Purple Vindication!

By Jeff Simpson

It has been an interesting week, first I posted this one Purple Wisconsin. 

Jim Bender is the President of the poorly named "school choice" Wisconsin.  Mr. Bender is also the face of the "For-Profit" School movement.   While Scott Jensen actually calls the shots, Jensen's tarred history makes it impossible for him to be the face of anything.   

Mr. Bender has decided to make the public schools, and public money continue to work for him.  Mr, Bender is paid a King's ransom to take as much Wisconsin taxpayer public education dollars as he can get his hands on, and funnel to the private/voucher schools.  A parasite is someone that exists to take from another. 

Mr.  Bender however, has reached a new low.   He wants to know everything about YOUR children.  

School choice advocates have requested the names, addresses, phone numbers and grade levels of every student enrolled in 30 different public school districts, gearing up for a marketing campaign should lawmakers lift the enrollment cap on Wisconsin's statewide voucher program.

Directory information includes information such as students' names, addresses, telephone numbers, date and place of birth, major field of study, height, weight, athletic team participation, awards achieved and schools attended.

The information is key to rounding out important school items such as yearbooks, playbills, sports rosters, announcements to the media about student accomplishments and contact lists that help families communicate with each other.

Being exposed to the light is not something that plays particularly well, it led to incredible faux outrage by Mr. Bender, a hissy fit a 12 year old could be proud of by Charley Sykes and Jimmy Wigderson spinning it in an incomprehensible garble of words that we have come to expect from him.     

The Faux outrage was strong in these ones.  

However, Simpson's post at Purple Wisconsin was enough to send Bender on a bender.  Bender went whining and crying to Ernst-Ulrich Franzen, a member of the paper's editorial board, complaining that Simpson compared him to a pedophile.  Even though Simpson went to great pains to do just the opposite, Franzen jumped on the chance to stifle the truth and took down the blog site.

On Monday, squawk show host and adulterer Charlie Sykes went on a rampage against Simpson.  With the sound of his spittle hitting the microphone, Sykes said that Simpson lived in a "fever swamp" and called him "demented," "sick," and "a liar."

Sykes went on to say how MJS was wrong for ever giving Simpson their format to use and that he should be banned from the site.

 Then this happened:

 Green Bay, Wisconsin, February 18, 2015 - School Choice Wisconsin has revised its original open records request made on February 9, 2015 to the Green Bay Area Public School District for student directory data in order to address concerns that were raised by parents, legislators(progressive bloggers) and the Green Bay Area Public School District.

If Mr. Bender can release a press statement, so can I:

This doesnt happen without public pressure.  I am proud that I had a hand in this,even if it meant that Jim Bender & Wisconsin School choice got me kicked off of JSOnline, because Charles Sykes and Jimmy Wigderson had a hissy fit.
I will stand up for the kids every single time. It is unfortunate that standing up for the privacy rights of our children, and against the privatizing of our public education, is something that comes with consequences. EVERY word I wrote was the truth, and the truth was too much for them.

Make sure and ask David D. Haynes, who in our media will now stand for the truth and the kids, regardless of the consequences. It sure isnt Christian Schneider or Rick Esenberg .

I get that Purple Wisconsin wants to promote a nicer agenda, and my passion comes through too strong at times, but I think they should make truth and facts equal to niceties.

Thanks to Cognitive Dissidence & Chris Capper Liebenthal and John 'Sly' Sylvester for allowing me to have a forum to get the real truth out there!

Now lets help Dave Hansen and Eric Genrich pass legislation to stop this from happening in the future.

Vindication and Onward!

 So thanks to Charley Sykes and Jim Wigderson also for helping put the spotlight on the despicable acts School Choice WI was attempting to get away with.  If this ever happens in your district in the future, let us know and here is Mr. Bender's contact information:

No media interviews will be granted by GBAPS or School Choice Wisconsin. Clarifying questions should be directed to GBAPS Director of Communications Lori Blakeslee at 920-448-2025 or School Choice Wisconsin President Jim Bender at 414.319.9160.

Which Side Are You On

By Jeff Simpson

Yesterday I pointed out that the weekend messages between Mary Burke, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and Scott Walker is virtually indistinguishable.

Apparently Zach @bloggingblue took some umbrage with pointing out the truth, so he dug up an OLD quote from Marty Beil.

The problem is, and I know that Zach understands this, that quote is 3 years old when the state was incredibly different.   In 2010 the left and all of their supporters got their ass kicked badly in the election.   They knew that the first thing that the republicans would do is come to them for their pound of flesh.

The union leadership understood this and offered it up.  As  John Mccain says "elections have consequences" and when 40% of the union membership votes for people who want their scalp, then you have to pay the piper when those people get elected.  That is the way the world works these days. 

So to use a three year old quote that was said while ACT10 was being debated, is downright dishonest.   It also assumes that the world or the state has not changed since then.   In the real world, we know that ACT10 was an abject failure.   It has been responsible for the state lagging behind in pretty much economic indicator that is measurable.

If you want to compare what Mary Burke says now to what Marty Beil says now, you should ask him!

Sly did just that yesterday:



"For her to say they should have paid more is a stupid thing to say" Marty Biel

Sly Steps Up

by Jeff Simpson

Sly feels, and we at CogDis agree that, while we dont mind a little rhetoric at times, violence and attacking a politicians family is completely uncalled for and should be punished. 

For those of you who do not know,  Scott Walker in his , I really really want to be president tour, spoke at a fundraiser in Alabama, told the Associated Press that his children were spit upon in a grocery store!

Walker described the turmoil during the protests that surrounded the Wisconsin capitol.

He said he received death threats, and his mother and son were shouted at and spit upon during a trip to the grocery store.

Well unfortunately, Scott Walker has put a premium on stopping the singing in the Capitol and not in defending his own family.   The "Mad Spitter" is still at large.     As is usually the case, when the republicans drop the ball, the progressives have to do the heavy lifting.  

John Sylvester is appalled that someone would actually do such a heinous act, so he is putting his money where his mouth is.  Sly wants this criminal brought to justice. 

Again, The Voices Of The People Are Squelched By Corporate Greed

At the end of last year, Madison was rocked when the manglement at WTDY suddenly canned John "Sly" Sylvester without warning and without recourse.

Fortunately, Sly came back on the air at a different station and the left regained their voice in South Central Wisconsin.

Sadly, more voices were squelched in Milwaukee today.  Not just lefty voices, but the voices of the African American community (emphasis mine):

Milwaukee radio station WMCS-AM (1290), which has served the African-American community via talk programs and music for two decades, is changing its programming but the station’s manager declined to disclose on-air plans.

The station began playing all-Elvis Presley music at 10 a.m. Tuesday, signaling the change.

“There will be a format flip,” said Bill Hurwitz, vice president and general manager of the Milwaukee Radio Alliance, which runs the station. “It is a very difficult thing to do, but it is strictly a business decision. Radio stations need to make money and serve the community.”

The most high-profile personality on the station was morning show host Eric Von, who was a host at the station from 2004 through 2009 and returned in 2010. 

Von and all but four members of the WMCS staff have been terminated, Hurwitz said.

Did you notice that making money came before serving the community. That is one of the greatest crises facing this city, this county, this state and this country.

Everything revolves around the Almighty Dollar, and if it doesn't make you enough money, it has to go. It is the rebirth of Ronald Reagan's "Me generation" which is now summarized as "As long as I got mine..."

WMCS also was home to Earl Ingram, who was a great part of the station. My favorite part of it was when he put William T. Harris in his place.

Their voices will be sorely missed and we can only hope that they come back to Milwaukee's airwaves in short order.

Our whole community is a lesser place without them.

WTDY: Under New Manglement

The big news of the day, at least if you live in the Madison area, was the firing of John "Sly" Sylvester and several other staff members at WTDY.

I can not honestly say that I am as upset as some of my friends, but that is mostly because I'm in Milwaukee and had never heard their station or met any of them. That said, I think it's a great loss whenever a voice gets silenced like that.

However, my distance from these events gives me the advantage of an objective view and a chance to see the big picture. Here are some of the things I've noticed.

Scott Wittkopf cited Sly's announcement of his termination from the station:

Message to everybody: I just want to inform you that today was my last day of employment at WTDY. After 15 years, I was told that my services were no longer needed. I would like to thank everybody that’s supported my program. It’s been a pleasure to share this wonderful experience with you. I need to take a big deep breath this weekend and figure out what my future plans are. But, old Winter Soldiers NEVER DIE, and I look forward to letting you know what lies ahead. Solidarity!

-SLY

That, in my humble opinion, is class. He was direct, and he was upbeat even though his heart must have been breaking. After all, the man had been with the station for fifteen years, which is forever in radio time.

Then again, Sly's positive message could be because they could not make any negative comments about the station, lest they lose their severance package, as reported by Emily Mills. How that's not extortion, I don't know. But it might be the norm for the radio/TV business.

As one would expect, the right wingers were celebrating eight more people losing their jobs the day before Thanksgiving.

Kevin Binversie, a propagandist in the Kochs' employment, and Owen Robinson, an AFP zombie, both stated the change in format was because of low ratings, even though neither one of them offered any proof for their scurrilous remarks.

They offer no proof because they have none. They have no proof because it's not true.

Here's a few things to keep in mind.

If a radio station is going to change formats, this is the time of year they usually do so.

As noted above, Sly has been doing this gig for 15 years, they don't get rid of them at a drop of the hat for ratings. It would take something really egregious.

Furthermore, their ratings weren't low. Wittkopf quoted another WTDY staffer who was fired, Crystal McKenzie Parker, who said that their ratings were the best in 10 years. The last two years of the illegal and unethical behaviors of the Republicans is fodder for shows like Sly's, so it is more likely true that they have had higher ratings.

While it's true that ratings correlate with how much a station can charge for ad time, it's also true that ratings don't necessarily mean a change in format. If radio stations were only interested in revenue, Clear Channel would have dropped Rush Limbaugh long ago. Limbaugh's history of over the top sexist and racist remarks is having such a negative effect on revenue that it is starting to hurt stations that don't even carry him:

Doug Stephan, president of Stephan MultiMedia and host of the nationally syndicated “Good Day” program, had this to offer:

Let’s face it, the agencies and advertisers are how we survive. So to tell them that their clients are stupid for not staying in an atmosphere in which they don’t want to be is akin to the Republicans not reading the tea leaves about changing demographics.

I’m not here to argue the point, but rather to tell you what this ONE incident has cost me as an independent in a sea of big corporate operators, who are obviously losing tens of millions of dollars due to this one event.

So far this year, my losses are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cancellations, avoidance and decisions to just not buy across the whole format, no matter what the content...

I’m not looking for Limbaugh to send me a check (although that would be nice), but I do think we have to let it be known that his actions have been devastating to our survival.

The real reason for the change has to do with two things.

One, they just brought in a new general manager in June. Odds are that this pinhead was brought in to be a hatchet man or he wanted to make a name for himself by being "bold."

Secondly, the new format will be sports talk, relying heavily on a national feed. This is the radio version of a Bain-type of outsourcing. But the experienced and more costly staff and ship the work to somewhere else where they'll do it much cheaper. Then the general manager can point to the higher profits and try to cover up the lower ratings.

The investors will be happy raking in the higher profit and won't know about the ratings until it's too late.

On an end note, I just wanted to point out the biggest ass regarding this whole affair. No, it's not Brett Hulsey either.

It's the Las Vegas Badger, who was not satisfied with the crew getting fired on the day before Thanksgiving, but wished that Sly had a fatal accident:

To [sic] bad this thug didn't accidentally touch any electrical lines that power the radio tower as he left the building for the last time.

No wonder the right is against anyone but them. It's the only way that that buttheads like this, who aren't worth the time of day, can get anyone to pay attention to them.