Arrests in the Wisconsin Capitol last night, outside the Assembly doors. We’d been cleared out of the gallery by hypersensitive, self-victimizing Republicans. They seemed to fear having citizens present while voting on this appalling mining bill would be too much to bear. People of course got more furious, being locked out of parts of their statehouse - again - and barred by a variety of troopers and police.
My friends CJ & Damon Terrell were taken away drumming for literally 15 seconds apiece. They just got out on bail two hours ago, charged approximately a hundred dollars for each second they drummed - $1,450 bail apiece.
Troopers also saw fit to take a 12-year-old girl into custody. ‘Cause we’re that dangerous in Wisconsin.
This made me as excited for 2012 as anything yet. Big Brother, we are watching you:
…. by a bunch of dipshits from something called Governors Journal.
Their insight:
He “served as the embodiment of the state by state battle to balance budgets and the best symbol of the struggle between the two political parties about how best to meet those fiscal challenges.
… . .
Next to the presidential race, if the recall election takes place, it may be the biggest political story in the country in the coming year. But consider this. Even if Walker is removed from office, he still wins the debate. Any setback will be temporary. Pension reforms are a reality. California is next. Walker, heralded as a “hero” of the conservative cause, will be in Washington in two months to address the American Conservative Union. If he comes out on top, in a special election, he is a right wing political star. If he loses, he is a political martyr, but still a star. What Walker represents – the idea behind his policies – cannot be killed even if he is temporarily removed from office. “
My friend Mariah on the evening of March 5th this year, locked out of the Capitol like every goddamn one else.
Packers & #WIunion meet outside the Capitol, February 26th, 2011.
Some context on the worth of the Green Bay Packers as a publicly-owned team, its more than 120,000 owners keeping it in a town that barely tops 100,000 people:
” The right way? The Green Bay way “
“The Packers stock sale … . is something very different in a world of sports often too dominated by self-interest, money and egos.”
“Green Bay is the only team with this form of ownership structure in the NFL; such ownership is in direct violation of current league rules, …”
… flouting foolish policies like resistance in FitzWalkerstan.
Paul Soglin, former, current & perpetual mayor of Madison, in 2008 wrote
“Green Bay Packers: Socialists, Maybe Communists, the Scourge of Capitalism”
And, finally, Dave Zirin in the New Yorker.
Photos from the Solidarity Singalong in the Capitol rotunda on Monday.
This is the first indoor Solidarity Singalong held in the Capitol rotunda after the Department Of Administration announced people would face arrests for holding protests in the Capitol or other state buildings. The Walker Administration is also threatening to charge protesters for police presence and “clean-up costs,” at $50 an hour. This may well be the most substantial plank of Walker’s job-creating program.
This is the Capitol press conference from that morning, helmed by the extraordinary Stacy Harbaugh of the Madison chapter of the ACLU: http://www.wiseye.org/Programming/VideoArchive/EventDetail.aspx?evhdid=5587
More context from the ACLU: http://forwardforliberty.com/2011/12/14/doamustrewriterules
And three news articles:
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/capitol-report/capitol-report-aclu-protesters-in-wait-and-see-mode-over/article_6d045018-2a8c-11e1-9182-0019bb2963f4.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=35491
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/aclu-seeks-delay-in-new-capitol-protest-rules-os3ghsu-135875348.html
Some photos from the solstice bonfire today outside Olbrich Gardens, near Lake Monona’s shore. Once again, happy solstice, errryone.
Malcolm X:
“We Are Living In A Police State.”
Some video from the peak of a rally at 16th & K Street in Washington, D.C. on December Seventh, 2011, and holding other intersections shortly before arrests happened two blocks east of there.
I’d held a line with people who were camping out in McPherson Square {from Occupy D.C.}, from Kansas City, Missouri, and Madison, Wisconsin, and other places. The end of this video, I put my camera & other equipment away and Brother Austin from Milwaukee was kind enough to take my bag. We ended up not just standing in the incessant rain but laying down in the street for a good while before the arrests started - good that I got rid of all I had on me. We were at the west end of 14th and K Streets, the last to get arrested on the street that day. We had a lot of fun in the paddy wagon after, and got rowdy in jail and while being processed after our arrests.
As stated, damn good day together.
A rally and march from December 7th in Washington, D.C.
This is the principally SEIU-led march from the National Mall to K Street. I have more video from when we were occupying intersections on K Street, and will edit & upload it later this weekend.
Assemblyman Robin Vos gets mic checked last night at a Young Republicans event at the Edgewater Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin.
This was organized by the ASO, a coterie of bad asses.
Arthur Kohl-Riggs stitched together a number of others’ footage and put together a far superior video.