Blogs

-Blogged by mark Karlin on Buzzflash

March 29. 2011- You would think obeying the law would be a high priority for the flag-waving right-wingers, but obviously not for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

As Talking Points Memo reported, Walker and the Wisconsin GOP went ahead and started implementing their rammed through anti-union law, despite a judicial order not to do so.

In fact, the Walker administration has already stopped collecting dues for the public unions and has increased health care insurance deductions, again in defiance of a legal restraint until the court suits concerning the law proceed further along.

Now we learn, via a nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau report, that contrary to Walker's claims that he is reducing the state budget by 6 percent, it will actually increase spending by 1 percent.

You have to wonder how much Walker could have actually cut the budget by raising fair share taxes on tax-dodging corporations and millionaires, instead of using unions as a scapegoat.

-By Emma Pullman at DeSmogBlog

March 27, 2011- On Friday, the Canadian government fell to a vote of non-confidence. As Canadians prepare to head to the polls for an early May election, the oily architects of the Tea Party, mega-funders of climate change denial and bankrollers of major right wing think tanks including FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have made a timely infiltration into Canadian politics.

Last week, we reported that the oily brothers had set up shop to lobby in Alberta. But perhaps more disquieting than that is that, according to Environmental Defence, Alberta isn't the only province being strangled by the Kochtopus. The Koch brothers have officially registered to lobby in Ontario too.

March 27, 2011-  St. Petersburg Times

Gov. Scott made poor choice for PSC

Gov. Rick Scott recently appointed Art Graham to the Florida Public Service Commission two days after withdrawing Graham's appointment. The commission regulates your utility rates and has been heavily criticized regarding the unethical conduct of commissioners and for being too cozy with the utilities that they regulate.

-Originally posted by Jud Lounsbury  on Uppity Wisconsin

March 23, 2011- According to Wisconsin law, businesses employing 50 or more persons in the State of Wisconsin must provide written notice 60 days before implementing a "business (plant) closing" or "mass layoff" in the state.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, 19 companies have given notice of plant closings or mass layoffs to 2,207 workers since Walker was sworn-in on January 3, 2011: 

In response to widespread calls for consumer boycotts of Kock products, right-wing blogger and Andrew Breitbart stooge Liberty Chick has responded by calling for a "buy-cott" of Koch products. Basically she has posted the same list you've been seeing all over the internet, and is now telling right-wingers everywhere to buy these brands to counter those nasty liberals and their self-righteous attempts to reduce the Koch fortune.

From Liberty Chick's blog:

Many people are asking me which products the silly leftists are boycotting from Koch Industries. Their list is below.

-Originally blogged by Keith Balmer on Typepad.com/ Prince of Satire:

March 21, 2011- The Coup D'Etat of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker infuriated me. So I decided to write a blog post in which I vanquished him with my vicious vernacular. I was so ready to appoint Walker as The Worst Governor In America.

I started writing. But after a day or so, I stopped. It didn't feel right. And that's when it hit me:

There are a lot of shitty governors in America right now!

So instead of devoting an entire blog post to Scott Walker Taxes Ranger, I decided to include a few other governors who could also claim the title of America's Worst Governor.

And to nobody's surprise, they're all Republicans. Let's get started.

The Governor: Rick Scott (Florida)

Rick Scott was once the CEO of Columbia/HCA, a massive hospital chain. The federal government fined Columbia/HCA for Medicaid and Medicare fraud. That fine, a jaw-dropping 1.7 billion dollars, is the largest in American history.

Originally blogged by Reverend Manny on Presstorm, March 10, 2011-

With Americans taking to the streets at the international bugle call of freedom, the corporate-sponsored talking point machine is spitting out anti-worker propaganda with an all-time fury. Among this corporatist propaganda is a ridiculous notion that the overabundant lifestyle of public employees (and their machine-gun toting unions) are why, to quote John Boehner, “America is broke.”

But America, really, is not broke.

Furthermore, the idea that public employees are the cause of our current public budget deficits is not just wrong– it’s dangerous. It allows politicians to cut wages, reduce public services and lower everyone’s standard of living.

(Note: Thom Hartmann's book Unequal Protection is being serialized online by Truthout.org. This is a portion of the first installment. To receive future instllemnt via email, visit Truthout.org and subscribe.)

Chapter 1: The Deciding Moment?

The first thing to understand is the difference between the natural person and the fictitious person called a corporation. They differ in the purpose for which they are created, in the strength which they possess, and in the restraints under which they act.

Man is the handiwork of God and was placed upon earth to carry out a Divine purpose; the corporation is the handiwork of man and created to carry out a money-making policy.

There is comparatively little difference in the strength of men; a corporation may be one hundred, one thousand, or even one million times stronger than the average man. Man acts under the restraints of conscience, and is influenced also by a belief in a future life. A corporation has no soul and cares nothing about the hereafter....

 75 photos posted in this collection. Click Here to see the full gallery.

-Blogged by Mark Naison on Blogspot/ New Black Man

March 12, 2011- With collective bargaining rights having just been eliminated in Wisconsin by legislative fiat, and with more states poised to do the same; with union teachers everywhere being made scapegoats for the nations educational problems; and with the most powerful business interests in the nation funding movements to privatize government services and decertify public employee unions, I thought be useful to look back at a time in New York City’s history when unions had far more power than they have today.

When New York City emerged from World War II, the most dynamic sectors of its economy- garment, electronics, transportation, construction, and food processing- were all heavily unionized. These union gains in the private sector were soon followed by the acquisition of collective bargaining rights by teachers, employees of state and city government and workers in health care.

Click for full-size image

WEAC Rallies in Wisconsin:

Keep raising your voice!
The fight to restore
collective bargaining rights
begins NOW!

WEAC Rallies currently planned through July 30th- Click the link below for details and updates:

CLICK HERE DETAILS ON ADDITIONAL ACTIONS:

ALSO VISIT OUR KOCHWATCH ACTION PAGE:

Posted on Al Franken's Blog- March 11, 2011

We were all shocked by what happened in Wisconsin Wednesday night.

Eighteen Republican state senators broke faith with the people who elected them. They broke their word. They may have even broken the law.

They wanted to bust public sector unions — the last line of defense for the rights of teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, and other public servants — so badly that they were willing to cheat the system.

Let’s be clear: They did this in the hopes that, with the bill passed, the crowds would dissipate and we’d let this go.

But they were wrong. We’re not going to let this go. We’re going to help the people of Wisconsin fight this bill — and the illegal power grab it took to pass it — every step of the way. We’re going to help them hold accountable the elected officials who sold out workers and subverted democracy.