What's on Katie's Mind? : Tag : Wisconsin

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Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures….or… Let’s just say the Republicans are in POWER!

Posted on March 13, 2011 at 12:10 am

Here in Michigan we are that sleepy old state that no one is paying attention to while everything seems to be going on in Wisconsin. However, it seems like a coordinated battle plan has been drawn by many of the Republican governors in some very key political states all at the same time. I don’t think this is a coincidence. The main battles are taking place in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Florida but of course there is also New Jersey as well as other states that I’m not watching as closely as my own. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/us-usa-unions-states-idUSTRE7295QI20110311

One of the things I find really interesting is how close these states have been in recent national political elections. It seems that all of these governors are hell bent on destroying unions, teachers’ unions especially. The NEA is the biggest of all. It is the largest professional organization and labor union in the United States. Republicans have criticized it for years as being a big supporter of the Democratic Party. In Michigan the MEA has supported more Democrats but has also supported a few Republicans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUpO1QFMDtM

Here is more showcasing the sneaky underhanded tactics being used by these governors to push through their ideology much like Wisconsin’s Governor Walker pushed through his plan in the dead of night.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110311/NEWS15/103110454/0/ENT04/-100-cost-shield-Gov-Rick-Snyder-s-tax-proposal-from-voters?odyssey=nav|head

The obvious goal is about taking away the financial support to the Democratic Party and to create an environment where business can have whatever they want. A few years ago at our school everyone read a book entitled, Whatever It Takes. Of course that book was about educating students. These governors are using techniques that embody that spirit of whatever it takes to destroy the middle class. John Edwards always said he wanted to be the voice for the voiceless. Well, we know John has been permanently derailed because of the choices he made with Rielle Hunter and the fact that the Democratic Party, much like the Republicans, really don’t care about the poor and the voiceless. However, I must mention here that Newt Gingrich can double down on being bad to his many wives and still gets respect from the Republican Party. The reason I mention John here is no one is speaking for the voiceless, the poor and the disenfranchised. President Obama is working as hard as the Republicans at thinking up new ways to screw the poor and the middle class. Just keep this tidbit in your mind as you read on because no politician is really speaking for the disenfranchised today. All we hear from politicians is how we have to have a “shared sacrifice”. I don’t want to get too sidetracked from things but I wonder why these politicians in the following post aren’t sacrificing. They want everyone else to sacrifice. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/08/wisconsin-state-senate-republicans_n_833058.html

The first time I heard about farm subsidies is back in the seventies when I was young. I was watching the Johnny Carson show. Johnny had John Wayne on his show. John Wayne was laughing about how the government pays him not to farm. Now that’s class warfare! The current Republican governors all seem to want to give massive tax breaks to corporations; you know those entities that the Supreme Court fully recognizes for their “corporate personhood”. It seems to me that for years I’ve heard Republicans chastising Democrats for creating “class warfare”. The Democrats are always pointing out the massive divide between the rich and the poor. Unfortunately, this only seems to happen around election time, but it’s enough to get the Republicans crying for mercy. However, truthfully the Republicans have declared a sort of war on the middle class and the poor in this country. The class warfare of today is created through governmental policies that cater to the whims of the wealthy and big corporations while slashing everything from education to any assistance to the poor or disenfranchised. I have always believed the one thing that can help to elevate a society is a good education. It is getting harder and harder to obtain that education when policies are in place to ensure that it fails. Budget cuts to education are designed really to keep the poor and middle class where they belong, dumb and uneducated. If enough people were truly educated in this country, they might do something about the sorry state of our democracy. We hear all about how education is broken but truthfully if you want a good education in this country you better fix poverty. I know right now there will be some narrow minded person sitting here reading this and thinking how the poor will always be with us. That’s uncreative, small minded thinking in my book. The great leveler in society is education because it opens many doors that would be otherwise closed.

If you will remember back to when President Bush was in office you will remember that we had all of those color coded alerts about potential terrorism in our country. We were constantly kept in a state of fear and panic at the thought that a terrorist might be living next door to us. These terror alerts were manipulating us during the 2004 election. Whenever John Kerry would go up in the polls, a new terror alert would be announced and like the sheep we are we would do whatever we were alerted to do. Today the constant drumbeat has been about those lousy pubic unions and how they are screwing up our society. Yes, it’s the lousy teachers that suck the blood and life from our society. Even though some of them may give hope to the hopeless, they are the new enemy of the poor. If it wasn’t for those greedy teachers, the poor would have money. Sometimes you know the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Those Republicans have called for a moratorium on spending for anything that will help you or me. However, if there is some new subsidy or tax break they can give to corporations and the wealthy they’ll get right on it because they still pretend to believe in Reaganomics where that “trickle down” theory was invented. Truthfully, our society is becoming one of the wealthy and everyone else that are left to “attend” to the wealthy. I’ve never been able to figure out why enough isn’t enough for the wealthy. How many billions do you need? That trickle down theory just doesn’t work because the richer someone at the top gets, the richer they want to be. They don’t let it trickle down and the only way you are going to get it to trickle down is through government policies that ensure that it does. Our “desperate times” are created by policies designed to make the rich get richer and screw the poor. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Unfortunately, we don’t truly know how desperate we all are until we get a Republican governor to show us! I’ll leave you with the desperate people in Wisconsin that have done everything they can to make our country wake up to what’s really going on. This clip includes Michael Moore on the Rachel Maddow show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYrv65HufIs

Here’s part 2 of that show!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvqQ_olFJ2U&feature=related

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- Social Politics

Chickens, Eagles and Michael Moore

Posted on March 6, 2011 at 12:11 pm

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you will not be surprised by some of the things I find online and become interested in. Today I discovered a website called the National Priorities Project. I, for one, resent so much of my tax dollars being spent on these two stupid wars that the government seems to want to perpetuate into eternity. This website has some interesting tools. One of the tools allows you to put in what you paid in federal taxes so you can see how your money was appropriated. I must confess. It did not make me happy, especially what went into education. If you go to this page and put in what you paid, you will see what I’m talking about.

http://nationalpriorities.org/en/tools/taxchart/

After looking over that website I discovered this little article that will surprise no one. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/17/us-wiki-china-treasury-idUSTRE71G47920110217?pageNumber=1

China is flexing their muscle with us and what are we doing? It seems we will go after entitlement programs and the unions. That’s a nice little combination that will have an effect on the regular “Joe”, you know the normal people like you and me. It will not have any measurable effect on the wealthy. In fact they have been assured that their money is safe and secure from the grubby hands of the American taxpayer through the continuation of the Bush tax cuts and the changes made to the so called “death” tax. The changes President Obama agreed to are significant. http://www.sbnonline.com/2011/03/how-the-2010-tax-relief-act-could-impact-your-estate/?full=1

Yesterday I was listening to the replaying of Tom Hartman’s radio show I believe from Friday. He said Mike Huckabee wants people to work until they are 75. Tom laughed and said that a brick layer couldn’t work until he’s 75 and that perhaps the only people that could would be a preacher or a priest. Mike, of course, is a preacher, not just an ex-governor or Fox talk show host. These conservatives seem to have absolutely no heart. They can take from the American people anything and everything without batting an eye.

Last night I came across an old video of Senator Teddy Kennedy fighting for an increase in the minimum wage. It is well worth watching because it only showcases the lack of representation that we currently have in Congress. Who is standing up for the workers of America? Can’t you imagine Teddy talking about unions right now?

Teddy was frustrated in his quest to raise the minimum wage. He noted tax breaks were given to wealthy corporations and he asked a couple of important question. He said, “What is the price? How much more do you want?”

These are the same types of questions the American people should be asking their elected officials right now. What is the price and how much more do you want? These same elected officials will go back to the well of the American people to select more young men and women to fight their wars. Few of them will suggest to their own children that they should join the military during these trying times. Most of their children will go into business and make a bundle just like their parents. So where are these elected officials in Washington D.C.? I know where the 14 senate Democrats are in Wisconsin. They’re taking a stand. It cannot be easy for them. They are heroes to many people. Governor Walker on the other hand continues to look for any way possible to destroy their credibility.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/03/wisconsin-senate-oks-arrest-of-absent-dems-for-contempt/1

It appears the Senate GOP leader in Wisconsin has issued arrest warrants for them. After all they must be criminals for taking a stand! Let’s keep on squeezing them until they say, “Uncle!” Personally, with all of the bullying that has been in the news the last several months and the deaths of young people that have committed suicide in the news; I find it interesting that the governor of a state can act like such a “bully” to his constituents. People wonder why these young kids “bully” people. Is their really any wonder about this when bullying is constantly happening in politics on a grand scale? Politics today is full of bullies and the worse offender is the “gang” of Republican governors that have the “mindset” to destroy American unions. We don’t have any super major politicians stepping up to speak for unions but Michael Moore went to Wisconsin this weekend and rallied the union protestors with a rousing speech which you can see at TPM. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/michael-moore-rallies-thousands-in-madison-america-is-not-broke.php

We may have some chickens in Washington D.C. but thankfully Wisconsin has 14 senators that soar like the American eagle and are standing up for workers’ rights in a courageous way that we should all be thankful for across this nation. Michael Moore wanted one fact repeated by someone in the main stream media. He went on to say, “Four hundred obscenely wealthy individuals in the United States of America now have more, cash, stock and property than the assets of 155 million American people combined.” He continued to talk about Wall Street and the banks running our country and the death of democracy. We have all felt like there is nothing we can do about it but these brave 14 senators have made us realize that there is something we can do about it. Michael Moore went on to talk about what he learned in his economics class in high school. Watching Michael had to be uplifting for the Wisconsin crowd because it was uplifting to me here in Michigan. He went on to tell people that the wealthy control the message because they control the media and he is right.

Many have said this will be decided by the message that is put out by the media. If we rely on the mainstream media for this message, we will lose. This is why bloggers everywhere have to get this message out and get those common “Joes” thinking about what is really going on in this country. The American people, the common people that go to work every day and keep this country moving, have to step up and take back their country and take back their democracy from the extremely wealthy. All I ask you to do is spread the word and get people talking about what is really happening in this country. The message Michael ended with is, “We have had it!” We have had it. I’m fed up with how the American worker has been turned into the “scapegoat” for everything that is wrong in this country. We are the United States of America as Michael said not the Corporate States of America! If you do anything else watch Michael and spread the word. Remember, Michael is always portrayed by the “corporate media” as a man that is a bit of a nut and outside the box of the American people but truthfully Michael is one of us. He grew up in Michigan and still is doing what he can for the community he lives in up in Traverse City. He is one of the founders for the Traverse City Film Festival which has done a lot for the tourism industry up in Traverse City. http://www.traversecityfilmfest.org/

Even though right wing nuts tried to destroy what he was doing with the film festival most finally realized what a great thing it is for Traverse City. At the end of his speech Michael finally reminds the crowd that it is one person, one vote and that’s what we should remember. If we want to take back our country, we have to get organized and we must vote.

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Wisconsin, the Koch Brothers and Luscious the Cat

Posted on February 21, 2011 at 7:50 pm

The Citizen United decision has changed and corrupted the election process. Most of us thought the election process was bad before this ruling. However, what is bad can obviously get worse. We should all be alarmed to discover the close ties of Justice Clarence Thomas, his wife, and Justice Antonin Scalia have with the Koch brothers. If you’ve been hiding under a rock, you might not know who these powerful brothers are and why their relationship with these justices on the Supreme Court should cause alarm and concern for normal American citizens. From the archives here is the case:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html

The Supreme Court may have been bitterly divided on this case at the time but we didn’t know how close the two above justices are to the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers have benefited greatly from this ruling. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/us/politics/15thomas.html?_r=1&ref=clarencethomas

You all should remember Glenn Beck’s rally in Washington D.C. or the Tea Party movement. Well, the Koch brothers, in the words of Frank Rich are the “Sugar Daddies” that help fund these “noble” causes. So, how does this all matter this past week in Wisconsin? The Koch brothers are funding, once again, the efforts to destroy and take down public unions. http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/18/koch-brothers-behind-wisconsin-effort-to-kill-public-unions/

Not only that, but within the legislation that the governor wants pass is some writing that allows for “no bid” contracts. Many believe this is set up to pay back people like the Koch brothers that have been funding the campaigns of people like Governor Walker.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/wisconsin-scott-walker-koch-brothers

This all gets more and more interesting as the days go by. Governor Walker, trying to appear all noble, is just looking out for payback for his buddies. That payback is about killing unions, not just public sector unions but private as well.

I found this hilarious video that pretty much says it all. It’s created by some person named Luscious the Cat on Youtube. It seems that Luscious is trying to educate the American public in what I think is a very creative manner! I figured why should I keep writing when Luscious can dramatically educate the public for me. Thanks Luscious!

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- Social Politics

Solidarity and Why Wisconsin Matters

Posted on February 20, 2011 at 11:27 am

I’ve been watching the protesting going on in Madison, Wisconsin with great concern. Many believe, just as I do, that Madison is a test case for the rest of us. I believe there has been a constant push to divide workers in our country and around the world. All people that work for someone else need to pay attention to what is happening in Madison.

Unions have become the target of business and we, the American people, have been duped by the corporate propaganda machine. Unions have been blamed for everything from the current economic condition to why businesses are choosing to manufacture goods in other countries. However, what most people should be thinking about is how workers are being treated around the globe. We were lead to believe that NAFTA and opening up normal trade relations with China would help raise the standard of living around the world. http://articles.cnn.com/2000-10-10/politics/clinton.pntr_1_wto-membership-china-global-trade-regime?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS

What is really happening is a growing divide between the very wealthy and the rest of us. We, the American people, the real laborers of our country, have not understood how we should all be banding together in solidarity. We should be insisting on good and fair working conditions and benefits for everyone from the person that sweeps the floor in the factory to teachers, doctors, waitresses and anyone else that is an employee in this country. Instead we sit back thinking only of ourselves and our particular circumstance.

Some look at teachers and think they deserve this. Part of this is because this whole past year there has been systematic propaganda put out by the corporate media about how bad teachers are because the American student is so poorly educated. We have heard the drumbeat from the president on down through Michele Rhea in Washington D.C. and the video, “Waiting for Superman.” If you are to believe the corporate media, then you would have to think that your own child is getting a poor education. I’m not saying that all students are getting a great education. What I am saying is that the corporate run media has been pushing hard for the demise of the teacher’s unions for the past several years. This should come as no surprise for anyone that can think back over the last few years and especially this past year. The corporate run media wants people to think this group in Madison is just a bunch of cry baby teachers that don’t care about anything but their cushy jobs with summers off. The corporate run Republicans have been taking our government from the federal level on down to the state level and privatizing anything they can get their hands on. This is another area that we have been lead to believe is a better choice. Private companies can do a better job than the government, or so we have been told. This is just another way that politicians have been rewarding those companies that have been giving charitably to their campaign coffers.

Looking around the world this year there have been protests all over the globe. While the banks have been rewarded because they were too big to fail, the citizens of the world have been taken down a notch through the decimation of benefits, pensions, health care, and college education. I remember distinctly this video of students protesting in England and some of them shouting, “Off with their heads.” This video doesn’t play the sound but it did happen. This was in reference to Prince Phillip and his wife. Unions have been protesting around Europe as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zptklj49AYs&feature=related

As a country we need to stop pitting the old with pensions against the young, the union employees against those non union workers, as well as government workers pitted against private employed workers. The workers of the world need to unite in solidarity or they will continue to lose benefits and wages while the wealthy will continue to rake in the money, get all the tax breaks and the CEO of these big corporations will continue to receive unbelievable bonuses. The truth is what is happening in Madison, Wisconsin is the destruction of bargaining. If unions across this county cannot have true bargaining rights, you won’t have them either. If they lose benefits, you will surely lose benefits as well. If they have no strength, neither will you!

If you are my age or older you will remember the saying, “As the Dow Goes, so Goes the Country.” Today as a worker and a teacher I can honestly say I believe as Madison goes, so goes the country. If they lose, so will we! There is a concerted effort by the Republican governors across this country to destroy union’s rights to collectively bargain. Here is a piece from Ohio. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/overhaul_of_states_collective.html

I want to play a video from last week that really explains what is going on in Madison. It really is about busting the union and nothing else. It’s a longer video but you should watch the whole thing and listen to John Nichols at the end when he talks about what is happening around the world.

Ed Schultz has done a great job of covering Madison this whole past week. His show is on at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time on MSNBC and he has been spending time there. I found this video of Ed talking to the teachers just before his show the other night. It really is good. Ed understands what’s really going on. It is as he says about what is morally right and fair.

As a teacher I want to add some information that most people don’t realize. Young teachers here in Michigan have to take classes for the rest of their lives. The cost of this comes out of their pockets. I’m currently taking courses and it’s not cheap. The teacher qualifications and licensing has changed drastically over the last twenty years. Teachers used to get a life certificate. I have a continuing certificate. I don’t have to renew my certificate any more. I’m taking my courses to reach a higher level of pay and expertise, not because I have to do so. Younger teachers have to take courses in order to keep their license updated. They also have to pay for renewing that license. I’ve been taking courses throughout the school year, so I don’t have a lot of “free” time. Many teachers take courses in the summer time as well. Curriculum planning is also done in the summer time. I think some people just don’t have a clue how much planning goes into creating a good classroom atmosphere and education for the children of our country. I know what my commitment is as a teacher. I give my all to my students. I know other teachers that do the same. We are dedicated professionals that care about the well being of our students. We go out of our way to do our best to help students reach their full potential. We even buy things to bring into our classrooms and donate for good causes that will likely benefit some of our students and their families. We are not the enemy. We, the American workers, should all stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Madison, Wisconsin.

I would also like to thank the brave Democratic state senators that have chosen to leave the state of Wisconsin so a quorum could not be met to pass this vote. They are true heroes for the working people of America. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/02/19/wisconsin_protests_in_images

Additional food for thought:

Here in Michigan our Republican governor has proposed a budget that would mean a $470 funding cut for each and every child being educated in our K-12 public schools. http://www.michiganpolicy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1018:a-comprehensive-analysis-of-governer-snyders-budget-proposal-for-k-12-education&catid=75:k-12-education-blog&Itemid=132

I’m sure he’ll be looking to see what happens in Wisconsin. We have already faced some changes in bargaining rights based on the Race to the Top program instituted by President Obama. http://www.michiganpolicy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=840:hb-6331-collective-bargaining-agreements-and-performance-based-initiatives&catid=35:k-12-education-policy-briefs&Itemid=117

By the way we haven’t won any “Race to the Top” money.

Here is a good op-ed piece from the Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/02/scrooge-ism_in_wisconsins_unio.html

This is an interesting website to look at union membership across the nation. The numbers here in Michigan and in Wisconsin have gone down.

http://www.bls.gov/ro3/mdunion.htm

This is good if you like to look at statistics from the Census Bureau.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/

This blogger has written about wage stagnation and how we have coped. This is interesting.

http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2010/05/wage-stagnation-biggest-threat-to.html

Also if you think this isn’t going on around the world, just look at these pieces and think.