While I do not agree with John McCain on pretty much anything, there was a time I respected him immensely:
It took class to stand up to a mob when Mr. McCain could have easily played into it. He did not earn my vote this election but he did earn my respect as a Statesman. McCain was put to a Moral Fortitude test and he passed it with flying colors.
In a sane world, this would be the end of the Scott Walker career ascendancy. In world where Christians truly were Christian, this would draw disgust and anger from supporters and non supporters alike. In a world of laws, these men who harassed and assaulted the protesters would have been arrested. In a world where we treated everyone as if we were all connected and have more in common than not, Scott Walker would be an afterthought.
Alas, that is not the world we live in. We currently live in this world:
and one where politicians(NOT leaders), can sic the mob on his detractors.
Christian Schneider, the paid right wing, lackey of the Bradley Foundation, who surprisingly happens to have been granted column space in JSonline, recently took to that space, to call Scott Walker a liar,.
But in the Walker world, we have to pretend that bare-knuckled
"divisive" partisanship was invented in 2011, when Walker took office.
Ironically, it seems that calling Walker "divisive" is itself simply
meant to be divisive.
In the real world, Schneider pretends this video never happened:
"Divide and Conquer", being the key platform of Scott Walker's entire political career, apparently Schneider is telling us not to believe anything Scott Walker says!
Gov. Scott Walker's budget bill includes a provision that would
repeal a law that prohibits a freeway rehabilitation project from adding
vehicle lanes on I-94 adjacent to Wood National Cemetery.
Like other
parts of the region's freeway system, the stretch of I-94 between N.
25th and N. 70th streets is deteriorating. But planning for that stretch
of roadway, including plans for widening, was met with opposition from
neighbors living in the Story Hill neighborhood.
Many grave
sites in Wood are adjacent to the shoulder of the freeway. Widening the
freeway in that stretch would require moving the graves.
What's the problem with that?
Al Richburg, director of Wood National Cemetery, which is part of the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said the agency's longtime
position is "that when a vet is interred, it is considered a final and
lasting resting place. It's final to us."
Richburg said
Wood has 38,886 graves for veterans and their families. He said he did
not know how many grave sites were adjacent to the freeway.
It really is too bad that the graves of our veterans are in the way, but as Jared Kellner found out, NOTHING gets in the way of Scott Walker's political ambitions.
Today, I stand before you - not as the governor of one party or another;
or the governor of one part of the state or another. Today, I stand
before you as the Governor for all of the people in this State of
Wisconsin.
Then there is the Scott Walker who had yet another secret plan:
I find it disturbing that Walker consistently seems to surround
himself with people who hold racist, homophobic and classist beliefs. In
such a short amount of time and with only the smallest peek behind the
curtain, we have discovered more than a handful of morally repugnant
individuals whom Walker not only associated with but pulled into his
inner circle. And because of all of this, I have to ask: Is the governor
racist? Is he disdainful of the poor and needy? Is he homophobic? Does
he hate immigrants?
That
Palmisano and Krieser were fired after their social media comments came
to light only serves to demonstrate Walker's discomfort with being publicly
associated with people who hold repugnant opinions. When those same
opinions were expressed privately, there appears to have been no
repercussion. And ultimately, the firings do nothing to explain how a
discriminatory culture has been allowed to flourish under Walker's
administrations over the years.
As a
Wisconsinite deeply disturbed by these events, I deserve answers. Walker
cannot try to claim that this is "old news" or settled history. It's
not.
There appears to be two very very different Scott Walker's. The public one and the private one.
To Tell The Truth Mr. Governor. Will the real Scott Walker, Please Stand up?
Rodriguez, outreach coordinator for Hispanics for School Choice,
received 4,546 votes, and Coppola, a United Way fundraiser and former
member of Milwaukee's Social Development Commission, received 3,520,
according to preliminary results.
In our center left state, which has a proud history of progressivism, the Democratic party lost yet another election handily. Is it because the Democratic message is not accepted? of course not. If the republican message was one that the people wanted to hear, then they would not spend their time suppressing the vote and gerrymandering districts. They get that their hold on power is fleeting, and have rigged the system to delay that as long as possible.
We can either whine about the system being rigged or do things to change it.
I recomnend unrigging the system.
Here are some recommendations, would love to hear yours:
*Consistent Message!
Can anyone tell me the message that the Democratic Party and all of the elected officials stand for? Is there a line in the sand, written with sharpie, anywhere that has 100% support from the collective of the dems? I am not talking about the party platform, because no electeds follow that anyway and most people could not tell you what it said anyway. I am talking something even the most apathetic person in Wisconsin would answer when asked what the Democratic party stands for.
Not only do we not stand for anything, we have a Gubernatorial candidate who pledges to not stand for anything.
* Keep Up With Technology:
Secondly, the DPW website is incredibly outdated. You go to it and you see a picture of SCOTT WALKER(who is not a democrat fyi). You had to search for unformation about Ms Coppola or Mr. Slezak. I know you can not focus on individuals usually, but when there are only two races you sure as hell can.
I would have had a split screen for the last week, with Ms. Coppola's picture and Mr. Slezak's picture each getting half. Then allowed the visitor to click though and get more information about each of them. I would also have sent a camera crew out with them and captured them out and meeting citizens and voters. Then I would have emailed the videos to the Dem list and the candidates list.
* Use Your Resources:
I would have used the Democrat's email list to send out an email on Tuesday morning, stating something like this.
Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address:
Executive Mansion, Washington, , 186 .
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this
continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that "all men are created equal"
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that
the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a
larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not
hallow, this ground-- The brave men, living and dead, who struggled
here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The
world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can
never forget what they did here.
It is rather for us, the living, to stand here, we here be
dedica-ted to the great task remaining before us -- that, from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the
last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall
not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and
that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish
from the earth.
The great Abraham Lincoln knew that we could not long endure a "civil war" and we have seen the effects of that first hand here in WI. The party that is in control has made a conscious decision to use divide and conquer to govern our great state.
It is time to put the people of Wisconsin first. Today we have two great candidates who are running that can help put us there. Elizabeth Coppola and Kenneth Slezak. Please go out and vote today and if you do not live in these districts but know one person who does, call them for us! .................
* Turnout:
How many people in each of these districts signed the recall? One of the keys to winning is not only a great candidate but TURNOUT. A few things we know for certain about people who signed the recall petitions:
- At one point in their life they were motivated to care about politics.
- They probably agree with us more than they disagree.
* Media Stunts:
We know that the right leaning media will never cover an issue the way it should be covered to get the facts out. I mean now they are saying that Paul Ryan wants to fight poverty(seriously). We can not count on the press to cover issues the way so we need to do things that draws media coverage.
Using eye glasses equipped with hidden cameras, the men recorded their
experiences and plan to release a video blog next week. It’s clear that
there is interest. A Facebook post
Monday by Johnson about their experiences registered more than 40,000
"likes" in less than 24 hours. Johnson said he has been contacted by
scores of local officials, media outlets and individuals.
40,000 "likes" in less than a day. People are desperate for real news, unfortunately it takes stunts to bring it to them.
I propose that the Democratic party coordinate a week, where every elected official(and candidate) spends one full day in a school in their district. See what is happening first hand, the good and the bad. Then do the same as these three - video blogs, written blogs, special contributor op-eds in their local papers. Really get the word out what is happening in their own schools and why we need to support them.
A stunt for sure but imagine if they did something where every elected official came back with a story and got 40,000 "likes". That puts them over 2,000,000 chances to get their message out! Plus they might even learn some things they did not know to begin with! * STORIES;
the Democratic party needs to tell stories when they speak. They never do. In the Coppola race for example, get together with the local school districts teachrs and find out the mess that ACT10 has caused them. It has caused a mess for everyone, I am certain it has caused one for the school districts in the 21st also.
The problem with the mess and problems is we can not afford a PR department. We need the Democratic party to do that for us the way the Republican party is for the voucher movement. Most people have no idea the chilling effect that ACT 10 has had on their schools.
When you knock at a door then you have a story. When they say they like the way things are going, they support vouchers, et al... You are ready to tell them what is happening at their local school.
"Well I respect that you feel that way, but were you aware that class sizes have increased the last three years from _____ to ___ and your school district has had to cut ___________ from the budget and we have lost __________ teachers.
* Stop the madness!
We have two very important races going on and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is putting out a billboard promoting Scott Walker's book?!?!?! Seriously? Who the hell makes that call?
How about using that money for a billboard in the 69th about Scott Suder, the republican party and United Sportsmen?
"The legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth." Aristotle
You get the idea:
* Competition!
We need to make sure there is a legit candidate running in every single race in the state. This story is unacceptable!
If Slezak hadn’t decided to run mere days before the deadline to file
paperwork with the Government Accountability Board, there might have
been no Democrat in the race. Slezak said he chose to run when it became
apparent no other Democrat in the district was going to.
Contrast
that with Kulp, who had created a campaign Facebook page the weekend
before Suder even officially announced he was leaving the Assembly. Kulp
also received the support of top Assembly Republicans, and Walker spoke
in support of Kulp at a Marshfield fundraiser last week that drew
hundreds of supporters.
We can not be unprepared in any district.
* Leadership.
If we are not willing to change course and change it soon we have no chance of winning next year. We can not be satisfied with just winning the dem safe seats and maybe winning a senate seat. We need to do better.
If our current leadership is not up to changing their ways then we need new leadership. Time is of the essence!
There are thousands of people who spent countless hours in the state collecting recall signatures, who are also not part of the party. We need to figure out a way to reach them and get them more active. We need to figure out a way to be much more successful at community and minority outreach!
Another suggestion here, would be instead of holding focus groups with party activists, hold them with people who do not vote and figure out how we can reach them in the general elections.
It is time to be bold, change our ways and win elections!
MADISON, Wis. -
A Janesville man was arrested early Saturday morning
for hitting two men who were speaking Hebrew in the 200 block of North
Henry Street.
Dylan T. Grall, 23, punched the two men around 2:19 a.m. when he
heard them speaking Hebrew, police said. Grall swore at the men and
demanded they speak English.
Officials said both men were hit in the face; one fell to the ground and the other had an eye that was nearly swollen shut.
Grall
denied hitting the two men but admitted to telling them to speak
English, according to a release. Grall told police he thought the men
were speaking Spanish. A witness said Grall did attack the two other
men.
Grall was arrested on two charges of battery with a hate crime enhancer.
Then the protests erupted, and Scott’s mother volunteered to move in
with the boys so they could stay in Wauwatosa. “If they had been in a
Madison school, it wouldn’t have been very nice for them,” she adds.
“They didn’t sign up for this job.”
What exactly was that based on? Does she have any examples of the Madison Metropolitian School District and/or the Madison administrators, teachers and support staff being anything but professional in the way they deal with the children in their district?
To say that the professional staff of the MMSD, who have dedicated their whole lives to making sure ALL kids get a chance in life and a quality education would unequivocally treat her kids any different than anyone else in their classes is beyond the pale.
**Tonette Walker owes an apology to every employee in the Madison School District.**
Also, one last little tidbit from the interview(I read it so you dont have too):
“It makes me sick — and very, very sad. I’ve heard people say that they
still won’t speak to their cousin or that they lost a good friend over
the recall, and it hurts to hear that.”
MURPHY: What we were thinking about the crowds, was planting some trouble makers?
WALKER: Well, the only problem, because we thought about that, my
only gut reaction to that would be, right now, the lawmakers I’ve talked
to have just completely had it with them. The public is not really fond
of this. The teachers union did some polling and focus groups, I think,
and found out that the public turned on them the minute they closed
school down for a couple days. The guys we have left are largely from
out of state, and I keep dismissing it in my press comment saying, ‘eh,
they’re mostly from out of state.’”
[…]
I’m saying hey, ‘we can handle this, people can protest, this is
Madison, you know, full of the 60s liberals.’ Let them protest. It’s not
going to affect us. And as long as we go back to our homes, and the
majority of people are telling us we’re doing the right thing, let them
protest all they want.
From the minute Scott Walker was elected, he had a plan. His plan was to "divide and conquer" Wisconsin. His weapon in doing so was ACT 10.
Recently, our friends from the right, knowing they lose on the issue of ACT 10, started a website, "I save with act 10" where you can put your county and home value in and it magically comes up with the many dollars ACT 10 has "saved you"(for me personally it said I saved $189 when in reality my taxes increased $111) . They do not tell you what their equations are, just trust them, you are now in the upper 1% thanks to Scott Walker.
That website, however they come up with their numbers (it appears that an Alchemist does it using magic stones), there are many things that they do not take into account.
Some things they are missing are:
* Was ACT 10 the ONLY way to balance the budget (PS we all know the budget is not balanced)
* How much has the big government expensive bills that the republicans passed cost you, where would webe had they focused on jobs instead of them (some examples of course are Voter ID, Redistricting and the incredible bills they ran up and charged to the taxpayers to do so, sending the train money back, sending the federal money to expand wireless internet in rural Wisconsin back, etc...)
That being said not everyone saves with ACT 10. ACT 10 has cost Wisconsin dearly this past year and a half. My wife works for the Madison School District, and, like all public employees, we were forced to take the cuts to her pay in ACT 10(which was approximately $6000).
Here is a quick and partial list of what we have cut in this past year(its not scientific but it is reality)
* Our subscription to the Wisconsin State Journal $130/yr
* Subscription to ESPN the Magazine $59/yr
* Our membership to the YMCA $68/ month - $816/yr
* My son's karate lessons - $100 + a month
* We rearranged work schedules and daycare and saves us approximately $3000/ yr
* We have cut out going out to eat to local restaurants monthly probably saving $200/month
* Cutting down going out to eat, cuts out our need for babysitters so we probably save about $50-60 a month on babysitters.
Everything on that list(except for ESPN the Magazine) is money that was DIRECTLY TAKEN from our local economy. Our daycare money was to a local daycare where I live, babysitters also, YMCA helps the community, I would estimate that of the going out to eat money we are no longer spending 85% would have went to locally owned restaurants, the karate lessons were in our community etc.... We also plan to get an extra 100,000 miles out of the car I drive now than we would have before.
That is just the dollar cost of ACT 10 to our family. Then there s the cost of the friends who have "defriended" me and the family members that no longer talk to us.
In my opinion, none of this was worth the $49 that some people "saved" in property taxes. These cuts have real world effects on local communities and local businesses.
That is what ACT 10 has cost us......what has ACT 10 cost YOU?
Please share your stories here, and also "like" our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WhatAct10HasCostMe and share your stories there also!
Governor Scott Walker
"The legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth." Aristotle 
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