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hue's Journal
hue's Journal
March 31, 2014
Congress Passes Bill to Stop Cut to Medicare Docs
Source: abc NEWS
With just hours to spare, Congress stepped Monday to finalize legislation to prevent doctors who treat Medicare patients from being hit with a 24 percent cut in their payments from the government.
The Senate's 64-35 vote sends a measure to delay the cuts for a year to President Barack Obama, who's expected to quickly sign it. The House passed the measure last week.
The $21 billion measure would stave off a 24 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors for a year and extend dozens of other expiring health care provisions such as higher payment rates for rural hospitals. The legislation is paid for by cuts to health care providers, but fully half of the cuts won't kick in for 10 years.
It's the seventeenth temporary "patch" to a broken payment formula that dates to 1997 and comes after lawmakers failed to reach a deal on financing a permanent fix.
The measure passed the House on Thursday, but only after top leaders in both parties engineered a voice vote when it became clear they were having difficulty mustering the two-thirds vote required to advance it under expedited procedures. Several top Democrats opposed the bill, saying it would take momentum away from the drive to permanently solve the payment formula problem.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/congress-pass-bill-stop-cut-medicare-docs-23130062ource
March 31, 2014
It’s hard to imagine a political spectacle more loathsome than the parade of Republican presidential candidates who spent the last few days bowing and scraping before the mighty bank account of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. One by one, they stood at a microphone in Mr. Adelson’s Venetian hotel in Las Vegas and spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition (also a wholly owned subsidiary of Mr. Adelson), hoping to sound sufficiently pro-Israel and pro-interventionist and philo-Semitic to win a portion of Mr. Adelson’s billions for their campaigns.
Gov. John Kasich of Ohio made an unusually bold venture into foreign policy by calling for greater sanctions on Iran and Russia, and by announcing that the United States should not pressure Israel into a peace process. (Wild applause.) “Hey, listen, Sheldon, thanks for inviting me,” he said. “God bless you for what you do.”
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin brought up his father’s trip to Israel, and said he puts “a menorah candle” next to his Christmas tree. The name of his son, Matthew, actually comes from Hebrew, he pointed out.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey also described his trip to Israel, but then did something unthinkable. He referred to the West Bank as the “occupied territories.” A shocked whisper went through the crowd. How dare Mr. Christie implicitly acknowledge that Israel’s presence in the West Bank might be anything less than welcome to the Palestinians? Even before Mr. Christie left the stage, leaders of the group told him he had stumbled, badly.
The Line to Kiss Sheldon Adelson’s Boots
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/the-line-to-kiss-sheldon-adelsons-boots/?_php=true&_type=blogs&smid=fb-share&_r=0It’s hard to imagine a political spectacle more loathsome than the parade of Republican presidential candidates who spent the last few days bowing and scraping before the mighty bank account of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. One by one, they stood at a microphone in Mr. Adelson’s Venetian hotel in Las Vegas and spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition (also a wholly owned subsidiary of Mr. Adelson), hoping to sound sufficiently pro-Israel and pro-interventionist and philo-Semitic to win a portion of Mr. Adelson’s billions for their campaigns.
Gov. John Kasich of Ohio made an unusually bold venture into foreign policy by calling for greater sanctions on Iran and Russia, and by announcing that the United States should not pressure Israel into a peace process. (Wild applause.) “Hey, listen, Sheldon, thanks for inviting me,” he said. “God bless you for what you do.”
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin brought up his father’s trip to Israel, and said he puts “a menorah candle” next to his Christmas tree. The name of his son, Matthew, actually comes from Hebrew, he pointed out.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey also described his trip to Israel, but then did something unthinkable. He referred to the West Bank as the “occupied territories.” A shocked whisper went through the crowd. How dare Mr. Christie implicitly acknowledge that Israel’s presence in the West Bank might be anything less than welcome to the Palestinians? Even before Mr. Christie left the stage, leaders of the group told him he had stumbled, badly.
March 31, 2014
As you may recall back in February Circuit Court Judge Peter Anderson ordered Wisconsin’s Department of Justice to come up with a cost benefit analysis on the DOJ’s years long and failed effort to prosecute roughly 400 citations related to singing in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda.
In a Thursday reply, the Assistant Deputy Attorney General Daniel Lennington told the judge, basically, that the cost and benefit of the prosecution is none of his business.
“DOJ has exercised prosecutorial discretion in the many forfeiture actions arising from activities at the Capitol, whether through dismissing charges when appropriate or offering deferred prosecution agreements,” wrote Lennington. And, “But this is the duty of the prosecutor, not the court.”
In response, civil rights attorney Jeff Scott Olson told Cap Times that, “To say that the Legislature intended this tremendous sinkhole of judicial effort to fall upon the Dane County judges when it passed these rules is nutty.”
Judge Anderson is scheduled to make an oral ruling in the cases on May 1st.
In really GOOD news related to singing, the Madison Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild reports that Judge Maryann Sumi has dismissed all citations before her that were issued for singing in the Capitol rotunda last summer.
Really good news and some so-so news on Solidarity Sing Along prosecutions
http://www.bluecheddar.net/?p=38718#more-As you may recall back in February Circuit Court Judge Peter Anderson ordered Wisconsin’s Department of Justice to come up with a cost benefit analysis on the DOJ’s years long and failed effort to prosecute roughly 400 citations related to singing in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda.
In a Thursday reply, the Assistant Deputy Attorney General Daniel Lennington told the judge, basically, that the cost and benefit of the prosecution is none of his business.
“DOJ has exercised prosecutorial discretion in the many forfeiture actions arising from activities at the Capitol, whether through dismissing charges when appropriate or offering deferred prosecution agreements,” wrote Lennington. And, “But this is the duty of the prosecutor, not the court.”
In response, civil rights attorney Jeff Scott Olson told Cap Times that, “To say that the Legislature intended this tremendous sinkhole of judicial effort to fall upon the Dane County judges when it passed these rules is nutty.”
Judge Anderson is scheduled to make an oral ruling in the cases on May 1st.
In really GOOD news related to singing, the Madison Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild reports that Judge Maryann Sumi has dismissed all citations before her that were issued for singing in the Capitol rotunda last summer.
March 31, 2014
This is an important win for Native Americans and our environment!!
Court Rejects Alaska Appeal Over Fishing Rights
Source: abc NEWS
The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal by the state of Alaska in a long-running fight over the control of rivers and the fishing and hunting rights of Native Alaskans.
The court on Monday declined to review a federal appeals court ruling that upheld U.S. Interior Department rules enforcing the fishing and hunting rights on some rivers that otherwise would be under state control.
The state urged the high court to step in to address claims that the federal government has improperly asserted control over rivers in more than half of Alaska.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/court-rejects-alaska-appeal-fishing-rights-23126629
This is an important win for Native Americans and our environment!!
March 31, 2014
Video footage shows students walking out on Dick Cheney while he was speaking at American University. The students were protesting his foreign policy, and calling him a “War criminal” as they left the arena.
As reported by American University’s The Eagle, the former vice-president denied allegations that he was a war criminal saying that “the accusation are not true.”
Cheney had previously denied using torture in a pre-talk interview with ATV, the student-run television station at American University, saying: “Some people called it torture. It wasn’t torture.”
Students Walk out on Dick Cheney, Calling Him ‘War Criminal’ (VIDEO)
http://samuel-warde.com/2014/03/students-walk-dick-cheney-war-criminal/Video footage shows students walking out on Dick Cheney while he was speaking at American University. The students were protesting his foreign policy, and calling him a “War criminal” as they left the arena.
As reported by American University’s The Eagle, the former vice-president denied allegations that he was a war criminal saying that “the accusation are not true.”
Cheney had previously denied using torture in a pre-talk interview with ATV, the student-run television station at American University, saying: “Some people called it torture. It wasn’t torture.”
March 29, 2014
Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, is unsure how her organization will respond to Gov. Scott Walker’s recent signing of a bill to restrict early voting throughout the state.
Walker issued a partial veto that killed a provision that would have barred municipalities from offering more than 45 hours of weekday in-person absentee voting. Nevertheless, the bill as signed still bars municipalities from offering early voting on weekends in the weeks preceding an election and restricts early voting to the hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
Walker’s veto amounted to a minimal improvement, says Kaminski.
“It was a very, very small concession,” she says.
The League of Women Voters is already fighting a court battle over Voter ID; the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case in February and is expected to rule on the matter in the coming months.
Kaminski says the group, which promotes voter education and greater access to the polls, is consulting with Madison attorney Lester Pines on whether to pursue a separate lawsuit on the recent legislation.
League of Women Voters ponders lawsuit over early voting restrictions
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/jack_craver/league-of-women-voters-ponders-lawsuit-over-early-voting-restrictions/article_dfefaec2-b6aa-11e3-a5f2-0019bb2963f4.htmlAndrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, is unsure how her organization will respond to Gov. Scott Walker’s recent signing of a bill to restrict early voting throughout the state.
Walker issued a partial veto that killed a provision that would have barred municipalities from offering more than 45 hours of weekday in-person absentee voting. Nevertheless, the bill as signed still bars municipalities from offering early voting on weekends in the weeks preceding an election and restricts early voting to the hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
Walker’s veto amounted to a minimal improvement, says Kaminski.
“It was a very, very small concession,” she says.
The League of Women Voters is already fighting a court battle over Voter ID; the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case in February and is expected to rule on the matter in the coming months.
Kaminski says the group, which promotes voter education and greater access to the polls, is consulting with Madison attorney Lester Pines on whether to pursue a separate lawsuit on the recent legislation.
March 28, 2014
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Revenues has fully allocated the $100,000 provided by Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) under state law for mine-related expenses between July 1- Dec. 31, but the state appears to be no closer to releasing dollars for the local community impact committees.
According to a letter released Monday by the DNR, the department has spent a total of $146,895 in eligible expenses to evaluate the proposed iron ore mine on the Penokee Range of Ashland and Iron County.
According to Ann Coakley, Director of the Bureau of Waste Materials Management of the DNR, under state statute GTAC paid out the initial $100,000 in June of last year.
In her letter to GTAC geologist Timothy Meyers, Coakley delivered a cost accounting that included $75,973 for permanent salaries, $36,912 in fringe benefits, $2,382 in travel expenses $1,251 in supplies and services, $6,384 in “other” expenses and $10,018 in indirect costs.
In the letter, Coakley requested that GTAC make their second payment authorized in the state mining statute of $250,000.
Coakley said Monday that the DNR would make periodic requests for funds of GTAC up to the maximum of $2 million authorized in the statutes.
“GTAC submitted their first $100,000 with their bulk sampling plan and preapplication notice back in June, and now we have encumbered that money and told them to send the next check,” Coakley said.
Coakley noted that the structure which funds local mining impact committees is separate from the DNR, and to her knowledge, that board hasn’t even been appointed yet.
That is a matter that provides a certain amount of frustration for Ashland County Chairman Pete Russo, who notes that the county could use some of the mining impact money to pay the mining-related bills that have begun to pile up.
State has spent $149,000 in GTAC mine-related costs
http://www.ashlandwi.com/news/article_d1d93ae6-b458-11e3-9fff-001a4bcf887a.htmlThe Wisconsin Department of Natural Revenues has fully allocated the $100,000 provided by Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) under state law for mine-related expenses between July 1- Dec. 31, but the state appears to be no closer to releasing dollars for the local community impact committees.
According to a letter released Monday by the DNR, the department has spent a total of $146,895 in eligible expenses to evaluate the proposed iron ore mine on the Penokee Range of Ashland and Iron County.
According to Ann Coakley, Director of the Bureau of Waste Materials Management of the DNR, under state statute GTAC paid out the initial $100,000 in June of last year.
In her letter to GTAC geologist Timothy Meyers, Coakley delivered a cost accounting that included $75,973 for permanent salaries, $36,912 in fringe benefits, $2,382 in travel expenses $1,251 in supplies and services, $6,384 in “other” expenses and $10,018 in indirect costs.
In the letter, Coakley requested that GTAC make their second payment authorized in the state mining statute of $250,000.
Coakley said Monday that the DNR would make periodic requests for funds of GTAC up to the maximum of $2 million authorized in the statutes.
“GTAC submitted their first $100,000 with their bulk sampling plan and preapplication notice back in June, and now we have encumbered that money and told them to send the next check,” Coakley said.
Coakley noted that the structure which funds local mining impact committees is separate from the DNR, and to her knowledge, that board hasn’t even been appointed yet.
That is a matter that provides a certain amount of frustration for Ashland County Chairman Pete Russo, who notes that the county could use some of the mining impact money to pay the mining-related bills that have begun to pile up.
March 28, 2014
Earlier this week, right-wing propagandists at Media Trackers and Right Wisconsin posted two attacks on Democratic Attorney General candidate Jon Richards. While the attacks against Richards focused on two different issues, it’s notable (at least to me) that the attacks seemed coordinated, as they were posted just hours apart on the same day. The attacks also come as I’m hearing rumors about polling that doesn’t look good for Republican Attorney General candidate Brad Schimel if matched against Jon Richards in the general election.
****************************
I think Jon Richards is a major threat to the Koch Brigade! He will be politically assaulted from now until the election!
The right-wing attacks on Jon Richards: what are they worried about? (Blogging Blue)
http://bloggingblue.com/2014/03/the-right-wing-attacks-on-jon-richards-what-are-they-worried-about/Earlier this week, right-wing propagandists at Media Trackers and Right Wisconsin posted two attacks on Democratic Attorney General candidate Jon Richards. While the attacks against Richards focused on two different issues, it’s notable (at least to me) that the attacks seemed coordinated, as they were posted just hours apart on the same day. The attacks also come as I’m hearing rumors about polling that doesn’t look good for Republican Attorney General candidate Brad Schimel if matched against Jon Richards in the general election.
****************************
I think Jon Richards is a major threat to the Koch Brigade! He will be politically assaulted from now until the election!
March 28, 2014
The jackals are nipping at Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm’s heels.
Chisholm initiated the John Doe investigation that’s looking at campaign collusion between Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign staff and right-wing “dark money” groups that backed Walker in the 2012 recall campaign.
Now Wisconsin Club for Growth, one of the groups under scrutiny, is suing Chisolm for violating its free speech, freedom to assemble and equal protection rights.
And Walker gets to decide who Chisholm’s attorney will be and the attorney’s hourly rate, writes Bruce Murphy in Urban Milwaukee.
Walker has erected a “Chinese Wall” between himself and the case, appointing his Chief Legal Counsel Brian Hagedorn, to make the calls.
Hagedorn, Murphy reports, has set the rate at $175 an hour, considerably less than the $300 an hour Walker has approved in the past.
*********************************
Disgusting!!
Bruce Murphy: Scott Walker rigging the game in John Chisholm lawsuit
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/bruce-murphy-scott-walker-rigging-the-game-in-john-chisholm/article_ad44d790-495c-592b-a6c7-082d73e0a381.htmlThe jackals are nipping at Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm’s heels.
Chisholm initiated the John Doe investigation that’s looking at campaign collusion between Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign staff and right-wing “dark money” groups that backed Walker in the 2012 recall campaign.
Now Wisconsin Club for Growth, one of the groups under scrutiny, is suing Chisolm for violating its free speech, freedom to assemble and equal protection rights.
And Walker gets to decide who Chisholm’s attorney will be and the attorney’s hourly rate, writes Bruce Murphy in Urban Milwaukee.
Walker has erected a “Chinese Wall” between himself and the case, appointing his Chief Legal Counsel Brian Hagedorn, to make the calls.
Hagedorn, Murphy reports, has set the rate at $175 an hour, considerably less than the $300 an hour Walker has approved in the past.
*********************************
Disgusting!!
March 28, 2014
There is obviously some confusion on the part of some Iron County Board members and Iron County Forest Administrator Joe Vairus regarding their powers and the power of the sheriff to forcibly remove tribal members or others who might be camping at the "Harvest Camp" that's been occupied for some time along Moore Park Rd. in Iron County at the site of GTAC's proposed taconite mine.
Vairus and at least one other Iron County Forestry Department employee have publicly criticized Sheriff Tony Furyk for not immediately removing people and property from the Harvest Camp pursuant to a resolution passed by the Iron County Board to evict members of the camp. Only problem is, the County Board does not have the power to evict -- that is, thankfully, left to the courts; and Sheriff Furyk has no lawful authority to forcibly remove anyone without a judgment finding a violation of the law along with an order directing him to forcibly evict individuals by name.
Iron County alleges that persons staying at the Harvest Camp are in violation of a county ordinance that limits camping in the county forest to "no more than two weeks." The ordinance goes on to state that anyone in violation of the regulation is "subject to ejection" and other penalties...
...The Iron County Board cannot evict people on its own accord, no more than you can forcibly remove a tenant who is late on his rent. The County can direct the corporation counsel to proceed with a civil action to evict if it so desires. Unless and until the county gets a court order directing the sheriff to forcibly remove people from the county forest, he is not entitled by law to do so.
WHY THE SHERIFF IS NOT REMOVING THE HARVEST CAMP PARTICIPANTS IN IRON COUNTY (STELLAREPORT)
http://stellareport.blogspot.com/There is obviously some confusion on the part of some Iron County Board members and Iron County Forest Administrator Joe Vairus regarding their powers and the power of the sheriff to forcibly remove tribal members or others who might be camping at the "Harvest Camp" that's been occupied for some time along Moore Park Rd. in Iron County at the site of GTAC's proposed taconite mine.
Vairus and at least one other Iron County Forestry Department employee have publicly criticized Sheriff Tony Furyk for not immediately removing people and property from the Harvest Camp pursuant to a resolution passed by the Iron County Board to evict members of the camp. Only problem is, the County Board does not have the power to evict -- that is, thankfully, left to the courts; and Sheriff Furyk has no lawful authority to forcibly remove anyone without a judgment finding a violation of the law along with an order directing him to forcibly evict individuals by name.
Iron County alleges that persons staying at the Harvest Camp are in violation of a county ordinance that limits camping in the county forest to "no more than two weeks." The ordinance goes on to state that anyone in violation of the regulation is "subject to ejection" and other penalties...
...The Iron County Board cannot evict people on its own accord, no more than you can forcibly remove a tenant who is late on his rent. The County can direct the corporation counsel to proceed with a civil action to evict if it so desires. Unless and until the county gets a court order directing the sheriff to forcibly remove people from the county forest, he is not entitled by law to do so.
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