MADISON, WI (FDL) – I’m watching the debate in the State Assembly on the budget repair bill, which is nearing an endgame. About an hour ago, Assembly Democrats agreed to limit debate to a final 38 amendments on the budget repair bill. Assembly Republicans had threatened to shut down the process procedurally. There is no real “filibuster” in the Assembly, as I understand it, so the Democrats couldn’t drag out the process indefinitely. All the previous 50-odd Democratic amendments have failed, including one last night that would have stripped the provision allowing for no-bid sales of power plants. I imagine that the Assembly will wrap work on the budget repair bill with basically no changes either today or tomorrow. The Republicans generally are keeping a united front. Democrats aren’t happy about this state of affairs and letting that be known on the Assembly floor, but there’s no real filibuster, and the Republicans basically said they would shut down debate totally, so there wasn’t much of a choice.

Building on the success of his “The Runaway General” article that led to President Obama firing Stanley McChrystal, Michael Hastings returns to the pages of Rolling Stone with “Another Runaway General“, where he exposes information operations, or Psy-Ops, on dignitaries including US Senators as they visited Afghanistan on “fact-finding” trips. What should not be missed when contemplating the illegal and immoral aspects of this information operation directed against the citizens of the country and high level government officials is that it is just one more instance in an ongoing pattern of information manipulation and outright deception on the part of the military in recent years. A few recent examples include the use of retired generals posing as independent military analysts to spout information coordinated by the Pentagon, intentional deception to cover up Special Operations troops digging bullets out of the bodies of pregnant women they killed in a night raid and the more recent claim by General Petraeus that parents intentionally burned their children in order to exaggerate injuries received in a US attack, to name just a few.

What started as a protest has taken on the quality of a virtual city on the square. It’s very hard to explain unless you see it for yourself, but I’ll try. The Capitol has become a site for dissent, an information center, an organizing hub, a pizzeria, a display of wit and the site of a new progressive movement. That’s really not overstating the case.

Wisconsin State Senator Tim Carpenter asks Gov. Walker to resign because of what was revealed on the fake Koch call.

• Muammar will not go gently.
• The endgame in Wisconsin?
• Better late than never.
• Sure doesn’t sound like he’s running.
• Scott Walker, lawbreaker.
• Mitch Daniels obviously doesn’t want to be president.

A bank-handed defense of the American way.

Buddy Greene — A Harmonica In Carnegie Hall.

It seems pretty clear that when the Attorney General observes that “classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny,” what he means is that “DOMA is a load of bigoted shit and continuing to defend us will make us look like a pack of crazy assholes.” I’m sure that sounds better in Latin, but that seems to be the crux of it.

The rich are laughing at us, both dirty hippies and tea partiers. But when you cost your true enemies money, they don’t find it a bit funny.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s (R) immediate and lengthy private conversation with Ian Murphy of Buffalo Beast pretending to be a Koch brother is a great reminder of the incredibly easy two-step process for how to get a powerful politician to listen to your thoughts and concerns.

Step 1: Donate millions of dollars directly and indirectly help politicians get elected.

Step 2: The politicians will take your calls.