Madison, WI – Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate passed a resolution Thursday calling for police to take 14 Democrats into custody for contempt after they fled to Illinois to avoid voting on a bill that strip public sector unions of nearly all their collective bargaining rights.
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The vote taken Thursday comes two weeks after the Democrats left, effectively delaying the vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said the action is legally different from an arrest, but “definitely a shift from asking them politely.”
The resolution says the absent Democrats are determined to be guilty of contempt and disorderly content. It gives the sergeant at arms the authority to take any and all steps, with or without force and assistance from police, to bring the senators back
The winner in this Wisconsin battle will extrapolate in so many ways throughout the country.
If conservatives win, and unions lose their suffocating grip on the state budget, it opens the door for more of their power to dwindle throughout the country, in each state, each municipality. It would change the fundamentals of negotiating budgets everywhere.
If liberals win, budgets will continue on the same track they always have – unsustainable deficits.
It seems clear to me, we are buying things we can’t afford and the question is:
Do we have the courage, character and morality to stop?
Let’s hope that the right side wins.
The police cannot enforce their order outside of Wisconsin and they’ve already told their Republican colleagues to take their resolution “to where the sun doesn’t shine” before they will return to the Capitol. The unions have offered to agree to all the budgetary demands but thats apparently not enough for the Republicans so the stalemate will continue.
It is true that Congress has some power on the pursestring but the President has the veto power and the Republicans were the majority
The unions and collective bargaining are not responsible for the Wisconsin budget deficits. I (non-union) receive a higher salary for my job, have money deducted from that for my 401k retirement plan, but don’t receive a pension. My friends, with the same job but working for the government (union) make substantially lower salaries, but will get pensions later. This is just another way of being paid for your work. It’s like buying a lottery ticket – you get to choose a lump sum or to have your winnings paid over 20 years. If the proposal is to get rid of their right to collectively bargain and to eliminate their pension, then their salaries should be raised to those of the private sector.
At this stage of the game who cares who is responsible? It’s about correcting past errors and disbanding the union is a good start.
Correction to #22 . He wishes to NOT force a person to join a union in order to be a state worker.
The spending is based on the budget submitted by the White House just check who was in charge. The Dept. of Justice stated that some indictments will be forthcoming from the massive stealing, fraud committed by the some wall street excutives, none have been indicted. The Gov. of Wisconsin is the lackey of a libertarian billionaire who would like to scuttle all financial regulations so he can continue sell worthless derivatives and not pay taxes. This is an Augeus stable and these fine conservatives have been able to conserve all of their ill gained profits . What is needed honest politicians who wish to govern instead of robbing and becoming billionaires
This scene reminds of the Ghetto Lodz where on one side of the street a Jew carried a deliciously smelling big cake and on the other side of the street another Jew cried out ich bin hingrig rattet mich and fell down dead from hunger. Lehmann brothers investors committed suicide and the Spiegel correctlly {Lehmann had a big branch in Berlin and Heidelberg] identified them as German Jewish immmigrants. All these fine conservative are blasting the leftist, liberal, socialistic program but at the moment the liberal trough is pulled away from the it is antisemitism. Jews have been at the forefront of the ganeive. Learn chumash
The greastness of this country to which I emigrated is first that the founding fathers were not holy rollers but deists despite the attempt to remake them. The second great things is that this country always had a safety net for those who either by inability, neglect or any other reason could achieve an economic upward mobility and for this reason this country avoided the political and social upheavels of Europe. Being a chazer and grabbing as much you can will not contribute to the social stability and stability of the Jewish community and particular the frum , torah community.Oh yes, and I learned and I am able to master the English language and few more. I davened in concentration camp without attendance of the higher institutions of talmudic sophistry, learning. Finally I worked and raised children on my cheshbon not yenems
The generational problem with Yidden they always look and discover a pseudo-moshiach, Trotzki and Luxemburg had Marx, and now the latest savior Ayn Rand alias Rosenberg. The savior is shmiras shabbos, Ani maamim and Pirke Avoth, don eyz kol adom lkaf tzichus and lo maflig chol dover
And it’s time to complete the circle. My original post (#1) stands.
The battle in Wisconsin is epic and the outcome will have many local and national ramifications.
I hope conservatives overcome. I hope the playing field levels out so that there isn’t the possibility of taking advantage of tax payers through unionization to gain wages which are unsustainable and exorbitant.
And I hope such solutions are adopted in every state.
It’s a good start.