PHOTOS FROM WISCONSIN: How much respect did the demonstrators show for the State Capitol grounds?

“‘If I’m a GREAT worker WHY are you treating me THIS WAY?’ — an abandoned sign pleads.” More pics of trash at the link.

Plus this: “I attended the Tea Party rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol last year on April 15th, and I did not see a scrap of litter left behind. Participants not only took care to leave no trash of their own, they looked around and made sure no one else did.”

It’s the difference between acting like civilized people, and looters.

UPDATE: Reader Ronnie Schreiber writes:

Who but someone infused with the therapeutic self-esteem culture prevalent in our schools today would say of themselves, “I am a great worker”? Does Bob Dylan call himself a “great songwriter”? I hear people describing themselves as competent or skilled or that they work hard but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone that was good at their job describe themselves in such lofty terms as “great”. Sure, I’ve done some great embroideries and the stuff that I write for pay can be pretty good as well, but I make far too many mistakes to say that I’m “great”. Yes, sometimes I’ll tell a customer that an embroidery is beautiful, but then I also will tell them when it’s not perfect as well. That’s just being honest. But characterizing myself as “great”? I’m far too familiar with my own flaws to do that.

Obviously, you need a union. And reader C.J. Burch emails: “Funny, the people that expect the state to pay their way act like this. The people that don’t, don’t. A sense of entitlement is an ugly thing.”

BAHRAIN NEWS? Dave Foulk, a Knoxville radio news guy, emails: “I just spoke with a person in Bahrain, and they indicated to me that Saudi tanks and APC’s were coming across the causeway into Bahrain. Says the video of it is on YouTube. This individual was spot-on with warnings of protests the other day.” I couldn’t find the video on YouTube, but stay tuned.

IN THE MAIL: From Daniel Drezner, Theories of International Politics and Zombies.

PROFESSOR JACOBSON: “There seems to be a problem at Widener.” Law schools spend a lot of time worrying about their reputations, but Widener isn’t covering itself with glory.

UNEXPECTEDLY! New claims for unemployment aid rise more than expected. “The Labor Department said Thursday that 410,000 people sought unemployment assistance last week, a jump of 25,000 from the previous week. The rise was much larger than economists had expected.”

THOMAS JEFFERSON on debt.

PUBLIC SECTOR UNION UPDATE: In New York, a “Fat Cat Feeding Frenzy.”

ANDY KESSLER: IS YOUR JOB AN ENDANGERED SPECIES? “So where the heck are all the jobs? Eight-hundred billion in stimulus and $2 trillion in dollar-printing and all we got were a lousy 36,000 jobs last month. That’s not even enough to absorb population growth.”

CHRIS CHRISTIE: Republicans who don’t vote to cut entitlements could face primary challenges.

ABOUT TIME: Sen. Mike Enzi introduces bill to repeal incandescent light bulb ban. “The Better Use of Light Bulbs Act (BULB) is intended to repeal the amendment that was attached to a comprehensive energy bill signed by President George W. Bush in 2007. The ban on incandescent light bulbs was intended to save energy and limit pollution.” I went all-in for CFLs, and I haven’t seen any visible energy savings, and they have totally failed to live up to the longevity promises. I’m replacing the — much more expensive — CFLs about as often as incandescent bulbs.

ED MORRISSEY: Obamanomics 101: Borrowing To Pay Debt Isn’t Debt-Debt. “When does borrowing not create debt? Only in two instances: when one has no intention of paying it back, and when Barack Obama does it. Jake Tapper asked new White House press secretary Jay Carney exactly how borrowing over six hundred billion dollars in the best year of Obama’s ten-year budget projections (using the rosiest of all possible economic assumptions) somehow qualifies as (a) balanced spending and (b) not adding to the national debt.”

TYRANTS TAKING HOSTAGES: “It’s never been more dangerous to be an American abroad.” Hope and change!

EVERYBODY’S RESTLESS, AND THEY GOT NO PLACE TO GO. Someone’s always trying to tell them something they already know. So their anger and resentment grow.

AT AMAZON, markdowns in Sports & Outdoors.

INSTAVISION: I talk with Sen. Bob Corker about the budget, the national debt, and the CAP Act. Corker: “There was a lot of disappointment that the President didn’t show leadership on an issue that we believe is the most important domestic issue that we face as a country.”

PATRICK MCILHERAN ON WHAT’S HAPPENING IN WISCONSIN: Unions Want To Overturn Election Result.

The public-sector union tantrums, meant to make lawmakers wobble, have an inadvertent message for the rest of us: Voters can vote all they want. We can elect a cheapskate governor and a Legislature to match. But come the moment, unions will have the last, loudest word.

They’ll have it if takes marches. They’ll have it if it takes what amounts to an illegal strike, with so many Madison teachers calling in sick Wednesday that the district closed schools. If it takes showing up for a we-know-where-your-family-is protest on Walker’s Wauwatosa lawn while he was at work, the unions are sure they can outshout any election result.

This is exactly why Walker is right to limit the unions’ power over government spending.

No reason to subsidize a bunch of heavyhanded, inept thugs with taxpayer money.

UPDATE: An online poll.

RICHARD BENEDETTO: CUE THE MEDIA WAR ON BUDGET CUTS. “How so? Well, now that we know the targets of the cuts, the news media, suckers for a sob story, are already throbbing with carefully orchestrated, heart-rending tales about what devastation those cuts will cause.” Too bad they can’t interview some folks from 2020, after the federal budget deficit produces governmental and economic collapse.

UPDATE: Reader Dave Gamble notes an inconsistency in terms of how the politico/media establishment deals with the budget crisis — certain to come — versus global warming — a possibility: “Somehow protecting future generations from possibly having to endure the hardship of an extra tenth of a degree over the next century is a high moral calling, while fighting against the certainty of mortgaging their financial future with trillions in government debt is the work of the devil. Odd.” Not so odd when you realize that “climate change” measures increase the power of the political class, while budget cuts reduce it.

LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR NEWS? Check out Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg. I’ve been distracted by disasters closer to home, but he’s kept a laser focus. And consider hititing his tipjar if you like what you read.

TRANSPARENCY: White House Won’t Send Economists To Defend The Stimulus: Don Surber comments: “If the White House were proud of its stimulus, it would volunteer economists by the dozen. The most expensive failure in history.”

AND REMEMBER, THIS IS THE ROSY SCENARIO: Washington Post: Obama Budget Plan Shows Interest Owed On National Debt Quadrupling In Next Decade. Honestly, the past couple of years have shown a degree of criminal irresponsibility on the part of our political class — and particularly of this administration and its Congressional allies — that I wouldn’t have thought possible even a few years ago, cynical as I am. It’s been a perfect storm of greed, shortsightedness, and arrogance.

MORE ON THAT ATF GUNRUNNING SCANDAL: Grassley to Holder: ATF refused to answer specific questions in briefing.

YOU’VE BEEN UP ALL NIGHT, JUST LISTENING FOR HIS DRUM: Hoping that the righteous might just, might just, might just, might just come.

MIDDLE EAST CLASHES rock Bahraini capital.

HUGE SOLAR FLARE jams radio, satellite signals. It’s a Class X, the biggest category.

Not anywhere near a Carrington Event, but a reminder that we should be more prepared for such than we are.

TOUGH BUDGET CHOICES expose weak leaders. “Forget the Tea Party. What we need is a Whiskey Party. It’s going to take a stiff drink and stiffer spine to tackle our nation’s budget crisis. So far, we have few volunteers.”