A recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel poll found overwhelming public support for Gov. Walker’s Budget Repair Bill.  Eighty percent of the 183,226 readers who participated in the survey supported cutting benefits for union workers and removing collective bargaining over anything other than wages.  Only 18 percent of people felt the bill was wrong, and three percent believed something needed to be done, but the current bill was too strong.  click here to see the poll results.

Senator Pam Galloway (R-Wausau), a physician by training, was as sickened as the rest of us were watching doctors hand out sick notes to anyone at the Madison protest who asked for one.  In a written statement Senator Galloway said, 

“Over the weekend, various news outlets have reported that some physicians were handing out medical excuse notes to protesters attending rallies at the State Capitol. There is video footage of this including notes signed by a physician who is employed as an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I have no issue with public employees who went in to see their physicians and obtained a note after being examined. However, I am outraged that doctors allegedly stood on street corners in downtown Madison passing out medical excuses like leaflets. Make no mistake these medical excuses are as flimsy as the paper they were written on.

As a physician, I took an oath to uphold professional standards. To hand out an excuse without properly evaluating a patient is both unethical and fraudulent. I am confident that reports of this will trigger a review of the medical licenses of those found to be responsible for engaging in this behavior. For those employers requiring a medical excuse to avoid taking disciplinary actions for unexcused absences, I would urge them to closely examine the validity of these notes. On a state level, I will be looking into this situation and urge the State Medical Examining Board to conduct a full investigation.”

At the Madison rally on 2/19/11, doctor’s were signing fake excuses for teachers. I am not a teacher, but I managed to get a note. They did not ask for any identification or where I might teach. They were literally handing these out to anyone and everyone.

Jesse Jackson spoke to protesters outside the Wisconsin State Capital on Friday.  Check out these two videos:

http://www.wisconsinreporter.com/jesse-jackson-outside-capitol-pt-1

 http://www.wisconsinreporter.com/jesse-jackson-outside-capitol-pt-2

On the steps of the state capital, a Tea Party rally in support of Scott Walker and the Budget Repair Bill will be held at noon today. Organized by American Majority and assisted by other groups such as Americans for Prosperity, the event known as the “I Stand With Scott Walker Rally” is expected to bring thousands of Walker supporters from around Wisconsin and even from neighboring states.

The supporters of Scott Walker will not be alone.

The SEIU has scheduled a rally for 10:30 AM and if the crowds are anything like the previous few days, there could be as many as 25,000 union supporters in the area around the capital.

The Tea Party protesters do have a permit for their rally in support of Scott Walker, and it is yet to be seen whether the union protesters will respect the very freedom they have been exercising all week. The new “culture of civility” may face a great test today in Madison.

Tea Party rallies are not used to being outnumbered.

Union supporters have not had to encounter supporters of Scott Walker en masse.

A new Clarus Poll found that 64 percent of voters said government employees shouldn’t be represented by a union.

The survey found that only 10 percent of Republicans and 22 percent of Independents believed in unionization of government employees. Surprisingly, only 49 percent of Democrats believed in the union system.

The survey was taken by Clarus Research Group, a nonpartisan polling firm based in Washington, D.C., Feb. 4-8, 2011 of a representative, nationwide sample of 1,001 registered voters. Interviewing was conducted by live telephone calls. The margin of error is +/-3.1 percent.

Jesse Jackson is set to address protesters at 5 p.m. CST today.  Click here for video of him earlier today leading protesters in a hymm.

The battle raging over public unions in Wisconsin is starting to shine the spotlight on the fiscal problem public unions have created not only in Wisconsin, but across the nation. In late December, 2010 the first total municipal pension default occurred in Prichard, AL. If the status quo is allowed to continue, many more, and many large cities face the same fate. Here’s a look at the top 10 cities facing a pension crisis:

10. Fort worth: unfunded liability of $2 billion. Insolvent by 2023

9. Detroit: unfunded liability of $6.4 billion. Insolvent by 2023

8. Baltimore: unfunded liability $3.7 billion. Insolvent by 2022

7. NYC: unfunded liability of $122.2 billion. Insolvent 2021

6. Jacksonville. Unfunded liability of $4 billion. Insolvent 2020

5. St. Paul: unfunded liability of $1.4 billion. Insolvent 2020

4. Cincinnati: Unfunded liability of $2 billion. Insolvent 2020

3. Boston: Unfunded liability of $7.5 billion. Insolvent 2019

2. Chicago: unfunded liability of $44.8 billion. Insolvent 2019

1. Philadelphia: unfunded liability of $9 billion. Insolvent 2015

Source Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua Rauh

What do you do when you don’t like a bill and don’t have the votes to stop it from passing?  Why, you run away of course.  That’s exactly what Senate democrats did today, abdicating their responsibility to their constituents to govern.  Read more about the fleeing democrats here

February 17, 2011, Milwaukee, WI– On Thursday, thirteen Wisconsin school districts had to close their doors due to the number of teachers calling in “sick.” In fact, many of the “sick” teachers showed up in Madison today to protest the Budget Repair Bill. At issue are their salaries and pension plans.

According to data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the average teacher’s salaries and average fringe benefits appear to be very generous given the recent economic downturn. Media Trackers has compiled the information below for the school districts that were forced to close on Thursday.

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