Bush Plays Straight Man to His Lookalike

Elizabeth White of the Associated Press reports in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on an appearance by President Bush at last night's White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

But impersonator Steve Bridges stole many of the best lines. Vice President Dick Cheney and his hunting accident were targets of his humor on a couple of occasions.

"Speaking of suspects, where is the great white hunter?" Bridges said, later adding, "He shot the only trial lawyer in the country who supports me."

Update: Editor & Publisher reports on the later appearance by Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report.

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. "This administration is soaring, not sinking," he said. "If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg."

Drought Insurance for the Third World

Beat Balzli and Daniel Steinvorth in Spiegel

If experts with the World Food Program and the World Bank have their way, future donations for natural disaster victims will no longer depend on the whims of private donors or the political needs of governments, but on agreements with international financial corporations. The plan is to create famine insurance for the Third World.

Communist jokes

An essay in Prospect Magazine about the jokes people told during the Communist oppression in Eastern Europe (and which would presumably become common here too, if the American "progressives" actually enacted their agenda for tyranny/"social and economic justice").

New pawns for the teachers unions

Jay P. Greene, in the Wall Street Journal, inveighs against courts being the latest siphons used to funnel money from taxpayers to teachers' unions, even though no reasonable person actually suspects that any students will benefit.

The Lost Constitution

Order the latest book by Randy Barnett, "Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty."

Professor Barnett, who represented the cancer patients in Raich v. Gonzales, discussed that case in a chapter luncheon last spring.

A Day Without Illegal Aliens? It's a Start!

Mac Johnson in Human Events

Because you are an American -- weak, pampered, spoiled and allegedly incapable of taking care of yourself. You need the illegal alien servant class just to survive.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Leftist

Gary Jason in Liberty reviews Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy by Peter Schweizer.

Among his subjects are Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Al Franken, Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Ralph Nader, Nancy Pelosi, George Soros, Barbra Streisand, Gloria Steinem, and Cornel West. He finds in each case a private life markedly at variance with the public persona.

Slum Ecology

Mike Davis in Orion on environmental problems in slums and shanty towns around the world.

Outside Hanoi, where farmers and fishermen are constantly uprooted by urban development, urban and industrial effluents are now routinely employed as free substitutes for artificial fertilizers. When researchers writing for the journal Environment and Urbanization questioned this noxious practice, they discovered cynicism among vegetable and fish producers about the "rich people" in cities. "They don't care about us and fool us with useless compensation [for farm land]," as one purveyor put it, "so why not take some form of revenge?"

Bills enacted April 20, Acts 367-368

Act 367 the maximum amount of a Wisconsin higher education grant.

Act 368 eligibility of a person enrolled in a program that confers a master's degree or doctoral degree in nursing for a loan under the Nursing Student Loan Program.

Global warming nonsense

Our attorney general has filed a frivolous lawsuit against the EPA over carbon dioxide emissions, along with rogue attorney generals from nine other states.

Appellate Decisions Released April 28, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today that were not related to attorney discipline.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals did not release any opinions today.

Bills enacted April 19, Acts 352-366

Act 352 sale of public lands and investment of proceeds from the sale of public lands and requiring the Department of Natural Resources to obligate moneys under the Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship 2000 Program to acquire certain public lands from the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.

Act 353 interfering with the use of, causing injury to, causing the death of, or the theft of a service dog and restitution for offenses relating to service, police, and fire animals and providing penalties.

Act 354 the full and equal enjoyment of a public place of accommodation or amusement by a person with a disability who is accompanied by a service animal.

Act 355 expanding relocations from nursing homes under a community integration program to include Medical Assistance-eligible persons who are diverted from imminent entry into nursing homes and providing an exemption from rule-making procedures.

Act 356 operation of motorboats by persons who are at least 16 years of age and born after a certain date and the rental of motorboats.

Act 357 allowing certain counties to create tax incremental financing districts.

Act 358 certification of woman-owned businesses, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation.

Act 359 acreage requirements for areas in which farm-raised deer that may be hunted are kept and transfers of registration certificates for keeping farm-raised deer.

Act 360 well drilling, pump installing, well inspection and abandonment, granting rule-making authority, and providing a penalty.

Act 361 creating rural enterprise development zones and providing tax incentives toqualified businesses in the zones, creating refundable individual income tax credits for income and capital gains derived from the zones, making appropriations, and providing a penalty.

Act 362 computing expense deductions and amortization and depreciation on property used in farming for income and franchise tax purposes.

Act 363 allowing the operation of certain 2-vehicle combinations on certain highways without a permit, extending the time limit for emergency rule procedures, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures and from rule-making procedures, and granting rule-making authority.

Act 364 special or seasonal weight limitations for certain vehicles transporting agricultural crops.

Act 365 trailers or semitrailers used to transport livestock.

Act 366 a sales tax and use tax exemption on tangible personal property used in the business of farming.

Color coding within client files

This month's practice management tip, from Legal News & Trends in the Wisconsin Lawyer, indicates a lack of faith in the advent of the paperless file.

Make locating your own work product within a client file easier by using colored paper when printing the file copies of these documents.

Use one color for memorandums and notes and another color for copies of correspondence. Some law firms load their fax machines with one color so that incoming faxes and confirmations are color-coded.

Absolution in Your Cup

Kerry Howley in Reason

Fair Trade consumers, in other words, tend to be dabblers who are happy to pay extra for conscience-soothing coffee today, but will eventually go back to the beans they like best no matter what the social pedigree. That may be for the best: The specialty revolution, with its $4 lattes and emphasis on growing methods, has probably jacked up prices for farmers far more than the Fair Trade movement has.

Freedom Reigns

Nick Bromell in Boston Review on experiential democracy

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Silja J.A. Talvi at In These Times interviews Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary of Portland State University on her new book, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing.

Appellate Decisions Released April 27, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, of which it recommended publication of the following:

Jackson v. LIRC. The Circuit Court, sua sponte, dismissed Mr. Jackson's petition for review of his LIRC complaint for failure to "state the nature of his interest, facts showing he was aggrieved, and the grounds on which the agency decision should be reversed or modified" as required by statute. The Court of Appeals decided such a dismissal may only follow respondent's request for such relief. Additionally, the Court said that if the request for dismissal is predicated on the "failure to state facts showing the petitioner was aggrieved," the petitioner must have "at least one opportunity to amend" the pleading to conform to the statutory requirements. If, instead, the ground for requesting dismissal is the "failure to state the nature of petitioner's interest and the grounds on which the agency's decision should be reversed or modified," then the petitioner must first have "a reasonable opportunity to request leave to amend the petition."

State v. Haase. Mr. Haase was convicted of two counts of first-degree reckless endangering safety and one count each of eluding an officer, resisting arrest, and jumping bail. In the course of apprehending Mr. Haase during these events, an officer drove his squad car into a farm field, jumped out, and pursued Mr. Haase into a barn. Meanwhile, the squad car "burst into flames" and was destroyed. As part of Mr. Haase's sentence, the Circuit Court ordered Mr. Haase to make restitution to Dane County in the amount of the squad car's (pre-fire) value. The Court concluded the fire was not a direct result of Mr. Haase's criminal conduct, and so reversed the restitution order as it related to the cost of the car.

Appellate Decisions Released April 26, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders on April 26, 2006.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions on April 26, 2006, of which the following was recommended for publication:

Dane Co. DHS v. Susan P.S. (4 cases). This was a termination of parental rights case, and the issue on appeal was whether the Circuit Court inappropriately denied the mother the right to represent herself in the termination proceedings. In affirming the Circuit Court's order for the standby counsel to take over the mother's representation, the Court held that the proper standard for determining competency to represent oneself in such proceedings is the same as in criminal proceedings.

Motorist's consent to search held involuntary

A reasonable motorist would not feel free to drive away if a police officer is still holding on to his driver's license, so his consent to a search cannot be considered voluntary.

Extended supervision doesn't end until reconfinement

A defendant given concurrent sentences on new charges, and a revocation of extended supervision, is entitled to sentence credit on both until the day of sentencing.

Corporate Weblogging Best Practices

A guide for enterprises seeking to leverage corporate blogs by Joseph Carmichael and Shawn Helwig

(via WisBlawg)

If torture works...

Michael Ignatieff in Propect

If they are right, then those who support an absolute ban on torture had better be honest enough to admit that moral prohibition comes at a price. It is possible, at least in theory, that subjecting interrogators to rules that outlaw torture and coercive interrogation, backed up by punishment if they go too far, will create an interrogation regime that allows some interrogation subjects to resist divulging information and prevents our intelligence services from timely access to information that may save lives.

The Social Forum of the Americas

Lydia Sargent in Z

The planning committee of the World Social Forum (WSF) 2005 decided that 2006 would be a year of "polycentric" (decentralized) meetings around the world.

Extremism, Terror, and the Future of Conflict

Michael J. Mazarr in Policy Review

Once the post-colonial wars of liberation had burned off their nationalist steam, insurgencies fought for the classical reasons petered out as well. What remained was for a new sort of conflict to emerge -- conflict with new sources and new goals, conflict that demands a very different response from the traditional sort, conflict that cannot really be called "war" at all.

Appellate Decisions Released April 25, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, of which the following were recommended for publication:

State v. T. P. Trucking, holding that woodchips do not constitute "peeled or unpeeled forest products cut crosswise" for purposes of determining whether a truck was exempt from weight limits under the frozen roads provision of Wis. Stat. sec. 348.175. If you need to know this information, you will understand this post.

Kolupar v. Wild Pontiac Cadillac, Inc., holding that "costs," as that term is used in Wis. Stat. sec. 218.0163(2) (relating to recoveries against automobile dealers for fraud) means "taxable costs," not "actual costs."

Onapolis v. State, ruling there was no violation of the Rule of Specialty (incorporated in the United States/Australia Extradition Treaty) when Onapolis was convicted of violating his conditions of parole, which parole was related to the crime for which he was extradited.

Judging the Judges: Wisconsin Judicial Commission 2005 Annual Report

Hannah C. Dugan in the Wisconsin Lawyer

As an elected branch of Wisconsin government, the judiciary overwhelmingly comports itself with all the integrity and impartiality that the public expects. However, when judicial conduct adversely affects public confidence in the judiciary and the administration of justice, the Wisconsin Judicial Commission addresses the conduct by applying the Code of Judicial Conduct. This article provides an overview of Wisconsin Judicial Commission operations and highlights portions of its calendar year 2005 Annual Report.

May 2, Jerry Zandstra on "Why business & ethics need each other"

From the Wisconsin Forum

Are all businesses "little Enrons?" Jerry Zandstra says "no." For the past five years, Dr. Zandstra has directed The Center for Entrepreneurial Stewardship at the Acton Institute, where he also directed programs and public policy. An ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America, he holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Calvin College, masters' degrees in both divinity and theology from Calvin Seminary, and a doctoral degree in ministry in church management from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Currently, he is working toward a Ph.D. in public administration, as well as running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, representing Michigan.

The event will be held at the Milwaukee Athletic Club. Social Hour begins at 5:30 pm, Dinner at 6:30 pm followed by the program.

Bloggership: How Blogs are Transforming Legal Scholarship

This April 28th symposium at The Berkman Center for Internet & Society of Harvard Law School has an impressive line-up of bloggers and others but the on-line announcement has no links to any of them.

Outlaws of America

Maxwell Schnurer in Bad Subjects reviews Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the politics of solidarity by Dan Berger

That's right, I long for a return to earnest militancy -- it's the kind of righteous zest that I long for in politics. I want to smell the stench of white children of the elite turning quite seriously against their society.

Business as usual at CPB

From "Notes and Comment" in The New Criterion on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

As one left-leaning politician explained, "You have Fox News and talk radio, we have NPR and PBS."

Immigration Reform debate, round 3

The third [pdf] in an exchange in "five questions" format between Professor John Eastman of Chapman University School of Law and Professor Margaret Stock of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

198 U.S. 45 (1905)

The 2005 issue of the NYU Journal of Law and Liberty, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Lochner v. New York, is now available online.

Appellate Decisions Released April 24, 2006

Neither the Wisconsin Supreme Court nor the Wisconsin Court of Appeals released any opinions or dispositional orders today.

Happy days are here again--or are they?

The Economist on the prospects and problems of the Democratic Party.

Some Democratic politicians simply say no [to single-issue groups]. Brian Schweitzer won the governorship of Montana in part because he binned all the questionnaires that single-issue groups sent him to complete. All but one—the form from the National Rifle Association. “You've got to fill that one out,” he told Mr Armstrong and Mr Moulitsas. "In order to get an 'A-plus', you've got to shoot somebody."

Mr Schweitzer is an exception, however. Many more Democratic politicians have, over the past 30 years, tried to duck controversial moral issues by leaving them to the courts. Judges have stepped into the legislative vacuum, often infuriating conservatives and making Democrats sound ridiculous. In January, for example, during the confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito, Mr Bush's latest choice for the Supreme Court, some Democratic senators upbraided the judge for wanting to apply the law, not make it. Surely it would be better, "to ensure social progress", if judges took "a more expansive, imaginative view of the constitution?" wheedled Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin. In other words, Mr Kohl, a legislator, wants judges to do his job for him. This is how abortion was legalised in America, how prayer was barred in schools and how gay marriage came to Massachusetts.

Oral argument week of April 23

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has scheduled oral argument in the following.

TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006

09:45 a.m.
First American Title Insurance Company v. Dennis A. Dahlmann 04AP2318
Jo-El Hanson v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company 04AP2065

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2006

09:45 a.m.
Adams Outdoor Advertising, Ltd. v. City of Madison 05AP508

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006

09:45 a.m.
Mark Sonday v. Dave Kohel Agency, Inc. 04AP2322
Wisconsin Mall Properties, LLC v. Younkers, Inc. 05AP323

01:30 p.m.
State v. Lionel N. Anderson 04AP2010-CR

FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2006

09:45 a.m.
State v. Jamale A. Bonds 05AP948-CR
Office of Lawyer Regulation v. Terry L. Nussberger 04AP2996-D

01:30 p.m.
Dominic J. Anderson v. Board of Bar Examiners 05AP2061-BA

Synopses of the above and live audio of arguments are available.

WCC Capitol Update April 21

The latest report by the Wisconsin Catholic Conference on its concerns.

WCC opposes an advisory referendum on the death penalty
WCC Opposes Taxpayer Protection Act
WCC Opposes Additional Residency Requirements for Public Assistance Programs

McCarthy: What made him tick?

Tom Freeman in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviews Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Joe McCarthy by Tom Wicker.

The young politician learned that once a charge hit a newspaper, the damage it could do would far outstrip the humiliation of a correction -- which of course would be printed much later, and often buried deep in the paper.

Veto messages April 19

AB 299 - Vetoed in Full

The bill eliminates the requirement that a county shoreland zoning ordinance is retained on newly incorporated territory.

Act 361 vetoed in part

Assembly Bill 208 creates a rural enterprise development zone program and refundable tax credits for businesses that are located in those zones, meet certain criteria and are certified by the Department of Commerce.

Intellectual Property Run Amok

Clara Jeffery (Ed.) in Mother Jones on The Comedy of IP Overkill

Veto messages April 18

SB 578 - Vetoed in Full

This bill would exempt from discovery records related to quality improvement activities by health care providers in civil actions and administrative proceedings and would provide immunity for acts and omissions to persons participating in quality improvement activities.

SB 68 - Vetoed in Full

This bill permits schools to choose not to comply with the requirement to reduce class sizes in grades two or three or both and to forego aid under the SAGE program for students in those classes.

AB 1060 - Vetoed in Full

This bill defines the term “virtual charter school” as a charter school in which instruction is provided primarily by means of the Internet, and the pupils enrolled in, and instructional staff employed by, the charter school are geographically remote from each other.

AB 969 - Vetoed in Full

The bill provides that any cash deposit used as bond must first be applied to pay restitution to the victim of the crime if the defendant is convicted.

AB 871 - Vetoed in Full

Under current law, it is generally considered a criminal act to issue a check, while never intending to have the check paid. This bill eliminates the general exception to this sanction for post-dated checks and checks given for past consideration. However, the bill maintains an exception for a post-dated check given to a payday loan service who agrees, for a fee, to hold a check for a period of time.

AB 730 - Vetoed in Full

This bill modifies current law by allowing any baccalaureate or graduate degree granting institution within the University of Wisconsin (UW) System to operate or contract for the operation of an independent charter school with the approval of the Board of Regents.

AB 509 - Vetoed in Full

This bill repeals the specific exception to the immunity provision related to litigation involving failure of local governments to repair highways.

AB 327 - Vetoed in Full

This bill creates a new form of corporate organization, the unincorporated cooperative association.

AB 152 - Vetoed in Full

Under current law, counties retain 10 percent of fines and forfeitures for administrative expenses. This bill would increase to 20 or 30 percent the share retained by counties for collections of unpaid fines and forfeitures within 120 days and over 120 days, respectively.

AB 84 - Vetoed in Full

This bill eliminates the requirement that school be held for at least 180 days each year and the requirement that school districts include in their annual report the number of school days taught by teachers legally qualified to teach.

Appellate Decisions Released April 21, 2006

Neither the Wisconsin Supreme Court nor the Wisconsin Court of Appeals released any opinions or dispositional orders today.

Bills enacted April 18, Acts 348-351

Act 348 excepting potluck events from the public health regulation of restaurants.

Act 349 creating a grace period for property tax payments.

Act 350 requiring criminal history background checks of applicants for certain state government positions.

Act 351 caregiver background information and providing a penalty.

Geekonomics

Edward Castronova in Wired

Game designers have given us plenty of utopias where we can have all the mithril we want, to buy whatever we want whenever we want it. Problem is, those worlds turn out to be dull.

New E-Discovery and Appellate Rules Adopted by Supreme Court

In addition to the appellate rule change permitting citing unpublished opinions, previously noted, DRI's The Voice reports on changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Appellate Decisions Released April 20, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, of which the following was recommended for publication:

Go America, LLC v. Kwik Trip, Inc., in which the Court decided that a retail seller of motor vehicle fuel did not violate the Unfair Sales Act (Wis. Stat. sec. 100.30) by selling at a price below cost to meet the existing price of a competitor located a few miles away in a neighboring state.

Courts Test Internet Trials

Kim Tong-hyu in The Korea Times

Weblogs, or Internet diaries, are about to gain more than just curious readers. Korean courts are now experimenting whether they could operate court trials and hearings just through Internet postings, saving everybody the trouble of actually entering the courtroom. ...

(via WisBlawg)

Key Findings of the 2005 Bench and Bar Survey

From the Wisconsin Lawyer

Survey respondents were asked the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with the following statements. Respondents could choose from three levels of "disagree" and three levels of "agree." For these findings, all levels of disagree and all levels of agree are combined, resulting in the percentages shown... .

Interpretations Of Justice Scalia

Diane Struzzi and Grace E. Marritt in the Hartford Courant on a speech by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the University of Connecticut Law School.

His speech in the reading room at Starr Hall concluded a two-day visit to the law school's campus in Hartford, which was sponsored by the Connecticut Law Review and the Day, Berry & Howard Foundation. Tuesday, Scalia taught classes in constitutional law and administrative law and was the guest at an event organized by the Federalist Society, a conservative and libertarian law organization. ...

Students said the visit was exciting for the campus and stirred up vigorous debate on what is typically a quiet, commuter campus. His presence compelled students to question what American society wants from its judges, said Bruce Adams, president of the Student Bar Association at the law school.

Tom Breen in the Hartford Journal-Inquirer reported Scalia lays out 'originalist' philosophy.

And while conservatives decried the politicization of the nomination process for the last two Supreme Court vacancies, Scalia said that's simply what happens when judges take it upon themselves to become policy makers.

"One way or another, the people will have their say on significant issues of social policy," he said. "Judges will be made politically accountable."

Critical Mass

Heather Smith in The American Lawyer

American-style class actions are still unknown in Europe. But that's changing.

Manhunt

Kathryn Alfisi in Washington Lawyer reviews Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson

The end of the Civil War was imminent, and soldiers and horses filled the unpaved, muddy streets of Washington.

If the physical landscape seems alien, so does the social climate. It's unthinkable today for a modern president to attend a theater event, or even to walk outside the White House grounds, without extensive security and planning.

Bills enacted April 14, Acts 324-347

Act 324 college reenrollment of persons called into active military service.

Act 325 civil liability exemption for claims resulting from weight gain and obesity.

Act 326 the parking of vehicles on highways.

Act 327 eliminating the imposition of the sales tax on admissions sold by a gun club.

Act 328 authorizing a city or village to simultaneously create a new tax incremental financing district and subtract territory from an existing tax incremental district.

Act 329 allowing a city, town, or village to allow persons to operate a neighborhood electric vehicle on local highways

Act 330 expanding the purposes for which a town may create a tax incremental financing district.

Act 331 authorizing the city of Monroe to allocate positive tax increments from one or more of its tax incremental financing districts to another such district created by the city.

Act 332 discovery in implied consent cases involving drunken driving and in certain prosecutions for alcohol beverage violations.

Act 333 polling hours and making an appropriation.

Act 334 podiatric medicine.

Act 335 creating the Wisconsin Aerospace Authority to develop and operate spaceports and related facilities and services and other aerospace facilities and services and providing the authority with the power of condemnation, authorizing municipalities to develop and operate spaceports, and making an appropriation.

Act 336 liens for metal fabrication tool builders and metal parts manufacturers and destruction of metal fabrication tools.

Act 337 mitigation payment agreements.

Act 338 designating the bridge on STH 141 in the town of Lena in Oconto County as the Nichole M. Frye Memorial Bridge.

Act 339 the licensing of motor vehicle salvage dealers.

Act 340 Medical Assistance reimbursement for transportation by specialized medical vehicle.

Act 341 instruction in marriage and parental responsibility.

Act 342 requiring a child's parent to provide a health insurance identification card to the child's other parent.

Act 343 the age at which an adoptee may obtain identifying information about his or her birth parents.

Act 344 reorganizing, making nonsubstantive editorial changes to, revising and creating titles in, clarifying ambiguous language in, and making minor substantive changes to the Juvenile Justice Code.

Act 345 authorizing a person to transport an unencased firearm in a motor vehicle under certain circumstances.

Act 346 allowing school boards and charter schools to establish single-sex schools and courses.

Act 347 the management and disposal of septage and municipal sewage sludge, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation.

You have to read this!

A Montana defense attorney filed a "Motion for Fist Fight" with the prosecution. The defendant is charged with stabbing his larger stronger opponents in a fist fight. The defense attorney claims that, if that was wrong, then the district attorney should not object to being beaten by him in a fight.

Thanks to Amber for the lead.

Ending Polarization

John Gastil, Dan M. Kahan, and Donald Braman in Boston Review

The critics of the culture-war thesis correctly characterize the mindset of the vast majority of American citizens. People are relatively tolerant of (and largely uninterested in) the moral opinions of their neighbors; material well-being is their main focus. Where the culture-war critics are wrong, however, is in their assumption that because economic well-being matters more to Americans than imposing their values, culture must be irrelevant to mass political opinion. Even citizens who care only about prosperity and security still have to figure out how to vote. As our research suggests, cultural affinity proves a powerful guide to such citizens.

The Hope of the Web

Bill McKibben in The New York Review of Books reviews Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics by Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga.

Their point is that the Republicans have prospered by ignoring ideological consistency. They've held together a disparate coalition that ranges from right-wing evangelists and other promoters of conservative moral values to big businesses dependent on federal subsidies and tax cuts, each of whom realize they will get more of what they want by cooperating in joint efforts. A Democratic majority in the House and Senate would protect abortion rights even if individual senators were wobbly on the issue.

The Wisconsin Idea

by Lawrence Barish of the Legislative Reference Bureau in No. 15 of its Governing Wisconsin series.

(via WisBlawg)

Teaching Them Young

Colleen Boltz with a review in The UWM Times

[Katharine] Debrecht's newest book is sure to draw controversy, Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper! is a story of two young girls who have celebrities coming out of their hamper trying to force useless products and knowledge onto them.

Some History

Dave Berkman in "Media Musings" in the Shepherd Express

There’s an interesting parallel between the controversy motivated by security concerns over Arab-owned companies managing American ports and what led to the creation of RCA, NBC and the emergence of American broadcasting as advertiser-supported, privately owned and network-dominated. ...

Bills enacted April 11, Acts 320-323

Act 320 fee remission for children and surviving spouses of ambulance drivers, correctional officers, emergency medical services technicians, fire fighters, and law enforcement officers.

Act 321 expanding membership eligibility on the board of trustees of a police relief association and a fire fighters relief association.

Act 322 immunity from civil liability for providing safety services related to the inspection and installation of child safety restraint systems in motor vehicles.

Act 323 creating an individual income tax checkoff for donations to the fire fighters memorial.

Drop in rank rattles school

Megan Twohey reports in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Marquette Law School and the this year's U.S. News & World Report rankings.

The school had been hanging to the bottom of the second tier by a thin string (last year it landed in a three-way tie for 100, the last rank in the tier). This year, the string broke, and the school tumbled into the third tier, in which schools receive no numerical ranking.

[Joseph] Kearney, who has served as dean for three years, insists the drop must have been small. His assumption is likely correct; the director of data research at U.S. News suggests that the school had fallen a single ranking to 101.

Appellate Decisions Released April 19, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court released its opinion in Vieau v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co. today, in which the Court held that an insurance policy may properly exclude from underinsured motorist coverage the policyholder's relative who lives with her if the relative owns a vehicle.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, of which the following w