Thousands fill the Capitol rotunda in Madison, Wis.

[Jeff]

3) Democrats and Progressives take the bait and counter-protest on collective bargaining

I dunno; I find this analysis offensive. It seems a diminution of basic labour rights to a needling distraction.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

This leaving the state in order to abstain from legislating seems so quaint, almost medieval.

Hopefully there'll even be a few defenestrations.

[eyeno]

Kudos to Bruce Dazzling. A most interesting contribution to this thread.

[Nordic]

My disgust with Dailykos notwithstanding, I could see this happening, and it would make perfect sense.

It would actually be a classic right-wing evil-person kind of tactic.

[Jeff]

I think the Shock Doctrine smashes the social contract and throws everything up in the air. It's not that one thing is a distraction from another; it's that they want it all.

[Bruce Dazzling]

My disgust with Dailykos notwithstanding, I could see this happening, and it would make perfect sense.

It would actually be a classic right-wing evil-person kind of tactic.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Kos either, but the sort of vile machination described in the article makes sense to me.

All we can do is raise awareness of the back door in the bill and get the Wisconsinites to make sure that they don't allow their Dem reps to make such a compromise. After all, right now the state workers have their pensions and collective bargaining rights AND the Kochs do NOT own the power companies. There's no reason things can't stay that way if the Dems hold steady and don't fall for the trap.

Oh, and I just ran across this little gem...

[JackRiddler]

I think the Shock Doctrine smashes the social contract and throws everything up in the air. It's not that one thing is a distraction from another; it's that they want it all.

oooooh correct. Why do people keep making these distinctions? It's like an analysis of the Blitzkrieg or the sacking of Carthage for their feints and subtle maneuvers.

[Nordic]

Here's another way:

http://rethinkafghanistan.com/blog/2011 ... et-crisis/

The url says it all.

[seemslikeadream]

I've signed up to watch this tomorrow online at 11:00am et. Limited number available


LISTEN: National conference all with WI State Sen. Mark Mill, Rep. Raul Grijalva, and Rep. Keith Ellison

[seemslikeadream]

Koch brothers quietly open lobbying office in downtown Madison
How's the View from Hell
Feb
22
2011


So the Prick fat bastards know as the Koch brothers have no shame at all.
The following is from Capital times:
The billionaire brothers whose political action committee gave Gov. Scott Walker $43,000 and helped fund a multi-million dollar attack ad campaign against his opponent during the 2010 gubernatorial election have quietly opened a lobbying office in Madison just off the Capitol Square.
Charles and David Koch, who co-own Koch Industries Inc. and whose combined worth is estimated at $43 billion, have been recently tied with Walker’s push to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers. The two have long backed conservative causes and groups including Americans for Prosperity, which organized the Tea Party rally Saturday in support of Walker’s plan to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights and recently launched the Stand with Scott Walker website.
So it’s fucking war they want! It time for President Panty waste to get on board. I would ask him to take a stand or get the hell out of the way. For the Dems who are getting involved, thank you. As always Bernie Sanders has come out in support for the worker. The Koch brothers have Bussed in the teafaggers. Keep this shit up and someone will get hurt.
madison.com
The line is drawn and we have to fight the Americans for prosperity. These are the direct ass lickers for Koch.
Heritage Foundation, Blow me! Why do you people hate America?
The teabaggers should be rounded up and sent to our reeducation camps. If then they can’t be saved we send them to Arizona.

[Nordic]

Seriously, we should all get together and do to the Koch bros what the Libyans are doing to Qadaffi.

[Pele'sDaughter]

I couldn't find a separate thread for Indiana.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02 ... protesters

Indiana Official: "Use Live Ammunition" Against Wisconsin Protesters

On Saturday night, when Mother Jones staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep demonstrators out of the Wisconsin capitol building—something that didn't end up happening—one Twitter user sent out a chilling public response: "Use live ammunition."

From my own Twitter account, I confronted the user, JCCentCom. He tweeted back that the demonstrators were "political enemies" and "thugs" who were "physically threatening legally elected officials." In response to such behavior, he said, "You're damned right I advocate deadly force." He later called me a "typical leftist," adding, "liberals hate police."

Only later did we realize that JCCentCom was a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana. As one of 144 attorneys in that office, Jeff Cox has represented the people of his state for 10 years. And for much of that time, it turns out, he's vented similar feelings on Twitter and on his blog, Pro Cynic. In his nonpolitical tweets and blog posts, Cox displays a keen litigator's mind, writing sharply and often wittily on military history and professional basketball. But he evinces contempt for political opponents—from labeling President Obama an "incompetent and treasonous" enemy of the nation to comparing "enviro-Nazis" to Osama bin Laden, likening ex-Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Service Employees International Union members to Nazi "brownshirts" on multiple occasions, and referring to an Indianapolis teen as "a black teenage thug who was (deservedly) beaten up" by local police. A "sensible policy for handling Afghanistan," he offered, could be summed up as: "KILL! KILL! ANNIHILATE!"

Early Sunday, Mother Jones sent an email to Cox's work address at the Indiana attorney general's office, asking if the Twitter and blog comments were his, and if he could provide context for some of them. He responded shortly after from a personal email address: "For 'context?' Or to silence me? All my comments on twitter & my blog are my own and no one else's. And I can defend them all.

"[Y]ou will probably try to demonize me," he wrote, "but that comes with the territory."

To be sure, in the current political climate, partisan rhetoric has run hot online—and the Constitution guarantees everyone's right to such rhetoric. Nonetheless, a spokesman for the Indiana attorney general's office, Bryan Corbin, told Mother Jones that Cox's statements were "inflammatory," and he promised "an immediate review" of the matter. "We do not condone any comments that would threaten or imply violence or intimidation toward anyone," Corbin added.

The incident seems all the more troubling now that the public-sector union fight playing out in Wisconsin is now headed to other states—including Indiana, where GOP senators Tuesday passed a bill that would abolish collective bargaining for state teachers. (Indiana's Republican governor walked back his support of the measure Tuesday after taking stock of the opposition.) Cox's public writings made it clear that he isn't a member of a public-service union, and he has no love for those who are.

"Individuals have the First Amendment right to post their own personal views in online forums on their own time," Corbin wrote to Mother Jones, "but as public servants, state employees also should strive to conduct themselves with professionalism and appropriate decorum in their interactions with the public." Cox had been contacted by the office, Corbin added: "We have reiterated to the employee the standards of professional conduct expected for all licensed attorneys and for employees of the Indiana Attorney General's Office. After all the relevant information is obtained, this agency then will determine whether there has been any violation of the personnel handbook."

In the meantime, we hoped to give Cox a chance to explain his thoughts in greater detail. In his initial email to Mother Jones, Cox had written, "Ask what questions you want & I will do my best to answer. Maybe you'll learn something. Maybe I'll learn something." So we emailed him a list of questions:

What did he mean when he tweeted: "Planned Parenthood could help themselves if the only abortions they performed were retroactive"?

In referring to President Obama, why did he use a George W. Bush line once directed at the Iraqi people: "Your enemy is not surrounding your country, your enemy is ruling your country"?

Were members of the SEIU really like Hitler's Sturmabteilung, and did he stand by his headline, "Putting the 'Reich' in Robert Reich"?

We never heard back.

[Pele'sDaughter]

Koch brothers quietly open lobbying office in downtown Madison

(Sorry, duplicate, deleted.)

[Alfred Joe's Boy]

Is it just about pensions and collective bargaining rights? Joe Cannon doesn't think so:

Tuesday, February 22, 2011
WisCONsin -- or: Koch is the new Enron
The big story begins here by way of Corrente. Basically, Governor Walker of Wisconsin wants to sell state-owned power plants to private owners -- without bidding. No bid contracts = CORRUPTION. As one Corrente comment puts it:

Buying up existing power plants is one of the major operations of Koch Industries and this explains their sudden interest in Wisconsin - an opportunity to expand their empire on the cheap.

The provision eliminates all oversight of these no-bid sales.

Until now, I thought Walker was an ideologue. Incorrect. He's in it for the money. That's why Walker ginned up the ersatz state budget "shortfall" in the first place.

Are you starting to see the bigger picture?

Salon has published a strange article claiming that Koch does not own power plants. Wrong.

Here's the part Salon doesn't tell you. Koch industries is the leading partner in a firm called Entergy-Koch, LP, described as

a new wholesale trading, transportation and marketing company based in Houston...

The firm was "new" as of 2001.

EKLP, a privately held company formed by subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation and Koch Industries, Inc., delivers, markets and trades power, natural gas and other energy-related commodities, including weather derivatives, through wholly owned subsidiaries Axia Energy, LP, Axia Energy Europe Ltd., and Gulf South Pipeline Company, LP.

Now check out this bio of the former head of Entergy:

he was responsible for Entergy’s 30,000 megawatts of generation assets, including 73 gas/oil-fired plants, 10 nuclear plants, 6 coal-fired plants...

Given the heavy Koch investment in pro-Walker propaganda (at this moment, you can see Koch-funded ads all over Huffington Post), you know that EKLP plans to profit from Walker's no-bid contracts.

Oh -- you should note that in 2004, Merrill-Lynch bought the energy trading aspect of Entergy-Koch. Nowadays, Merrill Lynch is, of course, the "wealth management" division of Bank of America. Hmm. You think maybe this is what Assange has on B of A...?

At any rate, we now have a fairly good idea of what's really going on...

This is the California energy crisis all over again. Frankly, I've suspected for a while now that the wheeler-dealers were going to make a stab at repeating the Enron scenario.

A big clue came in this very important 2008 story. You may have seen it before: The piece is about Axelrod's side company ASK, which uses "astro-turf" tactics to manipulate public opinion and to create a false impression of grassroots support for policies that only a big, heartless corporation could love. The really funky stuff hits you on page 2:

ASK's relationship with ComEd goes back much further: The Chicago-based utility says ASK has been an adviser since at least 2002. ASK's workload picked up in 2005, as the Exelon subsidiary was nearing the end of a 10-year rate freeze and preparing to ask state regulators for higher electricity prices. Based on ASK's advice, ComEd formed Consumers Organized for Reliable Electricity (CORE) to win support.

One TV commercial, penned by ASK, warned of a ComEd bankruptcy and blackouts without a rate hike: "A few years ago, California politicians seized control of electric rates. They held rates down, but the true cost of energy kept rising. Soon the electric company went bust; the lights went out. Consumers had to pay for the mess. Now, some people in Illinois are playing the same game." CORE, which describes itself on its Web site as "a coalition of individuals, businesses and organizations," was identified as the ad's sponsor. After a complaint was filed with state regulators, ComEd acknowledged that it had bankrolled the entire $15 million effort.

The message seemed effective...

This "effective" message spun reality on its head. That's not what happened in California.

Yes, electricity rates skyrocketed and rolling blackouts occurred in 2001 -- but not because "politicians seized control." Quite the opposite: Politicians deregulated energy.

I'll say again what I've said before. Hell, I may even give these words a permanent place on the masthead: Deregulation invites crooks to take over, just as crooks would take over your town if all the cops disappeared.

In California, the blackouts and high prices occurred not because rates didn't match the "true cost" of energy. Just the opposite. Wikipedia, surprisingly, has it right:

California had a shortage of electricity caused by market manipulations and illegal shutdowns of pipelines by Texas energy consortiums.

The key conspirator was Enron. They were in the "energy trading" business -- just like Entergy-Koch.

Incidentally, although everyone now agrees that the California crisis was fabricated, there was a time -- as recently as seven-or-so years ago -- when anyone who made that claim was castigated as...wait for it...a "conspiracy theorist." Back then, anyone who told the truth about the crisis had to endure ever-so-clever references to tin foil headgear. We also suffered through the usual pop psyche drivel: "Conspiracy theorists search for simplistic answers in a complex world..."

Then we got audio recordings proving that Enron schemers planned the whole thing.

Incidentally, here's the Cato version of history: "Did Enron Pillage California?" Since the Kochs fund Cato, you know what the answer will be before you read the article. Also see here.

By the way -- am I the only one who recalls that, even as the blackouts walloped California, the internet pundits and the cable news talking heads overflowed with Axelrodian "astroturfed" commentary pushing for still more energy deregulation in other states? States like Wisconsin? Because, y'know, that trick worked out soooo freaking well in the Golden State...

The exposure of Enron may have set those schemes back a decade. But now it's time for Enron II: The Kochtopus Strikes!

Time has passed, and Axelrodian propaganda trickery has made many people forget what really went down in California. So go ahead. Call me a conspiracy theorist. Offer your bon mots about foil chapeaus. I'll stand my ground: They're gonna pull the same shit again.

The Wisconsin face-off ultimately is not about unions, and it isn't about libertarian ideology. Bend over, rate-payers in the Midwest: You are about to get (Ken) Lay-ed...by a big, bad Koch.

posted: 8:31 PM

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2011/02/ ... enron.html

[23]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/23/b ... avid-koch/
Buffalo Beast allegedly tricks Wisc. Gov. Walker into taking call from fake ‘David Koch’

Governor's official phone line goes down: 'The number you dialed is not a working number'

Prepare for prankgate.

Wisconsin's newly elected Republican Governor wasted no time in taking the fight to public sector unions, but union supporters in the alternative press have spared no expense firing back.

But now, a hay-maker has been thrown.

An alternative paper in Buffalo, New York, which prides itself on being about as beastly as the subjects they cover, claims they've managed to trick Governor Scott Walker into taking a call from one of their editor posing as tea party tycoon David Koch.

The transcript isn't pretty. It's also unclear whether it was real, but efforts to contact Walker's office proved futile Wednesday morning. While the governor's official phone line -- at (608) 266-1212 -- was returning busy signals for a time, it had reverted to an automated error message by 11 am EST.

"The number you dialed is not a working number. Please check the number and dial again."

While the Buffalo Beast's website went down almost immediately after their story was posted, likely due to a torrent of web traffic, bloggers far and wide seized upon the story and were sharing bits of the text by Wednesday morning.

A few highlights included the alleged governor warning the phony oil baron that Wisconsin House Rep. Tim Cullen, a Democrat who's voted with Republicans on numerous issues, was "not one of us;" Walker supposedly commenting that he's "got the layoff notices ready" and bragging that he's got a baseball bat with his name on it; and accepting an offer to be flown out to California for "a good time."

The call also allegedly reveals that Wisconsin Republicans are planning to hold Democrats' paychecks hostage by changing the rules to end direct deposit, placing their printed checks in their desks on the floor of the senate, forcing them to physically come in to pick them up.

The voice alleged to be Walker also said he was trying to find ways to prosecute Wisconsin Democrats on ethical violations if they accepted favors from union organizers.

Moments later in the call recording, Walker allegedly accepts an offer for similar favors from the fake Koch.

Charles and David Koch, two key financiers of the Republican tea parties, were also major financiers of Walker's bid for the Wisconsin governor's office. Their political action committee gave Walker roughly $100,000 in campaign contributions during the 2010 election, according to campaign finance records highlighted by Mother Jones.

The contributions came from the same source -- Koch Industries PAC -- and though through two channels which were both legal under current campaign finance law.

About $43,000 worth of PAC monies went directly to Walker's campaign, while the Republican Governors Association (RGA) sent $65,000 from the PAC to Walker. Wisconsin's governor also received help from the RGA by way of a $3.4 million ad buy on television and direct mail attacks against his political opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

As if the connection weren't clear enough, the Koch brothers front group Americans for Prosperity produced a website called standwithwalker.com, encouraging people to support elimination of labor union rights.

If the call is indeed real, it would not be the first time a prominent politician got pranked over the phone. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took a prank call in Nov. 2008 from a Canadian comedian pretending to be the president of France, Nicholas Sarkozy.