by mal contends

Public financing, education, and aggressive journalism point the way out of the unholy mess the election of Wisconsin Supreme Court justices has become.

So bad is Wisconsin that we are now a poster child for a nationwide problem with electing judges.

Another part of the solution proposed is more aggressive recusal rules, negating the rationale behind buying a Supreme Court seat.

From the Brennan Center for Justice's Justice Under Seige:

Sometimes we need to remember who we're fighting.  Hey...comedy entertainment.  It's all true, folks.

In case the sub-prime lending scandal and the Eliot Spitzer scandal has you trying to figure out what going on.....Greg Palast clears up any "mismatched" facts...  The Palast Site. 

An excerpt:

"Here’s how it worked: The Grinning Family, with US average household income, gets a $200,000 mortgage at 4% for two years. Their $955 monthly payment is 25% of their income. No problem. Their banker promises them a new mortgage, again at the cheap rate, in two years. But in two years, the promise ain’t worth a can of spam and the Grinnings are told to scram - because their house is now worth less than the mortgage. Now, the mortgage hits 9% or $1,609 plus fees to recover the “discount” they had for two years. Suddenly, payments equal 42% to 50% of pre-tax income. The Grinnings move into their Toyota."

The "belated" release of the Great Lakes Study is coming under fire.  Two Michigan lawmakers, Rep Bart Stupak and John Dingell both Democrats have sent a letter to the CDC announcing their probe into the matter.  The probe will investigate allegations that the Bush administration suppressed the report, an inquiry questioning the demotion of one of the authors who pushed for the study's release and also to pursue and investigate concerns raised between the correlation of contaminated areas and the health of citizens living there.  According to "The Detroit News" the letter states:

"If the conclusions of this study are accurate and correct, the health of millions of people in the Great Lakes region may be at risk," Dingell and Stupak write in their letter to the CDC. "Moreover apparent withholding of this report raises grave questions about the integrity of scientific research at" the agency, they write.

The letter asks the CDC to turn over any documents relating to the report or the decision not to publish it, as well as records on the demotion of Christopher DeRosa, the scientist who led the work on the report."

Sometimes as we struggle for justice and fairness we forget how truly unjust the unending suffering those of our nation's leadership have unleashed upon a mostly unsuspecting world (although not anymore).  If we are to consider that ALL people are just that, people...... only then will we conceive the horrors of the reality that is the American Empire.  The thirteen year sanctions upon the country of Iraq have caused suffering almost incomprehensible to most of us.  Felicity Arbuthnot in an open letter to Britian's Minister of State for International Development at Global Research writes:

"To illustrate the the iniquity, an acquaintance, in desperation, sent a supply if insulin, in a jiffy bag, to his diabetic brother in Baghdad, as none was available. It was returned by the Post Office as needing an export licence.His brother died before the license arrived. I myself was threatened by DFID with prosecution, for taking a year's supply of cancer treatment to a surgeon with cancer, who had worked here at the Hammersmith Hospital, a specialist in pediatric orthopedics, who had enabled numerous British children walk again, able to use their arms, straightened small bodies. Cancer treatments too, were vetoed by the United Nations Sanctions Committee.

From Nichols at The Nation:

Three senior members of the House Judiciary Committee have called for the immediate opening of impeachment hearings for Vice President Richard Cheney.

Democrats Robert Wexler of Florida, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin on Friday distributed a statement, "A Case for Hearings," that declares, "The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution. The charges against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens."

James Sample, counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, is introducing the nation to the ethics of the Wisconsin judiciary.

And it's not pretty.

Sample's Can $2 Million For A Judge Buy A $350 Million Tax Refund? in the Huffington Post rips Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler's corruption and the system allowing her to continue in her position.

Sample sees the Ziegler affair as emblematic of a national trend as state judicial systems become corrupt political machines.

Writes Sample:

In short, the influence of big money in our nation's state courts is nearing the point where, well, "you're going to want to tell your great grandkids about what happened to the rule of law in America back in the day."

Via MAL Contends - The U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) is infamous for its culture of claim denial (like a particularly mean health insurance company) and its systemic bureaucratic hostility to veterans.

But increasing numbers of civilian attorneys are stepping up to the plate to assist veterans.

"The need is staggering," said Gordon Erspamer, a Morrison and Foerster attorney in Walnut Creek, Calif., who has worked on veterans' cases since the 1970s. (Lynne Marek, The National Law Journal)

Morrison and Foerster is engaged in an unprecedented, class action, pro bono case on behalf of 100,000s of vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Blackwater Employee Commits Murder And Receives A Free Ticket HomeBy Dan Kenney

            Christmas Eve 2006 in Baghdad’s Green Zone an off-duty Blackwater employee shot and killed Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi’s personal bodyguard. Seven months later the contractor is still free and has not been charged with any crime. This story received little media coverage. Partly because Abdul-Mahdi assured the U.S. ambassador that he would try to keep it from public attention.

Impeachment - it's not just for blowjobs any more: