Ruminations on Mowing Grass
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Mathew 6:28 & 29
I thought of this the other day when I was mowing grass. The wood violets were in full bloom all over the yard. I paused to “consider” the wild flowers of the field. They don't have to toil. They just come up with the spring rains. Neither did I have to buy them, plant them, weed them, or all the rest of the work of making a garden. I had just helped my ...
WINNING IS THE ONLY THING
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo wrote an important post last week arguing that Voting Rights Defeatism is Toxic. It's his response to some of the ways people and pundits reacted to John Ossoff's loss in the Georgia special election. Complaining about voter suppression may provide some emotional balm. But "the simple fact is that Democrats or anyone who believes in voting rights will need to win elections under the current restrictive system to be able to change laws to change that system.
The fact that that is challenging and unfair doesn’t change the reality of ...
PROTECT OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
I believe public schools are the heart of our communities. Taxpayer-funded vouchers are quietly bleeding our public schools of much-needed funding. This school year, vouchers silently skimmed $245 million in taxpayer state aid away from our public schools.
School districts are being forced to pay for taxpayer vouchers in their districts. This year Marshfield paid $58,584, Merrill paid $175,752, Stevens Point paid $339,225 and Wausau paid $428,610 for private school tuition. The costs will be higher next year.
Eight-five percent of this year’s taxpayer vouchers went ...
LOVE WATER, NOT OIL
This year the 5th annual Love Water Not Oil tour includes stops and events along the Enbridge pipeline route in Wisconsin. There will be three featured musical performers and maybe as many as 40 horseback riders from around the country. The schedule outline is below and more detailed information can be found at http://www.honorearth.org/lwno2017
July 9th - Kick-off event in Madison, WI @Majestic Theater featuring Nahko, Annie Humphrey, Gingger Shankar
Purchase Tickets online and RSVP
Doors open @6PM - Show starts @7PM
$25 Advanced | $30 at the door
July 10th ...
CELEBRATING WISCONSIN’S DAIRYLAND
“Do you still milk?” I asked Jim at a recent gathering. “No,” he told me. “My son tells me the most help I can be is to stay out of the way,” he joked. We both agreed that was hard. Dairying gets in your blood.
June is dairy month. A time to celebrate all we love about ‘America’s Dairyland’ – home to 1.28 million dairy cows, which is more than one cow for every five Wisconsinites.
Reminiscing with an old dairy farmer, you realize the love of cows and farming never really goes away. The smell of newly mowed hay or the glistening dew on the field ...
Wausau Fair Maps Town Hall
On June 21st, the Citizen Action of WI North Central Organizing Co-op hosted Sachin Chheda with the WI Fair Elections Project. He brought Wendy Sue Johnson, a plaintiff in Whitford vs. Gill. They were joined by Hans Breitrnmoser, a Lincoln County Board Supervisor and North Central Organizing Co-op member who recently worked to pass a County resolution asking for non-partisan redistricting. Since that time, 18 other counties have passed similar resolution (Wood County started with the first resolution in 2014...all others came after Lincoln County).
Most recently, Katie ...
ACTION ALERT: June 26, 5pm, Thomas St. Public Information Meeting (Phase II)
Thomas Street Public Information Meeting, Monday, June 26, 5 to 6pm in City Hall Chambers at 407 Grant Street
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Public Information Packet from City (Plans and Input/Comment Form): http://www.ci.wausau.wi.us/Portals/0/Departments/Engineering/Documents/Thomas%20St%20-%20PIM%20Handout%20%206-26-17.pdf
March 2017 Emails Stating DOT Will Not Expand Bridge - Service Life Possible to 2056: http://thomasst.org/dot-states-no-thomas-street-bridge-expansion/
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Stop the unnecessary destruction of a working-class Wausau neighor...
Constitutional Roulette
The far right efforts to re-write the U.S. Constitution moved closer to happening this week. The Wisconsin Assembly passed several resolutions calling for a national constitutional convention. This highly risky proposal is unnecessary. It is a dangerous gamble with our democracy and current political system. And it is a con job designed to achieve an objective very different than claimed by its supporters.
Article V of the U.S. Constitution allows a convention for proposing amendments if two-thirds of the states (34) call for one. Amendments and other changes must be ...
DRINKING LIBERALLY IS ON JULY 11
DRINKING LIBERALLY IS ON JULY 11.
Please note the change of the date for Drinking Liberally.
Due to the 4th of July holiday being on our regular meeting time this month, we are going to postpone the July Drinking Liberally get together until the second Tuesday, July 11th.
This is a one-time change so that we all can celebrate with family and friends.
Join Drinking Liberally instead on Tuesday July 11th from 5:30 to 7 PM at Malarkey's. Hope to see you then and happy 4th!
Malarkey’s Pub is 408 Third Street, Wausau.
Phone: 715-819—3663
For more ...
QUOTATIONS
“May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please but as the opportunity to do what is right.” By Peter Marshall
Reclaiming This Nation Starts With Reclaiming Our Attention
"Obsessing over tweets doesn’t count as civic duty. It’s rubbernecking, not awareness building, and it’s making us feel more disconnected than ever before. Reclaiming this nation starts with reclaiming our attention, our daily media practices, our everyday conversations." By Courtney Martin
The Spirituality of the Ordinary Is Luminous
"Awe is such a quintessentially ...
