Alberta Darling: Wrong on the boner pills

Electile dysfunction.

Chris Liebenthal is documenting Alberta Darling's bad week(s):

Wisconsin Senate Republican Alberta Darling "misspoke" regarding the timing of her departure from the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood. Darling had claimed she left the board before she was elected to the State Assembly in 1990. Turns out that she was there for a full five years after being elected.

D'oh!

And it must be noted again that the WISGOP is so desperate to hang on to Alberta Darling's 8th District Senate seat that it's shifted all of its southern liberal enclaves into an adjacent district, where Senator Lena Taylor presides over a Democratic lock, and pushed its northern borders further deeper into Glenn Grothman-land. That is, if Democratic challenger Rep. Sandy Pasch topples Alberta Darling on Tuesday, it will be exceedingly difficult for Pasch to defend her incumbency in 2012.

Furthermore it wouldn't surprise me in the least — and I have heard this concern voiced by more than a couple of voters — if the WISGOP means to discourage electoral participation by those southernmost Democrats because if Pasch does win on Tuesday, she won't even be those voters' representative in the Senate once the redistricting plan takes effect.

The WISGOP being nothing if not endlessly devious and power-Viagra'd.

It would be just one additional WISGOP voter suppression technique.

AFP tyop defense gains credence

Via @cruiskeen (a.k.a. UppityWis).

Earlier: August II - Tyop or Roman numerals?

Progbum's FriTunes

h/t Folkbum.

SCOTUS: Obamacare on the docket

Thomas More Law Center v. Barack H. Obama

Gird your loins, liberals. As compelling an argument as Judge Sutton makes, even for individual insurance mandate skeptics like yours truly, it's a policy argument first and foremost and further, the federal District Courts and the Circuit Courts of Appeal are far more inclined to defer to Congress's interpretation of the Interstate Commerce Clause — a deference weighted, in my humble opinion, by a selective reading of the Supreme Court's prior Commerce Clause pronouncements — than will be the Chief Justice and his colleagues. And loins need be trebly girded because these "Obamacare" cases are clearly headed for their ultimate disposition at the end of June, 2012, the conclusion of the high Court's term, when it traditionally hands down its most contentious decisions.

Smack in the middle of a presidential campaign.

That the Supreme Court has docketed the aforementioned appeal is no indication it will accept it, of course, but I reckon its acceptance — most likely consolidated with one or two others making their way upward — is guaranteed. There is simply no way the SCOTUS is going to let stand the decision of a lower court, whatever its outcome, on the most important constitutional question to come along in decades, if not in centuries.

I hope this is no more representative

Of the "white" community:

Soon youll be able 2 go heavy 2 & smoke these sp@@@ks like the animals they are. This is what they do with the free cell phones they're giving ghetto trash all over now, facebook flash ghettomobs. B armed, ready 2 shoot Nov 1 & ask? later

Than last night's incident is of the black. November 1 is when Wisconsin's new concealed carry law goes into effect. According to my reading of the most recent Second Amendment cases, the rationale behind the new law refers to the right of personal self defense, not the personal right to open fire on an unruly mob of teenage punks. There are lots of reader/listener comments similar to the above at both Journal Communications, Inc. outlets, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and WTMJ Newsradio. The "race" tensions in this city are depressing enough without the impending specter of mass bloodshed and gunshot wounds.

Did you witness the attacks outside State Fair, or were you attacked? Were you hurt? E-mail us your story!

Ugh. Not looking forward to the next few days of news coverage. The enthusiasm connoted by that exclamation point is especially tasteless.

Racism is an ignorant lie.

Tea Party Express announces Milwaukee engagement

Except it's in Thiensville.

Thiensville? Thiensville isn't even in freakin' Milwaukee County.

Shoulda brought Joe to navigate.

Tweet of the Day

There are so many campaign ads on TV now that it's hard for David Gruber to get a word in. — @deaninwaukesha

(Gruber is a ridiculously ubiquitous Milwaukee personal injury lawyer.)

Wisconsin Democrats go heavy after Alberta Darling

Update: Here's the DPW's complaint against Alberta Darling et al.

Wisconsin State Senator and object of one of next Tuesday's recall elections Alberta Darling has committed multiple felonies, misled the public, and intentionally covered up her crimes, according to State Democratic chairman Mike Tate. Tate said the Democratic Party was submitting complaints containing specific allegations with the district attorneys of Milwaukee and Dane Counties, along with federal investigators in both the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin.

Apparently some of the the allegations arise from revelations contained among the fruits of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now's June 8 open records request to Darling, which she had been resisting until OWN filed suit in a Dane County court on Tuesday. The records contain correspondence between Darling and the American Federation for Children, a conservative proponent of private voucher schools to whose benefit OWN claims Sen. Darling has been working to tailor legislation.

Should be a fun next few days.

Coincidentally, today also marks the opening of the Wisconsin State Fair.

So we get a fair and a circus.* Woohoo!

* And the hot bats.

Cue the righteous indignation

A Milwaukee County prosecutor is examining allegations that abortion opponents offered rewards for volunteers who signed up sympathetic voters in Wisconsin's high-stakes Senate recall elections. — according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

There was enough posing when similar allegations surfaced that a left-liberal group enticed prospective voters with Speed Queen ribs.

We shall see. A $75 voucher is worth more than a couple of pork ribs.

eta: Nota bene.

Oh my, (Alberta) Darling

"$250K and above. Those aren't wealthy people." — Alberta Darling

Asked to name a single company that added a single job in her district, Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) was unable to produce even one company that created jobs as a result of her policies.

Who the heck in River Hills needs a job anyway.

h/t Xoff.

eta: Video.

Obviously not everybody is wandering around with statistics at their immediate behest, but this "job creation" business is at the heart of the Walker regime's policy claims and justifications. So those statistics should be to Darling's immediate hand. And not just "jobs created," but testimonials from those "job creators" as to how they were "created" by direct attribution to the Walker regime's policies. In fact I have never heard any such thing anywhere from any of them. Where might such testimonials be found? Like, "I created this job because of Scott Walker's tort reforms," or words to that effect. Walker made that claim this morning, again, on Fox & Friends. Which is why Walker goes on Fox & Friends, because none of those dupes is going to make him prove it.

And: Amusing clip of Alberta Darling accusing other people of lying.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel gets selective

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's editorial board mandarins have seen fit to denounce Democratic candidate for Senate Sandy Pasch's failure to have her name removed from a third-party outfit's website, where she is listed among its board of directors. The third-party group is active in campaigning against Pasch's political rival, the incumbent Republican Alberta Darling, and coordination between candidates and third-party outfits is unlawful. The Journal-Sentinel's concern was apparently raised by complaints filed with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board by the State Republican Party. However the complaints do nothing more than note the appearance of Pasch's name on the third-party's website.

Those complaints present no evidence whatsoever of any coordination between Pasch's campaign and the third-party, yet they don't hesitate in directly accusing Pasch of breaking the law. In fact the two complaints, filed on Monday and Tuesday respectively, are sterling examples of piling inference upon inference upon innuendo to reach their fallacious conclusions. Yes, obviously Sandy Pasch's name on the website looks bad.

But that isn't evidence of anything other than a name on a website.

Meanwhile the Koch front group Americans For Prosperity sent mailers to liberal Democratic voters advising them to be sure and get their absentee ballots in by two days after the August 9 elections, but the Journal-Sentinel has not been so moved to condemn that sleazy ploy.*

And Alberta Darling has been ignoring the left/liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now's open records requests for months, whereas the Wisconsin statutes command ORR recipients to respond "without delay." OWN filed an actual complaint, in court, containing substantive allegations, as compared with the WISGOP complaints to the GAB, whose allegations are groundless. Yet the MJS mandarins decide the first of these three situations is what merits their finger-wagging treatment.

Our librul media and the choices it makes, I guess is what that is.

* The MJS happily publishes AFP's op-ed pieces, however.

More on that Americans For Prosperity Koch-up

Via dane101's Jesse Russell:

The address on AFP's envelope allegedly goes to the "absentee ballot processing center." The address is actually that of the Wisconsin Family Action PAC, an organization dedicated to "advancing Judeo-Christian principles and values in Wisconsin by strengthening and preserving marriage, family, life and liberty."

You know those Judeo-Christian principles, such as lying.

Americans For Prosperity's Wisconsin director, Matt Seaholm, is also a guest op-ed contributor to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The MJS is reportedly considering charging money to read that sort of thing.

Along with the likes of this appalling misinformation.

If you're reading this and have advertising $$$ to spend, send them to dane101.com. Because I suspect Jesse et al are living relatively on mac & cheese and Ramen noodles compared to the MJS editorial mandarins.

And good on Jesse Russell for supplying the attribution to Wisconsin's own Barbara With. When the AFP ballot scam appeared yesterday, for the most part those appearances attributed its emergence to Politico, but in fact Ms. With was all over this thing days previously. Now it's great that these Wisconsin shenanigans get national play via Politico and its counterparts, but many times their substance is noticed first by Badger State activists and bloggers, who never get enough credit.

And most of them do it for no money at all.

This is rich, or, This is Rick

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel publishes an op-ed piece by Rick Esenberg complaining about dishonest political advertising entitled, "Recall ads distort reality." Esenberg is a supporter and admirer of Mike Gableman, who ran a political advertisement so dishonest he violated two separate provisions of the Wisconsin code of judicial ethics.

Irony is dead, and shame has gone away, in Fitzvanwalkerstan.

Oh, and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel also published an op-ed piece by Matt Seaholm, State director of the Koch vehicle Americans For Prosperity, who yesterday was revealed to have sent absentee ballot application forms to Democratic voters, instructing them to submit the paperwork two days after the election is held next week. And the MJS is reportedly considering setting up a paywall in 2012. Good luck with that.

WISEN District 8 recall election ::headdesk::

Who advises these campaigns, you got to wonder sometimes:

Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Treasurer, Jackie Boynton
Sandy Pasch for Senate, Treasurer, Jackie Boynton

WISGOP complaint.

The WISGOP complaint, whose operative allegation is contained in its paragraph 10, which is completely groundless, doesn't mention the treasurer position(s). But an amended complaint can't be far behind.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Special Prossercutor requested

Via the indispensable Wheeler Report.

Ozanne: "Process matters." To some of us, at least, it does.

Wisconsin's out-of-State agitators

"Go to Hell!" — Andrew Breitblart of Los Angeles speaks to Wisconsin

The WISGOP and its fellow travelers are currently bitching about out-of-State contributions to efforts to unseat at least three Republican incumbent State Senators on August 9. According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's database, the Wisconsin Supreme Court's Mike Gableman received 32% ($108,500 of $336,367) of his contributions from out-of-State. Of individual contributions valuing $5,000 or greater, Mike Gableman received a total of $130,000, and $95,000 of that (73%) came from out-of-State donors.* So why is the WISGOP bitching now?

What, they don't consider the above money well spent?

Making up the law doesn't come cheap.**

* And $70K of that $95K came rolling in during the waning days of Gableman's campaign, when the candidate was growing so desperate he concocted a teevee ad that three appeals court judges found to have violated two separate provisions of the State code of judicial ethics.

Gableman is classy too, in addition to everything else.

** Nor does playing the role of law maker-upper facilitator.

Unemployment is up under Walker regime

Notices the Capital Times's John Nichols.

Dude that's so ten days ago.

Joe the Plumber BREAKING EXCLUSIVE

We now can confirm:
Contrary to some reports, JTP won't be aboard the Tea Party Express.

Ron Johnson reverses two centuries of U.S. law

Don't just take my word for it:

1. The nomination. This is the sole act of the President, and is completely voluntary. — Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803).

Emphasis added. Ron Johnson cannot read the U.S. Constitution.

Which is not particularly surprising. What is surprising, however, is that these seven attorneys, among whom is Scott Walker's choice to head up his own judicial nominating committee, make precisely the same error.

And they are all criticizing these nominees' qualifications. It's laughable.

Ladies and gentlemen, your strict constructionist, judicial conservatives.

Ron Johnson can't read the Constitution either

We need to understand the constitutional role of senators in judicial nominations. — Ron Johnson, speaking for himself

According to RoJo:

The Constitution grants the president the power to nominate federal judges "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate." That means the voters of Wisconsin are entitled to a say in who the president nominates to judicial vacancies in the state.

That is not what the Constitution says. What it says is this:

[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law[.] — Art. II, Sec. 2, Cl. 2.

Clearly, the president's power to nominate "all other Officers," including lower federal judges — judges of the "inferior Courts ... the Congress shall from time to time establish" as the Constitution refers to them elsewhere — is not restricted by the Senate's duty of advice and consent, whose application is limited to the president's appointment power.

Insofar as the voters of Wisconsin are entitled to a say in whom the president nominates, they had it and did so on November 4, 2008.

"He shall nominate."

The remainder of Ron Johnson's letter consists of irrelevant petulance.

Moreover, it is manifestly fatuous to claim, as Ron Johnson does, that former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler has or had "little regard for the rule of law," especially where Johnson himself is incapable of discovering a rule of law plainly set forth in the U.S. Constitution.

Notice that Johnson's claim is unsupported, because it is unsupportable.

This is, to date, now the second opinion piece in a week the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has published containing this same misinformation.

See also: What John Marshall said (that would be this John Marshall).

Why didn't Walker just ask Gableman what to do?

He could have saved $500K:

Scott Walker signed a contract with Michael Best & Friedrich on Feb. 7 authorizing payment to a total of $100,000. The contract was amended a few days ago to a maximum of $500,000.

Scott Walker has said he runs Wisconsin like a small business.* Using his analogy, Walker's legal services contract is like a blanket purchase order.

On a construction project, for example, blanket purchase orders are often issued to suppliers where the value of the goods or services aren't precisely known from the outset, like the cost of trucking, or consumable equipment and tools like grinding discs or welding gases. Knowledgeable buyers will overestimate the value of those blanket purchase orders, because the totals go into the project manager's status report under committed costs and then the project manager keeps track of the suppliers' invoices as compared to his committed costs.

The idea is to keep your committed costs higher than the actual costs. Where the value of blanket purchase orders is increased during a project, it should be because the scope of work has increased; that is, the size of the project has grown and additions to the construction contract cover the increases to the value of the blanket purchase orders.

That's how competent managers run a business.

If a purchasing agent walked into a project manager's office and told him, 'Oh by the way, I spent $500K against a $100K blanket purchase order,' that purchasing agent would most likely be fired on the spot.

Except Wisconsin can't fire Scott Walker. Yet.

* Walker has never run any business. He's a career Republican.

MJS: Freud slipped here

Voters want an intelligent discussion on issues that matter. Well, they can rest assured they won’t find it here. — Edit. board blog

Heroic Scott Walker battles Satan

Seriously.

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. — 2 Corinthians 12:7 (KJV)

Talk about your delusions of grandeur (and persecution).

On the other hand, it makes sense where Walker plays the thorn.

Sympathy for the stabber

Audio via the Isthmus.

If I had to listen to Meade Althouse, I'd get pretty stabby too.

WISGOP Kim Simac: A Leader Who Won't Run Away

@JoyCardinShow:

Republican State Senate candidate Kim Simac declined our invitation to participate in a candidate forum on Friday.

h/t John Foust.

Defamation suit against Breitblart moves forward

Got to love it.* (Judge Richard J. Leon is a Bush II appointee.)

You remember Andrew Breitblart, he's the belligerent who traveled to Madison from his Los Angeles home to tell Wisconsinites to "Go to Hell!"

* N.B. Mike Gableman didn't win his motion to dismiss either.

MJS recall elections reader comment of the day

Occasionally they are insightful:

PPP's last poll in 2010 on the WI governor's race had it Walker winning 53-44. The final results were 52.5% to 46.7%. That is, PPP was off in favor of the Republican candidate. That is, they overstated the strength of the Republican.

Their final poll in the WI 2010 senate race had Johnson winning 53-44. The final results was 51.9% to 47.0%. That is, PPP was off in favor of the Republican candidate.

Their poll for the Hansen recall had Hansen winning 62-34. Hansen ended up winning (GAB doesn't have a 'final' result posted yet) around 64% to 36%. Here they had the result just about exactly right, a 28 point margin.

- robertearle (scroll up for story)

eta: See also Daily Kos puts out new polls UPDATE (WisPolitics)

WISGOP sounds a little desperate to impugn these polls, aina?

Because people like to vote for winners and these are WISGOP bad news.

Six Republican State Senators face removal on August 9.

WISGOP, MacGyver Institute lying again

Or still.

Unemployment has increased under Scott Walker.

Scott Walker, Wisconsin's Evangelist-in-Chief

The current Government of Wisconsin's website takes you here:

The ultimate aim of Care Net and its network of pregnancy centers is to share the love and truth of Jesus Christ in both word and deed. As a result, the hearts of women and men are being changed by Christ's love.

Alabama of the North, indeed.

h/t Capital Times.

Remind me not to eat at the East Garden restaurant

"Wu also charges $350 to put his hand in people's vaginas and rectums."

I been waiting for the taste you said you'd bring to me

Sasha Kromraj said [Sik Kin Wu] wanted to put his fingers in her vagina. "He kept pushing me, and I said no," said Kromraj, 22. "I said it a few times and then he backed off."

Seriously, what's up with that?

Kim Simac, Glenn Beck, and the Hitler Youth

The scary comparisons of the indoctrination tactics of our youth today and those of the Hitler Regime of past.

Posted by Kim Simac on October 6, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. in Faith in the Public Square

I am done raising my kids but if I was a young parent today I would take my kids out of the public school today. At what point will we stop talking about the comparisons to what is occurring today and what actually happened by the regime of the Nazi's in the past? Taking God out of the schools has been objective #1 for decades now. Of note will be that one of the first decisions of the Supreme Court decided on was to NOT hear a case of the right of a school to sing "Silent Night: during the holidays. Already decided at a lower court to be omitted from further concerts at the public schools of the said district, our newest slate of almighty rulers of our law have decided to agree and keep our children from singing the most beautiful words that give a glimpse of that beautiful night that our Saviour was born. Which I will remind us all is a Federal Holiday (though I suppose that will be on the slate for ax next). Take the commercial that Glenn Beck showed from British Progressives that explains to little children that if they do not listen to their teachers recommendations on subjects such as carbon emissions, they could have their heads blown off. Add to that Kindergarten Sex Ed classes and I really wonder how it is American parents smile and kiss their children good bye every morning and in good conscience hand their most precious resource over to the hands of such questionable people. Now I know there are wonderful, lovely teachers, but it would be encouraging if at least a few of them would speak up at this point.

[sic passim]

Kim Simac is an actual WISGOP candidate for the Wisconsin Senate.

Glenn Beck is a well known kook and former Fox News personality who compared the victims of Anders Breivik to the Hitler Youth.

Even the conservative Daily Telegraph took notice of Beck's remarks.

Will some Wisconsin reporter take notice of Simac's?

eta: Stuff Simac Says

In Wisconsin, tantrums thrown over technicalities

Observes a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel community columnist:

A Dane County circuit judge was able to stall the [Fitz Van Walker regime's union-busting] bill on a technicality for months.

In the business of logical fallacies, this is known as "hand waving."

The "technicality" under consideration is Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law, which occupies an entire subchapter (Subchapter V) of the State statutes, consisting of 50 separate statutory provisions, not including cross references to other statutory provisions, annotations, published interpretations by the Attorney General, prior precedent, and so forth.

In fact a Wisconsin Department of Justice lawyer admitted on the record in that very circuit judge's court that Republican legislators had violated both the letter and the spirit (as clearly articulated by those legislators' predecessors in Wis. Stat. § 19.81) of the State Open Meetings Law.

Thus this so-called "technicality" is not so easily hand-waved away.

However, Subchapter V does not contain one single forward slash.

And as for "tantrums," apparently balloon-stabbings don't count.

Your Journal Communications, Inc. personalities

Michael Savage: Oslo Attacks Were a Left-Wing Conspiracy

Michael Savage was a compassionate conservative before compassionate conservatism was cool. — 620 WTMJ bio

Among WTMJ-AM's people you know and trust

On teh web: Journal Communications, Inc.

WPRI's "New Normal"

Choking and now stabbing at the Supreme Court.

If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a balloon.

WPRI: Welcome to Wisconsin's new normal

Ross Douthat nobly grants his permission

"It’s fair to call Breivik a right-winger."

— NYT conservative columnist Ross Douthat

Gee, thanks.

Also, Glenn Beck likens Breivik's victims to the Hitler Youth.

Because, you know, liberals are responsible for "coarsening the debate."

eta: What's this then, Die Ed Meese-Jugend?

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is unconstitutional

Deep commitment to separation of powers inconvenient in this case

Seven conservative lawyers, including Governor Scott Walker's choice to head up his own judicial selection committee, are complaining about a Journal-Sentinel editorial, and misconstrue the U.S. Constitution.

The subject editorial criticizes Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron "Sunspots" Johnson for obstructing the president's power to nominate federal judges, as this space had done previously here and here.

Article II of the Constitution describes the president's powers along with those powers he (it says "he") shares with Congress. Where it comes to federal judicial vacancies, the president has two separate powers: the power to nominate, and the power to appoint. The appointment power he shares with Congress. The nominating power he shares with nobody.

In order to facilitate the nominations in Wisconsin's federal jurisdictions, the State's two Senators instituted a commission to solicit and review applicants, and then make its recommendation to the president. The Constitution does not require the commission, but nor does it forbid it.

The commission is purely a courtesy.

The Constitution places no restrictions on the president's nominating power, and is silent on the matter of how the president goes about discovering a suitable nominee. The present vacancy in question, on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, was notified in July, 2009. By November the commission had made its recommendation. The president is not bound by the recommendation, and in fact he can ignore it altogether and nominate somebody else. Say the lawyers:

The nomination was apparently placed on Johnson's desk two days after he took office, in disregard of a senator's duty of "advice and consent" under Article II section II of the U.S. Constitution.

This is a remarkable complaint, coming from these seven experienced attorneys — led by a former judge — because there is absolutely no constitutional basis — read: legal basis — for it. Moreover they don't even know whether they can support the factual bases for their complaint, and acknowledge that "the White House may dispute [our] account."

I should say so.

The president's nomination power is plenary, so the president can put whatever she/he wants on Johnson's desk, whenever he/she wants (assuming there's a judicial vacancy, which there was). The president makes the appointment with the advice and consent of the Senate.

And not with the advice and consent of Ron Johnson. But Johnson has had his say, and in fact used it to say nothing at all, except to complain about his own personal woes, having nothing to do with the nominee.

Ron Johnson, who ran on a devotion-to-the-Constitution platform — despite barely having read the damn thing — should appreciate that, regardless of the establishment and formation of the nominating commission, no such commission is any requirement of the Constitution.

Some of [Victoria Nourse's] supporters now rush to point fingers and assign blame to a senator who just wants to be heard and fulfill his constitutional duty of "advice and consent."

Aw. Poor Ron Johnson. And they call this an argument?

How can he fulfill that duty in the first place if he's preventing Nourse from getting a hearing before the Senate? There is no constitutional "duty" of Johnson's to vet the president's nominees, nor is there any constitutional "duty" of the president's to run nominations by Johnson.

Ron Johnson's duty is to stand aside and release his unconstitutional hold on the nomination and let the appointment process proceed. Then he can come up with some substantive reason (Advice) and then provide or withhold his Consent by voting along with the Senate. The Constitution isn't as difficult to understand as Ron Johnson says he found it to be.

However, its provisions appear to elude some FedSoc disciples. It's amazing such a fundamental first principle got by seven lawyers. Seven.

[The president] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ...

The president shall nominate. Comma.* And appoint. Discrete powers.

And the president did exercise his nomination power. Now Ron Johnson seeks to intermeddle in the nomination, and indeed to intermeddle ex post facto. Ron Johnson hasn't the power to do so, and what Ron Johnson is doing is unlawful and in clear violation of the Constitution.

Why are these lawyers — who should know better — egging him on?

* Not even a forward slash.

"It's about time Wisconsin starts creating jobs."

Says married Republican State Senator Randy Hopper's girlfriend.

For whom a Republican government job was then created.

So this is why they oppose Wisconsin's gay couples

Julaine Appling is a never-married single woman who’s lived for many years with Diane Westphall, another never-married single woman. The two currently share a home they own together in Watertown, WI, and they also work side by side at WFA.

— ???

Terrorist's views familiar to US observers

"He writes mostly about what Americans call the culture war."

A gun-loving, highly religious Norwegian obsessed with what he saw as the threat of multiculturalism and Muslim immigration to the cultural and patriotic values of his country. — NY Times

Breivik had become ever more extreme in his hatred of Muslims, leftwingers and the country's political establishment. — Guardian

A picture is emerging, gleaned from official sources and social media, of a right-wing Christian fundamentalist who may have had an issue with his nation's multi-cultural society. — CNN

That last one sounds like Pat Buchanan.

He argues for setting up a system of social networking "such that is linked to similar organizations in other countries (similar to a beginning of a cultural Euro-version of a Tea Party movement)."

Well he would, wouldn't he.

Related: Reich or Wrong?

I got Jack Craver's back

Jack Craver of the Isthmus is attacked by a wing-nut:

"Attempting to give this state the worst possible legal environment for business (see Loophole Louie [sic] Butler and lead paint) isn't anti-business?" — McIlheran BFF Steve Prestegard

Prestegard's WMC propaganda is so tiresome. Here we go again:

It's also noteworthy that the two dissenters in Thomas v. Mallett, [so-called conservative] Justices Wilcox and Prosser, "recognize[d] the validity of the risk-contribution theory of recovery articulated by this court in Collins [v. Eli Lilly & Co.]." What they objected to was its extension and application to the facts in Mallett.

Even the two [so-called conservative] dissenters — who were as forceful as could be — affirmed only that the pigment manufacturers "can be held liable for a product they may or may not have produced" and only then as one (potential) "result" of the majority's reasoning. Emphasis added. And in fact they weren't, because the action the Mallett court allowed the child to continue against those manufacturers was ultimately dismissed.

01.06.11: WMC pet outrage tops list of "tort reforms"

And:

Oppose the doctrine, but there's no need to lie about it. On the other hand, if and when WMC launches its advertising campaign in support of Justice Prosser, some attentive reporter might ask WMC why it is endorsing such an enthusiastic proponent of risk contribution theory.

01.27.11: WMC: Still dissembling after all these years

(No reporter did ask WMC that question, by the way.)

Michelle Malkin's "bloody Islamic jihadist"

Twit.

"What we know is that he is right-wing and a Christian fundamentalist," said a Norwegian police official.

— NYT

Michelle Malkin was in Milwaukee a couple of years ago, screaming* at a "Tea Party" audience down by Lake Michigan. They were eating it up. Now of course the Malkinoids will begin their claims that the Norwegian suspect wasn't a "true Christian," but it's unlikely their logic will extend to other perpetrators of terrorist attacks not being "true Muslims."

* Literally. Trust me, I was there.

Dane County Fair: One more missing scientific fact

Mr. Mary Weigand is on the West Bend, WI school board.

On teh web: Creationist insurgency.

Randy Hopper's background music turns ominous

Embattled WISGOP Senator lies desperately, pantalons flambé.

You remember Randy Hopper.

Incidentally the Wisconsin Supreme Court does not consider "ominous background music" to be part of a candidate's "statement," at least for the purposes of evaluating whether a candidate for the judiciary violated the code of ethics that candidate necessarily submits to, but it should.

Similarly, when Randy Hopper turns up to face Wisconsin working families dressed like an Edwardian fop, that's a fashion statement.

News story or WISGOP press release?

Impossible to tell:

"Recent rankings and surveys have shown that business leaders here and nationally like what is happening in Wisconsin," said Kurt Bauer, president of the Madison-based Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the State's biggest business group. "Breaking News! Wisconsin's Working!" ran the headline on a statement from the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

Top of the index page. All day.

Your MacGyver Institute "News Service"

See if you can watch this video without laughing out loud.

And reporters in this State actually cite this outfit as a credible, objective source when it's nothing more than a Walker/GOP shill.

Wisconsin GOP — An instructive juxtaposition

Reports Nate Silver: Republican Governors are Leaving Voters Behind.

Meantime, notes Keesha Gaskins, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, the WISGOP is busy repealing language in the State statutes that recognizes their "obligation imposed by their constitutional oath of office to represent the interests of the citizens who elected them and all of the other citizens of the state of Wisconsin." Emphasis added.

The latter repeal is apparently in defense of the WISGOP's ludicrously partisan redistricting plan, which those soon-to-be-repealed "other citizens" had but a few days to examine, while the WISGOP's battalion of silk-stockinged attorneys labored over the plan for months, and which plan takes effect for an entire decade. I don't understand how anyone can not be appalled by the Fitz Van Walker regime's brazen arrogance.

Scott Walker's "brightening" Wisconsin job numbers

You can polish the turd, but you cannot brighten the turd.

— Ancient #wiunion saying

"The Wisconsin employment picture continues to brighten" and "Wisconsin's June unemployment rate was 7.6 percent, up from 7.4 percent in May." Those are according to the same press release, which adds that the May figure was down from 8.3 percent in June, 2010.

Which is true. But what Republican Scott Walker's press release doesn't tell you is that the unemployment rate was reduced from 9.2 percent to 7.4 percent under the Democratic administration of former Governor Jim Doyle between January, 2010, and January, 2011, when Walker assumed the office. And since Scott Walker assumed the office, the unemployment rate has increased from 7.4 percent to 7.6 percent.

In other words, it was continuing to brighten until Walker took office.

Now how's about brightening a few Senate districts on August 9, 2011.

MJS, for all your latest papal antichrist news

Offers the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

WELS does hold to the historic Lutheran position* that the Roman Catholic papacy fits the biblical characteristics of the anti-Christ.

Not sure what this has to do with Michele Bachmann, who is crazed for several other reasons. But somebody's not been reading their Bible:

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. — 1 John 2:18

Er, and don't follow the logic if you know what's good for you.

Of course there have been many popes too and the world hasn't ended. Besides, if the pope is the antichrist what does that make the antipope?

Anyway not to worry, there always Carole Pope.

* It's probably unwise to hold to 'em all.

Army Lt. Col. cracks under enhanced interrogation

Allen West, who apparently does not have access to C-SPAN ...

"It's not really surprising that he would crack under the pressure."

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Zing.

Wisconsin Senator Dave Hansen: He lives!

Hansen "survives," sez Politico dot com. Gimme a break.

survive, v., continue to live in spite of an accident or ordeal.

There was an accident, alright, in that the WISGOP's only other relatively viable candidate couldn't scrounge up a measly 400 signatures to get on the ballot. And there was an ordeal, alright, in that the candidate the WISGOP did field was rather unique, except it's the WISGOP that's enduring the ordeal of being represented by its candidates' uniqueness.

Seriously, Politico, Dave Hansen won nearly 70% of the vote in a Senate district comprising three Assembly districts, each of which went to Republicans in the "Tea Party" of November 2010. In fact one of those Assembly districts belongs to John Nygren, the fellow who couldn't raise 400 signatures (or 399, which he could have if he signed his own name).

David VanderLeest, the unique candidate that the WISGOP put against Hansen, received 5,000 fewer votes than the number of signatures that the WISGOP collected to force last night's election in the first place.

That seems pretty unique too. What happened to the other 5,000?

Gone back to Utah?

"I don't think it tells us too much about the big issues in the recalls — collective bargaining and senators leaving the State," said St. Norbert College political scientist David G. Wegge.

To the contrary, it says quite a lot, considering yesterday's general election was directly inspired by Dave Hansen's decision to leave the State in order to draw public attention to the Fitz Van Walker regime's hitherto unadvertised plan to crush the right to collective bargaining.

Instead, Prof. Wegge informs us, "it was much more about a mismatch." The embedded assumption, it appears, is that Hansen v. Nygren would have been less of a mismatch, which is probably true. But it's not as if some extraneous set of circumstances or Acts of God prevented John Nygren from participating to the extent political scientists might be in a better position to evaluate substantively. It's that John Nygren himself couldn't muster enough WISGOP support to challenge Hansen. Sheesh.