Civil Rights Movement v. the Republican Party

Bus from Madison to D.C., 1963

Update: Just two months after five GOP justices gutted the Voting Rights Acts, Attorney General Eric Holder repeated his vow for federal protection of Americans' right to vote. "This morning, we affirm that this struggle must, and will, go on in the cause of our nation’s quest for justice - until every eligible American has the chance to exercise his or her right to vote, unencumbered by discriminatory or unneeded procedures, rules, or practices. It must go on until our criminal justice system can ensure that all are treated equally and fairly in the eyes of the law."

It is an incontrovertible fact today's racialized Republican Party is the blood enemy of the American Civil Rights Movement.

As we mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, it is incumbent upon us to identify the enemy—not to demonize, not to disenfranchise and certainly not to murder; such is the way of the Fascist.

Rather, to live and transform with the power and dedication towards equality for all.

This is the way of A.J. Muste, Erwin Knoll, Bernard Lafayette, Russell, Seale, Huxley, Liuzzo, Betty Shabazz, Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner, Dellinger and Weiner; so many more.

As a young journalist I had the pleasure of speaking briefly with Martin Luther King III in 1989.

King  proved a brilliant, eloquent, and very kind man who said at the UW-Madison Memorial Union that eight years of the  "Reagan-Bush administration has had a devastating effect on race relations."

King also spoke later in the Humanities building about the moral imperative to always stand up for justice with nonviolence in that face of hate and dehumanization that finds home in the Republican Party.

Brave words from a brave man.

For King III, his murdered father was always part of a diverse movement which drew inspiration and leadership from all manner of people and figures in history.

Today, hate is alive and well drawing from the deep well of racism.

Racism lives in Ronald Reagan's infamous address on August 3, 1980 in Philadelphia, Mississippi at the Neshoba County Fair, in which Reagan railed on about "welfare queens" and "states rights," while not speaking one single word of honor recognizing the work and sacrifice of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. 

A generation inspired by Nelson Mandela worked to halt apartheid 

That's who Ronald Reagan is, as president the defender of South African apartheid and practitioner of American racism. That's Reagan's legacy.

By 1980, the Republican Party had been appealing to racists for 12 years using the "Southern Strategy."

Today, out of Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, Tom Petri, James Sensenbrenner and every national Republican, the GOP takes up the torch of racist politics, proclaiming their efforts to obstruct the black and brown from voting, and not one Republican, not one, challenges the GOP voter obstruction project and continuing appeal to racism. Not one.

This weekend is our weekend, brought to us by the murdered, brutalized and the 10,000s of civil rights workers whose names we may never know.

At bottom, below this video are the words of one civil rights worker, out of Madison, Wisconsin.

Madison to D.C. 1963

I disagree with Mr. Quinn's red-baiting below (I recommend Paul Buhle's History and the New Left;Madison, Wisconsin, (1950-1970) and Jon Wiener's "Radical Historians and the Crisis in American History, 1959-1980," Journal of American History 76 (fall 1989), pp 399-434; "Rejoinder," pp 475-78; for more sober, fairer assessments); but Quinn's contribution in the 1960s reveals the broad front against the deadly fascist, American apartheid.
---
By Patrick M. Quinn

...  In the fall of 1962, I joined the Socialist Club at the University. It was comprised mainly of Jewish students from New York. In my naiveté, it was only later that I learned that many of the members of the Socialist Club were clandestinely affiliated with or sympathetic to the Young Communist League or the Communist Party. Between 1962 and the summer of 1964, not much happened on the Left in Madison, but in 1964 the Civil Rights Movement in the South was heating up, especially after the murders of three Civil Rights workers—James Chaney (1943-1964), Andrew Goodman (1943-1964), and Mickey Schwerner (1939-1964)—near Philadelphia, Mississippi during the “Freedom Summer” voter registration campaign. I joined the Madison chapter of the Friends of SNCC, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, a Civil Rights organization based in the South. Friends of SNCC organized small rallies in Madison and held forums on Civil Rights topics at the First Congregational Church in Madison. Many members of the Socialist Club were also members of the Friends of SNCC. In June 1964 I graduated from the University of Wisconsin and enrolled in the UW graduate school. ...

In the early 1960s, students on the Left in Madison looked to three professors for leadership. One was Hans Gerth (1908-78), a German-born professor of Sociology who had been the mentor of C. Wright Mills at the University of Wisconsin in the 1940s; another was the famed professor of American history William Appleman Williams (1921-90), the author of the influential book, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy; and the third was professor of history George Mosse (1918-99), a refugee from Nazi Germany who was a liberal, and decidedly not a socialist. The legendary Marxist history professor Harvey Goldberg (1922-87), a brilliant, spell-binding lecturer, did not arrive at the University until the fall of 1963.

Federal Trials on Wisconsin Photo Voter ID to be Held Nov. 4

The two federal cases challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin's Photo Voter ID law have been ordered to be called to trial on November 4 by Federal District Judge Lynn Adelman.

The two federal cases are:

• Frank v. Walker, (Case 11cv1128), U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
• Jones et al v. Deininger et al (Case 2:12-cv-00185), U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

The two Wisconsin state cases are:

• League of Women Voters of Wisconsin v. Walker (Case 11CV4669) - permanent injunction issued on March 12, 2012 by Judge Richard G. Niess. Court of Appeals opinion reversing trial court decision (permanent injunction) filed May 30, 2013. (Appeal Number 2012AP000584 - AC)
• Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker (Case 11CV5492) - permanent injunction order issued on July 17, 2012 by Judge David T. Flanagan

In the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin v. Walker case, a petition for review has been filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

In the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker case, the case will be announced for oral arguments to take place after September 2013, sometime during the 2013-14 term.

The Republican Party at the Wisconsin and national levels remain engaged in their multi-year project to obstruct voters through the use of Photo Voter ID laws, as proposed by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, first reported by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD).

Since 2011, "an unprecedented wave of voter suppression policies were passed or proposed in a majority of states, making access to the ballot more burdensome for voters of color" and college-age citizens, as noted in the Advancement Project and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

The Republican Party has been the sole party responsible for the wave of voter suppression in an effort to keep non-GOP voting citizens from exercising their right to vote.

GOP Legislature Altered Wisconsin Constitution Webpage; Changes Mislead on Voting Rights

Updated - New LRB page on Suffrage.

See the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB)'s response.

The Wisconsin Legislature Reference Bureau webpage on Suffrage, voting, has been changed while under GOP control since 2011.

The following misleading sentence has been added: "An Indiana statute requiring citizens voting in person on election day, or casting a ballot in person at the office of the circuit court clerk prior to election day, to present photo identification issued by the government did not violate constitutional standards. Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 553 U.S. 181, 128 S. Ct. 1610, 170 L. Ed. 2d 574 (2008)."

This is the first time such a naked display of partisanship has been on display on what used to be a non-political webpage on the Wisconsin Constitution maintained under the auspices of the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB). The URL is:  http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/wiscon/_12 .

Any Wisconsin document, record, history and archives should be examined to ensure that they have not been cleansed by the Republicans in Wisconsin government in the manner of a Soviet-based authoritarian regime. 

I have been told of other cleansing efforts that I cannot reveal for fear of GOP recrimination against whistle blowers holding appointed positions.

The GOP-added sentence to the Wisconsin Legislature's webpage on Suffrage is misleading for several reasons. 

1. Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (2008) is a federal case based upon a facial challenge (a law asserted to be illegal or unconstitutional on its face) to an Indiana state law obstructing voting.  

Crawford relied upon the weak warrant to vote under the United States Constitution, not the Wisconsin Constitution. And the Crawford case included no social scientific evidence as was presented in
Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker (Case 11CV5492) (2012).

2. The Wisconsin Constitution—the topic of the Wisconsin Constitution's webpage—includes a strong, affirmative right to vote under ARTICLE III, Suffrage vis a vis the United States Constitution. (Hence, U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Keith Ellison's (D-MN) Right to Vote Amendment, explicitly guaranteeing Americans' right to vote in the U.S. Constitution." Hey, Rep. Sensenbrenner (R-White People), still waiting for your support of the Right to Vote Amendment in light of your unshakable commitment of voting rights.

3. The Wisconsin Constitution explicitly specifies the type of laws that may be enacted to regulate elections, enumerating the specific conditions under which the qualifications of voters (electors) may be changed by the enactment of laws under Section 2, and only Section 2. Anything outside this scope and the legislature has to change the Wisconsin Constitution.

This GOP pretension that the federal case, Crawford, controls Wisconsin state voting rights case is a disingenuous political talking point, hawked by Wisconsin's GOP Attorney General, J.B. Van Hollen and other GOP politicos.

As Judge David T. Flanagan writes in striking down the GOP Photo Voter ID bill in July 2012 in Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker (Case 11CV5492):

The Crawford decision has very little application to the dispute now before this Court, however, for three primary reasons. First, this case is founded up the Wiscosnin Constitution which expressly guarantees the right to vote, while Crawford was based upon the U.S. Constitution which offers no such guarantee. Second, the Indiana law is less rigid than Act 23, and noted by the U.S. Supreme Court, offered alternative voting opportunities to voters who lacked the Photo ID. Finally, Crawford came to the Court based upon a flawed factual record, lacking the substantial evidence that has been offered by the plaintiffs in this action. This case is based on a claim that Act 23 violates the Wisconsin Constitution, not the U.S. Constitution. The people of Wisconsin may choose to assure to themselves rights under their own constitution that differ or exceed those guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, State v. Doe, 78 Wis 2d 161, 172 (1977). The question of what is permitted and what is protected by the Wisconsin Constitution is the issue before this court and that issue was not before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Crawford case.

This is not the first time Van Hollen and the Republican Party have lied about federal law and federal case law in order to obstruct voting rights on the state level.

See Van Hollen's and the GOP 2008 efforts at voter suppression in which Van Hollen's similarly ridiculous effort was tossed out of court.

In the 2008 case, (J B Van Hollen vs. Government Accountability Board (GAB) et al) Van Hollen tried to create a new Wisconsin constitutional qualification to vote by fiat: A perfect match of the spelling of voters' names in state bureaucracies, after assuring fellow Republicans he would commence this frivolous legal action at the 2008 Republican National Convention held in Minneapolis, as first reported by WisPolitics in a scoop that includes audio.

Several former judges serving on the GAB Board would have failed Van Hollen's new constitutional standard proposed in 2008, as this GOP effort drew wide ridicule.

"Nothing in state or federal law requires that there be a data match as a prerequisite for a citizen's right to vote," Judge Maryann Sumi said in dismissing Van Hollen's lawsuit that tried to use the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) as a voter suppression tool.

Our corrupt attorney general, up for reelection on 2014, will not give up his Party's project of denying the voting rights of Wisconsin citizens; and neither will the Republican Party now holding sway in the gerrymandered state legislature.

Christopher Cline, a Billionaire Who Could Not Care Less about Wisconsin

Penokee Hills

Mary Annette Pember has nice bio on billionaire and mega-yacht enthusiast, Christopher Cline, the man behind the proposed Gogebic Taconite Mine.

So, Cline's proposed 20-mile open pit mine going is going to cause terrible problems in the waters and land of northern Wisconsin.

Tell it to somebody who cares; Cline's busy at his 33,413 square foot mansion in North Palm Beach, Florida, and having his cronies funnel money to Scott Walker and other favored politicians.

Writes Geraldine Fabrikant in the Times:

The 161-foot Mine Games, a boat built by Trinity Yachts of Gulfport, Miss., was put on the market for $27 million (in 2011) ... because its owner, Chris Cline, who heads Cline Resource and Development, a mine development company, had a larger boat on order.

If you think Cline is in this for anything but getting his money and leaving behind a waste, you're kidding yourself.

So, when Cline's water carriers tell you all Cline cares about is full employment, jobs (just ask 'em) and the environment, if you have an IQ exceeding 80, don't believe it.

Cline knows he's not wanted; but that is not his concern.

Iron County Judge Steps Aside in Anti-mining Barrel Bob Gollubske Case

Penokee Range

A request for a new judge has been granted for Robert Gollubske, known locally as "Barrel Bob" Gollubske, a 76-year-old farmer from Kimball.

Iron County Judge Patrick Madden, known as a pro-mining judge, and notorious as the corrupt jurist who presided over the 1997 trial and 2012 hearing of Donald Miller, has agreed to step aside in this matter in a rare recusal for Madden.

Gollubske, a farmer in the Town of Kimball, Wisconsin, in Iron County, has drawn the enmity of Iron County officials for complaining about explosions near his farm.

He warns about the dangers of the proposed Gogebic Taconite Mine, blasting and dynamiting and ruining an environment.

For his complaints, Iron County officials have accused Gollubske of  (threatening) words, and causing "a public furor," as Madden has said publicly.

Few believe in this sparsely populated county that Judge Madden possesses the ethics to preside over the Gollubske trial, which ought to be dismissed with prejudice very quickly if anything like justice exists in Iron County.

Gollubske has also retained the services of renown civil rights attorney, Jeff Scott Olson, in addition to Peter Bear of Madison.

Gollubske did not endear himself to Madden (aka Madman) and DA Lipske at the DNR Public Hearing on G-Tac Bulk Sampling and pre-Application Notice held on August 15th in Hurley, Wisconsin (see below).

Gollubske also spoke against Mathy Construction company and the Northwoods Paving company that he blames for damaging his farm and home by their use of dynamite in the area. Mathy Construction is doing blacktopping work.

Gollubske says the same type of damage he attributes to Mathy will be wrought by Gogebic.

In 2009, Gollubske sued Mathy Construction Company of Onalaska, Wisconsin, and Northwoods Paving Co. (a division of Mathy Construction) of Ashland for damage to his home and farm, fearing his family is getting poisoned, an assertion he repeated at the Aug. 15 DNR hearing.

Gollubske called the FBI in May and made a rhetorical comment about blowing up the courthouse as an analogy (if not well-formulated) to the damages the Mathy Construction Northwoods Paving blacktop plant has caused at his farm.

At least Madden has stepped aside from this case, though even a perusal of the Don Miller case should cast doubt over, and taint any case over which Madden has presided.

Barrel Bob Gollubske is just a townie, a nice 76-year-old man about to find out how what a corrupt DA Lipske is.

Gollubske's friends in the community a few weeks before he was arrested said he is a just a harmless, gentle farmer who is upset about developers and now the proposed Gogebic Taconite Mine destroying the Penokee Range.

Gogebic has secured the mineral rights for a "22-mile, 22,000-acre stretch of the Penokee Range from southwest of Hurley to about six miles west of Mellen," notes The Nature Conservancy.

Said one neighbor, "He (Gollubske) was really angry with the blacktop company, and he claims they and the Iron County cops blew up his barns. When I looked in the news archive there was two articles about Kimball residents complaining of big explosions shuddering their houses. And ya know what the cops tried to tell the paper? We had reports some kids were shooting a cannon off. Cops said they told the kids to knock it off. I'm not kidding. Imagine cops going to a house full of kids that had a cannon big enough to fire something off to shudder houses for a few miles around and just telling them to knock it off?!"

No wonder Gollubske called the FBI.

Does even DA Martin Lipske, replete with incompetence and corruption, believe Gollubske is a terrorist?

Here's video of Robert (Barrel Bob) Gollubske at the DNR Public Hearing on August 15th held in Hurley.

- A version of this piece appeared August 18, 2013 -

Judge Conley Should Hold DoA Sec. Huebsch, David Erwin in Contempt

Update: There is no doubt among any objective, fair-minded citizen that Capitol police arresting are observers of the Solidarity Sing Along, in direct contravention of federal Judge Conley's order. See also Blue Cheddar's piece noting that arrests of observers has become "normalized."

Attorney and writer Ernest A. Canning in a comment on a piece at The Brad Blog opines that through the action of Scott Walker's thugs, Mike Huebsch, David Erwin and the Capitol cops are in contempt in one respect of federal court, "(i)f it can be shown that the Capitol Police are (arresting) when the numbers are less than 20."

It is so shown, among calls for peace from religious groups.

Canning does not exclude targeting specific content of speech, which is of course what the thugs are doing as cause for contempt, but it it worth noting that arresting people for asking a question, for practicing journalism, and other non-actions clearly violate Justice Conley's order and clearly are in contempt of court. So, what are the ACLU and the Guild waiting for?

Please view this video by Arthur Kohl-Riggs of SSWIDTMS entitled, "Capitol Police Use Pain Compliance During Illegal Arrest of a Peaceful Demonstrator," every bit as repulsive as the title implies.

Iron County Judge Patrick 'Madman' Madden—A Cornered Animal

Madden faces accusations he had an affair
with an alleged crime victim, Connie Vargovich,
before, during and after presiding over the 1997
trial of a defendant, the former live-in boyfriend
of the same alleged crime victim, Connie Vargovich.
Madden's legal career is on the line.
A supporter of a victim of Madden's
said of Madden, "the little prick's time is up soon,"
referring to Madden's 27-year reign as Judge.

Update II: "A free society can exist only to the extent that those charged with enforcing the law respect it themselves. 'There is no more cruel tyranny than that which is exercised under cover of the law, and with the colors of justice.'" 

- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Appellant in No. 81-1020 v. JANNOTTI, HARRY P. (D.C. Crim. No. 80-00166-02); UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellant in No. 81-1021 v. SCHWARTZ, GEORGE X. (D.C. Crim. No. 80-00166-04)
Nos. 81-1020, 81-1021
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
673 F.2d 578; 1982 U.S. App. LEXIS 21883
June 10, 1981, Argued
Decided February 11, 1982

Put succinctly, the reign of Iron County DA Martin Lipske, and Iron County Judge Patrick J. Madden is coming to an end. The rule of law will return to Iron County Wisconsin. 

Update: Note to Judge Madden and District Attorney Lipske, Ira Robins sends his regards and will be working on the reporting of this case, Wisconsin v. Miller. One Wisconsin attorney, speaking on background, said of Judge Madden and District Attorney Lipske: "They're human garbage."

If Wisconsin citizens were told a circuit court judge were to preside over the trial of an innocent man, and that the trial judge had an multi-year affair with the alleged victim before, during and after the trial, most Wisconsin citizens would respond this doesn't seem fair and proper.

It's not.

Jurists would cite the Wisconsin code of judicial ethics which is specific about the demands placed upon a judge to avoid the appearance of impropriety:

A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge's activities.  ... A judge may not allow family, social, political or other relationships to influence the judge's judicial conduct or judgment.

So, that's on paper in the books, how about real life?

One real-life relationship that would be a clear violation of judicial ethics is a presiding judge, Iron County Judge Patrick J. Madden, having an affair with an alleged victim, Connie Vargovich, before, during and after the trial of a defendant who was the live-in boyfriend of the alleged victim.

And this is precisely what happened, and has been so stated in several legal documents.

Connie Vargovich

Madden should have recused himself from the trial of Donald Miller, State of Wisconsin v. Donald R. Miller [Case Number: 97 CF 60], and the September 2012 hearing (over which he presided) at which both the District Attorney and defense stipulated an agreement to finally get this innocent man out of prison. Madden rejected the stipulation.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Innocence Project is representing Donald Miller, and was in Iron County again last week gathering affidavits not unlike this one below—by a brave woman standing up for truth against corruption, Michele L. Aspinwall.

Many other decent and courageous people in Iron County are standing up to the corruption in this small, isolated county of some 5,900 people.

This is not good news for Iron County Judge Patrick J. Madden and Iron County DA Martin Lipske, Madden's political protege who moved from Douglas County Wisconsin to run for District Attorney in Iron County in 1994 at Madden's urging after Lipske's three-year suspension for professional misconduct was lifted in 1993.

Three Affidavits

Ms. Aspinwall's affidavit is among the more tame descriptions of Judge Patrick J. 'Madman' Madden's socializing and liaisons before the trial of Donald Miller. Much more to come about the during and after phases of the trial.

Below are two affidavits of Iron County citizens who witnessed Patrick Madden intimately comforting the alleged victim, Connie Vargovich, during a break in the trial of Vargovich's former live-in boyfriend on trial because of Vargovich's allegations. Madden's presiding over the trial while having an affair with Vargovich is cause for permanent disbarment of his license to practice law in Wisconsin.

Why Folks Sing in the Wisconsin Capitol

If we ever put the constitutional rights to freely assemble and freely express political views to referendum, it would likely fail.

Below are shots from today in the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin demonstrating why citizens express their views anyway.

It has to do with commitment in the face of malice and lassitude.

Firefighter Ted Higgins arrested

Firefighter Ted Higgins with citation Photo Rob Ganson

And the new GOP rule at the capitol is now aimed at collective word-holding. See picture below. Walker and David Erwin are working hard to make themselves look more ridiculous each day.

A large "UNINTIMIDATED" sign made of block letters greeted spectators. Capitol Police
Chief Erwin didn't like that speech. Walker and Erwin's cops arrested six of the letter holders,
specifically targeting the speech in an explicit action against specific political speech.

DNR Holds Mine Hearing Under the Wrong State Statute, Says Atty

Updated - Turns out the rush to work on G-Tec's behalf has the DNR missing things like the rule of law and administrative procedure

The overwhelming opposition expressed by the public at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources hearing on August 15 up in Hurley, Wisconsin no doubt fell on deaf ears in the Scott Walker administration.

The mining company calls the shots in the Walker administration, not the Wisconsin public.

The DNR Public Hearing on G-Tac Bulk Sampling and pre-Application Notice drew over 100 people, almost all of whom voiced sentiments that the plans for the mine in Iron and Ashland counties are "crazy."

Now, a well-regarded Iron County attorney is contending the DNR held the hearing under the wrong state statute.

Anthony Stella's analysis is expected to be run in the afternoon on Monday, August 19 at The StellaReport. Stella's piece is now out.

Attorney Stella is all-concerned about that rule of law thing.

Reads Stella's letter is part:

I am writing to inform you that I believe that the DNR proceeded prematurely and without proper notice with regard to the August 15 bulk sampling hearing in Hurley. After studying the new legislation, it seems clear to me that a bulk sampling hearing cannot be held until after the DNR determines which, if any, approvals are required by GTAC. Of course, that process has not been completed yet, as GTAC still hasn’t supplied all necessary information requested as of this date. In the event that no approvals are ultimately required, THEN the DNR may proceed under Section 295.46, giving notice as it did for the August 15 hearing. If approvals are required, however, it must proceed under Section 295.45, and give the specific notices required therein. The DNR has told GTAC that, pending the receipt of more information, certain approvals may be required. ...

Are Iron County Lipske-Madden Team Railroading Another Man —Robert Gollubske

Gogebic Iron Range in Green

Update: A request for a new judge has been granted for Robert Gollubske. Patrick Madden is known locally as a pro-mining judge, and is notorious as the corrupt jurist who presided over the 1997 trial and 2012 hearing of Donald Miller, having an affair with the alleged victim, Miller's live-in girlfriend whom Miller had asked to leave his home, before, during and after the 1997 trial. Gollubske has also retained the services of renown civil rights attorney, Jeff Scott Olson, in addition to Peter Bear of Madison.

Robert Gollubske, a farmer in the Town of Kimball, Wisconsin in Iron County, is right about at least one thing, the government of Iron County doesn't like him.

Specifically, Iron County Judge Patrick J. Madden and Iron County DA Martin Lipske don't like him because Gollubske is warning about the dangers of the proposed Gogebic Taconite Mine, blasting and dynamiting and ruining an environment.

Gollubske did not endear himself to Madden (aka Madman) and Lipske at the DNR Public Hearing on G-Tac Bulk Sampling and pre-Application Notice held August 15th at Hurley, Wisconsin.

Gollubske spoke against Mathy Construction company and the Northwoods Paving company that he blames for damaging his farm and home by their use of dynamite in the area.

He says the same type of damage he attributes to Mathy will be wrought by Gogebic.

In 2009, Gollubske sued Mathy Construction Company of Onalaska, Wisconsin and Northwoods Paving Co. (a division of Mathy Construction) of Ashland for damage to his home and farm, fearing his family is getting poisoned. He said this shows the dangers of explosions used in mining.

Penokee Range

Lipske wants to prosecute the 75-year-old man arrested in May for saying he wanted to blow up the courthouse to get FBI agents to his farm property to show them what he says are damages caused by Mathy Construction dynamiting for blacktop road-building.

Judge Patrick Madden said, "The (threatening) words are out there and in people’s minds." He said the public doesn’t feel safe and the case has caused "a public furor."

Typical Madden, typical BS.

The only people who don't feel safe are those who fear the mining company blowing open a huge open pit mine in the Penokee Range, and the heavily armed corporate militia operating illegally at test drilling sites for whom both Lipske and Madden front.

Robert (Barrel Bob) Gollubske is just a townie, a nice 75-year-old man about to find out how what pricks Madden and Lipske are.

Gollubske has expressed his fear about the Gogebic Taconite Mine around town, and Lipske and Madden think they have found a way to shut him up.

Gollubske's friends in the community a few weeks before he was arrested said he is a just a harmless, gentle farmer who is upset about developers and now the proposed Gogebic Taconite Mine destroying the Penokee Range.

Gogegic has secured the mineral rights for a "22-mile, 22,000-acre stretch of the Penokee Range from southwest of Hurley to about six miles west of Mellen," notes The Nature Conservancy.

Said one neighbor, "He (Gollubske) was really angry with the blacktop company and he claims they and the Iron County cops blew up his barns. When I looked in the news archive there was two articles about Kimball residents complaining of big explosions shuddering their houses. And ya know what the cops tried to tell the paper? We had reports some kids were shooting a cannon off. Cops said they told the kids to knock it off. I'm not kidding. Imagine cops going to a house full of kids that had a cannon big enough to fire something off to shudder houses for a few miles around and just telling them to knock it off?!"

No wonder Gollubske wants to call in the FBI.

Gollubske is just a farmer who has seen too many explosions near his home and he thinks Gogegic blowing open the proposed open pit mine is nothing but trouble; he wanted to call in the FBI for help because he doesn't trust the local police.

Gollubske' instincts are right.

Iron County Judge Patrick J. Madden and Iron County DA Martin Lipske are not known for being impartial, and certainly not prosecutorial discretion. What they are known for is being corrupt. And the local police just follow along, no questions.

Here's video of Robert (Barrel Bob) Gollubske at the DNR Public Hearing on August 15th held in Hurley.

Capitol Police chief gets $111,000, and five-figure shady bonus to bash rights for Scott Walker

Chief David Erwin is a slime, real shocker.

Erwin moved from a ghostjob and back to grab himself an extra gift from Wisconsin taxpayers—an $11,680 annual raise to his $111,067 a year gig.

Erwin is what Paul Ryan calls a "taker."

By Jason Stein and Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Scott Walker's administration rewarded the new hardline Capitol Police chief and his top deputy with double-digit pay raises earlier this year after moving the pair on paper to phantom jobs for two weeks and then back to their real posts.

Chief Dave Erwin — who has overseen a crackdown on Walker protesters at the statehouse — received an overall salary hike of 11.7%, to $111,067 a year, the same rate as his predecessor. That amounts to an $11,680 annual raise.

That hefty raise was possible only because Walker officials transferred Erwin on Feb. 5 to a ghostposition in the state Department of Administration, according to a copy of the transfer letter obtained by the Journal Sentinel. Then, on the same day, he was shuffled back to his real job as head of the Capitol Police force.