Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

[c1ue]

Hat tip to: Exiledonline.com

[dcarrigg]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

Hat tip to: Exiledonline.com

C1ue, the picture's not working for me. Preemptively threatening use of the National Guard against teachers and the like is reminiscent of Egypt, though...

Now that Wisconsin's governor has given the Guard its marching orders, we can discern a new pattern of global repressive solidarity emerging - from the chastened pharaoh of the Middle East to the cheesehead pharaoh of the Middle West.

Police officers were searching for Democratic state lawmakers who had not shown up for a vote on the sweeping legislation, and one Democratic lawmaker said he and his colleagues had left the state.

This is reminiscent of Texas a few years back...

[Ghent12]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

"Fundamental right to bargain" was mentioned in the WaPo article. All I can say to that is when groups have rights, individuals don't, so let's keep the "right to bargain" where it belongs--at the level of the individual.

Calling in the National Guard over labor issues? Since when is that news...

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

I can't wait to post coverage of Wisconsin from http://english.aljazeera.net

[sunskyfan]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

What is remarkable is that it took so long for people in this country to finally assert themselves somehow. There is a revolt of sorts here in Albuquerque with the firefighters pay being cut by %2.5. I keep wanting to tell them welcome to the party but I also want to tell them that when they look back two years from now %2.5 will be faded fantasy compared to what is going to happen to them.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politic...ighter-helmets

[Mn_Mark]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

Wisconsin is the "new Egypt"?

If you're going to engage in hyperbole, why not just go all the way and compare the Wisconsin Republicans to the Nazis?

Oh wait, you're already doing that.

Someday there might actually be a real new Hitler, and we'll never hear the warnings because the Left screams "FASCISTS!!!!!RACISTS!!!!!" every time someone tries to as much as slow the rate of growth of government, much less actually shrink it.

[sunskyfan]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

Not that you were aiming this at me but I would agree that a mixture of Nationalism and Socialism mixed with de-facto corporate ownership of everything is quickly what American is becoming. Smells like Italian Fascism or even Spanish Fascism more than German Fascism. I see no Hitler. We don't buy Nationalism that deeply. America has a much better chance of looking like a third world country in five years than looking like the German monster of the Thirties but who knows? I am thinking Italy with a Superbowl and no NATO or euro. Hopefully we will pull our head out of of the rosy glow of our asses and make this thing work.

[don]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

Not that you were aiming this at me but I would agree that a mixture of Nationalism and Socialism mixed with de-facto corporate ownership of everything is quickly what American is becoming. Smells like Italian Fascism or even Spanish Fascism more than German Fascism. I see no Hitler. We don't buy Nationalism that deeply. America has a much better chance of looking like a third world country in five years than looking like the German monster of the Thirties but who knows? I am thinking Italy with a Superbowl and no NATO or euro. Hopefully we will pull our head out of of the rosy glow of our asses and make this thing work.

My less-than-complete understanding of the German economy was that by the latter 30s it was in deep do-do, despite complete corporate/state control of labor, resources, etc., the confiscation of German undesirable's wealth was about over. The looting and pillaging of the rest of Europe - hard wealth, slave labor, etc. - became a necessity to keep the economy going.

An interesting side note is the state policy of entangling the German sheeple in the process. Those empty freight cars returning from the front were used to carry looted goods sent home from front line soldiers. An official, supported policy of the Reich. Sort of like pensions and derivatives . . . .

[c1ue]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

Wisconsin is the "new Egypt"?

If you're going to engage in hyperbole, why not just go all the way and compare the Wisconsin Republicans to the Nazis?

Oh wait, you're already doing that.

Someday there might actually be a real new Hitler, and we'll never hear the warnings because the Left screams "FASCISTS!!!!!RACISTS!!!!!" every time someone tries to as much as slow the rate of growth of government, much less actually shrink it.

I have to say, this is even more incoherent than your other posts that I've seen, given that the thread made no mention of any political parties, or agendas, or anything except a picture of masses of people assembling in peaceful protest - just like Egypt.

[Master Shake]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

masses of people assembling in peaceful protest - just like Egypt.

Just like the Tea Partiers, right?

[Serge_Tomiko]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

Not that you were aiming this at me but I would agree that a mixture of Nationalism and Socialism mixed with de-facto corporate ownership of everything is quickly what American is becoming. Smells like Italian Fascism or even Spanish Fascism more than German Fascism. I see no Hitler. We don't buy Nationalism that deeply. America has a much better chance of looking like a third world country in five years than looking like the German monster of the Thirties but who knows? I am thinking Italy with a Superbowl and no NATO or euro. Hopefully we will pull our head out of of the rosy glow of our asses and make this thing work.

You obviously don't know what a nation is.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is refusing to accept his own share of responsibility for the state’s $137 million shortfall. Just last month, he and the Legislature gave away $117 million in tax breaks, mostly for businesses ... and for private health savings accounts.... Had it not been for those decisions, according to the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state would have had a surplus."

"Wisconsin had been managing better until Walker took over.... In its Jan. 31 memo to legislators, the Fiscal Bureau determined that the state will end the year with a balance of $121.4 million.... Then Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups.... Walker is manufacturing a fiscal 'crisis' in order to achieve political goals."

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is refusing to accept his own share of responsibility for the state’s $137 million shortfall. Just last month, he and the Legislature gave away $117 million in tax breaks, mostly for businesses ... and for private health savings accounts.... Had it not been for those decisions, according to the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state would have had a surplus."

"Wisconsin had been managing better until Walker took over.... In its Jan. 31 memo to legislators, the Fiscal Bureau determined that the state will end the year with a balance of $121.4 million.... Then Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups.... Walker is manufacturing a fiscal 'crisis' in order to achieve political goals."

It worked at the national level; I expect it to work just as well at the state level, and essentially all the political goals will be ahieved.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

It worked at the national level; I expect it to work just as well at the state level, and essentially all the political goals will be ahieved.

Maybe, maybe not...

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask John Nichols, people voted for the Republican governor. He was elected, Scott Walker. He won. Is this part of his platform? Is this what people voted for?

JOHN NICHOLS: No, it isn’t. That is the incredible thing. I have done a few national interviews where I’ve had CNN anchors and others saying, “Well, why was anyone surprised that a conservative Republican governor did this?” I said, as somebody who’s known Scott Walker for the better part of 20 years, I was surprised. I have covered him in all sorts of settings. He never said he was going to take away collective bargaining rights for public employees from unions. He never said he was really going to rip the state apart. I cannot emphasize to you, Scott Walker was elected as a conservative, no doubt about that, but elected as someone that most people thought was a common-sense conservative. He beat the guy in a primary who we all thought was a little bit out there.

We had a governor in Wisconsin, Robert M. LaFollete, who had a great phrase: “Democracy is a life.” What he meant by that is Democracy does not end on election day. You do not elect a king to rule you for four years. Democracy begins on election day. You elect someone and then that person that legislator or that governor is supposed to listen to you, to represent you, not to rule over you. I think what Susan Sterne and other people have done over the last three days is a reassertion of the Wisconsin tradition, which is very engaged, very passionate democracy.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/1...wer_as_tens_of

[doom&gloom]

Re: Wisconsin is the new Egypt?

Fun watching the cheddarheads get all riled up though...