Wow, there’s so much going on. I just have to write a little.

I think I have to write about the protests in Wisconsin first. That hits close to home. A newly elected governor and republican legislature is on the verge of passing legislation that would make it illegal for public employees to form unions, basically.

While it made the NBC national news, there was more detail on PBS. On Jim Lehrer News Hour a reporter from Wisconsin Public Television said a few things that aren’t being reported in the bigger news venues. What he said that caught my attention was that the protests have been going on for a few days, and that everyday they are growing. They include teachers, firefighters, and other state employees, and today numbered 25,000. For a protest in the U.S. that's a lot!

(And apparently, in a strategic move, the republicans “exempted” the police forces and are going to allow them to keep their unions, in order to keep the police forces on their side. Talk about cynical! I hope that the protests continue to grow.)

I think that unions are essential for workers to be able to improve their standard of living and working conditions. There really isn’t any reason why cuts have to be tied to taking away workers’ rights to organize - it’s just a new whippersnapper politician seeing what he can do. What he may end up with is massive wildcat strikes. Then what is he going to do? Round up all the strikers and put them in jail? Get real.

But ultimately, this issue, not dissimilar from what is going on in Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, Libya, and on and on, has not as much to do with how much that teachers or firefighters make as it does with how much more politicians, school administrators, bankers, and other “management” level people make in comparison, even when that level of our bureaucracy has failed us repeatedly. There are people that have been bailed out by untold federal dollars, yet remain in their jobs making way more than they need. The very politicians that are passing these bills have salaries and perks way beyond what average workers make. Yet they are picking on people that are lower on the economic scale. That is wrong.

This is about the same issue that is going on in Bahrain and the other middle eastern countries. The rich minority thinks that they own enough weapons to be able to protect their wealth. Bad assumption, because it doesn’t take into account time, human resolve, and history.

And isn’t it interesting that the Bahrain ruling class is allowing the U.S. Navy to park one of our fleets there? I wonder how much the U.S. is paying for that? A lot, you can be sure. And that may have a lot to do with the lukewarm response to the attack on the protesters from both Obama and Clinton. (you think????)

If the U.S. isn’t on the right side of this, you will see these minority Shiite populations turn to Iran and Herzballah to help them and they will. Actually, that probably is happening already. But, if they are being oppressed, it is our duty to support their move for freedom. But will we?