A Feeling Like Floating (WI Sup Court Election Drama)

One of the questions that fascinates me the most is, "If you were insane, how could you discover that fact?"

The conservative incumbent running for the Supreme Court here in Wisconsin had lost the race in the original vote counting. A recount has been all but certain though since the margin between the two candidates was less than three-hundred votes.

Going into this election I was pessimistic about the chances that the republicans would play fair.

I never expected something like this though.

From MSNBC.com

WAUKESHA, Wis. — A stunning discovery of votes in Wisconsin could give the state's hotly contested Supreme Court race to the conservative incumbent in an election largely seen as a referendum on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's explosive union rights law.

Adding another twist, the county clerk who said she incorrectly entered vote totals in the race has faced criticism before for her handling of elections and previously worked for a state GOP caucus when it was controlled by the candidate who stands to benefit from Thursday's revelation.

The corrected totals gave Justice David Prosser a 7,500-vote lead over little-known liberal assistant state attorney general JoAnne Kloppenburg, according to unofficial tallies. Before the announcement, it was assumed the race was headed for a recount. The difference between the two had fluctuated throughout the day Thursday as counties began verifying votes, but at one point was as close as 11.

From the AP

Nickolaus was given immunity from prosecution in a 2002 criminal investigation into illegal activity by members of the Republican Assembly caucus where she worked as a data analyst and computer specialist. Prosser, who as speaker of the Assembly in 1995 and 1996 controlled the same caucus, was not part of the investigation. Nickolaus resigned from her state job in 2002 just before launching her county clerk campaign.

....

Nickolaus said she didn't notice an absence of votes because her figures showed a 42 percent voter turnout, which exceeded the 30 percent turnout the county typically sees in spring elections.

"That was an amazing amount of votes," she said. "So I had no reason to believe I was missing anything."

......

"There is a history of secrecy and partisanship surrounding the Waukesha County Clerk and there remain unanswered questions," Scot Ross, director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said in a statement.

An audit of Nickolaus' handling of the 2010 election found that she needed to take steps to improve security and backup procedures, like stop sharing passwords. The audit was requested after the county's director of administration said Nickolaus had been uncooperative with attempts to have county experts review her systems and confirm backups were in place.

The best part: the immunity she was granted in 2002 was part of a corruption investigation into the Republican party officials illegally using their positions for campaigning.

My brain is exploding.

On Second Thought...

I really don't like Ed Schultz's show. I'd rather not have him grandstanding the protests and turning it into a purely partisan publicity stunt.

National Guard Vs. Public Employees?

WTF? Keep in mind that this is on the heels of him killing the high-speed rail project between Madison and Milwaukee. His excuse was that he wanted to use that federal money to update our roads and highways. The problem was that the money was only allowed to be used for that rail line AND NOTHING ELSE.

Side note: I want this coffee maker.

Update: I wasn't trying to imply that Walker is going deploy the National Guard to put down protests; just that it might be used to negate potential strikes.

Randomized Dissonant Cognitions (or..uh, something)

I was planning on writing a bunch of posts about the election; I guess I've simply become too burned out when it comes to politics. Writing about video games and music is much more fun than politics or social issues lately.

This is only the second major election I'll get to vote in. Maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention in the past, but I honestly never thought I'd see the type of insanity that is consuming the elections this year. During the 2004 election I thought it was ridiculous that Howard Dean was discounted as unelectable because of his 'yee-hah' moment.

I wish we could go back to that type of thinking.

One candidate I'm particularly displeased with is Ron Johnson. It's probably unfair for me to single him out. Nonetheless there is plenty to be disgusted with.

Check out the video on the "Meet Ron Johnson" page. It's all of the nauseating rhetoric you could possibly hope for from conservative talk radio, neatly repackaged as a political... something. It's not a bio, it's not an endorsement; the video gives me a creepy 'propaganda' vibe.

*updated again (4/7/11)* See this post for important information about the next section!

Especially distasteful is what Charlie SYKES [sic] has to say at the 2:20 mark. Actually, it's a little after that, but 2:20 is where you should start.

I always felt that my personal freedom would be protected. I could trust that our constitutional checks and balances would work. But then a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the 2008 election.

You'll miss the reference if you're not familiar with Sue Williams's well known "A Funny Thing Happened" [MASSIVE trigger warning].

I don't see how there can be any doubt that Mr. SYKES was alluding to that drawing. The wording of what he said fits perfectly and is too awkward to simply be something he'd say in that context. Is he saying that the 2008 election was as bad as rape? Probably, it's well documented that many conservative media figures like to use rape metaphors to describe liberals and progressives.

I doubt that Ron Johnson even knows enough about feminist artwork to understand the reference. I find it harder to believe that nobody in his campaign caught that while they were reviewing content to use in the video. But even if they're all cheerfully oblivious I'm still disgusted that they would seriously consider SYKES to be a good person to go with.

Also worrying is the "Preserving Wisconsin Values" section on his site, which reads thusly:

“I’m a pretty traditional guy. I believe in a culture of life, and I believe marriage is between one man and one woman.” – Ron Johnson

Ron is pro-life, pro-family, and believes that freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from religion. Ron will take these principles with him to Washington and will stand up to those who would attack these cherished traditional values.

Ron is an avid fisherman and outdoorsman who believes strongly in maintaining a clean and healthy environment. He believes Wisconsin’s sporting traditions and the Constitution’s 2nd Amendment should be protected.

Ron and Jane have been married for 32 years and together they have three children.

Hey Ron, Utah is that way.

Also, what the fuck does "freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion" even mean? How can you have one without the other? And this man has a good chance of being my senator *shudders*

A few Random Final Notes. I've been rereading Orwell's 1984 and listening to Meshuggah's Obzen (the link is to the album's lyrics) and generally have been thinking about cognitive dissonance a lot lately.

I love violent videogames, books, movies, and music. I deplore the casual use or acceptance of actual violence. I spend a lot of time analyzing the rhetoric people use and absolutely despise hypocrites.

I'm not sure what to think about all of that. After I've had more time to think I want to write something much more in-depth on the topic. For now I'm just going to presume the power to dedicate Meshuggah's song "Combustion" (off of the afore-mentioned album) to this year's conservatives. And possibly to myself o_O

Also, what's up with drinking bleach? I thought that was just a funny Metalocalypse sketch.

*updated* : originally wrote that Johnson was running for governor; actually should have read senator.

Regarding Race Issues

I'm a bit amused by the differences between the 'Issues' categories on the respective websites for Scott Walker (R) and Tom Barrett (D). Both are running for governor of Wisconsin this year.

The list on Walker's is:

- Agriculture

- Education

- Goverment Spending - Reform

- Healthcare

- Jobs

- Natural Resources & Sportsmen

- Protecting Life

- Second Amendment

- Standing up for Wisconsin Families

Tom Barrett:

- Agriculture

- Creating Jobs

- Education

- Energy and our Enviroment

- Healthcare

- Fiscal Responsibility

- Senior Citizens

- Transportation

- Veterans

- Women's Issues

I'll update this post later with a more in-depth look at what information is actually contained within those various categories. For now I'm just going to say that it's rather telling that the republican gave entire categories to the rights of embryos and gun owners while the democrat included a 'Women's Issues' category.

How copy? Over.