http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fbtshirtpoll

“An open letter to conservatives”

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/a/m/americandad/

As the College Democrats of Madison, we strive to advance progressive issues that benefit the student population. We work to elect officials at all levels of government who support our agenda and keep in mind the interests of students. It is for these reasons that we are proud to support our fellow student, Analiese Eicher, for Dane County Supervisor in the 5th District.

Analiese is currently in her fourth year at UW-Madison. She has worked with many different students from a variety of organizations during this time, from which she has learned the values and concerns of the campus community. However, she did not see adequate attention being given at the county level to the concerns of her peers. It was this desire to give students a strong voice on the County Board that motivated her candidacy.

As an organization, we support Analiese because she has shown an incredible dedication to issues that affect us as students, and is whole-heartedly committed to maintaining an open line of communication between herself and the campus community. Analiese will uphold the tradition of fellow student public officials Bryon Eagon and Eli Judge by always being accessible to constituents and advocating tirelessly for student issues. Her pledges to keep in touch with students by holding office hours, frequently updating a blog and a Twitter account, continuing to be an active and involved student, and regularly providing updates about the county government in the school papers show that she is serious about building a close relationship between students and their Supervisor, and further committed to helping the student population.

In addition to Analiese’s dedication to being an accessible representative for the campus community, she has put a focus on the most pressing issues facing her constituents. By speaking passionately on issues such as the environment, campus safety, and accessibility to human services, she makes it clear that she understands the needs of the campus community, and will fight for them on the County Board. Analiese will take pragmatic steps to improve the quality of the air and the lakes so that we can fully utilize our natural resources. She will work closely with the Sheriff’s department to ensure that the campus community remains safe for everyone. Additionally, Analiese will work to make sure that the resources provided by the county are available to students, and that members of the campus community know how to access them.

The outcome of the April 6 election will impact how we as students are represented at the county level for the next two years. This campus needs a representative who will restore the relationship between students and the County Board by being accessible and furthering issues that matter to us. Analiese Eicher is not an activist trying to push her own agenda on the County Board. She is a fellow student who will fight for the UW-Madison community. The College Democrats believe Analiese Eicher will represent a strong student voice on the Dane County Board, and we call on our fellow students to do the same.

—Evan Giesemann and Maggie Bahrmasel
College Democrats of Madison

College Democrats Endorse Eicher

Check it out!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/22/health-reform-bill-summary_n_508315.html

For Walker, Meals Aren’t Always A ‘Brown Bag’

RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writers
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ― Republican Scott Walker wants supporters of his campaign for governor to join his “brown bag movement” to show how serious he is about cutting government waste and spending.

Someone ought to tell his campaign about it.

Walker’s campaign has spent thousands of dollars on food and beverages, including at high-end restaurants, even as it launches a public relations blitz to promote his claim that he’s so frugal he packs his lunch every day, an Associated Press review found.

The campaign’s bills for Walker’s meals, campaign meetings that included meals for Walker, his staff and others, and food and drinks for fundraising events amount to at least $24,500 since mid-2008.

By contrast, the campaigns of his GOP primary rival Mark Neumann and Democratic opponent Tom Barrett spent some money on food and drinks for fundraisers but virtually nothing on meals for themselves and their campaign meetings. Both entered the race later than Walker.

The thousands spent on meals contradicts Walker’s central campaign message espoused through a new Web site www.brownbagmovement.com, which he promotes in his first television ad.

On that site, Walker boasts about packing his brown bag lunch every day and proclaims, “We can’t afford to go out to lunch because Wisconsin’s government is out to lunch.” His supporters can also buy Scott Walker Brown Paper Lunch Bags ($7 for 5) promoting his anti-tax philosophy.

But campaign finance records show Walker’s campaign had no problem affording multiple meals for the candidate, his aides, their supporters and others at restaurants and events across the state.

Walker campaign spokeswoman Jill Bader broadly defended the campaign’s spending as appropriate and denied any hypocrisy. At the same time, she would not answer questions about specific bills, such as why the campaign spent $2,182 for “meeting expenses” at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Middleton in October or $805 at Timmer’s in West Bend the same month.

The campaign rang up bills of $244 at the Bay City Smokehouse in Green Bay, $230 and $193 at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Greenfield, $230 at the Capital Grille in Washington, D.C., and $149 at the Waterfront in La Crosse, among others. The campaign also paid bills of more than $30 apiece seven times at the Ambassador Hotel in Milwaukee.

The campaign also paid for Walker’s meals at Subway locations 15 times in a four-month span, and spent a total of $1,070 at Johnny V’s Classic Cafe in West Allis over 30 separate occasions, records show.

Bader said campaign staffers routinely meet at Johnny V’s, where Walker likes the oatmeal. And she said it’s appropriate for Walker to be reimbursed for meals while he campaigns.

“Of course, we spend money for food on campaign fundraising events, Scott doesn’t have the time to pack a lunch for everyone and not everyone likes ham and cheese on wheat,” she added, referring to what Walker often packs for lunch.

Jay Heck, director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, who has tracked Wisconsin campaigns for years, called the level of spending on meals “highly unusual.” He said spending a lot on some fundraising events makes sense because they bring in more money, but campaigns typically want to be as frugal as possible otherwise to save for advertising.

“Either they have so much cash that they don’t know what to do with it all, or they are wasting a lot of it,” he said after reviewing AP’s findings. “Either way it does not square with the tightfisted brown bag lunch guy Walker is trying to portray himself to be.”

Bader called that criticism absurd.

AP’s review of campaign finance disclosure reports tallied expenses from July 2008 through Dec. 31, 2009, that were listed as reimbursement for Walker’s meals, restaurant bills listed as meeting expenses and to feed volunteers, and the cost of food and beverages for fundraising events. For the campaign meetings, it is not clear who attended.

Some of the campaign’s most expensive tabs, in many cases $500 or more, came to pay for food and beverages for fundraising events. Walker’s rivals reported similar expenses, but little in the way of any other meals.

The campaign of Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, reported spending roughly $10,000 on food and beverages for fundraisers in the last six months of 2009. That included $3,771 for a fundraiser at the National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C.

Neumann, the former GOP congressman, reported $2,400 on food and drink for campaign events and fundraisers in the last six months of 2009.

Walker’s spending tally does not include what could be the campaign’s biggest event yet earlier this month: a $250-per-person fundraiser featuring former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. Dinner tables for eight could be reserved for $2,000. The Democratic Party held a $10 brat supper during the event as a contrast.

http://wcco.com/wireapnewswi/Campaign.of.Wis.2.1560135.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/photogallery/first-year

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) – U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Thursday that proposed final healthcare legislation would cut the U.S. deficit by more than $100 billion over the first 10 years.

Hoyer told reporters that the Congressional Budget Office said the sweeping healthcare overhaul would cut the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the subsequent decade. The CBO is expected to release its official estimate of the cost of the Democratic-written legislation on Thursday.

Hoyer said momentum was growing for the legislation despite solid Republican opposition and that the U.S. House of Representatives was on track to vote on the bill on Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/03/18/health/international-usa-healthcare-hoyer.html?_r=1

The U.S. Census and why you should care

This year’s U.S. Census is one of the shortest in history and will begin arriving in mailboxes today. It’s 10 questions that shouldn’t take much longer than 10 minutes to complete. Some of the questions are less invasive than ones you’d answer while shopping online. Yet the Census Bureau is expecting only two thirds of U.S. households to return the forms. Why do people make such a fuss over completing something that is required by the Constitution to take place every 10 years? And why has the Census Bureau spent $133 million on a media campaign to increase public awareness of the once-a-decade population count?

Because the answers to these 10 questions help the government produce data used to determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. Not to mention, $400 billion of federal funding is on the line. The Census data helps communities receive this federal funding for hospitals, job training centers, schools, senior centers, bridges, tunnels and emergency services, according to 2010.census.gov.

About 72 percent of U.S. households returned their forms in 2000, according to a March 15 Associated Press story. The states expected to be hardest hit by the 2010 Census are Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and North Carolina because of the low participation in the 2000 Census, and because “these states have larger-than-average shares of Hispanics and young adults, which are hard-to-count demographics,” according to the Census Bureau.

For the first time, the Bureau is mailing out bilingual English-Spanish census forms to 13 million households.

U.S. residents will receive a postage-paid envelope along with their Census form to return the form to the bureau. If residents fail to complete and return the form, they may receive a follow-up visit from a census taker, which costs the government an estimated $1.5 billion, according to the AP story.

“If the American public comes through in the way everyone is capable of, we’ll have a great census,” Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said.

For residents who fear the Census for privacy reasons, the government site explains that it is against the law to disclose or publish names, addresses including GPS coordinates, Social Security numbers and telephone numbers. Also, “all Census Bureau employees take the oath on nondisclosure (see below) and are sworn for life to protect the confidentiality of the data,” according to the government site.

Census Oath of Non-Dislcosure (from 2010.census.gov)

When hired to work for the Census Bureau, employees must sign a Sworn Affidavit of Nondisclosure.

This obligates those hired to accept the responsibility of keeping all Title 13 data confidential. This constitutes a lifetime obligation, continuing even if you are no longer affiliated with the Census Bureau.

“I will not disclose any information contained in the schedules, lists, or statements obtained for or prepared by the Census Bureau to any person or persons either during or after employment.”

Under federal law, the penalty for unlawful disclosure is a fine of not more than $250,000 or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both.

Here’s a preview of all the questions you’ll find on your 2010 Census form (2010.census.gov provides this list along with the Bureau’s reasons for each question):

1.  How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?

2.  Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1?

3.  Is this house, apartment, or mobile home: owned with mortgage, owned without mortgage, rented, occupied without rent?

4.  What is your telephone number?

5.  Please provide information for each person living here. Start with a person here who owns or rents this house, apartment, or mobile home. If the owner or renter lives somewhere else, start with any adult living here. This will be Person 1. What is Person 1’s name?

6.  What is Person 1’s sex?

7.  What is Person 1’s age and Date of Birth?

8.  Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin?

9.  What is Person 1’s race?

10.  Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else?

Here is a Chicago Tribune Q and A regarding the Census:

Who gets it? 120 million households

When? Beginning this week

How long? 10 questions, including number of residents, type of housing, race, ethnicity, gender and date of birth

Deadline? If not returned by mid-April, a census taker will come to your door.

Who gets the data? Only the Census Bureau. Federal law prohibits sharing the data with other agencies.

Why does it matter? The data will be used to adjust legislative boundaries and allocate billions in federal funds.

What if you leave an answer blank? The Census Bureau will call to follow up, but the remaining answers will be tabulated.

What if you knowingly provide a false answer? It’s a crime. The penalty is up to $500.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/the-problem-solver/2010/03/the-us-census-and-why-you-should-care.html