Just came home from the Madison rally

[undeterred]

I live here so coming home was just a few miles. Sorry, no pics. I volunteered to be a Marshall so we weren't allowed to take pics but I did get to interact with a lot of people.

I found out that the organizing behind the rallys is being done by AFSCME and MoveOn- they've had people on the ground for 2 weeks and need volunteer help every day. They've had volunteers through many different unions. I heard about it through my local OFA group.

The people who have kept the momentum going in Madison are the teaching assistants from the University of Wisconsin Madison. I've heard they are relentless. :applause:

The place Governor Walker was kicked out of is actually a nice restaurant where he sat down to have dinner. The patrons booed him and he was asked to leave. He was not in Madison today.

Interesting People I met today:
4 nurses from California who were sent by their union
3 FDNY firefighters
1 man from an IT union in Green Bay Wisconsin
2 women from France who flew in for the rally
a carload of friends from Chicago who said they were happy to have our Senators in Illinois

Most of the people at the rally were from Wisconsin.

There were lots and lots of people with children.

There was only 1 person that I saw whose sign was pro Walker.

Favorite sign:
Serf Wisconsin

It was really, really cold out there today. I don't think it got above 10 degrees. I am grateful to whomever it was that gave me handwarmers! I didn't get to hear any of the speeches or music because I was on another part of the square directing people.

BUT some very nice lady was handing out free homemade carrot cake cupcakes that she made, and as I was walking off the Capitol Square and back to my car someone handed me a free piece of IANS SPINACH MUSHROOM PIZZA SENT BY YOU! :patriot:

[snacker]

1. Thanks for the update...

it sounds like you had a great time! Inspiring, isn't it?

[undeterred]

6. Yes, being in a crowd like that- we inspire each other

even without hearing the speakers!

[Bluzmann57]

2. Thank you

Thanks for posting and more importantly, thanks for volunteering. Momentum is growing throughout the USA and I believe that enough people are outraged so that this movement will not go away. SOLIDARITY!

[CTyankee]

3. What a nice diary entry! I love it! Thanks so much!

[prolesunited]

4. Yeah for all that socialism you mentioned

Thanks for going.

[RagAss]

5. Thanks....there's an IT Union in Green Bay??

[undeterred]

7. The guy said it was a Brown County union

(Green Bay is in Brown County) and he is a programmer. Has been in the union for 12 years. I'm in IT and I've never known anyone in an IT union before. He told me the name of the company but I'd never heard of it and I don't remember it now.

[RagAss]

8. I'm in IT too...and neither have I.

[undeterred]

13. There was a post on here the other day about how IT should

have unionized in the nineties.

[RagAss]

15. Yes...some of us tried....we were laughed at by co-workers.

[elleng]

9. You're quite welcome!

2 women from France flew in for the rally??? We've gone global, and we all need it.

How's your dog???

:hi:

[undeterred]

14. He's great.

He didn't get to go with. I had a pocket full of treats though and I saw lots of dogs at the rally!

[RKP5637]

10. The country is soooo lucky to have you and the others!!! This is an effort for

the entire country for all of us that work. Those not in unions benefit too, to bad all of them don't get what the unions have done for them too over the years.

[Bozita]

11. "Serf Wisconsin" - opportunity to create TV ads in the style of "Pure Michigan" travel ads

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a great day in Madison.

[Raine]

12. THANKS for the first hand report

I've been trying to find something on the news but CNN has had ... nothing. :argh:

[frazzled]

16. What great work you're doing

Thank you for it, and for the report. Now go home and warm up!

[CoffeeCat]

17. This could turn into a "Woodstock"

I feel drawn to Madison. Obviously, others feel the same and many from outside of
Wisconsin are making the trip.

I really hope that this situation becomes Scott Walker's worst nightmare. Mr. "I'm not backing down" needs
to eat shit. He's trying to bust the unions, and this is NOT a good time to stomp on the middle class.

I'm not in a union. I've never been in a union and I know very little about unions. But I know when the
middle class is being screwed over by the elites in order to further line their baby-seal,fur-lined pockets.

ENOUGH!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!! ENOUGH!!!!!!!

We are all sick and tired of the corporate power that has overtaken our democracy. This is about unions,
but it is also about the middle class, the working poor and those who are sick and tire of corporations
running our government and dictating that WE SHOULD SUFFER in order to increase some Fortune 100 Company's
profit margin.

We are done! And we will show up in Madison. The longer this goes on the more our nation will galvanize around
the causes that Madison represents.

[liberal N proud]

18. Thanks for the report

Stand Fast my friends

[KT2000]

19. Thanks for this

and it is just amazing that all of this is happening in such cold weather.
This is BIG!

[undeterred]

20. Its hard even when you're used to it.

If it were summer I can't imagine all the people who would be here- we'd have them sleeping everywhere!

[elocs]

21. I was there today and saw the "Serf Wisconsin" sign.

Here's one I saw taped in a bus shelter:



Then there were the free brats:



Yep, it was cold with big flaked, fluffy now, but this is Wisconsin and we're tough and know how to dress for winter.

[undeterred]

22. Oh, I also saw a bunch of men from the WI Department of Corrections

who are apparently in a union. I asked them if they could "correct" Governor Walker, and a couple of them said they'd really like to do that!