Mark Green, our man in Washington

They say your life and property are never safe when Congress or the state lefislature is in session.

Look at how much damage Congressman Mark Green managed to do in a very short trip to Washington, as reported by Cory Liebmann of One Blog:

Mr. Green Goes to Washington (Votes Twice for Torture and Once to Disenfranchise)

Congressman Mark Green took a short break from campaigning and fundraising to go to Washington D.C. to vote on two very important items of interest. Whether the U.S. should unilaterally change the Geneva Convention meaning of torture and whether voters should have to show a photo ID when voting...

Congressman Mark Green is apparently so fond of torture that he voted for it on the House Judiciary Committee numerous times in only one day. The first time that the House Judiciary Committee voted on torture the President's proposal was defeated. Surprisingly three Republicans voted with all of the Democrats in rejecting the use of torture. Not Mark Green.

Not being happy with the result, Congressman F. Jim Sensenbrenner rounded up the two Republican members that were absent during the first vote and twisted the arm of a third and held what amounts to a do-over. With the second try the dictatorial Republicans were able to put their seal of approval on Bush's desire to dishonor our commitments to the Geneva Convention. So Congressman Mark Green showing that he will follow Bush to the end, followed through with a yes vote for torture twice in one day.

Then Congressman Mark Green stood on the House floor making the tired old claims of possible voter fraud in Wisconsin. By the way, what is it with the radical right wing and their constant bashing of our beloved state? First they bash our economy, then they accuse our largest city of being the "murder capital of the U.S." and now their accusing us of sponsoring voter fraud...

So it looks like Congressman Mark Green was a busy man yesterday. Even though the media has failed to ask him a few important questions regarding his opinion as a U.S. Congressman, he came through for Wisconsin voters yesterday and showed us two things. He is apparently for torture and for disenfranchising voters. I don't count either of those as Wisconsin values.

Here's what the NY Times had to say about the photo ID bill backed by Green:

Keep Away the Vote

One of the cornerstones of the Republican Party's strategy for winning elections these days is voter suppression, intentionally putting up barriers between eligible voters and the ballot box. The House of Representatives took a shameful step in this direction yesterday, voting largely along party lines for onerous new voter ID requirements. Laws of this kind are unconstitutional, as an array of courts have already held, and profoundly undemocratic. The Senate should not go along with this cynical, un-American electoral strategy.

The bill the House passed yesterday would require people to show photo ID to vote in 2008. Starting in 2010, that photo ID would have to be something like a passport, or an enhanced kind of driver's license or non-driver's identification, containing proof of citizenship. This is a level of identification that many Americans simply do not have.

The bill was sold as a means of deterring vote fraud, but that is a phony argument. There is no evidence that a significant number of people are showing up at the polls pretending to be other people, or that a significant number of noncitizens are voting.

Noncitizens, particularly undocumented ones, are so wary of getting into trouble with the law that it is hard to imagine them showing up in any numbers and trying to vote. The real threat of voter fraud on a large scale lies with electronic voting, a threat Congress has refused to do anything about.

The actual reason for this bill is the political calculus that certain kinds of people -- the poor, minorities, disabled people and the elderly -- are less likely to have valid ID. They are less likely to have cars, and therefore to have drivers' licenses. There are ways for nondrivers to get special ID cards, but the bill's supporters know that many people will not go to the effort if they don't need them to drive.

If this bill passed the Senate and became law, the electorate would likely become more middle-aged, whiter and richer -- and, its sponsors are anticipating, more Republican.

Court after court has held that voter ID laws of this kind are unconstitutional. This week, yet another judge in Georgia struck down that state's voter ID law.

Last week, a judge in Missouri held its voter ID law to be unconstitutional. Supporters of the House bill are no doubt hoping that they may get lucky, and that the current conservative Supreme Court might uphold their plan.

America has a proud tradition of opening up the franchise to new groups, notably women and blacks, who were once denied it. It is disgraceful that, for partisan political reasons, some people are trying to reverse the tide, and standing in the way of people who have every right to vote.

UPDATE: The new law would cost the states $11-billion. Any idea how Gov. Green would pay for it?