VP Joe Biden In Beloit on Friday!

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BELOIT - On Friday, November 2, Vice President Biden will hold a grassroots event at Aldrich Middle School in Beloit, Wisconsin to lay out the vision he and the President share to create an economy that’s built to last versus going back to the same, failed top-down policies that crashed our economy and hurt the middle class.

Doors Open: 9:00 am CDT

Location: Aldrich Middle School

1859 Northgate Dr.

Beloit Wisconsin 53511

Ticket Distribution Information for Members of the Public: Tickets are available for the Vice President’s grassroots event in Beloit, Wisconsin. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required for entrance. One ticket per person will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning on Wednesday, October 31 at 9:00AM CDT. To pick up your ticket, visit one of the following locations:

OFA – Beloit Office

314 State Street

Beloit, WI

OFA – Janesville Office

111 W Milwaukee Street

Janesville, WI

Video: Paul Ryan's Strategies

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Ghouls Will Be Trick-or-Treating In Janesville

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Paul Ryan will be campaigning in Wisconsin yet again and according to this story, the "visit" is designed so he can campaign with his kids on Halloween. Titled, "Ryan To Campaign and Trick-or-Treat in Wisconsin." Like ...what's the difference?

Video: What Is It With GOP Men and Rape

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Paul Ryan's democratic challenger for Congress, Rob Zerban, spliced together this new video highlighting the emerging GOP party platform regarding rape including Paul Ryan and his support for fellow Republicans Todd Akin, Roger Rivard, and Richard Mourdock, all of whom have made similar statements defining rape and conception.

Watch it:



Help defeat Paul Ryan. Chip in to help elect Rob Zerban to Congress.

ADDITIONAL:

Mediaite - Mitt Romney-Endorsed Richard ‘God-Intended Rape’ Mourdock Is Actually A Kinder Version Of Paul Ryan.

Today: Janeane From Des Moines Comes To Janesville

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JANEANE FROM DES MOINES defies classification.

Is it an incisive documentary with fictional elements? Or a socially conscious drama with moments of documentary? Director Grace Lee follows the journey of an ‘ordinary’ American who offer us an insider’s look at the American heartland’s ultra right-wing movement.

Join producer/director Grace Lee and actress Jane Edith Wilson on October 25 at 6:30 PM as they introduce their film and host a Q+A session.

THIS IS A FREE SCREENING!

Basic's Cooperative - Community Room
1711 Lodge Drive
Janesville, WI 53545

"The film doesn’t really mock anyone, not even the candidates who, when confronted with a person in need looking for solutions, can offer only vague policy statements and anti-Obama rhetoric. With Ms. Wilson’s rare talent for staying in character as the media circus swirls around her, 'Janeane From Des Moines' is actually a commentary on the immense gap between a desperate citizen and the politics she had hoped might help her." - Daniel M. Gold, New York Times

For more information, visit janeane from desmoines .com

Bainport: Protesters Arrested Include Jesse Jackson At Sensata

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Bainport, Ill. — The Rev. Jesse Jackson was among 14 protesters arrested today following a march onto the property of Sensata Technologies, the company owned by Bain Capital. The factory is in the final stretch of shutting down for good while shipping its 170 jobs to China. Sensata employees in China can expect to be paid $1 an hour to work twelve-hour shifts.

Bain Capital has become the symbol of economic terrorism in the US. Its founder and former CEO, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is largely credited for developing Bain's profit model of buying up American companies, loading them with debt, harvesting their assets and then filing bankrupcty or in Sensata's case, shipping jobs overseas. Sensata however was very profitable posting a net income of $6.5M and $130.1M during full year 2011 and 2010 respectively. Both 2011 net revenue and Adjusted net income represent record levels for the company.

Here is what Jesse Jackson had to say about the events taking place in Bainport...

Journal Standard Excerpt:
“There is a war going on today for the soul of our nation,” Jackson said. “We’re at the heart of that war. We have a military surplus; the Chinese have a trade surplus. We have the guns, they have the jobs. It’s not a good trade off. There is something painful about this struggle. Here you are, you workers who have paid the dues, you all sit here as veterans of foreign wars, sit here as hard working, taxpaying, church going citizens. It seems that your best is not good enough and the policies are not fair.” A large crowd gathered at the Sensata plant and chanted “no justice, no peace” and “we will never be defeated.” Police then began arresting people. more>>>

ADDITIONAL:

Rock Netroots - Janesville Greets Bain Workers Bus Tour

Rock Netroots - Mitt/Bain Becomes Kiss Of Death For American Workers

Republican Legislator And Media Spin Private Family Matter Into Political Weapon

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By now I'm sure with all the media coverage that you've heard the story about Wisconsin State Senator Neal Kedzie's son (Sean) involvement in a mid-morning physical altercation that wound up putting him in the hospital.

The altercation supposedly began when Sean was awakened during the night by the commotion of someone attempting to steal his RomneyRyan lawn sign. He went outside and claims to have demanded the person stop and return the sign. The person complied and returned the sign back to where it came from. This is where the story takes a strange twist because Kedzie's son claimed that at that point another person burst out of the darkness and started beating on him.

One blog, the Hungry Guy asks the same questions I'm thinking...

The Hungry Guy Excerpt:
Why would the one assailant politely replace the yard sign? If this was a premeditated attack, would not the focus be on attacking the target? Would the one alleged assailant really take the time for niceties when he is on a serious mission of premeditated violence?

It could be true exactly as Sean Kedzie described but at this point, I have no idea what really happened. This could be campus frat boy mischief that spun out of control and into a fight. For all I know, Sean Kedzie could have been throwing bricks at passing cars.

But what I do know is what I can gather from media reports and I would think there would be some adults in the room, particularly Sean's father, who would work to tamper down the flames of confusion and misinformation since the alleged perpetrators have not been caught. That's what I first thought when I read that the legislator considers this incident a "private family matter."

Fox11 Excerpt:
"As this was a private family matter, we chose not to remark publicly about it and allow law enforcement to do their job. But we understand these types of incidents will eventually become public and questions will arise, particularly in my position as a state legislator

Yeah right. That ended pretty quick as Kedzie immediately took the low road and turned this "family matter" into a full blown media campaign against his political opponents.

No question, Wisconsin has become a state of suspicion, cynicism and hate ever since Gov. Scott Walker admitted he thought about planting troublemakers among the thousands of peaceful constituents protesting in Madison last year. We know this kind of toxic thinking trickles down from the top and sets the tone for the rest of the state. If we can't trust our own governor, why should we trust Kedzie, his son or what anyone has to say? When our own governor inspires our friends, family and neighbors to divide and fight, we would be careless to not put anything past the republican party in their drive to work everything for a political advantage.

We now know Kedzie is no different.

Things Paul Ryan Would Like Locals To Forget

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Okay. I began this posting as a brief top five list but in less than an hour I was past ten. It simply got away from me.

1. That Paul Ryan participated in a conspiracy on the eve of Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration with about 15 other republicans who agreed to use congressional power to destabilize the U.S. economy in an effort to install single-party rule, and make Obama a one-term president. Three weeks after the meeting in Washington, Ryan held a similar meeting in Janesville with Wisconsin operatives to discuss the local strategy.

2. That he proposed larger tax cuts than George W. Bush in 2001 meant to lessen at the time, CBO projected SURPLUSES. Today, he proposes larger tax cuts that he claims will lessen CBO projected DEFICITS. The added irony here is that during district townhalls, Ryan has repeatedly insisted that government does not have a revenue problem, yet his primary solution for nearly every budget problem is to play with revenue rates and loopholes.

3. That the person who inspired him to run for public office was Ayn Rand.

“The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”
-- Paul Ryan

4. That he requested federal stimulus funds to foster economic development in his district and like everything else he does, used it as a political wedge or turned it into a political football. After repeatedly claiming he never did request the funds, Ryan reversed and in fact said he did, but not before painting the stimulus as failed policy and the requests as a standard procedure of constituent service.

5. That he refuses to debate his opponents running for our congressional district office. This despite pretending to repeatedly offer challenges to debate his proposals and running political ads showing him interacting with constituents.

6. That he was the architect of Bush’s Social Security privatization efforts. Had he succeeded back then, the system would have suffered devastating losses during the 2008 Bush recession that would have left millions of seniors destitute.

7. That under his watch as representative of the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin, giant global manufacturers General Motors in Janesville and Chrysler in Kenosha closed their doors, taking with them over 3,500 family raising jobs and another 5,000 jobs from satellite operations.

8. That Paul Ryan insisted, "the country cannot afford the $38 billion cost" was the reason he voted against extending unemployment compensation. But soon afterwards, in a deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for top income earners - he reversed his vote on UC eventually adding another $858 billion in future debt!

9. That Paul Ryan, the guy who often refers to himself as the area's go-to "federal guy" did not participate with local leaders in the district's most important meetings and plans for economic recovery during what was arguably the most stressful time in its history since the Great Depression. He was simply a no show. You're on your own.

10. Strategy sessions have always been important to Paul Ryan, but not the sort of meetings one would think important for a congressman at a time of national economic duress. While Ryan ignored his constituents at home when they needed his help the most, he was sure to attend strategy meetings in California to coordinate the funding of party activities and the direction of the conservative movement. When Ryan wasn't attending Wall Street junkets, he was attending meetings like these sponsored by the billionaire Koch Bros. Ryan is clearly far more concerned about the next election than he was ever about his constituents or the next generation.

11. That as a member of the House Ways and Means and the GOP House budget chairman, he played a leading role in what most observers call the worst congress in the history of the United States.

12. That he is the architect of a plan to end Medicare as we know it by offering seniors a coupon to purchase private insurance, costing each senior an additional estimated $6,400 a year. Ryan's plan is meant to slowly starve the open-ended benefit system and turn it into a giant collectivist network of wealth redistribution for the private-for-profit health care industry. He aims to eventually do the same to Social Security. Yet, he wants the current Medicare system to remain intact for his mom today, but not for the moms of tomorrow.

13. That his budget proposals titled, “The Roadmap for America’s Future” and the sequel, “Path To Prosperity” are actually budgets without numbers, compassion or morality, but instead are right-wing engineered and ideologically calculated manifestos drawn from the fictional nightmare storybook “Atlas Shrugged.”

14. When a 71-year-old constituent couldn't bear to hear Paul Ryan claim that most of our debt in the future comes from our safety net programs while at the same time proposing to cut revenue by giving the wealthy huge tax breaks, the man jumped up and spoke out against Ryan's line of bullshit. The senior was tackled and arrested by police while the immature congressman began mocking the distraught man.

15. That Paul Ryan voted for TARP, not premised on the nuts and bolts of the proposal, but because he claimed to fear that without it, Obama would have swept through a huge statist agenda because there would have been no support for the free-market system. Yes, Ryan turned to the power of collectivism to save the free markets - exactly what Obama supported. Except Obama did not attempt to politicize the crisis or demonize opponents in the process.

16. On March 6, 2012, a man shot and killed himself at the doorway of Paul Ryan's office here in Janesville. Ryan's staff initially denied having any previous contact with the victim but later reversed their position. It turned out Ryan did have constituent correspondence with the man in 2010 and again in 2011 over dealings about a lawsuit the victim filed against the FBI. Details of Ryan's interactions with the man remain guarded.

17. That Ryan, despite coming from one of America's top dairy states, has consistently opposed and voted against the milk income loss contract, or MILC, program, which supplemented dairy farmers when milk prices fell below a certain level. Small dairy farmers are expected to be hit especially hard and say a tough year has been made worse by Republicans obstruction to pass a new farm bill before the old one expired. Ryan's budget also cuts $30 billion in farm subsidies over the next ten years.