Back during the Wisconsin protests, in February 2011, Madison Memorial High School teacher Nathan O'Shaughnessy sent photos and video of the students protesting the union-stripping bill. After the recall elections, he sent the video above.
They danced yesterday at Madison Memorial, just letting off steam after exams. You can dance if you want to -- that's lesson number one this week.
In other recall news: A Michigan group trying to recall Governor Rick Snyder has given up for now. Bruce Fealk says they'll try to work on building a political infrastructure instead, maybe with a progressive infrastructure and a program for developing new leaders. You know, the long view.
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Ms Maddow fails to mention that most of the superpac money comes from the left. CBS reported earlier this week that so far this year almost $100 million has been spent by superpacs. Of the top ten, 7 of them are left wing groups, mostly labor unions. Pres Obama has more campaign money than anyone. She should do better research instead of just presenting hyperbole.
Dear Bruce,
If you are one of the lowlife whores being paid by the Koch Bros. to scam the public, then you will get your reward in the hereafter. Is the pittance you receive worth it? If you are just an uninformed ignoramus, you will get your reward sooner. I doubt you have a real job and if you do, it is most likely a low paid job commensurate with your intelligence.
Best regards,
ToughLoveForStupidMen
The long view is the only view that matters. Republicans have been working it for a generation while the self-important Democratic air warriors like Debbie Whatshername Shultz and Tim Kaine have allowed the party to languish.
Dear Ron,
What have you done for the Dems lately? The Republicans take the long view because they serve the corporations who want to pay you less and less. And here you are, a poor, broke or out of work lower middle class white guy who has voted Republican and stuck himself in the eye.
From,
ToughLoveForStupidMen
Bruce460, where did you get that information about superpac money? This is what I found: "CBS News) President Obama's re-election campaign continues to raise more money than challenger Mitt Romney's campaign, but a "super PAC" supporting Romney continues to outperform all independent groups supporting a single candidate." That was posted May 21at: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57438050-503544/fec-reports-reveal-aprils-big-super-pac-donors/
I also found this from the New York Times on the same date: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/05/22/us/politics/campaign-balance-sheet.html?ref=campaignfinance
It seems to suggest that information is in error also. Maybe Ms. Maddow's research is more accurate than yours.
Despite a disappointing outcome in the election, and despite our dislike of what will probably happen to public education in our state, we still love our jobs and we love our kids! Nothing better than to come to work and enjoy the people you work with and the families you serve, and at the same time help the kids learn some stuff! Remember that we don't do our jobs for the money and the glamor, we do it for a much larger moral and societal purpose.
Dear Nathan,
Here is why teachers are getting shafted. Most public school students in the US in many states are now Hispanic or other minority. Upper middle class whites send their kids to private schools. Consider San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties for starters. Minorities vote in much smaller numbers than middle class whites so it is easy to do the math. If they don't vote, then they get the left overs. The math is very simple.
From,
ToughLoveForStupidMen
Rachel,
I've been disappointed that with all the tragic news of the loss in Wisconsin that we seem to have forgotten labor's great victory in Ohio for the middle class. Your colleague, Ezra Klein, wrote a sad sack piece in the Post and this was my response:
________
Ezra,
As someone who was deeply involved in the dramatic labor victory in Ohio just a few months, I find it astonishing that so many commentators, yourself included, have apparently forgotten about that.
I don't want to do any Monday morning quarterbacking on the tragic outcome in Wisconsin but exit polls showed two things: 1, most voters thought that it was inappropriate to use the recall except for official misconduct. 2, most voters said they support public unions. What are we to make of that? That the decision had little to do with support or opposition to unions. And if the robber barons had not come in to Wisconsin in such a big way, perhaps Walker would be out of work.
In Ohio, we cannot recall politicians but we can repeal legislation. Our historic coalition, We Are Ohio, focused on the injustice of stripping people of their collective bargainiging rights and on how crooked the process was that created Senate Bill 5. Far from wanting Obama to come to help, we wanted him to stay away so as to keep the process less politicized. This was a fight between fair-minded people vs Kasich and his fellow political extremists. It was about fairness more than politics. Labor won a sweeping victory, taking not only the urban centers of Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland but 50 of our 56 counties.
The lesson here is that though they may not be union members themselves, fair-minded people are sympathetic to labor and are willing to defend collective bargaining rights. Certainly there were specific reasons why labor won a historic victory in Ohio and that is all the more reason why it should not be so easily forgotten.
The activism in Wisconsin inspired us in Ohio and it is that newly-empowered labor movement that is the story we should be focused on. Who would have thought a couple of years ago that labor coulid overturn legislation sponsored by the Republican-dominated Ohio state government or that labor in Wisconsin could recall senators and mount a massive recall effort against a sitting governor.
Labor is back!
John McNay
Professor of History, University of Cincinnati
President-elect, Ohio Conference AAUP
thank you, professor, for reminding us of the details the media seems unable to include in their coverage of these important stories. the left seems as geared towards misery as is the right and it shows in their reporting. i am tired of it, as well.
wisconsin lost because the democratic party in the state dismissed exciting, new candidates, two of them women, for that tired old fart of a loser who barely campaigned. if there had been someone with fire and heart to lead the recall to victory money could have been raised on the internet and in dozens of events in and outside of the state. blaming republican money alone for this loss is lazy and petulant. this is what has happened to liberals in this country. all hot air and opinion and no real strategy. a bunch of losers. back the right horse the next time and make some waves, democrats.
Gotta love the guy who moved right from the Charleston into the Robot. You don't see that every day.
Teaching is THE best job in the world!
Corey Robin writes about the psychology behind the lower class white male shift to the right. The idea is everyone accepts a hierarchical system where someone is better off than you, as long as you are not at the bottom of the ladder. Robin calls this "Every man a king." Black and feminist liberation deprived poor southern white males of their position above these two groups. The Uber-rich leverage this phenomenon to their own advantage. The recent anti-choice and contraception campaign is aimed at preventing women from having personal power over their own bodies and giving men this power. The racist overtones to anti-Obama rhetoric gives vent to the lower class male's need to view the President as living above his station. The fact that the well being of these poor, low IQ, white males, is being undermined by their political choices, their reduced ability to provide for their families, and their ever smaller paychecks, is not on their radar. They want to hear a myth about how they have been wronged, denied their rightful place in the home and in society. They flock to the tea party, insist on their NRA rights, and continue to make their situation worse. They are convinced that voting for Republicans is the way to get their own back even though the facts show otherwise. To the uber-rich they are no better than livestock, cattle to be herded and reduced to serfdom.
Rachel, if I'm wrong, nevermind, but I'm pretty sure I heard you report that the Presidential preference in exit polling among Wisconsin voter Tuesday June 5, was in favor of President Obama by 12 %. Then, Scott Walker won the election by a substantial margin. Does that seem odd to you ? Have we really fixed all the problems with voting machine hackability, etc. Just curious, because it seems odd to me. Plus, the lower level Demo candidates won seats. Was it REALLY that people just didn't like Barrett ?
If they really wanted to impress me, it should have been a polka or a schottische. I mean, this IS Wisconsin. I could even do that. The schottische is more fun, the a polka takes more skill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schottische
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q12ai-9WGA
Did it really have to be the Electric Slide?