Is This Voter Suppression?

We hear about all the attempts being made around the country to try and find ways to keep voters from voting….all under the guise of preventing voter fraud, which by the way is NOT a major problem but is being used to rev up the idiots.

Seems a mayor in Wisconsin has a way to try and control who gets to vote.

The mayor of a central Wisconsin city who ran for office on his opposition to absentee ballot drop boxes said Wednesday he did nothing wrong when he put on work gloves, donned a hard, hat and used a dolly, to cart away a drop box outside City Hall. Wausau Mayor Doug Diny posed for a picture Sunday to memorialize his removal of the city’s lone drop box, which had been put outside City Hall around the same time late last week that absentee ballots were sent to voters, the AP reports. The city’s election clerk, Kaitlyn Bernarde, said she has reported the issue to the Marathon County district attorney as well as the state elections commission.

This is no different than the maintenance guy moving it out there,” Diny said Wednesday. “I’m a member of staff. There’s nothing nefarious going on here. I’m hoping for a good result.”

  • The move, which sparked a protest in the city Tuesday night and anger among drop box advocates, is the latest example in swing state Wisconsin of the fight over whether communities will allow absentee ballot drop boxes.
  • After former Donald Trump lost the state in 2020, he and some Republicans alleged that drop boxes facilitated cheating, even though they offered no evidence. Democrats, election officials, and other Republicans argued the boxes are secure. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, then controlled by conservatives, banned the use of drop boxes in 2022. But in July, the now-liberal controlled court reversed that decision and said drop boxes could be used. However, the court left it up to each community to decide whether to install them.
  • More than 60 towns, villages, and cities in nine of the state’s 72 counties have opted out of using absentee ballot drop boxes for the presidential election in November, according to a tally by the group All Voting is Local. Drop boxes are being embraced in heavily Democratic cities including Milwaukee and Madison.
  • Diny ran as a conservative and was backed by the Republican Party in the nonpartisan mayor’s race. He is in his first year as Wausau mayor after being elected in April. Diny said that he and the city clerk never discussed the drop box before it was placed outside City Hall late last week. Diny said he decided Sunday to act when he realized the drop box was “not secure.”
  • Bernarde said Wednesday that the city planned to “secure the drop box to the ground” and unlock it, but it was removed before that could be done. The box was locked and contained no ballots, she said. It is a felony in Wisconsin to impede or prevent “the free exercise of the franchise at an election.”
  • Wausau resident Pamela Bannister, speaking at a city council meeting Tuesday night, called for Diny to apologize and return the drop box. “This is the kind of action that’s designed to stir the pot,” Bannister said. “It does not tamp down the rhetoric that we’re all facing in this election cycle. It accomplishes nothing positive and amounts to, in my estimation, voting interference and intimidation.”

So I ask again is this an attempt at voter suppression?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

When It Rains It Pours On The GOP!

The GOP is having a wealth of problems these days……it all started about 2 years ago….there were a couple of high ups in the party that were caught doing what they accuse others of doing….voter fraud.  Then there was the Virginian (I believe) head of the state GOP that said emphatically that the voter issues in the state legislature were there to prevent some people (mostly democrats) from having a easy time to vote….and then the BIG shoe fell….Christie and his bridge debacle….and that one is still playing out…but so far it is looking more bleak for the governor.

Many 2016 GOP hopefuls are finding it difficult to keep a straight line to the primaries……the newest report that may play out similar to the Christie thingy is one of the GOPs fave governors…..Scott Walker of Wisconsin………another bright GOP star looking at 2016 as their time…….but……..

Another huge setback for a Republican governor with ambitions for 2016: Some 27,000 emails were released yesterday relating to a probe that led to the arrest and conviction of former aides to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and some of them could prove highly damaging. Some key facts, as per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Washington Post, and the Huffington Post:

  • The emails link Walker, then county executive to a secret email system used by his taxpayer-funded staff to break campaign law communicating directly with his 2010 campaign for governor during business hours. “Consider youself now in the ‘inner circle,'” his administration director another county employee. “I use this private account quite a bit to communicate with SKW and Nardelli,” she wrote, referring to Walker by his initials.
  • The emails show the Walker appears to have been “aware that laptops were being used in the county executive’s office for accessing things on non-county networks,” the chief investigator says, a sign that use of the private email system was widespread.
  • Several highly racist emails were forwarded among Walker’s staff, including one recounting a “nightmare” of waking up “black, Jewish, disabled, gay with a Mexican boyfriend.”
  • Walker ordered staff to get rid of a doctor the county’s Behavioral Health Division who had worked a thong model. “Get rid of the MD asap,” Walker wrote after being told the modeling wasn’t “pornographic, but is quite suggestive.”

The Walker affair hasn’t received as much attention as Chris Christie’s traffic jam scandal, though both feature GOP governors with “national profiles and national ambitions, allegedly using their public office to boost their political standing, all the while distancing themselves from the work their staffs sullied themselves with,” writes Emma Roller at Slate, predicting the emails will haunt him through next year’s re-election fight.

Just when the media pick up on this juicy piece?

These are actual ‘scandals’…there is no need to make it into one….the misdeeds are there for all to see.  Now the question is….how will these types of things effect who becomes the bright star for 2016?

Will They Take The Hint?

Whataya think?  Will the GOP take the hint from numerous polls?  The people keep dropping subtle hints, especially to the pollsters…..

The people want government to cut spending…..but not with Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid a recent poll showed…I believe it was a WSJ poll…..Defense seems to be the target for most people…end wars and adventurism around the world…..more closely control government contracts…..etc……and of course, the middle class is asking why the rich cannot pay more in taxes…..

Rep. Paul Ryan has given the country his ideas on the budget (actually they are just rehashes of the thinking of the Heritage Foundation) and there has been a lot of back and forth…….not among the people but rather from the self-serving little pills in Congress……he has been called bold and courageous and visionary…….but what do the people, I am talking about real people….average people….think of “his” Path To Prosperity?

It seems that at a recent townhall in his home state of Wisconsin….Ryan was met with an unexpected response to his saying that the wealthy need to pay less in taxes…….

Watch it http://t.co/0EkokIb

Of course this was a townhall meeting in Wisconsin and it may be a reaction to the policies of their new Repub governor….it may not be Ryan’s fault at all…..no one believes that so why would I say it?  Dunno….I guess I was just trying to be “fair and balanced”……

The GOP might want to watch this closely….it could be a harbinger of things to come…..as the people become more knowledgeable on his proposals to basically eliminate SS, Medicare and Medicaid the people will NOT allow this to continue and there is an election coming up…..let us see how many start running away from these proposals……

Will they (GOP) take the hint?

2011 Dumbass Statement #1

Info Ink we give an annual “Assie” award for the most anal statement made during the year…..we have so many statements that could qualify as anal that we decided to try and eliminate some of the lesser anals and instead give “Dumbass” awards as we find them……

The first one goes to freshman US Representative from Polk County Wisconsin, Sean Duffy (R)…while holding a town hall meeting he was talking about his finances as a Rep……

I can guarantee you, or most of you, I guarantee that I have more debt than all of you. With 6 kids, I still pay off my student loans. I still pay my mortgage. I drive a used minivan. If you think I’m living high on the hog, I’ve got one paycheck. So I struggle to meet my bills right now. Would it be easier for me if I get more paychecks? Maybe, but at this point I’m not living high on the hog.  (thanx to TPM for the quote)

He is struggling on a salary of $174,000…..and probably the highest paid person in the room would be lucky to make $50,000…….and in a state where workers and the middle class are under attack he also said that he supported Gov. Walker in his attack on the public workers and their representation…..

He lands the “Dumbass” Award for whining to working people that his salary that is about 3 times larger than theirs…….arrogant comes to mind!

How About The Hate Speech!

With all the hoopla in Wisconsin, I have heard many conserv pundits like Joe Scarborough of MSNBC scold the Left and the media for not calling out the protesters in Madison for all the hate speech that is flying around….they want the media to weigh in like they did during the summer of discontent (2010) of the Tea Party and similar groups……tghey say that the media is NOT being fair by their silence…..

OK, let me be one of the first….as soon as I see Walker caricature as a clown or Hitler or Stalin, I will be there to condemn it…..as soon as I see Wisconsin protesters totting guns and calling for some sort of violence, I will yell the loudest…..as soon as I hear or see a protester wearing a mask of Walker and calling him a fascist you will hear me….(I am NOT saying that some of this is NOT going on….just I have not seen it)

So far all the scenes that I have watched have signs calling for a return to democracy or support for unions or a call for people to get involved….that sort of stuff……NO guns…No Hitler signs…..No joker signs…..No….well you get it……and so far the people interviewed have been polite for the most part…they have given facts (as they see them) and call for a return to sanity….

I have NOT witnessed anything near the crap spread by the Tea Party and its supporters back last summer…basically, all the hoopla in the conserv press is part of the right wing agenda….they are losing the battle in Wisconsin and want to find someone to blame….the media is a convenient bad guy

Conservs cannot justify their attacks on labor and they are pissed and will refuse to accept that they are mostly wrong……or that it was a fool’s choice to fight this battle….

So….where is the hate speech?  Granted I am not there and may have missed something but neither are the pundits on the news…….

There is NO hate speech coming out of Wisconsin except from those that do NOT like seeing Americans stand for something……..Get over it!  I pray that it is contagious and for more issues than just labor……Working and average Americans need to take their country back….from special interests and from those that do NOT want a vocal majority…..

Better Later Than Never

Yes, I will be talking about the doings in Wisconsin….and yes…again!

There is a report on a poll out today about the governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker…….

Wisconsin voters already have buyers remorse about electing Gov. Scott Walker (R).

In a PPP poll released Monday, a majority of registered Wisconsin voters say that in a hypothetical re-do of last year’s gubernatorial election, they would vote for Democrat Tom Barrett, whom Walker defeated in November. That finding comes as Walker continues to stand firm on his budget proposals that would strip most state public employees of long-held collective bargaining rights.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they would vote for Barrett if the election were held today, while 45% said they would vote for Walker. That’s almost exactly the opposite of what happened in the election, when Walker won the governorship with 52% of the vote to Barrett’s 47%.

The huge shift comes, not surprisingly, from union members. In releasing the findings, Tom Jensen at PPP wrote:

Thanx to Talking Points Memo for the update…….

All I have to say about this is…..see what happens when you are lazy and depend on morons on the tube to tell you where to vote?  Maybe, just maybe  you people should exercise your most important muscle….no not the abs or the pecs or the penis……but rather the BRAIN!  If you would have used it more maybe you would not have the massive problem you have now…..if you pay attention to what you are voting for then sneaks and thieves cannot easily influence you……

You have NO one to blame for this but yourself and your damn laziness!  Ignorance hurts, huh?

I Was Wro….Wro…Wro…..Mistaken

A Correction to a blog post:

My post was on 21 Feb 2011 and entitled ” Civil Disobedience Comes Home”….

I try to be fair….yes, I have an opinion and I let it be known (surprise)…….but I will admit it when I am wro….wro….MISTAKEN!

The situation in Wisconsin lead me to report on an article I had seen that the Governor created the budget deficit that he now uses to try and kill all union activity in the state…..well, I know how hard it is to believe but I was mistaken and the good people at Politifact have brought it to my attention…..I will correct my error……..

There is, indeed, a projected deficit that required attention, and Walker and GOP lawmakers did not create it.

More on that second point in a bit.

The confusion, it appears, stems from a section in Lang’s memo that — read on its own — does project a $121 million surplus in the state’s general fund as of June 30, 2011.

But the remainder of the routine memo — consider it the fine print — outlines $258 million in unpaid bills or expected shortfalls in programs such as Medicaid services for the needy ($174 million alone), the public defender’s office and corrections. Additionally, the state owes Minnesota $58.7 million under a discontinued tax reciprocity deal.

The result, by our math and Lang’s, is the $137 million shortfall.

It would be closer to the $340 million figure if the figure included the $200 million owed to the state’s patient compensation fund, a debt courts have declared resulted from an illegal raid on the fund under former Gov. Jim Doyle.

So, I apologize for my mis-reporting on the deficit for the state of Wisconsin……but (there is always a but)…..I stand by my assertions about the motives of Gov. Walker…..that he is only pursuing the tact set forth by the GOP in the 40’s….attack on the unions with the intent of breaking them and making them ineffectual….both economically and politically…..

But do not take my word for it….go to

http://bit.ly/b6LX4i

Why does the Right seldom use Politifact and its fact checking?  Could it be that they know their spin is mostly LIES?  Just a thought!

I regret that I did NOT pay enough attention to all the facts….hopefully I have learned my lesson and it will not happen again….but after all I am only human (a point that some will debate)……