Today in Wisconsin students rise up and protest!

[Irvine511]

Do we need to talk about Citizens United again?

 

[INDY500]

Scott Walker wins.

This is what democracy looks like when it throws away the bongos, takes a bath and gets a real job.

 

[anitram]

Unless you are equally concerned with billionaires like George Soros pumping money into Wisconsin or union protestors being bussed in from other states your objection rings rather hollow.

Yes, because those are the same.

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

It's sad that the whole recall movement went through all that work just to watch Barrett shit his pants again.

 

[deep]

he and his cohorts win by a bigger margin than the 2010 election
36% of union workers voted for him

truth? , this really is the people's will

I know the tea party people did not want to believe Obama's win in 2008 was the people's will

 

[Irvine511]

But there aren't any jobs, INDY. Austerity now, austerity tomorrow, austerity forever!

 

[anitram]

I do believe public pensions and benefits are a serious problem, they are way out of portion compared to the private sector.

But, this meat cleaver approach does seem a bit too heavy handed, I am not sure how I would vote if I lived in Wisconsin.

Best post in this thread.

Increasingly issues such as this one will become generational fights. We have perhaps the most entitled generation of all, the baby boomers, and then we have the younger people, who are allegedly the entitled ones. Talk about being bamboozled about what is actually going on. The youth these days is fighting for the entitlements of their parents, which their parents gave themselves willy nilly and set themselves up nicely while we'll have to slave into old age. The problem is that these social programs are not sustainable at the current demographics and given our current budgets so everyone under 50 or 55 is up a shit creek without a paddle.

Way to go, boomers.

 

[maycocksean]

This is what democracy looks like when it throws away the bongos, takes a bath and gets a real job.

Dude, you've got to come up with some new tropes.

How about addressing the knee-jerk support for big government handouts by the lefties on this forum as illustrated in Anitram's most recent post. . . .

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Some woman in the audience slapped that Barrett guy after his concession speech.

I agree 100% that public pensions and benefits are out of proportion. It's only natural that people working in the private sector, and unemployed people, would be very angry about it.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Yes, because those are the same.

...and Obama vastly outspent McCain.

The big spender almost always wins. Democracy is still broken, regardless of party affiliation.

Now when the big spender loses anyways? Well that guy just plain sucks.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Best post in this thread.

Increasingly issues such as this one will become generational fights. We have perhaps the most entitled generation of all, the baby boomers, and then we have the younger people, who are allegedly the entitled ones. Talk about being bamboozled about what is actually going on. The youth these days is fighting for the entitlements of their parents, which their parents gave themselves willy nilly and set themselves up nicely while we'll have to slave into old age. The problem is that these social programs are not sustainable at the current demographics and given our current budgets so everyone under 50 or 55 is up a shit creek without a paddle.

Way to go, boomers.

The Worst Generation

 

[Canadiens1131]

INDY reiterates he is living in a 1960s, Vietnam Era paradigm of his own making.

 

[Irvine511]

...and Obama vastly outspent McCain.

The big spender almost always wins. Democracy is still broken, regardless of party affiliation.

Now when the big spender loses anyways? Well that guy just plain sucks.

Does it make a difference when 4 out of Walker's top 7 donors are out of state billionaires?

That said, recalls are stupid unless it's for, like, criminal activity.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Best post in this thread.

Increasingly issues such as this one will become generational fights. We have perhaps the most entitled generation of all, the baby boomers, and then we have the younger people, who are allegedly the entitled ones. Talk about being bamboozled about what is actually going on. The youth these days is fighting for the entitlements of their parents, which their parents gave themselves willy nilly and set themselves up nicely while we'll have to slave into old age. The problem is that these social programs are not sustainable at the current demographics and given our current budgets so everyone under 50 or 55 is up a shit creek without a paddle.

Way to go, boomers.

I like this post very much .

 

[INDY500]

Best post in this thread.

Increasingly issues such as this one will become generational fights. We have perhaps the most entitled generation of all, the baby boomers, and then we have the younger people, who are allegedly the entitled ones. Talk about being bamboozled about what is actually going on. The youth these days is fighting for the entitlements of their parents, which their parents gave themselves willy nilly and set themselves up nicely while we'll have to slave into old age. The problem is that these social programs are not sustainable at the current demographics and given our current budgets so everyone under 50 or 55 is up a shit creek without a paddle.

Way to go, boomers.

If you are outraged that...

...Social Security and Medicare are demographic ponzi schemes.

...cities and states are laying off young workers to pay the pensions of retired public sector workers.

...Obamacare will force healthy young individuals to purchase comprehensive health insurance and use those premiums to pay for the treatment of older Americans.

...that our children and grandchildren inherit a national debt of $16 trillion with $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities. And rising !!

...our dollar is being devalued.

...then hey, welcome to the Tea Party !!

 

[PhilsFan]

If that was all the Tea Party stood for, it would be good for dialogue. But it's not and never has been, and you know it. The Tea Party's main goal is to create a battle of silly rhetoric, centered around making sure rich people don't get their taxes increased.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Not to mention, if the Tea Party had formed and felt the need to bitch about the things being done under the Bush adminstration that have added to the debt we younger generations will have to pay off, I might have been able to listen to them and take them seriously. But yet, crickets.

Also, I support affordable healthcare being available to everyone in this country, so there's that issue.

 

[ladyfreckles]

If that was all the Tea Party stood for, it would be good for dialogue. But it's not and never has been, and you know it. The Tea Party's main goal is to create a battle of silly rhetoric, centered around making sure rich people don't get their taxes increased.

They prefer to word it as "maintaining the original values of the constitution".

 

[Irvine511]

Well how else are the rich supposed to get the uninformed to vote to lower the taxes on the rich?

 

[anitram]

...that our children and grandchildren inherit a national debt of $16 trillion with $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities. And rising !!

...our dollar is being devalued.

...then hey, welcome to the Tea Party !!

Because people truly concerned about the national debt are in favour of extending the Bush tax cuts which every economist has dubbed as disastrous for ongoing deficit issues?

Your dollar being devalued is not necessarily a bad thing - how else are you going to get competitive on the global market? Do you think that it's a coincidence that Germany is the world's 2nd largest importer when the Euro has been weak for some time? Get rid of Greece or even the PIGS altogether and see the Euro appreciate 20 or 30%, what do you think will happen to German exports?

 

[Von Schloopen]

...and Obama vastly outspent McCain.

The big spender almost always wins. Democracy is still broken, regardless of party affiliation.

Now when the big spender loses anyways? Well that guy just plain sucks.

 

[PhilsFan]

I chuckled.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Does it make a difference when 4 out of Walker's top 7 donors are out of state billionaires?

That said, recalls are stupid unless it's for, like, criminal activity.

it certainly makes it a tad shadier, but it's not illegal. unfortunately.

when it comes down to it, most people are stupid. they are easily swayed by constant advertisements into buying products they don't need, or voting for this person over that person.

i don't like it anymore than you guys do... it's disgusting. but everybody does it, on both sides of the aisle. if you can't raise the money, in most cases, you don't stand a chance.

 

[Irvine511]

But it's not even raising money. It's an individual of vast wealth using his "free speech."

 

[INDY500]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC_ult6-Tb4&feature=player_embedded

 

[deep]

KimJongNumberUn @KimJongNumberUn

That Wisconsin bastard Scott Walker totally stole my idea of cutting meals for school children.

.

 

[U2DMfan]

Well how else are the rich supposed to get the uninformed to vote to lower the taxes on the rich?

Oh you know. By hijacking Jesus issues and making them wedges.

The Great Ohio Battle against Adam and Steve gave us the 2nd W term.

Although, maybe that is becoming less effective. Hopefully.

 

[PhilsFan]

Hitler finds out that Scott Walker won the Wisconsin recall election - YouTube

You're really creating a fine dialogue here on the issues, my man.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

But it's not even raising money. It's an individual of vast wealth using his "free speech."

Well... you can blame the idiots at the Supreme Court for that one.

 

[INDY500]

You're really creating a fine dialogue here on the issues, my man.

Not in the mood for levity? Here's some serious dialogue for you then.

What Wisconsin Means - Charles Krauthammer - National Review Online

as the recall campaign progressed, the Democrats stopped talking about bargaining rights. It was a losing issue. Walker was able to make the case that years of corrupt union-politician back-scratching had been bankrupting the state. And he had just enough time to demonstrate the beneficial effects of overturning that arrangement: a huge budget deficit closed without raising taxes, significant school-district savings from ending cozy insider health-insurance contracts, and a modest growth in jobs.

But the real threat behind all this was that the new law ended automatic government collection of union dues. That was the unexpressed and politically inexpressible issue. Without the thumb of the state tilting the scale by coerced collection, union membership became truly voluntary. Result? Newly freed members rushed for the exits. In less than one year, AFSCME, the second largest public-sector union in Wisconsin, has lost more than 50 percent of its membership in the state.

It was predictable. In Indiana, where Governor Mitch Daniels instituted by executive order a similar reform seven years ago, government-worker unions have since lost 91 percent of their dues-paying membership.

The unions’ defeat marks a historical inflection point. They set out to make an example of Walker. He succeeded in making an example of them as a classic case of reactionary liberalism. An institution founded to protect its members grew in size, wealth, power, and arrogance. A half-century later these unions were exercising essential control of everything from wages to work rules in the running of government — something that, in a system of republican governance, is properly the sovereign province of the citizenry.

The Framers of the Constitution saw the states as laboratories for economics, society and governance. Let us now see how a deeply Blue, high tax, public-sector-union dominated state like Illinois does surrounded by Wisconsin and Indiana shall we?