Yes, I’m a liberal drinker, isn’t everyone?

Last night after work I went to the meeting of Drinking Liberally, a group of ne’er do wells who meet at the Transfer Pizza to socialize. and kick back a few drinks in a comfortable atmosphere.Getting there represented a logistical challenge since I worked at 27th and Loomis and needed two buses to reach 1st and Mitchell St. I walked several blocks down Mitchell because I expected the bus to arrive at 8:45.

I wanted to meet the featured speaker Mahlon Mitchell, a confident young African-American man who is running for Lieutenant Governor. He was sought out as a candidate three months ago, far before the recall election was certified by the Government Accountability Board. Mitchell is president of the Wisconsin Firefighters Association and lives with his wife, April and their two children in Fitchburg which is just outside of Madison. He was born in 1977 around the time I was graduating from the University of Buffalo as a non-traditional student. He’s even younger than all of my nephews.

To say that Mahlon faces an uphill battle would be understating the case. This is a very white state and only one African-American Vel Phillips has ever been elected to state wide office. In the state’s largest city, Milwaukee, fewer than half of the black men are in the labor force, according to a report published by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The state is still reeling from the unjust killing of Bo Morrison  a bi-racial young man who was shot while standing on a porch by a man who claimed he  was defending his castle.

Moreover, we are more likely to find African-Americans behind bars or  in bars than working at the construction sites around town. In some ways, as bleak as things may be, this is the right time for new leadership to emerge from the community. Recently Eyon Biddle a first term county supervisor with a union background, ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Willie Hines. At the same time G. Spencer Coggs became the first African-American elected to city-wide office in his victory to become Milwaukee City Treasurer. His niece Milele Coggs continues to impress as a young leader on the Common Council.

Things are changing, though far too slowly. I encouraged Mahlon to press for change in the way Wisconsin uses its federal mental health block grant. In the weeks ahead I will be contacting him about my concerns. It seemed fitting that I met him the day that the Walker administration trashed the state’s contract with Talgo, the Spanish train manufacturer. Despite the fact Wisconsin had invested millions of dollars under previous governor Jim Doyle on upgrading our rail infrastructure, soon to be recalled Scott Walker made killing this deal a priority once he took office.

If all goes well, we will have an opportunity to reverse those job killing policies in Madison and set an example for the rest of the country to  follow.

Related articles

• Drinking Liberally – Seattle (horsesass.org)
• Reprint: Mahlon Mitchell: Best Wishes (showedupandshowedout.wordpress.com)
• Mahlon Mitchell, Wisconsin Firefighters Union President, To Run For Lieutenant Governor (huffingtonpost.com)
• One of the 44% (kenyatta2009.wordpress.com)

Who did you vote for?

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Yesterday was primary election day for many local races in Milwaukee. To prepare for this event I checked to learn who were my local representatives, found a piece of mail to bring with me to the polls as proof of address and then learned about the candidates. The actual voting took place in the afternoon between my morning and afternoon shifts. I went to the polling place where I had voted the past several years, only to discover I was in a new ward and I would have to walk a few blocks to my new polling place.

Voting has been ingrained in me almost from birth. When I went home for the holidays in December my soon to be 88 year old mother told me she not only votes but also helps drive others to the polls. My older sister is a former Democratic committee woman. I found my first girl friend through working on a political campaign while in high school. Yes, I was born to be informed.

I was always aware that our choices my be limited or increased by what happens at the ballot box. Take re-designing the mental health system in Milwaukee County, for example. At least two of the new supported apartment buildings constructed in Milwaukee were built using federal money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009  signed into law by President Obama. This act, derided by Republicans, helped create real and permanent good by offering decent affordable housing for people with mental illness. Combined with resources from state and local government, private foundations and investors, it was an example of economic stimulation at its finest.

It was a sharp contrast the the Bush era economic stimulus which consisted of nothing more than a small across the board  tax cut. Barely Political, a You tube satire group, did a hilarious send up of the stimulus package. It included a man fantasizing about all the great things he was going to buy with his $200.

The merits of these approaches to government are being debated and distorted every day in the media and it behooves everyone to learn about them. Especially when you are recovering from a mental illness, you need to understand that you can make a difference in the world around you. You can petition, make telephone calls, write blogs, talk to your neighbors and pay attention to the news. These are called instrumental activities of daily living and they are almost as essential as getting a good night’s rest in building a whole life. You will find the more you immerse yourself in the world, the less time you will have to feeling distressed.

Image via CrunchBase

 

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• Disenfranchisement by Default: Voting While Disabled (tigerbeatdown.com)

One of the 44%

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has published a front page story about the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Center for Development about the disappearance from the job market of African American men. Over the past 40 years employment levels for men 16 to 64, a group which includes me, have fallen from 73% to just barely 44%.  At the same time, incarceration rates have risen dramatically. Even for men not incarcerated, it’s not uncommon to find they are paying off tickets for disorderly conduct or other offenses.  At the same time, they we are leaving the job scene, we are actually becoming less employable.

According to the UWM study, the bottom 5 cities for black male employment were

1. Chicago 48.3%
2. Cleveland 47.7%
3. Milwaukee44.7%
4. Buffalo 43.9%
5. Detroit43.0%

The top 5 were

1. Washington 66.6%
2. Dallas 61.%
3. Boston 59.7%
4. Minneapolis 59.3%
5. Atlanta 59.0%

You will notice that those top levels of employment are nowhere near the peak level from 40 years ago.  Further, the declines in employment levels covered white, Hispanic and black men. It is a trend that mirrored the de-industrialization of northern cities.  As our jobs fled south and later to China (that giant sucking sound Ross Perot  warned  us about) we have been left with lower paid positions in the service industry.

The factory jobs that remain are largely performed by robots that do all the manual labor that our parents used to do. It’s called getting more out of workers or some fancy term like “productivity.”

As an African-American male I find this situation troubling. When I left Buffalo in 1980 it was already in decline. Although things looked better in my new home of Milwaukee, it, too was on the way down. Despite two college degrees I found it difficult to develop and sustain a satisfactory career.  In recent years I have created a new career, as a peer specialist and for the first time my income and hours worked began to rise. I guess I should feel grateful but I worry about the long term implications of the UWM study.

My nephew John has started a family in Buffalo. Will he fall victim, too? Is America prepared to ignore the skills of millions men who play by the rules and strive for a piece of the dream? Are we going to recapture those jobs that fled our shores? Can a man who creates jobs in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland understand the plight of American workers? I don’t think so, Mitt! Can a man who labelled Barack Obama “the food stamp president” identify with the issues facing low income workers? No way, Newt. Will the former publisher of racist newsletters give a damn whether black men and women drown in this economy?

Barack Obama’s future is tied to our success. We may not return to the employment levels of the 1970s overnight but that’s the only way we can create an America that is born to succeed.

Related articles

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Little Known Support Groups You Should Join

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As a peer specialist part of my job is finding resources for people who are experiencing emotional distress. Having revitalized my wildly successful blog last year I have been flooded with tips for my many dedicated followers.

These are among the many support groups I recently uncovered

1. PTAA, Post Traumatic Alien Abductions. If you’ve ever met someone who has been probed by aliens and survived long distance relationships with those fabulously interesting Martians, you know how annoying these people can become. They kill dinner conversation by quoting the latest SF movie and insist upon showing you exactly where ET and his friends had sex with them. Have you ever wondered whether  there wasn’t some place you could send them? Well, now there is hope. Just follow the link at the end of this blog and you and Jan Brewer will be free of aliens.
2. IMVGFDSFUIGE, If My Vegan Girl Friend Doesn’t Shut the Fuck Up, I’m Gonna Explode. If you’re like me, you want to shove a piece of meat in front of some smug vegan and say, bite me.As justified as your actions might seem at the time, some people would consider them morally repugnant. And someone might actually take you up on your offer. A safer alternative might be retiring to your nearest steakhouse for a couple of hours eating some of natures tastiest animals.
3. HCBMH, Herman Cain Broke My Heart. For those true believers who clung to his every word  and understood  the genius behind his 69/69 tax proposal I know you mourn for the one who was too intellectual for America. An early dropout from the Clown Car of Republican Presidential Comedians, he thrilled Jon Stewart and other irresponsible so-called journalists.  Your man, Herman, shall rise again, in bedrooms across America.
4. WNAWNM, We Need a War Now Mommy, for those deeply worried about the threat of peace breaking out in the next 4 years. There are deeply, sincerely, pro-life, sitting around pondering the death of Iranians just in time for next Christmas. Instead of saying all you  want is your two front teeth, you wish for dead children in some distant land. You may get your wish, just ask who god told Pat Robertson will be the next president.
   

   Image via Wikipedia

   

   Image via Wikipedia

    

Related articles

• Why “lonely” executives need a support group (holykaw.alltop.com)
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Occupy Australia

If President Obama was playing basketball with the American people, the play by play might go something like this. “The President fakes left, ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” Next he goes far right, ignoring the execution of Troy Davis. He dribbles between his legs, passes the ball to Leon Panetta who explains we could go back to Iraq if their leaders requested it.  Then as the Republican candidates makes assess of themselves,  the President dunks as he announces America is going to occupy Australia. http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/1321502826/last-1321579706/US+permanently+stationed+2500+troop+in+Australia+to+watch+Chinese+movement

Yes 2500 troops will go to the land down under on a mission to supposedly watch Chinese naval movements. The President taps into that vast reservoir of funds and goodwill regained as the rich started paying their fair share of taxes to pay for another military occupation. Instead of taking my advice and realizing this is a hell of a long time to be occupying Asia,  the Big O goes deep and rushes to the aid of Australia, a small struggling third world country.

Actually, they’re a rather powerful and well developed nation.

The economy of Australia is a developed, modern market economy with a GDP of approximately US$1.23 trillion.^[10] In 2011, it was the 13th largest national economy by nominal GDP^[11] and the 17th largest measured by PPP adjusted GDP, representing about 1.7% of the World economy. Australia was also ranked the 19th largest importer and 19th largest exporter.

Australia is a member of the APEC, G20, OECD and WTO organisations. Australia has also entered into free trade agreements with ASEAN, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.^[12] The ANZCERTA agreement with New Zealand has greatly increased integration with the New Zealand economy and there are now plans to form an Australasian Single Economic Market by 2015.^[13]

Sounds like a country that could afford to take care of itself. Ya think? Meanwhile, yes, I was kidding about that money from the rich, they’re placing bets on who to elect next November.

You might have noticed that at the same time President Obama declare that defending Australia was key to our national security, he re-assured China that we were not somehow tracking their naval expansion.  Our stores are filled with goods from China. The biggest beneficiary of the American “Black Friday” will undoubtedly be China as the consumer orgy floods our homes with more Chinese goods and services.

The Grand Game is on as bets are placed regarding the future of Social Security, Medicare and the  Health Care Law. Will the bloated US military escape the so-called draconian cuts scheduled to go  into effect if the Super Committee cannot find compromise?

Those of us on the left with our Occupy signs probably did not see President O’s latest right wing move coming. But we should have known that the moment the people start talking about occupy, the mis-leaders will  turn that into an opportunity to occupy another large landmass. Let’s Occupy the White  House.

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• Moody’s reaffirms Australia’s AAA rating (news.theage.com.au)

Time For Cain to leave the clown car

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Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a column from Eugene Kane assessing the fitness of Herman Cain to seek the Republican nomination for president. http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/its-time-for-this-cain-to-step-aside-593338m-134008248.html Cain appeared recently before the newspaper’s editorial board and was unimpressive, to say the least. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/cain-backs-collective-bargaining-for-public-employees-l931tg4-133828808.html

As they used to say about Ronald Reagan, it’s what he doesn’t know that scares me. Add in the list of credible accusations of sexual harassment and what you have is a man who is way out of his league. The main thing that Herman Cain does now is remind us how lucky we are to have a president like Barack Obama who understands government and knows what he’s talking about. He won’t be asking about how to speak Cuban, like Cain. http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/11/herman-cain-speaking-cuban-and-reaching-for-foreign-policy/

Keep in mind that I never believed that the Republican Party will seriously consider nominating an African-American (yes, Mr. Cain we are Americans of African origin) for many years. Even Colin Powell, who is light-complexioned, did not take seriously the idea of running as a Republican. http://www.history.com/audio/colin-powell-declines-presidential-bid#colin-powell-declines-presidential-bid. Nonetheless,  when you  stack up Powell’s credentials as a retired general and a former secretary of state, he stands head and shoulders above Cain.

Cain’s candidacy makes as much sense as supporting an economist without any legal background to be nominated to the Supreme Court. Lack of relevant experience should not be considered a virtue, it’s a deal breaker. There  are plenty of others in that clown car of republican presidential candidates, but for now, let’s vote Herman Cain out of  the vehicle tonight. I’m sure he made a wad of dough but it’s time for the pizza man to return to what he knows best. Whatever it is.

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Reason Prevails: Reproductive Freedom and Gays and Lesbians Win

It was good news and  today in elections. Voters in Mississippi, a state whose legislators have been trying to destroy reproductive rights, have rejected an extremist constitutional amendment that would have ended rights to abortions in the state. Meanwhile in Iowa voters upheld the principle of marriage equality previously recognized by that state’s supreme court. And as Pam Spaulding https://plus.google.com/u/0/105502506545735279423/posts noted, there were victories for gays and lesbians who ran for elective office.

I had listened to a disgusting so-called even handed story on National Public Radio this morning about the Mississippi amendment in which a woman representing the anti abortion movement and someone else from the Republican party discussed the issue. The story also noted that Republican Governor Haily Barbour and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney both endorsed the amendment. It should be noted that neither of these individuals would have suffered the consequences if the amendment had passed. Women clung to their freedom as they rejected the monstrosity. Here is a link from Pam: Final tally in: No (179,914) 58%; Yes (128,681) 42%. Time for The Church Lady to hit the booze. Link: http://goo.gl/po0W7 .

It was a major defeat a punch in the jaw for those who seek to return women to the  bad old days before Roe v Wade.  It is bad enough that state lawmakers have reduced reproductive rights to the point where there is only one abortion provider in the state. The constitutional amendment was a test case for other anti woman rednecks around the country to see where they could strike next in their unrelenting efforts to rollback all  of  our rights.

Politicians like Barbour and Romney don’t give a shit about creating jobs for the poor women of America. They have it made in their mansions scattered across the country and their non-taxable income. Does anyone remember when Romney in an attempt to empathize with the unemployed, declared that he, too is also unemployed? If anything his wealth should be confiscated and he should be sent to work for a factory through a temp service in a place like Milwaukee.

As for victories for gays and lesbians, I have a link to a blog that talks about the big money the National Organization for (Some People’s Marriage) poured into an election in Iowa. It was billed as a referendum on the hard fought right of gays and lesbians to have the radical power to form lasting relationships. Imagine the sky has not fallen, invisible beings have not wiped Iowa  off the map and bigotry has been defeated. http://holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com/2011/11/breaking-nom-wastes-over-30000-in.html#.Trn9YKuDPwg.twitter

There are swings back and forth in the numerous elections and it is foolish to declare that there is a trend. However it is good to stop and think that progressives organize, we win.

Hell of a job recommendation, Scott

Barrett in 1993 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Greater Milwaukee Committee is apparently waiting to release some recommendations regarding Milwaukee County government. These recommendations include abolishing the county executive’s position, and spinning off most of the functions of county government such as the parks into commissions. The report which was discussed in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is being withheld to prevent it from influencing the election. The bottom line is that the county is not taxing enough to meet its obligations. The services will be spun off to allow for new leadership that will raise the revenue (taxes)  to pay for them. It sounds like quite an indictment of Scott Walker. Imagine if something like this was said about Milwaukee city government and Tom Barrett.

Well, here we are, Walker was elected governor and faces a recall election. His opponent for governor  Tom Barrett is still the Mayor and collecting splinters on the question of running against Walker again.   We need someone in office at all levels who is ethical, trustworthy, unites people on the basic of equality and believes in  equal justice under law. So I’m going to look for candidates who are endorsed by groups of gays and lesbians, for example. I want to find someone who goes beyond simplistic rhetorical on law and disorder, meaning we need to stop imprisoning more and more people.

Scott Walker on February 18, 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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It’s Somebody Else’s War

Official portrait of United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Español: Retrato oficial de Secretario de Defensa de los Estados Unidos Robert Gates (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I rarely agree with anything Secretary of Defense Gates says so today will be a breakthrough. I think of this in response to a statement that someone made about how President Obama was spending all kinds of money on frivolous programs. First Republican Eric Cantor said that President Obama was adding more to the national debt than ever. When that statement was proven false, a republican on Facebook twisted the argument to try to claim that somehow the rate of spending was still somehow unprecedented. I wondered whether anyone had told this person that America is fighting two wars and that believe it or not, wars cost money.

And then I thought back to something Secretary Gates said about how disconnected most Americans were from the wars. Because we switched to an all volunteer military the government must spend more money to retain troops. We keep deploying  and re-deploying the same troops and preventing them from leaving due to “stop-loss” orders. During the Vietnam War, I was quite aware that the US was at war and that I was at risk of being drafted and sent to fight. So I made it my business to learn about the war and decided I didn’t like the war.

People like me in the peace movement raised our voices when W. Bush was yammering for war. In fact we had tried to get President Clinton before him to realize that the sanctions against Iraq were cruel and unusual. But our cries for justice were left unanswered.  When W. got his first opportunity for war, he took it. It was popular, exciting, shock and awe and better yet no one had to pay for it. W. gave away the budget surplus that he inherited from Clinton in the form of tax breaks that he said would stimulate the economy. In fact, the economy tanked, banks were on the edge of disaster and the auto industry was shrinking.

No wonder W.’s approval rating was microscopic when he left office. No wonder so many of us voted for Obama and other Democrats in 2008. But that hasn’t prevented the Permanent Presidential Campaign of disinformation from creating an entirely new myth about those years. The myth under the name of the so-called Tea Party is that the economy was fine, in 2009 until Obama used government to provide stimulus. Money was even provided to directly subsidize private businesses so that they could hire workers. Obama lowered taxes for most Americans while imposing a modest tax increase on the wealthy to help end the scandal of people dying from preventable causes because they lacked health insurance. He allocated money to help states pay for teachers, police and other vital workers. He extended unemployment to help cushion workers from the brunt of the recession.

The Republicans said these programs were wasteful and made it easy to avoid getting a job. And President Obama looked at the tangled web of war that W. had woven in Iraq and Afghanistan and attempted to unravel it. Some of us fear that Obama may have been ensnared in the web, too. These are President Obama’s wars but they belong to everyone. Our taxes have made it possible to continue the bloodshed. We pay for the corrupt politicians. We own the drones.  It’s not somebody else’s war, it’s ours.

Now, deal with it as an adult, America, not like sniveling children crying for another tax break for the wealthy. At some point, America, you’ve got to realize that you can’t always be fighting all these countries. You don’t have the troops. At some point, you’re going to have to turn off those radio clowns at Fox News in the Permanent Presidential Campaign and re-join the 21st century.

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Oxymoron: Scott Walker Able Executive

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

I just read an article about the debate between Scott Walker and Mark Neumann Republican candidates for governor of Wisconsin. The OnWisconsin.com article said that Walker was running based on his record as Milwaukee County Executive. The guy who just shifted John Chianelli from his position as Administrator of the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex. The guy whose leadership was questioned by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when it called for him to fire Chianelli and more in light of the ongoing scandal involving the staffing shortages, assaults on patients and falsification of records. This is the same Walker who continues to degrade our service on the Milwaukee County Transit System while continuing to raise fares. The same Walker on whose watch we’ve seen our parks and our county buildings deteriorate, causing one death.

And don’t get me started on the mess involving the administration iof the food stamp program that led the State of Wisconsin to take over that program. as if all this was not enough, there was a report from Sheriff Clarke about the lack of security at the Mental Health Complex.  Does this sound like an able executive? I vote no confidence in Walker and I urge everyone to sign the petition from Tom Barrett for governor about stopping the abuse.

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