Politics


YOU NEED A PHOTO VOTER ID TO VOTE

I voted sticker
YOU NEED A PHOTO VOTER ID TO VOTE by Virginia Kirsch You need a photo ID to vote in Wisconsin elections. The Government Accountability Board of Wisconsin has a very handy, user-friendly website to help you with this process as well as many other details concerning elections. At myvote.wi.gov you can register to vote, check your voter registration status, find your polling place, see what's on your ballot, request an absentee ballot (military and permanent overseas voters only), and check provisional ballot status. The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the photo ID ...

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Imagining a Nuclear Free World

Nuclear cloud rising into the atomosphere over Hiroshima, Japan
Imagining a Nuclear Free World By Phil Anderson John Lennon's song “Imagine” asks us to “imagine all the people living life in peace.” What we imagine shapes the way we see the world and how we behave in the world. August 6th and August 9th are the 70th anniversaries of the U.S bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki using nuclear weapons. As we remember these tragedies, can we imagine a nuclear weapons free world? We created these weapons of mass destruction and are the only nation to ever use them against civilian targets. We should take responsibility ...

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Eminent Enbridge Domain

Pipeline being installed
Eminent Enbridge Domain by James Botsford Enbridge Pipeline Corporation is a multi-national corporation based in Canada. In the early days of the feeding frenzy created by the discovery of frackable oil in the Bakken oil fields of Western North Dakota, Enbridge moved in. They put on nice suits and went to visit with the kind and apparently trusting state government officials. I suppose they said they were world-wide experts in such matters and knew how to help North Dakota plan for the most efficient and expeditious way of capitalizing on this oil boom. That ...

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K-12 PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR ALL

Two students sitting at desks in a classroom
K-12 PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR ALL by Kathleen Michel of Grassroots Northshore In its hasty and irresponsible passage of an omnibus motion funding the Department of Public Instruction, the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee disavowed the constitutional commitment that every member of the state legislature has sworn an oath to uphold. This principle, that every child in Wisconsin has a 'fundamental right to an equal opportunity for a sound basic education,' is at the core of our state's best traditions and promises. Those who seek to undermine this moral and ...

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PREVAILING WAGE

Construction worker cutting metal
PREVAILING WAGE By Nancy Stencil Oh my, such the times we Wisconsinites are living in! Wages are stagnant and income equality is at an all-time high in America. I can't believe the attacks that Wisconsin Republicans snuck into the budget at the last minute…provisions that will lower wages for all of us and weaken our middle class. The prevailing wage bill failed to pass using the normal democratic process. Weakening the prevailing wage was slipped into the budget, just days before it was signed, in order to avoid public debate and scrutiny. Prevailing wage is a ...

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NO VOUCHERS COALITION

No Vouchers Coalition Logo
NO VOUCHERS COALITION From their Facebook page The grassroots group was founded by Pam Kobielus in July 2014 in response to the attacks on our quality public schools in Northern Wisconsin communities. In less than a year, the membership has grown, by word-of-mouth only, to more than 500 non-partisan public school parents and supporters. The group has grown so rapidly because members strongly oppose money taken off the top of local public school budgets. This costs $64 million annually. No Vouchers Coalition opposes the siphoning of public taxpayer money to subsid...

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So Enbridge Sued Us

Image of James Botsford and his wife
SO ENBRIDGE SUED US By James Botsford (Editor’s Note: James and Krista Botsford of Wausau, Wisconsin are being sued by Enbridge, a multi-national oil pipeline corporation based in Canada, over land in North Dakota that the Botsfords own.) One day around dinner time the phone rang and it was someone from a multi-national oil pipeline corporation telling me they wanted to run a 24-inch pipeline across our farmland capable of transporting 300,000 barrels of oil a day in order to get it to a seaport so it could be sold on the world market. I told them my wife and I ...

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Shrink the Pentagon’s Massive Contribution to Climate Change

Military Planes on Runway
Shrink the Pentagon's Massive Contribution to Climate Change by Lenore Hitchler (This article was first published in The Capital Times) Roads melting from a heatwave in India. Droughts. Floods in Bangladesh. Many scientists believe the dramatic increase in extreme weather is a result of global climate change. Pope Francis is particularly concerned about the ethics of not stopping global warming, as he discusses in his encyclical. A lot of talk about the causes of climate change emphasizes the contributions of individuals to the problem. The solutions to climate ...

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STOP Shopping Til THEY Drop! Family Values Weekend: A new tool for change.

Child Sitting in a Shopping Cart
STOP Shopping Til THEY Drop! Family Values Weekend: A new tool for change. By Philip Anderson Progressives are often frustrated by the overwhelming odds against building a better society. Money rules elections. Corporate lobbying trumps public opinion. Voters are apathetic and vote against their own interests. Crazy reactionaries succeed and common sense reforms go nowhere. We organize, march, write letters, contact our legislators, sign petitions, and advocate for the common good seemingly to no avail. Perhaps we need a new tool. A new protest that will demand ...

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Statement on the Proposed State Budget

Budget
Statement on the Proposed State Budget By Pete Flesch Crawford County Board Chair Despite the promised removal of language gutting Wisconsin's open records law, this proposed budget is still a disaster that deserves to be rejected. Here are some of the reasons why: Transportation Funding: A path to nowhere This budget does nothing to address sustainability of the transportation fund, where revenues continue to decline. Instead it puts half a billion dollars on the state's credit card and delays needed maintenance and repair. How far do you suppose that $5 of ...

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