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Whatever floats your boat...

This video gives you a good sense of how BIG Wisconsin's demonstrations are.

Today, despite the freezing snow, 100,000 people stood for worker's rights.

The last four seconds made me chuckle.

Views: 41

Comment by BlancheNoE on February 27, 2011 at 10:50am

HA ! Awesome. My favorites ? : the dog shirt " Bad Walker, no cookies " ,..and the Imperial Walker, of course.

Thanks for the grin, Syd. Now, if only all these people had come out for the mid-term elections,...

Something tells me they will be out for the next Presidential election, though,...if they don't forget.

Comment by SydTheSkeptic on February 27, 2011 at 11:30am

We'll see, but it's not like we have any clear candidates in ANY party that would be on the side of workers. 

I mean, look at the groundswell of discontent over what's happening in Wisconsin, and do you see ANY of the DEMS standing in solidarity with the demonstrators there?  

 

In order for anyone to be elected, they need to cater to the highest bidder, which basically puts them in the pockets of anti-worker special interests.   The last group standing that has any real leverage are the unions.

 

However, what's really cool about people being energized (in a way that's not secretly supported by Righties with a social agenda- can you say anti-choice Tea Partiers?) is that they're beginning to see the power they have in social networks.  So, I personally am encouraged by a new movement that has to do more with consumer activism.

 

Check out my blog on VH about US Uncut!  A lot of people don't know that yesterday, while there were  50-state solidarity rallies across the US, there were also sit-ins and demonstrations in front of corporations who've not paid ANY taxes at all.

 

Bank of America's one of 'em.  Here's a video that shows a cool teach-in at one branch.  Check it Out!

 

These protests happened in cities all across the US, but of course, it wouldn't be covered by the mainstream media, not when they're owned by the very corporations that WILL eventually be targeted.  

 

Since corporations have "personhood" and are given the kinds of rights HUMANS have, then I think it's a good strategy to fight their greedy asses at that level.  Let's file civil suits against these "individuals" if it can be proven they caused deaths or harm to oth

Comment by SydTheSkeptic on February 27, 2011 at 11:33am

Wow, I got off...

 

Anyhoo, you get the gist of it.

We basically have to reform campaign-finance while at the same time, we have to hold greedy little gamblers on Wall Street accountable for their actions via consumer activism.

 

Hmm...I wrote a lot more, but I'm tired. lol

Comment by BlancheNoE on February 27, 2011 at 12:13pm

ahhh that fiery passion to change things for the better. One of the MANY reasons I love you.

I did see your blog at VH and yes, I agree, but I'm still miffed at all those who sat on their keisters during the mid-terms. I dragged my ass in there between violent puking intervals to vote.

 The tech age is a double edged sword. On one hand it encourages shortening of attention spans but on the other, it allows us to communicate quickly and makes it MUCH harder for the greed-meisters to hide their naughty behaviors. We  have the tools now to work smarter. LET'S USE THEM  (as Syd does) !.

,..and yeah, corporations as people. I haven't even been able to wrap my head around that one yet. Seriously, I just can't accept it. There MUST be a way to rescind that one. If there is REAL evil, that is a prime example of it. YES. CIVIL SUITS ,.. and one corporation, ONE vote. Everyone in a corporation is not allowed to vote. They can pick ONE person to go cast a vote and the rest of the PARTS of the PERSON are DISQUALIFIED !!! .

Comment by SydTheSkeptic on February 27, 2011 at 12:19pm
THIS is a really good site for learning about Corporate Personhood, how it's effected our health and well-being, and what's being done to fight it.
Comment by SydTheSkeptic on February 27, 2011 at 12:21pm

Hehe, this is how I see corporate personhood:

Comment by photo2010 on February 27, 2011 at 1:40pm

Can't help but see comparisons between U.S. demonstrations and what's going on in Egypt, Libya, etc. Except they haven't been shooting at the American protestors in Wisconsin.

My Dad was in the Teamsters Union. Whatever anyone thinks of unions, they always got my Dad a job when companies were firing people. He had one very bad incident happen to him on a job, but I'll save that for another blog. Great illustration above Syd, lol ;)

Comment by SydTheSkeptic on February 27, 2011 at 2:09pm

I've been a part of one union or another my whole working life and I've never seen them do stuff that anti-union folks say they do.  I'm sure it happens (because they're administered by humans and we're fallible and easily-corrupted) but they seem to be isolated incidents that become a part of the anti-union meme. 

 

I'm enjoying my weekend, thanks to unions fighting for a 5-day work week.  I feel, because of unions, there's a standard that's been set for what humane and dignified work conditions are.   But our pro-corporate laws have made it such that it's harder for small businesses to be able to provide that standard, and so the standard itself becomes the focus as a "problem". 

 

Meanwhile, multi-national corporations get mookoo tax breaks making it even harder for smaller businesses to compete on other levels besides providing employee benefits.  What winds up happening, it seems, is that small businesses take on the same destructive role at the state level as multi-nationals take at the federal level.   The way campaign-financing is set up at both levels almost ensures that once a candidate wins office, they essentially become pimps for the monied interest groups.  They have to make good on their promises and that takes precedence over what the needs of citizens are, no matter what the promises were that they had to make in order to get the public on their side.

 

Look what happened in my own state.   When the governor campaigned, she focused on "transparency" and kept riding on how corrupt the current admin was.   The first thing she did after winning the office was she convened a round table of lobbyists for small businesses to find out what their needs were.  Sure enough, she kept it under wraps.  What happened to transparency?   You can see it all laid out  HERE.

 

The oil and gas lobby w
Comment by lima on March 1, 2011 at 10:45am

not sure if I am walking into the line of fire, but are we not to blame for corporations being the way they are these days?  i.e.  our consumption/ greed?  

 

Now for the acquisitions aspect of big corporations small businesses,  it's already a federal law to use the small business first over the corporation, however this is only mandate within federal government acquisitions (depending on the dollar amount)... and it has it problems as well, and I am sure we will see these problems if it becomes a requirement outside of federal spending.  

Last year, H.Clinton gave a research program 1 million dollar grant to use, and she selected the small buisness to go with this grant.  This small buisness had nothing to offer the research program... it was the most assine thing I had ever seen... So you know what they did?  The small business sub contracted the work back out to corporations to get the research done.

 

such a joke.

 

 

Comment by lima on March 1, 2011 at 3:38pm
Edit:  and it has it's problems & asinine
poop.

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