House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is concerned about the “growing mobs on Wall Street”. You know, the peaceful #OccupyWallStreet movement.
“If you read the newspapers today, I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs on Wall Street and the other cities across the country. And believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans.”
The only non-peaceful aspect of these protests was the NYPD reaction to them. The fascist Teabagger mind is an ugly thing.
If you haven’t yet watched Part I [an overview] of Robert Greenwald’s documentary film series, “The Koch Brothers Exposed”, you should do that prior to watching Part II, which concerns our public education system.
Part II is about the Wake County school system (one of the largest school districts in the country) in North Carolina, where the Koch founded and funded ‘Americans for Prosperity’ funded a resegregation effort on the part of a group of parents in Wake County. Resegregation. In 2011 America.
Since the Koch brothers are very bullish on privatizing our schools, both I and apparently the films producer, Robert Greenwald, believe that this resegregation effort is just a stepping stone to privatization.
Watch Part II of The Koch Brothers Exposed - Why do the Koch Brothers want to end public education?
1. After the November 2009 elections, the Wake County school board dismantled socio-economic diverse schools and began to implement a neighborhood schools plan that would resegregate schools.
2. Resegregation in schools would be a disaster. It would turn back the clock fifty years with the creation of high poverty, racially isolated schools. The integration plan destroyed by Koch-supported board of education members was used as a model for high achieving, diverse schools throughout the country.
3. This October 2011, Wake Country elections will decide if schools become resegregated. Koch-supported candidates are still pushing for neighborhood schools and to end diversity.
4. The Koch brothers free market, libertarian ideology rests on privatization in society, especially the privatization of education.
5. The Kochs founded Americans for Prosperity in 2004, and AFP indirectly poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Wake County school board elections and helped jeopardize the diversity policy.
Bob Cesca on the “accomplishments” of the 112th Congress thus far:
Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and John Boehner have introduced ideologically far-right, inconsequential and symbolic bills that kill Planned Parenthood and NPR. They've passed legislation that cuts spending for pregnant women. They've passed legislation that magically circumvents the constitutional lawmaking process. They refuse to raise taxes on the rich while trying to gut Medicaid and kill Medicare, even though supermajorities of Americans support both of these crucial healthcare programs -- including majority support from tea party Republicans.
As many differences as we have between us, I think that all Liberals-Progressives can agree on this: Republicans have run completely amuck. And nowhere is this more evident than at the state level.
The question now is, could we have known this would happen, did Republicans who ran for state level offices tell us what they were planning?
No, of course not. Case in point. Rick Snyder, the newly elected governor of Michigan. He wisely refused to engage in debates during the run-up to the election. When his opponent, Virg Bernero, the current mayor of Lansing, Michigan, cornered Snyder in a very public way, Snyder agreed to one debate which turned out to be complete and utter nonsense. useless since Snyder in no way intimated his plans for the state during said debate.
Rachel Maddow called out Republicans for their utter hypocrisy, some might call it criminal hypocrisy, in promising smaller government to voters during campaigns, and then going for really BIG government, BIG Brother type government, once in office.
Watch (this is a long clip, but it’s worth watching):
It turns out, he’s a recent graduate of the Broad Foundation’s Superintendent Academy. The Broad Foundation, along with the Kellogg Foundation, pays Bobb $145,000 a year on top of his $280,000 government salary. For those of you not familiar with Broad, it is one of the leading foundations promoting school choice and privatization across the country. One might almost think that paying a public official hundreds of thousands of dollars a year might amount to nothing short of bribery, especially given the very specific agenda of a foundation like the Broad Foundation.
Now, Bobb is proposing to create charter schools for 16,000 students from 41 schools slated for closure. He argues that this will save millions of dollars. I have to wonder, however, at the conflict of interest.
And the money quote:
This is nothing short of a coordinated effort between the billionaire foundations pushing school reform and Tea Party conservatives intent on slashing benefits and ending collective bargaining rights. Public schools are under assault by the forces of privatization, and public school teachers face benefit and salary cuts while the very rich are promised tax cuts.
Fri., Apr. 8 10:47 PM It looks like there will beIS a deal. Both a short-term resolution and a longer term funding bill. Waiting for Sen. Reid to make a statement.
House Speaker John Boehner outlined the parameters of a long-term funding deal, telling his members in a closed-door meeting, "This is the best deal we could get out of them," according to a lawmaker in the room who asked not to be identified. The deal is still not official, Boehner cautioned, but in a sign things are coming to a close, the House is preparing for a 5-6 day short-term continuing resolution with $3 billion in cuts, he told members according to the lawmaker. The meeting is still underway. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was scheduled to address the Senate at 10:30 p.m. EDT.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has informed Republican lawmakers that negotiators have a struck deal to avert a government shutdown, according to GOP Rep. Mike Rogers (Ala.).
Boehner told his conference Friday night that the House would likely vote on a short-term funding bill before midnight that would fund the government for four or five days.
The long-term bill would include $39 billion in spending cuts from current levels.
Adding…according to ABC's Jake Tapper, the "deal is done & signed off on.$38.5b in cuts, no elimination of Planned Parenthood funding".
Stoking yet another false right-wing meme which proclaims that voter fraud is rampant in this country, Republican majorities in 22 statehouses across the country, have moved to enact laws which dramatically restrict the voting rights of college students, rural voters, senior citizens, the disabled and the homeless…in other words, of the young and the poor, both constituencies which tend to vote Democratic. Think Progress, emphasis mine:
As part of their larger effort to silence Main Street, conservatives are pushing through new photo identification laws that would exclude millions from voting, depress Hispanic voter turnout by as much as 10 percent, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. In the next few months, a new set of election laws could make going to the polls and registering to vote significantly more difficult — in some cases even barring groups of citizens from voting in the communities where they live.
Conservative legislators across the country have said these laws are necessary to combat alleged mass voter fraud. But these fears are completely overblown and statesalready have tough voting laws on the books: fraudulent voters face felony charges, hefty fines, and even lengthy prison time.
Think Progress goes on to report on 8 of the states attempting to enact these restrictive voter id laws, so be sure to read the full article.
In just eight days, House Republicans hustled through HB 159, a bill that would require voters to show one of five forms of ID to vote in person: an Ohio driver’s license, state ID, military ID, U.S. passport, or “a new, free photo ID that State Bureau of Motor Vehicles would dispense to indigent citizens who qualify.” Currently, voters must show a photo ID or present a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck or government document with a current name and address. Unlike other states’ photo ID laws, HB 159 would not even allow students to use IDs issued by state colleges.
The bill sponsor, state Rep. Bob Mecklenborg (R) “said the bill is necessary to combat voter fraud and the perception of fraud.” But after failing to produce any actual evidence of such voter fraud, Meklenborg defended his theory with the inexorable proof that “I believe it happens” and “it’s impossible to prove a negative”:
While Republicans produced no evidence of voter fraud from impersonation, Mecklenborg and other GOP leaders say they believe it is going on unreported. “I believe it happens, but it’s proving a negative,” Mecklenborg told reporters after the vote. “It’s impossible to prove a negative. How do you prove that fraud doesn’t exist there?”
However, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections head Jane Platten, a Democrat, said she has never seen a case of voter impersonation in the seven years she has been with the local elections board.
I am beginning to wonder if the U.S. will survive the right-wing as a democracy with out a full blown civil war. Hyperbole? Maybe. But I don’t think so.
Trust me when I tell you that this is the most tangled web you have ever seen in your life.
Last week Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed legislation giving him what many have called “dictatorial” powers. The much despised EFM law gives Snyder the power to hand pick emergency financial managers (or emergency financial "corporate persons"), who then have the authority to take the following actions:
Consolidate or dissolve local governments and dismiss the officials elected by the people.
Consolidate or dissolve school districts, close schools, and dismiss elected school board members.
Sell off public property. Public. Property. Parks, buildings, licenses, permits, and so forth. All of it.
Privatize government services, with all that entails.
Shred all contracts agreed to by local governments and schools, including union contracts.
Which people or what organizations are behind Snyder’s EFM law?
Since 2005, the Mackinac Center for Public Policyhas urged reforms to Michigan law giving more power and protection to emergency financial managers, state-appointed officials who parachute into ailing cities or school districts and employ drastic measures to fix budgets on the brink of collapse. In January, the free-market-loving center published four recommendations, including granting emergency managers the power to override elected officials (such as a mayor or school board member) and toss out union contracts. All four ended up in Snyder's legislation.
"The Mackinac Center has been tied at the hip with the Republican Party establishment for years," says Doug Pratt, public affairs director at the Michigan Education Association. "It goes to their funding sources; it goes to their ideology."
But wait, according to a statement on their "Purpose" page, the Mackinac Center is non-partisan, emphasis mine:
I've been hoping that someone else would get a recall effort going, and I believe that there probably are those who are working on it. That said, I haven't heard anything, so I've begun gathering information for a piece on what it takes to mount a recall effort. Although a recall petition online is good for our souls, it will not induce a recall election for Snyder because it isn’t the legally acceptable method.
The good news is that Snyder and his legislative cronies can be recalled as soon as July.
I hope to get the piece up later today, or first thing tomorrow, on Monday, March 21 Wednesday, March 23, so please check back if you’re interested in this.
MAR. 23 UPDATE: Ready to post, currently waiting for a call back from the Ingham County Clerk's office re clarification on a couple of issues. Will update as soon as I receive that info.
MAR. 23 UPDATE 2 6:30PM: Gah. I talked to the person responsible for dealing with recalls in the Ingham County Clerk's office in order to clarify a few issues, and according to her, we have to follow Ingham County recall rules rather than Michigan recall procedure. She told me she would email me the information. I have yet to receive it, and it does not appear to be posted on line. Stay tuned.
MAR. 24 UPDATE 1 2:54 PM: Still trying to get a response from Ingham Co. and the recall rules. Will get it posted as soon as possible.
MAR. 25 UPDATE 1 1:30PM: I just spoke with Janie Lee in the Ingham Co. Clerk's office. She is now saying that we need to file any recall, and abide by the recall rules of Washtenaw County since that is where Gov. Snyder still resides. He has not moved in to the governor's residence in Lansing. I need to take care of some family issues over the next couple of days, so I probably will not contact Washtenaw Co. until Monday morning. If anyone else would care to do so and send me the info, please, I would be grateful. My email addr. is nscATpoliticalruminationsDOTcom.
Those who know me know that I am a huge supporter of President Obama. That doesn’t mean that I never disagree with him.
The states need your help, Mr. President. The working people, the middle class in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and more, are in dire straits, and we are asking for your help.
The “Wisconsin Song”, as found on Tumblr via @WisconsinSong on Twitter, plugs that message.
Ford Motor Co. celebrated the launch of its all-new global Focus on Thursday at the renovated Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, but hundreds of employees weren't ready to celebrate Gov. Rick Snyder.
On hand to note the success of one of the region's largest employers, Snyder took the stage to a smattering of boos from union workers, many of whom wore red T-shirts declaring their "Solidarity with Wisconsin."
"Come on guys," UAW Local 900 President Anderson Robinson told the disgruntled crowd as the event even started. "We've already proven our point."
Snyder has taken heat from organized labor in recent weeks over plans to tax pensions and his support for a new law allowing state-appointed emergency financial managers to void public union contracts deemed unaffordable for struggling municipalities or school districts.
Personally, I would have kept up the booing until I was removed. This man has turned Michigan in to a fascist state, a state where the will of the people no longer matters. He should be booed right out of the state!
The House voted today to defund NPR. James O’Keefe’s video purportedly exposing unethical behavior by NPR, was debunked, so why would they defund NPR?
In a largely symbolic move, the House today voted to block all federal funding for NPR, a week after the embattled public radio station found itself the subject of a conservative activist's sting that led to the ouster of its chief executive.
The bill passed by a 228-192 vote. No Democrats voted for it. Only 7 Republicans voted against the measure
Once again, the Very Serious House Republicans have acted based upon a known fraud and scam artist who selectively edits his videos in order to frame otherwise innocent officials. James O'Keefe inspired this vote, and now 228 Republicans have attached their name to his latest scam. They're a major political party and they control the House of Representatives. When will the traditional press highlight how unserious these people are?
Adding….O’Keefe’s latest fake sting involves the Right’s favorite billionaire whipping boy, George Soros, and has also been debunked.
Adding also.... Just found video of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) mocking the Teabaggers (over the defunding of NPR) on the House floor today.
A protester in Lansing, Michigan, George Robinson, tells it like it is about Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, and gets in a dig at the Koch brothers:
I’m fighting against the fascist takeover of the United States by several governors who met with the Koch whores in California to destroy the working class in America. I hold two signs, I hold “Snyder is a Fascist Rat”, which he is, and “We Do Not Allow Kings Here.”
They’re gutting all working people’s rights, and benefits, destroying the middle class, George Bush and the Bush Crime Family did a well job, getting rid of 50,000 factories in this country, putting people on the streets in foreclosure — wonderful job! Vote Republican, cut your own throat!
On the left is Lance Enderle (D), who ran as a congressional candidate from Michigan’s 8th district in 2010 (he plans to run again in 2012), and who organized the rotunda protest in the state’s Capitol building on March 15, in a heated discussion with Ari Adler [R), the Press Secretary to Michigan Speaker of the House, Jase Bolger [R).
Watch:
Lance Enderle is the kind of man I would love to see as our governor. Can he be convinced to run in 2014?
This, despite the company’s history of environmental violations.
The state Public Service Commission is poised Friday to approve selection of a Louisiana corporation witha history of environmental violations to manage Wisconsin's popular Focus on Energy program.
Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Inc., a subsidiary of the Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, was selected by an evaluation committee that included four representatives of Wisconsin's investor-owned utilities.
And here it comes, the Koch brothers connection. Note that the sentence denying that “Koch Industries wouldn’t profit from this deal, is just utter bull poo-poo.
Shaw also has some ties to Koch Industries, the Wichita, Kan., firm that has been a big booster of embattled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. But there is no indication that Koch Industries would profit from the deal.
Meanwhile, the non-profit Wisconsin group, Focus on Energy, will be out of a job.
Focus on Energy is a statewide energy efficiency and renewable program launched in 2001. Using money collected from a tax on utility ratepayers, Focus works with eligible Wisconsin residents and businesses to install energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
And that’s only part of it, because there’s something you may not know, and that is that hidden in SENATE BILL 11, at the bottom of page 23, is a Trojan horse. A horse which will allow the Koch brothers to buy Wisconsin utilities at bargain prices. SECTION 44. 16.896 reads as follows, emphasis mine:
16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).
According to PSC documents, Shaw was selected over two other competing bids, including the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corp., a non-profit based in Madison. Shaw scored highest in a presentation and follow-up interview.
Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corp. has been involved in the Focus on Energy program since it was launched. Founded in 1980, the group is headed by Mary Schlaefer, a top staffer in the administration of former Gov. Jim Doyle. Schlaefer did not return a phone call for comment Thursday about Shaw's selection.
Gov. Rick Snyder signed the much despised emergency financial manager legislation in to law today, giving him far too much power over the people in his state. Even the power to ignore the will of the people and the votes they cast. The local ABC affiliate reports:
LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) - Governor Rick Snyder has signed a bill giving broad new powers to emergency financial managers appointed by the state of Michigan to run struggling cities and schools, including the ability to terminate union contracts.
The bill was signed as thousands of union protesters rallied inside and outside the Capitol to protest the bill.
Vulnerable cities like Ecorse, Highland Park and Pontiac could get Emergency Financial Managers. This problem is so serious across this state, more than 60 communities that are on a Michigan Department of Treasury special watch list. Hamtramck is once again in danger.
In Hamtramck, City Manager Bill Cooper’s position was created out of the financial crisis. The city fell in to receivership but emerged five years ago. He says the city fell in to debt when the emergency manager was here. He says they are still digging out from under it. “The Emergency Manager does the short-term fixes and leaves, a lot of them don't look five or ten years down the road.”
65 people have been trained as Emergency Managers and Cooper says the state is preparing to train 150 more.
It is imperative that we recall this man and his supporters in the legislature.
Adding.....please see the correction I made to the WXYZ quote.
The Wisconsin Gazette is not too happy with dear Gov. Scott, and gives a number of very valid reasons why Walker should resign:
Milwaukeeans knew Scott Walker would say or do anything to raise his political profile and promote the corporate-right agenda. His tenure as Milwaukee County executive was marred with such antics, which helps explain why he received only 38 percent of the county’s vote last November.
Thanks to a recorded conversation Walker had with a journalist pretending to be right-wing billionaire activist David Koch, now the whole world knows about Walker’s ruthless ambition, his unethical tactics and his sycophantic allegiance to the interests of the rich.
State Sen. Tim Carpenter was dead-on when he said the revelations Walker made during the conversation “would make Richard Nixon blush.” Walker bragged about his underhanded schemes to trick Democrats into thinking he would negotiate with them over his union-busting budget bill. He acknowledged that his administration had considered illegally positioning “troublemakers” among the tens of thousands of protesters who have swarmed the Capitol in recent weeks.
12:15 PM - President of the American Federation of Teachers speaking: “THIS is our house”, “WE are Michigan!” “Some elected officials are using the financial crisis to undercut working people.” “Do we provide EMF managers with the opportunity to say, no thanks, NO collective bargaining!” “We fight back. We unite because WE are the People. WE are ONE.”
12:22 PM - Michigan's Senate minority leader Gretchen Whitmer speaking: "We didn't start this fight, but we sure don't plan to lose it!" Sen. Whitmer also announced the introduction today of a constitutional amendment to protect collective bargaining rights.
You may have seen a few other award winning documentaries produced by Greenwald’s Brave New Foundation.
With Outfoxed, we exposed the unbalanced propaganda that is Fox News. With Wal-Mart we uncovered the damage done to our country by the high cost of low prices. We exposed the war profiteering in Iraq For Sale, and we were on the frontline of questioning what we are doing, and doing wrong, in Rethink Afghanistan. We fought against insurance company greed in the battle for health care with Sick for Profit. We halted the history channel from smearing President Kennedy.
Today, Mr. Greenwald announced his latest project, a documentary which will expose the brothers who are destroying our country.
With a net worth of 43 Billion the Kochs have already spent decades of their lives and over 324 Million of their wealth exerting their influence. The Kochs accomplish their goals by funding a massive array of right wing front groups, think tanks and tea party efforts. They largely operate outside of the public eye, and target their funding to infiltrate public opinion, the media, judicial decisions and legislation. Over three dozen organizations are funded by the brothers, and they spend additional money lobbying and backing conservative candidates. Everything the Kochs do is to fight for a country free from protections and any degree of a social safety net for working Americans.
The Michigan Messenger is reporting that a Capitol building takeover is planned for 4pm today:
A group of Michigan activists has confirmed that they plan to stage a protest in the state Capitol building at 4 p.m. today.
Lance Enderle, a former Democratic candidate for Michigan’s 8th Congressional district, confirmed moments ago that he is leading the protest.
“We are planning to exercise our free speech rights in a non-violent way,” Enderle said. “We will take the Rotunda, and we are not leaving.”
The Capitol building closes at 5:30 p.m. and officials have told Michigan Messenger that anyone remaining in the building after 5:30 will be given a 10 minute warning to leave. If they don’t leave, Michigan State Police troopers could eject them or arrest them for trespassing. The problem for state police troopers, however, might be in mustering the manpower. In last year’s budget, Republican lawmakers voted to close the Capitol police post, which has left the state with only two Michigan State Police troopers and the Sergent at Arms staff. It is likely state police will have to muster road patrol staff to help eject protesters
I just hope that Snyder doesn't do anything stupid.
A local news report on the protests in Michigan yesterday, March 14, which were all about Michigan’s Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s planned budget cuts, which would slash corporate taxes to almost nothing, and penalize the poor and the elderly in order to pay for it. Fact sheet (pdf).
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Reporters have been told they will not be allowed to broadcast sound and images from the Tuesday release of Ohio Gov. John Kasich's budget plan.
Spokeswoman Connie Wehrkamp says journalists can bring only pens, notepads and tape recorders to the afternoon briefing, where Kasich is to announce the first details of his state spending blueprint for the next two years. She says videos and photos will be prohibited and the audio may not be used for anything but checking accuracy.
Members of the Statehouse press corps registered complaints with the governor's office on the matter. They noted a lack of precedent for such limits on their ability to cover a governor's budget release. An invitation-only town hall meeting later Tuesday will be broadcast on government television.
In a letter to his fellow Michigan citizens, Michael Moore describes what our dictator wannabe Republican Governor, Rick Snyder, has been up to for the past eight short weeks:
* Gotten the House and Senate to pass bills giving him "Emergency Management" powers such as the ability to appoint a corporation or a CEO who could literally dissolve town governments or school boards, fire the elected officials, nullify any local law and run your local governmental entity. That company then would have the power to immediately declare all collective bargaining contracts null and void.
* Proposed giving business a whopping 86% tax cut while raising everyone's personal taxes by 31%! And much of that tax hike he believes should be shouldered by -- I kid you not -- senior citizens and the poor! He says these two groups have not been "sharing the sacrifice" the rest of us have been burdened with. So his budget proposes a $1.8 billion tax CUT for business and a $1.75 billion tax INCREASE for the rest of us, much of it from the poor, seniors and working people -- even though the top 1% in Michigan ALREADY pay a lower state tax rate than everyone else does!
* Together with the legislature, introduced over 40 anti-labor bills in just the first two months of this session! They have wasted no time and have caught most people off guard. Much of this is being rushed through right now before you have a chance to raise your voice in objection.
And follows up with a plea to Michiganders to stand up, to participate in our democracy.
Time to STAND UP, People! Our rights are disinegrating via Republican sleight of hand, and our own inattention.
So...there are two 14 protests planned for this week that I’m aware of, but more are rumored. I’ll post the planned protests here as I get the information, and will update as needed, so check back.
1. Pro-Union Protests
Monday, March 14, 2011 10:00 am – till… Saginaw, Michigan Borchard Park at the northwest corner of Court and Michigan in Saginaw, across from Saginaw County Governmental Center at 111 S. Michigan.
Also...there are pro-union protests being held in 11 other cities, but I have not been able to get details as of yet. The cities are Mount Clemens, Monroe, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Port Huron, Detroit, Birmingham, Marshall, and Livonia.
In response to the anti-Democratic martial law being enacted in Michigan, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) fired back, calling the bill unconstitutional, emphasis mine:
Worse yet, this bill raises serious constitutional concerns. Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibits any State from impairing a contract, which is exactly what this legislation does. As the Supreme Court has held in Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934), the sanctity of contracts cannot be impaired by a state law “which renders them invalid, or releases or extinguishes them . . . . Not only are existing laws read into contracts in order to fix obligations as between the parties, but the reservation of essential attributes of sovereign power is also read into contracts as a postulate of the legal order.”
Rep. Conyers also inferred that some parts of this bill may be racially motivated, something Karoli at Crooks and Liars has also suggested:
The takeover provision of the legislation – allowing the dissolution of locally elected bodies — implicitly targets minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn, without providing meaningful support for improved economic opportunity.
Finally, Conyers also pointed out that by forcing a community in to bankruptcy (which will likely be done to force union consessions for public sector workers or just to break the collective bargaining contracts which the EMF also has the legal authority to do), the financial situation of the community will actually become worse.
Further, the bill empowers this financial czar with the Governor’s approval to force a municipality into bankruptcy, a power that will surely be used to extract further concessions from hardworking public sector workers. And, by making the risk of bankruptcy a reality, the bill will make it more not less expensive for municipalities to obtain financing given this risk, which will make the financial circumstances of municipalities even worse.
Taking it through the courts could take years. In the meantime, thanks to the Republican controlled House and Senate in Michigan, along with our new Dictator Republican Governor Rick Snyder, the people of Michigan will suffer, because this bill is the most draconian, the most un-Democratic piece of legislation in this country right now.
While Wisconsin’s family farmers are not union members, they are members of the American middle class, and they recognize class warfare when they see it. This tractorcade in Madison today is in solidarity with all those fighting the corporate power represented by Corporate Shill, Gov. Scott Walker.
From Minnesota blogger, Mike McMahon, on why a Minnesota group is participating in the Wisconsin tractorcade today, emphasis mine:
The Land Stewardship Project is here today participating in the Farmer-Labor Tractorcade being led by Wisconsin farmers because of the actions taken by Gov. Scott Walker. Walker and his allies have enabled a power-grab by big corporations to the detriment of the land, and people, of Wisconsin.
We know what happens under unchecked corporate power – the people suffer. That’s why family farmers across the Midwest organized in the 1890s, and the 1910s, and the 1930s, and the 1980s – building farmer co-ops, passing public policy that reined in corporate power and assisted family farms, and establishing farm organizations to fight for the well-being of family farmers, rural communities, and the land.
Today is another such time, in which predatory corporations like Monsanto, Dean Foods, Smithfield, and the Koch Brothers, are grabbing control over our seeds, our milk, our livestock, our land, our public assets — even our democracy. And now their political allies in Madison are attempting to pass and implement extremist legislation that breaks the power of working people to organize on their own behalf. They believe it will greatly diminish the power of people to rein in corporate greed that knows no bounds. They further this attack on the middle class by attempting to divide portions of the middle class against one another, alleging that the fight is between a unionized worker and someone who is not in a union. All of this to advance a pro-corporate agenda of business tax cuts, public asset fire-sales, reduced corporate accountability, and increased profits for the biggest of the big.
Unbelievable. Turning the state in to a dictatorship wasn’t enough, he had to pull this out of his CorporateBastard bag of tricks. Detroit Free Press:
LANSING -- One $100 bill could block voters from a chance to stop more than a billion dollars in higher taxes.
Whether you think it's a dirty trick or a smart move, a House bill to implement Gov. Rick Snyder's proposal to eliminate tax credits and exemptions contains a $100 appropriation -- enough to make the plan immune from a voter referendum.
The plan has incensed some Michiganders. On Tuesday, AARP is holding a rally at the Capitol for senior citizens angry about Snyder's plan to tax pensions and other retirement income while cutting business taxes.
In 2001, the state Supreme Court ruled that legislation with a state expenditure -- even just $1 -- can't be repealed by voters.
On Thursday, minority House Democrats assailed the move to block a potential repeal vote."I think there's a natural, built-in constituency that would sign that petition" to repeal tax changes, said Rep. Vicki Barnett, D-Farmington Hills.
Lt. Gov. Brian Calley said the $100 appropriation in the 180-page bill is legitimate, and would be increased to cover the cost of implementing the new tax code.
So, what this means is that a petition drive to repeal the tax changes (you know, the changes where Snyder increases taxes on the poor and elderly, but NOT on the rich guys with the big businesses) won’t help where his budget is concerned.
Protests and a recall petition are it, unless someone goes after his entire scheme based on the unconstitutionality.
UPDATE JUNE 24, 2011:For further information on the effort to recall Gov. Rick Snyder, or to volunteer for the recall effort, please go here. SIGNING AN ONLINE PETITION DOES NOT COUNT TOWARD LEGAL RECALL!!
The list is derived from information found on Follow the Money, is a work in progress, and depicts the top contributors of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. I was shocked to see the University of Michigan at the top of the list.
University of Michigan contributed $65,851 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan contributed $46,376 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Dow Chemical contributed $41,062 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
PriceWaterhouseCoopers contributed $35,600 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
DTE Energy contributed $32,448 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone contributed $31,850 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Dykema Gossett PLLC contributed $28,786 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Deloitte & Touche contributed $24,350 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Walbridge Aldinger Co contributed $24,150 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Meijer, Inc contributed $24,080 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Amway/Alticor contributed $21,220 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Masco Corp contributed $18,140 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Foley & Lardner contributed $17,450 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Ford Motor Co contributed $15,059 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
CMS Energy contributed $14,250 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Dow Corning contributed $12,904 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Northwestern Mutual Life Ins contributed $12,343 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Dickinson Wright contributed $12,110 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Delta Dental contributed $12,025 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Ernst & Young contributed $10,953 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Quicken Loans contributed $10,900 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Arbor Investments Group contributed $10,200 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
General Motors contributed $8,730 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Merrill Lynch contributed $8,600 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
Sterling Equities contributed $8,400 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
JP Morgan Chase & Co contributed $8,275 to Michigan Dictator Governor, Rick Snyder
UPDATE - MARCH 15Although followthemoney.org has listed the University of Michigan itself as the second largest contributor, after seeing a reader comment, and then checking out additional records, I found that the University actually only contributed $2,250, and the employees of UMICH, contributed $63,601, probably through a PAC. It is a distinction, however in my opinion, it is not much of one, since the school itself and its employees are intertwined. In other words, the school is still responsible to the extent that they sure hired a lot of Conservative employees. As long as Follow the Money has it listed as I originally posted it, I am going to leave it as is, however I did want to add this explanatory note.
Adding.....for some reason, this video keeps "vanishing", and nothing I do seems to correct the situation. So, if you don't see the video here, click here to go to MSNBC to watch the vid. Sorry for any inconvenience.
LAST NIGHT, MAR. 9: As you likely already know, last night Republicans illegally rammed through the portion of Walker’s budget that deals with collective bargaining, enacting, in effect, the end of collective bargaining for public workers in Wisconsin. Congrats, Koch Bastards.
After that happened, the Wisconsin state capitol was closed, and according to a metro bus driver, his bus was commandeered to take Republican legislator – fascists, out of the immediate area.
TODAY, MAR. 10: Today, the capitol was closed to everyone, with the remaining (unresisting) protesters being dragged out of the building, leading to thousands chanting “Let us in!”
The capitol police were replaced today by Wisconsin State Police troopers. The image below, via @ACLUMadison, is of riot gear being unloaded—wonder if the tear gas is even made in America?
Also today, Wisconsin firefighters went in to the Capitol Square/Madison branch of M&I bank as a group, and withdrew $190,000. M&I was the largest of the banks to back Gov. Scott Walker. That branch was closed for the day shortly thereafter Image below via @mariyastrauss
Additionally, there is a boycott of M&I planned if they don’t publicly oppose Walker’s efforts:
Teachers, firefighters and police officers said they would begin a boycott of M&I Bank if the bank does not begin publicly opposing Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to curtail collective bargaining for public workers.
Unions representing those groups said they would start other boycotts of businesses that backed Walker in his campaign.
The letter to M&I President Tom Ellis said the boycott would begin March 17 if the bank hasn't opposed Walker's efforts by then.
Stay tuned. I’ll be updating until sometime tonight.
5:07 PM Update: Wisconsin lawmakers voted to approve the measure to strip collective bargaining rights from public employees.
Police state (Wisconsin capitol building). Via @thinkprogress twitter stream.
5:45 PM Update: About an hour ago, Wisconsin Minority Assembly Minority Leader , Peter Barca (D), addressed the crown in Madison:
We think this vote will not stand. We believe it violates the law.
6:02 PM Update: We just learned that about 5 hours ago, hundreds of students at Madison West High School walked out of school and began marching to the capitol building, with a Madison police escort.
In the capitol building, Wisconsin state troopers deny media access to the Assembly.
8:00 PM Update: A general strike in Wisconsin? Not yet, it seems.
Calls for a general strike are growing among union members and supporters as the state Legislature advanced a law stripping public sector unions of almost all bargaining rights, but it remains unclear whether strikes or pickets will appear soon.
Union leaders say the Republicans' fast-track passage of the bill has fueled strike talk, but for now most are urging legal measures such as recall of Republican legislators as a way to repeal the law.
"A general strike would be playing the trump card, and you don't play the trump right away, you build up to that," said Jim Cavanaugh, president of the 45,000-member South Central Federal of Labor in Madison.
Michigan is in deep trouble. What makes me really angry is that people voted for this TrojanCorporateBastard, even though he told them that he would “run the state as a business”. What did they think that would look like? (in the next week or so, I’ll be doing a piece on Snyder’s campaign, including the financing-stay tuned) And, more critical now, why weren’t we paying attention?
While we were venting our outrage at shenanigans in Wisconsin politics, in fact while Republicans were planning last night’s attempted coup, the Michigan state legislature quietly passed a bill giving the Governor of Michigan martial control over the state. Except instead of using actual military, the Governor is more likely to use private security. But make no mistake–rights would be suspended.
Here’s how it works:
The governor, on his own initiative, can declare an economic emergency in any town and appoint an administrator. The administrator can be any person, including a corporate person.
The administrator has the power to do anything in the name of economic stability, including void contracts, void collective bargaining agreements, dissolve the town council, dissolve the school board, fire anyone including elected officials, hire private security, unincorporate the town, and sell off public property.
The people of the town have no say in this. They can neither demand nor turn away the administrator. That is because this provision is meant to be used against the people.
What might constitute an emergency in the Governor’s eyes?
A labor strike is the first thing that comes to mind. Too many foreclosures. Crime! In short, anything he wants it to be–and with billionaire backers, any controversy can be created.
What might the administrator do in that emergency?
First, privatize everything. Fire public workers and take over all public functions–running schools, police and fire service, and so on. Michigan just made this legal.
Second, imprison dissidents, shutter businesses, and seize property by eminent domain. This is not legal, but hey, that didn’t stop the Wisconsin Republicans.
In short, take over control and turn it into a corporate town.
We need to pay attention to Michigan because they are farther along the road to corporate statehood–to where the Republicans want to take all of us.
Privatization is going to happen first. And they aren't going to play around. They will go after towns en masse, with people unable to catch their breath long enough to fight back.
Still having never learned to be calm, retract their claws, and sit around and act rationally in a situation that calls for panic, Wisconsin’s Republicans and their Corporate Puppeteers tonight guaranteed themselves an unprecedented and disastrous recall next January.
More over, they also guaranteed themselves that any cloak of stealth under which they have operated in their attacks on teachers, firefighters, policemen, unions, and the settled law of collective bargaining, has been stripped away. If you pass a supposedly urgent “budget repair” bill with key budget components cut from it, you forfeit the fiction that you are doing anything remedial, anything essential, anything except a naked power grab on behalf of corporations who will get the money stolen from organized labor – civic or private.
And further, when you accomplish all this by parliamentary trick – after your national party has spent two years and more decrying Congressional reconciliation – when you deny the minority the right to participate in the outcome whether by compromise or protest, you cut through the cacophony of political-speak in this country and you transmit your sneering indifference towards democracy to ordinary citizens who do not normally pay attention.
Bastards. Hard to know how this will pan out. Keith Olbermann says that Republicans have committed suicide. We’ll see.
I will say that next up for reversal will be minimum wage laws, the 40 hour work week, and so on. This is what they’re working toward at the direction of their corporate masters.
Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate passed the most controversial portions of Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill late on Wednesday, stripping out the sections that required the presence of their 14 absent Democratic colleagues in the upper chamber.
In an 18-to-1 vote, the Senate approved the curbs on collective bargaining by public employees that Walker has insisted are needed to help the state's cash-strapped municipalities deal with a projected $1.27 billion drop in state aid over the next two years.
Adding….Twitter is going crazy over this news. The hacker group known as “anonymous” appears to have decided to stand with the workers. The link on that tweet is to a chat room, currently inundated with 7000+ people.
The Republican controlled Senate passed the emergency financial manager bill today, and the Republican controlled House passed a version of the same bill yesterday.
Gov. Rick Snyder did an end run around the people by forcing cities, towns and school districts closer to financial emergency via his own state budget cuts. This is nothing more than a union busting power play, no matter how Snyder tries to spin it.
The powers of the emergency financial managers, who would be appointed by Snyder at his whim, since the law does not require that an entity actually be in dire financial straits, are so broad it is likely that they are unconstitutional.
From my previous post, EFM powers include the following:
~ Authority to dismiss all or any elected officials ~ Authority to privatize all or any city services, including schools ~ Authority to break any and all contracts entered in to by your city via your elected officials, including collective bargaining contracts ~ Authority to disincorporate a town or city ~ Authority to merge one school district with another school district
LANSING -- The Senate has passed a bill to give much broader powers to emergency managers appointed to overhaul the finances of cities or schools facing collapse.
The 26-12 vote capped two days of debate, punctuated by protests from union supporters in the halls of the Capitol who object to giving emergency managers authority to nullify employee union contracts in municipalities or school districts where they're appointed. All Republicans voted for it; all Democrats voted against.
A demonstration Tuesday filled the inside of the Capitol and was called the largest protest ever seen inside the usually decorous building.
Democrats blasted the bill as a government power grab that would undermine collective bargaining in targeted communities with appointed, high-paid managers that have almost unlimited authority.
What makes this law so unique is its extensive reach.
Not only can an emergency manager wipe out collective bargaining agreements, he or she can literally push aside duly elected city officials and prevent them from doing the job they were elected to do.
Clearly, this raises some questions of constitutionality and state overreach.
Be sure to watch Rachel Maddow discussing this travesty with Naomi Klein, and stay tuned.
Today, the Republican controlled Michigan Senate will vote on a bill giving newly elected Governor Rick Snyder, unprecedented power to:declare any town, city, or school district in fiscal emergency, and to appoint a fiscal manager to such a town or school district.
The fiscal manager, which can be a corporation, then gains the following powers:
Authority to dismiss all or any of your elected officials
Authority to privatize all or any city services, including schools
Authority to break any and all contracts entered in to by your city via your elected officials, including collective bargaining contracts
Authority to disincorporate your town or city
Authority to merge your school district with another school district
Critics argue that the deep cuts in school funding and revenue sharing proposed by Snyder and Republican legislators could push many cities over the brink into bankruptcy, dramatically increasing the number of cities under the control of state-appointed emergency managers that will, after the passage of this bill, have unprecedented and — many argue — unconstitutional powers.
Rachel Maddow discusses this situation, and Republican plans for disaster capitalism with Naomi Klein. Watch:
For reference purposes, it may be helpful to note that Rick Snyder is a former CEO of Gateway, the same guy who sold it to the Chinese.
An ad which will speak to working people everywhere, created by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy For America.
Watch:
The GOP is out in the open now, playing only to their corporate sponsors, not just in Madison, but union-busting in other states, and forcing draconian cuts to the U.S. budget which will impact ONLY working people and the poor everywhere in this nation.
It is nothing less than a travesty that we’ve allowed it to get this far.
I'm going to get so killed for saying this ... I'm going to get killed for saying this. I don't understand. It seems -- I'm going to get so killed for this. I don't understand. I hate to say this, but the concept of telling people that they cannot come together to negotiate, with a government -- it just kind of seems un-American to me.
Watch:
Then of course, Scarbough goes on to improperly frame the whole issue, but still…..wingnuts should take note when even Scarborough thinks you’re whacked out, you are definitely out there.
On her show last night, Rachel Maddow talked directly to those fighting for their collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, telling them that they are now winning. And she’s right. But, I am seeing less vocal/open support for this battle, which is important to a vast majority of Americans, because when Wisconsin wins, all of the working people in America win.
SHOW your support, America! It is not time to stand down.
From @Triumph68 on Twitter, via Maddow, protesters in #Wisconsin refuse to give in, to give up, after Gov. Scott Walker locked them out of the people’s statehouse. Braving the extreme cold, the snow, they stayed.
Wisconsin, you are winning. I will say that again. Wisconsin, you are winning this fight.
There is a reason that after all of this time, your governor is not willing to negotiate. He is not willing to talk at all. But he is willing to kick you out of the Capitol.
A judge has now ordered that Walker re-open the capitol building. Whether or not he will comply, remains to be seen.
Former President Ronald Reagan, did not share his party's hatred of unions. From Think Progress, emphasis mine:
As the Main Street Movement of students, workers, and other middle class Americans erupts across America, many conservatives have invoked the legacy of former president Ronald Reagan to demand that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) not back down from his push to end collective bargaining for his state’s public employees. In a prank call with the Buffalo Beast’s Ian Murphy, where Murphy pretended to be right-wing billionare David Koch, Walker himself even fantasized about being just like Reagan.
Yet conservatives may be shocked to learn that their idol Reagan was once a union boss himself. Reagan was the only president in American history to have belonged to a union, the AFL-CIO affiliated Screen Actors Guild. And he even served six terms as president of the organized labor group. Additionally, Reagan was a staunch advocate for the collective bargaining rights of one of the world’s most famous and most influential trade unions, Poland’s Solidarity movement.
Founded in September 1980, Solidarity was formed in Soviet-occupied Poland as the USSR’s first free and independent trade union. By 1981, the union had grown to 10 million people and became a powerful force for demanding economic and political reforms within the Soviet Union. Solidarity began to use strikes to demand these reforms, and the Soviets responded by jailing their leaders and cracking down on their right to organize. During his Christmas address to the nation on December 23, 1981, President Reagan condemned the Soviet-backed Polish crackdowns on labor unions, promoting the “basic right of free trade unions and to strike”:
REAGAN: The Polish government has trampled underfoot to the UN Charter and Helsinki accords. It has even broken the Gdańsk Agreement of 1980 by which the Polish government recognized the basic right of free trade unions and to strike.
Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and John Boehner have introduced ideologically far-right, inconsequential and symbolic bills that kill Planned Parenthood and NPR. They've passed legislation that 
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