Guest: Josh Orton from Madison, WI

Sam was on Dylan Ratigan’s show yesterday refuting the misinformation that teachers and other state workers are overpaid and cannot be fired.

Another false talking point in the labor battle is collective bargaining hurts the quality of education. Sam found some stats on nakedcapitalism.com which shows that Wisconsin is number 2 in the nation in SAT/ACT scores and those states that do not allow collective bargaining are at the very bottom of the list (South Carolina – 50th, North Carolina – 49th, Georgia – 48th, Texas – 47th, Virginia – 44th).

Former Majority Report producer Josh Orton calls in again from Madison, Wisconsin to give us a report on the protests from the ground. Governor Scott Walker is losing support and ActBlue has collected almost $350,000 in donations for the Wisconsin State Senate Democratic Committee.

Sam was lucky enough to get an advance of the Scott Walker address that he will give tonight and here are some select quotes:

I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents … I will die as a martyr at the end

I have not yet ordered the use of force, not yet ordered one bullet to be fired … when I do, everything will burn.

You men and women who love Gaddafi …get out of your homes and fill the streets

Ooops! Sorry about that folks… that’s the other despot, Muammar Gaddafi, from his rambling speech today.

Two Libyan fighter pilots defect to Malta instead of shooting on protesters.

ALF-CIO launches their first ad in the Wisconsin fight featuring a Racine, WI firefighter.

David Dayen from Firedoglake interviewed WI state senator Chris Larson and he reminds us that we have a weekend thanks to unions.

The Bay View massacre of 1886, coming up on its 125th anniversary on May 5, is an important corollary to what’s happening in Madison today. The striking workers spent two years building their movement for an 8-hour workday, warning noncompliant businesses that they would call a nationwide strike if they didn’t meet the demand by May 1886.

Sam in the news – Sam’s Chris Christie rant made it to the front page of BlueJersey.com.

If you are not a Majority Report member you  miss out on the Members Only Show where  Sam helped a listener prepare to debate a Libertarian about the events in WI, shared with us his biggest hope in the Social Security PR war, reenacted his Officer Cliffany role from Bob’s Burgers last weekend, and squeezed in a few more news stories that did not fit in the free show all while taking listener’s IMs. Become a member today so you don’t miss any more of MR!

Show notes – Thursday and Friday will not be live shows, but Sam will post all new interviews with Naomi Klein on Thursday and with Reagan documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki on Friday.