Edward Peter Djerejian, former US ambassador to Syria and Israel, talks to Al Jazeera about the US position on the unrest in Libya.
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Click here to view this media Here’s some hopeful news in Ohio. As Dave Dayden noted , with the protests spreading to other states with these union busting bills being pushed through, it’s possible they’re doing some good. Wisconsin remains the main battleground for the broader assault on worker’s rights. But elsewhere in the Big Ten states and across the country, these battles have moved forward. In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich is pushing pretty much the exact same bill as Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Known as SB 5, the bill would strip collective bargaining rights from Ohio public employees. SB 5 is a piece of legislation, so Kasich isn’t trying to implement this under the cover of a budget bill. However, he has said that if he doesn’t get what he wants out of SB 5, he will put those items into the next budget bill . Alternatively, this could go to the ballot. So SB 5 won’t be the last showdown. The Governor, aping Scott Walker, claims this is a fiscal issue , but nobody can explain how much money SB 5 would save. Senate Republicans may not have the votes to get SB 5 out of committee (unless they work out a deal.) : Yesterday, we wrote about the Columbus Dispatch ’s story that indicated that there are seven Republican Senators on the fence on SB 7, enough that if they don’t support the bill could defeat it. Well, I failed to note another key aspect. If the GOP doesn’t get these members on board, they may not even be able to pass SB 5 out of committee . The Republicans have an 8-4 majority on the Senate Insurance, Commerce, and Labor Committee . However, three of the Republicans on the Committee are Senators Bill Seitz, Bill Beagle, and Jim Hughes. These just happen to be three of the seven Senators the Dispatch identified as saying that SB 5, as it currently stands, goes too far and they are on the fence over supporting. So if the GOP cannot get one of these three on board (either by partisan arm twisting or amending the bill), the GOP doesn’t have the votes to approve the bill out of committee. Ohio Governor Kasich appeared on CNN tonight and is still trying to claim that SB5 is not really about busting the unions. Uh huh. Sure it’s not. As Robert Reich wrote yesterday , this is part of an organized strategy by the GOP to destroy what’s left of the middle class. Ohio governor says collective barganing bill not meant to kill unions : Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Monday proposed curbs on the collective-bargaining rights for public employees in the state is to “restore some balance to the system,” not destroy unions. “It’s right for them to be able to negotiate their own salary,” Kasich said in an interview with CNN, “but we need to let managers be able to determine things like keeping the pension systems healthy, making sure that that the costs related to health care are consistent with private sector workers.” The Ohio General Assembly is a considering a proposal similar to legislation introduced by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin that would roll back collective-bargaining rights for public employees, including teachers. The Ohio proposal was was introduced by a Republican state senator. Like Walker’s bill, the Ohio measure has generated protests from public employees’ unions in that state. Senate Bill 5 would eliminate tenure as a consideration in deciding who gets laid off. It would also require employees to pay 20% of their health insurance premiums and implement merit-based pay for some government workers. Critics of the legislation say the bill not only undercuts workers’ rights, it also fails to address systemic deficit problems. The bill drew crowds of protesters to the state capitol lin Columbus ast week to demonstrate against it.
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The Libyan leader blames foreign powers for the current unrest in his country and says the protesters are on hallucinogenic drugs. This video includes the first 20 minutes of his more than one hour long speech broadcast on state television.
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enlarge My homeboy Roy Edroso has an outstanding job of rounding up the rightblogger reaction to the teachers’ protests in Wisconsin. You’ll never believe it but… they really hate the teachers ! It’s totally shocking, I know. What I’ve found most amusing about the rightblogger critique is that they’re trying to frame the teachers as “greedy.” These are the same folks, after all, who have told us since Reagan that greed was good! But apparently greed is only good for people doing useful things like trading housing derivatives and not good for people who do useless things like teaching our kids math. Here’s John Hinderaker with a typically insane argument: It is infuriating to see our President weighing in on behalf of overpaid, underworked and greedy members of public employee unions. They are among the more privileged members of our society, but, as full partners in the Democrats’ scheme to suck up ever more money even if it bankrupts the country, they have Obama’s complete support. Riiiiight, the people who take home an average of just under $50,000 a year in pay are the “privileged” members of our society. But say, let’s go back to early 2009 when it was revealed that AIG — you know, that little company that received $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money — planned to pay people in its financial products division a whopping $218 million in bonuses. Let’s see what Mr. Hinderaker had to say about that : As I explained on Bill Bennett’s radio show this morning, I don’t think there is anything wrong with the AIG bonuses, and the people who got them should keep them. And in fact, the rightblogger reaction to bailed-out AIG traders who receiving multimillion-dollar bonuses was indeed somewhat different from their reactions to the “greedy” teachers! Can you believe it? Let’s go down the list. Here’s the Ole Perfesser : Better hope [the horribly oppressed AIG traders ] don’t “go John Galt.” Protein Wisdom : If [tax on the AIG bonuses] passes, its death knell. If Congress suddenly discovers that it can take away money that they decide that someone doesn’t deserve, if we let them get away with that, there’ll be no stopping them. Red State : The people getting the bonuses are the people who stayed on or came aboard to clean up the mess in exchange for a healthy bonus for success. Succeed they did, reducing net liability from $2.6 trillion in August (when the bonus program was initiated) to about $1.7 trillion in February – saving the taxpayers almost a trillion dollars of potential liability. For this, they earned a bonus of a little over .02% of the amount saved, as their contracts specified. For this great service, we should be thanking them, not allowing ignorant Congressmen to release their home addresses and family members’ names so their barbaric minions can harass them. Do you see the difference? Living high off the taxpayer teet is all well and good if you’re one of our Productive Corporate Overlords. But if you think you deserve to have good health insurance just because you do something silly like teach children to read? Pfffft, get real hippie!
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In a lengthy televised address, Muammar Gaddafi variously blamed the media, the US, the UK, Italy and hallucinogenic drugs forced on young protesters for causing the trouble in his country. The Libyan leader tried his hardest to appeal to anti-colonialist sentiment in the country but behind all the anger there seemed to be one key message – he has created Libya, and will never leave. But pressure on Gaddafi is mounting. Several major cities across Libya are under the control of the opposition and the deadly crackdown on protesters seems to have been hardening the popular resolve. Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee reports.
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Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu views Egypt-approved manoeuvre ‘with utmost gravity’ Two Iranian warships have crossed the Suez canal en route to Syria, in a move that Israel said it viewed with the “utmost gravity”. The naval frigate and a supply ship entered the canal at 5.45am after receiving approval from the Egyptian authorities. It was the first time Iranian naval vessels have passed through the strategically important waterway since before the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979. There was no immediate reaction from the Israeli government, but the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told his cabinet on Sunday that Iran was trying to exploit instability across the region. “I think that today, we can see what an unstable region we live in, a region in which Iran tries to exploit the situation that has been created in order to expand its influence by passing warships through the Suez canal,” he said. “Israel views this Iranian move with utmost gravity and this step, like other steps and developments, underscores what I have reiterated in recent years – Israel’s security needs will grow and the defence budget must grow accordingly.” Last week, Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, described the Iranian move as a “provocation that proves that the self-confidence and impudence of the Iranians is growing from day to day … Regrettably the international community shows no willingness to deal with these repeated Iranian provocations.” Israel, he said, could not ignore such provocations forever. The ships took about 10 hours to complete the 120-mile passage from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. They will pass along Israel’s coast on their way to take part in a training exercise with Iran’s close ally Syria. Israel is deeply concerned about the implications of mounting unrest across the Middle East and fears the fall of the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could jeopardise the 31-year-old peace treaty between the two countries. “The peace treaty [between Israel and Egypt] was the most important factor for stability in the Middle East – and stability is the key thing,” said Ilan Mizrahi, a former head of Israel’s national security council. Egypt, he said, “in the short term will be another point of instability” alongside Iran, Lebanon and Gaza. Israel is also alarmed that the tumult sweeping the Arab world and Middle East has diverted international attention away from diplomatic efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear programme. Under international law, only ships from countries at war with Egypt are barred from passing through the Suez canal. But military ships need prior permission from Egypt’s defence and foreign ministries. Israel Iran Egypt Binyamin Netanyahu Syria Middle East Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media While the Democratic Senators filibuster Governor Scott Walker’s budget bill, the state Assembly is debating it. Tell me this Representative isn’t expressing the anger most of us feel at the concerted effort of newly-elected right wing lawmakers to smash every value we hold dear, without debate. I hope Mr. Hintz takes blood pressure medication, because I have to believe it was off the charts while he was giving his speech. Unfortunately, there’s no transcript available for this, but a transcript would not give you the full sense of how outraged this man is over how he was notified of the bill and how Republicans are steamrolling Democrats. It’s quite cathartic to watch.
Continue reading …CBS’s Wragge Frets: ‘Should Unions Be on Alert All Around the Country?’
February 22, 2011 No Comment
In an interview with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee on Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge worried about the fallout from budget cutting in Wisconsin: “It seems to look like this governor [Scott Walker] is trying to basically break unions and that other states may then follow suit. Is this – should unions be on alert all around the country?” Huckabee pointed out: “I think unions have to get realistic. They can't expect to pay $1 in and get $57 from the state as a pension match. Nobody else gets that.” Earlier, Wragge expressed skepticism of Governor's Walker's handling of the issue: “…what you've seen…with the workers and the unions versus Governor Scott Walker and the teacher sick outs, do you think this was handled the best way it possibly could have been?” Huckabee defended Walker: “I think he's got to call attention to the fact that this is a serious issue….You can't borrow money that you can't afford to pay back.” In an interview with Walker on Friday , Wragge similarly portrayed the Governor's proposal to curb state spending on benefits for some public workers as a union-busting move: “You understand their position with some of the state workers, saying you're essentially taking away their voice by trying to break these unions. You understand that, correct?” On Tuesday, in addition to discussing the budget showdown in Wisconsin, Wragge asked Huckabee about the possibility of a government shutdown in Washington over the federal budget: “Four working days for Congress to come up with something or it looks like there will be a government shutdown. Which is something that, I think, scares a lot people when they here that. It didn't work well for the Republicans back in '95-'96, could this impact them adversely if it were to happen again down the road?” Huckabee responded: “It's a very different environment this time…. there, again, has to be, at some point, a reckoning with reality….we've got a government that just continues to dig, even though they're in an incredible debt hole.” Wragge wondered: “Do you think this is something that happens or is it a lot more rhetoric?” Huckabee explained: “I think it could happen. And maybe it has to, because sometime, either now or later, the government's going to shut down, either from bankruptcy in the future or from a targeted effect to try get someone's attention that we're overspending and not managing at all.” Huckabee was on the show to promote his new book, A Simple Government. Following the discussion of a potential government shutdown, Wragge mocked the book's premise of manageable limited government: “Your book…is this your first foray into fiction?” Huckabee shot back: “…this book is written in such a simple way that even members of Congress can understand it and that's what I want to do with this book.” Here is a full transcript of the February 22 interview: 7:00AM ET TEASE: ERICA HILL: And government shutdown. As the possibility looms large, the battle over budget cuts and spending reaches a fever pitch. So can Republicans and Democrats come to a compromise? We'll talk to one of the possible contenders for the 2012 GOP nomination, former Governor Mike Huckabee in a live studio interview. 7:17AM ET TEASE: CHRIS WRAGGE: Coming up here on the Early Show, from the budget battles in Wisconsin and DC to running for President in 2012, Mike Huckabee is live in our studio to talk about politics and his new book. 7:21AM ET TEASE: HILL: Seems to be a little bit of a game of political chicken in Wisconsin and in Washington this morning, Republicans and Democrats at odds over unions, and of course, balancing the budget. WRAGGE: In DC, if the two sides don't come together soon, the government could shut down, just like it did back in 1995. And former Governor Mike Huckabee is live in our studio this morning. We're going to ask him about how he'd handle both situations if – of course if he's planning to run for president in 2012. We'll be right back with that and more here on the Early Show. 7:30AM ET TEASE: HILL: Two big issues coming to a head very soon. The budget crisis in Washington, which could lead to a government shutdown, and of course that union showdown that we're following in Wisconsin, which could have a ripple effect across the country. Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee is live in our studio. We'll get his take on both of those issues and whether he may be planning a bid for president in 2012, and if so, of course, how he may address some of those concerns. WRAGGE: Yes, lots of questions to talk to the Governor about in just a couple of moments. 7:36AM ET TEASE: WRAGGE: Up next, former Governor Mike Huckabee is here live in our studio to talk about budget battles and if he is running for the White House. 7:39AM ET SEGMENT: WRAGGE: When names are mentioned for the Republican ticket in the 2012 presidential election, Mike Huckabee stands at the top of many conservatives' lists. The big question is, though, will he run? The former Arkansas Governor is out with a new book, A Simple Government: 12 Things We Really Need From Washington. And he joins us this morning. Governor Huckabee, good to have us with us. MIKE HUCKABEE: Thank you very much, Chris. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: The Contender? Huckabee on Budget, Politics and the Presidency] WRAGGE: I want to ask you about a couple of different things. And as a former governor who's had to balance state budgets, what you've seen in Washington with the workers and the unions versus Governor Scott Walker and the teacher sick outs, do you think this was handled the best way it possibly could have been? MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, I think he's got to call attention to the fact that this is a serious issue. And it's not just in Wisconsin. It's all across the country. One of the things that I think is an important message – and frankly it's the center piece of my book – is to remind people that you can't spend money you don't have. You can't borrow money that you can't afford to pay back. Every citizen knows that. Every small business owner knows that. It's like government is the last entity on Earth to get that message. WRAGGE: But I think in Wisconsin, specifically, it seems to look like this governor is trying to basically break unions and that other states may then follow suit. Is this – should unions be on alert all around the country? HUCKABEE: Well, I think unions have to get realistic. They can't expect to pay $1 in and get $57 from the state as a pension match. Nobody else gets that. And that's what's unrealistic. So if the unions don't come to some type of reality, then they're going to get busted, and if not by the Governor, they're going to get busted by reality in terms of a budget that can't manage that sort of cost. WRAGGE: Members of Congress right now are dealing with a budget battle of their own. Four working days for Congress to come up with something or it looks like there will be a government shutdown. Which is something that, I think, scares a lot people when they here that. It didn't work well for the Republicans back in '95-'96, could this impact them adversely if it were to happen again down the road? HUCKABEE: It's a very different environment this time. I think, first of all, a lot of the things that were shut down are now automated, like Social Security checks and veterans checks. So it's not going to be as draconian, if it does happen. But there, again, has to be, at some point, a reckoning with reality. And a message that I hope that people will start really thinking about, and again, it is the center piece of what I say is a simple government, simple principles applied. And that means that if you are in a hole, the first thing to do is quit digging. And we've got a government that just continues to dig even though they're in an incredible debt hole. And the fact is, we are for the first time in our history actually spending more money than the entire Gross Domestic Product of the full country, that's unheard of. We've never been in that position before. We are now. WRAGGE: Do you think this is something that happens or is it a lot more rhetoric? HUCKABEE: I think it could happen. And maybe it has to, because sometime, either now or later, the government's going to shut down, either from bankruptcy in the future or from a targeted effect to try get someone's attention that we're overspending and not managing at all. WRAGGE: Your book, A Simple Government, is this your first foray into fiction? [Laughs] HUCKABEE: I've read a lot – well, I've written a lot of things. This could be fiction, in fact, A Simple Government, but I tell you Chris, this book is written in such a simple way that even members of Congress can understand it and that's what I want to do with this book. WRAGGE: It reads like a presidential platform. Is this you saying to the people out there, 'I am going to run for president in 2012'? HUCKABEE: Well, it's saying I very well may. I mean, I want to find out, does this message resonate with people? If they read this book, they're going to know where I stand. Not what someone says I say, but what I actually say. If they read this and say, 'You know what? That makes sense,' then that's an encouragement for me to take the next step. If they read it and say that guy is a nut, then, well, maybe I'll have a different conclusion. WRAGGE: Well, we look forward to your decision. HUCKABEE: Thank you. WRAGGE: I know you're going to make a decision sooner than later. Governor Huckabee, thank you for taking the time. Good to see you this morning. HUCKABEE: Appreciate it, Chris. — Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/0BuE1gHx96A?f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata See the original post here: finint
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enlarge Credit: icanhazacheezeburger.com Conservatives love to write off progressive populism as “the politics of envy,” saying we envy the rich instead of recognizing them for being the hardworking entrepreneurs they are. Given that, the current conservative exercise of attacking public employees for getting pensions, decent health care coverage, and occasional salary increases is irony on a scale rarely seen. Republicans and conservatives’ basic argument is that since private-sector workers have been so thoroughly screwed on wages, health care, and retirement plans in recent decades, those same workers should be mad that teachers and cops and social workers have gotten a little more economic security than they have. If that ain’t the politics of envy, I don’t know what is. Pitting workers against workers for the scraps of the economic system as a few people and corporations at the top rake in, and then hoard, most of the money is a tried and true tactic, and it sometimes works. But the movement revolt that started in Wisconsin and is spreading rapidly to other states is so far successful in turning the argument around. When 70,000 pro-union progressive protesters show up at the Capitol in Madison, and the numbers keep building day after day, and the kind of folks coming are just soft-spoken teachers and hearts-on-their-sleeve firefighters, it gets impossible to write these people off as a narrow special interest. The other thing that is so exciting about what is going on is that this is not like the usual stock demonstrations of the recent past, when organizations or coalitions would plan months in advance and raise millions of dollars to try to turn out a modest crowd for a one day, six-hour rally in D.C. The events in Wisconsin are inspired far more by Egypt than by the traditional methods of American organizations, as people from the labor movement, but also supporters from all walks of life are turning out day after day after day. It is one of the most remarkable moments this old activist has ever seen, and it is changing our political expectations as we speak. There is no envy on our side of these demonstrations: people just want a fair shake. There are no tantrums about being unwilling to talk or compromise or sacrifice in hard times, they just want to have a voice through collective bargaining. And a majority of people in Wisconsin get it — 65 percent support the right of public employees to bargain. The tantrums and the envy are all on the side of the conservatives. They don’t want to compromise with public employee unions, or bargain with them, they want to shut them down. If they don’t get their way at the federal level, they’ll just shut the government down. And speaking of envy: the Tea Party folks in all their ballyhooed hype have never been able to turn out these kinds of crowds, even with the enormous corporate money behind them. They still get coverage from the establishment media (Did you see the ridiculous headline in the Washington Post yesterday? “Supporters Rally for Governor’s Bill.” In the third paragraph the intrepid Post reporter did note that “The overwhelming majority of protesters were teachers, students and other public-service workers…”), but the numbers all are on our side. The Democratic senators in Wisconsin are doing the right thing in staying away and showing solidarity with the attacked unions. Now the national Democratic Party is going to have to step up to the plate and show whose side it is on. They need to embrace the protesters and embrace this moment. There has been a widening gulf between establishment D.C. Democrats and grassroots progressives, as the latter have gotten more and more alienated from too many Democrats taking on the pro-big business and bankers ideology. In this movement moment, Democrats need to stand unapologetically with progressives, which so far too many seem to have been wobbly about doing. It is great that President Obama signaled his support, and that OFA has helped out in Wisconsin. They need to not back down. In fact, if I were at the White House, the first thing I would do whenever the Wisconsin standoff gets resolved is to invite the leaders of the protest to the White House to celebrate their taking a stand for democracy. (Side note for current White House staffers planning this event: If there ends up being mass civil disobedience, and the leaders get invited to the White House, the Secret Service will have to be talked into going along with the plans. When I was at the Clinton White House and invited people with histories of civil disobedience in to meet President Clinton, the Secret Service was never very happy with me.) But it is not just Democratic officials who should be standing with Wisconsin movement leaders: all progressives should. Conservatives want to roll back the clock on more than a century of social progress, and they are only going after the unions first because they are the strongest progressive institutions in America. They figure if they can take out the unions first, everything after that — outlawing abortion, ending progress on LGBT and other civil rights, privatizing Social Security and Medicare, etc. — will be relatively easy. This fight is for all of us; it is about preserving the American middle class and our ability to organize collectively. It is about human rights. It is about focusing the blame for the economic crisis where it belongs, on bankers and policy makers, not teachers and cops. And the fight isn’t just in Wisconsin: All over this country, the conservative movement is trying to take away our rights, and everywhere in America, we should be showing solidarity with our embattled brothers and sisters in Wisconsin. Here is a list of rallies happening this week to show support for the protesters in Wisconsin. Go to the one closest to you, take your family, take your friends. This is a big deal. Let me repeat that: This Is A Big Deal. Given the money and entrenched power of corporate conservatives, progressives are not going to win anything that matters in the coming years unless we do what the protesters in Wisconsin are doing and go far beyond the usual call-and-petition-your-member-of-Congress tactic. We are going to have to be creative, we are going to be bold, we are going to have to incredibly dogged and determined. Just like Wisconsin. Just like Egypt. And the powers that be in both political parties will have to listen if we are.
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