Since you two live in the two states that are most in the news for Governors Gone Wild (thanks for that btw; my state elected a convicted Medicare defrauder and there's nary a peep about his crooked ass), I was wondering what you two think about what's happening in your home states.
Whiskey has four petitions already submitted to have recall elections for GOP senators. Meatchicken is moving forward with the recall for the governor.
What do you guys think about these activities?
Do you think these recently elected Republicans are going above and beyond all good sense in trying to crush collective bargaining at the behest of their corporate overlords (left spin)?
Do you think they're merely pushing sound fiscal policy exactly as they promised during their elections (right spin)?
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
Overall I think the plan wasn't thought out very well on Gov. Walker's part. Our state has debt as do all states. What he did will probably work to reduce our debt but there are better methods available. He had to address congress recently about what he did and he was sitting along side the Governor from New Hampshire I think (one of those NE states) and that state had twice the debt we did but they were able to come to a viable plan without all the crap that Walker did.
While this plan will probably work I think it will be a long long time before a Republican gets elected as Governor in our state again. Cutting $900 Million from Education really doesn't make sense.
I'm not sure how serious the bid to recall Snyder is. The movement started (and petition filed) in Washtenaw County, home of Ann Arbor (which is probably the most liberal city in the whole state). He's made some pretty f'ed up decisions, most notable is the law that allows him to appoint an Emergency Financial Manager that can come into a city and void union contracts and replace locally-elected officials. That seems sort of un-democratic to me.
For the record, I voted for Snyder, assuming he wasn't trying to turn the state into a dictatorship. I don't yet know if I would support a recall or not, I haven't really been personally affected by any of his decisions and I'm kind of waiting to see how any of this works in practice. He sure sold himself during his campaign as a government outsider who had the business acumen to come in and turn the state around, and for now I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt. If jobs are created and the economy turns around, he'll have my support. I'm an optimist though, perhaps I'm being naive.
I think it would take at least a million votes to get him recalled, hard to say whether or not that can happen. Michigan is a HUGE union state, if the UAW (et al) are pissed enough at him, I guess it's possible.
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Sylvus wrote:He sure sold himself during his campaign as a government outsider who had the business acumen to come in and turn the state around, and for now I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt. If jobs are created and the economy turns around, he'll have my support.
That's been my big split from the RNC, they campaign under that heading, and once in office entirely miss the fact that the govt is at it's core a non-profit public service agency. Not something to benefit your cronies and "trickle down" on everyone else.
"Life is what happens while you're making plans for later."
The purpose of business is to make the owners rich. States should really not be run that way.
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
Kasich has basically done the same thing in Ohio. I am not entirely opposed to the approach they are taking with giving the unions a bit of a beating. Unions 50 years ago were needed to give the workers a fair shake....now they are wasting a lot of money with stupid shit.
I would love to see the next target being the top end employees of publicly traded companies and their ridiculous salaries. I have always said that they should be personally and fiscally liable for stocks falling in their companies with what they are takign as compensation.
Kilmoll the Sexy wrote:...Unions 50 years ago were needed to give the workers a fair shake....now they are wasting a lot of money with stupid shit.
You've got to go farther back, 100-150 years. Unions 50 years ago were a major contributor to the position US heavy industry is in now. Can see them becoming needed again myself, though not in their current incarnation.
One of unions where I work was threatening to strike for pay a few years back; at the time we quite literally didn't have the cash on hand to get the grass cut.
Unions for govt workers still have their uses, likely more-so than other segments. It's their only real defense against overzealous politicians like those this thread is about. They're the folks that make our govt work year in, year out as administrations and military commanders rotate through.
WalMart is a one of the more visible examples of how to treat employees if you're looking for labor unrest.
"Life is what happens while you're making plans for later."
Most public sector unions are necessary because the business their members work for is essentially a monopoly. It's not like if a teacher gets fired they can just go work at the school next door. Those folks need a union to make sure that decent workers aren't let go at the whim of management.
That being said, I don't think expecting public-sector employees to have performance evaluations is too much to ask. They do, after all, work on the public dime.
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
One of the biggest things a tenured teacher gained (note the tense) in FL was the right to contest firing\discipline. I don't disagree in theory with what Rick Scott (Skeletor) has done to our teachers, in my county it will work out OK as they began the groundwork for such a system 10 years ago. The rest of the state? They might as well have put up a "not hiring" sign.
"Life is what happens while you're making plans for later."
One positive thing I have found about what Walker had done is made it so that teachers who should no longer be teachers are being forced to retire or are getting fired.
I thought about being a history teacher for a while when I was in college. Once you learn the information, not much is going to change. That or a 3rd grade teacher because I totally understand Long Division!
Bubba Grizz wrote:I thought about being a history teacher for a while when I was in college. Once you learn the information, not much is going to change.
Clearly you don't subscribe to the Bachman/Huckabee version of history!
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
So it looks like NINE senators are going to face recall elections in Whiskey. 6 repubs and 3 dems (1 of whom is from Green Bay).
What do you think of Dave Hansen, Bubba? How do you think the recalls will shake out?
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
