Great Leaps Of Illogic, or Stop Trying To Revictimize The Victims

This morning, I told you about how the Wausau union leaders are taking their pledges seriously by keeping the extremist, anti-union Republicans like Sean Duffy out of their Labor Day parade.  It boggles the mind that Duffy or any other Republican in this state even thinks they should have the right to participate in any Labor Day activities, considering how they set back almost every right of the people of Wisconsin in their insatiable power grab.

Most conservatives had enough sense to leave it alone. Those that lacked that sense mostly mewed about how they had to deal with the consequences of their behaviors.

But Kevin Binversie, proud employee of Koch Industries, would not settle for mere mewling when he could open his mouth and insert both feet up to his knees.  Instead of the usual complaining, he goes for trying to somehow compare holding the Republicans responsible for their behaviors to the bigotry showed by New York Catholics to the LGBT groups:

I say fascinating since it makes the Marathon Co. Labor Council sound remarkably like the New York Catholic Diocese when it explains why they keep gay and lesbian groups out of the diocese-sponsored St. Patrick's Day Parade. And over that time -- now going on two decades I believe -- groups like the ACLU, civil rights groups, labor groups, and other so-called progressive groups have hammered the NYC diocese for what they call a bigoted and backwards-thinking move like barring LGBT groups from the parade.

This so wrong on so many levels, one doesn't even know where to begin. But let's break it down so that even someone like Kevin can understand.

Wisconsin Republicans committed egregious harm to the working people of Wisconsin by taking away their rights to be treated with respect, work in safe conditions and be paid a living wage.  They further exasperated their misdoings by also attacking the rights of women, the rights of voters and every other thing that is good about Wisconsin.  And if that wasn't enough to earn them the scorn of every good Wisconsinite, in order to commit their heinous acts, they violated a slew of ethical codes as well as the law itself.

They did all this for none other than the simple reasons of greed and lust for power.

Is it really any wonder why the unions would not want these people tainting their parade with their mere presence?

Now let's compare this to the situation in New York.  The Catholic Church has banned the LGBT community from their parade not for anything they did but for who they are.  That is the definition of bigotry, my friends. (And not that sexual orientation is a sin, but whatever happened to the Church's dogma of hating the sin but loving the sinner?)

The LGBT community did not suppress the Catholics' right to practice their religion or to live their private lives they way they want.  The LGBT community did not attack any of the friends of Catholics out of spite.  The LGBT community is only asking for respect, and haven't taken anything from them by force.

In summary, in Wausau, it's the victims of the Republicans' transgressions that are saying they don't belong with the people they hurt.  Or to put in other words, the unions are holding the Republicans responsible for the consequences of their actions, which is something that the Republicans absolutely cannot stand.

However, in New York, it's the people in power, the Catholic religious leaders, that are transgressing against the LGBT simply because they don't like that group of people, not for any real or even perceived wrong done by the LBGT community to the Church.

Binversie's comparison would only make sense if the LGBT community was denying the Catholics a spot in their Pride parade.

For the Republicans to complain about being barred from Labor Day activities is like a rapist or a thief complaining about not being invited to their victims' family reunions.

I again commend Wausau's unions for their actions and iterate that this is something that should happen in every community in the state and in the country.  Furthermore, if there were to be true justice, the Republicans that caused this or support these reprobates should have to work the holiday, since it's not one they honor anyway. Heck, they should also give up their other benefits they wouldn't have without unions, like weekends, vacations, paid sick time and a sustainable wage.

Business Leaders Miss Cause And Effect

Anyone could have told them that this was going to happen, but they pushed for it anyway.

Scott Walker and the Republican legislature bust up unions and take away worker rights in both the private and public sectors, and now they can't find enough qualified workers.

This isn't rocket science, you know. But when you have a governor that can't spell or do math, and a legislature that has sold their souls to Big Business, I suppose it might seem that way.

"Expensive Entitlements"

Besides endorsing the recalls that the people of Wisconsin have launched against the corrupt Republicans, the Walker interview with the MJS editorial board has another tidbit of insight for us:

"They defined it as a rights issue," Walker said. "It's not a rights issue. It's an expensive entitlement."

So in Walker's world, we can deduce the following:

• Worker's rights are expensive entitlements
• A safe work place is an expensive entitlement
• A decent education for your child is an expensive entitlement
• A life-saving health care screening is an expensive entitlement
• A wage that can actually sustain your family with is an expensive entitlement
• Being treated with respect in the workplace is an expensive entitlement
• Getting promotions based on experience and qualifications besides how much your daddy the lobbyist donated is an expensive entitlement

The list could go on forever, all of which would basically show that Walker again had made one heckuva irresponsible and damning statement.

But it also requires me to make a few other points while I'm at it.

We already know that a federal judge already said that collective bargaining rights can't be overturned by governmental edict.

Most importantly, perhaps, is that when Walker was giving sworn testimony before Congress, he specifically stated that his union busting agenda had absolutely nothing to do with financial reasons:

“Your proposal would require unions to hold annual votes to continue representing their own members. Can you please explain to me and members of this committee how much money this provision saves for your state budget?” question Kucinich.

After an unresponsive answer by Governor Walker, Kucinich pressed, “Did you answer the questions? How much money does it save, Governor?”

“It doesn’t save any,” admitted Governor Walker.

Again, Walker comes out telling bald faced lies and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel lets it slide. Don't you think Walker should have to start including their paper as an in-kind contribution on his campaign finance forms?

Adding Collusion To The Corruption

Some days, it is just an impossible feat for a rational mind to understand how Wisconsin's Republicans can even think they are anywhere still close to representing the people of Wisconsin.

It seems like we can't go a day without another example of corruption from their side raises its ugly head from the miasma they're swimming in.

Take*, for example, our not so supreme Supreme Court. Apparently the Republicans weren't happy with having the majority bought and paid for by the likes of WMC and the Koch Brothers.  They also weren't happy with just having them making an uninformed, dishonest and predetermined decision based on ideology and not the law.

Now they can add collusion to the ongoing list why the whole lot of them needs to be removed from their respective offices:

Four Republican legislators met with Sheboygan County department heads Monday as part of monthly sessions involving state and local officials.

After the meeting, county corporation counsel Carl Buesing briefed other county attorneys across the state on information pertaining to the collective bargaining bill’s inclusion of employee contributions to their pension and health care.

“This Monday morning we met and were assured that the Supreme Court was going to rule by Wednesday and that that legislature was going to clean up all the loose ends,” Buesing wrote in the email.

If you wondering why they would do this, besides the simple fact that this is one of the most unscrupulous lot you could find, well the article explains that as well:

“If the legislature had to fold the collective bargaining package again into the state budget, that would re-inflame the passions of February and March,” Common Cause executive director Jay Heck said. Legislative consideration of the collective bargaining bill drew thousands of protesters to the capitol in those months. Heck said as separate branches of government, it was expected the court would act independently of any legislative deadlines.

So what now? Again, back to the article:

Heck of the government watchdog group told WKOW27 News the possibility an assurance was given about a pending state Supreme Court decision requires more answers.

“There needs to be a full explanation by the speaker, the supreme court spokesperson or the justices themselves to make it clear, that there wasn’t coordination on this matter.”

And any investigation into this needs to be done by a non-state agency, preferably on the federal level and one that cannot be unduly influenced or coerced by Scott Walker and his bully boys.

After all, we already know that they are not above political retaliation.

*Insert your own "Take our Supreme Court...please." joke here.

"Lack Of Fact, Lack of Reason"

Brendan Fischer, legal fellow at PRWatch, analyzed and broke down the highly questionable and irregular act of the Koch-sponsored majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  Here is an excerpt, but do read the whole thing:

"Many people would likely find it puzzling," Justice Crooks writes in dissent, that "we, the highest court in the state, cannot simply order up whatever information is needed." But because of the unusual procedural posture, "those boxes of documents, transcripts and evidence that we ordinarily review were not made available to us."

Justice Abrahamson, also dissenting, wrote that "faced with no record, [the four justices in the majority] conjure their own facts -- something this court should never do, regardless of whether it is exercising appellate or original jurisdiction ... The ready availability of a direct appeal by aggrieved parties makes this all the more puzzling," Justice Crooks wrote. "I am convinced that these significant issues should be addressed through a direct appeal, which would allow this court to more fully resolve, with the benefit of a complete record, the complex legal and factual issues at stake."

The lack of factual background tainted the Court's decision and constitutional interpretation. Nothing prevented the Court from waiting to accept a direct appeal, and to make a careful decision based on a complete evidentiary record. But with Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald threatening to insert collective bargaining into the budget if the Court did not act before the end of Tuesday, the court rushed an order with minimal factual background.

According to Justice Crooks, "those who would rush to judgment on these matters are essentially taking the position that getting this opinion out is more important than doing it right and getting it right." Indeed, that is what happened. In its rush to issue an opinion, the conservative majority overreached, issuing a problematic constitutional interpretation and violating its own judicial principles in the process.

Read it all and allow yourself to feel the rage. Then join in the fight to take Wisconsin back, while there's still a Wisconsin to take back.

The Fight For Freedom Continues - Without Koch Interference

The unions, and by that I mean just about every union in the state, has filed a federal lawsuit against the unconstitutional, freedom-stripping Budget Disrepair Bill, just like I had said they would.

There are two key things to note about this action.

One, the unions were smart enough to file it directly in federal court.  With the way the Koch Court worded their ruling, it was obviously a threat to any Wisconsin judge against ordering an injunction, despite the legality or appropriateness of doing so.  By taking it to the federal level, they are able to avoid and eliminate the Koch Court's interference of justice.

Secondly, the lawsuit only seeks to restore the freedoms that Scott Walker and WISGOP would take away from the citizens, especially the working families of Wisconsin and has nothing to do with the money, as pointed out in the SEIU press release regarding the lawuit:

It is a violation of the U.S. Constitution for a legislature to discriminate among classes of public employees, much less to reward political allies, while punishing political opponents. Scott Walker’s actions are purely political and it is distressing that the Wisconsin Supreme Court would allow public employees to be used as sacrificial lambs.

The lawsuit seeks to enjoin some, but not all, of the provisions of the Budget Repair Bill.

“Working and middle class families in Wisconsin have long been on the record accepting substantial economic cuts. In fact, we are not seeking to enjoin the significant pension and health insurance contribution requirements imposed by the Budget Repair Bill. However, we will not tolerate continued attacks on basic rights. We are committed to preserving our rights to bargain and freely associate,” Palmer concluded.

The AFL-CIO emphasizes the same point on their blog.

This, of course, blows the hell out of the argument the right wing has been trying to fool people with, claiming that the unions are only after their "entitlements" or that the public sector workers were unwilling to "make a reasonable contribution" to their benefits.

If it weren't for the seriousness of the issue, where the unions have been forced to fight not just for the rights of their workers, but even for the rights of those who are constantly attacking them for doing so, I would be having great amusement watching the right wing's collective heads exploding as they realize that they stand a very real chance of having expended all their political clout for nothing.

Finally, since the unions have shown the savvy to file in federal court, one hopes that they will also build their case on another federal case in which they have already shown that it is illegal to take away the right of collective bargaining.

We Are One!

Doesn't matter if it's Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Florida or anywhere else, we are one:



Includes cameo of our own Koch puppet.

Is The Battle Over The Budget Disrepair Bill Moot?

Could it be true? Is all the grandstanding and the overreaching and the power-grabbing my Scott Walker and his GOP cronies be all for naught? I certainly hope so:

In a ruling that has far-reaching implications for Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri, a federal judge threw out labor law reforms at Chicago’s McCormick Place that the Illinois state legislature enacted in 2010 following supplication from the convention industry.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman affirms that collective bargaining rights cannot be overturned by governmental edict. Guzman told the Legislature “it had no business trying to interfere with collective bargaining” according to Marvin Gittler, an attorney representing Local 727 of the Teamsters.

Guzman held that the National Labor Relations Act preempts the Legislature from dictating terms for unions working at McCormick Place. This ruling is similar to the finding of The International Commission for Labor Rights, which has said, in part: The ICLR identified the right of "freedom of association" as a fundamental right and affirmed that the right to collective bargaining is an essential element of freedom of association. These rights, which have been recognized worldwide, provide a brake on unchecked corporate or state power.

Now, before anyone points out that the NLRA is for private sector unions, read on:

While the NLRA covered US employees in private employment, the law protecting collective bargaining in both the public and private sectors has developed since 1935 to cover all workers "without distinction."

If this ruling stands, it would be so very typical of Walker to be wasting all our time and tax payer money on something that is moot to begin with. Perhaps we can report Walker and the entire GOP caucus in each house to the state's waste and fraud task squad.

MJS Editorial Board: Consistently Inconsistent

Sometimes, one must wonder just what in the world goes on inside the offices of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Editorial Board.  Are they doing drugs? Are they not taking their medicine?  Maybe the board had been sacked due to budget cuts and replaced with chimps?  Whatever the cause, they just have not been doing well at all.

A few weeks ago, I pointed out that even though they said that Scott Walker and his cabal were on the right track, they turned around and said it was the wrong thing to do.  They also criticized the Wisconsin 14 who left the state in order to slow down the Budget Disrepair Bill, even though this action allowed people, including the board, the chance to see what a mess it was.

Their inconsistency continued this week.

First they wrote that the state Republicans did all sorts of questionable, if not outright illegal, things when they passed this maleficent bill:

Reason has taken a holiday in Wisconsin politics. Civility along with it.

In their place is a nastiness rarely seen in a state that long has believed in good government as a guiding principle.

Republicans got what they wanted Thursday: a flawed and divisive bill that strips public employees of most of their ability to bargain collectively. Gov. Scott Walker's party may now reap the whirlwind.

[...]

Senate Republicans acted rashly Wednesday night when they hustled the bill through that body in a matter of minutes. Senators may have violated the state's open meetings law by their actions. But even if they did not, giving less than two hours' notice for a bill with such broad ramifications is irresponsible governance.

[...]

But Republicans should not have stripped unions of their other rights. And they should not have exempted their political friends in public safety unions. They could have broken the bill into parts and considered the most contentious elements separately. Instead, they put their own members at grave political risk, and they have touched off a conflict that will not end with one singularly acrimonious vote in the Assembly chamber. In fact, it is only beginning.

Yet, despite calling the Republicans' behavior as irresponsible and that they should never have stripped people of their rights, they go on to write that people should just live with the injustice, to be good little serfs and not fight for justice or their rights:

People are angry; they have flocked by the thousands to Madison to express their anger. 

They're upset with Democratic senators for leaving Madison or with Republican senators for trying to gut the collective bargaining rights of public employees. They want to throw the bums out at the earliest possible opportunity. The recall efforts target every senator eligible for recall.
We get all that. But none of it warrants a recall. 

Disagreements over policy matters should be decided at regularly scheduled elections, which happen every four years for senators. That's plenty of opportunity to voice your disapproval with an elected official.

Got it? According to the MJSEB, even though the Republicans were irresponsible and shouldn't have done what they did, they shouldn't be held accountable.

On a related note, it's now been four weeks since I cancelled my subscription to their paper.  I've also dropped the paper from up north which is also published by Journal Communications.  I haven't missed either one.

And I'm not alone.  In fact, there is a Facebook group urging people to drop their subscriptions  to the paper which apologetically endorsed Scott Walker even though they had been and still are writing about every reason Walker shouldn't be elected as dog catcher.

And the folks at MJS only have to their editorial board to thank for the drop in circulation.  After all, they've been telling us for months now on how we all need to cut back on our spending.  I, for one, things that by ending our subscriptions is the most appropriate place to start.

The GOP Overreach: Trap, Decoy Or Fundraiser?

By now, everyone except the most remote hermits in the deep woods of Northern Wisconsin knows that the Republican State Senators and Scott Walker did another one of Walker's classic overreach in trying to separate out the workers' rights section of Walker's Budget Disrepair Bill and voting on it in a highly unethical and dubious manner.

I will freely admit that I was originally outraged by this atrocity.  I am still angered, but as time as gone by, and with a calmer mind, I can see more clearly what the real story is.

First of all, as far as the vote goes, it's headline-grabbing without a doubt.  But it is also illegal.

For starters, the Republicans violated the open meeting law in that they failed to provide sufficient notice in a timely fashion:

The provision in Wis. Stat. § 19.84(3) requires that every public notice of a meeting be given at least twenty-four hours in advance of the meeting, unless “for good cause” such notice is “impossible or impractical.”; If “good cause” exists, the notice should be given as soon as; possible and must be given at least two hours in advance of the meeting. Wis. Stat. § 19.84(3). 

No Wisconsin court decisions or Attorney General opinions discuss what constitutes “good cause” to provide less than twenty-four-hour notice of a meeting. This provision, like all other provisions of the open meetings law, must be construed in favor of providing the public with the fullest and most complete information about governmental affairs as is compatible with the conduct of governmental business. Wis. Stat. § 19.81(1);and (4). If there is any doubt whether “good cause” exists, the governmental body should provide the full twenty-four-hour notice.

The Republicans did not have good cause to call take the actions they did without sufficient notice.  This did nothing to create jobs or repair the budget (which wasn't even broken until Walker and his cronies were sworn into office).

I would also question whether this would need to go through a public hearing, since it technically is a new bill.

Thirdly, they called a conference committee, which to my understanding, is to work on the differences between the Assembly's and the Senate's version of the same bill.  The Senate never voted as a whole on their split version, which is a whole different bill altogether.  It's like they were trying to mesh the proverbial apple and orange, when all they had was one pear.

Fourthly, the Senate's version of the bill contained fiscal items, to wit, the compensation plan for public sector workers.  Even Walker argued that point for us.

So, if the action was so blatantly and egregiously illegal, why did they do it?  Eight of the senators are facing recall, with some of them reaching an enthusiasm level that surprises even me.  This action will only flame those fires.

After a few hours of though, as well as discussions with trusted friends and advisors, it appears that there are three possible reasons for this unreasonable action: It was either a trap, a decoy or a fundraising tool for the endangered Republicans.

It could very well be a trap to get the Wisconsin 14, or at least one of them, to come back to Madison so that they can finally ram the whole unethical bill down our collective throats.  It darn near worked too.

It could also be a trap for the unions.  It is very conceivable that Walker and his cronies were trying to incite the unions and the other protesters into becoming violent.  This would have possibly helped turn the tide of popular opinion, which is strongly in favor of the workers, and growing stronger every day.  Fortunately, it did not work, and I am proud to report that the workers of this state kept level heads and no problems have been reported.  This, of course, isn't keeping the over-paid squawkers from trying to conflate things that didn't happen.

It would also be within Walker's style of leadership to do something this audacious if he knew bad news was coming down the road.  It could be something like the fact that there is no fiscal emergency or maybe the results of a John Doe investigation were going to be made public.  Walker liked to set up a decoy like that as county executive, to keep people's attention on something other than what could make him look bad.

Or it could be something much simpler.  It could be that the Republicans know that they are tanking in the polls and are having their own enthusiasm gap, so they needed to do something "bold" in order to take full advantage of an upcoming fund raiser, especially one for the endangered Republican senators and where there will be some big money to be had, say in Washington D.C., to shore up a recall defense fund.

Regardless of what their rationale was for breaking the law and for showing that this is the most unethical group in state history, the simple truth is that this cannot be allowed to stand.  This illegal action has to be called what it is, stopped in court, and the corrupt Republicans must be replaced by people with a moral compass that isn't broken.

How Dare You Call Him A Dictator!

Our counterparts on the right have been keeping themselves busy poring over pictures of the hundreds of thousands of people that have been in and around the Capitol Building for the past two and a half weeks.  Instead of seeing the larger picture of this sea of humanity joined together from all walks of life to raise their voices as one in outrage at the attempts of Scott Walker to remove many civil rights that goes to make ours a civilized country and state, they focus on the one or three people that had the poor taste of making a poster with a picture of Walker with a Hitler mustache painted on or someone making a comparison between Walker and Hosni Mubarak.

When they find one of these pictures, they start to squawk like parrots in their selective and hypocritical outrage.

And they are somewhat correct.  Walker is no Hitler.  As far as I know, Walker never tried to kill millions of Jews.  Likewise, he is no Mubarak, no Kim Il-Jong, no Stalin, no Genghis Khan, no Ayatollah Khomeini, or any of these people.

So don't you dare call him a dictator.

So what if he killed contracts that were bargained in good faith?  Don't you dare call him a dictator.

So what if he wants to remove long-standing civil and worker's rights? Don't you dare call him a dictator.

So what if he wants every single policy and procedure to be approved by him personally before it can be enacted?  And so what if he has put hand-picked cronies in positions to make sure his will is carried out? Don't you dare call him a dictator.

So what if he wants all medical decisions, as well as all Family Care, Senior Care, Badger Care program under his direct supervision, allowing him to play God on who lives and who dies, at least among the poor?  Just don't you dare call him a dictator.

So what if he wants the ability to appoint who gets what state assets without so much as anyone else's approval or oversight?  Just don't call him a dictator.

So what if Walker said that he would go to any unethical means, including endangering the safety and lives of Wisconsin, by planting agent provocateurs just to help his ideological agenda furthered.  Just don't call him a dictator.

So what if he illegally sent state police after members of the opposite political party, for no reason that other to enforce his will? Don't you dare call him a dictator.

So what if he wants to strangle another group of dissenters, or bust the unions, in order to be able to rule in peace? Don't call him a dictator.

So what if he's closed the People's House to the people, including bolting the windows shut (at least he wasn't welding them shut!), cutting off electronic feeds and Internet services inside the Capitol Building?  Just don't call him a dictator.

So what if he chooses to hold thousands of jobs, as well as some Democratic staffers, hostage, in order to ensure compliance from opponents and dissenters?  Just don't call him a dictator.

So what if he is unconstitutionally trying to take local control away from some counties and cities, just to further his ideological pursuits.  Just don't call him a dictator.

Even if Scott Walker talks like a dictator and acts like a dictator, don't you dare call him a dictator.

He prefers it if you call him "Your Majesty."

This Week's Solidarity Events In Milwaukee

Things just keep rocking in the free world, doesn't it?

For my AFSCME brothers and sisters, there will be canvassing and phone banking in an effort to get Republican senators to actually listen to the majority, which is not two multi-billionaire brothers, and do the will of the people.  One of the main targets is Alberta Darling.  Believe it or not, Darling used to be sensible and much more moderate, even having worked for Planned Parenthood at one time.

There are four events scheduled, at least at this moment:

• Monday, February 28 - Rally for Workers' Rights at Howell Ave and Puetz Road in Oak Creek, 4-6 pm
• Tuesday, March 1 - Rally for Workers' Rights at Oakland Ave and Locust St, 4-6 pm
• Wednesday, March 2 - Rally for Workers' Rights at the corner of KK and Lincoln Ave, 4-5:30 pm
• Wednesday, March 2 - Pre-Town Hall Meeting Rally at Serb Hall, 51st and Oklahoma Ave, 6-7 pm
• Wednesday, March 2 - Workers' Rights Town Hall Meeting, Serb Hall, 7-8 pm
• Thursday, March 3 - Rally for Workers' Rights at Water St and Wisconsin Ave., 4-6 pm

TrogloFAIL

Lance Burri, aka the TrogloPundit, apparently is easily confused.

Take for example, this excerpt from this post, in which he takes exception regarding the group of hardy people that went to Madison on Monday to let Goobernator Scott Walker know that we are out here and we are ready to hold him and his cronies accountable:

Note what the sign says: “We Need Good Jobs NOW!” Outside the inauguration of a conservative, pro-business governor who is replacing a liberal, anti-business governor whose idea of job creation was raising taxes by several billion dollars and sticking taxpayers with untold billions in debt.

If that’s not ironic, I don’t know what is.

Actually, the irony is that he doesn't get it.

The truth is simple. Walker's brand of being "pro-business" does not equate to good jobs.

A good job would be one that pays a living wage, provides decent benefits and does not unduly endanger the worker. Walker's idea of how things should be would be a major decrease in a worker's pay; cutting, if not cutting out, employee benefits (especially for homosexuals); and loosening, if not entirely eliminating, safety regulations and consumer protections.

Perhaps Lance has spent so much time among the elitists that he doesn't understand what the working class is going through. Maybe he doesn't understand that concentrating the wealth among a few will not help the state or the people that are struggling and suffering, or fix the economy.

Or maybe he does and just doesn't care.

The Birth Of A Theoligarchy

With all the pomp and circumstance one might expect from a showboating megalomaniac, and despite being shrouded in a cloud of suspicion, Scott Walker was sworn in as the governor of Wisconsin today.

The day started with religious the religious symbolism that one might hear from a cult leader or from a petty tyrant trying to convince the people that he is not just a man but a god-king. The faithful acolytes of this cult of personality, quoting the scriptures as preached by the corporate media and the false prophets, cheered on what they perceived to be a momentous occasion.

But the adulation of Walker is not the real purpose of this cult. The real motivation is the promotion of the real cult behind this cult of personality and of that religion's high priests.

The religion is the worship of the Almighty Dollar and it's high priest are collectively known as Big Business.

Look at the things that Walker and his Republican allies intend to force down the throats of the populace. They all go to serve one purpose which is the establishment of an oligarchy.

They want to destroy the unions. They've already weakened the private sector unions as shown by the extortion done by companies such as Harley Davidson, Mercury Marine and most recently Kohler. Walker and his allies have done nothing but attack the public sector unions for years, using outright lies and misdirections. While repeatedly saying how the unions need to take concessions and give back to the community, don't look for them to actually take any action regarding this outside of dishing out sound bites.

Without any action to actually address their straw man issues, they will claim that they have no choice but to change the laws, making Wisconsin a right to work state. They will claim that it is to reduce business costs and thus allow job creation. But it won't. While it will lower business costs, the only other things it will do is lower everyone's pay by an average of $5000, make jobs more dangerous and lower everyone's quality of life.

Another goal of the new regime is to consolidate power to the governor's office. Their public reason for this is to streamline regulations, save costs and create jobs. Again, this is false. What it will do is give Big Business more control over what comes out of the state legislature. This will of course save them money, but not to create jobs, but only increase their concentration of wealth. Meanwhile, we will lose consumer protections and rights.

Other things that the newly empowered oligarchy wishes to force upon us include cutting their taxes (but not ours), destruction of social support programs like Badger Care or Senior Care, dismantle the DNR to make it easier for companies to pollute and pillage our natural resources, destruction of public schools, and basically anything else that Big Business thinks will help them amass more wealth and power, regardless of the cost to the citizenry.

As a side benefit, the powers that be will grant their faithful disciples the things that they wish, but as with everything else, won't create jobs but will lower our quality of life. I'm referring to things like making it harder for minorities and college kids (who tend to vote Democratic more often) to vote, allowing people to play cowboys and carry their guns everywhere no matter how inappropriate it is, squelching the rights of women, squelching the rights of homosexuals, and squelching the rights of anyone else who is different from them.

But all is not lost, my friends.

Walker's favorable rating is not all that good. And that was before Walker's grandstanding cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs when he threw high speed rail and all of its benefits away. That was easily exemplified by the hundreds of people from all walks of life and all parts of the state which came to Madison this morning to let Walker know that he may want to answer only to his wealthy patrons, but his still accountable to us, the people.

As The Unions Go, So Goes The Rest Of The Workers

Back in the days before unionized labor, working conditions were miserable to say the least. Workers were paid lower than living wages; young children would work long days, often in dangerous conditions; workers were often killed on the job; workdays were often 12 or more hours long, six or seven days a week; and in some extreme cases, workers' wives were forced to sleep with their husbands bosses or risk losing their jobs and their company-owned homes.

Things were even worse for immigrants and minorities:

Between the years of 1897 and 1903, approximately half of America's families did not own property. And by 1900, 18 million of the 29 million made an annual wage of around $500, which was below the cost of living for a industrialized family of four, while Andrew Carnegie earned $23 million himself.

Life expectancy for whites was 48 years and nonwhites was only 34. The work force included 1.75 million children under 15 and more than five million women, who sometimes worked for as low as 10 cents for a 10-hour day. Those conditions, the dehumanization of the American laborer in large, and impersonal factories, led to numerous revolts and uprisings.

With the emergence of an organized labor force, and with the bravery and ultimate sacrifice of some some heroic men and women, like those in the Bay View Tragedy, things started to change.

Workers made many gains towards a more civilized work environment, including:

• Child Labor Laws
• Eight-hour work days
• Forty-hour work weeks
• Weekends
• Holidays off
• Collective bargaining
• Living wages
• Equality in the work place

These benefits were even being seen in non-union shops, since they had to start offering similar pay rates and benefits, lest their workers leave at the first opportunity for a job in a union shop, where they would get treated better. By raising their own quality of life and

However, over the last several decades, the strength of the unions has been gradually and steadily eroded away. Salaries replaced wages and the forty-hour work week started to disappear. Laws protecting worker safety were weakened bringing a higher rate of job-related deaths.

More things are starting to show in the last decade that resembles life before unions, such as the consolidation of wealth among a few and high levels of unemployment forcing people to take jobs that no longer can support a family.

Now, as xoff accurately points out, Scott Walker, the Fitzgerald boys and the other conservative thugnuts are considering trying to accelerate the state's economic nose dive:

So far it is mostly trial balloons, but Walker and the Republicans haven't even taken over yet and are floating a host of anti-union ideas. "Whether it's taking things like health care and pensions off of collective bargaining or whether it's changing arbitration (rules), there's all sorts of different options," Walker said. "We really haven't reached one single conclusion."

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, this could be a brutal year ahead, as union- busting tactics force workers to resort to their weapon of last resort. Walker and the GOP could get much more than they bargain for (no pun intended.)

It could be an ugly scene, with prison guards, firefighters, teachers, nurses, librarians, health care workers, road crews, garbage collectors, snow plow drivers, and more on the picket lines.

That may be what Walker wants. If the citizenry real has bought the anti -union line, a strike might be the final straw that breaks the unions and gets the state collective bargaining law repealed.

A fall-back might be to amend the law to take health care or other benefits off the table and make them no longer subject to bargaining. It's a safe bet that Walker will go as far as he thinks he can get away with, but he could overreach.

Private sector unions have been swallowing hard and making concessions to keep their jobs. Walker may think the public sector unions will do the same. They already have bargained contracts with the state that call for no pay raises and furlough days, amounting to pay cuts, but Walker is even trying to stop those from being ratified because he wants even more out of the workers' hides. He may get it.

I think that, personally speaking, the saddest thing about the current state of affairs is that instead of the workforce, private and public, pulling together and presenting a unified front, the plutocrats have managed to divide the work force by first nearly destroying the private sector unions.

Instead of trying to improve their lives, and fighting for their share of the pie, an alarming percentage of the population now apparently think the answer is to seek the lowest common denominator.

Or in other words, instead of allowing the tide in to raise all our ships, they would rather have a race to the bottom.

Xoff is correct that people will be pushed only so far before they push back, or as he cites the labor reference, they "get up off their knees." In psychobabble, it's known as hitting rock bottom.

The question that I have is at what point do enough of us hit rock bottom, how many of us have to lose their jobs, their homes, their health care and even their lives before we wake up and take our county, state and country back?

Or We Could Just Work On Solving The Problem

Brian Fraley, of the misrepresenting MacGuyver Institute, thinks that it is high time that the state does away with collective bargaining rights and to make Wisconsin a right-to-work state. His rationale for these propositions is because government workers supposedly currently outnumber private sector workers.

Fraley, in order to support such an inane proposal, first construct an artificial argument, claiming that it was the public sector unions that forced this reversal in numbers between the private and public sector. The unions diabolical method for achieving this, according to Fraley, is that they vote.

Those bastards!

The truth of it is that the Republicans, his group, has been spending decades systematically weakening the private sector unions through the repeal of worker protection laws and by waging a propaganda war against unions in an effort to make them look like the bad guys. This animosity, combined with their diminished rights, has created such a riff that the majority of wealth in our economy is again being concentrated among the elite few.

The right now apparently feels they have the unions where they want them and are preparing to go for the jugular of the middle class and do away with unions altogether. Again, Fraley's argument for this is based on falsehoods. He makes it seem that all public sector workers are living in the lap of luxury and that is why the economy is doing so poorly.

The fact of the matter is that public sector employees are not doing all that well, salary-wise, especially compared to the private sector. Yes, the public sector does tend to have better fringe benefits, but that is simply because they choose to forgo immediate gratification and keep their eyes on the bigger picture. If one really wanted to take care of the high costs of these benefits, it would be much wiser, fiscally conservative, and socially responsible to simply do something constructive about the cost of health care, which is too damn high.

And if you were wondering where all that money is, if not in the hands of those public sector workers, take a look at the top personnel of the corporations, which are making record profits, but not reinvesting it by hiring anyone.

Instead of constructing straw man arguments in order to attack one part of the population who are just as much victims of the economy as anyone, Fraley and his front group should try to be honest with themselves and us, just this once. If their concern is truly the economy and taxes, they should take a long hard look at how they, by rallying their wagons around Big Business and Big Rx, are actually the problem, and admit that their cure would only push this country closer to a plutocracy. Then again, this might be their goal after all.

Likewise, Fraley's argument about Wisconsin needing to be a right-to-work state is equally bogus. First of all, most unions do have it in place where people can opt out of being in the union.

Secondly, this state is already a right-to-work state. If you don't want to belong to a union, don't take a job in a union shop. It's really that simple. If you want to be a serf for the rest of your life, that is your business. Just don't try to take the rest of us down with you.

Brown Bag Tour or Sand Bag Bore

Scott Walker is still going around the state doing the whole brown bag shtick, even though it's common knowledge that it's just a rehashed gimmick from Ohio.

But there are some nagging questions that has been bothering me for a while.

His campaign team has been tweeting this stuff ad nauseum, and all the pictures look the same. A handful of people sitting there looking bored, as exemplified in this news video his campaign is now touting.

No one is nodding their heads and all of them are sitting stiff as boards.

I've been in enough mandatory meetings to recognize the body language.

The questions that have been nagging at me are these:

• Are these companies that Walker appears at making these events mandatory or if they are voluntary?
  
• If they are mandatory, does that violate any kind of work rule?
• Does that violate any kind of election rules, mandating that someone attend a political event?
  
• Are they at least feeding these poor people, so that their time isn't completely wasted?
  

Why Walker Brown Bags His Lunch

Because he's eating ours:


Also, the perfect way to describe how Scott Walker views negotiations with AFSCME.

Source

Why The EFCA Is So Important

The reason that the right wing is so afraid of the Employee Free Choice Act is because it would start to empower the middle class to stand up for themselves. They are afraid that this would cut into their profitability too deeply:




The oligarchy and their supporters aren't trying to help you keep your job, they are trying to keep you under their thumb as long as possible.

More information can be found at Uppity Wisconsin, where I found the video.