We Are(n’t) Wisconsin

No, it wasn’t — stolen that is, the recall election, though the same may not be said about our hopes and faith in this state.  If prayer is the last refuge of a scoundrel (at least according to Lisa Simpson — who may or may not have been unwittingly subverting the famous quote by Samuel Johnson, for whom “patriotism” was the last refuge), then I would add that denial and conspiracy are the last bastions for liberals to talk amongst themselves, scuttling underground while licking their wounds after losing an election.

 

a MADest proposal

On the surface it would not appear that the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 would have any connection with a U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts half a century later, but there is one (having little actually to do with the Kennedys at that).  What the world learned about diplomacy and nuclear power then America today could glean from what’s happening in the Bay State between incumbent Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren and their relations to negative ads.  What essentially boils down to “DB Double-A” — or Don’t Be An Asshole — is a nugget of practical wisdom as old as Methuselah and as relevant as ever.  Following its lead, we can cooperate and coexist.  Failing to do so we guarantee a mutually assured destruction. 

 

United Citizens Against Citizens United

Need a new mantra?  How about “The Day When $$$$ Equals Speech”?

I caught word this morning that the good people at The Center for Media and Democracy are calling for an online day of action today and so wanted to spread the message in hopes of others doing likewise.  The cause in question concerns the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court last year that not only codifies gobs of filthy lucre as being the equivalent of free speech, and thus protected under the First Amendment, but allows corporations (and yes, unions*) to conceal both the amounts they spend on elections AND where that money is coming from.  Keep reading and kindly click on a couple links if you’ve wondered any of the following:

~  How the hell a yahoo know-nothing nobody the likes of Ron Johnson could oust the venerable Russ Feingold from office;

~ How Republicans swept the halls in 2010, particularly in state legislatures and governors’ mansions;

~ How the no-dialogue ideologues of the so-called Tea Party, despite their fringe freak show, have accomplished as much as they have since January 20, 2009;

~ How anonymous, no-limit contributions and ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) have so adroitly gutted the democratic process;

~ How over $30 million was spent on the eight recall elections in Wisconsin in only the last four months (compared to the $3.75 million that was the sum of all the State Legislature races in 2010!); or

~ How this gargantuan harangue will play itself in next year’s presidential election (think lots of drunk, angry elephants in a cutesy boutique china shop).