Free Republic

This is why the American people believe Congress is among the country's sleaziest institutions. Recently when the Senate and House were debating the bill to make credit card companies more accountable and to stop them from arbitrarily changing the rules for their customers, Sen. Tom Coburn, the right-wing flamethrower from Oklahoma, decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to play some mischief. Coburn has been trying for the past couple of years to allow people to carry concealed weapons in our national parks, but even when his party had more power than now, he couldn't get that proposal passed....

When our family moved to Wisconsin in the mid 1960s, Dad found us a little two-story Cape Cod in the village of Maple Bluff. By all appearances it was a perfect starter home for an insurance claims man and his wife, featuring a backyard big enough to punt a football in and an elm tree with a swing, all within walking distance of Lakewood Elementary School. But my folks, swept up in the civil rights and anti-war movements, soon discovered they were out of step with some of their new neighbors in the conservative suburb on Lake Mendota's northeast shore....

During the course of the Bush/Cheney interregnum, millions of Americans resisted the worst excesses of a lawless and irresponsible administration that led this country into wars of whim, sanctioned torture and extraordinary rendition, embarked upon a spying regimen that made a mockery of the right to privacy, and destroyed the system of checks and balances that was supposed to protect the republic from monarchical abuse. Each year during a period of democratic decline that was so aptly anticipated by Jefferson with his 18th century reference to "the reign of the witches," we honored Most Valuable Progressives -- groups and individuals...

In what may be the beginning of a campaign to talk soldiers out of deploying to Iraq, 12 peace activists were fined Monday in federal court for trespassing last summer at Fort McCoy in west central Wisconsin. Members of Voices for Creative Nonviolence were arrested in August by base police at the main gate of the 67,000-acre military installation during a walk from Chicago to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. The activists said they wanted to "dialogue" with soldiers to tell them their Fort McCoy Training would leave them woefully unprepared for what they would face in...

To make up for years of writing that tends to annoy people with guns, let me take this opportunity to congratulate Wisconsin's deer hunters on a job well done. For decades now, I've written one of the few columns in the state about deer hunting from the deer's point of view. And every year I receive a flood of communications from hunters informing me how totally ignorant I am. What I fail to realize, they patiently explain, is the vital role in wildlife management hunters perform for deer when they go Up North to blow away Bambi's mother. If they...

When deer hunting season opens this weekend, Wisconsin’s poor deer hunters are going to be at even more of a disadvantage than usual in their annual attempt to match wits with highly intelligent animals. This year, deer hunters are going to be burdened by carrying heaping armloads of guns into the woods with them. Deer hunters and other gun lovers have been absolutely terrified ever since Nov. 4 that President-elect Barack Obama is going to swoop down on their homes and confiscate all their guns. In a panic, thousands of gun owners have raced to their nearest gun dealers to...

Can you be an obscure, self-indulged, theory-laden, post-modern scholar and manage to be an effective university president?  University of Wisconsin at Madison is hoping “yes.� It has picked Biddy Martin, Cornell provost and women’s studies professor, as its new chancellor. Her best-known work is a little something called Femininity Played Straight, which features chapters entitled “Sexualities without Gender and Other Queer Utopias� and “Teaching Feminism.� The one review that Amazon.com has picked up on the book is truncated to a single sentence, though it pretty much sums up the obtuseness of Ms Martin’s field: “Martin's eccentric use of the body...

MADISON, WI -- There was a time when residents in this liberal college city would greet homeless people by name. They'd stop to chat with Scanner Dan, the grizzled guy with a walkie-talkie buzzing at his hip as he asked for change. They'd offer odd jobs to a man known as Snowball, who was rumored to have been a smuggler for the Chicago mob during Prohibition. Then two violent slayings in less than three months shook residents in the state capital, which is also home to the main campus of the University of Wisconsin. Both victims were stabbed in their...

In seeking voters for her husband in Tuesday's presidential primary, Michelle Obama spoke with heartfelt empathy to the millions for whom the American Dream has been elusive. "There's a bar that's shifting and moving," Obama told a crowd of about 800 at the Overture Center's Capitol Theater this afternoon. "Most Americans can't catch the bar." And when people can't catch the bar, Obama said, they get tired, cynical and fearful and they pass those frustrations on to the next generation. "I'm here because I don't want that for my girls," said Obama, who has two young daughters with Democratic presidential...

Late this spring The Capital Times will dramatically enhance its Internet site as well as alter its print frequency from six days to two days per week to address changing habits of afternoon newspaper readers, company executives announced Thursday. Publisher Clayton Frink said the newspaper's online site, captimes.com, will feature increased volume, depth and timeliness of news, opinion and other information. He said the printed edition of the newspaper will expand its distribution by about five times and switch from six-day publication to two weekly tabloid-size editions."The Capital Times has been a progressive media voice in Madison for 90 years,...

Offer me a helping of potatoes and sugar snaps from a local farmer or a plate full of war and carnage, and I'll take the vegetables, thanks. Invite me to sit on a cushion in a chair made locally from willow branches or let me settle softly into plush slave labor and environmental degradation, and I'll choose the rustic chair and cushion. None of my friends or family actively seeks to support war, impoverishment, or desecration of the earth. But what is indisputable is that most any product I purchase, unless I know its maker, has long supply chains in...

In a case closely watched in higher education, the University of Wisconsin-Madison agreed Thursday to award more than $250,000 in student fees next year to a Catholic group to settle its religious discrimination lawsuit.Both the university and the UW Roman Catholic Foundation praised the agreement, which settles a federal lawsuit filed after the university refused to recognize the group despite a campus presence dating to the 1880s. The dispute has been watched closely because it could set clearer standards on whether student fees at a public university can go to religious groups -- and for what activities -- without violating...

Former University of Wisconsin lecturer Kevin Barrett said Thursday he will travel to Morocco in an attempt to find and interview a man accused of hijacking an airplane and flying it into the World Trade Center. Barrett, widely known and criticized for his 9/11 conspiracy theory, announced at the state Capitol that he will head to Casablanca this Sunday and try to locate Saudi Arabian pilot Waleed al-Shehri. The 9/11 Commission has said al-Shehri stabbed two unarmed flight attendants and crashed a plane into the World Trace Center five and a half years ago. According to Barrett, al-Shehri is alive...

Recently, we read an opinion piece by Steve Lawrence, a UW freshman. This article, published on April 24, was entitled “War protest errs from focus.” In this article Mr. Lawrence takes what has been called a “myopic view” of the situation but is, in reality, a scathing attack on a movement he supposedly wants to be a part of. First, the anti-war movement on this campus must include anyone and everyone who is dedicated to stopping this horrific and disastrous war on the Iraqi people, but it can not exclude all other ideas. Many people in Campus Anti-war Network see...

A look back at Madison's history of protests and how activism has changed today On Oct. 18, 1967, more than 500 UW-Madison students staged a sit-in in Ingraham Hall because they were disgusted that the Dow Chemical Company—the main producer of a chemical liquid used in warfare—was recruiting on campus. The building was quiet. The noise outside was deafening. Student and future Madison Mayor Paul Soglin could not see the front door, but he heard when 25 Madison Police officers stormed the building, forcibly removing 400 people as 2,000 onlookers chanted outside. “Almost everyone had thoughts about the Vietnam War....

We frequently hear from academics, including more than a few UW political science professors, that Marxism is dead. However, the British government may be having second thoughts. In a report forecasting political trends over the next 30 years, the British Ministry of Defense predicts, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx.” The report argues that mounting personal debt and a failing retirement system may fuel disillusionment in capitalism, and “the world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class...

After rallying down State Street, University of Wisconsin students from the Campus Antiwar Network and members of the Madison community stormed the office of Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, and staged a “teach-in.” Several protesters expressed their displeasure with Kohl’s voting record regarding the Iraq war. “We’re here to tell Senator Kohl we’re not fooled by his little trick where he tells us he’s against the war but then authorizes paying for it,” said UW junior and CAN member Paul Pryse. Kate Losey, one of the CAN event organizers, estimated that more than 200 people attended the rally. However, group members...

Over the past week, events both inside and out of Iraq have unfolded in a manner largely undesirable for the small group of individuals who still cling to the notion that a slight change in U.S. policy could result in military victory for the U.S. and Iraqi forces. Perhaps the most notable incident was the gathering of a massive crowd, at the request of the “radical” cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The demonstration, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, protested the U.S. occupation and demanded an immediate withdrawal, all while chanting “Death to America.” Defense Secretary Gates announced the extension of...

Some predict violent protest may be sign of things to come One day after 21 people were arrested during a demonstration that vandalized a U.S. Army recruiting office on Milwaukee's east side, Wisconsin peace activist groups on Tuesday said some protesters might increasingly turn to destruction as their frustrations mount. Violent Protest Photo/Rick WoodIt's the third time in about two years that Doug Mack, a glass installer for T&L Glass, has had to replace broken glass at the Army recruiting office on Oakland Ave. Mack replaced the glass Tuesday. Related Coverage Editorial: Protest just plain juvenile Monday night's violence was...

With the fourth year of U.S. occupation in Iraq approaching, Iraq is no more stable than it was during the reign of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Despite many very clear condemnations by the American public, the Bush Administration has done almost nothing to proliferate peace in Iraq. In response to this, the Madison chapter of the Wisconsin Campus Anti-War Network is sponsoring a march on the Pentagon. This march will take place next Saturday, March 17, two days before the fourth anniversary of the occupation.

More than a dozen University of Wisconsin students gathered on Bascom Hill Wednesday to protest the CIA recruitment and education event being held at North Hall. UW senior Nick Limback said the protest, which was organized by students of the Campus Antiwar Network and the Student Labor Action Coalition, was meant to inform and educate students about the CIA’s role in government policy as well as the organization’s “wrongs.” “We wanted to raise awareness about the human rights abuses that the CIA has committed and is currently committing,” Limback said. Limback said the CIA has acted violently to protect business...

With a banner waving high over University Avenue, a group of University of Wisconsin students showed their support Monday morning for a U.S. military officer facing court martial after refusing to fight in Iraq. The Associated Press reported Monday that Lt. Ehren Watada from Honolulu faces “charges of conduct unbecoming of an officer” after calling the U.S. occupation of Iraq an “illegal war.” Watada faces up to four years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. “It was encouraging to see so many people beeping [their car horns] in support of the war resisters,” said Chris Dols, a Campus Antiwar Network...

Conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza, who has drawn outrage for his new book that blames "the cultural left" for 9/11, spent half of his talk at the University of Wisconsin Tuesday night defending the war in Iraq. Iraq has become, perhaps unwittingly, the centerpiece for the war on terror, D'Souza told a group of about 800 in the Union Theater who had come to hear the speaker as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. Recently, while visiting a different college campus, D'Souza said he was asked if, in retrospect, invading Iraq was a mistake. In retrospect, it would have been better...

Earlier this month, the folklore department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison sponsored an event billed as "9/11: Folklore and Fact." Held in the university's social sciences building, two leaders in what is known as the "9/11 Truth"—Kevin Barrett and James Fetzer—came to discuss their notion that 9/11 resulted not from the actions of al Qaeda, but from a Bush Administration conspiracy. As Barrett has claimed on many occasions, he doesn't "believe, but knows that 9/11 was an inside job." Considering this event was sponsored and hosted by an institution that is funded by taxpayer dollars, the residents of Wisconsin have...

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh police are investigating a death threat against the school’s College Republicans chair. Nate Nelson received an e-mailed death threat last month, the day after attending a political rally on campus. The e-mail threatened both Nelson’s life and the life of his wife, Kelly. The threat came after Nelson had notified police that organizers of the rally were in violation of meeting codes established on campus. “My initial reaction [to the threat] was shock,” Nelson told The Badger Herald. “I didn’t think people would go that far.” According to Nelson, the threat said, “Quit with your political bullshit...

Howard Zinn, a celebrated American political scientist, addressed University of Wisconsin students at the Memorial Union Theater Tuesday about the importance of history and democracy to provide context to current issues in government and war. Zinn said his focus is on “clear” history, which he defined as making individual decisions about how to perceive historical and current events, because it makes people aware of their own interests. “It is a lie to say we are one great happy family with the same interest,” Zinn said. “Exxon and I do not have the same interests, and Bush and the soldiers do...

Wis. prof compares Bush to Hitler October 11, 2006 MILWAUKEE -- A University of Wisconsin instructor who has come under scrutiny for saying that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks compares President Bush to Adolf Hitler in an essay that his students are being required to buy. The essay, ''Interpreting the Unspeakable: The Myth of 9/11,'' is part of a $20 book of essays, according to an unedited copy. The book is on the syllabus for the twice-a-week course, Islam: Religion and Culture, being taught by part-time instructor Kevin Barrett. Barrett is active in a group called Scholars...

The University of Wisconsin is backing the appearence of Howard Zinn at the Orpheum Theatre at 216 State Street in Madison, WI. This is also the Madison chapter of World Can't Wait's Oct 5th rally, so expect commies to be there. As we all know, Howard Zinn has written some very anti-American books that are forced onto university students nationwide. Let's show him that there is another opinion out there.

University of Wisconsin students gathered Wednesday night to discuss the United States’ longstanding relations with Israel and its implications on modern foreign policy. The discussion, titled “Axis of Empire: Why the U.S. Supports Israel’s Terror,” was hosted by the International Socialist Organization’s Madison branch. Generating debate about the U.S. motives for maintaining relations with Israel, the discussion peered into exactly what sparked the conflict between Israel and Lebanon this summer. UW graduate student and ISO member Elizabeth Wrigley-Field said Progressives in America should try to get the government to stop funding Israel and to “stop pursuing its own military adventurism”...

The left is holding a conference at the UW law school, and they are bringing in Juan Barrento, the mayor of Caracas, Venezuela. They are also bringing the who's who on the left here in Madison and from Chicago, including CPUSA, WWP, and RCP members This is from the website http://www.localdemocracy.org/ ------------------------------------ This Autumn, September 28 through October 1, gather with community organizers and pro-democracy activists in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin, to share and learn from these and other important democratic successes. Network with others working on common issues. Strategize together about how to build the democracymovement in this country, from...

A new group, called "Middle East Solidarity" (AKA support the terrorists and worship Saint Pancake, Rachel Corrie), was created by the ultra left on my campus. The reason for formation of this group is that Stop the War had it's Student Org status revoked due to it's vandalism to the ROTC building (cutting the rope to the US flag) and constant harassment of recuiters at events. Also, I suspect a link to the International Solidarity movement, thus the Saint Pancake reference earlier. There is one catch however. The problem with the new group is that it is a contiuation of...

Following a thorough review, University of Wisconsin-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell today announced that lecturer Kevin Barrett will teach, as scheduled, a class titled "Islam: Religion and Culture." Barrett's remarks regarding his theories on the events of Sept. 11 recently drew widespread attention and criticism. As a result, Farrell, along with Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters and Science, and Ellen Rafferty, chair of the department of languages and cultures of Asia, met with Barrett. They reviewed his course syllabus and reading materials and examined his past teaching evaluations. "There is no question that Mr. Barrett holds personal opinions...

<p>A University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer who has sparked controversy by teaching that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job lashed out Sunday at public officials who have questioned his right to teach.</p> <p>Speaking at a gathering at UW-Milwaukee, Kevin Barrett took aim at state Rep. Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater), U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.) and Gov. Jim Doyle.</p>

Wisconsin's Ward Churchill? UW-Madison lecturer on Islam is leading 9/11 conspiracy theorist who thinks the U.S. government blew up the Trade Center and wrote letter discussing Bush execution ++++++++++audio coming soon How is UW-Madison lecturer Kevin Barrett like Ward Churchill? Actually, he's not. He's whackier. Churchill believes the terrorists caused the World Trade Center attacks. He just thinks they were justified in some manner. And now the university where he has tenure in Colorado is trying to fire him. Remember how upset we all got about Churchill, who was just a prof from another state who was in town for...

Venezuela bypasses Bush, offers help here Poor would get heating-oil discounts, eye operations By LARRY SANDLER lsandler@journalsentinel.com Posted: June 15, 2006 Venezuela's government plans to offer discounted heating oil and free eye surgery to Milwaukee's low-income residents, Venezuelan officials announced Thursday. Advertisement That's the latest move in a broad-based campaign by the oil-rich nation's President Hugo Chavez to build grass-roots support and trade ties despite tension with President Bush's administration. Venezuelan government spokesman Edward Mercado called it "a new way of talking about trade." Milwaukee and Chicago would be the first U.S. cities to benefit from the eye care program,...

STEVENS POINT - Sometimes it sure seems like a mean world. Walking through the streets of this safe, little city in the flyover zone the other day, I noticed a sleek auto with a bumper sticker that read, "Secure our borders." The words were superimposed over the image of an American flag. A gray-haired guy in the car sized me up as he passed, as though I might be a person of interest, pale though my complexion may be. It's hard to imagine how the guy in the sleek car could be personally threatened by some poor Mexican milking a...

A UW-Madison student group that aims to teach students responsible gun use has also done advocacy work for Wisconsin’s concealed-carry amendment. Student Alliance for Firearm Education and Responsibility, a student organization since the mid-’90s, allows students to compete in shooting and discuss gun-related issues. According to UW-Madison senior and SAFER President Lucas Keith, the group’s success lies in the commitment of its members, a mix of avid shooters and students who have never seen a gun in their life. “People are reluctant to come out and try it … and we try to alleviate some of those concerns,” he said....

Army employees were startled Monday afternoon when a brick crashed through the window of the campus Army Recruiting Station, 73 University Square, around 2:30 p.m. Army officers were in the building when the window shattered, but were unable to catch the vandal. According to Sergeant First Class Bruce Bovenkerk, station commander for U.S. Army Recruiting, the vandalism was not the first of its kind at the Army Recruiting Station. “Our window has been broken many times,” Bovenkerk said. “It’s part of the job. We’ve got insurance and they cover it. So nobody got hurt and nobody got injured. We board...

I did a loner mission against about 300 moonbats assembled on Library Mall. Fix your smell first before trying to fix the house, moonbat Support the UN, the land of dictators!A women here is trying to compare Bush to Hitler. I was the lone freeper in this protest, and I had to leave before the rally was over because I had to work.

MADISON, Wis. A retired University of Wisconsin historian noted for his research into the Watergate scandal pleaded no contest today to threatening to blow up a health insurance building. Seventy-one-year-old Stanley Kutler entered the plea in Dane County Circuit Court to a disorderly conduct charge arising from a phone call with his insurance company. He's best known for his successful 21-year fight to obtain President Nixon's secret tapes, Judge Patrick Fiedler fined Kutler 50 dollars and imposed 149 dollars in court costs. The case hinges on an April 26th phone call between Kutler and Dean Health over a billing dispute.

ghesselberg@madison.com The anti-war movement in Wisconsin is alive and expecting a busy weekend, if the schedule of vigils and pickets, rallies and gatherings everywhere from Hayward to West Bend to the Wisconsin Dells is any indication. While the efforts of various anti-war groups have not drawn the sort of large demonstrations against the Vietnam War witnessed in Madison in 1969-70, that does not mean the "movement" doesn't exist. It is there, just making its point in a different context, suggested Joseph Elder, a longtime advocate for peace and a UW-Madison professor of sociology. The Madison Area Peace Coalition, for example,...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A University of Wisconsin-Madison professor was allowed to work on campus for months after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting young girls even though some colleagues were threatened by his presence, according to a document released Thursday.

This is from the antiwar flyer: “Chancellor Wiley okays pentagon Surveillance of UW students!! A December 14th MSNBC story reported that University of Wisconsin Antiwar activists are being monitored by Pentagon and FBI counterintelligence. According to leaked documents, the Pentagon and FBI characterizes peaceful [yea right] demonstrations on college campuses to be a threat to national security. Chancellor Wiley- Who sits on an FBI counterintelligence panel- showed his contempt for the civil liberties of UW students. Asked whether he believed that these UW activists should come under the domestic surveillance of the Pentagon and the FBI, Wiley responded insidiously: ‘People...

A wide range of panelists assembled Tuesday to discuss the wisdom and ethics of the decision to reprint a controversial cartoon in The Badger Herald last week. The cartoon, which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, accompanied an 800-word editorial advocating the “sacred right” of freedom of speech. The cartoon’s original Sept. 2005 publication in a Danish newspaper continues to spur a heated reaction — sometimes violent — from Muslims worldwide. “I believe a newspaper, when possible, should give people the information they need to conduct intelligent, well-informed debate,” Mac VerStandig, editor in chief of...

Eight days ago, this editorial board elected to publish one of the 12 Danish cartoons that have sparked deadly riots around the world. For those who have become interested in the topic but did not see our original publication, we encourage you to read the editorial that accompanied the cartoon in last Monday’s newspaper. It is available online in The Badger Herald’s digital archives. We went to great lengths to explain our rationale in that piece and it is an argument we continue to stand behind. Much of the claim we have made centers around a notion of free speech...

On Monday, the Badger Herald Editorial Board crossed a line they were already dangerously close to. It was bad seeing a Herald redrawing of what it called the “most offensive” of the Danish cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed with a bomb for a turban, but to now see an actual blown-up reprint has gone too far. Among the arguments the editors made justifying their reprint were “free speech,” “news-worthiness,” and a desire not to be “gatekeepers” guided by “prude censorship.” They simply don’t get it. Cartoonists may have a legal right to free expression. The problem exists in a newspaper not...

Muslim students are upset by the Badger Herald newspaper's decision to reprint one of the notorious cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad.Muslim students at UW-Madison have met with campus officials, are planning a campus forum on Tuesday, and are considering whether to stage protests.The cartoons, originally published in a right-wing Danish newspaper in September, have sparked worldwide demonstrations, including violent clashes with police in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Most American newspapers have decided against printing the cartoons. But after a University of Illinois newspaper was criticized for republishing the cartoons, the editorial board at the Badger Herald decided to...

Offers of discounted Venezuelan diesel fuel from CITGO to the Chicago Transit Authority have sparked speculation on similar offers being made to Madison Metro. The offer to the CTA would have given a 40-percent discount in return for reduced fares for lower income groups. Ann Gullickson, transit service manager of Madison Metro, wrote in a memo to general manager Catherine Debo that if a similar offer were made to Madison, it could provide “in excess of $1 million.” She noted the CTA refused the offer because of incompatibility of diesel fuel standards. According to Gullickson, the CTA and Madison Metro...

After accusing UW-Madison administration and the federal government of improper surveillance of its Madison chapter, Stop the War members gathered Tuesday to protest the presence of military recruiters on campus. Disapproving of the war in Iraq and military recruitment, about 20 Stop the War members entered the Government, Non-Profit and Volunteer Career Fair at the Memorial Union with anti-war signs to speak with UW-Madison students near the recruitment tables and hand out anti-war literature. “Military recruiters use the same tactics of deception and empty promises that the Bush administration used to recruit America for its war on Iraq,” UW-Madison senior...

UW-MADISON STUDENTS RESPOND TO PENTAGON MONITORING: “SURVEILLANCE OF ANTIWAR ACTIVISTS MUST END NOW!” MADISON, WI – Antiwar activists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison are responding to President Bush’s recent justifications for surveillance along with released Pentagon documents which label student protesters as a “threat” and news of our campus administration’s cooperation with FBI counterintelligence programs. The UW-Madison antiwar student organization, Stop the War! is hosting a press conference to defend ourselves against the Pentagon’s libelous allegations. The press conference will be immediately followed by a protest to counter recruitment by US Marines on our campus. What: Stop The...