February 21, 2011

Today's protest at the Wisconsin Capitol.

What it was like inside at the protest today at about 2 p.m.:



Meade took that. The crowd was a bit thinner. Lots of drumming. A rendition of "Rally 'Round the Flag."

ADDED: I'm sorry, I had the wrong video before. Fixed. Here's the scene outside today, also by Meade:

42 comments:

1775OGG said...

AA: Was that Rally Around The Red Flag or was it Rally Around The Black Flag of Anarchy?

Doubt if those protesting folks would ever rally around the American Flag.

Cheers.

coketown said...

I read they're bussing NYC Teamsters into Madison to help protest--make the crowds appear less thinned out. The Teamster spokesman said Walker had "awoken a sleeping giant." That phrase probably doesn't quite achieve the effect the spokesman was aiming for. Unions: the Sleeping Giant.

Jason said...

Meanwhile, they should have had a news station on one of the big screens with the updates coming from Libya, where protesters were being gunned down by fighter jets and helicopters.

Then, maybe, some of the "Walker=Hitler/dictator" would come down.

Then again, maybe not.

SteveR said...

Lets not discourage them from continuing.

Bob said...

When this is over how will teachers ile back into the classroom and then lecture their students on behavior?

Next round of parent-teacher conferences migth be a tad "testy".

Jason said...

I hope Fitzgerald was serious when he was hinting about putting the collective bargaining part of the bill up for a vote tomorrow. I really do.

Its time for this shit to end. It really is. This budget deal is an adult problem that adults NEED to deal with.

Anonymous said...

State and municipal governments from Sacramento to Madison to Harrisburg have racked up about $2.4 trillion in debt, or more than 15 percent of GDP.

Guess where all that debt came from?

rhhardin said...

Video link should be link

MadisonMan said...

Guess where all that debt came from?

Overpromising by Democratic and Republican politicians in exchange for votes?

The son was up there today. Ian's Pizza was free.

Automatic_Wing said...

@Jason - Passing the collective bargaining stuff separately from the budget bill is not going to happen.

Link

Bob Ellison said...

How does a city with a little more than 200k residents sustain such a large group of round-the-clock protesters? Surely plenty of them are mercenaries from elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Overpromising by Democratic and Republican politicians in exchange for votes?

Um, adding "Republicans" in there is disingenuous.

rhhardin said...

Nobody ever drums threes.

Our national anthem is a waltz, after all.

JAL said...

drumming

So upper middle class teachers entertain themselves drumming.

New Age wannabee somethings sit in circles and drum. Drumming is nice for altered states of consciousness too.

A litttle goes a long way.

Where is Crack when we need his laser light insight?

wv filegi
delicate decoration without the "r"

Toad Trend said...

@Bob

Ya think? ;)

Maybe we should send the kids back to school with 'Hitler' book covers and see what the teachers come back with.

Just sayin'.

Jason said...

"@Jason - Passing the collective bargaining stuff separately from the budget bill is not going to happen."

------------------------------

Thanks for the link, as I hadnt checked WisPoltics yet today.

I can understand politically why they dont want to do it, but part of me really, really wants them to do it.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Overpromising by Democratic and Republican politicians in exchange for votes?"

Just raise taxes. The public employee unions get their wages and benefits, and the deficit is reduced. Problem solved.

Marilee said...

Anybody see Gov Walkers' press conference. How'd it go??

Jason said...

"Just raise taxes. The public employee unions get their wages and benefits, and the deficit is reduced. Problem solved."

---------------------------------

Good grief.

That was about as bad as the "just tax the oil companies more" response I got the other day.

Jason said...

"Anybody see Gov Walkers' press conference. How'd it go??"
-----------------------------

I saw it. Looked just like the others. Walker was focused, sharp, poised, confident. Certainly shows no sign of giving in. At all.

Chennaul said...

Althouse


I think you meant to link to this video.

youtube

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Is it starting to smell now?

BJM said...

Looks like the local Tru-Value got some additional bucket business.

MayBee said...

Could a homeless person go into the State Capitol and play a guitar or a boombox all day?

BJM said...

@Doug

Doubt if those protesting folks would ever rally around the American Flag.

Good point, are there any American flags in the protest group?

Peter V. Bella said...

What's with the drumming? Is it some kind of Indian ritual or something? Why do lefttards love drumming so much?

The Concrete Dog said...

nyc
march 25
1911

a warm spring satrday
jennie franco, 16
rushes up to th 11th flor
nearly late for hr job

a dressmakekr for th
triangle shirtwaist factry
she trudgd thru th day
waitng for a nite out w the grls

almos quittng time
someone shouted fire
rags frm th cutting tables

nowhere down
girls stood on th windowsils tearing their hair in handfuls
then they jumped
piles of dead

cecilia looked around
callng to jen
but she had alredy gone

almos 100 yrs later
in madison
the ghosts of
seamstresses
shake their heds
in wondr

Chennaul said...

Wisconsin's State/Local Tax Burden Among Nation's Highest
For the past three decades Wisconsin's state and local tax burden has consistently ranked among the nation's highest. Estimated at 10.2% of income, Wisconsin's state and local tax burden percentage ranks 9th highest nationally, above the national average of 9.7%. Wisconsin taxpayers pay $4,194 per capita in state and local taxes.

******

Wisconsin's 2011 Business Tax Climate Ranks 40th
Wisconsin ranks 40th in the Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index. The Index compares the states in five areas of taxation that impact business: corporate taxes; individual income taxes; sales taxes; unemployment insurance taxes; and taxes on property, including residential and commercial property. Neighboring states ranked as follows: Iowa (45th), Minnesota (43rd), Michigan (17th) and Illinois (23rd).

***

Wisconsin's Individual Income Tax System
Wisconsin's personal income tax system consists of five brackets with a top rate of 7.75%, kicking in at an income level of $225,000. This top rate ranks the state 11th highest among states levying personal income taxes. Wisconsin's 2008 state-level individual income tax collections were $1,183 per person, which ranked 12th highest nationally.

*****

Wisconsin Property Taxes: Among the Nation's Highest
Wisconsin is one of the 37 states that collect property taxes at both the state and local levels. As in most states, local governments collect far more. Wisconsin's localities collected $1,423.54 per capita in property taxes in fiscal year 2006, which is the latest year the Census Bureau published state-by-state property tax collections. At the state level, Wisconsin collected $20.44 per capita during FY 2006, making its combined state/local property taxes $1,443.98 per capita, which ranks 11th highest nationally.


taxfoundation.org

Marilee said...

Thanks Jason
Re: the video really? Peace signs and drums? They need some new material

Chennaul said...

Hoosier

Do you know how much the WEAC collects in dues?

If their primary objective is to negotiate -essentially do the collective bargaining;

how much money do you think they should collect from their members to do that?

What do you think that is worth?

One of the things Scott Walker is proposing is that the state the government quit extracting the dues out of the teacher's pay checks.

That would give the teacher's the freedom to decide wether or not they want to pay-possibly.

Right now the teachers can't go on strike and stop paying their union dues.

At least that's how I understand it.

Known Unknown said...

BOH-RING.

Chip Ahoy said...

After that video you'll probably be looking for a palate cleanser like ... cheese. Here's my mostist favoritististist stinky cheese, Tommy Seebach Band, Apache.

Chip Ahoy said...

Correction Apache

Hoosier Daddy said...

Can one of the resident lefties explain the ubiquitous drums at evert leftwing rally? Is it because your mere appearance isn't sufficiently annoying you have to insult the eardrums too?

Fen said...

It helps them self-identify with their mythical primitive cultures that they idealize.

Unknown said...

Saw Walker on Hannity about 1/2 hour ago,. Gave a very strong interview.

I think the teachers know they've blown it.

RichardS said...

"The croud was a bit thinner." After a few days, I would imagine that they are starting to lose some weight!

Chip Ahoy said...

So that's the new BIG TRUTH that is circulating so completely, that the first thing Hitler did was attack the labor unions. First the unions, then the Jews, then uh, so on, and, uh, so forth.

Actually it's more complicated than that, if I recall what I read. It wasn't the first thing Hitler did, so that's wrong right off. There were other enemies eliminated first, then the trade unions and the Christian unions were eliminated, and then shaken, the rest of the unions vowed their allegiance to Hitler. The remaining parties were forced to dissolve or reincorporate. Much as what is happening presently between labor unions and the Democratic party so that analogy deflates like ... deflates like ... like um ... like the Hindenburg because they're actually closer to der Führer in the sense of union and Party amalgamation than the people they accuse. These teachers really should get their history sorted since they persist in propounding their version of it.

I owe all that I know to the wonderfully patient teachers I didn't blow off entirely, yes I do. The rest is wholly from books of my own choosing so many of which don't even pop up, and the internet of course.

Phil 314 said...

Are they going for this effect?

1775OGG said...

Gov. Dayton says this won't happen in Minnesota cuz he's going to "Tax the Rich!" However, just one little problem, MN legislature is run by the GOP this time round. Still, that's what our Govenater is going to do.

Cheers.

MadisonMan said...

After a few days, I would imagine that they are starting to lose some weight!

Nope. Free Pizza from Ian's, from orders called in from around the Globe.

Ian's has great pizza too. I hope they're making a ton of money off of this. Ditto for the other businesses on the square.

Fen said...

Not free. Someone else paid for it.

Sorry to nitpick, but I think its time the Union peeps were taught the difference.