I WON'T PAY: "[I]f citizens quit paying taxes because the government is dominated by cronyism and corruption, the whole lefty feedlot would be gone."

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND lays off all teachers.

Welcome to the real world.

CAUGHT ON TAPE: union thug assaults female videographer. I’m looking forward to reading that he’s been charged with criminal assault, and I’m hoping that she sues the union for millions for failure to control its “protestors.”

COVERING UP: Charlie Martin is right on the merits, but is being unfair to cats.

SHOULD AWOL LAWMAKERS be punished? Overwhelmingly, Fox News readers say yes.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD poised to take a very hard fall -- and it should. And it will, if the pro-life forces just stay quiet on the sidelines.

HARRY REID CALLS FOR BAN on the "oldest profession." He wants to ban politics?

[Update & bump] Nevadans can't stop laughing.

CORE VALUES:

To Republicans, the budget fight has involved the widespread shirking of responsibilities: teachers walking out on students, legislators running away from their offices, even doctors abandoning medical standards to make excuses for perfectly healthy teacher/protesters. To Democrats, the fight has touched a core issue; anything is justified to preserve union benefits.

Read it all.

NO HOPE, but plenty of change. Federal, state and local debt hits post-WWII levels.

HOW THE LEFT sees the union crisis in Wisconsin: “as a battle for power, not income.”

EVERYTHING ABOUT LIBERALISM is tired these days, including its slogans.

GOVERNMENT PENSIONS, an obesity epidemic.

These figures account for why the Obama White House has exhibited its usual robust indecisiveness toward the Wisconsin demonstrators. It needs labor's political muscle, but it must also recognize that it cannot appear on the wrong side of greed. It was one thing when unions went after giant corporations run by guys who played golf at restricted clubs. But when it comes to government workers, we are the boss and we pay the bill. To quote what Sam Spade told the woman he loved in the "The Maltese Falcon," "I won't play the sap for you." When it comes to public-sector unions, my sentiments exactly.

By the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen, no less.

Have Obama - and public-sector unions - lost the Post?

DEATH CHANNELS: a frightening example of how ObamaCare can go wrong.

DOES BIG LABOR’S LOBBYING POWER offset the lobbying power of big business? Not if both feed the Democratic Party.

DEMOCRATS: If I can’t have it my way, I’ll take my ball and go home. Unfortunately for them, Republicans have more balls (pun intended).

NOW IT’S PET OBESITY: Is your dog or cat too fat?

Banfield Pet Hospital, the nation's largest general veterinary practice, ... will track a pet's Body Condition Score ... and be required to give pets a score upon each visit. The scale reportedly goes from one to five; a score of one means your pet is underweight, five means your pet is obese.

Along with the introduction of the Body Condition Score, many in the pet health industry are rolling out Jenny Craig-style packaged dieting programs and, even better, pet treadmills.

In addition, a popular pet care franchise will introduce a new pet fitness program, called the Furry Fitness Challenge to help pets and owners lose weight together.

Whether you're willing to put a doggie treadmill in front of the TV, one thing is for sure -- the pet obesity problem is finally getting the attention it deserves.

No, the pet nannies are getting ridiculous.

COMMENT OF THE DAY: “The government class recoils in horror -- market discipline to them is like sunlight to a vampire.”

OUT OF WISCONSIN, three lessons.

First, the Democratic Party is the party of government, not only because of its extravagant sense of government's competence and proper scope, but also because the party's base is government employees. Second, government employees have an increasingly adversarial relationship with the governed. Third, Obama's "move to the center" is fictitious.

Read it all.

CAIR ATTEMPTS to confront Congressman Allen West, fails miserably.

“TO MAKE SENSE of what's going on in Wisconsin, it helps to understand that the left in America lives in an ideological fantasy world.”