One Wisconsin Now

Today George W. Bush revealed plans to bring 8,000 of the 146,000 troops in Iraq back home. This very small “drawdown” basically leaves the U.S. force intact and is George W. Bush’s way of saying that he is passing his expensive mess on to the next president.

While he was talking about bringing a small number of troops home, as many as 3,500 soldiers in the Wisconsin National Guard learned that they will be going to Iraq next year. It will include troops from Milwaukee, Madison, Eau Claire and over 30 other communities statewide.

This call-up is actually the biggest since World War II and unfortunately will not be the first tour for many of the involved soldiers. As a person that served in the Army National Guard in the 90’s, I simply can’t imagine how disturbing it must be to serve under a president that has such reckless disregard and has mismanaged so much so often.

Wispolitics.com reported that the as-yet-unfrogmarched Karl Rove, apologized to Wisconsin's delegates at a Republican National Convention event this morning for "getting weepy."

He wasn't crying to atone to God and man for being the hack architect for this god awful endless war in Iraq that has caused so many deaths and so much misery. And it wasn't because he violated the law by compromising the security of an undercover CIA agent to punish her husband. And it wasn't for debasing our national discourse with his slash-and-burn character assassination brand of politics.

Eleven events are scheduled in Wisconsin on Friday, August 15, as part of the Iraq Moratorium, a growing national, grassroots effort to end the war and occupation of Iraq. This is the 12th month of such actions.

Wisconsin has had more local events than any other state except California, with six times the population. Two communities, Rice Lake and Waupaca, are holding their first Moratorium events on Friday.  Wisconsin events are listed on a new blog, Iraq Moratorium-Wisconsin.

The national Iraq Moratorium asks people to take some personal or group action on the Third Friday of every month to express their support for ending the war and bringing the troops home. Those actions can range from wearing a button or black armband to work or school to participating in an organized action.

Since it began in September, more than 1,200 events in 41 states and 240 communities have been listed on the Iraq Moratorium website, www.IraqMoratorium.com , which also collects reports, photos and videos of events and offers ideas and tools for organizers to use.

The Madison-based Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 150 groups, has helped promote the Moratorium in the state.

Do something, whatever you are comfortable with -- whether it's wearing a button or protesting in the streets --  to call for an end to the war and occupation.  It's got to stop, and we've got to stop it.

In anticipation of Senator John McCain’s Racine town hall meeting Thursday, several concerned Wisconsinites that will be unable to attend offered five questions that they would like McCain to answer.

John Valko, President of UAW Local 180 in Racine is concerned about the loss of good paying, family supporting jobs. He wants to ask Senator McCain why the country should continue the harmful policies that he supports which have caused our current economic crisis. This crisis includes the loss of some 92,000 manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin during the Bush administration. Specifically Valko cites John McCain’s support for disastrous Bush policies including unfair trade deals, and massive tax cuts for big corporations and the wealthiest individuals.

John Valko's question: “The policies you have championed have resulted in an economic nightmare for families across Wisconsin, so my question is: Why would we want to continue your failed policies which have devastated our country?"

CINCINNATI -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for sweeping educational reforms today in a speech before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an association which he said "means more to me than any other," despite his historic opposition to many of its policies.

McCain, who has received an F grade from the NAACP for his votes in each of the past four Congresses, acknowledged that he might not win the votes of the group's members in his race against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill. McCain skipped the NAACP's convention last year -- he apologized for that today, saying he "was a bit distracted at the time dealing with what reporters uncharitably described as an implosion in my campaign" -- and in 1996 he advised then-GOP Sen. Robert J. Dole of Kansas not to attend it on the grounds that he would face a hostile audience. Today, accompanied by Maryland's former lieutenant governor Michael Steele, who is African American, McCain said he would seek the organization's support for his presidential bid.

On Saturday, a group of walkers for peace will set out from Chicago on a seven-week walk ending at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Their mission:

To challenge and to nonviolently resist our country’s continuing war in and occupation of Iraq.

The walk, which will cross the entire state of Wisconsin, is organized by Voices for Creative Non-violence, a Chicago-based group with deep, long-standing roots in active nonviolent resistance to U.S. war-making. Begun in the summer of 2005, Voices draws upon the experiences of those who challenged the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and U.N. against the Iraqi people between 1990 and 2003.

Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota peace organizations are supporting the walk, playing host to the walkers and holding events along the route. People can participate by joining the walk for a day, a week, a month or the entire Witness Against War. Those who live along the route could consider making a food donation or organizing with others in your community to provide lunch or dinner to walkers.

"Nothing is more precious than Americans, and I know that it has caused great heartache and pain," he said, "but I also want to tell you that I believe in the conflict in Iraq with this new strategy, we are succeeding.

"Every American is precious, every casualty is someone that pains and grieves us, no one more than a veteran," said Mr. McCain, who spent five years as a prisoner of war during Vietnam. "But the consequences of failure would be chaos and genocide in the region."

As I was getting ready for my day this morning I heard Matt Lauer of the Today show interviewing U.S. Senator John McCain. Lauer asked him many questions but one brief exchange stood out to me well beyond the rest of their discussion. Lauer asked that if the surge in Iraq is indeed working, “Do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?” To my amazement, the Arizona senator said, “No, but that’s not too important.” What? I quickly grabbed a pen and wrote down his words as if in disbelief. After confirming what I heard with another source, I just sat in amazement. How could McCain say that having a better ESTIMATE of when our troops will be able to come home is “not too important”?

Perhaps John McCain refused to give an estimate because he has been so terribly wrong about the War in Iraq from the very beginning.

Given all of his wrong predictions so far, I could understand why he would be hesitant to give an estimate. But to say that having one is “not too important” shows that he is totally out of touch on the issue. I think that most Americans would think the exact opposite. Not to mention the families of those that so bravely serve. For them a safe and soon return is the most important thing about the war in Iraq.