Progressive Thinking

Healthcare Must Lead On Climate Change

GREEN BAY - Sustainability and climate change discussion needs a different perspective—human health. Healthcare’s commitment to sustainability principles should not be focused on improving healthcare, but rather improving overall health.  Medical care impacts only about 10% of outcomes that make us healthy.  Life quality and expectancy improvements over the last several hundred years have been made in the basic fundamentals for health: clean air, clean water, enough nutritious food, safe shelter and community, regular physical activity, and stable civilization. Climate change threatens all of these fundamentals through increased air temperature, raised sea levels, and extreme weather, such as drought, flooding, and tropical storms.

Two areas to consider about climate change and health:

1. Health impacts of climate change – The National Climate Assessment released in May 2014 confirms that changes in climate threaten US human health and well-being in many ways and climate change will amplify some of the existing health threats the nation now faces in the future.
2. Health impacts of fossil fuel usage, independent of climate change: Fossil fuels contributes to four of the five leading causes of US deaths   including heart disease, cancer, stroke and lung diseases, while putting our children at risk of asthma and delayed mental development. Particulate pollution, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, is responsible for over 60,000 US deaths annually.

Already, impoverished areas see worse asthma, lung, and heart diseases. A warmer world will have more hospitalizations and deaths from asthma, COPD, and heart disease. Warmer air with more CO2 creates a longer pollen season with higher pollen concentrations, worsening asthma and other allergic diseases.

Healthcare executives have not looked widely/deeply enough to see the billions of dollars of potential savings by implementing best practices for climate change.  One study projected a conservative estimate of $15 Billion in energy savings for US healthcare alone. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the use of fossil fuels causes $120B in health related damages/year.  Replacing coal alone with efficient/clean energy could save 10,000 lives and $60B annually.

In Wisconsin, the majority of agricultural land is dedicated to the dairy/meat industries, which negatively impact both our greenhouse gas emissions and watersheds. We import most of our fruit and vegetables which contributes needlessly to emissions. Healthcare and public/private educational institutions need to change how they purchase food and create a market for a vibrant year-round local food economy made up of urban and rural agriculture, delivered through an innovative food distribution system. Reducing our intake of meat—especially beef—will help people maintain a healthy weight, prevent heart disease and cancer, and is important in limiting climate change.

Improving the design of our cities/towns with pedestrians, bikes, and mass transit will reduce emissions and help people become more physically active, lose weight, and fight depression and obesity. Replacing short car trips in urban areas of the upper Midwest alone would save over 1200 lives and 8B/year from cleaner air and greater physical activity.

American healthcare organizations need to both support and encourage regional activism in sustainability and better health outcomes, but also climate change, energy alternatives, and healthy food. We can no longer do things the same way and expect different results. Healthcare can and needs to drive the change necessary to achieve sustainable healthy economic, environmental, and social outcomes.

In December, 2014, I joined a group of national healthcare leaders at the White House to announce our commitment to enhance the climate resilience of our facilities, operations, and communities we serve using the Administration’s Climate Action Plan as a foundation. The plan recognizes that even as we take aggressive action to curb the carbon pollution that is driving climate change, we must also prepare for the climate impacts we are already seeing across the country.  A Climate Change Resiliency Assessment is being tested at our facilities and will be rolled out soon for all to collaborate.

The healthcare organizations that met at the White House are prominent in strategizing and implementing climate change and alternative energy policies, but, healthcare as a sector is not unified in these activities. This lack of unity is harming the local, regional, and global communities they are meant to serve. The work of Climate Change Council is to drive all healthcare organizations to engage their communities in climate change action. Otherwise, inaction will prove to be counterproductive and costly to both their brand and bottom line. Healthcare must take a leadership role in driving for alternative energy and climate change strategies.

Many mainstream Democrats can’t seem to fathom how people could possibly fall for a billionaire reality TV star. But many feel they’ve been left behind and the outcome of this fall’s election may hinge on who best understands and responds to the causes of their anger.

ALTOONA, WI - What happens when history and the here and now collide?

We’re about to find out.

There were two competing storylines at this week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Democrats made history by becoming the first major party to nominate a woman for president. Then there were the tens of thousands of emails made public by Wikileaks showing how the Democratic establishment played favorites in the race for the nomination and went to great lengths to sabotage Bernie Sanders’ campaign.

In the euphoria of finally achieving the long-awaited and historic selection of a woman to be the party’s candidate for the nation’s highest office, Democrats looked past the fact that their nominee not only is a female but also someone who personifies the political establishment at a time of intense anti-establishment feelings among voters and one who is running as a centrist at a time when there is no center in American politics.

Economist and former Clinton administration cabinet official Robert Reich is wondering out loud if Hillary gets it. He sees Clinton running fast to the middle, and astutely observes this is a place that doesn’t exist in our country anymore. He sees rampant populism, taking the form of both an authoritarian populism embodied by Republican nominee Donald Trump and a democratic populism that Bernie Sanders was tapping into. As Reich says, “If Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party don’t recognize this realignment, they’re in for a rude shock…. Because Donald Trump does recognize it.”

The Democratic establishment and a great many mainstream Democratic voters can’t seem to fathom how people could possibly fall for a billionaire reality TV star whose message begins with fear mongering, race baiting and anti-immigrant nativism and ends with the conceit that he alone can keep us safe, maintain order and make us prosper economically.

If they can’t wrap their heads around it, perhaps it’s because they are not sufficiently clued in to the anger that fuels today’s raging populism in both of its forms. When you or I lose our temper, I mean really blow our stacks, we aren’t rational in the heat of the moment. Emotion overwhelms reason. We later regret things we say or do out of anger. Why should we expect that this all-too-familiar and all-too-human behavior will never come into play when it’s time to vote in elections?

There is a significant segment of American society that feels forgotten and invisible. They see a system rigged against them. They can tell the politicians aren’t listening to them and are not working on their behalf. And they are steamed. When they are told the economy is getting better, they aren’t feeling it. When they are told the nation’s crime rate is actually dropping, all they know is they do not feel safer or more secure. When they are told America is already great, they wonder when some of that greatness is going to come their way.

Is it so hard to understand how tens of millions of Americans who feel they’ve been left behind could be drawn to someone who tells them they are right to feel the way they are feeling and then assures them he will make their lives better?

The outcome of this fall’s election will not likely turn on whether enough Americans are ready to break the ultimate glass ceiling. It far more likely hinges on who best understands and responds to the causes of rising American populism.

County Veterans Service Officers are our most essential direct contact to veterans in Wisconsin, but the State DVA has targeted them and it needs to stop. Why this relentless attack on CVSO officers and veterans by the Wisconsin DVA?

MIDDLETON, WI - Veterans in Wisconsin need only to travel within their own county to have personal contact with another veteran helping navigate access to services. That office is the County Veterans Service Office by statute a “bricks and mortar” office where a veteran can receive support and assistance from another veteran.

CVSO’s are our most essential direct contact to veterans in Wisconsin. Why are they under attack from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Secretary John Scocos? I have no idea, but I want it to stop.

CVSO’s should have easier access to direct service connections with state and federal benefits, but instead, the Wisconsin DVA has been making it harder for CVSO’s to help veterans. From limiting access to benefits programs to blocking grants without proper legal authority, the DVA has targeted CVSO’s and it needs to stop.

There is no reason Wisconsin government should be trying to consolidate veterans services and make veterans travel farther for help, but that is exactly what the DVA is peddling in the Legislature.

I support expanding the role of CVSO’s to help veterans; that is not only logical but good public policy. We have a public health crisis with delayed mental health services for veterans and their families and we should expand CVSO offices to help with this crisis.

Why this relentless attack on CVSO officers and veterans by the Wisconsin DVA?

The answer to that question really doesn’t matter. No state agency should stand in the way of community driven services for veteran-to-veteran counseling and benefit support.

If the DVA needs to cut their budget they should look to their own agency overhead rather than the small grants that CVSO’s get from the state. Recent articles have cited that the DVA spends two dollars on administration costs for every dollar they spend on services; that certainly can be improved.

This should not be a war between the DVA and veterans receiving services in the community through their local CVSO office. Making it a war is a huge mistake for Wisconsin’s veterans. I am hopeful Governor Walker and Legislative Republicans see through the bad public policies the DVA is putting forward trying to consolidate CVSO offices regionally, making veterans drive even further to receive help.

Regardless of the DVA’s poor decisions, there are Legislators just like me committed to supporting county based veteran-to-veteran benefits support and counseling. But we need your advocacy help working together to stop this ridiculous policy push right now.

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For more information on CVSO offices and how to get in touch with your Legislators contact my office at 888-549-0027 or 608-266-6670 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For more information on CVSO officers, check here.

The major parties are offering voters the two most unpopular nominees in memory. In a little more than three months, voters who are sick and tired of being forced to choose the lesser of evils will be sicker still. Has the time come for the death of one or both of the old major parties and the birth of a new one?

ALTOONA, WI - With pessimism and paranoia and fear of outsiders washing over the countryside, and without a shared sense of national purpose or vision for the future, America will have a presidential election in a little over three months. Here’s a prediction: Nose-holding and lesser-evilism will reach epidemic proportions in 2016.

One party is scary and the other is scared. Scary is coming into sharper focus with each passing day. Scared takes the form of excessive caution and unwillingness to serve up anything more than a main course of status quo with a side dish of incremental change.

The parties have chosen who they want at the top of the ballot, and are offering voters the two most unpopular major party nominees in memory. That’s not to say Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are without admirers. Each has some passionate supporters. Clinton got roughly 15 million votes on her way to securing the Democratic nomination, and Trump got about 13 million votes to win the Republican nomination. But one of them is going to have to convince about 50 million more voters to trust them with the keys to the White House.

The biggest single bloc of these voters who will decide the election fall into either the Never Trump or Never Hillary camps. If the Democrats had not chosen a candidate with so much baggage and who is so intensely despised by the other side, it would be next to impossible to imagine where Trump could find 50 million more votes. If the Republicans had not chosen someone whose appeal to anyone other than angry white men is so obviously limited, it would be hard to see how Hillary could possibly win over another 50 million voters.

Some will hold their noses and vote for Hillary, not because they like her or want her as president but rather because they desperately want to prevent a Trump presidency and see her as the lesser evil. Some will hold their noses and vote for Trump, not because they think he’s fit to be president but rather because they can’t stand Hillary and will do anything to stop her. For them, Trump is the lesser evil. More than usual will vote for one of the minor-party candidates. Tens of millions of others won’t vote at all. The winner will get elected with less than 50% of the vote. Even the party that wins the White House will paradoxically see its standing with the public harmed in the process.

In a little more than three months, it will be over. But voters who are sick and tired of being forced to hold their noses and choose the lesser of evils will be sicker and even more tired. Then it will be time for those yearning to breathe free to get imaginative. Then the time will come to contemplate the death of one or both of the old major parties and the birth of a new one.

County fairs bring people from all walks of life together as participants, volunteers and those who enjoy the festivities. At a time when much seems to divide us, the fair brings us back together in celebration and fun.

GALESVILLE, WI - “The Demolition Derby is ON!” a fair organizer told folks in the commercial building. “We have a three or four hour window in the weather and we are going to run the show.” Cars and trucks lined up for two miles waiting to get to the show. The rain held off all evening.

That afternoon however the rain poured. While most fairgoers dodged the raindrops, ducks and small children were exuberant.

“My kids had so much fun playing in the puddles,” one wet mom told me. “Who would have thought?”

Mid-summer is fair time in Wisconsin. County fairs bring out the kid in all of us.

Stickers, suckers and sunscreen for the young ones; carnival rides, including a train on real tracks, for kids young and old. Calves scrubbed white were shown by white clad teens. Horses with colorful ribbons in their tails munched hay as their youthful handlers swapped tales while waiting out the rain.

One teen showed me the many breeds of chickens she brought to the fair. Her work scrubbing each one was apparent to me – yes, even the chickens have a bath before the fair.

This year, in Galesville, moms and dads were as wet as the chickens after their bath because youngsters dragged them out in the rain to see the fair. No one seemed to mind the mud because there was too much fun to see. And mud was better than intense heat.

“The pig show was delayed because of heat,” one woman told me. “They waited until after dark when things cooled off. Did you know pigs don’t sweat?”

The county fair brings people together from all over our communities. Factory workers, teachers, and farmers work side by side to help raise money for FFA.

“Come to the bulk tank, I’ll buy you some ice cream,” one woman said. “You do know what a bulk tank looks like?” For city dweller, the bulk tank is the large stainless steel tank that holds milk. In this case, the large bulk tank-like structure was part of the FFA ice cream stand. The women remembered, “You milked cows for 25 years didn’t you? Of course, she knows what a bulk tank looks like.”

The fair happens because hundreds of people work together. Adults helping young people with the myriad of 4-H projects; adults making potato salad, grilling brats and clearing tables to raise money for the Lions; old-timers showing off antique tractors; farmers helping teens with cattle, goats, llamas as well as woodworking, leather crafts or amazing engineering displays.

One youth created an entire Civil War battlefield.

Fair superintendents, judges, fair board members, county board members and UW-Extension staff work tirelessly to make sure everything runs smoothly. Keeping things running this year was no small feat. For example, high temperatures caused power outages on the grounds.

People came together to get things working again because that is just how it’s done.

Listening to people tell stories about community work and about successful fairs and festivals, I was reminded how interconnected we all are and how we all play so many roles in each other’s lives.

The volunteer spirit in Trempealeau County is alive and well. The 4-H and FFA leaders, the athletic team coaches, the volunteer sportscaster, the vacation bible schoolteacher, the feral cat rescuer and the family that adopts that abandon kitty – we all play so many roles that are connected.

The interconnected networks of our local communities function in ways we sometimes can’t even imagine.

Does the 4-H leader know the girl who loved bugs will grow up to become a scientist? Does the fellow working the booth realize the little New Testament he passed out will be carried in the young man’s backpack to be read for years? Or does the lady know the recipe she shared will become a Thanksgiving tradition passed down to the next generation?

Despite the hot and rainy weather, hundreds of people worked hard to make the Trempealeau County fair a success. If you are looking for a community success story, take time to attend your local county fair and celebrate the time, talent and dedication that make it happen.

To find county fairs in your area, check the Wisconsin Association of Fairs’ website at http://www.wifairs.com/events/fairs

Citizen Action sounded the alarm two years ago on how Walker’s scandal plagued WEDC doles out public money. Walker promised to require corporations taking our job creation dollars to give 30 days notice of any planned outsourcing or downsizing. Now we find they're not even doing that!

MILWAUKEE - When Citizen Action sounded the alarm two years ago that Walker’s scandal plagued Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) doles out public money to corporations engaged in outsourcing jobs, they came up with a non-solution.

Walker’s WEDC promised to require corporations taking our job creation dollars to give 30 days notice of any planned outsourcing or downsizing.

Now, Citizen Action has discovered that Walker is not even doing that! When we filed an open records request WEDC lawyers found ZERO outsourcing notifications--this despite a series of corporations caught red-handed in recent months outsourcing jobs when taking money from WEDC.

Outsourcing can be the issue that turns the 2016 election in our favor, and even forces Scott Walker not to seek re-election, but only if we have the resources to tell voters about it.

If you agree, please make an emergency contribution to Citizen Action’s outsourcing election fund.

Outsourcing is the sleeping giant in the 2016 election because it is the smoking gun of the rigged economy.

The outright support for large corporations outsourcing Wisconsin jobs is political dynamite. The reason Walker’s jobs agency turns a blind eye to outsourcing is that they support it!

Citizen Action played a leading role in forcing votes on bills to cut off public loans, grants, and tax credits to corporations engaged in outsourcing. Shockingly, every Republican legislator voted wrong on the issue!

Wisconsin voters should be outraged about their senators and representatives supporting the outsourcing of their jobs, but only if we have the resources to communicate with them about it during the election.

If you agree, please send an emergency contribution to Citizen Action’s outsourcing election fund.

Sincerely,

Robert Kraig

Why do politicians keep behaving the way they do when it’s clear it only makes many dislike them? They stick with what they know, the handbook provided by consultants, handlers and party bosses.

ALTOONA, WI - Most people hate politics and don’t hide how little they think of your average politician. Makes you wonder why politicians keep behaving the way they do when it’s clear it only makes people dislike them more. Maybe it’s because they don’t know any other way to behave. They’ve been operating out of a well-worn playbook for so long that they know all the plays by heart. So they stick with what they know.

Most of the plays in the playbook have at least three things in common. They are decades old or older. They are expensive. And they work like a charm, if the goals are to alienate the general public and cripple democracy.

The first page in both parties’ playbook is nonstop fundraising. It’s the favorite play because it makes so many other plays possible. It’s why politicians see you and me as nothing more than ATMs.

The playbook then says spend heavily on paid media. Television, radio, direct mail advertising, online ads. This is political gospel. The conventional wisdom is looking less and less wise, however, when you consider that public trust in advertising has been falling. This trend is sure to continue in the future because young Millennials are especially distrustful of advertising.

TV ads in particular are losing effectiveness, partly because viewers are increasingly wary of them and partly because it is getting easier by the day to avoid them, using digital recording and online video streaming to watch programs but skip the accompanying ads. Yet the vast majority of election campaign spending still is devoted to TV and other traditional forms of advertising. Makes the political professionals and media corporations billions. Turns voters’ stomachs. Starves democracy.

So what actually works? Word of mouth. The information we trust most comes from people we know, especially friends and family. Which makes it all the more curious that neighbor-to-neighbor outreach programs like street teams and other kinds of direct voter contact are so hard to find in the playbook.

With face-to-face campaigning downplayed and a premium placed on paid media, the playbook says attack your opponent at every turn. It is an article of faith among political professionals that negative advertising “works.” It certainly does, if the goal is to shrink and polarize the electorate. If the goal is to persuade or motivate voters, or make our society governable, then a growing body of evidence challenges the devotion to scorched earth campaigning.

Right next to attack advertising in the playbook is a related go-to play, namely spin. The play is based on the Costanza rule. It’s not a lie if you believe it. Meaning honesty is optional and truth depends on your perspective. If you spin people dizzy, they’ll no longer be able to see where the truth lies.

The playbook calls for continuous polling. This is one of the few places where the Democratic and Republican playbooks differ. Both parties swear by public opinion polling. But as a general rule, Democrats rely on polling to craft their message and guide their actions, while Republicans use polling to drive home their core message and demonstrate support for their actions. Voters are left wondering why politicians can’t seem to move a muscle without first consulting a pollster.

The playbook also says run to the center. It is another article of faith that most voters are in the middle, so that’s where the smart politicians should be. Most of today’s Republicans have torn this page out of their playbook. Many Democrats have remained partial to it. Bill Clinton “triangulated” his way to two terms in the White House, locating a middle point between right and left, although not without a cost. During Clinton’s tenure in office, Democrats surrendered principle and lost control of the national narrative before losing control of Congress and most statehouses as well. They have never recovered.

Another dog-eared page in the old playbook says pick your spots. Focus on a few key battlegrounds that have a history of swinging either way, concentrate resources on those contests, and write off all other territory. Both parties do it, leaving large numbers of voters in many parts of the country with no choice of which party will represent them in Congress or the state legislature. It’s been a disastrous practice for the Democrats, being in the minority in most places. Without candidates running locally in large swaths of the country, voters in those areas only hear what ruling Republicans tell them, which ends up handicapping Democrats trying to run statewide or nationally. More importantly, the play shortchanges voters.

Everyone but the consultants, handlers and party bosses would be better off — as would American democracy — if the X’s and O’s of conventional politics were to give way to some new plays.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout says farewell to staff member Benjamin Larson. Legislative staff play an important role in serving the public good and many people living in the 31st Senate District know Ben because they contacted the office.

MADISON - “I make the promises and my staff keeps them,” said former state Senator Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). I don’t know if Senator Schultz was the first to say this but his statement certainly describes the important role of Capitol staff.

Our 31st Senate District long-time staffer Benjamin Larson will be leaving soon for Minneapolis. Ben is following his wife who will take up advanced studies in the Twin Cities.

Legislative staffers touch many lives and Ben has certainly influenced the course of life for many people. He is often the first person people encounter when they contact our Capitol office.

Calling your state Senator might not be the first action taken when you have a problem with state government. The state bureaucracy is vast and varied. Usually people begin with the agency that handles the problem they face, like contacting the Department of Natural Resources if they need a permit or the Department of Public Safety and Professional Services for an issue with a license.

By the time folks get to our senate office, they are often frustrated and discouraged. The story of their problem is complex. Their situation did not fit some neat rules of state government and they feel like the proverbial square peg someone tried to pound into a round hole.

Therefore, the call or email comes to our senate office.

Often Ben answered the phone. He listened with an empathic ear and took notes as he thought about the plan of action to help the person.

Sometimes the action was clear. He could provide referral to an office or knew the proper person to call. In other cases, the action was not clear due to the complexity of the person’s dilemma.

I remember a case several years ago, that resulted because laws were in direct conflict with each other.

Ben worked hard to help an Eau Claire family adopt a boy from Ethiopia. Federal law required the family to prove the boy had access to health care before he could be adopted. State law would not allow the provision of coverage until the boy was a Wisconsin resident.

Ben worked for several months to obtain the proper clearances and documentation to facilitate the adoption. The ecstatic family, so thankful their adopted son finally came home, stated in a letter, “Without the work of our state Senator Kathleen Vinehout and her amazing staff member Ben Larson this would not have been possible.”

An excellent staffer is gentle and comforting with people who go through the agony of conflicting laws, but firm and insistent when advocating for those people.

Even when we are not in session, the work does not end. The interim period, as it is called, is a time to prepare for the upcoming legislative session. My staff aids in this preparation by researching laws in other states, reviewing the history of Wisconsin laws or drafting bills that originated as constituent ideas. Together we craft a plan for the next legislative session.

During the summer, I also spend a great deal of time out at various events – fairs, festivals and gatherings – listening to people’s opinions, ideas and problems. I scribble these details on bits of paper and carry them to Madison.

Then Ben and his fellow staff listen to me describe the situation, read my notes and help me think of the next step. Staffers follow up with constituents to get important details. They call expert staff in agencies or work with attorneys who help research topics and draft legislation. While I’m on the road in western Wisconsin listening to constituents, my staff is doing the hard work to come up with solutions.

For a legislator who comes from varied backgrounds of farming and teaching at a university, seeing staff craft creative solutions through a myriad of obstacles is a thrill.

Constituents may never know the long hours spent or the multiple roads traveled to arrive at a solution to their particular problem. Nevertheless, I see their work. They do help me keep my promises.

Ben had well over 50,000 contacts with constituents. In each case, he served with good humor during trying times, patience with people’s frustrations, persistence in the face of obstacles, perseverance and genuine kindness.

Thanks Ben! We wish you the best!

MADISON - When we follow the money, sometimes something odd turns up.

That was the case with two of our stories this week.

The first seemed to be simply a gratuity for services rendered when the Republican Party of Wisconsin paid off $25,000 of Justice David Prosser’s campaign debt. But when we examined this “in-kind” contribution, it turned out to be even scuzzier, since the Party paid off a specific debt that Prosser owed to a particular vendor, who just happens to be one of Scott Walker’s chief fundraisers. Here are the gories:

State GOP pays $25K of Prosser’s campaign debt

The second story is about the DNR’s continued effort to give a sweetheart land deal to a couple that gave more than $6 million to try to get Scott Walker elected President. What’s doubly amazing is that the announcement of this renewed effort was obscured by an almost indecipherable bureaucratic notice. Somehow, I don’t think that was an accident, but see for yourself:

Walker’s DNR resurrects land deal with major contributor

And speaking of obscuring important information, this week there was a push in Congress to make it more difficult for consumers to find out if there are GMOs in our food—unless you’re in the habit of scanning barcodes into your phone while you hurry down the supermarket aisle. This is a bill not for consumers, but for industry, including in Wisconsin, as you’ll see here:

State food processors praise bill to restrict state food labeling

But here’s a happy note:

Three Koch Brothers’ groups were fined this week for illegal electioneering

We’ll keep following the money for you, and any more oddities that we can find.

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The UWEC Chancellor recently spoke to the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce about the synergistic relationship between the university and business, one that makes it a critical partner in the success of the region and very much worthy of state investment.

EAU CLAIRE, WI - “One hundred years ago the Chamber rented a rail car to go down to Madison,” President Bob McCoy of the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce told the gathering of business leaders. A century ago, Chamber members traveled to Madison to advocate for a new UW campus in Eau Claire.

“Maybe next time we’ll have to take a high speed train,” he joked.

Recently, I attended a Chamber event at which University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt spoke to members about the university and its relationship with the community. The entire Chippewa Valley benefits from “the amazing culture of service in our Eau Claire businesses,” said Chancellor Schmidt. “This is our culture at UWEC.”

“The Eau Claire difference is the engagement of our students and faculty,” Chancellor Schmidt noted. Nearly half of undergraduate students engage in research. This research can have a direct impact and positive benefit on our community.

Through many conversations and visits with faculty and students, I learned about the amazing research happening at UWEC and the direct benefits to Chippewa Valley businesses. I learned about the invention of new materials for manufacturing, advances in physical therapy, research in nursing, and students studying air and water quality near sand mines – just to name a few projects.

From molecules to the makeup of the earth, students learn by doing. Faculty work closely with students to help frame research questions, making relevance to real world challenges an important aspect of inquiry.

All the interactions between business leaders, students and faculty take time. Developing relationships to create real world student experiences is difficult to quantify. In this age of accountability, university professors have come under fire. The heated political rhetoric does not improve morale and – in the end – hurts all of us.

The Chancellor has been touring businesses in the Chippewa Valley. He met with more than 70 business leaders and wove what he learned into his presentation to Chamber members. “I stand proudly to support liberal arts,” he told business leaders. “The majority of the CEOs I asked came from the liberal arts and humanities.”

In response to the budget cuts, the Chancellor led efforts with the entire campus staff to undergo eight major initiatives to reorganize how the campus does business.

Under Governor Walker’s direction, majority legislators cut $250 million from the base University of Wisconsin System budget. In addition, they did not fund another $100 million in building maintenance, which normally passes as part of the state’s borrowing budget. This is penny wise and pound-foolish. Investment in proper maintenance saves over the long-term. Consider what is happening with our roads. University buildings, like roads, need to be maintained.

Budget cuts and low faculty salaries (compared to peer institutions) mean faculty retention and recruitment is difficult. For example, this year the university lost 69 full-time equivalent instructional positions due to budget cuts with an additional 25 faculty resignations – an increase of 150% over last year (also a high year for faculty loss).

Business leaders expressed concern about the loss of faculty in accounting and economics. Graduates of these two program are highly sought by business leaders.

“What keeps you from expanding your business? We don’t have confidence we can find employees,” said the Chancellor in response to a question about a recent report on jobs. “We want to educate more people but we can’t do this if we don’t have the money.”

He told business leaders the conversations would continue. “I won’t be asking you to help Jim,” Chancellor Schmidt said. “I’ll be asking what to do to help you and your business…to improve the vitality of our region.”

President McCoy closed the address by telling those gathered, “Our fear is the future, what are we creating for the next generation?”

Whatever the future holds, we know the next generation of business leaders will need to be smarter and work synergistically with our university students and faculty.

The return on investments we make today will be the success of our next generation.

There are not modern counterparts for the rural Democrats or middle-of-the-road Republicans of yesteryear. The disappearance of these species is a warning signal that we ignore at our peril.

ALTOONA, WI - American politics has changed immensely in the last generation or two. It used to be more of a hobby, something done on the side by people with lives outside of politics. Now it’s been taken over by professionals and most who are serious about it consider it a career.

There has always been lobbying in the halls of government, but the primary currency of lobbyists used to be information. That was before lobbying was married to election fundraising. Petitioning government and supplying campaign cash have now become inseparable.

When I got my first taste of the inner workings of Wisconsin’s State Capitol back in the early 1980s, being a lawmaker was a part-time job. Now it’s full-time. Not because there are so many more laws that need making, but rather largely owing to the fact that soliciting political donations has become a daily chore.

Abortion was a touchy subject back in the 80s and it remains a touchy subject today, but back then there were Democrats and Republicans on both sides of the issue. Republicans who favor legal abortion are no longer welcome in the party’s ranks, and Democrats who have qualms about abortion aren’t tolerated by their party either.

Two species of politicians have gone extinct in the last couple of generations. There used to be rural Democrats. Not anymore. The legislature used to be filled with small-town Democrats like Tom Harnisch of Neillsville, Harvey Stower of Amery, Dale Bolle of New Holstein, Gervase Hephner of Chilton, Bill Rogers of Kaukauna and Bob Dueholm of Luck, who followed in the footsteps of his father Harvey. In more recent years, there were still a few rural Democrats like Phil Garthwaite of Platteville, but they were few and far between. Now they’re long gone. The Democratic Party used to appeal to rural voters, but no longer does. It has become an urban party.

The Republican Party has become the political equivalent of a donut. No middle. There was an abundance of centrist Republicans in Wisconsin’s legislature in the early 1980s, many of them women like Barb Lorman, Sheehan Donoghue, Peggy Rosenzweig, Mary Panzer, Sue Engeleiter, Pat Goodrich, June Jaronitzky and Betty Jo Nelsen. Men too, like Dave Paulson, Bob Larson, Francis “Brownie” Byers, Brian Rude, Mike Ellis and Dale Schultz. Slowly but surely some like Panzer, Lorman and Rosenzweig were driven out by far more conservative Republicans who challenged them in party primary elections, while others like Schultz were replaced by right-wingers once they saw the handwriting on the wall and decided to leave the legislature. Republican moderates became a vanishing breed. The elements Republican leaders invited into their party to replace the moderates have given rise to extremism that invites comparisons to fascism.

The fact that there are not modern counterparts for the rural Democrats or middle-of-the-road Republicans of yesteryear is a symptom of illness in our political system. The disappearance of these species is a warning signal that we ignore at our peril.

Gov. Walker tells Transportation Secretary not to include any tax or fee increases in his budget request for state highway system improvement. As a result, system is going to continue to deteriorate and highway projects throughout the state will be delayed.

MADISON - Recently, former Republican State Senator and current Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow wrote that our transportation system is in crisis. I agree with him. Unfortunately, his former Republican colleagues in the State Senate and Governor Walker think the solution is to let our crumbling infrastructure continue to deteriorate while motorist safety suffers and economic development opportunities are lost.

Under the direction of Governor Walker, the Secretary of Transportation was told that his budget request should not include any tax or fee increases. Walker also says that proposed spending on megaprojects in southeast Wisconsin should be minimized. The result of Walker’s directive, according to the Secretary, is “that the non-backbone system, which is about 90 percent of the state highway system, is going to continue to deteriorate in condition" and “it would delay highway projects throughout the state.”

Wow, what a lack of leadership! I was a mayor and alderperson before getting elected to State Legislature. In local government we identified the problem and then worked out a solution collaboratively. Unfortunately, Governor Walker and my Republican colleagues are putting their strict adherence to a political ideology above what is good for the state and its residents.

Eventually, we will have to fix and upgrade our roads. According to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when that time comes it will cost taxpayers a lot more money. “Faced with delays and inflation over the past five years, four major state highway projects have accumulated overruns in excess of $700 million,” according to the paper. I shudder to think what Governor Walker and Senate Republicans inaction will cost years down the road.

In the meantime taxpayers will have higher vehicle repair bills because our roads are beat up and littered with pot holes. For the average Wisconsin driver a penny increase in the gas tax costs $4.53 per year. That’s a better deal than paying for expensive car repairs.

However, we don’t have to go down this road. Transportation shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Let’s adopt the local government model work together and solve this crisis while simultaneously improving road safety and creating economic opportunities. For Governor Walker and legislative Republicans to do nothing is simply irresponsible.

Decorated Disabled American Navy Veteran was robbed of $13,000 of cash and travelor's cheques, and another $2,500 from his debit card, while he waits in Jamaica for emergency evacuation that never came. Owner of EMed Jamaica "air ambulance service" misrepresents himself as Florida Doctor to extort $17,000 more from Wisconsin family.

GREEN BAY, WI - Black lives matter. But then, all lives should matter, especially to those who claim the trust we give to people identified as part of the medical community, here and overseas.

I want to bring public awareness to the tragedy that our family has been forced to deal with and to find justice for our brother David N. Thompson, Sr.  of  Madison , Wisconsin. He was in Jamaica, visiting friends and recuperating from a toe amputation when he became ill. Doctors at Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, Jamaica MISDIAGOSED his condition, and referred his family to EMed Jamaica, an air fight ambulance company who charged his family $17,000 and assured us our brother would immediately be transported to the U.S.

However, they delayed transporting Dave for nearly NINE hours.

Our brother died before being flown to the U.S. for treatment that the Jamaican Medical Examiner later said would have saved his life had be been transported in a timely fashion.  My family and I believe the delay was intentional in order for EMed Jamaica to make the most profit. 

During what was a painful, helpless, and terrifying ordeal for him, Dave, who was a decorated Disabled American Navy Veteran was robbed of $13,000 of cash and travelor's cheques, and another $2,500 was fraudulently withdrawn from his debit card.

Duane Boise, the owner of EMed Jamaica, was the person who showed up at the hospital to attend to Dave, but he fraudulently represented himself as Dr. Garth George, an Emergenccy Physician with over 20 years experience in saving Americans with health emergencies in the Carribean. Our Investigation has revealed Boise is is a felon convicted in Florida of Criminal Use of ID. In a effort to substantiate the company's charges for a service they failed to perform , Emed Jamaica then produced documents with forged signatures.

Dave deserved better.

The US Embassy in Jamaica has told us it is beyond the realm their responsibilities to assist in the criminal investigation of the wrongdoing involved in his death. We, Dave's family, have  hired an attorney in Montego Bay to help bring civil charges against those responsible for letting our brother lay in pain, strapped to his bed, while allowing him to die, all in order for someone to profit.

We hope this true story of Dave's ordeal will convince you that his life mattered too.

***

For more information on how to help, go to our goFundme page here.

Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board (GAB) quietly passed into history last week. The GAB was created to take partisan pressure out of the accountability process and was made up of non-partisan judges who ensured the decisions were in the best interest of public accountability – not partisan interests.

MADISON - Government Accountability passed in a quiet death the last day of June.

There was no fanfare, no long speeches – just hard working employees packing up personal items.

I imagined the nonpartisan judges of the Government Accountability Board (GAB) breathed a deep sigh as they left their service on the GAB and ended the rough and tumble ordeal as broad members.

All the fanfare, public speeches and hyper-partisan rhetoric happened last winter in what GAB board member, Judge Thomas Barland, called a “public lynching”.

Judge Barland is a former Circuit Court Judge for Eau Claire and Trempealeau counties. As a GAB board member, he oversaw government accountability in Wisconsin. Earlier this year he retired from the GAB.

For over thirty years, he served as a nonpartisan judge. Ironically, given the partisan focus of destroying the GAB, Judge Barland served as a Republican State Representative from 1961 to 1967.

Following an interview with Judge Barland, Chippewa Valley Herald Associate Editor David Gordon wrote, “Barland said his ‘public lynching’ comment referred both to the recurrent attacks on the GAB by members of the Republican majority in the Legislature, and to the actual destruction of the Board.”

These attacks were on display in a long, confrontational hearing of the Joint Committee on Audit last fall.

As the Audit Committee reviewed the extensive work of the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, in another room across the Capitol, legislators conducted a public hearing on a bill to dissolve the GAB. In less than a week, the bill went being a draft to a full joint hearing, which was the only opportunity for citizens to offer testimony on the bill.

During the Audit hearing, GAB chair Judge Gerald Nichols said in response to a question, “Not everyone before me has been true and honest. To do an investigation we want as many of the facts in front of us [as possible]. We are very balanced and it doesn’t make a difference if the subject of the investigation is independent, Republican or Democrat.”

Following the fall hearing, Judge Barland told the Chippewa Valley Herald, “It’s clear to me that [legislators] are basing some of their conclusions on false information…People are too quick on both sides to draw conclusions from minimal facts.”

The LAB auditors reported the facts. The audit showed, through an analysis of complaints and investigations conducted by the GAB, no major concerns. Auditors recommended quicker resolution of complaints and the GAB responded with a new computer system to track complaints.

An earlier audit reported on other activities of the GAB. The analysis was broad, covering every aspect of the agency. Some activities – for example the evaluation of the accessibility of polling places – won national acclaim.

Problems did exist at the GAB. During the study period, auditors reported on legally required tasks that were not completed or completed late. GAB officials countered that short staffing and an unusually high workload required managers to prioritize tasks. A new, complex administrative rule-making process increased the time needed to promulgate required administrative rules.

During that same period, the GAB dealt with several lawsuits, an on-again off-again voter photo ID law, a historical number of recall elections, a statewide judicial race recount, redrawing of legislative district lines, and the passage of 31 separate pieces of legislation affecting operations and elections.

Nevertheless, some legislators distorted the audit facts to justify the GAB’s demise.

Chippewa Herald Associate Editor Gordon reported, “Barland said that the GAB’s enemies, particularly in the Assembly, ‘distorted badly the audit findings’ in what proved to be a successful effort to kill the GAB. He said that the only hope of keeping the Board in existence lay with the Senate but ‘enormous pressure was brought on the Republican senators’ who were wavering.”

The pressure worked. On Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 2:24 a.m., the bill to dismantle the GAB passed with all Republican Senators present voting “aye” and all Democrats voting “nay”.

“It’s a great step backwards for the state,” Judge Barland said. Barland noted the undoing the legislative majority’s changes to the GAB would be difficult and would need “the electorate as a whole to come to an understanding that what was done was wrong.”

MADISON - For this July 4 holiday week, we’ve put together a special report for you on 10 wins for the good guys here in Wisconsin. Amid all the bad news that the Walker Wrecking Crew has brought us, it’s important to remember, and to celebrate, those times in the last year when We, the People, were able to stop Walker, Vos, Fitzgerald, and their big money backers from passing some disastrous bills or implementing retrograde policies.

So please take a gander:

10 wins to celebrate on July 4 in Wisconsin

Speaking of Walker, one of his biggest backers has been the NRA—a fact we shouldn’t forget in the wake of the Orlando massacre. And you can also see how much the NRA has given to your legislators by clicking here:

Walker’s NRA bankroll topped $3.5 million

The problem of big money and dark money is not confined to Walker and the Republicans. Late last week came the birth announcement of a new dark money group on the Democratic side, which will be operating here in Wisconsin. We don’t look kindly on this development, and you’ll see why here:

New dark money group for Dems is bad news

As we point out, “Our elections should not be tug-of-wars between liberal billionaires on one side and conservative billionaires on the other. All of us citizens should have an equal voice in the electoral arena.”

I hope you agree.

Let’s declare our independence from big money and dark money.

Happy 4^th of July!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director

P.S. Please support our urgent work to get money out of politics and to bring real democracy to Wisconsin and this country. Send us a tax-deductible gift today by clicking here or by mailing your check to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign at 203 S. Paterson Street, Suite 100, Madison, WI 53703.

The sun’s power can be harnessed to provide many of life’s essential needs and our natural resources are very much our wealth. Find out what can be learned at the Energy Fair hosted by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.

ALMA, WI - “Don’t you want to sit in the shade?” my sister-in-law asked. “No” I replied. I love the sun. I understand why ancient civilizations worshiped the sun.

Somehow, I think my in-laws, Cindy and Norm, love the sun too.

They just returned from the Midwest Energy Fair in Custer, Wisconsin. The Energy Fair, sponsored by the nonprofit Midwest Renewable Energy Association celebrated its 27th anniversary in June.

With over 200 workshops and roughly 15,000 folks attending, the fair serves as a catalyst for clean energy projects all over Wisconsin.

Norm and Cindy put to work what they learned. Their yard soaked up the energy from the sun in so many ways.

As we drove up to the farm, laundry waved in the breeze on the clothesline. A big jar of rich brown sun tea soaked up the sun on the picnic table.

A large, black box with a slanted clear plastic top sat atop a small table. The “sun-oven” – awash with sun – cooked healthy brown rice.

And there was another contraption in the middle of the side yard. A small wooden shed with no roof and water hoses running to it with a little entry door on the back. Leaning against the shed was a coffin-shaped rectangular container with a clear Plexiglas lid. I peered through the lid and saw 17 black hoses looped the length of the container, which looked much like a nest of black snakes.

“What is this?” I asked. “Our solar shower” was the answer. Right there in the middle of the side yard. Oh, the joys of country living.

“The yard looks like Ma and Pa Kettle,” I joked. But clearly my family loved the sun.

The photovoltaic panels across the field spoke to my relatives’ commitment to the sun. As did all the equipment in the basement controlling both the geo-thermal and the solar panel systems that powered the farm.

“Don’t forget the power of the sun in all our growing,” Cindy told me as I caught up with her early the next day. She was weeding and mulching a carefully tended garden brimming with produce. The fencing and wooden gate were cleverly built to keep out hungry critters.

The garden looked exactly like the picture-book plot that tempted Peter Rabbit in Beatrix Potter’s books.

“Yesterday I had a little rabbit sticking his nose though the chicken wire,” Cindy said. “I felt like Mrs. McGregor.”

“The growing that happened in June was phenomenal,” Cindy exclaimed. “The longer days, so much rain coming at the right time.” She wanted to share the excitement of growing things. “Capture the energy of the sun in the plant growth and feed yourself! Even in a small area. Everyone can grow something; a window box in the city and a small area in the suburbs. When I dig in the garden and am surrounded by green, it brings me back.”

“We need to balance what we are hearing in the news with this optimistic stuff, and then the bad news won’t paralyze us,” Cindy said. “Norm says ‘all we can do is do what we can in our little corner.’ And we can share what we are doing.”

“This year we got two of our friends to go to the renewable energy fair. And I know they will come back,” Cindy noted.

Cindy shared her memory of a speaker from last year’s Energy Fair. “The speaker asked us ‘Does Wisconsin have coal? No. Oil? No.’ He went through a number of things and then asked ‘Does Wisconsin have sun? YES.’ We need to use what’s here. Let’s celebrate what we’ve got and be smart about it.”

“The good food, the flowers, the trees giving off oxygen; we have the sun and the water. We feel good about being in Wisconsin right now, even with all of our challenges.”

As I left, Cindy handed me a bag full of freshly picked baby kale and strawberries. Nature’s bounty, or as Gaylord Nelson once said, “The wealth of the nation is its air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and biodiversity. These biological systems are the sustaining wealth of the world.”

America has some king-sized challenges, and Wisconsin is showing more severe symptoms than most states. Here are seven ways to shake things up, starting close to home.

ALTOONA, WI - America has some king-sized challenges. Economic insecurity born of simultaneous deindustrialization and globalization. Stagnant wages. Grotesque and growing inequality. Nagging fear that the nation’s children will end up worse off than their parents. Strained social relations. Political parties that offer empty promises and false choices when they are not pointing fingers of blame at the other side. Collapsing public confidence in those parties and the democratic process.

No part of the country is immune to these conditions, but Wisconsin is showing more severe symptoms than most states. Wage and job growth in Wisconsin is lagging behind the U.S. average. The state’s poverty rate has reached its highest level in 30 years. Wisconsin leads the nation inshrinkage of the middle class.

When major change came to America in the past, it’s fascinating how often Wisconsin led the way. There’s no time like the present for Wisconsin to get back out there in the lead. With the enormity of today’s challenges, this is no time for pussyfooting.

Because most people have lost faith in the political system and are thoroughly disgusted with the politicians who continue to happily operate within that system, and because most of the general public sees big political donations as nothing more than legal bribes, the law should be brought in line with the broad public consensus that has formed. Any political donation over $200 should be legally defined as a bribe and therefore treated as a felony. Any spending by interest groups benefiting a candidate for office should be legally considered a donation.

Because wages are stagnant and economic inequality has reached alarming levels, the minimum wage should be turned into a living wage. The Fight for $15 is gaining traction in hundreds of cities across the country, the more the better, but it is far less likely to catch on in small towns and rural areas where the cost of living and average worker earnings are considerably lower than in big cities. So how about a Drive for 55, setting the wage floor at 55% of the average wage workers earn in a community or region? This would produce minimum wages at or near $15 an hour in large metropolitan areas and would substantially boost the minimum wage everywhere while flexibly accounting for differences in local economies.

Because the balance of power has been tilted against workers, rewrite the law to make forming a union a civil right for all employees in every sector of our economy.

Because the poorest of all Americans pay double the tax rate paid by the country’s richest few when all state and local taxes are factored in,taxes on the rich should be raised and taxes on the poor and middle class should be lowered until the rich pay taxes at a rate that’s at least on a par with the rate paid by everyone else if not higher.

Because feed-the-rich policies inspired by the “trickle-down” economic theory have been a miserable failure, never producing more than a trickle for the masses and causing grotesque economic inequality and the slow but steady extermination of the middle class, Wisconsin should lead the way in ending crony capitalism and put the state’s corporate welfare office — the failed Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation — out of business. Use the tens of millions of dollars saved each year by abolishing the WEDC to far better use, like paying to bring high-speed Internet and mobile phone service to areas of the state without access to these 21st Century necessities.

Because education is our best hope for building a better and more prosperous future, and our best weapon against economic and social decline, Wisconsin should blaze a trail for the nation in making education as accessible and affordable for future generations as past generations made it for us. Such a lofty goal won’t be reached overnight, but the state could fast-track the pursuit by ending the failed 25-year experiment with taxpayer-subsidized private schooling and using the savings to restore funding stolen from public schools and buy down college tuition in pursuit of the goal of debt-free higher education.

And because having government as close to the people as possible and having decentralized decision making at the community level is preferable to top-down rule with authority in just a few hands,Wisconsin should restore local control by repealing all 128 laws enacted since 2011 giving state officials more say and local communities less.

There you have it . . . seven ways to shake things up, starting close to home. And here’s hoping they inspire 70 more and create a ripple effect across the country.

The VA is America’s largest single payer and single provider system. VA healthcare is NOT broken. Congress and presidents must step up to the plate and fund the staffing and facilities needed to meet the escalating demand for veteran care.

MADISON - In order for the Veterans Affairs Department to “fix” the significant problems at many of the 1,700 VA hospitals and clinics across America, it needs nearly $18 billion more for additional staff and new and remodeled facilities said the acting VA Secretary in 2014.

He did not get the money from Congress.  Thus the VA limps along with ever growing number of veterans to serve, not enough staff and not enough facilities to meet the needs.

Additionally, the VA has weak management in some areas and drastically needs stronger whistleblower protections.

Conservatives have pushed for privatization of veterans’ healthcare for decades.  Recently, the Koch brothers recharged the effort to PRIVATIZE the VA.

Why?  They conclude billions can be made by closing down the VA and sending 7 million veterans into private healthcare.  How?  As private care merges into ever larger corporations, as health insurance and drug companies do the same, the costs for services and drugs increase due to the companies having to pay back the hundreds of billions in loans the CEOs borrow to buy each other’s companies.  Stock holders, Wall Streeters and CEOs make billions while patients pay ever increasing costs.  As the 1%ers know, monopolies are very profitable.

Those who support ill-advised PRIVATIZATION cover their pure, simple GREED with big tears about, “We just want to “help” our wonderful veterans!”

Privatizers listen up:

• Fact:  64% of us 22 million vets DO NOT WANT THE VA PRIVATIZED.
• Fact:  72% of us who use VA hospitals DO NOT WANT THE VA PRIVATIZED.
• Fact:  VA healthcare costs 20% LESS than Medicare.  Medicare is 10% less costly than private care.  Jumping from VA healthcare to private care may cost taxpayers 30% more.
• Facts:  VA care is peer ranked among the best healthcare systems nationally.  Vets are just as satisfied with their VA care as are patients in private care.
• Fact:  Between 2009 and 2016 the number of veterans served by the VA increased 22% to nearly 7 million.
• Fact:  The VA was overloaded and understaffed in 2009.  With all the praise Congress heaps on veterans, they continue to underfund the VA. Result:  Staffing and facility shortages continue.

The Koch propaganda machine marches on deaf to facts.  Their front group, Concerned Veterans of America, preaches privatization.  Dutiful media keep cranking out the stories about poor vets and the efforts to help them by privatization.  Obama, Sanders and Clinton all support No Privatization of the VA.  The major Republican candidates and Trump support privatization.

The VA is America’s largest single payer and single provider system.  VA is a massive high quality, cost efficient, proactive healthcare system that stands as a threat to all insurance companies and for-profit and non-profit hospital systems.  It provides 115 million outpatient visits plus surgery, RXs, therapy, mental health and nursing homes for a cost of $65 billion per year.  If VA healthcare was shut down today this amount of care would cost 30% more, private care hospitals could not accept the additional patient load and veterans would likely receive lower quality care.

VA healthcare is NOT broken.  Congress and presidents must step up to the plate and fund the staffing and facilities needed to meet the escalating demand for veteran care.

We served because presidents and Congress members sent us into combat or peace time forces.  We get injured, permanently damaged, our lives are impacted with some of us never being able to work again.  We demand presidents and Congress members pay the VA costs and help us they promised!

PRIVATIZATION OF THE VA WILL SOLVE NOTHING.  It will exacerbate America’s problem of supporting veterans and their families when in need.

The American Federation of Federal Employees (AFGE) is holding press conferences across America to help the public understand the VA’s problem and successes.  AFGE is one of America’s largest unions with nearly 700,000 workers of whom a third are VA workers.

It is AFGE members who have been risking their careers making whistleblower complaints against bad management practices in the VA. Whistleblowers have stood up for quality care in the VA and real rather than fake appointment lists.  They have personally payed for their courage with damaged careers as a result of retaliation by VA managers in many hospitals across the nation.  Congress must enact a powerful whistleblower protection act!

Wednesday, June 22, 2016, at noon AFGE and other leaders will speak out for VA healthcare and against Privatization in front of the Madison VA hospital.

The emergence of a new major party is unlikely, and it appears American voters are doomed to a choice between the two most disliked major party nominees in polling history. They both will play on fear of the other. But what can we do?

ALTOONA, WI - In case there are some out there who still need persuading that the U.S. is on the verge of political system failure, look no further than this year’s presidential election, where it appears American voters are doomed to a choice between the two most disliked major party nominees in polling history.

The Democratic establishment has been hellbent from the get-go to nominate one of the world’s best-known political figures who also happens to be one of the least trusted and most unlikable politicians around. The silver lining to her unpopularity is that Republican insiders have so far proven incapable of preventing an even more unpopular and distrusted character from capturing their party’s nomination.

Elections are, by their nature, popularity contests to one degree or another. This presidential election is shaping up to be an unpopularity contest.

The greatest danger in continuously forcing voters to determine who they fear and hate the least is how nose-holding steers the public’s thinking away from what America’s future should look like and diverts our attention from what we all hope for and dream about. The badly corrupted and unresponsive government we have today is the product of decades of voters choosing the lesser of evils.

The continuation of the American experiment has depended on some good luck along the way. The U.S. could have come apart at the seams on more than one occasion. In our darkest moments, gifted leaders like Lincoln and FDR emerged to light a path forward. We are again at a moment of truth. The major parties have grown calcified and estranged from the masses and incapable of replacing growing darkness with light. As one commentator observed, “the elites have grown so complacent and arthritic that the existing parties are having difficulty containing the conflict and both parties seem on the verge of nervous breakdowns.”

What might come from such a breakdown is uncertain. The emergence of a new major party is highly unlikely because America has a two-party system that actively discriminates against this outcome, but it is no longer inconceivable that either or both of the major parties could splinter or even disintegrate. The only thing that is sure is that parties deserve this fate when they no longer appeal to your hopes and dreams but rather can only play on your worst fears to gain power.

It is up to us to refuse to go where the ruling elites want to take us. It is up to us to look for chances to unite when they see endless opportunities to divide. If you are alarmed by Trump, you need to realize that obsessing over the horrors of a Trump presidency won’t prevent one. It actually helps him. Likewise, if you can’t stand Hillary, you also need to understand that being consumed by how much you despise her and can’t trust her won’t stop her from inhabiting the White House.

Fear will figure prominently in both parties’ campaigns this fall. They will play on it. They will count on it. Now more than ever, the American people need to prove once again that this is the land of the brave. When they tell you what you should hate, say what you love. When they tell you what is going to be destroyed, say what you want to see created. In this oppressive darkness, it is up to us to shine light.

Madison Activist and Bernie Supporter wants a Constitutional amendment.

MADISON, WI - I woke up on June 14, 2016, and accepted that Bernie was not going to be our next President.

It was sad and hard because Bernie is for real. You know he isn’t lying to you when he speaks. We haven’t had a politician that honest since Proxmire. Bernie Sanders is hope.

We children of the sixties were a generation of hope. We were going to fix the world. We had real expectations that poverty, injustice and war would all be a thing of the past. Since then the world just got uglier.

We need hope. This thing we call Democracy just isn’t working. We have to make it work.

So what is the next step to sustain hope?

Let’s make Democracy work. Let’s make an amendment to the Constitution. Since the President is the most powerful politician in the country and the only one elected by the whole country, let’s make electing a president a democratic process. Call it the 28th Amendment.

The President and Vice President shall be elected by all of the people of the United States voting together with one vote to each qualified person. To be voted upon for President, a candidate must be supported by a petition of 100,000 citizens from anywhere in the United States, presented to the Federal Election Commission. All of the states shall have the same list of candidates supplied by the Federal Election Commission. The Presidential candidates shall supply to the Federal Election Commission the names of their respective Vice Presidential candidates. In the event that no candidate receives a majority of the ballots cast, the Federal Election Commission will hold a runoff election between the two top contenders. The Electoral College will be eliminated.

That is a short and simple solution to some big problems. Let’s send petitions to our U.S. Senators and Representatives to make this change to the Constitution. Let them know this is a one-issue voting requirement for us to continue to support them and reelect them. If we get behind it, it will work. We need hope for the future. This is our immortality. We live; we die. But something greater continues. We must contribute to it.