(Michelle Malkin) Public employee unions who force state workers to join and force them to fork over dues have a lot of chutzpah posing as freedom-fighters, don’t they? […] where the SEIU Purple Army and assorted Big Labor enforcers are trying to bring the state to its knees over the brave and necessary fiscal discipline that GOP Gov. Scott Walker has introduced. 
The AFL-CIO is digging in its heels. The rent-a-mobs are fully activated and marching on Gov. Walker’s home. Mission: Persuasion of power.
As I said yesterday: As Wisconsin goes, so go the rest of the nation’s bankrupt and near-bankrupt states.
One compelling aspect that must be noted as we continue our Watch Wisconsin series (Part I here and Part II here):
The Badger State (like New Jersey before it, California and New York now close behind) is doing what needs to be done to challenge the unions’ grip without having to declare bankruptcy, as some GOP strategists, celebs, and 2012 aspirants including Newt Gingrich and Jeb Bush have recommended. As E.J. McMahon pointed out in the WSJ last month: Politicians already have the power to tame public unions without roiling municipal bond markets. They merely have to use it.
Indeed, they are walking the walk in Wisconsin. No top-down federal intervention from Newt or another Bush or anyone else in Washington.
Start spreading the news. Big Labor’s heaving today…
And now, illegally striking teachers have succeeded in shutting down schools in Madison and seven other districts for a second consecutive day.  Madison public schools are closed again Thursday because too many teachers are taking the day off to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to limit union bargaining.
Several other school districts in the area have also canceled classes Thursday.
It’s the second consecutive day the Madison Metropolitan School District has canceled classes “due to substantial concerns about staff absences.”  The district said it has received reports Wednesday evening that there will again be significant staff absences in the district on Thursday in protest of the governor’s proposed changes in labor law.
…Superintendent Dan Nerad said teachers who are taking a sick day will be asked to show proof of a medical reason.   Many teachers in the Madison Metropolitan School District spent Wednesday at rallies at the Capitol in opposition to Walker’s collective bargaining proposal.  Other area school districts that have also canceled classes Thursday include the Oregon School District, the DeForest Area School District, Edgerton Schools, Monona Grove Schools, Middleton-Cross Plains Schools, Verona Schools and Waunakee Schools.
FOR THE CHILLLLLDRREN!!!

Hang tough, Gov. Walker and the silent majority. What you are doing matters critically not only for your taxpayers and their children and grandchildren, but also for every other state in the nation. Momentous times require moral courage. You are leading the way.  (Full Article)