While Gov. Scott Walker was busy taking his oath of office (presumably for the second time, since he already took it last week), several hundred participants held a demonstration outside the State Capitol to demand that Walker not only hold true to his promise to create 250,000 new jobs, but that those jobs be family-sustaining.
Over 700 participants held a demonstration outside of the inauguration of Governor Scott Walker to demand that he be held fully accountable for creating family sustaining jobs. Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs during the campaign but has thus far offered no policy prescriptions capable of achieving this result. Participants waived signs reading “We Need Good Jobs Now” and listened to a serious of unemployed workers and ministers discuss the desperate need for high quality jobs.
Such a mobilization of popular discontent at the inauguration of a new governor is unprecedented in recent Wisconsin political history.
Co-Sponsors of the events include the Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods Project of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), League of Young Voters, Voces de la Frontera, and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council (AFL-CIO).
Speakers at the event included Reverend Willie Brisco (President of MICAH); Sheila Cochran (Secretary Treasurer, Milwaukee Area Labor Council), Jennifer Epps (unemployed worker), Primitivo Torres (Voces de la Frontera), Roderick Caesar (unemployed worker), Reverend Leondis Fuller, and Brenda Giles (unemployed worker).
“Today isn’t about Scott Walker, it’s about the people standing up to say we need good jobs now,” said Roderick Caesar, an unemployed worker from Milwaukee who spoke at the event. “I’m college educated and I want a job so that I can support my family.”
As I’ve said before, I sincerely hope Scott Walker and legislative Republicans can create 250,000 jobs here in Wisconsin, but that those jobs are family-sustaining, not the kinds of minimum wage jobs that will prevent wage earners from being able to support their families unless they work two or three jobs.
Maybe the unemployed workers instead of milking the system and attending this event should have been out looking for a job….I wonder if they rode the free bus and got the free meal for riding the free bus…The news report I saw said dozens were protesting, I think that is a fairer number then what the unions thugs are trying to say. Like I said last week progressives are not going to leave the comfort of their couch to protest, with direct deposit for the monthly entitlement checks they have become even lazier then ever,
Why this protest was political and not about jobs was clear, Doyle had years to create jobs in this state and all he did was drive companies out with his taxing the workers to pay for his entitlement programs, if these people really cared about jobs they would have protested long before this. This was nothing more than a publicity stunt for unions and a stunt that very few really paid attention too, no one really cares about unions the majority of people know they are only there to protect the lazy, the uneducated and are job killing organizations.
summary from notalib for those who don’t want to bother:
nobody works hard but conservatives and republicans so they deserve to be poor if they don’t have a high paying job
Is today Opposite Day? You cannot possibly be serious.
I’m not serious. I’m just being facetious.
Wait. Whoops. I just realized you were replying above me. My bad, this is what I get for cleaning my glasses at the sametime while replying.
How exactly did those in attendance “milk the system?”
As to the attendance, I spoke to a number of individuals in attendance, and the number of attendees was several hundred.
Those unemployed that went instead of out looking for work decided to spend their day on a free bus ride for the free meal that the unions used to get them to go.
Perhaps they’re no longer collecting unemployment, like millions of other Americans who’ve seen their benefits run out.
And even if their benefits haven’t run out, I fail to see how they’re “milking the system” so long as they’re meeting their job search obligations.
I was in fact a part of that “lazy” line of protesters. I am not commenting on the last years of office, but get your facts straight. We are all part of the same human population as yourself, and many of those people in the protest have a solid college background and are trying to find jobs. Truth is, 13,000 manufacturing jobs have already been eliminated from WI. If Scott Walker is planning on creating jobs, he is not off to a good start. His speech during his inauguration only told of what he is going to do and nothing about how he is going to accomplish these things. We need jobs in all economic divisions.
By saying that he will not raise taxes, he is saying that funding will be cut from other state programs that have helped the community. For example, Walker is proposing to cut the funding for Family Planning and for research at UW-Madison. Eliminating funding for family planning will cause many women to pay for services when they cannot afford them already. Women will no longer have access to free or low-cost birth control. While people may think women who take birth control just need to keep their legs shut, there are many women who take birth control because of medical reasons. Also, UW-Madison brings in $1 billion per year in research funding. Just because Scott Walker does not believe in stem cell research, it has proven time and time again to be a very useful tool.
If you ask me, it is your lazy self that has not researched the politician who is causing the issue. It is your lazy self that believes the community sits around all day eating bon-bons, when I am quite sure many of us have been looking for positions in which we can use our degrees to better the quality of life for all individuals.
PS-I am a white female and I was inside the inauguration, holding up my protest sign while Scott Walker delivered his speech. I got to look him straight in the eye and if you ask me, he is scared that people are actually going to hold him to his committments.
I have asked this question a number of times lately and no one evere replies. What 13000 jobs were lost since Scott Walker was elected?
As for stem cell tell me one major accomplishment from it?
And finally why should I support abortion for low income people? How is that my responsiblity? Birth control great use it but again why am I responsible to supply it for them out of my paycheck?
You act like because you habe a degeree that you have some kind of special right to a job?
One major accomplishment:
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-11/health/health.hiv.stemcell_1_cell-transplant-ccr5-cd4?_s=PM:HEALTH
The issue is EMBRYONIC stem cell research. There are more than one place to get stem cells.
“a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS”
This didn’t come from EMBRYONIC stem cells. Care to reformulate your argument?
Also: Hyde Amendment. It prevents subsidized abortions and has been in place since 1976.
Notalib, even though you seem to be a relentless troll, I will answer your question regarding the 13,000 jobs figure because other people might also like to know where these numbers the media toss around come from. Doing a little more research than just reading the Journal Sentinel turns up this estimate from the Department of Transportation. It seems to actually be more than 14,000 jobs, but that is a little misleading since I think what that document really indicates is that the project would need around 14,000 “work-years.” In other words, if split up over the next several years, it’s not that there would be 14,000 jobs all at once, but still there would be several thousand jobs for most of that time, reaching a peak of around 6,000 jobs about half-way through the construction. Plus, there would doubtless have been a lot of other businesses that would have cropped up around the project to provide ancillary goods and services, and the DoT doesn’t bother to estimate that “ripple” economic impact at all.
No what I am saying is that progressives believe that government entitlements is another acceptable life style choice. I know many liberals who are successful and hard working. I bet the majority of progressives here even have jobs….though still a little wet behind the ears on reality.
I realize that is what you’re actually saying, I was just being facetious before I sent my real reply.
As much as I don’t like entitlements either, how do you suggest we approach the problem with people who have low income, have the inability to work to the best of their ability and cannot get out of that situation? Poverty – not race, not sexuality, or anything else is what breeds dysfunction, so I’m curious about how you would approach this.
I have no problem helping people who are trying to make a better life for themselves. I have no problem with people getting health care or help with heating bills or food for their families. I have a problem with those who purposely have kids to increase their income or will only work x number of hours because they do nor want to damage their entitlement incomes.
Most people some point in their lives need help we as a country should never turn or backs on them.
The welfare reform put into place by the Clinton administration put a freeze on how much money you get in government assistance. You do not get more money if you have a child while you’re on welfare. The vast majority of welfare recipients are children (the next is of course, single mothers). They live well below the poverty threshold and have to find other ways to supplement their income, which usually goes unreported.
I won’t deny there are cases of people milking the government (you see it when people buy $200 of groceries with their food stamps and then $200 in clothing), but really that only goes so far and you can’t persecute everyone on assistance because of what some people do. It’s too sweeping of a generalization.
Try not using sweeping generalizations. I’m a progressive, and I don’t believe that entitlements should be a way of life. However, I do understand the importance of a social safety net, which is something a lot of conservatives would rather see our country do without in any way, shape, or form.
“No what I am saying is that progressives believe that government entitlements is another acceptable life style choice.”
I don’t know how many actual progressives you know, but I know more than my fair share, and not many of them would agree with your statement that they believe govt. entitlement are an acceptable lifestyle choice. Your statement is just a reflection of your belief in the progressive caricature promoted by folks like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
Notalib your first comment was a ridiculous mass of generalizations. Right above me you are correct, people do abuse the system. But that has absolutely nothing to do with Walker’s 250k job promise, or that people deserve to make a decent, family supporting wage when they work 40+ hours a week.
Notalib: Scott Walker is a feudalist. (For the conservatards out there it means this: Screw you and your children….. Hours got cut from your job? FU pay me! Can’t afford health care? What’s wrong with you? Get another job… and by the way.. FU pay me! Etc., etc. It also means that, if he has his way, the vast majority of us would have 1) A job we hate that pays nothing, 2) Cheap ass Chinese junk for all of our possessions and 3) A potato – it will be all we can afford to eat
Scott does what is good for Scott. He talks about cutting waste in the government and points to the fact that he replaced housekeeping with some cleaning agency and security with Whackenhut….. BFD……
Anyone with enough brains to fill an atom size piece of toilet paper knows that all he did was put some local people – all of which live in the County and spend most of their money there, out of a job and replace them with temporary outsiders. They may make less on the check – that’s true – but what sane person believes that the overall cost is that much less? Whackenhut (who are using workers in Milwaukee County from as far away as Illinois) and Merry Maids or whoever STILL tack on profit and overhead. All that has happened is that our tax dollars now get funneled into the communities where the temp workers are coming from. PLUS a ton of local workers are now on unemployment insurance. Nice.
You would have to have a screw loose to vote this dickhead into the Governor’s office.
Oh.. and by the way:
Tea Party nit-wits aside, we all know what could really help out “We the People”:
1) Lift the FICA cap – let’s contribute based on ALL of our earnings. The $100,000.00 or so cap which excuses income from any income over that amount is basically theft. You know as well as I do that Social Security would be solvent, and much more if this was done.
2) Repeal the insane trade policies which greatly favor China and others. As an example, our own friend and ally, South Korea, slaps a 9% tariff on the few cars that we are allowed to import while we levy only around 2%.
3) Extend the tax cuts for the first $250,000.00 of a couples income ($200,000.00 for singles) and let the rest expire AS THEY WERE INTENDED TO. Need I remind you that we have had almost a decade of these cuts for the rich and we LOST jobs. We did not gain a thing.
4) For businesses that operate off shore, many under through a “wholly owned subsidiary”(which amounts to a monopoly in fact)
Levy heavy tariffs on the imported goods. If an American business wishes to exploit cheap labor overseas, then let them pay the cost to America due to lost jobs.
I have just returned to Wisconsin from two months in China as a higher education consultant. Seeing the backward thinking of Walker and the Republicans is depressing. Returning to Wisconsin is like stepping into the past. Walker and company have no idea what is going on in the world and how Asia is moving forward while we are moving backward.
The high speed train from Beijing to Shanghai broke a world’s record while I was there. The Chinese see the intellectual elite as their leaders, not their enemies and Green technology is a high priority there.
You must be joking.
Saw this story on MSNBC today, when was the last time you saw something like this in teh evil USA, but I guess according to oldmoderate China really cares about pollution unlike us.
More than 200 Chinese children have been poisoned by lead from battery plants located too close to houses in the east of the country, state media said on Thursday, the latest in a string of heavy metal pollution cases.
What a surprise someone by the name oldmoderate loves the communist lifestyle……China ranks 121 in pollution control, the Madison to Milwaukee train would only break a record if it was racing a Model T and intellectual ‘elite’ are just boorish snobs.
What a surprise, Notalib puts foot in mouth again.
Should China’s government regulate their industry to control pollution? That’s not very “conservative.”
China’s trains run so fast because they were heavily subsidized by the government. Not very “conservative.”
Talking bad about intelligent people however…very “conservative.”
Not talking bad just laughing at how so called ‘intelligent’ people like to put themselves on a pedestal as if we are all suppose to bow and kiss their ass like progressives so enjoy doing.
Once again, you and your sweeping generalizations…
What is with this ridiculous populist plea of how “humble” conservatives are? The liberals are latté-sipping, Marx-reading, lazy unemployed snobs who are so out of touch with the hard-working, no handout-taking humble folk of the Red States…?
You might find the chart below interesting.
http://i.imgur.com/L84kQ.png
And the bleeding heart liberal who expects my tax dollars to be charitable, is less generous to private charity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/opinion/21kristof.html
From the NY Times – put your liberal spin on that one.
talk about off topic…
What do you have against intelligent people?
@Zach…”demonstration?” This was more like a protest. Attempting to paint this protest as a gathering of reasonable folks who simply care about getting a decent job is hogwash. That group stooped so low as to pull out a tired & sad old protest standard “Hey Hey Ho Ho, Scott Walker’s got to go” on the man’s inauguration day. Doesn’t give him much incentive to go out of his way for them.
@humanitysupporter…you said:
“Truth is, 13,000 manufacturing jobs have already been eliminated from WI.”
So why weren’t you and all these other folks out on the Capitol steps protesting the Governor who presided over the job losses, Jim Doyle?
“If Scott Walker is planning on creating jobs, he is not off to a good start.”
Geewuz Christmas! Not off to a good start?!?! You guys are protesting against him on his freaking inauguration day!
I actually referred to it as both a demonstration and a protest.
Because Doyle left the decision up to our new governor.
http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20101108/APC0101/101108162/Wisconsin-governor-Jim-Doyle-leaves-high-speed-train-decision-to-incoming-governor-Scott-Walker
Fair enough, Zach, but do you think it reasonable to protest someone on Day One of their new job?
Samantha, what does car speed rail have to do with 13000 lost manufacturing jobs? (assuming the 13k number is accurate)
Walker has been acting like he’s governor for two months. And when you make promises like 250k jobs during the campaign, people (and the media) need to be reminded of it so Walker is held accountable. Unlike his long list of broken promises from his first run at Milwaukee County Exec.
Yes Roland, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for a group of individuals to get together and exercise their first amendment rights to free speech and free assembly.
Let’s get a few things out in the open for “notalib” to understand. First, liberals and progressives work, and they work in both the private and public sector. And they pay taxes. Second, they will tolerate CEO’s making up to 50 times as much as the hourly worker, but think that 200 times or 2000 times in not only wrong but immoral. Third, they mistakenly think that if we sit and reason together, we will arrive at solutions that will be beneficial to everyone.
Regarding notalib’s comment about me approving of the Communist system. I don’t! But, I can’t ignore the fact that they, along with others in Asia, are making strides to move out of the third world while we are moving backward. They will eventually pass us because we can no longer see and plan for a future. Ike’s interstate highway system was that kind of foresight in the 50’s (I’m old enough to remember it) that the high speed rail is destined to be for the 21st century. No conservative would have fought the interstate highway system. This kid, Scott, has kept us out of it and it will now go through Illinois and Iowa to Minnesota.
All of this is much to complicated to discuss on a blog but the result will be negative as long as uneducated leaders with backing from multinational businesses convince small minded people like notalib that the enemy are the poor and unemployed.
Oldmoderate you may be right rail be the future but it is a very distant future. This country is not ready and won’t be ready for a long long time to give up the convenience of travel where they can get into their own vehicle and drive to the destination they want with little hassle or problems. If you think someone is going to use rail for anything but short business trips in this country on a regular basis you are fooling yourself. Why would someone who is able to drive from their home to straight to a destination replace that with having to get yourself to the terminal, then you make numerous stops on the way when you get to the city you originally started out for you then need to find transportation to your final destination which if not near the station will cost you a nice sum to travel to one more. No you can dream hope and wish that Americans will adopt rail travel as the future but reality is Americans will never replace personal vehicles for that pipedream.
You might be right were it not for the fact that we have no idea what the price of gas is going to be a year from now. Rail will look good if gas hits 4 or 5 bucks a gallon, and it could go up well beyond that. Remember 2008? We’re getting close to that.
Rail would look good to people who live near a rail line…..would not matter one bit for 99% of the state where the rail does not run. Investment in the current transportation system is what is needed not in a system that has limited access.If rail was something that I could use from Green Bay to Wausau or Green Bay to Minneapolis, or Green Bay to Oshkosh or Green Bay to Marinette, or even Green Bay to Rhinelander so I could get to a great vacation destination I would love to do that, but the rail system in this country will never meet the real needs of the travelers and will never be a replacement.
Correct, but only because if we can’t even get reliable commuter rail from Milwaukee to Madison, we’re never going to get it from Madison to Wausau.
And another thing, transportation funding isn’t zero-sum. The $800 million isn’t going to go to our highways, and the amount the state would have paid to maintain the line would have been worth it.
The crappy, two-lane roads out in the middle of nowhere in Prostate, Clark County don’t matter to 99% of the state either, but they get funding.
Heh….good point. Funny how notalib forgot about that.
Why is notheadalib on a lib website anyway? What a putz!
I was at the protest and it was so sad to see the geuinely laid-off and unemployed reaching out.
I went to the inauguration too. Two radical repub nut jobs tried to get a protestor arrested by provoking an altercation. Luckily, the protestor knew enough not to bite at their provocation. I only wish that the two had tried that with me as I would have beat them at their own game.
Scott Walker uses slash and burn tactics with budgets. He proved that in Milwaukee County. Now that he is at the state level, many more people will be hurt by his blunders. And lowering taxes during a budget shortfall probably won’t balance the budget. You can expect him to make many mistakes that will get swept under the rug by his overlords in the Republican party.