The live stream on Fox's website is still up:

The live stream on Fox's website is still up:

naturally; no way they're gonna pass on the opportunity to broadcast "union goons" and allies being arrested.

Friends don't let friends watch Fixed Noise!

Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph! How in the world can YOU PEOPLE be at all interested in meddling or talking about things and goings on in faraway Wisconsin when the Oscars are on TV! AND, besides anything that happens on Sunday are mostly unnoticed! It's the rules.

Oh Yeah!!!!

The capitol is the Peoples House, not the Governors. I stand with the protestors who stay.

Absolutely! Why not ask the protesters to help clean up if they have a sanitation problem. I'm sure many, if not all, would agree to do that.

Because, as Stew-Beef said, MSNBC is only on (as news/punditry) M-F.

"I am the dread pirate Roberts! There will be no survivors! Many are here; I am here; soon you will not be here!!!"

Cary Elwes, you have upstaged me for the last time.

Inigo Montoya: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Ok, I love the movie...now what's that line got to do with this blog?

Fox news is inside, but their reporting focuses on the "thugs and violence". CNN was inside for a little while apparently, but they're back to the oscars or something else awesome. It's kind of frustrating the purveyors of informaiton on this standoff (or non-standoff as it appears so far) are Twitter and Fox news.

OF COURSE media is allowed inside. I saw CNN camera and sound men go in at abut 2:00. THere is a press room set up in the capitol for credentialed media. Many are tweeting coverage and will go live at the 5:30 news.

All but fox left they were afraid to get beaten, the union thug have been beating kid, women, hey what about those bus drivers in ney jersey doing a sick out for the handy capped nthose people could not get to dialysis, hospital doctors, old people went without food now that's caring for the little guy we the people the real tax payers you know the 93% that are not in unions are getting fed up.

I can just see the ad's next election showing 3 or 4 of these clips next to your paid off Demacrats saying some times you have to get a little bloody WOW OH and possibly Obama saying I'll put on my walking shoe's & get right out there with you JUST DEVASTATING keep up the good work leaches.

yeah-funny how internet access was "lost".

just. like. Egypt.

Ya, who would've thought the Madison Capitol was about as hard to crack for Journos as Tripoli?

Perhaps she was busy in another "private" and unreported meeting with the president or her corporate masters wouldn't allow it.

Because she has been covering another attack on American citizens. The Republicans further attempts to make reproductive care for women impossible.

The Republicans in public office across the nation have been attacking the American Way in multiple areas from many fronts all timed to occur now so that "news" companies have a hard time covering it all.

No she was in kansas trying to get an abortion Clinic opened how do the Cathlic preast feel about that.

The link showed up on original post, at least on my end, then disappeared. The column is titled "Oh, To Be a Teacher in Wisconsin" dated February 25th. Here's the link without the http:

//online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703408604576164290717724956.html

You are so misinformed.

If someone is misinformed and you know better what the facts are, why not share the correct information?

PeterMac, they can't. They've tried. They've posted links from the Wisconsin state retirement agency (not correct name) showing supposed "normal contributions" from public workers but they fail to acknowledge that it says "normal" because it is not what they "actually" pay. Through collective bargaining the taxpayers pick up their share.

You will not find credible sources arguing the above post. The unions have even said they will concede to pay for a share of their health care and pension acknowledging the stats I posted are true.

(Again, this does NOT make public employees evil or mean, they are doing what many of us would do with our employer, make our case for more money. I don't blame them.)

Here's an article that actually refutes the WSJ, from Forbes no less, that shows that taxpayers don't pay for state union workers pension- employees pay for their own pensions %100 percent.

In short- Walker is once again LYING about the effect of unions on tax revenue.

THAT good enough for you, RobDon?

Jess: It won't be! :-(

Jess, I totally understand the article posted. It views the employer's/taxpayer's contribution to public employees pension as deferred compensation. (I'm not sure what case it would make for the taxpayer paid healthcare.) From my understanding, this was not the origin but now someone's argument trying to justify it. I will look further to see if this was mentioned when the system was set up.

Also, this is not how most deferred compensation works. See this quote from the Kentucky's personnel website:

Both the 457 and 401(k) deferred compensation plans let you defer "pre-tax" income from your regular compensation and set it aside for retirement. Money set aside for deferred compensation is automatically payroll deducted twice each month.

See, generally this is pulled directly from the paycheck, directly from the employee's salary, not from the taxpayer's coffers. Also note at bottom of the article that when the retirement fund is short, taxpayers have to make up the difference, not the public employee.

Nonetheless, the point is taken. You (via this article) are saying the government workers would normally get this amount in their paycheck but instead have struck an agreement with the government/taxpayers to have it put in pension (or towards healthcare). If that is the case, compare their "real" salary to comparable private sector jobs and you will find that they are drastically overpaid, thus the corrections (the Governor's proposal) are still justified.

See, Edgar, I can read and comprehend.

What future the kids cant read or do math 69th out of 139 in the world before unions we were #1 no future there the good jobs will go to the 68 ahead of us.

If we don't cut the spending the kid will be having to learn chinese you libs have nop idea how close we are to being wrecked should the chinese stop lendind intrest will shoot up and you won't be able to buy groceries with your paycheck there would be mass histaria people rioting stealing food, gas, Chaos now I know that's what you think you want but you don't.

Once more for you reasonable folks if you raise taxes on business they just raise their price to offset the people get a hidden tax your money is worth less. Now you may be able to raise taxes on the rich but remember the USA is not the only game in town they will go, and 15% of a million is better that 0 by the way thats $150,000 a year while while you pay 8 to 10k how many can you afford to lose cause there are many other states that will take much less.

Last businesses are hoarding 2 to 3 trillion dollars of capital right now and won't bring it out because of talk of taxing & will probably hold on to it till they have some certainty it will turn a profit they will not invest while Obama is in office fear they make major invetment the Obama takes there profits in taxes. I will tell you the reason no one wants this money for high speed rail Obama did executive order that his stimulas money only avalibe for unions not everybody so we are going to pay double to build the double to run it maintain it that is a direct fault of the union 80 million and it's a loser where if it was private it would be profitable and you could put twice as many people to work.

Probably, yes. Rachel is now the only good thing about MSNBC. (Anderson Cooper is the only good thing about CNN. There is nothing good about Fox.)

We essentially don't have TV news in this country.

THey HAVE been cleaning the capitol. It's amazing. THe cleaning crew says there has been less graffiti and vandalism in the past two weeks than usual. A police officer told me she sees "campers" sweeping, picking up trash, etc. There is hand sanitizer everywhere. The floors are amazingly clean, probably because of the 50 yards or so of mats at each entrance.

I've had this same thought several times since Friday. The protesters are not interested in destroying the building, they are only interested in getting the governor to compromise on the one issue they will not back down from.

Ask the protesters to leave a particular area for cleaning, then move to the next area, and so on and so on. These are average working class people, they only want their voices heard. I've seen no evidence of "thugs" run amuck destroying the Wisconsin Statehouse.

Amen. My husband and I stayed in the capitol Friday night. In the middle of the night, we were asked to move to to the first floor, so they could clean. We did! The place needs refreshing but the bathrooms are very clean.

The key to the protest is to do what they did in Egypt - to occupy the space!

I was JUST THERE 3 hours ago. NO MUDDY BOOT TRACKS. NO NASTY BATHROOMS. Supplies neatly stacked in corners. IT'S CLEAN. EVERYONE IS CLEANING UP AFTER THEMSELVES. Sorry to shout, but I was THERE. It doesn't smell. There is no trash. The signs on the walls are all held up with BLUE PAINTERS' TAPE so that it won't mar the walls.

Y'all who have posted about what you saw in the Capital totally rock! Thank you for reminding me that people in Wisconsin are still like all my goofy farmer relatives up by Eau Claire. They wipe their feet, pick up after themselves (most grew up making their own beds! I can't say that about people in other places I've lived!), and OF COURSE...

They bring hotdish to the potluck!

These are my people. YOU ARE SO AMAZING.

It's not news that our prisons are busting at the seams!

The biggest work force in Government, 2 million strong, does not have barganing rights. Their CEO is President Obama. That is right Federal employees, except Postal Workers, do not bargain for their pay and benefits. That is why the President can freeze their pay. If it is good enough for the President of the US is good enough for Wisconsin.

once again, i was able to view the entire article when i posted, but it's giving me subscription sign up; bastards. it opens when opened thru Google, apparently, but not here.

sorry; try this instead, or google site:tallahassee.com rally capitol which will get you some additional related hits, too.

@Robert

other than here and an article from Yahoo Australia, that quote appears nowhere on the web, and it doesn't appear in the Yahoo article at all, meaning it must appear in one of the user comments which has scrolled off the page. this is supported by the use of "work force" instead of "workforce." it's also probably why you didn't provide a link, just using blockquote to make it look official.

it is, however, true.

however, it also runs afoul of international standards, while some states don't allow collective bargaining at all. here, i'll quote, too, and provide a link.

US: Honor Public Workers’ Bargaining Rights

Under federal law in the United States, public employees' right to organize is respected, compliant with international standards. However, federal law severely restricts subjects of bargaining in ways that run afoul of international standards - federal employees cannot bargain over economic issues such as pay and benefits, for example.

At the US state level, many states respect the right to organize and bargain collectively and allow wide scope for subjects of bargaining, consistent with international standards. Other states, like North Carolina, prohibit collective bargaining altogether, in violation of international human rights norms.

so are you pro-Big Federal Govt, pro-Obama, or just when it serves your purposes like the rest of the phoney Republicans/conservatives that Ms. Maddow addressed earlier this month on the Big Board?

of course, as always, it's just a first step, the first nickel-&-dime of taking it all:

Court Stops Bush Personnel Rules from Taking Away Federal Employee Bargaining Rights

all I get is a traffic cam

seems to be a tape from last night. no timeline point of reference.

but interesting.