And why not? After all, Rove probably elected him.

MCM

Rove heaps praise on Walker
By Jesse Garza of the Journal Sentinel

Special Section: Ongoing coverage of Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial budget-repair bill and the battle over the 2011-’13 state budget

Republican strategist Karl Rove praised Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Monday evening for pushing his plan to sharply limit collective bargaining for public employees.

“Your governor did an extraordinarily courageous thing by standing up,” Rove told hundreds of cheering attendees at his address in the Wisconsin Room at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Union.

Proposals similar to Walker’s, which is the subject of a court battle in Dane County, already have gained traction in other states, Rove said.

Read more.

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government

26 Apr 2011

http://www.legitgov.org

All links are here:

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

 
Guantánamo Bay files: Al-Qaida assassin, bomber ‘worked for MI6′ –Leaked Guantánamo papers link UK to Algerian militant 25 Apr 2011 An al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] operative accused of bombing two Christian churches and a luxury hotel in Pakistan in 2002 was at the same time working for British intelligence, according to secret files on detainees who were shipped to the US military’s Guantánamo Bay prison camp. Adil Hadi al Jazairi Bin Hamlili, an Algerian citizen described as a "facilitator, courier, kidnapper, and assassin for al-Qaida", was detained in Pakistan in 2003 and later sent to Guantánamo Bay. But according to Hamlili’s Guantánamo "assessment" file, one of 759 individual dossiers obtained by the Guardian, US interrogators were convinced that he was simultaneously acting as an informer for British and Canadian intelligence.

Guantanamo Doctors Neglected, Concealed Medical Evidence of Torture: Study 26 Apr 2011 Doctors caring for detainees at the Guantanamo prison may have neglected or concealed medical evidence of torture, such as bone fractures, lacerations, and symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, according to a study released today by Physicians for Human Rights. For example, one of the suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo who claimed he had been severely beaten with kicks and punches until he was unconscious had evidence of a fracture on X-ray, but the circumstances of the injury were not discussed in his medical file.

Guantánamo Bay files: Children and senile old men among prisoners –Canadian Omar Khadr was 15 when captured and is still there after nearly nine years, while men as old as 89 have been held 25 Apr 2011 The Guantánamo files reveal the often fragile physical and mental condition of Guantánamo’s oldest and youngest residents, who have included an 89-year-old man and boys as young as 14. A 2002 assessment of Guantánamo’s oldest prisoner, Mohammed Sadiq, who was then 89, revealed dementia, depression and sickness… The files shed light on the way mere children were shipped to the cages in Cuba. Naqib Ullah, who was about 14 when captured in 2003, spent a year interned at Guantánamo.

Guantánamo leaks lift lid on world’s most controversial prison –Innocent people interrogated for years on slimmest pretexts –Children, elderly and mentally ill among those wrongfully held –172 prisoners remain, some with no prospect of trial or release 25 Apr 2011 More than 700 leaked secret files on the Guantánamo detainees lay bare the inner workings of America’s controversial prison camp in Cuba. The US military dossiers, obtained by the New York Times and the Guardian, reveal how, alongside the so-called "worst of the worst", many prisoners were flown to the Guantánamo cages and held captive for years on the flimsiest grounds, or on the basis of lurid confessions extracted by maltreatment. The 759 Guantánamo files, classified "secret", cover almost every inmate since the camp was opened in 2002.

What are the Guantánamo Bay files? Understanding the prisoner dossiers –David Leigh, the Guardian’s investigations editor, explains the files and how in key cases they expose official lies 25 Apr 2011 The Guantánamo files consists of 759 "detainee assessment" dossiers written between 2002 and 2009 and sent up through the military hierarchy to the US Southern Command headquarters in Miami. They appear to cover all but 20 of the prisoners. A number of other documents in the cache spell out guidelines for interrogating and deciding the fate of detainees. One, the "JTF-GTMO matrix of threat indicators" details the "indicators" which should be used to "determine a detainee’s capabilities and intentions to pose a terrorist threat if the detainee were given the opportunity."

Exclusive: The Astroturf Lobbyists Behind The New ‘Tea Party’ Group Pushing To Repeal Wall Street Reform
By Lee Fang on Apr 25th, 2011 at 3:29 pm

In February, while attending the Tea Party Patriot Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, I came across the grand opening of a new front group called “Dodd Frank Exposed.” Two staffers for the new group were eagerly shaking hands of Tea Party activists while asking them to fill out a survey about their perception of the Dodd Frank Wall Street reform law passed last year.

Read more.

These neo-Jim Crow bills were mostly fathered by the mighty ALEC, the plutocratic pressure group that serves the interests of the Kochs et al. What that cabal really wants is not secure elections, but no elections worthy of the name.

MCM

Bill affects more than voter ID
Absentee ballots limited, primary date moved in new GOP version
By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel

Madison – The latest version of a bill requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls would make sweeping changes to Wisconsin elections – moving the September primary to August, tightening rules on absentee ballots and ending straight-ticket voting.

Read more.

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Diverse Voices Register Opposition to Unneeded Voter Identification Bill
Costly Plan Would Lead to Disenfranchisement, Targets Problem Which Does Not Exist

Madison – Opponents of proposed legislation to restrict voter access to the polls, gathered at the State Capitol Wednesday to condemn so-called Voter ID legislation as a costly, unnecessary plan, which could lead to the disenfranchisement of untold tens of thousands of eligible voters in every corner of Wisconsin.

Read more.

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The Republican Threat to Voting

Less than a year before the 2012 presidential voting begins, Republican legislatures and governors across the country are rewriting voting laws to make it much harder for the young, the poor and African-Americans – groups that typically vote Democratic – to cast a ballot.

Read more.

More evidence—vivid, too—that this Tea-head extremism has little popular support.

MCM

VIDEO: Paul Ryan Booed At Town Hall For Defending Tax Breaks For The Wealthy
ThinkProgress filed this report from a town hall meeting in Milton, WI.

Earlier this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) embarked on a series of town halls across his southern Wisconsin congressional district. Ryan has gained notoriety in recent weeks as the architect of the Republican budget which extends tax breaks for the wealthy and phases out Medicare. House Republicans voted 235-4 in favor of the plan.

Read more.

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Overflow crowds for Paul Ryan town halls
By JENNIFER HABERKORN

KENOSHA, Wis. – Record crowds of supporters and opponents flooded town hall meetings throughout southeastern Wisconsin on Tuesday to hear Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) defend his plan to trim government spending – including controversial changes to the Medicare program.

Read more.

Governor Scott Walker Caught In Political Plagiarism
by Rick Unger

Plagiarism is defined as the “wrongful appropriation,” “close imitation,” or “purloining and publication” of another author’s “language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions,” and the representation of them as one’s own original work.

With that in mind, welcome to this week’s episode in the stirring adventures of Scott Walker – the ‘truth challenged’ Governor of Wisconsin.

Today’s chapter involves the Curt Manufacturing Company, a large manufacturer of trailer hitches located near Eau Claire, Wisconsin where the Governor traveled last week – with news cameras and writers in tow – to make a big fuss about providing the funding that will create 125 new jobs at the company.

Read more.

Another stroke of preparation for their “victories” in this June’s recall elections–and for Obama’s “loss” in Wisconsin in 2012.

MCM

Wisconsin Republicans target voter fraud within universities
By Robert Lange

The Wisconsin State Legislature is considering a new proposal that would increase the difficulty of college students to register to vote, by requiring them to present identification with an up-to-date address on it. The plan, which according to Republicans would curb voter fraud, has been raising eyebrows of young people all across the state. By voiding student IDs and other proofs of residence as a legitimate source of identification, the potential law would require constituents to obtain IDs through the local DMV. Not only would this law be costly for students, but it would need to be a yearly commitment. Students are a mobile group, as they continuously look for more reliable and economic places of living, a change on their ID cards would need to accompany the already-burdensome process of moving. A reliable Democratic vote, the student voting bloc would be reduced to those willing to change their ID cards repeatedly.

Due to high amounts of student traffic within college towns, not allowing student IDs as an acceptable form of identification would substantially affect students’ voting rights. One of many state campuses, the University of Wisconsin alone has a yearly in-and-out-flow that fluxes by the thousands. High school applicants, transfer students and out-of-state students all make up such a list. The hundreds of out-of-state students, many of whom may already be legally able to drive, would need to join their fellow in-state students and pay $28 to acquire another ID, just for the sole purpose of voting. Quite literally, tens of thousands of students all across the state would be denied their Constitutional right to vote because their student IDs would be rejected as an acceptable form of identification, worth nothing more than a piece of plastic.

A cumbersome process, it is curious that state Republicans are not including student IDs on the list of acceptable documents. One suggestion could be they are targeting state universities because that is where much voting fraud occurs. With hardly any confidence in Wisconsin’s educational institutions, state Republicans supposedly believe Voter ID is necessary because it would stop any person not enrolled in college from going to their local university and obtaining a forfeit student ID. It only adds insult to injury that they too have inhibited educational funding.

Read more.

Our Phony Budget Battles Are All Smoke and Mirrors
By Richard D. Wolff, TruthOut.org
Posted on April 15, 2011, Printed on April 25, 2011

Weeks of highly publicized debates – some in Congress, more in the mass media – brought Republicans and Democrats to a budget deal. To maximize public attention, they threatened a possible government shutdown. Both parties said that large government deficits and accumulated debt were “serious problems.” They agreed that solving them required only spending cuts, not revenue increases. In unison, they repeated, “we” must “learn to live within our means.”

In fact, both sides never actually engaged the deficit and the debt. They limited themselves to purely cosmetic, symbol-laden cuts (Republicans) and refusals to cut (Democrats). Aiming at the 2012 election, both parties used the deficit and budget debates purely to impress their voters.

Basic numbers tell the true story. The current (Fiscal Year 2011) budget spends about $3.5 trillion while receiving $2.0 trillion in tax revenues. The difference of $1.5 trillion (the equivalent of $1,500 billion) is this year’s deficit. The US Treasury must borrow that from whoever will lend to the US government. After much hot air, Republicans and Democrats reached a “historic compromise,” namely a spending cut of $38 billion. That will reduce this year’s deficit from $1,500 billion to $1,462 billion, an economically insignificant sum. The sound and fury of Washington’s debates signified nothing was to be done about the actual deficit.

Read more.

Public Pensions, Once Off Limits, Face Budget Cuts
By MICHAEL COOPERand MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

When an arbitrator ruled this month that Detroit could reduce the pensions being earned by its police sergeants and lieutenants, it put the struggling city at the forefront of a growing national debate over whether the pensions of current public workers can or should be reduced.

Conventional wisdom and the laws and constitutions of many states have long held that the pensions being earned by current government workers are untouchable. But as the fiscal crisis has lingered, officials in strapped states from California to Illinois have begun to take a second look, to see whether there might be loopholes allowing them to cut the pension benefits of current employees. Now the move in Detroit – made possible, lawyers said, because Michigan’s constitutional protections are weaker – could spur other places to try to follow suit.

“These things do tend to be herd-oriented,” said Sylvester J. Schieber, an economist and consultant who studies pensions.

Read more.

Guantanamo Detainee Files Hint at Psychological Research
Monday 25 April 2011
by: Jeffrey Kaye, Truthout

The release by WikiLeaks of the secret assessments of hundreds of detainees by the Joint Interrogation Force at Guantanamo, spanning the period 2002 to 2009, provide little in the way of evidence of the torture and abuse suffered by the supposed “enemy combatants.” While retelling the many pieces of gossip, informant’s tales and evidence of torture that are mixed in with any hard evidence of terrorist ties, the reports indicate in a number of instances “areas of potential exploitation” that go beyond that of mere intelligence gathering.

The listing of such “areas” appears to be limited to reports originating in 2006 and later.

Even when the aim of the “exploitation” areas are ostensibly related to intelligence gathering, they often seek further information on al-Qaeda-related matters or individuals even after detainees have denied any connections to al-Qaeda or other extremist groups, or have recanted such ties as were announced originally under tortured duress. It often appears the government is continuing to hold prisoners, if not torture them, until the prisoner gives them the story they want to hear.

Read more.