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! 

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCXI

Another day, another Kmart store in Wiscsonsin announcing that it's closing:

Kmart is closing its store at 409 Prairie View Road in Chippewa Falls in mid-May, the director of corporate communications for Sears Holdings Corporation confirmed Monday.

“The store in Chippewa Falls has 79 employees. Those associates that are eligible will receive severance and have the opportunity to apply for open positions at area Sears or Kmart stores. Most of the associates are part time/hourly,” said Howard Riefs in an email to the Herald.

Sears Holdings is the parent company of Sears and Kmart.

The Chippewa Falls store will start a liquidation sale on Sunday, Feb. 23.

Scott Walker's defenders will point out that Kmart is closing stores all over the country, which is true.

Likewise, it's also true that they are closing more stores in Wisconsin than other states. The reason being is that they are losing their shirts more in Wisconsin as less and less people have money that they can spend on anything but the bare basics. And the people that still have expendable cash are not the type that would be caught dead in a Kmart.

It is time and beyond time to get rid of the problem - Walker and his agenda.

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCX

Scott Walker's agenda is working so gosh darn well, its success stories continue to keep coming, like this winter's incessant snow falls.  The latest bit of "success" comes from Shopko:

ASHWAUBENON Shopko Stores Inc. laid off 25 office workers Monday, a small percentage of the more than 700 in its corporate offices, company spokeswoman Michelle Hansen said.

“We’re taking this action because, like many retailers, 2013 was challenging,” she said. “We didn’t make our sales and profit goals. This allows a flatter, more flexible structure to redeploy resources to improve customer experience and position us for future success.”

In case the gentle reader hasn't been paying attention, this is part of a changing pattern.

For the first few years after Walker dropped his "bomb" of Act 10 on the state, people had to cut back on their luxury purchases, such as going out to eat or buying things they didn't really need. Due to this, we saw the number of jobs shrink and the number of unemployed soar. We also saw the ripple effect of this hitting other businesses, forcing them to scale back if not close altogether.

Now things are getting so bad that we are seeing bigger stores pull back or, like Kmart and JCPenneys, pull out of the state.

I won't kid you gentle reader, it will take years and years to repair the damage done. But those repairs can't even begin until we get rid of the cause, Scott Walker and his Teabuplican cronies.

The Walker Agenda Is Still Working! Part CCIX

Aren't you just tickled pink that Scott Walker made Wisconsin so business friendly? It's so friendly that companies still flee from the state like rats off a sinking ship.  The latest of these is Grammar Inc.:

Grammer AG has announced that it is moving its North American headquarters from Hudson to northeast Mississippi.

In a statement on its website posted Wednesday, Jan. 30, the German manufacturer of vehicle seats and car-interior components said the start of production at the Mississippi plant is scheduled for the end of 2014.

[...]

The newspaper said the company will bring 650 jobs to the community and spend $30 million over five years on the facility.

They're not saying how it's going to affect the Hudson facility yet, but it's pretty safe to say it won't be in a positive way. At least not an additional 650 jobs or $30 million positive type of way.

The real outrageous part of it all is that so many people have been forced to sacrifice, lose their pay, lose their jobs and even lose their homes to only see the state continue to lose businesses.

Walker's agenda simply is not working and it - along with Walker - has to go.

Caption This!

Is Walker admiring that tat of Zombie Reagan or just the guy's muscles?  Or is something else going on?  Caption this!

Pro-Life - Anti-Everything

 

By Jeff Simpson

Peggy Hamill and Pro-Life Wisconsin have decided to boycott Girl Scout cookies.

Pro-Life Wisconsin is asking its members to reconsider purchasing Girl Scout cookies, saying the organization is too closely linked to the abortion rights movement.In an email to supporters Monday, Pro-Life Wisconsin said that "while some local troops' activities may be wholesome, sadly, Girl Scouts USA promotes radically, anti-life women, such as Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, as role models, regularly partners with pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood for 'educational' activities, and encourages girls to fight for abortion on demand."
The annual six-week period of Girl Scout cookie sales kicks off this Saturday.
Pro-Life Wisconsin told its supporters that "approximately 15 percent of each box sold goes to the troop. The rest goes to the regional and national organizations of Girl Scouts USA."

 The problem, as is usually the problem with the wing nut organizations....they are lying to you!

That's not true, said Christy Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Badgerland Council, a regional body that provides Girl Scouting in south-central and southwest Wisconsin. No portion of cookie proceeds goes to the national Girl Scouts organization, she said.
Of the $3.75 per-box retail price, the baker gets 99 cents, the girl who sold the box earns a 12-cent reward, and the troop keeps 60 cents to 70 cents (the amount goes up depending on overall sales volume). The rest -- about $2 -- goes to the regional council to pay for programming costs, Gibbs said.
While the organization's 112 regional councils do provide funding for the national Girl Scouts of the USA, that money comes from a portion of registration fees, Gibbs said. The cookie money is a distinct pot that does not leave the troop and regional council, she said.

 For those who want to read more, here's a story Pro-Life Wisconsin is sharing with its supporters, and here's a response from Girl Scouts of the USA.

This of course begs the question.  If you are against the Girl Scouts cookie sales...what are you for?




 

They even have their own hateful hashtag!   

Americans for Hypocrisy!

By Jeff Simpson

We have written alot here at CogDis about Americans for Prosperity and their old gopher boy Luke Hilgemann.   Although Luke has kind of had the last laugh, in that as he has become a VERY rich man (more on that story soon) and no longer has to live under the oppression of Scott Walker's regime. 

When Luke got promoted from local gopher to national coffee boy, the koch brothers, in their Wisconsin division of the Walker Campaign, needed a replacement, and they found one in David Fladboe. 

 They found Fladboe the same place that they found Hilgemann and Sean Lansing - straight from Scott Suder's office.    If your going to have an unethical, misleading organization like Americans for Prosperity, which is led by the vermin Tim Phillips, then Scott Suder is the perfect person to train your up and comers (United Sportsmen anyone?)! 

Now that we are caught up on the backstory of AFP, here is their current campaign:



    

In case it does not just JUMP right out at you...... 

Americans for Prosperity - STANDS WITH low-income workers, and unemployed Americans by opposing the minimum wage increase. 

Nothing says prosperity like low income workers and the unemployed! 

Gramling Perez Looking Strong In Race For Branch 32

Laura Gramling Perez issued a press release which shows she is in a strong position for the final two months leading up to the April 1 election for Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 32:

Laura Gramling Perez, candidate for Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge, Branch 32, filed her campaign finance report on Friday, which showed her campaign raising more than $80,000 over the course of 2013. The campaign is in a strong position, with more than $58,000 cash on hand and numerous recent endorsements from elected officials and law enforcement groups.

“The support I’ve received so far in my campaign has been truly phenomenal,” said Laura Gramling Perez. “I’m very thankful to all of the people who have endorsed me and contributed financially. It is because of them that my campaign is in such a strong position going in to the last two months of the election. I’m looking forward to continuing this momentum and building even more support among the people I hope to serve as Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge.“

Over the past few weeks, the campaign has also announced the endorsements of the Milwaukee County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, the Milwaukee Police Supervisors’ Union, and the Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council. Gramling Perez also has the endorsement of more than two-thirds of mayors and village presidents in Milwaukee County, as well as hundreds of attorneys and community leaders.

“It’s been amazing to watch Laura’s support grow across Milwaukee County,” said Matthew O’Neill, shareholder at Fox, O'Neill & Shannon, S.C. “She has the knowledge and the experience to be a valuable member of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. I know that Milwaukee County will be well served with her on the bench.”

A look at her list of endorsements reveals that she is indeed in a good position and is receiving support across the political spectrum. It is also worth noting that along with an impressive number of judges, court commissioners and attorneys, Gramling Perez has also earned the endorsements of former DA Michael McCann as well as the Deputies' Association and Police Supervisors' Organization.

I would also point out that Gramling Perez has recently been the subject of a (rather feeble) smear campaign by the corporate special interests, which tells us that she would be a judge that will enforce the law and not the wishes of the special interests.

I am proud to be among those that support Gramling Perez and I look forward to voting for her on April 1.

To learn more about Laura Gramling Perez, please visit her website or her Facebook page.  If you wish to support Gramling Perez, you can contribute to her campaign here.

David Simon on Libertarianism!

 

By Jeff Simpson

Never have I heard it put so well and spot on:

Ultimately we abandoned that [the idea that unions had a place in an economy] and believed in the idea of trickle-down and the idea of the market economy and the market knows best, to the point where now libertarianism in my country is actually being taken seriously as an intelligent mode of political thought. It’s astonishing to me. But it is. People are saying I don’t need anything but my own ability to earn a profit. I’m not connected to society. I don’t care how the road got built, I don’t care where the firefighter comes from, I don’t care who educates the kids other than my kids. I am me. It’s the triumph of the self. I am me, hear me roar.

But wait...there's more:

 The idea that the market will solve such things as environmental concerns, as our racial divides, as our class distinctions, our problems with educating and incorporating one generation of workers into the economy after the other when that economy is changing; the idea that the market is going to heed all of the human concerns and still maximise profit is juvenile. It’s a juvenile notion and it’s still being argued in my country passionately and we’re going down the tubes. And it terrifies me because I’m astonished at how comfortable we are in absolving ourselves of what is basically a moral choice. Are we all in this together or are we all not?

Cause & Effect - Chain of Events!

By Jeff Simpson

Step 1:  The people of Wisconsin elect Scott Walker as Governor. 

Step 2:  Scott Walker hires the incredibly unethical, dishonest scumbag Dennis Smith as Secretary of the Department of Health Services. 



Step 3:   Dennis Smith, when he wasnt sleeping with his employees, was busy turning down federal Medicaid money meant for WI.

Step 4:  The rejection of federal money will cost the Wisconsin taxpayers $1,800,000,000.

Step 5: Wisconsites WILL die because of this decision.

Step 6:  "pro"-life Wisconsin will give Scott Walker a 100% pro-life rating.  

Repeat/Reuse/Recycle 

The New Political Mantra

When Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abila crafted his 2014 budget, he planned on really sticking it to county workers yet again.  His proposed budget included another cutting of thousands of dollars from each workers' paycheck.

The unions lobbied hard for this unnecessary assault to be reversed.  The County Board did turn back the brunt of Abila's attack on the workers, but they still took a substantial hit.  

When all was said and done, Milwaukee County workers were paying much, much more - sometimes more than double - what state workers or City of Milwaukee employees were paying:

There was no way the unions or the County Board could call this a real victory. While it was undeniably and greatly better than Abila's proposed budget, the workers were still taking a big hit.  The addition of insult to injury came when the county announced that 2013 was projected to have a $14 million surplus, $5 million of which came from cuts in workers' pay and benefits. There was no need for the county to further exploit the workers.

We are seeing a similar argument going on today regarding the minimum wage.  

President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, endorsed raising the minimum wage to $10.10 over three years of gradual increases.  This idea has been endorsed by the state's Democratic US Representatives and Senator Tammy Baldwin.  It has also been embraced by state Democratic legislators.  And on Sunday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke switched from her previous stance of raising the minimum wage by a mere 35 cents to the same plan the other Democrats are pushing.

Predictably, the corporate toadies like John Boehner, Scott Walker and the other Teapublicans are against this because it will cut in their corporate overlords ongoing profiteering.  So instead of trying to help the working poor, they make their tired old claims that it would kill jobs, kill the economy, kill Nemo or anything else in an effort to scare people.

Unfortunately for the corporate sockpuppets, 600 economists already have signed on saying that the minimum wage needed to be raised.  Among those are seven Nobel Prize-winning economists.and eight former presidents of the American Economic Association.

So for any rational person capable of critical thinking, it would seem pretty clear that raising the minimum wage.  It would benefit hundreds of millions of Americans, stimulate the economy and get things rolling again.

The catch is that to get people just up to the poverty line would require the minimum wage to be $11.33 per hour.  That is $1.23 more than what the Democrats are proposing and more than four dollars more than what the Teapublicans want to allow workers to make.

Obviously, the Democrats' plan is immeasurably better than that of the Teapublicans.  That said, it is still falling short of where the goal should be.  People will still be swallowed up by poverty but at least they will be sinking at a slower rate.  

It used to be that one time politicians and political parties were promising us that they would make things better.  Now they are only promising to make things less worse than the other side.  Some choice.

To be perfectly honest though, this new political mantra - "We won't hurt you as much as the other guys" - really isn't new at all.  For years, all of us have been voting for the lesser of two evils.  The sad part of that is that no matter who gets elected, it's still evil.

Isn't it time that we expect our elected leaders to work to make things better than to just make things suck a little less?

John Elway Is Super!

By Jeff Simpson

Basking in the lights of the Super Bowl, John Elway gave an interview to Fox News:

Well, it goes to what my beliefs are,” Elway explained. “I believe that we’re giving the opportunity to succeed or not succeed.”

“I don’t believe in safety nets,” he continued. “Obviously, we’ve got to have some kind of safety nets. But I think my philosophy is when given the opportunity to go take advantage of that, I think that’s when you get the best out of people.”

It was nice of John Elway to take time away from lobbying to have the taxpayers of Colorado build him a new stadium where he can do business, to explain the problem with safety nets.

In one of the most massive legislative lobbying efforts in recent memory, two dozen lobbyists have been drafted by eight groups to win a tax-subsidized stadium for the Denver Broncos.
According to state records, the Broncos and others are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to win approval of a bill that would let taxpayers decide if they'll pay $266 million to replace Mile High Stadium.
"I've never seen such an aggressive effort on any piece of legislation down here, especially since there was no real organized opposition - no paid, professional lobbyists against it,'' said Sen. Mike Coffman, a 10-year veteran of the Legislature.
What's at stake that so much is spent on a legislative blitz? There are varied answers depending on who's talking, but most boil down to money.
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen says the new stadium is needed so the Broncos can stay competitive in the National Football League and to continue to get good players. His detractors say he needs it to raise more money for his company. The city of Denver says it wants to keep its NFL team. Other companies want to build the stadium, sell beer or just profit from a ride on the coattails of a winning team.

In case your wondering about their current stadium?  

Year Opened: 2001

Cost: $400 million

Percentage of cost borne by taxpayers: 75% (reported by Denver Post)

 

 

  

 

 

Some Days, An Emperor Just Can't Get Any Respect

On Thursday, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele woke up with a smile on his face.  He just knew that this was going to be a great day.

He was scheduled to meet his good friend, President Barack Obama.  Abele had been telling people for days how Obama has been consulting with him on how to raise the minimum wage and it would be good to get some national attention in case he decided to run against Russ Feingold to take on Senator Ron Johnson.

Then, after meeting with his good chum he would return to the Milwaukee County Courthouse to watch his lackeys work the County Board's Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee so that he could get several million dollars to his corporate pals and then really stick it to both the low wage workers in the county as well as those pesky county workers themselves.

Yes, it would be a grand day indeed, and well worth giving up his usual routine of spending the morning at Collectivo and the afternoon at the University Club with his fellow plutocrats of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, toasting each other and congratulating themselves for being masters of the universe.

Still smiling in anticipation, Abele stretched and got out of bed.  He decided not to show up his BFF Obama and so when he slipped out of his silk pajamas, he decided to put on a suit instead of his usual ermine robe.

Little did he know just how wrong he was.

When he got to the airport to wait for good old Barry, he was glad to see the snow had not started falling yet.  At the expected time, Air Force One landed and the President disembarked with US Congresswoman Gwen Moore.

But as his good friend Barry Obama was acknowledging the various local dignitaries, he got to the Emperor and called him County Executive Chris Abila.  Not only did the President screw up his name he got the title wrong.  Even worse, it showed everyone that he was lying about his closeness with Obama.

The last part was the worst.  He was counting on using that charade to keep the Board from passing that horrible resolution that would require county employees and anyone working for a company that contracts with the county or gets money from the county to get paid a living wage.  Well, not quite a living wage, since it was only 100% of the poverty level.

Regardless, he was hoping to distract the supervisors with this fake out, hoping they would settle for the sub-poverty rate of $10.10 per hour, even though he secretly knew that even that small increase was not likely to happen.

After doing his stint with Obama and still trying to keep a positive outlook, he had his chauffeur drive him to the courthouse so that he could listen in on the committee meeting as they stuck it to the little people and help his corporate pals out.

But even that went wrong.

He quickly learned that a large number of the unwashed masses of common workers were crowding the committee room to push for the living wage.  He felt anger and dread wash over his body as the committee foolishly listened to those commoners and voted for the living wage, 7-2.

What was wrong with these supervisors?! Didn't they know that might cut into the many millions of dollars his friends stood to gain as he privatized and/or sold off every part of the county he could?!

Abele's - or rather - Abila's day just kept getting worse.

He had sent his top man in to get the committee to approve a pay out worth several millions of dollars to give to the companies that were still cleaning up the mess left from Abele's fire last summer.  He was hoping that the supervisors would be gullible enough to believe him when he said that the check from the insurance companies would be in the mail.  In a few months.  Maybe.

To Abila's disbelief, those rubes called supervisors balked at giving the insurance companies free loans - or maybe even gifts - by holding it over until next weeks meeting of the whole board.

Oh, well.  Abila consoled himself with the thought that he would soon have his Crosswalk plan in place.  He was very proud of his Crosswalk plan.  Not only did he take $5 million from the county workers to help increase the surplus to $14 million, but now he was going to take away their rights like seniority, grievances, vacations and fair work conditions.

But Abila's jaw fell to the floor as that uppity Supervisor Dave Cullen immediately moved to have the issue tabled until the call of the chair (that's legalese for putting his scheme in indefinite resolution purgatory) and called for the vote.  Those rotten upstarts then proceeded to vote it into limbo unanimously.

How dare they!  Abila was so upset that he stomped around his throne room for a whole two minutes, until he got too tired and had to sit down.

Don't they know who he is? He's Emperor Abila, er, Abele.  How dare these fools stand up for the commoners and the little people!

Sighing, Abila regained his composure somewhat and vowed to take his revenge on those uppity supervisors, especially that rotten chairwoman, Marina Dimitrijevic.  And then he would be able to do what he wanted with those miserable serfs.

Abila let out another deep sigh.

Some days, an emperor just can't get any respect.

Author's note: To make it satire, some fiction was added - Abele's robe is really sable, not ermine.

Walkergate 2: Walker's Still Doing A Whole Lotta Cooperating!

Yesterday was the deadline for politicians to file their campaign finance reports for the second half of 2013. The largest corporate media outlet in the state was excited to announce that the primary corporate candidate, Scott Walker, had raised three times as much money as the secondary corporate candidate, Mary Burke.

That in itself is not surprising.  It's been shown time and time again that the Democrats can't beat the Republicans at their own game.

What was interesting is this little tidbit:

The disclosure of the payment to the Mequon-based Biskupic & Jacobs law firm came a day after information spilled out in court records about a secret John Doe investigation into campaign fundraising and spending surrounding Wisconsin's recent recall elections.

The payments — labeled as "legal fees — compliance/administrative" — were paid to a firm headed by former U.S. Attorneys Steven Biskupic and Michelle Jacobs. The firm received payments monthly from July to November, with the largest one — nearly $74,000 — coming in November.

Asked about the payments, Walker campaign spokesman Jonathan Wetzel said the campaign "relies on Biskupic & Jacobs for a variety of legal services." The two attorneys did not immediately return calls late Friday.

As noted in the article, Walker's campaign is passing it off as them just being "compliant."  But it should be noted that the whole compliance issue was the excuse he used when he established his legal cooperation fund during the initial Walkergate investigation.

I'm sure that $86,000 can buy a whole lot of compliance and cooperation...with the investigators.

But it does give one cause to ponder whether it means whether Walker's campaign was one of the unnamed petitioners that are desperately and vainly trying to stop the parallel Sons of Doe investigation.

I would say it was a safe bet that we have found at least one of the subjects of the investigations, especially considering how Walker has been using his weaselly words when asked about it.  As I have written numerous times before, if he was in the clear of this, he would be able to speak openly about it and even get a letter from the prosecutor that he is not a subject of the investigation.

Sadly, I don't see any of our corporate mainstream media outlets willing to push the issue.  Rather, they just accept him at his word, regardless of the numerous times he has lied to them and to us.

Proud To Be

A very powerful message from the National Congress of American Indians:



This should be required viewing for the entire WISGOP caucua and Scott Walker, who just legalized bigotry and racism. But then again, I doubt that they would be able to understand the message.

Tip of the crown to Heather DuBois Bourenane.