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This morning after reading Bruce Murphy’s piece on Walker’s budget, my mind turned to Red Riding Hood. At the beginning of our tale, Wisconsin was “broke” and Walker had to put the screws to the unions to fix things. That was his story and he was stickin’ to it. Now, due to a plan...
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Well that’s that, then. Wisconsin has another great political mystery to add to the pile. The mystery of who deleted all those redistricting files will get tossed in an Al Gore-brand lockbox along with the mystery of who left that box of ammo on the Capitol square in March of 2011 and exactly why...
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I’m listening to John Coltrane play one of my favorite songs while I write this as I attempt to bring down my blood pressure. (Not kidding.) Blogging about politics reeeeally isn’t good for me. Here’s what the “Governor Scott Walker” page said this morning: Look at that contradictory comment our governor got right away!...
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This happened today. I think this sort of thing needs to happen more. Milwaukee Burger King employee Tessie Harrell says she earned the state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour from 2008 through 2012, even after she was promoted to shift supervisor in 2011. Last year, she got a raise to $8.25 an hour....
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A fire 6 miles long by 1 mile wide has been traveling through Douglas County. A 20 mile long fire is also raging through Northern Minnesota in the Hubbard County / Park Rapids area. Right now all areas of Wisconsin are rated by the DNR as “high” or “very high” for fire danger. UPDATE:...
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A newly released Marquette Law School Poll looks at the following: 2016 presidential candidates Walker’s job as governor Voucher school expansion Budget items UW funding Background checks for gun sales I’m just about to step out the door and into my garden, so I’ll just pull out the guns part. “Following the U.S. Senate...
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The Republican National Committee’s State Director of Florida Hispanic Outreach says he’ll join the Democratic Party. He has had it with the Republican “culture of intolerance”. Pablo Pantoja’s resignation from the Republican Party is a huge setback for the RNC’s Reince Priebus. In mid-April Priebus pledged to kickstart a renewed effort to lure Hispanic...
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Well THAT escalated quickly. Jason Richwine has resigned from the Heritage Foundation. Here’s the low-down on Jason Richwine: He’s a white supremacist who made it into the hallowed hallows of Harvard and later those of the Heritage Foundation. He’s been working to discredit the Wisconsin Retirement System – quite the task since in reality...
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I’m just going to say it. This voucher school that Grant Meier and Bry Coleman are opening in Racine, Wisconsin is a racket. I’m dumbfounded that this got approved by DPI. Can all Wisconsin voucher schools operate like this? I read Root River Siren’s post “Cautionary Whale: 2 Guys In Racine Who Have Never...
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Core Values INTEGRITY. We will hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards. HONESTY. We will tell the truth without qualification. ACCOUNTABILITY. We will honor our commitments to ourselves, our partners, and our investors. RESULTS-FOCUS. We will add value in every action. CUSTOMER-CENTRIC. We will put the needs of the customer first. - from WEDC’s...
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So I learned that the Dalai Lama will be speaking to the Wisconsin legislature on May 14th. To be more accurate, he will speak to the Wisconsin _Assembly_. (Even worse.) The image that came to my mind was of Saint Francis of Assisi blessing the animals. Or even the priest coming out to my...
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And now for something completely different: Wow. Another fantastic Charles Ramsey interview. If you are completely out of the loop on who he is or what this is about, try this article.
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I found this ethereal 1 minute video on facebook with this note from the Overpass Light Brigade: “We recorded a timelapse video message for President Obama as he ponders his earth altering decision on Keystone XL tar sands pipeline construction. Help us deliver this message to him by sharing and Tweeting it out. Thanks...
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Today brings news of another sudden resignation at Scott Walker’s scandal-ridden jobs agency, WEDC. This is the 2nd abrupt retreat of a high level employee at WEDC in the last 2 weeks. After Madison’s WKOW.com 27 News revealed that the Public Information Officer for WEDC, John Gillespie, owes close to $45,000 in back taxes...
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Here’s a chunk I lifted directly from Nieman Journalism Lab’s Week in Review: More pushback against the Kochs: The news that the conservative billionaire Koch brothers are talking about buying the Tribune Co.’s newspapers (which include the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times*) came to the fore last week, and opposition to the move...
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*snicker* This comes from madison.com: “Drivers on Campus Drive at Highland Avenue got a surprise Monday morning when a road construction sign announced “Zombies Ahead.” A photo of the sign quickly made the rounds on Facebook and Twitter, with the UW-Madison police department jokingly reassuring its Twitter followers that the sign was a hoax.”
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I was perusing a paper edition of the New York Times Sunday and ran into a write-up on former Dixie Chick Natalie Maines. The piece is more about Maines’ music than her politics, but because her anti-Bush comment of 2003 was so defining, yes, reporter Jon Pareles did ask about that. She replied, “I...
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It’s been 43 years since twenty-eight Ohio National Guardsmen fired into a crowd of Vietnam war protesters at Kent State University and killed four students. Here’s a link to the chronology of events that led to that tragic moment. Here’s a “Medical Info Bulletin” distributed by Campus Crusade for Christ on the UW Madison...
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It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the shrill voice of Sarah Palin. I almost miss the lady moose-hunter. In her 12 minutes on the stage at the NRA convention this weekend she made gun control advocates sound like well-meaning “desperate” people manipulated by politicians who are controlling them with emotional appeals broadcast...
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Below is a screenshot from my facebook wall. Here’s a link to the Badger Herald editorial so you can read it yourself. What’s all this? There might be a few readers out there who don’t know what in the world the Mifflin Street Block Party is and are wondering what the controversy is. Full...
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“I assume Governor Walker does not know how predatory and just plain evil this chain is,” Grothman said. “I hope we can get Governor Walker to change his mind. I assume that if this chain comes in here,” referring to Plano, Texas’s Rent-A-Center franchise, “they will be bleeding millions of dollars every year from...
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Somebody got a little footage of Paul Ryan using the phrase “anchor babies” (good for you – whoever you are). What can you expect from the running mate of Mitt Romney? Romney called people “illegals” during his ENTIRE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. PAUL RYAN: “That’s what they call it, anchor babies. It’s a person who comes...
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Good news: The DOJ sent a letter to Wisconsin’s DPI ordering enforcement of Title II of the American Disabilities Act of 1990. This letter was prompted by a 2011 complaint from the ACLU, the ACLU of Wisconsin, and Disability Rights Wisconsin. From an ACLU statement: “Wisconsin has the oldest school voucher program in the...
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