by Michael Leon (via mal contends)

Madison, Wisconsin —Vietnam-era Navy veteran Keith Roberts (1968-71) is an honorably discharged Navy airman who feels betrayed by his government, specifically the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Dept of Justice, for its self-conscious and successful efforts to financially ruin and imprison him.

Do you know what happened in Indiana Tuesday thanks to their adoption of voter ID laws upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court?

Nuns were denied the right to vote. They were in their 80s and 90s and lived in the same residence for most of their lives across the street from Notre Dame University.

And State Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) would like to ensure Wisconsin nuns, the elderly, and disabled get the same treatment.

"It is time that we get this passed here in Wisconsin," growled Stone, who for years has worked to erect barriers to voter participation. "There are no excuses left for not having this as part of our election process." (Capital Times)

So far, Wisconsin's voter ID law is on hold as republicans contemplate how to change the state constitution to get around Governor Doyle's veto power.

Get Uppity!

Ask Jeff Stone why his party wants to disenfranchise Wisconsin voters!

Rep.Stone [at] legis [dot] wisconsin [dot] gov

I don't know how many people marched in Milwaukee on Thursday for fair treatment of immigrants.

No one has tried to put a number on it. Crowd estimates have gone out of fashion.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is content to say that "thousands" marched, and made a point of saying it wasn't as many as last year. (How do we know that?)

Meanwhile, the New York Times was pointing to Milwaukee as one of the places where crowds didn't decrease, and made it sound like the biggest march in the country took place here.

One thing is certain: TENS of thousands of people marched in Milwaukee. I can't say whether it was 20,000 or 30,000 or more, but it was undoubtedly the biggest march Milwaukee will see in 2008 -- and the biggest since last year's march organized by the same people.

Consider this: The march started at 5th and Washington about 11:45 and wound its way across the 6th Street viaduct and down Wisconsin Avenue to Veterans Park. That's a good two and one-half miles, maybe a little more.

When the first marchers got to the park, many marchers were still lined up and waiting to leave the starting point. Marchers were strung out all along the 2.5-mile route, and kept coming into Veterans Park until about 2 p.m., more than two hours after the march began.

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?

via MAL Contends

The House Judiciary Committee is proceeding in investigating the Bush administration's political prosecutions.

Press Release from April 17

(Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Committee Members Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Artur Davis (D-AL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced three critical actions in the Committee's investigation into allegations of selective or poltiically-motivated prosecution in the Justice Department.

The Members today invited Karl Rove to testify before the committee; urged the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate those allegations; and demanded that Attorney General Michael Mukasey provide additional documents on this subject.

Today's actions result from the Committee's majority staff report, also released today, which details the cases, interviews and documents they have reviewed since the Committee began its investigation last year.

 
Update: Recusal Standards: A Partial Solution to Judicial Mess

Updated - Via MAL Contends

In light of recent Wisconsin Supreme Court races that were expensive assurances that the would-be justices will exercise bias over certain classes of litigants, here’s one progressive good government idea from Kentucky to which Wisconsin needs to catch up and follow.

Today is the innocent and jailed Wisconsin Navy veteran Keith Roberts' birthday.

And Roberts (1968-71) is celebrating it back in the general population in a federal prison in Minnesota, as his wife reports that he has been released from solitary confinement, and is working on a supplemental brief, ordered to be filed with the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, while Roberts' parents, who are in their 80s and unable to travel to Minnesota, hope to see their son before they die.

Writes Mrs. Roberts in an e-mail:

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.

On Wednesday, February 27th, the Senate Health Committee heard testimony on SB 398, the Women's Health and Safety Act. The bill seeks to repeal Wisconsin statute 940.04 (Wisconsin's Criminal Abortion Ban), which, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, would outlaw nearly all forms of abortion in Wisconsin. Moreover, the law includes a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for doctors who perform an abortion and a woman could receive up to 3.5 years in prison for having an abortion or performing an abortion on herself. The law is currently unenforceable as the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade legalized abortions in all fifty states 35 years ago. However, if Roe fell, Wisconsin's Criminal Abortion Ban would immediately go into effect; local district attorneys could prosecute both women and doctors involved in the now-illegal procedure.

Update: FBI Response to The Progressive Article Alleging the FBI Authorizes InfraGard Members to “Shoot to Kill” [- this is what is called a long non-denial denial -]

Lee Rayburn, one of the most engaging radio hosts in America - The Mic, 92.1 FM (Madison, Wisconsin) - talked to an acquaintance some months back who told him that a U.S. government agency was involved in deputizing businesses' principals in a secret program to be activated in the event of a national emergency.

Rayburn has an ear for a good story; and the source seemed credible, so he mentioned the bare facts on his morning radio show broadcast out of Madison.

Rayburn said he wondered about the facts and treated the matter with due skepticism; but he was disturbed by one aspect: The alleged civilian shoot-to-kill with immunity element of the program. Smells like ... fascism.