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| Image borrowed from Keith Olbermann's new FOK News Channel |
Looking over the wreckage of the 2008 elections, Tommy Thompson, the state’s former four-term GOP governor, reacted with amazement.
“I’m sort of shellshocked,” Thompson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The whole thing is blue! Wisconsin is the bluest of the blue!”
No one says that anymore.
After a midterm election that turned the state’s congressional delegation upside down and delivered the governor’s office and the state Legislature back to the GOP, Wisconsin Republicans are serving as the national party’s vanguard, spearheading the assault on the Democratic Party in both practice and spirit.
Thompson no longer laments the political direction of his home state.
“You have to understand, this is the biggest Republican victory the state of Wisconsin’s ever had,” Thompson told POLITICO in an interview. “It really has been a Republican year for Wisconsin and a Wisconsin year for Republicans.”
So now that the GOP has a little power to wield they have decided to start destroying the oppositions chances of taking back Wisconsin by destabilizing the unions and undermining their ability to organize voters for 2012. And this, they seem believe, is the GOP blueprint for gaining control of other states as well.
Of course that is not to say that the unions and progressives are giving up without a fight. In fact if this Flickr slide show is any indication their momentum is beginning to build to a level that the GOP may not have been prepared to deal with.
Oh and by the way, new GOP hero Scott Walker may have some serious problems of his own.
And if all of that was not enough to put a little worry into the Republican party, perhaps the knowledge that the battle has been joined by union supporters from as far away as Poland as well as by an unexpected, and rather powerful new participant might.
Dear Citizens of the United States of America,
It has come to our attention that the brothers, David and Charles Koch--the billionaire owners of Koch Industries--have long attempted to usurp American Democracy. Their actions to undermine the legitimate political process in Wisconsin are the final straw. Starting today we fight back.
Koch Industries, and oligarchs like them, have most recently started to manipulate the political agenda in Wisconsin. Governor Walker's union-busting budget plan contains a clause that went nearly un-noticed. This clause would allow the sale of publicly owned utility plants in Wisconsin to private parties (specifically, Koch Industries) at any price, no matter how low, without a public bidding process. The Koch's have helped to fuel the unrest in Wisconsin and the drive behind the bill to eliminate the collective bargaining power of unions in a bid to gain a monopoly over the state's power supplies.
The Koch brothers have made a science of fabricating 'grassroots' organizations and advertising campaigns to support them in an attempt to sway voters based on their falsehoods. Americans for Prosperity, Club for Growth and Citizens United are just a few of these organizations. In a world where corporate money has become the lifeblood of political influence, the labor unions are one of the few ways citizens have to fight against corporate greed. Anonymous cannot ignore the plight of the citizen-workers of Wisconsin, or the opportunity to fight for the people in America's broken political system. For these reasons, we feel that the Koch brothers threaten the United States democratic system and, by extension, all freedom-loving individuals everywhere. As such, we have no choice but to spread the word of the Koch brothers' political manipulation, their single-minded intent and the insidious truth of their actions in Wisconsin, for all to witness.
Anonymous hears the voice of the down trodden American people, whose rights and liberties are being systematically removed one by one, even when their own government refuses to listen or worse - is complicit in these attacks.
We are actively seeking vulnerabilities, but in the mean time we are calling for all supporters of true Democracy, and Freedom of The People, to boycott all Koch Industries' paper products. We welcome unions across the globe to join us in this boycott to show that you will not allow big business to dictate your freedom.
Anonymous.
So send your good thoughts and prayers toward Wisconsin my friends, because it appears that all of our futures may depend on the outcome of this battle between the forces for corporate America and the armies representing the every day REAL Americans.
