MacIver Admits It's the Poverty Stupid!

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  After a very entertaining weekend of tying the factless and feckless commentors on their Facebook page in knots, I actually got the MacIver Institute to admit that there is not one public school in Wisconsin that has a high-student-failure-rate, that does not also have a high concentration of students in Poverty. It's the Poverty Stupid!

  "MacIver Institute: Yep, you're right about brick and mortal schools. The lowest % of economically disadvantaged students in a failing school for 2014-15 was 56%."
• The link to the MacIver piece is here and the string of comments where the Cult of Con adherents are unable to articulate why they believe what they believe and why they believe I am wrong follows:
• http://www.maciverinstitute.com/2015/01/assembly-republicans-unveil-school-accountability-bill-which-would-sanction-chronically-failing-schools/
• Sean Cranley: More mythology. There is no such thing as a failing school. Schools don't take tests, or do assignments. It's students that fail and when students fail in high concentrations it's always due to high concentrations of poverty, ALWAYS! This truth is borne out by the fact that Milwaukee's Vulture Schools have failed for over two decades to make any improvement in student outcomes. Same students, same poverty, same associated social ills, same results. It's not failing schools, but rather High-Failure-Rate- Students.
  
  The problem will never be solved so long as we follow the failed mantra of "failing schools" and recognize and address the real problem. But it really isn't about the kids. I has always been about money and power and the decades long lust of the Waltons/Walton Foundation (Walmart) and the De Vos family's (scAmway) American Federation for Children to get at our tax money. CROOKS and SCOUNDRELS!

  Like · Reply · 10 · January 11 at 10:46pm · Edited
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  Tony Novinska So what you're saying is that systemic failure is not to be addressed? You are correct about one thing and even the President of the NEA Legal Counsel said, back in 2010, "This isn't about education and it's certainly not about the children. It's about power."
  
  So stop with the "My Soros is better than your Koch" divisive BS. 
  
  Accountability is not in the Liberal dictionary. Heaven forbid that something that goes against Unionista Propaganda EVER be considered.
  
  The status quo got us here. It's time to address the status quo. Directly.

  Like · 4 · January 9 at 11:18am
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  Sean Cranley I said what? go read it again, this time with attention and comprehension.

  Like · 2 · January 9 at 11:22am
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  Fred Bluhm Just because you say it doesn't make it true. I completely comprehend that!

  Like · January 9 at 8:36pm
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  Sean Cranley You're right Fred, I say it because it's true and I know that it's because I've looked into the matter. Now I've got challenge for you that I know you cannot accomplish and I doubt very much (similar past experience) that I will ever hear from again on the subject.
  
  A) Find me one high student failure rate school in The Badgered State that does NOT also have a high poverty rate.
  
  B) Develop an alternative theory for what causes high failure rate schools and correlate that cause with the exisiting high failure rate schools in Wiscossippi.
  
  C) Read the piece linked here and develop a reasoned and fact-based counter-argument:http://burlingtonareaprogressives.blogspot.com/.../studen...
  
  I've got the hand that can show that the mantra of "failing schools" is a myth. No actually, it's just a flat out lie. And I'm calling your bluff, put up or shut up. Accomplish one of the three things above and I will donate $50 to the non-political/religious charity of your choice. I won't hold my breath though, see ya in the funny papers.
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Burlington Area Progressives: Student Achievement - It's the...

  BURLINGTONAREAPROGRESSIVES.BLOGSPOT.COM|BY SEAN CRANLEY

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Scott Walker Endorses Socialism!

In a dig at Blow Hard Gubnah Chris Christie, a potential rival in Wrong Way Walker's Windmill tilting bid to be Merica's Divider-In-Chief, Scotty did a little hypocritical fun poking over the rotund one's awkard and ethically bankrupt embrace of Cowboy's owner and all-around . . . one percenter Jerry Jones. After all, it isn't like Walker would hesitate for a minute to get down on his knees and kiss the ring of any plutocrat willing to endow him with dollars and dub him Sir Shillsalot. And he certainly doesn't give a rip about regular citizens like the one pictured above.

 But when the Great Divider twittered in the lead up to Sunday's match between the Packer's and the Cowboy's on the frozen tundra: "This is the type of owner I'll be looking to hug after a #Packers win on Sunday":, refering to the photo above, he endorsed The People's Team ownership model, you know socialism. Well Shazam'n surprise, surprise, Walker gets one right for a change! And yes, hell IS freezing over here in the Badgered state.

Christie responded with, "don’t worry… there are enough awkward hugs to go around." One wonders if this duo of ethically challenged Gubnah's will pay their own freight this time, while they watch this matchup of two teams whose league is THE major league success of our time because it's a socialistic organization!

The Public Shrugged

I've heard that the world will end with a wimper not a bang. Well I guess democracy ended last month with a shrug. Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas) inserted laguage at the last minute into the 11th hour spending bill that averted a government shutdown. But the language wasn't written by Yoder or any other of our erstwhile "Representatives". No, it was written by Citibank. and you can bet it's NOT in the interest of We the People. But the response to these Rulers seems to be "meh".

The new law repeals part of the Frank-Dodd reforms the resulted from the Great Republicon Recession of 2008 and once again allows the big banksters to use FDIC insured depositor money (not investors) to gamble on risky and complicated derivatives. If they win they keep the cash. WHEN they lose we bail out their Too-Big-To-Fail @$$es. Shame on all who voted for this bill, Dems & republicons, right on upto and including President Obama who signed it into law!

Did anybody vote for citibank? How about the global corporations that run the fascist American Legislative Exchange Council (fALEC), who are writing and voting on our state laws in secret. Or for that matter, the WTO or the World Bank? Our "Representatives" have become mere middlemen, our "Republic", a Demockery.

Where is is the outrage at the usurpation of our freedom and self-determination?! When in the course of human events will it become necessary for The People to dissolve their bonds and restore our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A man ruled in the interests of others is NOT Free!

Oh well America, it was nice while it lasted. Meet your new bosses.

Republicon Hoods

In response to being outed for speaking to a meeting of a White Supremicist Group in 2002, Congressman Steve Scalise (R - LA) the new Republicon Majority "WHIP" said he didn't know about the agenda of European-Anerican Rights Organization, founded by former KKK Grand Lizard David Duke; “For anyone to suggest that I was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous,”

Though in his defense I must say that he probably did not recognize them for what they are as they have a habit of "masking" their true nature.

Badgered State Blues (not from here anymore)

The Badgered State Blues (Not From Here anymore)

This is what happens when your misperceptions are swept away and you suddenly discover that the fellow citizens of your beloved Badger State are either half "Rascals" or don't know one from a hole in the ground.

Composed & Performed by Sean Cranley
CorpSerf ID: IMNFD1-OURFD2

Shame on Seth & Sony

I say this not in deference to North Korea or the current dictator of their brutal regime Kim Jong-Un, but I hope that Sony Pictures takes an absolute bath on this movie. I will not be seeing The Interview.

I'm aghast! With all the discussions of this movie amongst the pathetic punditry that I seen and heard, there's not been one single talking head that has brought up what should be a central point to this controversy. That being, that it is TOTALLY inappropriate to make a film about killing a real, non-fictional, living human being.

Just imagine the reaction if someone made a movie about killing one of our leaders! President Obama, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, even the war criminal GWB . . . The Dick Cheney.

O.K. probably not The Dick Cheney - Torturer-In-Chief.

They could have used a stand-in character that everyone would have known was a representation of The Dear Bleeder or someone like him, but making it about him literally, crosses the line. This is not about freedom of speech. I'm not making the argument that those involved in making this picture don't have the right to do so. It's just that they are wrong to do so. Disgustingly wrong. And it certainly isn't going to make the world a better and safer place to live. Bad move dudes!

Justice, Ferguson and Beyond

Judging by the on-line response to the decision of the Ferguson grand jury not to indict the officer that shot Micheal Brown, what I'm about to say may not be popular with some, but here it is anyway.

As I understand it, there were contradictory accounts of what happened from witnesses near the scene and therefore what occurred in this tragedy is not completely clear. In order to have justice, you must have actual evidence that a crime was committed that will stand up in a court of law before you can bring charges against someone. It's not clear to me that this standard has been met.

Is there a problem in this country with police militarization and with police shootings, especially with regard to minorities? Yes. Are minorities in general targeted for law enforcement and prosecution at far higher rates and more punatively than white communities and law breakers? Definitely, the evidence is overwhelming. One only need look at the fact that whites use illegal drugs at slightly higher rates than blacks, yet blacks suffer arrest and incarceration at far higher rates for such crimes and for longer terms. Do people have a right to be outraged? Absolutely, not only a right, but I would argue, a duty.

But right now emotions are running high. And to demand that the officer in Ferguson specifically, be offered up as some kind of sacrificial lamb to in some way satisfy the rightful outrage of many (myself included) at the conditions of our criminal "justice" sytem generally, without the evidence to back it up? That would just add to the injustice and the tragegy that has already occurred.

If I'm wrong about the nature of the evidence or new shit comes to light, I'll reconsider my position and if it appears that the officer committed a crime he should be prosecuted accordingly. But until then I'm going to continue my position opposing lynching.

Ketterhagen's Konspiracy!

Phillip Ketterhagen  -  Stark Raving Mad

Can we please get this kook off the Burlington School Board!? Replace him with another conservative even, just as long as it's a rational human being and not a Whacky conspiracy theorist. If I was a local conservative, this Klown would embarrass bejeezzes outta me!

On page four of the November 20, 2014 edition of the Standard Press is an article headlined "Board member fears proposed course propagates UN agenda. I needn't have read the article to know which board member.

In question was the proposed edition of an advanced placement (AP) class in Human Geography at Burlington High School. Board member Phil Ketterhagen stated that the class could be "programming" future generations and that the proposed curriculum and samples align with the United Nations Agenda 21. Ketterhagen stated that Agenda 21 is a talking point for conservativve leaders such as Glenn Beck. GLENN BECK!? Yes, Glenn Beck who is a Serial Conspiratorialist and is too ridiculously Batshit Crazy even for FuxSnooze!

Robin Vos - Forked Tongue and Fangs Award!

I Hate Freedom Thiiiiiiiiiiis Much!

"As I said this week, having one of the Bucks new owners go and greet Barack Obama on the tarmac in the middle of the Mary Burke campaign probably wasn’t the wisest decision," - Vos

"Representative" Vos showed his true scales when he assaulted the freedom of conscience of one of the owners of the Milwaukee Bucks and demonstrated his penchant for cronyism, this time in reverse. He also exposed his fangs with the never very thinly veiled disdain he and his "caucus" from around the state hold for Wisconsin's urban centers and the folks that live there generally and for Milwaukee specifically. 

Whatever your position on funding for a new stadium for the team, or any other decision regarding the use of public funds for private purposes, the decision should be made on it's merits for the general welfare and NOT on the political positions of an American citizen, their ability to produce political payola or which party is the recipient. In fact it is against state corruption laws for Vos to do so!

But as we've seen repeatedly, that is not how the VOS / Valker Republicons who now rule the Badgered State roll when it comes to things like the corrupt WEDC and G-Tack's Walker directed bribery to the Wisconsin Club for Growths during the recall campaign in order to get their iron mine rammed through. That is how "business" is now conducted in what was once America's shining example of good governance, fair play and transparency. My once strong faith in the good sense and goodwill of the people of Wisconsin has been sorely shaken by the continued re-election of extreme, corrupt, slick-slithering and ill-willed career politicians like Robin Vos and his ilk.

Therefore, for the the @$$Oli$h exhibition of ill-liberal, venomous ill-will and disdain for representative democracy above and beyond the call of duty, the Gerrymanderer Vos is hereby awarded BAP's Forked Tongue and Fangs Award. FREEDUMB!

Republicons R @$$HOs

The GOPsters not only hate democracy, they're @$$HOs. I placed 4 campaign signs here several weeks ago at the request of the property owner. A couple weeks later some angry old jerk and thief in a big truck (you can see the tire tracks) ran them over and stole the Mary Burke and Susan Happ signs. The Andy Mitchell and Rob Zerban signs survived.

I replaced the stolen signs. Mind you, there are Pall Ryand (@$$hO) signs on this stretch of road, there are Walker/Kleefisch (complete @$$HO/Shirley Temple's Evil Twin) signs. All of which have been there unmolested for a couple months. Then when I went past today I found this:

The Happ sign is mangled, The Zerban sign is in the ditch on the right. The Burke sign is in the background and the Mitchell sign is off in the brush. I replaced them and fixed the Mitchell sign with Duct tape. What are the chances they'll make it to election day without one of these Uber "Patriots" trashing their constitutions.

What is it about the Destructicons that not only makes them want to tear up the fabric of our society bat also makes such angry hypocrites? Why is it that the bigger the @$$HO the more they love them and need to "stand" with them. Seriously, name 3 currently prominent GOPsters who aren't @$$HOs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Can't do it can you?

I didn't think so.

Republicons are Traitors

If you are an American Veteran with an ID card issued by the United States Bureau of Veterans Affairs you cannot use that ID to vote in Texas next week under the voter suppression law enacted by the GOPsters and allowed to take effect by the inconsistent nuts on the U.S. Extreme Court who blocked The Badgered State voter suppression law that DOES allow use of such an ID. Crazy!

Republicons are Traitors, enough said.

Walker's Deriliction & Deficit

I'm not one to pat myself on the back, but tooting my own horn? I'm good with that! Back in January I wrote about Walker's Surplus Smoke'n Mirrors, how Walker was falsely taking credit for a project surplus, how it one-time-money and that the fiscally prudent course would be to use it to eliminate the $500 million structural deficit that existed at the time instead of increasing it with more tax cuts for his rich constituents.

And now here in October where does the Badgered State find itself? At least $1.8 BILLION in the RED!

Am I genius? Prescient? No, predicting that Walker's slash and burn tactics would blow up was about as easy as seeing that his austerity policies during a recession would lead to a jobs failure or that hiring crooks and felons might get you investigated!

Scott Walker failing Wisconsin by every metric.

Republicon War on Representative Democracy

Sticking a flag pin on your lapel doesn’t make you a patriot. It’s what lies beneath in your heart that matters. And with Friday’s appeals court ruling imposing the GOPster’s voter suppression scheme on the Badgered state, the scary war on representative democracy that lies at the heart of the Republicon Party is laid bare. But lying, manipulating, gerrymandering, voter suppression and Blitz Gezetz (lightning law) are the means this minority party needs to obtain its ends. I say minority because that is who they now represent, a very small but increasingly wealthy and powerful minority. The Republicon Party has abandoned their belief in representative democracy and local control. They believe only in wealth and power and the related heresies, that money is speech and corporations are people and should write our laws. If the Boston tea party happened today the Republicons would side with the East India Company.

When Robin Vos gerrymandered Wisconsin, he drew the 21^st Senate district just for Van Wanggaard, with the district line running right down the side of his block, thus choosing Wanggaard’s voters for him, instead of the other way around. Vanny must be a very special boy to deserve such treatment. Scott Walker used blitz gezetz by the surprise introduction of Act 10 on a Friday afternoon, when all eyes were turned toward the weekend, with the plan to ram it through the inconvenient formality of public hearings and get it passed the following Thursday, before the citizenry would have a chance to consider it and react.

But their attack on voting rights is an extra special betrayal of our Republic. Armed with laws written in secret, by global corporations at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Republicons all across the country, including those in the Badgered state have moved to advance their hidden agenda, because everything the Cons do has a hidden agenda, EVERYTHING! Their voter suppression agenda is based on a wild conspiracy theory about massive voter fraud, committed on a perennial basis by busloads of brown people. The mechanics of this conspiracy are so ridiculously improbable that you'd have to be completely divorced from critical thinking to swallow it. Just how foolish does one need to be? Let's examine. If one believes that:

Every election year brown people coordinate getting the forged documents needed to register at the polls and travel all over your state committing multiple counts of voter impersonation fraud for democrats and never get caught, infiltrated or have someone spill the beans, one might be foolish enough to vote in Republicons (FEVIR).

Fraudsters never run into poll workers who know they don't live at the addresses they’re attempting to use or who know the real voter in whose name they're attempting to vote, never try to vote under the name of someone who has already voted or that the real voter never shows up later to find that someone has already voted in their name, one might be FEVIRish.

Brown people who are transported to the polls in vans must not be legitimate voters. And people who traditionally vote at rates lower than the general population would be motivated to risk a felony conviction with no chance of direct personal gain to get a job for someone they don't know personally and with no way of knowing if their effort is even needed to win or if it will be enough to be successful, one might be FEVIRish.

The few people who vote while on probation or parole would be identified and stopped by voter ID, one might be FEVIRish.

DMVs across your state have convenient hours and locations with available public transportation and that getting to the DMV to get a photo ID is easily done by the working poor or elderly without a car, one might be FEVIRish.

Everyone lives like you do and has or needs a driver’s license or photo ID and one is so special that it might be one’s personal vote, out of millions, that might be cancelled and that justifies putting road blocks in front of over 300,000 of our fellow citizen’s right to cast their vote, one might be FEVIRish!

The Republicon Party wouldn't trumpet the news all over the media if in fact they were ever able to catch the supposed perpetrators and expose this massive scheme and the reason they have never offered a reward for the exposure of voter impersonation fraud conspiracies is because they just don't have the money, one might be FEVIRish.

Photo ID is about election integrity and not voter suppression, the Republicon Party leadership actually believes in freedom and the wild conspiracy theory that they're foisting on us, one is definitely FEVIRish.

Interfering with the right of citizens to legitimately cast their vote isn't just down right Un-American, one is in a complete stupor!