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over whether or not Americans support “ union-busting.”
61% of Americans oppose talking away collective bargaining rights and 33% are in favor it.
FoxNews did issue an “ we’re sorry “ apology later, after they had already been busted. the network could have had an honest mistake with this, but I doubt it. This isn’t the first time that this sort of thing has happened at the network.
I just want to say, if you're a Republican, please go screw yourself.
My girlfriend has been teaching in the Middletown Ohio school district nearly two decades. Thanks to the new Republican Governor, she has been told today that her school is closing and that she's out of a job next year. Maybe she'll keep her job yet, but even this threat is enough. Watching her cry makes me sick of anyone who voted Republican in Ohio. If you did, please go screw yourself.
Republicans in other states are trying to strip workers of rights. Wisconsin. Indiana. Iowa. If you voted for any of these Republicans, please go screw yourself.
You may find faults in unions, but they have done far more good than bad and continue to do so. Do you work weekends? If not, thank a union whether you belong to one or not. Do you have to work 70 hours per week for poverty pay? If not, thank a union. Is your workplace fairly safe? If so, thank a union. Got benefits? Thank a union. They are the ONLY powerful organized force against the likes of the super rich bastards like the Koch Brothers, or the megabanks, or the monster oil companies. And that's why Republicans want them gone. If you think unions are a problem, please go screw yourself. You will be screwed anyway without unions around you.
Our current economic mess is the result of four main factors:
1. Fiinancial deregulation and worship of huge companies, thanks mainly to Republicans and some enablers like Clinton. Clinton, you did some good, but go screw yourself. The deregulation has led to one huge disaster and bailout after another. So screw you Republicans and Democratic enablers for all the tax breaks your CEO buddies get. And for propping up the oil and coal industries so that alternative energies can't get going, so that we end up with environmental disasters and having to go to war for oil. And hey, screw you Obama for not breaking up the banks when you had a chance and for Timothy Geithner. Seriously, screw you.
2. Wars. That would be you, GWB. Please go screw yourself. That would be nearly all Republicans and too many Democrats. Screw all of you who think the Iraq War was something awesome. It just killed people, allowed Iran to run Iraq, and cost us trillions. Trillions that could have helped Americans. Obama? Screw you for taking the easy way out in Afghanistan.
3. Tax breaks for the rich. Go screw yourselves, Republicans. And you too John Kerry and a few others for voting for this crap.
4. Out of control health care costs (which is WHY Medicare and Medicaid become expensive). Screw you, Republicans, for doing nothing to reign them in, for constantly enabling the vulture insurance companies. Screw all of you who are against Obama's attempt to fix this. But don't hurt yourself while screwing yourself because your insurance company will probably just dump you.
Do you ever notice that Republicans preach sacrifice, but it never means for themselves? It means for the average working Joe. For unions. For immigrants. For brown people. In other words, for those who don't vote Republican. It's never for the rich, or for the huge corporations. If you vote Republican, go screw yourself.
Thirty years of Republican policies have made America worse. We now lag in most every way except gun crime. Hey, gun nuts? Go screw yourselves. Go find the data on salaries in constant dollars. You'll find that since Reagan, the super rich have seen their wealth go up a huge amount. The other 90%? It's actually went down. That's right. Your MOM and DAD were better off than you. Congrats , Republicans, on producing the first American generation worse off than their parents. And by the way, go screw yourselves.
For those of you who think teachers and teacher's unions are a problem, go screw yourselves. They are on the front lines every day, making modest pay, doing a multitude of jobs with all kinds of kids (some nearly impossible to teach or even control). They work tons of overtime 10 months of the year for no extra pay, yet you whine because they get summers off. They spend money from their own pockets to supply the classroom. Clueless politicians and anti-teacher jerks without one minute of actual teaching experience tell them how to teach and change their methods every two years, jamming these methods down the teachers' throats. They are threatened with loss of school money or even their jobs if they don't manage to get standardized test scores up. Nevermind that their kids enter the school wholly unprepared to learn, thanks to their family life or the poverty they live in. (For those of you doing nothing to alleviate poverty, mainly Republicans, go screw yourselves.) So much time is now spent on teaching for tests that teachers don't even get to have any fun with their students nor can they impart the joy of learning. It's all about the next standardized exam. Meanwhile, PE goes away. Art goes away. Extra-curricular activities go away. Fun goes away. Then people advocate for private schools who have the luxury of having relatively well-off kids with parents who want them to learn, and still they rarely ever do any better. To those of you who think public schools are a problem, go screw yourselves. You like taking money away from the schools? Go screw yourself. And screw President Obama for his absolutely horrible education policies, just more of the same Bush-like standardized testing and anti-teacher crap. Screw you, Obama.
Republican pundits and politicians like Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich get married and divorced and married and divorced repeatedly, and they have affairs while married. Yet they are seen, by Republicans, as standard bearers of morality, deciding who should get married and who shouldn't. They don't want gays to marry because that will hurt man-woman marriage. Seriously? You can't stay married or faithful yourself, but gay marriage will cause a problem? Homophobes, mainly Republicans, can go screw themselves.
Screw all the lying jerks at Fox, promoting hatred against gays, against blacks, against immigrants, against the poor, against Muslims. Go screw yourselves. If you watch Fox or listen to Limbaugh, please go screw yourself.
CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, the Washington Post, The New York Times, Sunday morning talk shows and everyone else in the media? Go screw yourselves. You spend so much time either parroting idiotic quotes from politicans (mainly "serious" Republicans) and trying to show "both sides of an issue" that you don't bother with facts. Global warming? Let's balance one of the 999 scientists who understand global warming with one of the three Republican-funded hacks who deny it as though there really some question about it all. Evolution? Do the same. Hey media, go screw yourself.
Seriously, I could go on and on. But basically, if you are a Republican, go screw yourself.
Copyright © 2011 Creators Syndicate
Copyright © 2011 Creators Syndicate
by Debbie Williams Wed Feb 23, 2011
All over the country, budgets are supposedly being balanced on the backs of working people. Not only is it wrong, it's a lie. And if you don't know that, you haven't been paying attention. OHbamaMama.
The one thing that is so very, very important for people to understand now, right now, is that government can help you. Because we the taxpayers are the government. I don't want a bridge to nowhere in Alaska, which Sarah Palin said she stopped. I don't think she stopped it, I think someone in Congress did because it was idiocy. I'd have to go back and look it up, but I don't think Palin stopped it because no one knew who she was then, and I wish to God we didn't know who she was now.
There are intelligent people in government, there always have been. There were even reasonable Republicans. But unfortunately, this country has been overrun by the anti-government conspiracists who believe government is out to do them in. And now we have them in government! Just wait until the Republicans shut down the federal government in March and no checks are going out. If they want a revolution, they're going to have one, and it won't be the Tea Partiers, it will be every single one of us who have paid taxes, social security and medicare for years and expect to get something back for our money.
Every elected official can cut their taxpayer paid salaries and benefits before they ever touch the people who work for them and carry their asses. When they do that, then we'll chat about sacrifice for everyone else.
Idiots.
I have never been a member of a labor union, but I support their human and civil rights to have a voice through collective bargaining. In Solidarity.
…over the comments which he made to a blogger passing himself off as David Koch, the conservative billionaire trouble maker well known for passing out sums of cash to his favorite “ conservative “ politicians, Walker included.
Top cop Noble Wray has an issue with Walker saying that he and his criminal cohorts had thought of planting “ troublemakers “ into the crowds of protesters in order to disrupt the peaceful gatherings by the pro-union supporters.
... "I spent a good deal of time overnight thinking about Governor Walker's response, during his news conference yesterday (Wednesday), to the suggestion that his administration ‘thought about' planting troublemakers among those who are peacefully protesting his bill," Wray said in a statement issued this morning. "I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members.
"I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers. Our department works hard dialoging with those who are exercising their First Amendment right, those from both sides of the issue, to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure they can demonstrate safely.
No need to tell you that Walker’s office referred to the news conference which Walker had on Wednesday when he said:
"People have brought up all sorts of different options," Walker said. "As you saw if you've listened to the tape, we shot that down."
As is noted here, the idea was shot down due to the fact that if implemented, it turn out to be a bad political move more Walker. There was no mention of the concern for the publics safety.
….and this would be the plan that Romney implemented when he was running Massachusetts which he now says is not good enough to be a nationwide health care plan. Romney’s state plan had many of the same characteristics that President Obama’s healthcare plan has. Romney’s plan did include those mandatory insurance for everyone rules, as well as fines for those who did not comply. Those are now the issues which he has with Obama’s plan.
During his 2008 campaign, Romney said he would have structured the plan differently but said the Massachusetts plan worked because everyone had health coverage.
As is natural for a Republican, Romney says that the plan isn’t working as envisioned by himself because the Democrats in the state legislature altered the plan and that the now governor ( Deval Patrick ) did not implement it correctly.
During his 2008 campaign, Romney said he would have structured the plan differently but said the Massachusetts plan worked because everyone had health coverage.
So what is possible GOP Presidential candidate Huckabee’s take on Romneycare?
"'We gave it our best shot and I'm proud we tried it because — in a world where we all agreed something needed to be done — we thought this might be a way to fix the crisis we had in health care. Our experiment did not turn out as we had hoped. It cost more, waiting times were higher, quality of care went down, people were greatly dissatisfied and it ended up having almost the polar opposite effect of what was intended.'"
Here comes an educational moment for right-wingers.
A word of advice to conservatives desperately trying to smear teachers and other public employees in Wisconsin: when trapped in a hole, first stop digging. On Monday, the right-wing blogosphere made the mistake of complaining that Wisconsin received millions of dollars in federal education aid when solidly Republican red states get much, much more. Now, the would-be Republican union busters are whining that Badger state students can't read. As it turns out, Wisconsin students outperform their counterparts in those reddest of states where collective bargaining rights are few - or non-existent.
A day after he inadvertently drew attention to the persistent phenomenon of "red state socialism" (that is, the one-flow of federal tax dollars from Washington DC to heavily Republican states), Terence Jeffrey of CNS News protested that "two-thirds of Wisconsin eighth graders can't read proficiently." The implication, of course, is that the unacceptable scores are the fault of overpaid, undeserving public school teachers:
Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.
In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009--the latest year available--only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a "proficient" rating while another 2 percent earned an "advanced" rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below "proficient," including 44 percent who earned a rating of "basic" and 22 percent who earned a rating of "below basic."
Sadly for Jeffrey and his right-wing echo chamber, the data show that Wisconsin schoolchildren out-read the kids in states where Republicans poll best and public workers have the fewest collective bargaining rights. Those know-nothing red states also happen to be where the federal government most heavily subsidizes the local education systems.
The numbers - and the electoral map - tell the tale. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Wisconsin does in fact spend more per student than some of its Midwestern neighbors even as its pupils score less well. But with 34% of its eighth graders students at or above the target reading proficiency, Wisconsin far outperforms the Republicans' solid south (and the national average of 30%). Only Kentucky, which receives substantially more money from DC can match Wisconsin's scores.
Just as telling, the woefully inadequate per student spending levels are propped up only by generous federal spending provided by blue state tax payers. Meanwhile, the bluest of states in the Northeast spend more and get what they pay for. In Connecticut, 43% of eighth graders are at or above reading proficiency. The Nutmeg state spends $14,610 per pupil per year. New Hampshire (39%, $11,951), Vermont (40%, $14,421) New Jersey (42%, $17,620), Pennsylvania (40%, $11,741) and Massachusetts (42%, $13,667) pay the price for better educational outcomes.
At their assault on union rights continues in Wisconsin, so too does conservatives' vile and baseless scapegoating of teachers there. But sadly for the right-wingers trying to smash the unions in Madison, Americans have already seen the future with today's failure in Alabama, Mississippi, Alaska and the other states Republicans call home.
… and some of those ads are being financed by those billionaire Koch brothers. This begs the question, who is Governor Walker really looking out for? The state of Wisconsin, or big business?
Greg Sargent has a take on the ads.
Here's something else that will ratchet up the stakes in the Wisconsin standoff and fuel suspicions about the real goal behind the push to roll back public employee rights: The well-funded conservative group Americans for Prosperity is set to start running ads in Wisconsin, I'm told.
"We're planning to run TV and radio ads in Wisconsin starting tomorrow, as well as host a few events across the state later this week," Americans for Prosperity spokesperson Mary Ellen Burke emails. "Things are happening quickly as the news story in Wisconsin progresses."(…)
Americans for Prosperity, of course, was partly created and bankrolled by the secretive billionaire Koch brothers, who are also major financial backers of Governor Scott Walker.
This looks more like Governor Walker is less concerned about balancing the Wisconsin state budget, and more concerned with making it even harder for employees to earn decent wages and benefits in not only his state, but in others which will follow along if Koch Walker gets his way. Only those states with Republican governors will try this shit.
…and this looks as if this could be the beginning of a new trend for Democrats as a way to stop those union busting Republican governors from giving the axe to teachers unions all over America. I am glad that this is one time where government not doing anything is a good thing.
House Democrats are leaving the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation, The Indianapolis Star has learned.
A source said Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.
The House was came into session this morning, with only two of the 40 Democrats present. Those two were needed to make a motion, and a seconding motion, for any procedural steps Democrats would want to take to ensure Republicans don’t do anything official without quorum.
With only 58 legislators present, there was no quorum present to do business. The House needs 67 of its members to be present."
You can expect this kind of action from most every state that has a Republican governor.
… are aimed more at giving gifts to business in the hope that they will relocate to the state. Of course, those already located in Florida have Christmas all year long thanks to the Republican lead legislature and former governors like Jeb Bush, for instance. The Republican Party has been controlling the state of Florida for a very long time and this has brought the village down to 3rd world status. Under Governor Rick Scott, you can expect more of the same, even worse.
This is where I tell you that the ignorant, uneducated citizens of the state deserve everything that Mr. Scott and the GOP is going to have done to them. The elderly will feel quite a bit of pain, and rightly so. They listened to the Republican lie and voted for it, not that there really was a good choice of candidates for governor to choose from. Even the Democrat candidate was weak.
That being said.
Scotts economic plans most surely favor business, as stated earlier. Under this bums plans, business will pay even less income tax than they do at present. Corporations pay a whopping 5.5% on profits, and Scott will lower that down to 3% beginning January 2012. By January of 2018, there would be no income tax on business. the real kicker in this crap is that less than 2% of businesses pay income tax to the state. Think about this, will you? The citizens of Florida pay no state income tax. The state has a $3 billion deficit and tourism and construction revenue is not going to cover the states expenses. Hell man! With no one paying any taxes, how does this chump and his cohorts think that they can clear up a deficit, much less bring in any type of real revenue?
Some stats.
Florida has around 2.1 million businesses, including for-profit corporations, limited liability companies and other entities, according to Florida Department of State figures. Even that figure excludes sole proprietorships.
However, only about 218,000 businesses filed state income tax returns last year, and only about 24,000 of those actually had any tax liability, Department of Revenue figures show. Florida's 5.5-percent tax rate is already lower than all but 12 other states.
But wait! There’s more!
Mr. Scott will also reduce the unemployment compensation tax rate, which was in the area of $25 per employee minimum. This is another gift because that rate jumps to around $72 this year. Merry Christmas mister businessman!
Mr. Scott’s unemployment plan would also cut back the benefit weeks from up to 26 weeks down to 20 weeks maximum and getting the checks will become harder under Scott’s ideas.
This dirtbag would also do away with some state branches of state government.
Who makes these Republican calculators, because I’d like to send them an abacus to do their math on. Maybe then the GOP could figure out that less money in does not equal more money out to cover expenses. It also wouldn’t equal cutbacks on your citizens need social services.
Okay, this one is funny. As you know, Dems and lefty groups have been loudly insisting that House Republicans in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act should forego the "government run" insurance they enjoy as members of Congress.
One of those GOPers is Rep. Leonard Lance of New Jersey, a fiscal hawk who opposes the health reform law out of opposition to big government. He is in the crosshairs of an ad by Blue America PAC accusing him of enjoying taxpayer-funded insurance.
After that ad started running, Lance's office protested that he is not enrolled in the plan enjoyed by members of Congress, and successfully got the ad pulled. But in response, New Jersey's Courier-Post did some digging and found that as a retired state government official, he and his family do enjoy taxpayer-funded health care on the state level....
Whoops! Rep. Lance's chief of staff appears to realize that by protesting the ad attacking him, he's only created more problems. The aide told the Courier-Post: "I should have kept my mouth shut."
Federal government funded healthcare no good.
State funded healthcare: good
That would be you Governor Walker and the rest of you idiots.
Only five states in the US do not allow collective bargaining for teachers by law:
South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia...
They rank in the same order, 50th, 49th, 48th, 47th, and 44th on ACT/SAT scoresWisconsin's rank? #2 (Google it)
The above comes from an email sent to the “ Morning Joe “ program on MSNBC.
Tracy Fuller, the Executive Board President of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Association has issued a statement on the organization's page. Parts of it read as follows:
Please excuse the caps--this was how it was written
I am going to make an effort to speak for myself, and every member of the Wisconsin State Patrol when I say this.
Break*
I SPECIFICALLY REGRET THE ENDORSEMENT OF THE WISCONSIN TROOPER’S ASSOCIATION FOR GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER. I REGRET THE GOVERNOR’S DECISION TO “ENDORSE” THE TROOPERS AND INSPECTORS OF THE WISCONSIN STATE PATROL. I REGRET BEING THE RECIPIENT OF ANY OF THE PERCEIVED BENEFITS PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNOR’S ANOINTING.
I THINK EVERYONE’S JOB AND CAREER IS JUST AS SIGNIFICANT AS THE OTHERS. EVERYONE'S FAMILY IS JUST AS VALUABLE AS MINE OR ANY OTHER PERSONS, ESPECIALLY MINE. EVERYONE'S NEEDS ARE JUST AS VALUABLE. WE ARE ALL GREAT PEOPLE!!
More:
I don’t believe that the Troopers Association could have possibly predicted, or comprehended the events that are unfolding in front of us at this time. I can agree that it was a tragic mistake for the Trooper’s Association to endorse the Governor, I can’t do anything about it, and they are reaping the benefits of their actions. I do believe they thought any benefits gained would be for all of the members of WLEA, after all, the PCO’s, Field Agents, Capitol Police, and U.W. Police are all in the same union.
Who could have possibly thought that the Governor could pluck one local’s members from a union and identify it as being worthy of bargaining for a contract? Some of the comments and attitudes that have been made and displayed would have you believe that the Governor consulted with the board of the Trooper’s Association about what his plans were in all of this.
And further on, he gets to the meat of the argument:
This bill has some provisions that make no sense, unless the basic intent is to bust unions. One provision makes it illegal for public employers to collect dues for labor organizations. The employer can take deductions for the United Way, or other organizations, but they are prohibited from collecting union dues.How does that repair the budget?
Another provision requires the WERC to conduct a representation election by December 1st each year, to determine if the employees still want the union to represent them. The WERC has to bill the union for the cost of the election. Currently, if a group petitions the WERC to do an election, the WERC covers the cost. Right now, the members have the right to request an election if the majority of the members want to change or eliminate representation. Why create unnecessarily processes?
Does that help repair the budget?
This is where Walker has failed. This is where Republicans will ultimately fail. When the people become EDUCATED and realize what having Republicans in charge actually means, then Republicans lose every time.
I am spending the day configuring what is now my triple-boot laptop, and installing software that I will need for the 2 newer operating systems. I am also installing a newer, bigger desk in my home office,so, there will be no newer posting for some time today as you may have noticed.
If you have been keeping up with the news about the HBGary fallout, then check this out. Since this story has a link to what the company wanted to do to some of its “targets” you may want to think about whether some of your “ friends “ at Facebook could be a spy. More on this later.
Good day.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker finished a bad week with a misstep that emphasized his inability to generate support for his attempt to strip the state’s public employees of collective bargaining rights.
First, the governor’s radical proposal went to such extremes in its anti-labor bias that it sparked a protest movement so large, so steady and so determined in its demands that it is now commonly compared with the protests that have rocked Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries.
Then, the man that badges worn by marchers describe as “The Mubarak of the Middle West” really blew it. Saturday was supposed to be the day when the governor pushed back against the movement that has challenged his radical power grab. The governor’s Tea Party allies attempted to grab the spotlight with a rally at the state Capital. Unfortunately, the much-hyped event, which national Tea Party groups had poured money and organizing energy into generating, drew an anemic crowd of several thousand. Even by the optimistic estimates of the Tea Partisans themselves, the pro-Walker turnout was one-tenth the size of the crowd that came to oppose the governor’s so-called “budget repair bill.”
The governor made things worse for himself by going on CNN and announcing that he had received 19,000 e-mails from the “quiet majority” of Wisconsinites since he made his proposal and claimed that most of them were supportive.
Dumb move. Really dumb move.
Within hours of making his claim, the streets of Madison were filled by what veteran political organizers described as the largest demonstration ever seen in the city. Former Mayor Paul Soglin, a key organizer of anti–Vietnam War protests, said, “We had some big demonstrations in the sixties, but this is bigger.”
Organizers of a 2004 rally featuring Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and rocker Bruce Springsteen, where the crowd was estimated at 80,000, pointed out that Saturday’s protest against Walker’s budget filled a significantly larger space. And, they noted, thousands of addition opponents of the governor’s proposal packed the Capitol.
Mahlon Mitchell, the president of the Wisconsin Professional Firefighters Association, which has been a high-profile participant in the demonstrations, surveyed the crowd while recounting Walker’s boast about the 19,000 e-mails.
“I think I have 19,000 people behind me,” said Mitchell.
Pointing to one edge of the massive audience arrayed before him, he said: “And 20,000 there.”
He pointed to the other edge of the crowd: “And 20,000 there.”
Finally, he pointed down State Street, the thoroughfare that stretches from the Capitol to the University of Wisconsin campus, which was packed with students who have backed the unions: “And 20,000 there.”
Rallying with Mitchell was Wisconsin Education Association Council president Mary Bell, who picked up on the “this-is-what-democracy-looks-like” theme that has become so central to the marches, rallies and pickets that have swept not just Madison but a state where even small towns have seen protests against Walker’s bill.
“The power of government in this state does not come from this Capitol,” she said of the building that was surrounded by teachers, educational assistants, nurses, snow-plow drivers and state engineers, as well as their tens of thousands of backers. “The power comes from the people.”
And while Scott Walker may claim a “quiet majority” of 19,000 e-mails received by his office, a noisy majority of more than 80,000 Wisconsinites braved a winter day to tell the governor that the people have spoken: they’re with the unions.
Copyright © 2011 The Nation
