Uppitywis Blogs

Much has been said recently about the successful polling results for Deez Nuts - a mythical candidate for president who has been out-polling many actual human beings in the North Carolina primary.

What is less well known is that many of the other candidates are planning to climb on what has been described as the "Nuts bandwagon" after Deez Nuts polled at 9%. Rumors are flying that candidate John Kasich is considering a legal change of name to "Dem  Nuts" in an attempt to appear to be just as Nuts as Deez.

Likewise a story has also spread that Bobby Jindahl is attempting to increase his chances

August 26, 2015   Health Still a Top Political Issue By Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “ObamaCare must be repealed immediately,” begins Governor Walker’s health plan for America.   Recently the governor unveiled his health plan to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He chose Minnesota as the backdrop - a state whose state-based marketplace offers health premiums to families that are over three hundred dollars less a month than Wisconsin’s federal marketplace according to research by the Commonwealth Fund.   In his new plan, the governor would give states the ability to create high-risk insurance

August 19, 2014   Lack of Rural Broadband Frustrates Fairgoers by Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “It’s pedal to the metal on broadband policy—for both consumers and competitors,” said Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler at a recent address to the Brookings Institute as reported on a Brookings website.   Internet in rural Wisconsin is closer to Pony Express than “pedal to the metal.”   That’s the general consensus of folks at the Pierce County Fair.   “AT&T is the largest carrier in the world and they won’t come to my house,” Tammy Tollefson told me. AT&T provided phone service to

You may have seen some of the flap last week where Scott Walker was asked about what his presidential policies would be, and he said to "look at his website". Unfortunately nobody could find much in the way of proposed policy there either. American Bridge has helped Walker along by building a policy page for him that reveals what actually appear to be his policies. Take a l ook for what you can expect from a Walker presidency.

  Should Tax Dollars Go to Companies Just to “Create Jobs”? By Senator Kathleen Vinehout   Imagine how private firms do business with the State of Wisconsin. The companies provide something of value for taxpayers and, in return, receive state money.   This happens all the time in state government: private companies build roads, computer systems, pay Medicaid bills, and even educate children.   What if the sole reason tax dollars went to a company was to create jobs?   Recognizing that taxpayers would want to know companies were actually creating jobs, lawmakers wrote state law requiring verification of

For some time now we've run this progressive calendar on Uppitywis.  Now you'd THINK in this interconnected age that every political organization out there would have an events calendar that would be machine readable in hopes of spreading the good word.  You'd think that but you'd be incredibly wrong. We're aggregating in what little we can find out there - if you know of ANY other progressive organizations, local parties, etc. that have Ical readable calendars (or even calendars I might be able to successfully screen-scrape if I need to) I'd love to hear it.  Please note that this INCLUDES

The Republican Presidential Debate season has started. The question in my mind is which of the two Scott Walkers will show up for the debates.

The mythology of many societies includes the concept of a shapeshifter – a person or animal who can change form at will. Walker has proved himself to be adept at shifting shape, most spectacularly right after taking the oath of office. Candidate Walker is often a completely different animal from office-holder Walker.

While running for Milwaukee County Executive Walker made small promises for reform, including cleaning up the fiscal mess left by his

County Fairs: Time for Creativity and Critters, Friends and Family by Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “We were working on a peach pie at 11:00 pm last night,” a 4-H mom whispered. “We were working on brownies at 2:00 am,” said another mom who overhead the conversation.   We were outside the 4-H food judging at the Pepin County Fair. You could have heard a pin drop inside the room as the judges sampled the entries. “What a great job,” I thought. “Dessert judge at the county fair.”   County fairs have a deep tradition in our state. Thousands of families, FFA members, 4-Hers and other youth poured their time

Just when we thought that perhaps the Gogebic Taconite mine was dead and buried, we find out that there is some chance it will return in a slightly different form.   This is bad news because even though rumor has it that the possible new mine operator has run iron mines before (which at least is an improvement) the fact of the matter is that we're talking about a mine in the same area, with the same political and environmental liabilities. There's clearly no way that this area can be mined in an environmentally responsible way, even when the state legislature has redefined "responsible"

Scott Walker, in an interview Monday on NPR, upped the ante on his Iran policy and said he wouldn’t wait until his inauguration to scuttle the Iran nuclear deal and would instead start acting the day after his presumed election while he is still a private citizen.

In an incredible show of hubris, Walker told John Harmon, guest host of On Point Radio, as he has in prior interviews, that he would “terminate the deal on day one” and added “but I wouldn’t wait for the first day, I would be on the phone on the day after the election working with our allies around the world because this is not only a

Boom in Academic Poaching Is Fueled by Visions of Economic Development - Chronicle of Higher Education, July 23, 2015

 This is the headline in the current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.  It describes the current activities around the country to enhance economic development by investing in research and higher education.

The lead story in the Chronicle of Higher Education today describes how other states are using investment in research universities as an integral part of their economic development strategies. The leading sentence tells it all,

 “A $250-million spending spree has lured

Art Mirrors our Environment by Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “If you came to Stockholm today, you came up or over a river,” musician Julie Patchouli told the folks gathered at the 42nd Annual Art Fair. The musical group, known by Julie’s last name, began a rousing river song as part of the celebration of art in the village of Stockholm, Wisconsin.   Stockholm is a picturesque Mississippi River town of 66 individuals (not counting the dogs and cats) that swells by many hundreds on art fair day. Most of the art fair is in the scenic village park on the riverbank of Lake Pepin – the widest spot in the

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's latest "Leading Index" forecasts that in the next six months, Wisconsin will have the worst economic growth in the Midwest and the eighth worst overall-- actually predicting that Wisconsin with have negative growth in the near future. 

Governor Walker’s Vetoes Remove Legislative Oversight by Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “I object to the infringement on gubernatorial power and duties,” wrote Governor Walker in his veto message. By his budget vetoes he made it clear he did not want legislative oversight.

 

The governor removed at least 15 portions of state law passed by the legislature that provided legislative authority or provided oversight of the executive branch.

 

Remember your 4th grade civics class lessons about the delicate balance of powers between the three branches of government – the governor (and executive agencies,), the

So -- it's not at all clear how this happened, but Scott Walker apparently accidentally announced his candidacy a few days early on Twitter.  According to Politico his team ain't answering questions about it. Just so you know, I'm not voting for him or joining his team.  Maybe they just cannot break the habit of announcing everything late on Friday so's you won't notice.

SO that happened. The budget got passed. Although in some ways it's a little less egregious than what the governor initally proposed, it's still a "crap budget" as described by at least one Republican legislator. If you want to see a quck rundown of what is going to affect your life in the budget, there's a story at the Star Tribune (and why I keep ending up reading the Minnesota papers to get Wisconsin news is another question). 

Let's just say that a lot of bad policy got passed. And I mean bad policy more than bad budget items. This budget holds what is perhaps a record-breaking amount of

Update -- the evacuation of the Capitol just ended as the all-clear has been given and legislators are heading back to the building.

The state capitol was evacuated this afternoon due to a "credible bomb threat".  Many legislators were seen crossing the various streets around the capitol to partake of bipartisan drinking in the meantime.  Latest word on social media seems to be that dogs may be brought in to sniff the building, that the square has been more or less closed for the time being, and that it's likely that the budget debate in the Assembly will have to be moved forward to tomorrow.

Th

Let's continue our trip through Motion 999. Apparently people are making too dang much money to satisfy the JFC, so they have amazingly managed to lower wages by simply substituting the term "minimum wage" for the term "living wage" in all Departmernt of Workforce Development definitions.  We're talking $7.25 per hour if you're lucky and not under 20 and starting a job, or falling into any number of categories who don't necessarily deserve that much. The notion that we can continue to insist on such a small minimum wage when many people are minimum wage employees and trying to support families