14 hours ago
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Democracy was kicked in the face tonight
My thoughts and prayers are with the good and decent Wisconsin citizens tonight. The Democratic Party has taken all they are gonna take, middle class working Americans will take to the streets tomorrow like you have never seen in the history of our country. Please do all you can to support the fight against the Republiscums. All across Northern America, from NJ to Alaska, states are coordinating their efforts to destroy the middle class. The thugs have taken the South, now their efforts are in the North. They won't get away with this hijacking of our rights. Remember, take your fight to the voting booth, this is the way we win. And we will WIN!
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46 comments:
We get the government and representation we vote for.
It's no surprise politicians are this sad. It's sad American voters are this dumb.
There was a time honorable politicians could be found on both sides of the political equation.
There are still some left. The number is diminishing.
There used to be leaders. We now have poll watchers attempting to act like leaders.
Ah, politics and life. They both present challenges. How it all works out pretty much depends on us.
I want to know where the Do-Nothing President and his comfortable shoes are.
Probably hanging out with some bankers.
JR I'm asking myself that too. I feel like weare dangling out there all alone. But that will just make us more determined fighters.
Tom I believe this thug takeover from the GOP has awaken the sleeping giant to fight the BEAST.
The Democratic state senators, all of them, left the state to try to prevent this. The Republicans almost all voted for it.
The next time some jack-ass tells you there's no real difference between the parties, remind them of this.
I heard Mike Barnacle say on Morning Joe earlier that Governor Walker made some statement that if he got his way thousands of jobs would flood to Wisconsin in a year's time.
If the Democrats have any sense they will put up a clock counting down until the time for Walker's prediction expires with a counter for how many jobs actually come to the state.
Of course Walker will count everything job from pizza delivery to Wal-Mart greeter.
As for Obama I agree with Jolly Roger, he really need to pull his head out of his ass.
The Right is leading us to the death of democracy and rise of totalitarianism.
Remember, while their idea of tyrannical Big Government is health care, they embrace endless war, a surveillance state, overturning elected officials, and crushing workers' rights.
//There was a time honorable politicians could be found on both sides of the political equation.//
ya, what RN said. The vote last night, with no Dems there was 18-1... there was one Republican State Senator who could not agree with the shit being jammed through. There are at least 4 Republican State Assemblymen that have stated that they cannot in good conscience vote for this as it is written.
Obama came out very early on in support of the unions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/17/AR2011021705494.html
Beyond that, what is he supposed to do? Send the National Guard to Madison and forcibly remove this Yahoo and his gang of thieves? None of us has a clue what Obama is doing or not doing behind the scenes. It should be clear to anyone with an iota of brains that this is a president who prefers to work behind the scenes - quietly and without fanfare. And no wonder.
Good information from the commentariat! Special thanks to blog host, Sue!
And yes Les, there was a time, not so long ago, when there were lots of good republicans, sigh....
Leslie I know Obama is that type of president but I just can't get used to it. He's vocal when things happen around the globe, why can't he be vocal with his own country? He's so afraid of stepping on toes and making enemies that he stays opinion free. It's annoying me, I can't help it.
The difference could not be more clear these past couple weeks Infidel. I'm glad I stand on the side of the people.
BB you can bet he will be under the microscope this yr. The jobs will probably be like those under Bush, McDonalds and part time temp service jobs.
Dave I don't know how those righties sleep at night. They are trying to kill our democracy. They have to be stopped.
jimm keep us updated on all the happenings. We want to know about recalls too.
FJ, you're sweet! Can anyone name a republican they could vote for in all good conscience?
It's pretty funny listening to you all fume over the WI Republicans voting legislation through on a straight party line (in an attempt to save state finances, btw), in light of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid health care "reform" fiasco. Not so much fun when the shoe is on the other foot, is it? The only difference is, the Republicans didn't run and hide from their duty, they stayed and fought for what they believed...and they're still fighting to get rid of that disasterous bill.
Sue,
They sleep well on their silk sheets because they have no conscience.
Linda,
It has nothing to do with the budget, and everything to do with the radical Right's union busting agenda. Walker is taking from the working class and giving to his rich contributers. This is what ALL Republicans do. It's simply more of the Right's transfer of wealth and power to the economic elite, the Mammonites you unquestioningly support.
The "bill" they rammed through was the stripping of workers' rights, nothing else, and nothing budgetary.
It's really too bad you agree with fascists, communists, Nazis, dictators and Republicans in your hatred of workers' rights. Maybe you should ask yourself why you agree with the totalitarians and blame the workers instead of the Big Money power players who caused this mess? But you prefer to bury your head in the propaganda of the elites.
They are killing democracy and you are too ideologically and willfully blind to see it.
Not every Democrat voted for HC reform, idjit L.
Sue, did you read the article I posted? Obama has always said he represents "all" the people - even idjits like L.
Well.. I probably wasn't old enough to vote at the time. But I think that Michael Steele had the right idea. Just reach back in time a little bit. Did anyone ever visit his website? It was awesome. It was like a history of abolitionism for schoolchildren. Too bad the blue meanies and the dickhead of the house didn't like him. I always thought he was pretty cool.
Michael reminded us all that not only was Abraham Lincoln a republican, but famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass also was elected on the republican ticket. Tell me who isn't fond of Teddy Roosevelt? A peerless leader of men. More recently Eisenhower comes to mind. I know that he set up the C.I.A. and N.S.A. and black ops and all of that. But he honestly believed that he was acting in our best interests. Sure it looks bad today. 20-20 hindsight. Nixon signed the E.P.A. Modern republican environmental policy is slash and burn. He came up with the 55mph speed limit. Leave it to that republican wack-a-doodle Clinton to repeal that! Most importantly, Nixon was deeply moved by the anti-war hippies that came to Washington to protest. That would never happen today. I think Bob Dole was one of the last of the old school, good guy republicans. Does anyone remember him crying his eyes out at Nixon's funeral? Very moving. And my favorite republican of modern times, Gerald R. Ford. If only America's long national nightmare had truly ended on his watch. Little did he know, it was just beginning.
Funny, idjit L, even Rasmussen polls show that the people - and after, it's the people who count, including Independents and even some Republicans, do not support Walker's fascist legislation. One Republican voted against this and several others have commented that they are not in favor of it.
"the Republicans didn't run and hide from their duty."
Har,har, har - that's funny as hell. Har,har,har.
Anon comments have no weight for me. They are offered up by chicken-shit non-entities.
This just in: My female, Leopardess, has just written a brief epistle to the governor of Wisconsin!
Dear Governor Scott,
As horrified as I am by your actions, I do have one thing to thank you for. I have just given my first donation to an out of state political organization. I am not wealthy. I am part of the hard working, lower middle class that you are trying to harm. I do believe that my small contribution added to the many others that are flowing in should help to get you and your kind out of office ASAP.
THANKS!
Leopardess
FJ: Love it.
yes Leslie, it was an excellent post with excellent comments. You know how I get when I'm feeling down...
Linda the 14 State Senators left Wisconsin to do a job for the people they represent. That is something foreign to you because your hideous representatives don't work for YOU, never did and never will.
FJ, great letter!
And your list of republicans you admire, well I admire you for admiring them. I can't bring myself to say one nice thing about a GOPPER at this time...
LINDA wrote:
"...WI Republicans voting legislation through on a straight party line (in an attempt to save state finances, btw)..."
Wrong. Again, Linda. Here's what Scott Fitzgerald, the state senate GOP leader, admitted to on Fox News--that the battle was about crippling the unions. He said:
“If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you’re going to find is President Obama is going to have a much difficult, much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin.”
This Scott Walker coup d'etat is about financially crippling the Democratic party by deceiving the voters of Wisconsin, and fulfilling the GOP's wet dream of one party rule.
The GOP can't win elections on ideas so they have to destroy the other party. Only 30% of the voting population voted in the 2010 elections. That is not a mandate to destroy the American working population through stealth maneuvers and monied [KOCH] interests.
Walker has awakened a sleeping giant--police, firemen, teachers, nurses, working people of all stripe--and they are angry. This isn't an astro-turf movement like the Tea Party which was paid for by the billionaire Koch brothers. These are real Americans who have been attacked by the GOP.
We'll see how this plays out for them. So far, it doesn't look good.
Re: The link that you-know-who just supplied:
"As is typical with right wing talking points from places like the Heritage Foundation, Mr. Sherk has taken a single snippet of a quote out of context to suggest that FDR was against public employee unions. In fact, all FDR was against was public employees striking, which is a far different question than the issue of whether public employees should have the right to negotiate and bargain collectively over their wages, benefits, and working conditions.
The snippet from FDR that Mr. Sherk quotes is from a letter that also includes the following paragraph:
"The desire of Government employees for fair and adequate pay, reasonable hours of work, safe and suitable working conditions, development of opportunities for advancement, facilities for fair and impartial consideration and review of grievances, and other objectives of a proper employee relations policy, is basically no different from that of employees in private industry. Organization on their part to present their views on such matters is both natural and logical, but meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government."
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu
http://www.winningprogressive.org
You are dead-on, Sue. The President said, during the campaign, if the rights of working folks were ever stripped away, he'd be putting on his comfortable shoes and walking the sidewalk with them. Where are The President's walking shoes? It's time.
Great post, Sue. You are so insanely good at drilling down to the point while the rest of us ramble on! Thanks for a great read, Sistah!
Let's hope the People remember what the republicans are all about come the elections in 2012.
2012 will, if nothing else be interesting.
Wow, nice echo chamber you've developed, Sue. A far cry from the civil discourse you claimed to want back in 2009.
I'm a lifelong Dem but I am appalled by the Wisco demonstrations.
If any of your readers dug down into this embarassing fiasco they'd find that the roots of these demonstrations were organized by socialist students and that it wasn't a "spontaneous" uprising at all...in fact, it's rather common for it to happen in Madison when the weather changes in the Spring. The difference was that the national media picked it up this time. I don't think that's a coincidence, do you?
Google "accidental" activist Harriet Blair Rowan (widely filmed and interviewed), she's been marching since she was eleven years old and one day before the strike started was endorsing a Socialist candidate for city council in the local student newspaper. In fact, she not only endorsed him, she was working on his campaign.
The further left the Dems veer the more of us mainstream Democrats they lose.
If y'all haven't taken a deep sip of the information about government union contracts and obligations that's widely available, you've no right to comment on the situation in Wisconsin.
That goes for any other state (and they're all in trouble, even Texas).
Quite frankly, I'm not sure I'd mind the taxpayer obligations as much if the states/counties/cities/feds didn't employ so many incompetent people who seem impervious to firing because of their contracts or the numerous employees hired by political patronage to jobs and boards that accomplish nothing.
It's not an assault on the middle class or the lower middle class, it's an admission that we can't provide better pay and benefits to the government class while the taxpayers in the private class have suffered huge wage losses and loss of benefits.
Now that I think about it, the assault is actually against what's left of the middle class for the benefit of the government class. Just, ick.
For the record, I'm not "rich" nor have I ever been rich, I'm a middle to lower middle class taxpayer who can't figure out how I can support my family and these entitlements at the same time.
-two cents
A part-time librarian in Maine testified during a budget hearing. She said:
"taxes are "like membership dues" for being a citizen of this great state.
She said that while she gets lots of things (education, health and safety, arts and recreation) in exchange for those "dues," she realizes "I may not personally benefit from everything that tax money is used for."
She has an 11 year old daughter and no doubt struggles to make ends meet like most people these days. But she doesn't seem to have the disease of selfishness that has grown to epidemic proportions.
tnlib said ~ "She has an 11 year old daughter and no doubt struggles to make ends meet like most people these days. But she doesn't seem to have the disease of selfishness that has grown to epidemic proportions."
This comment actually made me laugh out loud...of all the stupid things to say.
I am so tired of progressives telling the tax payers who don't want their taxes raised that they are "selfish" for not wanting to pay for Viagra for the teachers' unions contracts. Viagra aside, why should I be considered SELFISH because I want to keep as much of my money as I can? Why am I the selfish one when many able bodied people lay around on their couch eating Cheetos and watching Jerry Springer on a tv bought with MY tax dollars?!
You have a lot of nerve accusing people of being selfish just because they have a different view of how to help those in need.
Those teachers are paid well and get much better benefits (at a much younger age) than most of us who PAY FOR THEIR BENEFITS. They are not having their salaries taken away for crying out loud...
Many states don't allow public sector employees to collectively bargain, so why the outcry in WI? You are on the wrong side of this issue. There is a definite CONFLICT OF INTEREST when public sector unions give thousands of dollars to elect politicians who then preside over legislation that gives them a large advantage over the average tax payer who is forced to pay for their big benefits packages. Quid pro quo, anyone???
More liberal drivel!
Anonymous wrote: "If any of your readers dug down into this embarassing fiasco they'd find that the roots of these demonstrations were organized by socialist students and that it wasn't a "spontaneous" uprising at all...in fact, it's rather common for it to happen in Madison when the weather changes in the Spring."
I doubt that the firemen and policemen are being influenced by "socialist students." I've been reading Wisconsin newspapers every day and have not read one mention of this conspiracy by "socialst students." That sounds like something right out of the Glenn Beck Book of Conspiracies.
The public sector unions in Wisconsin have agreed to pay more of their share. Anon has neglected to read the information that shows that they DO NOT make more money than their private sector counterparts.
"Last year, EPI published a paper by Rutgers University professor Jeffrey Keefe, which supplied overwhelming evidence that public-sector workers, on the whole, earn less than those in the private sector.
Keefe offered some suggestions for why these public employees are often perceived to be overcompensated. For starters, public sector workers are, as a group, more highly educated, work in more highly paid occupations and they tend to work moderately fewer hours than those in the private sector. In addition, it is frequently noted that public employees earn more in benefits such as health care and pensions: therefore, a simple wage comparison will not accurately capture difference in total compensation. Nonetheless, after controlling for multiple factors including level of education, hours worked and non-cash compensation, Keefe found that, on average, full-time state and local employees are undercompensated compared to “otherwise similar private-sector workers.”
SOURCE
This controversy in Wisconsin is NOT about greedy public unions. It's about destroying unions.
LINDA wrote: "Those teachers are paid well and get much better benefits (at a much younger age) than most of us who PAY FOR THEIR BENEFITS. They are not having their salaries taken away for crying out loud..."
Wrong.
Average teacher salary in Wisconsin:
$46, 390
Starting salary in Wisconsin:
$25,222
Average Teacher Salary Rank: 20th
Starting Teacher Salary Rank: 49th
SOURCE
Go here to see where Wisconsin ranks in cost of living and salaries.
It's #28. Hardly the best!
Get your facts first, Linda, before bashing Wisconsin's greedy teachers.
Try starting out your working life on $25,000 a year! You'd have to live in your parent's basement!
Thanks MP! You've been a great friend and supporter!
keep your fingers crossed Jerry!
Anon, my blog is a liberal blog, so whatever do you mean? Do you think I will pander to the righties who come here and spew ridiculous wingnut talking points? Those wingnuts who get their info from Fox?? There is always civil conversation here, ALWAYS. My visitors are polite and leave excellent informed opinions and facts. If I get the occasional stray crazy then I delete. So what's the problem?
What really bothers me about your comment is you are a lifelong Democrat turning your back on your people because they protested their rights stripped from them? I hope to God this is not a trend. We have waited for the democrats to rise up and defend themselves from the beast(GOP) finally we are doing it and you don't like it?? That's pretty sad...
Actually Linda, what you and most other right wing pontificators fail to mention in the "How does it feel now that the shoe is on the other foot" narrative, is that the dems were forced to negotiate their desired legislation away because of the filibuster, a Senate rule that allows the minority to hold up legislation just as effectively as the dems in Wisconsin did.
To hear your side say it, the Dems were cowards for not just accepting the fait accompli of the proposed new law. Did you argue for that same behavior from your elected GOP when health care came up?
Of course not! Because you only favor listening to the people after the Republicans have won elections.
Linda -- "There is a definite CONFLICT OF INTEREST when public sector unions give thousands of dollars to elect politicians who then preside over legislation that gives them a large advantage over the average tax payer who is forced to pay for their big benefits packages."
Just like when big corporations give thousands of dollars to elected politicians who then hand out large government contracts to the same corporations and pass tax cuts and tax loopholes for the same corporations.
Maybe we should prevent both from donating money to politicians and political campaigns.
OK.... just a quick update from Wisconsin...
New Supreme Court Justice to be elected on April 5.... WE are working for JoAnne Kloppenburg, a name you cannot forget....
info
http://host.madison.com/ct/article_e7747b78-bbcd-59c0-9f2d-a0b9a85acb2a.html
following all legal requirements, efforts to recall 8 Republican Senators who have trampled on civil legislative discourse and debate goes forward. There will also be a special election in MAY to replace 3 republican assemblymen who took positions in Walker's Cabinet.
All of this.... is the people walking the walk as they talk the talk. Just saying.
Sorry, I will not comment back to your "Trolls".... I have enough that get in my face live and in person.
thanks for the update jimm. and you don't have to talk to the trolls.:-)
Good job Jerry and Dave!
Here's a little tidbit...
"Everybody knows the GOP's biggest weakness is money, so why not hit 'em in the sweet spot? That's what many amazing Wisconsin firefighters did yesterday when they collectively began withdrawing their funds from Madison's M&I Bank -- whose executives and board members were among the highest donors to Governor Scott Walker's campaign."
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/515607/awesome%3A_wisconsin_firefighters_shut_down_bank_that_funded_walker/
Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.
Mark Twain
...have a good weekend.... and a good beer too.
Four words - public financing of elections.
jimm thanks, I read that last night plus read about the bank being sold to Canada? Is that the story?
Yes Will, much needed!
Public financing is something we agree on. Politicians need to be responsible to us, not to organizations/businesses, but to us as individuals.
Lisa, is it really backbone that you want? Or is it backbone when you agree with the person?
WHat about someone you do not agree with? Do you admire backbone in that person as he or she pushes legislation you do not want?
I do not remember you admiring the backbone of President Obama when he was "ramming health care legislation" down your throat.
But now you admire the backbone of Governor Walker as he "rams a union busting bill" down the throats of the people of Wisconsin.
How wonderfully inconsistent of you.
Perhaps you should stick to the 'false facts" you once claimed to use on your blog.
Someone left a comment on my FB: wouldn't it be grand if our executives followed the Constitution?
Here's another post and a question from me following it.
"Wisconsin's Attorney General says he will decide whether to investigate last night's vote based on the tally of calls he receives! Tell him he needs to enforce the laws of WI - by calling his office at (608) 266-1221, between 7:45AM-4:30PM. Please repost to get the word out!"
My question? Wouldn't it be grand if an AG followed the law rather than the number of phone calls he gets?
lisa said she wants someone with backbone as prez. Walker 2012, UGH! Sorry Dave she must go...
wow Leslie, that's rethuglicans for ya!
oh... just a little recall news from wisco.... State Senator Randy Hopper, age 45 shacked up with 25 year old former lobbyists... may have lived outside of his district during election.... may have been collecting illegal per diem...\\\\ check this out....
http://foxtrot-echo.blogspot.com/
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