Uppity Wisconsin
Making Wisconsin Progressive Again
"Beyond Thin" Judge Draws Notice for a SC Vacancy
Sat, 02/07/2009 - 9:59am | mal contends
Justice Diane P. Wood is drawing attention as a leading candidate to fill the first vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Wood is famous in some circles (especially in Wisconsin) for her judicial equivalent of voiced disgust shown towards Stephen Biskupic, former U.S. Atty for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, who launched several political prosecutions during his tenure with the Bush administration's Department of Justice, including the repulsive political prosecution of an innocent woman, Georgia Thompson.
Wood was nominated to serve as an appellate judge by President Clinton and confirmed in 1995.
As Mark Pitsch notes in a State Journal piece in 2007 [largely an it's-not-what-Biskupic-did-that-really-matters piece]:
Wood is famous in some circles (especially in Wisconsin) for her judicial equivalent of voiced disgust shown towards Stephen Biskupic, former U.S. Atty for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, who launched several political prosecutions during his tenure with the Bush administration's Department of Justice, including the repulsive political prosecution of an innocent woman, Georgia Thompson.
Wood was nominated to serve as an appellate judge by President Clinton and confirmed in 1995.
As Mark Pitsch notes in a State Journal piece in 2007 [largely an it's-not-what-Biskupic-did-that-really-matters piece]:
Georgia Thompson, a state purchasing agent for Doyle's Department of Administration, was indicted in January 2006 and convicted six months later in the midst of a heated gubernatorial election.
Tags: Two Issues for President-elect Obama
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 7:06pm | mal contends
Not forgoing the gigantic issues of the national debt and budget deficit, illegal invasion of Iraq, energy independence, health care reform, the crisis on Wall Street, and human rights violations, listed below are two areas of concern that President Obama should launch as major priorities within our government.
Bush has self-consciously thrown the country into crisis in his attempt to eradicate Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, but these contemptible actions by the outgoing demonstration ought not to prevent us from addressing the following two issue areas that are not quite so sexy as to make the front pages of the Washington Post.
Bush has self-consciously thrown the country into crisis in his attempt to eradicate Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, but these contemptible actions by the outgoing demonstration ought not to prevent us from addressing the following two issue areas that are not quite so sexy as to make the front pages of the Washington Post.
When Will They Ever Learn?
Mon, 09/01/2008 - 10:21am | GlobalGirl
Everything McCain does (from picking the head of Alaska's National Guard to be his running mate to avoiding George Bush at the convention) has a ring of desperation to it as he faces an electoral landslide.
But politicos seem just as desperate to portray the doomed McCain campaign as on the verge of a breakthrough or a game changer.
Now it’s Hurricane Gustav that will help the ailing McCain.
Hurricane Gustav “presents the candidate with an opportunity to show that he would be a different kind of president than Bush” (Washington Post).
John McCain can't stop the storm, but his campaign is determined to make the most of it by using it to rebrand a new generation of Republicans as leaders who govern effectively and rise above partisanship (Time Magazine).
But politicos seem just as desperate to portray the doomed McCain campaign as on the verge of a breakthrough or a game changer.
Now it’s Hurricane Gustav that will help the ailing McCain.
Hurricane Gustav “presents the candidate with an opportunity to show that he would be a different kind of president than Bush” (Washington Post).
John McCain can't stop the storm, but his campaign is determined to make the most of it by using it to rebrand a new generation of Republicans as leaders who govern effectively and rise above partisanship (Time Magazine).
Wisconsin Is Not in 'Holding Pattern'
Sun, 08/10/2008 - 8:21am | mal contends
Update: Obama Ground Report: Canvassing in Waukesha, Wisconsin and Record-low seventeen percent of Wisconsin voters think the country is going in the right direction
The political wisdom of some (the Washington Post's Dan Balz, for example) is the next 10 days in August will see the presidential race in a holding pattern.
Nothing could be further from the truth of course, and this applies emphatically in Wisconsin.
Two dynamics continue here:
- Barack Obama's on-the-ground field operation (that rivals his Internet operation's superiority to the McCain camp's) is hitting the ground running
- Barack Obama will pull away in fundraising, no matter the sleazy finance machinations of John McCain and the rightwing independent slime merchants
UW's Shapiro, Charo Hit Bush Effort to Limit Women's Reproductive Freedom
Thu, 07/31/2008 - 5:43am | mal contends
via mal contends - A woman's right to choose is dead if John McCain is elected president.
But the Bush administration is fighting to inflict as much damage as possible on women prior to that sickening possibility of choice disappearing, including decreasing the availability of contraception.
From today's Washington Post:
The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.
But the Bush administration is fighting to inflict as much damage as possible on women prior to that sickening possibility of choice disappearing, including decreasing the availability of contraception.
From today's Washington Post:
The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.
Lies Catching Up to Bush Administration
Tue, 07/01/2008 - 7:40am | mal contends
Famed journalist I.F. Stone warned "All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed."
Like in many other aspects of government, the Bush administration has veered to the extreme in its mendacity.
Guantánamo Bay holds only the worst of the worst, the administration repeatedly assured the American public after preventing examination of the evidence holding the accused.
Turns out the administration (as McClatchy news demonstrated in its America's prison for terrorists often held the wrong men in mid-June) is the worst of the worst in its commitment to bald-faced lying.
Like in many other aspects of government, the Bush administration has veered to the extreme in its mendacity.
Guantánamo Bay holds only the worst of the worst, the administration repeatedly assured the American public after preventing examination of the evidence holding the accused.
Turns out the administration (as McClatchy news demonstrated in its America's prison for terrorists often held the wrong men in mid-June) is the worst of the worst in its commitment to bald-faced lying.
McCain: Ethics for Thee, but Not for Me
Sat, 02/23/2008 - 10:36am | mal contends
Wisconsin knows a lot about political reformers and we're always looking for a reformer to run for president. And John McCain, you ain't it!
Update II: Cap Times: Apply McCain Standard to McCain
Update: See also: McCain's Character Is Now Fair Game for Reporters and Blogs
Suppose that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton were the Chair of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.
Suppose further that this hypothetical Committee Chair:
Russ Feingold's Opponents Ought to be 'Apologetic'
Mon, 01/07/2008 - 6:46pm | mal contends
In Jonathan Weisman's page one, well-disguised hit piece on Barack Obama in today's Washington Post (GOP Doubts, Fears 'Post-Partisan' Obama), Weisman makes numerous references to Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold.
Writes Weisman: " ... In contrast, the American Conservative Union ranked (Obama) at 8 percent, the same figure awarded to Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), two unapologetic liberals. (italics mine)"
Why the suggestion that Feingold (and Boxer) have something for which they need be apologetic?
Was it Feingold's vote against the Iraq War? The discredited Patriot Act? The Bush tax cuts for the super-rich? Feingold's authorship of ethics reform? Feingold's fight for the Fourth Amendment?
Writes Weisman: " ... In contrast, the American Conservative Union ranked (Obama) at 8 percent, the same figure awarded to Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), two unapologetic liberals. (italics mine)"
Why the suggestion that Feingold (and Boxer) have something for which they need be apologetic?
Was it Feingold's vote against the Iraq War? The discredited Patriot Act? The Bush tax cuts for the super-rich? Feingold's authorship of ethics reform? Feingold's fight for the Fourth Amendment?
Washington Post Smears and Censors Noam Chomsky
Wed, 10/03/2007 - 7:43am | mal contends
Via MAL Contends - Several years ago I interviewed Noam Chomsky on his book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media prior to his speaking engagement in Madison, Wisconsin.
It was the easiest interview that I have done. I asked two questions, one of which was “for example,” and received extensive and instructive responses.
“Thanks Noam,” I said at the end. All I really needed were a few quotes for a daily newspaper piece, but it was an engaging interview.