Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Warning: You are about to enter the Twilight Zone.
Imagine, if you will, that you live in a state where a governor wields extraordinary power over its residents. Imagine, if you will, that your governor has the legal
authority to appoint an “Emergency Manager” to oversee the local government in the town where you reside. Imagine that the monetary compensation for the Emergency Manager of your community has no cap. Imagine that your Emergency Manager declares that there’s a financial emergency in your town and then takes over control of it. Imagine that the Emergency Manager can break contracts, seize and sell assets, eliminate services—and can also fire duly elected public officials who serve your community. Imagine, if you will, that the Emergency Manager empowered by your governor to run your town has the right to dissolve your school district and to disincorporate your town. AND imagine that you and your fellow residents have no say about what is going on! Just imagine how you might feel if you lived in a state where that kind of thing was going on. Well, the people who live in Michigan may not have to imagine much longer.
Who, you might ask, will be responsible for transforming the state of Michigan into a Rod Serlingesque otherworldly undemocratic Twilight Zone right here in the United States? Why, Governor Rick Snyder and his bold band of Republican state legislators–that’s who. In January, Governor Snyder called for “Emergency Manager” legislation—and the Republican state legislators were more than happy to comply with his request.
This all seems hard to believe, doesn’t it? I’m not making it up. Karen Bouffard of The Detroit News reported the following: Legislation that would allow emergency financial managers to throw out union contracts and overrule elected officials in financially distressed municipalities and school districts was approved Wednesday by the state Senate. Similar legislation passed in the House in February, and the two chambers are working on a final version to send to Gov. Rick Snyder.
In an article published in The Michigan Messenger, Eartha Jane Melzer wrote:
Under the law whole cities or school districts could be eliminated without any public participation or oversight, and amendments designed to provide minimal safeguards and public involvement were voted down.
An amendment to require Emergency Managers to hold monthly public meetings to let people know how they are governing was rejected by Senate Republicans, along with proposals to cap Emergency Manager compensation and require that those appointed to run school districts have some background in education.
Critics say that Republicans are manipulating concerns about budget problems in order to consolidate power by undermining unions.
According to E. D. Kain: Snyder’s law gives the state government the power not only to break up unions, but to dissolve entire local governments and place appointed “Emergency Managers” in their stead. But that’s not all – whole cities could be eliminated if Emergency Managers and the governor choose to do so. And Snyder can fire elected officials unilaterally, without any input from voters. It doesn’t get much more anti-Democratic than that.
Mark Gaffney, Michigan State President of the AFL-CIO said: This is a takeover by the right wing and it’s an assault on democracy like I’ve never seen.
Do you agree with Mark Gaffney? Do you think what’s going on in Michigan is an assault on democracy?
SOURCES
Rachel Maddow Exposes Michigan Republicans Secret War On Democracy (Politicus USA)
Michigan Governor Plays Fast and Loose with Democracy, Invokes Radical New Powers (Forbes)
Michigan Republicans Use Budget Crisis to make Outrageous Assault on Democracy (AFL-CIO)
Michigan Senate passes emergency manager bills (Daily Tribune)
Emergency managers bill sweeps toward final approval (The Michigan Messenger)
Conyers: Emergency Manager bill ‘raises serious constitutional concerns’ (The Michigan Messenger)
Financial manager bill passes Michigan Senate (The Detroit News)
Michigan bill would impose “financial martial law” (CBS News)
Blah blah blah troll boy.
Pssst! You shouldn’t try to use sockpuppets. You’re not a good enough writer to pull it off.
RE: Buddha Is Laughing, March 22, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Well Brian, the relevant part of your behavior isn’t your alleged autism, but rather your antisocial propaganda trollery, Mr. Represents Himself as Being in Wisconsin and Gives Out Chicago Phone Numbers. Even if you have autism – which as I’ve said before I seriously doubt – it is not an excuse for you simply being a tyranny supporting narcissistic asshat. Ill does not preclude evil. And if I can inspire propaganda trolls who operate against the best interests of U.S. citizens and against the Constitution to harm themselves? Regardless of their health? All I can really say is . . .
One lives to be of service.
I now return you to your regular circular ramblings.
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I have never posted a comment on the Turley Blawg using anything other than my real name with suffixes, as in this comment.
Someone, I have no idea who, is playing around in a way I do not understand, and whoever it is has apparently fooled some others on this blawg that I am using a fake name.
That simply is not true. I have not had a Chicago phone number since 1972, when I moved to Oak Park, Illinois.
Where I live is trivial for anyone to find out; as a Wisconsin Registered Professional Engineer, my address is simple to find on the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing web site.
The use of pseudonyms, such as Buddha Is Laughing, allows for all sorts of deceptions other forms of dishonesty which my using my actual and readily verified name precludes.
I understand that the Internet URI/URL/URN/IP-Address I use is readily available to Professor Turley. I am not deceptive as to who I am or the nature of my work as a bioengineer.
I do find it curious that whoever has been concocting false identities which some people who comment on the Turley blawg believe is a false persona (or sockpuppeteering tomfoolery?) has apparently been able to trick you, BiL, and perhaps others, into thinking I am doing something I simply am not doing, and which, were I doing it, would be proper cause for revocation of my license as a Wisconsin Registered Professional Engineer.
It does begin to make a trace of sense to me that someone who can believe I have posted pseudonymous remarks which I have not posted could also believe my work to be not of scientifically valid bioengineering.
It also is beginning to make some trace of sense to me that someone who believes that the adversarial system of jurisprudence is not intrinsically deceptive might easily be deceived about many other things of serious importance.
I am beginning to wonder whether the Stockholm Effect, as an aspect of the deception process of the displacement mechanism of addiction may sometimes result in trauma-induced insensitivity to some aspects of serious forms of child abuse.
I am not being deceptive and I have never posted a deceptive comment on the Turley blawg.
Professor Turley surely has access to the email address I am using and I really doubt that the “tricksters” have found a way to know what that email address is; I have some email addresses which are real and for which I pay regular fees, yet which are not particularly public, and one such is the only one I have ever used in posting comments on this Turley blawg.
Perhaps the trickster, who is absolutely not me, has figured out that my work is real and is playing around for reasons I cannot begin to guess with those who do not yet get the fact that I am a real bioengineer doing work possibly of the form of a new scientific paradigm.
I anticipated the possibility of someone “playing games,” and therefor made certain that my identity can easily and consistently be determined by Professor Turley or someone he asks, such as a computer expert at George Washington University, to verify that the comments of whoever is “playing around” are not from me.
And, yes, I did live and work in the inner city in Chicago, and, yes, the photograph my sister-in-law has of my dad’s mother has been readily recognized by “black people” as being a photograph of a “black person.”
And yes, as a bioengineer and therefore a biologist, I observe that there is only one human race, and it is of diverse color, so all humans are colored people. I never got to the southern states during the era of “whites only” and “colored,” but would automatically have used only the such facilities as were for those people who are not white but colored.
I objected a while ago to the cleansing of Tom Sawyer and such because it is important to remember how terrible prejudice can be for those who are treated with derision and prejudice for being “different.” By mere exposure, I picked up a little of ebonics, perhaps enough for someone proficient in that language to realize my deep and abiding concern about prejudice and the harm prejudice does.
Alas, I find the notion that people make mistakes they ought not make is itself a very damaging form of prejudice, yet one I find inseparable from the adversarial system at its core. To me, the very notion of adversariality as a necessary aspect of life is prejudicial.
The adversarial system of jurisprudence is in absolute violation of my conscience.
It is true, Brian the Brain does have something. We are all unsure of what it might be. He has been acting out on many different levels. If you all could contact him at the phone number that he provided I will make sure someone does answer. If no one can answer the please leave a message and your phone call will be returned. I too live to be of service and I am better equipped to handle all of the BS that comes my way as you can see I am degreed and have BS after my name. Please do not fling your BS further than you can smell it. It is sad when everyone has to experience the depreciation of the rambling of everyone on here that does not have anything to say half way intelligent. It hurts my soul when people cannot get along. I will pray for you who say you are Christians and act in another manner in words, deeds and actions. Thank you for taking time to read this. I know it is rather difficult as I suffer from abstractionism. It may have been that stamp that I licked a few years ago.
Thanks, Elaine M – the updates are appreciated!
Well Brian, the relevant part of your behavior isn’t your alleged autism, but rather your antisocial propaganda trollery, Mr. Represents Himself as Being in Wisconsin and Gives Out Chicago Phone Numbers. Even if you have autism – which as I’ve said before I seriously doubt – it is not an excuse for you simply being a tyranny supporting narcissistic asshat. Ill does not preclude evil. And if I can inspire propaganda trolls who operate against the best interests of U.S. citizens and against the Constitution to harm themselves? Regardless of their health? All I can really say is . . .
One lives to be of service.
I now return you to your regular circular ramblings.
Great updates Elaine! The news of the voter support in Michigan is good news.
From Think Progress (3/22/20110)
Strong Plurality Of Michigan Voters Support Amending State Constitution To Protect Collective Bargaining
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/22/poll-supports-collective-bargaining-amendment/
From Think Progress (3/22/2011)
REPORT: Three States Propose Massive Tax Cuts For Millionaires, Tax Hikes for Middle Class
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/22/estate-tax-vs-middle-class-report/
Last week, ThinkProgress documented conservative efforts in twelve states to shift the tax burden onto the middle class even while cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy. In three states, conservatives are going even further, proposing massive estate tax cuts for millionaires even as income inequality is at its worse since the 1920s. Here are the details:
MAINE: Tea Party Gov. Paul LePage’s (I) tax reform package would raise the state’s estate tax exemption from $1 million to $2 million — allowing four hundred of the state’s wealthiest estates to escape taxation. At the same time, the tax plan would raise property taxes on middle class Mainers while freezing health care funding for working parents, cutting money for schools, and raising the retirement age for public workers. Republican legislators want to go even further, and are currently considering eliminating the estate tax altogether.
OHIO: In January, House Speaker William Batchelder (R) called Gov. John Kasich’s (R) proposal to completely eliminate the estate tax one of the Republican-controlled legislature’s “top priorities.” But already, the bill has garnered strong opposition from local governments, who depend on estate tax revenue and are already concerned state spending cuts. Even while finding room for estate tax reductions, Kasich’s proposed budget cuts 25 percent of funding for local schools, $427 million for nursing homes, $1 million for food banks, $12 million from children’s hospitals, and $15.9 million from an adoption program for children with special needs.
NEW JERSEY: In his 2011 budget proposal, Gov. Chris Christie called for raising the state’s estate tax exemption from $675,000 to $1 million even while proposing cuts to the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit and homestead rebates for working poor families. And last year Christie vetoed a bill passed by the Legislature that would have raised taxes on the state’s millionaires to help fund property tax relief for Main Street.
Last December, the federal government set the precedent for estate tax cuts when the bi-partisan tax deal signed by President Obama cut the estate tax rate to its second lowest level since 1931.
– Kevin Donohoe
RE: Buddha Is Laughing, March 22, 2011 at 10:13 am
What you are is a troll promoting antisocial bullshit based on circular logic and your personal vendetta against the legal system, Brian.
Adversity does not arise from the system, but rather the adversarial process arises from the inherent adversity in the conflicts it is designed to address. It is a superior model to the inquisitorial courts as it allows all sides to have their arguments heard and to present their evidence while putting the judge in a neutral position outside the evidentiary gathering process.
This will remain a fact no matter how many times you bleat to the contrary, oh long winded one.
Also, it is not an invalidation of your person to say you are completely and utterly full of shit. That’s an invalidation of your statements. If you take that personally? That’s your problem. Just one among many it appears.
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BiL,
You continue to give me interesting data. Thanks.
The movie, Dances with Wolves, may have within it an illustration of a useful alternative to adversarial process in the presence of disagreement. The alternative to adversarial process in the presence of disagreement has been called “dialogue.” It has been studied at the Sloan School of Business at MIT and elsewhere.
It is impossible for me to be full of fecal matter because my colon was removed by Dr. Ernestine Hambrick, at Michael Reese Hospital, in the summer of 1986. I have no significant space left for storing fecal matter, and therefore, though I do not question your sincerity about this, I do need, for the sake of truthfulness, to keep drawing attention to your mistaken belief.
One reference regarding Familial Adenomatous Polyposis is on the National Institutes of Health web site, at:
http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/GARD/Condition/6408/Familial_adenomatous_polyposis.aspx
A Google search for “familial adenomatous polyposis” that I did a few minutes ago gave me over 300,000 results, not a small number for a rare genetic condition?
I am slowly getting a sense that it may be the sort of beliefs that I find that you, BiL, are espousing that may be a significant contributor to suicides among autism spectrum people.
RE: Otteray Scribe, March 22, 2011 at 10:44 am
Brain, jokes and snark are supposed to be funny. You are not only not funny, you are not even mildly amusing.
Sockpuppet accounts are not funny either. In fact, on most blogs if you get caught making sockpuppet accounts you get banned.
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I am not intending to be even slightly funny nor at all amusing.
Furthermore, I am rather clueless as to who posted as “Auntee Social.” I do not have a masters degree.
Because of the NSPE Code of Ethics regarding deception in the practice of professional engineering being prohibited, I only post using my real name.
If Professor Turley were to suspect that I am posting under an alias, which I am not doing, it would take a super-Internet-genius beyond what I deem likely to make the URI for “Auntee Social” match any URI coming from me. I do not do sockpuppetry, I deem it would be profoundly unethical and a clear violation of my Wisconsin Registered Professional Engineer license.
While I am telling as truthfully as words allow me, of my work, I deem it proper to point out that the dream during which I got the core ideas for my Bioengineering Ph.D. came to me on the eve and morning of Thanksgiving, 1987, when I was an inpatient on the fifth floor unit of Charter Barclay Hospital, in Chicago, and “on fifteens.” This dream is mentioned in my dissertation.
I continue to study the legal theory question which led me to this Turley blawg. That question can be stated in many ways, one of which is, “Is it decent to impose a system of laws on a person if the system of laws is such as to make it impossible for the person upon whom the system is imposed to understand the laws the person is required to avoid violating?
My view is simply that such a system of laws inextricably generates some form of disrespect for the system, if only because such a system first disrespects the person.
Did I miss a reply comment about this, one in which my concern was diligently addressed as a real and valid concern? If there has been such a comment, please inform me as to the date and time in the archives.
@Maury: We will not see a higher standard of living in this country unless we quit doing business as usual.
You mean as a corrupt government in league with a professionally criminal corporate structure using a runaway military to loot the United States, fleece its citizens with Ponzi schemes and toilet-paper contracts, and the rest of the world along with us? I’m with ya on that one, bucko.
@Maury: On the contrary; if I am wrong then you are incapable of producing a system that works.
Suppose, in order to provide just police and courts and a Defensive Military to enforce contracts in a Libertarian / Corporate free for all, we taxed income at just 10% (as Ron Paul recently suggested would be enough).
There are two possibilities: Either you think that taking 10% of income in order to have a rule of law society is going to eventually drain “other people’s money,” or you do not really believe it.
If you do believe it, meaning 10% is too much, then the only system you believe in is complete anarchy. If that is true, you are too stupid to continue discussing this with; we have no common ground upon which to base such a discussion.
If you do not believe it, then common sense should tell you that 10% is not a magic number, and not the absolute upper limit of what is possible. 11% could be done; the difference between keeping 89% of the average income and keeping 90% is miniscule.
Of course it isn’t always, if we go to extremes the difference will be felt. But 10% is not a magic number, it is a number Ron Paul pulled out of his ass and paraded on stage.
In fact, the vast majority of people pay at least 28%. Sales taxes eat up another 5% to 10%. Yet people live entire normal lives with this tax burden and never, ever run out of money.
So ultimately what it means is that if Ron Paul is correct, and the military, police and courts can be taken care of by a 10% income tax, then social programs could be funded with another x%, without ever running out of people earning income, and your silly aphorism is proven wrong.
Of course funding social programs is not “socialism” in the first place; so I am arguing with either an illiterate buffoon or a purpooseful liar. But maybe you aren’t the only person reading.
Mike S,
My ex-husband is Jewish and his grandmother spoke Yiddish. Whenever she saw me should would announce, “Here comes the Goy!” I loved that woman.
I think my absolute favorite, by far, is meshugener. It was one of the first words she taught me and would always say it to her daughter, my ex-mother-in-law … good times!
It’s not an easy language – I have a newfound respect for you as a result 🙂
Mike Spindell:
They haven’t demolished anything, they just use the platitudes/propaganda of the left.
I find it funny how left wing talking points/propaganda are thought superior to right wing talking points/propaganda on a left wing blog. Who would have thought?
Half the time Dr. Scribe obfuscates or goes off on some other duck hunt and doesn’t even address an issue.
Tony C makes an attempt to answer a question even though he is wrong.
But thanks for analysing me, how much do I owe you?
Tony C:
We are not creating what we used to, at least in this country. We are a nation of consumers, you cannot build an economy on consumption alone. Something must be produced. But the environmental left has made that almost impossible.
We will not see a higher standard of living in this country unless we quit doing business as usual. The Romans didn’t think they would go down either, look how long it took the world to recover from their demise. Thankfully China and India are producing.
We are headed toward a 3rd world future unless we stop with the collectivism.
@Mike: On Yiddish: Remember the theme song from Laverne and Shirley? I love the common description of the Yiddish terms they use in that song (“Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hassenpfeff Incorporated!”): A schlemiel is a guy that spills his soup, a schlimazel is the guy he spills it on.
(i.e. clumsy, and unlucky.)
“I love the word “schmuck.” Such a small word that says so much!”
SL
Yiddish is a great language for expressing certain descriptions of people and their peculiarities. I could speak it when I was young, but today I have lost much of it. Nevertheless certain phrases and word stick with me. Chutzpah is another one that’s found its way into common usage. In truth I couldn’t think of a better description for him because beside its’ connotation of someone who is an ass, there is a subtext to it that indicates someone who is also to be pitied. To me there is a pathos to him and his opinions and in a sense I think he is trying hard to be well thought of, but either doesn’t know how, or likes his pay.
Mike S,
“Maury = Ignorant Schmuck”
I love the word “schmuck.” Such a small word that says so much!
Tony C. & SL,
Great points made in demolishing the fallacious arguments. You did that despite the fact that he is unable to do anything but regurgitate propaganda, so you deserve greater kudo’s for making interesting the shooting of a sitting duck. For now my meager contribution is:
Maury = Ignorant Schmuck
“Auntee Social, BS, MS, Phd”
Brian,
You may well have all the degrees you claim, but you lack the ability to alter your writing style.