What happened to all the voter fraud nonsense from which our intrepid Attorney General was going to protect us?

With the great number of people casting votes that saw Wisconsin at number two in voter turnout in the nation, the GAB reports that the elections were "virtually problem-free."

Now, another rightwinger, Wigderson from Waukesha, plays the fool on the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board's (GAB) maintenance of its statewide registered voter list (SVRS) and the Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board case meant to stop the spectre of voting fraud.

The GAB, as it said it would, will ask for checks of SVRS against other existing databases, and it is now doing so, per its authority and responsibility and discretion.

The rightwing was right all along, say the know nothings. 

Is this ignorance deliberate? It must be, no one can be that dumb.

Amplifying a point made by others, since the Feb. 17 primary that catapulted Obama as the frontrunner in the Democratic Primary with solid appeal to the white working class, Wisconsin has reclaimed its maverick status demonstrating a propensity to support political progressives.

As Paul Maslin writes in Salon today, "In my home state of Wisconsin, Obama's margin mushroomed to an extraordinary 13 points. Just look at any of the electoral maps of the Badger State and realize that all that blue was produced by nearly all-white rural counties and small towns that many thought would never support an African-American candidate."

Keep up the heat till closing time.

Working at Fire Station #2, 5415 King James Way (Fitchburg, WI), the words of a black man in his 20s this morning stand out as poll workers worked with his voting identity and residence.

"I will be voting today," he said calmly but with determination.

Black folks who were newly registering at the polls had a determined look in their eyes; I mean it. And there was a steady stream of black families coming from the newly-registered room.

I lived in the ward for some eight years and I know the high and low-turnout areas. Many voting today were from low turn-out areas.

Inspiring. These are just the people that J.B. Van Hollen and the Republicans want to disenfranchise. And they would not be stopped today.

- via mal contends

Though Attorney General Van Hollen's voter suppression effort looks to fail, few doubt that the GOP has more tricks up its sleeve.

The nonpartisan Election protection coalition (http://www.866ourvote.org/) is fighting voter suppression and is a great resource. Look them up.

Any problems or concerns: Call 1 866 OUR VOTE (1 866 687 8683).

Vietnam-era Navy veteran Keith Roberts (1968-71), jailed because he could not substantiate the circumstances causing his diagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as he was "tenaciously pursuing a claim for VA benefits," has been informed his hearing for oral arguments of his VA claim before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) is scheduled for October 23, 2008.

In a unanimous opinion (07-1546) issued in July a three-member panel for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the controversial conviction on fraud of Roberts.

© 2008 Michael Leon
A man charged with 12 felonies for "allegedly kidnapping ... two men, stripping them, chaining them up in his home, beating them and sexually assaulting them several times" (Wisconsin State Journal, July 15) outside Wisconsin Rapids is described by a former coworker interviewed by mal contends as "friendly, with a good sense of humor."

Edward Lanphear is also being investigated for possible links to the murder of UW-Madison student, Brittany Zimmermann, the Wisconsin State Journal reports, though police say at this time that there is no direct connection other than the facts that Lanphear and Zimmermann are both from Wood County, and that Lanphear had a newspaper article about the Zimmermann case at his residence.