Washington County Gets a New District Attorney

Yep.

A longtime West Bend prosecutor has been named district attorney for Washington County by Gov. Jim Doyle.

Mark Bensen has worked in the Washington County office since 2001 and was named deputy district attorney last year by District Attorney Todd Martens. Martens was named to the circuit court bench this year by Doyle, creating the opening for a successor.

Bensen will take office immediately for a term lasting until 2013.

Mexican Investigators Go Missing

Brazen.

A lead investigator and another official looking into the massacre of 72 migrants whose bodies were found this week in northern Mexico are missing, President Felipe Calderon said Friday.

Calderon, who was giving a speech on drug violence, initially said the body of one of the men had been found. But he was handed a note few minutes later and corrected himself, saying the investigator was missing but there was no information about his death.

Mexican media reported Friday morning that two bodies had been found and that one of them belonged to the investigator.

Government Tracking

This is scary stuff. 

Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn’t violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway - and no reasonable expectation that the government isn’t tracking your movements.

That is the bizarre - and scary - rule that now applies in California and eight other Western states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently decided the government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime it wants - with no need for a search warrant. (Read about one man’s efforts to escape the surveillance state.)

It is a dangerous decision - one that, as the dissenting judges warned, could turn America into the sort of totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell. It is particularly offensive because the judges added insult to injury with some shocking class bias: the little personal privacy that still exists, the court suggested, should belong mainly to the rich.

Family Catches Thief on Film

Wow.

John Myers set the self-timer on his camera and hustled into the frame with his wife and two children Saturday. While their backs were turned, someone grabbed their bag, which held Myers’ wallet, cash, credit cards and other items.

After Myers noticed that the bag was missing, he checked his camera. Sure enough, the image showed a man picking up their bag.

Police officers recognized the man. When they spotted him nearby, he was carrying the bag.

Bought Jury?

Hey, it’s Chicago.  Stranger things have happened.

A federal jury deadlocked Tuesday on all but one of 24 charges against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, including the most explosive of all — that he tried to sell an appointment to President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat. Blagojevich was convicted on a single, less serious count of lying to federal agents.

Prosecutors pledged to retry the case as soon as possible.

“This jury shows you that the government threw everything but the kitchen sink at me,” Blagojevich said outside court. “They could not prove I did anything wrong — except for one nebulous charge from five years ago.”

But one juror said the panel was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of convicting Blagojevich of trying to auction off the Senate seat.

Judge Declines to Sign Injunction on GAB Rule

Looks like this is a little setback.

A federal judge declined to sign an injunction Wednesday barring the state from enforcing new disclosure rules on campaign-style ads, but the state is sticking by an agreement not to implement them.

U.S. District Court William M. Conley in Madison ordered the state and two groups that sued over the rules to file briefs next week saying whether federal court is the correct venue to decide the case.

Two other cases are pending over the rules - in federal court in Milwaukee and before the state Supreme Court. The state court hasn’t yet ruled on whether it will take the case.

Conley asked the state and groups to file briefs by Aug. 19 that addressed whether he should abstain from ruling in the case in light of the state Supreme Court case. He also asked them to weigh in on whether others should be allowed to be heard on the matter because the case involves just two groups but the rules affect many others.

GAB Backs Down

Outstanding!

The state capitulated Tuesday in a lawsuit over new rules regulating campaign-style ads, agreeing they should not be enforced.

The Government Accountability Board - a panel of six retired judges in charge of running state elections - has been the subject of three lawsuits in the 10 days since the rules took effect.

The lawsuits were brought by nearly a dozen groups from across the political spectrum in two federal courts and the state Supreme Court.

The board and the groups that brought one of the lawsuits filed a joint stipulation Tuesday with the federal court in Madison in which the board agreed to a permanent injunction preventing the enforcement of the rules regarding issue advocacy. The state also agreed to pay the legal costs for those groups, the liberal One Wisconsin Now and the conservative Wisconsin Club for Growth.

Those rules applied to ads and other communications that praised or criticized candidates without telling people specifically to vote for or against them. The rules would require for the first time the disclosure of who funded those communications.

The groups said those rules violated their First Amendment right to free speech.

U.S. District Judge William M. Conley will consider the proposed settlement Wednesday.

Let’s hope the judge accepts the settlement.  In the end, I’d like to see the case litigated and a formal ruling in support of the 1st Amendment handed down, but we’re too close to the election to wait it out.  Hopefully the other two cases proceed. 

Federal Judge Rules on Prop 8

I disagree with this ruling.

“Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians. The evidence shows conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite-sex couples,” Walker wrote.

The judge added in the conclusion of the 136-page opinion: “Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license.”

His ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by two same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco seeking to invalidate the law as an unlawful infringement on the civil rights of gay men and lesbians. The landmark case is expected to be appealed and could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

It is not a right for your marriage to be recognized by the state.  There is a right to marry, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.  Agree or disagree with gay marriage, it isn’t a matter of rights.

Furthermore, the judge sets an interesting standard when he says, “Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights…”  First, as I said, it’s not a right to have the state give you a piece of paper acknowledging your marriage.  Second, many laws are indeed based on a “moral disapproval.”  The judge’s standard becomes ridiculous when taken to its logical conclusion.  Bestiality?  Polygamy?  Public nudity?  Prostitution?  Child labor?  Indentured servitude?  Mandatory emergency medical care?  Hardcore porn on over-the-air television channels?  Ban on trans fats?  Hunting limits?  Environmental preservation?  These are all things that we can debate, but our laws regarding them are based in morality (or ethics) - not rights. 

While moral disapproval alone might not be a justification for a law, neither is moral approval justification for overturning a law. 

Manning’s Profile

Interesting.

People who say they know Manning describe him as naturally adept at computers, smart and opinionated, even brash. Friends and acquaintances paint a picture of a person who, from a young age, couldn’t help but get involved when he perceived an injustice. It was a tendency that sometimes sparked confrontation with authority figures and those who disagreed with him, they say.

According to friends and his own writings on the internet, Manning is openly gay.

Judging by his Facebook page, the young soldier’s politics appear to be left-leaning, and he’s an ardent supporter of groups working to achieve full civil rights for gays. Manning listed on his page causes such as “Repeal the Ban - End Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and included links to “No on Prop 8,” a California ballot measure that eliminated the right to marry for same-sex couples, Human Rights Campaign and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

It’s unclear, however, if those politics may have had any role in what authorities suspect him of doing: leaking military documents; or whether he was angry over the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” that allows gays to serve in the armed forces as long as they are not open about their sexuality.

Miller Settles

Nice of him to settle with our money.

Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, agreed to a settlement of $4,447 paid by the state to end the case and cover part of the legal costs for The Lakeland Times. Miller, who ultimately released the records to the newspaper, didn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Albers Sues State

Sheesh.

Sheryl Albers, who as a Republican lawmaker unsuccessfully pushed state tax breaks for people who buy gold bullion and a bill to govern how divorced couples handle pet custody disputes, said that she was passed over for a job as a clerk to a key committee because she’s 55.

But the Democratic state lawmaker who made the hire denied that in a legal filing by the Department of Justice, which is representing the Legislature. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) said in the filing that Albers was rejected for the job as clerk on the Joint Finance Committee because of her “known difficulties in interacting” with other legislators.

“Albers was not considered to be among those applicants appropriate to interview, and would not have been interviewed even if, for example, 10 applicants had been interviewed,” the response reads.

The ranking Assembly Republican on the Joint Finance Committee, Rep. Robin Vos (R-Caledonia), said that he was consulted by Pocan on the decision to hire Joe Malkasian as the Joint Finance clerk - a $48,000-a-year job that is not a civil service position. Vos said he didn’t know Albers had applied but added that he supported the decision to hire Malkasian and has found that he keeps lawmakers of both parties informed about committee business.

“I have nothing but the highest praise for the job he’s done, and I think he was a great hire,” Vos said.

Albers filed the complaint with the state Equal Rights Division in January but it was released only last week by state officials at the request of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Department of Workforce Development spokesman Dick Jones said a state investigator will make a recommendation on whether there is probable cause to believe discrimination occurred, which could in turn trigger a hearing before an administrative law judge.

The reporter goes out of his way to point out the quirkiness of Albers, but let’s be clear… she’s a nut.  I wouldn’t have considered her for any job regardless of her age because of her eccentric/quirky/nutty behavior.  I apologize to her former staffer who comments here, but it’s true. 

Supporting the 1st Amendment

I agree with the complaintants.

An unlikely duo of a hard-line conservative group and a liberal organization together have brought a lawsuit to block a new state rule regulating political issue ads and messages that took effect Sunday.

Wisconsin Club for Growth and One Wisconsin Now said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Madison that the state agency behind the rule overstepped its authority and violated their constitutional right to free speech.

The rule by the Government Accountability Board requires groups that air ads or make communications heaping praise on or criticizing political candidates to disclose where they get their money and how they spend it - even if those groups don’t specifically urge their audience to vote for or against the candidate.

“Club for Growth and One Wisconsin Now . . . are virtually at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum,” the complaint reads. “Yet, they are united on one fundamental principle: The First Amendment guarantees the right to express - as freely and effectively as possible - their views on public issues and public officials as well as candidates for state public office.”

Mike Wittenwyler, a Madison attorney for the groups, said his clients will seek a quick decision from a federal judge before the law requires them to register on Aug. 13 and make disclosures about their messages and ads on Aug. 16.

Kevin Kennedy, director of the nonpartisan Accountability Board, said the agency spent more than a year taking input from the public and drafting the rule. The six former judges who sit on the board considered whether the rule was constitutional and unanimously approved it, he said.

“It wasn’t something that was pulled out of thin air,” he said. “It was carefully considered.”

Many very bad and unconstitutional decisions were “carefully considered.”  That’s not a defense. 

Manning Aided By Civilian

It’s beginning to look more and more like Wikileaks is a bit more involved than merely being the data repository. 

A military official, who was not identified, acknowledged to the Times on Friday that Army investigators were looking into whether Manning physically handed compact discs containing classified information to someone in the U.S. Manning, an intelligence analyst who was deployed over the past year in Iraq with the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division at a remote base east of Baghdad, visited friends in Boston during a home leave in January, the Times reported.

Adrian Lamo, the Sacramento, Calif.-based computer hacker who turned in Bradley to military authorities in May, claimed in a telephone interview Saturday he had firsthand knowledge that someone helped Manning set up encryption software to send classified information to WikiLeaks.

Lamo, who’s cooperating with investigators, wouldn’t name the person but said the man was among a group of people in the Boston area who work with WikiLeaks. He said the man told him “he actually helped Private Manning set up the encryption software he used.”

Lamo said the software enabled Manning to send classified data in small bits so that it would seem innocuous.

Ripon Woman Becomes International Arms Dealer

Sort of...

Earlier this month, the Ripon Police Department received a tip from a firearms dealer in Iowa who said someone used a stolen credit card number to order a $1,600 rifle scope and have it shipped to an address in Ripon, Wallner said.

Police launched an investigation into possible credit card fraud and instead uncovered an intricate system to obtain military equipment banned by the U.S. State Department for overseas shipping.

Police identified several packages being sent to the same address and obtained a search warrant, Wallner said.

Inside they found about 20 packages, containing high-end rifle/sniper scopes, night vision equipment, police and military uniforms, GPS units, and electronics, all addressed to different names, that the woman was planning to readdress and ship to Novorossijsk, Russia - a city located on the north coast of the Black Sea and north of Iraq.

The woman, who police say has been cooperative with the investigation, told police the online temporary agency that hired her previously had sent five boxes with baby clothes and diapers that she opened, repackaged and shipped to what she thought was an orphanage in Russia.

The agency told her she would be paid $30 per package through her PayPal account and that the next packages didn’t need to be opened and repackaged, just readdressed and shipped.

Luckily, Wallner said, the woman had sent only the baby clothes and diapers by the time police intervened.

Police confiscated more than $15,000 worth of property purchased with credit card information stolen from at least 20 different victims across the U.S.

It’s hard to find fault with the woman other than by the old yarn, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” 

WikiLeaks Endangers Lives

Whoever leaked these documents has engaged in sedition and should be treated as such. 

U.S. officials said U.S. operatives inside Afghanistan and Pakistan may be in danger following the massive online disclosure Sunday.

In his first public comments, President Barack Obama said the leak of classified information from the battlefield “could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations.” He spoke in Washington after meeting Tuesday with Congressional leaders from both parties on the topic.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said a Pentagon investigation will determine whether criminal charges will be filed in the leaking of Afghanistan war secrets. Holder, speaking during a visit Wednesday to Egypt, said the Justice Department is working with the Pentagon-led investigation to determine the source of the leak.

In Baghdad, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters he was “appalled” by the leak.

“There is a real potential threat there to put American lives at risk,” he said.