ALLOW ALL IMMIGRANTS ACCESS TO DRIVER LICENSES
Can you imagine living in Wisconsin without a driver’s license? There are Wisconsin residents who happen to be undocumented immigrants. They have families and many of them are employed. Yet they cannot operate a vehicle on Wisconsin roads.An estimated 32,000 Wisconsin residents are undocumented and therefore cannot get a Wisconsin driver’s license. Of the residents who would get licenses, 14,000 live with children and would be able to better care and provide for them.22,000 residents who would get driver licenses are employed and would be able to get to work more ...
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 pursues ...
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. has ...
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 examination of ...
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 structu...
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 bad ...
WHERE’S THE COMPASSION FOR DAIRY FARMERS?
You rarely hear complaints from farmers about their job because they love what they do, but you will hear an earful about the weather, milk prices and the occasional tractor breakdown. June is Dairy Month. There is no better time to recognize the work dairy farmers do and the challenges they face.Farmers need to be expert mechanics, scientists, business owners and creative geniuses to make a farm thrive. Factors beyond their control make even the smartest or the hardest working farmers face bankruptcy.Farmers have seen glorious and terrible times throughout our ...
LISTEN TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE
Today, we are out on the streets again, in huge numbers, in 128 countries, at over 1700 events, demanding that governments immediately provide a safe pathway to stay below 1.5 degrees of warming. We spent weeks and months preparing this day. We spent uncountable hours organizing and mobilizing when we could have just hung out with our friends or studied for school.We, children and students, don’t feel like we have a choice: it’s been years of talking, countless negotiations, empty deals on climate change, fossil fuel companies being given free ...
An Alternative to War
“Thinking that war is inevitable makes it so; it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.” “Thinking that ending war is possible opens the door to constructive work on an actual peace system.”“There is more peace in the world than war. It is not inevitable. We have a record of doing things differently. We have changed in the past and we can do more in the future.”Most people think world peace is a Utopian pipe dream. Humans are the killer ape. War is as old as humans and it isn't about to go away. We live in a dangerous world and must rely on a strong military to ...
US- CHINA TRADE TENSIONS? WHAT’s at stake for Central Wisconsin’s Agriculture?
With the U.S. imposing billions of dollars of new tariffs on Chinese imports and Beijing retaliating with tariff increases on June 1 on $60 billion worth of goods, largely agricultural, what will be the fallout in central Wisconsin?A free public forum on June 18 will address the many areas impacted by the tariffs, including ginseng, dairy, corn and soybeans. Facing millions of dollars in lost revenue, what can these producers do to stay in business?WIPPS is partnering with UW-Madison Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) to launch its inaugural “East Asia Now” ...
