Let's get real

While we have been down, the world of politics has not stopped and waited for us to get back up. Whether Scott Walker is a symptom or the cause, the republicans throughout the country have become empowered to force their extreme far right agenda on the populous. Luckily the people of this country are starting to wake up and see exactly who we went to bed with in November(I believe the correct term is Coyote Ugly). Anyone who thinks we have become a center right country does not understand who the "right" is.

Here are some examples that are flying under the radar:

1. In Florida, Republican Florida state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo blamed a gang rape of an 11 year old girl on HER outfit:

"There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gangraped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed like a 21-year-old prostitute," Passidomo declared.

"And her parents let her attend school like that. And I think it’s incumbent upon us to create some areas where students can be safe in school and show up in proper attire so what happened in Texas doesn’t happen to our students," she added.

2. In Buffalo, Jack Davis a congressional candidate had this gem:

"We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities. Put them on buses, take them out there [to the farms] and pay them a decent wage; they will work."

3. Kansas state Republican Rep. Virgil Peck offered up this "joke":

Peck made his comments during a Monday meeting of the House Appropriations Committee as it discussed whether the state should try to control the wild hog population by using gunmen in helicopters.

He said, "If shooting these immigrating feral hogs works, maybe we have found a (solution) to our illegal immigration problem.

4. Then there is of course this classic:

Gov. Walker: “We Thought About” Infiltrating Wisconsin Protesters With Troublemakers

Center/right country? Heaven Help us if that's true!

Can someone please tell me where Randy Hopper and Scott Suder live?

From MAL Contends comes this interesting bit of information regarding Republican State Senator Randy Hopper's living situation:

The filing date on the divorce indicated in Hopper's legal filings [Fond du Lac County Case Number 2010FA000374] reads "08-18-2010."

I'm guessing Hopper was not living in the W5192 RIENZI Road house in October and November, 10 days before the November 2010 election day.

But the GAB says he was legally a resident at this W5192 RIENZI Road house?

Former GOP tool, U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (2001-08), was all too happy to file voting fraud charges even when as Dan Bice points out, there was no intent to break the law. See Bice, April 12, 2007 (MJS).

Why is not Hopper facing an investigation? Is he not part of the alleged massive voting fraud from which the GOP says they must protect us by restricting voting access for Wisconsin citizens?

While MAL is wondering where Sen. Hopper really lived - and more importantly, voted - in November 2010, I'm wondering the exact same thing about Republican State Rep. Scott Suder. According to Rep. Suder's Assembly web page and the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board's Voter Public Access database, Suder lives at 102 South 4th Avenue in Abbotsford, an address Suder used to vote in the 2010 partisan primary and general elections, as well as the January 2011 spring primary election.

However, while Rep. Suder's voting address is listed as 102 South 4th Avenue in Abbotsford, his driver's license must give a different address, as a recent traffic lists an address of 501 Kreutzer Street in Athens as Rep. Suder's home address. That means that if the Voter ID legislation that Rep. Suder supports were in effect today, he would not be able to vote in the district he represents in the State Assembly, as Athens is actually located in the 35th State Assembly district.

Scott Walker's "transparent" government results in lawsuit, costs taxpayers thousands of dollars

So much for Republican Governor Scott Walker's promise that his government would be very transparent.

On Wednesday, Gov. Walker's office settled an open records lawsuit brought against it by two media outlets. The Associated Press and the Madison weekly newspaper Isthmus filed the lawsuit March 4 after their attempts to obtain e-mails sent to Walker in support of his proposal to bust public employee unions were stymied by Walker's office, and under the terms of the settlement Walker's office did not admit any fault but agreed to produce the records and pay attorney's fees and costs of around $7,000.

Scott Walker's Wisconsin

From the folks at the Greater Wisconsin Committee comes this gem:

Scott Walker supports recalls

Watch for yourself as Scott Walker explains why recalls are a good thing:

I'll have to agree with Scott Walker....recalls are a good thing, especially when the "Republican 8" are the ones being recalled!

Sam Seder: "Feed the rich, starve the worker....that's bullsh---"

Some video from Sam Seder, who was reporting from Madison shortly after Republicans in the legislature voted to take away collective bargaining rights for public employees:

Conservatives: we are being outworked and out-organized in recall efforts

I have to admit this brings a smile to my face:

Both national and Wisconsin-based Republican operatives tell the Huffington Post the party is being dramatically outworked and out-organized by Democrats in the recall campaigns being launched against state Senators.

The operatives, who raised their concerns out of hope it would jar the GOP into assertiveness, argue complacency has taken over after Governor Scott Walker successfully shepherded his anti-collective bargaining bill into law. While the Wisconsin Democratic Party, with major assists from progressive groups and unions, has harnessed resentment towards the governor into a full-throttled effort to recall eight GOP Senators, neither the enthusiasm nor organizational acumen exists on the Republican side of the aisle.

In related news, I have credible reports that the recall efforts against Republican State Senators Dan Kapanke and Randy Hopper have gathered no less than 60% of the total number of signatures needed to trigger recall elections, while the effort to recall Sen. Alberta Darling has gathered no less than 50% of the total number of signatures need to trigger a recall against Darling.

This is getting Biblical...

Watch as hundreds of protesters fill up an entire city block in Washington, D.C. to protest the presence of Republican legislators from Wisconsin who happened to be in Washington to raise money on the backs of public employees:

As a friend said, this is getting biblical...

Hypocrisy, thy name is Randy Hopper

I don't know about you, but Republican State Senator Randy Hopper sure doesn't look too upset about putting on an AFSCME shirt to show his support for some of his constituents on lobby day last year:
This is just yet more proof that Randy Hopper clearly can't be trusted, considering his vote in support of Gov. Walker's attack on Wisconsin's public employee unions.

Fitz behaving badly

Boy, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald sure is a petty and spiteful man.

Fresh off the heels of the "Wisconsin 14" returning to Wisconsin after their three week stand against Republican efforts led by Fitzgerald and Gov. Scott Walker to cripple Wisconsin's public employee unions, Fitzgerald fired off an email to his Republican colleagues in the State Senate advising them the 14 Democratic State Senators were still in contempt of the Senate, despite the fact that those Senators had returned to Wisconsin. Fitzgerald went on to note the votes cast by all 14 Democratic State Senators in committees would not count, a fact that's dripping with hypocrisy, given that during the time the Wisconsin 14 were out of state, Fitzgerald urged them to return and "do the jobs they were elected to do." Apparently Fitzgerald was only interested in having the 14 Democratic State Senators do their jobs when he was trying to ram through drastic changes to collective bargaining and union organizing for public employees, but once he didn't need those 14 Democrats to ram through his union-busting legislation, Fitzgerald wanted to prevent Democratic State Senators from doing their jobs.

Sen. Fitzgerald later lifted the voting block on the 14 Democratic State Senators, with Senate President Mike Ellis saying, "The name of the game is moving this state forward, putting this stuff behind us." While Sen. Ellis' statement about putting "this stuff" behind us sounds great, I'm betting it won't be easy for the 14 Democrats in the State Senate - or the hundreds of thousands of public employees - to put the loss of their collective bargaining rights and the weakening of their unions behind them.

As if Sen. Fitzgerald's stated intention to deny Democratic State Senators the right to vote wasn't arrogant and spiteful enough, Fitzgerald also released a statement shortly after the 14 Democratic State Senators returned in which he called them "the most shameful 14 people in Wisconsin." That statement earned Fitzgerald a "pants, undershorts, and legs on fire" designation from Jim Stingl of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, no small feat to be sure (emphasis mine):

Let's review. Fitzgerald is a sore winner who went way overboard in defining his colleagues from across the aisle as "most shameful." That put 'em up there with sexting blackmailers. And thieves who steal brass cemetery vases from the dead. And child care cheaters who live in mansions. And pedophile priests.

We rate this one pants, undershorts and legs on fire.

Seriously....where does Randy Hopper live?

Before the untimely (though hopefully temporary) crash of Blogging Blue 1.0, I had written about the extramarital affair of Republican State Senator Randy Hopper, as mentioned HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. In response to the news about Sen. Hopper's extramarital affair, Rebecca Hogan, Hopper's chief of staff, called the accounts "shameful and disgusting," but I think that given the fact that Sen. Hopper ran in 2008 as a "family values" Republican, I think his extramarital affair is what's really shameful and disgusting.

However, while Randy Hopper's extramarital affair is certainly newsworthy (at least in my humble opinion), what might be even more newsworthy are accounts that Hopper doesn't live in the district he represents. Hopper's wife recently told pro-union protesters outside the home she once shared with Hopper that he lived in Madison with his girlfriend, and according to Tony Galli of WKOW, the address Sen. Hopper's office provided as his temporary in-district residence is a Town of Empire home co-owned by a campaign contributor who is also an employee of a radio station owned by Hopper, begging the question: where does State Senator Randy Hopper really live?