HEARTLAND MURMURS
Heartland Murmurs
Dane County Judge Halts Collective Bargaining Law
In case you were under the delusion the left is taking a breather, think again.
pulling out all stops to thwart due process a Dane County judge toes the Democrat Union Party line.
Will of the people be damned! Rules are rules proletariat scum, and when they don't go our way we change them! For the children!
How in blue blazes the GOP didn't seek change of venue on this is a mystery, if they didn't. If they still can, they should, I mean you know how nasty those Madison neighbors can get
Hate to see anything happen to Judge Sumi should she allow the will of the people to prevail.
End of an Era
Tuesday I said;
"But the larger truth is that Wisconsin keeps on innovating. Rather than the be all and end all this was simply progressivism's turn, and now it’s over."
So, of course, this Wall Street Journal article caught my eye; Progressive Government Is Obsolete
The whole idea fleshed out, with historical context and everything. What kind of radical right-wing nut would put out such nonsense? Stephan Goldsmith, Deputy Mayor of New York, that bastion of conservatism, to be sure.
I just love the smell of validation in the morning....
Petition Update
Go here: Stop Democracy Abuse
sign, and circulate to all your Wisconsin contacts. I see where one of the fleebagger Senators had the gall to propose an amendment making leaving the state to avoid votes illegal. Isn't THAT special? How about another using union fund to restore the Capitol building?
Go here, sign, and circulate to all your Wisconsin contacts, cause really, can we trust a fleebagger at their word?
Stop Democracy Abuse
Whine, Cheese, and Tea
Whine
By now the hissy-fit by public unions, their wholly-owned Senators, and various sympathizers has reached historic proportion, but mostly for the fact that any first is historic. Almost as dramatic, in its absence, is any sense of proportion, where cause and effect are concerned. To balance the budget, as constitutionally required by the way, the Governor wants contributions from state workers for health and retirement benefits lowered to an amount still lavish compared to the private sector, and collective bargaining limited to wages only, which is still a much better deal than most, including federal workers.
To any reasonable onlooker these are modest measures. To the Democrat Union Hucksters (a.k.a. the DUH party) it’s an assault on unions, a war on middle class, and reason enough to shut down the entire legislative process for a month. Really.
The key word there is reasonable. I am all for free speech, almost absolutist, even to the point where I agreed with the Supreme Court for allowing that subhuman piece of garbage Fred Phelps, and his so-called church, to protest at military funerals. So, the first amendment, while guaranteeing free speech, also guarantees people can abuse the right to behave like complete jerks. Not exactly the company I’d want to keep but it seems amenable to public union folk.
Protestors drew chalk outlines on sidewalks to represent the corpse of Governor Walker, others wrote death threats to GOP State Senators, signs depicted Walker as Mussolini, Mobarek, caused millions in damage to the architectural gem that is our state capitol building, others hit girls, others shouted down live interview broadcasts, and of course the inevitable Adolph Hitler comparisons (only the fevered mind of a public union hack genocidal incineration comparable to union busting)
All of this, by the way, had no effect on the eventual outcome.
Cheese
Wisconsin is rightfully proud of its contributions as an incubator of democracy over the years. It is doubtful you would find more diversity in a states political history than one that includes progressive co-founder “Fighting Bob” Lafollette and commie hunter “Tail Gunner Joe” McCarthy. As a rule, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. To a Wisconsinite, even though it was meant to be an insult, we think Cheesehead is a compliment. Cheesy as a pejorative, forget that, the more cheese the better.
Wisconsin lays claim to many firsts; 4-wheel drive, electric clothes dryer, outboard motor, kindergarten, head start, and public sector union. Oops, that last one sure turned out to be a clunker. Hey, I didn’t say best, just first. Now Wisconsin will hold the record for most recall petition drives at once, 16, 8 from each side. If every one of them succeeds we end up with exactly the same numbers in the state senate, and the whole exercise will end up being just as effective as the unauthorized vacation by Democrat Union Senators. Pffft.
Progressives consider their vision for government as the ultimate, the best, the last and all we’ll ever need. But the larger truth is that Wisconsin keeps on innovating. Rather than the be all and end all this was simply progressivisms turn, and now it’s over. Now Wisconsin is going to try something else for the first time - - fiscal conservatism. It too will be a first. Expecting the left to be as tolerant, open-minded, and cooperative as the right has been during their experiment is asking too much. Obviously.
Tea
Of course there are tax raisers who wonder why we can’t we just tax rich people more and be done with it? Well, mainly because, as we have seen by their exodus in California and New Jersey, those people will move out, and take their businesses with them. How an imagination supple enough to equate a dictator to an elected governor can't grasp the simpler reality that without the private sector as a fund source the public sector would cease to exist is anyones guess.
The other reason is the simple phrase comprising the acronym, Taxed Enough Already. Wisconsin is ranked 4th nationally in tax burden. In the last 20 years Wisconsin has only escaped the top ten tax exporting states once, in other words we pay the fed a lot more than we get back. Ours, to coin a phrase, is not a revenue problem; it’s a spending problem, and our biggest expenditure is payroll.
Michael Moore claims the wealthy class assets is a natural resource that belongs to all of us. Mary Katherine Ham did the math and, surprise, surprise, it turns out the total combined wealth of the 400 richest Americans is 1.3 trillion dollars. The cost for this year alone is 1.6 trillion. So, even if we did confiscate all that private property, it wouldn’t be enough to cover a single year.
The whine has been uncorked and is getting more and more rancid. The cheese stands alone, and it’s teatime in Wisconsin. It’s the beginning of the end of progressivism, and the beginning of the beginning of fiscal conservatism. There will be twists and turns along the way but Wisconsin, in its own imitable way, will assume its usual leadership role.
Ban Quorum Prevention
Probably should have run a trial here first but this has been published separately:
Stop Democracy Abuse
Share liberally among fellow Wisconsinites. The goal is 100,000
Please be sure to emphasize that this is a non-partisan petition. Groups from both sides should be able to piggyback this on the forthcoming recall petition drives.
Use to be a day when you didn't have to legislate the obvious, like showing up doing your job.
Overheard At The Capitol
Wherein we listen in on a conversation between Guido Colby, union enforcer, and a Wisconsin Taxpayer....
Guido, " Psst, hey, you, come here once"
Wisconsin Taxpayer, gulping, "who, me"?
Guido, "yeah, you, get over here. I gotta message for you, from my boss."
Wisconsin Taxpayer, "yes Mr Colby" ?
Guido, "I love you Midwesterners, your so polite. Anyway, nice state you got here. Be a shame if something were to, you know, happen to it."
Wisconsin Taxpayer, "uh, like what'?
Guido, "Shut up, I ain't done talking yet, and you oughta know by now, I ain't listening anyway."
Wisconsin Taxpayer, "sorry Mr Colby".
Guido, "fagghedaboutit. That was part of the message anyway, shut up. Keep you your mouth shut, keep the payments coming, and no one gets hurt. Capeche?"
Wisconsin Taxpayer, "well I'm not so sure..."
Guido, "I said shut up! and stay shut up, cause trust me, you do not want us to do to Wisconsin what we did to Michigan. Am I Right?"
Wisconsin Taxpayer, "I guess not"
Guido, "yeah well, you guessed right cause take my word for it, the last thing you want is for me and boys to go all General Motors on your sorry ass. Am I right? Don't answer. That was one of them rhetorical questions. And besides, It doesn't matter if you agree. Never did. This is how it works, and how it's gonna keep workin. You got that"
Wisconsin Taxpayer, "got it".
Guido, "good, now be a nice, QUIET, little taxpayer, and get outta here.
Lessons In Groupspeak
Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
- - George Orwell
I am always struck, and impressed to be honest, by the consistency of lefty language. Whether it is due to a coordinated narrative ala jornolistas, or the result of deeply embedded group-think, the language of the left is programmatic to the point where it really doesn't matter which guest is appearing on which show, because they all say the same thing.
Now that Wisconsin is the center of the political universe, and because of that many readers, especially those who "don't follow politics" and may be new to the debate, we need to decipher a few muchly overused code words.
Working families:
Definition; families who work, which make up 93% of the population in Wisconsin, i.e. the percent that is employed, both private and public sectors.
Groupthink definition: union members. As in comments like "Walker is assaulting working families", even though more than 92% of families who work will be unaffected by the budget fix.
Middle class:
Definition: an economic sub class of working families whose household incomes are north of the poverty line but south of wealthy, let's say $100,000 per year, since only 2% of the population is up there.
Groupthink definition: union members, who, as a group, at about $60K/year average, are all a lot closer to the $1000k than they are the poverty line.
Workers:
Definition; employed people. In Wisconsin that would number 4,342,866.
Groupthink definition; Public Union members, 271,000 of the number above (5.6%). As in Governor Walker is attacking workers.
I caught the Democrat response to Governor Walkers fireside chat the other night and was amazed, but not surprised, that the word union was never spoken. See for yourself So I gather they want us to believe this whole to do is about all 4.7 million of us. Sure. No problem. I believe that like I believe they visited Illinois in February for the sunshine and beaches.
If the debate is going to be decided on imagery Walker wins going away. Never mind Senator Cadaver Miller, the earth tones, the slouch, the background, the delivery. Yet in spite of all that the thing that struck me most was the fact that he never used the word union one single time.
If deliberate they understand the truth damages their cause. If accidental they are as out of touch as they are out of town, and/or as usual, they certainly think we are. But don't laugh, the fact we let it go this long has given them the confidence to think they still might win.
Here's the thing though, whatever term they use, middle class, workers, working families, employees, whatever, they have to resort to hyperbole, misinformation, and obfuscation. If they don't successfully blow their numbers way out of proportion someone might notice they amount to less than 1 in 17 of Wisconsin's entire workforce, and the other 16 are going to start wondering why they are getting so much attention.
Other questions might come up as well, like
- how can 5.6% of the workforce completely stymie the legislative process without a voting majority...
- how is it that 5.6% of the entire workforce enjoys a vastly higher percentage of all benefits,
- how can 5.6% of the workforce union wield so much influence on the Democrat legislature that when the union bosses say take a day off the Democrat Senators leave town. (I am assuming the Senators realize they are not actual union members, but after watching their antics this past couple of weeks that might be giving them too much credit)
Democrat/union incestuousness has become so complete you can't tell which is which, Democrats are the muscle of the union or the other way around, or both. It's difficult to accuse them of a conflict of interest when their interests are interchangeable.
It takes a concerted effort to keep such a sweet deal in tact. Well, that and a recalcitrant citizenry who in their typical Midwestern courtesy, are reluctant to say something unkind about their friends and neighbors, even while being buggered by the same people. Fact is the friends and neighbors aren't really the buggers, their union bosses are. It's all part of the grand obfuscation.
Just imagine, we have a situation where
- the employer actually funds his employees strongest lobbyist through payroll deduction
- the lobbyist funnels those funds to the campaigns of friendly politicians, who are, presumably, the employers boss at the state level while they also
- fund, organize, and execute grass roots support for compliant school board members to serve as their rubber stamp bosses at the local level.
Sweet.
The ingenuity of self-serving corruption has manifested a perpetual funding machine. Any appearance of innocence is derived from the fact that members also pay into the pilfered pot only to but get it back many fold in the form of higher than average wages and incomparably superior benefits.
The thing that elevates this con from brilliant to perfect is that it's all perfectly legal. Only in government.
In the private sector we might call this money laundering, or at least a conflict of interest.
In Wisconsin we call it statute. Until now.
Teacher Tales
The high school principal rounded the corner just in time to see a kid up against his locker, feet off the floor, held firmly in place by the surly substitute teacher, hands around his neck, one thumb directly on his adams apple, turning from red to purple.
Link! What the hell are you doing? Yelled the Principal. The former Marine replied "this punk had the gall to tell me to suck his dick, I was just engaging in a little foreplay".
True story, well, I might have embellished with the foreplay comment, but the rest is true. Point being, not every one is cut out to be a teacher.
Meanwhile, a certain 23 year veteran English teacher who is very close to the Murmur, gets fan mail, out of the blue, from a student whose life she touched the second year on the job. Some people really are cut out to be teachers, and we're damn fortunate to have them.
This morning I had a phone conversation with a cop investigating a burglary across the alley from where I sit every day. Broad daylight, Friday afternoon, broke into ground floor spare bedroom. He told me they caught a couple of kids a down the block, doing the same shit, the same afternoon, and seemed fairly confident they are related incidents.
I asked what they found out in the interviews and he said;
"They said they didn't have school and didn't have anything to do".
I joked with him wondering allowed whether visiting a library might have crossed their minds as an option. I could tell we were both avoiding comments about AWOL teachers. True story.
Point is, teachers, regardless their suitability to the task, should take job seriously enough to show up, cause ya never know, even if they don't touch a life, they might prevent crime. Here in Milwaukee the teen pregnancy rate among minorities leads the nation at 90%. Why do I get the feeling there will be an uptick in that stat nine months from now?
And, in a tangentially related matter, the same day Milwaukee Public School teachers called in sick to visit the capitol, and show us all "what democracy looks like", their union was in court arguing to save Viagra as part of their health plan.
The jokes write themselves folks. Too bad they aren't funny.
Who needs fiction. This state has become a fucking Elmore Leonard novel.
So, obviously, I blame Scott Walker, FOR THE CHILDREN!
The Great Peter Uprising
Title a little too porny for you? Sorry, a bloggers got to get attention you know. That, and the protesters really are acting like a bunch of dicks.
But the reference is to the George Bernard Shaw quote:
"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."
Gotta love the Irish.
Peter is weary. Peter is broke. Peter hired a whole new slate of managers, headed by Scott, last November, to clean up the mess left by Paul's management group.
This is Scott:
Here's some of things Scott has called Paul: hard working, dedicated, professional.
Here's some of the things Paul has called Scott: Adolph Hitler, Hosni Mabarek, dictator, tyrant. Scott is trying to save thousands of jobs for Paul. If Scott had a D behind his name Paul would think he was a hero.
The Murmur knows Scott, and wants to assure you he is every bit as evil as he appears in this picture.
Peter thinks Paul needs a timeout.
This picture shows how Paul left the protest grounds, literally. It also shows how he left the government, not so literally, but just as accurately.
Now that Scott is trying to implement theft prevention measures to protect Peter, Paul is getting very very pissy. There's a new Sheriff in town. The town is Madison. Madison doesn't like Sheriff's. Madison takes great pride in it's progressivism. Madison will never agree with the Murmur, who has said repeatedly that progressivism is to progress is what pedophilia is to child care.
Paul, and Madison, don't really care, just so long as the status quo is maintained. The status quo has been a very nice deal for Paul, for a very long time. His anger is completely understandable. Paul is accustomed to getting his way. Here is a picture of Paul getting his way:
Paul is Red. Peter is blue. That thing in Paul's hand represents our government, helping Paul, who is not very good at math.
This is Jesse:
Jesse likes cameras. Jesse is helping Paul. Jesse made his career shaking down corporations by threatening to call them racists if they don't support his Rainbow Coalition. Paul has never mentioned anything about racism, but knows grievance is important, and Jesse is the grand grievance master of all human history. This is a master stroke, win win for Paul and for Jesse. Paul gets even more attention, and Jesse gets his cameras.
This shows how Paul is exceptionally talented at political imagery. For many years it has served as a useful distraction while his hands were in Peter's pocket's.
Paul doesn't know, or doesn't care, that his population is only 5.6% of Wisconsin's total. FIVE--POINT--SIX. Paul sometimes forgets that he works for the other 94.4%.
Sadly, Paul believed his union bosses, and Democrat union toadies, who told him it's the other way around.
Here are some other numbers that might help Paul understand why Peter replaced his management team:
5.6 million - - All Peters and Pauls together in Wisconsin.
271,000 - - Paul population.
240 million - - annual union dues Paul pays in Wisconsin (above X 800/yr) .
96 - - Percent of Paul's teacher union donations to Democrats.
100 - - Percent of Paul's AFSCME union donations that went to Democrats
14 - - number of Democrat Senators.
100 - - Percent of Democrat Senators who fled across state border to delay Scotts budget.
6.9 - - Percent of private sector union members.
36.2 - - percent of public sector union members.
24 - - number of hours Democrats majority allowed to debate 1 billion tax increase 2 years ago.
168 - - number of hours Republican majority allowed to debate Scotts budget.
This is Margaret:
Margeret said; '"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money."
Paul, his unions, and their purchased Democrat politicians have provided real live proof of Margaret's claim right here in Wisconsin, birthplace of ASFCME. Even so, they want to keep things the same.
Things are about to change for Paul, so he is hell bent to make it as unpleasant as possible for all of us. Peter just hope no one gets hurt.
Winter of Discontent
What a week. The seeds of discontent are sprouting in Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, and even Syria. Whether those seeds take root in democracy is still very much an open question but let's accentuate the positive; in some of these places just the possibility that democracy gets a passing consideration, let alone a full blown hearing, is progress. We should not underestimate the positive power of enhanced communicative connectedness. Previously denied populations are using the internet and related technologies to wrest the controls of press, speech, and assembly. This is why I am hopeful most of these events will turn out for the better, because enhanced freedoms are not compatible with Sharia law and other despotic political systems.
On the down side, it is not a foregone conclusion that all of these activities are necessarily "the setting of brushfires of freedom in the minds of men". At play hear is how, and with what, the potential power vacuums will be filled. Some of those laying in wait are not exactly the sort to which Samuel Adams referred with his brushfires remark.
Other than being caught what appears to be completely off guard, my criticism for the Obama administration is guarded. ( I would advise the intelligence agencies on the other hand, to prepare to have their asses handed to them) The situation, particularly in Egypt, is so fluid that fairness dictates the benefit of the doubt. I can only hope clandestine efforts at managing these events to positive conclusions are proceeding as furiously as whats not going on out in the open.
That said, the die was cast when we saw democratic rallies in Iran a couple summers ago, also met with a tepid response from the White House - - and we can see how well THAT worked out, a pattern, to be sure, that doesn't exactly instill a lot of confidence.
In terms of foreign policy, it is more than a little weird that as we acknowledge the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birthday we see the rhetorical opposite of "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Events, and the administrations response, could not have been more perfectly combined to illustrate such a devastating contrast. The mainstream medias typical idolatry was manifestly destroyed by images of unawares, ineptitude, indecision.
I often complain that today's politics, especially domestically, has gotten way too focused on style at the expense of substance. (exhibit A; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave) That's not always the case in world affairs where perception, through carefully orchestrated rhetoric, is reality.
I get and appreciate that chest thumping is not Obama's style, nor would I ask him to do so. I have accepted that he has, shall we say, a somewhat underwhelming appreciation of American exceptionalism. All well and good but still, he is the leader of the free world, and that role necessitates that he is also the world's biggest cheerleader for freedom and democracy. It comes with the territory and yet, for some reason, carrying that torch seems too much of a burden. Has no one informed him that recalcitrance can and will be misunderstood, and/or deliberately misconstrued, as weakness?
Yes, statements of any sort will be used against us regardless. All the more reason to choose the words precisely. We are, after all, constantly reminded of his majesty's superior eloquence. A fat lot of good it's doing us now. Standing mute, center stage of the world, can be as bad as saying the wrong thing. It's especially inexcusable when you manage the theater.
Failing to state our resolve and dedication to freedom, especially when events provides such a ripe opportunity to do so, casts doubt on our appreciation of those principles. Man up Mr President. You missed your cue.
