CLIMATE VOTERS NEEDED NOW
A recent news feed brought the likelihood that summer sea ice in the Arctic will be gone in 15 years. Almost a lifetime ago I remember reading dramatic, sometimes horrific, stories of hardy explorers trying to find the legendary Northwest Passage and the North Pole. These were the stories of men like Franklin, Nansen, Peary and many more who wrestled with blinding snow, frigid winds and treacherous ice sometimes struggling to their achingly cold deaths. Soon, I can almost see it now, someone will be the first to water ski the Arctic Ocean. What ...
UNDER PRESSURE: A CALL FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Vote as if your life depends on it because it literally might. This week, as a self-proclaimed pro-life nominee to the Supreme Court avoids answering questions about her past comments on the Affordable Care Act, I have had to begin taking medication for hypertension. I had low blood pressure for my entire adult life, but then Apollo Global Asset Management, while accepting half a billion dollars from the federal government according to a June 2nd article in Bloomberg, decided it would be to their financial advantage to downsize its Verso paper mills. The ...
HERCULES
It’s October already. Nights are getting longer. You don’t need to wait so long after supper to get out to star-gaze. When it’s dark enough and the skies are clear, you must go outside to see the stars. This month we are featuring the constellation Hercules, well-placed above the horizon in the western sky. There are many interesting things about this Constellation, but we’ll mention only a few highlights. Hercules is one of the strong men in Greek and Roman myth. Hercules was fathered by Zeus, the chief god and the mortal woman was ...
OUR DISABLED ECONOMY
Many people with disabilities have found it difficult to find work even though they are capable. Despite protections provided by legislation like the Americans With Disabilities Act the barriers to employment are often hard to spot. For example, many job applications ask the question, “Do you have reliable transportation?” If you answer “Yes” then they ask you for information about your vehicle or driver’s license. This discriminates against anyone who prefers to use public transportation, bicycles or walks to work, disabled or not. There ...
VOTE TO END ABORTIONS
We are fast approaching the November election and once again, abortion is a critical factor in choosing a candidate. In truth, no one wants to see an abortion. It is a tragic moment in any society. But if we genuinely wish to reduce abortions, we must remember – abortion is the terrible symptom. The cause is unintended, unwanted pregnancy. As always, the cause must be treated if we wish to eradicate the symptom. Unintended pregnancies, of course, give immediate rise to the common reaction - - “people shouldn’t have had sex, they should have ...
FACT OR FAKE
Our world is filled with misinformation. Here are non-partisan sites for you to check out what you read. AP Fact Check… The Associated Press website, an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting, founded in 1846. Fact Check …a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center Fact Tank: News in the Numbers…Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media ...
TRY WRITING A LIMERICK
How are you dealing with all of the stuff going on in your world right now?Have you tried writing a limerick?Here are some samples to get you going. A painter who came from Great BritainHailed a lady who sat with her knittin’.He remarked with a sigh,“that park bench—well, IJust painted it, right where you’re sittin.” There was an old monk from SiberiaWhose existence grew drearier and drearier.Till he broke from his cellAnd with a super-loud yellEloped with the Mother Superior....
HOW”DOING NOTHING” WORKS FOR POLITICIANS
While scrolling through social media recently, I saw someone ask, “Why hasn’t Governor Evers distributed funds from the Heroes Act?” Others jumped all over this comment, claiming the Governor failed because the Heroes Act wasn’t being implemented when it could be.The truth of the matter is the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act several months ago to provide more COVID-19 relief to states; but the U.S. Senate hasn’t taken any action on the bill. Governor Evers cannot take action on federal funding that hasn’t actually passed ...
COMPARING THE CANDIDATES
Northwest Wisconsin is again electing a Representative for the House of Representatives. This election has the same candidates as the special election in May. The difference now is we have the House voting record of Tom Tiffany over the last few months. This record along with the information from the candidates' campaign websites should be considered by voters. In a recent article Wisconsin Public Radio news says Tiffany is the most conservative of any of Wisconsin's Republican representatives based on this voting record. Looking at 72 roll call ...
MAKING AMERICA GREAT
We hear much today about “making America great,” and certainly we as a people should see this as an aspirational goal. But what does it mean to be “great?” And importantly, we must recognize there have been forces throughout history that are beyond the control of any individual, any country, and perhaps beyond the control of humanity itself. No nation is free of these evolutionary trends. Economically speaking, one of the leading indicators that a globally preeminent nation has reached its apex, is how it “earns” its living. Does the ...
