MontanaMaven wonders if Madison will be our Cairo.
You won’t find it on its front page section “Protests for Democracy”, but CNN is reporting that 15 more school districts will close today as teachers make their way to Madison, WI to join the protest against Gov. Walker’s anti union bill.
Wisconsin teachers call in sickAt least 15 school systems in Wisconsin canceled Thursday’s classes because teachers and other public employees will continue protests at the state Capitol over a bill that would strip them of most of their collective bargaining rights and increase their contributions for benefits.
Huh? Madison? What? I haven’t heard of anything. I go to google news – US – nothing. I have to type in “wisconsin” then it suggests “wisconsin protests” which shows me that while I’ve been puttering around, tens of thousands of teachers, parents, public workers, and students have been protesting in Madison against Governor Walker’ bill to completely do away with public teachers ability to engage in Collective Bargaining Agreements.
John Nichols (The Nation) says this is the start of a national campaign to undo unions through legislation. He points out that Walker is demanding that teachers take a 9% pay cut when WIsconsin has a budget surplus of $123 million.
“If Governor Walker pulls this off, if he succeeds in taking away collective bargaining rights from the union, AFSCME, which was founded in Wisconsin back in the 1930s, if he takes down…one of the strongest and most effective teachers’ unions, WEAC, in the country, then we really are going to see this sweep across the United States. There is simply no question of that,” he says.
It is already also happening in Ohio, and protests have started there too.
Over 1,000 people packed the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday to protest against a bill currently under consideration by the Senate that would eliminate collective bargaining for 40,000 state workers and reduce the bargaining power of firefighters and teachers, among others. Protesters filled the building’s galleys and assembly rooms, with only standing room left for those attending the hearings on Senate Bill 5 (SB5).
The unemployment problem can not be solved by reducing the wages on existing jobs and firing workers. It doesn’t matter if those are public or private sector jobs. The economy is down because not enough money is flowing. The USA still has that money, for the most part (minus our balance of trade bleed), it’s just that it’s being hoarded by the rich and the banks. So if you take the money away from public employees, where do you think it will go? Straight to the cronies. That’s what the lobbyists want: the beautiful merger of business and government.
Unions may have their faults, but it’s unions that led to the rise of the middle class, with their demands that workers be treated like humans. Chinese workers don’t have unions, and the corporate crony stooges in charge won’t be happy until we are all forced to work in 19th century conditions, locked into factories without breaks and pitifully grateful for the opportunity to make enough money to buy eat once a day.
Rolling update from the comments:
jjtacoma recommends this op-ed in WaPo, which is a great read, which contrasts the cheering for Egypt while suppressing news about our own protests.
SHV recommends www.wsws.org for news coverage of the protests that our corpomedia is ignoring.
Drama! (h/t jjmtacoma) the democrats in the statehouse have left town to prevent the republicans from voting (at least one democrat has to be present for the vote to happen). Get your popcorn!
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.
Update Feb 18: Channelling Jonathan Swift, Governor Walker calls his proposals “a modest request”. Strangely apt since our kids are getting figuratively devoured by our crony capitalist economy.
Filed under: Corruption Tagged: | corporatism, Wisconsin protests
This is an open thread, as usual. (I like open threads)
Amazing photo here that shows how many people were outside the capitol bldg. (Too big to go in my post)
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/02/17/us/17wisconsin2_337-inline/17wisconsin2_337-inline-popup.jpg
Obama’s Race to the Top program is pure union busting crapola… California didn’t get the money because Gov. Ahnold couldn’t squeeze enough concessions out of the teacher’s union…
Now they are trying to starve out the teachers by limiting federal funds – especially those aimed at low-income kids…. (but Brown at least values public education)
I don’t really know what Race to the Top is, I am so uninformed. I am looking at the wiki page on it and it sounds like another version of NCLB.
That’s about right, votermom. Another version of NCLB, with improved union busting!
I’m of two minds on that particular union-busting scenario. I worked in education and teachers unions are terrible for the system and for the kids. They have grown so powerful that they have become one of the two largest problems plaguing public education–the other being education departments at universities, who are full of all the wrong people proposing all the wrong ideas. Bill Ayers, for example, worked as an education professor, and used his stint to indoctrinate a generation of teachers with Weather Underground propaganda adapted for the classroom. That’s another story.
The flip side of my thinking on this is that governments should not be in the business of union busting. So as much as I hate teachers unions, I hate the attempt by groups more powerful to bust them up. If they’re busted up, I want it to be because insiders like this took it down from the bottom up. http://natalieshandbasket.blogspot.com/2011/02/bloggate-day-1-scandal-begins.html
It’s like reform vs revolution. I am on the side of reform. If there are problems with corruption or mismanagement in an organization, the logical thing to do is address that – not dissolve the organization ignore the reasons it was formed in the first place.
Bill Ayers is not the problem – he is in the charter school business, if I recall correctly… lotta money to be made for HIM…
Most teachers I know are dedicated, hard working, talented professionals… to label teacher’s unions as some kind of evil is unfortunate.
And they are some of the last big unions that exist that actually have some power… without unions setting some standards for employers, everyone who works for a living suffers.
Old Coastie,
I was a teacher, and I still know plenty of hardworking teachers. Most of them resent their required participation in unions, as well as the activities and conventions of that union. They hate that they don’t get to pay into social security, but instead have to send their retirement money into a union, which will then invest it in a pension fund tied to unstable Wall Street. They also don’t like the fact that they have no say-so in what they teach, thanks in large part to unions working with these education departments and politicians. They are frustrated by the political correctness supported by these unions that results in formulaic (“canned”) verbal responses designed not to inflict pain, but which also prevent any practice at critical thinking. They also hate that the bad teachers in their school receive the full protection of unions, despite their work records, simply because they are captive to the same money-making machine in the form of a union they are. They feel ripped off and unsupported in true efforts to actually do their jobs.
I support teachers way more than I support politicians and reformers, but I do not support them unconditionally. No one should. The unions are a real problem, one of many plaguing our education system. If they want to keep the union, they’ll have to ratchet down the rhetoric and show some of what they say they crave from students: cooperation.
I didn’t realize that teachers don’t pay in SS?
Old Castle,
If I read your comment correctly, those who don’t like the union, don’t like:
a) Don’t like the pension fund structure.
b)They also don’t like the fact that they have no say-so in what they teach.
c)The political correctness that prevent any practice at critical thinking.
d) Protection of bad teachers.
e)They feel unsupported in true efforts to actually do their jobs.
What does that have to do with the reason for the union, which is collective bargaining? Maybe those who don’t like their union should band together and leave the union in protest. But the issues you stated do not seem to be related to unions, but problems that arise because members don’t care to get involved and change how their unions work.
(r to votermom)
I think part of the problem is that the union-busting rhetoric hammers on the things that are wrong with unions and vaguely implies a contrast to some vague, utopian non-union alternative which doesn’t exist, never existed, and never will exist.
Of course union members get angry and frustrated when their union protects bad teachers (they should). But once the union goes, all the good teachers lose their protection as well. I agree reform it the better way to go, otherwise it’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater just because the baby has a cold. Or something.
The public school teachers I know are damned grateful for their limited (by Texas law) union representation. The things they resent are:
1 The idiots on the school boards who know nothing at all about education and very little about anything else, but who are using the board as stages in their political careers;
2. The other idiots on the school boards who are tools of various business interests and/or use their public to pay for vacations, expensive meals and the occasional lady of the evening under the guis of attendg conferences;
3. The top-heavy and disproporationately paid administration;
4. The conservatives on the Texas State Board of Education who have politicized the curriculum and made a joke of science and history courses;
5. The state government’s refusal to fund the schools adequately, even when the dollars are federal grants, while wasting money on such things as Rick Perry’s $10,000.00 a month rental;
6. The huge bureaucratic mess created by Bush’s NCLB.
And that’s just for starters. It doesn’t address the other problems created by chronic underfunding such as cutbacks in arts programs, inadequate libraries, and overcrowded classrooms.
it’s NCLB on steroids… NCLB required testing and if annual improvements fell below a certain standard, the state would take over the school (and usually sell it off to a private company – who, oddly, did NOT have to meet the improvement standards – a very strange system)
Race to the Top only funds states that are already successful – the more successful, the more money. When California was competing last year for funds, there was some big hitch in the get-a-long with the teachers’ unions – like tenure had to be eliminated in order to get the money…. Title I funds, originally designated for schools in low and very low income areas – so that class size could be reduced, more materials bought, etc…. Title 1 still exists but not in its original form. It used to be very steady income for large urban districts but that is less likely.
So, if someone can tell me… how do you improve schools in the neediest areas by sucking all the money out and giving it to already success schools?
Seriously, I don’t get it.
It’s how wall street works …
I taught public school for 20 years and we paid in to SS and everyother bs out there. But, in Fl. teacher’s unions weren’t allowed to strike so we really didn’t have much power.
But, unions are really needed here. There are just too many ways administrators can hurt you.And merit pay is not fair, at least as I’ve seen it.
For example., say you (the teacher) failed to grovel properly to the principle and other admin types, You will find yourself ‘teaching’ a room full of incorrigables whose llife mission is to make yours a daily hell. Plus they won’t support you when ‘little Johnny’s mother comes to cuss you out for not turning him into a wunderkind in a matter of days.
And,,under our system–it’s all your fault. Yeah!!
seriously, now if you actually fail a child–you have to document everything–how many times did you attempt to call the parents? ? Did you bring it to the higher ups attention and what did they do? ? How many new teaching techniques did you try (document them and the result). Did you give little Johnny a chance to remediate the work he missed?
But, it always ends up being the teacher’s fault–she wasn’t tailoring specific lessons to hs learning type, she wasn’t dancing on the table to keep little Johnny’s attention so he wouldn’t whine that it was boring.
Now, do all of that with 150 students a day and have exciting written out lesson plans, communicate with parents. attend numerous bs meetings that are a waste of time and take the papers home to grade because you will never have time during the day.
No, I’m not bitter–I was a good teacher, but in late years, the edicts from the school bd. and the state made our jobs impossible. We were pumping up the resume of the admin. because a low faillure rate looks good for them. And they can always list all the wonderful bs that teachers have done under their direction. Surprise–it’s political. People jlust get beaten down and exhausted beyond belief.
Huh? Madison? What? I haven’t heard of anything. I go to google news – US – nothing.
*******
You need to bypass Obama’s “Information Ministry” media stooges.
“Tens of thousands demonstrate against attacks on government workers in Wisconsin”
“Video: Workers, students speak on budget cuts in Madison”
“Ohio workers protest against effort to end collective bargaining”
http://www.wsws.org/index.shtml
It’s almost like the media doesn’t want me to know.
*blink*
the wsws site is great, btw.
Here’s an opinion piece in The Washington Post that referenced the state sponsored union busting and how we were cheering for Egypt workers but then look at the contrast with how bad things are for American workers and where the money goes.
That’s a good op ed, I’ll add it to the post.
If I were a teacher, I’d rather take a pay cut than be layed off, as they’re doing in my town. Budget woes are everywhere, affecting everyone.
I don’t think the are protesting against lower wages, they are protesting against losing the power to use collective bargaining rights and binding arbitration.
The corporatists love to pit union vs non-union workers, and public vs private sector, but it’s all a wedge to keep workers at each others throats instead of united against the excesses of corrupt ceos and corrupt officials.
exactly! spot on!
Keep in mind, concessions on benefits don’t come back and a 10% pay cut will take at least 3-4 years to get back to where you started salary-wise.
Neither of those are good moves for people to accept if they can fight it. It is better in some ways to be laid off than to have the value of your services reduced.
Things will get better but that 10% pay cut is a permanent reset on the value of labor.
I will happily eat crow if the economy gets better and the fat cats come around and say – “Wow, all you little worker bees were so great to take less money when we were all struggling, but now that things are all better – here’s a 10% increase across the board to put you back where you started! Oh, and a really big Thank You! for doing your share to keep things going.”
Paycuts through temporary layoff – where you give up pay for days off doesn’t impact your annualized salary or lower the value of your labor.
It isn’t like those state workers get to tell Kroger that they will now pay 10% less for groceries because their household budget is lower.
A few headlines in the tabloids from yesterday assault in Egypt and the hateful comments
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/tabloids-sexist-pig-gets-it/
“I don’t think the are protesting against lower wages, they are protesting against losing the power to use collective bargaining rights and binding arbitration.”
*********
Here is a summary of why they are [protesting:
(snip)
“The bill, which could pass through the state legislature as early as today, would require workers to almost double their deductions for health care and retirement benefits. According to various analyses, these added contributions would equate to anywhere from an 8 to 20 percent pay cut.
The measure would also make strikes among state workers illegal, giving the governor unilateral authority to fire workers who “participate in an organized action to stop or slow work,” or who “are absent for three days without approval of the employer.” It would remove the right of unions to negotiate pensions, retirement and benefits, and would prohibit the union dues check-off for government workers. These changes would also apply to childcare workers, home health care workers, and employees of the University of Wisconsin system and its hospital arm.
The bill also ends health insurance coverage and retirement benefits for temporary workers hired by the state, apparently including certain categories of graduate student labor.
Both the magnitude of the cuts and the provocative way Walker has demanded them have created a backlash among Wisconsin workers and youth. In announcing his preparations to deploy the National Guard the governor implicitly threatened violence against those opposing the draconian cuts, saying the troops were “prepared … for whatever the governor, their commander-in-chief, might call for. I am fully prepared for whatever may happen.”
(snip)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/wisc-f16.shtml
The National Guard … wow, what a tough guy.
That’s gonna be interesting. Some of those Guardsmen are the children or spouses of teachers; others are likely teachers themselves. Most of them will have children in the public schools. What happens when the Guard refuses to obey Governor Hosni?
I worked as a union member for my entire adulthood in Ohio. I can tell you from first hand experience that collective bargaining is the lifeblood of the middle class. Managers have been trying to break the unions for years so that workers will have no protections outside of the federal non-discrimination laws which are onerous and very hard to prove. This is another assult on the middle class by, in Ohio’s case, a governor who made so much money in a Lehman Brothers hedge fund that he refused to reveal how much it was during the election.
Kasich is also attacking public pensions. I hope he has a revolt on his hands that makes Egypt look like a garden party and I’ll be happy to participate.
Has the Ohio press been covering the news about protests in Columbus? Over at hillaryis44, BigCatLover says local news is not covering it in Columbus.
I live in Ohio in the capital city and did not hear that they were finally protesting this vendetta against public workers. We just elected a new repub neocon governor who will decimate all govt programs/benefits if he can get away with it. The state pension systems already tried to head off the cuts by voluntarily raising the retirement age, cutting the benefits and making other concessions. Of course they were told that is not enough, because they are an ‘issue’ to be used by the rightwing to rev up the populace against so called govt abuse. I’m glad they are fighting back. By the way, a local tv program gave the following statistics: state workere make 4 -6 % less in salaries than their peers in the private sector. They are also more highly educated than peers in the private sector, and finally those with degrees make 25% less than those with the same degrees in the private sector.
I knew this was a Crony Scheme!
Saw this via corrente
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/article_61064e9a-27b0-5f28-b6d1-a57c8b2aaaf6.html
No doubt.
Interesting he avoided messing with police and firefighters but is sticking it to teachers, government engineers, students, and social workers, etc…
This is an amazing Bloomberg interview of Jeffrey Sachs where he says both parties are on the take and we are going to end up with our own Egypt here.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/02/jeffrey-sachs-on-the-budget-do-we-really-have-to-have-our-own-egypt-here-in-the-united-states.html#comments
There were some interesting links in the comments too.
This is a perfect storm that’s been brewing for a long time. Where I live, teachers and those who work for the government are the upper class. The rest of the people are unemployed or struggling with very low wages. All they’ve heard for years is how hard teachers have it, how much more money they need. Also city and county employees need more raises and medical benefits. The only way to get them more money is to raise taxes on all the people here making less money. Naturally the resentment starts to build. I don’t think our union workers around here are wealthy, they simply make a living wage, but for all of those who don’t, the amount of public sympathy for these union workers and their “low wages” really starts to breed hostility.
It”s very crab-in-a-bucket like though, isn’t it? Does it help the unemployed and low-wage earners to have MORE low-wage earners competing with them?
It doesn’t make sense.
All these so-called “budget problems” would disappear if we started taxing billionaires at Clinton-years levels. And stopped throwing bailouts at best-beloved cronies.
5% more upper-income taxes isn’t going to fix the spending problems.
The “spending problems” wouldn’t exist with an adequate tax base. The Republcans yell about the “10% of the people who pay 40%” of the taxes, but the fact is that 10% enjoys 80% of the income. They’re under-, not over-taxed. Making them pay up is sure a good place to start.
via Hot Air
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/17/have-teacher-unions-nuked-the-fridge/
[...]
Teachers unions dropped $40 million on the midterm election, which Democrats desperately needed — and which did them almost no good in the end anyway. The public has grown angry over decades of accelerated spending and federal interference in education with little to show for all of the resources sunk into it. The government protects education as a near-monopoly, where only the wealthy can have actual, real choice in how their children are educated. Union control of education has led to mediocrity rather than excellence, and sclerosis where there should be innovation.
[...]
The entire article is a good read and points to other states also.
So many problems caused by politicians being for sale. I think campaign finance reform, in fact, public financing, is the prerequisite to any real government reform.
I will admit I have great sympathy for school choice, for any kid to have access to good education regardless of who her parents are or where they live. I think there is a lot to be said for more local control of education.
But I really think what is happening in Wisconsin is not really about education. It’s about a corporate-owned governor using the cover of “budget rescue” to dissolve one of the few non-corporate political lobbies left in the country and funnel money to his own cronies.
Ding, ding, ding! Winner!
Comic photo relief time
(via JanH at hi44)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nzILHyTedFU/TVygFGS53gI/AAAAAAAAVqE/7TATXku78is/s1600/Post%2BCairo%2BFinger-Pointing.jpg
Great find! Amazing how this sort of thing is hidden from us in the MSM. I think we do need Al Jazeera or some other good independent news source.
I would never have heard of it if it weren’t for the blogosphere.
Some countries have media blackouts – we have media whiteouts, where they just snow us with pre-slanted “news” and hide anything that might worry the powers that be.
Btw, Moose, feel free to post anytime if you have something you want up.
I will. I’ve been hold up in a secret lair and haven’t been able too. But I’ll escape soon.
[...] today for a non-partisan source on what’s happening with the protests in Wisconsin. A few good folks are trying to figure it out, but mostly the battle lines are drawn. The issue revolves around a [...]
Got another good link for this… the democrats in the statehouse have left town to prevent the republicans from voting (at least one democrat has to be present for the vote to happen). Get your popcorn!
USA Today
Hah! Drama or comedy? I’ll add it!
So, could a Republican switch parties and then vote?
I don’t know. I think the dems have to accept them into the club.
I don’t think they need a Democrat, per se. They just need a majority of legislators and the only ones left are Democrats.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0211/DNC_playing_role_in_Wisconsin_protests.html
I tend to doubt it somehow, guessing they just jumped on the bandwagon. But I could be wrong.
I doubt it also… if anything, Obama is out to outdo Reagan busting the air traffic controller union…
In other news, OFA rushes to close the barn door after the animals escape.
LOL!
Ben Smith at Politico is reporting that Organizing For America helped organize the Wisconsin protests.
Link’s in the spam filter.
Yes they are….I’ve been following them on twitter and OFA’s site all day. Not sure this is a good thing…..?
OFA Wisconsin tweeter thing:
http://twitter.com/#!/OFA_WI
I support collective bargaining, but union members don’t care to participate and allow the leaders to behave like an underworld group. Meh.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/17/obama-wisconsin-gov-walker-waging-an-assault-on-unions/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=dc330b357d-2_17_112_17_2011&utm_medium=email
Backtrack made a statement.
I have worked most of my life in companies that had unions. Believe me you do not want to work for a railroad without a union.
If there is no money concessions have to be made. Sacrifices on both sides have to happen.
WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS
PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE CHATTERING PEOPLE RULE
Youtube videos of the protest in Wisconsin.
now the other side is joining in from the federal government.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/144889-boehner-wades-into-wisconsin-labor-battle-backing-gop-governor
I wish both sides of the federal government would stay out of this.
two sides with different viewpoints is an argument the minute a third person gets involved it becomes a war and neither side will back down.
WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS
PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE CHATTERING PEOPLE RULE
Guess who’s paying for most of the buses bringing these teachers and students to the demonstrations.
OFA. Obama For America. Obama’s campaign arm.
Not gonna go over very well with the Wisconsin voters who supported Walker.
Plus, Madison seems to be ground zero for this march. Schools in the rest of the state are still open and operating.
In the state where I live, the city taxes are equal to the school taxes. Let me repeat. All of the city’s services to 25,000 people costs the same amount as educating 6,000 children. People may not hate teachers, but they are extremely frustrated that this part of the budget is considered sacrosanct and increases above inflation every year.
You mean OFA is finally doing something useful? Nah… .
Oops, hit the button too soon–
Nah.. ..this is just Teh Precious climbng onto the rolling bandwagon.
…climbing on the bandwagon of the people he threw under the bus after he drove the car into a ditch while sipping a slurpee!
That wasn’t a slurpee, that was shaved ice.
I think it’s illegal to ask police officers to search for adults who have voluntarily absented themselves from any location.
That’s actually been debunked. See Greta, whose reporting directly on what the State Police have said: http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/are-they-going-to-call-dog-the-bounty-hunter-chapman/
This is kind of nice, heheh.
Philly homeowner forecloses on Wells Fargo
If Al Jazeera were to send in crews to cover things like the protests, or how our government is screwing us, you can bet Obama would have them sent to Git-mo in a heart beat for some of that good ole’ enhanced interrogation.
My family is saying the teachers are dishonest to be calling in sick… a terrible example for the students, etc.
What about that?
Sick of being the scape goats for every thing wrong with America?
Did it ever occur to some people that if you treat people fairly and pay them a decent wage there would be no unions?
I thought not.
I don’t think that’s true. One thing about unions is that they are self-perpetuating. SEIU has grown by finding employees who never thought of being in unions and recruiting them into the union.
Employers don’t employee people to make their lives better. they employee people because they need labor to be in business. On the flipside, teachers’ unions exist for the betterment of teachers and not necessarily students. It’s not their purpose.
If history has taught us something it’s that unions will recreate themselves if the need arises. There were no unions before workers united. But if unions rely on public support and the public doesn’t support them, there’s not a lot of hope for them.
Nijma – I can totally understand that logic because we sure as hell don’t want kids to have the idea that it is OK to walk out of crappy situations and stand up for your rights! /snark
(ok, I’ve said that before to people who were way right wing and they agreed with my sarcasm…)
we have a couple “personal necessity” days we can take each year in our district… comes out of sick leave but does not have to be justified with actual sickness.
I’m going to guess the teachers are not “lying” to students.
I kinda wonder if it was the autoworkers or steel workers protesting if there would be all this hostility expressed…
after all, they are pretty much all men with penises – surely their complaints are much more serious
The teachers who brought students…..did they need permission slips signed? If one of them gets hurt, even if it’s not protest related, could be a lawsuit?
Definitely lawsuit material.
If only they would gasp like that at the threat to collective bargaining rights.
I wonder if some work places have an understanding about using sick leave as personal leave. I think we are allowed to use it if we have to go to court and so forth, but I’m not sure if it’s in our contract.
OT: Rosen’s non-apology in Salon
http://letters.salon.com/mwt/feature/2011/02/17/nir_rosen_explains_twitter_controversy/view/?show=all
He complains about rightwingers condemning his remark because of his leftwing reputation.
Mr. Rosen,
I’m not condemning you because of your reputation. I never heard of you before. I’m condemning you because of what you said. I’m not a rightwinger, either.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/opinion/17gailcollins.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Mrs. Bush, Abstinence and Texas
Today, let’s discuss choices, starting with Barbara Bush raising an alarm and Gov. Rick Perry’s personal experience with sexual abstinence.
Very OT:
A blog review of http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/315112.html?dr_log=-1&linkout=http%3A//www.amazon.com/Birth-Day-Pediatrician-Explores-Childbirth/dp/B004JZWM4O
“about birth and babies and fetuses and the transition between the two (did you know there is a HUGE difference between how a fetus works and how a baby works, and it all shifts over in about 5 minutes”
OT:
A state bill to expand the definition of justifiable homicide in South Dakota to include killing someone in the defense of an unborn child was postponed indefinitely Wednesday after an uproar over whether the legislation would put abortion providers at greater risk.
The House speaker, Val Rausch, said that the legislation had been shelved, pending a decision on whether to allow a vote, amend the language or drop it entirely. A spokesman for Gov. Dennis Daugaard said, “Clearly the bill as it’s currently written is a very bad idea.”
– NYT
geesh – what a bunch of nuts…
I almost said, “clowns”…. speaking of clowns – where is the klown?
This sounds about right from Angry Bear.
Everything is about 2012.
FYI: Real life calls, so I’m going to be mostly scarce for a couple of days.
Wisconsin: The Hemlock Revolution
I’ll be darned, I agree with Joe Klein. We must be wrong.
Joke Line is a blind squirrel.