234 results for author: Phil Anderson

The Election Integrity Scam

“The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected.” Will Rogers, a 1930-40s comedian. Unqualified candidates for public office are nothing new and too often they get elected. This year in Wisconsin we have an abundance of candidates running for office with few, if any, qualifications. It may be unkind to call them “jokes.” People should be encouraged to volunteer for public office, but they should have some basic qualifications. Just because everyone has a right to run doesn't mean they should. Some candidates for the Wisconsin Secretary of State not only are unqualified but they have other motivations than ...

Why?

“A 21st Century Vision for America: Guiding Principles for a Great Nation,” provides a practical, plain language vision of “our country as most Americans would want it to be. Created by Gary J. Evans, PhD (a business management consultant) it has 25 statements of what a better America would be and how it would work. In his America everyone has affordable healthcare, free education, a decent job, and no one goes hungry or lacks shelter. There are no barriers to voting. Elections are fair, and trustworthy. Everyone has equal rights under the law, no one is harassed by police, and our prisons are much smaller. Taxes are fair, easy to file, and ...

Ruminations On The 2022 Wisconsin Elections

There is good news and bad news about this year's upcoming Wisconsin elections. On the positive side, the 7th Congressional district in N.W. Wisconsin finally has a declared Democratic candidate. In the U.S Senate race four good Democratic candidates are pulling ahead in the crowded field. All of them are a breath of fresh air in comparison to the Republican incumbent. Governor Evers should have a good chance at being re-elected given the economy is pretty good and Biden's infrastructure and COVID relief money are helping many people in the state. On the negative side the widely supported effort to end undemocratic gerrymandering of state and ...

Supreme Politics

The recent big news story is the Supreme Court's leaked draft of the upcoming decision to overturn Roe vs Wade. This should be no surprise. It has long been expected. Obama was outrageously denied an appointment and Trump made three appointments to the Court. These three judges were deliberately chosen for their opposition to abortion and their extreme positions on other issues. The current Supreme Court is a glaring example of a “packed” court dominated by extreme right wing ideologues. These judges are not impartial arbiters of the law. Jim Hightower devoted the March “Hightower Lowdown” to the Supreme Court (https://hightowerlowdown...

Down Ballot Wisconsin Elections

Voters also need to pay attention to the “down ballot” statewide offices. In Wisconsin, the Attorney General, State Treasurer and Secretary or State are independently elected offices. The Attorney General is obviously an important office and gets some voter attention. But most people know nothing about the other two. This year ignoring these obscure offices could have serious ramifications. Republicans have spent years weakening and underfunding all three of the these elected offices. This has included trying to abolish both the Treasurer and Secretary of State positions. Recently, Republicans have flip-flopped on the Secretary of State. Since ...

Mining Jobs Mirage

Mining in northern Wisconsin  back in the news. A Canadian company wants to do exploratory drilling for copper and gold deposits in Marathon and Taylor counties. Advocates for mining claim it will be a boost for rural economies and create jobs. Other people dispute these claims. Too often the number of jobs promised don't pan out. The long term environmental damage can cost more than the economic gain. There are many studies that show mining does not improve local economies. There are better ways to create jobs and prosperity for northern Wisconsin. Mining, like any business activity, can temporarily increase employment and thus help the ...

Mining in Wisconsin

A Canadian mining company has an exploratory license and is moving ahead with plans to drill for gold and copper in north-central Wisconsin. Green Light Metals believes the Reef in eastern Marathon County and the Bend deposit in Taylor County have “economic interest” that warrant further exploration. The company says the Bend deposit, located within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest contains 4 million tons of copper and gold. They say the Reef deposit contains about  454,000 tons of gold reserves. This sounds impressive but it is misleading information. These figures are estimates of the expected available ore and are not the actual ...

New Thinking Needed – Not More Pentagon Spending

In our country the endless increases in military spending are only matched by an equally endless propensity for wars and military conflicts. Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget proposes $813 billion for the Pentagon. This is a 4% increase over the bloated $782 billion approved by Congress for 2022  – which was a 5.6% increase from 2021. Every year “defense” spending increases. It makes no difference which party is in control. It doesn't matter what the the real threats are to the country. It makes no difference how much of this money is unaccounted for, lost to fraud or otherwise wasted. The military industrial complex must be fed. Since ...

Truth and Consequences in Education

“Teaching kids about frogs isn't grooming them to become amphibians. It's helping them learn about the world around them,“ a social media meme. “If you think education is expensive consider the cost of ignorance,” unknown It is well known that an educated, well informed electorate is necessary to a well functioning democracy. Citizens need to have accurate information on issues. But they also need to have more than data and more than competing arguments or opinions They need context. They need understanding and not just sound bites. They need some basis for sorting through the lies, spin, attack ads and fake news. In last week's ...

The Fruits of Faulty Judgment

“I'm just a miner in the mother lode of misery, where the fruits of faulty judgment meet the spoils of bad luck.” From the song “King of Junk” by Eddy Lawrence This humorous song is about a junk yard owner who's good fortune is the result of others' faulty judgment and bad luck. He finds a “hidden trove of riches mid the mangled and the maimed” wreckage of cars. I like the poetry of the song. To me it speaks (out of context) to much of the current craziness in our society. Politics has always been ugly and partisan. But the angry divisions are getting worse. The decline in civil, democratic norms of behavior and the abandoning of ...