Union Thugs and Punk Teenagers demand literal blood from taxpayers

by folkbum

Every year, the Bay View High School National Honor Society teams up with the Blood Center to host a blood drive.

This year, for the first time in anyone's memory, they are inviting not just students and staff to give, but the whole community. If you have the time and inclination on Thursday this week, please drop by and help out the kids and the Blood Center. Details:

Bay View High School Blood Drive
Thursday, March 10, 10 AM to 7 PM
2751 S. Lenox St., Milwaukee

A report from the Vukmir/ Sensenbrenner town hall

by folkbum

I remember when citizen complaints at town halls were all the rage! From a faithful correspondent:

It started at 6:38PM and ended abruptly at 7:02PM when Senator Vukmir said, "we are not taking away your collective bargaining rights..." uproar, uproar, "the tools...blah, blah" more uproar and then the meeting was called off do to lack of control in the room. Excellent questions were asked and the politicians talked, but didn't answer.

Remarkable!

Also in my inbox, from a different correspondent, a few towns west:

I can report from outside the Sykes event a big, boisterous crowd including firefighters. I would estimate at least 500??? As they entered the doors, Charlie scooped up Scott and carried him in his arms over the threshold.

The veracity of that last part is in question, until I see photos.

Collective Bargaining saves MPS money, lawsuit

ignorant commenters see union thugs at work, or a Win for Walker

by folkbum

Ye Olde Newspapernet contains an Associated Press [update, now Journal-written] blurb that an infamous lawsuit over a Little Blue Pill has been dropped:

The Milwaukee teachers union has dropped a lawsuit seeking to get its taxpayer-funded Viagra back.

The union sued in July 2010 to force the [Milwaukee Public Schools] school board to again include the erectile dysfunction drug and similar pills in its health insurance plans. [. . .] Court records indicate the union, the school board and the state labor commission agreed to dismiss the lawsuit on March 1.

Confused partisans infesting the Newspapernet's comment-teria have taken up strident assertions of which they know nothing and for which they muster no evidence. The lack of detail in the AP newslet is partly to blame of course, but so is the well-known cultural phenomenon of IHAVEACOMPUTERSOIMRIGHTSHUTUP, a syndrome all but unavoidable in the Newspapernet's comment corrals for the past month or so.

Says one ignoble typist: "This particular law suite [sic] is a perfect example of how the union bullies the state around to get it's [sic] way." Says another, heralding a victory that never happened: "Anybody who doesn't think this is a result of the move to change their bargaining rights is just naive. They clearly are taking this off the table because it was one of the best examples of union abuse out there." And a third fool: "Amazing - Walker has already won."

The real story is, of course, less exciting. A few months back, the local education concern and its workers settled a long-overdue contract*. Teachers--and don't be shocked when I say this, gentle readers, I am one of them!--conceded two full years of pay freezes, greater employee contribution to the cost of health insurance, and a new drug co-pay plan that shifts more costs to teachers, too. This contract saved the local education concern tens of millions in wage concessions and will save tens of millions more once the health insurance and drug changes start taking effect April 1.

The new drug plan, in addition to shifting more costs to employees, includes a new co-pay tier that covers non-preferred or non-formulary drugs. Teachers will pay a much larger share of the real cost of these drugs--a list much longer than Viagra, by the way--but they become a little bit more affordable (in the battle between Public Servant and Big Pharma, Public Servant always loses). The district still saves money, the union gets a concession for its teachers, and a lawsuit gets dropped.

This all happened because of a quaint little thing called "collective bargaining." You may have heard of it, as it's been in the news lately. Because both sides were at the table, both sides offered concessions until a deal was struck. The contract was long overdue because the previous administrators of the district had little interest in bargaining or making deals. (Sound familiar? It has become clear in recent days why Scott Walker opposes collective bargaining--he doesn't believe in concessions and deals!) New leadership led to reinvigorated talks and a quick settlement.

The ability of local units of government and their employees to make good deals like this is about to be scotched. Here's a success story to suggest why snuffing it out is foolish.

* The new contract is supposed to last four years. In the event that the contract lasts more than four years, labor and management should seek arbitration immediately.

Milwaukee County Exec. Candidate in Waukesha County Event

by folkbum

Bonus attendee: Ozaukee County loudmouth.



(via)

Quote of the Day: Unions and Freedom

by folkbum

They remind us that where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost. They remind us that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. You and I must protect and preserve freedom here or it will not be passed on to our children and it would disappear everywhere in the world. Today the workers in Wisconsin are showing a new generation how high is the price of freedom but also how much it is worth that price.

I changed one word; I wonder if you can guess what word I changed, and whom the quote is from.

answer here

Republicans invade socialist library staffed by public employee thugs

by folkbum

The invasion is planned, anyway, as Republican State Senator Leah Vukmir and Republican US Representative F. Jim Sensenbrenner have planned a town hall meeting at the Wauwatosa Public Library, 76th St. and North Ave., at 7PM Monday, March 7. If you would like to bear witness to this invasion, or perhaps ask a polite question of the Republican invasion force, get there early to make sure you have a seat.

I've never seen Chris Abele so animated

by folkbum

I was at a community meeting organized by the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools, the state PTA, and probably a bunch of other people. I will try to have a better write-up of the thing tomorrow, but I wanted to quickly get one things posted.

Chris Abele, candidate for Milwaukee County Executive, was not on the speakers' list, but showed up as a community member interested in the issue of the day, which was adequate funding of schools, something notably absent in the budget presented this week by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. The facts as presented by a DPI representative--not, you know, some hippie or wild partisan--are pretty dire. Despite Walker's claims that his "tools" will make up for cuts in the revenue cap, schools are still looking at huge deficits. (Milwaukee, for example, is $74m in the hole here; even wealthy Nicolet is looking at up to a $4m hole that can't be made up in property taxes.) I'm getting off track, here, but you can probably imagine why.

Abele spoke for about a minute and a half after being invited to. In all the times I've seen him, I've never seem him speak with the kind of passion and enthusiasm he did today. "Education is an everybody issue," Abele said, explaining why someone running for a county post bothered with this meeting. And he was clear that many things about what Walker's budget does to schools cannot be morally justified, noting in particular the removal of accountability measures at voucher schools. (Another person I talked to emphasized that Milwaukee taxpayers will get whammied this year as the ~8000 private-school students who currently don't qualify for a voucher start taking state money, too.)

Abele mentioned that he'd been talking to local leaders, including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, about the devastation the Walker budget will cause, Abele's voice rising, his feet fair bouncing with anger and frustration, he said, "I will drive with you to Madison, and demand a better way every day!"

There are a lot of people I know who aren't sure about Abele, about where he comes from and why he's running. But it's clear that he's on the side of goodness and light here, not to mention the side of our children.

A tale of two headlines

by folkbum

Headline A:


Headline B:


(Click the images for the full stories.)

Missing from Headline A is an actual number. Anyone reading that headline without reading the story accompanying it might imagine that union leaders' compensation is massive and indefensible. In fact, the largest salary listed under headline A is $618,000, about 14% of Curt Culver's annual salary. And, if you didn't read beyond headline B, you wouldn't know that Culver's company lost money last year, even as his salary increased.

In addition, the high-salary union leader, head of the Laborers' International Union of North America, leads a union of 12 million members. MGIC has fewer than 1000 employees. The union leader earns just five cents per member, while Culver earns somewhere north of $4000 per employee.

(Also missing from Headline B: The fact that Culver gives overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) to Republicans.)

The thrust of this, of course, is that somehow the unions and union leaders are shady fatcats who don't represent the image or ideal of a working-class union man. In reality, union leaders make much, much less than the heads of comparable private-sector organizations. Yes, someone earning $600k a year earns a lot more than any one of the people he represents, as much as 10 or 12 times, in fact. But boss-to-worker ratios in the private sector are closer to 300 to 1. One of those two numbers is obscene and deserves attention and scorn--just not the one our tale of two headlines suggests.

Quote of the Day: Yes, but what do you really think? Edition

by folkbum

From Tom Scocca, at Slate:

The fiscal disciplinarians are, in their own way, spiritual heirs to the eugenicists of a century ago, with their eye on the greater, collective good. The deficit and the debt bother them not so much morally as aesthetically: they are the budgetary result of the distasteful, ongoing presence of unnecessary and unproductive people.

I have spoiled the ending for you, but the whole thing is worth a read.

Obligatory Walker Budget Post

by folkbum

None of what was out today is a surprise, given that the worst of it leaked out ahead of time. Most of it would have been predictable months ago, and the sheer scope of the madness is not a surprise after the last few weeks.

Here's the best analogy I have: Walker is throwing local governments into the deep end of the pool. Which in and of itself is a time-honored tradition, or at least a time-honored metaphor. The difference here is that Walker has also tied the local governments' hands and feet together, virtually guaranteeing a dismal outcome.

In essence, Walker has handed off the state's budget morass to the local governments, and at the same time, taken away some of the most vital tools local governments have to deal with morasses. His proposal not only guts state funding for local units of government, his proposal guts their ability to fund themselves in the state's stead.

And he thinks this is going to make people want to move here, create jobs. It will be the other way around. Trust me.

Two lies I'm sick of hearing, so shut up already with them

by folkbum

1. Federal employees don't have collecting bargaining rights. FALSE. They do! It only takes a second or two with teh goggle to find references to the fact that "the vast majority of Federal employees have collective bargaining rights." So shut up.

2. FDR opposed public-sector unions. FALSE. He supported them! You see FDR quoted a lot these days, saying this: "All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service." Sounds pretty serious. And it is! As usually understood in 1937, labor struggles were ugly, violent, and disruptive. (See, for example, this.) Which is why Roosevelt, in context, tells a very different story:

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. [. . .]

Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable. It is, therefore, with a feeling of gratification that I have noted in the constitution of the National Federation of Federal Employees the provision that "under no circumstances shall this Federation engage in or support strikes against the United States Government."

I congratulate the National Federation of Federal Employees the twentieth anniversary of its founding and trust that the convention will, in every way, be successful.

FDR did not ask them to disband, he did not tell them to stop bargaining, he did not revoke their right to bargain. Instead, FDR celebrated the success of the federal employees' union, and encouraged them to continue in their civil, moderated behavior. So shut up.

Take $50 out of your wallet. Burn it.

by folkbum

[Late update: Despite widespread reports that it was Walker's plan, and a very public debate about whether he even had the authority to do so, Walker in the end did not propose to turn down federal Title I funds.]

There are a lot of things that Scott Walker is doing that I disagree with. Some of those have a rational basis in fact and can be defended through honest intellectual argument. But many of them are so heavy with dumb they do not let any light of logic escape the dumbitational field they create.

One of them is Walker's plan to refuse nearly $200 million in federal Title I aid to school districts.

Now, I disagreed with him when he killed--or, more technically, caused to be killed--the rail link between Milwaukee and Madison that would have extended the highly popular Hiawatha line and pave the way lay down tracks for a future midwest high-speed rail network. But he had a few valid points, notably that Wisconsin would have to make some investment of its own and the disruption that improving the infrastructure might cause. Small potatoes, those are, compared to the long-term benefit of having a modern transportation system in place.

But refusing Title I funds--the feds' way of supplementing the education of poor public- and private-school students--has no rational basis the way the train debacle does. Title I funds don't require much if any local investment. Title I funds don't make us stop traffic or move people out of their houses. Title I funds provide relief to struggling school districts that must deal with the added challenges of educating poor children.

Worse, when it comes to federal taxes and spending, Wisconsin is what you call a donor state. Imagine that all of the taxes we send to Washington were a large pizza. In return for giving Washington that pizza, the feds send us back a large pizza, too. But that pizza that comes back is missing a slice, which the feds have given instead to someplace like Alaska or Mississippi. This is in part because Wisconsin does a better job at taking care of its own people--we have lower per-capita spending on things like Medicare and Medicaid and SSI disability. But it's also because the feds don't reward us with things like giant defense manufacturing plants. (With Dave Obey gone from Congress, this is likely to get worse; his position on Appropriations kept some of our money in the state.)

Refusing the feds' train money was a way of saying, Hey! We'd like to donate more! And so is the refusal of Title I funds--it is the equivalent, basically, of every adult in the state sending an extra fifty dollar bill to the IRS with their 1040s. Or flushing fifty bucks down the toilet. Or buying an iPod Shuffle and stomping it into little pieces.

And this is not optional: If Walker refuses the Title I money, the feds aren't going to send you a Shuffle to replace the one you stomped to death, or stuff an extra fifty in with your tax returns. That money, like the nearly a billion that was the train money, will go someplace else. Somebody in Alabama or South Carolina is going to get that iPod.

Why? Because Scott Walker is a child, a tantrum-throwing fool who thinks standing firm in an infantile ideology is good for the state he governs.

Madison's democratic Uprising Impresses Amy Goodman

by Bert
People are fired up. You could see it plain as day when Amy Goodman spoke to an overflow crowd of several hundred at UWM last night.

She was preceded by a raspy-voiced Michael Rosen, union leader and economics instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College. Rosen said how his union -- despite what he said was a mangled reporting job by the Milwaukee paper -- recently worked through collective bargaining with MATC's administrators to do a contract that saved more and protected the education of students better than a state plan would have.

Rosen declared loudly that "it is simply shameful" that Gov. Walker is using a crisis to deliver "the long held dream of right-wing Republicans" of destroying unions.

Amy Goodman was fresh from a stay in Madison, broadcasting her Democracy Now cable and radio show from the Capitol Rotunda. Even as a grizzled veteran and close student of social movements from Chiapas to Tahir Square, Goodman was clearly impressed by what she saw and the people with whom she spoke in Wisconsin.

Most of the hundreds at the union ballroom rose their hands when asked who was going to Madison today.

"I don't know how this is going to end," Goodman said. But it was at least obvious already that Gov. Walker "has awakened a sleeping giant and a new workers movement in the United States. And that is something he can never take away from us."

National Watchdog calls for criminal probe of Gov Walker over 'Koch' tape

A national campaign finance watchdog, the Public Campaign Action Fund, sent a letter to the Dane County (WI) District Attorney and Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) today urging that they open concurrent investigations into Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-Wisc.) possible double violations of state campaign finance and ethics statutes.

Washington, D.C.—National campaign finance watchdog Public Campaign Action Fund sent a letter to the Dane County (WI) District Attorney and Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) today urging that they open concurrent investigations into Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-Wisc.) possible double violations of state campaign finance and ethics statutes. The letter is in response to yesterday’s release of a taped phone call between Gov. Walker and a person he thought was out-of-state, billionaire campaign donor David Koch.

The group asked the District Attorney and GAB to look at two questions:

1) Did Gov. Walker illegally solicit political expenditures for independent spending to benefit Republican Senators from swing districts?

2) Did Gov. Walker illegally solicit donations from the state capitol using state resources?

“Governor Walker, while on state grounds supposedly doing his job, thought he was speaking to out-of-state billionaire David Koch, and over the course of that conversation he asked Koch to spend money to help Republican Senators from electorally vulnerable districts,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for Public Campaign Action Fund. “The District Attorney of Dane County and the Government Accountability Board have concurrent jurisdiction over this matter, and both should immediately investigate whether Walker broke two state laws.”

The letters were faxed this afternoon to both offices. Download the letter to the District Attorney and the GAB [at Public Campaign Action Fund] .

Quote of the Day: Finding root causes for the anger

by folkbum

There's a reason why people like Ellen Bravo do this sort of thing professionally, and I just have a blog:

Mercury Marine of Fond du Lac had profits of $1.1 billion from 2000-'07. During that time, it paid nothing in corporate income taxes to our state. The New York Times highlighted Harley last summer as one of the companies finding "surging profits in deeper cuts." As the article pointed out, the benefits of those profits "are mostly going to shareholders instead of the broader economy." [. . .]

For illusionists like [Wisconsin Gov. Scott] Walker, here's the trick: State politicians give tax incentives and other breaks to large corporations that gouge their workers. The politicians then use the sacrifice of those workers as a sledgehammer to blame budget shortfalls on public employees who are in unions. Workers and the unions take the fall, making big corporations and their politicians even more powerful.

We have been in an economic downturn, this "Great Recession" of ours. Mercury, Harley, and to a lesser extent Kohler--which has also settled with its unions offering workers a much crappier (no pun intended) deal--all make luxury products, and when the economy recesses, fewer people buy luxury products. You'd expect to see some strife at those companies.

But the full brunt of these companies' strife is being borne not by the CEOs calling the (sometimes wrong) shots, or the shareholders who opted for the risk of investing in companies that produce luxury goods. Rather, the brunt is being borne by workers who, especially in corporate towns like Kohler and Fond du Lac, are just trying to feed their families.

In the last election, Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Counties, home to Kohler and Mercury, voted overwhelmingly for Walker, whose solution to their woes is apparently to finally stop those bloodsucking UW teaching assistants from having a union.

This bears repeating: While it is true that the broader economy has an unemployment rate of 10%, the wealthy are doing fine: Bankster pay is up, stocks are about as high as they've been in the last decade, corporate profits are at all-time highs, companies are sitting on billions in cash reserves (while not paying their small-business supply chains), and corporate and top-tier tax rates are at generational lows.

Scott Walker wants to reward--indeed, has already started rewarding--all those doing so well with additional tax breaks. He wants to take everyone else and extract sacrifice.

The resentment formerly middle-class folks feel is real and palpable and fully justified. But directing it at the people who collect garbage, teach children, and care for our grandparents is ridiculous.

Citizen's Criminal Complaint Against Gov. Scott Walker

Update: Madison Police Chief Noble Wray Thursday asked Gov. Scott Walker to explain his "troubling" and "unsettling" statements captured in a secretly recorded phone conversation that he "thought about" planting troublemakers among the thousands of peaceful demonstrators at the Capitol. (Dee Hall, Wisconsin State Journal)

via malIn summary, Gov. Scott Walker can't do this to us.

This letter was dropped off Thursday; this is still America.
---
United States Attorney's Office
Western District of Wisconsin
660 West Washington Avenue, Suite 303
Madison, WI 53703

February 24, 2011

I am writing to ask for a criminal investigation into the actions of the office of Governor Scott Walker.

I refer to the recently publicized tape of a phone call in which Gov. Walker responds to a caller’s (pretending to be one David Koch) suggestion (vis) [“But, uh, what we were thinking about the crowds was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.”] to place agents provocateur among the citizens protesting the Wisconsin budget bill, to which Walker replies, “You know, the, well, the only problem with that — because we thought about that. The problem — the, my only gut reaction to that is right now the lawmakers I’ve talked to have just completely had it with them, the public is not really fond of this.” [A.G. SULZBERGER; New York Times, February 23, 2011. “Walker Receives Prank Call From Koch Impersonator”]

My concern is that—as presumably the “thought” Walker referenced was not conveyed telepathically—the Walker administration discussed planting agents provocateur at the rallies that I have attended, along with members of my family. Such discussions merit an investigation.

I would like what Gov. Walker said and to whom he spoke on this matter of planting agents provocateur at political rallies held in Madison investigated under suspicion that Walker conspired to disrupt protected political activity.

In point of fact, apropos to the tape referenced above, members of David Koch’s organization, Americans for Prosperity, were bussed in on Saturday, Feb. 19, according to numerous media reports; and labor organizations and supporters were widely warned to stay away from Koch’s group and not “engage” them. Several law enforcement agencies were reportedly aware of the possibility of violence.

It is not relevant to my concern that the David Koch impersonator turned out to be a journalist of sorts. What concerns me, again, is Gov. Walker’s taped statement that Walker said he discussed planting agents provocateur at political rallies, rallies which continue today.

The price of my exercising my First Amendment rights ought not to be dread that my governor is conspiring to plant “some troublemakers” when I petition my elected representatives on pending legislation.

Would you please forward this letter to the appropriate investigative unit?

Truly Yours,

Michael Leon

Cc U.S. Rep Tammy Baldwin

Cc Special Litigation Section, U.S. Dept of Justice
      Civil Rights Division

Walker v Obama

by folkbum

And, no, I am not talking about 2012.

I tweeted yesterday, only half-kiddingly, "Have lost track of number of ppl who complained Obama refused to compromise w Republicans and say Walker should stand firm." The twit-speak is embarrassing to reprint here on the blog, where brevity is far less a concern than clarity. But the message is something that needs to be reinforced.

You might recall 2009-2010, and the protracted debate over the health care bill that ultimately was passed as the Affordable Care Act. Some of the initial policy proposals offered a radical shift in the way the federal government treated health insurance, including a proposed public option (which would have created greater savings than the final bill does). The process of getting those original ideas into a final bill took nearly a year. It included hundreds of often-contentious town hall meetings, scores of demonstrations and rallies for and against reform, very public Congressional hearings, very private Congressional negotiations among the Senate's bipartisan Group of Eight, and even a White House-hosted round table with leaders and experts from both parties convened to try to hammer out a solution. All of this while Democrats held the presidency and a majority in both Congressional houses.

Ultimately, the Affordable Care Act is a mishmash of watered-down Democratic reforms, Republican policy positions (the individual mandate was a favorite of Republicans right up until it went into the bill), and vague nods toward systemic change. It was not the reform I wanted, but it was perhaps the best bill possible under the circumstances, and though certainly included tons of compromise, I celebrated its passage.

And yet, the steady Republican and media-pundit line was the same: Obama needs to reach out to Republicans more; Obama needs to compromise. Despite the moderation and compromise that riddles the ACA and is apparent in the year-long record, the take-away for our great pundit class and legions of conservative and tea-party Republicans is that Democrats quickly rammed through an ultra-liberal bill with no sop to Republicans at all. Which is, clearly, false. (Anyone who thinks it's true, please try to explain in comments. I need a laugh.)

Flash forward to 2011 in Wisconsin. Scott Walker has proposed a radical policy change in a bill that is about fixing a budget hole, not changing policy. (Walker campaigned on not putting policy in budget bills.) Walker continues to insist, even in his "fireside rap" last night, that the hold-up is over economic concessions without admitting that his opponents long ago agreed to those concessions. (Those concessions may not even be necessary for the state budget to balance, anyway.) No, the hold-up is over changing 50 years of Wisconsin state policy--indeed, national leadership from this state--on workers' rights, with no justification given for doing so.

Whereas Obama campaigned on health care reform, Walker did not campaign on dismantling state employee unions. And in contrast to the tediously long track that health care reform took nationally, Walker introduced his bill on a Friday and expected it to be approved the next Tuesday. Wisconsin Republicans have refused to hear from the public--the hearing rooms were open because Democratic leggies stayed to listen; Republicans shut down the state's legislative hot line. Republicans even illegally voted on aspects of the measure before the posted start time of the legislative session to avoid having to debate the matter. (They later rescinded the vote, obviating their culpability.)

There have been no bipartisan groups of legislators working through the matter. There have been no town halls for legislators to hear concerns in their districts. (Republicans warned their caucus members not to have such town halls, out of fear for their "safety"; to date, no one has been injured at the Capitol and, in all the media reports I sought and I have read, there have not even been arrests). There has been no great Walker-hosted round table on collective bargaining. Indeed, Walker made clear in the prank call conversation with notDavid notKoch, any offer he might make to listen to Democrats is a trick. (About the call: I mostly agree with Ezra Klein. Nothing said is too damning, but the fact that he took notKoch's call at all, and said anything to notKoch, is damning alone.)

So it ought to be surprising that the conservatives and tea-party Republicans, as well as the national media pundits, are telling Walker to stand firm and not at all to compromise. It ought to be surprising since, after all, Walker with collective bargaining is engaging in exactly the opposite behavior of Obama on health care--and Obama's was not nearly enough effort to appease Republicans and opponents of reform.

But it is, of course, not surprising at all. There is a reason that IOKIYAR is a common acronym: it's okay if you're a Republican. There's also the media frame that Democrats must always appear weak (and attempts to appear strong--as when Republicans invited Obama to their Congressional retreat and he challenged their talking points--it's sandbagging or playing dirty) and Republicans must always appear strong. As Atrios noted today, Walker is "a GOP Daddy" so any action he takes "will be praised as 'bold.' " Refusing to compromise is part of the GOP ethos, and as such cannot be criticized, even by those who hold compromise sacred.

(Remarkably, Republican governors across the country have gotten the message that Walker refuses to hear. Governors in Indiana, Ohio, Florida, and Michigan have backed off many of their plans to gut collective bargaining their states. None of them, like Walker, can explain how rescinding those rights solves temporary or even structural budget gaps, especially when unions have already agreed to economic concessions, and have decided that the damage to their own reputations and the people in their state is not worth the fight.)

So I ask those who want Walker to stand firm: Why is compromise now anathema when Obama couldn't compromise enough for you? Why is Walker's mandate unbreakable even in the face of massive protest when Obama's mandate was non-existent in the face of the tea-party rallies? Why are party-line votes in Congress on health care bad while party-line votes in Madison are a consequence of Democracy? Why is Walker's plan to trick Democrats into submission just fine with you when Democrats' transparent and above-board passage of the Affordable Care Act a travesty? And, relatedly, why is the flight of 14 state senators to break quorum worse than Republicans' unprecedented and record-setting filibuster efforts in the US Senate?

These are not idle questions.

I could ask more: Why is it okay to lessen the tax burden on Wisconsin's millionaires while upping the pension burden on public health workers making barely more than minimum wage? Why is it okay to allow Walker to sell state assets with no bids but Doyle's no-bid contract to Talgo was an outrage?

IOKIYAR is the answer I predict.

Walker's Fireside Crap

by Michael A Leon

Update: Scott Walker admits objective on collective bargaining: Weakening unions

Gov. Scott Walker's chat with Wisconsin last night has all the sincerity of the AIG derivatives executive's assurance to investors that their money is safely and productively at work months before the economic catastrophe hit.

But Walker goes in for reverse-Enron accounting, claiming a deficit crisis when no such crisis exists.

Unfortunately for Walker, that pesky non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) has debunked the budget crisis notion, as State Rep, Mark Pocan (D-Madison) points out, a fact Walker refuses to address.

Worse, Walker claims he will be forced to lay off workers if he doesn't get his way on the budget; saying he doesn't want to lay people off, even as he refuses to negotciate.

Here is a partial list of highlights and significant omissions from Walker's chat:

• No mention of the corporate give-aways and their clear relevancy to the budget, or his promises to the super-wealthy
• Claimed appreciation for working families whose members he is threatening to lay off
• Using the passive voice to absolve himself of responsibility for laying off workers and devastating families; it's an old politician's trick in the tradition of 'mistakes were made,' Walker said, "If there is no agreement by July 1st, another 5-6 thousand state workers -- as well as 5-6 thousand local government employees would be also laid off," in addition to those workers Walker promises to axe next week if Walker does not get his way on ending collective bargaining, animated by what Walker assures us "isn't a battle with unions," or he would" have gone after the private-sector unions," the Wagner Act notwithstanding in Walker's most bizarre statement of the evening
• Continued lying about the "budget deficit" as though Walker has no choice but to accept the 6.2 percent increase in state agencies that the LFB says would lead to a short-fall in the vanishingly unlikely event that the legislature adopts the estimate as a budget
• No mention of the fact that all of Wisconsin's school districts, counties, and municipalities have never asked of Walker to implement his scheme to forbid collective bargaining, and in fact are requesting that he not end collective bargaining (Mosiman). Walker's proposed end to collective bargaining "goes far beyond what we asked for. We were not expecting to abolish the collective bargaining process altogether," said Dan Thompson, executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. [See also Tarr.]
• Implying that "millions of taxpayers from across the state" do not include those working families who disagree with Walker
• Deriding workers demonstrating solidarity as an ominous occurrence as "more and more protesters come in from Nevada, Chicago and elsewhere" overwhelming the voices of the millions of taxpayers from across the state, save public workers who do not pay taxes apparently in Walker world
• Calling for pension contributions increases without mentioning the unions' offer to do just that as Wisconsin's pension fund remains among the nation's healthiest (Carter)
• Refusing to mention that public unions have made good-faith offers on pensions, health care, salaries; and that Walker refuses to negotiate

Many more lies are found in the brief address.

The rest is typical divide-and-conquer rhetoric, pitting the unemployed against the employed, the pubic versus the private sector, and demonizing Democratic state senators who are fighting for collective bargain for Wisconsin families.

"Do the job you were elected to do," Walker said. "You don't have to like the outcome, or even vote yes, but as part of the world's greatest democracy, you should be here, in Madison, at the Capitol."

Yes, but aren't Democratic state senators protecting Wisconsin families? Walker refuses to engage the question.

This is not a governor. This is a ruler who is willing to terrorize Wisconsin working families for his petty pursuit of power and narrow ideology. And Walker thinks he is untouchable.

To conclude on a positive note when Walker looks at the camera and lies, he presents a visage more appealing than Richard Nixon's, though a viewer is left with the impression of a well-concealed smirk of someone who just got away with cheating on an exam.

This will change. Walker is desperate as polls show most Americans and an increasing number of GOP governors reject the idea of demonizing public workers and outlawing collective bargaining.

As Alex Pareene writes in Salon of Walker's chat, "It was not a particularly inspiring or convincing performance, and I imagine a lot of Wisconsinites are still suffering from buyer's remorse tonight."

No doubt, but Walker has revitalized the progressive movement in Wisconsin to a degree that this writer has never seen. The world is watching and outside of Appalachia and the Old South, the world stands with Wisconsin workers.
- via mal

Fight War on Families; Call Your Senator; Vote in April

by Michael A Leon

Find your state senator here.e

Beginning this week, Walker and the GOP will try to push through legislation, they say, will combat the massive voter fraud that resulted in their election that allegedly gives Republicans their mandate to strike at state, county and municipal workers, our neighbors, our friends, and our families.

Walker, if successful, will drive families to bankruptcy, jeopardize college plans, and inflict stress on already over-stressed, working parents.

But I do not believe for a moment that most GOP senators have any idea how badly families with state, county and municipal public workers will be hurt by what Walker is doing.

Call your state senator here.

In November 2010 some 26 percent of eligible Wisconsin voters cast their lot in the gubernatorial election for Scott Walker, handing Walker a narrow 52-47 victory.

Walker claims mandate to end collective bargaining and local control

Walker now claims a mandate to dismantle public union collective bargaining, and a state-mandated end to local control in county, school district and municipal governance.

Think it's your school district your property taxes pay for? Think again, it's Walker's or so he believes when Walker has political scores to settle and power to grab.

Local communities and families are collateral damage in Walker's war for Walker.

Putting aside aside Walker's absurd assertion that citizen demands for radical change in labor negotiations catapulted him to victory, one notes Walker assures us the 2010 legislative elections reveal a similar call for initiatives that just happen to weaken the political infrastructure of his opponents.

And no compromises, Walker says.

Walker claims mandate to end local control of health care

And that includes no local control of Medicare, Family Care, Senior Care and Badger Care because that's what the voters want, and this just happens to coincide exactly with what the multi-billionaire Koch Brothers want.

Family and senior health care are collateral damage in Walker's war for Walker.

Depoliticized is dangerous

The number of Wisconsin citizens who can name their state representative and state senator, their political affiliation, and policy positions in this age of 30-second TV campaigns is low.

Most families are straining to make ends meet.

It strains credulity to contend a mandate for targeting Wisconsin families, as Walker does.

Wisconsinites like most Americans are depoliticized; though as Walker's schemes become known outrage and betrayal are the common resulting sentiments as we have seen in the streets around the state.

Walker claims mandate to end same-day registration and mandate voter qualifications

Beginning this week, Walker and the GOP will try to push through legislation, they say, will combat the massive voter fraud that presumably resulted in their elections that give Republicans their allegedly powerful mandate.

It just so happens that our fellow citizens who are most vulnerable to be being obstructed from voting from the GOP legislation—college students, blacks, browns, and the working class—lean Democratic.

Other GOP initiatives targeting Democrats specifically and families generally will be presented in the coming months.

Elect JoAnne Kloppenburg over David Prosser

Most of Walker's agenda will face vigorous legal challenge in the court system, so it is critical that we work to elect independent-minded jurists.

In the state's highest court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Justice David T. Prosser, rakes in money from the same ideological special interests who fund Walker.

Walker, a petulant man, in his 18 years in the state assembly says he soaked in plenty of GOP money, and brags about his GOP connections: "Well, let me say this. I have the most partisan background of any member of the court." (Zweifel, Capital Times)

Prosser will face JoAnne Kloppenburg, Assistant Attorney General, dedicated to the rule of law and impartial adjudciation in the state's top appellate court.

But Prosser's campaign manager felt so comfortable in Prosser's loyalty to the GOP cause that he said a new Prosser term would protect the "conservative judicial majority and [act] as a common sense compliment [sic] to both the new [Walker] administration and Legislature." (Lueders, Isthmus)

Now, Prosser says he really didn't mean it, all that GOP money means nothing to Prosser when votes on cases before the Court. Right.

One critical step in restoring some sense of decency in Wisconsin politics is the election of Kloppenburg over the GOP tool, Prosser.

We have seen the results when we voters stay home.

Killing the American Middle Class for Fun and Profit

by folkbum

It's what the wealthy, in tandem with Congress and state governments, have been doing for more than 30 years. The current unrest here in Wisconsin is the latest battle in that war.

If you don't believe you're losing, then either you're a) delusional or b) one of the top 10% of wage earners in the country.