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hue
hue's Journal
hue's Journal
August 16, 2014
Texas Gov. Perry says indictment is abuse of power
Source: abc NEWS
Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he stands by his veto, and the indictment against him is an outrageous abuse of power
Perry held a news conference Saturday afternoon, a day after a grand jury indicted the Republican on two felony counts of abuse of power for making good on a veto threat.
The possible 2016 presidential hopeful is dismissing the charges as nakedly political. Perry is the first Texas governor since 1917 to be indicted.
The indictments are related to Perry vetoing funding for a Travis County unit investigating public corruption last year because the Democratic official heading the office to resign after being convicted of drunken driving.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/texas-gov-perry-indictment-abuse-power-25008764
August 15, 2014
The Republican Party has finally admitted what has been fairly obvious for much of the past six years: It produces fake news.
This is not an earth-shattering revelation to anybody who has been paying attention, but, still, it’s an important step for the party to embrace the phoniness.
“NRCC Launches Fake News Sites to Attack Democratic Candidates” was a headline in the National Journal on Tuesday.
As Shane Goldmacher reported, “The National Republican Congressional Committee, which came under fire earlier this year for a deceptive series of fake Democratic candidate websites that it later changed after public outcry, has launched a new set of deceptive websites, this time designed to look like local news sources.”
These two dozen sites, with names such as “North County Update” and “Central Valley Update” look like political fact-checking sites; the NRCC’s spokeswoman, Andrea Bozek, called it “a new and effective way to disseminate information.”
An NRCC official told me the sites are legal because, if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you’ll find, “Paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee” in small print. “They’re not fake Web sites,” the official said. “These are real attack Web sites.”
Real attacks, but fake news: This is a fairly accurate summary of what the GOP’s scandalmongers have been purveying during the Obama years.
There was the assertion that the White House was covering up high-level involvement in Operation “Fast and Furious,” a gun program under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives that went awry. No evidence was found.
Republicans embrace their phoniness
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-republicans-embrace-their-phoniness/2014/08/13/f01ee0ca-2319-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.htmlThe Republican Party has finally admitted what has been fairly obvious for much of the past six years: It produces fake news.
This is not an earth-shattering revelation to anybody who has been paying attention, but, still, it’s an important step for the party to embrace the phoniness.
“NRCC Launches Fake News Sites to Attack Democratic Candidates” was a headline in the National Journal on Tuesday.
As Shane Goldmacher reported, “The National Republican Congressional Committee, which came under fire earlier this year for a deceptive series of fake Democratic candidate websites that it later changed after public outcry, has launched a new set of deceptive websites, this time designed to look like local news sources.”
These two dozen sites, with names such as “North County Update” and “Central Valley Update” look like political fact-checking sites; the NRCC’s spokeswoman, Andrea Bozek, called it “a new and effective way to disseminate information.”
An NRCC official told me the sites are legal because, if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you’ll find, “Paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee” in small print. “They’re not fake Web sites,” the official said. “These are real attack Web sites.”
Real attacks, but fake news: This is a fairly accurate summary of what the GOP’s scandalmongers have been purveying during the Obama years.
There was the assertion that the White House was covering up high-level involvement in Operation “Fast and Furious,” a gun program under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives that went awry. No evidence was found.
August 15, 2014
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political theorist, is credited with first describing the United States as “exceptional” back in the 1830s.
“American exceptionalism,” a familiar phrase in recent years, generally holds that ours is a uniquely good and just nation, born from revolution and evolved as a more or less perfect democracy, a model for countries everywhere.
Jelani Cobb, a University of Connecticut history professor, sees it differently. “I think that there is an idea of American exceptionalism that is misunderstood and misapplied,” he said in a podcast by The New Yorker, where he is a regular contributor.
“It becomes an idea that America is as close to blameless … as any political state could be. And being confronted with huge moral wrongs is taken as an indictment of everything that people hold dear.”
Cobb wishes exceptionalism represented “a more reasoned and perhaps more mature approach to this idea, saying that the people who founded this country were intimately familiar with the shortcomings of humanity and human capacity to do wrong,” pointing out that some among the founders were slaveholders...
...Walker imagines himself a 21st century Reagan, capable, in his mind, of being president. In his 2013 book, titled “Unintimidated,” Walker invokes Reagan’s relentless optimism in harshly critiquing Mitt Romney’s failed presidential campaign. Walker, we are left to infer, would run more like Reagan did.
In fact, Walker’s obsession with Reagan is, as I’ve previously written, genuinely creepy. Walker writes how he and his wife host an annual party on Reagan’s birthday and serve the late president’s favorites: “macaroni and cheese casserole, and red, white and blue Jelly Belly jelly beans” with musicians performing patriotic songs and Irish music, according to his book.
In Walker, the politics of division that Nixon set in motion and Reagan helped evolve still endure — minus Nixon’s intellect and Reagan’s charm.
Paul Fanlund: How Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan connect to Scott Walker
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/paul_fanlund/paul-fanlund-how-richard-nixon-and-ronald-reagan-connect-to/article_21a708d7-c396-5aa0-bd87-5717d48e298a.htmlAlexis de Tocqueville, the French political theorist, is credited with first describing the United States as “exceptional” back in the 1830s.
“American exceptionalism,” a familiar phrase in recent years, generally holds that ours is a uniquely good and just nation, born from revolution and evolved as a more or less perfect democracy, a model for countries everywhere.
Jelani Cobb, a University of Connecticut history professor, sees it differently. “I think that there is an idea of American exceptionalism that is misunderstood and misapplied,” he said in a podcast by The New Yorker, where he is a regular contributor.
“It becomes an idea that America is as close to blameless … as any political state could be. And being confronted with huge moral wrongs is taken as an indictment of everything that people hold dear.”
Cobb wishes exceptionalism represented “a more reasoned and perhaps more mature approach to this idea, saying that the people who founded this country were intimately familiar with the shortcomings of humanity and human capacity to do wrong,” pointing out that some among the founders were slaveholders...
...Walker imagines himself a 21st century Reagan, capable, in his mind, of being president. In his 2013 book, titled “Unintimidated,” Walker invokes Reagan’s relentless optimism in harshly critiquing Mitt Romney’s failed presidential campaign. Walker, we are left to infer, would run more like Reagan did.
In fact, Walker’s obsession with Reagan is, as I’ve previously written, genuinely creepy. Walker writes how he and his wife host an annual party on Reagan’s birthday and serve the late president’s favorites: “macaroni and cheese casserole, and red, white and blue Jelly Belly jelly beans” with musicians performing patriotic songs and Irish music, according to his book.
In Walker, the politics of division that Nixon set in motion and Reagan helped evolve still endure — minus Nixon’s intellect and Reagan’s charm.
August 14, 2014
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A federal judge has denied a request by Wisconsin's attorney general to put on hold his decision blocking the state's voter identification law from taking effect.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman on Wednesday denied Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's request for a stay of his April order blocking the photo ID law. Adelman says he is denying the request because Van Hollen's likelihood of winning the case on appeal is low.
Van Hollen's spokeswoman Dana Brueck declined comment.
Van Hollen has appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked it to also lift Adelman's injunction blocking the photo ID requirement. That appeals court has given opponents of the law until Tuesday to respond to Van Hollen's request.
*******************************
Van Hollen just never gives up...
Federal judge won't put voter ID ruling on hold
http://www.jrn.com/tmj4/news/Federal-judge-wont-put-voter-ID-ruling-on-hold-271140901.htmlMADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A federal judge has denied a request by Wisconsin's attorney general to put on hold his decision blocking the state's voter identification law from taking effect.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman on Wednesday denied Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's request for a stay of his April order blocking the photo ID law. Adelman says he is denying the request because Van Hollen's likelihood of winning the case on appeal is low.
Van Hollen's spokeswoman Dana Brueck declined comment.
Van Hollen has appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked it to also lift Adelman's injunction blocking the photo ID requirement. That appeals court has given opponents of the law until Tuesday to respond to Van Hollen's request.
*******************************
Van Hollen just never gives up...
August 10, 2014
Giggles the Fawn Seized, Killed by Wisconsin DNR
Published on Aug 4, 2013
In July, 2013, a young fawn who was temporarily kept at an animal shelter before transfer to a wildlife rehabilitation facility was seized and killed by a force of 13 DNR wardens and sheriff's deputies.
This is an example of law enforcement gone mad.
WI' ites must get rid of Wanker and his appointees/cronies!
August 9, 2014
Published on Aug 7, 2014
–Pastor John Hagee says that “nasty” welfare recipients don’t deserve to eat
#t=164
Pastor John Hagee: 'Nasty' Welfare Recipients Don't Deserve to Eat
Published on Aug 7, 2014
–Pastor John Hagee says that “nasty” welfare recipients don’t deserve to eat
#t=164
August 6, 2014
According to Gov. Scott Walker, people do not want to see Wisconsin "become another Milwaukee." He made that assertion about the state's largest city more than once during his gubernatorial campaigns. However, Walker would do well to rethink that view because, according to experts, Milwaukee is among a handful of cutting-edge cities worldwide that are consciously remaking themselves into survivable, humanistic habitats that are not only urban and livable, but -- get ready for a new word -- biophilic.
On Earth, the magazine of the National Resources Defense Council, lays out the details in the current issue's feature story entitled, "Milwaukee Sees the Light". Author Richard Manning describes how, in a 1984 book, noted biologist E. O. Wilson came up with a hypothesis he called biophilia: "Wilson argued that love of nature makes humans more attentive to their surroundings, just as affection allows attachment to and knowledge of a loved one’s face. In evolutionary terms, attentiveness and attachment confer fitness."
The article recounts how Tim Beatley, a landscape architect at the University of Virginia, has developed a list of criteria describing the biophilic city and came up with a worldwide list of examples. Among them: Milwaukee; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; Phoenix; Singapore; Wellington, New Zealand; Oslo; Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; and Birmingham, England.
Heady company for a supposed Great Lakes rust-belt city. It's true that Milwaukee, to this day a major industrial center, lost tens of thousands of jobs in the economic upheavals of the 1980s, creating a newly poor segment among its former middle class, especially impacting black residents. But in the past decade the city's population has restabilized and -- although the Great Recession chilled many hard-won gains -- vibrancy has returned to the downtown and even some of its more modest neighborhoods. Milwaukee improbably has even become something of a magnet for young urban professionals, the "creative class" that propels further change.
For all those reasons, Milwaukee is the very kind of place where the application of biophilic principles might do the most good, the most quickly. Given disturbing trends in the planetary ecosystem and plain old economics, new connections arguably needed to be made. Where they have been made, positive change has become evident.
Read on below the fold for the details on why Scott Walker is dead wrong, except perhaps in assuming he can benefit politically through rhetoric that further divides Wisconsin.
Scott Walker says the rest of Wisconsin shouldn't become another Milwaukee. Here's why it should.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/05/1319353/-Scott-Walker-says-the-rest-of-Wisconsin-shouldn-t-become-another-Milwaukee-Here-s-why-it-should?fb_action_ids=10204173369830378&fb_action_types=og.likes#According to Gov. Scott Walker, people do not want to see Wisconsin "become another Milwaukee." He made that assertion about the state's largest city more than once during his gubernatorial campaigns. However, Walker would do well to rethink that view because, according to experts, Milwaukee is among a handful of cutting-edge cities worldwide that are consciously remaking themselves into survivable, humanistic habitats that are not only urban and livable, but -- get ready for a new word -- biophilic.
On Earth, the magazine of the National Resources Defense Council, lays out the details in the current issue's feature story entitled, "Milwaukee Sees the Light". Author Richard Manning describes how, in a 1984 book, noted biologist E. O. Wilson came up with a hypothesis he called biophilia: "Wilson argued that love of nature makes humans more attentive to their surroundings, just as affection allows attachment to and knowledge of a loved one’s face. In evolutionary terms, attentiveness and attachment confer fitness."
The article recounts how Tim Beatley, a landscape architect at the University of Virginia, has developed a list of criteria describing the biophilic city and came up with a worldwide list of examples. Among them: Milwaukee; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; Phoenix; Singapore; Wellington, New Zealand; Oslo; Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; and Birmingham, England.
Heady company for a supposed Great Lakes rust-belt city. It's true that Milwaukee, to this day a major industrial center, lost tens of thousands of jobs in the economic upheavals of the 1980s, creating a newly poor segment among its former middle class, especially impacting black residents. But in the past decade the city's population has restabilized and -- although the Great Recession chilled many hard-won gains -- vibrancy has returned to the downtown and even some of its more modest neighborhoods. Milwaukee improbably has even become something of a magnet for young urban professionals, the "creative class" that propels further change.
For all those reasons, Milwaukee is the very kind of place where the application of biophilic principles might do the most good, the most quickly. Given disturbing trends in the planetary ecosystem and plain old economics, new connections arguably needed to be made. Where they have been made, positive change has become evident.
Read on below the fold for the details on why Scott Walker is dead wrong, except perhaps in assuming he can benefit politically through rhetoric that further divides Wisconsin.
August 5, 2014
Since November 2012, the governor has been traveling the country — most recently to Colorado — looking a lot like a 2016 presidential candidate. Check out where he's been so far outside of Wisconsin.
Map: Where's Scott Walker?
http://host.madison.com/ct/data/map-where-s-scott-walker/html_51c8ae38-fb1e-11e3-91bb-001a4bcf887a.htmlSince November 2012, the governor has been traveling the country — most recently to Colorado — looking a lot like a 2016 presidential candidate. Check out where he's been so far outside of Wisconsin.
August 5, 2014
Republican Gov. Scott Walker raised $1.2 million in July, leaving him with $7.1 million on hand ahead of the August 12 primary, new campaign finance reports show.
The state Government Accountability Board required candidates to file finance reports covering roughly the month leading up to a primary by Monday at 11:59 p.m. Walker doesn't face a GOP opponent, but Mary Burke and Brett Hulsey are vying for the Democratic nomination.
Walker filed reports Monday showing he raised $1.2 million from July 1 through July 28 and spent $1.6 million. He has raised $9.5 million so far this year and spent $7 million.
The governor also reported $76,250 in contributions collected after July 28.
Burke and Hulsey hadn't filed their preprimary reports by late Monday evening. Burke spokesman Joe Zepecki said campaign workers were still preparing her preprimary report. Hulsey said he didn't have his report ready yet, either.
Burke's latest report on file with the board shows she raised $3.6 million and spent $2.4 million over the first six months of the year. She had $2.5 million in the bank as of June 30 and had collected $21,000 since July 28.
Hulsey's latest report shows he raised $2,488 and spent $1,730 over the same period. He had $946 on hand at the end of June.
Meanwhile, in the race for state attorney general, Republican hopeful Brad Schimel's campaign said he had $418,000 in the bank as of July 28. He raised $53,970 and spent $36,000. He also reported $5,500 in contributions after July 28.
Schimel, the Waukesha County district attorney, is the only Republican in the race. Incumbent Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen isn't running for a third term.
Scott Walker raises $1.2 million in July
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/scott-walker-raises-million-in-july/article_1a089300-c7f4-5609-8ae3-f2c31fcc2f0b.htmlRepublican Gov. Scott Walker raised $1.2 million in July, leaving him with $7.1 million on hand ahead of the August 12 primary, new campaign finance reports show.
The state Government Accountability Board required candidates to file finance reports covering roughly the month leading up to a primary by Monday at 11:59 p.m. Walker doesn't face a GOP opponent, but Mary Burke and Brett Hulsey are vying for the Democratic nomination.
Walker filed reports Monday showing he raised $1.2 million from July 1 through July 28 and spent $1.6 million. He has raised $9.5 million so far this year and spent $7 million.
The governor also reported $76,250 in contributions collected after July 28.
Burke and Hulsey hadn't filed their preprimary reports by late Monday evening. Burke spokesman Joe Zepecki said campaign workers were still preparing her preprimary report. Hulsey said he didn't have his report ready yet, either.
Burke's latest report on file with the board shows she raised $3.6 million and spent $2.4 million over the first six months of the year. She had $2.5 million in the bank as of June 30 and had collected $21,000 since July 28.
Hulsey's latest report shows he raised $2,488 and spent $1,730 over the same period. He had $946 on hand at the end of June.
Meanwhile, in the race for state attorney general, Republican hopeful Brad Schimel's campaign said he had $418,000 in the bank as of July 28. He raised $53,970 and spent $36,000. He also reported $5,500 in contributions after July 28.
Schimel, the Waukesha County district attorney, is the only Republican in the race. Incumbent Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen isn't running for a third term.
August 4, 2014
[Posted Friday, 10:27 p.m., updated Saturday 7:23 p.m., Monday 12:15 a.m.]
There has never been a Wisconsin Governor in our memories prior to Wrong Way Walker who so widely disrespected the time, resources and basic interests of so many Wisconsinites, particularly the state's lower-income residents, just to advance his own political career.
Conflationists can claim until the cows come home that every Wisconsin Governor has behaved this one-dimensionally, opportunistically, selfishly, coldly.
But I defy anyone to find in the ten previous administrations - - split about evenly between five Democrats, and Republicans: Nelson, Reynolds, Knowles, Lucey, Schreiber, Dreyfus, Earl, Thompson, McCallum and Doyle - - and that covers roughly the almost half-century I have spent here - - examples and patterns comparable to Walker's self-interested, game-playing, documented false-speaking and overall manipulative arrogance at the expense of so many other people:...
...And it is not an accident that so many of the people and groups which Walker and his legislative allies have targeted are low-income or minority Wisconsinites - - the very people who have fewer resources with which to fight back.
Trust me: Walker and his team know this, factored it into the calculations, and care less about the harm their work - - from official disinterest to calculated media spin and to governmental policy-making - - will leave in their wake.
*****************************
The comments are very interesting!
The Disrespected, Manipulated Wisconsin Electorate
http://thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-disrespected-manipulated-wisconsin.html[Posted Friday, 10:27 p.m., updated Saturday 7:23 p.m., Monday 12:15 a.m.]
There has never been a Wisconsin Governor in our memories prior to Wrong Way Walker who so widely disrespected the time, resources and basic interests of so many Wisconsinites, particularly the state's lower-income residents, just to advance his own political career.
Conflationists can claim until the cows come home that every Wisconsin Governor has behaved this one-dimensionally, opportunistically, selfishly, coldly.
But I defy anyone to find in the ten previous administrations - - split about evenly between five Democrats, and Republicans: Nelson, Reynolds, Knowles, Lucey, Schreiber, Dreyfus, Earl, Thompson, McCallum and Doyle - - and that covers roughly the almost half-century I have spent here - - examples and patterns comparable to Walker's self-interested, game-playing, documented false-speaking and overall manipulative arrogance at the expense of so many other people:...
...And it is not an accident that so many of the people and groups which Walker and his legislative allies have targeted are low-income or minority Wisconsinites - - the very people who have fewer resources with which to fight back.
Trust me: Walker and his team know this, factored it into the calculations, and care less about the harm their work - - from official disinterest to calculated media spin and to governmental policy-making - - will leave in their wake.
*****************************
The comments are very interesting!
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