Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

When I was faster i was always behind.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

People are weird.

So very ready.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

You cannot shame the shameless.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

You are here: Home / Police and thieves

Police and thieves

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Scott Walker’s plan to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights doesn’t strip these rights from firemen and policemen. This isn’t so surprising, since police are real Murkins, whereas teachers are evil soshulists who indoctrinate our children with unAmerican ideas, but it turns out that police themselves are surprised by it:

“We all have jobs to do and all of our jobs are important jobs so I don’t see why we’re exempted,” said Bill Drath a firefighter and member of the Wisconsin Professional Firefighters Association Local 487. Drath says union members appreciate the gesture from the governor, but they don’t agree with the plan. “The elimination of collective bargaining and what’s been in place in Wisconsin for 50 plus years is wrong,” continued Drath. “It’s a step toward dictatorship, not democracy.

[….]

Both unions have now thrown their support behind fellow state employees. Police and firefighters have shown up in large numbers to join protesters at the state capitol. “Our organization simply can’t stand idly by while the collective bargaining rights of so many in the state are stripped from them,” continued Palmer. “We feel that he may be exempting us today, to come at us tomorrow,” commented Drath. “Divide and conquer.”

I wonder if rank-and-file police will be able to get this guy fired (h/t commenters):

The father of Wisconsin’s two most powerful state lawmakers was just picked to lead the Wisconsin State Patrol.

Department of Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb, with Gov. Scott Walker’s blessing, announced the appointment of Stephen Fitzgerald, 68, to the position Tuesday that will pay Fitzgerald $105,678 a year and boost his public pension just as he presumably nears retirement.

Fitzgerald’s eye-rolling appointment also follows his defeat in the fall election for Dodge County sheriff by a 2-to-1 margin. So he’s been seeking employment and just bounced back big time by landing a law-enforcement gem.

So that’s where we’re at, Republicans in Wisconsin are telling some public employees to sacrifice, while handing out tax-payer money to their own retired unqualified father who just lost an election.

For shame.

Reader Interactions

114Comments

  7. 7.

    gbear

    Here’s a statement from last wednesday from the president of the WI Law Enforcement Association:

    I VALUE THE CAPITOL POLICE, AND THE U. W. POLICE. I VALUE ALL OF THE POLICE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICERS OF ALL OF THE AGENCIES IN OUR UNION, AND THE STATE TROOPERS, AND THE INSPECTORS OF THE STATE PATROL. I VALUE “ALL” OF THE SUPPORT STAFF OF ALL OF THE AGENCIES AROUND THE STATE. I DON’T KNOW HOW ANY OF US COULD FUNCTION WITHOUT ANY OF US AROUND THE STATE WE ALL NEED EACH OTHER.
    __
    I VALUE THE BUREAU OF FIELD SERVICES, FIELD AGENTS OF LOCAL THREE, NO LESS THAN ANY OF THE OTHER MEMBERS IN THE UNION. I AM HERE FOR EVERY MEMBER OF THIS UNION AND ALWAYS THOUGHT I HAD BEEN UNTIL THIS WEEK.
    __
    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 PERCIEVED BENEFITS PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNOR’S ANNOINTING.

  9. 9.

    Zifnab

    I wonder if rank-and-file police will be able to get this guy fired

    Maybe if we could get some video of him giving legal advice to a 20-year-old dressed like a pimp or prostitute.

  11. 11.

    Polish the Guillotines

    It’s times like this I’m proud to be a Californian. Sure, we’re in serious financial trouble, but we didn’t fall for the GOP line this time around. I can only imagine the union-busting efforts Governor E-Bay would’ve attempted. Frankly, this is where I see us getting out ahead of the curve: Jerry Brown isn’t a union buster and the unions know it. I think they’ll be able to work out compromises knowing that it’s not a back-door attempt to break them up.

  14. 14.

    Beauzeaux

    So Fitzgerald is the father of???

    The only others mentioned in the story are Walker and Gottlieb. He’s not their father is he?

  15. 15.

    BD of MN

    Fitzgerald is the father of the two brothers who head both the state senate and state assembly…

  17. 17.

    Zam

    I’m so glad you all have been able to share my hell this past week. What the fuck happened to my home state?

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    Can open theft get any more blatent?

    What the hell does it take to get one of those goddamn Republicans thrown in jail?

  21. 21.

    WyldPirate

    So that’s where we’re at, Republicans in Wisconsin are telling some public employees to sacrifice, while handing out tax-payer money to their own retired unqualified father who just lost an election.
    __
    For shame.

    O/T, but this is small time bullshit compared to what Obama and his SEC and DOJ are doing with regard to the free pass Wall Street has gotten for wrecking the economy in the first place.

    You can read about it Tiabbi’s new article, “Why isn’t Wall St. in jail?”

    Make sure you have somewhere convenient to puke in if you happen to read the article.

    We are so fucking done for as a country.

    ETA-to fix blockquote formatting and to add one sentence.

  23. 23.

    BGinCHI

    If you’re the Governor, and you are going to collude with the leaders of both houses of the state assembly, then making their old man the head of the state police is a good move. Look at the dividends it’s already paying off in trying to chase down the Dems from the State Senate.

    Sounds like a criminal conspiracy to me.

  25. 25.

    JCT

    My favorite part:

    Department of Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb, with Gov. Scott Walker’s blessing, announced the appointment of Stephen Fitzgerald, 68, to the position Tuesday that will pay Fitzgerald $105,678 a year and boost his public pension just as he presumably nears retirement.

    Classic, as they complain about how union member benefits are too expensive. These guys are beneath contempt.

  27. 27.

    sherifffruitfly

    This is what WI people voted for. Let them rot in it.

    Maybe come next election, they’ll have learned something. (shrug)

  29. 29.

    General Stuck

    And of course, Sarah Serendipity sees an opportunity to inject acquired wisdom from being a half governor and sister unionist, to talk some sense into her Union Brothers and Sisters, to lay down their arms and surrender.

    My message then and now to good union brothers and sisters is that you have another option. You don’t have to kowtow to the union bosses who are not looking out for you, but instead are using you. You can join millions of other union members in a commonsense movement to help fight for the right causes in our great country – for budgets that share the burden in a truly fair way and for commonsense reforms that take power away from vested interests like union bosses and big business lobby groups, and put it back where it belongs – with “We the People.”

    This genius can only come from an enhanced intellect derived from standing out in her personal field of dreams. This pander from faux concern for her alleged fellow unionists to see reason in wingnut governance, to in fact end collective bargaining and therefore the union itself is the pure, highly distilled dingbattery, that only Sarah can bring.

  30. 30.

    bemused

    I’m wildly curious what is happening in Madison today after the Breitbart/Koch bros patriots have come to save Walker’s butt. How big is the crowd, how many teabaggers and are they being buttheads? Did they bring their own misspelled signs?
    Who is covering this heavily today? I’m certainly not getting any satisfaction from CNN or CSPAN and MSNBC is showing their crime freak shows.

  31. 31.

    inkadu

    @Violet: You can live in Costa Rica for about $1,000/month. Probably less if you like vegetables. And I think after a year, you’re eligible for health care.

  33. 33.

    inkadu

    @bemused: Fox was giving it a lot of coverage last night; at least they know where the fight is, even if they’re on the other side.

    If not any of the other networks, maybe Al-Jazeera can spare some reporters for Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and Egypt to cover our own local uprising?

  34. 34.

    WyldPirate

    @Violet:

    What would you suggest we do and where can we go?

    There’s no where to go. Nothing to do but to hunker down and try and put beans on the table and live the best life you can.

    The “Master’s of the Universe” have won. They’re simply tightening the noose now and looking for a way to bring back the company story. Why the fuck should they care about the health and retirement benefits of a piddling little bunch of middle class Americans when they have 2BN+ customers in emerging economies to take up our slack as their money makers and bullshit product purchasers?

  35. 35.

    inkadu

    @Violet: I’ve never been, but it’s apparently up there with a few South American countries eager to lure US retirees … If I was on a fixed income, I’d definitely be thinking about it.

  36. 36.

    BD of MN

    @gbear: at first I thought that the all caps thing was just a poorly written memo, but reading a bit more at wlea.org it really appears that this guy is yelling (and running away from the endorsement as fast as possible)

    although this “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” is quite the Hoocoodanode moment…

  41. 41.

    General Stuck

    So that’s where we’re at, Republicans in Wisconsin are telling some public employees to sacrifice, while handing out tax-payer money to their own retired unqualified father who just lost an election.

    Same old GOP, where everyday in the wolf lair is just another George Washington costume party .

  42. 42.

    cathyx

    Maybe he’s worried that if he makes any cuts to the police and fire departments he might get the same treatment as was done in Arizona during that shooting that John wrote about.

  44. 44.

    WyldPirate

    @BGinCHI:
    Read the article I posted and see if it doesn’t sicken you. It ties in with all of this Koch Bros. craap, union-busting, etc.

    We are getting smoke blown up our ass by the supposed “good guys” in DC–they just tell us the sweet little nothings we want to hear while they do what their pay masters want done.

  45. 45.

    dmsilev

    @Jules: My, he sounds upset.

    My heart bleeds.

    Though I will note that it’s something of a positive sign that he felt it necessary to defend himself. Maybe with enough criticism and carefully targeted praise, he can become more sensible.

    dms

  48. 48.

    Jay

    What’s the level of support for the protesters from cops and firemen out there? Thought I saw an item indicating it was decent.

  50. 50.

    Blue Carolinian

    Gee, WyldPirate, why not turn on some Linkin Park and cut yourself?

    Craaawliiing iiiiiiin my skiiiiin

  51. 51.

    BGinCHI

    @WyldPirate: I know man, it’s fucking depressing. All you can do some days is love the people you love, do some good work, and try to make your corner of the world a better place.

    Still, I’d like to kick the shit out of a billionaire once a month or so just for exercise.

  55. 55.

    BGinCHI

    Oh, and though it will make you apoplectic, there’s a pic of Joe the Plumber speaking at a rally in Madison.

    John McCain’s legacy:

    Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber.

  59. 59.

    WyldPirate

    @BGinCHI:

    Still, I’d like to kick the shit out of a billionaire once a month or so just for exercise.

    It is literally going to take armed violence to turn the tide in the US now. It will take a while for it to come, but that is all that will end the downward slide we are on now.

    People are all “hopey-changey” looking at this show of non-violent “protest” being put on in CheeseHead land. It’s window dressing just like Egypt. Nothing is going to change.

    Why? Money talks and the rest is just bullshit walking.

  60. 60.

    Blue Carolinian

    Someone who flogs Matt Taibbi and whines accuses protestors of “bullshit wanking”.

    L O L!

  62. 62.

    bemused

    @wobblybits:
    Thanks!
    Rooting around I saw a video (not from today tho) that cracked me up. Inside the Capitol, a Fox reporter was on camera and protesters kept yelling “Fox Lies”. One guy was loudly tenacious and kept yelling “Fox Lies” continually. The exasperated reporter said to him, if you have an opinion & he replied with a fuck, yeah expression, “Fox lies”. Hilarious.

  67. 67.

    Blue Carolinian

    This is becoming shades of 2005 when the Republicans overreached.

    Las time it took them for years, Now theyve done it in six weeks!

  70. 70.

    JenJen

    Pretty typical: Malkin, Breitbart, et al are trying to gin up a nontroversy about a group of Madison physicians at the protests who are willing to assess people there and provide them with “sick notes” for work. Video here.

    The videographer “confronts” some of them, and the doc at 1:24 is freaking awesome. :-)

    @Jules: Oh, my. Sully appears to be in high dudgeon. Last paragraph is a doozy!!

  72. 72.

    Carol

    @Wyld Pirate:
    Armed violence revolution usually ends in some kind of bloodbath against anyone who is less than sufficiently enthusiastic about the revolution. I prefer a more humane approach. Ghandi freed millions and left a democracy in place that doesn’t spend it’s time in blood vendettas against “counterrevolutionaries”.

    In turn they end up in tyranny against the very people they hope to liberate: China, Revolutionary France, Russia. Or they enable tyrants like Hitler and Mussolini when people tire of the constant violence and disorder.

  74. 74.

    WyldPirate

    @stuckinred:
    LOL. Fuck man, I’m just a dirty old hippy. I’m not going to fuck anyone up unless they come rapping on my door making mischief. If it comes to that, me and Mr. Mossberg w/20″barrel and 5 each 00 buck will have something to welcome them with,

  75. 75.

    DougJ®

    @Jules:

    I think he is a heartless, lying, insulated asshole, though no worse — and possibly a bit better — than most of his establishment media cohort. But, yeah, I sympathize with his illness.

  76. 76.

    MikeJ

    @WyldPirate: SO you think violence is the only solution but you aren’t willing to do anything about it. In addition to being a moron you’re a coward too.

  78. 78.

    gravie

    The doc at 1:25 IS freakin awesome. He’s completely polite and calm and his contempt for the guy asking the questions is palpable.

  79. 79.

    gbear

    This is cool:

    And staff at Ian’s Pizza one block west of the Capitol said Friday a couple dozen of their pies have gone to protesters — purchased by supporters from coast to coast.
    __
    People have called in orders from New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Illinois, Arizona and California, said Nick Stratman, a manager at Ian’s.
    __
    Brendan Wilson, another manager, said a call came in Thursday night from someone in San Francisco who ordered $300 worth of pizza.
    __
    For the out-of-state orders, which began Tuesday, Stratman said the restaurant takes the first name and location of the person placing the order so employees delivering the pizzas can announce to hungry protesters who and where they’re from. They’ve been received “very well,” Stratman said.

  80. 80.

    JenJen

    @MattR:

    I love how the video of that doc cuts as soon as the doctor asks if the videographer is from Madison.

    Exactly. I’m kind of surprised this O’Keefe wannabe even left that particular doc in his essay, because he wasn’t doing him any favors. I grinned like a damned fool throughout that thorough pwn3ing. :-)

  82. 82.

    Jeffro

    “Our organization simply can’t stand idly by while the collective bargaining rights of so many in the state are stripped from them,” continued Palmer. “We feel that he may be exempting us today, to come at us tomorrow,” commented Drath. “Divide and conquer.”

    Pretty darned savvy of them…I think the Koch-ites are running out of options…

  84. 84.

    WyldPirate

    @Blue Carolinian:

    Someone who flogs Matt Taibbi and whines accuses protestors of “bullshit wanking”.

    OK, smartguy/smartgirl. How’s about telling what has been happening to union membership in the past 30 years since Ronnie Raygun broke the flight controllers union. How’s about telling me a bit about how many “right-to-work” states there are. How’s about telling me what has happened to “middle-class” wages and benefits over the last 30 years.

    They pieces of the “American pie” aren’t being divided nearly as evenly as they once were. Not even close.

    The “game” is rigged and both Dems and Rethug pols are dancing to the tune of the rich boys that are pulling their strings and filling their pockets with campaign contributions bribes. The rethugs are just more blatant about it while the Dems will smile at you and whisper platitudes about making things better for the little guy while their pockets are getting filled up by the money boys that really call the shots.

  86. 86.

    stuckinred

    @WyldPirate: Aw dawg, I’ve seen that kind of talk get some dumb ass fucker who take it seriously get hurt. Guess I’ll always remember the intellectuals that would urge “direct action” and then di-di mau!

  87. 87.

    Three-nineteen

    @Church Lady: Yes, and the unions have already agreed to all the actual budget fixes in the bill. The only thing they have asked Walker to cut from the bill is the collective bargaining agreement. Walker refused to do so, citing the need to address the over $3 billion projected shortfall in the 2011-2013 budget, which was added to by Walker’s tax cuts that passed last month. So, the protest now, as it always was, is about union busting, and Walker doesn’t care about the deficit so much as cutting funding for things he doesn’t like.

    Also, Politifact may have gotten something wrong. A budget fix bill in WI only triggers if the budget deficit is over a certain amount. I have seen claims that the current deficit amount does not require a budget fix bill, but Politifact says as fix was needed without backing up the statement. I’m not sure which is true.

  88. 88.

    very reverend crimson fire of compassion

    The situation with the cops in Wis. reminds me of Egypt, where the army’s unwillingness to negotiate with labor unions right now has one major exception–the police force. NPR quoted an Egyptian cop as being worried about the fact that the military’s raising their salaries at the moment, because he’s afraid the government will use the police to break the other union strikes.

  89. 89.

    Blue Carolinian

    You’re so depressing, it maes you KEWL man!

    Sorry, I got over that at 18. Go back to masturbating with velcro.

  91. 91.

    Blue Carolinian

    You’re so depressing, it maes you KEWL man!

    Sorry, I got over that at 18. Go back to masturbating with velcro. Either that or put your money where your mouth is and go be John Brown.

  92. 92.

    AnotherBruce

    Ummm, has anyone asked if what Walker is doing is legal? Isn’t there a right to freedom of association guaranteed in the constitution?

  93. 93.

    Blue Carolinian

    P.S. you might want to drop the insinuation that the Yellow Peril “took er jerbs!” or pretty soon you will be reading Pat Buchanan.

  94. 94.

    katjam

    I’m curious about all the of the Koch-heads who are planning to attend the WI counter rally. How do they have so much free time? Are they taking days off from work because unions fought for vacation and personal days as well as weekends? Are they retired and free to come because they have those hated social security and Medicare checks arriving in the mail? Have they ever depended on one of those checks being delivered? Did they attend public school? Do they scoff off the need for fire and policemen? Do they do their own street plowing? Do they have their own wells and out houses so they are in no need of city water and sewage services? Did they ever use a public library or enjoy a public park? Do they ever worry about losing their life savings in a run on their bank?
    I’m curious because they sure seem to want to turn the US into a third world country where they haves have and the have nots just barely survive.

  95. 95.

    WyldPirate

    @MikeJ:

    SO you think violence is the only solution but you aren’t willing to do anything about it. In addition to being a moron you’re a coward too.

    You should really read a little about the labor movement in the US, you dumbfuck. Collective bargaining rights were gained by violence in the US. That violence was what caused the capitulation of money-boys who were exploiting labor. It is the biggest goddamned reason we even have a middle class (that is rapidly disappearing, BTW).

    I live in a part of the country where there aren’t any unions. None. They’ve been wiped out. People are openly hostile to unions in the South.

  97. 97.

    jwb

    @BGinCHI: I don’t know, wyldpirate seems deeply misnamed, neither wild nor a pirate, but just a forlorn pessimist advocating getting mad and responding by burying our collective heads in the sand since we can’t do anything anyway.

  98. 98.

    Blue Carolinian

    I’ll leave it at this:

    Whaat we’re seeing in WI is the reverse of Reagan firing the air traffic controlers.

    This combined with a govt shutdown is the end of any political capital the GOP won in 2010. Terri Schiavo and SS privatization all over again.

  99. 99.

    JPL

    Aah..the tea party at work..since I don’t have a pension you shouldn’t either.

    3:25 p.m.: During what has been mostly a peaceful day of protest, at least one Walker supporter complains of a painful encounter.

    Larry Oppelt, a trucker from Delavan, says he was kneed in the groin by an angry pro-union marcher.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,………………………….
    Oppelt was on the Square with his wife and teenage son. He says another Walker supporter tried to knock his hat off.
    Though Oppelt says he supported public unions when they first started, he said he now feels they have grown too powerful. He says that as a truck driver in the private sector he has to pay for his own retirement and his own health benefits. It’s a struggle, he adds. That’s why, he says, he came to the Square on Saturday.

    link

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @Violet:
    Looking up Costa Rica ran across this tidbit

    The beef cattle are raised on grass; the meat will taste differently from corn fed cattle. The cuts of meat at the local restaurants are also different. Chicken tastes like chicken.

    Good to know, chicken always tastes like chicken.

  101. 101.

    El Cid

    @JPL: Clearly we need a new program of Palmer Raids, and Coal & Iron police, and Pinkertons, and the American Protective League.

    He says that as a truck driver in the private sector he has to pay for his own retirement and his own health benefits. It’s a struggle, he adds. That’s why, he says, he came to the Square on Saturday.

    He’s got a good point.

    If you have a hard time because you’ve been screwed out of something other people have, then the best thing to do is make those other people lose it.

    Everyone’s better off if no one has any benefits. That way you’re all equal.

    I mean, you may have a shittier life if you do that to them, but at least you’re a man about it.

  102. 102.

    Chad N Freude

    Upthread @29 the Sarah Palin quote contains

    take power away from vested interests like union bosses and big business lobby groups

    Palin wants to take power away from big business lobby groups. Apparently we have passed through the wingularity and have come out the other side.

  104. 104.

    JPL

    @El Cid: There’s a new thread upstairs and I copied my post there, too. The guy is bitching about teachers making 40,000 but not Wall Street. He has no clue.

  105. 105.

    Citizen_X

    Larry Oppelt, a trucker from Delavan, says he was kneed in the groin by an angry pro-union marcher

    Well, that sucks. I’m completely against that sort of…

    He says that as a truck driver in the private sector he has to pay for his own retirement and his own health benefits. It’s a struggle, he adds.

    OK, I’d knee the fucker in the balls, too, if he’s that dense.

  114. 114.

    Steeplejack

    @Jebediah:

    Touché. I guess my real interest was in whether there have been any actual, say, “Hey, gringos, come on down!” ad campaigns. For immigration/retirement as opposed to tourism.

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