I ended my last post with the definition of Oligarchy and it turns out my math was off a tad as the real term I wanted was Plutarchy! A nice, new, more or less made up, hybrid word that seems to best hit the nail on the head. I must admit that I had expected the great Wisconsin protest drama to die down, or fundamentally be over, by now as I saw no real end but the one most "working" people didn't want, i.e. Gov. Walker gets his damn union busted. After all it's a whole different month now and the news cycle has already cycled away and cycled back since my last post. Though I can see the news media, particularly the TV one, seems to have a hard time tracking all this Wisconsin hub-bub while Libya descends into civil war and, you know, what bleeds, leads.
Well, that is actually not fair to say the TV media has been distracted by Libya alone because there's also this whole Charlie Sheen "thing" that just will not die. Despite all the "Duh, Winning!" media meltdowns, and Gaddafi air strikes on civilian protestors turned rebels, Wisconsin, and it's stubborn, sumbitch, Governor Walker just refuse to go away. Which is sort of surprising in this day and age having 18 days of nearly constant media exposure must be like 15 years in dog years. Surely, someone somewhere has already exclaimed that they are, "Sick of all this union Wisconsin bullshit." Then that hypothetical person will probably blame the greedy, asshole teachers for fucking up everything and stealing all his hard earned money to pay for their elevated babysitting.
So, much has happened this last week or two as the Wisconsin Republicans try stunt after stunt to lure the incompetent, state-paid, vacationing, lazy, Democratic senators back to the state with threats of imminent lay-offs (that didn't happen but WILL UNLESS...), authorizing the Wisconsin police to possibly 'use force' if they happen to come across any of these lay-a-bout Democrats crossing state lines to get clothes or what have you. There even was an apparent altercation as a useless, liberal, lefty, lowly representative attempted to enter the capitol last week.
So, likely to avoid potential over exposure or the very real possibility "America" will get total Wisconsin fatigue the Democrats attempt meeting at the State Line.
I assure you that Democratic State Senators, despite our differences and the vigorous debate we have had, remain ready and willing to find a reasonable compromise. To that end, I would ask that you or your authorized representatives agree to meet with us near the Wisconsin-Illinois border to formally resume serious discussions as soon as possible.
The people of Wisconsin are overwhelmingly supportive of us reaching a bipartisan, negotiated compromise. Senate Democrats stand ready to do just that, we ask that you do the same.
Somehow, I get the feeling that Walker will respond to this with his usual inflexible derision and state that these Democratic Senators are just on vacation and other similar statements involving their not being at work. He keeps the attacks rolling under that pretense of their "not working" because real Americans work, are hard working, and don't quit because they are too busy...working. Unlike lazy, unemployed, hippie, liberals who, if they ever work, work at part-time, shit-for-nothing, state jobs in education.*
*UPDATE: And wouldn't you know it, Walker called the idea of a state line meeting RIDICULOUS!
The liberal fit really hit the shan this past weekend as yet another poorly educated, liberal, fat fuck showed up and yelled a lot of gibberish.
America is not broke.
Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
Today just 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined.
Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can't bring yourself to call that a financial coup d'état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.
The NERVE!? And HE'S a rich person!?! What a hypocrite? How could someone who has already sucked from the fat American teat betray us so...Therefore, his "opinion" and nearly incomprehensible shouting will not be regarded with anything but a raised nose.
And while I am busy posting "comedy" I might as well take this moment to post a good one from also, lefty, jerkwad, librul-media star, Jon Stewart:
And that is sort of the crux of my argument with much of this situation. Aside from the general notion that, "Tea Party/Republican bullshit is bad" it's not just the union busting thing that irks me so much as it's really the attack on teachers that bothers me. That and the way the conservative acolytes sling their ill informed venom at what usually turns out to be their fellow middle class members, their neighbors, their fellow parishioners, their own children's teachers. I see so many jealous comments about 9 month work years, apparently unfairly made contributions to their supposedly state funded retirement plans, and such an over all disregard for the profession that it truly makes me sick. Most especially because these Republican, rich assholes who tend to be behind all of this have so successfully turned us against ourselves while the super-rich continue to run off with all the fucking wealth.
Teaching is a hard job and if the nine months school year seems SO unfair then perhaps you should have, or now get into, becoming a teacher Captain Jealous. And by the way, a lot of teachers, usually the ones who have been doing it for 10-15 years do get the summers off but many of them do the summer school thing or do other odd jobs to make ends meet in the summers. Naturally, that doesn't matter nor does it count because it's an aberration that messes with your general and ignorant point of view. The kind of planning, ability to think on your feet and creative skills to attempt to illuminate the minds of those who mostly could care less is unbelievably difficult and is the furthest thing from "baby sitting." Those notions and amazing insults I see posted by conservative lackeys across the internet are just maddening and made by those who probably believe, "Those who do, Do, who can't teach." If that were really true then what's the problem private sector Sam? Perhaps you should side with the other worker bees then side with the Koch brothers and their "agenda."
And that is what it is, an agenda. What is particularly disturbing with Wisconsin that despite the televised/reported narrative regarding union busting and the general anti-teacher/state worker getting compensated differently than the private sector, is that there is an obvious nation wide agenda at play here. A conservative ideological vision, or the "conservative shock doctrine," here's a good one from liberal liar, Paul Krugman (hat tip, Digby):
As many readers may recall, the results were spectacular — in a bad way. Instead of focusing on the urgent problems of a shattered economy and society, which would soon descend into a murderous civil war, those Bush appointees were obsessed with imposing a conservative ideological vision. Indeed, with looters still prowling the streets of Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, the American viceroy, told a Washington Post reporter that one of his top priorities was to “corporatize and privatize state-owned enterprises” — Mr. Bremer’s words, not the reporter’s — and to “wean people from the idea the state supports everything.”
The story of the privatization-obsessed Coalition Provisional Authority was the centerpiece of Naomi Klein’s best-selling book “The Shock Doctrine,” which argued that it was part of a broader pattern. From Chile in the 1970s onward, she suggested, right-wing ideologues have exploited crises to push through an agenda that has nothing to do with resolving those crises, and everything to do with imposing their vision of a harsher, more unequal, less democratic society.
Which brings us to Wisconsin 2011, where the shock doctrine is on full display.
And IF you have heard about that phony phone call Walker took from whom he thought was Corporate Master David Koch, Walker actually more or less admitted just that:
This is — you know, I told my cabinet, I had a dinner the Sunday, or excuse me, the Monday right after the 6th. Came home from the Super Bowl where the Packers won, and that Monday night I had all of my cabinet over to the residence for dinner. Talked about what we were gonna do, how we were gonna do it. We’d already kinda built plans up, but it was kind of the last hurrah before we dropped the bomb. And I stood up and I pulled out a picture of Ronald Reagan, and I said, you know, this may seem a little melodramatic, but 30 years ago, Ronald Reagan, whose 100th birthday we just celebrated the day before, had one of the most defining moments of his political career, not just his presidency, when he fired the air-traffic controllers. And, uh, I said, to me that moment was more important than just for labor relations or even the federal budget, that was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism because from that point forward, the Soviets and the Communists knew that Ronald Reagan wasn’t a pushover. And, uh, I said this may not have as broad of world implications, but in Wisconsin’s history — little did I know how big it would be nationally — in Wisconsin’s history, I said this is our moment, this is our time to change the course of history. And this is why it’s so important that they were all there. I had a cabinet meeting this morning and I reminded them of that and I said for those of you who thought I was being melodramatic you now know it was purely putting it in the right context.
Again, hate to just parrot Digby here but it is good reading PLUS, this diagram from Mike Konzcal handily shows the three pronged attack that is becoming apparent not only in Wisconsin but also in Ohio and essentially nationwide as part of the Tea Party's campaign to reclaim America for the Rich.
But it's that phony, fat, pension and health benefits those shitty, overpaid teachers "get" that is the real problem. Another place to look while this whole thing continues to unfold is the competing story line, generating from our Republican national Congress, but also appearing in the Wisconsin budget byline is the attack on funding of that liberal, evil, abortion factory Planned Parenthood. Stuff those family planning liberal ideas RIGHT up your ass America! The government shouldn't pay for your pension, health care and definitely not support anything that even comes into the ballpark of violating our out-of-date, hypocritical, antiquated values either.
The Invisible Hand of the Markets will right all ills, support all people who are deemed worthy of being supported (i.e. hard working, non-minority, rich, boot-strap pullers only) and all else need to get off their welfare and get a gawd damn REAL job. Or so our corporate master's would have us believe so that we may all have greater economic freedom! So, says corporate overlord Charles Koch himself:
Recent studies show that the poorest 10% of the population living in countries with the greatest economic freedom have 10 times the per capita income of the poorest citizens in countries with the least economic freedom. In other words, society as a whole benefits from greater economic freedom.
All Hail one of the Kings! Or to use a fun paraphrase from the old Karl Rove, "reality based community" Digby also posted:
..believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality. That's not the way the world really works anymore. When the oligarchs act, they create their own reality. And while you are studying that reality—judiciously, as you will— the oligarchs will act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. The oligarchs are history's actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what they do.
I think the same could be said for the "fact-based" community. This kind of thing is why I believe so many conservatives have so many issues with liberals and their beloved big government because they willfully elect and take part in massaging this point of view, this agenda, and so they assume naturally that the opposition does too. This is why there is so much about the liberal media controlling "the message" and using Hollywood celebrities to brainwash simple minded, sympathetic liberals into buying into global conspiracies involving climate change, gun control and the cap and traded, "New World Order." The proverbial, liberal "They" are coming for their guns then their freedom all the while raising their taxes to pay an undeserving lower class their handouts because they are all too lazy to work. Hell, they are afraid to work and they don't wear bootstraps because they don't wear boots in Socialist Muslimania what with their gays and their abortions.
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