Gathering of the Progressives at Berkley, trying to make some sense of the Tea Party.

Its not going well.

The research, the race theory, the scholarly speculation—all of this is a good start, but it doesn't soothe academics who expect the Republicans to win a bunch of elections in 10 days. While they try to understand the movement, while they pass on New Yorker articles about the Kochs and the Birchers, the movement keeps on beating them.

I've spoke to some left-wingers, and marveled at their incredulity over the truly populist nature of the Tea Party. They literally can't believe that 'conservatives' can act this way and find themselves making up stories about billionaires (The New Yorker article about the Koch brothers was about as good as example of confirmation bias as I've ever seen...) organizing a vast national-scale conspiracy to unravel the Progressive agenda.

Its incredibly fascinating to realize that the cultural divide between left and right in the country, is probably greater than between say, British and Sudanese. I say greater because The British at least recognize that the Sudanese are different and can be sensitized to the Sudanese world view, their customs and responses (and vice versa). Progressives lack that ability because they think they know us, proving the wisdom of Mark Twain's aphorism that its not what you don't know that hurts you, but what you know that ain't so.

Clearly Progressives don't 'know' conservatives, but as a naturalized citizen, it appears to me that what Progressives don't understand is America and Americans. To me, the Tea Party is such a natural expression of the American spirit. It is what one would expect from a people steeped in a culture of "We, The People". The demonstrable fact that Progressives just don't 'get it' suggests to me strong delusion and a group desperate to keep that worldview inviolate.

Not only are they content to spin fantastic theories about the resurrection of John Birchers and Dr. Evil in the form of Charles Koch and mini-me, David Koch, they are apparently openly starting to wonder what can be legally done to suppress this intolerable assault on their peace of mind.

"I wonder if we're likely to see a Timothy McVeigh situation," says Nicholas Robert, an attendee originally from Australia, who basically wonders if any Tea Partiers can be arrested. "It seems to be that we're being very polite. I wonder if there are any legal mechanisms—one that comes to mind are the provisions used to crush the Wobblies."

The Wobblies, or IWW, was a workers movement extent in the 1920s and virulently opposed to U.S. participation in World War 1. The Woodrow Wilson administration engaged in a methodical oppression of the Wobblies, raiding 48 IWW meeting halls, and arresting 165 IWW leaders; charging them with conspiracy to hinder the draft and encouraging dissertion under the Espionage Act. All were convicted and sentenced for up to twenty years. A number of IWW members were lynched. One particularly gruesome episode occurred in Washington state where veteran Wesley Everest had his teeth smashed with a rifle butt, was castrated and lynched three times, after being released to the mob by jail house guards. His cause of death was listed as suicide.

...and these people are worried about Tea Party violence...

It's rather strange in the wake of a mass-murder, that what the left is really outraged about is Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. What will really bake your noggin is that they were just as outraged before a nine year old girl was shot to death my a disturbed young man obsessed with Gabrielle Gifford.

...there is no balance—none whatsoever. Only one side has made the rhetoric of armed revolt against an oppressive tyranny the guiding spirit of its grassroots movement and its midterm campaign. Only one side routinely invokes the Second Amendment as a form of swagger and intimidation, not-so-coyly conflating rights with threats. Only one side’s activists bring guns to democratic political gatherings. Only one side has a popular national TV host who uses his platform to indoctrinate viewers in the conviction that the President is an alien, totalitarian menace to the country. Only one side fills the AM waves with rage and incendiary falsehoods. Only one side has an iconic leader, with a devoted grassroots following, who can’t stop using violent imagery and dividing her countrymen into us and them, real and fake. Any sentient American knows which side that is; to argue otherwise is disingenuous.

This little gem came after sincere protestations of even-handedness and non-partisanship, from a columnist for Mother Jones, a former Peace Corps volunteer and a contributor to the Democrat party. Yeah, not particularly credible.

I already made the argument that Progressives have a culture of incitement derived from decades of activism based on Alinsky's principles, and since turnabout is fair play, the left is entitled to make the case for violent incitement by the right. However, in making that argument, they again reveal more about themselves than they do their political adversaries.

Time and again, Progressives I've corresponded with, heap invective on Fox News, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, and to a man, none of them have spent any time listening or watching any of them. There simply is no reason to, because the objection is not to what these lions of the right are saying, but to the implications of their existence.

It's as if Democrats were still southern slave holders paranoid about a possible slave revolt. They know the slaves don't 'enjoy' their condition, and they understand that any reasonable person would be resentful, and they awake at night screaming as their unconscious awareness coalesces into specters of angry, middle-aged, white Tea Party activists with machetes and Glocks in hand. Just as southern Democrats didn't want their slave to be able to read, for fear of the reprecussions, modern Democrats would much prefer we didn't know what they are up to in the Congress, the White House and the State Houses.

I'm not a big fan of Glenn Beck, but I have watched his show on occasion and listened to him on the radio. Mostly what I hear, on his show and others, is what shenanigans the Democrats are up to now. This outrageous behavior is conjoined with a refusal to adopt the official spin, respect the embargo on certain topics, or adopt the euphemisms liberals and progressives work so hard to create. Such loose talk in the slave pens is very dangerous, and thus 'hate speech'.

The 'Worst Person in the World' sentiments are always on the slow boil, but historically things really get roiling after the public rejects them root and branch and leaves the President swinging in the wind. Rush Limbaugh was blamed for Oklahoma city, and now middle-aged, white people have become 22 year old heavy metal fans with radical leftist views, browsing Sarah Palin's website and watching Fox News.

Did I mention that they they just lost their asses in the last election?

The Democrats are all huddled in the big house, wondering what we're all up to out here in fly-over country. It doesn't involve guns or bombs folks, but you should worry nonetheless...

Michael Moore is your drawing card.

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore urged Wisconsin residents Saturday to fight against Republican efforts to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, telling thousands of protesters that "Madison is only the beginning."

The thing about popular movements is that they are, well; popular. Politicians and other public figures see the parade and rush to get out in front of it. Politicians used to drape themselves in the mantle of Reagan, and in fact, President Obama still does. Nowadays, Republican politicians are all 'Tea Party' candidates.

So where is Ben Affleck, Susan Sarandon, Robert Redford and all the rest of the usual suspects for 'popular' left-wing causes?

Not in Wisconsin.

Michael Moore and the Rev. Al Sharpton--practically billboard advertisements for irrelevancy.

It has been interesting to browse all the media stories about the union defanging legislation passed yesterday in the Wisconsin Senate.

The choice of words is remarkable but comes down to this--Gov. Walker and Wisconsin Republicans removed state workers bargaining rights.

The word 'right' does appear to mean what its suppose to mean in most of these missives. Since unions aren't a natural phenomenon, bargaining with unions can't in fact be a natural right, and if it's a legal right, then it can be modified, enhanced or removed through the democratic process (which doesn't involve hiding in an Illinois Best Western...).

The reality is of course is that state workers are fine, it's their union that is in a bit of a pickle. In effect, state workers now have more rights than they did before the legislation was passed--namely the right to opt out of the union and stop paying them dues.

Amid this contrived atmosphere of constitutional crisis, we may have lost sight of what motivated the legislation in the first place. Thanks to the eternal memory of the internet, we have chapter and verse of what union bargaining 'rights' have wrought for the state of Wisconsin.

Under the Green Bay School District’s collectively bargained Emeritus Program, teaches can retire and receive a year’s worth of salary for working only 30 days over a three year period. This is paid in addition to their already guaranteed pension and health care payouts.

At the average annual salary for a Green Bay teacher of $51,355, this amounts to a daily rate of pay of $1,711.83, or an hourly rate of $213.98. Since most retiring teachers receive higher than average salary, these amounts are, in practice, much higher. WLUK-TV 3-3-2011

While the Green Bay Emeritus Program actually requires teachers to at least show up for work, the Madison Emeritus Program doesn’t even require that. In addition to their pension payouts, retired Madison public school teachers receive annual payments of at least $9,884.18 per year for enrolling in the Emeritus Program, which requires ZERO days of work.

When this program began, 20 days of work per year were required. Through collective bargaining, the union successfully negotiated this down to zero days. Madison Teachers Inc. Website

Milwaukee Public Schools teacher Megan Sampson was laid off less than one week after being named Outstanding First Year Teacher by the Wisconsin Council of English Teachers. She lost her job because the collective bargaining agreement requires layoffs to be made based on seniority rather than merit.

Informed that her union had rejected a lower-cost health care plan, that still would have required zero contribution from teachers, Sampson said, “Given the opportunity, of course I would switch to a different plan to save my job, or the jobs of 10 other teachers. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/14/10

This list goes on for quite a while...

If some other group were preying on the community in this manner, we'd have the local police cooperating with the FBI to make a case, arrest them and incarcerate them for a very long time.

The unions should consider themselves lucky that they are merely being disarmed.