A Liberal Lives In Wisconsin

       On June 24th, 1998, Bill Clinton signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, which made it a federal offense punishable by two years in prison (with extensive fines and reparations) for parents to move to a different state to avoid paying child support. This built on a series of actions Clinton took to improve the quality of life for America's children.      Dealing specifically with child support, on February 27th, 1995, Clinton signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice to expand its child support collection programs, doubling collection of child support from $8 billion in 1992 to $16 billion in 2000 and providing much-needed support for families across America.

     Lyndon Johnson, a former educator who pioneered modern liberalism as president with landmark education, racial justice, immigration, gun control, environmental, and poverty relief legislation, would deserve a spot as among the greatest presidents in history if only remembered for his legacy regarding the elderly.      Aside from passing the Older Americans Act and the Social Security Act creating Medicare and Medicaid, he secured landmark civil rights legislation with the Age Discrimination In Employment Act. Signed on December 15th, 1967, and effective June 15th, 1968, the law banned companies from firing employees over the age of 40 because of their advanced or perceived advanced age. This law went into effect 55 years ago today and was a major victory for the United States in terms of inclusiveness and workplace efficiency.

     On June 10th, 1963, President John F. Kennedy made history with the signing of the Equal Pay Act, which recognized that women at the time were being paid 61 cents for every dollar a man made and set about aiding the American economy and its women by ending this gap.      Did it ultimately end the wage gap? No. Women today make 82 cents for every dollar a man makes. However, this was the first time female workers being discriminated against had the government on their side, and it paved the way for all the landmark progress that followed, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, the first law signed by President Obama and one that expanded the legal recourse for women.      The pay gap has been reduced by nearly 60 percent over the course of 60 years, and today is a day to remember the progress that has been made and continue to take action until this gross injustice is nothing more than a piece of history.

     Today marks a grim anniversary in Wisconsin state history. 16 years ago, on June 9th, 2007, Delavan, Wisconsin, a town of 8,000 more than 40 miles southwest of Milwaukee, became the site of an unspeakable tragedy.       On that moderate late spring-early summer day, Ambrosio Analco's perverse sense of what being a human being is about showed its true colors. An alcoholic, Analco had a long history of abusing his girlfriend, Nicole McAffee, going through her mail in a futile search of evidence of infidelity and even driving her to a graveyard with a gun in his hand and telling her to run.       In June 2007, he murdered not only McAffee, but her sister, Ashley Huerta; the twin sons he and McAffee had; and a friend who was visiting their apartment. He shot their ONE-YEAR-OLD daughter in the chest in an obvious attempt to kill her, but, fortunately (although how she feels about it as a 17-year-old young woman who has carried this trauma for her entire life could be different), sh