Inside the beltway is actually 325.949641 square miles: NEW POLITICS THREAD

[dieblucasdie]

Hey, does anyone have a link to the vote for the Pence Amendment?  Google is failing me.  Apparently 7 Republicans voted against it and 10 Democrats for it, and I'd like to know which ones.

[jebreject]

Hey, anyone have good sign ideas for when kadiekatRN and I go to Madison tomorrow? My lead idea is a picture of Walker, Texas Ranger w/ Scott Walker's face shopped in, and the logo changed to WALKER, WISCONSIN DANGER. It's not that good, but could be funny. Also I do not have the required skillz to make this happen.

My other idea is THE OTHER SCOTT WALKER IS BETTER, or YOUR NAME CONFUSES MY FRIENDS

[Antero]

Check it:

"Medieval savagery
Calculated cruelty"
"It's hard to pick the worst moment"

also:

Polish the fork and stick the fork in him

Imagine: "SCOTT WALKER: MEDIEVAL SAVAGERY, CALCULATED CRUELTY"

next thing you know your photo's in the paper and people are missing the joke.

[Good Intentions]

Possibly a political rally isn't the place to make in-jokes with record collectors.

[jebreject]

yeah, i think i might go with that though   

[FreddyKnuckles]

Cspan is pretty good right now. Voting/amendments/arguing until 6am. They all have to be there cause of votes.  I just saw Barney Frank agree with Republicans

[elpollodiablo]

[peacocks]

Wow that is so cool

[ellaguru]

Wow that is so cool

[kadiekatRN]

Rally today was awesome! Wish I could still steal the URLs from facebook so I could post some pictures here.

Do NOT believe cable news.  There were barely any Tea Baggers.  Like less than 2000 of the 60,000 estimate rallying.

[jebreject]

Spent all day in Madison. Totally amazing and inspiring. Unfortuantely did not hear Brietbart speak. Full report when not drunk.

[jebreject]

Going back!

[dumbfish]

Katie, for funzies I watched 15 mins of Fox News' spin on things. At least 10 were about the hard-workin' counterprotesters.
Three minutes of Cialis commercials.
Two of fake laughter.

[kadiekatRN]

Yeah, those hard-working counterprotesters.  A handful showed up for an hour to show how little they value their children's education, clean sewers, public works, etc.  They're really working hard.  I wonder how hard they had to edit those shots in order to obscure the eight or ten city blocks filled with rational people marching.

[jebreject]

We've been there six days. They were there maybe six hours.

[jebreject]

This is a really, really great starting point, with some liveblogging of the protest as well.

I need to get my own thoughts in order, but it was great seeing so many come out to brave the sleet and snow. Today was definitely a lot more relaxed than yesterday, but the Capitol was still packed with several thousand people, and a few dozen of us making the rounds outside, showing that a little winter weather isn't stopping us.

My favorite things from yesterday: singing "Solidarity Forever" with thousands of other protesters in the rotunda; the firefighters and police marching for labor, even though they are not specifically affected by the bill; an IWW folk group on a street corner doing "Union Maid" and other old-timey union hymns; the amount of shops with signs showing support; a parade of union cabs driving down State Street, greeted by cheers and raised fists; the sheer power felt when marching with tens of thousands of very diverse folks all after the same goals.

Today was, like I said, a lot less exciting, but not the least disappointing. I took some pretty good pictures which you can find on my Facebook. My favorite bits today were the snowplows circling the Capitol with their horns blaring, and serendipitously being in the right place at the right time to join a dozen other folks in making ourselves visible during a Fox News report. The correspondent was talking about how there were fewer protesters today, but still the sounds inside the Capitol were nearly deafening, and spent a lot of time talking about the doctors notes that protesting teachers are being provided with. We asked the crew if they were union, and they said no.

[elpollodiablo]

It's extremely awesome that you went down* there, jeb. I'm jealous of & happy for you.

*over?

[jebreject]

We need this fire to spread! This isn't just about Wisconsin, though Wisconsin is key--if these kinds of attacks on unions are successful here--the birthplace of collective bargaining and the progressive movement, the state that gave you the weekend--then they can be successful anywhere.

This is Ohio in relation to all this, btw:

[jebreject]

And it's important we not let all the talk of union busting drown out the other issues in play here: Governor Walker's bill also includes proposed changes to WI's Badgercare program which would place the ability to make emergency changes to the program (such as deep cuts and changes in coverage) in the hands of a state official appointed by the Governor. Not part of the bill, but Governor Walker's actual budget proposal also includes terrible cuts for the public school system (particularly Milwaukee Public Schools) and the dismantling of the UW system. Between taking away teachers' right to collective bargaining and further cutting funding to a school system that is already in shambles, MPS will be left in ruins.

[kadiekatRN]

Yeah, we're talking about $900,000,000 in cuts to Wisconsin schools, and $200,000,000 in cuts to MPS! 

My future child is doomed to a class size of 50!

[kadiekatRN]

FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!
Those are my messages to Scott Walker, 18 Republican State Senators, and the Koch Brothers.


And SHAME ON YOU!
That is my message to the stupid people in Wisconsin who somehow think this is a good idea.

[elpollodiablo]

Yeah, we're talking about $900,000,000 in cuts to Wisconsin schools, and $200,000,000 in cuts to MPS! 

My future child is doomed to a class size of 50!

That's okay! The Hoover Institution says class size doesn't matter. Teachers will be effective according to the terms that the market dictates, or else.

[nonotyet]

Fuck.
You guys, I generally stay out of political discussions because I have PTSD from talking about politics ("talking") with my dad and I kind of feel like the more I try to follow it the less I understand and generally end up feeling very stupid, but like I LIVE here, and so have been reading and watching all the fuck about it. When I got home last night there were live feeds of people storming the Capitol and shit and I came in in the middle of it so I didn't know exactly what happened but I had this horrible feeling and turned off the TV. I came in to work super early this morning because I couldn't sleep and caught up on what happened on the internet. And I feel like things are going to get real, real ugly, and like these are legitimately dark days that we're living in. And I don't have the slightest idea of what to do.

[edison]

My sympathy to the LPTJ Wisconsin contingent - this must be very disheartening.

The political situation here has been deteriorating for years, but for the past few weeks, reading the news has made me want to stab myself in the eye repeatedly on a daily basis. In the aftermath of an opinion poll (apparently methodologically very dubious, not to mention that it was done more than one year ahead of the actual vote) that had Marine Le Pen, the FN (far-right) candidate ahead of Sarkozy and any of the left-wing candidates (they have yet to properly begin fighting horribly over who will run) in the first round of the presidential election, a majority MP had this to say (questioned about that very poll): "We must reassure the French people about any migrant flow that may come from the other side of the Mediterranean. In sum, let's put them back in the boats." These are the same people that like to repeat over and over that France is the great country of human rights, and so on, for fuck's sake.

90% of reactions to the uprisings in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt has been along those lines, even from more moderate politicians. I'm not even very surprised, but what I'm saying is that basically we need someone to create a "repeatedly banging one's head on a brick wall" emoticon.

[RavingLunatic]

And SHAME ON YOU!
That is my message to the stupid people in Wisconsin who somehow think this is a good idea.

From what I've heard, something like 57% of Wisconsonites do not approve of Governor Walker.

Maybe it's already been posted, but I like the joke that's apparently been circling. It goes something like this:

David Koch, a tea-partier, and a Wisconsin teacher are sitting at a table in a restaurant. The waiter brings them 12 cookies. Koch takes 11 and says to the tea-partier, "You better watch that guy, he wants half your cookie."