Voter ID – The True Purpose Revealed

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Glen Grothman (Republican in Wisconsin’s State Senate) said it out loud and into a microphone. When asked how he thought a Republican could win Wisconsin in the general election when such an event hasn’t happened since 1984, he responded, “…now we have photo ID, and I think photo ID is going to make a little bit of a difference.”

Voters now need to present a photo ID at the polls every time they vote. Drivers’ licenses, passports, military IDs – easy, right?

Wrong.

Let’s take Amigo for example. He’s blind; he doesn’t drive. He has a state photo ID because he had access to the documentation he needed and he had someone to drive him to the DMV to get it. When he lost his wallet at a school reunion, he was able to replace that ID at the DMV. It was a bother, but he had a ride (me) and someone to fill out the form for him (also me).

Not everyone has the advantages that Amigo does. He also votes in his home city, so the address on his ID is current. Take college students, for example. The liberal arts university in my fair city’s downtown had long, long lines last week. Long, long lines that meant waits of more than an hour. One reason: These college students moved annually, so their campus addresses changed. Another reason: the poll workers were stymied by the college IDs, identification that didn’t have addresses or dates on them.

In general, high voter turnout often favors Democrats. When the Republicans controlling our state government introduced and passed the law requiring photo ID at the polls, we progressives complained, and loudly. We knew, just KNEW that the goal was to make voting more difficult. We could tell this law wasn’t intended to combat fraud, but intended to keep more voters away from the polls. The right wing denied it over and over and over. And then Grothman went oops. He admitted publicly that he thought Voter ID would give the GOP an advantage over the progressives and Democrats so popular in our grand old state.

What’s next? Registration tests? Gerrymandered districts? Oh, wait, that’s already happening. More important, readers: what do we do next?

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The Dreaded Influenza A

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Most of my family members faithfully get the flu vaccine each year. Chuck doesn’t. For some reason, he doesn’t seem to be as vulnerable to the annual flu virus. This year, flu season is different.

Flu season this year came later than usual. Here it is April – April! – not November, not January, and both Chuck and Amigo are down with diagnoses of Influenza A. Chuck ended up in the emergency room a few days ago, struggling to breathe. After a chest x-ray, a nebulizer breathing treatment, and a flu test, the official word was Influenza A. Flu. The upper respiratory virus from hell.

Amigo got his a few days later. We were a little bummed; he’d been ill with some sort of virus for about two weeks, and I thought maybe that was his flu. He gets the shot every year, and that might have mitigated the severity somewhat. No such luck; he is currently curled up on the couch with pillows and blankets and a humidifier on high. Well, the humidifier is on the floor nearby. He’s not curled up with it. Yet.

Chuck most likely came in contact with the virus Tuesday night. His symptoms started in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Tuesday night he was out late covering Ted Cruz’ primary election event in Milwaukee. Governor Walker was there, too. Can I blame Cruz and Walker for my dear hubby getting sick? Maybe not, but I do like to blame the governor for anything and everything possible.

Meanwhile, he brought home the bug and got quite sick, too. I’ve been taking care of him the best I can, treating the symptoms and cooking up comfort foods.

Amigo’s symptoms turned up overnight Friday. His diagnosis was confirmed over the phone with the nurse on call. Once again, we’re treating the symptoms. Chuck was too late for the famous Tamiflu. Amigo couldn’t get an appointment within the magic first 24 hours, and the nurse told me many doctors are hesitating to prescribe it these days. There is some doubt as to its true effectiveness.

Meanwhile, I’m still healthy and knocking on wood and washing my hands and trying not to breathe near either of my guys. If I make it past this week…well, let’s not chance anything.

Readers, I’m feeding the sick ones (and myself) chicken soup and other sources of fluid and nutrition. Advice is welcome – for treating their symptoms and keeping myself flu-free. Add your prescriptions for comfort in the comments.

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The Spark Plug Award

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He said it felt like the Oscars. He was surprised. No, he was blown away when his name was called. He had no idea he was getting an award.

Despite his shock and awe, Amigo managed to give quite a nice acceptance speech. He thanked his parents for driving him to practice. He gave credit to his high school music teacher for getting him off to a good start singing. He mentioned that he had grown up surrounded by music and he enjoyed singing barbershop style.

His award is called the Spark Plug. The Spark Plug award goes to someone whose enthusiasm and energy bring a spark to the group. Amigo brings a spark with his voice, of course (he’s good! very good!), and he brings a spark with his attitude, too. He brings his voice, his musicianship, and his sense of humor to each rehearsal and performance.

I was such a mom. I had a major lump in my throat watching my boy, my young man, getting recognized and rewarded for being who he is – outgoing, friendly, talented, fun.

Anyway, readers, after the dinner was cleared and the awards were given, there was karaoke. Karaoke, at a barbershop party? These guys love to sing! I could have listened all night. But Amigo and Chuck were ready to lug the trophy home, so I enjoyed one more song (a local restaurant owner singing Billy Joel’s “For the Longest Time”) and joined them to head home.

The Spark Plug Award has a place of honor on our fireplace mantel. It’ll stay there for a while – until next year, when Amigo gets to make a short speech and hand it off to the next harmonizer who energizes the group.

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Apathy; We can’t afford to go there.

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“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”
-Jane Goodall
“Stopping Trump is the short term solution.The long-term solution – and it will be more difficult – is fixing the educational system that has created so many people ignorant enough to vote for Trump.” – Andy Borowitz
In Daisy language, the first quote tells me, “Get up and speak up. Do more than just vote; make sure others are getting to the polls. Get up off the couch and go make a difference. Get back into the volunteer circuit and do something to get a strong, decent, candidate on the way to becoming a strong, decent president.”
The second quote is more difficult. As I read between the lines, I see an indictment of today’s public education system, and I’m part of that system. So how do I address Andy Borowitz when he says the educational system is creating (infer: graduating) ignorant people?
Maybe I don’t need to address Andy. I know our public educational system has limitations. It’s not perfect by a long shot. One of the downfalls comes in the concept that public schools educate everybody; rich or poor, smart or not-so-smart, eager or apathetic learners.
And yet – and yet – that’s what makes our educational system unique. We educate everyone. One of the best lessons we can teach is that: everyone deserves an education.
The tougher lesson to teach, the one Borowitz suggests, is fighting ignorance. To root out ignorance, we (educators and families and whole villages) need to teach high level thinking skills. We need to teach our students to read, to analyze, and to form conclusions. With that in mind, I’ll pull up the late George Carlin. He’s the one who said, “Don’t just teach your children to read…Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything.”
It’s in the questions that we’ll find answers. It’s in the questioning that we’ll find thoughtful, insightful voters. When those analytical, thinking voters get going, we’ll see an intelligent, analytical, thoughtful, insightful, candidate become an intelligent, analytical, thoughtful, insightful president.

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Election on the way: Paranoia Sets In

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Maybe it’s Trump. Maybe it’s the dystopian novels I read so often. My inner paranoid streak or doomsday prepper is begging to get out and take action.

Here’s an example. Trump claimed today that if he carries Wisconsin in the primary, he’ll go to a Packer game in the fall. Does he have any idea how hard it is to get tickets? Or how long the waiting list is for season tickets? Never mind. Don’t answer that.

Our primary election is next week Tuesday. The airwaves are full of campaign ads. The one that makes me slap my forehead and shout “Doh!” is Ted Cruz’ commercial that announces he is the only one who can beat Trump. “Do the math!” the announcer demands while showing a bar graph. Frankly,  the best candidate to beat Donny Boy isn’t on the same primary ticket. Do the math? Someone forgot a variable.

I spent a bundle to restock our medicine cabinet with supplies for spring allergy season. It was costly. It would be more costly if I hadn’t stocked up and had needed a last-minute run to the store. By planning ahead, I was able to use two coupons and buy generic store brands. When all the allergic folks start breaking out in sneezes and wheezes, the shelves will be empty except for the expensive varieties.

I’ve used up the corn in the freezer. If we want corn, we’ll have to buy it from the store. We have one container of peas left, and several of beans (green and yellow). We salvaged the last two squash from the basement and noted that next year we need to cook them sooner, not later. I guess the vegetable of choice for the time being will be beans. As the summer arrives, I’ll put up more corn, an equal amount of peas, and beans? Let me think about it.

Meanwhile, I’m hearing about schools getting budgets zapped, stripped to the bone. Layoffs are rampant. My job is fairly secure, at least for the time being. I just did a promo for open enrollment a few days ago. Maybe it’ll help keep our enrollment up.

But when I go in to vote on Tuesday, I’ll have all of these issues on my mind – and more. All politics may be local, and it’s also personal. Very personal. Do I need to stock up on toilet paper? Build a chicken coop? Hide my retirement fund in a mattress?

Readers, help me silence my inner doomsday siren. Promise me you’ll do the most important prep of all: you’ll vote.

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Snow Day! It’s all in the timing.

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We were expecting 11 inches of snow. Or maybe it was nine. Or 10-12 inches. All depending on which forecast was on the TV or the radio or the computer screen – we just knew there was a storm coming.

So we prepped, as we privileged first world people do. At work, we ordered lunch from a local restaurant in case we didn’t get to do it at the end of the work week. We postponed our office Soup Day because the odds were against having to work the next day – and if we were in business, it would be tough to drag all the crock pots and supplies through the snow piles in the parking lot. As the long day (parent-teacher conference schedule) ended, we took the extra step of cleaning our cubicles and bringing home anything we’d left in the refrigerator.

When I got home, I still didn’t know if the blizzard that was moving in would convince our district superintendent to shut us down. So I prepped as I do, in this privileged first world home of mine. I charged all of the devices. The Kindle, my phone, my laptop – all got plugged in and charged in case of a power outage. I charged my FitBit because it is also my alarm in the morning. We keep a pretty well-stocked pantry, so feeding the troops (ahem, the family) won’t be difficult.

Petunia has been watching the storm from her hospital room on the 8th floor. This pneumonia that side tracked her at least put her in a room with a view.

I have the news, now. It’s official. No school tomorrow! Spring break starts early! You guessed it, people. This blizzard, with its white-out warnings and blowing snowdrifts has added one day onto our spring break. Mother Nature has a sense of humor – I’d better laugh a little, too.

Maybe I’ll start a few more seeds under my grow lights – as long as the power stays on!

 

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Ignore the Donald, and he’ll go away. Not.

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For a long stretch I tried to avoid blogging about Donald Trump. He thrives on attention, positive or negative, and I vowed I wouldn’t give him what he wants. Ignoring attention-getting behavior is a natural for teachers. I thought it would be effective in the political arena, too.

But ignoring the behavior in the hopes that it would go away doesn’t always work. Sometimes, without additional strategies, behavior worsens when ignored. That’s what’s happened here – until recently.

As long as he was getting away with it, Trump continued to spout his hateful rhetoric. He encouraged his followers to “knock the crap out of” anyone who might throw a tomato at a rally. If his followers got arrested, he promised to pay their legal fees. Trump also said he wanted to “punch (a reporter) in the face”.

Protesters in Chicago decided that ignoring Trump’s behavior wasn’t working, so they gathered in the streets. And gathered peacefully, too. These people didn’t fight violence with violence; they showed they didn’t support Trump’s bigotry by exercising their right to peaceably assemble. And when the man himself decided not to appear, the tens of thousands cheered.

It’s time, people. It’s time to recognize that this man is dangerous and his bigotry and bias are not going away unless we take action. We need to speak up and let the nation and the world know that this man’s behavior is not acceptable. His hate speech is not acceptable. His violent attitude is not acceptable.

And we’re not going to ignore the Donald’s behavior anymore.

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I’ll hold my vote until I turn blue!

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Mixing metaphors again, figuratively speaking. I’m really looking at you, Republican senators. I include Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson in that mess, too. The stubborn response, no, pre-response, is ridiculous. Dig your heels in if you must, but don’t complain when your shoes get muddy. And if you insist on holding your breath until you turn blue, make sure there’s a pillow nearby when you collapse.

President Obama has filled his Constitutional responsibility. He has nominated a candidate to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are pulling out their childish act again. The folks on the far right side in D.C. would like to refuse any candidate the President suggests. In fact, they plan to prevent this nominee from getting approved for the court by stalling. Standing still. Refusing to convene the committee that will interview, question, and eventually confirm or deny the nominee’s placement in the all-important judicial branch of the three ring circus that Washington has become.

Those on the right would like to postpone this appointment until after the next president is inaugurated. This way, they figure, they can elect a president of their choice and that president will nominate someone who leans right, far right.

Unfortunately for the tea party side, the president has precedent on which to act. Filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the last year of a presidency is rare, but not unheard of. Here’s a breakdown.

  • In 1912, Taft nominated Mahlon Pitney.
  • In 1932, Hoover nominated Benjamin Cardozo.
  • In 1968, Johnson nominated once, twice, and then saw Earl Warren decide to postpone his retirement. That time, the situation was complicated.

Three times – not a huge number, but as these were the only three occasions in more than a century of presidencies, these three times set a significant precedent.

For the sake of unity, for the sake of cooperation, it’s time to get to work. If those on the rightest of right need a reason to let out their collective breath and move to the center for a little while, here’s one. Just think “What will Hillary do?”

Thanks to Politifact.com for providing the history behind the precedent.

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