I notice the media keeps pretending Walker is fighting to balance the budget

[LeftyAndProud60]

But these union people keep talking about him stripping them of their rights. But they still go back to Walker trying to balance the budget instead of the obvious attempt at Union Busting.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. I rather like Pretend Time.

[ljm2002]

2. Also they never mention that he BROKE the budget...

...just a few weeks ago, giving $130M or so in tax breaks to corporations.

In fact that is about the same amount that he now claims must be made up by public workers.

Color me surprised, not.

On top of all that, the media keep talking about the dollar figures and whether union members should pay more for their health care, etc., while never even mentioning that Walker is trying to strip unions of their bargaining rights -- i.e. their very reason for existing. Now THAT is some ambitious union-busting tactics, right there! But our media would rather you did not notice it, so they don't mention it. Yes, sir, it's all about those greedy, overpaid public workers.

You will note that, even back in the 80's when "greed was good", it wasn't good for the Little People. Only the greedy bastards at the top could go around proclaiming how great and good their own greed was. Let any union worker ask for more money, and they were being greedy in a BAD way. Let someone propose a raise in the minimum wage, nope, that caters to the greed of the fast-food workers.

Class war has been going on awhile here in this best of all possible nations, and we in the underclass have gone right along with it, declining to support one another's struggles and allowing ourselves to be played as abused taxpayers who don't want to be cheated. Yet at the same time billion-dollar-pallets were landing in Iraq and then going missing, and there was barely a squawk about abused taxpayers.

[hay rick]

5. Great last paragraph.

Yes, the media would have us believe that our only stake in all this is as "abused taxpayers"- we can't afford to support all those public employees who make a living wage and receive almost affordable health care. Never mind that continuously reducing employee bargaining power means lower wages for us too. It's a real self-fulfilling prophecy...

About the billion dollar pallets- mistakes were made, but not by us. Yawn.

[boppers]

7. There's too much nuance in there for TeeVee.

For example "strip unions of their bargaining rights" actually means (in this case) "limit bargaining rights to wages", or "remove some bargaining rights while leaving others intact"... actually explaining all the nuances of an issue is something television generally doesn't do well, so issues get reduced down to sound bites that are often inaccurate or misleading.

[ljm2002]

8. "strip unions of their bargaining rights" covers it nicely...

...or did you miss the fine print where they can still bargain on wages, BUT any wage increases are limited to the cost of living index? So where is the bargaining room, again? Nonexistent, that's where.

The proposal strips unions of their bargaining rights, period.

[boppers]

9. Again, that's more nuance.

It makes for a bad bumper sticker.

[ljm2002]

11. No, that's framing...

...the media frame is that the unions are riled up because they don't want to pay their fair share, they're greedy.

The simple fact of the matter is that the governor is union-busting. Stripping them of bargaining rights.

Union-busting is 2 words, or 1 hyphenated word. That's not nuance, but it might be a little strong for the talking heads.

Stripping unions of bargaining rights. 5 words. That's not nuance, that's bare bones and it's truth.

[midnight]

3. Walker and Media well compensated, I'm sure, for this drama...

[Homer12]

4. Walkers a self centered Egotist

That should be the story.

He only has ambition, and as you see, no brains.

[Kurovski]

6. As reported by Maddow: wisconsin had a 127 million dollar surplus. (nt)

[quiller4]

10. NY Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal all reported

the WI budget surplus that the governor erased with tax cuts in January. CNN and MSNBC reported same.

[polichick]

15. Good to know! nt

[Honeycombe8]

12. Noticed that. Chuck Todd interviewed a Repub, and not ONCE did he

mention or ask about the termination of bargaining rights having nothing to do with budgetary matters. Not once!

[golfguru]

13. Well...the teachers in WI make over $100,000

How many thousands of teachers are employed in WI?

http://maciverinstitute.com/2010/03/average-mps-teacher-compensation-tops-100kyear/

[Bluenorthwest]

14. I've heard and seen tons about Brown creating the shortfall

in Jan. by making sweetheart deals and giving away Wisconsin to his political cronies. Heard this on MSNBC, CNN, twice on the radio, and in at least two papers online. That is to say, I have heard that story-the correct story- in every media outlet I have given attention to. I heard it from some radio talker before Rachel, a fell day before.
Not sure which media outlets you watch or read.