"Won't you come to Wisconsin?"

So saith Governor Scott Walker to the Democratic legislators who fled the state to deprive the Republicans of the necessary quorum to pass their union-busting bill. The Governor, who finally surfaced yesterday from seclusion, said today that
he will not be "bullied." This is the guy who threatened to mobilize the National Guard to suppress public workers even though nobody was doing nothing.

The Governor had another bad day yesterday when the Archbishop of Wisconsin came out in support of the demonstrators and issued a statement that union workers should not be "marginalized." It got even worst when the Green Bay Packers put their support for the demonstrators in writing--a second shot at the Governor. To top off the day, local tea party members ran ads apologizing to the citizens of Wisconsin for being dupes of corporations. That didn't stop the Koch-funded groups Americans for Prosperity and the Club of Growth advertising they had busses for counter-protestors. But they were swamped by the state-wide demonstrations for the public service workers.

Today might be even worse if Marquette University makes a statement on why it expelled the Governor--for plagarism

More details on how the Governor ginned up the fiscal crisis are emerging. Basically, there isn't one. But one neat trick was that he said that if the public workers don't take a pay and benefit cut then 6,000 jobs will be lost. Isn't it a coincidence that the number he uses is the same number of jobs lost when he turned down the high-speed rail money from the Obama Administration?

Wisconsin Fiscal Bureau, their CBO, revised their budget projections for the state. By June 2011, it will net a surplus of $56 million and they had projected a $202.8 million surplus over the next two years, except this number has been diminished because the Governor gave $140 million in tax breaks to multinational corporations. This only got state-owned businesses steamed since they were excluded.

Our great news media has neglected to inform the public that the state workers have not had contracts for years.

As demonstrations have spread throughout the state and not just in Madison, it's useful to remember why the whole state is in revolt.

The so-called Stop-gap Budget Repair Bill prohibits any union representation or collective bargaining for most state workers. As Rachel Maddow pointed out yesterday, the workers who were excluded were those like the police and firefighters who backed Walker in his election campaign. But even the firefighters support the demonstrators and ushered them into the State House with fifes and drums.

Here's why public service employees find the bill so disturbing:

*If union representation is allowed at all, it will be limited to bargaining for wages. The Senate each year will set the mandatory limit for these wages.

*Union dues will no longer be collected through payroll deductions. This would force unions to collect from each individual. This tactic has been used in other states to gut unions.

*Unions would have to be recertified every year.

*Not just state employees are affected by the bill, but all city,town, village and county employees in the State of Wisconsin. This is the part of the bill, which sparked demonstrations throughout the state.

*There will not be collective bargaining over insurance (which will be replaced by a high-deductible junk health insurance), benefits, pensions,holidays or personal days, vacation,working condtions, adequate staffing, class sizes, worker safety issues, mandatory overtime, shift selection, etc.

As I write this, Wisconsin State Police have caught wind that one Democratic legislators may have slipped home from Illinois last night. They are en route to try and capture him and bring him back to Madison so that the quorum would exist.

President Obama has stayed away from the pay and benefit aspect of the debate but has strongly come out against the aspect of the bill that is aimed at union-busting. Basically, the Washington reaction is split along party lines. Gentleman John Boehner made a statement in defense of Scott Walker. Strangely, Congressman Pat Ryan , Republican of Wisconsin, likened the demonstrations to what was happening in Egypt. So I guess he agrees with the demonstrators' signs calling on Hosni Walker to Step Aside.

Glenn Beck said that the unions, like the Muslim Brotherhood,are agitating for a new world order. The sign post up ahead...

Today Richard Trumpka will be leading a rally in Madison. But I doubt whether Trumpka can beat the cool Teamster semi that showed up with a flashy new paint job with the entire side painted with TEAMSTERS. I want one of those for Christmas.

If the protestors can make it through the weekend without the bill being passed, I believe it will be a new ballgame. Unfortunately, the bill has enough votes to pass.