WISGOP Fears Emerge*

From the Facebook page of State Representative Melissa Sargent, we find that WISGOP is mightily afraid of Emerge Wisconsin.

They have sent this Open Records Request to the elected Emerge Wisconsin alumnae:

I think Sargent said it best:

The GOP must be terrified of women who want their voices heard at all levels of government. 

Of course, the GOP has reason to fear.  With their refusal to allow pay equality, to allow equal rights, their rape culture "humor" and their punitive approach to women's health care, including the ultrasound bill, they have repeatedly crossed the line of acceptability.

*See what I did there?!

For the interest of full disclosure, I do work for Emerge WI, and am damn proud of it.

Anonymous Troll Smackdown

This is how it's done.  While Tom Diaz addresses GRight...it applies to the many trolls we deal with in Wisconsin, especially the Knotsies(nameless faceless cowards)! 

Kudos to Tom Diaz - check out his blog! 

Sanctimonious Salamanders

By Jeff Simpson

Yesterday we brought you the pure unadulterated hypocrisy of the Governor and the Journal Sentinel showing unbelievable outrage towards Ryan Braun for lying to the public.    

Today, as expected, there is so much more.  


1.  We start at the top with the biggest hack in Wisconsin - Christian Schneider:

 Even after getting popped, Braun has apparently learned nothing, as his prepared statement on Monday was equally smarmy and oleaginous. "I realize now that I have made some mistakes," he wrote, as if some mad scientist cooked up the concepts of "lying" and "cheating" in a test tube last week. "I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions."

 But Monday's revelations about Braun expose him as a thief as well as a liar and a cheat. And his burgling of home runs and salary alike could affect baseball in Milwaukee for a decade.

Not ONLY is Schneider, a servant of the Bradley Foundation, he is a known liar, who was one of the most viciferous conduits of misinformation in the Kyle Wood fiasco.   Yet his way of a mea culpa when Wood was exposed as a fraud was to delete all stories pretending it did not happen.   Mark Pocan and his husband are still waiting for a public apology!   I wont even get into his defense of a well known woman abuser!  

2,   Another Bradley servant, Kevin Binversie who thinks the biggest thing to come out of the Braun suspension is it makes the democrats look bad.

 a) Will state Democ­rats try to embar­rass them­selves as they did last year, when they tried to pull the Braun saga into the Walker recall?  (Time will tell.)

This of course is the same Kevin Binversie whounexplicably libeled and smeared a fellow blogger, and championed shooting recall petitioners and wished for the death of Mark Pocan.   

 3.   Finally Dave Blaska, took time out from venerating daily his love for Scott Walker, to tell us how bad Ryan Braun is.  

The real gravamen of the case against Ryan Braun is the lying, the dishonesty. Ryan Braun is a liar.

Say Whaaa??? 

4.  Jimmy Wigderson, no preview of his post because I morally cant support White Wisconsin, another Bradley Employee also weighed in!

The Foibles of the ridiculous James Wigderson are well documented, here and here!   It appears that his hypocrisy is the only thing that exceeds his lies or his ego!   


These four talking about Ryan Braun being a liar, would be akin to Kim Kardashian tweeting "NO Justice" after the George Zimmerman was declared not guilty for hunting down an unarmed boy!


The Sanctimonious Hypocrisy of the right, gets wearing at times!   

Today's MUST Read

By Jeff Simpson

If there is a better writer right now in America than Charles Pierce, I have not seen them. 

Today he addresses Wisconsin(again) and it is a MUST read. 


Here is an excerpt....I highly recommend the whole thing!

This has nothing to do with public safety. I've been in that rotunda. It's huge. You could bring in Up With People, and there'd still be room for the daily business of selling Wisconsin off wholesale to get done around them. This is about inconveniencing a guy who wants to run for president based on his record of selling Wisconsin off wholesale. This is about video he doesn't like and people who harsh his mellow. Which happens to be what the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Article I of the constitution of what once was the state of Wisconsin, are all about, too

Profiles In (lack of)Courage

This is Mike Huebsch....Walker's right hand man, who gave the order to arrest Wisconsinites for singing in OUR Capitol.  Coward

No one will ever claim the word Courage when discussing Mike Huebsch, the cowardly pettiness is embarrassing our state!

Nor will the next Profiles in Courage depict any politician from our once great state!

He well knows what snares are spread about his path, from personal animosity … and possibly from popular delusion. But he has put to hazard his ease, his security, his interest, his power, even his … popularity. … He is traduced and abused for his supposed motives. He will remember that obloquy is a necessary ingredient in the composition of all true glory: he will remember … that calumny and abuse are essential parts of triumph. … He may live long, he may do much. But here is the summit. He never can exceed what he does this day.
—Edmund Burke’s eulogy of Charles James Fox for his attack upon the tyranny of the East Indian Company. House of Commons, 1 December 1783

Let Huebsch know of your feelings on what he has done to OUR Capitol ;

Mike.Huebsch@wisconsin.gov 

 

Welcome to Oceania - 2013

FYI- Dem Party Here is your 2014 AD  Campaign

By Jeff Simpson

 By now you have heard that Mike Huebsch, Scott Walker and Chief Erwin made a show of force today and arrested some of the Solidarity singers for doing what they do daily ----- sing!

Two Democratic legislators denounced this crackdown by Scott Walker’s handpicked police chief, David Erwin.

“Chief Erwin and Governor Scott Walker’s militant handling of the daily peaceful singing has escalated this situation unnecessarily,” said Rep. Chris Taylor. “The Capitol rotunda would have been much safer today had Governor Walker given Chief Erwin a little red rubber ball to play with in the corner instead of control of the entire police force. . . . This is the kind of heavy-handed police government you would expect to see in a Third World country, not here in Wisconsin. It must stop.”

State Sen. Bob Jauch was equally indignant.

“It’s just so unnecessary,” he said. “There are more important issues in the state of Wisconsin than as to whether people are singing. Since when is that threatening? You can bring in a gun in the capitol if it’s concealed but you can’t come into your capitol if you’re singing?”

H/T Rebecca Kemble for the video and pics.  She Deserves a Pulitzer!

Apparently Scott Walker's plan is working!   He truly is "Unintimidated"! 

Scott Walker and his divisive, ALEC infused politics is SOLELY responsible for the huge divide in our state.  ONLY two people can stop this now and bring our state back together - 1;. Scott Walker himself(not likely) and 2.  The Voters in WI in 2014!  

This is not my Wisconsin.  

PS:  Now would be a good time for the Mary Burke's, Mark Harris's and anyone else considering a run for Governor,  to step up and weigh.  This is NOT a left/right issue it is a Common Sense issue!  

Is Abele Preparing To Throw Transit Under The Bus

In a must read article which exemplifies all that is wrong with Act 14, Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express reports on the way Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele is looking at possibly allowing foreign profiteers run the county transit system.

Kaiser explains that Abele is taking RFPs (requests for proposals) on operating the transit system.  Abele is mad at the current operators because he fired the people that were to oversee contracts with the transit operators and this led to $9 million being squandered.

The problem is that not only does the County Board have no input whatsoever on how this multimillion dollar contract should look but they aren't allowed to even know what the other proposals might look like, that the one the Emperor's lackeys are offering is the best one or who are the people deciding which one is best:

Perhaps not surprisingly, Weishan said the supervisors didn’t have a representative on the review committee.

“I have no idea who’s on the review panel,” Weishan said.

Act 14 also changed the board’s oversight of contracts. Contracts over $300,000 such as this one now only require approval by the Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee and the full board. The relevant committees with knowledge of the issues are bypassed.

“This is likely to be heard by the [finance committee], as contracts are heard by this committee, but the goal is to have it ready also for [the transit committee] in September if it is referred to that committee as well,” Conway wrote in his email.

Weishan was concerned that the contract wouldn’t go to the transit committee and supervisors wouldn’t be allowed to amend any agreements.

“I would think that they will just come in and say ‘This is our pick and vote yes or no’ and they will fight tooth and nail so you don’t get to see things side by side and compare them,” Weishan said.

Given the repeated incidents of corruption we have seen in Abele's administration - from his Director of Administration, Pat Farley, falsely accusing former Supervisor Johnny Thomas of bribery to his Corp Counsel, Kimberly Walker, offering to become his secret router so he could avoid open record requests - and the utter lack of transparency, there is absolutely no reason for anyone not to be suspicious of the process.

Fortunately, even though their authority and their ability to provide a system of checks and balances have all but been all but eliminated, the County Board is not without any resources, including the institutional knowledge of just how the County is supposed to work when we don't have an executive with a Napoleon Complex.

That knowledge includes understanding that the government is supposed to work for the corporations or the profiteers:

Weishan said he wouldn’t approve a for-profit transit operator since he doesn’t believe that profits can be wrung out of the cash-strapped system without sacrificing service or hiking fares. He’s concerned that only highly used routes would be kept while less popular routes would be cut to save money and turn a profit.

Fewer MCTS routes would jeopardize paratransit service, especially on the far north and far south sides of the county, he said. Federal law requires paratransit service to be offered within three-quarters of a mile of all bus stops.

Don't expect any of this to change Abele's mind. After all, he doesn't ride the bus. Neither do any of his plutocratic pals in the Greater Milwaukee Committee. And if there is one thing Abele has shown with any consistency is that he doesn't care how it affects the little people.

Abele Calls Support For War Memorial, Art Museum "Bullshit"

During the tenure of Scott Walker as Milwaukee County Executive, he was infamous for refusing to do proper maintenance and upkeep on county-owned facilities and property.  The results of his negligence ranged from cornice falling of off the courthouse to the tragedy of O'Donnell Park, where a facade fell and killed a boy and seriously injured two others.

One of the more seriously neglected buildings was the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center, which is also home to the Milwaukee Art Museum.  Water damage and other issues of neglect was not only threatening the building, but also valuable piece of art.

After nearly a year of struggling to reach an agreement between the War Memorial Center and the art museum on who would be responsible for what, the County Board asked former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jeanine Geske to step in and help mediate a resolution.  Geske's effort did not go to waste and agreement was made.  Several members of the board held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the agreement. This is from their press release:

Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, along with Supervisors Gerry Broderick and John Weishan, today announced that a new agreement between The Milwaukee Art Museum and The Milwaukee County War Memorial, Inc. will help ensure the long-term vitality of the buildings and grounds of both organizations.

Under the compromise, the War Memorial Center/Milwaukee Art Museum will receive $1,586,000 per year from the County from 2014 through 2023. This includes an investment of $1,100,000 to the Art Museum and $486,000 to the War Memorial. The annual funding commitment ends after the ten-year period, but the other portions of the agreement could extend for up to 84 years.

County capital improvement funding of $10 million between 2013 and 2017 will supplement the Art Museum’s planned private funding of $15 million for a total $25 million investment in improvements to the publicly-owned portions of the War Memorial and Art Museum buildings and grounds.

Supervisors Weishan and Broderick, members of the Committee on Parks, Energy and Environment, praised the accord.

“This is a historic agreement because not only do both organizations benefit, but all of Milwaukee County benefits,” Weishan said. “This is especially a victory for veterans because the pact promises to keep the War Memorial as a tribute to their selfless actions in service to our country.”

Broderick said the pact would help preserve both institutions for generations to come.

“This agreement is the product of leadership and vision by all who were involved,” Broderick said. “The Art Museum is a true jewel that is known world-wide as a symbol of Milwaukee, and the War Memorial honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Dimitrijevic said that she was pleased to help assuring the pact was reached when she asked former Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske to mediate talks after the two groups had reached an impasse.

“I believe that having Justice Geske mediate the discussion between the two groups was a key to reaching this historic agreement,” she said. “This is a win-win-win for the Milwaukee Art Museum, the War Memorial and the taxpayers of Milwaukee County. It's time to come together and make a long term commitment to our veterans and arts community. This investment will pay off for generations to come."

A special meeting of the Finance, Personnel and Audit committee will be held to consider the measure Thursday at 8 a.m. in the Courthouse before sending it to the Board at its 9:30 meeting.

Milwaukee County Emperor, who is no stranger to deferred maintenance, such as that which caused the Courthouse to catch on fire, is also opposed to the plan to restore the center and museum.

Between stamping his feet, screaming and holding his breath in his ongoing temper tantrum, Abele took time out to say he would veto the support for the veterans center and art museum.  In fact, Abele made it abundantly clear on what he thought of the deal in an interview with the Daily Reporter:

But Abele said he is committed to reducing the county’s support of the memorial and museum. Through negotiations, he said, he repeatedly told the museum and memorial they should not expect the county to continue contributing much money to their operating budgets.

He bolstered that, he said, by referring to the 2011 audit, but, he added, the museum and memorial seem not to have taken his comments to heart.

“Not only are they not more efficient,” Abele said, “they’re getting more expensive. … At what point do we kind of call bullshit?”

It should be noted that Abele is purposely misconstruing the findings of the 2011 audit done by County Auditor Jerome Heer, who had this to say about it:

Heer said when he wrote the 2011 recommendations, he was less concerned about continuing budget commitments to the museum and memorial than he was about the shape of the complex they occupy.

“Our No. 1 priority was to get the deferred maintenance addressed,” he said. “The nature of who funds it or how long they fund it is secondary.”

Showing the level of Abele's misrepresentation, Heer also said that he has no objections to the increased funding.

Abele had also lamented that he did not know where he would find an extra $300,000 out of the $1.4 billion county budget.  May I suggest that the exorbitant pay increases he gave to his cronies and the made up jobs he created for political favors would just about cover the increased money.

Given the level of incompetence and/or corruption we've seen from Abele's administration - from his spokesman to his corp counsel - the money would be put to better use in restoring the War Memorial Center and art museum.

Banding Together For Julie

Four months ago, Julie Christensen, a corrections officer in the Marathon County Jail was brutally assaulted by an inmate. In the assault, Julie took a severe blow to the head which put her in intensive care for weeks.

The assault was the result of austerity measures being taken by Marathon County Administrator Brad Karger.  The jail was overcrowded, understaffed and had faulty equipment.  It was a recipe for disaster.  Sadly, Correction Officer Christensen took the brunt of Karger's willful negligence.

The good news is that Julie is out of the hospital and back at home.  The bad news is she has a long road of recovery and it is not know how fully she will be able to recover.

To help her with her extensive bills and loss of income, her fellow officers and friends are organizing a fundraiser for her, which they are calling "Banding Together for Julie."

You can also get more information from the Wisconsin Professional Police Association's website for the event:

Julie Christensen Walk/Run/Bike Benefit – August 3, 2013

Officer Injured in Line of Duty

Walk/Run/Bike
5k Start/5k Return/Total 10k

(Participant may choose whichever they prefer)
on the Mountain Bay Trail, Weston, Wisconsin

• Saturday, August 3, 2013
• Registration 9:00am at:
  Dale’s Weston Lanes
  5902 Schofield Ave, Schofield WI 54476
  (MAP)
  Phone: 715-359-8488
  Web: http://www.westonlanes.com

• Hamburger and Hot Dog meals will be sold at reduced cost for all participants with a wrist band.
• $25.00 Per Person

Questions please email: juliecause@gmail.com

Get PDF of event and Release of Liability if you want to participate.

If you are unable to make it to the event, there has been a trust fund established in her name at Integrity First Bank, 101 Grand Avenue, Wausau, WI 54403. Their phone number is (715) 845-0900.

Tell Me Yet Again About The Peaceful Walkerites

John Allen Terrance, Jr. - Nuff said!

Tell Me Again About The Peaceful Right

By Jeff Simpson

H/T Raw Story for this gem of a responsible gun owner(who just happens to be Police Chief in Gilberton, Pennsylvania:

Kessler has uploaded several profanity-laced videos to YouTube. In one video, Kessler berates “libtards” and warns of an armed rebellion against the government.

“F*ck all you libtards out there, as a matter of fact, read my shirt,” he says, turning around to show a message on his back which read, “Liberals take it in the a**.”

“You take it in the ass and I don’t give a f*ck what you say so you can all just go f*ck yourselves. Period. I wont be going to D.C. and I don’t give a f*ck. If you f*cking maniacs want to turn this into an armed revolt, knock yourselves out. I’m not about that, so see you on the other side.”

In a video on basic pistol defense, Kessler repeatedly shoots a picture of a scary clown, which he says is Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). He calls Secretary of State John Kerry a “c*cksucker” in another video before firing off an automatic weapon.

Tuesday on his Facebook page, Kessler called for a massive rally to “show these tyrants we will not stand for any more violations on our constitution or our freedoms.”

“I’m calling on all true Americans , all militia members, all true oath keepers to assemble, be ready to march on a tyrannical county government right here in Schuylkill county Pennsylvania, democrats are the true enemy of our country, our freedoms, our constitution, along with liberal news agency’s , liberal news reporters, much like hitlers nazis , time we clean these antiamerican thugs from office,” he wrote.

Kessler is also a freshman member of the North Schuylkill School Board and founder of the Constitution Security Force, which lists the Southern Poverty Law Center as an “anti-American organization.”

Apparently the right wing extremists know as little about the first amendment as they do the second! 

Scott Walker - Unintimidated!

Scott Walker will arrest anyone no matter how big, small, old or young who dares disagree with him!


From today at the Capitol, this rebel dared......sing(h/t Rebecca Kemble for the pic):

One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship.
George Orwell

Where Is Paul Ryan?

By Jeff Simpson

NOT AT WORK(emphasis mine):

After taking almost the entire month of August off, House leadership has penciled in just nine workdays for September.

The official calendar has been out since January, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called attention to the House's sparsely populated schedule in a press conference Thursday.

Reid's reminder came just hours after Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) attempted to push back against reports that have found decreasing levels of productivity in Congress over the past few years.

Reviews of the total number of bills passed in the 112th Congress showed that it was the least productive session since the 1940s. The 113th is currently on pace to get even less done than that.

While September may not be a particularly busy month, the Washington Post reported earlier this year that the 126 workdays scheduled for 2013 were actually an increase from the 2012 calendar.

 Paul Ryan's annual salary - $174,000 + Cadillac Health Care, pension and perks! 

For those of you who went to voucher schools, thats GREATER than (>) $1000/ day when in session.

No wonder Ryan drinks $350 bottles of wine!




Ryan Photo courtesy of TMZ.

Journal Sentinel's Misplaced Priorities!

By Jeff Simpson

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has called for Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio to "end their relationship" with Ryan Braun. 

Ryan Braun has to go.

Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio has an opportunity to make the most powerful statement any owner has ever made about what the game of baseball should be and what it should not be. Attanasio can make a statement that would reverberate across the many other venues of professional sports infected by the plague of doping.

The Brewers should end their relationship with Braun. Only then can the organization "move on."
There has been a lot of talk about "moving on" from members of the team, the general manager and even Attanasio in the past 24 hours that indicate that they still don't get it.

Braun's drug use taints the team's National League Central Division championship in 2011 and its victory over Arizona in the playoffs that fall. Braun cheated his team. Even worse, he cheated his fans. No matter how much they may wish it away, the Brewers will not close this sad chapter until Braun is gone.

 In the meantime, Attanasio has a chance to make the Milwaukee Brewers franchise an example for the rest of professional sports: He can do that by getting rid of Ryan Braun.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is THE same newspaper that endorsed Scott Walker, not once but twice!     The same paper that runs Politifact, which has given our Governor the dubious distinction of biggest liar amongst Governors in the US, for two years running.

The same Governor whose Governing goal was to "divide and conquer" and has turned Wisconsin into a political hotbed and divided our state.   

Apparently, they hold the left fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers to a much higher standard than they do anyone in Wisconsin State Government!   

Unfortunately for the people of WI, the Brewers left fielder has done more to create jobs and improve our economy than our Governor has!   

He Really Said That!

By Jeff Simpson

Everyone knows that Ryan Braun was recently suspended for the rest of the year for taking Performance Enhancing Drugs.  While I personally think that this suspension was too harsh, what bothers me more than anything is the self righteous crap that we as a general public are now subject to(which we will be documenting here). 

The first in the series might be the worst!    It comes directly from the Governor himself.

Walker said he and his two sons, Matt and Alex, all big Brewers' fans, were disappointed and angry "that he lied to us as fans."

In a telephone interview Tuesday, the GOP governor said that "it was bad enough that he broke the rules, but the fact that he didn't immediately fess up to it, that he dragged it all out...It's not just what he did, it's that he strung us out for so long."

On Monday, Major League Baseball announced that it had suspended Braun, the 2011 most valuable player, for the remainder of the season for violating the league's drug program. Braun agreed to accept the suspension, in essence admitting both using performance-enhancing drugs and lying about it.

Walker, who takes his college-age sons to Miller Park most years for the spring opener and frequently tweets about the Brewers, admitted hoping, like many fans, that Braun would turn out to be innocent of the doping charges, despite the mounting suspicion against him.
Those hopes were artificially inflated for months as Braun denied wrongdoing and raised questions about the system that was investigating him.

Walker has met with Braun more than once and visited with Braun last year when the Brewers star and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers opened their Brookfield restaurant, 8-Twelve.

He said Braun seemed to him to be the all-American guy, soft-spoken, not too cocky.

"All the more reason why it's disappointing," Walker said.

The governor said forgiveness from fans wouldn't come quickly for Braun.

"I think it'll be a long time," Walker said.

Excuse me for one minute.....

Governor Scott Walker:
            *  Who spent well over $650,000 out of a legal defense fund(the only Gov in the country with one),
            *  Who had 6 of his top aides, and good friends, CONVICTED in the Walkergate investigation! 
            *  Who was rated by Politifact to be the most untruthful(liar) Governor(2 years in a row).
            *  Who basically committed perjury in front of Congress,
            *  Who was rated one of the worst Governors in the US by Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics,
            *  Who before being elected said he would work with unions,
            *  Who promised his top donor that his plan for WI was to "divide & conquer",
            *  Who when thinking he was talking to an out of state billionaire donor said -
                     - He thought about adding violence to peaceful protests but didnt think it benefit him;
                     - He had a Louisville Slugger  for people who disagree with him:
                     -  Wanted to lure the Democratic Senators back to the state in a false promise of negotiating    with them, while the republicans secretly passed his bill.  
                    - Had to prep his administrative team to be ready for when he "dropped the bomb".
            *   Who is chairman of the MOST corrupt State agency ever;
            *  The list goes on and on and on -

The Scott Walker of the laundry list above,  is "disappointed" that the Brewers left fielder lied in public?  

Oy Vey!