Wisconsin
Emperor Governor Scott Walker (R - The Kochs Are My Sugar Daddies) is out there
with the hard sell on the 7th Circuit Courts decision to enable the GOP Voter ID Law for the mid term elections in less than 7 weeks.
"The simple reality is that people, regardless of race, age or status, will have no problems getting access to a photo ID in this state," Walker said during an appearance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Asked what he would tell a minority or elderly voter who might complain about the new voting requirements, worrying they will exclude some voters, Walker replied that such criticisms are inaccurate and politically motivated.
"I think it's overwhelmingly easy, as we've shown, in the process we've put forward, to get access to a voter ID," he said. "That assumption is a political one made by some."
Never mind that Walker and his band of Not So Merry Men have been systematically disenfranchising voters since they took complete Republican control of state government. They want you to forget that voters are now required to "sign" the poll book - a process that is not only inconvenient for poll workers who have to hold up the poll book so you can add a shaky signature to "verify" you are the voter, but also creates an added inefficiency in getting a voter processed (i.e. makes the line of voter longer). They want you to forget that if a poll worker forgets to have you sign, you vote might just get pulled and not counted.
They want you to forget that in 2011, they restricted early voting from 3 weeks and 2 weekends before the election to 2 weeks and 1 weekend, then to 1 week and NO weekends in 2013.
They want you to forget that not only did they pass the most severely restrictive Voter ID Law in the country (e.g. requiring "state issued" photo ID - unless you're a student in the state university system with a "state issued" student ID. Those IDs aren't "acceptable"). They want you to forget that those "free" IDs they offered were hard to get. People had to say the magic words and put up a lengthy fuss to try avoid being charged. Emails were made public at the time where DMV officials bragged about how difficult they were making those IDs in order to please their GOP masters.
They want you to forget that they simultaneously closed and restricted DMV offices all over the state with some open only 3 days a month.
They want you to forget that in order to get to a DMV, you must have transportation and take time off your job. DMVs, after all, are made accessible by car. They don't sit on bus routes. Good luck getting there if you use public transportation, are a non-driving senior citizen, or disabled.
They also want you to forget that they just last week put in hastily constructed new rules for the DMV to issue Voter ID just in time for them to present them as "evidence" to the Appeals Court that voter ID is easy to get in Wisconsin. Rules so new that they're not even available online anywhere. All we have are their public statements that the DMV "will verify" the identity of the person asking for ID who doesn't have a birth certificate.
They want all your concerns put down the memory hole.
And then there's the outright lying:
Walker said polls show that the new requirement has strong support regardless of political preference.
"There's actually overwhelming support, even among Democrats, in terms of voter ID," Walker said.
"Because most people already use it in their every day lives, it's not a shock when you check out a library book right here in Milwaukee or when you get cold medicine behind the counter at Walgreens," he said. "Most of us already have photo ID and become accustomed to using it. For a few that don't we have a process clearly that's set up and I don't think it's a problem going forward."
(bolding is mine)
No Democrat wants this. Voter ID is another Republican scheme, like the gerrymandering they did, to blockade large numbers of potential Democratic voters from being able to vote.
He goes on to say that everyone should have ID. People often do, but the IDs that people he doesn't like are often not on his "approved state-issued ID list".
He wants you to forget that checking out a library book or buying Sudafed aren't Constitutionally guaranteed rights like voting is. Neither is banking, boarding an airplane, or getting a credit card.
Yes, Walker and his cronies want you to forget. Forget what they've done and what they're continuing to do. They want you to forget that they're running for their lives and doing everything possible to retain power. They've pulled out all the stops, have tens of millions of dollars for lying ads, corporate media friendly to them, and a state filled with RW hate radio to propagandize anyone within earshot.
In order to help Wisconsinites to forget, or, at least, change the subject, Scott Walker just put out a 62 page plan that discusses what he's done and what he plans to do. And one of his new proposals is drug testing people who receive public assistance.
That's right. After Rick Scotts costly failure in Florida, Walker wants to do it here. Because? Yeah, right. Black people. A big dose of bigotry always pleases his base.
For his new proposals, Walker said he wants to:
■Lower the cost of government by cutting income taxes by an undisclosed amount so that by 2018 they're still below today's levels. That measure would come on top of more $750 million in income tax cuts made by Walker and GOP lawmakers over the past two years. Republicans since 2011 also have lowered property taxes by $536 million, with Walker pledging to keep property taxes in 2018 below their 2010 levels.
■Help state residents gain new skills by locking in tuition at state technical colleges at current rates, similar to the University of Wisconsin System freeze that Walker passed in the current budget and wants to keep in place through the 2015-'16 school year.
■Require drug testing at an undisclosed cost for able-bodied adults receiving unemployment insurance payments or benefits under FoodShare, the successor to the food stamps program. The plan would also lower from 60 months to 48 months the total period of time that able-bodied adults over their working lives could receive either type of benefit.
Bwahahahaha! We've already been informed that Wisconsin is facing a $1.8 billion deficit and Walker wants to cut taxes for rich people more????
And those tuition freezes are coming out of the hides of professors and teachers. He gave huge raises to university executives, took 18% out of professor salaries with Act 10, took plenty of money out of our university and technical schools, and now he wants to freeze tuition? We're already losing professors and teachers at a record rate. Replacements are hard to find and less qualified (also leaving after a short time). Does he want to operate technical schools and universities with NO faculty?
The drug testing is ridiculous. Most people getting food stamps are working, senior citizens, veterans, or the disabled. Yet he's perpetuating the myth that able bodied people are sitting around getting welfare benefits. That crap might have worked for Ronnie Reagan, but after Reagan, Clinton, and Dubya all took whacks at it, there is no real "welfare" anymore.
Few details were included on the new proposals, but advocates for the needy said the drug testing proposal for jobless and food stamp benefits would violate federal law — a complication that killed a similar proposal promoted by Republican lawmakers in 2011. Walker himself acknowledged the potential for conflict but said the move was still right for the state.
"We believe that there will potentially be a fight with the federal government and in court. ... Our goal here is not to make it harder to get government assistance; it's to make it easier to get a job," Walker said.
Yup, that's Scott Walker beating up on the needy. His base will be ecstatic and RW hate radio shills will be drooling with excitement next week as they take to the airwaves.
So, Walker is now going to change the subject. His record as Wisconsin Emperor sucks, his government stinks of corruption, Wisconsin is dead last in the Midwest in new jobs (37th in the nation - hang on, Mississippi - under Walkers rule we're getting there), and his re-election chances are getting dicey.
The serious gerrymander and voter suppression are all they have along with boatloads of cash and corporate media to sing the song they're told to.
We've got us. People power. Boots on the ground canvassing, on the phone, registering people to vote. Information passed neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend shared on Facebook, on the phone, on Skype, door to door.
Despite the setback, I'm still betting on our side.
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