Scott Walker

LAISSEZ FAIRE: Deregulating Wisconsin telcoms to "help" beleaguered consumers like these

August 28, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

No ringy dingyThe fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in our star politicians.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Business News section today reported on major problems that hundreds of state residents lately have faced in getting what they paid for from Element Mobile, a Wisconsin Rapids cellular telephone provider. [Get me rewrite! The newspaper partially reported on the situation. Read on to see what it left out.]

Some of Element's aggrieved customers told a Journal Sentinel reporter how they've experienced either lousy cell service or no service at all, yet have been unable to get the provider to credit their account, while refusing to release them from their contracts without huge cash penalties. Complaints against Element Mobile are up 73 percent since February, said, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

So Does Recalling Walker Automatically Recall Kleefisch, too?

August 27, 2011 by The Political E...

The High Priests of Electioneering in Wisconsin are still researching the topic, writes the Journal Sentinel.

Though Governor and Lt. Governor are elected as a single ticket in Wisconsin, no one knows if they can go out of office as they came in - - but you can bet that Scott Walker's people will argue that the two office holders are completely independent, saying in effect:

'If you remove me, meet Gov. Kleefisch!'

Battle's just beginning over proposed open pit iron ore mine

August 27, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Gogebic Taconite spent about $115,000 in the last six months to lobby on behalf of its proposed open pit iron ore mine on the Penokee range in Ashland and Iron Counties.

State Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar), who represents the area, says it was "a complete waste of money," according to this Ashland Current article by Bill Lueders.

Jauch argues that Gogebic and its hired allies “ended up alienating the public and confusing the Legislature,” by demanding too much on too short a timeline. He believes the company has “tainted the environment” for future progress, raising the hackles even of local officials who are supportive of the mine.

That may be true --to a point. The company wanted to shorten the approval process for a mine from several years to 300 days, eliminating a lot of environmental protection and citizen input in the process. Gogebic clearly overreached.

The Scott Walker Reading Club: Inadvertently subverting our kids with leftist ideas

August 27, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

SeussicalWhile protesters shouted "shame" and "recall" outside the building Friday, Gov. Scott Walker read a Dr. Seuss book to a group of elementary pupils at Milwaukee Messmer Preparatory Catholic School. It was a perfect example of a politician who thinks he knows what's going on and what he's doing, but who really has no clue.

In the Seuss book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!", a young boy explores geometrical and abstract landscapes, winding up in "The Waiting Place", described as a realm where everyone is always waiting for something to happen. It is implied that time does not pass in the Waiting Place.

While the protesters are waiting and working for Walker to go away sooner than later, the initially right-wing activist Walker himself now seems to be waiting for Godot, as a vast political chasm presents itself to him. That will be a long wait, so maybe Walker should pray the protesters mercifully will have their way, instead.

Separate branches of Wisconsin state government, defined

August 26, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Mr. BigA classic quote today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's story on the outcome (there won't be any) of the criminal inquiry into the incident in which State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser put his hands on the throat of Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. Seeking reaction from Gov. Scott Walker, the newspaper reported:

Walker said he's offered his help, but that it's not his place to tell the justices what to do.

No, that place obviously belongs to Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, who advised Prosser -- a former Republican state legislator -- and anyone else who would listen that he would need a quick decision from the court on whether Walker's union-busting bill was enacted legally. Even Prosser stipulates to this. From the police investigation into the incident involving Prosser and Bradley: