uncharted.ca

“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”
Abraham Lincoln

Unfazed by the rebellion that has shaken their state since February, Republican legislators in Wisconsin seem determined to push through every aspect of the right-wing agenda they can lay a pen to.

The state Assembly called an “extraordinary session” yesterday—which would allow legislators to limit debate and amendments—in order to pass an onerous budget. Unions and supporters brought 5,000 protesters inside and outside the Capitol.

Opponents of Ohio Governor John Kasich’s push to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights—as part of a national push by newly elected Republican governors to silence opposition to their cuts in funding for public education and services — needed to collect 231,000 valid signatures to force a referendum that would override anti-labor legislation enacted by Kasich and his allies.

That was a tall order. But the labor and community groups that have come together to defend public employees, teachers, schools and services have exceeded it —.

Democracy is Coming to Ohio: 1.3 Million Voters Force Referendum to Restore Labor Rights

After tens of millions of dollars spent by outside interest groups, dozens of attack ads and exhaustive get-out-the-vote efforts, Democrats on Tuesday fell short of their goal of taking control of the state Senate and stopping the agenda of Gov. Scott Walker.