Media Trackkkers Gets Called Out

Last week, the Cap Times doled out a royal smackdown on MacIver Institute.

On Friday, it was Media Trackkkers turn to get it.  This time it was Dan Bice at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in his online chat about Walkergate delivering the what for:

Q: Nick, Appleton - What did you make of the Media Trackers folks alleging illegal leaks from DA's office? (http://mediatrackers.org/2012/01/da-chisholm-may-have-illegal-leaks-from-office/) 

A: Daniel Bice - Haven't seen it until now. Media Trackers has a spotty track record, so I would take what it is saying with a grain. The two guys there also toss around strong allegations and then try to temper them by saying something may or may not have occurred. That's not reporting. It's a rhetorical trick.

I wouldn't have even been that kind to that group of propagandists.

Now all we need is someone to do the favor for Wisconsin Reporter and we'll have a trifecta.

MacIver Institute Gets Called Out

The Cap Times lays a smackdown so hard on the Koch Brothers front group MacIver Institute that even David Koch felt it:

The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy is a conservative political operation — sorry, “think tank” — that seeks to promote Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda. Indeed, its website features a new advertisement that makes all sorts of claims about how the governor’s programs are “working.” The ad is amusing, as it asks Wisconsinites not to believe what they see going on around them and instead to fall for the spin developed by Walker’s messaging team.

So it is that, at the same time the state acknowledges that Wisconsin has lost jobs for six months running, the MacIver Institute is peddling a fantasy that says of the Walker agenda: “It’s working!”

“It” may be working. But if Walker keeps at it, Wisconsinites won’t be working.

Make sure you read the whole thing, especially the last three paragraphs.

The Right's Questionable Tactics

The right wing media has been beside themselves for the last couple of weeks.  What got their dander up is Ian Murphy had been traveling the state a few weeks ago to help encourage and reinvigorate recall volunteers in the last few weeks of the signature gathering phase.

Media Trackkkers did a story about Murphy.  Christian Schneider, paid propagandist, did a story.  (By the way, would some tell Schneider that Scott Walker did indeed meet with the Koch brothers?)  Sykes not only posted Schneider's article, but has been ranting about this and little else to his remaining 4.3 listeners.

Their collective faux outrage stems from the fact that Murphy wrote a piece years ago railing against the worst parts of war, things like what happened in Abu Graib.

But that is not what they are upset about.

What they are upset about is that Murphy is the guy who imitated David Koch last year in a phone call to Walker and showed Walker's true corrupt nature.

I don't know.  I could be quite wrong about this, but I wouldn't thing it's generally a good idea to keep drawing attention to the guy who naturally reminds everyone about that phone call and thus Walker's corruption.

But that stategy could explain why Walker's popularity numbers are so low and falling lower by the day. Maybe instead of criticizing these people, we should be thanking them for making our jobs that much easier.

Sykes on recalls, back when they were OK

"Businessman Michael Cudahy derided the recall supporters as a “lynch mob,” but outsiders who saw only the anger misunderstood the depth of the outrage. Supporters were neither puppets nor radicals: they were taxpayers who had raised their families in Milwaukee, bought homes, paid taxes, and played by the rules all their lives. They remembered when Milwaukee was known for its efficiency and integrity, and were offended at the insult to both their intelligence and their integrity."

That's Charlie Sykes, back when recalls were okay, when they led to Scott Walker coming to power, and when Sykes was paid by a group that also was funding Scott Walker. Recalls AGAINST Scott Walker? Not so much.

-- Source.

Who Does Paddy Mac Work For?

After years of trashing the government and the money wasted on bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., Patrick McIlheran became the second most hypocritical person* in the world when he left the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to go work for Senator Ron "Sunspot" Johnson. As the paper reported at the time:

Patrick McIlheran, a columnist for the Journal Sentinel's op-ed page since 2004, is leaving the newspaper this week to take a job with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's staff.

McIlheran, who will work out of Johnson's Washington, D.C., office, will research issues and write about them for the senator. McIlheran also will work for the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, of which Johnson is the ranking member.

A little later, it was found that Paddy Mac was making around $93,000 a year, although it appears he does little more than tweet Republican talking points.

But now it gets really interesting.

Michael Horne, working at Milwaukee Magazine, has also been covering this story, and had the same facts. Despite this, RoJo's press secretary contacted the magazine, wanting a correction, claiming that P-Mac didn't work for the Senator at all and just for the subcommittee. Horne also reports that since Paddy has started suckling at the government teat, as he would quaintly put it, he's changed is Linked In and Facebook profiles to reflect the same.

Case closed, right?

Wrong.

Horne has this to add to his report:

Finally, our original reporting included a call to the subcommittee office asking for McIlheran. The operator said McIlheran did not work at the subcommittee’s office, and forwarded the call to the office of the senator.

Perhaps it's time for an open records request just to see exactly which teats Paddy Mac has been suckling on and how he got there.

If he's only been with the subcommittee, someone needs to explain RoJo's involvement in all of this. Did RoJo manipulate the system to get a job for someone who was lobbying hard for him?

And if Paddy Mac's getting money from both RoJo and the subcommittee, why is RoJo's office lying?

*The most hypocritical still belongs easily to Scott Walker, who holds that title by such a wide margin, he'll never lose it.

Yep, Jeff Wagner Proves Me Correct Again

Three weeks ago, on Cog Dis, I discussed the matter of Andrew P. Jensen, Jr., the Scott Walker crony who was put in the hoosegow for a day because he refused to cooperate with the John Doe investigation into Walker's sleazy campaign tactics and unethical behaviors. In specific, I would point out this blurb:

Oddly, Jensen's attorney, Patrick Schott, said that Jensen was jailed because Jensen "wouldn't adopt their version of events." But the facts that authorities tried to offer Jensen immunity and that he tried to take it if he could remain anonymous while doing so would indicate that Jensen knows what the score is, but is too afraid of the Republican party machine that he doesn't want it known that he sang.

Now that Jensen's been outed, watch for the right, especially in the form of talk radio, rally around him and try to make him appear as a living martyr in a feeble effort to discredit the investigation.* This is not so much to congratulate him for keeping his mouth shut - so far - as it is to remind him that they are watching in case he does.

And just like clockwork, here comes WTMJ squawk radio host Jeff Wagner with exactly what I had predicted:

Take the case of prominent Milwaukee real estate executive Andrew Jensen. Jensen is a well known area real estate broker, a past chairman of the Commercial Association of Realtors - Wisconsin and a relatively small dollar contributor to Governor Walker.

According to published reports, Jensen was to be granted immunity in this secret proceeding. However, according to his lawyer, Jensen irritated prosecutors by refusing "to adopt their version of events" - leading to his sudden arrest and subsequent release without charges being issued. In the meantime though, the media was tipped off about Jensen's situation and given an opportunity to trumpet his arrest and tarnish his name. Talk about your Star Chamber.

One way to interpret the public comments of Jensen's attorney is that prosecutors wanted Jensen to make a false statement and that Jensen was arrested after refusing to do so. If there is any truth at all to this suggestion, you have to wonder: "Is this Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 or Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2012"?

You can read the rest of my post at Cog Dis to see just how badly Wagner is lying about the course of events.

It's bad enough that they can't admit the truth about what is happening, but do they have to be so bad and so predictable about it?

Sykes Is A Slow Learner

Charlie Sykes, from what I've been told, brought my name up again a couple of weeks ago, claiming that I was blogging on the tax payers dime, when that has already been proven to be absolutely false. He should  take care not to repeat mistakes he's made in the past:

Charlie Sykes, a talk radio host and blogger for WTMJ-AM(620) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, wrote an essay on his blog that criticized Robert Miranda, editor of the Spanish Journal. According to press accounts of the dispute, Sykes alleged that Miranda had in October 1991 been "one of the organizers of what became a violent shout-down, during which coins, hard candy and ice cubes were thrown at [conservative radio host Mark Belling] during a Pro-America rally at [the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee]." Sykes based his statement on an email he received from a listener. When he learned that the e-mail contained factual errors, he removed the posting from his blog within hours on November 12, 2004. Nevertheless, the posting was still available through Internet searches several months later.

On January 3, 2005, Robert Miranda sued Sykes in small claims court for libel, claiming that the posting was false and misleading. Sykes' employer, Journal Communications, offered a $5,000 college scholarship as a settlement ($5,000 is the maximum available award in small claims court) and the case settled just prior to trial. The scholarship is to be awarded to a South Division High School student who wants to study journalism.

Or you can read the account in Miranda's own words.

And on a side note, the other thing Sykes doesn't like to bring up is how his lies almost got him canned, but it was the unions that saved his hide and his career as a propagandist.

H/T Brawler

How Charlie Sykes Came To Support The Walker Recall

A couple of weeks ago, the morning crew at WTMJ-620 AM, had Graeme Zielinski, Communications Director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin on the air. The station's battle plan was to ambush Zielinski with the bogus and discredited non-issue regarding the validity of the signatures on the recall petition.

Only thing is, Zielinski was ready for them. He came on the air, knowing that this was one of those rare opportunities to say it the way it is and he let them have it almost as well as I could have. Take a listen, thanks to Steve Hanson at Uppity Wisconsin:

Graeme Zelinski lays it on WTMJ

I really get a kick out of how Gene Mueller tries to say he doesn't worry about what happens after his show, even though he's often chatting away with Sykes and promotes Sykes' crap frequently.

And the "news" man, John Byman might want to brush up on his facts before he opens his mouth and shows his ignorant prejudices. Byman claims that there were no recalls against Governor Jim Doyle, when the truth is the misnamed group Citizens for Responsible Government tried not just once, but twice, to recall him.

When Sykes came on a little later, he was apoplectic. He was so upset that he almost mussed up his helmet-like, heavily-hair-sprayed coif. He threw a tantrum like never before.

But Zielinski and the Dems weren't done yet. The following Monday, they sent out this email:

Dear capper:

Charlie Sykes is a bully with a bullhorn and the other day we called him out on it. You can listen here.

For years, he's used WTMJ 620 as a platform to dishonestly advance an extreme and divisive agenda - and carry water for Scott Walker.

Day-after-day, 365 days a year, WTMJ 620 radio, the biggest station in the state, amplifies radical Sykes-Walker talking points in what amounts to millions of dollars of in-kind contributions to the Republican Party.

And now, at all costs, they are attacking the historic recall movement against Scott Walker.

Help us fight back against the Republican Party's free air time on WalkerTMJ 620 by making a donation of $6.20 to the grassroots effort to recall Scott Walker right now.
http://www.wisdems.org/donate/Stop-WalkerTMJ-Radio

Does WalkerTMJ 620 ever allow for any balance? Do they ever portray the other side? Do they ever hold Scott Walker accountable his extreme agenda that has torn our state apart?

Never. Well, almost never, since they let me on for a few minutes the other day when I told them to stop attacking our people-powered movement that has collected 507,000 signatures in just one month.

Sykes and WalkerTMJ have gotten away with it for too long. It's time for all of us to stand up to their lies, to their blatant coordination with the Scott Walker Republican Party and their irresponsible divisiveness.

Under Scott Walker's watch, more than 34,900 Wisconsinites have lost their jobs in the last five months. As a direct result of Scott Walker's exteme policies we now have the worst economic indicators of any state in the country and we lead the nation in job losses.

But that's not the message you'll get if you tune into Charlie Sykes on WalkerTMJ 620. He'll tell you that everything in Wisconsin under Scott Walker is just dandy and he'll continue to attack the hard work that you and our grassroots effort to recall Scott Walker.

Show that you're not going to put up with Sykes and WalkerTMJ 620 by giving $6.20 to help us continue our fight for Wisconsin values. http://www.wisdems.org/donate/Stop-WalkerTMJ4-Radio

With your support, we'll be able to communicate Scott Walker's terrible record to working, middle-class families across Wisconsin despite WalkerTMJ4's attempts to drown out our people-powered movement.

Thank you,
Graeme Zielinski
Communications Director
Democratic Party of Wisconsin

Well, if Sykes was apoplectic before, he popped a few blood vessels on this one. He was so upset about this, he couldn't shut up about it and kept talking about it all week. That could only have helped the cause. I guess he's no good without his masters at the Bradley Foundation telling him what to say.

Anyway, if you want to help Charlie Sykes support the recall movement, feel free to make a donation to the cause by clicking here.

Someone Check Their Campaign Finance Reports!

Reince Priebus, who stabbed his friend and mentor, Michael Steele, in the back to become head of the national GOP, gave his thanks to Charlie Sykes for all he's done for them:



Yet if you check Scott Walker's or Ron Johnson's campaign financial reports, you won't find one entry for Sykes' in-kind contributions.

Is it any wonder that people want to take back our airwaves?

The Atomic Pantload Of Hypocrisy

Christian "Atomic Pantload" Schneider wrote a piece at National Review Online in which he brings up the bogeyman of voter fraud.

I'll try to ignore the fact that he insults every victim of sexual assault in order to try to do his fear and smear routine over a nonexistent problem.

Instead, I'll simply refer the gentle reader to Steve Benen who gives Schneider's amateurish piece of fantasy a proper skewering.

The Brawler and Illy-T also take their turns ripping into him.

What makes me the most surprised is that Schneider's bean didn't explode from the hypocrisy of him, a hack propagandist at the Bradley Foundation-sponsored WPRI (Worms Promoting Republican Ideology) questioning anyone else's credibility.

Faux News vs. George Bailey

One of the talking puppets at Faux News, Dan Gainor, writes an editorial piece which starts with pointing out that there was an attempted letter bombing at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. This puppet starts flailing in his impotent frustration, blaming the SEIU, the Occupy movement and even Obama for the anti-bankster attitude sweeping the globe. The only ones he doesn't blame are the banksters who have helped bring the world economy crashing down.

To show how unhinged he is, he attacks the holiday classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life":

Watching Ratigan, those of us who can bear it, is reminiscent of the Great Depression era hatred for bankers, landlords and businesspeople. It’s a theme the left and the media have institutionalized, especially with bankers.

The famous Frank Capra movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” pits the lovable Jimmy Stewart as a community Building and Loan head against the evil Mr. Potter, played wonderfully by Lionel Barrymore. Viewers are taught successful people are Scrooge-like and to be vilified.

Sixty-five years later, that movie has turned into a holiday classic. Every single year, we are reminded that it’s a wonderful life, as long as you aren’t a bankster. If you’re one of those, it might just be a wonderfully short life if the left has its way.

PR Watch does a pretty thorough job of skewering Gainor, including screencapping a tweet in which he offered to pay $100 to anyone who would physically assault a US Congressman. Classy guys, the wing nuts.

So what has caused Gainor and all the other corporate media types to get their undies in a bundle? Well, because the Occupy movement is starting to have an effect and Congress is looking at passing a bill to reform the banks. In other words, the banksters are about to lose their death grip on the country, and they're scared. But we can't sit back and count on Congress to follow through on this unless we keep their feet to the fire:



Who's side are you on?

RecallFitz Is Calling For Volunteers

Hey, good people of #wiunion and #wirecall-

I received word from Lori Compas, the person leading the movement to recall Scott Fitzgerald.

She told me that they are looking to make a big push on the recall effort of Fitzie, which has not been getting the attention it deserves.

Lori is asking for 30 volunteers a day for 30 days to make sure they make this a sure deal.

If you can at all help, you can more information and sign on to help at the RecallFitz website.

Occupy Clear Channel Monday!

From a press release from Media Action Center:

Sacramento, CA - Monday, December 12, Media Reform and Occupy groups across the country will protest and occupy Clear Channel radio stations. Clear Channel, the largest radio operator in the US, pulled a fast one on its listeners last week in Sacramento, where a generation ago its station KFBK launched Rush Limbaugh's career. It replaced soft rock on its 50,000 watt KGBY 92.5 FM station with a simulcast of its KFBK programming - a typical right wing format featuring Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

It means the region now gets four stations promoting pro-corporate "conservative" hate speech, but zero stations promoting any opposing ideas; opposing views are simply not allowed by corporate owner Clear Channel. This is the case in better than 90% of the USA. And Clear Channel's actions are not limited to Sacramento; they are taking progressive stations off the air across the nation, in advance of an election year.

A physical protest co-sponsored by Occupy Sacramento, Media Action Center, and Sacramento Media Group will be held at the Clear Channel building in Sacramento at 1440 Ethan Way Monday at 10:30 AM. We will announce license challenges and boycotts of sponsors. Then we will enter the building to conduct a day long public files inspection, as is our legal right. In solidarity, dozens of Occupy and other groups from DC to LA, from Wisconsin to Florida will simultaneously converge into Clear Channel stations to demand files inspections.

Says Media Action Center founder Sue Wilson, "Conservative talk radio supporters will tell us that this is all about free speech, and if we don't like it, we should just change the channel. They are right, it is about free speech. OUR free speech. Where is OUR opportunity to get an alternative message out to our community on OUR PUBLIC AIRWAVES? Stations only get licensed to broadcast IF they 'serve the public interest.' It is time we use every legal means at our disposal to reclaim our right to be heard in the public square of radio."

Charlie Sykes Solicits For The Commission Of A Felony

The other day, we reproduced a column from the Shepherd Express in which they pointed out that Charlie Sykes committed slander against Senator Lena Taylor and how TMJ 620-AM should lose their broadcast license.

Friday morning, Sykes continued with his poor behavior, albeit along a different tangent.

He started out complaining about the recall and the fact that it is allowable for people to sign a petition more than once.  The two facts that he left out is that only one signature would be counted and that there is good cause for someone to feel the need to sign more than once.  With all of the right wing nut jobs trying to suppress people's rights by tearing up and defacing petitions, once would almost have to sign more than once to ensure one gets counted.

Of course, Sykes never condemned the felonious acts of the petition saboteurs, but would only lament that they are actually being held responsible for their behaviors.

Then Sykes correctly stated that the Government Accountability Board (GAB) will not be going through to ensure the validity of each signature. He said that makes Scott Walker and his campaign responsible to go through and verify each vote. He stated that this was wrong and should not be.

Unfortunately for Sykes, this was not the first time he pushed for this to happen. And thus I have already covered that topic:

When I saw them complaining that the GAB not certifying every signature, I'll admit that I was puzzled. I remembered writing last year how Maistelman and Associates got Paris Procopis, who was challenging Senator David Cullen, off the ballot by eliminating invalid signatures. At the same time, the law firm also successfully defended Todd Kolosso from James Sensenbrenner's attempt to have him thrown off that ballot.

I called Attorney Michael Maistelman, one of the state's leading election attorneys, to confirm my suspicion that this was another bogus complaint. Attorney Maistelman confirmed that it has always been the responsibility of the candidate and his or her campaign to challenge the signatures of their opponent, whether it is for a recall or even just for nomination papers to get on the ballot. He also told me that he has bumped a number of Republicans off of ballots by having invalid signatures stricken leaving his client's opponent with not enough to get on the ballot. He said that the Republicans have done that to a number of Democrats as well.

Maistelman also confirmed that it was always the campaign that paid for that legal work to be done. He added that Scott Walker's campaign would have much more funding than what would be needed to review and challenge the signatures of the recall.

So in other words, what Sykes is doing with his complaining is saying that the GAB should use tax payer dollars to fund the political work for Walker's campaign.  That would be, of course, classified as criminal solicitation, which in itself is a crime.

TMJ needs to start holding Sykes responsible or we will need to start holding them responsible as we take back our airwaves.

Patrick McIlheran: A Waste Of Tax Payers Dollars

Six months ago, Patrick McIlheran, champion of the tax payers and fighter of government waste, showed his true nature by leaving the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and going to suck at the government teat.  That is, of course, something he has spent years criticizing people for doing.

Bill Christofferson has looked into this, and even though we still don't know exactly what he is supposed to be doing, we do know he's getting paid extremely well for it, whatever it is:

What we do know is that McIlheran has landed in a pretty cushy job at taxpayer expense.

Legistorm, which tracks Congressional salaries, reports that McIlheran was paid $27,213.84 between the time he bellied up to the public trough on June 20 and Sept. 30. That works out to an annual salary of $93,300.

And, of course, there's a government health care plan (horrors!) and lots of other benefits, including both Social Security and a pension. The Congressional Budget Office says benefits add 26% to 50% on top of salaries, depending on age, salary, length of service, and retirement plan. So that's at least another $25,000 from the taxpayers, and probably quite a bit more. But at least he doesn't have to join a union. That must be a relief for a generally anti-government, anti-union, anti-worker, bootstraps kind of guy.

Whooey! $93,000 salary is a lot of money, especially for a guy who doesn't work full time and for a job no one knows what he supposed to be doing.

Well, there is one thing we do know he does do. He sure tweets up a storm about things that have nothing to do with his supposed job.  The funny thing is he never seems to be doing it during the evening, when his off of work.

I'm sure that Citizens for Responsible Government, Badger Blogger and the rest of the usual "watchdogs" will be on this apparent waste of tax payer money in no time.  Then again, maybe not. That would require integrity.