This is what Class Warfare looks like. In Wisconsin, anyway.

[mojowork_n]

Here's the story...

...and the back story.

On the one hand, Republican leaders have been pushing a "legislative compromise" list, looking for bi-partisan support, that includes much stiffer penalties for
first-time drunken driver offenders:

http://www.superiortelegram.com/event/article/id/58281

On the other hand, by getting Democrats to go along with "criminalization... sobriety checkpoints... and stiffer penalties" (with minimal resources set aside
for medical treatment and non-criminalized options?) the Republicans look like they've got a win-win for themselves.


This is going to come down like a ton of bricks on the poorest neighborhoods,
the most vulnerable, those with the fewest resources.

And it will dovetail so nicely with the Republican Agenda that's
mostly about larding the profit line of Republican contributors and supporters.

No matter what the cost, to the rest of us.


These bills in the legislature (both the Assembly and the Senate) to allow expanded hours for liquor sales have also been marching steadily forward, in the
State Legislature, since they were introduced last spring:

Friday, September 30, 2011
WI Senate Committee Upcoming Vote to Expand Liquor Sales
The Senate Judiciary, Utilities, Commerce and Government Operations Committee will be voting on Tuesday, October 4th at 10:00am on SB-44 . This legislation increases by two hours every day the number of hours that retailers can sell beer and intoxicating liquor. This will allow such sales beginning at 6:00am. If passed, the measure will move on to the full Senate. Your views on SB-44 can be expressed to the following Senators who make up this Committee:

Sen. Zipperer (Chair) 1-800-863-8883
Sen. Kedzie (Vice-Chair) 1-800-578-1457
Sen. Galloway 1-877-496-0472
Sen. Risser [phone]
Sen. Erpenbach 1-888-549-0027

The Assembly version of this Bill, AB-63 passed out of Committee 5-2 on September 13th. You may also contact your own Senator regarding SB-44 or your Assemblyman regarding AB-63 using the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-362-9472.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Senate Committee Advances Expanded Liquor Sales Bill
On a 4-1 vote today, the Senate Judiciary, Utilities, Commerce and Government Operations Committee advanced SB-44, legislation which increases the number of hours that retailers can sell beer and intoxicating liquor. An amendment was also passed enabling municipalities to impose more restrictive hours than those provided in the Bill. SB-44 will now advance to the full Senate. It’s companion legislation, AB-63 also passed recently in Committee and is also advanced to the full Assembly. To share your views with legislators you may use the Legislative Hotline at 1-800- 362-9472.

http://vcyhomefront.blogspot.com/


Also: not as current:

http://www.mygov365.com/legislation/view/id/4d92ddf549e51b7278460100/tab/overview/



....The bottom line being, here's how the political contributions from the Wisconsin Grocer's Association have gone (2010):

http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=382458744

Contributions to Republicans, by percentage, for 2010:


• 96.68 %
  
  

Contributions to Democrats, by percentage, for 2010:


• 3.32 %
  
  

The amounts contributed aren't huge, but it's the disproportionate balance in the percentages that warrants attention,
given the financial resources of the organization as a whole. Add up the combined assets of the individual members,
as well as the businesses that belong to this group, and you're probably looking at the purse strings that control
the bread basket that feeds the state.

According to this Michelle Malkin column, it sounds like the Wisconsin Grocer's Association has been actively supporting Der Wanker:

http://michellemalkin.com/2011/04/29/may-day-the-wisconsin-witch-hunt-goes-national/

The Wisconsin Grocers Association is bracing for the anti-Walker witch hunt. Anonymous operatives have circulated sabotage stickers on the Internet and around Wisconsin that single out Angel Soft tissue paper (“Wiping your (expletive) on Wisconsin workers”), Johnsonville Sausage (“These Brats Bust Unions”) and Coors (“Labor Rights Flow Away Like A Mountain Stream”). Earlier this week, a “Stick It To Walker” website boasted photos (now deleted) of vandalized Angel Soft tissue packages at a Super Foodtown grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y. (Screencap above.)

This destruction of private property is illegal. Not that it matters to anti-Walker protest mobsters, who trampled Wisconsin’s Capitol at an estimated $5 million in security, repair and cleaning costs to taxpayers.

The bottom line being, now the grocers association (I wonder what percentage of their membership includes "corner store" owners who sell all the large single-serving sizes of malt liquor?) will
be making more money on the retail side, while on the wholesale side, the industries that depend on cheap prison labor will have an expanded crop of recruits (some of them with job skills!), to feed their balance sheets.


...That's class warfare for you. Never miss any opportunity to exploit the poorest of the poor, while making sure that you "take care of" the fat cats that depend on your ability to allocate state resources to
best serve their interests.