The people are angry. Well, I say -at long last. For 30 + years, we have bumbled along in some kind of fantasy world where when anybody asserted the “market will prevail”, “the market will sort it out”, “the market will decide”, every other policy maker and legislator tried to find a way to agree to keep from offending these parrots of puffery for the rich. Well, Reaganism got its way. Lack of regulation, lack of oversight, policy decisions made by the well-paid lobbyists, who bought both sides of the aisle, are coming home to roost. And what is our response?
We have poured our, our childrens' and our grandchildren's money into a banking boot with a hole in the bottom. That would be bad enough if the people holding the boot were not siphoning off enough, before its empty again, to give themselves and their overpaid employees bonuses in years when the value of the business has dropped 1,000%. And Congress? It’s holding hearings and scolding them but to show how toothless our legislators really are, the bankers have the audacity to show up without any data, without balance sheets, without financial statements that show where the money went. They simply assert that they are indeed lending it out which everyone knows to be a flat out lie.
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You'll remember One WI Now's ongoing coverage of Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker opposition to accepting federal stimulus dollars to help Milwaukee County provide vital services to its residents. Then you’ll recall Walker’s ridiculous budget proposal that slashed funding for programs serving seniors, the disabled and at-risk youth. Further, Walker’s insane budget proposal went directly after the homeless in Milwaukee County—he proposed eliminating the ENTIRE county budget for supporting homeless shelters.

Now, Scott’s crusade against the poor in Milwaukee has taken a turn for the even worse. Turns out, part of the stimulus Walker was so adamantly opposed to receiving is going to be used to build a home aimed at serving homeless vets.

Walker’s stubborn insistence on cutting services for those most in need in Milwaukee County just to score political points underscores his utter failure as leader of Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker made national headlines early this year when he announced he would abstain from taking federal stimulus dollars to support the infrastructure of his home county. But whether Walker likes it or not, Gov. Doyle and the Obama administration are giving Milwaukee County and the rest of Wisconsin some sorely needed stimulation right under his nose. Now all Walker has to do is open his mouth… and say “thank you”.   Read More »

Last week, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker proposed a series of devastating cuts that unfairly target the most vulnerable in Milwaukee County. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Walker’s budget would cut $2.4 million from programs for the elderly and disabled. Walker’s budget would totally eliminate the Youth Sports Authority program, aimed at helping at-risk teenagers stay out of trouble, and a short-term disability aid program.

Perhaps worst of all is Walker’s proposed cuts of $1 million to county support for homeless shelters. While Walker was riding a motorcycle across the state campaigning for Governor on the Milwaukee County taxpayer’s dime in June, the foreclosure rate in Milwaukee County jumped by 21%. More than 26% of all foreclosures in Wisconsin occurred in Milwaukee County in June, meaning Walker’s heartless cuts to homeless shelters couldn’t come at a worse time for the people of Milwaukee County.

The editorial board at the Journal Sentinel has it right: “…the bottom line should be that the county's difficulties should not be borne solely on the backs of the county's neediest people.”

Contrast that with Governor Doyle.

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Scott Walker has declared war on the people of Milwaukee.


How else can you describe the destructive and irresponsible cuts proposed by Scott Walker that target those most in need made public yesterday?


Seniors. The disabled. The poor. The homeless. At-risk youth. All under attack in Walker's War.


We must stand up together and speak out against Scott Walker's War on Milwaukee.


Click here to sign the pledge to stop Walker's cuts and help send a strong, united message that Walker's attack on Milwaukee County's most vulnerable will not be tolerated.


According to officials who have studied Walker's planned cuts "the county's poorest and most vulnerable residents would bear the brunt."



Funding for the County's Youth Sport Authority to help at-risk teens: GONE
County funding for homeless shelters: GONE
Programs to support disabled and seniors: $2.4 MILLION GONE



In addition, Scott Walker's War on Milwaukee ends a critical short-term disability aid program; slashes almost all funding for a program to help ensure poor people can have proper burials; and hacks three-quarters of a million dollars from a youth delinquency program.


Sign the pledge to fight against Walker's ridiculous cuts: http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/walkerswar


This isn't the first time Scott Walker has attacked the people of Milwaukee. But with social and human services in even higher demand due to the nationwide economic collapse caused by the failed policies of Walker-ally George W. Bush, these cuts are just irresponsible.


Walker's cuts are obscene.


And they must be stopped.


Take just a moment and sign the pledge to fight against Walker's devastating cuts. We must send Scott Walker a united message that we will not tolerate his War on Milwaukee.


http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/walkerswar


With so much suffering, how can Walker who has been paid by government since 1993 treat those most in need of government help with such disdain?


Seniors. The disabled. The poor. The homeless. At-risk youth.


These are the innocent casualties of Scott Walker's War on Milwaukee. Sign the pledge and stand together to stop Scott Walker's war. Today.

Have you heard the right wing spinners lately? If you're like me, you may not have. I can't afford the cost of a new TV every week and my Irish temper simply can't handle the lies, distortions, and outright slanders. Thanks, however, to Olberman, Thomm Hartman and the few other intelligent promoters of facts, history and the American way, I've been exposed to the new right wing talking points. I thought for a minute I was having flash-backs again. Not to Viet Nam this time but to the 1950's.

"Socialism" is mandatory in virtually every sentence of the right wing blabbers. Their troops have been advised to call the liberal stations (if they can find one in this country) and begin by saying "Hi Comrade". (Very clever these people). They now paint a picture of Nazism and hero worship and brown shirts as evidenced by the hope of a new, honest, and revitalized United States under the Obama administration. That dirty word "government" rears its ugly head once again. "It" is going to take away "your doctor" (if you're so lucky as to have one, and then can get an appointment), fund crazy things like wind and sun (if we can still see it by the time these morons quit burning every inch of fossil fuel known to man), "nationalize your banks" (so instead of getting none of your money back when they fail, you and the treasury might get repaid). Worse, "It" is going to spend your children's and your grandchildren's future security by these huge deficits Obama and the Democrats are creating.

The strength of the right wing media in this country, unchallenged and often aided and abetted by the mainstream media (indeed, at least on radio, they're one and the same), is that they capture the terms of the debate. And they're not stupid about it. They use the very terms that would accurately describe themselves and apply them to those who would dare oppose them. (Nuremburg, Socialists, cowards, pansies). They take the terms to which people emotionally respond (Defeat, clear skies, "your" property, income, money, choice, freedoms) and hijack them before Democrats and Liberals can finish the complex sentences of which we're so fond.

It doesn't have to be so. The "warmongers" "lied" us into an "illegal war" through "deception" and the "distortion" of the information available to them. They "treasonously exposed" and silenced intelligence agents who gave them information they didn't want to hear. This war is still "killing" our "sons and daughters". It is "costing us our future". It will, "according to some economists, cost us over $5 TRILLION dollars before we're through. While the banks fail based on "greed and fraud", and the housing markets do the same, while "millions of unemployed" "line up" looking for work, thanks to the "greedy and unregulated, wealthy financiers" brought about by Reaganism and the last 8 years, we need "bold and positive action" to "fight the Bush Republican Depression". The "lock-step Republican Congress" the "architects" of "war, financial disaster, denial of global climate change, destruction of the middle class, a health care system that is bad for business and good for the rich, the destruction of the environment, and HUGE deficits, and the defeat of every measure that might have addressed some of these disasters", "now piously proclaim their adherence to fiscal responsibility".

Now, take all the words in italics above and write them on a convenient piece of paper or envelope. Put it in your pocket. No matter what the silly terms the media or the right throw at you, respond with these terms. You see, the use and abuse of words by the right is stealing our democracy. Fight back. The words in the above paragraph are both accurate and direct in describing the actions, failures, and continued deceptions of the right and their media cohorts. Don't buy it. Let's debate according to our terms for a change.

Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen refused to join a civil lawsuit along with 11 other states against one of the nation's largest predatory lenders, which just netted a record-$8.4 billion settlement. Financial disclosure records show Van Hollen owned stock totaling as much as $150,000 in at least three subprime lenders.

Attorney General Van Hollen should explain to Wisconsin why he didn't join both Republican and Democratic Attorneys General in this critical lawsuit. Knowing Van Hollen has up to $150,000 in stocks of three other companies which have done major subprime lending raises serious concerns about his inaction on this case and cases which may arise in the future.

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As a top advisor to predatory lenders, as well as John McCain ex-Texas Senator Phil Gramm has been taking heat for calling people concerned about the tanking economy and the loss of the homes, jobs and futures as “whiners” experiencing a “mental recession.”

Having studied the career of Gramm as part of a research paper I had to write in the mid-90s, it was like a trip down memory lane when I heard the Huffington Post had posted something about Gramm investments in a couple failed Russ Meyer-inspired soft-core porn flicks.

To be certain, in the hypocrite hall of fame, Gramm’s got his wing. The smaller government, except when it comes to giving taxpayer money to my corporate clients, Gramm made a career of railing against “guvment” spending.

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It was appalling to see Sen. John McCain in Louisiana to try and distance himself for the horrors of George W. Bush and the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Considering how McCain voted to shield Bush from accountability for this national disgrace, he might have thought twice. Consider McCain’s record protecting Bush and abandoning those in need when it comes to Katrina.

McCain Twice Voted Against a Commission to Examine Government Response to Katrina. In 2005 and 2006, McCain voted against creating a congressional commission to examine the federal, state and local response to Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region.  Both motions failed. [H.R. 2862, Vote #229, 9/14/2005; H.R. 4297, Vote #6, 2/2/2006] 

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The resident's of the A.O. Smith/Tower Automotive neighborhood and everyone who feels personally connected to the site have decided it is time they build a united front for change in their neighborhood. They are researching Community Advisory Board models around the country with the hopes of creating their own board here in Milwaukee. The board will not be a 501c3, will be autonomous from any funding strings and will speak directly to the needs and the political concerns of the residents.

Residents who are interested in helping this effort should attend the next neighborhood meeting on May 10th, 2008 at the Center Street Library. (27th and Fond du Lac) at 10:15 AM.

This meeting is open to anyone who cares about what is happening in our city and believes that residents should have the opportunity to compete for the jobs our money creates!