From their links "Tweet of the day"

http://gogreenteaparty.com/blog/
(Link stolen from Skeezicks).
Thank you Sweet Mary!



NaomiAKlein from Twitter:

"Hey Scott Walker: this is not your air traffic controllers moment, it’s your Waterloo."



hehehe

XOXO
Me

“Go Green” Tea Party. Healthy Politics.

http://gogreenteaparty.com/blog/

IMPORTANT (to me). I do REALLY need your help on my post from last night

http://flintville.multiply.com/calendar/item/10022/Madison_Wisconsins_BIGGEST_RALLY_YET

Do the click?

Please, if you haven't been there already, I could use your ideals and your help.
I have to run for now, and cannot babysit all these people that I don't even know...
I am trying to keep up -and just cannot...

For everyone (Well, except for My beloved Snotball) hehehe...
To send your own friends there too; if they are of a like mind anyway-

I have to fly for a little while, while my pills are still working-

My love to all

XOXO
Me

PS
A very VERY special debt of gratitude to my Sweet Suzy- who stayed up and held her ground -and her position, seemingly all alone at times. Thank you Susan!

Madison Wisconsin's BIGGEST RALLY YET!

Start:	Mar 12, '11 3:00p
Location:	State Capitol, 2 E. Main Street, (in Madison, Wisconsin).

Better- (almost late), than never...
Plans for Saturday, March 12th, 2011? Make them now!

Do it for the teachers, the bus drivers, the prison guards, the snowplow operators, our nurses, our firefighters, the clerks, and our police officers...

This weekend, thousands of Wisconsin farmers will be driving their tractors in a mass tractorcade in support of public employees at the state Capital in Madison.
Three statewide farm organizations are organizing the tractorcade March 12 to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget and proposal to end collective bargaining rights for state employees.
From here.

From my inbox today...
"Daniel Mintz, MoveOn.org Political Action"
<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>


Dear MoveOn Member,

If Scott Walker and the Republicans in the state legislature thought jamming through their anti-union bill would end the protests and outrage in Madison, boy were they wrong.

Recall campaigns are gaining steam, appeals challenging the legality of the bill's "passage" are being filed, and tomorrow Madison is going to see its biggest rally yet.

At 3 p.m., the heroic 14 Democratic state senators who left the state to stop the bill are returning and will be addressing the crowd.

*** Can you show up tomorrow to welcome them home and help make sure Gov. Walker—and the whole country—knows that we are NOT backing down?

Here is the info:

WHAT: Wisconsin's largest rally yet
WHERE: State Capitol, 2 E. Main Street, in Madison
WHEN: TOMORROW, Saturday the 12th, at 3 p.m.

The national and local media are going to be out in full force and it's crucial that we have a huge crowd at the capitol as a show of strength and support.

Wisconsinites are pulling out all the stops to make the rally unforgettable.

Just one example: Farmers from across the state are going to create a huge "tractorcade" surrounding the state Capitol. Yeah, that's right, tractors.

People from every corner of the state will be in Madison tomorrow to send a clear message: "Attack workers and middle class families, and there will be consequences."

We're just getting started.

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Tate, Milan, Marika, and the rest of the team

________________________________

Oddly enough...

I have also come across a few articles- soon to be posted in a blog.

I thought it appropriate to include this one here 
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_1904eb06-4bdc-11e0-92dc-001cc4c002e0.html

Capitol reopens; no sessions scheduled Friday for Senate, Assembly

BILL NOVAK | The Capital Times | bnovak@madison.com madison.com | (21) Comments | Posted: Friday, March 11, 2011 8:05 am

Following a tense and emotional Thursday at the state Capitol, the building was quiet overnight and could see a return to normalcy on Friday.

The building opened at 8 a.m. Friday. Visitors will be able to use the North Hamilton and South Hamilton entrances.

Both the Senate and the Assembly will not be in session on Friday; the legislative calendar shows the next regular sessions won't start until April 5.

Gov. Scott Walker said on Friday he will sign the budget bill sometime during the day, but the time and location was still to be determined as of 8:45 a.m.

The Capitol closed at 6 p.m. Thursday, but protesters took their time leaving, and the doors weren't locked until about 6:30 p.m., police said.

Four people were arrested for refusing to leave the building at closing time, and two people were arrested earlier in the day, police said.

The Capitol will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

___________________

Hmmm...  

With respect to the scheduled with Madison "seeing it's biggest rally yet",  methinks they might be in for a little surprise?

Added 3/14/2011

Madison Wisconsin's BIGGEST RALLY YET!

Boy! Were we right about that?!?!

hehehe
I am SO proud!

Photo from here

roman,times,serif;color: rgb(51, 51, 0);">

XOXO
Me

Wisconsin GOP Bypasses Democrats On Vote

" We must close union offices, confiscate their money, and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries, and take away their right to strike."


It is a grievous day for Wisconsin...

Note:
This link will take you to Wisconsin's LAW on this type of "government"

This is not just a rule.   IT IS LAW!


In honor of the disrespectful, maladjusted, and disobedient GOP's in my beloved state of Wisconsin; my own guess is that since these people have obviously broken the law that there should be ramifications of such.
If not, then what the hell are we teaching our children?!?
_________________

AFSCME Members File Unfair Labor Practice Complaint Against Walker
by James Parks, Feb 28, 2011

Wisconsin public employees who are members of AFSCME Council 24 have filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the state labor board against Gov. Scott Walker.
The complaint alleges that since he took office, Walker has violated his legal duty to bargain in good faith. The workers have agreed to all of Walker’s concessions on wages, benefits and pensions, but he is refusing to sit down to bargain a compromise to get Wisconsin moving forward again and creating jobs.
In a press release, Council 24 Executive Director Marty Beil said:
    "This governor has never made any attempt to contact the unions he is attacking, much less negotiate in good faith as required by law.
    Instead of trying to find real solutions to the challenges facing the state, the governor is attempting to dictate terms.  This not only is ineffective, it’s against the law."

“It is time for the governor to be held accountable. 
He is ignoring the court of public opinion, with hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters and 74 percent of Wisconsin voters opposing his attacks on bargaining rights.  If he continues to ignore the public, we have no choice but to turn to the courts,” Beil said.

For a full copy of the complaint, click here.
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/WSEU-CBA-ULP.final.pdf

Note the date of that article.
Methinks (hopes) that the AFSCME will be filing even more complaints today.
www.afscme.org
____________

The "title" above is taken from NPR,
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/09/134405862/wis-gop-bypasses-democrats-on-vote
Wisconsin GOP Bypasses Democrats On Vote
by NPR Staff and Wires, March 9, 2011

____________

Also from our Press Gazette comes this article, 
 Written by Scott Bauer   9:58 PM, Mar. 9, 2011

Wisconsin Republicans approve separate bill curtailing union rights

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110309/GPG0101/110309152/Wisconsin-Republicans-approve-separate-bill-curtailing-union-rights?odyssey=mod|mostview


“In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin.
Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten,” said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller.
“Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people.”

____________

I am more angry than sad- yet...
If I were to say more on any of these points right now, many of you would drop me, -or your browser would not accept my emailed blog. 
<img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/102.gif"></p>


To my friends in Wisconsin, and for all the ruthless and barbaric states that may try to replicate this ugly idea, my heart goes out to ALL of you.

Let's not forget that this trash applies to more hardworking people than our teachers-


My friend Laurie made a wise decision to retire very early.
She has been a guard at GBCI for many many moons.

There are bus drivers, prison guards, snowplow operators, nurses, firefighters, county and state clerks, PLUS our police officers, etc etc etc

AND...
For all the people on my email list who sent me your <blatantly untrue> emails of what Wisconsin's teachers supposedly make, here is the link for your verification purposes.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/99999999/WIS0110/399990901

Now you see what happens when you spread your malicious lies?!?

XOXO
ANNE



PS-
The quote I began this entry with came from here.
It is a quote from Adolph Hitler, 1933.

http://www.doj.state.wi.us/AWP/2007OMCG-PRO/2007_OML_Compliance_Guide.pdf

http://www.doj.state.wi.us/AWP/2007OMCG-PRO/2007_OML_Compliance_Guide.pdf

sorry about that...

Good Night Everyone;
As I'd written to my Sweet Becca last night...

I spent yesterday at the hospital... (I could barely move from all the pain- and had swollen up like a water balloon).   Casey brought me in-

They gave me 3 different kinds of things in my IV to try to counteract the damned boo~boo my doctor had made last Thursday.-
Truth be told I could not even concentrate well enough to read-
I told Becca I would come back again tomorrow (today). I promised.
And told her that if I didn't, she had my permission to drive up here and steal my new set of wheels...

... My guess is that she is probably heading north already!

I also received a very very cool letter from Doug. I had taken more than a few minutes to write a response when my desktop decided to crash...
I lost the whole damned letter!!!

I also have a friend from Y!-360 days- She has written to me and I owe her a letter...
I also owe Polly (my ex-next-door-neighbor) a letter AND a thank you card too- She'd sent me some yummy chocolate mints for Valentines Day.
Mmmmmmmm!

But for me~ my back and 'more' ~it only gets worse -and worse etc.  Apparently with my "computersaurus'" too, (but my laptop is my savior again).

Yesterday my back.  One would think that with all those shots they gave me, that I would have dropped off to 'LaLa Land ' very quickly after Casey drove me home.
Yeah right. I was up until after 4AM.

I was woken at 9AM by a very obnoxiously hungry dog, with a very cold wet nose... 
... And I woke too, with a terrible migraine.
My back being as bad as it is I didn't make it to the toidy before I barfed. Darn good thing the garbage in the kitchen had just been brought out the night before.
(Special thanks to Casey for that- and oh, for so very much more too).

I will now try to move my head and my back (and other various parts should they might choose to follow)... 
I shall (hopefully) get a few Zzzz's  in the lazy-boy. This now, so Punk won't have to wake me up late tomorrow just so I can feed her that darn breakfast 4 hours late.

Nighty-Night for now.
I promise to make no promises about tomorrow.    hehehe

Sweet dreams!
My love to all.

XOXO
Me

Some idiot removed Nancy Grace from the line up on HLN... I happen to enjoy her sometimes... Time for me to go eat a bite, then put my feet up for tonight. *** Now... If it says I saw your blog, then those are the pages that I will leave open and begin with tomorrow. Til then, have a 'wunnaful' evening! XOXO, Me

Pain- And the rest- I think I need your help-

          As the Fox River Breaks up in the fog-
- after a recent warm spell...

Good Morning all;
I haven't blogged because nothing worthy of being classified as having any entertainment value has happened... 
(And I like to be able to bring on the occasional "hehehe" anyway)...

I woke this morning with the worst pain in my back- and then my right hip too; it goes all the way down through my knee and my shin- Not completely sure why that is, or what the heck is going on.

As I'd written to a friend on 2-28, I have new wheels! But hey, don't get too excited for me- It's only a wheelchair- and a loaner at that.
They came out earlier this week to measure for an accurate one. Don't know why, this one is very comfy.  *Although the new guy said it is old as dirt.

I shall have to make a harness for Punk... somehow. hehehe  There has to be a way, and since I never use patterns, I won't need to have one for that either- Just a pic of the ones for the horses.

Casey and Greg came back out on Sunday- and turned the house around so I have more room to navigate.

Now stay with me on this one---
The table I used for my computers and things is now in the kitchen- and I am using the old kitchen table in the living room here for the computers.
AND - - -  I can easily get to my living room table (which used to be the dining room table- but was taken over by all my sewing things).
Did you follow all of that? For some reason Casey found it hysterical

We are still trying to get a duplex for all of us, and still have our hearts set on one-
Time will tell... Keep the positive thoughts flowing if you will?

I went in yesterday, finally, for my Forteo infusion.  (I'd had an appointment last week for it, but found out while I was waiting that they wouldn't do it without my doctor being there- and he'd "called in" that day)...
  sigh.

Casey has been staying with me lots ever since I'd gotten that last vertebrae hurt as I just don't get around a lot.
She went with me yesterday too.

Had it not been for her taking a picture of my infusion- (a little over ½-way through), we would never have known that the doctor had given me the wrong drug!!!!
I do not know what to do about that?

But I do believe it may be why my hip and leg and back are so awful this morning- It is definitely why I itched all over yesterday afternoon and night- and why my stomach is still so very painfully cramped up.
It's been godawful-
And I am just SO damned tired of this all...

My PCP (Primary Care Physician), aka doctor, has been practicing for 40+ years-
He is an MD, Internal Medicine, and a hematologist.
I believe he should have known better and not written the script out wrong!
He apologized-
But that stupid apology hasn't made a single one of these side effects go away.
* -See Casey's comment below correcting my interpretation of the apology  *


What do I do?

This much I know-
I will call my pain management doctor for my shin and hip and knee just as soon as I am through writing this. 
Oh oops, his office is open already so I shall close.

Hope all is wunnaful in your little corner of the world.

XOXO
Me

The Demagogeury of Madison, Wisconsin. (Or, "Signs of the Times").

Hi Everyone
I have been noticing any number of signs- Taken either in Madison, or other communities in Wisconsin-
I have yet to see one that is "for" Walkers proposals... This, quite possibly because we ALL know families who live by the unions, or teachers that have meant the world to us.
Or maybe we even know and love a few cops... Or EMT's. paramedics, and firefighters... They have all, in one way or another, saved our lives.
Some of us are even thankful-

Here are a few of the ones I found... Bring back our labor unions.

1935 National Labor Relations Act, which states in Section 7 (§157) of “Employee Rights”: “Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing”.

To the extent that there is an imbalance — Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit — it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s new spending schemes — or delay their implementation until they are offset by fresh revenues — the “crisis” would not exist. (From http://newsjunkiepost.com).

It turns out that Wisconsin doesn’t have the $3.6 billion budget shortfall as claimed by Koch Industries lapdog governor Scott “Hosni” Walker. Instead, this is an all out war on labor. Though Wisconsin is resisting, other states are also under attack by both Democrats and Republicans. (From: http://coto2.wordpress.com).

Brendan Fischer at PRWatch notes: “Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker alleges that dismantling public sector collective bargaining rights is made necessary by a $3.6 billion deficit in the next budget, and a $137 million shortfall this year. Setting aside the fact that the ability to negotiate shifts, seniority, benefits and conditions of employment would have a negligible impact on the deficit, and looking beyond Walker’s deceptive claim that the alternative to union-busting is to kick 200,000 children off Medicaid (called “false” by Politifact), how deep is the state’s economic crisis?

***It’s not just Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s recent efforts to strip public employees of their right to collectively bargain that have citizens of his state outraged. Walker is nothing short of a radical hell-bent on privatizing the public sector of Wisconsin.

Last year, he exhibited similar dictatorial tendencies in his immediately previous role as a Milwaukee County Executive when he proposed laying off 27 security guards working for Milwaukee County and replacing them with nonunion private employees.

When the County Board nixed his proposal, Walker unilaterally pushed it through anyway, citing a budgetary emergency. He laid off the workers, and hired new ones through a $1.1 million contract with the UK-based security firm Wackenhut.

And the problems compounded. The head of the newly constituted security force, Chad H. Wegener, turned out to have five misdemeanor convictions. A criminal complaint had also been filed against Wegener for drunk and disorderly conduct and for making unwelcome sexual advances on his male subordinates. Wegener was dismissed.

Walker’s staff had calculated the privatization of the guards would save the County more than $750,000. Months later, that estimate had been revised down to $411,000. And now, even those savings will be lost, as an arbitration board ruled in January that Walker acted improperly and the guards have to be rehired, with back pay costing as much as $430,000, a net loss for the County, thanks to Walker’s rash, unilateral act...
AND, still ...it gets worse.
(Please go to: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/022311c.html to read it all).

From here: http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/25/the-wisconsin-lie-exposed-taxpayers-actually-contribute-nothing-to-public-employee-pensions/#comment-4224
chantemerle commented

"Thank you for this clear discussion. My husband is Faculty @ UW-Milwaukee.
Yes we already did our share with the 16 days of furlough. It was 3% of our salary.
And yes by State Law, my husband is not allowed to have the amount for the pension, even if we want to manage his money.
Yes, he is writing grant after grant that give money to UWM, that pays for one part of his salary. If he hadn’t do it, he would have not had a Tenure position. And he MUST continue now because UWM need the budget from the grant to grow. The WI state decreased his subvention to UW-Milwaukee during the past years.
And Yes, not all the State Employees are unionized, simply because it doesn’t exist. The faculty of UW-Milwaukee don’t have Union.
Yes, I would like my husband to work at a private university and manage his money.
Yes I challenge a Mom at my kid’s school and her argument was to tell me how much she paid for insurance and co-pay (and I recognize it’s insane what she is paying) and her difficulty to put money on her husband 401K. She finally told me that she was giving the state employees a “gift”. But I also thank her to be interactive in this big debate where communication is impossible because manipulated by a Governor who wants the Power to mark History. I looked at the Definition of DEMAGOGUE in thefreedictionary.com “A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.”

http://blogs.forbes.com/insidearm/2011/02/21/in-wisconsin-a-governors-fails-to-uphold-his-states-creed/
In Wisconsin, a Governor Fails to Uphold His State’s Creed
Posted by Michael Klozotsky

As the son of two retired Wisconsin public school teachers, the brother and nephew of two current public school teachers, the grandson of a Wisconsin firefighter, the nephew of a State schools administrator, and as a former employee of the Madison Metropolitan School District myself, the current goings-on in America’s Dairyland carry deep personal significance for me. But the outcome of these events is sure to reverberate in other states, for other workers, and in wide swath of business sectors that make up the US economy.

Public sector workers have exercised collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin for roughly 75 years. The bill currently being debated by the Wisconsin legislature is being touted as a “budget repair” bill, but it has much more to do with Wisconsin workers’ rights than replenishing state coffers. Public workers have already agreed to wage and benefit concessions—already given ground against their own (household) budgetary best interests.

But the real political agenda—to enfeeble unions and shift the long term balance of power in Wisconsin to corporations and the extremely wealthy—is what Governor Walker and the Republican legislature are really holding out for.

Wisconsin has been a leader in progressive worker rights for over 100 years. It is the birthplace of fundamental business and labor concepts like the 40 hour work week, unemployment compensation, disability insurance, sick days, overtime pay, and child labor laws often taken for granted in the second decade of the 21st century. These achievements were hard fought victories on the part of unions.

Even workers who do not participate in unions benefit from union accomplishments.
How does eroding collective bargaining rights balance the budget?

A protester's sign in Madison cuts to the chase.

Arguably, union victories gave birth to the American middle class—the same group of people upon whose shoulders resurgence from the latest economic crisis is believed by many economists to rest. But with less than 24 hours of debate, Wisconsin Republicans are determined to erode 100 years of progressive traditions that germinated into a decent standard of living for millions of US working people. Paired with Walker’s tax policies that actually increase Wisconsin’s budget deficit by extending big business tax cuts, it is difficult to see how denying the collec..." (Please go here to read the rest of this captivating report: http://blogs.forbes.com/insidearm/2011/02/21/in-wisconsin-a-governors-fails-to-uphold-his-states-creed/).
__

As you can guess, I could go on and on and on...
Many of the political groups on Multiply have done just that- As have my latest few blogs about this 'crisis' in Wisconsin.

My heart goes out to all that are so negatively impacted by our dictator/governor.
Hmmm...
To my Wisconsin friends, I am wondering who you voted for?

Even worse for my Milwaukee friends, who might consider themselves Republican? (And I KNOW you are here)-

As quoted above, "Walker’s staff had calculated the privatization of the guards would save the County more than $750,000. Months later, that estimate had been revised down to $411,000. And now, even those savings will be lost, as an arbitration board ruled in January that Walker acted improperly and the guards have to be rehired, with back pay costing as much as $430,000, a net loss for the County, thanks to Walker’s rash, unilateral act...
AND, still ...it gets worse.
(Please go to: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/022311c.html to read it all)."

Knowing this all, how COULD you have voted for "this"?!?
NOTE:
The photos were all collected from the following sites, and their respective articles.
Yes, I have read them all- (AND many of the comments too)...


1 ctsocialists.org

2 alternet.org

3 breitbart.tv

4 csmonitor.com

5 http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/column/phil_hands/article_d76a43ee-40ff-11e0-9bbb-001cc4c03286.html

6 motherjones.tumblr.com

7 peoplesworld.org

8 blogs.citypages.com

9. theweek.com

10 faithfulprogressive.blogspot.com

11 filterednews.wordpress.com

12 tcdailyplanet.net

13 obrag.org (who donated pizzas for the people in madison)- Order board at Ian's Pizza showing countries and states that have ordered free pizza for the demonstrators against Gov. Walker's anti-union bill.

14 druzifer.livejournal.com

15 http://obrag.org/?p=33366

16 lefan-o-rama.tumblr.com

17 http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/wisconsin-governors-fake-budget-crisis/

18 cnbc.com

19 http://blogs.forbes.com/insidearm/2011/02/21/in-wisconsin-a-governors-fails-to-uphold-his-states-creed/

20 http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/25/the-wisconsin-lie-exposed-taxpayers-actually-contribute-nothing-to-public-employee-pensions/#comment-4213

21 http://www.wisaflcio.org/

22 http://www.wisconsinlaborhistory.org/

23 http://newsjunkiepost.com/2011/02/20/may-1933-hitler-abolishes-unions/

Photo by COTO Report http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/wisconsin-governors-fake-budget-crisis/
To the extent that there is an imbalance — Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit — it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s new spending schemes — or delay their implementation until they are offset by fresh revenues — the “crisis” would not exist. -The Cap Times

24 May 1933: Hitler Abolishes Unions
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2011/02/20/may-1933-hitler-abolishes-unions/
Photo by Jess Dennis http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehardestpart/5453904539/

25 http://www.alternet.org/story/150046/8_authoritarian_tactics_right-wingers_use_to_sabotage_the_wisconsin_uprising?page=1


Reference within Title of album:

Demagogy

* Do the click on the word above, but be warned- You will not like what you read...

XOXO
Me

*** Feel free to 'borrow' any of these for your blogs...

Limbaugh Says...

From here. (Do the click).

Rush Limbaugh claimed that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposed union-busting bill is designed to "save union jobs" from a budget crisis that would necessitate layoffs.
*In reality, the parts of the bill restricting collective bargaining would not affect Wisconsin's budget shortfall.

Limbaugh Denies Walker's Bill Is Anti-Union, Falsely Calls It "Budget Reform"

• Limbaugh: "This Is Not Anti-Union Legislation, This Is Budget Reform."
  
  • From the February 23 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
    

Limbaugh Falsely Claims Walker Campaigned On Collective Bargaining Cut

• Limbaugh: "It's What He Campaigned On."
  
  • From the February 23 edition of Limbaugh's radio show
    
    
    

• PolitiFact: Walker Did Not Campaign On Budget Repair Plan.
  
  • On February 22, PolitiFact Wisconsin gave a "false" rating to Walker's claim that he campaigned on his budget proposals, including curtailing collective bargaining:

Gee kids-
If Rush says it's so, then it MUST be true, right? <--- That is sarcasm.

Also if you do the top "mediamatters" click, it has a video, if you are interested.
Politifact (above) has it's own clickable link.

XOXO
Me

Wisconsin Governor May Have Violated Labor Law in Koch Call

http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/63-63/5069-wisconsin-governor-may-have-violated-labor-law-in-koch-call

Please do the click on the link above...

One can only hope-

XOXO
Me

Wisconsin- From a Teachers Perpective..

To add to my previous article -
This is copied from a Forbes article (with reference to the author in my blog). as the same message as above, from within the comments section.

As the author of the referred article replies to every comment, this teacher was given high praise from him after stating the following...



______________________________________

6:51 pm on 02/25/11

marymatteson

I would like to dispute the claims that people don’t view state workers’ pensions as “gifts.”

I am a teacher in Wisconsin and by my own father, my high-school friends, and other people I have held dear to me I have been called the following told that am sucking at the private teat, getting unfair gifts on the back of the tax payers, a greedy pig wanting more special treatment and many more hurtful words.

Just today, DAYS after the unions conceded to the Gov’s economic demands, I saw a very inflammatory anti-union ad on TV claiming that the “public workers have special treatment gifted with benefits and pensions far better than the private sector.”

Fine you can say I’m overpaid, but there are a lot of poor people in Wisconsin right now and it is not fair for the Republicans and anti-unionists to use this rhetoric to split the middle class in half to get their big business agenda.

“Give me liberty or give me death–or at least make sure my neighbor can’t have it either…”

Reply to this »

Flag for abuse

________________________________

6:53 pm on 02/25/11

marymatteson

*people I have held dear to me have called me
(I agree I want an edit function…I just get so emotion{al} when I recall those words I’ve been called…)

In response to another comment. See in context »

Reply to this »

______________________________________


Ms Mary Matteson is a teacher-
And I believe one I would have loved for my children to have had.

By now, we all must know that this whole thing applies not only to our teachers-
Why is it that they are (seemingly) the only ones being singled out?

I have never met a rich teacher have you?  (On the other hand I know plenty of semi-rich babysitters)...
Hmmm? Somebody obviously has the wrong title.

My heart and soul goes out to ALL teachers- I only wish there could be more like Ms Matteson!

May all of our union brothers and sisters stick together until they win!

XOXO,
Me

Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions?

Just as I am needing to get busy otherwise, and thread a few needles I have found an email from my sister Kris which includes the following info.
It is too important not to be posted...

Click the links within...

XOXO
Me

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From here.

http://tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8EDJYS?OpenDocument

 

Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions?

David Cay Johnston | Feb. 24, 2011 12:16 PM EST

When it comes to improving public understanding of tax policy, nothing has been more troubling than the deeply flawed coverage of the Wisconsin state employees' fight over collective bargaining.

Economic nonsense is being reported as fact in most of the news reports on the Wisconsin dispute, the product of a breakdown of skepticism among journalists multiplied by their lack of understanding of basic economic principles.

Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to "contribute more" to their pension and health insurance plans.

Accepting Gov. Walker' s assertions as fact, and failing to check, created the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not.

Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin' s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.

How can that be? Because the "contributions" consist of money that employees chose to take as deferred wages – as pensions when they retire – rather than take immediately in cash. The same is true with the health care plan. If this were not so a serious crime would be taking place, the gift of public funds rather than payment for services.

Thus, state workers are not being asked to simply "contribute more" to Wisconsin' s retirement system (or as the argument goes, "pay their fair share" of retirement costs as do employees in Wisconsin' s private sector who still have pensions and health insurance). They are being asked to accept a cut in their salaries so that the state of Wisconsin can use the money to fill the hole left by tax cuts and reduced audits of corporations in Wisconsin.

The labor agreements show that the pension plan money is part of the total negotiated compensation. The key phrase, in those agreements I read (emphasis added), is: "The Employer shall contribute on behalf of the employee." This shows that this is just divvying up the total compensation package, so much for cash wages, so much for paid vacations, so much for retirement, etc.

The collective bargaining agreements for prosecutors, cops and scientists are all on-line.

Reporters should sit down, get a cup of coffee and read them. And then they could take what they learn, and what the state website says about fringe benefits, to Gov. Walker and challenge his assumptions.

And they should point out the very first words the state has posted at a web page on careers as a state employee (emphasis added):

The fringe benefits offered to State of Wisconsin employees are significant, and are a valuable part of an individual's compensation package.

Coverage of the controversy in Wisconsin over unions collective bargaining, and in particular pension plan contributions, contains repeated references to the phrase "contribute more."

The key problem is that journalists are assuming that statements by Gov. Scott Walker have basis in fact. Journalists should never accept the premise of a political statement, but often they do, which explains why so much of our public policy is at odds with well-established principles.

The question journalists should be asking is "who contributes" to the state of Wisconsin' s pension and health care plans.

The fact is that all of the money going into these plans belongs to the workers because it is part of the compensation of the state workers. The fact is that the state workers negotiate their total compensation, which they then divvy up between cash wages, paid vacations, health insurance and, yes, pensions. Since the Wisconsin government workers collectively bargained for their compensation, all of the compensation they have bargained for is part of their pay and thus only the workers contribute to the pension plan. This is an indisputable fact.

Not every news report gets it wrong, but the narrative of the journalistic herd has now been set and is slowly hardening into a concrete falsehood that will distort public understanding of the issue for years to come unless journalists en masse correct their mistakes. From the Associated Press and The New York Times to Wisconsin's biggest newspaper, and every broadcast report I have heard, reporters again and again and again have written as fact what is nonsense.

Compared to tax, this economic issue that reporters have been mishandling is simple. But if journalists cannot grasp the economics of this issue, then how can we hope to have an intelligent debate about tax policy?

Dedicated tax journalists like my colleagues Lee Sheppard and Martin Sullivan at Tax Analysts have exposed, and explained in laymen terms, the arcane rules underlying the important tax debates and controversies that affect corporate and individual taxpayers. But the mainstream press is not even getting basic labor economics right, a much simpler matter.

Among the reports that failed to scrutinize Gov. Walker' s assertions about state workers' contributions and thus got it wrong is one by A.G. Sulzberger, the presumed future publisher of The New York Times, who is now a national correspondent. He wrote that the Governor "would raise the amount government workers pay into their pension to 5.8 percent of their pay, from less than 1 percent now."

Wrong. The workers currently pay 100 percent from their compensation package, but a portion of it is deducted from their paychecks and a portion of it goes directly to the pension plan.

One correct way to describe this is that the governor "wants to further reduce the cash wages that state workers currently take home in their paychecks." Most state workers already divert 5 percent of their cash wages to the pension plan, an official state website shows.

Gov. Walker says that he wants them to "contribute more" via deductions from their paychecks. But since the workers already contribute 100 percent of the money going to the pension plan the real issue is changing the accounting for this to reduce cash wages.

Once the state has settled on the compensation package for its workers then how the cash flows is merely accounting for how the costs are divvied up. If the workers got higher cash pay and diverted all of the pension contributions from their pay it would be the same amount compared to having the state pay directly into the pension funds.

By falsely describing the situation the governor has sought to create the issue as one of the workers getting a favor. The Club for Growth, in broadcast ads, blatantly lies by saying "state workers haven't had to sacrifice. They pay next to nothing for their pensions."

We expect ideological marketing organizations to shade the truth and even outright lie, as the Club for Growth has done. But journalists are supposed to check the facts, not adopt lies as truths.

Having had the good fortune long ago to train the presumed future publisher of the Los Angeles Times I focused on making sure he understood why careful checking of facts and questioning assumptions was a commercial, as well as journalistic value, for which reporters should be properly compensated because it made the paper reliable and thus more valuable to its owners. (Sadly my trainee later died and the paper was sold.)

Having worked at The New York Times I can tell you how editors might try to excuse this error. They call it "shorthand." But shorthand that is wrong is, in short, still wrong. So, Mr. Sulzberger, take the initiative and correct your error. Doing so, you would set an example that will become newsroom lore long after you retire.

Here are some other examples of inaccurate reporting of the issue, followed by a critique and a simple solution.

• Todd Richmond of the Associated Press reported on Feb. 20 that the governor wants state workers "to contribute more to health care and pension costs." Richmond has repeatedly used variations of that phrase.
• On Feb. 18, Michael Cooper and Katherine Q. Seelye of The New York Times reported that the legislation sponsored by Gov. Walker would "require workers to contribute more to their pension and health care plans."
• Jane Ford-Stewart of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel' s on-line community news service reported Feb. 22 on "an effort by Gov. Scott Walker to get state employees to contribute more toward their health insurance and pensions so that the costs are more in line with contributions by workers in the private sector."
• Politifact.com has a Wisconsin operation and it was also among those that got it wrong – 100 percent dead wrong -- because it assumed the facts as stated by Gov. Walker and failed to question the underlying premise. Further, contrived assumptions make it is easy for the perpetrators of the misrepresentation to point to data that support a false claim, something Politifact missed entirely, on at least two occasions, in proclaiming false statements to be true.

Given how many journalists rely on Politifact to check political assertions, instead of doing their own research, this is, by far, the inaccuracy likely to have the greatest (or most damaging effect) on subsequent reporting. (Examples of Politifact' s inaccurate assessments can be found here and also here.)

Again, the money the state "contributes" is actually part of the compensation that has been negotiated with state workers in advance so it is their money that they choose to take as pension payments in the future rather than cash wages or other benefits today.

Next, journalists should ask how elected officials are treated by the pension system. The pay of elected leaders is set by the legislature without collective bargaining. Here it is also true that any money withheld from paychecks to fund the pension plans comes from the employee (the elected leaders) but this is not the result of a negotiated compensation package so there is a colorable argument that pension benefits that are received by elected leaders beyond the wages deducted from those employees' compensation package are a gift from taxpayers.

The payroll deduction –- again, a mere accounting measure - - was 5 percent last year for "general participants," official state documents show, a rate that is 56 percent higher than the 3.2 percent rate for "elected leaders."

The rates were adjusted for 2011 and now the elected leaders pay 3.9 percent, still well below what the "general participants" collectively bargained to divert from their cash wages through this accounting device.

The rest of the money going into the plan is also wages the workers diverted, it just does not show up in paychecks as a line item, the same way that half of Social Security and Medicare taxes do not show up on paychecks, but are still part of total compensation to each worker in those plans.

I am being repetitive on purpose – experience supervising others has taught me you usually have to teach something three to seven times before it sinks in. Some management texts also make this point.

That is not to say that the state workers make too much or too little. It is to say that journalists as a class are fundamentally getting the facts wrong by not understanding compensation.

Simplistic coverage has also resulted in numerous reports that Wisconsin state workers make more than workers in Wisconsin' s private business sector. This is true only if you compare walnuts to tuna fish.

State governments (indeed almost all governments) tend to hire people with college educations, including advanced degrees. Overall, private employers in all states tend to hire people with less education. More education means more pay because there is more skill required.

America has roughly the same number of food preparers, who can be high school dropouts, as registered nurses, who require a college education. But the nurses make on average $66,500, compared to just $18,100 for the food service workers. The food service workers collectively made less than $50 billion, while the registered nurses made almost $172 billion in 2009, my analysis of the official data shows.

Business and government hire both food service workers and registered nurses, but you are much more likely to work for the government as a registered nurse than as a food preparation worker.

When you control for the education required to be a prosecutor or nurse, government workers get total compensation that is less than those in the corporate sector. This may reflect the fact that fewer and fewer private sector workers are in unions, about 7 percent at last count. As economic theory predicts, as fewer workers can bargain collectively the overall wage level falls. Effectively wiping out public employee unions would only add to downward pressure on wages, standard economic theory shows.

On the other hand, unionized state workers run a much smaller risk of going through bouts of joblessness, an economic benefit. Numerous studies indicate that public workers, including those in Wisconsin, make about 5 percent less than private sector workers when you control for education. But what is the lifetime cost, and risk, of episodic joblessness among comparable private sector workers? Is that cost equal to 5 percent or so of lifetime earnings, which would even out the differential? I have yet to read an analysis of that issue by an academic economist, much less a journalist, so I do not know the truth of that question.

What Gov. Walker has achieved in selling a false assumption as fact occurs because journalists failed to follow what I call the first and second rules of journalism. This problem is pervasive in coverage of tax and budget issues, where so much nonsense gets reported as fact by the Washington Press corps that I have stopped filing away all but the most egregious errors – and still I copy a story or three every day to use in lectures on getting it right and not writing nonsense.

And what are these two rules for journalists?

Rule One: Check it out. Be so skeptical that if your mother says she loves you, check it out.

Rule Two: Cross check again and again until you not only know the facts, but can put them in proper context and understand all sides so well that their perspective gets proper weight and lecture, or as I like to say, everyone recognizes their oar in the water.

Deadlines may make Rule Two difficult, and often impossible, in writing the first rough draft of history. We are now in the umpteenth draft and the initial mistake keeps getting repeated, as so often happens when a big story brings a herd, until it becomes accepted as unassailable truth.

The reason that falsehoods are transformed into the public' s common knowledge via inaccurate reporting is simple. When editors or producers back home get an account that differs from what the news herd says they raise questions and often delete unique and accurate insights. But if a reporter just repeats what everyone else is saying it usually sails unchallenged to print or airtime even when it is untrue.

Then there is this: How the compensation packages of state workers get divided up is not a matter of tax burdens. Only how much the state workers get paid is a matter of tax burdens.

There are two other important aspects to this, which go to the heart of tax policy and why our country is in for a long stay in the economic doldrums.

Traditional or defined benefit pension plans, properly administered, increase economic efficiency, while the newer defined contribution plans have high costs whether done one at a time through Individual Retirement Accounts or in group plans like 401(k)s.

Efficiency means that more of the money workers contribute to their pensions - - money that could have been taken as cash wages today - - ends up in the pockets of retirees, not securities dealers, trustees and others who administer and invest the money. Compared to defined benefit pension plans, 401(k) plans are vastly more expensive in investing, administration and other costs.

Individually managed accounts like 401(k)s violate a basic tenet of economics – specialization increases economic gains. That is why the average investor makes much less than the market return, studies by Morningstar show.

This goes to Adam Smith's famous insight in 1776 about specialization increasing wealth: when pins were made in full by each worker each could make only a few each day, but when one person draws the wire, another cuts, another fashions the point, etc., the output rises to tens of thousands of pins and their price falls from dear to cheap.

Expecting individuals to be experts at investing their retirement money in defined contribution plans -- instead of pooling the money so professional investors can manage the money as is done in defined benefit plans -- is not sound economics.

The concept, at its most basic, is buying wholesale instead of retail. Wholesale is cheaper for the buyers. That is, it saves taxpayers money.

The Wisconsin State Investment Board manages about $74.5 billion for an all-in cost of $224 million.

That is a cost of about 30-cents per $100, which is good but not great. However it is far less than many defined contribution plans, where costs are often $1 or more per $100.

So, I hope that Mr. Sulzberger in particular will take the initiative to correct the inaccurate reporting and show the way to other reporters, for the betterment of both America and his family' s investment And I hope that all reporters will start questioning the assumption in the governor' s position instead of assuming his statements are infallible.

My larger hope is that reporters, editors and producers will apply this thinking when covering taxes and taxation, the system by which we distribute the burdens of living in and sustaining this, the Second American Republic.

Your thoughts? E-mail me at JohnstonsTake@tax.org.

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Comment

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For all the comments, please click the link at the top of the page.
There are 54 very valid points and comments at time of this posting...

What say you?

Two questions for me...

Q's.
Why do you celebrate Thanksgiving?
Why a Turkey?

A's.
We really don't.. (And certainly not only because Casey can't eat much)...

But do not misunderstand either-  IMHO, there are plenty of days to be thankful each year- (365 or 366 days as a matter of fact...)-

http://flintville.multiply.com/journal/item/877/An_Ethical_Responsibility_to_Teachers_Parents_and_Students
Odd, there are same number of days for family to be together too.
for that article, please scroll down to "Now on to the topic at hand..."

And please, as always, place special and precious stock in the comments/replies.

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Then here too: http://flintville.multiply.com/links/item/273/

Lots is repetitious Mr Bill-  But, ALL IS IMPORTANT- (which is why some of those blogs have been reposted).

NOTICE THE OBVIOUS LACK OF COMMENTS ON SOME OF THOSE?! (You must tell me *why* that is)?!
I think it is because too many people are afraid of something 'different'...
(Sad that).
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Pertinent too- from here: Link: http://lrrpslady.multiply.com/journal/item/937

“We have a biological father and mother, but our real father is Tunkashila [Creator] and our real Mother is the Earth.”
Wallace Black Elk,
LAKOTA

Who really gives us our life?
Who really gives us our food and nurturing?
Who really allows us to be born?

We are born through our parents who act as the vehicle of life for the Creator and Mother Earth. Our parents take care of us for a little while and when we are ready we must leave them and be faithful to our true Father, the Creator, and our true Mother, the Earth. Then we need to be of service to the Creator and be respectful to Mother Earth.

Great Spirit, thank you for being my Father. Teach me to honor the Earth.
By: Don Coyhis
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Then you asked...  "Why a turkey?"

Not sure... <------ That will be YOUR assignment today! hehehe
Possibly there were no buffalo in those parts?
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My turn to ask YOU  something...
Where did your questions come from?

XOXO
Me


Please check some of the tags below too-
There may just be a few things you haven't read before...


Also,
For EVERYONE:
Do feel free to ask anything you would like to know. There are very few things that I will not answer.

PolitiFact Wisconsin | Wisconsin AFL-CIO says Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill would take away all rights in the workplace for public employees

http://politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/17/afl-cio/wisconsin-afl-cio-says-gov-scott-walkers-budget-re/