Thursday, March 31, 2011

Personal implications of the Walker agenda

Some who read my blog are tired of the politics being discussed. My entire family, the Valerie, the Ben and the kids are all involved and affected by the current political strife in our state, so its news is our news. Here are some of the ways that the current Walker/ALEC legislation, besides being a morally wrong, and making us physically ill, will affect our lives.

My kids are all doing well at school, my kids will not suffer academically from the cuts to their school funding, I am a full time Mom, and we don't have many special needs. Maddie has been given some help through the Talented and Gifted program TAG, which is being defunded by the state. Her teacher consulted with the TAG coordinator and was given a few workbooks and lesson plans, but even that small amount of help will no longer be available.

I plan to vote April 5th in the spring election, and I generally do not carry ID with me. I plan to vote for candidates that have traditionally been favored by minorities and civil rights advocates. If voter ID is enacted in Wisconsin, it will have an effect on my voting habits. I live across the street from a polling place, but if I forget my license, I will have to travel home, pick it up, and then go back. I have four children, and getting to the polls is already difficult. I can easily imagine that this burden of proof will reduce the number of successful voters, and will not prevent any appreciable amount of voter fraud.

"The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral during times of great moral conflict." -Martin Luther King jr.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

gop misinformation machine ramble

Walker and the GOP misinformation machine are telling plenty of lies about everything from the true cost of employee pensions to the cause of our nation's current financial troubles. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost the United states 170 billion dollars in 2011, for a total of 1.29 trillion since 2002. This breaks down to approximately $100 per household per month. The wars are a big drain on our national economy, and taxes have not been raised appropriately to compensate for the added cost. Instead it seems that the GOP is launching a national attack on public employees attempting to use the unbalanced budgets not to bring military spending under control (even in peacetime, the military makes up a huge percentage of the national budget, and is a major expense) but rather to convince the public that public sector unions are greedily taking more than their fair share of benefits and perhaps even salary, though there is a lot of data to counteract this...My conclusion is that the GOP is desperate to win the next presidential election. The military spending is the main problem, but their constituents support military appropriations, so the new scapegoat is public sector unions.

Much like the 'Welfare Queens' of the 1990's Public employees are an easy target. There already exists resentment and prejudice against the upperclass moderately well educated teachers, librarians, professors, and other public employees. They are do deal with the public, so many people have anecdotal stories of a lazy or stupid teacher that they can point to when deriding the incompetence of librarians or professors. They do belong to unions, and like any large organization some of the bureaucracy gets in the way of common sense. These instances are the exception rather than the rule; Most of the time the union protects veteran teachers from being fired for not following the latest fad in education reform (and everyone seems to know how to improve teaching these days, except of course for those actually trained to do it).

Perhaps the public sector workers in Wisconsin will weather this storm, I am fighting for them, but in reality there is a lot of anger and resentment out there over this economy, people are angry that a black man is in the White House. The GOP is conveniently channeling this anger away from the war that is draining our resources, towards public employees. It might work, as there are a lot of stupid people out there. But I am fighting for the rights of public employees, and I will fight this misinformation machine. They are lying, and the truth will out.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

protesting week 6

The Alec group was discussed by UW Madison Professor Bill Cronon in his new blog, Scholar as Citizen. I looked through his blog, and at first dismissed it as crazy conspiracy theory. However, after posting about the ALEC group, our friend Bill Cronon's employer, the UW Madison, was served with a Freedom of Information act request from the Walker administration, and then the ALEC group took down their website. Cronon discusses this extensively on his blog, but to me this drastic action by the far-right shows that they do indeed have something to hide. I have long suspected that this was not about the budget, but now we have evidence about the true motiovations behind this administration. In other news, We participated in our first march last Saturday. I have been singing with a group in the rotunda everyday at 12, and they were asked to lead the crowd in some songs before the march. I didn't get to actually be with the crowd, but we still had fun. The kids played during the rally, then we waited until the very end before we joined in. We wanted to make sure we had plenty of room so no one would get lost. There wasn't any problem with the march. There were lots of people, but everyone was super nice and helpful. When I had to pick up a kid, someone even carried my sign for me. We had never walked down state street before, and so we discovered this lovely badger sculpture. Maddie loved the Badger statues.




This week, a small cold crowd gathered, as a group from whitewater finished their walk and hand delivered letters to two senators and two assemblymen. The walkers wore their robes and hoods! there were about 30 of them. It was a great statement. Jut one of the many demonstrations that are happening everyday all around the state.



Some person made a SHAME cake, and was serving it to all the protesters on Saturday. It was a cute little act of protest, and since it was 20 degrees, the cake tasted pretty good.

This was up on a window a few weeks ago, but I like it.

Friday, March 18, 2011

music and inspiration for the protest

Here are some of the lovely songs that I have learned over the past few weeks. I have so much anger about this budget bill, and the direction of this far right administration, It is difficult to voice my feelings in an effective way. I have managed to make some pretty great protest signs, but I have also been singing. Several singing groups have sprung up in the protest. The Unitarians sing every Tuesday at 7pm, and the Solidarity singing group is m-f at 12 in the rotunda. I like these groups because I can express my anger not only through protesting, picketing, and talking, but also a beautiful, powerful song.

solidarity forever-- a very powerful strong--

I love I'm sticking to the Union! Girl Power!
Especially for anyone who has ever fought sexual harassment at work..

I love this..please just sign me up for Jail for Justice after listening to this song.

The classic this land of course, we added a verse about access to our own gov't building after the DOA locked us out last week.

We shall overcome is always a great song, and it was very easy to add a verse that goes "Scott Walker won't be governor some day (someday soon!)" january 2012, the recall starts. I shall participate.

As I was searching for the music to we shall overcome, I found the MLK speech by the same name.
I especially loved this line;

"Before the victory is won.. some will be misunderstood and called bad names and dismissed as rebel-rousers and agitators… But we shall over come."

This will help me get through protesting this weekend. I can do this! Dr. King says so.


The complete text;

We Shall Over Come…

Deep in my heart I do believe… We shall over come.
Now I join hands often with students and others behind jail bars singing it: “We shall over come.”

Sometimes we’ve had tears in our eyes when we joined together to sing it, but we still decided to sing it! “We shall over come.”

Lord before this victory is won some will have to get thrown in jail some more but we shall over come. Don’t worry about us, before the victory is won some of us will lose jobs, but we shall over come…

Before the victory is won, even some will have to face physical death. But if physical death is the price that some must pay, to free their children from a permanent psychological death.. then nothing shall be more redemptive… We shall over come.

Before the victory is won.. some will be misunderstood and called bad names and dismissed as rebel-rousers and agitators… But we shall over come.

and I’ll tell you why.

We shall over come because the arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
We shall over come because Carlyle is right: “No lie can live forever“.
We shall over come because William Collin Bryant is right: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again“.

We shall over come because James Russel Lowell is right: “Truth forever on the scaffold.. Wrong forever on the throne… Yet that scaffold sways the future. And behind the dim unknown standeth God within the shadows, keeping watch above his own“.
We shall over come because the Bible is right… “You shall reap what you sow.

We shall over come… Deep i my heart I do believe! We shall over come.

And this with this faith… We will go out and adjourn the counsels of despair and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism. And we will be able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. And this will be a great America! We will be the participants in making it so…

And so as I leave you this evening I say… “Walk together children! Don’t you get weary!”

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

March 25th

March 25th is the day that the 'budget repair' bill sans anything fiscal, is being published as a law. Doug La Follette decided to take the full 10 days to publish the bill despite the Gov's urging to declare an 'emergency' and publish it much earlier.

It is also the 100th anniversary of one of the worst labor disasters in history, the triangle shirtwaist fire. This disaster fueled many labor reforms through energizing labor unions. Labor laws were won almost exclusively through organized labor demanding better working conditions, sick leave, 10 or 8 hour days, benefits, end to child labor, etc. The government tends to support businesses, which have an interest in the status quo. Change must come through the people. The people organized and demonstrated, had strikes, marches, and some even died in the interest of promoting fair labor laws.

This bill represents a huge step backward for my State and the nation. I want to commemorate it appropriately, right now I am planning a 'day of shame' sort of like a birthday party, except the cake says "shame" and we even have a pinata representing the bill that we bash open to release out civil liberties (symbolized by candy).

This is not the end; so much is on the table, and this administration has so many more dirty tricks to come! I pledge to demonstrate everyday until public workers are allowed to collectively bargain, and repeals their classist education reform. I have a vacation scheduled for June. If this is not resolved, I will find a way to demonstrate while on vacation (if they have a city hall and poster board, then I can picket!)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Protesting is so hard, but I must continue.

Protesting and demonstrating is really hard. Picketing is mentally tough. Talking with Tea partiers and conservatives who have misinformation and racist classist ideas is really difficult. After my last action, I was mentally spent. It is difficult to stand up for my beliefs, but I have to do it.

I have learned how to calmly discuss these issues with the misinformed. I can keep things from escalating to a yelling match, which is important. I am good at keeping things civil.

But what I can not handle is the number of people who believe the lie that public sector unions are bringing down the economy, and that if we can only eliminate them, we will magically have great education systems and lots of money just like Utah, Texas, Mississippi, Arizona, oh wait, it didn't work out so well in those places..... oh well.

I am not going to individually decry every statement from every whack-a-nut conservative fake statistics factory right here, but I can. I have good information and a good argument in favor of public sector unions, the reasonable funding of public schools (the voucher program described in this budget will segregate the schools), and The need to not make these horrendous, unnecessary changes to Badgercare.

I actually haven't had a lot of opportunity to talk to pro-walker supporters face to face. I get a lot of yelling, lots of one-liners, and handouts full of random statistics from the Maciver institute, and the few times I have been around Pro-walker people, they have really wanted to make a point, but would not listen to anything that I have had to say. Of course, part of what I am saying is that to support Walker is to deliberately and needlessly hurt the most vulnerable of society; That to support this 'budget' is to allow too much power to one man over for the state badgercare program; that to not fund ESL in public schools is in effect racist, and that public workers are just the lastest group targeted by the GOP, as the cause of all of our problems.

Remember 'welfare queens' from 1995? Yeah, well, turns out there really weren't any. So there was a giant uproar, tons of welfare reform, which was a solution without a problem. The whole 'welfare queens' deal did serve to unite conservatives in hating poor black women with children, which is always good for America.

Part of this targeting of public employees is to build up support among conservatives so they can be united in their hatred of something. 10 years ago it was illegal immigrants- remember the giant wall proposed on the Mexico border?- and the right still hates non-english speakers, but there are more public workers, they are more visible, and they also play into all of the anti-intellectual fears of the right.

I am not sure how to best fight against this fear mongering, but fight against it I must.

I have been avoiding extra curricular activities at my church because I know that many people there are sympathetic to the Conservative anti-union, anti-public employee, anti-immigrant(racist), anti-social safety net stance of this Administration. However that is about to change. I have been sleeping outside, carrying signs, singing and praying in public for this cause. I am recommitting to talk to people being duped by the tea party who are in my life. I do not want my inaction to be misinterpreted as consent to their crazy ideas. I am not going to bring it up, but I am not backing away when the subject is introduced.

I am sure that it won't make any difference in general, but when I was a kid I believed the lies about welfare queens and that the poor were less morally good than the wealthy. It took a few good history classes, several good books, and one excellent sociology class to change my mind. Education does work, so I have to go out everyday and educate the population about these issues.

I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to be educated, and also to be exposed to times of unemployment and poverty because if not, I may still be a fearful, close-minded conservative.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

AND its is still winter...

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The weather is still cold, and there is still great uproar in this state. As you all doubtless know by now the Senate was able to take all of the non-fiscal items out of the budget repair bill, put them into another bill, and pass it. This was done without the usual 24hours notice required by law, and that evening protesters swarmed the capitol.

The head of the capitol police Charlie Tubbs promised that the doors would be open the next day at 8am, and several members of the protest encouraged people to leave at their leisure. However, teh last time that the protesters left the capitol, and were promised entry the next day, the place remained on lock down for two days, so a few hundred people refused to leave and spent the night.

The next morning, Thursday, The assembly was scheduled to meet at 11am, but at the doors of the capitol remained locked until a few minutes before 11am, the assembly delayed their session by 90 minutes so that the public would have access to the session.

The police said that they were conducting a "security sweep" and all protesters were put through metal detectors. There are 160 police in the capitol on a normal day, and there were only about 200 campers; my guess is that the DOA could have done this 'security sweep' several hours previous, but wanted to incite the crowd by making it appear that they would not be allowed into the building for the assembly vote.

I don't think that Charlie Tubbs, the head of the capitol police lied; I think that the Governor misinformed him on purpose to cause problems with the crowd. I also think that he planted bullets on the lawn of the capitol last week to justify his own over-the-top security. There is nothing that I would put past this guy!
I have always heard that politicians are corrupt, but now I have first hand evidence.

The legislation monstrosity passed, and now we have a bunch of court challenges, and 16 members of the senate have petitions circulating to recall them. This is not my Wisconsin, but with some hard work perhaps I can help to get it back.

Where to go from here....

AND the recall efforts have begun!
http://host.madison.com/app/interactive/senate-recall-chart/

I live in DANE county, my senator FRED RISSER, is 84 years old and the longest serving senator in the senate. He is not likely to be recalled, but I am going to put up a few yard signs anyways.

My options for action include;
canvassing for Joanne Kloppenburg -not because she is super liberal, but rather because her opponent has openly expressed his support for Walker and the agenda of the far-right republicans that have recently seized our state like an infectious disease.
Several articles have cited how the Kloppenburg is being painted as a lefty liberal, but there is really scant evidence for this. Ofcourse I am very against the incumbent Prosser, as he appeared at a AFP rally, as well as a Recall Mark Miller rally a few days ago.

I can travel to districts where democrats are up for recall (if enough signatures are collected) and canvass in their support. I may do this, my out-of-district participation may be criticized, but the AFP's 3 million dollar pro-walker commercials are also from out-of state, and I find that even more disgusting. plus, I have had peaceful protest training, so I am good at canvassing.

I can protest at the capitol everyday until walker is recalled, specifically against him, or against the various far-right agenda bills being proposed on Voter ID (a solution without a problem!) and the nefarious Arizona-esque anti-immigration bill being drafted by rep. Don Pridemore (what a fitting name!)
In addition to the total wreck of our proud labor tradition, the budget hasn't passed yet, and even the 'budget repair non-fiscal' bill is not competely legitimate as the clause about no-bid contracts for state-owned power plants was added between being passed by the senate and assembly...this is what happens when you cobble a bill together and pass it 1:50 after it is proposed....I like to think that the drums and chanting outside were a distraction that helped this accident to happen....

Anyways, I will be busy for a bit! Feel free to join me!
I wasn't intending to bring down the Tea party with my actions, but apparently the destruction of my state is the goal of the tea party, so turn about is fair play.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

protests are ongoing- just like me!

shaming the "stand with walker" bus as it leaves the Alliant energy center. My favorite chant of the day; "You're on our side -you just don't know it" I love the energy of this movement, and the positive momentum. Keeping it positive really cuts the stress, and the potential aggression that this nasty piece of legislation is inciting. Unfortunately, some people like Senator Grothman, mistake the desire to keep things peaceful and positive as a show that the protests are just an excuse to go out and party.

I have been involved in this effort for a while now, and I am almost exhausted. I have a lot of things that I would rather do than protest and picket everyday. But I believe in this effort, and if I do not do all that I can, and this thing passes, then I will be in a way a bit responsible for the result.


My fellow citizens are so creative!


This is sort of true. REpublican SEnators!!!! TUrn from the dark side!!!