Bradley Foundation Gives $250,000 To Racist Charles Murray

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the Bradley Foundation gave a million dollars to Charles Murray to research and write "The Bell Curve." This book argued that African Americans are genetically inferior to whites and thus are not as smart. It further argued that for this reason, it didn't pay to spend a lot of money to try to educate black children:

The explosive conclusions of The Bell Curve are now common knowledge. What is less well known is that the country's leading conservative foundation paid co-author Charles Murray $1 million to write the book. Foundation funding of research is nothing new. But Murray's support from the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation is an example of the highly ideological research that conservative foundations favor as they seek to mold public policy. Even in the marketplace of ideas, it takes money to compete.

The Bell Curve's key educational policy recommendation dovetails with the Bradley Foundation's top education priority: support for school choice, including public funds for private and religious schools. This bolsters the case of those who argue that despite the rhetoric of choice, many voucher advocates have abandoned the vision of a quality education for all children. Says Robert Lowe, associate professor at National Louis University and an editor of the journal Rethinking Schools:

The Bell Curve is a smoking gun. It maintains that the poor—including the majority of African Americans—are generally incapable of benefiting from education..

..

C.J. Prentiss, an Ohio legislator (Independent/Democrat) who has been active in the African-American community opposing vouchers, also notes that voucher advocates have tried to win converts by arguing that vouchers would improve educational opportunities for the poor:

You have to be suspicious of someone who argues that on the one hand, African Americans are dumber than whites, and then, on the other, comes into the Black community and says, `We are going to make you as bright as you can be, here are some vouchers.... I believe vouchers are simply a way to dismantle public schools and use tax dollars to fund an elitist private school system. But voucher advocates know it would be suicide to say that openly.

They've used this to argue for school privatization and education cuts for decades.

This weekend, the Bradley Foundation announced that they just gifted $250,000 to Murray for work that is "consistent with our mission":

The Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation helped propel the career of conservative scholar Charles Murray, who famously argued in a 1994 book that genetic differences between white and black people were a partial cause for differences in IQ.

Now Murray, 73, is getting another prize from the Bradley Foundation — a $250,000 check.

Michael Grebe, president and CEO of the Bradley Foundation, said the $850 million nonprofit group honored Murray with the money to "recognize distinguished conservatives that we feel have made outstanding achievements that are consistent with our mission."

The foundation gives Bradley Prizes — the conservative equivalent of genius grants — to up to four individuals annually. Recipients of the awards can spend the $250,000 as they want.

I bet that a quarter million dollars would buy a lot of white robes.

The WIzards of Waukesha

By Jeff Simpson

The Wizards of Waukesha are seriously concerned about Madison, WI because of all those libUrals.

From the time that Wiggy was upset with Madison for not locking up all black men for life, to the time he was upset that one of the cutting edge black box theatre's in Madison was performing an independent play about life in Fitzwalkerstan, to the time when he touted how perfect a fit wild bill Kramer was as the rep of Waukesha because "Madison Liberals" did not like him(is he out of prison yet?).

While those are just a few of the examples of Wiggy sitting on his holier than thou wacko throne, while collecting wing nut welfare* and acting superior to everyone in the liberal bastion of Dane County.

His latest word jumble is no exception.

The Madison Metropolitan School District moved closer this week to making its employees, including teachers, contribute to the cost of their health insurance plans for the first time. At the same time, officials are contemplating ways to pay staff more so they won’t feel the change.
Until now, Madison school officials have resisted using the authority granted to them under Act 10 to change public employee benefits without going through collective bargaining. 

In typical fashion, it only takes Wiggy one sentence to get his facts wrong(and it goes downhill from there).   Currently the members of MTI pay $20 per medical visit and considerably more for an emergency room trip.   I know this because my family is insured through MMSD and we have racked up well over $500 so far this year in $20 visits.   So to say that we do not "contribute to the cost of health insurance" is blatantly not true.   Those pesky facts keep being Jimmy's biggest obstacle.

Anyway let's look a little deeper into his blog.  Wiggles points out that:

Nationally, employees who receive health care coverage through their employer pay an average 18 percent of the health insurance premium cost for single coverage and 29 percent for family coverage, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey . In Wisconsin, the average employee contribution for single coverage is 21 percent and 22 percent for family coverage.

However the UW-Milwaukee grad in International relations, has obviously never taken an economics class in his career, because he fails to point out that the pay gap between private and public sector workers is anywhere from 12-35%.  A quick check using math, says that if you are making 35% less to begin with and then have to pay the exact same for needlessly rising costs of health care, that is a considerably higher percentage for the public worker.  

But wait there is more, there is always more.


Meanwhile the democratically elected Madison School Board is debating how they can possibly cover the massive cuts to education that Scott Walker and GOP legislators have slashed well over 1 billion dollars from public education AND then expanded the voucher school system (sucking more dollars from Public education).   As part of that solution, they are being forced to make the employees pay for their ever increasing health care benefits.   Many on the board understand that the teachers have been the punching bag in WI politics lately and trying to also figure out a way to make them whole.

Which of course did not sit well with the right wing and Jim W addresses that by going to another of his peers on the wing nut welfare* line -  Maciver Foundation President Brett Healy (who also has zero education experience) for a further review the far right partisan line.

Brett Healy, president of the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a Madison-based free-market think tank, called nonsense on Loumos and the entire debate.
“I hope state legislators recognize what a fraud this is,” he said in an interview with Wisconsin Watchdog. “And when the Madison school district goes to the Capitol next year, hopefully the legislators will remember the budget shenanigans that are going on right now and stand up for local taxpayers. The Madison school district does not have a revenue problem. The Madison school district has a spending problem.”
Exhibit A? Even as the board finally gets around to making district employees contribute toward their health care premiums, Healy said, they simultaneously try to figure out how to “give the employees big enough raises to fully cover their benefit contributions.”
“Madison taxpayers should be outraged that the Madison school board is playing these sort of reckless fiscal games,” Healy said.

Mr. Healy, who makes well over $130,000/ yr with Cadillac benefits, in his fake think tank job, while the average teachers pay in Wisconsin is a little over a third of his salary, is outraged that the democratically elected school board does not want to force a pay cut on its valued staff.

If there is a better example of the blind leading the blind than a conversation between Wigderson and Healy, I have yet to see it.   It gets worse.  Healy, never learned the old axiom of it is better to be quiet and thought a fool then to speak and leave no doubt.

“Act 10 has been an unmitigated success throughout the state of Wisconsin, everywhere except the Madison school board,” Healy said. “Statewide taxpayers have seen over $5 billion in savings thanks to Act 10 and it’s time the Madison school board join everyone else in utilizing these tools in realizing some taxpayer relief.”

Reader of CogDis, know that ACT10 in reality has been an unmitigated failure! It has been well documented through the years how much damage taking $5 billion dollars of demand out of our economy has been.

While I do not expect these two to understand the realities of the Wisconsin economy, as they sit on their ivory throne in Waukesha.   As Upton Sinclair pointed out, they are just being good employees.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” 

― Upton Sinclair

However since the rest of us are not part of the Mike Grebe extremist gravy train, let's break this down a bit more.   

Starting with the fact that teachers do not have a typical day in the office.   

Here are the things your friends can do at work:
1. Pee
2. Get coffee
3. Spend fifteen minutes chatting leisurely with a colleague
4. Go out to lunch
5. Complete paperwork and other job-related tasks during the actual work day
6. Sit down occasionally

Besides the work place demands that most others do not have, teachers have incredibly low pay for the hours they work and the responsibility they have.  Some stats:

 At the moment, the average teacher’s pay is on par with that of a toll taker or bartender. Teachers make 14 percent less than professionals in other occupations that require similar levels of education. In real terms, teachers’ salaries have declined for 30 years. The average starting salary is $39,000; the average ending salary — after 25 years in the profession — is $67,000. This prices teachers out of home ownership in 32 metropolitan areas, and makes raising a family on one salary near impossible.So how do teachers cope? Sixty-two percent work outside the classroom to make ends meet. For Erik Benner, an award-winning history teacher in Keller, Tex., money has been a constant struggle. He has two children, and for 15 years has been unable to support them on his salary. Every weekday, he goes directly from Trinity Springs Middle School to drive a forklift at Floor and Décor. He works until 11 every night, then gets up and starts all over again. Does this look like “A Plan,” either on the state or federal level?

I know Governor Divide and Conquer likes to complain about teachers work habits, It works great when speaking to the less intelligent Sykes crowd, but the reality is it is forcing not only people out of the profession but also is keeping our best and brightest students running away from the profession.

 For college graduates who have other options, this kind of pressure, for such low pay, doesn’t make much sense. So every year 20 percent of teachers in urban districts quit. Nationwide, 46 percent of teachers quit before their fifth year. The turnover costs the United States $7.34 billion yearly. The effect within schools — especially those in urban communities where turnover is highest — is devastating.

It is not getting any better as even the higher paying districts are having a hard time filling positions.

With teachers leaving the profession in droves, colleges turning out less teachers every year, even the Wiggy Wizards from Waukesha should be able to see that we are heading for trouble.

Maybe Wiggy is just mad that his kid could not handle the rigor of a public school and had to stay home and play on his computer.

It is sad when someone is given a forum and abuses it so badly just for political purposes.  It is even worse that anyone would consider these two reliable and credible sources.  

The reality is they should  worry about their own backyard before they continue trying to legislate for everyone else.   It is hard to take someone serious about how Government should run, when they can barely drink their own water.

* Wing nut welfare: Is when people that would be otherwise unemployable, keeps getting moved from one right wing loony "think tank" to another and get paid to push propaganda bu their bosses.  They switch them back and forth amongst these dark money Grebe/Bradley organizations to make it seem like they have relevant and knowledgeable experience(Pssst - they do not).


Exclusive picture of Jimmy Wigderson, from Facebook public profile, at a fact finding briefing.

The Law Bores The GOP

By Jeff Simpson


If you remember, the Bradley Foundations, latest employee to be given the power of elected office Rebecca Bradley.  

Also rememeber that Ms. Bradley was the appointed member of the Walker Crony squad and one of the first things she did as a Supreme Court Justice, and member of the highest court in the state, was to leave the court in the middle of oral arguments to run to a fund raiser put on by her bosses.  

Well disrespect for the law and their position goes even higher than the Wisconsin Supreme Court, all the way up to Supreme Court of the US.  Justice Clarence Thomas, he of the wife who is crazy tea party fame, apparently is up too late at night trying to think of an actual question to ask, that he can not stay awake during his day job.  

A recent Supreme Court Sketch artist released a drawing of inside the courtroom:



Notice anything there?  Yes that is a sketch artists drawing of Justice Thomas sleeping.   I guess the case was boring him, and since he is a far right ideologue and joke on the court, and like Bradley, he knows how he is told to vote, so who needs to listen to the details?

Whats next?  If I did not know better,  I would think that the GOP would have such a lack of respect for the law that Scott Walker will appoint David " Ike Turner" Prossers appointment as someone who did a barnstorming tour in local bars speaking with hate talker Vicki Mckenna on a perverted version of freedom.  

Nah!  Nat even Scott Walker is that brazen with that little respect for the law?

Right?

Jesus Trojan Lunch

By Jeff Simpson 

In Middleton, WI, a select group of parents have turned the local high school into a modern day City of Troy.  

Despite the seperation of church and state being the law of the land, since a January 1, 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury Baptist Association inConnecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper. Jefferson wrote,

“

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."[1]

”

Jefferson was echoing the language of the founder of the first Baptist church in America, Roger Williams who had written in 1644 of "[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world."Article Six of the United States Constitution also specifies that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Jefferson's metaphor of a wall of separation has been cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Reynolds v. United States (1879) the Court wrote that Jefferson's comments "may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the [First] Amendment." In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), JusticeHugo Black wrote: "In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state."^[2]

In the Middleton, WI school district just outside of Madison, WI, these parents have started baking brownies and bringing in food to entice young children to listen to their version of the Bible over the lunch hour.  

On one side is a group of Christian moms armed with Chick-fil-A sandwiches and 400 homemade brownies. On the other side are public school administrators who believe that Jesus and plump juicy chicken breasts are “divisive.”
The controversy surrounds an off-campus lunch event involving students at Middleton High School known as “Jesus Lunch.”  

The public park, across the street from the school is leased by the school district and the school correctly feels that these lunches should not be on campus and should stop immediately.

The school district leases the park during school hours, the email said, so policies that apply to the school campus extend to the park during that time. Those include rules about food safety and food preparation, food allergy procedures and visitor policies.
“We believe that religious or political events do not have a place in our school or on our campus, except when sponsored by a student group in accordance with our rules, which require prior approval,” the email said. “In addition, many students have conveyed to us their concern about a group offering free food to incentivize participation in a religious event on campus.”

Setting aside that it is creepy for a few parents to use brownies to lure kids into your trap, it is blatant illegal and goes against everything that we stand for in this country.  

This story has been getting some coverage locally and even nationally, but no one sees it for what it is.   There was a clue though that does(emphasis mine).

A statement from the organizers provided by parent Beth Williams asserted the group is legally allowed to hold the lunch at the park and said students aren’t required to participate in the religious message portion to partake in the food. “Fireman’s Park — a public park owned by the city of Middleton — remains accessible to everyone in the public for the purposes of assembly and free speech,” the statement said. “By law, the lease agreement between the city and the school district of Middleton does not privatize the park.”

Plank and Johnson said in the email to parents that the organizers have threatened legal action against the school district.

If you do not think that the dark money of Michael Grebe and the Bradley Foundation are not controlling every move of these "Christian" parents, just waiting for the School District to stop this so they can sue, then I have a Governor who cares about creating jobs to sell you.   

Here is what is planned.  They want these parents to be kicked off the school grounds so they can sue.  It will cost the Middleton Cross Plains School District tenss of thousands of dollars, to defend, while Mike G will send his gopher Rick Esenberg to defend these parents pro bono.   Esenberg will get shot down in all of the lower courts, but contnue appealing until he can get it in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. 

Then his cowaorkers on the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, will rule in his favor and open the floodgates for "Christianity" to take over our public schools.  

You heard it here first, watch and see how this plays out!  

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. - Matthew 6:5. 

Bradley's Bungles

By Jeff Simpson 

Here at CogDis, we have been bringing you the story of how Republican Supreme Court Nominee Rebecca Bradley is an empty suit and is being pushed to the Supreme Court to do Walker's bidding, and not because of her qualifications.  

As we have seen over time, the Supreme Court holds more power than anyone and its imperative that it stop being a dysfunctioning den full of Michael Grebe's employees ordered to give Scott Walker cover.  

The thing about Ms. Bradley is it is so obvious that she is strictly a Walker crony that we could write a story everyday about what she did that day to flash her incompetence.  

For instance we know that she feels its ok to lie in her campaign advertisements.  As the Wisconsin Republicans so often do, Ms. Bradley realized if she can get away with lying in her campaign ads, why not turn it up a notch.   Now her campaign has been push polling people in this race.

For those that do not know what a push poll is,   Wikipedia says a “push poll is a form of telemarketing-based propaganda and rumor mongering” and is an attempt “to influence or alter the view of voters under the guise of conducting a poll.”    

For example, the George W Bush campaign used a push poll when they were competing gainst John McCain.  They called people and said "would you vote for John McCain if you knew he was the father of bastard children(his children were adopted)?"   See they ask a hypothetical as if it is true to put doubt in voters minds.  Its a despicable practice and one perfected by the Republican slime machine.    

Secondly, there is Ms. Bradley's performance itself.   In the first case she heard, she had no problem ruling against the defendant, despite the fact that she was not on the court to hear the original arguments.   

Justice Rebecca Bradley's first decision on a case since joining the Wisconsin Supreme Court in October has created a little buzz -- and she didn't even write an opinion.
Bradley's tie-breaking vote in a 4-3 ruling that broadly interpreted a doctrine that lets police use evidence seized without a warrant has come under fire from the defendant who would otherwise have won the case.
Charles Matalonis contends Bradley's vote violated his rights to due process and equal protection, and left the appearance that Bradley was biased toward law enforcement groups who are backing her current campaign for election to the job.
Earlier, the state Court of Appeals had agreed to suppress evidence - a marijuana plant - that Kenosha police found after entering Matalonis' locked bedroom without a search warrant.  A 3-3 tie on the high court would have affirmed that ruling.
Bradley wasn't on the court when it heard oral argument in the case, and she had abstained from several other decisions the court issued on cases heard before her appointment Oct. 9, to replace Justice Patrick Crooks, who died Sept. 21.
But she formed a majority to reverse the prior ruling on Matalonis, on the grounds that police were not investigating a crime when they discovered the plant, but were exercising a "community caretaker" function, making sure no injured person was inside the room. They had followed a blood trail to Matalonis' house after his brother, who had clearly been beaten, arrived at a neighbor's house.

That decision was so successful, that Ms. Bradley now feels she does not have to be there for any of the arguments as she took off in the middle of one recently to go affirm to the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce that she will rule however she is told to rule!  

MADISON, Wis. -Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley left oral arguments in a pending case before they had concluded so she could give a speech to the state chamber of commerce, a group that's spent heavily in past court elections in favor of conservative candidates.

Ms. Bradley only makes $147,403/yr with Cadillac Benefits, you can not expect her to do her job with such paltry pay.   Besides the Republicans have made it clear to her that she is there to serve them not us!    

If this frustrates someone who feels the rule of law should trumo a political ideology, then I would recommend going to see Ms. Bradley at one of her campaign appearances.  It will cost you though, because the best place to find her would be at a Republican Legislator fundraiser.   

Here is Scott Walker pulling her strings at a press conference.    

For the Good of Wisconsin and the Future for our children, lets elect someone who takes the law seriously and is not beholden to extreme ideology - Vote Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg!   

When The Right Wing Speech Police Targeted Me

By Jeff Simpson

While there is much gloating going on at White Wisconsin and other Michael Grebe Funded websites, that the bought and paid for right wing partisan Supreme Court has ended any investgation into the Governor's wrongdoing, this headline stuck out as especially funny.

This one from Charely Sykes:

Charlie Sykes | 2 days earlier

When The Speech Police Targeted Me

The John Doe's bizarre attack on conservative media.

It was earlier this year that Charley Sykes, and his righty blogger minions,  himself worked very hard to get me kicked off the Purple Wisconsin blogger roll.  After exposing the unbelievable attack on our children's privacy by Jim Bender and the for profit school choice movement, he was successful.  The Mike Grebe/Scott Jensen money weighs big in this state.  

What does it take to get kicked off the editorial pages of the Journal Sentinel website? Lots and lots of unhinged posts to embarrass himself. As Collin Roth wrote recently lamenting the soon to be end of the first amendment: - The political left is constantly looking for ways to cut off debate. It starts in the political and cultural realm where issues are determined to be “settled.” Once a consensus is reached, voices try to discredit and delegitimize those holding different viewpoints and dissenters are dealt with like pariahs or worse - criminals. We have a very deep supply of irony in Wi. What makes this even more hilarious is his closing paragraph.  Freedom is never more than a generation from extinction. If you have the eyes to see it, freedom is in the fight of its life. From the political and judicial realm to those of culture and business, the First Amendment is being eroded in every sphere. The trajectory is not good. Debate is being curtailed. Government’s power and reach is expanding. And our republic is losing the diversity and vibrancy that has served it so well through times of triumph and trial. Of course Roth was able to write this silly victimation of the right on his Right Wisconsin website, which at one time was paid for by Lee Enterprises, the owners of the biggest media outlets in WI(their product has been so poor, thanks in large part to this not sure who owns them anymore).   Roth could also go on Hate talkers Charely Sykes, Jeff Wagner, Mark Belling, Jerry Bader and Vicki Mckenna's radio shows to tell everyone how the right is a victim of losing their "free speech". Roth could also go to numerous right wing extremist websites like Wisconsin Watchdog, MacIver Institute, WPRI, Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Institute,  Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, and a list of many others. If that is not gettng his message across that free speech is dead for those on the right wing, he could also take it to numerous bloggers, including 90% of Purple Wisconsin who identify with far far right of center. If he is even more desperate than that, he can write a Letter to the Editor, to every paper in Wisconsin and get it published. Yes Collin Roth and our friends on the right are victims in the incredible war on speech that only Republicans seem to be affected.    If only they had some way to get their message across to the people of Wisconsin. Maybe we can have Mike Grebe set up another tax free "non political" 501c3 to help fight this horrible war on our Republic. Thank goodness we have Patriots like Collin Roth to fight these battles!

Will WILL Stop Filing Frivolous Lawsuits Now?

By Jeff Simpson

A few months ago, righty blogger Dave Blaska, was enlisted as the patsy, by Wisconsin Law and Liberty and Scott Walker's campaign chairman Michael Grebe(whose son was the crony appointed to the UW-Madison Board of Regents).  

They filed a frivolous lawsuit against the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) for negotiating a one year contract extension with their teachers while ACT 10 was stayed.  In an era where our Governor's only strength is dividing the state, having labor peace is a successfully negotiated contract does not sit very well with Scott.

So failed Presidential candidate Scott Walker did what he does best, sicced his minions on them.   NOT that our friends on the right ever coordinate, but everyone on the far right, showed the same giddiness at the exact same time, thinking that the Shark would really punish the MMSD for giving teachers a 0.75% wage increase after having salaries frozen for years(for those scoring at home, Esenberg as head of his "nonprofit" makes $210,000/yr and is suing teachers for negotiating an approx $382 raise).    

The Madison School Board and Metropolitan School District (“MMSD”) are forcing their teachers to abide by – and taxpayers to pay for – an illegal labor contract with terms violating Act 10 based upon unlawful collective bargaining with Madison Teachers, Inc. (“MTI”).  Today, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (“WILL”), on behalf of David Blaska, a Madison taxpayer, filed a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court against the Madison School Board, MMSD, and MTI requesting a declaration that the contract is unlawful and a permanent injunction on its usage.
“The Madison School Board can choose not to utilize the Act 10 tools that would better serve their children and taxpayers, but they cannot enter into a contract containing terms prohibited by Act 10,” said Rick Esenberg, President and General Counsel of WILL.  “In every case in which Act 10 has been challenged, the courts have held that it is constitutional.  Labor contracts, such as the one between the School Board and MTI, that violate state law are invalid and unenforceable.”  

All fine and good, and it is nice to know that the Shark is at Scott Walker's beck and call.  It is however unfortunate that the children of MMSD must suffer, by having to defend this frivolous lawsuit, because Scotty Walker threw a temper tantrum.  

Luckily for all involved, the Honorable Judge Richard Niess just threw this silly lawsuit out.

  A Dane County judge dismissed a lawsuit Monday by a conservative blogger that sought to void teacher contracts in the Madison School District.Judge Richard Niess rejected the lawsuit on procedural grounds, saying blogger David Blaska did not follow the required legal steps.
Specifically, the judge said Blaska, a taxpayer in the district, failed to first serve the district with a notice of claim before filing the lawsuit, a requirement that would have given the district 120 days to respond.

Maybe now someone can serve Blaska, Esenberg, Grebe with papers asking for our taxpayer money back, we had to waste in defending this twaddle.  

How much more taxpayer money will WILL cost the fine people of WI before they stop filing frivolous lawsuits?

Mediatrackers Plays (Foot)Loose With the Facts

By Jeff Simpson

Mediatrackkkers and Brian Sikma is at it again.   Apparently modeling his hero the Rev. Shaw Moore, now dancing is something that the Bradley Foundation funded Media Trackers is attacking.

  Dance degrees are offered at six University of Wisconsin system campuses, including minors offered at UW-Green Bay, UW-Whitewater, and UW-Eau Claire. UW-Stevens Point offers a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and UW–Milwaukee and UW- Madison offer both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Dance.....
 Classes run the gamut from Javanese Performance Repertory to Body Sense I&II. According to the course listing, Body Sense, “provide[s] an environment for creative exploration of individual body awareness, integration of body-mind and experiencing the body in space.” Further study in this area would lead to, “intensified self-observation and documentation of experience. Stress on intrapersonal, interpersonal, emotional, and existential intelligences.”

Apparently dance is bad in the Michael Grebe, Eric O'Keefe, Brian Sikma, Collin Roth, Charley Sykes vision of Wisconsin.     We must all pay for the fact that none of them could get a movie date in the 80's to see Footloose.  If they had they would know that dancing plays a part in the Bible(they should try reading that book):

Where is Ren McCormick when you need him?  Do we really need to defend the ability of people who have a passion for dancing to further their career via our University System?  

I know that the folks at mediatrackkkers do not understand Capitalism, but there is money to be made in dancing! There are also plenty of jobs for these majors to go into from College.   

In case you were wondering(MT skips this) but the arts bring over $535 Million dollars and almost 23000 jobs to our great State of Wisconsin.  

These guys and their archaic ideas and massive lies, make me so mad I just need to relieve some stress

Bradley Foundation Boss Calls Walker's Campaign "Grassroots"

Among the dozen press releases that Scott Walker's campaign sent out on Friday in an effort to control the damage done in Thursday night's debate, the biggest doozy of them all is the one that was issued by Walker's campaign manager, Michael Grebe.

After pretending that Walker hasn't been dropping in the polls since he first announced, Grebe, who just so happens to also be the President and CEO of the right wing, dark money group, the Bradley Foundation, spews this spit-take inducing line:

Our goal by August was to introduce Governor Walker and his big, bold reforms to America and show the country it isn't too late to turn things around. Scott Walker didn't win three elections in four years with luck. He did it by unapologetically making the case for his brand of bold and successful conservative reforms one voter at a time and out-working everyone.

This campaign is no exception. We are running a retail-style grassroots campaign unlike any other 2016 hopeful, and voters are responding. Our three-week campaign rollout, which kicked off July 13 in Waukesha, WI, was among the most aggressive of any 2016 candidate.

In the first week alone, we visited 16 cities in six states and traveled nearly 900 miles across Iowa on the campaign's Winnebago. We've pledged to complete the "Full Grassley" in the Hawkeye state and have already visited 16 of the 99 counties. We'll be campaigning in all 10 New Hampshire counties on a Harley and have impressive organizations we're building in South Carolina, Nevada and the rest of the early contest states.

[...]

The task at hand for us is building on this groundswell of grassroots and grasstops support, and we will do so with a simple strategy: We are going to outwork every other campaign and candidate in the race.

Meh, Grassroots, astroturf, what's the difference when you're filthy rich.

Grebe then goes on to brag about all of the Republicans that are signing up to Walker's campaign. But one does have to question whether they are signing on because they genuinely like Walker and his failed agenda or if they are doing it because they really like all of the dark money that Grebe and the Bradley Foundation are known to throw around to their lackeys.

The laughable part - especially when one considers Walker's horribly weak and timid performance at the debate - comes with this:

On the stump and in the spotlight, Gov. Walker has earned a reputation for being unflappable, always focused on what's important in order to get the job done. Not surprisingly, our campaign has a similar approach. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and while many in the chattering class obsess over the news of the day, we will keep our eye on the ball and concentrate on the fundamentals that win campaigns. This primary will be fought and won one precinct, ward, county and state at a time, and next year the country and the Republican Party will be better off for it.

In other words, ignore the news you hear about Walker and let us go about buying this election. We 1%ers will be much better off if you voters would just stop thinking and do what we tell you.

Bradley Foundation's Grebe Named Walker's Campaign Chair

One of the most recent fairy tales to come out of Scott Walker's campaign is that he is own political strategist.

For anyone who has followed Scott Walker's lifelong political career for more than five minutes knows that this is laughable unless you count kowtowing to his dark money benefactors as a political strategy.

One of Walker's biggest and oldest dark money masters is the Bradley Foundation and its CEO Michael Grebe. So it should come as no surprise when Walker named Grebe as his campaign chair again:

When Scott Walker formalizes his presidential run Monday with a long-anticipated announcement, he will have at his side a seasoned veteran of Republican politics and an architect of the modern conservative movement. THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that Walker is expected to name Michael Grebe as campaign chairman as early as Friday.

Grebe’s role, while not unexpected, is nonetheless a coup for Walker, who has firmly established himself as a first-tier candidate for the 2016 Republican nomination. Grebe served as chairman of both of Walker’s bids for governor, as well as Walker’s 2012 recall election – so he knows the candidate well.

I'm not sure how this is a coup for Walker. The Bradley Foundation has invested tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars into Walker's political career. Any good, greedy investor is going to keep a close eye on their investment to make sure it's not money wasted.

To show you how good of an idea this is, Sith Lord Karl Rove approves of the move:

“He has this unique combination of talent and experience in politics and policy that makes him one of the most respected people I’ve known,” says Karl Rove, former top adviser to George W. Bush.

Those who have worked with Grebe say his equanimity will help bring a steady hand to the Walker campaign team. “He’s bright, low-key, unflappable,” says Rove. “He has the demeanor of the lawyer that your family has depended on for years.”

In other words, Grebe is going to keep a tight rein on Walker in the hopes of getting him to stop shooting himself in the foot.

To further show how the corporate media is in lockstep with Walker's campaign, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had this to say about the appointment:

Grebe told the Journal Sentinel in 2011 there was nothing secretive about what the foundation does.

"We're going to run off tackle, right over there, and we're telling you we're going to run there and we're going to knock you on your butt and carry the ball down the field," Grebe said then. "There are no surprises."

Either the corporate media giant forgot or hoped that we forgot that the Bradley Foundation laundered money through another right wing foundation in order to put up a lot of racist billboards aimed at suppressing the vote during Walker's first election and the recall.

The media also failed to mention that Walker and Grebe's relation is so symbiotic that Walker appointed Grebe's son to the University of Wisconsin's Board of Regents.

Regardless of the corporate media's failings, this does confirm what we already known...that Walker is completely beholden to his dark money benefactors like the Bradley Foundation and just like Grebe, the Money Badger, he doesn't give a damn about the people.

The Dark Money Of The Bradley Foundation

Image courtesy of
One Wisconsin Now

Rick Cohen at Nonprofit Quarterly takes a look at the dark money group The Bradley Foundation and its head, Michael Grebe. Cohen starts with the hypocrisy of Grebe, who claims that he keeps his hyperpartisanship away from the group, when that is clearly not true:

A comment from Michael Grebe, the president and CEO of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, got us thinking. In a book produced by John J. Miller and Karl Zinsmeister for the Philanthropy Roundtable on how “wise givers” can influence public policy (Agenda Setting: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy), Grebe talks about how he has tried to keep the ideologically very conservative Bradley Foundation out of partisan politics. “I’m very careful about this,” Grebe said to the Roundtable authors. “I keep everything separate. I don’t make political calls from the foundation office. I do that from home or from campaign offices. I won’t let the foundation get mixed up in partisan politics.”

Easier said than done in the case of the Bradley Foundation and Michael Grebe. The former counsel to the Republican National Committee and the chair or co-chair of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s election campaigns in 2010, 2012, and 2014, Grebe is also the now-retired partner of the Foley & Lardner law firm whose clientele has included major Republican organizations and candidates over the years, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, former Senator Jim DeMint (now heading the Heritage Foundation), and Senator Marco Rubio, the latter announcing his presidential candidacy just yesterday.

Grebe is also one of the founders and funders of the Philanthropy Roundtable and the current chair of its board of directors. Governor Walker is lionized in the Roundtable’s Wise Givers book as a “national leader at reining in runaway state spending” (helped by what he might have learned from the Bradley Foundation’s Refocus Wisconsin monograph in 2010) and the leader of the state’s “Budget Repair Bill” which “dramatically reformed state government…[by] trimming the power of public-employee unions.” Grebe doesn’t appear to be publicly involved in a Walker presidential bid and is not yet listed as involved in the Our American Revival PAC, which has been taking the place of—perhaps inappropriately and illegally, as asserted by the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21—an official Walker presidential exploratory committee. However, with the multiple arenas of the Bradley Foundation’s public policy funding of Wisconsin’s conservative political model dating back to the administration of Governor Tommy Thompson, including school choice policies and welfare reform, plus Grebe’s history of running Walker’s political campaigns, it would be surprising if Grebe stays aloof from a Walker presidential bid, should that officially emerge.

Then Cohen delves into some of the politicking done by the Bradley Foundation itself:

The Bradley Foundation is hardly alone in funding policy work that supports candidates, governors, and presidential candidates to its liking, a practice of foundations on both the right and the left. However, some of Bradley’s grantees have taken to a more direct role in electoral politics, sparking complaints from critics on the left. For example, according to Jack Craver, writing in the Capital Times, the MacIver Institute, a conservative think tank significantly funded by the Bradley Foundation, joined with the Koch-founded and Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity to run some very expensive ads touting Walker’s policies as he faced challenges in the 2011-2012 electoral cycle.

Another Bradley-connected electoral controversy involved the Bradley Foundation’s grant, admittedly small ($10,000), to the Einhorn Foundation, which ran billboards in minority neighborhoods of Milwaukee reading “Voter Fraud is a Felony.” The intent of the Einhorn-sponsored, Bradley-subsidized billboards was to intimidate minority voters, notable for the fact that Wisconsin’s legislature was considering and ultimately passed a Voter ID law in 2011 with Governor Walker’s support.

The Bradley Foundation has provided grant support to entities that are much more politically activist than your usual academic think-tank operations. Among Bradley’s sizable grantees have been the American Legislative Exchange Council (whose 501(c)(3) status has been questioned on a number of occasions concerning the work it does to pursue the political agendas of some of its corporate donors), the American Civil Rights Institute (founded by Ward Connerly, taking a prominent role in fighting against racial equity issues in California and in other states), and Wisconsin’s two State Policy Network think tanks (the MacIver Institute and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, both of which have been prominent in Walker administration initiatives on school choice, suppression of union collective bargaining rights, and voter ID laws). Other public policy institutions that have received significant grant support from the Milwaukee-based foundation include the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the American Conservative Union Foundation, the National Center for Policy Analysis, the Heritage Foundation, the Heartland Institute, the Young Americas Foundation, the Leadership Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, the Independent Women’s Forum, and the National Center for Policy Analysis.

The Bradley Foundation has also made grants directly and through nonprofit grantees to such conservative public intellectuals as Marvin Olasky, Lawrence Mead, George Kelling (who helped design New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s anti-crime strategies), Jason Turner, Thomas Sowell, and Robert George, some of whom actually entered government service to implement their theories, not simply advise, such as Turner in his role as chief implementer of Governor Tommy Thompson’s welfare reform initiative.

While Cohen's article is thorough and a good read, it is not comprehensive.

For example, he mentions George Will being the recipient of $250,000 from the Bradley Foundation and how Will went after the John Doe investigation into Scott Walker. Cohen doesn't mention that Will is also a member of the board of directors of the foundation since 2008.

Cohen also missed that other hacks, like Paul Gigot and Michael Barone are also recipients of the quarter million prizes.

Another recipient of the Bradley Foundation's largess was Jeb Bush, for his betrayal of his state's children. (Does anyone else see these dark money groups starting to hedge their bets?)

Education profiteering is a big thing for the Bradley Foundation, who proudly sponsored The Bell Curve, which claimed that "the poor - mostly African Americans - are generally incapable of benefiting from an education."

It should also be noted that the Bradley Foundation is the main supporter for the misnamed front group Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL). Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now explained WILL best when he said:

“The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is not simply a conservative, public interest law firm. It is a virtual extension of the political apparatus surrounding Gov. Scott Walker, engaging in ‘issue litigation’ to advance and protect his interests.”

If anyone wanted a reason to overturn Citizens United, Michael Grebe and his Bradley Foundation would be one of the poster children for it.

Christian Schneider - Really, Really Wrong

 

By Jeff Simpson 

Recently Journal Sentinel columnist and Michael Grebe employee Christian Schneider wrote this:

 People didn't just start shooting each other when the law passed in June of 2011 — at the very least, those who want to carry must now receive training, which makes everyone safer.

Of course everyone has heard the story from this weekend:

 A gunman apparently enraged that a van had struck a 2-year-old boy Sunday on Milwaukee's northwest side not only "assassinated" the driver of the van — in the words of Mayor Tom Barrett — but cut down the toddler's brother, who had rushed to the scene.Rasheed T. Chiles, 15, had been attending a party at a nearby house with his brother, 2-year-old Damani T. Terry.
Archie Brown Jr., 40, was driving the van about 5:10 p.m. Sunday in the 4600 block of N. 48th St., near Wahl Park, when he hit Damani, who had darted into the road, according to Milwaukee police. Brown immediately jumped out and — by all accounts — was grieving and upset as he stood over the body.
A gunman shot and killed Brown, according to police. "Someone got angry," Barrett said. "Someone took a gun and basically assassinated this gentleman."

Archie Brown Jr. must not have read Christian Schneider's column, or else he would know how safe he actually is.  Schneider could read his column at Mr. Brown's funeral so his whole family would know how safe he is.

Christian Schneider is not just wrong, he is dead wrong.   As he asks at the end of his column(slightly edited):

 The question is, how wrong does Christian Schneider have to be before we stop believing him?

Kevin Binversie is Unemployable

By Jeff Simpson

Thank God for Michael Grebe and his never ending supply of wingnut websites, or else so many of our right wing bloggers would be on the street with "will write for food" signs.

Instead, Grebe gives them all wingnut welfare, all they have to do is comply:

Take off the sunglasses and your family will be provided for(if you choose to provide for your family that is).

Recently Binversie was somehow allowed to publish a column on Charlie Sykes White Wisconsin and it could be the absolute dumbest post ever written on that site.

They say it takes a tragedy to see the true soul of an individual; perhaps the same applies to communities as well. Nothing has shown that more than the recent tale of two Wisconsin cities. Over the past month Wisconsin has seen two drastically different police-related shootings and with them, two drastically different reactions. Each helping bring to the forefront the innate character of the places affected by them. In Madison, we’ve seen a community look for something to blame as it divided itself in protests and demonstrations over the shooting of Tony Robinson. In the small city of Kiel, we’ve seen a community look to its joint faith and the highest costs of public service as it came together in grief over the shooting of Wisconsin State Trooper Trevor Casper.  Seriously comparing the two is not only stupid its racist to the core (surprise surprise). There are similarities between the two shootings - * both communities have rallied around their deceased native son * both communities know that their deceased son did not have to die. * faith is strong in both communities There are some things that make them apples and oranges comparisons also.   The most glaring being that in Madison an unarmed African American kid was shot by police.   In Kiel, a right wing extremist skin head shot a police officer and one other innocent person in his long time crime spree.  Then comes this line of drivel: In Madison, high school children were let out of class so they could protest at the state capitol in the middle of the day. In Kiel, school children were let out of class to take part in a silent funeral processional for Casper. It is hard for someone who lives by complying to his bosses, but in Madison, the kids were not "let out" they were heading to the Capitol no matter what.   They were also there to honor their deceased friend and try and make change.   No one should be shot for being black.    The end result was both the same, they were out of school honoring their deceased friend and neighbor.   The biggest difference though, is one that while is left unspoken, is not left uninferred.   In Madison, the people of our community were honoring an African American. There is no room for that in Binverie's world or in his new "job". It sickens me that this is something we have to over come and it especially sickens me that people like Kevin Binversie are given forums to spread their hatred, ignorance and racism. Shame on Lee Enterprises Journal Communications and E.W. Scripps Co., for allowing this to happen under their watch.