Wednesday, October 28, 2009
TOWN HALL MEETINGS - BROWN DEER/ELM GROVE - SENSENBRENNER
Internet Czar Susan Crawford to Resign
ACCORDING TO THE WASHINGTON POST:
White House technology policy adviser, Susan Crawford will leave her position in January to return to the University of Michigan Law School where she is a tenured professor, according to the Obama administration.
Crawford, known as a proponent of controversial net neutrality rules, has been on temporary leave from the university to serve in the White House. That sabbatical, which began two months after she received tenure at the University of Michigan, will end in January.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Receive LEGISLATIVE ALERTS with PRIORITY STATUS via your cell phone!
TEXT "follow badgeralert" to 40404 - and you will get your alerts right to your cell phone!
Planned Parenthood bill WON today, but we can still STOP it
Planned Parenthood just won a Major Victory TODAY against
Wisconsin's families and Wisconsin's Christian values!
The vote was a party line vote with the 8 Democrats on the Assembly Education Committee voting in lock step with Planned Parenthood while the 5 Republicans voted in support of the teens, families, and taxpayers of this state. )
Pro-Family Advocates are Needed Thursday to Attend Public Hearing on the Senate Version of the Planned Parenthood Sex Ed Bill - Senate Bill 324. If you have been a part of a Human Growth and Development Committee, we need you! Fill the seats and just come to hold the legislature accountable. Send the message on behalf of FAMILIES.
West Bend School Board Votes to "Tax to the Max"
Congratulations..you are now the proud owners of more taxation, on top of the school referendum, on top of your home assessment increase despite the poor housing market..... Thank your school board. Thank your "fiscally conservative" representatives, Bruce Koenig and Tim Stepanski, who voted for the levy
The sound system stunk. Had to strain to hear. Missed some more soft-spoken speakers
The meeting began with a choir teacher receiving an award and a standing ovation, then her presentation of a quartet of young gals dressed in "sailor girl" outfits singing in beautiful harmony.
The quartet was impressive. The school board, however, was not.
WBSD Supt Pat Herdrich started the meeting off reminding everyone about the loss of state aid, and how the school board will be meeting next Monday night to discuss next year's budget that will include them making $2 million-worth of cuts IN ADDITION TO the cuts that will take place with the tax levy vote tonight.
A group from WEAC came forward and spoke some garbled information, one at a time. It did not appear to be anything meaningful from what I could tell. If it was a salary freeze, I did not hear it nor did I get the impression they did anything more than state "we want the community to know that everything is on the table."
One mom spoke and stated she would take cuts for the "non-teachers" over the welfare of her children. She also called out the $3000 spending spree for a California seminar speaker being flown in for the teachers this week instead of looking for someone less expensive and local.
Herdrich gave the same old/same old spiel about the budget reduction process going on for the past 15 years.
Various community members spoke with their thoughts concerning the tax levy.
Those who were for the levy implied that we could not have quality education without increasing the tax levy. We heard we should raise the tax to the cap because "my Dad went there." The other thing I kept hearing over and over (sounded rehearsed) was "How can we expect these children to support us when we refuse to support them in their time of need?" and "They (the children) must be prepared to succeed. They must be prepared to support us." We heard a Chinese proverb from Mark Maley "With crisis comes opportunity." Maley declared "Give this school board and superintendent a chance and I'll guarantee you, they'll get it right."
Teachers got up to the podium with declarations of loyalty to the children, frugality in all things except education, statements of quality education suffering if we don't tax to the cap.
Those who were against the levy brought the recession back to the board and begged for "relief." One woman strongly stated "Stop the lies, stop the hypocrisy and stop using our children." She continued by calling for a voluntary wage freeze for teachers and administration. "We are teaching our children to demand what they want despite the cost," she warned.
Ironically, the students began to take turns at the mic, with a mantra of "we need all of our aids/we need our librarian because I read a lot/we need the Gifted and Talented program because I am so gifted and talented and others who are not as intelligent as me won't be able to adjust to a heavy work load out in the real world without the program." (Didn't make sense to me, either.) One student proclaimed "We may not understand it all, but we know what we don't like."
School board members were able to respond one by one. Kathy VanEerden stated she would support the 10.9% tax levy, and the rest followed suit. Bruce Koenig praised the administration for taking pay freezes, and this was met with general applause. He gave an analogy of building a wood shed without the proper quality parts, stating that the school children were like that project in that what we decide today will affect the quality of their lives for years to come. Tim Stepanski gave a tearful and emotional synopsis of his son's benefit from the AP classes and his ability to clear out college credits before graduating from high school, and spoked in support of the 10.9% tax levy as well. The levy passed with a unanimous vote.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
ALERT! ALERT! Freedom to teach abstinence-only education ENDANGERED. VOTE is NEXT WEEK.
We need 7 NO votes to STOP this bill at the Committee Level.
This bill REMOVES THE FREEDOM of local school districts to write their own Human Growth & Development curricula.
WRITTEN BY PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
10:00 AM
417 North (GAR Hall)
State Capitol
ALL HANDS ON DECK----calls/emails from across the state should be pouring in to these offices!
Assembly Bill 458 - http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2009/data/AB-458.pdf
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
URGENT! Pro-Life State Workers - FRIDAY DEADLINE!
Premiums Unity Community Unity-UW Health
Single Plan $626.40/month $576.10/month
Family Plan $1,562.30/month $1,436.50/month
Single $7,516.80/year $6,913.20/year
Family $18,747.60/year $17,238.00/year
Lost Revenue from Pro-Life Boycott
Unity Community Unity-UW Health
100 Single Plans $ 751,680 per year $ 691,320 per year
5 Families $ 93,738 per year $ 86,190 per year
100 Families $1,874,760 per year $1,723,800 per year
Folks should consider making the switch to life-affirming plans for themselves and their families.
Concerned Citizens of West Bend/Grothman Meeting Tonight 7:30
Who We Are:
We are a Grass Roots Group of “Regular Joe”, Common Sense, Taxpaying United States citizens that have decided to find the time to make an impact on the futures of our towns, cities, counties, states and country.
Our Mission:
To preserve, promote, and nurture the constitution at local, state and federal levels by educating the public on current and pending legislative policies, and to help constitutionally conservative individuals obtain and maintain political offices through fund raising and campaign assistance.
Our Goals:
1. To educate, and become more educated on current local, state and federal, political issues.
2. To seek out, promote, and elect constitutionally conservative individuals to office.
3. To return our cities, counties, states and country back to the tax paying citizens, one seat at a time.