Glenn Grothman: blaming moms for kindergarden?

Three little items from Glenn's Senate homepage.


Item 1:

Secretary Burmaster repeats the same old line that “communities want and need financial support to improve services for 4 year olds”.

Item 2:

The number of children in this program has more than doubled in the last seven years. This year will be the largest increase of all. It should also be pointed out that during the last thirteen years virtually every school district in the state has gone from half-day kindergarten to full-day kindergarten.

and finally, Item 3:

"It’s sometime said that mothers today all work and this is the reason 4 year-old kindergarten is necessary. Studies I have seen indicate half of young mothers stay at home, work part-time or leave children with extended family. Many of these mothers like taking care of their own children and to put these children in the care of the government should be questioned. Sadly, on a national level some politicians are pushing for more federal involvement in this area as well."

As usual, Glenn is letting his slogans do the work his brain should be doing.

1. Of course everyone wants financial help from the state to improve their kindergartens. All the major recent studies indicate kindergarten improves children's performance in school (see my previous posts on this). It's the sort of thing that serves everyone's interests and makes Wisconsin a better place to live -- plus, it's way cheaper than prisons.



2. The program expanded because taxpayers wanted it. They're voting with their feet -- and their kids' feet. If they didn't want it, the program wouldn't have expanded.



3. I barely need mention the usual whining neo-con sentiments about women who refuse to stay at home to bake cookies. It's clear that Glenn believes women who have to work for a living are bad mothers and a burden to the tax payer.
   

Earth to Glenn, poor women have always had to work. If they don't, their kids go hungry. Maybe your mother was one of those happy middle class Betty Crocker feminists who complained that she couldn't get a job -- maybe that's why you don't like working women now.

Oh, and apparently middle class women are bad mothers too, if they want to work and start their kids off on the only sure path to economic success: a decent education.

How that could be bad for any citizen of Wisconsin is beyond me.

Frankly, I'm done trying to understand any of your positions anymore. Since TABOR crashed, you've been shooting from the hip... and blanks at that.


hiho
Mpeterson

Glenn Grothman: why stop at cutting taxes?

Hi everyone,

Recently:

From The Badger Herald - Certain jobs hard to fill, report says

In Wisconsin, Senate Democrats tried to pass a measure that would add $5 million to expand a program last session that helps residents acquire skills from technical schools.

[...]

Opponents of the bill, such as Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, said Wisconsin does need more people with technical skills but disagrees with increasing taxes on businesses.

“They call it the ‘Las Vegas loophole,’ but you would be chasing jobs out of Wisconsin,” Grothman said. “I don’t think raising taxes on business is good way to help businesses in Wisconsin.”

Glenn is not one to let the facts ruin a perfectly good economically elitist ideology... but:

The reality is that Wisconsin ranks around 39th in the US with regard to corporate taxes. [See my earlier posts on this.] We're not even in the top 10.

Another reason for a dearth of engineers is that Wisconsin ranks just ahead of Mississippi in the production of BA's. [Should I repeat that? Our university system is about as productive as Mississippi's.]

One reason for this sad state of affairs is that, throughout his career, Glenn has slashed away at education in Wisconsin. I guess we'll have to attract those new engineers from Illinois or Michigan or Iowa since, if we keep this up, the UW won't be able to afford those programs anymore.

But here's an idea: why stop at cutting taxes? Why not introduce a bill to cut wages as well?

That would attract a lot of new business to Wisconsin. With government controls to keep costs down, we could become the China of the Midwest.

I'm just thinking out loud, of course.

hiho
Mp

Glenn Grothman: blogospheric round up for April 20th.

Hi everyone,

While I wait to hear back from Glenn (about Moraine Park Technical College hiring people with bachelor's degrees to teach courses that transfer into the UW System -- yes, really), a few items that popped up on my Google Alerts.

Playground Politics notes:

Seriously, is there anyone who has been a bigger GOP disappointment in the last decade than Glenn Grothman?

Seriously, isn't he the best example of a GOP politician we have?

Hmm.

Political Capital asks the $88 dollar a day question: were our state representatives hanging out in Madison on April 16th simply to collect their per diem?

And finally, The Milwaukee Blog quotes Glenn on immigration:

State Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, said that he does not think that anything is being done either on a local or national level.

"It seems to me that the Bush administration has, for whatever reason, encouraged illegal immigration with their inactivity for the last seven years," Grothman said.

Once again, Glenn has this wrong. Massive political donations from agri-business, which wouldn't last a week in this country without illegal immigration, paid for both that inactivity and the representatives in Washington who've voted for a fence which, the AP reports, won't do the job.

Unless Glenn is willing to pay the higher price for lettuce picked by American citizens at American wages, I don't see why he's worried about illegal immigration.


hiho
Mp

Glenn Grothman: another Zero on conservation.

Hi everyone,

Clyde Winter has thoughtfully put together another list of voting patterns, this time on conservation.

Glenn, once again, gets the goose egg.

Why do we elect people who call themselves conservatives but who don't believe in conservation?


How Wisconsin Legislators Voted on Conservation Issues


hiho
Mpeterson

Keeping tabs on Glenn's voting record.

Great thanks to Clyde Winter over at Hearts and Minds for another set of eyes on Senator Grothman's voting record.


Thanks Clyde!

hiho
Mp