Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Boxes and boxes of petitions piling up at GAB.
Defend Wisconsin News Round Up

Feeling good about the recall petitions? You should be worried instead.
"Are you gratified by the incredible results of the recall petition drives? Well, here's an important caveat that I want every Wisconsinite to start thinking about SOON. And trust me, this isn't just tinfoil hat stuff.
Most will agree that the stakes here in Wisconsin are tremendous - not only for the state but for the entire country. MILLIONS of dollars are already being poured into the state by various interests in an effort to influence the outcomes.
Going beyond even just the money, most readers will agree that certain stakeholders -- both in Wisconsin and outside Wisconsin -- will do literally anything in their power to try to ensure that the recall elections come out the way they want them to." Grant Petty Read More Here | Feeling good about the recall petitions?
"IMPORTANT ADDENDUM: RIGHT AFTER I wrote the above note, I was pointed to this brand new video of a jaw-dropping press conference from just a few days ago (Jan. 12, 2012) in Tuscon, Arizona. Almost everything discussed in this press conference is potentially applicable to Wisconsin as well. It reinforces the points I made above more powerfully than anything I've seen so far. Please watch and share widely! "Grant Petty
English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout - Wikimedia Foundation
To: English Wikipedia Readers and Community
From: Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director
Date: January 16, 2012
Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate — that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.
This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made. Here’s how it’s been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community’s discussion. From the public statement, signed by User:NuclearWarfare, User:Risker and User:Billinghurst:
- It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web.
- Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation. The overwhelming majority of participants support community action to encourage greater public action in response to these two bills. Of the proposals considered by Wikipedians, those that would result in a “blackout” of the English Wikipedia, in concert with similar blackouts on other websites opposed to SOPA and PIPA, received the strongest support.
- On careful review of this discussion, the closing administrators note the broad-based support for action from Wikipedians around the world, not just from within the United States. The primary objection to a global blackout came from those who preferred that the blackout be limited to readers from the United States, with the rest of the world seeing a simple banner notice instead. We also noted that roughly 55% of those supporting a blackout preferred that it be a global one, with many pointing to concerns about similar legislation in other nations. Read More Here | English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Citizens United The Musical! — Take Action Jan. 17 thru 21
Citizens United made simple?

Citizens Concerned about the proposed Penokee Mine
markcrispinmiller.com/2012/01/um-should-we-challenge-lies-by-top-newsmakers-asks-nytimes-public-editor-and-readers
“Um, should we challenge lies by top newsmakers?” asks NYTimes public editor, and readers—rightly—jump all over him
Filmmaker Seeks Support for "Wisconsin Rising" Film | Center for Media and Democracy
Hundreds of thousands surrounded the Wisconsin State Capitol building a year ago in response and protest of Governor Scott Walker's radical agenda, including his proposed "budget repair bill" to balance the budget on the back of state workers. There to document history in the making, was independent filmmaker Sam Mayfield from Burlington, Vermont. Sam was seen everywhere with her high definition camcorder, at Walker press conferences and climbing though Capitol windows with protesters. In the many months she was in Wisconsin, she obtained hundreds of hours of footage -- often at moments when hers was the only camera present. Among her hundreds of interviews with newsmakers and protesters, the Center for Media and Democracy's Mary Bottari was interviewed for the project on the role that ALEC played in shaping the Walker agenda. "People really need to pay attention to this and start bird-dogging these institutions, these legislators and these corporations and taking back their democracy," Bottari said of ALEC. Read More Here | Center for Media and Democracy
The Sarcastic Liberal: Progressive and Abrasive: What is ALEC? (and why it should scare you)
What is ALEC? (and why it should scare you)
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Portland Moves to Ban Corporate Personhood
http://
New Evidence Shows Johnson's PACUR was Created By His Father-In-Law as a Bemis Boondoggle
Also, I did an investigation into an online group last summer, called something like We Hate Jeremy Ryan. Turns out, Ron Johnson and his connections to Bemis are deep. Some think the company was set up just to let Johnson make the run against Feingold (long term planning like the racketeering complaint I filed). We discovered his father-in-law and brother-in-law's company in MN Bemis has connections to Rio Tinte, which owns Kennicutt, which did Flambeau. All roads lead to mining.
http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/new-evidence-shows-johnsons-pacur-was-created-his-father-law-bem
uppitywis.orgIn the late 1970s, under the direction of Bemis CEO (and Ron Johnson father-in-law), Howard Curler, the multi-national, publicly-held, corporation was looking to open a new plastics plant in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Here's how the Oshkosh Industrial Dev
#OCCUPYMUSEUMS #OCCUPYWALLSTREET - MoMA BANNER DROP @ DIEGO RIVERA EXHIBIT
www.youtube.comMoMA is exhibiting work from one of the most renowned Mexican painters of the twentieth century, Diego Rivera. Diego influenced by the Mexican Revolution and...
Committee to Recall Scott Fitzgerald
Madison Circulators - Escape the Isthmus

Friday, January 13, 2012
NATIONAL CRISIS & IMMEDIATE ACTION PRESS RELEASE (KILL SB 207 2012)
Khalil Coleman Hi all, after meetings with Republican Senate Staffers yesterday here is an update, a number of Republicans are not happy with this bill, the decision whether to move the bill out of the Senate Organizational committee will be made likely by the Republican Caucus. If enough members of the caucus express concern about the bill it may well stall there and not be scheduled.
The Senators they recommended we contact are:
Senator Kedzie - Elkhorn WI, Sen.Kedzie@legis.wisconsin
Senator Ellis , Neenah Sen.Ellis@legis.wisconsin.
Senator Cowles Green Bay Sen.Cowles@legis.wisconsin
Senator Olsen - Ripon Sen.Olsen@legis.wisconsin.
Senator Schultz - Richland Center Sen.Schultz@legis.wisconsi
Senator Harsdorf - River Falls, WI Sen.Harsdorf@legis.wiscons
We are also recommending that you contact Senate Democrats too to make sure that, if this bill gets to the floor, they do not vote for it.
Senator Jessica King voted to pass this bill out of committee so she especially needs to hear from constituents - she is an Oshkosh Dem. 266-5300 or Sen.King@legis.wisconsin.g
Wisconsin, you're voting in Africa now
Truth in Journalism: Behind Canada's Law Against Lying on the News by Dave Saldana
"It’s not often that goings-on in Canada interest the American news media, but a rather small decision by a relatively small government agency—the decision not to revoke a rule that bans lying on broadcast news—in Ottawa has made a pretty big splash.
It stems from the planned April launch of Sun TV, a Canadian analog to FOX News—i.e., a broadcast news outlet with a decidedly conservative perspective. Among its top executives is a former communications director to conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, evoking former Reagan/Bush adviser Roger Ailes’ role at the helm of FOX. That executive, Kory Teneycke, told the Toronto Star that Sun TV is “taking on the mainstream media [...] smug, condescending, often irrelevant journalism, we’re taking on political correctness [...] by bureaucrats for elites and paid for by taxpayers.”"
Gov Snyder: Detroit city union members give up $100 million or Detroit gets an Emergency Manager. Pe

Richard T. Desvernine Jr. That's because it is. By attempting to destroy social programs and public sector jobs they are destroying a large portion of the economy. Private jobs will not just magically appear if people's means of support vanishes. :(
Daily Kos: VIDEO UPDATE...Organizers Have Enough Sigs to Recall SCOTT FITZGERALD!
"This is the one they said couldn't be done. The Democratic Party and United Wisconsin both passed on this opportunity, so one local citizen, Lori Compas of Fort Atkinson, started the recall against Fitz on her own." Daily Kos
For more go to recallfitz.com.
...and if you think this is a partisan exercise in futility, just watch this lifelong Republican who spoke at today's press conference:
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Jesse Jackson, others vow possible civil disobedience against Michigan emergency manager law

Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Maccabeats: Candlelight + Miracle « Dandelion Salad
The Maccabeats: Candlelight + Miracle
Happy Chanukah!
westdawg63 on Nov 26, 2010
Based on Mike Tompkins’ a cappella version of Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite”.
Video by Uri Westrich
Uri@Urifilms.com
Production Assistant- Rivie Shalev
Occupy's Next Target: The Iowa Caucus | Mother Jones
Occupy's Next Target: The Iowa Caucus
—By Gavin Aronsen
On October 22, more than 100 Occupy Iowa activists gathered outside President Obama's campaign headquarters in Des Moines to protest his failure to stand up for the 99 percent. That same day, John Stauber, the founder of the corporate watchdog Center for Media and Democracy, suggested in a Truthout op-ed that the protest could be the start of something bigger. "In Iowa an Occupy Obama movement has real potential because it could choose to become a player in the Iowa caucuses in a way that is much more than symbolic," he wrote. "Occupy Obama activists could show up at the caucus meetings in January, for instance, and organize support for an Uncommitted slate of Occupy Obama convention activists." In other words, determined occupiers could inject some unexpected turbulence into Obama's glide path toward being named the Democratic nominee. Read More Here | Mother Jones
Daily Kos: Just Got My Pay-to-Pray Permit From The Wisconsin Capitol Police!
"The rule says that any time 4 or more people gather at an event in the state capitol not deemed to be "spontaneous", those people would need a permit. By last Friday, the DOA had been shamed into making some minor adjustments to the policies, exempting families and lobbyists from the permit requirements. Before the changes, though, I had already applied for a permit for my family for Sunday, December 18th, from 3:20 pm to 3:30 pm on the second floor of the capitol rotunda. I had filled in the "crowd estimate " at 4.
Under "proposed use" I had explained that it was a family gathering. We planned to take a family photo holding a sign that said "Merry Christmas from Wisconsin", and that we would say a prayer and videotape ourselves humming "Away in a Manger."" Read More Here | Daily Kos:





