Wednesday clips

Hey, Terry:

If you wanted to collect your pension, you could've stayed retired. We wouldn't have complained. Really.

But Branstad the Bargaining Buster seems like Norma Rae compared to Wisconsin's Scott Walker. Walker's launching a multi-prong attack on state workers. I hesitate to list specifics because I don't want to give Terry any ideas. The rhetoric is as bad as the substance: Walker is deliberately dropping the "call out the National Guard" threat to perpetuate the stereotype of labor=mobbed-up goon squad.

But labor has a secret weapon that is all-powerful in Wisconsin: Packers.

"We know that it is teamwork on and off the field that makes the Packers and Wisconsin great. As a publicly owned team we wouldn't have been able to win the Super Bowl without the support of our fans.

"It is the same dedication of our public workers every day that makes Wisconsin run."

This in a state where John Kerry's mis-calling the stadium "Lambert Field" was a serious issue.

Closer to the People's Republic, sometimes this stuff just writes itself:

The (Iowa City) council then shot down those objections and voted 7-0 to approve a resolution that prohibits firearms and other dangerous weapons from city buildings, grounds, buses, parks and areas designated as a farmers market.

The meeting remained mostly civil, although after the vote David Telliho of Kalona said some council members had “made yourselves targets tonight.”

Constructive Criticism Department: Mike Thayer wants less Lady Gaga, more Obama Budget. So here's six words to fix the deficit. Tax. The. Rich. End. The. War.