Grothman's Gamboling Goalposts

With the Scott Walker recall movement less than two weeks old, it is on a pace that could surpass the amazing work done in Ohio when they pushed to have a referendum on their anti-worker bill.  When his bill was soundly defeated, Ohio Governor John Kasich admitted defeat and vowed to move on.

Unfortunately, facing equally, if not more, fierce opposition here in Wisconsin, Walker and his GOP allies in the state legislature do not have even that much dignity left. They and their supporters, in an effort to turn the tsunami headed their way, have told lies that are laughable in their transparency. Failing that, they have resorted to almost every reprehensible stunt in order to preserve their fragile control of the state. They have tried everything from voter suppression to intimidation to flagrant violations of the election laws.

Now, in a move spearheaded by State Senator Glenn Grothman, they want to violate the state constitution itself:

Grothman's bill, which is the second go-around for the measure, would require petition gatherers' statement of authenticity to be in the form of an affidavit, acknowledged by an officer authorized to administer oaths, affirm the circulator's identity and state that the circulator appeared before the officer and executed the statement in the officer's presence.

"This will simply add an objective element to the current system of self-certification in which a circulator approves the honesty of his or her own efforts, and will ensure the integrity of signature collection efforts via third party accountability," read the statement that accompanied the email sent to legislators.

Grothman said he has always felt the process needs more scrutiny and doesn't feel asking for notarized signatures is going too far. But one can't help but notice that he didn't move to change the law until the recent wave of recall drives targeting four Republican senators and Gov. Scott Walker.

But as the incomparable Tom Foley points out, Article XIII, Section 12, Paragraph 7 explicitly forbids the creation of any law that would "hinder, restrict or impair the right of recall."
Talk about moving the goalposts!

About the only thing that they've yet to do is throw out the constitution altogether and declare Walker Governor for Life.

But it's not solely the stunts that they'll pull or the extents to which they'll reach in their desperation that amazes me. Having lived under Walker's regime for nine years, I've seen almost every stunt imaginable, the least of which is the ever-expanding Walkergate.

What fascinates me, in a morbid way, is their fanaticism regarding all this.  I don't know if they are motivated by greed, by a lust for power, some sort of irrational fear/hatred or a combination of any or all of these things.  Whatever their motivation(s) may be, it is frightening to consider the extremes they are willing to go.

They genuinely think that they've done nothing wrong in being nothing more than puppets for malevolent forces.  They genuinely think that taking money out of our wallets, food off our plates and roofs from over our heads is doing us a favor.  They think nothing of cutting off aid to the elderly, the disabled and children, as long as it forwards their agenda and their ideology.  They will use the weakest of rationales to justify trampling on our rights and our freedoms, and then act surprised when we get so upset that we would protest and take every legal action we can to not only stop them, but to prevent them from doing even worse.

Their level of zeal has crossed from ideological adherence to an almost religious extremism.  This is evidenced that they are apparently ready to destroy everything, even the things that they do value, in order to maintain power and continue down the path they've been mindlessly following.  Even though they recognize the anger that people are feeling and the trouble they are in, they cannot bring themselves to budge even an inch from their dogmatic positions.

It is as if they have collectively either lost all social mores and/or have suffered some sort of mass psychosis.

Regardless of the cause of their zealotry, the fact that they would even consider some of these things without even a pang of remorse only goes to show why we must be ever vigilant, both now as we move to oust them and afterwards to make sure that this never happens again, regardless of which party is in control.

Another Moment Of Brilliance From Walker

The man is simply an embarrassment:

Earlier: He has the same sediment as Lincoln.

Word on the street is he's already brushing up his resume for a new job of leadership: President of Densa.

Quote Of The Day

This comment, lifted from Illy-T's blog, really hit home in light of a couple of pieces from Rick Esenberg which I  had to correct:

The trend seems to be for an "expert" to make public statements about the content of the law that are inaccurate. The purpose of the statement is not accuracy, however, but rather to influence public opinion.

Most news readers tend to react to new information and arrive at an opinion about that information rather quickly. These first impressions in the minds of readers are "sticky," and readers will rarely revise their initial opinion even if later legal proceedings (or the lack thereof) demonstrate that the original source of the information was wrong. The latest political science research on the way that our minds form opinions demonstrates that it is first impressions that counts.

It is not surprising that those who wish to influence public opinion might adopt these "quick hit" tactics. What is surprising is that a major media corporation is apparently either ignorant of these tactics or else views itself as under no obligation to push back.

Perhaps one response (admittedly imperfect) might be if the State Bar were to discipline or rebuke any lawyers who make obviously reckless mistatements about what is or isn't fraud, or about what the law is generally. In paragraph 6, the preamble to Chapter SCR 20 states that all lawyers "should further the public's understanding of and confidence in the rule of law." Playing games designed to influence public opinion would seem to be inconsistent with the obligation of furthering the public's understanding of the law.

Apparently the prospect of shame or ridicule is not sufficient to deter some people.

'Nuff said.

Walker Lied? So What Else Is Old?

You know Scott Walker is having problems when even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel can't find a way to help him out of a lie:

Walker referred to school survey results, saying "the overwhelming number of districts saw that staffing was the same or greater."

But he cherry-picked figures in his favor, leaving out a key factor -- retirements -- that formed the basis of the survey’s conclusions on overall staffing reductions. When they are included, the survey actually shows the opposite of what he said.

We rate his statement False.

Of course, the gentle reader already knew that Walker's education plan of slashing school funding wasn't working.

Oddly, despite the growing evidence, often reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that Walker is simply on of the worst governors of all time in all the states, the paper still can't bring itself to stop supporting him.

Halfway Home

If this source is to be believed, Scott Walker must be to the stage where he is starting to wear epends lest he continuously soils himself (emphasis mine):

On Saturday, Recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) projections to collect petition signatures have surpassed all expectations to get more than the minimum required signatures per day needed by organizers to meet the amount of 540,000 mark by January 17. After the Black Friday signature petition drive throughout the state, recall organizers projected that most likely they have surpassed the halfway mark of the 270,000 signatures needed or will reach the halfway target total within days to force an election recall against Governor Walker.

Maybe if I time this correctly, I can be the coup d'état signature.

The Shameless Sheep Herder

On Saturday, the Wisconsin Badgers served up a whooping on Penn State. Badger fans around the state rejoiced at the win, but also did well by showing that even though the ruling regime is a dark stain on the history of Wisconsin, the people of this state are good folk.

You see, Penn State is in turmoil by the recently revealed scandal involving an assistant coach allegedly committing the most horrific crime possible - the sexual assault of children.  But according to all accounts that I've seen, Badger fans did well by themselves by not using this against Penn State players or fans.

In another act showing the goodness of most Wisconsinites, State Senator Julie Lassa and State Representative Sandy Pasch have announced that they are going to again attempt to pass "The Child Victims Act."

Currently, state law forbids a survivor of childhood sexual abuse from suing their alleged abuser once they reach 35 years of age.  This is ludicrous and only serves to re-victimize the survivor of abuse.

The need for this bill is so obvious and so overdue that the ultraconservative corporate stooges that make up the editorial board at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel were forced to see it worth and endorse it, citing these reasons:

[Pasch] also pointed out some chilling facts: 70% of reported sexual assaults in Wisconsin were perpetrated against children; nationally, one in five children fall victim to abuse; estimates place the number of reported cases at only 10% of the actual total; several leading mental health experts say that most children who have been abused are so traumatized that they can't speak about the attack until well into adulthood, if ever.

In the same issue, the paper provides column space to Rick Esenberg, proprietor of the blogsite "Shark and Shepherd*," and head of a Bradley Foundation-sponsored group, to offer a rebuttal** on why the survivors of childhood sexual assault should have their day in court to seek redress for the crime committed against them.

Esenberg comes down to basically two points.

His first point is pure hyperbole (emphasis mine):

Statutes of limitations exist because it becomes progressively more difficult to establish the facts as time passes. It is hard to either corroborate or contradict conflicting testimony. Witnesses are gone. Memories have faded. Records have disappeared. When facts are scarce and the allegations are incendiary, there is an increased risk of results based not on evidence, but emotion.

The sponsors of this act argue that it will somehow result in the exposure of more offenders. But this is true only if we believe that it is likely that no victim of an abuser would come forward before the age of 35.

Not only is this argument hyperbolic, but it is arrogant and insensitive.

When a person experiences any kind of traumatic event, whether it is a soldier dealing with the horrors of war, a witness of a serious crime like murder or the victim of childhood sexual abuse, it is not uncommon for them to compartmentalize their memories of the event and to repress those memories for an indefinite length of time.

Sometimes it can take a lot more than the twenty years that Esenberg feels is sufficient. In my professional career, especially when I worked in various psychiatric hospitals, I worked with many people who were the survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Some of them were able to come to grips with what happened to them while they were teenagers. Others were only having their first conscious memories bubble up when they were in their 50s. Some people were victimized as children may never have those memories brought up to the conscious level.

There is no predicting when the memories, often referred to as flashbacks, may reemerge or what might trigger them. It could be a sight, a sound or a smell. It could be the result of therapy. Or it could be an internal trigger where the person subconsciously feels ready to cope with the pain caused by the trauma.

For anyone to arbitrarily dictate how fast a survivor of sexual abuse should become strong enough to deal with not only the pain of the trauma, but to also have the strength to relive it in court shows that they either don't understand what is happening to the survivor, or they just don't care.

Esenberg's second point is much more telling and, I believe, the real gist that he and others who have offered the same opposition to similar laws:

Nor is it only the interest of accused sex offenders with which the procedural protections offered by statutes of limitation are concerned. Although they may be joined as defendants, civil actions alleging sexual abuse of a minor rarely are targeted at the perpetrator. Offenders seldom have money to pay civil damages.

Rather, the real target is some institution - a church or a school - that is alleged to have failed to prevent the abuse. It is even more difficult for such institutions to respond to allegations about what someone else is alleged to have done.

In other words, it's all about the money.

To a certain extent, this is understandable. As long as two years ago, Wisconsin prosecutors have filed charges against the nineteenth clergy member accused of sexually assaulting children. This is indicative of the long history that institutions like the Catholic Church have had of trying to cover up such atrocities, thereby enabling more abuse to occur. The consequences of such irresponsible behavior carries a heavy price tag, which is why the Milwaukee Diocese has filed for bankruptcy.

Similarly, school districts have had to pay high amounts of money for failing to protect children who were placed in their care.

I have heard some opponents of this law cite the money issue, claiming that it is unfair to the parishioners or the tax payers who will have to foot the bills for these lawsuits. I agree. However, the distinction that they do not make is that the parishioners and taxpayers are also the victims of the institutions, not of the survivors or the lawsuits. Not only did they fail to protect the children, but then their cover up led to these other people being trespassed against.

But even then, that argument holds no water. The loss of some money, even though through no fault of their own, pales in comparison to what was taken from the children who were assaulted and abused.

To defend the Church by trying to deny survivors of childhood sexual abuse their day in court might make Esenberg, or anyone else taking a similar stance, a good Catholic. But in my opinion, it makes them a lousy Christian and even worse human being.

*The shark is supposed to represent his skills as a lawyer, even though Tom Foley regularly swims circles around him. The shepherd is supposed to involve his alleged Christian values.

**One has to note the irony of a conservative arguing for the rights of the perpetrator as opposed to the victim's rights.

Scott Walker We Should Recall

Swiped from here:



H/T JoyMama

To Defend The Future, You Need To Know The Past

Do you want to know just how bad things can get under Scott Walker's regime?

To know that, look at what he did in eight years to Milwaukee County.

Now go out and gather those signatures.

(Yes, I'm the one that compiled that list.)

Walker Continues To Whiffle

Less than two weeks ago, Scott Walker came out whiffing with an ad featuring a Waukesha school board member who didn't even know how many schools were in her district.

Walker, with an endless amount of funding from the Koch Brothers, the Bradley Foundation and WMC, decides to take another swing.  And he whiffed it again.

This time the ad features "Kristi,"* who is identified as a mother and high school teacher.

But just like his first ad, this one is almost too easy to pick apart.

It turns out that Kristi is indeed a teacher.  But she teaches at a privatized school.  And if that wasn't enough, the Dems are reporting that she is also a GOP activist.

It's no wonder that she thinks that Walker's failing budget is a success.

One must feel sorry for her students.  They sure as hell can't be receiving a quality education from her. Not like they would have if they were going to a public school anyway.

Charlie Sykes thinks that this ad could be effective.  I concur.

Once people find out that the only ones supporting Walker are the mercenaries and the special interests who are pillaging their wallets to make the rich richer, they will be driven in droves to recall him.

I anxiously await for Walker to come back for his third strike.

*Am I the only one that thinks she is reading from a teleprompter placed way above the camera?

More Anti-Gay Rhetoric From Walker's Administration

While running for Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca "I don't like the way that table is looking at me" Kleefisch compared homosexual couples to dogs.  People were rightfully outraged at her mean-spirited, hate-filled comments.

Now comes another one of Scott Walker's cronies, the politically connected Laurie McCallum, wife of former governor Scott McCallum, who takes a stance that homosexual people should be treated worse than dogs:

Laurie McCallum, who was recently appointed by Gov. Scott Walker to a six-year term on the state’s Labor and Industry Review Commission, wrote that the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act applies only to sexual harassment. That contention was the basis for her dissenting opinion in a case involving Milwaukeean Chris Bowen, a machine operator who was subjected to years of anti-gay harassment as an employee of Stroh Precision Die Casting.

In a 2-1 decision, commissioners Robert Glaser and Ann L. Crump found that Stroh was responsible for fostering a workplace environment hostile to Bowen because of his sexual orientation. Stroh did not deny that the harassment occurred; nor did the company argue that anti-gay harassment is allowed under state law during the eight years that the case bounced around the court system.

But McCallum, the politically connected wife of former GOP Gov. Scott McCallum, defied nearly 30 years of precedent in state law by asserting that sexual “preference,” as she put it, is not a protected category in workplace discrimination cases.

McCallum’s stance alarmed civil rights advocates as well as her fellow commissioners, who warned that her view could upend legal tradition and “make it permissible to harass an employee based upon race, national origin, religion, age or disability,” as well as sexual orientation.

Scott Walker needs to condemn the vote by his political appointee and state that strongly opposes that decision. If he chooses not to do so, one can only presume that he is in agreement with it.

Then again, by not refuting that hateful stance, he only helps the recall movement. Perhaps he shouldn't say anything after all.

The Wreck of the Brothers Fitzgerald

It's about time someone came up with something like this:



I was telling you about the gales of November. We are the whirlwind.

Gleefully swiped from Phil Scarr

RIP, Tim Cuprisin

Milwaukee lost one of the good guys today with the passing of Tim Cuprisin:

It is with great sadness that we must announce the passing of our friend and colleague, Tim Cuprisin, OnMilwaukee.com's media columnist.

Tim died Wednesday morning after a short but valiant fight with melanoma.

Cuprisin joined OnMilwaukee.com in 2009 after many years with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His sense of unbiased, journalistic integrity served a model for our team of young and veteran journalists. In our brief time with Tim, he impacted all of us greatly with his professionalism, sense of humor and eagerness to embrace new media.

OnMilwaukee.com also announced that they are giving a fitting tribute to Tim by naming their editorial office after him. Andy Tarnoff also has a very moving tribute to him.

I lamented the day that I learned that Tim was being pushed out by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and was the first step in what ultimately led me to stop by subscription to the paper. I was not the only one to express concern that day either.

Tim was a great source of information when it came to the follies of our local squawk radio hosts, from the temper tantrums of James Harris to the inane behaviors of Mark Belling to the ultimate demise of Jessica McBride's painful time on the radio.

I held Tim in such esteem that one of my earliest honors as a blogger was learning that Tim read my stuff regularly. That made me try harder and inspired me to try to be half as good as he was.

On top of his skill, he was a genuinely nice man that was more than willing to have a conversation or to unhesitating helping a person out with some information.

So when I heard the news today of his passing, after the initial shock, I felt the pang of losing not only a great and respected columnist, but a friend.

Milwaukee did indeed lose one of the greats today.

RIP, Anne McCaffrey

Anne McCaffrey, author of the "Dragonriders of Pern" series, has passed away:

Anne McCaffrey, the prolific science fiction and fantasy author who was best known for her “Dragonriders of Pern” novels, has died of a stroke at her home in Ireland. She was 85.

McCaffrey is celebrated for the new worlds she created in her fiction, such as in the “Dragonriders of Pern” — where a whole society is based on dragon-riding, and in “The Ship Who Sang” — in which a starship’s functions are controlled entirely by a severely disabled girl.

McCaffrey also helped transform the way science fiction writers wrote about women, and became the first woman to win a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award, as well as a Grand Master of science fiction.

When I was a kid, I devoured her books as they came out. She brought out new worlds for the imagination and opened the door for many people.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part XLII

If this is a business-friendly state, I'd hate to see what it would be like if we were unfriendly.  Yet another company pulling the plug, affecting almost 150 people directly:

Three years after pulling Famous Footwear's headquarters out of Madison, where the company started, parent Brown Shoe Co. says it will close Famous Footwear's huge distribution center in the Sun Prairie Business Park in early 2012, ending 144 jobs.

Sun Prairie city officials say they had no warning.

"As recently as two months ago, the city visited with the operations manager at the facility, and all indicators seemed to point towards a continuing presence here including a growing role for their Shoes.com operation," Neil Stechschulte, Sun Prairie's economic development director, said in a written statement. "The announcement appears to have been a surprise to employees as well as the city as a whole."

Brown Shoe said late Tuesday it will phase out operations at 1615 Commerce Drive in Sun Prairie over the next six months. Forty-two positions will end in January; the other 102 will continue through April when the distribution center will permanently close, Brown Shoe said in a plant-closing notice to the state Department of Workforce Development.

It's most definitely time to give Scott Walker the boot! Sign a recall petition today!

"...and we did it without raising taxes." - Results may vary

We've all seen them.

Those seemingly endless commercials that keep airing over and over and over on every station.

Yes, I'm talking about those commercial being aired by the Koch Brothers, via their front groups MacGuyver Institute and Americans for the Preposterous, which tout all the success that Scott Walker has not have had in creating jobs, preserving schools, etc.

Hey, they have their investment to protect, right?

Anyway, they finish their commercial with the claim that they did all this "without raising taxes."

Well, that would be impressive...if it were true. But like the other claims in the commercial, it's that much balderdash.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, things are not quite what these scam artists would have you believe.

Taxes are going up for anyone who claims the Earned Income Tax Credit or Homestead Tax Credit. You know, the people who could least afford paying even more. Just so that the rich can have more tax breaks on the capital gains and to increase their companies' profits.

And since the Republicans claim that any time a Democrat raises fees, it's the same as a tax hike, the same can be said about when they do it.

Given that argument, Walker really false short.

Walker is raising the fees for nonprofit agencies who need to do background checks on their employees (which is required by the state) 350%. He is also raising fees on microbrewers, anyone buying a car, anyone taking their road test (y'know, those darn kids are part of the 1%), and firefighters and EMTs.

The most egregious "fee hike" stems from the exorbitant tuition hikes on college students, because they're so filthy rich as well. Seriously, business leaders are telling Walker that their biggest problem is finding qualified workers with the right education, so he turns around and makes it even more difficult for people to get the necessary education and training. How in the world does that make sense, much less becomes a talking point for him?

For the actual numbers, we can go back to the Fiscal Bureau's report for the "savings" coming from Walker's budget:

In summary, the changes included in the Joint Finance Committee's budget would decrease net taxes by $23,572,000 ($5,135,000 in 2011-12 and -$28,707,000 in 2012-13) and would increase net fees by $111,340,800 ($37,248,900 in 2011-12 and $74,091,900 in 2012-13).

In other words, he's killing jobs faster than anyone else in the entire nation, sending our economy into a death spiral, victimizing our children and our vulnerable citizens, and we have the opportunity to pay more for this abuse.

Have you signed a recall petition yet? If not, what the heck are you waiting for?