Light, very fluffy springlike snow this noon. Very directional wind, leaving very visible snow shadows by all the trees in the park marking the direction of the wind.
I've often used the Hipstamatic app to shoot square, black and white iPhone images. The square format is often a better frame than the normal rectangular one. Plus, it's like having a Polaroid in your pocket. It's quick and easy -- see it, shoot it. But I'm not always fond of the Hipstamatic's filters (or "films" and "lenses," as they call them).
Using the Monochromia app gives a lot more control -- cropping, brightness, contrast, bw conversion filters. Can either shoot in Monochromia or use pictures from the Camera Roll. If you start with the iPhone's HDR mode, you can get some really lovely tonal gradations.
"Operation Angry Badger" purportedly describes a Heartland Institute proposal that would cost about $612,000 and focus on promoting Wisconsin Act 10, which curtailed collective bargaining for most public-sector workers.
"The recall elections of 2012 amount to a referenda on collective bargaining reform at the state level, making them of national interest," the document says. "Successful recalls would be a major setback to the national effort to rein in public sector compensation and union power."
Doesn't sound like the Angry Badger I'm familiar with. I just know the Angry Badger in the sign, the one that's all about recalling Scott Walker, the one that's no pussycat and means business.
I'll remember this day -- 1 year ago today -- as long as I lived, framed in my memory by this photo I took of Firefighters for Labor walking through the cheering crowd at the Capitol.
The TAA's Valentine's Day delivery of valentines to Scott Walker the day before made the news and got people talking. The next day, more than 10,000 people showed up outside the Capitol, with more than 3,000 more inside. When the cops and firefighters showed up, the effect was electric.
Nothing was the same after that. It showed that Scott Walker's cynical attempt to pit unions against unions (by exempting cops and firefighters), and workers against workers wasn't going to work. He faced a united front of opposition that would produce more than a million recall signatures less than a year later and that most likely will end his brief, destructive term of office sometime this summer.
TAA rally in the Capitol -- another year longer, another year stronger. The Wisconsin Uprising started with the TAA'a Valentine demonstration last year, and it's even better now, because we're just that much closer to recalling Scott Walker.
A year ago today, the Wisconsin uprising really started when the TAA delivered thousands of Valentines to the Governor's office to protest Walker's "budget repair" bill. Here's a new one. And he has more coming today.
The rally at the Capitol yesterday marked the 1-year anniversary of Scott Walker's dropping his Budget Bomb a year earlier, with its cynical attack on teachers and other public public employees. President of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Mahlon Mitchell delivered an inspiring speech, talking about the need to stand up to what he called "the pornography of power."
A lot has happened in the last year. Walker and his cronies in the Republican state legislature polarized the state and portrayed their critics as whiners and losers. For a bunch of whiners and losers, we sure got a lot done. We recalled two GOP state senators last summer. We circulated recall petitions against the governor and lieutenant governor as soon as legally possible -- and went on to collect 1 million signatures, the highest total relative to population of any statewide recall in the nation. And we also initiated recall campaigns against another four GOP senators, including the majority leader. If Republicans still think they're just facing opposition by a few malcontents, they're about to find out how wrong they are.
Meanwhile, the John Doe investigation in Milwaukee County has been making headlines with increasingly lurid revelations about political corruption during Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County executive -- which, it seems increasingly clear, apparently also extended into his gubernatorial campaign. More and more people are starting to wonder if the John Doe in question is Walker himself.
A year after Scott Walker threw the state into turmoil, the main question is whether the voters or the DA will be the first to remove him from office. Rich special interests went for broke with Walker, but their investment is starting to backfire.
