Peace is Possible and Patriotic
“..I know a great deal of the horrors and tragedies of war...The cost of war in human lives...I am deeply moved to find some means or method of avoiding another calamity of war...” Gen. George C. Marshall
We often think of military veterans as aggressive warriors and super-patriots who believe war is necessary to protect our country. But throughout history, there have been many soldiers who advocated for peaceful solutions to conflicts. Having experienced war, they understood that war was not worth the costs.
Sun Tzu (544-496 BC), the ...
Gold Dome Bridge to Nowhere
The “Star Wars Dome” Proposal Prioritizes Illusion Over Fiscal Reality
While national defense is vital, the proposed continental missile shield—dubbed a “Star Wars Dome”—ignores practical and economic realities. Israel’s Iron Dome system protects a nation smaller than New Jersey (8,469 square miles), while scaling such technology to cover the continental U.S. (3.8 million square miles) would require staggering investments in infrastructure, maintenance, and iterative upgrades. Even if technically feasible, the system would likely be obsolete by deployment ...
A Budget for Real People
“The most frustrating part for me as governor is that Republicans consistently reject basic, commonsense proposals that can help kids, families, farmers, seniors and Wisconsinites across our state...” Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers
“Unfortunately, [Evers] sends us an executive budget that’s just piles full of stuff that doesn’t make sense and spends recklessly and raises taxes and has way too much policy.” Wisconsin Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) and co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.
Are these two contrasting views on the Wiscon...
Defend the Constitution Rally
Defend the Constitution Rally, June 6, noon- 2 PM in the parking lot of the Rothschild VA, near the road. Please be respectful of nearby businesses. Bring your signs and flags. Our Veterans are not suckers and losers. We like to add an action to our events, if you are so inclined please donate to manofhonor.org
Don’t Let Fear In
Our American society is a big house. There is room for MAGA, Woke, liberals, conservatives, non-political, but not for the plutocratic oligarchic kleptocratic authoritarians now in charge of our government. We, as the people of the United States, are not in favor of a small group of billionaires taking over the government and mining it for our data and taxpayer money. What was it that Willie Sutton said when asked why he robbed banks? “That’s where the money is.”
Why are Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos, and other one-percenters congregating around this administration...
Devastating Cuts
Congress is proposing $880 Billion in cuts to the federal budget. The proposed cuts to Medicaid and the SNAP (food assistance) Program will be devasting for so many. The population hurt the most will he Children and our seniors. It will have a catastrophic impact on Medicaid. Medicaid goes by many names here in Wisconsin, IRIS, Badger Care, PACE (elderly) to name a few.
These cuts hit home. Medicaid has over 1 million members, covering 20% of all Wisconsinites. It includes vaccines and prescriptions.
Medicaid also covers 40% of births, that’s two of every five ...
Return of The New Age Robber Barrons or Connect the Oligarchical Dots
The Wisconsin Supreme Court Election presented us with some interesting developments that tell us about the state of our democracy and especially the role of money in our elections. And the developments are troubling at best. It’s as if the major political parties have abandoned the notion of establishing good public policy positions and instead rely on misleading and or exaggerated dark money advertisements that appeal to emotional “red meat” sensations of low information voters.
In the uptake of the Citizens United decision by the United States Supreme Court ...
Wisconsin’s Budget
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has released his proposed 2025-2027 budget. In what has become a legislative tradition, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos declared Evers’ proposal “dead on arrival.” The next step in the biennial battle is for the Republican controlled Joint Finance Committee to write their own budget ignoring most of Evers' work.
Gov. Evers' budget proposes a $119 billion plan for investments in education, healthcare, public health, cleaning up environmental problems and tax relief for the lower tax brackets. There are a number of improvements for ...
HEAD START
Right now, Congress is working on a budget proposal that includes eliminating the Head Start program nationwide. For Wisconsin children, this could be devastating. In St. Croix County alone, Head Start funded preschool enrollment for over 9,000 children in 2023.
Head Start promotes school readiness for children from birth to age five who live in low-income households. Families also benefit from participation in the program, as it also provides prenatal care, housing support, job training, and education both for parents and staff.
Starting in 1965 ...
The Environmental Cost of Computers
There is an old saying, “Whenever you light a candle you also cast a shadow.” There are always downsides to any choices, changes or innovations. Computer chip technology, computers and the Internet have transformed everything and improved many things. But are we looking at the inevitable shadows?
The Minnesota Center for Environment Advocacy (MCEA) recently had a webinar on the environmental impact of data centers which run the online world. They explain the environmental shadows many of us are not seeing. You can watch the MCRA webinar, or read a transcript, by ...