is costing to find out what went wrong.

ATF - Fast and Furious - More Details Coming Out

WASHINGTON - In secretly recorded conversations between two individuals deeply entwined in the ATF's controversial "Fast and Furious" operation, the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is described as "collateral damage."
The recordings were obtained exclusively by CBS News. The man who made them - Arizona gun dealer Andre Howard - ran the Lone Wolf Trading Company and was speaking with Hope MacAllister, the ATF operation's case agent.
Two of the guns Howard sold while cooperating with the ATF that were later found at Terry's murder.
"It happened. It's terrible," Howard said. "That's life ok we move on." - CBS News

State Sen. Lena Taylor Taking Heat

Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt on Thursday criticized Democratic state Sen. Lena Taylor of Milwaukee for a Facebook posting in which she called for a boycott of paper products made by Georgia-Pacific, which is owned by the politically conservative Koch Brothers.

Georgia-Pacific also is one of Green Bay's largest employers with 2,300 workers.
"A boycott of one of our largest employers would be very hurtful," Schmitt said. He added that in the last five years Georgia-Pacific had invested more than $110 million in expansion and new machinery locally.
"We're very disappointed in her comments," said Schmitt, adding that he does not know Taylor.
"Georgia-Pacific is one of those great companies that we're proud to have in our community," he said. "She's not explained herself, but no one here is taking these comments as anything more than political rhetoric. But it's something we don't need."

Taylor said Thursday that she's urging the boycott because the political policies and leaders that Charles and David Koch support "harm the community."

Taylor was one of 14 Democratic state senators who left the state in February for three weeks to impede Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill, which eliminated most collective bargaining for most public employees. The Koch brothers are supporters of Walker.

Taylor posted the following on her Facebook website:

"Money talks! Why shouldn't you buy the following: Dixie Cups, Vanity Fair Paper Products, Mardi Gras Napkins, Brawny and Sparkle Paper Towels, Angel Soft and Quilted Northern Toilet Paper. . . . Your purchase supports destruction of democracy, two words . . . Koch Brothers. Join the boycott, send this to all of your Facebook Friends."

She said she got the post from other elected officials, but she would not say whom. And it's not the first time she's posted the message on Facebook, she said. - JS Online

Sen Lena Taylor Intentionally trying to kill Jobs in Wisconsin

Why, as a Senator in the state legislature, and in a time of such economic concern and high unemployment, would you call for boycotts of businesses within your own state?  Ask Sen. Lena Taylor.

She is obviously unhappy that people are allowed to excercise their rights to support someone other than herself. 

This is plain and simply Thug Politics. 

WISN Story

Police Union Votes Down Contract

In their first deals under a new state bargaining law, Milwaukee firefighters and police commanders have agreed to pay significantly more for their health care in exchange for pay raises.
But the police officers union has rejected a similar deal - even though the city offered to fill 100 police vacancies, a top priority of the Milwaukee Police Association.
Contracts expired at the end of 2009 for all three unions, and they have been working under extensions of their previous agreements. Unlike other public employees, police and firefighters were exempt from the state law that ended most public-sector collective bargaining and required state and local government workers to pay 12% of their health care premium costs and half their pension costs.
City negotiators, however, pushed to extend the same health care contributions to the public safety unions. The pension issue, by contrast, has been in legal limbo since City Attorney Grant Langley issued an opinion saying the state law did not apply to the city pension fund.
The Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association voted Wednesday to ratify a three-year contract that would retroactively freeze pay for 2010, incorporate premium pay into base salaries for 2011 and raise wages 4% next year for some 800 firefighters up through the rank of captain, said City Labor Negotiator Troy Hamblin and Ald. Michael Murphy, chairman of the Common Council's Finance & Personnel Committee.
Late last month, the Milwaukee Police Supervisors' Organization ratified a deal with similar 2010 and 2011 wage provisions, followed in 2012 by raises of 4.75% for sergeants and 3% for lieutenants, captains and deputy inspectors, according to documents sent to Murphy's committee. Sergeants are the overwhelming majority of the union's roughly 325 members, Hamblin said.
But the larger police union, representing about 1,800 rank-and-file officers and detectives, voted 52% to 48% this week against a contract that would have raised 2012 pay by 4.3%, with the same 2010-'11 pay provisions as the other two safety unions, city officials said. - JS Online

Regulation Nation

From financial services to farming, plumbing to computer repair, business owners say new regulations have them so bogged down in compliance that it is hindering their ability to plan and expand for the coming years.

Even though President Obama recently acknowledged the need to minimize regulations, the number appears to be growing. Obama administration regulations on new business rose to 3,573 final rules in 2010, up from 3,503 in 2009 -- the equivalent of about 10 per week. - FOX News

Is there a need for regulation? Most likely yes, there are a need for certain types of regulation.  The problem is that the Government has decided that it is their responsibility to control every aspect of business.  It is that type of mentality that kills jobs and prevents growth.  Free market generally regulates many businesses on its own.

Obama Double Dipping to Pay for New Stimulus

Members of the bipartisan deficit "super committee" are on edge as President Obama calls for Congress to pass his $447 billion jobs plan, fretting that the stimulus-style proposal makes their task that much harder. 

The president, who is sending his plan to Congress Monday evening, claims the bill will not add to the deficit. The White House says that over the next two weeks, Obama will spell out exactly how he intends to pay for the proposals, and then some. 

But the task of offsetting the cost of the bill will ultimately fall to the bipartisan committee. That committee already is charged with finding about $1.5 trillion in deficit savings by Thanksgiving -- Obama's bill brings their target to about $2 trillion. Though the president plans to give the committee a roadmap to reaching that larger target, Republican members expressed concern that the latest request will make it much harder to drum up enough avenues for deficit reduction in a mere two-month timeframe. 

"This proposal would make the already-arduous challenge of finding bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction nearly impossible, removing our options for deficit reduction for a plan that won't reduce the deficit by one penny," committee co-chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said in a statement. 

Obama, outlining how he plans to find additional savings, pointed to exactly the same targets the super committee was already looking at. The president mentioned three possible sources of money-- eliminating or reducing some tax deductions, making changes in entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid and making wealthier households pay "their fair share," a reference to tax increases.  - FOX News