Thank God the good people of Wisconsin are protesting, they are uniting in protest of their governor, Rightwing pigmonger Scott Walker. This piece of crap governor is cooking the books so he can claim a budget crisis. This guy is a fraud and a liar!
Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit -- it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s new spending schemes -- or delay their implementation until they are offset by fresh revenues -- the “crisis” would not exist.
The Fiscal Bureau memo -- which readers can access at http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf -- makes it clear that Walker did not inherit a budget that required a repair bill.
In a Wednesday op-ed, the Capitol Times of Madison picked up on this theme.
In its Jan. 31 memo to legislators on the condition of the state's budget, the Fiscal Bureau determined that the state will end the year with a balance of $121.4 million. To the extent that there is an imbalance -- Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit -- it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January.
This just posted on TPMDC...
The weather in Wisconsin is cold this time of year -- but the budget fight is only getting hotter. Following a walkout by the state Senate Democrats, depriving Republicans of the three-fifths majority needed to pass the budget and its controversial anti-public union provisions, the NBC affiliate in Madison now reports that sources say the Dems have left the state entirely. (Democrats with backbone!!)
This comes after the state Senate majority leader said that the State Patrol could be called in to round up the Dems. However, leaving for another state would presumably place the legislators beyond the state's jurisdiction. (Fun fact: The state Senate leader and the Assembly Speaker are brothers -- and the new head of the State Patrol is their father.)
Democratic Minority Leader Mark Miller released a statement on behalf of all Democrats urging Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans to listen to opponents of the measure and seek a compromise. His statement did not address where Democrats were or when they planned to return.
Bill opponents in the Senate gallery cheered when Senate President Mike Ellis announced that there were not enough senators present to proceed.
This is an on going event, minute by minute... events courtesy of TPM, Yahoo news,
My cousin Jeanette wrote this for me, she lives in Wisconsin......
I was in Madison on Tuesday and the similarity with what was happening there, and what I had just witnessed on TV in Egypt was striking. Thirteen thousand people marched on the Capital, filling the Capitol Building and chanting "Kill This Bill" and spilling out into the square. Teachers and Public Employees are under attack with a bill that Governor Walker has proposed which would dismantle their collective bargaining rights. The so called Repair Bill is being driven through (and will probably be voted on today) under the guise that it will help the state budget's bottom line. But this is not about the budget! This is about union busting! You can almost see Scott Walker smacking his lips! Nothing would make him happier than to see Wisconsin, a leader in Progressive politics for the last century, become a Right to Work State. By pitting worker against worker, he and the Republicans are trying to make villains out of public employees because they have a union which has survived during this recession, while one by one, unions in the private sector have fallen by the wayside. Workers have suffered in the last 30 years while companies have moved, first to the South where unions were weak or nonexistent and then out of the country.
This is class warfare! An injury to one is an injury to all!
I'll be back with updates!
47 comments:
People have to stick together other states will follow suit.
Thanks for the Support for us Cheeseheads. this fight is just beginning... and I hope it carries to OHIO AND FLORIDA... and everywhere else it is needed.
I just put up a post that may give more info....
Cheese is better than TEA anyday.... like, you ever try putting tea on a cracker?
(just makes them soggy AND stupid and even more ornery)
Republicans love republican government workers. They love the suckass workers that buy into the right to scab bullshit the republicans call right to work.
Bad thing is we all knew electing assholes like this Scott Walker would lead to this. But for some reason he got elected.
It's never a good idea to put an asshole in charge. But for some reason assholes almost always end up in charge.
They're calling the Wisconsin governor Hitler, they're holding up signs with crosshairs overlaying a headshot of Governor Scott Walker (R-WI), and calling for the left to "DON'T RETREAD, RELOAD" immediately prior to what the left characterizes as a violent graphic. They called him "Godzilla,' and called for 'death to the tyrant!,' then added 'political' before 'death,' admittedly because they didn't want it to be characterized as a threat.
Where is the nonstop media coverage of this violent rhetoric!?!?
Radical leftist teachers' union members even hold up a sign implying they are being raped by Governor Walker because taking away their ability to hold taxpayers hostage in a financially disastrous time is somehow equivalent to RAPING PUBLIC EMPLOYEES!
There is a multi-Billion dollar budget shortfall in Wisconsin! Something HAS TO BE CUT, and taxpayer-funded payrolls are logically the first place to look. Why is it so difficult to understand that COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR 'PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' is fiscal suicide when you're facing tough economic times? But I suppose that's the point, since many of these leeches are probably fans of Frances Fox Piven...
What's sad is the students, some of who don't even understand that they're being used as political pawns by their selfish teachers/principals...and any who do realize what's going on, have been indoctrinated/brainwashed so they probably don't even see the other side of the argument...
The silence of the media on the matter of the extreme, violent rhetoric coming from taxpayer-funded employee unions is deafening...
There is a petition to recall Gov. Walker. I signed it.
The public employees union will negotiate cuts in pay and benefits.
The bill just wants to take away collective bargining from public employees, and simply kill off the union.
Less votes for Democrats next electio, is thwe way the Republicans see it.
The Gov. (and the bill) is saying that pension costs is why WI is 3 billion in debt. A lie.
read the post again cheesebrain, your Gov cooked the books, there is NO CRISIS!! duh...
I wonder how much money those unions cost the taxpayers. You know the people who actually fund their free health care,pensions and salaries while they are struggling to meet their own obligations.
We know who is behind this protest. The DNC and Organizing for America. Just like the ones who descended on execs homes and terrorized their children.
This is a gross imposition on a state's business by the executive branch of the federal government.
This is the kind of Chicago style thuggery now operationg from the White House.
There Sue goes goes again...calling names just becuase someone disagrees with her....
So, it's okay that they're "holding up signs with crosshairs overlaying a headshot of Governor Walker"? Because that's what you blamed the Republicans for on the Gifford's shooting.
Remember when so many pundits were trying to convince America that violent, hateful rhetoric was an epidemic on the right, and that conservatives were generally hateful people? Well, the Wisconsin Republican Party has put together a video using evidence from this week‘s liberal protests against the governor’s emergency budget bill that uncovers plenty of angry rhetoric from the left.
Besides showing examples of such rhetoric, the video cleverly juxtaposes the evidence with accusations and calls for civility from the left:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71gsnLfsbbM&feature=player_embedded
If it weren't for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all.
I wonder if Fatso In Trenton is watching this?
A preview of coming attractions nationwide.
And to the Righties chiming in from the Peanut Gallery....I think public employees should have the same rights of freedom of speech and assembly that others have.....even in Egypt these days.
Also.....
I believe the right to organize and bargain collectively is a right that should be denied to no American.
Period.
And one more thing.......we won't need any "Second Amendment remedies" to make our points. We don't need guns or violence to scare the crap out of those who use public employees and bogeymen and whipping boys. We don't need the DNC or the largely silent Barack Obama or congressional Dems to ride to the rescue. They're on the sidelines on this one, and it's a fight that will be won or lost in each individual statehouse.
What's going on in Wisconsin is authentic and grassroots, and it's organized labor's answer to the GOP's blueprint of union busting. It's going on in Florida, Ohio, and New Jersey....and this is only the first round.
Go get 'em!
(BTW.....if you think I'm hitting below the belt with my reference to the Governor of New Jersey's weight......sorry, you'll just have to live with it).
As a former RI state employee, I am appalled at the behavior of these people who feed off the public teet. They just don't realize how good they have it and how their benefits come at the expense of hard working taxpayers, most of whom lack the generous benefits they enjoy or have to pay out of their own pockets. I have always believed it corrupt and unseemly for employees who already enjoy generous salaries and benefits to jigger the system to their further benefit at the expense of taxpayers who lack their union resources and political muscle. It's a phenomenon described by Jonathan Rauch in his book "Demosclerosis." In other words, government become sclerotic when self-serving special interests dominate to the detriment of the general public interest. Public employee unions are bankrupting state and local governments across the country. Taxpayers should be livid with the corrupt bargain that public employees and Democrat politicians have forged over the years to buy our government to serve their special interests, and that they would shamelessly use their students to further their cause. They simply have no ethics or shame..
FDR and early private sector union leaders opposed the unionization of public employees for just these reasons. The unsustainable costs of these salaries and benefits were effectively disguised during flush economic times, but the long-term costs were lurking there all along. These Wisconsin public employees, like those in NY, CA, IL, CT and most other large states are the prime cause of their states dismal fiscal condition, but they are blind to it. They really can't comprehend where these dollars are going to come from. Instead, they try to make the pathetic argument that they are state residents, too, while failing to admit that they are eating 9/10 of the pie before the rest of the population can step up to the table. Wisconsin is the new Greece.
(BTW - your names don't hurt me, they only show your ignorance)
They're not on the sidelines, Jerry. Obama's "Organizing for America" has been promoting the effort to instill chaos in Wisconsin, using email lists, Twitter, and Facebook urging liberals in the state to bully lawmakers into siding against Governor Walker. They sent out 54 messages on Twitter alone!
(Sorry, I said, Jerry but meant Hugh Jee.)
a commenter put this on Tom Degans blog....
a shop steward from AFSCME Local 171 said:
"I've never seen anything like it. It wasn't just teachers and union members from the University of Wisconsin (UW), where I work. There were Steelworkers, Teamsters, Pipefitters, building trades unions and more--unions I've never seen at a rally in 10 years," he said. "The most amazing thing is when the firefighters came in a delegation. Along with police, Walker has exempted firefighters from the legislation, but they came with signs that said, 'Firefighters for workers' rights.' "
GO WISCONSIN!!
cheese head you are not addressing the point..The state had no budget crisis until the buffoon gov came in and gave his cronie friends tax breaks. it's perfectly okay with righties for the upper crust to get tax cuts, tax breaks, bonuses etc. but when middleclass America wants to make a living wage they go berserk. Fuck it!!
Hugh I can see something like this happening in NJ can't you? You can call Christie any damn thing you want here, I wholeheartedly agree!
First.... And with all civility I can muster..... I attended four rallies today in Wisco. And at none of them did I see what he/it described. It did not exist. I ask him/ to provide authentication. With less civility...fuck you. I will provide vid coverge tomorrow. The Gov provided full details of comlpete budget SIX days before he demanded a vote and totally spurned any dialogue for comprise or accomadation.
thanks jimm. apparently cheeseboy gets his info from FUX
state Sen. Lena C. Taylor just spoke on Lawrence O'Donnell. She said the union workers HAVE said they are willing to sacrifice, but the Gov. refuses to sit down and talk. He has shown them he is on the side of special interests, he has his friends and that is where his priorities lie. He is NOT a governor for all the people of Wisconsin.
This is union busting, these righties hate unions and want to see all unions die.
I am incensed! Cheeseboy is a fraud... No one here calls themselves "a cheeseboy" Very derogator.secondly.name your hometown? Thirdly Lisa should confine herself to hooking rugs rather than her opinions. I have a feeling that the rugs are more well crafted.
jimm I will look into the matter, but when I look at cheesebrains sentence structure, grammar, and spelling I don't see lisa. BUT this could confirm the fact lisa is not lisa but someone with MANY different personalities and blogs...
Sue, I know this lady who retired a few years ago from the state of CT at age 55. She is receiving $33,000 a year with full medical. This woman could live another 30 years receiving this money (in 5 years she'll start collecting social security, too). Add to that the fact that a) she was basically a peon and b) unlike teachers, she contributed NOTHING to this retirement. These are not realistic scenarios in an increasing competitive global economy.......Look, if this Wisconsin Governor is trying to break the unions up, then, yeah, that is definitely dirty pool and I oppose it. BUT if he's also trying to get state employees to kick in additionally for their health-care and pension benefits, then THAT I vociferously support.......Just for the record, I saw A LOT of disgusting signs at that rally in Madison; comparing Walker to Hitler, Mussolini, Mubarak, etc., one which stated "death to tyrants", and one which had a bulls-eye directed at a picture of his, Walker's, head. Like the other blogger said, if in fact signs like this had been spotted at a tea party rally, the far left would be flat-out hyperventilating.......Sue, the budget shortfall in WI is 3.6 BILLION. Are you saying ALL of that Walker's fault?
It sounds like Governor Cuomo in New York, a Democrat, is going to follow a similar route; no new taxes and a demand that state employees sacrifice humongously. Now THAT should be extremely interesting.
(BTW.....if you think I'm hitting below the belt with my reference to the Governor of New Jersey's weight......sorry, you'll just have to live with it).
It's okay Hugh. How many times have we heard the righties say Michael Moore and Al Gore is fat?
And then there's the obsession of a certain idiot blogger who can't stop blogging about the size of Michelle Obama derriere.
Chris Christie is the Republican Party's new William Howard Taft.
When he was president, they had to build a new tub to hold him, he was that large.
Yeah. Christie is gimongus and it's okay to notice.
PS. Is Wisconsin suffering from buyers' remorse vis-a-vis Gov. Walker?
First of all Scott Walker was handed a budget surplus when he took office 2 months ago. He proceeded to hand out tax cuts for his best rich bud's.
He did not 'win' here in Milwaukee County where as County Executive he gutted our transportation system, parks and tried to kill our most valuable and self sustaining entity, Mitchell International Airport. He hired his inexperienced crony to run the Mental Health Complex where women and men were allowed to be housed together and at least 1 woman got pregnant, several were raped and a woman died of starvation because of mishandling the facility.
Scott Walker is a moron, who by the way, my husband and I have call "Little Hitler" for years, even before the dumbass Republican's made it popular!
UNION WORKERS ARE TAX PAYERS! And if you added them all up together you would probably find that they pay more in taxes in the state of WI than the redneck hillbillies that voted for Walker. To pit middle classers against middle classers is despicable! Walker even tried to pit Unions against Unions, by exempting the Unions that supported him (Fire and Police) while attacking the ones who did not (Teachers, Nurses, and Snowplow Drivers). It didn't work! The Firemen and Police are in Madison supporting them!
My 20 year old daughter walked down to the Capitol by herself tonight. There was no violence, there were no cross hairs, there was no "tearing the Capitol apart" like I heard all day on Twitter. She said except for signs everywhere there was NO garbage anywhere. The people were together, they were chanting and singing, they were celebrating their rights as American's!
This is Union busting pure and simple, there is no emergency...Scooter is lying! And my Senator is one of the Dem's that walked out. I have already emailed him my Thank You!
thanks Mary, first hand knowledge!!
Will it is my understanding the unions did say they would sacrifice but Walker would not talk, it was his way or the highway. Is this right Mary?
I also agree state workers need to pay for their benefits just like the rest of us. My sister is a state worker and has to pay ONLY 1% of her hc benefits! OH is that insane?? So I believe Christie wants to up it to 30%, and I agree with that.
What really makes me furious is the rich getting away with not paying taxes and ss taxes after a ceiling number, Wall St types and their HUGE bloated salaries and bonuses, when people like us mention those we get vilified, but talk about someone getting 30,000 a year in pension and the right goes wild! A rich guy spends that in one weekend trip to his fav resort!
pay attention to why this is REALLY happening, this union busting. Ed Schultz is talking about it every night. 3 out of 10 top contributors to campaigns was from unions and it benefits dems. The Koch brothers are behind this attempt to wipe out the unions therefore their belief it would eliminate the Democratic party eventually! Crazy you say?? This is the evilness coming from the right. Satan at work....
It was just said on Morning Joe the average contribution to HC benefits is 20%, so I take back my agreement with buffoon Christie wanting state workers to pay 30%.
Christie has declared there will be no pay increases for state workers, recently making the commitment in an interview with Fox News. He also has made clear his expectations for cuts in employee benefits: increase pension contributions for all employees to 8.5 percent of salary, require state workers to pay 30 percent of their health care premiums, raise the retirement age, and eliminate cost of living adjustments for pension recipients.
Looks like NJ is next, could be rallies this summer..
Thanks, Mary, for weighing in here. And thank you, Sue, for letting another 'Badger' opine here as well.
The fact is, many state workers already HAVE taken a pay cut...All University professors and staff, underr Governor Doyle are mandated to take unpaid 'furlough days, from a UW memo, July 09:
The Governor’s furlough mandate, established in response to the State’s projected budget shortfall, requires an effective cut in pay for all full-time, 12-month employees equivalent to 16 days over the two-year period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2011. The resulting furlough time off (FTO), required by the Governor and approved by the State Legislature, is required for all State and University employees, regardless of the funding sources used for their individual salaries and benefits. The mandatory furloughs result in a 3.065% annual pay reduction.
Now, further that with an increase in contributions to Health insurance that WAS BARGAINED in individual districts of an averaged of 10%
Further, there is no 3.6B deficit... it is a projection.... Two years ago, that projection was 6.6B. State workers brought that down by sacrifice. Currently the touted number for this fiscal year is about 140M.... but as the Capital Times reports...
"In its Jan. 31 memo to legislators on the condition of the state's budget, the Fiscal Bureau determined that the state will end the year with a balance of $121.4 million.
"To the extent that there is an imbalance -- Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit -- it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January."
Neat trick,, huh, Give to the rich and blame the middle class.
To get a nice view of Scott Walker... check out one of his campaign ads on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llEw5FmG_Qg
..that's the ad where he touts how frugal he is by driving his 12 year old car....
but as soon as he is elected he is billing the State for his use of a New Yukon SUV....costing more than his old car was worth, if in fact that was 'his' old car.
http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=31929
... but back to the current situation... and it is nothing but Union busting... all details of his proposed budget were given to state legislators last Friday afternoon, for a for a vote 3 working days later. No discussion, no debate, no accommodation....... no time to let the voting-working class know much of how they were to be screwed
to Will Hart.... I saw no such signs at three rallies I attended. I assume you were not in Madison. If you can send links to said signs I would be interested. I would further postulate that if there were some, with the volumes of people in Madison, they were few and overall, of a small percentage.
I ask that with all respect.
I attended a 'Tea' rally last August, perhaps 1500 people, those signs did exist in an alarming quantity in proportions to attendance.
Sue, thanks for the space.
Sue,
I'm certainly glad you did not stop blogging!
This post is why we NEED you to blog.
Take a vacation from blogging.
We don't want you to go crazy like some of these Rethugs.
Russ Feingold is back!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ-auMLB0BI
The Lone Ranger rides again!!
pass it on.
jimm thanks for adding to the post with your expertise, you all make my blog what it is, not me.
Thanks Tom, it is news like this that keeps us blogging. I expect to see more of these protests across the country as election day nears. The right is out to destroy the dems and we can not let them get away with it. Good versus evil is on the march!
What does the Wisconsin protest have to do with Republicans hate of poor and needy people? Are you saying that Republicans hate hard working people? Thats crazy. It's the democrats thatlove the free hand-outs and entitlements. What the teachers in Wisconsin are doing is nothing more than being selfish. I saw where the teachers took a child to march in their protest parade and when interviewed the child didn't even know what the protest was for.
I think that eith you are misinformed or your blinded by your bias.
the teabagger gov has come into office and the first thing he does is reward the rich friends of his with tax breaks, now in order to pay for those he takes from middleclass hard working citizens of his state. He goes after the unions like his bosses told him to... what don't you understand about that NY??
//I saw where the teachers took a child to march in their protest parade and when interviewed the child didn't even know what the protest was for.//
gees, almost like taking the kid to Church.
I remember, as a child, helping my father change the oil on his car.... I didn't understand then why he did it .... but I did later.
That is why the person was a teacher. Oh, and Truth, it does appear, from your comment's punctuation, spelling and syntax, that you did not appreciate your time in proximity to a teacher.
yea, now this one sounds just like lisa!
Thanks okjimm: great stuff!
and to mister: no truth spoken here, those kids were Madison East High School Students, who had the day off because of the protest. They were down there supporting their teachers and Fox 'so called' news found the two kids in town who didn't know why they were there. Shut off FNC, lift your head out of your ass, take a deep breath and join the rest of us here on planet earth!
My daughter just text me from the Capitol. She says she is about to pass out, lol. Too many people! Love it!
Tomorrow the tea baggers are showing up, so I told her to stay home.
** just got a text re: one of my best friend's son, a writer for one of the Campus newspapers, The Badger Herald. He has been camped out in the State Capital for the last two days.... if there is interest check..
http://www.badgerherald.com/
Scott Walker has introduced what he calls a "budget repair" plan that would, among other things, require state employees to pay about 5.8% toward their pension (about the private sector national average) and about 12% of their healthcare benefits (about half the private sector national average) and restrict the collective bargaining powers of government-employee unions. In response, as many as 25,000 state workers and their supporters have been protesting in and around the state Capitol.
Wow, that sure sounds revolutionary, doesn't it? God forbid that state employees in Wisconsin pay 5% toward their pensions and half the national average toward their health care benefits! Talk about greed and selfishness, to think that the unions would not being willing to "pay their fair share" and do their part for the "common good" as our nation suffers from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
Thanks for the assignment, okjimm. politicalticker.blog.cnn.com/2011/02/18/nazi-symbols-show-up-at-Wisconsin-rally/ You mustn't have been looking very hard. Just do a search on Hitler signs at Madison rally and you'll get the info needed.
Here's another good one. associatedcontent.com/article/7767630/signs_of_incivility_at_the_union_rally.html?cat=9
Will, why twist the story and talk about signs? Address the reasons why Walker is union busting, why he is trying to strip the union worker of his rights...
Sue, Okjimm asked me to provide him links to these signs. He evidently didn't believe me......I don't like the part about taking away collective bargaining, either. And, yes, if this fellow's goal is to try and bust the unions then I condemn him for that, too. I'm just arguing for a little perspective here.
I know Will, I just think this is too serious to be talking about signs. It is my understanding the union workers did agree to pay more for their benefits and also contribute more for their pension plans, but this Gov. is hell bent on stripping them of their right to bargain which also leads to the story of the Koch brothers and their plan to destroy the unions and then the Democratic Party. Now if this is lefty fearmongering then I want proof of that, because what I'm witnessing from tea party governors isn't reassuring at all.
I heard about that compromise on Hardball tonight. It's a fair compromise and the Governor should take it. The ball is now in his court, so to speak.
I work in a right to work state - Florida - and it sucks.
I had worked for Albertsons, and when they announced they were closing stores and selling some locations to local competitor Publix, they offered employees severance plans provided those employees stayed working for their company and did everything that was asked of them.
I did, but in the end that was not enough. They never supplied the terms of the severance agreement to the employees, and because of a clerical error, they refused to give me mine. Eventually I had violated the terms of the agreement (which I had never been privy to and never signed) and Albertsons refused to even cooperate. They denied document requests, claiming the information they used to deny me was internal information.
When I contacted lawyers, and government agencies, they pretty much told me that because of Florida laws, even though Albertsons promised certain things, I could not fight it because it was a right to work state (some lawyers told me I could but the price would have been outrageous).
Had their been unions, I would have gotten what was promised to me.
Sorry Kevin, and thanks for sharing your story. You hear stories like yours every day, workers getting the shaft. Unions do a service, they protect the little guy from the corps and that's why the righties hate them. They hate the working class American and NEVER support them!
Thanks for following this blog too!
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