Wisconsin

Rightwing pundits [who ought to have their credibility licences revoked] have been wrong about every major policy area in the last eight years.

Now they're telling Obama to go slow and be mindful that the last election demonstrates that we are a center-right nation demanding only slight changes in the direction of foreign and domestic policy, and indeed rightwing prescriptions for the crises that ail us.

You want to help Americans make a living : Listen to the economists in the Wall Street Journal.

You want to help Americans get health care: Let people choose to pay for it or not get it. [Wisconsin's Paul Ryan is big on that.]

Obama might be listening, but thankfully he's not heeding their advice.

And Obama continues his outreach directly to Americans. Good for him, good for us.

From Change.gov:

The President-elect has directed the Transition's economic team to develop the details of a plan for a two-year, nationwide effort to strengthen our economy. It will center around jobs rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools, and making America a leader in alternative energy.

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Maybe $50 million for the piping alone. Maybe more.

And why not, with hundreds of millions of dollars, and perhaps even more, in annexations and subdivisions able to tout "Lake Michigan Water," instead of "Nice View" in their ads.

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Monty Python has major video content on their new YouTube channel and a nice promotional video to kick it off.......

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Here's an interesting band doing their song Jericho on the TheCurrent.org stage....

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There are claims that Waukesha's water diversion scheme is a hit with environmentalists, but is that correct?

Maybe some environmental leaders and activists can weigh in with comments.

I have had an unusual schedule the last few weeks, missed the meeting that Waukesha officials had with some environmental organizations' representatives, and would like to know what the reaction and feedback have been.

Guest post opportunities are available.

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The power of Twitter is hard to describe.  It is one form of social networking, or Web 2.0 folks talk about, and it is a kind of extreme short form of communication--only 140 characters are permitted.  People use it to announce the mundane--completion of the chores of life.  They also use it to link to something amazing on the web, or a breaking news story, or a bright idea that needs support.  By watching local people on Twitter, I was alerted to the [possible] new free medical clinic in Viroqua, the recent Dairyland decision, and the live streaming video from...

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Better than I could have done.

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I suggested in this post a few days ago that Wauwatosa would be heard from after the City of Waukesha announced it intended to make Underwood Creek its treated sewage dumping point in order to complete a Lake Michigan water diversion loop.

Sure enough, a Wauwatosa blogger, noting that Underwood Creek runs almost through her backyard, isn't looking forward to Waukesha's waste water adding value to her community.

I don't know the blogger, but I imagine her perspective will be mainstream.

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— A new group in Racine is
attracting international attention.  After
only one week in existence, Yes We Can Racine has
already been featured on National Public Radio and the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation.  Tapping
into the spirit of volunteerism, Yes We
Can Racine is a new non-profit dedicated to taking local action to solve
local issues. 

 

“The response has been phenomenal” according to Kelly Gallaher,
one of the founding members.  “We gained
twenty-four volunteers in the first twenty-four hours of operation.  After only seven days there are already more
than seventy volunteers connected online.” 

 

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Update: See McClatchy's Guantanamo: Beyond the Law series for a close look at administration lawlessness, and its utter inhumanity toward the innocent.

From the Times, Judge Orders Five Detainees Freed From Guantanamo:

In the first hearing on the government's justification for holding detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, a federal judge ruled Thursday that five Algerian men were held unlawfully for nearly seven years and ordered their release.

Bush and Cheney had called these innocents the worst of the worst, who are so evil and dangerous that we just had to throw out habeas corpus.

The Bush administration feared the consequences of innocents asking for a look at the evidence in federal court.

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20th annual CAKEWALK Walk with friends !!  Share marvelous goodies !!! Raise money for distant friends & assist worthy projects!  Participate in a historic, annual, super fun event !!!!       Saturday, November 22   7 p.m.     Kickapoo Cultural Exchange Commons         (behind the KEX Food Coop on Main Street in Gays Mills) $1 per chance/walk donation - Snacks, live music & friends--Walking and Eating in Support of Projects in Central America          ALL AGES WELCOME! QUESTIONS?       ILANA 872-2407 OR ELLEN B. 735-4821 sponsored by the Central America Support Alliance of Gays...

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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorially supports the Lake Michigan diversion plan being rolled out by the City of Waukesha. The editorial is here.

But the carts are being lined before the horses, so to speak.

For one thing, the editorial says the diversion and preferred water return-flow plan are in line with recommendations in a study being done by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

Correct. The Waukesha plan appears to be in line with the study that is being done. It is not finished. The recommendations are preliminary. They have only been recommended by an advisory committee.

The recommendations are to be reviewed at a series of public meetings at which the agency staff and consultants are supposed to listen, then work that public feedback into a report to the full commission.

Can we at least go into that public meeting phase with the expectation that public input will be genuinely absorbed?

The editorial also says that Waukesha has a plan to return the water it borrows from Lake Michigan.

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The past six weeks have seen a narrowing of focus here at the blog as we concentrated first on the election, and more recently on the events unfolding in Egyptian politics.

As often happens when covering these major events, we have an abundance of stories that are piling up...and deserve our attention...and in this case, it’s a story that will take us far from the usual political real estate upon which we would normally slog.

It’s my happy duty, instead, to point you toward one of my favorite musicians...and in the course of doing that, to an event series that is also well worth your time...and in the course of doing that, to a bar that is working hard, every day, to fulfill your live music needs—and by an even happier coincidence, the three intersect this Sunday.

I’m a sucker for a chanteuse, I admit, be it Billie Holiday, or k.d. lang, or even Grace Jones...and I’m even more of a sucker for that Ralph Sharon sound—the stand-up bass, the piano, brushes, a nice sax solo...with a strong voice out front.

The two meet in Madeleine Peyroux.

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Marcia gives a nice report on the visit from Brazil of leadership from the Landless Rural Workers Movement of Brazil (MST).  She captures the mechanism of organization and the spirit of Rodrigo Lopes' visit. Listen HERE. Learn too about the Iraq Moratorium, and other organizing in Iraq.  Also close is the protest at Ft Benning GA to call (again) for closure of the School of the Americas....