Email date: 10/18/07
WISCONSIN DEMOCRACY CAMPAIGN E-LERT
In this update:
1. All the news that isn't
2. Idle minds, active expense accounts
3. People's Legislature Web site updated
The latest Big Money Blog is a tale of two protests. They happened at the same time, a few city blocks from each other. One was guaranteed if not designed to perpetuate political paralysis. It got a lot of attention. The other was aimed at rescuing a sacred civil liberty. It was ignored.
There's an old saying in the news business that when dog bites man it's not news, but when man bites dog it is. The question, of course, is whether we need to know when some man bites a dog. That question hovers over yesterday's events.
It was considered news when a group underwritten by one family's oil and gas fortune paid to bus in a few hundred people to, in effect, defend the state budget stalemate while public employee unions paid to bus in hundreds more to shout them down. What was learned? What about this did we need to know?
Meanwhile, Lord knows we all need to do some homework on habeas corpus, because if you did an honest poll you'd probably find as many people who believe it's an illicit drug or a spicy ethnic dish as folks who know it's a constitutional protection of due process and safeguard against unlawful imprisonment. Fewer still would know it's also an endangered species.
The state budget impasse enters day 110, and the meter at the Capitol is still running. It's a nice gig . . . no work and steady pay.
The People's Legislature Web site has been spruced up, with new photos and descriptions of the latest events and activities. Give it a look. And take action.
Spread the word by sending this message to people you know. To support the Democracy Campaign's work, go here.
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign210 North Bassett Street, Suite 215
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608-255-4260
Web Site: www.wisdc.org • Email Alert Archive