2010/03/10: Wis. Public Radio: Plan would allow governor to challenge National Guard deployments

STATE CAPITOL-- Anti-war activists are urging state lawmakers to support a plan that would give Wisconsin governors the power to challenge the deployment of National Guard troops.

Report from Palestine: Soldiers detain herb-gathering children at gunpoint

Cassandra Dixon, of WNPJ member group Mary House near Wisconsin Dells, reports from Tuwani, Palestine:

Hi Friends -- I hope you are well.  Life continues to be busy and challenging for everyone here in Tuwani.  Two days ago three boys from the village were detained by soldiers while they were trying to harvest herbs on the family land of one of the boys.  This is the season for many native plants here -- they're each available in a short window of time during the brief  spring season here, before everything becomes too dry to grow or be useful as food. 

18 Wisconsinites take on Big Insurance in DC this week

From Brian Rothgery, Organizing Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a WNPJ member group:

On Sunday, March 7, a bus with 20 Minnesotans departed St. Paul for Washington, DC, with stops in Wisconsin to pick up 18 people at  Eau Claire, Tomah, Madison, and Milwaukee.  It will also have riders from Green Bay and Appleton. Many of the riders have personal stories of struggling to afford health care because of insurance company greed.  You can participate online.

2010/03/06: Capital Times: Gay relationship has the right stuff

Scott Anderson, left, executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, a WNPJ member group, is featured in a Capital Times column by Phil Haslanger:

Madison-area Presbyterians have approved Anderson's ordination as a minister, which Haslanger calls wise because "Anderson is an extraordinarily gifted religious leader, which he has demonstrated in the last seven years as the executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches. It is wise also because Jesus’ message focused far more on issues like caring for the poor and breaking down old barriers between people than it did on questions of sexuality."

2010/03/06: Capital Times: Jim Draeger & Ben Manski: Safeguard Wisconsin's Guard from needless deployment

An opinion column in the Capital Times by WNPJ Chair Jim Drager and Liberty Tree Foundation director Ben Manski: For the first time in recent history, citizens of Wisconsin have the opportunity to help answer the question “Who decides about war?” The column also ran in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

2010/03/05: UWM student protest ends with 15 arrests

A student protest Thursday at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee over the cost of higher education ended with campus police using pepper spray, 15 students arrested, and different and conflicting accounts of what happened. Here's the AP version.

This statement is from Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), the youth component of WNPJ member group Voces de la Frontera:

2010/03/04: MPR: Bill to undo (Minnesota) moratorium on nuclear plants stalls

While the Wisconsin legislature considers a Clean Energy Jobs Act that would open the door to more nuclear reactors in Wisconsin, a similar pro-nuclear proposal has suffered a major setback across the Mississippi in Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio reports:

2010/03/05: WNPJ member from Duluth travels with CPT to Iraq

 Michele Naar-Obed, of  member gorup Loaves and Fishes, Duluth, MN -  has returned to Suleimaniya, Iraq this winter. WNPJ will post her reports on our website. Michele can be reached at obedsinduluth@yahoo.com. Michele writes: March 5, 2010 - Dear friends, It's been a long and tiring month and a lot has happened here in the Kurdish north of Iraq. Our long awaited human rights report is now public. "Where there is a promise, there is a tragedy": Cross-border bombings and shellings of the northern village peoples of the Kurdish region of Iraq by the nations of Turkey and Iran

Why do we need gun background checks? Meet Wayne

This new video from the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort Educational Fund, a WNPJ member, on why we need background checks on all gun sales, is done simply. But it makes its point. Take action.

Baldwin joins Kucinich to force debate on Afghanistan

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is one of 16 co-sponsors of a privileged resolution by Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich (H. Con Res. 248), that will require the House of Representatives to debate whether to continue the war in Afghanistan. Debate on the resolution is scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 10.  The Pentagon doesn't want Congress to debate Afghanistan. The Pentagon wants Congress to fork over $33 billion more to pay for the current military

'Keep those cards and letters coming'

... as they used to say on  the radio shows. Members of WNPJ and its member groups regularly express their opinions in letters to the editor. Here's a sampling of the latest batch. (If you have one published, let us know so we can include it.)

Sue Larson, Wis. State Journal: Blame all laws that erode local control.

Steve Carlson, Journal Sentinel: Pure fiction

Joe Ellwanger, Journal Sentinel: Resources are the key

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