Oh, Wisconsin!

My home state pride in Wisconsin has slipped again. First they stupidly vote out Sen. Russ Feingold, a true progressive hero and a voice of sanity in the Senate.

Then they elect a crazy man as Governor whose first job is to throw away billions in government money and Wisconsin's chance to have high speed rail connecting it's largest cities with the rest of the country.

Now: Crazy man woke up and decided to roll back worker's rights about a century.

Putting the National Guard on call to quell any possible unrest his decision may cause, new Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has decided to strip collective bargaining rights from almost all state employees, including (and especially) teachers.

Taking a cue from despots and tyrants everywhere, he is already threatening physical action by armed forces if there is any public unrest over his decision which he hopes to ram through the Republican-controlled state legislature.

I hope you're happy, Wisconsin. You get what you vote for and right now you got a tin-pot dictator who wants to destroy a century of labor progress and turn Wisconsin into a worker's hell, especially if you work for the state.

My one hope - massive and immediate strikes by all concerned. Shut the fucking state down and show the power of labor. Just do it, Wisconsin! Just do it! Kill, Bucky, kill! (Obvious Mario Bava reference, eh?)

Gone But Not Forgotten

The Gipper is dead! Love live The Gipper!

Much is being written on both sides of the fence right now about Reagan's legacy. I remember it as a divisive legacy that helped foster the culture-war mentality of the right, worked tirelessly to crush unions and the middle class, promoted corporate welfare over welfare for the poor, built huge national debt, aided and abetted right-wing terrorist death squads which killed men, women, children and even nuns in the name of democracy, made ketchup a vegetable and brought covert religious agendas into the heart of Washington.

Pretty much shit for a legacy, I think. The only good thing to come out of the Reagan years was the upsurge of underground art and literature and music that I've always felt was a reaction to the conservative blanket Reagan tried to throw over the country.

So long, Ron. You're not missed.