March 5, 2011

"On Wisconsin! On Wisconsin!/Champion of the Right!/'Forward!' our motto/God will give thee might!"

At the Capitol today, does anyone have a good voice? Can anyone get the national anthem started? And if everyone sings the national anthem, will anyone sing the state song?



There's some nice camaraderie in this video, a flashback to a slip-and-fall, and a discussion of the morality of capitalism. It begins with "Power to the Peaceful" and a man in the middle of leading a prayer for peace in all the countries in the world. He prayed for each, separately, by name, in alphabetical order, and — before that — for each of the states, by name, in alphabetical order. Edited down, appropriately, I hope, by me. Video by Meade.

(Presumably, now, anyone who ever wants to stand in the middle of the rotunda and lead a long prayer, will be completely free to do so.)

AND: The "he" that talked about commerce and morality was Gandhi.

42 comments:

knox said...

Love the Howard Dean howl at 3:54!!

Roux said...

Do these people have lives?

traditionalguy said...

Great anthem. I wonder if Hans Christian Heg and his regiment sang it in Norwegian during their journey to Georgia in 1863.

Peano said...

Your coverage was interesting when almost everything happening at the Capitol was part of a story.

But now your coverage has all the impact of public-access television. You've lost sight of the story and are just showing whatever comes before your camera.

(To be fair, that's essentially all you were doing before. But events conspired to help you, because the events told a story. Not so now.)

deborah said...

Damn, Meade, that was great.

JP said...

I see where Wisconsin has been graced by Jabba the Hutt (aka mikey morass [literally]).

The Crack Emcee said...

I'm starting to get a picture of Madison that's a LOT like San Francisco, filled with weirdoes. Discussing "the morality of capitalism"? In 2011? Are you kidding me?

I was dragged to a neighborhood political meeting once and some guy in the back kept yelling "SHARK!" anytime someone started making sense. It drove everybody nuts, but they were such wimps nobody would say anything to him.

He, and some kind who angrily talked about "fecal matter" until he was compelled to yell "SHIT!" are all I remember about that meeting.

It must've been important,...winning!

Unknown said...

The red sweatshirts are appropriate.

I wonder what the odds are "Power to the Peaceful" was written by some guy named Vladimir in the third sub-basement of the Kremlin in '34.

retire05 said...

Roux, the obvious answer to your question is "No."

retire05 said...

Wow! Loved the signs:

people's popular assembly

people's coalition

injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere

Nah, no communist/Marxist/Socialist radicals in that bunch. And how much will it cost the taxpayers of Wisconsin to get the graffiti off the fountain at the first of the video (at least it looks like a fountain since it is round).

Now the white guy with the mid-back length corn rows has got to be one of the more intelligent in the bunch. New Black Panther wannabe? If he is representative of the teachers in Wisconsin, it is time for the citizens to consider home schooling.

Still, the Capitol, a BEAUTIFUL historic building looks like a trash dump at worst or the New York subway at best.

All this because Walker wants union members to vote each year on certification for the unions and make union members be responsible for their own dues paid to the unions?

Damn, it must be really boring to live in Wisconsin. Perhaps your winters are too long.

Alex said...

Since when did dirty, smelly hippies have lives? While the rest of go about our Saturdays in the normal way, they make a spectacle of themselves.

Clairvius Narcisse said...

hey meade, how did you get a pass to attend the governor's speech?

Chip Ahoy said...

Bah. I like Days Go By a lot better.

ken said...

This lengthy civil protest against Walker's plan to cut state expenses does show that leftards don't give a rat's ass about the struggles of the ordinary, tax-paying Wisconsin. I know Madison was a bastion of socialism, but I'd like to see how the good denizens would react if and when Jerry Brown has to reign in the government workers in California. Zombie has quite a few puke-worthy shots of far left loons in Berkeley and San Francisco protesting everything. I question why the cops didn't do anything to discourage illegal drugs use and public sex acts in front of children at some of the parades and such. And how come the naked assclown with peace signs all over his body and saline-inflated testicles won't show some solidarity with his Madison brothers. Btw, where is peace-loving Cindy in all this? Have her fifteen minutes of fame finally departed?

ken said...

Althouse and Meade do an exemplary job providing insight of these protests. Where is the National Enquirer, Andrew Sullivan, Olberdouche, Chrissie "I squat to pee" Matthews in all this?

Forgot link to the real mutant liberals of Northern Calif. www.zombietime.com

Steve Austin said...

Can you go around and ask these people where they are from and if they are being paid in any form by their union to be there?

No one has canvassed these crowds to get that answer. I'd like to know percentages.

Things like what percent pay Wisconsin State income or property taxes. Who actually owns a house in this State as opposed to out of State students, etc.

rhhardin said...

Doberman leads birds in rainy day back porch chorus.

Eastern Towhee, Grackle, Cardinal, Red-Winged Blackbird, Robin, Mourning Dove, House Sparrow in 90 seconds.

Whippet said...

It just gets better....you can't make this stiff up.....http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/140-green-bay-teachers-looking-to-retire

DADvocate said...

Sorry, I don't live my life according to the laws of Ghandi. Besides, upon reviewing Ghandi's seven deadly sins, it appears that the protesters violate some themselves.

I'm listening to "On Wisconsin" while typing this. Absolutely, horrible.

Yes, a combination of old hippies and hippie wanta be's. I could puke. They talk about power top the people, peaceful and whatever. Democracy gives more power to the people as does capitalism. Show me any governmental or economic system that's done better.

Clairvius Narcisse said...

we don't live in a democracy. we live in a republic.

Michael said...

Traditional Guy: I wonder if Heg had any idea of how hot it was going to be in North Georgia in mid September. I wonder if any of them from the North did.

sunsong said...

Nice video!

AST said...

To whom are they praying? And is that Constitutional?

It seems to me that the protest has kind of lost its way and turned into a kind of hippie festival.

There was a report that all the tape and adhesives on that marble with cost into the millions to clean up. It sounded bogus, but has anything come of that? I've been away for awhile.

I disagree with Ann and the judge that the occupation of the building shouldn't be restricted.

"The classic black-letter definition of a public nuisance is "an act or omission which obstructs or causes inconvenience or damage in the exercise of rights common to all." People can hold limited protests and demonstrations, but they can't sleep on the property or occupy it in contravention of the public's right to use it for public business. People in the various offices shouldn't have listen to this hubbub for days on end, or people coming in for official business have to push through crowds and step over campsites.

These protests are and always have been infantile tantrums. You get free speech, but you don't get it at any volume and exclusive of anyone else's right to be heard, and you don't get to use it as a way to interfere with the legitimate operations of government.

If Wisconsin knuckles under to these crybabies, it might as well give up any pretense of being a republic or a system of laws.

Palladian said...

I wonder how long it will be before, amid a brief lull in the chanting, some pinched-faced girl wearing a terror scarf and an International Solidarity Movement t-shirt turns to the corn-rowed white guy with a bandana around his neck standing beside her and whispers: "What are we protesting here again?" and he answers: "I don't remember, really... Is this the Dome of the Rock? Something to do with Israeli war crimes, maybe?"

After which, the girl will shrug and murmur: "It really doesn't matter. Injustice anywhere is, like, a threat to justice everywhere.

Dan from Madison said...

Train conductor guy! He was there last week too.

deborah said...

When the groundhog casts his shadow
And the small birds sing
And the pussywillows happen
And the sun shines warm
And when the peepers peep
Then it is Spring
— Margaret Wise Brown

The peepers are peeping here in Virgina.

David53 said...

Great dog video RH! You can almost see those little doggie wheels turning in that doggie brain.

Are many people bringing their dogs to the rotunda or are they discriminated against?

mike said...

It must really smell in there. I wonder why liberals tend to not be that into personal hygiene.

Big Mike said...

What's with singing "On Wisconsin"? The game isn't until tomorrow, and it's at Ohio State.

traditionalguy said...

Michael ...Heg's men had been in the south all summer. They faced Gen Patrick Cleburnes men on day 1 at Chickamauga when Heg was killed. Cleburn was an Irish born immigrant who was also fighting for his new country. After Chickmauga, the next summer the 15th Wisconsin went on through Georgia fighting at Peachtree Creek ( on my great-great grandfather's land ), and in the Battle of Atlanta ( shown at the Cyclorama), and finally at the most decisive battle of the war held 20 miles south of Atlanta at Jonesboro, Ga on August31 and September 2 1864. The 15th's victory at Jonesboro caused a surrender of Atlanta that in turn caused Lincoln's re-election in November. At the Battle of Jonesboro the 15th Wisconsin was again facing Gen Cleburne's Corps, and they got their revenge for Heg's death.

Michael K said...

The guy on the left bears a lot of resemblance to the thug who attacked, Tabitah Hale, the tiny girl at Freedom Works headquarters last week. His brother, perhaps ?

Littermate ?

TosaGuy said...

Public Union Collective Bargaining:

Person X and Person Y sit in a private room and decide how much of Person's Z money they will take.

We the People Z have had enough.

Goju said...

"Champion of the Right"?????? How the hell did that get past the PC censors?

bagoh20 said...

Oh, shut up and clean your mess or you're grounded.

Ahh, forget it. That just doesn't happen. The grownups will do it as usual.

The adults always have to pick up after the children

TosaGuy said...

The forgotten man... He works, he votes, generally he prays, but his chief business in life is to pay.

-William Graham Sumner

jr565 said...

Alex wrote:
Since when did dirty, smelly hippies have lives?


They've always had lives, they've just been dirty smelly lives.

Anonymous said...

The potential moral support and public sympathy your Lefty cause may generate can be said to be inversely proportional to the number and prominence of dread-headed white hippie college guys driving 4Runners.

Not a a good sign, but many people do get valuable experience making signs, as well as "activating" and "community organizing" for the next protest.

Meade said...

DADvocate said...
I'm listening to "On Wisconsin" while typing this. Absolutely, horrible.

I know. Sorry. I'm a terrible singer and I started an octave too high.

I plan to go back this morning around 9AM. Anyone who wants to meet me in the center of the rotunda will be most welcomed to join me in saying The Lord's Prayer, The Pledge of Allegiance, then singing the National Anthem and, finally, On, Wisconsin.

Revenant said...

I don't know if I've ever lived in a state I knew the anthem of. There are a zillion "California" songs, but I don't think they're official.

For personal reasons, the song most closely associated with California in my mind is "Policy of Truth" by Depeche Mode.

Michael said...

Traditional Guy: Thank you for reminding me that it took them til the next summer to get to Kennesaw, Vinings and Peachtree Creek. I knew that those battles were fought in the heat of summer and thought that they were after the Chattanooga campaign.

SMSgt Mac said...

Why not "Wisconsin Forward Forever" instead? Easier tune, with the added advantage of being written (lyrics) by 'libertarian' Berton Braleywho railed against the progressive machine and the New Deal. One of the most widely recognized poets when poetry was still relevant, his name is now little known See:http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/berton-braley-commercial-poet/

Phil 314 said...

L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs