Ethics Reform Alone Is Not Enough To Drain The Swamp
The Capital Times
Monday, January 1, 2007
MIKE MCCABE<
Editorial reaction to the recent announcement of a bipartisan agreement between the governor and state legislative leaders on ethics reform has ranged from "it's about time" to "good first step" to "OK, fine, but don't you dare think you're done."
My sentiments exactly.
Ethics enforcement reform is long, long overdue. And it is sorely needed. But even if the governor and legislative leaders make good on their promise to act in early January to cement in place ethics reforms as strong or stronger than those spelled out in their agreement in principle, it won't be enough to restore Wisconsin's good name.
Without lobbying reform and campaign finance reform that put an end to vending machine electioneering and lawmaking, the Capitol will remain an ethical swamp.
Ethics enforcement reform and these other reforms go hand in hand. Wisconsin could enact the finest campaign and lobbying reforms in the land, but they won't be worth the paper they're written on if they are not faithfully implemented and rigorously enforced. Wisconsin's existing enforcement agencies haven't effectively administered or aggressively enforced our old laws. There is nothing in their track records to inspire confidence that they would do better with new laws.
Yet even a politically independent new enforcement authority with real teeth could only do so much if left to administer and enforce campaign finance and lobbying laws that have been shot full of holes.
The promised January special session on ethics reform will be a good warm-up act, but the main event will be the fight for campaign finance reform and lobbying reform. Predictably, the big business lobby is making it clear it likes things exactly the way they are. In a Dec. 18 Wisconsin State Journal article, a Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce spokesman repeats for the gazillionth time his group's defense of legalized extortion and bribery. What WMC's argument boils down to is this: Money is speech. Secrecy is freedom.
* Ethics enforcement reform alone won't drain the ethical swamp because the biggest problems don't have anything to do with activities that are against the law. The real scandal in Wisconsin politics is what's legal.
\ Mike McCabe is executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks the money in state politics.
Stoughton Activist Seeks Iraq War Vote
Wisconsin State Journal
Thursday, January 4, 2007
State Journal staff
Stoughton residents will be asked in the coming weeks to help get referendum questions on the Iraq War and the impeachment of the president on the April ballot, a local peace activist and military veteran announced.
A town meeting to discuss the possible referendums is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Stoughton School Board meeting room, 320 North St., said Buzz Davis, a member of Veterans For Peace and organizer of the Stoughton Area Peace Coalition.
State law allows citizens groups to petition to get referendum questions on local ballots, a process that has been used to place anti-war referendum questions on ballots in numerous Wisconsin communities in the past year.
Davis said volunteers are asked to gather Saturday at 9 a.m. and Sunday at noon at the McDonald's parking lot in Stoughton to begin door-to-door signature-gathering efforts.
He said the coalition hopes to place two referendum questions on the April 3 ballot: one resolving that the U.S. begin an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, and another resolving that the Congress begin the impeachment process against the president and vice president.
The group needs to gather at least 772 signatures, or 15 percent of the total vote in the last election for governor, to get the issues on the ballot.
Voters in five Dane County municipalities -- the towns of Springdale and Perry, the village of Mount Horeb and the cities of Madison and Middleton -- endorsed troop withdrawal referendums in 2006 elections.
Different Planets, Similar Concerns
The Capital Times
Monday, January 8, 2007
DENNY CANEFF
It's almost a cliche now, the "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" formulation to describe social relations between the genders. But it has survived because there are elements of truth to how men and women operate fundamentally differently.
That same formulation could apply to two elements of our population: "Farmers are from Mars, non-farmers are from Venus." An Epic Systems software writer can bike during lunch around rural Verona, past dairy, vegetable and grain farms, and she may think she has nothing in common with people extracting a living from the soil.
I grew up in rural Minnesota and worked on farms through college. Since then I've pretty much been a confirmed urban dweller. But I have kept a foot in each culture. I've experienced firsthand how palpable the farmer-urbanite gap can be.
I work for a river conservation organization now, and I'm reminded daily of one wedge that pries open the farmer-urbanite gap -- the mess that some farmers can make of the land and water on which their livelihoods depend. But I'm aware that it's a small minority of farmers who persist in this. And I'm all too aware of the urban pot calling the farmer kettle black. We city dwellers are fully capable of our own environmental messes.
Two recent and forward-thinking efforts in Wisconsin have helped to both illuminate the farmer-urbanite gap and maybe begin to close it. One was a series of forums, sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, looking at the future of farming and rural life in Wisconsin. The other was the Working Lands Initiative, organized by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to make the case for how productive and viable forests and farmland are essential to the Wisconsin economy.
These forums and discussions transcended the Mars-Venus differences between Wisconsin farmers and their neighbors in places like Waukesha, Waunakee and Wausau. Some essential mutuality and common concerns became apparent.
Food: This is the most obvious one. Sure, much of that corn and soybeans Dane County farmers are growing either gets run through animals, turned into ethanol or shipped to Thailand, and this morning's grapefruit came from Mexico. Still, if you look in your cupboard or refrigerator, you'll find that you are utterly dependent on a farmer, somewhere.
You could turn that into a nice inter-dependence by working just a bit harder to source your food from farmers in your area code. Getting locally produced food from a farm family you can know has gotten delightfully easy in Wisconsin. You, the urbanite, get fresh, safe food, and they, the farmers, get your money directly.
Land use: Perhaps the deepest mutuality between farmers and their city neighbors is in the desire to protect rural land from conversion to something else. Everyone understands that once a hayfield is converted to asphalt, it is gone. Everyone appreciates that without good land, there is no agriculture.
On this issue, farmers might be quick to point out the hypocrisy of the urbanite. Urbanites decry the loss of farmland to suburban sprawl -- the very sprawl that they fuel with their appetites for shopping malls, fast food and oversized houses on big lots.
But even this is changing, as evidenced by a push in Washington County to create a purchase of development rights program. Through PDR, non-farmers essentially pay farmers to keep their land in agriculture, permanently. This program's most vocal proponents are urbanites, including the CEOs of Washington County's two largest employers, who understand how a viable agriculture contributes to a high quality of life.
Economic justice: On this issue there is an emerging and interesting confluence of farmer and urban interests. Farmers have forever been subject to the whims of a feast-or-famine "free market," while many of their urban counterparts enjoyed jobs for life. That simply is not the case anymore for urban workers. Farmers lament their inability to save for retirement, and now so do their urban counterparts. For decades, farmers have had a one-strand safety net of health insurance under them. The health insurance net under urban workers is getting more frayed all the time.
* These fundamental issues of economic fairness may become the most powerful tie that binds farmers and non-farmers.
Risser Is Longest Serving Lawmaker
Wisconsin Senator Has Been In Office Longer Than Any Other State Legislator In U.S.<
Wisconsin State Journal
Monday, January 8, 2007
RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press
Fred Risser jokes that he's been in the Wisconsin Legislature so long, the state is tearing down buildings he voted to construct.
The Madison Democrat officially became the nation's longest serving out of 7,500 current state lawmakers on Jan. 3, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
His 50 years in the Legislature is longer than Robert Byrd's record 48-year service in the U.S. Senate, although Byrd previously served in the House and the West Virginia Legislature.
Risser was elected to the Assembly in 1956 -- when Dwight Eisenhower was president and Joseph McCarthy represented Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. He won a special election to the state Senate in 1962 and voters have returned him to office every four years since 1964.
Risser is a proud liberal who has pushed for regulations on smoking, to protect abortion rights and to increase funding for the University of Wisconsin System and state employees. Although his ethics have never been questioned, he has irritated opponents by tying up the Senate with procedural maneuvers when he opposes a bill.
"There's a reason why Fred's the longest serving legislator in the country: He absolutely represents his district's interests and the best of Wisconsin progressivism," said Stuart Levitan, a Madison historian. "Fred stands for good government."
\ Not slowing down
Risser, 79 and in good health, shows no signs of slowing down.
This month he became Senate president -- a post he has held four times since 1979 -- as his party took control of the chamber. He's announced plans to seek a statewide smoking ban, an overhaul of the campaign finance system and a cigarette tax increase.
Risser is now alone as the nation's most senior lawmaker after the retirement of New York Sen. John Marchi, who was also elected in 1956.
"The time just goes by pretty fast and the older you get, the faster it goes," Risser said. "It wasn't anything I strived for. When I started out in the Legislature I had no intention of serving this long."
Risser said he hasn't decided whether to run for re-election in 2008 but made it clear he still loves his job, which has changed dramatically over the years.
A lawyer who still practices, Risser made $200 a month when he started as a part-time legislator with no office or staff -- just a desk -- after his election at age 29. Now he earns $47,413 plus benefits and is settling into a large office with a handful of employees.
"It's probably one of the most frustrating activities one can get involved in but that stimulates the adrenaline," Risser said of being a legislator. "And there's nothing more fascinating than dealing with human beings. It keeps you energized."
Risser brags that he is the fourth generation of his family to serve in the Legislature representing Madison -- each under a different party label.
But that streak may end: None of Risser's three children is active in Wisconsin politics.
\ Pushes pet issues
Known for his preservation of historic buildings, Risser has served on the state Building Commission for three decades. Among the projects he championed was a decade-long, $160 million restoration of the Capitol. When it was finished, he persuaded colleagues to ban smoking inside the building.
But he adds, "It's kind of strange to realize they're making plans to tear down one of the dormitories I championed, and they're also talking about tearing down an office building I authorized in 1959."
John Powell, who covered the Capitol for Wisconsin Public Radio from 1977 to 2002, said Risser is relentless in pushing pet issues, which have ranged from expanding access to contraceptives to enacting a ban on smoking in public buildings.
"He has used his longevity to push issues session after session," said Powell, who is working on an oral history of the Legislature. "And it's also allowed him to develop parliamentary expertise on the rules. When Democrats were in the minority, he learned how to tie the Republicans up in knots."
Risser has faced little opposition in Madison, where Republicans have little influence. He's faced some primary challenges, including one in 1996 from Levitan, the historian and a well-known public figure. Levitan didn't criticize Risser but said it was "time to pass the torch." Risser won with 67 percent of the vote.
Kirby Hendee, a Shorewood Republican elected to the Senate in 1956, remembers serving on the Legislature's budget committee with Risser in 1959 as lawmakers debated whether to create a state sales tax. He said it's amazing his old colleague is still serving.
\ Longest-serving state lawmakers
Top six longest serving current lawmakers in the nation, in completed years of legislative service:
1. Sen. Fred Risser of Wisconsin: 44 years in Senate, 6 years in Assembly
2. Delegate Lacey Putney of Virginia: 45 years in House
3. Sen. Norman Stone Jr. of Maryland: 40 years in Senate, 4 years in House
4. Sen. John Drummond of South Carolina: 40 years in Senate, 2 years in House
4. Sen. William Sharpe Jr. of West Virginia: 42 years in Senate
4. Lt. Gov. John Wilder of Tennessee: 42 years in Senate
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures
Risser's Career Aging Well
Senator Boasts Top Legislative Longevity
The Capital Times
Monday, January 8, 2007
By Ryan J. Foley Associated Press
Fred Risser jokes that he's been in the Wisconsin Legislature so long, the state is tearing down buildings that he voted to construct.
The Madison Democrat officially became the nation's longest serving out of 7,500 current state lawmakers on Jan. 3, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
His 50 years in the Legislature is longer than Robert Byrd's record 48-year service in the U.S. Senate, although Byrd previously served in the House and the West Virginia Legislature.
Risser was elected to the Assembly in 1956 -- when Dwight Eisenhower was president and Joseph McCarthy represented Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. Risser won a special election to the state Senate in 1962 and voters have returned him to office every four years since 1964.
Risser is a proud liberal who has pushed for regulations on smoking, to protect abortion rights and to increase funding for the University of Wisconsin and state employees. Although his ethics have never been questioned, he has irritated opponents by tying up the Senate with procedural maneuvers when he opposes a bill.
"There's a reason why Fred's the longest serving legislator in the country: He absolutely represents his district's interests and the best of Wisconsin progressivism," said Stuart Levitan, a Madison historian. "Fred stands for good government."
At 79 and in good health, Risser shows no signs of slowing down.
This month he became Senate president -- a post he has held four times since 1979 -- as his party took control of the chamber. He has announced plans to seek a statewide smoking ban, an overhaul of the campaign finance system and a cigarette tax increase.
Risser is now alone as the nation's most senior lawmaker after the retirement of New York Sen. John Marchi, who was also elected in 1956.
"The time just goes by pretty fast and the older you get, the faster it goes," Risser said. "It wasn't anything I strived for. When I started out in the Legislature I had no intention of serving this long."
Risser said he hasn't decided whether to run for re-election in 2008 but made it clear he still loves his job, which has changed dramatically over the years.
A lawyer who still practices, Risser made $200 a month when he started as a part-time legislator with no office or staff, just a desk, after his election at age 29. Now he earns $47,413 plus benefits and is settling into a large office with a handful of employees.
"It's probably one of the most frustrating activities one can get involved in but that stimulates the adrenaline," Risser said of being a legislator. "And there's nothing more fascinating than dealing with human beings. It keeps you energized."
Risser brags that he is the fourth generation of his family to serve in the Legislature representing Madison -- each under a different party label. His great-grandfather was a Unionist after the Civil War. His grandfather was a Republican and his father was a Progressive. But the streak may end: None of Risser's three children is active in Wisconsin politics.
Known for his preservation of historic buildings, Risser has served on the state building commission for three decades. Among the projects he championed was a decade-long, $160 million restoration of the Capitol. When it was finished, he persuaded colleagues to ban smoking inside the building.
But he adds, "It's kind of strange to realize they're making plans to tear down one of the dormitories I championed, and they're also talking about tearing down an office building I authorized in 1959."
John Powell, who covered the Capitol for Wisconsin Public Radio from 1977 to 2002, said Risser is relentless in pushing pet issues, which have ranged from expanding access to contraceptives to enacting a ban on smoking in public buildings.
"He has used his longevity to push issues session after session," said Powell, who is working on an oral history of the Legislature. "And it's also allowed him to develop parliamentary expertise on the rules. When Democrats were in the minority, he learned how to tie the Republicans up in knots."
Risser has faced little opposition in Madison, where Republicans have little influence. He has faced some primary challenges, including one in 1996 from Levitan, the historian and a well-known public figure. Levitan didn't criticize Risser but said it was "time to pass the torch." Risser won with 67 percent of the vote.
Kirby Hendee, a Shorewood Republican elected to the Senate in 1956, remembers serving on the Legislature's budget committee with Risser in 1959 as lawmakers debated whether to create a state sales tax. He said it's amazing his old colleague is still serving.
"It's got to be a labor of love for him at this point," said Hendee, 83. "It can be wearing on a person, especially when you're in the minority. But he's back on top now so he'll be enjoying that."
Badger Plant Site Water Woes
Homeowners Want Stronger Action From Dnr In Dealing With Weapons Chemical Found In Their Wells.
Wisconsin State Journal
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
RON SEELY
Residents who live near the abandoned Badger Army Ammunition Plant say the Department of Natural Resources is not doing enough to protect them from cancer-causing contaminants that are showing up in an increasing number of private wells.
Tests have shown that as many as 23 private wells near the plant are contaminated with low levels of explosives, solvents and other contaminants -- a legacy from the decades when the plant produced propellants for the military.
Officials with the DNR say the U.S. Army, which is responsible for cleanup at the plant, is adequately monitoring the pollutants and cleaning them up when necessary.
But a citizens group that has monitored the cleanup wants the DNR to order the Army to do more studies.
Laura Olah, director of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger, said residents want more information about the threat to their wells, including more data on contaminant levels and the movement of the pollutants. She said the group is also asking Gov. Jim Doyle to intervene and tell the DNR to provide more help to residents.
"Their whole strategy is to wait and see," Olah said of the DNR. "Does that mean we just wait until somebody is exposed? We're going to end up with dozens of wells where the people can't use their water."
Olah said residents are asking for more help because the problems appear to be getting worse.
Last year at this time, she said, nine wells tested positive for contaminants from the plant. Now, she added, there are 23 and some of the contaminated wells are as far as three miles from the plant.
"All the evidence we have shows that the problem is getting worse," Olah said.
Of particular concern is a pollutant called dinitrotoluene, or DNT, a cancer-causing explosive that was used to make the propellants manufactured at the plant. While the explosive has not been detected in any of the wells at levels beyond the state's strictest health and enforcement standards, it has been found in six of the wells at a lower level called the preventive action limit.
Olah said the state's groundwater law requires action from the agency if contaminant levels exceed even the preventive action limit.
But Hank Kuehling, a DNR hydrogeologist working on cleanup at the plant, said the agency "no longer uses preventive action limits as an enforcement standard." Instead, he said, if the level of a contaminant appears to be stable or receding, the assumption is that no additional action is necessary.
If any of the contaminant levels exceeded the more strict enforcement standard, the agency would order the Army to take more aggressive measures, said Eileen Pierce, who is overseeing cleanup of the plant for the DNR.
Pierce added that, so far, those levels have not been exceeded. She said the DNR is satisfied with the Army's work at the plant.
"We're watching this very closely," Pierce said. "We are at this point satisfied with what the Army is doing."
The DNR is working with other agencies to turn the plant, which has been abandoned by the Army, into a recreation area. Olah said money budgeted by the agency to build trails and do other restoration work should be used to make sure drinking water for nearby residents is safe.
"It's not a matter of them not having the resources," Olah said. "It's a matter of where they put those resources."
Call for troops is cause for comment in Madison circles
By Kate Raiford
The Capital Times/Medill News Service
January 10, 2007
For many scholars and activists in Madison, President Bush's expected call to deploy 20,000 more troops only reinforces doubts over the Iraq war.
Others, though, see it as fulfilling a moral obligation to see the war through.
The increase would raise the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to more than 160,000 in an attempt to stabilize Baghdad and end violence against civilians. In a recent Washington Post-ABC news poll, just 17 percent of Americans supported a troop increase.
For the American people, "any surge in the troop levels in Iraq will mean more of the same types of losses, more men and women will be put in the line of fire, and many more will be killed or injured," said Middle East scholar Samer Alatout in an e-mail exchange.
He is an assistant professor of rural sociology and at the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Alatout argued that neoconservatives and corporations like Halliburton and Bechtel won the war as soon as it began because they profited regardless of the outcome.
In military terms, sending in troops won't have much impact on the war, said Jon Pevehouse, a UW-Madison associate professor of political science who researches the Middle East. "I don't think sending more troops will hurt, but it's not likely to help," he said.
Some of those interviewed just want the war to end.
"For the good of the world, the troops should come home," said Buzz Davis, a member of Madison chapter of Veterans for Peace and chairman of the Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home coalition. He served in the Vietnam War.
"Iraq has turned into a civil war that is encouraging more terrorism," he said. "If we don't pull out now, it will end up with more Americans and Iraqis dead."
He saw the "surge" as a possible early example of the "incrementalism" of troop deployment used in Vietnam. First it's 20,000 troops, next it's 40,000, he suggested.
Pevehouse disagrees. Unlike past requests, he argued, this one would not leave the door open for more troops. He said he sees the troop increase as a last-ditch effort.
Stay and fight: Bill Richardson, treasurer of the organization Vote NO to Cut and Run and former warrant officer in the Army National Guard, said that sending more troops to Iraq is a "terrific idea."
"Americans don't leave until it is absolutely stable," he said. "We've made a moral choice, and we need to finish it."
By sending the 20,000 troops, Americans would begin to stabilize Baghdad neighborhood by neighborhood, Richardson said. If troops leave, he added, the terrorists will know that America is weak.
For some, supporting the troop increase depends on the situation. Mike Gourlie, a retired National Guard lieutenant colonel, said he would support an increase if Bush offered a plan with a specific timeline and guidelines. Gourlie served in Vietnam and in Afghanistan.
"If we have a policy that doesn't have an endgame, how are we going to win?" he asked. He said Bush has an open checkbook and an open calendar, adding that the troops should be there to train, build an army and provide equipment.
But the troops will probably not be fighting the same battles as in the past, Pevehouse said. "The war we've been fighting for the past three years is going to change dramatically," he predicted, with the focus shifting from training Iraqis to policing.
All but Alatout - who called for passing responsibility to the Iraqis - agreed troops should stay in Iraq. If the U.S. pulled them out, the violence one sees now "would be the tip of the iceberg," Pevehouse said, adding that the situation could deteriorate into genocide.
Davis said Americans should hand responsibility in Iraq to the United Nations.
"The U.N. isn't really an option because no one else wants to send troops," Pevehouse said. "The U.N. is limited in what it can do at this point. ... No one is really willing to help us at this point."
Pay up and impeach: Davis said more than just pulling out the troops, Americans should be taxed for the cleanup effort, especially the wealthiest 4 to 5 percent. They have profited the most from the president's tax cuts, he said.
The president and vice president should be impeached as well, he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "should have the political courage to call a spade and spade and must move for impeachment to remedy the abuses of this administration," he said. "It's her constitutional duty."
"We need to continue the pressure from the American public to encourage impeachment," Davis said.
Bush is also expected to ask for $100 billion in war funds for 2007. Pelosi has hinted that the House may work to deny the troop surge and the supplemental funds.
"The surge is symbolic in terms of conduct of war itself," Alatout said. "It proves to the world that losing the House and Senate in the mid-term elections did not force the White House to change direction."
State environment actually getting worse
Wisconsin State Journal
January 11, 2007
I would like to believe that the headline of Brett Husley's Sunday guest column was true, that Wisconsin is "making progress on global warming." Unfortunately, a report published last month by the Wisconsin Department of Administration's Division of Energy "2006 Wisconsin Energy Statistics" shows no progress.
The report shows Wisconsin's annual carbon dioxide emissions from fuel burning increased more than 20 percent from 1990 to 2004, resulting in millions more tons of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere. I wouldn't call that progress.
Transportation continues to be the largest user of energy in Wisconsin. Too much motor vehicle driving and flying by too many people is at the core of the transportation emissions problem. Yet our representatives in government continue to spend billions to expand the capacity of Wisconsin's highway system to accommodate more vehicle driving, rather than investing more tax revenues in mass transit and providing financial incentives for Wisconsinites to drive less.
Another major source of greenhouse gas emissions from Wisconsin comes from burning coal and natural gas in electricity-generating power plants. Yet many electricity companies operating in Wisconsin continue to burn coal and plan to build even more coal-fired power plants.
We are not contributing to any progress in fighting global warming in Wisconsin -- not yet anyway.
-- Michael Neuman, member and listserv moderator of the Madison Area Preserve Our Climate Coalition
Dear Editor: Whatever its lack of merit as a military strategy, it’s now clear that Bush’s proposed ‘surge’ of troops into Iraq is an absolutely brilliant political strategy. Just look at how Bush has been able to shift the terms of debate so that Congress, instead of debating how quickly to withdraw troops from Iraq, is now debating whether or not to send more troops to Iraq.
And look at your own editorial, “Saying 'no' to the surge” (1/10/07) which praises Senator Ted Kennedy for a bill that would “prohibit the use of funds for an escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq above the numbers existing as of Jan. 9, 2007.”
Enshrining the level of U.S. forces “existing as of Jan. 9 2007” in law is not an anti-war position. It is an endorsement of the status quo.
If Senator Kennedy and other Congressional Democrats were serious about ending the war, they would be challenging President Bush’s $100 billion war-funding request, to be submitted to Congress in February. They would reject this gargantuan bill and write their own, at vastly reduced cost, tied to a quick-withdrawal timetable.
If they don’t, they lose their only means of restraining President Bush, and relegate themselves to the role of bystanders.
We can all play a part in pressuring the new Democratic Congress to make the right decision. On January 27, hundreds of thousands of Americans will be converging on Washington to remind our elected officials what the November 7 election was really about. Buses to D.C. from Madison other Wisconsin cities are now filling up.
Wisconsin citizens will also be bringing pressure to their representatives here at home, meeting with Representatives and staff in their Wisconsin offices, and speaking out at Senator Feingold’s “listening sessions” and other public events. To get involved in these local efforts or to reserve a place on the bus to D.C. , call the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice at (608) 250-9240.
Steve Burns
Program Coordinator
Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
Give Her Peace, Garden, Community
The Capital Times
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Name: Janet Parker.
Job: Community gardens organizer with Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin Inc.
What I like best about my job: Being outdoors while helping hundreds of urban gardeners grow food and community together. Give me a call soon (246-4730, ext. 218) if you want to garden in 2007.
What I like least about it: Time in front of the computer.
The best thing my best boss taught me: It's all about finding people and things that we can commit ourselves to.
The worst thing my worst boss taught me: Even fun tasks can become a drag if you approach them with a grouchy attitude.
I work best: With people who have lots of energy and drive, on projects that spring from diversity of people and nature, and in service to peace and sustainability.
Education/experience: I have a master's from UW-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Before coming to Madison I worked in environmental education and with gardeners in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Havana, Cuba.
Birthplace/home town: I grew up on a small farm near Dover, Del., and later lived in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Mexico, then moved to Madison in 1999.
Where I live: Madison.
Age: 39.
Family: My husband is Walt Novash, who works in solar and wind power.
Person outside my family I most admire: A few who spring to mind are Martin Luther King Jr., Thich Nhat Hanh and Noam Chomsky, along with local activists Briana Vang, Judy Miner, Stefania Sani, Luisa Martinez, Joy First, Bonita Sitter and Jack Kloppenburg. My list could go on and on!
I admire these people so much because they are loving and effective in their work for peace, their community and the environment.
My real passion is: I love working with the community gardens and the volunteer work I do as a peace activist with the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
Favorite place to go for enjoyment: I like to bike around town and out to Blue Mounds, swim in Madison's lakes and garden at Troy Community Gardens. Our front porch is very enjoyable, too.
Music, munchies and mantra that get me through the day: I love to listen to music on WORT and WSUM. Lately I have been getting into listening to El Vez, "a political performance artist/rocker/Mexican Elvis impersonator/comedian" -- he's fabulous.
Munchies: Fruit, often picked around Madison. I just ate the last of the apples we harvested in the fall from the organic orchard at Troy Gardens.
Mantra: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." (Martin Luther King Jr.)
Most valuable lesson I've learned: It's fun and a great privilege to serve others and to be politically active. Some people imagine that working for peace these days would be depressing. But I think that it would be depressing to give up and act powerless in the face of injustice and violence.
Looking at me you'd never guess: I majored in art history as an undergrad.
If you know someone who would make a good subject for Savvy Snapshot, call Bill Dunn at 252-6467 or e-mail to bdunn@madison.com.
UW Students: We CAN End this War
Capital Times
January 18, 2007
By Bill Dunn
As the U.S. occupation of Iraq nears four years and President Bush promotes a so-called surge of troops to quell the Iraqi resistance and civil war, others want a surge toward peace that doesn't involve more troops.
One of those others is Paul Pryse, a University of Wisconsin-Madison junior journalism major. Pryse, 20, is a member of the UW-Madison branch of the Campus Antiwar Network and is an elected member of CAN's national coordinating committee.
He says he got involved in CAN "because I suspected from the beginning that this was a war based on lies, and I turned out to be right."
CAN is one of 59 sponsoring groups (from A to Y: American Friends Service Committee to Young Democratic Socialists) planning a Mandate for Peace march Jan. 27 in Washington, D.C.
The Madison Area Peace Coalition is sponsoring a rally that same day, starting at noon at the Library Mall with a march up State Street at 1 p.m.
Pryse answered the following questions posed by The Capital Times.
What is the Campus Antiwar Network?
The Campus Antiwar Network is a national organization consisting of local antiwar groups that are based on college and some high school campuses. We're an entirely student-run organization and, to my knowledge, the largest independent, student antiwar organization in the country.
When did the UW-Madison chapter get started, and what are its activities and membership?
The antiwar group at UW was started just after 9/11 in anticipation of the invasion of Afghanistan, but did not affiliate with CAN until early 2003 when a national organization formed. Since then, we've organized antiwar demonstrations on campus, as well as teach-ins and debates.
CAN in particular has played a big role in "counter-recruitment," which is a movement to get military recruiters out of schools, typically by confronting recruiters whenever they show up on campus. Over the past few years, membership has fluctuated, but we've typically had around a dozen members at UW.
Nationwide, it seems that college students aren't that involved in war protests. Is that true here?
It's true that the antiwar movement has had difficulty maintaining a consistent presence, and Madison is typical of that. However, it's important to remember that the Vietnam War went on for many years before the major student rebellions broke out on campuses. Unfortunately, we're having to learn some old lessons all over again.
Some Americans believe George Bush's assertion (paraphrasing), "If we don't fight them over there, we'll have to fight them here." What percentage of the people believe that?
I think today, very few people believe anything George Bush says, and his poll numbers reflect that. I couldn't give you an exact percentage. However, I think most people would agree with the idea that some sort of "war on terror" is necessary, because there is no political force to challenge these ideas.
Without an antiwar movement to present an alternative explanation for why terrorism occurs, or why wars are fought, all people hear is "they hate our freedom," and it becomes the accepted wisdom.
What advice would you give the media regarding war and peace?
In everything that was said about Iraq, the WMDs, the connection to terrorism and the link to 9/11, the antiwar movement was right and the politicians turned out to be liars. Yet when the media wants analysis and perspective on Iraq, they don't ask antiwar activists, they turn to the same politicians, who then feed them a whole new set of lies.
The media have a habit of viewing "official sources" as being most reliable, while looking at groups like antiwar organizations as being on the fringe, even though polls show that a majority of Americans agree with us. This is a habit that needs to be broken.
How is CAN involved in the Jan. 27 rally in Washington, D.C?
CAN has endorsed the rally, and chapters are organizing charter buses to D.C. We will also have a students' contingent at the demonstration.
Madison residents, students and nonstudents, can buy tickets at revoltingstudents.com for buses leaving from Madison. (Tickets are also available at the Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, 426 W. Gilman St.)
What are the prospects for a student antiwar movement?
The midterm elections proved that Americans want an end to the war. However, the surge is about escalation, not withdrawal. This contradiction between people's expectations and, if the Democrats don't get on board, the reality will eventually come to a head. Then people will realize that only an antiwar movement can end this war.
E-mail: bdunn@madison.com
Published: January 18, 2007
Peace Group Has Money Woes, But Activist Has Hope
The Capital Times
Monday, January 22, 2007
Rob Zaleski
When we first met, exactly 10 years ago this month, he was filled with such hope.
Yes, he'd acknowledged, the world was as violent as it had ever been. Burundi was in chaos, the Middle East appeared hopeless, and a group of religious fanatics known as the Taliban had taken control of Afghanistan.
But Daniel Gomez-Ibanez refused to be a pessimist.
Two years earlier, the former Wisconsin Power & Light (now Alliant Energy) official had helped found the Peace Council, a diverse group of international religious and spiritual leaders dedicated to finding ways to promote peace and alleviate suffering.
And while the Peace Council had gotten little press, Gomez-Ibanez believed that any group whose members included the Dalai Lama and South African Bishop Desmond Tutu had the potential to bring about significant change.
Or, at the very least, "to advance the ethical frontier a few inches," he'd joked.
Late last week, Gomez-Ibanez, now 63, was reflecting on the Peace Council's many achievements as he cleaned out his office at its headquarters on Madison's north side. Due to the group's increasing financial woes -- caused mainly by a drop in grants and donations -- Gomez-Ibanez has been working without pay since last summer and now operates out of his home.
Partly for that reason, he's also decided to step down in October, although he emphasizes that the group's 21 members are committed to keeping it alive and charting a new course.
"I was a good person to start it," he muses, "but I'm hopeful my leaving will bring some new imagination to the organization and bring it to a higher level of competence."
Though he remains an optimist -- mostly because of the recent elections -- Gomez-Ibanez says he agrees that the world's even more violent and dangerous than it was 10 years ago. And largely, he suggests, because of two things.
"One is the kind of arrogant agenda of the United States," he says. "The other is the increasing importance of what you might call non-state actors in the world's violence -- the paramilitary groups and insurgent groups that are hard to bring to the table.
"Some of them are operating in countries -- such as Iraq -- that have very little government or infrastructure of government. And there are a lot of people who are suffering a great deal because of this."
Gomez-Ibanez notes that the United States' military might has always caused resentment in many parts of the world. But he says the Bush administration's "in your face" foreign policy has created major problems for the Peace Council.
"Because our office is in the United States, it's tainted us and hurt our credibility," he says. Now whenever the Peace Council attempts to resolve a conflict, "we have to begin by making excuses or apologizing for the Bush administration's policies."
Perhaps the best example of the administration's "egregious, counterproductive" policies is its approach to terrorism, Gomez-Ibanez says.
"We're worried about terrorism and we make a link between terrorism and Islam," he says. "But we don't do much to promote democratic institutions in the Arab and Islamic countries that lack them, and we do nothing to reinforce the position of the moderates within the world of Islam.
"On the contrary, what we do makes their position almost untenable within their own societies. Because if a moderate Muslim speaks out in favor of moderation, he or she runs the risk of being accused of being a toady of the United States."
Even so, the Peace Council has had its successes, Gomez-Ibanez says.
Among them:
It participated in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in 1996-97.
It twice went to Mexico -- at the invitation of Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia -- to support peace, human rights and conflict resolution in Chiapas.
It intervened to stop Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and, in the process, helped make Israeli citizens aware that Israel's home-building policies were a serious obstacle to peace.
One of his most vivid and "eerie" memories, Gomez-Ibanez says, is of his visit to North Korea in 1998, when "we were treated like VIPs, even with diplomatic banquets or so forth, in a country that was starving.
"I mean, we had two Mercedes Benzes with drivers and were told we could go anywhere we wanted. But wherever we went, we were the only vehicle that was moving. We'd be in a city and the traffic cops would stop some nonexistent traffic so that we could go through."
As fulfilling as the job's been, Gomez-Ibanez says he's anxious to retire and spend more time at the home that he and his wife, Virginia, recently purchased near Cherokee Marsh. He also believes the Peace Council still has great potential, providing it can find a way to attract more attention.
"I think we've been kind of hamstrung by our own policy, which is not to hype the council but to let actions speak for themselves," he says. "In a noisy world, you need a certain amount of publicity to realize your mission."
Especially, he adds, "if your mission is to persuade people there's another way...that peace doesn't have to come by leaping out of a helicopter."
PEACE COUNCIL
How to help: A benefit concert for the Peace Council featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein will be held at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive. The concert will be performed by faculty from the University of Wisconsin's School of Music and is being sponsored by the Madison-based Friends of the Peace Council. A $25 donation is requested, with all proceeds going to the council. For more information, call 831-0021.
\ E-mail: rzaleski@madison.com
WNPJ member Daniel Gomez-Ibanez featured in this article
Peace Group Has Money Woes, But Activist Has Hope
The Capital TimesWhen we first met, exactly 10 years ago this month, he was filled with such hope.
Yes, he'd acknowledged, the world was as violent as it had ever been. Burundi was in chaos, the Middle East appeared hopeless, and a group of religious fanatics known as the Taliban had taken control of Afghanistan.Socialist Group Throws Party, But Finds Little To Celebrate In State Of The Union Speech
The Capital Times
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
By Katjusa Cisar Special
It was just after 7 p.m. when organizers from the International Socialist Organization came into the Stiftskeller at Memorial Union to prepare for President Bush's State of the Union speech.
Paul Pryse filled a beer pitcher with colorful party horn blowers to pass out around the room for "whenever (Bush) said something stupid." But the horns malfunctioned and wouldn't honk, so his plan was quickly abandoned.
Horns weren't needed anyway, since the roughly three dozen students (mostly male) watching Bush's address in the Stiftskeller loudly vocalized their distaste for the president. Boos and hisses welcomed his entrance on MSNBC. The crowd's commentary -- some of it obscene and beer-soaked -- ran like a peanut gallery laugh track throughout his speech.
When Bush boasted having increased the number of jobs around the country, one veteran shouted out, "I know; I've got three of them!"
After the president finished his speech, the snickering and jokes died down and the audience turned more reflective.
UW-Madison senior Todd Dennis said he was pleased by Bush's proposal to raise fuel-economy standards for vehicles, but "it's not enough."
The war in Iraq ranks high to Dennis and his friend Ben Ratliffe. Both men are Navy veterans and say Bush is wasting too much money on the defense budget. Instead, they would like to see more funds go to the GI Bill, to medical support for veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and to testing veterans for brain damage caused by roadside bombs.
"It's interesting that they chose a soldier who didn't have any visible injuries," said Dennis of the injured soldier Bush honored during his speech. "There are hundreds out there who've had amputations."
Dennis and Ratliffe were stationed in Iraq in the mid- to late '90s. Looking back on that time, they say they now see how the seeds for today's problems in Iraq were planted.
"Iraq never stopped being a war zone," Ratliffe said.
Socialist organizer and civil engineering major Chris Dols said he counted the number of times the Democrats stood up during the speech, which he estimated at 15 to 20 times, adding, "Anyone who purports to represent me shouldn't give George Bush a standing ovation. They all stood up when he was scapegoating immigrants."
James Kimble, a senior philosophy major, was surprised by Bush's announcement of a plan to add 92,000 troops over the next five years.
"That was new," he said, "That's almost a second army."
Freshman Bob Spoerl of New Berlin left the Stiftskeller early to go watch the address in his dorm room in Witte Hall. Most people his age "don't even know it's on tonight," he said. Students "should watch this and practice democracy. It's essential we hear the words from (Bush's) mouth. Granted, they're probably fed to him."
The students' critical views matched the analysis of some of their professors, who praised the rhetoric but not the content of the speech.
UW-Madison Communications Professor Stephen Lucas, who studies political rhetoric, said it is ironic that when Bush "was least articulate, he was most popular. Now that his popularity is down, he's simply better at speaking."
Lucas praised Bush's tribute to Nancy Pelosi, saying "it was an historic moment. The swagger was gone and replaced with a more conciliatory tone."
But Jennifer Loewenstein, associate director for the Middle East Studies Program at the UW, was "incredibly disappointed" by the president's speech. When Bush championed democratic developments in the Middle East, he never mentioned the recent "free and fair democratic elections" in the Palestinian territories where Hamas was elected.
"That was the elephant in the living room," she says. "We don't like Hamas, so we ignored a free and fair election. All his pleas and cries for democracy in the Middle East are insincere."
Local war protesters see a rise in their numbers
BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times
RACINE -
As tens of thousands of people marched against the Iraq war in Washington, D.C., Saturday, anti-war activists staged a companion rally here.
An estimated 130 people lined part of Monument Square in an anti-war protest organized by the Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice.
Many participants held laminated cards, each of which listed one of the 68 Wisconsin soldiers killed so far in the Iraq war. The name on Barney Nelles' card was Christopher J. Splinter of Platteville, killed in December 2003.
Speakers also read the names of all 68 Wisconsin soldiers killed, alphabetically by the communities they came from.
"This (kind of rally) is occurring throughout the country," Nelles said. He was involved "to keep the issue on the front page, so to speak, and make sure our legislative people are voting for reducing the troops and reducing the funding."
One speaker at the rally said the Iraq war has cost Wisconsin $221 million so far.
Nelles said it was about his fourth anti-Iraq war protest. Asked about the reactions of passers-by - car horns frequently sounded as people drove by - he said: "Initially, more than a year ago, there wasn't much response.
"Now you can hear the public outcry, and support for our presence in Iraq is decreasing substantially."
Marybeth Zuhlke, a retired Kenosha teacher, was there with two grandsons and a granddaughter; she's been to almost all of the local Iraq war protests.
In the beginning, she said, "You used to see 15 to 20 people. Now it's close to 100." (One coalition member counted about 130 people Saturday for the noon rally.)
Asked if the nation has accomplished anything in Iraq, Zuhlke said: "I wish we had, but I fear we have not."
The Rev. Bruce Clanton was part of the rally along with several of his Casa Chavez youths, including Sergio Casillas of St. Catherine's High School.
Casillas, 15, said about the war, "I think it's bad because we're losing too many people and killing too many, too."
"I want to get my kids exposed to the issues and how to take a stand," Clanton said. "I don't think they get it in school. I think the more they know, the better citizens they'll be."
"Have you guys signed the petition?" called Maria Morales, 62, as she walked down the line. Later, the Texas native and Racine resident explained her participation in the rally.
"I want somebody to tell the truth about what's going on in Iraq," she said. "I think we've been fed a bunch of lies.
"We know with terrorism, it wasn't the reason we are there. I believe we're there because of oil, to protect our interests in oil."
Ken Yorgan, president of the local coalition, said the Iraq war "was declared illegally ... and the management of this war has been terrible."
"It feels a lot different today than it did four years ago, because there's so much more resistance, so much more opposition."
Octogenarian Busily Protests The War
Wisconsin State Journal
Sunday, January 28, 2007
JOE ORSO La Crosse Tribune
Al Knorr knows the issues are more complex than what's on his signs.
He contrasted the words on the signs he carries -- "Stop the War Now" and "War Is Like Quicksand -- Get Out Now or Never" -- to words repeated by those on the other side of the argument: "Stay the course."
"There's a lot of slogans," he said, standing outside the La Crosse post office on State Street at 8 a.m. Monday.
But Knorr, an 80-year-old Navy veteran who protests the war in Iraq two hours a day, five days a week, talks about more than slogans.
"If you're going to demonstrate, you better know your reasons for demonstrating," he said. "We're apparently trying to raise an army to bring peace to the Iraqis. The only countries that have an army to guarantee peace are dictatorships."
Of course, some disagree with Knorr. Monday, a man in a red truck honked and waved a middle-finger salute at Knorr. Another called him a "(expletive) Communist (expletive)."
Another day, a woman told Knorr he was not respecting her son, who is in the military.
"I said, I respect your son,'" Knorr said. "'But I'm sorry, I don't respect the leaders who have our troops over there.'"
Knorr, a retired psychiatric social worker, began standing around La Crosse with his anti-war signs a year and a half ago, because he thought people opposed to the war were getting little media coverage.
He thinks the United States has wasted billions of dollars on the war.
Knorr added it's up to the Iraqis to work peace out among themselves.
He said his wife of 57 years, with whom he has two sons, sometimes grows concerned about his protests.
"My wife says, Aren't you worried for yourself?'" Knorr said. "No, I'm not. I believe people are essentially good. We can have differences of opinion. That's what makes us a democracy."
Washington Post
January 28, 2007
Megan Greenwell
As the bulk of war protesters chanted "this is what democracy looks like" on the Mall yesterday, a few hundred gathered separately on the south edge of the Mall.
Members of the College Democrats of America mingled with the more radical Students for a Democratic Society and the Communist Youth Movement. Many held signs proclaiming themselves "another future leader against the war." Some danced. Some clapped. Others passed around a joint. Disparate in their affiliations, they were united in their chants: "College, not combat."Thousands Protest Bush Policy
As Senate Prepares to Debate Troop Increase, Demonstrators Demand War's End
The Washington Post
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Michael Ruane and Fredrick Kunkle
A raucous and colorful multitude of protesters, led by some of the aging activists of the past, staged a series of rallies and a march on the Capitol yesterday to demand that the United States end its war in Iraq.
Under a blue sky with a pale midday moon, tens of thousands of people angry about the war and other policies of the Bush administration danced, sang, shouted and chanted their opposition.
They came from across the country and across the activist spectrum, with a wide array of grievances. Many seemed to be under 30, but there were others who said they had been at the famed war protests of the 1960s and '70s.
They came to Washington at what they said was a moment of opportunity to push the new Congress to take action against the war, even as the Bush administration is accelerating plans to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq. This week, the Senate will begin debating a resolution of disapproval of the president's Iraq policy, setting up a dramatic confrontation with the White House.
Some protesters plan to stay and lobby their representatives in Congress. Other antiwar activists intend to barnstorm states this week urging senators to oppose the troop escalation.
Yesterday's crowd was large and vociferous, but its size was unclear because there was no official crowd estimate. It was filled with longtime opponents of the conflict and of the administration.
"Its primary value is that it keeps up the pressure," said former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. "There is a sense that by summer, a march like this will be two or three times as large."
The demonstrators were garbed in many colors and T-shirts and buttons of many sentiments. "Think," read one shirt. "It's not illegal yet." A button read: "Kill your lawn." Read another: "Trees Hate You."
But the overriding complaint was the U.S. prosecution of the war in Iraq.
"Peace is controversial," civil rights and community activist Jesse Jackson, 65, said in a rousing address to the crowd gathered at the east end of the Mall. "But so is war. The fruit of peace is so much sweeter."
Some came for relatives in the service. A New York woman came on behalf of her younger brother, who she said was about to be deployed to Iraq. She had a framed picture of him in a knapsack. An Akron, Ohio, woman came with her infant son, saying his father, in the Navy in Kuwait, had yet to see him.
Oriana Futrell, 21, of Spokane, Wash., came with a sign that said: "Bring my husband home now." She said her husband, Dan, an Army lieutenant, was in Baghdad. They were married in April. She said she was weary of attending military funerals.
Among the celebrities who appeared was Jane Fonda, the 69-year- old actress and activist who was criticized for sympathizing with the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. She told the crowd that this was the first time she had spoken at an antiwar rally in 34 years.
"I've been afraid that because of the lies that have been and continue to be spread about me and that war, that they would be used to hurt this new antiwar movement," she told the crowd. "But silence is no longer an option."
Fonda said she was attending with her daughter and two grandchildren. "I'm very proud that they're here, but I'm so sad that we still have to do this, that we did not learn the lessons from the Vietnam War," she said.
She concluded by saying, "God bless." And someone in the crowd yelled: "All right, Janey!"
But Fonda's presence drew counter protesters. Members of the Free Republic group picketed an antiwar rally at the Navy Memorial where Fonda spoke earlier in the day. "Hanoi Jane," one of the conservative group's signs read. "Wrong then, wrong now."
The day's events unfolded peacefully. And after a cold morning with temperatures in the mid-20s, the day quickly warmed, and protesters were unzipping jackets as the mercury topped 50 degrees.
The crowd, while exuberant, seemed significantly smaller than the half-million people organizers said were present and may not have matched similar protests in September 2005 and January 2003. The throng filled much of the Mall between Third and Fourth streets NW but thinned toward Seventh Street.
It was big enough, though, that the march that followed the rallies stretched the length of the route from the Mall, up Constitution Avenue to the east front of the Capitol and back to the Mall.
The day's events were organized chiefly by United for Peace and Justice, which describes itself as a coalition of 1,400 local and national organizations. Among them are the National Organization for Women, United Church of Christ, the American Friends Service Committee, True Majority, Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Farms Not Arms, CODEPINK, MoveOn.org and September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
The day began with a 10 a.m. rally at the Navy Memorial sponsored by the peace group CODEPINK. There, several thousand activists heard speeches by actor Sean Penn, presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), and Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Lynne Woolsey (D-Calif.), and a brief greeting from Fonda.
But the most moving words were Futrell's.
"My husband deployed last June to Iraq," she said. "He is an Army infantry officer currently patrolling the streets of Baghdad. And I just have to say I'm sick of attending the funerals of my friends. I have seen the weeping majors. I have seen the weeping colonels. I am sick of the death."
"I don't know what else to say, other than: 'Bring them home,' " she said. "It is time. We need to bring them home where they can be safe."
The main rally began at 11 a.m. on the Mall and featured more speeches and a crowd that seemed to grow as the weather warmed.
In addition to Fonda and Jackson, actors Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins addressed the protesters.
Robbins mocked President Bush, urging Congress to impeach him.
"Let's get him out of office before he's ruling from a bunker," Robbins said.
"Impeach Bush!'' the crowd began to chant, interspersed with a few shouts of "And Cheney!"
"Richard Nixon talked to the walls," Robbins continued. "But George Bush is talking to God. But it is not a God I recognize. This God seems to be giving Bush a pass" on some commandments.
Colin Fallon, who works at the Government Accountability Office, and his wife, Melinda, a history professor at George Mason University, came to the demonstration from Fairfax with their three children.
Melinda Fallon guided her son through the crowd, talking about Americans. "They can say when they don't agree with what's going on," she told him.
"We're looking at more or less a 30-years-war here," Colin Fallon said. "All the indications are bad. I think about these kids. If they were asked to fight, would I think they would be able to help the situation as soldiers? I don't think so. I think it has become something of a war of attrition."
Laura Sinderbrand, 79, and her husband, Alvin, 84, of New York, said they attended dozens of Washington protests against the Vietnam War during the 1960s and early '70s.
"The biggest difference back then, of course, was the draft," said Alvin Sinderbrand, a retired patent lawyer. "That made everything much more emotional. There was a sense that everybody was vulnerable."
The Sinderbrands were opposed to involvement in Iraq from the beginning, they said, and attended a 2003 protest here. Yesterday, the couple rode down on the train and planned to return home in the evening.
"We're doing it with the hope that it's going to be the last time we need to protest this," said Laura Sinderbrand, a retired museum director.
Kim Brenegar, 46, of the Capitol Hill neighborhood attended with her son Julian, 12.
"Of late, I've become very numb to the front-page reporting of deaths," she said. "And that's kind of problem for me. We've all become so used to it, it's the norm. I hope today's event will wake up a lot of people and demonstrate that this doesn't have to go on, we can stop this."
Julian added: "I don't like the war. I just think it's so stupid that we're there and it's pointless."
As the events went on, Johnny "Satchmo" T., of Northeast Washington, sat on a plastic bucket at Seventh Street and Constitution Avenue -- his regular spot -- and played a haunting version of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" on his bent trumpet.
"They're lucky that they can do stuff" like that, he said of the protesters. "Some countries don't even let people do stuff like that."
Staff writers Ruben Castenada, Megan Greenwell, Michael Laris, Sue Anne Pressley Montes, Katherine Shaver and Rick Weiss and staff researcher Karl Evanzz contributed to this report.
It's Time Congress Used Power Of The Purse
Wisconsin State Journal :: OPINION :: C2
Sunday, January 28, 2007
JANET PARKER
What will Dave Obey do?
U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wausau, continues to speak out clearly on the Iraq war.
I take heart to know that he shares the viewpoint of the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe that it is time to bring our troops home from Iraq.
Obey wrote this week, "It will be very difficult for the Congress to prevent the president from proceeding with his escalation (of troops in Iraq). But we must try."
Wisconsinites look to Rep. Obey with great hope, because we know that he's in an extremely powerful position, and if he does try he could lead Congress to use the power of the purse to get our troops out of harm's way in Iraq.
Last week Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., testified before Congress about how he plans to try.
"We can't afford to continue this course," he said. "I have consistently called for the redeployment of our military from Iraq, but now Congress must use its main power -- the power of the purse -- to put an end to our involvement in this disastrous war. Over the next several weeks, I, and I hope the rest of my colleagues, will take a hard look at just how we should do that."
Rep. Obey began his work in Congress in 1969, elected for his commitment to work to end the Vietnam War. Once in the House, he helped lead the successful effort to use congressional powers to bring the war to an end -- against the will of the president -- by restricting funding.
I hope Rep. Obey will try again, in that same way, to extricate us from the tragically similar war in Iraq.
In response to a spate of commendable new Democratic bills calling on the president to change his strategy in Iraq, Tony Snow said this week that the resolutions would not deter Bush. These bills are not binding, so the commander in chief can and will ignore them. But funding bills he must abide by.
As chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Obey is the most powerful Wisconsin legislator in Congress, and among the most powerful elected officials in the country.
In the coming weeks, Obey will be writing a supplemental funding bill for the Iraq War. Bush has requested an additional $99 billion dollars for the war, to add to $70 billion already allocated for 2007 in the regular U.S. Department of Defense bill.
I hope that Obey will include in that funding bill Rep. Jack Murtha's new Resolution 18, which calls for redeployment of all our forces from Iraq. Attaching Murtha's legislation to funding will mean that our troops would be safely provided for during an orderly withdrawal.
But it would not write Bush another blank check for continuing the occupation, nor for a surge in troop levels.
The risk exists that Bush would veto such a bill, but he would then be left without funds to carry on the war. As Sen. Feingold says, the power of the purse is the main power that Congress holds to end our involvement.
Rep. Obey can now take the lead, as he did in his first terms in Congress, to end what he and the American people know is a destabilizing and unnecessary war. The November elections showed clearly that this is by far the most important work that Americans want the Democrats to carry out in Congress.
Representative Obey, please do try.
State Voices Ring Out At D.C. Peace March
162 Students, Activists Bus To Capital
The Capital Times
Monday, January 29, 2007
By Kate Raiford Capital Times/Medill News Service
The overnight bus ride from Madison to the nation's capital didn't faze the 162 Wisconsin students and activists traveling to Saturday's "March on Washington" peace rally on the National Mall.
"They climbed out like they had just gotten out of the shower. They were so refreshed, so excited," said Ben Ratliffe, a University of Wisconsin graduate and intern at the Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice, which is part of a nationwide coalition formed in 2002 in opposition to the Iraq war.
The three busloads of Wisconsin students joined with groups of grandmothers for peace, veterans for peace and even nerds for peace in an anti-war demonstration under a sunny sky in front of the nation's Capitol.
Police would not provide a tally of the protesters, which media sources numbered in the "tens of thousands," but it was reported that the front of the line finished the march before the back had started.
"I haven't seen the numbers yet, but it's quite a sight to see all the way to the horizon (the) people packed together," Ratliffe said after the march.
Chris Dols, organizer for the Wisconsin branch of the Campus Antiwar Network, agreed. "It gets fun when you really start marching, and the streets are lined by people, and you can really tell they are listening to what you have to say.
"You want to make sure they can hear you," said the UW-Madison student, who is editor of RevoltingStudents.com. "And that's why we made some chants that did more than challenge the occupation in Iraq."
An organization called United for Peace & Justice organized the march. Its message: to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home. But for the Madison protesters, it was also about sending a message to the American troops.
"The president isn't going to read coverage of this," Dols said. "I had one group of people in my mind when I was out there, and that was the enlisted soldiers."
Soldiers are refusing to fight, and the public needs to know about it, Ratliffe said, referring to soldiers like Army Lt. Ehren Watada, who defied orders to go to Iraq and is set to go on trial in February. "The people who stop the war aren't the people who declare it," Ratliffe said. "It's the people who stop the fighting."
The soldiers who are risking court martial "are the vanguard of the anti-war movement," Dols said. "We hope we can give them the confidence to keep fighting."
UW-Madison senior Todd Dennis served on a submarine outside of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, until 2003. He is the secretary of the Madison chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
"I realized this war wasn't going to end anytime soon, and I needed to help," he said while on the bus back to Madison on Saturday night.
"This war is illegal and immoral," he said. "We have no mission there. We can't win a crime, you can only stop it."
Dols said he was disappointed that members of Iraq Veterans Against the War did not stand at the front of the march. "If the anti-war movement doesn't start putting veterans at the front, then we're never going to stop the war," he said. "It's about the Iraq veterans leading the struggle."
Toughest Ethics Bill In The Country' Set For Approval
Senate And Assembly Are Expected To Pass Reform Bill Today
Wisconsin State Journal
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press
Wisconsin lawmakers said Monday they would approve the state's most significant ethics reforms in 30 years, creating a new watchdog to scrutinize the conduct of public officials.
Legislative leaders reached a compromise on a bill to create a Government Accountability Board with an unlimited budget to investigate corruption. The Senate and Assembly are ready to approve the plan today before Gov. Jim Doyle delivers his State of the State address.
"It's going to be the strongest and toughest ethics bill in the country," said Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit.
Lawmakers aim to restore Wisconsin's reputation for clean government after a string of corruption convictions against their former colleagues by creating the nonpartisan board to enforce ethics, campaign finance, election and lobbying laws.
Click here to find out more!
Doyle, a Democrat, made the plan his first priority after a successful re-election campaign that was marred by a swirl of ethics allegations against him and his opponent. He summoned lawmakers to a special session to hammer out an agreement.
"I'm encouraged," said Doyle, who was expected to sign the bill into law as early as this week. "I want to get this done."
With five former lawmakers convicted in the past two years after an investigation into illegal campaigning and polls showing the public losing faith in their honesty, lawmakers agreed to a stronger watchdog to replace boards that had been criticized as weak and partisan.
The new board would come from a merger of the Ethics and Elections boards -- the biggest change since the boards were created in the 1970s.
The legislation had been bogged down between the Democratic-controlled Senate and Republican-led Assembly over a clause that would have wiped out the entire bill if one part was found unconstitutional.
Robson and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said they agreed to remove the clause so other reforms would remain if one part was thrown out. Huebsch had said the clause was needed to preserve a compromise, but he said Monday that he agreed to drop it because "it was becoming an impediment to the passage of the legislation."
"It's a great step forward," said Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. "If there is some element that ends up being invalidated by a court, that doesn't make the whole thing fall."
The leaders also said they agreed to:
Keep a provision allowing lawmakers charged with corruption to choose whether to be tried in their home counties or where the crimes allegedly occurred.
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard, who prosecuted four lawmakers on corruption charges, said the provision would make it harder to try public misconduct cases and would give those defendants an option available to nobody else. "That is the opposite of reform," he said.
Blanchard and other district attorneys warned this provision is probably unconstitutional, but Huebsch predicted it would stand up to a challenge.
Revise an anti-leak provision to make clear that prosecutors can share information with each other during investigations. That compromise keeps in place penalties of up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine against employees who leak details of an ongoing investigation.
Media organizations and other groups had called the penalties draconian and said they would deter whistleblowers, but lawmakers said they were needed to protect the integrity of investigations.
The governor would nominate and lawmakers confirm six former judges to run the new agency, which would prosecute civil infractions and refer criminal cases to district attorneys. The judges would serve six-year terms. Current employees would keep their jobs except for the Ethics and Elections boards' executive directors, who could apply for top jobs in the new agency.