Happy Constitution Day! Guest post by Callen Harty

On Reading the Constitution Day (or Wisconsin Irony Day)  

by Callen Harty

Originally published on September 17, 2012 at A Single Bluebird.

Thanks to Callen for reposting here.

September 17, 2012

Dear Governor Walker,

I will be stopping by the Wisconsin Capitol again this afternoon as I have done almost every day since March of 2011 to sing four verses of “We Shall Overcome” in the rotunda.  But because last week you declared today “Read Your Constitution Day” I am also bringing a copy of the Bill of Rights to read after I sing, and I may break out in a rendition of the national anthem after that if I have any voice left.  I so appreciate the Constitutions of both the United States and Wisconsin that grant me the right to speak openly about my government and my feelings about it that I felt it would be appropriate to take advantage of your designated day to offer more than my usual song.

After I am done I plan on stopping by your office to give you the copy of the Bill of Rights from which I will read.  I am presuming in advance that despite living almost 50 of my 55 years in Wisconsin that I have still not accumulated enough wealth to be allowed into your office to see you in person, so I am writing this letter to thank you for your declaration to honor the Constitution.  I want to hand deliver it because my previous letters haven’t received any kind of serious response, unless you count automatically generated replies serious, so I can only guess that someone else is opening them and not passing them on to you.

I’ll let that go for now because the point of this letter is to thank you for your declaration.  In an age where all of your fellow Tea Party patriots firmly believe that the President of the United States is trying to overturn the Constitution and the rights it grants all of us I believe that a day to recognize the importance of the Constitution is a great idea.  While I don’t believe that President Obama intends to undo the foundation of our country I am concerned about certain things like indefinite detention and attempts to limit speech and peaceable assembly.

It is difficult to consider that either my President or my Governor would intentionally undermine or ignore the rights or the will of the people.  Still, I have concerns.  One of the reasons I wanted to give you a copy of the Bill of Rights is because I am afraid that perhaps you are only reading the Constitution as it was originally written and don’t understand that the Bill of Rights is actually considered part of the Constitution.  If you weren’t aware of it, it is really the first ten amendments to the Constitution (and there are many others after those first ten) and all of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights are valid and are legally considered part of the Constitution.

I know that you believe the Second Amendment is important because I have seen how you have paid special attention to it for your friends in the National Rifle Association (NRA).  They are incredibly lucky they have so much money that they can give to you to help raise your awareness.  I can only hope that my simple letter may help you realize that other parts of the Bill of Rights are equally important.  I feel bad that you didn’t know this and that somewhere in your years of educational pursuits you didn’t come across it.  When you read it (or have someone read it for you) you may be shocked to discover that in Wisconsin and in all of the United States citizens have the right of free speech.  We can legally protest our government, hold signs that mock the government, and more.  We have the right to gather in groups—as long as it’s peaceful—so that we can bring our concerns right to the heart of government.  And that’s all just in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, along with freedom of the press and prohibitions on the establishment of religion by governments and protections for those who want to practice their own religions.  It is no wonder we consider ourselves the greatest country in the world, as these are incredible promises.

Clearly, the founding fathers of Wisconsin agreed with the importance of these rights so much that they were enshrined in our own State Constitution.  As citizens of the great state of Wisconsin we have protections of these rights from both our state and federal governments.  As you know (I’m presuming again), a significant part your job, if not the most important, is to uphold the Constitution.  I’m sure that’s one of the reasons that you are encouraging all citizens to read it, so that we, too, can do our best to honor it.  I believe that I do that regularly when I show up at the Capitol to express my point of view through the free speech granted in both Constitutions under which I live and I am really glad to know that you appreciate that.

Thank you again for drawing attention to the Constitution and to the rights it guarantees.  It is too easy as a society for us to forget that we live under a government that was designed to be of, by, and for the people and that our leaders are employed by us.  This reminds us that it is not only our right, but our duty, to make sure the rights granted remain ours as long as this state and country shall endure.

Sincerely,
Callen Harty

9/11: On memory and messaging

Dear friends,

I am a reluctant observer of 9/11, whose tragedy came hand-in-hand with a jingoistic and racist fervor that had direct negative impacts on my multicultural family and changed the tenor of American politics forever for the worse. 

I remember exactly where I was when I heard that the Towers had been attacked: I was stopping for a coffee on my way to Arabic class. I remember my friend completely distraught in class, shaking scared as she raced back home so she could be next to the phone to receive news from her family in New York. I remember a heady confusion of shock, tears, anger, concern, hope, pride, and solidarity as people all over the world came together in sympathy and support.  I remember the shockingly immediate negative reactions of suspicion, distrust, and even hatred that I saw right here in Wisconsin, and all over the country. I remember my disgust at how the tragedy was exploited into war-mongering. I remember how within weeks if you didn't plaster American flags all over your car, yourself, your words, you were "with the enemy."  I remember the stories of the victims' families who were not afforded insurance coverage, the rescue workers who continued to suffer injuries, faces of kids who would never again see their parent, parents who would never again see their children. I remember all of that. 

So 9/11 is always uneasy. For all of us.  We want to honor the dead, honor the day. But every year it seems increasingly impossible to do that without politicizing and romanticizing the tragedy, and the way our emotions and memories are so predictably manipulated is growing tedious and offensive. We need to be firm about facing up to the realities that led to - and from - that day, but we also need to keep the humanity of that tragedy in focus.  I found this beautifully sobering photo today on facebook on the Tom Joad page and think the caption really puts things into perspective. I repost it here with permission. 

I hope one day we find a way to honor the dead in a way that disrespects neither the living nor the truth.

Heather

Well, it's 9/11 again and that means it's time for us all to remember that we're Americans and put aside our differences, right? It's the day the entire world came together and people from Iran to France, from Brazil to Malaysia, were waving American flags and holding candlelight vigils. Yes, there was a candlelight vigil in Tehran for the victims of 9/11. Do you remember?

No, we don't. We've forgotten all about that. We've forgotten who to blame and how it was allowed to happen. There is all manner of filth and lies being told on conservative Facebook pages today about how Democrats are to blame for the attacks of 9/11. It made me stop and think back to the things that I recall about our national nightmare.

I remember White House counterterrorism coordinator, Richard Clarke, prowling the halls of the West Wing, BEGGING National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice for a meeting - but the responsibilities for counterterrorism had been assigned, by executive order, to the office of the Vice President, Dick Cheney. Mr. Cheney resisted any meeting, finally scheduling one for September 10th. Remember?

I remember CIA counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black's warning to then-CIA Director George Tenet about the likelihood of an attack, within the United States, by Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

And I remember that George made a compelling case for NSA Rice, pulling together all the fragments of intelligence his agency had gathered, bringing into sharp focus the very real possibility of an attack within our borders. All summer long, the CIA chief kept pressing Rice for a policy position or authorization for assets from the White House.

From all reports, this was weighing heavily on George Tenet. He wasn't sleeping well, because he was steeped in the details of his analysts and told Richard Clarke "I feel it coming. This is going to be the big one." Both men did whatever they could to get the Bush White House to authorize immediate action - and allow the agency to coordinate with other branches of the federal government to take action. They wanted to put defensive positions in place that might curtail, or minimize what they felt would be a devastating attack.

Do you remember what J.Cofer Black said following the CIA's meeting with Sec. Rice? Because I remember him saying "The only thing we didn't do was pull the trigger to the gun we were holding to her head."

I also remember the intelligence brief labeled "Bin Laden Threats Are Real." I remember the Presidential Daily Brief with a similar title: "Bin Laden determined to strike in US." And I absolutely, positively remember that the day after Bush received that sobering assessment of the threats facing the American people, he was carefree and joked with the press corps (while on vacation at his ranch in Texas) about his impending 55th birthday - not the impending attacks.

I remember the Project for a New American Century bemoaning the lack of political will to invest more billions into NextGen military hardware "absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor."

I remember that intelligence services from at least eleven other countries sent urgent warnings to their counterparts in the States about the impending attack.

I remember George Tenet recalling that “the system was blinking red.” And I remember that, despite routinely being scrambled within twenty minutes when contact is lost with any airplane, on 9/11 our fighter jets were on the ground two hours into the event.

I remember Bush reading "My Pet Goat." I remember that millions upon millions of dollars were made in the stock market, betting against American and United Airlines.

And I remember that the Bush administration stonewalled the investigation into what happened on 9/11 for 441 days, until shamed into doing something by the Jersey Girls, four widows of 9/11 who were relentless in their pursuit of the truth. And I know that the truth of what happened, is not contained within the pages of the report finally filed by the The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

I remember 9/11. Do you?

 - by  Tom Joad

 

Walker takes hypocrisy to the next level in latest E-update

1 September 2012

Dear Scott Walker,

Thanks for your latest E-Update.  Considering that it came just a day after the national brouhaha, I was surprised and disappointed that it did not contain an apology or redaction for your embarrassing tripling-down on Paul Ryan's oft-repeated lie that President Obama is somehow responsible for the closing of the Janesville GM plant that went under during the catastrophic years of wasteful spending under Bush.  Had the plant survived into the current administration, it may well have been saved by the automobile industry bailout that help revive so many other American plants.  Hearing you not only repeat - but further embellish - Ryan's lie was excruciating: an embarrassment to all Wisconsinites and a slap in the face to the Janesville workers still reeling from the job losses there.

Source

But what REALLY struck me was what you did choose to discuss in your taxpayer-funded propaganda E-Update: in choosing this forum to make a shockingly whiny and disingenuous complaint  that the Secretary of Health and Human Services did not respond directly to your bullying demands that the administration not help our most needy (a demand so arrogant that Mitt Romney has it displayed on his campaign website),  you revealed - once again - that your trademark arrogance has not waned a bit post-recall election.  Jumping on the "Romney's lies are my lies" bandwagon, your letter to her ignores the fact that the Secretary's new welfare-to-work proposal would "be focused on improving employment outcomes" for struggling families and makes a number of absurd and deeply offensive contentions about how the plan would instead discourage people from seeking work.

I find it terribly ironic that you complain that Sec. Sebelius didn't respond directly but sent you what you claim is a "form letter" response to your complaints about welfare, given that you don't even give your own constituents the same courtesy.  Well, first of all, she did not send you a "form letter," even though many of her points were probably recycled from other communications. She replied directly and specifically to your concerns.  As someone who receives many auto-responses (like the ones you send) and form letters (like the ones elected officials who respond to their constituents send), I know the difference, and find it very unprofessional of you to misrepresent her response like that to the citizens of our state.  And you're probably not reading this letter, but most people who are know that I have been writing you with my concerns for the past year and a half plus.  (In outrage over your refusal to respond to the concerns of your constituents, I make my letters to you open. They're part of the Open Record, anyway, as you're sure to make threatening note of in your auto-reply.) To date I have received ZERO responses, beyond the auto-reply that tells me you're too busy to care about what I have to say but will nonetheless "keep [my] specific comments in mind."  If your office produces form letters, I have never received one.  Neither, to my knowledge, has a single other person I know. And I know many, many people who write you regularly.

How is it, exactly, that you think you're so much more important than the people you govern?  How is it that you think you deserve courtesies you are unwilling to offer yourself? How is it that you dare pretend to govern those to whom you can not even be persuaded to acknowledge, much less address?

More importantly, though, how dare you brag that Wisconsin so well-serves its poorest families when you broke your own promise not to raise taxes by CUTTING the Earned Income Tax Credit that you claim in your letter to the Secretary helps keep struggling Wisconsinites afloat!?

And how dare you pretend to know ANYTHING about the people in Wisconsin who are suffering under the boot of your tax increases when coupled with your cuts to wages, benefits and social services? How dare you imply that - given just the tiniest bit of Big Government Coddling, we would dance at the chance to never work a day in our lives?  How can you so openly show such contempt and disrespect for the hardworking people of your own state?  I LOVE working.  It's pretty much all I do.  I have four separate state jobs - all of which combined do not provide a living wage post-Act 10.  My husband works full time.  And we still qualify for Food Share, thanks to your helpful "tools" and "reforms."  So maybe next time you write to Secretary Sebelius you can keep those specific comments in mind.  Maybe you'll keep in mind that the policies you support are the ones that led to the unemployment of all those still-hurting Janesville workers. Maybe you'll keep in mind that while the rest of the country puts to work the Obama administration's reforms and sees actual job growth, Wisconsin has led the nation in job losses because of your stubborn refusal to move forward.

And maybe she'll respond with a nice form letter, letting you know she'll keep YOUR specific comments in mind, too.

See you at the ballot box in 2014.  I won't hold my breath about hearing from you sooner.

Heather DuBois Bourenane
Sun Prairie

Back to School: Or the "equivalent" of school?

28 August  2012

Dear Scott Walker, 

As I ready my kids to go back to school, now in the second year of having to deal with the cuts that have weeded out some of their finest teachers and laid bare budgets that already had no wiggle room (forcing many schools to cut essential programming, force out teachers, and increase class size), I am disturbed by the timing of recent announcements and the increase in disproportionate funding to charter and private schools at the expense of the vast majority of our children. 

Just yesterday, Wisconsin Superintendent Tony Evers announced $16.1 million in federal grants will be poured into the charter programs that serve a tiny fraction of our students. More disproportionate investment in education inequity: $16.1 million in federal grants to 84 schools. Whose children are left behind? Almost all of them. Only 40,329 of the 870,000+ Wisconsin kids in public schools attend charters. 

To put this in perspective: in the 2011-13 budget, DPI requested $2,280,500 to fund SAGE schools that would protect then-current funding levels at $2,000 per student for about 11,500 low-income Wisconsin kids. You denied this request (knowing it could cost some schools their SAGE standing at the federal level) and added additional cuts to SAGE and HeadStart programming. In the same budget, you approved an increase of $7,086,200 GPR in FY12 and $15,460,800 GPR in FY13 for charter school funding based on 21,600 pupils in FY12 and 22,900 in FY13 and a per pupil payment of $6,442 per FTE in both FY12 and FY13. This disproportionate investment in the few at the expense of the many is jaw-dropping, especially at a time when "the many" are expected to pull their belts even tighter as they prepare to deal with the second - and worse - year of your unprecedented cuts to public education.

As a parent who strongly believes in the need to invest evenly in all of our students, and especially to ensure that inequities in the system that disadvantage low-income students are addressed honestly and productively, I am terrified by the dangerous pattern that you have very clearly estabilished here, and have publicly promised (on many occasions, and despite warnings from countless education professionals) to see through to the end: Disinvest in our most vulnerable kids. Overinvest in a handful, and split that investment pretty much equally between low-income, highly segregated schools and private ones. Lower standards for qualifications and assessments (not just at the charter schools but across the board).   

In a poll that came out just last week (in which Americans overwhelmingly agreed Obama is better than Romney for public education), 57% of people said they think teachers should have more rigorous training.  

Is the ultimate goal to make this untrue?

So I was equally disturbed to read your praise for a new Teacher "Equivalency" Certification  process by which non-educators can get into our classrooms bypassing the traditional certification route by proving they have the "equivalent" experience in the private sector or in preschool classrooms. 

The new "Teacher Equivalency Certification"  was announced by Dr. Evers just this week: a process that would allow someone without a degree in teaching to get a public school teaching license if he or she has a bachelor's degree; has been a private school teacher; has similar out-of-state certification; or has "at least 3 years of teaching" at the post-secondary, preschool, or industry level.  You praised this move, saying "We must also help districts find qualified men and women with workplace experience who are interested in sharing their knowledge with the next generation, especially in high need areas like science and math."  I find this position extremely insulting to educators, who have been specifically and carefully trained in a whole range of skill areas that have nothing to do with their area of expertise.  Being an industry expert or having experience with a "subject" does NOT prepare one or qualify one to teach that subject.  How is a chemist prepared to deal with special needs students? How does a computer programmer possess the skills and training needed to deal legally and effectively with chronic acting-out in the classroom?  How has an accountant's experiences in a cubicle prepared her for the demands of ensuring common core standards are met while reaching out to students of widely differing needs and abilities?  Imagine if the roles were reversed and the teacher demanded the private sector job - at the same rate of pay.  It just defies reason, and it's a slap in the face to dedicated educators.

This move has been promoted by Dr. Evers as a way of creating "career opportunities" for non-teachers to become teachers.  How insulting.  While I'm sure the private sector can produce some good teachers (and a degree in education doesn't automatically translate into classroom success, either), the underlying assumption here is simply more of the same anti-educator rhetoric we've heard since you took office: anyone can teach, "real" teachers are just lazy and unqualified, teachers don't deserve what the earn, teaching is easy, and on and on and on.  It also makes me wonder what this will mean to compensation: how much will these "equivalent teachers" earn? Is this a ruse to lower the wages for educators? Or a plan to turn industries into "temp services" that will farm out "teachers" (and take a cut of their wages) to public schools?  My mind races to imagine how the education-privatizers might capitalize on a move like this, especially when your own "Job Czar" is trying to actually make it more expensive for people who might really want to invest in a degree in education to do so and your administration continues to push a discredited rumor that our workforce is under-skilled and unprepared for employers - a move which allows you to put the reins of education directly in the hands of potential employers.

The path to a career in teaching begins with respecting that teaching is a profession - not a "job" that anyone can just step into.  I am extremely skeptical of the token "assessment" requirements for anyone who has  "not completed a Wisconsin recognized and approved educator preparation program."  What message does this send about the value of those programs? What message does this send about the value of teaching, when it is parsed down to its simplest form of "sharing knowledge."

As a parent who volunteers regularly in the schools and someone who works professionally with educators every day, I know that there is no testable "equivalent" of a degree in education.  There is no "equivalent" to taking the time to learn about the rigors and restraints of standardized testing, the complexities of assessment, the pedagogies that work (and don't) for the range of learners in our classrooms.  And, ultimately, I don't want my kids taught by the "equivalent" of teachers. I want them taught by people who dedicated their lives to the profession, and who give that profession the respect it requires by receiving the proper training and education.  

Why does the minimum standard for what we expect from our schools keep getting lowered?  When will it stop?  Is there a bottom to how low you will go, or do we just have to wait until all the schools fail?  The race to the bottom is an ugly, ugly thing.

What's next? You want parents to sit back, let our schools fail so that your friends at the AFC and other privateers (who have been so aggressively trying to buy our elections) can jump in and "save" them, creating for-profit ventures out of once-excellent schools.  And then what? What do we do with all of these underserved students?  Let them "pull themselves up by their bootstraps?" Let them "invest" borrowed money in vocational programs that may or may not lead them to living-wage jobs? Let the prisons do the rest?

Dr. Ever's Fair Funding for Our Future plan

It doesn't have to happen.  You have claimed you want to work together and are constantly pretending that you work closely with Dr. Evers - if so, I advise that you take seriously his Fair Funding for Our Future plan, which addresses the very real harm done by simply gouging funds from out schools and restores funding to a level that ensures our kids can get the education they need to thrive in the workplace and as smart, well-rounded, well-trained members of society, ready to do their share to move Wisconsin forward.  This program, - as education experts like Thomas Mertz have made clear -in conjunction with something that will specifically ensure funds to our poorest schools (like "A Penny for Kids," a proposal that raises the sales tax by one cent which would raise $850 million a year for schools and reduce the need to increase property taxes), would prepare our kids for a chance at real success. Your plan prepares them to live off the state forever. 

I have been following the blow-by-blow cuts to education ever since you took office. I have also been listening carefully to what people on both sides are saying about what does and doesn't work.  The facts could not be more clear: your plan pushes forward a catastrophic, fundamentally misguided attack on public education that has very little to do with "unions" or "workers rights" and everything to do with an ultimate goal of reducing accountability and opening the door to privatization.  I oppose that, and not on a partisan basis (don't even get me started on what I oppose in the Obama plan). I oppose it because it's bad for our kids. It's bad for my kids.  It's bad for all of us.

Please. On just this one thing: give a little.  During the recall, the one point on which both sides agreed (that is, both people who voted for you and against you) is that your cuts to public education were beyond the pale and a direct assault on the Wisconsin Idea and our bipartisan history of progressive excellence in education.  You can go on pretending your unique combination of no business experience and no education qualifies you to be an authority on everything else - we don't like it, but we're used to it. But when it comes to our kids, and our schools, do the right thing. Open your mind to what people who don't have a financial stake in this matter are saying and listen. Let us reinvest our money in our kids. We shouldn't have to beg.  But I'll beg now so my kids won't have to do it later.

On Tuesday, I'll be sending my kids off to school.  The little one is starting kindergarten (full-day, so I can finally afford to get back to work and try to crawl out of the hole your helpful cuts to my benefits and pay have left us in).  Off they'll go: with a kiss and a hug and a few tears (and that reminds me, I think I'm supposed to organize the Boo Hoo Breakfast! Better get on that!)...and a lot of worry.  Worry about what this year will bring for them personally, what the new budget will do to their school now that we don't have the "cushion" afforded last year by all the teachers forced into early retirement.  But also hope:  because they are so smart, and so ready, and so resilient, and their teachers are so wonderful, and the staff and administrators at the school so supportive, and our school board has their best interests clearly in focus. Dollars can't change any of that.  But our district is lucky. Others are not.  And those are the kids I'm worried about most.

So it'll be bittersweet: seeing them go off into that world where I can only protect them from a distance, with solid home-training, loving guidance and support, and by advocating for them as a parent-citizen at every level I can (on the PTO, at the school board, through our elected officials).  I'm doing my best.  I ask you to do the same.  

"Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, 

because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, 

can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation." 

- John F. Kennedy

If you're really as laser-focused on jobs as you say you are, remember what really matters: without a truly educated (not just "trained") workforce, there are no jobs. There is no middle class. There is no American Dream.  There is no hope.

Reinvest in our schools.  Make sure our money is going where we want it to go: toward making our schools even better than they were before your cuts started to unravel them.  Raise the bar.  Make sure our teachers are the best by making sure we hire people who know that being an expert doesn't make you a good teacher, and who have the humility to know that the training that leads to the classroom is, if anything, too low a price to pay for the huge responsibility of educating all of our children.  Put education first. Make it your priority. And not just with lip-service to your own kids and pithy examples of all the teachers who allegedly thank you for the helpful cuts to their own schools. Put education first by listening to what the education experts, educators, administrators, Dr. Evers, and concerned citizens on both sides of the fence have been telling you: the cuts are too deep.  It's not working.  

Humility is the most admirable trait a leader can possess. Show some now.

Reinvest in our schools before it's too late.

Yours,

Heather DuBois Bourenane

Sun Prairie

  

Callen Harty on the Freedom to Dissent

Open Letter to Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief Erwin

by Callen Harty

Cross-posted from A Single Bluebird

Capitol police officer watching the Solidarity Sing Along beneath a large banner reading, “Big Brother is Watching You”.  Photo by Callen Harty.

August 27, 2012

Dear Chief Erwin,

I haven’t met you yet, though I anticipate that some day I will.  I read about you today and feel as if I know you already.  In an interview with the Associated Press you said that as the new Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief you intend to crack down on protests at the Capitol.  Scott Walker will appreciate you doing this, as he certainly doesn’t want to hear what the citizens of his state may have to say about his policies or governance.  He would just as soon we all go away so that he can focus on taking phone calls from only the wealthiest of his constituents (and of course, several out-of-state donors who are not constituents but still expect payback for their generosity toward his most recent campaign).

Like him you apparently have no respect for the history of the Capitol building that you are sworn to protect.  You may not know this, but it has always been a place for citizens to congregate, a place to raise voices against the worst of legislative assaults on our rights, freedom, and way of life.  There is a rich history of protest and citizen involvement in the Capitol, and particularly the rotunda, a place as close to a statewide town hall as can be found anywhere.  It seems that you are determined to overturn that history and make the Capitol and its denizens available only to those who can afford to pay for the privilege.  It is our house and we will not be evicted.

It is understandable to get tough on criminals who are violent or who damage the building in some way.  It is not understandable to try to prevent legitimate protest in a democracy.

The sad truth is that those who silently acquiesce now to you shutting off the ability to protest under the dome will one day have protests of their own silenced, and they don’t understand that connection.  This is not about the specific protests of the last year and a half–it is about any protest that may be silenced in the future, from either the left or the right.  Those of us who appreciate the Bill of Rights wish those rights extended even to our enemies.  Diminishing rights in any way is a chilling endeavor, especially from a former Marine who undoubtedly swore at one time to fight to preserve the rights of fellow Americans.  Putting roadblocks in the way of citizens assembling, petitioning their government, and raising their voices to be heard over the din created by the exchange of pieces of silver and gold and the rustling of dollar bills is an affront to the citizens of the state and the sometimes messy thing known as democracy.

If the legislators working in the Capitol would like the protesters silenced then perhaps they should govern in a way that is consistent with the historically open and honest government that Wisconsin prided itself upon for years. They would not need police to quell peaceful protests if there were no need for protest.

People understand that both the federal and state governments have chipped away at the rights inherent in protesting in a number of ways over the last several years.   They have created permitting systems, free speech zones (where one can say anything to others of like mind but can’t be seen or heard by anyone who needs to hear the words), confiscated cameras and video recorders, intimidated protesters, and more.  But that doesn’t mean that we won’t fight the continued erosion of our Constitutionally guaranteed rights.  In fact, it means that we will fight all the harder.

Nobody is surprised by this impending crackdown.  While Chief Tubbs wasn’t perfect he did strive to strike a balance between the functioning of government and the rights of that government’s citizens to protest.  He understood the need to protect the building and those who work there while also protecting the Constitutional rights of those who came to express their dissatisfaction with those working there.  When Tubbs left to take another job everyone knew that Governor Walker would select someone in his stead who would be more beholden to the Governor and the Department of Administration than to the citizens of the state that all of those in government–legislators, bureaucrats, and the police–are meant to serve.  The only question was who would be the administration’s lap dog, how draconian would that person be, and how soon would the hammer come down. Now we have the answers–you, very, and now.

Please understand that we are not afraid of you.  Nobody wants to go to jail or face fines, particularly for something as innocent as gathering to make our voices heard.  I would rather have my hands in chains than my mind enslaved.  It is better to be a convict in any jail than to be a prisoner of your own conscience.  We will not be silenced, particularly when the issue is free speech, the right to peaceably assemble, or the right to petition our government for the redress of grievances.  Your brute force will not stifle our creativity and your tenure will not outlive our passion.  Perhaps the former chief didn’t tell you that every time they cracked down on legal and peaceful protests our numbers swelled with sympathizers.  Perhaps he didn’t tell you that for every police action there is an opposite and greater citizen reaction.  If not, you will learn soon enough.

Peace.

Yours,
Callen Harty, citizen
Monona, Wisconsin

After the Recall: thinking globally, acting locally

Dear friends of MoD,

Since June 5th, I've been neglecting the blog - and the perpetually fundraising governor - to attend to other things, like catching up on other work and making jam and taking a vacation and generally licking the wounds inflicted by having tried my hardest, and lost.  

Except that we didn't lose, exactly.  Where I stand, as a matter of fact, we won. And big. Walker lost in Sun Prairie by 6 percentage points MORE than he lost here in 2010 - and with 2000 new voter registrations and 84% voter turnout.  Locally, we got the heck out of the vote.  And we got people engaged. And it worked.

My first published article is a cover story! Art by Matt Mignanelli

So it's not like I've just been moping around these last two months; it only took about a week to come to terms with the embarrassing fact that Scott Walker is still our governor. I've just been too busy to write to that guy. I've been busy working and thinking, and meeting with my friends at SPARC - our local grassroots action team - to plan what's next for keeping people involved, engaged and informed.  To this end, I spent a ton of time working on this article - my first real published piece, and it made the cover of this week's Isthmus! woot! feeling pretty giddy about that! - on local politics, which I hope will spark some real dialogue and get people talking about how they might get more involved - and maybe even run for office.

Writing this article was a challenge, and a real learning experience. I interviewed all kinds of people to write this piece: the current mayor, the old mayor, the city clerk, other elected officials and party people, other grassroots activists...and let me tell you, this article is the tip of the iceberg here in Sun Prairie: there was a ton of information I didn't include either because sources didn't want to go on record for fear of retaliation or because the things they shared weren't so much "news" as they were "incredibly unpleasant and/or accusatory reflections" on the character of some of our local officials.  And I'm not out to slander anyone: I just want people who aren't paying attention to start doing so, and people who are being paid to represent the people who elected them to do so with integrity, and an honest respect for the fact that the majority of people in our city share the progressive values that make our community a great place to live.  And specifically I would like The Star to stop pretending the minority opinion is the prevailing perspective in Sun Prairie, because it's not.  And the events of the last year are not new proof of it: Sun Prairie always votes blue for state and national elections, as far back as I looked. And when given a clear choice, we almost always choose the progressive candidate over the conservative one.  The problem is that we often don't get to choose: people run unopposed all the time.  No one wants to run for office. I'm hoping that will change.

And not just in Sun Prairie, where we had two great grassroots candidates - Nick Zweifel and Tiffany Keogh - step up this year, but all over the state. All  over the country.  Getting people who care more about local issues than party politics to run local government is the first best step to taking politics back from the special interests who have it in the death-grip that has made possible such unthinkable horrors as the possibility of a RMONEY/RAYN ticket.

So that's where I am now. And that's where we all are: in our own backyards, in our own hometowns, trying to make sense of how we can best make our worlds just a little bit better while we stave off those who would throw granny under the bus while they tie the dog to the top of it and hurdle down the highway to stop on our very own Main Street and try to kiss my babies.  And no thanks to that. They can keep their mitts away from my babies (and their schools), at the minimum.  But the more good people we have in City Hall standing up for what all of us want - and not just what their party wants, or what their sponsors want - the easier it will be to keep our babies out of their clutches and keep our grannies away from the bus and keep our towns the way we like them: friendly, open, honest, and blue.

Hope you like the article. Let me know what you think.

Heather

Call to Action: 400th Solidarity Sing Along marked by increase in police vigilance

Whether the Fitzwalkerstanis Like It or Not,

We'll Be Here 'Til Wisconsin Gets Better

Guest post by MoD contributor 

Ryan Wherley

I am strongly encouraging as many people as possible to head on down to the Capitol for tomorrow's 400th Solidarity Sing Along in the Rotunda, Monday June 25th, from Noon until 1 p.m.  The Capitol Police force's post-election behavior has been increasingly bizarre, from an increased presence that has been following certain individuals around, to approaching other citizens and asking them why they keep coming back to the Capitol with ther signs.  Most notably alarming, various police officers have been taking thorough notes profiling all singers/dissidents in attendance daily and writing down verbatim the content of signs being held inside of the Rotunda.  Additionally, there has been a noticeable influx of plain-clothed "observers" making their presence felt on a regular basis.  Proceedings under the dome seem to be trending towards the Department of Administration and its secretary, Mike Huebsch, feeling that the time is drawing near to begin enforcing its unconstitutional rules passed last December against the First Amendment rights of individuals inside of and around the Capitol building.

The crackdown on the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the freedom to petition our government for a redress of grievances easily could have already taken place last winter.  However, approximately one thousand individuals showed up in defiance and Solidarity to sing in the shadow of the Capitol Rotunda's beautiful holiday tree, on December 19th, 2011, the day the new and unconstitutional rules were supposedly to be put into effect.  Before and since that day,  a dedicated group of citizens and heroes of the movement show up without fail at the Capitol to sing inside of the Rotunda on every Monday through Thursday and occasionally some Fridays after the outdoor Sing Along has ended.  These Wisconsin Winter Soldiers' constant presence on the ground floor, first floor and second floor of the Rotunda is an important and necessary reminder of why we're still here, tracing a direct lineage back to the original Capitol Occupation attempting to stop the passage of the Budget Despair Bill in the winter of 2011.  Not so coincidentally, the Capitol Police and DoA never bothered attempting to quell dissent by enforcing these new anti-protesting rules.  Or so it seemed, up until Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs ended his time overseeing the bulding shortly before the election, in order to pursue a job working for the Dane County Emergency Management Agency.

They hoped we would go away after the June 5th Recall election.  We didn't.  They hoped the numbers would dwindle around the Capitol on a daily basis.  They haven't.  They hoped that we would forget and pretend everything is all gravy in Wisconsin now.  We didn't and it's not.  Scott Walker's bought and sold victory in the election on June 5th means one thing for the sake of Wisconsin's future: it's in as much trouble now as it was on June 4th.  The need to maintain a consistently visible and vocal presence inside of the Capitol is as important now as at any time since the original Occupation last February and March.  The Fitzwalkstanis now bellow hollow rhetoric about "moving forward" and "working together"  in hopes that everyone will forget what happened to our state under the Governer's shameful idea of "leadership" over the past 18 months and what will continue to happen going forward.

I've said before that I and hundreds of thousands of others were awakened in the beginning months of 2011. I'm sure as hell not going back to sleep now, even if the habitually untruthful and heartless Scott Walker essentially tells us that it's time to move along...nothing to see here.  Sure thing, Scooter.  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain trying to amend the state constitution in order to take away the citizens' unabridged rights to recall elected officials, hold them accountable for their actions and prevent the elected despotism we've become accustomed to in Fitzwalkerstan.  Cover your ears when State Assemblyman and Joint Finance Committee co-Chairperson Robin Vos and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus unconscionably drum up fears of rampant voter fraud for weeks before the recall elections, only to use the city of Racine and Democratic Senator John Leman's narrow victory on June 5th as guinea pigs for their implicitly racist and explicitly unfounded theories.  Turn away from the television when Scooter refuses to address the question of whether or not he would sign a statewide union-busting Right to Work for Less bill into law if it should MIRACULOUSLY find its way to his desk, even though he has "no interest in pursuing that."  Don't ask any questions when members of the United State Congress follow up with the Governer as to whether or not he'd like to amend his public testimony last year to account for its perjurious nature following the release of his explosive "Divide and Conquer" conversation with billionaire Diane Hendricks.  Cast the newspaper aside when radical, anti-choice organizations say they are eagerly hoping that the Republicans re-claim control of the state Senate in the November elections so their orgs can resume pushing their extreme anti-women's health agenda through the Wisconsin legislature.  Bury your heads in the sand when thousands of teachers are laid off, countless public employees see massive pay cuts to their newly calculated "base wages" as their current union contracts expire, extracurricular activites are cut and class sizes rise in schools and class offerings decline and tuition rises at our public universities, as the painful reality of another $800 million worth of scapegoating policies and shamelessly austere cuts to public education hits home.  Oh yea, and definitely avoid visiting websites where Capper Liebenthal, Jud Lounsbury, Lisa Mux, Greg Gordon and countless other citizen journalists and bloggers uncover and report on an ever-unfolding story as the federal government and Milwaukee County D.A.'s office closes in on Scott Walker and his Criminal Defense Fund via the ongoing John Doe investigation.  Can't leave that one out!

There are plenty of reasons to keep showing up at the Capitol, continue speaking our minds and serve as omnipresent reminders to a corpo-fascist like Walker that although we may not have recalled...we will assuredly never forget.  I hope to see a large turn out to sing songs of hope, labor, Solidarity, populism and especially, Wisconsin, inside of the Rotunda tomorrow.  Bring your singing voices (no matter how off-key,) bring your banners (no matter your level of artistic ability,) bring your signs (but not on sticks)  and bring your unbridled passion for social justice and the First Amendment.  Just make sure that you don't bring your snakes, though, (you hear me, Matt Johnson?)  as, for some unknown reason, those are still notably banned from entry into the Capitol. Don't be shy.  Remember to keep showing up inside of Our House whenever you have the chance...for as recently-passed activist Doleta Chapru penned in "Pass the Cheddar," one of her many Wisconsin-based song remakes, "We'll be here 'til Wisconsin gets better"...and we have a long ways to go before that day comes.  SOLIDARITY!!

Walker's still here. And so are we. Let's make the most of it.

16 June 2012

Dear people who wish we would go away,

I'm afraid you haven't heard the bad news, or perhaps it just hasn't fully sunk in yet: Scott Walker is still our governor.  And that stinks. To put how much this stinks into perspective, think of it this way: Scott Walker still being our governor stinks as much to me as my exercising my right to free speech stinks to you.  Really. That much.  So we may have something in common after all: mutual agony and frustration.
 Anyway, Scott Walker still being our governor actually means we won't be going away. It does not mean, as some of you seem to have hoped, that we will now stop caring about the abuses of power and threats to our livelihood and our future that this administration has made inevitable. In fact, we will probably be speaking out much more than if Scott Walker was no longer our governor, on account of the dramatically increased need for citizen vigilance and people to stand up for our schools, kids, needy, unemployed, underemployed, homeless, working poor, working not-poor, public sector workers, private sector workers, small business owners, teachers, librarians, women, people with disabilities, people without insurance, people who can't afford the insurance they do have, people who wish they could get their share of the federal foreclosure money they should rightfully receive that was siphoned off by the governor, people who can't afford the new college tuition increases, people who care about the environment, people who care about the deficit we're kicking down the road, people who care about a return to civility, people struggling to make ends meet, and so on.

Let me give you an example of why I'm so sure we're not going away: the kinder, gentler Scott Walker just said that public union benefits are a "virus." That's right. One day after he hosted his Bipartisan Beers & Brats Lovefest of Lies & Deceit, he took yet another stab at the compensation public workers have paid into with their education, experience and negotiations over many, many years, in an effort to further the absurd lie that public employees are a blight - and a contagious one at that! - on society.

Not exactly the sort of healing talk we were looking for, or the sort of fence-mending we were promised on election night.

So, sorry. But I'm pretty sure we're not going anywhere for a while.  I propose we make the most of it by working together to move forward: let's all pay attention to what's really going on. Let's talk about it. Let's do something about it. Despite what our governor says, there is more to every issue than just "my way or the highway." There's middle ground to be found.  Scott Walker might not be interested in finding it, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have also to pretend to be myopic bullies. We can work things out, you know. That's what dialogue is for.

Your friend,
Heather
One of Many Concerned Wisconsin Citizens

P.S. Some of you, I know, are well aware that Scott Walker is still our governor. I know this because you keep saying "You lost! Get over it!"  To you, I just have to say this:  I can accept that we lost. But I will not accept being silenced.  Nor will I accept the assault on my children's education that continues to be waged as we speak, or the disgraceful attacks on their teachers that continue to come from the highest office in the state.  These are things I cannot get over.  But I might suggest that if you are so concerned about getting over things, you accept that you have won, and consider paying less attention to those who ideas you find so useless.  Or, you accept that we might actually have some room for dialogue after all, and approach our differences with respect.  That's all we ever really wanted in the first place.

Happy Fathers' Day (Again!) to Scott Walker, Governor Dad

15 June 2012

Anniversary update

cc: Scott "Fundraising Is Governing" Walker

Dear friends (and "Governor Dad"),

A year after writing the letter below, Governor Scott Walker still occupies our mansion. Sigh. Let's hope he and his family have a nice Fathers' Day and that he finally gets that Abe Lincoln tie he's been coveting.  Everything I said last year is just as true today, except amplified by the increased fervor with which the governor appealed by name to his sons during the campaign - especially during the debates and that horrifying ad he aired around the holidays where the boys were seething through their role as props at a soup kitchen.  The frequency of these appeals, which attempted to evoke the sense that Walker "cared" (and deeply) about public schools and The Future, was as distasteful as their transparent superficiality.

The worst part of being a politician is undoubtedly being forced to manipulate your private life to fit your public persona, and invariably the kids (and spouse) suffer most from those manipulations.  As a parent, I don't know how I'd deal with that scenario without hurting my kids, and I don't envy Walker's position. But as a constituent of Fitzwalkerstan, I can only imagine that it must be really hard to be Scott Walker's kid.  I just wish the governor would leave them out of it. It's not fair to them  - or to us - to be dragged out constantly as "proof" of his connection to our schools and our presumably shared values. Walker talks the talk of Faith, Family and Freedom, but his walk heads down another path: straight toward the bank to cash the checks his out-of-state benefactors.  Among them: education privateers like the DeVos family, who famously never contribute any political funds without expecting a return on their investment. What return do they expect today?  And how will my kids be paying it tomorrow?

With an indictment looming in the future, I can only reiterate what I said a year ago:

As the head official of this state, the messages you send your children echo down to every child in this state. I am a parent, too. And I have no intention whatsoever in instilling these duplicitous "values" in my own family. But while our values differ, I don't doubt that we care equally about our children, and our hopes for their future.  The difference, though, is that you value your (profoundly flawed) ideology above all. And I, above all, would value your resignation. 

Happy Fathers' Day!

Here's to resignation. And ties that honor Honest Abe. 

Heather

 -------------------------------------

19 June 2011

Dear Scott Walker,

Today is Fathers' Day, and I hope you spent yours with your family, doing fun family things and being a good dad. Because you sure are doing a bad job at being governor, so it would be nice if there was an area in which you found you could excel.

I don't pay much attention to your private life, but it does strike me that you make such frequent mention of your kids, so I kind of feel like you're inviting us to see something of your parenting philosophy, which I'd like to visit briefly given the special occasion we're celebrating today.  You are on record as saying that you hope your boys take college more seriously than you did, and also repeatedly saying over and over again variations of this:

"I have two sons that go to public high school. The last thing I'm going to do is hurt public education in the State of Wisconsin. I don't want to hurt my son Matt, I don't want to hurt my son Alex. My school district just announced that because of the reforms  we gave them, they're going to be able to restore positions that were laid off, and they're going to be able to reduce the tax level. To me, that's exactly what I said would happen."

So I'd like to congratulate you for making a gesture toward recognizing the importance of of supporting education and encouraging your children.  And also for your hilarious joke about cuts to education and eliminating the rights of public workers being "reform."

But I really wish you'd be a little more honest about what you're really telling your boys (and by extension, all the kids in Wisconsin), which seems, from my perspective (i.e. listening to all the things you say in public), to be the following:

1) Get an education, because people like that piece of paper. But be sure to get a real job when you're done. 
It's well-known, since your conversation with the faux-Koch that you don't consider public sector employment "real money," and that your dropping out of college has been defended time and again as you insult those with degrees by talking about how useless they are. Google it if you want sources; I'm not in the mood to revisit the hundreds of quotes, articles, analyses, etc, on this topic. It's not my job to do all of your homework.

2) Public workers are disposable, manipulable, and the least among us. Avoid them. They do not deserve your respect.
You tell your us that your district was able to "restore positions without layoffs" but that's not entirely honest, is it? The district saw deep cuts to personnel and was only able to balance the budget with draconian cuts to pay and benefits:

"The feat was done as Ertl said it would have to be done — not on the backs of children in the classroom but on the backs of school employees through major pay and benefit concessions."

"All this would not be possible without those concessions from our employees," Ertl said. Board member Mary Jo Randall echoed that, with added thanks to Ertl and his administrative staff, saying, "I don't think you can say enough about our employees and our leadership."

3) Don't worry about being honest. A half-truth is as good as the truth.
While you like to use your district as an example of how great your budget bill is for Wisconsin, in fact it's an excellent example of how local communities pay the price for your cuts to everyday programs and education in exchange for the handouts you delivered to your corporate funders. True, your school district was able to balance its budget and even come in under the levy of the previous year, but more careful analysis shows that property taxes will see a spike, and the real cost of these cuts will be felt throughout the the district in the coming years, as taxpayers cover the costs and staff continues to suffer under pay freezes, which the superintendent has repeatedly stated he sought to minimize:

Board discomfort

The proposed hike was generally ill-received by the School Board.
Board member Phil Kroner said he is concerned about raising taxes given persistent economic pressures on district taxpayers. He also questioned whether more could be done to limit spending. "A lot of our citizens are having to make cuts in their own budgets," he said. "I'm concerned that not enough effort was made in looking for cuts to try to hold things as low as possible or even to spend less than the levy (limit) is allowing."

Handcuffed by revenue losses

Superintendent Phil Ertl assured the board that he, Mack and other administrators pored over the budget line by line in a "painstaking process" to ensure efficiency.  Mack said the tax increase is caused entirely by state reductions in school funding and is therefore out of the district's control. The district is facing a $2.97 million - or 11.4 percent - cut in state aid. "I think that tells the story right there," Mack said of the numbers.
When the state sets the revenue cap - the total amount of tax and aid revenue a district is permitted to gather - but then reduces aid, that funding hole must be filled by property taxes, Mack said. "I think the misconception that exists out there is that school districts control their levy, and they really do not," he said.

4) A promise means nothing, but that doesn't make it meaningless. There's nothing more powerful than a broken (or insincere) promise.
This one is particularly poignant to me, since, again, it involves direct reference to your boys and direct consequences to me and other parents and public workers.  Remember a year ago this month, when you were campaigning, and you kept saying things like this as you made a promise to end late-night votes:

"I have two teenagers and I tell them that nothing good happens after midnight. That's even more true in politics. The people of Wisconsin deserve to know what their elected leaders are voting on."

Well, not only did you (obviously) not keep that promise, but you continue to applaud the late-night antics of Republican legislators as they work in the dead of night to introduce new measures and push through legislation without public comment, consent, or full understanding.  Very sneaky. Very dishonest. And a very strong message to send to our kids, don't you think?

5) Put yourself first. It's not your job to care for others.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the most important message you're sending your sons, and I applaud your consistency in sending it. So many children today are subjected to ambivalence, soul-searching, and careful consideration of the pros and cons as their parents make big decisions. But you show your boys - and the rest of the children of this state - that such wishywashiness is for losers. Winners act fast, take chances, and make decisions that will benefit the people they know and love. The people they don't know or love can take care of themselves. And that, you've shown us, is the American way.

So congratulations. You seem to be raising your boys exactly the way you feel best. It's a question of values.

As the head official of this state, the messages you send your children echo down to every child in this state. I (as you know, from your reading and taking into consideration of the specific comments of my letters), am a parent, too. And I have no intention whatsoever in instilling these duplicitous "values" in my own family. But while our values differ, I don't doubt that we care equally about our children, and our hopes for their future.  The difference, though, is that you value your (profoundly flawed) ideology above all. And I, above all, would value your resignation. 

Imagine the headline: Walker Resigns, Sites letter, children, for his decision.

The children of Wisconsin would thank you for it.
And so would I.

Until then,
Heather DuBois Bourenane
Taxpayer, parent, and comparer of the things you say to the things you do.

P.S. I hope you got an Abe Lincoln tie for Fathers' Day, so you and Grothman can be twins on Crazy Ironic Tie Day at the office.

Senator Grothman in his (and hopefully YOUR, if your kids know what would suit you!) Lincoln tie, which seemingly inspires him to say things like "The Earned Income Credit is the equivalent of a welfare check" and "The only way [cutting the Earned Income Credit] is a sign of Wisconsin values is if you wanted to promote single motherhood."  It's the kind of tie that makes you classier - and oh so eloquent! -just by wearing it! I wonder what it will inspire you to say...something new and true perhaps? It could happen!   Image: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=137386319670995&set=a.129811040428523.30747.112526458823648&type=1&theater