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PROTECT WISCONSIN WATER
Please support Assembly Bill 700 and Senate Bill 632 that would help protect Wisconsin's drinking water.
This bill passed into law would help ensure quicker communication between the DNR and health department and the county land and conservation department in counties where groundwater standards have been threatened by violations made by Discharge Elimination System permit holders. The entire text of the short bill is HERE.
A case in La Crosse County revealed that the county and residents were unaware of a potential risk to groundwater contamination for 10 ...
LET’S FINISH WHAT WE STARTED
During this time of year, we’re surrounded by reminders to set goals for the next twelve months and fulfill our New Year’s resolutions. As the weeks pass by, we typically find ourselves falling back into our old habits and routines. Once we slip up, it may seem like our resolutions are hopeless and we push off our goals to next year.
While preparing to head back to Madison, I thought about small, yet realistic intentions to continually motivate me in this New Year. Step by step, I’m hopeful these intentions will guide me to put differences aside and ...
WISCONSIN OLD GROWTH
"I always laugh that if we could have people lay down in the woods in a nice wind ...under some big pines and just listen to that hum that goes through those trees and watch those trees sway, that the peace that would be encountered would put a lot of psychiatrists out of work." John Bates, naturalist and author
When you sit on shore in the Boundary Waters soaking in the solitude, or view the Milky Way on a clear night, or listen to the hum of the wind in trees a thousand years old, you know how insignificant we really are. Nature has the ability to put our ...
THE KIDS’ TABLE – A FORGOTTEN REPUBLICAN LEGACY
Post-WWII rural America. I grew up a city mouse—town mouse really—on the edge of farm country, a mysterious realm spreading northward toward Wisconsin. In no time, I could be pedaling along a road bearing my family’s name, a single thread bordered by barbed wire and acres of hope, crisscrossing other such threads to form the web of community.
Owen Center was out there too, at a quiet intersection—a grange hall next to a church, across from the one-room schoolhouse where my dad had toiled with other farm kids through the eighth grade. This tiny cloister ...
OBJECTS IN THE SKY – PERSEUS AND ALGOL
The star Algol appears in the constellation Perseus. Stars in constellations generally have technical names with Greek-letter prefixes (alpha, beta, gamma, etc.) in decreasing order of brightness, or magnitude. Thus Algol is officially known as Beta Persei, or the second-brightest star in Perseus. In the case of Algol, there is a problem. It isn’t always the second-brightest star. Algol is a variable star, decreasing and increasing in brightness with a very regular period of just a bit less than 3 days. This was a phenomenon that was readily observable by the ancients, ...
I WISH MY LIFE WAS BEFORE . . .
I wish my life was before
doppler radar and clever weather men
I’d know about impending rain by how
the cows are all lying down at once
at forenoon in a green May meadow
I’d know about the dry spell ahead
by the dust devil that scatters
July’s newly raked hay
I’d know about a lightning strike
by the silence just before it
I’d know about the length of winter
by the pattern on the curled
wooly worm on the milk ...
THE POLITICS OF RESENTMENT
Growing up during the 50’s and 60’s in a small community in far northern Wisconsin, I was considered a “country hick.” Within this tightly-knit community, we parceled ourselves out by the church we attended, the jobs our parents held, whether we were farmers or business owners. Some community members were considered “high toned.” This term was applied to people who wore nicer clothes and drove a nicer car than most, worked “in town” rather than farmed or did manual labor.
The people “in town” were known as “city slickers” because we felt ...
THE BOY WHO BIT SHEEP AND CRIED WOLF
This parable was reprinted with permission from Democratic Underground . com
Once upon a time there was a boy who bit sheep.
"Wolf!" the boy cried, when shepherds saw the toothmarks.
The town sheriff investigated. He talked to a wolf biologist. She told him there were no wolves in the area, and the bite marks were human anyway. He talked to an eyewitness. He talked to a dentist, who provided a cast of the boy's teeth. He obtained the boy's diary, in which was written "I like biting sheep."
The sheriff made his report. "The boy has been biting your ...
CELEBRATE DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY IN WAUSAU, WISCONSIN
People for the Power of Love presents a weekend to build on the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
People for the Power of Love is a Wausau area organization working to develop community with diversity. You can learn more on their Facebook page.
On Saturday, January 18, Chris Norfleet and David Deon Stuart will lead the program called “Into the Deep.”
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The program is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch is included.
On Sunday, January 19, Pastor Joseph Ellwanger will lead the program called “Les...
INTO THE FUTURE, OR BACK TO THE FUTURE?
As we approach the beginning of a new year, you can find any forecast you wish, from negative to positive. You surely can find a forecast that suits you.
I would like to share a view from Cameron Trimble:
She tells the story of four rabbis. An angel visited them and carried them to the seventh Vault of the Seventh Heaven. There they beheld the sacred Wheel of Ezekiel.
One Rabbi saw such splendor that he lost his mind and wandered about the earth in madness. He could not handle such splendor from the other world.
The second Rabbi was very cynical and ...