So sad for Wisconsin today

[Anonymous]

http://www.powerlineblog.com/

click the first video. plenty more on that site.

[Anonymous]

I feel really sorry for the union protesters. They all look so overweight and sloppy. The money has run out and they look bewildered and confused. Just because they aren't very good at their jobs and a very low percentage of Wisconsin 8th graders can read proficiently doesn't mean they aren't human. It's sad to see the World shifting around them and they are so helpless and unable to compete. They have been reduced to yelling and screaming and it's cutting into the time they could be using to get in shape or better themselves in some way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.powerlineblog.com/

click the first video. plenty more on that site.

I saw a crowd yelling "Shame, shame, shame!" and "Cowards!" I did not even see a tomato thrown, let alone anything I would call violence or thuggery. If this were directed at children, like the stuff in the anti-Muslim demonstration in California, I would grant that it was over the top. But as the response of union members against the politicians who had just taken away their rights in a vote of questionable legality, it left me feeling as I did when I was watching Egyptian demonstrators on Al Jazeera, that I should be out there with them.

[Anonymous]

Are you fat, low skilled and uncompetitive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you fat, low skilled and uncompetitive?

If this is a poll of DCUM respondents, doesn't it belong in a different forum? if it is directed at one respondent, please add something to clarify, which one. Since I wrote the entry immediately before it, you may have been asking me, so I'll answer: No, depends on the task, and yes.

Now perhaps you'll explain what the relevance is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the shame goes to the violent union thugs. have you seen the videos of their atrocities in Madison?

LOL, PP. Maybe in your apparently vivid imagination, but in reality all evidence points the other way.

Here -- press release from today:

http://www.cityofmadison.com/news/view.cfm?news_id=2543

The largest gathering of the recent sustained protest movement took place Saturday, March 12th with an estimated 85,000 to 100,000 people coming to downtown Madison. They mixed with about 50 farmers on tractors, and some officers reported one donkey among the masses. At the end of the rally, there had been no arrests, and only a couple of minor medical emergencies. Law enforcement would again like to thank everyone who came to the Isthmus for keeping the peace, for being patient, and for respecting those with opposing views.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel really sorry for the union protesters. They all look so overweight and sloppy. The money has run out and they look bewildered and confused. Just because they aren't very good at their jobs and a very low percentage of Wisconsin 8th graders can read proficiently doesn't mean they aren't human. It's sad to see the World shifting around them and they are so helpless and unable to compete. They have been reduced to yelling and screaming and it's cutting into the time they could be using to get in shape or better themselves in some way.

Nonsense. The protesters don't look bewildered and confused. They look strong, proud and most of all, determined.

I won't say they don't look a bit tired -- they've been active in this struggle for several weeks and it is hard to keep up your energy over the long haul.

But look at these pictures:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/12/955694/-Updated-WisconsinCan-we-throw-a-protest-rally-or-what!-(Photo-Diary)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel really sorry for the union protesters. They all look so overweight and sloppy. The money has run out and they look bewildered and confused.

Are you sure you even know what the fight is about in Wisconsin?

Walker says his legislation, which would strip most state employees of any meaningful collective bargaining rights, is necessary to close the state's $137 million budget gap. There are a number of problems with that argument, though. The unions are not to blame for the deficit, and stripping unionized workers of their collective bargaining rights won't in and of itself save any money. Walker says he needs to strip the unions of their rights to close the gap. But public safety officers' unions, which have members who are more likely to support Republicans and who also tend to have the highest salaries and benefits, are exempted from the new rules. Meanwhile, a series of tax breaks and other goodies that Walker and the Republican legislature passed just after his inauguration dramatically increased the deficit that Walker now says he's trying to close. And Wisconsin has closed a much larger budget gap in the past without scrapping worker organizing rights.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/whats-happening-wisconsin-explained

[Anonymous]

trying to cut back on spending and grow the private sector.

[Anonymous]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/us-wisconsin-protests-idUSTRE72B2AN20110312

[Anonymous]

Note that Walker makes no effort to separate the bill that passed from budgetary considerations, even though the justification for passing it without a super-quorum was the claim that budgetary elements had been stripped out. It is almost as if he is bragging about the fact that they pissed on the law. Then there is the notification requirement, which they ignored.

And all the while the union was willing to accept the budgetary terms Walker had proposed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:trying to cut back on spending and grow the private sector.

If Walker was trying to cut back on spending, then why didn't he include local police, state troopers, and firefighters in the bill? Why didn't he treat unions for those public workers the same as uninos for other public workers... if it was all about the need to reduce spending?

[Anonymous]

education is by far the most expensive budget item. the results are lackluster and the union most powerful/selfish/greedy. 180 workdays. jeez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:education is by far the most expensive budget item. the results are lackluster and the union most powerful/selfish/greedy. 180 workdays. jeez.

That's why all the brighter students rush to get into education and grab the those cushy teaching jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's why all the brighter students rush to get into education and grab the those cushy teaching jobs.

I guess that shows how lousy my teachers were!