... and that ain't much.

I remember years ago when I used to joke about news coverage on WGN-TV in Chicago, which seemed to feature an explosion so often that I called it "The Explosion News at 9."

As of late afternoon on Saturday, this was the entire list of the day's Newswatch on the Journal Sentinel website.  They could have used an explosion for a little variety and broader coverage:

UPDATE: Boy who died in fire identified 2:25 p.m. »

Janesville boy dies in fire 1:01 p.m. »

Three wounded in Racine shootings 12:10 p.m. »

Police arrest armed robbery suspects 11:38 a.m. »

Two critically injured in rollover crash 11:12 a.m. »

Man dies in single-car crash 11:09 a.m. »

Cop shoots suspect during foot chase 10:34 a.m

What to wear to the May Day march?

The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ) has just the thing: "Immigrants Welcome" T-shirts in Spanish and Hmong. (There are yard signs with the same message.)

Justice for immigrants is a major focus of the events Thursday in Madison and Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee event is billed as a statewide action, organized by Voces de la Frontera and endorsed by Peace Action Wisconsin.

Organizers at Voces say:

The returns for the state supreme court race are still coming in, but hopes are not looking good for Louis Butler. At the moment 86% of the vote is in, and Butler is behind by almost exactly 11,000 votes.

This is a great disappointment here - we'd thought that the ludicrous ads run by Gableman, the WMC, and others would have put him in the losing column at the end of the night, but that seems unlikely now (though we're still holding out hope). The idea that you can flim-flam so many voters with the notion that doing your job as a defense attorney, or using "loopholes" like the constitution in defense of a client are points of shame is appalling.

The last two supreme court elections in the state are the best argument I have seen for either removing this office from the popular vote, or for instituting complete public financing for court campaigns. Certainly anyone who needed to make their decision in this race based on the television ads would not have had any idea how to vote. The buckets of money poured into this election by WMC and other special interests assured that the advertising would be deceptive, negative, and deplorable. And the sad story of the evening is that the biggest victim in this election is not Louis Butler, but the truth.

In recent days I have complained about two items concerning the Greater Wisconsin Committee.

One is the use of the word "shadowy" to describe a group that is in full compliance with state and federal laws and discloses everything it is required to disclose.

The other was a news story falsely claiming that I run GWC.

Now comes Brian Back, described as a Mequon author, with a column in the Journal Sentinel titled, "Rise of the Shadow Parties." Writes Back:

But the interest groups are run by former party operatives: Coalition for America's Families by Steve King, former state Republican Party chairman; Club for Growth by R.J. Johnson, former executive director of the Republican Party; Greater Milwaukee Committee by Bill Christofferson, former campaign chair for Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle; and WMC by its president James Haney, an ex-staffer in the administration of two Republican governors.

Which prompts yet another email from me to Back and the JS:

If only I did 25% of what I am blamed for...

Contrary to the assertion in your column, I do not run the Greater Wisconsin Committee and never have.

In a recent post on FolkBum, bloggers were discussing the merit of including similar regulations for guns as automobiles. I think this is an interesting idea. Similarly, Folkbum provided me with the reference info for an article related to early gun restrictions in the New England colonies.

Location(s)

Where Liberal is not a dirty word.

Location(s)

Free WhitewaterAmidst all the election angst, irritating judge ads, and other items flying by our radar, it's sometimes easy to overlook smaller but important issues in the state. I think it's time to say something about the Free Whitewater web site issue.

John Adams, an anonymous blogger in Whitewater, has been stirring up a hornet's nest in the city by being critical of the local government, particularly the chief of police.  Rather than rehash this here, I'll just point you to one of the fine articles already written about this issue.  

... they used to teach fact-checking in journalism school?

UWM "Faculty member" Jessica McBride writes on her so-called election blog: