The other day I called Governor Walker’s appearance on a prank phone call — showing the world the corrupted state of affairs inside the halls of power here in the U.S. — his “Mubarak Moment.”

I think today he’s done it again. Walker’s Mubarak Moment #2 was today’s attempt to close down the Capitol Building, giving protestors a 4pm deadline to leave.

Check out Ben Brandzel’s live feed of what’s happening in the Capitol Building. I think it’s possible that Walker’s curfew might have sparked the defining battle, like that over who controlled Tahrir Square.  Whose House?! OUR HOUSE!

The fraud that Scott Walker and the billionaire-funded Tea Party movement represents is slowly unraveling before our eyes. Their magic show has stumbled, and like Hosni Mubarak and Muammar al-Gaddafi, their worthless lies are being exposed. All elected officials who want to play the role of the Wizard of Oz, keeping us from looking behind the curtain, should take heed. Now is the time for honest dialogue and debate about where we stand. No matter what political stripe you color yourself — Green, Blue, Red, Black Tea or whatever — it’s time for some hard truths to emerge. And it’s time for people to start standing up for common sense collective problem solving. United we stand, divided we fall.

It will be interesting to see whether they go through with this charade, whether Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity will really go ahead with an ad campaign designed to turn the tide against the public employees and their supporters. It was dumbfounding to see Mubarak and Gaddafi take to the airwaves so many times in such a clueless, tone deaf manner. The clearer these billionaires want to create a frontline of fraud, the better for the people fighting such an unholy alliance of greed and government.

Now Madison police chief Noble Wray is calling on Governor Walker to explain his comments that he looked into sending infiltrators into the crowds in Madison. Time to throw this guy out of office.

If you want to watch the incredible “prank” phone call that outs Walker’s naked allegiances, you can watch them below the fold.

From Massachusetts Jobs with Justice:

Support the Rights of Wisconsin Workers

Tuesday, February 22nd

4-6PM

Massachusetts State House

Join workers from across Massachusetts to show support for our sisters and brothers in Wisconsin who are fighting to keep workers’ rights alive. Click here for more info on their struggle.

Sponsored by: Mass Teachers Assn., AFT Massachusetts, Mass AFL-CIO, Greater Boston Central Labor Council, AFSCME Council 93, SEIU Local 509, 1199 SEIU, SEIU Local 888, Jobs With Justice and many others.

For more information call 617-524-8778

Check out the Facebook event here

While Bloomberg News was boasting that Chevron might be able to muscle its way out of paying a cent for the environmental damage that Texaco wrought upon Ecuador, Democracy Now! was reporting on the hypocrisy of Chevron’s legal maneuvers, led for years by our own Deval Patrick. Which side are you on, Governor Patrick?

This article is an excerpt from Richard Heinberg’s new book which has the working title ‘The End of Growth’ and is set for publication by New Society Publishers in July 2011. Given the urgency and fragility of the global economic crisis, the Post Carbon Institute is serializing the rough content as Richard writes it. Additionally, Richard will be offering ‘live peeks’ at the events and information that inform his writing process through Facebook and Twitter accounts created expressly for this publication.

The article was originally published as the MuseLetter #222

Introduction: The New Normal

The central assertion of this book is both simple and startling: Economic growth as we have known it is over and done with.

The “growth” we are talking about consists of the expansion of the overall size of the economy (with more people being served and more money changing hands) and of the quantities of energy and material goods flowing through it.

The economic crisis that began in 2007-2008 was both foreseeable and inevitable, and it marks a permanent, fundamental break from past decades-a period during which most economists adopted the unrealistic view that perpetual economic growth is necessary and also possible to achieve. There are now fundamental barriers to ongoing economic expansion, and the world is colliding with those barriers.