Wisconsin is experiencing a bit of a political earthquake right now. Newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker’s budget-balancing proposals have enraged the state unions. AFL-CIO radio ads are running every half hour it seems, and even they’ve even called on the Minnesota unions to stand with them.

Teacher’s unions are circulating fliers with misleading information in them whipping teachers into a frenzy. They’ve encouraged teachers to call in sick and many have. Schools have been shut down so that the teachers can go protest. The students themselves are getting in on the action. The irony is that they claim Walker’s proposals will hurt kids. How exactly? The only thing hurting kids is you, walking out of class. Of course the kids don’t care. It’s a day off. They’re thrilled. Listen to this -

Of course many parents are now having to take the day off work in order to stay home and watch their kids.

What are Walker’s proposals, exactly? In a nutshell:

1. Public employees will make a 5.8% contribution to their own pension funds. They’ll see that money again since it’s going into their pension.

2. Have state workers pay a 12.6 percent contribution to their own health care premiums.

3. Strip public unions of collective bargaining rights except for wages. This is the one that really has the unions up in arms.

I’ll let Walker explain it. On the Jay Weber show -

Rush Limbaugh talked about this yesterday. The key is at  4:34. This is what Obama hopes will happen when Republicans get around to entitlements:

Now I’m no expert, but it seems to me that we desperately need entitlement reform. Republicans in Congress are talking about it but seem hesitant to go too far without leadership from the President. There’s speculation that Obama stayed away from it in order to use any reform Republicans attempt against them in an election cycle. Democrats will take the opportunity to cry about how meanie Republicans are trying to hurt women and children.

We’re going broke, folks. The next President is going to have to take some drastic measures to get our fiscal house back in order. And it won’t be easy. It will require determination and a steel spine.

A small victory to note, I work with someone who is not political at all but who’s dad is a teacher and mad at Walker’s proposal. We made him sit down and listen to Walker’s explanation, listen to all the actual facts. He came up to me later after checking out his Facebook page and told me he was frustrated at all the comments from his liberal friends. “After what I learned tonight, I just wanted to go ‘delete, delete, delete…’”

If you’re interested in more information, you can check out the podcasts on WISN.

The Wisconsin Senate votes on the bill today.

Scott Walker on Greta last night:

Update: Ann Althouse is doing a good job of chronicling the protests.

Fox Nation has this video:

And this just keeps getting better and better. Faced with the very strong possibility of the legislation passing, Democrat lawmakers have literally fled Madison. Police have reportedly been sent to track them down.

John Hayward reports:

They’re all gone, folks. The entire Democrat contingent apparently fled to avoid a budget vote. According to WKNOW News in Madison, Republican Senate Majority leader Scott Fitzgerald has called the cops to find them. He needs at least one Democrat to establish a quorum so the budget repair bill can be voted upon.

[...]

If you have any information on the whereabouts of the Wisconsin Democrat Party, please contact the authorities immediately. Do not attempt to approach a fugitive Wisconsin Democrat, as they are extremely dangerous, and have been known to bleed taxpayers dry. Law enforcement personnel across the border in Illinois are advised to be on the lookout.