Pensions, Wisconsin Teachers, and the Koch Brothers

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Posted by Tina

Christian Schneider, The Corner – National Review has a great tidbit for us this morning:

According to the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), the Wisconsin Retirement System owns $5.5 million in Georgia Pacific corporate bonds. (Georgia Pacific is owned by Koch Industries.) This is the retirement system in which the overwhelming majority of state and local employees participate. These are the pension benefits that public employees are trying so hard to protect.

Those disgruntled teachers, supportive leftists, and union thugs that have been spouting off about the eeeeevil Koch Brothers might want to tone it down a bit.

Newsflash from Madison Radio 620 WTMJ

The 14 Wisconsin state Senate Democrats who left the state two weeks ago will now face fines of $100 for each day they miss, if they miss two or more days.
Republicans remaining in the Senate approved the daily fine on Wednesday morning with none of the Democrats present. The Democrats left Wisconsin in order to delay indefinitely a Republican-backed bill taking away collective bargaining rights from public employees. The resolution passed on Wednesday also requires the missing Democrats to reimburse the Senate for any costs incurred during attempts to force them to return. Their salary and other per diem payments can be withheld until they pay back the penalties and costs.

By golly I think those Republicans are serious!

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8 Responses to Pensions, Wisconsin Teachers, and the Koch Brothers

  1. JeffersonLives says:

    Serious fascist thugs that refuse to negotiate, in the employ of Koch neo-robber baron plutocrats.

  2. Tina says:

    JL thanks for the comment…you’ve got those talking pooints down good. Now…define fascist.

    Somehow it hasn’t occurred to you that the teachers union has become the robber baron of modern America. They use collective bargaining to extort more and more taxpayer money to fund teachers benefits. Many of those taxpayers have to pay for their own pensions and medical. It doesn’t matter that this has become unsustainable for states as long as they get what they want. What’s really sick is that when teachers strike they deprive kids of their education and use them as ransom in their extortion game. Of course they also have a deal with democrats..we get you elected and you protect collective bargaining…we pump campaign cash into your coffers and you give us goodies…sick, sick irresponsible people.

    So glad you dropped by…a “Jefferson” you are not!

  3. Quentin Colgan says:

    “Now…define fascist.”
    She’s messing with you, Jeff.
    She knows perfectly well what a fascist is. I have told her several times.
    I joke about her inability to use a dictionary, but it’s only joking.
    She knows perfectly well a fascist–Mussolini said they ought to be called corporatists–is someone, like a TEA partyer, who believes that corporations know best how to run a country.
    She is NOT dumb. She merely wishes to bear false witness.

  4. wade says:

    What you have failed to realize is that the Koch Brothers donated $1 million dollars to get Scott Walker, current governor of Wisconsin, elected. Walker is pushing for the dismantling of unions in Wisconsin as well as a bill which will severely cut fuding to public education. See the connection? The Kochs are reducing the cost of funding union pensions by taking away their right to collective bargaining so their pensions may be lowered or taken away in the future.

    GO TO: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/24/billionaire_conservative_koch_brothers_fund_wisconsin

  5. Tina says:

    Ok I chose to ignore Quentin’s absurd, but typical, rant but now that Wade has weighed in I must backtrack in order to give Wade his due.

    Quentin: “She knows perfectly well a fascist–Mussolini said they ought to be called corporatists–is someone, like a TEA partyer, who believes that corporations know best how to run a country.”

    Quentin you’re not only wrong but you are an idiot if you think I believe corporations should run our country.

    The problem that faces Quentin is that he cannot come down on the side of Liberty while at the same time calling for gross restrictions on the freedoms of those who run corporations.

    He blames corporations for the lobbying that goes on; I blame corrupt politicians who make deals. Business is defending itself when it lobbies Congress; politicians are looking for loot to fill their coffers for re-election. Legislators should be expected to adhere to a high standard befitting their office and the people’s trust. They are responsible and they are the ones with the power to write laws.

    Wade thank you for contributing to our discussion.

    Your governor is a man of character displaying just such responsible behavior. He is faced with a budget that is broken and a pension agreement for teachers built on lies. His actions are meant to save teachers jobs and teachers pensions. The reson collective bargaining doesn’t work for pensions and benefits is because the taxpayer is not represented at the bargaining table. Instead the democrats and unions, too often, make unsustainable deals. This is a corrupting association. Collective bargaining for teacher pay was left intact.

    The money donated by the Kochs was donated because they believed Walker was right. Just like all the money that was donated by the union was donated because they believed his oponent was right.

    Democrats are using this “union busting” theme as a campaign smear. Don’t fall for it. Do some reading and I think you will find that Walker support doing what will work for all of the people of your state. His actions will also preserve teacher jobs and teacher pensions.

    By the way when that tape was made and disseminated a portion of it was left out to make it damning for the governor and the Kochs.

  6. Spammer idiot says:

    A very good site. For a long time I was looking for a site just like this one.

  7. Bill says:

    AmeriKa is Not Facist in any, way shape or form.

    Facism is defined clearly BY a Strong ethnicity that is homogenous LIKE Spain, Italy or Germany.

    AmeriKa is a melting pot, with NO majority ethnicity to speak of. Whites are diluted (By design) to make way for minoities and third worlders (Easier to control and lead them.)

    9 of 10 of Karl Marxs Planks of his Communist Manifesto have already BEEN Implemented IN AmeriKa.
    I only wish we were Facist.

  8. Tina says:

    Bill interesting comments…you sound a tad upset 😉

    Fascism is associated with strong ethnicity because of nuts like Hitler with his white supremacist madness, however, being a melting pot won’t protect us from this socialist system any more than it would protect us us from communism. Fascism is a system of government that does not require the supremacist element (except for the supremacy of the dictator of course):

    fascism: noun 1. a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

    Communism (Marx and Lenin) differ only slightly:

    Communism: noun a. A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.

    b. The Marxist-Leninist version of Communist doctrine that advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat.

    Wishing for fascism is like wishing you had one form of cancer instead of another.

    CONSTITUTION…FREEDOM…RULE OF LAW…PROPERTY RIGHTS… ….DUDE!

    I do agree that we have gone too far down the socialist road no matter what you call it. But the number of patriots ready to fight for this country is growing and growing. The new silent majority is AWAKE and the young are being shocked (no jobs…college debt…government debt) into thinking about more than what their next tat will look like.

    Hey thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Bill.

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