Political Heat

Originally posted at Dane101.com . Ron Johnson continues to profit through his BP stock holdings...and he’ll likely continue to do so for some time. Earlier this month, Johnson, the Republican-endorsed challenger to Russ Feingold in this year’s U.S. Senate race, announced he was intending to sell off his BP stocks. The move came after some financial disclosures of Johnson’s were made public, causing some to be skeptical of his commitment to the people of Wisconsin. Johnson had previously expressed support for drilling anywhere oil could be found, including the Great Lakes region . When it was discovered that Johnson held hundreds of thousands of dollars in BP stock, it raised concerns about conflicts of interest between the oil giant and the GOP candidate for Senator. So Johnson tried to stave off those concerns by insisting he would be putting his stock options into a “blind trust” on July 9. Days later, that changed when Johnson decided he could use the money from his BP stock to hel...

Last week, the city of Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs were hit by devastating rain showers that caused severe damage to the area. Sinkholes developed in several areas, including one that swallowed an entire car in a neighborhood blocks from where I once lived. It was so bad that Scott Walker, gubernatorial candidate for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, asked for federal aide for the county – a somewhat ironic gesture since Walker himself is against most federal involvement in local government (he tried to refuse federal aide previously when the stimulus package was passed). Over the weekend, Tom Barrett, the Mayor of Milwaukee and Democratic candidate for governor, canceled campaign plans in order to assess the dangers and damage in Milwaukee and areas surrounding his city. Where was Scott Walker? He continued his campaign trips as planned . This isn’t a criticism of Walker per se, not an essay on how he should have stayed home and followed in Barrett’s footsteps. Scott Walk...

Is a website like WikiLeaks legal? The site famous for publishing leaked government information released tens of thousands of documents this week detailing just how bad things have gotten in the war in Afghanistan. The documents gave details on unreported civilian deaths as well as covert operations of key leaders in the Taliban. It also discusses possible interference from Pakistani intelligence agencies and the growing difficulties of occupation within Afghanistan. Those that run the site allege that the documents also include information on possible war crimes violations as well. The 91,000+ documents are mostly from the Bush era, between the years 2004 and 2009. As one military adviser pointed out, they don’t include the current operations on the ground in Afghanistan, including Barack Obama’s plans for withdrawal from the region (following a buildup of troops). That same advisor, however, also asserted that the release of documents compromises the security of military personnel ...

What lessons can we learn from the events of Shirley Sherrod's life over the past few days ? The shameful display of how a conservative commentator can take down a single government employee is just another example of how conservative media work, appealing to the lowest common denominator (a white-vs.-black argument) while leaving out crucial information that would explain the entire thing. But what's worse than that, worse than the lack of investigative journalism on the part of right-wing media, is the lack of fact-checking by the administration over the matter. It's become commonplace to assume that within all media -- left-wing, right-wing, and supposedly objective news -- that headlines don't always deliver context. In an effort to sell more copies, to bring in more viewers, or to get more "clicks," news agencies and bloggers alike need to create catchy titles to lure readers in. Sometimes even within the news articles or web postings themselves context i...

Madison has had, for quite some time now, a positive association as being a great city for biking. Dane County officials and concerned citizens are hoping to expand that association past Madison city limits and into more rural areas. At a Dane County meeting on Tuesday night , County Executive Kathleen Falk echoed the calls of those seeking to make the county a better place for bicycle enthusiasts. “I don’t need to tell anybody in this room how important biking is to us,” she said. The county has several plans to expand biking throughout suburban and rural areas outside of Madison. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the county is currently working on expanding the Ice Age Junction trail near Verona, the Cam-Rock trail between Cambridge and Rockdale, and the Lower Yahara River trail that goes from Lake Farm Park to the McFarland-Stoughton areas. Safety concerns are mounting for bikers, with some pointing blame at motorists who ignore bicyclists’ rights. “I feel like the drivers d...

In an effort to show her disgust over a Muslim mosque being built near Ground Zero in New York City, Sarah Palin -- the half-term former governor of Alaska and possible 2012 GOP presidential candidate -- used her Twitter account to voice her opinion to her...sigh...hundreds of thousands of followers: "Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn't it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate." "Refudiate," however, is not a real word. It doesn't exist. When bloggers caught wind of this, ridiculing her in the process, Palin removed her tweet and tried again. She also added another tweet, one in which she compared herself to William Shakespeare: "'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!" So that's her excuse -- she's not an idiot, just an innovator! Like Shakespeare! Th...

Last week, many candidates for political office in Wisconsin filed their official nomination signatures by citizens from within their districts or around the state. Tammy Baldwin, the current Representative from Wisconsin's Second Congressional District, which includes Dane, Green, Rock, Jefferson, Columbia, and Sauk Counties, also submitted her papers. The Young Republicans of Dane County challenged the signature papers that Baldwin submitted, charging that the address she supplied voters (as proof of residency within the Second Congressional District) was in fact her campaign headquarters' address. While the allegations are true -- her address listed was indeed the same as her campaign's -- the Government Accountability Board (GAB) isn't likely to care much about it. Baldwin, being an open lesbian from the Second Congressional District since 1998, has received many threats from ultra-conservative constituents, who view her lifestyle as an abomination. The GAB has all...

I submitted this letter to the editor to the Wisconsin State Journal. I don't know if it will be used, but I felt that if it wasn't, at least it'd be posted somewhere for someone else to read. Dear Editor, I read a boatload of criticism in the Journal Wednesday about how terrible the new smoking ban is, how it's an infringement on civil liberties, and how it's going to change the lives of smokers and bartenders alike, for the worse. As someone who supported the smoking ban, I was especially offended by a letter chastising non-smokers for leaving terrible tips. As a former bartender myself, I can tell you from personal experience that a person's smoking habits don't matter when it comes to tipping. I've seen great tips from non-smokers, terrible tips from smokers, and vice versa. What the smoking ban ultimately does is this: it bans smokers from spewing toxins -- poisonous materials within cigarettes -- in a closed-in area like a bar or restaurant, where ...

J.B. Van Hollen, Wisconsin's duly elected Attorney General, has joined a legal challenge as a "friend of the court brief" to overturn a recent ruling that declared the National Day of Prayer as an unconstitutional establishment of religion within the federal government. Van Hollen joins the brief as a supporter of the day of prayer, interestingly enough alongside President Barack Obama, who also supports the national recognition of God through prayer. If the president wants to issue a proclamation encouraging others to pray on a certain day, he's certainly allowed to do so through his own First Amendment speech rights. What's at issue, however, is whether Congress has the authority to mandate such a proclamation. Title 36 Section 119 of the U.S. Code states: " The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditatio...

It appears that the Democratic Party agrees with a recent tweet I made . The DSCC ( Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ), which helps to elect Democratic candidates to the U.S. Senate, recently blogged about Ron Johnson's interesting investments -- namely, that Johnson holds between $116,000 and $315,000 of BP stock. It was no wonder, then, why Johnson had told WisPolitics earlier this campaign season that he'd support drilling in the Great Lakes if there was oil to be found there. "I think we have to get the oil where it is," the Republican nominee for Senate said when asked about drilling in the Great Lakes. Where do Johnson's loyalties lie? If he can be swayed by his own stock options, what's to stop special interests from persuading Johnson to take a certain position on a policy issue through campaign contributions? Fortunately another candidate with a proven record of helping Wisconsin citizens is out there -- Democrat Russ Feingold, who has serv...

WIth the Supreme Court nomination hearings of Elena Kagan taking center stage nationally, the actions of our own State Supreme Court last week went relatively unnoticed. Earlier this week, the highest court in the state of Wisconsin formally changed their ethics rules on a split vote, choosing to allow justices of the Court to hear cases that involve their biggest campaign contributors. Though recusal was at the sole discretion of the justices themselves prior to this, the new rule change makes it acceptable for a justice to sit on a case that involves someone who put wads of money into their pockets during the campaign season. And let’s face it: if someone is giving you thousands of dollars in order to be elected a justice of the Court, are you really going to rule against them if a case comes up that piques their interests? More likely, a justice on the High Court in Wisconsin will find a way to justify a ruling that favors their important benefactors. What makes this new rule even...

With Michael Steele fending off demands from within his own party to resign as head of the GOP, several conservative members of the Republican Party are hoping a popular name among their ranks will take his place : former one-half term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Ridiculous as this may seem, it's not entirely an impossible scenario: even moderate Republicans across the nation have begun seeking out the endorsements of local Tea Party organizations, hoping to stave off possible usurpations of their seats through primary challenges of more conservative candidates. Many may wonder (some like myself out loud): would a Palin-led GOP be a hindrance for Democrats, or a blessing in disguise? Many liberals may see her rise to power as threatening, brooding a potential presidential run for 2012 against Barack Obama. But on the other hand, with Palin's polling numbers moving lower and lower as the public learns more about her, a Sarah Palin-led Republican Party might actually do more harm ...

Every once in awhile, it’s good practice to examine your own personal beliefs and amend them as needed. For example, I like to examine, through my writing, why it is I consider myself a liberal. Much of it has to do with the fact that I cannot stand the alternative – becoming a conservative. My aversion to conservative principles is not because I myself despise conservative beliefs. In fact, it’s far from that – I consider myself a Christian, hate taxes personally, believe that every person deserves a place within the free market (and deserves a chance to advance within that market if they are able to do so), that there is an inalienable right to own a weapon, and so forth. Though those principles would ordinarily classify me as “conservative” by most, what makes me liberal instead is how I came to hold those beliefs, and how I choose to apply them in my own life as well as the lives of others. I choose to be a Christian and recognize that not everyone in this country is going to mak...

There seems to be a new problem among some prevalent conservatives out there these days. Some might call it lunacy, but others recognize it as something more dangerous than that: voluntary amnesia. Two prominent conservatives, one a member of the GOP and the other a famous political commentator, have forgotten recent history in exchange for scoring political points with those they hope to influence. Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele recently criticized the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress for prolonging the Afghanistan war, a war that was begun by a Republican president and is still supported by the Republican Party. Steele mistakenly characterized the war as Obama’s, telling supporters that it was a war "of Obama’s choosing." The funny thing is that Obama never even voted for the Afghanistan war – he was still in the Illinois legislature when the war began in 2009. Obama’s recent push for the war is part of an overall strategy to begin drawing down forc...