Town Hall Meeting At Case HS Thurs & Buses to Madtown Sat

A message to all members of Community for Change

There will be a Budget Town Hall on Thursday (March 10) at 7pm at Case High School. Sponsored by the Institute for Wisconsin's Future.
Be there and spread the word....at least it won't be cold!
Buses! We got buses going to Madison on Saturday:

From Racine/AFL-CIO

Racine 1 bus (Kobussen School Bus)
12:00 pm Park & Ride Racine/Sturtevant

(First come first serve)

From Racine/Voces de la Frontera

Buses depart 10 am from Pick ‘n Save, 2210 Rapids Dr. Return at 6:30 pm
(To reserve your seat for Racine buses call: 262-619-4180

Unbalanced - Why America is Falling Over

Most Americans don't realize how unbalanced we are (see above). Balance is a healthy thing for Democracy. We once had a healthy Democracy.

We once had balance, but 30 years of rigging the rules to advantage the elites who disproportionately fund (bribe) politicians has led to the Plutocracy we have today, where bankster crooks on Wall St. get bail outs and working people get attacked and are told to give up more of what little they have left and are propagandized to envy those workers that still have something left of what it once meant to be middle class in America.

It's a divide and conquer strategy by the Plutocracts like the Koch Bros and their puppets like Scott Walker and the other Radical Republicons who would have wealth rule like a banana republic.

Support Rally at the School for the Deaf in Delavan Friday 4-6

Here is an opportunity for what we are hoping will be just as big as the event in Elkhorn (500-700):

DELAVAN CELEBRATING HOMETOWN HEROES—
SUPPORTING PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
FRIDAY MARCH 11th 4-6 PM

MEET AT THE DELAVAN SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF

This event will be similar to the Elkhorn event held on 2/22 and will focus on the positive contributions made by public sector workers. Keep it positive, professional, and proud. Please meet at the Delavan School for the Deaf, intersection of Hwys. 11 and X.; parking available on side streets

It is our job to help keep the heat on in terms of showing up for rallies and demonstrations. The Wisconsin 14 are keeping up their bargain by staying in IL. As Michael Moore said on Saturday in Madison, It is unusual to find Democrats in agreement on anything for so long. Keep up the hard work!! Bring your friends, neighbors, families and your children. Help them learn about democracy in action!!

See the Michael Moore video at http://prwatch.org/2011/03/99441/live-reporting-wisconsins-protests.

March for the Middle Class!

Please join Kenosha Labor for a March to Save the Middle Class on Wednesday, March 9th. The March will convene at 4pm at Kenosha City Hall (625 52nd Street) and move to Civic Center Park (900 57th Street) for a rally at 5pm.

Join your brothers and sisters in Kenosha with a strong showing of support for workers rights and for Senator Bob Wirch! See you there, dress warm and get ready to shout loud!

Local Kill the Bill & Worker Rights Event

Saturday Rally and Canvass - Burlington
Saturday March, 5th - 10am-12pm
Southern Lakes United Educators office
616 Droster Ave. Burlington, WI. 53105

If you have questions about these events, please contact:
Justin Geiger
WI AFL-CIO
SE WI Service Area Organizer
office: (262)456-1151
Cell: (414)745-4177

Vigil Tonight in Burlington

TONIGHT! Thursday Candle light vigil - Burlington
Thursday, March 3rd – 5 p.m.
Burlington at the Wehmhoff square downtown- 355 N. Pine St. burlington,WI. 53105
You know, two blocks south of Fred's!

ASStroturf

WALKER'S PUBLIC RELATIONS BUS TOUR STARTS MARCH 3rd! The Koch Brothers funded front group, American's for Prosperity for Millionaires, are trying to shore up Walkers sagging support.

First Stop for Walker - Kenosha - Brat Stop 9 a.m. Be there today and tell puppet governor sell out Walker to hit the bricks! Here's the schedule link for other cities around the state.

Local Kill the Bill & Worker Rights Events

Wednesday AFSCME Meeting and March - Union Grove
TODAY Wednesday March, 2nd- 3:30pm
American legion hall
1027 New Street
Union Grove, WI 53182

Thursday Candle light vigil - Burlington
Thursday, March 3rd – 5 p.m.
Burlington at the Wehmhoff square downtown- 355 N. Pine St. burlington,WI. 53105

Friday Visibility on Hwy 20 - Racine
Friday, March 4th - 4pm-6pm
Hwy 31 and Hwy 20 Racine, WI.

Faith Forum: Budget Impact on Racine County
Friday, March 4th - 6pm
Location to be determined

Saturday Rally and Canvass - Burlington
Saturday March, 5th - 10am-12pm
Southern Lakes United Educators office
616 Droster Ave. Burlington, WI. 53105

If you have questions about these events, please contact:
Justin Geiger
WI AFL-CIO
SE WI Service Area Organizer
office: (262)456-1151
Cell: (414)745-4177

WI Taxpayers Contribute Nothing to Employee Pensions

Forbes: Wisconsin Lie Exposed - Taxpayers Actually contribute Nothing to Employee Pensions

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/25/the-wisconsin-lie-exposed-taxpayers-actually-contribute-nothing-to-public-employee-pensions/

Walker is a Koch Whore

This is proof that Walker doesn’t work for the people of Wisconsin. He’s nothing but a shill for his plutocrat corporate sponsors, raiders of the public trough, enemies of democracy! Think government is too expensive? ANY price is too expensive when the government isn’t yours! You are being SOLD OUT!

A prank caller posing billionaire con-man David Koch was able to speak with Gov. Scott Walker for 20 minutes yesterday afternoon as Walker laid out in detail his strategy and confirmed that it was intent to cripple public employee unions. The governor's office has confirmed that the call did take place.

The Audio of the conversation was posted on the Buffalo Beast and you can listen to it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/scott-walker-buffalo-beast-phone-prank_n_827058.html?ir=Chicago

The man pretending to be Koch said, “You’re the first domino.” To which Walker replied, “Yep, this is our moment”. Walker laughed about bringing a baseball bat to a potential meeting with Dems (Gee, ya think there’ll be a few cardboard bat in Madison after today?!).

In closing the prankster says: "I'll tell you what Scott, once you crush these bastards, I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time." Walker replied. "Alright, that would be outstanding. Thanks for all the support and helping us move the cause forward. We appreciate it and we're doing the just and right thing for the right reasons and it's all about getting our freedoms back". Then the caller said, "Absolutely. And you know, we have a little bit of vested interest as well" and laughed. "That's just it. The bottom line is, we're going to get the world movement here because it's the right thing to do," replied Walker. Walker ended the call saying, thanks a million." Walker ends the call by saying, "thanks a million."

It should be more like THANK MILLION$! The brothers own Koch Industries, Inc., which is the largest privately-owned company in America and has significant operations in Wisconsin. Its political action committee gave $43,000 to Walker's campaign, and donated heavily to the Republican Governors' Association, which funded ads attacking Walker's opponent in last year's election. The Kochs also give millions to support Americans For Prosperity, which launched a $320,000 television ad campaign in favor of Walker's legislation. The Koch have also opened a lobbying office on Wisconsin’s capitol square and may be positioning themselves to buy publicly owned power plants at whatever price their boy Scotty sets as stipulated deep in the 144 pages of Walker’s Budget Despair Bill.

Part of the irony is that Walker suggests that if the unions are helping with costs for the 14 Dem senators to stay in the land of Lincoln (another Quorum foiler) that is might be an ethics or legal violation. But apparently he thinks there’s no ethical or legal violation to his shilling for his corporate sponsor! He also complains that unions give money to Dems and expect something in return while he’s talking at length to his faux corporate sponsor about doing his bidding!

Elkhorn

400-500 demonstrated against Plan Plutocracy with peaceful high spirits on the square in Elkhorn last night, countered by 50-75 teabaggers.

Panderer to Payoff Plutocrats

The Budget Dispair Bill contains provision for Walker to sell off or lease publicly owned heating and cooling power utilities with no bidding at whatever price they determine is "fair". And who will Pay the Plutocratic Privatizing Profiteers (Koch Bros) "return on investment" in little scotty walker? The citizens of Wisconsin of course!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/21/947947/-The-Koch-Brothers-End-Game-in-Wisconsin

In short:
1) Koch Brothers get their puppet Governor Walker in power
2) Governor Walker gins up a crisis
3) Democrats and Progressives take the bait and counter-protest on collective bargaining
4) Governor Walker will compromise on collective bargaining if the rest of the budget is passed as is
5) Bill passes, with Trojan horse give-a-way to the Koch Brothers nested in
6) Koch Brothers will buy Wisconsin state-owned power plants for pennies on the dollar in closed unsolicited bids for which there will be no oversight
7) Koch Brothers get the best vertical monopoly in a

Evidence: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/wisconsin-scott-walker-koch-brothers

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: Funded by the Koch Bros.
Protesters surrounded Wisconsin's capitol building in Madison this week to register their opposition to GOP Gov. Scott Walker's plans to strip collective bargaining rights from public employees. Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker, whose bill to kill collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions has caused an uproar among state employees, might not be where he is today without the Koch brothers. Charles and David Koch are conservative titans of industry who have infamously used their vast wealth to undermine President Obama and fight legislation they detest, such as the cap-and-trade climate bill, the health care reform act, and the economic stimulus package. For years, the billionaires have made extensive political donations to Republican candidates across the country and have provided millions of dollars to astroturf right-wing organizations. Koch Industries' political action committee has doled out more than $2.6 million to candidates. And one prominent beneficiary of the Koch brothers' largess is Scott Walker.

Video from Madison Saturday and Vigil for Workers in Elkhorn on Tuesday

Great! video shot by a local man in Madison on Saturday the 19th with lots of excellent comments from demonstrators regarding what Walker's push to plutocracy is really all about, cheap labor, insecure workers and one party rule: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQMu2NcCWDo

ALSO: A Candlelight Vigil will be held in downtown Elkhorn on Tuesday, Feb. 22 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. We are asking people to bring candles and signs that do not attack individuals, but rather point out the contributions that public service workers make to the community such as:
"Local Unions Support Local Jobs"
"We love our health professional/teacher/nurse/maintenance worker/child care professional" etc.
"Labor rights are human rights"
You get the picture...

**A sign making party will be held at the Walworth County Dems office at 13 E. Walworth St. on Monday at 6:30 p.m. - bring posterbaord and markers.

Please forward this and duplicate and distribute lavishly. We are expecting a good turnout - we have buy-in from WEAC, two local units of AFSMCE, IBEW, Walworth County Dems and the Construction and General Laborers Union Local 464 as well as numerous community members who "get it". Many thanks to all!

Walker's One Man Death Panel!

The Budget Dispair Bill that Scott Walker attempted to ram through to prevent public scrutiny contains a change to the way Medical Assistance is determined that is every bit the egregious dictatorial power grab that his attack on labor and the middle class is. In fact, this is probably WORSE, because people's health and their very lives are at stake. These are the pro-life, family values folks, right? But hey, don't take my word for it. Below is a dire warning and analysis from a person whose famiily will be directly impacted by Walker's one man death panel and his would be power to change the rules with NO PUBLIC NOTICE and NO PUBLIC HEARINGS!

SPREAD THIS WORD!

Thanks,
Sean

For years, advocates in Wisconsin have been working to make life better -- in some cases, make life possible -- for people with disabilities.

The process has been slow. It has taken years to create the programs and put the funding in place to allow people with disabilities to live a meaningful life in their communities, in their homes, with the healthcare support they need. Bit by bit, but with much further to go, the argument has moved forward: if you don't want to go back to the bad old days of warehousing people in very expensive institutions where lives were unbelievably difficult and generally much shorter, the public needs to step up and provide support.

This successful argument has won us the MA waiver that provides intensive therapy for children with autism.

We've won funding for health care.
For respite care.
For the home modifications that keep people safe and mobile.
For the supports that allow adults with disabilities to live in the community.

On Friday February 11, Governor Scott Walker proposed a so-called "budget repair" bill that will allow him and his appointees to restructure and slash Medical Assistance programs in Wisconsin. If this bill passes, the future slashing will take place...

Without public notice. Without public input.

The budget bill was released on Friday. A public hearing was announced Monday noon to take place on Tuesday at 10am, less than 24 hours notice.

They want the legislature to rubber-stamp this bill with a vote THIS WEEK. (And they claim they have the votes to do it -- though the protests are beginning to make some Republican state senators squirm.)

Very few people even know about the provisions of the bill impacting Medical Assistance.

Some links to news articles backing this up...
Walker budget proposal would impact how health care works in state: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_a28507fa-38a7-11e0-a87e-001cc4c002e0.html
Budget repair bill gives Walker free hand to revamp, cut Medicaid programs: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_979fd798-385c-11e0-b233-001cc4c03286.html
State attorney said Walker's Medicaid plan raised "potential constitutional issues": http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_cee543c2-3939-11e0-8619-001cc4c03286.html

The bill also eliminates outright the agency that coordinates my daughter's respite care services, the Wisconsin Quality Home Care Commission. (The cuts in the respite funding itself will surely come later. Without public input or notice.)

Why don't people know about this?

Two major reasons:
1) The bill is loaded with outrages. The one that has been in the headlines, that people know most about, is the proposal to strip most collective-bargaining power from public employees, so that (for starters) the governor can implement a massive cut in take-home pay via drastically-increased employee benefit contributions. [For JoyDad and myself, the loss of income amounts to half our mortgage payment every month, the equivalent of a 150% income-tax hike.] The union-busting, an outrage in and of itself, also sets the stage for immense cuts in public education...
2) The timeline is appallingly, undemocratically short. The advocacy groups have not had time even to properly analyze the Medical

Assistance provisions in the bill, let alone inform the public to get to the hearing and tell their stories. People slept over in the Capitol rotunda in Madison last night. I submitted my written testimony Tuesday morning, but could not stay the whole day awaiting my turn to speak.

As I said in a letter to the editor that was published Tuesday, nobody is arguing that the state has no budget challenges. Some pain will have to be shared. Tax increases will have to be a part of this puzzle.

Governor Walker's approach so far, however, has been to hand over millions of dollars in corporate tax giveaways during a special-session in January this year. In other words, making the hole bigger, creating an "emergency" wher none truly exists.
And the mechanism that allows unfettered cuts to Medical Assistance, without so much as public notice let alone public input, is moving through practically un-noticed.

Scarier still -- the Walker-appointee in charge of the Department of Health Services, which will be responsible for the Medical Assistance revisions, is one Dennis Smith, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, who has argued that states would be better off dropping Medicaid altogether: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/11/Medicaid-Meltdown-Dropping-Medicaid-Could-Save-States-1-Trillion

Spread the word. Call the state legislators, or e-mail them if their phone mailboxes are still jammed full like they were yesterday! Write to your local paper. Hit the streets if you're anywhere near a rally. The Capitol was alive with protest today, what with the Madison schools closed as the teachers go out to advocate for Wisconsin public education -- JoyDad and I support them wholeheartedly.

But if the MA issue continues to fly under the radar, the protests won't get that part of the bill so much as tweaked.

Please help!

====
P.S. A little bit of wonky sausage-making detail for those who are interested in such things! According to the balance of powers in the State of Wisconsin, Medical Assistance changes have had to go through a legislative process, either through direct legislation or through administrative rule-making. Both approaches require public hearings.

The budget proposal changes the requirements for the process. Changes would be able to be made via "emergency rule," regulations which could be created by the Department of Health Services under the aforementioned Dennis Smith. Ordinarily, hearings must be held on emergency rules, and then after a specified period of time, the emergency rules must be converted into final rules, with another round of public hearing. However, according to the budget proposal, the new "emergency rules" slashing MA could be passed without hearing by the Joint Finance Committee, simply by the committee declining to take them up.

The JFC is currently 8 Republicans, 4 Democrats. The committee WILL DECLINE to take up any proposed emergency rules that result in MA cuts. So the emergency rules will simply pass into effect in 14 days. No public notice, no public input. The bill also waives the requirement for the emergency rules to be revisited and converted into final rules. No chance for public input and changes there either.

Re-posted with slight updates from the blog, Elvis Sightings by way of the Daily Kos: http://elvis-sightings.blogspot.com/2011/02/wisconsin-attack-on-medical-assistance.html

REPEAT - Rally for Rights in Racine Today! (Friday) Monument Square 4PM

Progressivism or plutocracy! Play it again Sam!

Democrats with real gumption?! Salute the Senate Dems, may there be more where that came from!

Walker's blitz on working people goes way beyond public employees. This NOT about temporary concessions to get through a crisis, it is about plutocracy vs democracy. It'll be the police and firefighters next and then the private sector unions, etc., etc, Waging a War on Working People.

A coordinated attack was launched last Friday with Walker's pronouncement that he would end a 70 year tradition of collective bargaining for Wisconsin's public servants. On the very same day the Club for Growths began airing TV ads attacking public employees and urging support for Walker's power grab. That is NO ACCIDENT!

This is about money taking power. The Koch Bros have come to town, OUR government in the bathtub to drown!

There is another rally TODAY at Monument Square in Racine today (Fri 2/18) at 4:00 PM. Be There at the Square! Despite the balmy weather there's a corporate shill in the air!

I am not, nor is anyone in my family a public employee or even a union member. But this is just another, albeit more egregious example, in a long line of assaults on the middle-class by our would be plutocratic overlords and their Republicon thugs. This, like the equally unnecessary voter ID bill is completely politically motivated and designed to weaken democracy and move toward one party rule. If it works it will go WAY beyond public employees and WAY beyond Wisconsin.

Walker has invented this crisis at pretext for his blitz on workers. On Jan 31 the Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that Wisconsin would end the budget year with a $121.4 million positive balance. http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf

Two weeks later, after Walker pushed through $140 million in new spending and tax cuts for his cronies he's claiming we have a $138 million deficit. Walker is liar. And he won't stop there. He and his radical allies will not be happy until they can proudly say:

Tax cuts for the rich!
Sacrifices for the middle class!
Death panels for the poor!

Stand up today so that tomorrow we needn't say "Welcome to Walker's Wiscossippi!

Rally for Rights in Racine Today! Monument Square 4PM

Progressivism or plutocracy!

Walker's blitz on working people goes way beyond public employees. This is about plutocracy vs democracy. A coordinated attack was launched last Friday with Walker's pronouncement that he would end a 70 year tradition of collective bargaining for Wisconsin's public servants. On the very same day the Club for Growths began airing TV ads attacking public employees and urging support for Walker's power grab. That is NO ACCIDENT!

This is about money taking power. The Koch Bros have come to town, OUR government in the bathtub to drown!

There is a rally at Monument Square in Racine today (Thurs 2/17) at 4:00 PM. Be There at the Square! Despite the balmy weather there's a corporate shill in the air!

I am not, nor is anyone in my family a public employee or even a union member. But this is just another, albeit more egregious example, in a long line of assaults on the middle-class by our would be plutocratic overlords and their Republicon thugs. This, like the equally unnecessary voter ID bill is completely politically motivated and designed to weaken democracy and move toward one party rule. If it works it will go WAY beyond public employees and WAY beyond Wisconsin.

Walker has invented this crisis at pretext for his blitz on workers. On Jan 31 the Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that Wisconsin would end the budget year with a $121.4 million positive balance. http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf

Two weeks later, after Walker pushed through $140 million in new spending and tax cuts for his cronies he's claiming we have a $138 million deficit. Walker is liar. And he won't stop there. He and his radical allies will not be happy until they can proudly say:

Tax cuts for the rich!
Sacrifices for the middle class!
Death panels for the poor!

Stand up today so that tomorrow we needn't say "Welcome to Walker's Wiscossippi!