COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Big Labor & the Democrats take it in the shorts in Wisconsin


22 comments:

  1. They are not looking too good over at MSNBC and NN is running this banner:
    Republican Gov. Scott Walker will narrowly retain his seat in Wisconsin's recall election, CNN projects.

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  2. I looks about as narrow as Trumka’s face.

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  3. Hey, I read that if Walker wins it would be good for Obama and the democrats, showing the economy improving or something. A democratic 'operative' said it.

    b

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    Replies
    1. ......so if the democrat wins, it would be bad for Obama, or something?

      Or maybe not. Maybe that would be good for Obama, too.

      Reality is such, according to this view, that anything that happens is 'good for Obama'.

      I call that 'good fortune'.

      Come fair, come foul, praise the Lord!

      b

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    2. Go below for county by county, blow by blow reporting. Dane County is only 30% in so there is still a bunch of votes for Barret coming there.

      http://aoshqdd.com/

      b

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  4. InTrade's got Obama at 52% to be re-elected.

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  5. The GOP victory in Wisconsin's gubernatorial recall election was an "absolute disaster for President Obama" and represents a clear sign of Republican momentum heading into the fall presidential election campaign, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus argues in a memo set for release Wednesday.

    In the memo -- shared early with POLITICO -- Priebus writes that the struggle in Wisconsin allowed Republicans to prime a first-rate operation in the state for the November election. And the results added up to a vote of confidence in the GOP's 2012 message on spending restraint and the size of government.


    http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/06/priebus-memo-claims-wisconsin-boost-125399.html


    samWed Jun 06, 12:08:00 AM EDT

    InTrade's got Obama at 52% to be re-elected.


    Told everyone so. I'm often wrong, can't help but chortle when I'm right. Zero was up there over 60% for awhile. Beats interest at the bank. Opportunity is past.

    'the gods hate those, that sit and pick their nose"

    b

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  6. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

    Kyrie Irving is NBA rookie of the year from Cleveland that played at Duke last year. They dress him up in movie make-up to look like an old man . Then he goes to the street basketball courts in new York and gets in a pick-up basketball game with all these young guys.. at the beginning playing terrible and then starts playing for real and it’s great.

    Uncle Drew

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  7. BEIJING — The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, arrived in China on Tuesday for meetings aimed at strengthening a partnership between the two countries and offsetting the influence of the United States.
    Admired by the Chinese for his staying power as leader of Russia for 12 years, Mr. Putin discussed with President Hu Jintao their common approaches to Syria, according to state television. They appeared certain to deal with their mutual interests in Iran and their efforts to squeeze the United States out of Central Asia, Chinese and American analysts said. Both Beijing and Moscow also oppose an American plan for a missile-defense system in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe that is intended as protection against Iran.

    Mr. Putin’s visit, during which he will participate in a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security organization that includes Russia, China and former Soviet republics in Central Asia, stood in stark contrast to his decision not to attend a summit meeting hosted by President Obama last month in the United States.

    After their meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Putin and Mr. Hu urged international support for the peace plan brokered for Syria by Kofi Annan, the special United Nations and Arab League envoy, despite calls from Arab and Western states for a tougher response to the bloodshed.

    In a show of solidarity with Iran, its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting as an observer. The Kremlin announced that Mr. Putin would meet separately with Mr. Ahmadinejad. This month, Russia is scheduled to host the next round of talks among world powers on the Iranian nuclear program.
    NY TIMES

    While the Chinese are at it, they are also starting cooperation with the Taliban on the subject of Chinese exploitation of Afghani mineral resources. The Chinese are interested in extracting ore while the US tries and extracts itself from Afghanistan. We need a parade for the returning troops.

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  8. An impressive victory for the Republicans in Wisconsin

    With nearly all of the vote counted, Walker had 53% to 46% for his Democratic challenger, Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee.

    A real squeaker that was.

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  9. ...One such voter, Roberta Komor, a secretary at a law firm who lives in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, said she had voted for Barrett two years ago, but this time went for Walker. Unions "need to learn about shared sacrifice" as workers in the private sector see their benefits and wages cut, she said.

    There you have it. How doyah spin that?

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  10. You could enter a $3 lottery to take a chance on dinner with Barack.

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  11. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta holds talks Wednesday with his Indian counterpart which are likely to be dominated by NATO's planned exit from Afghanistan and China's growing power.

    ...

    India views the rocket, which has a range of 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles), as a boost to its regional power aspirations and one that narrows -- albeit slightly -- the huge gap with China's missile systems.

    ...

    India has agreed to buy 145 howitzer guns from the US unit of British arms group BAE Systems in a deal worth $560 million. And India is close to clinching a $1.4 billion agreement to purchase 22 Apache attack helicopters manufactured by Boeing, US officials said.

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  12. here is a real great idea

    Political appointees at President Obama’s Labor Department are getting ready to issue an edict compelling government contractors to adapt a 7 percent hiring quota for disabled job applicants.

    This radical personnel change approved by theLabor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is pushing a radical personnel policy that could ravage the productivity of more than 170,000 companies with government contracts, including most of America’s largest corporations. Since the 1970s, the OFCCP has done more than any other federal agency to impose racial and gender hiring quotas. But the Obama administration thought the agency was too soft on businesses. OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu promised in 2010, “We are going to be extremely proactive and aggressive. … It’s a new day at the OFCCP.”


    Can you imagine the cost to the US taxpayer on government construction projects? What is the Davis- Bacon prevailing rate for disabled laborers? I can just see a scaffolded 10 story building with wheel chair ramps on all ten floors. Able bodied workers will have to park their pickup trucks two blocks away as all the available parking spaces will be taken up with handicap signs. Picture the OSHA safety requirements which will be added for good measure and top that off with extra insurance and workman's liability costs.

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  13. China told foreign embassies yesterday to stop publishing their own reports on air quality in the country, escalating its objections to a popular US Embassy Twitter feed that tracks pollution in smoggy Beijing.

    Wu Xiaoqing, an environmental minister, said that only the Chinese government is authorised to monitor and publish air quality information.

    China has long taken issue with the US Embassy's postings of Beijing's air quality on a Twitter feed with more than 19,000 followers. The US Embassy readings are based on a monitoring station within embassy grounds, and pollution levels are rated according to a US Environmental Protection Agency standard that is more stringent than the one used by the Chinese government.

    The embassy yesterday reported 47 micrograms of fine particulate matter in the air and said the level was "unhealthy for sensitive groups.”

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  14. Next Year Will be Better

    Regardless of who wins the 2012 presidential election, the country is likely to see continued political infighting within or between the legislative and executive branches. Congressional investigations will probably maintain an aggressive pace, with broadened scope, irrespective of which party occupies the White House next January. Corporate counsel of companies that face congressional inquiries should prepare themselves and their companies so that this onerous process does not result in significant and lasting damage to the corporate brand.

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  15. Walker for President,
    Romney for Dogcatcher:


    For anyone concerned with the size, cost, and intrusiveness of government, dark clouds continue to hang over the Romney campaign.

    For example, if as is often said, “personnel is policy,” Romney’s decision to name former Utah governor Michael Leavitt to lead his presidential transition team is particularly disturbing, especially since Politico reports that Leavitt may become White House chief of staff if Romney wins.

    As George W. Bush’s Secretary of HHS, Leavitt was a principle architect of the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, which created the first new federal entitlement program since the Great Society. And Leavitt continues to call the program “a success,” despite the fact that it will add as much as $17 trillion to Medicare’s unfunded liabilities.

    As governor, Leavitt was a tax-and-spend liberal. During his ten years in office, real spending per capita rose by nearly a third. Leavitt pushed for higher taxes on Internet sales, gasoline, and cigarettes. And, as head of the National Governors Association, he lobbied for a federal law to allow states to tax out-of-state Internet companies. He also blocked several attempts by the Utah legislature to cut taxes, including a $25 million state income tax cut in 2001. Between 1996 and 2002, Leavitt never received a grade higher than “C” on Cato’s Fiscal Report Card, and twice earned a failing grade. In 2000, he ranked below Vermont’s Howard Dean, and, in 2002, he scored lower than 7 of 16 Democratic governors.

    Of even greater concern, Leavitt has spent the last two years lobbying on behalf of Obamacare. Leavitt’s company, a Utah-based consultancy called Leavitt Partners, has raked in huge profits helping states set up exchanges under the law. In fact, Leavitt’s firm has doubled in size over the two years since the health care law was signed. And, Leavitt hasn’t just made money from Obamacare grant money, he has used his influence to urge state lawmakers to set up exchanges. He has publicly said that he opposes repeal of at least this portion of the new health-care law. Given Romney’s rather spotty history on the health-care issue — to be charitable — Leavitt’s appointment is not a great sign.

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  16. Wisconsin spell doom for Obama --

    http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/06/red-flags-all-over-for-obama-i.php

    Everyone is sick of the son of a bitch. Not even Hollywood is opening its money sack as they did before.

    I wonder where they will retire to, Michelle and Barry?

    Not cold Chicago.

    I predict multiple sites across our blue planet. Michelle loves to travel.

    b

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  17. Will the Tea Party support "Obama White" as rabidly as they did Scott Walker?

    We'll see.

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  18. Hope and Change White, baby!

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