posters

I am constantly amazed not by who I see out protesting -over 70thousand satruday- but rather who is not out. People are busy, but this is a huge issue, and if it goes the wrong way thsi could be a disaster for our country.


Strangly, I find that the people who are least worried about this bill are generally from places where there is not a great private sector. If you were educated in the 43rd best state in the nation, you might not value excellent public schools.
This is the source of apathy for most people from out of state. I grew up in Washington, had a medium education, and I want to continue this state's tradition of excellence in education.


Hall of support; over 10,776 comments from moveon.org encouraging the protests.

Hall of shame,
lists each republican member of the senate and assembly and the amount of money contributed to them by the Koch Brothers corp. The Koch Brothers also funded the "prowalker" anti-protest last saturday, and they founded the Americans for Prosperity, a Tea Party group.
There is also a paper for each democratic assemblyman and senator thanking them for their actions.


Scott Walker threatened to layoff public employees is the Dems did not return from out of state and pass his Koch Brothers budget. There was been a significant cry from public employees saying that they want the Senators to stay away; they would rather a few lose their jobs than our whole state lose its integrity.

Please vote for Joanne Kloppenburg. Her opponent has openly stated that he supports "conservative causes" which here means rubber stamping the most right wing radical agenda our state has ever seen, destroying 50-125 years of a tradition of worker rights.

when I am surrounded by tea partiers trying to get me down, I remember that others have had it worse and have done better. I want this poster!

and of course, there is a cute harry potter reference;

thoughts on today's protest

this inspires me.
The protest here in Madison is not the Protest in the middle east, It is not Tahir Square. However, I am fighting for something that I believe in, and there is a some opposition to the movement; I do not like to be different, but I am not going to cave on this issue.

Also, with the kangaroo court we used to call congress, Our democratic senators are hiding out to try and stop or slow this crazy bill that is being railroaded through.

I can march for a few hours in 12 degree weather. I can be unapologetic about my own beliefs and stand up for what I believe - especially when it is not popular. I can associate with the opposition, try and convince them, and just not go away. Others have done more, I can do more.

1 percent of the state was at the capitol today.
Here is a great song.

me in the media!

I appeared in a pro-scott walker add! I was at the protest, and at 8 seconds, as the announcer is talking about "being flooded with out of state protesters" I am on the far right. You can only see my sleeping bag, but that is definately me!

I hate the assertion that the protesters are from out of state.

BTW, there is also a rumor that most of the tea partiers were not from Wisconsin, so the allegation is on both sides. However, the difference is that in the Assmebly debate, a republican assemblyman stood up and made the accusation that we were not from Wisconsin. Lying on the public record is a more serious matter.

One of the assembly democrats defended us, he said "they are from wisconsin, they are all from here; and they aren't here because they like to sleep on the floor or smell bad or bang on drums, they are here because they are scared about their future and the future of their state."
I don't mind a debate, a heated debate, even ultimately being defeated is fine if it is done correctly. (which was NOT the story in the assembly this morning, but that is another issue)
I am very offended by the lies being told about me in the media and by governor and the Wisconsin Republican party.

b

there may be hope afterall....

Early this morning, In the Wisconsin state assembly, the republican speaker called for a very short surprise roll call vote. The Budget repair bill was passed in a short -43 second- roll call vote, after which the republicans fled the building.
2 Republicans and 1 Independent did not vote for the bill. Was this because, like the 13 democrats who didn't vote they did not have time? probably not; by all reports, and the footage I have seen, they were all near enough to their seats.
This means that some of them were not comfortable with using semi-legal tactics to get their vote through.

This was not the first attempt at passing this thing behind the backs of Democrats, I was attending the assembly earlier, when a roll call vote was quickly called. The minority speaker, Peter Barca shouted out the rule that was being broken, and then moved to remove the speaker. The vote to remove the speaker was 33-63, so at least 4 Democrats did not vote to remove him. The Dems who spoke beleived that he called the vote not because he thought it would work, but because he wanted to incite the masses of people gathered outside watching the proceedings on TVs.

After witnessing hours of republican/democrat straight party line votes, I am so glad that a few Republicans were willing to not vote for this bill in this way.

Perhaps all is not lost.

I used to have respect for republicans.

I just sat in on the Assembly last night, and I now have no respect for our assembly republicans. The Dems introduced a lot of amendments to the state budget 'repair' bill yesterday, and now, 47 hours later, they are going through the process of defending their amendments and then having the republicans vote them down.

I listened to amendments 45-57, they were each proposals to exempt the prison guards at various institutions from the state worker ban on collective bargaining.
The democrats talked about each institution, someone who had actually visited the site talked about its unique needs and the neccessary safety and staffing considerations. The prison guards would not be guaranteed a method of ensuring their own safety without collective bargaining rights. The administration at each site could change the staffing ratios, eliminate training, put workers in dangerous situations.
The inmates would suffer from this as well. Prison inmates generally eventually return to the population. If they are not given good care, treatment, and training while incarcerated, then they will be more likely to reoffend, return to prison, and end up costing the state even more money.
I sat there for 2 hours, listening to assembly men and women talk passionately about their prisons, and the prisonguards who run them, then the giggling, teetering republicans voted unanimously to table every ammendment.

I used to have respect for these people. This is not funny, it is not a game, Scott Walker thinks that he can use our state as his launch pad into tea party valhalla, but he is wrong. I will do everything in my power to bring him down. I will camp out at the capitol, I will protest his sponsors, I will write letters, I will get arrested if the Assembly Dems think it will help -I offered, and they told me not to-
I will work night and day everyday to ensure that the whole state and the whole nation knows the truth about the crimes being committed here against the citizens of Wisconsin. These assemblymen will not be re elected. Their names are on this bill, they are also to blame for it; I have witnessed their crimes and they must be accountable.

If the budget 'repair' bill passes, the next step is a general strike.

nonviolence training

I got to attend some nonviolence training, It was very straight forward, know when to walk away, avoid confrontation, etc. I also learned about how to avoid getting arrested, and how to avoid being arrested, as well as the pro's and cons of each.

I also got to write the phone number of the ACLU on my arm. In a different discussion I was warned that the large numbers of police that were patrolling the capitol were friendly, but they obeyed orders, and "they are not here to serve you lunch".

Also, at another meeting, the people were encouraged to bring their "less granola-y friends" to improve the presentation of the protesters.

links to protest stuff

I had an excellent12th grade history class, (Thank you Mr. Lynch!) In that class I first learned about the struggle for workers' rights in this country. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, was an expose on the meat packing companies of its day.
The struggle for workers' rights is real, it is long, and it was been a hard fight. Effectively removing them is also turning into a hard fight.

One more reason to love Kenn Lonnquist,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGc46S7el3U&feature=related

Saturday evening Representative Jorgensen talked about the history of labor in this state. He cosponsored with republicans, a labor in the classroom bill a while back.

He pointed me to this incident, back in 1886 in Milwaukee.
this is a link to an article about the bay view roller mill disaster of 1886, a crowd was protesting to get the 8 hour workday, and The State Militia fired on the unarmed crowd killing 7 people.

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=935


I should also mention that Representative Janet Bewley Stayed up until 1am hearing testimony. Thank you Representative Bewley!

Protest Pictures

Every protest needs a pipe and drums group. This one led the Firefighters' Union. They were excluded from the no collective bargaining proposal in the State Budget Bill, but they showed their support and showed up en mass. They paraded through the Capitol Building and the crowd went wild. The Police union also supported the demonstration; they also showed in large numbers, but they didn't have any bagpipes, so they they were less memorable.


A sub theme of the signs was "anti-tea party" The tea party held a counter demonstration on the opposite side of the square, but it was a significantly smaller than the main protest. There were visible "peace marshalls" around, and lots of reminders that we were having a nonviolent protest. Organizers feared that the larger crowds in addition to the Tea Party would lead to conflict. We were also warned that they may have weapons. The police stood by and asked everyone to not carry weapons into the captiol- this was not an issue any other day of the week.

As far as I could tell, the Tea party was a sad minority. There weren't many taunts, more like "hey come join us!"

There seems to be lots of overlap between the working class republican base and people who support the right for unions to exist.

Fox 'News' was even offering Tea Partiers a free lunch, of course they had to show an ID. Teapartiers like to require ID. Oh well, I shouldn't mock the uppermiddle class white conservative minorty.

I had originally intended to protest Sarah Palin, ("refudiate this Bill!" and "Do anti-intellectuals support walker? You betcha!" -with a picture of Palin) but She will embarrass herself without my help. Plus, while jogging around the square I was hearing snatches of the Tea Party speaker, and felt my commitment to nonviolence beginning to wan.




More Cowbell Less Walker...



This is the scene in the middle of the Rotunda, and this has been kept up day and night for 5 days.



I love the popular culture references! I actually saw 2 gandolf signs.

These people are so creative! I also saw one that read "Hey Walker, why can't we be friends with benefits?" and a "Stop the Imperial Walker"


Some crazy lady was running laps around the square form 5am until about 8, then she took a break and did more! She must have done like 20 miles.
Protesting + exercising = protestercising (Martin came up with this word mash-up!)

The State motto is "Forward", this statue is The Lady Forward, and here she is blindfolded. I think I might try to be her for halloween this year.

protest at the capitol

Today we braved the crowds, and went to check out the protest at the capitol. We had to walk at least a mile to get there, because the 25,000 other protestors were using most of the parking spaces.


Inside the capitol rotunda, it is packed. All 3 levels are filled with people. Everyone is polite. I had to chase my kids through a very dense group, and everyone gave way, I am so impressed with how gracious everyone was- I guess since they are 75% teachers, they nice as a rule.

Here we are with some of the best teachers from our school, some of these people had been at the capitol 10 or 12 hours a day, for three days, picketing against Gov. Scott Walker's Budget Repair bill.

This bill would, among other things, take away the right of public employees to engage in collective bargaining. Pretty much, it would outlaw unions. It also cuts funding of lots of arts and music in the schools, cuts finding to special education, and lots of other things. The budget needs to be repaired, but this is not the way to do it.

Maddie colored her sign herself. Martin used a sign from one of his teachers.

Reed was pretty happy watching the crowds. There were lots of drummers, musicians, and chanting. There was even some singing- public singing is a rare thing these days! It was fun to do; and really brought us to a correct mindset.

Maddie was in the background for a CNN broadcast!!
(middle front; red pants)

There were lots of people protesting different elements of the budget repair bill. This couple is protesting cuts to special education funding.


As fun as visiting the protest was, it is real work for the teachers and union employees who are picketing 24 hours a day. These are real public employees who are looking to protect their own rights. This is a serious issue, and I hope that some of our republican wisconsinites will reconsider their position on this bill.

political action!

Governor Walker has recently proposed removing collective bargaining rights for all Wisconsin State employees. This includes the Teachers' Union. The Madison School district is taking a day or two off to protest this, and I am in support of their actions.

I cannot, with 4 children, brave the capitol square to join in the protest, but I can have my children write letters. Also, letter writing is an educational activity.

I explained the situation as basically being "The teachers do not think that this is a fair way to be treated, so they are protesting" My kids understand the basics, and have been writing and drawing pictures.

Some may criticize this as using my kids to echo my own political ideas, but just by being my kids they are exposed to me and my influence. Which they will probably eventually adopt as their own until they are mature enough to either embrace or reject my ideas for their own.

Plus, many adults get involved in politics without more than a child's understanding of the issues. Many right wing republican/ libertarian commentators act like children, so why should actual children be left behind?!

If you wish to write letters to our governor, here is his address;

Office of Governor Scott Walker
115 East Capitol
Madison WI 53702

snow!

We had a real blizzard this week! 30 mph wind and 11 inches of snow. We got great giant drifts all over our yard. Everyone had a snow day. Reed has really enjoyed the snow. He asks to go out and cries when we don't take him outside with us. He likes to walk around while we shovel snow or sit and throw little snow balls.

Maddie hollowed out a drift to make herself a snow cave. She also buried herself in snow.


We shoveled out trails through the drifts so we can walk around the yard.
Everyone loved playing in the snow. Benjamin and I shoveled the driveway for 2 hrs each. Benjamin liked getting some exercise and skipping work. The kids made sled routes out of the drifts, and are planning on turning some of the larger piles of snow into snow caves once they freeze overnight. If we succeed we will post the results.