FuxSnooze Makes You Dumb

FuxSnooze, nuff said: http://www.thenation.com/blog/167999/its-official-watching-fox-makes-you-stupider?rel=emailNation

EXCERPT: People who work at Fox News might like to think that they are despised by real journalists only because they are conservative and most journalists are liberal. Anyone who read the admiring obituaries of William F. Buckley Jr. in mainstream and liberal outlets would know that is nonsense. Journalists, both liberals and ones with no ideology in particular, are quite capable of respecting conservative pundits and reporters who deserve their respect.

But Fox does not. The reason is not because it holds a set of values that others may not share. And that is only partially because it claims to be “Fair and Balanced” when it is neither.

Rather, it is because it fails the fundamental test of journalism: are you informing your audience? According to a new study by Farleigh Dickinson University, Fox viewers are the least knowledgeable audience of any outlet, and they know even less about politics and current events than people who watch no news at all.

Deer Hunters to Recall Walker - This is HUGE!

What deer hunters need to know before they vote on June 5th: http://www.lodivalleynews.com/human-interest/public-game-management-is-the-last-bastion-of-communism-dr-james-kroll-walker-appointed-deer-trustee/


EXCERPT:According to Wisconsin’s White-Tailed Deer Trustee Dr. James Kroll, people who call for more public hunting opportunities are “pining for socialism.” He further states, “(Public) Game management is the last bastion of communism.”These are just two insights into the man who has been asked to provide analysis and recommended changes to Wisconsin’s deer management program. Kroll’s insights are from an article entitled “Which Side of the Fence Are You On?” by Joe Nick Patoski for a past edition of Texas Monthly.

If nothing more, the article gives an unabashed look into the mind-set that will be providing the Wisconsin DNR with recommendations on how to change their deer management practices. James Kroll (also known as “Deer Dr.”) was appointed to the Wisconsin “deer czar” position last fall. He was hired by the Department of Administration and instructed to complete a review of the state’s deer management program.

Here’s a sample of the article:

“Game Management,” says James Kroll, driving to his high-fenced, two-hundred-acre spread near Nacogdoches, “is the last bastion of communism.” Kroll, also known as Dr. Deer, is the director of the Forestry Resources Institute of Texas at Stephen F. Austin State University, and the “management” he is referring to is the sort practiced by the State of Texas. The 55-year-old Kroll is the leading light in the field of private deer management as a means to add value to the land. His belief is so absolute that some detractors refer to him as Dr. Dough, implying that his eye is on the bottom line more than on the natural world.

Want to win the WI Recall? Make sure this story goes as wide as humanly possible
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/20/1093293/-Want-to-win-the-WI-Recall-Make-sure-this-story-goes-as-wide-as-humanly-possible

Walker's Way is not the Wisconsin Way

Walker is not Wisconsin and that is why he must go. He refuses listen. He won't compromise or negotiate. The day after our Packers won the Super Bowl he told his inner circle that he was going to "drop the bomb", referring to his previously hidden agenda to make scapegoats of our public employees and strip them of their workplace voices. He ruined our victory celebration! That's sneaky. It's impolite. It's authoritarian. And it's not the Wisconsin way.

He single-handedly ignited a political civil war, deeply dividing our purple state, our families, our friends and our neighbors with his “divide and conquer” strategy. We Wisconsinites do not seek to divide our citizens and we certainly do not labor to conquer our neighbors. That is not the Wisconsin way. In Wisconsin we’re not arrogant; we don’t pass with 52% and then act like we got a 100!

This is not about political parties; this is about Wisconsin and who we are. Thirty thousand Wisconsin citizens spent countless hours standing out in the cold to gather the expressed written will of the people to recall Scott Walker as provided by our State Constitution thanks to the legacy of our great progressive Republican leader, Robert "Fighting Bob" Lafollette. I think I can confidently claim that few, if any, of those 30 thousand would have stood for even 30 seconds to recall any other Wisconsin Governor, Republican or Democratic. Simply put, that is not our manner. But Scott Walkers extreme un-Wisconsiness has forced our hand.

The state I love does not willingly suffer authoritarianism. We neither seek to exert authority over our friends and neighbors, nor bow to the false authority of would-be plutocrats who seek to rule us by "virtue" of their extreme wealth and in service only of even more greed. In Wisconsin we are not money-god worshippers. But Scott Walker is not Wisconsin. He is an uncompromising authoritarian and he bows to the false authority of wealth as demonstrated by his fawning on the phone with who he believed to be Oklahoma petro-plutarch David Koch. Alas, that is in keeping with his fundamentalist ideology, which is alien to Wisconsinites.

Walker’s way is not the Wisconsin way. We believe we can run our own affairs here, yet most of the vast sums of money Scott Walker has collected, including for his own criminal defense fund, is from out of state billionaires. That is not the Wisconsin way.

We need to heal our state, so we can get back to our jobs, our families, friends and neighbors. Scott Walker's very Un-Wisconsin extremism has consistently lost jobs and malevolently divided the people of Wisconsin in the name of extreme ideology and party above all, bomb dropping partisanship. Scott Walker hasn’t lived in Wisconsin long enough to understand that “My way or the highway” is not the Wisconsin way, perhaps he never will. Our Constitution provides a remedy for this malignancy. We Badgers need a Scottectomy. And then we need to heal our Wisconsin.

Only Little People Pay Taxes

We owe a debt to Diane Hendricks for fawningly elicting the Divide & Conquer statement out of Walker while practically wanting to give him a fench kiss. But beyond that she is the billionaire posterchild for shillionaire Walker and his fealty to the plutcratic 1% who benefit from a rigged system they've devised and paid for.

Kruella DeHendricks wants to crush unions and working people to feed her greed, because people like her can never get enough. Yet she has $500,000 to throw at Walker to work her will on the people of Wisconsin. And on top of it all her corporate personhood, the ABC Supply company pays no taxes to support the system that acts as its host and from which it extracts its profits. In nature, such a creature is called a parasite: http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org/

I guess not much has changed since Leona Helmsley said "Only little people pay taxes". Except perhaps that the little people are finally waking up and standing up!

Walker Uses $100M of OUR Money to Fight Recall!

We're broke says Walker, that is until the game is up and the recall is coming for him. Then suddenly $100M of the citizen's money magically appears to invest in Milwaukee, something Walker FAILED to do as the County Exec who closed his own office of Economic Development during the Great Recession! http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/09/scott-walker-using-100-million-of-taxpayer-money-to-fight-off-recall/

Now GOPocrite Mitt Romney is claimimg credit for saving the auto industry that he said should just go bankrupt. SHEESH!

When he shows up in Wisconsin I'm going to be there with big sign painted like an Etcha-Sketch with flip flops glued all over the screen!

Wait, what's the biggest auto manufacturer in the world today? Oh yeah, General Motors. Thank you President Obama!

Inventor of Romney-Ryan Budget Concept Says Implementing Premium Support Now Would Be "Rash and Irresponsible"

http://www.politiscoop.com/us-politics/wisconsin-politics/1353-romney-ryan-budget-rash-and-irresponsible.html

MADISON - Noted economist Henry Aaron, a co-creator of the "premium support" concept central to the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan budget plan that would end Medicare as we know it, is now stating that the Romney-Ryan budget "won't work.

As detailed in a new report from The Huffington Post, Aaron testified before the House Ways and Means Committee last week, stating, "I've changed my mind" about the concept of premium support. Aaron also slammed the Romney-Ryan budget for failing to adequately regulate health insurance offerings and how they are sold, stating that the health insurance market under such a plan would be "deplorably inefficient" with serious consequences for the Medicare population.

Aaron however praised President Obama's successful Affordable Care Act for taking steps to preserve Medicare and advocated for the full implementation of the Act as the best way to control rising health care costs.

"Medical professionals, the faith community and now even the inventor of the central concept of the Romney-Ryan budget have come forward to say that this budget that ends Medicare as we know it is wrong for America," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Thursday. "As more experts come forward, and people learn the truth about the Romney-Ryan budget, it becomes more clear that this budget is fundamentally flawed, with the potential to cause real harm if implemented."
Read the Huffington Post report here.

BAP's Best Event Ever?

Thank you to everyone who came last night, especially State Assembly Candidates Kelley Albrecht and Kim Peterson!

With the possible exception of the Vets fundraiser we did at Bobby Rockets, last night was the largest event the Burlington Area Progressives has ever been associated with. 180 people packed the Plaza Theater, eclipsing even our events that featured local favorites John Nichols and Ed Garvey by 60 to 80 people! A half dozen representatives of the local Tea Party protested outside.

Thank you all! Keep up the good work especially NOW!

Burlington Standard Press - Liberal group’s film showing spurs talk of theater boycott: http://myracinecounty.com/

More info on this nut job can be found here: http://rootriversiren.blogspot.com/

Happiness is a warm gun, bang bang shoo shoot - SHEESH!

Apparently he wasn't cited for the false license or the fake registration. Why not? And did he use his position as investigator (which he should, wrong temperment) to run the license plates of the circulators?

Koch Bros Exposed!

Free Movie Event!



Koch Brothers Exposed

The New Documentary Film by Robert Greenwald

The Plutoctopus’ Reach Revealed



Do You Know?

State Rep. Robin Vos is Public-Sector State Chairman of the

Koch-Funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Do You Know How This Affects YOUR Rights?



Wednesday May 2nd, 2012 at 7:00pm

Plaza Theater

448 Milwaukee Ave. (Hwy 36)

Downtown Burlington, WI

Beer, Wine & Dinners Available

Free to the Public!

(Donations Accepted)



For more infromation

e-mail: burlingtonareaprogressives@gmail.com

Phone: (262) 237-4351

Ketterhagen's Analysis Flawed . . . Again!

I obtained a copy of the Department of Public Instruction spreadsheet with numbers on teacher salaries and benefits state wide, which Teaparty School Board Candidate Phil Ketterhagen kept holding up and waving around at the forum Monday night claiming that BASD teachers averaged $69K in salary and were in the 97th percentile for the state.

I changed none of the original data, but took the liberty of modifying the spreadsheet by adding columns with formulas to yield the following numbers for BASD teachers:

Avg. Total Salary & Bennies: $90,337 = 87.77 percentile
Avg. Salary: $60,563 = 81.37 percentile (NOT $69K/97% as Ketterhagen claimed!)
Avg. Bennies: $29,375 = 69.12 percentile

I'd be happy to provide the original and modified spreadsheets if anyone wants to check my numbers.

I also highlighted the numbers for some other local districts and BASD numbers generally falls in line. Bottom line, once again we see ya just can’t trust Ketterhagen’s numbers or analysis! Nor do I suspect can you trust how nice he was trying to play that night.

On thing that is clear by looking at the spreadsheet is that in metro areas salaries are higher reflecting higher cost of living and as you go further north (where you can by a house for $30K) the salaries drop off. So a statewide comparison is really another apples to oranges analysis, which a specialty of Ketterhagen's. And he didn't get it right in the first place!

Barbarians at the School House Door!

Greetings citizens
and friends of the Burlington Area School District, the barbarians are again at
our gates! Our public schools are under a second round of attack by the Tea
Party (TP) group WeVoteBurlington. Four TP candidates are challenging the
incumbents John Anderson and Susan Kessler in the primary election for school
board on Tuesday February 21st.

These candidates are intent
on inflicting the TP agenda on our schools, an agenda crafted by the corporately
run feudal American Legislative Exchange Council (fALEC) with their local
vassal Robin of Vos who is tasked with enacting the agenda of his corporate
lords in their province of Wisconsin. It is an agenda disseminated to the TPs by
Americans for Plutocracy (they say “Prosperity”, but we know better than that).
The agenda of these special interests includes defunding, dismantling and
privatizing our public schools to make them profit centers and turn our
children and grandchildren into perpetual revenue streams for educational profiteers.
For information about fALEC’s private designs on public education go here: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

These TP candidates
think of themselves as “taxpayers” and they want you to think of yourself as a
taxpayer too. Personally, I find the term “taxpayer” to be an insulting
epithet. Taxpayers are passive, hapless victims from whom money is extracted. I
am not a “Taxpayer”, I am not a victim, I am a citizen. And as a citizen, one
of the things I do is to pay my dues for living in a civilized society, taxes.
I am very fortunate to have done well enough so that I can and do pay taxes. By
virtue of the public school education that was provided for me by my forbearers,
I have succeeded and therefore pay taxes. By virtue of the people of goodwill
who built this country and established public institutions, public roads,
courts and a system of laws that facilitate an organized and prosperous society,
I have succeeded and therefore, proudly pay my dues. My story is by no means
unique, none of us succeeds on our own, we all benefit from the achievements of
those that came and built before us. It seems that those who gave us so much
would have but one requirement of us, pass it on!

John
Adams said, “Laws for the liberal education of the youth, especially of the
lower class of the people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane
and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant”.

Thomas Jefferson said, "I have indeed two great
measures at heart, without which no republic can maintain itself in strength:
1. That of general education, to enable every man to judge for himself what
will secure or endanger his freedom. 2. To divide every county into hundreds,
of such size that all the children of each will be within reach of a central
school in it."

James Madison wrote,
"The liberal appropriations made by the Legislature of Kentucky for a
general system of Education cannot be too much applauded. A popular Government,
without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to
a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern
ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves
with the power which knowledge gives."

But a vibrant and
interdependent society, buoyed by public institutions and progressing over time
is not the TP vision. They believe in a country of everyman for himself. To
them “public” and “taxes” are dirty words. They want to sack these public institutions
because they don’t want to pay for them. These TP candidates for the Board are
focused on only one aspect of our schools, taxes, money and the “greedy
teachers” who victimize them by taking their beloved money. One of them even
believes that it is appropriate to compare the compensation of educators with
advanced degrees to that of average Wisconsinites with high school diplomas.
These self-centered values and myopic outlook are not what is needed on our
school board. We need rationalism and balance, not extremism and selfishness.

Ask yourself, are you
a citizen or a taxpayer? Do you believe in local control and self-governance or
would you act as a feudal serf and help advance an agenda that comes from your
corporatist lords far beyond Burlington, far beyond Wisconsin? Citizens I
implore you, behave in a manner becoming of humble freemen on February 21st,
vote and repulse the barbarians at our gates!

Burlington Educators Attacked with Flawed Logic

Philip Ketterhagen must think the readers of the Standard Press are fools and wouldn't see through the apples to oranges analysis of Burlington Area School District (BASD) compensation he included in his letter to the editor last week. Ketterhagen's focus is on money alone as he states that "the BASD staff is in the elite percentile of income." True, but what he leaves out, is that the BASD staff is in an even more elite percentile for educational attainment. Philip says he's a college graduate so I'm going to assume the statistics he quotes are accurate. The way he uses them however, is deceptive and inappropriate as demonstrated below using 2010 census data for education level obtained here: http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/education/data/cps/2010/Table2-Both.xls and here: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0233.xls for adults 25 years and older.

For his analysis, Mr. Ketterhagen states that he used numbers from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal for the top 128 BASD employees in terms of compensation, skewing his sample right off the bat. He then goes on to compare BASD employee compensation to the of average income for Wisconsin citizens. Now the average income includes people who hold down jobs stocking shelves or driving a delivery van, for example. These jobs are critical to the functioning of our economy and the people who do them deserve our respect, a family supporting wage, family healthcare and a decent retirement, but they're not qualified to educate America's children and naturally they're not compensated as well as those who are and rightly so.

Ketterhagen stated that BASD administrator salaries are in the 76th percentile nationally and in the 86th percentile when benefits are considered, implying that they are over compensated. But BASD administrators have a minimum of a masters degree, putting them in the 92nd percentile for educational attainment nationally (92nd for Wisconsin). They are more likely to have a professional or doctoral degree, both in the 99th percentile nationally! These are management positions where people are responsible for million dollar budgets and hundreds of employees, corresponding to the highest paid jobs in the private sector. People in the 92-99 percentile for their education that are compensated in the 86th percentile nationally are clearly NOT over paid!

Then there are the teachers. First of all it should be recognized that all teachers have continuing education requirements and must obtain a teaching certificate which is an additional requirement beyond a bachelors degree that is not reflected separately in the census data for educational attainment. All of the teachers have minimum of a bachelors degree, which puts them in the 81st percentile nationally and the 74th percentile for citizens of Wisconsin. Fifty-two percent of Wisconsin teachers also have a masters degrees, which places those individuals in the 93rd percentile nationally and the 92nd percentile for Wisconsinites. Assuming the 52% also applies to BASD and aggregating these numbers for teachers with bachelors and masters degrees we come up with a teaching staff at BASD with average educational attainment levels that fall in the 86th percentile nationally and 83rd percentile for our once fair state. And where do the teachers fall in terms of compensation? According to Ketterhagen, the Wall Street Journal says they average in the 68th percentile nationally for pay and the 83rd percentile with benefits included, which they negotiated for in good faith. So BASD teachers are in the 86th percentile nationally for the level of education achieved, but they're compensation falls in the 83rd percentile.

What is Ketterhagen complaining about, why the need for flawed apples to oranges analysis and why his relentless and baseless attack on our educators?

Recall Misinformation

There's some misinformation being spread about the recall effort. First let me tell you that if you want to sign legitimate recall petitions you can go to the SLUE office at 616 Droster Ave. Burlington from 9 am to 6 pm, 7 days per week, behind Coop Plus and across Hwy 36 from Miller Motors. However, if you're going to go there with the intent of destroying a petition as one couple did recently, don't. It's both a felony and an affront to freedom and democracy.

Secondly, the recall process is not being abused at all, but is operating as intended. The recall was put into the Wisconsin State Constitution by our forbearers who were far wiser than we. The founders left the grounds for recalling a public official up to the judgment of we the people. They set the bar high in terms of the number of signatures required to trigger a recall election, which is why they are rare. A lot of citizens have to be very unhappy with an official and very motivated to put forth the level of effort necessary to be successful in gathering the expressed will of the people in the form of their signatures. And there is no reason to change our Constitution or the recall process. Malfeasance or illegal activity in office is already grounds for removal under Wisconsin state law. Did State Senator George Petak commit malfeasance or an illegal act when he voted to include Racine County in the Brewers stadium tax prompting his recall? No. Heck it was the impending recall and subsequent resignation of Tom Ament that cleared the way for Scott Walker to become Milwaukee County Executive.

Then there is the GOPropaganda generated nonsense about Wisconsin being flooded with people from out of state being paid to circulate petitions. Even if I could, I wouldn’t go to another state and stick my nose in their business and we don’t need or want any outside help in this grassroots effort. I’ve yet to meet one person in this cause who is not a local resident, let alone from outside Wisconsin. But today's republicon party runs on this sort of misinformation so one should not be surprised by it. What is already flowing into the state from elsewhere is gobs of money which Walker is using to flood the airwaves in an attempt convince us that “it’s working” despite the fact that Wisconsin lost almost 10,000 mostly private sector jobs in October and that his budget was balanced with one time gimmicks that increase the debt service payments after 2012 according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Walker, like his republicon counter parts in states like Ohio, Michigan and Indiana has worked to implement a radical hidden agenda on which he did not campaign, that was handed down to him from far beyond Wisconsin. This agenda, including tax breaks for the wealthy few on the backs of the poor and middle class has divided our state as never before and Walker has shown nothing but disdain and disregard for the opinions of a large percentage of Wisconsinites. And in a stark demonstration of the kind of person he is the Governor is now poised to kick 75,000 of our fellow citizens off of Badger Care, a program started by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson. Some of these people will surely die without access to medical care. Apparently Walker doesn't care, better they do so and decrease the surplus population. 25,000 of these rejects are innocent children. No health care for you kiddies, only a lump of coal. Merry Christmas!

Actions have consequences and it’s time for Walker to face his, as provided for by our Wisconsin State Constitution.

John Nichols @ Walworth Dems this Saturday!

Hot Coffee - Occupy the Plaza Theater!

Recall Walker Training & A Movie!

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!
Free Training - Free Movie!

Inside Job
How Wall Street’s 1% Trashed Our Economy
The 2010 Documentary Film by Charles H. Ferguson
Academy Award Winner – Best Documentary

Recall Walker Petition Drive Training by United Wisconsin
Movie to Follow Immediately Thereafter

PUBLIC IS WELCOME - ADMISSION FREE!
Bring a snack and your favorite non-alcoholic beverage

SLUE/WEAC Office Center
616 Droster Ave. Burlington
Saturday Nov. 5th – 6:00pm

e-mail: burlingtonareaprogressives@gmail.com

JOIN US IN RESTORING WISCONSIN! – WE ARE THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT!

BASD's Frightening Emergency

Greetings progressive residents and friends of the Burlington Area School District, we have a frightful emergency. Our public schools are under a coordinated attack from a Tea Party (TP) group in the form of WeVoteBurlington (WVB). The outcome of the first battle (it won’t be the last) in this attack will be decided on Halloween at the School Board meeting to be held in the BHS auditorium on Monday October 31st at 7:30 where they will try to brow beat the members of the Board regarding adoption of the district’s budget.

I’d like to place this event in the broader context to better understand what is happening and why. Mark Belling has promoted this attack and Charlie Sykes is threatening to bring in bus loads of outside agitators, single-issue anti-tax zealots to flood the meeting. People of goodwill need to be present and ready to speak up (three minutes allotted per person) to provide a counter-balance to this coordinated TP attack and to support our elected representatives on the Board who have gone through the months-long process of developing a reasonable budget for our public schools which are the central organizing, social institution of our community! Please email your Board members regardless of whether you can be at this meeting and let them know your position: http://www.basd.k12.wi.us/boardmembers.cfm

Tea Party Connection: I know that “coordinated” sounds like conspiracy, that “attack” may seem like hyperbole and that representatives of WVB recently denied their TP status in the Standard Press. But I will demonstrate why all three are apt descriptions of what we face. WVB held a legislative night on October 8th at Burlington’s public high school which featured as one of the key guests Tim Dake of the Grandsons of Liberty, a bonafide TP group promoting the “Legislative Agenda for the Wisconsin TEA Party Movement – 2010/2012”. The legislative items listed in this agenda are noted as being sponsored by TP groups from all over the state including: Uninfringed Liberty, Campaign for Liberty, Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, Two Rivers Tea Party, Rock River Patriots, Menomonee/Marinette Sons and Daughters of Liberty, Manitowoc County TEA Movement, Americans for Constitutional Enforcement and the Rock County Voter Education Forum, a pungent brew indeed. The strategy is to have a Wisconsin TP group adopt a piece of legislation and through activism to help push it through our legislature. To see the disturbingly ill-willed TP legislative agenda which precisely mirrors that presented at the WeVoteBurlington event go here: http://www.wisconsingrandsonsofliberty.com/

Attack on Public Education: That takes care of the TP connection, now to justify my use of the words “coordinated attack”. The TP groups cited above are promoting this legislative agenda, but they didn’t draft the legislation. Most of these bills were written by members of the secretive, Koch brother funded, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where global corporations pay big bucks to sit down with Republican State Legislators and draft laws in their interest to rule you from your State House. Although the special interests behind this are narrow, their agenda is very broad and includes the dismantling and privatization our public school systems in the United States of America. Why? Power, including the power to make profits for the “Educational Entrepreneurs” and to destroy unions. For more information on ALEC’s moves to starve public education see this article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/14-12 and this website: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Privatizing_Public_Education,_Higher_Ed_Policy,_and_Teachers
For information on ALEC in general go here: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

Are the WVB folks aware of the selfish and sinister agenda they’re helping to advance and who is behind it? Probably not. When it comes to public education, they’ve been conditioned to focus on only two things, taxes and thugs (their term for our teachers). But the Tea Party movement has been co-opted and turned from grassroots to astroturf by Americans For Prosperity (Plutocracy), the Club For Growth and other well funded groups founded by one-percent folks like the billionaire Koch Brothers, Dick Armey and others. The agendas of these groups are handed down from on high by corporate sponsored conservative think tanks founded by the Koch brothers and others like them, to serve their self-interest. For some insight on the Americans For Plutocracy and the Koch Bros agenda for our public schools watch this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mbJhjCbwo8

Furthermore, the WVB people have probably never even heard of ALEC. After all, it is supposed to be a secret. The likes of Belling and Sykes are certainly not going to expose ALEC and its goals. It was only revealed last spring that local State Representative Robin Vos is also the ALEC state Co-chair, tasked with enacting the ALEC agenda in Wisconsin like his counter parts in the other states. You’d think he’d be proud of such a lofty distinction, but he doesn’t discuss it or campaign on its “merits”. Skirting Wisconsin’s good government campaign laws, Vos even got an ALEC “Scholarship” worth thousands of dollars for airfare and hotel accommodations to be wined and dined in a sunnier clime by the ALEC corporate lobbyists who fund the organization. A “Scholarship”, why that’s a major award to be illuminated and displayed prominently before your constituents! But modest Robin never mentions it. You know what they say, news is what people want to keep hidden, every thing else is publicity.

And now PR Watch has discovered who Wisconsin’s secret ALEC Corporate Co-chairs are: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11031/koch-lobbyist-alec-state-co-chair-wisconsin-scholarships-raise-ethics-concerns Every state has them and guess what, one of Wisconsin’s is a lobbyist for Koch Industries! Such a tangled web! And I’ve connected only a few of the dots here. There are more, many more.

The citizens of Burlington have elected a local School Board to represent our interests in our community. It’s called local control, a principle the Republican Party once stood for. We must not let a few vocal people, acting at the behest of squawk-radio propagandists, force on to us a hidden agenda that comes from selfish, narrow and far away special interests that have no stake in what becomes of our children or our community, other than how it advances their national political goals and their potential for future profits to be reaped at the expense of millions of students across the nation and right here at home. Scary!

Thank you for your attention. You are the 99%! Please make yourselves heard at the Board meeting on October 31st. Boo!

Live Feed from NY Occupy Wall Street in the middle of the night.

globalrevolution on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

If you want to chat live with people across the country while watching at the Live Stream website here is the link. It's pretty damn cool.

While I was watching they showed the solar panel flat bed truck that supplies the power for the protesters to use.  It's being provided by Green Peace and says "Give Up Coal" on the side of it.  I'm just so impressed right now.

They have lots of great food available from donations made from all over the country.  Most people have sleeping bags and are curled up sleeping on hard ground toughing it out.

The mainstream media won't even talk to the guys doing the live feed.

Awesome stuff here.

fALEC State Private Sector Co-Chairs are Koch Lobbyists

The secret fALEC Wisconsin State Co-Chairs have been unveiled! Koch industry lobbyists Amy Boyer and Byron Wornson have been revealed by PR Watch as secret private sector Co-Chair that work along side Robin Vos to enact the fALEC agenda in our once proud state of clean and open politics: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11031/koch-lobbyist-alec-state-co-chair-wisconsin-scholarships-raise-ethics-concerns

Lavish all-expenses-paid "Scholarships" are used to skirt Wisconsin's lobbying laws that prohibit ANY gifts and to fly, house, wine, dine and buy corporate access to OUR representatives to enact THEIR laws.This is a traitorous betrayal of the foundational American principle of the right to the informed consent of the governed!

Why didn't Vos tell the voters he's in ALEC? Why didn't he tell us he's the State of Wisconsin Co-chair? Why all the secrecy? If Vos gets his legislative ideas from his constituents as he claims, then he doesn't need ALEC and should renounce ALEC and all it's works as the democracy betraying nest of corporatist vipers that they are.

The Selling of School Choice

DeVoss (Amway) - Can you say Sen. Van "Amway or Highway" Wangaard?
Walton (Walmart) - Can you say Rep. Robin "I like $chool choice becau$e I like $chool choice" Vos?

Selling? I'd say it's more like buying school choice as people who don't live, vote or go to school in Wisconsin flood money into OUR state to fund groups and bribe OUR? representatives to advance their cynical, selfish, national, anti-worker/middle class, privateering agenda to destroy public education (my opinion, not necessarily the Author's). This is the first of an excellent 3 part series of investigative journalism on the subject and well worth the read. http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2011/09/18/school-choice-part-1/

IMF: Income Inequality Bad for Economic Growth

Well duh! In an economy driven 70% by consumption DEMAND is the ONLY "Job Creator" and income inequality means consumers cannot create demand. That's intuitively obvious, but here is a scholarly study based imperical evidence from the international monetary fund: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/income-inequality-economic-growth_n_969933.html

EXCERPT: The widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else in the United States may be hindering a broader economic recovery, according to a new study. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2011/09/Berg.htm

The study out of the International Monetary Fund found that greater income equality positively correlates with stronger economic growth. Released in September, the study more specifically concluded that a 10 percent decrease in inequality increased the expected duration of economic growth by 50 percent.

The IMF paper, which studied a sample of countries around the world between 1950 and 2006, found that in countries with more income inequality, such as Jordan and Cameroon, the economy more frequently plunged into deeper recessions, while economic growth lasted much longer in more equal societies.

Indeed, greater levels of income equality corresponded more strongly to sustained economic growth than other economic factors, including lower debt levels, according to the report. "Sustainable economic reform," the authors write, "is possible only when its benefits are widely shared." The United States

Income inequality has grown in the United States over the past four decades and now more closely compares to the income distributions of Russia and Iran than many other developed economies.

FALEC Member Exposed

If you're intersted in learning more about Robin Vos, particularly his activities with ALEC, or as I prefer FALEC, the fascist American Legislative Exchange Council because it embodies the merger of state and corporate rule, which the definition of facism or corporatism, there is a website for that: http://defeatvos.blogspot.com/2011/08/grassroots-effort-to-defeat-vos.html?spref=tw

In the interest of informed consent of the citizenry.

Your's Truely,

CorpSerf ID: IMFD-OURFD-2

New - Rocking Fun Music, Records and Teen Outreach Grand Opening

Rocking Fun Music, Records and Teen Outreach has just opened and will be having their Grand OpeningTomorrow, Sunday 9/11 at 549 N. Pine St. in Burlington. http://www.rockingfunmusic.com/ A glitch with the Hi-Liter left them without a promo ad for their Grand Opening, so I said I would help get the word out on their new venture. Finally a local place to get strings and other music supplies!

Meet & greet at 5 PM with Recording Studio Manager & Guitar teacher Mark Hill, Owner Kellie Levans, Floor Manager Katie Joike, Administrator Michelle Dorrington and volunteers Chris and Randy. Sign up for guitar lessons (4 lessons, 45 min./session).

Rocking Fun Music tm Records and Teen Outreach is changing the way Burlington is dealing with the strong-hold of drugs, alcohol, and teen suicide rates have on the youth population. Milwaukee Rock Music Examiner Reporter, Kellie Levans, has planned, developed, and opened a retail music store and teen-wi-fi center fand recording studio for the reason of keeping teens talking and sharing through music. Rocking Fun Music tm Records:Teen Outreach, is a comfortable retail shop and hang out. The center will provide a safe environment for social contact with peers. Guitar, drums, vocal lessons, wi-fi access, and fun will be provided.

"The atmosphere is such as the show "Friends," providing a cafe' style setting without the coffee, lol " owner Kellie Levans says. Guitar lessons will be taught by Mark Hill , a community leader and trained in composition and music theory. Teen Wellness was a community program first accepted by the Burlington Wellness Center in 2004. Lack of funding cut the program. Kellie Levans approached the city of Burlington , Wisconsin in July of 2011 asking for a conditional use permit to allow 4 young adults in the store at a time. All counseling issues will be referred to local trained professionals.

GOPster Voter Suppression Promise from Sen Von Zipperer Hollow & Compassionless

So Sen. Von Zipperer (R-Peewaukee), right before pointing to his forehead and freezing his little FALEC brain said; “Any constituent, or anybody in the state…if there’s an individual with a legal right to vote, have them contact me or my office and I will make sure they get properly registered and have an ID,”. “If you know any individual, bring them to my attention. Even if they don’t live in the 33rd Senate District, I’ll get them to the office of their senator.”

http://brookfield-wi.patch.com/articles/zipperer-stands-behind-voter-id-law

So did, I called and I spoke with one of Von Zipperer's staff members and explained my Grandparent's situation and disenfranchisement.

He took their information and said he would pass it along to Senator Amway, I mean Wanggard. I asked him what Senator Wanggard would do. He said he would put them in touch with the local DMV. I reminded him that going to the DMV IS the problem and that putting them in touch with the DMV, was hardly necessary as they're in the phone book.

I asked if they are they going to need to go to the DMV and he said yes. I asked how that was going resolve the problem and he said he didn't know.

I asked if transportation would be provided and he said he didn't know. I said, well in this case transporation isn't an issue waiting at the DMV is, but what about other people who didn't have transportation, how would they be helped? He said he didn't know.

I said that some people who are in wheel chairs or have other disabilities need specialized transportation, would the senators be making arrangements and paying for that? He said he didn't know.

Empty words, hollow promises and no thought, planning, compassion or consideration given to the problem.

I love the comment made to Von Zipperer by one of his constituents: Resident Emil Glodoski hammered Zipperer for his support of the bill, saying it’s racist and is aimed at suppressing votes. He told the senator the number of people who have actually been caught in the state perpetrating vote fraud wouldn’t even “fill a basketball roster,” yet the number of people who will have their votes suppressed would “fill the Bradley Center two or three times.”

“That’s voter suppression and it moves us into 'Wississippi,'” he said. “(T)his is the first time we’re eliminating voters rights and it’s just racist.”

Right on Emil!

By the way, I've turned this little tidbit over to Disability Rights Wisconsin and they said they would get the word out to the disability community to contact his office. You bet they will!

While we're at it Let's Recall the Wingnut Judicial Hacktivitists on the WI Extreme Court

Judicial Hacktivist Michael Gabbleman was elected under a cloud of lying and ethical violations, which he was found guilt of in a court of law, but which his fellow nutbags on Wisconsin's Extreme Court let him get away with in a 3/3 tie. I know state FALEC Chairman Robbin Vos must be in agreement on thsi one as meets his proposed revised criteria for grounds for recall, right?

Now some are calling for his recall along with Gubnah Snott Wanker: http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-15786-after-the-recalls-whats-next-for-democrats.html

I agree, let's get this injudicious shithead off the bench. Gathering signitures for his recall while already collecting them for Wanker's recall is a miniscule additional effort.

But why stop there? Annette Ziegler is another extremist ideologue who doesn't have the ethics to know that she should recuse herself when her husband's business come before her in court. Let's purge her ass too while we're at it.

Then perhaps in a year we can get rid of Prosser, Extreme Court Strangler.

Remember 150,000 motivated protesters at the Capitol in March need only 3 signatures on the petitions, plus their own for 600,000 names, more than enough!

Gubnah Wanker WILL be Recalled, then Forgotten

In Ohio Gubnah Kasich forced through un-American, anti-union, anti-right of assembly, anti-right to petition legislation from the Fascist American Legislative Exchange Council - FALEC that is almost identical to the FALEC legislation pased by Gubnah Wanker in Wisconsin. People in Ohio took to the street and flooded the capitol in protest like in Wisconsin, but the Gubnah didn't care about the people, he was more invested in serving his FALEC masters. For more information on FALEC, see this link: http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

With 11.5 million citizens, Ohio has roughly twice the population of Wisconsin. In response, the good people of Ohio easily gathered 1.3 million signatures to force a referendum to over turn the FALEC law, which is expected to to win by a two to one margin. Kasich has now come begging to the unions to negotiate, which he refused to do when the shoe was on the other foot and the unions where willing to talk. In resonse the unions have now told the FALEC member to fuck off.
In Wisconsin we need 500,000 signatures, less than half of what was needed in Ohio, to force a recall of the exposed FALEC member Snott the Wanker who is also now trying to pretend to play nice. Fuck off Wanker, you're going down along with your 60% dsisapproval rating. There's WAY more energy in Wisconsin to flush your a$$ than there is in Ohio to castrate the thier FALEC law and ensure it never takes effect.

It's bad enough to have FALEC legislation shoved down our throats for the gratification of the corporatists, Americans For Plutocracy (AFP) and the Wisconsin Club for Growths, but it is totally unacceptable to for Wisconsin to represented by an A$$hole. And Wanker is surely that.

If every one of the 150,000 people that showed up in Madison that glorious gets only 4 signatures that's enough, 5 and it's guaranteed, 10 and it's a breeze. Wanker, you're a dick and you're going DOWN!

Warren Buffett - Stop Coddling the Super Rich

Warren Buffett asks where is the shared sacrifice from the super rich and calls for increased taxes on the wealthy to help put our fiscal house back in order, like it used to be when we could pay our bills and created many more jobs: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html

EXCERPTS: While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate.

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.

I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.

Since 1992, the I.R.S. has compiled data from the returns of the 400 Americans reporting the largest income. In 1992, the top 400 had aggregate taxable income of $16.9 billion and paid federal taxes of 29.2 percent on that sum. In 2008, the aggregate income of the highest 400 had soared to $90.9 billion — a staggering $227.4 million on average — but the rate paid had fallen to 21.5 percent.

The taxes I refer to here include only federal income tax, but you can be sure that any payroll tax for the 400 was inconsequential compared to income. In fact, 88 of the 400 in 2008 reported no wages at all, though every one of them reported capital gains. Some of my brethren may shun work but they all like to invest. (I can relate to that.)

Gubner Wanker Republicon Recall Spin

The latest factual rotations from the GOPsters is that because we only stripped them of two Senators, that the wind is out of the sails on the recall of Gubner Wanker and that getting the 700,000 signatures necessary in 60 days (11,667 signatures/day) to force a recall election is too heavy a lift. Pure unadulterated nonsense!

I was in Madison that amazing day along with 150,000 other massively motivated Wisconsinites. If everyone of those people just gets 5 signatures that's 750,000, more than enough with cushion for challenges. If everyone gets 10, that's 1.5 MILLION!

The Wanker WILL be recalled!

Bush's Debt Crisis - Republicons are Hypocrites

The melt down's true villian: http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/83-83/6936-bushonomics-the-meltdowns-true-villain

Teabagger Express

The Koch fueled Teabagger Express will be at the Birchwood Grill 7515 - 125th Ave. this Saturday (8/6) 2:30-4:00. Let's overwhelm them with our spirit like we did when they "graced" the Brat Stop, just across the street last spring. http://www.teapartyexpress.org/

"Restoring Common Sense Tour" That IS hilarious!

What Kind of Madman Would Blowup a Balloon!?

Further proof that Republicons are A$$holes, it's just that simple: http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/state-and-regional/article_df0b334a-bea6-11e0-9cac-001cc4c03286.html

Pucker Power!

Gubnah Wanker is very good at ignoring the people and keeping his composure during his speakifyin. I wonder how he'd do if 30 seconds in, the people whipped out lemon wedges and started licking and biting them.

Fascist American Legislative Exchange Council - FALEC

Fascism has come to Wisconsin in the form of Scott Walker and his radical Republicon minions all of whom are members of the Fascist American Legislative Exchange Council - FALEC. A party of complete DICKs!

When Benito Mussolini founded Fascism in Italy, he replaced the representatives of the people in the parliament of the former republic with representatives of the largest corporations in the country to form a corporate dictatorship and proclaimed that "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power". By the time he got done screwing his country, the people cut off his parts, stuffed them in his mouth and and hung him upsidedown from a gas station roof by a meat hook where his body was stoned by the public. A fitting end for a tyrant.

What has come to light in Wiscossissippi is that the entire hidden (until now) agenda of the Fitzwalkerstanis is not that of the citizens of Wisconsin, but rather that of a secretive corporately run organization determined to take power away from ordinary people and enact laws favorable to the mega-global-corporations that pay for the crafting of FALEC legislation that it's Republicon members are sworn to push through in states across America. For an excellent discussion of how the entire Walker/Republicon agenda in Wisconsin (as well as MI, OH, IN, NJ, AZ, etc.) is FALECally derived and a list of Wisconsin's fascists check out this article from PR Watch: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10880/alec-bills-wisconsin

For a broad based exposure of FALEC from the Center for Media and Democracy see: http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

Fascist Robin Vos is the FALEC Wisconsin Chairman and a DICK. But Wiscossissippistan also has a Corporate Co-chair whose identity is kept secret, who is no doubt also a DICK. This is NOT Democracy, This is NOT informed consent of the citizenry envisioned by our founders. This is a traitorous betrayal of the very notion of America! THIS IS FASCISM!

Democracy My A$$!

Yours Truly

CorpSerf ID: IMBNFD-OURBNFD-2

PS: Below is a list of the FALEC fuckings of Wisconsin:
-Attacking Abortion & Women's Rights
-Tort Deform
-Telecom Reregulation
-Voter Supression
-Elimination of Public Campaign Financing
-Defunding Unions & Attacking Collective Bargaining
-Wage Supression & a Race to the Bottom
-School Privatization
-Corporate Welfare
-Pension Fund Priavatization
-Private Prisons
-Predatory Lending
-Road Builder Protection
-Insurance Industry Protection
-Racial Profiling & Immigrant Harrassment
-Concealed Carry
-Making it Harder to Raise Government Revenue

Time for Action!

From BAPster Peter Endemann:

We are in need of canvasers for our Sen. Robert Wirch this Saturday. If interested please either email me or call me at (262)767-0087, canvassers will meet at our house right by Cooper school, call/email for address, we are supplied with all the information & packets you will need from the WI Democrat Party & Steven from the party will also be here if you have any questions. We start at 11:00 & it only takes a couple hours of your time & it is something that you can do that will make a difference right in our own town.....only 4 weeks left before the election!

Peter

Bless His Noodley Appendages!

In Austria one of the strangest fights for religious freedom has come to an end: Niko Alm, a self-described "Pastafarian," fought for three years for the right to wear a pasta strainer on his head in his driver's license photo.

His argument? Alm claimed he belonged to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and wearing the strainer was part of his religion. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/07/13/137824732/austrian-man-wins-right-to-wear-pasta-strainer-in-license-photo?sc=fb&cc=fp

Let's Give Wanker a Hot Reception

Gov. Walker will be in Racine next Tuesday, July 12 -- to speak at 3:00 p.m. at the centenial celebration of the WI technical college system. The event is being held at Gateway Technical College’s Racine campus, 1001 South Main Street, Racine. The program is scheduled to take place OUTSIDE in the grassy area facing Main Street.

Wanker's Budget is an Assault Wrapped Lies

The linked piece does a good job of documenting 5 lies that surround the Wanker budget: http://bdgrdemocracy.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/the-big-five-lies-in-the-walker-budget-in-his-own-words/

See the piece for a summary of the details but the lies are:
1) The budget isn't biult on tax increases
2) The budget isn't built on accounting gimmicks
3) Our children and grandchildren aren't saddled with mountains of debt (Part 1-tax give aways to the corps)
4) Our children and grandchildren aren't saddled with mountains of debt (Part 2-Kicking the debt service can down the road)
5) The budget balances and eliminates the deficit

To which I would add another lie.

6) The budget will help create jobs: http://host.madison.com/ct/business/biz_beat/article_bbc41e88-388c-11e0-87d9-001cc4c002e0.html

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_8c50dc92-52f7-11e0-993d-001cc4c03286.html

Projections range from 9,000 to 21,000 private sector jobs will be lost due to Wanker's budget.

Wisconsin is open for the business.

ECOFAIR360

¬FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAKING GREEN HAPPEN AT ECOFAIR360

Lake Geneva, Wis. (June 29, 2011) – Interested in electric vehicles? Want to know more about cost saving lighting options, alternative energy choices and conservation landscaping? These topics and many more will be presented at the second annual EcoFair360, coming July 8-10 to the Walworth County Fairgrounds in Elkhorn, Wis., just eight miles from beautiful Lake Geneva.

With 200+ exhibitors, speakers and demonstrations, each day will offer a variety of learning and exploring opportunities.

Opening day, Friday, July 8
State Senator Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, chairman of the Wisconsin Natural Resources and Environment Committee, will speak at 4 p.m., addressing legislative issues related to the environment and its impact on the community.

Every day of the Fair will offer a green buffet of choices; there will be solar, wind and geothermal exhibits, information on eco-friendly cleaning solutions and alternative health choices. Visitors can see alternative fuel vehicles on display, learn how to install LED outdoor lighting on patios and outbuildings, find handcrafted outdoor furniture built from sustainable and recycled materials, and much more.

There will be a daily assortment of presentations on a variety of topics, plus a special daily focus area:

• Friday, July 8: “Greening our economy: making sense (and dollars) of green.”
Learn how to develop a sustainable plan for your community. Discover how investing in green can save money, while helping the environment. Presentations on everything from conservation landscaping to how to create a sustainable community and earn ‘green points’ for free solar, wind or electric car charging stations at the same time.

• Saturday, July 9: “Greening our land and homes: alternative energy and smart building.”
Rural landowners can start the day off with donuts and coffee as they listen to four hours of presentations tailored specifically to their needs; Making solar Energy profitable for farmers, Future of biogas on Wisconsin farms—making anaerobic digesters possible, Cover crops as a conservation method, Wind Turbines and Farms, and more throughout the day.

Homeowners will find information on a variety of topics covering everything from how to save money by building an energy efficient home or retro fitting your current residence to green laundry options and how to minimize the clutter in your home and life.

• Sunday, July 10: “Greening our table: smart local choices in produce and meats.”
From cooking demonstrations with local produce to getting your kids to eat right, attendees will learn the pleasures of eating with local, seasonal food. Chef Rick Starr from Kirsch’s Restaurant will do a cooking demonstration, using local produce and teaching attendees how to organize a pantry for best results. Charles Crave of Crave Brothers Farm and Farmstead Cheese will talk about the value of artesian cheese production, and Wendy Staller of Staller Estate Vineyard and Winery will speak about local wine making as well.

The Kids Zone will provide children with activities throughout the day.

• Friday – The Science Alliance will present “WorldWorks!,” an environmental program, entertaining children on the issues of recycling, composting, the water cycle and acid rain through the use of visual demonstrations and active participation.

• Saturday – Seno Woodland Education Center offers a variety of one-hour based activities, centering around recycled paper, pond peeking, Wild Life in Learning Design (Project WILD), and Learning Tree Activities.
• Sunday – Tim Glander, of Walworth County’s Public Education program will present ‘Trash Time, the Magic of Going Green.’
• “The Comfy Chair” will provide children with a place to gather round and listen to stories with Sara Soukup, hear the music of Joe Fred and participate in Reader’s Theatre with Chris Brookes.

EcoFair360 Film Festival
Films will be shown in a unique structure, built specifically for this year’s Fair – a 16' diameter geodesic dome equipped with a home theater system; designed, built and donated by Bill Sokoloskis of AV Systems.

The screenings will include:
• Friday – Green Fire; Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for our Time
• Saturday – Dirt, A Story with Heart and Soil
• Sunday – How to Boil a Frog; Make friends, Make fun, Make trouble.

E85 Flex Fuel Special
The American Lung Association has a special EcoFair360 offer for Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFV). From 4-6pm on Friday, July 8, FFV’s can help the clean air efforts by purchasing E85 for $0.85 a gallon at Daniels Sentry Foods, 681 Kenosha St. Walworth, WI. Customers will receive a free parking pass for EcoFair360 when they take advantage of the E85 promotion. The American Lung Association will also be on hand at the Fair to provide information and answer questions on the clean air benefits of using E85.

Eco-Vision Sustainable Learning Center

EcoFair360 is brought to you by Eco-Vision SLC, a Wisconsin Not-for-Profit corporation, promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building and sustainable living through education and demonstration. Their goals are to promote and develop scalable solutions for renewable energy and sustainable development, support renewable energy projects though the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), and as a community, find new ways and build new models to make renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building and sustainable living an integral part of American life.

Contacts:

Wen-D Kersten
Eco-Vision Sustainable Learning Center
262-248-0970
wend@ecovisionslc.org

Catherine McQueen
Eco-Vision Sustainable Learning Center
262-248-0970
catherine@ecofair360.com
www.ecofair360.com

Hot Coffee Official Trailer

And guess who was involved in this coordinated attack on justice for average people, KARL ROVE, when he worked for Philip Morris. Now I know why he has the ethics of a tobacco executive!

What really happened: http://www.citizen.org/hot-coffee

Tuesday Afternoon

Tuesday, afternoon,
I'm just beginning to see,
Now I'm on my way,
It doesn't matter to me,
Chasing the clouds away.

Something, calls to me,
The trees are drawing me near,
I've got to find out why
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh.

The GOPsters didn't want to have to vote on the union busting bill again because it's deeply unpopular with the public, would have caused a new round of protests and would have provided a kickoff reminder as to why we want to recall the A$$holes in the upcoming elections. Well they didn't have to because the judicial hacktivists on the wingnut packed Wisconsin Supreme Kangaroo Kourt did the bidding of their political masters showing again the lie that is "justice" and the "independent judiciary".

Jeff Fitzgerald: "If need be, we are going to have to pass collective bargaining again because it is such an integral part of not having those services slashed and those people laid off," Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said of the plan, which is currently held up in court. Fitzgerald said he expects the state Assembly to take up the $66 billion two-year spending plan on Tuesday and will add collective bargaining limits as an amendment if the Supreme Court fails to act on the plan by Tuesday afternoon. The court last week heard oral arguments on whether a legislative conference committee violated the state's open meetings law when it rushed passage of the provision in March. "I'm an optimist. I still think they might rule yet," Fitzgerald said. "They still have some time." http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/news/local/article_8f58d97a-963c-11e0-8fe9-001cc4c002e0.html

When did the Judicial Hacktivists act? TUESDAY AFTERNOON!

David "Values" Vitter Should Vacate

Now that Weiner has walked, Senator David "Values" Vitter Rat-La should do the right and resign instead of being another family values republicon hypocrite. what he did, screwing protitutes was far worse than anything Weiner did and he is a horrible example for our children, not only morally but also from a public health standpoint. The Republicon Party should not tollerate his continued debauched presence. Wiener and the Dems should never have backed down without demanding that Values Vitter go first, but then backing down is what Dems do best.

For an exhaustive list of powerful men (mostly) who can't keep it where it's supposed to be, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States

The Truth About The Economy In 2 Minutes

The Truth About The Economy In 2 Minutes

Judicial Hacktivists; "Republicons are Above the Law"

Not that I had much faith in the impartial justice of Supreme Courts anyway, that has been shown repeatedly since Bush V Gore to be unwarranted in 21st century America, but the decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Kangaroo Kourt that the legislature need not follow the law, lays bare once again the judicial hacktivism of the Republicons.

When you control the executive branchg and the legislature and you've packed the court with Robed Reactionaries who've got your back you can enact any radical agenda you want with no checks and no balances. Republicons are a$$holes it's just that simple.

The very fact that the court decided to take this case and issued a decision on the same day, without even having the facts or oral arguments presented shows that the the predetermined fix was in. This should be no suprise with moral miscreants like Gabbleman and Ziegler polluting the bench no to mention the vindictive partisan Prosser who is clearly unfit in judicial temperment to serve. Democracy my ass!

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson wrote a scathing dissent of the judicial "process" that you can access here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1297191 It starts on page 31. Excerpts are below.

¶79 In rendering a decision, a court is to provide not merely an answer but also a reasoned, accurate explanation. A reasoned, accurate explanation is not an inconsequential nicety that this court may disregard for the sake of convenience or
haste. It is the cornerstone of the legitimacy of judicial
decision-making.
¶80 At first glance, the order appears to provide some support for broad conclusions reached on fundamental and complex issues of law. But on even casual reading, the explanations are clearly disingenuous, based on disinformation.
¶81 Justice Prosser's concurrence is longer than the order. The concurrence consists mostly of a statement of happenings. It is long on rhetoric and long on story-telling
that appears to have a partisan slant. Like the order, the concurrence reaches unsupported conclusions.
¶82 In hastily reaching judgment, Justice Patience D. Roggensack, Justice Annette K. Ziegler, and Justice Michael J. Gableman author an order, joined by Justice David T. Prosser, lacking a reasoned, transparent analysis and incorporating numerous errors of law and fact. This kind of order seems to open the court unnecessarily to the charge that the majority has reached a pre-determined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority's ultimate decision.


¶90 The legislature must play by the rules of the Wisconsin Constitution and the laws.
¶91 Playing by the rules and playing fair are integral to public trust and confidence in our government officials—— legislative, executive, and judicial. Public trust and confidence in the integrity of the judicial branch is engendered
by a court's issuing a reasoned public decision based on public records after public arguments. The judicial branch claims legitimacy by the reasoning of its decisions. "Any step that withdraws an element of the judicial process from public view makes the ensuing decision look more like fiat and requires rigorous justification."4
¶92 Trust and confidence in the integrity of the judicial branch as an institution is critical at all times but especially when a case has high public visibility, is mired in partisan politics, and is emotionally charged. The need for reasoned judgment is at its greatest in a case such as this one, in which substantial public policy and budgetary decisions of the coordinate branches may be affected.5 The issues presented in this case are steeped in a politically charged environment and
involve highly controversial public policy and budgetary matters.
¶93 That the judiciary has the power of judicial review, that is, the power to interpret the Constitution and hear challenges to the constitutionality of legislative enactments, without pressure from the executive or legislative branches, is a fundamental principle of the United States and Wisconsin Constitutions.
¶94 This fundamental principle of judicial review was described in Federalist No. 78,6 which emphasized the importance of the separation of powers and of an independent judiciary to ensure that legislative enactments are consistent with the
constitution.
¶95 Ascertaining the meaning of the Wisconsin Constitution and whether the enactment of the Budget Repair Bill complies with constitutional directives is the essence of the present case. And the court must do so adhering to the Constitution,
laws, and its own rules of procedure.
¶96 The order and Justice Prosser's concurrence are based on errors of fact and law. They inappropriately use this court's original jurisdiction, make their own findings of fact, mischaracterize the parties' arguments, misinterpret statutes, minimize (if not eliminate) Wisconsin constitutional guarantees, and misstate case law, appearing to silently overrule case law dating back to at least 1891. This case law recognizes a court's power to review legislative actions in enacting laws when constitutional directives are at issue.

Protest the Pall (Lyin Ryan)

Protest today (Sat 6/11 - 11:00 AM) outside Pall Ryan's Kenosha Office 5455 Sheridan Rd, Ste 125. Tell Privateering Pall that we need good jobs, not the end of medicare and slavery to the insurance profiteers!

Why WI New Voter ID Sucks for Democracy

Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now tells it brilliantly.  We need to keep opposing this.

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Dear Friend:

Many of you have written to me in response to my email yesterday about the voter ID bill. Some of you were very enthusiastic in your support of our efforts to fight back against this assault on our voting rights. But others of you had questions about the bill, and wondered why we oppose requiring qualified voters to show an ID at the polls. "You have to show an ID to rent a video, why not to vote?" someone asked. "With all the voter fraud out there, I think voter ID is a good idea," another person wrote.

I want to address these questions and fully explain why this bill is wrong for Wisconsin.

First of all, the right to vote is guaranteed to citizens of Wisconsin in our state constitution. The right to rent a movie, open a checking account, go to the bar, get on an airplane or any other similar activity is not, and requiring an ID for these types of activities is not a barrier to exercising a constitutionally-protect right. Voter ID is fundamentally different.

There is absolutely no evidence of a widespread conspiracy to commit voter fraud.Wisconsin's Republican Attorney General JB Van Hollen has made prosecuting so-called voter fraud one of his top priorities. However, after a two year investigation into the 2008 election, Van Hollen has found a scant 11 potentially improper ballots out of nearly 3 million total votes cast. Of those, eight involved felons who voted while out in the community on probation or parole, a situation that voter ID would not remedy. That leaves 3 potentially bad votes out of 3,000,000 votes, or about 0.000001% of all votes cast. Voter ID is a solution in search of a problem.

The bill's authors, Republican Rep. Jeff Stone and Sen. Joe Leibham, have modeled their bill after Indiana's Voter ID law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. According to the Supreme Court case upholding Indiana’s Voter ID bill, the lower court found “99 percent of Indiana’s voting age population already possesses the necessary photo identification to vote under the requirements.”

Wisconsin’s population is substantially less likely to have a state-issued identification. Those without state-issued photo identification and who would need to obtain one under the Wisconsin Voter ID bill include:

• 23 percent of all elderly Wisconsinites over the age of 65
• 17 percent of white men and women
• 55 percent of all African American males and 49 percent of African American women
• 46 percent of Hispanic men and 59% of Hispanic women
• 78 percent of African American males age 18-24 and 66 percent of African American women age 18-24
[Driver License Status of the Voting Age Population in Wisconsin, 6/05]

Yes, the bill as written does have a provision to provide free identification for some Wisconsinites. Each and every one of these people would have to take the time off (in many cases unpaid) from work or family obligations to flock to Wisconsin DMVs. However, access to the DMV is a problem in Wisconsin; Indiana provides its residents exponentially more access to its Department of Motor Vehicles offices to obtain identification.

Wisconsin and Indiana have similar voting age populations (4.35 million vs. 4,8 million), but Wisconsin is 50 percent larger geographically than Indiana (54,314 sq. miles vs. 35,870 sq. miles). Indiana not only provides its residents 50 percent more DMV offices than Wisconsin (140 to 91), but also nearly three times the total hours these facilities are open.

Also consider:

• Twenty-six percent of Wisconsin’s 91 DMVs are open one day a month or less, while none of Indiana’s are open less than 100 days a year and nearly all are open over 250 days a year.
• Wisconsin has only one DMV with weekend hours, while Indiana has 124 offices with weekend hours.
• Three Wisconsin counties have no DMVs, no Indiana county is without a DMV.
• Over half of Wisconsin’s 91 DMVs are open on a part-time basis, while Indiana provides full-time DMVs in every county.
[Wisconsin DMV service centers and hours, by county; Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, locations and hours]

The need to expand the numbers and operational hours of Wisconsin DMVs to provide appropriate access could increase the $70 million biennial Wisconsin DMV budget by as much as 50 percent on top of the current $5 million price tag to provide free identifications.

Requiring eligible voters to produce ID at the polls is an unnecessary hurdle to exercising our right to vote which will prevent many people from voting. The "widespread voter fraud" that this bill is aimed at "fixing" does not exist, and the microscopic number of double votes will be FAR outpaced by the number of people who will be prevented from voting by the voter ID requirement. In a time when Wisconsin faces a $3 billion budget deficit, we simply cannot afford to double the DMV budget. Voter ID is a big-government, budget-busting solution in search of a problem; a solution that will make it more difficult to practice our most fundamental right.

That is why we oppose voter ID. I hope this email helps to answer your questions about this bill. If you're ready to join this fight, please sign up for our Voter Protection Task Force to push back against this assault on our democratic rights.

Sorry for the long email, but thank you, as always, for everything you do.

Scot

One Wisconsin Now

Hochul Win Casts Pall on Ryan!

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/88957/hochul-wins

House Teabaggers step in it AND scenes from Arrested Development (one of the best shows ever) BONUS!

Gubnah Wanker in Racine

Wanker will address the annual meeting of the Racine County Economic Development Corporation tomorrow, Tuesday May 24th. This event was free and open to the public until Gubnah decided to come and they put in place a $25 registration fee to discourage undesirable members of the public.

Make the anger he's generated in only 5 short months plain to see and hear! Meet at 4pm at Case High School.

Sunday May 22, 2011 - Bad Judgment Day!

Mrs Attacks!

Once foiled by Slim Whitman's yodal, this savy and persistant martian (Mrs Newt) has found a new avenue to take control of the whitehouse!

Don't Blame That Asshole!

On my way up to Kimberly yesterday, just a bit north of Milwaukee I saw a teabagger with his pickemup truck towing his fancy boat. On the back window of his cap he had a sign that sad "Don't blame me, I voted for the white guy."

But I actually have to, in a way, commend this Asshole for clearly and succinctly demonstrating the source of his assholery, he's a racist. Now if you're a fucking racist scumbag, why hide it? If those are your beliefs stand by them and proclaim them! Don't be shy. Don't have a hidden agenda. Don't pretend that you hate the president because of some policy or position he's taken that you disagree with. Don't worry about what other people think, what's socially acceptable, be yourself.

Shave Your God Damn head!
Get yourself a pair of clodhoppers!
Grow a funny little mustache just under you nose!

Asshole

PS, I also saw another one of those billboards proclaiming the end of the world this Saturday coming back on Hwy 41. Our cornucopia is spilling over with nuts. I can't wait till Sunday.

Kloppenburg Recount Volunteers Needed in Waukesha

A connected friend just called and told me that Kloppenburg's people need recount watchers in WAUKESHA County (where else could it be more important?) this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8-5.

If you have free time those days and times, you can call their scheduling line and sign up for a shift:

(608) 206-9452

If that doesn't work, they were previously advising people to call the campaign office.  

 608-218-1203

The numbers may not be staffed at all times, so be patient.

Connected friend said that Joanne is currently ahead, though she doesn't expect that to last.

Word is that some of the ballot boxes have come in unsealed and in other bad conditions.

So, it's vitally important that we keep an eye on the county folk that caused this cock-up in the first place.

Please Volunteer!

The End is this Saturday!

That's what a lot of the fundies are saying: http://judgementday2011.com/may-21-judgement-day/

I heard about this on NPR and I even saw a big billboard put up by Relevant Radio, proclaiming May 21st 2011 as Judgment Day on I-43 coming back from Green Bay this Saturday. People are quiting their jobs, spending their savings in the certainty that this is it and they'll be raptured at the end of the week.

If I had any idea how to do it, I'd organize a flash mob in reverse, a flash rapture if you will. If we could get thousands of people to just disappear from where their supposed to be and leave a little pile of cloths and shoes. Just think about when these folks start hearing reports of people vanishing and they're still here, left behind to face the tribulation. What FUN!

Where did the debt come from? The Post & Bloomberg know.

A really good article about where the National Debt (see clock at left) comes from?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/running_in_the_red_how_the_us_on_the_road_to_surplus_detoured_to_massive_debt/2011/04/28/AFFU7rNF_story.html?nav=emailpage

The simple answer: tax cuts and unpaid for spending -- including wars.  And you'll never guess who's responsible for most of it...

Okay, probably you will guess -- but Tea Baggers and Republicans won't.