As the only U.S. Senator to vote against sending more troops to Afghanistan, Russ Feingold is standing firm. The Wisconsin Democrat was one of the early voices in Washington to criticize the idea, and he continues to support a targeted approach to tackling terror.

“What we want to do, according to the president and everybody else is go after Al Quada,” Feingold told WIBA Thursday. “So recently what we did is, we figured out for example in Somalia where one of these Al Quada guys was, and we dropped a 500 bomb on him. On him, not on the entire populace, not on the entire country we didn’t send in 50,000 troops.”

The top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan has been calling for more troops since August. A request that Feingold is hoping the President does not honor. “I think that the president is making a mistake by going along with military advisors, thinking that a huge military buildup in Afghanistan will make us safer,” said Feingold. “I don’t agree.” Roughly 60,000 service men and women are serving in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal says 45-thousand more are needed to defeat Taliban and stabilize the country.

“We’re not invading the Philippines, we’re not invading Indonesia, we’re not invading Yeman, but we’re still having some success going after Al Quada, in fact more success under President Obama than under President Bush,” Feingold said. “There’s more specific focus on the real enemy here.” Now, it appears the president and fellow Democrats have joined Feingold in reexamining a proposed Afghan surge. [Read more...]

President Barack Obama has nominated former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis B. Butler, Jr., to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Wisconsin. If confirmed by the Senate, Butler would succeed retired federal Judge John C. Shabaz.

Governor Jim Doyle appointed Butler as a justice on the state Supreme Court in 2004. He lost his bid to be elected to the court in April 2008, to Judge Michael Gableman. That race featured a controversial campaign ad, in which Gableman claimed that Butler found a loophole when he served as a public defender, to free a rapist who went on to molest another child. What the ad didn’t say was that the Supreme Court overturned the acquittal, and the rapist committed his next crime after he was paroled. Last month, a three judge panel heard arguments on whether a Gableman campaign ad violated the state judicial code. If the panel rules Gableman did violate the code, they would then forward a recommendation on to the remaining members of the state Supreme Court. Justices could then decide if Gableman should be reprimanded, removed from the bench, or face other disciplinary action.

In September 2008, Governor Jim Doyle appointed Butler to will serve a two-year stint as Justice in Residence at UW Law School, teaching courses in criminal law, appellate advocacy and legal process. Butler has also worked with students and faculty in the law school’s moot court and clinical programs. Butler earned his law degree at UW Law School in 1977, worked in the state public defender's office from 1979-92, and was appointed as a judge on the city of Milwaukee Municipal Court in 1992. He served there for 10 years before his election as a Milwaukee County circuit court judge in 2002.