On Oct. 24, Mayor Buddy Dyer of Orlando gave his State of Downtown speech at the new $480 million Amway Arena. Protesters from Occupy Orlando were outside protesting what they called a "closed-door meeting that should be open to the public" (tickets to the event started at $45).

The joke in Orlando goes like this: Everyone in Orlando has a second mortgage, it's called OUC (Orlando Utilities).

The drama unfolding in Wisconsin is a collision between the generous salary and pension benefits of government employees and the ability of the average taxpayer to afford them.

The unions parade thousands of teachers, police and firemen who try to portray this battle as rich versus poor. But the reality is these workers are not paid from our progressive federal income tax. These workers are paid by local and state taxes and fees that are assessed on the average taxpayer.

This battle is between civil servants and the taxpayers who pay their salary.

Totals for second quarter fundraising for congressional campaigns have been trickling in this week ahead of the Friday deadline for reporting all contributions and spending in the second three months of the year. Most of the candidates havent filed their report with the Federal Election Commission, but a few have. A few others have said publicly what they plan to report.