Thank you, David Morris; Wishing You Peace

Käthe Kollwitz

Thank you David J. Morris for your piece in the New York Times on PTSD.

Let every chicken-hawk, veterans-are-frauds, anti-disability rights Republican read Mr. Morris.

Let every Republican who bashed President Obama's work to help veterans suffering from PTSD tell it to Mr. Morris first.

An excerpt:

"Occasionally I had weird dreams about the war that mixed people and places from my time in the Marines with my time in Iraq. But what really concerned me was something that happened a few years later. I was sitting in a movie theater with my girlfriend when the world suddenly went black. When I regained consciousness, I was pacing the lobby of the theater, looking at people’s hands to make sure they weren’t carrying weapons."

Let Gov. Scott Walker and his refusal to even discuss a pardon for an exemplary young Wisconsin Marine, Eric Pizer, read David Morris. Perhaps Scott Walker is too busy.

Help this Marine by Voting for Mary Burke

Update: The Plight of Eric Pizer and Scott Walker's Contempt for Veterans. (Simpson, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

"Eric Pizer, a former Marine who served in Iraq, is blocked from a law enforcement career because of his felony battery conviction," (Barry, NYT) by hick prosecutors in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin.

Eric Pizer is a decorated combat Marine (2000-2004) from southwestern Wisconsin, He chose the Marines out of idealism and a commitment to serve.

Now, Pizer lives in Madison. After completing an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice he wants to serve with the Madison Police Department, back home from two tours in Iraq, safe with his wife and two kids.

Pizer's dedication to his unit in combat—a commitment honed to degree most of us will never attain—makes Pizer an ideal candidate to join the City of Madison Police.

Two obstacles stand in Pizer's way: Grant County (Wisconsin) District Attorney Lisa Riniker and Assistant DA Anthony Pozorski (rogue jurists and hopeless dolts) and Gov. Scott Walker.

Tony Galli WKOW TV (Madison) interviewed Scott Walker about Pizer and Walker's response is typical Walker.

Walker said since there are 1,000s of good cases for pardons and commutations in Wisconsin, it follows that not a single pardon and commutation should be granted.

Walker's quote (from WKOW's Galli) is: "If you pick one [to be pardoned] there's thousands of other examples out there of people who may not have the media or other outlets behind them, who would be in an equal position who probably have a compelling case to be made that we don't yet know about."

Here are Pizer's words:

I guess we should expect contempt for veterans from Scott Walker; this is the same fool who uses veterans as props and then appoints people to non-profits for veterans, people who embezzle from veterans. Two longtime Walker aides and appointees—Tim Russell and Kevin Kavanaugh—were appointed to non-profit veteran organizations meant for families of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, from which Russell and Kavanaugh looted $10,000s with no Walker apology and no Walker accountability. This is the same Scott Walker who wants to desecrate the sacred and final resting place for many of our deceased veterans, an underreported story by this twerp Wisconsin calls governor.

Wisconsin Constitution [Article 5, (Section 6)] Pardoning power - "The governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses, except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper ... He shall annually communicate to the legislature each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon or reprieve, with his reasons for granting the same."

Scott Walker's Contempt for Veterans Gets NYT Coverage

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker explains
why he has granted no pardons to incarcerated
citizens with compelling cases.
"If you pick one there's thousands of other
examples out there of people who may not
have the media or other outlets behind them,
who would be in an equal position who
probably have a compelling case to be
made that we don't know about,"
said Walker in an interview with WKOW TV
(Madison, Wisconsin)

Updated--Two Madison, Wisconsin attorneys—David D. Relles and John R. Zweig—heard the story of an idealistic Wisconsin Marine just home (two days) from Kuwait and Iraq in 2004, and who late one night out at the bars reacted to a shouted death threat to his friend, saw movement to his right and threw a punch in Boscobel, Wisconsin.

Now, attorneys Relles and Zweig advocate for Marine Eric Pizer (2000-2004) [whose attorney in 2004 should have fought for a plea deal (a disorderly conduct civil citation)] from the office of current Grant County (Wisconsin) District Attorney Lisa Riniker and Asst DA Anthony Pozorski, overzealous, small-town jurists who damage the legal profession.

Instead, Pozorski insisted on a violent felony charge.

Pizer is seeking a pardon from Scott Walker.

Today, Dan Barry of the New York Times picked up the Eric Pizer story, noting Scott Walker's vow to never use the power to pardon under the Wisconsin Constitution (Article V, section 6 of the Wisconsin Constitution), a vow Scott Walker made in a sick twist of irony after Walker's aides and appointees were charged and later convicted of embezzling from veterans.

Pizer wants to become a police officer, and cannot because of this one incident, and Walker's public refusal to pardon Pizer stands in the way of a Marine who wants to continue to serve.

There are a lot of reasons to not vote for Scott Walker.

Walker's contempt for veterans is among them.

As for Grant County (Wisconsin) District Attorney Lisa Riniker and Asst DA Anthony Pozorski, this is the same office that charged a six-year-old boy with a felony for playing doctor with a five-year-old girl in 2011.

Not the brightest jurists in Wisconsin.

Walker said one of the reasons he will not consider a pardon for Pizer is because he does not want to undermine the legal system.

Writes the NYT's Barry:

Mr. Pizer was two days back from Iraq. A straight-up Marine, he had committed to the corps even before his high school graduation in 2000, and was at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina a year later when an officer interrupted a class on sexually transmitted diseases to share the latest from Lower Manhattan.

We got bombed, boys, the officer announced. We’re going to war.

Pizer didn't know it, and won't say it now, but his most obstinate enemy was to become the current Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, after Pizer came home from serving his country he still loves.

Walker should listen to his betters, Eric Pizer for starters.

Harry Belafonte: We Must Stop Throwing People Away

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker drew derision when he declared he couldn't pardon a Marine.

Eric Pizer was convicted on a trumped-up charge and wants become a police officer to continue serving his country. Scott Walker won't pardon Pizer because in Walker's words, "if you pick one [to be pardoned] there's thousands of other examples out there of people who may not have the media or other outlets behind them, who would be in an equal position who probably have a compelling case to be made that we don't yet know about."

There are 1,000s in Wisconsin prisons, innocent and with compelling cases to be freed, even if Walker doesn't "pick one." Walker is a moron, lightweight human garbage.

Mr. Belafonte is not.

Here's Belafonte sounding the alarm, Scott Walker should listen to his betters.

By Harry Belafonte

There is a crisis that demands our urgent attention. For the last four decades, this country has been obsessed with expanding the number of people we throw behind bars and the length of time we hold them there. Crime rates have been falling for the last 20 years, but still we have a massive and unsustainable prison population, particularly targeting the poor and powerless. We're not strengthening communities, we're using our criminal justice system to throw away certain people's lives – disproportionately the lives of Black and brown men, women, and children. This has decimated communities around the nation and it's gone on for far too long.

But we're not stuck with a criminal justice system that is hurting us. Solutions exist, and the ACLU's Smart Justice Fair Justice Campaign is already working to put them into practice. Bad laws and policies are created by the politicians who are supposed to represent us. Police departments choose how to enforce these bad laws.  Bad policies are made, and bad policies can be changed.

Here's what we can do. Over a million people are sitting in a cell for a non-violent offense. These people pose no threat to public safety, but many will be locked away for years because of extreme sentencing laws and selective prosecution. We can get rid of mandatory minimums and extreme sentencing laws.

We can end the War on Drugs, which has really been a war on communities of color. This is one of the main ways we can cut down the unbridled racial bias in our criminal justice system.

We can remake our policies so that they're smart. Studies have shown that prison does not deter crime. In a lot of cases, it creates many more problems than it solves. Locking up huge swathes of our population makes communities less safe by because huge numbers of people are torn away from their families and from the ability to hold down a job, because we're warehousing people in overcrowded jails and prisons, and because having a record can cut away at someone's ability to vote or seek employment after they get out. We must do better.

We spend $80 billion dollars a year incarcerating people, which is 400% more than we spent twenty years ago. Some of the money could be better spent on raising healthy kids, not feeding a morally corrupt network that connects our children in their classrooms to the prison industrial complex.

Get Involved
Stop Extreme Sentencing from Destroying Families

Act Now
 

We do not have the luxury of waiting decades to undo the failed policies that have caused so much damage. It's time for Smart Justice. It's time for Fair Justice.  And we need your help.

Please visit www.aclu.org/smartandfair to learn more about solutions to mass incarceration and how you can get involved.

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Scott Walker and One Marine

Disposable Humans - Eugene Higgens

Update: Readers wishing to help this Marine can follow this link.

"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
- Abraham Lincoln, address in Washington D.C., 1865

Eric Pizer is a decorated combat Marine (2000-2004) from southwestern Wisconsin, He chose the Marines out of idealism and a commitment to serve.

Now, Pizer lives in Madison. After completing an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice he wants to serve with the Madison Police Department, back home from two tours in Iraq, safe with his wife and two kids.

Pizer's dedication to his unit in combat—a commitment honed to degree most of us will never attain—makes Pizer an ideal candidate to join the Madison Police.

Two obstacles stand in Pizer's way: Grant County (Wisconsin) District Attorney Lisa Riniker and Asst DA Anthony Pozorski (to be candid, rogue jurists and hopeless dolts ) and Gov. Scott Walker.

This is because Pizer, two days after his return from to Boscobel, Wisconsin, was ludicrously charged with criminal assault one evening, and was then represented by an attorney who should have proven that Pizer lawfully engaged in crime prevention. Poor attorneys are common; and so are obtuse district attorneys. 

Eric Pizers are rare.

Here's a summary from Pardon Eric Pizer:

Two days after his return from Iraq, Eric was on leave back in Wisconsin and he and two friends from high school went to Boscobel (Wisconsin) to visit the cousin of one of the friends. Together they went to a local bar to play pool. One of the friends became friendly with a woman the cousin knew and she returned with them to the cousin’s house to play cards. The woman’s husband and a friend of his then appeared at the house shortly after midnight and he and his friend aggressively threatened Eric and his friend. When they would not stop the aggressive behavior and the husband suddenly approached Eric from the side, Eric reacted and struck him once, breaking his nose.

That is the size of the felony "crime" that now prevents Pizer from serving as Madison Police Officer.

Pizer needs a pardon from Scott Walker, or a stipulation from the Grant County District Atty vacating this felony to which Pizer's past attorney foolishly advised a no contest plea.

The problem with Scott Walker is his bizarre and stubborn refusal to grant pardons—inexplicable; though the five Wisconsin governors prior to Walker issued more than 800 pardons combined.

Only Scott Walker has the power to to grant pardons.

Wisconsin Constitution [Article 5, (Section 6)] Pardoning power - "The governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses, except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper ... He shall annually communicate to the legislature each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon or reprieve, with his reasons for granting the same."

The point of this citation of the Wisconsin Constitution is to alert readers to an injustice, and get folks to act.

Eric Pizer wants to serve and protect with the Madison Police, we need him.

I think Eric Pizer is wrongfully convicted and in any event deserves justice, specifically a pardon.

Back in the 19th century, in England no less, correcting an injustice inflicted by the judiciary was seen as a moral imperative:

"There is no safe path for judges to tread but to ascertain the law to the best of their ability and to declare it according to their judgment; and if in any case the law appears to be too severe on individuals, to leave it to the Sovereign to exercise that prerogative of mercy which the Constitution has intrusted to the hands of the fittest to dispense it."
- 14 Q.B.D 273 (1884)

The "prerogative of mercy," don't turn away from this one, Governor Walker.

Veterans' Suicide Rate Triples

"At least 22 veterans commit suicide every day and young male veterans under the age of 30 are three times more likely to commit suicide when compared to civilian males in the same age bracket, according to a new briefing released (last week) by the Department of Veteran Affairs." 

That's the news from Esther Yu-Hsi Lee in ThinkProgress.

The Obama administration has ditched the imbecilic approach to veteran-troop-Marine suicide that, for example, was taken up by the Bush-Cheney bunch that blamed "erosion of adherence to existing ... policies and standards" as the culprit of combat veterans offing themselves.

One thing that doesn't help veterans is local overzealous district attorneys trying to pad their resumes over the lives of Marines and troops returning home and trying to repair their lives after war.

Screw veterans, says Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker.

Walker has plenty of company from the chicken-hawk-heavy Republican Party.

But then again if veterans are part of the "47 percent," I guess in the Republican mind, they get what they deserve.

Scott Walker Dishonors Marine; Betrays 1,000s of Imprisoned Innocents in Dereliction of Duty

Update II: Scott Walker's Contempt for Veterans Gets NYT Coverage

Update: Help to Pardon Eric Pizer.

Actively seeking out the Wrongfully Convicted should be the norm.

The governor's refusal to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons is disgraceful.

Scott Walker is tough. He won't be intimidated, ask him. Even Walker has admitted 1,000s of Wisconsin citizens with compelling cases of innocence remain behind bars, and Walker does nothing.

Unfortunately for one Eric Pizer, Scott Walker does not know the difference between obtuse and tough.

"Marine Corps combat veteran Eric Pizer of Madison has commendations and medals, but feels his professional future hinges on something that's out of his grasp, so far: a pardon from Governor Walker," notes WKOW.

Scott Walker said he will not issue pardons or commutations.

Maybe that's because Walker secretly doesn't like veterans.

Two longtime Walker aides and appointees—Tim Russell and Kevin  Kavanaugh—were appointed to non-profit veteran organizations meant for families of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, from which Russell and Kavanaugh looted $10,000s, took two tropical vacations and a trip to help organize the presidential campaign of Republican Herman Cain, veterans and their families be damned. (Hall. Wisconsin State Journal; January 22, 2013)

All the while the John Doe Probe I was conducted Walker denied wrongdoing, his surrogates attacked the probe, and Walker refused to issue a public call for cooperation. So Walker is showing his toughness by not granting pardons? And this guy wants to be president?

Eric Pizer needs a pardon from Walker for an after-bar fight that occurred in 2004 on military leave, in order to join the Madison Police Force nine years later.

Pizer, an actual, honorable Marine veteran, got into a fight and the responding cop decided not to just break it up and tell everyone to take a taxi home, but rather hand out battery arrests like they were X-mas presents.

Tony Galli WKOW TV (Madison) interviewed Walker and Walker's response is unbelievable.

Walker said since there are 1,000s of cases for pardons and commutations, it follows that not a single pardon and commutation should be granted.

Galli has a scoop here on Walker's foolish and unjust intransigence. Innocent people sitting in prison are losing their lives, and their families and friends suffer.

Walker's quote (from Galli) is: "If you pick one [to be pardoned] there's thousands of other examples out there of people who may not have the media or other outlets behind them, who would be in an equal position who probably have a compelling case to be made that we don't yet know about."

If people have compelling cases, and the Wisconsin Innocence Project, Innocence Consultants and other Innocence groups confirm this, then pardons and commutations should be granted.

But this should also be the business of government, in the interest of justice.

I can confirm compelling cases of innocents in Wisconsin prisons and jails that Walker doesn't yet know about:

• Innocent ex-Green Bay cop, John Maloney,
• Penny Brummer 
• Keith Roberts (veteran)
• Eric Pizer (veteran)
• Don Miller - " I want to single out the Innocence Project for what they did; they never gave up."
• Here's some reading for Scott Walker to bone up on the topic.

Funny, but I thought government is supposed to act in the interest of justice.

Scott Walker has shown his true colors, and he is not fit to breathe the same air as Marine, Pizer from whom Scott Walker should learn something about justice.