Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I still want a general strike.

Nailbiter!
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/06/ ... 338883200/

Off to vote!

It's so hard reading the optimistic Twitter and other reports of high turnouts in Madison and Milwaukee but knowing Nate Silver gave the recall only a 5% chance of succeeding. Ugh.

i am so nervous, you guys. just got back from voting in my very liberal milwaukee suburb and there were tons of young peeps registering, like a line out the door.

in other news, today might be the day that i finally grow a pair and start unfriending some facebook friends from high school. argh, they are really getting on my nerves.

Obama and Romney have both stayed so quiet on this, because it is such an important issue. If the recall doesn't succeed, you're going to see more and more incursions into union rights, and that is going to just be horrible.

There is no way for us to pull the economy out of a recession/depression by cutting wages and benefits from the middle class who spend money on services and products and plough it back into the economy.



Excesses like a living wage and health care. Seriously how the heck can anyone vote for these assclowns?
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/20 ... -election/

I will cling to that 5% hope long after it is wise.

Hey, sometimes you roll a critical.

Me too.

For anyone who wants to follow the results as they're reported:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolit ... 46265.html
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolit ... 94945.html

Ugh, that was quick. NBC already projecting a Walker win.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

This sucks :(

baaaarf.

baaaaaaaaaaaaaaarf

5%!

I also still say Union Yes.

dangit.

The breakdown is interesting
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012 ... polls.html

This is a tough issue for me, and, at this point, mostly academic since I'm not in Wisconsin., though we will all see impact from this. I think unions are important, and I can't imagine how education would be negatively impacted without them (I teach in a right to work state and they are even trying to get rid of tenure, ie job security).

On the other hand, I am not a fan of recall elections. I think the last thing we need now are lots of expensive recall elections around the country. What I would hope comes out of this is a greater consideration about elections. Turnouts are often crepe. I asked my students who is registered to vote and excited about their first election and they couldn't be arsed. based on demographics and what I know of each of them, I'm pretty sure most of them would not be too thrilled with the words "President Romney."

Even more, turnout at local elections is almost always crepe everywhere and it's the state legislative bodies that pass and approve crappy legislation. The Wisconsin legislature passed Walkers agenda.

All of that said, if I actually lived in Wisconsin, my opinion would probably be different. Hopefully news will be better in 3 years. In the meantime, people need to get out and vote for good local politicians.

It isn't just voter laziness, the fact is if you have a ton of money, you get across to more people, Walker had a much bigger campaign budget and spent more than he did when he ran last time.

As a result, democracy isn't actually representative, its more voting for which old rich white guy is less out of touch and have a less chance of forking you over.

Koch brothers rocking giant Wisconsin sized hard-ons

I know, all of that is a huge problem. I wasn't saying that voters are lazy, just that there isn't enough importance placed on local elections.

I'm also grumpy because people around here bisque incessantly about the crappy entrenched school board, but nobody does anything! The voter turnout is abysmal. Other teachers have even said they didn't have time to go vote. hello?! You got the day off work and the polls are at your local school. That fails sadly as a reason to not vote, especially when you then complain about who won.

I mean, every year I go vote. Unless there is a major statewide or national ticket, there is never any line or wait. Same with most primaries. Then for national or some statewide, the lines go on around the block. It annoys me.

But I am still queasy on the idea of recall elections unless actual criminal malfeasance is involved. This is confusing my thoughts here as I'm firmly on the side of the recall.

Can you support a recall without supporting a recall?

My head hurts now.

I think there are multiple factors that go into how people are voting these days that reach deeper than just money.

I still think a strike would be far more effective than any sort of vote. But you'd need a far reaching strike that lots of workers, not just those who are most affected by setbacks, would join and stand in. If you're just comfortable enough in life here in the US there isn't any real need to agitate too much for change because the laws or rules won't affect you enough to change your quality of life. Upset, yes. But most people are happy enough to go along in the end if they get to keep their comfort. We'll need a lot more community solidarity before any real change comes about and that is mighty tough to find these days.

While the collective bargaining rights aren't getting restored anytime soon, at least the senate flipped to opposing party majority control so such legislation won't pass so easily again.