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22 Feb 2011 13:26

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Politics: Ohio may be going the way of Wisconsin on deficit issues

  • State employees are not the cause of the economic problems we’re having, and for Senator Jones and other Republicans to point to them as the problem is absolutely unfair and untrue.
  • Ohio State Senator Joe Schiavoni • Speaking about the burgeoning labor face-off in Ohio. The Republican state legislature is considering a bill to tackle the state’s financial troubles, which presently amounts to an $8 billion deficit, that may sound rather familiar to those protesting in Wisconsin right now. Namely, it weakens or strips away long standing and hard fought collective bargaining rights for organized labor, a typically Democratic voting block. To be clear, fiscal responsibility does matter. But isn’t there a way to do this that’s all about being good with money, without the distracting attempt at anti-labor scapegoating that these bills reek of? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2011 10:43

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Politics: In partial defense of the Wisconsin State Journal’s bad photo editing

  • We’ve noticed a couple of our followers mentioning this pretty stellar Awl article about the situation in Wisconsin. This isn’t really about that, except indirectly. It mentioned this photo gallery using this phrase: “The Wisconsin State Journal, ran an entire photo journal titled ‘Saturday protests at the Capitol’—which contained photos only of the Walker supporters.” Now, we don’t like being critical of a publication we like (The Awl is cool), but this simply isn’t true. What we’re witnessing, conversely, is a bad case of photo editing which seems to emphasize the Tea Partiers above all else. There are a lot of photos of the Tea Party in this slideshow, either way, seemingly more than of the much larger crowd around them. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Feb 2011 21:23

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U.S.: Are the Tea Partiers in Madison really that big a deal, anyway?

  • So how many Tea Partiers went to Madison today? While these crowds look reasonably large in size, they don’t appear to hold a candle to the 40,000+ union protesters going around Madison today. These arial shots seem to suggest much smaller crowds of Tea Partiers than pro-union folks. But guess which ones CNN decided to cover today? Take a guess. (photo from Americans for Prosperity’s Flickr stream) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Feb 2011 15:43

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Politics: Reader-submitted: One protester’s take on the Wisconsin issue

  • From someone who’s been there: Here’s a clip Tumblr user definitelynotcanon sent our way. Her friend Anna, who says in the clip that she’s never made a video blog, offers some perspective from the front lines of the protests in Madison, and wants to encourage better coverage of the entire issue. The important part is that the stripping of collective bargaining rights is the key issue here – not the current budget issue. We do have one point to make about all this: The part that she brings up about the special interest groups is actually inaccurate, as pointed out by Politifact. (It’s not spending on special interest groups, but tax breaks.) The heart of her argument still stands up, though. It’s OK though, because Ezra Klein has her back. After watching that, read this: source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2011 19:55

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Politics: Wisconsin Dems: “We were left with no choice” but to leave state

  • We were left with no choice … The question is when are the Republicans going to sit down seriously with the other side on this issue and try to work something out.
  • Democrat Wisconsin state Sen. Jon Erpenbach • Explaining why he chose to leave the state, and what it will take to get him back. He and every other Democratic state senator in Wisconsin left in protest of a GOP-backed plan to limit public employees’ abilities to collectively bargain for better wages, in a push to stop a deficit crisis. As a result, the GOP doesn’t have quorum – because 20 state senators need to be there, and there are 19 Republicans. This is the first such incident were an entire party left a state to avoid a vote since Democratic members of the Texas state senate and state house left the state to avoid a vote on redistricting – the same vote, mind you, that led to Tom DeLay’s corruption conviction. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2011 11:27

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Politics: Obama backs public employees in Wisconsin union battle royale

  • Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain, generally seems like more of an assault on unions. I think it’s very important for us to understand that public employees, they’re our neighbors, they’re our friends.
  • Barack Obama • Coming out in support of public employees currently facing the squeeze in an anti-union fight in Wisconsin. The vote will likely take place today, and it’s clear where Gov. Scott Walker is leaning – he’s budget-minded first, and sounds frustrated by the fact that collective bargaining agreements take so long. “I don’t have 15 months to balance a budget, and I certainly am not going to pass a budget on a hope and a prayer that that might happen,” he said. Hey Scott, based on the protests, it’s clear that a balanced budget is not the top priority for the people who have been flooding Madison the last few days. Consider that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 5 Comments • Permalink

16 Feb 2011 20:59

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Politics: Scott Walker masters art of political self-destruction in Wisconsin

  • Not bad, Scott Walker. You’ve been Wisconsin’s governor for like two months, and you have half of Madison aiming for your throat because you made a power play to take away public employees’ collective bargaining rights. And you threatened to get the National Guard involved if union members tried to walk out in protest. Dude, this is Wisconsin, Union Central! You’re screwing with the teachers, not the bureaucrats! And Madison is like the hippie mecca of the Midwest! What did you think was going to happen? Not everyone is this hardcore about budget deficits. The Green Bay Packers (!!) have turned against you, and now you have people comparing you to Hosni Mubarak. A tad overwrought, yes, but the point is pretty clear. By going for the jugular a little too harshly, you’re making your political bed, Scott. Why can’t you be cool like this Scott Walker? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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