Protests in Madison Wisconsin
Tax The Rich sign at protests in Madison , Wisconsin.
The rich and super-wealthy do not pay their fare share of taxes being pro-rapacious capitalism who have no regard for the common good and therefore UNAmerican-
"This isn't really about saving taxpayers money. but consolidating political power. Walker and such leading lights of the GOP leadership as Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, among others, have decided that public employee unions make great punching bags, effective scapegoats for an outraged electorate and a satisfactory diversion from the real culprits of this grim, economic melodrama - the Simon Legrees of banking and finance who got us into this meltdown mess in the first place."
From article: "Attacks on Unions Barking Up the Wrong Money Tree" by
Michael Winship, Truthout Feb. 25, 2011.
UPDATE: 1:38 PM. Feb. 26, 2011.
Anyway as mentioned in the previous posts Moveon.org and other progressive and liberal organizations were today hold demonstrations across the USA to protest against the Wisconsin anti-labor law and defend the rights of all workers whether they work for government or in the private sector.
So hopefully there will be large numbers of American citizens demonstrating even though it appears Gov. Scott Walker has pushed the Bill through in a session held after midnite.
There should also be protests demanding Scott Walkers resignation after he revealed during a prank phone call from Dave Koch what a slime ball he really is and that he is not working for the people of his state but for vested interests especially those like the Koch brothers who donated quite liberally to Walkers campaign.
There is a great deal of speculation about whether Governor Walker has exaggerated or cooked the books to make the budget deficit look worse than it is.
It also seems contradictory that he is decreasing taxes or creating more tax break and loopholes for the rich in Wisconsin.
Noam Chomsky Democracy in USA " Has been eviserated "
Democracy Now!
Protesters in Madison Target Koch Brothers Offices
Watch this amazing video from Democracy Now! which shows that protesters in Madison have found another, highly-appropriate target: the local lobbying offices of the Koch Brothers.
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Meanwhile according to an article at Alternet.org that for all their ranting against unions the self-appointed media spokespersons for "Real Americans" including Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh are themselves members of unions or have benefited from Union membership in the past. But this is a well studied sociological phenomenon in which a large segment of those who once benefited from Unions or government run programs once they become more well off financially than they once were they become more conservative in their views about unions and the right to collective bargaining or affirmative action programs or other government run programs that help and protect lower wage earners. For instance when someone is fairly young in their late teens or twenties may be glad there are laws regarding minimum wage and other protections for wage earners but once they get beyond that stage ie becoming professionals lawyers, doctors,etc. small business owners, CEOs they then identify more readily with the upper classes than with the lower classes the poor and working poor and those who's salaries and wages are fixed and barely keep up with the increases in Cost of Living -ie COLA clauses in union settled collective bargaining agreements.
Those who have such a hate on for Unions or protections for the rights of labor should refuse such benefits which were the result of Union bargaining or the result of government legislation.
If they are so sincere in their beliefs they should also as a gesture of their sincerity pay back to a union or to the government any financial gains they made due to collective bargaining.
Those who believe in collective bargaining and legislation to protect all workers should make these blowhards put their money where their mouths are . This would also go any such anti-union anti-government individuals or groups that benefited from various government actions such as affirmative action that includes quotas for minorities or women etc. That is a uberconservative woman or African-American who benefitted from such a quota system ie quotas in universities to accept more women or other groups into the university and especially into professional schools such as Law Schools and medical schools.
It always struck me as odd and hypocritical when women for example some of whom I have known who benefited in getting accepted into a university or later on into graduate work or into the professional schools from such mandated quotas once they were established in their careers became vociferously anti-Quotas for women or any body else which are intended to give them a leg up as it were and as redress for society's discrimination against women and minorities.
Most of those complaining about quotas also have the belief that it is only right being followers of the likes of Ayn Rand and of "trickle Down Economics' and a Machiavellian view of the society that they take advantage of any program being offered even if they philosophically and politically against such programs . So their ethics as such can be ignored or bent and rationalizations are at the ready when they themselves benefit from such programs or legislation. This happens to be one of my pet peeves when it comes to feminists who refuse to acknowledge that a significant number of successful women have adopted this uberconservative/ Neo-Con ideology and insists against all factual data which proves otherwise that they did not benefit in any way form over a hundred years of women fighting for equal rights in a patriarchal society..
These uberconservative anti-union media spokespersons argue that to be in favor of unions and the right to collective bargaining makes an American citizen UnAmerican, anti-American or not "Real Americans" or as Gov. Walker said "Not one of us". So this is another litmus test for loyal Americans to be added to being in favor of an aggressive American foreign policy being anti-Gay rights and against non-Christians being allowed to run for public office and of course being anti-abortion and in favor of shutting down the so-called liberal biased Mainstream Media and against the Separation of Church and State in America.
Note these uberconservatives such as Limbaugh put this sort of disagreement in apocalyptic either or good vs evil -Unions evil corporations and government run by uberconservatives good.
Once again there is in their view no room for compromise on this issue or any other.
It is unfortunate that in the current struggle President Obama who should be leading such a struggle has tended to be silent or once again tries to compromise with so called moderate conservatives who have no intention of compromising . When all of this fails Obama's habit more often than not is to attack his own base of moderates, liberals and progressives. It's like his rhetorical acrobatics to find a middle ground on issues such as the War on Terror and the use of torture. He agrees to allow a little torture or torture lite or like Bush before him redefines torture in such a way that it is no longer recognizable that is he abandons the Internationally accepted definition of torture in favor of a uniquely American definition which even defies the common sense ordinary language definition of torture- that is to cause unnecessary short term or long term mental or physical pain or anguish. Or to put it another way local police , the FBI, the CIA and the US military are exempt from these international laws and agreements defining and outlawing torture. International Law does not make exceptions in the use of abuse or torture no matter what crime these enemy combatants or POWs or just plain criminals are accused of and no matter who's jurisdiction they are under or where they are located geographically. So torture is wrong in the local police station in American penitentiaries or in military prisons in the US proper or in Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib or Bagram etc.or whether the persons performing the torture are regular soldiers or contracted out mercenaries or advisors etc.
"Confirmed: Union-Bashing Right-Wing Media Stars Hannity, Limbaugh and O'Reilly Are AFL-CIO Union-Affiliated Members :
In spite of their criticism of unions in Wisconsin, AlterNet has confirmed that leading right-wing pundits are American Federation Television and Radio Artists union members."
February 26, 2011
When it comes to the Wisconsin union fights, right-wing pundits Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have a couple of things in common. For starters, have all voiced their opposition to the plight of public employee unions in the state.
On Feb. 18, Limbaugh said on his radio program, "We are either on the side of the Wisconsin protesters or we are on the side of our country." Hannity has featured several guests critical of the union and its supporters, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, on his Fox News television and radio shows.
On the Feb. 18 edition of "The O'Reilly Factor," O'Reilly stated, "Governments can't afford to operate" because of "union wages and benefits." But it turns out that opposing workers' rights isn't the only thing these blowhards have in common.
As it turns out, all three of them belong to the American Federation Television and Radio Artists union (AFTRA), which is the AFL-CIO affiliate for television and broadcast workers.
Yes, you read that right. While Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh have been railing against union workers in Wisconsin, all three of them belong to an AFL-CIO affiliate union.
A report voted to the front page of Reddit Friday claimed that Hannity, Limbaugh and O'Reilly were union members, as well as Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter. Right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin called it the "stupid lie of the week," insisting that neither she nor the "other Fox News personalities being accused of 'hypocrisy' belong to the union." As one might expect, Malkin didn't know what she was talking about and the liberals were right (she herself, as just a frequent guest on the network, is not a member of the union).
A representative from Beck's camp denied the claim, but a source within AFTRA confirmed to AlterNet Friday that O'Reilly, Limbaugh and Hannity were indeed union members
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Rachel Maddow was shocked when Glenn Beck on his TV show admitted to being somewhat perplexed (which happens a lot)about the popular uprisings in the Middle East and Northern Africa and invited on his show an expert but who was an expert on Biblical Prophecies not on the politics of that area. Well Glenn is especially happy to discover this guy doesn't just interpret prophecies he is in fact a prophet and seer who can read God's signs interpret them for other Christians who do not have the Gift of Prophecy.
It always strikes me as odd that the anti-labor crowd includes those who claim to be the "Real Christians" In the 19th century it was in large part those Christians who believed in the Social Gospel that a number of reforms took place during that century including slavery, child labor, basic education for all laws, better regulations for industries to create a safer environment for the workers and put an end to the serf-like conditions in the USA, Canada, Britain and throughout Western Civilization making it more civilized and humane.
The upshot is that those Christians who believed in the Social Gospel believed in the dignity of all people not just the wealthy and powerful and those who are pious Christians .
They believe this was the essence of Jesus' message to all men and women that each of them should be treated with respect and that the individual had an obligation to do onto others as they would have others treat them.So it is a duty to help others .
The new improved (not quite) Evangelicals are at the opposite end of the spectrum of Christians and as author and journalist Michelle Goldberg in her book Kingdom Coming calls them Christian Nationalists who believe America is a Christian Nation which must then apply God's Law as found in the Bible which would include barbaric punishments and myriad of petty annoying and even irrational - so the punishments for breaking God's Law would include stoning , burning at the stake -"suffer not a witch to live"so witches heretics, blasphemers , sodomites, adulterers all sent to the chopping block, or gallows, or crucified and a thousand whipping offenses and of course the stocks every village and every exurb or suburb.
Would they then defend the right to have slaves or indentured servants , concubines,the beating of children . Reconstructions such as Gary North see no problem with this as Michelle Goldberg refers to one preacher uses Stalin's quote "No man, No Problem" This is where Christian Nationalism in America is heading if they can get enough power . And what will they do if they get resistance let loose rivers of blood.
As for the law and obedience and those who rule these Christian Nationalists believe that there is a natural hierarchy so there are those who give the orders who rule over the lesser human beings who have less knowledge of god's design who have less faith and piety and so they must accept their plight of being poor or barely getting by. Whereas those who are rich and those who are chosen by God to do his bidding get rewarded in this life as well as in the next.
Now that's a bum deal.
Fox News Endtimes Prophet interpreting "Book of Revelation" connects the dots between Egyptian uprising and others in North Africa and the Middle East to the protests taking place in Madison WI and the Satanic Unions , liberals, secularists, Gays and Lesbians who are supported by Obama who in fact maybe the Anti-Christ.
The acceptance of the notion of Gifts has become a hallmark of the current incarnation of the radical Evangelical Christian Movement in America .
The Gifts include Speaking in Tongues , prophecy, healing by the laying on of hands .
If anyone has been following Glenn Beck's program he has had other Endtime prophets on his show explaining their interpretation of Biblical prophecies especially those found in "The Book of Revelation" for instance he has had Pastor John Hagee who has one of the largest congregations and television audience in the US and he is also the head of CUFI - Christians United For Israel the biggest Christian pro-Israel group and so Hagee is also a Christian Zionist and hater of the poor , the lame , the sick, unions - What you don't remember Jesus ' anti-union pro-Wall Street Sermon on the Mount or his damning of Cooperatives or when he called the minimum Wage an abomination before God.
Once again Glenn Beck and Fox News lend credence to the belief in the Biblical Apocalyptic Endtimes.
So the Christian Evangelicals who insist the Bible be read as the literal word of God and that it is withour error ( inerrancy ) and that all who believe in Jesus will be saved and blessed by being permitted after death to enter paradise.
The premillenialists believe that there will be a period of wars, pestilence etc. the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse etc. in which a few billion people will perish and that the dark forces of the AntiChrist will fight against Jesus and his followers at Armageddon where he will defeat them.
But many Evangelical Christians believe that all those who have been born again will be taken up into Paradise before this era of the Tribulation and therefore will not be forced to suffer through it. This they refer to as the Rapture that is being taken up " in the air in a twinkling of an eye" bodily that is leaving behind their unsaved family members, friends , co-workers who are all damned to Hell unless they truly repent in time.Those who are left Behind who truly repent may get a second chance to be saved and will as the saving remnant act as witnesses to God's wrath on Earth.
Maddow is flabbergasted that such drivel would be showcased as real genuine in depth journalistic analysis of these social and political issues on Fox News. But this sort of Christian Evangelical approach to politics and world events has been going on in the Megachurches and on Christian bradcasts by various self-proclaimed prophets such as Pat Robertson, Pastor James Kennedy, Dobson, Pastor John Hagee .
First things first -didn't Maddow watch Jesus Camp or other such documentaries exposing how wide spread and deeply entrenched these endtimes apocalyptic views of the world are in American society. While Bush was in power he poured hundreds of millions of dollars into these extremist Evangelical Christian organizations under the ruse of his so called Faith initiatives . This money was not spread around to all Christian denominations or to non-Christian faiths which Bush claimed . No most of this money went to strident anti-democracy Evangelical Uberconservatives who used much of the money to proselytize to those not yet Born again and to the Back sliders.
These radical Christian Evangelical are referred to as being Dominionist and influenced by the most extreme form Christian theology known as Reconstructionists.
They claim that as a group they are being oppressed by the liberal Christian churches and those American citizens who belong to other faiths such as Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists .
And they claim they are also under daily attacks by secularists, socialists, communists who control America's major institutions and spheres of influence such as Education, Churches, businesses, the Government, the Media and the arts and entertainment
They can be divided up into two major factions of pre-and post millenialists.
Both insists that America was founded by Christians for Christians as part of God's mandate for America to spread the Gospel throughout the nations.
Both believe that the law of the land must reflect God's Law not Man's Law.
The postmillenialists believe that once the agents of Satan are defeated that is the secularists, atheists, liberals including liberla Christians this would be followed by a theocracy formed by the Christian Taliban or Christian Nationalists.
They either believe they must try to convert the non-believers before the endtimes to earn a place in Paradise while others contend that they must spread God's Word throughout the nations and establishe God's Kingdom on Earth which will last a thousand years and then comes Jesus to judge all of mankind .
For the Uberconservative business men and women and politicians or Media stars who may or may not believe in this endtimes senario , the AntiChrist, the Rapture, the Battle at Armageddon have used this theology and escatology to mobilize these Christian Evangelicals to help destroy or undermine American democracy and attack such rights and freedoms which the elites find rather annoying such as The Right to Collective bargaining or a free press or free speech except for those who support their point of view and that of Fox News and its fellow travelers.
These elites use these evangelical Christians who fear going to Hell if they don't fight back against the Anti-Christ and his secular, liberal followers in the USA and around the world.
This is a big part of how Bush and the gang were able to sell the Iraq War by demonizing Saddam as the AntiChrist or one of the AntiChrist' minions.
And they also play on the whole notion that they must defend Israel and insist that Israel must expand to include the territory which it had in ancient Israel as defined by the Holy Bible.
This sort of complex belief system has been around since the middle of the 19th century and managed to take root and grow especially in the USA so that now there are at least some 20 million American Evangelicals who wholeheartedly and with fear and trembling believe that these prophecies as found in the Book of Revelation are now unfolding before their very eyes.
But they also relish the idea of all of their enemies suffering horrible deaths followed by an eternity in Hell Fire.
But it is through this endtimes apocalyptic mindset that they view all major cataclysmic events along with what seem to be minore events such as protests in Madison as a sign of the endtimes closing in as being the work of the antichrist . For them everything is a sign this all get revved up if you like when Israel once again became a nation as the Bible and the "Book of Revelation " in their view predicted through prophecy.
Post Millenialists also see signs from God giving the faithful visions and penetrating knowledge of these signs . These signs guide them in their slow but eventual conquering of America at least if not the whole world. by such public actions they are able to recognize those who are anti-God
So even the protests in Madison are a sign from God because first the liberals and progressives who are the followers of Satan and or the Antichrist came out into the open to oppose the Wisconsin legislation but all their fervor it appears did not stop the passage of the law so is this too a sign of God.
Even the scandal over the prank phone call by someone pretending to be Scott Walkers bag man David Koch in which Scott Walkers revealed that he is just hyped up on the idea ofbeginning the process of crushing all unions not just in his state but in all of America.
It should be noted that Glenn Beck and Fox News, Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing have been trashing unions and demonizing them arguing that the whole idea of a union and collective bargaining rights is UnAmerican.
As radical Muslims call such notions "innovations" which are the result of either a faulty reading of the Qur'an or a deliberate misreading of the the Qur'an to make the Qur'an agree with what you already believe and to justify your actions which are in fact sins against God/Allah/ Jehovah .
Uberconservative evangelical Christians have managed on a variety of issues to get the support of Uberconservative Catholic fellow travelers.
The self-proclaimed leaders of the Christian Nationalists such as Sarah Palin , Michelle Bachmann, Newt Gingrich , George W. Bush, Don Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Ralph Reed, Lou Engle ,Rod Parsley, John Hagee either sincerely believe in this bizarre eschatology or merely for their own politicalor finacial gain pay lip service to this wild theorizing.
Books for suggested reading:
By radical evangelicals see:
* Seven Mountain Prophecy by Johnny Enlow, 2008
* The Call of The Elijah Revolution: The Passion For Radical Change by Lou Engle & James W. Goll, 2008
about radical Evanglicals or the Christian Right and the Political Rightwing see:
* God's Own Party :The Making Of the Christian Right by Daniel K. Williams, 2010.
* Kingdom Coming : The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg 2006.
* American Taliban : How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right by Markos Moulitsas , 2010.
* Roads To Dominion : The Right-wing Movements and Political Power in the United States by Sara Diamond, 1995.
* Dark Crusade: Christian Zionism and US Foreign Policy by Clifford A. Kiracofe, 2009
*The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus On the Family and Evangelical America Are winning the Culture War by Dan Gilgoff, 2007
and so it goes,
GORD.
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