Poster from WhiteHouse.org

Online drivers licenses raise privacy issue

All this talk about drivers' licenses and photo IDs got me to wondering: How secure is your driver's license info and photo? Can anyone get access to it for identity theft or other purposes?

You will be surprised at what I found. See for yourself.

Reporter crusades for photo ID cards

More editorial commentary from the Journal Sentinel's Greg Borowski, who seems to have gone from reporting on election problems to crusading for photo ID cards for voters.

Last week, he felt compelled to offer his own comment when reporting on Rep. Gwen Moore's comments at a House "hearing" ginned up by Rep. Mark Green to boost his campaign for governor. [See earlier post, No Drivers License? No Problem. No Vote. ]

Now, in a story decrying the lack of action of needed election reforms since Borowski and the Journal Sentinel investigated problems a year ago, he offers this:

A probe headed by U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic and Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann was launched in January. In May, the two said they had found clear evidence of fraud in the city, but emphasized it did not involve an organized effort.

They said more than 200 felons voted illegally in the city and there were at least 100 other cases in which someone used a fake name or false address to vote, or voted twice.

So far, 14 cases have been filed in federal court, 10 involving felons who illegally voted while still on probation or parole and four involving cases of double voting. In addition, two cases were filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court involving false registration cards submitted in voter registration drives.

Of the felon-voting cases, four people are awaiting trial, one was acquitted, one was found guilty at trial, and three reached plea agreements. Officials have been unable to locate the 10th to pursue charges.

In the double-voting cases, one resulted in a hung jury, one was dismissed when the individual was found incompetent to stand trial, one resulted in a plea agreement and the other is awaiting trial.

By its very nature, voter fraud is difficult to detect and hard to prove in court. It is one thing to determine that a fake name was used, and another to learn who used the fake name.

"We need to rely on the records," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Frohling. "There has been a lot of coverage about human errors and the integrity of the records."

While Republicans have cited the cases of fraud in the photo ID debate, many Democrats have argued that the number of cases is so small that a major change, which they say would burden the poor and elderly, should not be implemented.

At a hearing in Milwaukee last week by a U.S. House committee, critics of such a requirement cited the smallest measurement of the cases - the number convicted - to say the problem is not severe.

That approach, though, ignores how other crime is measured. Cases of burglary, for instance, are not measured by only those where a prosecution leads to a conviction.

None of the many Republicans present thought to make those bold-faced comments, so Borowski supplied them himself. That's full-service reporting.

It is true that burglaries are measured by how many crimes are committed and reported, not by how many people are convicted.

But even if you take the worst case scenario and assume that there really are 100 cases of people using false identities or addresses -- I doubt there are even that many actual fraud cases, and that many of the 100 are clerical errors -- bear in mind that 277,000 people voted in the city in the last presidential election. That's .03 of 1 per cent. If you throw in the 200 felons, it is still less than one-tenth of one per cent. (Everyone agrees that photo IDs would not stop felons from voting; other steps are being taken to correct the problem.)

We would like elections to run perfectly. But an error rate of one-tenth of one per cent cannot justify putting into effect a new requirement -- photo ID cards -- that are guaranteed to prevent some people from exercising their right to vote. Many of them, we know, will be the poor, minorities and the elderly -- those who have no driver's license now and will be less well-equipped and less likely to satisfy the photo ID requirements.

I am surprised that the Journal Sentinel, which consistently editorializes against photo IDs, continues to endorse it in its news stories.

Perhaps the belief is that if the newspaper is to win a prize for exposing the problems in the system, it is necessary to show that some changes were made because of the newspaper's investigation. (I write that as a former newspaper editor who knows that competition for awards can drive coverage.) Let's hope that's not what's going on here. But if that's not it, what is it?

Borowski's original investigation into problems with Milwaukee's voting systems and process provided a real service and highlighted areas that need correction. Photo ID cards, for which he now seems to have become an advocate, is a political issue, no matter how hard the Republicans try to dress it up as something else. Its goal is to reduce the Democratic vote, especially in Milwaukee. Borowski and his newspaper should not want any part of that.

(Borowski shared the byline with Stacy Forster of the paper's State Capitol bureau on this one. If it turns out she wrote the part I questioned, I will be surprised.)

Not about the war? Of course it is

Right-wing bloggers and Bush apologists spent the weekend assuring us that the Libby indictment was "not about the war," using a quote from the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, to back up their claim.

From the transcript of Fitzgerald's news conference:

FITZGERALD: This indictment is not about the war. This indictment's not about the propriety of the war. And people who believe fervently in the war effort, people who oppose it, people who have mixed feelings about it should not look to this indictment for any resolution of how they feel or any vindication of how they feel. This is simply an indictment that says, in a national security investigation about the compromise of a CIA officer's identity that may have taken place in the context of a very heated debate over the war, whether some person -- a person, Mr. Libby -- lied or not. The indictment will not seek to prove that the war was justified or unjustified. This is stripped of that debate, and this is focused on a narrow transaction. And I think anyone's who's concerned about the war and has feelings for or against shouldn't look to this criminal process for any answers or resolution of that.

So Fitzgerald, in a very lawyerlike way, explains the indictment. In a narrow sense, he's right; the indictment isn't specifically about the war. But the whole case is.

Fitzgerald's investigation was to try to find who leaked classified information that Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA agent.

We got to that investigation because the Bush administration misled the American public about reasons to go to war in Iraq, citing false evidence of weapons of mass destruction. When Joe Wilson blew the whistle and told the truth, the Bushies moved quickly to smear him, which for complicated reasons included outing Wilson's wife as a CIA agent. Then, when Fitzgerald investigated, Libby lied to him and tried to cover up the role of the vice-president's office, if not the veep himself, in the Wilson-Plame affair.

So make no mistake. It's all about the war.

To say that Libby's indictment isn't about the war is like saying Nixon's resignation wasn't about Watergate.

If it all had come out on one day, and he had told the truth, he might have survived.

The coverup -- and the steady drip ... drip ... drip ... as the truth came out --forced him from office.

Drip ... drip ... drip.

Petri speaks up on torture; others silent

Rep. Tom Petri, is among 13 Republican House members backing an anti-torture amendment to the defense appropriations bill. The amendment, by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a former prisoner of war, was added in the Senate on a 90-9 vote but was not in the House version of the bill.

The bill is in a conference committee, and Petri joined 12 other Republicans in signing a letter asking that McCain's amendment be included in the final compromise bill.

"Inhumane treatment at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib has tarnished our reputation as defenders of human rights," said Petri. "We need to be absolutely clear that we mean what we say when we call for civilized behavior.''

The McCain amendment would place limits on the military's treatment of detainees abroad. Incredibly, President Bush has threatened to veto the bill if the amendment is included in the final version.

Wisconsin's three other Republicans -- Mark Green, Paul Ryan, and F. James Sensenbrenner -- have been silent on the issue. Maybe they are pro-torture?

Changing the subject

Hurrying another Supreme Court nominee into the spotlight is an indication that Karl Rove & Co. still know how to play the game.

They are well aware that the news media -- for reasons I have never understood -- can only cover one story at a time. Hurricane Katrina replaced Cindy Sheehan, and Harriet Miers replaced Katrina. The Fitzgerald investigation and indictments replaced Miers.

Now their hope, which may well be realized, is that the new Supreme Court battle will eclipse the media's focus on Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and the rest of the Gang of Liars who got us into the Iraq war under false pretenses.

Unless and until there is a new development from prosecutor Fitzgerald, the strategy is quite likely to work.

Garden State race in 2005 could be prelude to Badger State race in 2006

The New Jersey governor's race, in its final days, continues to offer a possible preview of the Wisconsin governor's race in 2006.

As you read the description of Doug Forrester's position on stem cell research, simply substitute Green for Forrester. Mark Green, like Forrester, says he's for "stem cell research" but not public funding. Like Forrester, he's trying to hide the fact that he means adult, not embryonic stem cell research. Like New Jersey, Wisconsin voters support embryonic stem cell research, while the anti-choice wing of the state GOP does not.

My DD blog reports:

NJ-Gov: Forrester and Stem Cell Research
by Scott Shields

The Forrester campaign is in crisis mode, trying to deal with the fallout of the Carl Riccio ads that have hit the airwaves hear in New Jersey. His lack of support for embryonic stem cell research has always been a problem for Forrester, as New Jersey voters overwhelmingly support it. However, the anti-choice wing of the state's Republican Party does not. And in order to win the gubernatorial nomination earlier this year, Doug Forrester needed their support. Rather than taking a principled stance against embryonic stem cell research, Forrester has tried to play both sides of the issue, claiming that he supports stem cell research, but not public funding for it. He's been much more quiet about the fact that the stem cell research he has supported is adult stem cell research, not embryonic. There's a huge difference between the two (see the non-political Wikipedia's 'stem cell' entry for more information).

On Friday, Forrester claimed to have a miraculous change of heart and now claims to completely support embryonic stem cell research and even the public funding of it. But he sounded like a complete and total buffoon in the process. The Star-Ledger reported his bizarre transformation.

Earlier post: NJ stem cell ad sign of things to come?

Finding creative ways to keep hurricane relief donations flowing

Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma have come and gone, but the need for help and donations will continue for a long time. As the nation's short attention span wanes. The Houston Chronicle offers some offbeat ways to help, including one, the Blame Game, that is close to my heart. You can read the story here, for more details on the items listed.

RESOURCES Here are some unconventional ways to contribute to hurricane victims. (Of course, you can always donate to the Red Cross directly at www.redcross.org .)

• Celebrity auction: Here's your shot to score a signed Aerosmith guitar or to name a character in a James Patterson novel. Various auctions are being held, with proceeds going to Katrina victims. Go to www.citizenshelpingheroes.org

• Human target: Feel like embarrassing someone for a good cause? For the rest of the month, University of California-Santa Barbara student Park Williams will sacrifice his dignity by performing stunts in exchange for your donations, which go to the Red Cross. Go to www.daringiscaring.org

• Bibs, beer steins and bags, for a cause: Want to show your support for evacuees? Check out Cafe Press items dedicated to Hurricane Katrina, from hoodies to doggie T-shirts to messenger bags at www.cafepress.com/communitycares/

• The Blame Game: This game takes a jab at the government's reaction to the Katrina evacuation by taking players through a winding New Orleans game board where they can't win; $10 at www.zzzingers.com .

• Teri Hatcher T-shirts: She may be busy, but Desperate Housewives' Hatcher took time out from her schedule to create a T-shirt line, with profits benefiting the Red Cross. Go to www.presentsforpurpose.com .

Quote, unquote

George W Bush ... A man of principle, a man of honor. On the first hour of the first day...he will restore decency and integrity to the oval office.

-- Dick Cheney, Aug. 2, 2000, speech to the Republican national convention.

Iraq veterans ask for change of course

The nation’s largest Iraq War Veterans group, Operation Truth, launched a nationwide television advertising campaign Thursday, calling for a change in course in Iraq, and an exit strategy that honors the sacrifice of the 2000 American troops who have been killed in the ongoing conflict there.

The ad can be viewed on the web by clicking here.

MoveOn is also airing a new commercial asking "How Many More?"

Miers does in Doonesbury

A week of funny Doonesbury strips was one of the casualties of Harriet Miers's "decision" to "withdraw" her name from consideration.

But never fear. Slate has posted them here for your enjoyment.

Hat tip:Widgerson Library and Pub.

Libby's defense: 'I forgot'

Kevin Drum of the Washington Monthly's "Political Animal" blog:

LIBBY'S DEFENSE....Scooter Libby's lawyer has outlined Libby's probable defense against Patrick Fitzgerald's perjury charges: he forgot.

As lawyers, we recognize that a person's recollection and memory of events will not always match those of other people, particularly when they are asked to testify months after the events occurred.

I sure hope Libby has a backup plan. Granted, pleas of faulty memory are pretty common in court cases, but Libby has a high bar to overcome:

His first interview with the FBI was only a few months after the events in question. This isn't a matter of being hazy on a few details years after the fact.

It's been pretty well documented that Libby was obsessed with Joe Wilson. This wasn't just a sideshow for him, it was something he spent a lot of time on.

Libby testified that his knowledge of Valerie Plame's CIA employment came from reporters. This was false, but it isn't just a matter of Libby's testimony not matching that of the reporters who supposedly told him about Plame. Fitzgerald also has a bunch of evidence showing that Libby actively pursued information about Wilson and discussed his wife's status with numerous people within the White House. That's a lot to forget.

Libby repeated his false story on four separate occasions. He didn't just alter a few details here and there, he made up a detailed cover story and stuck to it rigorously in front of both investigators and the grand jury.

I sure wouldn't want to try to put lipstick on that pig in front of a jury. If that's all Libby's got, he'd better get on the phone with Fitzgerald pronto and start trying to cut a deal.

This, from the AP, is Fitzgerald's summary:

"At the end of the day what appears is that Mr. Libby's story that he was at the tail end of a chain of phone calls, passing on from one reporter what he heard from another, was not true. It was false. He was at the beginning of the chain of phone calls, the first official to disclose this information outside the government to a reporter. And then he lied about it afterward, under oath and repeatedly."

-- Marshall Ramsey, Jackson MS Courier Ledger via Cagle.

Mothers, don't let your babies grow up to be Scooters ...

What is it about these Scooter guys that gets them into trouble?
Scooter Libby, top, at least resigned as Dick Cheney's chief of staff after being indicted on five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice for trying to cover up the facts in the Valerie Plame investigation.

Scooter Jensen, bottom, three years after being indicted on three felony charges for corruption and abuse of his public office, is still serving in a leadership role for Republicans in the State Assembly.

Apologies to Phil (Scooter) Rizzuto

No driver's license? No problem. No vote.

This from Greg Borowski's story in the Journal Sentinel, on the Congressional "hearing" on election problems in Wisconsin earlier this week. He's writing about a photo ID requirement for voters:

Backers, including a member of a national election reform commission that recommended such a provision, said it would help restore confidence in the election system, assist poll workers and help guard against some forms of voter fraud. Critics said it would unfairly hit the poor and minorities, with U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) declaring flatly it would "have the effect of disenfranchising over a quarter of a million eligible voters in our state."

The figure was based on a study of people without driver licenses. However, such a statement assumes that none of them would obtain a photo ID and ignores provisions that exempt some elderly from the requirement. Backers of a photo ID requirement noted that plans in Wisconsin, vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle, would have provided free IDs to those who could not afford one.

So Borowski decides to referee Moore's comments and offer some editorial comment of his own.

He assumes, it appears, that everyone without a driver's license -- all 250,000 of them -- would simply run out and get a photo ID card. If they didn't, they would lose their right to vote.

Of course, he doesn't think they would all get the IDs. Let's say half of them did. Then there would "only" be 125,000 people who would be denied the right to vote. And that, apparently, would be acceptable.

We know who the people are without driver's licenses. This from an item I did in June:

The UW-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute did the study, which found:

Among black males between ages 18 and 24, 78% lacked a driver's license, the largest percentage of any demographic in the study. Other groups in which a majority lacked a driver's license were black males of any age (55% lack a license); Hispanic women of any age (59%); and black women, Hispanic men and Hispanic women between ages 18 and 24 (all between 57% and 66%).

By contrast, only 17% of white men and white women of voting age in Wisconsin lack a driver's license.

You don't have to be a genius to figure out that the groups most likely to be disenfranchised are those who vote heavily Democratic.

Yes, the bill would let them get a different kind of photo ID from the state. But the fact remains, that it would create one more barrier for those people if they want to vote. Advantage: Republicans.

All of the "voter fraud" talk is a mere smokescreen. The photo ID bill is pure, partisan power politics at work.It's also inaccurate to say that the federal election reform commission has endorsed what has been proposed in Wisconsin for photo IDs. The Carter-baker commission has endorsed something called REAL ID, a very different and very expensive proposition. We'll discuss that another time, but, as one Wisconsin lawmaker said, that is a horse of a different feather.

Meanwhile, in a related matter, the WashPost reports:

Voter ID Law Is Overturned

In a case that some have called a showdown over voting rights, a U.S. appeals court yesterday upheld an injunction barring the state of Georgia from enforcing a law requiring citizens to get government-issued photo identification in order to vote.

The ruling allows thousands of Georgians who do not have government-issued identification, such as driver's licenses and passports, to vote in the Nov. 8 municipal elections without obtaining a special digital identification card, which costs $20 for five years. In prior elections, Georgians could use any one of 17 types of identification that show the person's name and address, including a driver's license, utility bill, bank statement or a paycheck, to gain access to a voting booth.

Last week, when issuing the injunction, U.S. District Judge Harold L. Murphy likened the law to a Jim Crow-era poll tax that required residents, most of them black, to pay back taxes before voting. He said the law appeared to violate the Constitution for that reason. In the 2004 election, about 150,000 Georgians voted without producing government-issued IDs.

AG's sewage lawsuit stinks

The Journal Sentinel weighs in today with an editorial on AG Peg Lautenschlager's wrong-headed lawsuit against the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. Maybe there will be some political benefit to this stunt outstate, but it is playing badly in Milwaukee,, and opposition is bipartisan, from Mayor Tom Barrett to Republican radio hosts.

From today's editorial, titled,"Suit on dumping simply wrong":

State Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager filed suit Thursday against the taxpayers of Milwaukee County to get them to spend more money than they're already spending on sewage cleanup. The suit is disguised as a case against the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, but the reality is that Lautenschlager
is demanding that taxpayers fork out more money to fix one aspect of a complicated problem that would result in a marginal improvement in water quality.

Lautenschlager is asking a judge to tell the district to upgrade its system to stop future dumping of sewage into Lake Michigan. But the district is already working to upgrade its system: It has allocated $900 million for sewer projects and is in the middle of a $58 million long-range planning effort aimed at identifying still other improvements. That's not small change, and it will result in improvements.

Can the district do more to reduce the amount of partially treated sewage that is dumped into the lake? Yup. ShouldUnited Water Services and district officials be held to account for any mistakes in operations or judgment that result in unnecessary dumpings? Absolutely. But if the idea is to build a new system aimed at stopping all dumping, that's a) probably not possible, given the nature of Mother Nature and b) prohibitively expensive, to the point of draining the budgets of municipalities and taxpayers in the district.

We doubt very much that, given the current tax climate, paying for a system that would end all overflows or virtually all overflows would sit well with taxpayers...

... Lautenschlager ... apparently wants taxpayers to spend billions more on a "solution" that won't make the waters very much cleaner. That's not serving the citizens of Wisconsin.

Earlier post: Lautenschlager grandstands,taxpayers pay.

A small explosion

Jessica McBride "reports":

"The MSM are now exploding - very belatedly - with stories about a potential Diane Sykes' candidacy for SCOTUS."

So far, it's a pretty small explosion.

In a search of 20.2 million blogs on Technorati, Diane Sykes shows up 20 times in the last three days and three of them are from McBride. Make it 21: Eye on Wisconsin gets in.

As for the mainstream media (MSM if you're cool), there is one mention in the NY Times along with a host of other names, and an AP story which the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel picked up.

She may be in the running and even be nominated. But spare us the hype.

UPDATE: Courtesy of The Note at ABC News, here are the newspapers'short lists:

Washington Post: Alito, Brown, Callahan, Clement, Cornyn, Luttig, McConnell, Owen, Sykes, Thompson, Williams

Associated Press: Alito, Batchelder, Cornyn, Corrigan, Luttig, Mahoney, Owen, Thompson, Wilkinson, Williams

The New York Times: Alito, Luttig, Mahoney, Owen, Sykes, Wilkinson LINK

USA Today: Alito, Brown, Corrigan, Gonzales, Jones, Luttig, McConell, Owen, Williams

Wall Street Journal: Alito, Brown, Cornyn, Corrigan, Luttig, Owen, Williams

Wall Street Journal editorial board: Alito, Brown, Jones, Luttig, McConnell, Owen, Wilkinson

Los Angeles Times: Alito, Batchelder, Clement, Jones, Luttig, McConnell, Owen, Sykes, Thompson, Williams

LA Times editorial board: Maureen Mahoney

Boston Globe: Alito, Batchelder, Gonzales, Jones, Luttig, Mahoney, McConnell, Rogers Brown, Thompson, Wilkinson, Williams

Chicago Tribune: Alito, Luttig, Owen, Wilkinson, Williams

This may not mean anything, of course. Whose list was Harriet Miers on? Only W's, the one that mattered.

Correcting the record on concealed carry

Racine Alderman Pete Karas read this editorial by the Janesville Gazette the other day, and decided the Gazette needed to get its facts straight before it promotes concealed weapons as a way to “ward off criminals” instead of what they really are: a danger to the community.

So he wrote a letter to the editor:

To the Editor:

I read with dismay your editorial entitled, “Residents deserve the right to carry guns,” which appeared in the Janesville Gazette on October 23. Although I disagree with your position on this issue – I find it hard to believe that more guns on the street will make our neighborhoods safer – I was most shocked at the inaccuracy of what your editorial presented as fact.

First, you mention a few of the limited places that the proposed concealed weapons bill will not allow people to carry concealed weapons. You neglected to mention the exceptions. The bill clearly states that one would be able to carry weapons in a school zone if just “passing through,” in taverns if they derive over half of their revenue from food sales, at sporting events that are not school or professional (a little league game is allowed,) or in Municipal Buildings unless there are metal detectors installed.

The second misstatement of fact is your statement that posting a notice will prevent permit holders from bringing concealed weapons into shopping malls or other private businesses. While it is correct that to not allow weapons in a store or other private business a sign must be posted, your editorial failed to mention that visitors to the inside of a mall, store or private business must be “personally and orally” notified of the prohibition upon entry. In addition, this bill does not allow any individual or business owner to prohibit the carrying of guns on the outdoor portion of their property, e.g. in yards, parking lots and outdoor markets. I find this an incredibly unreasonable portion of the proposed law, usurping the property rights of a business owner.

The third fallacy deals with your contention that if the legislature does not pass a concealed carry law, that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will chip away at the current concealed carry prohibition. This speculation, no doubt, comes from an opinion written by one justice in a decision last year which allowed people to carry weapons in their home or personal business and has widely been quoted by the authors of this bill. I suggest the entire decision and opinion be read, as it will be easily interpreted otherwise.

Fourth, the editorial mentions that if one is convicted of domestic abuse, a violent misdemeanor, a felony, or drunken driving they will not be allowed a permit. What you fail to mention, once again, are the exceptions. For example, it must be two drunken driving convictions within the preceding three years to be denied a permit and if the violent misdemeanor is three years old, the person may obtain a permit. Furthermore, virtually none of the prohibitions for people to carry a concealed weapon apply to out of state licensees who will also be allowed to carry guns in Wisconsin.

I would suggest that before your Editorial Board takes another stand on such an important issue, they actually read and research the bill that they are writing about. I believe that when even the supporters of the concept of carrying concealed weapons learn of the actual content of the bill, most will agree as I do, that this bill, as written, is unsafe policy for the people and businesses of Wisconsin.

Alderman Pete Karas
Racine, Wisconsin

Hat tip: Gun Guys.

NJ stem cell ad sign of things to come?

New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine -- like Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle -- is a true stem cell champion.

Corzine's campaigning for governor, has been talking about stem cells, and now has launched a particularly powerful ad. It features a young quadriplegic man, Carl Riccio, who urges support for Corzine and for the stem cell research that might someday allow him to walk again. You can watch it here.

Don't be surprised if you see something like this in Wisconsin next year, especially if Rep. Mark Green, a consistent voice and vote against stem cell research, is the Republican nominee. A strong majority of Wisconsin voters, including a majority of Republican voters, back stem cell research. It promises to be a powerful wedge issue next year.

Spooky Sensenbrenner's in town

Keep the kids inside. Here for Halloween in the district, our own scary F. Jim Sensenbrenner. Show up with a Bryan Kennedy button and give him a scare.

F. Jim Sensenbrener's town hall schedule:

Saturday, October 29: 9 a.m. West Allis Public Library

Saturday, October 29: 1 p.m.Hartland Village Hall

Sunday, October 30: 7 p.m. Germantown Village Hall

New nominee a done deal now

Well, this settles it. If ex-hubby Charlie and F. Jim both endorse her, I'd have to be for Diane Sykes for Supreme Court, wouldn't I? The only other assurance I need is that Harriet Miers likes her, too.

Speaking of soirees, Mr. Sykes...

Republican radio talker Charlie Sykes and I had a little exchange the last couple of days over the war in Iraq, started by his calling the observances and vigils to mark the death of the 2000th American servicemen "soirees."

He and other right-wingers claimed the anti-war people were somehow "celebrating" the 2000th death.

Actually, it was the Republicans who were celebrating inappropriately, as Dana Milbank points out in this Washington Post article:

A Celebration in Search of an Occasion

It was, perhaps, not the best possible time for the Republican Party to hold a soiree.

The war in Iraq reached a macabre milestone yesterday afternoon as a 2,000th soldier was added to the list of the U.S. dead. Consumer confidence took a surprise tumble to a two-year low, the Conference Board announced. Support for the GOP fell to its lowest level in at least 13 years, according to a poll released by the Pew Research Center. All of Washington, meanwhile, was waiting for Friday's deadline for a prosecutor to say whether he is indicting top White House officials.

And yet, there they were at the gilded Mellon Auditorium last night: the Republican Party's biggest donors, men in tuxedos and women in cocktail dresses, dining on Asian spoon canapes, orange carpaccio and seared mignon of beef, and listening to the soothing tones of a jazz band and a keynote address by President Bush. About 250 Republican Eagles -- those who have contributed $15,000 or more to the party -- and guests were in town for the Eagles' 30th-birthday dinner, which was expected to bring the party more than $1 million.

Of course, the event was scheduled when nobody imagined this would be the darkest political week of the Bush presidency.

Rubbing elbows with the scandal-plagued

The NY Times today profiles Susan Ralston, Karl Rove's assistant, as someone who's coincidentally shown up in key roles in two investigations. Before working for Rove, she was Gal Friday for sleazeball lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- and procurer of free tickets for Mark Green's guy, Mark Graul.

A quick refresher on the Graul-Abramoff ticket connection: Susan Ralston e-mails, and an earlier post, "Graul, lobbyist friend won't discuss freebies."

In Jefferson, war over Wal-Mart continues

You never know what will happen once local voters feel empowered and learn how easy it is to get some petitions signed.

In Jefferson, where Wal-Mart is knocking on the door, pro-Wal-Mart voters forced a recall election and successfully replaced Dave Olsen, who had voted against an annexation to pave the way for a superstore, with someone who backs the store. But the battle is not over yet.

Now, there's a new petition drive in Jefferson, which has enough signatures to give the city council two choices: Adopt a new ordinance regulating development or put the question on the ballot in a referendum. It's a process called direct legislation.

Wal-Mart's proposed development is clearly the target.

The Daily Jefferson County Union reports:

JEFFERSON — The Coalition for a Better Jefferson has forwarded a petition to the City of Jefferson seeking to require certain studies if a developer or landowner seeks to annex or develop properties that exceed 15 acres. . .

The ordinance ... would essentially outline additional planning steps designed to assist the city as it considers large-scale developments.

Were this ordinance to pass, it would require these larger-scale developers or owners seeking annexation for their larger-scale properties to have four reports prepared as part of the process of consideration. The reports would include:

• An environmental impact statement, as defined in the applicable Wisconsin statute.
• A traffic impact statement prepared by an engineer selected by the city.

• An infrastructure analysis which considers the impact of the proposed development on the city’s sewer system, sanitary sewers, transportation grid, right-of-way, and other infrastructure elements.

• A community impact statement which reviews how the proposed development might affect the community overall.

This would look at things like how the development might affect the police and fire departments and other emergency services; the impact on schools; the wildlife, migrating birds, wetlands, or historical impact of the property as it exists; the economic impact on the city, including likely jobs lost and gained, the impact on the tax rolls, and other such considerations.

The proposed ordinance would require these studies to be done by independent, paid consultants, and it also would give the community a right to a hearing on any of these topics.

The city . . . could ask the developer to pay up front through an impact fee or could order a special assessment of the affected properties.

“The long and short of it is that taxpayers would generally not have to pay for the impact studies,” [John] Rhiel [of the committee] said, “but that these studies would give the community more of a three-dimensional picture of how the development would look at the end, rather than letting development happen step by step. . .

“This action partly came out of the experience the community had with the annexation request for the land that Wal-Mart was considering,” Rhiel said.

“A lot of people had a lot of opinions about what that development would mean for Jefferson, but we didn’t have a lot of facts, aside from Wal-Mart’s general reputation,” he said. “We didn’t have enough reliable information on how this specific development would affect this community.”

Rumors are already circulating that the new pro-superstore majority on the council, and the mayor, who supports the development, plan to ram the annexation through quickly, before the new ordinance could take effect. That could prompt more legal challenges.

Driving blind, as the deaths pile up

As a public service, here is a column the NY Times would like you to pay to read, but which deserves a wider audience:

By BOB HERBERT
Op-Ed Columnist

Much of the nation is mourning the more than 2,000 American G.I.'s lost to the war in Iraq. But some of the mindless Washington weasels who sent those brave and healthy warriors to their unnecessary doom have other things on their minds. They're scrambling about the capital, huddling frantically with lawyers, hoping that their habits of deception, which are a way of life with them, don't finally land them in a federal penitentiary.

See them sweat. The most powerful of the powerful, the men who gave the president his talking points and his marching orders, are suddenly sending out distress signals: Don't let them send me to prison on a technicality.

This is not, however, about technicalities. You can spin it any way you want, but Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation of Karl Rove, Scooter Libby et al. is ultimately about the monumentally conceived and relentlessly disseminated deceit that gave us the war that never should have happened.

Oh, it was heady stuff for a while - nerds and naïfs swapping fantasies of world domination and giddily manipulating the levers of American power. They were oh so arrogant and glib: Weapons of mass destruction. Yellowcake from Niger. The smoking gun morphing into a mushroom cloud.

Now look at what they've wrought. James Dao of The Times began his long article on the 2,000 American dead with a story that was as typical as it was tragic:

"Sgt. Anthony G. Jones, fresh off the plane from Iraq and an impish grin on his face, sauntered unannounced into his wife's hospital room in Georgia just hours after she had given birth to their second son."

The article described how Sergeant Jones, over a blissful two-week period last May, "cooed over their baby and showered attention on his wife."

"Three weeks later, on June 14," wrote Mr. Dao, "Sergeant Jones was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on his third tour in a war that is not yet three years old. He was 25."

Three times Sergeant Jones was sent to Iraq, which tells you all you need to know about the fairness and shared sacrifices of this war. If you roll the dice enough times, they're guaranteed to come up snake eyes.

Sergeant Jones told his wife, Kelly, that he had "a bad feeling" about heading back to Iraq for a third combat tour. After his death, his wife found a message that he had left for her among his letters and journal entries.

"Grieve little and move on," he wrote. "I shall be looking over you. And you will hear me from time to time on the gentle breeze that sounds at night, and in the rustle of leaves."

In addition to the more than 2,000 dead, an additional 15,000 Americans have been wounded. Some of these men and women have sacrificed one, two and even three limbs. Some have been permanently blinded and others permanently paralyzed - some both. Some have been horribly burned.

For the Iraqis, the toll is beyond hideous. Perhaps 30,000 dead, of which an estimated 10 percent have been children. The number of Iraqi wounded is anybody's guess.

This is what happens in war, which is why wars should only be fought when there is utterly and absolutely no alternative.

So what's ahead, now that the giddiness in Washington has been replaced by anxiety and the public is turning against the war?

Even Richard Nixon's cronies are crawling out of the woodwork to urge the Bush gang to stop the madness. In an article for Foreign Affairs magazine, former Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, now 83, says the administration needs to come up with a clearly defined exit strategy, and fast.

Said Mr. Laird: "Getting out of a war is still dicier than getting into one, as George W. Bush can attest."

But President Bush, who never gave the country a legitimate reason for going to war, and has never offered a coherent strategy for winning the war, seems in no hurry to figure out a way to exit the war.

Soon after the Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday that the American death toll in Iraq had reached 2,000, the president gave a speech in which he said: "This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve. No one should underestimate the difficulties ahead, nor should they overlook the advantages we bring to this fight."

Thousands upon thousands are suffering and dying in Iraq while, in Washington, incompetence continues its macabre marathon dance with incoherence.

Lautenschlager grandstands, taxpayers pay

Bruce Murphy must be psychic.

His online column for Milwaukee Magazine this week hits two topics -- "The Incredible Success of the Deep Tunnel" and "Is Peg Lautenschlager Dead Meat?"

The next day, AG Lautenschlager, looking for a headline, filed a lawsuit against MMSD, the sewerage district everybody loves to hate, falsely claiming that MMSD had violated its state permit because of sewage overflows.

She may not have gotten the reaction she expected. Even some of the right-wingers like Republican radio host Jeff Wagner -- who detests MMSD -- wondered aloud whether it makes sense for the state to file this suit.

You see, the state Dept. of Justice, which Lautenschlager heads, will pay the costs for prosecuting the case. But it's really Wisconsin taxpayers, of course, who foot the bill.

MMSD is a public body. The cost of its legal defense will be paid by -- you guessed it -- the taxpayers.

If Lautenschlager wins the case, she's asking MMSD to be fined. You know who will pay the fine, of course -- the taxpayers.

And she wants MMSD to spend more money, apparently, than the $900-million in capital expenditures already on the drawing board. And who will pay for any added projects? Need I say it? The taxpayers.

Lautenschlager tried to distinguish between the 28 communities served by MMSD and MMSD itself, saying she wasn't suing those communities, just the district. It is, of course, the taxpayers of those 28 communities who will pay the bill for her lawsuit against MMSD.

She hasn't made any friends with local officials, including a number of promiment Democrats like West Allis Mayor Jeannette Bell, who chairs MMSD, and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, whose mayoral campaign included a pledge to clean up MMSD.

They think she's grandstanding at taxpayer expense. And they're right.

---

(I should disclose that I am a former MMSD commissioner,where I learned the first rule of sanitary engineering: Shit flows downhill.)

---

UPDATE: In a strong letter to Lautenschlager, Barrett asks her to put up or shut up, basically, although he puts it more diplomatically in asking her to explain just what it is she would like MMSD to do and how much it might cost, pointing out that the money already being spent by "hard-working taxpayers . . . is not pocket change."

From the letter:

I’d like to commend you and your staff for the reasonable approach that has been taken with the twenty-eight Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District communities. I believe that working cooperatively with all parties toward a sensible and pragmatic settlement is in the best interest of taxpayers.

My reaction to your announced legal action against the MMSD and its 1.1 million customers is just the opposite. Quite frankly, I am disappointed.

In 2002, the MMSD entered into a court sanctioned stipulation that resulted in a $900 million tab for taxpayers. That agreement was approved by the Attorney General’s Office, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. There is little doubt that capital investments had to be made to improve the performance of the regional sewer system. At the end of 2005, more than $570 million in public funds will have been spent. Work on the remaining projects will be completed by 2010. Nine hundred million dollars is not pocket change. It comes from hard-working citizens who don’t hold most government agencies, or higher taxes for that matter, in high regard.

I have asked the MMSD Commissioners to hold a special meeting on Monday, November 7th. I asked for this meeting because I was not happy with the Commission’s action to increase the MMSD’s 2006 capital budget an additional 2%. And while I understand MMSD’s need to keep pace with meeting the stipulated demands, I want to reduce costs.

In order for the Commission to accurately plan for 2006 and beyond, please provide my office and the MMSD the specific actions and/or projects you feel are necessary for the MMSD to undertake in order to satisfy the compliance issues you have raised at your press conferences. I also would like to see all costs associated with those actions and/or projects.

In addition, please provide my office and the MMSD, a detailed account of what MMSD actions and/or capital projects your office has found to be delinquent in meeting the 2002 stipulation. This would include actions and/or projects the MMSD has completed, that are currently being undertaken, and those actions and/or projects that are planned.

As you are aware, there are one hundred twenty-three MMSD capital projects included in the District’s 2006 budget. It may be in the MMSD’s interest not to fund those projects if you are planning on expanding the scope and costs of any or all of those items. I assume that you would agree that you have a responsibility to MMSD and its ratepayers to inform them of the financial impacts of your action.

Thank you for your immediate attention to this request. I look forward to reviewing your information prior to the November 7th MMSD Commission meeting.

Walker slaps at Green by proxy

The gloves aren't off yet, but the Republican gov primary contestants are edging closer to getting into the ring, at least.

Scott Walker's e-newsletter -- using two Republican radio talkers from his home base of Milwaukee as proxies -- gives Mark Green a little slap:

This special edition of the Walker Weekly highlights two articles that appeared recently discussing the strength of Scott Walker's message. Both Mark Belling and Charlie Sykes offer a strong case for why you should join the Winning Walker team.

Mark Belling: "The voters want tax relief in Wisconsin and they will keep voting against those politicians that won't give it to them. Walker has the all-time winning Wisconsin issue in the tax freeze and his ability to produce four consecutive budgets with absolutely no increase in the property tax levy. The tone-deaf crowd in the Republican Party that is backing candidate Mark Green is oblivious to the appeal of Walker's message and will wake up next September in shock when Walker crushes Green in the GOP primary. Even after that result, the Madison crowd and the state media will argue that Walker's win is a "Republican thing." Walker will then beat Doyle. Will they hear us THEN?"

Charlie Sykes:"County Executive Scott Walker's budget includes a property tax levy increase of zip, nada, bupkus. Swept into office in the wake of the Ament pension scandal, Walker promised to freeze property taxes. Unlike Doyle's "freeze," Walker's comes without asterisks, loopholes, hedges, fudges, or backdoors. It doesn't rely on reassessments or sleight of hand. For Walker a zero increase means a zero increase. All of which makes Walker a double anomaly in Wisconsin politics (1) a politician who actually does what he says he will do, and (2) an officeholder prepared to actually make cuts in spending."

Belling's rant conveniently lets Walker send something around the state callling Green's backers "tone-deaf" without having to actually say it himself. But Walker's certainly spreading it.

Belling, by the way, has a long history of making bold pronouncements and predictions that turn out to be totally wrong, but he conviently forgets to ever mention them again. I am saving this one.

FEMA caves in to the NRA

From my buddies The Gun Guys:

FEMA has buckled under the NRA's increasing pressure, and, in doing so, endangered a camp of people who have already been victimized.

When the NRA found out weapons were banned at a FEMA-sponsored camp for refugees, they went beserk. They lambasted the group for "attacking the rights" of the evacuees, and demanded that weapons be allowed in the camp. That's right, they demanded that people who had already been victimized be put in another dangerous situation, living in close quarters with frustrated people who would be allowed to carry weapons.

On first glance, FEMA didn't do much more than promise an investigation to find out who gave the order. There is a policy in place, they found, to keep weapons out of FEMA sponsored setups, for reasons of public safety. Also, they did find out who exactly gave the order-- it was Col. Greg Phares of the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Department. Phares isn't just the one who gave the order to keep guns out, he's also... an NRA member. He says (very calmly and clearly, as opposed to the NRA's vicious ranting) that because the walls of the camp are so thin, it would dangerous to have guns in the camp. There is already a security force in place, and (keep in mind an NRA member is saying this) there is no legitimate reason to have guns there.

And yet the NRA still ranted and raved.

And now, today, weeks after the initial allegations, FEMA has decided to allow weapons into the camp.

Never mind that everyone says it's a bad idea. Never mind that the Baton Rouge press told the NRA, in very clear terms, to "butt out." Never mind that the NRA isn't just a minority voice in this case-- it's not even local to the issue. FEMA buckled under their pressure.

Know another group that buckled under NRA's bullying. Try Congress. The gun immunity bill wasn't something the people wanted, or that even the gun industry was yelling against (although we're sure they funded some lobbyists). It was the NRA's yelling and whining that got that bill passed.

And, frankly, we're tired of the yelling and the whining. It's time for some common sense. Just because the NRA yells the loudest and has the most money doesn't mean they're right. In this FEMA situation, they weren't. And FEMA should have acknowledged that instead of folding just to shut the NRA up.

Bush backs down on Gulf wage cuts

President Bush has backed down on his plans to suspend the David-Bacon prevailing wage requirements for Katrina cleanup, under pressure from Dems and some Repubs.

Thirty-seven Republicans signed a letter opposing the cut, but unless they disguised their handwriting no Wisconsin GOP House members were among them.

DCCC Stakeholder has the story.

--Kevin Sears, Charlotte Observer

Harriet Miers blog: Telling it like it is

I can't decide if it's really her or not, but Harriet's own blog is hilarious. Check it out at HarrietMiers.blogspot.com

Sample:

IF I WERE A JUSTICE

Okay first here’s some background. Especially if your wondering why its been so long since my last post. I was trying to put into words my thoughts about Specter and the 1989 questionnaire and everything, and honestly if I hear Roe V Wade one more time I'm going to announce that I'll just recuse myself. (Just kidding its important obv). And then I started to write a poem but it kept coming out really dumb. And then I had an idea for a song, like the Fiddler on the Roof song except it’d be “Abortion!” –but it’s a Hot Button Issue and I don’t want to be offensive. Also I couldn’t remember the tune.

Anyway the point is, I wrote this song, it goes to the tune of If I Were A Rich Man (which I’m not!!!).

If I were a justice
Ya ha deedle deedle bubba bubba deedle deedle dum
In my robes I’d biddy biddy bum
If I were a high court judge!
I’d… be a super jurist!!
Ya ha deedle deedle bubba bubba deedle deedle dum
If I were bum biddy bum confirmed
Yiddle-diddle to the Supreme Court.

I’d sign opinions with a heart on the “I”
Correcting old decisions that were wrong
But I’d never legislate from the bench!!!
And even tho I’d be the most junior justice
They’d make me feel like I belong
Especially that Souter, he’s a mensch!

If I were a justice
Ya ha deedle deedle bubba bubba deedle deedle dum
In my robes I’d biddy biddy bum
If I were a high court judge!
I’d… be a super jurist!!
Ya ha deedle deedle bubba bubba deedle deedle dum
If I were bum biddy bum confirmed
Yiddle-diddle to the Supreme Court.

The latest in high humor on the right

Charlie Sykes asks of me today: "Will he be having any cheese with his whine?"

Oct. 15 Jeff Wagner blog headline: "How About Some Cheese To Go With All That Whine, Mr. Dwyer?"

These guys should listen to someone besides each other once in awhile.

Madison father honors his son by working to end the war in Iraq

Anyone on the right want to slime Ray Maida? Is he a moonbat? Does he dishonor his son's sacrifice? Charlie? Jessica? Who wants to be first?

From Melanie Conklin's column in the Wisconsin State Journal:

Calls are pouring in after retired Madison police detective Ray Maida was interviewed on ABC's "Nightline'' last week, talking about how poorly the U.S. military treated his family in dealing with the death of his son Mark, an Army sergeant in Iraq.

The family never received a call from his commanding officer. Three months after his death, the family learned the details of what happened from an interview in The Washington Post with Terry Rodgers, a soldier and close friend who was with Mark when a bomb exploded their patrolling Humvee. They had only six hours' notice that his body would be arriving at the airport in Milwaukee and also had a difficult time getting his possessions returned.

In the wake of the "Nightline'' show, Maida has been asked to speak around the country, including a request from MoveOn.org to talk when the 2,000th soldier dies in Iraq.

"I just haven't returned the call," says Maida, his voice, understandably, alternating between weary and impassioned. "I can only speak about it once every few days. I can only do it in bits and pieces and then afterward I cry. But I want to share Mark's story." Mark, a 2001 Memorial High School graduate, was killed in May.

The "Nightline'' segment titled, "We regret to inform you..." was anchored by Chris Bury, a UW-Madison alum who was on Madison radio in the late '70s and is the show's main substitute anchor. Maida says the interview took two days and four hours of taping for what was originally intended to be a seven-minute segment.

"The guy who videotaped it said it was the longest interview they'd seen," says Maida, "and 'Nightline' decided to make it the whole show."

Maida and his son Chris, an Iraq war veteran, will be speaking Thursday, Oct. 27, sponsored by Military Families for Peace, at Union South at 7 p.m. They plan to have video and pictures of Mark's life, as well as stories from the large anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., last month, where Maida met Mark's friend from the Post story.

"The reason we speak," says Ray Maida, "is we met Terry Rodgers at the peace rally and he told us how the two of them had discussed how they were going to go to every get-out-of-Iraq rally they could when they got home."

Honor the fallen at a Wednesday vigil

Click here to find a local vigil. Here, too.

Today marks the day that 2,000 brave American servicemen and women have sacrificed their lives for the war in Iraq. Most of us cannot imagine what it must be like for their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. But as a nation, we can take a moment to send our gratitude and support to those families.

Democracy for America is joining with MoveOn and TrueMajority to host candlelight vigils across the country and offer our condolences to the families and friends of the American servicemen and women who have given their lives. The vigils will take place at 6:30 PM tonight, Wednesday, October 26.

These vigils aren't rallies or places to give long-winded speeches. They are moments to solemnly come together and mark the sacrifice of those who have died and their families.

The American Friends Service Committee also is coordinating events, discussed in an earlier post.

Chickenhawks lead the cheers for Iraq war

It appears my use of the word Chickenhawk has stirred up some of the folks who think the only way to honor the dead in Iraq is to add to the numbers, instead of bringing the troops home. Good. The super-patriots could use a little shaking up.

What is a chickenhawk?

Chickenhawk n. A person enthusiastic about war, provided someone else fights it; particularly when that enthusiasm is undimmed by personal experience with war; most emphatically when that lack of experience came in spite of ample opportunity in that person's youth.

That from the New Hampshire Gazette, which finds these personnel at Chickenhawk Headquarters:

Name: George W. Bush (R-TX)
Born: 1946
Employer: The U.S. Taxpayer
Conflict Avoided: Vietnam
Notes: You know when a guy walks away from a National Guard obligation during wartime and gets away with it, he must come from "a good family." Not that his daddy had anything to do with his getting a Guard slot in the first place - oh, no ...

Name: Richard "Dick" Cheney (R-WY)
Born: 1942
Employer: The U.S. Taxpayer
Conflict Avoided: Vietnam
Notes: Says he had "other priorities." You bet he had other priorities. Imagine how early in life you must begin scheming to get away with what this guy has. He was too busy thinking about Halliburton to go fight Charlie.

Name: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby
Born: 1950±
Employer: The U.S. Taxpayer
Conflict Avoided: Vietnam
Notes: I. Lewis "Scooter' Libby is Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. He's had a string of no-doubt well-paying government jobs in State and Defense. He's also practiced law. In fact, he was Marc Richs lawyer for years. Yes -- the Marc Rich whose pardon from President Clinton was excoriated by so many high and mighty Republicans. Maybe if Scooter had been a better lawyer, his client wouldn't have needed that pardon. Speaking of legal questions, "Scooter"is alleged by some to have traded energy stocks while helping his buddy Dick Cheney cook up a new energy policy in secret. He's also suspected of having inserted the bogus "Niger yellowcake" reference into the President's State of the Union address. As if all that weren't enough, he's also a top suspect in the outing of CIA operative Valeria Plame. Clearly "Scooter" is a ballsy kind of guy, so it's a complete mystery to us why, when he graduated from Phillips Andover in 1968, he didn't enlist in the Marines or go Airborne instead of going to Yale.

Name: Karl Rove
Born: 1950
Employer: Baal
Conflict Avoided: Vietnam
Notes: This little cherub was born on Christmas Day, 1950. Karl "Bush's Brain" Rove ran George W's campaign, right down to the tiny detail of deciding Bush was going to run. The hardest part was convincing a horde of Republican skeptics that it could be done.

He is said to have said of his boss, he's "the kind of candidate and officeholder political hacks like me wait a lifetime to be associated with."

Now Karl's Senior White House advisor. If he really is "Bush's Brain,"and if the fondest wishes of former US Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV come true, one fine day Karl will be "frogmarched out of the White House in handcuffs.

Will history record that event as "Bush's Lobotomy?"

Name: Donald "The Don" Rumsfeld
Born: 1932
Employer: The U.S. Taxpayer
Conflict Avoided: Korea
Notes: When the shooting started in Korea Rummy here was either 18, or about to turn 18. Not to worry for him, though -- he spent the war at Princeton, wearing a ROTC uniform. Once the war was over he flew jets for the Navy for a few years. Defenders of Rumsfeld will say he's no chickenhawk -- he served, and it's not his fault the war ended before he got his commission. To which others answer, "plenty of farmers and mechanics and kids just out of high school served. Anyone as full of whatever that stuffing in him is, could have tried out for a battlefield commission."

---

My own nominee:

Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., who served five days in the military before deciding he wasn't cut our for it and law school might be more fun and more profitable. Now a candidate for governor, he founded the Victory in Iraq caucus in Congress, supports total victory there, whatever that is, and periodically visits Iraq to report that everything is swell and morale is terrific. More about Green's military career.

The chickenhawks I mentioned in an earlier post -- Charlie Sykes, Michelle Malkin, the Madison Freedom Fighter -- clearly are not at the same level as Bush and his buddies. They are simply cheerleaders, while others orchestrate the killing.

But they also serve who only stand and cheer.

I don't mean to suggest that everyone who supports the war in Iraq is a chickenhawk. Far from it. Many veterans and their families still support it, although the numbers are dwindling. But those who seem to be the most enthusiastic and the most vocal about why we should continue the killing, more often than not seem to be of the Chickenhawk persuasion.

Bushwhacking the prosecutor

If you're a prosecutor who's brave enough to indict -- or even think about indicting a Republican -- you'd better wear some protective gear.

Ronnie Earle, who is handling Tom DeLay's case, got the full attack treatment from DeLay and his allies.

Now they've turned it on Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor handling the investigation of the CIA leak, which could bring some indictments against top White House officials.

The NY Daily News:

W pals bushwhack CIA leak prosecutor

WASHINGTON - As the White House and Republicans brace for possible indictments in the CIA leak probe, defenders have launched a not-so-subtle campaign against the prosecutor handling the case.

"He's a vile, detestable, moralistic person with no heart and no conscience who believes he's been tapped by God to do very important things," one White House ally said, referring to special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.

It wasn't long ago -- but before Karl Rove and Scooter Libby looked like targets of the probe-- that President Bush praised Fitzgerald on the "Today" show.

"The special prosecutor is conducting a very serious investigation. He's doing it in a very dignified way, by the way, and we'll see what he says," Bush said. Indeed we will.

Green keeps packing 'em in

Just when I thought the crowds were beginning to thin a little, Mark Green's campaign sent me this Photo of the Week, with Green talking to the throngs at State Rep. Don Pridemore's fundraiser in Hartford. At this rate, he will have met everyone in Hartford by about 2018, and then can move on to the rest of the state.

John Stocks: post-Katrina update

John Stocks, a Wisconsinite with Gulf Coast roots, has kept us informed of his efforts to help family and friends in the New Orleans area, aided by the generosity of many. This is his report:

Lest we forget… Hurricane Katrina

The news media coverage has moved on but the impact of the storm on people’s lives still lingers….

STACEY AND JERALD

I spoke with Stacey yesterday. She was on the road with Jerald returning to Dallas after inspecting her home in New Orleans. Stacey and her three girls (Eboni, Brea and Kasey) shared a rented home with her mother Elouise in New Orleans East.

The home is a total loss. Stacey was able to salvage a clock off the wall and her daughter’s piggy bank. Everything else was contaminated by the flood waters. The stench was unbearable. Mold and mildew have taken over. A black film covered everything in sight. The car remains in the driveway ruined by the flood.

The roof of Jerald’s apartment blew off in the storm. He was able to salvage some clothes from a closet that was sheltered from the elements. His computer and CD’s were stolen.

Letters and packages to Stacey and Jerald can be sent to:

Stacey Casimir
2175 South Highway 121
Building K 1134
Lewisville, Texas 75067

EBONI, BREA AND KASEY

We flew Stacey from Dallas to Memphis to visit her daughters in Memphis for Eboni’s birthday. Here’s an email from her to all of you.

“The trip was wonderful. The kids were very excited to see me. For Eboni's birthday, we took them to "Kids Quest" which is something like "Chuck E Cheese". They really enjoyed themselves.

Thank you so much for everything.”

Stacey

Letters and packages can be sent to the girls:

Eboni, Brea and Kasey
c/o Brett Casimir
P.O. Box 1314
Cordova, Tennessee 38088

LOIS AND ELOUISE

Lois and Elouise are in Belle Rose, Louisiana living in the home of a cousin. They are actively looking for housing in the area. Housing is in short supply because of all the New Orleans residents living in the area. They hope to rent a place that is currently being remodeled by a family member. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Elouise has still not received financial assistance from FEMA. With the help of one of you, we have engaged the office of Congressman Melachon to help navigate the bureaucracy. Elouise and Lois lost everything to the floodwaters.

Lois has applied for jobs with the school districts of Assumption and Ascension parishes. I am hopeful that she will find something soon.

Letters and packages can be sent to:

Lois Ewell Phipps and Elouise Ewell Fernandez
171 Highway 1003
Belle Rose, Louisiana 70341

COURTNEY AND VACHAUN

Courtney and Vachaun stayed in Jackson, Mississippi. According to Lois, they have moved into an apartment and Courtney is looking for work and a school for Vachaun. I will send an address along when I get one.

HENRIETTA, DEBBIE ANN, GERRARD, STEVE, PAULA, MARK, DORIS, SAMANTHA, BRODERICK

Henrietta et.al. have moved into a house in Mableton, Georgia. Debbie Ann is still looking for work in the Cobb County schools. Gerrard has found a job in a barber shop. These families lost everything to the floodwaters.

Letters and packages can be sent to:

Henrietta Brooks
102 Douglas Road
Mableton, Georgia 30126

ADAM, BECKY, JESSICA AND COURTNEY

Adam’s family is working hard to get back into their home in Slidell. Becky’s brother is just about completed the sheet rocking of the house. Adam thinks it will be a few more weeks before they can move back in. Adam and Becky wanted me to express my appreciation to all of you for helping them respond quickly and salvaging their home.

JOHN AND TIINA

My father and his wife are putting their lives back together in New Orleans. Their home sustained some roof and exterior damage but it is fixable. They continue to focus on their patients well-being.

OUR HURRICANE RELIEF EFFORT

To date our hurricane relief effort has collected a little over $40,000. A little over $37,000 has gone directly to members of the Ewell families to help them restart their lives (food, clothing, housing, transportation, trips to New Orleans, etc.) in new communities (Dallas, Memphis, Atlanta, Jackson and near Baton Rouge) across the southeastern United States.

The balance was used to purchase a generator, rent drying equipment and transport this equipment down to Louisiana to save my brother’s home in Slidell.

A LONG ROAD AHEAD

It has been a month and a half since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The road to recovery for these families will be long but much less hard because of all you have done. May the Great Spirit bless your days….

If you know someone who would like to contribute to this effort, you can send contributions to:

John Stocks
5608 Chestnut Lane
McFarland, Wisconsin 53558

Andrew Card, live and in person CANCELLED

Card is not coming. Gee, what could be more important? Hotline reports.


Republican Party release:

The Republican Party of Wisconsin is pleased to announce that the Honorable Andrew H. Card, Jr. will be the featured guest at its 3rd annual reception in Milwaukee. The event will take place [Tuesday], October 25, from 5pm-7pm at the University Club, 924 East Wells, in Milwaukee. The media is invited to cover Mr. Card’s remarks at the general reception, held in the main lounge on the first floor, from approximately 6:30pm to 6:45 pm. All cameras need to be preset by 4pm on Tuesday.

Invited to "cover his remarks?" Will there be questions? Can anyone in the Wisconsin media think of anything they'd like to ask the White House chief of staff? Or will they be led by the nose? Film at 10.

Majority thinks Iraq war was wrong

The Wall Street Journal reports:

A new Harris Interactive poll shows American sentiment about the situation in Iraq remains generally gloomy, with fewer than a quarter of Americans saying they are confident U.S. policies in Iraq will be successful.

For the first time, a majority of Americans (53%) feels that military action in Iraq was the wrong thing to do, according to the survey of 1,833 U.S. adults, compared with 34% who feel it was right.

At the same time, 66% of U.S. adults now say President Bush is doing a "poor" or "only fair" job of handling Iraq, while 32% say he is doing an "excellent" or "pretty good" job. That's little changed from a September Harris poll that found 65% rated Mr. Bush negatively and 34% rated him positively.

Sixty-one percent of Americans say they aren't confident U.S. policies in Iraq will be successful, slightly higher than 59% who lacked confidence in September. Additionally, only 19% of Americans surveyed believe the situation for U.S. troops in Iraq is improving, while 44% believe it is getting worse.

See the full results.

A penny saved is a dollar owed

Some people were having a lot of fun today with this exchange over the sewerage district's budget, and an amendment to raise taxes 4% instead of 2%, as reported by the Journal Sentinel:

"This amendment saves $2.5 million over six years," Dale Richards, a commissioner from Oak Creek who supported the plan, said Monday.

Another commissioner, Rep. Pedro Colón (D-Milwaukee), didn't buy that logic.

"Only in government would someone argue that raising taxes saves money," Colón said after the meeting.

Great sound bite.

But anyone who's even taken out a loan or a mortgage, or waited a year or two to buy something, understands that paying now is almost always cheaper than paying later.

That brings to mind the Milwaukee County budget, where County Exec Scott Walker, in the name of a tax "freeze," has put off paying $27-million into the pension fund this year.

That makes it look like taxes aren't going up, but there's a big catch. That little maneuver will cost county taxpayers an additional $69-million over the next 30 years, and "has the effect of passing debt on to future taxpayers," a study found.

Phony freezes are not free. They are very expensive.

Rosa Parks 1913-2005

Lest we think one person cannot make a difference ... Her mug shot taken Feb. 22, 1956 by the Birmingham Sheriff's Department. The Washington Post has a photo gallery today.

Right-wing spreads manure and Sykes is there with a shovel

I wondered which Wisconsin wingnut would help shovel the pile of manure (read bullshit) that's piling up on the right-wing Internet, claiming that peace activists are planning "parties" to "celebrate" the death of the 2000th American service member in Iraq.

I don't know why, but I'm a little surprised it's Charlie Sykes. The ever-so sophisticated Sykes says the left is planning "soirees." Sometimes I give him too much credit. I thought this one, at least, was beneath him. Live and learn.

The observances, planned for the day after the 2000th death occurs, are being organized by the American Friends Service Committee, a group with a long and distinguished history of peace activism. That is the last group in the world that would celebrate any death. They are the Quakers. Their goal is to stop the killing.

The theme, in fact, is "Not one more death. Not one more dollar."

What Sykes has done is to pick up a piece of drivel that apparently began on a wingnut blog called Little Green Footballs, spread to Michelle Malkin, and then migrated to a Wisconsin site, The Madison Freedom Fighter, and to Sykes.

What seems to have added fuel to the fire is that Cindy Sheehan plans to participate. She makes them all even crazier than usual. Does anyone thinks that this grieving mother, who lost her son in Iraq, wants anyone else to die there? It is George W. Bush who says the way to honor Casey Sheehan is to send more people to their death, so that Casey will not have died "in vain."

I may try to attend a Milwaukee event. If I do, it won't be to celebrate the death of any American service men and women, nor the deaths of 100,000 Iraqis. Unlike Malkin, Sykes, and the Madison Freedom Fighter (an ROTC student), or any of the other chickenhawks, I've seen combat and death on the battlefield. It's nothing to celebrate. I'll go to lend my voice to those trying to stop it.

UPDATE: Honor the fallen at a vigil.

New candidate handles first Republican nastiness just fine

Pat Kreitlow, the Chippewa Falls Democrat who has just announced his candidacy against State Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, describes his first week on the campaign trail on his blog, Chippewaffles.

Kreitlow, who was a TV anchor in Eau Claire, offers an interesting take, and -- unlike most candidate blogs -- you know he's writing it himself.

Republicans are going to play nasty from the get-go, it sounds, calling Kreitlow, who's married to a physician, a "doctor's wife."

Zien, Mr. Motorcycle Man, probably doesn't have any women voting for him anyway. But that kind of tactic could guarantee it.

If it's intended to rattle Kreitlow, it didn't work. The blog entry makes it clear he takes it in stride.

Is it Bush or is it Onion?

The White House is worried that if the satirical Onion uses the presidential seal on its website, people might think the phony Presidential radio addresses it produces are real? That says a lot about Bush's Saturday messages. NY Times story.

Hear them yourself. Apologies to Memorex, but ask yourself: Is it real or is it Onion?

Rule would gag nonprofit groups

The first step toward a gag rule aimed at stopping non-profits from speaking up about issues is about to come to a vote in the House of Representatives, perhaps as soon as Wednesday.

The gag rule will be introduced as an amendment to the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) in the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act (H.R. 1461) . It would dramatically restrict nonprofit advocacy.

While this rule would apply only to nonprofits seeking grants under a new Affordable Housing Fund (AHF), the provision sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the speech and association rights of all nonprofits. It would be the foot in the door.

The Nonprofit Gag Provision applies only to nonprofits, and would prohibit them from receiving grants if the organization:

Engages in partisan and nonpartisan voter registration, voter identification, and get-out-the-vote activities;

· Publicly “promotes,” “supports,” “attacks,” or “opposes” a candidate for federal office, which could be interpreted to include criticism of elected officials who may be seeking reelection;

· Broadcasts any ads – public service announcements, grassroots issue advocacy, anything – that refer to federal candidates within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary; or

· Lobbies, except if the group is a 501(c)(3) organization it may lobby within permissible limits.

OMB Watch has more.

Talking in Republican circles

My favorite press release of the day, from the Republican Party of you-know-where, quotes its Chairman, Rick Graber:

“Our Election Day problems are so severe that even a House Committee is looking into it,” said Rick Graber, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

The House committee, of course, came at the invitation of Rep. Mark Green, who wanted a chance to grandstand and try to score some political points on the photo ID bill that the Republican legislature passes a couple of times a week and sends to Gov. Jim Doyle for his veto. Green, you may have heard (50-50 chance, the polls say), is running for governor.

What Rep. Bob Ney, the committee chair and close pal of Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and Mark Green (only two out of three have been indicted so far), didn't come to Wisconsin to "look into" anything except how to help Green's campaign. Wanna know more about Ney? Try here and here.

Scott Walker's next budget plan

Quote, unquote

'Those who voted for George W. Bush were promised a mind like [Antonin] Scalia's for the Supreme Court. Instead, they've been given a mind like George W. Bush's.'"

-- Jonathan V. Last, of the conservative Weekly Standard, after learning that high-court nominee Harriet Miers had stated in 1989 that she couldn't recall "the last time I read a whole book."

Voter photo ID rule already in effect

Wisconsin Republicans can relax about requiring photo ID cards for voters.

The requirement is already in effect, at least at one Waukesha County polling place. It wasn't even necessary to pass a new law. All it took was a badly-trained poll worker.

Mike Murphy, executive director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin -- and one of the few Waukesha County Dems who is out publicly -- was voting in the special election for county exec last week when he witnessed the new, illegal procedure.

When the young woman in front of him in line tried to register at the polls, the poll worker demanded a driver's license. No license, no vote, she said.

Murphy intervened and helped the young woman register, but it wasn't easy, as he explained in a letter to County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus about the incident, at the Oconomowoc public library:

Your poll official demanded that a woman trying to register to vote present her driver's license. When the voter said she had forgotten it, your poll official claimed that the woman would be unable to register or vote unless she could present a valid driver's license. No offer of a provisional ballot, no request for additional information - just a simple statement of no license no vote.

... I happened to be standing there and was able to intervene and make sure this voter was able to exercise her rights. It wasn't easy, though. Your poll worker put up quite a fight, arguing for her own misguided interpretation of Wisconsin law.

I pointed out to your poll worker what is clearly laid out on the State Elections Board website:

As of January 1, 2003, the federal "Help America Vote Act of 2002" requires any person registering to vote to supply their Wisconsin Department of Transportation - issued driver's license or identification card number. If the elector does not have a Wisconsin driver's license or I.D., they must provide the last 4 digits of their Social Security Number, or indicate that the applicant has neither a driver's license nor a Social Security Number.

Although the Registration Form may ask for either the Driver's License number or the last 4 digits of the Social Security Number, a voter should not be turned away if they lack that information. If you cannot supply acceptable Proof-of-Residence, your registration form can be substantiated and signed by one other elector who resides in your municipality, corroborating your residency information.

It wasn't until after the voter pointed out that the registration form actually had the check boxes allowing you to write your Social Security Number, or indicate that you had neither, did the poll worker finally, and grudgingly, relent. Apparently, that was the first time this particular poll worker bothered to look at the registration form...

The focus of election officials in Waukesha County and across the state should be to help the citizens of Wisconsin cast their ballots, not finding ways to turn eligible voters away from the polls.

Nickolaus, in a reply to Murphy, agreed that the poll worker was not properly trained, noted that the training is the responsibility of local clerks, not the county, and invited him to be a poll worker at the next election.

The young woman he helped? She said she was voting for Dan Vrakas, the Republican-backed state legislator who won the race. Murphy didn't say how he voted.

Walker: Green should return money, but not me

There are two sides to every issue, they say, and Scott Walker manages to be on both sides of this one.

Mark Green, Walker's opponent in the GOP primary for governor, is under fire from Democrats for refusing to return nearly $30,000 he's received from indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC).

"Walker would probably have given the money back," Bruce Pfaff, Walker's campaign manager, told WisPolitics, according to its weekly report to subscribers.

Walker himself has accepted some questionable money in the past, linked to Bear, Stearns rep Nick Hurtgen, who has been indicted for influence peddling in an Illinois kickback scheme.

So will Walker return that money? WisPolitics reports:

As for the Hurtgen-related funds, Pfaff says the contributions were made for the county exec's race and have already been spent. "If information becomes available later about campaign contributions (from indicted individuals), we'll return it," pledges Pfaff.

In other words, no.

Green claims he has spent all but $2,000 of the DeLay money and won't give that back unless DeLay is convicted. Walker says he's spent all of the Hurtgen money. Rep. Paul Ryan, who's also taken a boatload of DeLay money,says (a) it would illegal to return the money (not true) or (b) he's already spent it, whichever people are gullible enough to believe.

Another House member returns DeLay money

Ohio Rep. Steven LaTourette recently became the fourth GOP lawmaker to return campaign funds received from indicted ex-Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Roll Call reports:

LaTourette has donated $13,000 that he received from DeLay’s Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee to Hurricane Katrina relief funds. The six-term lawmaker has not commented publicly on his decision to give up the money, but he is informing constituents of his action when they ask about it.

“As a former prosecutor, I trust that the legal system will work and Tom DeLay, like every American, should have his day in court and should be afforded the presumption of innocence,” LaTourette wrote in a letter to Aurora, Ohio, resident Palmer Peterson dated Oct. 11. “However, in order to remove any questions that may arise about these contributions, I have made a donation in the same amount to the Bush-Clinton Katrina fund, which will help with relief efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”

As it turns out, Peterson is more than just an average constituent — he’s a Democrat who is planning to run against LaTourette next year.

Peterson posted his original letter, as well as LaTourette’s response, on his campaign Web site, www.palmerjpeterson.com. In a follow-up statement, Palmer said LaTourette “did the right thing.”

LaTourette is the fourth House Republican to return money doled out by DeLay since the former Majority Leader was indicted Sept. 28.

Reps. Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.) and Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) both returned the campaign funds they received from ARMPAC. Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R-Mo.), who along with LaTourette was booted from the House ethics committee at the beginning of this Congress, also donated his ARMPAC money to Katrina relief.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Reps. Mark Green and Paul Ryan, who have received about $55,000 in DeLay political action money between them, continue to offer new excuses every day to rationalize keeping the money. They are making a political mistake, although Green, as a candidate for governor, is at much more risk that Ryan, whose House seat is quite secure.

What Karl told Jim about Harriet

So James Dobson, described by the WashPost as a "leading conservative Christian," may be summoned to testify on the Harriet Miers nomination.

At issue is just what it was that Karl Rove told him about Harriet in a phone call that made Dobson decide she was acceptable for the Supreme Court.

As far as we can determine, Rove did not tell Dobson that Harriet was a covert CIA agent.

But I'm not going to jail to protect him on this one. I'm ready to let it all hang out -- or at least go what Tricky Dick Nixon called the limited hangout route.

My source, a "former Hill staffer," says Rove told Dobson that Miers agreed with him that SpongeBob SquarePants is a homo, and she would never agree to let him marry one of the Teletubbies.

As far as I can determine, this is an Xoff Files exclusive.

Veterans Affairs secretary moves to give himself more job security

The report below is from Gary Fisher, a Madison journalist who has covered the Board of Veterans Affairs and has an ongoing interest in its activities.

His report is the only one you're likely to see about Friday's meeting of the board, because no mainstream media representatives attended. It's one of those boards that only rates coverage when something unusual (that usually means something bad) happens. And then you read about it after the fact -- like when the board voted in secret to name a new secretary to run the department, managing to simultaneously break the law and dis the new governor, who had simply asked for a chance to meet the finalists for the position.

If you read between the lines of Fisher's report, you'll find that there's more than a little politics at work here. Secretary John Scocos, who has Republican connections and came to the agency when the GOP was in power, runs a very tight ship. Board members, for whom he technically works, are supposed to salute and get out of his way as he runs the agency.

But now there are beginning to be some Democratic appointees on the board, despite the best efforts of sitting GOP appointees on the board, and the Republican-controlled State Senate, to delay confirmation of Gov. Doyle's appointees to the board.

Against that backdrop, Scocos is moving to consolidate his power and improve his job security, since the board could replace him. At Friday's meeting, he asked the board to approve 17 changes in the department rules, all fairly confusing and legalistic. One board member spoke up and asked for time to discuss and think about them first, or the changes already would be a done deal.

So now that the introduction is longer than the story, here is Gary Fisher's report:

---

By Gary Fisher

A state agency with a $250 million budget for the biennium that impacts thousands of Wisconsin military veterans and their families is pushing for significant changes to the rules governing it.

Among the many changes proposed is one that would require a unanimous vote of the seven-member Board of Veterans Affairs to remove the secretary of the state's Department of Veterans Affairs from office.

The current secretary, John A. Scocos, would benefit with more command and control presence, and job security.

Veterans say, however, that changing the rule guarantees further politicization of an already politicized board.

Presently, the checks and balances take five votes to remove the secretary for misconduct or mismanagement.

At the WDVA board meeting Friday in downtown Madison, board member Marv Freedman successfully asked the panel for an opportunity to review proposed changes to the board's rules and procedures in a teleconference with other board members before final consideration at the regularly scheduled meeting in December. The board agreed.

The board raised Scocos' salary to $118,000 in August of this year, although he received the same percentage of increase as all department secretaries received. During that time, the board praised him with a letter signed by all of its members, which an observer of the veteran's community refers to as a "loyalty oath."

Vets say requiring a unanimous vote of the board to remove the secretary from office appeases Scocos' so-called "paranoid" management style requiring rubberstamp approval of the board he influences, and of a management system frequently calling for more reinforcement and changes.

Changing the rules would go a long way toward reinforcing Scocos' tenuous position, especially, now that a Democratic governor inhabits the East Wing of the state Capitol, a political fact that could change in the 2006 elections.

Freedman, a Vietnam vet, was recommended for Senate confirmation this summer by the Republican-controlled Senate veteran's committee . He is already serving, pending confirmation, because he was appointed to fill a vacancy.

However, former Assistant Senate Majority Leader Rod Moen, D-Whitehall, who retired after a 22-year Navy career and was also recommended by the committee, is awaiting full Senate confirmation to serve on the board. He would replace Kathy Marschman, whose term ended May 1, but who can continue to serve until her successor is confirmed by the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, has yet to schedule those confirmations in the waning days of the legislative session.

A replacement for another board member, Don Heiliger, has not been nominated by Doyle, although Heiliger's term also ended May 1. He says he will continue to serve until a successor is confirmed.

Scocos got his job amid controversy two years ago after the board voted in secret in October 2003 to appoint him secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The board kept its selection secret for several days before voting a second time days later in open session at the advice of its attorney.

Scocos replaced Ray Boland in November 2003 after Boland's 12 years as secretary of the department.

The department and board consist mostly of former and retired Army Reserve officers.

Feminists' sneak attack on the nursery

Are American Girl dolls secretly promoting abortion and lesbianism?

Some wingnuts think so and are threatening a boycott of the Middleton-based company.

Ruth Coniff of The Progressive says it's the biggest sneak attack on kids' values since SpongeBob SquarePants:

Unlike the Teletubbies, whose subtle demonic agenda could supposedly be detected in the purple, purse-carrying person of Tinkie Winkie, according to some evangelicals, the American Girl dolls are themselves inoffensive. (There's no lesbian abortionist doll.) It's the programs that help real girls that have the rightwingers riled.

Read her piece, "Feminists in the Nursery," here.

You didn't win the Power Ball either?

James Widgerson, proprietor of the Widgerson Library and Pub blog, is philosophical about not winning the Power Ball jackpot:

So what if the money went to somebody in Oregon? Did you look at the back of your ticket? Did you see the odds? You had to be crazy to think you were going to win! Positively insane! Nobody ever wins except us! So quit your complaining! You had fun, didn't you? Isn't playing the lottery fun? Were you not entertained?

Click here to read it all, including a Henry Fielding limerick.

I have never purchased a lottery ticket, in the belief that the odds of my winning are nearly identical whether I buy a ticket or not.

'Fix the mess first, worry about winning later'

Molly Ivins, in a column titled, "Let's Fix This Mess," has a lot to say about the state of the country and where we might go from here. It starts with the basics:

[L]istening to the Democratic debate on what to do now, it seems to me some of the brethren and sistren are asking the wrong questions. The question is not, "How Do We Win?" That's a technical question that comes after, "What the Hell Can We Do About This Disaster?"

You can read it at Working for Change.

My fellow Americans ...

I hesitate to tell anyone about this site, because it could put a lot of political speechwriters and press secretaries out of work, but check out Political Cliches.

Are all opinions created equal?

Are there really two sides to every story? Does journalistic fairness require that opposing sides on every issue be treated as though both have equal standing, even when one is clearly correct?

Joel McNally says no in a Capital Times op ed column.

I agree with him.

But, on the other hand . . .

--John Branch for San Antonio Express-News, via Cagle.

One more poll observation

How would you like to be the head of the Victory in Iraq Caucus in Congress, given these results from an independent poll of Wisconsin voters?

Would you like to see the United States withdraw all troops immediately from Iraq?

Yes 43%
No 49%
Undecided 8%

What do you think those numbers will look like a year from now, when Mark Green, who actually started the Stay The Course caucus in Congress, will be on the ballot for governor? Think it won't matter in a state race? Wanna bet?

Some selective poll numbers from Green

Rep. Mark Green couldn't wait to rush out a press release about the latest poll in the governor's race, which shows him leading Scott Walker in the GOP gov primary by 5 points.

The Strategic Vision poll also showed Green losing to Doyle by 4 points, but he characterized that as being within striking distance -- just as Walker is within striking distance of Green.

Green's release says:

Every independent survey in this campaign, this one included, has shown two consistent results – Wisconsinites are unhappy with Jim Doyle and Mark Green is best positioned to win next November,” said Graul. “Mark’s vision of making Wisconsin great again by lowering taxes, providing stronger education opportunities and relying on common-sense Wisconsin values is winning supporters each and every day.”

However, the very same poll puts Green way off on the wrong side compared with voters'opinions. If anyone's out of touch, it's our boy Mark Green, consistent supporter of President Bush, buddy of Tom DeLay, and organizer of the Victory in Iraq Caucus in the Congress.

The numbers:

1. Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush's overall job performance?
Approve [Mark Green's position] 33%
Disapprove 58%
Undecided 9%

2. Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush's handling of the economy?
Approve [Mark Green's position] 31%
Disapprove 61%
Undecided 8%

3. Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq?
Approve [Mark Green's position]37%
Disapprove 56%
Undecided 7%

6. Would you like to see the United States Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade?
Yes [Mark Green's position] 35%
No 58%
Undecided 7%

"Wisconsin values" my eye.

Stem cell vote delayed in Senate

The Senate vote on a bill expanding funding for embryonic stem cell research, which Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had promised would happen in 2005, has been pushed back to early next year.

Supporters don't seem discouraged, judging from this message from StemPAC.

The bill has passed the House with the help of some Republicans -- none from Wisconsin, unfortunately -- who had the courage to defy Tom DeLay and the White House. Senate passage seems assured if the vote ever happens, but Bush has said he will veto it if he is still the President when it passes.

Could change of heart be partisan?

Just a few days ago, Omega World Travel, which lost its bid for the state travel contract, was satisfied with the process and had no complaints. But after a couple of days of politically-motivated complaints from Republicans, Omega decided it would complain, too.

Coincidence? Eye on Wisconsin thinks not, after discovering that the top execs of the firm have given more than $30,000 in political contributions -- all to Republicans.

Green backs faith-based discrimination

"In some cases, believe it or not, faith-based charities are unable to use religion as a factor when hiring new staff out of fear of losing the ability to use federal funds in their work. I think that’s wrong, and that’s why I’ve worked to try and make sure we extend equal treatment to faith-based charities when it comes to hiring new employees. We should not withdraw our support for these groups, or deny them civil rights protections just because they happen to embrace faith." -- Rep. Mark Green.

That quote caught my eye as one that deserved comment, but Eye On Wisconsin beat me to it and said it all.

Earlier post: Mark Green, House GOP support hiring based on religious views.

It's all in how you say it

Compare and contrast these two reports:

Top page one headline in Journal Sentinel:

Inquiry launched into state travel contract
U.S., state, DA to look into donations to Doyle

Federal, state and Dane County authorities have launched a joint investigation into a travel contract given to the company of a major contributor to Gov. Jim Doyle, officials said Thursday.

The investigation will be conducted by both the FBI and the state's Division of Criminal Investigation, which is supervised by Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager. Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard also will play a role in the process.

WisPolitics report:

WisPolitics: U.S. Attorney Downplays Travel Probe
10/20/2005

By Greg Bump
WisPolitics.com staff

Steven Biskupic, the Republican-appointed U.S. attorney for Wisconsin's Eastern District in Milwaukee, said Thursday night that it would be going too far to say a look into a disputed state travel contract is a formal investigation or an investigation of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

Biskupic refused to get into any specifics on possible targets or potential charges.

"To say the governor is being investigated is inaccurate," Biskupic told WisPolitics.com. "An inquiry was raised, (the DOJ) got a letter, there was a discussion among the law enforcement community, and you shouldn't read any more into it.

"To say there is a formal criminal investigation is reading too much into it."

Biskupic said he met over the last couple days with Dan Bach from the state Department of Justice and Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard, and they would looking into the matter jointly. The discussions included "how to go forward to ensure credibility, regardless of the outcome, without accusations of bias or partisanship."

Leggies pad mileage payments at expense of Zien, taxpayers

It's an ill wind that blows no good, and the flap over how much State Sen. Dave Zien is reimbursed for riding his motorcycle, while costing him some money, has benefitted every leggie who drives a car. What started out as a cost-cutting measure ended up spending more. Every silver lining has its cloud.

While reducing the mileage rate for cycles, State Senate leaders raised the rate for autombiles. Patrick Marley has details on the Journal Sentinel Capitol blog.

Graul changes story again on freebies

Another new defense today from Mark Graul, the Mark Green staffer who shows up as taking all sorts of free tickets from indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who's at the center of a growing scandal. Graul's story changes every time he tells it.

Graul, who up until now has denied ever getting any tickets for anything from Abramoff or his office, tells Spivak and Bice a different story.

But Graul said this week that he's never met Abramoff and never went to see Limp Bizkit - "I thought it was a medical condition"- though he did see the Milwaukee Bucks play the Wizards in D.C. three times.

Graul said he didn't know if tickets to any of those games came compliments of Abramoff's firm. As to why his name is on the e-mails, he speculated that he was the contact person to receive freebies and he knew an Abramoff associate.

Besides, in the nation's Capitol, this is all business as usual.

"From time to time, people would call and offer tickets," Graul said. "There were a handful of times we said yes."

Egads - some state lawmakers would break out in a cold sweat just hearing that talk.
"I believe it's illegal in Madison" to take freebies, Graul said. "It's legal in Washington."

Actually, it's not legal in Washington for a staffer to accept a gift worth more than $50, this House rule says. And a pair of tickets to just about anything is worth more than that these days.

His comments to the Spice Boys are much different from what he's been telling WisPolitics about the tickets. He won't talk to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo, who broke the story, or to me, who's been faithfully repeating it.

Wonder what the next version will be.

Walker poses for holy pictures, but his fundraising past is shady

Before Scott Walker poses for too many holy pictures about making Milwaukee County clean when it comes to contracts and political contributions, a little historical review might be in order.

Walker, quick to try to benefit from questions being raised about a state travel contract, issued a news release saying he signed a resolution two years ago forbidding political contributions to "an official that has final authority over awarding a contract while that contract is being negotiated." The state should do the same, Walker said.

If that reform had been in place sooner, it might have had an impact on Walker's own relationship with Bear, Stearns, the investment and bonding firm that won huge contracts with Milwaukee County and also raised considerable amounts of money for Walker's campaign.

In July 2004 there was a flurry of stories and questions about how Bear, Stearns won a big county contract to underwrite a $100-million bond issue in 2003. The questions arose after Nick Hurtgen, a Bear Stearns rep and pal of Walker, was indicted in Illinois for influence peddling. The Journal Sentinel reported:

Bear Stearns was not the low bidder on the underwriting deal, but county officials said it was a strong bidder because of its size, depth of experience in public financing and the structure of its deal.

Later in the story, we learn more about the fundraiser and the connections. (This is long, so I'll help out by highlighting some salient parts):

Hurtgen has ties to both Walker and [Walker Dept. of Administration Secretary Linda] Seemeyer. Hurtgen and Seemeyer were top aides to former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson and are friends, she has said.

Walker's campaign turned to Hurtgen and Phil Prange, another former Thompson aide, for help in attracting Illinois donors to a January 2003 fund-raiser for Walker in Chicago.

The timing of the fund-raiser, just after the Bear Stearns selection, is being called into question, although Walker has said it was coincidental. He and Seemeyer have acknowledged their ties to Hurtgen but said the links did not influence the awarding of the bond contract.

Hurtgen did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Walker went to Chicago to tap into a new market in a larger city with higher-dollar donors, instead of asking Milwaukeeans to give again so soon after his 2002 special election victory, said John Hiller, Walker's campaign treasurer.

The allegations involving Bear Stearns in Illinois started spilling out three weeks ago with the disclosure by the Chicago Sun-Times of a sealed federal lawsuit that alleges that Hurtgen and others had pressured a Naperville hospital to select Bear Stearns to underwrite a $200 million construction project.

The suit also says that Hurtgen had similarly pressured the Janesville, Wis.-based Mercy Hospital to choose Bear Stearns for financing a new $80 million hospital in Crystal Lake, Ill. The suit says Hurtgen, in both cases, offered regulatory approval for the projects in exchange for the financing jobs. Both projects were subsequently approved by a state panel...

The claims have prompted a tidal wave of reaction in Illinois, including state and federal investigations...

The suit also says Hurtgen was involved in a kickback scheme related to the selection of Bear Stearns as underwriter for a $10 billion borrowing deal last year for the Illinois pension fund. The firm's fee for the job was $8 million.

The suit doesn't provide details on the alleged kickback.

But the allegation has renewed scrutiny into an $809,000 fee Bear Stearns paid to a company consultant, Robert Kjellander, for work he reportedly did on the deal. Kjellander is a Republican National Committee member from Illinois.

The company has said its selection was based solely on merit.

Kjellander was one of more than two dozen Illinois contributors to fund-raisers that Walker held last year in Chicago, according to campaign records. Kjellander, of Springfield, Ill., gave Walker $1,000.

Kjellander also heads President Bush's Midwest campaign. Walker heads Bush's Wisconsin campaign.

Another Walker contributor, Stuart Levine, also figures in the Illinois case involving Bear Stearns. Levine resigned from the state hospital planning board last month and also resigned a position on the Illinois board that oversees teacher pension funds.

Levine and his wife cumulatively gave Walker $5,000, according to campaign finance records. The maximum individual donation the county executive could accept during that election cycle was $3,000.

Hiller, Walker's campaign treasurer, said Kjellander, Levine and other donors at Walker's Chicago fund-raisers last year give to many political candidates in Illinois and around the country. Their presence was not related to Bear Stearns, he said.

"They like to be supportive of people who agree with them," Hiller said. He added that Walker was attracting notice from Republican activists because he won election in traditionally Democratic Milwaukee County.

Bear Stearns has had a large role in municipal bond work in Wisconsin over the past 15 years. It managed $1.5 billion in state bond deals from 1990 to 2000 and had the lead role in financing high-profile projects including Miller Park, the Midwest Express Center, and the $1.5 billion state borrowing on its tobacco industry lawsuit settlement.

So Scott Walker wants to do for state government what he did for county government? I'll bet he can't wait to get started.

-- Walt Handelsman for Newsday, via Cagle

As usual, NRA has its way

No surprise here. The House has passed the NRA-backed bill to shield gun manufacturers from lawsuits. The President can't wait to sign it.
AP reports.

The bill passed 283-144, and I regret to say that in addition to the usual Republican suspects -- Mark Green, Paul Ryan, F. Jim Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri -- Wisconsin Dems Ron Kind and Dave Obey also voted with the NRA and the rest of the white guys in the delegation. Only Gwen Moore and Tammy Baldwin voted no.Roll call.

Earlier post: NRA owns Congress lock, stock and barrel.

Gut check on priorities

Lots of talk about spending cuts, waste, and pork.

Here's a chance for Senators to make a statement about their priorities. Let's see where our delegation comes down on this no-brainer.

UPDATE: I'm a little surprised. The amendment got only 15 votes, including one, Russ Feingold, from Wisconsin. Brewtown Politico has the details.

The Tom DeLay mug shot

From Hotline on Call:

Mugshot

In nationalized midterm elections, images matter. (Remember the juxtaposition of Sen. Max Cleland and Osama Bin Laden?)

Republicans in Congress -- even those who love and respect Rep. Tom DeLay -- realize that his appearance before a judge tomorrow in Texas will be accompanied by the standard accoutrements of criminal procedure, including a mug shot.

Even if DeLay is acquitted, it will be hard for Republicans to stomach the mug shot and it will be harder for Democrats not to overuse the picture in campaigns.

So the damage to DeLay's chances are re-assuming the post of majority leader are, in the eyes of even some of his allies, not too high. [MARC AMBINDER]

Two questions: What would constitute overuse? Will we see any Scott Jensen mugshots in next year's campaign?

UPDATE: Here it is, above, courtesy of Smoking Gun, and it's quite disappointing. No numbers, no height markers, no "Police Department" or any other identifiers to make it a mug shot. Maybe next time he's arrested we'll get a better one.

Green buddy Ney has his hands full

When Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, comes to Milwaukee Monday at the behest of Rep. Mark Green to hold a "hearing" on voter fraud, folks will just have to bear with him if he seems a little preoccupied.

This probably won't interfere with his preaching to people in Wisconsin about ethics, but, the Dayton Daily News reports, Ney has a few other things going on in his life:

Dems call for Ney to quit post
But Republican doesn't intend to resign chairmanship

WASHINGTON The Ohio Democratic Party is calling for U.S. Rep. Bob Ney to resign his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee after reports that Ney used campaign money to pay for his legal fees related to a federal investigation of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Such an expenditure is legal. But Brian Rothenberg, a state Democratic spokesman, said, "When you're a chairman raising money for your own legal defense and trying to use your position to leverage yourself out of trouble, you're not going to be focused on the best interests of the nation."

Ney spokesman Brian Walsh said Ney, a Republican from St. Clairsville and a six-term congressman, has no intention of resigning his chairmanship...

On Tuesday, The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources, reported that Ney is under investigation by prosecutors looking into Abramoff's acquisition of casino boat company SunCruz Casinos.

Abramoff and business partner Adam Kidan were indicted in August on fraud charges related to the purchase.

Walsh said Ney is not aware of any federal investigation of him.

According to federal elections reports, Ney paid $135,881 to the Houston law firm of Vinson & Elkins on Aug. 2.

Walsh confirmed a lawyer from the firm's D.C. office is handling Ney's legal issues related to the Abramoff investigation.

"If allegations like this are being made, you hire someone to defend yourself," Walsh said.

Ney's involvement in the SunCruz situation stems from two inserts he made into the congressional record in 2000.

On March 30, 2000, Ney inserted a statement criticizing SunCruz and its owner Gus Boulis.

At the time, Abramoff and Kidan were attempting to buy the company.

Six months later, Ney praised Kidan and his buy of SunCruz.

Boulis — who retained some involvement with SunCruz after its purchase — was later murdered in Florida. Police have charged three men, including one linked to Kidan.

Walsh said Ney inserted the comments at the behest of Michael Scanlon, a former aide to former Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Scanlon and Abramoff were associates. "(Ney) had no dealings with Jack Abramoff on this," Walsh said.

Ney is also the subject of scrutiny in relation to an Indian tribe that hired Abramoff as a lobbyist.

Earlier post: Green invites his twin to hold 'hearing.'

In California, two losers avoid each other

W and Arnold are feuding over a Bush visit to raise money in California three weeks before the Governator's special referendum on several items he likes to call "reform."

The Gov has declined to join the Pres at the Reagan library, raising the question of which would be hurt worse by standing next to the other.

The LA Times reports:

A statewide poll last month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California showed that the president and governor are about equally unpopular in the state. Their job ratings among likely voters: Bush, 38% approval, 60% disapproval; Schwarzenegger, 38%-55%.

They're so unpopular you'd have to tie T-bones around their necks to get the dogs to play with them. If you put the two of them next to each other, the combined negative energy could create a black hole and suck in every Republican in the vicinity. Not that there would be anything wrong with that.

Quote, unquote

"What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld.. . [W]e have courted disaster in Iraq, in North Korea, in Iran, and generally with regard to domestic crises like Katrina." [If there is a nuclear terrorist attack or a major pandemic],"you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that'll take you back to the Declaration of Independence."

-- Col. Larry Wilkerson, chief of staff in the Bush State Department until early this year. More.

Polls on AG race should encourage Falk

Suddenly there are polls galore on the attorney general's race.

A WisPolitics poll shows AG Peg Lautenschlager in a dead heat with GOP challenger J.B. Van Hollen and only a couple of points ahead of the other Republican, Waukesha DA Paul Bucher.

The same poll shows Dane County Exec Kathleen Falk beating either Bucher or Van Hollen.

Lautenschlager's campaign says it has its own poll and guess what? She's leading both Republican candidates and is ahead of Falk in a primary, too. (She didn't release any actual polling data, just said she's ahead of everybody.)

The Bucher campaign has its own poll, too, and guess who's ahead in that one? Right, Paul Bucher. Actually, it has him a little ahead of Lautenschlager and a little behind Falk, (both results within the margin of error), but shows Van Hollen doing worse against both Dems.

Poor Van Hollen, caught poll-less, is left to put out a news release, citing the WisPolitics poll as evidence he has a better chance that Bucher does to beat Lautenschlager.

What does it all mean? It's bad news for Lautenschlager, but no surprise. She could do the Dems a big favor by deciding she will voluntarily be a one-term AG, but seems in denial about how much trouble she's in and insists she is in the race to stay.

It's time that Kathleen Falk takes Lautenschlager at her word, quits hoping against hope that Peg will see the light and step aside, and gets into the race. No Democrats want a divisive primary, but no Democrats want a Republican AG either, and that is where we seem to be headed if Lautenschlager is the nominee.

---

P. S. --An earlier post, Beware of candidates bearing polls, may be helpful in sorting some of this out.

Green, Walker start to throw some jabs

Voter, voter in the hall -- who's the most right-wing of all?

It's far from real political combat, but the Republican primary for governor is beginning to hear up just a tad as Scott Walker and Mark Green sharpen their appeals to the GOP base.

Green and Walker have run a pretty polite contest so far, with the primary still 11 months away.

When they appear together they are cordial, and the media make it sound as though Green and Walker agree on everything.

But campaigns are about drawing distinctions, and the two Rs are going to have to start to separate themselves and give Republicans a reason to support them.

In a mild way, that process is beginning.

Walker, on his blog:

Next, we have a candidate from Washington. The Congressman [Green]is a friend of mine and a good person, but he doesn't have a track record putting together a budget without a property tax levy increase or serving in an executive position.

The Congressman and I often speak together at functions across the state and I hear him point to his experience in Washington – not just his voting record, but his experience as a part of the House leadership - as a basis for his election. Still, I think a number of fiscal conservatives like me are frustrated that the Congress has not done more to control spending.

Green will have his chance now to show his conservative credentials by protecting tax cuts for the wealthy in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and $5 billion a month spending on the war in Iraq. The Washington Post reports the House GOP wants to cut $50 billion from the budget for health care for the poor, food stamps and farm supports, as well as considering across-the-board cuts in other programs.

House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas has not ruled out cuts to Medicare and his committee will also look at cuts to welfare and other programs that help low-income families. The House Education and the Workforce Committee is looking at $18 billion in cuts and the Agriculture Committee's $3 billion in cuts. The cuts are expected to largely come from student loan programs and food stamps.

Green serves on the Republican Study Committee, which has proposed to cut spending by $102.1 billion in this year's budget.

Maybe Walker's complaint is that Green doesn't support the cuts of his own Republican Study Committee. Or does he?

Meanwhile, Green's campaign newsletter takes some jabs at Walker:

Say What?

A recent press release from Scott Walker's campaign touted the Milwaukee County executive as "the Only Candidate, Republican or Democrat, that Pledges to Sign a Tax Freeze and Support a Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR)."

Not true.

Mark has said in a number of forums and press releases he supports both a tax freeze and constitutional limits on spending at the state and local level (TABOR). Here's one of several statements Mark made in support of the tax freeze.

And here's an example from an interview with blogger-extraordinaire Owen from Boots and Sabers:

O (Owen): What's your position on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and do you have a position on specifically, the Lassee/Wood version?

MG (Mark Green): I do support TABOR. I've long believed we need to put into our constitution, our law, spending and taxing controls.

Truth is, Mark is the only candidate who's pledged not to run for re-election if he does not lower the tax burden on Wisconsin families. Check out Mark's record on taxes and his taxpayer pledge.

Poll Round-Up

Mark Green is significantly outperforming Scott Walker. In the first two independent tests of the GOP candidates against Doyle, Green handily outpaced Walker.

It's still mild feinting and jabbing as the contenders feel each other out in the early rounds. Here's hoping it turns into a real slugfest. I'll hold their coats.

Milwaukee wi-fi deal too good to be true?

Is the proposal to make Milwaukee totally wi-fi, at no cost to the taxpayers, too good to be true?

Bruce Murphy of Milwaukee Magazine says in an online column he thinks that might be the case. Murphy says:

Yes, it would be great if Milwaukee becomes the first big metro area with city-wide WI-FI or wireless fidelity. But why is the city selling this hugely important franchise to the first bidder, much less on what is essentially a no-bid contract to a company that hasn’t even bothered to register as a lobbyist?

I had expected opposition from the right wing, seeing wi-fi, like public transportation, as some kind of pinko plot. But the deal's trappings of free enterprise, and better yet a monopoly, seem to have more appeal for them.

NRA owns Congress lock, stock and barrel

We got a one-day reprieve from the House, but it is expected to vote today to pass another bill on the gun lobby wish list that will make the National Rifle Assn. want to engage in a little celebratory gunfire. (Or pee its pants with excitement, whichever comes first.)

It's just one more link in a long chain of evidence -- as if anyone doubts it -- that the NRA owns Congress lock, stock and barrel.

The Gun Guys explain the issue and what's going on:

Three years ago, the Washington, DC area was terrorized by a pair of snipers who randomly tried to assassinate citizens. After they were brought to justice, their weapons were traced back to a weapons dealer who'd "lost" that weapon and almost 200 others to criminals. When the victims' families sued, they won $2.5 million.

The NRA moved quickly to protect their own. They decried people who had been victimized already, and tried to paint them as attacking a lagging gun industry. They blamed anti-gun groups for trying to hound the poor weapons industry into bankruptcy. And they called in their many favors in Congress, and made them create the bill the House of Representatives is about to vote on, which would give full lawsuit immunity to gun manufacturers and dealers, making it illegal to bring lawsuits against them for negligence with products that cause pain and death.

This is, frankly, unheard of. If your car crashes and you get injured because of a car company's faulty brakes, shouldn't the car company be held responsible? Not even the tobacco industry, whose product has been proven many times over to cause problems, enjoys such unqualified protection as the lawsuit immunity bill would provide. And the gun industry is far, far, far from failing. They bragged all this past summer about growing sales around the country-- any inference that this protection is necessary to keep them in business is a complete lie. Practically every media outlet and talking head out there has condemned this bill as NRA-conjured favoritism, and even legal experts, according to an editorial in today's New York Times, are "stunned that any industry could ever win such blanket immunity."

It seems impossible that any industry, any lobby could so blatantly and selfishly control Congress, but it's happening, and as soon as the House passes this bill and Bush signs it (as he's promised to), it will be law. A privately run, heavily funded lobby will have subverted the political system to their own agenda and needs. Wouldn't it be nice if laws were created to serve the people they're supposed to govern, instead of the gigantic and faceless industries that pay Congress enough for them? Sure it would. But that's not what's happening with this bill.

We're here to serve you, DC version

Whiel Republicans in the state legislature serve the public by legalizing doggy bags for wine, Rep. F. Everybody Sensenbrenner, the pride of Waukesha County, is looking out for us with some high priority legislation in Congress, too.

Does a body's heart good, knowing those Republican majorities have their priorities in order.

Republicans celebrate Waukesha 'win'

Wisconsin Republicans are celebrating the fact that a Republican won a non-partisan race for county exec in Waukesha County, which shouldn't be too surprising. Waukesha is one of the most Republican counties in the state, and voted almost 2 to 1 for Bush-Cheney over Kerry-Edwards a year ago.

The winner, State Rep. Dan Vrakas, beat another Republican, Jim Dwyer, although the Republicans tried hard to make him into a Democrat. So it's hard to understand all of the jubiliation and claims that this is somehow a mandate for anything. DubyaIsFredo (I didn't name it; don't ask) has more.

This week's top 10

Top 10 conservative idiots of the week, that is, courtesy of the Democratic Underground.

W wins this one, based on, among other things, this exchange with one of the soldiers in the staged videoconference with Bush:

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something. Were you there when I came to New York?

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Yes, I was, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: I thought you looked familiar.

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Well, thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: I probably look familiar to you, too.

Green invites his twin to hold 'hearing'

Rep. Mark Green has invited his buddy, Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, to bring his congressional committee -- or at least the Republican members -- to Milwaukee to do a dog and pony show -- oops, I mean hold an informational hearing -- on alleged voter fraud.

Makes sense that Green would ask Ney. They are two peas in a pod.

Both took money from Tom DeLay, the indicted House Republican leader, and both vote with him more than 90% of the time. Ney has taken $24,492 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC. Green has taken an almost identical amount. No surprise that Ney voted with Tom DeLay 95% of the time between Jan. 1 2004 and March 31 2005, or that Green voted wit him 90% of the time.

Milwaukee can learn a lot from Ney about clean elections.

"I'm a good friend of his [DeLay's]," Ney told the National Journal. In 2001, Ney was reported as being, "an active lieutenant in good standing on the whip team of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay." Green, too, is a deputy whip, rounding up Republican votes for whatever nefarious scheme DeLay and other GOP House leaders want. DeLay has stepped aside as majority leader since his indictment on money laundering and corruption charges, but he is still running the show.

Ney was Jack Abramoff's go-to Congressman on a particular provision desired by one of Abramoff's tribal clients. Ney accepted nearly $50,000 from interested parties, making them collectively his single biggest source of campaign funds. Abramoff told the tribes that Ney was on board and that the legislation had the necessary sponsor in the Senate as well. But there was no Senate sponsor, and the legislation did not go through even after Ney flew off on a junket to Scotland along with Abramoff and Ralph Reed - with Abramoff asking the Indian tribes to foot the bill. Ney's trip is now being investigated in the Senate.

Abramoff, you may recall, is the sugar daddy who took Congressmen on overseas trips and showered staffers with freebies. Mark Graul, Green's chief of staff in the House and now his campaign manager in the race for governor, shows up repeatedly in Abramoff e-mails as asking for and receiving tickets.

More details on Ney: Washington Post and Texas Observer

My only question about the "hearing" is whether the Journal Sentinel's voter fraud expert Greg Borowski will be covering it or testifying.

GOP can't defend its misplaced priorities

Wisconsin residents think the politicians they elect to office put their own interests, or those of special interests, ahead of the people's, a Wisconsin Policy Research Institute poll discovered.

The only real surprise was how overwhelming the numbers were. The poll said 47% thought politicians worked for their self-interest, 41% for special interests, and only 6% thought they represented the public interest. Story.

State Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, the Senate minority leader, suggested that maybe people would like to see the legislature working on something besides the kind of right-wing social agenda that has dominated recent sessions -- like the recent day when the Senate spent all day on four bills backed by Wisconsin Right-to-Life.

From Robson's news release:

“What I hear people talking about is how long they can hold off turning on their furnaces. They’re talking about how they are going to pay their property taxes at the end of the year while paying heat bills that are $600 higher than last year. Wisconsinites are worried about the high cost of home heating, gasoline, property taxes, and health care.

“Democrats are trying to address these pocketbook issues, but the Republicans refuse to move our bills forward...

“Last week Democrats announced the Action Plan for Affordable Health Care to set a timeline to bring health care costs down by 15 percent over a two-year period...

“The response from the Republicans was to say there is no health care crisis. Tell that to the small businesses that are dropping their health insurance benefits. When Wisconsin has eight of the top 10 costliest cities in the nation in terms of physician costs, there is a crisis. The cost of a family health insurance premium has increased 73 percent since 2000. Instead of making affordable health care a priority, Republicans are ignoring the issue like they are ignoring every other kitchen-table issue that is on the minds of Wisconsinites.”

The Repubs, as you might expect, didn't like what Robson had to say. (I don't know if you've noticed, but they don't take criticism well.) They fired off a news release of their own, blaming the Democrats and Gov. Jim Doyle for poisoning the public's attitudes.

The Rs were quick on the trigger with a release, but when Wisconsin Public Radio offered them a chance to debate Robson on the issue and discuss the WPRI poll on an hour-long statewide call-in show, there was not a single Republican to be found. Robson accepted the invitation, but in the interest of "fairness" the producers decided to go with an analyst instead of elected officials.

Was every Republican legislator too busy working for the public interest to appear with Robson for an hour?

More likely, no one felt up to defending the misplaced priorities of the GOP-run legislature that has neglected the real issues that people care about, while playing political games on divisive issues that do nothing to improve people's quality of life. The Republican agenda is all about trying to score political points, but that is beginning to wear thin with the voters.

The same day, the Republican leadership agreed to pay for lawyers to represent two Republican legislators who want to keep the state's attorney general from seeing the draft of a bill allowing people to carry concealed weapons. Would you want to defend that? No wonder the GOP hides behind press releases.

Answer: The right-wing media conspiracy

And the question is:

How do you explain that Scott Walker/Milwaukee County government doesn't show up until nearly the last line of a Sunday story with this second headline deck:

Green, Doyle both carry taint of struggling governments

Sensenbrenner does something right

Never let it be said that I will not give credit where it is due, even to Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner, one of my favorite foils.

This via CivilRights.org, from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights:

"We applaud the House Judiciary Committee, under the leadership of Chairman James Sensenbrenner, for beginning hearings today on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), which guarantees that millions of Americans have the right to vote.

While we are encouraged by expressions of bipartisan support for reauthorizing key provisions of the VRA that are set to expire, also at issue is whether Congress will act to renew and restore several pivotal provisions during the reauthorization process.

The minority language, preclearance, and federal observer provisions of the Act need to be reauthorized for another 25 years. These provisions assure that bilingual ballots are made available, that areas with a history of voting rights violations obtain federal pre-approval for their electoral changes, and that federal poll watchers can be deployed in these areas to make sure that every citizen has the right to vote, free from intimidation.

But Congress also has an opportunity to restore the strength of the Act by clarifying language that has been muddied by recent Supreme Court decisions and by lowering the numerical threshold that triggers minority language provisions enabling more Americans to vote.

For the past 40 years, the Voting Rights Act has worked well to enfranchise the disenfranchised. But threats to minority voters and efforts to discourage minority voters continue. In making our democracy work, it is imperative that we do everything we can to ensure that every citizen's right to vote is protected. Congressional reauthorization and strengthening of the Voting Rights Act will accomplish this vital goal.

Especially at a time when we are holding America's democracy up for the world to use as a model, we need to make sure our own laws protect that which is most sacred."

Holding hearings is a start. Let's see how the votes of Sensenbrenner, Mark Green and other Wisconsin Republicans fall on some of the key amendments.

All shook up about Waukesha water

Gee, someone woke up Dennis Shook at the Waukesha Freeman and told him the real scoop about Waukesha's chances of getting the Lake Michigan water it wants so desperately.

And Shook got all shook up. (Sorry,that was too easy and obvious, but I will never do it again, I promise.)

Apparently he hadn't been paying attention, and had the impression that the new Great Lakes water compact would allow Waukesha to take 20 millions of gallons of water out of Lake Michigan every day without the requirement that it return it to the lake.

The issue isn't all that complicated. Waukesha is on the western side of the subcontinental divide. On the east side of that divide, water flows into Lake Michigan. On the other side, it flows to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Journal Sentinel said in an editorial back in August:

No Great Lakes water should leave the basin unless it can be replenished. This has been a mainstay of lake policy for a while now. Since Waukesha is outside the surface-water basin, it shouldn't get any surface water unless it can return it, instead of letting it flow eventually into the Mississippi River via the Fox River.

That has been the policy, is the policy, and in all likelihood will continue to be the policy, new compact or not. That seems to have escaped Shook's attention. Now he's acting like someone is trying to put something over on him.

In a column filled with rampant paranoia, he blames the usual suspects:

They are powerful forces. They include environmentalists, social engineers and even some people left over from the regimes of Milwaukee mayors Henry Maier and John Norquist, noted for their disdain of the suburbs.

The environmentalists have actively opposed the sale because they do not want to see a growth in the "sprawl," their charming term for almost any development where a field might be paved over, a road built or a lake used for recreation.

The social engineers did not want to see the sale because they do not want to see suburban success, as it is simply too far from urban dwellers. Milwaukee residents - particularly the poor - have no easy access to the nearly 7,000 jobs that are estimated to be open in the suburban area. Bus routes are few and few city dwellers are able to make the commute.

The Maier/Norquist remnants - and they are definitely hanging just behind the curtain of the Milwaukee political stage - did not want to see the sale because it would bring cooperation and tranquility, something that will not help them regain control. If that detente came while also helping the hated suburbs with which they fought the sewer wars and have seen as the enemy, it would be even worse.

Actually, the best reason for all of those people and groups to want Lake Michigan water returned to the lake is to preserve the Great Lakes, one of the nation's greatest natural assets. You don't need to be anti-suburb to understand the need to preserve those lakes.

Despite Shook's paranoid rant, the new Great Lakes agreement is likely to make it easier for Waukesha County to have access to Great Lakes water. Personally, as one of the "Norquist remnants," I think it's a bad idea.

But it would be a far worse idea to send 20 millions of water every day to the Gulf of Mexico, via the city Waukesha, no strings attached.

The most surprising thing is that anyone in Waukesha ever thought that would happen.

Bush numbers in the toilet in Badgerland

A new Survey USA poll says 36% of those surveyed in Wisconsin like the job George W. Bush is doing, while 61% don't.

He's rapidly approaching Lyndon LaRouche-like numbers. LaRouche, the lunatic Labor Party guy, is the one who disproved the idea that any publicity was good publicity, when his negatives went into the 80s.

The survey of 600, done last weekend, used random dialing and a pre-recorded, interactive phone script.

Bush's approval rating of 36% in Wisconsin ranked 37th of 50 states. The low was 28% positive in Massachusetts and the high 61% in Utah, followed by Idaho, Wyoming and Alaska. Unfortunately for Bush, he is most popular in the states where no one lives. National list.

We're here to serve you

How do you explain the poll that says most Wisconsin people don't think their elected officials are looking out for their interests?

Why, just today an Assembly committee passed the wine doggy bag bill, sponsored by two Republicans and one DINO.

What more do people want?

Judge suspends voter photo ID law

A federal judge has suspended a new photo ID requirement for voters in Georgia. See if any of this sounds familiar.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:

A federal judge in Rome today issued an order suspending a new state law requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls for the upcoming November municipal elections throughout Georgia.

U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy granted the injunction to lawyers for Common Cause of Georgia, the ACLU, the NAACP and other groups who challenged the law that requires Georgians to purchase a state-issued photo identification before voting.

The plaintiffs, Murphy found, have shown there is a substantial likelihood they will ultimately prevail in showing the photo ID requirement "unduly burdens the right to vote" and "constitutes a poll tax."

Murphy, in a 123-page order, said he had great respect for the Georgia Legislature, which passed the law earlier this year. "The court, however, simply has more respect for the Constitution," Murphy added.

The U.S. Justice Department approved the law in August, saying that while Attorney General Alberto Gonzales didn't object to the state's voter ID requirement the federal agency's approval didn't preclude lawsuits against it.

Weeks after the law won federal approval, voter and civil rights groups filed the federal lawsuit challenging the law, contending it violates state and federal constitutions.

The Republican-backed measure sparked racial tensions during the state's legislative session last spring. Most of Georgia's black lawmakers walked out at the state Capitol when it was approved.

Democrats had argued the idea was a political move by the GOP to depress voting among minorities, the elderly and the poor -- all traditional bases for Democrats. Its opponents include the AARP, League of Women Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The law eliminates formerly accepted forms of voter identification, such as Social Security cards, birth certificates or utility bills.

Rep. Tyrone Brooks, president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, called the ruling "a strong signal from the federal judiciary that Georgia has gone too far in impeding the right of citizens to vote."

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, a civil rights activist, said the ruling is "a breath of fresh air," adding, "We believe that this affirms our notion that this legislation infringes on our constitutional rights."

Supporters of the law vowed to challenge the court decision.

"We'll appeal it until the Supreme Court makes a decision. Hopefully by then the President will have a good conservative court up there that understands the will of the people," said State Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville.

Gov. Sonny Perdue and other Republicans have said the measure is aimed at preventing voter fraud, not hurting poor voters. The governor has pointed out that state IDs would be given free to people who couldn't afford the fee or said they planned to use the ID to vote. "It will not be a hardship on any voter," Perdue said when he signed the bill in April.

Walker puts lipstick on his own pig

Columnist Jim Rowen, in a Milwaukee Insight piece, on Scott Walker's recent "lipstick on a pig" comment about the Milwaukee region's economy:

Consider these two meanings for the "lipstick-on-a-pig" tagline offered on the Web site www.clichesite.com :

1. Trying to dress something up.

2. Making something appear better than it is.

Now ask yourselves: where else might these definitions fit when it comes to Scott Walker and the office of Milwaukee County executive?

Read it here.

Lazy or inept? Media, do-gooders miss story of Green's out-of-state money

So out-of-state political contributions have suddenly become an issue in Wisconsin?

The "discovery" that Jim Doyle has raised $200,000 from donors outside of Wisconsin in the first half of 2004 has, predictably, alarmed editorial writers.

That $200,000 represents 15% of the total amount raised by Doyle's campaign in the first six months of 2005. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which did the research, is horrified, of course. Unfortunately, it only looked at this year's contributions, or it might have discovered this fact:

Twenty-seven per cent of every dollar Rep. Mark Green has put into his campaign has come from outside of Wisconsin.

Green has "raised" $1,978,000 in total, including $1.3-million that he transferred from his Congressional campaign to his governor's campaign. Of the $1,978.000 total, more than $528,000 is from non-Wisconsin donors. That's 27% -- nearly twice Doyle's 15%.

When Green transferred that $1.3 million,$505,000 or 39% came from out of state, including $431,489 in special interest political action committee money. There was even a little in there from Texan Tom DeLay, which has caused Green some problems. In other words, one out of every three dollars he transferred in was from an out-of-state special interest.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, probably because of laziness or ineptitude and not because it is after Doyle, looked only at 2005 contributions, which made it look as though Green had taken only 3.5% in non-Wisconsin contributions and Walker only 2%.

Capitol reporters just wrote from the press release -- "What, us do any original research?" -- and editorial writers, of course, only know what they read in the news columns, so the misleading information has spread far and wide. I don't happen to think there is anything wrong with raising money out-of-state, but if it's an issue, it should be one for the gander, too, and not just the goose.

I don't have all of Scott Walker's reports, or the time to assemble them, but I do know this: That in 2003 Nick Hurtgen, a Walker pal now under indictment for influence peddling and corruption in Illinois, helped to organize a Chicago fundraiser for Walker where out-of-state interests wrote $25,000 worth of checks in a single night. Many, including Hurtgen, had a connection to Bear Stearns, which was trying (successfully) to land a big county contract.

The Journal Sentinel reported in 2004:

[Bear Stearns consultant Robert] Kjellander was one of more than two dozen Illinois contributors to fund-raisers that Walker held last year in Chicago, according to campaign records. Kjellander, of Springfield, Ill., gave Walker $1,000...

[Stuart]Levine and his wife cumulatively gave Walker $5,000, according to campaign finance records. The maximum individual donation the county executive could accept during that election cycle was $3,000. [Levine has been indicted along with Hurtgen.]

[John]Hiller, Walker's campaign treasurer, said Kjellander, Levine and other donors at Walker's Chicago fund-raisers last year give to many political candidates in Illinois and around the country. Their presence was not related to Bear Stearns, he said.

Right.

So there is $25,000 Walker raised outside of Wisconsin in a single night. Presumably, one of these days someone will assemble all of his reports and come up with a total. My guess is is more likely to be the Democrats than the Democracy Campaign, and it certaintly won't be a reporter.

The indicted duo of Levine and Hurtgen are something Walker ands Green have in common. Among the out-of-state individual donors whose money was tranferred into Green's campaign were 10 contributions, totaling $14,012, from Hurtgen, Levine and their wives.

Commercials may open eyes on gay marriage

A referendum to put a ban on gay marriage in the Texas state constitution is on the ballot Nov. 8. I have not seen any polling data, but my guess is that opponents of the measure face extremely long odds.

Wisconsin's yahoos still plan to put a similar question on the ballot here for November 2006.

In Texas, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is airing a series of powerful TV commercials in the Houston market that -- whether it changes their votes or not -- will at least make people think about the issue differently. They feature real people, including a self-described redneck, telling real stories, and pack an emotional punch.

See them here.

Quote, unquote

"The fact of the matter is that when we were attacked on September 11, we had a choice to make. We could decide that the proximate cause was al Qaeda and the people who flew those planes into buildings and, therefore, we would go after al Qaeda…or we could take a bolder approach..."

-- Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, on Meet the Press, explaining the administration's decision to invade Iraq instead of focusing efforts on destroying al-Qaeda and capturing Bin Laden.

Hat tip: Political Wire

F. Jim fails in quest for Diddly Award

Mother Jones magazine nominated our own F. U. Sensenbrenner for a Diddly Award in its latest issue. Sensenbrenner was one of four members of Congress nominated for the Aaron Burr Award for Constitutional Devotion:

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) lost his temper during a summer hearing on the Patriot Act. In the midst of sworn testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, he denounced the proceedings as “irrelevant” and angrily gaveled the meeting closed, in violation of the “unanimous consent” rule. As the floor erupted with protests from witnesses and opposition party members, Sensenbrenner’s staff turned off the microphones and then walked out.

But Sensenbrenner, along with Reps. Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert (distinguished company indeed), fell short of the prize. The winner:

Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) exploded with so much rage at Democrats who earlier this year had decided to prevent a judicial nominee from coming to a vote by employing the filibuster—a parliamentary maneuver that is more than 160 years old—that he compared the Dems to Nazis: “It’s the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 saying, ‘I’m in Paris. How dare you invade me? How dare you bomb my city? It’s mine."

WINNER! Rick Santorum, for explaining to television interviewer Barry Nolan that America’s “entire culture” was focused on something that was “harming America.” Reaching for just the right words, Santorum boasted of his knowledge of “our founding documents” before hitting upon the precise phrase to describe what is destroying the land: “the pursuit of happiness.”

Zien gets a serious, blogging opponent

Pat Kreitlow, who until May was a news anchor at WEAU-TV in Eau Claire, announced over the weekend that he will run for the State Senate next year against incumbent Dave Zien.

Kreitlow looks like a strong candidate who will give Zien a run for his money.

Kreitlow writes a good blog, too. A recent entry cleverly dissected a Zien fund-raising letter, which pushed all the buttons to try to get contributions:

"Dear Friend,

"We are less than a year away from our next campaign kickoff, and already the liberals are gunning for me.

"While I do not have a declared opponent as of yet, the liberal media has been touting a former TV news anchor as Madison's chosen opponent against me.

"While this elitist former media personality will be given free air time and news print by his fellow liberal media comrades, I will be having to pay for any and all air time and news print I receive.

"With the usual government feeders seeking to unseat me, with Madison Democrats already placing a target on my back, and with an all but declared liberal media person running against me, we'’re in for a tough battle. To even be competitive, I must raise $100,000 by the end of this year.

"Remember, our likely opponent will have the edge between the financial backing of WEAC, the Democratic Party, and through free promotion by his comrades in the liberal media.”

Kreitlow reacts:

Whew.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's five "liberals," one "elitist," one “gunning" reference (always a classic), and a whopping TWO "comrades" associated with the "liberal media." There aren'’t two "comrades" left in the Kremlin, but they are apparently running rampant somewhere in Dave Zien’s Wisconsin! His letter also talks about working to "curb the DNR'’s abusive power," and "seeking help from government abuse."

That's odd talk considering that Dave Zien been part of Wisconsin government since the election of 1988. Between his comfortable salary and his oft-discussed motorcycle reimbursements, couldn'’t one easily mistake Dave for the "government feeders" he cites in his letter?

His letter makes three “asks" for contributions in his effort to put $100,000 in the bank A FULL YEAR before his next run for re-election. It's part of an astonishing system that helps ensure almost every incumbent politician wins his or her race in Wisconsin. What regular guy or gal wants to face an entrenched incumbent capable of snapping up that much cash so far ahead of an election?

He also plays the underdog card an embarrassing number of times for someone who's won --what?-- seven straight legislative elections. Think of all the money he's raised and spent (and been paid) over all those years.

Zien's campaign, by the way, had $13,000 in the bank on June 30.

Here's hoping Kreitlow keeps blogging during the campaign. It's a great way for a candidate to communicate. (Unsolicited gratuitous advice: Let it marinate overnight before you fire it off. It's one thing for someone like me to pop off or fire an unguided missile, but something quite different for a candidate.)

Grothman throwing his weight around

Is State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, throwing his influence around in places it doesn't belong?

Journal Sentinel columnist Mike Nichols, who's on the Ozaukee-Washington County scene, seems to think so.

Grothman and one his his staffers sat in on a recent meeting between the Dept. of Natural Resources (the agency he and others love to hate), the Dept. of Justice, and a fire department in his district accused of violating state law over the handling and disposal of asbestos.

His presence at the meeting was highly unusual, to say the least. Inappropriate would be another. It was a meeting where he didn't say a word, but didn't have to say anything to have an impact. Nichols has the whole story.

Newest blogger on the block

Now, please, a warm welcome for the latest addition to the Wisconsin blogosphere, one Paul Soglin, the former Red Mayor of Madison in the 1970s and later just the mayor of Madison in the 1990s.

He reportedly leans a little to the left, but you can make your own judgment. Word is that he only plans to post a couple of times a week. We'll see whether he gets obsessed/addicted like the rest of us.

His blog is Waxing America. He promises "a candid look at bad right-wing policies and the Democrats who play along. Of course, then there are the horrible liberal policies designed to assuage the moderates but end up pissing off just about everyone."

"I know you are, but what am I?"

Mark Graul, Mark Green's campaign manager, seems a little testy lately.

The Badger Herald reports:

Green himself is guilty of questionable campaign finance practices, [State Dem Party Chair Joe]Wineke alleged.

“Mark Green transferred $1.3 million from his federal account and my guess is 80 percent of that didn’t come from Wisconsin,” he said.

Graul strongly denied the allegation, although he did admit Green has received some out-of-state donations.

“Joe Wineke is a big fat liar,” Graul said in reference to the 80 percent figure. “Joe Wineke is Jim Doyle’s No. 1 attack dog, and they don’t deal in the truth. They only deal in lies because they don’t have anything good to say about the governor.”

Maybe it's not 80%. Is it 60? 70? One thing we know -- more than $500,000 -- depending on who's counting, maybe more than that -- came from federal political action committees (including that pesky $30,000 from Tom DeLay.) None of that's from Wisconsin. With that much non-Wisconsin money to begin with, it wouldn't take much to get well over 50%.

No wonder Graul's touchy. Someone will no doubt do the math one of these days, and Green's out-of-state money will dwarf Doyle's.

8th CD candidates stand next to power

So Congressman Dave Obey has made an unusual endorsement in a three-way Democratic Congressional primary, giving his support to Jamie Wall in the 8th CD.

Meanwhile, one of the Republicans, State Rep. Terri McCormick, is using one of the state's top political figures on her website, too.

UPDATE: If you click that link now you'll find that McCormick has removed the photo, of her with Gov. Jim Doyle at a bill signing. But never fear. Jessica McBride became obsessed with the question and did a lot of research on it, so you can still see the photo here.

Republican radio host blissfully ignorant

The afternoon drive time show on Republican radio's WTMJ, the Green House, prides itself on being ignorant about state and local politics. Host Jonathan Green and sidekick Phil Cianciola frequently profess to knowing nothing about politics, how it works, or who anybody is. That doesn't stop Green from offering conservative viewpoints, of course (this is WTMJ, after all). He's just blissfully uninformed.

But Thursday, when Mark Reardon was filling in for Green, even the Green House outdid itself.

Discussing a wacky idea from State Rep. Sue Jeskewitz, R-Menomonee Falls, to pass a bill declaring a state tartan -- yes, a state tartan, as in plaid -- Cianciola suggested having a state pasta as well. Let's get a politician from Milwaukee, who represents the area where WTMJ is located, to introduce the bill, he said. In fact, let's call him up.

Who should we call?

Reardon, who does an evening talk show of his own, and who is promoted by the station as someone who "brings his passion for news and information" to the airwaves, could not think of the name of a single Milwaukee legislator (maybe because most are Democrats?).

He managed to cough up the names of two suburban Republican leggies -- Jeff Stone and Mark Gundrum, I think -- but was clueless about who might represent Milwaukee. He could not think of a single one, although there are five state senators and 12 state reps who represent at least part of Milwaukee.

He finally resorted to a Blue Book and began reading names, finally coming up with State Rep. Leon Young and State Sen. Jeff Plale. (Neither one represents the district where WTMJ is located. That would be State Rep. Polly Williams and State Sen. Lena Taylor.) When I got out of the car (the only place I listen), they were thinking about calling Plale. Apparently, they had at least heard of him.

Let's do a Charlie Sykes-style insight check. What does it say about the station's -- and Reardon's -- orientation and target audience?

When they just can't 'get over it'

A tougher new federal bankruptcy law takes effect today. Thanks to Wisconsin Rep. F. Victims Sensenbrenner, people financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina are covered by it, too. Loren Steffey, a business writer for the Houston Chronicle, explains what that means:

Get over it. The words hang like a final insult over the people, as many as 50 a day, who Claude Lightfoot says line the hall outside his office in Metairie, La.

They are the desperate and the destitute, in a financial free-fall, hoping simply for the bitter resolve that comes with hitting rock bottom.

They are Hurricane Katrina's lingering victims, those who suffered the physical damage of the storm and are just beginning to comprehend its economic fallout. In the coming months, their numbers will grow. They always do...

On Monday, new bankruptcy provisions take effect that will make it harder for many to seek court protection from creditors. The change already has prompted a surge of bankruptcies nationwide, from big companies such as Delphi Corp. and Delta Air Lines to the 20,000 individuals who rushed to file last week.

But it's the hurricanes' struggling survivors, such as the desperate queue in Lightfoot's hallway, who may be hardest hit.

The Justice Department waived some of the new provisions, such as mandatory credit counseling, for storm victims, but others remain.

Filers must, for example, produce six months of pay stubs and three years of tax returns. For many of Lightfoot's clients, those documents were destroyed by floodwaters.

A few weeks ago, consumer advocates and bankruptcy lawyers urged Congress to postpone the new law for Katrina victims. Although several lawmakers backed the plan, it was blocked by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the law's author.

As Sensenbrenner so eloquently put it, those who wanted the changes "ought to get over it."

Those are the highlights. You can read his entire column here.

Gilkyson unafraid to mix music, politics

Eliza Gilkyson's new CD, "Paradise Hotel," is featured on this month's Blue State Jukebox,at Buzzflash, and Tony Peyser's near-rave review is well-deserved.

Gilkyson has written two of the best, if not THE two best, songs about the Iraq war -- "Hiway 9" on her last CD, "Land of Milk and Honey," which earned her a Grammy nomination for best folk album, and "Man of God," on her new disc.

In Milwaukee Saturday night to open a show for guitar legend Richard Thompson at Alverno College, Gilkyson was well-received when she took a risk and began talking politics only a couple of numbers into her set. She's based in Austin, knows something about George W and didn't hesitate to speak right up. Her take on why W prefers intelligent design theory to evolution was hysterical.

I thought being that political was risky, anyway, and give her a lot of credit for doing it. This wasn't like playing the Barrymore in Madison, and I wouldn't necessarily expect Richard Thompson fans to be liberal or anti-war. Wrong again, apparently.

She closed the set with "Man of God." Sample lyrics:

“The cowboy came from out of the west/with his snakeskin boots and his bulletproof vest/Gang of goons and his big war chest,/fortunate son he was doubly blessed/Corporate cronies and the chiefs of staff, bowing to the image of the golden calf/Startin’ up wars in the name of God’s son/gonna blow us all the way to kingdom come."

CHORUS: "Man of God/Man of God/That ain't the teachings/of a man of God."

"You never have to tell them how the money's spent/You never have to tell them where their freedom went/ Homophobes in the high command/Waiting for The Rapture like it's Disneyland."

She got a rousing ovation and brought some in the audience to their feet -- a great reception for an opening act who was unknown to much of the audience.

Given the latest polls, maybe it's not so risky to let all of those antiwar, anti-W sentiments hang out, unless you're playing at the American Legion convention or a Bush fundraiser -- two gigs for which Eliza Gilkyson is unlikely to be booked.

Start bringing troops home, Laird says

Melvin Laird, the former Wisconsin Congressman who became Richard Nixon's Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam war, was also key in extracting the U.S. from that war. Laird has the standing and experience to suggest what our course should be in Iraq, which many now call George Bush's Vietnam.

Laird has written a piece for Foreign Affairs magazine about Vietnam and Iraq, which David Broder writes about in his Sunday column in the Washington Post.

In part, Laird echoes another Wisconsinite, Sen. Russ Feingold, who has called for a target date for bringing US troops home, and who has argued that the US presence in Iraq is actually fueling the insurgents.

From Broder's column:

. . . Laird argues that the United States should "not let too many more weeks pass" before beginning to withdraw troops from Iraq and turning over the security of the country to Iraqi forces.

When he took over the Pentagon, Laird said, he changed the mission statement "from one of applying maximum pressure against the enemy to one of giving maximum assistance to South Vietnam to fight its own battles."

That should have been U.S. policy in Iraq "even before the first shot was fired." It ought to begin now and continue indefinitely, with the pace to be restrained only by the judgment of American military commanders on the capabilities of Iraqis to fill the security role.

"We owe it to the restive people back home to let them know there is an exit strategy, and, more important, we owe it to the Iraqi people," Laird says. "Our presence is what feeds the insurgency, and our gradual withdrawal would feed the confidence and the ability of average Iraqis to stand up to the insurgency."

White House officials would maintain they are doing their best to establish a legitimate government in Iraq and to boost the fighting capacity of Iraqi forces. But on Laird's third point, they cannot pretend to be in accord.

The former defense secretary, himself a veteran of World War II, has harsh words to say about abuse of prisoners in American hands.

"To stop abuses and mistakes by the rank and file, whether in the prisons or on the streets, heads must roll at much higher levels than they have thus far," he says.

"To me, the alleged prison scandals reported to have occurred in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay have been a disturbing reminder of the mistreatment of our own POWs by North Vietnam. The conditions in our current prison camps are nowhere near as horrific as they were at the 'Hanoi Hilton,' but that is no reason to pat ourselves on the back. The minute we begin to deport prisoners to other nations where they can be legally tortured, when we hold people without charges or trial, when we move prisoners around to avoid the prying inspections of the Red Cross, when prisoners die inexplicably on our watch, we are on a slippery slope toward the inhumanity that we deplore."

Those are powerful words from a powerful source. One can only hope they are heeded.

Reading all the way to the end

Lest anyone accuse Steve Walters or his newspaper, the Journal Sentinel, of being part of the liberal media conspiracy, today's story on Republican complaints about a donation to Gov. Jim Doyle should take care of that.

The story, about contributions to Doyle from principals in a firm which won a state travel contract, gets prominent play and goes on with suggestions of wrongdoing for 20 paragraphs before you get to this, buried at the end of the story [Adelman is the firm that got the contract, Omega the loser]:

A Journal Sentinel review of more than 1,000 pages of state documents and follow-up interviews found that:

• When final bids from Adelman and Omega were opened, Adelman had cut its prices, and beat Omega in five of seven categories of services, including the fee charged to book domestic and international tickets. For example, Adelman's final quote was a per-ticket fee of $24 for domestic travel - $3 less than Omega's final quote for the same service. And on international tickets, Adelman's new quote was $24 - $7 less than the quote of Omega.

• Omega didn't protest the bid to Adelman. "We thought the process was fair," said Diane Bozicevich,Omega vice president for the Midwest.

• Next week, Bablitch will announce a change that will let state workers who find out-of-state travel prices that are less than those quoted by Adelman's agency book them without using the company.

Reason prevails; Summerfest deal reached

So an agreement was reached, which is certainly preferable to legislative action over some silly local fireworks dispute.

But before anyone gets too euphoric, bear in mind that Summerfest has a long history of saying one thing, or even agreeing to one thing, and doing another.

This agreement takes Summerfest's Don Smiley at his word that the festivals will only need a piece of the island to stage fireworks displays, and can do them in a few hours' time. We'll see.

More likely, what's just happened is that Milwaukee World Festivals has just gotten its nose inside the tent, and will wriggle the whole camel in little by little.

The state has already violated the Public Trust Doctrine to accommodate the festivals. I predict that won't be enough, and they'll be back for more and more. Watch and see.

UPDATE: I wrote the post above on Friday afternoon. Now, in Saturday's Journal Sentinel story, it's clear the process I described has already begun. It's described now as a "tentative agreement," with a memorandum of understanding to be worked out during the next few months. Want to bet the final document gives Summerfest more leeway?

More disturbing, however, is this:

Although the agreement ensures Summerfest's use of the island park for its fireworks displays, [Summerfest Board President Howard] Schnoll and others expect to continue pursuing other events and activities for the park.

A "wish list" prepared by Milwaukee World Festivals in 2004 includes sporting events, amusement ride areas, vendor booths, installation of bleachers and public parking for events on the island.

"There may be some things in there that we will try to do," Schnoll said. "We want to understand the DNR's situation and have them understand ours, to see if there are things that can work for everybody."

Eric Skindzelewski, the 25-year president of Lakeshore Fisherman Ltd., said those uses would violate the state constitution, which provides free public access to the state's waterways.

Skindzelewski is skeptical of the agreement reached Friday and pledged to continue fighting attempts to close off the island for events that require admission or otherwise restrict public access.

UPDATE 2: The Journal Sentinel manages to totally miss the point in a Sunday editorial, saying the choice was between fireworks and no fireworks. There were going to be fireworks at the festivals no matter the outcome. The only question was whether Summerfest might have to go to a little more trouble, and perhaps some added expense, to shoot them off. Summerfest's Don Smiley acknowledged that the Big Gig, with its multi-million dollar budget, clearly could afford a barge. And the ethnic festivals had other options besides using the state park. The Summerfest fog machine totally enveloped the JS, which has a history of being a willing accomplice of the Magic Kingdom.

UPDATE 3: OK, so maybe it doesn't rank up there with the war in Iraq as an issue, as the Widgerson Library & Pub points out with some humor.

---

DNR NEWS RELEASE:

MADISON -- The Department of Natural Resources today announced that it has reached an agreement with Milwaukee World Festival, Inc on the limited use of fireworks from Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee.

"I appreciate Milwaukee World Festival working with us to reach an agreement on the fireworks," said Scott Hassett, DNR Secretary. "I knew that there was room to continue the great fireworks tradition and still allow people to use their state park."

Under the agreement, DNR will allow the use of three acres of the 17 acre park for fireworks for the five ethnic festivals and Summerfest. The festivals will be allowed to limit access for 3-1/2 hours for each fireworks event. Both Summerfest and the ethnic festivals will be responsible for cleanup after the events and the repair of any damage to park property.

The compromise agreement also directs stakeholders and user groups to convene after the first fireworks season to discuss public satisfaction and acceptance.

'Gov. Doyle directed us to get this done, and it's great that we've come to an agreement," said Hassett. "That's the way negotiation is supposed to work. Now park users and fireworks buffs both win. There was never any doubt in my mind that fireworks would continue on the lakefront."

DNR and Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. will continue to work out exact details of the agreement, which will be effective before the start of next year's festival season. In addition, discussions will continue over alternatives for the future.

Graul, lobbyist friend won't discuss freebies

We've done our best to keep you posted on the Mark Graul-Jack Abramoff connection, but Graul, Mark Green's campaign manager and former DC chief of staff, never responds to anything I post. He prefers to let me read his latest spin through WisPolitics.

I guess I shouldn't be offended, because Graul won't talk to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo either. That's where the list of freebies from Abramoff to Congressional members and staffers, including Graul, first appeared.

Talking Points Memo is a national blog with more than a million pageviews a week, or about 125 times the readership of The Xoff Files. But neither Graul nor Jennifer Calvert, the Abramoff staffer who's listed as getting free Graul tickets a number of times, will talk to Marshall, he reports in his latest post on the subject, which includes links to some of the documents naming Graul.

What's wrong with being an Abramoff buddy? This website has the tip of the iceberg, at least. Here's more.

-- Corky Trinidad for Honolulu Star-Bulletin via Cagle

Fireworks expert Sykes pops off

This morning's post from Kris Martinsek tries to bring some perspective and history to the current Summerfest furor, which seems to be over fireworks but is really about the public's right to access the lakefront and state park.

Martinsek has the credentials to write knowledgeably about the issue. She's a past general manager of Summerfest, a member of the Harbor Commission which leases the festival grounds to Summerfest, and the owner of a firm that has produced some events with fireworks.

To Republican radio's Charlie Sykes, who is in his full-bore "Summerfest good, DNR bad" rampage, Martinsek is "a hack."

Sykes, of course, knows something about fireworks, too. I thought it might be a touchy subject for him, knowing that anyone who bothered to Google Charlie Sykes and fireworks, or enter his name and fireworks in the Journal Sentinel search bar, would discover his fireworks credentials.

So I'll give him credit for standing up for what's wrong, even at some personal risk.

Which disproves the old adage that people who live in ammunition dumps shouldn't shoot off fireworks.

Mayor Dave pushes back

This Capital Times story indicates that Mayor Dave is tired of the state GOP thinking it can take free shots:

After being accused of breaking a budgetary promise, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz lashed back at the chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, telling him that he "shouldn't be trusted with a word processor."

Sheriff force-feeding Fox to jail inmates

Doug Hissom of the Shepherd Express reports that Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has ordered all TV sets in the county jail to be tuned to the right-wing Fox News channel.

Inmates previously had watched CNN, but that apparently was too liberal for the Clarke, a Republican in Democrat clothing.

That programming would make more sense in a white collar prison, where most of the prisoners are corporate types who probably watch O'Reilly anyway.

Maybe it's a re-education program, thinking that bombarding vulnerable inmates with right-wing news will change their thinking and voting patterns. Personally, just a few minutes of Fox is enough to start my adrenalin flowing. Prolonged exposure to Fox might make me violent.

"Riot in Cell Block 7. They've taken the guards hostage and are demanding we switch the channel back to CNN."

A firsthand account of Summerfest's escalating demands to bar public access

This perspective on the question of Summerfest fireworks and public access to Lake Michigan and Lakeshore State Park is by Kris Martinsek.

She knows the issue inside and out. Martinsek was:

-- A sewerage commissioner when the island was built using rock excavated from the deep tunnel

-- The General Manager of Summerfest who negotiated the first fireworks contract with Bartolottas and helped start four ethnic festivals

-- An employee of Milwaukee's Dept. of City Development when the Lakewalk plans were developed

-- The current owner of a firm that has produced special events including those with fireworks over water -– Riversplash, the National Association of State Legislators convention

-- And a current Harbor Commissioner who was assigned to be the point person on the transfer of the island from the City to the State.

She says:

I’ve been a participant in the negotiations for the last several years. From the beginning, Milwaukee World Festival wanted control over what happens on the Lakeshore State Park. They have come up with one demand after another as we worked to try to reach agreement on language to transfer the island from the City to the State.

It started with Milwaukee World Festival trying unsuccessfully to get “right of first refusal” for any activities that would be scheduled on the island. They didn’t want anything to occur there that might compete for revenue.

When that was denied, they submitted a wish list that included the right to conduct (and this is a direct quote) “Demonstrations of and public participation in recreational sports, and other outdoor activities including sports clinics, soccer, walks, runs and other competitions; Live entertainment, visual, musical and other activities including musical or other artists performances and the installation of a stage with bleachers or viewing areas for the general public; An amusement ride area, other activities, games, exhibits and events mobile marketers, etc. this could include public viewing and while the area is open to the public, rides or other activities may be individually or group ticketed and there may be concession sales for food, beverage, clothing and other items; Fireworks or other displays for the general public; and public and event related parking to facilitate the above events.”

When that didn’t fly, they requested and received an amendment to their lease that allowed them to keep the public lakewalk along Lake Michigan closed to the public any time that an event was setting up, running, or tearing down on the Henry Maier Festival Grounds. The DNR agreed to that providing MWF would open if there were any periods of more than 5 days with no activity.

That action, in effect, based on the 2005 calendar of events, allows Milwaukee World Festival to close their lakewalk to public access from the beginning of June to the end of September once the island park is completed. That’s a big deal and it was granted with the understanding that the island was to be open 365 days a year as alternative public access to the lakefront. The amendment was made to the lease, approved by the City, but has not been executed by MWF.

And that didn’t satisfy them either. When pushed to sign the lease amendment, they said they needed another agreement that specifically allowed them to do VIP services behind the amphitheater “ pickup and drop-off of vehicles for valet parking and access for commercial vehicles for the staging of events on the Henry Maier Festival Grounds, installing bleachers or viewing areas along a potion (but not the entirety) of the dock wall and other reasonable festival activities or operations.” We provided that amendment to the conservation easement – which they still have not signed.

The DNR agreed that MWF could continue to use the fireworks in 2006 when the island is still under construction – AND offered to let them continue through 2008 as the groups worked to find alternative locations for fireworks displays.

NOW – when everyone involved in the negotiations including the Third Ward Association, Pier Wisconsin, the Art Museum, the DNR and MWF agreed to move forward so the land could be transferred and construction of the breakwall to protect the new Pier Wisconsin development could begin - someone circumvented all of us and went to Sen. Grothman for what they thought would be a quiet little change of administrative rules.

George Meyer was right on. MWF reneged on their deal and are using the smoke screen of “loss of fireworks on the lakefront” to cloud the real issue. The island is being built with public funds on public trust land and all of it should remain free and open to the public.

Earlier post: What Summerfest wants, Summerfest gets.

F. Jim, live and in person

Three opportunities this weekend to see Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner and let him know what you think of the job he's doing in Congress. I know he wants to hear from you. Please give him a warm welcome.

He has town hall meetings scheduled on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Thiensville Village Hall, and at 1 p.m. at Glendale North Shore Public Library.

Sunday, he'll be at the Delafield Town Hall at 7 p.m.

Where there's a will, there's a way

FEC Tells Lawmakers They Can
Give Westar Contributions to Charity
BNA Money & Politics Report
October 12, 2005

House lawmakers' campaign committees and political action committees instructed to give up tainted campaign contributions from executives of Westar Energy Inc.--most of them linked to Republicans--have been told by the Federal Election Commission that they can give the money to charity, according to spokespersons for the FEC and one of the members of Congress.

"We asked for and received permission" from the FEC to give the Westar contributions to local charities, Christie Applehanz, a spokeswoman for Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.), told BNA Oct. 11. That permission was given even though the committees receiving Westar money originally were instructed, pursuant to a recent FEC settlement, to disgorge the money to the U.S. Treasury.

FEC spokesman Bob Biersack told BNA that previous rulings in commission advisory opinions allowed the committees to give the Westar money to charity.

Several of the campaign committees and PACs caught up in the Westar matter have already moved to donate the money to various charities, according to news reports. Those include four Kansas GOP House campaigns and the campaign of Missouri Republican Rep. Sam Graves.

Except for the contributions to Moore, all of the Westar money went to committees linked to Republicans. The latest developments came as some Republican lawmakers are under pressure from Democrats to give up contributions from PACs controlled by the recently indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). DeLay and other House GOP leaders were instrumental in steering Westar contributions to selected candidates in 2002.

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Dubya Is Fredo reports that DeLay PAC contributions to Wisconsin Repubs were more pervasive than reported, totaling $80,000 to a flock of Rs in addition to Mark Green and Paul Ryan. Green and Ryan, who keep inventing new excuses to keep the DeLay money, received more than $55,000. If they wanted to divest themselves of the tainted money, there are any number of alternatives.

It was a dark and stormy court ...

Is bad writing enough of a reason to keep Harriet Miers off the Supreme Court? David Brooks makes a strong argument in his NY Times op ed:

I don't know if by mere quotation I can fully convey the relentless march of vapid abstractions that mark Miers's prose. Nearly every idea is vague and depersonalized. Nearly every debatable point is elided. It's not that Miers didn't attempt to tackle interesting subjects. She wrote about unequal access to the justice system, about the underrepresentation of minorities in the law and about whether pro bono work should be mandatory. But she presents no arguments or ideas, except the repetition of the bromide that bad things can be eliminated if people of good will come together to eliminate bad things.

Or as she puts it, "There is always a necessity to tend to a myriad of responsibilities on a number of cases as well as matters not directly related to the practice of law." And yet, "Disciplining ourselves to provide the opportunity for thought and analysis has to rise again to a high priority."

If you doubt him, use this link to read the columns she wrote as president of the State Bar of Texas. But you were warned -- it's deadly stuff.

Polling results: Garbage in, garbage out

The Journal Sentinel conducts an online poll on the Summerfest fireworks issue, but manages to misrepresent the facts:

Should Summerfest and the ethnic festivals be allowed to set off fireworks from Lakeshore State Park?

Yes ... it's fine if the park is closed for the fireworks a few days a year

No ... the park should be publicly accessible 365 days a year

Let Summerfest use the park for fireworks but make the smaller ethnic festivals find another place

I have no opinion

The fact is, the park will be closed "a few days a year" even if only Summerfest uses it for fireworks. If it is the fireworks launch site for all of the ethnic festivals, it will be closed 25 days every summer, and almost every weekend. Earlier post: What Summerfest wants, Summerfest gets

Are these the same people who did the Scott Walker poll showing him with a big lead in the gov's race? Finally, some sniping between Walker and Green, who calls Walker's poll "manufactured" to show him ahead.

Poll results, of course, reflect what you ask, how you ask it, and who you ask. Skew any of those three and you may get the results you wanted, but they'll be meaningless.

The dog ate Green's homework

Here's a shocker. John Nichols at the Cap Times says he's always liked Rep. Mark Green. Likes his taste in fiction or something.

But he doesn't like Green's refusal to return about $30,000 in money from Tom DeLay's political action committee. Nichols writes:

The latest line is that the Green camp - which has converted $1.3 million from his federal campaign fund to help pay for his gubernatorial race - might return $2,000 that DeLay's PAC contributed in 2003 to Green. Green aide Mark Graul says the remaining $27,400 is "long gone."

Green should ask himself a serious question: Is Mark Graul actually as stupid as that statement makes him seem, or does Graul think the people of Wisconsin are stupid enough to fall for this "dog ate my homework" excuse?

The bottom line is this: The campaign funds of career politicians are ongoing entities powered by constant infusions of money from their allies. Green's fund has benefited from substantial contributions from the leadership PAC of a man who has been indicted for serious crimes related to the raising and spending of campaign funds.

If Green wants to be governor of Wisconsin, he should recognize the necessity that he return all of the money that has flowed from DeLay's coffers to his over the years. If Green does not recognize that necessity, then he fails to meet the high ethics standard that Wisconsin voters have a right to apply - and, on a disappointing personal note, he will turn out to be something less than the man I thought he was.

Hold candidates accountable on Iraq

This from Democracy for America:

The war in Iraq began two years ago on a promise of security -- and a web of deception. Now the mistruths have fallen away -- and we see a presidency, and American prestige, sunk in a quagmire.

The cost: almost 2,000 American lives lost. Over $300 billion spent. A growing tab for our children and grandchildren, in the form of the largest budget deficit in our country's history. And for the Iraqi people, a stable democracy -- and peace -- remain nowhere in sight.

We captured a tyrant, but made no provision for keeping the peace. An insurgency took off. Terrorists moved in. And now, we have a country in the heart of the Middle East breeding extremist violence -- and verging on civil war.

This is unacceptable. We have to address this issue and resolve it. But from Washington, we hear little but presidential excuses and the quiet wringing of hands.

Someone needs to take a stand. Here's the deal: that someone can be you.

Take the pledge to send to Washington only those leaders with the courage to face the Iraq mess head-on.

We can shake our heads at Bush and shake our fists at the Congress. In the end, though, we make the Congress. We elect it. It answers to us. And in 2006 and 2008, we can get Congress' attention by telling our elected officials to face the facts -- or go home.

Use your power. As the time draws closer to select candidates for the next United States Congress, pledge the following:

I pledge to only support candidates who:

1. Acknowledge that the U.S. was misled into the war in Iraq
2. Advocate for a responsible exit plan with a timeline
3. Support our troops at home and abroad

Why sign the pledge? Because you know America can't afford to take more of this. It's time for the public servants we send to Washington to face the truth.

We expect our leaders to show courage and honor for the sacrifices of our soldiers in Iraq. The best way to do that: face the crisis that has killed thousands, emptied our treasury, and destroyed our credibility.

You have shown that courage. Let's tell Washington we expect it to do the same.

---

I'm ready to make that commitment. I've signed the pledge. Care to join me? Do it here and now. -- Xoff.

What Summerfest wants, Summerfest gets

The Great Fireworks Debate went on for hours Wednesday at a State Capitol hearing.

It wasn't quite the slam-dunk State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, envisioned when he called a last-minute hearing to ram through a rule allowing Summerfest and ethnic festivals to close a state park 25 days a year to launch fireworks. Some opponents actually managed to scramble and get there to voice their opinions.

But it probably didn't do much to stop the railroad job I warned of yesterday.

The Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) has already caved on letting Summerfest close the park for its fireworks. The only question now is whether the ethnic festivals, which shoot off fireworks every weekend all summer, will be able to kick the public out of the state park, too.

Summerfest (technically Milwaukee World Festivals) will never be satisfied with anything less than everything it wants. My five years on their board, as a naysayer representing the mayor, taught me that. Appeasement doesn't work. The more you give, the more they take -- and the more they ask.

George Meyer did the best job of describing what's going on. From the Journal Sentinel:

George Meyer, a former Department of Natural Resources secretary, said in hashing out a deal to meet the interests of all park users, Summerfest agreed to keep the island open 365 days a year. In exchange, it won a concession from the city that allows the festival to keep much of its lakefront property closed to the public virtually all summer long.

"Now Summerfest is coming back and reneging on the deal" by asking the Legislature to allow it to close part of the park on days when fireworks are set off, Meyer said.

"This is a land-use debate, not a fireworks debate," he said.

He's right on. Summerfest has long resisted the idea that it should keep the public lakewalk along Lake Michigan open to the public -- thereby complying with a Public Trust Doctrine that predates even the state constitution.

That battle has gone on for years, and Summerfest has always managed to keep the "public" lakewalk fenced off for most of the summer. It has been able to do that because, despite an occasional threat, the DNR or attorney general has never gone to court to protect the public's right to have access to the lakefront.

This is an important point: Summerfest doesn't own its grounds. The public does. But Summerfest has long since forgotten any obligation to the public.

In negotiations, the DNR and Harbor Commission had agreed to let Summerfest close the public lakewalk most of the summer. The tradeoff was that there would be a new state park on the island, open to the public. Now Summerfest wants to close that during the festivals, too.

Don Smiley, Summerfest's CEO, claims that without access to the state park there will be no fireworks at ethnic festivals -- as though there is no other option.

Before anyone panics over Smiley's threat -- and that's what it is -- remember that this is the kind of hardball that is always played by Summerfest. A few years ago, when the city was insisting on a lease that paid more than a pittance, Summerfest was threatening to leave town and move to Kenosha or Sheboygan or Ludington, Michigan or some other unspecified place. Guess what? The city didn't blink. Now there is a new, more reasonable lease.

When Smiley says the festivals "can't" use part of the grounds to launch the fireworks, what he really means is "won't." Except for Summerfest itself, the festivals don't use all of the grounds. There are places that could safely be used. But the festivals won't even consider it.

Summerfest is used to getting its way, and politicians are reluctant to get in the way. Mayor John Norquist was the one exception, and he's the one who got the new lease.

Wednesday, Gov. Jim Doyle's press secretary said the governor is committed to ensuring the fireworks continue. That's well and good. No one's trying to stop the fireworks. Let's hope Doyle is also committed to protecting the public's access to the state park. This is not an either/or situation.

Finally, this gem from the JS article:

Negotiations over fireworks with the DNR have been bogged down for more than a year. Smiley expressed surprise at Hassett's letter, saying that until Wednesday the department had insisted the island could not be used for fireworks after 2008.

"We do not believe the DNR has negotiated in good faith up to this minute," he said.

That from the CEO of the outfit that has reneged on its agreement to trade lakewalk access for state park access -- and which secretly went to the legislature to try to sneak through a special exemption, even while negotiations are ongoing.

Grothman's committee meets again next week, and the odds are that it will give Summerfest everything it wants. What Summerfest wants, Summerfest gets, no matter how unreasonable the demands or how underhanded the tactics.

The Walker way: Don't pay, blame Ament

As Milwaukee County exec, Scott Walker's budget philosophy is simple: To hold down taxes, just don't pay the bills. Joel McNally explains in the Shepherd Express:

Walker's philosophy of government is incredibly simple: Not paying your bills is easy. It's coming up with the money to pay your bills that's hard.

In politics, coming up with the money to pay your bills is not only hard, but it also makes you very unpopular. The way government pays its bills is by raising taxes. And politicians who raise taxes are unpopular.

The last thing Walker wants to do is raise taxes and be unpopular when he's running for governor. So he submitted a county budget that doesn't raise property taxes one bit.

Walker's budget also leaves out the money to pay for a few little things. It shortchanges the amount needed to fund the county pension system by $27 million. It also leaves out money to pay 25% of the staff for the county's courts...

The other guiding principle of a Walker administration is to point fingers, blame someone else, and never take any responsibility yourself. Former County Exec Tom Ament lost his job -- and Walker won it -- because of a pension scandal. Back to McNally:

Even though Walker has been county executive since 2002, he still likes to pretend Ament is sneaking into his office at night and messing everything up.

When Walker submitted his latest budget, he explained that he wasn't providing enough money for the pension system because he didn't want the "horrific" pensions passed under Ament to force cuts in other crucial county services.

But the reason the pension system needs so much money is not just the pension benefits approved under Ament. It's also the fact that Walker himself underfunded the pension system in previous budgets to avoid raising taxes.

This isn't the first time deadbeat Walker has failed to pay his bills. Now those bills are coming back to him with all kinds of penalties and interest. It's a downward spiral that eventually leads to what Bruce Springsteen calls "debts no honest man can pay."

One of the more compelling reasons for Walker to run for governor is to try to beat it out of town before this entire shaky financial house of cards comes tumbling down.

--Cartoon by Jeff Parker, Florida Today, via Cagle. (Click to enlarge.)

America under Gore; what might have been

ABC reports that Al Gore never plans to run for President again.

And what would be different if he had gotten a straight vote count in Florida in 2000 and now was in his second term?

"We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us," he said, referring to Iraq. "We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families."

"We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people," Gore said. "We would be a different country."

And a better one, I might add.

Man bites dog

Charlie Sykes actually stands up for what's right, for once, in a dispute between Citizens for Responsible Government and the Journal Sentinel.

Sykes has usually been a shill for CRG, whatever cause they're espousing, and any recall they're running.

Maybe this Six Sigma stuff sounds a little touchy-feely to him?

Maureen Dowd: "To Sir, with love"

Maureen Dowd, in the NY Times, has quite a bit of fun with Harriet Miers' devotion to her master, G. W. Bush.

One of the suck-up notes Dowd jokingly claims to have unearthed:

April 2002 "I was worried that it could go unstated in the rush of business around here, but I just wanted to pause and say how amazing it is that, after doing so much for the American people already, you keep showing up for work most days. We have to come, but you choose to. You're the hardest-working president ever!!"

Did I buy my Prius too soon?

And here I've been feeling really smart, getting my 50 miles a gallon:

Price Guys Finish First
Toyota plans to cut price of its hybrids

Aching for a Toyota Prius hybrid, but wilting at the thought of shelling out $3,500 or more over the price of a conventional car? Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe is thinking of you: He's directed the company's engineering chief to halve the price difference between a hybrid and its gasoline-only equivalent. Speaking at a briefing on Monday, Watanabe didn't commit to a timeline, but made it clear that the price slice is a company priority. Since Toyota is a leader in the hybrid market, the move may force other manufacturers to follow suit if they want to remain competitive. One industry analyst says cutting the hybrid premium might double Prius demand -- already surging thanks to recent spikes in gas prices and a rising green consciousness.

-- from Grist, the online environmental magazine

Having the last word

Check this death notice from the Chicago Trib. Feisty to the end -- and even after.

Theodore Roosevelt Heller

Theodore Roosevelt Heller, 88, loving father of Charles (Joann) Heller; dear brother of the late Sonya (the late Jack) Steinberg. Ted was discharged from the U.S. Army during WWII due to service related injuries, and then forced his way back into the Illinois National Guard insisting no one tells him when to serve his country. Graveside services Tuesday 11 a.m. at Waldheim Jewish Cemetery (Ziditshover section), 1700 S. Harlem Ave., Chicago. In lieu of flowers, please send acerbic letters to Republicans.

Get off the track; Summerfestrailroad job coming down the line

You won't hear the whistle, because this is a stealth operation, but a Summerfest Special railroad job is coming down the track.

With scant last-minute notice that barely meets legal requirements, State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, and State Rep. Mark Gottlieb, R-Port Washington, have scheduled a hearing this afternoon of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules.

Their plan, Grothman says, is to force the Dept. of Natural Resources to allow Summerfest to close a new state park to the public for almost a month every summer. Why? So Summerfest can use the park as a free place to launch fireworks.

Why the rush? What's the emergency? It's the danger that the public or other interested parties, like the Milwaukee Harbor Commission, the city of Milwaukee, lakeshore fishermen, the Third Ward Association and others -- who have negotiated long and hard, in good faith -- to work out a reasonable agreement with Summerfest --might find out and have time to object.

That's why notices went out very late, at the end of the day on Monday. Grothman and Gottlieb couldn't schedule the "hearing" at 3 a.m., when they like to act on controversial items in the state budget. So they did the next best thing, and tried to hold a "public hearing" that they hoped the public wouldn't hear about.

But enough about process. Let's get to the issue.

Public access to the lakefront has long been an issue with Summerfest, which blocks off the public lakewalk along Lake Michigan for much of the summer. A new Lakeshore State Park, being developed in Lake Michigan, just off the Summerfest grounds, was intended, in part, to solve that problem.

The public has a right to lakefront access. The DNR, the attorney general, and even Summerfest's lease, will tell you that.

The debate over access has been long and bitter. Summerfest has always believed it is a kingdom unto itself, not subject to the rules and regulations that apply to mere mortals. For five years, I was the mayor's representative on the Summerfest board, and barely got out alive when I advocated for public access to the lakewalk, even during festivals.

Bo Black reigned over the kingdom in those days. Bo is gone, but the attitude seems to have lingered on.

When the DNR said it would not allow fireworks in a state park, Summerfest expressed shock -- even though it has known for two years that was the rule.

"I just don't get it," said Donald Smiley, president and chief executive officer of Summerfest. "I don't understand. Tell us why we can't do it."

Well, here's why: Because it is a state park, intended to be open to the public 365 days a year. Summerfest (and other ethnic festivals) fireworks displays would close the park to the public about 25 days every summer, mostly on summer weekends, the peak time for people to enjoy it. No other state park allows fireworks or would allow a private entity to close the park to the public.

Here's another reason: Opening the park was intended to offset the closure of the lakefront walkway past Summerfest during festivals.

The Third Ward Association, the Lakeshore Fishermen, and most of the Harbor Commission believe the Island should be accessible to the public year round and support the DNR position that fireworks (and the closing off of areas to blow them off) should not continue on the island. That was made that clear when the land was given to the State from the City.

The Harbor Commission believed an open and free island was the answer to the problem of Summerfest providing limited public access to the shoreline during festivals. In negotiating its 20 year lease with Summerfest, the Commission worked with the DNR who gave up a lot, and got agreement that once the island was open for access, the Summerfest lakewalk could be closed for most of the summer. Based on the 2005 calendar,they could limit access along the Summerfest lakewalk from June 6 through September 20.

Grothman's comments in today's Journal Sentinel story are disingenuous: "The Milwaukee lakefront has a tremendous amount of park space, and the idea that we couldn't block off seven or eight acres a few days a year is absurd," said Grothman.

It's not a few acres, it would mean closing the park. And it is not a few days, but 25 days every summer.

No one is trying to prevent Summerfest and the ethnic festivals from having their fireworks. There are other options, like launching them from a barge -- which is how the city's biggest fireworks display on July 3 is done.

Except for Summerfest itself, the festivals do not use the entire grounds. There is more than enough room on the Summerfest grounds itself to use as a launch site for the ethnic festival displays. But it leaves a mess, and Summerfest would rather the mess be in the state park.

Finally, wouldn't it be nice if people who can't afford to take their families to Summerfest had access to the state park that we all paid for, to watch the fireworks?

I suspect none of these arguments will make a bit of difference. There is a last-minute effort underway to get some people to the so-called hearing this afternoon.

But it looks like the outcome is totally wired. Once again, the Summerfest Express is about to run right over the public interest.

---

Committee members:

sen.grothman@legis.state.wi.us
rep.gottlieb@legis.state.wi.us
rep.friske@legis.state.wi.us
rep.lemahieu@legis.state.wi.us
rep.schneider@legis.state.wi.us
rep.black@legis.state.wi.us
sen.reynolds@legis.state.wi.us
sen.stepp@legis.state.wi.us
sen.miller@legis.state.wi.us
sen.jauch@legis.state.wi.us

"Chat" with JS on Capitol coverage

Anything you'd like to know or say about how the Journal Sentinel covers the Capitol? Here's your chance:

Steve Walters, the Journal Sentinel's Madison bureau chief, will answer questions about state political coverage in an online chat at noon TODAY, (Wednesday, Oct. 12), at www.jsonline.com/chat

For every poll there is a reason; Spin, spin, spin again ...

(Apologies to Pete Seeger for the headline)

Scott Walker's troubled campaign for governor tries to put the best light on the latest poll in the governor's race, with a release declaring Jim Doyle to be "among nations (sic) most vulnerable governors."

How embarrassing it must be to be running 19 points behind someone who's so vulnerable. The poll showed Doyle leading Walker 50-31.

But Walker's folks managed to write an entire release about the poll without ever mentioning any head-to-head numbers. Rather, it said "Scott Walker and his Republican rival are statistically equal in position to beating Jim Doyle."

Walker's mystery opponent, Mark Green, actually fared better than Walker in the matchups, losing to Doyle 46-33, a 13-point margin vs. Walker's 19-point gap.

Green says he beats Doyle among people who know both of them, which means nothing because people most likely to know Green at this point are the ones who live in his home base or who are active Republicans. Only one-third of the 600 people surveyed knew enough about Green to have an opinion about him. That means a sample of only 200 people, which is so small it is highly unreliable, knew both. As I mentioned elsewhere, in 1990, Tom Loftus led Tommy Thompson in an early poll among people who knew them both, but that didn't turn out to be an indicator of much of anything at election time.

Green staffer Graul denies freebies, but does recall one basketball game

Mark Graul, campaign manager of Rep. Mark Green's campaign for governor, now says he is "dumfounded" as to why his name is popping up on lists for free event tickets from Jack Abramoff's lobbying firm, WisPoliics.com reports in its subscriber newsletter.

We've posted two reports from Talking Points Memo, a national blog written by journalist Josh Marshall, in the last week. The latest said Graul had gotten tickets to basketball games and concerts from Abramoff's office.

Graul said earlier he wouldn't know Abramoff if he punched him in the face, but he does admit that he knows Jennifer Calvert, an Abramoff lobbyist who is identified as the writer of two e-mails asking for basketball tickets for Graul. But he never asked for tickets, he told WisPolitics.

Graul told WisPolitics that he did attend a Wizards-Milwaukee Bucks game while in Washington, which he said was well-attended by many Capitol staffers from Wisconsin, but said he couldn't recall how the tickets came to him. "I can't remember. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I have no clue if that was with Jennifer or not. I never asked for tickets for anything. Oftentimes people who had tickets would offer them," he said.

According to Talking Points Memo, this is how he got them -- an e-mail from Calvert to Abramoff's assistant: "May I get four tickets to this game for Mark Graul, COS for Rep. Green? If that works, I'd like to get two for myself as well, to host Mark. Thanks."

So if Mark Graul wasn't asking for tickets to Abramoff's skybox, and wasn't even going to events when there were tickets in his name, what do you suppose was happening? Do you think Jennifer Calvert was scamming Jack Abramoff? Was she pretending to get tickets for Graul and then giving them to someone else, or taking her kids to the game? Was she ripping off Abramoff and scalping skybox tickets outside the arena? Is an investigation in order?

Or is Graul's memory a little faulty?

---

P. S. -- I will give Graul some credit for denying he asked for or got concert tix for Limp Bizkit. "I couldn't name one song by any of those people, if they even have songs."

That would be a relief to one of the people who e-mailed me on the entry about the concert tickets: "If your digging on Mark Graul has found anything, it is that he has absolutely abysmal taste in music. Limp Bizkit? Godsmack? DMX? He's willing to sell out to lobbyists for that garbage? Whether or not your ties to Abramoff actually hold up, his dedication to such bad music is of grave concern, and shows unspeakably bad judgment. What is he, 13 years old?"

Curbing Zien's special cycle payments

Looks like publicity is going to cost State Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, a few bucks.

When the Journal Sentinel first reported that Zien was being paid more than double the mileage reimbursement a state employee would get for riding a motorcycle -- and claiming thousands of miles on official business -- Zien was defiant and his GOP leadership backed him up.

Since then the paper has reported that members of the Assembly who ride cycles collect only half as much as Zien.

His hometown paper, the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, editorialized that Zien shouldn't get special treatment.

Now, it appears the Senate is about to change the rules, which will cost Zien thousands of dollars in reimbursement. In the last two and a half years alone, Zien has claimed $7,500 more than a state employee would have gotten for riding the same number of miles.

Zien may not understand why State Senators should be treated like everyone else, but Majority Leader Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, seems to have gotten the message.

John Stocks: Reclaiming quality of life

Regular readers have been following the efforts of John Stocks, a Wisconsinite with roots in the Gulf Coast, to help his family, extended family and friends cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This is his latest report:

A place to call home...

A way to make a living...

A supportive community of family and friends....

Time to pursue happiness and a little peace of mind...

For so many of us we take these qualities of life for granted. For so many of the victims of Katrina and Rita, these qualities of life are indefinitely postponed, if not gone forever.

The past two weeks have been consumed by the Ewell families' search for housing in greater Dallas, Memphis, Baton Rouge, Jackson and Atlanta.

STACEY
Stacey left Jackson for Dallas to start work with her former employer, Pan American Life. She has found temporary housing outside Dallas @ 30 minutes from her job site. She is hoping to find something closer to work with good schools for her daughters to attend. She hopes to send for her daughters soon.

EBONI, BREA AND KASEY
Eboni, Brea and Kasey are living with their father in temporary housing outside of Memphis.

The girls are having a very hard time being displaced from their home and now separated from their mother.

Eboni's birthday is this week and our relief efforts are flying Stacey from Dallas to Memphis to celebrate next weekend.

ELOUISE AND LOIS
Bound and determined to get back to Louisiana, Elouise and Lois have migrated back to the Ewell's familly roots. The small towns of Klotzville, Ewellville, Napoleonville and Belle Rose stretch along the Mississippi River, between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. They are home to many aunts, uncles and cousins. Elouise and Lois have been welcomed into a cousin's home until they can find housing in the area. Our relief efforts will assist them in getting into a place of their own.

Lois will apply this week for teaching jobs in the Assumption and Ascension parish school districts. Despite the large influx of students from parishes devastated by Katrina and Rita, teaching jobs are hard to come by.

COURTNEY AND VACHAUN
Courtney decided to stay at the Comfort Inn and make a go of it in Jackson. She could not imagine herself living in 'the country'. She is looking for housing and has been offered a part-time job in the UPS warehouse. It pays a little more than $8 an hour.

HENRIETTA AND DEBBIE ANN
Henrietta, Debbie Ann, Gerrard, Steve, Paula, Mark, Doris, Broderick and Samantha have moved into a house in the Atlanta area. The address is: 102 Douglas Road Mableton, Georgia 30126. Our relief efforts have assisted them with initial furnishings.

JOHN AND TIINA
My father and his wife have decided to drive back to New Orleans on Wednesday. They are going to move back into their home and start anew.

ADAM AND BECKY
Adam continues to put in long hours trying to stabilize the internet and phone services of Charter Communications in Louisiana. Becky and her brother are reconstructing the inside of their home. Our relief effort bought a generator and rented and transported the drying equipment that helped to save their home from mold and mildew.

IT’S NOT JUST WHAT YOU’RE BORN WITH……
I am reminded of another Si Kahn song that speaks to all of you who have contributed time, money, the use of vehicles, equipment and trailers, legal services, gift cards and care packages to this effort….

It’s not just what you’re born with
It’s what you choose to bear
It’s not how large your share is
But how much you can share

It’s not the fights you’ve dreamed of
But those you’ve really fought
And it’s not just what you’re given
But what you do with what you’ve got

May the Great Spirit shine down on all of you!

John Stocks

---

How you can help.

Ryan stuck on DeLay money, too

Mark Green's been getting most of the headlines, but Rep. Paul Ryan has his own Tom DeLay problem. Ryan has taken $25,000 from DeLay's political action committee over the years.

Ryan now has a story he says he's sticking to, but his line -- like Green's -- has changed since Democrats first asked him to give back DeLay's money after DeLay was reprimanded for House ethics violations and then indicted on money laundering charges.

Ryan first said it would be illegal to return DeLay's money.

That turned out to be totally untrue. The Federal Election Commission clearly explains how candidates can return tainted or controversial contributions from political action committees.

So now Ryan has another story. He got that DeLay money a long time ago, and he's spent it, so there's nothing to give back.

Does that mean Ryan has less than $25,000 in the bank? No, he has well over a million dollars.

Does it mean that Ryan spent all of his campaign money in the years that he got the money from DeLay? No, he always had a healthy balance left over -- far more than $25,000.

So how does he know whose money he spent? How does he know it was DeLay's money that was spent while money from other special interests remained in his bank account?

He doesn't, of course. Thar argument doesn't fly.

It could just as well be that Ryan has been saving DeLay's $25,000 for a rainy day, so that it is the last $25,000 he would spend.

The point is, Ryan has the money and it is perfectly legal for him to return it. Why won't he? Loyalty to DeLay? Ryan, after all, is the one who was billed as a speaker at a DeLay tribute a few months ago but skipped out of DC and hightailed it back to the district, where his "schedule conflict" never really materialized. Maybe he doesn't want to let the Hammer down again.

Or maybe he just wants the money.

The Kenosha News reports:

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan has established his position and he’s sticking with it: He’s not about to return the campaign contributions he received from Republican Rep. Tom DeLay, the recently indicted former House majority leader...

DeLay has now been twice indicted on charges he misused a separate PAC to illegally funnel corporate donations to Republican candidates in the 2002 Texas Legislature elections. He temporarily stepped down as House majority leader late last month, after a Texas grand jury levied the initial charge of felony criminal conspiracy.

“There’s no money to give back,” Ryan said Monday...

Joe Wineke, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said he believes Ryan, Green and other Republicans are hesitant to upset DeLay because of the heavy hand the Texan known as “The Hammer” has wielded during his two decades in Congress.

“My guess is they don’t want to do anything to offend ‘the Hammer,’” Wineke said. “In Paul’s case, we think he should do the right thing — give the money back...”

“Obviously, they’re trying to take this situation in Texas and trying to stick it to every Republican in Congress,” Ryan said.

As for his own continued acceptance of contributions from DeLay’s PAC, Ryan noted that he received the funds from an organization separate from the PAC involved with DeLay’s recent indictments. Ryan added he did not receive any DeLay funds after 2001, which is prior to the time period referenced in the charges against DeLay.

Ryan also said he had already spent the DeLay campaign monies before the period in question in DeLay’s indictments.

While he backed down from his earlier statement that returning the funds to DeLay would violate campaign finance restrictions — he has since determined he could legally refund the money — Ryan says he has no such plans.

“Those dollars were given legally, were raised legally and were spent in those elections,” Ryan said.

Wineke questioned Ryan’s rationale that the DeLay money has been spent. The Democrat pointed to Ryan’s campaign war chest, which topped $1.3 million in reports filed this summer.

“He has ‘spent the money?’” Wineke asked. “Has he only spent Tom DeLay’s money?”

Quote, unquote

"Rather than leading the world in finding solutions to the global environmental crises, the United States is a recalcitrant naysayer and backslider. Our government and corporate elites have turned against America’s environmental visionaries—from Teddy Roosevelt to John Muir, from Rachel Carson to David Brower, from Gaylord Nelson to Laurence Rockefeller. They have set out to eviscerate just about every significant gain of the past generation, and while they are at it they have managed to blame the environmental movement itself for the failure of the Green Revolution. If environmentalism isn’t dead, they say, it should be. And they will gladly lead the cortege to the grave."

-- Bill Moyers, in a speech to the annual convention of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Read it at TomPaine.com

Green: I need DeLay's dirty money to beat Doyle

I suggested yesterday that it was time for Rep. Mark Green to get his story straight on the $30,000 in poliltical action committee money he took from Tom DeLay.

Democrats have been asking for weeks for Green to return the money.

First Green said it would be illegal to return it.

Then he said he didn't have it; it was already spent.

Then he said he had actually only transferred $2,000 in DeLay money from his federal to his state account, as part of a $1.3-million shift of money (a shift that has since been made illegal for future candidates).

Today's position is that yes, he does have $2,000 of DeLay money, but he's not going to return it unless DeLay is convicted of money laundering or other charges.

Green has other legal options to divest himself of the $30,000. He could give it to a non-partisan voter education and registration project. And he could give $5,000 a year to DeLay's PAC -- $5000 now and $5000 in January.

With something like $1.5-million or more in the bank, why doesn't Green just cut the DeLay ties now, instead of getting beaten up every day? Bruce Murphy at Milwaukee Magazine wonders, too.

Mark Graul -- whose own ties to DeLay's buddy, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, are making some news, explained to the Wisconsin State Journal:

While he said Green may return the $2,000, he rejected Democrats' calls to donate the balance of the $30,000 to a voter registration effort.

"We need the money to beat Jim Doyle," Graul said.

"Mark Green needs Tom DeLay's money to beat Jim Doyle." Does anyone feel a commercial coming next year?

New poll in gov's race offers reality check

So it turns out that when you do a real statewide poll -- one that randomly calls voters and asks them their opinions -- that Gov. Jim Doyle still holds what the conservative sponsors of the poll call "substantial leads" over both Mark Green and Scott Walker.

Last week, the Green team got giddy over a Zogby poll, taken on the internet with people who volunteered to participate, which showed Green slightly ahead.

The poll released today was taken last week for the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, a conservative think tank. To its credit, it presented the results without a lot of spin.

Results had Doyle leading Green 46-33 and Walker 50-31, 13 months before the election.

Walker wins only in Waukesha County and Milwaukee suburbs; Green wins in in those same areas and Green Bay, which explains why he runs ahead of Walker. It also shows the hurdle Walker has to overcome as a Milwaukee candidate.

Neither Walker nor Green has broad name recognition. Only about 40% of the voters know who they are.

But suburban Republicans in southeast Wisconsin are ready to vote for Green or any other Republican for governor, while those in Green Bay and outstate Wisconsin are not yet ready to vote for a Milwaukee candidate -- and may never be.

Doyle's personal popularity, at 46%, is not great, to be sure. But it is as high as it's ever been in a WPRI poll since 1993, and 5 points higher than it was in September 2002, two months before he won the last election.

It's going to be a long, hard, close race; Doyle is going to have to fight every step of the way to win a second term. But this latest poll serves as a good reality check for any Republican who thinks it's going to be easy to beat Jim Doyle next year.

Poll results.

---

POSTSCRIPT: The Mark Green spin, that Green beats Doyle among people who know both of them well enough to rate them, is cute. But I used the same argument in 1990 when Tom Loftus was running against Tommy Thompson, and we all know how that turned out.

Walker's court cuts, claims don't hold up under scrutiny

Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker has used his current budget proposal to beat up on the court system and state government. Basically, his claim is that the courts don't work hard enough and could absorb a 25% cut. He's also hacked off that court system is really a state system but paid for by the county.

It's always easy to beat up on people on the public payroll, and courts are none too popular. But Walker, who's also using his phony "tax freeze" budget (which simply doesn't make $27-million in pension payments) to run for governor, has been a little fast and loose with the facts. (Imagine that!)

Story Hill neighborhood's website, Hood Happpenings, reports that some of Walker's proposed cuts would violate state law:

Walker seeks to abolish court positions required by law
Milwaukee, Waukesha caseloads the same

Oct. 10 -- County Executive Scott Walker's proposed courts cuts include two positions and a library required by state law, records show.

Walker would fund just two assistant chief deputy clerks, defying a state law that requires the county to have four.

Walker has proposed cutting court staff by 25%.

Walker also proposes to eliminate the county's law library, which the office of the district court administrator says is also required by law.

The library, called the Legal Resource Center, "is the sole source of forms for pro se litigants [those who handle their own cases without a lawyer]in the Courthouse," according to the office of court administrator's report on the impact of Walker's proposed cuts.

Meanwhile, a state study of caseloads shows that Milwaukee County judges' workloads matches those of judges in Waukesha County and are heavier than Ozaukee County judges' workloads.

The 2003 Circuit Court Caseload Study says that each Milwaukee County judge is handling the workload of 1.2 judges, the same as in Waukesha County, but higher than the judicial workload in Ozaukee County. Each Ozaukee County judge does the work of 1.1 judges, according to the study.

While conservative talk show hosts have criticized Milwaukee County judges and court staff, they have been silent about the staff in Waukesha and Ozaukee counties.

Walker also has suggested Milwaukee County courts staff are particularly lazy and unproductive.

Study results were included in a paper published in January by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The Republican radio shows and blogs have been quick to agree with Walker that the courts are lazy and the budgets full of fat. Jessica McBride, for example, says:

Courthouse Snit Fit

So Milwaukee County Court administrators have decided to just outright stop taking small claims cases because of County Executive Scott Walker's budget cuts. How about snapping out of their childish snit fit and demanding that everyone in the courthouse work on Friday afternoons for once? How about looking for efficiencies rather than taking it out on the public? I challenge anyone who supports this action to go down to the courthouse and peak (sic) into the civil courtrooms in particular on any given day and see how many bailiffs and clerks are sitting around with nothing to do because cases have settled.

It would be surprising if they found any bailiffs sitting around, since most of the civil courts -- except small claims and family court -- don't have bailiffs. They were cut long ago, as the court administrator's report explains:

The proposed budget cuts all 9 civil law clerks used presently by the Civil Division to actas bailiffs for the civil juries and to assist the judges with research. Wisconsin statutes require the Sheriff to provide at least one bailiff for every branch of the courts.

Nonetheless, a few years ago the Courts agreed to give up bailiffs in all Civil Courts in exchange for law clerks. The law clerks would then act as bailiffs for
our civil juries. The law clerks are far less expense for the County taxpayers than bailiffs. They get no vacation or sick pay, no health insurance coverage and no dental. Their total cost to the County is $397,980. As a contrast, the cost for bailiffs in the 11 Civil courts would be $1.1 million dollars in salary and benefits.

So the baililffs are already gone. Now Walker's after the cut-rate law clerks.

Anybody for walking around the Waukesha County courthouse on a Friday afternoon? Maybe the DA, Paul Bucher, could give the tour.

Fear stops Dems from speaking upon failed policy in Iraq: Feingold

Sen. Russ Feingold in an interview with Salon, on why no other Democrat seems ready to stand up and take a strong stand on getting US troops out of Iraq:

Q. If ... Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean came to your office and said, "We need a more unified Democratic message on Iraq," would you agree that there is a problem with the Democratic message?

Absolutely. There is a real timidity and weakness in terms of Democrats being willing to stand up to this error of American foreign policy. I think one of the greatest errors in American foreign policy in our modern lives is the divergence into Iraq that was done by the president. It is not sufficient for Democrats to point out the dishonest way we were taken into war. Nor is it sufficient for Democrats to simply point out that what is being done now is extremely mistaken. Democrats have to talk in terms of a strategy that, if they were in the White House, they would implement to successfully finish this particular mission, but more importantly, to get back to the real focus on the terrorist networks that attacked us on 9/11.

The Democratic message shouldn't begin with Iraq. The Democratic message should begin with, "We are committed to fighting and defeating the terrorist elements that attacked us on 9/11."

Q. Why don't you think the Democrats have taken these steps? Why is there this confusion, this hedging?

Fear.

Q. Of what?

Fear of being accused of not being supportive of the troops, which of course is an outrageous response to reasonable questions about Iraq. But it does tend to intimidate people. Fear that somehow people will be accused of being unpatriotic. Fear that the president will say, as he almost always does, that those criticizing the Iraq war don't understand the lessons of 9/11.

I think it is President Bush who doesn't understand the lessons of 9/11. I think it's President Bush who hasn't even read carefully the 9/11 report, which clearly defines the threat we are facing. The threat we are facing is this international terrorist network that attacked us, and the amount of radicalism that may exist among Islamic peoples that can provide the recruits to fuel the international terrorist network. The president doesn't understand the difference between what is going on in Iraq and that effort.

The conventional wisdom coming out of 2004 was that a big reason why John Kerry lost was because President Bush appeared to be a stronger leader on national security issues. The conventional wisdom now says that if a politician says we should leave Iraq before all of our goals are met that will be seen as a sign of weakness.

The president has been masterful - not in handling this war or explaining why it was done - but he has been masterful in trying to scare Democrats from having a reasonable position, by saying that is a position of weakness. The response to that is that the terrorist organizations love the fact that we appear to be stuck in Iraq. It's not a sign of weakness to try to change course. It's a sign of intelligence. It's a sign of wanting to win the fight against terrorism. The Democrats have to be comfortable saying that.

That is our biggest problem. The Democrats tend to think, "Oh, I can't question this." The way to deal with this is to make sure that we begin with the commitment to do this right. You don't begin by saying, "Let's just get out of Iraq." That shows the same kind of narrow focus and lack of understanding of the issue as the president has shown. A good way to say it in Iraq is not the be-all and end-all of national security. It happens to be an important place. But it was made more important by errors, not by good policy.

--Cartoon by Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe, via Cagle.

Despite denial, Green's staffer repeatedly took freebies from lobbyist

After we reported last week that Mark Graul, ex-chief of staff to Rep. Mark Green and now his campaign manager for governor, was on the freebies list for indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, bosom buddy of Green's bosom buddy Tom DeLay, Graul didn't respond to me or to Talking Points Memo, the source of the item. But he did tell WisPolitics, essentially, that we were all wet. I said this morning the story wasn't over. I must be psychic.

This from Talking Points Memo:

A few days back we posted this list of congressional staffers who got tickets to watch professional wrestling at one of Jack Abramoff's skyboxes back on October 2nd, 2000.

One of the worthies on the list was Mark Graul, then Chief of Staff to Representative Mark Green (R) of Wisconsin.

Green is now running for Governor. And Graul is his Campaign Manager.

I know this because a Wisconsin political blog has picked up our story and asked Graul what the deal was.

And Graul denied the whole thing.

Wisopinion.com reports that Graul said he did not attend said wrestling smackdown in the Abramoff skybox and: "I've never met Jack Abramoff in my life. He could come up and punch me in the face and I wouldn't know. I don't know why I'm on that list."

Now, do we have proof that Graul showed up at the skybox that night?

No.

What we have are Team Abramoff emails saying he was one of the lucky Hill staffers who they gave tickets to. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Now, I noticed that Graul didn't deny he and his boss were on the Abramoff gravy train. He just said he didn't go to the skybox that night and that he's never met Abramoff -- presumably meaning he never met him in person.

So I looked back through the emails to see if Graul shows up on other occasions. And it turns out that his name shows up in the Team Abramoff emails getting skybox seats again and again.

So for instance on January 12th, 2000 Team Abramoff's Jennifer Calvert emailed Susan Ralston to get Mark tickets to see the Wizards-Bucks game on February 22nd.

"May I get four tickets to this game for Mark Graul, COS for Rep. Green? If that works, I'd like to get two for myself as well, to host Mark. Thanks."

"Ok w/Jack" Ralston wrote back the following morning.

A month later, Calvert got Graul two tickets for the upcoming Wizards-Suns game.

Graul wasn't just up for basketball games and wrestling either. In November we see Calvert putting him in for two tickets to see Limp Biskit, Godsmack and DMX at the MCI Center. ("I'll add [them] to the list. Will confirm shortly," Ralston replied.)

I won't bore you with all the examples of Graul partying it up on Jack Abramoff's dime. And it wasn't like he got tickets every time he asked.

For instance, here on November 28th, 2000 Calvert wrote again to Ralston and Abramoff with another Mark Graul request.

"I got a request from Mark Graul, COS for Rep. Green, for tickets for the NBA all star game and the dunk contest that is apparently going to be at the MCI Center in early February. Can we honor his request? I'd also like to request 2 more tickets for a big basketball fan, Byron Patterson with Representative Don Young."

This time Jack left Mark hanging.

Abramoff himself wrote back: "We don't know yet what we are going to do with the suite that night. Put him on the list and we'll figure it out."

Who knows how that one worked out. But it sure seems like Graul was a regular with Team Abramoff.

-- Josh Marshall

UPDATE: Faithful Progressive blog checks in on the issue.

Do we need photo ID for lobbyist freebies?

UPDATE: Despite denials, Green staffer repeatedly took freebies from lobbyist.

---

Mark Graul, Rep. Mark Green's chief of staff turned campaign manager, was on a freebie list for wrestling tickets in indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's skybox in DC, I reported last week, based on a post on Talking Points Memo.

Graul tells WisPolitics he didn't attend the WWF match in question, and adds: "I've never met Jack Abramoff in my life. He could come up and punch me in the face and I wouldn't know. I don't know why I'm on that list."

I never thought Abramoff, who was busy making 50-75 million dollars from Native American tribes by pretending to lobby for them on gambling issues, was hanging out with his good buddy Mark Graul.

Does he know Susan Ralston, Abramoff's assistant, who put his name on the list? How about Chad and Jennifer Calvert, who are noted as requesting the tickets for Graul? Would he perchance know them if one of them punched him in the face?

If he didn't go to that match, did he get tickets for someone else, like another Green staffer?

Or has someone stolen Graul's identity? Maybe there should be a requirement for photo IDs when accepting freebies from lobbyists, just to make sure the right name gets on the list.

Stay tuned. This story isn't over.

'Blame is all part of this game'

In my continuing efforts at self-promotion, here's a story from this morning's Journal Sentinel:

Blame is all part of this game
Creation examines post-hurricane politics

By DAVE TIANEN

Although he admits you can't win it, Bill Christofferson hopes you'll still play The Blame Game.

Bill Christofferson helped create a board game that pokes fun at the political mess after Hurricane Katrina.

The Blame Game is a little board game designed by Christofferson, a longtime Milwaukee political consultant, and his old Marine Corps buddy, artist and freelance writer Gordon Fowler.

Christofferson was in Austin, Texas, visiting Fowler during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans.

"I guess I was down there when the Republicans said we're not going to play the blame game," Christofferson says. "Gordon and I thought maybe we should play the blame game."

In two days of concentrated labor, the men came up with The Blame Game, a little zip-locked board game in which the players are the unfortunate citizens of New Orleans trying to escape their beleaguered city. Fowler did the artwork, and Christofferson wrote most of the copy.

When it comes to fixing blame for the New Orleans mess, Fowler and Christofferson cheerfully concede rampant partisanship. They are both, as the phrase goes in Texas, "yellow dog Democrats." The game comes with 20 event/blame cards, and President Bush is the only or partial culprit in 15 of them.

Although Christofferson says the cards portray "pretty much what happened," he's also acknowledges that, "I'm not claiming fair and balanced. I'm not Fox News."

If pressed, Christofferson readily admits, "Nobody came out of this looking great."

The Blame Game is an exercise in creative futility.

Players move along a track on the cardboard playing board trying to get out of town - but if you actually get to the end of the game track at the Gretna Bridge, the sheriff forces you to go back to the start. Since you not only can't win the game, you can't even finish it, Christofferson is not expecting to push Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit off the store shelves. The Blame Game is, basically, a timely political novelty.

"Some Democrats at a party might play it," Christofferson offers.

The motivation is not purely partisan. All proceeds from the game, which sells for $10, will go to help the victims of Katrina. Fowler's wife is the well-known blues boogie pianist Marcia Ball. Ball has started a fund for New Orleans musicians displaced by the storm called NOLA Relief, and proceeds from the sales of The Blame Game will go to Ball's relief fund.

"We don't have to sell many games to break even," Christofferson says. "It is starting to get some mention on some blogs. If we sold them all,which is unlikely, we could make a profit of $15,000."

The Blame Game is available online at www.zzzingers.com .

Mark Green dissembles on DeLay money

Mark Green needs to quit dissembling and get his story straight.

He's bobbing and weaving on the question of returning or disposing of the $30,000 his campaign received from Tom DeLay, the ex-majority leader of the House who's been indicted on money laundering charges.

Not in dispute is whether Green got the $30,000 from DeLay. That's documented, so Green hasn't been able to fudge that one.

When first asked to return the money, Green said : (1) he had already spent it and (2) it would be illegal to return it.

When the State Elections Board said he could legally return a contribution to DeLay, Green changed his story. Now he says that when he transferred $1.3-million from his Congressional campaign to his governor's campaign account, only $2,000 of that was DeLay money.

So apparently it wasn't spent at the time. He clearly has more than $2,000 in the bank now. So it hasn't really been spent at all. He could give that $2,000 back, for starters.

The other $28,000, the Elections Board says, could be given to a non-partisan drive to register and turn out voters.

There is some confusion at the board because it is in uncharted waters, in part because Green converted his Congressional cash to a state account -- allowing him to use hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal political action committee money that otherwise would be illegal in the governor's race.

But there is no doubt that Green could find a way to divest himself of the dirty DeLay money if he wanted to. He could dispose of that $30,000 -- but he doesn't want to.

His campaign doesn't need the money. It's a drop in the bucket.

So why is he willing to take all of this political heat over it? Loyalty to the Hammer, Tom DeLay.

Green doesn't say that; he keeps throwing up smokescreens and offering confusing and contradictory reasons he can't get rid of that $30,000. But the bottom line is not that he can't. He just won't.

The Democratic Party got this one right when it said:

The bottom line is that Mark Green has profited to the tune of more than $30,000 from the indicted Tom DeLay, he has $1.3 million in the bank, and yet he flat-out refuses to refund the money. There’s no reason why Green can’t wash his hands of this tainted money.

Mark Green continues to come up with excuse after excuse, instead of doing the right thing and disassociating himself from Tom DeLay. It appears Mark Green is too far in Tom DeLay’s pocket to get out. Green is trying to weasel around the issue by saying he spent the controversial DeLay money, but didn’t spend the non-controversial money. The people of Wisconsin know that’s just an excuse from a Washington-entrenched politician who isn’t representing their values.

This may be how business is done in Washington, but it’s not how things are done in Wisconsin. Mark Green should show the people of Wisconsin he doesn’t condone the corruption that has plagued Republicans in Washington, and refund the DeLay money.

Referendum on Iraq war would spark debate

Wisconsin opponents of the war in Iraq are mobilizing to try to get an advisory referendum on the April ballot to give citizens a chance to send a message to Washington.

Milwaukee, Madison, Oshkosh and La Crosse are among the communities which have have launched referendum campaigns.

This effort follows the successful example of anti-war activists in Vermont , where 50 towns and cities voted for resolutions calling for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq .

In Milwaukee , the Milwaukee Coalition for a Just Peace, a coalition of 18 organizations, has proposed a Milwaukee city referendum to read:

"Should the United States end the occupation of Iraq and immediately begin withdrawing our troops, starting with our National Guard and Reserves?"

They could have opted for a milder version and perhaps enlisted broader support. "Immediately" may make it a harder sell. But getting it on the ballot would spark some real debate about the war at the local level, which has been lacking so far. We've seen nothing like the campus teach-ins or the hearings held in Madison by Rep. Bob Kastenmeier during the Vietnam war, which did a lot to educate the public about the issues.

There are two ways to place a voter referendum on the ballot. One is to get your local governing body -- city council, county board, village board -- to put it on the ballot. The other is by petition, which requires signatures equal to 15% of the total vote for governor in the last election.

That's a daunting task, since the signatures must be acquired in a 60-day window. In the City of Milwaukee that number is 21,100.

Milwaukee organizers are pursuing both routes simultaneously, working to get the Common Council to pass resolutionon, while beginning to collect signatures. The petition drive started Oct. 1 and will end Nov. 29.

The instructions and the Milwaukee petition are available at these links. You will need Adobe Reader to view these documents. Only city residents can sign it, but circulators need not live in the city.

Those in other communities interested in conducting a local campaign can contact Green Party rep Jeff Peterson, 715-472-2728 or peterson@lakeland.ws or check the Peace Action Wisconsin website.

In 1982, Wisconsin became the first state in the nation to pass a statewide nuclear weapons freeze referendum. Could it take the lead on Iraq? The question is not whether the public is against the war -- the answer clearly is yes -- but whether there are enough activists to get the job done. Despite the large Sept. 24 march in Washington, there is not much evidence yet of a real grassroots network of antiwar activists. I hope I'm wrong.

F. Jim backs tighter regs on cold medicine

Republican talk radio hosts were quite put out when the Wisconsin legislature and Gov. Jim Doyle actually agreed on something and made it harder to buy the cold medicine that can be used as an ingredient to make methampetamine. They scoffed at the idea as ineffective and another example of big government poking its nose in where it didn't belong.

Now, we find in this story from Pennsylvania that Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner wants a federal law to crack down on -- sales of cold medicine.

Have at him, guys.

Congressmen call for limits on sales of cold medication
Bill aimed at stopping crystal meth operators, two tell Bucks County.

By Hal Marcovitz
Of The Morning Call

Two congressmen stopped in Richboro on Thursday to announce their support for legislation designed to take a key ingredient of crystal meth out of the hands of illegal lab operators.

U.S. Reps. Michael G. Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, stood before the former home of Joseph Ragnoli, one of four men charged this year with participating in a crystal meth ring that sold the drug in Bucks County.

The home, on a quiet tree-lined street, has been seized by the district attorney's office, which plans to sell it at auction later this month under the state's drug forfeiture program.

The lawmakers are cosponsors of the proposed ''Methamphetamine Epidemic Elimination Act.'' The legislation would make it illegal for pharmacies, convenience stores, supermarkets and other retailers to sell large quantities of cold medication containing pseudoephedrine to customers.

Pseudoephedrine is a common ingredient in cold medicine, but it is also the active ingredient in crystal meth, the form of methamphetamine that is cooked in crystal form and smoked in pipes.

According to Sensenbrenner, a 48-dose box of cold medicine contains less than 2 grams of pseudoephedrine. To make a pound of methamphetamine, he said, it takes about 400 ounces of pseudoephedrine, meaning an illegal lab operator would need hundreds of boxes to maintain productivity.

Typically, he said, a lab operator will walk into a pharmacy and buy all the cold medications on the shelves. The House bill makes it illegal for the retailer to sell more than two boxes at a time to an individual customer.

Sensenbrenner said similar legislation in the Senate requires pharmacists to keep cold medications off the shelves, and available for sale from behind the counter only.

''There is not only a problem with international drug dealers, but more and more meth is being made at home in basements and bathtubs,'' he said.

Vote till you got 'em

Republicans, whether in Madison or Washington, have no qualms about abusing power and breaking the rules to win a vote.

In Madison recently, the GOP-dominated Assembly closed the vote on a veto override without allowing State Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, to cast his vote, although he was in the adjoining parlor. Without him, the GOP got exactly the two-thirds vote it needed (although the override later failed in the Senate.)

In DC, the GOP majority in the House held a vote open for 45 minutes (the rule is 17 minutes) to allow enough time for arm-twisting, deal-making and vote switching to pass a controversial energy bill 212-210. The Hill reports.

Republicans won't be the majority party forever; it just seems that way sometimes. When the day inevitsably comes that the Ds run the show, the Rs will scream to high heaven if they're treated the way they've treated the minority.

Democrats' defense? "We assumed you were practicing the Golden Rule and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. So now we'll be doing it unto you."

Feingold: Troop withdrawal wouldn't mean abandoning Iraq

Sen. Russ Feingold, in an interview with Liberal Oasis blog, explained what he would envision if US troops left Iraq by the end of 2006, the target date he has proposed. Here's part of the Q-A:

LO: If your proposal to fully withdraw troops from Iraq by the end of 2006 was actually implemented, what, in your view, should happen in 2007? Does the US and the international community have a responsibility to provide humanitarian aid and help Iraq rebuild? Or is it Iraq’s responsibility to take care of itself without anyone’s help?

Feingold: My proposal is a target date for the end of the ground troop military mission. It is not a proposal that we have no military relationship with Iraq. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

What I would like to see us do if the Iraqi government is willing, is to have a continuing effort, as requested by the Iraqi government, to take targeted actions against terrorist cells within Iraq and nearby, as we are doing with other countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia and others. That’s the kind of military relationship we should have.

So, not only am I not proposing completely severing our ties with Iraq, I am proposing the potential for a much more effective and targeted military relationship.

And I am not proposing the elimination of our reconstruction efforts or our diplomatic efforts. Of course we want to continue to be engaged in helping the Iraqi people succeed.

The point is, is that they need to stand on their own militarily at some point in the not-too-distant future. And that’s why I have suggested the possible target date of the end of 2006. But disengaging completely from Iraq is not at all what I have suggested.

Read the entire interview.

Too good to be true

"Bush Justice Nominee Withdraws" was the subject line of the e-mail from Truthout, a liberal news and information service.

Could it be that Harriet was giving up her Supreme Court nomination?

Alas, it was a link to a story about Timothy Flanigan, nominee for deputy attorney general (in the Justice Department, get it?) withdrawing his name.

What they're telling the right winggrassroots activists about Harriet Miers

Thursday, Republican and Religious Right leaders held a conference call to convince conservative grassroots activists that Harriet Miers would be everything they wanted in a Supreme Court justice. People for the American Way must have had a wiretap, because it has provided a summary of the call.

Some highlights:

James Dobson of Focus on the Family sez:

Conservatives beating up the Prez need to stop and take a breath
This Prez believes in the pro-life movement, he's proven it by:

Signing the partial birth abortion bill
Mexico City policy; and
He's fought against embryonic stem cell research

I've done my own research on Miers; I've talked to people in Dallas; People that have know her for 10 years, 20 years, 25 years and they all believe in her
We've got believe the Prez has done the right thing in nominating HM

Jay Sekulow of Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice: (Don't you love the names? The wingnuts are for the family, law, justice, truth, the American way, and keeping the rest of us in our place.) Sekulow sez:

Prez keenly aware of what's at stake
This is a not only a legacy issue, but the direction of the country
I've argued before the court numerous times and am getting ready to do so again on a partial-birth abortion case
I want HM's vote
Last time O'Connor voted against us and the outcome was 5-4
O'Connor is a swing vote
Miers said that judges should not be policy makers
This is the first time since 1931 that an evangelical Christian has been nominated to the Court
HM will do great before the Jud. Comm.
She's very smart and will handle herself very well
She's different than Roberts - but very smart

You can read all of the notes from the call, which also included folks like Ken Mehlman and Chuck Colson (!) here.

How low can you go?

The latest CBS News poll needs no analysis from me. As my drill instructor would say, Bush is lower than whale shit, and that's on the bottom of the ocean.

I would like to point out, however:

IRAQ

More than half of Americans — 55 percent — think the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq (the highest figure to date), while 41 percent think taking military action there was the right thing to do, and a growing number of Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq as soon as possible. Now, 59 percent want U.S. troops to leave, up from 52 percent last month and 40 percent earlier this year. Only 36 percent think troops should stay as long in Iraq as long it takes for that country to become stable.

U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ SHOULD…

Stay as long as it takes
Now
36%
9/2005
42%
2/2005
55%
6/2004
54%

Leave as soon as possible
Now
59%
9/2005
52%
2/2005
40%
6/2004
40%

Tommy buddy "only" #7 on cronyism list

Stewart Simonson, Tommy Thompson's guy who's still lodged at Health and Human Services even though Tommy left to make a lot of loot, is highly unqualified for his job, but here's the good news -- He's not the worst example of incompetence and cronyism in the Bush administration.

The New Republic (free registration required), in an article titled, "Welcome to the Hackocracy," ranks Simonson only Number 7 among the top 15 hacks. TNR says:

The Bush era has taken government out of the hands of the hyper-qualified and given it back to the common man. This new breed may not have what the credentialists sneeringly call "relevant experience." Their alma maters may not always be "accredited." But they have something the intellectual snobs of yore never had: loyalty. If not loyalty to country, then at least loyalty to party and to the guy who got them the job. And their loyalty has been rewarded: Even if they fail, they know they can move up the chain until they find a job they can succeed in or until a major American city is destroyed, whichever comes first.

On Simonson:

According to his official biography, Stewart Simonson is the Health and Human Services Department's point man "on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies." Hopefully, he has taken crash courses on smallpox and avian flu, because, prior to joining HHS in 2001, Simonson's background was not in public health, but ... public transit. He'd previously been a top official at the delay-plagued, money-hemorrhaging passenger rail company Amtrak. Before that, he was an adviser to Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, specializing in crime and prison policy. When Thompson became HHS secretary in 2001, he hired Simonson as a legal adviser and promoted him to his current post shortly before leaving the Department last year. Simonson's biography boasts that he "supervised policy development for Project BioShield," a program designed to speed the manufacture of crucial vaccines and antidotes. "That effort, however, has by most accounts bogged down and shown few results," The Washington Post reported last month.

Who's Number One? Hint: She's nominated for the Supreme Court.

-- Cartoon by M. e. Cohen, via Cagle.

Will Tommy's unqualified crony oversee the next national disaster?

Molly Ivins: Flim-Flam and Hoo-Ha

Molly Ivins quotes Billy Don Moyers, [known to most of us as Bill Moyers] formerly of Marshall, Texas, "who was home last week and observed that the Republican right came to Washington to start a revolution and stayed to run a racket. It has become a game of ideological flim-flam, a scam in which all manner of distracting hoo-hah -- abortion, judicial activism, even 'the war on terra' -- is used to obscure the fact that the government has been taken over by people who are using it to make money for themselves and their friends."

Read her column at Working for Change.

Common Cause: Burke should do jail time

Common Cause chief Jay Heck complains that his comments about the conviction of former State Sen. Brian Burke were misinterpreted here yesterday.

I said Heck's statement made it sound like he was blaming the system, rather than Burke, for Burke's bad behavior.

Au contraire, says Heck, claiming I am the only one in the Free World who read his remarks that way. I thought the message was self-evident, but perhaps it was too subtle for me.

Heck points to a Captal Times story in which he said Burke should serve an unspecified amount of time in jail for his crimes. Here it is:

Former state Sen. Brian Burke should spend time behind bars for his role in the Capitol corruption scandal or the public might view the case as a whitewash, the head of Common Cause in Wisconsin said today after Burke entered guilty pleas to a felony and a misdemeanor.

"I think if we were to go through these trials and pleas and there is no incarceration, it might be viewed by the public as much ado about nothing," said Common Cause director Jay Heck.

Heck declined to say how much time Burke should serve, but he said "incarceration of some sort is necessary."

The prosecution agreed to recommend a two-year period of probation, a $2,500 fine, restitution yet to be determined, and a six-month stay in jail.

Defense attorneys are free to argue against the jail term when Burke is sentenced on Nov. 30, and that will be the contentious issue at that hearing.

Heck, whose group has tried in the past several legislative sessions to get some form of public financing of campaigns passed in an effort to curb so-called "pay-to-play" practices, said, "Burke has already in many ways suffered a tremendous loss."

He noted that the Milwaukee Democrat has gone from one of the most powerful members of the Legislature - co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee - to being a convicted felon, and is likely to lose his law license.

For Green and Ryan, toil and trouble;DeLay, Abramoff make scandal bubble

The Green-Ryan-Graul-DeLay-Abramoff connections. Where should we begin? Maybe with the cast of characters, in the unlikely event someone who's not a politics-obsessed insider is reading this.

Green and Ryan are Wisconsin Congressmen, named Mark and Paul respectively. Graul is Mark Graul, Green's former chief of staff in the House and now his campaign manager in Green's run for governor. DeLay, whose first name is Tom but who's known as The Hammer, was the Republican floor leader in the House until he was indicted on money-laundering schemes. Abramoff (first name Jack) is a DeLay crony and one of DC's most powerful lobbyists until he came the focus of a far-ranging investigation of all sorts of illegal and unethical behavior.

DeLay distributed political action money to many, many GOP Congress members as a way to insure their loyalty. Green got $30,000 and Ryan $25,000 from DeLay. Both refuse to return the money, even claiming it would be "illegal" to do so, although that is not true. Three other Rs in the House already have said they will give back DeLay's money.

Ryan keeps saying it's illegal to return it, but the Federal Elections Commission website offers a specfic example of how to return PAC money to "Very Controversial PAC." He also claims that he's already spent DeLay's money, since it was given to him for past campaigns, but that's bogus, too. Ryan and Green have always had far bigger bank balances than the amount they got from DeLay. To try to claim which donations were spent on past campaigns and which were left in the bank is an exercise in fiction writing.

Green's case is more complicated since he transferred $1.3-million from his Congressional campaign to his governor's campaign. That included more than $500,000 (some estimates say $800,000) in federal political action committee money, including DeLay's $30,000. The transfer was legal under a state law loophole that has since been closed, but it allowed Green to transfer hundreds of thouosands of dollars in PAC contributions that would be illegal for his governor's campaign to accept.

So Green's money isn't in a federal account and not subject to the same FEC rules. But a State Elections Board spokesman says Green could return the money.

The Elections Board also has said candidates can contribute to non-partisan voter registration and education drives.

Green's campaign committee also could give $5,000 a year to DeLay's PAC, which would take a long time on the installment plan. But he could give $5000 now and another $5000 in January.

The Democratic Party has launched a website called Dirty Green to put some pressure on him to return the dirty DeLay dough.

You have to wonder why Green and Ryan don't just give it back. Their campaigns don't need the money. The negative publicity they're getting doesn't seem worth it.

Ryan, who presumably wants to run for Senate someday, is in a safe seat and doesn't have to worry about 2006. Green, however, is in a GOP primary for governor. Wouldn't you think he's want to put some distance between himself and DeLay? Maybe he doesn't want to offend his good buddy DeLay, who made Green a GOP whip, but it seems very risky to be tied to him. Both Green and Ryan have contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund, too.

It does not seem like an issue that's going to go away, but could dog Green's campaign for the next year.

One interesting question: What does Scott Walker think about the issue? He hasn't volunteered anything, and is probably happy to sit back and watch Green take a pounding. Perhaps some enterprising reporter could ask Walker for his take on the question, and at least get a "no comment."

Then there's Abramoff and Graul. Graul turned up on a list of people getting free tickets to Abramoff's box for a World Wrestling Federation event in DC, along with some lobbyists who are good DeLay pals. Graul was running Green's Congressional office then; now he's running his campaign.

When I reported the freebies, some Republicans pooh-poohed it, saying a couple of tickets weren't even worth mentioning. A couple of things in that regard:

First, House rules say staffers can't accept a gift worth more than $50. Graul got two tickets worth $45 apiece. My math says that's a violation. There's also a $100 per year limit on gifts from any one source. Do you suppose people in the Abramoff skybox bought their own popcorn and soda, or do you think there was an open bar and expensive spread of food? (I don't know the answer, but I can guess.) I also suspect that those two tickets are the tip of the iceberg, and that Graul and other Green staffers' names will show up more as the Abramoff case and investigation unfold. The media haven't asked Green about this, either, of course.

Good news for Mark Green:It's legal to return DeLay money

Rep. Mark Green will be delighted to hear this: The State Elections Board says it is perfectly legal for him to return about $30,000 in contributions his campaign has received from Tom DeLay's political action committee.

Green's been saying that's illegal, but The Appleton Post Crescent reports:

“The fact of the matter is, I don’t have a federal account anymore,” said Green, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in the September 2006 primary. “And as we understand it, it would actually be illegal to do what they are calling for.”

Green transferred $1.286 million from his congressional campaign committee to a state campaign fund last January.

However, a spokesman for the Wisconsin State Elections Board said Thursday that if the money is considered state campaign funds, it could be legally returned.

“Under Wisconsin law you can return contributions,” said spokesman Kyle Richmond.

Wisconsin Democrats also are suggesting the money could be donated to a nonpartisan voter registration drive.

According to the state election’s board spokesman, that would also be legal as long as the voter drive is nonpartisan.

Wisconsin GOP attacks its own candidates

How do you know when you're getting some traction on a political charge?

One sure sign is when your opponents start to bring up their own negatives -- which is just what the Republican Party of Wisconsin did this week.

The GOP did some self-inflicted damage in an unusual press release that accused Democrats of "smear tactics" but actually did a pretty good smear job on a couple of Republican candidates themselves.

The release started by citing a poll showing Doyle in a close race with GOP challengers, saying that is why Dems have been attacking Repub gov wannabes Scott Walker and Mark Green. It continues:

State Dems and Doyle have been on the prowl in the past few weeks, pouncing on the Green and Walker campaigns. This week, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is asking Green to return campaign contributions received from U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. A few months ago, the State Elections Board (SEB), on a complaint filed by two county board supervisors who were represented by Doyle’s attorney, slapped the Walker campaign with a $5,000 fine for inadvertently failing to include a disclaimer for automated calls to residents that were made on behalf of the campaign, even though the Walker campaign pointed out the omission of the disclosure to the SEB in advance of the complaint. It was the largest fine the SEB has levied since 2001.

They offer no defense of Green's refusal to return DeLay's dirty money, and don't really defend Walker's failure to follow the election law. They simply repeat the Democratic charges.

Maybe it made Rick Wiley, the GOP's executive director, feel better to blow off a little steam. I'm sure it made the Democratic Party staff feel better, seeing the evidence that some punches are landing . They're clearly getting under the GOP's skin, and have the Rs off-message.

My guess is the Dems will keep right on "pouncing" on the Walker and Green campaigns -- isn't that what political parties do? -- unless the Repubs decide to keep doing it for them.

By the way, although Charlie Sykes credits me, I had nothing to do with the Dem Party's latest, a Dirty Green website on Mark Green's connections to Tom DeLay and his refusal to return $30,000 in contributions from DeLay's committee. Wish I could take credit, but I don't work for the Democratic Party. Like Jesse James, I get blamed for a lot of things that happened even when I wasn't involved. I guess I should take it as a compliment.

Will Tommy's unqualified cronyoversee the next national disaster?

Have you heard or read about avian (bird) flu breaking out in Southeast Asia, or have you been too preoccupied with Harriet, the Hammer, Katrina and Rita?

It's scary stuff. And it's even scarier when you learn that the person in charge of U. S. preparations for and response to a nationwide or global avian flu pandemic is another well-connected Republican lawyer who's underqualified for the job.

This one comes with Wisconsin connections.

Stewart Simonson, Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness (ASPHEP) at the Dept. of Health and Human Services, is the go-to guy for a flu pandemic, according to the National Response Plan, prepared under the direction of our protectors at the Dept. of Homeland Security.

Simonson's credentials? FOT -- Friend of Tommy.

Transparent Grid, a blog that has been following the avian flu issue closely, reports:

Like Michael Brown at FEMA, [Simonson] is a lawyer who was close to a political benefactor. Simonson graduated from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1994 and served as legal counsel to Tommy Thompson while he was governor of Wisconsin from 1995 to 1999. Simonson then followed Thompson to Washington when the governor was appointed as head of HHS. Simonson’s bio at HHS states that “from 2001-2003, he was the HHS Deputy General Counsel and provided legal advice and counsel to the Secretary on public health preparedness matters. Prior to joining HHS, Simonson served as corporate secretary and counsel for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK).”

Simonson may be marginally more qualified for this job than Michael Brown was at FEMA, but that ain't sayin' much, as Tommy Thompson might say.

Back to the report:

Last spring, Simonson came under fire from several Republican senators as well. Idaho Senator Larry Craig, during a Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing in April questioned the acquisition process for influenza vaccine:

Noting that the flu can be lethal to some populations such as the elderly, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said the country was unprepared to deal with a possible flu pandemic.

Simonson . . . stopped short of agreeing with Craig’s assessment, but said “it would pose an enormous challenge.”

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Gregg also questioned if the process used by Simonson’s office to award vaccine development contracts ensured open competition and delivery to prevent a vaccine shortfall.

“Are we creating the same situation with anthrax?” Gregg asked, referring to the flu vaccine shortfall last winter.

Although Simonson said the different agreements show that they are “seeking not to put all our eggs in one basket,” he added that he remains unsure if the contract award process is being done right. “We’re learning as we go,” he said.

The bottom line is that there is a risk of a flu pandemic that could kill millions of people worldwide if it is able to jump from human to human. Hurricane Katrina amply demonstrated what happens when underqualified yet well-connected lawyers are in charge.

This is Pandemic Flu Awareness Week, so I thought I'd share that with you. If you'd like to know more about avian flu, starting here would be a good idea.

Today's news is that the Bush administration is considering spending billions on an anti-flu drug, but has waited so long to do it that there will be delays in getting it, perhaps until 2007.

Business turns on Bush on Patriot Act

As if the Bush administration didn't have enough alligators chewing on its legs, here is some more very, very bad news for W & Company:

WASHINGTON -- Some of the nation's most powerful business groups are splitting with the Bush administration over whether to restrict the anti-terror USA Patriot Act.

The business groups complained to Congress on Wednesday that the Patriot Act makes it too easy for the government to get confidential business records. That put them at odds with one of President Bush's top priorities _ the unfettered extension of the law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In the first organized criticism of the act from the business sector, these groups endorsed amendments that would require investigators to say how the information they seek is linked to individual suspected terrorists or spies, and would allow businesses to challenge the requests in courts and to speak publicly about those requests...

Among the signers were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents 3 million businesses; the National Association of Manufacturers, which represents large and small industrialists in every state; and the National Association of Realtors, with 1 million members. All three are regulars on Fortune magazine's list of nation's 25 most powerful lobbying outfits.

Full AP story.

Time for Congress to pay its own fare

Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner, the Congressman Wisconsin keeps trying to live down, rates special mention in a Christian Science Monitor opinion piece about free trips for Congressmen, paid for by private interests.

Multi-millionaire Sensenbrenner, we reported here in April, is the biggest free-loader of all.

What's wrong with that? We'll let the CSM explain:

Congress, not private interests, should pay for its travel

By Pat M. Holt

WASHINGTON – Congress is embroiled in ethical problems - again. In recent days and weeks, these have expanded to include government contracts for hurricane relief and Senate majority leader Bill Frist's (R) of Tennessee sale of stock from a blind trust.

But mainly they revolve around a lobbyist named Jack Abramoff and his associates. Prominent among these is House majority leader Tom DeLay (R) of Texas, who was indicted in Texas last week on a charge of conspiracy to violate the state's campaign-finance laws. Another is David Safavian, who was recently arrested a week after he resigned as a White House budget official. The charges: lying to investigators and obstructing a federal inquiry about Mr. Abramoff. Before moving to the White House, he was chief of staff of the General Services Administration when Abramoff was trying to buy the Old Post Office Building in Washington. Mr. Safavian's wife is chief counsel for oversight and investigations of the House Government Reform Committee.

Abramoff's clients range from judges in Guam to Indian tribes who have struck it rich running gambling casinos. The judges feared restructuring of the judiciary in Guam, and Abramoff is being investigated as to his role in the removal of a federal prosecutor there. Abramoff allegedly talked the native Americans into paying for lavish golfing trips to St. Andrew's in Scotland for Mr. DeLay and his party. Abramoff is under indictment in Florida on charges involving his participation in the purchase of a fleet of gambling ships.

To avoid such embarrassments, Congress has enacted a web of ethical requirements for its members and staff. Most of these involve reporting costs of travel and entertainment paid for by others. The requirements are supposedly enforced by ethics committees in each chamber, but the committee in the House is inactive because its members cannot agree on its staff. Before this paralysis set in, the committee last year cited DeLay three times for ethical lapses.

PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan group that follows spending on travel, reports that since 2000, members of Congress have made 5,900 foreign and domestic trips, costing $17.6 million. In that period, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R) of Wisconsin, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has traveled more on private money than any other member of Congress - $177,000 worth, including, among other places, Kazakhstan and Las Vegas. Mr. Sensenbrenner has argued that privately funded travel enables him to learn about issues important to the Judiciary Committee "without having the taxpayer foot the bill."

Surely, Sensenbrenner did not mean it is better for Congress to rely on private interest groups than on public funds to pay for its activities. Or did he? Would he say the same thing about operations of the White House? The Supreme Court?

Public financing provides salvation for most of Congress's ethical problems. If Congress believes it is in the national interest for members to be informed about foreign policy issues, then Congress should pay for their travel.

Congress long ago gave itself money for this. The original Marshall Plan legislation in 1948 included a requirement that countries receiving American assistance deposit in a special account an amount of the recipient country's currency equivalent to the amount of aid dollars. These counterpart funds were then available for use by the US government in those countries receiving aid.

Large balances of counterpart funds accumulated; and as the foreign-aid program expanded beyond the original Marshall Plan, they became available in more and more countries. It did not take long for Congress to make them available for congressional travel within those countries.

During most of the time this writer was a staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1950-1977) the committee's rule was that all foreign travel by members and staff had to be approved by the chairman and the ranking minority member of the committee.

Freebies could not be accepted. The German government once offered me an expense-paid 30-day trip to Germany - to go anywhere I wanted accompanied by an interpreter and talk to anybody I wanted, no strings attached. When I presented this to Sen. J.W. Fulbright (D) of Arkansas, the committee chairman, and Sen. Bourke Hickenlooper (R) of Iowa, the ranking Republican, Mr. Fulbright said OK - it was no more than the United States government does for selected foreigners. Mr. Hickenlooper said, emphatically, no. If the Foreign Relations Committee wants you to go to Germany, he told me, the Foreign Relations Committee will pay for it.

At the time, I was disappointed. As I thought about it, I decided Hickenlooper was right. Congress would be better off it it followed his precept today.

• Pat M. Holt is former chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Feingold, unlike Tommy, is for real

Jessica McBride finds one '08 poll that doesn't include Sen. Russ Feingold and concludes that "Bigtime pollsters don't even think he's worth asking about, apparently."

The same poll by FOX said 58% of Americans, not the left wing fringe of the Democratic party, are "fed up" with the War in Iraq, including 59% of independents.

In June, Feingold introduced a resolution, the first of its kind in the Senate, that calls for the President to clarify the military mission in Iraq, lay out a plan and timeframe for accomplishing that mission, and publicly articulate a plan for American troops to return home. In August Feingold again jump started the discussion by becoming the first member of the U.S. Senate to propose a target date to finish the mission in Iraq – December 31, 2006.

Says McBride: "Maybe the media here is making way too big of a deal of his national aspirations because he's the local guy" For a minute I thought she must be talking about Tommy Thompson, whose unrealized presidential aspirations took off like a dead crow last time, despite the Wisconsin media coverage that made him look like a serious candidate. The difference is that when you're with some non-Badgers and see Feingold on TV you don't have to apologize.

Massive vote fraud uncovered

Aquittal in voter fraud case.

The tally to date:

November 2004: 2,997,007 votes cast.

Twelve charges.
One conviction.
One acquital.
One hung jury.

Folkbum notes that the Brewers have a better record than that.

Need I say that photo IDs would not have helped one whit in any of these cases?

Common Cause blames the Capitolculture for Burke's bad decisions

The case of Brian Burke is nearer a close, after his guilty plea Wednesday to a felony charge and a misdemeanor for misuing his public office for political purposes. (Plea agreement.)

All that remains is the sentencing, and for Burke and his family to try to put their lives back together after he has served that sentence and made required restitution. It has undoubtedly been an incredibly difficult, stressful three years for the Burkes.

I do not want to pile on after the whistle. But there is one thing that struck me as I read the coverage.

Politicians in both parties were strangely quiet about the case. Nary a news release from any Republican or Democrat that I could see. The silence was deafening.

That is probably because there are more cases to come, on both sides of the aisle, with Democrat Chuck Chvala and three Republicans -- Scott Jensen, Steven Foti and Bonnie Ladwig -- still facing charges from the caucus investigation. So legislative reaction to Burke's conviction was not just muted but non-existent.

The strangest and most inexplicable reaction came in a statement from Common Cause, the good government/campaign reform group. It said, in part:

This is a sad day for Brian Burke and for Wisconsin politics and state government and Common Cause in Wisconsin takes no joy in what has transpired. Brian Burke was a very intelligent, articulate and able member of the Wisconsin Legislature with a seemingly bright political future. He was a dependable friend and ally of reform and had been considered one of the "good" guys in the fight to clean up Wisonsin politics. The tragedy is that his ethical compass and good common sense seemed to have been compromised and overcome by his perceived need to raise large sums of political money in order to run for and obtain higher political office. Burke made bad choices and ultimately, was caught and must now pay the price.

But while Burke is now being held accountable, the political environment in which he operated has not changed for the better. Indeed, it has become worse and the money chase has accelerated in the years since 2002. Common Cause in Wisconsin calls on the Governor and the Wisconsin Legislature to move now to clean up Wisconsin politics and state government in order to begin the long and overdue process of restoring citizen trust in our democratic institutions. The alternative is more scandal and disgrace in the future.

Burke was a lead sponsor, when he was in the State Senate, of a Common Cause-backed campaign finance reform bill. In their eyes, that made him "one of the good guys."

But at the same time, Burke was abusing his office to raise money for his campaign for attorney general. He was breaking the law, and later compounded the mistake by trying to destroy evidence to cover it up.

Common Cause wants to indict the system, seeming to rationalize Burke's behavior because he "perceived" the need to raise large amounts of money to run for AG. At the time, there was a culture in the State Capitol that looked the other way because "everybody's doing it."

But Burke, not the system, made the bad decisions that led to his downfall. Many other candidates, in both parties, have successfully raised the money required to run a statewide race without violating campaign laws.

I would be the first to admit that fund-raising takes too much of a candidate's and campaign's time, but would never agree that it justifies illegal behavior.

There are many good reasons to enact campaign finance reform, but reform isn't needed to prevent what Burke did. What he did is already illegal under the present law.

Burke may be a good guy. But that does not excuse his behavior. Common Cause should apply the same standards to its friends and champions as it does to those who oppose its agenda.

---

UPDATE: Fighting Ed Garvey, another champion of campaign finance reform, also seems to justify Burke's illegal activity. Says Garvey on his Fighting Bob blog:

Okay, but how long has it been since a lobbyist has been charged with misconduct? Was Burke a lone scofflaw in a pure system, or was he simply part of the atmosphere of corruption in the Capitol?

Why would he raise money in his Capitol office? You hunt for ducks where the ducks are. You raise money where the lobbyists with nice imported suits and cell phones call in donations to those who deliver the bacon.

Quote, unquote

"Jeez, that was quite a hissy fit Tom DeLay had, calling Ronnie Earle a rogue prosecutor, a partisan fanatic and an unabashed partisan zealot out for personal revenge. Ronnie Earle? Our very own mild-mannered -- well, let's be honest, bland as toast, eternally unexciting, Mr. Understatement, Old Vanilla -- Ronnie Earle? If the rest of Tom DeLay's defense is as accurate as his description of Ronnie Earle, DeLay might as well have himself measured for a white jumpsuit right now."

--Molly Ivins, via Working for Change.

Imagine that: Fox unfair and imbalanced

David Shuster, reporter who left Fox News for MSNBC, where he works on the "Hardball" show, explains wy he decided to make a move after six years at Fox, the "Fair and Balanced" network:

From his hometown paper, the Bloomington IN Herald-Times:

He went on to recount his six-year tenure at Fox. "At the time I started at Fox, I thought, this is a great news organization to let me be very aggressive with a sitting president of the United States (Bill Clinton)," Shuster said. "I started having issues when others in the organization would take my carefully scripted and nuanced reporting and pull out bits and pieces to support their agenda on their shows.

"With the change of administration in Washington, I wanted to do the same kind of reporting, holding the (Bush) administration accountable, and that was not something that Fox was interested in doing," he said.

Hat tip: Romanesko.

A Texan's perspective on Harriet Miers

-- Cartoon by Mike Lester, Rome News-Tribune, Rome, GA via Cagle.

Some Texas perspective on Harriet Miers, by Harvey Kronberg, editor of the Quorum Report, a non-partisan online newsletter and service covering Texas politics and the legislature.

Kronberg's take:

HK: SOME QUICK THOUGHTS ABOUT HARRIET MIERS
A reversion to an old and honored style of judicial appointment

As the hyperventilating has begun about Harriet Miers nomination to the United States Supreme Court, one of the funniest criticisms to immediately surface is that she contributed to Al Gore's campaign to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988.

Of course, Texas was a one party Democratic state back in 1988. Al Gore was seen as the southern conservative choice fighting against northern liberals.

In fact, Gore was considered so southern and so conservative, the current Republican governor, Rick Perry was one of Gore's Texas campaign chairmen. Of course, two years later, Perry switched parties and helped lead the red meat conservative Republican takeover of the state.

We are as curious about Miers' judicial philosophy as everyone else. She always struck us as the lawyer's lawyer -- very professional, intellectually rigorous and meticulously clean in her practice.

She was one of the cadre that George Bush brought to Austin as governor who's loyalty, toughness and professionalism were unquestionable. He appointed her as chair to the Texas Lottery Commission to cover his back. Where there is gambling, there is always the prospect of corruption. So much so that then Comptroller John Sharp lobbied to keep the Lottery Commission as a separate agency and out from under the supervision of his Comptroller's office. Miers appointment meant that then Governor Bush need have no worries of something blowing up at the Lotter Commission and sticking to him

Bush's instincts as Governor lead him to generally appoint rock solid Supreme Court appointments, highly qualified center-right conservatives who generally were well regarded by the bar. Texas Lawyer routinely ranked their decisions as more center-right than doctrinaire.

In Texas, Bush was so popular he was generally able to dictate to the base. But while Karl Rove's strategy of polarizing the country twice elected Bush to the presidency, it also has seemed to render him captive to the hard right Republican base, leaving many of those who knew him in Austin surprised and bewildered. Staunch social conservatives may rail that this nomination is symbolic of a wounded presidency.

Well, maybe.

History will tell, but his two Supreme Court appointments have the feel of the Austin paradigm more than they do the DC version of George W.

Unhappy times for Walker'scrabby campaign for governor

Clearly, these are not happy times for the Scott Walker for governor gang.

Signs of stress are beginning to appear, almost a year before the primary.

Walker himself fired from the lip about new regional economic development plans, sabotaging the effort as it tries to get off the ground by saying it costs too much to do business in Milwaukee. "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," he said of efforts to market the Milwaukee area to employers.

That may play well with Citizens for Responsible Government, Walker's anti-government base, but it should turn off the Milwaukee area business community. It's not something a happy, confident candidate would say. Maybe he is finding out how difficult it is for a Milwaukee politician to be elected statewide, and has a new message: "I'm from Milwaukee, but I'm not like them."

Walker's campaign is in a stress-induced angry mood, too. When a Zogby poll showed both Mark Green and Scott Walker in close head-to-head matchups with Gov. Jim Doyle, the Walker campaign seemed to focus only on the fact that Green was running a few points better than Walker.

Walker campaign manager Bruce Pfaff told WisPolitics.com: "If Zogby had any credibility or ability to prognosticate, John Kerry would be president today, wouldn't he?" In 2004, Zogby predicted Kerry would beat George W. Bush. Pfaff said the poll consists only of people who have computers and the Internet and sign themselves up on the Zogby site. "Everybody is in the same margin of error," said Pfaff. "So even there what we take from it is people who have Internet connections don't like Jim Doyle."

The Zogby poll is highly unreliable, but why wouldn't Walker talk positively about how close the race is, instead of trashing the pollster? What will he say if the next Zogby poll shows Walker ahead? (My guess is they are behind, know they're behind, and are beginning to think it is a losing effort.)

Finally, Brian Fraley, who owns the consulting firm, the Markesan Group, that is advising Walker's campaign, is thinking about running for the State Senate in a GOP primary against wingnut Tom Reynolds. If, in fact, Fraley's firm is still working for Walker, that could be a little problematic, since Fraley would have his own primary at the same time as the Walker-Green primary. Or is Fraley starting to think Walker won't last that long.

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UPDATE: Fraley says: "The Markesan Group's contact with the Walker campaign has amicably expired. In Mid July we wrote the release regarding the hiring of full time staff and from that date forward, the campaign was no longer a client."

First I had heard that. It must mean that Jim Villa, who founded the Markesan Group but then left to return to Walker's office and taxpayer payroll as his chief of staff, must also be the "general consultant" and strategist for Walker -- on his own time, of course. (Wink, wink.)

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I've said all along I would like Walker to be the nominee against Doyle. But his crabby campaign has me wondering if that's even a possibility.

Paul Ryan needs your advice

The Racine Journal Times online site has provoked quite a discussion on whether Rep. Paul Ryan should give back $25,000 in political action money from Tom DeLay.

Check it out, and give Ryan some guidance on this matter.

When you lie down with pigs . . .

So Scott Walker, the MILWAUKEE County executive, has decided that the way to run for governor is to "stick it to Milwaukee."

How else to explain his comments that undo the regional economic cooperation that's just starting to happen?

"You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," Walker said of the regional economic development promotional strategy sponsored by the area's business elite and elected officials, including Walker.

Eye on Wisconsin has a good take on who's the swine in this picture.

Even Mayor Tom Barrett, who seldom has said a discouraging word, fired back, saying he hoped Walker wouldn't take a (taxpayer-paid) motorcycle trip around the state to trash Milwaukee. (Wasn't Tommy Thompson on a cycle ride when he made his famous "Stick it to 'em" comment?)

There's a lesson here about "cooperation." I've written about it before, and will have more to say later. But Walker's candor says a lot about why we can't all just get along.

Finley left vacancy on GOP ticket

I'd heard a rumor that the reason there is no Republican opponent for Sen. Herb Kohl is that the GOP expected Dan Finley to run. Instead, he quit his Waukesha County exec post to run the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Spivak and Bice nail it all down in today's column, although GOP Chairman Rick Graber, who issues 10 press releases a day, wouldn't talk to them about this subject.

Green's staffer/campaign manager on Jack Abramoff's freebies list

Jack Abramoff, by all accounts, is a generous man, especially when the recipient of his generosity is in a position to do him some good. He didn't limit his largesse to elected officials; staff members are key to getting things done in DC. Some of the freebies even trickled down to Rep. Mark Green's chief of staff, Mark Graul.

Abramoff, in case you've been boycotting the news for the past year, is the sleazy lobbyist and good buddy of Tom DeLay, who has been indicted on umpteen charges of corruption. DeLay will probably want to stand next to Abramoff, because DeLay might look good by comparison.

A quick once-over of Abramoff's record, courtesy of a New York Times editorial, which in turn referenced an article by conservative Andrew Ferguson in the Weekly Standard:

[Ferguson] painted the big picture of the Abramoff ethos in vibrant strokes: the ill-gotten Indian gambling moolah snaking through the bank accounts of a network of DeLay cronies and former aides; the "fact-finding" Congressional golfing trips to further the cause of sweatshop garment factories in the Marianas islands; the bogus "think tank" in Rehoboth Beach, Del., where the two scholars in residence were a yoga instructor and a lifeguard (albeit a "lifeguard of the year"). Certain names kept recurring in Mr. Ferguson's epic narrative, most prominently Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, Republican money-changers who are as tightly tied to President Bush and Karl Rove as they are to Mr. Abramoff and Mr. DeLay, if not more so.

When you are used to giving away free first class golfing trips to Scotland for needy Congressmen, tickets to a wrestling exhibition hardly seem worth mentioning to someone like Abramoff, I'm sure. It is a somewhat bigger deal in Wisconsin.

Talking Points Memo reports:

Lawyers, ethics watchdogs, hill staffers and you at home can help with some open-source investigative reporting. As you know, Jack Abramoff rented skyboxes at several DC area sports and entertainment complexes, which he used to dole out favors, goodies and fundraising assistance to Republican members of Congress and their staffs. Recently I've been working my way through records ... which detail which staffers and members got tickets to what events, who they brought with them and so forth.

Now, for instance, here is a roster from Abramoff's assistant Susan Ralston which goes in to who got to go to the "WWF Raw is War" event on October 2nd, 2000.

Mark Graul, then Green's chief of staff and now the manager of his campaign for governor, is on the skybox list for two tickets. The note says is tickets were requested by "Calvert." Two Calverts, Chad and Jennifer, are also on the ticket list. And who are the Calverts:

The Village Voice:

The Washington Post would later do stories about the awesome influence of Jack Abramoff and Mike Scanlon, who combined to drain $45 million in reported lobbying fees from four tribes in the first three Bush years, prompting an ongoing investigation by Senator John McCain. Abramoff's top political allies were House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed.

But no one noticed that Bill Jarrell and Jennifer Calvert, two lobbyists who'd worked with Abramoff prior to 2001, left him within days of the election to form their own company, Washington Strategies, immediately attracting tribal clients. Jarrell, like Scanlon, was once a top DeLay staffer. Smith says Jennifer's husband, Chad Calvert, while he was Interior's deputy director of legislative affairs, introduced her to him, left documents from her in his office, and joined the two of them at lobbying lunches—recollections the Calverts only partially deny. When Chad Calvert was recently promoted, the Interior press release said he'd been "coordinating department legislative policy" for "the assistant secretary for Indian affairs" for three years. Jennifer Calvert's bio says her "lobbying expertise focuses on Native American issues," one of those marvelous coincidences of inside-the-beltway life.

And to think that what they have in common with Mark Green's chief of staff is a love of the World Wrestling Federation.

Back to Talking Points Memo:

So a few questions.

For you Hill folks, how commonplace is this up there -- a lobbyist who routinely gives free tickets to ball games and concerts and even professional wrestling events to staffers from the offices of helpful members of Congress?

Several of the staffers on the roster for the "WWF Raw is War" shindig show up getting skybox tickets again and again just during 2000. A lawyer familiar with the Preston Gates records and the Abramoff skybox operation says there's no sign any of them ever reimbursed or paid for the tickets. So how does that square with Congressional ethics rules? A problem?

Mark Graul and Mark Green both like to talk about "Wisconsin values" in every press release and every utterance from the Green campaign.

But this kind of behavior reflects Washington values, not Wisconsin's. While Graul's candidate tries to get some distance from DeLay while keeping his $29,000 in dirty money, Graul himself has some questions to answer. Was he one of those getting tickets "again and again" in 2000? Did he pay for the tickets? Does he see any ethical problem in that relationship with the Calverts? What did they want from him and Green? Did they get it?

And some questions, while we're at it, for Mark Green, too: Is it his policy that his staffers are free to take freebies from DC lobbyists? If so, what have they taken and from who? Do they have to report it, even to Green? Does he even know what his staffers accept?

Think the news media will ask either Green or Graul? You do? Wanna bet?

Update: Bill Bennett lies and resigns

A couple of updates on Bill Bennett, who's still trying to recover from his remark on his radio show suggesting that if all black women had abortions the crime rate would go down.

First, as Media Matters reports, Bennett defended his racist remarks by lying:

On the September 29 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett defended comments he made the day before linking crime rates and abortion by blacks. Bennett, who said that "it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime ... you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down," claimed that he was taken out of context, and that his comment was based on a 1999 Slate.com online discussion between Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics (William Morrow, May 2005), and right-wing columnist Steve Sailer, in which Bennett claimed that Levitt "discusse[d], as I did, the racial implications of abortion and crime." Levitt did not. In fact, in the Slate debate that Bennett cited, Levitt said the opposite of what Bennett claimed: "None of our analysis is race-based because the crime data by race is generally not deemed reliable."

Many conservatives have used that same untrue argument to defend Bennett's comments.

Secondly, the former secretary of education has resigned from K12, the for-profit company that runs a virtual school in Wisconsin, among other things. The announcement does not make it clear whether Bennett still owns a piece of the company; I think he does.

PR Newswire reports:

MCLEAN, Va -- K12 Inc. today announced that William J. Bennett has resigned as an employee, and as Chairman and member of the company's Board of Directors, effective immediately. K12 Inc. said the Board accepted his resignation, thanking him for his contributions to the company. K12 Inc. said that it has no relationship with, or involvement in, Dr.Bennett's radio program. The opinions expressed by Dr. Bennett on his radio program are his and his alone.

Dr. Bennett, in a separate statement said: "I am in the midst of a political battle based on a coordinated campaign willfully distorting my views, my record, and my statements. Given the controversy surrounding the remarks I made on my radio show, I am stepping down from my positions at K12, so that neither the mission of the company, nor its children, are affected, distracted, or harmed in any way."

What a selfless guy. Always thinking about other people and the kids. If he could only quit sharing his innermost thoughts...

The wheels have come off in Iraq;How many more lives will we waste?

For No Good Reason

By BOB HERBERT
New York Times Op Ed

"You can keep the flowers blooming on their graves forever. It won't change the fact that they died for nothing."

- antiwar protester, circa 1969

It's finally becoming clear on Capitol Hill, and maybe even in the White House, that the United States cannot win the war in Iraq. The only question still to be decided is how many more American lives will be wasted in George W. Bush's grand debacle.

The wheels have fallen off the cart in Iraq, and only those in the farthest reaches of denial are hanging on to the illusion of an American triumph over the insurgency.

Air Force General Richard Myers, who retired Friday as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was publicly chastised at an Armed Services Committee hearing last week by Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has always been a strong proponent of the war.

Senator McCain bluntly declared that "things have not gone as we had planned or expected, nor as we were told by you, General Myers."

The general replied, "I don't think this committee or the American public has ever heard me say that things are going very well in Iraq."

Read the rest at Truthout.

What part about RIGHT to vote is GOP missing?

This Republican news release points up the fundamental misunderstanding the GOP seem to have about voting requirements, and perhaps explains why they continue to bang their heads against the wall over the issue of a photo ID card:

RPW: Sen. Erpenbach Has No Problem Showing Photo ID to Cash Check but Still Won't Vote for Photo ID Requirement at the Polls

Contact: Christine Mangi, (608) 257-4765

(Madison, WI)--Democrat State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, moonlighting as a pizza delivery boy, tried to cash a check for $98 that he received for delivering pizzas by presenting a photo ID. According to the bank where he tried to cash the check, the photo ID was not sufficient enough and he was told he would have to put a thumbprint on his check. It is a policy of the bank to obtain a fingerprint from a non-customer trying to cash a check. Sen. Erpenbach was a non-customer. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 1, 2005)

"Sen. Erpenbach obviously recognizes that a photo ID is a common requirement in today's society," said Rick Graber, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. "Even simple tasks such as check cashing have more stringent requirements than photo ID to prevent identity theft and fraud. Yet Sen. Erpenbach continues to side with Governor Jim Doyle in preventing such a requirement at the polls despite evidence of fraudulent voting behavior in Wisconsin. Democrats need to stop whining that photo ID will disenfranchise voters when even they acknowledge that photo ID is a routine part of daily life."

What's the difference between cashing a check and voting? Well, for one, we have a constitutional right to vote. Republicans want to erect barriers to discourage or prevent eligible voters from exercising that right.

Last I knew, there was no constitutional right to cash a check, or even to buy cigarettes or eat pizza. So if banks or drug stores or gas stations or pizza parlors want to demand a photo ID, fine with me. If I show it to them, it does not mean I support requiring photo ID for voters. Either does Erpenbach.

OK?

"After the love is gone'

Nora Ephron almost gets seduced by Bill Clinton again, but comes to her senses when she realizes, for all of his glibness, what he hasn't said.

Well worth a read.

Another R gives back DeLay's money while Green, Ryan claim they can't

Yet another House Republican, this one from Missouri, has found a way to get rid of the dirty money he took from Tom DeLay's political action committee. That makes at least three who have done the right thing since DeLay's indictment (there was a second indictment Monday on two money laundering charges). More details at DeLay's House of Scandal.

So far, Wisconsin Reps. Mark Green and Paul Ryan refuse to give back the $29,000 and $25,000 they've received, respectively, claiming that would somehow be illegal.

The Missouri Congressman also said he will not support DeLay's return as leader even if he is acquited. That might be an interesting question for some enterprising reporter to ask Green and Ryan, too.

The Columbia, Mo. Tribune reports:

Hulshof puts DeLay funds into charity
Congressman distances self from leader.

U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof has unloaded campaign money with ties to Tom DeLay and is expressing reservations about a return to power for the indicted former House majority leader.

DeLay, a Republican from Texas, was indicted Wednesday on a felony conspiracy charge related to state campaign finance laws. The congressman has denounced the charges, but a party rule required him to give up his leadership post.

DeLay has been a fundraising dynamo over the years, using that cash to support a wide variety of Republican candidates. One of the beneficiaries was Hulshof, who in the past received more than $14,000 from the Americans for a Republican Majority political action committee, or ARMPAC.

While ARMPAC is not the focus of the indictment, it was aligned with DeLay. Democrats last week demanded that Hulshof return the money.

Hulshof said in an interview yesterday that his campaign has written a check to the George Bush-Bill Clinton hurricane relief effort in an amount equivalent to the money he received from ARMPAC. Hulshof said he thought the amount was $14,500, although The Associated Press in July reported that the figure was $14,964, based on figures from groups that track political money.

Tell Wisconsin Republicans to Return DeLay's Dirty Money.

Elderly victim of Kapanke's wife upset over handling of her case

UPDATE: Ruth Kapanke was sentenced to 14 days in jail on work/treatment release , with a second charge suspended and to be dismissed after 18 months if she stays drug- and alcohol-free. Story.

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Ruth Kapanke, wife of State Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-LaCrosse, is to appear in court for a plea hearing this afternoon, on charges she stole prescription painkillers from an elderly woman she befriended. She apparently has negotiated a plea bargain that will end the case.

Ruth Kapanke reportedly will plead guilty to a single count of theft, although she has confessed to stealing drugs from the homes of a dozen patients in the LaCrosse area, according to documents obtained from the sheriff's department in an open records request.

One of the victims, Donna Tischer, is quite upset -- to say the least -- at how the case has been handled by the LaCrosse DA, Scott Horne, and the Trempealeau DA, Jeri Marsolek. Horne, a Republican, asked Marsolek, a Democrat, to act as special prosecutor because, Horne said, he was a friend of the Kapankes and had worked in Dan Kapanke's campaigns, the LaCrosse Tribune reported. (Tischer notes that Horne did not recuse himself from handling a complaint against Kapanke's opponent during the last campaign, however.)

Ruth Kapanke, 58, is a nurse. She was arrested in June by the sheriff's office and charged with possession of a prescription drug without a prescription and theft. Ruth Kapanke is co-owner, with her husband, of the La Crosse Loggers baseball team.

Horne said the Kapankes cooperated fully with investigators, and asked for no special favors, the LaCrosse Tribune reported at the time of the arrest.

But Tischer, 75, in a statement to be given to the media at the sentencing hearing, says, in part:

I wish to express my frustration and dismay towards the whole process involving this case. Ruth Kapanke has admitted to stealing and preying upon 10 other victims, but due to the lack of an investigation by either the La Crosse County District Attorney or the Trempealeau County District Attorney, neither the public nor I will ever know how many other victims there were or what the facts surrounding the other known 10 victims.

Other than the initial complaint, I was never interviewed by either prosecutor. I had to make my own inquiries into this case (by doing an open records request) only to find out that none of the other victims had been contacted or interviewed. In filing the open records request I learned that Mrs. Kapanke burglarized a senior citizen's home to steal medication. She actually broke into someone’s home to commit a crime. If these acts were committed by someone else, someone of a different color or economic background, would we have seen this investigation handled differently? I guess it helps to have a husband that is a state Senator and a close friend of the local District Attorney.

Ruth Kapanke preyed on 11 senior citizens that we know of, and terrorized me in my own home. She knew I was recently widowed, handicapped and living on a fixed income. She knew that I had problems with my heart and kidneys, and that I suffer from debilitating arthritis. I am also required to take Procrid shots for my blood.

As a registered nurse, Ruth Kapanke took an oath to care for the sick and disabled. She however, chose to prey upon and abuse elderly people some of which of which she was charged with helping.

I have been so shaken by this experience that I have had to install a peephole in my door and a motion sensor light on my home. I have been unable to sleep at night, only adding to the stress of my weakened heart. I have had to endure harassment in the form of phone calls and one night someone pounding on my door after I had gone to bed.

I am the one that filed charges against Mrs. Kapanke. When I first brought these issues to the La Crosse County District Attorney he encouraged/harassed me to “work things out” with the Kapankes. I would later find out that La Crosse County District Attorney Scott Horne was a close personal friend of the Kapankes and was actively involved in Senator Kapanke’s election campaign. On a side note, this is the same DA, that failed to recuse himself when he was investigating then-candidate Kapanke’s opponent for election law issues.

As much as Ruth Kapanke has done, I give no pardon to the officials handling this case. In an effort to protect a political friend, officials have failed to answer some of the basic questions surrounding this case. It was the political friends of the Kapankes that [delayed the arrest of] Mrs. Kapanke (even after they had a video tape of her stealing drugs from my house) so as to not interfere with the home opener of the Loggers baseball game. In fact, had they arrested Mrs. Kapanke before the baseball game then they would have prevented her from stealing from another elderly person (she stole the very next day).

I think the people in our community deserve to know the answers to questions not asked by the prosecutors in this case. This may be socially a problem for Mrs. Kapanke and politically embarrassing for Senator Kapanke, but that is nothing compared to the fear, harassment and furthered health problems that others and I have had to endure as a victim Mrs. Kapanke. . .

For all the anger I feel at this time, I feel a greater sadness for Ruth. I hope and pray that she is treated for her problems and the pain she has caused.

Sheriff's department records support the facts as Tischer relates them, although there may have been 12 victims in all. Mrs. Kapanke provided a list of 10 other victims from whom she had stolen drugs, and confessed to taking Hydrocodone from Tischer's home on multiple occasions and to taking Oxycontin from another 89-year-old woman's home.

Sheriff's Capt. Jeffrey Wolf, who made the arrest of Ruth Kapanke, also confirms that he delayed calling her in for an interview for a day, in part because of his schedule but also because he "did not want to have a conflict with the fact that she may be busy with her duties related to the opening night of baseball."

Instead, he called Ruth Kapanke at 8:30 a.m. on June 2, told her he was investigating a theft of drugs from Tischer, and asked her to come to the sheriff's department for an interview. She agreed to do so at 11 a.m., but -- according to a later statement from Ruth Kapanke -- in the meantime she went to the home of another elderly woman, Norma Anderson, and stole Hydrocodone.

It is not clear who made the decision on which charges to file, or who decided not to interview the other victims. The plea bargain undoubtedly was negotiated by the Trempealeau DA. If Ruth Kapanke has been in a treatment program for addiction since her arrest in June, that would be a mitigating factor.

Poll shows tight governor's race -- and John Kerry beating George Bush

I said here recently that my money is on Jim Doyle to win reelection in 2006, but I am not giving any points. I expect it to be a tight race, as his last race and the last two presidential races have been in Wisconsin.

A new Zogby poll bears that out, showing Doyle in a virtual dead heat with either Mark Green or Scott Walker. See for yourself.

Whenever I post poll results that support my position or opinion, my faithful right-wing readers pick it to pieces, nitpicking the methodology and conclusions. One even suggested recently that no sample of less than 1,000 people was meaningful statewide, forcing me to point out that 1,000 -- not 50,000 -- is a typical sample for a national poll. (Statewide are usually 400-600.)

So I won't go into detail about Zogby's methodology, which you can read about here. I will note, however, that Zogby uses a new technique of inter-active online polling and actually does only 20-40 telephone calls in each state. And many who participate in the surveys are "regulars" who do it all the time. All of that's a little troubling, and the jury is still out on its accuracy.

So before the Republicans get too gleeful, they might want to take into account a scene in the new documentary of the 2004 Kerry campaign, "Inside the Bubble." Zogby's Soundbites blog reports:

It features, among other not-ready-for-prime-time moments ... Kerry message guru Robert Shrum confidently declaring a few days before the 2004 election: "Zogby [a prominent pollster] just announced who's gonna win. Us!"

POSTSCRIPT: Forgot to mention the Senate race, which has Herb Kohl one point ahead of Tommy Thompson (a non-candidate, unless he is unhappy with how much ink he's getting lately) and 8 points up on former Rep. Mark Neumann (is he even thinking about running?)

John Stocks: Thanks to "people like you"

This blog has followed the saga of John Stocks' efforts to help his family and friends who were left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, and many readers have found ways to help. Here's an update:

The displacement of a family from a city that has been their home for generations and the splitting up of that same family to unfamiliar cities across the southeastern United States is emotionally devastating. Hurricane Katrina and our governments’ inadequate response to this tragedy have ripped apart the fabric of a family whose only desire is to return to what is familiar.

JACKSON, MS.

Lois, Elouise, Courtney and Vauchan are still in the Comfort Inn in Jackson. Hurricane Rita postponed their plans to move back to Louisiana. Lois is determined to find a job in Louisiana that will afford her the opportunity to work 1 year and five months more within the state teacher retirement system so she does not lose her eligibility. This weighs heavy on her mind. Once they settle on where to relocate, we will assist with their relocation expenses and pursuit of employment.

FEMA denied Elouise’s claim for the $2000 cash grant that is being given to families displaced by Katrina. Despite the fact that her home was completely under water and she lost her car, the agency concluded that she had no damage. After days and days of trying to straighten this out over the phone, Elouise grew frustrated .This bureaucratic incompetence prompted Elouise to take action. She contacted a reporter from a local Jackson television station and told her story. The story aired on the evening news. Last I heard, this action got FEMA’s attention and they were promising to correct the mistake.

DALLAS

Stacy and Jerald have relocated to Dallas with their New Orleans based company Pan American Life. In the midst of their relocation, Jerald’s grandmother died. He traveled to Virginia for the services. Stacy has temporary housing, She deeply misses her children.

Stacy’s children, Eboni, Brea and Kasey are living in the Memphis area with their father. They have started school. I will forward their address in the next couple of days.

ATLANTA

Henrietta, Debbie Ann, Gerard, Steve, Paula, Mark, Doris, Samantha, and Broderick are still living in a Comfort Inn near Atlanta. Gerard has found a job at a barber shop. Debbie Ann, an Orleans Parish second grade teacher for 22 years, is looking for work in the Cobb County school district. They have found temporary housing and can receive packages and gift cards @ 102 Douglas Road, Mableton, Georgia 30126. Our relief effort has provided them with funds to begin to furnish the house.

NEW ORLEANS

Steve and Mark traveled this weekend to New Orleans. They figured out a way to get into the city to survey the damage in the families’ neighborhood. They confirmed what everyone has suspected…their homes and the cars that were left behind are a total loss. Now begins the struggle with the insurance companies. It is hard to know your policy number, method of payment, coverage, etc. when all of your records were left in your home, possibly destroyed and you can’t get access to the city. The days ahead will be frustrating for all of the families as they try to ascertain what losses will be covered.

MCFARLAND, WI

My father called last night. He and his wife are hoping to return to New Orleans by the end of October to restart their lives.

SLIDELL, LA

My brother Adam has been offered a job in the Greenville, South Carolina area. He is contemplating a move. Reconstruction of his house is slow.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU

As a young community organizer in the early 1980’s I became acquainted with singer/songwriter Si Kahn. His songs and music have had a profound impact on me over the years. The outpouring of support from my family, friends and colleagues as reminded me of his song “People Like You”. I will never forget what all of you have done.

People like you help people like me go on…go on…go on –Si Kahn

John Stocks

'Iraq war delayed Katrina relief effort'

File under Suspicions Confirmed:

A confidential report commissioned by the Pentagon finds that Katrina relief efforts “suffered near catastrophic failures due to endemic corruption, divisions within the military and troop shortages caused by the Iraq war.”

Stephen Henthorne, a former U.S. Army War College professor and deputy-director of Katrina relief efforts, authored the report. He found that a "major factor in the delayed response to the hurricane aftermath was that the bulk of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard was deployed in Iraq."

"The US military has long planned for war on two fronts," the report found. "This is as close as we have come to [that] reality since the Second World War; the results have been disastrous. ... Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued US efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States."

--The Independent.

Quote, unquote

"I cannot support an Iraq policy that makes our enemies stronger and our own country weaker, and that is why I will not support staying the course the President has set. The costs of staying this course indefinitely, the consequences of weakening America's military and America's economy, are growing with each passing week. There is no leadership in simply hoping for the best. We need an Iraq policy that works."

-- Sen. Russ Feingold, on The Huffington Post.

He's got his head up his Act

From Grist, the online environmental magazine with a sense of humor:

He's Got His Head up His Act
House passes Pombo bill to overhaul Endangered Species Act

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would overhaul -- critics say gut -- the Endangered Species Act. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), passed on a 229 to 193 vote that didn't break down along traditional party lines: 34 Republicans (largely East Coast and Midwest moderates) rejected it, while 36 Democrats (many from the rural West and South) supported it. Pombo's bill -- the culmination of his 12-year drive to gut the ESA -- includes mandated federal payments to private landowners if the presence of an endangered species limits development on their land, and dismantles current provisions for designating critical habitat to help endangered critters and plants recover. The legislation faces a cool reception in the Senate, where moderate Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), chair of the subcommittee overseeing the ESA, says taking up the measure is not on his agenda for the year. The Bush administration, however, affirmed its support for the bill hours before the vote.

All four Wisconsin Republicans -- Mark Green, Paul Ryan, F. Jim Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri -- voted for the bill. All four Dems -- Tammy Baldwin, Gwen Moore, Dave Obey, and Ron Kind -- opposed it. Roll call.

Straight to the source: The New York Times, Felicity Barringer, 30 Sep 2005

Straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Zachary Coile, 30 Sep 2005

Olsen gone, Jefferson courts Wal-Mart

With Alderman Dave Olsen recalled after voting against an annexation for a Wal-Mart superstore, Jefferson's mayor is wasting no time trying to get Wal-Mart to come to town. Wal-Mart is playing it coy, probably hoping now for some financial incentives. Why not? It clearly runs the local government.

The Daily Jefferson County Union reports:

Jefferson to court Wal-Mart

JEFFERSON — In the wake of an alderman’s recall ouster spurred by his vote against annexation, Mayor Collins Stevens says the city definitely will contact Wal-Mart to see whether the megaretailer remains interested in building a Supercenter in Jefferson.

“We need to do something for Jefferson,” the mayor said this morning. “Jefferson has to move forward, whether it be Wal-Mart or another retailer to help build our tax base.”

The Arkansas-based retailer had shown an interest in building a Supercenter in Jefferson until the common council on June 7 voted against annexing the two parcels being eyed by the company. The annexation failed a second time as the council voted 5-3 in favor of bringing the property into the city, going against a unanimous recommendation by the Planning Commission and a 7-2 vote of support by the Jefferson Development Commission.

On Tuesday, Jefferson voters went to the polls to cast ballots in a recall election sought by a pro-Wal-Mart group calling itself “Coalition for the Best Jefferson.” Alderman David Olsen, one of three council members who had voted against the annexation, lost his seat to challenger Chris Havill, who campaigned on the platform of promoting economic development.

Today, Mayor Stevens said his No. 1 goal now is to get the property previously eyed by Wal-Mart annexed into the city.

“When you turn down voluntary annexation, you’re shooting yourself in the foot,” Stevens said, referring to the Jefferson Common Council’s defeat of the annexation at its June 7 meeting.

The mayor said that at this point, it does not matter whether the proposed business is a Wal-Mart, Target or some other retailer.

“We have to get past this initial hurdle that we set ourselves up against,” Stevens said. “Once we get past that, things are going to flow.”

However, Wal-Mart officials said Wednesday that it is too early to say whether the corporation will be interested in building in Jefferson, even though Alderman Olsen and others claimed the recall election was “all about Wal-Mart.”

Wal-Mart officials appeared non-committal to returning to negotiations with the Jefferson County city.

“We remain committed to serving our customers from this area and we’ll evaluate this situation, along with other options, in discussing and making our plans for the future,” said Wal-Mart community affairs manager Roderick Scott.

He declined to comment on any specific plans the company might have in Jefferson.

“It’s premature to speculate,” he added, indicating that he believes his general statement is “conclusive.”

“It implies more than what it actually is,” Scott said. “We were defeated. Nothing has changed.”

With Havill’s election Tuesday, support for the retail giant on the Jefferson Common Council might have shifted. Approximately 38.8 percent of registered voters turned out at the polls in the recall election

Earlier post, including a link to a website where you can help Olsen pay off his campaign debt of about $1,500.

Everything you need to knowabout court nominee Harriet Miers

From David Frum's Diary at the National Review online:

SEP. 29, 2005: JUSTICE MIERS?

I believe I was the first to float the name of Harriet Miers, White House counsel, as a possible Supreme Court. Today her name is all over the news. I have to confess that at the time, I was mostly joking. Harriet Miers is a capable lawyer, a hard worker, and a kind and generous person. She would be an reasonable choice for a generalist attorney, which is indeed how George W. Bush first met her. She would make an excellent trial judge: She is a careful and fair-minded listener. But US Supreme Court?

In the White House that hero worshipped the president, Miers was distinguished by the intensity of her zeal: She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met. She served Bush well, but she is not the person to lead the court in new directions - or to stand up under the criticism that a conservative justice must expect.

I rest my case.

Hat tip: Folkbum.

NY Times takes F. Jim to task

I guess it was too much to hope that the New York Times would join me in calling F. Victims Sensenbrenner heartless, but today's editorial certainly suggests he is lacking some quality that makes people want to help one another:

Editorial
Congress and Katrina

What perfect timing: the bankruptcy law set to go into effect Oct. 17 is arriving just in time to inflict more pain on Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas residents who have been hit by the gulf hurricanes. They lost their homes, businesses and even loved ones and now may face financial ruin without the protection of bankruptcy.

Robert Lawless, a law professor at the University of Nevada, found in a forthcoming Nevada Law Journal study that bankruptcy filings rose about 50 percent faster in states affected by hurricanes than in those unaffected. That the Hurricane Katrina victims would suffer under the draconian new law is hard to swallow. Their plight also raises the question of whether anyone at all should be punished by this unfortunate piece of legislation.

The banking and credit-card companies that bankrolled the new law - both in campaign contributions and lobbying muscle - want us to believe that it is designed to capture wild spenders who finance lavish lifestyles before ducking behind the protection of bankruptcy when the bills come due. But this contemporary retelling of the myth of the welfare queen dissolves under scrutiny.

What most bankruptcy filers have in common is a huge setback beyond their control, like illness, the death of a loved one, divorce or layoffs. Most Americans view bankruptcy as a last resort, even after a traumatic event. Mr. Lawless's study, based on 18 major storms between 1980 and 2004, found that the peak in bankruptcy filings was not right after a storm but two to three years later. That means victims made every effort to rebuild their lives before seeking help.

F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the Wisconsin congressman who was a sponsor of the bankruptcy law in the House, told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last month that those who had lost the fight against the new rules needed to "get over it." Easy for him to say. His Congressional salary of more than $160,000 this year is nearly quadruple the median United States household income last year, which was less than $45,000. His great-grandfather was one of the founders of the company that brought us Kleenex and Huggies, making him an heir to the Kimberly-Clark fortune. He even once won $250,000 in the D.C. Lottery, for him just a cherry on top of a fortune reported at more than $10 million. It's a shame that Mr. Sensenbrenner, who has to be one of the luckier people around, can't spare a little sympathy for the less fortunate.

Sorry, Jim. We can't get over it.

'Blame Game now comes with dice'

John Kelso's Sunday column in the Austin, Texas American-Statesman:

Blame Game Now
Comes With Dice

It was precisely when the Republicans started saying not to play the blame game that Gordon Fowler (pictured) and Bill Christofferson decided it was time to play it big-time.

The two yellow-dog Democrats have turned the Blame Game into a board game based on the Hurricane Katrina disaster and resulting screw-up.

"All the people who were to blame decided we shouldn't play the blame game, and we decided, 'Yes, we should, but don't blame us,' " said Fowler, an Austin writer and painter.

The Blame Game board game sells for $10 plus shipping at www.zzzingers.com, with all the money going to Hurricane Katrina victims.

When you play the game, it works pretty much the same way things worked for the poor schleps stuck in New Orleans.

No matter what you roll, you are screwed.

"That's right; you can't win," said Christofferson, a Milwaukee political consultant who served with Fowler in the Marines in Vietnam as a fellow combat correspondent. "It's like being a resident of New Orleans when the storm came.."

When your piece lands on the Gretna Bridge, it says, "Give up food & water, Go back to START." No way outta town there, baby.

"The sheriff did turn people back at the Gretna Bridge and take away their food and water," Christofferson said. "As much as we could, everything in the game is based on what really happened."

Land on the Draw Blame Card space, and you pick up one of those cards to get your marching orders. Here's an example: "Stay on your roof and lose a turn. The rescue helicopters have been diverted for a photo op with the President."

Or, "Wait in line three hours to get help from FEMA. When you get to the front, they give you a piece of paper that says to come back in three days. Lose 2 turns."

Most of the Blame Cards blame Bush.

"If you look at 'em, you'll see that 90 percent of them blame Bush, so he wins that part of the game," Christofferson said.

This all started a couple of weeks ago in Fowler's South Austin kitchen, while he and Christofferson were hashing over the Katrina tragedy and fuming.

"Bill and I were in Vietnam together, and we started watching this thing unfold, and it reminded us of what happened over there," Fowler said. "It took about 10 years over there, and this unfolded in about two days. There was the Tet Offensive. This one we call the Wet Offensive."

Wait. Time for you to pick up another Blame Card. "Some of your family makes it to the Astrodome. Barbara Bush says they 'were underprivileged anyway, so this is working out very well for them.' "

After coming up with the idea, Fowler started drawing and Christofferson started writing. Fowler says it took them only a couple of days to put together the game.

They couldn't afford to waste time, he said. Because of America's short attention span, if you want to sell your product, you've got to strike while the topic is hot.

"When Karl Rove and Tom DeLay get hauled off in handcuffs, we don't want it to mess up our game," Fowler explained. "You know how fickle we are these days about the news."

Sounds like another idea for a board game. How about calling it Neocons Behind Bars?

Zien to taxpayers: "Kiss my iron butt!"

The Journal Sentinel reports in a Sunday story that State Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, gets paid twice as much in mileage money for driving his Harley around the state as a state employee would who doesn't happen to be elected.

For state workers who drive motorcycles, the rate is 16.2 cents a mile. Zien claims 32.5 cents -- and drives thousands and thousands of miles.

He's tone deaf about understanding why anyone would question that perk. How could anybody question somebody who's driving an American motorcycle made in Wisconsin, he asks, as if that has anything to do with the issue at hand.

Maybe a state employee, Larry Legro, could explain what's wrong with leggies treating themselves like they're special and more important than the people who actually do the work:

Larry Legro, a state X-ray inspector who frequently travels, said lawmakers "just don't get it" by not following the same standards as other employees.

"The guys who are making the rules are ignoring them themselves," he said.

Here's the story:

Zien's motorcycle riding pays off
Senator claims mileage at higher car rates
By PATRICK MARLEY

Madison - When Sen. Dave Zien (R-Eau Claire) hops on his Harley-Davidson for state business - as he routinely does - he bills taxpayers at twice the rate other state employees do.

Sen. David Zien, an Iron Butt Rally participant, was reimbursed $23,332 over a 2½-year period for mileage.

Mileage reimbursement records show that over a 2 ½ -year period, Zien was reimbursed about $7,500 more than a rank-and-file employee driving a motorcycle would have received.

Zien claimed about $15,000 in mileage reimbursement in the spring, summer and fall of 2003 and 2004 and April through June of 2005, the records show. Another state employee could claim only half that amount because the state reimburses motorcycle use at half the vehicle rate because motorcycles can get 45 miles to the gallon or more.

During that period, the rate was 32.5 cents for vehicles and 16.2 cents for motorcycles.

Zien consistently claims the higher rate, even when he drives a snowmobile on state business, he said. He said he saw nothing wrong with that practice.

"Who can be critical of someone driving an American motorcycle made in Wisconsin?" he said.

The whole story.

Well, no kidding

Buying of News by Bush's Aides Is Ruled Illegal

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.

Gee, you mean there was something wrong with that? How was the White House supposed to know?

Ryan's lyin'

Dubya Is Fredo says Paul Ryan's lyin' when he says it would be illegal to give back the smelly $25,000 he took from Tom DeLay's political action committee.

I called it "weasel words" in an earlier post. Fredo just says it flat-out: It's a lie.

Conservatives defend Bennett's racism

Well, the dynamic duo, Sykes and McBride, has finally found something they disagree on.

Sykes is an apologist for Bill Bennett's remarks that the way to reduce the crime rate would be to abort all black fetuses. Yes, he really said it, on the radio.

BENNETT: ... I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down.

John McAdams, a Marquette faculty member, started the ball rolling with a post on his blog claiming Planned Parenthood is guilty of saying the same thing as Bennett did. But Planned Parenthood makes no mention of race at all.

Planned Parenthood says that bringing unwanted children into a home contributes to a range of social problems, including crime. In fact, 63% of abortions are performed on white women, but McAdams uses some tortured logic to say that because black and Hispanic women are more likely to have an abortion, Planned Parenthood, not Bill Bennett, is racist. The Jesuits may like his conclusion, but it doesn't fly.

Sykes does him one better, claiming birth control champion Margaret Sanger was a racist.

Hitler was, too. But that doesn't excuse Bill Bennett. Nothing anyone else said or did changes what Bennett said. And though he tried to cover his ass by elaborating after the first racist statement came out of his mouth, it's not something that would just come out spontaneously unless it was what you really think -- and had been thinking about for some time.

McBride -- who posted before the others weighed in -- says Bennett made "an appalingly racist comment ... Conservatives should condemn this."

Bennett, among other things, heads a for-profit company that runs a virtual school in Wisconsin. Earlier post.

UPDATE: McBride sticks to her position, at great length.

Penguin fun for everyone

The religious right has embraced the penguin lifestyle in the summer's documentary film hit, "March of the Penguins," as reported here recently. The penguins, they say, offer some life lessons about monogamy, faithfulness, and other virtues.

Not so fast, says this AlterNet article:

Monogamy? As Scott Lamb pointed out in Salon, these penguins get around. They switch mates with each new mating season, which makes for some pretty slutty birds -- and change the operative question from "What Would Jesus Do?" to "Who would Jesus Do?" (And an earlier Salon article, which tells the incredible true story of two male penguins in love, adds another twist.)

This is the most cynical misappropriation of someone else's messages since the Republicans started pumping their fists in the air to Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." (Or, for that matter, since Reagan decided to name his space program Star Wars, a move George Lucas resents to this day.) In all, conservatives' embrace of March of the Penguins is pretty ironic, coming from a nexus of religious groups that justify backburnering environmental issues because with the Rapture at hand, we don't need to worry about the next generation's planet anyway.