WI: Sat.'s Doomsday passed, other doomsdays loom

The predictions of a May 21 apocalypse have come and gone, but in Wisconsin, we'll see some doomsdays of our own in the coming days.

Wednesday will be doomsday for true democracy.  The Voter ID (suppression) bill, one that will require photo IDs and new residency requirements, will be signed into law that day, a law Walker hails as a measure that "will go a long way to eliminate the threat of voter fraud," despite virtually no evidence that such fraud is even committed. 

Will it stop people from voting?  Ask Senator Taylor of Milwaukee (her impassioned speech is here).  Ask the thousands upon thousands of Wisconsinites (some estimates say 20% of state voters don't currently have the required ID) , especially minorities, the elderly, those in rural areas, and the poor, who don't have photo ID , or won't be able or likely to obtain one (read a previous post here).  Ask my 78 year old mom, who doesn't anticipate renewing her drivers licence in a few years and joked with a stinging bit of truth, "I'll have to make sure I get my photo ID, though, so I can vote."  Or talk to my disabled and virtually housebound friend if he's even going to be able to stand in line at the DMV to get his.

Doomsday comes Monday for the integrity of state agencies.  Walker will be signing into law a vast increase in the powers of Governor (which Democrats called a power grab), in which the Governor can make rules for state agencies.  The law will strip such powers from agencies including the Department of Public Instruction and the state Department of Justice, which will, among other things, reduce the effectiveness of the Government Accountability Board (which oversees government ethics and elections).  Elected State Superintendent of Schools Tony Evers wonders if it's even Constitutional (to which I'm certain Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) would state, as he's had to do to a plethora of recent underhanded Republican actions, that it is).

And doomsday for statewide safe drinking water will be Monday, too, when Walker officially repeals the requirement that communities disinfect their drinking water (although most still will).  Despite evidence showing the desirability of such a requirement, Rep. Eric Severson (R-Star Prairie) asked "Why don't you want these communities to make their own choice on this?"

So maybe doomsday wasn't Saturday, May 21.  For a lot of things in Wisconsin, the doomsday prediction wasn't far off.

And, unfortunately, there looks to be a lot more of them in our near future.

Walker photo from minnpost