Attached strings are bad. Unless they tie you where you already want to be.

You know how I have argued that our country does have an industrial plan, one that is commonly called the Military-Industrial Complex? The government dumps seemingly unlimited amount of money into selected projects. Defense companies make sure to spread the jobs created by defense contracts around, so members of Congress support those contracts in bipartisan fashion. And then we export things like jets–one of the few things we export anymore.

Only, if we allow defense contractors to use prison labor, then the whole scheme sort of breaks down.

This morning, it just so happens, there was a field hearing of the House Oversight Committee in Baltimore. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who represents the area, called the hearing, which featured the mayor of Baltimore and the Governor of Maryland, among others, to examine the foreclosure crisis and the abuse carried out by mortgage servicers. I got a chance to talk with the star witness yesterday.

I want to raise one question, both for the supporters of this policy and for those using this Gitmo 2.0 roll-out to discuss whether Obama, or Congress, deserves the blame for the fact that we haven’t closed Gitmo.

Why doesn’t this policy apply to detainees in Bagram and elsewhere?

Now, Sen. Bob Jauch (D) has delivered the hammer blow. Jauch, one of the Senate Democrats who has been involved in negotiations, released a long statement on his role in the talks, where he let slip that a half-dozen Republicans or more are wavering on the bill. Only three are needed to shift the advantage to Democrats.

When we last left Ohio, the state Senate had passed a bill, SB 5, that would severely restrict collective bargaining for all public employees, including police and fire. It would all impose criminal penalties for strike actions, and allow local officials to determine arbitration disputes rather than an independent third party.

At the time, there was credible speculation that the Ohio House, which has a 59-40 split for Republicans, would quickly take up and pass the same bill, moving it on to Governor John Kasich for signing. But a funny thing happened on the way to Columbus. The House Speaker, William Batchelder, announced hearings. The first occurs today, coinciding with Kasich’s State of the State Address. Labor groups have scheduled a rally at the state Capitol for later today. Thousands are expected to attend, though it may not be as large as the estimated 20,000 who protested SB 5 last week.

The first 7 hours of the Firedoglake Membership Program are a resounding success. So successful, in fact, that we’re starting a countdown to 100 members. Already 93 people have become annual recurring members of Firedoglake – if you haven’t joined yet, can you help us reach 100 and join now?

As Jane stated this morning, and Blue Texan reiterated this afternoon: we don’t have a sugar daddy to keep us going at FDL. Well, correction. We’re now lucky enough to have 93 sugar daddies, each contributing at least $45 a year to sustain the incredible work we do at FDL.

Gov. Scott Walker has been seeking a secular agenda of union-busting and selling off state-owned assets early in his first term as Governor of Wisconsin. But lurking behind that has apparently been a belief in divine inspiration.

The isolation and degradation of Bradley Manning by the Marine Corps penal authorities at the Quantico brig represents a significant acceleration of government torture policy, as it is meant, among other things, to further desensitize the U.S. population to the use of torture. Torture will be used on political dissidents in this country, that is clear now, and PFC Manning is the first, but there will be others.

Protesters converged on a town hall in Wauwatosa for Leah Vukmir, a Republican state Senator, leading to US Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who happened to be at the meeting, adjourning it as if it were a committee hearing, which it, um, wasn’t.