I read how people want to be able to vote to bring troops home. I read how Milwaukee money is being wasted by supporting our troop. I read about so many people want to make a differance. Then why is so much time and effort and money being wasted to make a meaningless vote?

Doesn't Milwaukee have enough reall issues to deal with? Murder is out of control. Crime is always spreading and growing more violent. How about one of the worst school systems in the nation? How big of a list do we need to make to demonstrate that this meaningless vote is a monumental waste?

Focus on the some real issues that we can change and need to change. We need a constant effort on these issues. No, They aren't as showey as war and they won't be as easy to make warm and fuzzies, but they are issues that we can make real differance with.

Watching any of the debates you hear change mentioned dozens of times. We are being told that people want change. The let's get off our collective self rightous butts and start holding people accountable with real demands. I want to be proud of the city I live in and say that I live in Milwaukee. I want to know that every kid in these schools have a chance at a real education. I want to be safe walking down the street.

Please start focusing on things that need to be done rather than on things that will simply make you feel happy for the day.

I sure won't argue that we have lots of other problems to deal with, and certainly all of the things you talk about need work.

But if our country was not being bled dry financially by making war, we could afford things like education and police and health care.

But that's not a priority. That's what people like Bill are trying to change.

Steve Hanson

Uppity Wisconsin

Or it is only if you think it is. Speaking up once, or voting in one referendum, or writing one letter, or going to one rally isn't going to stop the war. But we've got to keep the pressure on. Some elected officials actually pay attention to what their constituents think. Our Congress member, Gwen Moore, votes to end the war at every opportunity. And she does that knowing she has solid support from the voters of Milwaukee. If every member of Congress represented his/her contituency, the war would be over. Two-thirds of the people want it to end, but telling a pollster that isn't enough. A referendum is just one of many tools to get the message across. We need to use them all.

What moron would think that a war is not a real issue?
I can't think of one single event that affects a nation more than a war.

It shows how little respect the conservatives have, of the vets, to claim that war is not an issue....it's tantamount to rebuilding a road in a national park!

The war is the reason the economy is in the tank, we are broke.
Now the neocons want Bushie to bail ou the banks.

I say let them go under, and replace the managements with people who act ethically and refuse to offer predatory products, that will follow the laws ad regulations and run banks as banks.

Allowing voters to voice, should not be limited to just election day. The local governments is the way to make most voices heard.

Whoever voted for this lame bill should be targeted, shamed and tossed from office.

This bill stems from a court case in Jefferson county where the City of Watertown chose not put an Ira war referendum on the ballot because the Iraq war has no bearing on the city government of watertown, Bill. Of course these topics have an effect on the people of Watertown and the federal taxes they pay, but if the "bring the troops home" referendum were successful, does the City of Watertown have any power to do anything? No.

The judge in the case ruled against the city, but in the transcript made the point that along with the four current exceptions for direct legislation, there should be a fifth to accomodate Watertown's position. He encouraged the legislature to take action - and it did.

This bill only requires that the referdum brought forward must deal with something that the local unit of government actually deals with. While a referendum on the color of Big Bird's tie is of far less serious nature than the Iraq war, it has the same significance to the operation of the local unit of government.