Keep Calm and Protest On

Joy has a very useful new "word."

Actually, it's a cleverly generalized new utterance of protest.

I think it started as a "don't fence me in" kind of thing. When she encountered a door she wanted to go through, but the plastic safety-knob was foiling her, she'd demand "open" with a loud "P...puh...puh!"

That "p...puh...puh" has now become her generic noise of protest, to be used whenever she isn't getting what she wants, whether the remedy requires "open" or not. Then if we can't get her re-directed, the next step is the explosive acts we're familiar with: swatting, self/others bite attempts, pulling out her own hair though I've got it chopped down to under two inches long now.

I think I spent most of yesterday saying "p...Puh..PUH!" And it got louder in the evening.

I awoke yesterday morning to news of a blog-post by a prominent professor of history at UW-Madison. William Cronon, an even-handed, mild-mannered, non-partisan scholar, had published a magnificent blog-post the other week, detailing his findings on what organizations were involved in the flood of look-alike anti-union, anti-immigrant, anti-Medicaid, pro-big-corporation legislation that's been coming down in Wisconsin and other states. His scholarly March 15 post, Who's Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? pulled the veil back on the secretive, well-financed national collaboration on the part of the Republican party that is resulting in... that which we've been protesting here.

Two days later, the Republican Party of Wisconsin set out to shut him up.

Wisconsin Republican Party headquarters served the University with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, demanding all of Cronon's university e-mails since Gov. Scott Walker took office, containing any of the words "Republican, Scott Walker, recall, collective bargaining, AFSCME, WEAC, rally, union, Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Rob Cowles, Scott Fitzgerald, Sheila Harsdorf, Luther Olsen, Glenn Grothman, Mary Lazich, Jeff Fitzgerald, Marty Beil, or Mary Bell."

First they want to catch him using university e-mail for partisan political purposes, something he's way too smart to have done. But secondly, they want to intimidate Cronon and anyone else who works at the university. And thirdly, it seems clear they want to comb through all those e-mails to find some snippet that (when taken out of context) can be used to discredit and embarrass him.

Cronon's reponse to the absurd demand, Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom, was level-headed and lengthy.

So after a day stewing about this, we get the evening news. About THE BILL that was rammed through the Wisconsin legislature via dirty tricks. THE BILL that was blocked by a temporary restraining order that had us celebrating a week ago, because now it was going to have to work its way through the courts instead of being published into law on March 25 by the WI Secretary of State.

Guess what, friends. They don't give a fig for the rule of law.

They ordered the Legislative Reference Bureau, a non-partisan agency of the Wisconsin government that analyzes legislation and keeps the archive of what's been made official... to PUBLISH THE BILL INTO LAW. Even though only the Sec. of State can do that, and he's been enjoined by the courts not to do so. And then, even though the LRB and a number of others have said that this end-run does NOT make the bill law, Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has announced that they're going to act as if it's law anyway.

P...puh...PUH!

Once again, due to family obligations, we won't be on the Capitol Square this morning. Maybe we can take a trip there later in the day. I hope that the crowds are huge... and vocal... and continued non-violent, as we have so proudly accomplished through all these weeks despite the ratcheting up of the provocations.

Check out the lower button: Keep Calm, and Protest On.

I got these buttons on State Street the other Friday during my activist-date with JoyDad, an image that I had first seen on a portable sign at the top of Madison's State Street right near the Capitol. I loved it already without knowing its history. Now that I've looked it up, it resonates even more.

The underlying image is a poster that says Keep Calm and Carry On. The poster dates back to Britain of 1939, where (according to a well-sourced Wikipedia article) it was produced by the British government to raise morale under the threat of invasion. The poster was re-discovered eleven years ago and has been distributed widely since then.

Now, with the substitution of the word "Protest" for "Carry," it has become an iconic image of our Madison response. In many ways, it feels as if Wisconsin has been invaded by a hostile occupying force -- not through bombing but through stealth and lies and corporate financing.

Keep Calm, and Protest On. Here are the crucial upcoming voting-related priorities:

-- Vote JoAnne Kloppenburg for Wisconsin Supreme Court April 5.
-- Volunteer or donate to the recall efforts for the 8 eligible Republican state senators.

We won't bite. We won't pull hair, tempting as it is. We will keep calm, we will carry on, we will protest on. And we will win -- their very desperation is the best indication.

Two Good Days

Friday was a good day.

JoyDad and I both had the day off. Unpaid, since it was a required furlough day for me and he took a "moveable" furlough day. But still, a day off for the both of us, with both kids in school.

Several hours into our spring-cleaning & online activism, we got some lovely news.

The so-called "budget repair" law, passed in an undemocratic sneak-attack the previous week, had been put on hold by a Dane County judge!

Judge MaryAnn Sumi of the Dane County court agreed with Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne that the apparent violation of Wisconsin's open meetings law was sufficiently serious to warrant a temporary restraining order, preventing the law from going into effect until the court can hold a full hearing the week of March 28. (The law was scheduled to be published March 25, to take effect March 26).

JoyDad and I decided to go downtown and celebrate. After all, if the law were to delay our paycheck-whacks even one week, that's over $100 we'd have available again to pump back into the local economy!

So we went to the Capitol around noon. I carried a sign that thanked the judge on one side, and on the other said "Rule Against the Bill!" Got lots of thumbs-up and car honks. (In Madison these days, you don't just lay on the horn to support the protesters. Instead, you tap the horn to the cadence of the chant: "This is what democracy looks like!") We walked through the Capitol, and then joined a group singing protest songs at the top of State Street for a while.

Then we walked down State Street and found a restaurant with supportive signs in the windows, and had a lovely lunch. We made sure to tell them exactly why we felt able to do so, and why we chose them in particular.

And the sun was shining, and our crocuses were blooming in the flowerbed, and we felt some of the first real hope we've felt in an entire month of unrelenting bad news. Not that this is over, by any means. The majority party will appeal every step of the way, probably up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court if it gets that far. (Vote JoAnne Kloppenburg for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice April 5!) They can even take up the bill again from scratch, give appropriate notice, and presumably pass it again. But the public outcry would be immense, it would be an admission that they didn't do it right the first time, and the protest movement would only gain new steam.

And then! I took Joy to her swimming lesson after school, which is just about her favorite part of the week. I got to see her hoist herself out of the pool on her own, at the place where the water was too deep to get a boost from the bottom. I got to see her propel herself from one platform to another one five feet away, all under her own steam. I got to see her blow bubbles in the water (in between drinking it.) And I didn't even have to do a big clean up in the locker room of the generally-inevitable laxative effects of water-play -- she waited till later that evening!!

Saturday, too, was a good day.

Joy and I attended a birthday party for one of her classmates in the afternoon, an invite-the-whole-class affair. It was held at the apartment-dwelling of the birthday girl, probably about 10 kids in a small space with hard surfaces. The noise was pretty intense.

Joy, however, hung in remarkably well. We had a good 20 minutes before she began a big protest, and then we were able to go into the hall and walk the stairs and laundry-room for a while and calm down enough for a second try. I had provided ribbons for her own use, so the wrapped packages wouldn't be too much a temptation.

Since it was all classmates, they are well-acquainted with spending time with her and were very sweet. The birthday girl made sure that Joy got a turn with the blindfold from the pin-the-tail game -- we turned it into a peek-a-boo game, and then Joy did manage to take a turn sticking a tail onto the donkey (after everyone else was done, and without blindfold or spin.) At a later point I asked another little girl if Joy could play with some discarded paper from an unwrapped present. Not only did she bring that paper over, a minute later she came around again bearing a curly ribbon for Joy's use!

We made it through over an hour in total, long enough to enjoy some cake. Joy wasn't the only kid who cried during that time, and none of the other crying was caused by her. And as we left, there was another kid who was also overwhelmed by the noise -- the hostess was just calling his mom to come pick him up.

SO included. It felt great.

One more "good" to share.

Rose and JoyDad got to take a turn at the Capitol while Joy & I were at the party, but I got my turn in the evening. I joined an interfaith vigil that meets every night now for an hour at the Capitol, 7-8pm.

We weren't a big group, and we weren't allowed to light our candles -- a couple of law-enforcement fellows very nicely told us that they had their orders regarding the defacing qualities of dripping wax. (One of our number spoke up, "That's OK, these guys are public workers, they're on our side!" and got some discreet grins and nods from the cops.)

We held signs, and sang. Last night's organizers had also printed out brightly-colored slips of paper with relevant quotes from various scriptures and philosophers and other leaders and thinkers. We took turns reading quotes and then taped them into a collage. I also took some chalk and put one of the quotes onto the pavement:
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." — Elie Wiesel

Among our number were two boys on the autism spectrum. One of them played a hand drum enthusiastically as we sang. He wrote his own message in chalk to the Governor on the Capitol's very front step after the vigil, just as I was leaving. I believe the message was taking a turn for the rude... but y'know, this young man has the right. He's among the ones who stand to lose the most.

Two very good days.

Medicaid and What Passed the WI Senate Last Night

Rose and I went to the Capitol for an hour last night. We stood with our signs as the crowd demanded to be let in and speak the outrage over the bill that passed the Wisconsin Senate last night. In a nutshell, the Republicans in the Senate replaced the so-called "budget repair bill" with just the supposedly non-fiscal items from the bill, so they didn't need a budget-level quorum to go ahead and have the vote. That's right folks, the "budget-repair" bill that passed last night is the non-budgetary stuff. (Shame on them. Shame.)

They intend to have the Assembly pass the bill this morning. They have the votes. Then the governor will sign it, and collective bargaining as we know it for public employees in the state of Wisconsin will be gone.

A version of the provisions surrounding rule-making on Medicaid was in the bill. However, it is not the full outrage that was in the original budget-repair bill. It appears they have blinked at least so far as to leave the standard administrative-rule making process intact. They did not give themselves the power to do it behind closed doors -- though the outlines of what they're now going to do in broad daylight are ugly enough.

Here's a quote from the Save BadgerCare Coalition Facebook page, from Jon Peacock of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families:

the new version doesn’t give DHS any new rulemaking authority, yet they can still use rules to supersede nearly all of the portions of MA law, and they could probably use the existing emergency rule authority, but they would have to follow up by using the regular rulemaking authority, which improves opportunity for public input and more legislative oversight.

For anyone policy-wonky enough to be wondering "why do they need to do all this? Don't departments usually have broad rule-making authority anyway?" The answer lies in another measure that was passed by the Walker administration earlier in this "special session." In that measure, the governor increased his own power over administrative rule-making, decreasing the power of the departments. These provisions on Medicaid -- if I am reading correctly -- are now giving back that power to the Department of Health Services in particular.

[UPDATE: I should also highlight the important part of Jon Peacock's information about using the rules to supersede Medicaid-related statute (laws). This part is not the way things normally work in Wisconsin, and is actually quite a sweeping new authority. Ordinarily the Constitution is the top authority, statutes cannot conflict with the Constitution, and rules cannot conflict with statutes or the Constitution. This bill -- soon to be law -- makes an exception for new emergency rules about Medicaid, allowing them to trump statute. This is still undemocratic, it's still huge, and it's not well understood.]

Oh, and the bill also includes some tricky maneuvering that will repeal the powers given to the DHS regarding Medicaid, as of 1/1/2015. Which marks the end of the Walker administration. If he lasts that long.

I have added links to the text of the bills on my WI Budget 2011: Medicaid page. Keep checking there for further links.

A few more things to point out.

If Walker is recalled, and a Democratic governor is elected, that new governor will be able to make appointments to head all the agencies. Which would mean a Democratic-friendly replacement for DHS's Dennis Smith.
Pledge to Recall Scott Walker -- complete with donation form!

The first opportunity to stem this rising tide of damage will be to recall the 8 eligible Republican Wisconsin State Senators.
Sign up to help with the Senatorial Recall
Donate to Recall the Republican 8

On April 5, we will have the opportunity at the ballot box to reverse the conservative majority in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. This will be immensely important as court challenges to various actions of the Walker administration wend their way to the high court. Vote JoAnne Kloppenburg!

Wear black today in solidarity (Thursday 3/10/2011). Contact your legislators. And come down to the Capitol if you can. There were protests around the clock last night.

Shame on the Walker administration. Shame.

Now They're Coming For Her Autism Insurance

First, they came for Joy's parents' paychecks.
[The increased benefits contribution in the so-called "budget repair bill" is equivalent to a 150% income tax hike for us, both state workers.]

Then, they came for her education.
[The proposed state budget contains close to $900 million in cuts to state aids for public schooling.]

Then, they came for her medical assistance.
[The $500 million Medicaid cut in the budget bill stands to be doubled by the loss in matching funds from the federal government, which would add up to a billion in unspecified Medicaid cuts.]

Now, they're coming for her autism insurance.

I've chronicled on this blog in some detail the years of struggle to force insurers to cover autism-related treatments here in Wisconsin. It took years of patient long-term advocacy (with some good old-fashioned hollering thrown in), but finally in 2009 it became law: insurers in Wisconsin were required to cover evidence-based autism-related treatments.

But now two new bills are circulating, expected to be introduced in the next week or two, that would undermine autism insurance and a whole series of other insurance requirements. Orwellianly-dubbed the "Health Choices and Opportunities" bills, they would set in motion a chain of events that would eventually allow the insurance commissioner to waive the mandates we fought so long and hard to put in place.

The ten hours per week of autism therapy that Joy now receives are covered by our insurance. This is coverage that her (currently-at-risk) Medicaid programs do not provide.

I am feeling bombarded.

And yet I know that as members of the middle class, with two cars and a modest home of our own and a job-and-a-half, we're still going to be relatively OK.

What of those who aren't OK now, or who are hanging onto OK by their fingernails, who will be far-far-less OK if all this passes?

This has all been sprung on the unsuspecting people of Wisconsin in the PAST THREE WEEKS.

Please help us spread the word, and keep us in your prayers.

=====
OK, here's the political action steps, for those who are eligible and feel so moved. I never thought I'd be this openly partisan on this blog. But it's THAT important.

• Join Russ Feingold's Progressives United political action committee (you don't have to live in Wisconsin to do this one!)
  
• Sign up to be contacted to recall Governor Scott Walker once he's been in office for a year.
  
• Visit Recall the Republican 8, a site dedicated to recalling 8 Wisconsin state senators. (I was hesitant about this at first; but they didn't run openly on this extreme an agenda.)
  
• Vote for JoAnne Kloppenburg on April 5 for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.

Learning Curve

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
Matt. 25:40, from a parable of Jesus

I heard something from Joy last night that came as a total surprise, something long awaited, something I've wanted to teach but I didn't know how.

She said, "Sorry."

It wasn't just once either -- it was all of three times! Granted all three were echoes, prompted by adults. And I'm not at all happy about the incidents that prompted the need for apology: a hairpull, throwing a toy in the church nursery, tromping hard on her sister's toes. I'm simply rejoicing, however, that she's able to make that echo, no matter how much she understands or doesn't! It will make peer relations so much easier.

"Sorry" has a steep learning curve. I'm engaged in a process with a steep learning curve as well.

I gave a presentation last night to the adult Sunday-school class for my congregation, on Medicaid in Wisconsin and the so-called "budget-repair" bill. Members of our congregation have been deeply involved in citizen action in the wake of the various threats represented by the bill: to livelihoods, to the right to negotiate collectively, to the University of Wisconsin, to public education, to our economy as a whole, and so many more. People from our congregation have marched, written letters, signed petitions, shared information, and even had a group sleepover at the Capitol building on Thursday night (complete with kids!) I was moved by the enthusiasm at last weekend's retreat, creating a lovely pile of protest signs about the still-little-understood threat to medical assistance and public input that the bill contains.

At the retreat sign-making activity, I found myself asked to explain exactly what I meant when I said "Medicaid" and "medical assistance" and "BadgerCare," and found myself coming up short. Fortunately the press event that next afternoon got me started with a lot of information that I then wanted to share. I did share some of it here on the blog, but Medicaid is a complex program with many, many parts. I realized that I was feeling called upon to share still more, and to ask my congregation for further commitment and action.

So I offered to teach an adult Sunday-school class, and they gave it to me right away.

I wish I could do justice to the insightful questions and comments that came up during those 45 minutes. I was surely pushing the limits of my expertise, and others -- doctors, social workers, MA recipients -- chimed in with a will. One comment right at the end of the session, though, reminded me most poignantly how much I still have to learn.

I am coming from a frame where my family receives medical assistance funds for the purpose of making it possible for my daughter Joy to live at home rather than in an institution. During my LEND fellowship last year I heard a great deal about the history in Wisconsin and beyond of the policy shifts than now enable people with disabilities to move out of institutions into the community or to avoid institutions altogether, generally at significant cost savings. I also heard moving stories at last week's press event from people who rely on Medicaid dollars to live as productive community members, and are scared beyond belief that their support will be taken away and they will be warehoused in nursing homes.

This bias rang so loudly through my presentation that I failed to acknowledge the immense, vital role played by institutional facilities in situations where people's needs are so great and complex that living at home or in the community is not the best, or healthiest, or even survivable choice. And the commenter was deeply concerned about that aspect of my presentation.

Shoot, I knew better! I'd only to think of GrammaJ, now in her last days in a hospice facility. GrampaK could never have taken care of her at home these weeks!

So I needed to get called on it, a painful but necessary public corrective. Indeed, the voices of those who need such a level of care are even less represented than those who are succeeding in the community. Truly "the least of these" when it comes to having a voice in the public debate. Their funding is at risk too.

I listened. I let my thoughts be changed. I acknowledged my shortcoming, and apologized.

There is precious little listening coming from the Governor of Wisconsin and most of the legislators of his party who have (for the most part) been marching in lock step with the bill and its outrages and its timing.

However, word has it that one of the Republican state senators who has previously been in favor of the bill, has now changed his mind and says he will vote against it: Sen. Dale Schultz of District 17. He can be thanked at sen.schultz@legis.wisconsin.gov. Only two additional no-votes are needed. Update: the previous paragraph now appears to have been an unconfirmed rumor. Sigh.

There have been calls for Governor Scott Walker to begin listening, and mind-changing, and even perhaps apologizing. This scenario is not likely. But minds and hearts will need to be open to change, to negotiation, to the needs of the vulnerable, in order for the outcome of this budget process to be anything but catastrophic.

==========

So as to end on a lighter note, I'll close this morning with a joke that's making the rounds on Facebook. Peace out!

A unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table there is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, then looks at the Tea Partier, and says, "Look out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie."

Hostage-Taking

My heart is aching this morning.

I awoke to the news that the Wisconsin Assembly had passed the "budget repair" bill, unamended, in a sudden rush vote after midnight last night. They ran the roll-call so quickly that not all legislators even had the chance to push their button to register a vote.

Then I saw this article in Madison's Capital Times:
Walker warns Medicaid payments to nursing homes could be delayed if bill not passed

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is now holding senior Medicaid recipients hostage over the passage of a bill (which can no longer be amended -- the struggle is now to scrap it altogether) that would turn future decisions on Medicaid over to his own appointee Dennis Smith, who has taken positions hostile to Medicaid. His aim is to force the return of Democratic Senators who have left the state, to complete the forcing of this bill upon the state of Wisconsin.

This is wrong. This is so very wrong.

P.S. As pointed out by Suze in the comments, there's an inspiring and heartbreaking Capital Times story online today:
Disability rights activists stage protest inside state GOP headquarters