Sheila Plotkin
Education by exclusion has Arrived at Phase 6
Phase 1: 26 years ago, education by exclusion was wrapped in the camouflage of "parental choice". Charter schools were touted as citadels of best practice, hotbeds of innovation, and a much-needed alternative to "failing" public scho…
Karen McKim
As recently as about a year ago, whenever I was asked if I had ever considered running for office, my answer was an adamant and sincere NO!
I have a hard time remembering names. I don’t like being the center of attention. On personality tests, I score ten in cooperation, zero in co…
Ron Berger
The Academy Award nominated film The Big Short is an entertaining dramatization of Michael Lewis’s book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. Most people have not and will not read the book, and it is my impression that while the film conveys the general nature of the sy…
Ron Berger
As a corollary to Karen McKim's recent post on election integrity, I want to add something I have previously written about the issue of individual voter fraud:
In recent years, a good deal of media attention and calls for electoral reform have been directed at the question of fraud …
Karen McKim
When I see nutty behavior—things like entering toddlers in beauty pageants, maintaining a national system of employer-funded health insurance, or legalizing switchblades—I practice empathy for my silly fellow humans by imagining how I would explain their conduct to space aliens. You …
Ron Berger
This letter to the editor was published in the Wisconsin State Journal on Jan. 28, 2016.
On February 16, Wisconsin voters will have a chance to reject Rebecca Bradley as a candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Over the past three years, Governor Walker has appointed Bradley …
Ron Berger
One of the aims of my contribution to the Active McFarland blog is to educate readers and offer political analyses and historical background that place our voting preferences and grassroots political work in broader context. In an earlier post, I cited Paul Starr's observation that Ame…
Dawn Shegonee and Ron Berger
This article was prepared for “The Capital City Hues” (Dec. 10, 2015).
On November 21, 2015 more than 70 people from around the state of Wisconsin who are working for social change gathered in the Native American tradition for a “Circle of Leadership” to learn …
Charles Cottle
The Republican dominated Congress of the United States has now condemned the United States to a kind of living hell. The U.S. Senate voted last week to reject the expansion of background checks for guns purchased online and purchases at gun shows. That means the only solutions the …
Sheila Plotkin
In my posting "Who is being represented by the WI GOP?", the results of the County Clerk survey regarding preserving the current structure of the GAB are erroneous. I apologize for the error.
I was able to re-read that survey a week later. 38 County Clerks responded to the first…
Sheila Plotkin
As the WI GOP Assembly fast-tracked the destruction of the Government Accountability Board, voting on it after midnight, and sending it to the Senate, I began to wonder whether constituents were asking for this to happen. There was really only one way to find the answer.
On Octo…
Ron Berger
At the time of this writing, political polls indicate that Hillary Clinton is the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic Party nomination for president, Vice President Joe Biden has decided against running, Martin O’Malley can’t seem to get any traction, and Bernie Sanders is the only …
Sheila Plotkin
Dear Republican Legislator,
You and Gov. Scott Walker want to eliminate every watchdog. You want to legalize bribery. You will strangle public education. You have insured that fewer people can vote. You have given away our tax money, driven away businesses, and produced only min…
Ron Berger
In his keynote address to the delegates at the 2004 Democratic Party convention, Barack Obama, an Illinois state senator and nominee to the U.S. Senate, gave a rousing speech that would catapult him to the forefront of the Democratic Party and eventually the presidency of the United St…
Sheila Plotkin
On Sep. 8, a letter to the editor bemoaned the negative publicity the police are getting. It doesn't mention that summary street executions of unarmed black citizens are a legitimate reason for negative publicity.
Another letter complains that "...cops are in the minority and sh…