13,000 protest Governor's plan to change collective bargaining for public employees

[Andy A]

You don't get to get mad because the system you/your generation set up to give you lifelong benefits is unsustainable and we want to balance the budgets.

Not sure how fixing Social Security and adjusting state pension/benefit plans so they are fiscally sustainable equates to taking away your hard earned benefits and giving them to lazy people.

My generation is the one who will not get the benefits, yet will continue to pay for yours to continue as they have.

All of these changes are to FUTURE benefits - noone's current benefits are changing.

Just curious. Does this kind of rhetoric go for your Dad and Mom as well? I don't know how many times I have to say it. Every bit of our present problems have happened in the last decade and were caused by a myriad of things. Also, please quit twisting what I post to suit your particular spin. I did not say anything about the needy.

 

[beachFool]

So your Oklahoma pension is untouchable, but a government worker in Wisconsin is SOL.

"I was for the pensions before I was against the pension"

Are you channelling John Kerry?

 

[scooterbug44]

Just curious. Does this kind of rhetoric go for your Dad and Mom as well? I don't know how many times I have to say it. Every bit of our present problems have happened in the last decade and were caused by a myriad of things. Also, please quit twisting what I post to suit your particular spin. I did not say anything about the needy.

It would if they didn't both realize the current system was unsustainable and in need of major change.

Even if we hadn't had the recent Recession and a Republican was elected President in '08, we would still need to be making these cuts and changes. Hell, I knew it was an issue back when I was in grade school.

This problem did not just happen in the last couple of years or the last decade - it just came to a head in that time period and was magnified by the economy. It was decades in the making and the buck kept getting passed - just like Social Security and Medicare on the federal level.

Just a thought from one who has saved, planned and worked hard to put his family on a sound footing during retirement, only it sometimes appears, to have the efforts ruined by those interested in making sure those who have floated through life are guaranteed a comfortable existence in their old age. Bitter at what I see happening? You bet and rightly so!

I didn't say anything about the needy either, I said you were worried about your benefits being taken away and given to lazy people.

 

[GoodWitch58]

Wisconsin Revolts: A Stirring Video Chronicle | The Nation

great video on the Wisconsin protests. Good to see the students standing with their teachers and the firefighters--the 60s live again!

 

[Andy A]

Wisconsin Revolts: A Stirring Video Chronicle | The Nation

great video on the Wisconsin protests. Good to see the students standing with their teachers and the firefighters--the 60s live again!

This is the last I say on this subject. "The 60s live again" says volumes on what has gone wrong in this country. While some of the youth of that era were protesting and blowing up buildings, (so I am told, I wasn't here at the time) other youth were being killed and wounded in a war, which, whether you agreed with it or not, they were asked to fight by their country. They did so valiantly without being able to respond to the protesters. Yeah, all of you who demonstrated in the 60's should be really proud. You won, at the cost of over 58,000 lives and troops being spit on upon their return. IMO, it is a very dark period in our history and there is one thing for which I am really thankful. Those returning from their service in combat areas now are being treated with respect and recognition for what has been asked of them. Maybe those protesters have learned something of value by now.

 

[scooterbug44]

That is your view - there was a lot more to protests in the 60s than just Vietnam. My parents protested in the 60s, yet have always had a very high regard for members of the armed forces.

 

[Andy A]

That is your view - there was a lot more to protests in the 60s than just Vietnam. My parents protested in the 60s, yet have always had a very high regard for members of the armed forces.

As I said earlier, I spent from 1965 to 1969 out of country, so I have little actual knowlege of protests other than those against Vietnam.

 

[30ashopper]

Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

"Racist!" some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Wounded Iraq veteran jeered for speaking in Columbia University ROTC debate - NYPOST.com

It still goes on today.

 

[scooterbug44]

There are always idiots - in the article you posted, other students were criticizing those people because their stupidity was counterproductive and they found the treatment of the vet "abhorrent".

There were people against Columbia having ROTC and their reasons included don't ask, don't tell, high sexual assault numbers among females, amount spent on wars etc.

My college had ROTC and no issues.

 

[Andy A]

Hell, my high school had ROTC and no issues.