Stories to Watch: 3/22/11
Got a short thunderstorm last night, then it rained like hell today. Remind me again why I was supposed to be looking forward to spring? Come on summer.. or, at least, late spring. Now here’s the news…
Deeper analysis of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s emails show that they were initially “running roughly 2-to-1 against his plans” to bust unions. Then the Wisco 14 took off, the story went national and he started getting a lot of out-of-state support. But, most importantly, the analysis shows Walker lied when he said most emails were supporting him, because “for several preceding days, the emails of support Walker received had been vastly outnumbered by those opposed to his plan.”
The wingnutosphere is going (even more) insane over a plan by a former SEIU member to destroy the economy in order to bring unions back. One thing they’re all missing though is that the guy “was ousted from SEIU last November, reportedly for spending millions of the union’s dollars trying to pursue a plan like the one he details here,” according to one report. “It is not clear what, if any, power and influence he currently wields.” Remember, facts are elitist. Pay them no mind while you FREAK THE FUCK OUT!!
Also remember, there’s always plenty of money for war. Although, we may not need to spend money on Libya much longer. Secretary of State Clinton told ABC News Gadhafi may be looking for an out.
Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown — formerly a Tea Party darling — continues to disappoint the ‘baggers by saying that cutting funding for Planned Parenthood “goes too far.”
The headline says it all: “Mike Pence, Chief Sponsor Of Bill To Defund Title X, Says ‘I’ve Never Advocated Reducing Funding For Title X’.” Lying comes so easily to Republicans.
The GOP House majority may be short-lived.
Like most Republican governors with grand visions for their states, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is experiencing a huge drop in his polling. Here’s a crazy idea: tell us your plans when you campaign for office — don’t spring them on us afterwards like it’s some seriously demented surprise party.
“President Paul?” No, not Ron, the other guy.
Finally, the religious right and al Qaeda sure do agree on a whole bunch of stuff, don’t they?
The ‘Bagger’s Plan to Screw Themselves
One of the advantages liberals have over conservatives is the conservative impulse for panic. It’s a proven fact that people on the right are ‘fraidy cats. As a result, they will always over-react. It’s guaranteed.
So it shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that the right is reacting to a reawakened labor movement with a pants-wetting panic. Further, no one should be shocked to discover that their solution to this problem is poorly thought-out and counter-productive to their own goals.
With these facts in mind, I give you the Tea Party’s plan to hang themselves.
Patriot Action Network:
FIGHT THE SEIU WITH TACTIC THEY USE AGAINST US – THIS WEEK!
http://action.seiu.org/page/s/solidarityaction
That link will take you to an SEIU page where you can sign up as an “organizer” for one of their upcoming major rallies to support the union goons in Wisconsin.
Here is what I am doing in Sacramento, where they are holding a 5:30 PM event this coming Tuesday: (1) I signed up as an organizer (2) with any luck they will contact me and I will have an “in” (3) in or not I will be there and am asking as many other people as can get there to come with, all of us in SEIU shirts (those who don’t have them we can possibly buy some from vendors likely to be there) (4) we are going to target the many TV cameras and reporters looking for comments from the members there (5) we will approach the cameras to make good pictures… signs under our shirts that say things like “screw the taxpayer!” and “you OWE me!” to be pulled out for the camera (timing is important because the signs will be taken away from us) (6) we will echo those slogans in angry sounding tones to the cameras and the reporters. (7) if I do get the ‘in’ I am going to do my darnedest to get podium access and take the mic to do that rant from there…with any luck and if I can manage the moments to build up to it, I can probably get a cheer out of the crowd for something extreme.
So now, every time some protester missteps, every time some sign crosses a line, every time a clip of some overly passionate worker is circulated, we’ve got an out — it must be a ‘bagger. Scooter Walker as Hitler? Must be a ‘bagger. Someone picked a fight? Must be a ‘bagger. Someone handed out commie pamphlets? Must be a ‘bagger. We’ve been handed a carte blanche. Every time something comes out to make the labor movement look bad, we can flood comment threads to news stories with that link.
Thanks ‘baggers!
Specifically, we can thank racist teabagger Mark Williams, who came up with the whole idea. Williams cooked the plan up and announced it on his website, then scrubbed the entire site (google cache here). Apparently, he came to the same conclusion I did — that this was stupid beyond words.
So, from now until the end of time, every time some protester says something crazy, every time a sign is offensive, every time a jerk gets arrested for being a jackass, it must be a ‘bagger.
Thanks Mark Williams, you’re (unwittingly) the best friend a worker’s ever had.
-Wisco
