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Wisconsin Assembly passes
"Conscience Clause" bill;
UW Dean departs due to partner
benefits debacle;
Greens say states and cities should
maintain access to medical
marijuana;
Babblemur got Blog;
Wisconsin Assembly Continues Assault on Health
Care and Education
by babblemur
The Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill that would make Wisconsin the only state in the
Union that makes it illegal for University Health Centers to prescribe emergency
contraception to students who have been raped just days after passing a bill that would
allow pharmacists in the state to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions based on 'religious
convictions'. (What's next, a bill that makes crossing state borders to get birth control
pills a crime?) Rape victim advocacy groups have loudly protested the bill, and Attorney
General Lautenschlager has called it unconstitutional.
It is time for Wisconsin to look at their State Legislators and start planning on throwing
these reactionary social-deviants out of office and elect a legislature that can govern for
citizens instead of special interests. This "Culture Crusade" that fundamentalists are
waging on Wisconsin has real consequences for real people and it needs to end now.
Green Bay Gazette : Assembly passes UW contraceptive pill ban
Democracy in
Oshkosh
Coverage on June 12, 2005
Page here
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
With Greens like these, who needs Democrats?
by babblemur
There is a very interesting guest-blog on FightingBob.com by Stacie Rosenzweig (of
Vast Dairy State Conspiracy) called “An Ecumenical Democrat” which I highly
recommend. In her article she compares good-deed Christians versus Evangelical
Christians with good-deed Democrats versus “You’re with us or against us” Democrats.
She argues that Democrats are going to have a hard time pulling Greens, Libertarians,
and Independents into their party if they continue to tell them that they are “sending the
country to Hell” if they don’t vote Democrat. She says:
- “At least, we won’t get them to join or even come to our carnival to ride the
Tilt-A-Whirl if we continue to throw some of the nastier epithets we’ve been
throwing that they are loony leftists, spoilers, Nader apologists, shills for Bush. I
have heard all of these and more flung at people who probably, in the long run,
agree with the Democrats on many issues.”
After demonstrating at the Wisconsin Democratic Party Convention in Oshkosh
last week, and talking to some of the delegates, it seems to me as if there is a
growing divide within the Democratic Party between the Old School Insiders and
the Young Idealistic Progressives. The OSI’ers want business as usual, the safe
road, while the YIPs believe in action, that they can make a difference. The YIPs
are frustrated with their Democratic Governor selling them out on Education and
the Environment, and their own inability to change the direction of the
Democratic Party due to the control the OSI has on the party apparatus.
Stacie eludes to something that Ed Garvey of FightingBob.com states clearly:
"The Green platform ought to be the Democratic party platform ... I think
what people want is some clarity about fewer prisons and more schools and
lower tuitions and more money for the universities. They want everyone to have
health care -- those are the things that get people excited." (Oshkosh
Northwestern, June 12, 2005)
Garvey has more to say on this here: “Forget the Progressives – who needs
them?”
There is a ‘third’ option, dare I day it, to the “go with the flow” Democrats and
the “Change, Dammit!” Democrats: Join the Green Party. The Green Party
embraces the Progressive elements that the Democrats often only pay lip-service
to these days: social justice, environmentalism, grassroots democracy and anti-
war. The Green Party doesn’t just talk it, they walk it, promoting sustainable
growth communities, family farms and organic farming, legal equality for all
(including gays and lesbians) and strongly supporting unions and labor. The
Green Party pays no allegiance to any corporation or ‘interest group’, but seeks
only to serve the people and our future.
Trying out the Green Party is simple. Go to: http://www.gp.org/states.html to
find your state party’s website, find a local chapter or send someone an e-mail.
And the best thing is, if there isn’t a local chapter, you can start one! (If you get
nowhere, send me an email and I'll try and set you up, babblemur@babblemur.
com)
Trust me, it is easy being Green.
Babblemur
Got Blog!
by babblemur
I may regret this, but...
Babblemur.com has gone
bloggy! Babblemur, finally
recognizing that uni-directional
communication is as satisfying
as talking into a mirror (which
babblemur enjoys doing, mind
you) has decided after one
month of existence to go
bloggin'. The blog,
babblemur.blogspot.com, is
fully interactive with
comments enabled. To post
new 'posts' on babblemur one
must 'register', whatever that
means.
Babblemur confesses that this
is new to him! Please tolerate
Babblemur's fear of the
unknown. Babblemur speaks
in third person when he fears
his ignorance will be exposed.
Send babblemur an email if
you either want to become a
'member' (whatever that
means) or if you have kind
fuzzy words to sooth the fear
that Babblemur has of the
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babblemur.blogspot.com
frightens Babblemur, he will
destroy it, along with
everything else that dies with
the all-powerful F13 Key on
the Keyboard of all-powerful
DEATH.
Wisconsin Assembly passes
"Conscience Clause" bill
Permits Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists to refuse to provide
health care that conflicts with their "Religious Beliefs"
by babblemur
In a shocking display of utter insanity, the Wisconsin Assembly voted 60 to 33 to pass a
bill that will allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions, doctors and
nurses to refuse to honor 'living wills' by not removing feeding tubes, and generally
allow their personal religious beliefs to trump their patients' rights. The bill also protects
health care workers who refuse to refer their patients elsewhere.
The bill is focused on all of the "Culture of Life" hot button issues: stem cells, embryo
destruction, abortion, terminally ill patients (i.e. Schiavo factor), and others. Essentially
it protects health care workers from job termination or censure for refusing to provide
health care if it is based on 'religious convictions'.
"This is a life-threatening bill," Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, D-Milwaukee, a practicing
obstetrician said. "It's total abandonment."
As Democrats rallied for hours against the bill, Republican supporters sat silently,
refusing to answer any questions about it. (Republicans have a 60-39 majority in the
state assembly.)
The bill now moves to the State Senate.
Said Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, "This bill is an immoral attack on the
women of this state."