Blacking Out To Oppose SOPA/PIPA

Not one keystroke today.

On Wisconsin!

I'm enraged. Wisconsin's union workers this evening were temporarily outflanked by a legislative maneuver of questionable legality. And of despicably sleazy intent. The Senate decided that, as everyone in opposition to it has been saying for months, the union busting bill really wasn't a fiscal measure, the previous pronouncements that it was be damned. No, it wasn't a fiscal measure. It was a union busting measure. And therefore, the bill didn't need a quorum in the Senate. It could pass the Wisconsin Senate with no democrats voting. Or even appearing. So there. This wonderfully disingenuous piece of legislative legerdemain has-- let's call it what it is-- temporarily screwed Wisconsin's public unions by withdrawing their right to bargain collectively.

And now. And now, amigo@s, comes the real test. Will the unions and their supporters and the demonstrators and you and I all throw up our hands in defeat and despair and slink home? Will we say in words or actions, "Oh, we lost, it's over, let's just forget about it and move on?" Or will we stand up now and fight on (nonviolently) with ever renewed dedication to overturn this evil, unpopular, antidemocratic, antiunion measure?

I hope that hundreds of thousands of people show up in Madison tomorrow to demonstrate against Governor Walker and the Koch funded Teapublicans. I hope an equal number will show up in Lansing. And in Union Square, New York. And in San Francisco. And Chicago. And in every town and city in America that recognizes the dignity of workers and their right to bargain collectively. I hope the recall efforts will be redoubled. I hope that the demonstrators inspire a nationwide high school strike tomorrow at 2 pm. And I hope the demonstrators will invite farmers to show their support, to come to Madison, to ride their tractors to and surround the capitol. And I hope that across Wisconsin and across America teachers and nurses and garbage collectors and firemen and bureaucrats and policemen will all link arms with other workers, students, progressives, anyone who supports the unions and sees that the withdrawal of public unions' collective bargaining rights is a step back, a regression into the darkness of the Nineteenth Century.

Yes, I'm enraged. But I'm also hopeful. I'm hopeful that we, you and I, amig@s, will not let Walker and the Koch funded Teapublicans get away with this. I'm hopeful that this is the beginning not of a demonstration, but of an actual, popular movement. I hope that the movement will continue with increased strength and focus to preserve the rights of workers to organize and to bargain collectively.

Yes, I'm idealistic. And maybe pretty unrealistic. And not particularly practical. That doesn't matter. I believe that what we are about to see is a real change. Coming from an organic movement. And that we will now begin in earnest to link arms and stand in Solidarity in the struggle for what I believe is the survival of the middle class. Here's John Lennon:

Solidarity With Wisconsin's Workers

The AFL-CIO has called for another massive demonstration today in Madison, Wisconsin.

If you're too far away from Madison to participate in person, please stand in Solidarity with the demonstrators by doing something to show your support. Buying pizza is always good. Posting on a blog is good. Organizing your own demonstration is great. You get the idea. Let's do it.

Solidarity Saturday. Be There.

h/t to ek hornbeck

Moveon.org alerts us:

In Wisconsin and around our country, the American Dream is under fierce attack. Instead of creating jobs, Republicans are giving tax breaks to corporations and the very rich—and then cutting funding for education, police, emergency response, and vital human services.

On Saturday, February 26, at noon local time, we are organizing rallies in front of every statehouse and in every major city to stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin. We demand an end to the attacks on worker's rights and public services across the country. We demand investment, to create decent jobs for the millions of people who desperately want to work. And we demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share.

We are all Wisconsin.
We are all Americans.

This Saturday, we will stand together to Save the American Dream. Be sure to wear Wisconsin Badger colors—red and white—to show your solidarity. Sign up today to join in!

Want to find a rally near you? Click on the search button in the middle of this page.

In Albany, NY, we find this:

New Yorkers Stand with Wisconsin Workers

NY State Capitol, Washington Ave & Swan St
193 registered participant(s) (1000 maximum)
Washington Ave & Swan St
Albany, NY 12207

Hosted by Joe Seeman
Description New Yorkers Stand with Wisconsin Workers!
In Wisconsin and around our country, the fundamental right to collectively bargain is under fierce attack. The Governor of Wisconsin has used the excuse of a budget crisis to eliminate workers rights to negotiate. The people of Wisconsin are fighting back by the tens of thousands. Wisconsinites are serving as an inspiration for the rest of the country facing Republicans more concerned with giving tax breaks to corporations and the very rich and cutting funding for education, police, emergency response, and vital human services than creating jobs.
Join us in front of the New York State Capitol. We demand an end to the attacks on workers collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and the rest of the country. We will not stand by as peoples rights are stripped away.

We are all Wisconsin.
We are all Americans.
This Saturday, we will stand together in Albany as New Yorkers in Solidarity with the Wisconsin workers and send a message...

You know what to do. See you there.

Feed The Wisconsin Demonstrators Pizza!!

I just ordered 2 pizzas to be delivered to demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin. Rachel Maddow has the story:

You're probably already familiar with ordering take-out food online. Some restaurants let you do it directly and others use a middle man service, but the idea is that you log on, place your order, plug in your credit card info and tell it where to deliver the food. But there's nothing that says you have to have the food delivered to yourself. In fact, there's nothing that says you have to even be in the same country as the food you've just ordered.

And so we arrive at Ian's Pizza by the Slice where donations literally from around the world are coming into their State Street store in the form of online pizza orders to feed Wisconsin protesters. As Politico reports, "On Saturday alone, Ian’s gave away 1,057 free slices in their store and delivered more than 300 pizzas to the Capitol itself."

You get it. I got it. I sent 2 20" 3 topping pizzas to the assembled democracy demonstrators. Join me. It's easy. You go to badgerbites.com and order a pie for the demonstrators. You know how to order for yourself. It's just as easy to order for others. Go for it. It will make you smile.

And by the way. This does not mean that my allegiance to Pizza Bob's in Ann Arbor has been violated in any regard. The way I see it, when in Madison, you do like the Badgers.

Iran: Here Comes The Backlash

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Wednesday evening in the US. Thursday morning in Iran. The demonstrations continue throughout Iran, but there's ominous news. Again. The New York Times reports: Iranians angry at the results of last week’s election pushed their protest forward on Wednesday, from tens of thousands who again flooded the streets here to six soccer players on the national team who wore opposition green wristbands at a World Cup qualifying game. But there were signs of an intensified crackdown: The government worked on many fronts to shield the outside world’s view of the unrest, banning coverage of the demonstrations, arresting journalists, threatening bloggers and trying to block Web sites like Facebook and Twitter, which have become vital outlets for information about the rising confrontation here. The senior prosecutor in the central province of Isfahan, where there have also been tense demonstrations, went so far as to say protesters could be executed under Islamic law. If you read the Twitter posts to #iranelection you see that Iran's government is trying mightily to suppress communication. Foreign journalists have been forced to leave the country. Writers have been arrested. A photographer was stabbed. Cell phone service is sporadic. The Internet has been slowed. Disinformation and stalking abounds. Arrests of bloggers and university students are common. Violence continues in the streets. Many have been killed and injured. And many more have been threatened. Despite all of this, defiance of the government continues. Twitter posts from Iran continue to describe the demonstrations. Six members of the Iranian football team wore green wrist bands for the first half of today's game in protest. Youtube is filled with photos of the massive, non-violent demonstrations by the pro-democracy opposition and the repressive violence of the government and its thugs. The Iranian Democracy movement is absolutely worthy of our personal (as opposed to governmental) support. Support and solidarity at this point require, indeed permit only the simplest of things. As I said yesterday. There are only simple things we can and should do: Things like changing our location and time zone on Twitter to Tehran and GMT +3.5 hours. Things like making our avatar green. Things like reading the posts of those who are there. Things like posting and distributing their videos on youtube. Things like writing blogs and asking others to link arms with them in solidarity. Things like talking about what ideas we might have that could be of help to them. These are things that might be completely ineffective to help Iranians achieve democracy, to get a new, fair election, to overturn the sham outcome of their last election. I realize that. But that's not what's important. That's not what's important now. What's important, I think, is our solidarity with their struggle, our saying, however we can say it, "Brothers and Sisters, we're with you. We want you to succeed. We want you to be safe, and free. We want you to obtain the change you seek." I am full of admiration for the courage of the Iranian movement. I applaud and support these people. Please join me in solidarity with them. Sign the available petitions. Take the small steps. It'll make you feel great. And it's the right thing to do. .

Solidarity With The Iranian Struggle For Democracy

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This is a brief essay about solidarity. In this case, it's about solidarity with the people of Iran who are protesting what appears to be a stolen election, the loss of democracy. How do we support those people, half the world away, in their struggle for democracy? How do we say just as people (and not a government) that we support their efforts to demand democracy? That they're right, they deserve their democracy and we want them to have it? We can only do simple things. Things like changing our location and time zone on Twitter to Tehran and GMT +3.5 hours. Things like making our avatar green. Things like reading the posts of those who are there. Things like posting and distributing their videos on youtube. Things like writing blogs and asking others to link arms with them in solidarity. Things like talking about what ideas we might have that could be of help to them. These are things that might be completely ineffective to help Iranians achieve democracy, to get a new, fair election, to overturn the sham outcome of their last election. I realize that. But that's not what's important. That's not what's important now. What's important, I think, is our solidarity with their struggle, our saying, however we can say it, "Brothers and Sisters, we're with you. We want you to succeed. We want you to be safe, and free. We want you to obtain the change you seek." Will they see it? Will they hear about it? Will they know that we are saying this about them? Of course they will. I say it by posting in green. You might have other ways of saying it. It's important to me to say, aloud, to whomever can hear it, "I support the struggle in Iran for democracy." Please join me. Please join me in giving to the Iranian people who are struggling for democracy the same support we'd like to receive in our struggles for democracy and equality and peace. .

Solidarity With The WGA

The Writers' Guild of America (WGA) is still on strike. And the news is pretty bad. The AMPTP has broken off negotiations. This means that the strike is likely to be prolonged. And it means that more pressure has to be brought on the media moguls for the writers to prevail in their struggle.

It's difficult to know how to support our striking brother and sister writers. There are little things we can do. These include posting a badge on our blogs like the one to the right of this story. Or writing to management to complain. Or making a small donation by buying pencils for moguls.

What's the strike about? There's a great video:


And, of course, if you post on the large, political blogs in Left Blogistan, it's a good idea to try to rally support. Here are my efforts at dailyKos and docuDharma, my favorite. If you have other favorites, you might want to try to talk this up.

Solidarity with the WGA!