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Radical Repubs Run Rampant over Ohio, Michigan; Chew Reviews “Born to be Wild”

Cliff Schecter reports from Columbus, Ohio and Ray Burrsma checks in from Holland, Michigan with updates on the coordinated assault on the middle class by their Republican legislatures and governors; Gary Chew reviews the new IMAX feature, Born to Be Wild. Schecter is a longtime contributor to this program, and is an activist, political media consultant and author of The Real McCain. He describes Ohio’s Senate Bill 5, a more severe union busting law than Wisconsin’s, leading to a rebuke of the “political malpractice” by Obama and Dems in Ohio and DC. While claiming to respond to GOP-created fiscal crises, Republicans are pushing, and often passing, legislation written by ALEC–the American Legislative Exchange Council–a murky group that goes back to the 1970’s and included John Kasich, now Ohio’s governor. In Ohio, the “budget crisis” is also being used to limit abortion rights, expand gun owners’ rights, and require voter ID, which limits the turnout of Democrats. At 45:11 we travel to Ohio’s northern neighbor, Michigan, to talk with Ray Buursma, a teacher and community columnist for the Holland Sentinal. His column, forwarded to me by John Zweibel from Hawaii, has been read by more than 100,000 people. Buursma says American workers are “stupid or lazy” because they haven’t fought the offshoring of jobs, and are misled to believe that unions are a cause of our problems. He explains his thinking, and tells us about Michigan’s union busting legislation, plus cuts in unemployment benefits and a new law that gives the governor dictatorial powers over local governments with fiscal problems–many which were created by the state’s policies. Toward the end, Buursma invites PBC listeners to visit Holland during its annual Tulip Festival starting at the end of April. At 1:32:30 Gary Chew arrives to tells us about the new IMAX film, Born to be Wild.