Ron has No Johnson

GOP Senatorial candidate Ron Johnson in a recent TV ad moans of the fact that there are 57 lawyers in Congress and 0 Manufacturers.  Ron is a Plastic manufacturer.  From his own site
http://ronjohnsonforsenate.com/home/2010/09/57-2/#comments
It drew a few comments on his site.

1. 
   
   
   

   September 28, 2010 at 7:38 pm

   before you make a comment like your opening in your add, I’d like to know if any of you could READ OR UNDERSTAND anything real people write or ARE ALL OF YOU AS SMART AS G. BRUSH???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? I WOULD HAVE TO BE OUT OF MY MIND TO VOTE FOR SHOULD A BUNCH OF DISTORTIONISTS AS YOU PEOPLE ARE.
2. 
   
   September 28, 2010 at 8:34 pm

   I don’t know why there are so many lawyers in the U.S. Senate. It could have to do with the complexity of writing laws. They could certainly earn more money practicing law I would think.
   Russ is only one of a handful of Senators that is NOT a millionaire. Electing you will add one more millionaire to that bunch & I personally don’t think that is a good thing. You don’t represent me nor most of people from Wisconsin. You are fooling people with your ads. You represent BIG BUSINESS.
3. 
   
   September 30, 2010 at 12:48 am

   Ron I don’t see a big difference in accountants and lawyers, both look for ways to go around the law. And if we have people writing laws, isn’t it important to have people that understand how laws are written? Seems like a poor argument. Weren’t there alot of accountants working at Morgan Stanley and the others when they went broke. I think you have a bigger issue explaining how many Senators have testified against pedophile laws when they worked for the Catholic Church who had a problem with molesting priests. I think you have seen your Waterloo.
   

   Reply

But .... from the Huffington Post, and featured on Keith Olberman..... he does not think it is fair that victims of sexual abuse be allowed to sue for damages.

"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/ron-johnson-wi-senate-can_n_743910.html

Last week, I encouraged readers to get to know their Ron Johnson, the GOP insurgent who's lately been up in the polls against veteran Democratic Senator Russ Feingold in the Wisconsin Senate election. Now, here's a new fun fact, courtesy of Zaid Jilani, at ThinkProgress -- in Johnson's "one prominent act of political participation" prior to his Senate run, he testified in front of the state legislature against the Wisconsin Child Victims Act.

The Wisconson Child Victims Act essentially eliminates the statute of limitations for bringing suit againt "any person" for "injury caused by...an adult's sexual contact with anyone under the age of 18." For the purposes of the statute, "person" was defined as "an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial entity."

Now, me, personally, I have no problem with easing the burden on children victimized by "an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial entity."

Johnson didn't feel the same way. Per Jilani:

In his testimony before the Wisconsin legislature, he said it was "extremely important to consider the economic havoc...and the other victims" that the new law would "likely create" -- ridiculously comparing child abuse victims to the economic damages faced by employers being sued. Johnson warned that the Child Victims Act would lead to businesses or other organizations that work with children to be "damaged or destroyed" by civil suits and that it would "send a chilling signal" to civic-minded organizations like the Boy Scouts to not work with children in the future. He then opined that if the bill were passed, "I have no doubt trial lawyers would benefit, I'm not so sure that the actual victims would."

 support abuse victims/ NO
support business   Yes

Fuck you Ron Johnson.
*hastily put together.  I am too pissed to do better.

Milk, margarine, eggs, beans..... and some eggrolls

I have to go shopping.  Very much out of beer and other exciting household items..... and I have and old Neil Young song  in my head.... sing it with me....

Well, I dreamed I saw the knights
In armor coming,
Saying something about a queen.
There were peasants singing and
Drummers drumming
And the archer split the tree.
There was a fanfare blowing
To the sun

 etc etc etc etc

What I saw on a Saturday, clearly

This Saturday past I found my feet taking me to the Leach Amphitheater on the Fox River for the annual Community Dragon Boat races.  There was a more than brisk chill in the air, but my daughter called and asked to meet her there.

Basically it is a charity event where you get a sponsorship to fit twenty people in a silly looking boat and race down the river to raise money for community charities.  Business sponsor teams, employees sponsor their own, community groups, University organizations, Breast Cancer survivor groups.  There were 42 boats sponsored, 840 people paddling, plus a good sized crowd of onlookers.

It has become a mini-festival.... bratwurst, music on the stage, funny costumes, coffee, face painting for the kids, Suzuki violins, folk singers, Okinawan Taiko drummers.  Despite the chill there was a good crowd.

My daughter and I sat along the river wall to watch.  Soon she was pressed into a University  crew that was short a paddler.  Her place next to me was taken by Peyton and his grandmother.
He looked to be about four and of African-American Heritage.  His grandmother seemed more than just a bit older and of Anglo-European decent, if that really matters.

As he looked down into the water I admonished him to be careful, that there were big, mean fish down there that could jump up and bite him on his toes.
He looked at the river, at his grandmother and then at me.
"Huh," he said. His mouth was agape, his eyes grew wide and his grandmother laughed.  "My daddy is racing," he said seriously, "and Grandpa, too!"
"And your uncle," his grandmother said.
"Uncle too!!!" Peyton said.  The day grew a bit warmer.
After a bit I rose to get a hot chocolate.
"Peyton," I said," it was nice to meet you.  Be careful of your toes. You need them all."
"Huh?", and his grandmother laughed.
"Do you know how many toes you have,Peyton?"
He scrutinized his shoes.  "All of them," he said.  The day got a bit sunnier.
It was a good morning....I am not sure who won the races.... but I am thinking everyone there did.

Later in the afternoon, of a curious bent, I went to the shores of Lake Winnebago to watch a Tea Party Rally.  There were roughly the same amount of folks in attendance as there were paddlers from the morning gathering....except these were mostly seated in lawn chairs and carried signs instead of paddles.  There was a pledge of allegiance, several invocations to God, and a badly sung National Anthem.  One of the first speakers spoke of the need to get back to our "Judea-Christian" values, to get rid of the elitist Liberals and Democrats.  One of the next speakers followed up and was even a little more specific about values.....his were "Protestant-Christian" values.... which rather left me out... as long with a bunch of Jews, Catholics, Hindus and Buddhists.

 .Well, it went on from there. I guess it was at the point when a later speaker started complaining about immigrants and the teaching of "Multiculturalism" when I started to feel the day getting chillier.  I guess it is hard to row a boat from a lawn chair especially when you only have your oar in on one side.  And these guys were leaving my new buddy Peyton out of everything.  It seemed to be like a Nuremberg Rally with oodles of fear to go along with the Geritol,  Ensure and Depends.  And a bit of Valium.  The tea being served was tepid and I felt a need to have a beer.  I need to get back to my values... where friendship and the quality of your heart is all that matters.

Sometimes it takes a little work to sort out the truly substantial from the inconsequential hubris of life.  A beer can help.

Peyton..... I checked my toes when I got home.  I had all of them, thank you very much.

*photos blatantly borrowed from the Oshkosh Northwestern.

Thoughts on a Windy Day

I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.

JD Salinger

Nothing recedes like progress.

ee cummings

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Mark Twain

If I were reincarnated, I'd want to come back a buzzard. Nothing hates him or envies him or wants him or needs him. He is never bothered or in danger, and he can eat anything.

William Faulkner

My witness is the empty sky.

Jack Kerouac

 

Beauty may be skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone. 

Redd Foxx

I have always wanted to write a book that ended with the word mayonnaise

Richard Brautigan

It must be Happy Hour somewhere

okjimm

Campaign This!

Ron Johnson is running for the Senate this fall in Wisconsin against Democratic incumbent  Russ Feingold.  As a Republican.

But there was a rally last year.... a TeaParty rally.  Johnson spoke there.  There is some thought that he 'sponsored and paid' for the whole deal.  From an Oshkosh Blog, The Chief,  (hey, its a great blog)

Ron Johnson and the Oshkosh Tea Party

There's a "getting to know you" piece on Ron Johnson in the Journal-Sentinel this weekend that contains an interesting aside:

Contrary to reports in the media, Johnson said, he did not start a tea party chapter in Oshkosh. He simply accepted an invitation to speak.

Taken literally this statement is true, but it's also way too carefully worded to just be glossed over.

First things first: there is not an active tea party-affiliated organization in Oshkosh and there really never was one. Unlike many of the other tea party groups around the state, there really wasn't ever a "chapter" established in Oshkosh for doing any long term political organizing. The Oshkosh tea party was really just an event (and a pretty crazy event at that).

So, yes, Johnson did not actually start a tea party "chapter" here in Oshkosh ... but a more interesting question would be who the hell paid for the Oshkosh tea party?

Tea Parties don't just materialize out of thin air: they take money to throw. PA systems need to be rented, t-shirts need to be printed, and Mr. The Plumber sure as hell isn't going to come to Oshkosh, WI without a plane ticket, accommodations and a speaking fee. There's also the small matter of finding a dais:

That's Johnson speaking at the Oshkosh tea party last October. Local readers will recognize the Ganther Construction logos prominently displayed all over the podium. I mean, it kinda looks like the business is almost sponsoring the event, doesn't it?

Ben Ganther is a local construction magnate and good friend of Johnson's. They're both successful businessmen, well-known in the community and several years ago started a local political action committee together, Forward Oshkosh PAC, the main purpose of which seemed to be advancing TABOR on a local level.

One could reasonably assume that Ganther and Johnson probably had a significant hand in funding the event. Unfortunately, there's really no way to independently verify this because the same kind of financial disclosure laws that apply to lobbyists, PACs, political parties and candidates apparently don't apply to tea parties. This will have to be something a real journalist would have to ask the Johnson campaign (... a-hem).

No one "just gets ask to speak" at events like these. I can't imagine a collection plate was passed around during the festivities, the receipts from which managed to offset the costs. If Johnson's willing to shell out $10-15 million on a senate campaign, then footing the bill for a tea party would have been peanuts by comparison. 

 So.... it's kind of a way to campaign... and NOT declare it as campaign expenses.

He also spouts nonsensical  Tea bag bullshit like.....

“I’m a pretty traditional guy.  I believe in a culture of life, and I believe marriage is between one man and one woman.” – Ron Johnson

Ron is pro-life, pro-family, and believes that freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from religion.(from his internet site)

And.... supports going to War!!!

He further said he would not be against strikes against a nation such as Somalia, a haven for terrorists and pirates, provided strengthened intelligence networks can prove there is merit for such a strike. He said improved intelligence gathering and communication between the CIA and FBI are needed to keep the fight against Islamic terrorists off American soil.
"I'd much rather fight them over there than on the streets of America," Johnson said.(interview with The  Oshkosh Northwestern's editorial board)


There is another TeaParty Rally this Saturday.  I will go.  I will take a sedative before hand.  And have a beer later, because I am a pretty traditional guy .  I believe in a culture of life for all living things....and that we should have freedom FROM religion...... and do not need to start another war in Somalia.

Drill baby, baby Drill

 The TeaCup candidate for Senate supports drilling for Oil in Lake Michigan..

Would you support drilling, like in the Great Lakes for example?

“You know, the bottom line is we are an oil-based economy.  There's nothing we're going to do to get off of that for many years.  I think we have to be realistic and recognize that fact and, you know, I, I think we have to, get the oil where it is, but we have to do it where it is.” Ron Johnson

I think that's what he meant.  It is hard to understand his views.....

I have answers!!!!!

People ask me questions. A lot of them.  Sometimes one or two a day!!  So... in the Spirit of Peace, Love& Quality beer..... I will answer the most pressing questions asked of me  last month.

1  Get off Hwy 41 at 9th ave and go east until you hit South Main.  Take a left and go over the Bridge.  Then a  right and a quick left and head north four blocks.  It's on the left just past the library.  You can't miss it.  Big Neon sign by the back door.

2  No.  I only have two left

3  $50 a quarter ounce

4  I forgot.  I'll wear one next time.... I promise!

5  Paulie Tuna.  But I haven't seen him in years.

6  Not today.  Maybe tomorrow.

7  Front porch at the cottage in Door County.  Labor Day 1986 around sunset.  Doggie-style, I think.

8  That's really none of your business!  I don't ask where you got your toe fungus, do I?

9  Sure, I eat muffins.  But only moist ones without nuts.

10 I'm sorry.  I thought you were someone else.

Just goes to show I could be a teagag politician...... I have all the answers!