Today in Wisconsin students rise up and protest!

[BVS]

Originally Posted by 2861U2

Here’s our official rating: False.[/I]

The fact that it's not my local news and it's been so overpoliticized I'm not sure if I could find an end all be all on that answer. I've seen unbiased sources say both, but at the end of the day what you need to realize is that it's not the ultimate issue.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by 2861U2

Yes.

yes, what? i'm looking for an opinion of yours, in your own writing.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by kramwest1

Rights are for citizens, not corporations and associations.

not according to Chief SCOTUS Justice John Roberts.

[kramwest1]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

not according to Chief SCOTUS Justice John Roberts.

Hence the Citizens United decision and striking down parts of McCain-Feingold.


Are we of the people, by the people and for the people or America, Inc.?
I would love to know what it will take for Republicans to see this.

[Canadiens1131]

Originally Posted by PhilsFan

Hey, look, it's a political party without uniform groupthink on every issue!

Hahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha

[Catman]

While this is all very exciting, why isn't anyone talking about Justin Bieber's new "mature" haircut??

[kramwest1]

OMG!

[yolland]

At least a lot of them are smiling. You want to keep some sense of pageantry about protests.

[deep]

Originally Posted by Catman

While this is all very exciting, why isn't anyone talking about Justin Bieber's new "mature" haircut??

I'm done!!

What a sell-out whore!

I am deleting all my Bieber tunes now.

I think I will even smash my iPod to bits!!!!

[Irvine511]

in this day and age, nothing is off limits for cutting.

[Diemen]

Some data that seems to contradict Republican claims that WI public employees (specifically, teachers) are overpaid:

As rising health insurance costs have eaten up most of the 3.8% total compensation target, teacher salaries in Wisconsin have stagnated and even declined. As a result, Wisconsin teacher salaries fell 6.8% from 1997-98 to 2007-08, when adjusted for inflation. For 2007-08, Wisconsin's teacher salaries ranked 21th in the nation at $49,051, down from 20th the year before, and below the national average of $52,308.

And it appears they were willing to make some pretty significant concessions:

* Dropping a teacher pay schedule that rewarded longevity and advanced degrees but little else. The union now supports “merit pay” based on performance, national certification, leadership roles, and how teachers handle more difficult assignments such as bilingual or special education, or teaching in under-performing schools.

* Adopting student test results, a peer review panel, mentoring and other factors to root out ineffective teachers.

* Breaking up the state's largest school district, Milwaukee Public Schools, into six smaller units within four years.

You would think a Republican governor supposedly interested in fiscal responsibility would jump all over those.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by deep

If the people of Wis. could vote on this issue at least 60% would side with the GOP.

Based on which poll?

The American public at large feels quite differently:

Americans strongly oppose laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. The poll found 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to such a proposal in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law.

[Moonlit_Angel]

.

Originally Posted by kramwest1

Hence the Citizens United decision and striking down parts of McCain-Feingold.


Are we of the people, by the people and for the people or America, Inc.?
I would love to know what it will take for Republicans to see this.

Amen . The "corporations are people, too" decision is easily one of the stupidest, worst decisions ever made. Ever. It's frightening how more people aren't bothered by this.

The visitor, Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, told a large group of counterprotesters who had gathered Saturday at one edge of what otherwise was a mostly union crowd that the cuts were not only necessary, but they also represented the start of a much-needed nationwide move to slash public-sector union benefits. “We are going to bring fiscal sanity back to this great nation,” he said.

Yep, and judging by the protests, you're clearly doing a bang-up job of returning that sanity thus far!

I just love the serious, glaring, neon-sign-esque irony in the name of the group this Phillips guy runs.

Angela

[deep]

Originally Posted by anitram

Based on which poll?

The American public at large feels quite differently:

District of Columbia, Poll: 64% of Voters Oppose Government Employee Unions | The Herald -

I think the economic times will cause most people in the privater sector to not support public employees getting more generous pensions and benefits than are available to the typical private sector worker.

[Bono's shades]

Originally Posted by deep

District of Columbia, Poll: 64% of Voters Oppose Government Employee Unions | The Herald -

I think the economic times will cause most people in the privater sector to not support public employees getting more generous pensions and benefits than are available to the typical private sector worker.

I work in the private sector and get crappy wages and benefits (except for a generous vacation policy), but I wouldn't want to deny those in the public sector the benefits of being unionized. If anything, I wish more private sector jobs were unionized.

[yolland]

As AliEnvy said,

Originally Posted by AliEnvy

That's right, just keep reminding the little people that this a fight between tax payers and public workers.

As long as middle and working class people are fighting amongst themselves, the rich win.

----------------------------------
Protests in Ohio now too, and the Indiana House's Democrats have followed suit and fled to Illinois. Although, I doubt the standoff here will last long since Gov. Daniels, a classic conservative rather than a Tea Party icon, has advised the state GOP to drop their version of the WI bill and called the Democrats' actions "a legitimate move."

[AliEnvy]

YouTube - George Carlin ~ The American Dream

[2861U2]

Dem Rep to unions: Time to get ‘bloody’ � New Hampshire Journal

A Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts is raising the stakes in the nation’s fight over the future of public employee unions, saying emails aren’t enough to show support and that it is time to “get a little bloody.”

“I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going. Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary,” Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Ma.) told a crowd in Boston on Tuesday rallying in solidarity for Wisconsin union members.

Capuano’s comments come at a time when there is heightened sensitivity to violent rhetoric in the wake of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (D-Az.) shooting in January.

Capuano is considered a leading contender to take on Sen. Scott Brown in 2012.

This is not Capuano’s first brush with violent rhetoric. Last month Capuano said, “Politicians, I think are too bland today. I don’t know what they believe in. Nothing wrong with throwing a coffee cup at someone if you’re doing it for human rights.”

[MrsSpringsteen]

I'm a Democrat and I don't blindly support everything that unions do. The teachers' union in the town I live in has done some completely irrational things and they continue to do so. They just asked for and got another raise, in this economy and for the entire recession, and the teachers were wearing fair contract type buttons in class and refusing to help students with certain things as a form of job action-both things wrong and inappropriate in my opinion. In the midst of the recession, a couple of years ago, they refused to budge on a minimal health insurance co pay..I think it was 10 or 15 dollars and refused to save the town money by buying the state health insurance. The only thing that prevented teacher layoffs was stimulus money. They also refused to eliminate any curriculum coordinator jobs-paying at least 80 grand a year.

This last time some of them actually said that the raise was necessary because many of their spouses were out of work. Of course mathematically that's true-but in what private industry can you ask for a raise now and get one because your spouse is out of work? They'll say sorry, we can't help you there.

So I don't support everything they do just based upon my little town experience-but I don't believe in union busting either. Athletes who make multiple millions of dollars are protected by unions and have cbas.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by deep

District of Columbia, Poll: 64% of Voters Oppose Government Employee Unions | The Herald -

That's not a poll of people of Wisconsin.

Nor is it a poll of whether those people would support Walker's bill, which by the way, is full of all sorts of nasty little details that nobody is talking about. Including some rather disturbing clauses that would permit the sale of public utilities companies for next to nothing under no-bid contracts. Not as if the Koch brothers have any stake in the matter...

I am surprised that you don't seem to have dug a bit deeper on this Bill.