Ron Johnson’s Ads Are Ridiculous

I normally do not watch much television but will tune in to CBS Sunday Morning. Most of the time, I am blissfully spared the ridiculous political adverts that are known to cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and high blood pressure; all things I could do without. This last Sunday morning, I tuned in early to watch a bit of fluff known as local news coverage; basically, sports and weather. A lot of people running for office look to buy up time during local news programming, and none are taking up more air than Ron Johnson. It is laughable that he is trying to run as a Washington outsider as he has been in Washington for more than a decade, ...

REDISTRICTING OFFERS OPPORTUNITY TO UNITE

With so much attention devoted to the presidential election, an equally important story has gotten lost in the shuffle. State GOP leaders saw the possibility to gain a super majority in the state assembly and senate, something that would have granted Republican legislators the ability to override the veto power of our governor. As it turns out, this didn’t happen. All of the attempts at cheating just didn’t payoff for state Republicans. Somehow, despite all of the gerrymandering that happened following the 2010 Census, Democrats were able to make some small gains. But it is important to note: as long as redistricting is left ...

EARTH DAY IS EVERY DAY

Art by Jennifer Dolan It’s 2020. This year marks 100 years that women have had the vote in the United States. It also marks the 50th Earth Day, and this woman voter who was born on Earth Day has a few things to say about that. On April 22nd, 1970, former US Senator and Governor of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson organized a teach-in about environmental issues that was the first Earth Day. Nelson planted the seeds for so much environmental policy and activism, as did John Muir and Aldo Leopold. Environmentalism has so many of its roots in the state of Wisconsin, and if you ever spent a day hiking in one of our state parks, or ...

EVERY LIFE IS IMPORTANT

I’m pro-life. I believe that every life is important. That means that a 22-year-old does not have any more right to a ventilator than a 77-year-old. That means that life is more important than the stock market. That means that the life of a banker is not worth more than the life of someone with an intellectual disability. If a person is really pro-life, then they believe that every person has a right to receive adequate healthcare. So many people who have described themselves as pro-life in the past are now calling for medical rationing during the Covid-19 pandemic. These people should no longer be viewed as pro-life. They probably ...

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AND THE CORONAVIRUS

Image by Jen Dolan March is MS Awareness Month, but for those of us with multiple sclerosis, we just want people to be aware that we exist. I have MS, and I often feel forgotten. I have family members with MS who feel forgotten too. It doesn’t just start when a diagnosis is given. Most other MS sufferers I know received a diagnosis when they were still highly functional. I envy those people because they had the opportunity to seek treatment early on. Some are still able to work. I wasn’t so lucky. I was misdiagnosed for over a decade, being sent to one rheumatologist after another. No two could agree on a diagnosis, yet ...

I AM SO GLAD WE HAD THIS TIME TOGETHER

When I was a kid, our influencers were people we knew. We didn’t just see them on a video, we saw them in real life. Not to say that there weren’t celebrities that we admired, but the people we tended to emulate were those whom we had regular interactions with. That included teachers, and maybe that one special school principal. “You can remember the difference between principle and principal, because one is your ‘pal.’” That was one of the mnemonic devices I learned while attending Grove Elementary. It might not have stuck with me if Yvonne Ellie had not been the principal. She really was a pal to all of us kids. ...