Go Tammy No Tommy!

Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) clearly won the most recent Wisconsin US Senate debate, unless you want to support a guy whose command of the English language (Former governor Tommy Thompson, R-Elroy) is at about the third grade level. That's poi nt number one: Thomsons confuse his uses of the various verbal tense, applying singular where the plural are appropriate:) Two, whatever happened to the Tommy Thomson who not only established our "Big Government" Badger Care health insurance program, but even worked (occasionally at least) WITH Wisconsin democrats to increase its enrollment? Looks like pandering to the Tea Party is the ONLY way for a Repub to get elected. That and plenty of stolen elections! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW-BinJNzJ0

You have the RIGHT to remain SILENT

I'm so glad to live in the currently Republican-controlled state of Wisconsin, USA. I love the fact that our state's Capitol police force have arrested well in excess of 20 people for carrying deadly, dangerous protest signs (those sticks can HURT, mind you) while at the same time, in the same monumental building, there are official noticess posted just outside the Wisconsin Supreme Court: "No firearms or other weapons permitted beyond this point." In light of this rather confusing manifestation of governmental priorities, tonight was a watershed. Here I am having a delightful Lemon Ice at Culvers, on Madison'c West Beltline Highway, right off Todd Drive. Two booths away, there is a young guy openly carrying a holstered pistol. He's clearly not a law-enforcement officer; his ongoing conversation with a young lady, evidently his girlfriend, which I am now overhearing, makes that much clear. I made sure to turn around to face his direction, in case he suddenly gets the urge to shoot my ass, or someone else's. In my case, I just want to "see the bullet coming" before it's all over, dude. Actually, I first noticed him with his strapped semi-automatic near the soft drink dispenser. I felt a bit uneasy at first, then relaxed, for three main reasons. 1. I prefer the fact he's carrying openly, rather than concealed. Just makes me feel a little better, on account of there being no dark, ugly secrets between us. 2. I am used, from my hunting and target shooting days, to being around people brandishing weapons openly - he's possibly even had the minimal training required by law. 3. This pistol-packing guy is probably a lot more afraid of anyone and everyone than I am; I just don't feel the need to carry a handgun around Madison, a city with one of the lowest violent crime rates of any town in the USA. I love America: we have so many rights - the right to go bankrupt from unpaid medical bills; the right to remain unemployed for years, especially since Autumn 2008; the right to live paycheck to paycheck; the right to sleep in the street if we get evicted; the right to consume genetically-modified and poisoned food served to us by corporate agribusiness; the right to be harassed and killed on the flimsiest pretext by maniac cops acting with impunity; the right to see the country go down the tubes, while the populace raves like a bunch of demented cheerleaders each time another unjustified war is begun; the right to get the hell back to the laundromat pretty soon, before it close for the night:) But most of all, I cherish our truly GOD-GIVEN right to blow one another to bloody HELL at the drop of a cowboy hat, literally!

Coke Militarism vs. Pepsi Imperialism

Very sadly, my firmly-held opinion, is that Romney probably just gained five points, as a result of Obama's lackluster "debate" performance. So many TV-addled American Dumb-heads were just waiting for the appropriate "reason," delivered at ...a propitious time, to believe Mitt's their guy, in complete contravention of the readily learned and apparent facts. Not that Obama is much better, really; these are just different brand-names the Oligarchy applies to factions officially known as "Republicans" and "Democrats," i.e: "Coke-Militarism" vs. "Pepsi-Imperialism." In any event, if the Romney-Ryan team does prevail in November, it will be an unmistakable signal of one overarching fact (besides being a reflection of voter suppression in key battleground states).That fact: certain influential circles within the military establishment, The "Intelligence Community," and elite corporate elements like the Koch Brothers prefer, for the usual inane and insane reasons, the prospect of a Willard-Paul hegemony. We've had similar outcomes before, in 1963, 1980, 2000 and 2004. Don't get me wrong, John F. Kennedy was an outspoken Capitalist and a passionate Cold Warrior: but in several key areas - Civil Rights domestically and Cuba/Soviet/Nuclear Arms policy internationally - he bucked the System, a fatal mistake. And apparently Jimmy Carter was just a little too weak in his approach to the rest of the planet, allowing a certain give-and-take toward the Third World. Take Carter's actually quite hollow platitudes about Human Rights as an example. Then there was Bill Clinton - no matter how many "casual" wars he waged against Afghanistan, Sudan, and Iraq, it just wasn't the big bang demanded by the Neocons. Though Clinton maintained vicious and murderous sanctions against an already prostrate Iraq, resulting in say half a million civilian deaths, that wasn't enough to satisfy our most accomplished Ruling Class mass-murderers. Well, don't take my word for it, explore the Wikileaks and other good source material. I'll shut up now. Yeah, right! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQhEBCWMe44 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBXjf8Jce10 http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2012/10/tm-tomorrows-droney-visits-again.html

$oglin City $ucks

RE: "Dozen cops, pepper spray needed to break up fights:" Anyone familiar with the history of the 1960s will recall the "redneck" sheriffs from the Deep South who uttered ceaseless imprecations directed at civil rights worker s, calling them "outside agistators." That's why I'm deeply disturbded by the language currently employed by Alder Mike Verveer and Mayor Paul Soglin. Their recent references to homeless people and other so-called troublemakers - the majority of whom purportedly come from outside Madison's borders - might be construed as an ugly example of societal scapegoating. Paul Soglin in particular campaigned with the issue of combating poverty in Madison as one of his major themes during the 2011 mayoral race, so it seems incongruous at best to witness him employ such ideologically-charged terminology, which in these sour economic times might conceivably rise to the level of hate-mongering. Alder Verveer seems to call the very idea of a right to free association into question, maintaining that it's "...shocking and disturbing that convicts are continuing to hang out and cause problems in this area." Excuse me, but I must have missed his press release informing us Madisonians that certain specified individuals, who in effect are branded as "undesirables," are no longer permitted to congregate on State Street or University Avenue. I'm not saying that the people of our city have no right to be left in peace, free from the scourge of crime and violence. What I find surprising is that Mr. Verveer expressed "shock" that a society like ours, characterized as it is by glaring social inequalities, should produce potentially troublesome individuals who assert their physical presence on our streets. And while it just may be that some of the young people involved in last week's melee hail from outside of Dane County, it's just as likely many were born and raised right here in South Central Wisconsin. Yet even if it were proven that the those who provoke fights downtown travel here from elsewhere, I wonder if either Paul Soglin or Mike Verveer would willingly trade places with American citizens who come out of truly disadvantage neighborhoods. It's highly unlikely that folks who provoke street battles inhabit the same relatively privileged circles as do Mr. Verveer and Mr. Soglin. How refreshing it would be if our public servants would stop referring to "those people" in a manner so utterly devoid of social context. Blanket condemnations of people who probably come out of unenviable situations are never very helpful in suggesting the kinds of improvements our society needs to undertake. I won't even bother to directly address the stubbornly persistent failings of our educational system. Whether or not we care to acknowlede it, the solution to the problems of crime in the streets are much more complex than most want to admit; addressing these issues in a meaningful way will require much more than the purchase of a few hundred one-way Greyhound tickets. Sincerely, Dan A. Goldstein http://badgerherald.com/news/2012/09/30/dozen_cops_pepper_sp.php

Albuquerque

And now, perhaps, by way of COMCAST, I'd like to draw a little CONTRAST: Place side by side, Desert and Great Lake - The former one is just an out-take. Milwaukee's on a gorgeous Bay - While Phoenix makes me shout: "Oy Vey!" Just take a look at Albuquerque - from Mountain tops its air looks Murky. Its outskirts? Much worse than Beef Jerky - have all the charm of frozen Turkey. One Garish, Foul and Ugly "City" - so hot, and nasty; dusty, GRITTY. The Hanta Virus lurks in their Pests - A perfect place to build their Nests. It's mostly just an endless SPRAWL - one vast and MONSTERous Strip Mall! While Beer-Town's full of monuments - The Sun Belt under Sun's glare SWELTS. Oh, yes it's true the Old Town there - has minor charms that make one stare. So while it's true I should take pity - To me their town seems all-ways Shitty. NM's no place to raise a daughter - for pretty soon they'll have NO WATER. So if I'm forced to choose or pick - I'd say SouthWest is very SICK.