Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's outright refusal to deny Tom Barrett's accusation that Walker would sign Right-to-Work legislation in the debates has made many people believe that Walker plans to make Wisconsin a Right-to-Work state, even though he says he has no "interest." Last year, Walker was asked point blank how he would make Wisconsin a Right-to-Work state by Diane Hendricks, Walker's biggest donor and who also pays $0 state taxes. Walker replied that he would "divide and conquer" starting with the public workers. Then, less than a month later, he "dropped the bomb," stripping public workers of their right to collectively bargain. There's only one thing left to do in Walker's plan to strip the rights of everyone through Right-to-Work.
Now, the Journal Sentinel has already begun priming the public by doing a PolitiFact on what should be an irrelevant statement about Right-to-Work, and they put it on their front page. Jeff Fitzgerald, a rights stripper, said that Minnesota was a Right-to-Work state, but PolitiFact corrected him. Honestly, if Right-to-Work isn't coming to Wisconsin, why should we be concerned with such a tangential lie, especially one so little publicized and so easily looked up? The Republicans lie all of the time, and that's the lie PolitiFact decided to cover?
There are far more critical and convoluted lies that PolitiFact should be addressing. Instead, by addressing the Right-to-Work lie about Minnesota, the Journal Sentinel was able to begin framing the debate on Right-to-Work. The real lie in the interview that PolitiFact should be correcting is that stripping public workers of collective bargaining rights was "a middle ground," which they repeat with no statements addressing the truthfulness. Through the PolitiFact, the Journal Sentinel is promoting the idea that stripping the rights of public workers was "middle ground," and therefore prepping the public for Right-to-Work, which is just to the right of that "middle ground," not far-right hillbilly feed where it really is.
Republicans, Right-to-Work is regulation! Not only that it regulates individual rights.
Showing posts with label rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rights. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Wisconsin: Scott Walker's "Laboratory for Conservative Ideas"
What's next for Wisconsin now that Scott Walker survived his recall election?
Out-of-state corporate and rich donors own Scott Walker now that they gave him ~66% of his $30.5 million to hoodwink the state, not to mention the more than $16 million spent by outside pro-Walker groups. And these numbers are likely to increase as the final tallies are made. Even though Walker lost his party's control of the State Senate and didn't gain many votes for his rights stripping and unlimited campaign financing, receiving nearly the same percentage of votes as he did in 2010, we know Walker will act like he got a mandate.
We should be proud of what we were able to accomplish against such odds. Walker didn't receive the mandate that he wanted with all of his money, and by losing a majority in the State Senate with recalls this past year, we were able to slow Walker's reddening of Wisconsin. However, Walker won't stop now.
Dan Bice from the Journal Sentinel told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC after the election that Walker will make "Wisconsin, as he has already, a laboratory for conservative ideas." This is what Walker wants to do, and what his corporate and super rich donors like Diane Hendricks (who pays $0 state taxes) want him to do. And now, Walker is owned by these few and has little to fear from Wisconsin.
Now that Walker has significantly reduced the unions, there'll be far less funding for any progressive candidates. This was the far-right's goal, as explained by Scott Fitzgerald last year. Unions are the only special interests that share the same interests as large swaths of people, because they're democratic organizations. Unions are just groups of people working together for their collective interest. Businesses are controlled by an individual or very small group of people but with the finances of far more. The interests of business often don't align with the overall interest of a community, but unions, being part of the community, often have interests aligned with the community.
The unions have far less funding just a year after Walker stripped their rights, and they'll have even less now that their rights won't be restored any time soon. They couldn't come close to competing with Walker's corporate money in the recall election, even though their existence depended upon it. This means unions, the only significant source of money for Democrats, won't be able to provide funding for Democrats to compete with Republicans in Wisconsin. Republicans will forever have the money advantage as long as the Democrats support union rights and the Republicans don't.
The only other large source of funding for politicians besides unions are businesses and the rich. Democrats will have to choose one of two things: small people-funded campaigns or get funding from businesses and the rich as well. We saw from the recall election that small people-funded campaigns aren't easy. So, many Democrats will begin seeking more support from corporations or perpetually lose. We've basically ensured the corporate control of our government.
So, what might our new out-of-state-controlled laboratory of far-right ideas cook up?
Walker refused to say if he would sign Right-to-Work legislation in the final debate when Tom Barrett guaranteed that he would. Diane Hendricks, Walker's biggest donor, asked for it last year on video, and Walker replied with his plan to divide-and-conquer beginning with the rights of public workers. Therefore, we can only conclude that this Tea Party wish is high on his list, even though he didn't campaign on it. Wisconsin can say good-bye to good paying jobs, and say hello to your new corporate dictators.
Right-to-Work would nearly ensure Walker's reelection in 2014 by gutting all significant funding for a Democratic challenger. It would almost certainly give Walker control of the entire legislature as well.
Wisconsin is still suffering from a budget deficit. Just like Right-to-Work, Walker has refused to deny that he would sign legislation like Michigan's financial martial law. It wouldn't be beyond Walker to spin another crisis requiring "bold" action like that law.
Walker hired a deer czar who's primary accomplishments involve privatizing deer hunting. A new private deer hunting industry would be a great way for Walker to push his far-right ideals and repay his rich donors. Get ready to pay hundreds if not thousands to hunt. It's what you voted for, even if Walker didn't say he would do it. That's the way Walker operates. While not nearly as likely as Right-to-Work, it's far from an impossibility.
Walker will surely continue to reduce funding to public education in pursuit of privatization. Expect up to a 30% slash in teacher base pay, something Walker can do without any new legislation. Walker has shown he takes the easy way out, and he won't seek legislation through the now Democratically-controlled State Senate to fix the budget this year.
With the continued bleeding of jobs, Walker may try to "stimulate" the economy again by giving more tax breaks to corporations and increasing our taxes by reducing tax cuts/credits or increasing government fees.
The only thing standing in Walker's way is the Democratic majority in the State Senate, and that may not be easy to hold without any significant source of money. The middle class doesn't stand a chance against the rich in a war with money.
Unfortunately, it seems our only way to stop the corporate takeover of our government is to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that negates the Citizens United ruling. People clearly don't realize when they are voting for politicians primarily supported by out-of-state interests, probably because those interests are able to frame the debate. We *could* get behind a few nationwide PACs setup to compete with corporate donations, especially if people donate what they were paying in union dues to the PACs. It's simply very difficult for candidates primarily supported by middle class grassroots to compete with candidates primarily supported by big business and the rich.
Out-of-state corporate and rich donors own Scott Walker now that they gave him ~66% of his $30.5 million to hoodwink the state, not to mention the more than $16 million spent by outside pro-Walker groups. And these numbers are likely to increase as the final tallies are made. Even though Walker lost his party's control of the State Senate and didn't gain many votes for his rights stripping and unlimited campaign financing, receiving nearly the same percentage of votes as he did in 2010, we know Walker will act like he got a mandate.
We should be proud of what we were able to accomplish against such odds. Walker didn't receive the mandate that he wanted with all of his money, and by losing a majority in the State Senate with recalls this past year, we were able to slow Walker's reddening of Wisconsin. However, Walker won't stop now.
Dan Bice from the Journal Sentinel told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC after the election that Walker will make "Wisconsin, as he has already, a laboratory for conservative ideas." This is what Walker wants to do, and what his corporate and super rich donors like Diane Hendricks (who pays $0 state taxes) want him to do. And now, Walker is owned by these few and has little to fear from Wisconsin.
Now that Walker has significantly reduced the unions, there'll be far less funding for any progressive candidates. This was the far-right's goal, as explained by Scott Fitzgerald last year. Unions are the only special interests that share the same interests as large swaths of people, because they're democratic organizations. Unions are just groups of people working together for their collective interest. Businesses are controlled by an individual or very small group of people but with the finances of far more. The interests of business often don't align with the overall interest of a community, but unions, being part of the community, often have interests aligned with the community.
The unions have far less funding just a year after Walker stripped their rights, and they'll have even less now that their rights won't be restored any time soon. They couldn't come close to competing with Walker's corporate money in the recall election, even though their existence depended upon it. This means unions, the only significant source of money for Democrats, won't be able to provide funding for Democrats to compete with Republicans in Wisconsin. Republicans will forever have the money advantage as long as the Democrats support union rights and the Republicans don't.
The only other large source of funding for politicians besides unions are businesses and the rich. Democrats will have to choose one of two things: small people-funded campaigns or get funding from businesses and the rich as well. We saw from the recall election that small people-funded campaigns aren't easy. So, many Democrats will begin seeking more support from corporations or perpetually lose. We've basically ensured the corporate control of our government.
So, what might our new out-of-state-controlled laboratory of far-right ideas cook up?
Walker refused to say if he would sign Right-to-Work legislation in the final debate when Tom Barrett guaranteed that he would. Diane Hendricks, Walker's biggest donor, asked for it last year on video, and Walker replied with his plan to divide-and-conquer beginning with the rights of public workers. Therefore, we can only conclude that this Tea Party wish is high on his list, even though he didn't campaign on it. Wisconsin can say good-bye to good paying jobs, and say hello to your new corporate dictators.
Right-to-Work would nearly ensure Walker's reelection in 2014 by gutting all significant funding for a Democratic challenger. It would almost certainly give Walker control of the entire legislature as well.
Wisconsin is still suffering from a budget deficit. Just like Right-to-Work, Walker has refused to deny that he would sign legislation like Michigan's financial martial law. It wouldn't be beyond Walker to spin another crisis requiring "bold" action like that law.
Walker hired a deer czar who's primary accomplishments involve privatizing deer hunting. A new private deer hunting industry would be a great way for Walker to push his far-right ideals and repay his rich donors. Get ready to pay hundreds if not thousands to hunt. It's what you voted for, even if Walker didn't say he would do it. That's the way Walker operates. While not nearly as likely as Right-to-Work, it's far from an impossibility.
Walker will surely continue to reduce funding to public education in pursuit of privatization. Expect up to a 30% slash in teacher base pay, something Walker can do without any new legislation. Walker has shown he takes the easy way out, and he won't seek legislation through the now Democratically-controlled State Senate to fix the budget this year.
With the continued bleeding of jobs, Walker may try to "stimulate" the economy again by giving more tax breaks to corporations and increasing our taxes by reducing tax cuts/credits or increasing government fees.
The only thing standing in Walker's way is the Democratic majority in the State Senate, and that may not be easy to hold without any significant source of money. The middle class doesn't stand a chance against the rich in a war with money.
Unfortunately, it seems our only way to stop the corporate takeover of our government is to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that negates the Citizens United ruling. People clearly don't realize when they are voting for politicians primarily supported by out-of-state interests, probably because those interests are able to frame the debate. We *could* get behind a few nationwide PACs setup to compete with corporate donations, especially if people donate what they were paying in union dues to the PACs. It's simply very difficult for candidates primarily supported by middle class grassroots to compete with candidates primarily supported by big business and the rich.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Stand with Wisconsin Women, Middle-Class, Elderly, Teachers, LGBT, Children, Poor, Minorities, and More
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has been recalled, and now it's time to replace him. In the year since taking office, Walker has fought hard against just about everyone in Wisconsin besides rich white males. The alleged criminal Walker repealed Equal Pay for Equal Work for women and minorities, discriminated against minorities in unconstitutional redistricting, reduced education funding more than any time in Wisconsin history, reduced teacher and public worker pay and benefits, killed any hope of jobs, banned hospital visitation for same-sex couples, raised BadgerCare premiums and reduced other healthcare help, repealed rights of middle-class workers, and a whole lot more. So, for us in the middle-class and the poor, we're getting far less for our tax dollars, while corporations and the rich are paying far less in state taxes.
Everyone agrees that to fix education, we need to pay teachers well. We all know the main reason that many good, intelligent people choose not to become teachers is because they can get significantly more money in other jobs. Why then do people think it's OK to reduce the already low pay for teachers? If you think this won't hurt our children, you need some education yourself.
And Walker's done it all under the banner of job creation, even though Wisconsin has lost more jobs than any other state since Walker took office and continues to bleed jobs with 6,200 more in April. Walker and the Republicans have refused to make any real effort towards job creation.
Instead of real job creation, Walker gave huge tax breaks to his campaign donors, the rich who are funding his 25 million dollar campaign, the billboards you see all over Wisconsin and TV ads. Walker did this even though there's every reason to believe tax breaks for the rich are bad for the economy. Even a Republican policy wonk recently wrote in the New York Times that taxes don't affect the employment rate one way or the other, particularly now with our taxes already as low as they are. The rich can't create jobs if the middle-class doesn't have the money to spend on the products and services the rich provide. We're the real job creators.
The rich clearly don't need more money, with the millions they can donate to Walker and use for billboards and TV ads all over Wisconsin. If they paid even half that much in taxes, we'd probably solve most of our budget problems. But instead they're using it to help Walker, because they know they'll save much more in taxes. And we suffer.
It's time Wisconsin starts sifting and winnowing again to find the best solutions to our problems, not partisan and ideological goals pushed by millionaires. We need a governor who will stand up to the demands of the rich few like Diane Hendricks (who inherited her great wealth from her husband).
If you stand with Walker, you stand with rich white supremacy and nothing more. Not jobs, morals or anything else. Show me otherwise, I'd be pleasantly surprised.
Vote for your economic interests and your neighbors'. Vote Tom Barrett. Early voting has already begun.
Everyone agrees that to fix education, we need to pay teachers well. We all know the main reason that many good, intelligent people choose not to become teachers is because they can get significantly more money in other jobs. Why then do people think it's OK to reduce the already low pay for teachers? If you think this won't hurt our children, you need some education yourself.
And Walker's done it all under the banner of job creation, even though Wisconsin has lost more jobs than any other state since Walker took office and continues to bleed jobs with 6,200 more in April. Walker and the Republicans have refused to make any real effort towards job creation.
Instead of real job creation, Walker gave huge tax breaks to his campaign donors, the rich who are funding his 25 million dollar campaign, the billboards you see all over Wisconsin and TV ads. Walker did this even though there's every reason to believe tax breaks for the rich are bad for the economy. Even a Republican policy wonk recently wrote in the New York Times that taxes don't affect the employment rate one way or the other, particularly now with our taxes already as low as they are. The rich can't create jobs if the middle-class doesn't have the money to spend on the products and services the rich provide. We're the real job creators.
The rich clearly don't need more money, with the millions they can donate to Walker and use for billboards and TV ads all over Wisconsin. If they paid even half that much in taxes, we'd probably solve most of our budget problems. But instead they're using it to help Walker, because they know they'll save much more in taxes. And we suffer.
It's time Wisconsin starts sifting and winnowing again to find the best solutions to our problems, not partisan and ideological goals pushed by millionaires. We need a governor who will stand up to the demands of the rich few like Diane Hendricks (who inherited her great wealth from her husband).
If you stand with Walker, you stand with rich white supremacy and nothing more. Not jobs, morals or anything else. Show me otherwise, I'd be pleasantly surprised.
Vote for your economic interests and your neighbors'. Vote Tom Barrett. Early voting has already begun.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Anti-Union Website Sponsored by Wisconsin State Journal - More Far-Right Media
Lee Enterprises, the publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal, has set up an anti-union website with many myths, have truths, and tons of spin to make you think you're better off negotiating with employers by yourself than collectively.
The site is called Lee Union Free, and is a despicable website coming from what is supposed to be an unbiased news source. Lee Enterprises recently chided their employees for signing recall petitions, as if signing a recall petition says you don't support Walker. They did this in an effort to look unbiased, but in fact their behavior just supports their bias towards Walker by chiding people who signed the petition but may plan to vote for Walker in the recall election, just like the far-right Walker supporting Gannett.
The biggest spin of them all on the site: "You don't need a union. Let your performance speak for itself." If that was true, we would have never needed unions, but that's definitely NOT true. Lee Enterprises would rather keep unions out so they can pay you what they want based on the performance they want to measure.
Their "Facts about Unions" page plays a video from the Daily Show. Really? I know they *can* be factual, but that's LE's only source of facts against unions? They're a newspaper for crying out loud! They couldn't dig up their own facts or reliable sources?
Besides the Daily Show video, they provide a link to unionfacts.com which is some non-profit in Washington D.C. The site profiles the extreme cases of union corruption, which I have deep concerns about, but it barely mentions the benefits of collective bargaining. Yes, any organization can become corrupt, and we must prevent that as best as possible, but that doesn't mean unions are bad. If anything, it means that anti-corruption policies that govern both unions and corporations are not working.
The site even violates their supposed policy: "Participation in public affairs or events that may leave the impression that news judgment is being influenced by activism is prohibited." Creating an anti-union website is clearly public and political activism biased against unions, but singing a recall petition is not biased. Signing a recall petition doesn't mean you can't support Walker and vote for him in the recall election. It means that you support Wisconsin's ability to choose in the future whether to replace an official before their term is up. So, signing a recall petition should not leave any biased impression. If Lee Enterprises wanted to assure their readers that their employees weren't biased for signing the recall petitions, Lee Enterprises could have simply reported on the facts of a recall, but that doesn't make for "attractive" headlines.
Now, it's very clear that Lee Enterprises is far-right Walker supporting media. They don't like unions or recall petition signers. They punish employees for taking part in an unbiased form of democracy, but then create an activist website that supports Walker's anti-union agenda.
If the Wisconsin State Journal, the La Crosse Tribune, and others want to appear unbiased, they need to shut this blatantly biased and spun website down! You can't have your cake and it eat, too. Either you're unbiased and show support for no particular cause, or you are biased.
NOTE: I'm not qualifying my statement about our far-right media in Wisconsin anymore, they're clearly far-right Walker-supporting media.
The site is called Lee Union Free, and is a despicable website coming from what is supposed to be an unbiased news source. Lee Enterprises recently chided their employees for signing recall petitions, as if signing a recall petition says you don't support Walker. They did this in an effort to look unbiased, but in fact their behavior just supports their bias towards Walker by chiding people who signed the petition but may plan to vote for Walker in the recall election, just like the far-right Walker supporting Gannett.
The biggest spin of them all on the site: "You don't need a union. Let your performance speak for itself." If that was true, we would have never needed unions, but that's definitely NOT true. Lee Enterprises would rather keep unions out so they can pay you what they want based on the performance they want to measure.
Their "Facts about Unions" page plays a video from the Daily Show. Really? I know they *can* be factual, but that's LE's only source of facts against unions? They're a newspaper for crying out loud! They couldn't dig up their own facts or reliable sources?
Besides the Daily Show video, they provide a link to unionfacts.com which is some non-profit in Washington D.C. The site profiles the extreme cases of union corruption, which I have deep concerns about, but it barely mentions the benefits of collective bargaining. Yes, any organization can become corrupt, and we must prevent that as best as possible, but that doesn't mean unions are bad. If anything, it means that anti-corruption policies that govern both unions and corporations are not working.
The site even violates their supposed policy: "Participation in public affairs or events that may leave the impression that news judgment is being influenced by activism is prohibited." Creating an anti-union website is clearly public and political activism biased against unions, but singing a recall petition is not biased. Signing a recall petition doesn't mean you can't support Walker and vote for him in the recall election. It means that you support Wisconsin's ability to choose in the future whether to replace an official before their term is up. So, signing a recall petition should not leave any biased impression. If Lee Enterprises wanted to assure their readers that their employees weren't biased for signing the recall petitions, Lee Enterprises could have simply reported on the facts of a recall, but that doesn't make for "attractive" headlines.
Now, it's very clear that Lee Enterprises is far-right Walker supporting media. They don't like unions or recall petition signers. They punish employees for taking part in an unbiased form of democracy, but then create an activist website that supports Walker's anti-union agenda.
If the Wisconsin State Journal, the La Crosse Tribune, and others want to appear unbiased, they need to shut this blatantly biased and spun website down! You can't have your cake and it eat, too. Either you're unbiased and show support for no particular cause, or you are biased.
NOTE: I'm not qualifying my statement about our far-right media in Wisconsin anymore, they're clearly far-right Walker-supporting media.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Federal Judge Finds Unconstitutional Portions of Collective Bargaining Rights-Stripping Law
It must be Friday in Wisconsin, because more news about Walker's illegal activities has occurred. According to the WisPolitics budget blog, "A federal judge today invalidated two provisions in Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining changes: the requirement of an absolute majority of union members for recertification and denying the voluntary withholding of union dues from workers' paychecks." The provisions were included in Wisconsin's collective bargaining rights-stripping law (Act 10) passed by Walker and the far-right Republicans last spring against the protests of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites.
The judge "found the state provided no rational basis for requiring a majority of union members -- not just those voting -- to approve recertification." The plaintiffs' arguments are based on the First Amendment and Equal Protection.
This is just another unconstitutional law passed by the far-right Republicans in Wisconsin and stopped by Federal courts; the first two being the Voter Suppression Law and the illegal gerrymandering.
The judge "found the state provided no rational basis for requiring a majority of union members -- not just those voting -- to approve recertification." The plaintiffs' arguments are based on the First Amendment and Equal Protection.
This is just another unconstitutional law passed by the far-right Republicans in Wisconsin and stopped by Federal courts; the first two being the Voter Suppression Law and the illegal gerrymandering.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Gannett Is Far-Right Walker-Supporting Media
Most of Gannett's reporters didn't sign a recall petition. Therefore, Gannett is clearly far-right Scott Walker-supporting media, because not signing a recall petition is clear support for Walker, while signing a recall petition isn't express support for or against Walker. Gannett has gone so far as to discipline those reporters who didn't follow their political bias and signed the petition. So, Gannett can't possibly report unbiasedly with so many people supporting Walker.
One could easily have signed a recall petition and then vote for Walker in the recall election. You can support Walker and be a petition signer. You may just want to give others a chance to elect someone else. My step-father is one of these people. Gannett is making sweeping claims that these people don't support Walker and then disciplining their employees based on their claims.
Signing a recall petition doesn't remove an elected official from office, the desire of the petition filers. It only gives Wisconsin a chance to remove the official through a recall election. However, not signing a recall petition keeps an official in office, the desire of the elected official. Therefore, there is no other way to interpret not signing a recall petition other than clear support for the current elected official.
Gannett publishes many Wisconsin newspapers including The Green Bay Press Gazette, The Post Crescent, The Fond du Lac Reporter, The Oshkosh Northwestern and Manitowac's Herald Times Reporter. All of these newspapers are in the bag for Walker since most of the reporters are. That's a significant portion of Wisconsin's newspapers that are far-right Walker supporters.
If Gannett is worried about the perception of their bias. They should make sure that half of their reporters sign a recall petition and half don't. Or they can report on what signing a recall petition really is.
Defend the Recall!
(In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't really believe that Gannett is far-right Walker-supporting media or that they should have half of their reporters sign recall petitions. However, they can't claim that signing a recall petition is "political activity" and has any bearing on reporting.
The main point is: one cannot infer someone's political bias based on their signing or not signing a recall petition.
Gannett, and all other companies, must not prohibit their employees from signing recall petitions, and they must not discipline employees for signing recall petitions. Now that they know, Gannett must come clean and admit what signing a recall petition really is in all of their Wisconsin publications or face the moniker of far-right Walker-supporting media.)
One could easily have signed a recall petition and then vote for Walker in the recall election. You can support Walker and be a petition signer. You may just want to give others a chance to elect someone else. My step-father is one of these people. Gannett is making sweeping claims that these people don't support Walker and then disciplining their employees based on their claims.
Signing a recall petition doesn't remove an elected official from office, the desire of the petition filers. It only gives Wisconsin a chance to remove the official through a recall election. However, not signing a recall petition keeps an official in office, the desire of the elected official. Therefore, there is no other way to interpret not signing a recall petition other than clear support for the current elected official.
Gannett publishes many Wisconsin newspapers including The Green Bay Press Gazette, The Post Crescent, The Fond du Lac Reporter, The Oshkosh Northwestern and Manitowac's Herald Times Reporter. All of these newspapers are in the bag for Walker since most of the reporters are. That's a significant portion of Wisconsin's newspapers that are far-right Walker supporters.
If Gannett is worried about the perception of their bias. They should make sure that half of their reporters sign a recall petition and half don't. Or they can report on what signing a recall petition really is.
Defend the Recall!
(In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't really believe that Gannett is far-right Walker-supporting media or that they should have half of their reporters sign recall petitions. However, they can't claim that signing a recall petition is "political activity" and has any bearing on reporting.
The main point is: one cannot infer someone's political bias based on their signing or not signing a recall petition.
Gannett, and all other companies, must not prohibit their employees from signing recall petitions, and they must not discipline employees for signing recall petitions. Now that they know, Gannett must come clean and admit what signing a recall petition really is in all of their Wisconsin publications or face the moniker of far-right Walker-supporting media.)
Recall is a Constitutional Right - Defend It!
See that's the problem. Gannett can cloak their political motives in "ethics," but it's the same as disciplining someone for voting or not voting for someone. Gannett could use the same reasoning to discipline everyone who didn't sign a recall petition, because signing or not signing a petition are answers to the same electoral question that is answered based on proportions of the electoral population.
As with elections, you're offered a choice. When you are informed that recall petitions are being circulated, you have the choice to either sign a petition or not sign a petition. You express your support for giving Wisconsin a chance to remove an elected officer by signing a petition, and you express your support for keeping an elected official in office by not signing a petition. And yes, people abstain from both for various reasons, that's the third answer to such an electoral question. Well over a million people in Wisconsin made this conscious decision this past winter. It's the same decision you make during an election with an incumbent. Prohibiting someone who wants to sign a recall petition is forcing them to take a stance they don't support.
As with elections, a recall requires the support of a certain proportion of the people. There are a finite number of eligible voters in Wisconsin. The proportions set forth in the Wisconsin Constitution recognize this and do not take into account citizens who are "prohibited" from signing a recall petition. Therefore, by prohibiting people from signing recall petitions, recalls become more difficult than intended, requiring a higher proportion of the electorate than specified in the Wisconsin Constitution. The increased demonization only seeks to increase the number of people who are "prohibited" from signing a recall petition in order to make it more difficult for citizens to recall their elected officials without going through the work of changing our constitution.
Recall petitions have less power than elections. Signing a petition does not mean that you want to remove an elected official, it just means that you want Wisconsin to be given that choice. Recalling an elected official doesn't remove them from office, it only allows for Wisconsin to hold an election to choose whether or not they want to remove the official. Signing a recall petition is not express support for or against any elected official or candidate. You may sign a recall petition but then later vote for the current elected official during the recall election.
However, not signing a recall petition is expressing support for an elected official, because you become part of the proportion that keeps the official in office. No matter how many people sign a recall petition and want an official removed, the official stays in office. The people in support of the elected official get what they want simply by getting enough people to not sign a petition. So, not signing a recall petition has more power than signing one. One answer is in clear support of an elected official, while the other answer is only support of a recall election.
Demonizing people for signing recall petitions, or prohibiting people from signing them, will make people think about whether or not they want to go through that next time a recall petition is circulated. No matter which party the elected official may belong to. The decision about whether or not to sign a recall petition will no longer be just about the elected official. It'll be about a job, a career, and even one's safety and the safety of their family. A right defined in the Wisconsin Constitution to receive proper representation shouldn't come with such heavy personal considerations. The demonization will force people to take stances that they don't support.
For these reasons, no one, not judges, not political appointees, not journalists, not anyone should be prohibited from or demonized or disciplined for signing a recall petition. In addition, judges shouldn't need to admit to signing a recall petition before or during any case, because recall decisions should be irrelevant to a judge's ability to be fair, just as their votes are. And if anyone wanted to know, it's public information. So, really, what's the point other than to demonize them?
A recall is not political activism, it's democracy, and Gannett may be violating the Wisconsin Constitution by disciplining their employees for signing recall petitions.
The next time someone attacks a recall petition signer, the attack should be redirected with a strong defense of democracy and the rights defined in the Wisconsin Constitution.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Permanent Injunction of Unconstitutional Voter Suppression Upheld
Two weeks ago, the Voter Suppression Law requiring an ID to vote that was passed by the far-right Republicans in Wisconsin was found unconstitutional by two judges, one from conservative Waukesha and one from liberal Dane. Both judges found the law to be unconstitutional, because the law goes "steps beyond the proper authority of the Legislature" to restrict voting by specific groups. Judge Richard Niess, the second judge said in his order, "The government may not disqualify an elector who possesses those qualifications not contained in Article III, such as a photo ID." The unconstitutional law was then halted by a temporary and a permanent injunction from the respective judges.
However, Governor Scott Walker, by demanding the injunctions be stayed, continued to insist upon suppressing the votes of the poor, the elderly, and minorities. Walker and the Republican leadership lit a fire under the normally slow-moving Attorney General Van Hollen's butt to appeal the decisions. Remember, Van Hollen refused to help the FBI in their criminal investigation of Walker and his aides as well as the election debacle in Waukesha last spring. Fortunately for the people of Wisconsin, our judges will have none of that.
Last week, Judge David T. Flanagan denied Walker's request to stay his temporary injunction, and yesterday, Judge Niess denied Walker's request to stay his permanent injunction. Niess said, "It is no law at all."
So, no more IDs to vote, and it doesn't sound like any judge would have a leg to stand on in support of the constitutionality of the law. Judge Niess said that would be a clear case of judicial activism. So, we likely will never need IDs to vote, as should have always been the case. Otherwise, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where Walker is trying to send both cases, is more than FUBAR.
For those of you worried about increased voter fraud, the Voter Suppression Law wouldn't stop any of Wisconsin's previous cases of voter fraud. So, our elections are protected as well with and without the Voter Suppression Law. This is one of the reasons it's unjustified and unconstitutional, it doesn't make any practical effort towards stopping voter fraud, but it makes great strides to limit the voting of certain groups.
No more IDs and no more asking for IDs to vote. Make sure everyone knows so they can save money by not purchasing one. The halting of free photo IDs is one reason the permanent injunction won't be lifted unless the Republicans can somehow prove the law is constitutional.
However, Governor Scott Walker, by demanding the injunctions be stayed, continued to insist upon suppressing the votes of the poor, the elderly, and minorities. Walker and the Republican leadership lit a fire under the normally slow-moving Attorney General Van Hollen's butt to appeal the decisions. Remember, Van Hollen refused to help the FBI in their criminal investigation of Walker and his aides as well as the election debacle in Waukesha last spring. Fortunately for the people of Wisconsin, our judges will have none of that.
Last week, Judge David T. Flanagan denied Walker's request to stay his temporary injunction, and yesterday, Judge Niess denied Walker's request to stay his permanent injunction. Niess said, "It is no law at all."
So, no more IDs to vote, and it doesn't sound like any judge would have a leg to stand on in support of the constitutionality of the law. Judge Niess said that would be a clear case of judicial activism. So, we likely will never need IDs to vote, as should have always been the case. Otherwise, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where Walker is trying to send both cases, is more than FUBAR.
For those of you worried about increased voter fraud, the Voter Suppression Law wouldn't stop any of Wisconsin's previous cases of voter fraud. So, our elections are protected as well with and without the Voter Suppression Law. This is one of the reasons it's unjustified and unconstitutional, it doesn't make any practical effort towards stopping voter fraud, but it makes great strides to limit the voting of certain groups.
No more IDs and no more asking for IDs to vote. Make sure everyone knows so they can save money by not purchasing one. The halting of free photo IDs is one reason the permanent injunction won't be lifted unless the Republicans can somehow prove the law is constitutional.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Injunction of Unconstitutional Voter Suppression Upheld
Walker and the Republican leadership lit a fire under the normally slow-moving Attorney General Van Hollen's butt to appeal the decisions. Remember, Van Hollen refused to help the FBI in their criminal investigation of Walker and his aides as well as the election debacle in Waukesha last spring. However, today, the first judge, David T. Flanagan in Waukesha, struck down the motion, finding that "based on careful scrutiny" the law "is in violation of the Wisconsin Constitution," and there doesn't seem to be any argument otherwise.
So, no more IDs to vote, and it doesn't sound like any judge would have a leg to stand on in support of the constitutionality of the law. Judge Niess said that would be a clear case of judicial activism. So, we likely will never need IDs to vote, as should have always been the case. Otherwise, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where Van Hollen is trying to send both cases, is more than FUBAR.
For those of you worried about increased voter fraud, the Voter Suppression Law wouldn't stop any of Wisconsin's previous cases of voter fraud. So, our elections are protected as well with and without the Voter Suppression Law. This is one of the reasons it's unjustified and unconstitutional, it doesn't make any practical effort towards stopping voter fraud, but it makes great strides to limit the voting of certain groups.
No more IDs and no more asking for IDs to vote. Make sure everyone knows so they can save money by not purchasing one. The halting of free photo IDs is one reason the permanent injunction won't be lifted unless the Republicans can prove the law is constitutional.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Voter Suppression Permanently Injuncted
For those of you worried about increased voter fraud, the Voter Suppression Law wouldn't stop any of Wisconsin's previous cases of voter fraud. So, our elections are protected as well with and without the Voter Suppression Law.
No more IDs to vote, and probably never again! No more Republican voter suppression!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Late Night Destruction of Wisconsin - Wetland Destruction Bill Passed
Republicans in the State Senate rammed through another bill under cover of night, the Wetland Destruction Bill (SB 368), even though the Republicans campaigned against such tactics. Just like the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill (1 AM) and the voter suppression bill (11 PM), the vote took place late at night, just past midnight.
How do you know the bill is bad? Because the Republicans rammed it through as quickly as possible when the fewest people will notice. Many people, including environment and wildlife sporting groups, are very concerned the bill if enacted would result in substantial loss of Wisconsin wetlands and wildlife.
Earlier Tuesday, Scott Fitzgerald abruptly postponed debate on the bill after Democrat Senator Fred Risser moved to vote on a bill restoring collective bargaining rights for public workers that were taken away by the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill (Act 10).
Senator Dave Hansen gave a passionate speech for the rights of workers. Then, at his first chance, Fitzgerald jumped up and ripped into the microphone, "It is the anniversary, but I'm wondering what we're talking about. Are we talking about Kathleen Falk?"
Were you listening at all, Scott? We're talking about restoring rights you took away. What does Kathleen Falk have to do with the bill Risser tried to bring to a vote?
If it's about corruption, Fitzgerald said, "I'd love to talk about that all day if you want." Is it so wrong that a gubernatorial candidate said they support workers' rights? Is that corruption? An open statement in support of rights? And secret meetings at private law firms to gerrymander your district isn't corruption?
Fitzgerald ended his tirade by slamming Senator Hansen and then moving to adjourn until 12:01 AM, "Senator from the 30th, boy I wish Senator Nygren would have gotten enough signatures to get on the ballet, because you'd be gone too right now." It sounds like Fitzgerald is worried he'll get voted out and jealous that Hansen wasn't.
Senate Republicans voted in step with Fitzgerald and the Senate reconvened at 12:01 AM and quickly moved to a vote on the Wetland Destruction Bill. The Republicans passed the bill onto the Assembly on a party-line vote. Protesters against the bill could be heard in the gallery, but I'm sure far fewer people were able to attend or watch at midnight.
I don't have a video for you, because WisconsinEye continues to lock down their videos, making it impossible for us to share videos of our government's proceedings. However, if you have a Windows PC, or are good with your Mac, you can view the videos here and here.
If you are unable to see the debate and votes, you can thank Scott Fitzgerald for his part. This is one of the reasons he has been recalled.
How do you know the bill is bad? Because the Republicans rammed it through as quickly as possible when the fewest people will notice. Many people, including environment and wildlife sporting groups, are very concerned the bill if enacted would result in substantial loss of Wisconsin wetlands and wildlife.
Earlier Tuesday, Scott Fitzgerald abruptly postponed debate on the bill after Democrat Senator Fred Risser moved to vote on a bill restoring collective bargaining rights for public workers that were taken away by the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill (Act 10).
Senator Dave Hansen gave a passionate speech for the rights of workers. Then, at his first chance, Fitzgerald jumped up and ripped into the microphone, "It is the anniversary, but I'm wondering what we're talking about. Are we talking about Kathleen Falk?"
Were you listening at all, Scott? We're talking about restoring rights you took away. What does Kathleen Falk have to do with the bill Risser tried to bring to a vote?
If it's about corruption, Fitzgerald said, "I'd love to talk about that all day if you want." Is it so wrong that a gubernatorial candidate said they support workers' rights? Is that corruption? An open statement in support of rights? And secret meetings at private law firms to gerrymander your district isn't corruption?
Fitzgerald ended his tirade by slamming Senator Hansen and then moving to adjourn until 12:01 AM, "Senator from the 30th, boy I wish Senator Nygren would have gotten enough signatures to get on the ballet, because you'd be gone too right now." It sounds like Fitzgerald is worried he'll get voted out and jealous that Hansen wasn't.
Senate Republicans voted in step with Fitzgerald and the Senate reconvened at 12:01 AM and quickly moved to a vote on the Wetland Destruction Bill. The Republicans passed the bill onto the Assembly on a party-line vote. Protesters against the bill could be heard in the gallery, but I'm sure far fewer people were able to attend or watch at midnight.
I don't have a video for you, because WisconsinEye continues to lock down their videos, making it impossible for us to share videos of our government's proceedings. However, if you have a Windows PC, or are good with your Mac, you can view the videos here and here.
If you are unable to see the debate and votes, you can thank Scott Fitzgerald for his part. This is one of the reasons he has been recalled.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
February 11th: Wisconsin Day!
One year ago today, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Koch brothers unleashed their assault on the rights of our public workers, our education, our poor, our health, and nearly everything else Wisconsin values.
One year ago today, the people of Wisconsin stood up to Walker and his rich corporate interests in historic fashion. The Wisconsin Wave has declared February 11th a new holiday - Wisconsin Day. We began the first big protests of the United States in recent history and that energy later led to the 99% and Occupy Wall Street movements. Wisconsin Wave is holding a rally noon today at the Capitol to mark the first Wisconsin Day!'
Rallies start today at 10:30am marching from the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce to the Capitol in the Bury the Mining Bill Feeder March until the Wisconsin Day rally at noon.
From the Wisconsin Wave:
One year ago today, the people of Wisconsin stood up to Walker and his rich corporate interests in historic fashion. The Wisconsin Wave has declared February 11th a new holiday - Wisconsin Day. We began the first big protests of the United States in recent history and that energy later led to the 99% and Occupy Wall Street movements. Wisconsin Wave is holding a rally noon today at the Capitol to mark the first Wisconsin Day!'
Rallies start today at 10:30am marching from the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce to the Capitol in the Bury the Mining Bill Feeder March until the Wisconsin Day rally at noon.
From the Wisconsin Wave:
February 11th is the one-year anniversary of the day Walker and his funders launched their all out assault against everything that makes Wisconsin a great place to live, work, and learn. It also marks the anniversary of the day the people of Wisconsin rose up in mass protest to not only “kill the bill,” but also to demand an end to the many economic and social injustices present in our society.
Come celebrate this historic day with a rally hosted by the Wisconsin Wave to mark a new holiday- Wisconsin Day! Speakers will address the challenges and opportunities the grassroots social movement born a year ago faces moving forward.
The rally will also serve as a launching point for a “No More Stolen Elections” campaign which will work to ensure future elections are free of voter suppression and the intentional manipulation of election results.
Speakers include: Peter Barca, State Assembly Rep.; Mahlon Mitchell, Professional Firefighters of WI; John Nichols, Capital Times & The Nation; Charity Schmidt, UW-Madison TAA; Leland Pan, UW-Madison student government, Ben Manski, Liberty Tree Foundation; John Peck, Family Farm Defenders and others!
RSVP/spread the word on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/318774838159369/
This event is part of an Anniversary Week of Action to celebrate the Wisconsin Uprising. Click here for more info!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Ohio Rejects Anti-Union Law
The people of Ohio have spoken, and they have rejected the anti-union law SB 5. The law was defeated by 61% of the vote with 83% currently reporting. That's quite a large margin. In fact, according to MSNBC, more people voted against SB 5 then who voted for Governor Kasich in 2010. The energy behind the Ohio referendum is here, it started here in Wisconsin. We start translating that energy into recalling Governor Walker and reinstating the rights of Wisconsinites next week, and the vote in Ohio will give Walker more reason to worry.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Wisconsin Recall Success Spreads To Ohio
After seeing the Democrats in Wisconsin taking Governor Scott Walker's working majority away from him, Ohio Governor Kasich has backpedaled from Ohio Senate Bill 5 (Ohio's equivalent to Walker's collective bargaining rights-stripping bill), asking to work with opponents to amend the law instead of continue a voter referendum effort to repeal the entire law. The most recent poll in Ohio showed that Ohio voters favor repealing the law 56% to 32% against. The law was passed essentially the same as ours, without negotiation or any real debate, but now, just like Walker, Kasich is trying to look like he can be bipartisan.
We Are Ohio (Ohio's equivalent to We Are Wisconsin) told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC tonight that Kasich's backpedal is due directly to the success of the recall efforts in Wisconsin, and We Are Wisconsin told Rachel that they agree. The momentum is with the rights of workers and the middle class, no longer the Tea Party, and it's spreading beyond Wisconsin.
We Are Ohio (Ohio's equivalent to We Are Wisconsin) told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC tonight that Kasich's backpedal is due directly to the success of the recall efforts in Wisconsin, and We Are Wisconsin told Rachel that they agree. The momentum is with the rights of workers and the middle class, no longer the Tea Party, and it's spreading beyond Wisconsin.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Refuse To Show Photo ID When Voting During Recall Elections and Still Vote
Update: (March 21, 2012) This post is no longer relevant. The Voter Suppression Law "is no law at all" according to Wisconsin Judge Richard Niess who placed a permanent injunction on enforcement of the law. Photo IDs are NOT required just as usual.
It won't be required, but poll workers will be asking for specific photo ID when you go to vote during the recall elections this summer. The Republicans in the Assembly and Senate have already swiftly passed the Voter Suppression Bill (Assembly Bill 7) by cutting off debate, and Governor Scott Walker likely won't find a conscience before signing it into law.
The bill includes a provision requiring that poll workers request to see specific photo ID before voting, but not requiring the ID to vote. The provision was added to confuse voters into believing they must show ID to vote in the recall elections, hoping to suppress Democratic voters in order to keep the radical-right stranglehold on Wisconsin. Don't be fooled, you don't have to show ID to vote until 2012!
The provision was added as part of the adopted Assembly Substitute Amendment 2 in section 144 (2) Special Procedure at Elections Held Prior to 2012 Spring Primary. The relevant text is:
In support of Wisconsinites who will find it difficult or impossible to vote and in protest of the Voter Suppression Bill, voters who have the requested photo ID should refuse to show it when they vote in the recall elections. Don't take more time than is necessary. Politely say that you forgot your ID or don't want to show it in protest of the new law. Then, cast your ballot as is your right.
Voters who don't have the requested photo ID should tell the poll worker how difficult or impossible it will be to vote in the next election. It's a simple act of legal protest, which may actually provide empirical evidence of the unconstitutionality of the bill.
Let's show the Republicans and the Supreme Court how unnecessary, unconstitutional and inconvenient the Voter Suppression Bill is!
It won't be required, but poll workers will be asking for specific photo ID when you go to vote during the recall elections this summer. The Republicans in the Assembly and Senate have already swiftly passed the Voter Suppression Bill (Assembly Bill 7) by cutting off debate, and Governor Scott Walker likely won't find a conscience before signing it into law.
The bill includes a provision requiring that poll workers request to see specific photo ID before voting, but not requiring the ID to vote. The provision was added to confuse voters into believing they must show ID to vote in the recall elections, hoping to suppress Democratic voters in order to keep the radical-right stranglehold on Wisconsin. Don't be fooled, you don't have to show ID to vote until 2012!
The provision was added as part of the adopted Assembly Substitute Amendment 2 in section 144 (2) Special Procedure at Elections Held Prior to 2012 Spring Primary. The relevant text is:
"...an elector who votes at a polling place at an election held prior to the date of the 2012 spring primary shall be requested by the election officials to present proof of identification, but if the elector does not present proof of identification, and the elector is otherwise qualified, the elector’s ballot shall be counted without the necessity of presenting proof of identification and without the necessity of casting a provisional ballot."Please help ensure that every voter in Wisconsin knows that even though they'll be asked, they don't have to show photo ID to vote in the recall elections.
In support of Wisconsinites who will find it difficult or impossible to vote and in protest of the Voter Suppression Bill, voters who have the requested photo ID should refuse to show it when they vote in the recall elections. Don't take more time than is necessary. Politely say that you forgot your ID or don't want to show it in protest of the new law. Then, cast your ballot as is your right.
Voters who don't have the requested photo ID should tell the poll worker how difficult or impossible it will be to vote in the next election. It's a simple act of legal protest, which may actually provide empirical evidence of the unconstitutionality of the bill.
Let's show the Republicans and the Supreme Court how unnecessary, unconstitutional and inconvenient the Voter Suppression Bill is!
Friday, May 13, 2011
The Fight Is Not Over, Wisconsin - Massive Rally at the Capital Saturday!
The Wisconsin Wave and We Are Wisconsin are organizing a massive rally this Saturday in Madison at the Capital from 2:30-4:00pm with music and speakers. Come show Walker and the Republicans that we care deeply about Wisconsin's future, and we won't stop fighting until they start talking about real solutions to balance the budget and most importantly create jobs.
From the Wisconsin Wave:
Help take a stand against extreme-right policies and for real solutions! Join us this Saturday at the Capital from 2:30pm-4pm.
Don't forget to bring your friends and family, because these rallies have been peaceful and fun community events with many different people from all over Wisconsin.
From the Wisconsin Wave:
Walker and legislative allies plan to bypass courts, jam rights-stripping measures through with their budget proposal!Buses will be driven in from all over Wisconsin. See the Wisconsin Wave site for more details.
We Are Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Wave will host a rally on the Capitol steps on Saturday, May 14, to send Scott Walker and his legislative allies a resounding message: stop your attacks on working people.
RSVP here: http://wisconsinwave.org/rsvp-may-14th
(please see the bottom of this event posting for info about buses coming from outside of Madison)
Wisconsinites have joined together and prevented Scott Walker’s radical plan to take away worker rights for three months, but he is not done. As we learned from their illegal attempt to jam through the budget repair bill in the dark of night, Walker and his allies are so hell-bent on taking away the rights of Wisconsin workers that they are prepared to use any and all means necessary to achieve their goals.
Now, with their first cynical attempt at union-busting tied up in the courts, Walker’s allies now say they’re ready to add the rights-stripping measures to the state budget now flying through the legislature.
Reintroducing plans to take bargaining rights away from workers into Scott Walker’s fatally-flawed state budget would consolidate Walker’s attacks on Wisconsin’s middle class into a single, horrific piece of legislation. Scott Walker’s budget:
- Raises costs in health care and food assistance programs that are relied upon by 1.2 million workers, unemployed, retired and disabled people in Wisconsin
- Breaks up and corporatizes the UW System, raising tuition and threatening closure of campuses
- Guts the ability of Wisconsin Technical Colleges to prepare and retrain working people
- Eliminates advanced placement and science and technology course in schools
- Rolls back recycling and conservation programs throughout Wisconsin
Despite all of this, Scott Walker’s fatally-flawed budget still has plenty of room for gifts for his dearest friends. Containing $200 million of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in giveaways to his largest donors, Walker’s budget is a bonanza for the donors and corporate lobbyists who surely wrote it.
The legislature must reject this horrifying budget and start over. The attacks on working families, seniors, students, the poor, and the environment and our rights must end. Join We Are Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Wave at the State Capitol at 2:30pm on Saturday, May 14, because our fight continues and we will not be silenced.
Help take a stand against extreme-right policies and for real solutions! Join us this Saturday at the Capital from 2:30pm-4pm.
Don't forget to bring your friends and family, because these rallies have been peaceful and fun community events with many different people from all over Wisconsin.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Walker To Jam Extreme-Right Crap Down Throats of Wisconsinites
Well, now that the recall campaigns have ended, the Republicans have ended their "quiet period" (you know that period before an election in which they don't tell us what they're planning to do later). According to the AP, Walker and the Republicans are planning to introduce and quickly pass a whole host of extreme right-wing candy, none that will help fix the budget. This includes the Voter Suppression Bill, which will likely pass the Assembly this week, strip collective bargaining rights, legalize concealed weapons, increase charter schools, deregulate phone companies, and end early release of prisoners. The Republicans plan to rush all of these bills through before they will likely lose their power with the recall elections this summer.
None of these bills deliver on the promises these Republicans made to us last November, those of delivering jobs and fixing the budget. The Voter Suppression Bill is conservatively estimated to cost taxpayers over $5 million to implement and then over $2 million yearly, yet it doesn't do anything - it doesn't solve any actual problems. Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen has been investigating voter fraud for years, and has only found 11 improper votes. That number of votes couldn't swing any election in Wisconsin, but besides that, the Voter Suppression Bill wouldn't have prevented any of them.
Yes, the Republicans still haven't learned their lesson from the many thousands who protested and from the recall of six senators. Even though Walker admitted under oath that stripping collective bargaining rights "doesn't save any" money, they plan on tacking the anti-collective bargaining bill to the budget if they don't get their way through the courts. I wish the media would ask them why when the Republicans tell them of this plan. Since it doesn't save Wisconsin any money, why strip rights away from our public workers?
Legalizing concealed weapons will only increase violent crime. I'll bet my life on it, and so do many police officers! I read a Journal Sentinel article that said the Milwaukee Police Department was in favor of such a bill if it provided some much needed changes when it comes to licensing and punishment. However, I don't see the logic in creating a bigger problem in order to solve other problems. Fix the holes in the system without adding new ones. I don't want to live in fear that the guy next to me at the bar is carrying a weapon. I like that we all (except for a few, e.g. law enforcement) must make our possession of weapons blatantly obvious. I won't feel more secure knowing anyone could be carrying a weapon, I'll feel less secure.
Republicans don't want to just make our cities less safe, they want to make us more dumb. Sure, charter schools can be good, but our public schools are already quite good and can be improved using less money than creating new schools. Diverting money across more school systems will only decrease the efficacy of our school systems on average. You can't reduce money in one system and expect it to improve, and you also can't expect the charter schools to be able to do any better than a public school. Let me say that another way so the point hits home. Anything a charter school can do for students, a public school can do as well. Reducing the amount of money that all of our schools get (charter schools won't be living fat either) will only reduce the effectiveness of our schools as a whole.
The effort to increase charter schools in Wisconsin just doesn't have any logic to it. The only "selling point" of charter schools with any relevancy is that they can be a bed for experimentation. But experimentation just to experiment isn't helpful, especially to our children. Public schools and teachers have a long history of experimenting, and there are processes and channels to facilitate the experimentation and sharing of results. Of course public schools aren't perfect, but that's no reason to give up on them, it's reason to improve them.
In short, charter schools concentrate the quality of schools to small pockets, whereas public schools have more uniform quality. If you increase the money to charter schools, you'll decrease the overall quality of public schools and concentrate the quality of Wisconsin's schools in a few choice charter schools. If you increase the money to public schools and decrease it to charter schools, you increase the overall quality of Wisconsin's schools. Charter schools will never be able to do what our public schools do as a whole, and creating them just wastes taxpayer money.
Charter schools are just another example of a fake solution that can only make things worse. If you want to improve our schools, improve our schools.
The Republicans also want to deregulate phone companies in Wisconsin, so we can all pay more for even crappier service. Thanks, Walker, for looking out for the citizens of Wisconsin! There's nothing more that can be said about phone company deregulation, besides welcome back Ma Bell!
Lastly, the Republicans want to end early release for low-risk prisoners. Regardless of what you may think of the idea of early release, as illusory tenant points out, it saves Wisconsin quite a bit of money. Not only that, but I believe these programs have been shown to improve the success of rehabilitating prisoners. So, the Republicans plan to make us pay more so that our prisoners are more likely to commit crimes again.
It's clear that these ideas are against the wishes of most Wisconsinites, because the Republicans are trying to pass these bills before they lose their majority. If their ideas were inline with our ours, they wouldn't have to rush these bills through now. They could just pass them with bipartisan support. However, these ideas are from the top of extreme-right wish lists, and they should be treated as such. They should be left to the fringe of political conversation, not the center.
None of these ideas or bills will save us money, solve any problems, create jobs, or reduce the budget. I'm absolutely appalled that Wisconsin is considering such "solutions," especially when we're not broke but short on money. The only thing they do is make us pay to look more like a hill-billy state. The grass really will be greener somewhere else if this crap falls on Wisconsin. What do we have to do to get some real solutions around here?
We the people of Wisconsin need to wake up now and stop this crap before we have to eat it!
(I glossed over many of my conclusions, but I can provide further facts and detail if desired.)
None of these bills deliver on the promises these Republicans made to us last November, those of delivering jobs and fixing the budget. The Voter Suppression Bill is conservatively estimated to cost taxpayers over $5 million to implement and then over $2 million yearly, yet it doesn't do anything - it doesn't solve any actual problems. Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen has been investigating voter fraud for years, and has only found 11 improper votes. That number of votes couldn't swing any election in Wisconsin, but besides that, the Voter Suppression Bill wouldn't have prevented any of them.
Yes, the Republicans still haven't learned their lesson from the many thousands who protested and from the recall of six senators. Even though Walker admitted under oath that stripping collective bargaining rights "doesn't save any" money, they plan on tacking the anti-collective bargaining bill to the budget if they don't get their way through the courts. I wish the media would ask them why when the Republicans tell them of this plan. Since it doesn't save Wisconsin any money, why strip rights away from our public workers?
Legalizing concealed weapons will only increase violent crime. I'll bet my life on it, and so do many police officers! I read a Journal Sentinel article that said the Milwaukee Police Department was in favor of such a bill if it provided some much needed changes when it comes to licensing and punishment. However, I don't see the logic in creating a bigger problem in order to solve other problems. Fix the holes in the system without adding new ones. I don't want to live in fear that the guy next to me at the bar is carrying a weapon. I like that we all (except for a few, e.g. law enforcement) must make our possession of weapons blatantly obvious. I won't feel more secure knowing anyone could be carrying a weapon, I'll feel less secure.
Republicans don't want to just make our cities less safe, they want to make us more dumb. Sure, charter schools can be good, but our public schools are already quite good and can be improved using less money than creating new schools. Diverting money across more school systems will only decrease the efficacy of our school systems on average. You can't reduce money in one system and expect it to improve, and you also can't expect the charter schools to be able to do any better than a public school. Let me say that another way so the point hits home. Anything a charter school can do for students, a public school can do as well. Reducing the amount of money that all of our schools get (charter schools won't be living fat either) will only reduce the effectiveness of our schools as a whole.
The effort to increase charter schools in Wisconsin just doesn't have any logic to it. The only "selling point" of charter schools with any relevancy is that they can be a bed for experimentation. But experimentation just to experiment isn't helpful, especially to our children. Public schools and teachers have a long history of experimenting, and there are processes and channels to facilitate the experimentation and sharing of results. Of course public schools aren't perfect, but that's no reason to give up on them, it's reason to improve them.
In short, charter schools concentrate the quality of schools to small pockets, whereas public schools have more uniform quality. If you increase the money to charter schools, you'll decrease the overall quality of public schools and concentrate the quality of Wisconsin's schools in a few choice charter schools. If you increase the money to public schools and decrease it to charter schools, you increase the overall quality of Wisconsin's schools. Charter schools will never be able to do what our public schools do as a whole, and creating them just wastes taxpayer money.
Charter schools are just another example of a fake solution that can only make things worse. If you want to improve our schools, improve our schools.
The Republicans also want to deregulate phone companies in Wisconsin, so we can all pay more for even crappier service. Thanks, Walker, for looking out for the citizens of Wisconsin! There's nothing more that can be said about phone company deregulation, besides welcome back Ma Bell!
Lastly, the Republicans want to end early release for low-risk prisoners. Regardless of what you may think of the idea of early release, as illusory tenant points out, it saves Wisconsin quite a bit of money. Not only that, but I believe these programs have been shown to improve the success of rehabilitating prisoners. So, the Republicans plan to make us pay more so that our prisoners are more likely to commit crimes again.
It's clear that these ideas are against the wishes of most Wisconsinites, because the Republicans are trying to pass these bills before they lose their majority. If their ideas were inline with our ours, they wouldn't have to rush these bills through now. They could just pass them with bipartisan support. However, these ideas are from the top of extreme-right wish lists, and they should be treated as such. They should be left to the fringe of political conversation, not the center.
None of these ideas or bills will save us money, solve any problems, create jobs, or reduce the budget. I'm absolutely appalled that Wisconsin is considering such "solutions," especially when we're not broke but short on money. The only thing they do is make us pay to look more like a hill-billy state. The grass really will be greener somewhere else if this crap falls on Wisconsin. What do we have to do to get some real solutions around here?
We the people of Wisconsin need to wake up now and stop this crap before we have to eat it!
(I glossed over many of my conclusions, but I can provide further facts and detail if desired.)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wisconsin Republicans Planning To Strip Collective Bargaining Rights In Budget
According to The CapTimes, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans still haven't learned their lesson, even though at least six Republicans who voted to strip collective bargaining rights from public workers will likely face a recall election for doing so (Republicans will likely do the same to at most three Democrats). They're planning to add the bill to the budget if they don't get their way through the courts. In fact, Tuesday, Republicans voted against another collective bargaining measure that would have restored those rights for some employees. On top of everything, the bill itself may be unconstitutional.
Republicans, why do you insist on stripping these rights away? What is the purpose, because we know and you admitted stripping those rights doesn't save any money?
Republican politicians don't care about you. Recall the Republican 8.
Republicans, why do you insist on stripping these rights away? What is the purpose, because we know and you admitted stripping those rights doesn't save any money?
Republican politicians don't care about you. Recall the Republican 8.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
"Wisconsin Is Just The Beginning"
Wisconsin's been all over the national news, whether it's the recalls of the Republican 8, the controversial Supreme Court election, or Paul Ryan's budget plan. I think all of this focus on Wisconsin is helping us move Forward past the ridiculous plans of Scott Walker and the Republicans, and it's also helping to spread Wisconsin values across the nation. Some of these national news shows have been doing great reporting on Wisconsin, and I'd like to share with you some very interesting and informative reports from Wednesday evening.
The Rachel Maddow Show ran two segments on Wisconsin. In the first, Rachel discussed the latest news on the Supreme Court election and summarized its ramifications. She ended the segment saying, "the Democrats in that state are turning political outrage in their state into political outcomes in their state."
In the second segment, Rachel discussed how the momentum in Wisconsin is gaining and spreading beyond our borders. Rachel showed a very informative map of Wisconsin indicating all of the counties that voted more for Kloppenburg than they did for Walker just a few months ago. There was very little momentum gained by the Republican-backed Prosser, and almost every county in Wisconsin voted more for Kloppenburg than they had for Walker. In fact, the districts that swung against Walker include all of the districts of the four Republican 8 expecting a recall election. This is significant, but elections and particularly a small election like this one are not good indicators of overall state mood.
Rachel's interviewee, Dante Chinni from Patchwork Nation, said Wisconsin contains many "service worker centers." Chinni defines these places as having lots of good jobs in the public sector with fewer in the private. He said he thinks the momentum is coming from the attacks on those jobs by politicians, particularly collective bargaining. Chinni said, "Wisconsin is just the beginning." They called it the "Wisconsin Effect" and said that Republicans are very afraid. In Wisconsin, we've been calling the "Wisconsin Effect" the Wisconsin Wave.
Later, Ed Schultz showed the most footage from Paul Ryan's town hall on his The Ed Show on MSNBC. Ed shows a very great question from a resident, Ryan's response and the reaction from the crowd. Ryan got "smacked down" by the residents for giving tax cuts to the rich while asking others to pay more.
Ed interviewed the person from ThinkProgress who shot the video, Scott Keyes. Keyes gave a very informative account of Ryan's town halls. Laura Flanders said, "It's the super rich against everyone else," and Ed noted that it appeared Ryan supporters were at the meeting trying to tell him he's wrong. Keyes agreed and said he saw "a lot of anxiety there in the crowds." Later, Flanders said, "The seniors are not buying what Ryan is selling."
Then, in another segment, Ed continued his coverage of politics in Wisconsin. Ed said, "I'm not gonna get off of this story because I think fundamentally this is one of the biggest stories in America. This is change. This is change you can believe in."
Ed attacked Walker's statements that the recalls are being driven by Madison, and then interviewed Adam Green of the Progressive Change Committee. They discussed the recalls, the process, and possible ramifications. Then Green said there will be a really important conference call Thursday at 9:30am from Mike Tate, head of the Wisconsin Democrats, regarding the Republicans' efforts to collect recall signatures for Democrats. He said that Tate will be alleging "outright fraud."
It sounds like this conference at 9:30am will be interesting. I was wondering why the Republicans were holding off on their announcement, waiting until enough signatures were collected for three Democrats. Just didn't seem politically intelligent. Now it sounds like they may have been holding back because of nefarious actions.
The Rachel Maddow Show ran two segments on Wisconsin. In the first, Rachel discussed the latest news on the Supreme Court election and summarized its ramifications. She ended the segment saying, "the Democrats in that state are turning political outrage in their state into political outcomes in their state."
In the second segment, Rachel discussed how the momentum in Wisconsin is gaining and spreading beyond our borders. Rachel showed a very informative map of Wisconsin indicating all of the counties that voted more for Kloppenburg than they did for Walker just a few months ago. There was very little momentum gained by the Republican-backed Prosser, and almost every county in Wisconsin voted more for Kloppenburg than they had for Walker. In fact, the districts that swung against Walker include all of the districts of the four Republican 8 expecting a recall election. This is significant, but elections and particularly a small election like this one are not good indicators of overall state mood.
Rachel's interviewee, Dante Chinni from Patchwork Nation, said Wisconsin contains many "service worker centers." Chinni defines these places as having lots of good jobs in the public sector with fewer in the private. He said he thinks the momentum is coming from the attacks on those jobs by politicians, particularly collective bargaining. Chinni said, "Wisconsin is just the beginning." They called it the "Wisconsin Effect" and said that Republicans are very afraid. In Wisconsin, we've been calling the "Wisconsin Effect" the Wisconsin Wave.
Later, Ed Schultz showed the most footage from Paul Ryan's town hall on his The Ed Show on MSNBC. Ed shows a very great question from a resident, Ryan's response and the reaction from the crowd. Ryan got "smacked down" by the residents for giving tax cuts to the rich while asking others to pay more.
Ed interviewed the person from ThinkProgress who shot the video, Scott Keyes. Keyes gave a very informative account of Ryan's town halls. Laura Flanders said, "It's the super rich against everyone else," and Ed noted that it appeared Ryan supporters were at the meeting trying to tell him he's wrong. Keyes agreed and said he saw "a lot of anxiety there in the crowds." Later, Flanders said, "The seniors are not buying what Ryan is selling."
Then, in another segment, Ed continued his coverage of politics in Wisconsin. Ed said, "I'm not gonna get off of this story because I think fundamentally this is one of the biggest stories in America. This is change. This is change you can believe in."
Ed attacked Walker's statements that the recalls are being driven by Madison, and then interviewed Adam Green of the Progressive Change Committee. They discussed the recalls, the process, and possible ramifications. Then Green said there will be a really important conference call Thursday at 9:30am from Mike Tate, head of the Wisconsin Democrats, regarding the Republicans' efforts to collect recall signatures for Democrats. He said that Tate will be alleging "outright fraud."
It sounds like this conference at 9:30am will be interesting. I was wondering why the Republicans were holding off on their announcement, waiting until enough signatures were collected for three Democrats. Just didn't seem politically intelligent. Now it sounds like they may have been holding back because of nefarious actions.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Fourth Republican 8 Senator To Face Recall Election - Sheila Harsdorf
John Nichols hinted last week that more recall petitions would be filed for the Republican 8. Yesterday, Senator Luther Olsen became one of those senators, and Steve Hanson at Uppity Wisconsin reports that today Senator Sheila Harsdorf will become the fourth. Volunteers announced last evening that they will be filing the recall petitions with the Government Accountability Board today.
Before this week, petitions were already filed to hold a recall election for two of the eight Republican senators. Senator Dan Kapanke was the first senator whose district gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall, and Senator Randy Hopper was the second. With the announcements from yesterday and the filings today, half of the Republican 8 senators will face a recall election.
The Republican 8 are being recalled for outright lying to Wisconsin and voting to strip collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin workers. Two senators facing a recall election with just over half the allotted time to get signatures was quite amazing. Now, with just over a week since filing a petition for Randy Hopper's recall, it's unbelievable that two more senators have been added to the list. It shows just how strongly Wisconsin feels about workers' rights.
In the same time, the Koch brothers and Republicans have been trying to recall eight Democrats. However, they haven't been able to gather enough signatures to recall even one.
The effort to collect enough signatures for Senators Darling and Cowles are thought to be not far behind, though it's difficult to tell.
The magnitude of Wisconsinites who support democracy and workers' rights is becoming more clear. Keep up the good fight!
The remaining efforts to get signatures for the Republican 8 are for:
Before this week, petitions were already filed to hold a recall election for two of the eight Republican senators. Senator Dan Kapanke was the first senator whose district gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall, and Senator Randy Hopper was the second. With the announcements from yesterday and the filings today, half of the Republican 8 senators will face a recall election.
The Republican 8 are being recalled for outright lying to Wisconsin and voting to strip collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin workers. Two senators facing a recall election with just over half the allotted time to get signatures was quite amazing. Now, with just over a week since filing a petition for Randy Hopper's recall, it's unbelievable that two more senators have been added to the list. It shows just how strongly Wisconsin feels about workers' rights.
In the same time, the Koch brothers and Republicans have been trying to recall eight Democrats. However, they haven't been able to gather enough signatures to recall even one.
The effort to collect enough signatures for Senators Darling and Cowles are thought to be not far behind, though it's difficult to tell.
The magnitude of Wisconsinites who support democracy and workers' rights is becoming more clear. Keep up the good fight!
The remaining efforts to get signatures for the Republican 8 are for:
- Senator Robert Cowles
- Senator Alberta Darling
- Senator Glenn Grothman
- Senator Mary Lazich
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