WI Media Fail - Updated

By Jeff Simpson

One of the many reasons that Scott Walker has been able to run roughshod over our great state is that the Wisconsin Media, who are entrusted to bring us the unvarnished truth to keep our democracy going, has let us down.   

Let's look at a couple recent examples. 

1.  Scott Walker announced, what everyone knew, that he would be running for a third term in office.  The Capital Times had the story:

"For me, it really doesn't matter who comes out of that primary; it’ll be more of the same," Walker said. "It’ll be about as clear a contrast as you can get between continuing to move forward or moving backwards."
What gives Walker pause, he said, is not the candidates running against him, but the national groups that will likely spend money in hopes of defeating him. Those include the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, backed by former President Barack Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder, and the Service Employees International Union.

Let's take a quick look at the Recall:

The top outside groups for Walker were:
Right Direction Wisconsin, created by the Republican Governor's Association (RGA), which gave $8.7 million.
Billionaire David Koch, one of the main backers of Americans for Prosperity. He gave $1 million to the RGA.
Americans For Prosperity (AFP), a conservative group linked to David and his brother Charles Koch, spent $3 million. Tim Phillips, president of Americans for prosperity told CBS News that beyond airing ads, his group sent 75 trained staffers into Wisconsin to knock on doors for Walker.
In addition, AFP spent $7 million promoting Walker's agenda last year, launching an ad campaign just two days after the governor introduced legislation ending collective bargaining for public unions.
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce), spent $2 million for Walker.
The anti-union Center for Union Facts spent $1 million, the National Rifle Association spent $800,000, and the Tea Party Express spent $400,000.

Apparently, national groups spending money FOR Scott Walker is to be expected and logical, national groups spending money against him....that makes him aghast he does not quite understand that.     We will never know because during the interview with the Cap Times, no one dared question him on the fact that he has been the recipient of an incredible largess of spending from outside groups but he is worried that it might be too much for him to overcome in a bid for re-election.   

When you put that in a story, without challenging it, you are essentially taking dictation.  

2.  The Wisconsin state Journal allows a republican ridiculous attack on Tony Evers.

Ever since State Superintendent Tony Evers launched his gubernatorial campaign, Republicans have been hammering him over his role in a 2009 case that rocked a Dane County school districtinvolving a middle school teacher who looked at pornography during school hours.
Republicans last week and again on Monday used the case to argue that Evers, who did not revoke the teacher’s license, is unfit for the job he wants to take away from Gov. Scott Walker, and there’s no sign the issue will go away before the August primary election.

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it does it make a noise? 

If the WISGOP tries to make an issue of something that is complete and utter Bullshit is it an actual issue?  

That is a question we will never know, because every time the WISGOP through something against the wall, the Wisconsin Media cant regurgitate it enough.   

The issue will not go away, because every time the WISGOP brings it up, the media will continue to report it and get "both sides" like it is a legitimate issue.   

To be fair here to Molly Beck though, she did go into detail why this story is BS: 

Evers maintains he didn’t have the legal authority to revoke Andrew Harris’ license because the teacher’s actions didn’t involve children — a “loophole” in state law he worked with lawmakers to fix in 2011 because of the case.
“It did not fit the law,” Evers said on Friday, dismissing the continued criticism of his decision. “So, therefore we recognized the problem and we fixed it by working with legislators to change the law.”

Tony Evers had no standing whatsoever, under the law, to revoke this teachers license and the fact that Scott Walker asked him to, to score political points shows Walkers ignorance and lack of respect for the law.    

Evers then worked bipartisanly with the legislature to get the law changed so in the future he could.  

Although since this happened, the legislature was so worried about cases like this they extremely relaxed teacher licensing guidelines.   

After a long drawn out process, and after it went through numerous court systems, this teachers firing was overturned to a suspension  The teacher is now still in the district, in a new position, at a different school and the district is happy to have him back:

Meanwhile, the district that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fire H**** now backs him and challenged Republicans’ suggestion that children are unsafe in his classroom because of Evers’ decision.
“We are absolutely not concerned. The case was never about that,” Middleton-Cross Plains district spokesman Perry Hibner said, adding the teacher “has done great work since his return, as his students and their families will attest. We have moved ahead and our focus continues to be on making sure every student feels included and inspired every day.”  

While the school district wants to inspire kids, the WISGOP of Leah Vukmir, Scott Walker, Mark Morgan, etc, do not care who gets hurt, or what the facts are they just want to make sure to score political points everyday.   

Let's hope that this story never gets put in the local media again after today and that the media stops printing the outright falsehoods for one side, as if they are credible reports that need to be addressed.   

Edit note - update:  What happens when the media fail, and do not bring people the news?  They become less relevant, and like most of corporate America, the execs make more money and the workers pay the price.   

The Wisconsin State Journal on Oct. 31 parted ways with two veteran journalists in the latest round of downsizing of the already bare-bones staff at the newspaper, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.
Photo editor Steve Apps and assistant city editor and Beer Baron columnist Chris Drosner confirmed to Isthmus they are no longer employed at the newspaper. Both declined to comment further, citing the terms of their separation agreements.  

The Walker Way

By Jeff Simpson

Today's announcement embodied everything that we have been facing in WI the last three years in just two pictures(thanks Wisconsin State Journal) and a quick story.  

1.   Tonette has retired her American Flag pin for one pledging her allegiance to America's Best Contacts and Eye Glasses.  




2.   Mandela Barnes showed to see the spectacle and the Walker plebe's got overly excited.  Well Let Mandela Barnes tell it:

Mandela Barnes

So I go to the Scott Walker rally, and as soon as I get in the door, a volunteer zeroes in on me to ask if I was alone and if I would like to stand on-stage. Now this could have been my moment for comedic/ironic gold, but I kindly declined. Then a few minutes later, I was pointed out by a staff person who recognized who I was and asked me to leave. I went from the top to the bottom before I even knew it. I was like a sore thumb and it brought about two distinctly different interactions, lol.

 Raise your hand if this story surprises you in the least.......

3. Finally this last picture describes it all, in a nutshell.   It is Scott Walker showing what it takes to get  his attention:



*It is only a dollar because no one has accused him of being classy or have taste.

Rickert's Revelation

By Jeff Simpson

Wisconsin State Journal columnist Chris Rickert recently asked people who would be the Senators who could bridge our bur bipartisan divide and bring sanity back to WI.  

I asked a few Legislature-watchers if they could point to anyone who might be willing to take up the mantle of considered consensus-building.
Democratic state Rep. Mandy Wright got more than one vote, as did Republican Sens. Rob Cowles and Luther Olsen. Among other names mentioned were Democratic Sens. Jen Shilling and Julie Lassa and Republican Sen. Mike Ellis.

Does anything show us the difference between the two parties than these two paragraphs?  

 Democrat Mandy Wright:

Republican Mike Ellis:

 That is the voice of reason in the republican party?  Thanks to Chris Rickert for showing us exactly how different the two parties are! 

Our Media Needs Your Help!

By Jeff Simpson

Our friend Blue Cheddar, pointed out that now that we have gory details on the incompetence, lack of ethics and morals of the Wisconsin republican party, in the United Sportsman debacle,  the mainstream media is doing their best to whitewash the story!

Like this gem from the Wisconsin State Journal:

Or this one from WMTV TV 15 in Madison :




Ok Coggies, this is where the media needs OUR help. They obviously have a headline writer who has no idea whats happening in Wisconsin.

Help them out:

YOU write the headline for the United Sportsman story:


Go! 

Rotten Apples!

 

H/T Jack Craver for finding out ...what is that smell!   It turns out it is just a rotten racist homphobic hate filled apple and it has a name -  Ben Riche! 

One anti-mine activist asserted in an email that the group creator was a conservative activist in Waukesha named Benjamin Riche. As evidence, the activist provided a screen shot of Riche's page from Feb. 18, in which he urged friends to 'like' the "Ban Assault Electricity" page, which he referred to as his own.
A glance at Riche's personal page certainly established him as a plausible suspect -- his page is filled with inflammatory, racially-charged posts on a variety of topics.
For instance, in a recent post that he removed shortly after talking with me, he shared a link to a story of a 911 operator in Dallas who was fired for making racist posts on Facebook. If she lived in Wisconsin, he commented, he would definitely hire her.
"I believe she has a right to free speech," he said when I asked him to elaborate.
But would he really want an employee who will freely engage in racism, I ask.
"Yes, I have had many black employees work for me and they call me whitey, honkey, cracka," he said. "We laugh. It's all good."
Although he recently urged his friends to 'like' the "Wisconsinites for Safe Mining" group, calling it "hilarious," he denied that he is currently involved with the group. He had been added as an administrator, he insisted, when the group focused on gun control, but was no longer involved.
So who were the other people running the site? Other like-minded conservatives?
"I don't know," he said. "Mostly fake troll accounts."
Riche's account is definitely not fake. From the looks of it, he is in fact a tax preparer in the Milwaukee area.
But does he consider himself a "troll"?
"I just like to post a lot of controversial things to bring debate," he said. "I've been attacked by both sides."
Indeed, Riche's brand of commentary is what moderators on news sites spend much of their time trying to chase away, often in vain. As a result, comments from people with sincere opinions are often overshadowed by incendiary rants — some from real people, such as Riche — but more often from people who hide behind anonymous profiles.
In light of what Riche told me about "Wisconsinites for Safe Mining," it is clear the group was not created by liberals to try to make mine supporters look bad, as some have suggested.
Most likely, the group was created as a forum for conservatives to taunt protesters.

There of course is nothing "conservative" about Riche but he fits in very well with the current republican party  of WI.  There is a reason they work so hard to stay anonymous!    

 

Smalley's Tell

By Jeff Simpson

A tell in poker is a change in a player's behavior or demeanor that is claimed by some to give clues to that player's assessment of their hand. A player gains an advantage if they observe and understand the meaning of another player's tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable. Sometimes a player may fake a tell, hoping to induce their opponents to make poor judgments in response to the false tell. More often, people try to avoid giving out a tell, by maintaining a poker face regardless of how strong or weak their hand is.

John Smalley is the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal and he likes to appear objective.  Yesterday he wrote an article where he equatedthe ridiculousness of the whole budget process as equal to both parties.  While on its face it is a claim that is laughable enough, then he gives his right wing tell(see if you can spot it):

Well, in reality, it was four actual cooks (Republican leaders who control the budget process) and two cooks-in-waiting (the Democrats who were shut out of the process).

All four of the Republicans who visited — Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling — and both of the Democrats — Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca and Rep. Sandy Pasch — are smart, compassionate, dedicated public servants.

Which, given the decent, well-meaning people running both parties, makes it all the more maddening that the creation of the state budget is an ugly mess of partisanship at its worst.
As an editorial board, we like a lot of what’s in the budget. And we scratch our heads and wonder about plenty of other parts of the budget.

In essentially back-to-back visits with the top minds and leadership of both parties, our editorial board was left with one lingering question: What the heck is going on up there?
The Republicans tout tax relief for everyone and increased spending in K-12 education. Those both seem like good ideas.

The Democrats counter that the tax relief is rigged to help only the wealthy (not exactly true) and the school funding increases are paltry crumbs compared to the big cuts two years ago (mostly true).

 While some would think it is this: 

Which, given the decent, well-meaning people running both parties, makes it all the more maddening that the creation of the state budget is an ugly mess of partisanship at its worst.

While it is immensely inaccurate because everyone in the state knows that the dems did not have a say, beyond the kringle, in the whole budget.  This "partisanship at its worse" can be layed at the feet of one and only one party!   However this is not it - it is right here where he shows his immense bias:

In essentially back-to-back visits with the top minds and leadership of both parties, our editorial board was left with one lingering question: What the heck is going on up there?
The Republicans tout tax relief for everyone and increased spending in K-12 education. Those both seem like good ideas.

The Democrats counter that the tax relief is rigged to help only the wealthy (not exactly true) and the school funding increases are paltry crumbs compared to the big cuts two years ago (mostly true).

Yes the supposed fact checking, only seems to follow democrat claims.  I wonder why that is?

Let me help Mr. Smalley balance his article out, because maybe, as a member of the media, he realizes that any claim a member of the republican party in Wisconsin makes is blatantly false!  

 Republicans tout tax relief for everyone - (mostly false) and increased spending in K-12 education(false - really false - pants on fire false)!  

Just Another Day in Wisconsin!

By Jeff Simpson

A quick look at the headlines, and you will find out that April 30, 2013, is just your typical day in Wisconsin.  

First thing we see is that there are more Wisconsinites losing their jobs, 100 at one plant and 90 Wisconsin workers at another.  

While we lose hundreds of jobs a day, the two papers of record are on it.  The Wisconsin State Journal is so upset that they decided to attack public school teachers (yet again) in their editorial.  JSOnline has decided to prioritize advocating for less democracy in Milwaukee County. 


While we all wish that our media was more competent, its the legislators that can really get something done. With Wisconsin dropping to 44th(out of 50) in jobs created and obviously losing jobs by the day, let us check in and see what the legislature has on its plate to help fix this:

1.    The extremist personhood law, declaring life at first date!

2.    Limiting voting hours.

3.    More Austerity!

These days all of this right wing extremist crazy and hundreds of job losses in WIsconsin are so common place that no one even blinks*.

Except AFP-WI who parties everytime we have bad Wisconsin news!

Compare/Contrast - Wisconsin State Journal

The Wisconsin State Journal continues its effort to run itself and our Constitutionally limited democratic republic into the ground!  

Compare when an insignificant figure like Jeremy Ryan pulled yet another stupid stunt - it made local headlines! 

The local right wing bloggers then salivated over such an important story, Waukesha Wonker Wiggy is disappointed that Ryan is not dead yet.

Contrast that to yesterday's news:

Wisconsin's own insignificant Senator Ron Johnson pulled yet another stupid stunt - it made no headlines as he voted against relief for Hurricane Sandy Victims! 

SKW IS AWOL

Everyone in Wisconsin remembers the protests of 2011. Scott Walker introduced his bill ending collective bargaining rights for public employees, which led to massive protests for weeks in Madison and throughout the state.

The Protests in Madison, at the Capitol were really sparked by MTI mobilizing quickly and other teachers throughout the state then joining in.   In order to be at the Capitol to protest though, that meant that the teachers had to call in sick.  

BOY did that piss off the righties.   All over the state they made sure that teachers were punished for calling in sick to protest.  From right wing leaning school boards, to the crazy righty "press", their main mission was punishing anyone who dared to speak up.   Apparently, no one on the right has ever called in to work sick, when they actually were not sick, to do something other than work.  As this video of a gathering of 100% democrats clearly shows! 

Not to be out crazied by Maciver or out rightied by anyone in the state, the Wisconsin State Journal spent almost a year trying to get personal health care records of the Madison Teachers.   Unfortunately, after a ruling by Judge Colas(remember him), they had to turn over personal medical records and pay $25,000 of taxpayer money so the WSJ to see that the teachers called in sick to protest(which you would have known by spending a day inside the Capitol).  State Journal Editor John Smalley pretended that he was doing the public a service here:

The State Journal filed the lawsuit in June after the district refused a request for the notes, and a revised request for the notes with teachers' names removed.

Smalley said that until the notes are evaluated it remains unknown what story, if any, will be written, but it's part of the newspaper's responsibility as a watchdog to examine government actions and hold officials accountable.

"When school gets shut down for four days, that's a big story," Smalley said.

Yet while the WSJ was wasting their resources attacking the teachers, they were getting scooped on big stories, ignoring people who they agreed with, when they called in sick, and completely ignored the biggest story of them all.   

MADISON – Gov. Scott Walker took 54 personal days, not including weekends, through the first 10 months of 2012, a Wisconsin Reporter analysis shows.

Walker, who earns $144,423 a year plus benefits as governor, has raised record amounts of campaign money in his first two years in office.

And the Wisconsin Reporter review indicates that much of his “personal” time was spent out of state on fundraising or campaign-style trips.

“Governor Walker’s not the first governor to keep up a very ambitious political travel schedule, but I have to say he’s taken it to a level we haven’t seen before,” said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks election-related spending.

But Wait ....There's more.  It turns out Wisconsin reporter is actually being generous!

In determining that Walker had taken 54 personal days through the end of October, Wisconsin Reporter included any day in which the governor worked less than 90 minutes on official state business but marked the rest of the day as “personal.”

For example, several days were marked “personal” except for an early morning staff call.

But not included as a personal day was any day in which the governor worked more than 90 minutes.
That excludes, therefore, multiple days when Walker may have worked as little as two hours on official business, or days when he worked only a half-day.

 So he took off even more time than that!  Well since Scott Walker promised to be the most transparent administration ever,  the explanation for his lack of work ethic should be an easy one right?  

The governor’s calendar gives no details on what Walker does during his “personal” time, and his staff has been mum on the issue.

But comparing his schedule to other information sources, it’s clear that much of Walker’s personal time is spent on more than hanging out at his Wauwatosa home with his wife and sons.

The Sunlight Foundation, for instance, compiles information on political events and invitations on its politicalpartytime.org website.

According to the website, Walker hosted a “Romney Victory Inc.” event on July 11 in Washington, DC.
Walker’s calendar shows he had off July 9-12, except for a few phone calls before the National Governors Association meeting July 13-15 in Williamsburg, Va.

Walker also had “personal” time scheduled at the same time as a June 30 event, called a “reception with Paul Ryan and Scott Walker” at the Lake Geneva home of Vincent and Patricia Kolber.

He attended an event sponsored by the conservative Faith & Freedom Coalition during the Republican National Convention in August in Tampa, Fla., a YouTube interview shows.

And Walker took a personal day also on April 17, the same day he was in St. Louis at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, accepting the Harlon B. Carter Award.

Walker also has been criticized for detailing his policy plans outside of Wisconsin, before sharing his goals before people back home, including remarks he made following a speech Nov. 16 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in California.

OOPS.  The difference between Scott Walker taking a personal day and our teachers taking a personal day?  Scott Walker still gets paid!  Now we hold our teachers to  higher standard than our Governor?  I guess lead by example is a thing of the past.  Now we have even redefined "conservatism" to mean get paid lots of taxpayer dollars to campaign!  

 

Wisconsin State Journal's: Series of Unfortunate Events

First this happened:

 Walker is the best choice for getting Wisconsin back on track financially and competing for more good-paying jobs.

Secondly,  this happened:

Wisconsin State Journal Endorses Tommy!

But this election is about the need for jobs, cooperation and fiscal sanity. Thompson wins on those priorities.

Then this happened:

 The State Journal editorial board endorses Mitt Romney in Tuesday's presidential election.

Romney showed as the Republican governor of Democratic-leaning Massachusetts that he can find agreement across the partisan divide. And his vice presidential pick — Wisconsin's U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville — suggests Romney is serious about tackling America's fiscal mess.

Romney has an impressive record of success in the private and public sectors. He's a numbers guy who focuses more on results than ideology. That's why so many of his fellow Republicans during the GOP primary criticized him for not being conservative enough.

Romney has been a strong leader in business and civic life. This includes turning around many troubled companies and the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Romney better understands how and why entrepreneurs and employers decide to expand and add jobs. He's more likely to get the private-sector going strong again. . .

But Obama is the president. The buck stops with him. This is now Obama's economy, even though the GOP shares in the blame for partisan games

 Then this happened:

 Lee Enterprises Inc., based in Davenport, Iowa, reported Monday that it lost $7.7 million, or 15 cents per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $8.8 million, or 20 cents per share, a year ago.

.

Eric Hovde - Humble Hero

Its been an interesting week for Washington DC resident, turned Wisconsin US Senate hopeful, he went from whining about people caring about the poor, to pretending he did not say what we have on video to telling us what a humble hero he actually is! 

"I have done more for people that are economically disadvantaged than probably — and I've never talked about it publicly because I keep it very low-profile — than all but for a very few people in our society," Eric Hovde  told a forum at the Madison Club

 Hovde then was so impressed with himself, that he "choked up" explaining all of the good he has done

You get a little emotional sometimes because, you know, you've put enormous amounts of your life work (into something) and I've given beyond what anybody normally does — time, money, effort — and to have someone make this kind of attack?"