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Update: 7:45pm EST: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has reportedly signed the controversial bill banning mandatory union membership Tuesday night. As anger escalated among the estimated 10,000 protesters in Lansing, police donning riot gear arrived with pepper spray, which was used on at least one activist. Police also arrested two demonstrators, and surrounded the Romney State Office Building.

A few photos, and I'll have much more later...

Civil disobedience inside the Capitol rotunda earlier Tuesday.

"Owned by Dick DeVos"

Update 9:20am:

Michigan Avenue, now...

Update 9am EST:

Snyder, GOP leaders to unveil right-to-work legislation plans at 11 am.

Inside the Capitol...

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An amazing crowd in Lansing right now, as the march to the State Capitol building is about to begin! I'm sure there are thousands, but I sure couldn't make a guess from here in the heart of it all beyond that. So many people from outside Michigan here to stand with us in solidarity -- it's truly touching -- thank-you all! A few notes before I'm off:

For anyone wishing to donate pizza to everyone protesting at the Michigan Capitol building, please contact Cottage Inn Pizza at (517) 267-9000 and they will see to it that your order is donated to the hungry, winter warriors.

Email from Progress Michigan (517-999-3646):

"We’re opening our office as a pit stop during the rally tomorrow. If you’re in town, join us at 115 W. Allegan, Floor 7 (above the Biggby), to get warm, grab some hot cocoa, recharge your phone, log onto free WI-FI, and make a quick bathroom break."

Details on the day's events here.

Will update either here on via Twitter @DianeSweet whenever possible.

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Moments after Paul Ryan's speech Wednesday night, Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin got into a fiesty and heated exchange with the MSNBC panel. Walker defended Ryan's false claim that Obama failed to save a Wisconsin auto plant, and even appeared to claim that for Wisconsin workers, the Obama administration's auto bailout hasn't been a success.

The problem with Ryan blasting Obama for the closure of the Wisconsin General Motors plant is that the plant actually closed under George W. Bush.

Ryan said, "Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said, 'I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That’s what he said in 2008."

"Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year," Ryan continued. "It is locked up and empty to this day. And that’s how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight."

In June 2008, Ryan sent a letter along with his Wisconsin colleagues Senators Russ Feingold (D) and Herb Kohl (D) protesting the closure of General Motors plant in Janesville, Wisconsin.

“We ask that you reconsider the decision to close the Janesville GM plant and request a meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss OM’s plans for the Janesville plant, including the possibility of retooling the plant for different production lines,” said the letter from the three lawmakers to GM CEO Rick Wagoner.

Ryan actually voted for a Bush-era effort to expand government loans to GM, a plan that failed to save the Janesville plant.

In 2008, Ryan supported the Bush loans that Romney infamously opposed in an editorial titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”

Scott Walker was apparently trying to assist the Romney-Ryan campaign's efforts to re-write history, but as you can guess, Rachel, Ed, Al and company didn't let him off the hook.

Maddow kept her cool as she spoke to Walker, "It is surprising to hear you run down the American auto industry at a moment that it really has come back and to see such a bright spot in the economy, you talked as if things haven't worked out in the auto industry since the bailout," she said. "It's a surprise."

Schultz wasn't having any of it, and broke in hitting back at Walker's claims. "It was not Barack Obama's economic policies that closed that GM plant," he insisted. "That plant was closed in December 2008. That's in the Washington Post right now Governor. It has nothing to do with Barack Obama's economic policy whatsoever. You can't get away from that fact."

Walker smugly repeated the tired "managed bankruptcy would have been more effective" meme and Schultz quickly snapped back that Walker could not guarantee the plant would still be operating under that strategy.

Al Sharpton tried to enter the fray, but Walker retorted, "If you want to talk over and not let me talk that's fine. Apparently that's what you do a lot of."

If there weren't so much at stake this November for so many people, this would all be quite the comedy. *Sigh.*

Scotty, We're Coming for You from Occupy Riverwest on Vimeo.

Now that makes a statement! A governor who has a criminal defense fund, destroys workers' rights, slashes 800 million from public education in favor of tax breaks for the rich, and divides a state more than deserves the title of "Governor Crappy".

Walker's Wisconsin- Worst in Nation for Jobs from Occupy Riverwest on Vimeo.

Wisconsin's June jobs report came out and it appears the state shed 12,000 more jobs again placing it last in the nation for job growth. On this unfortunate news the Overpass Light Brigade made sure to report it to Wisconsin drivers over I-43 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

[Language may not be suitable for work.]

Okay, I've had a few days to process that insanity in Wisconsin, and here's my calm and collected analysis... without all that much calm and very little collectedness. Here's your Moment of Clarity #147.

More at LeeCamp.net

All times are Eastern Standard Time.

Take a Walk, Scott: Post-Mortem of the Wisconsin Recalls
Panel; Fri, 06/08/2012 - 10:30am, Ballroom A

Citizens United, Super PACs and the Fight for Our Democracy
Panel; Fri, 06/08/2012 - 03:00pm, Ballroom A

That Will Never Work: What Progressives Can Learn from OWS
Panel; Fri, 06/08/2012 - 04:30pm, Ballroom A

Chairman’s Pub Quiz VI: Revenge of the Chairman
Special Event; Fri, 06/08/2012 - 06:00pm, Ballroom A

Continue reading »

Via Wisconsin's local ABC affiliate:

The passions that fueled a fight lasting more than a year over union rights and Wisconsin's cash-strapped budget brought voters out in strong numbers Tuesday to decide whether to recall Gov. Scott Walker.
...
"People in Wisconsin aren't just going to stand by and let a governor take over the state and cut social services," said Switzer, 48, an occupational therapist and single mother on BadgerCare, the state's health insurance program for the working poor.
...
Preliminary exit poll results conducted Tuesday for The Associated Press suggest the public's views on the changes made to collective bargaining laws are deeply entrenched. About three quarters either strongly approve or strongly disapprove of the changes to collective bargaining for government workers. Overall voters were about evenly divided on the question, with about half approving and half disapproving of those changes.

And most voters made up their mind about whom to support before the final ballots were even set. About 9 in 10 in early exit polling said they decided who to vote for before May.

If you voted today in Wisconsin's Recall election, please visit this site to report your vote or any problems at the polls.

CNN:

In the canon of political cliches, "it all comes down to turnout" is among the most tired.

But in the case of the polarizing and closely watched Wisconsin recall election, the maxim happens to ring true.

Public polling, internal polling and campaign strategists all tell the same story: Republican Gov. Scott Walker is clinging to a tiny lead over his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, heading into Tuesday's vote.

And the number of undecided voters has dwindled to almost zero, strategists in both parties say, meaning that the only mission left for both sides is to get their rabid supporters to the polls.

If just the one million people who signed the Walker recall petition get themselves to the polls today, Wisconsin will be free of Scott Walker once and for all.

The Kissers perform "Scotty, We're Coming For You" at a rally in support of workers' rights at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. on Mar. 19, 2011. Iraq Veterans Against the War marched to the Capitol, accompanied by firefighters and members of AFL-CIO to rally against Gov. Scott Walker, whose budget repair bill would strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights.

"Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich." -- Michael Moore

How they did it, and how Wisconsin taught us to fight back, at:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/america-is-not-broke