RIGGING THE VOTE

I am amazed at the blatant, cynical and unpatriotic voter fraud taking place in this country today.  It is taking place in the states of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to name a few.  Republican held legislatures and governors have passed voter ID laws that are defrauding voters out of their right to vote under the guise of stopping a nonexistent voter impersonation “problem”.  There has never been an arrest or conviction of this kind of “voter fraud” in the history of Pennsylvania as stipulated buy their own Attorney General. 

To make matters worse, they found a judge who is a severely intellectually challenged right wing ideologue to rule in favor of Pennsylvania’s fraudulent law last week.  It is under appeal. 

The right wing knows they can’t win this election on their policies of hatred and exclusion, their plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program where they give you a chit and send you out into the insurance marketplace to find your own healthcare, their plan to gut Social Security and Medicaid, to say nothing of their tax plans to further enrich the wealthy on the backs of the middle class.  These policies are not favored by the majority of Americans.

So they pass voter suppression laws that restrict voting hours, eliminate early voting and pass voter ID laws to literally take the vote away from citizens who have voted legally for many years.

Is this the democracy we grew up in?  We have been fighting for years and years to make it possible for every legal citizen to vote.  Are we going to let these bullies take us backward?

Rigging the vote is unconstitutional, illegal, unpatriotic if not treasonous and it is unconscionable.  This is a true definition of voter fraud. 

Don’t let these people steal our democracy.

AND THAT'S NO BULL.

FOR THE LIFE OF ME

For the life of me, I can’t figure out the modern day “conservative”. They appear to have lost their empathy for the less fortunate. Facts seem to be totally irrelevant if they don’t agree with their viewpoint. Many have become hateful, spiteful, angry, frightened people who are willing to support positions that are contrary to their own best interests. Like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders, some are union members voting for republicans who will turn our state into a right to work state. If the “divide and conquer” tape doesn’t convince you Walker has a hidden agenda, what will?

If Walker wins, the Wisconsin I see will have a privatized school system. We will be a right to work “for less” state. There will be no collective bargaining, private or public. Planned Parenthood will be gone. There won’t be any healthcare for the poor. Job losses will continue and we’ll give more tax breaks to the wealthy. The state will fall deeper in debt. He will sell off state assets and there will be more rampant cronyism. We will experience more pollution of our lakes and streams and less aid for towns and counties. Roads and bridges will continue to deteriorate. Effectively, there will be no DNR. We will see continued acrimony in Madison with millions of dollars coming in from outsiders trying to run our state.

Let’s not forget the real possibility of watching our Governor being perp walked down the steps of the court house. Won’t we be proud!

Do they want us to be the Mississippi of the north? Don’t buy into all the propaganda Koch money can spew on TV and mailers. They’re trying to play us all for suckers. Don’t fall for it.

Good Things From Unions

If you are not among the top three percent of the money earners in the United States, why would you vote for a Republican? It has been borne out by their actions that this is the only segment of the population they want to help.
Around here a lot of small business people feel they should support the Republicans because, after all, they support business. They are correct. Republicans support BIG business. They view small business as a gnat buzzing around their head, a minor nuisance at best. It is no longer the Eisenhower Republican party. The Republicans left Ike as well as Reagan many years ago.
I don’t understand why unions are being so vilified. I have been involved with the building trades unions both as a journeyman tradesman and an employer for the last 40 years. It has been, overall, a good relationship.
Of all the benefits to all workers, nonunion included, that unions have brought us, there is a benefit most people are not aware of.
In 1962 the Asbestos Workers international, pipe and boiler insulators, contributed much needed funding to Dr. Irving Selikoff’s research on asbestos related disease. As a direct result of this research, asbestos in building materials was taken off the market in 1974. This union funded research saved many thousands of people from cancer and mesothelioma.
There have been many other beneficial union funded projects in the workplace. We must stop this mindless union bashing and pause for a moment to reflect upon how the unions have improved all of our lives.

Wisconsin Bile

Why do Republican politicians continuously need to set an enemy before us? Why do they always have a target for frustrated people to hate? Why do they always try to make us afraid? Why are they trying to make us so mean spirited, uncaring, and selfish?
The new enemies de juor are the union teachers. They paint them as lazy, overpaid drains on our economy. Really? The person who has the biggest positive influence on our children other than parents are their teachers! We have a wonderful education system in Wisconsin with smart, dedicated, caring professional teachers. Most of these people could have done much better financially in the private sector. No one gets into teaching for the money. It has always been a calling. These people are heroes every day, teaching our kids critical thinking. That is just a part of their job. How about teaching respect for others, nonviolent behavior, athletic and academic competition, guidance toward their individual talents? Preparing them for the next level in their education? Spending extra time outside of the classroom to help someone who didn’t understand something?
Why should teachers tolerate being vilified and publicly abused daily by politicians and those who buy into the bile and hatred they’re selling?
Why, with the internet at their fingertips, do so many Americans choose to continue their ignorance?
The Republicans are trying to privatize our schools and this hate mongering is just the first volley in the fight. Quit allowing these evil people to influence you! Use the critical thinking you were taught in school to recognize this for the scam that it is. The only ones who benefit from privatization are the wealthy. The rest of us lose.