What's that smell? Oh, WI's GOP

Something stinks in Madison. And I'm pretty sure I know which side of the aisle it's coming from.

It's not enough that Wisconsin's GOP so severely gerrymandered districts that the matter came before the Supreme Court.

From 2011, by the brilliant Phil Hands (WI State Journal)

It's not enough that the state GOP's restrictive voter ID laws likely suppress the voting of those that are elderly, minorities, or students--those that likely vote Democratic--so much so that a one-time member even bragged to local media that the laws would make it harder for Democrats to win.

In recent days, the Wisconsin GOP has even blatantly threatened to limit the powers of the duly-elected-by-the-people-of Wisconsin governor, Tony Evers (despite the GOP voter suppression techniques). The disingenuous and insulting statement from Assembly speaker Robin Vos (retrieved today from jsonline, Nov. 8, 2018): "If there are areas where we could look and say, 'Geez — have we made mistakes where we granted too much power to the executive,' I'd be open to taking a look to say what can we do to change that to try to re-balance it," Vos told reporters.

Yet another sleazy, underhanded policy move by Wisconsin's GOP.

And it doesn't end there. In an effort to uphold their ever-slipping death grip upon state politics, Walker and his pals are discussing moving the 2020 Wisconsin presidential primary --at likely a cost of millions of dollars--away from the date of the Wisconsin Supreme Court vote because the GOP anticipates more Dems will show up on the primary voting day, lessening their chance of keeping their conservative pick in this supposedly non-partisan post.

So, what's left for the Wisconsin GOP to do to continue to try to ensure their continued domination?

If there is something, don't worry, Wisconsin's GOP will give it a shot.

And, wow, that stinks.

Doesn't it?

Walking Papers for Walker

Scott Walker is gone.

And none too soon.

Actually, about eight years too late.

Scott Walker's lies and deception were the genesis for this blog, to be honest.

Walker testifies to Congress he lied about

 his union-busting plans (2011)

In the meantime, true, there have been tax cuts (which studies have found did more harm than good), and lowered unemployment (which has traditionally trended lower than the US rate), but the cost has been high in other ways, too, for our state.

Environmentally, Walker and his forces began dismantling the incredible richness of our state's natural resources--by doing everything from prohibiting mentions of climate change to leading the DNR to alter conservation policies to favor corporate interests (the latest example from The Political Environment here).

Fiscally, Walker pushed policies that moved money from public to private education, inhibited much-needed infrastructure throughout the state, stopped the state from receiving federal funds to supplement Obamacare. His giveaways to major corporations (yes, including Foxconn) contained massive monies and concessions.

Morally, Walker and his forces reneged on an already completed deal for high-speed rail when he took office (which cost the state tens of millions of dollars and, in my opinion, a chance to move into the 21st Century), demonized public workers as "fat cats" living off the state (incorporating policies that will decimate public education--which I suspect was his plan all along), and never stood up to the hatred spewing from his conservative leader, Donald Trump.

So, it's about time that Walker's gone.

And good riddance for our wonderful state.

Into the Abyss...

Results of the midterms--in which there came no "blue wave"--are not merely disappointing. The results are not merely sad.

The results are terrifying.

With the success Republicans had nationally--especially those candidates that tied themselves closely to Trump-- they show that my fellow countrymen care more about fear than hope. They care more about selfish interests than compassion. They care more about a few extra dollars in their 401K than they care about honesty and decency.

The results embolden racists and misogynists and media-haters. They promote policies to continue destroying the environment and dismantling public education. These results ensure the continuation of the, yes, deplorable factor--including those evil trolls, including Republican officials and a President that still peddle (and believe) absurd and offensive conspiracy theories ranging from millions of illegal voters to Obama not being born in the US to Russia not interfering in the election to Democrats involved in massive pedophilia rings to the "red flags" of supposed Democrats setting up pipe bomb deliveries or the shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

These results show our country's horribly dark side. We are travelling into an abyss.
Hopefully, we can come back up and out after the vileness of Donald Trump has run its course.

And if we don't, as a country, end up emerging from this terrible abyss, it will not be merely terrifying.

It will mean that the nightmare for our country--and for humanity--is just beginning.

May God have mercy on us.

Vote compassion, WI: Vote for Baldwin and Evers

With the midterms coming this Tuesday, I have one of the easiest posts I've written in a long time.
Wisconsinites should cast their votes for U.S. Senate incumbent Tammy Baldwin and Governor candidate State Supt. of Education Tony Evers.

The Baldwin choice is a no-brainer.

Baldwin for Senate is the much better choice

Her opponent, WI State State Senator Leah Vukmir, is cut wholly from the cloth of her ALEC overlords, a group she chaired, which pushes private business interests--everything from moving public dollars to private schools, to promoting restrictive voter ID laws, to protecting private insurance interests from having to cover things such as pre-existing conditions--above all else.

In short, ALEC opposes everything that works toward a more compassionate and grander society.

And she isn't even honest about her well-chronicled intentions (Politifact includes only one lone Vukmir statement that tops "Half-True").

A constantly-run Vukmir ad touts her desire that she would rather "fall in front of a truck" instead of touching pre-existing conditions, despite supporting plans that would likely put many of those with pre-existing conditions at high risk of losing their coverage.

Vukmir says the elderly will

actually be thrown off a cliff.

Side note (which I think is incredible fearmongering, but also kind of hilarious, as well): Vukmir's ad also says that Baldwin's plan of "Medicare-for-all" would remove protections for seniors (actually, it would replace current Medicare coverage with more such protections) and "literally throws Granny off the cliff!" Literally? Somehow I don't really think that if Medicare-for-all ever passes, that squads will be dispatched to round up senior citizens and hurl them off cliffs. But we'll just have to wait and see, I guess...

And Vukmir is a big supporter of Donald Trump. She overlooks his numerous personal and political flaws as long as the agenda is passed. On the day the pipe bomber targeted Trump's named enemies including Hillary Clinton--the day Trump "pleaded" for civility--she smiled and laughed at the Mosinee, WI, Trump rally when the minions were chanting  about Clinton, "Lock her up."

And those will spell Vukmir's epitaph: ALEC, lies, and cozying-up to Trump.

We have enough representatives like that already.

Speaking of which, the WI Governor's race is more the same. I've not been an ardent Evers supporter (although I do think he's done a good job as state education supt.), but I simply can't abide Walker. To be honest, I think Act 10 was a short-sighted mistake (and has affected the teaching profession and my personal life tremendously). Walker, in a desperate mode, has now touted education increases (despite his defunding of public education for many years), his new plan to improve juvenile detention facility horrors (despite the fact it was his plan to consolidate and, consequently, increase such atrocities), and his support for continuing coverage of pre-existing conditions (contrary to his direction to his Attorney General to sue the federal government to help eliminate them)--not to mention his gutting environmental regulations, etc., to appease his corporate friends.

Tony Evers

Walker's new-found (and incredibly transparent) humanitarian streak should only be believed until he is elected, when he will turn again into the person he truly is, and cater to the people he truly represents.

Oh, yeah, and Walker is also one of the national GOP figures to not decry any of Trump's severe political and moral shortcomings because Walker's agenda, too, is getting passed.

Trump and his mini-me

So, Baldwin and Evers.

It's time to make sure honesty and civility--and compassion and caring--are back in this wonderful state's political offices.