Summing It Up

From Dana Milbank, writing in WaPo:

Under Walker's tribal political theory, governing is a never-ending cycle of
revenge killings.

Power Plant Sales Look Like A Done Deal From Here

Even though no one knew until a week ago last Friday that Wisconsin might be considering selling any power plants. And, even though there has been no approval to sell power plants by the Legislature and no offer to sell power plants by the state, it certainly looks as if someone believes they'll soon be buying themselves some power plants.

Posted today, Wednesday, on Thinkenergygroup.com, a job posting site for engineers,

Energy client is looking for experienced Plant Managers for multiple power
plants located in Wisconsin.

Not just looking for a power plant manager, mind you, but for multiple managers for multiple sites in Wisconsin. And after the normal expectations for experience and proficiency comes this telling requirement.

Strong Labor relations experience is a big PLUS (emphasis in the original)

Well, given the climate change in Wisconsin over the last ten days, that's probably an understatement.

Shouldn't somebody look into where these jobs will be opening up and see if some big energy company got an inside line on these no-bid sales that Governor Walker is pushing so very hard?

Maybe

Maybe if M&I Bank had contributed less to Scooter's campaign they wouldn't be trashing 143 jobs.

Just add them to the list of jobs lost under Walker's "Laser-like Focus."

What's Going On With You?

Some news for you.

The AFL-CIO has put up an online petition protesting the usurption of power and the violation of our workers' rights and our civil rights. By the way, the petition is insanely easy to sign.

State Senator John Erpenbach Listening Session
Middleton High School
2100 Bristol St, Middleton in the Courtyard Commons.
Sunday Feb 13 4-6 PM

“Governor Walker wants to introduce this proposal today and pass it tomorrow. The people of this state deserve better. Governor Walker should be bringing people together rather than tearing this state apart. I am hopeful we
will be able to make changes to the bill to at least remove the non-fiscal
items.” Senator Erpenbach will hold a listening session this Sunday at Middleton
High School at 4pm

Rally to Save Unions in Wisconsin
204 West Lake Street Horicon WI
Sunday, February 13 · 12:00pm - 3:00pm

Monday, February 14 · 10:30am - 1:30pm
Rally for Worker Rights - Deliver Valentines To Walker
Spaights Plaza on the UWM campus
Created By Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association

The rally will address Walker's threats to all UW and state
employees,and will be our first response to his reckless campaign to
trampleworker rights and the Wisconsin economy.

It is historically worth noting that many of the rights Walker wants
torestrict, roll back, or eliminate, including collective bargaining rightsand
union dues deduction, were precisely the rights that Memphis'municipal waste
collectors were striking for in 1968 when Dr. Kingjoined them. It was in that
struggle for worker rights that Dr. King was assassinated.

Please join MGAA, AFSCME, and our student allies at the rally on
Monday.We will begin with a rally in Spaights Plaza to exercise our First
Amendment Rights about all of the devastating news from Governor Walker today.
Then we'll show Gov. Walker just how much he's broken our hearts by hand
delivering valentines.

For more information, or to RSVP for the bus ride to deliver the
valentines, contact Paul Sickel, MGAA staff member, at pfsickel@gmail.com.

WSEU Statement re Tuesday and Wednesday Lobbying Days in Madison

The world of state employees and their rights as workers comes to an end
under Scott Walker’s budget repair bill. His proposal, for the most part,
creates no savings, but is full of political paybacks, anti-worker provisions,
and a general disdain for public workers’ rights. If this bill passed as
proposed, it will turn all of our worlds upside down. Something as simple
as the grievance procedure will be replaced with the civil service procedure,
which establishes the agency head as the final decision maker on your
grievances. Everything will be in the hands of and controlled by the
employer, without employee
recourse.

There are other rights and protections aside from the grievance procedure that
are nullified in Walker’s proposal. To make things even worse we were
officially notified that effective 3/13/2011 the contract extension will be
cancelled. This means that all of us will have no contract
protections. All local agreements and memoranda of understanding are
unilaterally cancelled. Everything affecting your daily work life is in
jeopardy.

We, along with WEAC, AFT, AFL-CIO and other unions are doing everything possible
to avert this disaster. We are meeting with legislators and we would
strongly encourage all of you and your members to reach out to their State
Senators. The message is clear: “Why are you taking away my
rights?”

We will be up on T.V., both commercial and cable, starting Monday, as well as
radio.
On Tuesday, 2/15 and Wednesday, 2/16 we will be having lobby
days at the Capitol. Watch this website for specific pick up
locations. Buses will run from every corner of the state on both days,
arriving in Madison for a briefing at approximately 10:00 a.m., followed
by a rally at the Capitol at noon. The afternoon will be spent visiting
legislators. This rally should be the biggest we have ever
held. We have multiple unions, community groups and citizens joining
us. We would encourage you and your members to extend invitations to our
allies and ride the busses with us. There is no
charge.
We
know that Walker is trying to bait us by mobilizing the National Guard, hiring
an Ohio security firm to staff any facility and instructing the capitol police
to meet with legislators and “advise” them not to meet with constituents in
their districts.
This budget repair bill is an all out
assault on you, your families, your careers, your rights and your union.
Walker keeps talking about the “good and decent people who work for the State of
Wisconsin”, but his actions speak a different message of divisiveness, cronyism
and servitude.

AFSCME Bus schedule to Madison

WSEU-SEPAC Info Page

WEAC Bus schedule to Madison

SEIU Bus schedule to Madison

AFT Bus schedule to Madison

There will also be vigils each afternoon on the Capitol Square from 3-7 pm each afternoon/evening, with speakers towards the end of the vigils. In addition you should take the advice of my friend Chris.

Finally, you can call 877-753-5578
and get connected with your legislator. Or you can find their numbers
here. Call them and ask them, politely, to stop the insane attack on working families, using the facts that I laid out a little earlier.

However you do it, make sure your voice is heard along with the rest of
ours.

First and foremost, make sure you get out to vote on Tuesday before you head for Madison. Given Justice Prosser's confession that he will serve as a complement to Walker's power grab it is more important than ever that you look at the candidates running against him and make what is a clear choice to repudiate the activist judiciary that Prosser and Gablman represent.

If It Wasn't Such A Tragedy For So Many In Wisconsin...

...it would be funny to see all the news outlets that endorsed Walker realizing the enormity of their mistake.

The State Journal this morning says Fitzgerald hiring doesn't "pass the smell test." They'll want to get used to that with Walker.

Really Quick. Really Judgemental

Kid Darth Vader for Jetta- Far and away the best of a pitiful litter

Black Betty for Beetle- Maybe my fave but for narrow enough reasons

Doritos- The Cheese Guy was just creepy and I don't remember the rest. Where the Hell is Ali Landry when the nation needs her?

Feuding Couple for Pepsi Max- I loved it when it was a State farm commercial. I'm almost over this version already

First Date for Pepsi Max- This is what Two and a Half Men will look like without Charlie Sheen

First Date for Chevy Cruze (sic) - Just for a moment I knew what Papa Hemingway was thinking at the end.

Budweiser Wild West- Never has so much been made of so little. How did no one stand to say that Coke did all this with the Grand Theft Auto ad years ago.

Motorola Xoom (what does that even mean?) - They even went so far as to put 1984 on the reading pane just to let us know that they knew we'd know they were ripping off the most famous SuperBowl ad of all time in the service of a device that will be obsolete by Saint Swithin's Day.

Careerbuilder.com- Yeah. It's monkeys. We get it. Move on.

Godaddy.com- Yeah. Web content is unrated. We get it. Move on.

Joan Rivers for godaddy- Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.

Richard Lewis for Snickers- We knew where it was going but it was still cute enough. I have Roseanne getting logged running on a continuous loop on a spare TV right now.

Carmax or carfax or carsoup or carmex or whatever that was with the mattress showroom and stuff - Not as creative as the Bridgestone Beaver ad but infinitely superior to the talking cars drek you committed.

Reply To All for Bridgestone- You should have rerun the one with the whale. Oh, wait. Chevy Pickups did the one with the whale this year. And it was a bigger whale.

There were more. None was exceptional. Most were ordinary. Some were execrable.

Things That Make Me Go, "Huh?" #2

When you read this story many questions should come to mind.

AOL buying Huffington Post for $315M

1. AOL is still in business?
2. HuffPo is a "news organization"? Seriously?
3. Seriously?
4. $315 million? Isn't that latte money for Ariana?
5. News? No kiddin' now? Seriously?
6. Is this some kind of weird "get even" move after the WisPolitics thing?
7. Okay, I've heard of Mapquest but Endgadget and TechCrunch? Are those breakfast cereals?
8. Did this have anything to do with that cheap champagne Jerry Jones was pouring?

Separation Of Powers Follies

Rick Santorum stopped by at a Myrtle Beach Tea Party event yesterday in
South Carolina, and assured the group that he "would sign a bill tomorrow to
eliminate the 9th Circuit [Court of Appeals].

from TPM

It's Hard To Be A Wingnut #8

AG van Goodhair spends the morning crowing about some sort of a minor victory in a far-off circuit court stating that governments can't take money from taxpayers and force them to buy insurance with it. Some sort of natter about John Hancock and Liberty; the founders, not the insurance companies.

And then, Governor Pipsqueak announces that he'll try to circumvent contracts bargained in good faith to take 17% out of state worker's pockets to...wait for it...to give to insurance companies.

In summary, it's a violation of original intent to force people to pay for insurance unless the wingnutters want to.

Next time on It's Hard To Be a Wingnut we'll look at privatizing Medicare. You know. Forcing people to buy insurance.

Well, I Suppose You Have To Believe Him

I mean, he would know. Right? Steve King was talking about McConnell and Boehner yesterday when he said,

...[T]he leader and the speaker have established their integrity and their
mendacity for years in this Congress and I don't believe it can be effectively
challenged...

I suppose we have to take him at his word about McConnell's mendacity going forward.

We've Establsihed That. Now We're Negotiating A Fair Price

Owen takes exception to Marty Beil's characterization of Russ Decker's vote to knife the state employee unions.

Looking at it more closely, Russ took the money, and he did the screwing. I'd say that fits Beil's definition. Owen's beef is that the GOP calls that the Full Legislator Experience.

The Budget Is Not The Kobayashi Maru

And you are not James Tiberius Kirk.

Michelle Bachmann wants to redefine "deficit" so that the Bush tax cuts don't count. Apparently wishing will make it so.

If you'll recall she also wants, "earmark," redefined to not include transportation projects in MN6.

Reince Preibus' Worst Nightmare Scheduled For Tuesday

Norm Coleman may enter RNC race.

You remember Norm. Sen. Norm Coleman Rents Cheap Crash Pad From Political Pal

Why Won't Michael Steele Turn Around?

He's afraid Priebus might stab him in the front.

Not Everyone Offers Thanks & Congratulatins To Army Sgt. Salvatore Giunta

AP reports:

Giunta, the first living Medal of Honor winner of the Afghanistan and Iraq
wars, braved heavy gunfire to pull a fellow soldier to cover and rescued another
who was being dragged away by insurgents.

Bryan Fischer, the "Director of Issues Analysis" for the conservative Christian group the American Family Association adds:

"...the Medal of Honor has been "feminized" because "we now award it only
for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them."

Why do conservatives hate America so much?

A Question For My Conservative Friends

Do you believe that an unborn corporation is a person with free speech rights?

You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

com·mu·ni·cate (k-myn-kt) VERB:com·mu·ni·cat·ed, com·mu·ni·cat·ing, com·mu·ni·cates VERB:tr.
1-To convey information about; make known; impart: communicated his views to our office.
2-To reveal clearly; manifest: Her disapproval communicated itself in her frown.
3-To spread (a disease, for example) to others; transmit: a carrier who communicated typhus.

VERB:intr.
1-To have an interchange, as of ideas.
2-To express oneself in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood: "That ability to communicate was strange in a man given to long, awkward silences" (Anthony Lewis).
3-Ecclesiastical To receive Communion.
4-To be connected, one with another: apartments that communicate.

Compare that to Uncommunicative:

"I don’t know what the standard is,” Kleefisch told WHBY.

A "professional communicator" who won't communicate, a lazy reporter who can't be bothered to find out that Barbara Lawton and Jean Hundtermark debated twice, a free-range moralist without an anchor; are those really qualifications for the second highest office in Wisconsin? Could you live with Governor Kleefisch if you had to?

A Few Loose Thoughts After the Friday Night Debate

1. Johnson seemed surprised by the way that Milk Marketing Orders work. Given that he has the DBA endorsement, shouldn't he have known about this before?
2. I have to believe Feingold shaved at 7:15 or had a heavy layer of foundation on. He never actually looks clean-shaven.
3. Johnson in one response talked about how well he worked with the School Board when he was asked about Judicial Advise and Consent as a way of telling us that he was for judicial capabilty and not litmus testing. In the next response he was trying to pin Feingold for the gun views of the judges he'd let GWB have. Either he was confused or lying.
4. Johnson definitely looked more comfortable in the middle of the debate. He started off with too many "ums" and "uhs" for a Senator and ended looking tired, as if a full hour was just too much.
5. Dear Senator Feingold, It's good to be all mavericky but you might not want to claim the TEA mantle too quickly. Those votes are shiny but you'll never get them and people who vote on facts don't really care for their brand of emotionalism.
6. Dear Mr. Johnson, Stand up straight. You're not running for School Board. Respect your audience and the job you seek even if you don't respect your opponent.
7. Johnson seems ready to throttle the HCR monster even after it starts to drag him under the waves. Acceptance rises every week now that people understand it. To run on a platform of "woulda, coulda, might," seems more than a little disingenuous.
8. I only saw one candidate with a fire in his belly to serve the people last night. Say what you want about Scott Walker, he always looks like he WANTS the office. Johnson didn't look like that last night. He looked like a man who is used to making his own decisions and then having his decisions carried out. His body language was that of a man who'd rather be somewhere else.
9. Bring on Monday night!

But He Doesn't Like It When We Say He's Not Really Very Good At Making Connections

Scott Walker tweets with no irony about how hard it is to get from there to here because of traffic.

Great Moments In American Political Debate

"The electric cord ... that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together [is a self-evident truth.]" –Abraham Lincoln

“This is not a contest between persons. The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error. I come to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty - the cause of humanity.” – William Jennings Bryan

“You, Sir, are no Jack Kennedy.” -Lloyd Bentsen

“I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” - Ronald Reagan

"Yeah, I got nothin'" --Rebecca Kleefisch