Brian "Hagar" Hagedorn - 1000 AD Hero

By Jeff Simpson

We wrote recently how Wisconsin Law and Liberty (WILL) was nothing more than a well financed WISGOP Apology/Propaganda machine.  Rick Esenberg is at it again, this time he is standing alone on an island.   As so many typical right wing supporters are surprisingly jumping ship, Esenberg alone stands with Hagedorn.  When you make the money Rick makes to be an apologist, there is no lengths you will not go to protect that gravy train.   However, Esenberg while making a jumbled law argument, tipped his hand elsewhere, and probably did not even realize it(emphasis mine). 

And this is just as wrong as the idea that Hagedorn is somehow beyond the pale because he holds traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs about marriage.

Let's take a look: 

Christian marriage
Christians believe that marriage is a gift from God, one that should not be taken for granted. It is the right atmosphere to engage in sexual relations and to build a family life. Getting married in a church, in front of God, is very important.
A marriage is a public declaration of love and commitment. This declaration is made in front of friends and family in a church ceremony.

That is simple, most people are happy when friends/family get married in a church in front of family and friends.  Most people, not named Robin Vos or Donald Trump would agree with that.   It is the oldest trick in the book though by taking a sliver of his view and pretending that is relevant to all of his views. 

As we dig deeper, we realize that he holds views that would make Jerry Falwell Jr. say damm. 

Esenberg forgets to point out that Hagedorn also believes:

*  "The idea that homosexual behavior is different than bestiality as a constitutional matter is unjustifiable," he wrote in October 2005.

*  "There is no right in our Constitution to have sex with whoever or whatever you want in the privacy of your own home (or barn)," he wrote.

*  In one titled "Another reason why I hate Planned Parenthood," Hagedorn called it a "wicked organization" that was more devoted "to killing babies than to helping women." He said his litmus test for voting in an election was a candidate's position on abortion.
Hagedorn said he had committed himself to praying and lobbying to stop abortion. He went on to say his convictions on this issue and others were given to him by God.
"The Lord has laid three fundamental passions on my heart: 1) Protecting the dignity and sanctity of human life, 2) Defending and preserving the institution of marriage, and 3) Promoting racial reconciliation in the church and culture," he wrote in November 2005.

*  But he also said in his blog that the NAACP, the national civil rights group, was a "partisan hack" and a "disgrace to America" that should be repudiated by all who want racial reconciliation in the nation.

*  He called the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade "the worst and most unjustifiable decision in history."
"We are now 45 million Americans short. That's right, 45,000,000 human beings," he wrote in January 2006, estimating the number of abortions that had taken place since the Supreme Court ruling legalizing the practice. "For me, I highly resolve again today that these lives shall not have died in vain."

*  “Here’s the bottom line: Mormon theology is blatant heresy,” Hagedorn wrote in the post WisPolitics.com found using an internet archive. “Mormons are polytheists who believe we can become gods and who believe that both Jesus and Satan are sons of God the Father.”

These views are no where near the mainstream and it is why supporters are running off in droves, from the Wisconsin Realtors Association(who wants their money back) and the US Chamber of Commerce, do not want to touch this race or be associated with Hagedorn in the least. 

As Joel McNally writes, there is positives that come from such hateful rhetoric:

That move proved to be too much even for a majority of Republicans. That’s another positive political sign, along with the growing reluctance of Republican funders to finance openly bigoted candidates.

Now it is up to the people of Wisconsin to reject openly bigoted candidates in the Spring elections.   

Vote NO for hate and 15th Century beliefs and YES for Judge Lisa Neubauer!   

Here at Cogdis, we were able to find an old college picture of Brian Hagedorn in college where he cemented his beliefs! 

Republican Fantasy Land

By Jeff Simpson

While Rachel Campos Duffy feels that "political correctness" is a major problem in this country today, I believe that what might be our biggest problem in America today is how divorced from reality Republicans are.  

We all know that Ms. Duffy's husband and fellow "MTV Real World" contestant Sean, is worried because he only makes $174,000/yr. while the average salary in WI is $50,809/yr (less than a third of Duffy's).

Nationally,  Presidential would be contender and Junior Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio has come right out and said that he likes campaigning and wants to be paid his Senator's salary, but has no interest in doing any work to earn his salary.     What soured Rubio on public service?   He wanted to push a bill that made it easier to fire government workers who did not do their job, but it was blocked in the Senate.   

You can not make this stuff up. 

 Closer to home, we have our very own Governor who likes to make up stories on why we are in desperate need of civil service "reform".   Mr. Walker also made up stories about death threats to his family and himself, along  with a myriad of other half truths, false statements and pants on fire lies.  

Maybe the most egregious though, is the fact that the self proclaimed  "fiscal conservative" just finished a failed presidential run, where he spent $90,000 a day! 

In almost the same time that we found out that poverty has  increased in WI:

Five years into the nation’s recovery from recession, Wisconsin’s working families remain considerably worse off than they were before. Nearly three-quarters of a million Wisconsinites lived in poverty in 2014, according to a recent release of new Census data, which is 150,000 more than in 2007.  Poverty is more prevalent among children than adults, with about 1 in 6 Wisconsin kids in poverty last year.
The typical Wisconsin household earned significantly less in 2014 than a typical household in 2007 – about 9% less when the figures are adjusted for inflation. That drop in income makes it harder for families to put food on the table, pay car repair bills, save for their children’s educations, and make other investments that help them climb the economic ladder.

 Then JSonline PurpleWI Contributor Jay Miller tells us who cares that Scott Walker, took a full salary and benefits to campaign full time for President and blow through $7 million dollars in campaign funds in about 90 days. 

Enough already. In the last several days, the Journal Sentinel has run not one, but two, feature articles detailing how Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign ended up $1 million in debt.

 

Although it is not unusual for a candidate withdrawing from a failed race to have debts, the newspaper decided to trumpet this non-story. And, then, its watchdog columnist, Daniel Bice, provided the coup de grace with his Sunday column, “Walker mum on campaign spending”.

It is hard when people find no problem with a politician shirking his duties to campaign for a job he promised us he did not want and would not pursue, while spending $90,000/day. 

For context, that would bring two full time teachers to a public school in WI.  

Maybe the biggest problem facing Wisconsin is that the party in charge is either tone deaf or completely divorced from reality. 


Here Scott Walker partakes in an activity that 15.3 million children in the US a day do not get to. 
 

Why Stop There, Fellas?

Yesterday, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice reported that the state Department of Transportation squandered $85,000 on slapping their own back for finishing the Marquette Interchange project under budget and ahead of schedule. Some conservative bloggers, including notables James Wigderson and Owen Robinson noted this and decried the waste of taxpayers money on this unnecessary expenditure.

And they are correct in their complaints.

But my question for them is this: Why are you stopping at complaining about the chump change, relatively speaking?

Why are there no complaints about Scott Walker, who wants to waste not only our tax money, but also the future tax money of our children, on the ill-advised proposal to move the mental health complex to the former St. Michael's Hospital? Even with a $9 million cut in price, it is still more expensive than to upgrade the current facility, or to rebuild it on the current site. It would also remove any chance of affiliating with accredited hospitals like Froedtert or the Medical College, thereby losing federal funding. Not to mention that it would delay medical attention to patients that might need it in an emergency. It would also continue to under-utilize space that the county already owns and increases safety concerns, adding to the cause.

If that subject is not sexy enough for them, why aren't the conservatives complaining about another waste of money by the county? The county has spent nearly $1 million on Stuart Piltch, who was supposed to be their star witness in the lawsuit against the Mercer Human Resource Consulting Inc. We already know that Piltch's credibility had been called into question and has since dropped out as their star witness, leaving the county to scramble, and spend more money, to preserve their case.

Maybe a conservative wasting a million dollars isn't a big deal with them. So how about Governor Sarah Palin, who wants to spend $2 million to study crab sex, $3.2 million on seal genetics, and another half a million on how to catch a fish? And that is just the drop in the bucket. Palin has requested a total of $453 million in earmarks. No, they don't even mention it. Instead they sing their praises of her, because of her "high level of experience." Yeah, um, right. Whatever.

And not once do they complain about the mother of all government waste, that not only has wasted more than a half a trillion dollars, but have cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Yup, I'm talking about the unjust Iraq War. Instead of arguing against this mind-boggling waste of their taxpayer dollar, they are supporting the guy that wants to keep it going for decades.

I guess it's just a matter of perspective and priorities for them. Too bad theirs is so skewed.