Joe Biden giving the eulogy for Senator Lautenberg.  You should definitely watch it.

inothernews:

QUARTERED  Parking meters stand out from sand dunes in Seaside Heights, NJ, a town devastated by superstorm Sandy.  (Photo: Marko Georgiev / AP via The Guardian)

And people wondered why Joe Biden kept laughing at him. 

I’m saying right now, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds, because what they did last night was put a knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. It was an absolute disgrace.

Republican Rep. Peter King • Condemning House Republicans for refusing to vote on a post-Sandy disaster relief bill that was approved by the Senate last week. The bill would have allocated roughly $60.4 billion in disaster relief funding for the areas in New York and New Jersey that were devastated by Sandy last year. House Republicans have responded to the criticism with assurances that a vote is coming in the 113th Congress, and a denial that there is any immediate need for such funding. source (via shortformblog)

Things John Boehner deemed more urgent than Hurricane Sandy relief include:

• Drywall safety
• Frank Buckles WWI Memorial
• Redesignate Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center and Hugh L. Dryden Test Range
• Conveyance of certain property in Kotzebue, AK

Solidarity. 

Ed Schultz reporting from Madison on the eve of the recall elections.  

“This is some spectacular generosity toward some very specific parts of society among these governments that are pleading poverty, claiming giant budget deficits.”

A complaint has been filed with the attorney general’s office, alleging that State Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) no longer lives in the district he represents.  Hopper admits he no longer resides at the address he officially lists with the state legislature, saying he now rents an apartment in Fond du Lac.  However, when the Capital Times tried to verify that address, they learned that it was actually not an apartment; instead, it was a $600,000 home belonging to one of Hopper’s employees.  I have yet to see anything that reports on whether he has been collecting the $88 per diem for Senators who reside outside of Dane County; anyone know if this is being explored?

Hopper has also hired a national GOP veteran campaign manager, Jeff Harvey, to help protect him from recall efforts and allegations that he no longer even resides in the district he is supposed to be representing.  Harvey previously managed Republican Chris Christie’s gubernatorial campaign in New Jersey.

Also: the most hilarious photoshop job of the week involves Mr. Hopper and his recent scandals.  The original picture, here (the July 1st, “Brownsville” one.)  Wonkette’s awesome photoshop version, here.

This is how quickly people can be stripped of their rights when elected officials abuse power.  If it happened in Wisconsin, it could happen anywhere.

motherjones:

Yep, it’s in the fine print: Scott Walker can declare a “state of emergency” and fire teachers, firefighters, and janitors if they so much as stage a sick-out. Democracy in action!

“It’s tremendously emotional.  I don’t hold any animosity against the officer…this is Scott Walker’s leadership in Wisconsin, and it’s reprehensible.” -Democratic Assemblyman Nick Milroy, in a great interview with Rachel Maddow

The Wisconsin Governor’s desire to be at the forefront of his perceived GOP revolution may not only have doomed the anti-union effort, but it may forever label him has the man who gave the Democrats the gift that keeps on giving: the return of the union rank and file into the arms of the Democratic Party.

One of the saddest things I’ve read in The New York Times recently was a comment by Richard Freeman, a Harvard economist, who said that he views the current hostility toward unions by members of the general public as a sign of the erosion of the aspirational nature that has for so long characterized Americans. “It shows a hopelessness,” he said. “It used to be, ‘You have something I don’t have; I’ll go to my employer to get it, too. Now I don’t see any chance of getting it. I don’t want to be the lowest one on the totem pole, so I don’t want you to have it either.’

Check them out here. 

This Wisconsinite is profoundly grateful for the show of support.  Thank you.  So much.