JULY EVENTS, YOU ARE INVITED
July 5…South African Choir Concert
6:30 p.m.
St. Andrew Church, 3200 North Mountain Road, Wausau
Phone 715-470-4555
Open to the public ….with free-will offering
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July 5….Drinking Liberally
Malarkey’s…..408 Third Street, Wausau, WI
5:30 – 7 p.m.
For more information wausau@drinkingliberally.org
DL is an informal inclusive progressive social group where you can hang out and relax.
D.L gives you a place to talk politics. This is not a book club.
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SACRED LAND, SACRED WATER
Even the casual follower on Facebook can’t miss the photos of the valiant walkers of “33 Days of The Evil Twin #66.” Many a Wisconsinite comes to walk for a day, learning and teaching others along the way about the evil of the twin #66 Enbridge pipeline. Lucrative to producers but costly and perilous to our environment.
Wisconsin is bisected by several pipelines operated by Enbridge, whose base is Calgary, Alberta (foreign oil). The current Enbridge 61 crosses 15 counties, from Superior to Delevan. That’s 321 miles! It removes almost 2000 acres from public ...
LOOKING FOR GUN SAFETY
I am looking at the photo in the Huffington Post of the tears being wiped away by Erica Smegielski, daughter of slain principal Dawn Hocksprung of Sandy Hook Elementary School, after hearing that once again the U.S. Senate chooses to do absolutely nothing about sensible gun legislation while 80% (different polls vary) of Americans support several forms of gun safety legislation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reaction-senate-gun-control_us_5768524ce4b0853f8bf1d738?section=
And yet, spineless Ron Johnson couldn’t stand up to the NRA and vote for gun safety ...
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XIV: THE FRIGHTENING PHILANTHROPIST
“Philanthropy, is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice that make philanthropy necessary.” - - Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Philanthropy in the United States is not just the voluntary activity of a donor. Philanthropy in general, including the work of foundations, is generously tax-subsidized. The assets transferred to a foundation by a donor are left untaxed in two respects: the donor makes the donation more or less tax-free, diminishing the tax burden she would face in the absence of the ...
The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness and the Rise of Scott Walker
The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness and the Rise of Scott Walker by UW-Madison Professor, Katherine Cramer Part 2
In Part 1, I summarized three themes people in the 39 rural groups spoke about: The role and size of government, taxes, and the animosity toward public sector employees. In Part 2, I will continue with the concerns of the rural people who were interviewed.
1. The need for good paying jobs. “[It’s a great place to live] if you like poverty.” Many people work two or more jobs while living in poverty. The mine was a contentious issue. ...
WEALTH AND MONEY, PART XIII: THE ROBBER BARON THEFT OF TECHNOLOGY
The investment - - and the enablement - - began 3.6 million years ago in Tanzania when two early humans stood upright and left the “Laetoli Footprints” in the wet volcanic ash. We do not know what these humans knew, but they had mastered enough of their environment to survive, because we are here today. We owe them a great debt.
A million years passed. Hammerstones and sharp stone cutting flakes were in use. Another million years passed and handaxes arrived. Hearths appeared 790,000 years ago. Humans had learned to control fire. Two hundred thousand years ago ...
THE PANAMA PAPERS
The leaker behind the recent Panama Papers scandal revealed thousands of shell companies the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca used to hide assets for 14,000-plus wealthy individuals and corporations. Of note: Not many Americans were listed in the leak.
In “Panama of the North,” Susan Harley of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division indicates the reason few Americans were listed: The US is already well-established as a tax haven. Most states, like Nevada, require less information to start a company than to get a library card, a driver’s license, or even a ...
Wisconsin Civil Service Reform Is Ill Advised
Wisconsin's current administration was elected on an agenda of creating jobs, cutting taxes, and fixing the budgets shortfalls. They have failed to produce on all three points. Wisconsin is still lagging behind most other states in job creation. Tax cuts for most citizens have been zero or very small while fees have increased. The state budget is still a problem.
They have succeeded in creating an avalanche of ill-advised public policy changes which have nothing to do with their original goals. They began with turning down federal dollars for high speed rail and ...
THE POLITICS OF RESENTMENT
Growing up during the 50’s and 60’s in a small community in far northern Wisconsin, I was considered a “country hick.” Within this tightly-knit community, we parceled ourselves out by the church we attended, the jobs our parents held, whether we were farmers or business owners. Some community members were considered “high toned.” This term was applied to people who wore nicer clothes and drove a nicer car than most, worked “in town” rather than farmed or did manual labor.
The people “in town” were known as “city slickers” because we felt they ...
FINALLY…A BREAK FOR WORKING PEOPLE
Near the turn of the century and into the 1930’s, in order to feed your family and put a roof over your head, workers had to endure six day workweeks, twelve hour work days and marginal time with their families. After decades of mistreatment, workers had enough. They formed unions and asserted their rights and dignity in the workplace. But the struggle for fairness and equality in the workplace did not end there and also continues to this day.
In 1938 labor unions were instrumental in getting Congress to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act which introduced the forty-h...
