Wisconsin Dems & Unions vs. Repubs

[filkertom]

Union employees from all over the state of Wisconsin have been protesting for the past two days, as the Republican-controlled state Senate prepared to vote on a plan to cut salaries, health insurance, pensions and bargaining rights for state employees. Well, the vote has been delayed, because every Democratic member has left -- not only the Senate chamber, but apparently the state.

All of this is made more interesting by the grudge against Madison, WI seemingly held by Governor Scott Walker.

Could it be that all these austerity-for-thee-but-not-me measures might finally be hitting the tipping point, where the general populace says That's Enough Dammit?

Comments

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

Wow. That entire scene actually brings tears to my eyes with its awesomeness.

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

every Democratic member has left -- not only the Senate chamber, but apparently the state.

Something along those lines happened in Texas a few years ago. IIRC, Texas Rangers were sent across the state line to retrieve the runaways.

[kengr]

That'd be more than a little illegal wouldn't oit?

Not that such things have stopped various governmental arms before.

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

I misremembered slightly. Texas rangers were sent but they couldn't cross the state line (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/renegade-democrats-in-state-line-standoff-538538.html).

Small ideas add up...

[erin-ruston.livejournal.com]

Our government could save 6 billion a year by eliminating corporate farm subsidies. This would still retain the 2 billion a year for the family owned farm.

[pandoradeloeste.livejournal.com]

Oh my GOD. That is EPIC.

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

I remember that. :) That was an awesome time to be a Texas Democrat, even if the local Republicans were trying to spin the Dems as being a bunch of whiny crybabies.

[sweetmusic-27.livejournal.com]

I love my city a lot. I love it even more right now.

Top signs from today: "OMG GOP WTF" and "Scott Walker VS The World"

Best chant so far - a group of high school students marching along "We Love Tee-chers!" (march-march-march-march) "We love Tee-chers!" (march-march-march-march) Behind them some ten paces, a group of teachers was forming, and on the students' off beats, they started chanting "We love stu-dents!"

[wickedladybear.livejournal.com]

Thank god for senators with some guts.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I think we've Had Enough for about four years now... only thing is, we're *also* figuring out that the Ballot Box is not sufficient to get the job done. On the other hand, the Soap Box... seems to be able to take up the slack.

Which is good, because I *really* don't want to resort to the Fourth Box.

[nagaina-ryuuoh.livejournal.com]

I do, indeed, think that the Republicans have overplayed their hand with the overt union-busting bullshit, and the pushback against it is going to be swift and brutal. Republicans belong to unions, too.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Could it be that all these austerity-for-thee-but-not-me measures might finally be hitting the tipping point, where the general populace says That's Enough Dammit?

Bloody hope so...and I damn well hope it sends a message to politicians over here too.

There was a sign I saw on Tv at the protest outside of Egyptian embassy: "We are all Egyptians now!". I couldn't help thinking, 'I wish...' It's only been a few months, but I for one have had enough of our lot too.

Either way, Good luck Wisconsin and the rest of you lot too.

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

I wonder how quickly the governor'll backpedal his threat to have the military deal with the situation now that people have called that bluff.

[pandoradeloeste.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. I love when people get their pop culture references in my protests. (No, seriously, I really do. If you can get a bystander to laugh at your sign, half the battle to win them over is won.)

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Today in Ohio, the state was due to vote on union-busting legislation that the governor promised during his election campaign.

I don't know whether it was voted on today, but if it passes, my pay, ability to negotiate and benefits will change a lot for the worse. Which is saying something, because already school teachers in my district are 13/16 lowest paid in the county.

I wish there would be a similar backlash here. I know teachers, firemen and police officers have been protesting outside the statehouse.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

It has happened a couple of times.

in 79 they left and hid, denying the senate the number of people needed for a quorum. The tx Rangers went all over, but found nobody. The senators were hiding in a room only miles from the capital building. The Killer Bees bit ended in only a few days with the Lt. Gov abandoning his split election bill.

2003, an issue over Gerrymandering which would cement TX as a Republican state came up. And the senators fled to Oklahoma. This is famous for Tom Delay's abuse of the FAA to demand to know where their planes flew to (Oklahoma).

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

well, resorting to that fourth box has happened a few times in the past. And all ended well with less bloodshed than you'd expect. Some election was being stolen in plain sight in Tennessee right after ww2, and the returning veterans would have none of it. The law fired warning shots at them. They opened an armory and fired back with far bigger stuff. The law hid in the courthouse and continued to count the illegal ballots. The vets detonated a warning stick of dynamite on the back porch. The law put down the guns and the vets held everyone in ropes until the state police arrived. No deaths and only one wounded -- a black man that wanted to vote and the sheriff wouldn't allow in.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

He knows his bluff is toothless... all that has to happen is the president federalizes the national guard in that state, and they no longer take their orders from Walker. President tells them to move away from the capital and secure a perimeter around a nearby power plant instead, and that's what they'll do. Then Walker will be even MORE exposed and have even MORE people angry -- vets from certain wars did NOT like being used as Thugs-for-hire and will turn instantly into determined foes against him.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Wisconsin has been a pretty solidly blue state overall, prior to the November 2010 election, where the GOP won massively (I'm still trying to figure out why anyone who either worked for a paycheck or was unemployed would ever vote Republican, but it happened)

The silver lining about Hosni MuWalker is that Wisconsin may learn its lesson and never vote Republican again for another 60 years.

Also...those troopers sent out to fetch Democratic Senators are aware that they are public employees and that therefore Walker has declared war on them as well, right?

[poltr1]

What judifilksign said. Waiting for the folks in Ohio to do the same thing. Governor John Kasich is gonna run this state into the ground.

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

The General Populace saying, "That's enough, dammit" and forgoing a ballot box that clearly no longer works is how this nation ends, as I have been saying for the last decade. It's not about to happen tomorrow--I give it a 95% chance that it'll be at least six years and a 50% chance that it'll take more than seventy (using the Copernican Principle to predict probabilities of future events).

The interconnection of like-minded individuals by social media enabled by wearable or portable technology will allow flash-planning of events like today's demonstration. They will become more and more common, until *any* action by the Federal or a state government will create a mob opposing that action. Governments will come to a standstill and then topple, as they did in the old Soviet Bloc and recently in Egypt.

What happens next will be up to those who knocked over the final domino. It might not be peaceful, but one would hope that it's more like the Soviet fall than that in Romania.

[Side note concerning alverant's comment about whom I consider enemies in my comment in the first South Dakota thread...

1) Corporations are indistinguishable from the present Federal government--either they own the legislators like Exxon Mobil or the legislators own them, like GM. As long as corporations are considered individuals under the 14th Amendment, they will be part of the problem. This is the most important reason I'm not a Republican.

2) In many places in America, the citizens are in more danger from the police than from criminals. Alverant and I live in a state where they are arguing over whether a police commissioner convicted of encouraging his officers to use torture will get a pension, where recently over a dozen death-row inmates were exonerated by DNA evidence, and where it is a felony to record police officers in the operation of their duty, even with their permission.

3) As far as terrorists go, a group of 21 Saudi-backed individuals killed 3000 people ten years ago. In the ensuing decade, the governments of the United States and its allies have used their armies to kill or injure 100,000 Iraqis and Afghanis according to Doctors Without Borders, many who were women and children. There is no doubt in my mind who the real terrorists on this planet are.]

Tom T.

Behold the power of the "Net

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

If the governor is looking for the missing Democratic legislators, they're at the Clock Tower Holiday Inn in Rockford, Illinois.

A public service to stir the pot by

Tom Trumpinski

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

That worked fifty years ago. The same hi-tech that chased Mubarak from office would have the federales coming down like Thor's hammer if we tried that crap...

I think we keep right on doing what we're doing. Using the 'net to organize, stand up, speak our truth, and double-dog dare'em to do it wrong.

"Never start a fight. But always finish it." -- John Sheridan, quoting his father

[tandw.livejournal.com]

Speaking of pop culture references, saw another great sign from the protests: "Stop the Imperial Walker."

[roman-mclaze.livejournal.com]

That is an awesome thing that had escaped my notice. Thanks for the link!