SEND THEM BACK TO KINDERGARTEN

“They hurt people.” This was my friend's comment a few years ago about reactionary Republicans. My friend isn't a liberal activist. Although he votes, he isn't political or opinionated in any significant way. He is a small business owner, husband, and father busy supporting his family and being a good neighbor. But I was impressed with his simple, but accurate, summary of the impact of conservative ideology. I am reminded of John McCutcheon's song “The Kindergarten Wall.” This happy little song talks about what we all should have learned in kindergarten. Many ...

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Real Solutions for Budget Problems

The Wisconsin state budget is short-sighted with politically motivated band-aids being proposed. Real, long term, sustainable budget solutions are possible. Wisconsin doesn't have to go through these battles every two years. But this would require real leadership and a willingness to address the actual causes of the fiscal problems. For too many years the state budget problems have been kicked down the road by both parties. No one wants to address the simple fact that essential public services (sewers, water, law enforcement, courts, roads, schools, and necessary ...

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State Self-Insurance: Needlessly Risky and Less Competitive

by Protect Our Wisconsin Retirement Security (POWRS) On Feb. 8th, the Group Insurance Board (GIB) announced that the State would create a self-insurance plan for public employees which could "save" $60 million over two years and deliver health insurance through "regionalization". The 16-member, Joint Finance Committee (JFC) will approve or reject this plan, possibly in April. To understand what is at stake, we first need to look at the current group health plan. Wisconsin has been a leader in the delivery of lower-cost, group health insurance. For nearly 30 years, ...

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TAX GIVEAWAY FOR THE RICH

The House Republicans, under Representative Paul Ryan's leadership, recently attempted to quickly push their bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), through congressional committees to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Only two days after the AHCA was unveiled, House Committees were voting on it, before the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) even had a chance to release a report analyzing the bill's projected effect on consumers, health care providers, insurance companies, and the federal budget. Joe Baker of the Medicare Rights Center (MRC), is troubled by ...

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VOTE

IMPORTANT ELECTION ON TUESDAY, APRIL 4 VOTE FOR STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS VOTE FOR LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR I.D. EARLY VOTING IN YOUR LOCAL CLERK'S OFFICE. EARLY VOTING: March 20 - 25 and March 27-31.

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YOUNG AND OLD

march
Young and old, women and men joined together on the 400 Block in the center of downtown Wausau, March 4th, to raise awareness of the issues confronting us as a “people” living on planet earth. The March was organized by Women for Women of Marathon County. We opened with The Pledge of Allegiance and This Land is Your Land. We closed as one united people singing This Land Is Your Land. Here are comments from “we the people” who stand united and want a more just and healthier world to leave to our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Each person I ...

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Signs of the Times: Wausau Women’s International Day March Gallery

Click image below to enlarge. Photo gallery of the Women For Women march on Saturday, March 4th in Wausau, WI.

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CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC

Crossing Borders Music Session
Tom Clowes has been teaching cello and Western-style music in Haitian summer music camps since 2000. Over the years, he witnessed a country nothing like the Haiti he saw in the media – a country rich in art, language, culture, religion, history, storytelling, and music. One of the biggest surprises was discovering a 130-year-old classical music composition tradition virtually unknown to all but a handful of scholars, even among Haitians. Clowes was captivated by it. So, he started putting on concert programs in the US so others could enjoy this largely ...

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A WAY OUT OF NO WAY

“A Way Out of No Way: Women, Labor, and Justice Today” was the theme for The 17th Annual Faith-Labor Breakfast of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of South Central Wisconsin, February 13th, at the Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison. The meeting opened with a Responsive Prayer For Justice. Pray for those who are hungry. Pray harder for those who will not feed them. Pray for those who struggle each week to pay their bills. Pray harder for the wealthy who do not care. Pray for those who are homeless. Pray harder for those who deny them shelter. ...

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SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a ...

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