Archive for February, 2011
Look at the filth left behind by the unions that shut down the capitol in Madison, Wisconsin today…the detritus of Democrat thuggery has been a familiar scene since Obama’s inauguration, hasn’t it?
h/t Ann Althouse's althouse.blogspot.com
Why do protests and Democrat celebrations look like mobs of brutes and thugs smashed through an area, carving a path of destruction wherever they went?
The above is a picture posted on Ann Althouse’s site, taken by her husband, who witnessed the union thugs’ attack on Madison this afternoon.
Below, please find a classic image from the aftermath of Obama’s Inauguration in 2009.
Wherever Obama voters go, this same phenomenon keeps happening.
Why is that?
Hope! Change! Garbage!
Wisconsin Ground Report: What’s going on with public employee protest rallies? How are Democrats using the usual suspects to protect the union-to-Democrat-campaign contribution gravy train?
Dear HillBuzz,
I work at a UW campus (not Madison), and today at lunchtime, there was a protest rally. I made a point of picking up my mail from another building at that time so that I could check it out. There was a core of about 100 people actively listening to the speakers, and chanting “kill the bill” and holding signs like “Tom Barrett for Governor” (that’s who Scott Walker beat in November 2010). There was another 100 or so people milling around the edges. I believe a lot of those gathered were like me…employees and students who were curious about the gathering, but not engaged enough to get close and join in the chanting. One student near me joked, “when do we get to start breaking things?” He was definitely joking, and many students, that I walked near as I approached the gathering were laughing about the gathering, as if they found the whole thing lame. I have to say from that experience that there’s not a ton of support for protesting this bill, even among people directly affected. Also, in this area, the local schools are open, and there are no significant teacher absences according to the news.
Meanwhile, in Madison, teachers and other public employees, along with Union honchos, students, and outside agitators, are filling the hallways, kicking at doors, stopping the democratic process and generally making pests of themselves.
On Twitter @MacIverWisc just wrote:
“Just got back from 1 hr in Wisc Capitol. Crowd blocking access to Senate Chamber is 80 percent college and high students.”
Lucy in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Ground Report: What’s happening with the state legislature and Democrats fleeing the capitol to avoid a vote on cutting union pork?
Dear HillBuzz,
Senate Rule 15
Before proceeding to business, the roll of the members shall be called, and the names of those present and those absent shall be entered on the journal. A member present during any part of a roll call day shall be included in the official attendance roll call for that day. A majority of the membership presently serving must be present to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; a smaller number, however, can adjourn and may compel the attendance of absent members. When a roll call discloses the lack of a quorum, further business may not be conducted until a quorum is obtained, but the members present may take measures to procure a quorum or may adjourn. (Bolding mine)
Senate Rule 16
Members of the senate may not be absent from the daily session during the entire day without first obtaining a leave of absence. The leave may be granted at any time by a majority vote of the senate.
Wisconsin Ground Report: No sympathy for public unions from private sector employees out of work
Dear HillBuzz,
I am a lawyer in the State of Wisconsin and have a solo practice that centers around helping small businesses. I will admit to not being terribly sympathetic to the public employees. What they are looking at is the same thing that those of us in the private sector have been dealing with for a while. What this law does is require State employees to contribute to their pensions and health insurance which is estimated to result in a 10% decrease in take home income for state employees, including elected officials (not the first time Scott Walker has lowered his own pay). This law also takes away a good deal of the Union’s bargaining power and the Union’s ability to force public employees to pay dues. I have yet to see a news article that points out that this is one way that State employees could potentially make up for the requirements that they contribute towards their own health and pension plans.
Thank you for three years' of support!
On February 17th, 2008, we launched a little Hillary Clinton campaign site on Blogspot.com because the Team Hillary Chicago volunteers needed a clearinghouse for information to counter the nonstop onslaught against our candidate during the 2008 primaries, when the media went all-in for Obama.
Three years later, we’re still here, though a lot has certainly changed.
In 2012, on February 17th of that year, we’ll no doubt once again be working to elect our first female president…though that woman’s going to be a Palin, not a Clinton.
I have a very personal and nostalgic piece I’m working on for later today to mark this anniversary for the site, but I just wanted to take this moment to thank everyone out there for all the love and support we’ve received in the site’s history. It’s remarkable that people all around the world read us, and that what started as a little Hillary site written by a bunch of gay guys in Boystown has become part of so many lives.
It’s still so improbable all of this happened, because it shouldn’t have. But I am grateful it did because I read that as an amazingly powerful omen for 2012, in that I believe the reason HB remains popular is because people have never stopped wanting to defeat the Left and take back this country from the lunatics who control it. This is what HB started out as…a tool for us in Chicago who were trying to stop Obama from becoming president, because we knew what he would do in office (everything we warned you about since this site was founded). That passion and fire has never abated, and has only grown.
We’ve always been an amateur, ad hoc, imperfect endeavor. Sometimes I personally equate it as being an out-of-shape, overweight, guy at a bus stop, just standing there obliviously, suddenly being handed a Batsuit and told “get dressed and stop the Joker”. Not knowing what he’s doing, in the slightest, not being trained or prepped for this, but pushed into it (against his will in many ways) because there clearly was a need for someone to do something, with the Joker rampaging through Gotham and no proper Batman there to stop him.
Extending the analogy, America’s besieged by a bigger rogue’s gallery of Leftists than the villains Batman faced in the comics…and the thing HB has always been at is heart is a sort of Batcave (or beehive) where we’ve drawn people who are willing to put on those bat suits to some degree on their own.
We are all up against intimidating odds, and a Democrat machine in this country controlled 100% by the Left, engaged in corruption and various villainy that runs largely unchecked because the Media in this country almost completely refuses to cover any of it.
Three years into this, that has not changed from the way the Media pushed Obama in those Democrat primaries, refusing to vet him, directing nonstop positive coverage for him, forcing him and his agenda on the American people.
HillBuzz started out here in Chicago as our small way of taking a stand against this, and resisting the Left in the only way my group of friends knew how. It’s continued because coast to coast other people have taken part in this effort…and between now and 2012 we’re all going to ramp this up even further and more loudly and cohesively stand up to the Media and the Left (redundancy alert!) to wake more Americans up to the fact that the Joker’s living in the White House and the rest of the rogue’s gallery is hard at work tearing this country apart in other elected offices.
Thank you all for being part of this, through all the madness and chaos of the last three years, and thank you in advance for all you will do on the individual level between now and 2012 to drive the Left from office and save our country.
Democrats flee Madison, Wisconsin (with police chasing them) so vote can’t be taken to curtail public employee unions
Absolute chaos is unfolding in Wisconsin today.
If you are in the state or know anyone who is, please send us a Ground Report at HillBuzz@gmail.com.
Never in my life would I imagine Wisconsin would become the most fascinating state for politics, but that’s what it is right now as the newly elected Republican governor and legislature stand up to the public employee unions that are crippling that state financially.
This is not the Cocktail Party establishment playing go-along-to-get-along games…this is what Republicans need to do in every state, coast to coast.
Grow that spine. Stand up. Be heard. Sock it to the unions and the rest of the Democrat machine. Do not be afraid of bad media coverage or being called “big meanies” for doing what voters WANT you to do to get the country back on sound financial footing.
Democrats have actually fled the city of Madison, Wisconsin in contempt of a court order requiring them to do their elected duty and sit for a vote to curtail the power of Democrat-supporting public employee unions.
Police have actually been dispatched to hunt Democrats down so that a vote can be taken, since the legislature is required to have at least one Democrat present for a vote to be cast.
Democrats do not want to curtail union power, since union dues keep Democrats in power.
This simple fact has never been more clear…as is the reality that curtailing union power is the only way we will save this country from ruin.
Keep monitoring what’s happening in Wisconsin. If that state manages to liberate itself from union control, just imagine what strides can be taken in Arizona, South Carolina, and New Jersey, where other assertive and take-no-prisoners Republicans are in office.
Just think: the Cocktail Party establishment could have saved this country from the current predicament it’s in if only it had stood up to the unions a decade or two ago…but all of those GOP consultants advised them it was much better to “go along to get along”.
But look where that’s gotten us.
Do you know of any other good examples of newly elected Republicans showing some toughness towards former sacred cows and the various apparatuses Democrats depend on to keep their political contributions flowing (at ultimate net financial detriment to state budgets)?
Could a revolution of sorts be now underway with Republicans who have actually broken away from their Cocktail Party establishment ways?
Whining Muslim alert: Norway
Muslims burn the Norwegian flag in protest.
I think I’m going to make the “Whining Muslim alert” a series…there’s just so much material out there. First we had the whining alert in Canada and now we have the Norwegian version.
This week, Norway is proposing a ban on first cousin marriages. This, of course, outrages the Muslim community since that’s how they roll. First cousin marriages is a mainstay in Islam even though research shows that offspring from first cousin marriages have a much higher rate of birth defects and other illnesses (especially mental illnesses…which explains a lot).
Here is an explanation of why the Muslim community is so upset about the ban…
“A ban is no solution,” Athar Ali, head of the Norwegian Immigrants’ Forum, told newspaper Dagsavisen. In contrast to Støre’s concerns about marriages between cousins, Ali speaks warmly about them and points to several advantages.
“It’s safe because one knows one’s cousins better than other outsiders. It’s common practice in Muslim countries. It’s important in building alliances for the family. A daughter-in-law, who is also a niece, is better-suited to look after the older family members than someone who doesn’t know the family well,” Ali claimed.
Wow….really?
My favorite line….
A daughter in law who is also a niece is better -suited to look after older family members?
I’m speechless.
Thursday Open Thread: February 17th, 2011
Mental Floss
(h/t Moonbattery)
What’s on your minds this Thursday?
What are people talking about in your part of the country?
Ground Report from Wisconsin: Governor Scott Walker and the “Budget Fix” bill
Dear HillBuzz,
I work for the state of Wisconsin, at a public university in an administrative role. I feel like I know the academic community very well because of my long association with the Wisconsin public university system (nearly my whole life in fact).
Republican Governor Scott Walker was elected in November 2010 by a pretty good margin, and the State legislature flipped from Dem to Republican also. On Friday the announcement was made about the “budget fix,” and the Governor said he had the National Guard ready in case there was civil unrest. Immediately things like this started popping up: http://www.notmywisconsin.com/ There has been a lot of hand wringing, teeth gnashing, comparisons of Walker to Hitler, and comments like “We are witnessing the destruction of our State.” People around here are genuinely depressed!
Thousands of people have been hanging in and around the Capitol building in Madison. The news today said that the budget committee heard comments from the public until 3:00 this morning, and finally closed the doors. People are camping out. Teachers are calling in sick to go to Madison. Hundreds of people are marching around the Governor’s private home. The Madison Public School district didn’t have school today because more than 40% of the teachers had called in “sick.” High School kids around the state are holding their own protests in solidarity with their teachers.
The budget fix bill is available online if anyone wants to see what is being asked of public employees. It looks reasonable to those on the outside, but it will be a sudden big chunk coming out of our paychecks. It would be nice if they could do it a bit more incrementally, to help people adjust, but that won’t help the immediate problems with the State budget.
I personally feel that as a public employee that I really shouldn’t have a lot of say over my job. I serve at the pleasure of the taxpayers, and if I don’t like the conditions, I am free to pursue a job in the private sector. I also think I’ve had a pretty good ride these last 20+ years, and am a bit embarrassed that so many people now know what a good deal we’ve had for so long. However, I can only speak for my experience as a University employee. We have great working conditions, good equipment, great young people and bright colleagues to spend the days with. And many of us, especially the faculty, have great flexibility in our daily schedule. And most of us have excellent job security.
I won’t presume to speak for classroom teachers, who have very different working conditions than I do, nor will I comment on Prison workers, and so many of the other people who this will affect. Some public employees really do have crappy jobs, and probably don’t make enough money for what they do, and the fringe benefits have always been the supplement that makes it worthwhile to teach, say, in Milwaukee Public Schools (where your life is in danger every day).
The budget committee votes on this bill tomorrow. If it passes, and there are riots, or teacher and worker walk outs, sick outs, or whatever, I kind of wish the Governor would go PATCO on them, and fire everyone. If it doesn’t pass, and there are mass layoffs, I wonder if those who aren’t laid off will feel bad that their colleagues lost their jobs because they weren’t willing to give up a little bit. It will be a wild day at the Capitol tomorrow!
Lucy in Wisconsin
BLUE TEAM RESEARCH: What states are rejecting pie-in-the-sky high speed rail money from Obama?
It would be interesting to see what the other 49 state governors are saying on this issue, because whatever money Obama is handing out for high speed rail is dwarfed by how much states would have to pay every year in the future to subsidize these ventures.
When Democrats talk about these pie-in-the-sky programs, they treat them as one-time deals, when in reality states will go bankrupt supporting trains the public does not want to ride, and will not want to ride, no matter what the White House does.
There are people who seriously believe Obama is trying to destroy the airline industry in an effort to push people onto trains…but before they’d get on trains, those passengers would drive themselves great distances in their cars.
If Obama then went after cars, people would either stay home and not travel at all…or they would get super creative and start looking into bringing dirigibles back.
They will decide, en masse, to discover a new and previously-unknown love of Amtrak precisely ten minutes after they all convert willingly to the metric system.
I’m curious to see which governors are speaking the plain truth about this and acknowledging the obvious reality here.
Has anyone ever seen this collected into one place before?
Making a chart with all of the governors’ opinions on high speed rail construction would be an interesting starting point for educating the public at large about what’s going on.
