This morning, Republican Representative Jon McJane (R-Newcastle) expressed support on asmainegoes.com for the idea of raising $36,000 to pay back the federal grant used to fund the creation of the “History of Labor” mural at the Department of Labor office in Augusta.
And then burning it.
Click the image below to view the post full size.
We are being led by children. Although children might actually behave a little more maturely.
I am surprised by how all these “Patriots” are so bent on attacking the rights of laborers in both the private and public sectors. Not just in Maine but all over the country. Police, fire fighters, teachers… It feels like the world has been turned on its head a little. The even harder part to figure out is why so many Americans seem to support this hatred and fear.
Whether they raise this money privately or the Governor ignores the “idiots” and the feds, the posessors of this mural don’t seem to know that no matter what they do with it, this mural is like fighting with fly paper.
Imagine the response if they burned it or hung it in a toilet or a basement? LaPage has a few less extreme options but none of them are attractive.
A wise politician, especially anybody connected to the executive, ought to be backing out of AMG. What good can come from posting there vs. the potential risk?
@ Ruben: While things are grim, I actually think it’s turning the other way – the silent majority of rational people is rumbling. Getting 12,000 on that recall amendment petition in a few days? I expect the tone and timbre on amg and its sister sites to ramp up higher and higher.
It already is! The Watcher person is now claiming that Facebook is rampant with anti-LePage, anti-Tea Party, anti-conservative rants, mostly from women! The horror! The horror!
http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/liberals-try-takeove-facebook
Well the pro-Lepage, conservative side has Naran. She’s a…woman…kind of…I think.
I’m speechless. That anti-fb rant is the funniest thing I’ve seen — since — I don’t know. Since Paul Ryan’s ears. And I haven’t heard a grown man use “vituperative” with regard to females since my dear crabby late grandpa in reference to my grandmother’s heckling. I thank you for finding this.
McKane’s reply….”just kidding”.
The ever so witty Naran
“Rep. McKane — not to worry; that wasn’t the “real” media. That was the ParaSite crowd.:)”
She should know the “real” media, she’s a journalist after all. :) LOLz
How bout we tax women for those “little beards” and use the revenue to pay off the federales?
It’s amazing how many “just kidding”s these guys think they can get away with! “No, I wouldn’t really tell the president to go to hell!” “Heck, the NAACP knew was just joking!” “No, really, I know public school teachers are educating kids, too!” “C’mon, can’t you take a joke?”
Maybe once. Possibly twice. But it becomes disingenous after a while.
And Rep. McKane, the “lurkers” you speak about would be calling you out if AMG had the guts to allow dissenting views which Naran claims are “welcome on AMG.”
@ Average Joe: the Facebook rant is a nice find. All those women saying non-conservative things! Darn them.
Combine that with the Turncoat 8 thread where AMGers are debating whether it is true or VERY true that women don’t vote conservative because they like “being taken care of,” and you’ve got a great theme developing.
@ Maineman:
Re: Naran
I’m just glad to know I’ve got a regular reader. Hi Naran! Now that I know you’re here, I want to tell you that if you love your Kennebunk property taxes now, just wait until LePage is done shifting gobs of financial responsibility off of the state and onto the local communities!
And re: “Lurkers.” Yes, a bunch of Lurkers like Gerald (banned) and myself (would be banned) are about, and we certainly deserve criticism for our lack of participation in the great AMG debate. Ha!
http://www.buythemural.com/
Think LaPage opened up a can o worms when he abducted the mural without due dilligence?
They want to “help you (the Governor) avoid further distractions”?.
Ouch! This train wreck is sliding toward the cliff. Almost think it’d hit a patch of ice by the looks of it.
Further proof there is absolutely nothing to do in Aroostook County (the website is a county GOP project).
Though I’ve no time for an actual blogpost, I have to get this local media story out.
On 5.April, when I saw what Rep. McKane had written, I e-mailed Editor of the Lincoln County News Sherwood Olin with a link to Gerald’s story. Apparently that day reporter Mathew Stilphen went to work on the story and interviewed McKane, giving him an opportunity to characterize his comment as “tongue in cheek.”
That was also the day after Natasha Mayers et al met in Augusta to denounce the mural’s removal, so the reporter gave McKane a platform to describe that event as “mean spirited” and “disrespectful.” Actually, the reporter couches it as “one of the most ‘mean spirited’ and ‘disrespectful’ things (sic) [McKane had] ever seen.”
When I didn’t hear from Sherwood or a reporter, I chalked it up to the LCN’s innate Tea Party-ish POV and forgot about it.
Then Wednesday morning, while I was administering a test, I happened unusually to glance at my phone and saw that I had an e-mail from the Stilphen asking for a “quote.” Minutes from his morning deadline, he had e-mailed me. He asked no questions, simply said he was looking for “a Democrat” and a quote. (Aside from this being terrible reporter-practice, he had waited days to try and reach me.)
I wrote a quick note back saying, sure, what’s the question? When I didn’t hear from him for a couple hours, I wrote a quick statement:
Rep. McKane’s flippant remark on a public forum contributes to a reduction in the level of discourse in state government. That McKane agrees that the mural ought to be burned shows that he is either a philistine or is showing off for his Tea Party cohorts on As Maine Goes. The burning of art is hardly a laughing matter and that Rep. McKane considers it so, and considers it worthy of a public forum, gives one pause. Unfortunately, participation like this can hardly be considered statesmanlike, diplomatic or indicative of an interest in governing.
Gov. LePage’s hamfisted handling of the state labor department’s mural hardly needs escalation by our local elected officials.
Crickets.
When the story came out there was no indication of where the story came from, how the reporter happened upon it or that anyone in the world might have a different observation of the situation. I grow really frustrated and annoyed with the lack of transparency or simple competence from our single local newspaper. Too many people rely on it for information and they might as well be reading the FOX news version of our community.
Grrrr
I also thought the mural burning joke was a bigger story.