Free the Milwaukee 7

Remember the Milwaukee 14? In 1968, in the midst of anti-Vietnam war protests and resistance to the draft, 14 men -- including five priests and a minister -- broke in and burned the draft records and files at the Milwaukee draft board.

Or the Chicago 7? They began as the Chicago 8, charged with planning the demonstrations that disrupted the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. They became the Chicago 7 when Black Panther Bobby Seale was separated from the rest after the spectacle of seeing him shackled and gagged in the courtroom became too much for the system.

To that list we add the Milwaukee 7, which even has a logo. The Milwaukee 7 have nothing in common with either the Chicago 7 or the Milwaukee 14, but so what? I always like to sneak in a little People's History when I can.

Milwaukee 7, you see, is the lipstick the region plans to apply, in an attempt to pretty up what Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker called a pig. That brand and logo ought to do it, don't you think? I can see the industries lining up now. "Milwaukee 7, here we come."

Ya think?