Busy, busy, busy

It's been almost a month since the last post. Lots of stuff has happened, is happening and will happen, but illness, work, family, farm and other life goings on have been overwhelming lately! It would be great if a few others would volunteer to post once a week or so, but I know my busy life is nothing compared to some others'!

So, this is a brief update - what's coming up immediately - and I hope to update the whole site this weekend and get on a better update schedule (but, I'm on dial up and it takes time!)

Friday is UN Day - to celebrate, Dr. Keith Knutson, Viterbo history professor, will speak on "How Can the US Regain its Leadership Role Regarding International Human Rights?" The setting will be Viterbo University's Reinhart Center Board Room, at 12:00 noon.

Friday at 6 p.m. at Valhala, UW-L Cartwright Center is a free musical kickoff to the final days of the campaign. Don't miss ROCK FOR BARACK featuring some of the great bands of our area (sponsored by UW-L Dems)

Sunday, October 26, plan to attend the Affordable Health Care for All Rally, sponsored by AMOS from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. at the English Lutheran Church, 1509 King Street.

On Thursday, October 30, the Clean Energy Coalition will have their monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the Ho-Chunk Three Rivers House (8th and Main). This month's program will be "Harnessing Wind Energy in the Midwest," or "A T. Boone Pickens Plan for the Midwest," or "How will the Midwest Wean itself of Coal-produced Electricity?" Howard Kruger, of Ecoenergy (headquartered in Elgin, IL), will explain the projected construction of 195 to 200 wind turbines, producing 500 megawatts of energy, between Olmstead, Wabasha, and Winona Counties. Those attending will also receive a basic introduction to power lines: what currently exists and what would be needed to carry wind-produced electricity in western MN and SD to the power-hungry population centers along the Great Lakes. (Consider the October meeting a preparation for a debate about the CapX 2020 powerlines project, which will be the topic for the CEC forum on Thursday, Nov. 20.) For questions, contact billkatra@hotmail.com.

Volunteers are desperately needed in the last few days before the election. We cannot let up now. Did you know Wisconsin is listed as one of the states where real voter problems could be a major factor in the election? Check out this Salon.com voter suppression guide or read the entire Pew report or read Block the Vote in Rolling Stone mag or watch Prof. Mark Crispin Miller discuss his book, Loser Take All - Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy. We need to make sure people get out to vote if they haven't done so already and we need to be alert to possible problems (yes, even in quiet little western Wisconsin!) Call (608 785-5866) or sign up on the web site. Vols especially needed from November 1 through the 4th (make election day your own personal holiday and spend it helping the right people get elected!)

By the way, with the sad demise of cursor.org, I've been shopping around for a new go-to web site. While not as humorous or immediate, truthdig.com has great writers and important news. I highly recommend a visit there. Some of their recent postings include a great piece by Chris Hedges: The Idiots Who Rule America, A Week in Real America by Bob Boyarski and Going Poll Crazy (trying to make sense of election polls).

Updates to numbers, headlines and more coming this weekend. In the meantime, if you'd like to help keep this site up to date, please email Cathy.

[And, totally unrelated to anything above (except maybe the ELECTION) is this dire warning from the ACLU!]

VOLUNTEER!

MANY more volunteers are needed right now in La Crosse. Please volunteer now!

Stop by the office and donate any time you can. You will not be pushed to do something you are not comfortable with. Here are the opportunities:
We will not push you to do something you are not comfortable with.

Volunteers needed for phone banking, canvassing, database entry, front desk help,
hosting house parties, registering new voters, writing letters to the editor, housing staff and driving voters to the polls on election day.

How important is this election to you and your family?

Stop by 127 S. 6th Street or Call at 608-785-5866. Do it NOW.

More nukes?

Please join us for this important program!

IS MORE NUCLEAR ENERGY IN OUR FUTURE? on Thursday, September 25 at 7 p.m. at the Ho-Chunk Three Rivers House, 724 Main Street, La Crosse.

Special guest, John LaForge, co-founder of Nukewatch and editor of Nukewatch Quarterly, will speak. John has advised the Dutch and British governments on nuclear issues, has been active in all issues nuclear, from nuclear power and nuclear waste storage to food irradiaion, depleted uranium and Project ELF. John is widely recognized as a world class expert on nuclear issues.

Joining John are panelists Dr. Al Gedicks, UW-L Sociology Department, an expert on the processing and storage of nuclear materials and its impact on American Indian communities, and Mark “Spark” Burmaster and George Nygaard, citizen leaders in the effort to shut down the nuclear power plant in Genoa, Wisconsin in the 1980s.

Will Wisconsin lift its moratorium on nuclear power plants?

Is nuclear energy safe and clean?

Will nuclear power help ease the global warming crisis?

How will a nuclear energy program affect us?

Sponsored by the Clearn Energy Coalition, citizens educating themselves and their communities about important issues of energy and environment. For more info, email billkatra@hotmail.com

CarFree!

From Purplearth:

To celebrate World Carfree Day, September 22, we
are helping to organize several events.

This coming Monday, Sept. 15 we'll present
Transportation Liberation at the
People's Food Co-op upstairs meeting
room, (315 Fifth Ave. S.) starting at 7 p.m.

On World Carfree Day, Monday, Sept. 22, we're having
a Carfree Equinox Party in Port O'Call in the Cartwright
Center at UW-L, starting at 7 p.m. There will be lots of 
information and exhibits about how to become
carfree, or at least carless. We'll present Transportation Liberation at 7:30. Then a
few people will talk about bike advocacy, the Bike/Ped Committee and Myrick Ecopark.
There will be DJ Muzik and snacks. Plus we'll have our recumbent tandem and trailer
for folks to check out.

This event is free and open to the public. This is a really important event for a city
that has committed to being an Eco-Municipality. Table space will be available if
you'd like to bring any relevant information or a carfree exhibit. Setup is from 6-7.
Please let me know if you want space.

Transportation Liberation is a multimedia show in which we discuss
many pragmatic ideas on how to make driving optional. Our 45-minute
show includes sights and sounds of good and bad transportation
methods, traffic calming, various kinds of biking accommodations and
why the driving infrastructure is not sustainable.

In June we were invited to give Transportation Liberation to a
international audience at the Towards Carfree Cities Conference in
Portland, Oregon. Our show was well received by over 200 people. Some
people said it's the best presentation they've ever seen.
To see a 5 minute preview go here http://www.purplearth.net/TransLib/index.php
Find out more about World Carfree Day here http://www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd/

Looking forward - Martin Luther King, Jr 2009 event

No matter what happens in November, history marches on.

Be part of the planning for the 2009 Martin Luther King, Jr. event in La Crosse.

Email the Jubilee Center to get on the list - first planning meeting will be held during the week of September 22.

(Remember to volunteer NOW to help the living history move forward.)