Madison

[Howey]

Seems like the Wisconsin legislature doesn't believe in democracy:

[ekg]

more proof that this isn't about the money, it's all about busting the union.. from the gov's on lips this time..

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/145313-wis-governor-were-going-to-take-this-as-long-as-it-takes
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) is not planning to make concessions to end the budget standoff any time soon, he indicated on "Fox News Sunday."

"We're going to take this as long as it takes," he said. "In the end we're doing the right thing for Wisconsin."

He said proposals to resolve the budget dispute without reining in union power would not suffice and are simply "red herrings" because they would not fix underlying problems.

there you have it... the uh, 'reigning in union power' saves how much money? What's the price tag of that?  the unions have said they will take the pay cuts, conceding to paying their share of their pension and insurance.. that's what this was supposed to be about.. paying for the tax cut off their backs.. they gave in and said OK, we'll play.. but we want to keep our bargining rights..

nope.

no compromise..

this Gov never wanted the money.. he wanted to bust the unions and he just admitted it.. as for why? well here's his wet dream..

"Wisconsin potentially could be leading the way when it comes to budgetary and fiscal reform in this country," he said.

as old school darth would say 'spurt-spurt-spuuuuuuurrrrtttt aahhh yeah baby,king of the world!"

[Howey]

I like Paul Krugman's take on this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/opinion/21krugman.html

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we're a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we're more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Given this reality, it's important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.

You don't have to love unions, you don't have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they're among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years -- which it has -- that's to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.

There's a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America's oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

[Howey]

Today, my friend Shannon Burke posted on FB:
 

» Tolerant Left Wishes Death on Governor Scott Walker - Big Government
You may remember President Obama’s recent call for civil discourse this past January. Well, it appears that the Left is still very much struggling with the #newtone online. Unless, of course, you consider a persistent stream of steady death threats against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker a display..

Although I find fault with someone on Twitter wishing death upon Walker, some of the comments from Shannon's followers are incredibly dumb. Like the guy who responded to my post that today's NYT column by Paul Krugman* was worth a read:

Wow. Full of marxist terminology and viewpoints. In fact, with most of the unions' valid functions being absorbed by federal agencies such as OSHA, MSHA, etc, unions really only serve to drive artificially high wages, and therefore high product and service prices.

*Part of Krugman's words since the NYT is now subscription only):

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can f...ield armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we're a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we're more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Given this reality, it's important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.

You don't have to love unions, you don't have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they're among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years -- which it has -- that's to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.

There's a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America's oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

More later when Shannon gets here.

[Howey]

Interesting...

http://www.politicususa.com/en/wisconsin-protesters-fox-news

The protests and demonstrations in Wisconsin over Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to break the back of organized labor at the direction of the Koch Brothers have brought forth a barrage of lies and misinformation from Fox News, The Heritage Foundation, and Tea Party groups meant to subvert the narrative into an attack on America. As support grows for the public employees protesting for nothing more than the right to bargain collectively, conservatives have ramped up the level of noise and misinformation to enrage citizens ignorant of the nature of the protests and on a larger scale, union representation.

The issue in Wisconsin is not the budget or that teachers, police officers, and firefighters are making too much money, but simply the right to bargain for wages. Without collective bargaining, the governor has the right to dictate the wages and working conditions public employees must accept without recourse or input into the process. If one were to listen to conservative pundits, public employees are draining the state treasury and thumbing their noses at taxpayers while their students are failing miserably. Although that nonsense plays well with tea party members who believe all public employees are bad and Republicans who are hell-bent on privatizing every last vestige of government, it is nothing but propaganda.

There are many misconceptions about employee unions that the public is unaware of because they only hear that unions are anti-American. Union representation only gives its members a collective voice during negotiations and little else. Wisconsin’s governor has singled out public school teachers, but his bill affects all unions and their members including firefighters, policemen, and various civil servants. Walker has targeted teachers because in general, people revere police and fire fighters as a necessary part of society and are less inclined to think of them in a negative light. Conversely, teachers are thought of as little more than overpriced babysitters who have jobs they cannot be fired from and are draining valuable resources from the rest of society.

[ekg]

huffpo had an amazing write up yesterday on the sunday morning sound off live blog''

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/20/tv-soundoff-sunday-talkin_39_n_825647.html

there's just massive amounts of info/graph's/opinions/facts.. there..

this is interesting, and too bad no one else is bringing it up..

Wisconsin's union employees are upset about a loss of collective bargaining and a mandated increase in benefit payments, including for health insurance. But at least these employees would still have health insurance. What has been widely ignored about Walker's bill (in part because of the speed with which he's fisting it down Wisconsin's gullet) is a sneaky provision that paves the way for him to cut, or eliminate, Medicaid and BadgerCare healthcare benefits for low-income people.

Administrative rules changes sound about as interesting as the words "administrative rules." And Walker's "administrative rule" change is the kind of complex, procedural legislative legalese that few reporters are sickly masochistic enough to slog though through. (And it's especially true that nobody reports on America's rising war on the poor. This was evidenced by the fact that major network stars have yet to appear in Madison, and, until this weekend, the tens of thousands sleeping in the capitol warranted segment bites equal in length and depth to the latest update on reporter Serene Branson's migraine.)

So in short: Walker's administrative rules change would allow the Department of Health Services, via the overwhelmingly GOP-controlled budget committee, to change state laws unilaterally, skipping the legislative process altogether...this means Walker's bill will allow the governor to subvert the legislative process and make his own laws without going through the tiresome and long American tradition of lawmaking. But wait, there's more!

Not only should there be no doubt Walker would do this, his statements foreshadow who he would blame it on. On Feb 11th, before Madison got in the labor movement time machine, the governor said, "The alternative [to state employee health and pension changes] is to look at 1,500 layoffs of state employees or close to 200,000 children who would be bumped off Medicaid-related programs." At the time, PolitiFact Wisconsin asked, "But can he remove children from Medicaid, the state-federal program that pays medical bills for low-income individuals and families?"

Not without the administrative rules change he can't--the changes he's going to get when this bill passes.

link<--

and if you  think the public jobs pay more.. you'd be wrong



Ezra Klein had a great piece saying..

If you prefer it in non-graph form: "Wisconsin public-sector workers face an annual compensation penalty of 11%. Adjusting for the slightly fewer hours worked per week on average, these public workers still face a compensation penalty of 5% for choosing to work in the public sector."

The deal that unions, state government and -- by extension -- state residents have made to defer the compensation of public employees was a bad deal -- but it was a bad deal for the public employees, not for the state government. State and local governments were able to hire better workers now by promising higher pay later. They essentially hired on an installment plan. And now they might not follow through on it. The ones who got played here are the public employees, not the residents of the various states. The residents of the various states, when all is said and done, will probably have gotten the work at a steep discount. They'll force a renegotiation of the contracts and blame overprivileged public employees for resisting shared sacrifice.

go read the whole huffpo posting.. it's long, but awesome

[ekg]

huh, I guess the Koch Bros will get their money back from electing this guy..

Today 11:43 AM Little-Noticed Provision In Walker's Bill Could Reap Huge Gains For Koch Industries

The Huffington Post's Amanda Terkel reports:

While there has been significant attention devoted to the fact that Walker's 144-page budget repair bill would strip away collective bargaining rights for public employees, the site "Rortybomb" points out a less noticed provision that would allow the state to sell or contract out any state-owned energy asset in no-bid deals with private corporations. From the legislation (emphasis added):

   

16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).

It's unclear what "the best interest of the state" is.

But if this deal goes through, one of the companies that could stand to benefit significantly is Koch Industries. Koch already has several companies in the state, including a coal subsidiary, timber plants and a large network of pipelines.

During the 2010 election cycle, Walker received $43,000 from the Koch Industries PAC, his second-largest contribution. The PAC also gave significantly to the Republican Governors Association, which in turn helped out Walker considerably in his race. Koch also contributed $6,500 to support 16 Republican legislative candidates in the state.

The Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity has also been standing with Walker throughout his budget battles, busing in Tea Party activists and launching the site, Stand With Walker. After the election, Walker and other Republican governors received guidance from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that is also funded by Koch dollars and has pushed anti-union measures.

sweet deal..

what boggles the mind is why all these so called 'capitalists' would stand behind this kind of stuff... they are supposed be against business and gov't working like this together.. in fact, it's one of their commandments almost.. and yet, not only do they endorse it, they cheer it on in the streets...

the simpletons don't even realize the 'capitalism' they've been sold is really a corporate oligarchy and it's more destructive than socialism could ever be..

this kind of deal would really weed out that whole 'equal opportunity for everyone' thing wouldn't it... but hey, we're tea party member, let's cheer on that which they tell us is good for us..

fucking galoots!

[Howey]

Madison's right wing radio host Vicki McKenna. Mckenna, as we noted last week, had manufactured a claim that liberals were calling for Walker's assassination.

This is the type of stuff Shannon was talking about today...



The only thing is...What? Five, six tweets out of the Twitterverse composed of hundreds of millions of people?

I'm not surprised. What is surprising to me is that Breitbart and Big Government (Shannon's source, how credible!) were able to find a few tweets without a hashtag mentioning Walker.

What they did find (those in the video) seem to be students.

I smell a set-up here....

[Howey]

I smell a set-up here....

Nailed it!

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/21/mark-williams-infiltrate-seiu/

[ekg]

This is the type of stuff Shannon was talking about today...



The only thing is...What? Five, six tweets out of the Twitterverse composed of hundreds of millions of people?

I'm not surprised. What is surprising to me is that Breitbart and Big Government (Shannon's source, how credible!) were able to find a few tweets without a hashtag mentioning Walker.

What they did find (those in the video) seem to be students.

I smell a set-up here....

that's his source?  huh, see I was going to say I hope those people are found and arrested for making threats, but since it BB/BG I hold out no hope of them ever being found..

all joking aside, how does this equate that the Dems don't want civility?  I've never understood that.. out of the months and hours of Right-wing hate,threats,racism, and lies being told.. without a single right-winger saying 'boo' about it.. how does a handful of Dem examples of the same thing make the 'right' ok with what they do?

what's been the problem is not just that people are saying this stuff.. it's that the right-wingers and their leaders ignore,endorse,encourage and even join in with it... that's the problem. But show it to a liberal and they condemn it, and that's been the example they've tried to set, only to be mocked like Michelle Obama is being mocked now..

galoots.. all of them

nah, more like scumbags..

I've never seen a party of people go to such scum-bag lengths before.. it's a shame, there were a few good GOP'ers.. they've since been swallowed by the bottom-feeders I fear..

[lil mike]

Nailed it!

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/21/mark-williams-infiltrate-seiu/

Don't you remember Crash The Party?  Maybe this attempt at infiltration will be as big a failure as that was.

Or... well it is Think Progress.  It seems that every time I scratch one of their articles, lies fall out.

[Howey]

Don't you remember Crash The Party?  Maybe this attempt at infiltration will be as big a failure as that was.

Or... well it is Think Progress.  It seems that every time I scratch one of their articles, lies fall out.

Please explain how Breitbart could find those tweets.

that's his source?  huh, see I was going to say I hope those people are found and arrested for making threats, but since it BB/BG I hold out no hope of them ever being found..

all joking aside, how does this equate that the Dems don't want civility?  I've never understood that.. out of the months and hours of Right-wing hate,threats,racism, and lies being told.. without a single right-winger saying 'boo' about it.. how does a handful of Dem examples of the same thing make the 'right' ok with what they do?

what's been the problem is not just that people are saying this stuff.. it's that the right-wingers and their leaders ignore,endorse,encourage and even join in with it... that's the problem. But show it to a liberal and they condemn it, and that's been the example they've tried to set, only to be mocked like Michelle Obama is being mocked now..

galoots.. all of them

nah, more like scumbags..

I've never seen a party of people go to such scum-bag lengths before.. it's a shame, there were a few good GOP'ers.. they've since been swallowed by the bottom-feeders I fear..

Here's the thing. I googled some of those folks kids and found them. One was a brand new Twitter account, most of the others were set up within the past week. Most were, or seemed to be, college age kids. (Looking to make a quick buck from Breitbart?) One, who had an established Twitter account, was a high school student who's post involved his own teacher - whom he feared would be out of a job because of the cuts.

[Howey]

Wait.

lilMike...Are you actually saying that Think Progress (whom I rarely use) is full of lies yet are sitting there defending Breitbart's Big Government as the bastion of honesty?

Really?

Sheesh....You'll get along great with Shannon when he gets here. 

[Howey]

Indiana's next! Power to the people!

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110222/NEWS/110222004/House-Democrats-flee-Indiana-stop-votes?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|IndyStar.com

Seats on one side of the Indiana House were nearly empty today as House Democrats departed the the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation.

A source tells The Indianapolis Star that Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.

[Howey]

I thought Walker said the state pension fund was in trouble?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/22/wisconsin-pension-fund-among-healthiest-us_n_826709.html

While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has painted a dire picture of his state's pension obligations, Wisconsin's pension fund for public employees is among the nation's strongest, according to a report by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

The Pew report, issued last year, concluded that Wisconsin is a "national leader in managing its long-term liabilities for both pension and retiree health care." Walker has cited the fund's lack of sustainability as grounds for his plan to revoke collective bargaining rights for state employees, but that proposal has sparked outrage among state employees and drawn tens of thousands of protesters to the state's capitol.

"We're going to ask our state and local workers ... to pay a little bit more, to sacrifice, to help to balance this budget," Walker said in a Sunday interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, adding that he would be forced to lay off 5,000 to 6,000 state employees if his budget plan was not approved, as well as a comparable number of local public employees.

But the Wisconsin pension fund is simply not in fiscal trouble. Its managers weren't burned by subprime mortgage assets or mortgage-backed securities as the housing bubble collapsed. The fund also relies on an automated dividend system, which pays out benefits in years the system is making gains while restricting payouts in years when it takes losses. And while the pension fund had a rough year during 2008 due to stock market losses, it remains robust, both in terms of fundamental financial stability and in comparison to other state pension programs.

Nah...he wouldn't lie. I'm sure the Koch Brothers and *cough* Breitbart taught him not to, right?