Wisconsin Goes National
Everyone who understands what's really going on realizes Occupy Wall Street is simply “Occupy Madison” and “Recall Scott Walker” gone national.
The fact that everyone in the national media is talking about Occupy Wall Street right now proves that what began in Wisconsin is succeeding on a larger scale.
That's despite the national media trying their damnedest not to say anything at all about the protests against the political puppeteers on Wall Street. In the early days, the media simply ignored the protests.
Keith Olbermann, one of the few liberal voices in what's falsely characterized as a liberal news media, had to publicly shame the media into covering the story taking place right down the street from their New York studios.
Forced to take notice, the media's next instinct was to minimize and ridicule. The protesters were simply a ragtag bunch of confused kids and chronic demonstrators participating in a carnival whose purpose, in the words of The New York Times, was “virtually impossible to decipher.”
Anyone who attended any of the massive rallies in Madison can recite the obvious answer to that absurd attack. They can even play the rhythm on their car horns: “This Is What Democracy Looks Like.”
The most important thing happening nationally as a result of these spreading protests is the focusing of attention of people everywhere on the true villains of their ongoing economic misery: the people who caused the economic collapse of the United States and continue to reap enormous profits from it.
Tea Party's Brazen Dishonesty
One of the many dishonest tactics by Republicans in response to the nation's economic crisis was to pretend they were upset by the bank bailouts begun under President George W. Bush that prevented the collapse of the nation's financial system.
As distasteful as the bank bailouts were, if the entire banking system had been permitted to fail, the resulting economic disaster would have made the Great Depression look like a birthday party on the beach.
What made tea party Republican complaints about the bailouts even more brazenly dishonest was that the biggest supporters of enormous giveaways to wealthy bankers are, of course, the Republicans themselves.
Republicans have shown their true sentiments ever since by coming up with a solution to the historic economic disaster created by their no-regulation, serve-the-rich policies that is absolutely breathtaking in its sheer gall.
At a time when massive unemployment is the biggest problem threatening our survival as a nation, Republicans actually oppose job creation that would put people back to work and stop families from being thrown out of their homes.
That is a failed idea, Republicans say. What we really need to do is roll back more banking and business regulations to give corporate executives more freedom to line their pockets through the same sort of sleazy, unregulated practices that destroyed the national economy under Republicans.
Oh yes: And continue to oppose taxes on billionaires and millionaires that would require America's wealthiest 1% to pay their fair share. Instead, by using tax loopholes, billionaires and millionaires should continue to pay lower tax rates than middle-class families.
As appalling as that Republican political position is, it comes as no surprise to those of us in Wisconsin, where these populist protests began against Walker, the Koch brothers' corporate puppet who uses exactly the same dishonest doublespeak.
Whenever Walker publicly announces a special session of the Legislature to focus on jobs, we all have to wait to find out what corrupt motive is really behind the session.
Walker's first special legislative session on jobs turned out to really be about destroying half a century of union bargaining rights, laying off teachers and other public employees and slashing the wages of those who manage to hang onto their jobs.
Silly us. We thought a session focusing on jobs would create jobs instead of eliminating them.
Walker's new session on jobs in name only appears mostly to be about destroying environmental regulations and consumer protections throughout the state and greasing the way for mining operations to pillage and poison northern Wisconsin.
And, of course, the primary focus of both of Walker's special sessions is to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars in tax benefits and other lavish gifts to the wealthiest corporadoes on the face of the planet.
Leading the fight to stop this corporate plunder and focus attention on the nation's most urgent priorities of economic recovery and job creation are the grassroots organizers in Wisconsin working to recall Walker and the growing Occupy Wall Street movement around the country.
The next step is to take back the state and the country in 2012.
I work a full time job and very motiated to get ahead but the economy sucks. Dont know where your looking at but not all of us have been given hand me downs. Free money. Alot of us work hard to take care of our families but with the cost of everything going up and having to pay more taxes makes our paychecks go down. People from other countries come here cause again its free money for them. We have a right to everything the rich has. Andsince we make them rich, we shouldnt be ignored. Everyone has a right to freedom of speech. If it wasnt for us hard working people, where would the rich be>
Immigrants come here and marvel at the opportunities. The OWS cowards sit on the sidelines with their mouths open jealous they have been out-worked and out-smarted. 99% are not doing bad. Maybe 20% just can't get with the program. But most people are doing quite well. Good economy or bad economy, doesn't matter. Threre are always ways to succeed in both.
Clean-cut, drink and drug free, 6' 2", brown hair, blue eyed, 170( /-5) pound, right-handed, 42 reg., 32W X 34H, mid-thirties, married (so one person finds me attractive) white male, with some college education here. I've been looking for work for about a year now. Sent 10 more resumes out last Thursday. Phone's been charged and on standby for that labor shortage of yours to call.
Any minute now... any minute.
Oh What - Delta is ready when you are. They can have you in Fargo by tomorrow. Loads of job openings in North and South Dakota in the gas drilling field. Man up, and get out there. If I was in need of work, thats what I would do. Thirty years ago I was in the same boat and headed to Oklahoma, like thousands of other men. Found a job, a cheap apartment. A month later I turned the keys of the house into the bank, packed up the Dodge with the wife and kids.
We live poor for a long time I was so poor I had to get a 4 year bank loan to buy a car. I was even living off my credit cards. I was so poor I even had to finance a washer and dryer for like 2 years!! But I had a job and it paid enough to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. Even make payments on a car. Although it was not my chosen field of work, I learned the trade and was soon sought after by competitors willing to pay me more. After that I swore I'd never be poor again. So I continued to live poor but banking half my check each week. After 25 years of doing that, when I got laid off - no worries.
When I have relatives who lived high on the hog and now don't have a dime, come running to me for a loan, I tell them look at my life. I live poor. I don't have an SUV or a McMansion and you want me to loan you money so you can keep those luxuries? Go #$%^ yourself.
I don't feel sorry for all these teachers who went out and lived a middle class lifestyle and are now whining like little spoiled children. If all those teachers had banked half their income for all those years, they would have no worries. But they were stupid and not only bought all the big toys, often they financed them on credit.
Why should I be punished for becoming a millionaire? I lived poor all those years saving and investing. A now we have all those spendtrifts who blew their paychecks and now want the millionaires to bail them out.
The JS reported this morning there is a massive labor shortage in Alabama and Georgia. Potato farms in Alabama and Blueberry farms in Georgia. We need to get these farms to make formal job offers to the unemployed and welfareites in Wisconsin. Those that refuse to work must forfit their unemployment and welfare. A good way to reduce the unemployment rate in Wisconsin is to have the unemployed move out of state.
Job creation -- There is nothing that can be done about it so long as a non-negotiable rule is that -- He who has the most gold must be allowed to keep all their gold, while continuing to take a cut of all the "new gold" being "created".
Before all of you get your dander up about whether my message is left-wing or right wing (or even playing the race card), why not have everyone who has been around a few decades (young people, go ask your parents and grand-parents) take a step back and look at what life was like back then and compare to what life is like now.
Compare minimum wage back then to minimum wage now?
It was about $2 back in 1976, today's $7.50 is less than 4x as much.
Compare the cost of a gallon of gas then to the cost now?
It was about $0.50 back in 1976, today's $3.25 is over 6x that.
Compare the cost of a gallon of milk then to the cost now?
Compare the starting pay of a decent full-time job then with the starting now?
Don't forget to check where you are today compared to your own starting pay.
At my factory, a work started at $2.60 in the 70's, about $15 today, not quite 6x.
In my profession, 1982 started one out at about 20K, today starts them at maybe 40K, only 2x
Compare the cost of paying rent back then to paying rent today?
Compare the cost of your college tuition then to the cost now?
In 1976, UW-Madison in-state was something like $375/semester,
I was told UW-Whitewater is now 10x at about $3750/semester.
Bottom line -- cost of the basics has been going up faster than our paychecks.
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My bible-thumping friends tell me that the "right(wing)" way is not to fight it, got to feed "the spoils of victory to the deserving". The Bible prophesied that the wicked will prosper before the Messiah comes again. Since this is biblical destiny, we are powerless to change it!
What the H-E-Double-Toothpicks is the religious-minded right-wing doing? Are they trying to bring about this end of the world so they can have their heavenly reward ASAP?
Oh, my Jehovahs Witness acquaintances tell me that only 144,000 will have that heavenly reward, the rest will have to live out there eternity on earth (and nobody goes to the "lake of fire", the non-good just plain die). Yet they still do not believe in voting. Do you "good Christian" people really want to leave hands off from fixing the problem?
Hello, boys, I'm here to be the happy median for you two conspirators against poverty beneath you, not above you.
Besides sharing the same debate on the same sides of the congressional law for poverty, that started the first bank bust, the SNL. They toned it down with Bush,sr. involvement by the republican moral majority at the time, so, they packaged it, stylized it and pronounced it as, a "minor scandal".
Indeed, they weren't minor liars for betrayal since they ordered into law for Americans to pay for their mistakes; a moral majority couldn't annouce they participated in fleecing/stealing Americas' money! There's too many of them, Right?
What part of your body is more humbling than the rest: Your heart, your mind, or your crapper?
A scandal, so tremendous that it boiled over the tea pot kettle from Bush,jrs revenge for his Bush,sr. "War is good for business"(I've no doubt that mortitions are making easy money hand over fist) from veterans, their families, and every American sypathizer.
You might feel the pain yourselves, for such discriminating poor taste and bad judgement. You valently push the rhetoric that ONLY a repuker has the ability to get anything right, democracy has no strength or bears no meaning to a moral majority!
What is a repuker? The person/people that revolt at humaniatrian good deeds and staunchly support War against such insanity. as only the moral majority would does to have its own way,
They've had their way, acquiring people's money to bankroll their investments and they still have a cross-over republican disguised as a Democrat President, today!
Announcing complete support for the massive murders that have replaced democracy, with the bush/obama solidarity, that somehow purifies and sanctifies, 911 and the Iraq,Afghanistan wars against the poor and helpless, unarmed victims at home and the world.
Are you happy about peaceful Americans being arrested for asking for peace not war to balance the budget from a specially elected democrat veto, by a cross-over repuker president? (I hope your not holding your breathe till that happens).
No, that's not how I am or how I chose to validate my views as extreme, to your own. No, just a short trip to Youtube.com/CIA bush,sr. and you'll find every non-remorsal blow each of you are slinging to the general public.
Postive reinforcement from leadership has dewindled so much that negative bashing(as each of you are guilty) only rants and rave about the poor, about indiginant people that have been pushed to the top of the waste file, by talented college educated new recruits, like yourselves.
Yes, higher education has never been in so much demand as it is now in this generation; but how much of the curriculum has changed since the failure of the bombs and bullets strategy for mass killings with a patriotic theme?
From the people, by the people, are revoking in mass numbers against the bush family strategy for being an abundant liar with attitude backed-up by the moral majority repukers.
These days will pass as it was said from the optimist point of view; That's how I view Americas future as the greatest judiciary caretakers for all the people, not just those that are the best liars.
The repukers begged Ken Starr, the hightest paid attorney of our century, if not since the beginning when attorneys were more honest about laws that govern all people, not just themselves, because they bought an education and paid for it during thier lifetimes, which can not be said in our own days and times.
The point I'm standing-up for is honesty about Americas future; free from a moral majority of liars, with the charges for endangerment of Americas best offering, her glorious diverse people,"on the record-books" for the "peoples choice" to charge and deliver the bush co-conspirators with tyranny as the damaging party responsible for more misery than most are willing to comprehend or confess.
So, now I leave you with my thoughts about your public bickering with hopes that youll mend and heal your souls before you start down-sizing optimism. Thank you for you kind consideration.