# Wisconsin GOP passes union-stripping bill **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 10, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111 "2011-03-10T00:56:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/361 "2011-03-11T17:05:29Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Sucks to be on the receiving end, does it? Doesn’t sting from this end, just makes you look kinda stupid. I’m beginning to believe looks aren’t as deceptive with you as I’d cautiously assumed. (Default respect for others being one of the many careful habits I’ve developed as a liberal.) > [@](#): > > It was a form of outside aid. Well yes, obviously, but can you go beyond the bare acknowledgement and consider how that affects your “self made” logic? After all, it was an award based on your academic merit, it wasn’t actually an amount of spending power you could reasonably have earned through contracted service. > [@](#): > > _(having to do with supporting the proposition that need-based aid keeps people in poverty whereas gifts based on special ability do not)_ > Yes, but not in this thread. I’d like to see the argument. I imagine you’ll address the deleterious affects of the broad reach of means tested programs versus the uplifting power of very narrow and focused availability of merit based prizes. > [@](#): > > If I had to make a list of lesser beings… Nobody’s forcing you, brother. But thanks for definitively answering the question. Many of your fellow thinkers aren’t as tolerant of the sunlight. Makes 'em all squinty and sweaty. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/362 "2011-03-11T17:38:31Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Asked and answered, dickwad. While at work. Don’t worry. I get it. As long as you \*look \*busy, it’s all cool. Good job, counselor. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/363 "2011-03-11T17:43:53Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I’m going to step away from this thread. I’m let myself get into a state of spitting anger, rudeness, and vile behavior. > > **margin** , you and I disagree on many things, and undoubtedly will continue to do so. But it was boorish, rude, and beyond the pale for me to impugn your employment, especially given your service in the armed forces and reasons for leaving same. That was shameful on my part, and you have no reason to accept this apology, but I offer it anyway. And, IMHO, this is what makes you the best of the Conservatives on this board. I’m about as Liberal as they come, but you’re the best Conservative here. Keep up the fight. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/364 "2011-03-11T17:43:57Z")
I’m curious as to why ads for Dig Dug and Galaga would be associated with this thread. Is it that the argument about lazy liberals holding down the poor opened up a wormhole to the 80s? Or are these things associated with fucking around at work? ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/365 "2011-03-11T18:08:07Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > You might try asking yourself this: why do you so desperately want to cling to the idea that luck, or the generous liberal programs, MUST have been a factor? You twist and turn, desperate to find something that you can use to say, “Ah ha! See! It wasn’t hard work at all!” > > **I think it’s because liberals, despite lip service to the concept, DON’T believe in hard work. They think it’s a lottery, because to face up to the contrary fact would seriously hurt their most cherished concepts.** Broad brush. I don’t know what you think you’re doing on this board, Bricker. You may win the occasional battle through picking apart a post and turning a thread into being about what the definition of what “is” is, but you’re not contributing to winning a war. You are not changing ppl’s minds, you are not furthering your cause. You are one of the more intelligent conservatives I’ve run into on the internet. Most places, all I get is, “Suck it Libs.” However, you choose not to use your intellect to win minds, but to win pissy little semantic arguments. If you are among the best the conservatives have to offer, that’s a shame. Your arguments do no challenge worldviews, merely grammar and sentence structure. I believe you are arguing on the internet because you like to argue, and your chosen techniques make me think your goal is simply to win an argument, any argument. Obviously, you are in the ideal profession. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/366 "2011-03-11T18:09:17Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Out of curiosity, what if he were an accountant, firefighter, teacher, librarian, and so on and so forth? What if he had remained a ballet dancer? Would your impugn-ment have not required any apology? It still would have, but it most likely wouldn’t have penetrated my thick skull that I should do it. Which is why I’m not going to participate further in this thread, but I thought this deserved an answer too. ---
**Author:** ![Nadir](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nadir/32/7302_2.png) [@Nadir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nadir)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/367 "2011-03-11T18:16:27Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > I believe you are arguing on the internet because you like to argue, and your chosen techniques make me think your goal is simply to win an argument, any argument. I was under the impression that is basically what this board was all about. Yeah I know, the “straight dope” and all that rot. Far as I can tell it’s just a bunch of disenfranchised maladjusted dipwads with too much time on their hands who like to argue. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/368 "2011-03-11T18:24:28Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Several Cuban-Americans fit this, and in my former neck of the woods, there are many white Hispanics, that thanks to prejudice they do get better deals than the mestizos (mixed race are the majority) or the Indians. > > If Bicker was still in the old country he would most likely be with the elitists at the right wing ARENA party. He’s one smart guy. I’ll bet he would do well anywhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/369 "2011-03-11T18:26:05Z")
> [@Nadir](#): > > I was under the impression that is basically what this board was all about. Yeah I know, the “straight dope” and all that rot. Far as I can tell it’s just a bunch of disenfranchised maladjusted dipwads with too much time on their hands who like to argue. :rolleyes: No we don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/370 "2011-03-11T18:45:17Z")
> [@Nadir](#): > > I was under the impression that is basically what this board was all about. Yeah I know, the “straight dope” and all that rot. Far as I can tell it’s just a bunch of disenfranchised maladjusted dipwads with too much time on their hands who like to argue. :rolleyes: I note that you have made nearly 500 posts on the SDMB since you joined in January of 2011. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/371 "2011-03-11T18:46:46Z")
> [@Nadir](#): > > I was under the impression that is basically what this board was all about. Yeah I know, the “straight dope” and all that rot. Far as I can tell it’s just a bunch of disenfranchised maladjusted dipwads with too much time on their hands who like to argue. :rolleyes: And you took to it like a duck to water. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/372 "2011-03-11T18:46:54Z")
Recently on Rush Limbaugh’s show: > [@](#): > > [Rush Limbaugh Speaking] > We all know Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, but unemployment compensation? The payment of unemployment benefits is almost as high as Social Security in this country. Folks, we are not going to survive as a nation, not the way we’ve been founded, with this kind of sloth and laziness and feeding at the public trough. It just cannot happen. And to even call this “wages” – I’m actually kinda glad they did because it points out how ludicrous this is and how dangerous it is. “Handouts,” handouts, the redistribution of wealth “makes up one-third of US wages.” Social welfare spending has increased three and a half times since 1960. > > \ > > [From a caller to Limbaugh’s show] > I’m kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. I’ve been a conservative all my life. I don’t agree with the welfare state – of our country. I ran into a little bit of an issue a few years ago when I got some severe cancer and battled it for a couple years. I’m cancer free right now, but unfortunately I cannot work and I had to go on disability. > > \ > > [Limbaugh’s response] > Do you think I actually think you ought to be denied stuff? Okay. I don’t think that. I’m not talking about people like you, but there are people who fudge this disability business. I had a story not long ago about a bunch of drunks in jail getting disability payments because they were alcoholics. Well, we are a compassionate country. There is not a person in this country that does not want somebody who cannot provide for themselves to go empty. There’s not a person in the world who wants that. You don’t fall under the headline definition freeloader or what have you. And if you’re bothered by it, it’s life. > > \ > > [Article’s commentary on the above] > One way to look at this is that when Rush Limbaugh really thinks the “sloth and laziness” of Americans mostly consists of jailed drunks on disability and equivalent cases. Another interpretation is that he lacks the courage of his convictions the minute matters move from the abstract to the real. > > SOURCE: [The View From Rush Limbaugh's Recession - The Atlantic](http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/03/the-view-from-rush-limbaughs-recession.html) Look familiar? Poster #1: Come see the laziness of the liberals! I’m conservative and I work hard and deserve what I have. No handouts here! Poster #2: Where is this laziness you speak of? Poster #1: I’m leaving this thread! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/373 "2011-03-11T18:47:15Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It still would have, but it most likely wouldn’t have penetrated my thick skull that I should do it. > > Which is why I’m not going to participate further in this thread, but I thought this deserved an answer too. I appreciate your candor and respect your ability to step back and reflect as you have here. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/374 "2011-03-11T19:57:51Z")
I believe in hard work. It’s an ethic I learned from my father, who for most of my childhood worked away from home, in Ft. McMurray, at his union job. That ethic is now applied to my (low paying, due to the effects recessions have on the price labour can demand) job, which includes building something Bricker’s government uses to keep Bricker safe from those nasty terrorists. What has Bricker ever done for me? Wow, this nonsense of some right wing torture-apologist desk jockey telling me I don’t believe in hard work really pisses me off to no end. I don’t think this intellectually dishonest clown even believes what he says, much less expects us to believe it. I can’t believe anyone would take Bricker’s nonsense seriously. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/375 "2011-03-11T20:14:00Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I believe in hard work. It’s an ethic I learned from my father, who for most of my childhood worked away from home, in Ft. McMurray, at his union job. That ethic is now applied to my (low paying, due to the effects recessions have on the price labour can demand) job, which includes building something Bricker’s government uses to keep Bricker safe from those nasty terrorists. What has Bricker ever done for me? > > Wow, this nonsense of some right wing torture-apologist desk jockey telling me I don’t believe in hard work really pisses me off to no end. I don’t think this intellectually dishonest clown even believes what he says, much less expects us to believe it. I can’t believe anyone would take Bricker’s nonsense seriously. There are enough people here that gladly kiss his ass. Personally, I think he’s overrated. Any lawyer with infinite time can make all the silly semantic arguments that he never tires of making. Anyway, he’s wasted enough of my time. I’ve had him on ignore for some time now, however I’ve overridden that on occasion to see some individual post. No more. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/376 "2011-03-11T20:16:29Z")
Its about balance! These guys are a burden, karma-wise. You figure you can keep things on an even keel or a little positive with just a few senseless acts of random kindness, not having to push it past being a nice-enough guy. The Fart of Darkness stinks up the place, you can’t just be good to the people you meet, you gotta go _find_ people to be nice to, get things back in balance. Not groovy. Nosir. ---
**Author:** ![Nadir](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nadir/32/7302_2.png) [@Nadir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nadir)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/377 "2011-03-11T21:30:12Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > I note that you have made nearly 500 posts on the SDMB since you joined in January of 2011. I would also like to note I do my posting almost exclusively at work. With the fuil knowledge and consent of my employer. At close to $50.hr. 😃 I suspect I am considered a valuable, hard-working conservative employee, by their definition. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/378 "2011-03-11T21:30:20Z")
> [@Nadir](#): > > I was under the impression that is basically what this board was all about. Yeah I know, the “straight dope” and all that rot. Far as I can tell it’s just a bunch of disenfranchised maladjusted dipwads with too much time on their hands who like to argue. :rolleyes: I guess it’s all things to all people, but I kind of hope to learn something, to have my ideas challenged. I get tired of endless, disingenuous, pedantic post deconstruction. I don’t give a rat’s ass if someone scores a point. When someone makes me look at something a different way, they’ve impressed me. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/379 "2011-03-11T23:22:26Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > I guess it’s all things to all people, but I kind of hope to learn something, to have my ideas challenged. I get tired of endless, disingenuous, pedantic post deconstruction. I don’t give a rat’s ass if someone scores a point. When someone makes me look at something a different way, they’ve impressed me. I’m not sure why you’re in this thread then. There’s definitely no ignorance being fought here. Just more of the usual name-calling. ---
**Author:** ![AlienVessels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@AlienVessels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienVessels)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/380 "2011-03-11T23:24:47Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > I guess it’s all things to all people, but I kind of hope to learn something, to have my ideas challenged. I get tired of endless, disingenuous, pedantic post deconstruction. I don’t give a rat’s ass if someone scores a point. When someone makes me look at something a different way, they’ve impressed me. That’s why I think it’s a valuable thing to have the conservative point of view. A static belief system is doomed to failure. But if they’re going to insist on presenting theirs and if they do it well, it helps ensure that ours doesn’t decay into one liner dogma. Bricker seems to be (from a newcomer’s perspective) more flexible and at least on the face of things offers more give and take than most of the conservative posters here. He still runs discussions from the playbook, but at least acknowledges a foul every now and then and asks a reasonable question along the way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111.md?page=20)