A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to Nirvana

[iwishiwas]

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/ed_garvey/article_4ee84c5b-121e-5cef-a62d-bb8448fed56a.html?nstrack=sid:361196|met:102|cat:1345877|order:1


Ed Garvey: A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to Nirvana

ED GARVEY | local columnist madison.com Posted: Monday, April 4, 2011 6:00 am

So everyone in organized labor was whistling while they worked, happy as larks, secure in the knowledge that public unions, operating in the home of their birth, would protect teachers, firefighters, cops and teaching assistants -- indeed, all public employees. Soon the UW faculty would be given an opportunity to join a union. Wow! Progress.

We had elected Barack Obama and he would bring a sensible foreign policy, more money for education, single-payer health care, and more money for Social Security. Damn, we were a happy group! True, Wisconsin elected Scott Walker as governor and, in a momentary loss of mind, permitted the defeat of Sen. Russ Feingold, but many thought Walker was harmless and Feingold’s replacement, Ron Johnson, clueless. Many thought: Chin up -- Russ could replace Wisconsin’s other senator, Herb Kohl, in a year or so.

But a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to Nirvana. Walker emerged from the make-believe Koch/Bradley Foundation ideological training center and announced that he, along with Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and a real gubernatorial screwball in Michigan by the name of Rick Snyder, had a plan that would implement the dreams of the Cato Institute, the Bradley Foundation, Charlie Sykes and other “owners.”

I refer to owners as a reminder of George Carlin’s brilliant American Dream routine. Carlin hit the nail on the head when he said our country is controlled by owners — aka big money — and they don’t give a hoot (he didn’t say “hoot”) about you! Not one hoot!..............................

[Mojeoux]

1. About the American Dream, George Carlin said,

"The thing about the American dream is that you have to be asleep to see it."



(Ed. for punc.)

[RC]

2. The American Dream, You have to be asleep to believe it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RhIxxvYtRE