June 18, 2012

Massive Crowd Gathers For Reading Of Vagina Monologues At Michigan Capitol

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/06/18/501841/massive-crowd-gathers-for-reading-of-vagina-monologues-at-michigan-capitol/



After two female legislators were banned from the Michigan House floor last week after saying “vagina” during a debate about an anti-abortion measure, a massive crowd has gathered at the state capitol for a reading of “The Vagina Monologues.” There are an estimated 5,000 people in attendance.

June 18, 2012

Iowa nuns to tour 9 states in bus to protest GOP budget proposals they say hurt the poor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/iowa-nuns-to-tour-9-states-in-bus-to-protest-gop-budget-proposals-they-say-hurt-the-poor/2012/06/18/gJQAd9QYkV_story.html

DES MOINES, Iowa — A group of Roman Catholic nuns is set to leave Des Moines on a two-week bus tour of nine states to protest Republican federal budget proposals that the group believes hurt the poor and vulnerable.

The Nuns on the Bus tour departs Monday and is scheduled to finish in Washington, D.C., on July 2.

The nuns will visit Catholic-sponsored social service agencies and the offices of Republican members of Congress including Steve King’s office in Ames, House Speaker John Boehner’s office in Chester, Ohio, and Rep. Eric Cantor’s office in Richmond, Va.

Organizer Sister Simone Campbell says the tour is not a response to the Vatican’s recent criticism of nuns as being too outspoken on social issues. Network, a Catholic social justice lobby founded by sisters, is sponsoring the tour.

(end snip)

June 12, 2012

Republicans Actively Sabotaging US Economy to Win Election

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13542

Let's be blunt. Leaders of the Republican Party- including their Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney - have moved from "rooting against" our economy to actively attempting to sabotage the economy of the United States.

They believe that their chances of defeating President Obama, taking control of the Senate, and maintaining control of the House of Representatives materially improve if the economic recovery stalls. And they aren't just standing around hoping that a European financial collapse or higher oil prices will send the economy into a second recession - they are actively trying to make it happen.

It is astonishing, but today the surest way to make certain that a piece of legislation is deep-sixed by the Republicans in Congress is to demonstrate that it will help create jobs in the American economy.


The first concrete example involves actual concrete -- the reauthorization of the Transportation Bill that provides funding for roads, bridges and mass transit projects across the country.

(snip)

Romney's is betting that he voters won't notice that they guy who claims he's racing in with the fire hose is the same one that set the fire. We can't let that happen.

(end snip)

Remember this?

"Well we’re going to have to hang the Obama Misery Index around his neck. "

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/romney-stumbles-over-hang-him-gaffe-aimed-at-obama-video.php

June 8, 2012

Did Our Public Airwaves 'Win' it for Walker?

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9336#more-9336

Whatever questions remain about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's recall election, there is no question that his campaign was built on big money, the likes of which we've never seen in a gubernatorial campaign before. And where did all that money go? Right into thin air - OUR air.

And as owners of the air - our public airwaves, to be precise - there is plenty we can do to combat the corrosive effect of big money on our elections, by holding our partners in broadcasting, local TV and radio stations, accountable to the communities they serve.

(snip)

Here's an example of real action --- with real teeth --- that we the local people can take against Big Corporate Media.

On May 24th, I filed a formal complaint to the FCC through the Media Action Center against WISN and WTMJ radio, the two giant 50,000-watt Milwaukee outlets who gave Walker and the GOP roughly 160 minutes of free daily airtime (worth as much as $68,000 every day) while given virtually none to his opponent.

(end snip)

The author lays out exactly what we can do to fight back.

June 7, 2012

Joe Conason: Silent Running: The Burgeoning Wisconsin Scandal That Major Media Ignored

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=151332

If the Wisconsin recall is truly second in importance only to the presidential race, as many media outlets have trumpeted lately, then why have those same outlets so badly neglected one of that election’s most salient aspects?

As millions of dollars in dark right-wing money pour into the state to preserve Gov. Scott Walker from his progressive opposition, it seems relevant that he and many top aides are under investigation in a campaign finance and corruption scandal that has been growing for two years.

Yet the national media have largely ignored the fascinating details of that probe—which has already resulted in indictments, convictions and cooperation agreements implicating more than a dozen Walker aides and donors. Only readers of the local newspapers in Madison or Milwaukee would know, for instance, that law enforcement documents have emerged in court during the past few days suggesting that Walker stonewalled the investigation in its initial phase

(snip)

But the suspicions have been stoked by actual events, not campaign propaganda, including guilty pleas, immunity deals and home raids by law enforcement officials. (Last September, a team of sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents raided the Madison home of Cindy Archer, a former top county official who served as the governor’s deputy administration secretary until going on extended “sick leave” in 2011.) And Walker’s associates stand accused of felonies that go well beyond the mere misuse of campaign funds.

(end snip)

I think I may refer to him as Gov. John Doe from now on.

June 7, 2012

Go ahead. Tell these people they don't believe in recalls.

You can lead a donkey to the koolaid, but you can't make it drink.

June 6, 2012

With the exit polls—as usual— “adjusted,” Walker “wins” Wisconsin! (Who’s surprised?)

http://markcrispinmiller.com/2012/06/with-the-exit-polls-as-usual-adjusted-walker-wins-wisconsin-whos-surprised/

What we got tonight in Wisconsin was the same old stench, coming from the same old corner of the room. To wit, there was a huge turnout (highly favorable to the Democratic candidate Barrett), in fact they’re still waiting in line to vote in Milwaukee and elsewhere nearly two hours after poll closing; and the immediate post-closing Exit Polls had it a dead heat, 50%-50%. But the only place those polls were posted was as a Bar Chart in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Not a single network posted any Exit Poll numbers, though they all have been regularly posting them throughout the 2012 primary season within a few minutes of poll closing. But they all called the race “extremely tight,” since they were looking at the same 50%-50% Exit Poll that the Journal Sentinel at least had the courage to post in some format.

In short order, and quite predictably, the race was Walker’s, the networks anointing him the winner as the Exit Poll “Adjustment” Process played out. You could actually see it on the Journal Sentinel’s Bar Chart: the blue bars shrinking and the red bars lengthening every 20 minutes or so. It will take a bit of visual measuring but the adjustment process was egregious, on the order of an 8-10% marginal disparity between the Unadjusted Exit Polls and the Adjusted Exit Polls congruent to the eventually-to-be-announced “official results.”

We’ve seen this before, election after election, the familiar “Red Shift.” And it’s the Exit Polls that are always “off,” because the Votecounts must always be “on.” Except that the Votecounts are secret and in the full control of outfits, with strong right-wing affiliations, like Dominion Voting and Command Central. Votes counted by partisans in complete secret–is this sane?

(end snip)

There are exit polls, and then there are exit polls. For the uninitiated:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9333

The early Exit Poll results had reportedly predicted the race between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett a virtual tie, leading media to plan for a long night tonight. A second round of Exit Polls results, however, was said to have given Walker a broader lead over Barrett. Even so, we were told, the race based on the Exit Poll data alone was still "too close to call." Those data were either accurate or they were not.

Of course, the raw, unadjusted Exit Polling data are no longer entrusted to us mere mortals. They can be seen only by members of the mainstream media, and we are simply left to trust them to report it all accurately to us or not. And when, after all, have we not been able to rely on the mainstream media to report everything accurately to us?

(end snip)


Wisconsin Recall: The adjusted Final Exit Poll was forced to match an unlikely recorded vote

http://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/wisconsin-recall-the-adjusted-final-exit-poll-was-forced-to-match-an-unlikely-recorded-vote/

The media and the exit pollsters have done it again.

Before the first votes were posted, the media reported that based on the exit polls, the election was “too close to call”. But Walker won by a solid 7% margin and 173,000 votes. Why the big red shift?

Why did the media not provide the actual unadjusted exit poll data (the “crosstabs”)? Was it because they knew that they would have to adjust the poll to match a bogus recorded vote and did not want the public to view the impossible “adjustments”?

The solid 53.2-46.3% Walker win was more than implausible since voter turnout exceeded that of the 2010 election. Walker “won” the recorded vote 52.2-46.6% in a supposed low-turnout election. But who turned out in droves in 2012? Democrats and independents who wanted Walker out. The grossly unpopular Walker could not have done better than he did in 2010 – only worse.

And as is always the case, there was no mention of the fraud factor in the mainstream media. There never is. To the exit pollsters and the media, there is no such thing as election fraud.

(end snip)

Nope, they only dream of Democratic voter fraud.

June 5, 2012

Smile, you're working for the queen now.

http://www.americablog.com/2012/06/unemployed-bused-into-london-for-unpaid.html

Who would ever guess that it's a Tory government running the UK? Anyone with a sense of decency and respect for the hard times in the UK would want to scale back if not postpone a celebration for the monarchy, but we are talking about the British royal family after all.

It's absurd to imagine any taxpayer money funding a "party" for one of the richest families in the world. It's even more absurd to bus unemployment recipients to London, ask them to sleep under bridges and then work for such an event. Royalists are naturally claiming that the event generates millions for the economy, no doubt using the same twisted logic that sports teams use when they spend millions to move a team into a new location.

(end snip)

Link to Guardian article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/04/jubilee-pageant-unemployed

A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government's Work Programme.

Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.

(snip)

Both stewards said they were originally told they would be paid. But when they got to the coach on Saturday night, they said, they were told that the work would be unpaid and that if they did not accept it they would not be considered for well-paid work at the Olympics.

(end snip)

Prosperity for them, Austerity for us. Happy Jubilee.