News, Etc.

Here are the Oscar results, in case people care to look at who was the best key grip and so forth. Just kidding, of course.
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Just what is the significance of the Wisconsin protests? The significance goes beyond one state and one dictatorial governor:

The significance and implications of this conflict extend far beyond Wisconsin. The actions of the Walker administration, which have a distinctly dictatorial odor, are the spearhead of a ruthless nationwide assault on the working class. Three years after the onset of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s—brought on by the criminal financial speculations of the capitalist oligarchy that rules the United States—the attack on working people’s living standards and democratic rights is escalating. The corporate and financial interests that were the beneficiaries of the multitrillion-dollar bailout of 2008-2009 are demanding that the resulting bankruptcy of states and the country as a whole be paid for by the working class.

This is the political and social essence of the demands for wage freezes and actual cuts, the slashing of hard-won and vital benefits, the destruction of countless thousands of jobs, and the elimination of socially critical services. The cuts that are being planned, demanded and implemented threaten to set the working class back not only decades, but even generations.