WI needs Weezer Fans!
Do we have your support?!!?
Also... I'm inviting Weezer as of now to show up. Come on guys, we need you and everyone else!
Thanks!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jordan on -
Yeah, I was there for New Years a couple years ago. I got to see "the greatest fireworks in the world" over the bridge and opera house.
It was awesome!
Danielle said:Jordan said:
I've been to Sydney. It's such a beautiful city.
Thanks. It certainly can be a great place to live. Or visit. (Ahem, hint hint, Weezer.)
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Permalink Reply by A.J. Beeves on -
I slept in protest at the Capitol building last night! It was a very bizarre experience, as we were protected by armed officers all night long. The atmosphere was energetic and politically charged, while very peaceful and welcoming. The official assembly debates over amendments to the "repair bill" went all night long... They've Ben in session now for over 40 hours straight! Here's how it goes. There are many amendments put forward by democrats. They all ask for one institution after another to be an exception to the bargaining rights for workers. At one in the morning, they were going through every correctional facility in the state, one at a time. Democrats were the only ones that said anything, so it wasn't really a debate. They would tell story after story about what occurs in the job of a correctional officer, what factors of stress, health, safety, and conditions were in that job. Then, there'd be a vote for tabling the amendment, which always ended to table it with a 37 to 56 vote separated across party lines. It was pure insanity and brilliance and confusion all at once, and all so pure.
As we slept, armed officers stood around and chatted next to our bed, literally 5 feet away. It was crazy, and the safest I've ever felt while sleeping or around a cop.
In the middle of the night, the monitors displaying and broadcasting the hearings started playing clips of the protests. So, we were all awoken at four in the morning by chanting, singing, etc. Crazy!
Couple other things... It was packed. We could barely find a place to sleep, but we did eventually. Also, when we walked in, everyone was cleaning the whole Capitol! Whoa! Didn't expect that. And, there was free food available at all times. I never knew protesting would be so fun. It's great to have the law enforcement on our side, and conversation going everywhere, so that we were all getting super informed.
Anyway, that's the latest news.
Peace.
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Permalink Reply by Radioactive on -
This. I'm from Weezconsin as well. We are in a state with a defecit in a country with a defecit. He's taking action to NOT eliminate jobs and fill the whole. Scott Walker knows what he's doing.
Jordan said:Sorry, but I don't support you guys at all.
The WI government is asking for workers to give up some benefits (not salaries), but the workers would be giving up less then half the national average. No reason for you guys to complain.
Certainly no reason to be comparing the state Governor to Adolf Hitler (which many people had on their signs).
You guys are embarrassing yourselves.
And it certainly does help the budget. WI, like many other states, can no longer afford to 'pay its bills', and is quickly moving towards bankruptcy.
It doesn't take away your workers rights, either. It limits the amount of collective bargaining the unions can do. Under the Constitution of the United States, state governments have the right to allow unions to collectively bargain or not. It is not a right that you have, it is a privelage.
*Don't take this personally, I've got my opinion, just like you have yours. I'm not into the whole union thing, but you guys have gotta make a living, and provide for yourselves and your families, and I understand that. Go ahead and keep protesting. The right that we have to do these kinds of things is what makes this country great!
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Permalink Reply by Radioactive on
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And yeah, being still in high school, having all the teachers call in sick to protest is irresponsible and really immature. They have students and a responsibility. They deserve cuts and to be fired, so they're getting off easy.
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Permalink Reply by Jordan on
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Yeah, and they can't be fired, because of the unions.
That's why our education system sucks (I just graduated high school), crappy teachers can't be fired half the time, and the good ones still get paid crap.
And as to what you said above, the Gov. has said he's gonna have to lay off a bunch of public workers very soon (exactly the opposite of what he's trying to do). Why? Because the idiot democrat state senators refuse to vote. And who will be blamed? The Gov. of course!
Just vote no, you idiots! It's what you were elected to do.
Radioactive said:And yeah, being still in high school, having all the teachers call in sick to protest is irresponsible and really immature. They have students and a responsibility. They deserve cuts and to be fired, so they're getting off easy.
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Permalink Reply by Jordan on
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The bill passed the assembly. Now that it's half way done, you guys can go home.
The protests affected it 0%.
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Permalink Reply by hintofcoolness on -
yeppers
I heard about the increase in class size which would seem counterproductive if the state wants better results, also my gal teaches elementary school and may not have a job next year
kilgoretrout2112 said:It pretty much sucks here too.
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Permalink Reply by hintofcoolness on
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True as well.
Jordan said:
Yeah, and they can't be fired, because of the unions.
That's why our education system sucks (I just graduated high school), crappy teachers can't be fired half the time, and the good ones still get paid crap.
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Permalink Reply by A.J. Beeves on
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Well, we wrote a protest song, performed it in the Capitol Rotunda, edited the video with some of the protest signs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_sK6cI3RcI
I hope you all enjoy it.
I'm the guy with headphones that you see a lot of the time, because my wife was videotaping. I'm glad she loves me :)
Peace,
A.J.
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Permalink Reply by stephenjorie on -
There's going to be a rally/protest in Trenton next friday. My parents are going and I may go too. Any NJ people going? I'm really hope it does as much as the protest in WI.
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Permalink Reply by Jordan on
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The protest in WI did nothing.
Luke Garner said:There's going to be a rally/protest in Trenton next friday. My parents are going and I may go too. Any NJ people going? I'm really hope it does as much as the protest in WI.
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Permalink Reply by Aegeantyphoon on -
I do not support the Teachers Union. No surprise. But you really need to see the real WI teachers union. You also need to get some things straight.
"The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) caught the eye of the Landmark Legal Foundation long before they gained national prominence due to their pro-union position around the tense debate currently playing out in Wisconsin. But not only have they recently stepped up to pay some back taxes, presumably due to ..., if Governor Walker is correct, they are also gouging taxpayers for health care costs at the same time they failed to pay the appropriate taxes – and the stance taken by truant Wisconsin teachers appears calculated to allow what some are calling a scam to continue."
"In April, the Landmark Legal Foundation asked federal officials to investigate its claim that WEAC failed to report or pay taxes on $430,000 in contributions to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee between 2000 and 2002 in apparent violation of federal law."
"The Wisconsin Education Association Council has voluntarily made $171,091 in payments to the Internal Revenue Service after a review of past federal tax returns, the state’s largest teachers union said Wednesday."
"WEAC previously created the WEAC Trust, which, among other things, provides health insurance for Wisconsin school districts."
"If the bill proposed by Governor Walker were to pass, the teachers union could still employ collective bargaining for wages but their ability to control the benefits portion of the contract would go away. Walker claims that would immediately reduce health care costs for WI school districts by 68 million dollars. Obviously, it would also impact the WEAC Trust’s bottom-line."
"Given the circumstances, it’s fair to ask what, precisely, is WEAC’s motivation for opposing the Wisconsin bill supported by Governor Walker and Republicans, while Democrats have fled the state."
"In a worst case scenario, not only would WEAC be gouging tax payers through the WEAC Trust due to inflated health care costs, given Landmark’s discovery, they might not even be paying their own taxes at the right level, or in a timely manner."
ref: http://www.marklevinshow.com/goout.asp?u=http://biggovernment.com/d...
The unions, especially the teachers unions, are worse than cartel. I will not support them. And quite frankly I wish we could bust them.
A.J. Beeves said:Very thoughtful replies! I'm totally excited that Weezer fans can have real conversations about things (weezer-related and not), which I've picked up on a lot since this site was re-modeled a while back.
Anyway, here are some key points that need to be looked at to learn more, and understand why this protest is happening, both for us, and for the country at large. I'm afraid it does mostly come from the Democratic side of things, but there are a lot of folks down there that are not democrats and in fact voted for Scott Walker. Also, one great thing was the Fire Department, which the bill doesn't affect (due to them being supporters of Walker) showed up in support of the protesters a couple days ago.
So, the fight is much bigger than WI itself, so I'm trying all my "friends" in the world to see what kind of larger understanding and support we can have during this tough time.
1) http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb /Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pd f
This is a memo explaining there was no budget deficit expected for this year. Our Gov. actually created a deficit after this was reported, and it's a small deficit.
2) Wisconsin Democrats quit capitol
Overall story from the BBC news to give a bigger perspective of the situation.
Check this out from the article:
"The state faces a $3.6bn (£2.23bn) budget deficit in the coming two-year period. The public employee bill is expected to save $300m in that period."
3) Here is a piece from Rachel Maddow outlining some interesting stuff... worth watching, at least to get some perspective. Rachel Maddow Show
4) And, finally, some Noam Chomsky on the issue: http://t.co/kFBHcmI
Alright, please keep the conversation going here... there is a lot more to the story.
Peace,
A.J.
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