Yes, I’m still quoting Tracy Chapman. It’s only been 23 years since she wrote “Talkin Bout a Revolution,” and finally, the tables are starting to turn. “Poor people gonna rise up and get their share”.. I hope that happens. But the first steps have been taken.
This weekend, people in every state in the nation took to the streets to say Enough! Unfortunately, if you watched national or cable news, you didn’t see much about it.
Scroll down to the next blog post for my video from the USUncut protest at a Bank of America branch in Boca Raton, FL. This morning, I once again spoke with Carl Gibson, the guy who took it upon himself to start the uncut ball rolling here in the US.
If it’s Monday, it’s Fools on the Hill time with Crooks and Liars‘ Nicole Belle. Here’s what she brought us today:
This weekend was an amazing weekend for the labor movement. There were solidarity events in all 50 states and thousands of people peacefully and non-violently protesting at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Even the police stood in solidarity with the protesters, refusing to evict them from the building despite Governor Walker’s orders. It was amazing to see people rising up and demanding a voice.
Unfortunately, I don’t know if the corporate entities that control the traditional media wanted their viewers to see the protests as a triumph of American workers. Because if you look at the line up, there was only one person on all the Sunday shows representing labor—AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka—and he was a late addition to the Meet the Press roundtable panel, having to share airtime with four others, whereas Gov. Scott Walker got uninterrupted airtime with no challenges or demands that he answer the actual question asked. All the other shows? Not a single voice representing the American worker. Gosh, do you think they might not want people to feel empowered or realize that they do have the power to fight against these draconian measures? In fact, rather than show any live feed of the protesters in the Capitol, CNN actually used this weekend to celebrate the two year anniversary of the astro-turfed tea party.
CNN also wanted to assure us that there’s nothing wrong with the income inequality that is causing so much of the turmoil. That’s just the way it goes. No, seriously. They actually said that.
For what it’s worth, Scott Walker claims that he’s in this for the long haul. It’s amazing that he’s still holding on to the budget as being his reasoning behind his stance, given that we all know from that prank call last week that it’s all about busting the unions. And it’s not because the unions are bankrupting the state, it’s because the unions support Democrats.
Other conservative governors were booked this week to back up Scott Walker. On This Week Jan Brewer and Nikki Haley said that they didn’t support a government shut down (unlike Tim Pawlenty, who thnks it would be good to teach us a lesson) because government is a “necessary evil” I’d say that the woman who is effectively become a one person death panel for transplant candidates knows from evil.
And who exactly do they think are the tax payers? Are they under the impression that these public sector employees that they demonize aren’t paying taxes? If they really wanted to protect the tax payers, they’d make corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.
Speaking of the government shutdown, on The Chris Matthews Show, Chris asked his panel if Obama or the Republicans would most likely “win” from a shutdown. Because when you’re a Villager, you can think of this strictly as a propaganda/public relations move. They don’t think about the real effect of a shutdown, with people dependent on government services—Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, Veterans Administration—not getting the money they need. They don’t think about the global economic impact. By the way, the panel thought that Obama would fare better—not difficult to guess given the precedent in the 90s under Newt Gingrich—but the one abstainer who thought it would be better for the GOP? Peggy Noonan.
Another GOPer who inexplicably thought Obama would not fare well under examination was Mike Huckabee, who told Fox News that Obama’s decision to support gay marriage (an incorrect characterization) would alienate him from African American voters.
I’m not sure when and where Mike Huckabee got this inside track on the mind of the black community (as if they’re a hive mind to begin with), but his framing is completely wrong. The Obama administration simply said that they would no longer defend the law in appellate court, a far cry from supporting or ignoring the law altogether. And for all the Republicans outraged that Obama is choosing not to defend this law on appeal, where was their outrage for all the Bush signing statements?