DOJ Files with Supreme Court - Sumi exceeded authority

Press Release  - Supervisory Writ - if taken up and accepted it cancels TRO - my interpretation 4/7 - from TheWheelerReport - click on image for zooming or title

WI - FitzWalkerChaos - Protest Goes On - 3/26 - Another Ambush

Click Title to WSJ article - Another Walker Ambush - like Ash Wednesday Ambush by WI Senate / Assembly

Is it a law? Just a bill? Confusion reigns over collective bargaining legislation by Mary Spicuzza - WSJ 3/26/11

In the wake of the latest drama, hundreds of protesters descended on the state Capitol again Saturday. The crowd was smaller than those on recent Saturdays but included marchers holding a sign that read, "Latinos y Latinas en Madison: No a Walker & Corps," and a group of yellow cabs honking to the rhythm of the chant, "This is what democracy looks like." A small group of robed professors, who walked about 43 miles from their UW-Whitewater campus, also joined the demonstrations.

Not really any confusion just an excuse to make life complicated for unions - my opinion!

WI - Summary of Study by COWS ... got to make you think - "drink milk"!

In this case COWS stands for Center On Wisconsin Strategy and the summary is of a study by EPI (Economic Policy Institute).  The latter has been tossed around like an old shoe by a playful dog. The WisSJ (last week, Sunday?) included a piece on their opinion page which tried to debunk the study.  The authors major strategy seemed to be to claim they were experts - they cited no references, provided only rough, back of the envelope figuring!

Click the Title above to see the COWS summary and thus links to the EPI study.  Nice to have this all accessible in one place!

One quote sure to raise blood pressure in some quarters (and repeated by others in many places):

Teachers
New data also show that public school teachers in Wisconsin are not over‐compensated. Public school teachers in Wisconsin earn 17.8% less in weekly wages than their private‐sector counterparts. Specifically, over the 2006‐10 period, the weekly wages of public school teachers were (in 2010 dollars) $1,015, while other comparably educated workers (with bachelor’s or master’s degrees) earned $1,235 per week. This wage gap is far greater than any possible benefits advantage a public school teacher might have, indicating that total weekly compensation of public school teachers is also less than that of their private‐sector counterparts.

It is important to continue the dialog / discussion / debate to really help people understand how to draw reasonable conclusions and also understand where their "self-interest" really lies.

Related: WI - Education - Who needs local democracy - New State Bureaucracy Proposed

Wisconsin Palm Trees - #Colbert busts #Fox #O'Reilly, Protest in March

Palm Trees and Horses NOT in March in Wisconsin 2011



It all get's summed up in this YouTube link!  I had to find it and put it here because there are so many videos now it could get lost in the shuffle.  Does YouTube have any kind of TIMELINE option ... so you could sort them ?  During the last week in Madison I have too seen Palm Trees ... they were just cardboard however!

Whenever someone uses Fox News as a source to make a point, don't argue, just send them the above link!!!!

John Stewart has a take on Fox about Wisconsin and Protests - Then and Now
It was taken down by Viacom - copyright claim

VL - video link, N - narrative, I - image (almost always include titles), etc.

IN - Wisconsin Protest Walker Crowd Size 3/12 (image)

It's an art not a science but the Madison Police Department is at least a little more objective than DOA.  From my perspective I have been to all of the rallies and this was still more than the 85K the MPD estimates.  From our vantage point people were parking and walking 6 blocks down East Mifflin ... no way have I ever seen that before not even on Halloween a few years back.  Given that on the one weekend they estimated 70K this was at least twice as big!!!

This photo was taken between 12 and 12:45 ... from State Historical Society Museum from State Street viewing just Mifflin east.  Thank you Louise!!!

Wisconsin: 1890 – Mess with education at your risk!

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Law

Today the Republican politics may seem to be about teachers and public servants but I think it is a flanking attack on public education from kindergarten to college. Force school districts to lower their standards by reducing funding for teachers, increase class size, diminish special programs, sports, arts, music, libraries, etc. so that we all give up. Parents with the means will get their kids educated and the rest can fend for themselves. This is the real strategy … see it for what it really is!

In 1889 the Republicans miss-calculated about cultural heritage and language education. They passed the Bennett Law. They were turned out of office and the law was repealed in 1891. Hoard lost and Henry Vilas became our Governor.

The law was repealed in 1891, but Democrats used the memories to carry Wisconsin and Illinois in the 1892 presidential election. It was the last major attack on German language schools until 1914. In 1925 in Pierce v. Society of Sisters the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that attacks on parochial schools violated the First Amendment.

From the above source.

Capitol Times: 3/16 : Mail Bag : Bill Gates: GOP strategy is to do away with public education

#edu #Vouchers WI 1848 Forward: Wisconsin: Wisconsin: 1890 – Mess with #education at your risk! 

Wisconsin Governor Walker Press Conference 3/10 ... part on MSNBC

Our Governor only seems to have two messages ... I'll create a lot of jobs and we cannot solve any problems except by cutting jobs!  He certainly stays on message!  I guess we keep watching these press conferences because we think he might say something new ... or maybe someone might actually be able to ask him a question.  He has been managing print and television like a one-way street.

250,000 Jobs NOT thanks to Walker

Our Mayor Dave C. at the Capitol last night - 3/9.

WI 1848 Forward: Wisconsin Governor #Walker Press Conference 3/10/11 ... part on #MSNBC

Wisconsin: (before image) all signs of democracy have been removed!

Update: 3/6/2011 - Just back from being in the Wisconsin State Capitol - all signs of democracy have been removed!

For our "safety" it is still tedious to get in - empty your pockets, wand, turn, wand again!  The marble and granite looks all shiny and feels so smooth!  The Wisconsin Historical Society and Smithsonian supposedly took pictures - maybe we can see them on Picasa or Flikr - people can supposedly get their sign back!  How do you prove you own it?

WI 1848 Forward: #Walker #GOP #Wisconsin: (before image) all signs of #democracy have been removed #2011 !.

Walker: Budget Repair, Healthcare - Hidden Agenda, Retirees Beware

Notes/Edited 4/14/2013 - Walker Budget and GOP are moving just as hinted - discrimination is their bottom line whether it is healthcare, taxes or %1 - watch twitter, news headlines, JFC hearings, etc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
I originally wrote this on 2/11/2011 and sent it to the Wisconsin State Journal's Opinion Page - it was not published so I thought I would put it up here!

The WSJ headline, “ Budget - Walker: We must cut the power of unions “ is a disturbing introduction to your first cup of coffee (Friday, February 11, 2011). But of course this is a continuing saga under the guise of “open for business”. It really seems more like a race to the bottom. The Governor's legislative agenda seems designed so far to disenfranchise legitimate voters, remove citizen protection from gross negligence in nursing homes, etc.

Now he seems intent on limiting access to health care either by making it more difficult to know how to participate in Medicare (WSJ – Insurance Official says no to grant) and through Attorney General Van Hollen declaring that in Wisconsin “federal health care is dead ...” with a few caveats.

I was shocked to learn from the Wall Street Journal (2/2/11) that 1 in 7 of our citizens in Wisconsin rely on Food Stamps! How many do not have health care? What's the unemployment rate – about 9%? Any state employees on Food Stamps?

Governor Walker's proposal for state employees to pay 12% (vs 6%) of their health care premium may seem reasonable to many. I am sure he can afford it on an income > $137,000 but what about the state employee that makes less than $30,000. That 12% is not against salary, it's against a flat amount, assume annual medical premiums ~ $12000. So our Governor sees a ½ percent decrease in his income. Our race to the bottom employee sees an impact almost five times greater (2.4%). The governor can pay for this increase in a little over a day but our employee labors for over a week!

Even more troubling, in a letter by the Governor to state employees, he directs -

“the Group Insurance Board to implement changes to health insurance plan designs to further reduce premiums by 5 percent and will implement health risk assessments for all state employees beginning on January 1, 2012. “

What does this mean? Sounds like a clever way of saying you are going make some employees pay more for their health care than others!? Older employees perhaps? Diabetic employees maybe? Employees with preexisting conditions? With Governor Walker putting himself in charge of agency rule writing and review – who knows? There are over 191,000 state annuitants, who may or may not have associated health care, which they pay for in full – are they going to be impacted?

Update: Evidently there are 500,000 participants in programs administered by ETF of which approximately 191,000 are annuitants (per WisStateJournal/Judy Newman 3/3/2011).

#Walker: #Budget Repair, #Healthcare - Hidden Agenda, #WRS #Retirees Beware