I have been angered and saddened by the misrepresentations of the protest in the capitol. The facts are; 7 days, no arrests. The group is loosely organized- the TAA (teaching assistants association) is "in charge" but most protestors are not associated with the TAA. Yet, this group is self-policing. There are yoga classes, nonviolence training, and the heart-wrenching testifying before assembly democrats -recorded on wisconsin eye- of individuals and their personal stories and their individual feelings on the budget reform bill.

I won't go into all of the inaccuracies and outright lies, but I want to show what I have seen, my personal testimony about the high quality of people who are participating in this action.

Here is the drum circle. People did this for a while, and after the national anthem and reading the names of those killed in the bay view rollermill shooting, several people got sponges and buckets and cleaned the floor. There is also a fund to clean the capitol after the protest is over.

This is an incredibly safe and secure place. There were a lot of people around this sign, it was on a pillar on the rotunda ground floor near the drum circle, but no one stole the dollar. WOW!

My fellow citizens are really smart and creative people.

The poster on the left is a play on the Anton Dodson "bed intruder" song.

I like the "He's a weasel not a Badger" idea. There is a tradition of social justice and worker rights in this state. We are the home of Battling Bob!

In addition to the usual compants, Scott Walker's proposed budget, It also seems very un-wisconsin. We are not willing to compromise our schools, we are willing to fund great libraries, and we like to have widllife preserves and wetlands. We like education and we like to help others. the whole world is watching but to me this is a very real battle for the Wisconsin I have come to love and the big business craziness that will earn Scott Walker street cred with the tea party.

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Peaceful Protest

He said that it wasn't the second coming, but it was important enough that he show up. I don't know what you can tell from the picture, but it was a really great costume.

This group meditated silently for several hours. Just a sign announced them.

A lot of signs appealed to historical themes. Likethis reference to animal farm.

I also saw a "What would Howard Zinn do" sign, referring to the author of the extensive

and accurate A peoples' HIstory of the United States" I suspect that Mr. Walker would be less willing to strip public employees of some collective bargaining rights if he knew more about the history of labor and worker rights in this country.

Some of our popular romaniticized view of history may be to blame.

This Sign reads "Democracy is 2 wolves and 1 sheep voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed sheep disputing the vote." The sheep has a 'peaceful protest' sign. The quote is attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

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People were allowed to sleep in the north and east wings, as the assembly and senate

were meeting the following morning in the south and west wings.

The view looking up.

Some firefighters joined the protest tonight, they informed us that the Governor had tried to get us to leave by claiming that we presented a fire hazard. However this capitol has no fire code, so he will have to do something else. Personally, I am willing to sleep outside.

a peaceful protest. Apparently our governor is "scared for his own well being". He is afarid of us "union thugs" who have taken over

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The Value of Work

So, There has been a lot of discussion about the value of work...

Specifically the Governor of our state, Scott Walker, proposed removing collective bargaining rights from state workers. This prompted a protest and strike/sick out. The Republican Party and Tea parties then retaliated against the teachers and state workers, accusing them of being lazy, not wanting to work, and demanding too many rights.

The protesters are quite angry, and are currently occupying the state capital building day and night until the Republicans renegotiate or kill the budget reform bill. The Democratic senators are also protesting this bill by leaving the state until it is renegotiated or dead. Senator Erpenbach is prepared to stay away for weeks.

The republican response, of course, is that the 14 democratic senators are unwilling to work, they are simply being lazy, taking a break, and being silly.

I think that it is human nature to blame people for their own problems.

The Wisconsin state budget cuts are extreme, but most people agree that eliminating effective collective bargaining rights from state workers is the main grievance. Asserting a right to unionize effectively is work. Our state workers are working by picketing, organizing rallies, spending the night at the capital, and braving embarrassment and ridicule. It is difficult to be criticized, it is hard to go and keep the momentum of a movement going.

Worker rights are important. Not all unions are perfect, but their right to exist effectively is important. That is my motivation for supporting this movement. I have worked to support this effort, and I hope to continue to work to support and further good works everywhere.

mob rule in madison

Union Leaders Aim for Mob Rule

The Wisconsin Republican Party has this interesting and imaginative story up on their website. As a member of the "mob" I will expound on the horrors of this "security threat" that has "shut down democracy".
Last night I received training in nonviolent protesting from some people experience with nonviolent demonstrations. We learned to have an affinity group, have a plan, know our rights, etc. I also listened to people testify against the Budget repair bill. In other parts of the capitol there was a drumming circle, a sing-a-long, pizza, and sign making. Everyone knows that drums can be used as weapons. We can't ban them outright, because of the 2nd amendment, but they explain the extensive police presence.
The police, which have been summoned to control the mob of graduate student TA's, teachers, and students are not very busy; They patrol the halls ensuring that the demonstrators do not block walkways with their sleeping bags and yoga mats, but have made only 9 arrests in 6 days. This is because even though the police are specifically exempted from this union-busting bill, some suspect that their own collective bargaining rights will be next on the chopping block. Hence the general reluctance to arrest the protestors for such crimes as public drumming, chanting and singing Woody Guthrie songs.
On a more serious note, these protests have been threatening the Governor. There have been personal attacks; I saw several signs encouraging the crowd to "stop the imperial walker", One featuring the Wizard Gandolf read "you shall not pass"-indicating that like Gandolf, Walker would eventually fall down a pit with a giant fire monster. One particularly disturbing sign read "beam Scotty up" which indicates that an extraterrestrial threat may be involved.
This is definately a problem. I fully understand why those 14 democrats ran away from these protestors.

brad vs. dr. who

David Tenent , who played Dr. Who in a few wonderful seasons of the latest series, is now engaged to Georgia Moffet.
She guest starred in the episode "the Dr.'s Daughter" where she played the Dr.'s daughter. Georgia is the real life daughter of The 4rth Doctor, David Moffet. She was born to him and his wife (who played Trillian in the bbc production of Hitchhikers' guide to the universe) while he was working as Dr. Who.
This could just be a coincidence, but David Tenent has always been a big fan of the Dr. Who series. He even admits to owning his own Tardis (to be fair, I have a Tardis tool) so maybe this is a little strange, but it will probably turnout okay. Actually i really want them to get married and have some kids, so I can watch them star in a Dr Who revival in 30 years.



SO, BRAD WOMACK
Brad womack is currently starring in HIS 2nd installment of "The Bachelor" during his first season, he decided to propose to none of the 25 women that he dated for 6 weeks, and so instead of admitting that going on tv to meet women is a bad idea, Brad went into 3 years of "intense therapy" acooding to his "therapist" "dr." Jamie, Brad has commitment issues, so he is trying to commit to another set of 25 women.

This is not really the story. Apparently his old on-again off-again girlfriend, has ocme forward and revealed that BRad has repeatedly proposed to her over the last few years including just a few weeks before he began filming the Bachelor. This same girl friend has, in past years been linked to Wes Hayden, the infamous Bachlor who "had a girlfriend back home" according to various reality sites, Wes Hayden did not actually have a girl back home, adn ABC used cre8tive editing and leading questions to make him say things that he really did not say. He is also an aspiring singer-songwriter, and was hoping to get some publicity by appearing on TV. That happened, and ABC paid him a lot of money to drag his name through the mud, and really being fake on reality TV is really not anything unusual, so I am not sure what anyone was ever worried about.
If you want to find a bunch of people who date eachother, and are all desperate for an extra 15 minutes of fame, the bachelor/bachelorette crowd is notorious. ...Deanna is now engaged to the twin of a guy rejected by Jillian..... seriously, I could not make this stuff up.

TV is all fake, and crazy. David Tenent wins because he can act, he has a legitimate reason for being on TV. He likes to date his costars, and perhaps identifies a little too strongly with his former role, but he has talent and I am a fan.

Brad is on tv because.... oh yeah, there is no reason.

Moby Dick -warning: sexual content-

So there is this "classic Moby Dick Joke" that goes something like this;
A young smart person will be reading Moby Dick, and then a Prim and proper much older person comes by and says "oh my you are reading A Dirty Book!" ... and then hilarity ensues.

This is a funny joke because the prim and proper person is assuming that the Title must refer to male genitalia, and is supposedly ignorant that it is the Title of Herman Mellville's epic whale hunting adventure novel.

I used to laugh at these sorts of jokes, however I recently read Moby Dick and it is a great book. It is also full of sexual content. I no longer can laugh at those sorts of jokes because it really is a book full of disturbing, deviant, and even predatory sex.

So this "classic Moby Dick Joke" is really only funny for people who;
1. Know that Moby Dick is a classic piece of literature
2. Have not read it
3. Think it is about Whaling

Book review:

The book begins with QueegQuay having relations with Ishmael in the 'Spouter Inn'. There is implied rape at first, but just as the two friends learn to eat both Clam and Cod chowder, Ishmael learns to be "not so prejudiced" and he and Queegquay declare themselves "married" then spend all day in bed together where, as Ishmael says, "he would throw his legs over mine in the most friendly manner", Afterwhich Queegquay gives Ishmael some money.

Yeah.

Here I began to suspect that Ishmael was perhaps inviting us to read between the lines to catch the real meaning of the story. As the story progresses, the sexual scenes become more explicit and awful.
The history and science of whaling are described extensively. Every type of Whale is described, as well as their harvest and useful parts. Notably absent is the fact that at this time, the valuable spermaceti found in the forehead of the Sperm whale was believed to be the Whale's sperm. This helps us understand the double meaning, not so secretly concealed in Chapter 94, The men are said to sit around and squeeze the spermaceti with their hands, Then they sqeeze each others' hands..... then they say they should squeeze their hands into each other. As you have probably guessed, they aren't really talking about hands.

In addition to their regular group sex, The men are often portrayed as being mean to a fellow crew member, and ganging up to make fun of him. The implied meaning is that they gang rape their fellow crew members, including the elderly alcoholic blacksmith, the cook, and the brain-addled Pip. Eventually the brain-addled Pip becomes Ahab's sexual partner, after a rather disturbing conversation about Ahab's "old rope".

There is a lot of biblical imagery in the book. The ship eventually becomes a floating Soddom and Gomorrah. The final sin is when the ship has a chance to help save some fellow sailors and it refuses. The crew has then become so hopelessly sinful, that the Whale comes and justly destroys them.

The book was well written. It is absolutely brilliant. I felt drawn in, and though the sailors on the ship were bad people who hurt each other and didn't help others, I still wanted them to live and be successful. Perhaps this illustrates how we tend to justify our own sins as well as those of our friends and family.

the stench of a giant carbon footprint

I often run with my jogging stroller, and I like to run to the store or the park, but I am self conscious about this practice because I smell sweaty when I arrive. I look around at the other Moms, usually wearing matching clothes and fun looking shoes, and I feel conspicuous.

I like to think of myself as morally superior because I am exercising, however I am about 20lbs overweight so the sweatiness would be the only clue that I am physically fit. My own smugness is only so effective.

To get my courage up to, I say to myself that I have a sweaty smell, but those who drive cars have the stench of a giant carbon footprint. And if we all had to drag around a record of our environmental impact, more people would be inclined to bike, run, take the bus, recycle, etc. Perhaps instead of me feeling silly for wearing sweaty spandex at the park, nicely dressed, recently showered people would make excuses like "oh yeah, well I am feeling sick to day, and I had to drive the carpool, hence the gasoline guzzling car."

If this model could be expanded, perhaps we could acknowledge our actions in other areas of our lives. Perhaps clothing made in countries with fair labor practices (like Laos) could become a huge fashion trend and have a special label. People who wore anything else might be publicly shamed by their non-progressive shopping choices.

I am not sure exactly how to bring about a fashion revolution, but this sort of thing has been done before. Public pressure against the cruelty of the fur industry has pretty much shut it down. People who wear fur have to make an excuse for their choices. Perhaps it is ironic that our culture is so anti-fur while we eat chicken nuggets and sit on leather couches, but it is a step in the right direction.

When the consuming public has a compelling reason to be environmentally conscious, real change can take place, and it could take place quickly.

fall is great!!

I love the fall because....
Football
I love college football, I could watch it all day.
Running
My kids are back in school, so I can run during the day. Also, it is cooler so I need less water to run long distances. I can get some major miles in. This year I am desperately trying to 'build my base' or get in lots of miles so I can do marathons in the spring.
Canning
Canning is pretty fun, and jam makes great gifts.
Fewer Mosquitoes
I hate mosquitoes because they bite me and bite my kids so they do not like to play outside. In the fall they decrease, and we can play outside a lot more.
Leaves
I like raking and playing with my kids in giant piles of leaves.
Halloween
I love costumes, and dressing up. Halloween is my favorite holiday by a long shot. Also, no presents or cards are expected. Mandatory presents ruin the fun of other holidays.

So I love the fall! Yeah!