Government
The Pride of Wisconsin’s Fathers
On this Sunday, June 19th, also known as Juneteenth and Father’s Day, it is worth remembering how Wisconsin's fathers played a role in the abolitionist movement, and how the pride of fatherhood and family propelled the progressive and labor movements in our state.
As many Wisconsinites know, the Republican Party was formed in 1854 in the small town of Ripon by a bunch of egalitarian Scandinavians who were super angry at how the fugitive slave act allowed southern slave owners and their hired bounty hunters to come into our state and force escaped slaves ...
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 ...
Supreme Politics
The recent big news story is the Supreme Court's leaked draft of the upcoming decision to overturn Roe vs Wade. This should be no surprise. It has long been expected.
Obama was outrageously denied an appointment and Trump made three appointments to the Court. These three judges were deliberately chosen for their opposition to abortion and their extreme positions on other issues. The current Supreme Court is a glaring example of a “packed” court dominated by extreme right wing ideologues. These judges are not impartial arbiters of the law.
Jim Hightower devoted ...
Retirement Issues and WI Candidates: U.S. Senate and WI Treasurer
For Immediate Release:
June 13, 2022
POWRS Steering Committee, Philip Anderson, powerswi@gmail.com
Retirement Issues and WI Candidates: U.S. Senate and WI Treasurer
To better inform Wisconsin voters, Protect Our Wisconsin Retirement Security (POWRS) surveyed the U.S. Senate candidates on retirement, Social Security and Medicare issues. We sent the survey to all the declared Democratic candidates and to the Republican incumbent.
We only received replies from four Democratic candidates: Mandela Barnes, Sarah Godlewski, Alex Lasry, and Tom Nelson.
POWRS ...
Comparing the U.S. Senate Candidates on Retirement Issues
Wisconsin – and the nation – is facing a retirement security crisis. Many people will have inadequate income for a secure retirement. Many will only have Social Security to live on. Many will not be able to “retire” at all. Over 400,000 seniors in Wisconsin will be living in poverty by 2030. As a result, Wisconsin will need to spend an additional $3.5 billion on public assistance programs.
These problems are not self-correcting and won't be fixed by free market “solutions.” Government must act to address the retirement crisis. This includes consolidating and ...
Poor People’s Campaign rallies to Washington D.C.
We will have a full story in our next edition of Middle Wisconsin.
In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. organized low-income Americans of different backgrounds in a march on Washington known as the "Poor People's Campaign."
Over fifty-years later, thousands of protesters gathered Saturday to deliver that same message at the Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls.
The rally urged low-income voters to participate in the upcoming midterm elections and featured religious organizations, pro-democracy groups, labor ...
Down Ballot Wisconsin Elections
Voters also need to pay attention to the “down ballot” statewide offices. In Wisconsin, the Attorney General, State Treasurer and Secretary or State are independently elected offices. The Attorney General is obviously an important office and gets some voter attention. But most people know nothing about the other two. This year ignoring these obscure offices could have serious ramifications. Republicans have spent years weakening and underfunding all three of the these elected offices. This has included trying to abolish both the Treasurer and Secretary of State ...
New Thinking Needed – Not More Pentagon Spending
In our country the endless increases in military spending are only matched by an equally endless propensity for wars and military conflicts.
Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget proposes $813 billion for the Pentagon. This is a 4% increase over the bloated $782 billion approved by Congress for 2022 – which was a 5.6% increase from 2021. Every year “defense” spending increases. It makes no difference which party is in control. It doesn't matter what the the real threats are to the country. It makes no difference how much of this money is unaccounted for, lost to ...
The Fruits of Faulty Judgment
“I'm just a miner in the mother lode of misery, where the fruits of faulty judgment meet the spoils of bad luck.” From the song “King of Junk” by Eddy Lawrence
This humorous song is about a junk yard owner who's good fortune is the result of others' faulty judgment and bad luck. He finds a “hidden trove of riches mid the mangled and the maimed” wreckage of cars.
I like the poetry of the song. To me it speaks (out of context) to much of the current craziness in our society. Politics has always been ugly and partisan. But the angry divisions are getting ...
Mother’s Day for Peace
War kills. Mostly it kills innocent people – women, children, the elderly and other non-combatants. War destroys. War destroys nations, economies, and the environment.
War does not resolve conflicts. It exacerbates social and political problems. War is a choice and it is always a bad choice,
War is failure. Wars result from the failure of national leaders to find peaceful solutions to conflicts.
The war in Ukraine is a senseless tragedy. This war could have been prevented. If the politicians had been willing to compromise, the diplomats more aggressive in ...