Defend Wisconsin News Round Up

We bring together news links on the subject of Wisconsin politics. For latest political news, follow Defend Wisconsin News Round Up on Twitter!

Showing posts with label Koch Brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Koch Brothers. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Why Voting is Important!

The Recalls have been completed and the trolls abound with their concern over their people not being Recalled correctly....How dare anyone challenge their people? Why did we vote or not vote last time? Did we vote for change? Or should we vote for really important issues?

Lawrence (The Last Word) discusses the importance of voting for the right reasons and that is for the power that directs the debate and how that debate may determine your future. My neighbor has worked for American Airlines for well over 20+ years and courtesy of the reorganization of American Airline in a structured Bankruptcy may lose retirement benefits. Who is watching out for her? More recently the FAA legislation that dis-empowers Unions further and helps the likes of Bain to Raid Pensions easier. Those who voted in this new breed of Republican need to decide what is important...Pensions, Social Security, Medicare, Badger Care, Jobs....Why did the likes of Ron Johnson replace Russ Feingold as our Senator and then do nothing for Wisconsin except block key appointments and legislation put forth by the President. Those appointments determine your future..."SuperPacs" were determined because Al Gore's election was stolen and now we need tons of cash to offset the Republican Greed that seems to be apparent at every level of government.

My question to you...Can WE THE PEOPLE generate the votes we need without SuperPac influences? Can WE THE PEOPLE hold their noses for an election cycle and then correct the error that Citizens United created and then make changes in the US Senate to assure majority vote and not Super Majority votes to get the business done that directly affects you and me.

Russ Feingold is against the SuperPac of the President and, in principle; I would agree with Russ on this. On the other hand it is the current Law of the Land. And although in my mind this is not ethical even though it is law; I believe when one goes into battle one does not use fists when the other side is bringing in chains and tire irons.

Voting matters and winning matters. It is time to evaluate and debate. Will money interest take over completely or will it be necessary to fight back with the new tools available and then push back the ridiculous Corporate Personhood after the fight is won?

Lastly---How does this statement about Voting Importance from Lawrence apply to SuperPacs? It has to do with your vote and will it be counted, coerced or suppressed? Will you keep an open mind when SuperPacs dominate the election scene? Watch the Video and then Decide.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-last-word/46231295#46231295

Other Links:
Just in from Robert Reich:

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Wisconsin Republicans no longer believe the interests of their constituency matters....Unless you are a Koch Brother

"....The legislature and its members recognize the obligation imposed by their constitutional oath of office to represent the interests of the citizens who elected them and all of the other citizens of the state of Wisconsin....is repealed in the new redistricting legislation Wisconsin lawmakers expected to pass this summer. "

Read the whole opinion:

Koch Brothers Exposed and the Organizations and Politicians They Fund and Have Bought!

Bernie Sanders is using primary documents to expose what is happening with the Koch Brothers movement to destroy not just Wisconsin but the United States as we know it. I am all about some shared sacrifice but what kind of share?

"A Senior Citizen, a tea party activist, and the Koch Brothers are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it. The Koch Brothers take 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, 'Watch out for that Senior Citizen. He wants a piece of your cookie.'" I know this is a variation of the Union Guy, Tea Partier, and CEO story but it again illustrates the point. Shared sacrifice is not part of the Koch's Legions message.

Our boy Paul Ryan is on board with the Koch Brothers as well as FitzWalkerProsserStand here in Wisconsin. The US Congress just voted for more Koch Relief and the Gang of 6 Shared Sacrifice means more take aways from the middle class and Seniors. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid modifications have not yet been revealed but my concern is that until Congress is re-populated with moderates; we are temporarily stuck with these new assaults on the middle class and the lesser fortunate in our society.

As I see it----It could be worse! Sometimes we need to squeeze the lemons, make lemonade, and then sweeten to taste later. Local matters first...Continue the RECALLS and take back the Wisconsin Senate with Democratic Moderates so we can go Forward and force the Assembly to act responsibly. Then RECALL Walker! We need to seek moderates for the Assembly for the next election cycle and bounce Paul Ryan out of Congress for good. Rob Zerban is ready, willing and able! AND----WHERE THE HELL ARE THOSE JOBS? I mean real jobs that 10 years+ of the money giveaway to Corporations and the Wealthiest 2% were supposed to create with all of that reduced tax money. President Obama I might not like this latest lemonade, but; I know that with the mix you are trying to create will enable all of us to share a few more of the cookies and not just crumbs!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPeUrJF6AM8

http://www.robzerban.com/

Thursday, July 7, 2011

George Mason University : The New Model for the UW System?

I do not believe the ALEC Plan being implemented for Wisconsin is completed yet. All the Walker-Fitzgerald plans to destroy a Progressive Wisconsin came from ALEC and it's founder the Koch Brothers. This is why Recall Efforts need to be completed and a new Senatorial Mix gained this time and in the Assembly next term or through recalls as necessary. A Recall of Walker also needs to be done but expect all of these to be expensive because the Koch Brother's Wallet is wide open....Links and subtopics related to this overreach follow...

The Koch Brothers Template to destroy Wisconsin will use the Conduits of Walker and the Fitzgeralds. Education, Health Services, and overall an attack on the Progressive State of Wisconsin. Another reason to stay the course with the RECALLS so much of what has been done to all Wisconsin Residents can be reversed.

Governor Walker still wants a Koch Brothers University System. The state's new Health and Human Services Secretary hails from GMU.

GMU history and key people at this University

In depth article about Covert Operations of Koch Brothers

This article from Think Progress exposes how these Brothers are exposed with their methods of pushing the Republican Party or anyone they "buy" to represent there extreme views that would limit government to protecting them at the expense of everyone else...



Monday, June 27, 2011

Lies, Historical Revisionism, and What to Watch Out For

I have been blogging recently about Ayn Rand and Objectivism. When you engage Karl Rove Techniques, Christian Historical Revisionism and then get ammo from ALEC and other Koch Industry Think Tanks….Wisconsin has some serious problems. The Extreme Right has some serious issues that eliminate the Progressive State we have enjoyed for generations and reveal how they lied to get into office and then followed up with a completely new agenda that is not job creation and it will penalize further the workers, middle class, seniors, and those less fortunate throughout the state.

If you review the basic of Objectivism you can see why it is important for them to revise history and make Joe McCarthy a Hero and teachers, government workers, and Fighting Bob La Follette are now treated as bad guys….and the cause of all your economic woes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)) SourceWatch provides the following link which will take you to the various “grassroot” organizations supported by the Koch Family Foundation. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Family_Foundations. This is important as you continue RECALL work to know who may be in your area while you gather support for your Democratic "New" Senator's campaign.

Among the various funded groups The Cato Institute is often cited by Paul Ryan and other Extreme Right Republicans as truth. http://www.cato.org/ In a recent conversation with a fellow Political Junkie I was surprised to hear that he only was reading Progressive and Liberal News and Blogs. He was not familiar with CATO or ALEC and I explained to him that to understand an Extremist view one needs to read what they say and then seek truth with facts to disarm their often fact less opinions. The PublicEye cites informational links to various Conservative Viewpoints so Progressives might evaluate the viewpoints of various issues of the "right" side of the political spectrum. (http://www.publiceye.org/lnk_antidem.html)

Why the Christian Right Distorts History and Why it Matters

Frederick Clarkson writes in part:

...."History is powerful. That's why it is important for the rest of society not only to recognize the role of creeping Christian historical revisionism, but our need to craft a compelling and shared story of American history, particularly as it relates to the role of religion and society. We need it in order to know not how the religious Right is wrong, but to know where we ourselves stand in the light of history, in relation to each other, and how we can better envision a future together free of religious prejudice, and ultimately, religious warfare"…..

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v21n2/history.html

A New – and Biblical – Understanding of History

By: Colin Harris

“Quite beyond the short-term historical amnesia that is affecting much public reflection and discourse on a range of issues, especially the condition of the economy, there are good indications that a deeper understanding of our historical foundations is lacking in that conversation.

Our tradition has always been susceptible to a "message in search of a text." If not found, one can impose a current idea on an available one, be it a 19th-century defense of slavery or a 20th-century prohibition of women speaking in church.

And we call what we do both "biblical" and "historical."

Recent efforts to connect contemporary agendas with our nation's founding events and principles have illustrated a practice of historical "proof-texting" that seems somewhat parallel to biblical proof-texting.”

And that becomes the problem dealing with many members of the New Republican Party...They believe "their" revisionist history is correct and accurate.

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/a-new-and-biblical-understanding-of-history-cms-18115

The following link is available to review on how Propaganda has been used to distort truth. If one knows what to “sniff out” then you will not become another “believer of truth” when what you are being told is not true. Being careful of the Historiography associated with the history one reads is also important. Be wary because the History you read may be revisionist and may even be propaganda.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda

The following Ming.Tv article discusses the three steps to use the Media as a conduit to push through something that is not true.

Karl Rove media technique consists of 3 steps:
1. Keep the message simple
2. Keep the details secret
3. Never admit you are wrong

http://ming.tv/flemming2.php/__show_article/_a000010-000721.htm

The Governor Scott Walker/Fitzgerald/New Republican method used this strategy to implement their “Budget Repair Bill” and tried to convince people it was necessary. Their message:

  1. We're Broke and We Need An Emergency Session
  2. Walker's Team builds a Budget with ALEC for Wisconsin and keeps it secret
  3. Never admit to any errors and keep the process moving quickly
About ALEC’s Tax and Fiscal Policy
The mission of ALEC’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force is
to explore policy solutions that reduce excessive government
spending, lower the overall tax burden, enhance
transparency of government operations, and promote
free-market fiscal policies.
Public Sector Chairman: Indiana Sen. Jim Buck

http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/tax/Budget_toolkit.pdf

In the Games of the Rich, the Poor Lose

“Where are the Christians in economics and finance who dare to think "outside the box" and write the kind of books that Susan George writes, explaining to "ordinary" folk how not to be hoodwinked by the games the rich play?

Here is George's apt summing up of the reigning economic orthodoxy that is playing havoc with God's earth and human lives:

"Every cultivated field must produce a maximum without fallow or rest; every worker must be infinitely flexible; every factory must produce at lowest cost or perish; every bank must out-risk its rivals. Hundreds of millions are excluded because they are 'not productive enough' or 'cost too much.' Hundreds of millions more produce and consume so little that they serve little or no purpose in a capitalist marketplace. They are dispensable or worse; their perceived uselessness is nothing but another drag on the system. As far as the rich are concerned, so long as they accept to do so quietly, they can rot. If they protest, they will be dealt with. The rich can do without them. Our societies are stretched financially, economically, socially, ecologically to the breaking point and we have no shock absorbers."

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/in-the-games-of-the-rich-the-poor-lose-cms-18116

This is especially true with the Scott Walker team as well as the guiding principal of Paul Ryan. Assure people that you are doing things for their best interests and then try to get it done before they understand it. The speed attempt did not work because the Senate 14 used a filibuster method to slow the process so people could read and understand it and then take appropriate action. One such action was RECALL Senators and organize voters to attempt to unseat a Judicial Renegade…Justice Prosser.

Crossroads GPS a purported “grassroots” advocacy group, have launched a $20 million ad campaign with a focus on Obama's failed policies, overspending, debt and high unemployment. Now some will ask what the following Townhall citing has to do with Wisconsin’s situation. It shows what the Republican side is willing to do once they have distorted the record, create economic theories to support an agenda intended to divert everyday people from the truth. They will launch all sorts of Media Blitzes to tie up the air waves and scuttle elections to keep their seats any way possible. They will gain help from the ALEC think tank as well as the Cato Institute and those listed on Source Watch earlier cited. Watch those ads and see who is sponsoring them and then check them out on Source Watch and you will understand how Revisionist History, Karl Rove Techniques, and coupling it with an often ill-informed Christian Right to attempt to steal the RECALLS with only 20-30% of the vote.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2011/06/26/$20_million_ad_campaign_launched_against_obama

Now---If you like this review the sources and see if this seems to be the path of the Walker Republicans in Wisconsin.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Outsourcing Our State's Laws with a Template

When you read AB 11 and then read the ALEC Template one can quickly see that the most Republicans, not all, could not have put this together without a playbook. A one size fits all template from a Koch think tank designed to destroy the integrity of a State and, in the end; the integrity of a once noble political party.

I encourage you to review AB11 and then review this toolkit. Remember...Walker keeps saying that the bill has to pass quickly so the "tools" can be implemented to gain the alleged savings. I ask..what is the true economic cost of the savings?

What Walker and Cronies do not tell you is that job creation, if any, will be minimum wage jobs unless you get appointed to a position like Senator Randy Hopper's girlfriend. Christian Right Evangelicals apparently condone a quid quo pro adultery behavior so long as it is for a Republican. At least Walker's new appointment of jobs designed to save the state money seems to work out this way with Hopper's situation.

And then, destroy teacher unions specifically to create Charter Schools and other Privatized Educational Systems to enable the Blackwater Type Systems, or other similiar types; to take over Public Education and then allow shifts of money from public to private schools. A balanced Charter and Public School System makes sense to me; but not with a Walker/ALEC approach. The Walker/ALEC approach is designed to make free education available, in my opinion for the wealthiest 2%, and a substandard educational public system for everyone else. Read the ALEC article on education and scruitinize any upcoming Educational Bills.

Bottom Line...How do you feel about the Outsourcing of everything we have as a State to the likes of the Koch Brothers. How much is your integrity worth? We know how much Randy Hopper's integrity is worth...



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/24/959621/-Randy-Hoppers-mistress-never-formally-applied-for-Wisconsin-state-job

http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/tax/Budget_toolkit.pdf

http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/schoolchoice/wisconsin.pdf