Politics
Corporate Tax Dodger…Pfizer
This is the fifth in a series on corporate tax dodgers. These summaries are taken directly from the report on Corporate Tax Dodgers by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies
First you use research from the National Institutes of Health and major public universities, funded by average American taxpayers, to help develop your highly profitable prescription drugs. Then you spend millions of dollars on lobbyists to convince legislators to write laws forbidding the U.S. Government to seek competitive bids on drug prices, thus ensuring American ...
Unnecessary Plan to Decimate Thomas Street Neighborhood
The Wausau City Council will be meeting on July 8, 2014 at 7:00 PM, and Thomas Street is once again on the agenda. On June 12, 2014 the Capital Improvements and Street Maintenance Committee (CISM) voted to move ahead with widening the road. CISM voted to create a four-lane stretch of road into a two-lane bridge and will be recommending that the City Council vote to acquire about 50 properties along the Street, many of them homes of long time residents. The only apparent need for the acquisition of these properties is the eventual expansion of Thomas Street to four ...
Whose Freedom are we Celebrating?
WHOSE FREEDOM ARE WE CELEBRATING?
On our beautiful 4th of July weekend of parades, picnics and watermelon, I wondered what kind of freedom we were celebrating. There are two versions of freedom operating in our nation. One is the progressive view and the other is the conservative view. Each side thinks he is right and that the other will destroy our nation. For further reading on this subject, check out Bill Bishop’s THE BIG SORT.
I will refer to George Lakoff’s THE LITTLE BLUE BOOK, for the following insights:
Freedom, to the conservative, is based on a strict ...
The Soul of Wisconsin
“The Soul of Wisconsin is a sacred thing” is the way Marijane Curry begins her poem, Soul of Wisconsin.
Over the past three and a half years the “Soul of Wisconsin” has been trampled and broken by forces one can hardly comprehend. The “Soul of Wisconsin” has been “divided and conquered” by a governor and his billionaire friends.
Two of the governor’s “friends,” David and Charles Koch, are worth over $80 billion and have spent millions of dollars in Wisconsin to crush the “Soul of Wisconsin” by manipulating our governor to do their ...
Questions on Patriotism
Questions About Patriotism
Fourth of July celebrations get me thinking about patriotism and its role in our country. We are good at flag waving and platitudes. But our history shows we are not good at living up to our ideals. So patriotic holidays get me asking questions about what patriotism really means in America.
Why is patriotism considered the highest of virtues? Shouldn't we be more concerned about people? Shouldn't we love morality, justice, or tolerance more? Christ said we should love our neighbor, not our country.
Why is patriotism always expressed in ...
Concerns of Wisconsin Veterans
CONCERNS OF WISCONSIN VETERANS
Mary Burke (gubernatorial candidate) held a listening session in Wausau for Wisconsin veterans. This is what she heard.
The Director of DAV (Disabled American Veterans) spoke first. DAV works for high quality lives for veterans through advocacy. They meet with leaders at the state level as well as at the national level. They also give free assistance to vets. Last year, 25,000 rides were given to Wisconsin vets. DAV plans to hold a gubernatorial forum this fall and asked if Mary Burke would attend.
Janice, a veteran, spoke of the ...
Corporate Tax Dodger…General Electric
Corporate Tax Dodger . . . General Electric
This is the fourth in a series on corporate tax dodgers that will be presented over the next several weeks. These summaries are taken directly from the report on Corporate Tax Dodgers by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies
“Over the last 15 years, GE has spent more than $284 million lobbying Congress, an average of $100,000 every working day for the last decade and a half.”
Given that General Electric (GE) is one of the largest tax dodgers in America, it is a complete mockery of hardwo...
Wausau Move to Amend in the Wausau Daily Herald
A group of Wausau citizens are working to protect our democracy. They are looking to get the money out of politics and having our government more accountable to the citizens, not to whoever gives the most money. Super PACs and lobbyists are drowning out the ordinary person’s voice and putting our representatives in a difficult position. These representatives find it difficult to listen to the people when the “big” money speaks louder. With a Constitution amendment regulations again can be put on campaign finances and all citizens will have a voice.
Read ...
Move To Amend Comes To Wausau
Volunteers are knocking on doors this month in Wausau, asking people if they wish to sign a petition to bring a nonbinding resolution to the November 4 ballot. This resolution will call for a constitutional amendment stating that money is not speech.
Move to Amend seeks a 28th Amendment saying that corporations are not people and that money is not speech. In 2010 the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United which allows corporations to give unlimited amounts of money to politicians. This has made our democracy available to the highest bidder.
People across ...
We Are Not A People Divided
A version of this article was previously published in the Wausau Daily Herald
It is said that Americans are divided, that conservatives and progressives have irreconcilable differences represented by the Republican and Democratic parties. But perhaps a more accurate assessment is that we have been deliberately divided and are no longer represented by either political party. Perhaps we are not as divided as we think.
Conservatives and progressives alike feel anger for the looting of Americans that occurred in the bailout of Wall Street banks. We are united in ...
