Awesomeness!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Unbelieveable…. and illegal!

As tens of thousands of public employees skipped work this week to attend protest rallies outside the Wisconsin State Capitol, many wondered if they would face any disciplinary action for unexcused absences.

On Saturday, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’

“I asked this doctor what he was doing and he told me they were handing out excuses to people who were feeling sick due to emotional, mental or financial distress,” said Christian Hartsock. “They never performed an exam–he asked me how I was feeling today and I said I’m from California and I’m not used to the cold, so he handed me a note.”

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Via National Review Online:

As Gov. Scott Walker (R., Wis.) battles the public-sector unions, Cain says Madison has become “ground zero for the rest of the nation.”

“For the last couple of days, America has heard from ten percent of the workforce. It’s now time for them to hear from the [other] 90 percent of the workforce,” Cain told the crowd. “Maybe the ten percent has forgotten that we pay the bills.”

The more I hear of Herman Cain, the more I like his prospects in the 2012 GOP Presidential race.

UPDATE:  Here is a photo of the Tea Party rally crowd today in Madison, WI (h/t – The Other McCain)

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

A number of conservative blogs have posted a lot of thoughtful commentary on the legislation Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker introduced to reform his state’s relationship with its public employees and the angry reaction of said employees and their allies in the Democratic Party.

As many have noted, their protests hardly represent a grassroots uprising, with union officials instructing their members to take off work and come to the state capitol to protest, including missives to unionized government workers in other states to come to Madison to “show solidarity with Wisconsin workers”.  So, while ABC News’s Devin Dwyer contends that these rallies “bear some similarities to grassroots displays by Tea Party members who voiced deep dissatisfaction with lawmakers ahead of the 2010 elections”, in reality, they’re far different.

Unlike those rallies, he reports

. . . the latest are being fomented by the national political establishment — including President Obama and the Democratic National Committee — who have directly interjected themselves into the state-level debates.

Organizing for America, Obama’s campaign arm now under the umbrella of the DNC, has been mobilizing union members and supporters to rally against a proposed Wisconsin budget measure that would strip workers of collective bargaining rights and force them to contribute more for benefits. . . .

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine also reportedly spoke with Wisconsin union leaders and state legislators ahead of the protests, the Huffington Post reported, signaling his direct involvement in coordinating the effort.

Emphasis added.  Kudos to ABC News for reporting that these efforts are being ginned up by national Democrats.  Fascinating how they would intrude so aggressively in state issues.  Does seem that this time the word is getting out that these rallies are anything but grassroots.  I think Nancy Pelosi had a word for what they are.

And that’s not the way these rallies resemble the left-wing take on the Tea Parties.  As Stacy McCain observes, in his must-read analysis of the situation: (more…)

A Powerline reader alerts my friend John Hinderaker about something the MSM failed to report:

BTW…in no MSM coverage I have seen is there ANY note that the crowd is “predominantly white”…. Why is that?

Guess, they were just too busy looking for those fourteen missing Democratic state Senators, you know the folks who skipped out on their duties.  I mean, normally those in the media notice such things.  John, however, isn’t quite sure why they forget to notice the race of the protesters:

We all remember how liberal news coverage of tea party rallies rarely failed to note that they were “predominantly white.” Somehow, that is no longer a salient fact when the same outlets cover illegal sick-outs by Wisconsin teachers. Why would that be?

UPDATE: Similarly confused, Tigerhawk is asking the same question as John:

Compare to MSM coverage of the Tea Party, which dissected its demographics to the point of an obsessive compulsion. What can possibly account for the mainstream media’s disinterest in the diversity of pigmentation in the pro-union crowds demonstrating against Republicans in Wisconsin? I am baffled and mystified, and cannot imagine why this question would not be of great interest, just as it was during the summer Tea Party rallies.