Rachel Maddow Post on Cold Weather Protests #OWS #Occupy

I just realized that Rachel Maddow's blog post cited the first night of the Walkerville demonstration here in Madison.  I was among the 30-40 people who slept out that night.  It was February 28th, and the temperatures dipped down to 17 degrees Fahrenheit.  I don't know how we did it, but I was definitely appreciative of having a lot of gear and some pocket warmers.  Here is some video from the encampment.


First Night of Walkerville from Stew Fyfe on Vimeo.

Wisconsin To Allow Concealed Carry of Handguns

On November 1st, Wisconsin will become one of the last states to lift its ban on the ability of citizens to carry certain types of lethal weapons, primarily handguns.   The belief that handguns save lives or prevent crime is very prevalent.  However, many who support handgun or firearm ownership are not taking into account other harms to society (accidental shootings, violence against women and children, suicide rates, and handgun related crime).

The U.S. Constitution is actually very clear about the ownership of firearms - it says in the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution that, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."  To me, it seems like firearms should only be carried by members of a 'well-regulated militia.'  But that's just me, I guess.  If you want to know what is being allowed in Wisconsin, and what isn't, check out this link. I think that this is a big setback for Wisconsin, as well as for the U.S..  In my view, it's only a matter of time before we start seeing increased handgun violence in our neck of the woods.

To read more about what a scientific review of literature shows about the pros and cons of gun ownership, please see below, as well as the excellent resources at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/guns-and-death/index.html

From 1990 to 1997, there were 293,781 firearm deaths homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings.

(Hoyert, DL, Kochanek, KD, et al. Deaths: Final Data for 1997. National Vital Statistics Report, 1999.)

For every time a gun in the home is used in a self-defense homicide, a gun will be used in:

1.3 unintentional deaths
4.6 criminal homicides
37 suicides

(Kellermann, AL and Reay, DT. "Protection or Peril? An Analysis of Firearm-Related Deaths in the Home." NEJM 314:24 (1986):1557-1560)

In 1997 there were 15,690 homicides.

Of these, 8,503 were committed with handguns.

Among handgun homicides, only 193 (2.3 percent) were classified as justifiable homicides by civilians.

For every time in 1997 that a civilian used a handgun to kill in self-defense, 43 people lost their lives in handgun homicides alone.

(FBI Supplementary Homicide Report data, 1997.)

The largest category of firearms fatality is suicide, not homicide. In 1997, 54 percent of all gun deaths were suicides, and 42 percent were homicides.

(Hoyert, DL, Kochanek, KD, et al. Deaths: Final Data for 1997. National Vital Statistics Report, 1999.)

About six out of 10 suicides are committed with firearms.

(CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Fact Sheet. Suicide in the United States, www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/suifacts.htm.)

Source:  http://www.vpc.org/fact_sht/hgbanfs.htm

Very Good Interview about #OccupyWallSt with Amy Goodman and Chris Hedges on Charlie Rose - Oct 24, 2011

This is really worth watching...

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11961

Conservative Wisconsin Think Tank Columnist Thinks the Leaderless #Occupy Movement is Bound to Fail

With little evidence to the contrary, Mike Nichols again argues that democratic actions by Wisconsin's citizens won't amount to much.  Read his article here: http://goo.gl/JI2CY

#SaveBadgerCare

Town Hall Wed with WI DHS Sec'y Dennis Smith.Goodman Ctr.149 Waubesa Mdsn. 1-7 pm. #OccupyMadison http://goo.gl/TpJNg

Occupy Wall St. in a Global Perspective

Hedges bring his 20 years of experience as a war correspondent having covered movements and revolutions throughout the the world to his discussion.

Wisconsin's Medicaid Programs: Urgent Action Needed

You may already know that Dennis Smith is a former Senior Fellow of the right-wing Heritage Foundation who led the Medicare and Medicaid programs under George W. Bush.  Smith has written extensively on his desire to destroy Medicaid and oppose Obama's Health Care bill which was passed in 2010.  A list of his writings at the Heritage Foundation can be found here.

Now, Smith (current Secretary of Wisconsin Department of Health Services) and his deputy, Kitty Rhoades (a former Republican Assembly member), have announced two town hall meetings to take place Wednesday, October 19th, at the Goodman Community Center on Madison's East Side and on October 21st at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, to take feedback to proposals they made public only three weeks ago, on September 26th.  Even more outrageous, the town halls were made public with only a few days notice (on Friday, October 14th), leaving community health advocates little time to prepare, let alone even know that the town halls were taking place.

Smith's plan to cut $500 million by tightening eligibility requirements and thus dropping tens of thousands of people from Medicaid coverage is in addition to proposals to increase co-payments of low-income people and to put a cap on Family Care enrollment.  

Needless to say health, disability, and family advocates are outraged at many of the proposed changes.  Please see the Wisconsin Council on Children and Family's website here, the Save BadgerCare Coalition's website here and here, and the Survival Coalition of Wisconsin Disability Organizations' statement on Medicaid policy changes.

Please consider coming to one of the town halls to protest the attempt of conservatives to continue their attacks on Wisconsin's most vulnerable citizens.  More information on the Milwaukee town hall can be found here, as well as about the one in Madison, here.  If you cannot attend, please contact your state legislators right away and let them know how you feel about Smith and his proposed changes (legislator lookup).

A complete list of reforms is provided at the DHS website.

I've created a Facebook event page for the Madison town hall tomorrow.  Please check it out and share with others!  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=305599539455156

Hey #OccupyWallSt - Ann Coulter Just Called You a Mob

People like Coulter called us Madison protesters lots of things too - Union Thugs, unwashed, lazy...  But the fact was they were wrong time after time.  In her column yesterday she tries to show how the gun-toting Tea Party people are civil, polite, hardworking Americans committed to 'Democracy' but that anyone out protesting against greed is just a member of a mob.  Greed is good, in her eyes, perhaps.  A funny thing about Ann is that she claims that she's a Deadhead (a fan of the Grateful Dead).  How can any fan of the Dead in their right mind speak out against skipping a shower once in a while, or smelling of patchouli.  And even if she is in her right mind, what is so bad about that?

Nicholas Kristof's Recommendations on Wall St. Reform

How to increase accountability and efficiency within the banking and financial sectors, according to Nicholas Kristof, an award-winning NY Times writer.  Take note, protesters!