Walkergate: Doe, A Deer, A Phony Deer Hunter

In 2010, to hear Scott Walker tell it, he was suddenly a lifelong avid deer hunter and outdoors man.

Shortly after getting elected, the charade stopped when he hired Cathy Stepp to be the head of the DNR, in order to make it more business friendly.  Thus far, Stepp's claim to fame is to open the door for pit mines and pollution and to put hit jobs out on  Bambi and Giggles the fawn.

Walker's disregard for deer hunting continued when he hired his deer czar. Charles Pierce, writing for Esquire, explained it pretty clearly (emphasis his):

Walker's already better than halfway to selling off all of Wisconsin's public lands to private pillage, but Dr. James Kroll, the guy Walker has put in charge of deer hunting, takes things to a whole 'nother level. (First hint that Wisconsinites are being sold out? Handing their deer hunting authority over to a guy from Texas.) Back in 2002, Joe Nick Patoski of Texas Monthly wrote a long piece about the battle over deer hunting regulations in that state, and Kroll obliged by doing a half-gainer off the deep end. You see, Kroll doesn't believe in public lands. Her believes that the rights of plutocracy extend even to the wild spaces, and is a big fan of the kind of ranches that Dick Cheney goes to so he can mistake his friend for a dove and shoot him in the face....

...Kroll, who has been the foremost proponent of deer ranching in Texas for more than thirty years, doesn't mind the controversy and certainly doesn't fade in the heat. People who call for more public lands are "cocktail conservationists," he says, who are really pining for socialism. He calls national parks "wildlife ghettos" and flatly accuses the government of gross mismanagement. He argues that his relatively tiny acreage, marked by eight-foot fences and posted signs warning off would-be poachers, is a better model for keeping what's natural natural while making money off the land...

As the gentle reader could have predicted, with all of Walker's mucking about - not to making hunting less affordable in the state's sinking economy - deer hunting numbers have been dropping like a stone.

Abe Sauer wrote a piece at The Awl which really catches Walker's whole problem with trying to present himself as a deer hunter:

But an entirely different strategy is to frame the cheeseheaded governor as a man of the outdoors, a true hunter—just like Sarah Palin.

On Monday, Walker tweeted a selfie. Wrapped in hunter orange, the governor complained that the deer must hate the cold as much as he does. Walker tweeted the selfie about the frigid, deer-less cold from his personal account as well. Even more boldly, Walker is selling himself as a seasoned hunter without even setting foot in a field or zipping up a shred of Boehner orange. Early in November, Walker traveled to Virginia to campaign on behalf of part-time Cialis model and Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli. It was a doomed venture but Walker’s team did manage to sucker Politico to state as fact that Walker had cancelled his planned bow-hunt to campaign for Virginia’s Touch Of Grey® spokesman.

Unless it has disappeared, Walker has never tweeted from a hunt before. (A request to his office for a clarified accounting of Governor Walker’s hunting experience was not answered.) And as far as the Internet record is concerned, it seems there is a reason for that.

In the end, “experienced deer hunter” Scott Walker’s 2013 deer hunt appeared to last about as long as it takes to climb into a deer stand and tweet the view, tweet a selfie two hours later and then have spokesman Tom Evenson issue a statement to the Associated Press that Governor Walker had completed his 2013 hunt “without getting a deer.“2 Total 2013 hunting time, including bow season: about four hours. But then, maybe Walker is hoping he’ll get more than the nine-day season after his administration’s recent proposal to open an eight-month season that would add “about two-thirds of the acreage in the Wisconsin state park and trail system” for “hunting and trapping.”

In the recent release of the latest batch of the Walkergate emails, Walker's then secretary and scheduler, Dorothy Moore confirms that Walker wasn't much of a hunter then.

In the email in question, Moore is responding to Darlene Wink who was asking a favor for a friend of hers and Walker's, Chris Kujawa, to have Walker appear at a benefit for Thomas More High School, a private school in Milwaukee:

In the grand scheme of things, this doesn't show us anything new.  It only confirms what we knew all along - Walker is a phony and will do and say whatever he thinks the people want to hear, even if he knows it to be a flat out lie.  Sadly, this characteristic of Walker's is not limited to deer hunting but extends to everything under the sun, including taxes, job creation and education.

Walker Doesn't Need No Education!

By Jeff Simpson

“Education’s Purpose is to Replace an Empty Mind with an Open One." – Malcolm Forbes

This story from WKOW:

MADISON (WKOW) -- It has been well publicized that Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) never graduated from college, but 27 News has now learned three of his top executives also lack a college degree.

At least one of those appointees was recently called out by a subordinate for being unqualified.

32 year-old Ryan Murray is a former campaign and office staffer for Governor Walker, who became Chief Operating Officer at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation in 2012, despite having no college degree and no real experience in economic development.

Former State Senator Cathy Stepp now serves as Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.  Like Murray, she has no real background of expertise in the area of regulation her agency oversees.

The Secretary of the Department of Administration, former Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, also holds no college degree.

I know, not everyone needs a college degree.  Let's let the walker group explain it:

Regarding Ryan Murray:

 "There are many quality people that span the spectrum from folks from high school graduation to college degrees to technical degrees to post-graduate degrees.  We have people that have the whole spectrum of things," said Gov. Walker.

 See Ryan Murray needs no education, or work experience, he knows things!  Now Cathy Stepp:

 Cathy does not have a college degree," DNR Spokesperson Bill Cosh told 27 News.  "She has a tremendous amount of real world experience which includes management training with McDonald's Corporation, several management positions with various businesses including Stein Optical and Wisconsin Optical, and the experience of running her own businesses."

If management experience at Stein Optical and McDonalds isnt enough to be in charge of the Wisconsin environment, then nothing is.    Now Mike Huebsch:

"Secretary Huebsch, the leadership at DOA, and the Administration's cabinet embody the variety of education, experience and knowledge that exists across Wisconsin," wrote DOA Spokesperson Stephanie Marquis in a statement to 27 News.  "There are thousands of professionals, entrepreneurs, and farmers that may not have gone to college, but they are competent, intelligent and talented.  Our leadership is experienced and educated, whether that's through work experience, professional knowledge or a college degree."

Marquis says Secretary Huebsch left Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma just nine credits short of a degree, because he ran out of money at the time.

I would have never guessed that the guy who testified that the protestors did $7,000,000 wort hof damage to the Capitol would have money problems his whole life.

10. “Education is Simply the Soul of a Society as It Passes from One Generation to Another.” – Gilbert Chesterton

Sex On The Beach(and in the Capitol)

By Jeff Simpson

Giggly Cathy Stepp, the fawn killing head of the DNR is beside itself trying to figure out how they curb sex happening at Mazomanie's nude beach:

The agency has been trying to put the kibosh on the bad behavior for more than a decade. In the late 1990s, it closed the beach at night, banned camping on the beach and installed a gate to block vehicles and halt drive-in, drive-out trysts. In 2007, it closed sections of the surrounding woods and cut down brush near the beach to eliminate cover for sex.

But arrests for sex and drugs hit a five-year high in 2011, when wardens arrested 42 people in nine days of surveillance. Last year, the DNR closed another 70 acres around the beach, but it had little effect; wardens issued 22 citations — most for sex — in less than a week of surveillance.

 Of course worrying about the nude beach at the start of winter is a very good distraction from the fact that they are letting eco terrorist Bill Williams, not only run free, but also run the legislature and her office.  

Apparently in Cathy Stepp's eyes, this is less of a problem: 



Than this:



 

Be that as it may, in the holiday spirit and in the spirit of bipartisanship, I am going to offer Ms. Stepp some advice on how to curb the problems at the Mazo Beach.

Stop The Problems At The Capitol And The Walker Administration FIRST!

Monkey see - Monkey Do!

Let's start with Dennis Smith.  Dennis Smith was Karl Rove's buddy who Scott Walker hired to kick thousands of Wisconsinite's off of their healthcare.   Dennis Smith was very glad to do so, he just wanted something in return.

To get laid.

 

Smith,  used Wisconsin taxpayer's money, cell phones, lap tops, offices and travel expenses to bring his MARRIED high school crush here, to do a job that she was unqualified for.  Smith brought Mary Spear to Wisconsin to be his chief legal counsel, a position that she was unqualified for and where she was his only interview(imagine the questions in that interview)!  Not only did Smith use his position to bring to Wisconsin and sleep with his old high school crush, he brought her in as a subordinate to make sure he had the ultimate power over her.

While Dennis Smith was using State taxpayer time and resources to send out this press release:

 "I categorically and unequivocally deny that I have ever had a relationship with Mary Spear beyond friendship," Smith stated.

Married man Dennis Smith was using Wisconsin taxpayer resources to send this to his married subordinate:

“My dearest Mary Elizabeth, let your heart be at peace and rest tonight. We shall weather this storm together. All will be well.”

As Judge William E. Hanrahan said: 

 Three months later, at a June 12, 2013 hearing, in discussing Brophy's request for potentially exculpatory evidence showing an affair had occurred, Judge William E. Hanrahan said this wasn't necessary. Hanrahan essentially said the files provided to the court by Andrew Spear showed that he knew his wife and Smith were having an affair. "I think any objective, reasonable person, upon reading the emails...would not have such a hard time believing it," the judge said.

Who did not care what was happening in this despicable case?  Smith's boss - Scott K Walker.

Apparently Walker felt that two married people having an affair on the taxpayer dime was ok.  Walker also had no problem with Smith's sexual harassment of his subordinates as  Walker did not fire Smith, call for an investigation or even slap him on the wrist.   Women of Wisconsin, there will be NO workplace protection for you if your boss does exactly as Scott Walker wants! 

Finally, after CogDis broke the story of the affair and Smith's role in it - Dennis Smith tucked his tail between his legs and ran away.   Mary Spear is following him to Washington DC.  Its very nice of Smith's wife and children to allow her to do that.   

 Another email surfacing in the case showed that Mary Spear expected to move with Smith to Washington, D.C., once he was tapped for a job by Mitt Romney (had he been elected president). Smith ended up moving anyway after the Spear scandal heated up. He now serves as managing director of the D.C. office of McKenna Long & Aldridge. As for Mary Spear, she is divorcing Andrew.

As Capper says, but wait there is more.   The whole republican Assembly and Senate has been treating the Capitol like its Melrose Place.  

From the married leader of the Senate:

Things are much better though in the Assembly right?





Hey wait a minute.  That's not your wife .....and that's not your husband.  What's in the doggy bag?  where you going?  You are the leader of the republican party and now sleeping with a lobbyist?  Is that even legal?  Hmmmmmm!  


When these are your role models, what do you expect out of the citizenry? 

Robin Vos Runs!

By Jeff Simpson

NO...Robin Vos is not running from his oath as a married man that he swore before God twice(at least) - He already has done that twice(at least)!  Nor is he looking to run for Governor....he knows he has no chance!

No Robin Vos is running from responsibility, again.  He is trying very hard to distance himself(and his party) from the debacle that is the United Sportsmen Scandal.

However, it is not working.  As typical, when Robin Vos speaks, ethics go flying out the window! 

First some background on United Sportsmen.

Scott Suder wrote a grant of WI taxpayer money into the last budget.  This money was written specifically for one group, a bunch of old Suder Staffers and republican donors.  It was for the sum of $500,000 and it was also written to give this group a sum of $250,000 annually for as far as we could see.

The problem was, that as is typical for the WI republicans, the former Suder staffers were not qualified in any sort of useful talent to actually justify such a payment, so Suder disguised it as a fishing and hunting grant.  Then Suder resigned his position to take another government position to double dip and help pad his WI taxpayer provided pension by joining the Walker Administration.  

Almost from the minute he wrote this horrendous piece of WI taxpayer theft, (it was debated all of 7 minutes then quickly passed by the Joint Finance Committee),  there were major problems.

First, as is par for the course for Wisconsin republicans, they lied from the start.  First about their tax exempt status. 

 - A sportsmen's group is apologizing for misleading lawmakers and the public about its federal nonprofit status in winning a controversial $500,000 grant to promote hunting and fishing. 

The Journal Sentinel reported on Friday that the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation Inc. appeared to be improperly claiming a federal tax-exempt status during the process of receiving a grant to promote hunting and fishing in the state.

 OOPS....But whats a little lying to the legislature amongst friends, because there is more.   Then Suder said the legislation was incredibly important for the future of hunting in WISCONSIN.

In an interview, Suder said the grant would help to avert a "looming crisis" for hunting and fishing and ensure the future of those pastimes in the state.

 The problem here?  His good friend, the former head of AFP-WI and former Suder staffer Luke Hilgemann does not EVEN LIVE IN WISCONSIN!

Hard to ward off a "looming crisis" in WI when you live in Burke, Virginia.

Not ones to be deterred by minor details such as this, they plodded on.  As regular readers know, there is ALWAYS more. 

The head of United Wisconsin, the hunting training experts, Andy Pantzlaff, was cited for illegal hunting AND lied to the DNR about it. 

OOPS. 

This turned out to be the final straw, as hard as he tried to give his friends $500,000 of OUR money, after this latest guffaw, the 2016 pretend presidential contender had to draw a line somewhere.   The final straw was probably main cheerleader the JSONLINE editorial board even asked their boy Scott Walker to rescind the money.

 As the saying goes, when you lose the JSONLINE editorial board....

So finally Cathy Stepp had to be drug, kicking and screaming, to stop the ridiculous payment. 

In a statement, Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp said she spoke with Walker on Thursday and he canceled the grant to United Sportsmen, which had been aimed at promoting the state's sporting heritage. Instead, Walker ordered the DNR to find other means to achieve that goal.

"We also agreed that it is essential for any organization that receives financial support from the state to have the trust of the public in its capabilities to produce concrete results. Even though United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation Inc. did and does still meet the statutory criteria established by the Legislature for the grant award, the governor asked me to not finalize the grant award. I will honor this request and fully support this decision," Stepp said.

DNR Secretary Stepp, really really wanted to give them the money.  I get it though, they are all friends and im sure her friends at United Sportsmen already had that money spent!   

Its a tough thing for people like Hilgemann, havin to tell his wife the vacation to Hawaii this winter has to be called off for now.  

Now back to Robin Vos, who took time away from his paramour and attacking the UW  System to weigh in( Those paying attention will notice, that the longer Robin Vos has power the more arrogant he gets, but thats another blog).

What did Robin Vos have to say?  Exactly what you would think he had to say.   It was not his fault!

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said former Rep. Scott Suder, who recently stepped down as majority leader to take a job with the Public Service Commission, took the lead in adding the grant to the 2013-15 state budget.
Gov. Scott Walker asked DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp late Thursday to rescind the grant.
Vos said he “was not directly involved” in adding the language, which resulted in only one group, which has political connections to Suder, applying for the grant.
 

Vos is only the leader of the party and the head of the power joint finance committee that passed the amendment allowing this theft of WI taxpayer money but he was "not involved".   I'm guessing the party tries to cut him out of as many decisions as possible.    The party of "personal responsibility" is trying desperately to shirk the blame.   I am surprised in the article that Vos did not find a way to blame Obamacare.  

The light shone on the cockroachs and everyone went scrambling and two people who deserved much scorn and have escaped all scrutiny are Neil Kedzie and Al Ott.  

The five-member Sporting Heritage Committee is scheduled to meet Thursday in Madison to review the application.

The committee is composed of Gunderson, DNR executive assistant; Sen. Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn), chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee; Rep. Al Ott (R-Forest Junction), chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee; and Mark LaBarbera of Hazel Green and Bill Torhorst of Oregon, both appointed to the committee by the DNR.

 Both of these "fiscal conservatives" could not give our money to their friends fast enough, no questions asked!  

My dream is that maybe one day, a reporter in the state will point out how truly not conservative, the Wisconsin "conservatives" are!

The Wisconsin republican party are NOT "fiscal conservatives", they are fiscal opportunists and its costing us all dearly! 



 

Walker Falls Short On Corrupt Sweetheart Deal

Last week, I reported on the corrupt sweetheart deal that Scott Walker and his Teapublican allies in the state legislature was in the process of signing off on.  In a nutshell, what Walker and the Teapublicans were trying to do was give a never-ending stream of taxpayer money to a thinly-veiled political action group.

The mainstream media finally caught on that something wasn't up to snuff and did something I had thought they might have forgotten how - investigative journalism.

First, it was found that the group misrepresented itself, claiming to have a tax-exempt status which they do not have:

The group, which has close ties to Republican politicians and other conservative organizations, now says its president, Andy Pantzlaff, was confused when he told state committee last week that United Sportsmen had been approved by the federal Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. United Sportsmen has also stated that on its letterhead in a letter to the state.

"Mr. Pantzlaff did not speak directly with the foundation’s counsel concerning the 501(c)(3) status, and was mistaken about the exemption process," a statement issued by the group reads. "There was no intent to mislead anyone and, in fact, the 501(c)(3) is not required for the purposes of the current grant application with the state of Wisconsin. The foundation apologizes for any confusion caused by this misunderstanding."

Despite this, Walker's DNR toady Cathy Stepp sent them a check for $50,000 anyway.

It was also learned that Andy Pantzlaff, president of the fraudulent group was convicted of hunting without the proper license. Keep in mind that the money-give away to this group was so that they could teach people how to hunt properly.  That would be like Robin Vos and Michele Litjens teaching people how to preserve their marriages through fidelity.

Finally, one of Walker's handlers must have finally smacked him up side the head and pointed out that this was becoming rather problematic and would have a negative effect on both of his campaigns (gubernatorial and presidential).  I say this because Walker reluctantly announced that he was stopping the taxpayer-funded campaign revenue stream (emphasis mine):

Gov. Scott Walker late Thursday canceled a controversial $500,000 grant to a sportsmen's group with little training experience but close ties to GOP politicians.

The decision was announced only hours after the Journal Sentinel asked state officials about a 2005 case in which the president of the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation Inc. was cited for hunting with an improper license.

In a statement, Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp said she spoke with Walker on Thursday and he canceled the grant to United Sportsmen, which had been aimed at promoting the state's sporting heritage. Instead, Walker ordered the DNR to find other means to achieve that goal.

"We also agreed that it is essential for any organization that receives financial support from the state to have the trust of the public in its capabilities to produce concrete results. Even though United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation Inc. did and does still meet the statutory criteria established by the Legislature for the grant award, the governor asked me to not finalize the grant award. I will honor this request and fully support this decision," Stepp said.

This will not do. This group, especially its leader, committed fraud. They should not only not get the money, they need to return the $50,000 that Stepp already gave them. Furthermore, because they tried to commit fraud, they need to be charged for the crime - and in a real court of law, not one of the DNR's rinky dink slap-on-the-wrist pantomimes.

Don't hold your breath for that to happen any time soon.  Under the current regime, corruption is not only acceptable, it is encouraged.

Ah, but wait, there's more.  There's always more.

As I pointed out in my article, as Walker was trying to arrange this money-laundering scheme, he was also manipulating things so that this false front group would have digs in the Mackenzie Center.

Sure enough, the same DNR that was going to give the fraudsters all that money had decided to deny the bid from Wisconsin Wildlife Federation - the only bid they received - to keep running the center (again, emphasis mine):

The Department of Natural Resources has rejected the only bid it received - from current tenant Wisconsin Wildlife Federation - to run the MacKenzie Environmental Education Center in Poynette.

Instead, the agency will run the facility itself, according to a Thursday statement.

And contrary to its stated intentions when it opened the bid process in February, the DNR will very likely increase its spending on the center, an agency official acknowledged.

The DNR said to "address a nationwide decline in hunting, angling and trapping, we will begin work to develop a new outdoor skills curriculum" at the center.

Wow! Now isn't that just coincidental!

As I said before, this whole thing was a scheme to give this front group a flow of taxpayer money to use for helping keep Walker in elected office so that his corporate masters could continue to pillage the land unabated. To do so, Walker was also going to give the Mackenzie Center to this group as a false address for them to work out of.  They were counting on people not to pay attention.

And don't think for a minute that this is over.

Given Walker's modus operandi, he will find another patsy in the legislature to again get this money to be secretly sent to another front group, in the hopes that they can continue with the plan of using it for political purposes.

Heck, the way things are going in this state, I wouldn't be surprised if someone goes to the Mackenzie Center on January 2nd and find some private security guards walking around in camouflage and with assault rifles.  And I wouldn't be surprised if the corporate media turns its collective head and whistles while it looks the other way.

Cathy Stepp vs. Bambi: Round 2 - Overkill

The story of a DNR raid on a wildlife shelter in which no less than 13 officials needlessly killed a young fawn is not only disgusting but has now gone national, appearing in the Washington Times:

Two weeks ago, Ray Schulze was working in a barn at the Society of St. Francis no-kill animal shelter in Kenosha, Wis., when officials swarmed the shelter with a search warrant.

“[There were] nine [Department of Natural Resources] agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth,” Mr. Schulze told WISN 12. “It was like a SWAT team.”

The agents were there to retrieve a baby deer named Giggles that was dropped off by a family worried she had been abandoned by her mother, the station reported. Wisconsin law forbids the possession of wildlife.

“I said the deer is scheduled to go to the wildlife reserve the next day,” Mr. Schulze told the station. “I was thinking in my mind they were going to take the deer and take it to a wildlife shelter, and here they come carrying the baby deer over their shoulder. She was in a body bag. I said, ‘Why did you do that?’ He said, ‘That’s our policy,’ and I said, ‘That’s one hell of a policy.’”

This is not the first time that Cathy Stepp has taken on Bambi. The first time had the same bloody and horrific results, but without the overkill in getting there:

Pave Over Paradise, Put Up A Shooting Range

The Mackenzie Center in Poynette, Wisconsin, is a classic success story.

In 2005, the center was toppling at the edge of failure due to successive budget buts and short staffing.  Two groups, The Friends of the Mackenzie Center and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, stepped up to the plate and entered into an agreement with the DNR to run the place for the state.

Since then, they have turned the place around.  They now host 16,000 children a year, teaching general environmental education and outdoor skills.  The state's contribution to maintain the facility is $185,000, which is a mere .04% of the DNR's budget.  And that cost has not gone up in all the years of the contract.

But now, the Mackenzie Center is about to become a classic story of failure.

Scott Walker, acting through his sockpuppet political appointee, Cathy "Bambi-Killer" Stepp, says that's too much money.  Never you mind that he gives exponentially more money to his campaign donors and corporate masters every day.

Don't expect Walker to sweat the loss of important education for tens of thousands of children either.  First off, we know that he sees our children as being only so much chattel to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.  Secondly, if the kids get an education, especially regarding ecology and the environment, they might catch on that the iron mine bill is so much garbage and that fracking is killing the state, figuratively and literally.

Instead, Walker feels it's much easier to just go ahead and turn it over to the NRA and let them make it into a shooting range where they can hold controlled hunts.  That's what they call "sportsmanship."  I call it animal cruelty.

Another thing to note is that they aren't even bothering to pretend to hold a non-listening session.  Since they haven't given a damn what the people think, why should they keep up that facade?

Perhaps when the NRA build their shooting range, they could specialize in teaching people how to shoot themselves in the foot and call it the Wayne LaPierre Shooting Range.

To Rep. Scott Suder - Legislator of Wolf Slaughter

Representative Suder,

My name is Meg Moen. I am not in your district, but I am writing to you today because of your legislation that legalized wolf slaughter in our state.

I am greatly disturbed by this law. It nauseates me. I'm not sure if you are aware of not only how important wolves are to our ecosystem, but how close they've come to extinction in our lifetime. I know that you are bound to your rigid conservative ideology and controlled by money and special interests, but there comes a time when we must be adults and do what is right.

I know you consider people who are against your law, people who respect Wisconsin's wonderful wildlife and outdoors like the Humane Society of the United States, "radical" (which is beyond ridiculous and falls into laughable) but I think it's time you sincerely take a look at the hard scientific data, and reverse course on what is bound to be a tragic outcome for a species that is already in danger of going extinct. Wolves have been on and off protected species lists since 1979. It has taken from then until now for their numbers to grow. This months hunt has killed near 200 wolves. If we keep this up, it's only a matter of time until the Timber wolf is gone for good. In doing away with this law, we should be strengthening penalties on hunters who kill wolves illegally, as there were 15 illegal wolf killings in 2010, and to hunters who taunt, tease, and inhumanely capture wolves and hold them in captivity.

What really sickens me about this as much as the kill itself, is the show of blatant disrespect you, Scott Walker and the rest of the GOP have shown towards Native Americans who have been asking the Walker administration to think twice about this. Wolves are an integral part of Native American culture and beliefs, yet, instead of respecting those beliefs, you toss them aside and do what you want. We saw this during the mining debate last year. It's the utmost in impudence.

I am very sincere in my words here. I am hoping that as a tax payer of this state, you'll listen to me and the plethora of other outraged Wisconsin residents. Please give real thought to the excruciating consequences this assault on the wolf species will have. So many worked so hard for so long to ensure that wolves had a safe place to live so they could bring up their numbers. We cannot regress now. Wolves are too important to Wisconsin. They are an important piece of Northern Wisconsin and they are so important to Native Americans. We need to continue to make progress, not regress. We don't want wolves back on the endangered species list.

To everyone who might not have signed my petition yet urging Scott Walker and Cathy Stepp to end this hunt, you can do so here. Please share it with everyone you know!

Wisconsin's Wolf Kill - Rancid Policy

Humans have yet to find a peaceful, equal coexistence with animals. But that doesn't mean that while we are trying to find it, we have the right to cast a cruel gaze on those who are on four legs because we don't think they matter, or that we're more important. That idea is wrong and dangerous. It can change the future of animals on earth as we know it.

At one time in Wisconsin, the timber wolf population was extremely dire, even being listed as an endangered species. By 2004 (although the timber wolf has faced problems for many years before 2004) it was put on the list of "protected wild animals." From 2004 until 2011, the timber wolf went on and off different endangered and protected animal lists. I want to make this clear - I'm not too opposed to hunting deer (not that I personally would do it.) Deer hunting is great for our state's economy and it brings in money we desperately need, since King Walker has no plans to raise taxes on the 1% or create jobs. But I think when it comes to animals that were once state and federally endangered, I can't believe hunting is even in the picture. And I'm not the only one who feels this way. The Humane Society of the United States and other animal groups are threatening legal action if these wolf hunts do not stop. Act 169, the law Walker signed legalizing the hunting of timber wolves, is the worst thing to happen to them since being endangered. If these hunts continue, no matter what DNR secretary and Walker sheep Cathy Stepp says, the wolf will go right back to where it started. Its numbers will dwindle until it's almost gone. There is an entire delicate ecosystem that gets disrupted when one animal dies out. A food chain wrecked. It reeks havoc on our earth. 

Thankfully, Native American tribes here in the state helped keep 85 out of the designated-for-slaughter 116 wolves from being killed during this years hunt. As we saw with the whole mining fiasco, Scott Walker and his ilk are very disrespectful to the wishes of our states many tribes. Stepp essentially told the Chippewa tribe "too bad, so sad" when they argued that they have rights to many of the wolf packs in Northern Wisconsin. In fact, she has been fighting tribes every step of the way over this and other issues pertaining to hunting in the state. Here is her DNR all upset that the Chippewa were granted permission to hunt deer at night, regardless that the DNR has permitted legal wolf hunting at night to Wisconsin hunters.

But this is what I find most ironic about this entire thing. Act 169 also lays the groundwork for the use of dogs to track down wolves. Now, we're not talking about taking your dog pheasant or duck hunting. We're talking about ON PURPOSE using your dog to go find wolves. One of the main complaints against wolves is that they are attacking dogs. A small number of pets are killed each year by them. If the fear that wolves will eat your dog is so great that it requires slaughtering them, why are you using them to track and bait the wolves? Not to mention, that seems like animal cruelty to both the dog and the wolf. The law allows for up to 6 dogs per licensed hunter. Here's a tip - if you don't want wolves eating your dog, then don't use your dog to bait them. It's like waving a pork chop in their face and not expecting it to bite your hand.

The reality is is that wolves, bears, coyotes, hawks, fish, even the raccoon who eats your garbage, were all here first. We kicked them off their land. Because urban sprawl and climate change are growing at rates that seem to be faster than the speed of sound, animals are becoming more and more displaced. They are losing their natural homes in large numbers. We have no right to punish them for it. We need to learn to coexist now more than ever. If we're going to survive together, we need to learn respect our wild counterparts.

"The Earth does not belong to man; Man belongs to the Earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."

-Chief Seattle

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated…I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by people from the cruelty of human kind" -Mahatma Gandhi

 "A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is a bad as an act of cruelty to a human being."

-Prophet Mohammed

 "If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." 

 -Francis of Assisi

Caption This: Deer Hunting Edition Part 1

Have at it with our intrepid head of the DNR, Cathy Stepp:

New Caption This!

Time to Party Again - AFP Style

Some unemployment news broke recently that pertained to Wisconsin and the Nation. H/T Think Progress:

New data released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the private-sector added 450,000 more jobs as of March 2012 than previously thought. This means that the economy has crossed the threshold and more jobs have been created than lost during President Obama’s term.

While things are looking up nationally, the outlook in WI - Not so much!

 The employment picture in Wisconsin so far this year has been grim. Whereas the country has seen year-on-year (y/y) job growth above 1.0% each month through July, the Badger State has seen y/y declines every month. As of July, Wisconsin payrolls had shed 0.8% since the same time last year. Although the state's important manufacturing sector is creating jobs, expanding at a 1.3% pace since July 2011, many other sectors continue to decline. The already beleaguered construction sector continues to be pummeled, shedding 7.7% y/y in July because of continued weak demand for new single-family homes and a lack of public infrastructure projects. And contrary to the trend throughout most of the country, where professional and business services has been a stalwart of the recovery, that sector’s payrolls have declined 0.8% here. In addition, leisure and hospitality services jobs declined 6.7% from their July 2011 level. The finance sector continues to suffer as well, dropping 1.8% y/y in July. Although the state's jobless rate has remained below the national average, it continues to climb, with July bringing more bad news, when it climbed to 7.3% from 7.0% in June.

Of course, the jobs in Wisconsin are few and far between:

 The August unemployment rate (preliminary) has risen to 7.5% from 7.3 in July, and from 7.0% in December of 2011.

With this gloomy Wisconsin economic report & outlook, what has the Koch industry extremist group, Americans for Prosperity,  have to say about it?  

Let's PARTAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

Americans for Prosperity - WI present...

Freedom Fest and Concert with:

WI DNR Secretary - Cathy Stepp, President of the NRA - David Keene, Doctor Deer - Dr James Kroll, Rockstar of Radio - Vicki McKenna, celebrities from the Outdoor Channel and many more.

Entertainment by Jerry Schmitt Band

Saturday, October 6th, 2012
Kalahari Resort
1305 Kalahari Drive
Wisconsin Dells, WI
10:00 AM - 10:00 PM CT

**Tickets include lunch, evening buffet and concert!**


Invited guests details coming soon...

The news coming out of Wisconsin though, is not just we lost a few jobs, it is that the whole outlook does not look good, under Scott Walker and his minions for quite some time.   News that bad to Wisconsinites, really needs to be celebrated by more than just an incompetent secretary and hate radio squawker.  Americans for Prosperity is going all out to celebrate the bad news. 

AFP is bringing in the big dogs - failed country music singer Lorrie Morgan. 

Nothing like a Lorrie Morgan concert to celebrate the fact that the Governor they so blindly support, has massively failed the people of Wisconsin! 

I'm Sure It's All Legitimate...

Cory Liebmann at Eye On Wisconsin obtained the calendars for two of Scott Walker's cabinet members, Dennis Smith and Cathy Stepp.  They are quite the interesting reads.

I'm sure all the activities listed are legitimate, such as Dennis Smith meeting with the MacIver Institute.  Just because MacIver's mouthpiece, Brian Fraley, "served as the Senior Vice President for State Affairs at America's Health Insurance Plans in Washington, D.C. Fraley was also the national Health and Human Services Task Force Private Sector Chairman for the American Legislative Exchange Council," there's no reason to think that there was anything inappropriate going on.

And the fact the Stepp was meeting with campaign contributors is merely coincidental.

After all, it's not like Walker is under investigation for illegal politicking or running a campaign from his office, right?  And there's nothing to make one think that Walker would practice in pay-to-play activities, right?

Yeah, it's all legit. Just like the way Walker created all those jobs, right? Oh, crap.

I guess he figures that if he is going to be in trouble, he might as well go all the way and take as many down with him as he can.