The End of the Innocence: Working folks got it bad-- and that ain't good

With the budget crisis across the country serving as the tire iron with which many state and local governments are attempting to deliver the death blow to unions and collective bargaining, Mr. Ian Murphy, editor of the  Buffalo Beast has done a true public service by forcing the Evil One out from behind his mask of Union-Killer-as-Public-Do-Gooder by showing the kind of ass-kissing of Baal (aka The Riders of the Golden Calf) that Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is really engaged in.

As Salon reports, Murphy, pretending to be billionaire industrialist and secretive conservative political activist David Koch, called Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, currently in the midst of attempting to crush the public employees' unions. "Koch" got through to Walker (who hasn't been taking calls from the Democratic state Senate minority leader). He taped the call and put it online.

Recorded Link here

So Walker will happily take a call from a Koch brother. He says that he considered "planting some troublemakers" among the protesters. He is convinced that everyone is on his side. Like most people who only watch Fox, he has a skewed impression of the popularity of his union-crushing proposals. (His plan is, nationally, roundly unpopular. Except on Fox.)..
When "Koch" calls Mika Brzezinski "a real piece of ass," Walker does not respond by saying something awful, which is a bit of a disappointment.

Walker does reveal that he is planning to trick the Democrats into coming back into town for a "talk," despite his lack of interest in compromising anything. He will ask them to open a session in the Assembly, and then take a recess for this talk. At that point, the Senate Republicans would hold the vote on the bill while Walker distracts them Democrats with this entirely pointless discussion:

Walker: "They can recess it... the reason for that, we're verifying it this afternoon, legally, we believe, once they’ve gone into session, they don’t physically have to be there. If they’re actually in session for that day, and they take a recess, the 19 Senate Republicans could then go into action and they’d have quorum because it's turned out that way. So we’re double checking that.If you heard I was going to talk to them that’s the only reason why. We’d only do it if they came back to the capitol with all 14 of them. My sense is, hell. I'll talk. If they want to yell at me for an hour, I'm used to that. I can deal with that. But I'm not negotiating.

Walker also thinks that Reagan crushing the air-traffic controllers' union was "the first crack in the Berlin wall," because he's been stewing in the propaganda of conservative mythology for years.
And finally:
Koch: [Laughs] Well, I tell you what, Scott: once you crush these bastards I’ll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.
Walker: All right, that would be outstanding.

More Details here


The bottom line -- everyone in America dreams of amassing wealth. As Charles Blow reported in "Empire at the End of Decadence" in the NY Times last weekend, the sad reality is that few of us will, much less maintain a comfortable lifestyle if we make a living from going to work, or if we require assistance from the government. However, those who possess great wealth, and those closest to it, in the financial industries, want to maintain a strangle hold on everyone else in this society. This is the effort of corporate America to destroy collective bargaining and the rights and benefits of not only unions, but everyone else who wishes to hold onto a  decent life for their families and themselves. Those in the public sectors are naive and have as much a need to fight for benefits and pensions for themselves and their families over corporate profits as those in the public sector do. We are at a precipice, with the pro-business/anti-working folks sector looking to push working folks and those in need over the edge, while most of us sit by watching American Idol and Fox News. They cheer on this effort, since it is preferable to identify with those who have a lot, instead of those who have a little because they work for a living. We are at a tipping point, at the edge, holding on, as working Americans are pushed over the side by the same corporate profit mongers who engineered the financial mess we are in now. They can only succeed if we let them.

More Details here


from Charles Blow's op ed piece: