Scott Walker. Getting cockier by the minute.
You get 2 (count 'em), TWO stories in one diary.
#1: Walkers Book
Starting with Scott Walkers entry into the RW grifters dream of 'ritin a book that's due out (gosh, what timing!) just in time for his re-election campaign.
The book is to be called "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge." The Sentinel, a conservative imprint of Penguin Group, acquired the worldwide rights. The book is being co-written by Marc Thiessen, a former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush.
"This book tells the dramatic story of how one brave leader drove real change in his state, and what the rest of the country can learn from him," Zackheim said in a statement. "It's not just a memoir -- it's a call to action."
According to the Penguin website, Zackheim "has a long track record of publishing books by notable conservatives, including Margaret Thatcher, Newt Gingrich, and Bob Dole."
"Brave leader"? Bwahahahahaha. This guy's anything but brave and corageous. You should see the size of his security detail at the beginning of his Governorship. And it's done nothing but grow since he's been in office. Yeah, we Wisconsin taxpayers pay for that when he goes on this national tours nad fundraising expeditions, too. I'm pretty sure Walker doesn't think we're too "broke" to afford his a luxurious lifestyle and massive security.
Uusing Dubyas ghost writer (pshaw, you expected him to write it himself?) and using a book publishing firm well known for "bulk sales" (RW groups buy books by the case to ensure that all those sales make the book appear to be purchased by the public) it's well on its way to the Top Ten List before the ink is even dry on the pages. And, of course, having a book out means Walker will be doing the talk show circuit, as well, to promote this blatherings and enjoy another round of national prominence.
I can hardly wait (snark).
H/T plankbob (in the comments) for the Twitter Feed proposing book titles. Check it out - hilarious.
#2: Wisconsin Gets an "F"
As it has in recent years, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group reviewed how states did at readily making information available about spending, grants, contracts and economic development awards.
Wisconsin joined California, Colorado, Hawaii and North Dakota in getting the lowest marks. PIRG's report called those states' spending websites "limited and hard to use."
Seven states -- including Wisconsin's neighbors Illinois and Michigan -- received "A"s.
Nothing in this state is transparent anymore and the fog is closing in around what little transparency there was last year. It's not only our spending, but our government. This year the Republican majorities have even resorted to using a little used procedure to have committee votes not officially on the record. And, they've just stripped the power from our (Democratic) Secretary of State so legislation is no longer published prior to enactment (they lamely suggest it's unnecessary because of "teh Google" (people can look it up themselves).
Of course Walker and the GOP don't want to disclose spending, tax breaks, corporate subsidies or anything else that can be easily tied to their list of big time donors. While they promise (yeah, they did) to do better, my puddy-sense tells me their promises will amount to nothing.
Gov. Scott Walker plans to launch a new program soon called "Open Book" that is supposed to provide detailed information about state spending online.
Speight (Bruce Speight, director of PIRG's Wisconsin arm) said he is hopeful that program will be a success. But, he said, "We have seen no details, so it's hard to say whether that will be an improvement or not."
(information in italics is my addition for clarity)
And that's on top of the redistricting they did last year off site, requiring oaths of secrecy from any Republican who wanted to see or have input into the work in progress (Democrats, community groups, and the general public were not allowed any access). And then, as they did with so much legislation, rammed it through the Legislature without debate using their majorities to ensure rapid passage of their disgusting gerrymandering.
And, of course, there's Walkers schedule which isn't available. He's the first governor who hides his activities with a "summary" published the following month. We don't get to see what's on his schedule, how much time he spends on state business, or even how much time he spends out of state. Since he's been in office, it's been secret. Previous Governors always put out a list of scheduled activities, normally available on their official web site. Of course, if you spent most of your time out of state and not doing your job, it would be better to label it Top Secret and Classified.
Despite getting nailed by the courts for the most extreme of their excesses, Republicans and Walker are still going at it. Stay tuned.
This space for rent in case there's anything else to report.
Solidarity.
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Actually, there is one more item. Walker just spend another boatload of money on an ad promoting tourism.
Funny ad, but it certainly doesn't feature the lake poisoning open pit mining law he recently signed. Or our soon to be Mississippi-style economy, lack of jobs, and derailed high speed rail, refused Medicaid expansion funding, and refusal to set up state health exchanges . Or our educational system that's been stripped so bare that 40-50 kids are being crammed into classrooms (yup, they want those for-profit charter schools to look really, really good). Or our stiffled economy complete with massive foreclosures and boarded up houses. Or our expanding homeless population featuring more homeless families than ever.
While the ad is slightly humorous, it is far from being memorable. Furthermore, it really doesn't do anything to make it uniquely Wisconsin. Change the wording at the end and it could be for any state with lakes, such as Minnesota which as more lakes (and jobs) than Wisconsin.
But not only is it a waste of time, money and talent, it is also fraudulent.
First of all, Walker and his Republican cohorts in crime against the environment just rammed through the mining law that will allow the mining companies to pump poison into a number of the lakes in Northern Wisconsin, despite the overwhelming opposition to this ceding of our land to out of state special interests.
If this law isn't defeated in court - as it probably will be - the fish in these lakes will be inedible due to the poison.
But, in FitzWalkerStan, pretense is what Republicans do. Like with our dismal jobs numbers (yeah, we just dropped from 42nd to 44th in jobs nationally), Walker and his buddies just keep saying their policies are "working". Like the skilled propagandists they are, they believe that if they just keep saying it over and over, louder and louder, that it will become true. Or, that people will just believe it's true.
.