April 14, 2011
They have plans! Do they ever!
Remember when we chuckled at the Michigan Governor Snyder, who wanted the Michigan legislature to approve his plan to permit him to declare "Financial Martial Law" in cities and other governmental bodies having tough economic times? The law would permit the governor to replace city councils, school boards and other governmental positions. Eminent domain on steroids. I laughed and suggested a bumper sticker in the U.P. of, "Your Governor is worse than ours!"
Well, that was then, now we know another one of Walker's little secrets. We have discovered that Wisconsin's governor has the same twisted idea for Wisconsin as Michigan's governor does of his state. The state would be allowed to take over local governments if financial management standards are not met. Who decides? The governor or a newly elected uber comptroller. (I am not making this up.) The secret plan is being prepared by the state's largest law firm, Foley & Lardner, for the Greater Milwaukee Committee, the Bradley Foundation, the governor, and key legislators. There is speculation that Alberta Darling is the Walker point person on this nutty scheme, but no need to speculate: call Senator Darling's office and ask!
This drastic measure will be "fast-tracked" by the Walkerites unless we slow down the train--again! Clearly Walker wants it passed before any recall elections are held. We must get involved in stopping this absurd attack on democracy and local government.
A fancy brochure is almost ready for distribution. Page one has five pictures of happy people apparently because there is a new Milwaukee County "that is the destination for new businesses, young professionals and tourists." (Really.) And this carrot: "Working together, we can make this bold vision for Milwaukee County a reality." You must read ASAP.
A Republican operative, Gene Ulm, was hired to conduct surveys to support this idea. Ulm supposedly asked tough questions leading to such simplistic findings as "92% SUPPORT decreasing the size of the (Milwaukee) County Board." Yah sure!
All of this is going to to be spun under the heading "Make It Your Milwaukee County." Check on it at makeityourmilwaukee.com. Whoa Nelly!
Walker vs. Kucinich: winner is Dennis. Under oath Walker admits his union busting did not save any money for the state.
I was on Joy Cardin's Wisconsin Public Radio show this morning. Take a listen!
Oh, and Paul Ryan is "furious" because Obama invited him to attend the George Washington speech and Ryan attended only to find that the speech was, according to Ryan, "extremely partisan." He fumed. That Obama! Doesn't he know Ryan has his own video?
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Demonstrators had the Capitol in their hands for a week. No leader emerged. Representatives acted wrongly at will and not a hair on their little heads was mussed. They had the cops on their side. All that came from it was some temporary good press and lot of litter of worn out protest signs.
Liberals love to cry and also spout off about revolution. It is all a revolution of the mouth. As much as I am disgusted by Walker and his wrecking crew that is just how disappointed I am by the feckless, bumfuzzled, disorganized, and whining left.
If you aren't going to do more than holler then please shut up and take the medicine your inattention and inability to organize got you. The Walkerites did not win on their virtues but rather on the failings of the loud mouthed but bumfuzzled left.
Glad I got the hell out the State of Woebegone.
-Griebnotz Doerkpfester | I Escaped, WI. | April 15, 2011
The first poster is more than a little amusing. Yup. A guy who solved problems by running away belittles those who are left behind.
The joke of course ultimately being on him as much as the rest of us considering - Where did this rabbit run to? If anywhere within the US, he certainly is not "safe" as state after state falls to these same initiatives, and worse. Murdering physicians will soon be quite alright in South Dakota.
Or, if he is now an ex-pat (I correspond with several politically-aware people around the globe), he certainly is still not safe. Neo-liberals (and out-right dictators) behaviors permeate the planet. There is serious strife all over. Rabbit, you are not safe.
re: your former friends, family and neighbors. If there were easy answers we silly Wisconsinites would be implementing them now, or actually, would have implemented them BEFORE now.
Nice he could write home from the hot tub though. To...tell us all how badly we're doing, while he...cowers in an undisclosed location. Wow.
Don't drop that laptop into the bubbles, dear....that would be sad.
-Annie K. | Eau Claire, WI and proud!!! | April 15, 2011
I just got an email from Ron Johnson. No return address, so I guess this is his final answer.
According to the Feingold replacement, he wishes "that President Obama and Democrats in Congress will begin working with Republicans to help prevent a very predictable financial crisis." Yep, blame those Democrats again for all our woes in the state and throughout the country. Yep, again, those Republican'ts have all the answers on how to impoverish any American who is not among the wealthiest 1%.
Moments like this and I wish senators served for only 6 months instead of for 6 years.
-Franz Fripplfrappl | Madison | April 15, 2011
Do you have any sources?
-Kyle | Madison, WI | April 15, 2011
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/15/967374/-And-so-it-begins-Emergency-Financial-Mgr-fires-entire-government-of-Benton-Harbor,-MI
-Jon Awbrey | Rochester Hills, Michigan | April 15, 2011
Kyle,
Check out the web site listed in Garvey's blog, makeityourmilwaukee.com. It really should have music. The web site's feeling reminds me of some SciFi movies that promise a brighter tomorrow, but the whole thing is some kind of evil hoax. I think the web site is a source that shows this plan is not so "secret."
I begin to feel that we are living in one of these SciFi movies.
-Linda | Wisconsin Rapids,WI | April 15, 2011
Well Annie dear, I spent 61 years in Wisconsin. Worked through college while protesters went to school on student aid, food stamps, and other bennies my taxes paid for.
Working class all the way and always voted Dem. Ran for Assembly, twice, on the Dem ticket. Was a county chair.
If there is one thing I have learned in life it is that there is always a smart assed, smart mouth liberal who is a revolutionary of the mouth but when the real fight comes they crap their pants.
Moved to New Mexico. Did it because I was sick adn tired of petty local politics and Wisconsin weather and the plans were made long before Walker got elected.
So take your smart assed attitude and put it where the sun don't shine.
Cordially yours,
-Griebnotz Doerkpfester | I Escaped, WI. | April 15, 2011
I just finished the book Political Mind and loved the term he used for the radical right agenda, privateering. The selling, giving away public services and resources for profit. These private companies have no responsibility or accountability to the public. All in the name of profit. Unfortunately the right wing agenda for the distribution of wealth, taking from the poor and middle class and giving it to the rich, also means the rich don't have to pay their fair share of taxes. It needs to be stopped now and con only be stopped if citizens stand up for each other and what is right. The Declaration of Independence says they need the consent of the governed, we need to withdraw our consent, recall these radicals and bring some common sense back into politics where people and our resources mean more than profit.
-Randy | Menomonie, WI | April 15, 2011
2 points of (scary and depressing) interest -
while reading about the situation in Michigan I saw it mentioned that there are NO term limits on these periods of martial law, they can be indefinite. And the second item was that these "emergency managers" who nullify our representative government can be pretty well paid, I guess the Governor decides how much, totally up to him. One figure was $250,000. That's a lot more than the stipends the Eau Claire Common Council gets, that's for sure. I think they get about 3000 each. A $250,000 salary for a Local Despot (send your nubile virgins directly to his office and ask no questions) would pay for a few cops or EMTs, some street lights, or school lunches, maybe a snow plow.
What is keeping me awake nights though is this - how can this happen here? There are lawyers, experienced politicians, and "important people" who read this blog, who know about the Michigan situation, and the similar threat to WI. This has been in the News for a while now. How can this happen here? I honestly do not understand. Taxation without representation is not supposed to happen here. How can anyone simply dissolve elected governments because they do not approve of the way their local checkbook looks? Martial law happens if you've been hit by nukes or some REAL emergency like that. Our local governments are fully functioning, we have no crisis.
Martial law was NOT EVEN DECLARED AFTER KATRINA.
Not even in that chaos.
Why hasn't some "cavalry" descended upon Michigan? How can Obama be joking about his disappointment over not having "cool phones" or the Republicans "nickel and diming HIM" (and it's not nickels or dimes and it certainly isn't HIS, he has no perspective that is clear from his self-aggrandizing macho preening)
Hey Barack! We are in serious trouble, do something??! No one should be able to usurp elected officials at will in America for as long as they please, or for any time period at all.
How can this happen here? That is not rhetorical. How!!?!!
Founding Fathers get up outta your graves and answer the question. I feel like I'm dreaming 24 hours a day now, and I can't possibly be the only one.
2 years ago my German friend reproached me for not understanding his sense of urgency on an issue, he said "you are so protected by your oceans, so removed from so many things by simple geography, you have no idea what it is like to be immersed, to feel more vulnerable", etc. I realized he was right of course, but now such a short time later, to think the oceans are no protection from those within, and now how surreal it is to look back on the years of Bush and Cheney as a more innocent time.
We thought all we needed to do was "get rid of Bush"? omg.
-Annie K. | Eau Claire, WI | April 16, 2011
From the Detroit Free Press:
Robert Bobb warns -- I plan to use my new powers to modify union contracts.
Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, put teachers on notice Thursday that he plans to use his expanded powers under a new state law to modify their contracts.
"I fully intend to use the authority that was granted," Bobb said, referring to a new law that gives emergency managers the authority to modify -- or terminate -- collective bargaining agreements. It was the first time Bobb had publicly indicated he intends to use the expanded authority.
His statement came as the district announced Thursday it is sending layoff notices to all 5,466 members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers and non-renewal notices to 248 administrators. DPS has issued massive layoff notices before, but not to every teacher.
http://www.freep.com/article/20110415/NEWS01/104150455/Robert-Bobb-warns-plan-use-my-new-powers-modify-union-contracts
-Jon Awbrey | Rochester Hills, Michigan | April 16, 2011
I think I'm going to give up on all this political activism stuff. Maybe get me one of them "jobs" Walker talks about being created here in Wisconsin.
But I got only one question to get started: How much patronage is charged to become Viceroy of Shorewood?
-Jeff Pieterick | Waterloo, WI | April 16, 2011
"If your bad faith be as the tiny bastard seed ..."
Th quasi-legal basis for Michigan's EFM law was actually snuck into place over 2o years ago.
There's a recap of the history in this article:
http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=5306
You may want to check under your own legislative beds ...
-Jon Awbrey | Rochester Hills, Michigan | April 16, 2011
Hey there Mr 'I left Wisconsin'...Your tax dollars paid for Human Services? Were you the only taxpayer in the state? We are all taxpayers, yes even us lefties...shocking eh? Oh and the recommendation that we shut up and take our meds? Why? so we can zone out and forget everything like you? By the way there have been protesters in the Capitol all along for the past 2 months...and those signs? They're being put on display in the Smithsonian, so unless you keep up to date on the news, bye bye
-Jenny | Milwaukee WISCONSIN | April 16, 2011
Annie- DC has had taxation without representation forever. Sadly, other US citizens turn our backs on their pleas. Most of the elected leaders scoff.
Just found this site and thanks, you are the people of my homeland and have given light and energy to the rest of us...I'm now in Ohio.
-Palli Davis Holubar | Wakeman OH | April 16, 2011
All but North Dakota are flunking on the State use of the banking business to derive revenue for the State and are still too stupid to not send their payments to Wall Street. www.businessinsider.com/restoring-economic-sovereignty-the-push-for-state-owned-banks-2011-2 All the States are flunking the test as to the very definition of What Is Money and are still too stupefied as to not rely on bankers and economists in determining what their monetary system should look like. First required reading material is this simple article: http://distributistreview.com/mag/2011/02/the-errors-of-the-economists-what-is-money/ All the States are getting a failing grade in Monetary History as to not know that the Revolutionary War was not fought over taxes but over the very same kind of Debt Based Monetary System we have today that was making indentured servants of the colonists to the Monarchy and its banking system. The required first reading for this history class for every single politician and concerned citizen is this paper by Richard Kotlarz: http://economictree.org/Iraq_Am_Revolution.html#t16 Every single State and its people are getting failing grades in basic math as to not know that when using a Debt Based Monetary System every single dollar in circulation is actually a Debt instrument and that growth of the economy can only produce More Debt. The simple video series "Money As Debt" should be required material for every class of every school and for every single legislative body in the country. There is also not one State that is getting a passing grade in sociology and the study of the locus of power in political science class to not know that the handing over of the Sovereign Power to define, issue, and control the money supply to a Private International Cartel of Bankers is the height of treason and an abandonment of the very independence fought for and won in the Revolutionary War and fought for again by Presidents Jackson, Lincoln, and Kennedy. The above cited paper by Kotlarz and other materials by monetary historians Stephen Zarlenga, Ellen Brown, Paul Grignon, and others are required for the people to re-gain a sense of their Sovereignty and their true independence if they wish to also re-gain their status as Free People. No State is getting a passing grade as regards the solutions they are proposing by focusing on the spending side of government while not addressing the very Debt Basis of the Currency itself.
-Francis O'My | Richland Center, WI | April 16, 2011
This is due to their mistaken notions as to What Is Money, where it originates, what is real value in a Free Enterprise System, what is the role of money in a True Free Enterprise System, and what is the role of government as it relates to defining and issuing and controlling the money supply. It should be apparent that when a country has the sense to use the language of something called
-Francis O'My | Richland Center, WI | April 16, 2011
* EditorBlog
MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH FOR TRUTHOUT
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder are the two Great Lakes Tea Party autocratic leaders who owe more to the ruling style of past Soviet and Chinese leaders than anything that resembles George Washington.
Yesterday, BuzzFlash at Truthout wrote that "Tea Party Michigan Governor Rick Snyder adopts Soviet-style authoritarian powers over Michigan cities," and has already implemented these powers in Benton Harbor, Michigan, removing all authority from the elected leadership of the voters in that city.
Forbes blog columnist Rick Ungar - in an article entitled "Gov. Scott Walker Reportedly Planning Financial Martial Law In Wisconsin" - reports on an alleged Walker plan:
Following the lead of Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder, Walker is said to be preparing a plan that would allow him to force local governments to submit to a financial stress test with an eye towards permitting the governor to take over municipalities that fail to meet with Walker's approval.
According to the reports, should a locality's financial position come up short, the Walker legislation would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so.
Such a law would additionally give Walker unchallenged power to end municipal services of which he disapproves, including safety net assistance to those in need.
Moreover, Ungar points out that if true about the Walker planned assumption of dictatorial powers, this supports the notion that GOP Tea Party governors and Republican-dominated legislatures want to "take control of local governments by replacing elected officials with appointees, both corporate and individual, of the state's highest executive officer."
That's scary stuff, the kind of autocratic rule that inspired colonists to rise up and begin the American Revolution.
-BuzzFlash at Truthout | Chicago, IL | April 18, 2011
Seems to me that similar behaviors have been observed in an executive:
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it . . . when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. . . .
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. . .
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice . . .
HE HAS ERECTED A MULTITUDE OF NEW OFFICES, AND SENT HITHER SWARMS OF OFFICERS TO HARRASS OUR PEOPLE, AND EAT OUT THEIR SUBSTANCE. . . *
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us. . .
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. . . Declaration of Independence
*The Massachusetts Government Act
-johnny | mount horeb | April 18, 2011
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