Free Republic

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A state bill up for a hearing today would require Wisconsin public schools to teach the history of organized labor and the collective bargaining process in the U.S. Labor unions support the requirement. But groups representing school boards and administrators have registered against it saying they don't want the curriculum micromanaged. The bill has been around for years. It passed the Senate in 1997 and 2001 but never the full Legislature. The Assembly in April passed a bill that would only require the history of organized labor and collective bargaining be included in the state's academic...

Oscar G. Mayer, retired chairman of the Wisconsin-based meat processing company that bears his name, has died at the age of 95. Mayer's wife, Geraldine, said he died of old age Monday age at Hospice Care in Fitchburg. He was the third Oscar Mayer in the family that founded Oscar Mayer Foods, which was once the largest private employer in Madison. His grandfather, Oscar F. Mayer, died in 1955 and his father, Oscar G. Mayer Sr., died in 1965.

The firing of more than two dozen Hispanic employees from Taco Bell outlets in Madison and Sun Prairie has sparked a protest by 16 local members of the clergy. "It troubles us on a moral level if hard-working people are being treated with such a lack of respect and dignity," states a letter to Greg Creed, president of Taco Bell Corp. of Irvine, Calif. • Government rules for “no-match” employees • MarketWatch page on Yum! Brands Inc. • Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice • Workers Rights Center A company spokesman denied wrongdoing. "The federal government notified us that the Social...

<p>Decades of lawmaking and court decisions restricting the flow of cash into U.S. elections are on the verge of coming undone, placing President Barack Obama in the unexpected position of presiding over the possible demise of the modern campaign finance regime.</p>

A Wisconsin fireworks store has yanked a brand off its shelves [ snip ] The fireworks were called "Run Hadji Run." The packaging showed a cartoon drawing of Uncle Sam yanking the beard of a man dressed in Muslim attire, and the other showed a bomber jet flying over a group of Arab men on camels. "Hadji" is a title given to Muslims who have completed a pilgrimage to Mecca.

When it was deciding where to build its new compact car, General Motors Corp. made a point of saying it would push politics aside and use strictly commercial criteria. So Tennessee's three top officials were astonished last month, in a meeting with GM, when they were told the first two criteria were "community impact" and "carbon footprint" -- or how the choice would affect unemployment rates and carbon-dioxide emissions. "Those didn't strike us as business criteria at all," said Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, who was joined in the meeting by fellow Republican Sen. Bob Corker and the state's Democratic governor,...

Hundreds rally against taxes and big government By AUTUMN GROOMS Organizers were impressed with attendance Saturday at the second La Crosse area Tea Party to draw attention to lower taxes, smaller government and individual liberty. About 400 people attended the event at Copeland Park. “We never would have seen these numbers (attending) in the past,” said Mark Block, regional director for Americans for Prosperity. “I think citizens don’t think elected officials are listening to what they are concerned about in Wisconsin,” Block said. The July 4 Tea Party was a continuation of the Tax Day Tea Party held April 15...

Washington - They're known as "monuments to me," airports, bridges and courthouses named after the lawmakers who secured the federal funds to build them. Dave Obey says he won't allow any more earmarks for such projects - even though his name is already etched on a building back home in Wausau.The David R. Obey Center for Health Sciences at Northcentral Technical College features a water wall, atrium and a state-of-the-art surgical suite. It was constructed thanks to a $20 million earmark the Wisconsin congressman tucked into a federal spending bill in 2001.Obey did not specify that the building be...

Fireworks called Run Hadji Run were pulled off the shelves of a Wisconsin store after Minnesota Muslims complained that they were racist. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) said that both the name and the packaging are demeaning. One side of the package has a drawing of Uncle Sam yanking the long beard of a man in traditional Muslim attire, while the other shows a Stealth bomber flying over a group of Arabs riding camels. In addition, "Hadji" is an honorific for those who have completed the pilgrimage to Mecca.

You may be used to seeing fireworks with names like 'Seaside Garden,' 'Burst and Bloom,' or 'Red, White, and Boom.' But the product names of fireworks at one Wisconsin fireworks stand are nowhere near as benign. Some say they're more than inappropriate--they're racist. Some of the novelties sold at Fireworks City in Baldwin, Wis. are sparking controversy in the Arab and Muslim communities. On one side of the packaging for 'Run Hadji Run' fireworks, men of Middle Eastern decent are riding on camels with a bomber plane flying above them. On the other side is an angry-looking Uncle Same yanking...

State agency's new logo has an anarchist ring to it By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel Posted: July 2, 2009 Madison — As the state agency charged with running elections, the Government Accountability Board can't show favor for Republicans or Democrats. But is it biased toward anarchists? The board recently launched a new logo - an A inside a circle - that looks similar to the traditional symbol for anarchy. "It being an anarchy sign and the government - there's definitely irony there," said Madison's Ear Wax Record Shop owner Rob Cleveland, who is familiar with the anarchy symbol...

Pair Try to Force Naming of More Commissioners. BY DAN EGGEN Seven years after their landmark campaign finance legislation became law, Sens. John McCain and Russell Feingold are reuniting under the banner of spending reform at a time when restrictions have come under fire both in the courts and at the embattled Federal Election Commission. McCain (R-Ariz.) and Feingold (D-Wis.) announced this week that they were blocking the appointment of Democratic union lawyer John Sullivan to the FEC until President Obama agrees to fill two other open panel seats. The two senators, who co-sponsored legislation in 2002 that banned "soft...

The campaign finance dream team of Sens. Russ Feingold and John McCain is reuniting to block President Barack Obama’s first appointment to the Federal Election Commission and to push him to shake up the embattled agency. In a surprising move that invokes memories of a bitter skirmish during Obama’s annihilation of McCain in last year’s presidential election, Feingold (D-Wis.) and McCain (R-Ariz.) have placed a hold on the FEC nomination of Democratic labor lawyer John Sullivan, POLITICO confirmed Tuesday. Their hold could reverberate in Congress, the White House, the 2010 midterm elections and beyond. In a statement issued in response...

MADISON, Wis. - The number of abortions performed in Wisconsin dropped slightly last year to its lowest level since the state began keeping records three decades ago, according to a state report released Tuesday. The state Department of Health Services study found that 8,229 abortions were performed in Wisconsin last year, down from 8,267 in 2007. The number of Wisconsin abortions has now fallen for five straight years, since 10,557 abortions were reported in 2003. The 2008 number also was the lowest since Wisconsin started tracking abortions in 1974. Although the drop was small, it was hailed by anti-abortion advocates....

Can't post due to copyright, but the story is here.

If you are fed up with our Representatives in Congress ignoring our phone calls and emails, then it’s time to speak up in person. We are planning a Cap and Trade protest at both Congressmen Mark Kirk’s office and Melissa Beans office. Tell you friends, neighbors, and coworkers to be there and to also sign our online petition. http://lakecountyteaparty.com/2009/06/28/cap-and-trade-tea-party/

A Janesville, WI civic leader says he’s ready to give up on the possibility that his community will be a General Motors town again."It’s time to move on; that’s my view," John Beckord, president of Forward Janesville, said Friday after Janesville was passed over for production of a new GM car.Troy Clarke, president of General Motors North America, confirmed Friday that a next-generation subcompact car — as yet unnamed — will be built in Orion Township, Mich., assuming ongoing talks over economic incentives are successful. Janesville, whose GM factory saw the last of its vehicles roll off the assembly line...

The Dupage County website made it sound like it was this Saturday as they never took it off their site. Please ignore my post earlier. Please forgive me for any in conviences I caused you. Thank You

Waukesha -- A woman accused of four drunken driving offenses in three weeks is a "poster child" for the need to reform Wisconsin's drunken driving laws. That's what Waukesha County Court Commission Martin Binn said Friday as the Milwaukee woman, 27-year-old Nicole M. Bailey, appeared before him Friday. Bailey had a new charge filed Friday in Waukesha County Circuit Court in connection with a June 13 traffic stop in Menomonee Falls by an officer who was investigating a hit-and-run accident, according to the criminal complaint. Bailey wasn’t driving the 1999 BMW at the time of the accident, but she was...

With two area murders in the past two weeks, two officers shot, and a popular candy store owner killed in Milwaukee -- all by gunfire -- it might seem to be an odd time to try to get more guns on the street. But gun advocates say this is the perfect time to build momentum for a movement that is already gaining traction. "That's just all the more reason why the good guys ought to be able to carry their guns," says Mark Stollenwerk, co-founder of OpenCarry.org, a Virginia-based pro-gun website that has targeted Wisconsin for a media and lobbying...

A Somerset man punched in the face by a 16-year-old girl who says he attacked her pleaded guilty to child enticement. Jason Alwin, 23, also faced charges of forceful abduction of a child and two counts of false imprisonment — all three of which were dismissed at his plea hearing June 11. The girl told police in April that a man approached her in the town of Star Prairie and grabbed her around the waist. She thought he was dragging her toward a wooded area, according to a report by the St. Croix County sheriff's office. Unable to pull away...

Virginia Tech. Columbine. A church in Kansas. A Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. A school in Weston. I think that is personal enough. Mrs. Dainty, I respect your right to free speech, however I still do not agree with your letter from last week’s Sauk Prairie Eagle, “Guns provide self-defense and aren’t allowed in bars.” When I think about the gun issue, I am thinking about the greater good of all people and not just the good of my family or myself. My family hasn’t had to deal with gun violence, thank God. Much of that is because I grew...

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND MIDWEST TODAY AND TONIGHT... THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS OVER PARTS OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND MIDWEST TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE IOWA ILLINOIS INDIANA MINNESOTA WISCONSIN ELSEWHERE...SEVERE STORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE FROM THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PLAINS ACROSS THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY AND APPALACHIANS MOUNTAINS TO THE MID ATLANTIC COAST. A VERY ACTIVE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT REGIME WILL CONTINUE TODAY OVER AN EXTENSIVE REGION FROM THE PLAINS...ACROSS THE...

With black bear populations rising, run-ins have become almost commonplace... Canadian bear researcher Hank Hristienko, who conducted the survey in January, found that 18 Eastern states were seeing more encounters with bears. In a 2006 attack, a 210-pound male bear killed a 6-year-old girl and mauled her 2-year-old brother as well as her mother who tried to fend off the animal. The attack occurred during a family outing in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest. near Prestonsburg, Ky., last year, a bear held tourists at bay inside a cabin until rangers arrived to chase it away. The U.S. bear population more than...

GREEN BAY, WI (WXOW) - President Barack Obama visited Southwest High School in Green Bay to discuss health care in a town hall meeting. Here are his remarks. Remarks of President Barack Obama Health Care Town Hall Thursday, June 11, 2009 Green Bay, Wisconsin Thank you. It is wonderful to be back here in Green Bay. I want to thank Southwest High School for hosting us today, and I want to thank Laura for sharing her story. It takes courage to do that, and it takes even more to battle a disease like cancer with such grace and determination. Laura's...

GREEN BAY - Organizers said about 1,000 people lined the east side of Packerland Drive Thursday morning to protest President Obama's stop in Green Bay. Stretching four blocks long, the protest parked itself along the motorcade route between Austin Straubel Airport and Green Bay Southwest High School.

LINK ONLY http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20090612/SHE0101/906120401/1973/SHE0205

Many people opposed to President Obama's policies used the streets of Packerland Drive in Green Bay to send their message.

GREEN BAY - Organizers said about 1,000 people lined the east side of Packerland Drive Thursday morning to protest President Obama's stop in Green Bay. Stretching four blocks long, the protest parked itself along the motorcade route between Austin Straubel Airport and Green Bay Southwest High School. Most of the protestors were part of a grassroots movement that calls itself "The Party of Know." Jerry Bader, a conservative talk show host on WTAG 1360, helped organize the rally. Most protestors said their purpose Thursday was to let President Obama know just exactly how they feel about a government backed health...

The hope of 4-year-old kindergarten in Madison schools stayed alive Thursday as Assembly Democrats pushed through a $500,000 start-up grant for the district as part of the state budget bill, which they will continue to debate Friday. But even with that money, the challenges to offering the program remain great as the district could face an $8 million cut in its state aid, or 13 percent, under one new estimate of the effect of state budget cuts on Madison schools. And Republicans criticized the grant money to the district as an earmark that comes at a time when schools statewide...

President Barack Obama gave a stern message Tuesday to a packed gymnasium at Green Bay Southwest High School: Do something soon to change the path of American health care or we'll all pay a severe price. In his first visit to Wisconsin since his election, Obama called leaving things the way they are "the nightmare scenario" because of what it would mean to individuals without good care, to businesses, to the local and national economy, and to the federal budget. "If we don't act soon and bring down costs . . . every American will feel the impact," Obama told...

A special national bike tour is taking place across the country to raise awareness about wounded war veterans and their needs. But as CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, the ride is also helping wounded vets on their road to recovery. Two and a half years ago, Andrew Kinard wasn't sure if he'd ever ride a bike again. The retired Marine 1st Lieutenant lost both his legs in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Iraq, but thanks to the Wounded Warrior Project, he's gearing up for his fourth "Soldier Ride." "It was liberating, in a sense," Kinard said of getting...

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wisc.), who believes that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, on Wednesday was meeting with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who apparently holds a different view of the 2nd Amendment. As a federal appeals court judge, Sotomayor signed an opinion (in Maloney v. Cuomo) saying that the Second Amendment bars the federal government – but not the states -- from infringing on an individual's right to keep and bear arms. (See earlier story) Feingold told CNSNews.com last week (see video below) that he plans to question Sotomayor about the 2nd Amendment during her confirmation hearings, which...

Employing a rarely used provision of city code, Milwaukee officials are poised to take two commercial lots from one owner and then sell them to another developer who has made campaign contributions to a key alderman. If the land acquisition goes through, it will dash the dreams of Rafael Cetina, whose family bought the land in 2002 with visions of building a restaurant and club that would serve spicy Mayan flavors paying tribute to his heritage on the Yucatan Peninsula. The process of eminent domain is almost never used by the city to acquire commercial real estate. The last time...

The two men who were shot by a security guard while trying to rob a Milwaukee check cashing business last week were armed with realistic-looking BB guns, according to a Police Department spokeswoman. Ronald X. Reed Jr., 24, was shot in the back and died at the scene, police said. His cousin, 22-year-old Vidal D. Mason, was shot in the abdomen. The BB guns "looked very much like authentic weapons," police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz wrote in an e-mail. The men also used BB guns while committing a string of armed robberies in 2005, court records show. Reed and Mason...

National forest roads and bridges in 31 states will get long-needed repairs under an economic stimulus spending plan announced by the Obama administration. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday that $228 million in economic stimulus money will be used for road maintenance and decommissioning and watershed restoration in dozens of national forests. A total of 106 projects in 31 states will be paid for as part of the $1.15 billion in economic stimulus funding awarded to the Forest Service

A list of states that will receive money to repair national forest roads and pay for other projects, the number of projects in each state and the dollars allocated for the state under an economic stimulus spending plan. Three multistate projects totaling $10.4 million will be done in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

The General Motors plant in Janesville and the Chrysler engine plant in Kenosha have a new chance at life, Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday. As GM, the once mighty U.S. automaker, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, Chrysler won a judge’s approval to sell most of its assets to Italy’s Fiat, and could emerge from bankruptcy this week. Both announcements brought encouraging news for Wisconsin’s crippled auto industry. The idled GM-Janesville factory is one of three assembly plants a possible sites to build a new small car, GM spokesman Chris Lee said Monday. The other two are in Spring Hill, Tenn.,...

The fight to be head of the class could be replaced with a less competitive, but some say more fair, system as the Waunakee School District — like others in Dane County — considers doing away with class rank. Of the 19 Dane County high schools that responded to a State Journal survey, five are considering or have plans to do away with class rank in coming years. Opponents of the ranking system say it forces unneeded competition and stress on students, while encouraging others to take less-challenging classes for the easy A. “The idea is not to be reporting...

Milwaukee is home to America’s most vibrant school-choice program: More than 20,000 students participate, almost all of them minorities. They have made academic gains and boast higher graduation rates than their peers in public schools. They even save money for taxpayers. Inevitably, Democrats in the state capital are trying to eviscerate the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. They’ve wanted to gut school choice for years, at the behest of teacher-union patrons who believe education should be a government monopoly. Until recently, Republicans have stood in the way. That changed following last year’s elections. Now, for the first time since the advent...

A Town of Ripon man held a burglar at gunpoint after he caught the suspect inside his home, warning 911 dispatchers that if the intruder even flinched, he would shoot. "I got my burglar here right now. I got him at gunpoint," the man told a 911 dispatcher after he captured the intruder, according to a recording released by the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office. "Get them out here fast. You don't get somebody out here quick, this guy's going to die." The alleged burglar, Michael J. Roehling, 23, made his initial appearance in Fond du Lac County Circuit...

Is regulating greenhouse gases a necessary means to stop so-called manmade global warming? Or is it an effort by the government to exert more control over Americans’ day-to-day lives? According to Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., the ranking member of the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, it is the latter, and it could have a devastating impact on agribusiness. Sensenbrenner, speaking at the Heartland Institute’s Third International Conference on Climate Change in Washington, D.C. on June 2, explained that a 2007 Supreme Court decision gave the Environmental Protection Agency the ability to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) as...

A Wisconsin judge dismissed homicide charges against Minneapolis firefighter Kyle Huggett because law enforcement authorities failed to preserve voice-mail messages that would have helped determine whether he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot an intruder. Burnett County Circuit Judge James Babbitt ruled that sheriff's detectives denied Huggett due process when they failed to thoroughly listen to and transcribe threatening messages left by John Peach, who broke into Huggett's home in rural Danbury, Wis., last year. "It is hard to imagine any evidence more compelling than threats from the decedent that the defendant heard approximately two hours before the decedent...

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....

GREENFIELD -- The picnic looks a lot like many others you might see on Memorial Day. Except at this one, many people are carrying a gun on their belts. Greg Plautz set up the picnic. He's a college senior and is affiliated with the opencarry.org organization. Plautz hopes the picnic will help encourage people to understand Wisconsin's gun laws, saying, "[the picnic is] to just further the acceptance of open carry and allow people to come together with a like cause." This 'open carry picnic' is one of several that have occurred since Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen said...

WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE - Cookouts and picnics are a Memorial Day tradition. But it's rare when the host invites guests to bring their licensed firearms in addition to food. FOX 6's Bob Moore takes you to the first open-carry event in Milwaukee County.

“Gun!” We knew that would get your attention. Guns — and gun laws — have a way of doing that in this state. That’s never been more true than in recent weeks after state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen issued a memo to state district attorneys saying that openly carrying a handgun in public isn’t automatically a crime. In short order, gun-rights advocates were planning open-carry picnics like the one in an Onalaska park last weekend where hamburgers and holstered sidearms were the order of the day. Both were served up with relish. It was, according to news accounts from...

There’s a new effort to expand the number of places in Wisconsin where you can openly carry a gun. A group called Operation CarryLand has an online petition urging the Legislature to repeal the law against open weapons near schools. Right now, it’s a felony to openly carry a weapon – either personally or in a vehicle – within 1,000 feet of school property. Group spokesman Nik Clark of New Berlin says criminals are ignoring the law as evidenced by the large number of gun crimes in Milwaukee that take place close to schools. As a result, Clark says licensed,...

On Thursday, May 28, at 10:00 A.M. in room 328 Northwest, the Committee on Criminal Justice will be holding a hearing on Assembly Bill 221, which would require micro-stamping technology on all newly manufactured handguns sold in Wisconsin. This dangerous legislation needs to be stopped. Micro-stamping is flawed, unreliable, and unproven technology that will burden not only law abiding citizens, but law enforcement agencies as well. Your attendance to this hearing is crucial. Don’t forget to spread the word urging your family, friends and fellow gun owners to attend this hearing to help oppose this back door gun ban scheme....

We, in Wisconsin are tiptoeing no more about gun rights. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen opened the box and gave us our BOOTS. Open Carry Picnics are being organized around the state. Local officials are being asked questions. Village attorneys are ducking phone calls. The genie is out of the bottle. I recently sent several letters to the editor of our local weekly paper. He published them. The result was a very complete story this week, and more to come. http://www.wiscnews.com/spe/news/451912 Finally, people are beginning to realize what we have known all along. Peaceful Open Carry is Legal in Wisconsin....