Politics
Options for Budget Solutions
Wisconsin Republicans claim that the state is broke and they have to make “hard choices” to balance the budget. They have no choice but to cut school funding and other social programs.
Whenever I hear someone say we have no options, I get suspicious. Either they don’t want to see options or they lack the ability to see alternatives. There are always options. Better, more creative leadership would “think outside the box” and provide a range of options to solve problems. If the Republicans would take off the ideological blinders they might see some of them. May ...
JUSTICE ANN WALSH BRADLEY
Incumbent Justice Ann Walsh Bradley faces challenger Rock County Circuit Judge James Daley for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat on April 7. A Richland Center native, Justice Bradley taught high school before earning a UW Law School degree. Prior to election to the Supreme Court in 1995, she served as a Marathon County Circuit Court Judge. She and her husband, Mark, raised four children in Wausau, where they still live.
During Justice Bradley's nearly 30 years on the bench, she has been recognized for her intelligence and integrity, earning a reputation for being tough, ...
CONGRESSMEN DAVE OBEY AND TOM PETRI
Retired Congressmen Dave Obey and Tom Petri have been friends for over 30 years. In the past, friendships were formed with representatives across the aisle. This civility and bipartisanship led to needed compromises to legislate on behalf of us, the citizens of the United States.
Congressmen Obey and Petri want to renew the spirit of bipartisanship and civility through a series of lectures held at Wisconsin campuses. Through this lecture series, Obey and Petri hope to encourage college students and all citizens to renew their commitment to actively engage in the ...
Farmers say Budget Damages Farm Research, Schools and Conservation Input – By State Senator Kathleen Vinehout
“It’s very important that we are here today,” the farmer from Independence told me. “In fact, it’s more important that we be here than anywhere else.” Here was in my Capitol office. Local farmers were visiting as part of Ag Day at the Capitol.
The weather that day was dry and warm. It was perfect for getting early spring chores done. Instead, these farmers drove hundreds of miles to meet with their legislators.
They were on a mission to change parts of the state budget that hurt rural communities. The first thing on their mind – in every group that ...
Corporate Colonization of Wisconsin, Part IV — The Dutch East India Company and the Koch Wisconsin Company
This is the fourth in a series of articles by Dr. Keith Roberts discussing the corporate colonization of the state of Wisconsin. In this segment Dr. Roberts compares the actions taken by the Dutch East India Company in the1600’s to the tactics currently being used by Governor Scott Walker and the various Koch Corporations in Wisconsin. Previous articles in this series can be found archived under the author’s name.
Over the past several years I have had the privilege of visiting Indonesia for extended periods on five different occasions. As a professional, I made it ...
Don’t Let Wisconsin Voters Become an Endangered Species!
You and I are facing the loss of our vote. Tuesday, April 7th may be the last time ordinary citizens, like us, get a chance to vote for a Chief Justice for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. Wisconsin’s governing leadership is seeking to change over 100 years of Wisconsin tradition.
Historically, voters have elected Supreme Court Justices for 10 year terms. The most senior Justice served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. A Constitutional Amendment, on the April 7th ballot, would eliminate the selection of the Chief Justice by voters and turn the selection over to ...
FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF “SELMA-MONTGOMERY MARCH”
Rev. Janet Wolfe, a retired Presbyterian pastor in Marshfield, Wisconsin, commemorated the 50th anniversary of her participation in the Civil Rights movement.
Fifty years ago, Rev. Wolfe was a student at U of Colorado in Boulder. She boarded a bus with 32 others and headed for Alabama.
She attended the last day of the Selma-Montgomery March on March 25, 1965. Fortunately, she recorded her experiences and here is an excerpt:
“After wading in a mixture of mud, rain, and old orange peels for 5 ½ hours, we began marching through the Negro section. The spectators ...
Divide and Conquer Works in Wisconsin
This week Wisconsin became a right to work state. This was a “given” when reactionary Republicans took control of state government.
Legislation to eliminate prevailing wages is next. These laws require public contractors to compete by having better management or efficiency, not just lower wages. This is another attack on unions and the public good.
Ironically, this week the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a campaign finance reform advocacy group, released figures on union contributions to Governor Walker. Unions representing engineers, police, firefighters, ...
MOVE TO AMEND
In January, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United vs FEC (Federal Election Commission). This devastating ruling says that money is free speech and allows the incredibly rich to flood our elections with unlimited “big money” and “dark money” through the use of Super PACs (Political Action Committee). No longer are there any restrictions on how much money is put into our elections or which representative can be elected with millions of dollars. With Super PACs no one knows where the money is coming from, or going to. It is untraceable. These funds ...
MIDDLE WISCONSIN FROM BEND, OREGON
Middle Wisconsin has always been a state of mind, not a location. The values of fairness, respect, and community are universal. They live in the heart of caring, concerned citizens throughout America, throughout the world. The following letter from Baruch Zeichner of Bend, Oregon, verbalizes what many of us fear, what many of us know, but have hesitated to say.
Follow Baruch on his Podcast at http://paradigms.bz/ on http://wbkm.org/ radio, and visit his Blog at http://baruchzedblog.blogspot.com/
“We are now literally dismantling the state government, and people ...
