President Barack Obama must be magic or practicing some strange Kenyan voodoo, because there is suddenly a new job opening in Wisconsin, just like that. Of course, you probably do not want to accept work in Wisconsin, because of all the cheese-flavored oppression being served up there on a daily basis. But just the same, this position is located in the Department of Safety and Professional Services, and you are qualified so long as you promise not to encourage horrible acts of treason like “voting” or “taking advantage of free services.” Also, do not use all-caps in your e-mail or you will be FIRED, mister!
This is what happened to troublemaker Chris Larsen, who decided to screw America out of some stolen hard-earned ca$h by telling the entire world about a secret free ID card.
Chris Larsen, a low-level Wisconsin state employee, was fired for the apparent cause of using his work e-mail to mock and disparage state policy to his co-workers, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The policy in question: The state’s decision for DMV employees to not tell citizens about the availability of free photo identification to satisfy the state’s new Voter-ID law, unless they ask first.
Larsen, a limited-term employee at the state Department of Safety and Professional Services, sent this e-mail Thursday morning to colleagues, encouraging them to tell all their friends about the free ID cards:
“Do you know someone who votes that does not have a State ID that meets requirements to vote? Tell them they can go to the DMV/DOT and get a free ID card. However they must ask for the free ID. a memo was sent out by the 3rd in command of the DMV/DOT. The memo specifically told the employees at the DMV/DOT not to inform individuals that the ID’s are free. So if the individuals seeking to get the free ID does not ask for a free ID, they will have to pay for it!!
“Just wanted everyone to be informed!! REMEMBER TO TELL ANYONE YOU KNOW!! ANYONE!! EVEN IF THEY DON’T NEED THE FREE ID, THEY MAY KNOW SOMEONE THAT DOES!! SO TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!”
He was subsequently fired for misuse of e-mail.
Who knew the state of Wisconsin was so particular about its e-mail etiquette? True, it does seem a bit harsh for what appears to be a first time offense, but for all we know this lunatic was spewing his crazy talk in Comic Sans. [TPM]
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Something tells me that if this rule were in place for representatives, seats would open up within minutes.
PEOPLE WHO RITE IN CAPS SHLD BE FRIED, NOT FIRED!!! Oh, wait a minute…
Fired for using his work e-mail during Packers tailgating prep, you mean.
It's like wikileaks except in caps. THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. OR GET YOU FIRED.
Can't get much freer than that…
Invisible hand/koch!
First rule of Crush Democracy Club: you do not talk about Crush Democracy Club!
I got a ton of e-mail photos of the White House lawn covered in watermelons right after Obama took office. The CC list included a slew of TN.gov employees, BP's head environmental attorney and Ann Coulter. All of these clowns still have their jobs.
Prolly be seeing a renewed surge of those watermelon e-mails after Hopey's jobs speech tonight.
My folks and I both received copies of that image from a lady from Wisconsin. Dad called me up and asked if I knew anything about "that Photoshop stuff" and had me put in an image of a Cheesehead tending the watermelon garden for Obama. (I found a little cartoon Cheesehead and put a hoe in his hand and positioned him in the rows.) Dad then had me email it to the lady from his account and we stopped getting those sorts of emails from her immediately.
I love my Dad.
She was offended that you called her a hoe.
Coulter still has his job cause if they tried to fire him, he'd go all Chuck Norris-y on them and kick their mother-effin ass. Or bite them with those huge chompers…
When were there watermelons on the WH lawn? Unless the photo was altered!1!! Well, I'm shocked. World Net Daily should put their crack investigator Jerome Corsi Ph.D on this. Or their crack crack Chuck Norris Pp.P. "Where's the Grass?"
They weren't trying to take money from government coffers. You can do whatever you want in America, BUT DON'T YOU DARE FUCK WITH THE GOVERNMENT'S REVENUE!
LIke the people at the DMV ever tell you anything anyway, even without orders not to tell you anything?
They are the masters of the big freeze, aren't they?
cheese curd libel!
BRAT LIBEL!
Go ahead, do your wurst.
You dog.
Blood Sausage Libel!
Ah. I hope that they will also be firing EVERY SINGLE STATE EMPLOYEE who EVER FORWARDED A RIGHT-WING RUMOR to everyone on their contact list. BECAUSE TO DO OTHERWISE WOULD BE UNFAIR.
And as we all know, Wisconsin is all about equal treatment for all.
Not till we show up to do it ourselves with torches and pitchforks.
The list of staff who have forwarded right-wing rumors is where old Scott gets his political appointees.
The memo in question written by Steve Krieser, executive secretary at the Department of Transportation, instructs DMV employees: "While you should certainly help customers who come in asking for a free ID to check the appropriate box, you should refrain from offering the free version to customers who do not ask for it."
Wasn't there a Packer who supported the unions in the protests against Herr Walker earlier this year? Who could hold up a sign during Packer games saying "Ask 4 free ID" at all games?
Problem solved!
Wonder if they made him take a Silkwood-esque shower after he got fired. I'm pretty sure I would have felt the need after working with scum like that.
Some bright young wag at TPM discovered this public urination citation against Steven Kreiser, the douchebag who created the memo advising public employees to misinform the public. It was a "first time" citation. You know, sometimes you get cited for public urination when the cops catch your penis out in public for reasons other than urinating.
If they scrupulously enforced a law banning public urination, the cops would have to arrest thousands of men each Sunday in the parking lots of Lambeau Field.
What is amazing is how often the offender is enraged and ungrateful at being cited for the "mercy" or "the cop gave you a break" offense. Then they come to me insistent on fighting it, taking it to the highest court in the land, if need be. Morons.
I don't care about pissing in public or getting a friendly beej from a young lady or fellow, but telling your employees not to mention that the po' folks don't have to fork out 28 bucks for an ID is ample grounds for termination since it may be grounds for a lawsuit for disenfranchisement. I don't care if the entire offensive front line of the fucking Green Bay Packers was sucking his dick. That doesn't have much relevance, although it might provide some welcome entertainment on the internets.
GET YOUR FREE ID CARDS, AVAILABLE FIRST THING WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 !
If they discriminated against him because of his Helvetico-American heritage he could take it to court.
Where the judge would choke him.
Case dismissed.
Ah, yes, Prosser and Torts.
Oh my God, that is, like, the best dessert ever! I LOVE Prosser and Torts!
Or just deserts, anyway.
Great. Now I'll go to bed with law school flash backs. Just what I needed.
Speak truth to power, get canned. Rule America
I wish to emphatically register my outrage as per this topic.
(sorry about the capital "i")
Ditto.
I am forwarding this to all my WI friends, poorz and blax alike. Them bitches need to vote (like I'm always telling them) now there's no damn excuse.
Yay. I so upfist your activism. (Srsly. No snark.)
Honestly, though, anyone who's savvy enough to be on the Internet probably either already has an ID, or is otherwise aware of this "free ID on request" thing.
It's the people you can't reach by forwarding an email that really need to know about it.
Not to say you shouldn't do it. Fight the power!
If poorz have email, they're not poor. Also.
But they'd still be black, right?
Sounds like something I would give an employee a written warning about. I would definitely fire someone for using Comic Sans in any document, though.
Amen to that last. Especially if with ~~creative backgrounds~~~ or animations. I'm an email admin, I hate that crap. I was one of the few who could send out all-employee mails when I worked for county government and some people really had trouble with composing without that crap. No, you cannot use flashing animations. No, I will not attach your Power Point slide. Etc.
Scott walker was merely expressing his passion for ee cummings
This sounds like my business checking account at Bank of America. I went to cancel it because the fees were too high. I was told that they would make it free for me. Two years go by and they send a letter saying my free banking is over, fees to start next month. So I call to cancel and magically, it's free again.
I'm thinking of cancelling it anyway and when they ask why, tell them because they're a bunch of dipshits.
There are so many legit reasons to cancel a BofA account, their being a bunch of dipshits is just another one…
Seriously dude. Go join a credit union, the only legitimate financial institution of the socialist proletariat. Better hurry before Scott Walker tries to shut those down too.
AMEX credit card processing sucks too. I used to take American Express cards even though they had higher processing fees, but then when they started charging me $5 just to tell me how much I owed them I got fed up and dropped the uh, "service". Not a lot of cowboys with cards anyway…used to just take them so the city slickers from Portland treking over for deer season could buy their Bud Lite with plastic.
It's not like it's in the Constitution or anything. Oh, wait:
SECTION 1. THE RIGHT OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES TO VOTE IN ANY PRIMARY OR OTHER ELECTION FOR PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT, FOR ELECTORS FOR PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT, OR FOR SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, SHALL NOT BE DENIED OR ABRIDGED BY THE UNITED STATES OR ANY STATE BY REASON OF FAILURE TO PAY ANY POLL TAX OR OTHER TAX.
SECTION 2. THE CONGRESS SHALL HAVE POWER TO ENFORCE THIS ARTICLE BY APPROPRIATE LEGISLATION.
If you were "we the people" you wouldn't need to quote any damn constitution. I think you're a lie-brul.
Cool — I had no idea the Constitution was in all-caps.
caps = cruise control for representative democracy/bloated crony corpratocracy
There you go again, with your "facts". Goddam elitist!
In the Constitutional "citizens" = white male land owners. WI just narrowed it down to Republican white male land owners.
crazy shit will be coming out my state until the frigging Packers are done.
See ya in February.
Go Brewers!
Anyone who still lives in Wisconsin deserves whatever Wisconsin does. I don't care if your father's father's father lived there. If you wake up and your home is sinking into a hidden cesspool, move before you drown in shit.
I didn't move to Alabama, Alabama moved to me. Now I know how Liberals in formerly sane Kansas felt 30 years ago.
I know what you mean, I lived in Georgia for a job but when I couldn't stand where I was I got the fuck out and live where it is comparitivly sane..Fuck a job – I can make it anywhere, why stay in a shithouse.
Tell that to us tens of thousands who showed up at the Capital for 6 weeks in the middle of a god damn WI winter to fight back. What your saying is if you get scared by the Koch monster you should run across the border to the Utopian state nearby. Have you learned nothing from the Transformer movies?
p.s. fuck off
Dude, every time I try to put an answer to you in here, it trips out and loses it. I'm not shitting on the people who protested, I'm saying that it doesn't matter because these people you're fighting are not what you were taught about in high school civics. They are a totalitarian power structure and you have to fight them in a different way – get away from them and fight them from the outside, don't stand up in their face and let them know who you are. That kid in Tianenman Square was a great symbol but nobody ever fucking heard from him again. Fuck Transformer movies, these people are the real deal and they need to be fucking dealt with in the real world.
Dude, .. you are the Democrat we all loath "don't stand up in their face and let them know who you are". I think we all know this is not high School Civics and this is our "real world".
You do what you need to do, wherever that is. We are on the ground here and we will do what we need to do.
ps, get over the whole "dude" thing
Rock on, uhm, dude!
Seriously….you are fighting the good fight.
Limited-term employee eh?
At least he limited his term on his own terms.
Does that count?
I've found out that if you end everything you say or write with,
"and please support our troops and God bless America",
you can say or write anything you want to.
This was his mistake.
Bubbles speaks the truth.
On the bright side, this guy's message is going to get 10,000% more play, thanks to his asshole of a boss.
oh Steven Krieser i'm so glad i'm not you this week.
[chuckles]
His mistake was in using his work e-mail. If he'd just waited until he got home, or even used his gmail account, he could have written with IMPUNITAH.
I was told I couldn't access my personal email account(s) from my work (state-owned) 'puter. They were looking for ways to remove me anyway, but they had to get far more creative than that.
after the election of our Kenyan Muslin President, I put his photo up in my office. I was a federal employee and he was my boss. Ok, I had his photo illegally up on the back of my door- under a sweater- before that. Many people put up his photo after the election. One of our moronic attorneys sent out a memo saying we could not have his photo up because he could run for election again in 2012- thus he was a candidate(although the President's photo always goes up officially after the inauguration somewhere in all Fed agencies). I kept his photo up and suggested to my office mates that this dumb bitch could come to my office and take it down herself- before I initiated a formal complaint against her. Anyway, the next day there was a memo from the director of our agency saying that it was acceptable to have a photo of the President elect- as long as it had no party affiliation.
So after our Kenyan Muslim HUSSEIN President is-relected in 2012, and therefore term-limited and no longer able to BE a candidate, you can put a huge, gilded-framed photo of him on the FRONT of your door and email a copy to your agency's idiot attorney.
I have a new stalker, "OneTermBarry." They are described as "Spanky's Squad" Are they no longer called "circle jerks?"
He's not called anything… why waste otherwise useful words?
Spanky hopes you've set your Intense Debate preferences so you get a message when he "follows" you. Spanky is pretty damned frustrated, and as a result he recently smacked his hamster to death.
He didn't smack the hamster to death. It suffocated when he wrapped it in duct tape.
Since he is just doing it to spam you with email alerts, forward it to IntenseDebate and let them handle it again.
jizz sock puppets. i think that's what they're called.
I actually don't mind the stalkers here on Wonkette. Each time I hear from them, I use their insanity to point out to conservative friends how bastardized and insane the GOP has become. Essentially, the stalkers are helping to create independents from Republicans. Well done!
I live in a state filled with "independents", but they still drink the kool-ade and vote in lockstep and watch fox, same as it ever was.
My condolences. Really.
They only call themselves independents because GWB made "Republican" so embarrassing.
And to a person, the strongest words they can muster against the shrub is that they had “issues” with him. I wonder who put out *that* daily briefing, issues…
How dare he try to tell people how to avoid the poll tax! It's the only kind of tax Republicans like!
He can't be in any more trouble than the Yuma, AZ, power substation employee who "removed a piece of monitoring equipment" and knocked out power all over the Southwest today. Fucking Arizona screws up again.
"Removed a piece of monitoring equipment"? WTF?!? So did numbnuts sell it on E-Bay or take it down to the local scrap dealer for munnies? One should not let idiots play with high voltage and high current devices, even if it does cull the herd, the peripheral costs are not justified.
Creepy. Wisconsin also has a Democratic state senator named Chris Larson who I'm sure would agree with suggesting the free ID.
Republicans aren't exactly known for proactively reading people their rights. If I ever come across the police, I'm sure I'll remember to ask them to read me my rights, 'cause if I don't, they don't have to give 'em to me.
Once again, is the Republican War on Voting a tacit admission by the GOP that they can not win in the marketplace of ideas?
Take away their votes, and you can tax 'em all you like.
Funny how the teabaggers are behind this plan — considering how it worked out for King George III.
Well, free market theory does depend on an assumption of informed and rational actors; since most voters are neither informed nor rational, market theory fails as a means of testing or validating political ideology just as thoroughly as it fails in the real world "markets."
But that is just it. Conservative conclusions do not even make sense based on their own flimsy rationalizations.
It's a bet they've been making since the Jim Crow days. It has worked well for them up to this point. Why would they change? I don't think it is even a tacit admission any longer, I don't think they deny it and in many cases, they actively promote the idea within the party and take some pride in keeping "those people" out of the voting booth. They've managed to disenfranchise a whole generation of black men by throwing felony raps on dope violations, and they surely don't mean to stop there.
How can such a thing happen in America, much less in America's Dairyland?
There have been a lot of great sitcoms set in Wisconsin, and I hope this is one of them.
It's true. Wisco gets lots of play in TV and movies. The good-hearted character? The hot blond? ALWAYS from Wisconsin.
But one season of Laverne and Shirley can wipe out an entire Happy Days series, and let's not ever mention Joanie Loves Chachie again, shall we?
Shotz Libel!
The whole thing's a Fonzie Scheme, I tells ya.
Firing someone for writing in all caps. Finally Scott Walker did something I can support!
You know who else got fired for writing in all caps?
That's right. Gutenberg.
ROMMEL?
John Hancock?
Sherlock Holmes? No, wait, that wasn't a cap….
Yes, letting the non-teabagging poor know that they can vote will rapidly become a criminal offense, and perhaps capital if someone lets the colored people find out.
Wisconsin is feeling left behind in the Stupid State competition after the news out of both Tex-Ass and Arizona. So it's acting out.
White Citizens' Council alive and kicking at the Wisconsin DMV?
LARSENY!
Since the employee was terminated for essentially reminding his coworkers to stay within federal law, I am of the opinion that a lawsuit is in order.
WHEN ALL CAPS ARE OUTLAWED, ONLY CRIMINALS WILL USE ALL CAPS!!!
I was referring to the whole "24th Amendment" part of the message and just assuming they used all caps to more properly translate it into teabonics.
Perhaps this would fall within some conscientious employee protection law or "whistleblower" law, if Wisconsin has one. And if it applies to State employees. But even if there is no statute which applies, this could qualify as a common-law "public policy" wrongful termination. In New Jersey, the leading case on public policy wrongful terminations just happens to involve voting.
Limited term employees are far easier to terminate than other less than full-time employees, such as so-called permanent intermittent; more like the cryptically named temporarily authorized unauthorized. States have long come up with ways to hire part time or seasonal help with few to no benefits…
True for the feds now too- contracting out or limited time appts. Now, tenure- someone from a university in PA told me they had a prof who shot a policeman(not killed) and was in jail but still had tenure(I think that is a joke?)
I have to call bullshit on that one as tenure rules do not work that way. Sounds like yet another conservative fairy tale.
Disciplinary action is perfectly understandable in a capital offense.
So does this work in other areas? I mean, I've just been assuming that I have to pay for my groceries every time I get the total at the store and the clerk asks me if that's credit or debit – but is that just because I never asked for the free version?
Wake up – he was fired because he did not attach a photo of himself naked. That's what really pissed off his Republican bosses.
Cheezeheads who have to visit the DMV should just freakin' inundate the workers with dumbass questions concerning every possible contingency imaginable–"Will there be a parallel parking test with this boat trailer license plate renewal? What does DMV stand for, anyway? Is this form available in Swahili?" etc–if they ask you why, tell them it's because you heard they withhold information and yer just trying to make sure you don't miss anything.
Oh come one – the DMV employees have to take enough shit from the idiots running the state. Most of them just want to do their jobs and not worry about getting fired or laid off.
I wonder if they could just post a copy of the "don't tell them about the free ID" memo … you know – right where the public can see it.
E-MAIL FROM WORK IN ALL CAPS BAD! LOOKING AT PORN AT WORK GOOD! Now that we have that settled back to work/looking at porn.
Out here in the Soviet of Warshington, Shrub anointed feral clown Judge Ronald McDonald Leighton has screeched at the US Marshals to shoot on site any thuggish longshoremen or their supporters.
You can always tell Mr Krieser how you feel about this.
http://wi.gov/state/core/sowdir/directory_listing...
Is the dude hugging a giant inflatable (sex toy?) bottle of beer on facebook the same steven krieser? cause it sure looks like him?
Republicans – Fighting for Freedom from Democracy
I feel sorry for this guy…he did the right thing in the wrong way. Employers hold most of the cards these days and using his work email was a tactical mistake. He could have done what an "acquaintance" of mine once did when his school district was doing the dirty to a number of teachers and students. He set up an email account under the name of [redacted], and went on a stealth campaign against the evil overlords. He would leak stuff, write up some pretty inflammatory stuff that not only informed his fellow drones but also got folks talking and arguing.
And this – in case anyone was still wondering – is one more reason why we need strong unions.
He was a limited term employee, not represented. Which is just the way employers like it.
Does anyone else remember the YouTube video that was linked to a few months ago?
The woman took her son to DMV and filmed it. Among other items, her son had to produce a copy of his checking account bank statement (Whiskey Tango Foxtwat?) to get his free ID.
The clerk didn't offer the free card, and didn't think he should.
What a D-Backle.
"because there is suddenly a new job opening in Wisconsin, just like that."
*hopefully*
Is it governor?
It's governor, right?
So Wisconsin shitcans that man for basically providing a public service, yet this cunt still walks the halls in my (Nye) County.
I hope any Wisconsinites who have a position to fill will think about Mr. Larsen.
P.S. I realize this will get deleted, and I'm just posting because after 20 straight deletes I'm curious to see how long a streak I can rack up. But I did want to say that in the last comment thread, I saw yet another incomprehensible post from the ÅŸenol balaban – bot, who has yet another link to an incomprehensible turkish page. It gets cleared, and I have never been cleared even once. WTF?
Next time, to avoid the filters, do it like this.
RE-MEMBR TO TEL ANY1 U NO!! ANY1!! EVN IF THEY DONUT KNEED THE FREE EYE-DEE, THEY MAY NO SUM1 THAT DUZ!! SO TELL EVERY1 U NO!!”
You've got to fight, for your right, to voooote.
In Wisconsin, cheese cuts you!
Sick bunch of whack jobs.
/still sore about the Saints.
Let me get this straight…This "Chris Larson", a Wisconsin state employee, sent an e-mail on a Wisconsin State e-mail account to encourage fellow state employees to inform Wisconsin citizens on how to make it easier for said citizens to participate in their states democratic "free" elections and all they did was fire him? He's lucky Scott Walker didn't hit him with his purse full of Kochs
Shit like this reminds me of why I'm glad I don't have a fucking job. Now if I only had a President…..
Hey I know this one! Major Hochstetter bursts in with the forged email and shrieks "CLINK WHY DO ZEE PRIZONERS HAVE FREE IDENTIFICATION CARDS?" Col. Clink wrings his hands and cries out "HOGAAAAAAAAAAN!" and credits roll.
Admit it, it was still good.
Yes. Yes it was.
Sincerely yours,
Hadley V. Baxendale, Esq.
Oh, now, was that fair? I ask you!
Well, it was foreseeable ….
In a detrimental reliance thereupon sort of way.
Morcilla later.
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