A letter to the Editor of the New York Times

Sent to the New York Times on March 1, 2011.

I have to express my utter journalistic disappointment when reading "Thank You for Your Support. Now, Can We Sweep the Capitol?" By Dan Barry on the NYT webpage.

I have been checking the website everyday for more information on the protest in Wisconsin. There admittedly has been some great stories, but these are often at the bottom of the page in small print. The referenced article was displayed in the U.S. section in bigger print. And instead of discussing the issues forcing Wisconsinites from across the state to head out in the cold to spend hours everyday in and around the capitol, ie, loss collective bargaining, governor appointees overriding the laws governing Medicaid, the ability of Gov. to sell a power plant at anytime, to anyone, for any amount of time without a bidding process, and a multitude of other issues, the NYTs focuses on a cleaning schedule. I still have to laugh a bit from the article and think to myself, wow, seriously?!?. It is more newsworthy that a guy is walking around in a with a Viking hat and people are doing yoga than this larger issue, which could possibly be the defining moment of our current democratic process. I am confused.

Yesterday and today, people haven’t had ready access to the Capitol building. We are literally getting locked our of our democracy in a similar way to how we were silenced when the Republicans walked out of the public hearings two weeks ago.

I think we all need to recognize something very important to the people in Wisconsin, and I am one of them. This is no joke to us. We are having trouble sleeping at night. We aren’t able to concentrate or take care of ourselves as we were before this started. We are nervous about our very near future. And we are nervous about our long-term future.

Why are we inundated with the heroics of the protests in the Middle East while belittling protesters in the United States? I fully support the coverage of the Middle East. But now, it is also time that we look in the mirror and figure out what role we will allow ourselves to play in our own governing system.

I would expect The New York Times to take this more seriously and engage and inform the readership. I am waiting.

Main Street Movement Erupts As Thousands Across Country Protest War On The Middle Class

Think Progress reports: Last week, 14 Wisconsin Senate Democrats inspired the nation when they decided to flee the state rather than allow quorum for a vote on a bill that would have decimated the state’s public employee unions and dealt a crippling blow to the state’s hard-working teachers, sanitation employees, and other middle class union members. Since then, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites have taken to the streets in even greater number than before the walkout in support of the fleeing legislators and in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) anti-middle class agenda.

Read the original article.

Protests Across the Country

Although there have been many articles about the protests in Madison, WI, there has been little coverage of the rallies in other states. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here are some pictures from these rallies.