...In recent weeks, Madison has been the scene of large demonstrations against the governor’s budget bill, which would deny collective-bargaining rights to public-sector workers. Gov. Scott Walker claims that he needs to pass his bill to deal with the state’s fiscal problems. But his attack on unions has nothing to do with the budget. In fact, those unions have already indicated their willingness to make substantial financial concessions — an offer the governor has rejected.
What’s happening in Wisconsin is, instead, a power grab — an attempt to exploit the fiscal crisis to destroy the last major counterweight to the political power of corporations and the wealthy. And the power grab goes beyond union-busting. The bill in question is 144 pages long, and there are some extraordinary things hidden deep inside.
For example, the bill includes language that would allow officials appointed by the governor to make sweeping cuts in health coverage for low-income families without having to go through the normal legislative process.
And then there’s this: “Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).”
What’s that about? The state of Wisconsin owns a number of plants supplying heating, cooling, and electricity to state-run facilities (like the University of Wisconsin). The language in the budget bill would, in effect, let the governor privatize any or all of these facilities at whim. Not only that, he could sell them, without taking bids, to anyone he chooses. And note that any such sale would, by definition, be “considered to be in the public interest.”
If this sounds to you like a perfect setup for cronyism and profiteering — remember those missing billions in Iraq? — you’re not alone...
But just like Iraq, it's going to go on anyway. Why? Because no one on the tube is willing to call this out with specifics. Krugman is a Princeton economics professor writing columns in The New York Pravda. That means liberal intellectual types read his column, and nobody else.
But the Tube? It's totally owned. The Sith Lord Rumsfeld himself can go on Jon Stewart's Daily Show only to have Stewart stammer and ask, basically, "how could you not have known about Iraq" when what he should have asked was "What happened to the billions of dollars you authorized sent there, on pallets, to your buddies? What about all those billions in no-bid contracts? What did you hold over Tenet to get the CIA to roll over?"
The Force has a strong influence on the weak minded.
The greatest war criminal of our times sitting there across from the only man a generation halfway trusts with the news, and Jon Stewart is revealed as the David Broder of the progressive movement.
Polite applause for Rummy the Ripper, as he smiles and goes all Sargent Schultz about the lead up to the war, and no questions are asked about its execution.
One hopes Mr. Stewart had a hard time getting rid of the smell of burnt flesh in the studio and the blood off his hands.
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