Watchdogging The Jesus Lunches

By Jeff Simpson 

Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have noreward from your Father in heaven. 2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be praised by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their reward. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left handknow what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.…Matthew 6:1-4 

Wisconsin Reporter Watchdog "education reporter" is at it again.  He posts a column with knowingly false information.   Writing about the new version of the Jesus Lunch, he allows one of the founders of the Jesus Lunch to get away with a Trump-like statement of gobbeldy gook.

Helbach said she has had inquiries from other communities around the country about how to start a Jesus Lunch. “Our focus is here. Our focus is not on starting the Jesus Lunch in another location,” Helbach said. “But if someone wants information and to learn how, we’re welcome to talk to them about what we did. But we’re not actively going and getting the Jesus Lunch started somewhere else.”

As is typical for Wiggys work, five seconds on Google and you find that just is not true.   These Jesus Lunch families, who just focus on Middleton have a Facebook page and a website.   A quick check of their facebook page and we see this:

 Yes not trying to spread the "Jesus lunches" unless of course you attend her seminar on how to start your own Jesus Lunch.

Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, Colossians 3:9

But wait there is more!!

A quick look at their website and it reads like a Pat Robertson family dinner or a West Bend GOP Pints and Politics!  These moms that just threw this together, have a curriculum(and a lawyer) and this years curriculum focuses on "Who is Jesus".

The first place for us to begin this exploration of Jesus is in the Bible.  This is the book that tells the story of Jesus’ life.

What is the Bible? GOD’S ROAD MAP FOR OUR LIVES. You could think of the Bible as God’s GPS. When you need directions for a destination, what do you do? You go straight to your smartphone!  When you don’t know what to do in life, where should you go? Go to the Bible.

The Bible is a great place to start learning about Jesus, but if you want to learn more, they recommend you head here -  www.answersingenesis.org.

Let's take a look at some of the answers that the Jesus Lunchers recommend:

A 6,000-year-old earth? When you look up the Bible references, the math’s not that hard!We’ve all heard the horror stories. Teachers in government schools force students through strange, torturous machinations to do simple math. For example, many of us used to be able to add 121 + 13 in 1.72 seconds. The Common Core method takes 7 steps and 3 minutes and 18 seconds.For those who trust in an evolutionary view of history, determining the earth’s age is a complicated process. First, you have to find a meteorite, crush it up, and then send it to a lab for analysis. (Why a meteorite? I’ll get to that later.) Technicians measure the ratio of isotopes and enter that into a complex calculation that factors in the rate of radiometric decay. Out pops a number somewhere around 4,500,000,000 years (or at least that’s the expected result). That’s a whole lot of zeros!
Now you have the three pieces to add together, but I bet you can do this part in your head. From creation to Abraham is about 2,000 years. Abraham to Jesus covers about 2,000 years, and you are 2,000 years removed from Jesus. 2 + 2 + 2 = 6. That means the earth, and the entire created universe, is about 6,000 years old.

They also solved the problem with Noah and the Dinosaurs:

Did dinosaurs really live at the same time as humans? Genesis 1 claims that God created every “kind” of land animal on the same day as Adam. Later Noah took representatives of every kind on the Ark. That required only about fifty dinosaur kinds on board. (Dinosaurs are divided into only about fifty families.)Dinosaurs are used more than any other animal to persuade people to believe in millions of years and evolution. Yet God clearly claims that He created the land animals on Day Six along with man. In light of who God is and His eyewitness testimony, we should not be ashamed to build our understanding of dinosaurs upon His Word, even if some people disagree. Dinosaurs make perfect sense in light of the biblical history of creation and the Flood.There are thousands of dinosaur names, so some skeptics ask, “How could two of every kind of dinosaur fit on the Ark?” The key to unlocking the answer is found in Genesis 7:14–15.The Bible states that two of every kind of land animal and seven of some went onto the Ark. It doesn’t say two of every species went onto the Ark but “kinds.” There are thousands of species of dinosaurs, but there are only about fifty families of dinosaurs. And since the biblical kind is thought to correspond to the family level in most cases, there would have been only about one hundred dinosaurs on the Ark—not thousands.For instance, there are many different long-neck sauropods, such as Brachiosaurus, Camarasaurus,Saltasaurus, and Diplodocus, but only two needed to go onto the Ark if they were just one kind. This fact dramatically reduces the estimated number of dinosaurs on the Ark. Also, even though some dinosaurs grew to be large creatures, the average size was only about the size of a large sheep or bison. Even the largest dinosaurs were quite small when hatched. The Lord may have selected younger (and therefore smaller) representatives of some of the larger kinds, so there was plenty of room for all of the dinosaur kinds aboard the Ark.If dinosaurs sailed on the Ark, where are they today? Different animal species become extinct every day for various reasons. After the Flood, the environment and habitat were drastically changed. Many dinosaurs may not have been as suited to the post-Flood world because of these changes. Interestingly, it appears that some of the dinosaur kinds that did survive a long time after the Flood became known as dragons. Dragon legends abound all over the world.We can confidently build our understanding of dinosaurs—like everything else in life—on the truth of God’s Word.

It is unfortunate that those crazy unicorns were playing silly games when the rain started!

One thing that you can rest assured of now is the Jesus Lunch moms have obtained their caterers license so the kids should be getting a regulated free lunch.

I would hate to see their test scores though after a session of Jesus Lunch truth sinks in.

The Jesus Lunch moms also point out that it takes $1700 to feed these kids and make them a captive audience so God Bless you all, but send your money!!

Also if it is not Tuesday and you feel like eating for Jesus, you can join the Jesus Luncher family founders at the Coffee house they just opened on Madison's west side.  

Might as well cash in on the 15 minutes!  Maybe if we get really lucky, they will also build a life size Ark here in Madison!

In the meantime, maybe we will all win if the folks at Watchdog.org would spend a couple minutes on Google before they write a story!

The Silence of The Kittle

By Jeff Simpson


Matt Kittle had a vendetta last year against a Germantown Kindergarten teacher,who had a few beers at a county fair and ripped up a Republican yard sign. Kittle felt that a teacher on summer break, ripping a yard sign, was unpardonable and he made it his goal to get her fired,. 

Luckily he failed. 

Now as Capper and I both pointed out yesterday, Scott Walker, encouraged and condoned an attack on a protester at the Iowa State Fair. 

Video of 2 front-row @ScottWalker protesters during soap box in Iowa. Others in crowd & then followed to newser pic.twitter.com/PckTqWxlhS

— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) August 17, 2015

Not a single word from Kittle, condemning this action by the Walker goons or Scott Walker himself.   I thought that he would for sure be calling at least for the outing and firing of the two thugs who grabbed the peaceful protester if not Scott Walker himself for goading on his goons to take care of his problem.   

Apparently Violence against people who disagree with you is acceptable and encouraged.  

PS:  Dave Blaska, who left this comment, also has been mum on this incident.

David Blaska December 27, 2014 at 11:49 AM

What public servant does Kittle attack next? Probably the next public servant to destroy private property, would be my guess.

Remember Ladies and Gentlemen - IOIYAAR

 

Why Isn't Wisconsin Reporter Reporting The News?

Media Matters called out the propagandist group Wisconsin Reporter for not reporting on Scott Walker's latest scandal:

Mired in conflicts of interest, Watchdog.org's Wisconsin Reporter has remained silent as new information emerges concerning Governor Scott Walker's (R-WI) role in a potential pay-to-play scandal. The site, which echoed defendants calling the investigation a "witch hunt," has previously defended Walker from the allegations of campaign finance violations in over 150 articles.

The Wisconsin Reporter has been a staunch defender of Walker against allegations of wrongdoing stemming from the "John Doe" investigations, the protected state probes into Walker's campaign practices and possible illegal campaign coordination. Since January 1 of this year, the Reporter has published 19 articles either defending Walker or denouncing the validity of the investigations.The Reporter's website includes a special series on the "John Doe" investigations titled "Wisconsin's Secret War," which currently has 186 total entries.

But the Wisconsin Reporter has been silent as evidence reportedly leaked from the very investigation it has covered so heavily revealed potential instances of pay-to-play between a local business man and the Walker administration.

At issue is over $1.5 million in donations made in 2012 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCG), a group that defended the Governor during his 2012 recall election and is directed by Walker's campaign advisor, Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff reported on March 23. The donations were made by hardware store franchise owner John Menard Jr. According to Isikoff, in the years after Walker survived that recall election, Menard's business has benefited from "up to $1.8 million in special tax credits from a state economic development corporation that Walker chairs."

Before the evidence of Menard's donation to WCG became public, the Reporter defended Eric O'Keefe, director of the WCG, against allegations that he and the WCG improperly coordinated with Walker. In multiple articles the Reporter gave O'Keefe and the WCG a platform to deny wrongdoing and undermine the investigation by calling it a "witch hunt." While prosecutors have not commented on the case to the site, O'Keefe told the Reporter, "From its inception, this was a scam, a political pursuit." In an attempt to undermine the case, the Reporter highlighted the growing cost of the investigation, questioned the independence of the chief justice hearing the case, and promoted counter investigations into the prosecution.

The Reporter has not yet mentioned Menard's donation and subsequent tax breaks, a major development in the story that made national headlines. Their silence on the story highlights the conflicts of interest that surround the outlet's reporting on Walker and the "John Doe" investigations.

Long time readers of Cog Dis won't be surprised by Wisconsin Reporter's lack of reporting. After all, they are Walker supporters:

So now, thanks to Kittle's intemperance, we have learned that Wisconsin Reporter is just a small part of a larger right wing echo chamber, all of which is headed up by the Koch-funded Franklin Center for Public and Government Integrity. On top of that, this echo chamber is tied in with and, at least partially, controlled by two people with direct ties to Walker's campaign.

Instead of calling themselves investigative reporters, Wisconsin Reporter, and Walker's campaign, should be investigated by the authorities for their questionable campaign-related contributions and activities, since Walker never claimed their work as an in-kind contribution.

And there is no way that any established, serious news source should be allowing them to put up their political propaganda as anything but that, with a warning that any resemblance between their spin narratives and a credible news source is purely coincidental.

Wisconsin Reporter Solicits Riots

By Jeff Simpson

As everyone probably knows by now, an unarmed African American kid was recently shot and killed by a Madison police officer.   Thanks to the amazing Chris Taylor, there is currently an independent investigation going on to see what exactly happened and why.  

We do not have the full information on what happened yet.  The only thing we know for certain is that Anthony Robinson, was unarmed and is no longer with us.   Starting from the night that Mr. Robinson was shot, there have been peaceful protests.  Protests involving, community, clergy, students, children, family, etc...   All have been very peaceful.   Even Mr. Robinson's family has called for peaceful protests. 

The family of an unarmed biracial 19-year-old killed by police in Madison, Wisconsin, is pushing for peaceful protests online and in the streets.

"Our hands are stained with the blood of my nephew, and we are all left to deal with the aftermath," Turin Carter, the teen's uncle, told reporters on Monday.

Carter stressed that his family wasn't anti-police, but said Tony Robinson's death "highlights a universal problem with law enforcement and how its procedures have been carried out ... specifically as it pertains to the systematic targeting of young black males."

But he said the problem goes beyond the chants of "black lives matter" that have already been used at protests over the case.

"I encourage everybody to show support regardless of race because this is truly a universal issue. ... We don't want to stop at just 'black lives matter,' because all lives matter," he said.

There was even a conscious effort to establish that Madison is not Ferguson. 

 "We're looking beyond Ferguson. And we're also looking at our community to make sure that we are proactive in a way, that what has happened in New York, what happened in Ferguson, won't happen here," African American Council of Churches President Bishop Harold Rayford said.

 That there are responsible peaceful protests yet again in Madison is not sitting very well with the Michael Grebe funded propaganda machine called Wisconsin Reporter.   So they decided to step in to fan the flames.    

‘Young, Gifted & Black’ looks to turn Madison into next Ferguson

By M.D. Kittle  /   March 20, 2015  /   11 Comments

Seriously, the first time that violence in these protests was mentioned was the hard core right wing Waukesha based propaganda machine and their gopher - Matt Kittle.  

Matt Kittle, Michael Grebe, Eric O'Keefe, Scott Walker, et al, would like nothing better than than to have race riots erupt in "liberal" Madison.   This is what they are doing in front of the scenes, I hate to think of what they are doing behind the scenes.    

Full disclosure, my wife took our 12 yar old son to a candle light vigil on the Sunday after the shooting.   There were many children there. zero threats of violence, but lots of prayers, speeches, hugs and tears.   

It is sad that this is what the right wing in Wisconsin has become.  It is sad that stoking fear, and hatred is what Wisconsin Reporter thrives off of.  

It is time for this BS to end.  

Please send a message to MD Kittle of No More race baiting, fear, hatred and inert racism.  

• mkittle@wisconsinreporter.com
• 608-257-1395
• @wisconsinreport 
• Wisconsin Reporter
  502 E. Main St., LL B
  Madison, WI 53703
  Phone: (608) 467-4109

MD Kittle Attacks - And Loses!

By Jeff Simpson

M.D. Kittle from WIsconsin Reporter had a virtual vendetta against a kindergarten teacher, who over the summer destroyed one of his hero Scott Walker's campaign signs.   Kittle wrote numerous stories on his Bradley Foundation funded right wing blog about the "horrific" incident, a decision was made recently to rightly return this teacher to her classroom.  

In a statement issued on Dec. 22, the district confirmed that Smith will return to teaching but with conditions.“The Board of Education has determined that it is appropriate to restore Ms. Smith to active teaching duties, but has also imposed several conditions to address this situation and to make certain that no similar incidents occur in the future,” the district said. “The Board of Education requires that all district employees understand that, as public servants, they are role models for district students and should exhibit appropriate public conduct, whether on or off the job.”The district stated: “The Board of Education wishes to make it clear that it does not condone Ms. Smith’s conduct. For that reason, the board has taken serious, remedial measures to address this situation. However, the board also concluded that it was a completely isolated event that is not representative of Ms. Smith’s character, or her record of service to our country and our district. The board also noted that district parents that have had children in Ms. Smith’s class praise her work as an educator.”

Kittle's withch unt resulted in a teacher being suspended,with pay, for a whole semester.  Which meant the school lost, the kids lost, this public servant lost in this.  The only good thing to come out of it was that in the end Matt Kittle also lost.  

why do teachers need a union?  Well funded right wing organizations like Wisconsin Reporter has a long history of attacking teachers and trying to get them fired.    Michael Grebe is in charge of millions upon millions of dollars, with the goal of electing Republicans.  He has proven that there will be no dissent allowed.  

The sad thing to think about is what public servant he sic's Wisconsin Reporter(his personal lapdog) on next.  



By the way want to know where people like Larry Mulqueen come up with their ideas of such things as "liberal hit list"?

Read the comments on this story by Kittle and it becomes very clear!

M.D. Kittle - Thief!

By Jeff Simpson

The right wing noise machine drones on and on.   The Scott Walker's  record is one of miserable failure, so when they need help, Scott Walker's campaign manager, Michael Grebe, turns to the media outlets that he owns and gets help!

The right wing is in desperation mode trying so very hard to make the phony plagiarism story stick.  Anything to keep attention off of the latest John Doe news!   The folks at Wisconsin reporter are only too happy to do whatever Scott Walker tells them too, so it was no surprise to see M.D. Kittle keep plugging away at non-existent storylines. 

What was surprising though was to see that Mr. Kittle stole intellectual property(unless he owns the rights to Bart Simpson)to attempt to make his point about thievery. 

Only in WI!  

PS:  Mr. Kittle:

Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country, that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator (e.g. the photographer of a photograph or the author of a book) to receive compensation for their intellectual effort.
Copyright is a form of intellectual property (as patents, trademarks and trade secrets are), applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete.^[1] It is often shared, then percentage holders are commonly called rightsholders: legally, contractually and in associated "rights" business functions.^{[citation needed]} Generally rightsholders have "the right to copy", but also the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work, who may financially benefit from it, and other related rights.

Will The Whining Never End?

By Jeff Simpson

Wisconsin Reporter and more specifically MD Kittle, have had a crazy week.   They went from outright lying, to being Scott walker's top cheerleaders to now just being an outlet for the right wing noise machine to whine about what victims they are. 

A judge has halted the politically charged John Doe investigation into conservatives, but the probe certainly seems to have frozen the speech of many of the groups that have become common players in Wisconsin’s marketplace of political ideas over the past several years.

Lets examine "frozen the speech":

 Shut down are groups like the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

Wisconsin Club For Growth has a website here, and a facebook page here.   Neither one has appeared to been shut down, or edited.    Apparently Websites and facebook pages are not speech in right wing land.  

 This year, the organization, led by conservative activist Eric O’Keefe, has been mostly silent, with the exception of a little advertising on Right Wisconsin, a conservative website led by Milwaukee talk show host Charlie Sykes.

So the website, that the biggest "news" organization in the state, started and have control to one of the biggest right wing political hacks in the country does not count as speech in today's right wing world.  

A quick check of Eric O'Keefe and we find a website, facebook page and linked in.  Mr. O'Keefe actually has written books.   Apparently websites, facebook, Linkedin and Book writing is not considered speech. 

Another target, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which spent an estimated $4.7 million in the 2011 and 2012 recall campaigns, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, but beyond spending an estimated $500,000 on the 2013 spring election the group has been mostly silent in recent months. WMC officials declined comment on the issue.

WMC is so upset that their speeh is being stifled, that when given a chance to speak, they passed.  

I didnt know serious it was that these two groups were only able to reach millions of people with the few outlets available to them, thank God for M.D. Kittle to explain it to us(emphasis mine).

  Conservative targets assert the John Doe process is the punishment — and it has come with chilling effects.

We at Cogdis value free speech, so let me extend an offer to Mr. O'Keefe and Mr. Bauer and anyone else involved in these two organizations. 

Since your speech has been "completely benched", I want to extend a helping hand.   If you have LTE's or anything else you have written that no paper or website will print. I promise to put them up at CogDis unedited. 

 You now have a forum!!

Wisconsin Reporter Changes Gears

 

By Jeff Simpson

The latest Marquette poll numbers are out and the gubernatorial race is dead even!

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — A new Marquette Law School poll released Wednesday, May 21st finds that the Wisconsin governor’s race has tightened to a dead heat — with both Gov. Walker and challenger Mary Burke receiving the support of 46% of registered voters.

According to the poll, 6% are undecided and say they do not know whom they would support.
That represents a significant tightening of the race from the most recent Marquette Law School Poll in March, which Walker led 48-41.

According to one of the more accurate polls in recent Wisconsin history, the Governor's race is tied at 46 % on each side.  This of course leads Mr. Kittle and the objective "news" team at the unfortunately names Wisconsin reporter to come to this conclusion.

Do latest poll numbers suggest a recall-style rout for Walker?

We all know research is frowned upon with our friends on the right so let me help:

 dead heat

n.

1. Sports A race in which two or more contestants compete evenly or finish at the same time.

2. A political campaign or other contest that is so close that it is impossible to predict the winner.

The question is, what is happening at Wisconsin Reporter?

Unlike macIver, they have actually done some reporting over there in the past(albeit rarely) and recently have turned into cheerleaders.  We know Grebe, Bauer et all are scared about the upcoming elections but why the push on WI Reporter and why is Matt Kittle so willing to ask how high to jump?   Is he trying to fill the cheerleading blogger void, until Judge Prosser finds a way to allow the Boots and Saber's of the world back in the game? 

Whatever happened, it is clear they have changed gears and are now fighting it out with Christian Schneider to see who can be the GOP's #1 cheerleader. 

 

 

 

Wisconsin Reporter Lied Today

By Jeff Simpson

In an incredibly desperate attempt to spin their hero Scott walker's dismal job failures, M.D.Kittle, put out a piece of propaganda crap that would make Christian Schneider jealous!

While the whole thing is drivel, this one stood put specifically:

Remember when President-elect Obama promised that the nation’s unemployment rate would not rise above 8 percent if the so-called stimulus package was enacted.

Sorry M.D.  I do NOT remember that because it NEVER happened.  President Obama never ever made that promise.  Heck even the Walker friendly politifact couldn't join you on this one(after Pink Slip Paul Ryan recited the same lie). 

Ryan said the Obama administration promised "unemployment would never get to 8 percent."

Obama didn’t say that. Rather, his Council of Economic Advisers predicted that the stimulus would hold it to that level. Their report included heavy disclaimers that the projections had "significant margins of error" and a high degree of uncertainty due to a recession that is "unusual both in its fundamental causes and its severity."

The sub-8 percent prediction did not hold true, but it’s still incorrect to characterize it as a promise or guarantee.

We rate Ryan’s statement Mostly False.

In case you missed it above ----    Obama didn’t say that.

If a  statement is "mostly false" in 2012, what is it when a supposed media outlet regurgitates the same BS two years later?

There is a reason that at certain times, Wisconsin reporter is not allowed access to things.   They are not reporters or journalists, they are well compensated propaganda machines.  


Here is Matt Kittle's email address.  Let him know that we should expect more out of our so called "media". 

mkittle@wisconsinreporter.com

mkittle@watchdog.org

Wisconsin Reporter Is On The Case!

By Jeff Simpson

Ace Reporter Ryan Ekvall, took time off from harassing grade school art teachers, to blow a huge story wide open!  

His(Luther Olsen's) office leaked a draft version of a bill calling for an academic standards board to the Department of Public Instruction nearly a week before the final version was introduced in the Senate, Wisconsin Reporter has learned through an open records request. 

Then, in showing how far the republican party has sunk in Wisconsin, a simple staffer is one record as threatening elected Senator Olsen:

 “It was very clear that before the hearing on SB 619 there was a tremendous amount of work between Olsen and DPI,” Mikalsen said. “They were updating the DPI (on) what was going on behind the scenes to give them a heads up to mobilize against us. Everybody and his brother eventually realized the moment you told Luther’s office anything, it was going to straight to DPI.

This could be the biggest possible story ever written in Wisconsin's long history!

An elected Senator collaborated with the elected head of the Department of Public Instruction and his staff on an important issue to public education.  

Now thats a bombshell!

The next thing we need to deal with is who will play Ekvall in the movie?  

To Err Is Human, But To Really Screw Up, You Need The Corporate Media

It is well known in Fitzwalkerstan that the Teapublicans that are in charge of the state legislature don't write their own laws.  Instead, they rely on their wealthy campaign donors to write the bills for them.

This has been shown to be the sad state of affairs many times.  G-Tac wrote the mining bill.  Chris Abele and his fellow plutocrats at the Greater Milwaukee Committee hired a silk stocking law firm to write the bill consolidating power in Milwaukee County into Abele's particularly inept hands.

Most recently, it was reported that the sleazy Rep. Joel Kleefisch is pushing a bill written by the even sleazier Michael Eisenga to help Eisenga get out of paying a decent amount of child support.

In order to take the heat of their bought and paid for legislators, the corporate media did what it always does in these situations - they tried to distract the people by yelling "Squirrel!"

To be more specific, Adam Tobias of Wisconsin Reporter, a Koch Industry subsidiary, wrote a piece of propaganda claiming that Big Labor wrote the living wage resolution for Milwaukee County Supervisor David Bowen.

Tobias' proof is that SEIU had supported Bowen in his last election and some hearsay:

County Supervisor David Bowen wrote the legislation in collaboration with the Service Employees International Union.

Bowen, endorsed by the SEIU Wisconsin State Council in his 2012 election, worked with labor union representatives on about 15 drafts and met with them several times in his office at the county courthouse, County Supervisor James “Luigi” Schmitt confirmed.

“SEIU, they’ve been lockstep with it,” Schmitt told Wisconsin Reporter.

As one might expect, Tobias' reporting leaves a lot to be desired. And the greatest things desired would be accuracy and honesty.

I contacted Supervisor Bowen after seeing this and asked him if the SEIU had written the resolution. He was quite clear in saying they did not. He said that they did ask to have some input on it, as did about fifteen other groups, including other unions.

He also told me that the person Tobias had specifically referred to wasn't even part of SEIU.  Obviously, Tobias was just making things up by the time he wrote the article.

So why didn't Tobias include some information and then made up other things?

He wasn't completely honest because that would not fit into the corporate agenda of smearing the unions and keeping workers from making a living wage.  Why, if people were allowed to make a living wage, they just might be able to make enough money that they didn't need to work two or three jobs and would be able to see just how much the corporate special interests have been ripping them off.

And who knows where it would go from there! People might be able to make educated choices at the election booth and vote the corporate sponsored Teapublicans out.  They might unionize at the job site and start demanding things like respect and safety.  Then there might be a push for women's rights, voters' rights and who knows what!

Anyway, I digress.

The point is that the corporate shills being funded by the corporate special interests are trying to detract from how badly their puppets like Joel Kleefisch are failing in the public relations department.  And since there is no way to justify this level of greed and corruption, they try to conflate a situation to distract people from what is really going on.

But then there is more.  There is always more.

The granddaddy of all corporate media, Faux News, picked up the propaganda piece.  Unsurprisingly, they did a copy and paste job without a trace of fact checking...not that they would have reported the truth even if they had been aware of it.  But then, for some bizarre reason, they decided to go with this picture and even odder yet, this caption:

Click on image to embiggen

Well, they are still failing geography, but at least they dropped the palm trees.  Or do you suppose they all just died from being uprooted and transplanted 70 miles to the east?

And wait, I thought the capitol of Fitzwalkerstan was in Walkersha...

Really, it is beyond me how anyone can believe these corporate puppets, much less cite them as credible sources.

A tip of the crown to blue cheddar for pointing it out to me.

Walkergate 2: A Herd Of (John) Does

Two weeks ago, the news broke that there was a second John Doe investigation, stemming from the original Walkergate one, and that it was still going on and had already grown bigger than the original.

A couple days later, the usual suspects deferred comment on the goings on.  But that didn't mean that one couldn't make an educated guess.  One of the possibilities that I had discussed included  collusion between Scott Walker's campaign, WISGOP and the numerous front groups for the Koch Brothers and the Bradley Foundation:

While pulling up the information for the above sections, it did remind me of one other well-known incident of obvious collusion....the time that Walker was talking to "David Koch."  Specifically, this part of that conversation:

WALKER: The other thing is more long term and that is after this, um, you know, the coming days and weeks and months ahead, particularly in some of these more swing areas, a lot of these guys are gonna need, they don’t necessarily need ads for them but they ‘re going to need a message out reinforcing why this was a good thing to do for the economy a good thing to do for the state so the extent that message is out over and over again, that’s obviously, that’s obviously a good thing.

Now, obviously, that was not the real David Koch. Not being a lawyer, I have no idea if this would be a prosecutable offense.

But think about this. While that David Koch was a fake, do you think that Walker has never had a similar conversation with the real one?

Also, let us not forget in addition to the Kochs, there are the groups like the Bradley Foundation (whose chair is Michael Grebe, Walker's campaign chair), the Sam Adams Alliance and all of their front groups like MacIver Institute, Wisconsin Reporter and Media Trackers. 

Does anyone seriously believe that there was no cooperation, coercion and collusion between these groups, the campaigns of Walker and the other Republicans who were being recalled?

Sure enough, and appropriately enough on Halloween, Matt Kittle of the Wisconsin Reporter, a subsidiary of the Franklin Center, let fly with a rather ineffective spin on the story:

Democrats using the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office to launch an investigation into conservative political organizations have targeted Columbia and Iowa counties, a source familiar with the probe tells Wisconsin Reporter.

The source, who asked not to be identified because of his closeness to people involved in the so-called John Doe investigation, said he knew of three subpoenas, and said law enforcement officials have seized electronic devices and papers in Columbia and Dane counties.

“I was told basically that (Gov. Scott) Walker is too powerful; they want to bring him down,” the source said.

Other insiders corroborated that account. They said John Doe Two, as the probe has been dubbed, has gone after such national groups as Americans for Prosperity, Club for Growth and the Republican Governors Association.

Whoa! So there is more than one John Doe involved.  There is a herd of Does that could be involved with this.

Not only was Kittle's spin ineffective, he inadvertently revealed more than what was known before. And the astute Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express caught on to that immediately:

Wisconsin Reporter is run by the Franklin Center.

The Franklin Center is funded by the Sam Adams Alliance.

The Sam Adams Alliance had been chaired by Eric O’Keefe.

Eric O’Keefe is the director of the Wisconsin Club for Growth, which is one of the front groups that is allegedly being investigated this time around.

Hold that thought.

Wisconsin Reporter also noted that the John Doe 2 investigation has branched out to a few counties, including Dane, Iowa and Columbia counties:

The source, who asked not to be identified because of his closeness to people involved in the so-called John Doe investigation, said he knew of three subpoenas, and said law enforcement officials have seized electronic devices and papers in Columbia and Dane counties.
Wisconsin Club for Growth is based in Sun Prairie, which is in Dane County.

Its president/director, Charles Talbot, lives in either Belleville or Portage; Portage is in Columbia County.

Its longtime political operative, R.J. Johnson, lives in Randolph, which is in both Columbia and Dodge counties.

You may remember R.J.

He was one of Walker’s top campaign advisors in 2009 and 2010. He was copied on a number of county emails that were released as part of the O’Donnell Park case. After Walker’s election he promptly became the face of Wisconsin Club for Growth again.

In one fell swoop, Kaiser might have busted open who the John Does are.

But why is this significant?

Well, I covered that a year and a half ago in an article about these third party groups, which was published by the Shepherd Express.  In the article, I wrote about the possibility of collusion and what it would take to successfully prosecute such a case:

Marquette University Law School associate professor Edward Fallone said that the "coordination between a campaign and a third party group is very difficult to prove unless someone from one of the organizations comes forward with hard evidence of such coordination."

Fallone said that Koch and Grebe could simply claim that they gave this money to these groups because they share a common political philosophy, which would not rise to the level of coordination.

Attorney Michael Maistelman, one of Wisconsin's leading authorities on election laws, agreed. He stated that it would only reach the level of illegal coordination if it could be proven that Grebe or someone from Walker's campaign had communications with the media sources. He added that such communication could include general, informal conversations at an event such as a political rally or a dinner.

Maistelman also said that if there is "any sort of communication between the campaign and a third party group, then anything of value received from the third party group would have to be reported as an in-kind contribution and would be subject to campaign finance limits."

The activities of the news media groups might violate the spirit of the campaign laws, but it would be very difficult to enforce in a court of law.

Now think about this. We already know from the first Walkergate that Walker's campaign, including R.J. Johnson and Scott Walker himself, were involved with almost every communication between his campaign and Walker's Milwaukee County staff. I see no reason as to why this might not be so with any third party group such as Americans for Prosperity, MacIver Institute, Media Trackers and/or Citizens for Responsible Government.

In fact, it would seem more unlikely that they weren't involved with these groups on some level.

And if this second version of Walkergate can find and produce even the knowledge of such collusion and collaboration, that could conceivably bring the whole statewide system for the Teapublicans down.

No wonder the Teapublicans are looking like deer in the headlights. They should be.  They could end up being in a world of hurt, which would be a fitting consequence for all the hurts they helped cause.

There are two final points that need to be made.

One, it should be noted that Kaiser had another very valid point.

During the original Walkergate, the Teapublicans were screaming about leaks from the investigation, even though there were none. But now that it's the Teapublicans doing the leaking, they're not saying a word about it. Go figure.

The other point is from the article I had written on these "independent groups."  In that article, I also reported that the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign had filed a complaint  with the IRS against the MacIver Institute, Americans for Prosperity and the Heartland Institute (of the Angry Badger fame).

Do you reckon the feds might be conducting their own investigation into these groups as well?

Tony Galli

UGGG.

We all know that Scott Walker is in trouble. His poll numbers are tanking. His absolute love of cronyism at the expense of the Wisconsin taxpayer was perfectly defined recently. Add to that, almost daily we get stories of how Scott Walker is spending unlimited Wisconsin taxpayers money on his presidential run.

This slow descent into Scott Walker's unemployment demanded action. So in steps one of the right wings "news"(term used loosely) divisions - Wisconsin Reporter. Of course not being very creative on the right, they went back to their old stand by --- They attacked a teacher! See while trolling left leaning blogs(hey guys :)) they came upon troll gold! They found Art teacher Kati Walsh's blog. Someone actually dared to criticize Scott Walker.

The problem is Ms. Walsh perfectly explained the situation and context so end of story.

So the rest of the class started drawing their own cartoons and they turned very political. They have very strong feelings about Scott Walker. The cartoons started getting a little inappropriate so at this point, we stopped drawing and discussed what a political cartoon was. We also talked about how you can disagree with someone and not wish them harm. It was also important for them to understand the role art plays in sharing one’s opinion and ideas! Wow, I did not plan for THIS intense lesson with kinders through 2nd graders!

Unless you are desperate.

The Walker crew ARE desperate, so they had to create a story. This from Ryan Ekvall the original "reporter" (term used loosely).

Kati Walsh, an elementary art teacher at the Madison Metropolitan School District in July posted some of her students’ drawings of Gov. Scott Walker in jail. Walsh suggests her young Rembrandts’ ideas for their sketches popped up out of thin air.

Woodward and Bernstein he isnt.

The sad thing in today's Wisconsin, attacking our public school teachers by the well funded Bradley machine is to be expected. What followed next is not.





Apparently deciding that a 1st grader's artwork is newsworthy, WKOW's Tony Galli jumped on the story! Tony Galli, picked up on a non story to the great glee of the far right Wisconsin Reporter, and then if that was not bad enough, the ONE person that Galli opted to talk to about this was even farther to the right, former Scott Walker staffer, now communications director for Maciver Institute - Nick Novak. Apparently no one from PETA was available to give a balanced view to Macivers.

A quick look at Novak's resume and we see that apparently , the former intern for "friends of scott walker" and regional field director for the Republican party is what passes as an education expert in Galli's world! Apparently looking at MMSD policy was too much of a task for Mr. Galli:

Controversial Issues In the study of controversial issues, provision is made in the Madison Metropolitan School District for the pupil to study under competent instruction in an atmosphere as free as possible from bias and prejudice. In the teaching of controversial issues in the Madison Metropolitan School District, the teacher: Develops a classroom atmosphere in which pupils feel free to express opinions and to challenge ideas; Teaches respect for the opinions of others and develops skills of critical thinking; Chooses suitable instructional materials presenting data on varying points of view on issues being discussed; Demonstrates through interpretations and actions rational methods of arriving at decisions; Maintains at all times a decent respect for the dignity and worth of each individual; Undertakes the presentation of a controversial issue to pupils only after careful study and planning; Confers with the principal or staff specialist if there is doubt regarding the appropriateness of discussing a controversial issue; Determines whether or not an issue raised by pupils is to be considered at the moment it arises; Guides discussion toward constructive courses of action available within our framework of values; Keeps in mind that the teacher's position is as a moderator and participant in the classroom forum; and Withholds the expression of personal opinion unless asked a direct question.

Then of course continue to read the policy and you come upon this.

The BUILDING PRINCIPAL shall: Approve the use of resource persons in the school; Handle complaints concerning controversial issues; and Consult with other PRINCIPALS in an effort to be consistent.

Apparently they left line item d. out of their policy

d. Run to far right ideologue website to get their incredibly biased view with absolutely no information of the story whatsoever.

Mr. Galli, I am sure you are busy checking Breitbardt's site for your next story, and too busy to do any actual reporting here, so let me help you. Here is the contact information for the members of the Madison Metropolitan School District, who would have been much more relevant to talk to, than Brian Fraley's cabana boy.

One last piece of advice. Saying she signed the recall petition is relevant how? You might as well add what color shirt she was wearing that day because it holds the same relevance!

 Isthmus once called Tony Galli - "Far and away, Tony Galli is the best investigative journalist in town,". O how the might have fallen.

Finally Mr. Galli, if you want to cover some more work done by elementary kids let me know. I will offer up my kids homework for you to report on. She just received a "super job" sticker on her math sheet and if you look real close, the Apple sticker her teacher placed on her sheet kind of looks like Andre Jacque. You have my permission to run it to Nick Novak and get his expert opinion!

Cross posted at Forward Lookout!