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!

This just in.......

From One Wisconsin Now, Scot Ross reports he just returned from the Palin side show in the Mad City. He is irate. Read what he has to say -

"I can still hear her words clanging in my ears. Sarah Palin said Gov. Walker and the Senate and Assembly Republicans showed “courage.” “Courage”? Hurting Wisconsin’s seniors, students and working families to pay off Wall Street and corporate America with our tax dollars is as far from courage as Madison is from Palin’s Alaska. The agenda of Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Alberta Darling, Scott Walker and the rest of them doesn’t show “courage,” it is the definition of cowardice. It is the people of Wisconsin who will show our collective “courage” in standing up to these corporate Koch fiends."

It's pretty clear there is a struggle ahead and that the past couple months weren't simply a hiccup. There will be more to come on the Palin/tea party rally today.

The People Speak!

Unbelievable! JoAnne Kloppenburg has apparently edged out Prosser! I can't believe it but I can - so many people have responded to the anti-human agenda of the Tea Party Repubs in Wisconsin. Expected turnout Tuesday was 20% - an awful percentage that speaks directly to apathy. But The People surprised everyone at 33%. Good for us! Most certainly Prosser will ask for a recount but the truth is in - The People are saying they are awakening to What Democracy Looks Like! It doesn't look like a standing supreme court judge who calls a supreme court chief justice a bitch. It doesn't look like officials who are funded by corporate interests. It looks like some serious recalls as the months progress.

Here are some articles I found today you might also enjoy reading.

On the wonderful feelings og Kloppenburg's victory.
http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/kloppenburg-wins-wisconsin-court-seat-recount-likely/#comment-1909518

Walker handing out favors? No, really?
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=bsp&ver=ohhl4rw8mbn4

Today I rode the city bus to an appointment and again in the afternoon I took the bus to another city to meet Andy for an appointment. On that longer ride I was with a full bus of The Common People. I had one of those moments when something becomes crystal clear. I knew Scott Walker, Scott Fitzgerald and the Koch Boys don't give a damn about the common people. Not any of us in the bus today. They don't care about our health concerns or some of our jobless states or our kids. They don't care about whether or not we thrive or barely survive. They don't care about our elders, their health or the paltry amount they live. They care about power and money. They care about the fame and the flattering words written about them. I knew that was the truth.

Well, this is what I have to say - we're coming for you Scott, we're coming for all you Tea Party conservatives. Just be on notice that we're coming. Recall is the word in Wisconsin. You can count on it!