I’ll be at the rally in Madison tomorrow at 3:00 pm.
The shenanigans of the imperial Governor of WI and his paymasters the Koch Brothers have simply gone way too far. I’m a progressive, pro-business, pro-economic development, pro-jobs supporter and I find Walker’s actions and that of his rubber stamping toadies in the GOP-led Assembly and Senate despicable. That he wants to take collective bargaining rights away from the unions is bad enough, but that H.R.M. Walker thinks he should be given the unquestioned right to sell off Wisconsin’s government owned power plants on a no bid basis is ridiculous and should be patently illegal.
Scott Walker and the GOP Representatives and Senators deserve to be recalled for their malfeasance in representing the people’s interest and their districts with their blocking of anti-Walker websites, their 1:00 am vote and the Senate’s gamesmanship on limiting amendments on SB 11. If you want to help bring these scoundrels to task for their actions make sure to contribute and follow Defend Wisconsin, the website that HRH Walker blocked in the people’s house – i.e. the State Capitol.
Why was Doyle not a dictator and the Democrat legislature his toadies when they raised taxes? Why didn’t they negotiate?
No one deserves to be recalled but the Democrat Senators who won’t even show up to do their jobs.
That website stuff was a lie. Even if was true, what good would that do? The vote only happened at 1am because the Democrats wouldn’t stop debating for 3 days. The gamesmanship as you say is nothing but enforcing existing rules, something they have every right to do and use if the other side refuses to be part of the democratic process.
There was some controversy with him too, you realize right? I know for a fact not everyone was a fan of him even on the left with his tendency to do unconstitutional things.
Next note, the blocking of the Anti-Walker websites was accidental. First the site crashed and was down for thirty minutes and it was blocked by mistake because it was a new and unrecognizable website. If it was true, I would have flipped but it was because it was a new website that was made and it caused a lot of confusion, thus it crashed because of the heavy of traffic. Basically, it got fucked.
Another one, leaving the state is a powerful tool, and even Republicans have done it in the past – particularly the California Assembly which refused to show up for floor sessions in an effort to prevent Democrats from electing Willie Brown as speaker with less than a majority vote. So it’s perfectly legal and if the Republicans honestly choose to do that someday in this state? I would not have a problem with it as much as it frustrates me because it is a perfectly legal action. Unless it was doing something stupid like putting you up for the death penalty for miscarriages or something. Considering 60% of all pregnancies end in miscarriages, that’s a pretty stupid law and reminds me of Communist Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu.
The last note is that I saw the ‘Waiting for Superman’, it was a good movie but it had a lot of half-truths to it – because most major cities have issues with teaching children in general. This is in part of over population, the teachers to student ratio is disproportionate, the lack of proper funding and so on. While arguably this should be a case of “Well we should privatize schools” this will not do good for people who do not have a fixed income. Furthermore, the film also does note however that most charter schools do not outperform and that it focuses on those that do so. I won’t even get into the whole unsavory issue of how charter schools expel low performing students before testing days to ensure high test scores.
However this is hard to say that while the various Nordic Countries have the best schools and so on, on the principle that they are also much smaller countries than us. Not to mention, their teachers are equal to businessmen and women there in terms of salary.
Overall this is why I believe that school standards should be more localized in some ways, we shouldn’t be dumbing down curriculum and we should certainly not be immediately cutting education as a first resort to everything.
T., thanks for your reasonable comments. Just wanted to say that I don’t care who is doing it, I don’t think it’s right for legislators to walk off the job. Not sure what the point is either, because they have to come back sometime and nothing is going to change. Unless they stay away so long that the entire session is over, and if they did that, it would be a disruption of the democratic process, not being part of it. I don’t think most people elect their representatives to do that.
They have made their point, but it is time to come back. It’s one thing to hold up legislation, but now they have just cost the state million because they couldn’t refinance bonds. I’m not a fan of recalls based on disagreeing with a representative’s position on an issue (that is what elections are for), but I think recalls are warranted for abandoning their elected positions.
Don’t worry, sometimes while I get a bit snippy but it’s when people start just blurting out statements insulting from left to right I tend to get irked.
But if you’re wondering It’s actually an equivalent of a filibuster, if you’re curious and that’s why it exists as a legal move although it’s a more extreme measure. Since a filibuster is not legal in Wisconsin, this was the next best thing to do and take into action. I still stand for it’s a good thing to use, because I sincerely think we need filibusters sometimes in certain subjects. ( There is a lot of bullshit in the Healthcare Reform Bill I wasn’t too happy with, but I do think there should be reforms for sure to that. Maybe someday I should be a politician. But I’m much too clean. )
I personally think recalls should be used wisely for the most part, and I thought the choice for Walker was horrible for the Republican Party and many conservatives I know thought so as well. But that’s just going by his history alone, people having to deal with him, and I personally wish there were less extremes on both sides. To be honest though, in terms of my beliefs I’m Libertarian as all hell. But that party is a giant case of a “No True Scottsman” rule.
On a small note: I used to want to go into teaching in perhaps Business, Web Design, Technology, and Accounting until I realized how much of a shitty job it actually was, what you had to deal with, the guilt you feel for not fulfilling your students, getting blamed for a bad grade they got and so on. Not to mention how much of your money goes into teaching the kids. That’s why I chose to go into pure business, web design, and accounting instead. More money overall to live, and if I prove to be successful, maybe in the future I can go into teaching.
And to think, this film would have been illegal had citizens united v federal election been decided the other way.
Super I know your a lawyer and I am not, but I think that you are mistaken there. No one said that you cant make a film, especially since this is a general topic about the WIsconsin situation.
PP,
Whether a video is political or merely commenting on a situation is in the eye of the beholder (i.e. the standard for obscenity “I know it when I see it”)
That gives too much power to the individuals who make the decision. Had Citizen’s United, been decided the other way, a conservative court could determine that the video was political speech and subject to the restrictions of the federal election commission. That would have serious consequences for the first amendment.
What should happen, imo, is that contributions to PACs should be taxed under the gift tax.
I just had a call from the National Republican Party and I told them that Governor Walker was destroying the party! First he dumped the train now he is tearing apart the fabric of the great state of Wisconsin.
Last week I had a lengthy phone survey from the Club for Growth and I let them know the same thing.
I just LOVE getting these calls from the GOP. It wastes their money and gives me a wonderful chance to vent… and the calls still seem to keep coming.
Doofuses can’t seem to get their lists under control… Just because I read the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, In Business Magazine to name but a few – doesn’t mean that I’m not a progressive!
If you guys are such film buffs, I suggest taking a look at “Waiting for Superman.” Watch the unions protect teachers who sleep during class, don’t bother to teach, and even commit crimes (some even right in Milwaukee)! Is that your idea of the American dream?
How do you know… our fine Governor, Scotty Walker, would try to pull some kinda “insider deal” like that?
The whole world is watching…why do we appoint “class monitors” if the system doesn’t work…?