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Any comments about the rise of what appears to be the Fourth Reich in Wisconsin?

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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:26 PM
Original message
Any comments about the rise of what appears to be the Fourth Reich in Wisconsin?
I'd like to hear your views on this DU.
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
1. It is definitely Fascist, in that corporations and the rich are taking over the politics.
Didn't Hitler outlaw unions?
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:42 PM
Response to Reply #1
6. One of the hallmarks of fascism was...
Edited on Sat Mar-26-11 01:43 PM by SDuderstadt
state control of the economy.

Does that sound like what the GOP is pushing for? Mindlessly slinging the word "fascism" around makes us look almost as silly as the Tea Party.
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:48 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. Mussolini's "fascism" meant corporate control of the state.
"Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy.

They advocate the creation of a totalitarian single-party state...

Fascism is anti-communist, anti-democratic, anti-individualist, anti-liberal..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

Considering the Wisconsin Republican leadership is a mouthpiece for the corporate Koch brothers and their ownership agenda, and they are by name destroying unions and organizing rights, I'd say that I am correct in the use of the word.

Unfortunately.
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:53 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. You need to do a little more research than...
merely consulting Wikipedia.
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:04 PM
Response to Reply #11
21. No, macros are entirely applicable as demonstrations of personal knowledge.
;)

I'm not entirely new to the definition of fascism or the ways of politics...of course I'm not implying an absolute but the -basic- comparison is beyond eerie, straight into "Oh fuck, it's beginning to happen here".

About the only thing the Republicans have not done is arm their constituents (who don't even get that they're supporting corporate takeover of the nation).
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:07 PM
Response to Reply #21
26. Really?
Where's the violent suppression of the opposition? Where's the dictatorship? Both of those are also hallmarks.
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:10 PM
Response to Reply #26
28. It's beginning to look a lot like Hitler.
:rofl:
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:14 PM
Response to Reply #28
29. Really?
Edited on Sat Mar-26-11 02:15 PM by SDuderstadt
that's funny, since Hitler was never elected to any government office.
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:25 PM
Response to Reply #29
33. Neither was Bush.
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:29 PM
Response to Reply #33
36. He certainly was in 2004...
like it or not.

And, as loathsome as the Bush v Gore decision was, it wasn't comparable to Von Hindenberg appointing Hitler Chancellor of Germany to avert the violent overthrow of the Weimar Republic.
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:32 PM
Response to Reply #36
38. I'll take it you're not big on trend detection...
...and that a few bees in the house definitely does not mean that there is a nest between your walls.

That there is ANY possible comparison, is sickening, and must be a call to complete defiance. The price of freedom is hard work.
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:34 PM
Response to Reply #38
41. I don't recall Walker...
being appointed Governor, do you?

I must've also missed the part where he outlawed the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
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LanternWaste Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-11 02:14 PM
Response to Reply #41
54. I don't think fascism is predicated on being appointed...
I don't think fascism is predicated on a politician being appointed to a post...
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girl gone mad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-03-11 02:43 PM
Response to Reply #11
59. Yet, you've done even less research.
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RUMMYisFROSTED Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:55 PM
Response to Reply #6
12. From a guy who knew:
The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.
— Franklin D. Roosevelt


Seems to fit pretty well. :shrug:
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:58 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. Yet, Obama was elected President...
rather than McCain in 2008.

Gee, I wonder how that happened?
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white_wolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:00 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. Because he is just as much on the side of the rich as McCain. n/t
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RUMMYisFROSTED Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:02 PM
Response to Reply #15
20. The OP was about Wisconsin, dude.
Nice try.
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:04 PM
Response to Reply #20
23. Which also...
voted for Obama. Duh.
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RUMMYisFROSTED Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:05 PM
Response to Reply #23
24. Which was 2 years before Walker.
Duh.
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:09 PM
Response to Reply #24
27. Oh, I see...
so, because the people of Wisconsin stupidly ELECTED Walker, that makes Wisconsin fascist?
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RUMMYisFROSTED Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:22 PM
Response to Reply #27
31. No you don't see.
Or, more likely, don't want to.

The OP queried "the rise of fascism" not it's total implementation. Nor was it limited to whatever definition you find acceptable. If you don't see the no-bid sale of public entities to private interests as an emergent sign of "...ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power..." then I can't help you.

Union busting is also a "hallmark," to use your word, of fascist ethos.

I tire of diversionary straw. Have a nice day. :)
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:25 PM
Response to Reply #31
32. You mean the OP that...
asks for comments about the "Fourth Reich" in Wisconsin? That OP?

Silly hyperbole.
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RUMMYisFROSTED Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:34 PM
Response to Reply #32
40. I agree that it's hyperbole.
Some people have to ability to understand the gist of something without having to have a perfect pretty bow on it, though.

:shrug:
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:36 PM
Response to Reply #40
42. Agreed...
the problem is DU has a large contingent of people who get fooled by hyperbole. Walker is dangerous and needs to be stopped, but he's no fascist.
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truth2power Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-11 02:30 PM
Response to Reply #42
56. Must something be fascist in every identical way before you're willing to call it that?...
I, too, think you're trying to divert attention away from recognizing incipient fascism. I wonder why.

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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
2. huh? how can you not know the views of DUers on what's going on
there? Seems that DU is about as unified on what's going on there as it's ever been about anything.
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PeaceNikki Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:28 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. lol, yes people need to start saying SOMETHING here on DU about, Wisconsin, ffs.
:P

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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:44 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. seems a bit of an odd question considering the overwhelming
number of posts about it.
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Initech Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:30 PM
Response to Original message
4. We're entering the "fuck you poor people" phase of capitalism.
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jpbollma Donating Member (68 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:32 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. I have a reply
I used to be a member of DU and was so busy with my new job after being laid off I stopped contributing. I agree we are entering the all or nothing phase. We are officially becoming slaves.
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white_wolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:02 PM
Response to Reply #5
19. I sometmes worry about something.
I worry that nothing short of revolution can save us now, and that is a very dangerous road to travel. Look what happened in France.
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Initech Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:41 PM
Response to Reply #5
43. They'd love it if they could overturn the 13th amendment.
You know they want to but they dare won't say it.
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walldude Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-11 02:17 PM
Response to Reply #4
55. Bill Mahr called it: Shine My Shoes Fuckface"...
:rofl:
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mod mom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:45 PM
Response to Original message
8. Unfortunately, not only Wisc but my state of Ohio as well.
To ram their bill through, they didn't even botheer to play by the rules just removed committee people who stood in the way:

Niehaus ripped for removing Seitz
1:17 pm, Mar 2, 2011 | Written by jcraig



Cincinnnati Fire Department Lt. Mark Sanders, president of the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters, ripped Senate President Tom Niehaus of New Richmond today for abruptly removing Sen. Bill Seitz of Green Township from a committee that narrowly approved Senate Bill 5 this morning, by a 7-5 vote.

Another Republican, Sen. Scott Oelslager of North Canton, was removed from the Senate Rules Committee to avoid a split vote and get the bill to the 33-member Senate floor this afternoon. Seitz and Oelslager have voiced opposition to the bill.


“That’s my senator,” Sanders said of Seitz. “He represents my area. I don’t have that voice anymore. What kind of democracy do we have? I think the Senate has forgotten Ohioans today.”

-snip
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2011/03/02/niehaus-ripped-for-removing-seitz/



March 02, 2011 08:15 PM
Ohio Republicans Remove Two Committee Members to Ram Anti-Union Bill Through Senate

In what Lawrence O'Donnell described as one of the sleaziest legislative moves he's ever seen, the Republicans in the Ohio Senate jammed through their union busting SB5, but only after removing two Republicans on two separate committees who were opposed to it in order to get it to the Senate floor.

With One-Vote Margin, Ohio State Senate Passes SB 5:

The Ohio State Senate just passed the controversial SB 5, aimed a limiting unionized state employees' ability to collectively bargain or go on strike.

In an indication of how divisive the legislation is in the Buckeye State, the final vote in the Senate was 17-16. The bill now moves to the state House, which like the Senate, is under Republican control.
-snip

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/ohio-republicans-remove-two-committee-memb

Then of course to help insure they retain control they are passing draconian voter suppression laws, as wel.
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:46 PM
Response to Original message
9. Yes, it's not just limited to Wisconsin.
Let's hope Wisconsin though is the beginning of killing it.
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:55 PM
Response to Original message
13. Kochs' goons are implementing Full-on Fascism and they have teabaggers fighting FOR that fascism
because they just don't know any better.
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thelordofhell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 01:56 PM
Response to Original message
14. It will last for a year
Then these idiots will be recalled
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:00 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. Which could not happen under...
"fascism".
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Davis_X_Machina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:00 PM
Response to Original message
17. People get what they vote for...
...and enraged and engaged minorities roll detached and apathetic majorities all the time.

The GOP simply want it more.

We're happier fighting each other than fighting them anyways.
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Bozita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:04 PM
Response to Original message
22. Kochroaches who are most active in the shadows or under cover of darkness
They do not like the light.
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HereSince1628 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:07 PM
Response to Original message
25. It's sort of upside down fascism, if it's fascism.
It certainly feels unAmerican, and anti-democracy. But the intererest seem strangely reversed.

Fascism was about government bundling the people and industry together to do the things that the government wanted to do.

In Wisconsin's case, it isn't government that is doing the bundling but the super-rich. This corporate control has come about in two ways: First, the super-rich back candidates who will make good puppets. In general these guys are dumb as Lannon Stone so they easily fall for...Second, the super-rich are supporting "think" tanks that are ginning up corporate friendly model legislation that the puppet legislature and executive branches in Wisconsin would never be clever enough to write.

Fascism was very much natavistic and intended to build a strong state. What's going on in Wisconsin is actually being done for the benefit of super rich that don't live here, and it isn't being done to make the state strong, but to make the state WEAK while promoting profits for corporations. Lower taxes, removal of regulations...are all things that make the state weaker.

It's certainly true that this has proceeded as a Putsch, racing forward enabling laws that are intended to create an environment that will favor Corporate control for generations.

Fascism, especially nazism was very xenophobic. What's happening in Wisconsin doesn't have that feel (at least no yet). It's certainly racist, but no one is being expatriated from Wisconsin. This doesn't seem to be against gays, or Jews, or Gypsies, or Native Americans, or Blacks per se, in a manner that would secure the future dominance of white people over everyone else in Wisconsin. Rather it seems to be against the protections of workers of all types, and an attempt to secure the dominant role of corporations in public policy making.

At this time, there is no drive to create camps to develop healthy, well indoctrinated youth. Instead the effort is to reduce education, and reduce healthcare. The purpose for which is a puzzle because stupid sick people don't serve anyone's interest.





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Mz Pip Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:22 PM
Response to Reply #25
30. It really seems closer
to an oligarchy or plutocracy, or perhaps an oligarchy by proxy. The governor and senate may not be from a ruling class of wealthy people but they are doing the bidding of that group.
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:26 PM
Response to Reply #30
34. Agreed n/t
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RKP5637 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:43 PM
Response to Reply #30
44. +1, n/t
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Snoutport Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:28 PM
Response to Original message
35. Dictionary.com: Fascist: a person who is dictatorial or has extreme right-wing views.
and forces them on people who don't have those same views.

pretty clear.
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SDuderstadt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:32 PM
Response to Reply #35
37. The political definition of...
a "fascist" or "fascism" is far more complicated than that. Walker is an idiot, but he isn't a fascist.
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HereSince1628 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:33 PM
Response to Reply #35
39. as a definition that is simply a common usage
it's a consequence of what people feel, not a reason for people to believe something.
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Nye Bevan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-26-11 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
45. It sucks. Walker has seized absolute power, canceled all future elections,
and set up a private SS-style army who are murdering, beating up and sending to concentration camps everyone who is opposed to him. If I lived in Minnesota I would be terrified, as there are few fortifications along the WI-MN border.
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undeterred Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-27-11 02:36 PM
Response to Reply #45
47. So I should take down my yard signs?
:shrug:
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-27-11 02:22 PM
Response to Original message
46. ^^^^ ^^^^
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-29-11 11:49 AM
Response to Original message
48. Not too many here know their history-those that do are the real "reality based" community.
Corporate fascism is the Walker administration's dominant political force-no mistaking that fact. That fascism is being challenged daily here.

I want to hear from other DUer's that know their history and have a grasp of "deep politics".

Kick for more participation.
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-29-11 12:23 PM
Response to Original message
49. I'm not the kind of citizen that buys into that old "silence denotes consent" bullcrap-all is not
quiet here in Wisconsin, despite the captive MSM.

What are your views about this rise of fascism here?
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highplainsdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-29-11 12:49 PM
Response to Original message
50. Not "the Fourth Reich" but plutocracy, partly implemented via ALEC.
There are lots of topics in my journal on ALEC and plutocracy.

I realize the Nazi comparisons can be tempting, and I slipped into making one myself, a while back (and got hammered for it here).

But it's really plutocracy, and as authoritarian as some corporate minions like Walker and Fitzgerald are, it isn't fascism.
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-29-11 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #50
51. It is corporate fascism, it is rising-where do you place Karl Rove on any political spectrum?
Rove's American Action Network/AAN was working overtime here last year, they are corporate fascists

American Action Network/AAN (Source Watch profile)
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Action_Network

-of course they had the Koch brothers and many Wisconsin extreme RWer's on board their "train"
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-30-11 07:19 PM
Response to Original message
52. One more kick for all you "out of towners" to post as well as Wisconsinites n/t
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-11 02:09 PM
Response to Original message
53. Der Gauleiter says he "will comply" with the Court's order; i.e. his "budget bill" is NOT IN EFFECT.
What do my fellow DUers think about these "latest" corporate fascist maneuverings here in condition red state Wisconsin???
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-11 12:23 PM
Response to Original message
57. Here's another opportunity to comment on the corporate fascist influenced state of Wisconsin
and the responses of we, the people.
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-03-11 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
58. The recall petition on State Senator Dan Kapanke (R) has been delivered.
Be sure to vote Tuesday.

And don't bother to show/flaunt/taunt US with the money, honey, anymore or everagain.

Kick.
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-04-11 10:40 AM
Response to Original message
60. Corporate fascism=Scott Walker's largest $$$ support group-Walker is open to that business
What do you have to say today this DU?
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