I am too despondent to write this up correctly. The links are out of order. The second one is current. The IRS, that supposed gestapo that keeps 'wingers up nights, has finally issued a limp-wristed warning to these pissant pastors who use their pulpit to campaign for conservative fascists and against Christ's message of love.
The first is from the moonie times, and the headline says it all.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/27/churches-to-defy-irs-on-sermons/
Ohh, "defy"
http://www.kwtx.com/centraltexasvotes/home/headlines/IRS_Warns_Churches_About_Political_Activities_Tax-Exempt_Status_156394895.html?mobile=yes,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/us/for-bishops-a-battle-over-whose-rights-prevail.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=1607606
This is kid's stuff. The IRS under the Obama administration should have cracked down on these blatant and arrogant violations of the law. These pastors who treated their churches and congregations as extensions of the republican party should have been put in jail for fraud and their tax-exempt status revoked. FROM DAY ONE!
Why didn't they? Politeness. It is impolite to actually do something about the dirty tricks being used against civilization. Why did it take almost three and a half years to finally say ANYTHING ABOUT IT?
This could have cut the legs out from under the teabag movement. They would have had to sink or swim without "god's" favor. Truth be told, the 'winger movement can't sustain itself without breaking the law like this and abusing the pampered status of their mean-spirited and vicious religious houses.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Vote Tomorrow!
Even if some random stranger came to your house and told you that signing the petition counted as a vote, no you still need to vote if you want it to count. Early voters and absentees, you're okay :)
Dirty tricks by republican true believers with too much time on their hands aside, this page endorses Tom Barrett for governor. Not that it is much of a surprise, bloggers do not have to pretend to observe some objective, passive-voice, he said/she said standards. It is unfortunate that a cadre of amateur people with keyboards have to be the voice of ethics in the new age.
There is right and there is wrong. There is selfishness and there is responsibility. There is stupidity and ignorance. There are questions to ask and reflection on current events. There is good and there is evil. Finally, there are lies and there is the truth. Not a subjective, pluralist truth that can vary from person to person or group to group, but a universal truth that transcends petty differences. I wish I could articulate it properly and strip away all of the complications built up around it over the years. Perhaps it is as simple as the golden rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Or "love your neighbor as you love yourself." Confront injustice wherever it raises its ugly head to take from another for privilege or power.
In all of these cases, scott walker has been on the wrong side. His supporters have been blind to the harm he does and to the consequences of that harm. Walker has consistently shown that he has no qualities of a leader and merely does the bidding of other, truly evil men. Whenever it was a choice between truth and lies, walker chose the latter. Whenever it was a choice between responsibility and the common good versus power and privilege for the already powerful, he chose the latter as well.
The recognition that sociopathic demagogues would seek power through deceit in service to wealth and power is exactly the reason our Progressive forefathers championed recall as a method to prevent a demagogue from exercising dictatorial power once in office. Once an autocratic sociopath has control of the levers of power, he can manipulate the laws to whatever ends he sees fit for economic power. Make no mistake, regressive monsters like the koch brothers seek nothing less than the absolute power to control their workers, their customers, and prevent any choices by the public which could interfere. By contrast, responsible businessmen seek stability and a level playing field to operate. Recall is the option in a democracy to remove elected officials who game the system and make morally offensive laws in service to special interests. There always existed a way to remove officials guilty of criminal activity (by coincidence this may come to pass for walker and his cronies), that is called impeachment. Therefore, all the low-information commentators advocating that recall has no merit because there was no proven criminal wrongdoing have it backwards.
John Gurda recently wrote why this is so in the same paper making this fraudulent case against the recall. Likewise, Diane Ravitch argued why the damage walker has done to public education is grounds for his recall using the same logic of above. It was within the letter of the law to savage education and educators, but any reasonable person should find it morally reprehensible. Finally, Kay Nolan shows why the republican "war on women" is damaging to the public interest and also reprehensible to the idea of a republic and its governance as the "public's business." It is hard to argue with a straight face that this concentrated offensive on the rights of over half the population is "fighting the good fight against 'special' interests," though numerous manipulative demagogues have tried doing just that. Just as unions are the collective voice of a group and not entities unto themselves, women should not have to re-fight the battles of the past simply because a small number of bigots reject the notion that women should have equal rights to men.
It is unfortunate that every time the all-too-human Children of Light stumble, vicious Children of Darkness are there to capitalize. Walker got his start in a recall of the previous county executive of Milwaukee who made a bad move and paid for it. He snuck into the governor's mansion by capitalizing on the disillusionment of Democrats who felt let down by the all-too-human Barack Obama, with an assist from an astroturf movement that harnessed hate and resentment and rode it all the way to "dropping the bomb[s]" and dividing this state in vicious ideological war. There is nothing conservative about scott walker or his fellow teabaggers, this is radicalism pure and simple. Radicalism in service to society's economic masters. Tom Barrett is not perfect, nor can anyone expect him to be, but this is no reason to believe the lies and projections blaring from the television. Negativity in all forms benefits the Children of Darkness in outsized degree, and the polarization of Wisconsinites will persist for a long time but Barrett is the right man to ease back the divide and get us back on track.
Dirty tricks by republican true believers with too much time on their hands aside, this page endorses Tom Barrett for governor. Not that it is much of a surprise, bloggers do not have to pretend to observe some objective, passive-voice, he said/she said standards. It is unfortunate that a cadre of amateur people with keyboards have to be the voice of ethics in the new age.
There is right and there is wrong. There is selfishness and there is responsibility. There is stupidity and ignorance. There are questions to ask and reflection on current events. There is good and there is evil. Finally, there are lies and there is the truth. Not a subjective, pluralist truth that can vary from person to person or group to group, but a universal truth that transcends petty differences. I wish I could articulate it properly and strip away all of the complications built up around it over the years. Perhaps it is as simple as the golden rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Or "love your neighbor as you love yourself." Confront injustice wherever it raises its ugly head to take from another for privilege or power.
In all of these cases, scott walker has been on the wrong side. His supporters have been blind to the harm he does and to the consequences of that harm. Walker has consistently shown that he has no qualities of a leader and merely does the bidding of other, truly evil men. Whenever it was a choice between truth and lies, walker chose the latter. Whenever it was a choice between responsibility and the common good versus power and privilege for the already powerful, he chose the latter as well.
The recognition that sociopathic demagogues would seek power through deceit in service to wealth and power is exactly the reason our Progressive forefathers championed recall as a method to prevent a demagogue from exercising dictatorial power once in office. Once an autocratic sociopath has control of the levers of power, he can manipulate the laws to whatever ends he sees fit for economic power. Make no mistake, regressive monsters like the koch brothers seek nothing less than the absolute power to control their workers, their customers, and prevent any choices by the public which could interfere. By contrast, responsible businessmen seek stability and a level playing field to operate. Recall is the option in a democracy to remove elected officials who game the system and make morally offensive laws in service to special interests. There always existed a way to remove officials guilty of criminal activity (by coincidence this may come to pass for walker and his cronies), that is called impeachment. Therefore, all the low-information commentators advocating that recall has no merit because there was no proven criminal wrongdoing have it backwards.
John Gurda recently wrote why this is so in the same paper making this fraudulent case against the recall. Likewise, Diane Ravitch argued why the damage walker has done to public education is grounds for his recall using the same logic of above. It was within the letter of the law to savage education and educators, but any reasonable person should find it morally reprehensible. Finally, Kay Nolan shows why the republican "war on women" is damaging to the public interest and also reprehensible to the idea of a republic and its governance as the "public's business." It is hard to argue with a straight face that this concentrated offensive on the rights of over half the population is "fighting the good fight against 'special' interests," though numerous manipulative demagogues have tried doing just that. Just as unions are the collective voice of a group and not entities unto themselves, women should not have to re-fight the battles of the past simply because a small number of bigots reject the notion that women should have equal rights to men.
It is unfortunate that every time the all-too-human Children of Light stumble, vicious Children of Darkness are there to capitalize. Walker got his start in a recall of the previous county executive of Milwaukee who made a bad move and paid for it. He snuck into the governor's mansion by capitalizing on the disillusionment of Democrats who felt let down by the all-too-human Barack Obama, with an assist from an astroturf movement that harnessed hate and resentment and rode it all the way to "dropping the bomb[s]" and dividing this state in vicious ideological war. There is nothing conservative about scott walker or his fellow teabaggers, this is radicalism pure and simple. Radicalism in service to society's economic masters. Tom Barrett is not perfect, nor can anyone expect him to be, but this is no reason to believe the lies and projections blaring from the television. Negativity in all forms benefits the Children of Darkness in outsized degree, and the polarization of Wisconsinites will persist for a long time but Barrett is the right man to ease back the divide and get us back on track.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Budget status
From Badger Democracy:
"In January 2011, before Scott Walker took office, the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) sent their annual letter to Joint Finance Chairs Alberta Darling and Robin Vos (2011_01_31Vos&Darling LFB Memo ). When Walker took office, the LFB forecast a $56.3 million SURPLUS – after accounting for the $65 million statutory “minimum balance.” That’s correct – Wisconsin was poised for a surplus on the day Scott Walker took office."
"In January 2011, before Scott Walker took office, the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) sent their annual letter to Joint Finance Chairs Alberta Darling and Robin Vos (2011_01_31Vos&Darling LFB Memo ). When Walker took office, the LFB forecast a $56.3 million SURPLUS – after accounting for the $65 million statutory “minimum balance.” That’s correct – Wisconsin was poised for a surplus on the day Scott Walker took office."
"Simply stated – Scott Walker pushed off paying state debt in the amount of over $500 million to 2030. The interest paid will total over $156 million. This is all debt that should have been by the end of 2011-2012. It is critical to understand that the deficit Scott Walker created in 2011, and decrease in revenue collections from his fiscal policies are the very reason this debt is being pushed off over two decades – placing a higher burden on future generations. In a memo to Vinehout dated May 18, 2012, non-partisan State Fiscal Analyst Al Runde details the impact:
'Under each debt restructuring
transaction, the principal on the state’s existing GPR supported general obligation and commercial
paper debt would have been paid off from the general fund through sum sufficient debt service
appropriations, but is instead paid off with the proceeds from the issuance of additional debt. As a
result, that principal will now remain outstanding for a longer period of time and thus an estimated
$156.2 million in additional interest costs could be incurred by the state.'
The debt principal would have been paid off from the general fund – but is now being paid off by issuing further debt. An additional $156.2 million in interest will be paid by the state. To use an apt metaphor, Scott Walker placed the existing debt, which should have been paid this year, on a giant credit card – to be paid long after he is out of office."
'Under each debt restructuring
transaction, the principal on the state’s existing GPR supported general obligation and commercial
paper debt would have been paid off from the general fund through sum sufficient debt service
appropriations, but is instead paid off with the proceeds from the issuance of additional debt. As a
result, that principal will now remain outstanding for a longer period of time and thus an estimated
$156.2 million in additional interest costs could be incurred by the state.'
The debt principal would have been paid off from the general fund – but is now being paid off by issuing further debt. An additional $156.2 million in interest will be paid by the state. To use an apt metaphor, Scott Walker placed the existing debt, which should have been paid this year, on a giant credit card – to be paid long after he is out of office."
Thursday, May 31, 2012
WI Recall: Five days out
Tonight brings us part two of the gubernatorial recall debate, I will go out on a limb and predict that Barrett will win handily. There is a reasonable chance in my mind that [i'm with stupid] won't even show up. But if he does he will be coordinating his next out-of-state fundraiser on his blackberry. I will go even further out on a limb and say it won't make the slightest difference to the election results. The battle lines are drawn pretty solidly at this point. There are two issues to address today.
The first issue is this sign rental business. Giles at Daily Kos puts the top rental fee at $125, meaning the nonpolitical couple from the other day got ripped off. Well, price you pay for not paying attention. After getting Giles' take, I looked for these bloated signs and where they were placed. Though my observations were not even close to scientific, the stand with [i'm with stupid] signs were placed rather oddly in most cases. Behind electical equipment, at the bottom of hills, behind trees. Combine this with the signs on farmer's land being far from the houses, and the sneaky allegation becomes awfully plausible. The champions of private property ought to be ashamed, but we know shame is just not a viable option in the pursuit of power by cheesehead fascists.
Speaking of private property, what is going on with the deer hunting issue? Ignoring the obvious is second nature for 'wingers, but has [i'm with stupid] and his texas "deer czar" started to walk back their desire to sell off public land and charge hunters a huge fee? The first person to run up the warning flag on this one was right on the money that deer season is a sacred time for many Wisconsinites. There have to be some hunters out there who aren't interested in this scheme, even some non-Democrats. The right must understand at some level that the kind of people who hold hunting as an almost religious principle are not going to be pleased. Tradition might even trump ideological zealotry. See here for more information. Kos has an even more in-depth analysis here, gosh I hope this is the cheesehead fuhrer's bridge too far.
Yes, this story needs to be spread to everyone that hunts. Even if [i'm with stupid] is recalled and does not pull it off, the next asshole will try it. Obviously, selling off public land and privatizing deer hunting is not like crushing the right to organize. First, the 'winger assholes have not spent over a century laying the groundwork for an American "Enclosure movement" in the same way they have demonized unions. So any initiative to give our would-be aristocracy their own private hunting preserve would by neccessity need to be done silently and with deniability. Second, this would be irreversible. Not like many other 'winger schemes that good people in office can just reverse or repeal the crappy laws. No, once the public lands are gone, that's it. It would probably take a revolution to get them back for the people. Do you want that? I know I sure don't. I can only hope Wisconsin hunters will start to question who's side their nra leaders are really on when they jump on this. Certainly not the rights of sportsmen.
These two issues are utterly loathsome. But instead of just being outraged, we should take some heart in them. First, when you drive through the countryside there is some comfort in knowing that most of the people out there were paid for putting up those ridiculous signs. Second, this may be the only case in the history of "trickle down" economics where some of the filthy lucre actually made it down to the people. So putting some disposable income into the hands of people almost guarrenteed to spend it will help, inadvertantly making [i'm with stupid] and his plutocratic donors closet Keynesians. And deer privatization, if there was ever an issue served up on a silver platter, this is it. If we can't pull this off with one of our most sacred traditions on the line, not only are we finished as a party, but the state of Wisconsin will have proved to be irredeemable.
The first issue is this sign rental business. Giles at Daily Kos puts the top rental fee at $125, meaning the nonpolitical couple from the other day got ripped off. Well, price you pay for not paying attention. After getting Giles' take, I looked for these bloated signs and where they were placed. Though my observations were not even close to scientific, the stand with [i'm with stupid] signs were placed rather oddly in most cases. Behind electical equipment, at the bottom of hills, behind trees. Combine this with the signs on farmer's land being far from the houses, and the sneaky allegation becomes awfully plausible. The champions of private property ought to be ashamed, but we know shame is just not a viable option in the pursuit of power by cheesehead fascists.
Speaking of private property, what is going on with the deer hunting issue? Ignoring the obvious is second nature for 'wingers, but has [i'm with stupid] and his texas "deer czar" started to walk back their desire to sell off public land and charge hunters a huge fee? The first person to run up the warning flag on this one was right on the money that deer season is a sacred time for many Wisconsinites. There have to be some hunters out there who aren't interested in this scheme, even some non-Democrats. The right must understand at some level that the kind of people who hold hunting as an almost religious principle are not going to be pleased. Tradition might even trump ideological zealotry. See here for more information. Kos has an even more in-depth analysis here, gosh I hope this is the cheesehead fuhrer's bridge too far.
Yes, this story needs to be spread to everyone that hunts. Even if [i'm with stupid] is recalled and does not pull it off, the next asshole will try it. Obviously, selling off public land and privatizing deer hunting is not like crushing the right to organize. First, the 'winger assholes have not spent over a century laying the groundwork for an American "Enclosure movement" in the same way they have demonized unions. So any initiative to give our would-be aristocracy their own private hunting preserve would by neccessity need to be done silently and with deniability. Second, this would be irreversible. Not like many other 'winger schemes that good people in office can just reverse or repeal the crappy laws. No, once the public lands are gone, that's it. It would probably take a revolution to get them back for the people. Do you want that? I know I sure don't. I can only hope Wisconsin hunters will start to question who's side their nra leaders are really on when they jump on this. Certainly not the rights of sportsmen.
These two issues are utterly loathsome. But instead of just being outraged, we should take some heart in them. First, when you drive through the countryside there is some comfort in knowing that most of the people out there were paid for putting up those ridiculous signs. Second, this may be the only case in the history of "trickle down" economics where some of the filthy lucre actually made it down to the people. So putting some disposable income into the hands of people almost guarrenteed to spend it will help, inadvertantly making [i'm with stupid] and his plutocratic donors closet Keynesians. And deer privatization, if there was ever an issue served up on a silver platter, this is it. If we can't pull this off with one of our most sacred traditions on the line, not only are we finished as a party, but the state of Wisconsin will have proved to be irredeemable.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The unified theory of money in politics
Where to even begin? The only unified piece of the puzzle seems to be putting the money into the right pockets. If Thorstein Veblen is right, money is just a method of keeping score for the leisure class, then separating fools from their money and concentrating it into the right bonuses and contracts really is the unified theory. "The people" in this theory, are only sheep to be shorn of any disposable income that can be extracted. Fear and playing to the particular self-righteousness of conservative sheep will always ensure that the faithful dutifully vote for their betters. Therefore, money in politics is simply business by other means. Or more applicably, speculative and extractive capitalism with the side effect of power.
So it was really no surprise to see an article in Motherjones point out both the speculative and extractive sides of the game playing out in the teaparty patriots. To really understand how this game is played we need to examine how the donations of true believers were repatriated to their rightful owners and how the leaders, who started as volunteers, got a taste for the lucre themselves.
"To underscore the group's clout [role in successfully primarying Richard Lugar in Indiana] (and push back against chatter about the movement's slow demise), TPP cofounder Jenny Beth Martin revealed to an interviewer that her organization's most recent IRS filing shows that TPP had raised more than $12 million. This impressive figure wasn't exactly proof of TPP's role in dispatching Lugar, but Martin's disclosure did raise a question: Where did all that money go?" [emphasis mine]
Examining an astro-turf organization of the latest psuedo-populist conservative uprising (that just happens to exactly mirror the unsavory values of wall street and big business) seems an appropriate first step. It is apparent from the fundraising techniques that the bulk of donations are coming from regular people, well regular as in people of limited means. An entire industry has sprung up to support special interest pressure groups such as the teabag patriots.
This industry of direct-mailers, telemarketers, event organizers, and so on is at least partially analysed and reviewed in The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation
by Thomas Frank. The short history revolves around one Richard Viguerie who pioneered direct mail in the 1970s, at a time when American domination of the world was in doubt and many people were scared for decline. Viguerie started mailing scare letters to registered republicans detailing all the ways America was slipping, blamed it all on Democrats and liberals in Washington, and included a form to mail in a donation to help defeat all of these bad people. Frank laments that no one made a comprehensive collection of these paranoid documents because they would make an interesting history of this period in conservative America.
What all the hubbub was about, of course, was separating fools from their money by keeping them scared out of their wits. Direct mail proved to be a money-making machine and Frank even points out how similar the industry was and is to drug pushing. Mailing firms even provided an advance to startup pressure groups to get them going on fundraising, when the firm often charged more for the service than it actually raised, the group ended up in debt and had to continuously keep upping the fear ante to desperately try to break even. Telemarketing operated similarly. The fundraising firms justify their practices by equating the operation to what business and the political arm of business understands very well: Advertising. Creating a brand for whatever evil scheme the pressure group was selling. True believers operate therefore on a level of doublethink, believing their cause is so worthy that any measures to further it are justified and at the same time understanding the cynical nature of conservative entreprenuership. Most conservative activists hope to move up a rung in the scam machine once they have paid their dues doing grunt work.
TPP cofounder Jenny Beth Martin just skipped that promotion and cashed in at the very firm she helped start, swiping six figures in salary where she used to be a "volunteer." Top con artists extracted $758,000 for work they formerly did for free, along with $587,000 for travel expenses. All while brazenly ladling out millions to fundraising firms, lawyers, and others with their hands out. TPP is listed as a charity for tax purposes, certainly it is charitably giving to the "right" people. Only about a quarter of that dough went to training new agitators to demonstrate on behalf of wall street greed. I guess that is a good thing?
It is fitting that the IRS lumps fundraising and gaming together isn't it?
Stupid? Corrupt? Does it even matter? Just another day of stealing the kiddies lollipops.
All of these shady activities are, at their core, what conservative manipulators do to their own supporters. Before even beginning the analysis of what they do to the rest of us, I would recommend brushing up on Jim Hightower's Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country and It's Time to Take It Back
. Or these two titles, they are a bit out of date but are still extremely relevent to the continuing con of American conservative business politics.
Gloominess on parade.
So it was really no surprise to see an article in Motherjones point out both the speculative and extractive sides of the game playing out in the teaparty patriots. To really understand how this game is played we need to examine how the donations of true believers were repatriated to their rightful owners and how the leaders, who started as volunteers, got a taste for the lucre themselves.
"To underscore the group's clout [role in successfully primarying Richard Lugar in Indiana] (and push back against chatter about the movement's slow demise), TPP cofounder Jenny Beth Martin revealed to an interviewer that her organization's most recent IRS filing shows that TPP had raised more than $12 million. This impressive figure wasn't exactly proof of TPP's role in dispatching Lugar, but Martin's disclosure did raise a question: Where did all that money go?" [emphasis mine]
Examining an astro-turf organization of the latest psuedo-populist conservative uprising (that just happens to exactly mirror the unsavory values of wall street and big business) seems an appropriate first step. It is apparent from the fundraising techniques that the bulk of donations are coming from regular people, well regular as in people of limited means. An entire industry has sprung up to support special interest pressure groups such as the teabag patriots.
This industry of direct-mailers, telemarketers, event organizers, and so on is at least partially analysed and reviewed in The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation
by Thomas Frank. The short history revolves around one Richard Viguerie who pioneered direct mail in the 1970s, at a time when American domination of the world was in doubt and many people were scared for decline. Viguerie started mailing scare letters to registered republicans detailing all the ways America was slipping, blamed it all on Democrats and liberals in Washington, and included a form to mail in a donation to help defeat all of these bad people. Frank laments that no one made a comprehensive collection of these paranoid documents because they would make an interesting history of this period in conservative America. What all the hubbub was about, of course, was separating fools from their money by keeping them scared out of their wits. Direct mail proved to be a money-making machine and Frank even points out how similar the industry was and is to drug pushing. Mailing firms even provided an advance to startup pressure groups to get them going on fundraising, when the firm often charged more for the service than it actually raised, the group ended up in debt and had to continuously keep upping the fear ante to desperately try to break even. Telemarketing operated similarly. The fundraising firms justify their practices by equating the operation to what business and the political arm of business understands very well: Advertising. Creating a brand for whatever evil scheme the pressure group was selling. True believers operate therefore on a level of doublethink, believing their cause is so worthy that any measures to further it are justified and at the same time understanding the cynical nature of conservative entreprenuership. Most conservative activists hope to move up a rung in the scam machine once they have paid their dues doing grunt work.
TPP cofounder Jenny Beth Martin just skipped that promotion and cashed in at the very firm she helped start, swiping six figures in salary where she used to be a "volunteer." Top con artists extracted $758,000 for work they formerly did for free, along with $587,000 for travel expenses. All while brazenly ladling out millions to fundraising firms, lawyers, and others with their hands out. TPP is listed as a charity for tax purposes, certainly it is charitably giving to the "right" people. Only about a quarter of that dough went to training new agitators to demonstrate on behalf of wall street greed. I guess that is a good thing?
It is fitting that the IRS lumps fundraising and gaming together isn't it?Stupid? Corrupt? Does it even matter? Just another day of stealing the kiddies lollipops.
All of these shady activities are, at their core, what conservative manipulators do to their own supporters. Before even beginning the analysis of what they do to the rest of us, I would recommend brushing up on Jim Hightower's Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country and It's Time to Take It Back
. Or these two titles, they are a bit out of date but are still extremely relevent to the continuing con of American conservative business politics.
Gloominess on parade.
Seven Days out
Only a week to go before the big showdown, here is one of those things that make you go "hmm."
Beaver Dam Daily Citizen, Letter to the Editor, May 26,2012
Calling for polling an interesting task
I have been polling the people of southeast Wisconsin by phone for the past eight weeks regarding the effort to recall Walker, Kleefisch and Fitzgerald.
This is a very interesting and rewarding task. I talk to so many wonderful people. I also get to hear from a few of Wisconsin’s nastiest people, who will cuss, scream and yell and hang up on me.
During these calls I have learned of so many interesting election experiences that I could probably write a book about them. Here is one, in particular, that I feel must be shared with “we the people” of Wisconsin.
A woman I spoke with in Oconomowoc told me she knows a couple that lives in a beautiful house on the corner of a well-traveled street. This couple has never been particularly interested in politics, and the woman I spoke with said she didn’t even know if they were regular voters.
Well, one day this woman drove by their house and, to her great surprise, saw an enormous “stand with Walker” sign in their yard. Later in the day she ran into the homeowner and commented on the sign by saying she was surprised to see they were supporting Scott Walker.
The homeowner replied, “we don’t support Scott Walker.” The homeowner said that somebody came to their door and asked to “rent” a spot in their yard for the sign and gave them $100.
After hearing this I’m guessing that many of the big Walker and Fitzgerald signs we see are not really grassroots support, but simply a paid-for billboard. That seems sneaky to me.
Susan H. Finnel, Watertown
Link to newspaper: http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/news/opinion/article_f13eef7e-a623-11e1-8653-001a4bcf887a.html
Sure, this is simply one anecdotal letter to the editor. But republicans have absolutely no problem using [manufactured] anecdotal evidence to smear Democrats. That story about someone passing out cigarettes at homeless shelters to encourage people to vote for John Kerry never seems to die, so why not throw one back in their faces?
Of course, a tactic like this would never work if neighbors were more... neighborly. The atomization of society is absolutely essential for [i'm with stupid]'s "divide and conquer" strategy. If we actually talked to each other more and found out the truth behind the facade, "renting" a spot on people's lawns would kind of backfire by revealing the dirty, underhanded nature of the cheesehead fascists.
Still, it is a little comforting to hear that maybe, just maybe, the money machine is spreading a tiny bit of their filthy lucre around. Times are tough and $100 could put groceries in the kitchen for a week if you are careful.
Beaver Dam Daily Citizen, Letter to the Editor, May 26,2012
Calling for polling an interesting task
I have been polling the people of southeast Wisconsin by phone for the past eight weeks regarding the effort to recall Walker, Kleefisch and Fitzgerald.
This is a very interesting and rewarding task. I talk to so many wonderful people. I also get to hear from a few of Wisconsin’s nastiest people, who will cuss, scream and yell and hang up on me.
During these calls I have learned of so many interesting election experiences that I could probably write a book about them. Here is one, in particular, that I feel must be shared with “we the people” of Wisconsin.
A woman I spoke with in Oconomowoc told me she knows a couple that lives in a beautiful house on the corner of a well-traveled street. This couple has never been particularly interested in politics, and the woman I spoke with said she didn’t even know if they were regular voters.
Well, one day this woman drove by their house and, to her great surprise, saw an enormous “stand with Walker” sign in their yard. Later in the day she ran into the homeowner and commented on the sign by saying she was surprised to see they were supporting Scott Walker.
The homeowner replied, “we don’t support Scott Walker.” The homeowner said that somebody came to their door and asked to “rent” a spot in their yard for the sign and gave them $100.
After hearing this I’m guessing that many of the big Walker and Fitzgerald signs we see are not really grassroots support, but simply a paid-for billboard. That seems sneaky to me.
Susan H. Finnel, Watertown
Link to newspaper: http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/news/opinion/article_f13eef7e-a623-11e1-8653-001a4bcf887a.html
Sure, this is simply one anecdotal letter to the editor. But republicans have absolutely no problem using [manufactured] anecdotal evidence to smear Democrats. That story about someone passing out cigarettes at homeless shelters to encourage people to vote for John Kerry never seems to die, so why not throw one back in their faces?
Of course, a tactic like this would never work if neighbors were more... neighborly. The atomization of society is absolutely essential for [i'm with stupid]'s "divide and conquer" strategy. If we actually talked to each other more and found out the truth behind the facade, "renting" a spot on people's lawns would kind of backfire by revealing the dirty, underhanded nature of the cheesehead fascists.
Still, it is a little comforting to hear that maybe, just maybe, the money machine is spreading a tiny bit of their filthy lucre around. Times are tough and $100 could put groceries in the kitchen for a week if you are careful.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Barrett Triumphant in Gubernatorial Debate
How can you tell [i'm with stupid] is lying? You already know the answer.
It does not matter what [i'm with stupid] says, from the anecdotal (and possibly hypothetical) conversations with supposed Democrats kissing the dear leader's feet, to the mostly false miraculous jobs and deficit turnaround, the cheesehead fascists want to believe.
He looked like such an ass, up there lying his head off with that lazy-eyed smirk permanently etched onto his face. Did this debate make any difference to the estimated 4% of voters who will probably vote but are so low-information or lacking in conviction to make up their mind? Hopefully some of them will realize the contradiction between [i'm with stupid]'s assertions and their daily experience. I am not holding my breath though.
Kind of like this. Someone definitely put alcohol in his blood surrogate.
For his part, Mayor Barrett said all the right things. Barrett turned all of [i'm with stupid]'s rock star hits, like "divide and conquer" and "drop the bomb" against him. Of course, Democratic and non-fascist voters already detested these phrases and knew exactly what they meant. Barrett also correctly characterized the governor's actions as "provoking an ideological civil war." He could have also mentioned all the documented cases of intimidation by [i'm with stupid]'s supporters. This most likely would have backfired though, as direct action against the "special interests" of working people are held as the height of courage by RWAFs. Especially stealing campaign yard signs in the middle of the night.
Which one wishes he was sucking koch right now?
Mayor Barrett did his best to engage the bizzarro world constructed by the cheesehead fascists and their dear leader and challenge [i'm with stupid]'s insane assertions. It is just more evidence that these freaks live in a completely different world from the rest of us that [i'm with stupid] can still get away with claiming that "Democrat[ic] leaders in Washington" and "Big Labor Bosses" encouraged the grassroots uprising in Madison. His widely-publicized trips to do the dancing monkey routine for billionaires and huge percentage of out-of-state corporate and 1% money are just compartmentalized away by the true believers. So, Mayor Barrett was trying to debate, while [i'm with stupid] was an automaton, spouting canned answers and expending no effort on actually engaging in debate. It was pretty sickening.
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