Thousands fill the Capitol rotunda in Madison, Wis.

[seemslikeadream]

Smithsonian for Wis. Capitol protest signs?

Many of the signs were photographed before they were taken down Sunday and preserved by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The state Department of Administration says the signs will be evaluated for historical content by both the Smithsonian and the historical society.

[Laodicean]

Michael Moore Marches Into Wisconsin and Burns Down The Big Budget Lie

Michael Moore began by reading his statement called America is not broke, “America is not broke. Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you’ll give up your pension, cut your wages and settle for the life your great grandparents had. America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It’s just that it is not in your hands.”

He then called the great conservative redistribution of America’s wealth a heist, “It has been transferred in the greatest heist in American history from the workers and consumers to the banks and portfolios of the uber-rich. Right now this afternoon just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined. Let me say that again, and please someone in the mainstream media, just repeat this fact once. We’re not greedy. We’ll be happy to hear it just once. 400 obscenely wealthy individuals, 400 little Mubaraks, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer bailout of 2008 now have more cash, stock, and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined.”

[2012 Countdown]

Great speech Laodicean, powerful!


How I Got to Madison, Wisconsin ...a letter from Michael Moore

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

Friends,

Early yesterday morning, around 1:00 AM, I had finished work for the day on my current "project" (top secret for now -- sorry, no spoiler alerts!). Someone had sent me a link to a discussion Bill O'Reilly had had with Sarah Palin a few hours earlier about my belief that the money the 21st Century rich have absconded with really isn't theirs -- and that a vast chunk of it should be taken away from them.

They were referring to comments I had made earlier in the week on a small cable show called GRITtv (Part 1 and Part 2). I honestly didn't know this was going to air that night (I had been asked to stop by and say a few words of support for a nurses union video), but I spoke from my heart about the millions of our fellow Americans who have had their homes and jobs stolen from them by a criminal class of millionaires and billionaires. It was the morning after the Oscars, at which the winner of Best Documentary for "Inside Job" stood at the microphone and declared, "I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail. And that's wrong." And he was applauded for saying this. (When did they stop booing Oscar speeches? Damn!)

So GRITtv ran my comments -- and all week the right wingopoly has been upset over what I said: That the money that the rich have stolen (or not paid taxes on) belongs to the American people. Drudge/Limbaugh/Beck and even Donald Trump went nuts, calling me names and suggesting I move to Cuba.

So in the wee hours of yesterday morning I sat down to write an answer to them. By 3:00 AM, it had turned into more of a manifesto of class war -- or, I should say, a manifesto against the class war the rich have been conducting on the American people for the past 30 years. I read it aloud to myself to see how it sounded (trying not to wake anyone else in the apartment) and then -- and this is why no one should be up at 3:00 AM -- the crazy kicked in: I needed to get in the car and drive to Madison and give this speech.

I went online to get directions and saw that there was no official big rally planned like the one they had last Saturday and will have again next Saturday. Just the normal ongoing demonstration and occupation of the State Capitol that's been in process since February 12th (the day after Mubarak was overthrown in Egypt) to protest the Republican governor's move to kill the state's public unions.

So, it's three in the morning and I'm a thousand miles from Madison and I see that the open microphone for speakers starts at noon. Hmm. No time to drive from New York. I was off to the airport. I left a note on the kitchen table saying I'd be back at 9:00 PM. Called a friend and asked him if he wanted to meet me at the Delta counter. Called the guy who manages my website, woke him up, and asked him to track down the coordinators in Madison and tell them I'm on my way and would like to say a few words if possible -- "but tell them if they've got other plans or no room for me, I'll be happy just to stand there holding a sign and singing Solidarity Forever."

So I just showed up. The firefighters, hearing I'm there, ask me to lead their protest parade through downtown Madison. I march with them, along with John Nichols (who lives in Madison and writes for the Nation). Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and the great singer Michelle Shocked have also decided to show up.

The scene in Madison is nothing like what they are showing you on TV or in the newspaper. First, you notice that the whole town is behind this. Yard signs and signs in store windows are everywhere supporting public workers. There are thousands of people out just randomly lining the streets for the six blocks leading to the Capitol building carrying signs, shouting and cheering and cajoling. Then there are stages and friendly competing demos on all sides of the building (yesterday's total estimate of people was 50,000-70,000, the smallest one yet)! A big semi truck has been sent by James Hoffa of the Teamsters and is parked like a don't-even-think-of-effing-with-us Sherman tank on the street in front of the Capitol. There is a long line -- separate from these other demonstrations -- of 4,000 people, waiting their turn to get through the only open door to the Capitol so they can join the occupation inside.

And inside the Rotunda is ... well, it will bring tears to your eyes if you go there. It's like a shrine to working people -- to what America is and should be about -- packed with families and kids and so many senior citizens that it made me happy for science and its impact on life expectancy over the past century. There were grandmas and great-grandpas who remember FDR and Wisconsin's La Follette and the long view of this struggle. Standing in that Rotunda was like a religious experience. There had been nothing like it, for me, in decades.

And so it was in this setting, out of doors now on the steps of the Capitol, with so many people in front of me that I couldn't see where they ended, that I just "showed up" and gave a speech that felt unlike any other I had ever given. As I had just written it and had no time to memorize it, I read from the pages I brought with me. I wanted to make sure that the words I had chosen were clear and exact. I knew they had the potential to drive the haters into a rabid state (not a pretty sight) but I also feared that the Right's wealthy patrons would see a need to retaliate should these words be met with citizen action across the land. I was, after all, putting them on notice: We are coming after you, we are stopping you and we are going to return the money/jobs/homes you stole from the people. You have gone too far. It's too bad you couldn't have been satisfied with making millions, you had to have billions -- and now you want to strip us of our ability to talk and bargain and provide. This is your tipping point, Wall Street; your come-to-Jesus moment, Corporate America. And I'm glad I'm going to be able to be a witness to it.

You can find the written version of my speech on my website. Please read it and pass it around far and wide. You can also watch a video of me giving the spoken version from the Capitol steps by clicking here. I will be sending you a second email shortly with just the speech so you can forward a clean version of it without the above story of how I abandoned my family in the middle of the night to go to Wisconsin for the day.

I can't express enough the level of admiration I have for the people of Wisconsin who, for three weeks, have braved the brutal winter cold and taken over their state Capitol. All told, literally hundreds of thousands of people have made their way to Madison to make their voices heard. It all began with high school students cutting class and marching on the building (you can read their reports on my High School Newspaper site). Then their parents joined them. Then 14 brave Democratic state senators left the state so the governor wouldn't have his quorum.

And all this while the White House was trying to stop this movement (read this)!

But it didn't matter. The People's train had left the station. And now protests were springing up in all 50 states.

The media has done a poor job covering this (imagine a takeover of the government HQ in any other country, free or totalitarian -- our media would be all over it). But this one scares them and their masters -- as it should. The organizers told me this morning that my showing up got them more coverage yesterday than they would have had, "a shot in the arm that we needed to keep momentum going." Well, I'm glad I could help. But they need a lot more than just me -- and they need you doing similar things in your own states and towns.

How 'bout it? I know you know this: This is our moment. Let's seize it. Everyone can do something.

Yours,
Michael Moore


====


Transcript of speech and video
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike- ... -not-broke

[brainpanhandler]

Moore makes an interesting argument when he describes the way the Horatio Alger American dream mythology is used by the Oligarchy to get the proletariat to support them, even against their own self interest, because they too might someday be rich.

I guess it's not something I have really considered before. Is it possible that the portion of the middle and working classes that support the plutarchy and their puppets do so because they want to make sure that when they are on top they have just as many perks as the assholes that are already there or have gone before?

"Jesus, don't start the socialism until I've had my chance to exploit the system" Really?

[Nordic]

Rich people are stars, and the world is full of starfuckers.

Always been that way, probably always will be.

[eyeno]

Moore makes an interesting argument when he describes the way the Horatio Alger American dream mythology is used by the Oligarchy to get the proletariat to support them, even against their own self interest, because they too might someday be rich.

Carrot and stick, bait and switch. Old game.

[brainpanhandler]

Sorry. I wasn't as clear as I could have been.

I get the Horatio Alger bit and how that benefits the ruling class. It's the same lure of a casino. Everyone has the chance of being a big winner. Never mind most everyone will by definition be a big loser, except the house of course, which is a guaranteed winner.

It's this:

Is it possible that the portion of the middle and working classes that support the plutarchy and their puppets do so because they want to make sure that when they are on top they have just as many perks as the assholes that are already there or have gone before?

"Jesus, don't start the socialism until I've had my chance to exploit the system" Really?

i'm curious about.

[WakeUpAndLive]

Is it possible that the portion of the middle and working classes that support the plutarchy and their puppets do so because they want to make sure that when they are on top they have just as many perks as the assholes that are already there or have gone before?

"Jesus, don't start the socialism until I've had my chance to exploit the system" Really?

Not to say this isn't true, but I can imagine based on experience that the majority of Americans just don't have enough foresight to rationally come to this conclusion and as such there are other motivating factors (i.e. propaganda, desensitization, drugs/intoxication) that help shape their decision that continue to support the plutocracy.

[seemslikeadream]

I just heard they're going to vote tonight on the collective bargaining, took it out of the budget and don't need the dems to pass

[NeonLX]

I just heard they're going to vote tonight on the collective bargaining, took it out of the budget and don't need the dems to pass

Yup, they are friggin' shameless:

After confirming on Fox News that the whole budget repair bill is about making it difficult for Democrats to win in Wisconsin from now on, the GOP in Wisconsin is planning on removing bargaining rights from the public unions by dark of night.

A conference committee is being formed, and will meet at 6 PM with the intention of separating the current budget repair bill into two different bills, one of which has fiscal issues, and the other of which only removes bargaining rights from the unions. This removes all pretense that any of this was intended to save the taxpayers money, and indicates that the bill is solely a political power grab, intended to bust the public-employee unions in the state, and deny funding to the Democrats.

I'm personally amazed that they are willing to be so bald-faced about this. It clearly proves that the Republican story over the last three weeks is a lie. They are so desperate to break the unions that they are willing to make a separate bill for that purpose only, and to let the actual fiscal parts of the bill go until the Democrats return from Illinois. We're witnessing bald political manipulation at its worst in Wisconsin tonight.

http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/gop-bu ... dark-night

[Canadian_watcher]

Sorry. I wasn't as clear as I could have been.

I get the Horatio Alger bit and how that benefits the ruling class. It's the same lure of a casino. Everyone has the chance of being a big winner. Never mind most everyone will by definition be a big loser, except the house of course, which is a guaranteed winner.

It's this:

Is it possible that the portion of the middle and working classes that support the plutarchy and their puppets do so because they want to make sure that when they are on top they have just as many perks as the assholes that are already there or have gone before?

"Jesus, don't start the socialism until I've had my chance to exploit the system" Really?

i'm curious about.

I think its possible. I think also that a lot of people are kind of trapped into supporting the system at this point via investment funds, etc.. people in retirement and coming up on retirement don't want to risk losing the wealth they've built by boycotting or pressing for financial reforms. The shareholder / sharecropper - don't bite the hand that feeds you, even if the other hand is strangling you to death.

[WakeUpAndLive]

Sorry. I wasn't as clear as I could have been.

I get the Horatio Alger bit and how that benefits the ruling class. It's the same lure of a casino. Everyone has the chance of being a big winner. Never mind most everyone will by definition be a big loser, except the house of course, which is a guaranteed winner.

It's this:

Is it possible that the portion of the middle and working classes that support the plutarchy and their puppets do so because they want to make sure that when they are on top they have just as many perks as the assholes that are already there or have gone before?

"Jesus, don't start the socialism until I've had my chance to exploit the system" Really?

i'm curious about.

I think its possible. I think also that a lot of people are kind of trapped into supporting the system at this point via investment funds, etc.. people in retirement and coming up on retirement don't want to risk losing the wealth they've built by boycotting or pressing for financial reforms. The shareholder / sharecropper - don't bite the hand that feeds you, even if the other hand is strangling you to death.

I agree with this sentiment fully, there was even a great thread a month back by VK ( viewtopic.php?f=8&t=31091 ). One of the quotes that really hit home for me:

A little over two years ago I spent a Saturday afternoon listening to YouTube interviews and lectures by Catherine Austin Fitts. About half way through one of them Catherine said something that hit me like a ton of bricks. She was describing a talk she had given many years earlier to a group of concerned citizens in which she was trying to explain how intertwined the corruption was within our own individual decisions and lives. She said tough choices needed to be made and until we were ready to do so, we would make little progress towards throwing the bums out.

She then asked for a show of hands among those in attendance. Who wanted the corruption in Washington, on Wall Street and in corporate America to end here and now? Catherine reported that she received a unanimous affirmation to stop the insanity and begin to heal our communities. We all wish to believe there is some button to push or switch to flip that will end this insanity. Believing this allows us to remain on the sidelines and not take a stand.

Catherine then asked for a show of hands of people who were willing to risk the very real possibility that by ending the insanity everyone’s private and government pension, government benefits such as Social Security and Medicare, 401(k), IRA’s and even individual investments might be severely diminished and possibly even completely lost. If I remember correctly, Catherine said just a few people put their hands up. Based upon my personal experience talking to my clients I would say that’s about right.

[seemslikeadream]

probably violated the open meetings law, 24 hours or 2 hours notice if emergency, (missed that by 9 minutes 4:09 notice met at 6:00) going to the Wisconsin Attorney General tomorrow

[NeonLX]

probably violated the open meetings law, 24 hours or 2 hours notice if emergency, (missed that by 9 minutes 4:09 notice met at 6:00) going to the Wisconsin Attorney General tomorrow

Of course, the state's Attorney General is a far right idealogue as well...

[brainpanhandler]

Sorry. I wasn't as clear as I could have been.

I get the Horatio Alger bit and how that benefits the ruling class. It's the same lure of a casino. Everyone has the chance of being a big winner. Never mind most everyone will by definition be a big loser, except the house of course, which is a guaranteed winner.

It's this:

Is it possible that the portion of the middle and working classes that support the plutarchy and their puppets do so because they want to make sure that when they are on top they have just as many perks as the assholes that are already there or have gone before?

"Jesus, don't start the socialism until I've had my chance to exploit the system" Really?

i'm curious about.

I think its possible.

Sure, anything is possible, but I think it's an argument that strains credulity. Then again I don't claim to understand what motivates the right other than the obvious, which is ignorance and the fear it engenders.

I guess I'll never cease to be at least mildly surprised by just how depraved, cruel and greedy the ruling class is, because it's just so antithetical to everything I believe is just and good in human intercourse. I guess I'm just not jaded enough yet.

Shouts of shame mean nothing to them.