Rain and Mud

Rain day.  Lots of it. Mud too.

Mud clouds a lot of things...actually you can't see things because of mud. Underneath it rests the truth but the surface is so smeared with the rain du jour that for all practical means someone painted over the window glass.

Paul Krugman writes in this mornings NYTimes that underneath the grab at Wisconsin unions are a whole bunch of things covered up by the mud.  to wit:

For example, the bill includes language that would allow officials appointed by the governor to make sweeping cuts in health coverage for low-income families without having to go through the normal legislative process.


And then there’s this: “Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).”

In plain English, the appointed commissars - think Minni "Czars" hold health care for the poor in their little hands with no controls other than their good will or lack thereof.  Similarly, the governor can sell off major state assets to his friends if he wants without approval or certification by those empowered by the state to over see it.  Now how did that little item sneak in a union busting bill?

Here is how this thing works:

1.  I claim a major problem that needs addressing - if it were your home, the roof leaks.
2.  We don't have the money to fix it so I tell my wife that she can't get her hair done or drive the car for the next interval until we save enough money to fix the roof.
3. She goes crazy and we fight about it for months - big big deal fight.
4.  While consumed by the fight over the car and hair, I buy the big screen TV I've always wanted and sneak it in while we are fighting about the hair and car.
5.  The roof never gets fixed.

I give you Governor Walker and the great State of Wisconsin.