Walker is an extremist

[Updated from 5:17 p.m. Tuesday] Wrong-Way Walker is an extremist, a reality made more likely to continue because major statewide media are avoiding fleshing out how and why Walker was chosen in 2007 at a Wisconsin meeting to win and wield political power on behalf of ideological interests.

*  No, MSNBC, Scott Walker is not a moderate on abortion. He wants women who have been raped - - even by relatives - - to bear a child conceived in assault, and he has closed Planned Parenthood clinics to low-income women - - even to rape victims - - who can no longer get vital basic women's and family health services.

That's extremist behavior.

*  He pushed and signed one of the most suppressive voter ID laws in the country to make it harder for minorities, low-income residents and students to exercise their right to vote.

And will not support a public education campaign about how to get the necessary ID's at state DMV offices often closed three days a week. Or add hours to those offices' pre-election schedule.

Only an incurably partisan extremist would intentionally suppress access to the ballot box in a democracy.

*  He refused federal funding, a punitive move on his part that cost 38,000 low-income state residents their health insurance coverage.

*  He refused to accept increased food stamp assistance for low-income Wisconsinites - - typically a female head-of-household, with children - - and says he wants public assistance recipients to undergo the additional degradation of a urine test.

*  He opposes any increase in the poverty-enforcing $7.25/hr. minimum wage.

Only an extremist would deliberately use law and state power for his own advancement to keep needy people under such stress - - and then make it harder for them to vote that mentality off their backs and out of office

Many more examples of Walker's Disrespect and Manipulation Campaign, 2014-'16, here.

21st, 22nd bear hounds killed pursuing WI wildlife trophies

And that's 22 hounds killed just this year because Wisconsin laws and Department of Natural Resources procedures let hounding hunters put their dogs at risk - - and get paid by the state if things don't work out for the dog.

The politically-powerful bear hunting lobby in Wisconsin wanted hounds allowed to run after bears through known wolf activity territories - - and even where hunters have put out bear bait that also attracts wolves - - so it is not surprising,  but deeply unsettling, that more and more of 'man's-best-friends' become disposable in the only state in the US that also pays hunters exempted from animal cruelty laws up to $2,500 for a dog lost to wolves while in pursuit of bears.

More details at the DNR's grey wolf webpage, cited in this DNR email this afternoon:

Bear Hounds Killed in Oneida County On October 4, Wildlife Services confirmed that wolves killed a 6 year old Plott bear hound. The attack occurred in the Town of Minocqua, Oneida County. More information and a caution area map are available on the gray wolf webpage. On October 5, Wildlife Services confirmed that wolves killed a 6 year old Plott bear hound. The attack occurred in the Town of Little Rice, Oneida County. More information and a caution area map are available on the gray wolf webpage. Hunters are reminded to use the caution area maps on the DNR website (dnr.wi.gov, keyword "wolf management") to help reduce conflicts during this year's bear dog training and hunting season.

Walker wants rape, incest victims to bear rapists' children

Governor Ultrasound opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest.

Somebody needs to tell MSNBC's producers and writers their headline is wrong:

Scott Walker tries to seem moderate on abortion

10/06/14 08:09 PM—UPDATED 10/06/14 09:13 PM

More on the State Supreme Court's Waukesha excursion

The court holds a session in Waukesha, and I could imagine hearing these lines from certain Justices when they break for lunch:

'I saw a sandhill crane on the way in. Doesn't Joel Kleefisch live around here?'

'Too bad we couldn't take the train. I can see why the Governor uses the airport here to fly into Madison.'

'What a pleasant little downtown. I don't understand why SEWRPC moved to a building in the cornfields.'

'I bet everyone here has a photo ID.'

'Who wants to go house hunting later?'

'Now I get that line about Scott Walkersha. There isn't a Democratic legislator within 20 miles.'

'Things are so green and bustling. Do they really need more water?'

'Where's the statue of Kathy Nickolaus?'

Stepp's op-ed raises sourcing questions

In light of some of questions and related partisan harrumphing about plagiarism, and attributions, and demands for 100% transparency purity over text in Mary Burke's economic development plan - - and taking into account all the points racked up on Scott Walker's behalf in a close race by his powerful right-wing media distortion machine - - what say you all to this?

Read the text of a DNR report and release about environmental project cleanup successes that I copied below from a DNR website, and then compare it to the text of an op-ed posted this evening under Cathy Stepp's name on the Journal Sentinel editorial pages.

If the DNR submits material similar to what has appeared on its website to the newspaper for publication, shouldn't the newspaper note the first publication or highlight in some way the similarities?

And since the DNR has communication and program and executive office staff, can we fairly infer that the op-ed has some unattributed content written by DNR agency people other than Stepp?

Maybe these sorts of questions and circumstances are not so simple. 

Take these paragraphs, for example, from the DNR posting:

Stepp noted the study comes during the 20th anniversary of the passage of the 1994 Land Recycling Act, the state's brownfields law that helped set the table for many of the initiatives and DNR programs currently in play today.

Darsi Foss, program director for the DNR's Remediation and Redevelopment Program, noted that since 2004 the program has helped prepare 19,500 acres for redevelopment and has been instrumental in leveraging public and private dollars toward brownfield projects, including the agency grabbing $11.4 million in federal dollars for cleanups and $2.1 million for environmental assessments. 

To help facilitate those redevelopments, the DNR has issued more than 4,000 "comfort" or assurance letters and liability exemptions as part of the tools created in the Land Recycling Law. 

"Our state brownfields program is a national model, and we're very proud of that fact," said Foss. "Over the past two decades our staff helped 'bridge the gap' with technical, liability and financial assistance and, in many cases, our involvement has served as the catalyst in getting a project off the ground." 

Foss added that since 1994 the state also recovered more than $22 million from responsible parties for cleanups. "We work hard to ensure that responsible parties pay their fair share," said Foss.

Here is wording from Stepp's op-ed:

That's especially true this year, the 20th anniversary of the passage of the 1994 Land Recycling Act. That's our state's brownfields law, which gave us tools to help clean up contaminated, underutilized property and put it back into productive use. Through two decades of DNR partnerships with local public and private parties, we can tally up an impressive list of accomplishments. 

Among them, completing cleanups at more than 15,400 properties; helping create and retain jobs, including 3,200 new jobs for the valley; turning tax delinquent properties into economic assets; getting more than 20,000 acres of contaminated property cleaned up and ready for reuse; and recovering more than $22 million from responsible parties for cleanups, making sure everyone pays his or her fair share.

In the op-ed, Foss has disappeared, though Foss's data and "fair share" observation, are rolled, without attribution, into Stepp's voice.

You will also note matching references in both the DNR posting and the op-ed to the Public Policy Forum's report on the issue.

So - - below, first, is the text of the DNR website item and then the text of the op-ed.

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Report highlights Menomonee Valley success during 20th anniversary of brownfields law

Weekly News Article Published: September 30, 2014 by the Central Office

MADISON -- The highly successful renewal of Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley is not only a showcase on how to revitalize blighted urban areas, it's also a shining example of the key role the Department of Natural Resources plays in these efforts, a recent report revealed.

The non-partisan Public Policy Forum recently released the study "Redevelopment in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley: What Worked and Why?" with the hope the report will serve as a road map to guide other communities facing similar challenges across the state.

The Hank Aaron State Trail runs through the Menomonee Valley. A new study on the valley's redevelopment points out the importance of state partnerships in the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties.
WDNR Photo

The study points out the importance of state partnerships in the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties, known as "brownfields," and mentions the DNR's role in oversight and approval of cleanup projects as well as the agency's work on the Hank Aaron Trail and the Menomonee River.

"DNR staff members...are viewed as having helped to move Valley projects through necessary brownfields cleanup approval processes in a collaborative and timely fashion," the report stated. "The positive impact of the DNR's increased 'flexibility, cooperation, and willingness to negotiate' ...was a key finding of national research on Wisconsin's brownfields redevelopment efforts."

"The report points out something we've been saying all along - that economic and environmental work can and should go hand in hand," said DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp. "We're thrilled to play a role in these efforts, because it means we're helping create economic opportunities for communities while protecting our world-class natural resources."

Stepp noted the study comes during the 20th anniversary of the passage of the 1994 Land Recycling Act, the state's brownfields law that helped set the table for many of the initiatives and DNR programs currently in play today.

Since 1994, the DNR has helped complete cleanups at more than 15,400 properties. Many of these sites were tax delinquent, financially dragging down counties, cities and towns, but today have become economic assets, helping create or retain jobs. That includes the Menomonee Valley, where the report shows more than 3,200 new jobs were added between 2002-2011.

Darsi Foss, program director for the DNR's Remediation and Redevelopment Program, noted that since 2004 the program has helped prepare 19,500 acres for redevelopment and has been instrumental in leveraging public and private dollars toward brownfield projects, including the agency grabbing $11.4 million in federal dollars for cleanups and $2.1 million for environmental assessments.

To help facilitate those redevelopments, the DNR has issued more than 4,000 "comfort" or assurance letters and liability exemptions as part of the tools created in the Land Recycling Law.

"Our state brownfields program is a national model, and we're very proud of that fact," said Foss. "Over the past two decades our staff helped 'bridge the gap' with technical, liability and financial assistance and, in many cases, our involvement has served as the catalyst in getting a project off the ground."

Foss added that since 1994 the state also recovered more than $22 million from responsible parties for cleanups. "We work hard to ensure that responsible parties pay their fair share," said Foss.

The study lists several key lessons learned through the Valley example that may help guide other communities, including strong intergovernmental cooperation and public-private partnerships, especially for large-scale redevelopments.

The "Redevelopment in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley: What Worked and Why?" (exit DNR) report is available on the Public Policy Forum's website.

To view more information about the DNR's brownfields program, including the "Top 100" success stories, search the DNR website dnr.wi.gov for keyword "brownfield."

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Darsi Foss, Remediation and Redevelopment Program director, 608-267-6713; Andrew Savagian, communications, 608-261-6422

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From the Journal Sentinel:

The DNR's role in reviving the Menomonee Valley

Michael Sears

The Menomonee River and the surrounding Menomonee Valley area is shown in this 2013 file photo.

By Cathy Stepp

Oct. 6, 2014 5:41 p.m.

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The nonpartisan Public Policy Forum recently released "Redevelopment in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley: What Worked and Why?" — a showcase on the successful renewal of the valley and a guide for helping other communities in Wisconsin deal with similar urban blight.

We applaud the success of the valley renewal, and we're glad the state Department of Natural Resources has been able to play a key role in turning around an eyesore in the heart of Milwaukee that was, for many years, considered impossible to fix.

I was especially happy to see DNR staff highlighted for all their hard work on many of the valley projects. Viewing the DNR as helpful, flexible, cooperative and willing to work with all the various public and private entities on such an enormous project, as the report stated, is critical for a large-scale enterprise such as the valley renewal to succeed and something I'm most proud of.

The valley is a shining example of the important role the DNR plays in many different projects in your communities, and it emphasizes a key point I've been saying all along: Economic development and environmental protection can go hand in hand.

It means we're having a positive effect, and we're helping create economic opportunities while protecting our world-class natural resources.

That's especially true this year, the 20th anniversary of the passage of the 1994 Land Recycling Act. That's our state's brownfields law, which gave us tools to help clean up contaminated, underutilized property and put it back into productive use. Through two decades of DNR partnerships with local public and private parties, we can tally up an impressive list of accomplishments.

Among them, completing cleanups at more than 15,400 properties; helping create and retain jobs, including 3,200 new jobs for the valley; turning tax delinquent properties into economic assets; getting more than 20,000 acres of contaminated property cleaned up and ready for reuse; and recovering more than $22 million from responsible parties for cleanups, making sure everyone pays his or her fair share.

That's what makes our brownfields program a national model and why we'll continue our efforts to promote economic revitalization and protect our environment. And that's why we'll continue to work with communities on their next revitalization projects — in Kenosha, Racine, Oak Creek and all over the state.

We're also willing to listen to you. It's your DNR. Tell us about your visions for your communities and what you'd like to see these properties become. Together we can make those visions a reality.

Cathy Stepp is secretary of the state Department of Natural Resources.

PolitiFact should check this Walker claim

His election committee sent out a fundraising email this evening, over his signature, that makes this claim:

We are up against millions of dollars from labor unions and thousands of paid staff storming into Wisconsin to help Mary Burke take Wisconsin backward.

Millions of dollars from labor unions?

Maybe - - but he who is benefiting from millions of dollars from individuals and advocacy groups also claims that he's up against "thousands of paid staff storming Wisconsin..."

That would mean, at a minimum, 2,001 paid staff storming into Wisconsin. Given the language, presumably Walker is claiming these are union paid staffers, too.

Prove that, though he could sure use a few extra thousands on local payrolls to get past the 40% job-creation performance that is dragging down his credibility.

And I sure hope he didn't copy that paid staff storming language from some other campaign's literature, email, Twitter feeds, etc.

Tough night chez Kleefisch for the dogs, furniture

I suspect Rebecca Kleefisch is telling her pets to put their paws over their ears when the news about the gay marriage slippery slope comes on the TV tonight, and is assuring her tables and chairs that everything's gonna be OK:

Republican candidate for Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch compared same-sex marriage to marrying a clock during a radio interview. 

“This is a slippery slope,” Kleefisch said. “In addition to that at what point are we going to be okay marrying inanimate objects? Can I marry this table or this, you know, clock? Can we marry dogs? 

“This is ridiculous,” continued Kleefisch. “And biblically, again, I’m going to go right back to my fundamental Christian beliefs marriage is between one man and one woman.”

Expert legal blog rips Seventh Circuit voter ID opinion

If you want to know what an authoritative legal scholar thought of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals opinion that validated of Wisconsin's voter ID law, I recommend you read this passionate and informed posting by professor and Election Law Blog author Rick Hasen.

Spoiler alert. the word "horrendous" is in the title. And from the heart of the blog posting, and conclusion:

The opinion puts forward the narrowest test yet I’ve seen for deciding when a vote denial type claim (which [opinion author Judge Frank Easterbrook calls a voter qualification claim) violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. He cites statistics showing whites are much, more more likely than blacks in Milwaukee to have a driver’s license (the easiest form of voter id to use in WI if you have it).  No big deal he says: black voting rates are high enough, and so long as “everyone has the same opportunity to get a qualifying voter ID” in Wisconsin there can be no voting rights violation. Never mind that because of past discrimination African-American voters are on average poorer and will have a harder time coming up with the money for the underlying documents for a voter id. The rich and poor can both sleep under bridges. To Easterbrook, one just “scrounges” the money to get the birth certificate—there is no sensitivity that not everyone is as rich as a federal judge...

What bothers me most is the dismissive tone. But it is unsurprising. The evidence on the stay motion was uncontradicted (and conceded by the state of Wisconsin) that out of state voters won’t have time to get the underlying documents they need in time for the next election. Such disenfranchisement is no big deal for Judge Easterbrook.

The Journal Sentinel's take on the opinion is here. 

Walker offers new, ironic meme: "It's over in Wisconsin"

The actual context of Wrong-Way Walker's remark was his wave-off to the far-right homophobe crowd he'd used to win a few elections, but "it's over in Wisconsin" has a nice ring to it when it comes to ending Walker's incumbency.

John Nichols sums up Scott Walker's fake gubernatorial campaign

This is political commentary that cuts to the chase:

John Nichols: Scott Walker is not running for governor

The remarkable thing about Gov. Scott Walker’s re-election campaign is that Walker makes little effort to hide the fact that he is not running for governor in 2014. He is running for president in 2016

WI woodlands being cleared; few official concerns raised

Swaths of wooded land in Adams and Wood Counties that once supplied the paper industry with raw materials are being rapidly converted to farming through high-speed mechanized deforestation, and there seems to be no official concern about the impacts on the environment and neighboring communities.

Modern-day farming pulls massive amounts of water from ground and nearby surface streams and lakes.

Farms are applying on their land airborne sprays of manure produced by mega-dairies - - coincidentally, a big political debate where this farming is an issues happens tonight - -  along with chemical fertilizers that move into the soil and further downstream.

I'll bet that the forest land being cleared helped filter and clean precipitation and runoff, too.

As with its shoulder-shrugging 'regulation' of frac sand mining and enabling of expanded dairy operations, the woodland-to-farming conversion in Central Wisconsin seems like more careless, carefree anti-environment and science by the Walker-corporatized Wisconsin DNR.

Walker used our money backing now-rejected discrimination

When the US Supreme Court today rejected Wisconsin's effort to reinstate a ban on same-sex marriage,it sent the message to Scott Walker and J. B. Van Hollen they were wrong to try and enforce discrimination that created classes of citizenship with different status and access to benefits.

Remember that all the state attorneys' time came from our pockets.

The company in Walker & Co.

In the Wrong-Way Walker network - - and I don't mean the Tim Russell/Kelly Rindfleisch secret Milwaukee County executive suite e-network - - is a Who's Who on the right:

Wayne LaPierre.

Sarah Palin.

Karl Rove.

The Duck Dynasty family.

Ted Nugent

Donald Trump, David Koch, Sheldon Adelson.

Bonus Koch citation.

Fourteen unidentified activists who working with Walker as early as 2007 to manage the takeover of Wisconsin.

The rest of us are only pawns in their game.

Why Walker, right's favorite numbers are 211 and zero

Here are a few facts about a major gap in media coverage of Scott Walker's campaign during which formerly secret and possible illegal coordination with outside funders came to light:

* Number of days since it was reported by Salon.com that Scott Walker and fourteen others met "along the shores of Lake Michigan" in 2007 to plot the takeover of Wisconsin. 211.

* Number of the other fourteen people at the meeting who have also been identified. 0.

* Number of organizations represented at the meeting which have also been identified. 0.

* Number of mainstream Wisconsin media who appear to be covering the story. 0.

* Number of references to the meeting in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's 2014 just-published and definitive profile of Walker's career and ascension to power. 0.

* Number of days until the gubernatorial election. 30.

WI Supreme Court's ethical dilemma in sharper focus

Props to The Wisconsin State Journal's Dee Hall for making the scope and depth of the State Supreme Court's self-inflicted ethical bind a high-visibility news story.

I have blogged about the jaw-dropping step into discredit the Court is likely to take if when it agrees to rule on whether the John Doe probe into Scott Walker's relationship with major conservative corporate funders can continue - - a move by a Court with a majority whose election campaigns took millions of dollars from some of those very same groups.

The same Court which had also let some of those very same groups write a no-fault code of conduct for the justices that governs when they needed to step aside from a case in the face of ethical conflicts posed by outside contributors.

The answer to "when" is pretty much never.

So the fox is not just in the chicken coop: the fox was allowed in, bought the place, has the keys and can come and go as it pleases.

It's as if Alex Rodriguez, caught doping, would have his final appeal to be allowed to continue to play heard by attorneys making up a majority of a panel he helped get hired to sit on the decision-making panel.

You read these things about politics and law in Wisconsin, and you say, 'this can't be happening...the ethical conflicts are too obvious...this has to be a joke or satire...,' but indeed it is happening, and to make things worse, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board, after having twice endorsed Walker for Governor, doesn't think the justices whose campaign committees had taken these huge donations need to step aside.

It's one thing to have self-interested clients and the politicians who serve them undermine the credibility of crucial institutions, but it's another when major watchdogs agree to look the other way.

Mega-dairy debate on the agenda Monday

Dairy expansion is THE issue in this race:

Who needs that pesky GAB, Bucky?

I see that GOP legislators on the Joint Finance Committee are balking at an appropriation request to fund a public education campaign about voter ID.

Having won the right to implement voter ID on the eve of the November election, sowing maximum confusion about ID requirements and availability,  the GOP and Walker are in no hurry to dilute their voting suppression.

There is also news that Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen will not defend the GAB against the latest lawsuit brought by the leading right-wing financier probed by law enforcement and regulators over possible campaign law violations in the GAB purview.

The message?  The hell with the GAB.

Not being able to hold one-party elections - - yet - - Walker's GOP will go to plan B in 2015: a trimmed, right-leaning or abolished GAB.

After that, who knows?

The Walker committee could serve as the former State Ethics Board. The Assembly Republican Campaign Committee could review candidates' financial disclosure statements, and design ballots.

Ballots would be Republican only. For certainty.

"Which Republican would you like?" A____________ B___________

"For How Many Years? Check Box: 2 Years ____ 4 Years____

Walker cozying up with Duck Dynasty 'stars'

Nailing down the homophobe vote, Walker's far-right dog whistle is getting louder.

The most ignored Scott Walker story

[Updated, Friday, 11:35 p.m.] Despite the attention paid to hidden coordination among Scott Walker, his campaign and outside organizations and funders in 2011-'12, I have yet to see any follow-up by Wisconsin media to the open, boastful disclosure by conservative leaders in March that Scott Walker was among 15 activists who met in Milwaukee in 2007 to plan the capture of the State of Wisconsin.

Again, I ask: Who was there?

I have twice posted the story - - first time, here - - with its citations and unabashed quotations from Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus and a conservative activist who has been the point person in Wisconsin for the Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity.

Salon.com did its job, but where is the Milwaukee and statewide pursuit?

From my most recent posting, in July:

Leading national right-wing strategists proudly disclosed at their annual gathering last week that coordinated work with and for Scott Walker had begun in 2007 -- or three years before his election:. 

[National GOP chair Reince] Priebus made his comments on a Saturday morning CPAC panel addressing how conservatives could fight and defeat organized labor state by state... 

“How did we do it in Wisconsin?” RNC Chair Reince Priebus asked Saturday morning. “The simplest way I can tell you is we had total and complete unity between the state party, quite frankly, Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party groups, the Grandsons of Liberty. The [Glenn Beck-instigated] 9/12ers were involved... 

Panelist Luke Hilgemann, the current Americans for Prosperity COO who formerly led the Koch-backed group’s Wisconsin efforts, told the crowd that the 2011 victory “started back in 2007 on the shores of Lake Michigan,” at a meeting of fifteen intrepid activists who’d “had enough of government overreach,” including then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. Priebus, a former Wisconsin GOP head, credited the ability to pass Walker’s reforms in part to the party and Tea Party activists unifying well before the 2010 primary...

So since a few chosen people apparently did know and helped craft the Wisconsin/Walker/union-busting blueprint, let's ask:

Who was there at the pivotal meeting disclosed at CPAC?

For 2nd time, AG Van Hollen obstructs Doe case, helping Walker

First our rightwing partisan Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen refused to lend tecnhical assistance inn John Doe I - - which exulted in six convictions of Walker donors, appointees, long-time pals or associates despite Van Hollen's sand-bagging - - and now Van Hollen is refusing to defend a state agency being tied up in litigation by Walker backers in John Doe II.

The message to state employees doing their jobs: Go F*** yourself.

That's your our law and order party showing its true colors. Eyes right, people.

After years of hostility, Walker admin hints at water quality concern

Weak on environmental issues - - wetlands ruination, shoreline development, water quality disregard, frac sand mining, dairy runoff and water table pollution, iron-mining to destroy the Bad River watershed, etc. etc., ad infinitum  - - and after specifically easing some phosphorus discharge controls - - Walker's agencies hint they might do something about phosphorus runoff.

A month before the election.

Email me if they do something real.

16th hound killed in WI by wolves this year

The DNR says by email this afternoon the bear hunting dog ran into Iron County from MI. A second dog was injured. Are the owners eligible for the WI reimbursements of up to $2,500 pet dog killed by wolves?

Bear hunting and gun lobbies pushed through the payment system and hunting laws allowing off-leash training and hunting pursuit of bears through areas of known wolf activity.

Even in areas with bear bait legally placed by hunters that can attract wolves.

Latest NFL name flap in DC is the team owner's fault

The matter wouldn't be making waves before the FCC if Daniel Snyder had done the right thing and changed the team's offensive name, mascot and logo.

A long-standing nickname for players and their fans (like me, originally a DC kid), is the "Hogs," but Snyder's pig-headeness is ruining that, too.

I'll bet you'd find some Wisconsin frac sand there

And it's not a pretty sight:

Open Pits Offer Cheap Disposal for Fracking Sludge, but Health Worries Mount

Good to see US EPA promoting rivers' headwater protections

The US EPA likes what it sees in Milwaukee's attention to rivers headwaters, so I can't imagine it will allow GTac to excavate, fill and otherwise defile the headwaters of the Bad River in NW Wisconsin for an open-pit iron mine, eh? 

Two more dogs thrown to wolves in cruel-hunting WI

Bear hunters in Wisconsin keep running their hounds during 'training' through wolf territories, and the DNR tells us today that two more bear hounds have been killed by wolves as a result.

Man's best friend? Or most disposable? Why the state's cruelty-to-animals prohibitions do not apply - -  is beyond belief.

These are the 14th and 15th hounds to die this way this year - -and under DNR procedures, the owners are eligible for $2,500 state reimbursement replacement payments.

Madness.

From the DNR:

Bear Hound killed in Douglas County

On September 26, Wildlife Services confirmed that wolves killed a 10 year old and a 5 year old English bear hound in the same incident. The attack occurred in the Town of Oakland, Douglas County. More information and a caution area map are available on the gray wolf webpage.

Hunters are reminded to use the caution area maps on the DNR website (dnr.wi.gov, keyword "wolf management") to help reduce conflicts during this year's bear dog training and hunting season.

Scott Walker's NRA buddy Ted Nugent in the news again

Remember when Scott Walker sent some love Ted Nugent's way - -  a shout out meant for the ears of Walker's NRA voting base?

During an interview with NRA News at the NRA's 2012 annual meeting, Walker said that "the best part" of the 2006 annual meeting was meeting Nugent.

Well, Ol' Ted's back in the news. Anyone up for asking Walker for comment about this?

Musician Ted Nugent took to the Internet on Wednesday to decry what he called "Ferguson thugs" and "a plague of black violence," demanding that blacks stop supporting liberals because of what he saw as biased media coverage of the recent Ferguson police shooting.

In a diatribe on World Net Daily, Nugent complained that "our national propaganda ministry reported ad nauseum the detailed description and race of Michael Brown and that of the police officer who killed him..."

The musician closed the column with: "The road to peace and prosperity in America is to reject the big liberal lie and all those who endorse it. Liberalism is a lie. Liberalism is a scam. Liberalism is a killer."

Earlier this year, Nugent went on another rant in which he referred to President Barack Obama as a "subhuman mongrel."

What? Pro-Walker ad...like SIX others...based on a TV show...

Somebody call the Plagiarism Police!

Never too early to promote election turnout

Very glad to talk to grassroots organizer at the door today with literature and information about the election. Pro-Burke, independent committee lit.

Re-defining voter ID, expanding the discussion

Now that the US Supreme Court will review the Wisconsin voter ID law, let's talk about what it really achieves:

Enhanced statewide gerrymandering - - by further diluting the impact of Democratic, campus and big-city voting.

It's a complement to the  secrecy-spawned gerrymandering of legislative districts' map lines, completed by the GOP-controlled Legislature and Governor Walker in 2012, which aimed to marginalize and weaken the impact of Democratic, campus and big-city voters.

The voter ID mandate, along with new GOP-authored restrictions on absentee voting, would seal the deal statewide for Republicans statewide by further diminishing opposition turnout.

Call it gerrymandering 2.0. The version with a new operating system and longer-lasting juice.

Gerrymandering 2.0, along with version 1.0 - - the legislative mapping advantages - - are the Wisconsin legal and structural products of a pivotal, secret state-takeover strategy meeting held in Milwaukee and attended by Scott Walker and conservative operatives in 2007 - - a meeting ignored by state media even though its consequences are defining Walker-era policies, politics, campaigns and the finances of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin families.

The meeting laid the foundation for the 2010 gubernatorial campaign which Walker won, and could help define the GOP field in the 2016 Presidential primaries, and beyond, if Walker survives the November election.

I'd call the meeting historic: Props to Salon.com for setting the table, but traditional Wisconsin media need to flesh out the story and explain its implications for customers and voters.

Southern court provides voter protections, unlike Chicago 7th circuit

[Updated, 9:30 a.m.] A southern US appeals court panel recognizes that last-minute changes to North Carolina voting procedures so close to the November election will create anti-democratic confusion.

Too bad we couldn't get similar justice for Wisconsin voters at the Court of Appeals in Chicago.

The US Supreme Court needs to stop this inconsistency. Voting rights should not be trifled with.

Update - - An appeal to the US Supreme Court has been filed by the ACLU of Wisconsin. Great news.

Walker's shaky ethics, media double-standards

It's time people called b.s. on Scott Walker's plagiarism charge being leveled as a campaign distraction against Mary Burke.

Yes, she had hired a careless consultant. She fired him. She's the victim here. Not Walker.

He doesn't have a leg to stand on; Walker's outrage about it all is transparently phony.

And that is the only time you will see "Walker" and "transparently" in a single, accurate sentence.

Now that Walker and his echo chamber have elevated the matter into full-blown campaign against Burke's character - -  will media begin, for example, to demand from Walker or Rebecca Kleefisch or the other top administration officials who submit op-eds for publication a list of all the authors, contributors, editors and advisers who wrote a line or paragraph or a first or s last draft, along with their citations and sourcing?

If Walker demands full disclosure of others, let him start with his own operation.

And when we're talking about Walker and ethics, remember that he hired staffers while running for Governor from the office of Milwaukee County Executive who worked just down the hall as political operatives - - not public servants - - for him and other Republicans, on public time.

Using secret equipment.

Coordinating closely with his campaign.

For some of those transgressions and related campaign finance law-breaking, six of Walker's people were charged, found guilty, fined or sentenced to jail or prison.

And he's pointing a finger over ethics? Give us all a break.

Walker's 2012 recall gubernatorial campaign is still open to investigation thanks to a recent Federal appeals court reversal of Us District Court Judge Rudolph Randa's investigation shutdown overreach despite the multi-pronged effort by Walker's right-wing media/talk radio echo chamber, big donors and legal defense fund to permanently derail it.

Ethical behavior?

"False" is still his #1 PolitiFact statement-vetted category.

And if you want to talk about failed or non-existent ethics in state government from the top-on-down  that have already had impacts on everyday people in Wisconsin, look to Walker's intentional rejection of federal medicaid funding, cuts to food stamps, reductions in pollution violation enforcement, forced closings of low-income women's health care clinics, mandated, wasteful voter ID to 'fight' no known fraud - - and a host of additional manipulations and exploitations laid down principally for Walker's personal and partisan ambition.

There's your ethically-compromised candidate, Governor and administration.

Walker using state planes like his private airline

Curiously, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum's history of using expensive state airplanes for quick trips that could have easily been taken by car - - like Walker's short hops - - was left out of the Journal Sentinel story.

McCallum's plane use was big news and controversial at the time.

It really brought the issue of state officials' airplane use to the public's attention and helped doom McCallum's campaign for a full-term in 2002 after he'd assumed the governorship office when Tommy Thompson resigned to join the George W. Bush cabinet.

Why there's hope after today's Marquette Poll

The MU poll gives Walker fifty.
His nervous backers say that's nifty.
But Walker's donors were still too gifty.
Sending Doe-disclosed checks was hardly thifty.
And the mining donation was downright grifty.
So all in all, Walker remains shifty.
An at-risk incumbent still stuck at fifty. 

The fiscal year is over; where are Wisconsin's key financial reports?

The state fiscal year ended June 30.

Will Wrong-Way Walker's appointees at the Department of Administration hold on to it through the election, with bad debt data and crummy revenue numbers from Walker budgeting and jobs fails effectively censored?

Also missing:

The State Department of Revenue's Economic Forecast for Summer or Fall.

No such DOR report since March, despite the misleading "winter 2014" title:

March 20

Winter 2014 Wisconsin Economic Outlook and Winter 2014 Wisconsin Metropolitan Area Outlook

I noted this omission and situation a month ago. 

Anybody care?

About Walker's 2nd term 'plan'

A "plan" to serve a full second term is not a commitment.

Plans change. You can plan the plan but not necessarily the outcome.

Like a plan to create 250,000 new jobs in one term.

People have to know by now that Walker's only interest is his advancement, not your well-being.

Though no permits issued, work underway on golf course site in Kohler preserve

Neither the Town of Wilson, the Wisconsin DNR or the US Army Corps of Engineers has issued any permits or held hearings on any formal applications about building a golf course on the Kohler company's Lake Michigan nature preserve south of Sheboygan, but neighbors report something is afoot there:

Anti-science crowd holding GOP fundraiser Wednesday

[Updated Wednesday, 11:19 a.m.] 

Brown County alert: Wisconsin US Senator and book-learning foe Ron Johnson will be in the spotlight at a fundraising event this evening raising money for fellow pollution backer Brian Schimel, the Waukesha County DA and GOP Attorney General hopeful. 

For $1,000 you can get your picture taken with RoJo, though surprisingly, Big Government legal tender is mandatory, while Bitcoin and other freedom currencies are not acceptable. Go figure.

Reception for Brad Schimel for AG. 

10/1/2014 5:30 p.m. 

Green Bay Distillery, 835 Potts Ave., Ashwaubenon. 

With special guest U.S. Senator Ron Johnson 

5:30 PM – Host Reception/Photo Opportunity 6:00PM – Main Reception 

$1,000 – Platinum Host , $500 – Gold Host, or $250 – Silver HostAttendees: $100 per person 

PAC contributions are welcome

We know that flat earthers like Johnson believes sunspot activity, not human action like power plants and vehicle emissions, is fueling climate change, despite reams of science to the contrary.

Johnson is the author of the phrase "environmental jihad."

Also for legacy purposes, we note that PoilitiFact rated as "true" the allegation that Johnson has voted in favor of "unlimited" carbon dioxide pollution. 

Because he did it twice.

So you can expect to see the PAC contributions roll in tomorrow, as Schimel has the requisite Ron Johnson fossil-fuel-pollution-is-OK talking point down pat: 

If elected, Schimel said one of his first acts would be to join Republican attorneys general in a legal challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions to slow global climate change.

Because if there's one thing the planet needs right now, it's more powerful politicians pushing extra pollution into the atmosphere.

WMC lobbyist shocked at women ingrates

The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce's Scott Manley has had his feelings hurt by women who are not appropriately appreciative of WMC support for existing law that bars pay equity discrimination.

The GOP Legislature and Walker did repeal - - with the WMC's backing - - a companion law that had allowed plaintiffs to seek punitive damages and create deterrence through lawsuits over pay equity discrimination.

The companion law could have led to frivolous lawsuits just like all the other punitive damage frivolous  pay equity lawsuits that were never filed.

The WMC is right: just because women make 75 cents for every dollar a male co-worker earns for similar work in a low-wage state like Wisconsin doesn't mean women should be allowed to turn around discriminate against employers with one-sided legal tools to fight pay discrimination.

Employers already are forced to operate under profit-constraining Big Government edicts like outlawed child labor and a mandated $7.25/hourly wage, among other nanny state wimp-outs.

I can see why the relatively powerless WMC would feel like the victim here, and good on the organization and Manley for standing up against the bullying.