A Deeper Dive Into The Anthem Debate

By Jeff Simpson

Last week, after The Donald called out NFL Players who take a knee during the National Anthem as "Sons of bitches". the NFL players showed unity throughout the league by doing what they felt was best(kneeling, staying in the locker room, locking arms, standing, etc...) to be united during the anthem.

It sparked a national debate where the lines were drawn and people either showed support for their right to peacefully protest while others felt the need to threaten boycotts and change the subject:

The division was not even amongst party lines as the support was bipartisan on both sides.  As we see from this post by "good progressive" and owner of the Reefhouse Brewing Co:

Yes black athletes who decide to use the freedoms this country affords us, are garbage and need to die a horrible death.... There are many people who have tried to turn these protests from racial inequality to an affront on the military and our flag.







In Wisconsin, some of our lawmakers have decided it is a good idea to boycott businesses that you disagree with:

"This day forward I will not support the NFL! Period" - state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, on Facebook

"Disgusted by the @packers & had it with the @NFL. I was in high school during the 90’s BB strike & never came back. Ready to shut them off.” - state Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, on Twitter

"Lack of respect for the NFL? What a joke! How about a total lack of respect for the country that gave them the opportunity to go to college and make a great living. I would love to hear your thoughts and see if you will utilize your rights to send a message to the NFL. I for one will be purchasing a lot more Badger attire." - state Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, on Facebook

"As a Veteran, and one who cherishes our history, and our flag, and our anthem....with respect and pride because of those who died to make sure our flag did not fall and that we did not fall to the British...otherwise who knows what life and freedom would be like today. Thank you to these brave Patriots..." - state Rep. John Spiros, R-Marshfield, on Facebook

Since the WISGOP approved of boycotting those you disagree with, here is a list of Scott Walker;s biggest supporters!  Granted, most of them are from out of state, here is a better list for local businesses to boycott.    Also, here is a list of Van Wanggaard's  contributors and Jesse Kremer's.   I am sure their contributors would love to know that you will not be patronizing their businesses anymore and why!

Here is my take:

There are many ways to dishonor our country and the flag, like displaying a confederate flag, or asking Russia for help in an election, or hiding millions in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes, or praising white supremacists, or suppressing the ability of people to vote, or arresting people for singing in a public building, or allowing big money to control our elections, or taking healthcare away from millions of our citizens, or making fun of people with disabilities, or building a wall to keep people who do not look like us out......etc....

However I do not think anything has disrespected the flag and our country more than this. ANyone who served in Vietnam went through hell and POWs even more so..... To be denigrated by this by a privileged white boy who used his daddys money to get out of the nightmare is unbelievable.

Let's get outraged over the right things please:

'Nuff Said!

GOP Team Photo

By Jeff Simpson 

A GOP team photo from Robin Vos (R-adulterer) facebook page:

Because when Robin Vos, Paul Ryan, Van Wanggaard and Mr. Clean get together, why wouldn't there be a couple confederate soldiers in the pic?

Van Attacks Local Control

By Jeff Simpson

The Big Government Republicans are at it again.   This time Rep. Tom Weatherston (R- No one has ever heard of ) and Sen. Van Waaard (R- had to have his senate seat rigged to win) are drafting a bill that dictates to local school board exactly how they have to fill open seats.  

Van  " everyone should have guns in schools" Wanggaard, pleaded his case that this bill is not political, nor is there an agenda behind it.   Then followed up his stement with a political speech and an agenda behind it.   After promising it was not a slam on the teacher's union, proceeded to slam the teacher's union.

“This bill is not a union issue, this is not a slam on Racine Unified,” he said. “This is just a correction in state law.”
Wanggaard’s office issued a brief statement explaining that “this proposal fills a vacant school board seat and breaks a 35-time deadlock on the school board – that is all. There is no ‘hidden agenda,’…it’s time for the Racine Teachers Unions to recognize that education is about student learning and not about protecting their fiefdoms.”

There is a reason they had to slice and dice districts up.  These people are not only unelectable in a fair race, they are virtually unemployable in the private sector.  

Van Wanggaard Wants To Put Your Child In Danger

By Jeff Simpson

Newly elected Senator Wanggaard, who was so unpopular in his district, the Republicans had to completely redraw his district to shield him from moderates, just got a bill passed that eliminates the 48 hour waiting period to buy guns.

"Wanggaard said arguments that the waiting period helps defuse potential incidents are "a great talking point" but the wait plays little to no role in gun violence. He said people don't have to endure waiting periods to buy other items that could be used as deadly weapons such as skillets or steak knives."

Yes when Van talks, you understand why they needed to redraw his district.  

Simple minded Van, is on the gun(ie NRA) bandwagon and is on a roll. His next objective is to arm our elementary schools.

The 2011 concealed carry law prevents citizens from bringing a firearm near elementary, middle and high schools. The proposed bill would exempt off-duty and retired law enforcement personnel from this ban.
Bill co-author and Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Chair state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said the proposal would increase school safety in the event of an active threat and noted that he himself was armed during the hearing.
"When you have a firearm for your career, you learn that carrying it is a positive," said Wanggaard, a former Racine police officer. “This is a common sense change to state law with bipartisan support … We want to multiply the good guys with guns.”

 Let's hope that even Mr. Wanggaard has the common sense to wait until this trial is over before he introduces this bill:

A jury found Andrew Steele not criminally responsible by reason of mental defect for the deaths of his wife Ashlee Steele, 39, and her sister Kacee Tollefsbol, 38, in August.
Ashlee Steele and Tollefsbol suffered gunshot wounds and other trauma at the Steeles' home on Yarmouth Greenway Drive in Fitchburg eight months ago. Ashlee Steele was dead at the scene and Tollefsbol was pronounced dead later at the hospital.
Andrew Steele did not deny killing the women but last month pleaded not guilty by mental disease or defect due to his nervous system disease ALS. He was diagnosed with ALS last summer and retired from his position as deputy at the Dane County Sheriff's Office in June.

It would be nice if Mr. Wanggaard had passed this bill before and allowed Mr. Steele to be armed in a local elementary, looking to do the same to his children, that he did to his wife.  

 

Van Wanggaard Knows The Room

By Jeff Simpson

Van Wanggaard is an ex-cop and he knows how to read people.  When you have that kind of training and you spend everyday with the Republican thugs in the Wisconsin legislature, what do you do?

Carry a gun of course!

MADISON — A Wisconsin state senator says he brought a concealed gun to a committee hearing.
Van Wanggaard, a Racine Republican and a former police officer, is chairman of the Senate judiciary committee

Working with Senator Vukmir and Lasee on a daily basis will make anyone want to protect themselves.

Will Williams Testimony

By Jeff Simpson

American Hero and Wisconsin Treasure, Will Williams spoke up against the RTW bill yesterday:

Thank you Mr. Williams for your service when you were active duty and beyond!  It is unfortunate none of the Republicans on the panel cared what you had to say.  

Randy Bryce Speaks!

By Jeff Simpson

We brought you earlier, the story of how Steve nASS(R- Fraidy-Cat) got scared of people testifying against the bill that his Bosses in ALEC told him he had to pass, so he ran out of the room, cowering in fear.

One of the people they cut off was our friend Randy Bryce. Shame on the people of Senate District 21 for not electing Mr. Bryce!

Here is one reason that the Republicans were so scared - a healthy dose of reality and truth!

My testimony on #WageTheftBill (that was not allowed to be read before the committee due to GOP cowardice)

My name is Randy Bryce. I have been a member of Ironworkers Local 8 since 1997.

I’ve had the privilege in that time to work on many of Wisconsin’s landmarks, private businesses, and, numerous parts of our infrastructure.

Prior to this, after leaving the US Army with an honorable discharge, I had several jobs that had no bright future, but, allowed me to pay my bills. (usually two jobs at a time)
One day, a friend of our family - a physician who had a patient that was the former ironworker apprenticeship coordinator let me know that the ironworkers were taking applications. I hated the job that I was at. It was in a dirty warehouse, and, I dreaded going into work every day.

I applied. I had never done construction work before. After going through the application process, I finally made it onto the apprenticeship list. I’m not going to go into great detail explaining how my apprenticeship went, because I understand that this body has a bill that they’d like to ram through before the rest of the state is aware of how horrible it really is. I’ll be as brief as possible.

Fact is, the ironworker's apprenticeship has the ability to take unskilled people off of the street, and, gives them a career that they are proud of. They taught me everything that I needed to know in order to now have a career that not only takes care of my family, but, has me proudly pointing out every project that I worked on as I drive throughout the state to my son Ben.

That training isn’t cheap. But, WE pay for it through our union dues, and, from contributions from the contractors who hire us. The apprenticeship board consists of 5 union reps, 5 contractor reps, and, a rep from the state who meet monthly. Zero tax dollars are used. After passing the #WageTheftBill (lets not pretend that this bill involves rights or the ability to work) Michigan has found out that it is now lacking with skilled trades workers. They will soon be using tax money to train workers.

This horrible attack on the Building Trades is not good for anyone in the state. It is a blatant attack due to political ideologies. Sen. Fitzgerald admitted such when this idea was first mentioned when he sought to exempt certain unions who supported Republican candidates. (Unconstitutional) Proponents have admitted that it will not raise wages.

I am sure that you are all aware of the Wisconsin Contractor coalition - a group of around 400 private businesses - many of who donated heavily to Republican candidates - who are opposed to this bill. They see it for what it is - the government getting in the middle of how they hire their help.

We make those contractors a LOT of money. They CHOOSE to use us.

If we are not allowed to collect money from members who freely choose to join our organization, who will pay to train us? Why stop at collecting union dues. A college tuition freeze is nice, but, why not let the student get a degree, then pay what they feel it is worth? Why do groups who want to see this passed charge a membership fee? Wisconsin Manufactorers and Commerce charge fees. The Associated Builders and Contractors charge membership fees. Even ALEC charges membership fees - and I recall that taxpayers foot the bill for a few members of Wisconsin’s legislature to belong to that group. Think of all of the extra jobs that they could create if this bill only went a little bit further and actually addressed freeloading for all. Why not let people pay taxes based on how well they feel that they are being represented? (I think we know how that would turn out)
Another aspect of what is trying to be sold is that this bill gives workers a choice. There already is a choice. If somebody wants to do what I do for a living, there are plenty of open shops that already exist. People are free to go work there. They won’t get the same training that our union dues pay for, and, they probably won’t make the same amount of money as a result, but, they exist. Their lessor wages are what I refer to as their “nonunion dues”. It’s the cost that they choose to be paid for not joining a highly skilled workforce.

The ironworkers created the first union in order to pool money together in order to give someone killed on the job a decent burial. Because of what we saw that could be done by looking out for each other, we were able to demand safer working conditions. Our trade is annually listed among the top 5 with regard to having a high mortality rate, but, it is a lot better than it used to be.

The union that I belong to is self insured. We get no sick days or holiday pay. As stated before, we pay to self train. Our instructors are experienced journey men ironworkers.There is ZERO burden on the taxpayer. The 4 year apprenticeship has members graduate with no student loan debt. Once graduating to Journeyman status, one can work anywhere in North America with a network that has been set up to attract skilled labor when an area faces a shortage. We have no seniority. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Our vacations are taken understanding that we will not get paid for the days that we are on vacation. All of our representatives are elected. All of the decisions that we make are voted on. The general membership is given monthly reports on how every dime is spent. Every dime spent is voted on. Unlike what is taking place this week, Ironworkers local 8 is PURE. DEMOCRACY.

Every single member of the legislature is cordially invited to come view our training facility. When running for state senate, I made it a point to invite members of the opposition party to see what we do.
I am disappointed beyond words at not just what this bill contains, but, how it is being passed. I am proud to be among those who build Wisconsin. My job is construction. This bill is demolition.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak my mind. Because I belong to a union, I was able to take off of work today and not fear that I would lose my job.

Van Can't Wait

By Jeff Simpson 

Homer Wanggaard wants a gun and he wants it NOW!

Van sat at home the last two years, while Wisconsin vastly under performed in creating jobs, but did create a bigger deficit than when Mr. Walker took over and the one pressing need that Van Wanggaard had when he was elected in his gerrymandered District?

UGGG  

Van Wanggaard - The Cowardly Candidate

On Thursday night, there was supposed to be a forum with the candidates for Senate District 21, Democrat Randy "Ironstache" Bryce and Van "Sellout" Wanggaard.

At the last minute, Wanggaard backed out, afraid to face the voters and his opponent.

Bryce issued the following press release in regards to Wanggaard's running away:

Today, Randy Bryce – candidate for Wisconsin’s 21st State Senate District – made the following statement following news that his tea-party opponent ducked a long-scheduled candidate forum in Sturtevant tonight:

“As a State Senator, I will always be open and accessible to my constituents,” said Bryce.  “I’m extremely disappointed, but not surprised, that my tea-party opponent continued his history of hiding from communities across the 21st Senate District. ”

Bryce was scheduled to debate his tea-party opponent – Van Wanggaard – tonight at Gateway’s iMet Center in Sturtevant.  However, at the last second, Wanggaard decided southeast Wisconsin families didn’t deserve the opportunity to hear from candidates looking to earn their trust as State Senator in November.

“I will always listen to ideas, no matter which party they come from or who offers them,” noted Bryce.  “While I am running to give the 21st State Senate District the representation it deserves,it appears my tea-party opponent would rather hide from the public behind the big special-interest money pouring into his campaign war chest.”

Randy is a born and raised Wisconsinite with deep roots across southeastern Wisconsin. From serving in the US Army to helping homeless veterans find work, to building southeastern Wisconsin monuments like Miller Park, Randy has spent his life giving back to his community. Randy is a Caledonia resident, and, has an 8-year-old son, Ben.

By my count, this gives Bryce three areas where he leaves Wanggaard in the dust.

One, Bryce is willing to meet with and listen to the good people of SD 21 where Wanggaard doesn't respect them enough to even attend a long-planned forum.

Two, Bryce is willing to work for the people of SD 21 whereas Wanggaard would represent the dark money special interests bankrolling his campaign.

Three, Bryce is not afraid of putting in a hard day's work but Wanggaard is afraid of his own shadow.

My Election Thoughts

By Jeff Simpson

Election results here!

1.  Brett Hulsey had a solid showing receiving almost 52000 votes.  Brett Hulsey did not deserve to win, ran a solid campaign, brought up issues that needed to be brought up and did not deserve to be treated as poorly by the party as he was.  

Brett Hulsey9 hours ago

If Mary Burke wins tonight, I support her to beat Scott Walker in November.

2.  Mary Jo Walters was the story of the night.   116,006 votes as a relative unknown, who was completely shunned by the party she tried to represent, with no money against the political insider, long time WI Senator who refused to acknowledge her existence.   Congrats Mary Jo and thank you for what you have done.  

3.  I have not decided if the 116,006 people who voted for her were saying F U to the Democratic executive committee that endorsed her opponent and shunned her or the Democratic Executive committee and Chairman Tate who treated her like a second class citizen and shut her out of the Democratic convention were saying FU to the 116,006 Wisconsin voters who supported Mary Jo Walters.  Either way it is up to them to heal and bridge the divide NOT the other way around.

4.  When the race is so close, maybe the people did deserve a debate.

5  This cracked me up.   Apparently he forgot to put in the asterisk.  * Only applies to people I approve of running.  

   

6.  The overwhelming win by Rob Zerban surprised me, the overwhelming win by Paul Ryan did not.   I always thought Jeremy Ryan's best chance to win would be to get on the ballot then disappear.  Not a second of campaigning and hope people checked the wrong box.  

7.  Every vote matters, ask Janis Ringhand and Ernie Wittwer.

8.  The Democratic establishment lost, ask Pat Bohmack, Jon Richards and Tom Rayome.  

9.  Mike Sheridan's political career is over while Robin Vos was given a promotion and I can not figure out the difference between the two.  

10.   The extreme's on the R side of the 6th Congressional district were not distinguishable.  

11.  Triple dipping Van Wanggaard won, despite the fact he advertised that he had the old Knotsies as supporters.   I would hope that the fact that he is running on a I got mine and now want to pull the ladder up" campaign will be noticeable to the voters in his district!  

12.  How in the world can Sheriff Clarke win?  Seriously?   If it was all cross over votes and you did not see that coming, whose fault is that?

13.  Susan Happ will make a great Attorney General.  

14.  The low turnout still fails to amaze me and the fact that it is not addressed by the Democratic party also amazes me.  Why go after the imaginary Walker/Obama voters and not after the 80% of the people who did not choose to vote in the primary?   Give people a reason to vote and they will!    

15.  Congrats to Dana Duncan, no support from the Dem party, shunned by Wisconsin Progress and won handily.  Now its time to retire Scott Krug.

16.  Scott Walker is beatable, no excuses from the team trying to do so allowed!  

Tamra, You Have Some 'Splaining To Do!

By Jeff Simpson 

What the Heck is happening in the Racine area?   Are things as crazy as Jonathan Steitz appears to be?  Are the republicans as unethical as we all know Robin Vos to be?  Or after gerrymandering and owning all three branches of Government do our friends on the right believe that, like the Governor they all love, the rules do not apply to them?

Sorry I got ahead of myself.   Let's start at the beginning.

Local resident Tamra Varebrook, is very involved in extremist right wing politics.

Tamra is a single mom of one daughter. After many years standing on the sidelines of the political scene, she realized things were not headed in the right direction and decided to step up.
For the last three years, Tamra has been extremely active in politics in both Racine County and Statewide. She is an elected member of the Racine County GOP board. She also sits on the public relations committee, and chairs the programs and activities committee.
During the historic recall election of the Wisconsin Governor and six Senators, Tamra and her daughter put hundreds of hours fighting against the local, state, and national union machines; even agreeing to be the protest candidate for her Senator under recall, making it necessary to force primaries in all races.

Ms. Varebrook is so involved in the extremist politics she ran as a fake democrat in the recall elections, costing local taxpayers needless thousands of dollars.   No price is too high to elect republicans!

Ms. Varebrook also sees herself as a defender of the Constitution.   '

Tamra is no stranger to the local media. You can see her often speaking out in support of our constitutional rights, against big government, and most recently against the indoctrination of our children in public schools. She appeared locally and nationally on “Fox and Friends”, after discovering a Civics lesson of her eighth-grade daughter’s defining ‘conservatism’ as restricting personal freedoms.
As Tamra’s daughter grows up, and is only a few short years from adulthood, she feels the need to fight for not only hers, but her daughter’s future and freedom.

 The problem for Ms. Varebrook, is that she put the same attention to detail in reading the Constitution as she did in memorizing her address.   It appears that Ms. Varebrook may possibly have voted illegally and misrepresented her address to polling officials.  

Whoops!  

We at CogDis obtained a very well documented and sourced complaint that has been filed with the GAB! The alleged charges are as follows:

I allege that: Tamra L. Varebrook, who voted in the Presidential Preference & SpringElection of 2012 (April 3, 2013) in the city of Racine at the St. Edwards polling location,was not a qualified elector at that location and municipality and intentionally used a falseresidential address, which is a violation of Wisconsin State Statute 12:13(1)(a).Further, I allege that Tamra L. Varebrook worked as a paid poll worker at the HumblePark Community Center polling location for the Spring Primary Election on February 21,2012, in the city of Racine and was at the time, a resident of Union Grove. TamraVarebrook misrepresented herself as a qualified elections inspector to the Clerk of theCity of Racine, and to the Chief Inspector at the Humble Park polling location in violationof Wisconsin State Statute 12:13(1)(b).

I allege Tamra L. Varebrook voted at St. Edwards polling location on that same electionday (February 21, 2012) and was not a qualified elector in the city of Racine but insteada resident of Union Grove, a violation of Wisconsin State Statute 12:13(1)(a).

I allege Aubrey Willms knew Tamra Varebrook was using her address as her legal votingaddress and lied to protect Ms. Varebrook and herself from responsibility in violation ofWisconsin State Statute 12:13(1)(h).

I believe Tamra Varebrook may have voted illegally from this address before these twodates, no less than on six occasions according to VPA records.

See according to her receipt for being a POLL WORKER, she listed her address as:

According to Tamra Varebrook’s pay receipt from the Racine Clerk’s office, she listedher address as 1414 Orchard Street Racine, Wisconsin 53405.

Yet her actual address was in Union Grove, WI!  

OOPS!  

That leaves us Inquiring minds at CogDis to ask a few questions.   

*   "Has Tamra Varebrook been lying about her address to vote?"*   Does she not know where she lives?  *  Does she think that her one vote in a place where she does not even live will have        any kind of effect on the actual outcome?*  Does she support voter ID to keep herself from voting?*  Does she have a getaway planned if she gets caught?*  Will Ms. Varebrook be on "Fox and Friends" to tell people how to vote illegally?
*  Can I be on "Fox and Friends" for breaking the story of the tea party (alleged) outlaw?*  Is she also fighting for her daughter's freedom to vote in any ward she feels like voting that day?
*  How would she handle it if she were to ever catch someone on the left illegally voting?*  Will the GAB do anything about this?*  Why are these stories always always always about hardcore far right republicans?*  Was Glenn Grothman referring to Ms. Varebrook specifically when he discussed single mothers?
*  Would voting in the wrong precinct and lying about where you live to poll workers, officially be considered a Bozo No - No?
*  Since Ms. Varebrook is such a strong supporter of "school choice" could she just be supporting "voter choice" here?
*  Are there any laws that you feel applies to both Democrats and Republicans alike?*  If you spent time in prison, heaven forbid, what is the one food you would hate having to give up?
*  Finally, if you are a "conservative" what exactly are you conserving?

We at CogDis await with bated breath to see how this plays out and will bring you more details as they become available!

Mr. Schneider the Maligner

By Jeff Simpson

One of my sons favorite children's fiction authors is Dan Gutman, who is known for his catchy titles. Let me offer a suggestion for his new book, about someone who writes fiction almost daily. 

The thing about Christian Schneider is, since he is paid well by the Bradley Foundation, they delpoy him whenever a republican is in trouble.   This time the person he was told to try and save is Van Wanggaard.   The further that the employees are in trouble, the further Mr. Schneider has to stretch the truth.   If this column is any indication triple dipping Wanggaard is in major trouble.

But even more so, Wanggaard was worried for his family. Not only had the Capitol building been overtaken by protesters for the previous few weeks, but Wanggaard himself had been subjected to personal death threats. Protesters had shown up at his home to demonstrate. While he was away in Madison and his wife was home alone, Wangaard said the phone would ring in the middle of the night with a heavy breathing voice on the other end of the line threatening his life. His daughter, who has a different last name, received a call from an individual threatening to kill her Dalmatian.

Eight minutes after GOP senators took the floor, and with Democrats absent while protesting the vote in Illinois, the vote was done and the Senate adjourned. Wanggaard voted for the bill, knowing the effect it would have on the state and the nation, but also knowing what it would do for his political career.

On the night of June 5, 2012, as Republicans around the state celebrated Walker's recall win, Wanggaard was recalled from office by a slim 819 votes. "I lost my job because I did my job," he said.

 Two things here,

1. When I wrote the oped everything had to be airtight.  I call BS on the "death threats", unless it was the imaginary friend who used to hang out with my daughter when she was younger.  Her name was Sparkle. 

The protests in the Capitol were very peaceful, so peaceful in fact, that any time some crazy person even gave the remote hint of a threat the republicans took it roadrunner fast to the police AND the media.  They ran up every instance they could possibly find up a flag pole to let us all know what victims they were.  

I wonder if Schneider has police reports to back up what he wrote?  

2.   When you vote against something and you "know"  it will cost you your job, maybe you are not quite getting the concept of representative democracy. 

Seriously VOTE Randy Bryce!

Caption Van

Triple Dipper, Van Wanggaard thinks that these endorsements are bona fide, yet in his grassroots section, it is loaded with knotsies.  Scary Stuff! 

Caption this group of all stars pic!

What Has Wisconsin Come To?

By Jeff Simpson


From facebook:

Jonathan Steitz for Senate shared UpFront with Mike Gousha's photo.

 Don't forget to tune in to Upfront with Mike Gousha this morning at 9 to watch Jonathan's interview!

Republican state Senate candidate Jonathan Steitz of Pleasant Prairie says his primary opponent Van Wanggaard "waffled on Act 10." Steitz says he'll be a more reliable conservative vote in the Senate, Sunday on UpFront.

In what reality is it a winning campaign slogan to promise to always do what you are told and never vote against party lines? 

Since when was having an independent thought something that could be used against you in an election?


PS:  Randy Bryce is better than them both - combined.   Throw him some $5!  Let us start electing people who can actually think for themselves(with our input)!

Caption This!

And do try to remember this is a family blog...

Why WMC is Irrelevant!

They just gave their poorly named " working for Wisconsin" award to Robin Vos and Van Wanggaard.

What have these two helped usher into Wisconsin that has earned them this award?

Monthly job losses and we are currently #2 in the country in construction job losses!

Good Job guys?  What exactly does Kurt Bauer think working for Wisconsin means?



 

Fraud Chickens

For over a month, we've had to put up with former Koch employee Senator Van Wanggaard and the Koch Media Network (MacIver, Wisconsin Reporter, Media Trackkkers, etc.) squawking like wet hens about the supposed irregularities in the recall election. They never could offer any substantiated proof, just empty innuendo and false claims of things that weren't there, but that didn't keep them from squawking.

The squawking fraud chickens reached a crescendo when the dirty birds - Robin Vos, Scott Suder and Jeff Fitzgerald among them - ruffled their feathers and squawked at the GAB, demanding that they fix a problem that didn't exist.

The GAB had enough of the noisome birds and ruffled their feathers but good:

"Speaking frankly on behalf of our agency and local election officials, absent direct evidence, I believe continued unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud tend to unnecessarily undermine the confidence that voters have in election officials and the results of the election," Kennedy said in a letter addressed to Speaker of the Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon).

Kennedy said there wasn't evidence to back allegations of "tampering" with ballot bags.

Additionally, he said the accountability board would work with clerks to reinforce training regarding poll book signing, voter registration and timely processing of voter verification postcards.

Kennedy said the accountability board's new Fall Election Cycle Strategic Planning Team is identifying statewide and specific training needs, including a "Back to Basics" campaign to "shore up fundamentals that may have been neglected in the push to training the new legislative requirements" enacted in last year's voter ID law.

And before the fraud chickens could take a breath to squawk their next squawk, they got it from the Racine County District Attorney too:

"Investigations were launched into each complaint received regarding potential fraud at polling places in the city of Racine," the district attorney's statement said. "A thorough inquiry was made into the somewhat limited information that was provided. Some of the information that was provided was anecdotal, as opposed to first-hand eyewitness accounts.

"Based on the information that was received, it was determined that said information did not rise to the level required for a criminal prosecution."

The not-so-funny thing about the squawk chickens antics are that when it comes to a Republican county clerk in Walkersha County openly admitting to changing the programming of the electric voting machines, but not how she changed it, or serious questions about the electric voting machines in the Northwoods counties, the chickens fall suddenly silent.

The sad part is that these dirty birds are so fowl, they wouldn't even make a good soup, although a lot of them keep ending up in hot water.  And I'll admit, that is kind of fun to watch.

Every Rodeo Has A Clown

As the conservatives continue to try to conflate and obfuscate and tantrum in the hopes to change the fact that Van Wanggaard lost his state senate seat, the reach new and even deeper lows.

Appearing through the dust that the Republicans are kicking up in their tantrums comes the Red Fox, aka A-Rod, aka The Hispanic Conservative, aka Aaron Rodriguez. On his corporate media blogsite, Rodriguez comes up with this bit of rodeo clown antics, making some rather presumptive and unsubstantiated accusations:

Following a tip from a Racine student, we did some canvassing of our own.

A student reported that when he was approached to sign a petition, he told the man he wasn’t yet 18 years old. The petitioner said this wouldn’t be an issue since nobody would verify their ages, the student said. Unsettled by what he had heard, the boy said he went home and began cross-checking names in the Racine Horlick, Case, and Washington Park yearbooks with the names listed on Wanggaard’s online recall petition. After two weeks of meticulous work, he claimed to have found more than 300 name matches.

I sat down with the student - including several of his friends - and we went through Racine Horlick’s yearbook for three hours canvassing all the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in the school. We found that more than 120 names that matched the names on Wanggaard’s recall petition. We excluded high school seniors since some might have been 18 at the time they had signed. It’s possible, of course, that some of the students have the same names as their parents. But what we found should raise questions about the petition drive.

In a rather precocious op-ed by Voces intern Kennia Coronado, she said that youths in Racine have a history and pride in fighting against injustices. “If there is any manipulation taking place,” Coronado explained, “It is being done by those who are painting our efforts as partisan and somehow shady.”

We cross-checked known underage YES members who attend Racine Horlick, Case, and Park high schools and found a few of their names on Wanggaard’s recall petition as well. Due to the relative unavailability of their names, our search was restricted. I called Voces de la Frontera to see if I could get a full list of YES members in Racine, but nobody was available to speak with me at the time of the call.

Let me summarize this: Rodriguez got "a tip" from an unnamed student that said hundreds of other unnamed students signed the recall petition from months and months ago, but is only mentioning it now. He joined forced with the first unnamed student and some of his unnamed friends and confirmed that at least 100 unnamed students signed the petition. This proves everything is illegal and Wanggaard should be state senator until he dies, and then some.

Or something like that.

Oh, and the fact that Rodriguez is still pissed at Voces de la Frontera because they won their suit regarding the illegal and secretive gerrymandering has nothing to do with his post.

My first reaction is that Rodriguez has managed to combine the worst aspects of Media Trackers into one post.

Media Trackers is known for making false allegations of underage youths signing recall petitions in exchange for cigarettes. Of course, this was an absolute fabrication, but they still ran with it.

Media Trackers also helped launch the most disgusting round of McCarthyism we've seen in decades.

Rodriguez manages to do both, using the McCarthy-like checking of lists to see who's the commie as well as throwing out unsubstantiated allegations without a stitch of proof except for the hordes of unnamed teens that seem to plague Racine.

Then again, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Rodriguez would show this lack of journalistic ethics, since he is not afraid of committing libel, such as accusing me of violating federal laws based on nothing. Yeah, this is also the same guy who said that nothing illegal was going on in Scott Walker's county executive office. (How's that working out for you, Aaron?)

I'd complain about the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel giving pixels and ink to this hack, but I realize that corporate media types stick together and Journal Communications gave up any pretense of journalistic integrity a long, long time ago.  Meh, they get what they pay for.

The more desperate that the right becomes in trying to draw attention to Wanggaard's loss and their implications of some sort of fraud, the more I belief that it is an attempt to keep the public's focus off of the highly questionable electronic voting machines which were used in the counties of the Northwoods.  One may recall there was a sudden and unpredicted shift from blue to red.

It might also explain why Command Central, the company that supplied these machines for free, are in such an almighty hurry to get the cartridges and memory packs from those machines so they can override them with for the August primary, instead of simply supplying new ones.

The People Have Spoken

Time to move on and accept the election results and if you do not like them wait until the next election! **

**  Does not apply when Democrats win, or if Democrats enact legislation, after being democratically elected.   

I think maybe instead of protesting and recalling the republicans we should have just said we have no interest in following anything the republicans enacted until the next election.  O wait, Justice Bradley tried to delay a Walker policy by a few days to make sure she got her decision right and Justice David Prosser tried to choke her into submission.  

Also in Racine, it appears that there is a true republican thug Lou D'Abbraccio who is a bully who likes to try and stomp his feet, mess with elections and bully people into submission.  To the republicans of Racine, nice way to represent your party!  For anyone interested in learning more about this republican lunatic check here and here! 

Whiny Wanggaard Wants A Recount, Or Should I Say, "We Count"

The voters had spoken last week in Racine County, and they stated that they've had enough of former Senator Van Wanggaard's hypocrisy, overreaching and disrespect for working families.

However, whiny old Wanggaard is giving them another big heaping helping of hypocrisy, overreach and disrespect.

He wants a recount.

He says that his former constituents asked him to do the recount because they allegedly feel disenfranchised. Their claims, if there really are any, are based on fabricated innuendos and obfuscatory propaganda.

However, it makes no sense to do a recall when even WISGOP leaders admit that a recount won't change the end result of Wanggaard being ousted.

So why are they really doing the recount?

Is it because he wants to continue his double dipping for a little while longer?  Or is it to prolong his time in office so Walker can call for yet another emergency special session, where they'll be using their laser sharp focus on job creation, because not everyone is laid off and bankrupt yet?

Or is it something as simple as some political backscratching so the Republicans can again commit election fraud?  After all, as One Wisconsin Now points out, both the Racine County Sheriff and the Racine County District Attorney are big supporters of Wanggaard.  It would not surprise me one bit if they borrow a page from Kathy Nicholaus' playbook and find a mysterious thousand votes somewhere.

Why should the DA or the Sheriff, who political biases are plain to see, even be allowed to do anything about the election, short of assigning it to an outside, neutral investigator, much less actually standing up for their constituents and call BS on this whole mess.

It's only a matter of time before the voters and the citizenry in general get fed up with the way Republicans continuously disrespect them.  In fact, I'm surprised the uprising hasn't happened yet.