Wal-Mart outsourcing to BadgerCare

Wisconsin reports Wal-Mart employees "topped the list of BadgerCare recipients, a state health care program for low-income residents.

Wal-Mart has the most employees and families on BadgerCare, the state Medicaid program for low-income working families with children, costing you at least $1.8 million a year. Wal-Mart's total Wisconsin health care subsidy for state and federal taxpayers is $4.75 million a year, according to recent news reports.

Wal-Mart doesn't want you to know how many of its workers are forced to rely on public assistance for health care. The mega-store is fighting a new bill in Minnesota which would create a public list of companies whose workers are enrolled in MinnesotaCare and other government-funded health care programs. Last year, Minnesota spent $270.2 million on MinnesotaCare, the state program for people without access to affordable health care. This led lawmakers to wonder which corporations have the most workers enrolled in the state-funded program.

"If it's true what people say, that big multinational companies are outsourcing health care to taxpayers, then it would be good to have a handle on which ones," says MN state Rep. Sheldon Johnson.

Wisconsin Citizen Action believes we need to fundamentally change our health care system to one which provides quality, affordable health care for all. "Wal-Mart’s profits last year were $10.3 billion. So, why weren’t they offering affordable health benefits to their employees?"

Lies and Freedom Fries...

Congressman Walter Jones, the Republican from North Carolina who invented the term Freedom Fries and was also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom toast in Capitol Hill restaurants, now feels that the US went to war "with no justification".

Although he voted for the war, he has since become one of its most vociferous opponents on Capitol Hill, where the hallway outside his office is lined with photographs of the "faces of the fallen".

"If we were given misinformation intentionally by people in this administration, to commit the authority to send boys, and in some instances girls, to go into Iraq, that is wrong," he told the newspaper. "Congress must be told the truth."

French fries protester regrets war jibe but you have to go to the British press to learn the details...

The White Rose Society (German, Die Weiße Rose) was a World War II-era resistance movement in Germany calling for nonviolent resistance against the Nazi regime.
www.WhiteRoseSociety.org is revisiting the idea under the current US administration.

June 1st, a Green Day in Green Bay...

It's time to...
Fire Bush without further DeLay
Click above to sign up for this RALLY...
Wednesday, 1 June 2005, from 3:00 - 5:00 PM
Outside Congressman Mark Green's Office
700 East Walnut Street
Green Bay, WI 54301

Tom DeLay's state political action committee was just found guilty of violating Texas campaign finance law. A Texas judge found, in a civil trial, against DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, holding that the committee failed to report $600,000 in corporate contributions, in direct violation of Texas law.

Now Mark Green wants to return home from Washington to run for governor... If I were him I'd run from Washington too!

A few weeks ago, a secret memo surfaced in England and was published by The Times of London. Actually, the memo is the minutes of a high-level meeting between U.S. and British intelligence officials discussing Iraq, held on July 23, 2002, well before the Bush Administration began it’s propaganda campaign rushing the United States to war. British officials have not disputed the document's authenticity.

Bush and Company have lied to Congress and to the American people. Lives have been lost and money squandered.

JOIN WITH US IN ASKING MARK GREEN TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY, OUR ALLIANCES WITH THE MAJORITY OF OTHER NATIONS IN THE WORLD, OUR CREDIBILITY, OUR ECONOMY... AND WHEN DO WE BEGIN TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE?

On June 1 at 3 PM we will present Congressman Green with over 600 petitions from people in Wisconsin's 8th CD asking him to start by removing Tom DeLay from power and returning over $30,000 in contributions Mark Green accepted from Tom DeLay's Pacs.

At 4 PM a rally by local citizens to Impeach Bush,” will call on Congressman Mark Green to initiate impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush immediately. Congressman Green voted to impeach President Clinton for lying about a private, personal affair which had little impact on the country. Now we have a clear case of presidential misconduct which has had enormous impacts worldwide, endangering the security and stature of the United States.

"Congressman Green needs to be consistent and hold President Bush accountable for lying to Congress and the public to justify an unprovoked attack on another country,"” states Rebecca Katers, one of the local Citizen Rally organizers.

RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna reports that a movement seeking a "Resolution of Inquiry" by members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee into details surrounding the Downing Street Memo is now under way. A few weeks ago, that secret memo surfaced in England and was published by The Times of London. The Downing Street Memo is the actual minutes of a high-level meeting between U.S. and British intelligence officials discussing Iraq, held on July 23, 2002, well before the Bush Administration began it's propaganda campaign rushing the United States to war. Niether British nor US officials have disputed the document's authenticity.

A number of grassroots citizens organizations, including The BRAD BLOG and Velvet Revolution have issued their support for such a Resolution, which could potentially be the first move towards a criminal investigation and/or Impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.

Urge your congress member to support a Resolution of Inquiry directing the House Judiciary Committee to launch a formal investigation into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House to impeach President Bush.

Two more documents provide ever more evidence that a Resolution of Inquiry is required from Congress. Bush's letter to Congress on March 18. 2003 and Elizabeth Wilmshurst's letter of resignation from the Blair administration a few days before the attack on Iraq. Read more about the documents at a newly-formed coalition website: www.AfterDowningStreet.org that represents a coalition of: Progressive Democrats of America join with Global Exchange, Gold Star Families for Peace, Democrats.com, Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, Democracy Rising, the Rainbow Push Coalition, the Velvet Revolution, and Brad Blog to form the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition. These organizations, are asking their members to contact their congress members to urge support of a Resolution of Inquiry.

Below is a link to Congressman John Conyers web site. He was one of the 89 Members of Congress who signed a letter to Bush demanding his response to the Downing Street Memo, and he is now hoping 100,000 citizens will sign on. PLEASE SIGN NOW! DON'T WAIT! http://www.johnconyers.com/

Phelps and his sheep...

If the notorious “Pastor” Fred Phelps and his anti-gay, anti-religion cult members ever come to your town some San Franciscans provide the following story explaining how to best deal with them:

"Believe it or not, Phelps and his sheep have been to our city several times to protest funerals (a pastor protesting a funeral?). The last time they were here we organized an AIDS charity fund raiser to coincide with his protest, and hundreds of San Franciscans signed up to pledge a dollar a minute for as long as Phelps and his hate group stayed and ranted. When the Phelps protesters found out that they were part of a fundraiser for AIDS charities, they left after about 10 minutes." Gregg Jaspers advice to Litchfield High students on how to handle Phelps' appearance there."

GWB in Milwaukee on Social Security

Keith Schmitz was in Milwaukee yesterday and notes the following...

George Bush just stopped by in Milwaukee and lied in the faces of the 500 present at the War Memorial and the television audience. My poison of choice was WTMJ 4. After he got done shuckin' and jivin' the youth of this city about his bogus Social Security plan, Mike and Carole came on and essentially parroted what Bush said - even emphasizing some of his points (more young people believe in the presence of UFO's versus the social security (SS) being there when they retire, SS will be flat broke in 2052, ad nauseum).

If you have a few minutes, call the news departments of Channel 4 (414.963.4444) and Channel 12 (414.342.8812) to demand that the evening newscast present a balanced coverage of what Bush said, and not just simply carry out the message of his snake oil sales job.

If you want to throw out a couple of counter points, here are two site that will help… http://www.democraticaction.org/sotu/sotufacts.php http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/03/04/social.security.factcheck/index.html http://www.dfasv.org/mediafiles/ddcsv_social-security-fact-sheet.pdf

And this one from AARP is pretty good…

When you call, be polite and firm, but insist on some counter coverage to the statements being made by Bush.

Justin Martin provides the following additional response...

In response to the Social Security discussion - I fear that this is one framing exercise that we lost a long time ago.

Social Security is a tax. A tax we pay to ensure that those in our SOCIETY have a SECURE safety net in retirement and hard times. This doesn't need to be reframed - it speaks for itself. Unfortunately, many Americans have been hoodwinked into seeing SS as a retirement/investment plan. This is part of a larger plan by Rove & Co. to create a new investor class that will vote Republican for life - just like SS created a population of lifelong Dems and the civil rights turned Southern Democrats into Republicans.

The reason why private investment accounts have no business being a part of Social Security is because that the idea of "personal investment for retirement" goes against the very nature of Social Security. The current workers pay in so that the retired and disabled can receive - and when those workers retire or become disabled, they will receive the benefits entitled to them. It's not YOUR money and MY money, it's OUR money. Now, if the government wants to offer additional investment opportunities outside of Social Security, fine. That's great - we should all invest in ourselves if we have the means. But we must also invest in the security of our society.

So, there's a potential shortfall in the Social Security trust fund brought about by the looming Baby Boomer retirement? There are many ways we can deal with this. Increase the tax (Not my preferred option). Increase the cap, currently set at $90,000, to a higher level - be it $120K, $150K, $200K. Or even, LOWER the tax rate across the board, while increasing the cap enough to account for the shortfall the tax cut. But remember - all of these changes, tax increases or cap increases, can be temporary. Eventually the baby boomers will die - we will return to the days of paying more into the system than we pay out. In 40 years, this "crisis" will likely go away on its own. However, if we try to "fix" Social Security by allowing it to be reframed from a social program into an investment program, then the only thing going away will be Social Security itself.

David Ray Griffin in Madison...

MUJCA-NET is a group of scholars, religious leaders and activists dedicated to uniting members of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths in pursuit of 9/11 truth. They believe that the process of joining together in search of the truth about 9/11 will bring enormous benefits, regardless of what truths they may discover. While endorsers and supporters have different views about the probable level of US government complicity in 9/11, all agree that a new, honest investigation of the possibility of official complicity is a matter of the most urgent national and global importance.

Recently they hosted Professor David Ray Griffin, author of The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions at the UW Madison. His speech was televised on CNN today. Griffin takes a critical look at the official 9/11 Commission Report put out by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. He argues that the "omissions and distortions" in the report amount to a cover-up by government officials and says that the available evidence suggests that the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 attacks (either by ignoring known threats or through actual participation in the planning of the attacks).

2020 Vision Campaign...

The World Conference of Mayors for Peace will assemble on Sunday, May 1st in New York City for an Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons. Led by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the organization is seeking to enroll mayors from across the globe to come to the 2005 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the founding of the United Nations.

Urged on by the Hibakusha – the survivors of "hell on earth," the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have called for A Year of Remembrance and Action for a Nuclear Weapons Free World. They propose that negotiations begin in 2005 and conclude by 2010 for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons, with global nuclear disarmament implemented no later than 2020. Thus they are calling it the 2020 Vision Campaign.

How 'bout if we only do it until we need glasses...
"As hard as it might be to believe, the United States is embarked on a path that's bound to trigger yet another nuclear arms race," says Cap Times' Dave Zweifel in U.S. takes brakes off nuke arms race.

Madison's mayor, Dave Cieslewicz was the first to agree to attend...
Over 750 of the world's mayors have enrolled in the Peace Campaign. Only 16 of the 91 mayors who plan to attend are from cities in the US: Akron, OH; Barkeley, CA; Cambridge, MA; Cerritos, CA; Framingham, MA; Los Alamos, NM; Madison, WI; Pleasanton, CA; Rochester, MN; Santa Barbara, CA; Santa Paula(CA; Santa Cruz, CA; Santa Fe, NM; Takoma Park, MD; Tamarac, FL and Ventura, CA - nearly 60 US Cities are members of the Mayors for Peace Campaign.

A number of groups are planning events in New York on May 1st...
Abolition Now! provides a list of 10 things you can do to join in the effort.

National Civic Dialogue on Social Security...

On Tuesday, April 19, people will gather in living rooms, libraries, community centers and coffee shops around the United States to discuss values-based messaging and Social Security. Make your voice heard by joining the conversation to help "frame" the truth about Social Security according to honest core values and genuine facts. The National Civic Dialogue on Social Security is a grassroots effort sponsored by Wellstone Action to encourage and empower people to discuss the issues.
The Door County Compass is sponsoring a meeting in Fish Creek at 7 PM. We have room for 35 people to attend at our home base, the Compass Coffeehouse.

Click to register... But, I encourage all of our readers to host a meeting on that night in your own local community. Click here to learn more about facilitating a discussion. Need some time to set up a meeting? You can host a meeting later this month!

Catholics against the Death Penalty

As a former Catholic I am pleased to discover the Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty. On March 21, the Campaign was formally launched at a press conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The site provides a link to state-by-state information including “Capital Punishment in Wisconsin: A Statement from the State’s Roman Catholic Bishops,” June 1995 which contains the following:

In March of 1995, Pope John Paul II further proscribed the use of the death penalty in his encyclical letter on The Gospel of Life. The Holy Father acknowledged that references to capital punishment can be found in selected passages of the Old Testament. However, as the Pope clarifies, these references must be read in the context of the New Testament: "But the overall message, which the New Testament will bring to perfection, is a forceful appeal for respect for the inviolability of physical life and the integrity of the person. It culminates in the positive commandment which obliges us to be responsible for our neighbor as for ouuselves: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' (Lev 19:18)."

In applying this overall message to the situation facing us today, the Pope dealt with -- and rejected -- the argument that the death penalty may be appropriate to protect society from those who commit heinous crimes.

"Today," the Pope concluded, "as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent.

Why America Must Stop John Bolton...

In November, 2004 the UN Commission on Disarament, essentially the General Assembly, voted 147 to 1 to endorse a treaty to ban the production of fissionable materials. Do I need to tell you who that one country was that voted against the ban? It's the same one that is now considering whether to be represented there by John Bolton. On Tuesday, March 22 Noam Chomsky lectured on the subject at the University of Edinburgh...

On April 7th members of the Foreign Relations Committee will vote on the appointment of John Bolton to be US Ambassador to the UN. As you probably know, Bolton has been one of the most strident opponents of U.S. multilateralism and diplomacy. He has made repeated comments that indicate that he doesn't even believe in the UN!

For excellent background on Bolton's appointment, go to www.stopbolton.org

Democratic members of the Foreign Relations Committee include:

Biden of Delaware (202) 224-5042
Dodd of Connecticut (202) 224-2823
Kerry of Massachusetts (202) 224-2742
Feingold of Wisconsin (202) 224-5323
Boxer of California (202) 224-3553
Nelson of Florida (202) 224-5274
Obama of Illinois (202) 224-2854

We need to encourage all of them to oppose this nomination.

On March 7th, President Bush nominated John Bolton, who’s dedicated his life to undermining the United Nations, to be our UN Ambassador. John Bolton is a disastrous choice. Right now, the U.S. needs to work through the UN more than ever to make the world a safer place for Americans.

Bolton, however, has made a career out of belittling and dismissing the UN, suggesting at one point that “if the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” He advocates a go-it-alone foreign policy that alienates our allies and strengthens our enemies. He has a history of rash behavior. And he has consistently put his own priorities over those of his country by refusing to obey orders.

Fair Trade vs Free Trade...

Sweatshop sportswear at UW Madison
Fed up with what they called a series of insults from the UW-Madison chancellor's office, four members of the UW Labor Licensing Committee tendered their resignations Monday. University officials, however, are calling the dispute a "disagreement over policy options."

At odds are the University's reaction to a proposal from the advisory committee that would have required the university to track when companies make moves to abandon any facilities in which workers are organizing and move their production somewhere else.

"It has become clear at this point that Chancellor Wiley is not listening to students or faculty and this committee is a total sham," said former committee member and UW-Madison sophomore Joel Feingold. "[The committee is] a front for the university to make it look good, to make it look like it cares about sweatshop issues where, as far as we can tell ... [Wiley] doesn't care."

The proposal would allow the University to track whether the companies were no longer in compliance with UW-Madison's Code of Conduct for licensees, according to Feingold.

On March 22, 2005 Jeffrey Sachs spoke to the World Bank in Washington DC. He advised the delegates to read the Monteray Consensus... and to ask any nominee for the role of World Bank President if they subscribe to the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Described therein are a collection of basic human rights including the right for all global citizens to health, sanitation, water, education... "The eradication of extreme poverty is not only a moral imperitive but is in the best interests of all nations," says Sachs.

The US contribution to end global poverty is at 0.15% of GNP - the lowest donor nation of all nations in the world. The UN goal is to generate 0.7% in assistance by the year 2015.

Check your calendar...

The Green Bay Chronicle reports Rep. Frank Lasee is planning on introducing a version of the right-wing Taxpayer Bill of Rights (or TABOR) “on a symbolic day - April 15, the deadline to file income taxes.”

Jon at Think Progress.org says, "Clever symbolism indeed, but given TABOR’s actual affect on the state of Colorado - the only place such legislation has been enacted (and where it is now being repealed) - a few other dates might be even more appropriate."

Russ poppin up all over...

Attack of the Political Cartoonists Insights and Assaults from Today's Editorial Cartoonists Edited by J.P. Trostle, with a Foreword by Senator Russ Feingold. Profiles of 150 members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, whose work has appeared in every major newspaper in North America and beyond. The cartoonists collected here have won hundreds of journalism awards, including over dozen Pulitzer Prizes. A hugely important release any year, but a timely one this election year! (160 pages, $15.99)

russforpresident.com

draftruss.com

foxforfeingold.org

Feingold for Illinois

You are encouraged to discuss State of Wisconsin Issues and a variety of other topics with the Progressive Messengers, active in promoting and working for a just, fair and equitable society. They too encourage maintaing a sense of humor... from the joke bin portion of their discussion board:

DEAR ABBY,

My husband has a long record of money problems. He runs up huge credit card bills and at the end of the month, if I try to pay them off, he shouts at me, saying I am stealing his money. He says pay the minimum and let our kids worry about the rest, but already we can hardly keep up with the interest.

Also he has been so arrogant and abusive toward our neighbors that most of them no longer speak to us. The few that do are an odd bunch, to whom he has been giving a lot of expensive gifts, running up our bills even more. Also, he has gotten religious in a big way, although I don't quite understand it. One week he hangs out with Catholics and the next with people who say the Pope is the Anti-Christ. And now he has been going to the gym an awful lot and is into wearing uniforms and cowboy outfits, and I hate to think what that means. Finally, the last straw. He's demanding that before anyone can be in the same room with him, they must sign a loyalty oath. It's just so horribly creepy!

Can you help?

Signed, Lost in DC

Dear Lost:

Stop whining, Laura. You can divorce the jerk any time you want. The rest of us are stuck with the asshole for four more years Confused

Stop the denial, it's WW IV

Eliot Cohen wrote: "Political people often dislike calling things by their names. Truth, particularly in wartime, is so unpleasant that we drape it in a veil of evasions, and the right naming of things is far from a simple task." Like the Global War on Terror or GWOT...

Back in November, 2001 Cohen introduced the idea of 'fessing up in World War IV - Let's call this conflict what it is.

Somehow I also failed to note a conference which took place September 29, 2004 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. "World War IV: Why We Fight, Whom We Fight, How We Fight," sponsored by the Committee on the Present Danger and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies was promoted in an announcement which read:

"The Cold War is now being called by some "World War III" because it was global, had an ideological basis, involved both military and non-military actions, required skill and the mobilization of extensive resources and lasted for years. Today's "war on terrorism" has the same elements, hence a broader name, "World War IV." Our speakers will explore its antecedents, its methods and its possible outcome."

Those speakers included Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Senator Joseph Lieberman (honorary co-chair of the Committee on the Present Danger) among others.

But today I discovered an extensive recent work entitled, Which War Is This Anyway? Are We in World War IV? in which Tom Engelhardt notes, "With its Cold War overtones of nuclear annihilation, World War IV implies that our very existence as a nation is in immediate danger and will be for years, decades, perhaps a century or more to come; and yet it is also a familiar, even reassuring image - another global war in the triumphant tradition of the three that preceded it."

Tom Engelhardt, who runs the Nation Institute's Tomdispatch.com ("a regular antidote to the mainstream media"), is the co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The End of Victory Culture, a history of American triumphalism in the Cold War.

Reviewer, Daniel J. Hamlow says, "This book came out in 1995, and early on in the book, Engelhardt makes a well-worn but important point: 'with the end of the Cold War and the loss of the enemy, American culture has entered a period of crisis that raises profound questions about national purpose and identity.' Ponder that passage, and what's going on today in the world."

"The main thing to ask today is, do we really need to have an enemy and a war to unite the people together? Peace and harmony can do the same thing. We do not need victory-for-one-side culture anymore. What we need is victory-for-all culture."

Jumpstart Ford...

Adopt a Ford Dealer on April 1st

The Sierra Club's latest campaign will ask people around the country to ‘adopt’ a Ford dealer in their community and schedule a meeting with the dealership. At the meeting you are instructed to encourage the dealer to sign a letter to Bill Ford, Jr. urging him to raise the fuel economy of his company’s vehicles.

"One of the most effective ways that we can influence Ford Motor Company to make the right decisions is to let them know that dealerships around the country want to sell cars, trucks, and SUVs that go farther on a gallon of gas," say organizers.

Driving Up the Heat (Sierra Club PDF)
Putting the Pressure on Ford Motor Company to Build Clean Cars

POLL - Americans See Fuel Efficient Cars as "Patriotic"

Petropulse is a daily weblog that documents the major and minor news stories published around the world concerning the influence of oil. Whether it is a story about gasoline prices, environmental policy, oil politics or global conflict; if oil influences the news, you'll find the story here.

worldbankpresident.org is about...

the World Bank President. Worldbankpresident.org editors Alex Wilks and David Steven shine a spotlight on the intrigues surrounding the selection process and examine the likely candidates and their track records. They also pass on as much speculation and gossip as they can their hands on, including the fact that World Bank staff "feel like (they're) at a funeral". They comment, "the mood here in the bank in the last 2 days is one of shock and disgust."

Hawaii & Louisiana Dems sink ANWR...

Following is the 51 to 49 roll call vote by which the Senate moved to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling:
Supporters of drilling voted Against removing a section of the budget resolution anticipating revenue from ANWR drilling.
Opponents of drilling voted For removing it from the budget.

Democrats Against (3):
Akaka and Inouye (Hawaii); Landrieu (La.)

Republicans Against (48):
Alexander (Tenn.); Allard (Colo.); Allen (Va.); Bennett (Utah); Bond (Mo.); Brownback (Kan.); Bunning (Ky.); Burns (Mont.); Burr (N.C.); Chambliss (Ga.); Coburn (Okla.); Cochran (Miss.); Cornyn (Tex.); Craig (Idaho); Crapo (Idaho); DeMint (S.C.); Dole (N.C.); Domenici (N.M.); Ensign (Nev.); Enzi (Wyo.); Frist (Tenn.); Graham (S.C.); Grassley (Iowa); Gregg (N.H.); Hagel (Neb.); Hatch (Utah); Hutchison (Tex.); Inhofe (Okla.); Isakson (Ga.); Kyl (Ariz.); Lott (Miss.); Lugar (Ind.); Martinez (Fla.); McConnell (Ky.); Murkowski (Alaska); Roberts (Kan.); Santorum (Pa.); Sessions (Ala.); Shelby (Ala.); Specter (Pa.); Stevens (Alaska); Sununu (N.H.); Talent (Mo.); Thomas (Wyo.); Thune (S.D.); Vitter (La.); Voinovich (Ohio); Warner (Va.).

Democrats For (41):
Baucus (Mont.); Bayh (Ind.); Biden (Del.); Bingaman (N.M.); Boxer (Calif.); Byrd (W.Va.); Cantwell (Wash.); Carper (Del.); Clinton (N.Y.); Conrad (N.D.); Corzine (N.J.); Dayton (Minn.); Dodd (Conn.); Dorgan (N.D.); Durbin (Ill.); Feingold (Wis.); Feinstein (Calif.); Harkin (Iowa); Johnson (S.D.); Kennedy (Mass.); Kerry (Mass.); Kohl (Wis.); Lautenberg (N.J.); Leahy (Vt.); Levin (Mich.); Lieberman (Conn.); Lincoln (Ark.); Mikulski (Md.); Murray (Wash.); Nelson (Fla.); Nelson (Neb.); Obama (Ill.); Pryor (Ark.); Reed (R.I.); Reid (Nev.); Rockefeller (W.Va.); Salazar (Colo.); Sarbanes (Md.); Schumer (N.Y.); Stabenow (Mich.); Wyden (Ore.).

Republicans For (7):
Chafee (R.I.); Coleman (Minn.); Collins (Maine); DeWine (Ohio); McCain (Ariz.); Smith (Ore.); Snowe (Maine).

Independent For:
Jeffords (Vt.)

The fight to save the Arctic Refuge is far from over. Arctic drilling may yet be prevented by voting against passage of the entire budget, of which Arctic drilling is a part. Please, thank Senators Feingold and Kohl for helping lead the charge to stop drilling for oil. Then boycott the companies that want to drill there:

Boycott these corporations and refuse to buy their gas until they promise not to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

ExxonMobil: 972.444.1000 - Kwik Trip buys gas from Exxon Mobil, call them and let them know what you think 608.781.8988.

ChevronTexaco: 925.842.1000

Support these corporations that refuse to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge:

BP: 281.366.5174 and 202.457.6603

ConocoPhillips: 303.649.4065

CITGO which gets nearly all its gas from Venezuela and the government of Victor Chavez. President Bush is once again doing everything he can to overturn the 3 times Democratically elected government in Venezuela.

Wisconsin enlistment plummets

Cap Times says, "The Army signed up 27 percent fewer recruits in Wisconsin last month than expected, putting it behind schedule for reaching its full-year recruiting goal, officials said Thursday. This was the first time it had fallen short of a target since May 2000. The defense department said recruiting has become more difficult for a variety of reasons, including concern that once in uniform a soldier will be sent to fight in Iraq."

Pol-site competition/collaboration...

The White House announced Friday that the Treasury Department is spending more tax dollars on spin doctors called in to perform CPR on the Bush plan to privatize Social Security with new a Web site, strengtheningsocialsecurity.gov but, I suggest you visit this one instead: strengtheningsocialsecurity.com.

"Geometries of Power," is a techno-art collaborative that resulted from Fusion02. On December 6, 2002 students and faculty of the Bauhaus-University/Weimar and the University of California/Los Angeles (UCLA) met online for a collaborative event creating images that use the interactive characteristics of space, geometry and sound to question concepts of power and control. It looks kinda cool but there is a browser extension required to really make the 3-D work and I have yet to fine tune it...

I will evolve...

A lab owned by California-based Genetic Savings and Clone is under construction in Waunakee, Wisconsin. It's set to open in late March. And wouldn't you know it? They're having a sale!

"After years of research and development, February 1, 2004 saw the launch of GSC's "Nine Lives Extravaganza," our initial cat cloning service. We began delivering clones to clients before the end of 2004, and are continuing to produce and deliver clones for clients, now at a new price of $32,000."

As the corporate media spins Pet Cloning Lab Set to Open; Residents Debate Ethics, what's missing is any discussion of wacko-American consumerism.

How appropriate that today's New-Found-Blog is entitled, "deconsumption The party's over. Turn out the lights...." On that note, don't miss iWillEvolve.org.

Meanwhile, my favorite big-blonde-conspiracy-theorist tells me that Neocon enslaved scientists working in a Guantanamo lab have been forced to undertake gene-blending projects in search of the master leader for the master race. She sends the following proof: