Althouse: "Wisconsin is, of course, not Egypt."

July 19, 2011

"Wisconsin is, of course, not Egypt."

"[W]hile political imagination is blooming in Cairo, it is somewhat disappointing in Wisconsin."

31 comments:

bagoh20 said...: Just imagine what it would cost for the Wisconsin government to build a great pyramid.; 7/19/11, 8:54 AM
Ron said...: Wasn't Kopperberg Queen of Denial?; 7/19/11, 8:57 AM
traditionalguy said...: The imagination of Wisconsin progressives since Robert LaFollette has worked hard to mandate by government an imaginary pyramid of free benefits for all citizens.

What they forgot was to buy Private jets for everyone.

Real imagination must get passed Bullet Trains.

The best of all worlds for Wisconsin Progressives is found in ...Alaska.

The extraction fees re-negotiated by a powerful and intelligent Governor who had to fight the GOP bastards in Big Oil's pocket created a State progressives dream to have.

Alaska citizens get free airline tickets a and a large check every year.

I bet the Wisconsin progressives will support that smart leader for President...if they are half as smart as she is.; 7/19/11, 9:02 AM
Irene said...: Delusional.; 7/19/11, 9:11 AM
Curious George said...: "How about reforming our unions in such a way that they are oriented toward a culture of organizing and of collective power? The power of the union doesn't lie in the law. Although labor law is often the consequence of union actions, union power comes from workers acting collectively and in solidarity with one another."

This sounds like general strike talk. Do it! Please dear GOd just do it! Then Alex Hanna is gonna learn that there are more people who can provide poor service in their government jobs than government jobs. Of course they don't teach that in sociology. Maybe he can open a sociology store or something someday.; 7/19/11, 9:11 AM
Henry said...: From the article: In Egypt, protesters are demanding largely the same things that they were in January and February: an end to corruption in government, a total overhaul of the notorious police force, a restructuring of the judiciary, no military trials for civilians, a rewrite of the constitution, and an increase in social spending and the minimum wage. Simply put, they want a free, democratic and socially responsible country.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, it is the Governor that is attempting to end corruption in government and it is the protestors that want to overturn democratic elections.

Otherwise the parallels are uncanny.; 7/19/11, 9:12 AM
TosaGuy said...: "Just imagine what it would cost for the Wisconsin government to build a great pyramid."

In Milwaukee they are going to build a tiny train for $65 million.; 7/19/11, 9:15 AM
MadisonMan said...: Setting up air conditioning in a tent.

That can't be very efficient.; 7/19/11, 9:16 AM
Beta Rube said...: How much is this dope going to end up paying for her PhD in Sociology?

Other than within the lefty academy he strikes me as utterly unemployable.

I have never been to college, except to visit my kids, but I find it amazing that people actually sit around and have discusions comparing liberal Wisconsin to a police state that examines female protestors to determine their virtue.

These people are crazy.; 7/19/11, 9:20 AM
cubanbob said...: Assuming the republicans come out fine in the recall elections the first thing they should do is defund the sociology department. Is there anything more useless than a sociologist? Next pass a state right to work and finally ban public service unions and collective bargaining by state and local government and state and local requirements to use the highest labor rate for government contracting.; 7/19/11, 9:25 AM
jacksonjay said...: Someone call Lara Logan and warn her of the dangers in Madison!; 7/19/11, 9:30 AM
Old RPM Daddy said...: @Beta Rube: "How much is this dope going to end up paying for her PhD in Sociology?"

Assistant manager at Borders?

Oh, wait...; 7/19/11, 9:43 AM
Calypso Facto said...: Strange to see pining for "freedom from fear and the willingness to engage in political experimentation" from someone wishing to do the exact opposite and return to the statist status quo ante.; 7/19/11, 9:52 AM
Tim said...: ...except the parallels between the public employee unions and the Muslim Brotherhood are closer than one thinks at first glance.; 7/19/11, 10:00 AM
galdosiana said...: @Henry: I was going to copy that passage, too. I had no idea that the protesters here in Madison wanted all those things...; 7/19/11, 10:06 AM
pauldar said...: Losers of the Wisconsin should start a recall election, right after this recall election. Seems to be the only thing you guys know how to do. All you need is a few signatures on a petition.; 7/19/11, 10:07 AM
foxtrot said...: Ah yes...Alex Hanna. One of the clowns with the TA union that has been swindling my money over the past four years to protect me from the "boogie man".; 7/19/11, 10:08 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: You have to be fucking kidding me.; 7/19/11, 10:11 AM
Methadras said...: Maybe in Cairo they are showing that when democracy is attempting to look like. As opposed to Wisconsin, which shows us what public employee union tyranny looks like.; 7/19/11, 10:47 AM
Anonymous said...: The dopiness of this article is probably less a liberal thing than it is a journalistic thing. Some journos feel they simply must use any news hook that presents itself, no matter how little it has to do with what they're trying to say.; 7/19/11, 10:48 AM
edutcher said...: They fired Zahi Hawass, on the grounds he was "too close to the Mubarak government", too. So much for political imagination.

I have a feeling Hanna's political imagination goes in the same direction.; 7/19/11, 10:49 AM
Curious George said...: Paul Zrimsek said...
The dopiness of this article is probably less a liberal thing than it is a journalistic thing. Some journos feel they simply must use any news hook that presents itself, no matter how little it has to do with what they're trying to say.

You're kidding, right? The writer is not a "journo", he is a student and VP of their little TA union.

Another tip-off is his "Back in Madison, the focus has been on the recall elections. As we're all well aware, If the Democrats can hold onto their three seats and flip three more, the Senate will revert to Democratic control. Gov. Scott Walker's hands would then be tied in pushing through more of the poisonous legislation we've seen over the past six months."

Yeah, it's not a political thing.; 7/19/11, 10:57 AM
MadisonMan said...: I do wonder how his research is funded.; 7/19/11, 11:11 AM
Sal said...: Just imagine what it would cost for the Wisconsin government to build a great pyramid.

Just need to build the top of one on the ice of Lake Mendota.; 7/19/11, 11:36 AM
Curious George said...: MadisonMan said...
I do wonder how his research is funded.

It appears that NSF grants motly. Fed tax dollars at work. Awesome.; 7/19/11, 11:53 AM
ic said...: The protesters in Egypt risked their lives to protest for freedom, the protesters in Wisconsin risked the state's financial life to protest for the union bosses' freedom to fleece the taxpayers.; 7/19/11, 12:31 PM
Curious George said...: In other news "Wisconsin is, of course, not Madison"; 7/19/11, 1:19 PM
MadisonMan said...: It appears that NSF grants motly. Fed tax dollars at work. Awesome.

Why would he be active in the TAA then? I think he's a teaching assistant, saving his money to go to Egypt to do research.

Not a sound investment, as I doubt he will earn much as a PhD in sociology unless he becomes a professor, and competition for such jobs is fierce.; 7/19/11, 1:30 PM
Curious George said...: MadisonMan said...

Why would he be active in the TAA then? I think he's a teaching assistant, saving his money to go to Egypt to do research.

Haha! Wait....you're serious?; 7/19/11, 2:56 PM
Peter said...: I must have missed where Alex Hanna explains why a government dominated by public-sector unions and dedicated to serving the needs of its own bloated workforce is one that best serves the needs of citizens.; 7/19/11, 4:56 PM
Synova said...: People in Wisconsin should be thankful for Walker because he's got the gumption to take care of problems before they're a crisis.

I was just talking to my mom about it all. She's in Minnesota and says that the government shut down there is likely to destroy some people who have a very narrow summer-time window to make their living and that regardless of who did what, people are blaming Dayton.

They're blaming Dayton because in January he said they risked a government shut-down in July, and people don't understand why someone with foreknowledge didn't do what was necessary to solve the problems before that happened.

Now he's promising to sign the Republican budget bill but hasn't yet.

Meanwhile Walker is demonized for being responsible before he *has* to be. Which means he's just a hater who wants to hate people. The Wisconsin government will remain solvent and projected shortfalls will never appear. Which, of course, means that Walker was mean for the sake of being mean, because he's a hater and all of his supporters are haters.

People in Wisconsin are enormously lucky that Walker is willing to do what needs to be done (and if Democrats had a better idea of how to do it, they screwed up by NOT doing it) even if it means that people compare him to Egypt and Hitler and Qadaffi and have made his downfall their singular goal in life.

Most politicians are more concerned with everyone being happy now than they are will paying bills tomorrow.

Take Dayton... he knew what was coming. He said so.; 7/19/11, 7:05 PM