Uppity Wisconsin
Making Wisconsin Progressive Again
Republican High Hypocrisy on the Supreme Court
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 9:42am | mal contends
Putting aside the truism that the contemporary Democratic Party and President Obama rival the Republican Party in feeding at the trough of Big Business, the GOP-composed opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (08-205) is revealed as an exercise in hypocrisy and partisan favoritism by examining another landmark election law case animated by First Amendment claims used in the fight against colossal wealth dominating the political process, Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party (95-1608) (1997).
In Timmons, a political party, the now-defunct New Party, sought to fuse its nominated candidates with other political parties' nominated candidates [that is nominating the same people] in an effort to expand the New Party under the protection of the First Amendment's guarantees of free expression and association.
For instance, progressive Democratic Party nominees like Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin), Rep.
In Timmons, a political party, the now-defunct New Party, sought to fuse its nominated candidates with other political parties' nominated candidates [that is nominating the same people] in an effort to expand the New Party under the protection of the First Amendment's guarantees of free expression and association.
For instance, progressive Democratic Party nominees like Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin), Rep.
Tags: Doyle’s Gone, Good Riddance
Wed, 08/19/2009 - 9:51am | mal contends
People all over Wisconsin were happy Monday to see Gov. Jim Doyle announce his intention to not seek reelection.
One thing that progressive Democrats and rightwing Republicans agree on is that Jim Doyle is a liar, a vindictive and corrupt politician.
That’s who he is as governor. A lot of Democrats cannot stand the guy on a personal level. And Republicans are sad to see him go as Doyle would have given them a clear shot at the governor’s office.
That’s not really news and it’s not entirely clear how this reality fits into Doyle’ decision to not seek reelection.
According to Doyle, he reached his decision some seven to 10 days ago [WisPolitics], coming around to his belief that he claims to have held since being first elected governor in 2002: He will only serve two terms, the “norm” for governors.
"I think this national norm serves good purpose. It keeps the political world from becoming stagnant. It allows new leaders to develop. It gives the voters more choices,” said Doyle Monday.
Why then did Doyle raise more than $2 million for reelection?
Republicans are demanding that Doyle return the campaign money, but he’ll likely give it to a worthy cause to polish his legacy.
One thing that progressive Democrats and rightwing Republicans agree on is that Jim Doyle is a liar, a vindictive and corrupt politician.
That’s who he is as governor. A lot of Democrats cannot stand the guy on a personal level. And Republicans are sad to see him go as Doyle would have given them a clear shot at the governor’s office.
That’s not really news and it’s not entirely clear how this reality fits into Doyle’ decision to not seek reelection.
According to Doyle, he reached his decision some seven to 10 days ago [WisPolitics], coming around to his belief that he claims to have held since being first elected governor in 2002: He will only serve two terms, the “norm” for governors.
"I think this national norm serves good purpose. It keeps the political world from becoming stagnant. It allows new leaders to develop. It gives the voters more choices,” said Doyle Monday.
Why then did Doyle raise more than $2 million for reelection?
Republicans are demanding that Doyle return the campaign money, but he’ll likely give it to a worthy cause to polish his legacy.
Wisconsin, Lets Police the Prosecutors
Mon, 04/13/2009 - 5:54pm | mal contends
Some resources below for a needed reform: Policing the prosecutor.
Wisconsin should lead on this.
Prosecutors tend to forget such notions as public interest, justice and prosecutorial discretion, instead focusing on political careers and an unthinking, rabid utilization of the power of their offices.
From the Justice Project:
Prosecutors tend to forget such notions as public interest, justice and prosecutorial discretion, instead focusing on political careers and an unthinking, rabid utilization of the power of their offices.
From the Justice Project:
Prosecutors decide which charges to bring, what plea bargain to offer, and what sentence to request. Their decisions have far-reaching consequences on defendants, victims, their respective families, and the general public. Given the special duties of prosecutors, and the broad power they exercise in the criminal justice system, it is critical that prosecutors discharge their duties responsibly and ethically.
See Prosecutorial Accountability, The Justice Project and Improving Prosecutorial Accountability: A Policy Review.
Pardon Jailed Wisconsin Veteran
Wed, 12/17/2008 - 6:53pm | mal contends
President-elect Barack Obama has tremendously more on his plate than reinventing government and restoring some semblance of accountability to Americans.
Ensuring that the world does not enter into a second depression, halting a war or two, saving the environment, formulating an industrial policy on alternative energy, one can go on; all are problems of a massive scale.
But readers of Uppity Wisconsin may notice a comment from a veteran posted this week about another veteran who is serving a four-year sentence in federal prison.
Ensuring that the world does not enter into a second depression, halting a war or two, saving the environment, formulating an industrial policy on alternative energy, one can go on; all are problems of a massive scale.
But readers of Uppity Wisconsin may notice a comment from a veteran posted this week about another veteran who is serving a four-year sentence in federal prison.
Biskupic Leaving in Disgrace
Wed, 12/03/2008 - 9:23am | mal contends
Stephen Biskupic, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (2002 - present) has announced that he is resigning in January before the new administration takes office.
Good riddance, though Biskupic allowed that he has amassed a good "track record."
Many Wisconsin Democrats and allies would agree with that positive performance assessment.
But I doubt that Biskupic is sending a Christmas card to the proven-innocent Georgia Thompson this year [see also Biskupic tried to 'squeeze' Georgia Thompson, and Investigate Biskupic].
Good riddance, though Biskupic allowed that he has amassed a good "track record."
Many Wisconsin Democrats and allies would agree with that positive performance assessment.
But I doubt that Biskupic is sending a Christmas card to the proven-innocent Georgia Thompson this year [see also Biskupic tried to 'squeeze' Georgia Thompson, and Investigate Biskupic].
CT: Wisc AG Van Hollen hosts McCain 'victory' party
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 11:47am | mal contends
On CNN, Van Hollen Admits to GOP Lawsuit Collusion
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 6:23pm | mal contends
Update: Video link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzxPDZN1dd8
More evidence that Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is a liar, and corrupt partisan.
From the Wisconsin Democratic Party:
Van Hollen says GOP 'may have asked lawyers in my office to file the lawsuit.'
In a recent interview with CNN, Attorney General JB Van Hollen finally admitted to what we’ve known all along, that his hyper-partisan lawsuit against the GAB was brought in collusion with his Republican Party bosses.
Van Hollen doesn’t have a very good poker face. Watch his eyes wandering nervously when the reporter presses him on whether or not the GOP personally asked him to file the lawsuit. Maybe he’s nervous because he lost his lawsuit and now his web of cover-ups and deceit at the DOJ is finally unraveling.
Remember, this is the same guy who made the following statements to reporters last month:
From the Wisconsin Democratic Party:
Van Hollen says GOP 'may have asked lawyers in my office to file the lawsuit.'
In a recent interview with CNN, Attorney General JB Van Hollen finally admitted to what we’ve known all along, that his hyper-partisan lawsuit against the GAB was brought in collusion with his Republican Party bosses.
Van Hollen doesn’t have a very good poker face. Watch his eyes wandering nervously when the reporter presses him on whether or not the GOP personally asked him to file the lawsuit. Maybe he’s nervous because he lost his lawsuit and now his web of cover-ups and deceit at the DOJ is finally unraveling.
Remember, this is the same guy who made the following statements to reporters last month:
Van Hollen Not 'Valid'
Tue, 10/28/2008 - 9:42pm | mal contends
Update: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast: Drinking the ACORN Kool-Aid: How Cries of Voter Fraud Cover Up GOP Elections Theft - While Republicans had the media searching for links between Obama and ACORN, RNC operatives were busily completing one of the most massive voter suppression and purging efforts in American history.
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's voter suppression suit was tossed because he misread a federal law and tried to use it to suppress votes fighting the spectre of voter fraud, the opposite of its public policy rationale. You would think he would be embarrassed.
Civil rights groups, labor unions, voting rights groups, good government groups - all came together to protect Wisconsin citizens from their attorney general and his political party.
Now, "Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he'll deploy more than 50 assistant attorney generals and state agents around the state Nov. 4 to guard against election fraud." - AP
What crap.
Bush Seeks Forced Provisional Voting in Ohio
Fri, 10/24/2008 - 8:25pm | mal contends
Incredible! Bush wants the US DOJ to look into the GOP's proposed Ohio vote suppression scheme using HAVA, seeking forced provisional voting that suppresses legal voters.
After being shot down by the US Supreme Court on using the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) for the purpose of declaring eligible voters to be tentatively ineligible because of database mismatches - a purpose that the text of HAVA expressively forbids - Bush and the Republicans will not give up.
As the Milwaukee Branch of NAACP and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association write in their amicus brief in the Van Hollen v. GAB Wisconsin case, provisional voting is inherently suppressive, and many provisional voters will not be able to come back the next day to corroborate their legal voting status, and leave the voting process with questions about whether their votes counted.
Jailed Wisconsin Vet Loses Appeal, VA Claim Still Pending
Sun, 07/13/2008 - 8:35am | mal contends
via mal contends
In a unanimous opinion (07-1546) a three-member panel for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the controversial conviction on fraud of Wisconsin Navy veteran, Keith Roberts.
In a unanimous opinion (07-1546) a three-member panel for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the controversial conviction on fraud of Wisconsin Navy veteran, Keith Roberts.
The Roberts family is planning on filing a motion for an en banc hearing, a hearing before the full appellate court.
U.S. Atty Stephen Biskupic's office had convinced a jury that Roberts and a deceased Navy airman (Gary Holland) did not have a friendship, and Roberts who was on line duty at a Naval base in Naples, Italy on February 5, 1969 at the time that Holland was crushed to death by a C-54 aircraft, exaggerated his efforts to save Holland, which constituted fraud for which he was convicted in November 2006 by a jury in northern Wisconsin.
Weak grounds for a federal prosecution? These are the grounds on which the government successfully pursued a prosecution against this honorably discharged Navy veteran who served during a combat era.
Jailed Wisconsin Veteran Awaits Court Decision, in Fed Prison for Claiming PTSD Benefits
Mon, 06/02/2008 - 10:01am | mal contends
via mal contends -
Madison, Wisconsin - Keith Roberts awaits the decision of his appeal before a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit as he sits in a federal prison in Minnesota because the United States government said he did not tell the truth about his service in the Navy.
Veterans are assumed under the Veterans Judicial Review Act of 1989 to be (as they often are) in an diminished capacity to tell the full truth of the circumstances they encountered that contributed to their suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The many stressors that would lead to the granting of disability benefit payments need to be rigorously documented to the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs' (VA) satisfaction, thus the VA claims process propagated under administrative rules is non-adversarial and paternalistic for the veterans.
Madison, Wisconsin - Keith Roberts awaits the decision of his appeal before a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit as he sits in a federal prison in Minnesota because the United States government said he did not tell the truth about his service in the Navy.
Veterans are assumed under the Veterans Judicial Review Act of 1989 to be (as they often are) in an diminished capacity to tell the full truth of the circumstances they encountered that contributed to their suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The many stressors that would lead to the granting of disability benefit payments need to be rigorously documented to the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs' (VA) satisfaction, thus the VA claims process propagated under administrative rules is non-adversarial and paternalistic for the veterans.
VA Directive Barring Staff from Diagnosing Troops with PTSD to Cut Costs, Exposed by CREW and VoteVets.org
Thu, 05/15/2008 - 4:22pm | mal contends
Nice. From CREW's site:
This is an outrage.
CREW and VoteVets.org released an e-mail (May 1, 2008) obtained from a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Weakening US Criminal Case, VA Turns Down Jailed Wisc Vet’s PTSD Claim
Tue, 05/13/2008 - 4:41pm | mal contends
by Michael Leon (via mal contends)
Madison, Wisconsin —Vietnam-era Navy veteran Keith Roberts (1968-71) is an honorably discharged Navy airman who feels betrayed by his government, specifically the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Dept of Justice, for its self-conscious and successful efforts to financially ruin and imprison him.
Falk Facing Election Next Spring, Offers Assurance on 911 Call and Few Facts
Wed, 05/07/2008 - 8:53am | mal contends
Progressives are holding Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk’s feet to the fire on the Brittany Zimmerman tragedy.
If Falk decides to run for reelection as Dane County executive in the spring of 2009, she will surely face opponents in a politically charged race, and one gets the impression Falk is abundantly aware of this fact.
From the Capital Times (aggressively on the Zimmerman story now and catching up to the first-rate reporting and insights by Isthmus, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Madison blogosphere):
A former dispatcher that answered a 911 call from Brittany Zimmermann's cell phone before she was allegedly stabbed to death in her West Doty Street apartment committed two different procedural errors in handling the call, according to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.
Falk’s statement on the 911 call, "I do not believe, had the (911) errors not occurred, that her murder could've been prevented," amounts to a Bushian I-can’t-tell-you-anything-but-trust-me assurance.
If Falk decides to run for reelection as Dane County executive in the spring of 2009, she will surely face opponents in a politically charged race, and one gets the impression Falk is abundantly aware of this fact.
From the Capital Times (aggressively on the Zimmerman story now and catching up to the first-rate reporting and insights by Isthmus, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Madison blogosphere):
A former dispatcher that answered a 911 call from Brittany Zimmermann's cell phone before she was allegedly stabbed to death in her West Doty Street apartment committed two different procedural errors in handling the call, according to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.
Falk’s statement on the 911 call, "I do not believe, had the (911) errors not occurred, that her murder could've been prevented," amounts to a Bushian I-can’t-tell-you-anything-but-trust-me assurance.
Dane County 911 Center Looks to Save Itself in Wake of Murder of 21-year-old Woman
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 6:56pm | mal contends
Updated: WI State Journal Edit (May 2, 2008), No apology? You better find one. WI State Journal (p.1) (May 4, 2008) 2004 report warned of 911 Center problems; Co officials warned to increase staffing, change procedures
The first rule in crisis management for public servants is not Save your ass.
It's serve the public.
So when the public clamors for answers about why a 21-year-old UW-Madison student was murdered in early April, and asks what could have been done to prevent her death, the response ought to be openness, transparency and honesty.
Jason Shepard writing for the Madison weekly, Isthmus, has run into a brickwall in his reporting on the death of Brittany Zimmermann.