Friday, February 25, 2011

Walker’s ‘Savings’ Will Cost Taxpayers Millions for the Next 10 Years | Dailycensored.com #wiunion #wisolidarity

Walker’s ‘Savings’ Will Cost Taxpayers Millions for the Next 10 Years | Dailycensored.com

Walker’s ‘Savings’ Will Cost Taxpayers Millions for the Next 10 Years

Written by Danny WeilBusinessFeb 25, 2011
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From One Wisconsin Now

From Wisconsin Now is a statewide communications network specializing in effective earned media and online organizing to advance progressive leadership and values

Madison — In an attempt to push through his unpopular Budget Repair Bill, Gov. Scott Walker has tried to set a Friday deadline for passage by falsely claiming that lack of action will cost taxpayers money:

“If we don’t pass that by this weekend, if we fail to be able to achieve those savings, that opens the door for a large number of layoffs for state workers,” Walker said. [Wisconsin State Journal, 2/22/11]

However, a recent memo by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau illustrates that Gov. Walker’s bond refinancing scheme has nothing to do with saving

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Unions Fight Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin #wiunion #wisolidarity


Governer Scott Walker's union-busting bill has energized the labor movement.
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Wrestling to Understand my Adversary | Lefty Parent #wiunion #wisolidarity

Wrestling to Understand my Adversary | Lefty Parent

Wrestling to Understand my Adversary

by Cooper Zale

I am all about promoting what I see as our societal evolution from “patriarchy to partnership”, from an authoritarian power hierarchy of control towards a circle of true equals. To that end I occasionally clash with other progressives who are more supportive than I am of some “social engineering” like state-standardized mandatory public schooling. But more often than not it is key elements of the conservative world view that I find myself at odds with.

Unlike other progressive people I know who think that a “principled conservative” is an oxymoron, I was taught by my mom to “respect your adversary” and “pick your battles” in order to “be effective”. To that end I am always

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Governor Walker creates state of chaos for schools #wiunion #wisolidarity

News & Publications | Wisconsin Education Association Council > Governor Walker creates state of chaos for schools

Governor Walker creates state of chaos for schools

Posted: 2/25/2011 8:46:00 PM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2011
Contact: Brian Washington, 202-403-4808

GOVERNOR WALKER CREATES STATE OF CHAOS FOR SCHOOLS

MADISON – The state of chaos that has been created by Governor Walker in Wisconsin took yet another turn for the worse this week, as several school boards were panicked into issuing non-renewal notices to their entire teaching staff or large portions of them.

“The move by these boards of education, prompted by the governor’s references to impending cuts to public schools, has set off this flurry of action which will have lasting negative impacts on students, educators and schools,” said Mary Bell, a teacher and president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council. “The drastic and careless actions of our governor have thrown local schools unnecessarily into turmoil.”

The impact of this turmoil is felt by dedicated teachers and education support staff from all corners of Wisconsin.

Teachers from Hustisford, Freedom, Sauk Prairie and Belleview are among those in the state who, despite having dedicated themselves to their students for years, have disco

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Come to Madison Saturday! List of activities: #wiunion #wisolidarity #WEAC

Wisconsin Education Association Council

WEAC President Mary Bell says Governor Walker's use of layoffs as a political ploy is "disappointing and sickening." She hasreiterated that money issues have been taken off the table, and that the only issue is Governor Walker's assault on the collective bargaining rights.

Come to Madison Saturday!



More videos
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Wisconsin Police Union Announces Solidarity with Occupation of State House


Police Union announces solidarity with students, workers, and Wisconsin residents occupying the State Capitol in Madison. February 24, 2011.
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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Where are you, President Obama? #wiunion #wisolidarity

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Where are you, President Obama?

Where are you, President Obama?

by Mike Klonsky
Obama 2007 campaign speech from Spartanburg, S.C.



See my latest post on Huffington: "President Obama, Where Are You on Teachers Union Rights?"
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Sacramento Press / Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson discuss education reform #wiunion #wisolidarity

Sacramento Press / Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson discuss education reform

Michelle Rhee and Kevin Johnson discuss education reform

by Monica Stark

Mayor Kevin Johnson and Michelle Rhee spoke on education reform

Mayor Kevin Johnson and his fiancée, renown education reformer Michelle Rhee, took the stage Thursday night for their first speaking event in Sacramento at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria to talk about the changing landscape in the world of education.

They held hands, finished each other's sentences, and answered questions from moderator Steven C. Currall, dean of the UC Davis management school as well as some from the crowd of a few hundred attendees. Their appearance came on the heels of the announcement that Rhee's nonprofit educational advocacy organization, StudentsFirst, is now officially headquartered in Sacramento.

The two come from very different backgrounds – Rhee was born into a wealthy family that provided her with a private education while Johnson is a product of the public school system. But their message was the same: Every student should have a good education, no matter where he or she grows up.

Rhee has been in the spotlight for what many deem controversial past practices, and she did not shy away from discussing her political legacy in Washington, D.C., where she most recently worked as public schools chancellor. As she said on Thursday, in the 20 years of her career thus far, she's probably hired and fired more people than anyone else.

In her first year as the chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools, Rhee closed 24 schools, laid off hundreds of

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Weekend Schedule of Events Live from the Wisconsin Protests | Center for Media and Democracy #wiunion #wisolidarity

Live Reporting from the Wisconsin Protests | Center for Media and Democracy

Live Reporting from the Wisconsin Protests

Submitted by Page Metcalf on February 15, 2011 - 11:30am
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Since Monday, February 14, tens of thousands of Wisconsin residents have been flooding the State Capitol in Madison in protest of Governor Walker's proposed budget "repair" bill that would end 50 years of collective bargaining for Wisconsin workers. CMD reporters are out providing live coverage of these historic events. Votes scheduled for Thursday, February 17 and Friday, February 18 have been delayed, and protests continue through the weekend. Send your stories, photos and videos to us at: PR Watch Editor!

On Friday, CMD submitted an open records request to Governor Walker's office for all incoming and outgoing telephone calls made since he has taken office, and will follow up with additional requests over the next week. Keep an eye on PRWatch.org for updates.

Weekend Schedule of Events

Click here for bus schedules to help you get downtown. Click here for a list of activities in your area.

Friday, February 25:

* SEIU sleep over at the Capitol. TAA will provide supper at 7:00 p.m. Capitol doors will lock at 10:00 p.m. Bring a sleeping bag and pillow. All are welcome.

Wisconsin Professional Police Association will be joining the sleep over. Items permitted: sleeping bags, backpacks, pillows, concealed food, small non-inflatable sleeping mats, instruments kept on person.

Saturday, February 26:

*All day: Rally to Save the American Dream at the Capitol. Sponsored by Progressives United.

*9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Leafletting at the Kohl Center (WIAA Wrestling Tournament)

*10:30 a.m. - AFSCME Correctional Officers from Wisconsin and Illinois meet at the intersection of Mifflin St. & Wisconsin Ave. for walk to State Capitol

*10:30 a.m. - Protest at Koch office, 10 East Doty Street, Madison. Sponsored by US Uncut.

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solidaridad: Parents Across America In Solidarity with Teachers #wiunion #wisolidarity

solidaridad: Parents Across America In Solidarity with Teachers

Parents Across America In Solidarity with Teachers

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene
Stand up to Arne Duncan's corporate charter privatization scheme!
All over the country, from Wisconsin, to Rhode Island, to New York, a fierce assault has been launched against our teachers – against their right to negotiate for better working conditions, for seniority protections, and against arbitrary layoffs, without due process.

This assault has been funded and carried out in many cases by the same small group of wealthy men who want to privatize our public schools. You should note that no one is talking about removing seniority protections from firefighters or police.

As parents, we understand that experience matters when it comes to effective teaching; (see our fact sheet on this issue).

We also realize that in many cases, better working conditions also means better learning conditions for our children, and that without the right to collective bargaining, class sizes could swell to unimaginable proportions – something that these men who are trying to impose their solutions on our schools are aiming for, though they
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“Hubris” -the likely downfall of Gov. Walker? « Teacher Reality #workers #union

“Hubris” -the likely downfall of Gov. Walker? « Teacher Reality

“Hubris” -the likely downfall of Gov. Walker?

by TeacherReality

Marc Sears. a former public school teacher and current WI college professor, wrote this next piece. So much of what he wrote expresses the true realities of what is going on…a great read!

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Here is an op-ed piece that I wrote that the paper would not run (because of length)…. Share or repost at will, but I ask that my name remains as author. – Marc Seals

After nearly two decades of being a Republican, I must face the reality that my party has abandoned me.

In the early 1990s, I became a registered Republican. I was a public school English teacher in Georgia who felt betrayed by the leftward shift of the Democratic Party; it seemed that there was no longer room for moderate or

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No Money Left? You’re Looking in the Wrong Places. | Labor Notes #wiunion #wisolidarity

No Money Left? You’re Looking in the Wrong Places. | Labor Notes

No Money Left? You’re Looking in the Wrong Places.

Paul Krehbiel
| February 25, 2011
A protester in Madison has the answer to the state's budget shortfall. Photo: Peter Patau.

The U.S. government budget deficit is now $1.5 trillion, and political leaders in most states are wringing their hands and crying in unison: “There’s just no money.”

Led by Republicans, the only solution, they say, is to cut, cut, cut. And while they push draconian cuts in education, health care, pensions, public workers, Social Security, and Medicare, they also attack the one social group that’s had the clout to achieve and protect these gains—the unions.

Workers’ pensions are not the cause of the economic crisis hittingWisconsin and other states. That crisis, of course, stems from the crash in the economy that started with a massive Wall Street scam. Financial firms packaged toxic mortgages and sold them to pension funds and other investors as good investments. Their fraud dragged everyone down.

Wall Street has recovered. The New York State comptroller reports its profits are up by 720 percent since 2007. How can there not be enough money for needed social services?

Actually, there’s tons of money. Billions of dollars. The problem is that it’s not available to meet everyone’s needs because the giant corporations and the rich have taken it.

Corporations paid 33 percent of all taxes collected by the federal government in 1953, according

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