Sunday, March 25, 2012

Another bomb goes off in Wisconsin.

Hello readers from across Wisconsin and around the world, thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and experiences on these pages.  Trying to do a little unwinding this Sunday after a very long and exciting week here in Madison, WI.  All day on Friday I had been frantically racing around and preparing for my campaign event kick-off, all the while I was dreading the weekly 'Friday News Bomb'

The Friday News Bomb has been a regular event in Wisconsin for the last thirteen months.  Typically mainstream media reports here in Madison, like everywhere else, cover 'news' Monday through Wednesday from 8 am until 6 pm.  That is the news cycle that almost all networks and affiliates adhere to.  Anything that happens from Wednesday evening until Monday morning will usually not be covered, unless sometimes it is a fairly pertinent story that links to others, in which case that story will be merged with another story the next week during the regular cycle.

There are generally two exceptions to this basic rule.  Exception one is a huge breaking news event outside of the three day cycle.  The second exception is the 'human interest' story that occurs outside of the cycle.  The human interest story for instance the 'firefighters rescuing a kitten from a tree story' will always be covered.  The light and fluffy weekend news casts are full of such stories here as most Americans are aware.

The huge breaking news story, the "bomb" in other words is a little different.  If a 'bomb' of a story breaks on a Friday in Wisconsin there  are a couple of ways it will be treated.  If it is of major national interest the story will get bumped up to national affiliates for the next weeks news cycle.  If it is a 'bomb' of a story that has significance to the citizens of the state it may or may not be reported.  Basically if it is simple and easy to explain and perhaps even a little 'sexy' then it would most likely be reported.  A example of this would be the recent incident when someone poured a beer on a legislator.

Sexy and/or appealing, simple and easy to report, and involving a strong emotional reaction, that gets reported on definitely and often throughout the entire weekend news cycle.  If the story is complex and thus would involve lengthy explanation to viewers, and the material requires thought to digest, as opposed to just requiring an emotional response, likely you wont hear of it.

At least not on television and radio regular broadcast news.  A television news online website may contain a brief detailing of a 'bomb' story of that nature, but it will not be broadcast to most of the viewing audience.  Television news on the weekend cycle is controlled more than the three day cycle by advertisers.  Advertisers have a strong affect on weekend news programming and content.  They much prefer the kitten in a tree rescued by firefighters type of story.

In the last year we have seen the GOTea controlled Wisconsin government drastically alter how business is conducted at the Capitol.  Usually legislation would be discussed and voted on during the three day regular press cycle for maximum coverage.  Representatives and senators would come off of the assembly or senate floor after a vote and immediately conduct news interviews on the session that just ended.  That way a pertinent story could be reported, followed by a brief interview with a democrat and a republican giving the t.v. news audience a fairly complete picture of things.

In the last year we have seen the GOTea increasingly holding late night sessions, calling special meetings on short notice and behind closed doors.  They fear the light of day and prefer to work under cover of darkness to keep the actions they are taken secret for fear of backlash against them from the citizenry.  Of course they know it is impossible to do this completely.  But they can stack the deck in their own favor.

Hence now we have the weekly Friday News Bomb, once again the GOTea is manipulating things so that when news of what they have done is reported, it comes at a time when the news agencies themselves are far less likely to cover it.  This is one of the reasons so many of us here have completely quit watching our local news stations and tuned out the radio channels.

The news the mainstream cant/wont report on, which is often the most important news, we get through Internet sources.  Lately the Friday News Bomb has been items such as right wing female legislators abruptly quitting and leaving the government after having been coerced or threatened into voting for legislation they know is morally indefensible and dangerous to all women.

Getting rid of health and sex education and replacing it with prayer and abstinence rhetoric is one such story.  Stories of the federal investigation into Scott Walkers campaign's are a usual topic of the Friday News Bombs.  The stuff the GOTea does not want the public to know.

So all the while I'm micro-managing my event this last Friday, I was waiting for the FNB.  And it finally did come and even later in the evening than usual.  I was dreading what was to come when the story broke.  What could it be?  Would the republicans make rape legal?  Would they shut down public schools and replace them with Scott Walkers daddy's brand of Southern Baptist Churches?

You cant believe how happy I was when the story broke and it was detailing the beginning investigation into GOTea Legislators Robin Vos and VanWaangard being investigated for a ALEC sponsored 'pay to play' scandal.  You have to just love this, we are recalling senators and winning that battle, and the right wing senators we couldn't go after are now under investigation...In all honesty there was talk about recalling Vos but logistically it was problematic, still though WOO HOO!!!!

The GOTea has themselves caught between a rock and a hard place.  Between the people of Wisconsin outraged and what they have done to our glorious state, and the criminal probe of they re own illegal and immoral activities.

The right wing is stumped as well and does not even know how to put a spin on this.  They obviously are now getting caught red handed, with they're pants down so to speak.  They were actually so arrogant, so pompous that they thought they could commit felonies in the open and would never see prosecution for it.  They thought they would have total and supreme power and hold sway over all by now.  So very, very wrong once again GOT!

The power in Wisconsin, the power in American and any democratic nation will always lie in its people.  They thought they could destroy democracy and take our freedom away without us knowing until it was too late.  They believed they would be lords of the Earth by now, once again they are so very wrong.

So keep up the good fight you brave and bold badgers, you defenders of democracy.  The problems here in Wisconsin will mostly be taken care of by us, we , the people.  A few others will be taken care of by the FBI for us.  Every day the Wisconsin Spring, the peoples movement grows stronger and stronger, and it is the peoples movement.  I respect the Democrats in Wisconsin, but it is us that have organized and recalled Walker.  We are the ones who nearly flipped the senate last year and will do so this year.  We are the ones who maintain the fight and are the spearhead behind the movement to take back Wisconsin.

Well that is enough about Wisconsin and bombs for one day, I will return tomorrow with sad news of bullets being fired here and in Florida.  Solidarity forever.

On Wisconsin!    FORWARD!!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bill

Eric said...

Thanks for the well thought-out post, Hungry Guy. Three critiques: 1) The content and substance is great; 2) The editing is not; 3) I would love to see a link to a story about the investigation into the ALEC Pay-for-Play scandal. I'll see if anything turn up on Google, but a link would have been awesome!

Keep the great content coming! Your style will improve as you go!

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the article and thank you for reporting about the FNB. Can't wait to get rid of the GOTea.

Thos E said...

a link to the FNB would have been most helpful