No Magic. No Tricks. Just Common Sense.

The levels of both vitriol and stupidity in politics these days all across the United States continue to amaze us.

The events in Wisconsin, Indiana, and elsewhere have begun to go far beyond farce, and squarely into the realm of "What the hell are they doing?", and "Who the hell do they think they are?"

For example, in order to further discourage the remaining protestors inside the Wisconsin statehouse from staying any longer, the Wisconsin governor had the ground-floor windows to the capitol welded shut on Monday - so that food and other supplies couldn't be brought in to the protestors. The governor also had the Wisconsin State Patrol block access to the statehouse building, both of which are unconstitutional actions by the governor according to his own state's laws.

We don't see what's so complex about understanding the task at hand at virtually all levels of government in order to properly fulfill both the needs and the wants of the people and the fiscal responsibilities of the government.

In a word, it's called "compromise."

Indiana's GOP legislative leaders, while still being slightly less arrogant than their Wisconsin counterparts, are doing something some Republicans across the country still refuse to do these days: talking with their counterparts in the other party. While their legislature is not yet officialy negotiating, the lines of communication are open between the two sides - and that's a starting point.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg, long known to be fiscally conservative, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Monday that - while not saying what all of us would like to hear - proves he's willing to negotiate with the unions in his city.

President Obama continues to display his leadership on compromise. He spoke at a bipartisan meeting of governors yesterday and announced that his administration is now supporting the Wyden-Brown waiver program for states on health insurance reform - something that truly tackles issues Republicans have said are a concern to them.

Back in Wisconsin, the governor is still giving ultimatums that in the end, he can't enforce.

We're aware that some politicians have dug themselves an ideological bunker, one they insist they're going to stay in until they die or completely get their way. For those partisans who support that kind of political zealotry, any officeholder who deviates from the proscribed dogma is blasted and trashed in the blogosphere, in public - and in the next primary election.

For voters who haven't yet lost their sanity, the actions of Wisconsin's Republican governor continue to turn them off. In the latest polling done in Wisconsin, even Republicans are turning away from their out-of-control chief executive.

We think it's important to note that we think everyone has some redeeming value, even if that value is small. No one is completely worthless. We also think every American has an incredibly valuable role of being a well-informed, well-educated citizen.

That being said, if you or the politician you support can't seem to remember that compromise is the soul of good government, then - as an American citizen - you really aren't worth a hill of beans.

Spoiled And Spoiling

We're about to enter a new month tomorrow... the second month of the latest ongoing battle in the war on American workers.

We continue to return to the story of the insanely ignorant governor of Wisconsin and the fight going on in that state that has now spread all across the country. Frankly, we'd rather that workers rights and labor organizations weren't under constant attack from corporatists and the political far right. Governors claiming the tea party mantle and others attacking worker's rights across the United States seem to have no more sense about their real position in the universe than Muammar Gaddafi does about his current "leadership" of Libya. Consequently, the stupidity of these abusive governors toward worker's rights continues to make news.

In Wisconsin, the governor has taken to threatening protesting state workers with layoffs in order to try and jam his illegal bill down the throats of his citizens - even though doing so would be a further violation of Wisconsin's strict ethics laws. Governor Walker doesn't seem to care that he's already violated those ethics laws (as displayed during that famous prank phone call last week), any more than he cares about actually balancing the budget in Wisconsin.

Some less than brilliant governors in other states seem to be cautiously following Walker's headlong leap into legal jeopardy in their own twisted ways.

In Nebraska, Gov. Dave Heineman and corporatist-backed Republicans are once again attempting to abolish the Commission of Industrial Relations (also known as the CIR), which acts as the arbiter for labor and union issues in the state of Nebraska. The law also doesn't seem to matter to Governor Heineman, as the Nebraska State Supreme Court has defended the right of the CIR to exist and to conduct arbitration in impasse situations between management and public employees.

In case you didn't know, public employees in the state of Nebraska are forbidden by state law to strike. Thus, the existence of the CIR as a mediator in such situations. Without the CIR, public employes would have to legally be allowed to strike.

All of us - our staff members, the outside sources we consult with, Democrats, Republicans, and independents - understand that both states and the Federal government are in a real bind, fiscally speaking.

That is no excuse for attempting to balance budgets by breaking the law, or by breaking the backs of constitutionally protected union workers while simultaneously conducting giveaways to the richest among us.

We have been jumping up and down on the issue of what is needed to properly manage state and federal budgets for many years now. We agree that budget cuts are PART of the whole solution, as are fairly-imposed tax increases and more effective revenue collection. Our regular readers know that the only way we could be even more animated about the issue of what's needed to fix government finances is if we set our hair on fire, and ran onto the stage at an awards show like the Oscars (Doing so may have helped that telecast).

As we've said previously, it all seems to boil down to an attempt to cancel or limit the ability of public workers to engage in meaningful collective bargaining for wages, benefits, and working conditions - which are constitutionally guaranteed to workers. Time and again, those who support the anti-worker side of the labor/management war keep screaming they're not getting a fair deal, almost exclusively because they're not "winning" - AND they're not being allowed to cheat.

Our response to them is simple: there have been PLENTY of people, both Democrats and Republicans, who have faced tough budget situations before, at virtually every level, and those people never had to break the law, break the unions, or weasel around their state's constitution to find a solution to their budget woes.

If these petulant, childish governors feel the only tool left in their arsenal to handle the current budget emergency they face is to threaten to cheat and break laws, maybe we should all threaten to use a tool we citizens have for when government executives prove they are criminally incompetent:

Impeachment and/or Recall Elections.

Funday Friday: Remembering Communities

We each have a community - a place where we live - but we also have a community of friends and people we care about.

This weekend, part of our community - some of our cartoonist buddies - are getting together in Omaha for another meeting of the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society. We'll make this short today, as SOMEONE has to actually do the work to get ready for the gang (That would be Paul).

We've noticed a lot of lip service being given to the attacks on labor happening around the country this past few weeks, with many ultra-conservatives dragging out the old standard of "Why don't the Unions just give in and pay more?"

Aside from the fact that the teachers unions and other unions in Wisconsin, and in many places around the country, have already been giving, and giving until they have virtually nothing left to give, the point of the attacks on unions isn't about the budget. Even Shep Smith and Juan Williams of Fox News admitted that.

The fight going on around the country surrounding labor is about protecting and respecting our communities, and the people who work behind the scenes to keep them livable and enjoyable.

Teachers, firefighters, cops, nurses, doctors, and most construction workers don't get to sit exclusively behind a computer or a pad of paper during their work day like most of our community of cartoonists, journalists, writers, and others do. They work damn hard, union or not. They're the kinds of people who take showers AFTER work... because they have to.

Most of them are union members. They keep your lights on, your water running, your streets clear of snow - and they teach your kids. They're your neighbors and friends too.

They are part of your community.

Please quit characterizing them as lazy freeloaders, or that they don't work as hard as you do. They probably work harder than most of us. Respect them, and treat them as you, yourself would wish to be treated. Instead of complaining if some of them make more money or have better benefits than you do, perhaps you should instead be asking why YOU are getting screwed for all the hard work that you do.

Treat them as we all should treat anyone who works hard.

And for the folks in our cartoonist community this weekend, that means tip your server generously.
Enjoy your weekend!