One Wisconsin Now

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?"

Today marked the first meeting of the Union Veteran’s Council in Wisconsin. It coincided with other such meetings in at least four other states across the country. Also coinciding with the event was an ad that will be run in areas of the country including Wisconsin. The focus of the ad and the meetings are how the attendees may respect Senator John McCain’s military service, these veterans do not agree with his policies.

At the Milwaukee meeting union workers that have served in combat in every war from World War II to the war in Iraq gathered to talk about the most important issues of the day. From the outset the message was made clear that this group is long term and will not go away after November. Much of the discussion focused on how the Bush Administration has been terrible for not only working people but also for veterans. Many people around the table talked about how Senator John McCain has been a rubber stamp for Bush in the U.S. Senate and how his policies could end up being even worse.

Tomorrow the AFL-CIO will announce the start of the Union Veteran’s Council. The announcement will not only launch the national council but it also coincides with the formation of state councils in five states including Wisconsin. The Union Veteran's Council will also start an ad run across the country including parts of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin chapter will have a veterans roundtable discussion tomorrow in Milwaukee. OWN will be blogging from the event.

4pm Thursday, July 10

Milwaukee Building & Construction Trades Council

5941 W Bluemound Rd Milwaukee, WI

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s new book, What Happened, describes the White House’s “propaganda campaign” surrounding the War in Iraq. Rather than fact checking and holding the White House accountable, Senator John McCain chose to use his seat in the U.S. Senate to cheerlead and help amplify the Bush propaganda on the war. An analysis by the Atlanta Journal Constitution (5/28/08) shows that the Bush Administration, McClellan, and McCain all towed the same party line to make the case for an unnecessary war.

In 2003 during a radio address Bush insisted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. McClellan also said in a White House Breifing (7-23-03) that “we judge that Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction programs.” Early on McCain also latched onto this talking point saying that “Hussein continues to acquire, amass and improve on his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.” (Ashenville Citizen-Times, 10/13/02)

What follows in an op-ed submission following my continued disgust with the media’s reporting on conditions in Iraq.

The economic policies spearheaded by the Bush Administration and supported by Senator John McCain in the U.S. Senate have been devastating to people across our state. These policies have ushered in a time of economic crisis in many different ways for working families. Today a wide cross-section of Wisconsinites came together in a conference call to tell their stories.

Greg Hinds of Menasha just found out that the Appleton plant in which he works will be closing and 300 jobs will be lost. Today he said, “I don’t want a government handout. I want leaders who aren’t so out of touch they don’t see people are suffering. We cannot keep supporting unfair trade deals that cost us family-supporting jobs.”

Johndalyn Smith, a Milwaukee resident is facing the loss of her home. She is angry that Bush and McCain support policies that bail out big corporate investment firms but do nothing for middle-class homeowners like her. She also commented, “I cannot tell you how scary it is to think I may lose my home. I work hard and play by the rules and George Bush and John McCain offer nothing to help me, but they are more than happy to have all of us bail out Bear Sterns for $30 billion.”

Is there anything you've been wanting to ask him -- or tell him? 

John McCain returns to Wisconsin!

John McCain will host a Town Hall meeting on Thursday May 29th at the Greendale Martin Luther High School. The doors will open at 3:30pm.

To RSVP for the event, please click here or email Wivolunteer@johnmccain.com. No confirmation nor reply from campaign staff is needed to attend the event.

Click here for more information on the event and news and photos from the campaign trail.

Click here for a map of the event location.

On Thursday the House of Representatives approved an expansive new veterans education benefit that would be paid for by a tax on wealthy Americans. It would provide the equivalent of a free four-year college education at a public university. Some Republicans joined Democrats in passing the aid that would benefit veterans who enlisted after the September 11 attacks. Unfortunately the group of Republicans that voted for the plan did not include Wisconsin Republicans Paul Ryan and F. Jim Sensenbrenner.

Paul Ryan not only voted against providing veterans the new education benefit, but then gave a quote to the New York Times saying, “I can’t think of a worse time to raise taxes.” It is telling that Ryan all but ignored who would be the direct beneficiaries of this particular tax and he also ignored exactly who would be taxed under it. People earning over $1 million would be making a very small sacrifice to pay for the new education benefits to our troops, who have sacrificed so much. It is amazing that the same people that were so willing to send our troops off to war, are now so hesitant to honor them in a real and substantive way. Apparently for Ryan it’s all about ideology and protecting rich people’s money.

Just when I think that the Bush Administration could not go any further in abusing the men and women in our military, they prove me wrong. Not only did the President send them into a preemptive unnecessary war, but he also did not send them with the proper equipment or a plan to get out. As the men and women in uniform have come home with the most severe injuries imaginable, we found that the conditions in Walter Reed were abominable. Now the same crowd that constantly touts their “support for the troops” has been caught mistreating them again.

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and VoteVets.org released an e-mail obtained from a Veterans Affairs employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The March 20, 2008 email was not sent by just some rank and file worker, but by the VA hospital’s PTSD program coordinator. The email was sent to a number of VA employees including psychologists, social workers, and a psychiatrist. The email stated that because of an increased number of “compensation seeking veterans,” the staff should refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD. The email further instructed the workers to rule out PTSD and instead consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder instead. Essentially the instructions were to misdiagnose returning veterans in an effort to cut VA costs, regardless of the costs to the health of the soldiers.

Sgt. 1st Class Shane Sanderson devoted 22 years of his life to the U.S. Army, including service in Iraq. He is now retired but is still very committed to his brothers and sisters in combat and all of the issues that have an impact on them. In an opinion piece appearing in today’s Wisconsin State Journal, Sanderson describes the evolution of his own thinking about the war in Iraq. At the same time he challenges each of us to avoid talking points and seek out the truth.

Sanderson says that until 2005 he had been “drinkin the Kool-Aid.” At that time he was in Ar Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar Province, Iraq. He says that “the death and frustration and conditions that surrounded us worsened daily and helped me to realize the insanity of what was taking place.” Sanderson describes his frustration at American complacency and the fact that they were not making Bush finally answer the question: What is our mission?

This morning groups representing veterans, military families and state progressives joined at the State Capitol to criticize the endless war in Iraq. The event was timed to coincide with tomorrow’s five year anniversary of President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech. All of Wisconsin’s 90 fatalilties happened after Bush’s infamous speech. Nationally, 97 percent of the more than 4,050 Americans killed in Iraq also perished after Bush’s declaration.

Ryan Nofsinger was deployed to Iraq as a medic in 2003 and served two full tours after being stop-lossed. He said that “if we don’t end this war and punish those responsible, it will destroy everything wonderful about this country that the generations before us sacrificed to keep alive.”

Shane Sanderson, a 22-year Army veteran who served in Iraq said that “If a leader says we need to ‘stay the course,’ in Iraq, ask ‘why if it’s not working? If a leader talks about staying in Iraq for as long as 100 years, ask ‘how can we do that if Americans want us out now.’ We owe that to our soldiers and we owe that to ourselves.”