Catching Up

Good Morning on a Tuesday in Wisconsin.

We were out of town this past weekend visiting family. We talked with them about what has gone on in Wisconsin over the past few months. They had questions and reflections of their own. It's good to get different perspectives and hear views you might not have thought about before you talked. It's amazing that so many people from the east coast to the west are talking about Wisconsin! A conversation with friends in New Hampshire last week showed us what an impact the struggle in Wisconsin has had on others across the U.S.

I see the blizzard of emails in my inbox so I have made some hot tea and begun digging through the mail. Here's some of what I discovered, a few things due to take place this week.

This is Wisconsin Wave's plans for today and in to the weekend - so if you're thinking of participating in something - get up to Madison.

This week the fight for democracy in Wisconsin continues with three terrific events:

On Tuesday, April 26th at 8am join housing rights group Take Back the Land at the Dane County Courthouse in downtown Madison in a protest against the foreclosure of a Madison residence by M&I Bank. If allowed to proceed, this eviction would displace formerly homeless individuals while enriching a bank whose top executives contributed large sums of money to Governor Walker’s campaign.

Fight for housing justice and against corporate greed by telling M&I bank that their behavior is unacceptable!

Later on Tuesday, at 1pm, advocates of public higher education will rally near Bascom Hall to protest UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin’s plan to separate the Madison campus from the rest of the UW-System. Called the “New Badger Partnership,” Martin’s proposal would begin the process of completely privatizing the university while drastically increasing tuition.

In response, students and community members from around the state are convening to stand up for a fully funded, accessible, and public university.

On Saturday, April 30th at 9:30am the Madison Institute will host a Progressive Roundtable discussion at the Capitol Lakes Retirement Center titled “Building a Democracy Movement in an Age of Austerity and Corporatization.” Moderated by Liberty Tree executive director Ben Manski, this event is a fantastic opportunity to learn about the democratic grassroots organizing occurring throughout not only Wisconsin but the rest of the country and beyond.

Also today at 2:30 pm in Kenosha, The Center for Media & Democracy will be hosting a rally to protest Paul Ryan's Medicare Proposal. You can join these folks at:
Gateway Technical College
Outside Madrigano Auditorium
3520 30th Avenue
Kenosha, WI

This appeared today on Scottwalkerwatch.com:
With difference of 0.49% of the 1.5 million votes cast, Supreme Court race recount will begin. Election officials believe it is just the third statewide recount in state history, following ones in 1989 and 1858.

Still, according to Walker himself, this recount nonsense is making it difficult for repubs to get anything done. Slashing and burning takes a lot of time and money I guess! And this just made me grit my teeth. Taking credit for things that Gov. Doyle did while he was in office.

"Walker recently took credit in a widely reported press conference for creating 125 jobs at a state manufacturing plant, even though then-Gov. Jim Doyle announced the same new jobs back in December. “It’s great to see Gov. Walker supporting one of the economic development projects of the Doyle administration,” said former Commerce Secretary Aaron Olver, a Doyle appointee who is now working for the city of Madison.

Last week, Walker traveled to Curt Manufacturing near Eau Claire to award a $625,000 transportation grant to the second largest manufacturer of trailer hitches and towing products in the United States. “This project directly creates 125 new jobs and indirectly creates 129 jobs, resulting in $12.6?million in annual wages right here in Wisconsin,” Walker said in a news release. “By providing these funds, we are bringing quality jobs to Wisconsin while improving road access to Curt Manufacturing’s expanded facility.” Consider it one more hurdle cleared by the first-term Republican governor in his quest to fulfill his campaign promise of creating 250,000 jobs in four years. But wait a second.

Didn’t Doyle announce the creation of 125 new jobs at the same business late last year?

Indeed he did.

Well, back to reading emails. It's a chilly, soggy day here. But the ground is an emerald green! Ah, April.

Power To All The People!