Last night Gov. Scott Walker spoke about his 2015-17 Executive Budget, and I wanted to hear what you have to think about the ideas Gov. Walker outlined in his speech.
What I heard was a lot of demonizing of the poor when I heard Gov. Walker’s comments that the social safety net is a “hammock” allowing people to be lazy and in his request for mandatory drug tests for recipients of public benefits. On a personal note, I find Gov. Walker’s comments about those who utilize the social safety net to be absolutely galling, given the fact that he has absolutely no idea what it’s like to live in the kind of abject poverty that those receiving benefits from the social safety net are often stuck in.
I was also struck at how much Gov. Walker’s budget address sounded more like a 2016 presidential speech, what with his multiple references to the military, and as Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted, Gov. Walker’s 2015 budget address was shorter in length than his telephone town hall meeting with Iowa voters on Monday.
@GovWalker's budget address was a tad shorter than his telephone town hall meeting with Iowa voters on Monday. #wibudget
— Daniel Bice (@DanielBice) February 4, 2015
Jingoistic drivel, Walker feigning compassion and care about real and courageous Wisconsinites serving in the military. Two introductions with applause as Democrats were limited a total of 20 guests and their response to the “Budget,” address was confined to Barca’s office and they were not allowed a larger room.
If you have not started publicly calling out and questioning your local R state legislators in your hometown papers and radio stations, every one of you left-leaning people better get going on the message the DPW and county party leadership seem not to be interested in doing.
Though not mentioned in the speech itself there is a topic most here should be aware of and concerned about as we prepare for the months ahead. Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plan unveiled Tuesday would slash $5 million from the board that operates public broadcasting over the next two years.
If you enjoy quality talk and news and the BBC on your local WPR station you need to be aware of what is happening in regards to this issue. If you like to burrow into the topics of the day and have a full-fledged discussion on them and then walk away a better informed person this budget issue matters to you. If you like to be entertained without being verbally insulted in the way AM radio all too often does this matter should be important to you. If you like to laugh and smile and laugh some more with Michael Feldman this matters to you. For many of us WPR is indispensable.
As a former broadcaster and one who values WPR and WPT I plan to cover this story until the budget is completed and urge you all to join in the fight for this cause. Thanks. (You can read my whole rant on this matter by clicking my website on this post.