From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
So, distilling it down…
Publicly, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker ran on a platform of jobs, jobs and jobs.
Privately, Walker admitted that his real platform was to gut public unions of their collective bargaining rights by using a "divide and conquer" strategy.
As soon as Walker became governor, he ignored jobs, jobs and jobs, and focused like a laser on gutting public unions of their collective bargaining power.
Plus tax cuts for rich people, unequal pay for women, and a voter suppression law for good measure.
Nationally, Wisconsin is currently dead last in the area over which Scott Walker claimed to be a rainmaker: jobs, jobs, and jobs.
But over 21,000 jobs were lost on Walker's watch over the last 12 months.
People on the teevee tell me that, even though Scott Walker failed to create any jobs, he may keep his. Then they tell me that, even though President Obama succeeded in creating jobs, he may not keep his.
And I am confused.
That's why I'm donating a few bucks to Tom Barrett's campaign. It'll help clear the fog in my headbone. And side effects may include a new, sane Wisconsin governor one week from today.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Note: Sunday night I went to the kitchen for a wine glass and came back with a spoon. On the upside, at least it wasn't the neighbor's post hole digger this time.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the recall election in Wisconsin: 7
Days 'til the Houston Beer Festival: 11
Percent of Americans who believe the new federal regulations on financial institutions go too far: 23%
Percent who think the new regulations don’t go far enough: 38%
(Source: WaPo-ABC News poll)
Average number of jobs men have over their lifetimes: 11.4
Average number of jobs women have over their lifetimes: 10.7
(Source: Fast Company)
Bottles of water consumed by the average American last year, an all-time high: 222
(Source: Time)
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Revvin' Up for Rhode Island!
Brought to you by the 2012 Netroots Nation Convention in Providence, June 7-10. One last round of fun facts from Awesome America:
Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, established the first practical working model of Democracy after he was banished from Plymouth, Massachusetts because of his "extreme views" concerning freedom of speech and religion. [He's buried in Providence.]
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Portsmouth is home to the oldest schoolhouse in the United States. The school was built in 1716.
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The first traffic law was created in 1678, when authorities banned galloping horses on local streets in Newport.
Good thing they didn’t have that law in Massachusetts. "The Midnight Trot of Paul Revere" wouldn't have sounded quite as zippy.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: New York Law grad: “I couldn’t have done this without Ellis."
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CHEERS to dissension in the ranks. There's another war brewing in the Republican party today, and it's as gruesome as it was inevitable. I'm speaking of course, about the battle of the blue bloods:
"What voter is going to vote for [Romney] because he’s seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious, it seems to me. Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics.”
---George Will on This Week May 27
"George Will may be the dumbest (and most overrated) political commentator of all time. If the Republicans listen to him, they will lose."
---Donald Trump on Twitter May 27
We hear that they plan to settle their feud the old-fashioned way: Mont Blanc pens at dawn.
CHEERS to more juice/less juice. Couple good-news energy stories to start the week: Bloomberg reports that solar is becoming a lot more affordable, and therefore a lot more desirable, thanks in part to something as simple as creative pricing:
Sunrun buys solar panels, configures them for residential use and then leases the system to consumers for 20-year terms. The company requires no down payment and charges users a monthly fee that's less than the typical electricity bill. Solar is gaining popularity as an alternative to fossil fuels, following a 53 percent drop in prices since the end of 2010. "People still don't know that solar for zero down is an available option," said Lynn Jurich, who co-founded the company in 2007. "Once they find out, the conversion rate is enormous. It's become clear that mainstream consumers want to buy this."
Meanwhile
USA Today has good news for summer vacation hot spots like Maine: the cost of gassing up the jalopy (with or without a dog on the roof) is dropping, thanks to less global demand and the
highest domestic supplies in nearly a quarter century. Y'all come up and see us sometime.
CHEERS to JFK. The initials are almost mythical now, but 95 years ago today they were quietly given to an itty bitty baby born in Brookline Massachusetts: John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was funny:
"Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
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"Just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide."
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"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House---with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
By the way, a funny thing about young'uns: no matter which party they eventually end up in, they always enter the world sounding like Republicans:
"Wah…"
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Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
This is another edition of The One Word Answer Man. Over at Instaputz, Blue Texan asks: Does FOX News actually make you stupider, or is it just that more stupid people like watching FOX?
Yes.
Now back to Cheers and Jeers.
Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
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JEERS to the things some people go gaga over these days. Oh, where would we be without the ideological hardliners who work so dilligently to suck the humanity and fun out of every little thing? The world might actually be happy, peaceful and accepting place. But, no. They've gotta go after every little imaginary bee in their bonnet in the name of [insert invisible angry deity representing the denomination of your choice here]. So, congratulations, Islamic Defenders Front of Indonesia, for banning Lady Gaga and saving your country from the scourge of innocuous feel-good light pop ditties. Now they need to kick it up a notch: let's see if the mighty Defenders Front has the guts to go stand next to the box office window while 50,000 pissed-off fans line up for their refunds. I doubt it. They've probably already moved on to their next job: threatening to bomb rainbows for being so gosh darn colorful.
CHEERS to the other star-spangled banner. On May 29, 1916, the official Flag of the President of the United States was adopted by executive order. This is interesting:
In 1945, Truman ordered the Presidential Seal and Flag redesigned. He did not like the way the eagle's head faced the arrows of war. He believed that the president, although prepared for war, should always look towards peace. He had the head turned toward the olive branches.
By the way, the first thing President Obama did upon taking office? Send the presidential flag to the laundromat to wash Bush's boogers out of it.
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Five years ago in C&J: May 29, 2007
CHEERS to the perfect picture. The best thing about neocon hack Bill Kristol's article in TIME this week is the photo that goes with it. This is what America really saw last week when they were watching Bush give his press conference. Unfortunately no one could figure out how to turn the sound off.
CHEERS to free rides. A non-profit group called Honor Flight takes aging veterans to the WW II memorial in Washington, D.C. "to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans---WW II survivors along with those other veterans that may be terminally ill." Only complaint they've heard so far: the in-flight strippers are "too bony."
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And just one more…
CHEERS to breaking the silence. One of the movies I'm really jonesin' to see this year is Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, with Daniel Day Lewis as the Great Emancipator during his final months. A major contributor to the project, composer John Williams---who turned 80 in February---recently offered a couple tidbits about the movie when he was interviewed at the BMI Awards this month:
It's very special…a film of great interest and fantastic performances. To put it simply [it's a] history lesson for most of us who…aren’t so intimate with the legislative process or what happens in Congress---in this case to get the 13th Amendment passed, and why we needed to have it, and why the Emancipation proclamation wasn't enough. … We recorded the score with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which was a treat for me as one of our great orchestras…Steven [Spielberg] had the idea that we should bring the state of Illinois into the film.
Wikipedia
has lots more about the plot and cast. In a word:
Wow. Unless someone royally screws this up, I don’t see how it doesn't get a stovepipe hat full of award nominations. Meanwhile, the shocking true story of Lincoln's not-so-civil
war against vampires hits theatres in 24 days. Spoiler alert: the suckers shoulda stayed in their coffins.
Oh, and good news: only 364 days 'til Memorial Day!!! Have a nice Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"There is not enough room Cheers and Jeers to hold a barn dance."
---Astronaut Don Pettit
5/26/12
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