Don't let the media make you think there was nobody at the Capitol Monday afternoon

If nobody was there, what are these? Martians?

Sure, it's a weekday. People have lives and kids to attend to. Those who are lucky enough to have jobs need to go to work to feed their families. But they come when they can. This woman is a Teamster who came up from Illinois. She thinks the fight in Wisconsin is for working people everywhere, and a fight we must win. Can't agree more.

No there are not 70,000 people on the Capitol Square today. But thousands continue to come every day during the week, when they can. And although the huge crowds we've had on weekends are mind-blowing, and the daily numbers during the week are smaller, there's something deeply moving about the smaller number of people who care enough to show up, day after day. They're not going away.

And we'll have the big numbers again next weekend. Bring on the tractors!

Clear sign that you name is mud

People starting to run disclaimers when they use it.

To all appearances Scott Walker still seems to think he's flying high, but is he really?

I doubt it. There seems to have been a miscalculation. His Blitzkreig attack on unions backfired and launched a people's movement that won't go away. He's sinking in the polls, even in the Republican-leaning Rasmussen Poll, nor does the public support his ideas about union-busting. Moderate Republicans and independents who voted for him are jumping ship. Some Wisconsin business people are also turning on him.

It's been a clumsy performance the last three weeks. The only way his strategy could have possibly worked was to railroad through his budget repair bill before anyone could figure out what it was all about. That didn't happen, the Democratic senators took off for Illinois, and he was left without a Plan B. Now it seems more likely that his side will blink first than the Democrats, who have been energized by three extraordinary weeks of protest. He may find his majority in the Senate melting away as GOP senators start taking those recalls more seriously. Now there's a good chance that the Supreme Court will tilt liberal again the the spring election in just a month -- which seemed unthinkable a few short weeks ago.

And what about the Koch brothers -- how much longer are they going to tolerate their names and their business interests dragged through the mud by their association with a clumsy bumbler who can't even tell the difference between David and an imposter? What if the money spigot gets turned off? Maybe he'll leave sooner, rather than later.

If not, "recall" still has a nice ring to it. In fact, it makes a pretty good song. We heard music as we entered the Capitol Sunday -- unplugged, non-amplified music, no instruments. Just the voices of the people. "Recall" is what they were singing -- a choral work for hundreds of voices that  resonated in the the vast, majestic space of this historic building, the People's House. And this is just a dress rehearsal for the real performance of Democracy Unplugged.

Rotunda Sunday: This is what democracy looks like, unplugged but far from silenced

Sunday afternoon in the Rotunda: Physically, the Capitol is returning to normal -- the microphones, loudspeakers and drums are gone. The permanent signs are gone. But who needs all that? The Capitol has great acoustics, and we the people have voices. Unlike mikes and speakers, they can't be silenced. And signs? Bring your own. This is far from over, and the Capitol won't really be same for a long, long time. It used to just be the place where those damn politicians met to do their thing. But now we're more aware that they work for us, and that it's our house.

Ever notice what outright thugs librarians are?

Me neither.

For the third winter weekend in a row, they just kept on coming, from all over the state and country

What a day! Young and old, students, teachers, union workers and non-union workers alike -- they came from all over to the state Capitol in Madison Saturday for the third winter weekend in a row. There was very little organization, and this protest is taking on a life of its own.

They came from all over Wisconsin. And some came from all over the nation. There was a group of state troopers who came all the way from New York. The fake David Koch also came from New York, to a hero's welcome. And there was a guy who was up late in New York City the night before, writing about the Madison protest and what it meant. About 2:00am, he decided he might as well head to the airport, fly to Madison, and deliver it as a speech. That was Michael Moore, who gave a rousing speech to a huge crowd that spilled outward from the King Street corner of the Square. You can play the video and read the complete text here, on his website. A sample:

Thank you, Wisconsin. You have made people realize this was our last best chance to grab the final thread of what was left of who we are as Americans. For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois -- whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning. The smug rich have overplayed their hand. They couldn't have just been content with the money they raided from the treasury. They couldn't be satiated by simply removing millions of jobs and shipping them overseas to exploit the poor elsewhere. No, they had to have more – something more than all the riches in the world. They had to have our soul. They had to strip us of our dignity. They had to shut us up and shut us down so that we could not even sit at a table with them and bargain about simple things like classroom size or bulletproof vests for everyone on the police force or letting a pilot just get a few extra hours sleep so he or she can do their job -- their $19,000 a year job. That's how much some rookie pilots on commuter airlines make, maybe even the rookie pilots flying people here to Madison. But he's stopped trying to get better pay. All he asks is that he doesn't have to sleep in his car between shifts at O'Hare airport. That's how despicably low we have sunk. The wealthy couldn't be content with just paying this man $19,000 a year. They wanted to take away his sleep. They wanted to demean and dehumanize him. After all, he's just another slob.

And that, my friends, is Corporate America's fatal mistake. But trying to destroy us they have given birth to a movement -- a movement that is becoming a massive, nonviolent revolt across the country. We all knew there had to be a breaking point some day, and that point is upon us. Many people in the media don't understand this. They say they were caught off guard about Egypt, never saw it coming. Now they act surprised and flummoxed about why so many hundreds of thousands have come to Madison over the last three weeks during brutal winter weather. "Why are they all standing out there in the cold? I mean there was that election in November and that was supposed to be that!

And that's why people are coming here from all over the country. It's their fight too. We're fighting for the future of all America. It's not just about unions. It's not just about money. It's about democracy.

Jesse Jackson at the City-County Building Friday

Jesse Jackson spoke in Madison Friday afternoon on the steps of the City-County building, where he was meeting with Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who introduced him to the crowd. He talked about what was at issue in the protests and expressed his support. And, as Dean Robbins reported in Isthmus, he wove together past and present:

He noted this week’s anniversary of Dr. King’s civil-rights march in Selma, Alabama, when another governor – George Wallace -- stood in opposition.

“This is the weekend we marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the right to vote in 1965!” he said.

And then, devastatingly:

“We’ve gone from Wallace to Walker!”

You can see why he might make the comparison. Like George Wallace, Scott Walker is trying to deprive one group of people of their rights. And the voter ID law is just another attempt to restrict access to the polls.

One of those slob's you've heard so much about

Now that the Capitol is open again when the legislature is in session and during normal business hours, perhaps we'll hear less about the Capitol being turned into a pigsty. It always was a lie, perpetuated to help shut off public access. In reality, the Capitol remained remarkably clean despite the presence of thousands of people. Countless volunteers helped sweep, scrub up and take out the trash -- and without their efforts, it would have been a lot harder to get the Capitol reopened.

So along with the props to all the other people who fought so hard to win this victory for the people here's a special shoutout for democracy's housekeepers!

Once upon a time: “Fifteen million Americans bring you Edward P. Morgan and the news."

The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg starts his take on Scott Walker's union-busting attempt with a trip in the Organized Labor Time Machine:

"Fifteen million Americans bring you Edward P. Morgan and the news.” From 1955 to 1967, that line, heard on the ABC radio network every weeknight at 7 P.M., heralded the nation’s best news broadcast. Those fifteen million Americans were the members of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., a federation that included nearly every union in the land. Organized labor was powerful and, for the most part, respected. Its economic and political muscle had played an indispensable role in insuring that the benefits of postwar prosperity were widely shared, transforming much of what many had unironically called the proletariat into an important segment of the broad American middle class.

I started listening to Morgan in the late Fifties, and I still remember his voice. It had a reassuring quality that, like Walter Cronkite's later on TV, gave listeners the feeling that there was a grownup out there keeping an eye on events in the nation and the world, looking out for us. It reflected the cautious optimism of Eisenhower America. Sure, there were problems. But things were improving. This was America. People with different political beliefs could work together and make it even better.

Unions and the Democratic Party represented working people; Republicans and corporate leaders represented business, and there was a rough balance between the two sides. In normal political discourse, neither side was trying to destroy the other. America was the most prosperous nation on Earth. The system worked. Only crazy people and extremists thought unions should be destroyed.

Now the extremists are in control of both houses of the Wisconsin legislature as well as the governor's office. It's not enough for them that industrial unions lost much of their membership as their jobs were sent overseas and south of the border. They want to destroy organized labor and collective bargaining everywhere, and the focal point of their campaign is our public employees. It's not just an attack on unions. It's an attack on all working people. It won't succeed.

If events of the last several weeks have shown anything, it's that (with the help of Fox News and their ilk) you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

This Constitution Is For Celebrating

Scott Walker misunderstood. He thought it was for trampling.

Scott Walker really shouldn't have picked a fight with Wisconsin working families when it's snowing

I've seen this ad online. Tonight saw it on TV with the local news. Very powerful on the big screen.

From a visual point of view, Scott Walker couldn't have picked a worse time to pick a fight with Wisconsin families. The footage of ordinary Wisconsin working families standing up for their rights as the snow falls beautifully underscores the extent to which this is a fight for survival. The ad is being run by two progressive organizations, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy For America. It's being run in Madison and Milwaukee markets, where it will be seen by 57% of Wisconsin's voters.

Help spread the word to the rest. If you know someone who hasn't seen the ad (especially in the State Senate districts of the Republicans who are facing recall), why not send them the YouTube link? Every little bit helps.

These days it's good to have Fighting Bob La Follette in your pocket

I've got him on my iPhone, as the wallpaper for the lock screen. There's something reassuring and comforting about having him so close at hand, looking up at me from my screen. Kind of like a moral GPS app. You can too. I've given him a Creative Commons license, and if you want to put his picture on your phone, feel free to download the Large size at the download link near the top of this Flickr screen.

Or use the photo for anything else -- the more people find out about Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr., the better.

Walker pretty much comes out and says it -- not about the money, but rather union-busting

Wisconsin faces a huge budget crisis according to Scott Walker. He may be willing to compromise. But about what? Here's what he told AP today.

Walker told the AP he's not conceding on the issue of collective bargaining rights but could compromise on other issues. The governor told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today that he was waiting to learn the details of a possible concession the Democratic senators were offering.

In other words, once again -- it's not about the money. It's about union-busting. And that's disgusting.

Post Its on the locked doors of the Capitol -- think of them as colorful, handwritten recall notices

Legend has it that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the doors of the church at Wittenberg. We have the locked doors of the Wisconsin State Capitol and Post It Notes -- thousands of them.

Some are funny: "Dear Mr. Walker, Who hurt you so badly as a kid?"

Some are heartbreaking: "No Medicaid will KILL ME!"

Beautiful and poignant. Think of them as colorful, handwritten recall notices.

Race to the bottom: Does this sound like the kind of Wisconsin you want to live in?

Mike Ivey at The Capital Times reports on new statement by Wisconsin Manufacturers &Commerce (WMC) on the Governor's budget.

The state's largest business association says the budget, which cuts $4.2 billion in spending and doesn't raise taxes, will lead to long-term job creation in the state.

"If we can get government spending under control, we will send a signal that Wisconsin is a great place to expand a business and create jobs," says Jim Haney, WMC President & CEO.

"Achieving the Governor's goal of 250,000 new jobs, at an average of $30,000 per job, means Wisconsin will see $7.5 billion in new wages in the state. With those wages comes increased tax collections, and that is how Wisconsin will become more prosperous."

An "average of $30,000 per job," that is, with a lot paying less -- is that the kind of Wisconsin you want to live in? I didn't think so.

Rep. Kelda Helen Roys hasn't seen any slobs or dirt in Capitol -- just the Governor's dirty tricks

Also holding office hours on the frozen Capitol lawn Wednesday was 81st District Rep Kelda Helen Roys. The discussion was about Republican state Sen. Glenn Grothman, who called the protesters "slobs" and said the Capitol was turning into a "pigsty." I love Rep. Roys' answer, especially the last part.

Assembly Democrats are open for business -- even if they have to climb out their windows to do it

When their constituents could not get into the Capitol, some Assembly Democrats set up offices outside on Wednesday. They literally climbed out of their first-floor office windows, set up some flags and furniture, and got to work. Shown listening: 42nd District Rep. Fred Clark.

Former Congressman David Obey denied access to Capitol, and a lesson in democracy follows

Congressman David Obey served more than 40 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and six years in the Wisconsin Assembly. Obey, a Democrat who represented the 7th Congressional District from 1969 to 2011, is one of Wisconsin's great public servants. Yesterday he was denied access to the state Capitol -- a building that one judge has already ordered reopened. Although it was immediately appealed, the ruling is supposedly still in effect. The Walker administration is making a mockery of the law by severely curtailing access, as you'll note in this YouTube video.

Obey was met at the doors by Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) and Assistant Minorirty Leader Donna Seidel (D-Wausau). What follows is a pretty good discussion about democracy. I especially like it when Obey say this:

" For them to allow only a handful of people a bit at a time is like doling out pieces of democracy a little bit at a time."

This is stuff even Nixon didn't pull during the darkest hours of Watergate. Until recently, the protesters have been talking about recalling Walker. Yesterday, for the first time, I heard someone say, "We're not leaving until he resigns." Who knows? Stranger things have happened lately.

Note to Fox News: This is not a palm tree.

You guys seem confused. It's still winter in Wisconsin, and we don't grow any palm trees here, anyhow.

Here's what Fox doesn't want people to see. This was the rally during Scott Walker's budget address. "Palm tree" spin to the contrary, the tens of thousands of people who have demonstrated against Scott Walker's Shock Doctrine for more than two weeks have been remarkably peaceful -- no violence, and no arrests. Noisy, yes, but peaceful.

It's called the First Amendment, Fox. You could look it up -- after you figure out what palm trees look like.

Update: This is what palm trees look like in a Wisconsin winter. You'll probably be seeing a lot more of them.

Watching Governor Pinocchio deliver his budget address in the locked-down State Capitol

Something seemed strange about Gov. Walker as I watched the rerun of his budget address in the evening because I had been outside the Capitol when he delivered it in the afternoon. Something seemed shifty, not quite right. I looked at his eyes, but they revealed little. Then I realized what it was. Of course -- his nose was growing longer.

No wonder. The Koch dream he spun for his mostly hand-picked audience in the galleries was based on distortions, omissions, and evasions rising to the level of outright lies. He addressed a manufactured crisis that has nothing to do with money and everything to do with union-busting and a radical right wing political agenda. His draconian budget cuts are all about grabbing political power for himself and his cronies and tax and other financial breaks for his campaign donors and related special interests.

The people locked out of the Capitol (despite two court rulings to the contrary) knew better. They knew what this budget is all about. And they won't rest until Walker gets his own layoff notice.

The other audience for the Budget Message

Here's how it looked from the street, with the people Scott Walker didn't want inside. Here's the text, although the fine print in the actual budget is worse. No wonder he wanted the gallery packed with his friends. The rest of us will be learning a lot in the days to come about the new budget's savage impact.

Keep on Rockin' (and Sleeping) in the Free World

Some people are night people, some people are morning people -- even in Walkerville, the camp-in at the State Capitol last night. At 11:30pm, some people were already bedded down and trying to sleep, others were still talking and quietly moving around. That's when the dude into the green alligator hat brought the boombox, cranked up and playing "Rockin in the Free World." Great song, but a little loud for the "bedroom." It played for a minute or two and then someone reminded Green Alligator Dude that some people were trying to sleep.

"I got it."

"Thanks, Dude."

In Walkerville, we police our own. Democracy works.

Note to Gov. Walker: Think the people are going away just because you locked them out?

Think again. They're not going anywhere. And if you keep locking them out, Madison sporting goods stores will probably sell a lot of sleeping bags, tents and winter camping gear. Welcome to "Walkerville" -- consider it democracy's housing project.

All day people protested at the King Street entrance to the Capitol, asking to be let into their house. Demonstrating firemen went to the door and were turned away. Seven lobbyists went to the door and walked right in. The protests lasted into the evening, and then about fifty people decided to camp out in solidarity with the few demonstrators still inside the building, with only sleeping bags and blankets to keep them warm. The temperature when I got there about 11:30 p.m. was 18 degrees and falling. Community members brought food and warm beverages. At one point an over-enthusiastic supporter brought loud music. He was politely thanked and then asked to turn it off because some people were trying to sleep.

James Taylor of Madison brought a tent, but he didn't relish the idea of a $500 fine for setting up a tent on the Capitol grounds, so he pitched his tent in front of Walgreens on Main Street, in the shadow of the big Teamsters trucks. Taylor is a disabled Gulf War vet and a Madison designer. He says he'll be OK, but he's protesting for others less fortunate. By the time I talked with him, the temperature was down to 14 degrees, and I was chilly in my parka.

I'm in awe of the incredible determination shown by the people fighting Scott Walker's phony, anti-democratic (in more ways than one), union-busting, my-way-or-the-highway budget "repair" bill. Walker can try to keep them out of the people's house, but they won't leave. And they'll keep coming back in bigger numbers during the day (especially this afternoon, to let him know what they think of his budget message). This is the war Scott Walker blundered into, and one that he can't win.

11:00am Update: Gov. Walker, read the TRO.