Althouse: Look! Up in the sky! It's Superprotester!

April 1, 2011

Look! Up in the sky! It's Superprotester!

(Chip tweaks my pic posted last night.)

29 comments:

Scott M said...: Don't these guys usually meet inside a big metal skull rising out of a swamp?; 4/1/11, 9:12 AM
Drew said...: Looks more like he got the giant stage hook from above . . .; 4/1/11, 9:14 AM
Anonymous said...: After a night of partying in Madison, it's more like Stuporprotestor. Up, Up, and away!!; 4/1/11, 9:15 AM
Conservative Libertine said...: capes are cool, but tri-corner hats just make you look silly.; 4/1/11, 9:20 AM
DADvocate said...: Superprotester leaves so fast that his shadow can't keep up.; 4/1/11, 9:25 AM
Hazy Dave said...: Chip, you forgot to move his shadow! Remember, anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Oh, like DAD says. Faster than the speed of Dark, huh?; 4/1/11, 9:32 AM
chickelit said...: Ray Davies knew that guy! linky!; 4/1/11, 9:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Look! Up in the sky! Is it an unemployed tambourine player? Is it a community organizer? Is it a perpetual grad student in Gender Studies?; 4/1/11, 9:34 AM
Scott M said...: SUPERPROTESTOR

(of course, with a big red hammer and sickle on his chest)

Faster than a fleeting principle.

More powerful than legitimate state election results.

Able to make leaps of logic in a single, incoherent rant.; 4/1/11, 9:35 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Retire early on a generous tax payer funded pension while the nation sinks! It's magic!; 4/1/11, 9:42 AM
MadisonMan said...: Retire early on a generous tax payer funded pension

To be clear, the pension one draws -- as a former state worker in Wisconsin -- is funded by taxpayers in Wisconsin only while the person is working. Once you retire as a state worker, you're drawing out of a pension fund that does not require taxpayer support.

I think it's different in PA and NJ -- and maybe elsewhere -- where the state has to actually cover part of the pension payments each year because the pension funds were never fully funded.

TT tried to raid the fund to pay for who knows what back in the 80s or 90s, and he was smacked down by a judge.; 4/1/11, 9:54 AM
foxtrot said...: MadisonMan:

"To be clear, the pension one draws -- as a former state worker in Wisconsin -- is funded by taxpayers in Wisconsin only while the person is working. Once you retire as a state worker, you're drawing out of a pension fund that does not require taxpayer support."

I've always understood a pension fund as a pool that the state worker and the taxpayers put money into up until the worker retires. In Wisconsin, the taxpayer flips the grand majority of the fund pot for the worker.

Either way you look at it, the taxpayer has paid significantly into the pension of state workers in WI. He/She will draw from a pool previously funded in its majority by tax dollars.

The problem I see with WI (I say this living in Madison) is that the state workers expect taxpayers to pay a very generous portion of their retirement fund. They make this out to be a war against only "rich" Republicans, but what they don't realize is that everyone is flipping the bill for these benefits, whether it be in higher property tax or state tax.; 4/1/11, 10:17 AM
anony said...: I want to see the two "heroes" in the rainbow flags crash into the ground. Please.; 4/1/11, 10:21 AM
sonicfrog said...: Of course the shadow moves slower.... It was on a union-backed "slow down" to protest all the negative attention the "New Meade-ia" had drawn to it!!!... Duh!; 4/1/11, 10:23 AM
MadisonMan said...: The problem I see with WI (I say this living in Madison) is that the state workers expect taxpayers to pay a very generous portion of their retirement fund.

Well, as a state worker, I'll say that I've never expected it, but I've been appreciative that it's happened. The pension contribution has persuaded me to stay at my job, and not flee to the private sector where I'd be paid more, but not have so nice a pension.; 4/1/11, 10:29 AM
Unknown said...: OK, Chip, how'd ya get Titus to slip up behind him and ram the skyrocket up his ass?; 4/1/11, 10:36 AM
Hazy Dave said...: So, what happens if the pension fund investments do very very well. Do retirees get more money? What if the fund loses value? Stocks tank, bonds default, etc. Do retirees get smaller checks, or does "someone" make up the difference? I'd be happy to know that Wisconsin government employee pension obligations are in better financial shape than Social Security or Milwaukee County, but is it true?; 4/1/11, 10:44 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: MM - 3 million private sector jobs have vanished over the last few years; All while government jobs are on the rise. But please - test out your theory and go find a nice high paying private sector job. Don't expect a pension. You'll have to fund your own retirement all while you fund the retirements of others.; 4/1/11, 10:46 AM
Mike aka Proof said...: Darned clever! (Why doesn't his shadow ever go away?)

I think the reason he can attain flight is...through inflation.; 4/1/11, 10:48 AM
Scott M said...: I think the reason he can attain flight is...

Well, he's white, you see, and someone just convinced him that he's standing in an inner city.; 4/1/11, 10:55 AM
galdosiana said...: There may be more super protesters if Obama is reelected. Check out this hilarious video (fake reelection ad for 2012, complete with unicorns and rainbows for effect):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIA5aszzA18&feature=player_embedded; 4/1/11, 11:07 AM
PaulV said...: Madman, that is only true if WI pensions are fully funded. If the expected return is unrealistic, it is not fully funded. What do you think the expected rate of return should be.; 4/1/11, 11:34 AM
David said...: Best yet, Chip. Actually, tied with the stalking dog of a while back.; 4/1/11, 11:50 AM
MayBee said...: Once you retire as a state worker, you're drawing out of a pension fund that does not require taxpayer support.

Is there a lifetime cap?
Can an individual's share of the pension fund run out?

If not, then I don't see how the above statement can be true.; 4/1/11, 11:56 AM
David said...: To be clear, the pension one draws -- as a former state worker in Wisconsin -- is funded by taxpayers in Wisconsin only while the person is working. Once you retire as a state worker, you're drawing out of a pension fund that does not require taxpayer support.

Only if it's properly funded. Wisconsin has apparently done a better job than most of keeping funding adequate, but the reports I read say it's still underfunded somewhat. Whether this is true in the future depends on whether benefits are increased, investment performance, retirement patterns, etc.

Plus your statement is a complete misdirection. The scandal here is that the taxpayers are funding the pensions and the workers are not--unlike in the private sector. The scandal is also that the benefits are as a rule higher than in the private sector, that they must use a non-competative health insurance program and that the state collects dues that the union then uses for political purposes than the workers (and taxpayers) have no control of.

But the greatest scandal is that the teachers union consistently opposes weeding out underperforming teachers and other reforms that would improve education.; 4/1/11, 11:59 AM
Carol_Herman said...: Is "super dooper protester" carrying a guitar? So few of them there, but they brought the music, and not the beer? Why aren't those kids in school?

Chip's work is always superior. I can remember when he did the "Press this media tags."; 4/1/11, 12:14 PM
Carol_Herman said...: The Shadow. A radio program from the late 1930's. Had an introduction:

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men." The Shadow DO. (Well, that's how it ended when I first heard this bit, back in the 1960's. Or 1970's.; 4/1/11, 12:22 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Oh damn, that shadow!

I had the picture enlarged to make a path around the figure of the man to select it. I only saw the shadow of his foot because the rest of it was off screen. Is it worth fixing?; 4/1/11, 12:58 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Is it worth fixing?"

Maybe fix it by having the shadow take off separately. It's "The Shadow" and it does its own thing....

It would seem related to that shadow guy on the country road that you did a while back. I loved that one. Maybe he could show up.

Maybe you could make a longer video using lots of old characters and places, combined in exciting new ways...

Hell, yeah, it's worth it!; 4/1/11, 8:53 PM