Propagandist Dan O'Donnell Pulls Out A Big Nugget Of Hypocrisy

Dan O'Donnell, squawk shock jock at WISN and propagandist hack for the MacIver Institute, followed orders, dug deep and pulled out a big, old nugget of hypocrisy as he tried to spin Tuesday's election results as a win:

Wisconsin voters spoke loudly and clearly Tuesday, striking a blow for democracy by forever banishing private money from election administration. Such donations, commonly known as “Zuckerbucks,” led to an utterly lawless 2020 presidential election in Green Bay and the illegal coordination between liberal activists and Milwaukee election officials. On Tuesday, however, voters approved a pair of constitutional amendments that will prohibit this sort of interference. The first, which bans private election funding, passed in a 54%-46%, 100,000-vote landslide. The second, which reaffirms that only election officials (not liberal activists hired with private donations) can administer elections, passed with an even greater margin—59%-41% and nearly 200,000 total votes. The most likely reason for the nearly 100,000-vote discrepancy between the two was the confusing wording of the first ballot question, which prompted many voters to believe that voting “no” would have banned private funds. Despite that, the fate of Zuckerbucks in Wisconsin was never really in doubt.

Now, we all know that in reality, the results of those amendments means that elections will continue to be underfunded and understaffed, meaning having to travel further and to stand in longer lines in order to vote. In other words, they are trying to make it more difficult to vote, especially in more liberal communities and in minority communities. The Republicans are hoping that this will keep people from the polls, because, as we all know, when more people vote, Republicans lose. 

 But that's not the hypocritical part. That comes from as a side comment from Dan Bice:

One Republican insider noted that Vos helped push through "two election integrity referendums that address the thing his haters say he refused to address." He got a helping hand from the conservative MacIver Institute and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which combined to spend more than $100,000 on the proposals.

You read that correctly. 

The amendments passed because of more than a $100,000 being laundered from outside special interests and used to interfere with an election. And one of those money launderers is Danny Boy's own employer, MacIver. Of course, Danny Boy doesn't mention that tidbit. Telling the truth is not his job. In fact, it's anathema to what he gets paid to do. 

And as added bit of irony, the same people that were touting the passing of the amendments are also the ones whining about a late batch of absentee ballots in Milwaukee that helped pass an education referendum. Wait until they realize that this will become more and more of the norm due to their amendments. 

Just don't hold your breath for the Republicans to fix another mess they made.

Live In Fitzwalkerstan? No Rights For You!

Ah yes, good old Fitzwalkerstan, where the corrupt Scott Walker and his Republican cohorts simply cannot bear the thought that someone might be able to live freely or have constitutional rights.

Don't believe me? Well take a look at two stories that broke today.

In one story, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is again trying to circumvent the course of due justice by pleading for the second time in four months for the Supreme Court to bypass the appellate court and arbitrarily impose a restriction on the people's right to vote.

Keep in mind that there has not been one documented case of voter fraud in which the voter suppression law would have made a difference. In other words, the only "problem" that Van Hollen and the Republicans are trying to resolve is that they could lose elections if people are allowed to exercise their right to vote as guaranteed in the constitution.

Also keep in mind that this would throw the electoral system into chaos. In the most recent elections, there have been a multitude of stories of poll workers not being clear on the current status of voting laws and giving people incorrect information and wrongfully denying some people their right to vote.

Lastly, and maybe most significantly, Van Hollen has a direct conflict of interest since he is the campaign co-chairman of Tommy Thompson, who is running for the US Senate. Van Hollen cannot ethically file a lawsuit asking for the voting rights of people who are more likely to vote against his candidate during the height of the campaign season.

Then again, since when do the Republicans give two hoots about ethics?

In the other story, we see that Van Hollen is also sending his underlings to go after more political opponents.

Someone from Walker's administration or the legislature has asked the Attorney General's office to pursue a civil forfeiture case against Segway Jeremy Ryan, a well-known protester.

Now, anyone who has been following Fitzwalkerstan news for the past year and a half knows who Ryan is and that sometimes his behavior is over the top. But in the incident they have chosen to squander state funds on (remember - the state is broke!), Ryan's alleged crime is going into a legislative chamber with - gasp - a sign and a camera! Obviously, the fiend must be stopped at all costs! The barbarian was trying to exercise his right to Free Speech!

The article goes on to state that the brownshirts are very hush hush when asked if they are planning on going after the Solidarity Singers.

The Republicans like to compare Scott Walker and themselves to the honey badger, a particularly tough and vicious beast.

At the rate they're going though, it won't take them long to learn that the honey badger ain't shit compared to the Sconnie Badger!

Republican Extremists - Part 2

Following in the footsteps of Republican Extremists, comes even more extremism.  It seems like throughout the country, republican elected officials try to outcrazy each other.   In the latest installment of "he didnt really say that did he" or " people really vote for these guys?" comes Pennsylvania Republican Representative Mike Kelly:

“I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that’s Pearl Harbor day.  The other is September 11th, and that’s the day of the terrorist attack,” Kelly said, according to NBC. “I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates.”

 No wonder the republican party of Pennsylvania is trying to purge as many voters as possible before November.    What was the horrendous event that happened on 8/1/12?   Women now have access to birth control! Seriously that's it! 

By the way, Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, who was actually at Pearl Harbor on that horrendous day, says Not so much!

  

"I witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor and had the privilege of serving in the United States Army during World War II," Inouye, 87, who will celebrate 50 years as a senator in January, said in a statement.

"It is complete nonsense to suggest that a matter discussed, debated, and approved by the Congress and the President is akin to a surprise attack that killed nearly 2,500 people and launched our nation into the second World War.”

Florida: Also Known As South Fitzwalkerstan

A friend and faithful reader of Cog Dis alerted me to this article in Salon, which reports of a former Floridian GOP leader who is turning on his former friends and discussing the rampant voter suppression in that state and how it's directed at African Americans. But one thing, which I have emphasized in the following excerpt, really caught my eye:

In the deposition, released to the press yesterday, Greer mentioned a December 2009 meeting with party officials. “I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting,” he said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. He also said party officials discussed how “minority outreach programs were not fit for the Republican Party,” according to the AP.

The comments, if true (he is facing felony corruption charges and has an interest in scorning his party), would confirm what critics have long suspected. Florida Gov. Rick Scott is currently facing inquiries from the Justice Department and pressure from civil rights groups over his purging of voter rolls in the state, an effort that critics say has disproportionately targeted minorities and other Democratic voters. One group suing the state claims up to 87 percent of the voters purged from the rolls so far have been people of color, though other estimates place that number far lower. Scott has defended the purge, even though he was erroneously listed as dead himself on the rolls in 2006.

Like I said, that got my interest piqued so I followed the story back to the Tampa Bay Times, which originally reported on Greer's statements. When I read the article, I felt like I had stepped through the looking glass into a parallel Fitzwalkerstan.

After going through the accusations of racially motivated voter suppression, I saw this:

Greer said he warned others at the party that the budget committee was made up of "whack-a-do, right-wing crazies'' who were trying to take over because of continuing disagreements with Crist and legislative leaders. House and Senate leaders insisted that no one at the party could control their campaign finances. "We eat what we kill,'' Greer said the leaders told him. "Legislative leaders were using their party credit cards like drunken sailors and they made it clear to me I was not to interfere with their spending,'' Greer said.

Intrigued I read further and what I read was so eerily familiar that it felt surreal:

Thrasher said party officials had no choice but to get rid of Greer once they discovered he had secretly created a company that was getting money from the party.

Many of the questions posed to Greer were about his creation of Victory Strategies LLC, a company that collected almost $200,000 from the party while he was running it. The criminal charges stem from that contract.

Greer's animosity was evident on almost every page of the deposition as he described the inner workings of a party that has controlled Florida since 1998.

[...]

Greer said party officials were questioning spending on fundraising trips to New York, Yankees games, limos, expensive cigars and other items when Gonzalez asked him if he had any ownership in Victory Strategies. Greer said he initially denied owning any interest in the company but later admitted it when he and Gonzalez were alone. Gonzalez told state investigators that Greer did not own up to his involvement in the business and threatened to sue anyone who made the accusation. A number of other party officials told state investigators they were unaware of Greer's involvement in the company. Contacted this week, Gonzalez said he could not publicly discuss the case.

Asked about his failure to tell other officials, Greer said they didn't ask.

Asked if he told party finance chairman John Rood, a Jacksonville businessman, Greer said Rood was "basically useless as finance chairman.''

By late December 2009, Greer found himself under pressure to resign. He said he agreed to leave for the "betterment of the party'' and in January 2010 signed a severance agreement that was to pay him the rest of his $130,000 for the year.

Greer said he got concerned when Haridopolos and Thrasher, who had both signed the agreement, began to publicly deny knowledge of it. Haridopolos later admitted signing it, insisting he had not read it.

"Around the party most people considered President Haridopolos to be not the brightest person, but I would assume he would have read the agreement before he signed it,'' Greer said.

Greer had good words only for House Speaker Dean Cannon, saying the Orlando Republican tried to get others to live up to the severance agreement and promised to help him find a lobbying job and clients.

After others at the party refused to honor the severance agreement, Greer said Cannon and Haridopolos contacted his friend Jim Stelling to say that political consultants Pat Bainter and Marc Reicheldfer were going to pay Greer $200,000.

Despite promises of payment and a request from Bainter for information on where to wire the money, none was ever paid, Greer said. After he left the party, Greer said he heard that Thrasher was telling people they were going to have him arrested. A short time later, Greer was indicted by a statewide grand jury on charges of money laundering and fraud.

The charges and the party's failure to pay him have ruined his life, Greer said.

"They took everything I worked for my whole life,'' he added. Now his family is on food stamps, some of his possessions have been repossessed and his children watched their father being arrested.

"Any good thing I did at the Republican Party has been destroyed by these people,'' he said. "I want my life back. I want them to say they are sorry for what they did to me.''

Did you see it?

Now, gentle reader, I want you to reread that above passage, but this time, instead of Greer, think of Tim Russell. And instead of Victory Strategies, think about Operation Freedom and his ersatz web business.

Now do you see what I mean?

Both states have a corrupt, hateful governor. Both states have a Republican legislature that is out of control. Both states have a scandal where a useful tool suddenly becomes expendable and is suddenly facing corruption charges stemming from 2010.

At first I was blown away by he coincidences.

Then, as suddenly as I had the first thought, a second thought struck. I simply attributed the coincidences to Republicans being the incompetent, corrupt weasels that they are.

But as soon as I had that thought, I had a third one. There are too many similarities for this to be purely coincidental. And while it's tempting to believe that all Republicans are corrupt, greedy assholes, that's simply not true. There is still one or two good ones out there. Somewhere.

But there is another commonality between these two states, as well as many others, such as Texas, Ohio, Alaska, Michigan and Arizona. For a lack of a better term, let's call it the ALEC Factor.

ALEC has been a driving force behind much of the legislation in several states and on the federal level. The objective of these ALEC laws are the same: suppress people's rights, especially those of minorities and women; make things much more beneficial and tilted towards corporations; and rigging the system so that the Republicans could maintain control as the corporations pillaged the lands and exploited the people.

The dark overlords executing these Machiavellian machinations also hand-picked their personnel, like Rick Scott and Scott Walker, to carry out their plans. which is why there is such a striking resemblance, behaviorally and mentally, between the whole lot of them. This base mindset then opens the doors to problems like we're seeing in the Fitzwalkerstans.

Given these facts, it would not require a great leap of faith to believe that these masterminds saw these problems arising, figured out a solution - which included throwing one of theirs under the bus - and implemented this solution. I would not be surprised if we find similar stories in other states.

I recognize this sounds rather conspiratorial, but it does fit the Powell Memo remarkably close.  What other rational explanation is there for such similar stories being carried out in different states at the same time?

Grothman's Inappropriate "Voting Inappropriately" Comment

Think Progress did an interview with our misogynistic state senator, Glenn Grothman, regarding the Voter Suppression law, which looks like it is effectively dead, having been ruled unconstitutional twice. In the interview, Grothman admits that the voter suppression law would benefit the Republicans. That in itself is not surprising.

What is outrageous is his rationale:

“Insofar as there are inappropriate things, people who vote inappropriately are more likely to vote Democrat,” argued Grothman.

Now some wags might make a crack that anyone who votes Democratic is voting inappropriately, but that is not what he is saying. He's saying that the only time voter fraud happens, it's a Democratic vote.

He couldn't be any more wrong, and for Grothman, that's saying a lot.

Three years ago, I pointed out that the area of the electoral process most open to fraud is not at the ballot box, but with absentee ballots. Not only would a voter suppression bill not help with this, but the Republicans don't want to fix it because most of the fraud that happens here is in favor of the Republicans.

If Grothman was serious about wanting to prevent voter fraud, he should pass a bill banning squawk radio:

But when he did the same thing in 2008, he said, there was no indication that he and his wife had voted absentee.

Owing to the steady chatter on talk radio about voter fraud that day, he said, they assumed the worst.

"We were convinced we had been disenfranchised," he said. "There was supposed to be a check-off" for their absentee ballots.

But didn't he know they had mailed their absentee ballots about a week earlier?

"At that moment I was convinced I had not been counted, that my vote was gone."

And so when the poll worker handed them each regular ballots, they cast them.

However, all joking aside, what Grothman really, really needs to do is follow the example set in Pennsylvania, where they're having their own court battle over voter suppression, and tell the truth for once:

A court filing by the state of Pennsylvania, ahead of a trial starting later this week on a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups against the state’s new voter fraud law, contains an astounding admission:

The state signed a stipulation agreement with lawyers for the plaintiffs which acknowledges there “have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such investigations or prosecutions in other states.”

In other words, the state knows that voter fraud is a nonexistent problem, but will nonetheless defend a law that could potentially disenfranchise a huge number of the state’s voters. Of course, it’s not hard to see why the state — and particularly its Republican governor — would continue to support the measure.

But we all know better to expect that kind of honesty or integrity from Grothman or any of his Republican colleagues.

Mitt Fires Up The Crowd!

It has been a tough week for Mitt Rmoney, first the word got out that he likes to hide is money(and he has lots of it) in the Cayman's to avoid paying taxes in the country that he wants to be president of. While he keeps trying to duck the issue, the only thing we know for certain is that he has no intention of releasing his tax returns so we can see just how extensive this problem is. Then he took his show on the road and addressed the national NAACP conference in Boston and he was definitely not a hit! Lucky for Mitt the audience did not have a gong!

Mitt Romney had an uphill climb in winning over the NAACP in an address their annual convention Wednesday. That was put on prominent display when Romney endured a loud, sustained round of booing after repeating his promise to repeal President Obama’s health care reform law.

“I will eliminate expensive non-essential programs like Obamacare, and I will work to reform and save Medicare and Social Security, in part by means-testing their benefits,” Romney said, according to prepared remarks.

No wonder the GOP does not want African Americans to vote!

Protect The Vote!

Voter suppression is on the rise. Don’t let it happen in our community or yours. If you have any problems this Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 at the polls, call 1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683) immediately to report what happened. If you experience any challenges, or if you witness anyone being harassed or wrongfully challenged, make sure to call and report the incident. The number to call is 1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683.) Don’t let any individual(s) stomp on our constitution. Exercise your right to vote and make sure everyone who is able to vote is allowed to vote.


Don’t forget,

1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683)

to report any problems at the polls.

UPDATE:  Defend Wisconsin has a Report the Recall index set up as well.  You may find it here to report GOTV efforts, logistical problems, problems with voting machines, voting right violations and ballot bag problems.*

You can submit your reports directly and they'll be posted after verification.  You can also contact DW through this site as well.

And if you notice any problems, feel free to drop me a line.

*They might as well block off Waukesha County for all of the above.

Voter Suppression Injunction Upheld For Good Cause

It was recently reported that Dane County Circuit Court Judge David Flanagan upheld his injunction against the Republicans' voter suppression law. While right wingers ran around screaming about political activist judges and did their own version of McCarthyism, Flanagan made his decision based on the constitution.

Attorney Michael Maistelman, a leading expert on election laws, did an interview with WTMJ-TV and explained why the voter suppression law is unconstitutional:



For a case specific example, MAL Contends provides the story and this video:



Sadly, given how corrupt some members of the State Supreme Court - like David "Chokehold" Prosser, Michael "Loophole" Gableman and Annette "Show me the money" Ziegler - are, I'm not getting my hopes up that they'll actually follow the law and uphold Flanagan's ruling.

Jim Crow Falls, McCarthyism Rises

On Monday, voters in Wisconsin won a temporary reprieve from the onerous and oppressive Jim Crow voter suppression laws enacted by Scott Walker last year, when a second judge found the law to be unconstitutional and imposed a permanent injunction against it.

The money phrase comes from the actual ruling:

A government that undermines the very foundation of its existence – the people’s inherent, pre-constitutional right to vote – imperils its legitimacy as a government by the people, for the people, and especially of the people. It sows the seeds for its own demise as a democratic institution.

As I said above, the reprieve, as significant as it is, is only temporary.  I believe that Walker and company will not only appeal the ruling, but will try to take it directly to the Supreme Court, citing some nonsense about how it is needed in time for the upcoming recall elections.

And we all know how well things turn out in the Supreme Court of Fitzwalkerstan, where David "Choke Hold" Prosser doesn't bother reading the lawsuits, the law or the Constitution, but rather makes his decisions based on what his campaign donors, the Fitzgerald boys and the Walker administration tell him on how he should rule.

I hope that the recallers are ready to file immediately in federal court to have that act of disingenuousness turned over

But sad to say, with the falling of the Jim Crow laws, there is another disgusting relic from the past on the rise recently: a new version of McCarthyism.

To practice this art of intimidation and bullying, the right wing is using their "Verify the Vote" database from the recalls.  Whenever someone does or says something they don't like, the lemmings on the right scramble to the database to see if they signed the petition.  They then use this in an effort to intimidate their chosen victims.

As of the time of this writing, some of the first victims of the New McCarthyism includes Dane County Judge David Flanagan, who was the first judge to rule against the Jim Crow laws; UW staff and Regents; and Mary Lou Young and Linda McFerrin, officers at United Way of Greater Milwaukee.

Even yours truly isn't immune from the harassment from the right.  For the umpteenth time, someone has filed an Open Records Request against me with my employer.  The requester wants to see if he can find more dirt on me from the acts of retaliation Scott Walker and his minions threw at me as well as to see if I'm qualified to do my job.

I am not worried about this in the sense that they will find anything to discredit me or get me into trouble.  But I do find it irritating that they will not cease in their harassment because they don't like that I speak the truth and keep exposing Scott Walker and his allies for the miscreants that they are.  And yes, questioning my qualifications to do my job is nothing short of an act of harassment and retaliation.

The person who made this request is a sloppy blogger turned GOP operative named Kyle Maichle.  Maichle has worked for the Koch brothers and Herman Cain, to show you the type of person he is.  As a blogger and researcher, he has a very poor reputation.  But given his severe man-crush on Walker and his flailing efforts at besmirching people that oppose his hero, who knows what he will try in his desperation.

But I'm sure the right wing will have no problems with their harassment, bullying and intimidation of Wisconsinites.  They'll just keep telling themselves it's only fascism when the other guy does it.

Happy Voter Disenfranchisement Day!

Last year, after the first couple of months of protests were starting to subside, I took my first trip to Madison since I was a kid.  While there, I met a few people that I had only known via the social media and only because the state was starting to wake up to the horrible mistake it made by allowing Scott Walker to assume the office of governor with a Republican majority in both houses of the legislature.

I still remember the disgust and the sickening feeling of having to pass through metal detectors manned by DNR agents because the Republicans were afraid of the people and didn't give two figs about Wisconsin progressive tradition or honoring its storied history of keeping the People's House open to the people.

That feeling came rushing back to me as I went to vote this evening for the first time under the Republican's voter suppression law.

Scott Walker and the Republicans rammed the law through supposedly to fight the widespread voter fraud that no one has ever been able to prove. They allegedly were concerned about protecting the sanctity of the ballot and make sure each vote counted.

The truth is anything but that.

When I arrived at my polling place, it was dead.  Even though it was a primary election and my ward only had three races to vote in, it traditionally had a flow of people, even if it was a slow one.  I was the only voter there during the entire time.  With less than two hours to go before the polls closed, I was voter #74, a number lower than normal.  I couldn't help but wonder how much was due to it being a primary and how much of it was due to people not wanting to bother with the voter suppression.

I went to the table and showed them my ID, which they only took a perfunctory glance at before asking me my last name and looking it up in their registration book.  After they found my name, it was the same as it was in the last 28 years of my life, and blank, since the rampant voter fraud was apparently not as rampant as Walker would have you believe.

After they wrote down my voter number next to my name, the poll worker pushed the book towards me with a pencil and said I had to sign it.  This was new.  I said I knew about the Jim Crow law of having to show an ID, but asked why did I have to sign the book as well.

Another poll worker said that the ID was only gave me the privilege to vote, but I had to sign the book to protect it.  I looked at him flatly and said that my privilege to vote was given to me when they signed the US Constitution.

I again asked the first poll worker why I had to sign the book.  She said it was to protect my vote in case something got litigated.  It was to protect my right to vote.  I asked her how my right to vote was being protected by having to sign it with a pencil.  After all, a pencil could easily be erased and someone else could sign my name and claim I was the fraud.  The lady only shrugged and said that they had questioned it as well, but they were only given the pencils.

Intellectually, I knew all along that the voter suppression law was just that.  A way to make it more difficult, if not impossible, for some people - especially the poor, the disabled, the elderly and college students - to vote.  But to see the full impact of the way Scott Walker and the Republicans have made a mockery of our democratic process,

Fake IDs are crafted on a regular basis and can be gotten relatively cheaply - just ask any bouncer at a bar.
And even if genuine, ID cards don't show if a person is eligible to vote.

But having people sign in pencil is the dead giveaway to the falseness behind this law.  When we have Republican operatives poring over recall signatures and trying to flag ones simply on the basis that they can't read them, why bother having them sign at the time of voting.  Or are the Republicans planning on challenging everyone's votes when they lose, based on the fact that they can't read the signature?  And if they were so concerned about security, why wouldn't they use ink instead of something that can be so simply erased?

The fact that this law provides no security to the vote that wasn't already in place before, but does add hindrances to the people by adding a poll tax or punishing them for being indigent and/or transient, makes it painfully apparent for what it really is - a way for Walker and his allies to disenfranchise the voters in an effort to retain their slipping grasp to power.

Voter Fraud Found Just Where You'd Expect It

The Republicans are notorious for accusing their opponents of committing wrongdoings that they themselves are the real culprits.

Whether it's the misuse of government property or voter fraud:

Indiana's top elections official could lose his job and his freedom after jurors convicted him of multiple voter fraud-related charges on Saturday, leaving in flux the fate of one of the state's most powerful positions.

Republican Secretary of State Charlie White has held on to his office for more than a year despite being accused of lying about his address on voter registration forms.

A Hamilton County jury found White guilty of six of seven felony charges, including false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one fraud charge.

And even though caught red-handed, the scumball won't stand down. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

And while we're on the subject, what the heck is Scott Fitzgerald doing, sending out postcards to the people who signed the petition to recall his sorry butt?

That sounds suspiciously like voter caging to me, and I'm doubt that I'm the only one.

Here Come The Mad Hatters!

Just one week ago, the MacIver Institute issued a propaganda piece trying to scare the good people of Wisconsin from signing recall petitions, even though they are technically legal documents.  The rationale that they used for their fear campaign was that the signer's information could become public knowledge.

I pointed out that this was a simply ridiculous argument, since the same could be held true, and even more so, for anyone who donated to Scott Walker.

Even the Republican's Apologist General, Professor Rick Esenberg, who is often trying to make excuses for the inexcusable, pointed out that in this age of high technology, keeping some information private was not a reasonable expectation.

In the same propaganda piece, they tried to instill the fear that people were signing multiple times and that they were going to get away with it because the Government Accountability Board would certify each signature.  They tried to raise the specter that the recall's integrity was in danger.  Again, I countered that by speaking with Mike Maistelman, an attorney whose expertise is in election law, who confirmed that the GAB never certifies signatures and that it's always been the responsibility of the opposing party to do the research.

Ironically, the MacIver Institute, the same ones who said people shouldn't sign a legal document because of security risks, came out with another press release* on Monday.  This time they were promoting a newly crafted website (which, by the way, will give you tracking cookies if you go there) for people to sign up and volunteer to help "verify the signatures," or in other words, to do their data entry for them.

The site is operated by two Teahadist organizations, We the People of the Republic and The Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty, who hilariously claim that they are concerned with ensuring the elections are "clean and fair."

It was The Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty who claimed that they hosted a tea rally (even though the banners said it was Americans for Prosperity)** on Milwaukee's lake front two years ago.  A rally that included banners in which then Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker proudly endorsed with the Milwaukee County Parks logo.

It was also these teahadists who were shown by One Wisconsin Now to be in collusion with the AFP and the Republican Party to engage in voter caging.  Voter caging is a particularly despicable method of voter suppression in which the malefactors mail an official looking letter to registered voters.  They compile a list of names of those whose envelopes are returned as non-deliverable.  They then challenge and try to prevent the voter from exercising their rights and participating in democracy.

It is not a great leap of imagination to think that these groups would use the data collected to pull a similar stunt in an effort to disenfranchise people who would vote against Walker.

In summary, the Koch-sponsored propaganda agency, MacIver Institute, is afraid that your information and the elections may come in harm's way if you sign a legal document declaring your desire that Wisconsin be returned to its rightful owners.  But practically in the same breath, they encourage people to go to a shady, cookie-laden website, and give your personal information to the Koch-sponsored, corrupt groups running it.

The sad part is that there will be people gullible enough to believe that these miscreants and reprobates have their best interest in heart and will do just that.

What is remarkable to me is that only three weeks into the signature collecting phase of the recall, Walker's supporters are in such a panic that they are already resorting to such insipid and desperate stunts.


*Who has ever heard of a legitimate news service that has to issue press releases?

**It's getting bad when the Koch-sponsored front groups can't tell themselves from each other.

Republicans Sow More Confusion With Voter Suppression Law

You need a photo ID to get a photo ID

I think it's a fifty-fifty chance that the Republicans made the voter suppression law intentionally vague and ambiguous, just to give them a loophole when the inevitable happens and Scott Walker is recalled.

Then again, they have also offered more than ample proof that they're just not very bright either.

Respect Your Elders!

On the first day of the recall, even as Scott Walker's neighbors were hosting a signature gathering rally, I stopped by my father's home on the way home from work. He made comment of the rally, which he saw on the news, pointing out that you know that Walker has to be a real asshole to have his neighbors publicly want him out of office like that.  He predicted that their next block party could be real interesting.

Even though my dad is ultra-conservative (no, we don''t discuss politics much), I didn't expect this from him.  I asked him if he would sign a petition if I got one to him.  He said that he most certainly would. He said that "A conservative tyrant is no better than a liberal one."

Now, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't really planning on circulating any petitions. But when my dad said he'd sign, I dashed off to get copies of the petitions and a couple of clipboards and dashed back.  I don't think I shall ever forget the moment when he signed both of the petitions.

Lately, I've also been noticing a lot of comments on Twitter and Facebook echoing people having similar experiences with their parents and grandparents.

This should not really surprise anyone, even though it does.

Walker has been waging a war on the elderly as much as anyone else since taking office.

One of his first political appointees was Dennis Smith, whose claim to Wisconsin fame was trying to kill the very popular SeniorCare while working as the Medicaid head honcho under George Walker Bush.  Walker has also already cut SeniorCare in order to remedy his phony budget crisis which he claimed to have gotten from Jim Doyle, even though no crisis ever existed until he started giving away tax money to campaign donors.

Walker also tried to force our elders off of SeniorCare and into the much more expensive Medicare Part D, which Bush created as a gift to Big Insurance.  Without doubt, Walker was probably hoping to tap into some of those big-time donors by doing this.

While Walker was stopped from finishing this particular attack on the elderly, he still has yet to apply for a waiver from the federal government to have this very popular and wildly successful program extended as it has been so many times before.

But SeniorCare is not the only avenue of attack by Walker on our seniors.  He has raised taxes on many of them by gutting the Homestead Tax Credit, which many elderly people take advantage of.  And they are also subject to the more than $111 million in higher fees.

And as if this wasn't enough, Walker has installed a poll tax, which has affected and angered many seniors:

"I don't think it's an isolated situation," said Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, which is suing the state over the law. "We're hearing about cases from all around the state. Often they are older people who have been voting (their whole lives). All of a sudden they're not going to be able to vote, and that's really terrible."

A 2005 study by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Employment and Training Institute found an estimated 177,399 Wisconsin residents 65 and older do not have a driver's license or state photo ID -- 23 percent of that population. The study estimated that another 98,247 residents ages 35 through 64 lack IDs. Disparities were especially pronounced among racial minorities.

State Rep. Donna Seidel, D-Wausau, whose office has worked with Frank, said she has been visiting senior centers and assisted living facilities to discuss the impact of the law -- and has found many seniors are angry about what they find to be confusing changes.

"These people are proud of their history of voting," Seidel said. "The overwhelming reaction has been that (the new requirements) are totally unnecessary."

Rather a comprehensive, multi-prong attack on our elderly, isn't it?

But I have a feeling these assaults aren't the primary motivating factor for the elderly to line up with hundreds of thousands of other Wisconsinites to say that Walker has to go.

You see, even if they are being put upon in so many sundry and amoral ways, that might not be enough to motivate a lot of people. But Walker did the one thing that would motivate almost anyone.

He attacked their families.

The teachers, social workers, law enforcement officers, firefighters, highway workers, foresters, correction officers, and anyone else who worked in the public sector have either been laid off or have had their pay cut by thousands of dollars. And all of these people are someone's daughter, son, grandchild, nephew or niece. Likewise, when Walker attacked the schools, the ones being hurt the most were the children, who are the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren of our elderly.

And if there is one truth about people, it is that there is no force in nature as fierce as a parent protecting their own.

And by the way, it works the other way around. Most of us will not abide attacks on our parents and grandparents either.

It's no wonder the signatures are coming in one every three and a half seconds.

Only In Fitzwalkerstan...

Nothing like adding one more thing to help make Wisconsin the laughing stock of the country:

The law firm bringing a suit against the state's elections agency advised the Legislature on how to write the very law it is suing over.

The Sixth Myth About Voter Fraud

There's a must read editorial in the Washington Post regarding five myths that Republicans are floating around regarding the need for voter suppression laws.  It includes the usual ones:

1. Voter fraud is widespread.
2. Voter ID won't disenfranchise anyone.
3. Voter suppression is cheap.
4. You can't fight voter suppression.
5. Voter fraud laws aren't strong enough.

I would humbly point out a sixth myth.

The sixth myth is that Voter ID laws address the real problem area of voter fraud: The absentee ballot.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Parts XXI and XXII

Yuppers, the machinations of Scott "Job Creator" Walker is really paying off.  In today's news, we find that Walgreens Home Care, Inc is closing a store in Wauwatosa and Thermo Fisher is closing their Two Rivers facility.

That's another 209 people losing their jobs in the dwindling state economy and job market.

I wonder if it ever occurred to Walker and the Republicans that if they had actually focused on creating jobs, they wouldn't have needed to breach all levels of ethics to keep people from recalling them.  I also wonder if they realize all their rigging of the elections, disenfranchising voters and other violations of our rights isn't going to save their worthless butts.

Republican Lawyers' Gravy Train Keeps On Rolling

Over the weekend, we saw that the private law firms that Republicans like to use (here's a hint on why - follow the money) were not included in the unwashed masses that have to sacrifice equally under Walker's budget.

That train car full of gravy dealt with the union-busting bill even though it's been repeatedly proven that the unions were not the problem and this law was not only not needed, but is actually detrimental to our economy.

Today, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that the gravy train for these private law firms just added another car full of gravy.  Again, it's dealing with an unneeded law (the voter suppression law) that was rammed through to deal with a problem doesn't exist.

Also: See Illy-T's site, where he found the money quote.

Voting Problems Being Reported

I'm already receiving reports that teahadists are popping up at various polling sites and putting up handmade signs saying that an ID was needed to vote.

This is not true!!

If you have seen this, or have any other interference with your right to vote, call your election commission, and notify these folks, Wisconsin Election Protection.

But don't let these thugs intimidate you or trick you into not voting. Every single vote counts!

Alberta Darling: Kills Voters' Rights, Cheats For Lobbyists

A video from my friend Bryan Bliss:



The Republicans have got this thing so fouled up that they're confusing even their own people. (Granted, that doesn't take much.)

The most egregious part - there was nothing broken in the first place, until the Republicans got at it, that is.