After 3 Month Absent, Sarah Palin Still Has Star Power in Wisconsin

After a brief stint away from the media, Sarah Palin comes out swinging. Since the presidential campaign season started early, Palin wanted to keep her supporters excited for her eventual announcement to run for the presidency in 2012. After a 3 month absent, Palin still has the star power to attack thousand of supporters at a speech rally in Wisconsin.

(Reuters) Conservative Sarah Palin returned to the U.S. political arena on Saturday after several months absence with a feisty speech attacking both the establishment Republican Party and Democratic President Barack Obama and proclaiming "the 2012 elections begin here."

In a move apparently aimed at keeping her name in the running for the Republican nomination in next year's presidential election, Palin addressed several thousand people in Wisconsin, a state bitterly divided by a political fight over union rights.

Palin has been mostly absent from politics since the January shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, when she was criticized for accusing opponents of manufacturing a "blood libel" against her.

That absence has seen her standing slide among potential frontrunners for the Republican nomination.

As snow and sleet fell on Madison's main square, Palin attacked the budget compromise between Republicans and Obama on cuts of around $38 billion instead of $100 billion promised by Republicans in elections last November.

"That is not courage, that is capitulation," she said, adding that a recent bruising battle in Wisconsin over union bargaining rights provided a number of lessons.

"We didn't elect you just to rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic," she said. "We didn't elect you just to stand back and watch Obama redistribute those deck chairs."

While former governors Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty have announced they hope to be candidates to challenge Obama, Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, has not said whether she will seek the Republican nomination for president.

By coming to Madison, the scene of mass demonstrations over a bill to limit union bargaining rights that Governor Scott Walker and local Republicans passed in March, Republican strategists said Palin was guaranteed media exposure.

Bolton: Obama Administration Has No Foreign Policy

The Obama Administration has no experience in Foreign Policy. The Obama foreign policy has been reactive than proactive. The chaos speading throughout the Middle East and North Africa is a prime example that our president is not ready to lead. The fact is that the chaos abroad is unamanageable. In addition, our president Obama has not quell the widespead union uproar in Wisconsin and many other states. Instead, Obama is having a huge gala at the White House celebrating Motown. This party started last Thursday and will conclude Sunday night with Gladis Night and the Pips. Obama thinks being president is an all fun partying and vacationing position.

Bolton: Obama Administration Has No Foreign Policy

Former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton says President Obama has shown he has "no foreign policy."

Wisconsin GOP Will Force Wisconsin Democrats to Pick Up Their Paycheck

It seems the Wisconsin GOP will get the last laugh afterall. By changing the Senate rule, a senator that miss two consecutive floor days will have to pick up their paychecks in person. It is a brilliant idea and one way to flush these cowardly Democrats back to senate chamber.

(JSOline) Madison -- Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to make Democrats hiding out in Illinois come back to Wisconsin to pick up their paychecks.

The Senate Committee on Organization voted on a 3-2 party line vote, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats against, to change Senate rules so that senators who miss two consecutive floor days can no longer have their paychecks dropped automatically into their bank accounts. The vote was taken by paper ballot, which allowed Democrats to cast their votes from out-of-state.

Democrats who have already missed two consecutive floor sessions will now have to come to get their paychecks directly from Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) on the floor of the Senate.

"The majority leader shall provide the checks only to the absent Senator and only on the floor of the Senate during a session day," the new rule reads.

Democrats have been holed up in Illinois to block a Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.

Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public-School 8th Graders Can’t Read Proficiently

If teachers stop complaining and protesting with unions about salary and benefits, our kids would be less likely to be stupid when they enter high school. It proves my point that many teachers don't know how to teach, but rather, they bide their time till they reach tenure, which make teachers impossible to fire.

(CNSNews.com) Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.”

The $10,791 that Wisconsin spent per pupil in its public elementary and secondary schools in fiscal year 2008 was more than any other state in the Midwest.

Neighboring Illinois spent $10,353 per student in 2008, Minnesota spent $10,048 per student; Iowa spent $9,520 per student. Among Midwest states, Nebraska was second to Wisconsin in per pupil spending in its public schools, spending $10,565 per student.

Nationwide, only 30 percent of public school eighth graders earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average reading score on the NAEP test was 262 out of 500.

Obama and Wisconsin Democrats are Fighting for the Wrong Reason

The arguement from the unions are considered ignorant, selfish, and arrogant. The union workers are saying the governor's plan have blindsided them by surprise. Also, they say Gov. Walker's is intentionally targeting public employees while giving tax breaks to businesses worth about $117 million, which provides jobs to many people. The class warfare that Democrats use with proficiency doesn't fly in this turbulent climate. Democrats must understand that giving tax breaks to businesses doesn't equate to owners pocketing the money. These tax breaks give the company room to grow by providing jobs and expansion. Also, the tax breaks will help lower the cost of the product that the companies would pass on to the consumer. The last time I checked public employees don't provide jobs.

(FoxNews) Wisconsin's senate majority leader says the chamber will convene to pass non-spending bills and act on appointments Tuesday even if minority Democrats remain out of state.

Republican Sen. Scott Fitzgerald told The Associated Press on Sunday that he would be reviewing which bills and appointees to schedule for action. He says senators can't wait around "twiddling their thumbs" until the Democrats return.

Protesters and Democratic lawmakers have likened Walker to a dictator, and demonstrators protesting the budget bill have waived signs comparing him to ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak and Adolf Hitler.

Walker said he hoped "cooler minds will prevail" and lawmakers will come back to vote.

"Those senate Democrats should realize, if you want to participate in a democracy, you got to be in the arena. And the arena is right here in Madison, Wisconsin. It's not hiding out in Rockford, Illinois, or Chicago, or anywhere else out there. Democracy means you show up and participate.

And they failed to do that. They're walking out on their job," he said.

President Obama, whose group Organizing for America, has bused in some of the nearly 70,000 protesters Saturday, last week called the bill "an assault on unions."

Walker said the president should stay focused on fixing the federal budget, which is $1.5 trillion in deficit this year. The president's plan, rolled out last week, proposes $1.65 trillion in deficits next year.

Under the governor's proposal, unions still could represent workers, but they could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized. Only wages below the Consumer Price Index would be subject to collective bargaining, anything higher would have to be approved by referendum.

Palin tells Wisconsin Protesters that Real Solidarity Means Everyone Being Willing to Sacrifice

This is why Liberals and the GOP establishment are so scared of her. Strong leaders are so hard to find! Palin 2012!!!

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Sarah Palin says union members protesting Wisconsin Republicans’ plan to help balance the state’s budget by cutting collective bargaining rights are taking up “the wrong fight at the wrong time.”

Palin weighed in on the debate in a Friday night posting on her Facebook page but didn’t indicate whether she would join weekend conservative counter-protests organized by groups including the Tea Party Patriots and Americans for Prosperity.

In the posting addressed to “union brothers and sisters,” Palin says Wisconsin taxpayers shouldn’t be asked to pay for benefits “that are not sustainable.”

She says “real solidarity means everyone being willing to sacrifice.”