Tell me what’s going on in Madison/Ohio/Indiana.
If you’re in any of these states, there’s no substitute for boots on the ground. If you’re just an outside agitator like me, here’s the links for helping out in Madison that I put up before.
Give to Wisconsin State Senate Democrats.
Order pizza for protesters here (probably too late for that right now).
Solidarity rallies here.
General food/organization supply fund for Madison protesters here.
Conservatives thought that they had the upper hand, but the tide has turned. You can’t explain that.
Hunter Gathers
Wait until next week when Boehner fails to hold his caucus together, causing the government to get shut down. That’s when the real fun starts.
Greg
Ian’s is open til bar time at 2am or so. It might not be taking orders because they’re so backed up, but it’s worth a shot if you want to send pizza.
Martha
I didn’t go down to the Capitol tonight, but will get back there tomorrow night. I have to say it is really amazing in there. The emotion and good cheer and positive, collective sense of working together for something.
I hear that Walker’s demonization of age 50-something nurses and teachers, mostly women and lots of them nonpolitical until now, is not going over well at all. They are taking his nastiness toward them personally, as any normal human being would.
Also lots of the local government entities are checking in tonight and saying they do not want to end collective bargaining. Of course they were Walker’s cover. Busted!
Punchy
I want what you’re smoking.
What kind of pizza does Sully enjoy?
jank_w
Not from one of those states, but here’s a link to a Woody Guthrie song about Calumet, in my state. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz7oguguIZE
jharp
Here in the bigot belt (Indiana) it’s all over but the shouting.
Governor Daniels has made it clear that he doesn’t support the bill. For now.
Comrade Luke
I’ve been hearing that the tide has turned since ’08. If it turns any more the Republicans will control both houses of congress and the White House.
Davis X. Machina
@Comrade Luke: @Comrade Luke: It always takes a while for the leaders to catch up to the followers….
General Stuck
@jharp:
Sounds like Governor Daniels may be due a countertop inspection.
freelancer
Knowing how to use words good and in what good order with the shapes and dots is helpful.
acontra
@Punchy:
Tide comes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication!
El Cid
We tried to warn Americans of Bill Ayers’ plot to send out ACORN shock troops to stir up leftist fascists around the country using Saul Alinsky’s playbook.
But you just wouldn’t listen. Well, now you’re all paying the price.
As David Brooks said, since Republicans in those states won the elections, the losers need to let the winners do what they said they would. To do otherwise is anti-Democratic and to justify it as fighting for rights is Orwellian.
I’m sure he says the same exact thing when Democrats win an election.
Liberty60
@Martha:
Here in So Cal, we are organizing solidarity rallies Thursday night, and Saturday- all of our local groups are fired up and ready for a fight.
Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)
Well, as you know, our OH protesters were locked out of the statehouse until it was clear that there would be litigation (and the courthouse isn’t that far away), while republican legislators (apparently) dined with lobbyists in the basement. according to this story with photo. The lockout was alleged to be based on crowd capacity issues, but photos show that was a pretext. I wasn’t there, though I know of 75 folks from here who went, and heard of ~50 more.
As in Wisconsin, this is union busting, not budgetary:
It seems that the Kochcaine is being administered pretty widely, but consistently throughout the region. It is quite possible that SB5, as drafted, will not get out of committee, since 7 Rs are reported to be on the fence about it. But it’s a clear goal of Kasich, who is a nasty SOB that was well managed during the campaign so that his odious personality wasn’t clear to people who didn’t already know. It’s gonna be a rough ride, but there seems a surprising amount of buyer’s remorse in the SW corner of the state, where some Kentucky style Ds voted for him and regret it, as do I believe both sane Republicans in the region.
Loneoak
OT, but man did anyone else read Lil’ Tommy Friedman’s column yet? The first two paragraphs are … Just. Wow.
fraught
Is Daniels kind of throwing Walker under the bus? Walker is so dispensable now since he’s largely unknown and anyone with Presidential aspirations would not want to hand a newbie such a huge victory by helping him succeed. Walker is looking hapless now, in over his head, and making unwise decisions. I’m watching to see if other rebubs start backing away from him.
Martin
Their stubbornness, at least in the near term, is sectarian – it’s the teabaggers vs. the moderate GOP for control of the party. They’re willing to sell out long-term support for the party in order to secure teabagger control of the minority in the near term.
But three states that were key battleground states in 2012 just got one hell of a motivated Democratic base. They’re Obama’s to lose now.
Pooh
Paging Matt Taibbi, Matt Taibbi to the NYT Op-Ed page…
Loneoak
@Pooh:
Tom Friedman:metaphors :: Vitamix:kittens.
He mixes them well, but it’s a tad cruel.
freelancer
@Loneoak:
Tom Friedman, it as if you keep violating a dead puppy. It is sick and gruesome and the whole world is embarrassed for you at this point. Pull your dick out of this canine carcass, and by that, I mean “Stop writing such bad columns filled with asinine metaphors!”
Paging Mr. Taibbi.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@fraught: Is Daniels kind of throwing Walker under the bus?
He’s not the only one:
Oh, hell, I didn’t link the whole thread to TNR did I?
hilts
On Wisconsin! First of May Anarchist Alliance statement
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=2011022wisconsin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGo8Og0_1Qg
General Stuck
Rick Scott of FL, leaps from Walker Clown Car.
PeakVT
@Loneoak: The third and fourth paragraphs are great, however. Here’s the third:
Nothing that liberals haven’t been saying since the late 1970s, but it’s good to have it posted in such a prominent location.
Pooh
@PeakVT: Allow myself to introduce myself to an idea which has no chance of being implemented so that when we’re all fucked because we listened to what I proposed that one time, I can say “if only we had listened to myself…”
Pooh + 3
RalfW
Minnesota rallied this afternoon at 4 at the Capitol rotunda. Rumor was that if the crowd exceeded 800, we be asked to go onto the front lawn, er snowfield, but that didn’t happen.
I guessed there were over 1,000, others reporting 2,000. Governor Dayton spoke at the rally, so that may have helped keep us indoors. Dayton spoke clearly that he’d veto any bill similar to WI.
“We will not let them divide worker against worker. We will not let them divide middle class families. We will not let them divide neighbors against neighbors,” said Dayton.
There was good energy, pretty positive (but appropriately angry) tone throughout the hour-long event. BTW, I saw quite a few non-union supporters in the crowd (including me, who’s never carried a union card and has had a mixed opinion of unions. I’m much more favorable towards unions now. Thanks Scott!).
Allan
We had good turnout for a rally/vigil tonight in Sacramento. Maybe 1500-2000 people at the State Capitol, vs. about 20 Teabagger counter-protesters. (Remember, this was the event that Limbaugh wannabe Mark Williams was supposed to infiltrate with his band of inbred followers, so FAIL. Again.)
If Facebook isn’t lying to me, this should link you to my pictures even if your Face isn’t Booked.
P KDZ
Though firefighters are protected in Walker’s bill, a big group of them slept in the Capitol last night. State workers are planning a sleepover on Thursday night. Social workers are organizing a night too. The goal is to keep so many people there, that the building continues to stay open to the public 24/7.
AnotherBruce
@freelancer: Watertiger, is that you?
JenJen
I had to work at my private sector non-unionized part-time no-benefits service job all day, and sadly wasn’t able to make the trek up to Columbus from Cincinnati to show my support. Kept as active on Twitter as possible, spreading tweets from those at the Ohio Statehouse with poor cell phone coverage and low batteries.
I felt kind of empty most of the day, not getting to go up to Columbus and freeze and yell along with the warriors and my anti-Governor Heartland friends. But I am swelling with pride for what they managed to accomplish today, and that is, well, “the whole world is watching.”
Spent a little time after work cruising the Republiblogs, and one common theme I’ve noticed is how COMPLETELY EVIL AND HEARTLESS teachers are for “calling off sick” in Wisconsin and forcing parents to make other plans for their children. Most referred to this as the most fucked-up thing imaginable, which struck me as odd for a few reasons. When I was younger, I recall my public school teachers striking at least two times, and both of my working parents just dealing with it, as they did anytime snow fell and the schools were closed. Sure, it’s annoying, and an inconvenience, but I’m not sure having to come up with last-minute child care meets any kind of “fucked up” standard.
I hope these parents realize that if Governor Walker, et al, gets their way, there will be many, many, many more disruptions and inconveniences to their daily routines. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the history of labor unions in America realize that those who wish to organize don’t necessarily sit around and wait for the government to deem it so.
What a week, from Tuesday to Tuesday. I’m so energized. I’m so proud. It’s about time this rather complacent nation of ours started pushing back.
ETA: For the latest in Ohio news, be sure to read Plunderbund, or follow them on Twitter. Fighting the good fight, and with plenty of snark and bromide to boot.
Splitting Image
Politicians are frequently a lagging indicator of public sentiment, much as pundits are.
The Republicans are in big trouble if this goes national, and if it’s true that a shutdown is on the way, it’s going to go national.
AnotherBruce
@Loneoak: @Loneoak:
My belly is really hurting, not just from Friedman’s mangled metaphors, but also from shaking in laughter at this comment.
Splitting Image
I’m waiting for the teabaggers to start talking at length how Romney and Huntsman’s religious views make them less fit for national office than whatever idiot they produce to replace Sarah Palin. By this time next year Utah and Idaho may be Obama’s to lose.
Mind you, I’m also waiting for Tom Donahue and his fellows to start addressing the notion that maybe filling the House of Representatives with people determined to default on the U.S. debt and bankrupt the lot of them may not have been the brightest thing they’ve ever done. I might be waiting awhile for that.
Moses2317
Here’s my updated list of rallies throughout the country on Wednesday and Thursday, and other ways to help public employees and their unions in this battle.
http://www.winningprogressive.org/we-stand-together-or-we-fall-together
Petorado
If you really look at it, collective bargaining is essentially the business of Groupon — getting a bunch of people to collectively strike a deal with business. Same thing the US Chamber of Commerce does — collectively organizing to leverage their power with the government.
Bargaining, striking a deal acceptable to all sides, is the root of all business. So why is Wisconsin’s governor being so anti-business and anti-capitalist?
Maybe collective bargaining should just be called “lobbying” and then it would as American as apple pie.
dadanarchist
The South Central Federation of Labor of Wisconsin has voted unanimously to begin preparations for a General Strike should the “Budget Repair Bill” pass.
This is astounding. To my knowledge, there has not been a general strike in the US since the CIO strikes of the 1930s. This sort of militancy was made illegal by Taft-Hartley.
If this is true, this represents an expansion of labor militancy in new and exciting directions.
M. Bouffant
Pix from Columbus, Oh.
JenJen
@Petorado:
**LIGHTBULB**
I think you might be onto something, here.
dollared
@Loneoak: What? Are you an English teacher or something? It was good enough for an A at St. Louis Park High School for little Tommy…
dollared
@JenJen: No, call it an “emergency no-bid contract in wartime.” The GWOT is still on, isn’t it?
NobodySpecial
Yeah, they’re trying to force a showdown now because they know they’re fucked in 2012. They’re trying to get as much on the books as they can now and pray that enough legislators get through 2012 to hold up repeal of as much of it as possible.
Ailuridae
Am I the only person who thinks that even if there isn’t a larger more sympathetic feeling towards unions in the country as a result of the current actions of various GOP governors that just the loss of votes from union households might be disastrous for the GOP in 2012. Most everything I see suggests that in national races Democrats don’t currently pick up even 60% of union household votes. If that were to go from small minority as it is now to 2:1 split or worse isn’t that really, really bad for Republicans.`
I’m just trying to see their long game here.
Cerberus
@Pooh:
Because if we can’t pass it immediately in the current political crisis then we should immediately stop talking about it lest we be accused of being purity trolls or insufficiently serious.
I wonder when we all trained ourselves so well to censor ourselves so well? To immediately give up on any considerations of future solutions or to fight for them?
Not really a slam at you, just a question about a general attitude I’ve been seeing around lately.
I wonder if the relentless onslaught of crazy/sociopathic has us all pre-surrendering on hope just to protect ourselves. Best not even think about a better world, damn Republicans will just veto it forever, hic, drunken slur.
JenJen
More news re: Ohio in yet another terrific Plunderbund post about the Kasich (aka “Governor Heartland*”) Ohio Statehouse lockdown:
Please read the whole thing. But, a SWAT team? Seriously?
*Name of the show he hosted on Fox News Channel, just in case you didn’t already know that.
James E Powell
The right-wing long game is to be relentless. It has been working for them quite well. They can get waxed in national elections, but they just keep pounding. Their attempt to take social security failed in 2005 and it cost them with the public. But they are right back at it again.
They have not yet failed in Wisconsin. I do not know how these stories are being covered locally, but the national news is pretty much Governors struggling to control their budgets being opposed by Big Greedy Unions and incompetent, overpaid teachers. If you read the left blogs, you don’t get that, but on local news here in Los Angeles, that was the story.
JenJen
@Ailuridae: Exactly.
You’ll be looking for awhile, I think. There’s nothing even remotely long-game in their demographic strategy, at all. As @NobodySpecial wrote upthread, politically, it sure seems like a race to pass whatever the hell they can until 2012, and it sure seems like the GOP (and, more significantly, their donors) hears the clock ticking.
I’ve been wrong about this stuff before, mind you. I am not one of the Very Serious Persons, but it sure feels, you know, kind of edgy right now, doesn’t it?
@James E Powell: Very good point, but setting the beltway media aside, and with full realization that this is purely anecdotal, just listening to people talk about Wisconsin and Ohio and Indiana in the course of my daily work and interactions, it would seem the media is tone-deaf on this one. Wouldn’t be a first, obvs, but this time, it feels as though they’re wrong in a really profound way. Again: anecdotal disclaimer.
jwb
@James E Powell: Not the story I’m seeing, even outside the left blogs. Spouse’s Facebook feed, which includes a relatively high number of conservatives, has been running surprisingly supportive of the unions. On the other hand, the right wing has a boatload and a half of money and control of most of the media which allows them to recover from any number of serious mistakes.
jinxtigr
When the reality is that the media is paid bullshit, the pattern is that of the dotcom bust or the dutch tulip bust or the real estate bust.
Business as usual until a point is reached where everybody is saying, “Boy, it’s incredible and dispiriting how most OTHER people are complete morons! This is sustained only by the fact that THOSE OTHER PEOPLE are morons. Not me! But it will last forever, because everybody who’s NOT me is apparently a moron!”
Boom.
The media is sustaining itself on the fiction that ‘those other people’ are still unskeptical of its veracity, that each person looking at Fox and going ‘hey, isn’t this kinda like Pravda? hey, isn’t it all kinda like that? hey, is this really telling me anything resembling a truth?’ is an island.
The point where it’s just completely unbelievable that it’s holding together anymore- is the point where it blows a gasket. ‘those other people’ are no more morons than you are.
Doug Hill
@Ailuridae:
That is exactly what I think.
General Stuck
@Doug Hill:
Back when there were some adults in charge of the GOP and conservative movement, frontal assaults like this wouldn’t happen, unless initiated from the other side, like the air traffic controllers. Everything was done in a cloud of purposeful fog. The prime strategy for winger braintrust was to never get themselves into situations that created clear lines of contrast with liberals and their people friendly domestic policies, because when that happened the right wing would be exposed to their ultimate purpose and folks would side with the left, or dems. Only those issues where they knew they had the advantage, like tax cuts, were openly flogged. This must be making old gooper bulls like Jam Baker just shake their heads and sigh.
debbie
In Ohio, there’s beginning to be talk about a petition drive for a referendum on the next ballot.
My favorite story from yesterday was about not allowing more people into the Statehouse. While the capacity is around 5,000, the Republicans wouldn’t let more than 700 in. When the chairman of the Democratic Party threatened a law suit and mentioned that he knew exactly how many the building could hold, having been on the board of the entity that runs the public space,the doors magically opened.
satyagraha
In Indiana, Assistant Attorney General Jeff Cox has advocated the use of live ammunition against the protestors in Wisconsin. We’re encouraging people to call the AG’s office to demand that he resign. Can you please help spread the news by putting this on the front page?
Telephone number for the Indiana AG’s office: 317-232-6021
Link to the story:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/indiana-official-jeff-cox-live-ammunition-against-wisconsin-protesters
Doug Hill
@General Stuck:
That is a very good point.
Mark Haag
My wife and I stayed in the Capitol last night-lots of good, calm, deliberate energy among the people staying there. (We probably brought the average age up a bit) I know first hand that contracts are about a lot more than money or benefits, as I was on the negotiating team for our union when Walker’s edict came down. I think the whole thing might turn on the skill we use in explaining what fairness is to those folks who don’t know the facts. I know a few people who at first opposed the public employees, who in the end said “Why doesn’t Walker just accept the wage and benefit concessions and get this over with?” And the support of the police, fire, and private unions has been inspiring.