Pro-Life Wisconsin believes their own obvious focus on race should be excused, citing their latest PR stunt, “was created by Ryan Bomberger (who is biracial).”

In another display of vapidity the press release bemoans birth control, oblivious to the connection between birth control, unplanned pregnancy and the abortions Pro-Life Wisconsin is constantly fussing over.

Groups like Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin and Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota are constantly under attack with baseless claims. Last week on Talk of the Nation a right-wing activist called in posing as a former contributor to Planned Parenthood who changed her position following a young girl she knew supposedly being counseled by an employee, essentially to get an abortion over any other option (audio at 21:00). The caller blew her cover by referring to herself as “pro abortion” a term only used by the far right, not to mention that Planned Parenthood provides comprehensive reproductive health care, not just abortions.

Other dubious “facts” were presented by listeners of the program, and guest Marjorie Dannenfelser of the anti-abortion rights Susan B. Anthony list, calling into question how far the already far-right will go to instill their flawed morality into the laws of our land. Compare that with the email from a listener who said Planned Parenthood saved her life after being gang raped, and who is on the side of humanity — the anti-choice right, or Planned Parenthood?

That is Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, standing in solidarity with protesters in Madison on Saturday, as a citizen concerned about the future of our state (photo by my sister).

In August of 2009, Barrett took a beating defending a woman and child from an attacker. Tom Barrett could be our governor. Instead the voters of Wisconsin were convinced they needed Scott Walker, based on some empty rhetoric about creating 250,000 jobs by cutting taxes for the rich people he can find the time to take phone calls from.

Where was Governor Walker on Saturday? Up north doing some fine dining with his cheerleaders, while hundreds of thousands of hard working public employees are seeing their rights trampled.

What would Scott Walker have done outside the state fair that night in August? Guess.

Ehrlick accuses Senate Dems of stooping to Walker’s level by refusing to show up and negotiate, and even pulls out “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Democrats did what they had to do or else this “budget” bill with massive implications unrelated to the state budget would have been rammed through with little debate or public input.

Does Mr. Ehrlick think the members of the Assembly offering amendments to the bill are in dereliction of duty? The bill is going to pass the Assembly unchanged anyway. Following Ehrlick’s logic, we should be happy the Republicans are allowing amendments to the bill at all, they won the last election right?

At the end of Ehrlick’s piece he brings up Vinehout’s “plagarism” incident from last year. If Ehrlick is too stupid to understand the concept of politicians using speech writers and the like, he doesn’t deserve a column, even in the Winona Daily News. Maybe the Winona Post will take you Darrell.

I hope you have a google alert set up for your name, Darrell Ehrlick.

In Ron Johnson’s expert opinion, possibly due to his private sector experience working for his father-in-law, traditional marriage has been around “for thousands of years … and I just don’t see any reason to change that.”

Johnson’s inherited industry, plastics, hasn’t been around “for thousands of years” but he was still pretty psyched about the holographic cards promoting his candidacy last summer.

Ron Johnson wants the government out of his life…but squarely positioned between two people of the same gender who love each other, and want to be treated like everyone else. Yet Johnson believes liberals are standing in the way of freedom, and health care is the greatest threat to freedom in his lifetime. That’s not even hypocrisy, it’s stupidity.

Today we’ll look at the personal stories of those affected by state and federal gay marriage bans. A few years ago Illusory Tenant put together these examples of gay and lesbian couples from a New Jersey Supreme Court case;

From Lewis, et al. v. Harris, et al., a 2006 decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court, here’s a few of the godless reprobate plaintiffs that are hell bent on destroying our civilization:

Alicia Toby and Saundra Heath, who reside in Newark, have lived together for seventeen years and have children and grandchildren. Alicia is an ordained minister in a church …

Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow reside in Union City and have been together for fourteen years. They both are pastors in the Episcopal Church.

Diane Marini and Marilyn Maneely were committed partners for fourteen years until Marilyn’s death in 2005. The couple lived in Haddonfield, where Diane helped raise, as though they were her own, Marilyn’s five children from an earlier marriage.

Karen and Marcye Nicholson-McFadden have been committed partners for seventeen years. … [T]hey are raising two young children conceived through artificial insemination, Karen having given birth to their daughter and Marcye to their son.

Suyin and Sarah Lael have resided together in Franklin Park for most of the sixteen years of their familial partnership. … They live with their nine-year-old adopted daughter and two other children who they are in the process of adopting.
Cindy Meneghin and Maureen Kilian first met in high school and have been in a committed relationship for thirty-two years. They have lived together for twenty-three years in Butler where they are raising a fourteen-year-old son and a twelve-year-old daughter. Through artificial insemination, Cindy conceived their son and Maureen their daughter.

The horror … the horror.

Last week Blogging Blue had the compelling story of a 19 year old Iowan raised by two women, who were finally allowed to marry in 2009 when the state’s Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. Some in Iowa have been attempting to regress, even before the court’s decision was made, offering amendments to the constitution similar to Wisconsin’s unfortunate and hurtful amendment.

Real people are affected by our state’s discrimination. If the government is going to be involved in the business of marriage, it needs to treat everyone equally. The Constitution of the United States is pretty clear on that.

Governor Scott Walker, during his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive, vetoed a measure that would have simply studied the idea of domestic partnership benefits for county employees. Eye on Wisconsin rightly called the act “blowing a right wing dog whistle” while campaigning for the Republican nomination for governor. Putting politics over people accounts for many rungs on Walker’s career ladder.

Emily Mills notes the hardships Walker and his ilk inflict on the citizens of Wisconsin “…by spreading a message of discrimination and rejection that bleeds through society as a whole.”

During Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch’s campaign, she compared Wisconsin’s domestic partner registry to allowing people to marry dogs. The registry only grants couples roughly one-fifth the rights of a married couple, but a reasonable assessment of the registry clearly isn’t capable given Kleefisch’s rhetoric. Her social positions are so extreme when she became Walker’s running mate, her “issues” page was taken down and became a link to Walker’s, which featured no overt anti-gay sentiment.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald brags on his campaign website about being “lead author of the constitutional amendment…defining and protecting marriage in Wisconsin as a union between one man and one woman.” That unfortunate amendment is nothing but an example of all the bad democracy can accomplish.

Steve Hanson at Uppity Wisconsin notes “Julaine Appling and her group [Wisconsin Family Council] have not been satisfied with denying marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples in the state, but are now also fighting the ability of couples to have other legal rights if they are state employees.” WFC will find a willing partner in Governor Walker. The camps appear to be buddy-buddy, if Appling’s praise of Walker’s economic agenda is any evidence.

At this point it should be clear that Republicans in Wisconsin value anti-gay discrimination as an asset on the campaign trail.

Join the celebration — National Marriage Week, For Everyone.

The problem is with the Wisconsin Family Councils of the world latching on, groups promoting hate under the guise of “values.” These self-described “values” groups align themselves with Republicans, who preach a mantra of limited government. However these groups advocate a government rooted in their own personal morality, which is anything but limited government.

The advocacy arm of WFC, Wisconsin Family Action, advocates “religious freedom,” but that’s the only kind of freedom they advocate. Given their way the group would ban gambling, pornography and stem-cell research and take away woman’s right to choose. So much for limited government.

Limited government is not legislating who may marry who. After a court ruling in favor of Wisconsin’s unfortunate ban on gay marriage and civil unions, Julaine Appling, president of WFC says, “We are even more committed to defending marriage” as if  she were part of a noble battle. Ms. Appling is only serving to oppress gay and lesbian people across our state who only want what she thinks she advocates — the benefits of marriage.

If you don’t like gay marriage, don’t get gay married. And if you have a blog, or if you twitter, join me in celebrating National Marriage Week, for everyone. Spread the word about the right-wing’s hypocrisy on limited government and marriage. Blogging Blue, Whallah, Illusory Tenant and Blue Cheddar are all doing it.

Governor Scott Walker is celebrating. In fact, he issued a National Marriage Week proclamation at the request of aforementioned hate mongers.

Of course this blog and the governor’s hate crew will be celebrating National Marriage Week for different reasons. Pretty Important is of the belief that two people who want to marry should be able to marry, regardless of gender. We believe the Constitution of the United States of America requires that blind eye toward gender if the government is to be involved in marriage at all.

Wisconsin Family Council/Action (depending if they are overtly lobbying for discrimination, or not so much) are using National Marriage Week to promote their hateful, anti-gay “values.” Appling touts the benefits of a stable marriage with blinding ignorance to the feasibility of such a setup. Apparently unfamiliar with “correlation does not equal causation” Appling offers scenarios in which individuals and society as a whole are better served via traditional marriage while disregarding all other mitigating circumstances.

The most feeble-minded statement is a figure on the amount spent in America (supposedly $112 billion) on “unwed childbearing.” Appling neglects to clarify if that is money spent privately or by the government, or if the expenditure would be made regardless, given 100% “wed childbearing.”

Of course we shouldn’t expect too much intelligent thought from these people. National Marriage Week runs February 7-14… 8 days.

Happy National Marriage Week for everybody, everybody!