Wisconsin

I for one am super impressed with the people of Wisconsin, who are refusing to take their Governor's attempt to strip union's of their collective bargaining rights lying down.

The story definitely deserves more coverage than it's getting with schools closed and the Capitol in Madison filled with protesters every day this week.

TPM has been ramping up their coverage and the story is now the top section of the google news page.

Amazingly the Governor's claim that the union-busting is necessary to close a budget gap, refers to a gap that was only created when the Governor and his allies recently passed $140 million in new special interest spending.  The Madison Cap Times has the story...

In its Jan. 31 memo to legislators on the condition of the state’s budget, the Fiscal Bureau determined that the state will end the year with a balance of $121.4 million.

To the extent that there is an imbalance -- Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit -- it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s new spending schemes -- or delay their implementation until they are offset by fresh revenues -- the “crisis” would not exist.

The Fiscal Bureau memo -- which readers can access at http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf -- makes it clear that Walker did not inherit a budget that required a repair bill.

The facts are not debatable.

That tidbit came via the Maddow Blog along with this quick video...



I'd say things are pretty real in WI right now.