The troubles in Mad City have less to do with teacher's rights...

...than they do with labor unions holding on to money and power. Read this WSJ article by John Fund and then contemplate what the legacy media will say about these provisions of the Walker-endorsed legislation on the six o'clock news. From what I've seen and heard, most of the legacy media reporting has been about "cutting benefits" and "curtailing rights"--but almost nothing about Big Labor's involvement or the DNC's role in stirring up this protest.

Like they say:  Follow the money.

They also haven't really mentioned that this bill was introduced essentially in lieu of more than 5000 layoffs and mandatory public worker furloughs.  In a time when 10% unemployment is the new norm (Hope & Change!), doesn't it seem a little weak to whine so vociferously about contributing 5.8% more into your retirement? 

I suspect that when all the layers of  faux-romantic rhetoric and demagoguery about the nobility and selfless sacrifice of the teachers and public workers fighting for their inalienable rights are pulled aside, the real roots that are driving the protests will be revealed as top-down, fat-cat-union-organizer-brand  power lust and greed.

 Now all we need is Big Media to pull aside the layers and actually seek the truth for once instead of pushing the leftist narrative.  Any takers out there, MSNBC?  CBS?  ABC? AP? CNN?  Um, why is everybody sitting on their hands?

Here's a direct quote from Fund's article that says it all:

Labor historian Fred Siegel offers further reasons why unions are manning the barricades. Mr. Walker would require that public-employee unions be recertified annually by a majority vote of all their members, not merely by a majority of those that choose to cast ballots. In addition, he would end the government's practice of automatically deducting union dues from employee paychecks. For Wisconsin teachers, union dues total between $700 and $1,000 a year.

"Ending dues deductions breaks the political cycle in which government collects dues, gives them to the unions, who then use the dues to back their favorite candidates and also lobby for bigger government and more pay and benefits," Mr. Siegel told me.

The union organizers' grip on power, financed by taxpayers via public sector unions and the democratic party, is in danger and must be protected at all costs. We shall see if that includes subverting democracy by refusing to face the consequences of the last election and refusing to honor the will of the people.

Exactly who is working for democracy here?

Union organizers pushing "Card Check" legislation against secret balloting, Wisconsin democratic house members running from their responsibilities...and, as usual, personal threats and thug tactics. It all seems to be standard operating procedure for the left. It's their '60s playbook, retrieved from the shelf and dusted off.  Only this time it's not the '60s, and Walter Cronkite isn't controlling the media narrative.

This excellent article at Powerline, by John Hindraker, points out the rank hypocrisy on display as these folks speak platitudes and rhetoric while supporting that which is fundamentally undemocratic.

Signs you will NEVER see in the legacy-media newscasts.

These are the signs the legacy media was looking for at all those Tea Party rallies this last year.  Now that these hateful,  reprehensible signs promoting violence have been spotted (again) at yet another leftist, union driven rent-a-mob rally, what do you suppose their reaction will be?

If your answer is "absolutely nothing", then congratulations; you've won the $64 prize.

Time for another "Gedankenexperiment".  Imagine that the media caught all of these signs at a Tea Party rally last year. For the bonus round: how many times do you think the video footage would run per hour for the next three weeks?

Journalism of the legacy media is dead.  The narrative now determines the news that is reported, instead of the other way around, which was the way it is supposed to work.

Free advice from a music teacher:

Got this from an email from a music teacher I know very well, and thought it absolutely appropriate (h/t to Sierra Mike):

"So, with all the kindness I can muster, I give this one piece of advice to the next pop star who is asked to sing the national anthem at a sporting event:

Save the vocal gymnastics and the physical gyrations for your concerts.

Just sing this song the way you were taught to sing it in kindergarten —

straight up, no styling. Sing it with the constant awareness that

there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines watching you

from bases and outposts all over the world.

Don’t make them cringe with your self-centered ego gratification.

Sing it as if you are standing before a row of 86-year-old WWII vets

wearing their Purple Hearts, Silver Stars and flag pins on their cardigans

and you want them to be proud of you for honoring them and the country they love —

not because you want them to think you are a superstar musician.

They could see that from the costumes, the makeup and the entourages. 

Sing “The Star Spangled Banner” with the courtesy and
humility that tells the audience that it is about America , NOT you."

Interesting analysis of JFK's PT-109 adventures.

One of the most straight forward and unbiased description of events that I've read, from historynet.com. (link here).

It also reinforces to me what a jerk Joe Kennedy Sr. was, and shows how the media has always had a narrative they needed to sell, even back in the post war 40's and 50's.

Remember when they were oh-so-condescending in the Clinton years?

(via Drudge): The march on Berlusconi.

Apparently they have a leader with the same problem of  keeping their ego...and other regions...out of the spotlight, so to speak, as the U.S. did during the 90's. 

As I recall, the legacy media narrative at the time was that 1) those women were just trailer trash, so 2) they certainly weren't that important, and 3) anyway, lying about things like rape or sexual harassment under oath just shouldn't rise to the level of criminality, if the perpetrator was a liberal politician in power. 

I also recall that most of Europe was amused that many people in the U.S. would not overlook the lapse of ethics and decorum--and law--that would have gotten anyone else fired in a heartbeat. The idea of a politician being subject to the same laws as everyone else was the stuff of satire and open derision.

Seems like times have changed in ol' Italy.

Coming soon to a theater near you...

...at least, I hope so. In the 53 years since that book was written we've gone from a place where it was distant, far fetched fiction to a point where it bears a resemblance to current reality that is shocking.

President Erkel "Milli Vanilli" Obama...

Official news from the Onion: Obama Caught Lip-Syncing Speech .



As a side note, Wyoming has apparently seceded from the union. Why am I always the last to know?

Nutritional standards are for the little people.

Juxtapose these headlines in your mind, and extrapolate what these folks think of themselves, and you:

Restaurant Nutrition Draws Focus of First Lady

and

Beer from Super Bowl states heads up Obama's party

Check out the white house menu, with the deep dish pizza, kielbasa, hot wings, and hamburgers, and I think you'll get the picture.  You & I are supposed to be making do with carrot sticks, radishes and lemon water, while they rate the hot wings and beer...because--well, we're the little people, and they're not.

Western Decline. How did this happen?

Oh wait...I know--Hope n' Change, right?  Via instapundit:

The Arab revolution and Western decline

I had really hoped that this presidency wouldn't be "Carter: The Sequel", but I think it's even worse than I had feared.

The most important quote that I saw in this article:

"The West has stopped being a leading and stabilizing force around the world."

It wasn't that long ago (about two years past) that we were the leading stabilizing force...and it was one of the main goals of foreign policy to be so.

This is some bad, bad news for Israel, as if they needed any more.

Actually, it's bad news for freedom everywhere.