UPDATE: Monday, January 15 at 7 p.m. at the English Lutheran Church (16th and King Streets). Details are still being worked out - speakers, music, video of portion of Dr. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech, refreshments, opportunities for personal action. Please bring an offering for WAFER (food pantry). More details coming Jan. 5
If you would like to help, email.
Seeking refreshment bringers (finger foods, cookies, brownies, etc.), people to spread the word, people to help set up and clean up after refreshments. email Cathy if interested.
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Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Sleeping with the enemy
[UPDATE: Kind discouraged about Iraq after meeting with Bush. Duh!]
Many of us feel Ron Kind is not a good representative. He's too iffy on important issues. Remember standing outside the Allied Health Center with the Wisconsin Farmers Union urging Kind to oppose CAFTA? Eventually he did, but the fact that he wasn't a leader against this bad law from the beginning is just one instance of his wishy-washy fence-sitting.
Now, we see, he's joined the Joe Lieberman branch of the non-Democratic party and represented the "New Democrats, a group of business-friendly centrists," at a meeting at the White House.
With Democrats like these, who needs an opposition party? We do!
If you've read any of the La Crosse County Democrats' newsletters you've noticed a list of values (amazingly similar to those of the Green Party). Congressman Kind must not have read them.
Now that the Democrats are in the majority in the House it would be nice to think that something progressive will get done (pick one: health care, education, cutting off Iraq war funding, ...) but judging by past experience, we are not holding our breath.
Who will oppose Kind in 2008?
Many of us feel Ron Kind is not a good representative. He's too iffy on important issues. Remember standing outside the Allied Health Center with the Wisconsin Farmers Union urging Kind to oppose CAFTA? Eventually he did, but the fact that he wasn't a leader against this bad law from the beginning is just one instance of his wishy-washy fence-sitting.
Now, we see, he's joined the Joe Lieberman branch of the non-Democratic party and represented the "New Democrats, a group of business-friendly centrists," at a meeting at the White House.
With Democrats like these, who needs an opposition party? We do!
If you've read any of the La Crosse County Democrats' newsletters you've noticed a list of values (amazingly similar to those of the Green Party). Congressman Kind must not have read them.
Now that the Democrats are in the majority in the House it would be nice to think that something progressive will get done (pick one: health care, education, cutting off Iraq war funding, ...) but judging by past experience, we are not holding our breath.
Who will oppose Kind in 2008?
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
A matter of degrees
If I invited the citizens of La Crosse down to the Mississippi River for a festival so they could dump their paints and household contaminents into the river creating beautiful patterns under the winter moonlight, and then encouraged them to drive their cars down to watch the patterns and hit them up for a donation of food for local food pantries, I guess the La Crosse Tribune would praise me.
Ya think?
Once again, Rotary light in La Crosse has taken over the city park so they can use up tens of thousands of kilowatt hours and encourage people to spew even more crap into the globally warming atmosphere by driving their cars around the park to see 1.6 million lights. Last year's light display used 48,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. Unless they've converted their display to LEDs.
Actually, there are 20,000 LED lights. Out of 1,600,000 (about 1% of the total). Hmmm.
(Check the Electric Power Pollution Calculator for more details.)
But at least, thanks be to God, the publicly owned city park is providing, "a true Christmas experience" for visitors.
Good grief.
Anyone in the Coulee Progressive community interested in preparing a presentation for the Rotary Club to get them to cut out this wasteful and environmentally harmful event and instead find some other way to gather money and food for good causes?
Please email me.
Ya think?
Once again, Rotary light in La Crosse has taken over the city park so they can use up tens of thousands of kilowatt hours and encourage people to spew even more crap into the globally warming atmosphere by driving their cars around the park to see 1.6 million lights. Last year's light display used 48,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. Unless they've converted their display to LEDs.
Actually, there are 20,000 LED lights. Out of 1,600,000 (about 1% of the total). Hmmm.
(Check the Electric Power Pollution Calculator for more details.)
But at least, thanks be to God, the publicly owned city park is providing, "a true Christmas experience" for visitors.
Good grief.
Anyone in the Coulee Progressive community interested in preparing a presentation for the Rotary Club to get them to cut out this wasteful and environmentally harmful event and instead find some other way to gather money and food for good causes?
Please email me.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Support local SOA protestors:
[from Guy]:
This weekend, approximately 60 students, staff, and community members are traveling to attend the protest at the School of America's in Fort Benning, Georgia. Working very hard to close down the Fort, the students and many others were successful in getting Congressman Ron Kind to support legislation to close the Fort this past spring, but much work needs yet to be done!. The Fort has been for more than 30 years a training ground for foreign military leaders in practices of "legitimate?????" torture, counterinsurgency, among many other despicable practices. Military operations decried by human rights groups across the world have recognized that some of the worst practioners of torture and abuse have graduated from this college, including officers in Columbia, all throughout Central America, Indonesia, Iraq, among a host of many nations.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!?
1) Support those who are attending the conference. Each student will pay in excess of $100, just before finals, to get on a bus, drive 20 hours, participate in a day/half of protests and organizing, drive back 20 hours to help create an international awareness of the issue. Expected crowd this year in excess of 20,000 people! The folks who attend will bring back strategies, goals, and ideas on how to close down the School of America's, all while keeping attention on the mistreatment of prisoners that our government and others are participating in globally.
2) HELP US BUY A PEACE BUS....if you can spare any donation to help this become a reality...please send us a donation. We spend more than $30,000 a year to bus people to protests, conferences, Fighting Bob, etc. How about supporting a bus that can be used as a classroom, traveling billboard, and transportation to and from so many opportunities. If the Army can drive around in a black "Darth Vader" semi...why can't we bring a bus of hope and change to schools and communities throughout the region? If you want to see what a Peace Bus can do...look at the Wheels of Justice website, and witness firsthand the incredible work that can be done by creating a mobile classroom http://wheelsofjusticetour.org/
3) The La Crosse Six are still in negotiations with Sen. Kohl. His office is working to set a time/place/ and agenda for a mtg to discuss Sen. Kohl's direction on the War in Iraq. Let's all thank June Kjome for keeping and prodding the Senator's Office. Just so you know...we are not sure Sen. Kohl has ever actually been to his office in La Crosse in years! He comes for press conferences, but doesn't find time to visit with constituents HERE IN LA CROSSE PERSONALLY. We know he is a busy man, but I am sure he has found time to visit with lobbyists from all over the country. Please Sen. Kohl, don't forget about people right here in your (our) State!
4) A Big thank you to Liz Rynertson [and Ray Starrett - ed.] and others who planned and hosted the wonderful UN Film Series at UWL this past week!
So PLEASE CONSIDER SENDING US A DONATION BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS!!
SEND TO:
La Crosse Coalition for Peace and Justice
c/o Guy Wolf
N3421 Mohawk Valley Road
Stoddard, WI. 54658
This weekend, approximately 60 students, staff, and community members are traveling to attend the protest at the School of America's in Fort Benning, Georgia. Working very hard to close down the Fort, the students and many others were successful in getting Congressman Ron Kind to support legislation to close the Fort this past spring, but much work needs yet to be done!. The Fort has been for more than 30 years a training ground for foreign military leaders in practices of "legitimate?????" torture, counterinsurgency, among many other despicable practices. Military operations decried by human rights groups across the world have recognized that some of the worst practioners of torture and abuse have graduated from this college, including officers in Columbia, all throughout Central America, Indonesia, Iraq, among a host of many nations.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!?
1) Support those who are attending the conference. Each student will pay in excess of $100, just before finals, to get on a bus, drive 20 hours, participate in a day/half of protests and organizing, drive back 20 hours to help create an international awareness of the issue. Expected crowd this year in excess of 20,000 people! The folks who attend will bring back strategies, goals, and ideas on how to close down the School of America's, all while keeping attention on the mistreatment of prisoners that our government and others are participating in globally.
2) HELP US BUY A PEACE BUS....if you can spare any donation to help this become a reality...please send us a donation. We spend more than $30,000 a year to bus people to protests, conferences, Fighting Bob, etc. How about supporting a bus that can be used as a classroom, traveling billboard, and transportation to and from so many opportunities. If the Army can drive around in a black "Darth Vader" semi...why can't we bring a bus of hope and change to schools and communities throughout the region? If you want to see what a Peace Bus can do...look at the Wheels of Justice website, and witness firsthand the incredible work that can be done by creating a mobile classroom http://wheelsofjusticetour.org/
3) The La Crosse Six are still in negotiations with Sen. Kohl. His office is working to set a time/place/ and agenda for a mtg to discuss Sen. Kohl's direction on the War in Iraq. Let's all thank June Kjome for keeping and prodding the Senator's Office. Just so you know...we are not sure Sen. Kohl has ever actually been to his office in La Crosse in years! He comes for press conferences, but doesn't find time to visit with constituents HERE IN LA CROSSE PERSONALLY. We know he is a busy man, but I am sure he has found time to visit with lobbyists from all over the country. Please Sen. Kohl, don't forget about people right here in your (our) State!
4) A Big thank you to Liz Rynertson [and Ray Starrett - ed.] and others who planned and hosted the wonderful UN Film Series at UWL this past week!
So PLEASE CONSIDER SENDING US A DONATION BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS!!
SEND TO:
La Crosse Coalition for Peace and Justice
c/o Guy Wolf
N3421 Mohawk Valley Road
Stoddard, WI. 54658
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