Reading: for Monday, February 28, 2011

George Lakoff: Democracy as We Know It is at Stake in the Wisconsin Protests. 
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12413
Karl Rove and Shep Smith have made it clear on Fox: If the Wisconsin plan to kill the public employees' unions succeeds, then there will be little union money in the future to support democratic candidates. Conservatives will be effectively unopposed in raising campaign funding in most elections, including the presidential elections.

The Wisconsin Lie Exposed – Taxpayers Actually Contribute Nothing To Public Employee Pensions
http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/25/the-wisconsin-lie-exposed-taxpayers-actually-contribute-nothing-to-public-employee-pensions/
Simple. The pension plan is the direct result of deferred compensation- money that employees would have been paid as cash salary but choose, instead, to have placed in the state operated pension fund where the money can be professionally invested (at a lower cost of management) for the future.

Chart of the Day: The Real Pension Story
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/02/chart-day-real-pension-story
Dean calculates that if pension funds continue to invest in a basket of assets that includes equities, and economic performance remains at historical levels, most states have a pension shortfall of less than 0.2% of income. If this is right, then either modest changes in state contributions or modest changes in employee contributions (or a combination of both) are all that's necessary to eliminate the pension shortfall entirely. It's just not as big a problem as critics are suggesting.

Do you hear the people sing?
http://motherjones.tumblr.com/post/3567629387/a-flash-mob-of-pro-union-demonstrators-gathered
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

Wisconsin GOP Leader Targets Democratic Senate Staffers' Access To Copy Machines
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/wisconsin-gop-leader-democratic-staffers-copy-machines_n_829259.html
In a motion submitted to the Committee on Senate Organization on Monday and obtained by The Huffington Post, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) proposed that while the senators remain away, all Democratic staffers must have his office sign off on their timesheets and will lose access to office copy machines:

Setting the Record Straight: Public Employees Make Less Than Private Sector
http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/02/25/setting-the-record-straight-public-employees-make-less-than-private-sector/
In a new report, the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) looks at the facts about public employees and here’s what the data show: Public employees are paid 4 percent to 11 percent less than private-sector workers with similar education, job tenure and other characteristics.  This wage disadvantage is greatest for higher-wage public workers.