Wisconsin?!

[Silver Rider]

Well, corporate donations dwarf anything coming from labour and as we can see, they have their effect too. If your an employee working for a company in the private sector, I seriously doubt that you had much say in which party they donated to either. We're all just working stiffs in this game of politics and all too often I see us being pitted against each to the detriment of ourselves and the betterment of others.

My thoughts, too.

[Silver Rider]

I'm still not seeing anything to back up your claim that "The Koch Brothers received a very substantial tax cut in Wisconsin."

Well, I'll keep looking. In the meantime, it does seem they've accompliished their real aim, to make it more difficult for public employees to earn a pension that includes ownership of stock and possibly shareholder rights in Georgia Pacific, a company owned by the Koch brothers. Maybe that's better than a tax cut.

Wisconsin has been home to a wide variety of cultures over the past twelve thousand years. The first people arrived around 10000 BCE during the Wisconsin Glaciation. These early inhabitants, called Paleo-Indians, hunted now-extinct ice age animals exemplified by the Boaz mastodon, a prehistoric mastodon skeleton unearthed along with spear points in southwest Wisconsin. After the ice age ended around 8000 BCE, people in the subsequent Archaic period lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering food from wild plants. Agricultural societies emerged gradually over the Woodland period between 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. Towards the end of this period, Wisconsin was the heartland of the "Effigy Mound culture," which built thousands of animal-shaped mounds across the landscape. Later, between 1000 and 1500 CE, the Mississippian and Oneota cultures built substantial settlements including the fortified village at Aztalan in southeast Wisconsin. The Oneota may be the ancestors of the modern Ioway and Ho-Chunk tribes, who shared the Wisconsin region with the Menominee at the time of European contact. Other American Indian groups living in Wisconsin when Europeans first settled included the Ojibwa, Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, and Pottawatomie, who migrated to Wisconsin from the east between 1500 and 1700.

source

[cryingbluerain]

We're all just working stiffs in this game of politics and all too often I see us being pitted against each to the detriment of ourselves and the betterment of others.

What happened in Wisconsin is a perfect example of how America is evolving into a class warfare between union-supported employees and the rest, both in the public and private sectors.

[Uncle Bill]

Well, corporate donations dwarf anything coming from labour and as we can see, they have their effect too.

Let's see if that's true:

Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2010

rank - organization - total amount - % democrat - %republican

1 ActBlue $51,124,846 99% 0%

2 AT&T Inc $46,292,670 44% 55%

3 American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $43,477,361 98% 1%

4 National Assn of Realtors $38,721,441 49% 50%

5 Goldman Sachs $33,387,252 61% 37%

6 American Assn for Justice $33,143,279 90% 8%

7 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $33,056,216 97% 2%

8 National Education Assn $32,024,610 93% 6%

9 Laborers Union $30,292,050 92% 7%

10 Teamsters Union $29,319,982 93% 6%

11 Carpenters & Joiners Union $29,265,808 89% 10%

12 Service Employees International Union $29,140,232 95% 3%

13 American Federation of Teachers $28,733,991 98% 0%

14 Communications Workers of America $28,376,306 98% 0%

15 Citigroup Inc $28,065,874 50% 49%

16 American Medical Assn $27,597,820 40% 59%

17 United Auto Workers $27,134,252 98% 0%

18 National Auto Dealers Assn $26,311,758 32% 67%

19 Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union $26,229,477 98% 0%

20 United Parcel Service $25,290,039 36% 62%

Out of the top 20, 5 are Corps, 11 are unions. Almost all give more to dems. So your statement is incorrect.

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php

[Silver Rider]

Some donations are made anonymously.

The first European to visit what became Wisconsin was probably the French explorer Jean Nicolet. He canoed west from Georgian Bay through the Great Lakes in 1634, and it is traditionally assumed that he came ashore near Green Bay at Red Banks. Pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers visited Green Bay again in 1654–1666 and Chequamegon Bay in 1659–1660, where they traded for fur with local American Indians. In 1673, Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet became the first to record a journey on the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway all the way to the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien. Frenchmen like Nicholas Perrot continued to ply the fur trade across Wisconsin through the 17th and 18th centuries, but the French made no permanent settlements in Wisconsin before Great Britain won control of the region following the French and Indian War in 1763. Even so, French traders continued to work in the region after the war, and some, beginning with Charles de Langlade in 1764, now settled in Wisconsin permanently rather than returning to British-controlled Canada.

source wiki

[Anjin-san]

Hii all,

I have researched the Wisconsin bill enough to say it's fair,the police.fire fighters and teachers unions were left out,oui?

The crux of the problem is we are broke,not broken,not yet.Public Unions started in the early '60's and outdated and greedy.

Oh,well,it will not matter soon,the screamers will be out of job soon,.....egad!

KB

[Uncle Bill]

Some donations are made anonymously.

Let me guess, you read that somewhere and can't back it up?

[Uncle Bill]

Hii all,

I have researched the Wisconsin bill enough to say it's fair,the police.fire fighters and teachers unions were left out,oui?

Teachers are included, cops and firemen were not, I think they should have been included as well.

[redrum]

you know, redrum, you can dance around the ring all you want. You've never answered my question of "if it's so bad, why do you belong to a union? Is it because the pay and benefits are so good, you would be a fool not to?

And I believe I already said I HAD to join in order to work as a demolition worker in construction. And my beef still remains that members shouldn't be forced to pay for political parties they don't believe in. The hiring hall always had a poster of Clinton/Gore on the wall which always irked the hell out of me. How blatant can you be? How would they feel about a Bush/Cheney poster?

Moore is an annoying fat bastard.

[Silver Rider]

Let me guess, you read that somewhere and can't back it up?

Well, see what you think.

Last year, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and Gov. Scott Walker ally David Prosser cast the key vote in favor of a "justice-for-sale" ethics rule written by two corporate lobbying groups. Thanks to Justice Prosser, his colleagues are not required to recuse themselves from cases involving one of their major campaign donors. Now, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), one of the lobbying groups that wrote the rule Prosser made into law, is rewarding him by raising "unlimited and undisclosed" funds to keep Prosser on the state supreme court:

Dear Wisconsin Business Leader,

The government worker unions are openly attempting to overturn the November elections, buying an activist majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and grinding our democracy to a halt because Governor Scott Walker has refused to raise taxes to balance the budget. [...]

Click here to make a generous corporate contribution to counter their efforts.

Donations are unlimited and undisclosed

. [...]

WMC IMC will mount a statewide TV ad campaign

to educate the public about Justice Prosser's common sense approach. And, we will educate the public about Kloppenburg's radical agenda, and how the union bosses want her to stand in the way of reform.

Please, give today. Our business climate is at stake.

WMC, whose board of directors includes a high ranking executive with a Koch Industries company, has a record of spending exorbitant sums of money to ensure that the state supreme court is friendly to powerful corporate interest groups. In 2008, WMC spent $1.2 million to replace former Justice Louis Butler with an obscure conservative judge after Butler sided against wealthy interest groups in three court decisions. Butler is now an Obama nominee for a federal trial judgeship.

Moreover, WMC's efforts to buy up seat after seat on the state supreme court would have been illegal just a few years ago. Wisconsin banned corporations from buying state elections in 1905, but that law effectively ceased to exist when the Supreme Court opened the floodgates of corporate campaign funds in its infamous Citizens United decision.

thinkprogress.org

[Uncle Bill]

Well, see what you think.

I see one 527 raising money to fight another 527 (The Greater Wisconsin Committee, a union front group) it seems to me both sides can do this. I think we need real campaign finance reform.

[Silver Rider]

I see one 527 raising money to fight another 527 (The Greater Wisconsin Committee, a union front group) it seems to me both sides can do this. I think we need real campaign finance reform.

This campaign finance reform of which you speak, will it resemble the law in Wisconsin affected by a recent U.S Supreme Court decision?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Campaign Financing in Wisconsin

legis.wisconsin.gov/lrb/pubs/wb/01wb9.pdf

Wisconsin’s Early Reforms. Wisconsin’s first attempt to regulate election practices (Chapter 358, Laws of 1897) was passed to stymie the crudest forms of corrupt practices, such as bribery, illegal voting, election fraud, and related corruption. It also required the filing of financial statements that were open to the public.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Campaign finance ruling effectively nixes 1905 Wisconsin law, experts say

host.madison.com

Thursday's U.S. Supreme Court decision will strike down a more than century-old state ban on corporations tapping their treasuries to try to elect or defeat candidates, legal experts said.

"The status quo can't continue," Mike Wittenwyler, a Madison campaign finance lawyer, said of the state law. "I think the ban has already come down for this (2010) election cycle. What we need to see is how."

Wittenwyler said the Supreme Court decision overturning a similar federal ban effectively invalidates Wisconsin's statue, which has Progressive Era roots going back to 1905.

While proponents celebrated the decision as a victory for free speech, critics said it will lead to increasingly expensive campaigns and the corrupting influence of more special interest spending.

[cryingbluerain]

FDR Saw Wisdom of Denying Public Sector Unions

[Anjin-san]

Hi all,

Public Unions was JFK's idea,.....no?

One more time,we are broke and the 'workers' as if non-union people don't work something has to give,.....

KB

[Silver Rider]

I wonder what Governor Walker thinks about the FDA's recent action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FDA asks maker of tainted wipes to stop production

Voluntary move follows a new, intense investigation at Wis. medical supply firm

By JoNel Aleccia

msnbc.msn.com

The federal Food and Drug Administration is asking a Wisconsin firm tied to infections and death blamed on contaminated medical wipes to voluntarily stop making and distributing its drug products, msnbc.com has learned.

The move is aimed at halting operations at H&P Industries Inc., which does business as the Triad Group of Hartland, Wis., said Michael C. Rogers, the FDA's acting director of the Office of Regional Operations. It comes at the conclusion of an intense, week-long inspection that concluded Monday, Rogers said.

"We have evidence that shows this firm made and distributed products with a variety of opportunistic pathogens," Rogers said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The H&P Industries changes are aimed at addressing bacterial contamination that prompted massive recalls of alcohol prep pads and iodine prep pads. The alcohol pads were recalled Jan. 3 after they were confirmed to be tainted with bacteria Bacillus cereus and blamed for serious infections at a Colorado children’s hospital and the death of a 2-year-old Houston boy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This isn't the first time that H&P Industries has pledged to correct fundamental problems with sterilization and contamination at the Wisconsin plant that produces a wide range of intimate care products sold under the private brands of grocery and drug stores.

Previous FDA inspections found issues with basic validation of the processes used to ensure sterility and stability of several Triad products, including lubricating jelly used in vaginal exams and alcohol swab sticks and pads.

FDA documents dating to 2009 show that the firm promised to fix problems then, too.

“We have reviewed all processes and have laid out a plan to complete the additions to and/or upgrades of cleaning, maintenance and sanitizing procedures to be completed by June 1, 2010,” the company stated in an Aug. 17, 2009 letter to Marie Fadden, an FDA consumer safety officer.

Four months after this deadline, in October 2010, a 10-year-old boy with leukemia developed a life-threatening infection caused by Bacillus cereus traced to Triad alcohol pads. Doctors at The Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colo., detected the bacteria in 40 of 60 Triad pads tested from eight of 10 lots .

Then, two months later, on Dec. 1, 2010, Harrison Kothari died of bacterial meningitis caused by Bacillus cereus, doctors say. His parents blame the Triad wipes used at the hospital that cared for him.

And in other news...

Wisconsin women will bear the brunt of the "budget repair bill" the Women's Studies Consortium of the University of Wisconsin System said in a March 2011 statement released March 14. The bill, which was temporarily blocked by a judge March 18 after a lawsuit was filed against the passing of the bill, won't pass until the lawsuit is complete, reported the Washington Post.

If the bill passes, women will make up the majority of the occupations affected by it: school teachers, nurses, child care workers, social workers and home health care aides, the consortium reported. Public safety workers--firefighters, police and security guards--who have been exempted from the collective bargaining limitations are male-dominated.

GOP Gov. Scott Walker signed the bill on March 11 and the date by which the collective bargaining law takes effect is now a matter of political and legal contention, according to press reports. Dane County officials are challenging the collective-bargaining law in court, saying it was passed without the proper notice required by state law, the Wisconsin State Journal reported March 16.

Losing bargaining rights, the Women's Studies Consortium says, could mean some women who work outside the home and also play primary caretaker roles give up such crucial provisions as family medical leave, health benefits, paid sick days and living wages.

"If workers lose the legal power to negotiate for everything except their wages, the flexibility and access to care necessary to raise a family effectively will vanish," the Women's Studies Consortium says.

White women in the state earn 71 cents to men's dollar for full-time, full-year work, compared to 76 cents nationally, and rank 45th among the states on this indicator. Those statistics are "far worse for women of every other racial and ethnic group in Wisconsin" the consortium says, reporting that 30 percent of African American women in Wisconsin live in poverty, double the overall national rate of poverty.

womensenews.org

[danelectro59]

And I believe I already said I HAD to join in order to work as a demolition worker in construction.

Moore is an annoying fat bastard.

No, you haven't. All i've heard is how much you hate democrats. But it still seems pretty simple to me. Find a non union company and hire in there. I'm sure there are plenty of them. One bit of advice, though, better bone up on your Spanish and be prepared to make half as much.

And so is Glenn Beck, so I guess we're even.

[planted]

Hi all,

Public Unions was JFK's idea,.....no?

One more time,we are broke and the 'workers' as if non-union people don't work something has to give,.....

KB

Very well said. WE ARE BROKE!

Get your ass back to work, and be glad you have a job. Geez.

Oh, I'm sorry...I actually had some time off between my 2 NON union jobs to post here. You know why I had time? Because my primary job asked for volunteers to leave early tonight, AT MY OWN COST, so that they don't have to lay people ( you know, my co-workers) off.

Team effort, anyone?

[cryingbluerain]

One bit of advice, though, better bone up on your Spanish and be prepared to make half as much.

Unions keeping wages artificially high forcing US companies to go overseas for cheaper labor. Welcome to the global economy.

[redrum]

organization - total amount - democrat

Laborers Union $30,292,050 92%

Out of the top 20, 5 are Corps, 11 are unions. Almost all give more to dems. So your statement is incorrect.

Gee, and I wonder why I haven't gotten a dime raise on my pension in almost 15 years??

[redrum]

No, you haven't. All i've heard is how much you hate democrats. But it still seems pretty simple to me. Find a non union company and hire in there. I'm sure there are plenty of them. One bit of advice, though, better bone up on your Spanish and be prepared to make half as much.

And so is Glenn Beck, so I guess we're even.

I don't like Glenn Beck either.

[danelectro59]

Unions keeping wages artificially high forcing US companies to go overseas for cheaper labor. Welcome to the global economy.

And when the guy you're competing with is happy to have a 10x12 cardboard hut next to an open sewer and a bowl of rice a day to feed his family, I guess it's a no-brainer who the greedy corporate types are going to pick. But not to worry. I've already decided on my next career selling useless trinkets to the new Chinese and Indian middle class who will come to the US to vacation.

[Silver Rider]

Unions keeping wages artificially high forcing US companies to go overseas for cheaper labor. Welcome to the global economy.

It's the cost of living that puts pressure on the demand for higher wages. At the end of the work day, a laborer needs to stretch the dollar to pay for food, rent, clothing, medicine, and transportation costs. The value of the dollar has eroded. A dollar does not buy what it once did. The cost of a loaf of bread has risen over the years. There are also price and quality issues in regard to the goods available for sale in the stream of commerce. Gasoline is around 3.72 per gallon the last time I checked. It was about 3.58 per gallon about a week ago.

Until now, Wisconsin has kept its cost of living reasonable. Utilities are on the high side, but that is probably due to the cost of fuel for heating during the winter season. I don't know what will happen within the next few years of the current governor's tenure. We must wait and see.

payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator/Wisconsin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And there is this news from the Associated Press (AP)...

Wisconsin judge halts implementation of bargaining law

mercurynews.com

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Wisconsin judge for the second time directed the state to put on hold an explosive law that strips most public workers of nearly all their union bargaining rights, ordering officials on Tuesday to follow her original instructions to stand down.

"Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored, but what I said was the further implementation of (the law) was enjoined," said a visibly annoyed Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi. "That is what I now want to make crystal clear."

Earlier this month, Sumi issued an emergency injunction prohibiting the Wisconsin secretary of state from formally publishing the law -- the final step before it could take effect.

Republican legislative leaders responded by directing the law be published by another state agency, and then declared it valid. State officials began implementing the law over the past weekend, stopping the collection of union dues for state workers and taking more from their pay for health care and retirement.

Sumi said Tuesday that action violated her original order, and she made it clear after a daylong hearing that the law was on hold while she considers a broader challenge to its legality.

The back and forth furthered the often angry debate between new Gov. Scott Walker, his Republican allies in the Legislature and the state's public sector unions.

Walker and the GOP have aggressively pushed forward their effort to remove the bargaining rights of state workers, using a surprise parliamentary maneuver to break a weeks-long stalemate to get it passed and then finding another route to publish the law after Sumi's order blocked the secretary of state from doing so.

State Department of Justice spokesman Steve Means said the agency continues to believe the law was properly published and is in effect.

Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, Walker's top aide, issued a statement saying the agency will evaluate the judge's order.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And this...

Wisconsin Republicans question Gov. Scott Walker's budget plans

Written by Scott Bauer

The Associated Press

greenbaypressgazette.com

MADISON — Republicans broke from their party allegiance to Gov. Scott Walker in the first briefing on his budget plan Tuesday, joining Democrats in questioning the governor’s decisions to cut money for recycling and reshape the University of Wisconsin System.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Republicans questioned everything from Walker’s recycling mandate to his removal of a cost benefit analysis requirement drew questions — a job usually left to committee members who aren’t of the governor’s party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cost Benefit Analysis

aka Running The Numbers

By F. John Reh,

management.about.com

A cost benefit analysis is done to determine how well, or how poorly, a planned action will turn out. Although a cost benefit analysis can be used for almost anything, it is most commonly done on financial questions. Since the cost benefit analysis relies on the addition of positive factors and the subtraction of negative ones to determine a net result, it is also known as running the numbers.

A cost benefit analysis finds, quantifies, and adds all the positive factors. These are the benefits. Then it identifies, quantifies, and subtracts all the negatives, the costs. The difference between the two indicates whether the planned action is advisable. The real trick to doing a cost benefit analysis well is making sure you include all the costs and all the benefits and properly quantify them.

[Rock N' Rollin' Man]

New York's 'day of rage' against cuts

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/03/2011328111314767851.html#

[Rock N' Rollin' Man]

How about GE not paying any taxes last year and actually claimed a 1 billion tax benefit last year. I've heard Exxon Mobil (the most profitable corp in history) also paid no US taxes last year, and claimed a 3 billion tax credit last year. They shift their assets overseas, and claim losses worldwide, and that's how they weasel out of paying taxes here.

[Anjin-san]

New York's 'day of rage' against cuts

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/03/2011328111314767851.html#