There has been a video going around that is not getting anywhere near the attention it deserves:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Tomtech & FalcoAmadeus both have diaries on it.
In it, Rep. Gordon Hintz goes Weiner on the state Republicans on the now infamous "Budget Repair Bill" in Wisconsin.
But at 2:57 in the video, a fact I haven't heard about elsewhere comes up in the debate:
We find out that there are $47 million of federal aid cuts, and my city writes to me and says "Yes, we will have to close our bus system."
As we all know, public transportation is used primarily by one segment of society; so we all know who this is targeted against. This isn't just about unions & labor. This is the face of austerity in America.
But the other facts in the video are even more troubling:
- Out of state D.C. lobbying firms spending money at will to promote the GOP agenda
- Representatives not even being told about the bill at all, let alone its contents, and having to find out about it from radio ads from Club for Growth.
- Then being told, while in the car, to show up at 5:00pm to vote on the mystery bill, only to find out that was a lie. The vote was intentionally held at 4:57pm, 3 minutes early, with the assumption that the Dems would not be able to cast "no" votes since they were not there.
- That this is the status quo in the WI legislature, no debate, no public disclosure, and preventing electing officials from doing their democratic duty & representing their objections to a bill they want no part of.