Public employees and supporters draw the line at the governor's plan to eliminate collective bargaining and unilaterally cut benefits.
tea party
Linking toxic political rhetoric and violence
The Tucson massacre that left six dead and 14 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, brought into sharp public focus the local sheriff, Clarence Dupnik. He's been the sheriff of Pima County, which includes Tucson, Arizona's second-largest city, for 30 years. For the 20 years before that, he was a police officer. Dupnik has gained attention this week for linking the shooting to the vitriolic political climate in the U.S., and in particular, Arizona.
Speaking at a press conference shortly after the shooting, Sheriff Dupnik said: "The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
The mainstream tolerance of right-wing extremism
While denouncing suicide bombers is the bread and butter of U.S. politics, there was barely a murmur of outrage last February when a suicide bomber flew a plane into a Texas office building, killing one office worker and injuring 13 others.
The extraordinarily muted response can only be explained by the fact that the suicide bomber, Joe Stack, had made it clear his anger was directed against U.S. tax authorities -- an anger shared by many powerful interests on the right.
2.jpg "David Climenhaga, author of the Alberta Diary blog, is a journalist, author, journalism teacher, poet and trade union communicator who has worked in senior writing and editing positions with the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Calgary Herald. His 1995 book, A Poke in the Public Eye, explores the relationships among Canadian journalists, public relations people and politicians. He left journalism after the strike at the Calgary Herald in 1999 and 2000 to work as Communications Director of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which with more than 73,000 members is Alberta’s largest union and Canada’s 10th largest. Alberta Diary focuses on Alberta politics and social issues. Contact: albertadiary @ gmail.com")
Don't expect the right to connect the dots between its violent talk and actual violence
| January 10, 2011What Eisenhower could teach the Tea Party
Fifty years ago this month, on January 17, 1961, outgoing U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower made one of the truly memorable presidential speeches of all time. Through his justly celebrated farewell address, Eisenhower wanted to alert his fellow Americans to two great dangers threatening public life in the Republic. For the first time in its history, the U.S. was home to a permanent arms industry. Allied with the military, this newly created military-industrial complex constituted a menace of "unwarranted influence" over U.S. decisions on momentous issues of war and peace, and for the structure of American society itself.
Not Rex: Weimar Amerika!
'Citizens United' Supreme Court Decision gave American corporations carte blanche to shovel money to the Tea Party.
Related rabble.ca story:
The faux populism of Tea Party North
A sizable number of Toronto electors are preparing to vote for Rob Ford, an anti-government mayoralty candidate, carrying a populist message. Calgary has its own right-wing tribune seeking the mayor's chair. It is standard media practice to talk about the cynical attitude of Canadian voters, the anger at government, and how people have a sneer in their voice when referring to people seeking public office. Playing up distrust of elites is what the Stephen Harper Conservatives do regularly, and their backroom operatives expect voters to buy what they are selling.
Is political gun violence on Canada's agenda too, thanks to Stephen Harper's Conservatives?
| January 8, 2012