Rising from the Ashes Thursday

* Confusion Reigns Over Legality of Anti-Union Bill Passage in Wisconsin. I offered in the MetaFilter thread last night my suspicion that having this bill overturned on procedural or state-constitutional grounds could be Walker’s face-saving exit strategy at this point; it’s been very common over the last few decades for Republicans to pass transparently illegal or unconstitutional legislation as red meat for the base, only to raise additional cash when “activist judges” throw the legislation out. If the lack of quorum genuinely tied his hands, illegitimately claiming to have passed the law anyway lets Walker still claim to have won. It’s certainly being reported that way.

* Watching Twitter last night was inspiring, despite the defeat. Calls for a general strike in particular are exiting; that’s something I’d never expected to see happen here. (The last was apparently in 1934.) The class war is definitely happening out in the open in the moment: Wisconsin GOP Bill Allows State to Fire Employees for Strikes, Walk-Outs. No strike yet.

* Elsewhere in union-busting news: The many lies of Chris Christie, in the New York Times.

* So what is this Manifesto? In essence, it is a vindication of the arts and humanities as the most valuable of social and cultural practices.

* Flying cars: just one year away.

* And you always knew it: science proves running a lot will kill you.

Hurricane Ike

Just out over the wires: People sheltering at ground level at Galveston Bay when Hurricane Ike hits face “certain death,” the weather service warns.