Got this in the mail today. Someone sounds scared:
RECALL ALERT! I URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP NOW!
Hello My Friend,
Last November, you and I witnessed a historic election will not forget. All across the country, voters elected leaders who share our principles of fiscal responsibility and economic freedom.
In Wisconsin, our newly-elected governor and newly-elected majority in the legislature immediately went to work on the issues you elected us to do. Governor Walker called the legislature into a Special Session, and I am proud to say we have already enacted a number of bills to kick-start job creation and economic development in Wisconsin.
But now, more than ever before, I need your help!
Governor Walker recently introduced a budget repair bill to help Wisconsin climb out from the massive budget deficit we face. In order to address our problem, Governor Walker proposed that government employees pay a modest amount of their pension and health insurance costs -- something individuals in the private sector began doing long ago.
But with these bold new measures, comes a battle.
As you have seen, this is not sitting well with the leaders of those government employee unions who are desperately trying to undo last November's election. First, they tried to bully and intimidate me into abandoning my principles. When that didn't work, the minority party in the senate fled the state in an attempt to procedurally block any ability to pass the bill. Now they have filed a RECALL against me and seven of my colleagues. Democrats are amassing a huge war chest to go after those of us who have the courage of our convictions. They are already gathering signatures.
I am asking for your support so I can fight back. Please contribute $1000, $500, $250, $100, $50 or even $25. Please know that any and all contributions are very much needed so I can promote our message of fiscal conservatism.
Government employee union representatives and their members have come out in full force against Governor Walker's proposal. The protests are daily, and the political unrest is escalating. Now they are threatening me with this RECALL for standing firm to my beliefs of smaller government, less taxes and creating jobs in the public sector.
But you and other voters spoke loud and clear in November. You gave us a mandate to change the way government operates in Wisconsin. For too long we have ignored the real problems of our fiscal challenges, and the time to fix them has come. But change is HARD, and the opposition is FIERCE.
I have always said it is more important to do this job than keep it. But I will not lie down. I will keep fighting for what we believe. I know you will join me in this fight.
I look forward to and appreciate your support.
Sincerely
[signed]
Randy
Randy Hopper
P.S. - Our fiscal conservative principles are under attack and I need you help. Please also consider contributing online at XXXXXXXXXXXX or by mailing in the enclosed card today!
This looks like the kind of fund-raising appeal written by some consultant who will collect 30% of whatever comes in; so if you're in a giving mood, why not see just how strong Hopper's convictions really are by dropping some coins in this bucket?
The Journal-Sentinel wasted little time in criticizing last night GOP power grab:
But the Republicans went too far in their zeal to bust the unions and too far in their stubborn tactics to accomplish that mission. They are forcing these changes on an unwilling state at great cost - and they still haven't filled the budget hole the original measure was designed to fill.
And then,
Republicans, in the end, did what they had said they would not do: They cast aside provisions in the "budget-repair" bill that actually dealt with the budget and took an up-or-down vote on ending most collective bargaining. Fiscal matters require a Senate quorum of 20; the Republicans have only 19 members.
The editorial specifically calls out the Brothers Fitzgerald, which is almost as much fun as watching video of Scott Fitzgerald running out of the conference committee like a thief being replayed on every news channel this morning.
I'm sure various polling firms are going to be pounding the pavement in Wisconsin pretty hard this weekend. I can't wait to see what the numbers look like next week.
Since Wisconsin is about to devolve into a rage-filled cesspool of vitriol for what one can only assume will be the next year and a half (seriously, folks, think about that for a second: we may be in the middle of what amounts to a 2 and 1/2 year election season here in the Badger State), so take a moment an appreciate this gnarly use of a surfboard:
Pretty cool, no?
The thing that impresses me the most about this little trick is that the surfer (whose name is Zoltan Torkos, also impressive) is actually wearing a leash. I don't know how he's able to keep it from getting wrapped around the board during the kickflip.
Regardless of how the current run of state senate recalls works out, I still think a successful recall of Scott Walker isn't likely, but the more more the Guvna and Fitzgerald try to bull rush legislation, the better the odds that Walker -- or anything he manages to get done during his tenure -- is not long for this world:
We're still trying to clarify the details. But it looks like Wisconsin Republicans have decided to make their move, redefining the union-busting portions of the budget bill as non-budgetary and voting through those provisions tonight.
The irony here is that the union-busting provisions really are not budgetary -- they're simply an attempt to eliminate unions in the state. But Gov. Walker's argument throughout has been that they are budgetary measures and necessary to avert fiscal catastrophe.
More details as we get them.
Late Update: Word we're getting is that the state unions were basically caught flat-footed by this move, did not see it coming.
Unions can probably hold out on whatever Walker does to dismantle them for a calender year, so by all means, please keep up the fine work.
MORE: Let the shitstorm begin! I think we can now expect at least three senatorial recalls, possibly more.
It's sorta pathetic watching someone who really should know better fall flat on his ass when trying to make a point, but if you want to see a tuckus do a Triple Lindy and stick the landing, go no further than to Marquette University's very own right-wing shill esteemed professor of something John McAdams, who is able to unearth vast demographic insights into the listenership of NPR from a single voluntaryonline poll.
I'm sure that for his next post Prof. McAdams will explain to the world why Ron Paul will be the next President of the United States.
Here's Charlie Sykes trying his damnedest to spin the disastrous results of the recent WPRI poll that came out this weekend:
Bottom line: three weeks into the fight, Walker (a) needs to sharpen his messaging, and (b) while the unions have clearly scored some points, this fight is eminently winnable.
It's such a measured and sedate statement that Sykes had to print it in bold to give it any energy.
Contrast this glass-is-half-full sheen with his post on Election Day morning:
Holding a fundraiser in the midst of a budget 'crisis' and free-falling approval ratings, because that's not at all an easy place for demonstrators to target.
Everything Scott Walker seems to touch seems to turn to shit these days.
Samuel Gompers believed with all his heart that if a worker was properly and fairly paid for his work, he could provide for himself without having to hold out this hand to a caseworker for government-provided benefits. He was a champion of collective bargaining.
Collective bargaining in the years since has played a major role in America’s economic miracle. Unions represent some of the freest institutions in this land. There are few finer examples of participatory democracy to be found anywhere. Too often, discussion about the labor movement concentrates on disputes, corruption, and strikes. But while these things are headlines, there are thousands of good agreements reached and put into practice every year without a hitch.
Part of successful collective bargaining is honest, straightforward exchanges. A number of Presidents have observed that of all the meetings in the Oval Office, the most direct, productive, and useful have been with the leaders of organized labor. Straight talk has always been a feature of these exchanges, and that’s a tradition I want to continue here today. You and I may not always agree, as President Konyha said, on everything, but we should always remember how much we have in common.
I can guarantee you today that this administration will not fight inflation by attacking the sacred right of American workers to negotiate their wages. We propose to control government, not people. Now, today I want to express again my belief in our American system of collective bargaining and pledge that there will always be an open door to you in this administration.
[…]
Some people would have forgotten — except your president very graciously reminded you — that I am the first man to attain this high office who was formerly president of an AF of L - CIO union.
~ Ronald Reagan, 3 September 1981. Remarks in Chicago, Illinois, at the Annual Convention and Centennial Observance of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.
Walker claims he's acting as Reagan would, but the fact of the matter is that Walker does not fundamentally understand how unions fit into Reagan's worldview. Re-read the second to last paragraph quoted above:
I can guarantee you today that this administration will not fight inflation by attacking the sacred right of American workers to negotiate their wages. We propose to control government, not people.
Scott Walker is proposing to do just the opposite: he's using the levers of government to deny people the right organize for their own economic well-being.
In many of Reagan's other writings, in particular those supporting the Solidarity movement in Poland, the Gipper lays out that unions are a check against government power and abuse. He was incredibly eloquent about reserving a place at the table for unions and that's one of the reasons why there were so many Reagan Democrats, many from union households that supported him. Read the whole speech here.
If you want to read the epitome of a snotty piece of east coast bias, just head on over to the Daily Dish and check out why Andrew Sullivan just can't be bothered to grace humanity with his opinion on events here in Wisconsin.
Like the NYT, the WaPo and many other news sources, the Dish has focused on the horrors in Bahrain, the looming confrontation in Iran, riots in Libya, and the sudden earthquake in the Middle East, not a newly elected governor trying to curtail government spending, especially on healthcare for public sector unions. Readers are very irate. Well, we make choices here. But we're of no party or clique, which may be why I'm not that galvanized by a partisan mudfight.
OK, I will concede that the problems of fat drunkards with funny accents and even funnier headgear are not of the world-historical import whatever country Sully has decided to become an expert on this week, but, Jesus, could he do us the courtesy of at least politely masking his contempt?
For a lot of people here, this bill is a human rights issue. It's not a life-or-death human rights issue, but it cuts to the core of people's economic way of life. That's not something to dismiss as unworthy of a great mind who feels it necessary to shine alight on the struggle for freedom no matter how dark the corner of the world where it occurs.
Sullivan's problem isn't a partisan mudfight, it's that Wisconsin isn't sexy enough for him, and when you throw in something as dull as a labor dispute, well, that's just a recipe for apathy. It's cold here, we don't really offer anything Coasties can't get a better version of in Boston or where ever; we're basically the place where people's aunts and uncles live. Even our corruption is painfully uninteresting. A friend from out East once lovingly called Wisconsin the "Random State -- too big to be small, too small to be big, easy to miss if you're not looking for it." Sullivan's post seems feels like he's draining that compliment of it's warmth so that he can wax pretentiously about events in exotic lands (Even though I've never read much Bahrain blogging at the Dish before.)
So on behalf of the Random State, I'd like to apologize for being so boring; so middle American; so familiar to take for granted, yet just distant enough to ignore. We're only your neighbors. We'll try better in the future. Maybe we can turn Wisconsin Dells into a concentration camp or encourage the executive of Calumet County to rule with an iron fist. Would oppressing women help? Just say the word and we'll turn Ashland into a hub of the world sex slavery trade.
Now, please, go on telling us what country we're supposed to give a fuck about this week...
In an interview with Mike Allen, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) criticized President Obama for failing to adopt the recommendations of the Bipartisan Deficit Commission, of which Ryan was a member:
"I was on the commission. And you know what he did? He didn't accept -- he didn't take one of the big recommendations of the commission, he basically disavowed the commission."
Of course, Ryan himself actually voted against the commission's final report.
Jonathan Chait: "You know what a good follow-up question would be? "So, Paul Ryan you voted against the commission's proposals! How can you attack Obama for failing to endorse policies you voted against?""
Here's just a few that have come out with editorials. I image more papers will wait for their Sunday editions to address the issue. Nearly all of the papers acknowledge that concessions need to be made by the state workforce. None of them, however, are blind to Walker's efforts that have nothing to do with fiscal responsibility and everything to do with opportunistic politics. The Northwestern, in particular, comes out swinging.
[T]here are other parts of the budget repair bill that lawmakers should jettison:
• Changes to compensation packages were discussed during the campaign -- changes to fundamental union organizing rules weren't. Those rule changes aren't needed to pass this budget repair bill. They should be introduced separately and allowed a full public debate.
• There appears to be no intellectually consistent justification for the exclusion of police and firefighters unions from compensation changes. Walker's opponents have called it political payback. At the least, though, it is political cowardice inconsistent with Walker's promise to make the hard choices.
[Parts of the bill have] to do with Walker trying to weaken the unions.
The bill is rife with policy items — proposals that have no direct fiscal impact on the state. Walker has no business putting them in this bill. If they merit passage, they should stand on their own.
We're also troubled by the speed with which this bill is passing through the Legislature. Yes, the state has serious financial problems that need addressing soon. But do legislators, much less the public, understand the impact of each proposal in this bill? Hardly.
Besides the collective bargaining changes, the proposal about medical assistance programs is a big issue. The bill would let the state Department of Health Services make many changes in programs without being passed by the full Legislature. That takes away our rights, through our representatives' votes.
Unions, although not in the position of power they once were, serve a useful purpose by standing up for the rights of workers and providing checks and balances against unbridled power.
Walker should be content with attempting to gain concessions from unions the traditional way, through good-faith bargaining, not by dismantling them.
Truth be told, the bill is the beginning of an effort to roll back the right of workers. Its lesser-known provisions set a dangerous precedent for granting the executive branch broad emergency powers where an emergency does not exist. The speed in which the bill is heading from proposal to adoption is also of concern. It is slated for a vote Thursday, just six days after it was released to the public. The fact that a national special interest group, The Club for Growth, began broadcasting ads in support of the proposal at the same time the bill was released shows that this is not a homegrown effort to fix Wisconsin's problems, but an orchestrated, ideologically driven campaign.
[...]
You do not need to be sympathetic to public unions to see the danger and unfairness in unilaterally ending collective bargaining rights without a single negotiating session. Not only did the governor refuse to negotiate, he took that approach to the next level by proposing to end the right of some public unions to negotiate on health or pension benefits. Then he plays brazen politics by including some public unions and exempting others. It serves no legitimate purpose other than politics to treat a corrections officer differently than a police officer.
And the governor takes direct aim at the ability of organized labor to remain organized. Currently, state and municipal employees who are represented by a labor organization have union dues deducted from their salaries. Except in the case of public safety employees, Walker's bill prohibits salary deductions for labor organization dues and allows a general employee to refrain from paying dues and remain a member of a collective bargaining unit. These measures are designed solely to destroy unions.
What members of the state legislature have before them is not a budget-balancing bill. It is a sweeping 144-page rewrite of collective bargaining rules and the state civil service system.
Not only does it rewrite state labor relations, but it increases the level of state debt, gives the executive branch the authority to rewrite medical assistance provisions unilaterally and grants other sweeping powers such as allowing the Department of Administration to sell or contract for the operation of state heating, cooling and power plants without oversight from the legislature or the Public Service Commission.
"Walker was not forced into a budget repair bill by circumstances beyond he control," says Jack Norman, research director at the Institute for Wisconsin Future -- a public interest think tank.
"He wanted a budget repair bill and forced it by pushing through tax cuts... so he could rush through these other changes."
"The state of Wisconsin has not reached the point at which austerity measures are needed," Norman adds.
In a Wednesday op-ed, the Capitol Times of Madison picked up on this theme.
In its Jan. 31 memo to legislators on the condition of the state's budget, the Fiscal Bureau determined that the state will end the year with a balance of $121.4 million. To the extent that there is an imbalance -- Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit -- it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January.
You can read the fiscal bureaus report here (PDF). It holds that "more than half" of the new shortfall comes from three of Walker's initiatives:
$25 million for an economic development fund for job creation, which still holds $73 million because of anemic job growth.
$48 million for private health savings accounts -- a perennial Republican favorite.
$67 million for a tax incentive plan that benefits employers, but at levels too low to spur hiring.
In essence, public workers are being asked to pick up the tab for this agenda. "The provisions in his bill do two things simultaneously," Norman says. "They remove bargaining rights, and having accomplished that, make changes in the benefit packages." That's how Walker's plan saves money. And when it's all said and done, these workers will have lost their bargaining rights going forward in perpetuity.
Out of respect for the institution of the Legislature and the democratic process, I am calling on Senate Democrats to show up to work today, debate legislation and cast their vote. Their actions by leaving the state and hiding from voting are disrespectful to the hundreds of thousands of public employees who showed up to work today and the millions of taxpayers they represent.
So is not negotiating a labor contract, but whatevs.
I'll probably say more on this later, but I have yet to hear anyone make the connection between the protesters doing their thing in Madison this week and the Tea Party -- and that's a shame.
Aside from being ideologically antithetical, the actual seem quite similar; from hyperbolic placards to the organizing of disparate agendas under the umbrella of "government spending." Unions would be wise to take this opportunity to reach out to potential allies to form a single coalition that can effectively counterbalance the supposed emergent power of the TP.
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- University of Wisconsin leaders fear that Gov. Scott Walker will spin off the flagship UW-Madison campus from the rest of the UW System.
The leaders wrote to Walker on Tuesday saying they've learned that next week's budget proposal may include a provision to remove UW-Madison from the UW System. The officials say such a move would create unnecessary duplication and result in higher costs to taxpayers.
The letter was signed by UW Board of Regents President Charles Pruitt, Vice President Mike Spector and UW System President Kevin Reilly. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press.
Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie told AP on Wednesday he could not confirm anything about the budget. He says details including UW System funding and flexibility will be released in the governor's budget next Tuesday.
Where the hell was that policy proposal during the campaign?
We'll be following shit as it hits the fan over at our Tumblr page today.
It did not take us long to figure out yesterday that Tumblr is kind of an ideal platform on which to follow ongoing events such as the budget, er, "discussions." The dialogue over there is interesting in so far as it's not being conducted by the usual suspects in the Cheddarsphere's echo chamber.
Thirteen-thousand and two-hundred dollars is a guaranteed absolute minimum of how much money my father stands to lose March 13th if Governor Walker’s bill gets through the state legislature. His contract includes $3 to every hour of sick leave and vacation he doesn’t use. There are also other ways to accrue hours and I don’t claim to know much about the finite details about that but over the many years he’s worked in the Department of Corrections, he’s banked 4400 hours x $3. That benefit is gone as of March 13th if his union contract is voided by Governor Walker’s bill.
Abe Sauer at the Awl was in Madison today for the state workers' rally.
The cynic in me doubts any opposition efforts are worthwhile. Eliminating the collective bargaining rights of state workers is probably something that will ultimately be settled in court, and who knows how that will shake out.
The rally was organized in a matter of days and got a pretty good turnout, but it's a little disheartening to realize that this level of organization is about five months too late.
I can be something of a masochist when comes to watching movies. For example, a few months ago I forced myself to sit through "The Last Airbender" out of a morbid sense of curiosity. Within the first 11 minutes of the film I had given up hope and determined the movie was beyond salvage ... and then it just continues to underperform beyond my exceedingly low expectations. There are bad movie people can watch for camp value, but Airbender was just a textbook example of how not to make a movie.
I actually find films like that enjoyable on a didactic level, which is why I can't wait to watch the complete disaster that will assuredly be "Atlas Shrugged, Part 1." Look upon this work, mortals, and despair:
Good sweet Jesus does this look like a epic piece of shit. It's no wonder the film can't find a distributor and will likely have to settle for an unconventional theatrical release strategy (like viewing parties in private homes) or, perhaps more likely, go straight to DVD.
The bottom line is that this isn't a seriously made movie at all. It's what's called an ashcan copy, or a work of adapted art that's made for no other reason than to maintain a copyright claim (which tend to lapse after a set period of time, particularly when it comes to film rights). Here's Variety just before the film started shooting:
Cameras began rolling over the weekend [June 12-13, 2010] on a five-week shoot for "Atlas Shrugged Part One" with Paul Johansson directing from Brian Patrick O'Toole's script. [Producer John] Aglialoro would have lost the feature rights if the film wasn't in production by Saturday.
That's basically a polite way of saying that the producer scrapped together what they could just before the deadline. Basically, the movie was made for the sole purpose of biding time for the producers reboot the franchise a few years down the road with a better cast and a larger budget.
There wasn't so much as a single actor cast as early as two weeks before the movie started filming last spring. So there probably was not a lot of rehearsal time. Not exactly the proper way to kick off a proposed trilogy.
Perhaps an even spookier omen should be the fact that Aglialoro is also credited with writing the script. Why is that odd? It's because Aglialoro has no other experience in film. He's a multimillionaire sporting goods maker and CEO, but CEOs aren't known for writing compelling PowerPoint presentations, let alone dramatic scripts. If the dialogue in the trailer sounds like a quarterly finance report and is the only thing more wooden and lifeless than the acting, well, know you know why.
By the way, Aglialoro has had the film rights for the last 18 years. It's likely he just doesn't know what he's doing, which for Rand fans who actually want to see a quality production of the film get made in the near future is bad. Aglialoro will retain the right for a long time to come.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Scott Walker proposed stripping nearly all government workers of their collective bargaining rights. And as a warning shot across the bow, he told Wisconsin reporters Friday that he's alerted the National Guard ahead of any unrest, or in the event that state services are interrupted.
This is the stupidest statement I think I've ever heard come from a sitting Governor of this state.
The optics are just horrible. Not only does it harken back to the union-busting days of the early 20th century, but to do it with the National Guard sounds downright dictatorial.
This is something that has the potential to turn Walker into a national laughing stock and earn him denunciations from every corner of the state. This isn't a bargaining tactic: it's intimidation and the calling card of someone who has no interest in negotiating with good faith.
Walker has just handed public unions a PR gift. Walker is basically equating locking public employees out of work with integrating southern schools a generation ago. Walker is doing more to undermine public safety by threatening to deploy the National Guard unnecessarily than any kind of action by public employee union could possibly be considering.
The press should demand that Walker produce evidence that civil unrest is imminent for him to so recklessly use his authority to put the NG on alert.
MORE: E.D. Kain puts the situation's potential rather succinctly:
This new class war is bound to end in tears. Indeed, in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is planning to send in the National Guard if public employees resist his efforts to end their collective bargaining rights. Class warfare, meet actual warfare.
Kudos to MSNBC for not only reporting this delightful story, but for making the first three words of the headline the deliciously visual “Scratch Harry Baals.” Simply divine.
This has been another edition of Headlines of the Damned.
I'm not even going to pretend like there's a good way to introduce this story:
On Jan. 27, an American named Raymond Davis allgedly shot and killed two men who were following him on motorcycles in a lower middle class part of Lahore. That's pretty much where agreement ends.
Shortly after the incident Davis was arrested by Pakistani police. He remains in Pakistani custody, with Pakistani officials insisting that he should be tried in the country. The U.S. counters that Davis, as a diplomat, is immune from prosecution, and is thus being "unlawfully detained" by Pakistani authorities. U.S. officials haven't said much about Davis - only that he is a "member of the technical and administrative staff" of the embassy in Islamabad, but ABC News reports that he has a background with U.S. Special Forces and runs Hyperion Protective Consultants, LLC, "a company that provides 'loss and risk management professionals.'" Two days after the incident, the embassy in Lahore released a statement calling the shooting self defense, accusing Pakistani authorities of violating the Vienna Convention, which governs the countries' diplomatic relations.
That's a plot straight out of a Bourne movie/novel.
Like a lot of bloggers in Wisconsin, Kevin Fischer has been celebrating the Packers' victory in the Super with posts insinuating that Negroes can't handle such revelry in a civilized manner and such, which, for Fischer, is the kind of bullshit we've come to expect from this idiot man-child, so we'll leave the issue of his latent racism for another time. What we want to know is what gives this fucking bang-wagon jumper the place to celebrate the win in the first place?
No one in the Cheddarsphere has been as vocal in his disdain for Aaron Roger and Ted Thompson as Fischer has been. Here's just a sample of some of Fischer's greatest hits:
Ted Thompson has to be the bonehead of the year. 12 July 2008
Thompson is the #1 villain in this entire fiasco. 29 July 2008
Packer Nation is full of fans who have had it up to here with Brett Favre. As shocking as it seemed months ago, many of Favre's adoring supporters have now dropped him like yesterday's newspaper.
They subscribe to the Ted Thompson-Mike McCarthy theory that the future is down the road, we're moving on, and as we move in a new direction, it's simply time for a change.
It's time for a change.
My goodness gracious.
It certainly seems to me that the Aaron Rodgers camp sure sounds a lot like [President Obama]. 26 July 2008
The Green Bay Packers and their bozo GM Ted Thompson 15 August 2008
Packer losing streak: 3 games (the total number of games lost all last season)
A genius, that Ted Thompson. An absolute geniuS. 10 October 2008
Unlike Packer GM Ted Thompson, Favre is a class act. 19 July 2008
As recently as this season Fischer continued to feel the need to coddle an ego-maniacal prima donna instead sticking with the team. Good all, fucko.
Let's e perfectly clear about this: Kevin Fischer was wring about Ted Thompson's personnel decisions. Fischer was embarrassingly wrong and even in the face of such rampant wrongness he can't admit to just how fucking wrong he was and own up to his idiotic errors.
So until Fischer owns up to his prior aggressively asserted stupidity, why doesn't he just do us all a favor by shutting the fuck up and enjoying the flavor of a big old bag of dicks?
"Best New Oshkosh Blog …
The mysterious “JB” was a frequent commenter on other local blogs and the Northwestern Forums before finally realizing that he made sense more than everyone else … [H]e always seems to find amusing things to share with his readers. I check his site daily, twice, to see what he’s got to say."
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