Politics

Gov. Jobs? More like governor jobbing Wisconsin

October 4, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

To boldly go....Gov. Scott Walker's job-creation fervor so far has been mostly all tax cuts for corporations ... and hot air. The state's employment shortfall actually has worsened in Walker's first year but the one thing he wants us to believe is that "job creators" -- that would be businesses which, in the main, are creating virtually no jobs while shedding scads of others -- are "uncertain" about the future and thus need more hand-holding and palm-greasing from the state Capitol.

And look at this: Walker's antics have come at the cost of the state's highest budget in history, significant cuts in wages and benefits for state employees and more spending on loyalist hacks. He's replaced scads of civil servants with political appointees answerable to him, paying some of them tens of thousands of dollars more annually than the veteran professionals they have replaced, despite their lesser experience.

On Not Doing 9/11, Or, Right Now, I’ve Got A Desk To Clear

September 11, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

I’m going to be really honest with you: after all the fights at the mall to get just the right present for everybody and the giant hassle of going to the Post Office so I can get the perfect stamps for my cards – and then worrying that I left someone off the list – I am just not in the mood to do a 9/11 story.

And it’s been getting worse every year. I mean, just like the “It’s Christmas Every Day Store”, I know there’s one of the “9/11 Every Day” stores open, in the all-too-human form of Rudy Giuliani, and I’ve learned to live with that, but it seems like they got started with the 9/11 earlier than ever this year – and by the time the TV memorials and analysis and retrospectives are all over, to paraphrase Lewis Black…I’m going to hate freedom.

In an effort to stave off this fate, we’ll be headed in a different direction today: I have three stories to pass along; each is important enough that you really should know about them, and yet they’re each very much bite-sized and easily digestible.

It’s all good stuff…so let’s get right to it.

Labor Day is for the workers, not politicians

September 1, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Bay View Rolling Mill Massacre

As we approach Labor Day, Americans ought to remember why it was created -- and by whom.

Organized labor gave the workers of this country (and not just the unionized ones) the 40-hour work week, safe working conditions, paid vacations, family and medical leave, child labor laws, decent pensions, health care benefits, sick days, unemployment compensation and much more.

And the unions gave us Labor Day. 

Labor Day is supposed to be a celebration of their achievements and a remembrance of their sacrifices over the past century and more.

Quote, unquote

August 28, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

In an interview on NBC’s “Dateline,” former Vice President Dick Cheney says that his new book, “In My Time,” will have “heads exploding all over Washington.” Whatever readers think of Mr. Cheney’s politics, their heads are more likely to explode from frustration than from any sense of revelation. Indeed, the memoir — delivered in dry, often truculent prose — turns out to be mostly a predictable mix of spin, stonewalling, score settling and highly selective reminiscences. -- Michiko Kakutani in the NY Times.