Behind the tractors came the people

(Note: If you don't have Flash enabled, like on an iPhone, this video won't play. This link should take you to a version that does.)

Tens of thousands of us, stretching all the way around the Square, from every corner of the state. We will not go away. Scott Walker needs to go away.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like to a Tractor

No wonder Gov. Walker fled to a small town up north (where residents were outnumbered by protesters anyhow). This is awesome. This is what democracy looks like. And it's going to change Wisconsin politics for years to come.

At the Tractorcade: When was the last time you thanked a tractor (and its driver)?

Have you ever seen a rally with so many heartfelt thank-yous to so many people?

Waiting for the Tractorcade: Why this is a farmer's issue

So glad I was able to capture these words. Tony Schultz is an organic farmer from Athens, Wisconsin. He really puts it all together. Eloquent and beautiful.

Today is the beginning of a new American revolution

Quick break at home before heading back to Square. Upload from iPhone. Gonna take time to sort through all my pix and videos. Most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life. Tractors amazing, crowds as much so. Madison has never seen anything like this. Farmers, unions, working families. Well over 100,000 and they're still streaming up there. More when I get a chance to upload.

Shame! Shame! Shame! -- protesting against the Governator of Fitzwalkistan

Welcome to Fitwalkistan! It's somewhere west of Far Right. You'll know you're here when you see all the pandering news stories about the ruling triumvirate of second-rate party hacks and ideologues. But the people are getting restless. In fact, they're rebelling. Good for the people, challenging for dogs.

All these people. All this noise. All this shouting and chanting. Are they angry? Are they angry at me?

I'm always amazed by the dogs -- some of them service dogs -- that I've seen at the rallies. With their emotional sensitivity, you'd think they would be more upset about the crowds and the noise and the anger. But they seem to be able to figure it out. Maybe its because their owner are happy and energized, and that's what matters.

No, little doggie -- we're not angry at you. We're angry at the Governator of Fitzwalkistan, there in the corner office overlooking King Street. We want him to give us back our house -- and our state. It may take a while, but we're going to make sure he leaves. It will be a lot quieter then.

And we won't give in. Not until this union-busting abomination is repealed and those responsible are no longer in office. Note to those who aren't subject to recall right now: We have long memories.  Start thinking how you're going to explain yourself to your angry constituents. And how you're going to make it up to us.

Route map, details for Saturday's Tractorcade

See you there! More information at Join the Farmer Labor Tractorcade on Facebook and at Family Farm Defenders (source of the map).

Two visual reminders of why today I feel so sad, angry and determined all at once

Looking back on the morning of the day after, there are two images that best sum up my feelings today of sadness, anger and determination. One is this photo of the Rotunda at the time the Assembly was taking up the union busting bill and moving it toward final passage. As it has been for more than three weeks, the Capitol Rotunda provided an incredibly beautiful vantage point from which to view and protest the ugly behavior of Scott Walker and his Republican legislative majorities.

This is the other image. The first showed what it looked like in the Rotunda; this shows what it felt like while we were waiting, before apprehension turned to anger and rage when they passed the bill and sent it to the governor for his signature.

There's a tragic conflict at the heart of what has been happening at the Capitol for the last few weeks. The same building has been the site of one of the greatest grassroots, democratic uprisings in modern times. It has also seen the Walker administration and its legislative cronies preside over a series of abuses of power, all while claiming to be carrying out a mandate from his election -- for which he campaigned without ever once mentioning his intention to destroy collective bargaining. If he had, he would not have been elected. Some mandate.

Yes, if there's anything we know after all these days in the Capitol, it's what democracy looks like. And what it doesn't look like.

Drumming for democracy and the struggle that lies ahead

Drummer in the Assembly Wing of the Capitol, as the Assembly votes to destroy public employee unions. The drumming seems poignant to me now. Almost like a dirge for the end of the first phase of the struggle.

Now the really hard work begins. What happens next is up to the courts -- and the people. A vote for JoAnne Kloppenburg is a vote for sanity and will restore a much-needed liberal majority to the State Supreme Court. The election is April 5 -- ironically the same day the legislature comes back from recess. By that time as many as 8 Republican state senators will be facing recall elections, with the Senate majority hanging in the balance. And in November, we can start to collect Walker recall signatures..

Tomorrow's leaders were in the Rotunda today

Hundreds of Madison high school students participated in the protests today as the Assembly Republicans passed the union-busting bill. Here some of them are holding their own democracy seminar.

Cars beeping out what democracy sounds like

From last night. Even more so today.

Open All the Doors -- It's About Freedom

Lone protester yesterday, just before the Republican craziness started and people flooded back into the Capitol. Seems poignant in view of what followed -- and even more appropriate today.

Whose house? Our house! And you're not going to get rid of us with after-hours stealth sessions.

I have never been more ashamed of my state government -- or more proud of the people of this great state. T and I were in the Rotunda with a couple dozen people at most. It was nearly 5:30, our meter was about to expire, and we were about to go.

Then someone said the Republicans were in the Senate chamber pulling a fast one, to hurry up the stairs and to let everyone know people were needed. You could feel the electronic waves ripple out all across the city -- Twitter, Facebook, email, text messages, IM, phone trees, you name it. The word got out and thousands came streaming toward the Capitol, students running up State Street. Crowds piled up outside.

Only a trickle of people were being admitted through the single door and security setup, so there were only a few hundred of us there to demonstrate as the Republican cowards (literally hiding inside what was supposed to be a closed building) did their dirty work. Our WTF signs -- though never more appropriate -- and our chants and our shouts could not stop them. But we'll be back Thursday, when they plan to vote again.

The people kept coming. We found huge crowds outside as we left, still being held back by the security and single door. More people kept coming. We went home for a quick dinner. That's when we found out that the people had retaken our house. We headed back -- and for the last few blocks leading up to the Square, all the cars were beeping the "This Is What Democracy Looks Like" chant. A raucus automotive symphony.

When we arrived at the Capitol, all the doors were open, the security had disappeared. Heck, they were already passing out water and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the Rotunda. And last I heard, the building was going to remain open all night.

There's just no way you can keep this many people who've had it and aren't going to take it anymore out of our Capitol, our house.

Adding my own loop in solidarity with the interactive art of the Wisconsin protests

One of the things that has most moved me about the protests in Madison has been the evolving artistic creativity that has accompanied them. A lot of it has been displayed in the creative energy of the signs -- both those in the Capitol, and those carried by protesters outside -- in all their amazing diversity. But that's just the beginning.

A lot of the most powerful art here is interactive. The Post It doors are a deeply moving art form. Then there are events like tomorrow's Chalk the Walk. Wherever you look, there are more examples. I saw this installation next to the Wisconsin Historical Museum. It's a map of the state covered with a net of string -- the Wisconsin Wide Web (WWW)? The pail hanging next to it contains pieces of string, with the note, "Add Loop." I added one myself before I left.

I can't think of a better way to symbolize the power of solidarity. The more loops there are, the stronger the web.

Scott Walker bike path multiple choice quiz

Protesting while pedaling, this bicyclist on the Southwest Bike Path in Madison was warning about the Walker administration's attack on Wisconsin families. That's not all they're attacking.

Bike paths are among the many things Scott Walker wants to cut funding for. Why? Take your pick (choose all that apply): 1) Koch brothers oil refinery connection -- why bike when you can be burning hydrocarbons? 2) Bike paths are just another one of those fuzzy-wuzzy global warming eco-scams. 3) It makes the liberals and environmentalists mad, and it's fun to see them get all worked up.

Correct answer: All of the above.

Does solidarity boost the immune system?

I'm beginning to think so. Usually T or I or both of us have caught some sort of nasty cold or virus by this time of year. They say you usually pick up these bugs inside closed public spaces and the surfaces you touch in them.

We've been up at the Capitol just about every single day of the rallies, starting on Valentine's Day. We've spent a lot of time in the Capitol, going up and down stairs, holding onto railings and banisters so we don't trip. We shouted at the top of our lungs with 70,000 other people. No way we didn't pick up germs. But no cold or flu (knock on wood).

I know not everyone has been as lucky, especially the people who were working for democracy around the clock with very little sleep, the people who slept overnight -- first inside, then outside, the Capitol. I know lots of people who came down with something.

But when you think about it epidemiologically -- given how many people have been in the Capitol from all over the state, and how many friends and family members they're in close contact with -- by now most everyone in Wisconsin should have come down with something. And they haven't.

Seems to me there are only a few ways to account for this: Working to preserve and protect unions is good for your health. Solidarity boosts the immune system. Democracy is an anti-viral agent.

With so many senseless Walker budget outrages, it's hard to keep up, but here's another

What does Gov. Walker have against bikes? Did he fall off too often as a kid? It's not enough to attack collective bargaining and the working families of Wisconsin. Anything relating to the environment and alternative transportation has to go. First it was high speed rail. Now the Walker budget slashes slashes bike and pedestrian path spending. What's next? A law making cars mandatory for trips longer than a block?

After GOP suppresses poor and minority voter turnout with picture ID, what's next -- a poll tax?

Probably not. Not only is it unconstitutional (which wouldn't necessarily stop some of these guys), but it would also be a new tax. They hate new taxes. They'll just keep pursuing the same goals by other means.

Kevin Drum at Mother Jones looks at the nationwide Republican drive to enact voter picture I. That there are virtually no cases of voters fraudulently posing as someone else is beside the point. It's not about fair elections, it's about voter suppression. And guess what groups would be suppressed?

In Indiana, which implemented a voter ID several years ago, a survey showed that blacks, the young, and low-income voters had access to picture IDs at significantly lower rates than whites, the middle aged, and the middle income. A quick look at the exit polls from any election in the past few decades shows that the most loyal Democratic demographics are blacks, the young, and low-income voters — exactly the groups targeted by voter ID laws.

There's a level of loathsomeness and naked corruption to all this that's hard to take even for those of us who follow politics closely and have few illusions about Marquess of Queensberry rules. But the goal of voter ID laws could hardly be more plain.

As for that poll tax thing, maybe they'll try to get it passed with another name. They love "user fees." Maybe they could call it a "freedom user fee."

Maybe we should double-check -- sounds just like the sort of thing that might be hidden away in the fine print of Scott Walker's budget "repair" bill.

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.