Seeking Common Sense in a World Gone Mad
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by babblemur
Around two dozen Greens and Progressives stood outside the Oshkosh Convention Center on Main Street holding signs and
passing out flyers protesting Democratic Governor Jim Doyle's policies and calling for Real Democracy in Wisconsin.
Democratic delegates who came out to smoke mingled with the sign holders, engaging in mostly pleasant and civil banter
about the numerous issues upon which they agreed and disagreed.
The main complaints of the protesters were:
- Opposition to the Jobs Creation Acts, which were two of the worst environmental deregulation bills in Wisconsin
History, written by corporate lawyers to dramatically ease regulations on industry at the expense of the environment
and citizens' rights, which was supported and signed by Governor Doyle. - Health Care, which should be a right, not a privilege.
- Opposition to the back door deals struck by Gov. Doyle and Republican legislators which stripped away local control
of minimum wage laws in exchange for a small state-wide minimum wage increase. - Demand for full funding of the University of Wisconsin System, which has been cut by over $300 million dollars under
Gov. Doyle's watch, resulting in a 55% tuition increase, ensuring that only the wealthy can get an education in
Wisconsin.
The protesters (myself included, full disclosure here) further demanded campaign finance reform, environmental protections,
and benefits and rights for Wisconsin's LGBT community.
While the rally / protest was not as large as Democrats feared, it was enough of a presence to draw the attention of delegates,
Oshkosh residents, and the press. One delegate attempted to pick a fight with Green candidate for the 54th Tony Palmeri over
the differences between Democrats and Republicans in terms of the Iraq war, while another delegate berated three protesters
from Madison for not taking their fight inside the party itself, instead of protesting on the street.
An electoral 'reunion' of sorts almost occurred as Democratic candidate for the 54th Assembly district Gordon Hintz, who
intends to run against Republican Underheim again in 2006, discussed the last campaign with a Lake Winnebago Green Party
member as Tony Palmeri held up a sign berating the Graft Tax not 10 feet away. In 2004, Underheim won re-election with
only 47% of the vote, Hintz carried 40%, Palmeri 9%, and Carpenter (I) 4%. Many Democrats still believe that Hintz would
have won if Palmeri had not been in the race, but 2,600 Palmeri 'spoilers' is a few thousand too many to justify that claim.
The Lake Winnebago Green Party made a statement today that it isn't going anywhere, and intends to continue to push for
Social & Economic Justice, Peace, Environmental Wisdom, and Grassroots Democracy in the Fox Valley in 2006 and beyond.
welcome, I feel no concern
from it; but I should suffer the
misery of devils, were I to
make a whore of my soul..."
-Thomas Paine
Sensenbrenner is clinically insane
by babblemur
F. James Sensenbrenner, House Republican representing the Wisconsin 5th Congressional District and Chair of the House
Judiciary Committee, has now demonstrated that he is divorced entirely from reality and likely clinically insane (paranoid
schizophrenia with delusions of grandeur and/or apocalyptiosis as likely diagnoses.)
His latest escapade as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee involved suddenly gaveling to a close a hearing on the USA
Patriot Act after witnesses began to denounce Bush’s war on terror and the status of detainees at Guatanamo Bay. After
attempting to rush both witnesses and Democratic House members, Sensenbrenner finally just closed the hearing and walked
off, followed by the other Republican legislators, as Democrats, their microphones turned off, continued to question
witnesses, who continued to testify.
Sensenbrenner’s demonstration of a refusal to hear anything that conflicts with a pre-determined “reality” without extreme
reaction is a classic symptom of paranoid schizophrenia.
This follows a number of very peculiar actions by the 25 year Congressional Veteran from Menomenee Falls, WI, notably:
- Rewriting Democratic Legislator’s amendment descriptions to read that they support the ability of child molesters to
transport children across state lines; (Read about it here) - Pushing through the Real ID Act, which will make it a complete pain in the ass to get a drivers license, and essentially
creates a National ID card, as prophesied in the Book of Revelations. Now your identity can be stolen by merely
hacking into the notably weak DMV to get your social security, birth certificate, and other information; and if the
government is too tough, the information will have already been sold to Accenture, LexisNexis, and ChoicePoint. - H.R. 1528: Defending America’s Most Vulnerable : Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act 2005 is a
sweet piece of Sensenbrenner ‘tough love’. In this piece of legislation, if you know of someone that either sold drugs,
tried to buy drugs, or used drugs, if you don’t rat them out to the police within 24 hours you are committing a felony
and could serve jail time. Say What (the Fuck)? It’s the George Orwell Act. (Read about it here)
This is just skimming the obvious surface of Sensenbrenner’s recent behavior. Word on the street is that the Democrats
intend to run Bryan Kennedy against F. James again in 2006. Sensenbrenner won 67% of the vote in 2004 against Kennedy.
Is there anyone else available, or will Kennedy have the advantage of not having Kerry on the ticket with him? Does having
Doyle on the ticket improve things or make them worse?
In short, what is it going to take to get rid of this madman Sensenbrenner?
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
last year in 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
