Tommy Thompson Threatens to Make Recall Campaigners 'Black and Blue'

Sure, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson was being clever - playing off the 'blue state' idea that Wisconsin progressives are trying to promote.  But saying that we are going to be 'black and blue' when 'they get done with us' is not really that funny considering the many threats and assaults that have taken place against recall workers over the past few months.  In Arkansas yesterday, a Democratic campaign manager had his family cat brutally murdered, with the word, "Liberal," scrawled into the animal's side.  This is not to say that we on the left have not used violence or threats to achieve political ends - but not any of our leaders, and not during the recall.  Please consider signing the petition to get Tommy Thompson to apologize for his threat here:  http://grassroots.wisdems.org/page/s/black-and-blue

Arkansas story:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57364265/pols-cat-killed-liberal-scrawled-on-body/

Former Walker Aide Tim Russell Misused Public Funds at WHEDA

Tim Russell, the political operative and friend of Governor Scott Walker who has been charged with stealing $20,000 from veterans and their families, was previously fired from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) for misusing agency funds.  Russell was also implicated in a child enticement charge with his domestic partner Brian Piereck, but he was not charged.

Source:  http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/exwalker-aide-fired-from-earlier-job-for-misusing-public-money-sf40b92-138341254.html

400 Arrested in Oakland Occupy Demonstration

From the sound of it, the City of Oakland's heavy handed and inconsistent
treatment toward Occupy protestors is creating a situation that is
escalating in some pretty dramatic ways.

Source:
nytimes.com/2012/01/30/us/occupy-oakland-protest-leads-to-hundreds-of-arrest
s.html?_r=1&hp

Low Intelligence Linked to Prejudice and Social Conservatism

While is has long been clear that liberals tend to be better educated, a
recent study has also found that lower IQ scores are correlated with
socially conservative ideologies and prejudice. Why? I think because
people who are smart tend to also be more open-minded and less dogmatic,
leading them to a greater diversity of experience and knowledge than would
otherwise be the case.

Link: http://goo.gl/kB8go

Barrymore Theater Supports the Recall

Fresh Charges Brought Against Two More Walker Aides

Now that several aides and associates of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker have been either charged or convicted in the ongoing John Doe investigation (some of the charges include child enticement, fraud, theft, illegal campaign contributions, illegal fundraising and violations of campaign laws), I'm starting to lose track.  It's dizzying how unethical and sleazy these people are.

Source: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/two-more-ex-walker-aides-charged-in-john-doe-investigation/article_0d64606e-4835-11e1-b461-001871e3ce6c.html

Sen. Lena Taylor's Statement on Gov. Walker's State of the State Speech

This is a wonderful statement in response to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's 'fumbling for words' tonight at the Capitol in Madison.  Not only has Walker divided the state and created chaos and conflict from Superior to Racine, and from La Crosse to Green Bay, he has failed to face facts regarding the ongoing John Doe investigation which clouds his administration and the reality about his failed promise to create 250,000 jobs.  Fortunately, the recall is proceeding as planned, and Wisconsin will soon have a chance to send Walker and his ilk back to the suburban backwaters where they come from.

Link: http://thewheelerreport.com/releases/January12/0125/0125taylor.pdf

Why Do We Honor Soldiers but Not Peace Corps Volunteers?

This isn't so much a liberal or conservative question, but it seems to me that the military gets far too much praise for their service to the country, while Peace Corps volunteers get far too little.  And that's not even beginning to show respect to our U.S. based volunteers.

Bury the Mining Bill Protest Today in Madison

As Governor Scott Walker prepares to deliver his State of the State address tonight at 7 p.m., there will be a protest outside the Wisconsin Capitol regarding AB426, the Assembly mining bill that Republicans are ramming through the legislature.  The protest will start at 5 p.m.  Please contact your Republican Assembly or Senate representative if you live in one of their districts and tell them you oppose AB426.  Better yet, consider helping the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and the efforts to recall Governor Walker, Lt. Governor Kleefisch, and Senators Scott Fitzgerald, Van Wanggaard, Terry Moulton and Pam Galloway by visiting http://www.wisdems.org/RecallHQ.

Mining Protest info: http://wnpj.org/miningprotest

Obama's Response to Solyndra Ads

You might have seen some of the ads targeting President Obama and his ties to the Solyndra company.  The attack ads cost $6 million and were backed by the billionaire Koch brothers.  Media Matters has found the allegations to be trumped up in several media outlets rush to create a scandal (source here).  One of the many facts in the story is that the loan process to Solyndra was started under George W. Bush, way back in 2005.  Now Obama has released his first ad for the 2012 election year rebuking the Solyndra attack ad.

Walker Refuses Input from Education Superintendent on Reform Bills

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker did not involve the state superintendent of education Tony Evers in the drafting of any of his recently announced educational reform bills.  The superintendent, who is an elected and nonpartisan official, is supposed to be Wisconsin's top administrator for education.  It is not surprising that Walker denied input from Evers, instead taking ideological advice and direction from those within the Republican party.

Link:  http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=258663

Wisconsin Governor Returns $11 Million of Health Funds for Poor to Feds

You can call it incompetence, you can call it ignorance, but returning money which was already intended to help poor and needy people get health care is plain wrong.  Wisconsin's Governor Scott Walker has also returned $800 million that was intended for a high-speed rail system between Milwaukee and Madison - the beneficiaries of whom were primarily not supporters of the Republican party.

Link: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/state-to-return-11-million-to-feds-in-dispute-over-health-care-law-2e3smok-137788398.html

Newt the G-G-G-Grinch Wins South Carolina!

Go Newt!  I've just read that he's taken South Carolina by storm!  I was hoping we were going to have a boring election year with Mitt 'McBain' Romney getting the Republican nod heading into November's mid-term election.  Throw Newt 'Contract on America' Gingrich in there and that's what I call a match-up!  I'm practically drooling!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/us/politics/south-carolina-republican-primary.html?hp

Obama State of the Union to focus on 'Return to American Values'

I think that it's time for Democrats to reclaim the mantle of what really defines our country's history, and its promise of freedom and equality.  Republicans have for too long stolen the claim of 'values' from us, while in fact it has been progressives who have fought and died for the eight-hour workday, an end to child labor, an abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, voting rights, etc. ad nausea.  What values have conservatives stood by?  Restricting the rights of gays and lesbians to marry, to serve their country, to adopt?  Limiting taxes on the wealthiest members of our society while we face deficits and cutbacks to health care and human services, and while millions are homeless and unemployed?  Or their 'values' that say religious groups are exempt from the discrimination provisions that are afforded to people with disabilities or other differences like gender.  

Link:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-state-of-the-union-speech-to-focus-on-return-to-american-values/2012/01/21/gIQAaFkvGQ_story.html

Political Parties in Literature

Republicans = Charles Dickens (or possibly the Bible).  Libertarians = Ayn Rand.  Greens = Aldo Leopold or Thoreau.  Democrats = Aldous Huxley.  Anarchists = George Orwell.

1 Million Signatures in 60 Days: Largest Recall Effort in U.S. History

Wisconsin campaigners have submitted 1 million signatures in support of the recall of Governor Scott Walker, as well as tens of thousands more in support of recalling other Republican state officials.  This, despite attacks and intimidation from around the state.  Wisconsin activists, families, and workers deserve to be congratulated for all of their hard work.  It will take several more weeks and months before Scott Walker is actually sent packing, and it will require putting a vote before the electorate, but the most difficult part - just collecting enough signatures - is complete.

Linl: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/walker-recall-leaders-say-they-gathered-more-than-million-signatures/article_5a9505e6-4141-11e1-9384-0019bb2963f4.html

Scott Walker Recall Article in NY Times

Tomorrow will be a big day in Wisconsin politics as more than 720,000 signatures will be submitted to the state's electoral board in support of a recall of Governor Scott Walker who bluntly attacked Wisconsin's state employees and state unions in a series of relentless and ongoing attacks, as well as ramming through a large contingent of socially conservative policies targeting public assistance programs as well as promoting gun rights and limiting voting rights.

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/us/scott-walker-recall-drive-is-closely-watched.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

Michael Gableman Ethics Complaints Continue

A new complaint has been brought against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman.  I know I've shared this story once or twice before, but it bears repeating since it's personal and, at least to me, interesting.  See, Gableman used to the the Ashland County District Attorney about ten years ago.  His assistant at the time was none other than current House Rep. Sean Duffy (of MTV Real World Boston fame).  I was active in the long term campaign to shut down the Navy's Project ELF facility at Clam Lake and we were always going to court in Ashland because that's the county where Project ELF was located.  We had this real knob for a judge - Judge Robert Eaton - and he and Gableman had a practice of giving ELF protesters as much jail time, fines, and other hassles as they could, and it went on for years.  The Navy paid the county about $5,000 a year to send sheriff's deputies out to their transmitter in the woods and bust us for trying to nonviolently shut the place down.  I started writing to Gableman personally, telling him that Ashland would be better off just telling the Navy they weren't going to be on security detail anymore.  It really wasn't worth their time and effort - the deputies all had to be paid overtime, jail time was expensive, and most people never paid their fines anyway.  It was a waste of the taxpayers' time.  Well, he actually relented, but not without sticking it to us a few more times - like the time several of us drove up to court one day just to find it empty and - surprise! - the charges we were facing were dropped.  The in-person meetings that I had with Gableman were few and far between.  I'm sure he was busy campaigning for a better gig in those days.  But his view of us peace activists was that we were no-good, lazy hippies.  He told me to my face once, 'Why don't you do something else with your time - like volunteer with Habitat for Humanity?'  He just assumed out of nowhere that protesting is all we were doing with our time.  How wrong he was!  Antiwar protests soon swelled into the millions with the coming of the War in Iraq in 2003.  Project ELF was shut down - the Navy finally (quietly) conceded that the Cold War relic and nuclear first-strike apparatus was useless in the post-9/11 world I guess. Gableman moved on to bigger and better things, landing a Supreme Court seat against incumbent Justice Louis Butler in a hotly contested and brutal election where he was found by 3 Supreme Court Justices to have committed election fraud for falsely claiming that Butler had released a sex offender by finding a loophole in the law.  Fortunately for Gableman, there were 3 opposing Justices who were willing to back up his side of the story - the charges were dropped due to the 3-3 deadlock.  Anyway, his past is catching up with him.  The latest accusations against him are that he accepted free legal defense from a law firm that had active cases in front of the Supreme Court - a serious ethical violation constituting a conflict of interest.  It'll be interesting to see what happens!

Link: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/another-ethics-complaint-filed-against-justice-gableman/article_813ec5dc-3b1b-11e1-ad6f-001871e3ce6c.html

Santorum Compares Gay Marriage to Polygamy

On multiple recent speeches in his campaign for the presidency, former Senator Rick Santorum has used an argument known to philosophers as 'reduction ad absurdum' by comparing gay marriage to polygamy.  Questioners who have challenged Santorum on why he does not favor equality for all couples, gay or straight, are met with Santorum trying to browbeat them by telling them they are being illogical and unreasonable, when in fact, he is standing there doing exactly that.  For example, Santorum could just as easily argue that gay marriage advocates are promoting group marriage for not just three or more people, but for hundreds, or hundreds of thousands.  That is the absurd part of his stance.  Gay marriage advocates, however, simply want what straight couples have.

Stunning New Charges Brought Against Former Walker Staffer and Appointee

Multiple felony charges including child enticement, indecent exposure, fraud, theft, and embezzlement have been brought against a former staffer to Governor Walker and his partner (both of whom work or worked at the Department of Public Instruction) as well as another guy who was Scott Walker's appointee to the Milwaukee County Veterans Board.

Link:  http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/136737438.html

Pulaski Marching Band Plays "Union Maid" 2012 Rose Bowl Parade

Wonderful display of solidarity from the Pulaski (Wisconsin) High School Marching band at the 2012 Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California, this past weekend.  Click here for the song's powerful lyrics, written by Woody Guthrie.