First Draft

Tonight, Tonight

The last two Wisconsin recall elections go down. Both Dems are comfortably ahead in the polls, Blue Cheddar is having a livechat, and others may be checking in later. These are the kinds of scummy attack ads I saw in between bits of the Packers pregame at Doc's house this weekend:

Why do I have "there's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza" in my head now?

And the union starving begins.

A.

We Are Wisconsin's Crack Van

Here is TPM's live election results board. Here is the Journal Sentinel's. Here's the Isthmus, my old paper, liveblogging. MSNBC should have live coverage for those of you outside the red zone, AM620 is streaming (but odiously Republican and smug) and we have enough Wisconsinites on board to keep us all in the loop.

Here's the van. Share the HAMS. Tell Adrastos he is wonderful, help me keep the ferrets out of the scotch, and whatever you do, don't touch Maitri's feather boa. Perverts. In all seriousness, posts in the van belong to those posting and not to First Draft, threats of violence toward anyone will get your ass banned, and don't test me because I'm in no mood. TEACH ME HOW TO BUCKY, MOTHERFUCKERS.

Update: Van closed. Thank you all for being here, and for keeping each other on track and sane. TWO REPUBLICANS DOWN, a bunch more to go!

A.

The Week To Come and What's At Risk

WI "Budget Repair Bill" Protest (Feb 20-24?) Pt. 3 from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo.

 

Tuesday night we'll be crack-vanning the Wisconsin recall election results, as well as hosting Scout/Jude/Doc updates from Wisconsin all day (or whenever they can check in amidst the madness). Be here, and follow along on Twitter, and generally watch, because this is something we've not seen in a while.

It's hard to overstate the importance of this. Phila wrote something which is deservedly making the rounds, about what we consider security and what we consider danger:

I hold this truth to be self-evident: Most of us will never find ourselves on the business end of an Islamic radical. Many of us, however, will struggle to stay housed and fed if we're too old to work, or we fall seriously ill. "National defense" that focuses on cartoon figures of ethnic menace, as opposed to the prosaic and preventable disasters that cause most of the actual suffering and death in this country, is a cruel joke, and I suspect its extremely dark humor is not entirely lost on heartless neo-feudalist chatterboxes like Lieberman and Coburn.

There were a lot of stories after 9/11, about how people who had previously thought they were safe now felt unsafe. I wanted to find everyone thus quoted and drag them down to where I worked, to where people needed no crash course in coping, to where people didn't suddenly feel unsafe because they had no feeling of safety to lose. We have built any feeling of safety we have on the backs of people like that, and presumed they shared our feelings of entitlement and security. Why should they, when we share none of their pain?

What happens in Wisconsin isn't just in Wisconsin. I have this tattooed on my arm now, no shit: Our fate is your fate. People are threatened, right now. People are scared, right now. What kind of world are we building? What kind of place are we living in? Before, in the Bush years, I felt like there was a genuine schism, between the kind of country Americans thought they had and the kind of country America was.

Now, watching Walker and Kasich and Scott, watching the Austerity Olympics, watching Obama running scared from every Teabagger he sees, getting the pointy end of smug Republican soliloquys about spending on programs most of them are in no danger of needing, I feel like most people know what kind of country we are. They know we're mean and paralyzed and small. They know we've talked ourselves into being unable to move, and either they can't see how we can get out of it, or they don't care if we ever do.

This is how it works: You start out just not doing one thing because it's too hard, and pretty soon you can't do anything. We are a country that cannot button our shirt in the morning because we actually cannot conceive of the process by which we would do that, no matter how many shots of brandy we take to steady our nerves. And into that steps a group of people that says, no more. That says yes, we know how things like this are supposed to work, and we're supposed to lie back and take it, and fuck that basically because no fuck no not today not while I'm alive this is just not how it's going to go and the way I know that is that I'm going to make it go otherwise and sit DOWN, asshole, I'm here now and your turn is over.

Into this national paralysis, into this world in which the one thing we cannot do is the only thing we really have to do, walked tens of thousands. On bikes and in cabs and on tractors and on foot, from sunrise to sunset, saying shove your war on America. Saying we are not going to be like this anymore.

They could have stayed home and written hectoring opinion pieces about how Americans and particularly kids today are just lazy and can't ever protest like the Egyptians or Greeks. There's quite the market for that these days. Instead of lecturing other people about how to stand up to power, they went out there and did it.

That needs to win right now. That needs to show, right now, to everybody who's threatened and scared by everyday, ordinary, animal greed that there is more than one way for things to go. That just because some knob in a suit on TV says we can't, we can't, we can't doesn't make it so. That inevitable's just a dare. That there's never too little time or energy to help others. That courage isn't a bowl of sugar with a bottom you can hit. That all actions are choices, and all choices are chances, and all you have to do is make them and the ground beneath your feet will shake.

That we don't back down. We don't back off. We don't back up.

Not. One. Inch.

A.

The War Finally Ends

Last known gay concentration camp survivor dies:

In a 2008 interview with the French gay magazine Têtu, Brazda spoke for the first time of his imprisonment since he made remarks at the dedication ceremony of a Berlin memorial to gay victims of the Third Reich. “The way Nazis treated the ‘pink triangles’ is unspeakable,” Brazda said, referring to the emblem gays were forced to wear. “They had absolutely no mercy.”

Via Seth, who writes, "66 years ago is nothing, no time at all."

We think these things were a million years ago and that they're over. There are people still alive who lived them. They're not over.

A.

Lesbian Couple Rescued Dozens of Campers

 

The Seattle Lesbian, with something you may not see in the news, has the story of a lesbian couple, Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen, who saved an estimated 40 campers during the massacre in Norway:

Hege Dalen and her partner Toril Hansen were eating supper in the camping area opposite Utoya island when they started hearing gunshots and screaming....

Dalen and Hansen drove their boat to the island, and fished out of the water people who were in shock and young people who were injured and transported them ashore. Every now and then bullets almost hit the boat.

Since they couldn't fit everyone into the boat all at once, they returned to the island four times. They might have saved as much as forty people from the clutches of the killer.

Hansen vs. This Asshole

Election day!

A.

WWII Translator Denied Veterans' Benefits

Man:

The air-raid sirens would sound and the people would run for cover, defenseless against what happened next. Bombs exploded upon impact, littering the streets with bodies and body parts. With no electricity, the night skies filled only with the sound of weeping.

By then, Japanese forces had rolled through much of China, and the outmatched Chinese military seemed unable to stop them.

But half a world away, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration had authorized a secret unit that would change the course of the war in Asia. Soon, Yee would find himself working as a translator to Claire Lee Chennault and the American Volunteer Group, the aviation legends who became famously known as the Flying Tigers.

Now an American citizen and a retired high school history teacher living in Aurora, Yee is one of the last men alive today to have served with Chennault and the original Flying Tigers.

His unique spot in history — a member of the Chinese air force who served with a secret American unit, then traveled to the United States and was allowed to stay for fear of reprisals in Communist China — means he has never been officially recognized as a veteran by the country he served and has called home for more than 65 years.

Via Angry Asian Man.

You know, I usually tag these things The War Isn't Over, because so long as there are veterans living with it, it isn't.

A.

Memorial Day: Who I Remember

We here at First Draft believe in recycling so I decided to repeat last year's Memorial Day post, which I cannot possibly top:

The veteran I'd like to remember on this solemn holiday is Sgt. Eddie Couvillion.

My family tree is far too tangled and gnarly to describe here but suffice it to say that Eddie was my second father. He served in Europe during World War II, not in combat but in the Army Quartermaster Corps. In short, he was a supply Sergeant, one of those guys who won the war by keeping the troops fed, clothed and shod. Eddie was what was called in those days a scrounger; not unlike Milo Minderbinder in Catch-22 or James Garner's character in The Great Escape. 

Eddie's favorite military exploit was running a army approved bordello in France after hostilities ended. He always called it a cat house and bragged that it was the best little whorehouse in Europe. One can serve one's country in manifold ways...

Eddie died 5 years ago and I still miss him. He was a remarkable man because he changed so much as he aged. When I met him, he was a hardcore Texas/Louisiana conservative with old South racial views and attitudes. At an age when many people close their minds, Eddie opened his and stopped thinking of black folks as a collective entity that he didn't care for and started thinking of them as individuals. Eddie was a genuine Southern gentleman so he'd never done or said an unkind thing to anyone but confided to me that the only one he'd ever hurt by being prejudiced was himself. I was briefly speechless because we'd had more than a few rows over that very subject. Then he laughed, shook his head and said: "Aren't you going to tell me how proud you are of me? You goddamn liberals are hard to satisfy."

Actually, I'm easily satisfied. In 2004, Eddie had some astonishing news for me: he'd not only turned against the Iraq War but planned to vote for John Kerry because "Bush Junior is a lying weasel and a draft dodger." That time he didn't need to ask me if I was proud of him, it was written all over my face. It was the first and only time he ever voted for a Democrat for President. 

I salute you, Sgt. Couvillion. I only wish that I could pour you a glass of bourbon on the rocks and we could raise our glasses in a Memorial Day toast. 

Arrests at Solidarity Protests in California

From the Bee:

The California Highway Patrol has begun arresting protesters at the Capitol, after warning about 65 to leave the building after its 6 p.m. closing.

The daylong protest, organized by the California Teachers Association, drew about 1,000 protesters for various activities. About 150 moved into the rotunda in late afternoon, and some of them refused to leave at closing time.

A.

Monuments Men

In the comments on my post at FDL last night about King Tut's trumpet:

One of the best things we ever thought up during ww2 was the creation of the unit that came to be known as the “Monument’s Men” (Although women were a part of it too!) who were given the task of trying to save and return the art and culture stolen by the Nazis during the conflict. They also attempted to identify what they could to prevent looting by Allied forces. Their legacy seems to be held with great acclaim across Atlantic.

From the Foundation's web site:

The “Monuments Men” were a group of 345 or so men and women from thirteen nations who comprised the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section during World War II. Many were museum directors, curators, art historians, and educators. Together they worked to protect monuments and other cultural treasures from the destruction of World War II. In the last year of the war they tracked, located, and ultimately returned more than 5 million artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Their role in preserving cultural treasures was without precedent.

The Monuments Men remained in Europe for up to six years after the conclusion of fighting to oversee the complicated restitution of stolen works of art. During that time they played instrumental roles in rebuilding cultural life in the devastated countries of Europe by organizing temporary art exhibitions and music concerts. Art and culture mattered greatly then – and today – to the Monuments Men.

What an awesome, amazing, tragic, incredible job to have. Why hasn't anyone made a movie about this yet? It's like a smorgasboard of everything I love in a story. 

Off to read the book now.

A.

More State Dems Being Awesome, Ohio Edition

Awww yeah:

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Spurred by a new law that curtails collective bargaining rights for public workers, Democratic lawmakers in Ohio are proposing legislation that would allow voters to recall the governor and members of the General Assembly.

The bill has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled Legislature. But its sponsors on Wednesday said Ohioans should be given an opportunity to react to the collective bargaining limits just as voters are in Wisconsin. Sixteen state senators there face recall efforts over a similar union measure.

State Rep. Robert Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat, cited what he called "an attack on working people, an attack on organized labor, an attack on the ability to collectively bargain" as reasons he's co-sponsoring the measure. He said it also had to a lot to do with Gov. John Kasich.

And yes, it won't pass. Does that mean Democrats should just sit there? Hell no. If you don't stand up, people will think you can't stand up.

A.

Prosser Prosser Prosser, OUT OUT OUT!

With the little town of Lake Mills finally reporting in, it's Kloppenburg by 222 votes!

There will be a recount, and I don't know the chances of the lead actually changing hands, but for now, it's good!

A.

As A Grain Of Mustard Seed

And verily I say unto thee: Move, bitch.

Ever since late 2000, the phrase "too close to call" has made me uneasy. 

When the AP stopped reporting last night, David Prosser had a 585 vote lead.  I don't know if absentee ballots have been counted yet.  I don't know when or if there will be a recount (but I'd bet on yes).  Nobody knows shit about shit yet. 

However, and as usual, Athenae's right.  A few months ago, this election would have been a boring, low-turnout affair, and Prosser would have walked to an easy victory.  But some people didn't stop.  Hell, even when all of the protests started jumping off, friends would remark that the Kloppenburg campaigners around the square seemed to be on a fool's errand.  But some people didn't stop.  When the national regressive machine caught on to the fact that something big was going on, they opened their war chests to provide Prosser all the campaign media he could dream of in an attempt to overwhelm any opposition.  But some people didn't stop.

And those some people inspired other people, and those others touched others, and so on.  Then they made calls, knocked on doors, handed out flyers in freezing-ass Wisconsin winter weather, and generally went about making giant pains in the ass of themselves in the service of the radical idea that we the people can and should have the last word in our government.  They took their faith and hope, yea even though they were the size of grains of mustard seed, and they went to work.  And then something amazing happened.  Over 1,450,000 people went to vote.  In an off-year state supreme court race.  Yes, a lot of them voted for the man with the troglodytic views, but it's their goddamn right to vote for whomever they choose, and thank the fuck Christ that they turned out.  I want 99% turnout in every election, because I'm sick of nutjobs hijacking low-turnout elections with a motivated few.  I want everybody's voice heard.

What happens next?  How many more ballots turn up?  When will the recounts happen?

We'll find out answers to all of these questions in the coming days.  But for now, let's salute the everyday people who turned to and worked for the crazy notion that government should be responsive to the women and men who make up the populace.  I don't want just a moral victory here, but if that's all there is, I'll take it.

It sure would be nice to see that mountain move, though.

Don't Ever Let Anyone Tell You to Sit Down Again

Not ever, you guys. Not ever even once.

Journal Sentinel: Credit: Joe Koshollek

A few weeks ago Prosser was gonna cruise to victory. A few weeks ago people who lived next door to Joanne Kloppenburg probably would have had trouble picking her out of a lineup, and now? Now? The whole country knows her name, because in the midst of a revolution electing her became something people could do so they did it. They knocked on doors and drove people to the polls and phonebanked and worked their asses off, and look at that.

These people were alone with their clipboards facing the entire Koch brothers army and they drove them back to the edge of the goddamn cliff. This thing might not be over for days, weeks even, or it might be over by the time I wake up later today, but whatever happens, that isn't nothing. Making something a fight that shouldn't have even been a fight, isn't nothing.

What I would like, what I would really really like here, is for anybody who ever said that protesting was stupid, that it didn't mean anything, that it wouldn't change anything, that it was silly and childish and turned people off and was counterproductive and OMG HIPPIES ETC, to take a look at what happened yesterday and take a lesson, the kind of lesson that sticks. 

Standing up for yourself, for your rights, for what you believe, is never silly and it's never childish and you never know what it's going to change, so don't hamstring yourself, for Christ's sakes, don't stop yourself before you start. Fling yourself out into the world and say what is important to you. What else are you here for? You never know how many people will show up to stand beside you. It might be nobody.

And it might be tens of thousands, and they might stay beside you for days, and your voice might be joined by thousands, and all your voices might rise up and you might put somebody on the high court, and you might change the world. Don't tune it out. Don't assume it's a T-shirt slogan. Watch it when happens around you, and remember, and tell everyone you know everything you can tell them about everything you see. This doesn't come along very often. That's why you have to give it lots of chances to happen. Look. 

A.

“You survive two war tours and die in Fond du Lac”

It’s hard to find the words. I’m amazed at how good this story was in finding them for all of us:

He died far from the roadside bombs and terrorists, but still wearing a uniform. Still in service. He was shot in the chest rushing to help a fellow Fond du Lac police officer at the home of a sexual assault suspect. The other officer was critically injured but is recovering; the suspect, James Cruckson, killed himself after a six-hour standoff.

Two years before he was slain, shortly before he became a Fond du Lac officer, Birkholz was one of 16 UW-Oshkosh students and alumni to tell their stories of service in the Army or Marines in a campus journalism project, "War: Through Their Eyes." As part of the project, Birkholz talked to student journalist Alex Mueske for a 25-minute podcast and was photographed by a student photographer. The project was turned into a book and Web page. It's a rare glimpse into the thoughts of young people reflecting on war and combat.

With prophetic poignancy, Birkholz talked calmly about what he had seen and done and the effect war had on him. His words took on a new, tragic meaning after his death Sunday.

A memorial service for Birkholz was held Wednesday in Fond du Lac. His funeral is Saturday morning in his hometown of Kenosha, at the same church where he got married in September 2009.

 

This kid wasn’t a “Hurt Locker” guy. He went to war because he couldn’t get into UW-Platteville, a place I visited once and got the sense that you’d get a set of free steak knives just for applying. During one of his tours of duty, he had a terrorist in his sights, and yet was grateful he didn’t have to kill the guy. Couldn’t live with himself, he later explained.

He ran quickly and directly into trouble when it arose. He ran to assist a fellow soldier who had been hit in a mortar attack. While he was not a medic, he was trying to find a way to save this man. Sunday, was no different. Media reports noted that Birkholz heard reports of shots fired at a home and he rushed to the scene where he was shot and killed.

On the other side of this was Cruckson, another military veteran. A 30-year-old with “many prior contacts” with the police in Fond du Lac had holed up in his home on Lincoln Avenue after a confrontation with his girlfriend. Neighbors had heard Cruckson say while he was drinking at a local tavern that he was going to shoot people. Police had responded to a report of a sexual assault. They also had concerns regarding the welfare of a 6-year-old girl.

The man accused of shooting Birkholz, Officer Ryan Williams and K-9 Officer Grendel used a high-powered rifle that blew a hole through an unprotected part of Birkholz’s chest while slamming two shots through the vest of Williams. Doctors credited the vest with saving Williams. The same skills that almost led Birkholz to take down a terrorist helped Cruckson fire those fatal rounds.

The flags are at half-staff throughout the state. The governor offered his standard line about “thoughts and prayers.” A memorial parade of squads carried his body home for burial.

Soon, his name will be chiseled on to a memorial for fallen officers in Fond du Lac, one of only three in the past 100-plus years. Both his name and that of his killer will slide slowly out of the public lexicon.

And somehow, we will all move on.

Another Saturday, Another Protest

Look at these goddamned subversives.

Yesterday, the Iraq Veterans Against the War showed up for another protest march. As you can see, the Raging Grannies made an appearance, too.  It wasn't nearly as big as last weekend's; right now, most of the energy here is going toward recall drives and considering future moves.  There were probably about 10,000-20,000 people outside. 

It's a measure of just how big this movement is that you can say "Oh, there were only 10,000 people out for this." 

Wait, you hadn't heard that there was another mass protest yesterday?  Oh, that's right!  Our shitty corporate-owned media don't want to remind you that there's a movement against greater concentration of wealth and income in the hands of fewer and fewer people.  Television media present:  None.  Even FOX News has moved on.  I did see a couple of print journalists interviewing people, but there was a noticeable absence of any media presence.  We have apparently been consigned to the Memory Hole.  Thanks, "liberal" media!

Here are a few images from the day:

It's about time the rat made an appearance.

Don't piss off the badger.

For some reason, I really liked this sign.

Badger badger badger badger

Argh! A snake!

That man is awesome.

That's my friend Tara with the "badger badger badger badger" sign.  Yes, she made it herself.  Yes, she's a nerd.  I've told you all how much I like nerds.

The last photo there is of a Vietnam vet named Will Williams, a member of Veterans for Peace.  It's not the greatest picture, but he gave one hell of a little speech yesterday to wrap up the entire rally.  It's something that should get air time, but of course it won't.  Fortunately, we have Teh Intertubez, so I can share this with you.  It's about 9:45 long; please watch the whole thing.  Please note that this occurred about an hour before we got news that--ha ha ha--US cruise missiles were detonating in Tripoli.

That's some awesome speechifyin' right there.

So that's the wrap-up from another Saturday.  Remember--just because there's a national press blackout doesn't mean that there's not still a strong movement here dedicated to getting the rich folks' boots off our necks.  We'll be doing this for as long as it takes.

Solidarity, brothers and sisters.

Something I Just Don't Understand

Seriously, how are these people your enemy?

I was reading the news from the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors, and saw that Japanese firefighters are there trying to spray water into the spent fuel pools at one of the plants to keep the old fuel rods covered and cool, and they might be called on to do the same for one or more of the other pools.

And that got me thinking.  I'm not saying that what's happening in Madison is just the same as what's going on at those damaged reactors, so forget about any false equivalence.  I just started thinking about firefighters, and what they do.  I started thinking about the Chernobyl disaster, where the local firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish fires that started after that monumental cock-up.  And I thought about the 9/11 firefighters, who ran into buildings that airplanes had just crashed into to try to get other people out while there was still time for evacuation.  I thought of the men and women who worked around the clock looking for survivors in the smoldering rubble of the World Trade Center.  Some of these people knew that there wasn't any coming back from the job.  But they did it anyway.  Can you imagine running into a radiation-poisoned hellfire or a collapsing building because other people's lives depend on it?  Would you want to trade places with the people who do?

These people risk their lives for you.  And all you have to do is call them.  They don't ask questions, they don't demand payment up front, they don't treat anyone's situation differently than anyone else's.  They just show up, figure out what the problem is, and do their best to fix it.

Once again:  They risk their lives for you.  They don't just risk their lives for you, they also do it for your property.  Or your pets, for Christ's sakes.

And everyone loves them.  Little children want to grow up to be them.  Everyone gets taught that the firefighters are your friend BECAUSE THEY ARE. 

But all of a sudden these people are parasites and leeches because they get paid from the public coffers and get a decent retirement package?  How the fuck did that happen?  Look at this:

That's a fire engine from a Pripyat fire department. It never went back to the station because there was no one to drive it.

Really? These people, the people who will quite literally die for you, are "bottom-feeders" and parasites? They're the thugs? Has anyone stepped back, taken a breath, and thought about what they're saying?

Oh, and here's the rub--they're not even that well-paid.  Not in Madison, anyway.

I just don't understand how this happened. 

 

Creating a Space for Leadership

Student protesters marching down Langdon Street at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the Vietnam War era. UW Digital Collections

I wanted to follow up on something Jude touched on in his radio interview Monday, because it reminded me of a point Atrios made a few years back at a conference: That what we were trying to do, in the early days of blogging, was to create opportunities for our leaders to step up. I really took to that, all those years ago, the idea that maybe what we were doing was making a space for our politicians to safely step into, that we were showing the people in power that if they stood up for what they said they believed that we would be there, we would back them, that in some crazy sense it was okay and we would be there for them.

(How insane is that, by the way? I'm a girl with a web site, and I'm telling Harry Reid honey, it's all right, you can come out here with us?)

Then, of course, the war went on forever, and nobody did step up, and it became clear we were not only going to have to reinvent the media but reinvent our leaders as well and just plain do stuff ourselves because getting people elected to do what they said they wanted to do wasn't enough to get the stuff done, apparently. We created the spaces for them to step into. There is, and has been for years, a movement against the war in Iraq. There is, and has been for years, a movement against the war in Afghanistan. There is strong support for marriage equality, for reproductive choice, for collective bargaining rights, for all the things we hear on the nightly news are crazy lefty positions that are unrealistic.

Polling data tells us this, and we put ourselves out there in print and online and in the physical street to tell them this, and ... giant black hole. It's maddening, right? How everybody knows the right thing to do and nobody will do it? You couldn't have paid a Democrat with any name recognition to march with the anti-war activists. (Somebody might have a rude sign, of course.) While the Tea Party was feted by Republican royalty and Free Republic got a picnic on the White House lawn, Democrats cowered in their offices, afraid to join their base.

And then Wisconsin.

And people did step up.

Fourteen Senate Democrats did step up, and they said look at all these people in the Capitol who will love us if we listen to them. And as an added bonus what they're asking us to do is RIGHT. So let's do this. The Assembly Democrats did the same, fighting this bill not only every way that was reasonable and proper but fighting as if it truly mattered, fighting it every way they could. Hauling their desks out the windows so they could meet their constituents on the goddamn lawn.

And look what happened.

Yes, the bill passed anyway, bits of it. But Scott Walker's been kneecapped. He's a national joke. He can't go anywhere without being publicly reviled. His allies probably will be recalled. He probably will be, too. The bill's being challenged in court. Thousands and thousands of people across the country, in Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, are standing up. The Wisconsin 14 are national legends and local heroes, and most importantly, not a single person in Wisconsin, Republican OR Democrat, doubts what Democrats in Wisconsin stand for. They may not like it, but they know it for sure.

Imagine if Democrats in 2000, in 2002, in 2004, in 2010, had fought like that. Had fought to prevent the wars they later ran against not with everything that could be expected of them but with everything they had. Had fought the Bush tax cuts not with what was politically feasible but with what was possible, to the very extremity of what that word means. Imagine the place we'd be living in now. Imagine the things we would know.

And I guess the lesson I hope people with some modicum of power are taking from this, because I still have hope that somebody's taking a lesson despite years of getting it beaten into my head that our children is not learning, is that when you stand up things do happen. I get hardcore about this all the time on a personal, ordinary level, about how stupid it is to limit yourself when there's so much out there you can't control that limits you anyway, and expanding it out to the political level? See what happens when you tell the voices of reason to shut up and instead of doing what you want to do, do what you can do? See?

Thousands fill the Wisconsin State Capitol rotunda in protest of Gov. Scott Walker's "Budget Repair Bill" by Lacrossewi

See?

A.

Shorter Jonah: You Need to Die Before You Get to Join a Union

Caption from the original: To Labor is to Pray.

Ellsworth: Did you work in the Comstock when you was beardless?

Wolcott: I did.

Ellsworth: For Mr. George Hearst, as a keen eye for the color?

Wolcott: As a geologist for Mr. Hearst. Well, you have the advantage of me, Mr. Ellsworth.

Ellsworth: That ain’t a possibility, Wolcott. No more than an error of yours would be innocent.

Wolcott: I do dimly recall an Ellsworth superintended the consolidated Virginia operations.

Ellsworth: I don’t give a fuck what you recall.

Wolcott: A hero. Dug a week without respite to save three poor souls from a cave-in.

Ellsworth: And 46 corpses in a fucking hole that ought never to have been dug.

Wolcott: Always a choice... to count the saved or the lost.

Ellsworth: Get off this property.

Wolcott: Just as a man opposed to inevitable change needn’t invariably be called a Luddite, another choice might be simply to describe him as slow in his processes.

Ellsworth: You tell that cocksucker you work for the next surrogate he sends oughtn't to be bloodied from the Comstock.

Just in case you had any hope for humanity this morning, here's Jonah Goldberg: 

Traditional, private-sector unions were born out of an often-bloody adversarial relationship between labor and management. It's been said that during World War I, U.S. soldiers had better odds of surviving on the front lines than miners did in West Virginia coal mines. Mine disasters were frequent; hazardous conditions were the norm. In 1907, the Monongah mine explosion claimed the lives of 362 West Virginia miners. Day-to-day life often resembled serfdom, with management controlling vast swaths of the miners' lives. Before unionization and many New Deal-era reforms, Washington had little power to reform conditions by legislation.

Government unions have no such narrative on their side.

In order for you to prevent being screwed, you must first be screwed, horribly. Preferably a lot of you should die. After that, and only if we can prove that none of you contributed to your screwing or death in any way, maybe Jonah Goldberg, a man who knows from hardship, will allow you or your great-grandchildren to have rights.

Everyone knows government workers are never, ever mistreated, by the way.

Note that this privileged little priss reduces the history he admits is threaded through with bloody brutality to a "narrative."

On the morning of April 7, 1869, a fire spread at the 800 foot level in the Yellow Jacket Mine.^[1] Firefighters entered the mine but the smoke and flames pushed them back. As the fire burned, wood timbers collapsed and poisonous air expanded into the adjacent Kentucky and Crown Point mines. The fires persisted and mine sections were sealed off and remained hot for several years. At least thirty five miners died, and some bodies were never retrieved. The Yellow Jacket Mine fire was the worst mining accident in Nevada history up to that time.

Ideally, what we should do is wait until enough people are hurt or killed so that Jonah can justify that possibly they ought to be able to make a few meager requests of their masters, like more coal for the counting-house fire, but only on Christmas Eve.

Private-sector unions fight with management over an equitable distribution of profits. Government unions negotiate with friendly politicians over taxpayer money, putting the public interest at odds with union interests, and, as we've seen in states such as California and Wisconsin, exploding the cost of government.

The labor-politician negotiations can't be fair when the unions can put so much money into campaign spending.

Right. The process can only be fair when corporations fight it out over which candidate to elect. We can't have organizations where people get a VOTE having any political power. It completely screws up the conversation Jonah would like to have on the squash court with his pals.

Once and for all, this conversation pitting "the public" against members of it is dishonest and vile. And you know who has the right to join a union? You know who's "earned" a union? Anybody who damn well wants one enough to form or join one. That's how this works. I know it sucks when people who don't wear Armani think they deserve a seat at the table, but ... oh, you know what? He's just a stupid, privileged bitch, and I'd like for him to run into a steelworker in a dark alley and try this argument.

Hearst: To labor without pleasure makes us our destiny’s slaves.

Swearengen: To work for crumbs or to keep from the lash says maybe a slave’s what you are.

Unsurprisingly, the actual miners don't see their fight as a separate one:

“Like the robber barons and their political minions at the turn of the 20th century, the radical-right Koch brothers and their lap-dogs like Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP members of the Wisconsin Legislature have taken the position that the only way to keep working families in ‘our place’   is to strip us of our freedoms and silence our voices.

“I’ve got news for them: Your actions have only served to strengthen our resolve to fight back. And that fight has only just begun. 

“At Lattimer, Ludlow, Matewan, Blair Mountain and elsewhere, members of the UMWA and our families have been the victims of the excesses of powerful elitists like the Koch brothers and their political allies. We fought back, we persevered, and we won. We stand ready to assist our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin in any way we can as they embark on their own fight to win back their rights as Americans.”

A.

Today on TommyT's Obsession with the Freeperati - unintentional irony edition

Good morning, gentle people! I think one more thread about the Freeperati's reaction to the Wisconsin protests is in order, before I go back to just mocking them on general principles.

Let's get those iso suits on and get at it - this stuff is highly toxic.

Someone at Free Republic thought it would be a good idea to do a live thread on the "crushing of the protests" on Feb 17th.  Finally, those DFH's get their compeuppance!

I present the Freeperati version of the Crack Van(patent applied for) -

Live Thread... Clearing of the Wisconsin Capitol
Ustream ^ | Ustream

Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 3:44:48 PM by Thunder90

The Rotunda continues to fill up as the 4pm deadline approaches. The Ustream video showed an almost empty Rotunda 35 minutes ago. Now the Rotunda is packed.

This could get interesting. People are promising to be arrested rather than leave willingly.

1 posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 3:44:52 PM by Thunder90

Woo hoo! Live Montgomery, Alabama-style head-busting on TeeVee! Pass the popcorn!

.

To: Thunder90

Turn off the heat, water and electricity, open the doors and windows.

5 posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 3:48:18 PM by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))

...in a marble building during freezing conditions.  Good idea. This same moron will be ranting later on about damage done to the Capital by adhesive tape.

.

To: Thunder90

The message that is being sent is that the loudest most disruptive voices prevail. Where is the Tea Party?

3 posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 3:46:43 PM by Brilliant

 

.

To: Thunder90

“Give them a whiff of the grape.”

22 posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 3:54:44 PM by ClearCase_guy

(just in case you thought that Freepers are advocating serving wine to the protestors).

Grapeshot is a type of anti-personnel ammunition used in naval cannons. It was similar to its land cousin canister shot, although its slugs were much larger to punch through the hull of ships. Instead of solid shot, a mass of loosely packed metal slugs is loaded into a canvas bag. Grapeshot can also be improvised from chainlinks, shards of glass, rocks, etc. When assembled, the balls resemble a cluster of grapes (hence the name). On firing, the balls spread out from the muzzle at high velocity, giving an effect similar to a shotgun, but scaled up to cannon size.

13 Vendémiaire - Napoleon, then a brigadier general during the later stages of the French Revolution, famously dispersed a Royalist mob on the streets of Paris with a "whiff of grapeshot" on 5 October 1795.

At the Battle of Vinegar Hill the British used grape shot to kill hundreds of women and children who were fleeing the battlefield.

So - Freepers are advocating firing grapeshot into the protestors to kill and maim hundreds of women, children, teachers, firefighters, and police.

Also, they hate terrorists.

.

To: Thunder90

Just one savage baton swing on one of these nitwit’s heads will send them all into a general panic for the doors. Granted, it will make the cleanup a bit harder as there’s nothing like the sound of hardwood - swung violently - hitting a skull (thwwock!) to loosen the bowels of all those liberals in there.

29 posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 4:00:22 PM by IAintGotNoMoney

Hardwood gives IAintGotNoBrains hard wood.

.

To: Utah Binger

Lock ‘em in and leave them there.

Great idea!

Then, build a new statehouse with NON_UNION labor!

39 posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 4:06:59 PM by meyer (We will not sit down and shut up.)

Let's see: So far we have Napoleon and Vlad The Impaler as role models. I wonder when the Quissa Khwani Bazaar Massacre fanboys wil make an appearance? (shakes head) And some people want to find common ground with these psychopaths...

.

 

To: Thunder90

Gotta go to the grocery for some dinner but don’t want to leave the TV for fear of missing some radical liberal’s heads getting cracked.

42 posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 4:10:14 PM by Rebelbase

Are these people born with a missing chromosome? Did all of their parents drop them on thier heads? I can just see them in childood, burning ants with magnifying glasses, pulling wings off flies, then graduating to killing small animals, then larger ones (being careful to hide the remains, because somewhere deep inside they know what they like to do is horribly wrong), then finally - a whiff of the grape for people they don't like.

Freeper prayers for bloodshed go unanswered as the thread continues.

Watch their psycopathic dreams dashed in real time after the thrilling-days-of-yesteryear jump..

Quite A Day

Krampus and a rhythm section. I love this fucking town.

Naturally enough, I spent nine hours out at the gigantic protest yesterday. It was much, much bigger than anything so far. I'm going to guess there were more than 150,000 people there. You just couldn't move around the capitol square at all without squeezing past people.  I don't know what you've heard or seen about what happened here over the weekend, but over 100,000 people showed up to tell the governor that they weren't happy with what he is doing.

I did see a total of three pro-Walker people yesterday.  Three.  Versus 150,000.  So, you know, both sides showed up!

The farmers showed up with their tractors--there were at least 50 of them, one after another, people who care enough about what's going on in the state to haul their equipment up to hundreds of miles at their own expense, just to have their say.

And it was cold, people.  Windy and downright unpleasant unless you were in the sun. 

But people came, and spoke, and sang, and danced.  That trailer up there had one bad-ass rhythm going on.  It kind of sounded like Olodum.  No kidding.  One hundred fifty thousand strong, lifting their voices for all to hear.  It was joyous and determined and even though Walker and his cronies seem to have gotten a big part of what they want, these people weren't downhearted.  Not one bit. 

And holy balls, are Wisconsinites nice.  Everyone's all "excuse me," and "can I help you" and "here, have some free food."  I can't describe how beautiful it is.

So I'll throw in a few pictures.

This image is from the indefatigable folks at Dane101; in this case, credit goes to Dave Kreisman. Thanks for all you do for us.

The Krampus crowd, and one guy with a bitchin' beard.

These cows had letters that spelled out "Solidarity." When I came across them, they hadn't quite formed up yet.

Nice

You just know this pisses off Glenn Beck

OOO-RAH Fire Department, FUBAR Auxiliary

Saw this guy for the first time on Thursday. He said he drew the poster early Thursday morning, about two a.m.

My good friend Jess, who went to grad school at UW-Madison and now lives in Chicago. Her sign was a big hit.

So there you go.

Oh, except for the other 135 photos I took.  You can find them here.

3-12-11

Solidarity, brothers and sisters.  And I make no claim to aesthetic proficiency with a camera. 

The Wisconsin 14 Come Home

Via my pal Brent.

A.

Fuck Yeah, Racine!

Holy hell, Cory Mason:

That was Thursday, on the Wisconsin Assembly Floor. I asked him for a transcript so the Internet could propose marriage, and got that in return.

A.

This Ain't Going Away

Holy shitsnacks.

I'm sure Jude will have more photos today, but I was watching the Twittersphere all day and my favorites were this, and this, and this.

You can keep watching live here. Currently Dennis Kucinich is being the second coming of FDR. I'm serious.

I keep expecting this to go away. Maybe it's the echo of the Bush years, when insane shit kept happening and people were outraged and it just ... died on the table. I was trying to explain to a much younger friend of mine a couple of days ago, what it was like back then, and hearing myself echoing people I've talked to about the Nixon years. That this is wrong, and everyone knows it's wrong. That opinion polls show people don't want to do this. That privately our political leaders will admit that they don't want to do this.

And yet it happens. 

So I keep expecting this to go away. The lack of news coverage, the fatigue people get from standing on their feet and using their voices every single day, I mean, people are going to work and going to protest and going home to crash for an hour and getting up and doing it all again and again for a month now, just about, and there's some kind of Protest Flu strain making its way through my Facebook friends list. I keep expecting this to go away.

It keeps growing.

A.

Why This Happened Now

Union contracts are about to expire, meaning it was either fuck 'em now or lose in court when the unions challenged how the changes were made:

Union contracts covering about 39,000 state workers, extended since expiring in mid-2009, will end Sunday — assuming Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, passed by the Assembly on Thursday, is enacted by then.

Sunday, or March 13, is the termination date Walker announced last month for the nearly 20 bargaining agreements. Included are 22,000 workers represented by the Wisconsin State Employees Union.

It's not entirely clear from the story, but Mr. A's father was treasurer of Council 24 for years, and his take was basically this:

"Officials alerted the Wisconsin State Employees Union on Friday that expired collective bargaining agreements would be canceled March 13. State unions have been operating under the terms of their previous contracts, an arrangement that can be terminated with 30 days notice." -- Wis. State Journal, Feb. 12.

The WSEU filed an unfair labor lawsuit on Mon., Feb. 27.

Well, March 13 is this Sunday. If the collective bargaining point was still the law in Wisconsin, the WSEU suit would most likely have won their suit and Walker would have to return to the table.

If, come Monday, that is no longer the law, well, case dismissed, basically.

From the State Journal story:

Democrats tried to push through new contracts in December, when they controlled both houses and the governor's office. Republicans gained control of all three in January.

But two Democrats — outgoing Senate Majority Russ Decker, of Weston, and then-Sen. Jeff Plale, of Milwaukee — voted against the new contracts, killing them. In January, Walker named Plale administrator of the Division of State Facilities.

It's probably a good thing for them both those assholes are out of government, since Wisconsin's in a recallin' mood.

A.

Time to move on?

Whoever said “Time heals all wounds” never was wounded in a profound enough fashion.

If Governor Deadeyes thinks for a moment that, as the Journal Sentinel proclaimed, “Walker Wins,” he’s sorely mistaken. Even if his ramshackle approach to his ill-gotten gains against public unions holds up in court, he’s condemned himself to a life on the defensive. Four years is a short time to be in office and a long time to weather a storm.

His press conference on Thursday was enough to give me hives. He talked about the “dirty trick” the Democrats played by fleeing the state. He kept referencing his “legal experts” who told him he could do this. (Apparently, the son of a Baptist preacher never called on that upbringing to ask if this was a moral thing.) In the end, he retained his smirk and his sense of righteousness as he strode away from the podium.

His arrogance offends me. His failure to fully grasp what he’s doing gives me an emotional and visceral response that no words can adequately capture.

This isn’t a “we agree to disagree” outcome. This is a pure and unadulterated attack on the very fabric of who we are and how we approach our governance. His lack of understanding that things will not move forward in an organized and proficient manner smacks of an ignorance that no level of schooling or quality of upbringing could cure. It’s akin to the man who is zipping up after committing a sexual assault and asking the still quivering and crying victim, “So, we’re still on for dinner tomorrow night, right?”

The overriding theme that came from the nightly news out here was that it’s “time to move on.” In other words, “You plucky little hippies have had your moment of drum beating. Now it’s time to move past this.” The people who were calling for us to “move on” were citing the “extensive” and “exhausting” nature of this battle.

Folks, it’s been 25 days. It’s not the fucking 100 Years War.

It’s so easy to call for us to “move on” when you’re not the one being moved on from. When it’s not your pension or your rights or your life that is being impacted, it’s so much easier for people to say “let’s move on.” I’m sure seeing this instead of stories about how the spring melt is revealing green grass can be so taxing to all you viewers out there.

When you figure your side has claimed the day, calling for people to “move on” is the adult way of saying, “Neener, neener, NEEEE-NERRR! I WON I WON I WON!”

When you are impacted by this or if you have a soul, it’s a lot harder to do. When you know the people, when you see the stakes and when you understand that kicking a union official in the balls doesn’t get you off unemployment, you know better than to “move on.”

Something tells me more people will be stepping up instead of moving on.

They Broke Their Backs Lifting Moloch To Heaven!

Pavements, trees, radios, tons!  lifting the city to Heaven which exists and is everywhere about us!

 

Another dispatch from the central front in the plutocrat war on workers:

Things here are still going strong.  Apparently, Michael Moore was here yesterday (about time) along with Michelle Shocked.  Once more, there was no violence whatsoever this weekend.  I only saw one pro-Walker stooge all day on Saturday, and there were between 40,000 and 50,000 people downtown.  Efforts to recall eight of the Republican state senators have begun in earnest.  The capitol building is open; I have yet to re-enter myself, but I understand that they are tightly controlling the total number of people inside at any time, and you now have to go through ridiculous airport-like security (i.e., metal detectors and bag searches) to get in.  Also, no drums or musical instruments are allowed in. 

I don't have a lot to say; just enjoy the photos. 

 

I would be, too.

Yeah, I would be, too.

He doesn't play well with others.

Nerds

For Athenae

And the reverse

I think this guy's expression says a lot.

This sign would be funnier if Chuck Norris wasn't a Republican tool.

She was busy. Man, the thugs were out in force yesterday.

Solidarity.

All pictures taken with my smartphone. Man, those things are impressive.

They Hate Him All Over the Place

This bus tour of Walker supporters driving around rallying people to cheer for screwing over their friends and neighbors is turning into the most hilarious thing I've ever seen.

First pro-union ralliers turned out in that notorious bastion of vegan dinners and group sex known as ... Sheboygan.

I had a college boyfriend from Sheboygan. Trust me, a more conservative place you will not find on this planet.

Then 1,600 people showed up in the People's Republic of ... Eau Claire:

Eau Claire (WQOW) - More than 1,600 protesters taking to the streets. That was the scene along Craig Road in Eau Claire Saturday morning, as they voiced their opposition to Governor Walker's budget legislation. Meanwhile, supporters of the governor rallied inside a nearby hotel. That group was smaller--around 200.

And finally, in Hudson, Wisconsin, from which you can chuck a small rock and hit Minnesota, THREE HUNDRED FREAKING PEOPLE said Walker's bill sucks and so does his ass face:

Inside the hotel, Americans for Prosperity put on its event in the St. Croix Room as the standing-room crowd spilled out of the 100-person capacity space into the hallway.

Outside the hotel, at least 300 protestors waved signs, recited chants and signed forms to start the recall procedure for local and statewide Republican lawmakers.

The whole thing is doing nothing but giving union supporters an excuse to gather and sign recall petitions. I love it. I hope Walker's supporters make this a national thing.

A.

Go Tell That Midnight Rider

Protesters leave the Capitol Friday night, singing "So long, see you tomorrow, tomorrow we'll be back."

I really don't think it's possible to overstate what is happening here. How many times have we watched this happen? Really, how many times? People stood up against the war in 2003, in the millions, and we still went to war. People stood up for John Kerry in 2004, in the hundreds of thousands, and he lost. People have rallied and rallied and rallied, and all they've ever gotten for it is pounded on, when they weren't being ignored.

But they keep getting back up. Walker won the election and claimed a mandate, and they came. The bill passed the state assembly, in the middle of the night, and they came. The state's talk radio haters and newspaper commenters and conservative columnists called them all scum, and they came. Walker gave interview after interview, speech after speech, declaring victory, and they came.

The doors were locked against them, the building ringed by armed guards, and still they came.

Armed with nothing but signs, nothing but post-it notes, nothing but donated pizza and boundless cheer and limitless good will, they came. And they sang and they drummed and they wrote and they called and they inspired their friends and their neighbors and their elected officials and a nation, and no matter what happens now, everyone has seen it: What happens when you stand up. That it isn't pointless and it isn't useless and there is always, win or lose, value in it, because the view from uprightness is so much clearer and you need to see like that, once or twice in your life at least.

I am becoming concerned that we don't have poetry adequate to this. That we don't have a language for the pounding of our hearts, and that we may actually need one. I'm a semi-professional pessimist, I believe in expecting the worst so as not to be surprised or disappointed, but it's hard to shake this horrible feeling, that is hope:

A Rasmussen poll out today reveals that almost 60% of likely Wisconsin voters now disapprove of their aggressive governor’s performance, with 48% strongly disapproving.

While these numbers are clearly indicators of a strategy gone horribly wrong, there are some additional finding in the poll that I suspect deserve even greater attention.

It turns out that the state’s public school teachers are very popular with their fellow Badgers. With 77% of those polled holding a high opinion of their educators, it is not particularly surprising that only 32% among households with children in the public school system approve of the governor’s performance. Sixty-seven percent (67%) disapprove, including 54% who strongly disapprove.

Scout and I keep worrying, in e-mails and on the phone, that people aren't taking into account the right-wing blog narrative, that the constant drumbeat of talk radio hatred will start to penetrate, that it's all about to go to hell. But sometimes events on the ground actually trump the story we tell ourselves in our heads. Sometimes you can't stop the signal. Sometimes.

WI "Budget Repair Bill" Protest (Feb 20-24?) Pt. 3 from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo.

A.

Rise Again

One more day against the smiling, lying bastards.

Well, friends, it's another day of the class struggle here in Madison, Wisconsin. Time to turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain.  To all of you who'll be here, you have my admiration.  To all of you who stand in solidarity, you have my gratitude.

There's something amazing happening here.  Even if we lose this round, you know we'll rise again.

Walker Flacks' Bullshit is Bullshit

Following the ACLU livetweeting the hearing on Capitol access in Madison, the state Department of Administration (Walker's folks, basically) made all kinds of scary arguments, the scariest of which was that the protesters had done $7.5 million worth of damage to the building, mostly by sticking stuff to the walls.

That argument was, of course, total crap:

Remarkably, the protesters have adopted an ownership ethic in the building, treating it with the utmost care and respect. Thousands of signs with protest slogans, information, and wayfinding information are taped to the granite and painted walls, without exception, with low adhesion blue painter’s tape. Memorial installations are left completely free of signage. Trash and recycle bins are prevalent, and there is no discarded trash anywhere. Demonstrators organize daily cleaning crews. They are also evangelistic about their respect for the building. Handwritten signs on glass display cases, rest room doors and granite pillars demand care, cleanliness, and respect for the building they call “Our house.”  High humidity and salt and dirt residue may add to the cumulative impact on floors and painted surfaces, but any damage to the building is unintended.

Political differences catalyzing the demonstrations are far from resolved and large crowds continue to gather at the building, but demonstrators have shown reverence for the state house as the gathering place of democracy is Wisconsin, and show no signs of resorting to symbolic attacks on it.

A.

They Got Let Back In!

Update: The vast majority of the protesters who had been staying in the Capitol have left voluntarily, at the head of a victory parade led by the chief of the Capitol cops, into the waiting arms of a cheering crowd. The judge's order is unclear on the next couple of days but is unequivocal about this: By Monday the Capitol will return to the standards of openness and accessibility that it displayed in January of this year.

More rallies are planned for the Capitol this weekend. The Senate Dems say they're either all coming back or none of them are. No backing up, no backing off, no backing down.

Not. One. Inch.

The judge hearing the Madison Capitol case just ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. According to Mary Spicuzza of the State Journal:

Protesters flooding into the state street entrance. Rotunda erupts in whose house? Our house chants.

People can't camp after the place closes for the night, but during the day?

OUR HOUSE.

The judge rejected wholesale the arguments about safety, the malarkey that the Captiol was being defiled by people sticking stuff to the walls and being shouty, etc, etc. I'm sure the fucksticks in charge will appeal this, but for now?

OUR HOUSE.

A rally's being called for at 6 to greet the exiting demonstrators as heroes. As they damn well should be.

You can watch live here. People who've been there are sitting and waiting, and the cops are preventing anyone new from entering since the place generally is closed at this time. The cops seem serious, but not overly jumpy or hostile.

A.

Life During Wartime

Photo from Scout. Notes posted to the locked doors.

Roadmaster sent this report from the Capitol yesterday:

Roadmaster Here -

Just back from the Captive Capitol. Spoke at a hearing in opposition to Senate Bill 23 - what I see as the first stage in ratcheting down FMLA protections in the state. 

Read the bill here.

I can't imagine security at a Israel/Palestine border crossing to be any more severe. 

Waiting outside on the east steps - 15 officers, plus three others helping to queue people in lines for various hearings, tours, visits to their representatives, and such. 

In line, you wait for non-police aides to get you from the outside steps into the inside entry way. Another 6-8 officers there. 

You're then escorted to the security stage - present your ID - empty pockets of metal objects - get wand scanned. At least 8 officers there (about four scanners going). 

Then a few yards further in, you go to a row of tables with bins full of hanging badges - some have district identifiers, some say "hearing." Staffed by non-police Capitol staffers, but with at least 3 more police looking over the tables. The badges specifically designate what you're there for (so you can't switch your destination). 

Once you get approved for your badge...You wait until another Capitol Staffer acts as an escort to take you to your destination. Several officers at the threshold into the Capitol building - and then they're also positioned at each stairway landing and walkway. Mostly WI State Patrol inside, with some sheriffs and local police from other parts of WI. 

The elevators are locked out - stairs only. Many bathrooms are also locked. 

Stated my case at the hearing - waited 15 minutes for the escort down & out (Capitol Police). Struck up rapport - said I felt for him and the staffs caught between the Clash of the Titans. Was able to confirm from him that yes, there have been many instances of officers getting contradicting/countermanding orders, especially in the past two days. Also confirmed that WI Department of Administration (Mike Huebsch, not-quite-graduate of Oral Roberts U heads that agency) is calling the shots.

I didn't have much time to survey the lower level rotunda - appeared to be about 50 hard-core devotees there. Quiet. Young guy was doing floetry as I skirted the area. One person in wheelchair. 

Semi-good news - the signs were still up on the walls - at least on the lower level. They appear to have been removed from the walls of the upper levels - but still ring the rotunda from above.

The hearing to open the place back up is still going on. Follow @ACLUMadison on Twitter.

A.

I Am Wisconsin. Who Are You?

Video via my friend Steph:

Contrast that with these dicks from the story Scout posted up earlier:

Hale says there is a network of tea party people feeding him tips on Facebook. When people see TV vans outside a hotel, he says, the word gets out. That’s how he found out where Miller was having his press conference last week. Hale posted the information, then left for the hotel. By the time he arrived, two other tea party members were already at Miller’s location.

“It has been stressful to find locations and keep out of the spotlight in terms of the tea party people, who have been out throughout Illinois looking for us,” Jauch says. “They immediately come in with their signs and their posters and they are in your face yelling, demanding to know why we are in Illinois.”

I mean, let me ask them this.

Do you think it'll help?

That you were on their side, I mean. That you did their dirty work. That you ran around with signs and your little "Don't Tread on Me" flags and all the other stupid shit you carry, in support of an agenda that has not a whit to do with you. Do you think that will protect you when it all goes down?

Do you think your corporate masters will hate you less? Do you think you'll be rewarded for not rocking the boat? Do you think you'll get bonus points because you cheered their speeches and railed against their enemies? Do you think they'll remember you, what a good boy you were, and say hey, while I'm raining down eternal hellfire on these other damned souls, let's give that one an umbrella?

Do you think they'll even remember your name? You goddamn fool.

I got news for every Tea Party supporter what makes less than $25 million a year: You're not even the point. It's not even that they hate you too, along with all the rest of the poor and middle class and teachers and janitors and ironworkers and whatnot. It's that you don't even exist. None of us do. Whether we support or oppose them, the billionaires that run things for the conservative movement in this country see us all the same, and all of us as nothing.

Yes, even you. Yes, even though you made that sign. Yes, even though you voted for them. Yes, even though you donated your $25 that you really couldn't spare to their campaigns. Yes, even though you showed up to volunteer and showed up to the rallies and showed up on every goddamn newspaper comment board to trumpet their righteousness. Even you. You're just as fucked as the rest of us.

The only difference is we know it, and we said enough.

You think you'll be saved? And you're the one who's spent time listening to these people? Have you heard a thing they've said? You idiots. If you weren't so actively involved in screwing things up for the rest of us, I'd feel sorry for you.

Look at those people in that video up there. They know what they're fighting for.

Do you?

A.

 

Meanwhile in Ohio

While arguments over opening the Madison Capitol are going on right now (follow @ACLUMadison on Twitter for live updates) the locked-out protesters in Ohio are still fighting a bill that passed a critical committee this morning:

The Ohio state Senate’s Commerce, Insurance and Labor Committee considered and passed a Republican bill to effectively eliminate state employees’ ability to collectively bargain, which has sparked massive protests in recent days from labor groups and their allies. But just before the vote, Senate President Tom Niehaus (R) yanked Sen. Bill Seitz (R) off the committee because Seitz had opposed a GOP amendment to the bill and the process in which the bill was being considered. Seitz was replaced with with another Republican who supports the measure, clearing the way for a 7-5 vote that otherwise would have ended in a tie.

Funny how that worked out for these assholes. What would the bill do?

The initial bill would strip collective bargaining rights for state workers, but allow strikes. The revised measure would ban public worker strikes, and establish fines and jail time for those who participate in walkouts. It would allow unionized workers to negotiate wages, hours, and safety conditions but not health care, sick time or pension benefits.

In addition, the revised measure would set up a new process to settle worker disputes. Either party could request a mediator, but local or state elected officials would have the final say in unresolved contract disputes. Binding arbitration, which police officers and firefighters use to resolve contract disputes as an alternative to strikes, would be eliminated under the revised bill.

Guys? I know we need jobs. But this re-enactment of the early days of the industrial revolution is like the shittiest theme park idea EVER.

A.

I Heart Dave Mahoney

Hell yeah, sheriff:

Mahoney said he believes law enforcement and public safety is being jeopardized by the restrictions.

"I am confident having talked with our staff on the Capitol grounds that we still have a peaceful demonstration. But it's crucial that individuals have a voice and access to their lawmakers," Mahoney said.

The deputies had been told that the doors would be open at 8 a.m. yesterday, but that didn't happen and the officers didn't find out why until the afternoon, Mahoney said.

"When asked to stand guard at the doors that duty was turned over to the Wisconsin State Patrol because our deputies would not stand and be palace guards," Mahoney said. "I refused to put deputy sheriffs in a position to be palace guards."

Reminds me of a line from the West Wing: Mr. President, in the event of a coup what makes you think the Secret Service will be on your side?

The behavior of the cops over the past couple of weeks really has been extraordinary. Not just the state and Madison-area police; cops have come from all over either to pitch in with extra work guarding the Capitol or to take part in the protests themselves as supporters. And before Monday, they were mostly standing there either taking pictures, posing for pictures, waving to little kids at the ongoing DemocracyFest, or generally behaving like all of this was no big deal.

Which is important. The message that conveyed to protesters was that they didn't have to be pissed at the cops, they didn't have to yell or try to exceed the limits the cops set. People generally do what is expected of them, and everything in law enforcement's demeanor said, "We expect there to be no trouble and for you to keep having a good time while doing your thing." They weren't tense, so nobody else was either. Then came Monday, and yesterday, and this:

Photo from Scout.

People are still being calm, but now they have to set limits that aren't reasonable, and wall people off from where people know they have a legal right to be, and good on Dave Mahoney for pointing out how much that sucks. For the officers, and everybody else.

A.

Today in Solidarity

ACLU Madison reports a judge orders the Capitol reopened to the public. People outside still say no one is being let in. Scout's heading down there now.

More:

Ex Parte temporary restraining order. Resp. shall open the Wisconsin Capitol to members of the public during business hours and at times when governmental matters, such as hearings, listening sessions and court arguments are being conducted. This ex parte restraing order is in effect until the assigned trial court is able to schedule a hearing on the matter. If resp. wishes to have a hearing with respect to this order one will be scheduled as soon as possible before this court, the duty judge, if the assigned trial court is unable to hear the matter promptly. Pet. shall immediately serve a copy of this order on resp.

Also, this is from Ohio's statehouse, a few minutes ago.

Photo by Matt Bruning.

Updates as I get 'em. Be here for the crack van starting at 3:30 p.m. CST.

A.

Can't Stop the Signal

So here's what I've pieced together from Scout on the phone, the Twitter feed going bonkers, stuff you've all e-mailed to me and actual official accounts from places:

The live feed went dead around 5:30, I think.

The Capitol had been locked down at 4, nobody else was going in and people were going out, into the arms of happy supportive folks ringing the building. Several hundred were still inside listening to speaker after speaker: One would suggest they leave, another implore them to stay, all of them saying "law enforcement is on our side," at which people cheered like the Packers just won the Super Bowl again. Cops were standing around, and it was hard to hear. Nobody knew what was going to happen.

And you could just fucking forget about getting any info from anybody other than this guy with an iPhone who took it upon himself to stream stuff to the world, because he could. National news networks? Asleep at the switch. Protesters were hanging with cops and with the exception of a couple of attention-seeking dicks, everybody was either singing or dancing or taking pictures of each other or chanting or knitting or something. The chants only sounded angry if you hadn't been there, didn't know that the volume was enthusiasm, not rage.

CNN, nowhere to be found. Fox was only interested in if some hackey-sack playing douche got handcuffed shouting about Lenin. MSNBC, nada. Everybody was at the Oscars, after all, and maybe Charlie Sheen would be there. 

The live feed went dead and the Internet crapped out, so my landline starts ringing and it's Scout and she can't hear me at all, she's just reporting stuff hoping I can hear it and am taking it down for publication somehow. Things were tense. Things were scary; nobody quite knew what was going down. Mass arrests? Sit-ins? Fights? All the good work of the past two weeks, all the positive energy and decency and warmth, all to be undone in one night? Nobody quite knew what was going to happen.

And then something did.

The cops decided fuck this, we're not grabbing these people and dragging them out. We're not giving the TV people the pictures they want. We're not turning the last two weeks of joy into the usual horror show just because we can.

We're letting these protesters stay, because they're not hurting anything, and the majority of them are being cooperative, and fuck it, basically, Cops for Labor was down there and some firefighters, and do you really want to arrest those guys? Besides, they do happen to be right. It is their house, and if we need to clean it up a bit (the official justification for closing the building) we'll just kind of scoot them around so the custodial crews can sweep behind them and their stuff.

Ever since this started I've been wrong about everything. I keep saying to Scout and to Mr. A and to Jude, I've been wrong about everything. I didn't think the unions had the numbers or frankly the stones to tell Walker to shove it. I didn't think the Democrats had the big brass swinging ones necessary to march across the border. I didn't think the protests could be sustained and grow without some kind of national leadership, and I thought for sure some asshole would ruin everything tonight by waving a copy of the Socialist Worker around and throwing a tantrum.

On every single count, I have been wrong, and I have been overjoyed to be wrong. I want to be wrong forever. I want to be wrong until the Wisconsin 14 come home and, joined by three courageous Republicans, vote this miserable bill down.

Part of the reason what's happening in Wisconsin is so unusual is that this movement is sustaining itself without nonstop pimping by the national press. The Tea Party got flogged 24-7 and had Dick Armey's money backing it. These people aren't hearing their poltical power affirmed every time they turn on the TV. They're reading op-eds from dicks like Krauthammer talking about how terrible they are, and yet they're getting up and going to work and then going out to protest every single day since February 14.

The story's getting out any way it has to, because it's too good not to share.They're sleeping sound in the Capitol tonight. They got the word out via Twitter and cell phones and Facebook and the iPhone stream of some guy I never heard of but now would like to hug, and the last thing Scout told me before hopefully collapsing for some well-deserved sleep is that the protesters were high-fiving the lady driving the floor buffer polishing the statehouse marble.

I'm not sure we have poetry adequate to that. I'm not sure it's been invented yet. But I know by the time I get up tomorrow and check in with friends online, someone will have come up with something.

A.

 

Scout's Inside the Capitol Right Now, Filming

UPDATE III: Republican State Sen. Dale Schultz will not support the Walker bill! Confirmed by Mother Jones. Now saying unconfirmed, but will keep you posted. Protesters just changed giant sign asking for "3 cou-R-ageous Republicans" to 2. If it's true and two more Republicans join him, it's over.

From Scout: Ha tv crews filming dancing cheers and not arrests!! What a crazy miraculous ride this thing is. #wiunion

Update II: Scout's Interwebs are back on! Follow her here.

Scout's inside but can't get Internet to Tweet or send pix. Just got off the phone with her and here's the sitch:

Cops asked everyone staying inside and planning to be arrested to go up to the first floor, above the ground floor. The VAST majority of people complied, and chanted "peaceful protest" to the rythymn of a hockey cheer, and are behaving respectfully. They're not leaving, but they're not resisting instructions other than that.

Four or five people most Madisonians would recognize from every protest about everything have refused and are sitting on the ground floor basically begging to be arrested. The TV cameras, naturally, are surrounding them. One of these folks gave the finger to protesters upstairs who were chanting "come up here" and "the story's up here."

People on the second floor are predominantly the young people who have been orgnanizin the protests all week and working to keep everything civilized. They're being ignored in favor of angry dreadlocked dudes who Fox News is very interested in.

Scout interviewed the police chief (she didn't say which one and it was hard to hear but I think she meant capitol police) who said they don't want to make arrests. The Capitol has been shut down for an hour now, and nobody wants to turn this into a bad scene.

Basically the atmosphere is tense, but not because the cops are throwing down. Mostly just because nobody knows what's going to happen.

There were 10K viewers on the live stream before it cut out about 20 minutes ago.

More as I get it from her.

Update: Scout talked to a protester who's been there since the beginning and says the people who are trying to get arrested right now only recently joined the movement.

Said cops don't want to make arrests and might not, because they recognize this week has been good for them, too, and will keep things calm as long as they can. Situation less tense now that almost everybody has obeyed police and moved to designated area.

A.

More Solidarity in Ohio

Reader P sends these photos:

A major thank you to everybody who got out and rallied yesterday.

A.

'organizers had to shovel the stage between acts'

News and vids from the rallies in Madison today. Scout & Jude were there Twittering and sending pix:

Firefighters waiting to enter Rotunda to cheers of "we thank you". #wiunion #solidaritywi

Anonymous is now involved.

Our press, natch, is asleep at the switch. 100,000-plus people showed up in a snowstorm, in 17-degree weather, to accomplish the above, and CNN relegates it to "other news," third item down, on their home page, right above "Sheen to give first TV interview."

I'm sure at some poing a long op-ed will run explaining how they couldn't possibly be arsed to know this was a story, and anyway what the fuck do we unwashed hippies want them to do, anyway? They're just powerless in the face of people's desires.

A.

Mom

Finally got the call I’d been waiting for all week: Mom.

It was Sunday, her school play had closed up shop and she’d finished putting away the props.  After she’d spent the morning tearing down the set, she finally had a chance to get back to me after I left about 912 hectoring messages.

She was doing well. The play was a hit. The superintendent showed up one night and told her he liked it. Even noted that she was valued as faculty member.

One kid flaked out on her, calling in sick to “wash her hair” earlier in the week, thus forcing Mom to go to an understudy and face the wrath of this girl’s father.

She hadn’t marched on Madison. Turns out, her district has been operating without a contract for about two years. Her union head said that if they did do a walkout and they didn’t have that contract language backing them, it was possible for the state or the district to clean house. Instead, she went to play practice. There, she told the kids who were worrying about what would happen to them and to their show that she wouldn’t abandon them.

“Sometimes,” she told them. “You have to make sacrifices for something important. That’s why I’m here with you. But it is a sacrifice, and I want you to know that.”

She then noted that she’d been watching and reading and learning all she could about Walker and his “budget repair bill.” I think the word “ass” came up a few times, which is about as strong as she goes verbally.

The thing that got me was that she told me she’d probably retire this year if she could, next year if she was forced to. I know she can still do the job. She knows it. And yet here we were, planning and abrupt end to an epic career.

Over the course of her career, she explained, collective bargaining and union rights grew to the point of being valuable. While Walker keeps pointing out state provisions and workers rights from the pre-suffrage era, the TV news keeps pointing to public union codification in the 1950s. Both of these things are disingenuous and fail to paint the reality of the workers over the past half century.

The 1959 establishment of public workers union rights via the Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act is akin to the Emancipation Proclamation: a starting point, but nothing more. People didn’t accept proclaimed changes and start handing over rights at that point in either case. Rights, fairness and freedoms were hard-fought and incrementally gained.

In the 1960s when Mom entered teaching, rights meant very little. Principals and district administrators retained much of the power. Today, coaches receive stipends for overseeing certain sports, teachers get extra pay for afterschool activities and such. Mom told me that in those early “unionized” days, the principal would walk into the faculty meeting, provide a giant list of extracurriculars and tell the teachers, “You are each expected to take two of these.” No pay. No right to say no. Just do it.

A few teachers, who were men or had curried favor with principals, would do lousy jobs at these things, Mom noted, while she and other people who gave a crap would kill themselves to make the programs work well.

Their reward? More work: “Hey, Bill is having trouble with (fill in the activity). Since you did so great with the play, why don’t you take that as well?”

That was an order, not a request.

When Mom was pregnant so many years ago, female teachers were expected to leave before they started to “show.” There was no guarantee they’d have a job when they got back, if they’d keep their same class or anything else. Still, it was expected when you were expecting. Nothing was written down. No code or rule could be examined. It was just expected.

Instead, Mom would buy (or Grandma would sew) outfits in varying sizes that were identical. Thus, she had a size 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 blue jumper, for example. As she outgrew each size, she moved up to the next one. She gave birth in June, shortly after the school ended and didn’t miss a tick.

The union also helped implement a “step” program, which encouraged members to gain more education and take on greater responsibilities. Pay was linked lanes and steps, which combined higher degrees with years of experience and credits beyond a bachelor’s degree. While the financial implications meant some grumbling on the district’s behalf, the schools saw more people with continuing education credits, better understanding of technology and higher levels of participation in school endeavors.

Each granule of change was met with an ocean of resistance. Each gain was met with an almost equal loss. Each time, the teachers endured.

Mom and I ended the call with her sounding wrung out. I told her to keep the faith and that I was praying for her. She hung up.

Thursday night the phone rang. It was Mom again. She sounded strange, pensive, uneven. I figured this was it. She had put in her papers.

“I need your help,” she began. “I can’t figure out how to print in something called ‘landscape mode’ on this thing.”

“OK,” I told her. “I can help with that. What are you trying to print?”

“I had to take this test online to be recertified to coach track for the next couple years. It’s this test on kids and medications. I passed, but I’ve got to print out my certificate and the computer needs to be in this ‘landscape’ mode.”

“Oh,” I said, relieved she wasn’t writing her resignation letter. “Let me walk you through this…”

As I did, we talked about the latest proclamation by Walker, the Dems on the run and the way in which the whole process is crumbling around us.

“I was tickled when those senators left the state,” she said. “I hope they stay away a good, long time. It’s all we have.”

Then there was this:

“I’m surprised you had time to call me,” I joked. “Then I remembered the play was over. You finally have some time to yourself.”

“Until tomorrow,” she said. “I’ve got to meet with some people after school at the high school about what’s coming up next for the musical and some other events in the auditorium.”

LA Labor & 'Out of State'

noblejoanie e-mailed me this yesterday: LA Labor representing at the Wisconsin rally. Our fate is your fate.

That being said, today's refutation of a Walkerism:

"Well, we’re actually hanging pretty tough," Walker said in the call, which was taped and made public Feb. 23, 2011. "I mean, you know, amazingly there’s a much smaller group of protesters almost all of whom are in from other states today."

[snip]

We sent a Patrick Tricker, a reporter for the UW-Madison The Daily Cardinal, through the crowd the afternoon of Feb. 23, 2011. It was day two of the state Assembly’s marathon vote on Walker’s measure, which involved hundreds of Democratic amendments.

In an informal survey, Tricker spoke directly to 26 protesters in the Capitol rotunda. About a fourth of the 26 were from out of state, half from Madison and the remainder were from other parts of Wisconsin. He found one from California and one from Alaska.

That’s nowhere near "almost all."

Finally, we asked law enforcement for their take.

"The vast majority of people protesting are from here -- Wisconsin and even more from Dane County," said Joel DeSpain, public information officer for the Madison Police Department.

How would DeSpain know?

"I grew up here," said DeSpain, who attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked 25 years as a television journalist in that city before taking the job with the cops. "I know Madison, this is my town,"

I'm following a bunch of local reporters on Twitter -- you've probably seen retweets -- and I've got to say that local opinion writing aside, they're all attacking this story like it's a tasty, tasty steak, so good on them.

A.

Sick Day

It turns out that after eight days of non-stop work followed by non-stop civic engagement, a body starts to show some wear and tear.  Being cheek-by-jowl with tens of thousands of my fellow-workers and newest friends might have something to do with catching a cold, too.  The end result is that I don't have any new information from today.  Hopefully this will pass soon and tomorrow will be another glorious day.  In the meantime, enjoy some protest pictures from the last week.

As a side note, I fucking love nerds.

This guy was out on Saturday when the tea partiers made their sad, sad showing.  Good on him.

Nerds.

More nerds.

Blurry, but you get the point. People are spontaneously breaking into the national anthem and "God Bless America." Suck on that, Limbaugh.

This is the definitive example of what overreach does.

Wobblies!

Another one of those "thugs" that Malkin loves to get her knickers in a twist over.

I said I fucking love nerds.

More to come later, folks.

Pics from Solidarity Rallies

Send 'em to me.

Dan reports from Columbus.

Cheeseheads in NY.

Here's Texas, via Nerdette. They have pirates. Which is awesome: 

A.

 

Scott Walker Announcement Running Diary

 

Welcome to the show! While A is shovelling ferret shit at the shelter, I'm shovelling Walker shit on the tube. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it...

5:40- Started flipping through the channels on the cable guide trying to figure out what channel or channels will be carrying this thing. Info button says: “A cruel and sadistic leader from another planet wreaks havoc on the people below while a small group of rebels desperately fights back.” Oh, wait… That’s “V.” Better TiVO that anyways just to be sure…

5:45- Got the basement set up for this. Giant Formica table full of fresh Diet Cokes, stack of Wheat Thins, bite tool to keep me from swallowing my tongue and a fresh vial of atropine for when the environment gets too toxic. All set!

Last night, the Missus and I saw some snaps from the Fox News interview with Walker. Anyone else notice that when he’s caught in mid-sentence and he looks kind of lost, he wears kind of a strange and indescribable look on his face? It’s like the look Johnny Drama had on his face when Brooke Shields had him fired for rubbing her with his boner.

5:50- Brushing up on my news of the day. Seems Gov. Bob McDonnell, R-Virginia, told CBS he’s supporting what Walker’s doing. This seems an awful lot like the kid in my class who told me I graded her paper wrong because she “showed it to other students and they agree you corrected things that didn’t need to be corrected.” Nothing like consensus-building among people who a) have no say in the matter and b) are probably as bad at this job as you are.

5:55- Brian Williams previews a story noting that there is new evidence that brain tumors might be linked to cell phone use. Hmm…

 

5:57- The rabbit is trying to chew through the cage right now. I think she senses a disturbance in the force.

5:59- We are told this is a “fireside chat” style piece. While A hit this earlier about not needing to parrot this idea, in my case, it’s an accurate term. My fireplace is out of work, unable to do much and if I attempt to get it moving, the fireplace guy says it’ll probably burn down my house. Decorative, but pointless. Dangerous if it’s doing something. Yeah, that about captures the Walker administration right now. 

6:00- This thing is launched…

The news anchor says that Senate Democrats have been gone 14 days. The graphic says six days. This is going well already…

Decided to watch this in regular vision, as Walker is scarier than hell as it is. No need to crank up the HD for this one. He arrives wearing the standard Republican uniform: flag pin, red tie and assholic smirk. Walker in pure form, has the word “pray” show up in the first 23 seconds.

Walker notes that “Wisconsin is showing the rest of the nation how to have a passionate and yet civil debate about our finances.” Translation: I can’t get these fucking hippies out of my building, so I’ll note that this is likely a learning experience.

6:01- Immediately upon taking to the air, Walker says that he respects the government workers: “I really do!” If you have to say “I really do” chances are it’s pretty low likelihood that you really mean it.

Walker says he’s read an email from an educator, but then said this: “I listened to the educator from Milwaukee who wrote to me about her concerns…” What are the odds the email was read to him? 3:1? 3:2?

6:02- Walker dodges on the issue of collective bargaining. He also says it’s not aimed at unions. He also said it’s probable he’d eat a child if it would balance the budget. I only made one of those things up. He also just used the word “Rheddick” which either was supposed to be “rhetoric,” or “Reddick.” I’m voting for Reddick.

6:03- If you took “jobs,” “worker” or “taxpayer” in the Scott Walker Drinking Game, you’re drunk already. Has anyone told him that public workers have jobs and pay taxes? Can we get Cullen Werwie on that?

6:04- He keeps focus on premiums and how other people are paying more. He also found one union worker who is “forced” to pay dues. She apparently rode in on a unicorn and offered him gold from the leprechaun she captured.

Walker notes that he has a sibling, thus trying to combat the rumor he’s the Manchurian Candidate. His brother and sister-in-law are “typical middle-class family” people who would love benefits like public workers. Nothing like the “my brother says so” argument.

6:05- Keeps focus on the budget. Keeps playing up the contribution to the pension and health care. Fails to note that this has been granted to him by unions and quickly moves along to the “but wait… there’s MORE!” part of the program. Apparently the word “comprehensive” is now a euphemism for “big-ass load of shit that will likely be bad for everyone except the people who helped elect me via huge campaign contributions.”

He brings up his efforts to kill unions and stop pension problems as a county exec.  Anyone notice that he brings up his county government service people? Ever notice that he fails to mention the massive shit storm that happened with the pension, as he dragged his feet for two or three years?

6:06- Walker throws Doyle under the bus, saying that the last bill he passed was something where it was passed in one day and it raised taxes. Anyone tell him it didn’t lead to the chaos he’s seeing or a camel showing up at the Capitol building?

He also refers to the Democrats “hiding out.” I’m waiting for him to put out a call for them to “fork over the loot.” Or something else from a 1930s gangster movie.

I also think I just broke the bite gag.

6:07- He makes a second reference to “out-of-town” protestors, in this case specifically calling out Chicago and Nevada. Apparently he thinks all the protestors are being bussed in from those two outposts. Wonder where the hell those two choices came from. That’s like showing up at the checkout counter with a bible, a chainsaw and a bottle of KY. Not exactly coherent or cohesive.

6:08- You don’t have to like the outcome or the vote. Nice. In other words, show up and get your ass kicked, chicken! Get over here, bitch! Why does this suddenly sound like 3 O’Clock High?

Walker threatens layoffs. Its like “Nice employees you’ve got here. Hate to see them get shitcanned…”

6:09- Walker uses the word punt. How long until we get a “run to daylight reference?”

Walkerism:  “The children of the single mother from Wausau that I referenced earlier before.”  I find myself reaching for the atropine.

Anyone notice that his eyes look like the weird thing from “Dreamcatcher?”

6:10- Closing time:  “May God richly bless you and your family and may God continue to bless the state of Wisconsin. And for all you atheists and agnostics out there, to hell with you. You probably didn’t vote for me anyway… “

TV Anchors set the stage for Mark Miller. Anyone notice how many times the media have had to note that they’re coming to us from “an undisclosed location.” It’s like they’re in a cave and Al Jazeera is filming this.

6:11- Live shot of Mark Miller. He’s got a Wisconsin flag. Wonder who smuggled it to him. I think the over/under is at 642 at the number of times he’ll use the word “rights.”

6:12- He’s about as smooth as tartar sauce. You think he might have practiced this a few times. If he could look any more ill-prepared or more furtive, he’d be in the Law and Order interrogation room. Then again, if I were stuck wearing the same pair of socks and skivvies for six days, I probably wouldn’t be on my A game either.

6:13- Weird moment: Miller tells us that the state workers gave Walker the money and that “this is a compromise that any good politician, any good leader could see.” Miller then says the governor should recognize this. OK, which half of that is correct?

6:14- No sense Miller or the Dems are coming back any time soon. This could be ugly as hell. On the plus side the pizza joints on the square and newspapers are making serious money on this deal. Maybe that’s what Walker meant about increasing private economy.

6:15- TV goes to a “chopper cam” shot of a protest in a candle light vigil. The graphic says it’s Madison. The anchor thinks it’s in Elkhorn. Why the hell do we need a chopper shot of either?

TV promises more. I stopped watching them repeat what both sides have just said.

If George W. Bush had “Mission Accomplished” then Scott Walker just had “Nothing Accomplished.” It’s pretty clear the Dems are staying put, the bill will rot on the deck and that this isn’t going anywhere good any time soon. The longer people have to dig their trenches in trench warfare, the better dug in they get.

Tonight, the shovels are flying.

Thanks for watching.

Doc

Liveblogging! Governor Deadeyes SPEAKS!

At the request of our Fearless Leader, I'll be attempting a running diary that I'll post shortly after Scott Walker delivers his "fire side chat" tonight around 6 p.m.

God alone knows if it's going to work. If you've got anything you'd like me to answer or pick at, post it in the comments and I'll get to it as best I can.

DRAWROF!

 

Doc

Protesters Locked Out in Ohio, Indiana Legislators March Out

The Daily Cardinal is livetweeting the ongoing state clusterfuck in Wisconsin.

Frequent commenter Dan sends this photo of locked-out pro-union protesters at Ohio's statehouse:

 

Notice he's sending it from INSIDE. A state legislator let him in, noting correctly, "lobbyists come in this door."

In Indy, Democratic legislators have taken their act on the road in support of the unions, including private sector unions.  

A.  

What More Should The Unions Give?

Jesus, NPR, suck harder.

The more I look at what's going on, the more I think Walker really didn't think the unions had the stones to stand up to him. I think he and a lot of other governors in this country figured they'd already hammered the unions so flat, with year after year after year of concession demands, and vilification in the compliant press, that they'd just lie down and take this, too. That they'd been broken. That they were so ready to die that they'd lay down and do it.

But, to paraphrase a much better writer than I am, people under siege often learn to endure pain such that their oppressors lose the ability to inflict it. After a while, the beating just feels like a hammering, the noise fades to a dull hum, and you find you can get up one more time than your opponent thinks you can. And that's enough.

A.

More Rampant Union Thuggery

Just look at those scumbags, cleaning the floor on their hands and knees.

Hello again from Madison, Wisconsin.  I've got a question for you all.  Have you read The Grapes of Wrath?

If not, you should.  I read it between 10th and 11th grade--I also tried reading The Scarlet Letter (couldn't finish) and Walden (ditto).  But I read the shit out of that Steinbeck book.  Up to that point, I'd never even heard of the Dust Bowl or the Okies, and it kind of pissed me off--I mean, they could spend pretty much a whole year telling us about asshole Civil War generals, but they left this out?

Anyway, I really, really liked that book.  But I always felt like it was a kind of propaganda--especially the part where the Joad family goes to the itinerant camp run by fellow-workers, and it's a little slice of heaven; the workers keep it clean and organized, they establish security and keep troublemakers at bay, and they even provide music and entertainment.

"Silly," I thought.  They couldn't possibly have been focused on those sorts of things.

If anything, I'm now convinced that's the part of the book that's closest to the truth, because that's exactly what's gone on here for the last week.  Look at that picture up there.  People down on their hands and knees cleaning the public space that they use.  The photo was taken about 10:45 Sunday evening, after the protests had subsided for the day and people were bedding down on the marble floor (Sealy PosturePedic it ain't).  Check out some of these other images:

 

Yes, even the trash is neatly stacked.

People giving what they can to out-of-town sympathizers.

These people were doing a Dixieland version of "Solidarity Forever." It was fucking awesome.

My god, look at the thuggery on display.

These pictures are from Sunday night and Monday morning.  So remember--when you hear about how violent and disrespectful we are here in Madison, you can be 100% certain that the person talking is as full of shit as the sewer system the day after Thanksgiving.