Rebecca Bradley in 1992: 'Queers' with AIDS, addicts merit no sympathy

Would you want such a person who once espoused these view to sit in judgement of you?  I know wouldn't,,,

Newly appointed state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in a student newspaper 24 years ago that she had no sympathy for AIDS patients because they had effectively chosen to kill themselves, called gays "queers" and said Americans were "either totally stupid or entirely evil" for electing President Bill Clinton. 

In one piece, she wrote people would be better off getting AIDS than cancer under Clinton because it would get more funding.

"How sad that the lives of degenerate drug addicts and queers are valued more than the innocent victims of more prevalent ailments," wrote Bradley, who then had the last name of Grassl.

GOP Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged Monday he was not aware of her Marquette University writings before he appointed her three times to judicial positions. He said it was clear her views had changed.

Rebecca Bradley in 1992: 'Queers' with AIDS, addicts merit no sympathy

See also::  Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Also Attacked Feminists: 'Angry, Militant, Man-Hating Lesbians'

PS. I waiting on results of the April 5 elections,,,

ADDENDUM::Scott Walker’s $400 Million Arena Subsidy Belies His Tightfisted Image - Bloomberg Politics

Walker, 47, argues that the subsidy is a "good deal," partly because Wisconsin would lose revenue if the Bucks leave, as they had threatened. The owners of the Bucks, a team whose value Forbes pegged at $600 million, will pick up half the cost of the $500 million arena.

The governor has friendships among the team’s owners, including some who contributed to his presidential effort. Through a limited-liability corporation registered under his son’s name, Bucks co-owner Jon Hammes on May 27 donated $150,000 to the super political action committee backing Walker, according to state and federal records.

Hammes didn’t return a phone call to his office seeking comment on the donation.

The super-PAC also received $50,000 on May 15 from Ted Kellner, another Bucks owner, Federal Election Commission records show. Kellner didn’t return a phone message seeking comment on the deal.

Scott Walker’s $400 Million Arena Subsidy Belies His Tightfisted Image - Bloomberg Politics

ADDENDUM::Exposing the Koch Brothers' Stunning Hypocrisy on Criminal Justice Reform | Alternet

Back in January we had this:

Ten years ago, he began giving money to support efforts by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to help train defense lawyers and reverse what some see as a national trend to get tough on crime, which has resulted in the tripling of the incarceration rate since the 1980s and has stripped the poor of their rights to a legal defense.

He’s going to give more to that effort, he said.

“Over the next year, we are going to be pushing the issues key to this, which need a lot of work in this country,” Koch said. “And that would be freedom of speech, cronyism and how that relates to opportunities for the disadvantaged.”

Which at the time sounded great.

Now we have this,

A new report traces the exceptional hypocrisy of the Koch brothers’ recent high-profile interest in criminal justice reform.

"The Koch Brothers’ Criminal Justice Pump-Fake," by American Bridge 21st Century, a watchdog group “committed to holding Republicans accountable,” traces how the Kochs became interested in criminal justice reform after losing a years-long battle with federal environmental regulators that began in the late 1990s. The study details how the Kochs have long supported candidates and elected officials whose tough-on-crime policies have created the criminal justice crisis they now insist must be reformed—by imposing harsher sentences, building prisons and narrowing probation and parole. The report notes how their efforts to partner with left-leaning groups like the ACLU have led to a public relations bonanza eclipsing their deeper record of supporting politicans who have delivered—and stand by—their draconian crime policies.

“For all their professed concerns about reforming the criminal justice system, the Kochs don’t really care— not about the impacted families and individuals, anyway— their only concern is their bottom line,” the authors said. “The Kochs’ criminal justice charade is just that — a public relations scam.”

Exposing the Koch Brothers' Stunning Hypocrisy on Criminal Justice Reform | Alternet

Scott Walker Is Toast—The Crazy Move that Cost Him the Kochs and Probably the Nomination | Alternet

Good pbservations, but the question remains, is it all just smoke and mirror?s. Walker is their puppet, but the Kochs don't want it to be so obvious.  They don't want to appear as dictating his policy.

So what, exactly, did Scott Walker say that appears to have made the Kochs do such an about-face in record time? Well, it’s a doozy. Walker, you see, was once a “pro-immigration reform” Republican, which is likely one of the reasons the Koch brothers back him. Like most of the more libertarian-minded Big Business Republicans, they tend toward a more moderate stance on immigration. It’s good for business in a number of ways (for both good and bad reasons). Walker, being a proven anti-union, pro-immigration governor, was naturally at the top of their list of nominees. He had recently “moderated” his stance on illegal immigration but it was widely assumed to be a mild feint to the right for the purposes of winning the nomination. It brought him into line with all the other candidates like Rubio and Bush who had once also been pro-reform, so it was no harm-no foul as far as the primary was concerned.
,,,
It’s hard not to fall down laughing (or lose your lunch) over the most notorious union buster in America waxing on about protecting American jobs, but he’s the last person to understand the irony of his comments. But by taking a position against legal immigration, he’s just placed himself to the right of Ted Cruz on this issue. He’s out in Ben Carson land. Not to mention that he’s obliterated the last tattered shreds of a conservative argument to appeal to Hispanic and other ethnic groups: the idea that illegal immigration is unfair to legal immigrants who’ve been “waiting in line” to come to this country. Walker wants to close down the line altogether. Only the most hardcore neo-Confederates like Sessions want to go that far.

Scott Walker Is Toast—The Crazy Move that Cost Him the Kochs and Probably the Nomination | Alternet

Gov. Scott Walker seeks $300 million in university cuts, but $220 million to build Bucks a new arena

Educating Wisconsin's residents, however, is just a gigantic money drain. How does getting an education help anyone? How does having a college-educated workforce help Wisconsin, especially when compared to the revenues that could be gotten by wooing hotel visits by visiting sporting teams? No sir, you young people and educated people need to learn that we in America can no longer afford to have nice things these days. If you wanted a high-paying career or want to work in a well-appointed, state-funded venue that the politicians of the state can devote themselves to building, you should have done something decent with yourself and become a member of a prominent sporting team and/or the owner of a sporting team. You know, a real career. Grab a ball, junior, and hope you make the cut.

And this is why we cannot have nice things, and why Scott Walker will run for president on a platform of doing for the nation what he did for Wisconsin, which is to explain to all the little people that they should not expect to have nice things and then setting about to prove it to them good and hard.

Gov. Scott Walker seeks $300 million in university cuts, but $220 million to build Bucks a new arena

BUSTED: Scott Walker Caught Lying – Called Out By Teacher In Open Letter

Anti-union Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) likes to play fast and loose with facts. Last month he attracted the attention of educators when he told an Iowa audience that a woman by the name of Megan Sampson, a recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Teacher of the Year, “was laid off” to make room for a teacher protected by union rules.

He attempted to correlate this falsehood with his fight for Act 10 to his his enthusiastic Iowa Republican audience. Act 10 was passed into law in 2011 and is Walker’s “bold way” of dismantling teachers unions and their contracts.


Chatter erupted within education circles about the veracity of Walker’s claims. Turns out, he’s not such an honest guy. Sampson did receive an award in 2010 – something called the Nancy Hoefs Memorial Award – which is given by the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English (WCTE) for “an outstanding first-year teacher of the English language arts.” She did not, however, receive the award cited by Walker. Additionally, although Sampson had been issued a layoff notice, she was notified weeks later that her layoff status was reversed. She never lost a day of work.

Claudia Klein Felske was the ACTUAL winner of the outstanding teacher of year for 2010-11. In a delicious twist, she also happens to be one of Walker’s Marquette University classmates. Felske decided to call Walker out for his out and out lie of the supposed layoff in an Open Letter published on the Marquette University’s College of Education blog, The Marquette Educator.

BUSTED: Scott Walker Caught Lying – Called Out By Teacher In Open Letter

The GOP Elite Puts Its Foot Down - Bill Scher - POLITICO Magazine

Shots have been fired. The GOP herd is beginning to be culled. In less than a week, the establishment hounded Mitt Romney out, and the conservative movement wrote Sarah Palin out. The message from Republican insiders is clear: We cannot let our primary become another clown show.

Meanwhile, the nascent Hillary Clinton campaign has signaled it wants to push back its planned entry from the spring to the summer. “If you have the luxury of time, you take it,” one Democratic insider told POLITICO. But these Republican moves indicate that she may not have that luxury. Here’s why.

[,,,]
Priebus’ recent declaration that candidates will have to perform above a certain threshold in polls to warrant inclusion in debates, a threshold that will get stiffer later in the campaign, suggests he is aware that he needs to get as many fringe characters off the stage as possible. But he can’t be confident that the poll respondents will oblige and elevate only mature candidates above the bar.

However, if Republican insiders have the wherewithal to contain the support and attention given to their circus acts, then that could greatly aid Priebus’ project. The twin falls of Romney and Palin last week are solid evidence that the party wants to shape up and jettison any distractions. That’s a warning for Democrats to stop laughing at the prospect of another GOP clown show a la 2012 and start preparing to grapple with a more serious opposition._

What is glossed over, "Not only did conservative opinion leaders widely pan Palin’s ramblings, extinguishing whatever fire she may have had for a run, but they also saved the bulk of their praise for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker—a governor with a record, not a grenade-throwing pundit or a grandstanding senator. Even Rush Limbaugh was effusive: “Scott Walker wowed them in Iowa. … Scott Walker has shown the Republican Party how to beat the left. Scott Walker has the blueprint for winning and winning consistently and winning big in a blue state with conservative principles that are offered with absolutely no excuses.”

Walker's apparent and sudden rise to prominence,

[H]e is completely and absolutely their servant,,, [h]e owes everything to the Koch brothers, and cannot even step a toe out of line, or else he will lose everything he has. A political slave to big money. He lacks independent wealth, a stock portfolio to fall back on, or even a military career to monetize for support. This means, to the Koch Brothers at least, that he cannot go off-script, and will be their absolute servant.

He is their ideal candidate, so it should be no surprise. Now they will be funneling their billions behind Governor Walker, without restriction, thanks to Citizens United. He will have the entire Koch Brother umbrella of think tanks, blogs, and media outlets all supporting him. And support them they have, with all major right wing outlets now calling him a ‘grassroots favorite.’ The joke of governors now is being pushed center stage and celebrated as some kind of conservative hero. Just last week it was reported that Walker was not a candidate at all.

In the wake of the appointment, Walker has now formed a committee, something his opponents did months ago. This out-of-left-field support for Walker is likely the death knell for the presidential hopes of dozens of Republicans. Without Koch money, they simply can no longer compete against the Democratic grassroots financing of campaigns.

So who holds the "real" power within the GOP/T?

The GOP Elite Puts Its Foot Down - Bill Scher - POLITICO Magazine

1/31/2015::In other news,,,

Walker touts unconventional 'master's degree'

In a radio interview earlier this week, Walker unveiled a slightly different response when asked about his lack of a college degree. The governor, who left Marquette University in his senior year to take a full-time job, could be in a presidential field that includes lawyers, doctors and business people with bachelor's and advanced degrees.

"I'm like the majority of people in America," Walker told Hugh Hewitt. "I'm someone who went to college, had the opportunity in my senior year to go and take a job full-time, which was not the only reason I went to college, but one of the biggest reasons was to get a job."

Then he got married and started a family. "Like a lot of folks in America, you know, your family and your job take the time away from you finishing it up," Walker continued. "I've got a master's degree in taking on the big government special interests, and I think that is worth more than anything else that anybody can point to."

Governor unveils budget cuts, limits school suit costs

"Actions speak louder than words, and today we've seen that the words Gov. Ducey spoke at the State of the State were hollow," Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs, D-Phoenix, said in a statement. "The budget he revealed (Friday) cuts funding for neighborhood schools, universities and economic development efforts, all of which we know give taxpayers a return on their investment.

"And while his budget takes from our schools and universities, forcing tuition raises on Arizona's middle class, it gives away more than $100 million to private prisons," she said. "Is this what Gov. Ducey meant when he closed his State of the State address by saying, 'Let's give our best for Arizona'?"

 More on the debacle that is Kansas and Texas,,,

Republican Economic Failure and Idiocy are on Full Display in Kansas

It’s like I’ve said numerous times before, you cannot build an economic ideology solely off the notion of cutting taxes. At some point you’re going to cut taxes to such a low level that governments cannot function properly. And since Republicans have done just about everything they possibly can to vilify any hint at a tax increase, suggesting one would almost certainly be political suicide for any member of the GOP.

[,,,]

This is a similar (though not exact) issue Texas is about to deal with as well. When you base an economy on horrifically flawed ideologies, it’s eventually going to catch up with you. While pushing for tax cuts makes for great politics, reality proves time and time again that it makes for terrible policy. And while not all tax cuts are bad, they’re certainly not this economic savior Republicans often make them out to be.

Over 80 percent of Americans support “mandatory labels on foods containing DNA”

The Oklahoma State survey result is probably an example of the intersection between scientific ignorance and political ignorance, both of which are widespread.The most obvious explanation for the data is that most of these people don’t really understand what DNA is, and don’t realize that it is contained in almost all food. When they read that a strange substance called “DNA” might be included in their food, they might suspect that this is some dangerous chemical inserted by greedy corporations for their own nefarious purposes.

[,,,]

The same is true of much scientific ignorance. For many people, there is little benefit to understanding much about genetics or DNA. Most Americans can even go about their daily business perfectly well without knowing that the Earth revolves around the sun. Even the smartest people are inevitably ignorant of the vast majority of information out there. We all have to focus our time and energy on learning that information which is most likely to be instrumentally useful, or at least provide entertainment value. For large numbers of people, much basic political and scientific information doesn’t make the cut.

Kentucky Republican says 1891 law lets him drive drunk while he’s in office

Kentucky state Sen. Brandon Smith’s (R) lawyer argued in court on Wednesday that he should not be charged with driving under the influence because of a provision in the state constitution, WKYT-TV reported.

[,,,]

Smith was arrested on Jan. 6, the opening day of the legislature, and charged with speeding and a DUI after allegedly blowing a .088 on a preliminary breath test. He was also reportedly caught driving at 65 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone.

“The members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases except treason, felony, breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance on the sessions of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any other place,” the section reads.

Johnson told the Associated Press that the provision was added to state law in 1891 to “keep legislators from being bothered by people who would arrest them during sessions.”

FFRF to Walker: Delete religious tweet - Freedom From Religion Foundation

Think about what would have happened had Walker quoted Friedrich Nietzsche, "God is dead." That should explain it well enough!

It is improper for a state employee, much less for the chief executive officer of the state, to use the machinery of the State of Wisconsin to promote personal religious views. It is unethical to use state phones, mail, e-mail, etc., for personal religious use or promotion, just as it is for campaigning.

[,,,]
,,,To say “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me,” seems more like a threat, or the utterance of a theocratic dictator, than of a duly elected civil servant.

[,,,]
As governor, you took an oath of office to uphold the entirely godless and secular U.S. Constitution. You have misused your secular authority and podium to promote not just religion over non-religion, but one religion over another in a manner that makes many Wisconsin citizens uncomfortable. On behalf of our membership, we ask you to immediately delete this religious message from your official gubernatorial Facebook and Twitter,,, (source)

FFRF to Walker: Delete religious tweet - Freedom From Religion Foundation

Report: Special Prosecutor Looking At Wisconsin Recall Elections

A story I'll be keeping an eye on, the ramifications could be big depending on what exactly the issue is. Regretfully the story doesn't say what they are looking at.

The current probe was initiated by the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office, but now involves multiple counties. Francis Schmitz, a former assistant U.S. attorney who was once considered by President George W. Bush for the post of U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Wisconsin, is now leading the case as a special prosecutor, according to the Journal Sentinel.

"It's now spread to at least five counties," a source told the paper. The same source said that Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf had been investigating "all over the place."

Report: Special Prosecutor Looking At Wisconsin Recall Elections