Union Rally, Eugene, Oregon
Just returned from my first Union Rally in my hometown. I held up my little sign with the number 14 on it. Gotta love my little hippie town. They’re all about social justice. Rallies like this are taking place in cities all across America to let Scott Walker and the Republican party know that what they are doing is wrong.
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About Mr. Universe
Mr. Universe is a musician/songwriter and an ex-patriot of the south. He currently lives and teaches at a University in the Pacific Northwest. He is a long distance hiker who has hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. He is also an author and woodworker. An outspoken political voice, he takes a decidedly liberal stance in politics.
538 Refugees 
Apologies for the quality of the photo. I don’t know that much about the camera features on the Android.
Thanks for the pic and the report from the front lines.
These are not the (an)droids you are looking for…
It takes people with heart and conviction to continue this fight. Thank you.
Our small mountain town of 7,000 has bigger Tea Party meetings.
;^)
Your small mountain town of 7,000 has at least one troll.
… and Colorado is turning blue.
… and all three of those things aren’t really relevant to the topic at hand, anyway.
True, Michael.
I don’t think this issue is going away. In addition to trying to break the unions, Republicans are trying to deny funding for one of the Democratic Party’s largest source of campaign contributions. Republicans are aware of the effects of the Citizen’s United ruling. They want corporate special interest to be the only sort of groups capable of providing unlimited billions for political ads.
Breaking unions is a twofer — not only does it advance the cause of further impoverishing the middle class, to accelerate still more the redistribution of wealth upward to the elites, it also helps to silence the voices who speak for The People. It’s all part and parcel of the effort by the Koch Brothers and their cronies to turn America into a modern feudal fiefdom.
But they have handed progressives an issue to rally around and to enthuse The People in a way we have not seen since the 1960’s. And unlike the astroturfed faux-populist staged theater of 2009, this is the real awakening of the Voice of the People. This is not going away.
Iowa joined WI, OH and FL in enacting PEU reforms.
@Bart DePalma
I know that the bill limiting collective bargaining of public workers (and adding $100/month to their medical contributions) passed the House in Iowa, but it shouldn’t go anywhere in the Senate. The Iowa Senate is in Democratic control, and as far as I know they have no intention of bringing up the bill for discussion.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/us-iowa-unions-idUSTRE72A7Q320110311
Democratic State Senators return to Wisconsin.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/13/wisconsin.budget/index.html?hpt=T2
I don’t place much stock in polls involving generic candidates, but combined with the other parts of Weigel’s story, this looks pretty bad for the Republicans, optics-wise.
http://slate.me/fHNxSX
@Monotreme
Things like this will help keep the issue alive (for Democrats):
http://wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=230087
Basically, Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald is telling the other Senate Republicans that Democrats are not permitted to vote in committees for the foreseeable future, because they are “in contempt” despite returning from their prolonged hiatus.
Not letting the Democrats vote even now that they’re back?! That’ll calm down all of the folks who are angry about the way the collective bargaining issue was handled, won’t it!
Yes, I saw that link in the Weigel article.
Makes him look a wee bit high-handed, right?
I think one could safely say that in a state like Wisconsin, if you’ve lost the farmers, then you’ve lost the battle.
Yes, Monotreme. Just a wee, teeny, tiny bit…
@filistro – Building on Nate’s observation that outside of the two major cities, Wisconsin is pretty much a 50-50 state, that may be in part because of the number of farmers. Most of the farmers that I know (living here in the midwest and all) may have conservative or liberal leanings, but they’re too pragmatic to get totally derailed by social wedge issues. Fussing over Adam and Steve doesn’t get the crops planted or deal with the water regulations or negotiate the combine collective with the other area farmers… And if you start messing with their paper thin operating margins, they notice!!