OWN is hosting a Stamporee event outside the Wisconsin Republican Convention in Stevens Point on Friday, May 16 to demonstrate how when it comes to the failing policies of George W. Bush, Senator John McCain is actually McSame--a literal rubber stamp in his votes in the U.S. Senate. During the event, an actor portraying Senator McCain will use a gigantic rubber stamp to give his personal seal of approval for Bush's problematic stances on continuation of the war on Iraq, Bush's attack on health care, among many others. As a U.S. Senator, McCain has continuously worked to promote and advance the Bush policy agenda. Senator McCain needs to hear how these policies have failed America and how being a rubber stamp for President Bush hurts Wisconsin residents. Special guests will also include actors portraying George Bush, Cindy McCain and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, this year's GOP keynote speaker.

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.

The State Senate completed action Thursday on its version of water-use rules needed to add Michigan to an international compact intended to protect the Great Lakes and their tributaries from raids by thirsty states.

As the hunt for cleaner, domestic sources of energy continues, some Wisconsin counties have adopted wind farm ordinances, but Douglas County isn?t one of them.

WASHINGTON - The California Supreme Court's historic ruling affirming the right of same-sex couples to marry is certain to inject the issue into the 2008 presidential race and could help Republicans by serving up a red-meat issue to rally conservative voters.

The Milwaukee Brewers are in trouble.  The meltdown that occurred in Thursday's 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the sixth inning speaks volumes.

The lead off home run Ben Sheets gave up to Andruw Jones was not a major concern. Sheets was pitching well and pitched well to both Andre Ethier and veteran Jeff Kent, despite the latter's home run.

Then came the meltdown.

Left handed first baseman James Loney sliced an outside pitch to left field. Young Ryan Braun made a diving attempt to catch the ball. It got by him. With experience Braun will not make that mistake. No matter how he played the ball, with no runners on base, the first rule is to not let the ball get by him. Instead of one out and a runner on first , the runner was on third.

Then Ben Sheets came unglued. The three run homer run to Dodger backup catcher Gary Bennett, who was hitting .118 at the time, with no  RBI's this season, was his undoing.

These kind of collapses are mental and emotional and that is the responsibility of the manager. 

When Braun saw his pitcher down two-zip, despite pitching a fine game, he overplayed a ball. Understandable.

The Ben Sheets collapse is inexcusable.

When I have the stomach for it we can discuss the double switch in the sixth inning which resulted in taking out Hart.

And don't even get me started on Eric Gagne.

It didn't take long for the usual crowd of homophobes and religious fanatics to get to preening and drama queening over California's same-sex marriage decision yesterday.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a.k.a. The Church of Latter Day Pharisees, is Hell bent on writing a State constitutional amendment that would forbid Stuart Gaffney from marrying his partner of 21 years.

Twenty-one years is 183,456 hours, or 3,336 times as long as Britney Spears's first 55-hour marriage lasted, yet the blessed nuptials of the ethically disheveled Pop Tart are the ones the Latter Day Pharisees would prefer the government to exclusively consecrate.

Even Mathew Staver, the self-appointed Florida attorney for Jesus with a record of shameless dishonesty that would stun an ox, wants everybody to know he's outraged, calling the decision "magical." Magic and necromancy, at least, Staver would know.

California's Catholic bishops too, are incensed (pun intended). Why in the world would a conspiracy of celibate old men care about marriage? I've decided not to eat Kraft American Cheese Food Slices, so it doesn't bother me whether they're individually wrapped or not.

Nobody has ever given even a halfway decent reason why the government should forbid gay people from marrying each other. The best that appears in the various State court decisions on the question is that the government has an interest in preserving some allegedly "sacred tradition."

And political conservatives actually support this ephemeral notion as a legitimate function of government? Conservatives sure aren't like they used to be. Somebody needs to be conserving the real conservatives before they all disappear.

It's a sacred tradition, the Alliance Defense Fund claims, that dates back to "Eden." (And Eden dates back to Gilgamesh, except the ADF's religious mythology is highly selective.)

The California Supreme Court took an enlightened step forward yesterday, in treating human sexual preference as a classification akin to "race" and ethnicity for the purposes of scrutinizing government actions aimed at separating the foregoing into socially acceptable and non-acceptable castes.

That heightened scrutiny is appropriate because sexuality, like skin color and ethnicity, exists on a continuum of subtleties. Any line drawn on the continuum is bound to be arbitrary, and laws can't be arbitrary and not violate a State's Equal Protection Clause.The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures. — JuniusReligion is afforded the same heightened degree of scrutiny, even though today's Orange County Evangelical could be tomorrow's Santa Monica Scientologist and whereas if you're hounding after women at Bar Louie tonight, you're unlikely to be doing your best full drag Liza Minnelli impression at La Cage on Saturday.

Conservatives object to all this, mistakenly believing that the will of the government and/or the electorate can override an equal protection clause, and judges must unfailingly defer to the legislature and the electorate. That's ridiculous, obviously, as a fundamental matter of U.S. constitutional law.

And that's why Milwaukee medium-wave think tanker Charlie Sykes wants you to replace all judges committed to equal protection under the law with reliable GOP cronies and underachieving rubber stamps.

As if conservatives never go running to the courts to try and invalidate legislation they don't like. Mitch McConnell filed for an injunction against McCain-Feingold before the ink was even dry.

Today's convenient Republican devotion to direct democracy is nothing but a smokescreen for a desire to enforce subjective religious principles through state coercion and a prurient fascination with the mechanics of — male, especially — homosexual relations.

Another great big gay crusader, Ted Haggard, proved that already.

The Kickapoo Homeschool Coop is finishing the year with a bit of celebration and fundraising....

Saturday, May 17, 2008 9:00 AM TO 1:00 PM Registration begins at 8:45 am Ages...

On Saturday, May 17, 2008, at 1:00 pm, the Kickapoo Woods Cooperative will sponsor a...

The full schedule of the weekend celebration is at this link.    There are bike...

Spring Concert 2008--Sunday May 18th 4 pm at the Temple Theatre in Viroqua The Viroqua...

The next Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club meeting is Tuesday, May 13th at the Gays Mills...

[From Anita for mom's day...] The Originator of Mother's Day .... Julia Ward Howe..not Hallmark....

Here is Sting and Dominic Miller doing Shape of My Heart acoustic: Don't forget to...

Both houses of the Legislature overwhelmingly approved the Great Lakes compact Wednesday, sending it to Gov. Jim Doyle and putting pressure on the states that have not yet ratified it.

Gov. Jim Doyle now gets his chance to change a bill intended to fix the state's $527 million budget shortfall.

In a test of how far the state's Office of Lawyer Regulation can go to keep its investigations secret, a referee in a disciplinary case has ordered the agency to let him inspect the case file ? so far to no avail.

A developer that claims it lost a major building contract for political reasons cannot sue Gov. Jim Doyle's administration for damages.