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Wisconsin

buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
edited February 2011 in Strut Central
Hey, did I miss the 5-pager on the WI labor protests ?? Never seen anything like this before, in my lifetime at least. I've got mixed feelings on the whole issue but its good to see people finally standing up for themselves. I just wonder if the energy can be sustained once this gets resolved. There are much, much larger issues at stake than just the union rights of public employees in one state. The fight shouldn't end here.



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  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I recommend the doc Harlan County USA.

    What is happening in Wisconsin reminds me of the Air Traffic Controllers Strike.
    Regan took office. Wanted to destroy unions in America. ATCs were the first target.
    Today Public Employees represent the last largely unionized work force.
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    100k in Madison today :face_melt:
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    Unknown
    Some great stuff here.

    http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/wisconsin-police-union-announces-solidarit
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    I know I live in my own little lefty-bubble here, but seriously: over 100k people at your doorstep, thousands more demonstrating all across the country, and you're absolutely refusing to budge one inch? At what point do you start looking like a conceited idiot to everyday non-political types? Hopefully he's crossed that threshold by now.
  • neil_somethingneil_something 993 Posts
    i find this story pretty unbelievable. why exactly are unions so vilified in the US? no love for decent working conditions or a minimum wage?

    this, coupled with the cut in funding for public broadcasting, suggests that while people are quick to criticise government involvement in their lives they are more than happy to be governed by unelected corporations.
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    neil_something said:
    i find this story pretty unbelievable. why exactly are unions so vilified in the US?

    That's not generally true. It's just the major portion of the right-wing that hates unions.

    You have to keep in mind that these are the same kinds of people who say that slavery wasn't so bad and that gays are going to hell.

    There is a whole lot of stupid in this country.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Meh. I don't think unions are particularly necessary. I mean, everybody points to the establishment of the minimum wage, the creation of a "weekend" when you don't have to go to work, and employer contributions to health care as things we have only because of collective bargaining, but I like to think corporations would have gotten around to just giving those things to employees of their own accord. You know, to be nice.
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    DB_Cooper said:
    Meh. I don't think unions are particularly necessary. I mean, everybody points to the establishment of the minimum wage, the creation of a "weekend" when you don't have to go to work, and employer contributions to health care as things we have only because of collective bargaining, but I like to think corporations would have gotten around to just giving those things to employees of their own accord. You know, to be nice.

    Yeah, they had a "niceness schedule" all worked out. Workplace beatings would have been phased out by 2525. That would have been a nice start, but goddamn activists ruined it for everyone.
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    unions are plague upon humanity
  • thursdayalleythursdayalley 87 Posts
    button said:
    100k in Madison today :face_melt:

    I'm sure this reaction has been building for a long time. Although the rest of the state has become increasingly more conservative, Madison has always taken their left wing politics seriously and is the birthplace of the progressive movement.

    The fact that the state unions have made all the financial concessions, yet the Governor still wants to take away their bargaining rights is ridiculous.
  • GrandfatherGrandfather 2,303 Posts
    They elected this college dropout buffoon for Governor. His plan is purely political, unions are a great source of support for Dems and his point about the money saved by busting them up is stupid. It would be something like less than 12% of their budget shortfall. As soon as he was elected he pushed through legislation costing his state millions in taxes for his rich buds.
  • bigchalzbigchalz 220 Posts
    on the news they showed a lady holding a sign that said governor walker has a
    KOCH problem. :oh_snap:

    this is the beauty of unrestricted corporate money in politics(that bill that ends the limit to corporate donations seems like it might be the end of hope for "change we can believe in") wisconsin now has the koch brothers as their governor. those dudes bought this shit outright. YAY!!

    "maybe we should get some troublemakers in the crowd" - gonzo journalist posing as a Koch dude

    "yeah, we thought about that" - governor walker
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    Grandfather said:
    They elected this college dropout buffoon for Governor. His plan is purely political, unions are a great source of support for Dems and his point about the money saved by busting them up is stupid. It would be something like less than 12% of their budget shortfall. As soon as he was elected he pushed through legislation costing his state millions in taxes for his rich buds.

    nail on the head
  • coldgritzcoldgritz 71 Posts
    Brian
    Posted: 28 February 2011 06:08 PM
    unions are plague upon humanity

    you sound republican
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    Brian said:
    unions are plague upon humanity

    I don't know what impresses me more. The depth of knowledge that lies behind your authoritative opinions or the poetic heft of your wordplay? I just can't decide.
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    A master weighs in:

    http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/02/dont-mess-with-wisconsin.html
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,899 Posts
    I'm sure strutters have read about the DMV stuff.

    http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9OKSP800.htm

    But what is this stuff about getting ID, the DMV looks at your banking activity?

  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    Yeah , so despite effectively no evidence regarding state voter fraud, this new ID law is rushed through using a special fast-track legislative process (ahead of the recall elections in August that may cost repubs their current monopoly). Everyone is familiar with the true motives lying just beneath the surface of laws like this that they barely merit mentioning. But the big cherry-on-top to this story is the closing of 10 DMVs that are all in largely democratic districts, naturally. Thats just the cliff's notes version of whats been happening here. Stuff is so out of hand its crazy..
  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    Suspicious fire at a Democratic group's HQ, ahead of recall elections:
    http://foxpoint.patch.com/articles/fire-destroys-offices-of-group-active-in-wisconsin-recall-effort

    More dirty voter supression tricks:
    http://gawker.com/5826707/koch-bros-group-being-completely-evil-ahead-of-wisconsin-recall
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,899 Posts
    "merely a typo"

    lol
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/journal_media_detail.asp?prid=5946&locid=177

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/walker-s-vindication_577310.html

    ??
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,899 Posts
    Unemployment rates for June 2011 were recently announced:

    Wisconsin???s unemployment rate was 7.6%, up 0.2 from the previous month.
    The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.2%, up 0.1 from the previous month.

    http://badgerstat.org/economy/unemployment/
  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    FACE
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    sabadabada said:
    FACE

    No doubt. You guys have a strangle hold on the country and are determined to destroy it.
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    Face? The power of rednecks and hillbillies, of get your government hands off my medicare senior citizens and cherry faced baby boomers with too high of cholesterol from eating at depressing chain restaurants all the time, all united by blatantly racist propaganda ads filled with strange non-sequiturs and funded from parts unknown .. welcome to the USA as it stands

    2 pick-ups and 4 good fights, mostly in heavily red districts might I add .. I wonder what this means in the long term, and in the big picture.. if anything at all.
  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    button said:
    Face? The power of rednecks and hillbillies, of get your government hands off my medicare senior citizens and cherry faced baby boomers with too high of cholesterol from eating at depressing chain restaurants all the time, all united by blatantly racist propaganda ads filled with strange non-sequiturs and funded from parts unknown .. welcome to the USA as it stands

    2 pick-ups and 4 good fights, mostly in heavily red districts might I add .. I wonder what this means in the long term, and in the big picture.. if anything at all.

    FACE.











    That's what it means.
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    button said:
    Face?
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    'Nique is about to stuff that
  • PlantweedPlantweed 394 Posts
    Something to consider: New York governor Andrew (The Dark Prince) Cuomo is a democrat, and has been given more money than Walker by the Koch Cartel. He is currently trying to ram through state worker contracts that would actually cause a net loss for civil servants after five years. The word is he's gearing up for a presidential run against Cheeseburger Christie and doesn't want to look "soft on unions" in this current anti-union environment. There's also another rumor he may replace Biden as vice-pres candidate in 2012. There is a very active general campaign to break unions, as they hurt corporate bottom lines. It's another symptom of the very rich getting an increasingly disproportionate share of the country's wealth, while the poorest are engineered into becoming dependents of the state, and the middle-class worker is squeezed from both sides.

    -- Capt. Obvious
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