Scott Walker at the service of corporations, not you and me

Really, one can hardly keep up with the pace at which Gov. Scott Walker is prepared to turn over the state of Wisconsin to private for-profit corporations, to let business ruin more and more of what belonged to the people - government, public services, the natural beauty and resources of the state, our once-clean air and once-clean water, etc.

One can hardly keep pace with his initiatives to strengthen business at the cost of human beings and the quality of life in this state.

You remember how he rejected federal money to build high-speed rail from Milwaukee to Madison, part of a longer term plan to have efficient high-speed rail connections from Chicago to Minneapolis? The rail project would have created jobs, help the state get off oil in advance of higher prices and looming shortages in decades to come, get more people out of their cars, and help spark economic development along the path of the train.

Next up - returning federal stimulus money intended to get small towns and rural communities hooked up to high-speed internet connections. Prez Obama has made a high priority of this program and the state was given $23 million for this purpose. More and more internet content requires high speed connections, and the program was targeted towards schools, libraries, and government agencies.  The intent was also to improve communications among fire and police departments in rural areas.

Walker will have none of it.  Why? Because it is federal government at the service of people and this conflicts with his libertarian politics. Oh, wait, something else, too. AT&T Inc., the company that owns the infrastructure through which the BadgerNet Converged Network currently runs, by an odd coincidence contributed more than $20,000 to Walker's campaign, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, compared to $7,600 for Democrat Tom Barrett's campaign.

The Journal Sentinel reported earlier that Walker also received substantial contributions from the road-building interests. I am certain there is no connection between that and his opposition to high-speed rail.

Cynicism is hard to avoid here, isn't it?