Walker's Wisconsin – John Doe Rising

Breaking Bald

Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair–
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”) T. S. Elliot

John Doe rises again like a bad penny that has been stuck in the vending machine of political flimflam only to be found in the coin-return slot still bearing the date of its mint. Kelly Rindfleisch was sentenced on November 19th, 2012 to six months in jail and three years of probation for her role in rising Walker to power.

Kelly keeled, Walker walked, and all the lawyers talked and talked. Now, here we go again to get to the bottom, to discover the undeniable truth, and at a most inopportune time for the “Walker who walked” as he is up for re-election next November, and his name is included in conversation as a presidential candidate in 2016.

Judge orders documents released in probe of Scott Walker aides
By Patrick Marley and Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel – Sept. 25, 2013

Madison — An appeals court judge ordered the release Wednesday of numerous documents in the closed secret investigation of aides to Gov. Scott Walker, including the personal emails of convicted aide Kelly Rindfleisch.

Of course, this is not the end. Of course, there are questions, for that is the way of the flimflam machine. The workings within hide sprockets and springs that push, pull, and pedal the simplest of truths through algorithmic tweaking and twining to scare the living hell right out of common sense – Did Scott Walker really, honestly, understand what was happening with the secret email network within thirty feet of his desk? Hmmmm…I wonder?

Flimflam Machine

The flimflam machine is an energy hole, and continues as the default application of all communication in the Walker Administration sending job creation and health care and just about any constituent concern down to some lower level of attention. Why, just today we hear 92,000 people will be cut from their current Badger Care Plus health care.

State notifying 92,000 that loss of BadgerCare imminent
By Jason Stein and Guy Boulton of the Journal Sentinel- Sept. 24, 2013

The notification letters are reigniting the debate over Walker’s decision to reject additional federal money under what’s commonly known as Obamacare to expand BadgerCare Plus. That decision is costing the state $119 million in its two-year budget.

Walker has boasted of his rejection of Obamacare, since he had a better idea. But as a result of the rejection of federal funds 90,000 families are being cut from Badger Care Plus – and here is the kicker of the bucket – it raises taxes!

The move would reject an expansion of Medicaid and the more than $600 million in federal funding that would have gone with it. State taxpayers would pay an extra $119 million compared to what they would have paid under the expansion. WPR News

Put all this in the flimflam machine and push the button and hear the whirring and wind of cogs, gears, along the obfuscation belt – and what comes out the other end are computerized voices of:

Scott Walker I care too much about the people of this state not to empower them to control their own destiny. Or Alberta Darling: …those pushed off may not like the copays they might soon be paying, but that “health care is changing.”

The flimflam machine has proven its worth in supplying Scott Walker with $1,498 per hour for his expenses for housing, security and in-state and out-of-state travel because that is the default. Real Job creation shows up in the low end of priorities and remains in the low forties when compared to the 50 other states.

Flimflam job creation comes solely from allowing the wealthy to become more wealthy in some rehash of the old Raegan flimflam of trickle down economics which didn’t work in his life time and is not working now. Real job creation projects were rejected by the flimflam machine early on, with putting and end to the rapid rail system and the train sets ready for manufacturing and already on the table. The job creating potential of Talgo, was already in place in Milwaukee and looking ahead to years of production.

The failure of the Leo Frigo Bridge serves as the most recent symbol for projects and priorities rejected by the political opportunists flimflam machine.

Leo Frigo Bridge closed due to significant sagging

By Jaclyn Brandt CREATED Sep. 25, 2013 – UPDATED: Sep. 25, 2013
GREEN BAY – The Leo Frigo Bridge is currently closed for an inspection. According to Lt. Jody Buth with Green Bay Police, a 150-foot section of the bridge is sagging by at least three feet. The section crosses all four lanes.

The bridge takes I-43 NB and SB over the Fox River in Green Bay. The interstate remains closed between Atkinson Dr. and US 41, and will remain closed for a minimum of 24 hours.

Officials say they are inspecting the bridge after a driver reported a dip in the road.

– and what comes out of the flimflam machine:

“It’s a key transportation link in the area,” Walker said. “Our #1 priority is and will continue to be ensuring the absolute safety of the public.”

Investment in infrastructure repair has been pushed into the background along with failure to protect Wisconsin citizens health care, and failure to create jobs. Is he even anywhere in the State of Wisconsin today?

Walker's Wisconsin – Censor, Edit, Control

Indications are that Walker is running scared

“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar”
― Abraham Lincoln

Sure, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but after two and a half years the arc of truth seems to be bending back and hitting Scott Walker in the head, as suggested by his tightening down on the press and withholding and editing information about the Affordable Health Care law.

At the same time, the GOP legislature is under fire for slipping a bogus grant award into the budget for the United Sportsmen” group, whose main track record is that it mailed out false information about voting in the Senate Recall Election. So, not only is the distribution of false information about voting being spread statewide, but the taxpayers are footing the bill!

Rep. Ron Kind Blasts Walker Administration’s Faulty Health Reform Data

WASHINGTON, DC
–
U.S. Rep. Kind (D WI) harshly criticized the release of misleading “estimates” from Governor Scott Walker’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI), claiming insurance rates for consumers will rise under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).“It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that the Walker Administration would release this misleading information aimed at undermining the Affordable Care Act,” said Rep. Kind. “For purely political reasons, Governor Walker has kept trying to derail the new health care reform law and the benefits it offers to consumers, and the release of this faulty data fits that pattern. Wheeler Report pdf

What we DO know

And, what Scott Walker wants to hide:

(AP) “Had Walker accepted the expansion under the federal law, the state would have received $4.4 billion in federal money through 2020, according to Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said. But over four years, starting in 2016, new costs to the state would have totaled about $133 million.”

Under the Walker, “reform” “hybrid” plan Walker states, “he would be spending $644 million more on state Medicaid programs over the next two years under his plan.”

Walker boasts how he is spending more state money ($322 million each year for two years) on his “hybrid” than the state would have spent ($133 million) after 2016 had he accepted federal money? That’s what I call a “reform”? Post it on face book!

The Walker Administrations projections regarding rates and costs of his plan vs. the Affordable Health Care act are as disingenuous as his promise to create 250,000 new jobs by the end of his first term. Walker should have learned by now that his prognostication of rates and costs of a plan that remains unimplemented, are as unpredictable as his ability to create real jobs. Yet, he continues to project outcomes and promise jobs using mythical accounting and math. After two years of painting the pretty picture, stark reality has blurred his neoconservative masterpiece, and his defense is to set up sandwich board announcing that gallery is closed, unless you have permission from Scott Walker – and this includes members of the press.

Milwaukee Public TV needs permission from Walker

Below is an account describing the censorship of information and public access imposed within the Wisconsin Capitol:

I learned something interesting yesterday as I was exiting the Capitol. A woman who said she was with MKE public television asked me where she could find the Solidarity sing along. In the course of the conversation she asked me how many people had been arrested. I told her I didn’t know but was sure that the Capitol police could give her that information. She replied that she wasn’t allowed to talk to them without the Governor’s permission and it hadn’t been given. Why does the Governor give permission and not Erwin or Huebsch? I found that interesting. Also that a reporter from public TV needed permission to ask questions?

The term Fitzwalkerstan was meant to be a somewhat humorous jibe, while with each passing week, and as more and more limits on accessibility of the press are imposed, and more rules and restrictions are enforced in the Capitol rotunda, Wisconsin is becoming a real Fitzwalkerstan – like some autocracy where information is held beneath the thumb of an ever more restrictive Walker Administration.

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Please visit my “other blog” for news of my new play “House of Monkeys” – a musical romp through the love, life, and work of Moliere!