The Wisconsin Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of 2011.

On Sunday or Monday --- not sure which --- apparently the Wisconsin Department of Administration ---- the department that deals with or oversees the Capitol --- circulated some sort of memo restricting the public's access to the building. The gist of it is that folks can only enter through one of the doors. They have to get a badge issued to them. They have to be doing "official business". They have to be escorted to and fro by either a legislator or a law enforcement professional. They have to relinquish their badge when they leave.

Legislators will each be issued a certain number of badges, which they can use when they want to meet folks at the door and escort them to and fro.

Apparently a local judge granted a temporary restraining order against the Department of Administration, stating it could not keep people out of the Capitol. Apparently the DOA has been ignoring this order.

Well, one good thing: Our Dane County Sheriff, Dave Mahoney, said that he is pulling the Dane County deputies from Capitol duty, because he doesn't want them acting as "palace guards".

Kudos to Sheriff Dave Mahoney. Another hero.

The ACLU drafted a letter to the head of the Department of Administration, stating that it's unconstitutional to keep the public locked out of its own Capitol building.

At 4 pm I watched Walker's address. I was at a local two - year college watching with a bunch of students. The president of the college was also there. She was upset and disturbed. Not that Walker announced anything new.

Everybody already knew the drill --- no money for education, or day care, health care for the poor, Medicaid, teachers, or colleges, or state workers, or recycling ( well, okay, I didn't even know that one ) or railroads.

Another one I didn't know about: cutting the early release program for non-violent offenders. That one is weirdly illogical. It will actually cost the state extra money.

Topped off with a generous helping of decrease in the capital gains tax.

One of my sons sneaked into the Capital and saw all our blankets and things piled up in a huge pile. I have no blankets to sleep with. Fortunately, a friend is loaning us some today.

Thursday, March 10, 2011: To find out what happens next, see my hub entitled, "Niightmare at Capitol Square: Scotty's Revenge".

On Friday evening, they locked the doors of the Capitol at 9 pm, and wouldn't let me in. My blankets and everything were in there, and still are today. My son was too sick to stay at the Capitol. He was getting flu, sore throat, you name it.

There were a bunch of people with sleeping bags set up in the snow at one of the entrances to the Capitol. They said, "We just arrived from Chicago. I guess we'll have to sleep out here on the steps."

I considered spending the night in my car a block from the Capitol, but It started to snow, so I decided to drive to my daughter's house, where my son was staying. Since I had no blanket --- they were all at the Capitol --- I just used some jackets and towels for pillows. My daughter's couch was a lot more comfortable than the cold, hard, marble floor at the Capitol.

Also, my daughter doesn't keep the lights on blaring all night.

And, the members of the Assembly weren't speaking all night long, for two or three nights in a row, at my daughter's house.

This was being piped all over the Capitol with loudspeakers via televeision. I'm thankful to the Assembly members for doing this. It's wonderful, and they're heroes.

But, we weren't really getting good rest for those eight nights we spent sleeping at the Capitol.

We both have had chills and fever, and really bad sore throats --- like a smoker's hacking cough, except we don't smoke.

So, Saturday night, I tried again to get in. They said they closed at 6 pm that night, and I still couldn't get in, and didn't have my blankets and pillows.

I saw some people walking around the Capitol Square. I asked them what was up. They told me the governor hired a non-union cleaning crew for the next day, and we were all getting evicted. I said, "Well, we still have the street, right?"

On Sunday, we saw in the paper that we'd have to have all our blankets and things out by 4 pm, because they were going to clean the Capitol. Apparently the governor had hired a "scab" cleaning company to do this --- even though the regular cleaners were right there. I guess he's trying to show them --- or something. I don't even know anymore.

So, the story was, that we should get our stuff out, and we wouldn't be able to go back anymore.

Well, that's okay. We can still protest in the street. (Plus, I could get my blankies --- I still hoped!)

My son and I showed up before 4 pm, but still couldn't get in to get our stuff. There was a huge line to get in, but they would only let one person in for each two people that came out. There were people protesting outside, though, on the opposite side. I couldn't see them, but they were nice and loud --- as protesters should always be.

A lady who was sitting in her vehicle said, "They might be going through all our stuff in there, while they have us locked out."

I'd never even thought of that.

Well, we couldn't get in to get our stuff, so we had to spend another night at my daughter's without blankets. At least my son had his sleeping bag with him. It was quite cozy, though, in any event. I had the jackets and towels, and warm dry socks.

A nice couch is better than that cold, hard, drafty, marble floor, blinding lights, people walking around and talking all night, legislative debate (which, again, I'm very thankful for --- I don't want to denigrate the Democratic Assembly members --- They stayed awake for three days in a row, I believe).

The big problem is --- what's going on at the Capitol, and our stuff? I'd like to get in to continue protesting, at least as soon as I feel better.

So, yesterday, Sunday --- after we found out we couldn't get our stuff --- I bumped into a man with a teenage son. They had just driven an hour and a half to get to Madison. They couldn't get in, either. The man was a worker for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. He said, "I didn't call in sick. This is my actual day off. I'm giving up my day off to be here."

He was referring to the "sick call-in" that some other state workers had staged the week before.

While I was talking to the DOC worker and his son, a 73-year-old lady came over to us. She said, "The media is calling us all thugs. I'm 73 years old, and a retired teacher. I'm a thug!"

Then, she made a sweeping gesture --- indicating the four of us were all included --- and said, "So, we're all thugs here. You're a thug," pointing to the DOC worker. "You're a thug," pointing to the teenage son. "You're a thug," pointing to me. "I'm a thug, too," pointing to herself.

This DOC worker told me something else.

There were law enforcement professionals from all over the state that had been showing up at the Capitol since the beginning. The Capitol police, of course, are the regular law enforcement for the building and grounds. But, for this rally, they had been calling in state troopers, county sheriffs and deputies, and municipal cops, as well ---- from all over the state.

They were all very nice, by the way. Everyone --- law enforcement and protesters --- was peaceful, friendly, kind, and very courteous.

The DOC worker told me that the state had to pay for their overtime and hours when they worked at the rally. Their local jurisdictions wouldn't be paying for that. It makes sense, of course. They weren't working on a case for their local jurisdiction. (Way to save state money, right, Scotty?)

I received a text message at 7:36 last night, Sunday, February 27. It was from the auto-text information service. I don't know which organization runs it. Perhaps AFSCME, but don't quote me on that. Anybody can sign up at 225568.

The message said,"Small victory for the First Amendment in Wisconsin! Protesters held the Capitol despite Governor Walker's orders. Police, Clergy and Fire stand by our side. No arrests tonight."

Earlier, ca. 4:30 pm, I'd received a message from the same texting service that said, "Forward this message and let folks know Wisconsin protest is not unruly. It's everyday Americans coming together for fourteen days to assemble and discuss their state's future."

Later that same day, we heard they were going to be letting people back in. Then, this morning, the New York Times reported this, as well. The cops --- once more --- ignored or disobeyed the governor's order, so we could go back and continue protesting. (Meanwhile, I miss my blankies, too. Not that they had any monetary value.)

But, now, apparently my son's history professor told the class they would NOT be letting people back in. Plus, another son of mine sent me a text asking if I was in the Capitol, and saying "I [meaning he] sneaked in,"

I really don't know what's going on here, so stay tuned for further developments. Being sick doesn't help, either. Hoping to be all the way better really soon. Then I can start raising some true heck again!

Proud to be an American, a Wisconsinite, and a Madisonian.

AFSCME Local Number One (1) started in Madison, in Dane County.

Madison, Wisconsin, was the birthplace of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Local number One no longer exists, but still --- AFSCME is strong in Dane County, and it's also an important part of the proud Wisconsin progressive tradition.

The Progressive Party started in Madison, Wisconsin. There's no Progressive Party anymore, but there is still the magazine that bears its name, although it's not quite the same as it used to be.

Although --- there was that one article back in 1978, by Howard Morland, wherein the U.S. government claims he published a "recipe" for making an atomic bomb. Morland and the Progressive Magazine eventually won. All his sources were in the public domain --- nothing classified, as the government claimed.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Yesterday was a "furlough" day for state workers. They already have been forced by budget considerations to take off several days per year without pay. Yesterday was one of those. They normally would not have had the day off, even though it was President's Day.

Today's headlines say that the governor is going to start laying state workers off if there's no vote on his alleged "budget" bill soon. This probably is meant to be a threat to the fourteen missing Democratic state senators. See below.

On Monday, February 14, 2011, Governor Walker sent the official announcement. State workers would be losing most of their collective bargaining rights. Also, they would have to start paying part of their own pension and health care.

It's all part of his "budget repair bill" Walker claims.

Except for one thing: The union workers did offer to make deep cuts in their wages and benefits.

The governor turned down those cuts. If it were really about balancing the budget, why would he have turned down those concessions? This makes a lot of folks think it's really about busting unions, and not about balancing the budget at all.

The Wisconsin State Journal article, "Legislators Mum on Walker proposal as union leaders, protesters rage", says this:

Historical shift

Walker's proposal represents a marked change in the direction for a state that has long been a leader in workers' rights, said Mordecai Lee, UW-Milwaukee political science professor.

AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, started in Madison in 1932. And in 1959, the Legislature passed the Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act, which made Wisconsin the first state to give local government workers and teachers collective bargaining rights. State employees did not win similar rights until the 1970s.

Scott Walker was elected in November of 2010. Governor James Doyle had been governor of Wisconsin since 2003. Before that, he had been the state attorney general for twelve years. Last year, Governor Doyle annouced he would not be running for another term.

For some reason, the voters of Wisconsin elected Scott Walker, to replace Governor Doyle. It might have had something to do with those campaign ads where Scott Walker claimed he brown-bagged his lunch. Or, perhaps it had something to do with the large corporations funding Walker's campaign --- who told him to say that.

Well, I guess you can brown-bag truffles, champagne and foie gras.

I know this is not an "evergreen" topic, and therefore perhaps won't get me a lot of revenue from Hubpages. But, that's not important with a story like this.

Thanks for reading. As of yesterday [I think "yesterday" here means about Saturday, February 19, but I'm not sure] the protesters had received messages of support from all fifty states and 148 countries around the world. A lot of pizzas, too. Somebody from California called the pizza shop one block from the Capitol and asked for $300 worth of pizzas to be delivered to the protesters at the Capitol.

If you support the protest, please show your support any way you can. It doesn't have to be financial, or pizza-related. Thanks, and God bless.

I don't understand fully about how these Twitter things work, but I found out that you can use "pound sign"killthebill or "pound sign" solidaritywi or "pound sign" wiunion. (You don't write "pound sign" and you don't put quotes around it. Ask your kids or grandkids if you're like me and have trouble understanding these things.) There are a few others, as well, but this will get you started. Also, WORT-FM is a great resource for local news. They have archives on their website. I hope I'm not breaking any Hubpages rules by posting this stuff on here.

The other day, I was reading one of the many informative and interesting informational posters on the wall at the Capitol Building.

There was a list of companies that had contributed $5k or more to Walker's campaign.

If you've read my Hub entitled, "I Was Evicted on the Day Before Thanksgiving" --- well, you'll know that I was evicted the day before Thanksgiving, and have been homeless ever since.

Turns out that the company that evicted me is on that list of campaign supporters for Scott Walker.

One of my favorite signs is this one, by a teacher:

"Dear Mother Walker, We would like to ask you to attend a parent-teacher conference. We're afraid to tell you that your son is not paying attention, and has been disrupting our state."

Then, there were those signs saying "Scotty's Report Card: Paying attention --- Needs improvement; Motivation --- Needs Improvement. Scotty does not play well with others."

Rumor has it that the governor ordered the capitol police, the county sheriff and the troopers to get the protesters out of the capitol building. They said okay, maybe later.

They're state workers, too.

They have a representative with signs. "Cops for Labor."

February 18th is my birthday. I loved that party.