Thursday, May 31, 2012

It's Now Or Never!

Today's post is dedicated to my fellow Wisconsinites but its message
is for you all, my dear beloved readers. The significance of your
favorite Peasant's home state's recall election, which is to take place
on Tuesday June 5, is rooted in the fact that the ramifications of
this election --- regardless of the outcome --- will affect our entire
country, for years, for GENERATIONS, to come.

In five days from today we Badger Staters will go to the polls to vote
for either of two things for our state: the continuation of the terms
of the fairly and squarely elected governor, lieutenant governor, and
three state senators, elected by a clear majority of the voters, who 
proceeded to do what they promised us that they would do if
elected; the essence of democratically elected, representative
government of the people, by the people, and for the people ---
or the upheaval of said prior election, entailing the disruption of
and terminating the terms of the aforementioned elected govern-
ment officials, advocated and pressed by a noisy, bitter, selfish
crowd of crybabies who are out of sorts because one, the prior
election didn't produce the results they wanted, and two, they don't
like the policies of the triumphant government officials, and thus
demand a do-over of said election. In fact, they even nominated the
same candidate that ran the last time! This election is the most
important election in Wisconsin's history, and may well be the most
important statewide election of any state in our country's history
with what all is at stake.

Your faithful Peasant wants to remind you, my Wisconsin
neighbors, of what we have gained from the leadership and hard
work of our courageous Governor Scott Walker, Lt. Governor
Rebecca Kleefisch, and these three state senators, all six of 
these officials being solidly conservative Republicans. The
senators are as follows:

Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, District 13; Sen. Van Waangaard, District 21;
Sen. Terry Moulton, District 23; and running for the senate seat
in Dist. 29 vacated by a senator who was targeted for recall but 
resigned due to a family crisis is Assemblyman Jerry Petrowski,
also a conservative Republican.

Because of Governor Walker and his Wisconsin Budget Repair
Act of 2011, Wisconsin has benefited in the following ways:

1) The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development states
     that 33,000+ jobs were created since Walker took office.
     in fact, the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed this week
     that Wisconsin has a net gain of 23,608 jobs since Walker's
     first day on the job!
2) Wisconsin's budget currently has a $150+ million surplus, after
     Walker's repairs to it after his predecessor Democrat Gov.
     Jim Doyle left behind a $3.6 billion deficit.
3)  Walker's requirement that public employee union members
      contribute an additional 5.8% toward their pensions and an
      extra 12.6% toward their health insurance premiums have
      not only saved our state's taxpayers lots of money but Walker
      and the legislature was actually able to CUT TAXES as a
      result! Not the rate of increase, mind, but the very taxes
      themselves!
4)  The Budget Repair Act's Act 10 has saved taxpayers over
      $1 billion, according to The Economic Impacts of the
      Wisconsin Budget Repair Act, a report on the results so far
      of the legislation since its implementation.
5)  Act 10 has led to smaller class sizes in public schools while
     allowing the very best teachers to retain their jobs over less-
     qualified and lower-quality teachers having only seniority
     going for them.
6)  The WEA (Wisconsin Education Association) Trust now
      must deal fairly with school districts as it now has to
      compete with private health insurers for union business.
      The free market has returned to Wisconsin's government
      markets, and it's about time!
7)  Thousands of teaching positions have been saved, as well
      as thousands of state government jobs; NO ONE HAS BEEN
      LAID OFF as a result of Walker's reforms! And it has been
      a team effort, with Lt. Gov. Kleefisch and the GOP senators
      and Walker all working together hand in glove.
      Contrast this with what Democrat governors in Illinois
      and California have done, and the results!

Even the staunchly liberal Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has
averred in a recent editorial:

"We see no reason to remove Walker from office. We recommend
him in the June 5 election."

Now let's take a look at Gov. Walker's once-again opponent,
Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett's record as mayor; remember,
his performance as Milwaukee's chief executive will give us
a very good idea as to how he would govern if elected over
Walker.

1) Barrett raised taxes and raised them often. Businesses have
    left Milwaukee, while businesses from outside of Milwaukee
    have declined to move to or expand into the city.
2) Jobs have, as a consequence, dwindled. Unemployment has
    climbed, with the unemployment rate for blacks, especially
    for black youths, have climbed to atrociously high levels.
3) As mayor, Barrett has done nothing to stop the ongoing dump-
    ing of waste emanating from toilets (your sensitive Peasant
    stated this fact as politely as I could!) into the Kinnickinnic
    River, which then sloshes out into Lake Michigan. Gee,
    isn't it the Democrats and their fellow left-wingers who
    always claim to care so much about the environment and
    protecting dear old Mother Earth? In this, Mayor Barrett
    and his fellow Dems are, in effect, doing to us exactly
    what they are doing to the KK River and some of the
    lakeshore! Your outraged Peasant, for one, doesn't want
    to hear any more propaganda from the lefties about how
    they care more about our ecological well-being than do
    we mean, nasty ol' right-wingers, that's for damn sure!
4) And in keeping pace with President Obama and the latter's
    baseless claims of the GOP waging a "war on women",
    Barrett is accusing Walker and state Republicans of doing
    just that against Wisconsin women, all because Walker
    eliminated some duplicative laws regarding the latitude
    that women in Wisconsin have as far as suing over wage
    discrimination. Wisconsin law still gives women a lot of
    leeway in being able to seek redress in court for this sort
    of treatment, which by the way is forbidden under
    FEDERAL law; Gov. Walker couldn't do away with equal
    Wage law in Wisconsin if he wanted to, which despite
    the hysteric claims of Barrett and the Democrats Walker
    doesn't want to!
5) Finally, although Mayor Barrett and his staff have vehe-
    mently denied doing so, Barrett recently used some of the pro-
    visions of Act 10 to reduce spending and taxes in his city!
    Yet Barrett has, on the campaign trail, slammed Act 10
    at every opportunity! When you look up the word
    "hypocrite" in a dictionary, you'll find Barrett's picture
     alongside the definition of the word! Or you should!

Besides, since Mayor Barrett has not learned from his defeat
at the hands of Scott Walker in 2010, if he is hell-bent on taking
another beating in this recall race our magnanimous governor,
along with We the People, shall be all too happy to accommo-
date him! It will be our pleasure!

However, in closing, your ever-lovin' Peasant wants to further
state that the whole country is watching our beloved Badger
State; all eyes are on us and what we'll do on June 5. We shall
set a historic precedent for not only our state and how our
government shall function, but for other 49 states and their
governments as well. As governor, Scott Walker has brought
our state's budget back into line and have given badly-needed
relief to the over-burdened and spat-upon taxpayers, along
with job creators and school districts. If he is defeated, the
Democrats will turn back the clock on Wisconsin and enslave
her to never-ending astronomic taxes accompanied by
escalating spending, which will include restoring public
employee union members being able to vote themselves raises
in pay and benefits whenever they want, and subsequent
governors and other elected state officials will have no
stomach to try to stop it; they will remember what happened
to Gov. Walker. And the same thing will happen in the other
states. But if we Wisconsinites who love and care for our
state come out in full force on June 5 to vote for Scott Walker
and the rest of the brave Republicans facing this unjust and
undemocratic recall election we can set a happier precedent
for not only our state but for all of the states of our grand
country! And that precedent is that the will of the people
shall not be denied, and that the people shall have a place
at the table regarding ALL fiscal matters; this shall include
how we shall compensate the state workers and public
school teachers who work for us, reminding them in the
process who is the boss and who are the subordinates!

Mark the date on your calendars. Make this your top priority
for that date. Bring your families, your friends, your neighbors,
your co-workers, your golfing pals, your poker-playing
chums, your butchers, your bakers, your candlestick makers
with you to the polls! The only thing that should excuse you
from voting on that day is if you are having life-saving surgery!
Join your conscientious Peasant on June 5 and once more elect
Governor Scott Walker, Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch,
and the other four Republicans in the recall senate races,
and send the Democrats and their grubby pals a message that
they can't possibly dismiss or ignore, and teach them a lesson
they'll never forget!


MEM


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Memorial Day Reflections

My beloved readers, your beloved Peasant wishes you
a wonderful, reflective, safe, and enjoyable Memorial
Day. Please remember our brave fellow Americans
who have served in, and given all that they could give
--- their very lives --- in service to our country so
that it could be and remain strong and sovereign.
Freedom isn't free; it comes with one hell of a price tag.
But freedom is no luxury, folks, it is an important necessity.
It is a vital necessity to a free people, for without it there
can be no free people.

For those of you who are the praying sort, offer a prayer
of thanks for those who fought and died to establish and
to preserve our great and wonderful country and its
many freedoms. And we all can at least take a little time over
the course of this weekend to think about those gallant
souls and their actions on our behalf. And as far as those
currently serving in our armed forces, thank them for their
hard work and sacrifice! It may now be a trite little slogan
after having been oft repeated, but it rings with truth:
If you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet!

We'll gather together here after this hallowed day.
God bless you all, and God bless America!


MEM

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Celebrating the Life of a Fellow Peasant

Your favorite Peasant very recently learned about
another peasant --- another peasant who has spent
much of his life championing free-market and related
ideas in his own country, and had been a burr under
the saddle of the totalitarian governments that had
oppressed him and his countrymen in the process.
I just had to share this story with you straightaway.

The National Review, in its latest issue, announced
the passing of one Gabriel Tepelea, a member of the
Romanian center-right Peasant Party(!) which supported
private property rights. The party came into being in the
1930s, and was all but shut down by the Nazis in the
Second World War when they invaded and occupied
Romania, then was further clamped down on by the
communists when they devoured Eastern Europe after
the war's end. Tepelea himself was shipped to the gulag,
languishing there for six years. After the collapse of
communism in that part of the world Tepelea became
the deputy leader and parliamentarian of the Peasant
Party, holding these posts for ten years. Tepelea passed
away after living an incredibly long and adventurous
life, reaching the age of 95 years.

Tepelea's life demonstrates that one can't keep a freedom
-loving person, let alone a nation of them, under one's
oppressive thumb; always a threat to the power of a
ruling elite, we "peasants" shall always take up our
pitchforks in the cause of individual liberty, free markets,
and free minds. And those who desire and seek freedom
shall, sooner or later, rise to the natural state of human
beings; an unfettered, unencumbered existence in which
human rights and human dignity can thrive. It is a
simple yet profound law of nature, which tyrants are 
too ignorant and arrogant to learn.


MEM

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Chuck Colson, R.I.P.

A remarkable man passed away recently. A man who was
a shameless, power-grubbing criminal in the highest echelons
of government, who repented of his crimes before being
sentenced to prison and actually wanting to be sent there
as a start on his penance for his previous actions, then
spending the rest of his life ministering to prison inmates
through a ministry which he personally established, Charles
"Chuck" Colson died on April 21, aged 80, several days
after emergency surgery for a blood clot on his brain.

Colson is a dramatic example of redemption, a nowadays
all but forgotten concept because of our society's inability
to distinguish any more between fame and notoriety,
coupled with its fascination with scandal. One of the
Watergate conspirators, known to many as corrupt
President Nixon's "hatchet man", prized by Nixon for his
ruthlessness (Colson had a sign on his desk which read
"When you have people by the balls, their hearts and
minds will follow"), he admitted in his autobiography,
Born Again, that pride was the chief cause of his own
downfall. Although he left Nixon's crooked administration
after the latter's reelection, he was still called to account
for his part in the Watergate coverup. Just before he was
put on trial, Colson visited a friend who had converted to
Christianity. This friend read a passage from C.S. Lewis,
a convert to Christianity from atheism who went on to
write inspiring novels and give riveting lectures on the
Christian way of life, to Colson: "Pride always means
enmity --- it is enmity. And not only enmity between man
and man, but enmity to God." After his visit to his friend,
Colson wept tears not of sadness nor even joy, but of
relief, as he would aver in his book.

After pleading guilty to the charges brought against him,
Charles Colson became Prisoner 23226 at Maxwell
Federal Prison Camp in Alabama. Critics, which also
included fellow Watergate conspirator ex-Attorney
General John Mitchell, ridiculed Colson's conversion,
claiming that it was a sham and a ploy. But Colson
would soon see, as he said in an interview with Fox
News a few years ago, "the world through the eyes of
people who were disadvantaged and marginalized and
rejected, the outcasts in society, the untouchables in
American life." After his prison term concluded, Colson
founded his ministry, Prison Fellowship, which is now
active in many prisons throughout the country, holding
Bible-study groups and providing Christmas gifts to the
children of the incarcerated. Colson also became a
crusader for prison reform, advocating mercy and
restraint and opposing the excesses of the nation's
correctional system. He made both friends and foes
on each end of the political spectrum; Colson riled
evangelicals and fundamentalist Christians by calling
for reconciliation with Catholics, and infuriated the
Left with his principled social conservatism. And he
won over many people to his side in his ministerial
work, along with his genuine repentance for his
misdeeds. Colson had gone from being one of the
powerful and haughty to serving the weak and the
humble.

Charles "Chuck" Colson had fallen from grace, but
had made amends by healing a nation which he had
hurt by healing those on its margins who have been
hurting. God rest his soul.


MEM



Friday, May 11, 2012

Scott Walker and Tom Barrett Square Off for Wisconsin's Governorship

The day before yesterday my home state of Wisconsin held
its gubernatorial primary in which the Democrats chose a
candidate, and the Republicans did the same. The Democrats
selected, from a field of four hopefuls, Milwaukee Mayor
Tom Barrett to be their nominee for the governor's office;
Wisconsin Republicans chose incumbent Governor Scott
Walker over a surprise challenger for the GOP laurels, an
anti-Walker protester who joined the demented throng that
gathered in Madison two winters ago to protest Gov. Walker
having the unmitigated gall to follow through on his main
campaign promise to rein in your beloved Peasant's state's
spending without raising taxes, and without laying off state
employees. Walker accomplished this by creating and
passing legislation that curbs collective bargaining by most
unionized state employees, making it impossible for them
to automatically grant themselves very generous pay raises
along with Santa Claus-like benefits provisions. These very
items have been major factors in the ever-escalating taxes
being dumped upon the beleaguered taxpayers of the Badger
State. And for this the unionized state workers, along with
their comrades, have been howling for Gov. Walker's
head on a platter ever since.

But there are some flies in the Democrat's ointment.
The public employee union's favorite, former Dane County
Executive (Madison, a/k/a appropriately nicknamed
"Mad City" is in Dane County, by the way) Kathleen
Falk finished a distant second in the Democrat Primary
to Mayor Barrett. Although Falk had the support of the
public employee unions such as AFSCME (American
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees)
as well as many private sector employee unions, many
people in their party had doubts concerning her electability;
among them were many elected officials, along with many
rank-and-file Democrat voters, so most of the former
endorsed Barrett and many of the latter voted for him,
giving Milwaukee's mayor, whom Walker defeated in
the 2010 election for the governorship in the first place,
the Democrat's nod. In the months leading up to the May 8
primary, Barrett had actually used some of the benefits
made possible by Walker's and the Republican's legislation,
titled Act 10, to cut costs in Milwaukee's budget (!), all
the while slamming Walker on his historic legislation.
This has caused great consternation among union bigwigs,
sending many of them to the Falk camp. But they, and Falk,
were denied their shot at Walker in the recall election
which will be held on June 5. Your inquisitive Peasant
has noticed that hard feelings abound toward Barrett from
the union crowd and some other hard-left die-hards. This
may manifest in a very long election night for the Beer town
mayor.

On the Republican side of the primary, Gov. Walker won a
ridiculously lopsided victory over his protester opponent,
receiving 97% of the GOP vote. But the most astonishing
thing about Walker's breeze to the Republican nomination
was the sheer number of voters who turned out to support
the courageous, principled governor. Certainly, it didn't
take much effort to crush an opponent who is no more of
a genuine Republican than your beloved Peasant is a genuine
Communist; but the votes cast for Walker --- he garnered
627,000 votes, more votes than had been cast by Democrats
in their primary for Barrett and Falk, the top two vote-gainers
combined! And Walker's vote total was only 38,000 fewer
than all of the votes cast for all four of the Democrat guber-
natorial candidates lumped together! For more amazing con-
trast, Walker's Republican primary vote tally was almost
13,000 more than his 2010 general election total which
secured the governor's office for him! Again, this is just the
recall primary we're talking about!

Late Tuesday afternoon I saw a plethora of cars parked out-
side a polling place, with many people coming in and going out
from the building. I didn't have to ask why all those people
were there; they came out to vote for Scott Walker to give him
the Republican gubernatorial nomination, not wanting to leave it
to chance even though Walker's opponent for the GOP tapping
was a joke. They made damn sure that the joke would misfire!
Normally a primary election does not attract much interest and
therefore not many voters. The general election is where the action
is. But with what is at stake in this most unique election season,
Wisconsinites are making a stand for their economic health and
their democratic rights; they want to live in a state where they
won't be taxed at atrocious levels primarily to give endless lavish
compensation packages to unionized state workers just because
the latter are able to vote themselves automatic pay and benefit
raises whenever they feel like it, and want their voices
to be heard and their concerns addressed rather than ignored
dismissively by politicians catering to the unions, including NOT
having their electoral preferences chucked out in order to give
the unionistas a "mulligan" --- that's a golfers' term for a do-over
--- which fits this non-golf situation to a tee (Your mirthful Peasant
couldn't resist adding that pun!). Although these raucous lefties
desperately want you to believe otherwise, this is not what
democracy looks like; rather, it is what totalitarianism, in its
nascent stage is. And this is why so many people turned out to
vote in the primary, and why these people will again turn out in
full force for the general recall election on June 5. We Wisconsin
folk are tired of being ignored, ridiculed, scorned, dictated to,
and taxed to the max by liberal politicians who choose to serve a
few special interest groups rather than the hard-working, live-by-
the-rules, taxpaying people who make this state function, who
breathe vibrancy into its lungs, who are its heartbeat, who are
its economic life force. We Wisconsinites like our democratically
-elected representative form of government just fine, thank you;
we neither need nor want a socialistic oligarchy.

In November 2010 we Badger Staters voted for a government
which would serve us for a change. Next month we shall reinforce
our choice and send a message to those who want to return us
to subservience to them: we shall have a government that serves us,
and a state workforce that serves us as well. We shall not be denied!
If anyone has a problem with this arrangement, let them move to a
place where things are done more to their way of liking. May your
helpful Peasant suggest Cuba?


MEM

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Some Changes to This Blog

My wonderful readers, your faithful Peasant wants to take
a little time to share with you some news regarding this blog
and its content. There have been some changes made to this
venue on which this blog is posted, and I must inform you
about them.

In recent weeks you may have noticed that there has not been
any links to articles related to the subject discussed by your
favorite Peasant; these links were provided by a service,
Zemanta, which also provided photos to post to a blog.
Google, which owns and operates Blogger, the blogging
venue where this blog is found, decided to discontinue its
utilization of Zemanta and has not so far replaced it with
any other similar service. This means that I cannot post
any article links or photos unless I search for them online
and add the links myself. I have attempted to do this a few
times but the links, for reasons unfathomable to your
diligent Peasant, failed. I shall, of course, continue to
work on this challenge and when I discover a solution to
this difficulty I shall implement it straightaway. In the mean-
time, you can continue to enjoy your humble Peasant's
observations on the latest political and economic news
every week, right here in our usual meeting place.

One day, in the (I hope) not too distant future, this blog
shall be moved to an independent web site where there
shall be a range of features to add for your reading enjoy-
ment, and there shall also be no further instances of your
summoning up this blog only to get some message saying
that it cannot be accessed due to some technical failure
online, causing you to wait for anywhere from a few hours
to a full day to be able to access and enjoy your ever-lovin'
Peasant's musings on things political and economic. Since
Blogger is a free-of-charge blogging site, Google has no
great incentive to fix whatever technical problems crop up
that would affect the ability for me to post my articles,
and for you, my dear readers, to read them. I shall hire
a webmaster to set it up and to maintain it, and we shall
then enjoy smooth sailing (technologically speaking) from
then on. But for now, we shall soldier on with what we
have, and make the most of it. At least the problems are
not that daunting; we can still get together each week and
pick over the relevant news together.

Thank you everyone for your patience and understanding!
You are the most wonderful readers that a blogger could
ever wish for! God bless you all!


MEM