Who Hijacked Our Country

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Michigan is the New Wisconsin

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is the most famous of the union-busting Kochsuckers. But the same thing is happening in Ohio, Florida and Michigan, among other states. The Right is getting better and better at creating nationwide corporate-funded stealth campaigns disguised as spontaneous “grass roots” movements.

2009 was famous for those orchestrated choreographed “demonstrations” against health care reform. This year, the red states just happen to be simultaneously passing legislation to destroy unions, disenfranchise voters and other Far Right causes.

Here’s the latest underhanded sleazefest from Michigan: Governor Rick Snyder has signed a law to shorten the length of time for unemployment benefits. Michigan has one of the country’s highest unemployment rates, and their unemployment rate has been higher than 10% for longer than any other state. How’s that Compassionate Conservative thingy workin’ out for ya?

Even more despicable than the law itself is the slippery underhanded method for passing the law. The wording for the law was quietly inserted into a bill that was allegedly going to preserve and increase unemployment benefits. Like the old saying goes, “the large print giveth and the fine print taketh away.”

Rep. Sander Levin (D—Michigan) said:

“It turns the clock back 50 years at a time when unemployment is at historic highs since the Depression. I think that Michigan should not be to unemployment insurance what Wisconsin has become to collective bargaining.”

Michigan voters — start cranking up the recall machinery and get those two-faced corporate prostitutes out of there.

And there’s more news from Michigan. Remember when the Freedom of Information Act was something conservatives hated and kept trying to eliminate? They didn’t want the riffraff finding out about things that were best left to CEOs and their congressional errand boys.

Now suddenly, the Right has flipflopped and decided the Freedom of Information Act is just hunky dory. A group of shadowy rightwing donors has made a massive FOIA request for e-mail records from the labor relations departments at three different Michigan universities.

They want access to all e-mails that contain any reference to “Scott Walker,” “Madison,“ “Wisconsin,” “Rachel Maddow,” and any references to collective bargaining in Wisconsin.

Roland Zullo, a University of Michigan professor, said:

“This is a way that they're going after folks they don't agree with, I suppose. I see it just simply as part of the political environment we exist in right now.”


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7 Comments:

Anonymous S.W. Anderson said...

I think the big development here is how much broader and better coordinated these kinds of things are now. As the pro-corporate right gets its act together better, and better financed than ever thanks to deep-pockets SOB's like the Koch brothers, Democrats and the left seem increasingly uncoordinated and underpowered.

Something's got to give.

March 29, 2011 at 2:30 PM  
Blogger jadedj said...

They are insane with power. Seriously.

I just read on Huffington Post that the Repuke Governor of Maine had a mural of the history of the Labor movement in Maine removed...in the dead of night...from the Department of LABOR. No debate, no nada. The lame reasoning? It is prejudiced against business. More to come, boys and girls.

March 29, 2011 at 2:54 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

1. Have a goal of achieving absolute power in America. Portray it as either-or, black-or-white, play it up as a noble cause and as "the only way to save the country".

2. Create some scapegoats and straw men out of people or ideology you don't like, to use as examples of what must be defeated in order for you to achieve your goal.

3. Use the media to convince the public that your scapegoats and strawmen are truly to blame for the nation's woes. The media can willingly support you (i.e. FOX) or it can be used to unwittingly spread the word by keeping your lies in the news for days and weeks on end (outlets such as the MSM, AP, etc.)

4. As the first three steps work, ramp it up and expand your stage. Before the public knows what has hit them, you have eliminated more obstacles to your total control and you can easily create new straw men and scapegoats.

5. Repeat ad nauseum.

March 29, 2011 at 8:11 PM  
Anonymous S.W. Anderson said...

6. Buy politicians and elections until you're in such total control you don't even have to buy them any more, because the pols you bought over time got you the judges you need, all the way to the Supreme Court.

March 29, 2011 at 10:56 PM  
Anonymous Jolly Roger said...

the idiots who voted for Czar Kashitch I didn't comprehend exactly what it meant when he said he wasn't running for a second term. I did.

March 30, 2011 at 1:17 AM  
Blogger Randal Graves said...

I hate both. Go Buckeyes!

March 30, 2011 at 6:17 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

SW: You're right, something's gotta give. Hopefully the Democrats will become better coordinated and more empowered. I can dream can't I?

jadedj: Insane with power, that's exactly what they are. I saw that same story about the teatard governor of Maine. I hope he gets recalled.

Snave: LOL. Shouldn't be funny, but...

Excellent summary. Sort of a Cliff Notes version of Mein Kampf.

SW: Very true, can't forget Step #6.

JR: I hope his first term gets cut short by a recall vote.

Randal: You mean those things that keep falling out of trees?

March 30, 2011 at 12:10 PM  

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