Uppity Wisconsin

Workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain will be critical to rebuilding a strong economy, says a new report released yesterday that examines the effect of unions on wages and Wisconsin’s economy.

Unions Are Good for the Wisconsin Economy, written by researchers Karla Walter and David Madland for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, says that increasing union rates would put more money in workers’ pockets, reversing the sharp growth in income inequality that has undermined our economy.  In fact, if union membership was as high as it was in 1983, Walter and Madland suggest, Wisconsin workers would earn an estimated $503 million more in wages and salaries.

Walter and Madland contend that we must make it easier for workers to form unions and bargain for a fair share of the value they create:

"Passing the Employee Free Choice Act and making it harder for management to threaten workers seeking to unionize would be good for American workers. It would help boost workers’ wages and benefits. And putting more money in workers’ pockets would provide a needed boost for the U.S. economy. Increasing unionization is a good way to get out of our current economic troubles."

In response to the recent Gaza War, a fundraising page was set up on ActBlue.com in order to contribute to elected officials who have been supportive of the peoples of Israel and Palestine. The page is called A Dream of Peace: Justice and Equality for The People of Israel and Palestine, and can be found here .

The mission of the page states "All of the people of the Holy Land need to live in peace and security. We need to support and elect candidates that are willing to stand up for the rights of the citizens of Israel and Palestine. These candidates support measures to stop violence, increase economic and humanitarian aid, actively engage in negotiation, and promote co-existence among these two Peoples."

On January 28th, Rep. John Olver (MA-01) sent a "Dear Colleague" letter to Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton requesting that the State Department release funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for reconstuction and humanitarian assistance in Gaza. The letter was signed by a total of 63 Democratic House members, including two members of the Wisconsin Delegation.

Update: Writes an alert reader, "Yep, that's what we called 'Potomac Fever,'" referring to the late political writer, Fletcher Knebel, and his nationally syndicated column (1951-1964).

Tammy Baldwin speaks at ConventionTammy Baldwin, speaking at the Democratic Convention this afternoon

Her speech supported Obama's presidency on the basis of his commitment to health care issues. 47 million people in the US are now un-insured, including over 9 million children. Health care will certainly be a major issue in the presidential campaign.  Most Americans support some form of universal health care, and the next president will certainly need to be supportive of that in a meaningful way.

Update: John Nichols: A Baldwin shift to Obama could send crucial message

So, why is Wisconsin's most progressive elected official and superdelegate still declared, alone among elected state officeholders, for Hillary Clinton?

Good question for Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison).

What does it take from Clinton for Baldwin to jump ship?

Update: A reader left this comment worth posting: "Hillary is a political succubus. She will suck the energy and will from this party until we are broken and defeated. ... Even if one does not consider the supposedly inflammatory nature of the Wright sermons, she took an opportunity to promote healing or at least thought provoking discussion, and instead parroted a line that even the conservative nominee and the man he defeated has abandoned. ... I have no doubt Hillary would have left her church and the place that introduced her to Jesus because it is abundantly clear that there is no belief, no ethic, no moral, or important relationship she would not gladly sacrifice in order to further her own naked ambition."

Hillary Clinton has gone blind.

Three senior members of the House Judiciary Committee have called for the immediate opening of impeachment hearings for Vice President Richard Cheney.

Democrats Robert Wexler of Florida, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin on Friday distributed a statement, "A Case for Hearings," that declares, "The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution. The charges against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens."

While I agree with Glenn Greenwald that the Democratic draft of the FISA Bill re-write is not all that bad, given that the last revision expires in February, it's worth slowing down and fighting for amendments which repair gaps in communications privacy which preceded the summer capitulation, notably with respect to location data collected by the cellular and other wireless providers. Realtime location tracking was mandated by the "E-911" legislation of the late '90s, for use when YOU dialed 911 in an emergency, but as built out, the architecture knows your whereabouts any time the phone's powered to receive calls. More, a record is retained, and with the Statutes silent, some Courts have held you've waived any privacy in this data history by contracting with the carrier. The highest profile case of law enforcement access in Wisconsin was the election-morning 2004 tireslashing incident. Representative Baldwin, has a key role, as she sits on both the Judiciary and Commerce Committees, both of which have jurisdiction, along with Intel. In prior conversations, she's expressed interest in legislating the location data, but I've yet to hear back on her interest in attaching the fix requiring the same level of warrant requirements as content interception to the pending Wiretap bill.

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich. has requested from U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales documents and information concerning the prosecution of former democratic Gov. Don Siegelman in a letter released yesterday.

Siegelman is widely believed to be a victim of a Karl Rove-engineered prosecution.

The letter was signed by four members of the House Committee on the Judiciary, including Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

The letter slams and asks for information about a total of three prosecutions, including the infamous Georgia Thompson prosecution.

The letter reads in part: