barackobama.com had a national call to action to get people to Madison WI. I have no idea what the ratio was, but this was clearly an astroturfed effort.
Most were getting paid - they were collecting their pay via taking sick leave (remember the doctors handing out fake medical excuses).
About 30 tractors showed up. Big Whoop.
Capitol Chaos: Tractors Join Madison Protesters | Newsradio 620 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Talk, Sports, Weather | Local Headlines
Considering that the 89% of the labor force that is not unionized have weekends off (or other days depending upon work schedules), the purpose of unions for work hours and conditions was served decades ago. We have labor laws and civili service codes that protect both private sector and public sector workers.
Your last question is specious. It requires supporting your position that Walker and Goldman Sachs are cojoined. They are not. I wll say, however, that considering the violence of the protestors, it's very reasonable that the people who support Walker are showing it via emails, phone calls etc. instead of enduring the vulgarity and threats of the protesters who have issues fatwas on those who dare to record and criticize them:
Ann Althouse, a blogger and University of Wisconsin law professor, has provided extensive firsthand accounts and photos — along with her husband Meade — of the Wisconsin protests and related matters.
Althouse has criticized the actions of the Democratic lawmakers who left the state as well as the behavior of some of the protesters.
Amid the numerous death threats against GOP state lawmakers, the ripping up of Democratic recall petitions and university professors musing about justifications for “political violence,” it was only a matter of time before the union/left rabble would turn their ire toward Althouse.
In an unsigned “Operation: Countertroll” screed, they declare, “Your city of Madison privileges have been revoked.”
The foul-mouthed message of intimidation is crystal-clear. This passage is (almost) profanity free:
“We are at every coffee shop on State, open to close, all the time. We will hang up wanted posters of you everywhere you like to go. We will picket on public property as close to your house as we can every day. We will harass the ever-loving sh*t out of you all the time. Campus is OCCUPIED. State Street is OCCUPIED. The Square is OCCUPIED. Vilas, Schenk’s Corners, Atwood, WillyStreet — Occupied, Occupied, Occupied, Occupied.”
The screed goes on to say that Althouse must be silent from now on and make a variety of payoffs to various left-wing causes. Otherwise, she and her husband must leave the state ... though they weren’t quite so polite.
So this is what democracy looks like?
The New Civility: Blogger Ann Althouse
Here's the entire screed:
Op:countertroll Vs Althouse and Meade
"Farmers joined thousands of
pro-labor demonstrators at the State Capitol today.
"The farmers paraded around Madison, behind the wheels of more than 30 tractors, saying the fight isn't over."
Thousands of pro-labor supporters and exactly zero anti-labor supporters. Where are Scott Walker's supporters? 30 tractors (big whoop) for labor and zero tractors for Walker.(zero whoop)
Walker and Goldman Sachs are conjoined by Charles and David Koch and the
BGR Group in Washington DC.
Russ Feingold said it best:
"Today, Wednesday March 16th, Republican state senators from Wisconsin are in Washington, D.C. attending a big fundraiser at the headquarters of a
corporate lobbying firm.
"That's less than one week after Republicans rammed through an anti-worker bill that polls showed was heavily opposed by Wisconsinites -- but was heavily favored by corporate lobbyists," said Feingold. "If your senator is Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, Glenn Grothman of West Bend, or Alberta Darling of River Hills, your senator is at the fundraiser.
"
But no matter where you are in Wisconsin, your interests just got sold out to big corporate interests."
The labor struggle in Wisconsin has not been without violence, and from a historical perspective it is the side championed by Ann Althouse and her husband that has committed the biggest crimes.
Punishing Ann for speaking against labor can't be justified, but it isn't likely she and Meade will face the same test as the 14,000 Wisconsin workers striking for an eight hour work day confronted in Milwaukee on May Day 1861:
"
The Bay View Massacre (sometimes also referred to as the Bay View Tragedy) was the culmination of events that began on Saturday May 1, 1886 when 7,000 building-trades workers joined with 5,000 Polish laborers who had organized at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to strike against their employers, demanding an eight-hour work day.
"By Monday, these numbers had increased to over 14,000 workers that gathered at the Milwaukee Iron Company rolling mill in Bay View.
"They were met by 250 National Guardsmen under order from
Republican Governor Jeremiah M. Rusk to 'shoot to kill' any strikers who attempted to enter.
"Workers camped in the nearby fields and the Kosciuszko Militia arrived by May 4. Early the next day the crowd, which by this time contained children, approached the mill and were fired upon. Seven people died as a result, including a thirteen-year-old boy.[1] Several more were injured during the protest."
Ancient history?
When Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers in 1981 many in his base thought it impossible to roll back union membership to the levels we see today.
And that was before the richest 0.01% of Americans tripled their "fair" share of national income.
