Uppity Wisconsin

Mercury Marine (a division of Brunswick Corp.) wants to ditch Fond du Lac and the Fox Valley.

Merc says it needs to scrap its contract with the Machinists union, (IAM) Local 1947.

So how about Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, surrounding communities and Wisconsin pony up on a capital project paying Merc the difference in wages and benefits that Merc says it cannot afford on the existing contract?

Sounds reasonable to me.

Call it "economic protection fees" for the good of the neighborhood.

Update II: FDL Reporter: "Mercury union workers have voted down a contract proposal that company officials say would have kept Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac."

Update: See the Fond du Lac Reporter coverage for updates.

I come from down in the valley
where mister, when you’re young,
they bring you to do
as your daddy done.
- Bruce Springsteen, The River

The vote happens today. And an American corporation, Mercury Marine (a division of Brunswick Corp.) has made clear it is prepared to unleash an economic hurricane on Wisconsin communities with no regret.

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, is the focus of press coverage universally stating the 1,000s of jobs and millions of dollars depend on the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union vote today.

It's up to the union, they say with no mention of the deranged character of the Brunswick Corp.

As Gov. Doyle grapples with the giant budget deficits, it's worth recalling a time when zero national debt was feared and states argued about how much fiscal revenue they should shave off for their budgets.

In 2001 Fed Chair Alan Greenspan testified before the Senate Budget Committee on the potential dangers of having no federal debt [we're at $11 trillion now], a fiscal legacy of the Clinton administration that Bush, Cheney and his rightwing ideologues were desperate to avoid.

It was an ambiguous and wide-ranging testimony, recounted by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil in The Price of Loyalty, that included Greenspan's "fear that large surpluses would create a drag on the economy," among other expressed cautions and concerns about the then-proposed Bush tax cuts (O'Neil p. 63).

But the damage was done and Greenspan gave political cover (then and in later statements) to the reckless Bush tax cuts for the super-rich.

What happened to all the voter fraud nonsense from which our intrepid Attorney General was going to protect us?

With the great number of people casting votes that saw Wisconsin at number two in voter turnout in the nation, the GAB reports that the elections were "virtually problem-free."

Now, another rightwinger, Wigderson from Waukesha, plays the fool on the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board's (GAB) maintenance of its statewide registered voter list (SVRS) and the Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board case meant to stop the spectre of voting fraud.

The GAB, as it said it would, will ask for checks of SVRS against other existing databases, and it is now doing so, per its authority and responsibility and discretion.

The rightwing was right all along, say the know nothings. 

Is this ignorance deliberate? It must be, no one can be that dumb.

Working at Fire Station #2, 5415 King James Way (Fitchburg, WI), the words of a black man in his 20s this morning stand out as poll workers worked with his voting identity and residence.

"I will be voting today," he said calmly but with determination.

Black folks who were newly registering at the polls had a determined look in their eyes; I mean it. And there was a steady stream of black families coming from the newly-registered room.

I lived in the ward for some eight years and I know the high and low-turnout areas. Many voting today were from low turn-out areas.

Inspiring. These are just the people that J.B. Van Hollen and the Republicans want to disenfranchise. And they would not be stopped today.

- via mal contends

Though Attorney General Van Hollen's voter suppression effort looks to fail, few doubt that the GOP has more tricks up its sleeve.

The nonpartisan Election protection coalition (http://www.866ourvote.org/) is fighting voter suppression and is a great resource. Look them up.

Any problems or concerns: Call 1 866 OUR VOTE (1 866 687 8683).

Vietnam-era Navy veteran Keith Roberts (1968-71), jailed because he could not substantiate the circumstances causing his diagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as he was "tenaciously pursuing a claim for VA benefits," has been informed his hearing for oral arguments of his VA claim before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) is scheduled for October 23, 2008.

In a unanimous opinion (07-1546) issued in July a three-member panel for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the controversial conviction on fraud of Roberts.