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It seems Gov. Scott Walker is suddenly very concerned about how this recall election is going to adversely affect some of the vulnerable people in his state. Won't someone think of the children and seniors please?

Walker: The Recall Costs Money — Think Of The Children And Seniors:

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) appeared Monday on Morning Joe, discussing the upcoming recall election against him by the state Democrats and organized labor. And among other things, he said, the recall is only hurting children and seniors — by costing money.

MSNBC’s Willie Geist asked Walker: “You find yourself in the middle of this, mired in a recall election. The latest Marquette poll has you 47 approve, 47 percent disapproves, split right down the middle in the state of Wisconsin. This could be a long fight for you — a special election scheduled to take place in June, a primary in May. How distracted are you from doing the business of Wisconsin by trying to essentially win re-election in the middle of your term?” (Note: The May and June dates are not yet officially declared by state election officials, but are the likely outcome of the administrative process.)

“Well, we’re focused,” Walker responded, “but it’s a huge distraction, not just for me, for the legislature. I mean, it’s $9 million of taxpayers’ money just to run this. Think about the number of kids we could help, think of the number of seniors we could help in our state with $9 million that we didn’t have to waste on this — this frivolous recall election.

Maybe he should have thought of that first before he went on the attack of the working class and union members in his state for the benefit of his big business campaign contributors. And as TPM noted, he was also crying about the out of state money coming in from "special interests" outside of his state.

The Rev. Al Sharpton had a response to that later in the day on MSNBC, where he noted that 61 percent of the money supporting Walker is coming from outside of the state, $1 million of which is from just four donors, among them of course, the Koch brothers.

Video below the fold.

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From the Department of Duh: Maybe we can add this to the studies showing the upper classes don't have empathy for poor people and arrive at some kind of explanation for our present plight. Because I just keep scatching my head over how poisoning the air, land, water, economy and media dialogue makes sense to our political elites:

Maybe, as the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald suggested, the rich really are different. They’re more likely to behave badly, according to seven experiments that weighed the ethics of hundreds of people.

The “upper class,” as defined by the study, were more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to increase their odds of winning a prize and endorse unethical behavior at work, researchers reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Taken together, the experiments suggest at least some wealthier people “perceive greed as positive and beneficial,” probably as a result of education, personal independence and the resources they have to deal with potentially negative consequences, the authors wrote.

While the tests measured only “minor infractions,” that factor made the results “even more surprising,” said Paul Piff, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a study author.

More details here:

The team's findings suggest that privilege promotes dishonesty. For example, upper-class subjects were more likely to cheat. After five apparently random rolls of a computerized die for a chance to win an online gift certificate, three times as many upper-class players reported totals higher than 12—even though, unbeknownst to them, the game was rigged so that 12 was the highest possible score.

When participants were manipulated into thinking of themselves as belonging to a higher class than they did, the poorer ones, too, began to behave unethically. In one test, subjects were asked to compare themselves with people at the top or the bottom of the social scale (Donald Trump or a homeless person, for example.) They were then permitted to take candies from a jar ostensibly meant for a group of children in a nearby lab. Subjects whose role-playing raised their status in their own eyes took twice as many candies as those who compared themselves to "The Donald," the team reports online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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President Barack Obama says he is so confident of the U.S. auto industry's return to greatness that he is buying an American electric car at the end of his second term.

In a fiery speech to the United Auto Workers (UAW) members on Tuesday, the president said that his decision to bailout General Motors and Chrysler had been a success.

"If we had turned our backs on you; if America had thrown in the towel; GM and Chrysler wouldn’t exist today," Obama told the crowd. "And you know why I knew this rescue would succeed? It wasn’t because of anything the government did. It wasn’t just because of anything management did. It was because I believed in you. I placed my bet on American workers."

"Three years later, the American auto industry is back," he continued. "GM is back on top as the number one automaker in the world, with the highest profits in its 100-year history. ... And you’re not just building cars again. You’re building better cars."

"I know our bet was a good one because I’ve seen the payoff first hand," Obama insisted. "I’ve seen at GM’s Lordstown plant in Ohio, where workers got their jobs back to build the Chevy Cobalt, and at GM’s Hamtramck plant in Detroit, where I got to get inside a brand-new Chevy Volt fresh off the line."

At that point, the president detoured from his prepared remarks to explain just how much he liked Chevy's new electric car.

"Secret Service wouldn't let me drive it," he joked. "But I liked sitting in it. It was nice. I bet it drives real good."

"And five years from now when I'm not president anymore, I'll buy one and drive it myself!" Obama exclaimed, prompting the enthusiastic audience to chant, "Four more years! Four more years!"

The president's speech to auto workers comes on the day that Michigan voters are casting their ballots in the Republican presidential primary.

In contrast to Obama's embrace of the $80 billion auto bailout, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney recently claimed that the current White House resident "gave" the car companies to the UAW.

"My view is this: We have to have industries that get in trouble go through bankruptcies," Romney explained at a CNN debate last week.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has also recently taken a shot the auto industry's effort at building more energy efficient models.

At a campaign event in Suwanee, Georgia last week, Gingrich told supporters that he would bring back cheaper gas because “you can’t put a gun rack on a Volt.”

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While Prime Minister Thatcher and President Reagan exchanged toasts and cordialities at a dinner hosted by the British Embassy in Washington, the rest of the world was going off on its own direction.

The Soviet newspaper Pravda labeled lies over reports from the State Department claiming Russia was sending arms to El Salvador. Had they known. . .

Meanwhile earlier, President Reagan asked for funds to reactivate two WW2 era Battleships, based on information the Soviet Navy was stepping up warship production. This, hot on the heels of Reagan presiding over additional government budget cuts to the tune of $10-13 Billion. A budget and Tax cut battle were heating up.

In the rest of the world - An Islamic Peace Mission landed in Tehran to try and settle the 6 month old Iran-Iraq War. Three British Missionaries were released from captivity by the Iranians. John and Audrey Coleman and Mrs. Gene Wadell were glad to be home. Still, there were more to worry about. Speaking of hostages, the Basque Separatists ETA released hostages snatched from the consuls of Austria, El Salvador and Uruguay after 8 days of captivity.

Domestically - violence was threatening to loom between Vietnamese and American Shrimp fishermen in the Texas Gulf Coast. The Vietnamese were reported to be stocking up on arms for protection and the Americans were seen at various KKK meetings, espousing the virtues of immigrant bashing. The Shrimp had no opinion one way or the other, and no doubt preferred they just went away.

And so went this rather skewed February 28, 1981 as reported on the CBS World News Roundup.

State: Arizona

Type of election: Primary

How it works: This is a standard closed primary where only Arizona Republicans who were registered before January 30 will be able to vote. 29 delegates are at stake. There is no Democratic primary.

Official election results: Arizona Secretary of State

Republican candidates: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum (all others have dropped out or are polling at less than 1 percent)

Previous performance: In 2008, Romney finished second to John McCain with 35 percent of the vote while Paul finished fourth with 4 percent. Barack Obama finished second to Hillary Clinton with 42 percent.

Newspapers: Arizona Republic, Phoenix New Times, full list

Television stations: Full list

Progressive blogs: Arizona Eagletarian, AZ Netroots, Democratic Diva, Friendly Fire, Random Musings, Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

Latest polling: New York Times:

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The joint Wikileaks, Anonymous release of over 5 million leaked Stratfor emails on Monday confirms what many suspected since the detention of Julian Assange ...that the U.S. would press possible charges of espionage or conspiracy related to the release of hundreds of thousands of leaked state department cables. Stratfor emails reveal the U.S. not only already holds a sealed indictment of Assange, they've been patiently sitting on it for over 12 months.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

UNITED States prosecutors have drawn up secret charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to a confidential internal email obtained from a private US intelligence company, Stratfor.

In the email, sent to Stratfor intelligence analysts on January 26 last year, the company's vice-president for intelligence, Fred Burton, responded to a media report concerning US investigations targeting WikiLeaks. He wrote: "We have a sealed indictment on Assange."

Underlining the sensitivity of the information - apparently obtained from a US government source - he wrote "Pls protect" and "Not for Pub[lication]".

Mr Burton is a well-known expert on security and counter-terrorism with close ties to US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. He is a former chief of counterterrorism in the US State Department diplomatic security service.

The Wikileaks founder awaits the British Supreme Court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden for questioning regarding claims of sexual assault, although to date, he has not been charged with any crime.

While being held in detention in the UK, Assange has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded a gold medal by the Sydney Peace Foundation for "exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights." He also was the people’s choice for Time’s person of the year, and ninth place in the 2011 Time 100.

Heartbeat Of The People (Occupy Wall Street) from Fredrik Magnusson on Vimeo.

Heartbeat of the People: Occupy Wall Street by Fredrik Magnusson.

What's on your mind today, people?

As news organizations are sifting through the five million emails released by Wikileaks today, they're posting their findings. (See the interview above with Julian Assange about the spying on Bhopal activists.) Oddly enough, the major news organizations (the same ones pounding the drums for an attack on Iran) are quiet about this interesting tidbit from Stratfor, the intelligence company:

Growing concerns over Iran’s nuclear facilities may prove to be all for naught. Officials from the global intelligence company Stratfor allegedly discussed that Israel may have already destroyed the Iranian nuclear facility, according to one of the emails released by Wikileaks Monday.

In one of the over five million emails leaked, the conversation centered on Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak praising the news of deadly munitions blasts at a base of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

“I think this is a diversion. The Israelis already destroyed all the Iranian nuclear infrastructure on the ground weeks ago,” one intelligence official wrote in an email dated November 14, 2011. “The current ‘let’s bomb Iran’ campaign was ordered by the EU leaders to divert the public attention from their at home financial problems. It plays also well for the US since Pakistan, Russia and N. Korea are mentioned in the report. ”

One other Stratfor official allegedly indicated a similar finding.

“Israeli commandos in collaboration with Kurd forces destroyed few underground facilities mainly used for the Iranian defense and nuclear research projects,” he wrote on November 13, 2011. “Even if the Israelis have the capabilities and are ready to attack by air, sea and land, there is no need to attack the nuclear program at this point after the commandos destroyed a significant part of it.”

Of course, any journalist worth his or her salt would want to ask the question of who benefits — and why — if there's an unnecessary U.S. attack on Iran, but our librul media wouldn't want to get people all confused so you're probably not going to hear anything about that.

One of the greatest difficulties for progressives these days is imagining how we can possibly win elections when the 1% has uncapped a fire hose full of money into our politics. It's a daunting prospect, to be sure. Their gusher of cash is so overwhelming that it's hard to see how average people can possibly compete. But that's why Blue America is so enthusiastic about progressive candidates around the country who are coming up with creative strategies and tactics to meet the challenge. Turns out that big money ads may be able to tear someone down but it still can't buy you love the way a one on one conversation can.

One of the most inventive progressive grassroots strategists in the country is Ken Aden of Arkansas' 3rd district. Ken is one of those rare politicians with both the common touch and a long term vision who has sat down and thought through how to wage his campaign on the ground, one on one. With a combination of high-tech micro-targeting savvy and a sophisticated field operation using dedicated volunteers to walk the district and meet every possible voter, this strategy shows how progressives can overcome the odds.

As you can see from the video above, Ken is a man with grassroots organizing experience, empathy and intelligence. And he knows his constituents as neighbors and friends.

Ken says:

Because a legitimate campaign effort has never been mounted by a Democrat running for Congress, voters have never had the opportunity to be introduced to a Democratic candidate who believes what they believe. Incumbent Steve Womack is a Tea Party Republican who believes Social Security and Medicare must be cut and changed. However, the residents of the district don’t feel the same way. In Benton County alone, more than $600 million in Social Security payments, Medicare funding, and Medicare prescription drug coverage was utilized by residents. Districtwide, that figure tops $1 billion dollars in combine Medicare and Social Security Payments. The people who depend upon these programs don’t want to see them cut, but they’ve never had a Democratic congressional campaign knock on their door and make them aware that there is an option other than a Republican.

Check out the reaction he gets on that subject:

"If you even think of cutting Medicare, if you even think of cutting Social Security, you're a criminal." Words progressive Democrats should live by.

Ken's making some waves, that's for sure. You may have read in the national news that his campaign manager came home a few weeks ago to find that someone had murdered his family cat and scrawled the word "liberal" on it. Aden is a former combat soldier and doesn't scare easily and neither does his campaign. In fact, it propelled them to double their efforts to get out and talk to the people and let them know who it is that's on their side when it comes to protecting their livelihoods, their economic security and their futures. (Hint: it isn't cowards who would kill a defenseless animal.)

Blue America endorsed Ken with great enthusiasm and we are spreading the good word about his grassroots strategic vision to progressive challengers across the country. We believe that this kind of creativity and energy can pay off. But he needs all the help we can give him to keep the campaign funded. He won't be able to match a corrupt Republican incumbent, not even close. But he has a good chance to win if he can put this plan into practice and defeat him with sharp grassroots tactics and hard work. Please donate here if you can.

And please welcome Ken to Crooks and Liars.

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I knew there was too much time after the South Carolina primary before Michigan held their primary for Santorum's lead to last. I didn't think he'd talk in tongues for over a week, but if Mitt needed to he would have had his SuperPAC smear the heck out of him much more than the above video. However, is there a sliver of hope that Santorum will take Michigan after all? Nate SIlver's latest tries to give us a little comfort food:

Michigan Forecast Update: Romney’s Lead Looks More Tenuous

Since we ran the Michigan numbers early Monday morning, three new polls are out that make the state look more like a true toss-up and less like one that favors Mr. Romney.Two of the surveys, from Mitchell Research and American Research Group, in fact give Rick Santorum a nominal lead in Michigan, by 2 and 1 percentage points respectively. The third, from Rasmussen Reports, gives Mr. Romney a 2-point advantage.We also added a hard-to-track down survey from Baydoun Consulting, which gave Mr. Romney an 8-point advantage. However, it is less recent than the others, having been conducted on Thursday night rather than over the weekend.Among the five polls that were conducted over the weekend — including those that had been included with the previous update — three give Mr. Romney a small lead while two show an edge for Mr. Santorum.Mr. Romney still has the advantage in the FiveThirtyEight forecast, but it is more tenuous than the one we released overnight. The model gives him a 64 percent chance of winning the state, down from 77 percent in the previous forecast.

Rick Santorum does still have a slight chance in Michigan from Nate's POV. I fall into the category that the religious right found a topic it can scream about with the contraception issue even though most women of any faith are repelled by this discussion. Initially it's a win for President Obama. But remember, they are patient and willing to wait decades to turn public opinion to their side of the issue. I doubt Santorum will win Michigan, but it's still possible to keep this clown show going.