Weekly Roundup, March 7-13, 2011 - Will Palin Run, Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disasters, Battle for Wisconsin + More

By Blueberry Tart

This was an incredibly dramatic week. The right-wing assault on workers’ rights took an ugly turn in Wisconsin, and the coordinated legislative strategy to undo women’s and workers’ right became more apparent. But all other news paled in the aftermath of the devastation in Japan, which is in the midst of a major crisis after a massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactors disaster.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Will She or Won’t She?

It seems so long ago that the week began with Kathleen’s post, looking at Sarah Palin’s recent interview with the BBC for indications of whether she will run for President. Bottom line: “Sarah Palin enjoys playing games with the media. She will continue to bait, taunt and hint at her intentions for as long as she possibly can. Why should Palin make an early announcement one way or other when she can continue to make money and be given a free platform for her extreme views on Fox News? She has the best of both worlds and she knows it and I believe that she will wait until the last minute to announce her intentions.”

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Economic Bill of Rights

After my recent posts on neo-con-econ, I wanted to find a clear, inspiring message to counteract the constant right-wing talking points. Turns out that the best message I found was from FDR’s 1944 State of the Union Address. How ironic that it would be at such a time in our history – emerging from the Great Depression and fully engaged in World War II – that Roosevelt would set forth a progressive vision of economic fairness that endures to this day. I’m sure he would have explicitly added the right to unionize and to collective bargaining, except he undoubtedly assumed that those rights were already well established. And they were, until now.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Battle for Wisconsin

The charade in Wisconsin was fully revealed, as the Republicans illegally voted 18-1 to “take America back” to the early 1900s, when workers had no right to unionize or to bargain collectively. So, there is no longer any pretense that this bill had anything to do with ANYTHING except union-busting. Rachel Maddow describes the Republican’s end run around the law, and her interview with Michael Moore is must-see; his words are so passionate and moving: “This is a class war leveled against the working people of this country…”

Friday-Saturday, March 11-12, 2011

Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear Disaster

Kathleen kept us up-to-date with posts on the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor crisis with three posts covering the earthquake, then the first reports on the nuclear reactor crisis and another report after the explosion. The level of this tragedy seems to increase exponentially as we watch in horror from afar. Entire communities seem to have been wiped off the face of the earth, as a series of tsunamis have devastated the northeast coast of Japan’s main island. As I write this, the truth about the reactors is still somewhat unclear, but it appears that several reactors are in major crisis mode, including partial core meltdown. That this crisis is occurring at multiple reactors at multiple sites, in the midst of massive devastation from the earthquake and tsunami, makes this completely uncharted territory in disaster response.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Nuclear Power is Not the Answer

This post reflects on my own personal experience opposing nuclear power in the 1970s-80s. The anti-nuke movement was remarkably successful in bringing public attention to the risks of nuclear power, and our warnings were proven reasonable when the Three Mile Island accident occurred in 1979, followed a few years later by Chernobyl. This led to the end of nuclear reactor construction for several decades, but recently the industry is trying to revive itself through new taxpayer-funded subsidies, as well as a PR campaign. Their claim is that, because nuclear power has lower carbon emissions than fossil-fuel plants, we should ramp up the nuclear portion of our energy production. This assumes that the only issue of concern is carbon emissions, and the only solution is large-scale, centralized power generation. I dispute both assumptions. Putting similar levels of funding into improving energy efficiency and promoting alternative, sustainable energy would help make us more energy independent and help build a more peaceful world.

Comments and Links:

Older_Wiser reminded us: The people united will never be defeated.

BinCo found this: "Sarah Palin. You couldn't have invented a plausible character in fiction more outrageous, unqualified and unintentionally comical." -Carl Hiaasen (Miami Herald and fiction writer)

WesinOregon: I always laugh when she says "common sense solutions". She has no common sense so there are no solutions that she can come up with. And she never does. Just a robotic line she spews because in her little pea brain she thinks it's clever and intelligent to say it.

Sunnyjane: I think she's obsessed by [the Trig hoax]... It's like Poe's Telltale Heart. She KNOWS the truth is going to come out, and she can't let it go. Innocent people don't act like that.

Dusty17: "unconventional candidate" must be one who openly lies, is afraid of debate & cannot speak with any semblance of intelligence or empathy

Ltl1: …it's getting harder and harder for the GOPers to claim…that they are out to help the average middle class American…They are not about job creation and balancing budgets. They are about stripping workers of the right to a living wage and the hope of a meaningful retirement. They are about handing the Koch brothers and their corporate cousins giant givaways in the form of tax cuts and freshly privatized utility companies at bargain prices. They are for junkets for themselves.

Actcrabby: Those good people in Wisconsin deserve better than this. I wish I could be in Madison to march with them. Instead I'm stuck here, can't even send money because I'm broke. All I can do is re-tweet, and that's not working for me half the time. The Wisconsinites have been so peaceful, so reasonable, so controlled, they have been an inspiration to the whole world, just as the Egyptians were. I want to see Walker and all his friends behind bars. They have taken off their masks, and they are monsters. From now on, they should not be granted any benefit of the doubt. No more compromise. Stop them, dump them, jail them. There must be a way.

NJFan: Petty, vindictive and polarizing traits do not make a good leader. She's nothing but a cult figure to her "bots" and once they learn she hoodwinked them, boy of boy, will they turn on her with a vengeance. She's a national joke and loves feuding with comedians because she thinks it makes her look strong. She's a dimwitted bulb as a politician and as a human being she fails miserably, no soul, no compassion, no empathy, no brains, no sense of humor, no honor, no honesty and the lists goes on.

Zane1: Who ever thought our comedians would have to lead the way. What a strange world we live in.

Dis Gusted (in response to Palin’s comment about union boss thugs): she should know - Todd was the union rep, and he IS a THUG.

Cheeriogirl had an excellent find about right-wing radio using actors to read scripts while pretending to be callers to talk radio shows; she also pointed us to this on popeater.

ProChoiceGrandma linked to an excellent video comment by John Fugelsang on Grit-tv (a new one on me, and worth the watch).

juicyfruityy posted this encouraging link to politicususa on a new Bloomberg poll showing how far Sarah Palin has fallen.

honestyingov linked to Alternet on the Koch Brothers exposed.

aview999 found many excellent links, including this one on truth-out and this one on TPM.

Maria Maria made my day with this link; don't miss the snark at the end!

There were so many excellent comments and links on both Wisconsin and Japan that I could not keep up with them!

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BONUS!

It is now 3 years to the day since this photo was taken, showing the supposedly 7½ months pregnant Sarah Palin 5 weeks before the reported birth of Trig. Discuss.