Daily Archives: March 10, 2011

It’s done. No more public employee collective bargaining in Wisconsin

Unions and Democracy are no longer major factors in the Badger State:

Wisconsin lawmakers voted Thursday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from the state’s public workers in one of the strongest blows to the power of unions in years.

The state’s Assembly passed Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s explosive proposal 53-42 Thursday. The state’s Senate approved it the night before after using a procedural move to bypass its AWOL Democrats.

Details

Rand Paul: Offensive Moron

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is upset that the federal government has squelched his right to own a super-toilet, leaving him with less freedom than women, who are still allowed to have abortions. It’s an unusual comparison, but it’s meant to underline his opposition to the executive branch’s involvement in encouraging energy efficiency.

In a Senate hearing, Paul laid in to Kathleen Hogan, deputy assistant energy secretary for efficiency, for imposing restrictions and fines meant to encourage people to use environmentally friendly appliances.

Read the rest of this incredible story here.

And the people of Kentucky are, of course, idiots for electing him. And having a Creation Museum. And so on.

Watch the one-termer in action:

Wisconsin: It ain’t over ’till it’s over

What happened in #Wisconsin, and what happens next by Laura Conway:

Last night, Wisconsin State Senate Republicans stripped most public employees unions of most collective bargaining rights. After insisting for weeks that busting the unions was essential to balancing the state’s budget, they broke Governor Scott Walker’s “budget-repair bill” into two parts. One part contained the anti-union provisions, the other the items that Republicans now deemed fiscal.

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The Uptake on Wisconsin Senate

Koch Industries Employs PR Firm To Airbush Wikipedia, Gets Banned For Unethical ‘Sock Puppets’ by Lee Fang

Last year, Koch Industries began employing New Media Strategies … ever since the NMS contract was inked with Koch, an NMS employee began editing the Wikipedia page for “Charles Koch,” “David Koch,” “Political activities of the Koch family,” and “The Science of Success” (a book written by Charles). Under the moniker of “MBMAdmirer,” … to distance the Koch family from the Tea Party movement, to provide baseless comparisons between Koch and conspiracy theories surrounding George Soros, and to generally delete citations to liberal news outlets. …

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Antievolution legislation in Florida

Senate Bill 1854, introduced in the Florida Senate on March 5, 2011, would, if enacted, amend a section of Florida law to require “[a] thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution” in the state’s public schools. The bill is sponsored by Stephen R. Wise (R-District 5), who in February 2009 introduced SB 2396 (PDF), which would have amended the same section of Florida law in the same way. Before Wise introduced SB 2396, he announced his intention to introduce a bill requiring “intelligent design” to be taught in Florida’s public schools. “If you’re going to teach evolution, then you have to teach the other side so you can have critical thinking,”

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“Intelligent design” legislation in Texas

“Disingenuous efforts by creationists to portray themselves as persecuted in mainstream academia for their anti-evolution beliefs are getting a boost from a Texas lawmaker,” reported the Texas Freedom Network in a March 9, 2011, post on its blog. House Bill 2454, introduced in the Texas House of Representatives on March 8, 2011, would, if enacted, provide, “An institution of higher education may not discriminate against or penalize in any manner, especially with regard to employment or academic support, a faculty member or student based on the faculty member’s or student’s conduct of research relating to the theory of intelligent design or other alternate theories of the origination and development of organisms.” The sole sponsor of HB 2454 is Bill Zedler (R-District 96).

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