November 2006 - In The News

12/02/06: Gruber's Grove cleanup complete

WNPJ Member group Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger is featured in this report

12/02/06: Gruber's Grove cleanup complete

By Brian Bridgeford,  Baraboo News Republic

TOWN OF MERRIMAC — State environmental regulators and the Army's representative at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant announced success this week after removing 60,000 cubic feet of sediment contaminated with heavy metals from Gruber's Grove Bay on Lake Wisconsin.

Local environmental advocate Laura Olah is grateful the work is done, but is concerned mercury contamination could extend beyond the bay. Also, the dredging should have been completed when it was first started in 2001, she said.

The new dredging effort began in July and was completed in early November, said Hank Kuehling, the project manager for the Department of Natural Resources. It removed 60,000 cubic feet of sediment compared to 90,000 feet dredged up in 2001.

According to a statement by the DNR, more than 25 million gallons of wastewater contaminated with mercury, lead and copper were dumped into the bay by BAAP while it made propellants for the Army's weapons between 1942 and 1976.

Kuehling said the DNR required Army officials to clean up the contaminated material because heavy metals like mercury are a threat to tiny bottom-dwelling organisms which are the base of the food chain in the bay.

Kuehling said the contaminants in the sediment were never a threat to local well water or people. The mercury is chemically tied up in the sediment, he said.

"The concern about mercury levels in Gruber's Grove Bay didn't have anything to do with public health," he said. "Mercury levels in the fish did not necessitate fish advisories, at least specific to the bay."

"We're happy to see this finished in this season and we think we did a very good job," said Joan Kenney, the Army's representative at the plant.

Sediment from the bay was pumped into long textile tubes at a specially-prepared site at BAAP that is sealed by a thick plastic membrane. It is being left there for the water to drain out and the water is sprayed on nearby fields, according to the DNR.

In the spring the Army will cover the de-watered sediment with an earthen cap, Kenney said.

The DNR estimates 500 pounds of mercury, 12,000 pounds of copper, 16,000 pounds of zinc and 36,000 pounds of lead were removed during dredging operations from the bay.

Tests of sediment remaining in the bay find it now meets the clean-up target of .36 milligrams of mercury per kilogram, Kuehling said. That standard is based on a "background" level of mercury found in nearby Wiegands Bay, where the Army did not dump wastewater.

"It makes for quite a successful project and we're quite happy with it," he said.

Olah, of Citizens for Safe Water around Badger, said the first dredging effort fell short because the Army contractor didn't remove sediment from close to shore. These are the areas where people and wildlife like aquatic birds are most likely to be exposed to contamination, she said.

"We're pleased they did go back," Olah said. "It took many letters and phone calls and public meetings to convince the DNR there were still problems out there."

Olah said testing of the area around the bay shows mercury contamination may extend beyond it. However the DNR has not required the Army to investigate how far contaminated sediment might go beyond the bay.

"I can't tell you, was there a little bit beyond the dredge area, was there a lot?" Olah said.

Kuehling said the Wisconsin River is exposed to a variety of contaminants from industrial activities along its banks. It is not possible to assign responsibility to the Army for mercury contamination outside of Gruber's Grove Bay.

"The area that we accepted responsibility for was agreed to by the DNR," Kenney said. "So the Army feels it has done what it needs to."

Olah said she would like the DNR to go back in a few years to see if the life cycle in Gruber's Grove Bay has recovered, but they have not agreed to do so. Dredging of the contaminated material is an improvement, she said.

"We're pleased it minimizes exposure (to mercury)," Olah said.  

11/01/06 ALICE IN BUSHLAND: Madison writer comes out of the rabbit hole with answers in hand

WNPJ member Peggy Wireman interviewed in this article

ALICE IN BUSHLAND: Madison writer comes out of the rabbit hole with answers in hand

By ALLISON PHILLIPS

Clarion Arts & Culture Editor

As George W’s reign ends its tyrannical rule, many who have been riding the wake of political satire for relief have ceased to care. We shake our heads at the mention of yet another folly. Looking back at the mess and comprehending what has been done and what changes will have to be made is a larger task than most of us are willing to manage. To help political burnouts get a humorous outlook again, Madison writer Peggy Wireman has released a satirical riot of a book that takes a critical look at the administration’s actions through the eyes of a classic character, Alice in Wonderland.

Written in script form, Alice walks through the world of Bushland where George Bush is king and rules with his sidekicks Rummy the Mad Hatter and Humpty Dumpty Rove. Alice innocently asks questions to which "compassionate" King Bush gives sly replies. When Alice first meets King George, she questions why the Congress is unable to stop King Bush’s attempts to classify government information and stop anyone from leaking information to the press. To which sneaky King Bush replies, "We’ll claim executive privilege. If they are Democrats we can easily spread misinformation about them to discredit them. We’ll do that to Republicans who oppose us, too. Don’t you remember how brave I looked when I flew onto that Navy carrier and announced ‘Mission Accomplished?’" A confused Alice reflects the American conscience on that infamous day as she asks, "What mission was accomplished?"

Wireman hits many of the main issues and how they affect the American public. She outlines the main points of the war in Iraq, job creation, Bush’s connection to Kenneth Lay, the health effects of pollution and cuts to Medicare benefits. Alice lobs questions at the many characters she meets, and is answered with underlying truth and double-speak. At the end of each chapter, Wireman lists cold hard facts on the topics discussed, reminding the reader how Bush’s policy making will affect education, wages, the environment and foreign policy long after he is out of office.

Wireman is concerned that students are not fully aware of the effects the current administration’s policymaking. Our student body is unique in that we educate many low-income students, single mothers, minorities and those that have been left behind in our educational system. Wireman points out the widening gap between business owners and wage-earners: "Under Bush, corporate after-tax profits have risen to an all-time high while compensation for working people has reached a 40-year low." Cuts to educational grants will directly affect MATC students and new restrictions on overtime pay will affect many students coming out of our nursing and law enforcement programs. She is concerned for women’s reproductive rights and believes that in the next five years it could become impossible for any woman who is not married to receive birth control.

In an interview, she states many of her concerns:

AP: Part of this book was written before the second election. What is your opinion on the outcome of the 2002 election?

PW: I was very disappointed, I was shocked by some of the Republican campaign techniques. I had been shocked when I wrote the book. I’ve been around political things for a very long time and I’ve worked in Washington both in the bureaucracy, and I was a congressional fellow for a year up on the hill. I have been a newspaper reporter of the State Legislator. So I’m not real surprised about a lot of things. I was shocked by the techniques that had been used against Max Cleland. This was a senator that was defeated by posting his picture along that of Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden as being not hard enough on terrorism. This was because he had voted against the provision of setting up the new security department, which Bush had initially opposed until he was pushed by the Democrats to do it. He voted against the provision because he wanted more protections for civil servants. The reason he wanted protection for civil servants is it’s the only way you can be sure that people are not going to give false recommendations on national security based on what their bosses want because they’re afraid of losing jobs. We have seen this problem with getting factual information in connection with the Iraq war.

AP: What kind of problems, can you give specifics?

PW: There were many people who knew before the Iraq war that it was likely to move into a civil war. As a matter of fact, Tammy Baldwin had a hearing (in Madison) a week before the war began, and most people stood up and said how pleased they were to come and voice their opinion. I had called a friend of mine, who’s the chief planner in Baghdad before Saddam came in, the night before and he suggested that this was likely to happen. So I went and testified because this was something I had not heard in the newspapers or on the TV. So I stood up and said, "Tammy, I’m not happy to be here, I’m going skiing tomorrow morning and I would rather be packing, but this is a piece of information I think perhaps people don’t have." In fact, many people had that piece of information. But it was the people that didn’t listen to them at the top.

AP: Why do you think they didn’t listen to them?

PW: I think they didn’t listen to them because they had their own agenda. There were people in the administration who had wanted to invade Iraq since the ’90s.

AP: Why do you think George W’s "diamond in the rough" image has lasted so long? Why is his ignorance being ignored?

PW: I don’t think it’s being ignored. I think the polls indicate that. Well, first of all I think many people are not politically aware. I think many people have the mistaken idea that everybody does it. It is not true everybody does it. Everybody does take campaign contributions. Not everybody cheats on them. I was actually in Washington during Watergate and it was very interesting because people outside in the rest of the country tended to think, well, everybody does it. But people in Washington were actually shocked because they knew what Nixon had done went beyond the bounds of just political maneuvering. When he used the instruments of power to remain in power you tend to be like a South American dictatorship. And I see some parallels right now. If you have records of telephone calls one of the things you can use them for is to make lists for which voters to call. Because … if you have the email lists, you know who’s contacting conservative email and who’s contacting liberal emails. You know who’s a member of a church, who’s not a member of a church. It is invaluable to any campaign. Since we don’t know what’s happening, we have no way of knowing who has used the information.

AP: So do you think that it is being used as a technique for campaigning?

PW: Well, it certainly could be. But I think it leads really to a broader question. And the broader question is, and this goes back to the book, the second chapter of the book is King Bush’s song in which King Bush sings a song from Gilbert and Sullivan which is about Lord Chancellor who is claiming to be above the law. "And I, my lord, embody the law" and Bush is claiming right down the line that he is above the law. He can wire tap without following the rules of wiretapping. He has just gotten legislation saying he is not responsible for torture that went on under his administration.

AP: Do you think that the conservative right is making an attempt to restructure the gender roles that have changed so much in the last 50 to 100 years?

PW: I think that you’re correct that some of this is a backlash against the shifts in women’s roles that took place in the ’70s and later. I think that a lot of it is that backlash. I think that some of it has been a very concentrated and deliberate effort by the far right to put forth their own, personal religious views on society. I think that many people have gone along with it partly with a feeling of insecurity because since the ’70s the biggest shift has been the increasing split in wages between the workers and their bosses. And the far right has been financed largely by business people who want to keep wages low.

Wireman’s book is available at local bookstores and her website is Aliceinbushland.com.

11/02/06 Amendment Banning Gay Marriage, Civil Unions Strips Citizens Of Rights

Submitted by WNPJ member group Director Linda Ketcham

Amendment Banning Gay Marriage, Civil Unions Strips Citizens Of Rights

The Capital Times

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Linda Ketcham Madison

 Dear Editor: Eight years ago my partner and I were joined in holy union by our minister in our church. While the government may not recognize this union as a legal marriage, it is nonetheless a marriage in our eyes and the eyes of our church, our family and our friends.

The proposed ban on marriage and civil unions will write discrimination into our state constitution. The ban will strip citizens of current rights in terms of domestic partnerships. The ban threatens my health insurance coverage (I am insured through my partner's health plan) and the ban could be used to help deny my daughter pension benefits should I die. I have paid into my pension, but because the state and federal government will not recognize our family as such, my daughter is denied access to those benefits.

In the same way, the ban on civil unions/domestic partnerships also threatens heterosexual couples who have made long-term commitments to each other but have chosen not to marry.

My parents have assured me that our union has not threatened their marriage of 54 years. I have inquired -- no friends or family have divorced because of our union. No one has sought counseling, not even had an argument related to our union.

Marriage is both a legal and a religious institution. If a particular faith tradition does not want to recognize or perform same-sex marriage, they should have that right. However, my church and many denominations do perform union ceremonies and would consider performing marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. Denying churches the right to perform marriages for members infringes on religious freedom.

Please vote for fairness and for freedom of religion. Please vote "no" on the proposed constitutional amendment.

11/02/06 Casualties Mount in New Israeli Attack on Gaza [Democracy Now!]

WNPJ member Jennifer Lowenstein interviewed on Democracy Now!

Casualties Mount in New Israeli Attack on Gaza

Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

<http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/02/1451201>

A least three Palestinians have been killed and more than 15 wounded in northern Gaza on the second day of a major Israeli offensive. Eight Palestinians and an Israeli soldier died during clashes on Wednesday. The raid is one of Israel’s biggest operations since re-invading Gaza last June. We go now to Gaza to speak with activist and Oxford University Refugee Studies Centre fellow Jennifer Loewenstein. [includes rush transcript]

We turn now to the Occupied Territories where at least three Palestinians have been killed and more than fifteen wounded in northern Gaza on the second day of a major Israeli offensive. The dead include a 70 year-old Palestinian man who was shot in the head by Israeli troops when he went onto the balcony of his home to take his disabled son inside.

Eight Palestinians and an Israeli soldier died during clashes on Wednesday. The raid is one of Israel’s biggest operations since re-invading Gaza last June. Helicopter gunships fired missiles onto the town of Beit Hanoun, tanks patrolled the streets, snipers took up rooftop positions and troops conducted house-to-house searches.

Both the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the prime minister, Ismail Haniya, have described the Israeli military action as a massacre. Israeli forces have made regular incursions into Gaza over the past four months, following the capture of an Israeli soldier in late June by Palestinian militants. Since then, over 300 Palestinians - the majority of them civilian have been killed. Three Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

We go now to Gaza to speak with Jennifer Loewenstein, a visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University. She is working on a book about the transformation of the national Palestinian movement. She joins us on the line from Gaza City.

Jennifer Loewenstein. Visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University. She is working on a book about the transformation of the national Palestinian movement.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.

AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Gaza to speak to Jennifer Loewenstein, a visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University. She is working on a book about the transformation of the national Palestinian movement. She joins us on the phone right now from Gaza City. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Jennifer.

JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN: Hi. Thanks for having me on.

AMY GOODMAN: Jennifer, you last were in Gaza almost two years ago. How has it changed?

JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN: The situation, it’s very interesting. I mean, it's kind of surreal. I was here in January, and it’s always sort of dreary in the wintertime. And I say that because you walk -- you get into Gaza, and it’s this beautiful bright blue cerulean sky and this flowered foliage, and it’s gorgeous. And then, you look beyond that, at the city itself, and it’s absolutely crumbling, and there is trash in the street and destruction everywhere. I mean, buildings that have been bombed or simply falling apart out of disrepair. There are shops that are virtually empty.

There are power cuts every single day. That was common, but not anywhere near as common as it is now. There are places where people have electricity for two or three hours a day only. That’s significant, particularly because you need to have electricity to pump water to the upper floors of these apartment buildings, and so a lot of people end up with absolutely no water for a number of days at a time.

I’ve been here many times. In fact, I lived here in 2002 for almost half a year. And it's never been normal here. It's never been easy. But in all of the times I’ve returned to the Gaza Strip, I have not ever seen it look this collapsed, this exhausted. You see it not only in the buildings and in the appearance, the grayness and the crumbling appearance, but you also see it in the faces of people. And, you know, the Gazans, in my opinion, in any case, have been a very, very strong people and very defiant and persistent people. And yet, person after person that I’ve talked to this time has expressed real despair, real frustration, the belief that things are not going to get better, that this is not going to change. And it’s very discouraging to hear that and to see people with such hopelessness.

AMY GOODMAN: Jennifer Loewenstein, how did you get into Gaza? How hard is it to be there? You are a visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University.

JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN: It’s extremely difficult to get into Gaza. I’m sure that the reason is because the Israeli authorities are keenly aware that when people see how it looks here, that it would automatically win sympathy in the outside world. So what’s interesting is that if I trace my ability to get into Gaza back to the year 2001, when I first came, it’s gotten progressively harder and harder and harder to get back in.

In 2004, for example, it took me five days to get a press card from the Israelis, even though I had my own valid press card. But because I was an independent freelance journalist at the time, I was suspicious. And because I wasn’t working for a major Western and, I should say, sympathetic media outlet, I was given a lot of hassle. People from the Beit Agron , a press house in West Jerusalem, even called the Israeli consulate in Chicago, which then called contacts of mine in Madison to find out who I was and whether or not I should be let in. I shouldn’t say "contacts of mine," but people I know. In that particular situation, I know from one of the rabbis in Madison, who told me sympathetically later on that the executive director of the Madison Jewish Community Center informed the consulate that I was dangerous and should not be allowed in. I was nevertheless given a press card the last two days I was here, so I was able to do something, but it was very little.

Now, it is impossible for freelancers to come in at all. They have prohibitive fees, and basically the only people who can get in from the media are people who are full-time Middle East correspondents for a nationally recognized paper or station, such as the New York Times, the BBC, the London Times. These are the kinds of people who can come in. Other journalists have a great deal of difficulty.

Now, this time, and I think this is also significant, the only way for individuals to come in is to receive some kind of sponsorship from either a United Nations organization or a well-known international human rights organization, such as Save the Children or Amnesty International. They are given clearance. So, for me, I started last April trying to apply to come in, and because I work as a researcher at an international organization, the Refugee Study Centre, UNSCO, the United Nations Special Coordinator’s Office, did agree to sponsor my research. That was in June, and so I came immediately. Nonetheless, when I arrived, it was on June 25th, the same day that Gilad Shalit was kidnapped, and as a result nobody got in, nobody for the entire week, except these quote/unquote "sympathetic" journalists. So I had to return now, because my clearance is up, as of tomorrow.

And so, the hassle, the attempt to come in here is difficult for people to imagine. When I arrived in June at the Tel Aviv airport, I didn't say anything to the woman behind the desk, where they check in all the passengers from the flights. I handed her my passport. She typed the number in my passport into her computer, and within seconds I was surrounded by Israeli security personnel, who said, "Come with us, please." And at that point, I didn't know if I was even going to be allowed into the country. I was detained, searched and interrogated over a period of six-and-a-half hours and had really no -- nobody told me whether I was going to be let in or not. And at the end, I was simply escorted through the airport and let go, but only after asking questions and being completely given a body search and having every item of my luggage examined meticulously.

AMY GOODMAN: Jennifer Loewenstein, we have only a minute to go, but this latest news right now out of Gaza, in this raid, one of Israel’s biggest operations since reinvading Gaza last June, at least three Palestinians have been killed, more than fifteen wounded in Gaza in the second day of the offensive. The dead include a 70-year-old man who went out on his balcony to bring in his disabled son. The deaths coming one day after eight Palestinians and an Israeli soldier died in clashes yesterday. Can you describe the situation? Are you able to get around to investigate?

JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN: Only to the extent that I’ve gotten to the hospital. I was in the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City yesterday, deliberately because of this incursion. And by the way, it was nine Palestinians yesterday. They are very careful about documenting things here.

I went around, and with the permission of one of the head doctors at the hospital, photographed the wounded, because I know from being an American citizen that we don't see Palestinian dead and wounded, we only see the Israelis. And so, I was taken to various wards in the hospital, where people were recovering, in particular, the intensive care unit, and photographed people with bullet wounds and with legs and arms bound up in plaster. And in one case, a man was simply bleeding from his belly. I mean it was just -- it was really truly gruesome. And one of the people had died on the operating table that morning and was taken to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Hanoun, where they take the dead. There were lots of relatives hanging around the hospital, waiting for news on their relatives.

And just as an aside, it was very touching, because, you know, you walk through these hospitals on a very hot and very humid Gaza day, there is no air conditioning, there are no proper bed linens. One father was shouting at one of the nurses that his son had been there a week -- this was in another case -- and had not yet had changed bed linens, and the doctor telling me, "Look, we don't have them. We don't have basic supplies like that. We don’t have dialysis machines for kidney patients. We don’t have cancer drugs. We can't do elective surgeries anymore, such as for hernias or anything like that, because the more crucial or urgent situations have to take precedence." They don’t have basic medicines for people with the flu and, you know, stomach upset. It’s just -- it’s really a serious and deadly siege that’s been imposed on the Gaza Strip, and it’s having incredibly bad repercussions here among the population.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Jennifer, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting the Bush administration has undertaken efforts to arm and train the presidential guard of the Palestinian Authority chair, Mahmoud Abbas, in order to prepare it for a potential violent conflict with Hamas. Palestinian sources say the training started in August under the guidance of an American military instructor. Do you have any more information on this?

JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN: Yes, I do. And I think it’s another very important point. There’s no question that this is happening. Nobody is shocked or surprised to hear it. They all know it. They all tell me this has been going on for a long time. There are training camps set up by the U.S. in the West Bank near Jericho, where these security forces are being trained. And there is clearly a circle of people around Abbas, not necessarily Abbas himself, but around Abbas, people such as Muhammad Dahlan, who have never accepted the Hamas government itself in any case and have been provoking skirmishes since January, basically, between the two factions.

What is significant, however, is that this group of people around Abbas has no popular support. In fact, their support has dropped even further, even more below the situation in January, when the election results came in and Hamas had gotten a victory, Fatah, of course, being defeated for the first time in its history. Nobody here wants a civil war. The people are against it. Everybody you talk to says, "No, it’s not going to happen." But there’s no question that this particular force around Abbas, these people being trained by the Americans, could cause a lot of trouble. It simply won’t be something that reaches into the population, because there is simply no popular support, nor are there the grounds for a real civil war here. Nobody wants it.

AMY GOODMAN: Jennifer Loewenstein, I want to thank you for being with us, visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University, currently in Gaza City, where she is speaking to us from.

www.democracynow.org

11/02/06 The Outsiders, Third-party Candidates Fight For Chance To Be Heard In An Election Campaign That Focuses On Two Parties.

WNPJ member group Wisconsin Green Party featured in this article

The Outsiders
Third-party Candidates Fight For Chance To Be Heard In An Election Campaign That Focuses On Two Parties.





Wisconsin State Journal
Thursday, November 2, 2006
ANITA CLARK aclark@madison.com 608-252-6138


You won't be seeing political ads on television from these candidates.

They're the third-party office-seekers in Tuesday's election, and they lack the campaign wealth that buys advertising and bolsters public recognition.

While under-funded and little-known, in part due to lack of media attention, energetic third-party candidates are stumping the state with the fervor of true believers. They don't even admit the likelihood of defeat.

"I'm planning to win," said Rae Vogeler, 50, of Oregon, the Wisconsin Green Party candidate running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Herb Kohl. "Now, winning has many components." One is going to Washington, D.C., she said; another is uniting people dismayed with the current political system.

Statewide, the Wisconsin Green Party is running 10 candidates in races for governor, U.S. senator, Congress and other posts. The Libertarian and Constitution parties are each running two candidates, some of them write-ins.

Third-party candidates often raise issues and offer perspectives not addressed by major-party candidates, said John Coleman, a professor of political science at UW-Madison.

Exactly, say several of the third-party candidates.

"I see all these things that are happening," said Nelson Eisman, 62, Madison, the Green candidate for governor. "I'm just disgusted by it. I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't sleep. I said to myself, If I don't do something about this, who will?'"

He took a mostly unpaid leave from his state job in the Department of Administration to run against incumbent Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, and Republican Mark Green. Eisman is running on a platform of restoring honest government, expanding health care to everyone and balancing the state budget with a new income tax system.

Are people listening?

But the value of a third-party perspective depends on whether voters actually hear it, Coleman said.

Eisman has reported raising $24,472, compared to campaign war chests bulging with $10 million for Doyle and $6.3 million for Green.

"He's in a classic position of not being able to speak above a whisper, simply because of money," said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

It's a vicious circle for third-party candidates: Lack of money means lack of public visibility, which means lack of polling impact that leads to lack of media coverage.

"A third-party candidate really is caught in a Catch-22," McCabe said.

Wisconsin has a long tradition of third-party activism, from the Progressives who split from the Republicans in 1900 to Ralph Nader's popularity in the 2000 presidential race and Libertarian Ed Thompson's presence in the governor's race in 2002.

But that raises the issue of whether a vote for a third-party candidate is a wasted vote, or a boost for one of the major-party candidates in a tight race. Some Democrats still blame Nader for President Bush's victory in 2000 over Al Gore.

"It's a terrible dilemma for any voter who wants to vote for a third-party candidate," said Coleman.

He noted that, with recent polls showing a tight race between Doyle and Green, Eisman could be a factor in the outcome.

"That's where this election is getting kind of interesting, I think," Coleman said Wednesday.

Eisman said voters who choose the lesser of two evils are "still voting for evil."

Not a wasted vote

Vogeler calls her race, which Kohl is likely to win, "a unique opportunity" for voters to vote their conscience, not their fears. Other candidates in the Senate race are Republican Robert Lorge, independent Ben Glatzel and Dave Redick, a Libertarian running as a write-in after a kidney-stone attack foiled his effort to gather enough signatures for the ballot.

Redick, 71, of Madison, a semi-retired telecommunications consultant, is campaigning against the war in Iraq, federal spending and big government. "I never give up," he said, even though people who like government "handouts" don't like his message.

A longtime community activist, most recently with the Madison Area Peace Coalition, Vogeler said she's been driving 1,500 miles a week listening to people all over the state. They have three top concerns, she said: health care, family-supporting jobs and education for their children.

Campaigning is intense, hard work, even for well-funded major party candidates. For all their passion, third-party candidates insist they're normal family and community members when not on the campaign trail.

"My kids think I'm nuts," Redick admitted cheerfully, but noted he spent Monday evening carving pumpkins with his grandchildren. Eisman is president of Friends of Lake View Park on Madison's North Side; Vogeler is the mother of sons ages 9 and 14.

Eisman admits campaigning is a tough slog.

"It's tough," he said. "Sometimes you just have to do the right thing, and I'm doing what seems to be the right thing. The rest of it's up to the voter."

11/02/06 Third-party candidates fight to be heard

WNPJ member groups Wisconsin Green Party, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and Madison Area Peace Coalition featured in this article

Thursday, NOV 2, 2006

ANITA CLARK

You won't be seeing political ads on television from these candidates.

They're the third-party office-seekers in Tuesday's election, and they lack the campaign wealth that buys advertising and bolsters public recognition.

While under-funded and little-known, in part due to lack of media attention, energetic third-party candidates are stumping the state with the fervor of true believers. They don't even admit the likelihood of defeat.

"I'm planning to win," said Rae Vogeler, 50, of Oregon, the Wisconsin Green Party candidate running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Herb Kohl. "Now, winning has many components." One is going to Washington, D.C., she said; another is uniting people dismayed with the current political system.

Statewide, the Wisconsin Green Party is running 10 candidates in races for governor, U.S. senator, Congress and other posts. The Libertarian and Constitution parties are each running two candidates, some of them write-ins.

Third-party candidates often raise issues and offer perspectives not addressed by major- party candidates, said John Coleman, a professor of political science at UW-Madison.

Exactly, say several of the third-party candidates.

"I see all these things that are happening," said Nelson Eisman, 62, Madison, the Green candidate for governor. "I'm just disgusted by it. I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't sleep. I said to myself, 'If I don't do something about this, who will?' "

He took a mostly unpaid leave from his state job in the Department of Administration to run against incumbent Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, and Republican Mark Green. Eisman is running on a platform of restoring honest government, expanding health care to everyone and balancing the state budget with a new income tax system.

But the value of a third-party perspective depends on whether voters actually hear it, Coleman said.

Eisman has reported raising $24,472, compared to campaign war chests bulging with $10 million for Doyle and $6.3 million for Green.

"He's in a classic position of not being able to speak above a whisper, simply because of money," said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

It's a vicious circle for third- party candidates: Lack of money means lack of public visibility, which means lack of polling impact that leads to lack of media coverage.

"A third-party candidate really is caught in a Catch-22," McCabe said.

Wisconsin has a long tradition of third-party activism, from the Progressives who split from the Republicans in 1900 to Ralph Nader's popularity in the 2000 presidential race and Libertarian Ed Thompson's presence in the governor's race in 2002.

But that raises the issue of whether a vote for a third-party candidate is a wasted vote, or a boost for one of the major- party candidates in a tight race. Some Democrats still blame Nader for President Bush's victory in 2000 over Al Gore.

"It's a terrible dilemma for any voter who wants to vote for a third-party candidate," said Coleman.

He noted that, with recent polls showing a tight race between Doyle and Green, Eisman could be a factor in the outcome.

"That's where this election is getting kind of interesting, I think," Coleman said Wednesday.

Eisman said voters who choose the lesser of two evils are "still voting for evil."

Vogeler calls her race, which Kohl is likely to win, "a unique opportunity" for voters to vote their conscience, not their fears. Other candidates in the Senate race are Republican Robert Lorge, independent Ben Glatzel and Dave Redick, a Libertarian running as a write-in after a kidney-stone attack foiled his effort to gather enough signatures for the ballot.

Redick, 71, of Madison, a semi-retired telecommunications consultant, is campaigning against the war in Iraq, federal spending and big government. "I never give up," he said, even though people who like government "handouts" don't like his message.

A longtime community activist, most recently with the Madison Area Peace Coalition, Vogeler said she's been driving 1,500 miles a week listening to people all over the state. They have three top concerns, she said: health care, family- supporting jobs and education for their children.

Campaigning is intense, hard work, even for well- funded major party candidates. For all their passion, third-party candidates insist they're normal family and community members when not on the campaign trail.

"My kids think I'm nuts," Redick admitted cheerfully, but noted he spent Monday evening carving pumpkins with his grandchildren. Eisman is president of Friends of Lake View Park on Madison's North Side; Vogeler is the mother of sons ages 9 and 14.

Eisman admits campaigning is a tough slog.

"It's tough," he said. "Sometimes you just have to do the right thing, and I'm doing what seems to be the right thing. The rest of it's up to the voter."

11/03/06 Iraq War Protesters Block Square Traffic

WNPJ members and fellow activists arrested in this article

Wisconsin State Journal

Friday, November 3, 2006


Eight peace activists were arrested Thursday for blocking traffic on Capitol Square for 20 minutes while protesting Sen. Herb Kohl's "refusal to do anything to end the war" in Iraq.

Joy First, Jennifer First, Steve Burns, Bonnie Block, Deb Mulligan, Bonita Sitter, Cassandra Dickson and Susan Spahn wore red gloves and laid in the street in front of Kohl's office, chanting, "We have blood on our hands! We are killing innocent people! Stop the war!" They were arrested and tentatively charged with obstructing a street, which carries a fine of $109.

11/04/06 Helping Save the World, One Day at a Time

11/04/06 Referendums About Iraq On Tuesday Ballots

WNPJ member group Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition featured in this article

The Capital Times

Saturday, November 4, 2006
By John Hartzell Associated Press

Call it a battle of war referendums.

Voters in Wisconsin's largest city, Milwaukee, and nine other communities will consider referendums in the election Tuesday asking whether U.S. troops should be brought home from Iraq. The referendums follow similar questions approved last April in 24 of 32 Wisconsin communities.

The Ozaukee County Board fired back with a referendum of its own. Voters in the county just north of Milwaukee will be asked whether they support the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan "until such a time as organized terrorism is eliminated and citizens of all countries can be assured of their safety to go about their tasks of everyday life."

Wisconsin Rapids and Pittsville put their own spin on the debate. The Wood County communities are asking voters whether they favor an impeachment investigation of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bush has repeatedly rejected setting a timetable for a phased withdrawal of troops.

Leslie "Buzz" Davis of Stoughton, co-chair of Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition, said the referendums are resulting in dialogue on the issue that could lead to changes.

"If it were left up to politicians, they would talk about apple pie and motherhood," Davis said. "This helps voters and politicians figure out where they stand."

Although petition drives resulted in most of the referendums being put on the ballot, the Ozaukee County question was proposed by county supervisor Joseph Sopko of Cedar Grove, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard who spent two months serving in Afghanistan, and Warren Stumpe of Mequon, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who has since left the board.

"There were so many referendums out there against the war on terror," Sopko said. "We didn't believe that represented the view of the people of Ozaukee County."

Sopko said no organized campaign has been mounted to persuade voters to support the referendum question.

"We did not want to turn it into a political circus," he said. "Your views are your views, and this is your opportunity to speak."

A petition drive calling for the Milwaukee referendum fell short of the necessary 21,000 signatures, but putting the question on the ballot was approved anyway by the Milwaukee Common Council.

"Citizens are frustrated by the lack of input they have in Washington," said Milwaukee Alderman Michael D'Amato, the lead sponsor of the measure. "Putting forward referendums such as this give people an outlet through which they can be heard.

"Every dollar we spend in Iraq takes away money for central cities," he said.

George Martin of Milwaukee, a national co-chair of the United Peace and Justice group and a proponent of the Milwaukee referendum, agreed.

"The war directly affects our ability to meet human needs at home," he said.

Martin said telephone calls urging passage of the referendum have been made in Milwaukee, yard signs have been distributed and a rally is being planned downtown today. Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, is scheduled to speak at the event.

Sixty-one Wisconsin residents have died while serving in Iraq, and six while serving in Afghanistan.

Other communities with referendums asking whether U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq are the city of Racine, the Milwaukee County suburbs of South Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and Fox Point, Middleton and town of Springdale in Dane County, Boscobel in Grant County, Lake Delton in Sauk County and Viroqua in Vernon County.

Robert Hoch of Arpin, who led the impeachment referendum efforts in Wisconsin Rapids and Pittsville, said he felt referendums on troop withdrawal did not go far enough.

"The troops are not coming home until we get rid of this president," Hoch said. "I think this guy is misguided."

11/06/06 Death Penalty Vote Is 'bait And Switch'

Submitted by WNPJ outreach coordinator Steve Burns

The Capital Times

Monday, November 6, 2006
Steve Burns
Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice Madison

Dear Editor: I was shocked by Senate President Alan Lasee's recent statements regarding the November death penalty referendum, in which he said: "It has never been my intent to limit the death penalty to convictions involving DNA evidence."

The referendum, of which Sen. Lasee is the principal author, states that the death penalty would only be applied in cases where "conviction is supported by DNA evidence."

Sen. Lasee went on to say that he included the DNA language in the referendum as a way to "dispel some of the fence-sitters from saying that the sky is falling and that someone is going to be wrongly convicted."

Many voters will vote for the referendum because they are reassured by the DNA language. Most of these voters will not be aware of Sen. Lasee's plans to discard the DNA provision once the election is over.

I hope Wisconsin voters will agree that this sort of dishonest "bait and switch" tactic is not a legitimate way to overturn a law that has been on Wisconsin's books for 153 years.

11/06/06 You Don't Need Photo Id To Vote

Submitted by WNPJ member Peggy Wireman

You Don't Need Photo Id To Vote
The Capital Times
Monday, November 6, 2006

Peggy Wireman Monona

 Dear Editor: Recently I met someone who didn't know that you do not have to have a Wisconsin driver's license or a picture ID to vote or to register to vote.

You can register to vote at the polls. You DO have to have proof that you have lived for 10 days in the district in which you are voting. You can do this with any of the following which show your current address: a Wisconsin driver's license, a Wisconsin ID card, any other official ID card or license issued by a Wisconsin governmental body, a real estate tax bill or receipt, a lease, a recent utility bill, a bank statement, a paycheck, a check or a document from a unit of government. You can use a university, college or technical institute fee card or ID, but only if they have a photo.

11/08/06 Communities Add Their Voices To War Question

Wisconsin State Journal

Wednesday, November 8, 2006
State Journal, wire reports

Wisconsin residents in 10 communities voted Tuesday on referendums, with early returns showing at least four suggesting the U.S. should pull its troops from Iraq now.

The people in those communities gathered signatures on petitions to place the issue on the ballot to urge President Bush to bring home the troops.

The referendums carry no official weight because municipal governments can't dictate the federal government's actions. But organizers hope they send a message to lawmakers.

In April, 24 of 32 communities with such referendums, including Madison and Mount Horeb, voted to pull out the troops.

This time around, Milwaukee residents were supporting the measure by a good margin, as were voters in Middleton, Viroqua, Boscobel and Lake Delton. The question squeaked by in the town of Springdale. The referendum also was on the ballot in South Milwaukee, Fox Point, Wauwatosa and Racine.

Meanwhile, people in Wisconsin Rapids and Pittsville voted on whether to call for an impeachment investigation of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

In Ozaukee County, however, voters were deciding by a 2-to-1 margin that they support the nation's "war on terror."

Sixty-one Wisconsin residents have died while serving in Iraq and six while serving in Afghanistan.

War referendums

Voters in these five communities were answering this question: Should the U.S. now begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, and continue steady withdrawal until all the troops are home.

Boscobel (All wards reporting)

Yes 476

No 277

Lake Delton (3 of 3 wards)

Yes 451

No 235

Middleton (4 of 4 wards)

Yes 4,499

No 3,191

Town of Springdale (1 of 1 ward)

Yes 451

No 447

Viroqua (9 of 9 wards)

Yes 801

No 740

11/08/06 One obvious solution for Iraq

Submitted by WNPJ Inter Ben Ratliffe


One Obvious Solution for Iraq

Badger Herald
Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Try as they might, the GOP’s diversionary tactics of scapegoating same-sex partners and migrant workers have failed to deflect America’s attention from the tragic embarrassment that is the war in Iraq. According to a recent poll by The New York Times/CBS News, “Americans cited Iraq as the most important issue affecting their vote … “

The developments of October proved pivotal as the military’s last-ditch effort to secure Baghdad in Operation Forward Together ended with the president admitting that the United States may be facing another Tet Offensive. Now that the hopelessly naïve obstinacy of the neo-conservative line “Stay the course” is being dropped from Republican parlance, Democrats are scrambling to play on Americans’ anxieties by promoting a number of new strategies toward winning the war.

Of the Democrats’ so-called “alternatives,” the first, Peter Galbraith’s argument for the breakup of Iraq into three ethnic-based regions, would only solidify the ethnic antagonisms currently being used to justify the occupation. The second, John Murtha’s call for a phased withdrawal combined with an escalated bombing campaign, recalls Nixon’s “Vietnamization” project that killed millions and made a wasteland of the country we were allegedly trying to save. Finally, the newest suggestion being kicked around the Pentagon is the overthrow of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, replacing him with martial law and a Baath-like dictatorship.

What all of these have in common are the interests they serve, and conversely, those they do not. None of them prioritize the lives of American soldiers, and all of them completely ignore the aspirations of the people of Iraq. What they do aim to protect, however, was best summed up recently by Bush at a rally in Colorado: “You can imagine a world in which these extremists and radicals got control of energy resources … “

October was the fourth-deadliest month of the occupation, in which 100 U.S. soldiers were killed — bringing the total to more than 2,800 — and more than 1,000 were injured.

As for Iraqi casualties, the most recent report issued by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health claims a “95 percent certainty that the actual number [of Iraqi deaths] is no lower than 425,000 and no higher than 793,000.” This number is as stunning as it is infuriating. Of course, supporters of the occupation jumped to criticize the research as a flawed, politically motivated exaggeration. But the researchers point out that these methods have been used in Darfur and the eastern Congo, and that “Tony Blair and Colin Powell have quoted those results time and time again without any question as to the precision or validity.”

With the elections being tallied as this column is composed, the proverbial parade of senators’ sons jockey for position, each equally determined not to isolate his socially conservative base by appearing “soft” on national security. Meanwhile, the devastating consequences of the war loom like a reoccurring nightmare for everyone else.

Bush’s confirmation that war hawks are truly swapping blood for oil may come as no surprise. Still, with so many looking to the Democratic party to end the war, we need to remember that the capitalist drive to capture new markets and maintain control over the most important industrial resource on earth — oil — will invariably outweigh the value of American and Iraqi lives. As such, the power to end the war will not come from Congress, no matter which party dominates its houses. As always, progressive change comes from those most affected.

In October, while the death toll was spiking, a Navy seaman based in Norfolk, Virginia, got together with other active duty personnel to issue “An Appeal for Redress,” which can be viewed at www.appealforredress.org. The campaign supports the rights of soldiers, as outlined in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to voice their opinions to Congress without fear of reprisal. Within a week, 500 soldiers signed on. As of yesterday, the number exceeded 1,200. The wording of the appeal is as follows: “As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.”

Historically, the end of the war begins with the soldiers’ refusal to fight it. What they need from us is a movement to support them. No matter the results of last night’s election, the task of ending the war remains the same. Only a movement independent of those in power will return Iraq to the Iraqis and bring the troops home NOW!

Ben Ratliffe is an undergraduate majoring in anthropology. He is also a member of the International Socialist Organization.

11/08/06 Voters' Anti-war Message Loud, Clear

The Capital Times

Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Staff/news services

Organizers of a movement to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq are lauding success at the ballot box from Wisconsin to Massachusetts.

Nine Wisconsin communities weighed in on measures calling for troop withdrawal, approving all of them.

In Dane County, Middleton's "Bring the Troops Home" referendum passed 4,498 to 3,191, and a similar measure squeaked by in the town of Springdale.

An anti-war measure passed overwhelmingly in Milwaukee.

Eleven communities in Illinois -- including the Chicago metropolitan area comprising about half the state's electorate -- passed troop measures by wide margins. And 36 such measures appeared set for passage in Massachusetts legislative districts.

Steve Burns, the program coordinator for the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice who helped engineer ballot successes in Madison and other communities in April, said the results were "fantastic."

"Looking at the results in April, it isn't just a Madison thing," Burns said. "It's just really startling."

Janet Parker, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice vice chair, said anti-war organizations in Illinois and Massachusetts took their lead from Wisconsin, where in April, 24 of 32 municipalities approved anti-war measures.

"The organizers of these referenda in Illinois and Massachusetts have told us that Wisconsin referenda in April were their inspiration," she said.

They're shooting for more referendums in the spring.

"I bet after today we'll be hearing from a lot of places that want it," she said.

James Railey, 27, said he voted to withdraw the troops, but he's not sure that's the best option right now.

"Honestly, I don't know what the best thing to do is," said Railey, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "I really just voted yes' to send a message."

That message was loud and clear.

In the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee, 72 percent of voters favored the referendum.

The suburbs of South Milwaukee, Fox Point and Wauwatosa followed in step, as did Middleton, the city of Racine, Lake Delton in Sauk County and Boscobel in Grant County, all with approval rates at 58 percent or more.

Only two of the votes were close.

Voters in Viroqua in Vernon County approved it by 52 percent to 48 percent, while voters in Springdale in Dane County passed it by only four votes.

Wes Taylor, a 21-year-old mechanical engineer in Milwaukee, said he's disappointed with the public's reaction to Iraq.

"I think people are getting confused with who is really to blame and who needs to be called out on the war. I think it's shooting the messenger to not support the troops," he said. "A lot of people don't want to be over there, but they're just doing their jobs."

Opponents of the referendums said problems left by a quick troop withdrawal from Iraq could be worse.

"It's up to us to see it through to victory. My hope is that we'll complete this mission," said Sam Johnson, vice president of Vote No to Cut and Run. "We have come a long way, and we've accomplished a lot in Iraq. It's not something that's simply going to go away in a week."

The opinions of the voters reflected that uncertainty of what to do while voting to bring the troops home.

"We have to be mindful that we went in there and wrecked the place," said 68-year-old Tom Christofferson, a Milwaukee resident voting for the withdrawal. "I wish I had the answer."

While all anti-war initiatives passed, a pro-war measure in Ozaukee County did as well. Voters there agreed by a 2-to-1 margin on the issue of supporting the nation's "war on terror" in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere until "organized terrorism is eliminated."

11/11/06 Back, but still serving

Featuring Laura Naylor, Iraq Vet and member of Military Families for Peace, and her family

Back, but still serving........

When two of their children returned from Iraq, one Wisconsin family vowed to do whatever they could to make the World a better place.

Wisconsin State Journal

Saturday, November 11, 2006
DEE J. HALL dhall@madison.com 608-252-6132



In the elegant ballroom at the MainGate Meriter Commons retirement community Downtown, the lights went down and the eyes of the crowd gazed intently at the slide show unfolding on the screen.

They were watching a presentation by Laura Naylor, a recent UW-Madison graduate, as she described her 14-month tour of duty in Iraq that began in May 2003. The 25-year-old spoke in a cheerful voice that often belied the grit and horror she experienced in the Army National Guard as the driver in a military police unit based in Baghdad.

Interspersed with humorous photos of Naylor arm-wrestling Iraqi police officers were images of the police station she guarded blown open by an insurgent's car bomb, taking 21 lives with it.

Her voice turned somber as she described the charred bodies of children she used to see playing in the street pulled from the rubble.

Naylor broke into a smile when she reminisced about the reunion she had in Iraq with her older brother, Joe, who was serving as an Army medic in nearby Ramadi.

She read an e-mail her brother sent to her parents describing a mortar attack he survived. The attack killed eight soldiers and wounded 44 others as they sat in their camp.

Naylor herself described numerous close calls with mortars, gunfire and roadside bombs and her growing despair with a mission in which "you never know who your enemies are, or when something bad is going to happen."

As the lights came back on, the audience -- mostly retirees who'd served distinguished careers in health care, business, government and academia -- came to its feet. One Vietnam veteran, Grant Ringlien, said the conflict in Iraq "looks like a nastier war than Vietnam."

You could say that in the two years since she got back, Naylor has been on a new mission, one she believes also serves her country: She shows the people of Wisconsin what the war is really like for the soldiers who have to fight it.

Naylor's Powerpoint presentation is her contribution to a family peace pact of sorts, struck on Christmas 2004, after she and her brother returned safely from the war.

"We just couldn't take our eyes off our children," their mother, Mary Naylor, recalled. "But we still had this empty feeling that there were hundreds of thousands of children over there who didn't need to be there."

The vow the Naylors made was this: Each member would try, in his or her own way, to make the world a better place.

"It (war) affected all of us in different ways," Mary Naylor said. "We realized we had to do something rather than sit around and complain about it."

Running for office, biking cross country

For Naylor's parents, Dan and Mary Naylor of Waupaca, it meant, in part, working toward a reasonable end to a war that some Americans think was a costly mistake.

All three Naylor children credit their devotion to helping right the wrongs of the world to their parents and especially their father, Dan, a Vietnam era veteran who works as a consultant organizing services for severely disabled children.

Dan Naylor said he first got energized by pushing their local town board for a bring-the-troops-home referendum. He also became active in Vets for Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign. And he helped push a resolution at the state Democratic Party convention that called for a timetable to withdraw American troops from Iraq.

Earlier this week, Dan Naylor completed an unsuccessful bid for the state Assembly's 40th District. He ran as a Democrat on a platform of returning civility to government, helping veterans and "giving voice to the voiceless." He lost by just under 1,000 votes in a district that's been solidly Republican for more than 60 years.

"I wanted to be a voice for veterans and active duty soldiers and their families," he said, conceding that the loss has been tough to take.

To keep her end of the bargain, Mary Naylor biked coast to coast, more than 3,000 miles, carrying a bring-the-troops home placard on her bicycle.

Laura Naylor said her mother "talked to whoever would listen" about her and Joe's experiences in Iraq while pedaling from Oregon to New Hampshire in the summer of 2005.

Working with disabled veterans

Joe Naylor, who still has two years of inactive reserve to fulfill with the Army, has turned his life toward helping disabled veterans.

Joe Naylor, 27, chooses his words carefully when describing his time at war.

He doesn't want to say he supports or opposes it, but rather that it was difficult and appears, at this point, unlikely to get better.

"Some days I just knew we weren't going to come home," Joe Naylor said, describing the dangerous patrols he conducted in and around Ramadi and Fallujah.

The low point came, he said, when the insurgents he and his fellow soldiers had risked their lives to arrest were released in the wake of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. "After that, we really didn't know what our purpose was," Joe Naylor said.

When he returned from war, Joe Naylor worked for a time in sales. But when a position became available at the Dane County Job Center working with veterans, he jumped at the chance.

"I decided I wanted to get into some type of aspect of helping veterans," said Joe Naylor, who lines up jobs and training for disabled veterans from Dane, Jefferson and Dodge counties.

Hoping to help others in the Peace Corps

Laura Naylor's twin, Andy, also of Madison, said he hopes to turn the "scary" and "very, very traumatic experience" of waiting for his siblings to return from Iraq into a career helping others. With a newly minted degree in secondary education from UW-La Crosse, Andy Naylor hopes to join the Peace Corps this summer.

"I'm going to help people -- wherever I am," Andy Naylor said. "I need to get out there and make a difference."

Laura Naylor said she's not sure what her next step will be. She's applied to work in the Teach for America program and for another job working with veterans. She hopes her presentations -- 50 and counting -- have made a difference.

"What I want is for people to make educated decisions about how they feel about the war, based on my experience, based on what actually happens. I just want people to know what it's really like."

11/11/06 Honor Our Veterans And The Rule Of Law

Submitted by WNPJ member Buzz Davis

Honor Our Veterans And The Rule Of Law

The Capital Times

Saturday, November 11, 2006
BUZZ DAVIS

As we mark Veterans Day, our nation needs to think deeply about what we are doing in Iraq, Afghanistan and the world.

In Iraq nearly 3,000 of our military have died, and tens of thousands of our military have been wounded or hit by disease. By some estimates, more than 655,000 Iraqis have died since we "liberated" Iraq. Nearly 4,500 American children have lost a parent in Iraq, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi kids have lost family members.

This is not the way to create peace. This is a blood bath causing hatred.

In our busy lives we may be able to pretend these things are not happening. But those soldiers and civilians dying and suffering horrible injuries in Iraq are real people. Their pain and anguish and that of hundreds of thousands of their family members are real.

On Veterans Day we honor those who have served and those who gave their lives. We need to work harder for peace than we do making war. We must continue to speak out!

Nearly 8.7 million voters in Wisconsin and across the nation voted Tuesday on bring our troops home and impeachment referendums. A majority of the troops-home referendums gained far more than 50 percent of the vote. Significant minorities of voters voted in favor of starting impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

Veterans must call for impeachment because of their oath to "support and defend the Constitution." Under the Constitution, all treaties entered into by the United States have the status of federal law. Thus, we are bound to uphold the United Nations Charter, which prohibits wars of aggression; the Constitution, which gives only Congress the right to declare war; and the Geneva Conventions and federal laws, which specifically prohibit torture of prisoners and civilians.

Our Constitution and laws have not been obeyed. The leaders of the Bush administration have engaged in an illegal retaliatory war of aggression in Afghanistan and in a "pre-emptive" war of aggression in Iraq. They have directed the illegal torture of prisoners and civilians.

We must restore the rule of law. Illegal wars and torture are each "high crimes" and impeachable offenses. We must call for an impeachment investigation. Most politicians do not have the courage to do this. Thus, we citizens must act. If we let these high crimes pass without demanding accountability, the next president, Republican or Democrat, will start out with all the abusive powers Bush has grabbed for himself.

* Today, Veterans for Peace is planning a "Veterans Day -- Fight for Peace and Justice" event from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Madison Labor Temple, 1602 S. Park St. We will honor living veterans and honor those who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We will watch and discuss a poignant 78-minute documentary, "The Ground Truth," about combat in Iraq and its effect upon soldiers' lives and their families. We will call for action.

Author and reporter John Nichols of The Capital Times will call for impeachment of the president. County Supervisor Barb Vedder will call for the Dane County Board to place referendums on bringing the troops home and impeachment on the April 2007 ballot. And activist and organizer Steve Burns will call for petition drives to place these referendums on ballots across the state.

Invest your Saturday afternoon in honoring veterans -- and learning how to restore the rule of law in America.

\ Buzz Davis of Stoughton is a member of Veterans for Peace and is co-chairman of the Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition. He is a retired state planner and Vietnam-era Army officer.

11/13/06 Artists Do Their Part To Help Promote Peace

WNPJ member group Madison Women for Peace featured in this article 

Artists Do Their Part To Help Promote Peace
Fundraiser Aids Women, Kids Hurt By War



 
The Capital Times
Monday, November 13, 2006


Nino Rodriguez's artwork reflects a vision that changed in an instant on a New York subway the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.The former Brooklyn resident was riding through an underground tunnel near the World Trade Center when a plane hit the towers and witnessed the collapse of the second tower from a distance after getting off the train.

"In terms of the work I have been doing creatively and the direction my life took, it was definitely changing," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez's edgy pieces combining political slogans with images of the aftermath of political decisions were part of the Art for Change: A Peace Campaign exhibit Sunday afternoon at Winnebago Studios.

The event was a fundraiser sponsored by Madison Women for Peace and benefited orphanages run by RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, and Women for Women International, which supports women affected by war.

"After the summer, with the war in Lebanon and Israel, and with the Iraq war, it just seemed that I couldn't stand by and do nothing," organizer Catherine Martin said.

Martin rallied her friends and, with the help of her husband, artist Derrick Buisch, inspired more than 60 artists from 15 states and Germany to donate art for the show.

Donors who purchased a raffle ticket for $100 selected a piece of art when their number was called, and more than 30 art patrons took home an original piece of art from the event.

An abstract oil painting by Buisch was the first piece chosen in the lottery system. Jenn Sauer, who selected the piece, is a friend of the artist and said she has always loved his work.

"It spoke to me in a way that others didn't as much," she said.

The donated art covered political themes as well as more conventional subjects, and venture capitalist John Neis of Madison took home three pieces in support of the fundraising effort.

"I think it's a wonderful cause, and it was incredibly generous of the artists to donate their work for this," Neis said. "The chance to support a good cause and get a nice piece of art is just too good to pass up."

Madison artist Amy Newell donated an etching and lithograph print and said that contributing artwork was a way that she could help and stay "within her budget."

"I don't often have a lot of money to donate to needy organizations," she said. "I organized an auction for Hurricane Katrina and realized how hard it was, which made me even more willing to donate. I can't imagine having a war in my country...and want to help if I can."

*

Women for Peace: Madison Women for Peace is an affiliate of Code Pink: Women for Peace, a tongue-in-cheek name for a national grass-roots organization that has mounted a serious campaign to stop the war in Iraq and promote peace.

Amy Fuelleman has participated in numerous rallies and demonstrations with the activist group and said that the fundraiser was a positive way to promote peace and justice.

"We are trying to support women because when women do better, everyone does better, generally, in societies," she said. "Part of the reason things are going so badly in Afghanistan is because we are bombing...them. We are trying to do some little thing to ameliorate some of the damage that our country does."

The Art for Change event generated almost $4,000 in sales and contributions, and Martin said that she hopes to sell the remaining pieces as well. Interested art lovers who wish to help may contact her at 238-8024 for more information, or donate online at www.ourvoicestogether.org/art.

Rodriguez has relocated to Madison with his family for a change of pace and said that he hopes political activists striving "to make a change in the world" will use his work.


"After 9/11, I came to the conclusion that the role of an artist would be to create something that people can use to express their feelings, their anger or rage, their opinion about what's going on, and this is my contribution to that," he said.




By: Ellen Williams-Masson Correspondent for The Capital Times\ The writer retains the copyright for this article

11/14/06: Voters Have Spoken: Bring Troops Home

Voters Have Spoken: Bring Troops Home
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A6
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
John Nichols
Political and media insiders were willing to admit, albeit cautiously, that last week's election results -- in which Democrats took control of Congress, with explicitly anti-war candidates posting frequently unexpected wins in districts across the country -- represented a repudiation of the Bush administration's invasion and continued occupation of Iraq.

President Bush confirmed the assessment when he welcomed the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Unfortunately, while the analysts finally acknowledged the deep and broad opposition to the war, they continued to question whether Americans really want to bring the troops home now. They were not willing to speak the truth that Siobhan Kolar, who helped organize an anti-war referendum campaign in Illinois, did when she declared: "The anti-war majority has spoken!"

The prospect of rapid withdrawal still scares the vast majority of what can loosely be referred to as "the political class" -- not because those who understand the seriousness of the troubles in Iraq think that withdrawal is a particularly bad option, but because they fear the American electorate might object to the abandonment of a mission that they have been told for more than three years is essential.

As they have since before the war began, most pundits and pols are underestimating the awareness and the maturity of the American people with regard to exit strategies. If only they would travel this country and actually talk to voters, they would run into people like Regina Miller, the mother of an Army captain serving his second tour in Iraq, who spoke to a reporter while waiting in line to vote in Baltimore.

"I really don't think we're making a difference there, so we need a change. We need to pull out. That's their war," Miller said of the Iraqis. "That's a civil war."

That is not a naive or misinformed sentiment. That's realism -- a realism that accepts that Iraq is a mess and that it will probably remain a mess for quite some time. It asks only the most basic question: Why should American troops remain bogged down in the middle of the mess?

Let's be clear: There will come a point at which the United States exits Iraq. That point will be preceded by chaos and followed by chaos. Keeping U.S. troops on the ground there only guarantees one thing: more funeral services for young U.S. soldiers in inner cities and small towns across America.

The great mass of voters are not fearful about exiting Iraq. They fear the funerals, and the wheelchairs, and the emotional trauma, and the unmet needs at home and the continued war profiteering that go with a "stay the course" strategy. And they are ready to get out. National exit polling last Tuesday found a 55 percent to 37 percent landslide majority of Americans in favor of withdrawal.

When voters were given the opportunity to address the question directly, as was the case in more than 150 communities in Wisconsin, Illinois and Massachusetts that voted on "Bring the Troops Home" referendums, they left no doubt that they are ready to end this war. Big cities such as Chicago and Milwaukee joined smaller communities such as Geneva township, Ill., and Boscobel, Wis., in voting for withdrawal. All 10 referendums that were on the ballot in Wisconsin won -- including the one in Middleton, which prevailed by a 59 percent to 41 percent margin -- and those results follow upon last spring's voting in the state, when another 24 communities voted for immediate withdrawal.

* All 11 referendums that were on the ballot in Illinois won. And the overwhelming majority of the 139 that were on the ballot in Massachusetts won. Rarely was the divide even close.

"I don't think the voters could make themselves any clearer," explained Steve Burns, the program coordinator with the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, which promoted the referendums. "The voters get it -- they know that the best thing for the American people and the Iraqi people is for us to bring our troops home from their country. Now it's time for our government to listen."

Now, indeed.

John Nichols is associate editor of The Capital Times.

11/16/06 Records 'mismatch' Could Lead To Layoffs

WNPJ member group South Central Federation of Labor featured in this article

Records 'mismatch' Could Lead To Layoffs


The Capital Times
Thursday, November 16, 2006


By Pat Schneider

Worker rights activists in Madison are launching a campaign to press a national laundry services company to refrain from laying off workers whose name and Social Security number don't match records at the Social Security Administration.

Cintas Corp. is jumping the gun on a Department of Homeland Security proposal that may never become law, said Patrick Hickey, director of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice in Madison.

"We're trying to get them to put the brakes on," Hickey said. "This regulation may not ever go into effect, and in the meantime they're disrupting a lot of lives."

The Cincinnati-based company has a laundry and uniform supply plant on Vondron Road on the city's east side where 50 to 60 workers are employed, he said.

Hickey said 15 of those workers would be affected by the policy, part of 400 workers nationwide who could be laid off with the policy.

A proposed new federal regulation encourages employers to release workers who do not clear up discrepancies with their Social Security numbers.

But the proposed rule is not yet law, as Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who is ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, pointed out in a Nov. 2 letter to Cintas CEO Scott Farmer.

The proposed rule could be changed drastically, or killed, in the rule-making process, Thompson wrote.

Thompson and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warned that threatening layoffs for Social Security mismatches on an incomplete regulation could violate non-discrimination law.

Company spokesman Mike Wallner said: "Cintas has a responsibility to ensure that employees are legally able to work in the United States."

Workers for whom the Social Security Administration issues a "mismatch letter" have 63 days to clear up the discrepancy, Wallner said.

Workers who don't are put on indefinite administrative leave, and are allowed to return to their original jobs when they produce required documentation, he said.

The deadline for the Madison workers is Nov. 27.

Local Cintas workers said they've received "no-match" letters in the past but continued to work, Hickey said.

Wallner said he did not know if they company had changed its policy.

The South Central Federation of Labor has joined the campaign against the Cintas policy, encouraging its members to e-mail or fax messages to company executives decrying it as "unnecessary and immoral."

Worker Justice activists plan to visit local companies that use Cintas services next week and picket, and hand out leaflets over the Thanksgiving holiday to inform the public of the issue.

"We want to let the community know what they're up to," Hickey said.

E-mail: pschneider@madison.com

11/17/06 Pressure Congress For Immediate End To Iraq War

Submitted by WNPJ member Joy First


Pressure Congress For Immediate End To Iraq War

The Capital Times
Friday, November 17, 2006

Joy First Monona

Dear Editor: We need to keep putting pressure on Congress to end the illegal and immoral war and occupation in Iraq. Even though the Democrats now have control of both houses of Congress, it is important that we don't sit back and assume they are going to end the war.

If there is anything we have learned in the last several years, it should be that this is our government, and we, the people, must make sure that our representatives are really representing us.

On Nov. 9, The Capital Times printed an article headlined "Feingold, Kohl push for troop withdrawal." Reading the headline might give one hope that Congress is ready to take control and end the war. However, in looking more closely at the article, I see that Sen. Herb Kohl is still not taking a strong stand to end the war. The article states that he still supports the Levin proposal, which calls on the Bush administration to bring the troops home. We all know that Bush is not going to bring the troops home.

We cannot sit and wait and hope that our senators and representatives do something while people continue to die every day in this unjust war. Our representatives in Congress can and should be doing more.

We must demand that Congress do everything it can to end the war. One way is to cut off the funding. It is expected that sometime between February and April, Congress will be voting on more than $160 billion in supplemental funding for the war. Even Sen. Russ Feingold, who has supported legislation to bring the troops home, consistently votes for funding the war. Please call and/or write to Kohl and Feingold, demanding that they cut off funding for the war and bring the troops home.

Call our House members from Wisconsin, especially David Obey, who will now become chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Call them every day or every week. We need to stop funding the slaughter of innocent Iraqis and start using that money to solve problems here at home.

I also believe that, after years of terror sponsored by the U.S. government, we are responsible for financially supporting reparations in Iraq and supporting an Iraqi-led peace process.

Every day that the war continues innocent people are killed. I am not naive enough to believe that the killing will stop as soon as the U.S. military leaves Iraq. But we need to support and focus on an Iraqi-led peace process, stop the immoral killing of innocent people, and regain respect as a country that works for peace and justice for all.

Please continue to pressure Congress until it ends the war and occupation of Iraq.

11/22/06 Study: Tv Airs Election Ads, Little Election News

Mike McCabe, director of WNPJ member group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, featured in this article
 

Study: Tv Airs Election Ads, Little Election News
UW-Madison Newslab Says Broadcasters Gave The Issues Short Shrift.

Wisconsin State Journal
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

JIM KUHNHENN Associated Press
Television viewers in the Midwest got an eyeful of politics during local newscasts last month, but most of it was in the ads, not the news.

A study by UW-Madison's NewsLab found that in the month before the Nov. 7 elections, TV stations in seven Midwest markets aired an average of 4 minutes and 24 seconds of political ads and 1 minute and 43 seconds of election news during a typical 30-minute broadcast.

The study analyzed early and late evening newscasts on 28 stations in five states. The markets were Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, and Madison and Milwaukee. Most regions featured competitive gubernatorial, Senate or House races that resulted in significant spending on political advertising.

Ken Goldstein, a political scientist who directed the study, said the coverage of politics and elections increased in the past month and reached its peak in the week before the election. But Goldstein said the news stories tended to focus on the horse race aspect of politics rather than on the views and policies of the candidates.

"There was an overwhelming focus on strategy and polling as opposed to a focus on the issues," he said.

Broadcasters criticized the study as "shoddy" for not including morning and noontime newscasts, public debates and weekend programming in the analysis.

"Local stations air political coverage during many day parts, and not just in the narrow time frame of weekday evening newscasts," said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.

The NewsLab study comes in the midst of debate over liberalizing rules that limit how many radio and TV stations a company should be permitted to own in a single market. Foes of media consolidation claim that greater concentration in ownership leads to less local news coverage and does not serve the public interest.

The Federal Communications Commission plans to hold hearings before deciding the issue.

According to the university study, the newscasts carried an average of nearly nine political ads. But ads were also part of the political story. Coverage of politics included attention to the preponderance of negative ads as well as the strategic placement of ads by the national political parties. As a result, the study found, more than one in 10 election stories mentioned or focused on a specific political ad.

"Television stations are giving viewers the equivalent of a junk food diet," said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a watchdog group that wants broadcasters to provide free air time for political debate.

11/23/06 Feingold: See terror here, too

Submitted by WNPJ member Daniel J. Guilfoil

Feingold: See terror here, too

Wisconsin State Journal
November 23, 2006


On Saturday U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., gave a speech in which he outlined the threats of terrorism to the United States. While he properly described the many terror threats around the world, he did not acknowledge the use of terror by states, especially by the United States.

Terrorism is the threat or use of violence to induce fear as a tool of political or military power. Internally, the United States is threatening its citizens with the terror of being declared a person of interest and taken to some secret prison, with "habeas corpus" suspended.

The use of wiretaps and electronic eavesdropping is a further threat to U.S. citizens. Libraries are inspected for possible terrorist threats. Citizens who contribute to charitable causes may be subject to arrest if their donations are held suspect.

Externally, the United States is inflicting much terror on the people of occupied territories. In Iraq and Afghanistan, innocent populations are reported living in fear from U.S. air strikes, cluster bombs, home destruction and constant "mistakes" that kill and injure.

Terror is not something "they" do; terror is a tool of those who wish to impose their will on others. It knows no nationality or religious belief. I hope Feingold acknowledges that terror is inhumane at home as well as abroad.

-- Daniel J. (Jim) Guilfoil, Monona

11/26/06 Protecting Researchers Or Chilling Free Speech? Opponents And Animal Rights Activists Say . . .

Lori Nitzel, director of WNPJ member group Alliance for Animals, featured in this article


Protecting Researchers Or Chilling Free Speech?

Opponents And Animal Rights Activists Say The Law Goes Too Far, But Advocates Say It Gives Needed Protection


The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

Wisconsin State Journal


Sunday, November 26, 2006

DOUG ERICKSON
derickson@madison.com
608-252-6149


From his office at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Dr. Joseph Kemnitz has watched people dig through the center's trash cans, apparently searching for documents they think could be incriminating.

He has consoled fellow researchers whose mail contained razor blades, and he has shielded his wife and children from the animal rights activists who have protested at his home five times.

"I think they enjoy coming right up to the line without crossing it," said Kemnitz, the center's director.

He said he and his fellow researchers at UW-Madison feel safer now that Congress has passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. But opponents say the legislation, which makes it a crime to threaten or intimidate animal researchers or their family members, goes too far.

"The frightening thing for me is that it heavily criminalizes civil disobedience, and just for animal rights activists," said Lori Nitzel, a Madison attorney and executive director of Alliance for Animals, a statewide group that pledges nonviolence.

Wisconsin ties

Madison, with its large federal primate lab, an active animal rights scene and a university researcher who testified before Congress on the bill, figured prominently in the law's evolution.

The legislation, which President Bush is expected to sign soon, amends the 1992 Animal Enterprise Protection Act. The statute outlawed the "physical disruption" of an animal enterprise -- such as a research lab or animal farm -- but didn't address harassment against employees.

Supporters say the bill was needed because extremists are targeting researchers in hopes of pushing them out of the field.

In November 2005, the most recent time Kemnitz's home was targeted, activists parked a truck with a giant video screen in his neighborhood and broadcast scenes of monkeys being used in experiments at research labs in other parts of the country. They called him Josef Mengele, after the ruthless Nazi concentration camp doctor.

"They like to instill a fear factor when they can," Kemnitz said.

But critics say the legislation threatens legal forms of civil protest with a broad, over-the-top approach -- an approach evident, they say, in the act's title, which was changed in 2002 to include the word "terrorism."

"It's depressing to know that, just because of our beliefs involving animals, we are going to be branded terrorists if we protest," Nitzel said.

Nitzel wonders if even the kind of leafleting the group did Friday near a Madison fur store could be construed as illegal. The bill can impose punishment if an animal enterprise suffers "economic damage."

"We are, in fact, hoping to cause economic damage to the store," Nitzel said.

'That's just silly'

Backers of the bill say opponents are trying to alarm people with wacky what-ifs.

The legislation, which had strong bipartisan support, protects lawful boycotts and peaceful demonstrations, said Frankie Trull, president of the National Association for Biomedical Research. The law would kick in only when there is an orchestrated effort across state lines to intimidate or harass someone to the extent that they fear for their safety, she said.

"This is not intended to say that all animal rights activists are terrorists," Trull said. "That's just silly."

Less clear is how the law would affect demonstrations outside researchers' homes -- called "home visits" by activists -- like those in Madison last fall.

While relations between local animal rights activists and researchers who use monkeys have always been strained -- neither side trusts the other -- the home visits ratcheted up the emotion.

During the protests, which were carried out at seven homes over four nights, about a dozen activists broadcast test-lab footage from the video truck and yelled epithets through bullhorns. They distributed fliers to neighbors with the researchers' photographs, addresses and alleged misdeeds, and they left sidewalk chalk markings such as "monkey murderer."

The researchers were targeted because of their work with the UW-Madison primate center, one of eight federally supported primate research labs. About 250 affiliated researchers conduct experiments on a population of 1,500 nonhuman primates, in areas such as aging, obesity, virology and embryonic stem cells.

A needed back-up

Eric Sandgren, an associate professor in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, said the activists trespassed on private property during the home visits and used rhetoric that could easily instill fear.

"In my view, it did constitute harassment and intimidation," he said. "If they had modified it just a little, it wouldn't have."

Still, Sandgren, who heads a campus committee that reviews proposed animal research and oversees animal care, doubts the legislation would have been triggered if it had been in place last fall. But he sees real value in the bill for its ability to dampen the potential for an escalation in activism.

"This is kind of like a back-up," he said. "There needn't be indecision for events that do cross the line."

Dr. Michele Basso, a UW-Madison assistant professor of physiology, testified before Congress that the home visits triggered fear in her. Supporters of the new law say her testimony went a long way in securing the bill's passage.

Basso said that, after the home visits, she had her name removed from a tax assessor's Web site and had her house deed switched to another name to conceal her new address. Still, within a few months, she was receiving more than 50 unsolicited subscriptions to random magazines, and books with titles such as "Oh, What a Slaughter" and "Fatal Burn."

An anonymous phone message said, "Hello, Michele, we know you're a monkey killer, and you can't get away from us."

Defending home visits

Local animal rights activists say they don't know who's behind the magazine subscriptions, and they condemn the 1999 incident in which four UW-Madison researchers -- and many other researchers across the country -- received razor blades in the mail.

But they defend last fall's home visits, saying sometimes activists have to make people uncomfortable to get results.

Activists had tried for seven years to get UW officials to agree to a public debate on animal testing, said Rick Bogle of Madison, founder of the Primate Freedom Project and a participant in the visits. A public debate occurred five months after the visits.

"Maybe it's coincidental, but the fact remains that nothing had happened up to that point," Bogle said.

Anyone who proposes a new law will claim that it doesn't infringe on civil rights, said Bogle, who calls the legislation draconian and vaguely worded. The reality is that no one really knows the scope of a new law until it is tested in court, he said. That's why he suspects that the real goal of the legislation is to scare people into submission.

"The intent, of course, is to quiet, to quell, public dissent," he said.

He isn't sure how the new law will alter local activism.

"It definitely has caught everybody's attention."

11/26/06: Coast Guard Guns Silenced

The Coast Guard's live fire exercises were the subject of a WNPJ "Action Alert"

Update 12/19/06: Coast Guard says it won't fire on Great Lakes

Coast Guard Guns Silenced

Swamped By Public Comment, The Coast Guard Says There'll Be No Target Practice On The Great Lakes Until It Has Had A Chance To Consider All The Information Presented.
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL :: D4
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Associated Press
The U.S. Coast Guard said it has to digest reams of public comment before it decides whether to resume target practice with machine guns on the Great Lakes.

In numerous Lake Superior communities, public officials, boaters and environmentalists were upset to learn in August that the Coast Guard for months had been firing machine guns across open water at a rate of 10 bullets per second. Some worried about the safety of boaters, but more raised concerns about lead contamination in the lakes.

Amid the outcry in Great Lakes states, the Coast Guard put a moratorium on the practice and extended a period of public comment. That period ended Nov. 13, but Coast Guard Lt. Ryan Barone said "we'll take as long as it takes to thoroughly review" more than 1,000 comments submitted.

The Coast Guard wants to create 34 areas on the lakes for periodic live fire drills, part of a homeland security initiative.

Seven of those zones would be on Lake Superior, including several spots a few miles off shore from Two Harbors, Minn., and Grand Marais.

The public would be warned via the news media and marine radio prior to the drills. Barone said the Coast Guard would scan the zones with radar to make sure they were empty before firing the guns, which have a maximum range of 2 miles.

For every critic of the plan there's an equally vociferous supporter. "I'm 110 percent in favor of what they want to do," said Dexter Nelson, president of the Duluth Charter Captains Association. "They need to be trained, the environmental effects would be minuscule and they'd be so far away from everybody that there'd be no chance of anybody getting hurt."

The Duluth Chamber of Commerce and the Duluth Seaway Port Authority also supported the training.

But environmentalists argue that it's not smart to allow thousands of pounds of lead to be essentially dumped into the lake. Barone said the final decision will be made by the Rear Adm. John Crowley Jr., commander of the Coast Guard's Cleveland-based Ninth District, which oversees the Great Lakes. The Coast Guard has insisted that an independent scientific study it commissioned predicted "no elevated risks" to humans or wildlife from the lead.

11/28/06: Wrapped in wreaths, Pagosa Springs speaks its peace

WNPJ Member group Winnebago Peace and Justice Center is featured in this Denver Post report

Wrapped in wreaths, Pagosa Springs speaks its peace
From townspeople to town hall, from signs in the snow to signs aglow, from Colorado to Wisconsin and around the world, one couple's home display of garland has gotten its message across.
By Nancy Lofholm, Denver Post Staff Writer
11/28/2006

A new lighted wreath in the shape of a peace sign now graces the tower of the old Pagosa Springs town hall, and a band of townspeople marched Tuesday carrying peace signs and stamping a large peace sign in the snow of a town park.

Peace-sign wreaths are also popping up on homes as Pagosa Springs becomes part of a wide-ranging holiday wreath movement that has been sparked by controversy over one displayed on a home in a subdivision five miles south of town.

Lisa Jensen and Bill Trimarco last week were ordered by their subdivision association to remove their wreath or face fines because the display violated covenants banning signs and advertisements.

Association board members responsible for that decision rescinded their order and apologized Monday night. They resigned Tuesday as world opinion about peace signs swamped this town of 1,700 in vitriol and support.

Pagosa Springs has tried to distance itself from the brouhaha by displaying the town's support for peace. Jensen said e-mails and phone calls have poured in from supporters around the world saying they plan to put up peace-sign wreaths too.

In Wisconsin, the Winnebago Peace and Justice Center said it sold a record 20 peace wreaths Tuesday.

"The good thing is I think people have heard our message of peace," Jensen said. "It's been phenomenal."

Jensen and Trimarco crafted their peace wreath Nov. 18. Within 24 hours, they received a notice from their homeowners association stating the wreath violated covenants against displaying signs and advertisements. Board president Bob Kearns said people with children serving in Iraq, and also Vietnam veterans, were offended by the wreath.

But Trimarco said he has been "choked up" by some of the calls and e-mails from soldiers serving in Iraq, parents of soldiers in Iraq and Vietnam vets who wrote that they survived the war by displaying the sign on the backs of their helmets.

"Peace - it's such a simple message," Trimarco said. "It's not against the war in Iraq or anything like that."

Jensen and Trimarco said they put the wreath up after neighbors were ordered to remove a peace sign they had erected on crossed skis at the end of their driveway the previous week.

Pagosa Springs Administrator Mark Garcia said the town was being tainted only because it was the closest spot on the map to the subdivision. People were calling and e-mailing to say they wouldn't visit or move to Pagosa Springs, so Garcia commissioned a local artist to make the large peace-sign wreath for the town hall to show people that "we support peace."