Seeking Common Sense in a World Gone Mad
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Rally for Real
Democracy in Wisconsin
Oshkosh Demonstration Planned
OSHKOSH – Activists and concerned
citizens from across the state of
Wisconsin will converge at Riverside
Park in Oshkosh Saturday, June 11 to
participate in the Rally for Real
Democracy in Wisconsin. The rally is
scheduled to begin at 10:00am.
The rally is in direct response to the
Wisconsin Democratic Party Convention
being held the same weekend in
Oshkosh. “The Democratic Party states
that they have a lot to celebrate, yet in the
past year Wisconsin has seen some of the
worst attacks on the environment and the
UW system in history, while other issues
such as health care and campaign finance
reform have not even been mentioned,”
stated Lake Winnebago Green Party Co-
Chair Julie Stockwell.
The rally will focus on the following
issues:
- Opposition to the horrific Gov.
Doyle-sponsored Job Creation
Acts that have dismantled air and
water quality protections - Opposition to the backroom
logrolling of Gov Doyle’s
administration on the minimum
wage deal that took away local
control - Opposition to the bipartisan
assaults on the UW system that
have diminished the quality of
education while increasingly
replacing merit as a determinative
factor in the make up of the
student body (the average
household income of a UW
student is $94g) - Opposition to the Democratic
Philosophy of “Lesser Evilism”
which consistently sells short the
citizens of Wisconsin - To demand progress towards
Guaranteed Health Care, as over
9% of the state's population is still
uninsured - To demand serious Campaign
Finance Reform, a promise that
Gov Doyle made over 2 years ago - To demand serious environmental
quality protections - To demand domestic partner
benefits and for gender identity
protection under our state’s
existing nondiscrimination law
The Rally for Real Democracy will take
place at Riverside Park, Oshkosh, directly
behind the Park Plaza Convention Center,
One North Main St, Oshkosh. For
directions visit: http://www.
parkplazaoshkosh.com/Directions.
htm. Organizers of the rally include the
Lake Winnebago Green Party, the
Oshkosh Campus Greens, and active
citizens from across the state.
Contact: Julie Stockwell 920-205-
7363, julestockwelll@yahoo.com
ExxonMobil influence on Bush snub of Kyoto
Global Warming Treaty
John Vidal, environment editor
Wednesday June 8, 2005
The Guardian
(Thanks to the Progressive Populist for the link!)
President's George Bush's decision not to sign the United States up to the Kyoto
global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from ExxonMobil, the world's
most powerful oil company, and other industries, according to US State Department
papers seen by the Guardian.
The documents, which emerged as Tony Blair visited the White House for
discussions on climate change before next month's G8 meeting, reinforce
widely-held suspicions of how close the company is to the administration and its
role in helping to formulate US policy.
Click here for the whole story
Pella, IA. (Photo by Associated Press I think, I claim permission to reprint since its kin)
Green Party : "Impeach Bush"
The Green Party of the United States has repeated its July 2003 call to impeach
George Bush. "The Downing Street Memo confirms what we already knew -- that
a conspiracy to deceive the American people led us into the war, and that this
conspiracy constitutes 'high crimes and misdemeanors' according to the U.S.
Constitution." Said David Cobb.
Some information on this below:
"The 'I' word"
By Ralph Nader and Kevin Zeese
The Boston Globe, May 31, 2005
Reprinted on common dreams:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0531-23.htm
Letter to Pres Bush Concerning the "DowningStreet Minutes"
From Rep. John Conyers
http://www.johnconyers.com
"Hold Bush Accountable If He Lied About Iraq"
By Mark Dunlea (Green Party of New York State)
The Albany Times Union, July 9, 2003
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0709-04.htm
6 June 2005
Philosopher breaks
down management
self-help books
by Puripnon
Applied Rhizomatics, as it is a
business, will require a great amount
of economic, managerial, etc.
knowledge to run properly. With
that in mind, I stumbled across this
list while skimming the self-
improvement regions of the
blogsphere. It seemed like a pretty
good selection of texts on just about
every subject covered in an MBA
program. I decided to look for these
books at the library last night and
found that most of them were
checked out (good sign). A couple of
the "Productivity" books were in, so
I decided to speed read them to see
if they were worthy of a perusal.
They weren't.
The first book I tried to read was
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People. Half way through the book,
I picked up Mr. Covey's formula:
- translate a piece of common
sense into buzzwords
(proactive! synergize!!!), - back up your buzz-wisdom
with largely fictional
anecdotes, - sprinkle the text with
highbrow quotes from some
book of quotes and pretend
like you've actually read the
work (like this guy has
really read any Goethe), - make millions off of the
dopes who buy the book.
The core of the book, that we
should center our lives around
principles rather than image and
organize our lives from the inside
out according to these principles, is
decent, if not downright important.
However, this only took me one run-
on sentence to say, rather than 300+
pages. The rest of the book is fluff
and Mr. Covey's often sly attempts
(and sometimes outright attempts)
to convert his readers to
Christianity.
If anyone is thinking about reading
this book, don't. If you're interested
in guidance and wisdom, turn to the
book that contains all of Mr.
Covey's important points and a
whole lot more, The Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius. Of course,
Aurelius didn't write at a 5th grade
reading level.
The second piece of crap I read was
The 80/20 Principle. It follows the
EXACT SAME FORMULA AS
ALL OF THESE OTHER SHITTY
SELF-HELP BOOKS. This is just
infinitely more annoying. The
premise of this book is that 20% of
something leads to 80% of
something else. Yep, that's it. At
first, this seems plausible. Common
sense tells us that only a fraction of
what we do is really important and
that by focusing on this fraction, we
can be more productive.
Unfortunately, the author doesn't
stop there. He tries to tie
EVERYTHING IN THE GOD
DAMNED WORLD into the 80/20
principle, as if it's a magical formula
that explains everything, from crime,
to our personal lives, to the unequal
distribution of wealth. It insists that
everything obeys this principle, and
sites only evidence that proves this.
This books fails to provide anything
more than the aforementioned
common sense in the way of advice.
I have developed the 99/1
Principle. This principle is the
following: 1% of a self-help book
contains 99% of the book's value.
Most of these books can be
condensed into 2 pages of bullets,
AT MOST. The other 99% is
bullshit.
CommonDreams.org
Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join
the BUY-cott!
by Jeff Cohen
Looking for an easy way to protest Bush
foreign policy week after week? And an
easy way to help alleviate global
poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo
stations.
And tell your friends.
Of the top oil producing countries in the
world, only one is a democracy with a
president who was elected on a platform
of using his nation's oil revenue to
benefit the poor. The country is
Venezuela. The President is Hugo
Chavez. Call him "the Anti-Bush."
Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing
firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Venezuela's state-owned oil company.
Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily
to Venezuela -- not Saudi Arabia or the
Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas
stations in the US. (Click here
http://www.citgo.com/CITGOLocator/S
toreLocator.jsp to find one near you.)
By buying your gasoline at Citgo, you
are contributing to the billions of dollars
that Venezuela's democratic government
is using to provide health care, literacy
and education, and subsidized food for
the majority of Venezuelans.
Instead of using government to help the
rich and the corporate, as Bush does,
Chavez is using the resources and oil
revenue of his government to help the
poor in Venezuela. A country with so
much oil wealth shouldn't have 60
percent of its people living in poverty,
earning less than $2 per day. With a
mass movement behind him, Chavez is
confronting poverty in Venezuela. That's
why large majorities have consistently
backed him in democratic elections. And
why the Bush administration supported
an attempted military coup in 2002 that
sought to overthrow Chavez.
So this is the opposite of a boycott. Call
it a BUYcott. Spread the word.
Of course, if you can take mass transit
or bike or walk to your job, you should
do so. And we should all work for
political changes that move our country
toward a cleaner environment based on
renewable energy. The BUYcott is for
those of us who don't have a practical
alternative to filling up our cars.
So get your gas at Citgo. And help fuel a
democratic revolution in Venezuela.
Jeff Cohen is an author and media critic (
www.jeffcohen.org)
Wisconsin Libertarian and Green Parties Decry Supreme
Court Ruling on Medical Marijuana
The Wisconsin Libertarian and Green Parties noted today that the recent Supreme
Court ruling on medical marijuana was a victory for pharmaceutical companies and
insurance companies, but a loss to the well being of United States citizens, by
impinging upon their rights to pursue life and liberty.
“This ruling is not only a blow to the elderly, sick and terminally ill, but also
represents the further decline of states’ rights,” said Arif Khan, Chair of the
Libertarian Party of Wisconsin. “It is important that Wisconsinites do not minimize
this issue by believing that it only affects ‘pot smokers’ as it is a much deeper debate
involving the intrusion of the federal government upon the states, the power of the
prescription drug lobby, and the decline of individual freedom.”
Jill Bussiere, Co-Chair of the Wisconsin Green Party agreed, adding, "It doesn't make
any sense to prohibit an available and affordable remedy such as marijuana to qualified
patients. This court ruling isn’t about citizens’ well being - it is about the
inappropriate use of the power of the federal government. The ruling, which was
pushed forward by the Bush administration, not only lacks compassion for the sick
but is also a clear encroachment upon states’ rights.”
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government can continue
to arrest and prosecute sick and terminally ill Americans who use marijuana for
medical purposes. The decision supersedes state laws and the votes of citizens that
allow the medical use of marijuana.
While the people of ten states voted for the right of sick and dying patients to use
marijuana as a medical treatment, the Supreme Court’s ruling permits the federal
government to ignore the recorded decisions of an electorate.
The Wisconsin Libertarian and Green parties support legislation such as the medical
marijuana bill of the last session of the Wisconsin Assembly that would allow
qualifying patients to invoke a “medical necessity defense” protecting them from the
current laws forbidding citizens to possess, grow, or purchase marijuana, or to
possess marijuana paraphernalia.
The Libertarian Party is a long-standing advocate for individual liberty and believes
that Americans should be responsible for their own actions and, in this case, be able
to use alternative forms of medication outside of the realm of insurance companies
and the pharmaceutical lobby.
Wisconsin Greens stand firmly for civil liberties, and advocate for a medical system
in the United States that puts the well being of citizens before the profits of
pharmaceutical corporations, and for an end to the senseless, expensive, and
ineffective U.S. War on Drugs. The Wisconsin Green Party is affiliated with the
Green Party of the United States, and stands on the four pillars of Social & Economic
Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, and Ecological Wisdom.
The Wisconsin Green and Libertarian Parties have a history of standing together on
issues of civil liberties.
For more information on the Wisconsin Green Party, visit http://www.
wisconsingreenparty.org . The Green Party of the United States' website is http:
//www.gp.org .
For more information on the Wisconsin Libertarian Party, visit www.lpwi.org/