Politics, sciatica and more from the land of cheese...

First, my sciatic nerve is rising up to kill me this week. Hurts like a sonofabitch...staying home from work tomorrow to rest it up, maybe ice it and some ibuprofen. Usually works.

Second, Wisconsin has been the hot topic of most of the news stations for the past couple of weeks. Lemme see if I can recap it for you non-cheese heads...

a. Gov. Scott Walker tries to cram this cockamamie bill into the senate so it will be passed without allowing the Democrats the chance to even discuss it. In the bill are fun little things such as taking away collective bargaining from Union workers, tampering with Medicare and Medicaid, and making exceptions for those Unions that backed him in the election.

b. Thousands of people - Union workers, public workers, teachers and supporters - have been converging on Madison ever since.

c. The Democratic senators have take off, hiding out, in some undisclosed location because if they show up in the assembly, there is enough for a quoram and then the Republicans can vote. This can happen even if they Dems just show up in the morning and then, say, leave to use the restroom or have lunch. And it can happen if there is even just one of them present.

d. The Unions have already agreed to the financial changes requested by the Gov which would help balance the state budget. I mean, after all, that's what this bill is about, right? Hmmm, well maybe not...he won't hear of it. Yeah, tell me this isn't about more than the budget.

e. Today, Walker was "punk'd" and took a call from someone identifying himself as one of the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers are millionaires who stand to make millions more if this bill is passed. Democratic leaders have been trying to reach Walker for almost two weeks to talk this out to no avail. Someone says their last name is Koch...and he takes the call right away. What does that tell ya!?

f. Tonight on Fox News (yeah, yeah I know...Fox News...) Walker said, in an interview, that since this bill may not be passed by this Friday, he will "be forced to make other cuts" meaning the letting go of about 1500 or more state workers. This is akin to a kidnapper who gets his demands met by threatening to kill one hostage at a time unless he gets what he wants.

g. Scott Walker has tiny beady little eyes that are slightly crossed. Maybe it's just me but I cannot take this man seriously and I cannot believe a word he says. Oh, and he did something like all of this when he was the county executive in Milwaukee. He let go of the county court security workers and gave the contract to a private entity. That private entity screwed it up. The workers who were fired sought arbitration. An independent arbitrator found there was no cause for them to have been let go, so they were reinstated and were paid restitution...to the tune of almost half a million dollars. So much for Walker being able to balance a budget!

Clearly, I am not a fan of our Governor. I think he's a putz. And how he can ignore thousands of people who are clearly against what he is doing is beyond me.

Recall, anyone??