CAFO Alternatives and Solutions

Huge factory farm operations called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are growing in number. The advocates for CAFOs claim they are a necessary, more efficient way to produce cheap food. But is this true? Are there economical alternatives to industrial agriculture? Opponents to CAFOs, backed up by a growing body of research, say there are better ways to economically raise meat. CAFOs are not the inevitable result of market forces. Alternative production methods can be economically efficient and technologically sophisticated, and can deliver abundant animal ...

How Would You Spend $1 Trillion Dollars?

How Would You Spend $1 Trillion Dollars? It is tax time again. Where do your taxes go? Would you rather see your tax dollars spent better? If you could be in charge, how would you spend $1 trillion? Budgets are about choices. It is about choosing what you can do, or not do, with limited resources. Congress sets spending priorities each year in the Federal “discretionary” budget. They decide whether to spend more on education or tax breaks, cancer research or food stamps, space exploration or housing assistance, diplomacy or bombs. The Federal budget ...

WEALTH AND MONEY PART IX: FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING AND THE FREE HOUSE

“Commercial banks create money, in the form of bank deposits, by making new loans. When a bank makes a loan, for example to someone taking out a mortgage to buy a house, it does not typically do so by giving them thousands of pounds worth of banknotes. Instead, it credits their bank account with a bank deposit of the size of the mortgage. At that moment, new money is created. For this reason, some economists have referred to bank deposits as ‘fountain pen money’, created at the stroke of bankers’ pens when they approve loans.” - - Bank of England Quarterly ...

ENBRIDGE ENERGY’S PIPELINES COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

Panelists will focus on education, public safety, environmental, and property owner concerns.

WHY THE STRUGGLING COMMUNITIES?

Oh, how our communities are struggling! I ask myself: how has our society failed so badly? What can you and I do in these tough economic times to make our communities safe again? What will it take to break this cycle? I look at the recent mother and daughter drug arrest of April Pirillo and Ashley Baumgartner. This one hits home, personally, for me. It was April Pirillo’s now ex-husband, Larry, who sold methadone to my nephew, which led to his death by overdose. I recall my brother’s voice over the phone that dreadful day he told me this horrifying news. I see ...

Democracy Spring April 2016

“Now is the time to take mass nonviolent action on a historic scale to save our democracy. Following a ten-day, 140 mile march from Philadelphia to Washington DC, thousands are gathering this week in our nation’s Capital to demand Congress take immediate action to end the corruption of big money in our politics and ensure free and fair elections in which every American has an equal voice.” “Every American deserves an equal voice in government. This is our birthright of freedom, won through generations of struggle. But today our democracy is in crisis. American ...

CITIZEN ACTION OF WISCONSIN MEETING

Hello Friends, You are invited to an upcoming meeting that local Citizen Action of Wisconsin members and I are holding next week Wednesday April 20 6:00 PM at the Rib Mountain Goodwill Store. We need your input, can you join us? We want to discuss a new topic in Wisconsin politics, the Citizen Action of Wisconsin Organizing Cooperative. But first, the back story. Early in 2015 a number of leaders in Milwaukee decided that it was time to try something new to make Wisconsin a better place to live and work. We knew that we needed to launch a new way to organize ...

Wausau’s Child Poverty Crisis

Clips and statistics from the latest Wausau mayoral debate related to the increasing child poverty rates in Wausau. Statistics are cited as American Community Survey Estimates from http://factfinder.census.gov. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS5ICbdM5DE

KLOPPENBURG VOTE IS A VOTE FOR JUSTICE

Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg is described as “fair”, “impartial,” “independent,” “intelligent,” and a person of “integrity” in the endorsement from the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin. Judge Kloppenburg is described this way by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association with 10,000 members: “Judge Kloppenburg’s broad experience, deep understanding of the law, and demonstrated ability to be impartial make her the best candidate for our state’s highest court” in their press release endorsing Judge Kloppenburg for the Wisconsin Supreme ...