Wisconsin Update (March 1/11)

I'm torn, I'm torn. Got things to do, but want to continue to witness the awesome people power on display in Wisconsin.

So, for those who might also be obsessed interested, here are a few links.

First, an interview with someone who's still occupying the Capitol and has been from the beginning.

Next, an illuminating read on why the Right is attacking unions, ACORN, and Planned Parenthood.

And here's some very good news. The tide may be turning in favour of the unions.

By a modest margin, more say they back Wisconsin’s public employee unions rather than the state’s governor in their continuing dispute over collective bargaining rights. Roughly four-in-ten (42%) say they side more with the public employee unions, while 31% say they side more with the governor, Scott Walker, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey, conducted Feb. 24-27 among 1,009 adults.

To catch you up on overnight developments: There are about 100 people still inside. More wanted to get in but weren't allowed, so they pitched tents outside. They were then told they couldn't pitch tents there. Tents were taken down and about 50 people slept outside in February/March in Wisconsin with just sleeping bags and blankets.

They are using pizza boxes from donated pizza for insulation.

Those Sconnies, as I now know to call them, are some tough mo-fos.

UPPERDATE: Judge has issued an order to have the Capitol open to the public! Effective immediately. The people are winning. A little.

Fundamentalist preacher charged.

Two mothers taking their children to a park in New Orleans noticed a man masturbating in his vehicle.

The police apprehended and charged the man. It turns out that he's a fundamentalist preacher and a habitual crusader against gay pride celebrations.

From here.

Storms [...] was taken into custody at Lafreniere Park after two women reported seeing him masturbating in the driver's seat of his van, which was parked near the carousel and playground, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office report said.

The first woman told deputies she was taking her children to the playground and parked next to the van at about noon. As she was walking around her own vehicle, she noticed the van windows were down and the occupant was "looking at the playground area that contained children playing, with his zipper down...," the report said. The woman noted that he was masturbating [...]

Storms told deputies he was having lunch at the park when he decided to urinate using a bottle instead of the restroom, the report said.

Sadly, this does not surprise me. Grant Storms appears to fit the profile of christian and catholic church officials who loudly denounce adult homosexuality and are eventually charged and found guilty of pedophile activities or of sexual assaulting children. One wonders, now that he has been charged, if victims will step forward to report other incidents to the NA police.

Corporate Feudalism Is on Its Way

As if we need any more proof how fucking useless the MSM is, have a look at Wisconsin.

Millions of Americans were out in the streets this past Saturday, participating in the largest flare-up of labor protests the nation has seen in decades -- yet images like these were conspicuously missing from the major television news networks.

At the rallies' epicenter was Madison, Wisconsin, where over 100,000 gathered in below-freezing temperatures to show solidarity with American workers' right to organize.

The state's newly elected Republican governor, Scott Walker, has proposed legislation that would effectively destroy the public sector unions.

The photos below come from places like Green Bay, Wisconsin; New York, New York; Washington, DC; Springfield, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; Tallahassee, Florida; Sacramento, California; Salt Lake City, Utah and many more.

Or, as a tweep put it: 83,000 fat asses on lawn chairs in August v. 100,000 peaceful protesters in February in a snow storm.

Oh, yeah, the media is all over anything to do with TeaDoucheBaggery, but totally ignores hundreds of thousands of people who have a righteous reason to be very angry and scared.

And, as Politicus USA points out, it is NOT just Fux News. It's all the networks and cable channels covering their ears and going lalalalalalala. (If you need to have it explained why, Politicus does a good job on that.)

And it's not much better up here in Canada. Our 'State TV' ran a shortish AP story on Saturday's protests. CTV ran a longer piece, but still from AP.

Global? Don't make me laugh. Two stories -- at least not AP -- from Feb. 18 and Feb. 22. Zip on the nationwide protests on Feb. 26.

Print media is doing a bit better, but with the exception of Mother Jones and Paul Krugman, they're getting the story wrong or at least wildly distorted.

Here's Krugman yesterday.

That Iraq Feeling

I don’t watch cable news, or actually any kind of TV news. But I gather that there’s a virtual blackout on the huge demonstrations in Wisconsin, except on Fox, which portrays them as thuggish and violent.

What that makes me think of is January-February 2003, when anyone watching cable news would have believed that only a few kooks were opposed to the imminent invasion of Iraq. It was quite spooky, realizing that hundreds of thousands of people could march through New York, and by tacit agreement be ignored by news networks whose headquarters were just a few blocks away.

And it’s even more spooky to see it happening all over again.

Spooky? You betcha.

It is NOT just about union-busting. Though that is definitely included as a key ploy to defund Democrats and strip the rest of us from the only organized force standing between us and corporate feudalism.

Also included are corporate goodies like executive powers to sell state assets on a no-bid basis with no legislative input.

It is a naked corporate power grab by TeaBagging pols, bought and paid for by corrupt billionaires like the Koch brothers, who are also major forces in Americans for Properity, the astroturf org behind the TeaBaggers.

How conveeeeeenient.

Lies from the Right are flying fast and furious and from the comments sections at most 'centrist' news sites, they're sticking.

Daily Kos debunks the top ten lying lies.

Michael Moore, who is not in Wisconsin, but in Thompson, Manitoba, calls it a 'global war on the middle class'.

That's why people everywhere need to support Thompson. As Niki Ashton - the MP who represents Thompson and the second-youngest woman ever elected to the Canadian Parliament - says: "It Was Flint Yesterday, It's Us and Wisconsin Today, and Tomorrow It's Going to Be Everyone."

I just went to CBC's contact page and left this message:

Why Isn't CBC Covering Wisconsin?
What's going on there is a war on democracy and the middle class. The US media is virtually ignoring the largest protests since the Viet Nam war. I expected Canadian media to have more balls. Especially our 'state' media.

AND there is a Canadian connection. See Michael Moore (link included). CUPE sent a delegation too.

Go to Twitter and see for yourself.

Tons of video! Great signs! Singing! People power! Energy! Firefighters! Bagpipes! Pizza donated from bloody Egypt!! Great television, in short. And Madison is not far away.

Get some reporters down there. Don't rely on US news wires.

Do I sound pissed off? I am.

By the way, the Wisconsin state legislature building is still occupied, albeit by far fewer protesters and the cops aren't letting any more in. They've bolted the bathroom windows shut and removed the tops of the bolts, so food can't get in as it did on Saturday. There are people outside trying to get in but they need appointments and have to show ID. Earlier today, 150 off-duty firefighters tried to get in and were not allowed, but seven lobbyists waltzed through.

See where this is going?

There's a call for a rally outside today at 6 p.m.

Here's a (pretty shitty) live traffic cam feed* of the people outside the building.

Sure, Merkin rightwingnutz are nuttier than ours and there are more of them. But isn't what Stevie Peevie's been doing for five fucking years merely a slow-motion version of exactly the same thing?


Previous DJ! posts on the matter here and here.

ADDED: I forgot this bit. In a fit of spectacular pettiness, the GOP House Leader is denying access to photocopiers by the absent Dems' staff.

*Sorry about link. It seems not to be on Capitol anymore.

Walk for Choice

Yesterday, in addition to the rallies -- universally ignored by the MSM -- held all over the US in solidarity with the Pizza Revolution, there were also lots of 'Walk for Choice' events. And such actions are increasingly necessary as the ReThugs ramp up their War on Women.

I just found a site loaded with pix of great pro-choice signs.

This is my fave.

Dynamic, not static.

This is Sara Hedren, an artist, an activist and another spiritual offspring of Gorilla Grrls.

Sara has set her talents, her craft and her heart upon changing the static icon that represents (and circumscribes) individuals with physical disabilities.

From here:

“It’s so familiar, it has the invisibility of the obvious,’’ said Hendren, who is trying to change that with a street art project that is popping up — illegally — throughout the area.

In an era when even the most mundane objects are given obsessive attention from designers, Hendren said she believes the International Symbol of Access, as it is formally known, is long overdue for a makeover. The design, which is more than 40 years old, represents dated views of persons with disabilities, she said, and lacks the life of even the most basic stick-figure pictograms, such as the pedestrian walk signal.

“The figure is static, wooden, with the squared-off geometry of machinery. The body is synonymous with the chair,’’ and creates the impression of someone who needs a push to get through the world, said the 37-year-old artist and mother of three small children who lives in Cambridge. “It is almost completely unexamined, yet it is a design with human values at stake.’’

Hendren has created stickers that feature her own design — the symbol looks more like a person in a wheelchair race — and she is placing that sticker over the current symbol. Her goal is not to replace the symbol but to evolve it, she said. Her stickers are intentionally transparent so that they call attention not just to themselves, but also the old image underneath.[...]

Hendren said she is not a designer or a policy maker, but an artist, and the real goal of her guerrilla campaign is to raise questions about the symbol, not propose answers.

“There’s a much bigger question to ask about who is abled and who is disabled and what we think about dependence and need,’’ she said. “I’m just trying to start a discussion where we reevaluate our assumptions and our attitudes.’’

Yeah! You go, grrrl!

Need we add that here's a Sara who's actually engaged, involved and active in changing the world, unlike someone who bears the same name & who only serves to whine?

h∕t rampracer on Twitter

More about the Cons' Affirmative Action

Just when you thought a significant systemic shift occured in Canada in the last century, along comes Stevie Spiteful and his grim cabal of HarperCon bullies.

By way of @kady O'Malley, we hear that a Harper Government official is scheduled to make an announcement related to crime prevention in the lobby of the YMCA tomorrow. That's in Montreal, so it's not likely to be related to the crime promotion tirade for which Justice Dewar became recently notorious.

Though when you consider how the HarperCon notion of *justice* is situation -specific, it follows that Minister Nicholson would replace a progressive female judge with a male lawyer whose expertise lies in corporate/commercial litigation - one who donated to the CPC in 2008.

When you read the numerous accounts of Dewar's pontification, in which he morally exonerated convicted rapist Kenneth Rhodes by dubbing him "a clumsy Don Juan", one gets a sense of how the criminal prosecution system is being retro-fitted by the Cons into their own image.

That scheme will be policed by G20-type goons, staffed by ReformaTory appointments, and it will enable convicted cast in the good ol' boys mold to get away with, well ... probably murder too if it comes to that. And who do you think sex offender Rhodes will vote for, in the next federal election?

Plus ça change, plus les Cons se ressemblent.

h∕t k'in.

Wisconsin Pizza Revolution Update

Since I'm not getting much else done, I figured I'd blog on the Pizza Revolution in Wisconsin again.

We progressives have always snorted beer out our noses when we hear the phrase 'left-wing media bias', but it seems maybe the message is getting through to Americans.

Titled 'TheWisconsin Protests Shatter the Myth of Liberal Media Bias', the blogger writes:

Something has happened in the last two weeks that should dispel the widely held misconceptions that the “mainstream” media is liberal and generally supports Democrats. For the second weekend in a row, no labor leaders, such as the AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka, have been invited (as of now) on the Sunday morning shows.

He lists who is booked, rightwingnutbar governors from Wisconsin, Indiana, and New Jersey, union-busters all.

Notice what was missing? The opposing view point. Why might that be? Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO and probably one of the most charismatic leaders Big Labor has had in ages, has never been on any of the Sunday morning bobblehead shows. Wouldn’t a “liberal” “mainstream” media have had Trumka on at least once by now? He’s been AFL-CIO President since September 16, 2009, and was President of the United Mine Workers from 1982 to 1995.

Then an update: Trumka will appear.

Update: After a coordinated campaign of Tweeting and phone calls to Fischer and show host David Gregory, there was a late change Thursday evening for Sunday’s Meet the Press. The President of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, will be one of the guests for the show, along with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker(R). The change was sent out by Meet the Press’ Executive Producer Betsy Fischer. It’s telling that it took a herculean effort from bloggers and unions supporters to even have Mr. Trumka given the union side of the argument this weekend.

To update the situation there: the ReThuglicans in the Assembly pulled a fast one at about 1 a.m. last night and passed the bill. But, it needs Senate approval and the 'Wisconsin 14' are still hiding out. (The Senate needs a quorum of 20. ReThugs are one short.)

Rumours are flying on Twitter about whether the protesters who are still occupying the legislature will or will not be moved out tonight.

Mother Jones who has been all over this story launched a million sniggers and retweets with this:

Police say they're planning to sleep with #wiunion protesters tonight, demand capitol stays open http://bit.ly/e4KG8w #wiunion

And, in case you missed it, Gov. Walker got punked yesterday by a blogger from Buffalo, NY, pretending to be one of the evil billionaire Koch brothers on the phone. The whole idiotic dealie was recorded. Among other things, Walker responds to fake-Koch's suggestion that they send 'troublemakers' into the protests with: 'we thought about that'.

Oh, really? asks the mayor and police chief.

“I spent a good deal of time overnight thinking about Governor Walker’s response, during his news conference yesterday, to the suggestion that his administration ‘thought about’ planting troublemakers among those who are peacefully protesting his bill,” Police chief Noble Wray said in a statement.

“I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members.” Wray added.

“I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers. Our department works hard dialoging with those who are exercising their First Amendment right, those from both sides of the issue, to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure they can demonstrate safely,” he said.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz also noted that he found Walker’s comments disturbing. He said Walker’s statement was “deeply troubling” especially because of the way the governor followed up by “brushing it off”, referring to Walker’s refusal to address the issue in press conferences and appearances on Wednesday and Thursday.

“The governor of Wisconsin actually thought about planting people in the crowds who might turn these peaceful protests into something ugly?” Cieslewicz asked in a statement.

Hmmm. And there may be further legal trouble for Walker.

"If Wisconsin law forbids coordination with political donors similar to federal law, Gov. Scott Walker is not just in political trouble, but in legal hot water,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for the Public Campaign Action Fund, in a statement.

More demos are planned for tomorrow right across the US. And 'The West Wing' is coming to Wisconsin. Actor Bradley Whitford, who played Josh Lyman and who is also a native of Madison, is going to emm-cee the rally.

The pizza part is continuing too. Ian's, the pizza joint taking orders from around the country and the world, has discontinued regular business to serve only the protesters.

You gotta admit -- Wisconsinites (?) really know how to protest. And party.

ADDED: I'm so wound into this, it just occurred to me that people might not understand that this battle is NOT just about union-busting. It's about far more. It's Shock Doctrine come home to roost, according to Paul Krugman.

Your money or your life.

Two men walk into a bar to celebrate the big real-estate deal they've just closed. They're well-groomed and wearing expensive male bling-bling that announces to the world that they are big-spenders, men with power who enjoy throwing money around so everyone has a good time.

Their wallets are full of cash which they flash around, as they pay for drinks for the good-time fellows that gather around them.

The two men talk loudly and jocularly of flying to Vegas to play some poker, notwithstanding the fact neither of them have a plane.

Soon the guys are too inebriated to drive; one of their new acquaintances who is sober enough to get behind the wheel, offers to drop them off to their respective appartments on his way home. They accept the offer.

Next morning both men notice considerable amounts of money are missing from their wallets. They file a report with the police. After considering the evidence the crown prosecutor lays criminal charges against the man who drove them home; following a lengthy trial he is convicted of robbing them.

The presiding judge refuses to sentence him to prison time, as recommended by the prosecutor. Instead, he gives the robber a suspended sentence and justifies his decision by noting the victims were sending signals that "money was in the air" through their lavish spending and generous behaviour on the night of the robbery, which he calls "inviting circumstances." He specifically observes the men kept their money in wallets that were visible to everyone in the bar and they wore expensive suits and jewelry.

"That night they made their intentions publicly known that they wanted to party - which the defendant misunderstood to mean they wanted to share their good forture with other people. This is a different case than one where there is no perceived invitation," says the judge, this is a case of misunderstood signals and inconsiderate behaviour."

The judge adds he doesn't want to be seen as blaming the victims, but that all of the factors surrounding the case must be viewed to assess "moral blameworthiness."

By now you've caught on to the substitution involved; male rather than female victim, a theft instead of sexual assault. This is the actual case.

Victims of unarmed robbery have the right to feel angry and vulnerable particularly if they can't recover what was stolen from them, but the damage done is far from that physical and psychological harm inflicted upon someone who was subjected to sexual assault. That pain may persist for months and years after the crime was perpetrated.

In his pronouncements, Justice Robert Dewar expressed considerable empathy for the defendant (a clumsy Don Juan ...?!?) and displayed little sympathy for the complainant, suggesting that she had created the circumstances which led to her sexual assault.

Responses to Justice Robert Dewar's nostalgic longing for 19th century *values* have not been supportive - quite the contrary. Some have suggested that his judgement reeked of misogyny. It does. One prosecutor said his words could have implications for public confidence in the system. They would certainly discourage other complainants from reporting similar crimes to the police.

I'd certainly hesitate if this judge were presiding; while I don't wear tube tops or high heels, I've been known to cast "sex in the air" by using double V words in Scrabble.

Un grand merci to k'in, a frequent visitor and commenter at DJ!, who flagged this travesty of justice.

Solidarity with Wisconsin!

WARNING: Bad language.