CHRIS MURPHY | The Capital Times | cmurphy@madison.com madison.com | Posted: Monday, March 14, 2011 5:30 am
"Following the saga of Walker's budget repair bill has made me a Twitter addict. For a topic like this one, where news moves so quickly and on so many different fronts, it provides information faster than any other medium. Whether you're looking for on-the-ground accounts about what's happening at the Capitol, pronouncements from officials or takes from the dozens of reporters and bloggers who are following the story, follow enough people on Twitter and you'll get a steady stream of updates, links and snarky takes.
Here are some of my favorites I've accumulated over the past three weeks. Please tell me yours.
@GovWalker, of course, is a must-follow. The governor tweets regularly and is understandably quick to call attention to editorials that take his side. For critics, his most infamous tweet was "Had some chili w/Tonette as we watched @AmericanIdol," which came shortly after his budget address in which he announced plans to cut the budgets of schools, municipalities and universities by hundreds of millions. It sounded like "let them eat cake" to his many critics."
"As an initiative to help inform the student body about the possibility of UW Madison splitting from the UW System, students and faculty passed out fliers and buttons that read, "Save My UW."
Assistant professor of economics Chad Cotti referred to the project as an uncontrived initiative. When news about Chancellor Biddy Martin's proposed deal with Gov. Scott Walker first broke, Cotti and several other faculty members closely followed the situation.
Cotti was surprised when he and his colleagues struck up a conversation with faculty who did not know what was happening. They were eager to learn, but nobody had presented the materials to them yet. This is when the "Save My UW" initiative was created. It wasn't planned or structured, but was more of an organic and spontaneous movement of faculty and students reaching out to their peers.
Timothy Suess, president of the Oshkosh Student Association, is another coordinator of the "Save My UW" initiative. Suess had also been involved with the promotion and creation of "Save My UW" materials and said his wish is for this to transcend from a student issue to a community issue through public awareness." Michael Koller
"UW System President Kevin Reilly is concerned the breakup would: produce unneeded competition for funding between campuses; lead to unnecessary duplication at the administrative level; and be a potential blow to the system's reputation.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has continually stressed she does not believe this split would harm other state schools.
"I believe they're wrong," Reilly said of those who see no dangers in the breakup."TODD FINKELMEYER
Uploaded by SenRussFeingold on Oct 22, 2009 VIEWS 1,513 / 21 likes, 5 dislikes
Senator Russ Feingold speaks on the potential impact of the Supreme Court ruling on the Citizens United case from the Senate floor on October 21, 2009.
For Senator Feingold's full remarks, please click here:
"During his opening statement at a Senate Rules Committee hearing titled "Corporate America vs. The Voter," Senator Feingold said the Court's ruling has in effect "produced a Frankenstein -- the people created corporations, but the Court has denied the people the power to prevent corporations from dominating the political system."