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YOU ARE INVITED TO THE 21ST CENTURY WISCONSIN POLITICAL REFORM CHAUTAUQUA
Please join us at our Reform Chautauqua, Sept. 7-8 in Menomonie, Wisconsin.
Speakers include former Sen. Dale Schultz, Matt Rothschild of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Mike McCabe from Blue Jean Nation, Sachin Chheda on Fair Redistricting, Lena and Rich Eng from Unite America and George Penn with United To Amend.
Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/21st-century-wisconsin-political-reform-chautauqua-tickets-62148252095.
Are you a citizen activist, who fully understands that our democracy is corrupted and needs to be restored? ...
Homegrown Tomatoes
The best things in life are free. We went to the beach this week. The weather was perfect and the clean, clear water of Lake Superior was not too cold for swimming. I was reminded of how precious the lake is for all of us and how important it is to keep this resource pristine. A perfect summer day by the big lake is priceless.
Summer also brings good things from the garden. Rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, fresh peas, fresh greens, and vine ripened tomatoes that you can't buy in the store at any price. These aren't free. There is a lot of work that ...
OUR JOB AS CITIZENS
(Denele Campbell blogs from Arkansas. You can read her blog at www.denelecmpbell.org.)
As a nation operating under the concept of self-rule, we the people have to talk coherently about the issues. Mass shootings doesn’t solve our problems, but rather exemplifies our current failures as citizens. How did we get to this point?
Does the 2nd Amendment really grant the right to assault rifles and 100-round ammo clips? No, it does not. Nor do gun hoarders constitute a “well-regulated militia.”
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free ...
LIFE AFTER HATE
The Ninth Veninga Lecture will feature two unlikely friends - a former racist skinhead and a Sikh whose father was killed by a white supremacist in the Oak Creek Sikh Temple shooting in 2012.
Date: Monday, September 23
Time: 7-9 p.m.
NEW Location: Wausau East High School Auditorium
2607 N. 18th Street
Wausau, WI
FREE and open to the public
Arno Michaelis was a leader of a worldwide racist skinhead organization in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He turned his life around when those he had once professed to hate, including people who were Jewish, gay or black, ...
CHILD POVERTY IN WISCONSIN
Wisconsin has made little progress in reducing child poverty over the last two years, in spite of Wisconsin’s growing economy and record low unemployment rate, according to a report released earlier this week.
The eleventh annual Wisconsin Poverty Report shows that according to the Wisconsin Poverty Measure, Wisconsin’s child poverty rate in 2017 was 10.1%, virtually the same as it was in 2015. While higher earnings by parents led to a reduction in child poverty from 2016 -- from 12.0% to 10.1% -- this was offset by increased work-related costs and medical ...
GOOD AND BAD FORMS OF POPULISM
You hear of populist leaders all over the world. Some work for the common good. Some work for private agendas. How can they all be populists?
According to Luke Bretherton’s, book Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy, there are good and bad forms of populism. He uses two terms: democratic populist and the antipolitical populist.
The democratic populist works for the common good while the antipolitical populist rules by his own authority. The antipolitical populist throws out checks and balances in the government and ...
Historical Perspective on Iran
In the last several articles I wrote about our aggressive, militarized foreign policy and how it leads to conflicts and disastrous wars. The current saber rattling with Iran is a classic example. Over the last seven decades our belligerence and interference in the internal affairs of Iran are illustrative of the mistakes we have made all over the world. Knowing this history, it is not hard to understand why we are considered the “great Satan” by Iran.
This is all verifiable history – not ideological or political cherry picking. Since World War II the U.S. ...
Choosing a Better Way
“Alternatives to particular wars are almost never seriously sought and the idea that there might be an alternative to war itself almost never occurs to people”
“...in the 21st century it has become patently clear that making war does not create peace, as the case of the two Gulf Wars, the Afghan War, and the Syrian/ISIS war clearly demonstrate.”
“War is always a choice and it is always a bad choice.”
These quotes are from the World Beyond War (WBW) publication “A Global Security System: An Alternative to War.” This article continues our examina...
KEEP AREA TEENS SAFE
KEEP AREA TEENS SAFE (KATS) is a new agency in Wausau. It is a non-profit agency for runaway and homeless youth. KATS recently bought a house and is renovating it, expecting to provide services for youth ages 12-17. Opening date is 2020.
Women’s Community of Wausau and Warming Center offer services to people age eighteen and above. There has been no place for youth 12-17. KATS was formed to meet that need.
Young people in central Wisconsin are homeless for various reasons. They are at risk of being lost to human trafficking and beyond. These youth need a ...
JULY 2019 QUOTATIONS
“People were created to be loved. Things were made to be used. The world is in great chaos today because people are being used and things are being loved.”-- Damascus Road Project
“In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people. Yes we can!”--President Obama
“To be hopeful in ...