As much as I wish I could say this is shocking, it is not. A Wisconsin history professor, William Cronon, is under attack by the Wisconsin Republican Party for pulling back the curtain and showing who's really behind the heist in Wisconsin, where everything is being taken from the poor and middle class and given to the wealthy and corporations.
Cronon wrote an op-ed for the New York Times -- which I coincidentally wrote about at the time -- and, more importantly, a blog post explaining how a little known group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was behind all the attacks on everyone but the rich in states after state.
Apparently, ALEC likes being little known, so the Wisconsin GOP filed an open records request with the University of Wisconsin. "Tellingly," writes Greg Sargent, "the Wisconsin GOP asked for Cronon-authored emails that contain a range of union-related keywords, such as 'AFSCME,' 'collective bargaining,' 'recall,' etc."
In other words, it's a fishing expedition to see if he used University (i.e., state-owned) email to engage in lobbying or arganization -- a violation of state law.
Is there any evidence that he misused state email? None. Will they find anything? Not according to Cronon. He told Sargent, "It's not there."
Writing from China, The Altlantic's James Fallows has this to say:
The reason this strikes me particularly hard at the moment: I am staying in a country where a lot of recent news concerns how far the government is going in electronic monitoring of email and other messages to prevent any group, notably including academics or students, from organizing in order to protest. I don't like that any better in Madison than I do in Beijing.
So Republicans are trying to punish Cronon for voicing his opinions. Many people are describing this as "McCarthyite" and I can't disagree.
Once again, I'm flabbergasted by the GOP's complete lack of shame.
You can read Cronon's statement on the situation here.
Almost immediately after saying she giving up on "whining about a liberal press," noted Facebook troll Sarah Palin puts up a post titled, "Lamestream Media: Reload or White Flag?" In it, she basically plays her worn-out victim card and says she was just kidding -- the whining isn't going to stop.
The situation around the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant in Japan gets worse.
Steve Martin used to have a bit called "How to be a millionaire and never pay taxes." "First, get a million dollars," it began. Then, when the IRS comes knocking, you tell them, "I forgot."
Punchline update for the 21st century: tell them you're General Electric.
Krugman points out that austerity measures are bringing down economies all over the world, meaning the GOP is putting ideology above all available evidence. It's what they do.
John McCain has a very serious Ghaddafi problem.
Finally, why are Republicans hellbent on getting seriously insane legislation passed now, now, now? Probably because they're running out of time.
