I have received email from Act Blue, DFA, DailyKOS, CREDO mobile, and maybe even a few other groups - all keeping me informed about the protests in Wisconsin. And when I read this site I see great updates and calls to action.
So today I updated my Facebook profile pic to the SOLIDARITY image of Wisconsin as a raised fist. I also went to Act Blue and donated $28 via the DFA group and added a 10% tip for Act Blue. I was going to donate a dollar per exiled Senator, but I decided to double down and make it 2 dollars per Senator.
I'd like to go to my state capitol for the planned MoveOn rally this weekend. Apparently there will be rallies at every state capitol in the nation. But that won't happen due to my schedule this weekend.
But I can continue to give a few dollars to support the re-election of folks who fight for workers. My wife is a middle school teacher in Kentucky. I am a computer support guy (self-employed.)
It has really pissed me off to watch millionaires and billionaires bring our economy to the brink of total destruction with their speculation and greed, and then watch them try to pin the blame on working people and old people. They call workers lazy and entitled. They say the elderly are being coddled. "Old age isn't what it used to be. Make those geezers work longer and trim their benefits. Let them eat cake." And the politicians, including many Democrats, have jumped right in on the austerity bandwagon.
Screw them, and screw that. If there was a true call for shared sacrifice, we would have seen the tax cuts for millionaires allowed to expire. We would have seen real budget cuts at the Pentagon, not the minuscule fig leaf currently being discussed. We would have seen corporate tax loopholes closed and back corporate taxes collected. Instead the poor are asked to "share sacrifice" by losing heating oil subsidies and losing their Making Work Pay tax break. Instead the working class are asked to share sacrifice by taking wage and benefit cuts.
And now the corporate-owned mafia known as the Republican party wants to strip bargaining rights that workers died to gain. Screw that. Enough. Americans will continue to get rolled unless we fight back against the corporate-owned government. We need to do exactly what the Packers faithful are doing. We also need to do to our mercenary corporate masters what the British people are doing to companies like Vodafone (who dodge British taxes.) The Brits are staging sit-ins and essentially shutting down the stores in the process, while garnering media attention to the corporate misbehavior. I'd love to see the American citizenry grow angry enough to eject the corporations from our government and make them pay their fair share.
In the meantime, I'll continue to support the exiled Senators in any way I can. SOLIDARITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!