The War Of Art: Wisconsin Hell Governor Scott Walker Removes Wall Mural Because Underprivileged Children Happily Blowing Bubbles Makes Him Feel All Gross & Poor Inside

"Wishes In The Wind"

While the rest of the nation is abuzz over important things like mysterious underwear-covered crotch shots of a public official with the dual misfortune of having a last name synonymous with a penis, and an unhealthy obsession with his own penis, America's lovely crop of new Republican governors have settled in nicely, mostly managing to keep their Weiners and Willies in their pants as they wage war on both poor people in the streets and poor people hanging on their office and/or mansion walls.

Much like his ol' buddy in Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who simply could not stand the sight of some Socialist beggar mural of working class minorities sullying his Labor Department and ordered its prompt removal (soon to be followed by the forced removal of all poor minorities, God-willing!), squinty-eyed, Kochsucking Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has also removed a specially commissioned painting of three disadvantaged Wisconsin kids from the mantlepiece of the governor’s mansion because the smiling faces of poor children skipping down a snowy street makes him understandably uncomfortable.

Instead, "Wishes in the Wind," which was part of a series of paintings with “subjects intended to remind state leaders of the people they represent," has been replaced by "a century-old painting of Old Abe, a Civil War-era bald eagle from Wisconsin" to honor the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

Apparently, Scott Walker likes to be reminded of eagles, the voters who elected him. YAY! FREEDOM WINS!

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

In an interview, artist David Lenz said he carefully selected the three children portrayed in “Wishes in the Wind.” The African-American girl, featured in a Journal Sentinel column on homelessness, spent three months at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission with her mother. The Hispanic girl is a member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. And the boy’s father and brother were killed by a drunken driver in 2009.
“The homeless, central city children and victims of drunk drivers normally do not have a voice in politics,” Lenz explained in an email. “This painting was an opportunity for future governors to look these three children in the eye, and I hope, contemplate how their public policies might affect them and other children like them.”
He added: “I guess that was a conversation Governor Walker did not want to have.”

That's because, unlike bald eagles from the 19th century, poor, suffering children do not really exist in modern-day Wisconsin.

Ooops, looks like another Dick's been exposed. Except unlike a certain fuzzy Wiener Twitter pic, this cock shot's crystal clear!

Crazy New Maine Governor Paul LePage Declares War On Labor...In The Form Of Historic Art Murals In The State Capital

It is no secret that several Republican governors, like that one Kochsucker in Wisconsin, have waged an all-out, no holds-barred, full-frontal assault on those no-good workers' unions and their terrible, ungodly right to collectively bargain fair wages and safe working conditions so they don't end up dying both penniless and limbless, since everyone knows it's probably cheaper to leave a few bloody digits here and there, than risk delaying production of the shiny, gleaming new 60 inch 3D LCD flatscreen HDTV 1080 dpi, with built-in state-of-the-art surround sound.

Priorities, people!

Not that those greedy teachers and assembly line workers could possibly understand that with their fancy shmancy 1992 Subaru Outbacks, worn out overalls, and seemingly never supply of bright, thick highlighters and sleek bic pens.

Guess for some people, the sky's the limit!

Good thing there's still one person who understands the stakes and will not stop, will not so much as rest, until every last lazy budget-busting union worker, school teacher, police officer, and sanitation worker is crushed, squashed, wiped from existence, and otherwise brought completely to their likely arthritic knees in the new, noble, holy GOP-helmed War on the Working Class.

Because for the new Teabagging governor of Maine, Paul LePage, a new front has just been opened in the war, and now it's not just labor unions in his crosshairs, but labor art too!

This ain't your grandma's class warfare!

You see, Paul LePage is understandably so disgusted by a "36-foot mural depicting the state's labor history" in the lobby of Maine's Department of Labor that he's ordered its removal, which will hopefully be followed by the prompt removal of all other undesirables, like Muslims, gays, Mexicans, and all other hapless schmucks who tasted the sweet nectar of freedom and somehow still landed in Maine. Maine!

Oh, and you know those conference rooms named after famous pro-labor icons like Cesar Chavez and the first female U.S. Cabinet secretary, FDR-era Labor Secretary Francis Perkins?? Those need to go too. Too worker-y!

Of course, the problem isn't that the mural and conference rooms disturbed the delicate aesthetic sensibilities, or even the sophisticated artistic integrity of the average Maine citizens, but rather that some businesspeople started bitching, which as you know always requires immediate action.

This is America after all!

"We have received feedback that the administration building is not perceived as equally receptive to both businesses and workers -- primarily because of the nature of the mural in the lobby and the names of our conference rooms," Maine Department of Labor Acting Commissioner Laura Boyett wrote in an e-mail.

"Whether or not the perception is valid is not really at issue and therefore, not open to debate. If either of our two constituencies perceives that they are not welcome in our administration building and this translates to a belief that their needs will not be heard or met by this department, then it presents a barrier to achieving our mission."

No poors allowed!

On the other hand, all the hot shot business owners and big wigs need to do is snap their fingers and voila! no more unsightly Socialist beggar mural!

Hmmm, the workers would probably do the same thing, if their fingers were still attached to their hands not stuck in a boiling vat of Maine's famous lobster clam bisque.

Gov. LePage's Press Secretary Adrienne Bennett said the governor's office is exploring alternative places to keep the mural, perhaps in the state museum, and believes they can move it without damaging the artwork.

"We're not going to put an 'Open for Business' sign in the lobby either," she said when asked what would replace the painting. "It's going to be neutral."

I mean they're not dirty whores, here!

"When you walk into our Department of Labor lobby, you see this mural, which is on several walls," Bennett said. "There's no getting around it. You see it, and it's there. The administration feels it's inappropriate for a taxpayer-funded agency to appear to be on one side or another. Clearly, the mural depicts one side. ... We've got to make sure, as a Department and as a state government, we're representing all Maine people."

Or at least those who went ahead and actually made something of themselves, getting filthy rich off the misfortunes of others, not frittering away their lives teaching your bratty kid English.

"The message from state agencies needs to be balanced," Bennett said, adding that that the rooms could instead be named "after mountains, counties or something."

Or maybe something really beautiful and inspiring like say Bernie Madoff's Golden Pyramid scheme atop a scintillating sea of luxurious shiny black BP-oil soaked bird and fish carcasses, with a breathtaking cascade of acid rain, Glenn Beck's gold plated coins, and poor people's tears trickling down on the miserable mass of weeping orphans, starving children, and the now-distant memories of Maine's once thriving, now threatened working class.

"No matter what you name a room, no matter how many pictures you take down, the truth is that this state was built by and for working people and this move dishonors the generations of hard-working Mainers who came before us," Maine AFL-CIO President Don Berry said. "Paul LePage cannot erase our history, and he will not silence the voice of the working class in Maine."

Don't be silly. With all the greedy teachers gone, there's no one to teach the poor schlubs how to speak anyway.

But how does a nice, pretty picture sound instead?

Runaway Wisconsin Dems On The Lam In Illinois To Escape Crazy Gov. Scott Walker's Big, Bad, Bust-Up Unions Bill

Screw the Middle East, bro, have you seen the crazy shit that's goin' down in the Middle West?

All 14 of Wisconsin's Democratic Senators have fled the state (9-month long winters and this is what it took?) to prevent union-busting, budget-crazed Republicans from voting stripping public employees of their longstanding collective bargaining rights, and basically transforming Wisconsin's once-powerful, once-strong worker's unions into nothing more than soft, porous, weak ol' Swiss cheese, instead of full, dense, rich flavorful cheddar, that tastes great and looks amazing when worn atop the head at sporting events.

But now that Republican Governor Scott Walker's very kind, very gentle, very reasonable plea for state Democrats to please return to work so they can effectively gut their precious unions to smithereens went ignored, they are also now hiding from Wisconsin state police, who've been called in to "round up" these rogue Democrats, and force them into the congressional chamber.

But in order to corral these wayward Dems and ship 'em back to America's Dairyland, you gotta find 'em first!

In protest of the budget repair bill that will strip public union workers of almost all of their collective bargaining rights, Senate Democrats have walked away from a floor session.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Dems are refusing to come to the floor to debate and vote on the bill.
Fitzgerald said at some point, if needed, Republicans will use the State Patrol to round up Democrats to bring them to the floor.

But where o where in God's Great Snow-Covered Plains would a busload of fugitive Senators go when evading the long arm of Wisco's new Teabagging Gov. Scott Walker's over-caffeinated, Lipton-loving arm? Why, a generic motel in Illinois, of course!

Wisconsin state Democrats who refused to show up for a vote on Governor Walker’s budget repair bill have been located.
The lawmakers are in Rockford, Illinois at the Best Western Clock Tower Resort and Conference Center.

Ooooh, did you say, "resort?"

Okay, okay, but before Republicans and other human bags o' herb 'n spice see the word resort and spontaneously combust with white-hot rage, let's remember that it's a freaking Best Western! Sure, the place does have an indoor "water park", but nonetheless, the word "resort" may be a tad generous when describing this fine Northern Illinois establishment.

So while Wisconsin Dems enjoyed getting drunk and hitting the lazy river in 65,000 square feet of indoor water park fun and games at CoCo Key Water Resort and Key Quest Arcade, thousands of protesters, from state employees and their unions, to college and high school students, to members of the Green Bay Packers and other sympathetic-to-the-rights-and-dignity-of-workers-type suckers took to the Capitol to stomp their hippie feet and shout meany stuff at the awful governor they just elected. Umm, only about 4 months too late Badgers!

Nearly 800 Madison East High School students walked out of school Tuesday morning to join a demonstration against Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill at the Capitol.
As teachers beamed and offered thanks, student organizers in the hallways handed out signs identifying each as a "future worker, future voter," proclaiming this was a "Walk out for Walker out," and calling on the Legislature to "kill this bill."

Hate to rain on your protest parade, cheeseheads, but usually it's best to take care of these things, as in know where your esteemed public officials stand, like if they're really union-hating whackjobs, before electing them to power. Just a suggestion.

But then again, it's their call. If the good people of Wisconsin prefer their lawmakers be forced to live like traveling salesman or fugitive senators, floating around on innertubes in some indoor “lazy river” thing off a highway rest stop in Illinois, then so be it.

In the meantime, Democratic Minority Leader Mark Miller released a statement on behalf of all Democrats urging Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans, who hold a 19-14 majority in the legislature, to listen to opponents of the measure and seek a compromise. Naturally, his statement did not address where Democrats were or when they planned to return.

"We are all willing to come to the table, we've have all been willing from day one," said Madison teacher Rita Miller. "But you can't take A, B, C, D and everything we've worked for in one fell swoop."

Haha, wanna bet?

Because when voters elected wingnut conservative Gov. Scott Walker, along with his 68-page special needs job plan, and GOP majorities in both legislative chambers, they pretty much were begging for a showdown.

And aside from hitting the road, Democrats have been powerless to stop the bill, marking a dramatic shift for Wisconsin, the birthplace of union representation for public employees.

"The story around the world is the rush to democracy," said Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch of Poplar. "The story in Wisconsin is the end of the democratic process."

But on the bright side, at least it is not the end of the cheese processing process!

Though, next time you want to hide from the Wisconsin GOP, and maybe don't feel like taking a mandatory congressional field trip across state lines, a good idea would probably be to just go somewhere Republicans would never, ever, in a million years be caught dead at.

Like say a library or museum.