Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Donald Trump: What Ought To Be The Truth (I Am A Liar) part 1

I thank Todd Gitlin in The Media Rapture of Donald Trump for bringing to the surface the most profound understanding of our President-elect.

BUT LET ME STAY for a moment with the uncanny depth of what journalism failed to grasp about Donald Trump, for it also goes to a systemic incapacity. Tony Schwartz, Trump’s onetime ghostwriter, told Jane Mayer: “More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true. (my extra emphasis added)

Fact checkers be damned. They are irrelevant, of no consequence, and downright irritating at times.

Not only is  our next president unfazed when the New York Times asks, "Why Does Donald Trump Lie About Voter Fraud,"  but the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, can respond to 60 Minutes, "It doesn't matter to me..."

Remember those 1100 Carrier jobs that Trump saved? It seems the numbers are not quite accurate, as the union president responded: Trump Lied His Ass Off:

Trump last week claimed he talked Carrier into keeping 1,100 jobs in Indianapolis, but that number turned out to actually be 800 because Trump and Carrier counted 300 jobs not initially at risk of being shipped overseas.

Trump offered the furnace and air conditioning manufacturer financial incentives to save from jobs being shipped to Mexico, a move that would have saved Carrier about $65 million a year.

The Truth is Dead, long live the Truth.

Note: This post is Part 1, since we know there will be repeated obituaries for the Truth.

Wisconsin State Journal "Sets It Straight' On Boycott

Sunday, the Wisconsin State Journal printed a retraction or correction, whichever you prefer, on what I said regarding boycotts. This appears on page two of section C2. I could not find it online:

Soglin did not call for boycott

A story on page 1 of the front section March 10 about public reaction to the Legislature’s rush to pass collective bargaining bill mischaracterized remarks by former Mayor Paul Soglin. Soglin urged protestors to express their displeasure to Gov. Walker’s supporters, including business executives who gave to the governor’s campaign, but he did not call for a boycott of those businesses.

Thank you. And to once again make sure everyone has it straight:

We need to ask all of Walker's moderate supporters, business leaders or not,  to contact him and say "Not in my name -do not destroy collective bargaining." 

 

Moderate Wisconsin Republicans Should Step Forward

 

Both in my blog posts and last week in front of the Madison Downtown Rotary,  I’ve been calling on moderate Republicans to step up and make their voices heard in an effort to help us solve the budget impasse that has now entered its third week.

I marched with the teaching assistants on the first day after the Governor introduced his budget "repair" bill. I’ve been at the Capitol every day since.  I’ve made my position clear: this bill has horrendous consequences for public employees, for seniors, for people with disabilities, for the environment, for cities and counties.

But the crisis in Wisconsin today is not simply about the budget and its terrible effects: it is a crisis created, exacerbated and perpetuated by the way in which the Walker administration handled the legislative process to date.

This bill, preceded by his decision to kill high speed rail, offers all the evidence we need that Governor Walker genuinely believes in what he is doing. He is not going to back down. The brave voices of the hundreds of thousands of citizens who have marched, sung, protested and slept at the Capitol won’t change his mind.  He is going to need motivation coming from his own supporters.

What we have to do right now is reach out, change the equation, expand the arena in which this fight is being waged and find people to whom Governor Walker will respond.  They must be Wisconsin residents who voted for him, who publicly supported him.  People who contributed to his campaign. People who have done all that, and yet disagree with what he is trying to do and how he has done it. People like former Governor Tommy Thompson, for example.

The time has come for people of good will from all political outlooks to make it clear to Governor Walker that more discussion is needed as well as a serious discussion of alternative plans. It is particularly important that this message is delivered by Wisconsin’s moderate Republican leaders in both the private and public sectors who know the importance of education, workforce development, and a trained workforce.  Those Republicans who believe that leadership and political power is best exercised through reasoned, respectful, principled compromise and discussion need to step "Forward." 

Response to Governor Walker's Budget Proposal

The crisis in Wisconsin today is not simply financial: it is a crisis created, exacerbated and perpetuated by the way in which the Walker administration handled the budget process to date.

Governor Walker has not been forthright with the people of Wisconsin. By releasing his plan piecemeal, he makes it impossible for residents and the legislature to properly evaluate, weigh the consequences and consider the options. While a candidate, Walker failed to disclose the full scope of his agenda. That failure diminishes his electoral victory. Finally, he has left no room for public discussion of other options.

We can do better in this state.

The time has come for people of good will from all political outlooks to make it clear to Governor Walker that more discussion is needed as is a serious discussion of alternative plans. It is particularly important that this message is delivered by Wisconsin leaders in both the private and public sectors who know the importance of education, workforce development, and a trained workforce.

The Fight to Save Wisconsin Collective Bargaining is Moving Forward

While the Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly succeeded in adopting the horrendous so-called 'budget repair bill,' a foregone conclusion, the movement to preserve collective bargaining for unions is moving forward.

We have a long difficult struggle ahead, but already there are victories in other states, victories that will make Wisconsin Republicans re-think the proposal of Governor Scott Walker.

Some Republicans soften tough talk on unions

WASHINGTON – With a wary eye on Wisconsin, Republican leaders in several states are toning down the tough talk against public employee unions and, in some cases, abandoning anti-union measures altogether.

Indiana's governor urged GOP lawmakers to give up on a "right to work" bill for fear the backlash could derail the rest of his agenda. In Ohio, senators plan to soften a bill that would have banned all collective bargaining by state workers. And in Michigan, the Republican governor says he'd rather negotiate with public employees than pick a fight...

 

We have a long way to go but these are heartening signs. No matter what the legislature does in Wisconsin, there is going to be a protracted debate on the role of unions and educating the hundreds of millions of workers, both public and private sector, as to the sacrifices made by union members to get future generations the eight hour day, the weekend, and a chance to spend retirement in something better than a cardboard box.

When a few hundred of us, mostly graduate students,  gathered on the steps of the University of Wisconsin memorial Union Saturday February 12, 2011 we knew this would grow. But no one envisioned anything like what we will see tomorrow Saturday the 26th. As the sign says, "Screw us and we multiply."

 

 

 

Reflections on Wisconsin in the 1960's and 2011

The headline on the Reuters story was Wisconsin demonstrators party like it's 1968.  Actually the writer was not wrong referring to the 'festive atmosphere' but last week in Madison was not like 1968, or 1969, or 1967, or 1965.

The anti-war protests of the 1960's were angry and limited. We were energized, but we had difficulty growing from a protest to a movement designed to build something. Eventually we did build and create - greater human rights, there were gains for economic and social justice - but we never reached our potential.

Last week in Madison was joyful but it was not a party; it was the joy of finding so many strangers with a shared common values - fairness and trust.

Last week in Madison, like the '60s, was led by the young, the teaching assistants (TAs) and the undergraduates, the first Saturday and Sunday.  But in forty-eight hours it had a breadth of support that the anti-war movement could never obtain in a decade.

Last week in Madison I greeted and hugged construction trade workers, police officers, limping Vietnam veterans, teachers and social workers. For those of us in Madison, the firefighters were always there.

This is a very different scene. It has the potential to move from protest to a real political movement. It already has deep roots in the progressive movement. The future is unsettling since there is little chance that Governor Scott Walker will back down. To understand the situation, you have to understand that Governor Walker is confident. He keeps winning elections. He turned down federal aid and killed high speed rail in Wisconsin. He knows who elected him and put him in office - not the voters but Milwaukee right-wing talk radio and his hard core corporate donors. After all, many of those voters were public employees, or union members who realize we may become a right-to-work state.

To get Walker to move will require getting to his base, the campaign base.

In the meantime. we must go forward and not just in the streets. When the anti-war movement grew rapidly in 1968 and '69, we failed to keep up with education, we found ourselves limited to protesting. Times have changed for the better. The TA's are organizing workshops and educational programs on Wisconsin labor history. The labor unions are mobilizing for political action. New technologies we never had will provide new opportunities.

Most important, last week in Madison we were bound by fairness and trust. Marching were people who disagreed on choice, national health insurance, environmental regulation, and even taxation. But we shared those common values of fairness and trust. Perhaps we can fashion a new political culture in this nation that will change the dialogue.

I am going to try this tweeting business!!!

Yes -- don't hold your breath, but let's see what happens!!! Look for:

Paulsoglin

or click HERE.

Wisconsin Will Miss Marlin Schneider

Representative Marlin Schneider (D-Wisconsin Rapids) has been in the Wisconsin Assembly since 1970.  That's right, forty years of service, which will end next year as Schneider was defeated in the tsunami of stupid on election day. That makes "snarlin' Marlin" the longest-serving member of the Assembly ever.

You make a lot of friends and a lot of enemies in forty years. Marlin Schneider did not suffer fools lightly, and probably made more of both than most legislators.

I first met Marlin Schneider in 1981, when a project from a class I taught in UW-Madison's Department of Urban and Regional Planning generated a draft cable TV subscriber privacy policy.  Schneider has always been a personal privacy zealot, and the project formed the basis of the Wisconsin Cable Privacy Act of 1981 (Section 134.43 of Wisconsin Statutes), which Schneider sponsored and pushed through the legislature. I still treasure a red pen Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus used to sign the legislation into law.

I worked with Marlin on many issues over the years, and on most we were on the same side.  When we were not, he gently explained why I was wrong, or why my position was politically impossible to sustain even if correct. Even when he was refuting my testimony against telecommunications deregulation in 1994, he made sure to flash me a wink while calling me an "ivory tower intellectual." "Snarlin' Marlin" was his schtick, not his real personality.

But Marlin Schneider never hestitated to tell it like he sees it. Here's a bit of his post-election missive on Republican control of Wisconsin government:

Unlike (the) Republicans, Democrats won’t abandon their duty when in the minority. But I am sure their attempts at bipartisanship will be shunned. Building broad support has never really mattered to Republicans. Democrats are the big-tent party with diverse perspectives who take on the hard work of solving complex problems, not just saying no. They, by contrast, excel at shutting out outside thinking to pursue their ruling cabal’s agenda, which they now intend to ram down our throats unopposed or even unnoticed. That means two years of gutting aid for health, education and the environment, squandering opportunities to upgrade our infrastructure and safeguard our future, abandoning working families’, women’s rights and gay rights and ballooning our deficit to cut taxes for wealthy corporations.

...Republicans have all the levers of power. So keep a close eye on what they do these next two years. Citizen vigilance is the only check on their power that remains.

We'll miss Marlin Schneider in the Wisconsin Assembly. I don't see anyone around to take his place.

- Barry Orton

 

Citizens United Case Creates A Monster

Zina Saunders, my favorite political illustrator, has done an animation of the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case creating life from corporate political spending power. It's over here at the Mother Jones site. Worth a click.

Saunders' newest cover for Mother Jones with Sarah Palin as the modern version of the "Attack of the 50-foot Woman" is here at Zina's new blog and also worth a click, and her book, "Overlooked New York,"  a collection of portraits and interviews with New Yorkers about their joyous obsessions, is the bomb. I especially enjoyed the street performers, rooftop pigeon guys, and the Puerto Rico Schwinn Club.

Her campaign 2008 book, "The Party's Over," is also terrific.  Here's her website, with the many Palins, Obamas, and others that her amazing art has produced.

- Barry Orton

Ben Manski = Ben Masel? A Voter's Guide

It's easy to understand how voters who are only casual observers of politics could be confused: Ben Manski and Ben Masel: two guys both named Ben, both with last names that start with "Ma" and both running against Democratic party favorites for public office. Neither will spend the kind of money necessary for mass advertising to differentiate themselves. So here's the Waxing America guide to Madison's two political guys named Ben:

Ben Manski, the Green Party candidate in Wisconsin's 77th Assembly District, is running against Democratic Party primary winer Brett Hulsey and Republican Dave Redick. Waxing America guages Manski's chances as 10-1 and Redick's as none. Manski is a product of Madison schools and the UW-Madison, and has been active in a range of causes from Greenpeace to Wisconsin's Environmental Decade, and practices law, specializing in non-profit, coop, and public sector issues.  Helping Manski's chances is the endorsement of Madison's teachers' union, MTI. Not helping is the confusion with Ben Masel.

Ben Masel lost to Tommy Thompson in the Republican primary for Governor in 1990, and ran second to Senator Herb Kohl in the Democratic primary for US Senate in 2006. Masel has already declared his candidacy challenging Senator Herb Kohl in the Democratic primary for US Senate in 2012, and is a frequent poster on DailyKos and a longtime First Amendment and marijuana rights activist.

Both have campaigned at the Westside Community Market, and enjoyed the free coffee and baked goods the Market feeds its vendors, musicians, and political candidates.

Ben Masel, at 55, is considerably older than Ben Manski, 36. Masel is a grandfather, with white hair and beard; Manski has no children and very red hair and beard.

Ben Masel only accepts $1 campaign donations, billing himself as the "Senator you can afford." Ben Manski takes contributions in the usual amounts from most anyone who wishes to donate.

Ben Masel knows that he never will beat Herb Kohl, but has fun trying. Ben Manski actually believes that he could beat Brett Hulsey, and seems to be having some fun trying, but mostly looks and acts serious.

Ben Masel went to San Francisco in the 1967 "Summer of Love" and saw the Grateful Dead play for free in Panhandle Park. No, sorry, that was me.

Ben Masel saw the Grateful Dead play when they were only a few years past their prime. Ben Manski used to play his parents' old Dead records to annoy his friends in high school.  Jerry Garcia died the year Manski could legally drink.

Ben Masel is this guy (but now with beard:                                                            Ben Manski is this guy:

                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voters of the Wisconsin 77th AD can vote for Ben Manski or Brett Hulsey or even Dave Redick, but can't vote for Ben Masel this November.

In the September 2012 Democratic primary, all Wisconsin voters will have a chance to vote for Ben Masel for US Senate.  Last time, he pulled in 51,245 votes to Herb Kohl's 308,178, pretty damn good considering that Masel was outspent by a factor approaching infinity.  You never know what could happen if Kohl decides not to run in 2012.

Got it? No longer confused? informed and ready to vote intelligently? Good. Now stop reading blogs and get back to work.

- Barry Orton