One more time on Summerfest and the Army. Having visited the Army exhibit, rather than relying on newspaper reports, I'm now for declaring victory. What the Army exhibit offers now is much different from the virtual killing it was promoting as a recruiting tool for young teens before Peace Action-Wisconsin intervened. Summerfest still needs some thank you calls at 414-273-2690.

Joe Leibham, State Senator from Sheyboygan just won’t stop trying to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin voters with his hair-brained voter ID scheme. Even as a new audit of the April 1 election found “nearly error-free voting,” Joe “Still Can’t Prove a Voter Fraud Case” Leibham keeps up the voter ID rhetoric. “I still think there are people getting around those processes,” Leibham childishly retorted when asked about the April election. I once again call on Sen. Leibham to produce one incidence of voter fraud that would have been prevented by his “voter ID” scheme. I don’t expect an answer. Then again, I don’t expect him to end his crusade to stop a problem that doesn’t exist either. I guess that’s the difference between the truth and a Leibham.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today that gay Wisconsin couples going to California to get married might be subject to prosecution when they get back home. The story points to an obscure Wisconsin law which prohibits Wisconsinites from going to another state to get married, if that marriage would otherwise be illegal back at home. Apparently the law was established to guard against under age couples from getting married in other states and coming back to Wisconsin. Some gay couples have called off their plans to get married in California, specifically citing the Wisconsin law. The statute calls for up to a $10,000 fine and nine months in jail. Legislators quoted in the story don’t think that the obscure law would apply to these gay couples, but it seems that the decision to prosecute would be up to each individual District Attorney. Even the legislator that sponsored the anti-gay marriage amendment suggests that the law would not apply to gay couples getting married in California. That wasn’t enough to stop anti-gay crusader Julaine Appling from calling for the prosecution of gay couples. As if cheerleading for anti-gay discrimination wasn’t enough, now she seems to be calling for the outright jailing of people that simply want to get married. If you needed any more proof at just how obsessed and extreme some people are on this subject you need not look any further than Appling.

John McCain has been little more than a rubber stamp for the failing George W. Bush economy. Perhaps this is the reason that he has such a hard time bringing himself to admit that this economy has been very hard on the average American. June was the latest time where John McCain claimed that, “the fundamentals of the economy are very strong. Very strong.” Who exactly was he trying to convince with that statement, himself or the many working families that know different? In June this “very strong” economy lost another 62,000 jobs, making it the sixth straight month of negative job growth. The Bush economy has been a boon for the wealthiest in our nation. John McCain is one of the richest members of the U.S. Senate, but could he really be so out of touch with the average person? Since when is massive job loss a sign of a “strong economy?” It looks like John McCain was right, he really does need more education on the economy .

This morning John McCain tried to get a do-over regarding his admission that he doesn’t know much about economics. While appearing in an interview on ABC this morning, McCain interrupted the interviewer after she referred to his admission. McCain responded saying that he never said that he didn’t know much about economics and that actually, “I’m very strong on the economy. I understand it.” McCain may wish that he didn’t repeatedly talk about his lack of understanding on economics but he can’t change that fact now. Here is a reminder of some of his admissions: “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” McCain said. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.” “I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated .” One of McCain’s top advisors admitted that McCain has said he knows little about the economy , noting that “he did say it one time, no question, maybe twice.”

Rabid radio talker Charlie Sykes devoted more than half of his morning show railing on Summerfest for asking the Army to shut down a virtual killing game , urging listeners to call those wimpy Summerfest folks and complain. Actually, Summerfest needs to be thanked and congratulated for doing the right thing. It is never easy to publicly take a stand and reverse an earlier decision -- not to mention facing down the military. Please take a minute to call Summerfest at 414-273--2680. They need some support. More here.

One small step for humankind: At the request of Summerfest officials, the U.S. Army on Tuesday removed a virtual urban warfare game that allowed fest-goers as young as 13 to hop into a Humvee simulator and fire machine guns at life-size people on a computer screen. Peace Action-Wisconsin launched a campaign Tuesday to shut down the "game," and Veterans for Peace, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice also joined in asking their members to call Summerfest to complain. Summerfest officials reported "a handful" of complaints, but it took less than 12 hours to get action, suggesting there was more than a handful of callers, which forced Summerfest to take it seriously.

Another big election year means another year for Republicans to make false claims about voter fraud. It looks like they are already running the exact same drill that they have run stretching all the way back to the 1960’s. The Republican National Committee has added a page on its website entitled “You Can’t Make this Stuff Up.” Interesting title since most of the accusations of voter fraud on the page are either totally made up or at least severely short on the facts. A recent story on Alternet lists a few examples posted on the RNC site. In Louisiana the Republican Party questioned a registration drive because 30 percent of the applications were missing some information – an industry norm – and called for an investigation. The Alabama’s Republican Attorney General said that “fraud and systemic corruption” were rampant in a few Democratic-majority counties. He then made the outlandish claim that absentee ballots were being sold and “traded for gravel” but could not cite any charges filed. In Indiana a Republican Party official made the unfounded claim that large numbers of people were coming over from Illinois to vote in their presidential primary. The local county election director rejected his claims as being totally unfounded.

Former Assembly Speaker John Gard has scheduled several town-hall meetings that he says will focus on gas prices. Unfortunately his positions on our addiction to oil is no different than the failed policies of the most unpopular president in history, George W. Bush. More specifically Gard is talking about giving Big Oil a free pass to dig up and take over wherever they think that they can find oil. Whether it is endangering pristine areas of wildlife or erecting Big Oil monuments right off our coasts, Gard’s folly is trying to drill our way out of this energy crisis. Even some of his fellow Republicans do not agree with this shortsighted gamble for what is sure to be a very limited gain. While Gard is busy promoting Big Oil’s self serving agenda, I wonder if he will take a moment to correct himself on a recent related claim. Talking Points memo reported  recently that Gard parroted a conservative talking point that had been completely debunked. The conservative claim that China and other nations were drilling off the coast of Florida was repeated in a Gard flyer even after Dick Cheney had to admit that it was not factual. When reporters for Talking Points Memo called the Gard operation to ask them about the misinformation, they were given several different false and conflicting answers. Perhaps it would be good for John Gard to take a moment during the town hall meetings to explain why he put out such inaccurate information for public consumption. Like his energy policy in general, the flyer demonstrates the length that he will go to in order to protect Big Oil and their narrow interests.

Judicial Activism is both praised and criticized, as it often divides the court,, but it has without question produced valuable results over issues that were controversial at some time, such as Brown v. Board of Education , a critical case that brought an end to segregation during the 1950s. This judicial activism is defined as “an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution holding that the spirit of the times and the needs of the nation can legitimately influence judicial decisions.” Van Hollen’s recent public announcements on particular issues in Wisconsin remind me eerily of this method, but without the formality of court.

Recently presidential candidate John McCain took a trip to Iowa where he visited some of the areas most damaged by the June flooding. McCain and crew ignored a request, from Iowa's governor, to forego the visit although Iowa officials feared the campaign visit may distract security from the state's massive flood recovery efforts. During his visit McCain took the opportunity to tell residents of an effected town "I am confident that there will be immediate relief". Perhaps McCain's confidence comes from knowing that support is available through the recent Water Resources Development Act, a bill passed last year. The Water Resources Development Act was passed in the Senate on November 9, 2007 with a Senate vote of 81-12. President Bush did veto the bill, but lawmakers were able to count enough votes to over-ride the veto. Both Democrats and Republicans chose to support this bill which appropriated $23 billion to critical projects including repairs to flood damage and wetland area, as well as preventing flooding to communities around the country. Among the small number of lawmakers opposing the bill included Senator McCain: although he was not present for the vote, McCain vocally opposed it . Last year McCain said that he opposed the $23 billion Water Resources Development Act because it included projects he considered wasteful. The program funds the production of levees and flood prevention programs which at the time of the vote McCain considered "pork". Today, thousands of Americans are still piecing together the remains from the early June floods. Instead of offering kind words to those most affected by natural disasters, maybe next time McCain will support positive legislation before the storm hits.

John McCain’s record in the U.S. Senate has repeatedly demonstrated that he is totally out of touch with the average working person in this country. His recent and constantly shifting policy statements have totally reinforced this fact. Just the other day, while he was fundraising in California, a reporter asked him a very easy question that any regular person could have answered instantly. “ When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?” What was McCain’s answer? Well, it was a mixture of “I don’t know,” and “I don’t recall.” It is no surprise that John McCain is so far out of touch with the daily lives of average Americans. He is one of the richest members of Congress after all. He did marry into a very wealthy family and doesn’t really have to deal with any of the struggles that the rest of us face everyday. Being as rich as John McCain isn’t the problem by itself, but it is that combined with loser policy positions that don’t help real people that need it most. Fresh off a fundraising tour through oil country , John McCain has changed his mind on trying to drill our way out of our energy crisis. It seems that he is totally in touch with the needs of that powerful interest. The best that average people have been able to get from John McCain is the “gas tax holiday” which has been totally debunked by economists as a total gimmick . When it comes to the economy and the everyday challenges faced by average Americans, John McCain is showing himself to be out of touch and deficient of solutions.

The following text (in two e-mails) below was received from timkisting@aol.com , commenting on a brief analysis ( SC Decision Striking Down Gun Control Is Fine with This Progressive ) on the Supreme Court decision, District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290) , that was picked up in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Sunday. Well, let's hope this guy, timkisting@aol.com , doesn't own a gun. The ad hominem attempt (below among many) to insult by raising the possibility of my being a "fag" merits a reply: Being gay is okay. As is working for the people residing in "Milwaukee's ghetto population".