Wisconsin Domestic Partnerships upheld

A judge in Wisconsin ruled yesterday that domestic partnerships are not substantially similar to marriages, thus meaning the partnerships do not violate the state's 2006 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Judge Daniel Moeser made it clear that domestic partnerships don’t come close:
The state does not recognize domestic partnership in a way that even remotely resembles how the state recognizes marriage. Moreover, domestic partners have far fewer legal rights, duties, and liabilities in comparison to the legal rights, duties, and liabilities of spouses.

Wisconsin’s domestic partnerships allow same-sex couples to visit each other in hospitals, make end-of-life decisions, and inherit each other’s property. The partnerships do not guarantee any ability to share benefits, and same-sex couples still don’t have the right to adopt.

Wisconsin Anti-Union Law Struck Down By County Circuit Judge

Gov. Walker

From Huffpost Politics: A Wisconsin judge has struck down a law taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most state workers.

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled Thursday that Republican legislators violated Wisconsin's open meetings law during the run up to passage. She says that renders the law void.

The law pushed by Gov. Scott Walker takes away all bargaining rights except over base salary for teachers and other public workers.

The decision is not the end of the legal fight. The state Supreme Court has scheduled arguments for June 6 to determine whether it will take the same case.

Lawmakers could also pass the law again in order to nullify open meeting concerns that led to the judge's ruling Thursday.

Wisconsin Gov. says domestic partnership law unconstitutional

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has decided to stop defending a new domestic partnership registry law that gives same-sex couples a handful of the rights granted to married couples, but that Walker and others believe violates the state constitution.

The Journal Sentinel reports on the motion from Walker against the law, which Democrats adopted in 2009 when they controlled the legislature. Opponents have challenged the law in Dane County circuit court as a violation of the state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2006 that bans same-sex marriages and, they argue, any substantially similar arrangement.

When Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen refused to defend the domestic partnership registries, former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat replaced by Walker in January, hired an attorney to defend the state.

"Governor Walker, in deference to the legal opinion of the attorney general that the domestic partner registry...is unconstitutional, does not believe the public interest requires a continued defense of this law," says the brief.

The state supreme court refused to hear a lawsuit filed against the registries in 2009, which led opponents to the district court.

According to the Journal Sentinel, “Even if Walker is allowed to withdraw from the case, the law would still be defended in court because gay rights group Fair Wisconsin intervened in the case last year.”

Around 1,500 same-sex couples have signed up for the registries that, according to the Journal Sentinel, “allow same-sex couples to take family and medical leave to care for a seriously ill partner, make end-of-life decisions and have hospital visitation rights. But according to Fair Wisconsin, they still confer only about a quarter of the rights associated with marriage, lacking provisions to allow couples to file joint tax returns or adopt children together."

This governor continues to make anti-social, mean spirited decisions that can only be viewed as pandering to a far-right crowd. Just sad. He fights to take away labor rights and now he fights to take away a handful of rights for the LGBT community.

Just sad.

Fox News uses fake video to show "violence" in Wisconsin

TalkingPointsMemo points out that Fox News is using clips from a violent rally in Sacramento California when talking about the Wisconsin Union Protest. Just another blip in the long line of ethical violations Fox has to its name. Watch the video above.

Notice the B-roll footage in the background at the 1:42 point in the clip, complete with the calming backdrop of palm trees and… wait, there are palm trees in Madison, Wisconsin?

No there are not. But that’s because the footage comes from a solidarity protest in Sacramento, CA. Conservatives thought they’d found the clip that could undermine the entire pro-union movement.

Surprisingly, Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fair and balanced kids, fair and balanced.

Majority of Americans support bargaining rights

In a poll released today in USA Today, a strong majority - 61% of those polled - support Americans right to collective bargaining.

For eight days now, the country has focused on the fight happening in Wisconsin where Gov. Scott Walker has urged passing a bill stripping workers of their right to collective bargaining. In response to that, 14 state senators have left the state leaving the senate without a quorum to pass legislation.

While Walker contends that ending collective bargaining will help balance the budget, union negotiators say they have already agreed to the concessions originally sought by the Governor. State Democrats say the Governor is pursuing this legislation in an effort to "break" the unions due to the traditional union support for Democrats.

Similar protests have broken out in Indiana and other states. Union workers across the nation have organized protests in their own state to show support for Wisconsin union members.

Why Wis. Gov. Walker is working to break the unions

Ok, so I usually hate long videos on the internet, but this is actually very straight forward and explains things in a very easy to understand way.

Rachel Maddow takes facts and shows why the governor of Wisconsin, who got all the financial concessions he wanted, still wants to strip Wisconsin union workers of their rights of collective bargaining.

Basically it goes like this: get rid of unions, fewer Democrats, fewer Democrats to win elections.

By the way, he apparently tried a similar tactic earlier in his career firing union security guards and then hired a private security company. A company with a history of partying on the job in Iraq. The security "chief" hired in that instance in Wisconsin had a police record including jail time. And in the end, the move didn't save nearly as much money as promised by Walker.

It's a very interesting explanation. Watch.