I was at the capitol last night and again today. The mood has been determined but positive. Actually, the energy in the rotunda is astonishing, but despite the dense crowds people have been respectful towards one another (and toward the security staff), making rooms for others (including parents with children) to move in and out.
Tomorrow the tea party is coming to town, and I have serious concerns that they will be working to provoke hostility/angry confrontation.
Please pray that the protesters will remain calm, determined and peaceful.
There is more to this terrible bill than just union busting, though that is a huge part of it. It includes drastic cuts to medicaid, provision for sale of state power plants with minimal review, overturning environmental protection of wetlands - a completely egregious power grab by the corporations whose creature Gov. Walker is.
"Furthermore, this broadside comes less than a month after the state's fiscal bureau -- the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office -- concluded that Wisconsin isn't even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus. In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax cut policies Walker enacted in his first days in office." - Wisconsin's False Fiscal Crisis
FWIW: The Tea Party was out today in support of Gov. Walker. The Tea Party is funded by the Koch Brothers and so is Walker.
The protesters greatly outnumbered the Tea Partiers, (60,000 to 3,500)though national news made it look as though they were an equal force (of course). The protesters were very careful not to be goaded into any violent confrontation, and in fact the Madison Police department has issued a statement commending them.
(I wasn't there today, but spouse was)
If you want to see a truly rousing video that accurately captures the spirit in the capitol rotunda over the last few days check out http://tinyurl.com/67lqj63 That's a link to a "Time" article with the video embedded.
We have snow and freezing rain on the way tonight, so it will be harder for people to get to Madison, but the protest continues.
5 comments:
Hi from Wisconsin.
I was at the capitol last night and again today. The mood has been determined but positive. Actually, the energy in the rotunda is astonishing, but despite the dense crowds people have been respectful towards one another (and toward the security staff), making rooms for others (including parents with children) to move in and out.
Tomorrow the tea party is coming to town, and I have serious concerns that they will be working to provoke hostility/angry confrontation.
Please pray that the protesters will remain calm, determined and peaceful.
There is more to this terrible bill than just union busting, though that is a huge part of it. It includes drastic cuts to medicaid, provision for sale of state power plants with minimal review, overturning environmental protection of wetlands - a completely egregious power grab by the corporations whose creature Gov. Walker is.
Thanks for the report, Cindy G. Busy today, plowing a foot of snow and getting ready for another foot of it.
Wow how cool is that to get real on the ground info. Big thanks to Cindy G.
Wont comment on that vid as it brought my voice up a few decibels.
Big question now is will the teaparty be thugs or supporters?
A couple of interesting blog posts about Wisconsin's manufactured financial crisis:
"The state pension plan, 15% of the money going into it each year is being paid out to Wall Street to manage the money. That's a really huge high percentage to pay out to Wall Street to manage the money" - Following the Money in the Wisconsin Pension Battle: Wall Street's Fifteen Percent Cut
"Furthermore, this broadside comes less than a month after the state's fiscal bureau -- the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office -- concluded that Wisconsin isn't even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus. In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax cut policies Walker enacted in his first days in office." - Wisconsin's False Fiscal Crisis
FWIW: The Tea Party was out today in support of Gov. Walker. The Tea Party is funded by the Koch Brothers and so is Walker.
The protesters greatly outnumbered the Tea Partiers, (60,000 to 3,500)though national news made it look as though they were an equal force (of course). The protesters were very careful not to be goaded into any violent confrontation, and in fact the Madison Police department has issued a statement commending them.
(I wasn't there today, but spouse was)
If you want to see a truly rousing video that accurately captures the spirit in the capitol rotunda over the last few days check out http://tinyurl.com/67lqj63
That's a link to a "Time" article with the video embedded.
We have snow and freezing rain on the way tonight, so it will be harder for people to get to Madison, but the protest continues.
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