Dear Editor: I recently provided mediation, by telephone, to a local landlord and a prisoner in the Dane County Jail in relation to an apartment the latter was renting from the former. I was perfectly happy to do this on a voluntary basis, just as I do for many hours in the small claims court on a weekly basis. I was also happy to pay for the phone calls from the jail, even though I knew I would be charged an exorbitant rate.
I thought you might like to know just how much my good will cost me. I had seven conversations with the inmate over a three-week period. These calls cost me $28.45. For comparison, the rest of my month's calls - local, long-distance and international - cost me $32.64.
This is an extraordinary and exploitative burden to place on inmates and their families. The contract the county has with Inmate Calling Solutions and the profits being reaped by both sides should be acknowledged as disgraceful and ended immediately. I urge everyone to support the ordinance to end profiteering off the backs of inmates and their families through jail services.
Jails for profit are no part of a democratic or civilized society!
Business Hurt, Owner Says
(WNPJ member group Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice is featured in the Capital Times report)
The owner of a Madison Mexican restaurant is suing two pro-immigrant groups that helped organize pickets outside his business to protest his employment practices.
David Herrera, owner of La Hacienda Inc., on South Park Street, contends the demonstrations have interfered with his business and customers. He's asking a judge to make the protesters tone down their tactics.
The suit filed this week names the Immigrant Workers Union, the Interfaith Coalition for Workers and two protest leaders. The groups are part of a coalition that advocates for immigrant workers.
The groups have organized the pickets since last month at La Hacienda. They say employees have been forced to work off the clock without pay and five former workers are each owed between $3,000 and $11,000.
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Herrera denies those claims. La Hacienda paid $38,000 in back wages in January 2006 after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found wage violations.
In his lawsuit, Herrera says protesters have blocked the parking lot entrance and shouted so loudly that some potential customers were scared away and others on an outside patio couldn't enjoy their meals.
He is seeking an order to keep the picketers at least 10 feet away from the parking lot and patio and stop them from intimidating customers and "engaging in loud or boisterous speech" that interferes with meals. A hearing on the request is set for next week.
Patrick Hickey, a protest leader named in the suit, dismissed the allegations as untrue or exaggerated but said the protests have hurt La Hacienda's business.
Pickets scheduled for Saturday and Tuesday will go forward because protesters handing out leaflets to customers and chanting are entitled to free speech, he said.
"We need to let the public know this is the kind of operation that is being run here," Hickey said.
(WNPJ member group Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice is featured in this Wisconsin State Journal report)
The owner of a Madison Mexican restaurant is suing two pro-immigrant groups that helped organize pickets outside his business to protest his alleged employment practices.
David Herrera, owner of La Hacienda at 515 S. Park St., contends the demonstrations have interfered with his business and customers. He's asking a judge to make the protesters tone down their tactics.
The suit filed this week names the Immigrant Workers Union, the Interfaith Coalition for Workers and two protest leaders. The groups are part of a coalition that advocates for immigrant workers.
The groups have organized the pickets since last month at La Hacienda. They say employees have been forced to work off the clock without pay and five former workers are each owed between $3,000 and $11,000.
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Herrera denies those claims. La Hacienda paid $38,000 in back wages in 2006 after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found wage violations.
"We're telling them to stop interfering with my client's right to run his business," Herrera's attorney Victor Arrellano said Friday.
In his lawsuit, Herrera says protesters have blocked the parking lot entrance and shouted so loudly that some potential customers were scared away and others on an outside patio couldn't enjoy their meals.
He is seeking an order to keep the picketers at least 10 feet away from the parking lot and patio and stop them from intimidating customers and "engaging in loud or boisterous speech" that interferes with meals. A hearing on the request is set for next week.
Patrick Hickey, a protest leader named in the suit, dismissed the allegations as untrue or exaggerated but said the protests have hurt La Hacienda's business.
"We need to let the public know this is the kind of operation that is being run here," Hickey said.
The United States won the military war in Iraq by May 2003. Saddam Hussein was overthrown, his forces destroyed. We lost the political war when the occupation began, local Iraqi governments were disbanded and new authority alien to Iraqis was imposed by invaders, leaving the country in chaos.
Coalition troops raided homes, imprisoned "suspects" and alienated the population with their arrogance. The troop surge has no long-term value despite the military "gains" the Brookings scholars reported after their guided tour.
With no strategic plan for the occupation, our generals and ambassadors were shocked when the "insurgency" erupted, and the Bush administration is still unclear about who the insurgents are and what "victory" in Iraq means to the American people. The occupation uncorked the Sunni-Shiite civil war, exiled the educated middle class, and allowed al-Qaida to join the insurgency.
When the U.S. finally withdraws, the insurgents will lose their targets and the Iraqis, instead of fighting each other, can turn to expelling the other foreigners and al-Qaida. Sectarian violence could worsen, but without U.S. interference, Iraqis should move quicker to resolve differences on their own.
When U.S. troops begin careful redeployment, the Iraqi government will be compelled to solve political dilemmas foreign invaders cannot resolve by military means.
Gary Shellman, Glendale, president, Greater Milwaukee Chapter of United Nations Assn.; member, Wisconsin Governor's Commission on the UN; veteran, U.S. Army Security Agency
Letter to the Editor In the WI State Journal - page C5 - on 8-12-2007
(WNPJ member group - East Timor Action Network is featured in this Capital Times report)
Dr. Dan Murphy sees 300 patients a day, which works out to about one a minute.
No, he doesn't work for an American HMO.
The former Iowa country doctor, who is speaking and holding a fundraiser in Madison this week, has been practicing medicine in East Timor for nine years. He makes no money and takes periodic trips to the United States and Australia to raise money to keep his clinic going.
He admits that it takes a lot of practice to be able to treat so many patients each day and not turn anybody away.
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"We don't have sophisticated lab and X-ray, so we are limited. And we don't have a lot of paperwork. I am able to go through a lot of patients, and I always try to be as nice as I can because they come from a long distance and then they only get one minute," he said Tuesday night during a stop in Madison.
Murphy will give a 20-minute talk followed by a question and answer session during the event "Medical Aid Serenade" Friday at the Madison Center for Creative and Cultural Arts, 306 W. Dayton St., south of the Overture Center. Murphy will also show a 10-minute video. Hanah Jon Taylor and Salom Shalom will perform Mediterranean music. Doors open at 6 p.m. The suggested donation is $10.
NO SPECIALISTS
Most people who come to his clinic -- the Bairo Pite Clinic in Dili, the capital of East Timor -- have what he calls an episodic illness, an upper respiratory infection, or minor aches and pains.
"For those people you just give a few little medicines that we have and tell them if you're not better, come back," said Murphy, 62.
He is on the lookout for certain illnesses like tuberculosis, malaria or HIV, which he is able to treat with medicine.
East Timor is one of the world's poorest countries, it's tropical and has a high population density. People have poor housing, so contagious disease spreads readily, Murphy said.
"That means the viruses, the bacteria, the worms, the parasites and HIV. Those things spread. But we also have all the other illnesses, the cancers and diabetes and heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, all the things you know up here in the U.S., they can happen there, too."
It's a challenge for a doctor because he can't send anybody to a specialist since there aren't any. "You take care of all of it yourself," he said, adding that he also delivers about 100 babies a month, and many of the women have complications.
Murphy is able to strike up good rapport with his patients because he speaks their language, Tetum. There are many other languages spoken in East Timor, and Murphy says he has been there long enough that he can say a few words in all of them.
East Timor is a country of 1 million people located 400 miles northwest of Australia, at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. It was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century, then invaded and occupied by Indonesia in 1975. In 1999 it underwent a violent separation from Indonesia, and the United Nations administered the country until its formal nationhood in 2002.
Murphy arrived in 1998, when the country was still under Indonesian rule.
"So I had the pleasure of going through the last part of the revolution, which was really a horror show, with Indonesia burning everything and killing many, many people. A lot of machete wounds and gunshot wounds and massacre victims. I was thrown right into that," he said.
At the time, the main book he used was a military surgeon's guide.
Before he went East Timor he was practicing medicine in Mozambique, another Portuguese colony. He took pity on the Timorese people after they were invaded by Indonesia.
"I always felt that those people didn't have a chance. For no good reason that I could think of, a foreign country came in and gobbled them up," Murphy said.
When Indonesian General Suharto dropped out of power in 1998, Murphy thought maybe East Timor finally had a chance.
"As a doctor you look for a way to have a bigger impact than just one-on-one with a sick patient. If you can help free an entire country, you have a good chance of improving people's health," he said.
Murphy said he has always had good support in Madison, where people are generous and have a special relationship with East Timor. Madison has a sister city in East Timor, the district Ainaro.
"I think people in Madison are more politically aware than in many places, they've heard of East Timor, and many people from Madison have been to East Timor."
MEDICAL AID SERENADE
Friday, Madison Center for Creative and Cultural Arts, 306 W. Dayton St.
Music by Hanah Jon Taylor and Salom Shalom.
Doors open at 6 p.m. Suggested donation is $10.
skalk@madison.com
(WNPJ founder Midge Miller and WNPJ member Buzz Davis are featured in this Capital Times report)
At the end of a marathon seven-hour session, the Dane County Board early today became the second county government in the nation to endorse the impeachment of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
About a third of the board members left the meeting before the impeachment vote was taken shortly before 2 a.m. The measure passed with 24 in favor, three against, two abstaining and the remaining 12 absent.
The issue of impeachment a symbolic resolution to be sent to Wisconsin's congressional representatives wasn't taken up until after the board endorsed a plan to raise the county's sales tax by 0.5 percent to support transportation initiatives, including a commuter rail line.
By that time, shortly after midnight, few public speakers remained, although the night began with fanfare and a demonstration in support of the impeachment proposal. Although many cities and other municipalities have endorsed impeachment, Dane is only the second county -- behind New York's Tompkins County -- to endorse such action.
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A group of 60 or more gathered in front of two black coffins bearing the names of Constitution and Democracy -- part formal protest, part street theater.
"A lot of people are saying we ought to let these fellows run out the clock," said Midge Miller, whose first presidential protest began five decades ago against Lyndon Johnson. "But I say we cannot afford to give them any more time, because we do not know what they will continue to do."
The protesters, dressed in orange vests and armbands, beat drums and waved signs as County Board members Barbara Vedder, Ashok Kumar and John Hendrick all spoke in favor of the resolution.
"People have said this is not our business," said Hendrick, "but as board members we swore an oath to defend our Constitution against these kinds of attacks."
When the resolution came up for public discussion, the impeachment supporters were clearly the largest contingent, but several citizens endured the wait to voice their opposition to the idea.
"I thought this board was supposed to be nonpartisan," said Bill Richardson, a former Marine from Middleton and part of the organization Say No to Cut and Run. "This board was not created to affect our nation's foreign policy. In my opinion you are being used to create free advertising for the anti-war left."
The majority of the dissension followed Richardson's lead and focused not on the validity of the charges that impeachment supporters enumerated, but on whether or not the County Board was within its rights to consider the issue.
Among the reasons given for impeachment were illegal wiretaps, the deception that led up to the Iraq war and the torture of detainees.
County Board members Eileen Bruskewitz, who voted against the resolution, and Sheila Stubbs, who abstained, both felt impeachment was not an appropriate topic for the board.
"I believe my main role is to be a liaison between my constituents and the county," said Stubbs, who represents a district on Madison's south side.
In the end, though, those who supported impeachment celebrated the accomplishment. Buzz Davis, a veteran from Stoughton who helped organize the event, produced more than 8,000 petition signatures in favor of the impeachment resolution.
Joan Schwarz, a Madison resident, Stoughton attorney and lecturer at UW-Whitewater, said for the group: "Our last impeachment began at the top. This time there is a need for this action from the bottom up."
(WNPJ member group Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice is featured in this Capital Times report)
Workers' and immigrants' rights advocates said they will resume protests at La Hacienda after a judge refused the restaurant owner's request to order demonstrators to stay away from his South Park Street establishment.
A petition for an injunction against the protesters was filed in Dane County Circuit Court last week, but Judge Diane Nicks dismissed it Friday without hearing any arguments after lawyers for the defendants, which included two organizations and their directors, argued successfully that it was improperly filed.
"They really shouldn't be wasting all their time and money trying to tie this up in court," said Patrick Hickey, director of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of South Central Wisconsin and one of the defendants of the injunction. "They really should sit down with us and try to work out the money that's owed to the workers."
Several protests and boycotts have been staged at La Hacienda over the summer after complaints emerged that employees have been forced to work off the clock without pay. According to the Workers' Rights Center, five former workers who complained to the center are owed between $3,000 and $11,000 each for several years' worth of violations. Herrera was also forced to pay $38,000 to employees in January 2006 after the U.S. Department of Labor determined it had violated overtime standards, Hickey said he has not been contacted by Herrera's lawyers, and that a meeting scheduled at the end of July was canceled by Herrera after a protest organized for that same week was canceled with the understanding the two sides would talk.
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"I think they're only responding when they see public pressure and when they're actually getting hit in the pocketbook by customers not coming to their restaurant," he said. He added that the ICWJ, the Immigrant Workers Union and Workers' Rights Center will hold another protest at the restaurant next Wednesday during lunch time.
According to the Associated Press, Herrera's lawsuit alleged that protestors were blocking the parking lot entrance, scaring away potential customers and interfering with other customers' dining experiences with their noise, but Hickey denied that any customers were prevented from getting into the restaurant. He said people from the organizations were stationed at each entrance to the restaurant to make sure people could get in safely, and that no one has been arrested and police had not told them to do anything differently.
Hickey said he would prefer not to protest outside of the restaurant, but that the negative impact of Herrera's business from protesting is a motivation for him to negotiate with the workers and organizations.
"We're not really interested in continuing to be out there picketing if we can get these folks paid and make sure that people in the future will get paid, then everyone should we be happy and we can move on," he said.
Lawyers for Herrera and La Hacienda's side of the case did not return phone calls for comment.
Dear Editor: U.S.-made cluster bombs have been used in civilian-populated areas over the past 15 years with devastating and long-lasting effect. These wide-area weapons maim and kill civilians during conflicts, and "dud" munitions continue to do so long after the war subsides.
The Senate is considering legislation, the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, that would ban their use in or near civilian-occupied areas.
The International Red Cross and United Nations have condemned the use of these weapons. The U.S. use of cluster bombs hurts our country's ability to champion humanitarian rights and endangers our children and our children's children by leaving a terrible reminder of the U.S. impact on the far reaches of the world. Alliant Tech, funded by taxpayers, produces these horrific weapons in violation of U.N. standards of human rights.
We need media like yours to shed light on this issue, and we need our community to ask our senators how they will work for passage of this important legislation to save innocent civilian lives for decades to come.
Dear Editor: Thank you to the Dane County Board for adopting a resolution urging Congress to begin impeachment investigations against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
Bush and Cheney should be impeached. They have not upheld their oath "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
According to the U.S. Constitution, "Treaties ... made under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land." One major treaty, the Charter of the United Nations, was ratified by the U.S. Senate in July 1945. The U.N. Charter requires that United States "settle international disputes by peaceful means" and "refrain from the threat of force against territorial integrity ... of any state."
However, the Bush/Cheney national security strategy calls for U.S. to dominate the world with its military power. Under Bush the U.S. initiated and is waging an aggressive war against Iraq, and is now threatening war against Iran.
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Other treaties which they have been ignored include the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Geneva Conventions against torture.
Why impeach Bush and Cheney at this time?
Since coming into office the Bush administration has refused to cooperate with the world community to address global climate change. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling a Global Climate Change Summit on Sept. 24. All 192 nations of the world will be represented and will work on a major treaty to address this planetary emergency. The United States must be represented by people capable of collaborating with other nations to mitigate global climate change. Bush and Cheney seem unwilling to do this; however, the United States cannot wait two years longer to join the world community in this effort.
(WNPJ member group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is featured in this Capital Times editorial)
One of the reasons why this newspaper began editorializing years ago about the need for the state of Wisconsin to avoid doing business with Accenture, the contractor that was unfortunately given the responsibility of building a voter registration system, was our sense that the corporation had a troubling record of respecting its responsibilities.
The list of state and federal agencies that had unsettling experiences with Accenture was already a long one at the point when Kevin Kennedy, the executive director of the state Elections Board, decided to award a lucrative contract to the firm.
Kennedy was warned about Accenture. He did not listen.
Members of the Elections Board were warned about Accenture. They did not listen.
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Accenture was supposed to have Wisconsin fully compliant with an order by Congress that all states create statewide voter registration systems by Jan. 1, 2006.
But now, more than a year and a half after the deadline, Wisconsin officials and national analysts agree that the state is not yet fully compliant with the federal requirement. As Mike McCabe, the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, says, "The state of Wisconsin has gotten a very raw deal here."
Accenture does not share this view. The firm claims it completed its contract work in January and is now performing additional duties under a nine-month warranty. The company says it will be done with the warranty work in October, when Accenture officials say their work will be done - no matter what state and federal observers say.
If this sounds like a scenario out of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, rest assured, Lewis Carroll would never have asked his readers to stretch their imaginations to the breaking point that Accenture is now approaching.
The corporation, which has already been paid $9.6 million, is actually claiming that it is owed an additional $1.95 million. And the firm is sending signals that it will be asking for more money to complete work that has yet to be finished to the satisfaction of state and federal officials.
How should Wisconsin respond?
McCabe says Wisconsin officials should follow the lead of other states that have cut ties with Accenture after disappointing experiences with the firm. And in so doing, McCabe advises, "Accenture shouldn't get another penny until it delivers something that works. I think the state needs to finally take a stand with this company."
State Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, who has been dogged in his scrutiny of the Accenture deal, goes a step further. "I think at this point you have to sue Accenture to get them to do what they were paid to do," says Pocan.
The legislator cites a list of legitimate concerns about how the new system runs slowly and issues absentee ballots in the wrong communities.
Accenture officials claim either that they are not responsible for the problems or that they have addressed them. But the Elections Board instructed municipal clerks in Madison and Green Bay not to use the absentee function of the system when conducting recent elections.
The seminal error in dealing with Accenture came when Kennedy and the Elections Board contracted with the firm. At this point, the essential responsibility of the state is to ensure that elections are run responsibly and well.
Paying any more money to Accenture would be a travesty. Formally breaking ties with Accenture would seem to make sense, but it is essential that any transition assures that state employees will be able to quickly clean up any messes left by the contractor.
For that reason, the lawsuit that Pocan suggests is probably wise - if only to force Accenture to recognize the seriousness with which Wisconsin officials believe the company has failed to meet its obligations.
(WNPJ members Hiroshi and Arlene Kanno, also of WNPJ member group Concerned Citizens of Newport, are featured in this Capital Times editorial)
It was nearly six years ago that a group that calls itself Concerned Citizens of Newport had a table at our first-ever Fighting Bob Fest to spread the word that bottled water is an environmental nemesis.
The group, which grew out of the successful fight to stop Perrier from opening a $100 million plant to suck water out of the springs of Adams County and bottle it for sale throughout the Midwest, has worked for years to spread the word about bottled water and its impact on the environment.
It proudly proclaimed that the only water served at Bob Fest was the good old fashioned tap water from the wells of Baraboo. It was not only good for you, but good for our natural resources as well.
So no one has been more dismayed than the group's leaders, Hiroshi and Arlene Kanno, as the sales of bottled water soared and blossomed into an $8 billion industry. People pay as much as four bucks a 12-ounce bottle at ballparks. And even the case price at the supermarket can run the equivalent of $3 a gallon, about the price of a gallon of gasoline.
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But the Kannos, two of the most delightful people you ever want to meet, may finally be seeing their efforts bear fruit.
According to the New York Times, at least, bottled water may be losing its hipness.
In the last few months, bottled water has been increasingly portrayed as an environmental villain by city leaders, activist groups and the media, according to the newspaper.
That's because bottled water is consuming 1.5 million barrels of oil a year to make all those plastic bottles, and that's not even considering the barrels of oil to transport it around the country and the energy required to refrigerate it.
Consequently, people who had come to consider bottled water a great convenience, not to mention its snob appeal, are now suffering from guilt pangs.
Environmental groups in many parts of the country have begun campaigns to educate the public about bottled water's use of energy and the role it is playing in the phenomenon we know as global warming. Bottled water, of course, is no more oil consuming than the plastic bottles that contain soda and other drinks. But, environmentalists point out, bottled water has taken the place of the readily available tap water, which, of course, doesn't use oil at all.
Additionally, detractors point out, tap water from municipal wells is better regulated for purity than the water that goes into bottles.
Never fear, Hiroshi and Arlene will be back at Fighting Bob Fest on Sept. 8, extolling the virtues of drinking water pumped from Baraboo's wells. It will be ice cold and refreshing and won't require a foreign oil well to bring it to you.
Dave Zweifel is the editor of The Capital Times. dzweifel@madison.com.
( WNPJ members and member groups featured here: Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, David Giffey of Madison Veterans for Peace, State Senator Mark Miller)
Six breakout sessions that will discuss everything from global warming to women in the workplace have been scheduled for the sixth annual Fighting Bob Fest that will take place Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Sauk County Fairgrounds in Baraboo.
The breakouts are part of the old-fashioned political chautauqua that annually draws thousands to the fairgrounds to hear speakers, enjoy music and take part in discussions about some of the state's and nation's most pressing issues.
The all-day event, which is sponsored by The Capital Times and the Web site FightingBob.com, is aimed at rekindling the progressive spirit of Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette, who served as Wisconsin governor, congressman and U.S. senator as well as being a candidate for president.
A special pre-fest kickoff will be held at Madison's Barrymore Theater on Friday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m., featuring Bob McChesney, the founder of the Free Press, Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater," and John Nichols, associate editor of The Capital Times.
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Peace activist Cindy Sheehan, who camped out across from President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch will be a featured speaker on Saturday along with longtime political gadfly and author Jim Hightower.
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, Wisconsin congressional members Tammy Baldwin and Gwen Moore, and New Hampshire political activist Doris "Granny D" Haddock are all slated to speak. Others speaking will be state Sen. Lena Taylor, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's Mike McCabe and former legislator and farm leader Stan Gruzynski.
The breakout sessions at Saturday noon include:
* Global warming with David Bender, Eban Goodstein, state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, state Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, and Nino Amato.
* Campaign corruption with McCabe, Haddock and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold biographer Sandy Horwitt.
* Crisis in Education with Madison teachers union leader John Matthews, John Keckhaver and Jack Norman, Women in the Workplace with Ellen Bravo.
* Peace Now! featuring Progressive editor Matt Rothschild, David Giffy and Jeremy Scahill,
* Agriculture and democracy with Jay Salinas and Sarah Lloyd.
La Follette biographer Nancy Unger will be on hand throughout the day to discuss the history of La Follette and the Wisconsin Progressives.
The Saturday event is free, although there will be concessions for sale and donations will be accepted to help offset expenses for speaker travel and other items. The Friday night kickoff at the Barrymore costs $5.
(WNPJ members Steve Books and Helen Findley are featured in this Capital Times report)
The intersection of West Washington Avenue and South Park Street in front of University Audio was the noisiest corner on the isthmus Tuesday afternoon.
Half of the drivers who went through the intersection, it seemed, made the effort to honk at a small band of anti-war protesters holding signs urging them to do so.
Fred Reames, 67, a retired UW-Madison professor of mechanical engineering, held two signs: "Support our troops!" and "Bring them home! Now!"
"It's an immoral war which is accomplishing nothing," Reames said. "We are killing a lot of people we shouldn't be killing."
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The protest was one of three in the Madison area sponsored by the political action committee MoveOn.org, which boasts a membership of 3.3 million people who have signed up for e-mail alerts or donated money to Democratic candidates. The other protests were at the corner of Midvale Boulevard and Mineral Point Road and at Commons Park in Lake Mills. There were about 675 similar gatherings across the nation.
MoveOn.org called Wednesday National Take a Stand Day, a day to remember the human cost of the Iraq war and to urge Congress to stand up next month "and end this endless war."
The organization alternatively called it the Stand Up In September Vigil.
"This September, after hearing the White House's report on the 'surge,' Congress will decide whether we bring our troops home or spend another year fighting an unwinnable religious civil war. As Congress heads back to D.C., we're here to tell them that it's time to take a stand," MoveOn.org said on its Web site.
Reames' wife, Sherry, 64, who teaches in the English department at UW-Madison, held a MoveOn.org sign that read, "Honk to take a stand." Drivers honked and gave the occasional thumbs up sign.
Sherry Reames was pleased with the ruckus she and her cohorts were causing.
"I thought it was a bad idea before it started," she said about the war in Iraq. "We protested that it wasn't necessary back in 2003. It was a war of choice not of necessity and they've completely bungled it. It's even worse than those who were against it from the beginning thought it would be," she said.
The impending departure of the Bush administration's embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a good first step, said Sherry Reames.
"It doesn't do anything about the war, but it suggests that people will be held accountable eventually," she said.
Barbara Wright, 54, who owns the Dardanelles restaurant on Monroe Street, also held a "Honk to take a stand" sign along with a giant U.S. flag with a peace sign instead of stars.
"This war has been so unnecessary. It's almost like this war is being waged as a distraction for some other things going on that we don't know about," Wright said. skalk@madison.com