BartBlog

Author’s note:
Yes, I realize the events in Japan have much more global significance than the events in Madison, WI, but I am sticking with the story in Madison. The court ruling, while insignificant in terms of stopping the bill(s) from passing, is a clear example that the GOP will push the legal limits in order to further their agenda. One must ask themselves: What would have been the outcome if the courts in Madison were stacked with GOP judges like the courts in most other states?

Excerpt:
Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order in Dane County Circuit Court on Friday blocking a new and controversial law that eliminates nearly all collective bargaining rights for most public employees. While opponents of the bill consider the ruling a victory, proponents say the legal setback is unlikely to prevent the ultimate implementation of the law and the passage of Gov. Walker’s budget bill.

The collective bargaining law cannot go into effect until it is published by Secretary of State Doug La Follette. The ruling delays publication of the law until March 29, when Judge Sumi plans to hold a full hearing on a lawsuit that questions the validity of the law based on the speedy manner in which it was carried out earlier this month. An appeal is possible before then.

The case was brought before Judge Sumi by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne who seeks to block the law, which Walker signed last Friday, arguing that a legislative committee violated the state’s open meetings law in passing the measure.

Wisconsin’s open meetings law requires a legislative committee to provide public notice of meetings 24 hours in advance, or two hours in emergencies, and allow public access to the meeting.

Ozanne’s suit alleges that the emergency standard did not apply and that even if it did, the meeting did not follow the law because the committee met with less than two hours’ notice. Ozanne also argued that the meeting violated the law because public access was restricted due to tight security at the Capitol and because it was held in a small room unable to accommodate the large crowd trying to get in. Ozanne had to show a probability that the case would succeed on its merits and that irreparable harm would occur if it did not.

Judge Sumi, who was first appointed to the bench by former GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson in 1998, ruled that the meeting was likely to have been held in violation of the open meetings law because a joint Assembly-Senate conference committee did not provide the public with adequate notice before approving the bill March 9.

Opponents of the measure hope the decision is the first of many that would ultimately undo legislation that has split the state and drawn tens of thousands of demonstrators to the capitol over a matter of many weeks. Supporters of the measure suggest the judge’s decision is certain to be overturned as various legal efforts make their way fully through the court system, and is merely a speed bump to the ultimate implementation of the law and passage of the budget bill.

While it is nearly impossible for state Democrats to stop the collective bargaining and budget bills from passing with Republicans dominating all bodies of the state legislature, the ruling today is a minor victory in some respects: It keeps the budget battle in the media spotlight and on the minds of Wisconsinites, it buys time while efforts to recall Republican State Senators, and ultimately Gov. Walker, gain momentum, and shows that state Republicans will push legal boundaries in order to further their agenda.

If recall efforts are successful, both the collective bargaining law and the budget bill can be repealed as early as 2012 and the state constitution can be amended to protect against further assaults on Wisconsin working families by future legislators as early as 2013.

Read more, get links, video and a slideshow here: Madison Independent Examiner – Significance of court order blocking collective bargaining law is debatable

Author’s note:
While everyone, including myself, are concerned with the nuclear meltdowns in Japan, let’s not forget the movement in Wisconsin. Be sure to check out the video in the article…

Excerpt:
The recall effort mounted against eight Wisconsin Republican state Senators has secured nearly half of the signatures required in order to proceed with the recall process. The effort, undertaken by Wisconsin voters along with pro-labor, progressive and democratic organizations, has more than a month remaining to gather the required signatures.

Only two weeks ago, the Wisconsin Democratic Party announced in an email that, “…citizens from around the state took the first steps by filing recall papers against key Republican Senators who have stood with Scott Walker and pushed his partisan power grab that will strip thousands of middle class teachers, nurses, librarians and other workers of their right to collective bargaining.”

Now recall efforts against GOP senators are ahead of pace in signature gathering in every single one of the eight districts being targeted, and in three of the districts, organizers have well over 50 percent of the number required.

The Washington Post reported that organizers targeting GOP Senators have “collected over 56,000 signatures supporting the recall drives, after another surge in organizing activity over the weekend. That’s up from roughly 14,000 after last weekend. This means [the recall effort] is well ahead of schedule.”

If enough signatures are declared valid, an election is scheduled for six weeks later. If more than one challenger in the same party files papers, then that election serves as the party primary, which is followed four weeks later by a general election.

Though the national media has largely treated the Wisconsin story as resolved, the new signature numbers suggest the GOP’s maneuver may only be giving more momentum to the recall drives.

On an aside note, Wisconsin state Senator Randy Hopper (R – Fond du Lac), who is targeted for recall, was not found in his district by demonstrators who picketed his residence last weekend. Hopper’s wife, however, informed organizers that he is living in Madison with a 25-year old lobbyist before signing the recall petition against him. Living in another district may be in violation of a state law.

While it is nearly impossible to verify the exact amount of recall signatures on either side at this time, it is clear that the recalls targeting GOP Senators have the momentum. Democrats and labor organizations are raising money for the recall drives at a frenzied pace, and organizers obtained thousands of signatures from voters gathered at a huge rally in Madison over the weekend.

The only caveats here are that the initial surge of signatures are easier to obtain than the last few, so sustaining the momentum will be difficult. Furthermore, since challenges to signatures are certain to occur, organizers need a comfortable buffer of signatures beyond the minimum required.

Gov. Walker, who was inaugurated last January, will not be eligible for a recall until 2012. It will take over 540,000 signatures to trigger a recall of Governor Walker in 2012.

Will the people of Wisconsin follow through with the enthusiasm expressed at the rallies in Madison, or will these efforts fade as time goes by? The first indicator of the answer to that will come in about 45 days.

Read more, get links, video and a slideshow here: Madison Independent Examiner – Recall targeting WI GOP Senators secures nearly half of required signatures.

“Because these days actual facts are an endangered species.”

Have you ever wondered where pine nuts come from? You’d be surprised: they come from pine trees. It’s an ancient ceremony derived from Native Americans who often “thanked” animals they hunted after they killed them for offering up their lives.

They would go deep into the forest and seek out the biggest pine tree with the biggest nuts. They would apologize to all the lady trees who surely had enjoyed the pleasure of the he tree many times with their moans of ecstasy. Then they chopped the he tree’s nuts off.

Since the only mouths he trees have are usually stuffed with owls their screams are soft, at best.

Then they peeled the nuts carefully, washing whatever residue is left from the chopping. Even though pine nuts are very, very, tiny, they have thousands of them per tree. The sacrifice is minimal.

To this day pine nut gatherers have followed this sacred ceremony, and for years the he trees have sacrificed their family jewels for humanity.

So be sure, like our Native American friends, whom Americans have always shown NOTHING but respect for (COUGH), make you sure thank a pine today for offering up their delicious, tasty, nuts.

And if you believe that story you might consider joining up with those only a little less “brilliant” than you are: Teabaggers, Birthers and those who believe anything FOX “News” tells them.

American right-wing radio talk-show hosts have been spewing hate into our airwaves for over 20 years now. First came the attacks on “FemiNazis”. And now it’s all about attacking liberals, Social Security, trade unions, Democrats, Muslims, Mexican-Americans, homosexuals, women’s reproductive rights, African-Americans, government services, anyone who thinks that banks, Wall Street and semi-automatic weapons should be regulated, poor people, old people, sick people, children, teachers, etc.

Good grief!

Is there anyone at all left in the American middle and working classes that haters on talk-radio haven’t attacked recently? Probably not.

However, please be aware that generating so much hate can be like opening a very deadly Pandora’s box — and that we all need to watch out. Look what just happened in Libya when the Pandora’s box of hate was opened up there. Libyans began slaughtering Libyans right and left. How much hate needs to be generated in order to turn countryman against countryman like that? A lot.

I’m not saying that Americans now hate other Americans as much as Libyans hate other Libyans. But we are currently driving in that direction far too fast. Perhaps it is time to put on the brakes before we too speed over that same cliff.

Right now, Libya is a bloody mess due to hate — just like what happened in Yugoslavia and Iraq, and also what happened during the American Civil War of 1860-1865. Yet despite these in-your-face examples, Americans still don’t seem to realize that flirting with hate is like playing with fire. Hate can be just as destructive as the recent devastating tsunami in Japan — only it is a deadly emotional tsunami instead, turning neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother, friend against friend, just like it did at Bull Run, Manassas, Shiloh, New Orleans, Murfreesboro, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Knoxville, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Atlanta, Savannah, Richmond, Washington and Appomattox.

A bloody and hateful civil war has happened in America before — and it could happen here again if we keep allowing ourselves the gluttonous indulgence of hate. And if another civil war does happen here, will it be as bloody as the ones in Kosovo or Baghdad or Tripoli — or Gettysburg?

Do we really want civil war to break out in America again like it did at Ft. Sumter? No! But if it does happen again here, what exactly would this second American civil war be called? How about “The great bloody Limbaugh Beck Palin Fox-News Arizona Wisconsin anti-working-class anti-homosexual anti-Muslim anti-Mexican anti-Black anti-union anti-liberal anti-female pro-corporatist pro-oligarch Civil War”? Nah. Too many words. How about simply “The Fools’ and Bigots’ Civil War sponsored by Rich People.” Yeah that sounds better.

PS: Peace Pilgrim is still my idol — remember her? She was an elderly lady who walked over 25,000 miles on foot all across America in the 1950s, advocating peace wherever she went. I’ve always wanted to do that too — except that I have bad knees and can’t walk more than a few blocks at a time without pain. But maybe I could still do it anyway, perhaps in a golf cart? Would that count?

PPS: I gotta confess that even I have been doing a lot of hatin’ lately — hatin’ on America’s greedy and selfish big-box banks http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2011/03/wells-fargos-illegal-overdraft.html. Why anyone in their right mind would invest their money (and their trust) in greedy mega-banks that are “too big to fail” (yet that feel no remorse when they cause US to fail) is way beyond me — when there are so many healthy and honest local credit unions out there to bank with instead.

So. Let’s all take our money out of CitiBank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase and all those other player banks who inflicted us with the great American housing disaster, and deposit our money in Berkeley’s wonderful Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union instead http://www.coopfcu.org./ASP/home.asp

Author’s note:
As horrible and newsworthy as the events in Japan are, I hope that does not distract people from what has been accomplished in Madison, Wisconsin yesterday. Be sure to check out the slideshow at the link below.

Excerpt:
Madison, Wisconsin, a city legendary for its political activism, has raised the bar again yesterday with what may have been the largest political rally at the state Capitol in its history. While some estimates put the number of people that gathered for a pro-labor demonstration as high as 150,000, even the official estimate by the Madison police of 85,000 to 100,000 surpasses the numbers of the rallies at the peak of the anti-war movement in the 60’s. There were no arrests.

The people came to the Capitol from every corner of the Badger state – in cars, on buses and even on tractors. A few from Michigan, Minnesota and Chicago came to join the fight. Even the 14 democrats of the state senate, who had left the state in an attempt to slow down Governor Walker’s agenda, decided it was time to return.

And the message remains clear: “We, the people, have had enough!”

Despite a setback on Thursday with the passage of a bill that strips public employees of most collective bargaining rights, makes it illegal for unions to deduct fees from member’s paychecks and empowers the state to fire employees for going on strike, the number of demonstrators continues to grow.

With collective bargaining rights lost and the budget bill certain to pass, protesters are now chanting “Recall Walker!” instead of “Kill the bill!” In fact, the message has become clearer than ever. It is no longer just a legislative battle in a state with a progressive tradition. It is now, in a broader sense, a movement for democratic renewal.

The movement in Madison is seen by many as a resistance to a nation-wide assault on worker’s rights that began with the Reagan administration. The long term goal is to win the war on the middle class being waged by corporations, banks, mainstream media, Wall Street and the politicians that corporate money has bought.

The short term goal of the movement is to recall at least three, and up to eight, Republican state senators who backed the bill, shifting control of the chamber to the Democrats and restoring a system of checks and balances to what is now one-party government in Wisconsin. Ultimately, the movement seeks to remove Walker from office and set the tone for the elections in 2012.

Getting an early start, farmers from around the state arrived first, on tractors (see slideshow). The tractorcade was organized by the Wisconsin Farmers Union and Family Farm Defenders. John Peck, the group’s director, according to the Cap Times, says many of those coming to Madison are upset by the realization that Walker’s agenda is “sacrificing Wisconsin’s quality of life for everyone, not just unions.”

Next “Art Workers March Together” (a.k.a., “The Blue Tape Brigade.”) marched from the Overture Center to the gathering, decorated in painter’s tape, which was used to affix posters to the Capitol’s wall. The actors, painters, musicians and others, beating drums, carried possibly the largest and most elaborately constructed palm tree yet to the Capitol square. They were greeted with chants of “Fox Lies!”

Madison Firefighters Local 311 members then marched through the crowd, with bagpipes and drums blaring (see slideshow). The Rev. Jesse Jackson, actress Susan Sarandon and actor Tony Shalhoub (a Wisconsin native) joined the firefighters as they wove their way through a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd that filled the Capitol Square and several blocks of State Street.

Outside a hotel opposite the Capitol, the 14 state Senators appeared. The rally climaxed with speeches from a few of them. “Wow! You go away for a couple of weeks and look at what happened!” shouted state Senator Jon Erpenbach.

“We are going to take our state back. We are going to take our rights back,” declared state Senator Julie Lassa, a central Wisconsin Democrat who told the crowd, “I have never been prouder to be a Wisconsinite.”

Bob Jauch, a Democrat from northern Wisconsin told the crowd: “We did not weaken democracy when we went to the land of Lincoln. We strengthened it.”

Many Wisconsinites seemed to share that sentiment, as the overflow crowd greeted the returning senators like celebrities, chanting: “Thank you! Thank you!” and “Welcome home!”

The unity and solidarity, the signs and the numbers tell the story. Wisconsinites, most of whom are working class people, have been awakened, like “a sleeping giant” with a common cause reflected in a common chant: “This is what democracy looks like!”

Read more, get links, a slideshow and video here: Madison Independent Examiner – Largest political rally in Madison’s history yesterday