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FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE STATE FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

Middle Wisconsin News


www.MiddleWisconsin.com November 1, 2012

IN THIS ISSUE:

Faith and Hope


Its November in Wisconsin. The leaves are down, and the forests have taken on the quiet, stark beauty that comes with the end of the growing season.

Editors Note ........................1 George McGovern ................1 Working Wisconsin ..............2 Greed & Debt .......................3 Pro Life? ..4 Tax Pledge Cult ....................5 Land Line Free Market .......6 Bain & Sensata .....................7 Paul Ryan & Ayn Rand .........8 Things to Know .....................9 Kreitlow vs. Duffy ................ 10 Spaceship Earth ................. 11 From Third to First .............. 12 Wealth & Money ................. 13 Challenging the Myth .......... 14

While November is a time for giving thanks, it is also a time when we reaffirm our faith and hope that the coming winter will once again usher in the spring. This same faith and hope is expressed in the words of the late Senator George McGovern in our opening article, and this same spirit of faith and hope is at the heart of all the valiant efforts being made in the progressive movement. As always, we encourage you to forward this newsletter to others. In joining together, we become stronger.

George McGovern
By Virginia Kirsch Wausau Former Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern died early Sunday morning, October 21, at a hospice in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In a tribute to Senator McGovern, here is an excerpt from his 1972 Democratic convention speech:
George McGovern (19222012)

It is the time for this land to become again a witness to the world
for what is just and noble in human affairs. It is time to live more with faith and less with fear, with an abiding confidence that can sweep away the strongest barriers between us and teach us that we are truly brothers and sisters. Deliver us from secrecy and deception in high places; Deliver us from military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; Deliver us from the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism. Come home to the affirmation that we have a dream. Come home to the conviction that we can move our country forward.

Middle Wisconsin News welcomes letters, articles and essays on relevant topics. We ask that you limit submissions to 800 words and provide sources when appropriate. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and taste. Emailed submissions should be sent in plain text or Microsoft Word attachments to: dave@middlewisconsin.org
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Working Wisconsin Labor News & Views


The Case for a Constitutional Amendment to Repeal Citizens United
By John Spiegelhoff Merrill

the people more than The inherent power ofat stake andisthat they've enough to turn the tide if people realize what's got the power, with trade These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest. Reverand Martin Luther King, Jr. unions and environmental groups and consumer groups, to prevail and win. So that we have global cooperation with the maximum of democracy, a respect for local institutions and community initiatives, instead of these megacorporations that are strategizing and lobbying to control our world. Ralph Nader

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in which the Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions. The aftermath that ensued was an onslaught of corporate money into the political process the likes of which have never been seen before in this Corporations are country. As Willard (Mitt) Romney so famously stated in a people, my friend. stump speech to a heckler Corporations are people, my friend. It is the beginning of the demise of our democracy a government that is controlled by corporate interests. So why is John Spiegelhoff, a labor activist advocating for the repeal of Citizens United when unions are impacted as well? The answer is simple. There has and always will be a wealth disparity between the corporations and labor unions, much less any worker for that matter. The playing field is not evennot one iota. Historically, labor unions have been the last bulwark against corporate domination in the United States. They are the great equalizer. Labor unions maintain the scales of economic justice for all workers. When placed in perspective, we (workers) are many, and they (corporations) are few. Before the advent of Citizens United, there were limits on what persons could contribute to a campaign or political party. CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE. Never have been and never will be. The whole concept that they are is ludicrous. A constitutional amendment repealing Citizens United puts the brakes on corporate power and domination in our political system. Individuals are free to contribute to a political party or candidate, but there is a limit. There is no collective pooling of money and hiding said money through misleading names such as Americans for Apple Pie. There are more of us (workers) than them (corporations) when we decide to financially contribute to a political party/candidate with limitations. Then justice will be served and balance restored.

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Greed & Debt
By Jeanne Larson Phillips In his article in RollingStone Magazine, Greed and Debt: The True Story of Romney and Bain Capital, investigative reporter Matt Taibbi explains how Mitt Romney became fantastically rich. While Romney portrays his role at Bain as helping other businesses create jobs, Taibbi points out that midway in his career at Bain, Romney switched from creating venture capital companies like Staples to leveraged buyouts. Romney noted the reason for the switch: Theres a lot greater risk in a startup than there is in acquiring an existing company.

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These are myths, yet they are widely believed in certain circles. Poor people are poor by choice. A classic myth. A rising tide lifts all boats. Much more true when we were an industrial society and manufacturing products created jobs. Much less true when the economic tide is one of finance and money manipulation which lifts the gilded yachts but not the rowboats of the rest of us. Jobs are not created when crackpot financial schemes make hedge fund managers rich. Thus, a myth. Gary Hart
http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/ gary-hart/myth-and-itsdangers_b_1946636.html

Romney/Bain selected a struggling target company, put down a small amount of its own money, borrowed the resttypically 60 to 90%then used borrowed money to purchase a controlling stake in the target company. Hostile takeovers were avoided by buying off the target companys management with lucrative bonuses. What most voters dont know is that when Bain borrowed all that money, the target company ended up liable for the debt. For example, Bain bought Indiana-based American Pad & Paper (Ampad) in 1992 for $5 million, financing the rest of the deal with debt. Within 3 years, Ampad was paying $60 million in annual debt payments plus $7 million for Bains management fees. A year later, Bain led Ampad to go public, cashed out about $50 million in stock and charged the firm $7 million in management fees. Ampad went bankrupt, but Romney/Bain made more than $100 million on a $5 million investment. Taibbi notes present tax policies already unfairly favor Romney/Bain. Bain deducts the interest on debt used to acquire and loot their targets, the same mortgage interest deduction homeowners use. Romneys personal income is taxed at a maximum of 15% as capital gains or carried interest. Romney takes advantage of offshore tax havens in the Cayman Islands, and his wife has a $3 million Swiss bank account. Taibbi points out the irony in Mitts harping on the size of the national debt while Romney became so wealthy as one of the greatest and most irresponsible debt creators of all time . . . . [Romney has] piled more debt onto more unsuspecting companies [and] written more gigantic checks that other people have to cover, than perhaps all but a handful of people on planet Earth. In earlier times, people like Mitts dad, George Romney, got rich running businesses like AMC, but George paid his fair share of taxes and the wealth was shared with workers who manufactured something. Mitt got rich by borrowing vast sums of money that other people were forced to pay back, rarely losing any money regardless of whether the target survived or went bankrupt or how many workers lost jobs. No wonder presidential candidate George Romney shared 12 years of his tax returns with the electorate, but his son Mitt refuses to reveal his. Be assured billionaires the likes of Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Brothers will make billions more on investments of hundreds of millions in ads to elect Romney and Republicans. They know that, when elected, their cronies will pass legislation that favors the rich at the expense of everyone else.

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Pro-Life?
By Joyce Luedke Hayward do not youre Iopposedbelieve that just because you proto abortion, that makes

November 1, 2012 Page 4

life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born, but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think you dont? Because you dont want any tax money to go there. Thats not pro-life. Thats pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is. Sister Joan Chittister, Benedictine nun

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
Gandhi

What does it mean to be pro-life? Here are some food for thought questions. Is it pro-life:

That millions of pregnant mothers in the U.S. do not have health insurance and pre-natal care? That millions of children, once born, do not have health insurance? That millions of people, including children, were once denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition and/or had their insurance capped because of a serious illness? That 45,000 people die each year because they dont have health insurance?

The Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Barack Obama will assure coverage for most Americans, and yet Mitt Romney has stated he will repeal this legislation. Under Romneys plan, 72 million people would be unable to obtain insurance, and he will make it harder for 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions to get coverage. Out-of-pocket spending and premiums would increase. This plan would be particularly tough for low-income people or people living in poverty who would be covered under Medicaid. Romney/Ryan would cut Medicaid funding. Romney has stated that people without insurance should go to the emergency room. Is this pro-life? Millions of people, many of them children, go hungry each day. Paul Ryans budget calls for billions of dollars in cuts for SNAP, the food stamp program, and many other programs that assist children, the poor and working poor, and the middle classall while giving the wealthiest Americans a tax break of at least $250,000 a year. Is this a vision of pro-life? 4,486 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq between 2003 and 2012, and 31,928 have been wounded. The war in Iraq will cost over $1 trillion. Unlike previous wars, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are paid entirely by debt. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates the costs of the wars and the Bush tax cuts will account for almost one-half of the projected $20 trillion in debt in 2019. Is it pro-life to send men and women to war, especially in Iraq, using faulty intelligence and false pretenses? How will you vote pro-life on November 6th?

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Sources: Wikipedia; U.S. News and World Report; Think Progress; NPR

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The Grover Norquist

Tax Pledge Cult


I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Wall Street Lords of America and to the Predator Class for which they stand subjugated masses under domination, with liberty and justice for the fit. For a complete list of Tax Pledge cult members, see:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ atrfiles/files/files/072911federalpledgesigners.pdf

August 2012 Featured Cult Members


Missionaries for the Lords of Wall Street
These are the men and women who have placed allegiance to an ideology above their allegiance to the people of Americawho have placed ideology above truth and intelligence. No matter how it harms America, these individuals refuse to ask the very rich and corporations to pay their fair share. Indeed, it is the goal of the Supreme Leader of this Cult, Grover Norquist, to destroy our government or, as he phrased it, To drown it in a bathtub. This is the respect these men and women have for the hope of humanity for America once the shining light of democracy. Drown it in a bathtub.

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. Frederic Bastiat French writer & economist, 1850

In regards to pregnancies resulting from rape: From what I understand from doctors, thats really rare. If its a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Todd Akin of Missouri

Life is that gift from God. And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.
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Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock of Indiana

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Coming May 2013...

November 1, 2012 Page 6

A Landline Free Market for Phone Companies But NOT You!


By Roger Springman Wyocena

There is no such thing as a free market, never has been, never will be. All markets are regulated, but some markets are regulated in the interest of the many and others in the interest of the few. The American economy is now clearly and indisputably regulated by the few and for the few who now control the wealth of the nation. Thomas Magstadt
www.nationofchange.org/myth -free-market-1340630005

Imagine facing a landline phone bill of double or triple your current charge and not having a cell phone option. Or, worse yet, imagine that you are a senior citizen on 24/7 medical alert over your landline and being told your rates will double or triple, or your service even cancelled. Now imagine the Public Service Commission (PSC) being removed as the regulating body to protect you from excessive rate increases and coverage changes. Welcome to the new world of free market telecommunications provided to you by the Legislature and Gov. Scott Walker through the passage of Act 22, Telecommunications Modernization Act, spring 2011. In what can only be considered an inside job, the legislature began working in January 2011 to modernize telecommunications . . . modernization meaning deregulation, of course. Senate sponsors included Olsen, Harsdorf, Galloway, Cowles, Grothman, Hopper, Schultz, Taylor, Moulton, Leibham, Zipperer, Vukmir, and Wanggaard. But, it should come as no surprise that the hand of ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) was ever present in the form of ALEC members serving as co-sponsors and their model deregulation bill providing text . Telecommunication companies especially AT&T and Frontier North had much to gain (and did) in this legislation and maintained a strong presence throughout the bill drafting process. Twenty-five AT&T employees registered in favor of the bill and on it goes. But, where was the public interest and care for the impact of this outlandish bill on rural Wisconsin, our elderly, and folks on fixed incomes? Over 2.2 million landlines remain in use in Wisconsin, and Act 22s deregulation is incredibly premature and dangerous. Many landlines are in remote rural areas where cell phone signals are very unstable or non-existent. . . there is no competition there! Moreover, seniors and the elderly often have no interest in and money for cell phones, let alone Blackberrys and iPhones. Then there are those thousands of citizens that depend on landlines to carry their medical alert signals. This law will endanger lives! This law cannot stand as written and must be changed before May 1st, 2013! The legislature must enact an 18-month moratorium on the landline provisions of Act 22 when it next convenes, including the re-authorization of the PSCs regulatory role. During this period of time, at least 3 things must occur: 1. An analysis of cell phone service access and stability in all rural areas must be conducted to determine the presence of coverage holes. 2. Limits must be set on the amount of phone line rate increases that can occur over any 2-year period. 3. Clear, enforceable provider of last resort provisions must be established on the way telecommunication companies can affect servicing and rates of customers with medical alert services and areas with poor cell phone service.

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Bain & Sensata
By Joyce Luedke Hayward

November 1, 2012 Page 7

B
I think first thing is each of us has to daily ask a question, "Where am I complicit in a war against the Earth? Where are my daily actions part of a devastation of the planet and with it, a devastation of the lives of people." Because the two go hand in hand. A war against the Earth is a war against people. Peace with the Earth is peace among people.
Vandana Shiva

ain Capital is the majority owner of Sensata Technologies in Freeport, Illinois, since 2011. Sensata manufactures sensors and controls used in aircraft and automobiles. 170 employees were told that the company would be closed and the jobs moved to China. The company is non-union and making a profit just not enough profit to suit Bain Capital. For the past several months, the employees of Sensata and the people in Freeport have been protesting the closure. They have set up Bainport across the street from the factory raising awareness of the job losses and how these losses will affect the community. Even the mayor has asked Mitt Romney to come to talk to the workers. He has not. The employees were forced to train the Chinese workers who will take their jobs when the plant closes in November. While the Chinese were at Sensata, the American flag was taken down and put back up when they left. The employees are now packing up the machines to send them to the plant in China. Mitt Romney still holds the Bain Capital Fund that contains the Sensata investment. He and Bain Capital will benefit greatly by shipping these jobs to China, where the replacement workers will earn less than a dollar an hour, working 12 hours a day, 365 days a year. These workers and others like them live in small dorm rooms with 4 or more to a room often malnourished and of course no health care. Mitt Romney, through the Bain Capital Asian Fund, has invested from time to time in several Chinese companies. Asimco Technologies bought 2 camshaft companies in Michigan with 500 employees and in 2007 shut them down and sent the jobs to China. Bain has $2.25 million invested. In 2009, Bain invested $234 million in Gome Electrical Appliances and another $39 million in Feixang Group. Bain has investments in at least 7 other Chinese companies. Romney says he opposes sending jobs to China and will crack down on China. His company, Bain Capital, tells a different story. Mr. Romneys income is about $450,000 a week. His money comes from his investments. Much of his money is in Bain Capital, the company that is now closing another American company, sending the jobs and equipment to China. We should all feel the pain of the 170 employees at Sensata because stories like this have been told for years and are being repeated all across the country, with jobs being lost and companies closing while venture capitalists are raking in millions. What factories close to us in Wisconsin will be next? Now more than ever, we must all do our best to Buy American.

billmoyers.com/episode/fullshow-banking-on-greed/

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November 1, 2012 Page 8

Paul Ryans Budget Guided by Ayn Rand Philosophy, Not Moral Compass
By Jeanne Larson Phillips The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand. I grew up reading Ayn Rand, and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are and what my beliefs are. Its inspired me so much that its required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff.
U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, in 2005 speeches

It is always incredible to me that any adult could actually believe in something as shallow and childishly selfcentered as Rand's work. Her writing is food for a mind ignorant of any sense of history, or sociology, or religious philosophy, or proven economic theory, or any sense of environmental science, and on and on. It is a frightened mind that seeks protection in a simplistic, juvenile ideology a mind that seeks a safe, secure little world where one is not required to think, to question, to understand. It is a mind ripe for exploitation. Dave Svetlik

Rep. Paul Ryan Republican VP candidate

Ayn Rand (19051982) was a Russian immigrant, author, philosopher, pro-choice advocate, and atheist. Lonnie Griesbaum (Daily Kos) describes Mike Wallaces 1959 interview of Rand: Arguing that reason based solely on self-interest is the only moral required for life, she defines altruism to be an evil force. . . . [S]he describes herself as an atheist who doesnt believe in self-sacrifice for others under any circumstance . . . . Using this unique and caustic morality she goes on . . . to justify and indeed promote the notion that unbridled industrialists operating in a totally unregulated free market capitalist model would be the salvation of man . . . . [and] to deride most all of the institutions of American democracy. Rep. Ryans proposed Path to Prosperity budget passed a vote in the House in March 2012 with no Democratic support. Rep. Sean Duffy voted for Ryans budget. U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson says he would pass it. Although Presidential candidate Mitt Romney hasnt shared a specific budget proposal with the electorate, he called Ryans budget bold, exciting, excellent, and marvelous. Sister Simone Campbell, head of the Roman Catholic social justice organization NETWORK, led the Nuns on the Bus tour this summer. Sr. Campbell characterizes Ryans budget as immoral: Paul Ryan claims this budget reflects the principles of our shared faith . . . but the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the Ryan budget failed a basic moral test, because it would harm families living in poverty. . . . [T]hats why we went on the road: to stand with struggling families and to lift up our Catholic sisters who serve them. Their work to alleviate suffering would be seriously harmed by the RomneyRyan budget. . . . Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be responsible. But their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate families. Rather, our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another.
Sources: dailykos.com, budget.house.gov, thehill.com, abcnews.com, washingtonpost.com.

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THINGS TO KNOW
Reported by Virginia Kirsch Wausau

Highlights in Public Citizens Ongoing Fight to Keep Big Business from Taking Over Our Democracy:

New Jersey could become the 9th state to call for a constitutional amendment overturning the U.S. Supreme Courts Citizens United ruling. Public Citizen and allies are building amendment momentum in many other states, with ballot initiatives this fall in Colorado and Montana, and campaigns in Illinois, New York, Washington, and West Virginia.

That is the central issue in this election. It is a moral issue. Who are we as Americans? Are we citizens who join together to form a great nation? Or are we isolated individuals, with no commitments to each other, at the mercy of corporations whose central goal is their short-term profit. George Lakoff

USA Today recently published a column by Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizens Congress Watch division, highlighting ways to bring the dark money into the light despite gridlock at the Federal Election Commission. The New York Times in an editorial said that there may be some changes in how unlimited money is spent, but now that it has been unleashed, only a constitutional amendment or a careful system of regulation can bottle it back up. Source: Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

WISCONSIN
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Time Off to Vote Tuesday, NOV. 6, 2012
In Wisconsin, employees are entitled to up to 3 hours leave to vote.

The employee must request leave before Election Day. Pay can be deducted for time lost. The employer can set the time for leave to vote.
Source: Wisconsin Statute 6.76(1)

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Kreitlow vs. Duffy
By Jeanne Larson Phillips

November 1, 2012 Page 10

Projected Medicare costs over 75 years are about 25% lower because of the Affordable Care Act. Medicares long-run deficit continues to be much lower than it has been in recent years due to the Affordable Care Act. Overall, the Affordable Care Act stabilized and improved this important program that serves nearly 50 million seniors and individuals with disabilities.

The Tea Party claims to speak in the name of populism even as it seeks to sweep aside so many of the reforms for which the original Populists fought. E. J. Dionne, Jr. in Our Divided Political Heart

Medicare Board of Trustees 2011 Annual Report Despite this and numerous similar reports [Bloomberg News; Wall Street Journal; Politifact; FactCheck.org], Sean Duffy and other Republicans continue to falsely claim that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) cuts $716 billion from Medicare. Do a Google search of the phrase msnbc youtube Duffy Medicare to view an interview in which the reporter called Duffy out on this lie. Mr. Duffy, no matter how many times you and your Republican allies repeat the same false information, it is still not true.

Duffy voted for dramatic cuts to Medicare in the Ryan budget, which offset costs onto seniors instead of shoring up the program [Bloomberg News; Washington Post]. Duffys ad claiming his Democratic opponent Pat Kreitlow favors bailing out big banks is misleading [WAOW.com]. Duffy voted to give himself and members of Congress taxpayer-funded health care for life [WisPolitics.com]. Duffy said, I struggle on a $174,000 salary [Milwaukee JournalSentinel].

Duffy agreed to 2 debates with Kreitlow: an untelevised debate in Wausau on October 22 and a November 1 debate in Superior to air only in the SuperiorDuluth area. Four of five voters in the District wont have an opportunity to view the debates. In 2010, Duffy advocated for a TV debate with his Democratic challenger after a Packer game during prime time across the district. Kreitlow wants district-wide televised debates, saying, Were looking forward to debating what Congressman Duffy has been up to these past two years shifting the tax burden to the middle class, voting to replace Medicare with a voucher program, and creating gridlock in Washington. Duffy ran in 2010 saying he would be an independent voice for the 7th District. Kreitlow says Duffy has not been independent or an advocate for the 7th District. Duffy chooses to spend big money on false ads instead of debating Krietlow on facts and issues. The 7th District deserves better. Vote Pat Kreitlow for Congress.

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SPACESHIP EARTH
Ive often heard people say, I wonder what it would be like to

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Our little Spaceship Earth is only eight thousand miles in diameter, which is almost a negligible dimension in the great vastness of space.
R. Buckminster Fuller Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth

be on board a spaceship, and the answer is very simple. What does it feel like? Thats all we have ever experienced. We are all astronauts. I know you are paying attention, but Im sure you dont immediately agree and say, Yes thats right, I am an astronaut. I'm sure that you dont really sense yourself to be aboard a fantastically real spaceship our spherical Spaceship Earth. Of our little sphere you have seen only small portions. However, you have viewed more than did pre-twentieth century man, for in his entire lifetime he saw only one millionth of the Earths surface. Youve seen a lot more. R. Buckminster Fuller Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth For a moment let us attempt to envision the reality of being aboard Spaceship Earth to internalize being crewmembers of the ship to understand that our continued wellbeing depends upon the integrity of the ship and the well-being of our fellow crewmembers. Thinking as diligently as we can in this frame of mind . . . Would we ask how do we make the most money, or how do we make the most sense? On a spaceship, the answer is obvious: Making money is utterly meaningless. Making sense is a matter of life and death. We humans are asking the wrong questions. On board a spaceship one would never ask how to make money. One would ask:

Does our Spaceship Earth have adequate food production capability to feed all crew members? Yes if we properly manage our agricultural resources in an ecologically sound manner and apply the latest scientific and technical knowledge. Does our spaceship have adequate supplies to clothe and house all crew members? Yes if we efficiently utilize and recycle available resources and apply the latest knowledge and practices in our production and construction industries. Does our spaceship have adequate energy income in the form of wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, hydroelectric, etc. to allow us to phase out climate warming fossil fuels? Yes if we properly manage our resources, utilize the latest knowhow in energy conservation in our buildings and elsewhere, rethink and redesign our transportations systems, and apply the latest scientific and technical knowledge.

We are attempting to operate a spaceship using scientifically disproved reptilian reflexive you or me, not enough for everyone, survival of the fittest thinking. Failure to change this mode of operation is lethal to the future of our ship and its crew members.
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To be continued . . .

Middle Wisconsin News


From Third to First
By Mike McCabe Madison
Clearly the current political landscape is stomach turning for most if not nearly all citizens. Thats why the ranks of the politically homeless have grown so. Pew Research Center findings show that the number of Americans who refuse to align with either major party is at its highest level in 70 years. That speaks volumes about the disillusionment so many feel about politics and those in power. -above ballot option? Any of these reforms would have to be passed by a legislature controlled by the major parties and signed into law by an executive from one of the major parties. The major parties would have to agree to weaken themselves and threaten their grip on power. Not bloody likely.

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brand and then go to battle in major party primaries to win voters over to that new brand.

To be both constructive and successful, the brand cant be an appeal to the fringes, it has to be a threat to the major parties by strongly appealing to the heart of the electorate. It also cant be a resurrecSo the rules are rigged against third par- tion of an old political brand. The Proties and changing the rules wont happen gressive label, for example, doesnt mean without the consent of the two major par- what it once did; the term is now loaded. ties. How then do you loosen their stran- If theres a new political brand to be creglehold? ated, it needs a new name. Rather than trying to run candidates on a separate party line on the ballot, leaving them vulnerable to the spoiler and wastedvote phenomena, why not compete directly with the major parties in their own primary elections? Most people who end up voting for Republicans or Democrats are actually politically homeless. Most hate both parties. Create some competition within each party. Give people an appealing new option within each party. In private industry, if a product is out there and no longer seems to meet the needs of consumers, some competitor jumps into the market with a new and improved product. The same principle needs to be applied to politics, in a realistic way that takes into account the way the American system is structured. Third-party organizing has been tried many times, and many times it has failed. First-party organizing has been tried twice when enough people were feeling alienated and politically homeless and two times it succeeded in producing major political realignment and reform. Maybe we are approaching another such moment when the established political arrangement can be subverted from within. Maybe the time has come for a new political brand. What might that brand look like? More on that soon.... Article reprinted with permission from Wisconsin Democracy Campaigns Big Money Blog, October 22, 2012 http://blog.wisdc.org/2012/10/from-thirdto-first.html

An answer can be found right here at home. Attempts to create alternatives The question is what to do about it. Neithat can shake the major parties to their ther major party is seen as working for foundations have succeeded a couple of the common good or doing whats best times in Wisconsins history, but in each for America. They are seen as working for case they were what I would call firstthe narrow, wealthy interests that fund party movements, not third-party movethem. This leads more than a few to pine ments. for a third way. First-party movements do not aim to give The problem is that third parties in this us three parties. They force one of the country are destined to fail. Third parties two existing major parties to either adapt fail because, well, their aim is to make it or perish. One time a major party got reso we have three parties. For better or placed. The other time both major parties worse, ours is a two-party system. It is were reformed. not a parliamentary democracy. In the time of slavery, the Whig Party was Third-party movements also routinely one of the two major parties in America. fail because they organize to the left of The Republican Party was born here in the Democrats or to the right of the ReWisconsin out of frustration over the lack publicans. Thus they largely operate on of a true anti-slavery party and eventualthe political fringes, and only meaningfully drove the Whigs to extinction. ly compete for the votes of a small part of the electorate. Put another way, they seek And then out of the cauldron of bank failto clip a major partys wing but dont try ures and economic depression in the to cut its heart out. 1890s, the Progressive Party rose to challenge the Republicans and Democrats. Third-party aficionados rightly lament That first-party movement didnt end up that their fate is sealed by the fact that we replacing either, but reformed both. Both have winner-take-all elections. They have parties developed predominant Progresa point when they say that if we had prosive wings. Teddy Roosevelt was elected portional representation or instant runoff president as a Progressive Republican. voting or one of its variants, things would Woodrow Wilson won the presidency as be different. a Progressive Democrat. The nation's Such reforms would greatly benefit socie- character, and Wisconsins in particular, ty and improve our democracy. The Dewere fundamentally reshaped. mocracy Campaign has advocated this The lesson from the history books is to kind of reform for nearly a decade. But stop hoping for three parties and start how do you get from point A to point B? focusing on creating one that is worth a How do you get proportional representadamn. You do that by creating some comtion or rank-order voting or a none-of-the petition in the form of a new political

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Wealth & Money
Numbers to Consider When Voting on November 6
By Joyce Luedke Hayward

November 1, 2012 Page 13

The greatest country, the richest country, is not that which has the most capitalists, monopolists, immense grabbings, vast fortunes, with its sad, sad soil of extreme, degrading, damning poverty, but the land in which there are the most homesteads, freeholds where wealth does not show such contrasts high and low, where all men have enough a modest living and no man is made possessor beyond the sane and beautiful necessities. Walt Whitman American poet (18191892)

4,000 households with incomes over a million dollars paid no federal income taxes in 2011. Another 14,000 households made between $500,000 and $1 million and paid no federal taxes in 2011. 6 of the richest Americans paid no federal income taxes in 2009. Here are just 2 reasons: A wealthy tax filer may report dividend income from foreign stocks. This dividend is not taxed by the IRS because taxes are paid in the foreign country. People who live off their investment income will report investment loses and will pay no taxes. The tax code is full of tax breaks and exceptions benefiting the wealthiest, including Mitt Romney. 50% of U.S. corporations do not pay federal taxes, because accounting and legal teams take advantage of every loophole, as Mitt Romney does. $6.6 trillion would be the tax cuts put forth by the Romney/Ryan budget. This 20% cut would extend the Bush tax cuts, cut corporate taxes, and eliminate the estate tax.

$260,000 is the average tax cut per year for a millionaire under this plan.

increase in taxes paid by the middle class. Romney/Ryan will not name the deductions and loopholes they would cut to maintain current levels of revenue. Will it be: (a) the Earned Income Credit and the Child Care Credit that working people depend on? (b) the mortgage deduction? (c) the tax credit for college expenses? (d) the deductions for local and state taxes? (e) the deductions for health insurance and other health expenses? (f) the charitable giving deduction? If many of these deductions are eliminated, the middle class would be hit especially hard. Mark Zandi the chief economist for Moodys says the arithmetic doesnt add up. The Washington Post calls the Ryan budget flimflam and the New York Times calls it the Fairy-Tale Budget Plan. Mitt Romney calls it marvelous.

$5 million is the amount Romney would save each year under his own plan.

$900 billion over 10 years is the amount of revenue lost by the cuts to corporate taxes proposed by the Romney/ Ryan plan. Corporate deductions would not be eliminated. Over one-half of all people in Congress are multimillionaires, which includes Congressman Paul Ryan. Taxpayers pay for very generous benefits for the 535 members. Is it any wonder Congress wont pass the Buffet Rule that would raise taxes by just 4% for millionaires/ billionaires. Clearly, they dont want to raise taxes on themselves. $2,000 to $4,000 a year or more would be the

2012Middle W is c ons in

Sources: Washington Post, New York Times, CNN Money, Think Progress, Tax Policy Center, Citizens for Tax Justice

Middle Wisconsin News


CHALLENGING THE MYTH...

November 1, 2012 Page 14

And if all others accepted the lie which the party imposed if all records told the same tale then the lie passed into history and became the truth.
George Orwell 1984 (published in 1949)

The Myth of American Exceptionalism


By Dave Svetlik Mosinee

There is a life cycle to all empires a historical evolution in the birth, maintenance, and loss of world preeminence. It has sometimes been conceived brutally, through conquest and cunning, but the birth of new empires has also been the result of relocation of the leading centers of knowledge and science, as well as of technological and engineering expertise. Such was the transfer of power from Great Britain to America after the first and second world wars. Like previous empires, America maintained its preeminence as long as the major focus of its economy remained in knowledge and science and in technological and engineering expertise. This is so because the long-term result of knowledge, of science, and of technological and engineering expertise is a genuine increase in human wealth in the ability to sustain ever more humans with an ever rising standard of living. In this scenario, an empire, a society, is earning its living.

But empires have a lifespan. They pass their zenith when their financial industry (manipulating money to make money, rather than developing true lifesustaining wealth) becomes the dominant sector of their economy. This occurred in America in the 1990s. When an investment manager using highspeed computers buys a million shares of XYZ stock for $1.03/share, sells them 1.3 seconds later when the price has fluctuated to $1.06/share, pockets $30,000.00, and claims he has created wealth, a society has passed its zenith. When a banker who deliberately makes bad loans and then buys insurance protecting himself against loan failure that eventually requires bailout by the U.S. government claims he is creating wealth, an empire is in decline. When Wall Street is nothing more than a giant Ponzi scheme claiming it is creating wealth, America is on its way out. The only exceptionalism left in America is how exceptionally gullible we as a people have been in being manipulated by corporations and the super rich.

Skeptics invoked a warning that went against the tide: this faith in finance was not new, but old and it had played wayward pied piper to prior leading world economic powers. On the edge of decline the Spanish had gloried in their New World gold and silver; the Dutch, in their investment income and lending to princes and czarinas; and the British in their banks, brokers, and global financial network. In none of these situations, however, could financial services succeed in upholding the national preeminence that had earlier been built by explorers, conquistadores, maritime skills, innovative science and engineering, the first railroads, electric dynamos, and great iron and steel works. Invariably, power and greatness passed on to new explorers, innovators, and industrialists. Kevin Phillips in his book Bad Money, addressing the historic significance of the fact that finance had become the single largest component of U.S. gross domestic product by the 1990s

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