From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Mainers [Heart] Madison
Oh, yeah. We're watching. A few snips from last weekend's letters in The Maine Sunday Telegram, that this morning seem positively Nostradamusian:
Just how does destroying collective bargaining balance a budget? The governor of Wisconsin is clearly attempting to push through his anti-union/anti-middle-class agenda under the very thin guise of "balancing a budget."
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State workers unions in Wisconsin did agree to Gov. Scott Walker's cuts. … Walker seeks to essentially divest the unions by removing collective bargaining rights for select employee unions. This is the reason their protests are taking place, not because of proposed cuts. And, Walker's attack on collective bargaining rights will not improve Wisconsin's financial matters.
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Public employees and their unions did not cause the financial mess we are in; Wall Street banks, corrupt mortgage brokers and the inattention of government regulators did. But that fact doesn't support the union-busting campaign, now does it?
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I am so optimistic seeing the thousands and thousands willing to fight for their rights and speak up. Are we willing to show that same zest here in Maine when the fight comes to us? … I hope the smart people of Maine have the same commonsense passion as the Wisconsin constituents sleeping in the Capitol have shown.
Make no mistake: our governor is coming after unions, too. And he has a very clear reason for doing it: like Scott Walker, he's a dick.
Meanwhile, progressive Mainers continue to stand in solidarity with those in Wisconsin. If there's a silver lining to what happened last night it's this: it's quite possible that Republicans just slit their own political throats.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, March 10, 2011
Note: I shall only agree to lead this people-powered democracy if I can have unfettered power over everyone. Think it over. You know where to find me.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Daylight Saving Time Starts: 3
Days `til the Savannah Music Festival: 14
Percent of U.S. parents who rank bullying as the #1 fear for their children: 30%
(Source: Harper's Index)
Number of counties in Kansas: 105
Number of Kansas counties in which the population dropped between 2000 and 2010: 77
(Source: Census data via USA Today)
Date of the highest wind gust on record---231mph---which was recorded at the summit of Mount Washington: 4/12/34
(Source: AAA)
Factor by which perfect "300" bowling games have increased since 1970, due to improvements in balls and lanes: 59
(Source: Time)
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
He has been admonished three times by the House Ethics Committee, so did he clean up his act? Nope, he went after the chairman of the ethics committee, threw him out, got the rules changed and then stacked the committee with his close allies. "The ethics process in the House of Representatives is in total shambles," said Fred Wertheimer, a longtime D.C. crusader on ethical issues.
I haven't even mentioned [Tom] DeLay's apparent violation of Texas campaign finance law, quite a feat, since we only have the one. Or the whole nasty and absurd redistricting mess, or the dubious donations to his legal defense fund, or the Indian casino gambling saga, or, or, or. […] This guy smells like a slop jar. Get him out of there.
---March, 2005
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Saved!
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JEERS to living up to your reputation. Republicans in Wisconsin are, strictly speaking on the evidence available, assholes of a magnitude not seen in a very very long time. Proof is not only in the bill they rammed through last night (illegally, we hear), but also in what they promised 17 days ago:
Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he will not attempt to pass any portions of the bill without Democrats present. The Senate is meeting Tuesday to take up other measures, such as a resolution commending the Green Bay Packers on winning the Super Bowl.
Nice, huh. There's obviously a lot to digest this morning. Keep your eye on the diaries for updates. There will be fallout from this, and my hunch is it'll be as if the Wisconsin GOP cut the rope holding the piano that was dangling over their own heads. As Wile E. Coyote will tell you, that never ends well.
CHEERS to on-time arrivals. I know they figure all this stuff out with slide rules and abacuses ahead of time, but it still floors me how NASA can bring down a Space Shuttle with such perfect timing. Yesterday the Discovery touched down with pinpoint precision, successfully capping an amazing career:
Reflection mixed with celebration today at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after space shuttle Discovery completed the last of its 39 missions into orbit with a flawless return to Earth and landing at Kennedy. Before people could get too nostalgic, though, Space Shuttle Program officials quickly noted that the agency is working toward two more shuttle missions with Endeavour and Atlantis.
Discovery will spend its retirement between a cozy birth at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and a condo in Boca, where it will spend winters playing golf with its spouse, the retired B-52.
JEERS to cutting and running. Okay, let's unpack this sucker: yesterday the CEO of NPR was pushed out the door because one of her executives---who was on his way out the door already---said (via hidden "gotcha" cam) that the tea party is a collection of hard-right Republicans with serious anti-Muslim leanings. His opinion, of course, is looney because there's not one shred of evidence to support his view. And in other news, a hard-right tea party-backed Republican congressman is holding hearings today with serious anti-Muslim leanings. So, y'know, thank god NPR got rid of that insensitive anti-tea-party rube and his made-up stories. Oh, and just for the record:
[T]errorism by Muslim Americans has only accounted for a minority of terror plots since 9/11. Since the attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, Muslims have been involved in 45 domestic terrorist plots. Meanwhile, non-Muslims have been involved in 80 terrorist plots.
Yeah, but being scared of non-Muslim terrorists just isn’t as satisfying. For that perfect icy-all-over feeling of doom, only the brown people will do.
CHEERS to reaching out and touching someone. 5 Exeter Place. Boston, Massachusetts. March 10, 1876. Thomas Watson receives the first telephone call. On the other end: Alexander Graham Bell. On Watson's next credit card statement: five magazine subscriptions, a life insurance policy and a set of Miracle Blades.
JEERS to the excuse to end all excuses. According to Newt Gingrich, wrapping yourself in your mistress is the same thing as wrapping yourself in the American flag. Newt, you'll recall, cheated on no fewer than two spouses, one of them while suffering in the hospital with cancer. When asked about it on the Christian Bamboozle Network, The Pasty One said that his philandering was the ultimate act of patriotism. Yes, he loves his country so much that he's willing to put all his brainpower into it, leaving none left over for things like, oh, morality and those pesky Ten Commandments that he clings to. But if he's serious about going after the presidency, he's gonna have to step up his game. If he can't carve out some extra time to steal walkers from the elderly and rob some inner-city food pantries, then he's nothing but a a poseur patriot. The world is watching, old man.
CHEERS to sparing us the agony. Due to a media blackout fueled by the fact that he says extraordinarily stupid things, no one was able to hear a thing George W. Bush said when he spoke Tuesday at a town hall event in California. And on behalf of a grateful nation and its eardrums, we thank ye for the embargo.
JEERS to Scott Walkers of yore. On March 10, 1629---it seems like only yesterday, dun'it?---England’s King Charles I dissolved Parliament. Innocent mistake, really. He thought he was opening the fridge for some chilled kippers and it turned out to be the Ark of the Covenant. Silly Brits.
JEERS to unserious people doing unserious things. Once upon a time the United States Senate decided it needed to make a bunch of budget cuts that would hurt poor people so that rich people could enjoy their extended tax breaks. The Republicans came up with a plan, but it was too big. The Democrats came up with a plan, but it was too small. So they torpedoed 'em both, pointed fingers, slung mud, went back to their corners and left the people's business unfinished. But later that evening, the rich people swooned over the beluga caviar, which was juuuuuust right. The End.
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Five years ago in C&J: March 10, 2006
JEERS to the NEW, IMPROVED AMERICA! Thanks to the Republicoward party, here's how the FISA law works now:
Step 1: The president can spy on you for any reason without a warrant for 45 days.
Step 2: After 45 days, the president will request an extension.
Step 3: Republican lapdog Senators will authorize the president to keep spying on you.
Step 4: Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 until you're safely tucked away in a nursing home where the maximum damage you can inflict on the homeland is drooling on an orderly.
Coming soon is Step 5: Throw the bums out in November and abolish steps 1 through 4.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the original plastic diva. 52 years ago, the Barbie doll made its debut at the American Toy Fair in New York. Today she's a billion-plus-dollar-a-year industry. But not everyone embraces the embodiment of our country's obsession with youth and beauty. In Shanghai, the Barbie store is closing due to lack of interest. Shame on you, China! That's just downright un-American.
Have a thoracic Thursday…chest for the hell of it. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"Oh! Oh! OMG! Oh yes! Cheers and Jeers just gave me an Orgasm!"
---Jill Richardson
3/8/11
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