Most newspapers (except yours and other weeklies) have unions. Editors are in management. Thus, the desire to cover pro-union peaceful behavior is minimal. I'm not being a conspiracy theorist. This is simply human nature. We don't do things against our best interests.

And all 50 states had union protesters bussed in from other states to inflate the numbers, right?

@Renton Mike: I had to read that a couple times to parse it. Very funny! It's like the Dilbert cartoon in which the boss is outraged to find that 40% of sick days are taken on Mondays and Fridays.

The Seattle Times couldn't even be bothered to send a reporter to Oly to cover it. They only have a blurb from local AP bureau on their website. SHAME!

and this: 70,000 people showed up again at the Wisconsin capitol, and I haven't seen the national papers cover it.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/g…

KING 5 News featured it prominently on their newscast at least.

http://www.king5.com/news/slideshows/Tho…

Would have been more if those dumb fucks at SEIU had actually arganized some buses for people.

Why do news on something that is status quo? Unions strike all the time, apparently, while the teabaggers are just this spontaneous movement of the people. Or something like that.

If I knew it was happening maybe I would have been there...

I am a public employee. I am not the problem. Wall Street made billions, crashed the economy, ruined lives and got bailed out. Average Americans followed the rules and got thrown to the wolves. Teachers, librarians, social workers, fire fighters, paramedics and others are NOT the enemy. We live here, pay taxes, work hard, and contribute to the health of the community.

@6: The New York Times has had continuous coverage of this, including estimates of the size of the group. I just read the Economist's article on this matter, too, which included crowd size and other insight.

@11: Billionaires are spending millions to convince tens of millions of medium class and lower-middle class and poor people that folks who make decent middle-class livings are ripping off the public. It's an amazing trick. The folks with the money that could be lightly taxed and pay for most of the deficit and to reduce the debt are the ones convincing everyone else that public employees are the issue.

It's on the front page of the Seattle Times site now:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo…

There was at one time a pro-labor paper in Seattle. When the mayor fired popular City Light Superintendent JD Ross (popular in part for his friendly stance towards labor) to curry favor with what is now PSE, they put out a special edition that eventually lead to that mayor's recall.

@5,

I almost considered leaving the typo and claiming that that was what "or something" referred to... like I was being ultra clever. But truth is, I can't proofread my own stuff. So thanks.

The feds just greased your palms with 35 billion for tankers that are so "strategically needed" that the could afford to wait a whole g.d. decade to decide who was gonna build them! Can WA State crybabies whine any louder?!

12 - yeah the Times did a pretty decent job most of the time. I was just referring to today. I checked the NY Times several times this afternoon, as well as a couple of other papers, and didn't see anything obvious on the front page. I think stuff is up now though.
And it may be understandable. What is going on in Libya is absolutely important.

What's the point of these Olympia protests? Wisconsin doesn't care and Gregoire isn't union-busting.

@21: The governor of Wisconsin surely doesn't care, but I'll bet the Wisconsin union members do! "Solidarity forever" and all that. Makes you feel less lonely when you know that thousands of people many miles away are choosing to spend their Saturday standing with you in spirit.

Also, while Gregoire may not be union-busting at the moment, there have been bills introduced in the Legislature to limit or eliminate public sector workers' collective bargaining rights.

@21

And you know "Wisconsin doesn't care" because..... why?

It may surprise you to know that similar bills have been introduced around the country, in nearly every state. This is obviously a co-ordinated effort by the GOP. Wisconsin is a test. If they can succeed there, it will quickly spread.

The PI has a lame headline: "Pro-union, pro-Walker rallies compete in Olympia". Perhaps the headline could have mentioned that the pro-union supporters greatly outnumbered the pro-Walker folks.

@20 Astroturf means you artificially sod a ground with what wasn't there. As you say, the public employees are all there, in Olympia.

So either they're supposed take an Amtrak to Spokane for their voices to matter, or,

Boeing strikes in Seattle don't count because that's where Boeing is.

huh?

Walker over-reached, and better, he's not backing down. It's a lose-lose at this point. I think winning this union fight would hurt the Republican party more. I can't imagine anyone on the right is relishing this news story.

It will be interesting to see the mood at this weekend's governors' conference, what with the giant elephant in the room.

@21 We do care. Thanks. And thanks for the pizza!

@28 Maybe if you unionized you'd be making a livable wage.

As for the rest of your comment, public employees are not the problem here. There are huge state budget deficits in most states because the tax structure in this country insulates the wealthiest Americans from contributing direly-needed revenue to the state and federal budget while allowing the rest of us to flounder and pick up the slack. But...cool post, I guess?

@ #28 " i don't give a rat's ass about wisconson. i don't belong to a union , nor do i want to..."

But I bet you don't complain about 2 day weekends, sick leave, 8 hour days, the fact that children can no longer be put to work in factories or all the rest of the benefits that unions brought to the American worker.

I can tell you what the future of a non-union economy is going to look like as I have a unique relationship with one employer and his employees here in San Francisco. This employer is working on a large remodel job of a commercial building right now. The project has been going on since the middle of December. The workers have not had a single day off since the job started. They work 18 hour days. Many are undocumented, and the remainder are newly arrived legally on our shores. Most do not speak or read English. They are paid San Francisco's minimum wage.

The sad thing is that this employer isn't some horrible example of capitalism gone wrong. He is the wave of the future. As long as the individual worker holds on for dear live to the crumbs that business toss their way, their neighbors be damned, things will continue to get worse.

We are but cogs in the machinery owned by the Koch brothers and their ilk. So yes, swallow that BS about individualism and how those who work hard will rise to the top. Keep supporting this messed up system by shopping at Walmart and Home Depot and Target. Keep taking that measly $250 a month while thinking you are superior because you don't "whine". But what about your children and your yet unborn grandchildren, don't they deserve a chance to grow up in a society that isn't run by a rich elite whose lifestyle is maintained by an economic boot on the backs of the ordinary people?

@28,
Does your boss know you're posting comments right now when you're supposed to be working?

Don't even tell me you have the day off today. Weekends off are for unionized workers, and you don't want to be in a union. If your income is that low, you should be working more and typing less.

Now get back to work!

I also assume the other two people you feed can't walk yet or hold a shovel, because if they're old enough to do both, they had better be working right now too.

@28 - The unions in Wisconsin have agreed to cut their pay and benefits (at the levels the Govn. is asking) in exchange for keeping their right to bargain. They understand that cuts need to be made but they will not give up their rights to bargain. Walker won't hear of it....and why do you suppose that it? It's all about fixing the budget, right? The workers are not the problem

It's so grating that certain people want the middle class (lower middle class!) to shoulder the burden of the economy's failings. what got us into this mess are the bankers, the businesses, the housing market and deregulation. it's sickening to hear Wisconsinites and folks liek @28 talk about how evil public workers are for wanting simple things like decent pay for hard work, while failing to propose any meaningful way to get our money back from those bankers, businesses and politicians and DISGUSTINGLY RICH PEOPLE. If you want teachers to shut the hell up, what do you have to say about billionaires when the whiny whine about a widdle bit o' taxes?

you are taking it out on the wrong people, folks.

Gregoire is on NPR's "Weekend Edition" this morning talking (as best she can with laryngitis) about public employee unions, among other topics.

MSNBCs national news this morning covered it. They didn't spend nearly as much time on it as they did on the Oscars or "pill mills", but they covered it.

Hey 28...where were you when the Cheney/Bush adminiatration and the Crony Capitalists ran the Clinton Budjet Surplus into the biggest deficit this country has ever seen. Bigger even than the one St. Ronny Ray-gun created with his fucking voo-doo economics.

What a know-nothing asshole you are.

@40: "blog successfully trolled , troll food consumed . u mad bro ? lol"
>>>/b/
Some nice people there can tell you how much of a newfag you're being.
(PROTIP: If people are calling you a troll, your trolling is too obvious. Trolling is a art; we don't need people like you messing it up.)

@40 TL;DR Nice try. Dismissed.

@43:
>implying we care.
But my guess is Bailo.

Surprise! The GOP controls a lot of media right now.