I find comments such as those made by Anonymous to be incredibly short-sighted and self-defeating. The middle class--and those below it--have seen their living standards badly eroded over the past 20-30 years, to the point where fewer and fewer of us have the capacity to educate our children and provide for a decent retirement for ourselves. This is in large part a result of the financialization of the U.S. economy, whicn Emanuel, who made millions on Wall Street, personifies. We shipped a large part of our manufacturing sector oversees, thanks to free-trade initiatives like NAFTA. The loss of millions of middle-class jobs--for no reason other than to enrich Wall Street--has translated into a loss of tax revenue, a trend exacerbated by the refusal of the very wealthy (like Emanuel) to pay their fair share of taxes. On top of this, US companies have jettisoned pensions--which were quite typical in the private sector not too many years ago--leading to a very grim situation for many Americans of retirement age. Now, instead of correcting these fundamental errors in economic policy and restoring economic stability to the vast majority of the U.S. population, Anonymous wants to pull out the rug from teachers (and public schools). Where is the sense in that? How will that help the middle class?
Great article, Harriet. According to what you have reported there will be no Christmas caroling in Wisconsin this year as it would break the same law. Too late for the elections, but it sure will upset a lot of people and maybe hammer it into their thick skulls just what the Bill of Rights is all about, and how their state government has taken away their constitutional rights.
Also don't forget that while this violates their 1st amendment rights, breaking up group sing-a-longs violates Freedom of Assembly also.
Yesterday, Capitol police went to one of the singer's place of employment (which they got from going through his billfold) to issue a citation. Two days ago, they went to 2 of the singer's houses at 4:20 and left citations when the singers were not home.
To help:
For those who share our concerns about recent citations for protest activity at the Wisconsin State Capitol building: While the ACLU of Wisconsin's legal department works with local attorneys to review options for litigation over enforcement of unconstitutional Capitol access rules, individuals who receive citations should contact the Madison Mass Defense coalition at (608) 352-0138 to speak with a National Lawyers Guild attorney for immediate assistance. If individuals wish to further file a complaint with the ACLU of Wisconsin, they can email inquiries@aclu-wi.org or visit the legal link on our website for more on what kinds of cases the ACLU of Wisconsin accepts.
Is this the Tommy Thompson who was on the Board of, or CEO of, VeriChip, and former head of the U.S. Department of Health who helped get FDA Approval for the Human-Implantable RFID Microchip? If so, Wisconsin has really gone over to The Dark Side! And, there's your "revolving door" in action!
tne company name trail: Destron Fearing a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions; PositiveID, a (different?) subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions. Somebody needs to do a timeline on Mr. Thompson (who, I take it, was never chipped with his own product).
The lies of the so-called Citizens for Fire Safety are archived here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110626143325/http://cffsi.org/
I contacted the manufacturer and two distributors of "Pillow Pets" that someone bought my kids and asked if they were treated with fire retardant chemicals. They could not or would not answer my questions. Imagine, putting known neurotoxins and carcinogens in pillows that children will put under their heads, where they can breathe them all night. Now I need to check all their stuffed animals...or, better yet, just keep them out of their reach when they sleep, since we can't trust manufacturers!
Pages