Progressive Thinking

APPLETON - Shame, shame, shame on all legislators who voted for dirty air, dirty water and bad health for people in Wisconsin.

Remember, we have seen this movie before. It's called the China Way, and it did not have a happy ending. China sacrificed its environment for short-term economic gain, and their people are now paying the highest price possible: more cancer, more dirty air and water pollution that can never be undone.

The Wisconsin Way must never become the China Way, for in Wisconsin we believe in clean air, clean water and healthy people - not corporate greed.

Please join me in supporting the Bad River Band of Lake Superior in their efforts to protect Wisconsin's precious environment. Together, We Will...

APPLETON - In 2006, I ran for public office for the first time in my life to end discrimination against my patients with pre-existing medical conditions - and I succeeded.

After a century of trying, we finally established that health care is a civil right. Beginning next January, no insurance company, anywhere in these United States, will be allowed to decline insurance coverage to any citizen. In other words, if you're a citizen, you're in. As a physician, I know this is a really big deal.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law nearly three years ago, yet most families and small business owners are still unaware of the new freedoms they've won. Families can now have peace of mind, for no longer will they go broke and lose their home just because a loved one becomes seriously ill. Small business owners are now receiving tax credits to help pay for their employees' insurance coverage. Simply put, the Affordable Care Act is good for your health and your business.

Our new law puts patients first, holds insurers accountable, strengthens Medicare and levels the playing field for small businesses. Putting patients first means physicians may do what is best for patients. No thoughtful person can oppose the freedoms we've won. But your new freedoms are yours for only as long as you can hold onto them.

We have begun to improve upon what we already have, but there is much work to do. This year, we must create a truly competitive health insurance marketplace in Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker had the authority to do this, but he refused to do so even though the Wisconsin Regulatory Review Report of 2013 that he commissioned found the cost for health care is the top concern of small business owners. Our governor turned his back on my patients and small business owners, so it is up to us to write the rules for Wisconsin's new Health Care Marketplace.

To guarantee we receive the care we need at prices we can afford, critical questions must be answered. What do you want Wisconsin's health insurance marketplace to look like? What piece of the pie should insurance executives be allowed to take? Would you like to see the price of a pill before you swallow it?

Consider these questions:

Whose side do you want your doctor to be on, yours or the insurance company?

Should every insurance company have to sell the same health benefit plan so we can compare their quality, price and service apples to apples?

Should every business selling health care products and services have to openly disclose all their prices, so we can shop for the highest-quality care at the best possible price?

Should all patients be treated equally and at the same price for the same service?

Do you want to be rewarded for living a healthy lifestyle by paying less for your health insurance?

Do you want to be free to choose your personal physician, hospital and insurance plan?

Do you want to be free to go to any physician or health facility that accepts the same terms of your insurance plan?

Should insurance companies be allowed to write their own rules?

Answering these and other questions will help responsible officials to establish a patient-centered and highly competitive medical marketplace, one in which we will all have the freedom to choose our own caregivers based upon their quality, price and service.

Now is the time to think things all the way through. Take time today and visit these informational websites: www.Healthcare.gov and www.sba.gov/content/health-care.

As a practicing physician and co-author of our nation's new law, I am convinced today more than ever that we can fix what is broken in our health care delivery system state-by-state by putting patients first and creating a truly competitive medical marketplace.

GREEN BAY - I got my property tax bill yesterday. I saved $30 over last year. Gov. Walker you have trampled the rights of every state employee, you have demonized and demoralize teachers, you have increased class sizes, you have destroyed collective bargaining, you continue battling Affordable Health Care, you have destroyed the right to protest your shenanigans by appointing a Gestapo police chief who will do your bidding. Now that you have the Senate back you will continue to lead Wisconsin back a hundred years, pollute the environment, destroy the public school system with vouchers, and continue your assault on voting rights. But I saved $30 on my property tax.

Well call me Warren Buffet but I would love to pay that $30 plus a lot more to allow families and neighbors to talk to each other again, and keep Wisconsin on a progressive track for the future for our workers and our children. 

Rich Langan

There are lots of rumors about Obamacare. Many are aimed at scaring seniors, and it’s election time so we’re hearing even more. So what’s true?

Will “unelected bureaucrats” at the Independent Patient Advisory Board (IPAB) “ration” my care? No – Politifact, a Pulitzer Prize winning fact-checker, says “The IPAB is forbidden from submitting ‘any recommendation to ration health care,’ as Section 3403 of the health care law states. It may not raise premiums for Medicare beneficiaries or increase deductibles, coinsurance or co-payments.” Instead, it makes recommendations to bring costs under control when spending increases too much. Our elected Congress can overrule them anytime.

Is Obamacare doubling premiums, cutting Medicare, and reducing benefits? Again the answer is no, but you can check your own premium and benefits. Medicare’s actuary predicts premiums will rise only slightly in coming years, to $112.10 in 2014. And under Obamacare, Medicare’s budget still increases, but not as much as previously forecast. It does so by making Medicare more efficient and has actually extended Medicare’s life.

At the same time, Obamacare has added benefits to Medicare. Many preventive services are now available without co-pay or deductible so we can catch things early or prevent them altogether, saving money and lives. Seniors hitting the “donut hole” now get a 50% discount on brand name prescription drugs.

We know it’s an election year, but seniors have paid into Medicare and they’ve earned the truth. If you come across more rumors, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 414-771-9511.

This legislative session has been defined by lost opportunities, bad choices and an agenda that has hurt working families across Wisconsin. The most important issue by far is jobs for struggling families. Unfortunately, this has been Gov. Walker’s biggest shortcoming.

The United States has added jobs every month for 17 months now. All but six states added jobs last year. All Wisconsin’s neighboring states gained jobs during that time. This is all good news for our country and region.

However, we cannot share in that celebration here. Wisconsin lost 12,500 jobs. And not only was our state one of six that lost jobs – Wisconsin lost three times more jobs than Missouri, which had the second-highest job loss.

This is terrible news for our state and our struggling families. And an appropriate reaction would be to spend this last week while the legislature is still in session focusing like a laser on job creation.

Instead, the Republicans have chosen to focus on bills that are socially extreme, hurt public education and harm women’s health care. Democratic attempts to bring jobs bills promoting manufacturing, angel investment and technical college job training were shot down.

Gov. Walker pledged last fall to work in a bipartisan fashion on job creation. He said his top two priorities were venture capital and mining, and he failed on both accounts. Now he is blaming others for his failure to roll up his sleeves, work together and get the job done.

The legislative session is nearly over, and Republicans have shown no desire to devote any serious focus to job creation. In the strongest possible terms, I renew my call for a bipartisan process to select bills that will help put people back to work quickly.

It is never too late to work together with a laser focus on job creation, as we have wanted to do for the past year. We owe it to Wisconsin’s struggling families and small businesses to help them recover and give them long-term economic security.

By: Rep. Peter Barca

Everywhere I go, people ask me, “Can Tammy Baldwin win Herb Kohl’s Senate seat?”  The answer – with your help – Yes She Will !

I strongly support Tammy – she’s a hard worker, tough and cannot be bought. I had the honor of working with her and know she is always on our side.

Tammy has a steel spine, and even when the odds are against her, she never backs down. 
She always stands up for working class families.  No doubt about it, Tammy Baldwin is just like you and me.

She believes our children should be sent to school, not to unnecessary wars overseas.

Tammy believes health insurance companies should never again be allowed to discriminate against anyone because of pre-existing medical conditions.  She gets it – too many of our jobs have been shipped overseas.

Tammy is just like us… and she will always protect your job and your family.

But she cannot help us unless we help her – right now.

Tammy needs your help to keep on fighting for everyone in Wisconsin.  Please volunteer your time and contribute to her election now.

Join me in supporting Tammy.  Let’s work together and win this critical U.S. Senate race.  Click here to contribute securely online.

Please contribute  $250, $100, $50, $5 or whatever you can to elect Tammy. She is exactly the change we need.

Wisconsin can’t wait, and we can’t afford to sit this race out!  That’s why I humbly and respectfully ask you to join Tammy Baldwin today.

Thank you for your serious consideration.  Have a safe and healthy Holiday Season.

On Wisconsin!

Steve Kagen, M.D.
Member of Congress (Retired)

PS:  Send this message to all your family and friends.  Do it now.  We Can’t Wait.


Written by Steve Kagen, M.D. and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

'twas the night before Christmas, and all through the state, petitioners were stirring, because the recall can't wait...

The republicans were smugly snuggled, with Koch cash in their bed, while the rest of the state is all seeing red...

The volunteers in their recall t- shirts and the staff in winter hats weren't settling down for a let- up just yet...

For out in our communities there arose such a clatter because when Walker got in we knew something was the matter...

When, what to our wondering eyes should appear, but thousands of protesters with a resolve without fear.

No Walker! no Walker! No walker! They called...

And that wish will come true if we all keep resolve...

For there is no greater gift that we can give our great state,

Than a Democratic governor

Before it's too late!

Looking forward to working with you all in 2012!

The RECALL is going well...but we are not there yet.  And you know as well as I do that the fight to end here is going to be harder with Christmas and worse weather coming.

I was wondering if all of us could take one cut turf in a highly democratic area in Green Bay and be responsible for it by next Thursday?  We are getting flyers together to drop at doors with office info if no one is there, so this would not be a waste of time if people aren't home.  Labor Temple, Teamsters, GBEA will all be on as potential places for folks to stop by and sign, too.

I know my family will being doing the turf with me...although they don't know that yet.

Please let me know if you can't do this or find someone else to do it.  Otherwise, we can get the turfs cut!

ALSO, there is a wierd thing happening with people unwilling to sign 'Clay-fish' recall.  NO!  I don't accept that from people...I till him she would be a clone of Walker and we have to make sure that she goes, too.

GREEN BAY - Unemployment up in Wisconsin, teachers and public workers villified, state torn apart, concealed carry with NO TRAINING, liquor available for purchase at 6 am, equal pay law overturned, teachers allowed to be fired for test scores. Education at all levels CUT! Stupid when we need re-training programs...  HE ran on creating 250,000 jobs out of that brown paper bag.  He needs to leave office with that brown paper bag over his head.  As soon as possible... He is such a tool! 

Four of us are going to work the mall area in Green Bay for signatures today.  I have collected sixty or so in the last two weeks...it has not been hard.  People want to sign.  My goal is 100 by the middle of next week.  I know two people who are trying to get 1000 just by themselves...

Many on this list are doing the same thing!  Re-energize yourselves folks!  Download a petition at wisdems.org today! Five signatures to turn in once you get it filled.

In green bay at the dem office-- 1061 W. Mason.  La Crosse friends-- I am sure that it is easy to find where to go...

Come help with paperwork...bring some treats for the staff and volunteers...donate to keep offices open!

WE HAVE TO DO THIS TOGETHER!  GRASSROOTS IS CRITICAL GOING INTO 2012.

We must get sanity back in Madison.  This is a middle of the road state--NOT what we are having thrust on us right now!

Why does Reid Ribble refuse to meet with the folks who sent him to Washington? Instead, Representative Ribble offers an easier alternative, easier for himself. It’s called, Telephone Town Hall Meetings.

GREEN BAY - US Representative Paul Ryan does it. US Representative Tom Petri does it. US Representative Sean Duffy does it. Why won’t US Representative Reid Ribble do it?

The above mentioned, arrange Town Hall Meetings for their constituents to attend. It’s an opportunity to see your Rep; an opportunity to listen, learn, and participate.

Why does Reid Ribble refuse to meet with the folks who sent him to Washington? Instead, Representative Ribble offers an easier alternative, easier for himself. It’s called, Telephone Town Hall Meetings.

Reid Ribble’s Tele Meetings leave much to be desired. You must be available at the opportune time. Your identity has been pre-determined. If you request to ask a question, it will be screened by Reid Ribble’s staff. If you are not calling in support of Rep. Ribble, you will be placed in the unrelenting queue where your voice is certain to remain silenced.

Rep. Ribble spins this scripted engagement as an effective way to reach his constituents. A Telephone Meeting ensures Reid Ribble the certainty that he will not be caught off guard.

We need a Representative in Washington who will listen to all of our concerns. One who will answer all questions, even those questions he would rather avoid.

That Representative is not Reid Ribble.