Archive for February, 2011
GROUND REPORT: Madison, Wisconsin rally to support Governor Scott Walker with photos from Tea Party protest
- Rally in Madison, Wisconsin at Capitol
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Dear HillBuzz,
Well, at the last minute, I decided to see if I could hop on a bus from WI State Fair Park, supplied free by Americans For Prosperity. It turns out there was only one bus, and enough people to fill two, so I just shouted out, “Hey, I’m willing to drive if someone wants to come along in my car.” And some older ladies took me up on my offer. So, it was me and two ladies that are active in the WI Republican Party here, driving 70 miles to Madison. I was concerned about parking, because it’s very hard to come by near the Capitol, but lo and behold, I was able to snag what I think was the last parking spot left, on the rooftop of this structure. It was only a block away from the Capitol square – (not really a square, more like the center of a bike spoke, with streets fanning out from the Capitol building).
Well…the Lefties still outnumbered us law abiding, tea partying, better looking ones (snark), but there were quite a few very clever signs there. I managed to capture six here, but one that I couldn’t capture had a baby crying, and a caption that said something like “WAAAAH. I have to pay some towards my own health insurance and pension!” And there was another one with a picture of Scott Walker with the word “COURAGE” on the one side, and a picture of fleeing Democrats in a school bus, on the other, with the word, “COWARDICE”. Sorry if the pictures are a bit poor quality, but I took them from my phone.
The speakers were Vicki McKenna, a local radio host, Herman Cain, ANDREW BREITBART (who must have flown from California!), Joe “The Plumber”, and a few more that I can’t remember. The Lefties had their drums and bullhorns, and were shouting “Kill the Bill”, and we were shouting “Pass the Bill”. The rally was put together in just a couple of days, so the speaker system was kinda bad, but it was nice talking to like-minded conservatives all there to support our Governor.
The ladies and I left a bit early, to beat the crowd, and we had to walk through and amongst the Lefties that were marching in a circle around the Capitol hub – and around us tea partiers. They didn’t seem to be violent (thank God), and none of us were carrying signs, so we didn’t get assaulted or anything. One union-printed sign said “Wisconsin taxpayers should care about teachers, like we care about your children.” Laughable. Calling in “sick” for three days in a row, to protest in Madison, INSTEAD of teaching Wisconsin’s children, is not caring about anyone but yourselves.
It was a wonderful learning experience, and a lesson in civic responsibility. I’m glad I was able to go.
Rightmindedmom in Wisconsin
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UPDATE: There’s more great coverage of the Madison, Wisconsin rally over at LittleMissAtilla
More images emerge of Meryl Streep as Baroness Thatcher in upcoming biopic
Meryl Streep as Baroness Thatcher
The Daily Mail has a new crop of shots of Meryl Streep portraying Baroness Thatcher in the upcoming biopic “The Iron Lady”.
There’s apparent concern that Streep and Hollywood will do a hatchet job on Thatcher, but I think that fear (although justified considering Hollywood’s treatment of conservatives in general) is unwarranted with this particular project.
Streep has played a conservative female politician as evil before…in the dreadful “Manchurian Candidate” remake several years ago, where she starred as a female American Senator conspiring to insert her son as a brainwashed accidental president after a coup d’etat she and the cabal backing her engineered.
In that part, she channeled a weird mix of Kay Bailey Hutchinson and the nightmare, fictional version of Hillary Clinton that many conservatives conjured for themselves over the years (the one my boyfriend Justin’s family has, where HRC murders people, plotted to bring down Ron Brown’s plane, has a heart attack ray she pointed at Tim Russert, and is responsible for all the other bizarre things she has been accused of by people who just repeat these apocryphal horror yarns).
The movie is awful, but Streep is as interesting in it as always…not particularly good in the bad role she was given, but professional and interesting…which are the two words I would most often use to describe her.
I just cannot imagine Streep, in the last act of her remarkable career, botching a biopic of such a world-famous and recognizable woman as Baroness Thatcher, just to polish her Leftist bona fides. Streep may not be a dedicated student of history, but she’s a woman who realizes she’s part of Hollywood history with all of her Oscar nominations (and multiple wins).
At 61, I’m sure she’s well aware of all the poor career moves Best Actresses like herself made in years past…choosing terrible parts in bad movies that tarnished otherwise stellar careers. She seems smart enough to not have to work for money, with many millions in the bank, so she clearly chooses parts that she believes will further her legacy and continue to round out her career.
Doing a schlocky hit job on Baroness Thatcher just doesn’t make any sense for Meryl Streep. If the script was bad, or she had some weird hidden motive to commit to the project just to portray the Baroness badly, I don’t think this movie would be made…and certainly not with Streep in the lead role.
This is a prestige picture bid by Streep to score the third Academy Award win that’s eluded her since 1982. Since that statuette for Sophie’s Choice, Streep has been nominated a staggering TWELVE TIMES without clinching acting’s highest honor.
In the campaign the studio ran for her with the Julie & Julia Oscar bid in 2009, it was clear Streep really, really, REALLY wanted that third Oscar trophy. Currently Streep is behind Katherine Hepburn, who has four Oscars to Streep’s two. Streep very much wants to surpass her, and actresses like Bette Davis and Louise Rainer who also won twin Oscars. Streep is gunning for more gold, big time.
Her portrayal of Baroness Thatcher will be fair, accurate, and remarkable.
Because Meryl Streep wants that third Oscar…and a performance that is derided as biased, mean-spirited, and hackish will generate too much bad publicity worldwide for the Academy to award Streep this trophy next year. And this is JUST the sort of role the Academy LOVES giving an Oscar to someone like Streep for, because the Academy tends to love all things British and simply adores pitch-perfect, accurate depictions of historical figures.
I’m actually very excited about this film…and plan on reading biographies of Baroness Thatcher in the next year before the movie’s release so I can judge for myself whether or not Streep deserves the Oscar it sure feels like she’ll indeed win from this performance.
Which of the Democrat Wisconsin state senators (that fled to Illinois to shirk their elected duties) are potentially subject to voter recall efforts?
There should be consequences for these people running away from Madison to shirk their duties.
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Dear HillBuzz,
With the Democratic Wisconsin State Senators still AWOL, people are starting to use the word “recall,” as well as some other words like “fire,” “arrest,” and “don’t pay.” Of these, here’s some information on Recalling an Elected Official in Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin an elected official must first serve in their office for a year before they can be recalled, meaning everyone who was just elected or re-elected in November 2010 can’t be recalled until next January.
The number of signatures needed for a recall petition is 25% of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election in that district.
The petitioner must first file a registration statement “with the same official or agency with whom nomination papers or declarations of candidacy for the office are filed demanding the recall of the officeholder.” No petitions may be circulated before the registration statement is filed and the petitions themselves must be submitted back to the office by no later than 5pm on the 60th day after the registration statement is filed. No signatures may be added or removed after that date.
The petitions must have the words “RECALL PETITION” on their face in bold type and must follow other rules for nominating petitions
There are also a variety of rules regarding the signatures.
As for which Democratic Senators are eligible for recall, I have created and attached a file with a spreadsheet that includes information on Wisconsin’s Democratic Senators. It lists the Democrats, which Senate District they represent, if they are eligible for recall, the percentage of the vote they received, how many votes were cast and how may they received.
If you are a resident of Wisconsin, contact your county’s Republican Party to find out if anything is being planned and if they have anything that you can do to help.
Melissa in Wisconsin
Another Day, Another Hit Job On Governor Sarah Palin
Dear HillBuzz,
Yesterday I was glancing over my local paper online and came upon an article stating that a trusted Palin aide was planning to write a book about his time spent with Sarah Palin. The first paragraph of the story hit the money: an expose of the inner workings of her operation. The aide penning the book was going to draw on thousands of e-mails during his tenure. My first thought was “Who is writing this crap? Kitty Kelly?”. It turns out it’s someone I have never heard of named Frank Bailey. Maybe it was Beetle Bailey, since he should be out of the Army by now and maybe that’s what he’s been up to for himself.
Obviously, this is nothing more than another hit job on Sarah if this book gets published. There seems to be some question as to whether the manuscript will get published or not. I’m sure there is some Soros backed publishing company that will snap this up fast. I am so frustrated and mad. Every time I turn around someone new is joining the let’s bash Sarah bandwagon. The only time Sarah gets a break is when some celebrity does something so stupid they end up in court. Other than those distractions (thank you, Ms. Lohan, for the ironic public service you provide in this regard), it is nonstop Palin-hate from the Media in its nonstop effort to destroy this woman.
Supposedly this aide, who the AP confirms as Frank Bailey, after all, went from a lowly volunteer (I think he was in charge of licking envelopes) to trusted advisor and on to a part of the so called “Troopergate” scandal. Personally I’m sick of hearing xxxx-gate whenever the Media wants to rip someone to shreds. It was Watergate. It was a one-time thing with a “gate” at the end of it. That was it, it’s over, so close the gates on “gates”. Be more original and try reporting on the news without having to invent scandal to distract from terrible writing and sloppy journalism!
If the Bailey book finds a publisher, the title might be called “Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin.” I can’t seem to find any blind Sarah Palin zombies, unlike Obamazombies…of which there are fewer and fewer as “The Golden Age of Hope and Change” drags on. Perhaps Bailey is just having a transference moment, projecting his own blind love for the guy in the White House onto Governor Palin. Bailey is being helped along with the manuscript by a writer in California named Ken Morris. Oh his website, Morris has some poorly-written essays about the Governor. The original drafts of these appear to have been written in crayon, with parts of them comprised of stick figure drawings of what the “writer” was trying to communicate, but he didn’t know those words and thought a thesaurus was some kind of dinosaur and a dictionary had to do with pornography. I was able to muddle through just one of these “essays”, Buying Sarah or something like that, but it was simply just another snarky piece regurgitating the same old leftist talking points. Here is his site if you are having too nice of a Saturday and want something terrible to read to bring you down a notch or two in your personal happiness: http://www.financialthrillers.com/. You can then see his “work” for yourselves. Afterwards, I suggest going to the bathroom to wash your hands, and maybe your eyes. You will feel icky.
The Carol Mann Agency http://carolmannagency.wordpress.com/ in NY is touting the manuscript in what sounds like a rather snotty slap in the face. From the AP article the “Revelations and insights” that Bailey offers “Are more necessary than ever as the public will seek to learn as much as possible about the woman who seems to have her sights set on the national stage.” I just can’t figure out people in this country. Whether you love her or hate her, since when did the public pastime of “Take a whack at Sarah” become popular? If you are going to constantly berate and bash politicians, there are many more than Governor Palin, both left and right, that could use a good smack down. Take Claire McCaskill for instance. Please. Why doesn’t anyone bother with her or the other clowns and sammich-eaters on the Left?
Obviously Governor Palin is an enormous threat to the Left. I get a very weird and wonderful satisfaction about that. As you have said many times before, she lives rent-free in Obama’s nightmares and I sure hope nothing ever evicts her.
It seems that Bailey and Morris have yet another cohort in the mix. A co-writer by the name of Jeanne Devon, who is a blogger in Alaska and, surprise, “A frequent critic of Palin!” Devon it seems is AKA Mudflats blogger “Alaska Muckraker” http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2217069/posts It also seems that Morris may change some content, which to me reads “We don’t know what stuff will grab our over Leftist audience yet.” I found it laughable that one of the quotes supposedly from the manuscript came while Palin was still Governor and she fired off an e-mail to Bailey and some other aide supposedly stating that she hates this damn job. Wow, that has to be something ONLY Sarah Palin would say, since I have NEVER said I hate MY job a time or two and, in fact, everyone that I know has said this about their job more than once. If they are going to base their book on silly incidents such as that e-mail, which can be taken totally out of context, then I see why they are still seeking a publisher. Somebody’s going to need a few boxes more of crayons before they get enough junk to make it publishable.
It was also stated that Bailey tried to publish a book previously, but it never got out of the starting gate. I think that book might have been about his own farts and how much he likes them. Who knows, perhaps in his previous attempt at publishing there wasn’t enough “Gotcha” goodies like saying one hates one’s job! Bailey, I have news for you, I have friends that work for the House of Mouse, and you would think that would be a GREAT job, and to my pals that work there, it is, but there are some days they write me and say exactly what Sarah Palin did. One of my friends gets to play Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in one of the parks, and even she hates her job somedays…and she gets to be a PRINCESS, with lots of breaks, and a whole retinue of attention! Does it mean my House of Mouse friends hate it so bad they are going to quit? Of course not, they just had a crappy day, most likely like Sarah Palin was having that day when she sent the e-mail. Using an example like that to try and show Sarah is somehow unqualified to do anything is just plain ignorant. Grow up and take it OUT of the school yard, okay girlfriend!
One last thing in the article just tugs at your heartstrings, and makes you feel so deeply sorry for little Frankie Bailey. OK, now cue up the harp music and release all the playful cute little kittens; in an e-mail from Mann’s office she said something along the lines of Frank having to rethink anything he did for Sarah while working for her because of his Christian faith and allegiance to her. OK, kittens released and playing? Harp music making you weep? Yeah, me neither. This is just garbage and I had to write in to say I am sick of it.
Before I go, here is a link to one of the stories covering this latest hit job on Governor Palin in case you want to read it.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/feb/18/aide-planning-tell-all-about-time-spent-palin/
I am just so sick of hit pieces being done on Sarah, it is almost like reliving what was done to Hillary. The misogyny in this country is suffocating, especially when it comes to politics, and I’m so sick of it. I’ve told my partner many times that it has become so unfashionable to bash anyone in this country (which could be a good thing) except for women and us gay folk (which is a bad thing). Although, the more Sarah bashing I see and hear, the more I am convinced it’s because she represents such a treat to these people they are simply scared of her. I know that I am HillBuzz’s token liberal, but I’m an Indie. I vote for the person and what she/he stands for, not the party. While Sarah Palin and I don’t agree on everything, would I vote for her for prez? You betcha! I think she is one of the few people around today who has the guts to stand up for what is right instead of what the lobbyists want. Hmmm, perhaps I should change my moniker on HB to “TokenLiberal” LOL!
Victoria Berelli in Nevada
Saving France from Islam
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zbo-nWllBlM]
President Sarkozy is trying to save his country. Is it too late? He’s asking for more laws to help control the deadly disease known as Islam.
(from Connexion)
JUST days after saying that multiculturalism had failed in France, President Sarkozy is launching a debate on religion and the secular state, asking what limits should be placed on Islam.
Speaking to his UMP MPs at the Élysée, he said he wanted concrete measures on the place of Islam in France and its compatibility with the country’s secular laws.
He said the French had “paid dear” for their blindness towards immigration during the 1980s, when debate was taboo.
“There was a growing disruption between the concerns of the media and the concerns of ordinary French people. The racists of yesterday are today’s populists.”
With the Martine Le Pen’s Front National rising in the polls, Mr Sarkozy adopted one of Ms Le Pen’s own themes last year, and expressed disapproval of the sight of Muslims street preachers, saying: “We had a debate on the burqa and it was well done. Now we should have a debate on street preachers.
“In a secular country, there’s no reason to have calls to prayer.”
Mr Sarkozy hopes to pull the rug from under the feet of the Front National by making radical Islam incompatible with the values of France.
My favorite Sarkozy quote…
“The racists of yesterday are today’s populists.”
I hope the United States is paying attention.
Wisconsin democrat senators found at Illinois resort.
Their covers been blown. Now…the police need to drag their sorry butts back to Wisconsin to do the job that their constituents elected them to do. Actually….I would love for every last one of these slime ball democrat senators to be thrown in jail but that’s not likely to happen. They should at least lose their jobs.
(from the Duluth Tribune)
Wisconsin state Sens. Jim Holperin, D-Conover (left) and Robert Jauch, D-Poplar (right), are interviewed outside the Clock Tower Resort in Rockford, Ill., on Thursday. A group of Democratic Wisconsin lawmakers, including Holperin and Jauch, blocked passage of a sweeping anti-union bill Thursday, refusing to show up for a vote and then abruptly leaving the state in an effort to force Republicans to the negotiating table. (Ben Woloszyn / The Rockford Register Star / Associated Press)
A resort in Illinois? On the taxpayers dollar?
I can hardly believe that this country has come to this.
It’s like kindergarten all over again.
Saturday Open Thread: February 19th, 2011
(h/t Moonbattery)
How is the mess in Wisconsin going to end? When is it going to end?
What’s on your minds this Saturday?
What are people talking about in your part of the country?
Gold Action Item: what can you do to assist recall efforts against Wisconsin Democrats who fled the state and are hiding in Illinois?
http://budget.wispolitics.com/2011/02/groups-exploring-recalls-of-holperin.html
Recall efforts have begun against two of the Wisconsin Democrat state Senators.
How do we encourage similar efforts against the other 12 Democrats who fled Madison and refuse to uphold their oaths of office?
Another sign of the Obamaconomy depression in Boystown
Hope!
Change!
Unemployment so rampant it’s now ubiquitous double entendre.
A defining moment of the 2012 presidential campaign? Obama sides with corrupt and greedy unions against taxpayers
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2011/02/obama-acted-stupidly-in-picking-sides.html
As usual, brilliant analysis from Professor Jacobson.
