Letter from the colonies

[Thanks to oldmoderate for the great post; I couldn't resist riffing.]

Colonialism, according to Wikipedia, is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. They go on to call it (my emphasis):

". . . a set of unequal relationships between the metropole ['mother city'] and the colony and between the colonists and the indigenous population.

Here in Wisconsin, we're learning first-hand what it means to be "colonized" by a hostile power. Scott Walker is a colonial governor, placed in power by fascists running multinational corporations to control our fortunes to their best interest. We're getting the deluxe package:

• for-profit education fed by vouchers: taxpayer money going pretty much directly into the pockets of Walker's friends in the profit education business
• public employee unions busted, not only at the state level, but county, municipal and school district levels as well
• legislative chambers essentially closed to the public, silent protesters routinely arrested and hauled away for (couldn't make this shit up) holding a sign or shooting a cellphone video
• bills passed in the middle of the night, behind locked doors, with no scrutiny or input from constituents, those who, you know, might not agree with getting screwed repeatedly to profit the "job creators."
• speaking of, where the hell ARE the jobs?
• NRA and ALEC-driven concealed carry and castle doctrine legislation, one fatality so far
• one of the most draconian voter ID laws in the country, currently on a fast track to the Colonial supreme court, where it will be quickly freed of pesky injunctions by the court's ethics-impaired conservative majority and allowed to become law
• high-level civil service positions changed to gubernatorial appointments, often filled with the unqualified relatives of political donors and allies
• and then there's Walkergate . . .

Even though he's from 'Tosa, Scott Walker is a colonist. No, actually, he's a carpetbagger, as are Kleefisch,  the Fitzgeralds and the rest of this unholy train wreck of an administration, including 4 of 7 state supreme court justices. Walker's public motives are those of his handlers; he exhibits no loyalty to the state of Wisconsin, to its erstwhile reputation for open government, the quality of its air and water, or its people. While Walker has to "dance wit those whut brung him," for his political survival, his only real loyalty is to Scott Walker.

Olbermann is right: Walker is a fascist bastard. The things he's done to my state are anti-democracy and anti-American.

Here's your October Surprise ... a few months early

The latest ploy by the paleoconservative gang to throw Barack Obama out of the Whitehouse is ... (wait for it) ... WAR WITH IRAN!!!

A military strike on Iran, whether by the US or Israel or anybody, would pretty much destroy the global economy, particularly here in the land of the dollar bill, where every single aspect of our daily lives depends on what? Oil, boys & girls. If somebody bombs Iran, the price of a barrel of oil will likely go over $160 in a heartbeat when they close the Strait of Hormuz in response. If that happens, there will absolutely be a global great depression. Such a small price to pay for getting that black guy out of the Whitehouse, no?

From Thom Hartmann: 

"On Tuesday - International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned that a military strike on Iran could disrupt oil supplies around the world - causing the price of oil to spike 30%. Lagarde said, 'Clearly it would be a shock to economies if there was a major shortage of exports of oil out of Iran...A sudden and brutal rise in the price of oil would have serious consequences on the global economy.' "

So if you've been puzzled by the constant yammering about Irani nukes, despite the fact that Mossad and all 18 US intelligence agencies (18? That in itself makes you wanna puke) are convinced that Iran has no nukes, puz no more. They'll have to bomb Iran to take out Obama because, face it, without crashing the economy they probably can't.

They've tried strangling the US economy with their damnable tinkle-down economics, they've tried to strangle the working class by killing unions both public and private, and they've tried to gut some of the country's most popular and successful programs (social security, Medicare, even the Post Office, because it comprises the biggest public sector union on the planet) in the interest of tanking the economy and disabling their opposition.

Why must we sacrifice necessities for poor, working class, and disabled people in order to provide more money and toys for rich legislators and their friends?

 

Because it is the fascist way, and we are being taken over by fascists. Look at what's happened in Wisconsin.