Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Rachel Maddow broadcasting from Kansas talks about Governor Scott Walker and the now infamous prank phone call.
Remember though that Lawrence, KS is perhaps the most liberal city in Kansas thanks to the University of Kansas. (Johnson County is the next most liberal - er, that's about it actually).
As a Kansan, I was very pleased to have fellow Kansans booing the Koch brothers out of Wichita!
So very please to hear Rachel remind people of the progressive past in Kansas because it wasn't until the pro-lifers moved in to Wichita (Operation Rescue from CA) that KS really became a center of backward thinking. We've always had conservatives in rural areas, but they never dominated to the extent they seem to now. However, that is changing!
That was a great show, a great tape! I've been trying to get to the Buffalo Beast website, but it's been down due to heavy traffic.
Gov. Walker is a college dropout, an idiot. Who attends college for four years, after receiving 94 credits, and then drops out? Old C-student Walker, that's who.
The Koch Brothers, on the other hand, are MIT-trained engineers with master's degrees in engineering. They inherited wealth from their daddy, so they didn't even start from a level-playing field.
The Kochs are using a bunch of barely educated yahoos like Walker and Sarah Palin and teabaggers to advance their agenda.
I love Rachel and the work she does, but her health is starting to concern me. She just does not look right. She looks like skinnier than ever; just a gaunt look to her face and cheeks.
I know she puts in incredibly long hours doing research and the like, but you can't sacrifice your health for that. She looks almost anorexic.
Take a walk Walker. You thought you were going to be the celebrated newbie Governor that was going to be the next conservative rock star - making Palin pale in comparison (what did she ever do again?)
Walker thought he was going to be invited by other State across the country to pump them up for similar measures after setting the stage to balance budgets in heartless and thug-like ways, by hurting the working and middle class. Place the burden of sacrifice on those that already do, not the wealthiest 10% of Americans and institutions.
Koch will spend money, millions of it in a second, as long as it isn't in taxes - they'll use their non-profits and Think Tanks to keep their taxes low and oversight limited. Paying off scuzzbuckets like Indiana Deputy AG Jeffrey Cox and Joe Miller are their charity with a huge payoff - detract attention to your amassing all refineries and asking the government to subsidize their assets.
Free Market baby, it's only for the richest of the country that wags the dogs like Scott Walker.
I'm with 2:50anonymous, though even in Lawrence we liberals fight uphill battles all the time. It was SO exciting to have RM in town and see familiar faces in the crowd behind her. She's brilliant and articulate and fair-minded . . . I just wish she was in office instead of in front of a camera.
Anon @ 3:22 - Excellent post. Informative and well said.
We don't even have proof that Sarah Palin ended up cobbling together enough credits from five different colleges to make a degree. Transferable credits are very hard to make.
There is nothing wrong with finding that college is not for you. Todd and Track discovered that very early on in their first quarters. Bristol doesn't even try. Mark Begich became Mayor of Anchorage's largest city without one and even onto our Jr. Senator in the U.S. Senate.
But Sarah. . .the School of (Pretend) Hard Knocks seems to be her only proof of 'critical thinking' skills.
Walker has awoken a sleeping giant, and it's about time. As a moderate I'm incensed over this issue. It's fundamentally wrong to take away worker rights when it comes to collective bargaining. Unions aren't the problem here, especially when they've stated that they'll accept Walker's wage and benefit cuts.
Walker is a corporate shill intent on breaking unions, nothing more.
Best description I've read yet is from James Wolcott- "Just look at the photo of Walker accompanying the op-ed--that is the dumb, subservient-to-power junior executive look of a man who will never be more than a low-level prick on the national stage."
Someone with Walker's personality style is simply not going to back down. He is an egotistical authoritarian and his way goes, or else. Not sure how this will end reasonably unless he is given some sort of face-saving out. Maybe that's why WI decided to go ahead and vote on the bill today even though they don't legally have a quorum with the Dems gone. If enough state legislators vote it down, Walker can still say he tried but didn't get the support he needed. Or maybe they'll vote to pass it, illegally. Who knows?
This same sort of irresponsible, mean-spirited and reckless 'budget cutting' is happening at the national level, as well. The House wants $60,000,000,000 in cuts, but they want them all to come from discretionary spending, which amounts to a paltry 13% of the total budget. They won't touch Medicare, Soc Security or the military, which combined are the majority of the budget, but they will mercilessly cut funds for medical research for sick people and heating subsidies for poor people. They have no problem with corrupt military contractors using taxpayer money for $400 toilet seats, but heaven forbid some dying child should have access to medical research on the taxpayer dime.
It's almost impossible to fathom the total lack of normal human feeling in these people--sociopaths who lack basic empathy should not be making decisions that affect other people's lives.
He has proven to be another clueless Teabagger whose arrogance is matched only by his ignorance. Now that he has been exposed for the lowlife he is in that prank phone call, there is no way for him to walk it back. Because of his union-busting zeal, he is responsible for a state-level debt of more than $400K because he fired unionized workers while Executive of Milwaukee County and replaced them with nonunion folks from a Kabul-based company. An arbiter found that he overstepped his bounds, and now the fired workers are owed backpay. This instance that led to the protests is a direct result of giving deficit-increasing tax cuts to his rich cronies and expecting the unionized workers to pay for them. I also saw the show, and it was extremely heartening to see Kansans also standing up in support of the protesters.
From the looks of whichever Koch brother that was, I have to wonder what drugs he is using. Back when my friends and I didn't inhale, droopy eyes, swollen eyelids and blank smiles like those were...well, of course we didn't inhale. I mentioned that, didn't I?
I loved it when the Wis senator said last night walker wasn't listening or paying attention when his daddy was preaching. Some christians, they forget the bible says that it is more difficulte for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God than a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Jesus would have been for the poor, weak, defenseless, not the money grabbing, pocket stuffing greedy.
I just wonder where those union members were in November, 2010. I believe many abandoned the Democratic party or stayed home. That's how the great liberal senator Russ Feingold lost his seat and the statehouse went to a Teabagger. I hope this disaster sends a very strong message to union members and Democrats that they need to organize and get ready to vote in 2012 to reverse the trend towards the ultra-conservative right.
I'm with the unions all the way, but they have failed to stand up publicly for good candidates - and now we're all in the fight of our lives.
I was a union organizer back in the day. Back then, unions were very involved in politics and provided much needed bodies to go door-to-door and make phone calls for C.O.P.E.-selected candidates. We understood how important it was to elect people who were pro-union because the "other side" was determined to crush the labor movement. Fueled by the teabaggers, they are getting closer to achieving their goal.
http://tinyurl.com/45cqtyn (article from The Capitol Times in Madison WI today)
With any luck, the 'prank' phone call will be investigated for electoral-law violations, labor law violations, and ... ethics violations (doesn't that sound familiar?). Former state attorney general Peg Lautenschlager reviewed the tapes yesterday and noted these potential violations.
Also, pointed out by Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett (who had run on the Democratic ticket for Governor against Walker) was that not once during this phone call with the fake Koch did Walker mention the "budget deficit" in the state.
This coming Saturday is supposed to have a HUGE crowd ...
Yes, indeed!
ReplyDeleteRemember though that Lawrence, KS is perhaps the most liberal city in Kansas thanks to the University of Kansas. (Johnson County is the next most liberal - er, that's about it actually).
As a Kansan, I was very pleased to have fellow Kansans booing the Koch brothers out of Wichita!
So very please to hear Rachel remind people of the progressive past in Kansas because it wasn't until the pro-lifers moved in to Wichita (Operation Rescue from CA) that KS really became a center of backward thinking. We've always had conservatives in rural areas, but they never dominated to the extent they seem to now. However, that is changing!
That was a great show, a great tape! I've been trying to get to the Buffalo Beast website, but it's been down due to heavy traffic.
Gov. Walker is a college dropout, an idiot. Who attends college for four years, after receiving 94 credits, and then drops out? Old C-student Walker, that's who.
ReplyDeleteThe Koch Brothers, on the other hand, are MIT-trained engineers with master's degrees in engineering. They inherited wealth from their daddy, so they didn't even start from a level-playing field.
The Kochs are using a bunch of barely educated yahoos like Walker and Sarah Palin and teabaggers to advance their agenda.
Sarah and Becca are going to India!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/sarah-palin-india-trip_n_827388.html
How embarrassing for the United States to have her at a series of Global Leadership seminars.
She is going to present a speech called "My Vision of America."
Gag, chock, gag. She still plans on meeting Thatcher and going to Israel.
This woman has a monstrous ego, and is going to damage our country even more.
I love Rachel and the work she does, but her health is starting to concern me. She just does not look right. She looks like skinnier than ever; just a gaunt look to her face and cheeks.
ReplyDeleteI know she puts in incredibly long hours doing research and the like, but you can't sacrifice your health for that. She looks almost anorexic.
Eat regularly and get your sleep, Rachel. Please.
If you criticize the POTUS on foreign soil is that treason?
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter. Our local news barely covered it and never mentioned Koch's name
ReplyDeleteTake a walk Walker. You thought you were going to be the celebrated newbie Governor that was going to be the next conservative rock star - making Palin pale in comparison (what did she ever do again?)
ReplyDeleteWalker thought he was going to be invited by other State across the country to pump them up for similar measures after setting the stage to balance budgets in heartless and thug-like ways, by hurting the working and middle class. Place the burden of sacrifice on those that already do, not the wealthiest 10% of Americans and institutions.
Koch will spend money, millions of it in a second, as long as it isn't in taxes - they'll use their non-profits and Think Tanks to keep their taxes low and oversight limited. Paying off scuzzbuckets like Indiana Deputy AG Jeffrey Cox and Joe Miller are their charity with a huge payoff - detract attention to your amassing all refineries and asking the government to subsidize their assets.
Free Market baby, it's only for the richest of the country that wags the dogs like Scott Walker.
I'm with 2:50anonymous, though even in Lawrence we liberals fight uphill battles all the time. It was SO exciting to have RM in town and see familiar faces in the crowd behind her. She's brilliant and articulate and fair-minded . . . I just wish she was in office instead of in front of a camera.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 3:22 - Excellent post. Informative and well said.
ReplyDeleteWe don't even have proof that Sarah Palin ended up cobbling together enough credits from five different colleges to make a degree. Transferable credits are very hard to make.
There is nothing wrong with finding that college is not for you. Todd and Track discovered that very early on in their first quarters. Bristol doesn't even try. Mark Begich became Mayor of Anchorage's largest city without one and even onto our Jr. Senator in the U.S. Senate.
But Sarah. . .the School of (Pretend) Hard Knocks seems to be her only proof of 'critical thinking' skills.
Walker has awoken a sleeping giant, and it's about time. As a moderate I'm incensed over this issue. It's fundamentally wrong to take away worker rights when it comes to collective bargaining. Unions aren't the problem here, especially when they've stated that they'll accept Walker's wage and benefit cuts.
ReplyDeleteWalker is a corporate shill intent on breaking unions, nothing more.
Excellent
ReplyDeleteBest description I've read yet is from James Wolcott-
ReplyDelete"Just look at the photo of Walker accompanying the op-ed--that is the dumb, subservient-to-power junior executive look of a man who will never be more than a low-level prick on the national stage."
Someone with Walker's personality style is simply not going to back down. He is an egotistical authoritarian and his way goes, or else. Not sure how this will end reasonably unless he is given some sort of face-saving out. Maybe that's why WI decided to go ahead and vote on the bill today even though they don't legally have a quorum with the Dems gone. If enough state legislators vote it down, Walker can still say he tried but didn't get the support he needed. Or maybe they'll vote to pass it, illegally. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteThis same sort of irresponsible, mean-spirited and reckless 'budget cutting' is happening at the national level, as well. The House wants $60,000,000,000 in cuts, but they want them all to come from discretionary spending, which amounts to a paltry 13% of the total budget. They won't touch Medicare, Soc Security or the military, which combined are the majority of the budget, but they will mercilessly cut funds for medical research for sick people and heating subsidies for poor people. They have no problem with corrupt military contractors using taxpayer money for $400 toilet seats, but heaven forbid some dying child should have access to medical research on the taxpayer dime.
It's almost impossible to fathom the total lack of normal human feeling in these people--sociopaths who lack basic empathy should not be making decisions that affect other people's lives.
He has proven to be another clueless Teabagger whose arrogance is matched only by his ignorance. Now that he has been exposed for the lowlife he is in that prank phone call, there is no way for him to walk it back. Because of his union-busting zeal, he is responsible for a state-level debt of more than $400K because he fired unionized workers while Executive of Milwaukee County and replaced them with nonunion folks from a Kabul-based company. An arbiter found that he overstepped his bounds, and now the fired workers are owed backpay. This instance that led to the protests is a direct result of giving deficit-increasing tax cuts to his rich cronies and expecting the unionized workers to pay for them.
ReplyDeleteI also saw the show, and it was extremely heartening to see Kansans also standing up in support of the protesters.
@5:01 - then you have lousy TV coverage. Too bad, so sad.
ReplyDeleteFrom the looks of whichever Koch brother that was, I have to wonder what drugs he is using. Back when my friends and I didn't inhale, droopy eyes, swollen eyelids and blank smiles like those were...well, of course we didn't inhale. I mentioned that, didn't I?
ReplyDeleteI loved it when the Wis senator said last night walker wasn't listening or paying attention when his daddy was preaching. Some christians, they forget the bible says that it is more difficulte for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God than a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Jesus would have been for the poor, weak, defenseless, not the money grabbing, pocket stuffing greedy.
ReplyDeletethis just made my day. it doesnt matter if your republican or democrats...
ReplyDeletethey are attacking US.
rachel rocks my socks off and its lovely to see my felow americans standing up and speaking out. i, myself, am a lazy liberal.
but i am DYING to get out and start protesting. the tea party had their time...now its ours.
good for us.
I just wonder where those union members were in November, 2010. I believe many abandoned the Democratic party or stayed home. That's how the great liberal senator Russ Feingold lost his seat and the statehouse went to a Teabagger. I hope this disaster sends a very strong message to union members and Democrats that they need to organize and get ready to vote in 2012 to reverse the trend towards the ultra-conservative right.
ReplyDeleteI'm with the unions all the way, but they have failed to stand up publicly for good candidates - and now we're all in the fight of our lives.
I was a union organizer back in the day. Back then, unions were very involved in politics and provided much needed bodies to go door-to-door and make phone calls for C.O.P.E.-selected candidates. We understood how important it was to elect people who were pro-union because the "other side" was determined to crush the labor movement. Fueled by the teabaggers, they are getting closer to achieving their goal.
@5:01 - then you have lousy TV coverage. Too bad, so sad.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad since I live in WI and it is very important for everyone to know about, especially since it is a huge 3 hr morning show with all local news.
It is sad when all my neighbors have no idea what scum he is. I am going to write the tv station and complain.
That was me, by the way, a regular for years, not a troll. I filled out wrong circle. Sorry.
http://tinyurl.com/45cqtyn (article from The Capitol Times in Madison WI today)
ReplyDeleteWith any luck, the 'prank' phone call will be investigated for electoral-law violations, labor law violations, and ... ethics violations (doesn't that sound familiar?). Former state attorney general Peg Lautenschlager reviewed the tapes yesterday and noted these potential violations.
Also, pointed out by Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett (who had run on the Democratic ticket for Governor against Walker) was that not once during this phone call with the fake Koch did Walker mention the "budget deficit" in the state.
This coming Saturday is supposed to have a HUGE crowd ...