Wisconsin Dems and liberals and progressives lost the opportunity to win six seats in the Senate last Tuesday and take the Senate back from the Repubs. We got two of the six and, to be fair, we could say we have a new friend, the Repub who got ticked off at Walker last winter and sided with the Dems on the collective bargaining front. So be it. We have a challenge like none other now to RECALL WALKER this coming January.
Keep your eyes and ears on this as well as on any and all challenges to Alberta Darling's "win" in Waukesha County. Consider calling Eric Holder's office in D.C. and demanding a Federal Investigation in to Election Fraud here in Wisconsin. Too many oddities to rest assured we didn't lose fairly.
I am closing this blog on that note. Several things have happened lately that signal to me a need to re-evaluate how I participate in change. I remain a political activist.
Blessings to anyone who read this simple, common person's blog. Thanks for all you do for our freedoms and to connect with others.
As always...
Power To All The People!
Wisconsin Needs A Moral Compass
Monday, August 15, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Catch Up After The Vote
Well, it stinks. It isn't a deal that progressives liked, not many Democrats either. And down the road where the can is rolling around, are more stinky things waiting, many of them the same ones we just watched Washington play dodge ball with for too many weeks. I joined a rally this Tuesday in my community to protest Paul Ryan's vote. Of course Mr. Ryan was the author of much of this mess, if not the single author then certainly the scribe and the town crier. He took his version of Cut, Slash and Burn to his tea party friends and what resulted was the debacle we have recently watched, the republican congress people dressed like cheer leaders for corporate money and the wealthiest of Americans.
There were about 15 people at the rally with signs about Mr. Ryan losing his balance - as when he ordered a $350 bottle of wine for dinner. (That wasn't in southern Wisconsin, our wine here costs about $8.95 for red and sometimes $10.95 for white). Someone had a sign that was elegant in its simplicity and considering the noon hour sported temperatures of 90 with a heat index of 111, simplicity was refreshing: We Live In Your District, Too. So true. How many millionaires live in this town of 60,000? In this county? Can't be too many people. But there are lots and lots of Common People who live in the county.
We stood on the corners and showed our signs. Mine said Don't Destroy Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. One woman asked me if I had read The Deal before I came down to rally. I had not. She pointed to my sign and said - "Well, we don't have to worry about those, they're safe, they aren't going to touch those now." Are we that naive? I told her I wasn't that trusting and when this Committee forms, if it looks like a small version of congress then where will we be? Back on the phones, back in the streets.
And come to think of it, we should be in the streets all the time now. We are witnessing the bold theft of whatever it was we expected and believed our Democracy was and is but will never be again. Signs?! At least those but our bodies and our actions and our voices will be required more and more.
Here are some of the things I've been reading when I sit down to the Internet.
From People for The American Way:
"We can do this ... because we must do this. The Tea Party-created debt limit crisis was yet another reminder of how high the stakes are ... and how high they continue to be. So many of you have given time, energy and money to PFAW's Recall the Right campaign to take back the Wisconsin Senate from the Far Right and turn the tide nationally against Tea Party economics. THANK YOU.
The debt deal and the crisis from which it was born reveal the dysfunction of our political culture. The right-wing Republican positions on taxation, spending and deficits -- which unfortunately have set the agenda this last year -- have absolutely nothing to do with sound economics ... and everything to do with a dogged commitment to extreme right-wing orthodoxy and making the government, at every level, subservient to powerful corporate interests."
Be sure to check out this AlterNet Hot News & Views link to Rachel Maddow talking about the upcoming Wisconsin elections and dirty politics.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/?akid=7356.297081.LJc_r1&id=643623&rd=1&t=2
Also, for a breath of fresh air, watch Matt Damon school the media on teachers.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/643618/matt_damon_continues_defending_teachers%2C_makes_libertarians_look_silly/#paragraph3
It's less intense on the thermometer today. A relief. Still, I can see that dented can shining in the sun down the dusty road where it lies. I have work to do.
Power To The Common People!
There were about 15 people at the rally with signs about Mr. Ryan losing his balance - as when he ordered a $350 bottle of wine for dinner. (That wasn't in southern Wisconsin, our wine here costs about $8.95 for red and sometimes $10.95 for white). Someone had a sign that was elegant in its simplicity and considering the noon hour sported temperatures of 90 with a heat index of 111, simplicity was refreshing: We Live In Your District, Too. So true. How many millionaires live in this town of 60,000? In this county? Can't be too many people. But there are lots and lots of Common People who live in the county.
We stood on the corners and showed our signs. Mine said Don't Destroy Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. One woman asked me if I had read The Deal before I came down to rally. I had not. She pointed to my sign and said - "Well, we don't have to worry about those, they're safe, they aren't going to touch those now." Are we that naive? I told her I wasn't that trusting and when this Committee forms, if it looks like a small version of congress then where will we be? Back on the phones, back in the streets.
And come to think of it, we should be in the streets all the time now. We are witnessing the bold theft of whatever it was we expected and believed our Democracy was and is but will never be again. Signs?! At least those but our bodies and our actions and our voices will be required more and more.
Here are some of the things I've been reading when I sit down to the Internet.
From People for The American Way:
"We can do this ... because we must do this. The Tea Party-created debt limit crisis was yet another reminder of how high the stakes are ... and how high they continue to be. So many of you have given time, energy and money to PFAW's Recall the Right campaign to take back the Wisconsin Senate from the Far Right and turn the tide nationally against Tea Party economics. THANK YOU.
The debt deal and the crisis from which it was born reveal the dysfunction of our political culture. The right-wing Republican positions on taxation, spending and deficits -- which unfortunately have set the agenda this last year -- have absolutely nothing to do with sound economics ... and everything to do with a dogged commitment to extreme right-wing orthodoxy and making the government, at every level, subservient to powerful corporate interests."
Be sure to check out this AlterNet Hot News & Views link to Rachel Maddow talking about the upcoming Wisconsin elections and dirty politics.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/?akid=7356.297081.LJc_r1&id=643623&rd=1&t=2
Also, for a breath of fresh air, watch Matt Damon school the media on teachers.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/643618/matt_damon_continues_defending_teachers%2C_makes_libertarians_look_silly/#paragraph3
It's less intense on the thermometer today. A relief. Still, I can see that dented can shining in the sun down the dusty road where it lies. I have work to do.
Power To The Common People!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wisconsin Faces Hard Times
Just received this from Senator Chris Larson of Wisconsin's 7th District. Sen. Larson discusses what will likely happen to those of us in Wisconsin if the debt ceiling crisis is not resolved by August 2nd. Please read through Sen. Larson's carefully thought out article.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13172ee241215bde
Scroll down to Debt Ceiling Deadline Days Away
If you haven't had the opportunity to call your representative please consider doing that today. Wherever you are, in whatever state. All of our representatives and senators need to hear from The Common People.
This also came today. Confirmation that the Walker forces are mounting a huge effort to rake in millions of dollars from right wing supporters to use in campaigns and ads against the Democratic legislators who face recall.
From the Washington Post…
“If you want to get a good sense of what’s really happening in the Wisconsin recall wars, keep an eye on the right wing money that’s now flooding into the races, in a last ditch effort to keep the state senate in Republican hands.
Club for Growth Wisconsin has dumped at least $1.5 million into the recall races..."
More of this will follow in the days ahead. More tactics to turn the tide in their favor. More money and more power.
We need to hang on to our hats, it's going to get nasty!
Power To The Common People!
https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13172ee241215bde
Scroll down to Debt Ceiling Deadline Days Away
If you haven't had the opportunity to call your representative please consider doing that today. Wherever you are, in whatever state. All of our representatives and senators need to hear from The Common People.
This also came today. Confirmation that the Walker forces are mounting a huge effort to rake in millions of dollars from right wing supporters to use in campaigns and ads against the Democratic legislators who face recall.
From the Washington Post…
“If you want to get a good sense of what’s really happening in the Wisconsin recall wars, keep an eye on the right wing money that’s now flooding into the races, in a last ditch effort to keep the state senate in Republican hands.
Club for Growth Wisconsin has dumped at least $1.5 million into the recall races..."
More of this will follow in the days ahead. More tactics to turn the tide in their favor. More money and more power.
We need to hang on to our hats, it's going to get nasty!
Power To The Common People!
The Ring of Power
It's raining, it's pouring and all the old men are snoring in Washington, I guess. At least there seems to be nothing in the way of movement today. Except I heard that John McCain enlisted the world of the Lord of the Rings in his attempt to shame his fellow rethuglians in to coming to the table. Apparently he referred to the tea party folks as hobbits with plans to return to Middle Earth after they defeat Mordor. Not to be outdone they fired back that obviously McCain had been corrupted by the power of the ring!
Funny but lame.
Years ago as we were driving back during a snowstorm after protesting the first Gulf War, my thirteen year old son asked me if the U.S. was the Rebel Alliance. I said, no, we weren't the rebels, indeed we were the Empire. It's still an apt metaphor but so would calling the tea party fanatics The Forces of Mordor be apt. I think Mr. McCain got things a little mixed up. The tea party people aren't Hobbits. I think they're a bit closer to Orcs who work for Mordor.
And who has been corrupted by the power of the ring?! Please. The tea party and other ultra-conservative republicans have surely been taken by the power of money and power. If that isn't the Ring I would be at a loss to find another such fitting example.
We want so badly to name ourselves the Rebel Alliance, the simple, loving Hobbits. We want to be Frodo on a quest, Luke Skywalker hunting down the Force. We want, as John McCain did, to envision ourselves, even in difficult times, as the Good Guys, the people with the white hats. We're John Wayne, not the black-hatted gunslinger.
I hesitated a moment before I answered my son that cold night racing through the Pennsylvania mountains. There was a part of me that didn't want to tell the truth as if doing that, saying it out loud, would make what his father and I knew to be true, much more horribly real. But it was real. It is still real. We are the Empire, we are Mordor and we bear a huge responsibility to our children and grandchildren to tell them the truth. If we are to discover our way out of the forest we must face the reality. Then we can gather the courage of Fordo and Samwise and perhaps then we can get on the path to destroying the Ring of Money & Power.
Because we know in our hearts that "men are so easily seduced by (that) power".
Simple Power of The Commons To All People!
Funny but lame.
Years ago as we were driving back during a snowstorm after protesting the first Gulf War, my thirteen year old son asked me if the U.S. was the Rebel Alliance. I said, no, we weren't the rebels, indeed we were the Empire. It's still an apt metaphor but so would calling the tea party fanatics The Forces of Mordor be apt. I think Mr. McCain got things a little mixed up. The tea party people aren't Hobbits. I think they're a bit closer to Orcs who work for Mordor.
And who has been corrupted by the power of the ring?! Please. The tea party and other ultra-conservative republicans have surely been taken by the power of money and power. If that isn't the Ring I would be at a loss to find another such fitting example.
We want so badly to name ourselves the Rebel Alliance, the simple, loving Hobbits. We want to be Frodo on a quest, Luke Skywalker hunting down the Force. We want, as John McCain did, to envision ourselves, even in difficult times, as the Good Guys, the people with the white hats. We're John Wayne, not the black-hatted gunslinger.
I hesitated a moment before I answered my son that cold night racing through the Pennsylvania mountains. There was a part of me that didn't want to tell the truth as if doing that, saying it out loud, would make what his father and I knew to be true, much more horribly real. But it was real. It is still real. We are the Empire, we are Mordor and we bear a huge responsibility to our children and grandchildren to tell them the truth. If we are to discover our way out of the forest we must face the reality. Then we can gather the courage of Fordo and Samwise and perhaps then we can get on the path to destroying the Ring of Money & Power.
Because we know in our hearts that "men are so easily seduced by (that) power".
Simple Power of The Commons To All People!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Rant the Republicans
I just want to throw a tantrum. I want to flop on the floor and pound my fists, scream and holler. I want someone to hear me! It isn't that I haven't ranted before but boy do I ever need a rant right now.
The rethuglians have simply gone around the bend. Here in Wisconsin and in Washington. In Wisconsin doors are slamming on DMVs in the state - only in Democratic neighborhoods mind you - and opening in republican strongholds to shift the weight in the next recall effort. We all know this shabby game based on the truth that when Democrats vote in numbers the election goes to them, when they stay home the election goes to the repubs - unless, of course, the repubs lie and cheat and buy votes and make people wait in line for hours upon hours and rig the voting machines, etc ad nauseam ala Florida in both presidential elections when King Bush Jr. "won".
Earlier in the month we were treated to fake candidates the repubs were running in an effort to draw votes away from the recalls. That didn't work. We The People were too smart for cardboard scarecrows. Now we are being abused in neighborhoods where there are 'just too many uppity, recall-voting Democrats'. So Walker et al waltz in and shut down the DMVs so voters can't get the ID everyone now needs or they can't vote. Then they drive to another neighborhood where there are gobs of conservative voters and open a brand new, shiny DMV right down the block so those poor tea-party folks don't have to be bothered to go too far to vote. And by the way, this disgusting ploy came right on the heels of redistricting which scribbled all over the map and has the potential for disrupting the ease with which citizens are able to vote.
Fair? Hell no! Illegal? I surely wish it were so but we have no laws on the books to prevent this sneaky, under-handed, low, dirty manner of doing what apparently is our Governor's business. Do not forget, though, who pulls Walker's puppet strings. Charles and David Koch and all the sub-Koch's who are currently filling Scottie's coffers with "donations". He wants to make sure he has money to ward off the recall effort when it comes his way. That, of course, means citizen action!
And Washington?! Each day I get out my dot-to-dot coloring book and make damn positive I am connecting the dots with bright colors. Like this: Scott Walker is connected to the Koch Money which is connected to the WalMart Money which is connected to the DeVos Money. All that money is connected to people like Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Michelle Bachman, and all the rest of the tea party elites. This money is connected to oil, gas, guns, power and greed. That connection is deep in many states now and deep in Washington where it is stalling any way through our serious debt crisis.
I use some softer colors to connect another set of dots. Like these: People with disabilities do not often have money, sometimes no family. They are connected to nursing homes, day care centers, group homes which are connected to a combination of state, county and/or federal money. Elderly people are connected to this same money which is connected to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security which is connected right now by thin, stressed threads to the same money Eric Cantor, John Boehner and the tea party retuhglians are connected to - except - this coloring book's pages are more like a stack of papers with the Boehner's and the Cantor's and the Bachman's and the tea party at the top with the money and the disabled, the veterans, the elderly and the ill at the bottom trying to hang on to the pale strand that might break and leave them without money.
All the money then would be in the hands of the wealthy, of course.
What will happen to the men and women my friend works with? She's a nurse and works at a facility which takes profoundly mentally and physically handicapped adults and older children. These people have no family. None. They have come through the system over years and ended up here. One gentleman has a body two feet long, no arms and no legs. His head is twice the size it should be. He is 55 years old. He has no one to care for him. He is in this facility because he has no one to take him in and attend to his difficult, round the clock needs. My friend tells me funds are being cut for these people's care. Nurses and CNA's are being let go. What will happen to the residents if the facility shuts down? Will they be transferred? To where? Will they be - what?!
Is this how we see ourselves as a country? Is this what we wish to model for our children? See, kids, this is how we treat one another. Forget what the Christians tell you about loving one another - that's a bother. Focus on the money - that's what the tea party does.
Concealed guns, fake candidates, closing DMVs so you can win, economical brinksmanship, stalling, lying, cheating. I am so disgusted in the republican party and their new owners, the tea baggers, I could scream.
I believe in the Power of the People - we must respond to this coup!
The rethuglians have simply gone around the bend. Here in Wisconsin and in Washington. In Wisconsin doors are slamming on DMVs in the state - only in Democratic neighborhoods mind you - and opening in republican strongholds to shift the weight in the next recall effort. We all know this shabby game based on the truth that when Democrats vote in numbers the election goes to them, when they stay home the election goes to the repubs - unless, of course, the repubs lie and cheat and buy votes and make people wait in line for hours upon hours and rig the voting machines, etc ad nauseam ala Florida in both presidential elections when King Bush Jr. "won".
Earlier in the month we were treated to fake candidates the repubs were running in an effort to draw votes away from the recalls. That didn't work. We The People were too smart for cardboard scarecrows. Now we are being abused in neighborhoods where there are 'just too many uppity, recall-voting Democrats'. So Walker et al waltz in and shut down the DMVs so voters can't get the ID everyone now needs or they can't vote. Then they drive to another neighborhood where there are gobs of conservative voters and open a brand new, shiny DMV right down the block so those poor tea-party folks don't have to be bothered to go too far to vote. And by the way, this disgusting ploy came right on the heels of redistricting which scribbled all over the map and has the potential for disrupting the ease with which citizens are able to vote.
Fair? Hell no! Illegal? I surely wish it were so but we have no laws on the books to prevent this sneaky, under-handed, low, dirty manner of doing what apparently is our Governor's business. Do not forget, though, who pulls Walker's puppet strings. Charles and David Koch and all the sub-Koch's who are currently filling Scottie's coffers with "donations". He wants to make sure he has money to ward off the recall effort when it comes his way. That, of course, means citizen action!
And Washington?! Each day I get out my dot-to-dot coloring book and make damn positive I am connecting the dots with bright colors. Like this: Scott Walker is connected to the Koch Money which is connected to the WalMart Money which is connected to the DeVos Money. All that money is connected to people like Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Michelle Bachman, and all the rest of the tea party elites. This money is connected to oil, gas, guns, power and greed. That connection is deep in many states now and deep in Washington where it is stalling any way through our serious debt crisis.
I use some softer colors to connect another set of dots. Like these: People with disabilities do not often have money, sometimes no family. They are connected to nursing homes, day care centers, group homes which are connected to a combination of state, county and/or federal money. Elderly people are connected to this same money which is connected to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security which is connected right now by thin, stressed threads to the same money Eric Cantor, John Boehner and the tea party retuhglians are connected to - except - this coloring book's pages are more like a stack of papers with the Boehner's and the Cantor's and the Bachman's and the tea party at the top with the money and the disabled, the veterans, the elderly and the ill at the bottom trying to hang on to the pale strand that might break and leave them without money.
All the money then would be in the hands of the wealthy, of course.
What will happen to the men and women my friend works with? She's a nurse and works at a facility which takes profoundly mentally and physically handicapped adults and older children. These people have no family. None. They have come through the system over years and ended up here. One gentleman has a body two feet long, no arms and no legs. His head is twice the size it should be. He is 55 years old. He has no one to care for him. He is in this facility because he has no one to take him in and attend to his difficult, round the clock needs. My friend tells me funds are being cut for these people's care. Nurses and CNA's are being let go. What will happen to the residents if the facility shuts down? Will they be transferred? To where? Will they be - what?!
Is this how we see ourselves as a country? Is this what we wish to model for our children? See, kids, this is how we treat one another. Forget what the Christians tell you about loving one another - that's a bother. Focus on the money - that's what the tea party does.
Concealed guns, fake candidates, closing DMVs so you can win, economical brinksmanship, stalling, lying, cheating. I am so disgusted in the republican party and their new owners, the tea baggers, I could scream.
I believe in the Power of the People - we must respond to this coup!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Devil Went Down to Wisconsin
I've heard tell that some people can fiddle the devil out of hell and back down again. In Wisconsin we might just have heard a strain of that kind of music. About the time the cold was getting so deep that we thought it'd never go away and the ice on the lakes was still hard and we knew, we did, that the fish were fast asleep at the bottom.
I remember the sounds in the halls of the Capitol. During the day they were sweet and strong, those voices of Common People singing and chanting and laughing and shouting. Yes, that was sweet music, it made me feel happy to be there, joyful in my heart even though my toes ached and the winds stung my cheeks.
But, in the night, some nights, the music turned dark and dangerous and things happened behind doors when that music played. Whoever was fiddling then smoked the strings and the feet of those who met at dimly lit, walnut smooth desks, danced so feverish that the news in the morning came as though years had passed, it was that astounding. Deals were made, calls went out, interviews were given and many, many lies were told during that winter just passed. The Common People lost their promises, their jobs and their rights to ask for better pay and good working conditions.
And when the spring brought green to the muddy ruts around the Capitol and the sky took on a deeper blue, the fiddler was still in some room somewhere in that building. He was still fiddling so the men who made deals and told lies could keep dancing those crazy steps. They danced so hard they passed laws against the safety of the People! They made guns from their dancing and they laughed like maniacs as they scribbled the words - Concealed Carry. It was madness I tell you!
There's more than one fiddler. I know that now 'cause I am no longer a young one. I've seen some things. There's a fiddler playing in each and every office and Capitol that has those crazy, mad dancers who vote for guns and cuts and have red eyes that burn through decency and compassion. Their feet are swollen, painful and maybe even bleeding but they can't stop dancing, they can't stop taking from the Common People.
The Fiddler provides the music for terrible things. Why, you ask, would anyone want to dance to this music? Because the fiddler and his master make promises. If you can dance fast enough and long enough and wild enough and your dancing brings in more money and more power and more of everything, then you will be able some day to stop dancing and reap your reward.
But I know some things. That never happens. Never. It's a joke.
Power To The Common People!
p.s. The fiddling is loud today - can you hear it? The mad dancers are closing driver's stations in heavily democratic areas so those voters cannot get their state IDs and opening stations in predominately rethuglian areas. Someone has seen what's happening and is breaking the story. Thank goodness for people who hear different music!
I remember the sounds in the halls of the Capitol. During the day they were sweet and strong, those voices of Common People singing and chanting and laughing and shouting. Yes, that was sweet music, it made me feel happy to be there, joyful in my heart even though my toes ached and the winds stung my cheeks.
But, in the night, some nights, the music turned dark and dangerous and things happened behind doors when that music played. Whoever was fiddling then smoked the strings and the feet of those who met at dimly lit, walnut smooth desks, danced so feverish that the news in the morning came as though years had passed, it was that astounding. Deals were made, calls went out, interviews were given and many, many lies were told during that winter just passed. The Common People lost their promises, their jobs and their rights to ask for better pay and good working conditions.
And when the spring brought green to the muddy ruts around the Capitol and the sky took on a deeper blue, the fiddler was still in some room somewhere in that building. He was still fiddling so the men who made deals and told lies could keep dancing those crazy steps. They danced so hard they passed laws against the safety of the People! They made guns from their dancing and they laughed like maniacs as they scribbled the words - Concealed Carry. It was madness I tell you!
There's more than one fiddler. I know that now 'cause I am no longer a young one. I've seen some things. There's a fiddler playing in each and every office and Capitol that has those crazy, mad dancers who vote for guns and cuts and have red eyes that burn through decency and compassion. Their feet are swollen, painful and maybe even bleeding but they can't stop dancing, they can't stop taking from the Common People.
The Fiddler provides the music for terrible things. Why, you ask, would anyone want to dance to this music? Because the fiddler and his master make promises. If you can dance fast enough and long enough and wild enough and your dancing brings in more money and more power and more of everything, then you will be able some day to stop dancing and reap your reward.
But I know some things. That never happens. Never. It's a joke.
Power To The Common People!
p.s. The fiddling is loud today - can you hear it? The mad dancers are closing driver's stations in heavily democratic areas so those voters cannot get their state IDs and opening stations in predominately rethuglian areas. Someone has seen what's happening and is breaking the story. Thank goodness for people who hear different music!
Monday, July 25, 2011
In Need of A Sacred Clown
Raven, Brer Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, Aunt Nancy, Iktomi, The Three Stooges, Hermes, Whiskey Jack and Coyote.
Those names sound familiar? They are titles for the Sacred Clown, the persona in many different forms who holds a mirror up for us, who teases and prods us to see our foibles for what they are. The Trickster burps and farts in public, sets us up to take a fall, acts in outrageous ways - often sexually explicit. He or she is a thief, a glutton and the most accomplished author of endless lies.
The gift of the Trickster is to demonstrate for us the absurdity of our behaviors, to make fun of those sacred cows we dare not giggle about. Often the Trickster tales give us a refreshing vision of Common People raised up and the wealthy laid low - tables turned for a time to allow the little guy to win. In many traditional cultures the Sacred Clown is an integral part of ceremony. It is his job to be wild and crazy, unruly, disruptive like a naughty school boy who makes everybody laugh. The task of the Trickster, the Coyote is to mock the status quo and while dancing in front of us to offer very serious commentary on the times.
I submit we are in need of more Sacred Clowns, more people who can get out a huge mirror for us so we can see what is happening. We need more Tricksters to make fun of this rampant fundamentalism that is holding our government hostage while August 3rd races towards us. We need Wile E. to get hit by a falling boulder and at the bottom of the ravine to hold out a sign saying - "Oops, I didn't see that coming..."
We are in great need of this energy, risky as it is to call it in, to dance in front of us with outlandish clothes on - suits, ties, heels - and little name tags - Wall Street Excess, WalMart, DeVos, Koch Boys, Wealthy Elite. We need to make fun of that in a serious way and allow the Sacred Clown to show us how much we have become in thrall to this dangerous right wing ideology. We need this Clown more than we have ever needed it to poke us, wake us up, teach us some hard lessons and demonstrate what trickery, narcissism, Christian fundamentalism, cheating and lying, and making off with the country's goods really looks like.
Because I am not positive that we get it yet.
Power To All The Common People!
Those names sound familiar? They are titles for the Sacred Clown, the persona in many different forms who holds a mirror up for us, who teases and prods us to see our foibles for what they are. The Trickster burps and farts in public, sets us up to take a fall, acts in outrageous ways - often sexually explicit. He or she is a thief, a glutton and the most accomplished author of endless lies.
The gift of the Trickster is to demonstrate for us the absurdity of our behaviors, to make fun of those sacred cows we dare not giggle about. Often the Trickster tales give us a refreshing vision of Common People raised up and the wealthy laid low - tables turned for a time to allow the little guy to win. In many traditional cultures the Sacred Clown is an integral part of ceremony. It is his job to be wild and crazy, unruly, disruptive like a naughty school boy who makes everybody laugh. The task of the Trickster, the Coyote is to mock the status quo and while dancing in front of us to offer very serious commentary on the times.
I submit we are in need of more Sacred Clowns, more people who can get out a huge mirror for us so we can see what is happening. We need more Tricksters to make fun of this rampant fundamentalism that is holding our government hostage while August 3rd races towards us. We need Wile E. to get hit by a falling boulder and at the bottom of the ravine to hold out a sign saying - "Oops, I didn't see that coming..."
We are in great need of this energy, risky as it is to call it in, to dance in front of us with outlandish clothes on - suits, ties, heels - and little name tags - Wall Street Excess, WalMart, DeVos, Koch Boys, Wealthy Elite. We need to make fun of that in a serious way and allow the Sacred Clown to show us how much we have become in thrall to this dangerous right wing ideology. We need this Clown more than we have ever needed it to poke us, wake us up, teach us some hard lessons and demonstrate what trickery, narcissism, Christian fundamentalism, cheating and lying, and making off with the country's goods really looks like.
Because I am not positive that we get it yet.
Power To All The Common People!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Summer on the Desert
Grab your coffee, I've got some bones to pick over on this summer desert. Our hotter than Mars landscape is littered with carcasses: the debt ceiling fiasco, powerful men like Murdoch, the blitherings of Right Wing nut Bachman and this from AlterNet this morning.
"In all, the Republican Party is possessed by a spirit of willful denial: aided and abetted by the right-wing media, Conservatives can bend the world to their wishes; reality is subject to their fantasies; any belief, however specious, is made true because they want it to be so. This is a pathology that extends both to the debt ceiling debate and the broader assault by conservatives on the country’s social safety net. Both are examples of a frightening pseudo religion called Free Market Fundamentalism—a faith based on a set of assumptions that are immune to interrogation, challenge or the collective weight of reality."
Chauncey DeVega is our guide on this archeological dig. He's the author of the above quote. He goes on to enumerate several myths the ultra-conservative Republican party holds as sacred.
1. The first is that this entire debt ceiling issue is nothing more than hot air coming from the Democrats. Not to worry, the rightists say, there's plenty of money and we can just shove this unhappy so-called crisis down the road to the future. It's all about the Dems trying to scare people. Chauncey writes: "a failure to resolve the debt ceiling crisis would be an unprecedented event in American history."
2. Remember this one from Ronnie's day? Supply side economics will cure all. As it turns out all those tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans haven't done much, if anything, to stimulate the economy. More accurately, they've played a role in the current crisis.
3. Oh yes, well this one will be familiar here in Wisconsin: Unions hurt the economy. Chauncey again on the Right's belief: "The way out of the Great Recession is to complete the destruction of the public sector workforce through a final demolition of unionized labor and the elimination of minimum wage laws." When, in fact, minimum wage laws actually stimulate the economy.
4. I heard this one on NPR not too long ago. The "job creators" (meaning the wealthy) are being and would further be punished by increases in taxes. These people and the corporations many of them run have historically paid the lowest taxes in the world! Andy and I pay more in taxes than most corporations! These are the folks who really did benefit from the bailouts, not you and me, the Common People.
5. Now this one just makes my blood boil over on the stove. Any increase in taxes on the wealthy would be "class warfare". Class warfare is happening in exactly the opposite manner of this statement. Like those individuals who cannot withstand the light of day because of their lies and constant behind-the-scenes behaviors but state that they are the ones who are wronged, this definition of class warfare is completely turned around. Do we not think it is clear class warfare to cut all social safety nets from under the Common People?
Chauncey speaks: "Yes, there is a class war in the United States. But it is being waged against the middle and working classes, where for the last 40 years the minimum wage has effectively decreased when controlled for inflation, and earnings have gone down when controlled for inflation—all in an era when highly favorable tax policies have encouraged unprecedented economic growth for the richest Americans."
What does this bode for our country when men like Gov. Walker and others across the country favored of this particular brand of fundamentalist economics refuse to move at all as we draw near to August 3rd? Chauncey ends his article with this.
"the Tea Party GOP has painted itself into a corner in the debt ceiling fight. Frighteningly, they may see no other option but to salt the earth and bring the temple down on the heads of the American people in order to prove the righteousness of their cause."
There will be more bones on the desert this summer I fear. Call, call, call, write and write some more. Email, tell your friends, beat the drums loudly. We The People must stand up and confront this monstrosity.
Power To All The Common People!
"In all, the Republican Party is possessed by a spirit of willful denial: aided and abetted by the right-wing media, Conservatives can bend the world to their wishes; reality is subject to their fantasies; any belief, however specious, is made true because they want it to be so. This is a pathology that extends both to the debt ceiling debate and the broader assault by conservatives on the country’s social safety net. Both are examples of a frightening pseudo religion called Free Market Fundamentalism—a faith based on a set of assumptions that are immune to interrogation, challenge or the collective weight of reality."
Chauncey DeVega is our guide on this archeological dig. He's the author of the above quote. He goes on to enumerate several myths the ultra-conservative Republican party holds as sacred.
1. The first is that this entire debt ceiling issue is nothing more than hot air coming from the Democrats. Not to worry, the rightists say, there's plenty of money and we can just shove this unhappy so-called crisis down the road to the future. It's all about the Dems trying to scare people. Chauncey writes: "a failure to resolve the debt ceiling crisis would be an unprecedented event in American history."
2. Remember this one from Ronnie's day? Supply side economics will cure all. As it turns out all those tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans haven't done much, if anything, to stimulate the economy. More accurately, they've played a role in the current crisis.
3. Oh yes, well this one will be familiar here in Wisconsin: Unions hurt the economy. Chauncey again on the Right's belief: "The way out of the Great Recession is to complete the destruction of the public sector workforce through a final demolition of unionized labor and the elimination of minimum wage laws." When, in fact, minimum wage laws actually stimulate the economy.
4. I heard this one on NPR not too long ago. The "job creators" (meaning the wealthy) are being and would further be punished by increases in taxes. These people and the corporations many of them run have historically paid the lowest taxes in the world! Andy and I pay more in taxes than most corporations! These are the folks who really did benefit from the bailouts, not you and me, the Common People.
5. Now this one just makes my blood boil over on the stove. Any increase in taxes on the wealthy would be "class warfare". Class warfare is happening in exactly the opposite manner of this statement. Like those individuals who cannot withstand the light of day because of their lies and constant behind-the-scenes behaviors but state that they are the ones who are wronged, this definition of class warfare is completely turned around. Do we not think it is clear class warfare to cut all social safety nets from under the Common People?
Chauncey speaks: "Yes, there is a class war in the United States. But it is being waged against the middle and working classes, where for the last 40 years the minimum wage has effectively decreased when controlled for inflation, and earnings have gone down when controlled for inflation—all in an era when highly favorable tax policies have encouraged unprecedented economic growth for the richest Americans."
What does this bode for our country when men like Gov. Walker and others across the country favored of this particular brand of fundamentalist economics refuse to move at all as we draw near to August 3rd? Chauncey ends his article with this.
"the Tea Party GOP has painted itself into a corner in the debt ceiling fight. Frighteningly, they may see no other option but to salt the earth and bring the temple down on the heads of the American people in order to prove the righteousness of their cause."
There will be more bones on the desert this summer I fear. Call, call, call, write and write some more. Email, tell your friends, beat the drums loudly. We The People must stand up and confront this monstrosity.
Power To All The Common People!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Heat Wave Heating Up Across The Country
I wonder what the temperature is in Washington as the calls, emails and letters flood in to the White House and the computers and mailboxes of Congress? Perhaps worse than out here in Midwest land where the indices for today are breaking records almost by the hour. And there's worse to come in both places.
Four out of five emails in my inbox today were petitions to sign begging Congress and President Obama not to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or they were emails begging that I call my elected officials and tell them I don't want that to happen. I have been doing that and did that again today. I called Paul Ryan's office and told them that I am a constituent and that I strongly oppose any cuts to social supports definitely as long as we keep blessing the wealthy with tax cuts and bonuses.
Meanwhile Gov. Walker keeps on with the same rhetoric although the Beloit Daily News on Friday reported that a poll taken by UW Wisconsin showed that his popularity had plummeted in the last many weeks. Thank heavens! It was a bright spot in the week when nothing seemed to have changed with the debt ceiling crisis and the only thing that was deflecting our collective attention were stories of Rupert Murdoch's abysmal behavior. But then had we really thought that guy was a stand up person? I see today that over the weekend others are falling in Murdoch's wake.
I say again - Money! Power! Greed! Corruption!
But it is worrisome, the crisis worsening in Washington. People are playing with our futures, the near term ones as well as our children's futures. It will pit young against old and wealthy against poor. It will tear us apart by families, neighbors and friends. It is unconscionable and it is in our faces.
Please call your elected representative and tell them you oppose cutting Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Call today, call tomorrow, call every day and leave the same message. Tell your friends and relatives to call as well.
The Capitol swtichboard number is 1-202-224-3121 or www.house.gov and look on for the map of the states. Click on your state and locate your representatives number and call! This is critically important that We The People stand up for our lives and our supports.
Balance the budget by making the wealthy share the burden with us fairly. No more obscene pay, no more loopholes, no more tax cuts for the rich. If we must hear the phrase "Shared Sacrifice" then by god let everyone share!!
Power To All The Common People!
Four out of five emails in my inbox today were petitions to sign begging Congress and President Obama not to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or they were emails begging that I call my elected officials and tell them I don't want that to happen. I have been doing that and did that again today. I called Paul Ryan's office and told them that I am a constituent and that I strongly oppose any cuts to social supports definitely as long as we keep blessing the wealthy with tax cuts and bonuses.
Meanwhile Gov. Walker keeps on with the same rhetoric although the Beloit Daily News on Friday reported that a poll taken by UW Wisconsin showed that his popularity had plummeted in the last many weeks. Thank heavens! It was a bright spot in the week when nothing seemed to have changed with the debt ceiling crisis and the only thing that was deflecting our collective attention were stories of Rupert Murdoch's abysmal behavior. But then had we really thought that guy was a stand up person? I see today that over the weekend others are falling in Murdoch's wake.
I say again - Money! Power! Greed! Corruption!
But it is worrisome, the crisis worsening in Washington. People are playing with our futures, the near term ones as well as our children's futures. It will pit young against old and wealthy against poor. It will tear us apart by families, neighbors and friends. It is unconscionable and it is in our faces.
Please call your elected representative and tell them you oppose cutting Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Call today, call tomorrow, call every day and leave the same message. Tell your friends and relatives to call as well.
The Capitol swtichboard number is 1-202-224-3121 or www.house.gov and look on for the map of the states. Click on your state and locate your representatives number and call! This is critically important that We The People stand up for our lives and our supports.
Balance the budget by making the wealthy share the burden with us fairly. No more obscene pay, no more loopholes, no more tax cuts for the rich. If we must hear the phrase "Shared Sacrifice" then by god let everyone share!!
Power To All The Common People!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Gardening A Deal In The Heat
It's going to get blistering in the next couple days here in Southern Wisconsin and across the Midwest as a huge high pressure dome caps our climate. Weather alerts on the ready for high heat and humidity. I hope everyone is prepared for dangerous weather.
It's going to be hot in Washington, too. I read this morning that President Obama is "fed up" with the Republicans and their waffling, lying, maneuvering and walked out yesterday on the stalemated discussions. What that actually means is anyone's guess at this point. But it is the 15th of July and no deal in sight yet. Talk about a heat index!
Also read an article by Bill McKibben (one of my heroes) on the dangers of the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport tar sands oil across Canada and down the U.S. to the Gulf of Mexico making, as McKibben says, North America into the Saudi Arabia of the West. McKibben and others have started a website - www.tarsandsaction.org - to invite people to come to Washington D.C. between August 20th and September 3rd to peacefully protest. As McKibben says in this AlterNet article:
"it could result in the largest civil disobedience actions in the climate-change movement’s history on this continent, as hundreds, possibly thousands, of concerned activists converge on the White House in August. They’ll risk arrest to demand something simple and concrete from President Obama: that he refuse to grant a license for Keystone XL, a new pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico that would vastly increase the flow of tar sands oil through the U.S., ensuring that the exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands will only increase."
Sounds like Washington will be hit with a heat wave this late summer! Good - we need to exercise our right to speak out when our lives and the health of the planet is at stake and to demand that our lands remain untouched by further "development".
And how do we know that peaceful protest actually can make a difference? Because I have the giddy pleasure of passing on something that tells me this is true. Did you hear the story of Julie Bass? She lives in Oak Park, Michigan and after the city of Oak Park ripped up her front yard to do some work, she was left with a mess. Instead of planting a new lawn - what a hassle that is! - she decided to grow a vegetable garden to help her feed herself and her six children. What a great idea! Until the city saw her flourishing garden where neighborhood kids were coming to help and threatened Julie with a misdemeanor charge and 93 days in jail. The outcry was deafening. People started petitions, wrote letters, made calls to the city planner's office. People from all over the world converged, virtually, to aid Julie and to let the Oak Park city officials know this was a waste of resources and quite plainly, stupid. It worked! Julie is not going to go to jail for growing broccoli, squash, beans and flowers in her front yard.
Now that is what I'm talking about! Power to the People!
We've got more work to do in Wisconsin. More protests, more letter writing, more calling. It's hard work but it is also important work. The ole cow hands on the Double Cross Ranch aren't going to take a long vacation so we can't afford to take one either. When the real Democrats won this week I thought I saw some bread crumbs leading towards Wisconsin's Moral Compass. Might be wrong but just maybe, just maybe there's a path to that critically needed direction finder.
Meanwhile, take a moment to send up a blessing for Julie Bass and her kids - for the neighborhood kids, too. It's one of those stories that constitute bread crumbs for me. It's a moral compass kind of story. We the People knew what was right and spoke the truth of it to the powers and supported a person we didn't know. Now she's a new friend, long distance, and we can think of her and how her garden is growing. Nice.
Power to The Common People!
It's going to be hot in Washington, too. I read this morning that President Obama is "fed up" with the Republicans and their waffling, lying, maneuvering and walked out yesterday on the stalemated discussions. What that actually means is anyone's guess at this point. But it is the 15th of July and no deal in sight yet. Talk about a heat index!
Also read an article by Bill McKibben (one of my heroes) on the dangers of the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport tar sands oil across Canada and down the U.S. to the Gulf of Mexico making, as McKibben says, North America into the Saudi Arabia of the West. McKibben and others have started a website - www.tarsandsaction.org - to invite people to come to Washington D.C. between August 20th and September 3rd to peacefully protest. As McKibben says in this AlterNet article:
"it could result in the largest civil disobedience actions in the climate-change movement’s history on this continent, as hundreds, possibly thousands, of concerned activists converge on the White House in August. They’ll risk arrest to demand something simple and concrete from President Obama: that he refuse to grant a license for Keystone XL, a new pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico that would vastly increase the flow of tar sands oil through the U.S., ensuring that the exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands will only increase."
Sounds like Washington will be hit with a heat wave this late summer! Good - we need to exercise our right to speak out when our lives and the health of the planet is at stake and to demand that our lands remain untouched by further "development".
And how do we know that peaceful protest actually can make a difference? Because I have the giddy pleasure of passing on something that tells me this is true. Did you hear the story of Julie Bass? She lives in Oak Park, Michigan and after the city of Oak Park ripped up her front yard to do some work, she was left with a mess. Instead of planting a new lawn - what a hassle that is! - she decided to grow a vegetable garden to help her feed herself and her six children. What a great idea! Until the city saw her flourishing garden where neighborhood kids were coming to help and threatened Julie with a misdemeanor charge and 93 days in jail. The outcry was deafening. People started petitions, wrote letters, made calls to the city planner's office. People from all over the world converged, virtually, to aid Julie and to let the Oak Park city officials know this was a waste of resources and quite plainly, stupid. It worked! Julie is not going to go to jail for growing broccoli, squash, beans and flowers in her front yard.
Now that is what I'm talking about! Power to the People!
We've got more work to do in Wisconsin. More protests, more letter writing, more calling. It's hard work but it is also important work. The ole cow hands on the Double Cross Ranch aren't going to take a long vacation so we can't afford to take one either. When the real Democrats won this week I thought I saw some bread crumbs leading towards Wisconsin's Moral Compass. Might be wrong but just maybe, just maybe there's a path to that critically needed direction finder.
Meanwhile, take a moment to send up a blessing for Julie Bass and her kids - for the neighborhood kids, too. It's one of those stories that constitute bread crumbs for me. It's a moral compass kind of story. We the People knew what was right and spoke the truth of it to the powers and supported a person we didn't know. Now she's a new friend, long distance, and we can think of her and how her garden is growing. Nice.
Power to The Common People!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Defeat at the Double Cross Ranch
Hurray for Wisconsin voters! We weren't duped by the Fake Democrats that the Repubs tried to foist on us. Congratulations to all the Real Democratic winners in this round of The State That Kicked The Hornet's Ass. Perhaps we who have been educated in Wisconsin by Wisconsin teachers are smart enough and clever enough to see through lame efforts to pull the wool over our eyes. I can just hear the phone conversation with the Kochs at the Double Cross Ranch this morning...
"Mr. Koch? Is that you, sir? I am calling from the Capitol. Right, the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Sorry to tell you the news, sir, but the Democrats won all their seats yesterday. Yup, that's right, all six of them. Well, I am sorry, sir, we tried mighty hard to confuse them with our cardboard cutouts of Democrats but they just didn't buy it, sir. What's that, sir? Well, yes, sir, indeed we did put pressure on voters. I had all the men workin' real hard, sir. Oh, now I don't think that's quite fair, Mr. Koch. Just because we didn't keep those Democrats from winning seats doesn't mean we shouldn't get paid. What's that? I need to tell the men that they'll have to wait to see what happens in Washington on the debt crises? Mr. Koch, that hardly seems right. Me and the men, no offense intended, don't make much money workin' for you and your brother. Heck, we barely can afford rent on this barn. And me, Larry and Moe, we get Social Security. Yessir, we'll sit tight. Yessir, I guess we could look for part time jobs. No sir, we ain't no slobs."
It's good to celebrate a victory. This one is a bit like "One small step for man..." and it may very well take that continuing kind of effort we exerted to get to the Moon and land on it forty-two years ago. It will mark a small step in the direction of regaining ground after the disastrous 2010 Mid-terms and all that happened after that. And it also points out what kind of effort, personal education and vigilance is needed to have gotten here today. From here on in, we cannot afford to relax because we know the Repubs have a plan and they are working that plan hard. Don't think that out at the Double Cross Ranch all is quiet and sad today. Far from it. They're busy over cowboy coffee and biscuits. Those outlaws are a scrappy bunch!
As wonderful and uplifting as this news is, the debt ceiling crises plods on in Washington and is frightening people everywhere. We have about two weeks before the country could, without raising the debt ceiling, go in to default on payments. Many possibilities loom if that happens including not mailing out Social Security payments to seniors, not mailing out checks to Veterans and/or not paying active duty military. I have written to Obama several times, John Boehner, and the Double Cross Ranch hand, Paul Ryan, as well as Mitch McConnell. It seems the Tea Partiers, who have just about completely co-opted the Republican Party, have determined to stand like cement statues against raising the debt ceiling. They don't seem to care an eyelash if Grandma Johnson gets her measly SS check and therefore can't pay her measly rent or if nineteen-year old Hank over in Afghanistan hunkered down in some forsaken rock pile gets his paycheck so his wife and two-year old back in Cadot, Wisconsin can buy groceries or if Arnie, who was wounded in WW II and is now very ill, gets his check so he can toddle to the VA for his treatment.
But they don't mind at all if Muffin Fitzgerald-Walker gets a bonus this year that equals eighty times the GDP of a Pacific island or that Wall Street is, well, Wall Street (they don't wear no stinkin' Sears suits there!) or that corporations, like the one the Koch's operate, make obscene amounts of money. No, that's perfectly okay. The Repubs, aka Tea Partiers, feel that the ultra-wealthy are the gas that runs the country's engines, they're the movers and the shakers, the innovators and the doers and they should continue to receive tax breaks. The TP's don't want to impede these movers from moving all the money in to their storehouses because those politicians live on hope that all that gold will eventually trickle down to them. They'll be rewarded in some way for their service to Manna. They'll get appointments to boards, jobs as CEOs, chairs on important committees, or ranch hands for the Koch Boys just like Walker did. They will be relieved that they made it out of the Common Person's life and in to the secure and beautiful life of The Rich.
Someone told me once that I was prejudiced against wealthy people. They were shocked I could be so callous because as they said, the wealthy are often philanthropists. True, sometimes a wealthy person does do good things for others. That's appropriate. I think when you have gobs of money you ought to be involved in helping others with your gifts. Also true, I am rather prejudiced against the wealthy. I admit it. The folks meeting at the Double Cross Ranch today are the uber-wealthy and their power is eye-watering. They move others about like puppets which is why we must keep close eyes on the politicians - they have strings tied to wealth and that wealth seeks to buy our freedoms and our planet.
Power To All The Common People!
"Mr. Koch? Is that you, sir? I am calling from the Capitol. Right, the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Sorry to tell you the news, sir, but the Democrats won all their seats yesterday. Yup, that's right, all six of them. Well, I am sorry, sir, we tried mighty hard to confuse them with our cardboard cutouts of Democrats but they just didn't buy it, sir. What's that, sir? Well, yes, sir, indeed we did put pressure on voters. I had all the men workin' real hard, sir. Oh, now I don't think that's quite fair, Mr. Koch. Just because we didn't keep those Democrats from winning seats doesn't mean we shouldn't get paid. What's that? I need to tell the men that they'll have to wait to see what happens in Washington on the debt crises? Mr. Koch, that hardly seems right. Me and the men, no offense intended, don't make much money workin' for you and your brother. Heck, we barely can afford rent on this barn. And me, Larry and Moe, we get Social Security. Yessir, we'll sit tight. Yessir, I guess we could look for part time jobs. No sir, we ain't no slobs."
It's good to celebrate a victory. This one is a bit like "One small step for man..." and it may very well take that continuing kind of effort we exerted to get to the Moon and land on it forty-two years ago. It will mark a small step in the direction of regaining ground after the disastrous 2010 Mid-terms and all that happened after that. And it also points out what kind of effort, personal education and vigilance is needed to have gotten here today. From here on in, we cannot afford to relax because we know the Repubs have a plan and they are working that plan hard. Don't think that out at the Double Cross Ranch all is quiet and sad today. Far from it. They're busy over cowboy coffee and biscuits. Those outlaws are a scrappy bunch!
As wonderful and uplifting as this news is, the debt ceiling crises plods on in Washington and is frightening people everywhere. We have about two weeks before the country could, without raising the debt ceiling, go in to default on payments. Many possibilities loom if that happens including not mailing out Social Security payments to seniors, not mailing out checks to Veterans and/or not paying active duty military. I have written to Obama several times, John Boehner, and the Double Cross Ranch hand, Paul Ryan, as well as Mitch McConnell. It seems the Tea Partiers, who have just about completely co-opted the Republican Party, have determined to stand like cement statues against raising the debt ceiling. They don't seem to care an eyelash if Grandma Johnson gets her measly SS check and therefore can't pay her measly rent or if nineteen-year old Hank over in Afghanistan hunkered down in some forsaken rock pile gets his paycheck so his wife and two-year old back in Cadot, Wisconsin can buy groceries or if Arnie, who was wounded in WW II and is now very ill, gets his check so he can toddle to the VA for his treatment.
But they don't mind at all if Muffin Fitzgerald-Walker gets a bonus this year that equals eighty times the GDP of a Pacific island or that Wall Street is, well, Wall Street (they don't wear no stinkin' Sears suits there!) or that corporations, like the one the Koch's operate, make obscene amounts of money. No, that's perfectly okay. The Repubs, aka Tea Partiers, feel that the ultra-wealthy are the gas that runs the country's engines, they're the movers and the shakers, the innovators and the doers and they should continue to receive tax breaks. The TP's don't want to impede these movers from moving all the money in to their storehouses because those politicians live on hope that all that gold will eventually trickle down to them. They'll be rewarded in some way for their service to Manna. They'll get appointments to boards, jobs as CEOs, chairs on important committees, or ranch hands for the Koch Boys just like Walker did. They will be relieved that they made it out of the Common Person's life and in to the secure and beautiful life of The Rich.
Someone told me once that I was prejudiced against wealthy people. They were shocked I could be so callous because as they said, the wealthy are often philanthropists. True, sometimes a wealthy person does do good things for others. That's appropriate. I think when you have gobs of money you ought to be involved in helping others with your gifts. Also true, I am rather prejudiced against the wealthy. I admit it. The folks meeting at the Double Cross Ranch today are the uber-wealthy and their power is eye-watering. They move others about like puppets which is why we must keep close eyes on the politicians - they have strings tied to wealth and that wealth seeks to buy our freedoms and our planet.
Power To All The Common People!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Today is Recall Day in Wisconsin
Just remembered that today is a huge day in Wisconsin - Recall The Repubs! Here's info on the vote for all you who live in districts affected by these recalls. PLEASE VOTE!!!!!
Brothers and Sisters,
Today, we have the first opportunity to make our voice heard at the ballot box. Today, we begin to reclaim Wisconsin and stop Scott Walker’s corporate takeover of the state. Today is the Democratic primary in six Republican-held Senate Districts. If you live in one of the Districts (see below) be sure to get out and vote!
Despicably, Republicans are running fake, spoiler candidates, posing as Democrats to confuse voters and extend the recall process. And, we’ve just gotten word than an out-of-state group is calling Wisconsinites and telling them to wait to get an absentee ballot in the mail rather than voting today.
This is false information, sent out in recorded phone calls by out-of-staters who want to keep us from voting today in the recall election.
The truth is, recall primary elections are scheduled in six districts today, and if you don’t already have an absentee ballot, it’s too late to request one—you need to go to the polls TODAY.
Here is a list of the REAL candidates who are on the ballot TODAY and are endorsed by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO in July 12 primary and August 9 General Election:
District 2: Nancy Nusbaum
District 8: Sandy Pasch
District 10: Shelly Moore
District 14: Fred Clark
District 18: Jessica King
District 32: Jennifer Shilling
To find your polling location, go to:
https://vpa.wi.gov/
To view a map of the Senate Districts, go to:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/senate.district.map.pdf
More recall information can be found on the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO blog:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/07/recall-101.html
The time to stand up is now. Get out and vote today!
In Solidarity,
Phil Neuenfeldt, President
Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer
Brothers and Sisters,
Today, we have the first opportunity to make our voice heard at the ballot box. Today, we begin to reclaim Wisconsin and stop Scott Walker’s corporate takeover of the state. Today is the Democratic primary in six Republican-held Senate Districts. If you live in one of the Districts (see below) be sure to get out and vote!
Despicably, Republicans are running fake, spoiler candidates, posing as Democrats to confuse voters and extend the recall process. And, we’ve just gotten word than an out-of-state group is calling Wisconsinites and telling them to wait to get an absentee ballot in the mail rather than voting today.
This is false information, sent out in recorded phone calls by out-of-staters who want to keep us from voting today in the recall election.
The truth is, recall primary elections are scheduled in six districts today, and if you don’t already have an absentee ballot, it’s too late to request one—you need to go to the polls TODAY.
Here is a list of the REAL candidates who are on the ballot TODAY and are endorsed by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO in July 12 primary and August 9 General Election:
District 2: Nancy Nusbaum
District 8: Sandy Pasch
District 10: Shelly Moore
District 14: Fred Clark
District 18: Jessica King
District 32: Jennifer Shilling
To find your polling location, go to:
https://vpa.wi.gov/
To view a map of the Senate Districts, go to:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/senate.district.map.pdf
More recall information can be found on the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO blog:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/07/recall-101.html
The time to stand up is now. Get out and vote today!
In Solidarity,
Phil Neuenfeldt, President
Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer
Tick, tick, tick.....
The clock is ticking as August 2nd comes in to view. What will the decision of our elected representatives and senators, our speaker of the house, our president be on the raising or not raising the debt ceiling and chopping SS, Medicare and Medicaid?
While T-Paw tells us our president is not smarter than a fifth grader, Michelle Bachman's husband is scrambling to deny that his "counseling center" is not offering "ex-gay" therapy, our governor signed in to law his "guns in public" legislation. According to WAVE - Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, this law will now allow loaded, hidden guns in to bars, restaurants and other businesses where they just do not belong. Business owners do have the option of posting signs alerting the public that loaded guns are not allowed in their buildings, but they have to be posted where everyone can see them. WAVE reports that "two out of very three Wisconsinites say they will feel less safe, not safer, with guns in public places."
As my son said not long ago when we talked about the potential for a concealed carry law in Wisconsin - "Now let's see, how could this situation (some altercation in a bar, a fight on the street, a protest march, standing in line too long at the grocery store) be improved? Oh, that's right, add guns!" He's so spot on. Adding loaded, hidden guns to the volatility of our society right now will surely improve any situation won't it? What are Walker and his Walker Worshipers thinking??!!
I try to envision the places we like to frequent. We go to this little custard/hamburger bungalow maybe once a week. This guy makes the best burgers but once in a while some jerk has a problem with his sandwich and fusses over the issue at the counter. What would happen if this guy carried a gun and couldn't settle down or felt the owner wasn't being fair? Am I being too dramatic? I don't think so. How about shopping at the local mall? You've seen this, too. A woman is irate that her pj buttons came off after she washed the garment and is demanding her money back plus damages. (I actually had that happen to me when I worked retail) She is bright red and shaking. What if she had a gun? If she had been in a fight with her husband, been drinking? Not everyone shops at the mall in the late morning after coffee with the girls, some shop after Happy Hour!
There's a movie I like - L.A. Story with Steve Martin. It's a spoof on life in Los Angeles. In one scene Steve and his girlfriend are on the freeway. Steve realizes it's "open season on the LA freeway!" and pulls out his gun. They zoom along trying to avoid people in trucks and other cars shooting everywhere. Is this what eating at Applebees will be like on Hectic Fridays? Or dropping in somewhere for a drink on a Saturday night? Open Season for people with their brand new shiny hidden and loaded guns?
So, it's just another step by the outlaw Walker Administration - Gunslingers for Hire. But I decided on a plan of action for myself. From here on I am going to ask the workers or owners at the places I like to go if they are supportive of people bringing in hidden loaded guns. If the answer to that is a shrug, an I don't really care attitude, it's the law so what can I do kind of thing or yes, by all means I am thrilled to have loaded guns in my establishment, then I will tell them that I will no longer be eating or shopping there nor will I be recommending their business to others.
Power To The Town's People!
P.S. Keep your ears and eyes on this debt crises - it has monumental implications! In fact the Republicans should be ashamed and shamed. Their intransigence is frightening seniors. A talk with my elderly mother-in-law this morning left me feeling angry at Boehner et al for what they are doing to the nerves of elders. They are afraid their little trickle of Social Security income will dry up and be gone and then what will happen to them? Shame on these Rethuglians. Tick, tick, tick!
While T-Paw tells us our president is not smarter than a fifth grader, Michelle Bachman's husband is scrambling to deny that his "counseling center" is not offering "ex-gay" therapy, our governor signed in to law his "guns in public" legislation. According to WAVE - Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, this law will now allow loaded, hidden guns in to bars, restaurants and other businesses where they just do not belong. Business owners do have the option of posting signs alerting the public that loaded guns are not allowed in their buildings, but they have to be posted where everyone can see them. WAVE reports that "two out of very three Wisconsinites say they will feel less safe, not safer, with guns in public places."
As my son said not long ago when we talked about the potential for a concealed carry law in Wisconsin - "Now let's see, how could this situation (some altercation in a bar, a fight on the street, a protest march, standing in line too long at the grocery store) be improved? Oh, that's right, add guns!" He's so spot on. Adding loaded, hidden guns to the volatility of our society right now will surely improve any situation won't it? What are Walker and his Walker Worshipers thinking??!!
I try to envision the places we like to frequent. We go to this little custard/hamburger bungalow maybe once a week. This guy makes the best burgers but once in a while some jerk has a problem with his sandwich and fusses over the issue at the counter. What would happen if this guy carried a gun and couldn't settle down or felt the owner wasn't being fair? Am I being too dramatic? I don't think so. How about shopping at the local mall? You've seen this, too. A woman is irate that her pj buttons came off after she washed the garment and is demanding her money back plus damages. (I actually had that happen to me when I worked retail) She is bright red and shaking. What if she had a gun? If she had been in a fight with her husband, been drinking? Not everyone shops at the mall in the late morning after coffee with the girls, some shop after Happy Hour!
There's a movie I like - L.A. Story with Steve Martin. It's a spoof on life in Los Angeles. In one scene Steve and his girlfriend are on the freeway. Steve realizes it's "open season on the LA freeway!" and pulls out his gun. They zoom along trying to avoid people in trucks and other cars shooting everywhere. Is this what eating at Applebees will be like on Hectic Fridays? Or dropping in somewhere for a drink on a Saturday night? Open Season for people with their brand new shiny hidden and loaded guns?
So, it's just another step by the outlaw Walker Administration - Gunslingers for Hire. But I decided on a plan of action for myself. From here on I am going to ask the workers or owners at the places I like to go if they are supportive of people bringing in hidden loaded guns. If the answer to that is a shrug, an I don't really care attitude, it's the law so what can I do kind of thing or yes, by all means I am thrilled to have loaded guns in my establishment, then I will tell them that I will no longer be eating or shopping there nor will I be recommending their business to others.
Power To The Town's People!
P.S. Keep your ears and eyes on this debt crises - it has monumental implications! In fact the Republicans should be ashamed and shamed. Their intransigence is frightening seniors. A talk with my elderly mother-in-law this morning left me feeling angry at Boehner et al for what they are doing to the nerves of elders. They are afraid their little trickle of Social Security income will dry up and be gone and then what will happen to them? Shame on these Rethuglians. Tick, tick, tick!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Dangerous Times Ahead
Enough goofy business. Hope you liked the Wisconsin Dancing Cowgirls. Now on to bigger and very dangerous things.
I have my headset on and am redialing the White House until I get a breathing person so I can leave a personal comment for the President regarding the debt ceiling crisis and the Republican demands for deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. I've written three or four e-letters but I just have to talk to a live human being. If you feel compelled to do the same here's the number to the White House switchboard:
1-202-456-1111
Andy just emailed me that all of Wisconsin legislators - with the exception of Paul Ryan - no surprise there! - and one other, have drafted a petition calling for the protection of Medicare and Medicaid in this state. Perhaps there is some small humanity left in Wisconsin after all. Perhaps the shadow of a moral compass has been cast across the state.
This is big, really big. Even the potential threat to cut deeply in to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (still a solvent program!) while the wealthy in our country continue to receive bailouts, handouts, obscene bonuses, and tax cuts is class warfare in the extreme. Will the vanishing middle class and the poor bear all the burdens for the corporations and their bloated CEOs, for Wall Street, for those who consider a 6-figure income to be bare bones? It appears that is what is being handed to us Common People. Will we stand for this? Will you stand for this?
What will take us in to the streets? Will this do it? Will something even more drastic make that happen? What riles us to the point that we refuse to accept that we have become just so many wage slaves and begin the revitalization of our own selves as citizens of our country? I'm serious. What will get under our skin enough, happen to enough of our elderly relatives, kill enough jobs, take away enough health care, squash us enough that we stop consuming, stop watching movies, stop eating out, stop wanting more and more and turn our attention and energy to doing something real and constructive? Will it be this threatened loss of support structures?
One of the 14 Senators who fled to Illinois this past late winter to preserve what they could of our rights as workers was Chris Larson. Chris is Wisconsin Senator of District 7. He sends out a newsletter online to those who supported the 14 while they were gone. I am including the link to Chris' newsletter because I think it is important to hear the voices of others than media or Walker-backed-Ryan supporters. In this newsletter Chris takes up the topic of Accountability and Transparency in our state government. He calls Walker's moves "dangerous". I agree.
https://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox/1310ae1191dc3ac4
Although it might seem that talking about Chris and his newsletter is off the topic of Republican-led cuts in social programs, the very support structures of our society, isn't accountability and transparency at the root of much of our discontent? It begs a list of questions I think.
1. Are we holding our representatives and senators and presidents truly accountable on each and every decision? After all isn't that what participative democracy is all about?
2. Do we believe that our government and its decisions is as transparent as it can reasonably be?
3. Is the manner in which debate regarding the most precious of our supports handled with both accountability and transparency? Not to mention all other aspects that touch upon our daily lives, our well being, our natural resources and our wild lands.
4. What would each of us do if we could not answer these questions in a positive, completely honest way?
What do we do if the President and the Dems cave to the Republicans on this and say yes to cuts that will make a mockery out of my previous post on what will they do with Andy's elderly Aunt? What will I do? What will you do? Some thoughts on that...
When I went on a study trip to Mexico the point of that trip was to sensitize a North American to the systemic poverty that faces millions of people in the community of Cuernavaca. Along with 20 other North Americans, I spent two weeks in daily conversation with the abject poor, those living in railroad settlements in cardboard shacks with the printed names of American corporations stamped on the sides. And with men and women who had given their lives over to helping these compensinos. It was a dialogical constant, a daily interface with people who were rising up from extreme and crushing poverty to take control of their lives and build resilient communities. They were taking charge of their own food, their own health care and their own education. It was a liberating environment in which to spend those two weeks and it was very uncomfortable. After all, we 20 were privileged. We wore new clothes and fancy tennis shoes. Still, after the time was nearly up we all felt changed, deeply altered in our thinking and in the way in which we saw the world.
We are perched on the edge, as I have written before, of massive changes not only in our environment as global climate change unhinges our systems but also in our lives as citizens of every country. In the U.S. the changes will be difficult just like they were for those 20 of us in Mexico. We will need to be courageous, determined, vocal and smart. Our treasured Middle Class, the great We the Common People, is going to have to educate ourselves on what a much more local government looks like, how it works and how it responds. It's time for us to roll up our sleeves and get busy making our communities strong and healthy.
Call the President would you? While we begin the process of re-building our own communities in a more Common Way, we need to fight with all our might to preserve what we can for those who are in need.
Power To All The Common People!
I have my headset on and am redialing the White House until I get a breathing person so I can leave a personal comment for the President regarding the debt ceiling crisis and the Republican demands for deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. I've written three or four e-letters but I just have to talk to a live human being. If you feel compelled to do the same here's the number to the White House switchboard:
1-202-456-1111
Andy just emailed me that all of Wisconsin legislators - with the exception of Paul Ryan - no surprise there! - and one other, have drafted a petition calling for the protection of Medicare and Medicaid in this state. Perhaps there is some small humanity left in Wisconsin after all. Perhaps the shadow of a moral compass has been cast across the state.
This is big, really big. Even the potential threat to cut deeply in to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (still a solvent program!) while the wealthy in our country continue to receive bailouts, handouts, obscene bonuses, and tax cuts is class warfare in the extreme. Will the vanishing middle class and the poor bear all the burdens for the corporations and their bloated CEOs, for Wall Street, for those who consider a 6-figure income to be bare bones? It appears that is what is being handed to us Common People. Will we stand for this? Will you stand for this?
What will take us in to the streets? Will this do it? Will something even more drastic make that happen? What riles us to the point that we refuse to accept that we have become just so many wage slaves and begin the revitalization of our own selves as citizens of our country? I'm serious. What will get under our skin enough, happen to enough of our elderly relatives, kill enough jobs, take away enough health care, squash us enough that we stop consuming, stop watching movies, stop eating out, stop wanting more and more and turn our attention and energy to doing something real and constructive? Will it be this threatened loss of support structures?
One of the 14 Senators who fled to Illinois this past late winter to preserve what they could of our rights as workers was Chris Larson. Chris is Wisconsin Senator of District 7. He sends out a newsletter online to those who supported the 14 while they were gone. I am including the link to Chris' newsletter because I think it is important to hear the voices of others than media or Walker-backed-Ryan supporters. In this newsletter Chris takes up the topic of Accountability and Transparency in our state government. He calls Walker's moves "dangerous". I agree.
https://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox/1310ae1191dc3ac4
Although it might seem that talking about Chris and his newsletter is off the topic of Republican-led cuts in social programs, the very support structures of our society, isn't accountability and transparency at the root of much of our discontent? It begs a list of questions I think.
1. Are we holding our representatives and senators and presidents truly accountable on each and every decision? After all isn't that what participative democracy is all about?
2. Do we believe that our government and its decisions is as transparent as it can reasonably be?
3. Is the manner in which debate regarding the most precious of our supports handled with both accountability and transparency? Not to mention all other aspects that touch upon our daily lives, our well being, our natural resources and our wild lands.
4. What would each of us do if we could not answer these questions in a positive, completely honest way?
What do we do if the President and the Dems cave to the Republicans on this and say yes to cuts that will make a mockery out of my previous post on what will they do with Andy's elderly Aunt? What will I do? What will you do? Some thoughts on that...
When I went on a study trip to Mexico the point of that trip was to sensitize a North American to the systemic poverty that faces millions of people in the community of Cuernavaca. Along with 20 other North Americans, I spent two weeks in daily conversation with the abject poor, those living in railroad settlements in cardboard shacks with the printed names of American corporations stamped on the sides. And with men and women who had given their lives over to helping these compensinos. It was a dialogical constant, a daily interface with people who were rising up from extreme and crushing poverty to take control of their lives and build resilient communities. They were taking charge of their own food, their own health care and their own education. It was a liberating environment in which to spend those two weeks and it was very uncomfortable. After all, we 20 were privileged. We wore new clothes and fancy tennis shoes. Still, after the time was nearly up we all felt changed, deeply altered in our thinking and in the way in which we saw the world.
We are perched on the edge, as I have written before, of massive changes not only in our environment as global climate change unhinges our systems but also in our lives as citizens of every country. In the U.S. the changes will be difficult just like they were for those 20 of us in Mexico. We will need to be courageous, determined, vocal and smart. Our treasured Middle Class, the great We the Common People, is going to have to educate ourselves on what a much more local government looks like, how it works and how it responds. It's time for us to roll up our sleeves and get busy making our communities strong and healthy.
Call the President would you? While we begin the process of re-building our own communities in a more Common Way, we need to fight with all our might to preserve what we can for those who are in need.
Power To All The Common People!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wisconsin Cowgirls Shake It On Thursday
I know, I know.....being silly is recommended by just about every spiritual practice in existence. Hey, Deepak Chopra advises it, so does my three-year old great niece and she should know! So I want to share my favorite e-card with you. Trust me, it's classic Wisconsin with classic 60s music. What cud be butter? (ouch, that was bad wasn't it?) Why, you ask, am I departing from witty political comment? Because it's a great day in Wisconsin, not too hot and not too humid and after many days of both, everyone deserves a few moments of levity. And because this just gets me moovin'!
Enjoy a July Wisconsin break.
http://www.care2.com/send/card/5526
Take that Scott Walker.
Power To All The Common Cowgirls!
Enjoy a July Wisconsin break.
http://www.care2.com/send/card/5526
Take that Scott Walker.
Power To All The Common Cowgirls!
The Top of The Top Ten Worst Governors
Well, I can't say I was shocked really but it was something to see. The headlines at AlterNet.org listed Koch Bros. funded and backed, collective bargaining hatchet man Scott Walker as the top of the Top Ten Worst Governors in the United States. I'm sorry - the actual article title was The 10 Scariest GOP Governors: Bringing a Radical Right-Wing Agenda to a State Near You . Still, worst is about the same isn't it? And Scott W is at the top of the list. Groan. We all knew it was bad but taking top place for scariest? That is really awful. Here's some of what AlterNet had to say about Mr. Walker:
"Without Walker, public sector unions wouldn't have become a rallying cry for the left, that's for sure. But he picked the wrong fight in a state with a proud history of organized labor—a state that teaches labor history in the public schools."
Damn skippy!
"Still, the bill passed, Walker's still in charge, and he's been taking aim at those who could defeat him. He got his way with a vicious voter ID bill and his budget cuts hit everything from the state university to the public schools to the state's health care program, one of the best in the country. He targeted rural broadband, people with disabilities and reproductive health care, and he's even messing with craft beer. (He really should know better on that one, but it seems there isn't a fight Walker's unwilling to pick.)"
Does the term "thug" come to mind?
AlterNet went on to say in regards to all ten of the scary governors:
"These governors all have some things in common. Most of them were elected in 2010 while progressive turnout was depressed and conservative anger, particularly the virulent anti-government type springing from the Tea Party movement, spilled over at the polls. Many of them took over swing states from Democratic administrations. Most of them did not run on promises to take away collective bargaining from workers, slash pensions and health care and outlaw abortion. Instead, they focused on jobs—and, admittedly, their own solution to creating jobs, which is, of course, cutting taxes.
A year or more into their terms, taxes have been cut, the wealthy are doing fine, and working people, particularly immigrants and women, are struggling. The promises of jobs have given way to Shock Doctrine-style cuts, attacks on unions, public services, and voting rights. Since it can be hard to keep up with the moves by different governors around the country, we've compiled a list of the 10 scariest GOP governors and their proposals."
The article asks what's next? Yeah, a good question. I guess the term scary is right on when it comes to these power-backed, big money-supported, guillotine-wielding people. My suggestion is to get some good sunscreen, a nice broad-brimmed hat and a stainless steel water bottle just in case we need to pour out in to the streets again (or continually) and make our loud common voices heard. No guarantees just solidarity. And that is what makes community resilient. When We The Common People join together and speak truth to power we find our common courage and our strength to confront the powers and principalities.
Power To All The Common People!
"Without Walker, public sector unions wouldn't have become a rallying cry for the left, that's for sure. But he picked the wrong fight in a state with a proud history of organized labor—a state that teaches labor history in the public schools."
Damn skippy!
"Still, the bill passed, Walker's still in charge, and he's been taking aim at those who could defeat him. He got his way with a vicious voter ID bill and his budget cuts hit everything from the state university to the public schools to the state's health care program, one of the best in the country. He targeted rural broadband, people with disabilities and reproductive health care, and he's even messing with craft beer. (He really should know better on that one, but it seems there isn't a fight Walker's unwilling to pick.)"
Does the term "thug" come to mind?
AlterNet went on to say in regards to all ten of the scary governors:
"These governors all have some things in common. Most of them were elected in 2010 while progressive turnout was depressed and conservative anger, particularly the virulent anti-government type springing from the Tea Party movement, spilled over at the polls. Many of them took over swing states from Democratic administrations. Most of them did not run on promises to take away collective bargaining from workers, slash pensions and health care and outlaw abortion. Instead, they focused on jobs—and, admittedly, their own solution to creating jobs, which is, of course, cutting taxes.
A year or more into their terms, taxes have been cut, the wealthy are doing fine, and working people, particularly immigrants and women, are struggling. The promises of jobs have given way to Shock Doctrine-style cuts, attacks on unions, public services, and voting rights. Since it can be hard to keep up with the moves by different governors around the country, we've compiled a list of the 10 scariest GOP governors and their proposals."
The article asks what's next? Yeah, a good question. I guess the term scary is right on when it comes to these power-backed, big money-supported, guillotine-wielding people. My suggestion is to get some good sunscreen, a nice broad-brimmed hat and a stainless steel water bottle just in case we need to pour out in to the streets again (or continually) and make our loud common voices heard. No guarantees just solidarity. And that is what makes community resilient. When We The Common People join together and speak truth to power we find our common courage and our strength to confront the powers and principalities.
Power To All The Common People!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
and another thing.......
You know how it is when you're on a roll? You keep thinking of things you wished you'd said. Well, Mr. Walker, I can't be quiet and I want to share my further thoughts with you because I'm on a roll today. This kind of thing happens to We The Common People when we're riled up, frustrated, angry and downright pissed off. So, here I go. Hang on to your political pantyhose Mr. Walker.
I was on the bus in my community this morning when this occurred to me. I ride the mass transit in my town in southern Wisconsin, Mr. Walker, because I feel it is a responsible thing to do. You, on the other hand, have killed off the possibility of state citizens like myself being able to take advantage of new developments in mass transportation when you murdered the train. Nice move. When hundreds of cities across America are excited about expanding their mass transit services to their citizens for all kinds of sound reasons, you kill ours in Wisconsin. Duh.
At any rate, I was on one of the city buses when I thought about the threatened cuts to support systems like Medicaid. Our own Paul Ryan is the hatchet artist on this plan. Do you know if he has a grandmother or an aunt Mr. Walker? I just wondered. My husband does. He has a 96-year old aunt who is currently living in a nursing home here in Wisconsin. She lived in her own home until a couple years ago when it was dangerous for her to be there and because there were not enough hours in the day that could be covered by community programs and because the minimal amount of family was not equipped to handle her health and physical needs. She worked all her life Mr. Walker as a waitress. She paid her own bills, took good care of her home, never asked for anything from anyone. She has been fortunate not to need extended medical care but the small amount she has had to avail herself of she has paid for herself. She has taken out bonds and insurance policies. She is a voting member of the public and has never been a shirker. She would be horrified if someone referred to her as a "welfare queen" because she isn't working now and is living in the nursing home on Medicaid. Her bootstraps only lasted so long, sorry about that.
My question, Mr. Walker, is what will you, et al, do with my husband's aunt if you and all the Ryan's and others of like minds decide to kill Medicaid (Medicare too is on your guillotine I know)? Will you have someone wheel her out on the driveway at the nursing home? Will she be told she needs to pull up her bootstraps? Will she be able to take the few things she has at the nursing home with her or will those be liquidated to help pay for care while she was a resident? I have figured out that it doesn't matter to Paul Ryan or to you that our family doesn't have the resources or the space to care for her, you just want to remove all these free loaders from the balance sheets.
So, I was just wondering what will become of my husband's 96-year old aunt who surely is taking advantage of everyone else and sucking dry the state coffers in her tiny room with one window. I know it's tough on you, Mr. Walker, but someone has to man up and drop the blade on the elderly, the handicapped, the sick and the veterans. Just don't think of it as your mother or grandmother or aunt because that makes it so much more human and so much more real.
Power To All People!
I was on the bus in my community this morning when this occurred to me. I ride the mass transit in my town in southern Wisconsin, Mr. Walker, because I feel it is a responsible thing to do. You, on the other hand, have killed off the possibility of state citizens like myself being able to take advantage of new developments in mass transportation when you murdered the train. Nice move. When hundreds of cities across America are excited about expanding their mass transit services to their citizens for all kinds of sound reasons, you kill ours in Wisconsin. Duh.
At any rate, I was on one of the city buses when I thought about the threatened cuts to support systems like Medicaid. Our own Paul Ryan is the hatchet artist on this plan. Do you know if he has a grandmother or an aunt Mr. Walker? I just wondered. My husband does. He has a 96-year old aunt who is currently living in a nursing home here in Wisconsin. She lived in her own home until a couple years ago when it was dangerous for her to be there and because there were not enough hours in the day that could be covered by community programs and because the minimal amount of family was not equipped to handle her health and physical needs. She worked all her life Mr. Walker as a waitress. She paid her own bills, took good care of her home, never asked for anything from anyone. She has been fortunate not to need extended medical care but the small amount she has had to avail herself of she has paid for herself. She has taken out bonds and insurance policies. She is a voting member of the public and has never been a shirker. She would be horrified if someone referred to her as a "welfare queen" because she isn't working now and is living in the nursing home on Medicaid. Her bootstraps only lasted so long, sorry about that.
My question, Mr. Walker, is what will you, et al, do with my husband's aunt if you and all the Ryan's and others of like minds decide to kill Medicaid (Medicare too is on your guillotine I know)? Will you have someone wheel her out on the driveway at the nursing home? Will she be told she needs to pull up her bootstraps? Will she be able to take the few things she has at the nursing home with her or will those be liquidated to help pay for care while she was a resident? I have figured out that it doesn't matter to Paul Ryan or to you that our family doesn't have the resources or the space to care for her, you just want to remove all these free loaders from the balance sheets.
So, I was just wondering what will become of my husband's 96-year old aunt who surely is taking advantage of everyone else and sucking dry the state coffers in her tiny room with one window. I know it's tough on you, Mr. Walker, but someone has to man up and drop the blade on the elderly, the handicapped, the sick and the veterans. Just don't think of it as your mother or grandmother or aunt because that makes it so much more human and so much more real.
Power To All People!
Dear Mr. Walker.......
Open letter to the Governor of Wisconsin from a constituent.
I am writing from a community in southern Wisconsin. We pay attention to things down here just like our brothers and sisters all over the state. We've been paying attention since February 11th when the young folks in Madison decided to support their educators by going in to the streets and shouting about fair play, honest wages, and how angry they were that you were going to take away their teachers collective bargaining rights and the collective bargaining rights of many other public employees. We've been paying attention since thousands of us traveled to Madison to protest your night time flights of fantasy, your under-handed and under-the-table deals and the knowledge of who actually pulls your strings.
We're still paying attention. How do I know this, Mr. Walker? Because I see more and more signs in the windows of homes in the community in which I live, more bumper stickers, more yard signs declaring RECALL WALKER! I have one in my window, too. That is not a surprise to me but my question is, is it a surprise to you? And if it is something of a surprise, why would that be true? Oh, I know, you probably think we're all a bit simple-minded out here in Common Middle Class Land or what will be left of it when you're done. I know, we liberals/progressives are just daft when it comes to finances and budgets and support structures. We can't be depended on to guide the ship of state with a steady hand on the tiller. We'd sail off the edge of the known world with all our silly social programs trailing along behind us. We don't have the backbone to dish out the tough love you and your cohorts do to rein in this out-of-control nearly bankrupt state. Thank goodness you are here to save us!
Anyway, that's what I imagine you are thinking. I might be way off in left field though. You might not be thinking anything of the sort. You might be thinking that concealed carry is just the ticket or that ending collective bargaining is Just In Time political maneuvering ala others of your kind across the U.S. or that Judge Prosser simply has a bit of a temper but otherwise is a peach of a fellow or that Paul Ryan's draconian plans for state and federal support services are nothing but line items in the war on the middle class which was overdue according to you and others of your kind.
That's what I imagine. Because, Mr. Walker, I can't imagine a person who has the best interests of the people of his state at heart doing even one of the things you have done since you have been in office in Wisconsin. Because, Mr. Walker, I think you are in the pocket of the Koch Bros., and who knows who else and they make or break your agenda. Because I think the office of the governor of Wisconsin has been bought by Big Business and you are the Big Business hired gun.
The other day a patient with whom I visited told me she had moved from Wisconsin to Illinois. When I asked her why she told me that Wisconsin is going down the tubes, that it isn't friendly to regular people and that it is becoming a state of governmental outlaws. Are you an outlaw Mr. Walker? Is Scott Fitzgerald an outlaw? Do you work for the Koch Boys, the wealthy ranchers who own everything and everyone and hire people like you to do their dirty work? Is Wisconsin returning to the days of the Wild West?
I can only say beware the pitch forks and torches, Mr. Walker. When the citizens lose so much that they can barely subsist, there may be more marches and more protests. Civil unrest is a mighty thing to be responsible for, Mr. Walker.
I remain in solidarity with the Common People just like me.
Power to All the People!
I am writing from a community in southern Wisconsin. We pay attention to things down here just like our brothers and sisters all over the state. We've been paying attention since February 11th when the young folks in Madison decided to support their educators by going in to the streets and shouting about fair play, honest wages, and how angry they were that you were going to take away their teachers collective bargaining rights and the collective bargaining rights of many other public employees. We've been paying attention since thousands of us traveled to Madison to protest your night time flights of fantasy, your under-handed and under-the-table deals and the knowledge of who actually pulls your strings.
We're still paying attention. How do I know this, Mr. Walker? Because I see more and more signs in the windows of homes in the community in which I live, more bumper stickers, more yard signs declaring RECALL WALKER! I have one in my window, too. That is not a surprise to me but my question is, is it a surprise to you? And if it is something of a surprise, why would that be true? Oh, I know, you probably think we're all a bit simple-minded out here in Common Middle Class Land or what will be left of it when you're done. I know, we liberals/progressives are just daft when it comes to finances and budgets and support structures. We can't be depended on to guide the ship of state with a steady hand on the tiller. We'd sail off the edge of the known world with all our silly social programs trailing along behind us. We don't have the backbone to dish out the tough love you and your cohorts do to rein in this out-of-control nearly bankrupt state. Thank goodness you are here to save us!
Anyway, that's what I imagine you are thinking. I might be way off in left field though. You might not be thinking anything of the sort. You might be thinking that concealed carry is just the ticket or that ending collective bargaining is Just In Time political maneuvering ala others of your kind across the U.S. or that Judge Prosser simply has a bit of a temper but otherwise is a peach of a fellow or that Paul Ryan's draconian plans for state and federal support services are nothing but line items in the war on the middle class which was overdue according to you and others of your kind.
That's what I imagine. Because, Mr. Walker, I can't imagine a person who has the best interests of the people of his state at heart doing even one of the things you have done since you have been in office in Wisconsin. Because, Mr. Walker, I think you are in the pocket of the Koch Bros., and who knows who else and they make or break your agenda. Because I think the office of the governor of Wisconsin has been bought by Big Business and you are the Big Business hired gun.
The other day a patient with whom I visited told me she had moved from Wisconsin to Illinois. When I asked her why she told me that Wisconsin is going down the tubes, that it isn't friendly to regular people and that it is becoming a state of governmental outlaws. Are you an outlaw Mr. Walker? Is Scott Fitzgerald an outlaw? Do you work for the Koch Boys, the wealthy ranchers who own everything and everyone and hire people like you to do their dirty work? Is Wisconsin returning to the days of the Wild West?
I can only say beware the pitch forks and torches, Mr. Walker. When the citizens lose so much that they can barely subsist, there may be more marches and more protests. Civil unrest is a mighty thing to be responsible for, Mr. Walker.
I remain in solidarity with the Common People just like me.
Power to All the People!
Monday, June 27, 2011
The Floods, Judge and Fires Out West
Enquiring minds in Wisconsin want to know why David Prosser is still a judge. I sure do! This today from One Wisconsin Now.
"According to media reports, this latest action and possible assault by Prosser took place as Prosser was concocting the majority opinion as the deciding vote allowing Gov. Scott Walker's attack on 175,000 Wisconsin workers.
Prosser has time and again dismissed his unhinged behavior. The corporate speculators and right wing special interests like Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the Koch brothers and the Republicans that bankrolled his re-election dismiss his conduct. Why? Because time and again, Prosser is the deciding vote on the court to uphold their damaging agenda and endorse the reckless lawlessness of actions like Scott Fitzgerald's open meeting law violation to pass Walker's anti-collective bargaining scheme."
Prosser should never have been elected in the first place, should never have made it through the recount and now must be forced to resign. There are many places calling for his resignation today. Google 'Prosser resignation' and see what pops up. Sign something calling for his ouster or call your representative and tell them how angry you are that a sitting judge in Wisconsin can behave as if he were a character in the movie Anger Management! What's disgusting? Prosser's disgusting!!!
I just read a blurb on Rep. Ryan - you know, the guy who has the knives out for all social support structures in Wisconsin? Well, turns out he's also a guy who doesn't believe the planet is suffering a fever. He won't buy the science which for decades now has been warning us that our climate (not ever to be confused with local weather events by themselves like a deluge in one community but not in one next door)is changing and rapidly. He also gets a puckered face when the science mentions that homo sapiens is largely to blame for the rising temperatures, violent storms, terrible fires and developing and widening droughts as consequences of our addiction to fossil fuels. Just doesn't sit well with him.
Paul Ryan is also one of the many climate deniers in Congress who are refusing to allow the USDA to make broad plans to protect our food supply. Because he doesn't agree with the vetted science and/or because he just can't believe we humans have had any part to play in the scenario, he's going to endanger the people of our country by refusing to make contingency plans.
And why do we need these? Have you read the news? Drought in Texas, fires raging in Arizona, tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast, floods in the heartland. The Missouri River is threatening two nuclear power plants near Omaha, Nebraska. The Mississippi River just wrecked havoc up and down most of its length, the Souris River in North Dakota is causing major damage and loss of property and crops. And this Wisconsin representative is not willing to support a plan to protect our food sources.
What kind of people are these? I am stunned at the unwillingness on the part of these angry judges and ultra right wing representatives to step aside from their personal issues and support the common good. Are We The People just so much bother to them? Are We The People just a sub category to their "real" work? If that is even close to true then not only are we in trouble but we had better get extra busy changing that!
I added the above photo some weeks ago and titled it Looking for Wisconsin's Moral Compass. I was going to change it but today - I think I'll keep it 'cause it sure looks like we're in desperate need of one more than ever!
Pray for the living and fight like hell for our freedoms!
Power To All The Common People!
"According to media reports, this latest action and possible assault by Prosser took place as Prosser was concocting the majority opinion as the deciding vote allowing Gov. Scott Walker's attack on 175,000 Wisconsin workers.
Prosser has time and again dismissed his unhinged behavior. The corporate speculators and right wing special interests like Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the Koch brothers and the Republicans that bankrolled his re-election dismiss his conduct. Why? Because time and again, Prosser is the deciding vote on the court to uphold their damaging agenda and endorse the reckless lawlessness of actions like Scott Fitzgerald's open meeting law violation to pass Walker's anti-collective bargaining scheme."
Prosser should never have been elected in the first place, should never have made it through the recount and now must be forced to resign. There are many places calling for his resignation today. Google 'Prosser resignation' and see what pops up. Sign something calling for his ouster or call your representative and tell them how angry you are that a sitting judge in Wisconsin can behave as if he were a character in the movie Anger Management! What's disgusting? Prosser's disgusting!!!
I just read a blurb on Rep. Ryan - you know, the guy who has the knives out for all social support structures in Wisconsin? Well, turns out he's also a guy who doesn't believe the planet is suffering a fever. He won't buy the science which for decades now has been warning us that our climate (not ever to be confused with local weather events by themselves like a deluge in one community but not in one next door)is changing and rapidly. He also gets a puckered face when the science mentions that homo sapiens is largely to blame for the rising temperatures, violent storms, terrible fires and developing and widening droughts as consequences of our addiction to fossil fuels. Just doesn't sit well with him.
Paul Ryan is also one of the many climate deniers in Congress who are refusing to allow the USDA to make broad plans to protect our food supply. Because he doesn't agree with the vetted science and/or because he just can't believe we humans have had any part to play in the scenario, he's going to endanger the people of our country by refusing to make contingency plans.
And why do we need these? Have you read the news? Drought in Texas, fires raging in Arizona, tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast, floods in the heartland. The Missouri River is threatening two nuclear power plants near Omaha, Nebraska. The Mississippi River just wrecked havoc up and down most of its length, the Souris River in North Dakota is causing major damage and loss of property and crops. And this Wisconsin representative is not willing to support a plan to protect our food sources.
What kind of people are these? I am stunned at the unwillingness on the part of these angry judges and ultra right wing representatives to step aside from their personal issues and support the common good. Are We The People just so much bother to them? Are We The People just a sub category to their "real" work? If that is even close to true then not only are we in trouble but we had better get extra busy changing that!
I added the above photo some weeks ago and titled it Looking for Wisconsin's Moral Compass. I was going to change it but today - I think I'll keep it 'cause it sure looks like we're in desperate need of one more than ever!
Pray for the living and fight like hell for our freedoms!
Power To All The Common People!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wisconsin Supreme Court Backs Walker
You've heard no doubt. It was on the national news, scrolling across the bottom of television screens everywhere. The "election" of Judge Prosser sealed the fate of collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin. Judge Sumi's decision was cast aside and the anti-union, anti-middle class voices spoke. The following is from All Headline News online:
On a 4-3 vote, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the state’s anti-union law. The decision reverses a ruling by a lower court which ordered a permanent injunction against the law. The court said the state legislature did not breach Wisconsin’s constitution in curbing the collective bargaining rights of most state employees. The court decision is a major political victory for Gov. Scott Walker, who supported the bill amid protest by teachers, union members and others who believe the law is an affront on workers’ rights.
If they did not break the open meeting law then what would we call what happened? Many people have many questions!
Visit The Cap Times at www.host.madison.com to read excellent posts on this historical vote. It will, without a doubt, change Wisconsin. According to a Care2 article this morning:
But the decision is not likely to take the pressure of Republicans in the state anytime soon. A new poll released shows Gov. Walker's popularity is at an all-time low with at least half of the state favoring recalling the Governor. That same poll shows Walker losing to either Russ Feingold or Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a hypothetical future match. Recall efforts against six GOP senators also took a major leap forward as EMILY's List endorsed five candidates in those recall elections. Wisconsin is simply one state in a national strategy of permanently disenfranchising Democratic voters and eradicating decades of gains by the middle-class.
The truth of that last sentence is reverberating in my head this morning as I read these posts. It is and has been a concerted ultra-right-wing agenda operating in destruction mode. For further looks at that read this from Care2.
http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/wisconsin-wants-to-repeal-child-labor-laws-too/
It is impossible to arrive at any other conclusions than money - that has to be the driving force behind these draconian moves to completely dismantle the middle class in America. What else could it be? We don't believe the song and dance about balancing budgets, we know that's horse manure. We don't believe people like Walker-Fitzgerald are compassionate people at heart, that's clearly not the case. I haven't made it to sixty-three years old without knowing some things and one of the things I know is money has a smell to it, a glint to it, a shrill sound to it and things done in money's name have a sneakiness to them. These decisions beings made in Wisconsin, these deals being done in the dark, these calls to the Kochs, the threats and the lies all smell, sound, glitter like lots and lots of money.
Please call your state representative, your senator and let them know you are appalled at this hijacking of Wisconsin. Just like the playground it often takes a group to defeat a bully.
Walker et al are now moving along other fronts. One is to roll back Child Labor Laws. If the word appalling doesn't work here I don't know what does! Another front is the environment. This is from League of Conservation Voters.
Dear Jeanie,
The Wisconsin recall fight is ground zero for the future of sound environmental policy.
The state of Wisconsin has emerged as ground zero for efforts to take back our democracy from corporate special interests. As you’ve probably heard, Tea Party-backed lawmakers, led by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, are pushing one of the most egregious anti-environment agendas in the nation. And if they succeed unchallenged, other states may soon see similar efforts.
The Koch Brothers and their dirty polluter allies are investing millions to keep the Wisconsin State Senate’s anti-environment majority. They invested heavily in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and other Tea Party governors during the 2010 elections and there are not about to see their investments fall short.
So far, Scott Walker has delivered handsomely for dirty polluters. Walker’s anti-environment attacks include:
Shutting down Wisconsin’s $400 million wind industry
Rejecting $800 million in mass transit funding (absolutely disgraceful when gas is at $4 per gallon)
Providing campaign donors special exemptions to build on Wisconsin’s wetlands
If Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers win this summer it will open the floodgates to unchecked dirty polluter campaign money. If they win in Wisconsin, every sound environmental policy in every state will be under threat. But just as important, Wisconsin LCV is backing a strong slate of pro-environment candidates who will fight for important environmental protections and vital clean energy policies.
Keep your eye on this Common Struggle. It is the struggle of us all!
Power To All The People!
On a 4-3 vote, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the state’s anti-union law. The decision reverses a ruling by a lower court which ordered a permanent injunction against the law. The court said the state legislature did not breach Wisconsin’s constitution in curbing the collective bargaining rights of most state employees. The court decision is a major political victory for Gov. Scott Walker, who supported the bill amid protest by teachers, union members and others who believe the law is an affront on workers’ rights.
If they did not break the open meeting law then what would we call what happened? Many people have many questions!
Visit The Cap Times at www.host.madison.com to read excellent posts on this historical vote. It will, without a doubt, change Wisconsin. According to a Care2 article this morning:
But the decision is not likely to take the pressure of Republicans in the state anytime soon. A new poll released shows Gov. Walker's popularity is at an all-time low with at least half of the state favoring recalling the Governor. That same poll shows Walker losing to either Russ Feingold or Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a hypothetical future match. Recall efforts against six GOP senators also took a major leap forward as EMILY's List endorsed five candidates in those recall elections. Wisconsin is simply one state in a national strategy of permanently disenfranchising Democratic voters and eradicating decades of gains by the middle-class.
The truth of that last sentence is reverberating in my head this morning as I read these posts. It is and has been a concerted ultra-right-wing agenda operating in destruction mode. For further looks at that read this from Care2.
http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/wisconsin-wants-to-repeal-child-labor-laws-too/
It is impossible to arrive at any other conclusions than money - that has to be the driving force behind these draconian moves to completely dismantle the middle class in America. What else could it be? We don't believe the song and dance about balancing budgets, we know that's horse manure. We don't believe people like Walker-Fitzgerald are compassionate people at heart, that's clearly not the case. I haven't made it to sixty-three years old without knowing some things and one of the things I know is money has a smell to it, a glint to it, a shrill sound to it and things done in money's name have a sneakiness to them. These decisions beings made in Wisconsin, these deals being done in the dark, these calls to the Kochs, the threats and the lies all smell, sound, glitter like lots and lots of money.
Please call your state representative, your senator and let them know you are appalled at this hijacking of Wisconsin. Just like the playground it often takes a group to defeat a bully.
Walker et al are now moving along other fronts. One is to roll back Child Labor Laws. If the word appalling doesn't work here I don't know what does! Another front is the environment. This is from League of Conservation Voters.
Dear Jeanie,
The Wisconsin recall fight is ground zero for the future of sound environmental policy.
The state of Wisconsin has emerged as ground zero for efforts to take back our democracy from corporate special interests. As you’ve probably heard, Tea Party-backed lawmakers, led by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, are pushing one of the most egregious anti-environment agendas in the nation. And if they succeed unchallenged, other states may soon see similar efforts.
The Koch Brothers and their dirty polluter allies are investing millions to keep the Wisconsin State Senate’s anti-environment majority. They invested heavily in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and other Tea Party governors during the 2010 elections and there are not about to see their investments fall short.
So far, Scott Walker has delivered handsomely for dirty polluters. Walker’s anti-environment attacks include:
Shutting down Wisconsin’s $400 million wind industry
Rejecting $800 million in mass transit funding (absolutely disgraceful when gas is at $4 per gallon)
Providing campaign donors special exemptions to build on Wisconsin’s wetlands
If Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers win this summer it will open the floodgates to unchecked dirty polluter campaign money. If they win in Wisconsin, every sound environmental policy in every state will be under threat. But just as important, Wisconsin LCV is backing a strong slate of pro-environment candidates who will fight for important environmental protections and vital clean energy policies.
Keep your eye on this Common Struggle. It is the struggle of us all!
Power To All The People!
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