October 2007 - In the News
10/01/07 Fr. Murphy: To be honored for peacemaking
Fr. Murphy: To be honored for peacemaking
Reprinted from the Catholic Herald Newspaper, Madison, Wis.
PORTAGE - The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ) will honor Fr. Jim Murphy, pastor of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Portage, linked with St. Mary Help of Christians, Briggsville, at the 17th Annual Peacemaker Assembly October 6 in Racine.
Father Murphy will receive the network’s annual Peacemaker Award during a presentation ceremony at the event. The award is given annually to an individual whose work to bring about peace and further justice is outstanding. A native of Briggsville, Father Murphy attended seminary in Madison and was ordained a priest for the Madison Diocese 26 years ago. He credits his parents, Dorothy and Henry Murphy, with giving him the strong foundation in faith and justice that led him to the priesthood and created in him both a longing for peace and the strength to speak out for peace even when it is not popular.
Father Murphy has previously served parishes in Monona and Platteville. His work for peace and justice has spanned his career and has included the organization of Crop Walks to address hunger, alternative spring break immersion trips to Mississippi, and addressing prison issues throughout the state. Many good works
His advocacy work for the rights of prisoners has helped bring about changes at the state Supermax facility in Boscobel. He has been instrumental in providing hospitality for prison families visiting the federal prison at Oxford for the past 20 years through his work at Mary House, a Catholic Worker Hospitality house serving the visiting families of inmates.
He has been instrumental in addressing the needs of the rural poor and homeless in the Portage area, leading a coalition of area churches, civic groups, and law enforcement to create River Haven, a temporary shelter in the city of Portage.
An active member of Pax Christi, a Catholic organization committed to Christian nonviolence, Father Murphy has also been willing to be public in his opposition to war. He has traveled countless times to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb., to voice his opposition to the targeting of nuclear weapons and the military use of space. His decision to cross a line on the road to pray on base property placed him on federal probation.
Appalled at the loss of young lives in war, Father Murphy has been outspoken in his opposition to military recruiting in schools and has assisted school counselors in making information about non-military careers available to school counselors through the state school counselor’s convention. Earlier this year he was present at Notre Dame when a group of Catholic peacemakers asked that institution to end the presence of ROTC on a Catholic campus.
Latin American peace
Father Murphy’s concern for justice and peace in Latin America has led him to initiate a dialog within the Madison Diocese concerning the School of the Americas (SOA), a combat training school for Latin American soldiers at Fort Benning, Ga. In addition, he has helped to organize and has participated in several local vigils in memory of the persons allegedly killed and tortured by graduates of the SOA.
Renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in 2001, the institute has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence, and interrogation tactics.
“Father Murphy’s efforts to increase dialog on the School of the Americas and to remember the victims of the school’s graduates have made me and many others more aware of the repression of the poor and marginalized in Latin America,” said Dennis Collier of Pax Christi Madison. “Father Murphy has taken on this issue despite the many demands on his time and energy - his work as a parish priest, his prison ministry, and his many other activities. He truly inspires many of us to try to witness to Christ’s call to peace and justice in our own lives.”
Father Murphy traveled to Latin America on a Witness for Peace delegation in the l980s and has remained deeply concerned with human rights in the region.
WNPJ was founded in 1991 as a coalition of activist groups and citizens of conscience within Wisconsin to facilitate activities toward the creation of a world free from violence and injustice. The Peacemaker awards ceremony is open to the public. For more information, contact WNPJ at 608-250-9240, or www.wnpj.org
10/01/07: The customer of my farmers - an account by Marion Stuenkel
The Customer of My Farmers -
Dane County Farmers Market devotee Marion Stuenkel on the pleasures and
significance of knowing the people who grow your food.
In the current FALL issue of Wisconsin People and Ideas - page 56.
10/04/07: Reflections on Gandhi’s Birthday…by Carol Lukens of Wausau - clukens@charter.net
Reflections on Gandhi’s Birthday…
by -- Carol Lukens (pulbished in City Pages, 10/4 , p.10) - clukens@charter.net
Four and one-half years after the American invasion of Iraq, statistics
and polls point to our current state of crisis.
According to a recent Gallup
poll, 67% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the U.S. is being
currently governed, the most negative assessment since 1973 – in the midst of
the famous Watergate scandal. Although the National Priorities Project cites the
current war costs at greater than $455 trillion dollars, ongoing costs for veteran
long-term health care, interest on debt, and replacement of military supplies
brings the estimated daily cost to $720 million, or $500,000 per minute. Five
hundred thousand dollars per minute that could instead feed the hungry, clothe
the countless poor, and provide health care for the 47 million uninsured Americans.
As we were once forewarned by former U.S. President and General Dwight D.
Eisenhower:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every
rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and
are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
But that’s simply in terms of economics.
If we look at the cost in human lives, Department of Defense
figures cite 3,798 American deaths and 28,009 wounded thus far in Iraq. Yet the National
Security Archive indicates over 150,000 disability claims filed by veterans of
the current wars in and around Afghanistan
and Iraq,
thereby suggesting perhaps many more. Could this seeming discrepancy point also
to the many psychologically wounded who aren’t as immediately apparent as the
physically afflicted? Add to that the countless friends and family members devastated
for each of the wounded and dead, to equal hundreds of thousands of Americans that
have been tragically affected in all. And that is counting only American lives.
As for the Iraqis, actual civilian Iraqi deaths documented by Iraq Body Count since 2003
total 73,794 to 80,428. That is, 73,000 to 80,000 innocent Iraqi mothers,
fathers, sisters, brothers, infants, children, grandparents… and these are
merely the documented deaths. In reality, it is probably many more, considering
reputable studies estimating Iraqi deaths at literally hundreds of thousands,
not to mention many thousands of refugees continuously being displaced. According
to United Nations reports, an estimated two million Iraqi refugees are now living
outside their country, with more than 50,000 leaving each month, 7,000 of whom we
have agreed to take in.
Next on the list are recent reports of U.S. military generals,
both active and retired who, out of their own sense of moral and patriotic
duty, are breaking tradition and risking termination of life-long careers to
publicly criticize the administration’s handling of this war and reveal the unjust
policies incurring tragic consequences on soldiers and their families.
And last but not least, let us not forget the other important
danger Eisenhower also warned us about – the privatization of warfare – in yet
another of his famous quotes:
In the councils of government, we must guard against
the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the
military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced
power exists and will persist.
Here, all one need do to observe such misplaced power is
read recent news reports about the activities of Blackwater USA. Blackwater,
a private military company was initially awarded a $27 million no-bid contract
to guard Ambassador Paul Bremer early on in this war, and since has been protecting
other senior State Department officials in Iraq with hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer
dollars. Perhaps most horrific are the reports, some by U.S. military, of
Blackwater employees mercilessly killing innocent Iraqis, with no effective
oversight or prosecution of its abusive use of force. Rather, according to
recent testimony of investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill before the Senate
Democratic Policy Committee, such misconduct has actually fueled the violence
in Iraq
and is placing U.S.
military soldiers in further danger.
Despite these deplorable tragedies, amid cries of “Impeachment”
and “Bring the Troops Home” by some, there’s a seeming malaise among a great
many Americans to truly hold our leaders accountable, to take action and
exercise their civic rights and duties.
Have we become too comfortable, complacent with the unjust
actions of leaders we elected in good faith to represent our interests and
wishes? Leaders we entrusted to represent our beliefs? Or is this seeming
complacency a general feeling of powerlessness, a question of how possibly a
single person might enact social change?
Yet if we truly want societal change, perhaps we should heed
those words of Dwight D. Eisenhower and pay particular attention to the
construct of “misplaced power.” And as we celebrate the birthday (October 2nd)
of Mohandas K. Gandhi, revered Indian model of peace and nonviolence (ahimsa), we will see that he also used the
construct of power to show us a better way. For Mohandas K. Gandhi believed
change was possible, though he did not say it would come without sacrifice.
Rather, Gandhi believed societal change would come only when each person
realized his or her true dignity and the dignity of others, was willing to act
with integrity to seek the truth, and refused to take part in actions that
cause violence to others. “It has always been a mystery to me,” he wrote in his
autobiography, “how men can feel themselves honored by the humiliation of their
fellow-beings.” Thus he believed the responsibility to act with integrity and
nonviolence rests on the members of the community, so that it is not possible
for a citizen to blame the leaders of a country if the country is perceived to
be acting violently without implicating the citizen him or herself in that
accusation.
Gandhi’s construct of “misplaced power” was called
“brute-force,” the power to oppress, injure, and harm, and he expressed an
important ethical difference between that and the construct of “soul-force,”
the force of love and nonviolent passive resistance in solving conflicts.
Specifically he explained this difference in terms of ends and means, for when
using either kind of force, Gandhi suggested, the ends and means are
inseparable. For example, if we use violence to force others to comply, they
are likely to rebel at some point; so rather than resting assured of peaceful
agreement, we will likely reside with fear of retaliation by violent means.
Consequently, we have obtained an exact result – fear and violence, from the
means – violence, we used.
Although Gandhi endorsed nonviolence, he did not advocate
allowing ourselves to be oppressed; quite the contrary actually. He believed it
most important to resist oppressive and unjust laws, but to do so in a way
(such as non-cooperation) that does not inflict harm on others, even should we
have to suffer ourselves. “The first principle of non-violent action,” he
asserted, “is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating… One has to
speak out and stand up for one’s convictions. Inaction at a time of
conflagration is inexcusable.”
Gandhi’s construct of soul-force provided then a very
important element – that of freedom, known also as swaraj. For true power, he believed, did not consist in oppressing,
injuring or harming oneself or others, but in liberation and inner freedom. As expressed
in his fundamental writing, Hind Swaraj,
“It is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves. It is, therefore, in the palm of
our hands… The Swaraj that I wish to picture before you and me is such that,
after we have once realized it, we will endeavor to the end of our lifetime to
persuade others to do likewise.”
For Gandhi, the construct of power as soul-force was essential
for systemic change. As noted by Louis Fischer in Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World, Gandhi realized that
true societal transformation could only occur subsequent to personal
transformation. Fischer explains:
Village uplift was Gandhi's First
Freedom. Over 80 percent of India
lived in her villages, and they were poor, illiterate, diseased, discouraged.
Peasant liberation from destitution could not be the achievement of the small
upper class or a gift of the foreign power. The peasants had to win it. Gandhi craved
for his country a psychological metamorphosis which would give it inner freedom
and, then, inevitably, outer freedom, for once the people acquired individual
dignity they would insist on better living and nobody would hold them in
bondage.
Hence, the power of soul-force first helped free the people
of India
from their own feelings of powerlessness, and then ultimately from British
colonialism in a nonviolent revolution that eventually led to their
independence. And if we look to this model, seeing many of ourselves as
peasants – discouraged with the present crises, perhaps we, too, need a
psychological metamorphosis to liberate us from our malaise. Perhaps when we
realize our own individual dignity we will then see it in all others, insist on
better living for ourselves and the oppressed, speak out and stand up for our
convictions, hold accountable those participating in and perpetuating unjust
and unethical policies, and no longer allow feelings of powerlessness to keep us
clenched in bondage.
But attaining this freedom would surely not come without
sacrifice, as Gandhi noted, so although it is possible, is it probable? For
such sacrifice would require much self-discipline. To begin, a Gandhian
solution would require self-transformation for each individual, a commitment to
develop non-violence interiorly in order to be able to embody non-violence. And
once some matter of self-discipline had been achieved, it would require self-reflection
to determine specific actions to take, individually and collectively, to refuse
further complicity in practices and policies, both institutional and personal,
which harm us and others. In other words, Gandhi’s suggested “non cooperation
with everything humiliating.”
Regarding the war in Iraq, if enough truly wanted to end it now,
one Gandhian method might be to refuse enduring another year of countless
deaths and devastation, waiting and hoping for a newly-elected official to bring
some magic solution, because that type of solution – looking to another to
solve the problem – frees us from personal commitment, yet perpetuates our
powerlessness. Instead, one personal commitment would be to refuse continued
funding of this war with our tax dollars. Certainly not an action without risk
and sacrifice, but if enough were truly committed to directly request our
legislators to cease funding immediately and they refused, withholding tax
funds would make it difficult for the war to continue.
Another option is public action. When war is in a distant
land where one cannot see the immediately devastating effects, it is far easier
to continue living comfortably day after day. Perhaps if more of us who are
committed against the war and appalled by its effects were willing to publicly
voice opposition and take non-violent action such as participating in die-ins,
sit-ins and boycotts, others would join. There is always risk, but when, we
must ask, do other’s lives, American soldiers’ and Iraqis’, demand some risk of
our own? Perhaps some of us should consider not working for the arms industry
or holding stocks in companies that manufacture weapons. And how might we hold
our government officials to account? Oughtn’t we hold them to the standards of
law and start publicly demanding their impeachment? Or even trials on war
crimes charges?
But all this would, of course, require a stronger commitment
to community and collective self-sufficiency, and would definitely cause
discomfort in placing before our very eyes the many that are being oppressed by
our complicity in this war and a war-based economy.
As we celebrate the birthday of Mohandas K. Gandhi then, let
us also reflect on his words, “The future will depend on what we do in the
present… Mankind has to get out of violence only through non-violence. Hatred
can be overcome only by love.” If we truly want peace for ourselves and
for others, are we willing to make the sacrifice? Are we willing to risk our
own discomfort in this time of crisis and conflagration in order to offer swaraj, life-giving empowerment and
dignity for all?
10/06/07: Federation Of Labor Urges Ok Of Clingan For City Job - Jim Cavanaugh letter
Federation Of Labor Urges Ok Of Clingan For City Job
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A9
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Jim Cavanaugh president, South Central Federation of Labor
Dear Editor: The executive board of the South Central Federation of Labor voted to unequivocally support the appointment of Bill Clingan as Madison's economic and community development director. The federation is an umbrella organization for 75 labor unions, representing over 35,000 workers in the greater Madison area. Ten community leaders participated in a thorough and transparent screening process. That process produced three qualified candidates from which the mayor could make his selection. He chose Madison civic leader Bill Clingan, who had been ranked first or second by the 10 community leaders.
Some Madison business leaders did not agree with the mayor's decision. That is their right. While we might quibble with their huffy resignations and news releases, how they chose to express their disagreement is also their right.
However, when these folks question Bill Clingan's qualifications, they are questioning the judgment of the 10 community leaders who participated in the screening process, and they are exposing themselves as having a very narrow and very traditional definition of "economic development."
Bill Clingan has been a division administrator in the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. In 2007 most of us understand that "work force development" is a crucial part of "economic development."
One of the things we love about Madison is that it can have an economic development director who comes from the work force development side of economic development and not the corporate welfare side.
We strongly urge confirmation of the mayor's appointment of Bill Clingan.
-
10/06/07: State peace activists to meet today in Racine - quote by Judy Miner of WNPJ
Friday, October 05, 2007
Local News
State peace activists to meet today in Racine
By Phyllis Sides
Journal Times
Friday, October 5, 2007 11:41 PM CDT
RACINE — In
a way, the decision of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice to
hold its 17th annual Fall Assembly in Racine is a reward for the Racine
Coalition for Peace and Justice. The decision recognizes their strength
as a peacemaking group, said Judy Miner, the network’s office
coordinator.
"Their
phenomenal work is known in Madison," Miner said. "Their work in Racine
is consistently good. We wanted to come and say thank you to them
because they’ve done great work."
The
assembly is today at Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, 625
College Ave. The public is welcome at the conference, Miner said, and
scholarships are available if anyone needs assistance in paying the
registration fee.
About
75 people from around the state have registered to attend the
conference, which will focus on prison reform, immigrant rights and the
war.
At noon the
conferees will break for the Rally for Peace coordinated by the Racine
Coalition for Peace and Justice. The rally will be on Sam Johnson
Parkway (6th Street) next to the Laurel Salton Clark Fountain.
The
keynote speaker is the Rev. Simon Harak of Milwaukee. Harak will speak
on "The Global War on Terror: Who Wins? Who Loses?" Harak, a Jesuit,
has served as missionary in Jamaica and the Philippines.
Harak
has been active in the peace movement and helped found Voices in the
Wilderness which was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000, 2002
and 2003. Harak is currently working at Marquette University, where he
is involved with establishing a Center for Peacemaking.
After
a day devoted to issues of peace and justice the WNPJ will recognize
people who have been active in the struggle for peace and justice,
Miner said.
The
Peacemakers of the Year awards and reception follows the conference.
The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to John LaForge of Nukewatch in
Luck, Wis.
The
Peacemakers of the Year award recipients are: Sarah Quinn of Madison;
the Rev. Jim Murphy of Portage; and Sue Ruggles of Glendale.
What:
17th annual Fall Assembly of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
Where:
Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, 625 College Ave.
When:
Today 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Cost:
$25 nonmembers; $20 members
FYI:
The
public is welcome at the conference and scholarships are available if
anyone needs assistance in paying the registration fee.
At
noon the conferees will take a break for the Rally for Peace
coordinated by the Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice. The rally
will be held on Sam Johnson Parkway (Sixth Street) next to the Laurel
Salton Clark Fountain.
10/08/07: Activists Here Split On Sanctuary For Immigrants - with Patrick Hickey of the Workers rights Center - Madison
Activists Here Split On Sanctuary For ImmigrantsThe Capital Times :: FRONT :: A1
Monday, October 8, 2007
By PAT SCHNEIDER The Capital Times
Immigrant workers' rights is a moral issue that spiritual leaders must confront head-on, with no soft-pedaling to the self-interests of business, government or anyone else, a high-profile Chicago pastor told would-be founders of a new local movement to shelter undocumented workers. "We didn't go to the lunch counters and tell businesses that it was in their best interest to desegregate," the Rev. Walter Coleman said at a recent organizing session, invoking the moral authority of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when a broad coalition of blacks and their allies, led by communities of faith, won equal legal footing for African-Americans.
But there appears to be no consensus yet among civil rights activists here about whether openly sheltering undocumented workers sought by immigration authorities is a good idea.
Some at Thursday's session agreed with Coleman, but others said that undocumented immigrants are safer keeping a low profile and that the general public is more likely to rally around people identified primarily as workers rather than as immigrants.
In the 1980s, Madison was one of many cities around the country where refugees from war-torn Central America found shelter through faith-based efforts. The new sanctuary movement takes its name from the earlier campaign, and just six months after its formal founding, the new movement claims active groups in 10 states, according to information compiled by Voces de la Frontera, a Milwaukee workers' rights center. Six cities - Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Phoenix and San Diego - have groups providing sanctuary to Mexican or Haitian families.
Coleman is pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, which gave sanctuary to Elvira Arellano, a Mexican undocumented worker, for a year before her deportation in August.
In California, where Arellano was arrested after leaving her Chicago sanctuary for a national tour advocating immigration reform, Simi Valley Mayor Paul Miller last month warned members of a church now giving sanctuary to a woman known only as "Liliana" that they are liable for the $40,000 cost of law enforcement to keep the peace during a rally that drew 100 counterprotesters.
"Because the church willfully decided to harbor an illegal alien and made a public announcement of that fact, it was responsible for provoking the demonstration," Miller said last week in the Simi Valley Acorn newspaper.
The incident prompted a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to caution the Simi Valley church members in the local press that harboring an illegal alien is a federal crime. Coleman said in an interview Thursday in Madison that federal officials so far have not wanted to risk the political fallout of entering a church.
EDUCATIONAL GOAL
The emerging movement is an opportunity to educate and mobilize people of faith to immigration issues, said Cindy Breunig, newly hired New Sanctuary Movement coordinator for the nonprofit Voces de la Frontera. "People are hungry to know what they can do," she said. "The goal is to work for comprehensive immigration law reform."
Involvement in the movement is a natural outgrowth of Madison-area Urban Ministry's work with returning prisoners because the detention centers where arrested undocumented immigrants are held are "nothing more than prisons," Executive Director Linda Ketcham said. Madison-area Urban Ministry convened Thursday's meeting of local activists at its South Park Street offices. It was one in a series of meetings to talk about how to grow a sanctuary movement in Dane County.
Local activists are not yet of one mind, however.
Salvador Carranza, president of Latinos United for Change and Advancement, said Thursday that framing immigrant rights as a moral issue would be most effective. "We have to move people through common moral values," he said. "Jesus said: 'Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.' "
But Patrick Hickey, executive director of the Workers' Rights Center in Madison, maintained that it is as a workers' issue that immigrant rights can draw the broadest base of support. "Race is used as a pretext to divide workers. If we cast it as an 'immigrant' rights issue, we lose," Hickey said.
Others argued that avoiding the race elements of the issue panders to politicians' agendas to retain votes tinged with racist aims.
Lilliam Post, a native of Nicaragua, spoke to the need for support for immigrants. "We feel like ants, and there's a lot of rain coming. We're swimming, but sometimes people cannot swim," she said.
There has been no need in Madison to give sanctuary to anyone yet, Hickey said later, adding that he's not sure the time is ripe for the movement here. "It's a political statement," he said in an interview. "I'm not sure it's something Madison needs to do now." Any undocumented worker being sought by immigration officials is safer in hiding, he said.
The Rev. Curt Anderson of First Congregational Church of Madison said he will take the issue back to his congregation for further discussion.
"People of faith have an interest in seeing that there is fair and humane policy toward everybody in the country," Anderson said.
WAYS TO HELP
Involvement in the movement could range from actually sheltering immigrants sought by the federal government to providing money, assistance or advocacy.
In the mid-1980s, about 10 Dane County faith congregations were involved in the sanctuary movement, recalled Corky Custer, who remains a member of one of them, Community of Hope United Church of Christ in Madison.
At least four times, families or individuals were harbored by the Madison movement, Custer said Friday. He recalled that a group of six churches sheltering one family had to keep someone with them 24 hours a day, because they were being watched by government agents. "We wanted to be ready to get support going if they were taken," he said.
The decision to become involved was difficult and painful.
"We spent a year deciding to make the commitment," Custer recalled Friday. "There was little debate about the need, but we were probably breaking the law, and that's something done with trepidation."
Some members left the congregation over the issue, he said.
The issue is less clear-cut today than during the war in El Salvador, when people were being slaughtered, Custer said. "With the hysteria being generated about immigration, for some people the moral imperative is less clear."
Yet the treatment today of undocumented workers - who are seized, disappear and are denied due process - has parallels to the treatments of other workers by repressive regimes two decades ago, he said.
"Cynical politicians demonize helpless people to distract Americans from the fact that the system is broken," he said.
pschneider@madison.com
10/09/07: Ousting Bush, Cheney Should Be Top Goal For All - by John Murphy
Ousting Bush, Cheney Should Be Top Goal For All
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A7
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
John Murphy, Madison
Dear Editor: The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, says that impeachment is "off the table," and "leading" Democratic candidates say it can't be done. Locally, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Ald. Mark Clear will not support it for vague reasons.
Those refusing to take responsibility for ousting President Bush from office seem not to realize that if impeachment of Bush and Vice President Cheney were successful, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Pelosi, becomes the next president.
Unfortunately for some of Hillary Clinton's backers, the senator would not become our first woman president. Although this would be sad for Clinton, Americans cannot let another day go by with criminals roaming the White House.
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10/10/07: Wrongheaded War For Oil Distracts From True Troubles - written by Don Timmerman of Park Falls
Wrongheaded War For Oil Distracts From True Troubles
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A7
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Don Timmerman Park Falls
Dear Editor: "Repetition is the mother of learning." The major media and conservative talk show hosts continue to feed us the line that the reason the troops were sent to Iraq was to defend the freedom of Americans. This is far from the truth. Alan Greenspan, hardly a liberal, wrote in his book, "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: The Iraq war is largely about oil."
The soldiers are sent to Iraq to secure oil for our oil companies. Iraq never threatened our freedom. Saddam Hussein was once our friend who received weapons from the U.S., but he became our "enemy" once he decided to nationalize the oil in the country.
None of those responsible for 9/11 was from Iraq. The invasion and occupation of Iraq were condemned by the world because it was a violation of international law.
Religious leaders condemned the invasion, calling it an immoral act. Those who pay for sending our troops into Iraq are violating both civil and moral law.
The best way to make sure that terrorism increases is to remain occupying Iraq.
Americans now spend $500,000 a day on Iraq, and now Congress is about to give out another $200 billion for this debacle while 35,000 in the world die of hunger each day.
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10/12/07: Lakeshore Peacemakers have chartered a bus to Chicago rally - Manitowoc paper
The Manitowoc
paper ran this announcement today.
http://htrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071012/MAN0101/710120520/1984
MANITOWOC — Lakeshore
Peacemakers has chartered a bus to a Chicago war protest on the morning of
Saturday, Oct. 27, with pickup stops planned in Green Bay, Manitowoc and
Sheboygan. The cost of the bus trip is $30 per person, with discounted tickets
available to students.
The bus will return to Manitowoc by about 10
p.m. Several rallies are sponsored by more than 120 peace groups, said Linda
Hunter of Lakeshore Peacemakers. The first rally is at 1:30 p.m. in Chicago's Union Park, followed by a march to the Loop to the Federal Plaza for the second rally. For
reservations or additional information, go to www.lakeshorepeacemakers.org, or
call 414-704-4571.
10/19/07: Peace Rally Is Chance For Us To Unite Against Iraq War - Janet Parker
Peace Rally Is Chance For Us To Unite Against Iraq War
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A9
Friday, October 19, 2007
Janet Parker
In less than two weeks, you will have a perfect opportunity to take a public stand against our war and occupation in Iraq.
The biggest national peace group, United for Peace and Justice, is sponsoring "Fall Out Against the War" - a day to demonstrate peacefully in Chicago - on Saturday, Oct. 27. Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice will send buses from Madison. Please join us for this day.
In 11 cities across the country, people will gather in an expression of the intensity and breadth of anti-war sentiment. Some people will participate that Saturday as their first step into the peace movement. Recent polls have consistently showed that a large majority of Americans believe that all U.S. troops should leave Iraq within six months. If even a tiny fraction of those people are willing to act on their beliefs, the regional anti-war demonstrations will be huge.
Many of us will be able to go to Chicago, even if we are not able to travel to large peace demonstrations in Washington, D.C. Let's get out of the supposed bubble that is Madison to participate together.
Oct. 27 will also be a chance to show our support for those who have been opposing the war with their words and deeds all over the United States. Last week the Boston Globe reported that African-American military enlistment rates are down 58 percent since 2000, a resounding withdrawal of consent for the war.
This weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, energy is building among student activists who are hosting a national event, Students Rising: The 5th Anniversary Summit of the Campus Anti-war Network. Their featured speaker will be a brave conscientious objector to war, Camilo Mejia. In 2004 Staff Sgt. Mejia applied for a discharge from the Army. He was the first known Iraq veteran to refuse to fight, citing moral concerns about the war and occupation. His public talk will be in the Humanities Building, Room 3650, at 8 p.m. Saturday.
The human costs of the Iraq war are staggering. Nearly 100 service people and countless Iraqis are dying each month, and far more are gravely wounded physically and emotionally.
The economic costs boggle the mind: $12 billion of our tax dollars a month. A friend of mine suggests a way to make these huge numbers real. A million seconds is about 11 days. A billion seconds is about 31 years. In September, Congress approved another $70 billion for the war.
These are times to speak up. People sometimes ask me whether I find working to end the war depressing. My answer: I find inaction much more depressing.
Bring a song, bring your friends and family who care, bring ideas for future steps to end the Iraq war and occupation. But please do come and spend this one Saturday in Chicago standing up for peace with many thousands of people from all over the Midwest. Call us at 250-9240, or sign up for the buses on our Web site, www.wnpj.org.
Janet Parker is co-chairwoman of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
10/23/07: Student Political Gifts Questioned- Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Student Political Gifts Questioned
Democracy Campaign Says Big Donation Seem Fishy
The Capital Times :: METRO :: C1
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
By ANITA WEIER The Capital Times
Pricey campaign contributions by college students raise red flags about potentially illegal giving, says the head of a state watchdog group.
A Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis released Monday shows that 177 contributors identified as "student" in campaign finance reports gave $86,243 to candidates for statewide office and the Legislature from 2002 through June 2007. Of those, 31 contributed $1,000 or more.
"The typical money struggles people associate with college students certainly did not appear to be a problem for many of these 177 student contributors," the group said in a news release, and Executive Director Mike McCabe said in a telephone interview that "I think the kids and their parents have some explaining to do. The circumstances around these donations is clearly curious."
He added that that is particularly true for a dozen donors who made their contributions at the same time or shortly after one or both of their parents had given the same candidate the maximum allowable contribution in that election cycle.
State law requires contributors to be at least 14 years old. It also prohibits making contributions in the name of another person or reimbursing someone for making campaign contributions. That law is designed to prevent individuals from exceeding limits on contributions.
Topping the list of student contributors was Vikram Saini of Elm Grove, who gave Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle $5,000 on March 8, 2000. His father, Dr. Bhupinder Saini of Advanced Pain Management, gave $5,000 to Doyle on the same day, the Democracy Campaign said. (For the list of 49 student donors who gave $500 or more, see www.wisdc.org/pr102207.php)
Troha's son on list\ One name that jumps off the list is Matthew Troha of Kenosha, who contributed $2,000 to Doyle and $500 to Democratic legislative candidate Roger Dier in 2002.
Troha's father, Dennis, was charged early this year with two felonies accusing him of funneling more than $100,000 to family members so they could make campaign contributions to state and federal candidates and party committees to win approval of a proposed $800 million casino in Kenosha. No other family members have been charged.
Matthew Troha also made two contributions totaling $1,500 to the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee in 2003. His contribution to Doyle coincided with $16,000 in contributions by four other Troha family members on Aug. 22, 2002, and his contributions to the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee coincided with contributions made by other family members.
Dennis Troha, who severed his ties with the casino project before charges were filed, agreed to plead guilty to two lesser misdemeanor charges of exceeding campaign contribution limits.
"We've seen in the Troha case where this kind of giving pattern can lead," McCabe said today, adding that "hopefully this is something that ends up getting looked into."
Big names\ But the heads of some prominent families on the Democracy Campaign list contacted by The Capital Times said their children's giving decisions were entirely their own.
John Walsh, son of Madison attorney, Board of Regents member and Doyle supporter David Walsh, gave Doyle $2,000 in 2002 and another $500 in 2006, Another son, Michael Walsh, contributed $2,000 to Doyle in 2002, on the same day his brother did, and two $500 contributions in 2006. Daughter Molly Walsh, who now works in Doyle's office, gave contributions to Doyle in 2002 and 2004 totaling $2,500.
"I wish they would have given him more," David Walsh said Monday.
"I can't tell my kids what to do, but I asked them to consider contributions. My children have enough money. I have set aside funds for them. I help them invest, but they are independent of me."
David Walsh has raised money for Doyle and contributed heavily to him over the years, including $7,500 in 2004.
Three children of Rep. Gary Hebl, D-Sun Prairie, also gave money to the campaigns of Gary and Tom Hebl, their uncle who held the Assembly seat prior to Gary Hebl, as students in various years. Matt Hebl gave $1,425, Andrew Hebl $1,125 and Jenny Hebl $1,000.
"We had a family meeting and many discussions and my kids have been supportive of Tom's campaign and are politically active with Tom's campaign and mine," Gary Hebl said. "They have worked very hard and prioritize. This is their money. One is on a scholarship and one is a teaching assistant."
David Sensenbrenner, the son of former Madison Mayor Joe Sensenbrenner and Mary Ellyn Sensenbrenner, made three contributions totaling $3,000 in 2002 to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk. He also made $500 contributions to Doyle and a Democratic legislative candidate. The Democracy Campaign said his Falk contributions closely matched his mother's, but the David Sensenbrenner also did volunteer work for Falk.
Five student contributors gave $2,500 each.
Courtney Oldenburg, daughter of Milwaukee businessman Wayne Oldenburg, contributed $2,500 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green on July 24, the same day her father gave Green $5,500, the Democracy Campaign found.
The maximum amount an individual may give to a candidate for governor is $10,000 during an election cycle. The maximum donation to a state Senate candidate is $1,000 per election cycle, and the maximum for an Assembly candidate is $500. Donors also have an aggregate limit for all campaign donations of $10,000 in a calendar year.
Ninety-one candidates for statewide office and the Legislature and three legislative leadership committees accepted student contributions from 2002 through June 30, 2007. Topping the list was Doyle, who received $26,185, or 30 percent of total student contributions to all candidates during the period.
Doyle was followed by Gary Baier, a Republican state Senate candidate in 2004 who accepted $6,000 - in $1,000 contributions - from six students in two different families on Aug. 6, 2004. Their parents gave $1,000 each to Baier on the same day.
aweier@madison.com
10/25/07:Protest in the Prairie -
"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." -Thomas Jefferson
A group of protesters gathers at the intersection of Highways 51 and 60 in Arlington to protest the Bush administration.
DeForest Times-Tribune
Thursday, October 25, 2007
10/27/07: 'Sanctuary City' Foes Are Wrong In Seeking To Criminalize Immigrants- Amy Kucin and Alex Gillis
'Sanctuary City' Foes Are Wrong In Seeking To Criminalize Immigrants
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A11
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Amy Kucin and Alex Gillis Madison
Dear Editor: State Sen. Glenn Grothman and state Rep. Roger Roth presented a legislative proposal to deny any local government the right to declare itself a "sanctuary city" for undocumented people. Their press release states, "Police in Wisconsin should be allowed to do their job and see that criminal aliens are not allowed to live invisibly among our communities. We must act to give our law enforcement the tools to keep our families safe." The federal Real ID legislation, which recently passed in Wisconsin, while claiming to make everyone safer has actually created exactly the kind of situation it claimed to prevent: insecurity, anonymity and increased crime. How is it that the authors of Real ID and those who voted for it dare to say that we are safer if the police have no way to identify anyone?
Furthermore, a sanctuary city places no restriction on any police or legal officials and impedes no legal or investigative process simply by virtue of declaring itself a sanctuary. "Sanctuary city" simply means that the police and administration have stated publicly that they are not going to do the work of immigration officials.
What the legislators are truly attempting is to fuse the notions of "immigrant" and "dangerous criminal." Their campaign is based on deception and confusion, which only promotes fear, division and confrontation within our own communities. People with and without legal status commit crimes.
How is crime supposed to be controlled if people are encouraged to fear the police? And how are the police expected to find witnesses and information from 10 percent of the population if that 10 percent feels that they are public enemy No. 1?
We have to denounce this legislation for what it is: an attack on the safety of our community and a way to implant racism in its heart.
The enemies of the immigrant community are not going to cease their efforts to oust every one from this country or chase them all into the shadows.
The answer is to be clear and unified. Immigrants are part of the community and are just as valuable and hard-working as other people. This is yet another reason why we strive for both identification and sanctuary, because they promote solution through communication.
IDs for everyone now!!
10/27/07: Use Principles Of King, Gandhi To Resist Bush- Joy First
Use Principles Of King, Gandhi To Resist Bush
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A11
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Joy First, Monona
Dear Editor: What is our responsibility, as citizens, in standing up against the illegal and immoral actions of our government?
Dave Zweifel wrote a column in The Capital Times on Oct. 17 titled "Our inaction making Bush's shame our own." He said that a small minority of Americans are making sacrifices and are affected by the U.S. occupation of Iraq. As for the rest of us, "we have gone about our business as if all was well."
But, as Zweifel indicates, all is not well, and as the invasion turns into a long-term occupation, we can no longer ignore the horrors of our government's actions.
Innocent children, women and men continue to die in Iraq every day. Now the Bush regime is ramping up for an attack on Iran. How many people are ready to cry out that this is enough, that we will no longer tolerate a government that has gone so far astray?
Madison Pledge of Resistance will provide nonviolence training from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Friends Meeting House, 1704 Roberts Court. We will be preparing for an action of nonviolent civil disobedience, speaking out strongly but nonviolently against the actions of our government. The training will be in the principles and guidelines that Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have taught us about nonviolence.
It is time. We must speak out as strongly as we can against the actions of our government. As Sister Gwen Hennessey said, "If we don't say anything, if we don't speak, if we don't try to change any of this, then we are complicit in the whole deal - the violation of human rights."
Please call me at 222-7581 for more information and join us for the training. We can speak out, and we can make a difference.
10/27/07: Wisconsin Against War
Wisconsin Against War
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A10
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The anti-war movement, which is now supported by close to 70 percent of Americans, has yet to have much success in Congress. Neither the delusional Bush administration nor the dysfunctional Democratic opposition has the courage to take responsibility for cleaning up the quagmire - by rapidly withdrawing U.S. troops, providing adequate aid, and then allowing the Iraqis to take genuine control of their own affairs - so the death and destruction continue at a rate that is as unimaginable as it is unconscionable.
Close to 4,000 U.S. troops have been killed as part of an invasion and occupation of a sovereign country that should never have occurred. More than 25,000 U.S. troops have suffered devastating injuries. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have died. Millions have been displaced. And yet, Washington dithers.
So American patriots are doing what they have always done: going to the streets to employ what remains of their rights to freedom of speech, assembly and petition for the redress of grievances in the hope that if enough noise is made, politicians will listen. Eleven regional rallies and marches are taking place across the country today as part of a new effort by the national United for Peace and Justice coalition to highlight opposition to the occupation.
The largest regional demonstration will be in Chicago, and more than 25 busloads of Wisconsinites from every corner of the state will be present, along with thousands of Wisconsinites who will arrive by car and train. The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice and the Wisconsin AFL-CIO are big backers of this initiative, and state AFL-CIO President David Newby, a prime mover in successful efforts to align organized labor with the peace movement, will be a featured speaker in Chicago, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin.
In addition, Madison's "Raging Grannies" - a project of the Madison Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - will be singing their satirical songs from the main stage in Chicago. So Wisconsin's voice will be heard today. But it can't be a one-day affair. One message should be as unrelenting as it is blunt: "Bring the troops home NOW!"
10/28/07: Ryan's Stand On Children's Health Bill Protested- Citizen Action of Wisconsin
Ryan's Stand On Children's Health Bill Protested
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL :: D9
Sunday, October 28, 2007
By JANINE ANDERSON Racine Journal Times
Protesters demonstrated outside Rep. Paul Ryan's Racine office on Friday to call attention to his opposition to the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Two people, members of Citizen Action of Wisconsin and Americans for Democratic Action, participated. They said they will continue to hold the vigils from noon to 12:30 p.m. Fridays until the reauthorization passes.
The organizations are hoping the vigils will help pressure Ryan to change his position and support the reauthorization as proposed. Ryan voted against the bill and did not vote to override President Bush's veto of the proposal last week.
SCHIP provides health insurance to millions of low- and moderate-income children and hundreds of thousands of adults. Wisconsin's program, BadgerCare, covers nearly 100,000 people.
Robert Kraig, communication and program director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin, said Ryan's vote is very important because of the closeness of last week's veto override vote.
"Nationally we need to pick up an additional 13 votes to reauthorize the SCHIP program and to expand it," Kraig said. "Ryan is one of those people who could change his vote, and he represents an area that supports it.
"He represents a district in Wisconsin with a lot of working people. He ought to be supporting this bill. We want to call attention to his position and put pressure on him to change his vote."
Ryan's votes are not a reflection of non-support of SCHIP, his office said. Instead, the votes reflects his concern that the changes proposed under the most recent reauthorization would expand it to an unreasonable extent.
10/30/07:Peru Trade Deal Hurts All Except Rich Corporations- Don Timmerman
Peru Trade Deal Hurts All Except Rich Corporations
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A7
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Don Timmerman, Park Falls
Dear Editor: Soon members of Congress will vote on the Peru Free Trade Agreement. The agreement, as with the North American Free Trade Agreement, is bad for working people, the environment and national security.
The United States is in the midst of its largest trade deficit ever. The Peru Free Trade Agreement would allow corporations to continue exporting jobs from the United States to sweatshops abroad to take advantage of cheap labor.
Peru's Amazon Basin is home to an incredibly wide range of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. The trade agreement would lead to exploitation of the rainforests, putting countless species in danger of extinction.
The United States would further endanger itself. The agreement would explicitly require the United States to allow foreign companies to operate U.S. ports or risk paying millions of dollars in fines.
The legislators are beholden to the rich corporations, and they will pass the agreement if the common people do not raise their voices against it. They have already impoverished Americans by wasting $650 billion on the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they want to further impoverish Americans and Peruvians to boot with the Peru Free Trade Agreement.
Email Don Timmerman, Park Falls
