How delightful this all is, isn't it? Why do we care what's happening there? So that it doesn't happen here.
Exhibit A:
- Today Gov. Walker rejected a concession proposal by the unions and Democrats, where the unions would agree to all the financial aspects of Walker's proposal while retaining the right to bargain collectively. Showing that it's all about union-busting, and not at all about the putative fiscal “crisis” (which is not one), Walker said no.
- Scott Walker's cute campaign commercial … driving a Saturn (stick-shift, no less!), brown-bagging it for lunch:
Uh huh. Gov. Walker's dtiched the hoopty and now rides a GMC Yukon XL. Those things are friggin' huge. $1,600 a month payment. (Not worth it, Gov. Walker – trust us on this one.)
- Doubtless that's what your average Milwaukee school teacher is driving — makin' mad, stupid bank at $41k. Greedy bastards. (Thx kirth.)
- The Massachusetts connection? The fossil-fuel billionaire Koch brothers! Charles and David Koch funded the hell out of Walker, as well as Tea Party groups, global warming denialism — and, it must be said, a hell of an opera house in NYC; Bill Koch (semi-estranged fraternal twin brother of David) fund(ed?) the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound from Fairly Benign And Innocuous Things.
Best of luck and courage to our friends and neighbors in the state of Wisconsin.
Please share widely!
Doesn’t the Governor know that driving is like voting – to go forward shift the lever to D; to go backwards shift the lever to R?:)
He certainly seems to know how to stall complicated machine.
From Slate
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p>There we have it. This was never about closing the non-existent budget hole, this was about destroying workers rights. I am one of the more skeptical BMGers when it comes to unions, particularly public service ones, but that is because they are usually anti-reform no matter how benign. Here the Wisconsin unions are willing to to take cuts for the sake of saving their jobs and securing their rights, they understand tough times call for concessions and they have agreed to all of them, concessions that even I think go too far. Yet this Governor is still not budging, and that is because he frankly hates organized labor and wants to crush it, though only the unions that endorsed his opponent, notice the police and firefighters get a free pass. Another interesting fact is that the Speaker and Senate Majority Leader are brothers and their father was recently made the head of the State Police Force by Governor Walker after he lost a Sheriffs race. He lost an election and got a promotion, and a largely ceremonial position is taking in 150k a year. Republicans in Madison also voted to raise their own salaries and per diems arguing that they are from rural parts of the state and have to live in Madison full time. Even if this is true, this also smacks of hypocrisy.
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p>Stand up for teachers, health workers, and people that dedicate their lives to serving others is the right thing to do. This Governor is really starting to piss me off.