I don’t even want to know what this means (Ample? Full service? Open? Is this BJ after dark?), so I will leave you with this photo of the Orpheum Theatre marquee in Madison.
Reader Interactions
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by Imani Gandy (ABL)| 94 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
I don’t even want to know what this means (Ample? Full service? Open? Is this BJ after dark?), so I will leave you with this photo of the Orpheum Theatre marquee in Madison.
Comments are closed.
Little Boots
loves it. tomorrow is going to be amazing. not that the last few weeks haven’t been.
Villago Delenda Est
BLAM!
Consider this a divorce!
eemom
That is eleventy kinds of awesome.
Only drawback is, I can’t figger a way to say something mean about Greenwald/Hamsher about it.
General Stuck
Stat of the Day
Number of state lawmakers removed from office by recall in all of American history: 13.
Number of state lawmakers currently facing recall campaigns in Wisconsin: 16.
— Craig Gilbert, noting the “oddity and immensity of what’s going on in the Badger State. But it’s not just their breadth that makes the recall drives in Wisconsin unprecedented in American politics. It’s the national dimension they’ve taken on.”
Now who wants to tell me democrats aren’t fighting back?
That recall sounds about total to me. The only question who will emerge from under Scott Walker’s disguise?
via Pol Wire
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
coming soon, kindergarten cop 2 solidarity in the class
Left Coast Tom
I look forward to Walker’s ‘total recall’ concession speech next year. Hopefully it’ll be as awesome as that of Rep. Bill Baker (Kook-Walnut Creek, CA) who responded to his 1990s loss to Ellen Tauscher by waiting a day, then informing the world of how many generations of his family have lived in CA. Not sure how that counted as a concession, but he was a Republican, after all.
Anyway, I’m off to the mountains…here’s a season-appropriate picture (not mine…yet): http://www.panoramio.com/photo/35510721
soonergrunt
@eemom: Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be accused of it anyway.
Not to be too crude, but my mom told me once that there was a saying in the 50s and 60s that “if rape is inevitable, you might as well try to enjoy it.” It was in the context of changing attitudes about sex.*
Well, if bullshit wailing is inevitable…
long drawn out explanation because somebody is going to scream about insensitivity…of course if bullshit wailing is inevitable…
jl
Thanks for that pic. Cheered me up.
Odie Hugh Manatee
While I love it I want to see it happen!!
A good friend of mine who retired (former Los Gatos, CA career fireman) to our area (south Oregon coast) was born and raised in Wisconsin. We were talking this am and he told me that his Mom has to be spinning in her grave because of what Walker and the Republicans have done. He said she was heavily involved in the union movement during its infancy there and that this is an insult to the memories of those who fought at great cost to bring unions about.
Boy, you want to talk about pissed off? Is he ever! He is no bleeding heart liberal either. He was fuming like a volcano. He wants the Republicans stopped and said if he was younger he would be there looking for asses to kick.
Let’s hope that there are many more like him out there.
Stillwater
@Little Boots: Are injunctions, procedural complaints, stays, holds filed?
What’s the status of the legislation going forward? Can Dems get a judge to hold off on implementing it? And what about recalls, wherezat at?
Little Boots
everyone, tomorrow is the day. if you can get to madison, somehow, do it. tomorrow is the day. from everything I hear, that is when everyone who has not done anything so far is descending on the capitol. not sure it matters, but this is where it’s happening, whatever it is.
jwb
@Little Boots: Hope the crowds are MASSIVE! Stay safe and please file reports when you have a chance.
Little Boots
@Stillwater:
there are court cases filed. I don’t know how effective that is, right now, but anything that slows this down is great. but we need a real rebuke, we need the people, and they need to stick to it. not just some, oh, gee, that’s kind of not how we are bullshit. they need to get these goobers out of office. and the recall efforts seem to be going well.
Little Boots
@jwb:
I will, but internet service sucks down there, always. it’s just overwhelmed. but I will try. and it really is supposed to be huge.
Little Boots
anyone still here?
russell
fucking awesome. that is all.
Mark S.
Geez, I played games in junior high that were higher scoring than this.
ETA: Whoops, that was Wisconsin stinking it up there. Sorry.
General Stuck
@Little Boots:
Dave ain’t here, man.
Angry Black Lady
@eemom: heh.
debit
I posted in an earlier thread that an old guy came into work today. He’s one of those old, crusty, loudly Republican types (possibly even a Tea Party type). When he came in a couple weeks ago to ddrop some stuff off he gave me an earful about “Obamacare”, his dislike of our new governor, and liberals in general. I don’t confront people like, since they pay the bills, so I just made “Mmm” noises and tried to get back to business.
Today he came in to pick up his taxes and he met with someone else. I was trying to tune him out because it gets hard to hear Fox talking points and not refute them. Then I heard him say, “They’re rioting in the streets. They’re going to throw that bum out. You CAN’T take away people’s right to bargain.” My jaw hit my desk.
And later, someone asked in response if he had been a union member. The answer is no. His dad kicked him out at 18, he bummed around, then started to work in a furniture store that he eventually bought and ran until he retired. I don’t know if the guy will ever vote D, but he’s pretty pissed at least one R right now.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Little Boots:
I wish I could be there. Thanks for the update and FSM bless all!
Little Boots
@General Stuck:
well, his loss, dammit.
Little Boots
@Mark S.:
hey, we are sacred, for a few weeks longer.
jwb
@Little Boots: I’m still here. Was catching up on some old threads.
jwb
@Little Boots: I’m hoping for huge beyond huge, Madison to a complete and utter standstill because there is so much traffic from out of town huge.
ETA: when did the edit function get fixed?
Odie Hugh Manatee
@debit:
That’s like my friend I mentioned above but he was a union member (fireman). He’s Republican and he’s pissed off royally about this. He made the point that people who are not in a union still benefit from them and said that without unions, employers can tell you “take it or leave” and bring in some other sucker to do your job.
We need lots of this and hearing this is excellent news!
And not for John McCain. Nor the rest of the Repugs.
kideni
The WI secretary of state has said he’ll hold off publishing the law until the latest possible date, 25 March, to allow for the various legal challenges to make their way through the courts, which means the law isn’t official until then. Dead-Eyes wanted the law enacted Monday, but since the secretary of state is a Democrat (and a La Follette, no less), and the position is elected rather than appointed, he doesn’t get his way on this one. The attorney general, of course, though elected, is Walker’s puppet, which is why there’s no peep from him about the violations of open meeting or open records laws (that’s perhaps also why those challenging the process have been going through the county district attorney rather than the attorney general).
Little Boots
@jwb:
me too. people who have not cared are suddenly contacting me, asking what’s going on, saying they’ll be here. it’s really going to be huge.
debit
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I hope that the staunch republicans who are angry now remember that anger when it comes time to vote again.
And I’m off to bed. It’s been a hell of a week. Night, all.
mr. whipple
My brother, who is the Alex Keaton of the family, informed me that he was voting for Kasich in Ohio because “he was going to fix the state.” Now he sees his biz is gonna be hurt, and his little gooper schoolteacher wife is writing furious letters.
“We didn’t vote for this,” they say. And I say, “No, you are getting exactly what you voted for. SUCKERS!”
Little Boots
@debit:
I hope so too. remember, union member first, gun nut second. that’s all i ask.
eemom
As for lawsuits, I just saw somewhere that a judge denied a Temporary Restraining Order against the law going into effect. That’s not good, but it’s not devastating either.
Little Boots
@mr. whipple:
sadly true. the cruelest thing is when people get what they voted for. everyone wake the hell up!
fraught
@kideni: “Dead-eyes” is the only thing I can think of when I see him. I can’t even hear his voice. They used to say that junkies eyes are dead but this guy has the deadest eyes I’ve ever seen and I’ve known plenty of junkies. How does he do that? What could possibly be going on in his mind?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Odie Hugh Manatee: We’re getting lots of new non-Republicans here in OH, who are police and firefighters who were born and raised R and just got hosed by the Rs, some of whom outright lied about whether they would. These are not happy campers. And they have the union organization in place to GOTV. It’s gonna be a rocky ride but interesting to say the least.
Keep us posted as you can Little Boots! MADISON!
ETA: I haz a happy that edit works again.
Little Boots
gotta rant: I know people weren’t voting for this when they voted for Walker, but they were certainly voting for an asshole and a bitch who clearly put the rich ahead of the poor every chance he got, and who clearly put tax cuts ahead of decent services every chance he got. pisses me off. I hope people learned their lesson, but still, what did you think this bastard was about, people? it really does piss me off.
eemom
@debit:
such stories warm the cockles of my evil old heart.
And it’s as I suspected when the whole mess started. Old working class people, even them as is otherwise fooled by republicans, have dyed-in-the-wool memories of unions being GOOD things. This shit goes against the grain for them.
kideni
@fraught: He’s a religious nutcase, so that may be part of it. You combine him with Lt. Gov. Crazy-eyes and it’s just creepy all over. I can’t listen to him either; it’s all talking points and petulance, so what’s the point?
RareSanity
Hey BJ’ers,
Just got back from a trade show, that thankfully ended, just before the the affects of the earthquake ripped through my Japanese employer and Japanese coworkers.
It has been absolutely crushing to our company “family”, the looks of disbelief, confusion, worry and exhaustion, are tearing me up inside. Just thinking about how, when I travel to our office in Yokohama, the approach into Tokyo-Narita airport, flies right over the area of farmland of the most played video on the news.
I saw one of my coworkers at the airport, as we where leaving, and as we were talking, all I could think was, “I will do anything I can to help you. Even if that is getting on a plane to Japan right now to help you, your families, and your countrymen.”
It is so depressing and hits so close to home. On Monday morning, I have to walk into an office that is 50/50 Japanese/American, and I just don’t know how to do that…
Anyway, don’t want to bring down the room, just needed to vent for a little…
General Stuck
@RareSanity:
I’ve been watching a number of clips off and on today, and it is just heartbreaking the power and destruction the quake wrought on Japan, and that video of the wave crossing that farmland was just biblical in it’s utter destruction of everything in it’s path.
Little Boots
damn, raresanity, that is so touching. don’t know what else to say. hope everyone you know is okay.
RareSanity
@General Stuck:
Even though the great majority of my coworker’s families live in Kanagawa prefecture, just south of Tokyo, I can’t even imagine having that kind of catastrophe occur “at home” and being 7000 miles away.
As the President said, it’s just heartbreaking…
RareSanity
@Little Boots:
Luckily, for the most part, our little family seems to have been spared.
Having worked for this company for close to 8 years, I have learned that the Japanese people are some of the most gentle, warm hearted, generous and proud people on the face of the earth.
As the relief efforts get going in earnest, I would just ask any of you, to give something to help these people. I know this isn’t a particularly spiritual bunch, so even if you can’t give money, try to send some positive energy over the Pacific.
Little Boots
@RareSanity:
would like to. any suggestions, or is red cross or other major organizations still the best way to go.
bonkers
Too funny. Wisconsin might have one successful recall already:
“Recall target, Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), talks a good game about family values.
But protesters outside the Hopper house this week in Fond du Lac were met by his wife who reportedly came out and told them: Hopper no longer lives there, but with his 25-year-old mistress in Madison.”
http://malcontends.blogspot.com/2011/03/sen-randy-hoppers-wife-tells-protesters.html
Dude doesn’t even live in his district. Mistress works at Repub lobby firm (ahem). They need just two more. You can help here:
http://www.recalltherepublican8.com/
Omnes Omnibus
@eemom: I am looking for the link, but the procedure for an Open Meetings violation requires filing a complaint with the DA or the AG. If neither opts to pursue an action, the complainant may file a suit. As of yesterday, there at least six separate complaints filed with both the Dane County DA and the WI AG. Senate Dems, Assembly Dems, Madison mayor, Dane County executive, and a few unions IIRC. More to come, I would expect.
RareSanity
@Little Boots:
If you guys would like, I can try and find out if there is an organization, that my coworkers may think could help a little more directly on Monday…
Odie Hugh Manatee
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
One thing that really pissed off my retired firefighter friend is that phone call Walker took from ‘David Koch’. He said that the call proves (to him) that Walker has sold out the people of Wisconsin and that he has no doubt that the real Kochs have had dealings with other Republicans in the country.
He’s now convinced that the Republicans have sold us out. He thinks that if there were any real justice left that Walker would not only be removed from office for what was said in that call but that he would also be tossed in jail for what he said in that call.
He’s stopping by for a visit tomorrow around noon and I’m sure that we are going to have an interesting conversation. This guy looks like Yosimite Sam, beard, mustache (gray though!), short and stocky. He now runs a local fishing guide service in his retirement and his business card has ol’ YS on it, pistols ablazin’…lol!
My wife was talking to a friend of hers a bit ago (about the tsunami here) who is married to a city cop and they are worried that if this spreads that their union may be under attack next.
Republicans are instilling fear in their base, that’s for sure. But this time the fear is of them, not the Democrats. I hate what is happening out there but this is may be turning into a ‘come to Jesus’ moment for them.
If so, it’s about fucking time!
Little Boots
@RareSanity:
that’d be great. really do want to help.
Little Boots
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
that phone call was so major. people that did not care, or at least did not believe they should care, were suddenly moved by hearing their governor is all his cynical glory.
James E Powell
@General Stuck:
I’m not telling you anything, I’m just saying that as of today, this is all just talk. Democrats have been doing a lot of talking for thirty years.
Omnes Omnibus
@James E Powell: It is not just talk in Wisconsin. Recall efforts are underway. The first steps in the legal challenges to the CB law have been filed. People are in the streets.
Little Boots
@James E Powell:
something much bigger is happening out here in the Midwest, really. it ain’t just words. though I know why people are cynical, something is changing.
kdaug
Ever wonder what’s in Spock’s scanner?
General Stuck
@Omnes Omnibus:
With supporters like Powell, who needs an opposition.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Little Boots:
Walker is blowing off the call like it was some small, inconsequential prank but I think it damaged not only him in Wisconsin but the Republican party in general. Like my friend said, ‘if he did this and thought it was Koch then he has no doubt that it’s really happening with the real Kochs’.
The Real Koch; it’ll kill ya if you drink it in front of someone who cares. I hope it was a drink of hemlock for the Republicans.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Link to an article on the legal challenges being filed.
My intertron connection is troublesome this evening so I am not sure if I will be able to find and post anything more up to date.
Little Boots
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
walker is a dumb fuck, really. he won a battle, but he is a dumb fuck and will lose the war. without even knowing it. not surprised he is trying to bluff his way through the humiliation of that stupid call.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@RareSanity: Please ask them. I would like to promote a “Japanese approved,” if you will, organization to which donations can be made. Thanks, and good thoughts.
kdaug
@soonergrunt:
Retelling that little quip cost Clayton Williams the governorship down here in Texas.
General Stuck
About the thirty year thing, it has been terribly destructive to this country, but it was the country that embraced Reagonism/Republicanism and rejected liberalism.
Shortly after the 1980 election, one of my bosses at the federal agency I was working at, and an agency at the top of the wingnut hit list, replied to my saying this won’t last, meaning the countries swing to the right. He just smiled and told me to get used to it, because it will be long term.
I, in my clueless youth, disagreed, but turned out very wrong. So it is much to simplistic, imo, to blame this on dems. The country wanted to run a political experiment, and put the liberal/progressive 60’s and 70’s and especially Vietnam, in the rear view mirror, and try out the Shining City on A Hill thing. They did, and we did, and here we are in shambles in many ways in this country. Certain dems, and groups of dems like the DLC twats, surely enabled the wingnut philosophy to have it’s way with us, but in the end, it was a majority national effort to hand over the keys to the right.
I think the worm is turning some, maybe a lot, and agree with Little Boots on some sort of shift happening. It may not last, or it may be too late, but something is happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear. And I don’t think it does anyone on our side any good to cling to the comfort of expected failure from democrats.
Little Boots
@General Stuck:
and the country has been punished. and the country is now going to have to change its mind. as it has many times before.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@General Stuck: There is, at least here in OH, a shift, as LEOs and fire folks, most of whom have always been reliable GOP voters, have felt scales fall from their eyes with Gov. Napoleon Heartland(TM) and his administration running roughshod over all public unions. It can be an enormous shift as these groups have a GOTV organization in place and they are pissed. And they are also people unaccustomed to being quiet about getting fucked over, so it is gonna get interesting, I believe.
Served
@Little Boots: I totally agree. I’m close to moving from Illinois to Madison in the next month for a new job, and as soon as it becomes my state government, I’m hitting the ground running. Seeing as how I’m losing civil union rights and leaving a fairly strong D government that’s done the right thing in the past year, I’m going to fight this BS as a Wisconsin citizen from the moment my first box is moved. Wisconsin deserves a strong government, representative of its people.
But, nonetheless, Go Bears.
hamletta
I think it’s time to look for a new job.
I’ve been mocked for being smart and thinking about process.
I knew corporate life would kill me.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@Little Boots: He was probably anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-immigrant, etc. So long as the right people are targeted by the Republicans they vote for, they have no problem with the GOP screwing over citizens. But now they’re in jeopardy too. I’d tell them to FOAD except we need everyone we can to go up against the monied rulers of this country.
Mnemosyne
@Little Boots:
I was looking at the website for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and it sounds like the disasters haven’t paused long enough for the Red Cross in Japan to even figure out what’s needed.
Doctors Without Borders has already started sending medical teams to the worst-affected areas, so that’s always a good place to send your money.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@RareSanity: Sent $50 to Red Cross today. Probably more down the road. I had to. I couldn’t not.
My thoughts are with your work family and all of Japan.
Little Boots
@Served:
ya know, wisconsin right now could probably use a little illinois reality check. we’re used to clean government, and can’t quite grasp that we have dishonest, scummy, corrupt government. we could probably use a reality check right about now. not that I’m implying anything about Illinois (spoiler: I totally am, but really we need it)
RareSanity
@Barb (formerly Gex):
You are a Great American (no, really) :-)
I had a little string of luck, while in Las Vegas for the trade show. As soon as I can identify a group, every penny I won (about $300), is going straight to Japan. I’m hoping by Monday, that there will be a little more clarity as to exactly what is needed and where the most help can go.
I’ll try and update everyone when I get better information.
smedley
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Motts apple sauce plant in Rochester, NY did just that. Used the high unemployment rate to force their workers to negotiate lower pay and benefits. Motts argued there were enough out of work people who would jump at a lower pay rate with little or no benefits. Yet Snapple Motts had over 555 Million in profit last year.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/09/update-motts-strike-settled.html
A good read if a bit depressing.
JGabriel
By the way, speaking of Japan … I don’t if anyone has noticed, but the quakes have not stopped yet. They are still coming at the rate of about 6-7 per hour, mag 5 or larger, including another 6.8 quake off the east coast of Honshu about 4 1/2 hours ago.
.
Served
@Little Boots: When our government is corrupt, it’s corrupt, but we deal with it and move on. We’ve convicted our past criminal govs, but that tends to overshadow the positive things our government does representing the people of the state when it’s not in corrupt hands.
We know how to do it right just as much as we know how to do it wrong. Accountability is our strong point. This Walker fool has got to go.
(Also, we have jackbooted union thugs etc.)
Steeplejack
@hamletta:
Maybe you just need to go into stealth mode for a bit. Sometimes people don’t like newbies coming in and showing them up (in their minds), when probably you’re just trying to be helpful.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@Served: Hell, you could maybe even argue it means your government is cleaner than most – since you actually clean out the crooks occasionally.
Martin
Fuuuuuuuuck.
Little Boots
@Martin:
that can’t be good.
asiangrrlMN
@RareSanity: I’m so sorry. It’s gotta be hard to deal with it first hand like that.
@mr. whipple: Right on. Like I said, anyone who voted for these nimrods got pretty much exactly what they voted for. I’m glad your brother and his wife are pissed–I hope they remember this in 2012.
@Little Boots: I agree with you as well. No, Walker didn’t run on this specific platform, but what he DID run on was pretty heinous. People need to stop voting for these ashhats.
smedley
@General Stuck: Yes.
freelancer
@hamletta:
If you’re not on the board, “Big Think” is an anathema. That is all.
asiangrrlMN
@hamletta: Getoutgetoutgetout. Or, do as Steepman suggested.
@Steeplejack: Hi. How you be?
Angry Black Lady
@Little Boots: it’s not just political junkies in blogistan anymore. “real americans” are pissed.
that’s interesting about fond-du-lac. i just had dinner with an old friend from college who lives in fond-du-lac. people are pissed. finally.
Little Boots
@Angry Black Lady:
they really are. Scotty may have done the state, and the world, a great service.
and hey, asiangrrl, good to see you.
Angry Black Lady
@General Stuck: i see what you did there. nice.
Angry Black Lady
Crikey, three front-page posts within 10 minutes.
THINGS NEED TO STOP HAPPENING!
anyway, Texas is coming for your vagina.
(or something less gross sounding.)
Little Boots
@Angry Black Lady:
Texas is gonna be sorely disappointed.
asiangrrlMN
@Little Boots: Hi, Little Boots. Keep safe, tomorrow, you hear? Check in as you can.
@Omnes Omnibus: I assume you are going tomorrow as well. You be safe, too.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@smedley:
My wife and daughter work for a national department store chain and they are amped up about this. The store sabotaged unionization efforts there about ten years ago (when the wife only worked there, she was one who pushed for it). Some of their stores are union and the non-union stores get a tidbit of what the union stores do whenever a new contract negotiations yield a better contract. It’s what the company does to quell unionization efforts.
They are hoping that a resurgence in unionization efforts will help to get one established here for them and if this shit ramps up enough it just might give them the momentum they need to accomplish their goals.
As it is, they get screwed over continually by the management by being called down from their departments to cashier/checker because the company deliberately under-staffs the that position and saves money by not paying the workers from other departments the differential they would get if they were cashiers. The management then bitches when their departments can’t get the jobs done that they are staffed for (because they keep losing department hours to the checkout lanes).
They are continually pushed to do more with less people and hours, and the store manager pockets a tidy bonus every year for saving the company money. Usually their departments fall behind and only catch up whenever there is a “surprise” (that is announced in advance) inspection by corporate HQ lackeys. Then they are pushed to get everything done in a day or two so they can put on “The Grand Illusion” when corporate shows up for the ‘inspection’.
They suffer, the store director gets extra money and corporate lackeys get to make a show of it by strolling around pretending all is perfect in their part of corporate nirvana. Thus is life in the non-union trenches. I hope this crap Walker and the rest of the Repug cronies are pulling blows this whole thing up in their faces.
It’s the least they deserve.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Sorry, missed your post. The blog seemed dead, so I drifted away and got started on Saturday’s crosswords. And I got started on my three-day weekend. Yee-haw! Looking forward to the time off. Didn’t get home until midnight tonight. Yikers.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Good for you. Expand a bit. I got home around midnight myself. And now, I’m struggling to stay awake–which means I should probably go to bed. Night.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Night-night. See you tomorrow.
Villago Delenda Est
@bonkers:
The Italians have a precedent for dealing with asshole politicos and their mistresses.
Just sayin’.
soonergrunt
@mr. whipple:
And that needs to be pounded into the heads of every one of them who suffers from acts by politicians they voted for.
soonergrunt
@kdaug: Thank God I’m not Governor, then.
Of course, this is Oklahoma, and it probably would be laughed off. We had Governor Frank Keating a few years back who, when asked what he thought should be done about the teachers–they were unionizing pretty heavily over working conditions and wages–replied “well, homicide seems like a good answer.” Cue most of the politicians and media people in the state with variations on “what? don’t you have a sense of humor?”