It Is Time To Recognize The Republican Party For Just What It Is And Shut Them Down In A General Strike.
They are the enemies of: The poor, The Homeless, The Middle Class, American Laborers, Teachers, Fire Fighters, All Other Public Employees, College Students, Public Services, Pension Funds and Any Dream You Might Have Of Having A Better Life. They Are More Delusional And Dangerous Than Charlie Sheen! They Are Ideological Savages.
By Stephen Soldz
Protest the Wisconsin Coup! Nationwide Student Walkout, Friday @ 2:00
Wisconsin High School students have called for a Nationwide Student Walkout in protest of the Wisconsin coup, tomorrow at 2:00 local time.
Protest the Wisconsin Coup! Nationwide Student Walkout, Friday @ 2:00
Wisconsin High School students have called for a Nationwide Student Walkout in protest of the Wisconsin coup, tomorrow at 2:00 local time.
By Gustav Wynn
Report: Glenn Beck Staged Calls as Wacky DJ, More Questions Abound
Gawker is reporting claims from a "prominent", "veteran" producer that Glenn Beck has in fact planted callers on his show, including recurring characters, in his days as a wacky morning show host. He also describes Ryan Seacrest and others use the service regularly in prank call bits and questions arise about Premiere's "inspired caller" servic for sale.
Report: Glenn Beck Staged Calls as Wacky DJ, More Questions Abound
Gawker is reporting claims from a "prominent", "veteran" producer that Glenn Beck has in fact planted callers on his show, including recurring characters, in his days as a wacky morning show host. He also describes Ryan Seacrest and others use the service regularly in prank call bits and questions arise about Premiere's "inspired caller" servic for sale.
By Bob Burnett
Suffer the Little Children
When I was growing up in the fifties, my parents, grandparents, and all the adults I knew lived an ethic of sacrifice. During the Great Depression and World War II they'd learned it was sometimes necessary to sacrifice for our children. This moral precept used to be shared throughout the US, but recently it's been lost. As a consequence, Congress now threatens to abandon America's children.
Suffer the Little Children
When I was growing up in the fifties, my parents, grandparents, and all the adults I knew lived an ethic of sacrifice. During the Great Depression and World War II they'd learned it was sometimes necessary to sacrifice for our children. This moral precept used to be shared throughout the US, but recently it's been lost. As a consequence, Congress now threatens to abandon America's children.
By Harvey Wasserman
Japan's Quake Could Have Irradiated the Entire US
Had the massive 8.9 earthquake that has just savaged Japan hit off the California coast, it could have ripped apart at least four coastal reactors and sent a lethal cloud of radiation across the entire US.The Obama Administration is now asking Congress for $36 billion in new loan guarantees to build more commercial reactors.It has yet to reveal its exact plans for dealing with a major reactor disaster, nor has it identified
Japan's Quake Could Have Irradiated the Entire US
Had the massive 8.9 earthquake that has just savaged Japan hit off the California coast, it could have ripped apart at least four coastal reactors and sent a lethal cloud of radiation across the entire US.The Obama Administration is now asking Congress for $36 billion in new loan guarantees to build more commercial reactors.It has yet to reveal its exact plans for dealing with a major reactor disaster, nor has it identified
By Stephen Lendman
Corporate Coup d'Etat in Wisconsin
Corporations want unions busted across America.
Corporate Coup d'Etat in Wisconsin
Corporations want unions busted across America.
"We're not leaving. Not this time." Shortly after 8 p.m., hundreds of protesters gathered outside the locked King Street entrance to the Capitol, chanting "Break down the door!" and "General strike!" Moments later, police ceded control of the State Street doors and allowed the crowd to surge inside
The Republicans have overplayed their hand in a way that seems startling even for them, and they shall inherit the proverbial wind. They have taken another step, neither to be retraced nor erased, towards their political suicide -- an event that cannot come a minute to soon for the real America of fairness, the sanctity of a contract, rules, and equal opportunity.
By Kathy Malloy
Sleeping With the Enemy
Sleeping With the Enemy
If you think it's bad in Wisconsin, wait until you hear what the Neocons want to do in Ohio and Michigan. The Koch brothers and their ilk won't stop until those of us struggling to survive the "new normal" in the "new" middle class is stomped out like the insignificant bugs they believe we are.
By David Swanson
Michigan Fascism Old News in DC
Michigan governors aren't breaking entirely new ground in the ongoing U.S. collapse into fascism.
Michigan Fascism Old News in DC
Michigan governors aren't breaking entirely new ground in the ongoing U.S. collapse into fascism.
A cadre of labor groups, progressive institutions, and campaign arms began informally coordinating a comprehensive pushback that some described as even more critical than the legislative battle itself. The most dramatic of these moves is acceleration of a campaign to recall Wisconsin Republican state senators who ended up backing not only the collective bargaining bill but also the backdoor parliamentary maneuvers used to pass it.
Republicans just aren't into rationality. They claim to care deeply about deficits -- but they've spent the past two years putting cynical, demagogic attacks on any attempt to actually deal with long-run deficits at the heart of their campaign strategy. The president and his aides know that the GOP approach to the budget is wrongheaded and destructive. But they've stopped making the case for an alternative approach; instead, they've positioned themselves as know-nothings lite, accepting the notion that spending must be slashed immediately -- just not as much as Republicans want.
By Tom Degan
PBS Changed Our Lives
PBS Changed Our Lives
We need PBS like we need oxygen. It is one of the few things left that is good about American media. Don't throw it away.
By Dave Lefcourt
The Ultimate Irony that Plagues Republicans
Repub. state senators in Wisconsin last nite voted on Gov. Walker's measure to restrict collective bargaining w/ the public service unions. They revised Walker's original bill by omitting the financial provisions that allowed a vote w/o a quorum. It was a maneuver technically legal but seen as unethical by many i.e. they "pulled a fast one". Their retribution will be petitions for their recall and in 2012 the recall of Walker.
The Ultimate Irony that Plagues Republicans
Repub. state senators in Wisconsin last nite voted on Gov. Walker's measure to restrict collective bargaining w/ the public service unions. They revised Walker's original bill by omitting the financial provisions that allowed a vote w/o a quorum. It was a maneuver technically legal but seen as unethical by many i.e. they "pulled a fast one". Their retribution will be petitions for their recall and in 2012 the recall of Walker.
By Bud Goodall
The Republican War on Higher Education: Abraham Lincoln Weeps
The massive budget cuts to higher education sweeping the country should be of great concern to all of us. Public higher education provides opportunities for access to these institutions and the excellence in them to non-elites. But these cuts will change that. Thirty years of Republican propaganda will have been successful if an effective counter narrative isn't launched.
The Republican War on Higher Education: Abraham Lincoln Weeps
The massive budget cuts to higher education sweeping the country should be of great concern to all of us. Public higher education provides opportunities for access to these institutions and the excellence in them to non-elites. But these cuts will change that. Thirty years of Republican propaganda will have been successful if an effective counter narrative isn't launched.
The United Nations has called on US President Barack Obama to take serious actions to investigate torture techniques used by the country's previous administration during its so-called "war on terror." "I think I can join the many civil rights and civil society organizations in the United States that have been calling for that investigation to take place," added the newly elected UN expert on torture.
By June Werdlow Rogers
Can Walking Away be Courageous?
Can Walking Away be Courageous?
When we think of courage, it usually is in the context of moving toward a difficulty. But can a decision like the one made by Marisol Valles Garcia, the former police chief of a violent Mexican border town seeking asylum in the U.S. be regarded as courageous?
By Joel Hirschhorn
Explaining Obama Hatred
A new explanation is given for why so many people hate President Obama. It is based on two historic inflection points that cause people to blame Obama, wrongly, for the loss of American greatness.
Explaining Obama Hatred
A new explanation is given for why so many people hate President Obama. It is based on two historic inflection points that cause people to blame Obama, wrongly, for the loss of American greatness.
By Jeanine Molloff
A 'Net Neutrality Primer'
Net neutrality simply means no corporate or government censorship of online content. The net is 'neutral,' to any type of content. The House Committee on Energy & Commerce wants to throw out FCC regs meant to protect a free and open internet. Rep. Fred Upton is the Chair of the committee and a handmaiden of Koch Industries.
A 'Net Neutrality Primer'
Net neutrality simply means no corporate or government censorship of online content. The net is 'neutral,' to any type of content. The House Committee on Energy & Commerce wants to throw out FCC regs meant to protect a free and open internet. Rep. Fred Upton is the Chair of the committee and a handmaiden of Koch Industries.
A huge health insurance company has questionable hiring practices.
By Eric Walberg
Egypt: Peering into the revolution's crystal ball
Egypt: Peering into the revolution's crystal ball
Comparisons between Egypt's revolution and others during the past abound and are instructive. They suggest two scenarios for the post-revolutionary period
By Eugene Elander
Have we forgotten the lessons of September 11, 2001?
By analyzing what little we have done, and how much we have failed to do, since the September 11, 2001 tragic terror attack, this article points the way towards reducing risks from societal crimes, and towards real preparedness. Specific proposals towards those ends are outlined. America badly needs to study the detailed proposals presented in Turning the Tides by Eugene F. Elander, this article's author.
Have we forgotten the lessons of September 11, 2001?
By analyzing what little we have done, and how much we have failed to do, since the September 11, 2001 tragic terror attack, this article points the way towards reducing risks from societal crimes, and towards real preparedness. Specific proposals towards those ends are outlined. America badly needs to study the detailed proposals presented in Turning the Tides by Eugene F. Elander, this article's author.
By Press Release
Gaddafi's Death Squads Silencing Foes: Fascism in Action
Gaddafi's Death Squads Silencing Foes: Fascism in Action
Gaddafi modeled his regime after the modern Fascist state decades ago, so there is nothing new about this: Gaddafi ordering his death squads to kidnap, torture, murder, disappear hundreds, if not thousands of Libyans whose only crime is that they want freedom. A grim fate awaits much of the Libyan population if Gaddafi is allowed to crush this struggle for freedom from tyranny.
By Tom Engelhardt
Tomgram: David Bromwich, Superpower Bypassed by History
"From Egypt to Pakistan," begins David Bromwich, regular essayist for the New York Review of Books and the Huffington Post, in his latest TomDispatch piece, "February 2011 will be remembered as a month unusually full of the embarrassments of empire."
Tomgram: David Bromwich, Superpower Bypassed by History
"From Egypt to Pakistan," begins David Bromwich, regular essayist for the New York Review of Books and the Huffington Post, in his latest TomDispatch piece, "February 2011 will be remembered as a month unusually full of the embarrassments of empire."
Latest Articles
The moment there was news last night that Republicans had moved to violate democracy and move legislation that would strip workers have collective bargaining rights one step closer to being signed into law talk of a general strike spread. Now, the union leaders, organizers, workers and citizens of Wisconsin are confronted with the reality that they have a choice to make: Will they take action and strike?
Pack Journalism Promotes War on Libya
US major media again promoting illegal war against another country
US major media again promoting illegal war against another country
The Teenage Rebellion of Modern Conservatives
What conservatives hate is not big government but good government. Good government is the triumph of democracy and common humanity, which clashes with the conservative's worship of grandiose individualism and lust for power.
What conservatives hate is not big government but good government. Good government is the triumph of democracy and common humanity, which clashes with the conservative's worship of grandiose individualism and lust for power.
Banks are resorting to a Republicanesque fear campaign to push their agenda.
Obama Wisconsin Wimp or Hero?
Wisconsin may settle an old debate question about name calling.
Wisconsin may settle an old debate question about name calling.
One wonders if the revolution might have been aborted, slowed down, or taken a different path had Mubarak acted rationally or reasonably. But almost certainly, the youth of Egypt, determined to fulfill their dreams of a free, just and democratic society, would have pressed on until the end.
Best News Links from the Web
My Personal Link to the World's Biggest Losers
Do you think they'll lock me up?
Do you think they'll lock me up?
The poll released this past weekend by a conservative Wisconsin think tank did more than indicate a preference for compromise among Wisconsin adults. It also includes evidence that the enthusiasm gap favoring Republicans in Wisconsin in 2010 has vanished.
The Wisconsin State Assembly has passed the union-busting legislation rammed through by Senate Republicans late last night. The bill, which essentially divests most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, passed the Assembly 53-42.
A tsunami hit the coast of northeast Japan on Friday in the aftermath of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake about 80 miles offshore. Television images showed waves of more than 12 feet roaring inland. CNN reported that air and land transportation was severely disrupted.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned against Washington's unilateral action in Libya, saying any such action could have unforeseeable consequences. "Absent international authorization, the United States acting alone would be stepping into a situation whose consequences are unforeseeable." Clinton said during a congressional panel on Thursday, as she expressed little hope that the move to create a no-fly zone over Libya could yield any significant result.
Walker's objective is, as protesters in Madison have argued all along, to break the last vestige of organised labour strength in the US -- the power of public sector workers to organise and negotiate collectively. Stated or not, Walker's ambition is to complete what Ronald Reagan began 30 years ago.
What is immediately striking about the bipartisan call in Washington for a no-fly zone and air strikes designed to help rebel forces in Libya is the absence of any concern with the relevance of international law or the authority of the United Nations. None in authority take the trouble to construct some kind of legal rationalization. The 'realists' in command, and echoed by the mainstream media, do not feel any need to provide even a legal fig leaf before embarking on aggressive warfare.
So what would Dr. Kissinger have us do now? Well, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Kissinger has sent a letter to President Obama "urging him to commute the prison term of Jonathan Pollard, who is serving life term for spying for Israel." The real Henry Kissinger, who implausibly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, borders on being a war criminal. That should tell us what his advice is really worth. President Obama would be a fool to listen to a man whose blood stained career should have long ago come to an ignoble end.
Black African migrants trapped in Libya are being systematically beaten and killed by anti-Gadhafi resistance fighters - who falsely accuse the migrants of being paid Gadhafi mercenaries. In their efforts to cheerlead the Libyan resistance movement, the US media avoids reporting on these genocidal attacks.
Keith Olbermann: The Suicide Of The Republican Party
This is not to try to mitigate the disaster for Wisconsin and its public servants and its immediate future. Governor Scott Walker, the cross-eyed Koch-sucker, will make inchoate sounds of celebration, like a seal with a rack of horns before it. The Right will claim victory. Good workers who were under the illusion that their public service earned them just as much protection from irresponsible and uncontrolled management as any private employees, will have their lives and families damaged and risked. But the Republicans have overplayed their hand in a way that seems startling even for them, and they shall inherit the proverbial wind. They have taken another step, neither to be retraced nor erased, towards their political suicide – an event that cannot come a minute to soon for the real America of fairness, the sanctity of a contract, rules, and equal opportunity.
This is not to try to mitigate the disaster for Wisconsin and its public servants and its immediate future. Governor Scott Walker, the cross-eyed Koch-sucker, will make inchoate sounds of celebration, like a seal with a rack of horns before it. The Right will claim victory. Good workers who were under the illusion that their public service earned them just as much protection from irresponsible and uncontrolled management as any private employees, will have their lives and families damaged and risked. But the Republicans have overplayed their hand in a way that seems startling even for them, and they shall inherit the proverbial wind. They have taken another step, neither to be retraced nor erased, towards their political suicide – an event that cannot come a minute to soon for the real America of fairness, the sanctity of a contract, rules, and equal opportunity.
While there is a sea of craziness about President Obama and Sharia law promoted by right-wing charlatans, Peter King could actually do this country a service by investigating those who actually seem to see a place for Sharia law in America--in defending corporate misconduct that leads to the deaths of US servicemen in war zones.
E.J. Dionne Jr. - What Wisconsin Democrats can teach Washington Democrats
Consider the contrast between two groups of Democrats, in Wisconsin and in the nation's capital. Washington Democrats, including President Obama, have allowed conservative Republicans to dominate the budget debate so far. In Wisconsin, by contrast, 14 Democrats in the state Senate defined the political argument on their own terms - and they are winning it.
Consider the contrast between two groups of Democrats, in Wisconsin and in the nation's capital. Washington Democrats, including President Obama, have allowed conservative Republicans to dominate the budget debate so far. In Wisconsin, by contrast, 14 Democrats in the state Senate defined the political argument on their own terms - and they are winning it.
Arizona seeking pacts with other states to defy federal government
Arizona lawmakers are working to create alliances with other states on controversial issues such as health care, immigration and firearms regulation in a growing effort to challenge the authority of the federal government. Among them are measures to allow participating states to build a border fence, regulate endangered species without federal interference and set up their own health-care programs.
Arizona lawmakers are working to create alliances with other states on controversial issues such as health care, immigration and firearms regulation in a growing effort to challenge the authority of the federal government. Among them are measures to allow participating states to build a border fence, regulate endangered species without federal interference and set up their own health-care programs.
More and more soldiers continue to defect from Gaddafi's army, realizing once they see the facts on the ground, that they have been lied to by a murderous, torture-house regime that is asking them to kill their brothers and sisters.
Gingrich's past -- multiple wives, multiple affairs, divorces under painful circumstances -- is arguably the ugliest of any presidential hopeful in American history. As David Frum noted, "It's not the infidelity. It's the arrogance, hypocrisy, and -- most horrifying to women voters -- the cruelty. Anyone can dump one sick wife. Gingrich dumped two."
King said he intended to continue despite harsh criticism and allegations of bias against Muslims. "I remain convinced that these hearings must go forward and they will. To back down would be a craven surrender to political correctness and an abdication of what I believe to be the main responsibility of this committee to protect America from a terrorist attack."
A furious row between Nato-led forces and the Afghan president over the killing of civilians looks set to turn into a full-blown crisis after an elderly cousin of Hamid Karzai was killed during a botched Nato operation.
A "gross distortion of the facts," "utter nonsense," and "unprincipled" were a few of the other zingers the dyspeptic justice aimed at Justice Sotomayor's opinion. What strategic sense could lead a justice to administer such a public thrashing to a junior colleague?
Government Spending Bills Fail in Senate
In a stark illustration of the divide over how far to go in paring spending, neither a plan by House Republicans to cut $61 billion nor a much more modest Democratic alternative could attract even a 50-vote majority in the Senate, let alone the 60 required for approval. The Democratic proposal received just 42 votes; the Republican proposal 44. Fourteen senators opposed both.
In a stark illustration of the divide over how far to go in paring spending, neither a plan by House Republicans to cut $61 billion nor a much more modest Democratic alternative could attract even a 50-vote majority in the Senate, let alone the 60 required for approval. The Democratic proposal received just 42 votes; the Republican proposal 44. Fourteen senators opposed both.
Idaho Teachers Protest Union Curbs
My heart goes out to these folks, who stabbed me in the back, lynched me in the public square, and chucked my professional corpse into the Snake River (see my bio). May their protests be heard and ignored, as were mine. Ok, I'm being overly personal and evidently a pinch vengeful, but there is some truth in miserly loving company--it is in our genes, and I can't seem to help it. The reality is that these slugs have been sitting on their duffs with hands over eyes, while their alleged leaders have been ripping off members since at least 1990, now making almost painfully easy for those of us who tried hard to help, to smile a wee bit rather than to cry. If that makes me a famous potato-head too, then so be it...
My heart goes out to these folks, who stabbed me in the back, lynched me in the public square, and chucked my professional corpse into the Snake River (see my bio). May their protests be heard and ignored, as were mine. Ok, I'm being overly personal and evidently a pinch vengeful, but there is some truth in miserly loving company--it is in our genes, and I can't seem to help it. The reality is that these slugs have been sitting on their duffs with hands over eyes, while their alleged leaders have been ripping off members since at least 1990, now making almost painfully easy for those of us who tried hard to help, to smile a wee bit rather than to cry. If that makes me a famous potato-head too, then so be it...
The European Union as well as NATO are meeting this week to discuss the notion of a no-fly zone in Libya. Offering protection from Gadhafi's jets for the rebels may sound noble, but German commentators on Thursday are skeptical. A no-fly zone, they argue, would mean nothing short of war.
The Dalai Lama has announced he will retire from political life within days. In a speech posted on the internet and delivered in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamasala, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader said he would ask the Tibetan parliament in exile to make the necessary constitutional changes to relieve him of his "formal authority" as head of the Tibetan community outside China.
The extension of three expiring provisions of USA Patriot Act, which was ratified to expand Washington's alleged fight on terrorism after September 11, 2001 attacks, has sparked debate. Many Americans believe the Patriot Act threatens civil rights more than protecting the citizens and so it could be abused in some ways.
Utahns Oppose Restricted Access
Even in the darkest corners, you sometimes find signs of intelligence and life.
Even in the darkest corners, you sometimes find signs of intelligence and life.
NEA Takes Major Inaction
Gets no results. As per usual.
Gets no results. As per usual.
Charlie Sheen Has a Mind!
But admits he's starting to lose it.
But admits he's starting to lose it.
Gareth Porter on how the Military-Industrial Complex evolved into the Permanent War State.
SCOTT BAUER : Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- With the labor movement suffering an epic defeat in Wisconsin, union leaders plan to use the setback to fire up their members nationwide and mount a major counterattack against Republicans at the ballot box in 2012.
Wisconsin's measure stripping public employees of most bargaining rights swiftly advanced to GOP Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday, and he promised to sign it as soon as possible. But labor leaders say the events in Wisconsin have helped galvanize support for unions across the country. They hope to use the momentum to help fight off other attacks and grow their membership.
Said the president of the AFL-CIO: "I guess I ought to say thank you particularly to Scott Walker. We should have invited him here today to receive the Mobilizer of the Year award from us!"
As several states seek to follow Wisconsin's lead, newly invigorated public unions are looking ahead to the next election. Democrats are pressing to recall Republican opponents of organized labor and turn the debate into a focal point of next year's campaign.
The Wisconsin Assembly voted 53-42 Thursday to pass the bill after about three hours of discussion, far less than the 61-hour, three-day marathon it took to approve a previous version two weeks ago.
The passage drew shouts of "shame, shame, shame" from protesters in the gallery and came only a day after dramatic action in the Republican-controlled Senate, which used a legislative maneuver Wednesday to quickly adopt the bill without any of the 14 Democrats who fled to Illinois three weeks ago.
Democrats said their counterattack efforts were already beginning to bear fruit in the form of donations: The party's Wisconsin chapter said it raised $300,000 overnight and has collected $800,000 from 32,000 donors in just five days.
Party chairman Mike Tate said Senate Democrats have raised $750,000 over the past month alone.
Republicans said they were simply doing what voters wanted.
In last year's election, "people spoke very clearly and very loudly and said they wanted government to change here in Madison," Republican Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald said. "It's a tough vote, but it's the right vote. People are sick of the status quo."
Shortly before the vote, police had to move dozens of protesters who were sitting just outside the Assembly chamber doors, blocking the way for lawmakers. Officers dragged many of them away, but there were no arrests.
The protesters have been a constant presence in the building for more than three weeks, with their numbers swelling to more than 80,000 for one weekend rally. About 1,800 were in the building Thursday, and hundreds screamed outside the chamber doors before the vote.
Walker had repeatedly argued that ending collective bargaining would give local governments the flexibility they needed to confront the cuts in state aid necessary to fix Wisconsin's deficit, which is projected to grow to $3.6 billion deficit over several years.
"This is ultimately about a commitment to the future, so our children don't face even more dire consequences than what we face today," Walker said at a news conference in the West Allis community of Milwaukee. He said the bill would prevent layoffs of 1,500 state workers.
His proposal touched off a national debate over labor rights for public employees, and its implementation would be a key victory for Republicans, many of whom have targeted unions in efforts to slash government spending.
Labor organizations have already pledged to pour more than $30 million into efforts to stop legislation in dozens of states seeking to limit public workers' bargaining rights or otherwise curb union power. Union officials are helping to mobilize protesters in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and other states to keep the pressure on.
"Gov. Walker's overreaching has brought us to this moment to be able to talk about jobs, to be able to talk about the right to collective bargaining," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Thursday in Washington. "This is the debate we've wanted to have for 25 years. Well, guess what? Suddenly the debate came to us."
In Ohio, the Republican-led state Senate has passed similar legislation to restrict collective bargaining, and a House panel is considering the measure.
The debate is sure to sow opposition to the GOP agenda, said Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Seth Bringman, and it was "also encouraging many Republican, middle-class voters who have not voted for our candidates in the past to maybe come over to our side."
Walker and Republicans argued from the outset that the collective bargaining measures were directly related to balancing the budget. For weeks, they refused to separate the two ideas.
The fact that they did so in the end to pass the legislation shows that their true intent was to abolish unions, said Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca.
"To me the charade is over," Barca said.
In the aftermath of the debate, eight Republican senators and six Democrats are being targeted for recalls. Recall efforts against Walker cannot start until Nov. 3.
Kristopher Rowe, the main organizer of efforts to recall Republican Sen. Alberta Darling, said the group has collected about $3,000 in donations since Wednesday's Senate vote. Rowe said the group has "several thousand signatures" and more than 1,000 volunteers to canvass for more.
Darling, who won her 2008 election by 1,007 votes, said she stands by her vote and will continue to defend the position if drawn into a recall election.
"The test is what the voters decide to do," Darling said. "I'm just going to keep going to work for the people, and I'm certainly going to defend this position because this is what I was sent here to do in the last election."
"Once you fundamentally threaten the existence of unions, key support for the Democratic Party, there's no way to settle this except in future elections," said University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin.
Senate Democrats who fled to Illinois were on their way back Thursday, but they were not expected to return to the Capitol because the Senate will not be in session again until April 5.
Also Thursday, the Justice Department said it was investigating several death threats against Republican senators.
Marty Beil, director of the state's largest public employees union, which represents 20,000 workers, said Walker had taken the state "far away from its core values."
"But after each dark night, there comes a new day," Beil said. "And this new day starts today, as Wisconsin citizens across the state answer this insult by pouring their energy into recalling Wisconsin senators who have sold their souls to the highest bidder."
Nina Larson
March 12, 2011
STOCKHOLM: A Swedish police officer involved in the investigation against Julian Assange over sexual assault charges knew one of the two plaintiffs in the case against the WikiLeaks founder, police have confirmed.
The admission comes after a newspaper reported that an unnamed female officer in charge of questioning the two alleged victims, who have accused Mr Assange of rape and molestation, had internet contact with one of them more than a year before the accusations surfaced last August.
Mr Assange's Swedish defence lawyer, Bjoern Hurtig, has said the revelation raises very serious concerns and described the officer's role in the investigation as ''highly inappropriate''.
The policewoman became friends with the woman referred to in court as Miss A through Sweden's Social Democratic party, the daily paper Expressen reported.
Mr Hurtig added that if it was proven that Mr Assange's first interrogation was not objective, ''then there were really no grounds for the investigation to begin with, and perhaps the whole probe needs to start over''.
The pair corresponded on the internet 16 months before the allegations were made against Mr Assange, Miss A commented on a Facebook update on the police officer's page as recently as February 10 and Miss A links to the officer's private blog from her personal page.
The woman officer is also alleged to have posted negative comments on Facebook about Mr Assange, and had voiced support for the lawyer representing the two women.
''Go Claes Borgstroem!'' she wrote in one posting last month after the women's lawyer had discussed the case on Swedish public radio, while describing Mr Assange in another post as ''the bubble that is ready to burst''.
However, the lawyer representing the alleged victims, Claes Borgstroem, said there were ''numerous faulty facts'' in the newspaper article.
''This is a minor matter. It has no impact on the case and lacks any interest for the continuation of the case,'' he said.
It previously emerged that neither of the victims wanted to press charges against Mr Assange but had instead gone to the police to find out if they could force him to undergo an HIV test after he had unprotected sex with them, despite their explicit request he use a condom.
According to reports, it was one of the officers involved in the interrogations who deemed what they had been through amounted to rape in one case and sexual molestation in another and took the matter to a prosecutor. It is unclear if the friend of the alleged victim was the police officer who reported the matter to the prosecutor.
Mr Assange, the 39-year-old Australian former hacker, is awaiting a British appeal hearing on whether he can be extradited over the allegations after a London court ruled he could be sent to Sweden.
During those proceedings, Mr Assange's lawyers blasted the Swedish judiciary and claimed the allegations were motivated by anger at WikiLeaks' publication of hundreds of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic documents. A police spokesman confirmed that the officer knew one of the plaintiffs but claims she did not interview her on August 20 last year.
Agence France-Presse and agencies :Friday 11 March 2011
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship | In Defense of NPR
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Truthout: "Come on now: let's take a breath and put this National Public Radio (NPR) fracas into perspective. Just as public radio struggles against yet another assault from its longtime nemesis - the right-wing machine that would thrill if our sole sources of information were Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and ads paid for by the Koch Brothers - it walks into a trap perpetrated by one of the sleaziest operatives ever to climb out of a sewer."
Read the Article
Huge Quake and Tsunami Hit Japan
Kevin Drew and Martin Fackler, The New York Times News Service: "An earthquake of 8.9. magnitude struck off the coast of Japan on Friday, the strongest ever recorded in the country. The quake churned up a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland in the northern part of the country and set off warnings as far away as the west coast of the United States and South America."
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Paul Krugman | Military Cutbacks Won't Fix Deficit
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "I am baffled by the argument that the United States can incur big savings by ending the war in Afghanistan and, more generally, by cutting bloated defense budgets. I've mostly been hearing this from liberals, and indeed this is a variation of a debate that has continued for years. Now, I am not endorsing our current levels of defense spending. The nation's military buildup following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was outrageous. The United States was hit by a handful of men wielding box-cutters (or something similar - I am aware that's not certain), and we responded by buying a lot of heavy tanks and later invading a country that had nothing to do with the attack."
Read the Article
Emergency Declared at Japanese Nuclear Plant
Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times News Service: "The Japanese government declared an 'atomic power emergency' and evacuated thousands of residents living close to a nuclear plant in northern Japan after a major earthquake, but officials said there had been no radiation leak from the facility and that problems with its cooling system were not critical. Some 3,000 people were told to leave a 2-mile radius around the Fukushima No. 1 plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power and located in Fukushima Prefecture, after a mechanical failure in the cooling system, government officials said."
Read the Article
Jeff Leys | Long Live Democracy: Reclaim Wisconsin
Jeff Leys, Truthout: "En route to Madison, I listened to Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) strenuously objecting to the Republicans' maneuver to strip pubic employees of collective bargaining rights. I listened to 18 Republican Senators vote to kill public employee unions. Absolute despair engulfed me - my forty-seven years on this planet seemed for naught. I grew up in a union family. My dad struck for teacher rights in 1973. My mom enjoys a comfortable retirement because of the teachers union. I once worked as a union representative for public employees. In the blink of an eye, Republicans wiped out my family's history."
Read the Article
The Last Hurdle for Corporate Capitalism: Deunionizing America
Basel Saleh, Truthout: "The campaign to control private-sector union membership has been mostly successful as corporate US capitalism shifted its attention to the last hurdle to a union-free country: public-sector unions. Critical examination of the connection between money and politics is helpful to understand the explosive and sudden attacks on public-sector unions, especially teachers' unions."
Read the Article
Muslim-American Terrorism Down in 2010
Emily Badger, Miller-McCune: "The number of Muslim Americans involved in terrorist threats declined in 2010 from the previous year, although you wouldn't know that from the tone of a congressional hearing scheduled for Thursday on 'the extent of radicalization of the American Muslim community.' Committee chairman Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, has been planning the hearing for months, partly as a response, he says, to the lack of cooperation some law enforcement officials have complained of within the Muslim-American community. Civil liberties groups and Muslim leaders, meanwhile, are decrying what looks like the singling-out of a minority group in a congressional setting that recalls McCarthyism."
Read the Article
After Afghan Massacre, Word Games by US Media
Dave Lindorff, This Can't Be Happening: "The people of Afghanistan know who was flying the two helicopter gunships that brutally hunted down and slaughtered, one by one, nine boys apparently as young as seven years old, as they gathered firewood on a hillside March 1. In angry demonstrations after the incident, they were shouting 'Death to America.'"
Read the Article
Simon Johnson: "A Healthy Financial System Cannot Be Built on the Expectation of Bailouts"
Simon Johnson, The Baseline Scenario: "The financial crisis is not over, in the sense that its impact persists and even continues to spread. Employment remains more than 5 percent below its pre-crisis peak, millions of homeowners are still underwater on their mortgages, and the negative fiscal consequences - at national, state, and local level - remain profound."
Read the Article
Eugene Robinson | The Hooey King
Eugene Robinson: "'There is nothing radical or un-American in holding these hearings,' Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., claimed Thursday, as he launched his McCarthyite probe of American Muslims. He could not have been more wrong. If King is looking for threats to our freedoms and values, a mirror would be the place to start."
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Richard D. Wolff | "Public Higher Education" (Video)
Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: Economist Richard D. Wolf discusses the serious crisis facing public higher education in the United States.
Watch the Video
Click here for more Truthout articlesBill Moyers and Michael Winship, Truthout: "Come on now: let's take a breath and put this National Public Radio (NPR) fracas into perspective. Just as public radio struggles against yet another assault from its longtime nemesis - the right-wing machine that would thrill if our sole sources of information were Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and ads paid for by the Koch Brothers - it walks into a trap perpetrated by one of the sleaziest operatives ever to climb out of a sewer."
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Huge Quake and Tsunami Hit Japan
Kevin Drew and Martin Fackler, The New York Times News Service: "An earthquake of 8.9. magnitude struck off the coast of Japan on Friday, the strongest ever recorded in the country. The quake churned up a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland in the northern part of the country and set off warnings as far away as the west coast of the United States and South America."
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Paul Krugman | Military Cutbacks Won't Fix Deficit
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "I am baffled by the argument that the United States can incur big savings by ending the war in Afghanistan and, more generally, by cutting bloated defense budgets. I've mostly been hearing this from liberals, and indeed this is a variation of a debate that has continued for years. Now, I am not endorsing our current levels of defense spending. The nation's military buildup following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was outrageous. The United States was hit by a handful of men wielding box-cutters (or something similar - I am aware that's not certain), and we responded by buying a lot of heavy tanks and later invading a country that had nothing to do with the attack."
Read the Article
Emergency Declared at Japanese Nuclear Plant
Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times News Service: "The Japanese government declared an 'atomic power emergency' and evacuated thousands of residents living close to a nuclear plant in northern Japan after a major earthquake, but officials said there had been no radiation leak from the facility and that problems with its cooling system were not critical. Some 3,000 people were told to leave a 2-mile radius around the Fukushima No. 1 plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power and located in Fukushima Prefecture, after a mechanical failure in the cooling system, government officials said."
Read the Article
Jeff Leys | Long Live Democracy: Reclaim Wisconsin
Jeff Leys, Truthout: "En route to Madison, I listened to Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) strenuously objecting to the Republicans' maneuver to strip pubic employees of collective bargaining rights. I listened to 18 Republican Senators vote to kill public employee unions. Absolute despair engulfed me - my forty-seven years on this planet seemed for naught. I grew up in a union family. My dad struck for teacher rights in 1973. My mom enjoys a comfortable retirement because of the teachers union. I once worked as a union representative for public employees. In the blink of an eye, Republicans wiped out my family's history."
Read the Article
The Last Hurdle for Corporate Capitalism: Deunionizing America
Basel Saleh, Truthout: "The campaign to control private-sector union membership has been mostly successful as corporate US capitalism shifted its attention to the last hurdle to a union-free country: public-sector unions. Critical examination of the connection between money and politics is helpful to understand the explosive and sudden attacks on public-sector unions, especially teachers' unions."
Read the Article
Muslim-American Terrorism Down in 2010
Emily Badger, Miller-McCune: "The number of Muslim Americans involved in terrorist threats declined in 2010 from the previous year, although you wouldn't know that from the tone of a congressional hearing scheduled for Thursday on 'the extent of radicalization of the American Muslim community.' Committee chairman Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, has been planning the hearing for months, partly as a response, he says, to the lack of cooperation some law enforcement officials have complained of within the Muslim-American community. Civil liberties groups and Muslim leaders, meanwhile, are decrying what looks like the singling-out of a minority group in a congressional setting that recalls McCarthyism."
Read the Article
After Afghan Massacre, Word Games by US Media
Dave Lindorff, This Can't Be Happening: "The people of Afghanistan know who was flying the two helicopter gunships that brutally hunted down and slaughtered, one by one, nine boys apparently as young as seven years old, as they gathered firewood on a hillside March 1. In angry demonstrations after the incident, they were shouting 'Death to America.'"
Read the Article
Simon Johnson: "A Healthy Financial System Cannot Be Built on the Expectation of Bailouts"
Simon Johnson, The Baseline Scenario: "The financial crisis is not over, in the sense that its impact persists and even continues to spread. Employment remains more than 5 percent below its pre-crisis peak, millions of homeowners are still underwater on their mortgages, and the negative fiscal consequences - at national, state, and local level - remain profound."
Read the Article
Eugene Robinson | The Hooey King
Eugene Robinson: "'There is nothing radical or un-American in holding these hearings,' Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., claimed Thursday, as he launched his McCarthyite probe of American Muslims. He could not have been more wrong. If King is looking for threats to our freedoms and values, a mirror would be the place to start."
Read the Article
Richard D. Wolff | "Public Higher Education" (Video)
Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: Economist Richard D. Wolf discusses the serious crisis facing public higher education in the United States.
Watch the Video
Based on a recent Forbes survey, Rachel Maddow revealed that while Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is stripping away the financial security of workers, the Koch brothers increased their wealth by $9 billion last year. Together, Maddow notes, they would rank as the fourth-wealthiest person ($44 billion) in the world.
Meanwhile, the Koch brothers and Karl Rove, among others, are using front organizations to pit working people, who are being exploited, against unions. It's the ultimate in class warfare: make the working class fight each other over an increasingly smaller piece of the financial pie, as the super wealthy run off with the bakery.
That's why ads in Wisconsin - and stories on Fox - are trying to get Wal-Mart low-wage workers to resent that union members receive better benefits, which of course - on a logical level - reinforces to many of us exactly why unions are needed: to prevent the impoverishment of people who labor for a living.
What's not mentioned in these ads, or the right-wing media echo chamber, is why the government is subsidizing the wealthy who don't pay their fair share.
Mark Karlin - Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
Split in Obama Administration on Mistreatment of Bradley Manning: State Department Spokesperson Condemns DoD's Handling of Manning
Read the Article at The Guardian UK
Scott Walker Signs Union-Busting Bill
Read the Article at The Washington Post
Wisconsin Senate GOP Leader Admits Goal Is to Hurt Obama in 2012
Read the Article at BuzzFlash
The Mainstream Media Abandons Our GIs in Afghanistan for Charlie Sheen
Read the Article at CNN
Wisconsin GOPers to Huddle With Corporate Lobbyists in DC After Worker Rights Vote
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo
Pennsylvania Governor Gives Energy Executive Supreme Authority Over Environmental Permitting
Read the Article at ProPublica
Bernie Sanders Introduces Millionaires' Surtax Bill
Read the Article at BuzzFlash
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