Tornado Alley (PROG)

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GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker is destroying Wisconsin to prove just how conservative he is

Now that you yokels re-elected me, I can tell you I don't care about you.
There was a time when I would travel out of state and people would ask me where I was from, and I would say Wisconsin. Back then, people would ask if I had any cheese (No, I do not carry cheese around in my pocket), if I was a Packer fan (YES!), did I live on a dairy farm (no, I do not, but my dad grew up on one), and did I drink beer (an enthusiastic YES!).

These days if I travel out of state, I get asked what in the hell happened in Wisconsin. To be honest, I don't really understand what happened. I do not know how or when teachers, police, firefighters, librarians, iron workers, operating engineers, and, well, anyone who could be your next-door neighbor became the enemy.

Scott Walker and his pursuit of the presidency is wreaking havoc upon the good people of Wisconsin. In the current budget, we have seen him attack education—all but gutting the University of Wisconsin System—and giving a green light to for-profit education statewide.

And then there's the lie of right-to-work, and cutting funding for our beautiful state parks. Those of us on the left did everything we could do to warn our fellow citizens what would happen if Walker were allowed to win a second term. Sadly, we were drowned out by right-wing noise machine and the grip it has on Wisconsin media as well as the millions upon millions of dollars spent to ensure a Walker victory.

My fellow citizens will come to regret their decision, much like they regret electing Sen. Joe McCarthy. Their first regrets will come when they pull into Harley-Davidson State Park (formerly known as Devil's Lake State Park), or maybe when they find out that Briggs and Stratton State Park (formerly known as Peninsula State Park) is closed for a corporate event. Yes, that is right, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources—specifically, unqualified Walker crony Cathy Stepp—has told lawmakers that:

Wisconsin will consider selling naming rights to state parks to help them operate without tax support as proposed under Gov. Scott Walker's biennial budget

So instead of going to Governor Dodge State Park, and Cox Hollow Beach, you will be going to Miller Brewing State Park and you will swim at Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs Beach.

Of course, if you are a domestic abuser, Wisconsin is the place to be. No more of that pesky 48-hour waiting period to purchase a handgun. Nope, now you can get pissed off at your loved one, go out while you are still angry, purchase a .357 magnum, come home, and blow your family away in a fit a blind rage. Who needs a cooling-off period anyway?

But that is not all. Walker and his GOP cabal will continue to attack women's rights with a 20-week abortion ban. The only reason this ban is coming up now is to burnish Walker's conservative resume.

To top all this off, a simple law, AB8, to make women safer in Wisconsin, is being held up in the Wisconsin Senate. Making "upskirting" a felony is considered too controversial to bring up for a vote.

In the Wisconsin I grew up in, a bill like this would be looked upon as a nonpartisan issue. The lack of a sense of urgency here is alarming. Upskirting is creepy, and it's happening every day on buses, in grocery stores, and while standing in line at the gas station. If someone taking pictures up another person's skirt in line at the grocery store isn't enough to motivate our legislators to act and do what's right, then I don't know what is. The people of Wisconsin should be outraged.

Via Facebook chat, Assemblywoman Melissa Sargent had this to say about what is happening in Wisconsin:

"In Wisconsin we have a culture of taking care of each other - from building barns and plowing fields with and for our neighbors to cooking casseroles and watching each others children - we reach out embrace our friends and neighbors as our family. We should expect nothing less from our elected officials - rather what we are seeing this legislative session are decisions being made with, for and by out of state corporate special interest groups rather than with the Wisconsin values that we grew up with.

As I have said in many posts before, this is not the Wisconsin that Assemblywoman Sargent and I grew up in. We both attended Madison East High School, just a couple years apart, in view of the state capitol. I don't think either of us ever foresaw what is happening in Wisconsin today.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/08/1368242/-GOP-presidential-candidate-Scott-Walker-is-destroying-Wisconsin-to-prove-just-how-conservative-he-is