Are We Back To “Shut Up And Work” - Wisconsin GOP Strips Union Bargaining Rights

 State Flag of Wisconsin

The Wisconsin state Republicans separated the measure to strip public unions bargaining rights from the budget bill and passed the separate piece of legislation. In one move, what took decades of effort to gain was stripped in one fell swoop.

What exactly are we dealing with here in the midst of a severe economic downturn? It seems that there was the though that the harsh economic times would create a climate receptive to hardball type tactics even if it was against teachers and other public workers. An article titled “GOP rams anti-union bill through Wis. Senate” March 9, 2011 and published on the MSNBC website goes into what took place in Wisconsin.

 Why are millionaires and billionaires from all over the country sitting on the sidelines watching what should be a Wisconsin state matter, of course the answer is always money.

It’s All About Money

You see there is gold under the frozen tundra in Wisconsin and other states if those pesky unions can be moved out of the way. Just like the privatized prison system is a booming business, privatized school systems are the next big growth industry. Have you wondered about all of the recent trashing of public school teachers? With tight budgets gripping the country would it not be a relief for private industry to swoop in and say, “Let us take this budget item off your hands and allow us to run this for you.”

There is always a revenue angle to most of what goes on in this country and this is no different.

Birther Bills Try To Block President Obama From 2012 State Ballots

 President Barack Obama

Here we go again. Multiple states have bills designed to force President Obama and any other Presidential candidate to produce a full birth certificate before being included on those states' ballot. The bills have made their way to state legislature in many states. An article titled “Ga. latest state to propose "birther" bill” by the Associated Press March 2, 2011 and published on the CBS News website goes into the details on the measure in Georgia. According to the article 10 other states have bills pending including Texas, Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Connecticut, Maine,  Tennessee and Indiana. Montana previously defeated such a measure.

This is the real start of the 2012 Presidential campaign. Possible Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made a statement recently that President Obama’s world view was influenced by his Kenyan upbringing with his Kenyan born father and grandfather. Huckabee later said that he misspoke and meant to say Indonesia instead of Kenya. President Obama grew up in Hawaii and spent four years in Indonesia as a child with his mother and stepfather, but was primarily raised by his mother and grandparents in Hawaii and that is in his biography.

It is more than a coincidence that a legitimate and former Presidential candidate would come out with Obama birth certificate talk before any Republicans officially declare to run for President. It is the first dog whistle to alert a certain voting block that he is with them, just in case he runs.

Wasn’t the birther business supposed to be old news? Well it never went away; it just died down for a while. The efforts to declare President Obama an illegitimate President seems to never end and some just won’t give in on the birth certificate business because those pushing it feel it is a disqualifier for a man they don’t think they can beat in 2012.

Is The State Of Wisconsin The Last Stand For Labor Unions

                             Wisconsin State Flag

The government worker standoff in the state of Wisconsin is like something rarely seen in the United States, true civil protest against a system that workers feel is meant to strip them of dignity and bargaining power. The tone from Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is an old one filled with pre-union age code words wrapped in modern vernacular.

A statement from the Governor says that managers must have the ability to manage is his rational for stripping bargaining rights from the public unions although they have agreed to fiscal concession to deal with state budget issues. That statement translates into I make the rules, you have no say, so shut up and take it. This same theme has been echoed in other states, although the delay caused by the protests and Democrats leaving the state of Wisconsin has allowed the light of day to shine on the real issue, which is not the budget, but breaking the union.

In this strange time we live in public employees have somehow become the bad guys. Teachers, firemen and other civil servants are no being painted as spoiled elites. This must stop. Fire fighters were the heroes after the  September 11 attacks on the Wold Trade Center and now they are being branded as part of the problem. Some regular Americans are buying into this line of thinking and some politicians know that hard times are the ideal field to sow seeds of division.