Category Archives: Politics

Everything from how we choose our leaders to how we manage the public areas of our neighborhoods.

The Case for Regime Change

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In all of the banter among us peaceniks trying to stop the war, I have seen little discussion of the legitimate need for regime change.

Here you have a regime which has no respect for International Law. It’s a government that’s been convicted of terrorism by the World Court. The leader of this regime has the most evil weapons of mass destruction in the world at his disposal, and he has publicly stated his willingness to use them against any nation he disapproves of.

This regime came into power by rigging an election, and it has sent its agents to overturn the results of provincial elections it didn’t like. This is an invasive regime that permits police to detain, search and snoop virtually anyone they feel like with little or no judicial oversight.

Not only do they have a disdain for civil liberties, but they are also aggressively supressing dissent. Recently, riot police encircled a group of 600 dissidents who had congregated in a park in the capitol city. They herded these people into buses like cattle, even though they had committed no crime whatsoever (other than speaking out against the incumbent regime).

What we have here is a regime that is seen by most of the rest of the world as an arrogant, tyrannical and evil regime. SOMEBODY must liberate the millions of people who are suffering under its heal.

But who can help us?

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Low-wage WalMart jobs erode tax base

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Too many people in La Crosse have been bamboozled into the belief that a south side WalMart would be a good thing.

We keep hearing about the hundreds of jobs this monstrosity might create. What keeps getting overlooked is that these jobs typically start at $6.50/hour or less, and precious few people see a double-digit hourly wage. Furthermore, WalMart seems to have a nasty habit of pressuring employees into unpaid overtime, and has even gone as far as to lock employees in the store after they’ve clocked out. (New York Times, June 25). (This story was carried by many papers nationwide. I wonder why the Tribune has neglected to pass along this important and locally relevant story?)

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what will happen to the local tax base when these hundreds of overworked and underpaid WalMart employees can’t afford to buy, improve or maintain decent homes.

We have a decent locally-owned supermarket and a respectable Wisconsin-owned discount store up the street from this proposed blight. Why do we need to abandon our fine local businesses just to send our money to a predatory corporation from Arkansas?

WalMart drones will go on about “low prices”. They confuse price with value. WalMart is infested with cheap junk from third-world sweatshops. In terms of value, we are far better served at “Main Street” stores, where the staff actually know and care about their products and their customers.

If this obscenity gets built, it will create a traffic nightmare. Those of us who fought so hard to keep a new highway from being shoved down our throats will have to contend with the WalMart people when they come crying for more concrete (as they always do).

Every way you look at it, this WalMart deal is bad news. But I don’t think the city should walk away from it … they should run like hell.

Giving the People a Meaningful Voice

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Anyone who is loyal to the spirit of democracy upon which this nation is built must be disturbed by the barriers our current electoral process presents to third parties. A party which represents a significant “swing vote” should be represented as such in the electoral college, but the rules in place today make that nearly impossible.

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