Part 4: What's going on in America (and what's wrong with America.)

QUOTE from Mark Twain: "Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can."

LEARNING what's going on and going wrong in Maine and Michigan. (Info from Jim Hightower's LOWDOWN.)

MAINE; Paul LePage is the new Republican governor of Maine. He won the five-way governor's race last November with only 38% of the the vote. Unencumbered by humility, LePage has interpreted his meager percentage as a sweeping mandate to:
-repeal worker's bargaining rights.
-restrict the ability of unions to collect dues from members.
-cut pension benefits for state employees (though he mercifully exempted one - himself).
-raise the retirement age for public workers.
-cut programs that benefit Maine's middle class.
-generously lowering the tax bill for the state's richest one percent.
-roll back child labor law's.
-removed an 11-panel mural from the state labor department's lobby. The piece depicts scenes from the state's rich labor history, but the governor says it represents a "one-sided decor" that reflects poorly on his pro-corporate agenda. The Hartford Courant said it was, "The most moronic and mindless anti-worker gesture in the country."

MICHGAN:  Rick Snyder is the new Republican governor of Michigan. Here are some of his actions.
- Snyder's first budget was was to give corporations a 60% CUT IN TAXES. To help make up for that revenue loss, he proposed to tax the pensions of working class retirees and kill the state's earned income tax credit for the poor.
-stop unemployment benefits after 20 weeks instead of 26. This slick move will save corporations $300 million a year - money taken right out of the hide of jobless people.
-but the real jaw-dropper is his Local Government Fiscal Accountability Act. This bill authorizes Snyder to seize control of local governments, suspend democratic sovereignty, and hand municipal authority and assets to the corporations of his choice. He can declare that any city, county, school district, etc. .. is 'insolvent' and then appoint a manager to run the entity. This manager, which may be a private corporation, would have the power to bypass and dismiss elected officials, commandeer the public budget, cancel all contracts (including collective bargaining agreements), decertify public employee unions, sell off assets, and even dis-incorporate the local entity.
(This sounds a lot like the European kings and queens of the 1700 and 1800s.)

Well, so far I've taken a look at Florida, Maine, and Michigan with their new Republican governors. Tomorrow I'll take a look at Ohio and Texas.

HUMOR for today:
A local charity had never received a donation from the town's wealthiest man, so the director made a phone call.
 "Our records show you make $500,000 a year, yet you haven't given a penny to charity," the director began. "Wouldn't you like to help the comminity?"
  The banker replied, "Did your research show my mother is ill, with extremely expensive medical bills?"
 "Um, no,"mumbled the director.
 "Or that my brother is blind and unemployed? Or that my sister's husband died, leaving her broke with four kids and no job and no unemployment benefits."
 "I...I..had no idea."
 "So, said the wealthy man, "if I don't give them any money, why would I give any to you?"