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hue

hue's Journal
hue's Journal
March 25, 2014

Michael Eisenga made contributions pro-Walker electioneering group (Blogging Blue)

http://bloggingblue.com/2014/03/michael-eisenga-made-contributions-pro-walker-electioneering-group/

A wealthy Wisconsin donor contributed $6,250 to an outside electioneering group that supports Republican Governor Scott Walker around the time the contributor contacted the governor and sought to change the state’s child support laws in his favor.

The contributor, Michael Eisenga who is president of American Lending Solutions in Columbus, was among 19 donors who contributed a total of $1 million in 2013 to the Republican Governors Association’s 527 group. The RGA’s state political action committee recently sponsored its third television ad slamming Democratic candidate for governor Mary Burke in her bid to defeat Walker in the 2014 fall elections.

Eisenga’s first-ever contribution to the group September 10 came in between two direct contributions totaling $9,500 to Walker last March and December. In addition to the direct contributions to Walker, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Dan Bice recently reported Eisenga contacted the governor last fall about changing the law and sent Walker an article about an appeals court ruling on Eisenga’s divorce and child support payments.
March 24, 2014

Jimmy Carter: Violence Against Women Is The Most Pervasive Human Rights Violation In The World

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/03/24/3418277/jimmy-carter-gender-inequality/

Former President Jimmy Carter is issuing a call to action to end the abuse and subjugation of women, which he refers to as the “worst and most pervasive and unaddressed human rights violation on Earth.”

Carter issued his strong statements about gender equality in a recent interview with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell. The former president is currently doing media appearances to promote a new book, A Call To Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power, which discusses the issue of women’s victimization around the world.

There’s significant data to back up his claims. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one in three women around the world is subject to sexual violence at some point in her life. In many parts of the world, women still aren’t receiving adequate health care and education. Every year, about 14 million girls under the age of 18 are given away as child brides, and an additional 4 million women and girls are bought and sold into slavery. And according to the United Nations, at least 125 million girls in Africa and the Middle East have undergone female genital mutilation.

In his book, set to be released on Tuesday, Carter argues that conservative faith leaders have indirectly contributed to the ongoing violence against women by furthering a society that allows inequality to flourish.
March 21, 2014

Koch brothers group pushes mine issue in Iron County election

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/koch-brothers-group-pushes-mine-issue-in-iron-county-election/article_dcf024aa-2cca-5010-9869-8e747d8d5629.html

A well-funded Wisconsin conservative group is blasting seven County Board candidates in sparsely populated Iron County, calling them “radical anti-mining” environmentalists.

The campaign — launched this week by Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by billionaire conservative businessmen Charles and David Koch — isn’t the first time an advocacy group from the right or the left has waded into small-town politics.

But in a county where candidates seldom bother to campaign because there are almost never any challengers, people took note when they found, among the bills and junk mail, glossy, full-color flyers warning of “radicals” who were about to shut down businesses and put families on welfare.

Perhaps more surprised than anyone was one mine booster, labeled “radical,” who appeared aside Gov. Scott Walker at the state Capitol to tout the mine.

At stake is a 15-member County Board that could make monetary and other demands of Gogebic Taconite, which is already deep into a sometimes combative state permitting process over its proposal for a huge iron mine that promises jobs while inspiring worries about environmental degradation.

The mailing delivered Wednesday to about 1,000 homes in northern Wisconsin’s Iron County is just the start of what AFP’s Wisconsin director David Fladeboe called an educational campaign against some of the candidates challenging members of the pro-mining County Board in the April 1 election.

“We want to educate folks in Iron County about the issue,” Fladeboe said. “We’re working with our folks in the area who know what’s going on.”

However, town of Saxon Assistant Fire Chief Karl Krall said he wonders where they are getting their information. Krall said he is a strong proponent of the mine, and he is puzzled and angry about being described as a job-killing radical on the material sent to his friends, neighbors and potential voters in the district where he is a candidate.

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Just another testament to to stupidity & misrepresentation of facts common with RW'ers.



March 20, 2014

Westboro church founder Fred Phelps dies

Source: CNN.com

(CNN) -- Fred Phelps -- the founding pastor of a Kansas church known for its virulently anti-gay protests at public events, including military funerals -- has died, the church said Thursday.

The 84-year-old died of natural causes at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to church spokesman Steve Drain.
2003: Phelps on Matthew Shepard statue

Phelps founded Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, in 1955 and molded it in his fire-and-brimstone image. Many members of the small congregation are related to Phelps through blood or marriage.

According to the church's website, it has picketed more than 53,000 events, ranging from Lady Gaga concerts to funerals for slain U.S. soldiers. Typically, a dozen or so church members -- including small children -- will brandish signs that say "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

Under Phelps' leadership, Westboro members have preached that every calamity, from natural disasters to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, is God's punishment for the country's acceptance of homosexuality. Phelps had advocated for gays and lesbians to be put to death.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/us/westboro-church-founder-dead/index.html

March 19, 2014

Walker's Travel Crony (cog dis)

http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2014/03/walkers-travel-crony.html

By Jeff Simpson

We already know with people like Brian DeSchane and Dennis Smith that of all of Scott Walker's flaws, his hiring ability might be his biggest weakness.
Now they are at it again in Fitzwalkerstan.

The University of Wisconsin System named five finalists for the position of vice president for university relations, including the president of a Milwaukee real estate group who is closely allied with Gov. Scott Walker.


Who is the finalist that is closely allied with Scott Walker? Our old friend Jim Villa: ...

Readers of CogDis remember the name Jim Villa, as the life of the party at the ALEC conventions:

Jim Villa and Jim Emerson, two state Senate staffers who led the fact finding mission for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), are expected to testify.
"Arrrgh! God, it hurts when I pee," shouted Villa from a ground floor state Capitol restroom. "I thought Clymedia was a flower!"
Emerson is expected to report that legalized prostitution can have a hug upside, including being a tourism attraction for the Wisconsin Dells to take the place of Tommy Bartlett's Robot World, and an employment opportunity in the form of W-2 transition
jobs.
"By the end of the trip it felt like I was hooked up to one of those milking machines," Emerson said. "I will never be able to look at ping pong balls and uneven parallel bars the same way again."
Villa said that the success of the fact-finding mission was the result of NCSL's commitment to research.
"NCSL completely kicks ass," Villa said. "I went to an ALEC conference on blowjobs and it took a week for me to get the taste out of my mouth."


What better person to represent the University of Wisconsin in an executive position? Do we still have to pay for his attendance at ALEC conventions or has he earned enough loyalty rewards points?

March 18, 2014

Republican chairman predicts 'tsunami' victory in November

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

The November midterms will be a “tsunami” for the Republicans, says the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

"I think that we're in for a tsunami-type election in 2014,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus told reporters Tuesday at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. “My belief is that it's going to be a very big win, especially at the US Senate level, and I think we may even add some seats in the congressional races.”

The next step, Mr. Priebus says, will be to take the “positives and benefits that we’ve been able to provide in 2014 and build on that to have success in 2016,” the next presidential election.

RECOMMENDED: Eight open US Senate seats in 2014

Since the Republican defeat in 2012, the RNC has invested in infrastructure in the states and in its use of data for voter outreach. Last week’s Republican victory in a special House election in Florida and the recent Republican victory in the San Diego mayor’s race provide evidence that the investment is bearing fruit, Priebus says.

But issues are also a big factor, starting with Obamacare – and they will go a long way toward boosting Republican support among demographic groups that have been Democratic strongholds, the RNC chair says.

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2014/0318/Republican-chairman-predicts-tsunami-victory-in-November

March 18, 2014

Edwin Edwards From Prison to Congress

http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/edwin-edwards-from-prison-to-congress/

Edwin Edwards, the former Governor of Louisiana, has announced he will run for the 6th Congressional District this November. He had previously held the office of governor for four terms. Edwards had also spent eight years in a federal prison on charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery; he was released three years ago. His announcement to run for Congress came at the Baton Rouge Press Club.

The eighty-six-year-old Edwards and his 35-year-old wife Trina were both recently featured on Arts and Entertainment’s (A&E’s) reality show, The Governor’s Wife. The show followed Edwards and his wife through her pregnancy to the birth of their new baby boy. National exposure from the reality show brought the former governor back into the spotlight.

In 1992, Edwards won the race for office against KKK member David Duke. It was the last time that Edwards, a Democrat, had served as governor. While making his decision to run for Congress, he stated that he initially wanted to run for governor but there was a question regarding whether he could. This is because of a Louisiana law that prohibits convicted felons from running for any statewide office until 15 years after their release. Convicted felons can also run for a statewide office if they are granted a pardon.
March 18, 2014

GOP’er Says Racist Businesses SHOULD Be Allowed to Deny Service to Black People

http://aattp.org/goper-says-racist-businesses-should-be-allowed-to-deny-service-to-blacks/


Posted by: John Prager in LGBT, Racism in America, TEApublican Smack Downs March 17, 2014

Recently, South Dakota’s legislature killed a bill that makes Arizona’s bigoted lawmakers look like amateurs in the hate game. The “F*ck it, let’s just hate everyone” legislation would have not only allowed businesses to refuse business to the LBGT community–but to anyone they wished, including–as the man who introduced the legislation explicitly pointed out–African Americans.

“As a follower of Jesus Christ, I’m commanded to love, to love everyone. That doesn’t mean I must condone the lifestyle choices that someone chooses. The GLBT movement doesn’t just want society’s approval. They want their lifestyle choices applauded; they want standing ovations,” state Senator Phil Jensen told South Dakota Public Radio in February.

Jensen says that the bill would have protected “ the constitutional right to free association, the right to free speech and private property rights.” He says it would have ensured that business were free to choose their clientele.” According to this colossal bigot, if people had a problem with a certain ‘kind’ not being served, the free market would sort it out.

“If someone was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and they were running a little bakery for instance, the majority of us would find it detestable that they refuse to serve blacks, and guess what? In a matter of weeks or so that business would shut down because no one is going to patronize them,” he told the Rapid City Journal.
March 18, 2014

Protesters Hit the Streets of Brooklyn to Demand $15 Minimum Wage

Published on Mar 17, 2014

Report on living wage activism, produced by Jenna Pope.



March 16, 2014

Sister says convicted ex-Walker aide’s life is ruined (Blogging Blue)

http://bloggingblue.com/2014/03/sister-says-convicted-ex-walker-aides-life-is-ruined/

Cry me a river…

The sister of Kelly Rindfleisch, the former deputy chief of staff for Scott Walker, has launched an attack on Milwaukee County prosecutors, accusing them of ruining Rindfleisch’s life with their John Doe investigation.

In a letter to the editor of the Baraboo News Republic, Anne Hollinsed said her sister can’t get a job because of the probe. Sources have said Rindfleisch is now the subject of a second investigation.

“Kelly’s life has been ruined by the hatred of Scott Walker in this state,” Hollinsed wrote in the Friday letter. “She can’t find employment because of the overreaching single felony conviction she received by a Democratic judge.”

She concluded: “The overreach in this case is alarming and downright scary when a government worker can be convicted of something so miniscule to satisfy the agenda of those who’ve made political warfare their top priority.”


Two things stand out about this:

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