Will Governor Walker take the high road – or will he take the Hosni Mubarak road?
By louisehartmann
Democratic state senators in Wisconsin are still AWOL – preventing Republicans lawmakers from passing Governor Walker’s union-busting legislation that will strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights. As one Senator told the Washington Post – “We're going to be staying away until we hear that [the Republicans] are taking the right to organize seriously.” As a sign of solidarity with the 25,000 protestors who showed up outside the state capital building in Wisconsin yesterday for the third day in a row – 14 Democratic senators boarded a bus and headed across state lines to Rockford Illinois to prevent the state legislature from having a necessary quorum to hold a vote. Soon after – state troopers were dispatched to round up the Senators – but were unsuccessful – leaving Republicans to go back to the drawing board to figure out what to do next.
The stand off in Wisconsin is gaining national attention now. Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner applauded Governor Walker’s efforts to bust the unions – and President Obama threw his support behind the protestors pointing out that Walker’s bill amounts to “an assault on unions.” A general labor strike may be what’s next in the state – and as for Governor Walker – his only options are ending his war against organized labor – or calling in the national guard and declaring marital law to put an end to the protests. Will he take the high road – or will he take the Hosni Mubarak road? Similar legislation was introduced in Ohio by Republican Governor John Kasich – and now that state is seeing similar results.
Nearly 25,000 union protestors showed up outside the capital to demonstrate against THEIR governor’s anti-union agenda. What we’re seeing here is the overreach of power by Republicans who want one-party rule. This could be the start of the nationwide labor movement getting back its mojo – a populist similar to some of the smaller independent parts of the Tea Party – that helps Democrats take back power next year. Let’s hope so.
Comments
#2
Yikes! We are turning into a third world country.....Maybe Chavez will come up here to Lead The Revolution! I am an independant fiscal conservative and social moderate....in fear that the extreme right and left are actually working together to push from the top down and bottom up a level of discourse that will cause a lot of pain for a lot of citizens.
Lets get George Soros, Hollywood Elite, AFL, SEIU, Progressives, Gates, Buffett, Rock Stars, Googlers, Facebook Millionares, Dellioneares, Larry Ellison, etc. and have them put have the National Debt up in Cash and the other half from the Top 10 Corporations. It would be easy, 50% from the Billionare Left and 50% from the Billionare Right. The rest of us get relief....Economy grows like wild fire because we are no longer running deficit. Its a win win....
Naw...no balls or either side....just a lot of bullS___T while the middle sinks. Glad I was born in the 50's, worked the 60's 70's and 80's survived the 90's and will die before it all comes apart.
If we turn to violence, we die by violence. there are 300 million + living in the USA. How many of them do you think could name the founding fathers or the values of freedom.....Live Free or Die!
#3
I believe these Republican Governors are doing just what their handlers asked them to do. They are against labor unions and are using the authority in their office to destroy the unions in order to eliminate a great deal of the organized opposition by the middle class. What is surprising is that the public believes anything these Republican Governor's are saying. The American public is suffering and these guys are adding to the suffering. It is not enough that millions of Americans are unemployed who would love to work, now they are attempting to reduce the pay of teachers, firefighters, and police in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
I know people in my community who are Republicans and support these crazy ideas from the Republican Governors--sometimes I think they all have drunk cool-aid.
Philip Henderson, Ethical Magician
#4
Scott Walker will do just exactly what his chief funders and bottle-washers, the Koch brothers, want him to do -- continue to try to destroy the unions. Will there be a general strike? Possibly. I hope so. Many of the teachers I know are calling for one. I have also heard that the Madison School District has decided to take the teachers to court to force them back to the classroom. Wouldn't it be cool if all the teachers left the state to avoid that like the Democratic senators did? Another little problem we have is that state law prevents us citizens from recalling public officials until they have been in office for one year. So, Scott Walker won't be gone till January o 2012. Here is my thought: Why not recall all the "old" Republican senators and assemblymen instead and deprive Walker of his majority in the state legislature?
#5
I think the peoplee of Wisconsin should start two petitions: Recall and Impeach. Record the men\bers of the legislature that do not concur and vote them out!
#6
UNION BUSTING IN WISCONSIN IS JUST THE BEGINING!
IT WILL SPREAD FROM STATE TO STATE!!
IT IS TIME ALL UNIONS JOIN TOGETHER AND CONSIDER A STRIKE - NOT AGAINST THEIR INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYERS - BUT AGAINST THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT!!!
NOT JUST UNION MEMBERS BUT ALL WORKING CLASS CITIZENS
NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!!!!
NO LABOR WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!!!!!!
#7
REPUBLICANS ARE SOCIAL DARWINISTS -- they believe the government should help the rich live long and prosper! THE government should let the rich exploit the working classes until they die from hard work and exhaustion!! AND should let the poor die off from starvation and disease because they will never amount to anything and are a drain on society!!!
""Social Darwinism is a belief, popular in the late Victorian era in England, America, and elsewhere, which states that the strongest or fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die. The theory was chiefly expounded by Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), whose ethical philosophies always held an elitist view and later received a boost from the application of Darwinian ideas such as adaptation and natural selection.
According to Darwin's evolutionary theory, nature is a "kill-or-be-killed" system. Those that cannot keep up are either left behind or cut off. The strong survive, and those best suited to survival will out-live the weak.
The seeds of Social Darwinism were actually planted before the publication of Darwin's "The Origin of Species" (though of course the name didn't originate until after). Herbert Spencer, the father of Social Darwinism as an ethical theory, was thinking in terms of elitist, "might makes right" sorts of views long before Darwin published his theory. The concept of adaptation allowed Spencer to claim that the rich and powerful were better adapted to the social and economic climate of the time, and the concept of natural selection allowed him to argue that it was natural, normal, and proper for the strong to thrive at the expense of the weak. Whether it be humans, races, or the state, Spencer's thoughts were clear: "If they are sufficiently complete to live, they do live, and it is well they should live. If they are not sufficiently complete to live, they die, and it is best they die." In its simplest form, Social Darwinism follows the theory of "the strong survive," even in human issues. It is the application of the theory of natural selection to social, political, and economic issues. According to Social Darwinism, those with economic, physical, and technological strength flourish and those without are destined for extinction. This theory was used to promote the idea that the white European race was superior to others, and therefore, destined to rule over them.
Social Darwinism was used to justify numerous exploits which we classify as of dubious moral value today. Colonialism was seen as natural and inevitable; people saw natives as being weaker and more unfit to survive, and therefore felt justified in seizing land and resources. Finally, it gave the ethical nod to brutal colonial governments who used oppressive tactics against their subjects.
At the time that Spencer began to promote Social Darwinism, the technology, economy, and government of the "White European" was advanced in comparison to that of other cultures. Looking at this apparent advantage, as well as the economic and military structures, some argued that natural selection was playing out, and that the race more suited to survival was winning. Some even extended this philosophy into a micro-economic issue, claiming that social welfare programs that helped the poor and disadvantaged were contrary to nature itself. Those who reject any and all forms of charity or governmental welfare often use arguments rooted in Social Darwinism.
Social Darwinism has been used to justify eugenics programs aimed at weeding "undesirable" genes from the population; such programs were sometimes accompanied by sterilization laws directed against "unfit" individuals. The American eugenics movement was relatively popular between about 1910-1930, during which 24 states passed sterilization laws and Congress passed a law restricting immigration from certain areas deemed to be unfit. Social Darwinist ideas, though in different forms, were also applied by the Nazi party in Germany to justify their eugenics programs. With the development of the notion of eugenics — not only could you prevail over the unfit by making war on them, but you could improve the breed by applying "enlightened" notions of selection and genetics.
At its worst, the implications of Social Darwinism were used as scientific justification for the Holocaust. The Nazis claimed that the murder of Jews in World War II was an example of cleaning out inferior genetics. This view embraced the assumption that the strong were superior, and thus ordained to prevail. Social Darwinism applied to military action as well; the argument went that the strongest military would win, and would therefore be the most fit. Casualties on the losing side, of course, were written off as the natural result of their unfit status. Thus, if two countries were to make war on each other, the victor was biologically superior to the loser. It was therefore right and proper for that victor to subjugate or even eliminate the inferior opponent. Not only was survival of the fittest natural, but it was also morally correct. Indeed, some extreme Social Darwinists argued that it was morally incorrect to assist those weaker than oneself, since that would be promoting the survival and possible reproduction of someone who was fundamentally unfit.
A second way pseudo-evolutionary concepts were applied to human interaction was in the development of cut-throat capitalism in the United States. Here the ideology was that the cream naturally rose to the top; the successful made a lot of money simply because they were superior to the unsuccessful. Those who found themselves in poverty were poor because they were intrinsically inferior. It provided a justification for the more exploitative forms of capitalism in which workers were paid sometimes pennies a day for long hours of backbreaking labor. Social Darwinism also justified big business' refusal to acknowledge labor unions and similar organizations, and implied that the rich need not donate money to the poor or less fortunate, since such people were less fit anyway. This political philosophy resisted suggestions like universal education, welfare, minimum wage; in short, anything which interfered with the business of the "superior" ascending to the top of the heap and squashing the unfit beneath their expensive shoes.""
#8
It's time for American Labor to learn a new expression:
Walk like an Egyptian!
#9
Every working man and women today owes their equitable earnings and benefits (if they still have them) to the courageous Americans who gave of themselves fighting and even dying for living wages, benefits and safe working conditions through workers movements and valiant union organizing. Without collective (union) bargaining, we would still have poverty wages, deplorable workplaces and children working in sweat shops instead of going to school. Wake up America! Before Ronald Regan, we had 35% union membership, whose viability forced all employers, both union and non union, to pay fully 70% of American workers comparable living wages. Today we have only 7% private sector and another 6% public sector union representation. Those 13% union jobs are having less and less influence on other non-union jobs and living wages for all. Is it a wonder that for the last 30 years, we have been trading full time living wage jobs with good benefits for part time and temporary poverty wage jobs with no benefits that can't even support an individual, let alone a family? Is it a wonder that the middle class family income has been stagnant for the last 3 decades? I spent more than 40 years as a proud hard working member of a dozen different unions. I'm now retired but still proudly wear my blue uniform every day. It's my blue badge of courage. With my union wages, I was able to support and educate my family. Young folks coming out of college today with tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt have no hope of finding the living wage jobs needed to pay off that debt. They can't buy homes because they will have to spend the next 30 years attempting and probably failing to pay off their "student loan mortgage." They can't even afford to get married or have children. These so-called family value Republicans like the Wisconsin governor are destroying America's families. Those ignorant of the history of the "Robber Barons" and the unethical, tyranical corporations and employers who ran rough-shod over America's workplaces in the early 20th century are destined to repeat that history. Unless workers are allowed to stand together and organize collectively, employers will not bargain in good faith. Please read your childrens history books. You could start with the speeches, writings and beliefs of true American Republicans like President Eisenhower, who said: "Workers have a right to organize unions and to bargain collectively with their employers." "And a strong, free labor movement is an invigorating and necessary part or our industrial society." "Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of their right to join the union of their choice." "Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear from that political party again in our political history. There is a splinter group of course, that believes you can do these things, but their number is negligible and they are stupid." Well, these Neo-Republicans can vote to give enormous tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires and corporations and at the same time take hard earned and fought for benefits away from hardworking middle-class men and women, but they are as Eisenhower said, STUPID! We can continue on this path of blaming and destroying America's proud labor movement but all we are doing is destroying America's middle-class, which at one time, was the envy of the entire world. These Neo-Republicans are affraid to sit down with these workers elected representatives and negotiate in good faith. They must allow these unions to be part of solving Wisconsin's debt problems.
#10
WALK
LIKE
AN
EGYPTIAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NO LABOR WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!
#11
My wife watches ABC news, 6:30 every night. So when I'm in the room I have to watch what she is watching, or else! But when it got to the part about what is happening in Madison Wisconsin I couldn't believe my ears!
I had thought, hey national news, now a lot of Americans will really know about what is happening in Wisconsin! And poof! Was I wrong!
They covered everything that was NOT true about why the 25000+ people were protesting at the Capitol and why the 14 Democratic Senators absconded to another state!
They made it look like it was all about GREED! Imagine, middle class folk protesting about GREED! Now I know that these news folk are NOT that IGNORANT, especially ABC ones! But here they were distorting the whole issue. I am completely convinced that they were told from the top (Corporate masters) WHAT to say and WHAT NOT TO COVER! Absolutely amazing! Now I know that, at times, these corporate news people physically and actually Lie! An American CORPORATE news station - ABC Nightly News!!
My wife was not happy at my outrage, and I was then unceremoniously consigned to my other TV upstairs!
I knew way back on 14 Feb what this was about - see my post below for that date – and I’m no News man, especially for prime time. The Republican Party (The New one not the old one) wants to destroy the UNIONS and all collective bargaining in this country They want to destroy the Middle Class - period. This is what this is all about. The Unions and Collective organizations are the only thing that now stands between the Plutocrats and the Middle Class. This is why the repugs want to destroy the Unions and collective bargaining: the one and only reason. Once gone, the American people will no longer have a collective force in this country, NONE! If the Repugs win in Wisconsin, this will follow in all other repug states, no question about it. And come election time, and I mean EVERY future Election in this country, the only force that will be prevalent will be the Plutocrats and all their Billions!
Why is it that 290 Million Americans do not see this coming? Why maybe half of hard working Americans side with the Repugs, the Tea Baggers, and the Plutocrats? Simple. They listen to news stations Like ABC who outright lie to them, their pastors in the pulpits, and numwits on AM Radio! That’s why. They are digging their own economic graves, no matter what issue they support.
And Ed Shulze on MSNBC nightly news (in my mind to date the ONLY Cable news station today that presently covers the news Nationally correctly, and like news is supposed to be broadcasted – unbiased and as true as possible) showed a clip from Rush Limbaugh stating that the protesters in Madison were “Whiners” and Freeloaders”! Imagine that, someone making 50 mIllion a year calling the middle class FREELOADERS and WHINERS! NOT AMERICAN! I’m sure that made all Firemen, Police, Teachers and all other hard working ‘Collective’ Public American workers who were there in Madison Wisconsin despondent, right? No, they just booed, as they have the collective right to do! And it made them the stronger for it.
Ed had a cogent response for this type of behavior for Rush the drugster: He stated, and I para-phrase, “Rush, on Monday, you can wrap YOUR fat ass in the American Flag”! And the crowd roared!
Tomorrow, Sat 19 Feb, the repugs are busing the Tea Baggers to Madison from out of state. They are, or plan to be, the modern version of UNION BUSTERS! That is why they are being bussed there. They are being USED by the Repugs to hopefully create chaos in Madison and other point’s North in Wisconsin. The Repugs are hoping this will happen and then Dictator gov walker will then have an excuse to call the National Guard and the Police to quell the riots. The Repugs actually hope this will happen, but I hope not. All the people In Wisconsin have to do is show up by the 1000s over the weekend, maybe even over a hundred 100,000 and completely drown out the modern UNION BUSTERS, bought and used and lied to by their plutocratic masters!
In fact this is pretty fascinating to watch in our Modern Age. Many Americans born, say after 1970, have never really seen a mass Union movement happen in America! This had pretty much done by the 1950s (with a lot of deaths and hardships). That is what created and made possible the Middle Class in this country. Well that is all going to be played out in Madison Wisconsin over this weekend. I hope it goes peaceful. I hope National news is there to cover it – in a true fashion this time. And I hope that organized Collective Labor wins! Middle America is counting on this!
#12
reasom5 - exactly my sentiments!!!!!!!! See my post!
Again, the Middle Class has to rise up to the occasion and fight for their rights. This is shameless behavior by the Corporations and the new Plutocrats. They really want to DESTROY all Unions and all they represent collectively in America. Collective organizations are the only thing stopping them from complete political and economic control in America.
I don't believe in conspiracies, but this I do believe: there is a small cabal of very powerful and rich people worldwide (The Koch Brothers for two) who have banded together to gain the completely economic control of the Planet (This is called Fascism by the way). That is the only reason I can come to as to why the 2% of the people in America who own 80%of the wealth, then want to get more by completely suppressing the rights of the other 98% who only have 20% of the wealth! Even that 20% WE all have to fight for! I hope that this Repug ploy gets squashed dead in its tracks in Wisconsin before it spreads to other Repug states. If it does not, WE, America, are in for a tribulation!
And Wisconsin, call BACK gov walker a year to a day this year! This man is simply mendacious and a Liar! You can do better! All eyes are on your state this weekend!
#13
See! Just voting isn't enough...we have to take to the streets and scare the krap out of the Mubaraksters.
#14
THEY R Watching U:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/black-ops-how-hbgary-wro...
#15
Hopefully, this is the beginning of the second revolution! This country's citizens need to stand up and say "We are sick and tired and not going to take this anymore"!
We need to throw everone out of office. Our public schools are in the toilet, our infrastructure is falling apart, our elections don't represent "we the people", and most of all-we need to get rid of the Federal Reserve, which is the biggest ponzi scheme and enabling the biggest transfer of wealth from the citizens. If the public ACTUALLY new that the Fed is not part of our govenment, their would be rioting in the streets and people would demand their money back. They should be audited all the way back to 1910.
Links below"
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/fedres/
www.SUEtheFED.com
http://www.federalreserve.gov/feedback.cfm
(Click the circle dot for comment to Board members, then type your massage to them)
Then fill out your info - Then submit at the bottom of the page- they will reply to you as they did me with b.s**t. saying they are part of our government-they are NOT.
Here is a recommended book about how our country got into this mess
http://www.webofdebt.com/excerpts/introduction.php
More Books: Gods of Money by F. William Engdahl, The Ponography of Power by Robert Scheer, National Suidcide by Martin Gross, Third World America by Arianna Huffington, Creature of Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin.
#16
Stay in there Wisconsin workers! This may be the beginning of the end for the Repugs who want to destroy the American Middle class. Those who deny that the UNIONS created the Middle Class in this country are drinking laced Kool Aid! The Plutocrats and the Oligarchs and their paid toadies are trying to smear the public servant - good luck to that! There is no American alive today who does not benefit from what the Union worker and collective barganing have created for all Americans in the last 100 years - No American!
Our Public Servants are: Military - Veterans - Police - CIA - FBI - Customs - Social Security providers - Medicare-Medicaid - Firemen - Ambulance workers - snowplow operators - sewage plant engineers - teachers - on and on and on!
Anyone slamming this are Plutocrat PAID toadies! I would like any of these toadies to walk into any veterans hospital and tell them they are FREELOADERS or Whiners! Attend the funeral of killed firemen who died trying to save YOUR family member - police offers killed in the line of duty protecting your son or daughter! $50 Million a year super rich whiner himself Rush Limbaugh did so safely from his radio studio - let him say that to our Veterans/Police/Firemans face to face - all of whom are PUBLIC SERVANTS!!!
Yes Americans are sick of all this! Sick of the Toadies and the Plutocrats and the Super Rich who own our elected officials!
Hang in there Wisconsin! America is watching!
#17
Go Governor Walker.
When the taxpayers realize we are the employers in this discussion, maybe some will see that the legacy costs associated with the extravagant benefits demanded by the public servant unions are one reason local, state and federal coffers are empty. This applies to our elected officals too. Their life time benefit packages are over the top.
Hang in there Governor, America is watching.
#18
I don't think WI Gov. Walker will back down unless there is more pressure on him. Other states are also feeling the "trickle down" of their budgets underwater and in WA it is mandated by law that the budget must be balanced. So despite the planned protests in Olympia on 3/17 and Gov. Greguire's desire to keep these social programs, she is forced to make these cuts. She said she hates this budget, she thinks it is immoral, but what else can she do? Not until the people school themselves on the underlying problems & stand up to change the system, will we get relief. Thanks for doing your part to educatate, along with Jim Hightower and "Public Citizen" and "Nation" and others. I think the internet is our best chance to spread the word at this time. Just FYI, I tried to submit your Promo Code: Thom on Angie's List but it didn't take it, so I had to insert "Ed". Yr ad should spell it.
#19
I'm with you Tommy Fallon. Go Governor Walker! And to think these regressives call the Republicans the party of NO. The Dems are acting like a bunch of spoiled two year olds who can't have their way. No wonder collective bargining is off the table. One side can't bargin, while the other throws a tantrum. Hang in their Governor, you will prevail. Unions are not needed any more. Even FDR said goverenment unions could not have the right to strike.
#20
My guess is Walker will not back down.
He has to realize that the protests have already pretty much finished his ability to get the majority vote necessary to hold any political office on the face of planet earth. He is in an all or nothing situation. Actually, I think he may have been targeted as disposal in a test play by big moneyed interests.
Sure, he may later on in life play the “I was young card.” And of course, if Obama doesn’t starting putting put up some resistance, the way things are going he could officially take his place amongst the leaders of a new Fascist America.
#21
On Monday, February 21, 2011 I will send you my comments from John Hogue on what we need to improve our world. The conservative crazies and the Blue Dog feebleminded are the lunatics running our asylums in D.C.
#22
Opportunity. The Wisconsin Legislature has essentially been shut down. A situation is forming up in which the Federal Government can also be shut down. In order for corporate to purchase power they need to be forced to step up to the plate and show us the money. What better way to deliver that ultimatum than enroll the Federal politic into the ranks of the temporarily unemployed ?
#23
Mubarak is a piker . . . Wanker . . . Oooops, sorry . . . Walker dreams of Stalin.
#24
Great idea! I've been thinking for years that it's a no brainer. How can anyone educate themselves when you can't figure out who is telling the truth?
#25
Tom, I’m afraid that there is bigger picture in Wisconsin involved here other than the obvious in the attack on unions and basic human rights’, you are correct in that there is a hidden agenda for the big corporations which require our continued participation in the illegal global trade environment, known as the WTO. We the people,’ not big business’ cannot compete with countries that illegally lower their value of currency, unfair trade in balance, and the unfair tax incentive that is awarded to businesses outsourcing our manufacturing base. Big business seems to be content with the destruction of the middle as long as it is not at their expense. We now find our Democratic President and his advisors ‘ who seem to favor business in past negotiation efforts’ in the middle having decide which road to take, one being to address the illegal actions by several member countries of the WTO and enforcing the current rules that are already on the books plus addressing the unfair tax and trade imbalance or and I say or because it seems to be going in another direction, which is continued involvement with the countries that are illegally operating within the WTO and turn the attention inward toward the American working class meaning lowering the wages of the middle class that have been all but gutted to be able to compete with the 3rd world countries. It starts with allowing member countries into the WTO that operate illegally to benefit not only their country but the large business exec’s that negotiated the deal at the expense of our own working class. Talk about no regulation or oversight that has to be the ultimate in treason
I would like to go on the air to speak about this.
Vince
#26
I am now totally convinced that republicans cannot lead! Maybe at one time- A. Lincoln for one - but no longer. Real leadership requires Foresight, Flexibility, Knowledge, Reason, ability to judge, reasonable I.Q. level, Compassion, Negotiation, and a bunch more positive social and cognitive skills. Difficult to have in any one individual, but have them one must if they are to lead in any positive manner. The modern repug, however, simply fails in this leadership requirement.
The problem is that just because one has been successful in business, say, it’s then as easy to run and lead a country! It is logical to assume that because one has made millions running a company that one can then convince themselves that they can just as well run a country the way they ran their company. But that is a non sequitur, as g. w. bush the son so drastically proved!
The repugs are now BOUGHT politicians. They no longer represent the so called right wing intelligentsia or the intelligent factions of that political party - at least these thinkers had a smattering of smarts. But today, the repugs see anyone with an I.Q. above 90 as a political threat. That is the reason for the anti-intellectualism and the fear of anyone who may argue a cogent argument. In any case, the new Plutocrat cannot afford to buy any repug who may later pose a challenge.
gov walker of Wisconsin is a poster boy for this new repug. Imagine the ultimatum - THERE WILL BE NO NEGOTIATION on the negotiation! Dictators dictate they do not negotiate!
The repugs and their handlers are so intent on destroying the Democratic Party and its institutions that they are simply missing the fact that in the process they are destroying Democracy which includes their own republican party. It is POWER at all costs, and total power at any cost. In the end, if successful, this full fledged and concerted attack on our Democratic institutions will prove destructive for everyone.
The new repugs may think have stiff spines but they have, in the process, lost their Brains. The mantra in the 2010 elections was – CREATE JOBS! Now that the repug control the house, the new mantra is How Soon Can We Shut Down Government? And how many LESS jobs can we create?
Here is my prediction – the repugs will NEVER create jobs! This is all about destroying the Democratic Party at all costs. This is all about making sure that Pres Obama will be a one term President. This is all about destroying working Unions in this country. This is all about the new Plutocratic Fascistic hegemony on the rise on this planet. And the American people be damned!
What the new fascists and repugs fail to see and predict for themselves in all this, is that it is all doomed to fail very badly. They would be wise to remember fascist Germany of the beginning of the 20th Century for one, and what is happening in North Africa today as you are reading this – people eventually rebel against their taskmasters and their enslavers!
#27
Wisconsin has been in Fiscal Crisis for TWO YEARS. and only now when under serious threats the Unions agree to pay more. Here's what you're all supporting. Wisconsin teachers get pensions that pay two to three times what Social Security pays for the same wage rate. They get it at 53 not 67 like SSA and they paid 6/10th of 1 percent to get this, not 6.2%. Wisconsin isn't just broke it's deeply in debt and the property taxes are sky high. My father paid $400 in 1980 for a 3 bdr home, today it's $10,000 that's a 25 fold increase in a period of time inflation only increased 3 fold. Years ago, I met a retired machinist on a $18,000 pension forced to pay $7,000 in property taxes for another 3 bdr home. Most of the money went to schools and pensions. Millions of seniors have been forced to move out and no one ever talks about this, because it's not the story you all want to tell or even hear about. BTW many of the Union retirees with these fat pensions ironically move down to Non Union Southern States to pay much lower property taxes.
#28
Hey Obama rammed ObamaCare down the nation's throat even though the vast majority of polls showed the majority of the country didn't want his brand of health care reform. WHATS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE IS GOOD FOR THE GANDER.
#29
Well well, now we know the truth! Low life gov walker has been punked and we now know the real agenda of the repug party! Destroy the unions and the middle class!
The gander in this case is going to get his just desert!
When will the people of this country wake up - The Reugs and the Plutocrats DO NOT HAVE YOUR BEST INTEREST AT HAND! In fact they want to stomp on the middle class SO bad that they are willing to collude criminally to make it happen.
walker should be investigated. A lot of laws have been broken here and he needs to be prosecuted!
And i'm not even going to respond to the nonsense spouted by jnkesrouan above. Garbage in garbage out.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
Thom & Louise at a "private audience" with His Holiness Pope John Paul II at his summer palace, Castle Gandolfo, Italy
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann channels the best of the American Founders with voice and pen. His deep attachment to a democratic civil society is just the medicine America needs."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann is a literary descendent of Ben Franklin and Tom Paine. His unflinching observations and deep passion inspire us to explore contemporary culture, politics, and economics; challenge us to face the facts of the societies we are creating; and empower us to demand a better world for our children and grandchildren."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"With the ever-growing influence of corporate CEOs and their right-wing allies in all aspects of American life, Hartmann’s work is more relevant than ever. Throughout his career, Hartmann has spoken compellingly about the value of people-centered democracy and the challenges that millions of ordinary Americans face today as a result of a dogma dedicated to putting profit above all else. This collection is a rousing call for Americans to work together and put people first again."
You asked what we can do about the extreme right wing radio. Here's one suggestion:
We propose a law making it illegal to lie in public discourse, as that is "the court of public opinion", making lying, lying in "court", i.e. bearing false witness.
But we are careful to label the law "The Ninth Commandment Law", and promote it to the people who think this is a "Christian Country" as a Christian measure, so they have to be for it.
Who can be against a law that makes lying illegal? The Christians can't be against it, the Left values truth very highly, and the corporations would expose themselves if they campaigned against it.