Political Heat

It doesn't take a genius to understand the important role that teachers play in our society. They're responsible for shaping the minds of our youth, of instilling critical analysis skills necessary for our children to have in the real world once they graduate and enter the real world. Teachers are important people in our communities -- but for how much we truly depend on them, we don't always treat them fairly or with much respect. Nor do we always provide for them the resources needed to properly teach a room of young people the skills they will one day need to pursue their passions. AdoptAClassroom.org seeks to remedy that problem. They provide teachers that are struggling for resources to reach out to friends, family, and the community-at-large to make donations, large or small, to help keep the classroom fun, interesting, and educational. I just made a donation tonight to an art teacher in Grafton, Wisconsin , to help him pay for updated photography equipment and softw...

Last night, Friends of Progressive Talk in Madison, Wisconsin, held a meeting at Glass Nickel Pizza regarding the Mic 92.1's plans to discontinue the Bill Press show on weekday mornings. Bill Press, a liberal commentator whose show is based out of Washington D.C., would be replaced on April 1 with the Wall Street Journal Report, a news program similar in many respects to NPR-style broadcasts. The meeting was a positive start to what will hopefully result in the Mic keeping Bill Press on the morning lineup. The sentiment of the 50-60 people who packed the basement of Glass Nickel ranged from outrage to confusion, with most (let's face it...all) in attendance upset over the station's decision to remove a liberal program in favor of a new show that, although seemingly non-biased, is part of the Rupert Murdoch-owned media machine. Tim Scott, the station manager of the Mic, was unable to attend that evening, but the group hoped to meet with him sometime soon. Ideas of increasi...

The following was originally posted at Dane101.com . The article, in its entirety, is there for your viewing pleasure. Last night Tuesday night, President Barack Obama stood before a mixed Congress, delivering what was in my opinion a very good speech on what direction he’d like this country to move towards. He spoke on many subjects, focusing on the economy, education, infrastructure needs, and the overall improvement of our economy over the next few years. The Republican rebuttal was delivered by Wisconsin’s own Paul Ryan, whose speech was also decent in terms of delivery. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) delivered a Tea Party response. Read more at Dane101.com .

The Mic 92.1 in Madison is set to change its programming once again -- unless people act against it. On April 1, the station will end the run of the Bill Press Show in the mornings, replacing it with the Wall Street Journal Report, a Rupert Murdoch-owned program. This isn't the first time that the Mic, owned by Clear Channel, has tried to replace political programming with pro-corporate talk radio. In January of 2009, the Thom Hartmann show was replaced by a call-in program aimed at helping listeners improve their finances . Though such a show would be beneficial to listeners of any ideology, the fact that it replaced one of the more popular shows on the station was a sign to many that management didn't care about programming that listeners wanted to hear. Ultimately, Clear Channel acquiesced to the demands of the Mic's listeners, and reinstated the Thom Hartmann show. However, the local morning show hosted by Lee Rayburn remained canceled. The show that ultimately filled ...

Barack Obama is set to speak to the nation this coming Tuesday when he delivers his State of the Union address to Congress. Though not required to be given in speech form, the president must deliver an examination to Congress every year on the condition our nation is currently in, as per Article 2 Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution . Past presidents have used this opportunity to reinvigorate their administration's projects, although the practice of delivering a speech to Congress was discontinued after Thomas Jefferson became president. It wasn't until 1913 when Woodrow Wilson reintroduced the speech-format of the State of the Union address that it became common practice for a president to present it to Congress himself (though presidents as late as Jimmy Carter have also delivered their State of the Union in text rather than speech form). Following the speech, many presidents hit the road, pitching their ideas they touched on in their words to the nation in a more intimate, l...

Recently, I wrote a letter to the editor in response to another letter that had been published earlier in the month regarding liberals in Wisconsin. The original letter, written by Jim Cox , is below: Why do most liberals resent people with money? Their ideas and willingness to take financial risks is what created jobs. They managed to be successful, paid your wages and benefits, half your Social Security and all your unemployment benefits. Now the trend is to support the underachievers, using tax dollars from the people with money. This doesn't sound fair to me. I am "middle class," but I appreciate the jobs they created for me. They had aspirations and should be rewarded. Fair is fair. A flat-rate tax, of perhaps 10 percent across the board, is the equitable way. The wealthy do not stuff their money under a mattress. That money is out there spurring our economy. Don't divert it to financing government give-aways. - Jim Cox, Lodi Here was my response , posted January...

Last week I wrote about the unfortunate title of the Republicans' repeal of the health reform law . The title included the phrase "job-killing," which in the aftermath of the Arizona shootings that killed half a dozen people conjures up images of violence that many on the right had promised not to do during this debate anymore. But the bill wasn't just inappropriately named -- it was also factually inaccurate . A recent article from the Associated Press explains why the "Repealing the Job-killing Health Care Law Act" is flat-out wrong, because the health care law that passed will not in fact hamper job growth: Republicans pushing to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul warn that 650,000 jobs will be lost if the law is allowed to stand. ... [The GOP cites] the 650,000 lost jobs as Exhibit A, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office as the source of the original analysis behind that estimate. But the budget office, which referees the...

Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day. Take a moment to reflect on the enormous sacrifices that many made in order to make true the promise that our forefathers made, that all would be treated equal in our society. Honor Dr. King by promising to support the cause that lives on to this day.

With Congress set set to resume business following the terrible events in Tucson, Arizona, House Republican leaders have made it clear that they intend to push the bill they delayed this week that would repeal the health reform law that was enacted last year. There is a bit of controversy surrounding this proposed repeal, besides the fact that it would both increase the budget deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars as well as leave more than 30 million Americans with no insurance options . The controversy lies within the name of the bill itself: the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act." Besides being titled in a way that would make any respectable high school English teacher cringe, the bill includes the word "killing," which in the wake of the shootings in Arizona is noticeably inconsiderate. At a time when lawmakers on both sides are heeding the call to tone down the violent rhetoric, this bill's title instead continues it encouraging a bipart...

In the wake of the tragedy that occurred in Arizona this past week, the debate on gun control is starting to gain traction in the mainstream media. Specifically, many are questioning whether renewing the assault weapons ban that expired during the Bush administration's time in office could have helped prevent some what happened this past weekend. The ban likely wouldn't have stopped the tragedy itself. Jared Loughner was clearly a troubled individual, determined to get his point across through whatever means he could -- including through the use of violence. But the weapons Loughner utilized to carry out his act of madness were on the list of weapons (and accessories) that were previously banned before 2004. Loughner used a Glock 19 with a high-capacity magazine count (he was able to shoot off more than 30 bullets before needing to reload). Before the assault weapons ban expired, the legal magazine count was limited to 10 , and the gun that Loughner used in his rampage wasn...

Following the devastating shooting in Tuscon, Arizona on Saturday involving Congresswoman Giffords and several others (including a federal judge and a nine-year old child), many political pundits have wondered out loud what role our political climate (and more specifically, violent campaign rhetoric ) played in the incident. Though Jared Loughner was a disturbed individual who may make a compelling insanity argument when his day in court comes, there is no doubt at all that our culture has created a mess within our political discourse -- it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone at all if Loughner's actions were driven in part by the imagery that politicians and commentators have pushed. No one should place actual blame, however, on anyone but Loughner -- the idea that this young man could be driven to act out in this way by rhetoric alone is as absurd an idea as a person being driven to kill based on Beatles' lyrics . But there is a compelling case to be made that our political...

I don't know what to say exactly about the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others with her today. There isn't much really to say that isn't already common sense: the shooting was a terrible travesty, an unnecessary display of cowardice by a man that most likely disagreed politically with the Congresswoman's views. As I write this, Giffords is in surgery fighting for her life. It should never have come to this. If a man disagrees politically with his representative, violence is ALWAYS the wrong route to take. The political climate in this country is making a very minute -- but very radical -- population crazy, acting out in violent ways in attempts to "take this country back." Assassination plots against then-candidate Barack Obama; an attack made at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. perpetrated by a white supremacist; violence in Unitarian churches based on the political ideology its members hold; an assassination of an abortion clinic doctor ...

It's been less than one week since they assumed power of the House of Representatives, but Republican lawmakers in Washington are already wasting your time -- and your tax dollars as well. First was the reading of the U.S. Constitution aloud among the members of the House. Though it included Democrats as well, the insistence by the GOP that the document be read actually cost taxpayers more than $1 million . The largely symbolic display of the scope and limits of our government was meant to educate the masses on what exactly is in our Constitution, though it may have been conservative lawmakers who were surprised when they read not once but but twice the U.S. government's right and duty to "promote" and "provide for" the "general welfare" of the citizenry. That part leads to the second waste of time and resources that Republicans are pushing. With many members of the GOP clamoring over whether it is Constitutional or not, House Republicans are p...

Having hardly been sworn in yet for the new legislative session, state Republican lawmakers wasted no time in setting forth a series of bills aimed at pushing a conservative social agenda . In a year characterized by constituent wishes for jobs and a healthy economy, conservative legislator (and husband to the newly-minted lieutenant governor) Joel Kleefisch set forth a dozen bills for the Assembly to consider. Not all of the laws proposed are necessarily bad, or even conservative, at least at face value. A law prohibiting a sex offender from being on school property without first notifying the school in question seems quite logical to most. Ending the prohibition on the sale of cars on Sunday won't do much harm either to Wisconsin citizens, aside from those that like to browse lots uninterrupted on weekends. But it's the assault of democratic rights that have many pondering the true motivations of Republican lawmakers now controlling our state government. Kleefisch has propos...

In considering to publish a year-end post last week, it turned out I never really had the time to do one anyway . Between traveling to several different locations during the holidays, the idea of a year-in-review post would be tiresome, forced on my part, and something that many publications -- many times more legitimate than this one -- had already done. Still, it's worth pointing out that 2010 was a year of limited success for Obama and Democrats, one with sizable gains but at the expense of the administration's hard-earned popularity. Health care and Wall Street reform topped the administration's many accomplishments (though they certainly could have gone further), and late-December compromises with Republicans allowed the president to get many important packages passed, including extending tax cuts for the middle class , getting benefits to 9/11 responders , repealing " Don't Ask, Don't Tell ," and extending unemployment insurance for those in dire n...

If you're a regular reader of Political Heat -- to me, still a strange concept -- you may have noticed that the blog hasn't been updated for quite some time. I've been doing some family/friend get-togethers over the past two weeks, with Christmases in Madison and the Fox River Valley taking my time, as well as New Year's celebration in Milwaukee and the Rose Bowl this weekend. I'm back now -- there will be regular updates in the coming weeks. And with the state government changing hands tomorrow, you can rest assured there will be plenty to talk about. So, sorry about the lack of commentary over the past two weeks...but hey, life happens. Thanks for understanding. :)