March 11, 2011

"It's become some sort of glamour protest. It's all see and be seen now."

Says Meade when he comes home from the Capitol this evening with these pics. Were these kids putting on a show?

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And this young lady...

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... what does she think she's doing?! It's a clown show....

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ADDED: You think it would make more sense with video...



... but you are wrong. [AND: I love that you can see the instant when the still camera flash goes off (and that Meade wields both cameras simultaneously).]

99 comments:

Lucius said...

That's hot!!!

What is it again?

mesquito said...

Yup. It's Spring Break on Padre Island.

The girls comb their hair
in rear-view mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard.

Lucius said...

Maybe she's supposed to be representing a hot, college-age pensioner being tasered by the vile authoritarian GOP, but demonstrating her capacity for renewed resistance by artfully framing her Crotch of Power, from whence the People will recharge their strength and issue forth with renewed Looks Like Democracy freshness.

chickelit said...

The Union side is upping the ante of protest babes.

Freeman Hunt said...

What were they doing? Dancing?

Clubbing in the Capitol!

Lincolntf said...

Wisconsin gets exactly the quality of children that their incompetent and unstable teachers produce. Petulant children emulating petulant adults.
Walker should use this footage in his next campaign.

Fen said...

Looks like they finally found a way to use that Liberal Arts degree.

Kevin said...

The Union side is upping the ante of protest babes.

Given earlier pictures, I thought only ugly people were allowed to participate in these protests.

Lucius said...

Yes, was there throbbing dance music here? Democracy doesn't smell right without throbbing dance music. Althouse readers trust Meade to provide video documentation of these things. We need to make sure democracy is smelling right.

Where's the goshdamned video Meade?!!?

ooonaughtykitty said...

Is she doing interpretive dance? Performance art?

Did she take requests?

roesch-voltaire said...

Creative songs, signs, costumes, dances, what is this protest coming to, and tomorrow farmers on tractors! Wisconsin is so cool.

Lincolntf said...

If I see a donkey, I'm outta here.

Sprezzatura said...

CHAOS MOB!!!!1!!!11!!!!!

Mark said...

The intersection between antiquated activism in support of institutionalized graft and feckless feel-good fashionistas.

Prediction: 2012 has the highest turnout in history, and the Republicans increase their margins of victory across the board, except in Madison.

coketown said...

They should all wear uniforms and chant in harmony, like a 1,000-person barbershop quartet. To me that really says, "unity." Right now it's the Theater of the Preposterous, and everyone is trying to out-do everyone else.

Anonymous said...

"We've gotta have a great show, with a million laughs ... and color ... and a lot of lights to make it sparkle! And songs -- wonderful songs! And after we get the people in that hall, we've gotta start 'em in laughing right away. Oh, can't you just see it?!"

— Judy Garland, "Babes In Arms", 1939.


wv: eckst -- like angst, but ... ecch.

Lincolntf said...

It looks like the same building that was being represented two weeks ago as "dear to the people of Wisconsin, and among the most beautiful Capitols in the whole nation" is now an open-mic venue for drunken malcontents.
Nice job, Madison.

Carol_Herman said...

Okay. But where do they practice?

These shows take props. Do they park the "props trucks" outside?

Can you buy ice cream outside, from a vendor? Or a hot dog?

And, if people come to show off ... when will a local store come ... and parade around a few models in spring's new attire?

I love our First Amendment.

I'm glad Governor Walker has pointed out that everybody's allowed to be heard.

And, I'm very happy that Meade has such a wonderful lens on his camera.

There's no downside, here.

Maybe, in Madison, Wisconsin this is considered a "big crowd."

I still think, outside, you can find parking.

Does Meade just walk to the Rotunda from home?

Lincolntf said...

Looks like an audition for "American Idle".

Lucius said...

@Freeman Hunt: Yes, it's clubbing--AND it's Theatre. Plus, it's Political!

In fact there are, like, twenty-seven discernible distinct elements of total awesomeness in this!!

OMG The Sixties are BACK BABY!!! **Do it** Madison!!!

--Oh shit, I just spilled my poppers.

Goatwhacker said...

Reminds of the street theatre they used to have in the sixties and seventies. The message then was generally peace and harmony. I'm guessing the message now is not.

Unknown said...

It's Wisconsin Idol.

But they desperately need Simon Cowell.

Or maybe that Englishwoman from Weakest Link

former law student said...

Yes, street theater.

You have to wonder what Ann was doing during the 1960s and 70s. ROTC?

Unknown said...

Dumbass on the tricycle thinks the whole world is watching. They're not. The world has more important business than attending to self absorbed and selfish children on parade.

The protests will get freakier and stupider--like a failing reality TV show, then fade to black.

Pathetic and disgusting, but what ever. Someone is paying for these exhibitionists.

Meade said...

"Where's the goshdamned video Meade?!!?"

Calm down. Video takes longer to edit and process. Plus it's a flippin' Flip camera. You want satellite link up mobile unit storm chaser news on demand? Hit the PayPal button, Bud. Who do you think we are, the Koch brothers? New Media Meadhouse has suffered a Walker/Republican legislated financial reversal.

Yeah - we've been reduced to begging.

Mr. D said...

The modified Nancy Sinatra boots are a nice touch.

You've been lyin', when you should have been truthin

sakredkow said...

That's Olivia Wilde, isn't it? Oh my god, I'm seeing her everywhere.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"Where's the goshdamned video Meade?!!?"

Is somebody bullying the Meadia?

I'm telling the first lady.

Chip Ahoy said...

Ha ha ha Stop it, you're kill'n me over here.

Wince said...

"It's become some sort of glamour protest. It's all see and be seen now." Says Meade...

Meade,

"See and be seen"?

Um, you might want to track down those handcuffs... and grab your camera.

If you saw my earlier comment. ;)

Trooper York said...

Lincolntf said...
If I see a donkey, I'm outta here


Leave Dose of Sanity out of this.
He is busy getting ready for his exams.

Freeman Hunt said...

The guy on the far right in the middle picture is very tall. Just a mundane observation.

george said...

These photos make the protesters seem harmless but there has already been a LOT of union violence and threatened violence. The people who were organizing the recall of the Dem fleabaggers had to move the location after the original one had 50 death threats called in. Then they were assailed by union thugs and had their petitions torn up. I think it is very telling that 18 politicians (not citizens but the privileged political class) have received death threats and no arrests have been made. These people aren't exactly trying to hide their tracks.

I would like to think Wisconsonites would frown on such intimidation but I know if they are willing to support public unions then they are willing to support nearly anything because that is just what unions do. One is part and parcel of the other.

The sad part is the unions aren't even interested in proving me wrong. Quite the opposite.

If Meade wants some good footage he should accompany the Tea Partiers. The action at the Capitol is over and all of the dirty ops will be conducted where camera coverage is less likely.

Lucius said...

"Yeah -we've been reduced to begging."

--Ah, cripe. I'm a bleedin' heart. Where's that amazon button? Herbert Marcuse got any new books out?

--Actually: are those boots in Apparel?

Unknown said...

Don't be grouchy my conservative friends! Imagine how many bagels, coffees, peanut stews, pizza slices, etc. the local businesses will sell tomorrow. Positive externalities! They ran a story last weekend on the Milwaukee news about "Teddy Wedgers" -- the new owner bought the joint a year ago and he was about to close his doors...the pastie-buying protestors saved his business! Yay protestors!

Trooper York said...

Man Wisconsin seem like a real fucked up place.

I thought so but these copyrighted photos sure prove it.

Wince said...

Enlarging the image, the woman sharing her cleavage is obviously under the influence of "Ethos Water."

Ethos is a Greek word and denotes the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, a nation or an ideology. The Greeks originally used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals.

Meade, find those cuffs!

Trooper York said...

"the pastie-buying protestors saved his business! "


Yeah the same thing happened to Scores when Guliani outlawed totally nude strip clubs.

Trooper York said...

I was proud to be one of those protestors. Tiffany and Sable and Sheensha would have been out of job if I didn't get them thoses pasties.

The Crack Emcee said...

"It's become some sort of glamour protest. It's all see and be seen now."

Says Meade when he comes home from the Capitol this evening with these pics. Were these kids putting on a show? And this young lady...what does she think she's doing?! It's a clown show....


Timing. I'm working on a post about this right now. I'd say she's being FUNNY and a happy warrior.

You know, like Mary Katharine Ham.

chickelit said...

Who do you think we are, the Koch brothers?

You two didn't get your Koch kickback checks yet?

Lucius said...

@EDH: I hear you on the "ethos." Very Euripides' "Bacchae".

But I'm waiting for the protest chick in the pink yoga pants and black Chucks/Vans to drop the "Freedom of" [???] poster and Bust A Move.

That's when we know Dionysus is showing us Democracy.

Trooper York said...

Dude are you pressing on the ham again?

You gotz to give it a rest brother.

There are worse things you know!

Lincolntf said...

The filth and destruction left behind by the anti-Wisconsin-voter movement has been relatively contained thus far. I wonder, though, if Madison really wants to remain a perpetual gathering spot for the Jesse Jacksons, Michael Moores, Dick Trumkas, etc. of the world. None of those people have ever left a place better off than when they got there. Might want to think about that between bong hits, Badgers.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

OT

Somebody is dropping the ball..

US did not deliver coolant to Japan nuclear reactor

followed by..

Japan may have hours to prevent nuclear meltdown

They need the coolant to prevent the meltdown.

roesch-voltaire said...

Yes Lin what hasn't Meade been documenting all those bongs at the capitol? Do you ever take off the ideological blinders before you put out these out-dated stereotypes?

retire05 said...

So while WAOW is reporting that a recall rally that was scheduled to meet at Club 64, a restraurant in Merril, had to be cancelled due to the owners receiving "more than 50 phone calls threatening to destroy their business and cause physical harm if the rally took place" there because the ralliers where going to try to get signatures to recall one of the Wayward 14, Meade is complaining that "the New Media Meadhouse has suffered a Walker/Republican legislated financial reversal.

Well, Meade, not everyone can pull down the tony six figure income your wife is taking, compliments of the dollars subitted to Madison by the 85.2% of Wisconsin workers who are non-union.

Oh, and the rally that was cancelled? It was moved to the Lincoln County Courthouse where protesters, sympathetic to your wive's taxpayer funded job, only to have goons (which Wisconsin seems to have an abundance of) intimidate those who would sign the "recall Senator Jim Holperin" petition, even going so far as to write profanity on the petitions and of course, illegally tear some of them up.

What else starts with "W"?

Democratic WHINERS.

You need to change the team name of the University of Wisconsin to the Wisconsin Whiners. It fits as there seems to be few adults in your state.

Lincolntf said...

R-V, when the pseudo-neo-hippies stop using the outdated slogans, methods and modes of expression of their forebears then I'll stop using the same to criticize them.

Is that Peter Yarrow I hear...?

garage mahal said...

RV
You going to the rally tomorrow?

Bruce Hayden said...

What it looks like from all the photos is that there are a lot of protesters there who are there to just protest. It isn't what is being protested really, but rather, that they can all show solidarity and just hang out being important making a difference protesting. It could just as easily been Club Gitmo, Halliburton, etc., except that the Democrats now run everything at the national level.

Probably my cynicism is showing my age. I went to college at a time when protesting was being invented, and a lot of those protesting seemed just like that - that it wasn't really whether it was against Vietnam, for drugs, or whatever. Rather, it was the protesting itself that was important.

That said, there do seem to be enough union members around there to add a level of violence to what would likely be just kids and aging hippies doing their protest thing.

Unknown said...

Meade said...

"Where's the goshdamned video Meade?!!?"

Calm down. Video takes longer to edit and process. Plus it's a flippin' Flip camera. You want satellite link up mobile unit storm chaser news on demand? Hit the PayPal button, Bud. Who do you think we are, the Koch brothers? New Media Meadhouse has suffered a Walker/Republican legislated financial reversal.

Yeah - we've been reduced to begging.


Just like NPR????

Call O'Keefe and Giles!!

Ann Althouse said...

"your wive's taxpayer funded job"

My students pay tuition of over $30,000 a year (out of state).

Meade said...

garage, I'm going. What time and where do you want to meet? How about the rotunda and we'll get everyone singing a round of 'On, Wisconsin?'

Lincolntf said...

Nothing says "It's all about the children!" like thigh-high boots and a camel-toe.

Third Coast said...

Don't know if anyone's linked this, but it might explain the local gendarmes, uh, lack of enthusiasm in enforcing laws against the protesters:
http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2011/03/wisconsin-unions-now-threatening.html

Unknown said...

I am pretty sure the baby boomers did not invent nonviolent resistance. The attempt to gain socio-political goals through symbolic protest and economic noncooperation (boycott). Gandhi, Sakharov, Tolstoy, King, Havel.

In 2011 in the U.S. in Madison, we are blessed that our protests can include some glamour, clever signs, music, pizza, tractors....but it remains an act of nonviolent resistance.

It's funny too how a protest is in the eye of the beholder. I admit snarked way more at the Tea Party protests.

former law student said...

the pastie-buying protestors saved his business

I'm pretty sure the "Cornish calzone" is spelled pasty. No pastie has been spotted since 1975.

Lincolntf said...

"...some glamour, clever signs, music, pizza, tractors...

..and swastikas, broken windows, smashed doors, locked egresses, screaming idiots and piles of human detritus littering the Capitol floor... (oops, I almost forgot the shitbags who hung "teabag" signs on their children)...

Lucius said...

@self: "Where's the goshdamned video Meade?!!?"

Sigh . . . .

I somehow imagined that would be way hotter.

Oh well. Thanks for trying.

--Crap. Now where'd I lose my pasties?

garage mahal said...

Meade
I actually like "Re-call Wal-ker" better.

I'll email you my cell # if you want.

Meade said...

" I admit snarked way more at the Tea Party protests."

I know. Like when the Tea Party sleeping baggers occupied the Capitol building. Remember that? And when Republican senators fled to Canada and held up the Health Care Reform Act because Obama's Democrats couldn't form a quorum. Snark snark snark.

retire05 said...

Ann, according to the U of W website, instate tuition for the year 2010-2011 is $18,049 and $$37,586 for out of state. That is unless you are from Minnesota, and then you get a tony discount to $28,173.

So unless you have loaded up the law school with kids from states other than Wisconsin and Minnesota, you are still relying on taxpayer funds to support you.

And I hardly thing the Walker/Republican actions have sent you and Meade into abstract poverty. It was stupid statement and shows which side of the fence Meade seems to be on. So much for fairness.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

..and that Meade wields both cameras simultaneously.

He still is an Alhouse commenter ;)

Lincolntf said...

"And I hardly thing the Walker/Republican actions have sent you and Meade into abstract poverty."

You obviously meant "abject" poverty. Friggin' Wisconsin educations will be the death of us all.

madAsHell said...

If you can't understand her interpretive dance....than you can't be one of us!

Meade said...

garage, cool.

Lucius, sorry but my editor has retired for the evening. She has the Wisconsin Protest Flu or something. But don't worry - I'll force her back into the sweatshop in the morning - back to her 14 hour workday, in dangerous dusty conditions, her cramped work station lit by compact florescent bulbs.

So look for more video around 6 am, an hour after her starting time.

Real American said...

these people are complete F'ing jokes. Why should anyone take them seriously?

Anonymous said...

"Dumbass on the tricycle thinks the whole world is watching. They're not."

Yes, we are actually watching. :)

You'd be surprised at how many people are talking about you cheeseheads.

The Crack Emcee said...

Troop,

Dude are you pressing on the ham again?

Nope, The Clown Show

Hank Rearden_WI said...

At this pace tomorrow's performances are going to include the brass pole.

Known Unknown said...

And I hardly thing the Walker/Republican actions have sent you and Meade into abstract poverty. It was stupid statement and shows which side of the fence Meade seems to be on. So much for fairness.

Don't work in the sarcasm industry much, do you?

retire05 said...

E.M.Davis, no, I don't do sarcasm. I leave that up to those who don't have the intellect to do anything else.

Unknown said...

The Tea Party protests took place largely in suburban parking lots here in Milwaukee metro -- because that's where those folks lived (and maybe where they felt comfortable?). I just don't understand the criticism at the occupation or whatever you want to call it of the capitol by protestors. It's a public building. And the square was meant for gathering. As long as people remain nonviolent and law abiding. If they are disobeying the law, they should be arrested.

I <> understand the anger at the fleeing democrats. I do not agree with what they did.

retire05 said...

And still no negative reports from Ann as protesters gather in throngs in front of the M & I Bank. The bank closed early under the advise of the police who worried about the protesters.

You people in Wisconsin are NUTS.

garage mahal said...


You people in Wisconsin are NUTS.


You can always buzz off and find another blog not about Wisconsin. I doubt you'll be missed.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

If you are not in the MeadeHouse corner, you're with the trolls.

Revenant said...

UW Madison Law School has a $26 million budget and 792 students, for a per-student cost of $32,800. Assuming they're mostly in-state that means about 60% of the cost of educating each student comes from tuition.

That doesn't mean the state government foots the rest of the bill, though. First of all, Althouse holds an endowed chair, which generally means that some or all of the position's salary is covered by the endowment.

Irene said...

Les Misérables (Flash Mob Edition).

Anonymous said...

"Les Misérables (Flash Mob Edition)."

Those kids are good! Hard song to sing. Are they from the University theater group?

I heard the farmers are coming to Madison tomorrow. tractor pull!

Except for the bongo drums, I find these performances rather charming.

David said...

@Retire05:

Law schools generally are (or can be) profit centers for universities. A rarity among academic departments. If UW law school needs much taxpayer support, shame on them.

My law school, University of Virginia, decided to free itself from tax funding quite some time ago. The Virginia Law School funds itself from tuition, foundation grants and contributions, mostly from alumni. UW law school could do the same, if it so chose, and it's hardly within the power of a professor to make that decision.

Whether UW is financially self sustaining I do not know. If they are not, object to the Regents and the Law School and University administration.

David said...

Revenant, it was an endowed chair before Althouse sat in it. Now it's a well endowed chair.

garage mahal said...

I heard the farmers are coming to Madison tomorrow. tractor pull!

Here you go Canuck

Jason said...

"What were they doing? Dancing?

Clubbing in the Capitol!"
----------------

Might as well start running some daily schedules:

Monday - Folk songs
Tuesday - 5 gallon drums
Wednesday - Chant night
Thursday - DJ Music featuring 60's favorites
Friday - Club Rotunda - dance music
Saturday - 1/2 off drinks and apps after 9 PM
Sunday - Open mic/karaoke night

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Now it's a well endowed chair.

You can say that again..

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

In the sixties, a lot of protesters were really only there to get high and get laid. These photos suggest to me that not much has changed.

BJM said...

Phffft...Amateurs. There would be mimes and stilt walkers in SF and cars on fire in Oakland.

Chef Mojo said...

@Lem: 11:24:

FTmuthafuckin'W.

BJM said...

"...some glamour, clever signs, music, pizza, tractors...

That's some goat rodeo you folks got there.

wv = gonasuck...yep.

BJM said...

Obvisously, the protester in the clown mask doesn't get irony.

Revenant said...

My university was about 1/3 the size of UW Madison, and had maybe 200 or so hardcore causeheads.

Madison's a little more left-leaning, so call it 1000 campus causeheads there. Easily enough to have aimless protests forever, or at least until they head back to their parents' houses for the summer.

Fen said...

And sorry guys, Performance Art Girl is not that hot. You need to get out more.

Toad Trend said...

Yes, it is true, everybody (on the left) wants their 15 minutes of fame.

I contend that the lot of them really don't know the issues, but only what they've been told.

Of course, you show up and trash public buildings as a matter of routine when your state is battling fiscal issues.

Logical.

wv - blopers

somefeller said...

Fen says: And sorry guys, Performance Art Girl is not that hot. You need to get out more.

Well, to be fair, this is Wisconsin we're talking about here.

vbspurs said...

In the movie version, the second young lady will be played by Natalie Portman...because I swear she's a dead ringer.

vbspurs said...

Retire wrote:

sympathetic to your wive's taxpayer funded job

Oh snap, did Meade get another wife during my absence? I bet it was Dust Bunny Queen -- I bet it was!

Meade said...

lol

Unknown said...

"ADDED: You think it would make more sense with video..."

That's the funniest damn sentence I've read in months.

Alex said...

No doubt shiloh will complain how Althouse is mocking the young lady and how horrible it is. If these were conservatives, he'd be mercilessly mocking them and wondering why we objected. Is it any wonder why people hate liberals?

Alex said...

Creative songs, signs, costumes, dances, what is this protest coming to, and tomorrow farmers on tractors! Wisconsin is so cool.

Who knew! If only The Beatles had realized protesting was the real way of going about being creative they really could have been something. Oh wait...