You can help out in Wisconsin, wherever you are. Call now, (608) 266-1212. Be polite, be thorough, and tell him all your clues! Do you do impressions? Ask to speak to Chief-of-Staff Keith Gilkes , he’ll get a big kick out of those! Call it online tele-activism, satirical crowdsourcing, narrative-driven post-organizing…or maybe it’s just trolling to tie up the Governor’s valuable phone lines . Whatevs. Don’t make it your only contribution to the union cause, make it one of them. Those ringing phones can be one more reminder to that Governor–and all union-bustin’, State Senator-houndin’, ultimatum-givin’ Governors in the country–labor is not only organized and ready, it has folks who can gum up their office in creative, fun, (polite, always polite), relentless ways. Let us know in the comments if you call, how long your conversation lasted, and what your sighting was. And stay vigilant. Clues are everywhere.
Continue reading …You can help out in Wisconsin, wherever you are. Call now, (608) 266-1212. Be polite, be thorough, and tell him all your clues! Do you do impressions? Ask to speak to Chief-of-Staff Keith Gilkes , he’ll get a big kick out of those! Call it online tele-activism, satirical crowdsourcing, narrative-driven post-organizing…or maybe it’s just trolling to tie up the Governor’s valuable phone lines . Whatevs. Don’t make it your only contribution to the union cause, make it one of them. Those ringing phones can be one more reminder to that Governor–and all union-bustin’, State Senator-houndin’, ultimatum-givin’ Governors in the country–labor is not only organized and ready, it has folks who can gum up their office in creative, fun, (polite, always polite), relentless ways. Let us know in the comments if you call, how long your conversation lasted, and what your sighting was. And stay vigilant. Clues are everywhere.
Continue reading …You can help out in Wisconsin, wherever you are. Call now, (608) 266-1212. Be polite, be thorough, and tell him all your clues! Do you do impressions? Ask to speak to Chief-of-Staff Keith Gilkes , he’ll get a big kick out of those! Call it online tele-activism, satirical crowdsourcing, narrative-driven post-organizing…or maybe it’s just trolling to tie up the Governor’s valuable phone lines . Whatevs. Don’t make it your only contribution to the union cause, make it one of them. Those ringing phones can be one more reminder to that Governor–and all union-bustin’, State Senator-houndin’, ultimatum-givin’ Governors in the country–labor is not only organized and ready, it has folks who can gum up their office in creative, fun, (polite, always polite), relentless ways. Let us know in the comments if you call, how long your conversation lasted, and what your sighting was. And stay vigilant. Clues are everywhere.
Continue reading …Arizona Sen. Bundgaard avoids arrest for possible domestic violence because immunity under AZ’s rules just like Jan Brewer did
February 27, 2011 No CommentIt’s good to be a politician in Arizona. Scott Bundgaard, the Majority Leader of the Arizona State Senate, was briefly taken into custody on suspicion of domestic violence Friday but was released because he was immune to arrest under rules of the Arizona State Constitution. Aubry Ballard, who Phoenix police said is his girlfriend and was involved in a fight with Bundgaard, was arrested on one count of assault. Bundgaard, R-Peoria, and Ballard had minor injuries, said Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson. Thompson said police responded to a call at about 11:20 p.m. Friday of a man pulling a woman out of a gold vehicle, which was stopped northbound next to the median on Arizona 51, just south of Cactus Road. When officers arrived, they said Bundgaard, 43, and Ballard, 34, his passenger, showed marks of a physical altercation, “which constituted an act of domestic violence,” Thompson said. After being taken into custody, Bundgaard told officers that because he is an Arizona state senator, he is immune from arrest. Thompson said the department confirmed Bundgaard’s statement and he was not arrested… read on So his girlfriend gets arrested and he gets a pass. Did you know that Gov. Jan Brewer also used this rule to her advantage in 1988 over an alcohol-related car crash? On May 4, 1988, a car driven by Brewer rear-ended a van on Interstate 17. The van’s driver, William Holland, was not injured in the crash. Brewer also emerged unscathed, though there was significant damage to her car. DPS officers at the scene believed Brewer was intoxicated. Unsteady on her feet, her breath smelling of alcohol, Brewer failed a series of field sobriety tests. Brewer was placed in handcuffs and taken to a DPS station, where she was supposed to undergo a test to determine her blood-alcohol level. But no test was ever performed. After a discussion with a DPS lieutenant, two officers drove Brewer home. — The DPS, after learning that Brewer was a state senator, told her that she had immunity from arrest. No charges were filed in the case. Brewer, who says she remembers the crash vividly, maintains that she was not impaired. Brewer told different stories about what led to the crash. She told officers on the scene that a car had rear-ended her, pushing her car into Holland’s, and then driven away. But officers found no damage to the back of Brewer’s car, and they noted that a layer of dust on the bumper was undisturbed. The next day, Brewer told the Phoenix Gazette that a white truck had swerved in front of Holland, suggesting that he had suddenly braked. “I guess I might have been following too closely or something,” she said at the time. Wow, she changed her story a few times. AZ Central concludes that: It appears that officers were right not to arrest Brewer while lawmakers were in session. But it is unclear why officers did not complete their investigation and pursue charges. Under the law she was released, but should have been investigated at a later time. And Brewer as Governor also helped ease restrictions in Arizona against the sale of alcohol on Sunday’s.
Continue reading …Arizona Sen. Bundgaard avoids arrest for possible domestic violence because immunity under AZ’s rules just like Jan Brewer did
February 27, 2011 No CommentIt’s good to be a politician in Arizona. Scott Bundgaard, the Majority Leader of the Arizona State Senate, was briefly taken into custody on suspicion of domestic violence Friday but was released because he was immune to arrest under rules of the Arizona State Constitution. Aubry Ballard, who Phoenix police said is his girlfriend and was involved in a fight with Bundgaard, was arrested on one count of assault. Bundgaard, R-Peoria, and Ballard had minor injuries, said Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson. Thompson said police responded to a call at about 11:20 p.m. Friday of a man pulling a woman out of a gold vehicle, which was stopped northbound next to the median on Arizona 51, just south of Cactus Road. When officers arrived, they said Bundgaard, 43, and Ballard, 34, his passenger, showed marks of a physical altercation, “which constituted an act of domestic violence,” Thompson said. After being taken into custody, Bundgaard told officers that because he is an Arizona state senator, he is immune from arrest. Thompson said the department confirmed Bundgaard’s statement and he was not arrested… read on So his girlfriend gets arrested and he gets a pass. Did you know that Gov. Jan Brewer also used this rule to her advantage in 1988 over an alcohol-related car crash? On May 4, 1988, a car driven by Brewer rear-ended a van on Interstate 17. The van’s driver, William Holland, was not injured in the crash. Brewer also emerged unscathed, though there was significant damage to her car. DPS officers at the scene believed Brewer was intoxicated. Unsteady on her feet, her breath smelling of alcohol, Brewer failed a series of field sobriety tests. Brewer was placed in handcuffs and taken to a DPS station, where she was supposed to undergo a test to determine her blood-alcohol level. But no test was ever performed. After a discussion with a DPS lieutenant, two officers drove Brewer home. — The DPS, after learning that Brewer was a state senator, told her that she had immunity from arrest. No charges were filed in the case. Brewer, who says she remembers the crash vividly, maintains that she was not impaired. Brewer told different stories about what led to the crash. She told officers on the scene that a car had rear-ended her, pushing her car into Holland’s, and then driven away. But officers found no damage to the back of Brewer’s car, and they noted that a layer of dust on the bumper was undisturbed. The next day, Brewer told the Phoenix Gazette that a white truck had swerved in front of Holland, suggesting that he had suddenly braked. “I guess I might have been following too closely or something,” she said at the time. Wow, she changed her story a few times. AZ Central concludes that: It appears that officers were right not to arrest Brewer while lawmakers were in session. But it is unclear why officers did not complete their investigation and pursue charges. Under the law she was released, but should have been investigated at a later time. And Brewer as Governor also helped ease restrictions in Arizona against the sale of alcohol on Sunday’s.
Continue reading …Arizona Sen. Bundgaard avoids arrest for possible domestic violence because immunity under AZ’s rules just like Jan Brewer did
February 27, 2011 No CommentIt’s good to be a politician in Arizona. Scott Bundgaard, the Majority Leader of the Arizona State Senate, was briefly taken into custody on suspicion of domestic violence Friday but was released because he was immune to arrest under rules of the Arizona State Constitution. Aubry Ballard, who Phoenix police said is his girlfriend and was involved in a fight with Bundgaard, was arrested on one count of assault. Bundgaard, R-Peoria, and Ballard had minor injuries, said Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson. Thompson said police responded to a call at about 11:20 p.m. Friday of a man pulling a woman out of a gold vehicle, which was stopped northbound next to the median on Arizona 51, just south of Cactus Road. When officers arrived, they said Bundgaard, 43, and Ballard, 34, his passenger, showed marks of a physical altercation, “which constituted an act of domestic violence,” Thompson said. After being taken into custody, Bundgaard told officers that because he is an Arizona state senator, he is immune from arrest. Thompson said the department confirmed Bundgaard’s statement and he was not arrested… read on So his girlfriend gets arrested and he gets a pass. Did you know that Gov. Jan Brewer also used this rule to her advantage in 1988 over an alcohol-related car crash? On May 4, 1988, a car driven by Brewer rear-ended a van on Interstate 17. The van’s driver, William Holland, was not injured in the crash. Brewer also emerged unscathed, though there was significant damage to her car. DPS officers at the scene believed Brewer was intoxicated. Unsteady on her feet, her breath smelling of alcohol, Brewer failed a series of field sobriety tests. Brewer was placed in handcuffs and taken to a DPS station, where she was supposed to undergo a test to determine her blood-alcohol level. But no test was ever performed. After a discussion with a DPS lieutenant, two officers drove Brewer home. — The DPS, after learning that Brewer was a state senator, told her that she had immunity from arrest. No charges were filed in the case. Brewer, who says she remembers the crash vividly, maintains that she was not impaired. Brewer told different stories about what led to the crash. She told officers on the scene that a car had rear-ended her, pushing her car into Holland’s, and then driven away. But officers found no damage to the back of Brewer’s car, and they noted that a layer of dust on the bumper was undisturbed. The next day, Brewer told the Phoenix Gazette that a white truck had swerved in front of Holland, suggesting that he had suddenly braked. “I guess I might have been following too closely or something,” she said at the time. Wow, she changed her story a few times. AZ Central concludes that: It appears that officers were right not to arrest Brewer while lawmakers were in session. But it is unclear why officers did not complete their investigation and pursue charges. Under the law she was released, but should have been investigated at a later time. And Brewer as Governor also helped ease restrictions in Arizona against the sale of alcohol on Sunday’s.
Continue reading …Name That Party: Once Story About ‘Centrist’ Wu Goes National, AP Stops Tagging Him As a Dem
February 27, 2011 No CommentOregon residents and news followers nationwide can be forgiven for shaking their heads over the Associated Press's latest item on the misadventures of Congressman David Wu. All of a sudden he's apparently not a Democrat — well, at least he's not identified as such by the wire service's Jonathan J. Cooper. Wu has gained a degree of infamy over his erratic behavior (to be described shortly for those unfamiliar with the story) leading up to his reelection in 2010. What's odd about Cooper's failure to tag Wu as a Democrat in his latest report is that he and the AP have done so in several previous dispatches: A February 19 unbylined report (“Report: Congressman urged to get psychiatric help”) again identifies Wu as a Democrat in its first paragraph. His February 23 item (“Newspapers, GOP call for congressman to resign”) identified Wu as a Democrat twice, including once in its first paragraph, and later when it described his district as a “Democratic stronghold.” A brief February 24 item on Wu (“Newspaper, GOP call for Wu to resign”) named his party in the second paragraph. The theory here is that now that Wu's woes have become a more prominent national story, the AP has decided that the party identification of Wu should came to a halt, lest readers get their minds polluted with the craaaaazy idea that politicians in various forms of trouble in recent years have been largely if not mostly from the Democratic Party. Logically (if there is such a thing at AP) it should have worked the opposite way, as national readers are less likely to already know that Wu is a Dem, and would be interested in knowing. Here are several paragraphs from Cooper's Sunday evening report : An Oregon congressman whose erratic behavior has recently prompted calls for his resignation said Sunday that some of his actions could be attributed to a reaction to a mental health drug.
Continue reading …Name That Party: Once Story About ‘Centrist’ Wu Goes National, AP Stops Tagging Him As a Dem
February 27, 2011 No CommentOregon residents and news followers nationwide can be forgiven for shaking their heads over the Associated Press's latest item on the misadventures of Congressman David Wu. All of a sudden he's apparently not a Democrat — well, at least he's not identified as such by the wire service's Jonathan J. Cooper. Wu has gained a degree of infamy over his erratic behavior (to be described shortly for those unfamiliar with the story) leading up to his reelection in 2010. What's odd about Cooper's failure to tag Wu as a Democrat in his latest report is that he and the AP have done so in several previous dispatches: A February 19 unbylined report (“Report: Congressman urged to get psychiatric help”) again identifies Wu as a Democrat in its first paragraph. His February 23 item (“Newspapers, GOP call for congressman to resign”) identified Wu as a Democrat twice, including once in its first paragraph, and later when it described his district as a “Democratic stronghold.” A brief February 24 item on Wu (“Newspaper, GOP call for Wu to resign”) named his party in the second paragraph. The theory here is that now that Wu's woes have become a more prominent national story, the AP has decided that the party identification of Wu should came to a halt, lest readers get their minds polluted with the craaaaazy idea that politicians in various forms of trouble in recent years have been largely if not mostly from the Democratic Party. Logically (if there is such a thing at AP) it should have worked the opposite way, as national readers are less likely to already know that Wu is a Dem, and would be interested in knowing. Here are several paragraphs from Cooper's Sunday evening report : An Oregon congressman whose erratic behavior has recently prompted calls for his resignation said Sunday that some of his actions could be attributed to a reaction to a mental health drug.
Continue reading …Only After Awful Attacks on Logan: LAT’s Rainey Doesn’t Like Tone of Readers’ Comments
February 27, 2011 No Comment“It seems long past time for reputable news sites to clamp down on the gutter talk.” That is James Rainey, the “On the Media” critic at the Los Angeles Times, fretting in an article today (Sun., 2/27/11) about the tone of readers' comments that are posted on news web sites. If Rainey wants to “clamp down on the gutter talk” by readers,
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Click here to view this media Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Sunday that thousands of demonstrators had not caused him to reconsider his plan to strip unions of collective bargaining rights. NBC’s David Gregory asked Walker why he refused a proposal by unions to accept his demand that they contribute more to pension and health care benefits if he dropped the proposal to end collective bargaining rights. “If the unions, who it seems to me have been clear in saying that they would agree to those extra contributions, if they did that, and you say you’re concerned about the budget shortfall, why not accept that?” Gregory wondered. “But my point is, they can’t,” Walker replied. “There are 1,000-plus municipalities, more than 424 school districts, 72 counties, I know, I used to be a county executive for eight years. I know that collective bargaining has to be done in every jurisdiction. They can’t guarantee that.” “Governor, if you’re really serious about the state being broke, you have a deal that you could take, to get the contributions you need to solve the problem at hand. Why not separate that out from your views about collective bargaining?” Gregory pressed. “But, David, my point is repeatedly, as a former local government official, I know that collective bargaining has a cost and when I’m cutting more than $1 billion from aid to local governments, in this next two-year budget, I need to do what no other governor is doing across the country.” The Republican governor repeated his threat that if 14 Democrats in the state Senate didn’t return to vote on the bill, he would be forced to layoff workers. “If we don’t get these changes and the Senate Democrats don’t come back, we’ll be forced to make up the savings in layoffs and that’s unacceptable,” he said.
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