Not any funnier than all the kids you guys had with your save our schools signs!

Children don't pay taxes. Children attend school. And before you include me in that "you guys", I recommend you don't assume all of us are at rallies. Hundreds of us stayed home so we can unseat Harsdorf on Tuesday :)

So...is the Tea Party movement relevant or not?

I missed what you saw, But........ burning it, standing on it? BO's friend did that. BO doesn't say the pledge.....give me a break.

No respect for the office of the President of the United States. Typical.

Sorry. My grandfather was a veteran, and he hammered decent treatment of the US flag into me. I get crabby when it's treated with disrespect. I'll keep it clean *slaps own hand*

This comment wasn't aimed at you, Jene. I just wanted to get it out there before people started hurling incivilities at each other.

I'm also a veteran, Jene. I did four years in the Marine Corps, active duty.

Thanks for making the trip to Hudson, and thanks for leaving your comments.

Nice point, professor.

What exactly was the point? Do you think the tax protestors aren't paying taxes?

Well see the key to your comment is public. The part you fail to mention is they paid to use the park. Thus paid a user fee to use a park vs. just assuming it could be used like when Shelly announced her candidacy. Sad that the City had to contact the democratic party to pay the bill.

Well said Dan.

hahaha.....

hehehe... I guess.

Marcia, dear, in my own personal opinion, your comment is disgusting. I can't say more because of the terms of use. Disgusting.

@Shannon, X2. She's the epitome of the TPers.

"hahaha" is disgusting? Come on Mr Shannon, that's right up there with your "she started it" comment later in this string. Are we really that sensitive! I see your very first comment of the day ( Saturday) attacks Marcia. If you have, as you claim, two children, wouldn't be better to be a parent than spending all your time sparing with Marcia?

Wouldn't your time be better spent on your hobby of driving around counting election signs?

Thank you Shannon. I have to say that photo #32 is my favorite--Ideologically opposed, but they are smiling, not screaming, at each other.

My favorite is photo #1. "SETPEMBER"!
I knew the TPers couldn't spell a protest sign correctly to save their lives, but on their dang bus????!!! ROTFLMAO!
HeeHaw TPers!

Richard: I had to remove your last comment because it contained masked profanity. Please repost your comment and when you get to that word, just say "a swear word," or something like that. Please don't use profanity here, masked or not. Unlike today's rally, I want this site to be a place children can visit.

Well, photos #36 and #37 bring tears to my eyes to see the fervent animosity.

Here here. As an independent protesting the TPErs rally, I had a few great conversations with Harsdorf supporters. When people actually engage in a civil conversation, it is surprising how much can be discovered that we share in common, such as too much big money influencing our representatives.

On the other hand I was also called "Dog EXPLETIVE DELETED" for protesting by a 77 year old man, and also was told that because I was an independent that I shouldn't vote. Sad indeed.

Thanks for reposting the comment, Richard.

Hey Richard, I think I ran into that old guy in the parking lot at County Market. He took issue with my Anti-Walker bumper sticker and confronted me about it in front of my kids. He called me "Union filth". That dude has an attitude.

Just to clarify, the "I shouldn't vote" comment came from a different person.

Let me guess, in your alternate reality, teachers shouldn't take vacation.

Do you also desire to be in control of who parks at Lakefront Park now Marcia?

I can't speak for them, but I suspect they wanted all of the outside special interest representatives on the misspelled party train to take a powder and take Rep. Murtha with them.

Your comment reminds me of Murtha’s false statement about job growth in Wisconsin. He apparently has not heard about the PolitiFact analysis of the June employment figures and is still peddling the nonsense about how half of the new jobs in America were created here in Wisconsin. I’m not accusing him of lying, just pointing out how careless he is with basic facts. Incidentally, PolitiFact also pointed out that Texas, California, and Minnesota all produced more jobs than we did in June. Harsdorf was spouting these phony stats in her debate with Shelly---has anyone heard her apologize?

Marcia, we all have freedom. It was a public park. Both sides were not being respectful. You're right about how you were wrong though.

Actually I was stunned by how few people were there in total much less the weak tea party showing. For a rally I thought it was pretty weak.

But do the sane people want to be with you?

The downgrade happened because the Repubs refused to compromise and "got 98% of what they wanted" to quote Mr. Boehner. The oil corporations are now enjoying their government assistance. I hope you're happy now. The Republicans have everything they want. The "job creators" I keep hearing about are getting their way. Now, let's see all those jobs they're going to create.

Republicans in 2012? It really is the year the Mayans warned us about.

"The downgrade happened because the Repubs refused to compromise...." You can't really believe that.

That would be like me saying my credit record was damaged because the credit card company refused to increase my credit limit.

I believe it was ABC news that reported the reasons given for the downgrade were the political confusion surrounding the process of raising the debt ceiling and lack of confidence that the political system will be able to agree to more deficit reduction. Republicans saying that they refuse to accept any tax increases as part of a larger deal was part of the reason cited.

Ronald Reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers 30 years ago today. This was the beginning of the eviseration of the Middle Class.

Thirty years of non-working Supply Side Economics and the "Free Market" shipment of jobs offshore. Blind belief in Friedmanomics. How's that working for you Marcia?

Ray Gun tripled the debt and "Dim Son Bush doubled it. Any problems with that Marci? I thought not.

The downgrade in America's credit rating is the result of the T Partayers holding the nation hostage - holding it's breath 'til it turned blue - just like an impudent child...

You folks are being too nice. Increasing the debt limit was not for new spending. It was plain and simple blackmail by the Tea Partiers. They stubbornly refused to agree to pay the bill for spending that was previously agreed upon unless they got their way. This was clearly the fault of the TPers naively playing games with the economy and the fault of (TREE FRUIT)less Obama to the dismay of the Democratic party that has caused this damage. Unfortunately we all will be paying for this foolishness for many years to come.

Are you all serious? Do you only read Patch? S&P said months ago that 4 trillion in spending needed to be cut or the downgrade would happen. Obama never offered up any budget plan or semblance of leadership . The Senate never offered up a budget in 2 years. Cut , Cap and Balance was the only plan that actually addressed the problem. It like the Dems had their head in the sand for the last 3 years and the deficit would go away. Buckle up folks. The fun is just starting.

Sorry marcia but that you can lay squarely on the tea party representative who refused to allow revenue increases as part of the bill. Even the republican party economists warned that if revenue increases were not part of the bill we would see our debt downgraded. Further they have already indicated it will be probably downgraded again. As far as I can see the tea party performance has been abysmal.

Nan Lambert:

I saw and heard you yell "Racist", "Shame" and other unique sayings during the Tea Party event. Do you have a vested interest in this campaign?

The down grade of US status to AA+ is only based on our President Obama and the lack of cutting spending. How is that working for you? Watch your cost of living increase.

You can't blame that on the Tea Party or people who want to reduce taxes and spending.

Wisconsin is way ahead in making a budget that works. The federal government will learn from WI and other mid-america states that have it right.

If you want to keep Wisconsin, a leader in fiscal responsiblility, vote for Sheila Harsdorf.

Don Van: You obviously haven't read the S&P statement. The TP'ers are the primary cause of the downgrade. To avoid repetition, please see my comment below where I also included a link to the actual S&P statement.

The President of the United States Barack Obama actually expected a compromise. He should've known better.

It appears you like to blame others for everything.

Marcia have you not heard of Senator Mitch McConnell and his constant use of the Filibuster? Do you realize that the debt limit was raised to pay for obligations that have already made by the Government?

And where were you when bush/cheney raised the debt limit six times in eight years, and took a 4.5 trillion dollar budget surplus and spent it along with 14 trillion additional money. Nope I think we have had enough of this type of financial management.

Don Van Are you saying that the TP National leaders comments about People who live in Trailer parks and don't have real jobs, Your not real Americans, Poster children for the tragedy of Birth Control Failures, socialist nut jobs, just to quote a few of the racist slurs that came out of the mouth of the fearless leader of the Tea Party wasn't offensive to you?? I think that anyone who remains in the tea party after listen to that should be ashamed of having any affiliation with these folks who clearly have huge problems. Martin Luther King died putting an end to this kind of bigetry. Knudson is the biggest hypocrite of the day. Or maybe I should change that because I am sure he is not ashamed of the civil rights violations he doled out on a regular basis while Mayor of Hudson. He needs to read up on the 14th amendment.

Hey, I resemble that remark!

? Yup that says it all.

So?

Marcia,

Huh???

He tripled the debt and raised taxes 7 or 8 times. Put it on the credit card like Republicans do all of the time. Bush II doubled the debt. Were you all upset while he was doing that? Of course not.

Why can't you bring yourself to refer to the President correctly? I could easily refer to Reagan as "Ray Gun" and Bush II as "Dim Son", but I don't.

Compromise is the only way to accomplish things and make things work Marcia. But I wouldn't expect you to know that. You don't respect any one else's values either.

I don't seem to remember you screaming when Bush kept spending and spending and spending . . . Just sayin'.

Actually, it's your snappy comebacks . . . okay, it's probably the money. Just kidding, but don't dictate what my values are to me. And Marsh, you value your money above everything and everyone else.

That's enough, you two.

She started it!

Marcia, when have you NOT voted your pocket book?

I'm ending it. If you two would like to engage each other off this site, perhaps I could facilitate an information exchange.

Shannon..."she started it". Just how old are you? You sound just like my kids. Grow up

Come on, Marcia. Let's all simmer down for a minute. The dialogue on here is getting accusatory and angry on both sides. Let's stop blaming and flaming. Let's re-start a constructive dialogue and civil exchange of ideas. Cool?

Marcia,

If you would say something that is fact based it might help.

Flash Drive: You're not helping ease the tension in here. Let's all move on, people.

I'd be willing to referee a lunch meeting between the two of you if both parties are interested. What do you say?

Have you no fear good man?

Truth be told, I really just want everyone to play nice on here so I can get some rest. I've been up since 7 a.m. and running around in the heat, and posting stuff all day, and moderating comments all night. Please try to make my job easier and not harder.

Now you know how it feels to parent two small children! :~)

I'm outta here. Get some sleep Micheal. I won't respond if anyone tries to stir up trouble. Pinky swear.

I'm glad you're on here, Marcia. You help balance out some of the echo chamber we experience in these comments. Perhaps you can recruit more likeminded folks to comment here so we can have better balance in the comments.

I promised not to comment any more tonight, so now I haz a sad. I'll get back to you tomorrow Hudsoner.

Hudsoner, I've mentioned that before. Marcia is actually three people, I believe, from the way the comments are written. And I commented on her tirades because she came on this article where everyone was having a civil conversation and she left comments like "hahaha" and "We are the Majority" for the sole purpose of irritating people. Then she slammed teachers (then complains later that she was ganged up on and attacked and belittled). She calls people "idiots" and "Libs" and told me I made "no sense", told me I was "Ms Smarty Pants" and one "pushy arrogant talker" in addition to calling me "rude" (all in the comments of just this one article). I attempt to deflect her comments with humor sometimes to ease some of this tension and to attempt to have her lighten up.

I have been on boards and websites which are primarily right-wing. I know what it feels like to be ganged up on. This site doesn't even come close.

Her "Sheila button" is a little bit like my anti-Walker bumper sticker. If you're going to show your allegiance, you're going to have to accept that you're going to get some looks and comments. Especially in this political atmosphere right now.

But apparently You came back?
We're just irresistable.

Thanks for being straight with me. Any suggestions?

I find it interesting that if your comment accurately describes yourself just as well.

The diff is I don't bash posters for using a nom de plum, the poster who goes by Shannon does, then turns right around and refuses to use a real name also.

It is interesting to see that Marcia can fall into the role of a poor victim as soon as her/his/their questionable contributions are called out!

If you come on here and flame and badger and spout your views in all caps with exclamation points, you are not serious about having a conversation, and you're not interested in anyone else's opinion but your own. Sorry, but you should not be upset if someone turns the tables on you and makes you defend your opinion.

If you state your views and respect differing opinions you may just learn something on here, and you may enlighten someone else. Isn't that the goal?

And don't feed the trolls along the way. They hate being ignored.

Thinking about that. They speaker came to that conclusion because we were there during working hours. That mean, he and his coach friends and all the Tea party fans must as well have been unemployed trailer trash.

Even more so the speaker and the coach people, if they have time to tour the country!

Funny I though the same thing when I tried to listen to our representatives speak on health care, and the tea party seemed intent on drowning them out. I guess if you want courtesy you have to extend it.

How about getting better facts?
the contributor Minnesota girl wrote in another discussion:

Minnesconsin girl
9:00am on Saturday, August 6, 2011
Sheila's campaign has been pretty vocal about Shelly Moore's union PAC contributions so I took a look at the Capaign Finance Database http://www.wisdc.org/index.php?module=cms&page=14 and compared Harsdorf vs Moore YTD PAC contributions. It's clear that Sheila's largest PAC contribution of $19,726.05 is larger than Shelly's COMBINED Labor PAC contributions for the same time period (under $15,000).

So you are denying that the majority of moore contributions are out of state? Gee, the story must be wrong then.

Lets see national union representation on average in US is 13%, public workers in total comprimize 38 out of every 1000 workers in the state. Sounds like a lot of individuals are weighing in to stop the tea party. Also it depends on how you count those donors, by where they live or where the work. Suffice it to say there is a lot of funny things being done to those numbers. However tha facts would suggest that a lot of people are weighing in on both sides from across the country. I didnt see wisconsin plates on that bus.

Bewildered what story?

You are correct, the blame falls on both sides. if it would be up to me, we should throw all the DC politicians out and start with a clean slate!

But you can cut spending only until you reached a level, at which more cutting would mean financial suicide. You can, however, help with the balancing by increasing the income, which means to tax those entities that have gigantic earnings, but hardly pay any taxes and even get tax subsidies. That is the major problem here, and the Tea party members refused to see this!

And no, lower taxes do not create jobs, consumer demand does. Lower taxes for the big corporations increase the dividends for their shareholders (and I am happy about it, because that pays for most of my living expenses!)

You can't CUT your way to prosperity!

No, it's far better to raise taxes and add to the debt ! The heck with our kids and grandiose paying the bill, we all won't be around to " pay the piper". We don't need more jobs. Why that's just how I do it in my personal finances. Spend more than I have and refuse to cut my expenses even tho I'm broke. Bad Walker! How dare he balance the budget without raising taxes. What a terrible idea. Let's go back to the Doyle era, rush budgets through and add billions of debt. Follow Obama ' s stimulus packaging strategy. That's sure working! Why should I care if the Dow has dropped well over 1,000 points. I don't need my savings. Could't be the Pres. fault. He's not in
charge. Stop picking on him, you are ruining his golf game and basketball picks
, have a heart you TPers. Moore will fix everything by " shared sacrificing " ( that's code for taking more money out of your wallets. Don't worry, she knows better than you how to spend your money).

TH#, You most certainly can. The easiest way to make money is get out of debt

Bewildered and mainstreet. What you complain about is exactly what has been the Republican credo as long as I can remember, don't tax but spend like crazy. Reagan raised the death ceiling 18 times, Bush junior did not even bother to put the two wars into the budget (just acted as he could pay for them from petty cash).

There are clear facts that show that Republican controlled governments were always the big spenders (however, they gave it to big money and had the little guy pay for it, just as Walker is doing right now)!

If you people just would stop with that boiler plate lingo, and see the reality! Walker is not doing anything for the benefits of the average resident in Wisconsin, only a very few will have advantages from his actions. some of us may get out OK (I hope I belong to them), but most people will see very negative impacts from the Harsdorf/Walker politics (as we can see already with the Hudson School District)

So H, Walker not raising taxes and balancing the budget has " no benefits to avg Wi resident"? Talk, let's go with that. You must have alota extra cash laying around. Good luck, you may need it. If you are so set on "shared sacrifice" ( ie raising taxes) and not cutting expenses, maybe you can my share too. Let's pretend I'm a state union member and have the public sector pay my share. Remember that's where all this chaos started....union rights ( to have others pay the union fair share for health and pension). It's in the Constitution, dontcha know !

Didn't the teachers union refuse to renegotiote contract? Rather layoff new teachers. Feeding on their young?

Jill, your oversimplification of the statement ignores the primary driving factor in the ratings downgrade.

From the statement "The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed."

In other words, the willingness to use a stubborn irresponsible tactic of gambling with the US economy by blackmailing congress in order to achieve a political agenda has grossly increased uncertainty and seriously damaged the markets faith in our current government.

The long term problem of excessive spending does need to be addressed, but not at the expense of the near term need to instill confidence and create jobs.

The actual S&P statement can be read here - http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563

THAT IS 1000% INCORRECT!
If you have to LIE to make your point - YOU DON'T HAVE ONE.
S&P blamed the Republicans 100% for the downgrade because of their refusal to raise taxes.

You suggestion is just silly.
How do you tax folks barely earning 20 thousand dollars a year?

Excellent article mainstreet! Absolutely true. The blame for this mess is shared by all sides.

OK Mainstreet, I read it. Riddle me this. The extension of the Bush Tax cuts were supposed CRETE jobs and thus more demand. WHERE ARE THE JOBS. You know there is one group of people who are not doing their JOB and deserve to be fired, the job creators. Get to work job creators. OR get fired!

TH3, How you could read that article and come back to the Bush Tax Cuts (which aren't even mentioned) I have no idea but here goes. The original cuts were made in 2001 and 2 or 3 if I remember. So I don't think you can argue that no jobs were created by the cuts unless unless you say there was no job creation in the early and mid 2000s. The job creation ceased with the onset of the financial crisis which was caused by the big banks being terribly over leveraged and under regulated. I agree the extensions were a bad idea and won't create jobs now because there are so many other factors at work right now - namely an anti business administration, an over zealous EPA, and plan old mismanagement at the federal level in general.

Wow Mainstreet,
"The job creation ceased with the onset of the financial crisis which was caused by the big banks being terribly over leveraged and under regulated. I agree the extensions were a bad idea and won't create jobs now because there are so many other factors at work right now - namely an anti business administration, an over zealous EPA, and plan old mismanagement at the federal level in general."

There is a lot here for me to agree with you on. Let's start with under regulated banks and anunder regulated stock market. Who is assigned to regulate Wall St.? Answer: The Securities and Exchange Commission. Why then would President Bush appoint and Ayn Rand devoted in the person of Christopher Cox, to not regulate Wall Street?
Read more about Christopher Cox, deregulator, and in turn, architect of the 2008 financial crisis which has brought us to where we stand today. http://www.american.com/archive/2007/march-april-magazine-contents/unmasking-chris-cox/

Also Maistreet, since you seem to think reading is so vastly superior to visualizing. Confusius Say: One picture is worth 1000 words. At 30 images / sec how many words would a video be equal too? You can do the math.

Nobody said we have to disagree about everything, We always seem to find some common ground. I never said reading was superior to video, it was just my way of getting a shot at you for posting the same video 15 times. :)

Mainstreet, "I never said reading was superior to video, it was just my way of getting a shot at you for posting the same video 15 times. :).
Where do you think I learned that tactic. Ummm let's see maybe from the same people who use terms like " Tax and Spend", " Union Thug", " It's our money", "Government IS the Problem", "Socialist Teachers Union" etc. etc. Repeat anything enough times, it become accepted. I just got a later start than my friends on the other side. :-)

What else do you expect as an outcome if they all went to private schools that don't require teachers to be certified and licensed? All those those education students that could not pass the licensing and certification exams are the ones that end up there. We could see the outcome of this on the Tea Party Express coach!

So H, all private schools are bad in your eyes. Pls let my parish school know that, they obviously aren't doing a good job and have lousy teachers. Thx for strait ting thatoutfor me.

Hudsoner - I totally agree. And Hudsoner said, "What else do you expect as an outcome IF (emphasis is mine) they . . . that don't require teachers to be certified and licensed?" As far as I know, private school teachers are currently licensed and certified, aren't they?

Bewildered
There are a very few rather costly private schools (mostly prep schools) that have very good outcomes. And, very interesting Lutheran and catholic schools (and the catholic schools are even better than the Lutheran schools) seem to have very good outcome. But they hire mostly (or only??) certified and licensed teachers to achieve this outcome (and most of the parents of the students are very engaged with the schools of their kids) Most other private schools (charter schools are not private schools) have a rather poor outcome, which is mainly because of their lower qualified teachers!

H, pls give examples of lousy private schools. What about areas where the public schools are so bad, many parents have no choice but to send their kids to private schools ( ie: thru out the South) . You and Mr Shannon are broad brushing all private schools to make your point.

Hard to prove that private schools are lousy since they, of course, do not have to make their test scores available to the public. Interested parents and parents of students in the school should be able to get the testing information. I would think it would be a lot easier for private schools to have competitive test scores since they don't have to accept children with learning disabilities or other types of challenges.

Shannon, I have heard of private schools that do not test to any standards (they are not required to do that if they don't receive gov't. moneys).
We did a very detailed research in this field , when a few of my colleges and I started a now very successful charter school a few years ago.. Even though I am not working in this field, i gained a lot of knowledge and experience during this time concerning education and schools!

Jill I am absolutely with you. And I also understand your last two sentences!

Do you not believe that class warfare is happening? It seems as though the dems are pushing the "evil" rich people, and the poor needy. The repubs are pushing the poor kids and grandkids. In every speech Obama has made he attacks the rich, as does Harry Reid and Palosi. I truly believe if they would all quit and just deal with the issues things could possibly change. We need to get rid of all tax loopholes so the corporations are done not paying any tax, and the poor and middle class are at least paying some tax. Class warfare is happening, but what people don't realize is everyone needs to contribute, not just them, or us, but everyone.

Jill, if by " this administration " you mean Repubs in Wi and Dems in DC, yes, I agree about " class warfare". I just don't like putting the blame all on onside. Both parties and candidates are pandering to get votes, either Tuesday or nationally. there are traditional diffs in my mind between parties, one is for and one against big gov. Of course ther is a need for law and gov, supported by taxes i just see way to much excess spending and entitlements I believe gov is/has done nothing to fix current
economy and it's time to try something new. Definition of insanity: doing same thing over and over and expecting diff results.

Bewildered, would you please be so kind and explain to me what "big government" is? why is it that the Reps are against it, while the Dems are for it? Aren't the rps the ones that want to control more and more of our private life (be it sex education in schools, gay marriage, creation teaching, etc). I am just not able to grasp, what the reps mean when they say "big government"!

H, comes down to state rights vs federal control. Prime example is Obamacare. Repubs just don't like all the federal entitlements without limits or controls. Let my local gov tell me how to live and DC stay in the sandbox the constitution established (ie: national defense). In my simple minds, Dems feel they can do a better job spending my money,while Repub believe individuals can do a better job spending their own money. Another prime example is Walker not raising taxes while
Moore wants " shared sacrifices" to help pay for union health and pension contributions ( never forget she is a card caring union member). Wonder if she voted with rest of teachers not to renegotiate hudson teacher union contract, thus forcing layoffs? ( Don't agree. Look across the state which schools are saving money under the BRB)

Jill, you are right, there is class warfare. However this is not a recent phenomena. It has been going on since the 80's. We have seen the largest transfer of wealth in this country's history. The transfer as been made from the lower and middle class to the upper class. Ignore the political rhetoric and look at the data. The data does not lie. Check it out for yourself.

The chart in this article shows how workers wealth has been systematically eroded - http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/chart-of-the-day-for-american-workers-no-economic-recovery.php

When did this transfer begin and who contributed most to the increasing National Debt? Take a look at the data presented on this site - http://www.lewrockwell.com/alston/alston52.html

Here's another great chart that shows what American's perception of wealth distribution is compared to reality and what they think it should be - http://themoderatevoice.com/102213/this-is-why-americans-vote-against-economic-self-interest/

The result? Now 400 Americans have more wealth than half (155 million) of all Americans COMBINED (http://tinyurl.com/politicfact-wealth).

Need more proof? Here's a NY Times article from yesterday showing that for the first time in this country's history, employees now receive less than half of the total national income.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/business/workers-wages-chasing-corporate-profits-off-the-charts.html?_r=2

Richard P
I took the time to look up the owners of the websites you directed me to. Lets just say they were either left leaning or just plain proven liars (politicfact) I know I could find numbers which would be the exact opposite of yours if I were to look on some right leaning websites. It is a proven fact that the media is biased, as you say the "the data does not lie".I have resorted to just observing and listening to the people around me, I have also watched senate and congress sessions on tv. Some people I know are having a hard time, they own homes, but with everything costing more from taxes to gas they are struggling with duel incomes. Then my daughters friend, 25, 1 child, lives with the babys dad but not married, doesn't WANT to work so she can see all of her childs firsts (crawiling,walking,etc) she gets food stamps, wic, free healthcare for her and the baby but complains because the WIC doesn't allow her to buy the brand of babyfood she wants. I see both sides of the class warfare personally. I wish more people would pay more attention to the people and things around them than what the media, all forms, are saying. Have you ever watched a senate session? the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen, way too much wasted time spent on some pretty inane things. The government policies have forced my middle to high middle income friends to hard times, but have allowed the "poor" I know of prosper. I agree with helping the needy, but lets all describe needy the same.

Wow bewildered that is interesting. If regulations are made in DC, it is "big government"! However, if even more and way more restrictive regulations that control people even more closely and reduce their freedom even more, are made on a state level h that is small government? I don't know how the fairy tale came up that Dems spend your tax money and Reps don't. All statistics I can find tell me that it is always the Reps that are the big spenders of tax money, and the Dems are always trying to reduce the wild spending sprees that are done by the Reps! A little example can be found here:
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj194/kojak00000/chart-1.jpg
I don't know about you bewildered, but a start to wonder, whether your private school education was really that good, because you display clear signs that you seem to have difficulties with reading understanding, and probably with properly processing the facts you hear! If that is not the case, why do you totaly misinterpret what Shelly Moore says? Moore has not said a single word that she wants that you or I share her health care or pension payments! What she has said with shared sacrifice is that the big money earners should also pay their share to get or state and the country out of the hole! And Moore cannot vote with Hudson teachers because she is in a different school district.

Oh my H, such personal attacks. Feel better now ? You must be a very nice person. By the way, if you want to compare education and life successes, let's have at it. Re: Moore never saying that she didn't want others to pay her fair share, come on....she's a card carrying union member. Why do you think she decided to run in the first place. To protect union bargaining "rights" . That's union code for refusing to negotiate paying the same level of contributions as everyone else. Ask her who she voted when the Hudson school board asked the union to renegotiate their contract in order to save jobs. Look up her vote, you will be surprised ( or maybe not). It's all about shared sacrifice, or, in other words, everyone should pay more taxes so the union members don't have to act like the public sector.

Hudsoner, some people can't read and don't realize that Shelly Moore is not in Hudson School District just as you stated. I wouldn't bother trying to explain it a third time.

Jill, kudos to you for looking a bit closer. But please don't look for excuses to ignore the data. Examining the source of the data shows it is from credible sources.

1. The Worker's share of National Income is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor.

2. Mean Family Income 1966-2003 comes from the Economic Policy Institute and aggregated from the US Census. Don't trust EPI? Then look at the historical income distribution Census data reported here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

3. The National Debt as a Percent of Gross Domestic Product is from Whitehouse.gov.

4. The Out of Balance chart showing actual, perceived, and desired wealth distribution is from business professors at Harvard and Duke University.

5. It doesn't get any more non-partisan than Politifact. Proven liars? Please enlighten me.

6. And finally the data reported in NY Times story is from the Commerce Department.

Your comments about struggling friends proves my point. What is driving the government policies? Its not the citizens of this country, it is big business as we have the best Democracy money can buy. It needs to be put back into the control of We the People.

Sometimes you have to look beyond the trees immediately around you and see the forest for what it is. Ever hear of ALEC, a secretive organization driving states legislation? See http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

Thx for setting me straight on which school union member Moore works at. Now I get it. She works at the school that is investigating her for breaking school policy and using her school email for personal campaigning. Yup, that's the one. She's either ignorant of her own school's policy ( hard to believe) or thought she could get away with her outright breaking of the schools own restrictions. And I'm sure she kept politics out of her classroom. NOT ! I still stand by my comments that she entered the race to protect her own "sweetheart" health and pension plans. Union rights? It's her code for everyone else to pay her fair share. Thank goodness for the BRB.

Bewildered, your tirade would mean so much more if it weren't coming from the spouse of a high school teacher who no doubt has enjoyed "sweetheart" health and pension plans as well.

Jill is correct about the class warfare issue. John McCain railed against Obama being a "redistributionist" and in the same speech proposes a the gov't spend $300 billion to buy bad mortgages and reduce the principles. Those of us responsible enough to make a own payments get to have our money redistributed to people with $300K+ homes.

Bush & company give $10 billion in bail out money to Morgan Stanley and MS hands out $6.44 billion in bonuses. Goldman Sachs gets $10 billion and pays out $6.85 billion in bonuses. The $700 billion Bush bailout was a huge upward redistribution of wealth.

Minimum wage workers have their tax dollars take to give to millionaire farmers. Even though Limbaugh and Hannity tells us tells us 40 Percent of Americans pay no taxes, they are wrong. Burger flippers are paying sales tax, social security taxes, property taxes via their rent, etc. In reality, a burger flipper can be paying a higher proportion in taxes than Warren Buffet...and I believe Buffet pointed this fact out.

I don't read anything about the gap between the rich and the poor narrowing. I don't read anything about employees gaining ground on their wages.

A single mom getting welfare and complaining about the type of baby food she can by is a single dot in a very big picture. It's a shiny object to divert our attention from what is really going on.

Ah Ms... Or is it Mr? ..."Shannon" ... Delving into my background. Good for you. Then why didn't you report that my teacher wife has tried for years to get out of the teacher union but couldn't because the union threatened to get her fired if she didn't pay the forced WEAC dues. The end of mandatory union membership is just a small plus the BRB brought my family Ms/Mr Shannon, never let the whole truth distort your union based lies. Perhaps is you were in the work force, you'd appreciate my wife's desire to have freedom of choice.

So Mr Shannon, we finally agree on something. That the teachers have had a "sweetheart" health and pension deal all along. Better watch out, next thing you know, you'll be agreeing that WEAC Trust has cost taxpayers millions of unnecessary taxes. Glad to see you're on board with the BRB !

Ah Bewildered, your wife is hardly a martyr. The adjective "sweetheart" was your word. Hence my using the quote marks. You benefitted from the situation that you are complaining about all the same.

Let's keep those punches up, fighters. No name-calling and no harassing behavior.

The Republicans created class warfare.

@Dora, "The Republicans created class warfare."... and then sold the gullible TP'er on the notion that THEY were the victims.

Just thought I'd finish your sentence for you. ;-)

Whats that saying, One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.

Jill, doesn't your statement also apply to your daughter's foodstamp friend?

I would agree with you if she were the only one I know living as she does, I could tell you of many more examples but I think you see where I am coming from.As I stated before I believe in helping the needy, however I believe we as a country need to decide what the word "needy" truly means. If a young mother can choose to not work, and be supported by taxpayers, there is a problem with the system.

Yeah. I slept a few hours, and awoke to more than 20 new comments at about 8 a.m.

"Where are the Jobs, Job creators?"
They sent them overseas to India, China and Vietnam where they can buy child (slave) labor for 14 cents/hour.

What a way to earn some extra $$$$! OK gang, I have that nice motorhome (not nearly as fancy as the Tea Party Express, but pretty comfy). Can we think about a snappy slogan, paint it all over the motorhome and start our paid for (by whom? We still have to select our group of suckers) journey of the country?