Counter Punch
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley08022006.html
By BILL QUIGLEY
On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, the US dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. These nuclear weapons killed over 100,000 people, almost all civilians, and injured many tens of thousands more.
Fr. Carl Kabat, 72, Greg Boertje-Obed, 51, and Michael Walli, 57, sit in jail in North Dakota awaiting a federal criminal trial because of weapons of mass destruction and because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I visited them last week.
Their crime? They tried to disarm one of the 1700+ nuclear weapons in North Dakota. On June 26, 2006, they went to the silo of a Minuteman III first-strike nucclear missile and wrote on it "If you want peace, work for justice. Then they hammered on its lock and poured some of their own blood over it. They waited to be arrested and have been in jail ever since. If convicted, they face imprisonment of up to ten years for criminal damage to federal property.
The Minuteman III is a first-strike intercontinental nuclear missile with a range of over 6000 miles and carries 27 times the destructive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. There are over one hundred fifty Minuteman III missiles planted in the grounds in silos in just the northern part of North Dakota.
Fr. Kabat has been a Catholic priest for over forty years. Greg Boertje-Obed was a First Lieutenant in the US Army. Mike Walli served two tours in Vietnam. All three men were born in small towns or rural areas of the Midwest. Walli and Boertje-Obed are members of the Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker community in Duluth, Minnesota. Together they are called the "Weapons of Mass Destruction Here Plowshares. The Plowshares movement seeks to follow the instructions of Isaiah (2:4) and Micah (4:3) to "beat your swords into plowshares.
At the time of their arrest, the three specifically linked their actions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Two of the most terrible war crimes occurred on August 6th and 9th, 1945. On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing more than 100,000 people (including U.S. prisoners of war). Three days later the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan, killing more than 50,000 people. Use of these weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations were abominable crimes against humanity.
They went on to say "U.S. leaders speak about the dangers of other nations acquiring nuclear weapons, but they fail to act in accordance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which commits the U.S. to take steps to disarm its weapons of mass destruction. We act in order to bring attention to people's responsibility for disarming weapons of state terrorism. We can begin the process of exposing U.S. weapons of mass destruction, naming them as abominations that cause desolation, and transforming them to objects that promote life.
Mike Walli enlisted in the army as a young man. With the experience of two tours in Vietnam, he said "This is not about our national defense. The hundreds of Minuteman III nuclear weapons are offensive weapons of mass destruction. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached that the United States is the chief purveyor of violence in the world. We must become a people-oriented society rather than a thing-oriented society. We must kick the war economy habit.
Greg Boertje-Obed, who, after his time as an officer in the military, married and is the father of an eleven year old daughter, told me "There is a sense of righteousness and harmony that comes from being in jail on August 6. When I was in the military, I was trained to fight and "win a nuclear war. It became clear that all the preparations for a nuclear war were wrong. In contrast Jesus taught "Love your enemiesdon,t fear those who can kill the body those who live by the sword will die by the sword. Now is the time to turn away from the ways of violence. Treat others the way we want to be treated. Now is the time to take steps to help the starving, ill, orphaned, weak, war-oppressed, and down-trodden all over the world. It is time to turn away from the bomb and the possibility of ending all life on our planet and to end the nuclear nightmare.
Fr. Carl Kabat spent several years in the Philippines and Brazil. "August 6th and August 9th are appropriate times to be in jail, he reflected. "We are here to witness against the insanity of nuclear weapons. When these bombs were dropped on the Japanese I was too young to realize what had happened. Those bombings were war crimes that we, even today, do not acknowledge. The indiscriminate killing of children, women, old people and everyone else certainly cannot be accepted under any just theory of war. Perhaps the fact that we are in jail can help us as a nation remember the criminality of those days in the past. None of us can make up for the killings in the past, but there is a possibility that our being in jail during this time might help stop such insanity from being repeated in the future.
North Dakota is home to more nuclear weapons than any other of the 50 states. The Bureau of Atomic Scientists estimated that the state contained more than 1700 nuclear warheads, not counting the ones planted in concrete silos in the ground.
A friendly cab driver in Bismarck told me "If North Dakota seceded from the Union, we would be the world,s third most-powerful nuclear state.
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Here Plowshares hope their actions will invite the people of North Dakota, and the rest of the US, to do something about our nation,s nuclear weapons of mass destruction in light of many issues of justice, including the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and professor of law at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill is a legal advisor with the Weapons of Mass Destruction Here Plowshares. He can be reached at: duprestars@yahoo.com
You can write Fr. Carl Kabat, Greg Boertje-Obed, or Mike Walli c/o Southwest Multi-County Correctional Center, 66 Museum Drive, Dickinson, ND 58601.
You can find out more about the Weapons of Mass Destruction Here Plowshares at: http://www.jonahhouse.org
You can contact their community c/o Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker Community at 218.728.0629.
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley08022006.html
The Capital Times
Saturday, August 5, 2006
Joy First Monona
Dear Editor: With so much war and suffering in the world, it may feel like there is nothing we can do to make a difference. However, there is a national campaign called the Declaration of Peace that is gaining momentum around the country calling on Congress to end the war in Iraq.
Individually, our government is ignoring us, but we can come together in one loud voice and let our government know we want an end to the illegal and immoral war in Iraq now. Please join thousands of people around the country and sign the Declaration of Peace at www.declarationofpeace.org and lend your voice to our cry for peace across the United States.
We are organizing locally in Madison and invite you to join us in working for peace. We cannot let the war in Iraq continue. We have the power to stop it, but it will take all of us working together. Please go online and sign the Declaration of Peace today or call 608-222-7581 to find out how you can be involved.
by Ben Manski
August 09, 2006
Original story at Znet
George Bush recently defended Donald Rumsfeld on the basis that responsibility for matters of war and peace are his and his alone, saying, "I'm the decider and I decide what's best." On April 4, the people of Wisconsin begged to differ.
Voting in the tiny villages of the North Woods and the Door Peninsula, in the regional urban centers of Madison and La Crosse, and in the small cities that are the heart of this heartland state, three-fifths of voters cast ballots for immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Wisconsin voted "no" to the occupation, and as importantly, "no" to Bush's self-elevation from presider to decider. Small town America voted, and the world sat up and took notice.
The Roots of the Campaign
How did it happen?
A century ago, "Let the people decide!" was a motto of Wisconsin's Progressive movement. Led by Wisconsin's La Follettes, Progressives took up the democratic demand of their predecessors-the Populists, Republicans and '76ers-that the people themselves should exercise power to decide vital matters of state. La Follette's Progressives lived up to their name and made real progress in democratizing state government, in particular, creating a municipal citizens initiative process. As a result, since 1911, citizens of Wisconsin cities and villages have exercised the right to initiate legislation at the municipal level. This "direct legislation" initiative process lives on today in Wisconsin's State Statutes and its political culture.
Nearly a century later, a similar process was used in Vermont on March 1, 2005, when over 40 municipalities passed resolutions calling on the US government to withdraw militarily from Iraq, and on the State of Vermont to bring its National Guard units home. News of the Vermont vote set discussions in motion among members of the Four Lakes Green Party in Dane County. Based in Wisconsin's capital of Madison, they knew Madisonians had voted against the war in Vietnam in a citizen-initiated plebiscite in 1969. Given that history, the inspiration of Vermont and Wisconsin's own Direct Legislation statute, they asked some basic questions:
o What would it take to initiate a citywide vote on withdrawal from Iraq?
o What obstacles were there to using the initiative process for a resolution of this kind?
o How should the initiative campaign be organized, and could citizens of other Wisconsin municipalities do the same thing?
The Four Lakes Greens examined these questions and more, and just days after the vote in Vermont, began preparations for a troop withdrawal vote in Madison. They also brought a proposal to the Wisconsin Green Party, asking the state party to launch a statewide troop withdrawal campaign. After some deliberation, the Wisconsin Green Party did just that and the Wisconsin campaign for withdrawal from Iraq was born.
Putting the war on the ballot
Wisconsin Greens soon discovered that they were attempting something new. Use of Wisconsin's direct legislation statute commonly involved the adoption of city ordinances, charter amendments, and the like. In the 95 years since the municipal initiative rested in the books, the Madison 1969 Vietnam vote was the only known case of citizens placing an anti-war measure on the ballot. This limited precedent posed some challenges for using the statute for a matter of federal action.
The first challenge was that of wording: What would the ballot resolution say? Since Wisconsin Greens and other peace activists had no pool of drafting experience upon which to draw, they had to answer this for themselves. Most agreed brevity was preferable to detail. The longer the ballot resolution, the greater the chance it would be misrepresented, or undercut by differences over minor points.
Most organizers also felt that a clear vote for immediate withdrawal of the troops would be preferable to a vote for a gradual withdrawal, or for wording simply calling for withdrawal. Others argued that in order to ensure passage, the resolution's wording needed to be toned down still further. In the end, resolutions in most cities called for some form of "immediate withdrawal" of "all personnel" from Iraq.
The initiative campaign experienced some internal tensions as the coalition backing it grew. The Wisconsin Green Party initiated the campaign, but scores of other organizations and parties joined in the footwork. In the end, the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice became the statewide vehicle for coordinating the campaign, and the coalition's diversity made it stronger. Along the way there were tensions, as some Democrats pushed for more visible support from Democratic elected officials, and for a rewording of the original resolution language to make it closer to that of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Russ Feingold's "end of 2006" withdrawal timetable (which was announced months after the campaign began).
The next major challenge was ballot access. Wisconsin's direct legislation statute provides that:
A number of electors equal to at least 15% of the votes cast for governor at the last general election in their city or village may sign and file a petition with the city or village clerk requesting that an attached proposed ordinance or resolution, without alteration, either be adopted by the common council or village board or be referred to a vote of the electors.
In practice, the statute meant that organizers had to convince their city councils and village boards not to take a pass on adopting the resolutions, because the point was to bring the question of the war to the voters. Organizers had 60 days to collect tens of thousands of signatures in the cities of Madison and Milwaukee, plus thousands of signatures more in the rest of the state.
Most people did not have experience circulating petitions on this scale. Only 2,000 valid signatures are required to place a candidate on the state ballot. But getting 12,000 valid signatures in Madison, or 21,000 in Milwaukee was something new. In Madison, perhaps in part because the Four Lakes Greens had successfully gathered 8,000 signatures the previous election cycle in order to place the names of four candidates for countywide office on the ballot, the campaign collected over 19,000 signatures.
In Milwaukee, the campaign had greater difficulty, and in the end was not able to collect sufficient signatures to qualify. Organizers there resorted to the referendum route, and asked the Milwaukee Common Council to place it on the ballot. Demonstrating the less democratic character of referenda as opposed to initiatives, the Council voted to refer the resolution to the November ballot instead of April, when all the other votes were taking place, and they watered down the resolution by removing the demand that the withdrawal from Iraq be "immediate."
Statewide, organizers also challenges posed by municipal officials themselves. In some communities, such as Madison, the municipal attorney, council and mayor were openly supportive. But in others, the process confused municipal officials who had never been personally presented with a petition for direct legislation. In a few cities, organizers ran into outright hostility and resistance, and turned to the nonprofit organization Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution for legal counsel.
The Portage city attorney opined that a troop withdrawal resolution was not a proper subject for direct legislation, as it was "not legislative in nature." When confronted with numerous nonbinding local city council resolutions adopted each session, he argued that such resolutions were "extra-legislative" and therefore outside the scope of the direct legislation law. In response, Liberty Tree advised local organizers that the city attorney was in effect inventing a new branch of government, and recommended perseverance. Unfortunately, the frustration of dealing with city hall proved to be too much for them.
A real battle emerged in Monona and Watertown, where hostile city administrators claimed that not only were the resolutions extra-legislative in nature, but that they were inappropriate for the ballot as they dealt with federal issues outside of municipal authority. Monona officials also attempted to deny ballot access on the basis of "insufficiency of form": Organizers there had framed the resolution as a question rather than a statement, and city officials refused to allow the circulators to correct this technical mistake. Liberty Tree contacted Attorney David Austin, who agreed to provide pro bono litigation representation to the local organizers. Ultimately, Monona officials surrendered the same day the organizers filed suit. In Watertown, city officials continued to resist all the way to the courthouse. But the judge took only 15 minutes to reach a verdict in favor of the petitioner.
The end result of the wrangling over wording, ballot drives, legal challenges, and other issues was positive: The troop withdrawal resolution qualified for the April ballot in 32 municipalities.
A victory for peace
Where there was debate, it was vigorous, taking place at town hall meetings, forums, on the airwaves and in the pages of state newspapers, and in doorstep conversations initiated by volunteer canvassers. This process was revealing as veterans, and military friends and family members served as the most visible constituencies pushing for withdrawal. The Wisconsin tour stop of the Bring Them Home Now! Tour packed Madison's Barrymore Theater, launching the campaign. Vets for Peace played a key role in the organizing, and a local "Bring Joe Home!" campaign centering on a local Green stationed in Iraq, Joe Lindstrom, fed into it.
The campaign's opposition used different means. At a rally at the State Capitol, dozens of "vote no" campaigners wasted uncounted gallons of gasoline circling at the Capitol Square in their automobiles to demonstrate how much they supported the troops. They also established a Political Action Committee, "Vote No to Cut and Run," which portrayed the troop withdrawal campaign as the work of the "Radical Left." At the same time, they also attempted to appeal to Democrats by quoting from pro-war statements by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Joseph Lieberman, and Wisconsin's governor, Jim Doyle. To the extent the debate made a difference, troop withdrawal organizers appeared more effective in their arguments.
On April 4, voters in 24 Wisconsin municipalities put their communities on record in opposition to the war in Iraq. From tiny communities like Obijwa (61%) and Couderay (82%) in the north to the cities of Madison (67%) and Baraboo (59%) in the south, to the Mississippi River city of La Crosse in the west (55%) and the Lake Michigan cities of Sturgeon Bay (58%) and Shorewood (70%) in the east, over 60% of Wisconsin voters made clear their demand for immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Even communities that went to Bush in 2004-Casco, Draper, Ephraim, Edgewater, Luxemburg and Ojibwa-voted "yes." The next day, newspapers across the globe, from Italy's Il Manifesto to the Los Angeles Times, shared a common headline: "Wisconsin votes for troop pullout."
The troop withdrawal campaign had won an unvarnished victory. Organizers had succeeded in getting the question of the war to the people, and when it came time to vote, the people did not need a lot of additional convincing. End the end, therefore, the campaign was one half petitioning, litigating and organizing; one-quarter voter mobilization (including "get-out-the-vote" calls by Voters for Peace, and literature drops and mailings); and only one-quarter actual debate.
Before April 4, the opposition spent a lot of time, energy, and money portraying the anti-war resolutions as "advisory" and therefore "meaningless," yet they campaigned against them all the same. After April 4, with 75% of communities and 60% of voters voting yes, the hawks played games with the numbers, arguing that had the largest progressive cities not voted, and the largest conservative cities been included, the vote would have been closer. In the end, the public and the media didn't buy their arguments: In Wisconsin, the peace movement is today viewed as mainstream while the war advocates are seen as marginal. As Four Lakes Green Party co-chair Steve Burns told the Wisconsin State Journal, "opposition to the war is not really news any more, it's become the majority sentiment."
The vote also caused some people in high places to sit up and take notice, because it was one thing for a few city councils to pass anti-war resolutions several years back; it was entirely another for voters themselves to cast direct votes for immediate withdrawal. As the campaign built steam, Feingold responded with a call for a complete withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2006. Then, U.S. Congress member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) took an uncharacteristically bold step in joining Representative Gwen Moore in support of Representative John Conyers' (D-MI) impeachment drive. Next, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation, Representative Thomas Petri, changed course by voting against funding authorization for the continued occupation of Iraq. Finally after election day, with news of Wisconsin's troop withdrawal mandate appearing in thousands of media outlets around the globe, Bush referred to the state of Washington as "Wisconsin" three times in one interview, while White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan made a stuttering acknowledgement of the Wisconsin vote, concluding that while "all Americans" wanted the troops home, they also understood the importance of the "mission" in Iraq.
A victory for local democracy
In the long run, despite the success of the votes in Wisconsin and Vermont, it may be that they are less important as acts of popular rejection of the current war, than as vital preparations for a new era of democratic struggle within the United States. In putting the question of war to a vote, Wisconsinites and Vermonters reinvigorated and repoliticized long-dormant tools of local democracy: The municipal citizens initiative in Wisconsin, and the town hall meeting in Vermont. These votes took place in a context in which people are already turning to local government initiatives such as municipal minimum wage laws, sick leave ordinances universal health insurance, and more. Disgusted with Federal corruption and unresponsiveness, Americans are increasingly turning to local power for change.
The Wisconsin vote has also produced a series of new efforts in other states. Peace activists in California, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington, are considering how they can use local government law to bring the war to the ballot in upcoming elections. In Wisconsin, peace activists are channeling their energies into a new series of initiatives and referenda for the November elections, including withdrawal votes in cities that haven't yet had them, and also votes on impeachment.
In Wisconsin's US Senate race, the contest involves one of the state's leading peace activists, Rae Vogeler, mounting a Green Party challenge to pro-war Democratic incumbent Herb Kohl. Kohl is also facing anti-war opposition within his own primary and from Robert Lorge, the Republican candidate.
A year ago, Wisconsin Greens launched the troop withdrawal campaign, seeking to return to the ultimate source of progressive power: The people. In April, they were rewarded for making that decision, and progressive politics is stronger in the state as a result today. As William T. Evjue, the late founder of The Capital Times in Madison often said, "Let the people have the truth and the freedom to discuss it and all will go well."
Additional Information:
A version of this article appeared in the Summer, 2006 issue of Green Pages
Ben Manski is a Fellow with the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution. Manski is a Wisconsin attorney, and provided legal counsel to the Wisconsin troop withdrawal campaign.
The Capital Times
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Tsela Barr, Esty Dinur, Betsy Lawrence, David Loewenstein, Jennifer Loewenstein, Ben Manski, Edward Oltman, Marc Rosenthal, Matt Rothschild, Allen Ruff, Judy Strasser
Dear Editor: As Madison area Jews, we condemn the indiscriminate and disproportionate Israeli attack on Lebanon and the Lebanese people. We condemn violence in all its forms, including the Hezbollah attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians within Israel.
It is clear, however, that the Israeli military and political leadership used Hezbollah's latest provocation as a pretext for a major assault on Lebanon. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the current military action was planned more than a year before Hezbollah's recent provocation. Israel exchanged prisoners and took its own share of hostages in the past, and both sides made cross border incursions and carried out prisoner exchanges through negotiations and diplomacy. Until recently, that is.
With its mounting toll of civilian casualties and displaced people, and with damage to Lebanon's infrastructure amounting already to $2.5 billion, Israel's latest escalation will nevertheless fail to destroy or weaken Hezbollah. Indeed, what has happened, predictably, is that support for Hezbollah has dramatically increased, even among the Sunni and Christian Lebanese populations. Israel is creating enemies far more quickly than it is killing them.
By what stretch of the imagination can the current Israeli destruction of Lebanon help bring about peace and security for anyone in this region? As American Jews concerned for the safety and security of not only our loved ones, relatives, and friends in Israel, but for all those faced with increasing violence across the Middle East, we join the rest of the civilized world in condemning Israel's actions.
We also wish to speak out against all those in this country, including our political leaders, who have so readily and uncritically supported Israel's disastrous course of action. If Israel truly wants peace and security, it must pursue negotiations with all parties concerned. Only by talking to one's enemies can one bring about the conditions for an enduring peace.
As both Jews and American taxpayers in whose name these atrocities are being committed, we demand an immediate end to Israel's latest military incursions into Lebanon and Gaza, as well as an end to all Israeli aggression toward Palestinians and Lebanese. We ask all who share our concerns and desires for a just and lasting peace in the region to join us in calling upon the United States to end its unconditional backing for Israel's military adventurism and to exert pressure on Israel to end its reckless, destructive and ominous wars.
To find out more information and to get involved, go to www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org.
The Capital Times
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Bill Wenzel, Charlie Wilhelm, Ken Lins, Lance Delaney, Laura Olah, Mary Carol Solum, Mary Jane Koch, Michele Hopp, Paul Herr, Ron Lins, William Stehling
Dear Editor: Confirmation of low levels of explosives in groundwater at the northeast boundary of Badger Army Ammunition Plant prompted the following members of the restoration advisory board to pass a resolution asking for immediate testing of nearby private wells.
On Aug. 14, board members supported testing of homes in the town of Merrimac that are located within a half-mile of any monitoring well detecting contamination. If anything is found in this initial round, the board recommended expanding the radius of private well testing to 1 mile.
The members also agreed that additional steps, including the installation of offsite monitoring wells, should be implemented in order to better define the risks to groundwater and nearby residents.
The Capital Times
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Midge Miller Madison
Dear Editor: I am disappointed to see the increasing negativity in the media in the attorney general race.
Knowing this was possible, I was sorry to learn that Peg Lautenschlager had an opponent in the primary. It seemed a shame to spend so much time and money in a primary, when there are so many important races that need our attention.
Kathleen Falk has done a fine job as Dane County executive. I am supporting Peg Lautenschlager for attorney general because she has done an outstanding job. Robert Kennedy Jr. has said, "Peg is the best attorney general in the country."
Wisconsin has never had an attorney general better qualified than Peg. She has been a district attorney, a Wisconsin state representative; she served eight years as U.S. attorney, and has done a great job as our attorney general for the last four years.
We all regret the driving incident, as I am sure Peg does. We all make mistakes and she has paid for hers. This does not diminish her ability to continue doing a good job as attorney general.
I hope your readers will give Peg Lautenschlager the support she has earned.
The Capital Times
Monday, August 21, 2006
Kurt Gutknecht Fitchburg
Dear Editor: While we appreciated The Capital Times' coverage of the presentations on "dirty electricity" (Aug. 2 article), there are a few clarifications.
It's not a "new" issue for me. I've been researching and writing about it for more than seven years.
Readers should examine the "Canadian health study" mentioned by Mark Williamson with the American Transmission Co. (Go to www.bccdc.org and search on "dirty electricity.") It might seem authoritative, but a closer review indicates otherwise. The instruments the "researchers" used weren't even capable of accurately measuring many of the electrical phenomena of interest. It's characteristic of utility-sponsored research, which consists largely of half-truths and technical jargon.
The so-called study is buried where utilities can refer to it, but it's not so accessible that it attracts public attention. The study underwent no independent peer review. Mr. Williamson knows of these inaccuracies.
When ATC receives questions about health effects associated with the electrical distribution and transmission system, the firm continues to refer to an outdated site maintained by someone who serves as an expert witness and consultant for the utilities. This is hardly an independent source of information.
The filters developed by David Stetzer are only one method of addressing the problem. The utilities continue to ignore recommendations by their own experts that would effectively prevent dirty electricity. It's unfortunate that consumers have to bear the expense and inconvenience of protecting themselves against a defective product delivered by a monopoly.
Anyone interested in obtaining an electronic copy of two reports concerning Magda Havas' findings can contact me directly. The health benefits associated with reducing levels of dirty electricity are often immediate and profound. In a study conducted by a UW medical researcher, mitigating the electromagnetic environment also had positive effects on the symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome. For reasons that aren't entirely clear, the results have not yet been submitted for publication.
Havas' studies are not the final word on the topic, but they certainly raise interesting questions. Also remember that her research was largely self-funded and conducted on a shoestring.
We need an independent study of the health effects of dirty electricity in our schools before we funnel even more electricity through an outdated, defective and dangerous system. The costs of such a study would be minuscule compared to the amount ATC spends on promotion and public relations.
I would dearly love to learn that my concerns are unfounded, but it would be extremely foolish to rely on advice from people like Williamson and other agents of the utilities.
The utilities have been enormously effective in discrediting any research linking the electromagnetic environment with negative health effects. The end result is that many of us continue to sacrifice our health to support their enormous profits.
The Capital Times
Thursday, August 31, 2006
By Christopher Michaels Correspondent for The Capital Times\ The writer retains the copyright for this article
Painted in red, white and blue and festooned with rallying signs for peace, a tour bus on a mission made a whistle-stop at the Middleton Public Library Wednesday to rally support for returning U.S. troops from Iraq and push for the impeachment of President Bush.
The bus stop was part of a coast-to-coast tour undertaken by Veterans for Peace to facilitate "bring the troops home" referendums and impeachment resolutions.
Veterans for Peace members outlined how citizens can stay involved in promoting anti-war referendums and advance the cause for impeaching Bush and other high-ranking federal officials. They also recognized local organizers who will present a petition to the Middleton city clerk next week asking that a troops-home referendum be put on the ballot in November.
"I am here for action. You are taking action in your community. It's a resolution and we hope it becomes a revolution," said Buzz Davis, a former Army officer and Veterans for Peace organizer who drove to the rally from Stoughton.
Steven Mortillo, a First Division infantryman who served in Iraq, has been riding the bus as a member of an Iraq veterans group against the war. He said the apathy of many Americans toward the war is shameful.
"Three of my friends got killed. Twelve of my unit got killed. They have lives. They have stories. You start to ask the question why and no one wants to listen to you," he said to the crowd of about 25 Iraq and Vietnam vets, bus tour participants and local citizens.
Mortillo said it can help veterans for Americans to talk about what's happening and to actively support them.
"It's so refreshing to see Americans that truly support the troops and want to see them home. All the guys in the military will probably thank you a lot," he said.
Middleton Mayor and Vietnam vet Doug Zwank compared the war in Iraq to that of the Vietnam War, with no objectives, progress or end in sight for U.S. involvement. The fact the U.S. has lost more than 2,500 troops in the fighting is not justification to keep the war going, he said.
"We'll never be successful in establishing (the Iraqi) government. They have to establish their government. I think it's time we stand up to the president and put forth the effort to bring (the troops) home," Zwank said.
Pat Tate, a Veterans for Peace chapter president from California, said it's not cowardly or "cutting and running" for the U.S. to leave Iraq now. Davis agreed.
"This war has turned into a civil war. We have to face the music. It's time to get out," he said.
Davis said the Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition, working with Veterans for Peace, hopes to organize an impeachment referendum for the spring 2007 ballot in Dane County and possibly other counties. The coalition says the Bush administration is guilty of attacking other nations without provocation, torturing prisoners and illegally wiretapping private communications.
"(President Bush) would have made a good mayor in some small town. But he certainly doesn't have what it takes to lead the country in these times," Zwank said.
Earlier in the day, the tour stopped in Pittsville, Wisconsin Rapids and Lake Delton. It is scheduled to visit Watertown, South Milwaukee and Racine today before leaving the state and moving east.
The national bus tour began in Seattle earlier this month and intends to arrive in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Wisconsin Dells Events
by Jessica Frank
August 31, 2006
Like other communities in Wisconsin earlier this year, Lake Delton will have a resolution on the ballot to ask its residents what they think of the war in Iraq.
Marty Preston, the organizer of the petition to get the resolution on the ballot, said 86 signatures were collected in the village to get the resolution on the ballot in the next general election, which will be in November.
The proposed resolution reads, "Be it hereby resolved, that the Village of Lake Delton urges the United States to begin an immediate, phased withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, beginning with the National Guard and the Reserves."
In a letter to the village board, Preston said sometimes there is confusion with municipal governing bodies as to what to do with a proposed resolution under state statute.
"Our intent in circulating this petition, and the intent of those who signed it, was to allow the citizens of Lake Delton an opportunity to cast an advisory vote on the continued deployment of American troops in Iraq.
While you certainly have the option of approving the resolution, I believe the purpose would be better served in not doing so, and instead allowing Lake Delton voters a chance to exercise their judgement in the voting booth Nov. 7."
"It's not a pro-stance or an anti-stance about the war," Preston said of the board's decision about the resolution. "It's just to get it on the ballot."
Village clerk Kay Mackesey certified the 86 signatures, which was 15 percent of Lake Delton residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election.
"The expression of your opinion...is private, I believe, and that should be expressed at the voting booth," Preston said.
Preston said the board could choose not to vote for the resolution "but simply let it fall through to the ballot."
Village President Frank Kaminski asked Village Attorney Dick Cross if Preston was correct about how the board should proceed, according to the statute. Cross said she was right.
Preston said she got the idea to have a resolution on the ballot in her community because so many other communities in the state have done so.
"Lake Delton is something I could manage with a couple of friends,"Preston said of collecting the necessary signatures to get the resolution on the ballot. They call themselves the Peace Committee of Lake Delton.
While Preston and her group were collecting signatures in Lake Delton, they heard both positive and negative comments about the war in Iraq.
Most people were happy to sign the petition, but some people didn't let the Peace Committee explain what the signatures were for before they were turned away, Preston said.
"The signatures are just to get the resolution on the ballot," Preston said, adding that some people may have thought the group was petitioning against the war.
Preston thinks voters in Lake Delton will vote for the resolution, based on the comments she heard while collecting signatures. Some people even sought her out, rather than wait to be approached at home.
The village board was very cooperative in the whole process, Preston said.
The board took no action on the resolution and the resolution will appear on the ballot.
Lake Delton residents may also be asked another question regarding the war in Iraq. Preston said the Sauk County Board of Supervisors may also be considering putting a question about the war on the ballot. Preston said it will be on the agenda in September.
"If that happens, Lake Delton (residents) will have two questions to vote on," Preston said.