On Wisconsin

This is a bizarre time. There is something very much like a full-on attack on women's rights and workers' rights going on in the U.S. right now, but there are some heartening developments: the Justice Department backing away from the "Defense of Marriage Act;" widespread popular resistance in Wisconsin. (though I have to ask, as I did in November - where well all y'all on Election Day when your brothers and sisters voted those union busters in?)

Not surprisingly, both trends are easier to spot if you peek a little bit beyond the mainstream media. Ladies and Gents, I love the Times in a bunch of ways, but it is now what it pretty much always has been: a tool of big business. It's just extra-special obvious these days.

I went to a rally by the FOX news building the other day to stand with my union in support of the workers. I was glad to be part of it, but it was kind of deflating too. A few hundred people doesn't seem like that many in a city of this size. And there's something downright sad about hearing a 'the workers united will never be defeated' chant fall apart in disunity (while on the other side the "FOX lies!" chant faded away, in spite of its accuracy).

So today I thought I'd share with you something I never thought would get any space in this forum: a link to community access TV in Madison. It's every bit as cheesy as you'd think it would be in some ways, but Wayne's World it ain't. There was just a live stream of Amy Goodman and Sharif Abdel Kouddous speaking at a theater near the Square; and citizens talking in church basements about the practical aspects and repercussions of limiting Medicaid, and the philosophies of Bob La Follette's is actually pretty cool to see.

Photo from The Progressive Catholic Voice, copyright 2011