LIAR

This is a piece of Americana. It is the artist's proof for a limited run of "liberated" Rethuglican propaganda. I am auctioning it off after the election. If you prefer to purchase one before the election, please send twenty dollars to our (ECO-Tours) paypal account, tnsaladino42@hotmail.com, plus a goodwill offering for postage.

As you can see, the piece was "junk" nearly before it was a few hours old, )perhaps prior to conception). Because it was printed on both sides, probably just a day before it was used, by the cheapest non-union print shop somewhere far, far away, it is horribly offset. non-printers need to know that the wet ink acts as a stamp pad on the next impression. These placards were intended to be held up during a photo-op and were not meant to exist after a few brief minutes. In essence, most people holding them didn't even have to want them. Nearly two hundred pounds of plastic was wasted on a few seconds of the nightly news footage. I took as many as I could fit in my car. I am working on the stencil for the bottom to say "LIBERATED BY PATRIOT" For an extra two-hundred dollars, I will paint the red background in an authentic Wisconsin plaid pattern using plenty of blue!
Any and all proceeds from these sales will benefit ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. As many of my readers know, this local not-for-profit has been around officially for about seven years and has planted millions of site-selected native tree seeds in addition to over sixty thousand site selected native tree seedlings across northeast Wisconsin. Many of the trees we have planted now dwarf houses. All but the most recent plantings are providing enough shade to bring a weary traveler some relief from sweltering summer sun.

Our principal author at Otherfish is Tony C. Saladino, a native world citizen who has been chosen by the trees as one of their emissaries to the human world. He is a self-proclaimed shaman and healer, Shanti-sena (peace warrior) and through cultivating trees and friendships, he has struck out as a leader and organizer of tree planting expeditions and educational ECO-Tours during which he works to dispel notions behind some of our social underpinnings that have led to rape of the planet, inhumane treatment of all biological organisms, and that will lead to ever-worsening conditions. As we all continue to breathe air, as do the trees, contaminated for billionaire's  profit and as our current leadership seems unwilling to do anything about it, ECO-Tours exists to teach sustainability in ways that liberate practitioners from contributing to the demise of the planet as a cost of our chosen lifestyles. There are so many ways to truly be conservative, honor the planet, her people and the gifts that we receive from God and Goddess. No matter what soil lies beneath your feet, being patriotic has to take on new meaning in this age of worldwide communication at light speed. Those who are patriotic to Starship Earth, those who truly understand the deep and abiding meaning behind being crew for this whole blue sphere, can begin to grasp the depth of trouble that we are in.

The people who have collected all of the marbles are getting awfully tired of the game and the most dangerous people on Earth don't care one whit about the rest of us, as long as they get theirs. When your resources run out, they will abandon you like the plague. Here at ECO-Tours, if you can imagine, we really do love you. That is why we are a stand for changing what has been so wrong for so long amongst the earth's people. Greed is not good and we have reached beyond the limits of sustainability. The story-telling season is nearly upon us. Gather around your hearth, bring with you your closest friends, your family and people who have not yet had the pleasure of hearing a story, tell them those that you know, learn a new one, encourage your guests to share theirs. It is truly the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the stories that hold water are the eternal ones, the ones that have come down to us from the beginning of time, and those that speak to our souls. The ones that have stood the test of time are typically more real, even though they have been "made up", because they help explain who we are. Lies need constant propping up with more and more lies, the truths contained in our ancient oral tradition stories eclipse time and speak ageless truths. this is the power of the water bearer that the age of Aquarius will owe a unique time to. Learn and participate by contacting us directly, or just keep you nose to the wind. When students are ready, their teacher appears. "Go boldly and unique miracles will come to you immediately."-anon.

Blessed Be and namaste'

Record Minimum

This past Sunday, Equinox Weekend. The ice finally stopped melting over the Arctic Ocean. In 2007, there was an extreme ice melt, surpassing old records by 22%! This past summer has produced an additional 5% less ice cover in the arctic than we have ever recorded. (2007 was 29% coverage, we have 24% today.) Perhaps more frightening is that the depth, which is much more difficult to calculate, the thinning of the ice cover makes it evermore susceptible to melting as well. Like the fractile geometry that many are becoming aware of, there is a strange exponential force in nature that is pervasive and unavoidable. Whatever scale we choose to look at, our entire civilization is being either buoyed or sucked in to an exponentially constrictive or expansive vortex. If you have not viewed fractiles, look into this! My understanding of this mind bending reality is that just as many people are committed to crashing, full force, into the end of oil, what might be the ultimate restriction of choices, when the time comes as are going to the fifty mile per gallon plus fuel economy which will lead to an extension of the age of oil, open a bit of a window of opportunity and expand the possibilities for adaptation.

When I learned about cybernetics, it was just enough to know to make me dangerous. Communications between the moment to moment becomes irrelevant as we arc toward singularity. We are one is developing a new and infinitely more stark as we perceive a different truth about who we are and our place within the incomprehensible crescendo of data that we are able to stream worldwide in less than the blink of an eye. It is inevitable that our entire society will have to stagger punch drunk into a very different reality in two or ten years and what we have done in the interim may stretch it out to double, but surely if you are under fifty, you are the end of an age. The oil habit will be cured when we live in neotribal units that function as self supporting communities. Oddly, with the advent of uber communication technology, we will be able to "organize" into units that surpass realms of space time. The elders used to communicate around a fire and technology allows us to do so at a few keystrokes, any time, any place and forever. How we organize, again from the cybernetic dictionary, ontogeny repeats phylogeny. In layman, the development of the organism recreates the development of the species. This is another aspect of fractility, the true landscape of organization that we are one with. Native people around the planet acknowledge that the spirits of the land are alive, as alive as we are. Anyone who has been aware of it in forests can feel and hear the whole forest breathe. Being in a forest during a single sigh of that great BE-ing has rejuvenating power, for what our organism needs is there in abundance. learning to dance in this abundance can be a challenge for city rats, but making ones way through a relationship with Mother Earth is up to each of us. We must also teach the children, we are one, not only with one another, but with Earth itself.

One of the greatest truths that science will always miss, because there is no measure to calibrate it, is the oneness of BE-ing in relationship to all else as it is to us. When we find a path to live in symbiosis, generating as little harm and as much fulfillment of true need, only then can we mimic the unfolding of whatever creative force we may recognize. I could produce twenty names and even the ONE who shall not be named, but whatever flavor of ritual you want to follow, the truth remains. Just as we need the beacon of Sun, (son) so too the feminine, the fertile seed that sprouts from darkness. under the New Moon we delve into that dark cauldron of creation and reaffirm in ourselves courage to confront that dark night. This is decidedly harder under the illumination of city lights. Our hearth may yet become the terminal, or LED screen but the efficiency has exponentially leaped forward from having to burn logs. Do not misunderstand, I am a major proponent of sitting around the fire, just ask my friends, but instead of story telling to ten friends, with available technology I can communicate across the planet and throughout time like never before. We are experiencing record minimums right alongside record maximums. never have so many had such a stark reality check and never before have we been able to tell one another about it. Our feelings, not only of mistrust of those guiding our energy and weapons policies. (author spits, his mouth filled with saliva suddenly.) Even dignifying that rhetoric by having to spell out the words makes me sick. The wrong end of every single weapon ever produced has been the intention to wreak havoc, inhumanity and brutality to evermore people at evermore scales of mayhem. This stance has never been morally defensible. This, I believe, flows from a sense of duality, always living in opposition to facts.

Mark Twain said,"Faith, is believing in something you know to be untrue." Some people furtively utter the ideas within their own heads that, "We will find a way to maintain our standards of living without sacrifice." They are finding more oil all the time. Think of a pot full of oil and how it spreads out what heat it has and retains it nearly forever...Now, multiply that effect by hundreds of billions of barrels, multiply that through the past fifty years and realize that we have burned off over half that "reserve" of energy, formerly buried and integrated into the crust of the Earth. What if Mamma was putting by solar excess to get enough of a balance to make our entire existence tenable on our Spaceship Earth. I rue the day that science recognizes that the cost of spending that reserve so quickly will mean desert expansion on a scale we have not yet imagined, untold billions of destruction from evermore violent storms, and dislocation and feedback loop upon feedback loop hyper interact and create the next natural crescendo. I know that crisis management has become the rule, socially, politically and economically in our culture. the lies that the lies were based upon came more from a desire to defend our egos by saying the world was "dog eat dog" or that "boys will be boys". even survival of the fittest is beginning to morph into survival of the luckiest. By now, I hope, the population of the entire world is aware that we are one, equals and crew of Starship Earth. The decisions that we make, upon this rock, in our remote part of the universe have the power to outlive seven generations. It is time to tell our leaders to begin to act like it!

RECORD MAXIMUM PUBLIC PRESSURE NOW! THE TIME HAS COME TO EVOLVE!

2000 More Trees Planted-Thanks For The Donations!!

Here in Brown County, Wisconsin,  along the headwaters of the East River, there is a recently designated county park. Fonferek's Glen was a severely impacted area ten years ago. Several organizations have worked to plant trees in the area and ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. has been planting there for several years as well. In honor of the Autumnal Equinox, we held another plant-in on the site today. Many of the trees that we have planted already are taller than a person and the shade that they produce is having a positive impact on the soil moisture and survival rates of newer seedlings and plantings that we continue to put out in that area. We have begun to see a change over the last few years that has been exciting and rewarding as well. We continue to spread seed, integrate organic matter and set out native plants that both add to the diversity of the area and begin the process of soil building within the park.

The "Glen" is made up of a variety of habitats, from rolling hills and open fields to cliffs, a waterfall, cave and natural bridge. part of the area was an old quarry, where limestone was wrested from the Earth. In addition, a large protected area, surrounded by cliffs and steep hills provides a unique habitat that is far warmer than the surrounding areas. When the park was still relatively new, we primarily planted pines and ashes and as the soils have begun to develop, we have increased both the species and numbers of trees that we plant. now that there are copses developing, we have tried to bring more hardwoods and have been given heart by their success. We have had some interesting trips to the site that have led us to see a wide variety of wildlife. Since there are several types of habitat available there, the preponderance of edge is astounding. The park itself is 74 acres, thirty of which had been heavily impacted agricultural land The first few visits that I made to the park, not even weeds could grow in the hard clay. Today, there is soil starting to form, evidence of a variety of critters and as I have said, a large number of trees that are showing evidence that in spite of difficult conditions, life can flourish when given a chance. The most wonderful changes that have taken place have been the wide distribution of milkweed, wild grape and raspberries several large areas have begun to revert to native plant cover, but there is plenty more that needs to be done.

Our group is relatively small and everyone who has helped us has done it selflessly. We have no paid staff. Other than my blogs and writing, we don't do any advertizing. since the inception of our organization, we have remained committed to spending every dollar we raise on either trees or tools to help us to plant more trees faster, or to hold trees for longer periods so that we can care for them in nursery conditions for a while instead of having to plant thousands of trees during the very short window that Spring and Fall provide. as we have continued to plant, we have learned much and discovered even more about what we can do to increase our effectiveness, our efficiency and making our events fun. To learn more, just attend one of our ECO-tours, write or call. We are most happy when we are planting trees, but we love to share what we have learned about the process with others, especially those interested in bringing these types of tours to their area.

We can be reached by snail mail at 1445 Porlier Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin 54301-3334. donations can be made through Paypal at account, tnsaladino42@hotmail.com, if you are in our area or will be passing through, you can call ahead to let us know about your availability for a personalized tour at (nine 2 zero) double eight-four, triple two-four. There are hundreds of tours we could guide across Northeast Wisconsin and we are never happier than when we spend time with folks in the pursuit of a more sustainable future. Total round trip to the Glen from our headquarters is under fifteen miles and within the same radius we can show visitors a zero-net energy home, cheap and effective solar space heaters and permaculture gardens to name just a few of the interesting and educational opportunities that abound across the region. We hope to see you soon! Blessed Be and Namaste'

Election Looms, Beware Agents Provocateur

I have been considering the anniversary of nine eleven well. Imagining just what might have been had the President who had been duly elected to serve our country, not the interests of the terrorists had diplomatically addressed the world with candor and sincere awareness of what was being reflected in the attacks of those fateful days. In all fights for freedom, especially those whose cause is just, the very groups fighting the good fight, for human rights, dignity and democratic principles are nearly always infiltrated by those seeking to get the agents of change labeled radical or bloodthirsty. When all is said and done, and we have a look more deeply into the events of today, I can say almost unequivocally that the attacks and mayhem perpetrated was by a tiny splinter faction that was almost surely trumped up by those whose mind was set on keeping the balance of power in the hands of the older and more entrenched seats of money, power and influence. Taking the long view of history tells us that when power is threatened the singular response has always been to make your enemies out as hotheads with a twitchy trigger finger, while you hold the aces to their undoing. well placed moles, "radicals" and big mouthed advocates for violence is easier than taking candy from a baby, especially when populations are fearing for their lives and future under the hands of repressive regimes.

This was always taught to us at sit-ins, peace gatherings and anti-nuclear rallies. When someone advocates violence, turn them in! we are peaceful loving people and we are singing, singing for our lives! bombs and guns only kill and that is anti-antithetical to our desired outcome. We cannot expect to be honored and respected if we sink to the level of the dogs who are oppressing us. Anyone who says otherwise is just rabble. This is why repressive regimes utilize the age old technique of agents provocateur. It takes all the pressure off public discourse because no one wants to side with a lawless faction. When group-think takes over and people who want change desperately enough it is easy to run a con on them and say you are "on their side" in the struggle while maintaining your hole card, allegiance with the power brokers, to save your ass if things get dicey. I have seen it hundreds of times, in dozens of good groups working for positive change, often they appear only as the lunatic fringe, but occasionally they will just be disruptor extraordinaire, questioning every decision and micro analyzing every possible plan. Occasionally, they will take on the devil's advocate role and try to inspire doubt at every decision point. The shadowy nature of these turncoats and overzealous troublemakers will always be with us, but come election time, they often boil over into action because the power structure feels unduly threatened at this time. There are some pretty hefty bets that have been placed on the dice for this throw and the ultra-wealthy know that the way business has been done will no longer be the rule. Innovation that eclipses old business models has turned the tide away from ever larger and ever more energy inefficient manufacturing and distributing centers, perhaps even centralized anything to a more resource conscious population that is trying to invest in local economies. This is reflected in many sectors and has led to the mushrooming local food movement. Increases in bike sales, local bicycle manufacture and custom fabricators is another growing part of economies across America.

Corporate welfare is equivalent to class warfare and the public is beginning to see the light on this fact. we have paid in various and several ways for the enrichment of the upper classes, through the sacrifice of blood and treasure to be sure, but through the taxing of our elderly, our children, their teachers and those groups least able to afford to sacrifice for the enrichment of the one percent. Please, look deeply into the facts that may take years to come to light before buying into the sham production that has been laid before you this week. We need to stay focused on the demons within our culture, the ones who crashed our economy and then took billions of taxpayer dollars to shore up their personal fortunes, without doing a single thing for our country or her people. We will have to put and end to their cannibalizing our economy sooner or later, it is just a matter of whether we will survive after we finally shed their parasitic grasp.

Roadie For The Vice President Wannabe

I mentioned in a recent blog post that I had worked, setting up for the Vice President of the United States to appear at the National Railroad Museum last week. Joe was right along the river, speaking to the older community, the volunteers and the generations of trains that had relied on steam were the backdrop.This week his "foil" is in town, curiously, the exact same town, Ashwaubenon, the village nearest the airport, Paul Ryan chose to breeze in from as close to the airport as possible, by far. Jets land and take off less than 1/4 mile from the facility. It was completely draped with non-union labor, decisions were not being made or were made in an ad-hoc fashion and then re-done another way after trial and time wasting errors. A very wise stagehand told me during the last election cycle and for those who have read it before, just skip ahead to the end of the graph. If we just look at the production methodologies of the two campaigns and choose based on which one knows how to let the folks doing their job do it their best, guide them to your desired outcome and hire quality personnel to execute their intentions. Needless to say, last time, he went with Obama.

I believe that I mentioned the fact that when the team for Biden came in, they all knew what they wanted. In the case of the Rethuglican adversary, the "big guy" who ostensibly is the one with the dream, was not even going to be onsite until after the union help had been sent home. The youthful crew who had been tasked with putting together a television studio in an ice rink didn't have much equipment, certainly not always the right materials and baseline skills that would be better suited for a sit down gig. They literally had highly skilled stagehands putting stickers with the company name on bike rack. They were challenged with rigging in one of the least challenging venues that I have been in around here and they seemed to be struggling even though they had a man lift of adequate height. I want to take nothing away from the tenacity and practical thinking skills of any of those on the crew. It just seemed like they could have done better than what looked like a few roughly sketched diagrams telling them where stuff was going to end up. It could be debated that by hiring a production company from Superior, Wisconsin rather than from Milwaukee, Paul Ryan was helping a more distressed part of the state with his business, but the main difference was that twenty people made the trek from Superior, over three hundred and twenty-five miles, while the folks in Milwaukee would have had to drive about one hundred and twenty-five miles (less than half). A nearly identical gig to what got set up for Biden by under one dozen folks, with the fellow who had ultimate say over what the final product would look like onsite from the start. This saves time and money, reduces mistakes and minimizes waiting around time for getting to the bottom of whatever issue presents itself.

You cannot buy organization and you cannot teach common sense. The people who are pulling the strings for Biden are used to cutting where it counts, keeping in mind that cutting quality is bad for everyone.they have made silk purses out of sow's ears all their lives. That is what entertainment industry professionals do best. Especially speaking as a proud stagehand union member, that's why they pay us the slightly larger bucks. Whoever is trying to run the Romney/Ryan campaign needs to recognise that trying to save a buck by wasting other folks fortune and wealth, even if it was willingly given is a terrible waste of energy, time and ultimately, it looks bad, at least to those who work every day trying to make a living from providing everyone quality events under limited budgets. I was a promoter for a time and it was lost of work for little if any pay. Often I lost my own money and had only taken the event on because I believed in it. I learned quickly that if you don't spend your money wisely, no matter how good the show, you will lose your ass. It cannot be a mistake to try to look behind the scenes into how these groups are working across America. one campaign is respectful, honest and invites participation and the other is not open to anything and can only give a rough sketch of what they may or may not have in mind. I leave it for my readers to decipher which is which, I can only tell you that I have never in my life been so happy for a show to leave town, that's sayin' a lot!

When Joe was in town, I wanted him to come back as soon as possible, Paul Ryan, you have not even come to town yet and I can't wait for you to leave.

When Reality Sets In

We find our entire civilization balanced precariously on a razor's edge. Wealthy, no, filthy rich people, who have guided the ship of state across the vast majority of the Earth's surface for generations have made investments in what they call "infrastructure" The military industrial complex as well as the nuclear industry, which is a tiny branch off the tree of death, have been subsidized for one hundred years. They talk about their process as if the "resources" of the Earth are only there for our exploitation of them. Digging and clawing their way through the ecosphere, their reality is stunningly arrogant, ignorant of the profusion of living that happens in natural systems. To them, their behavior is not only their right, but in a sense a responsibility. When the easiest stuff to get has made them unimaginably wealthy, they don't slow production, or go out of their way to recycle what they've "harvested", no. They expand their net, or dig up greater and greater areas.

In my county, as in most, 90% of the original wetlands were drained or filled. The soils have been hammered for the better part of a century and about 90% of the native forests are gone, virtually every acre in our entire state has been logged off, so even what appears to be mature forest is second growth and has had in it's own history, massive soil loss, erosion and sterilization from ultra-violet exposure and exposed subsoil or parent rock. Just this fact alone accounts for a one thousand fold increase in eutrophication, the rate at which Lake Michigan is filling up with soil. Mind you, perhaps it will still take ten thousand years, but every ounce of soil we lose to the big water is never to return, it's just too darned expensive to retrieve. In a brief three generations, perhaps the last sixty years, we have blown through reserves that took millions of years to create. Like the wetlands lost, no amount of conservation can get our use characteristics in line with the speed at which the Earth produces fossil fuels. Efficient use is completely justified, but to expect to stay on the coal,oil and natural gas gravy train forever is plain short-sighted. We cannot retrieve a single BTU or calorie of energy after it has been spent.

Co-generation was once at the cutting edge of technology. Back when we still had streetcars, a local paper mill offered to pump the excess heat from their processing facility through underground pipes. This would have eliminated the need for snow removal in the downtown area for as long as the heavy industry remained in their facility. Our provincial and ultra-conservative city leaders didn't even try. In addition to saving millions over time, we could have had a world class city. Instead, we are struggling to put a good face on economic collapse. Hey, the Packers are making money. Wealthy power brokers have had their way long enough. Oil has always been the most lucrative business if you look at cost of production to profit. The tables have now turned. Every barrel we take out of the ground will cost more to get than the one before it. The oil sands/shale "reserves" that are on the verge of exploitation will take billions of kiloquads (thousand, quadrillion BTUs) to extract. We can do it, but at what cost? Say that I were to tell you that I would continue to provide energy, but to make it I would require a bigger and bigger percentage of the total energy available to do it. Just do the math on that and you will find soaring costs and thus, prices.

As a parent, I learned to buy shoes a little big for my children. Shoes were a large percentage of my "disposable" income. Anyone who has been poor knows that every penny gets disposed of, whether you like it or not. It is far easier to grow into something if you know what it will be in advance. Knowing that the jig is up, just before the end situates us in a far better position than plowing headlong into the end of the age of oil. We need to regain the high ground that is required to create civilizations. The civilization that we need to create must reflect the facts of life. If we ignore the truth of our position, we are doomed to catastrophe when the chickens come home to roost. The proactive approach to these issues yields the best result. Linking areas that are high-density residential, recreational, commercial and industrial with smart high speed rail and linking these access points with walking and biking options creates jobs, a sustainable infrastructure and increases the appeal of using the system over time. The health issues associated with a more active lifestyle alone offset the cost to society of making human powered transport convenient, safe and practical. Just two generations ago, there were three grocers within walking distance, without crossing any major streets. Today, I have to go over a mile and across main streets to get to the closest one. It is within walking distance, if you revalue your time.

I purchased a vehicle that got twice the mileage of my old one. I had been driving an old VW Jetta, that got around twenty-five miles per gallon. Gas was still around two-eighty per gallon. People thought I was nuts. They asked "Seven thousand dollars for a used car? That's crazy!" Just for my own pleasure, I was thinking about getting a car that could take a full load of fuel. Think of how many fewer stops I will have to make at the fuel depot. My old car only held about five dollars worth at a shot or it would leak out of the tank, so I was in the filling station many times each month, especially if I had to commute to far away cities for work. My last tank took me over eight hundred miles. Only stopped to wash my windows a couple times over more than a month. Aside from feeling patriotic each time I do cue up to "sip" my fill, I have more money in my pocket to spend in the local economy. As I ride my bike more and walk, it tickles me all the more that my gas sipping appliance is getting infinite MPG while she sits. Imagine how many vehicles would be similarly idled if we had sensible high speed rail or even a streetcar system that would get us where we need to go.

In my own case, doubling my MPG "earned" me over $19K in avoided costs. That is about one extra year of pay every ten years! The solar panel we placed on the rental unit we own across the street "earns" us 1/3 of our heat budget and has been "paid off" in energy costs for several years now. Avoided costs of over one hundred dollars per month (each and every heating season) continue to accrue. With investment and innovation, we can easily spread these techniques and technologies across the world. The only thing holding us back is the wealthiest among us. Their incomes would necessarily falter as the technologies are not monopolized by them, the simplest technologies have been cheapest and most effective all along. Expecting major players to invest in cutting their own throats would be like having a major drug company try to sell dandelion root in an attempt to "win over" the holistic health people. My solar panel made today could cost about 1,000 dollars to build, but will provide heat nearly forever if modern materials are used to construct it. Any home installing it could reap 1/3 off their heating bill, ostensibly forever. My panel is over twenty-five years old and still has over 60% of the original heat output. If I had the panel installed on my house the whole time, it would have saved me over 15K, enough to manufacture for all the homes on my side of the block!

Next, figure in the savings of not having to remove snow, ever, as long as your town is thriving. The heat budget for the melting system provided by a local industry, power generating station or mill. We may not be able to create Utopia, but can't we just use our heads to do what is best for everyone? It seems that we are always waking up to another way that the ultra wealthy have screwed us. The legacy of their greed and waste will burden many hundred more generations and it is with the quality of our lives that we subsidize their raping of Mother Earth. In our case, the City of Green Bay itself is at fault for rebuffing the industry that was interested in supporting the public good. We need to spend money in ways that will have incremental benefits over the longest periods of time. We hear about the WPA all the time these days. That was how we clawed our way out of the Depression. Many County Parks and nearly every State and National Park bears the beautiful marks of the patriotic citizens who helped pay for the WPA's passing. Not only the sweat and blood of the individual workers is worthy of remembering, but the industrialists whose funding made the worker's toil possible.

When we finally realize that paying taxes is a luxury afforded only the most successful that we will find the path to a more sustainable and equitable distribution of resources and only when we appropriately value the gifts of creator, will we find a path to peace, equitable distribution of wealth and highest quality of life for the greatest number of people. We are working with ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. a local not-for-profit organization that teaches sustainability and gives ECO-Tours, reforests denuded areas with native trees and advocates for ecologically sensitive development, design and production techniques. If you would like to invest in this important work, donate!

Roadie for the Vice President

This Labor Day weekend, Joe Biden came through Green Bay and spoke at the National Railroad Museum. As happens every four years, I was able to get to work on his campaign stop as a hand. In addition to seeing a bit of the behind the scenes work that goes on before the cameras roll and seeing the relatively smooth transition from a train exhibition hall into a political venue was both enlightening and somewhat comforting. See, last election cycle, we had stagehands who said that they were going to base their vote on how efficiently the campaigns ran their events. When I heard this, it sounded odd, slightly simplistic and perhaps a bit risky as well. Although having an efficient and well-prepared staff working on your behalf might be a sign of political competence, it could also be a cover for ineptitude. I have been a stagehand for nearly half a dozen election cycles now and as I see repeatedly, there is a huge difference between the parties and the way they run their campaigns.

I only saw a few minutes of coverage from the event that took over twelve hours to set up and tear down, but it was some of the best footage I have seen on the campaign trail thus far. Joe had a calm and clear way of speaking and the points that he made were insightful and astute. We are truly up against big money, not only in America, but around the world. The thousands of people who worked diligently to recall the Governor of Wisconsin this past Spring would have overcome the hurdles easily and put a new governor in place of the crook who is there now but for the money spent on electing the man of the monied interests. Outspent five to one, even truth has a hard time rising to the level of public awareness that is required to make change happen. We often overlook the need for our involvement in the political process. At the Railroad Museum, the dozens of individuals who threw their talents into this one event had to have come away feeling pretty good about the long day's work.

In contrast, the party of the monied interests has a complete and utter lack of understanding of what it takes to put on an event, how to interface with local talent and an utter disregard for the reality that presents itself at each and every venue. One of my first political rallies was to be at a baseball field, newly constructed in a marshy area near here. Light rain had soaked everything and water was pooling where they wanted to put the stage. Seeing that getting semis full of equipment near the spot would be impossible, they built a two-layer-thick plywood "road" nearly 1,000 feet long to gain access to the field. Once this was accomplished, we went to work building access and egress ramps so that the Presidential candidate would not get his feet wet. Just a couple miles away were other locations that would hols just as many people in comfort, but the organizers were wed to the fact that baseball is the "American" game and the idea of baseball, apple pie and mom was worth whatever hazard or damage might threaten. Safety, comfort and reality had no place in the campaign, but they got their man into office. Spending wildly to secure a job worth 400K per year.

Holding their wealth against them would be wrong, I completely understand that. The part that I despise is that the ultra-wealthy control not only the terms of our political discussion but the process of electing our leaders. The groundswell of new voters is a testament to the fact that the wealthy elites that have had their way with our nation for over twenty years are making life for the middle and lower classes much less tenable. It has been pointed out that the number of empty homes that have come about because of the greedy banks far outnumber the homeless in our country. One has to question what kinds of corporate welfare is required to build houses when no one can afford to buy them. It is not the wealth that is detestable, it is what the ultra-wealthy decide to do with it that stinks. Years ago I lived aboard a large pleasure yacht. The owner was not wealthy, he came by the vessel as a great deal and had marginal success in a business that allowed him to buy it as a business expense, for entertaining. I guess, indirectly, I benefited from a little corporate welfare myself in those days. What we saw at every marina we ever pulled into were behemoth hulks of garbage, expensive pleasure yachts that had been purchased by folks with more money than brains. Typically these had been laid up pon rocks or crashed into the dock on their maiden voyage, put into dry dock for repairs that were far more expensive than their owners ever imagined, then left to rot in the elements.

The political season is rife with similar examples, especially now that unlimited money can flow into campaigns, even from overseas. Just look at the new cadre of Rethuglican legislators that have been sent to the House of Representatives. Their campaign promises to change Washington sounded pretty good. Like the neuvo riche' dream of buying a boat, it sounds great, on the surface. However, no organization likes being hijacked by a bunch of young idealists who refuse to work with anyone in a substantive way to create positive change. The largest part of diplomacy is to recognize the fact that we all want what is best and the fact that we differ on how to make the world better will, by definition, be different. Whenever we get into discussion, it requires being able to look critically at our own opinions as well as those of the others involved in the conversation. The ultra wealthy are loathe to ask anyone for advice or opinions because the economic system has blessed them with proof, in dollars, that their ideas are golden and everyone else's are crap. I harp on Calvinism more often than I probably should, but I speak from direct experience.

Many years ago, I was profoundly poor and a local group of professionals, a marketing firm as I recall, decided to "help" us to have a better Christmas. They contacted us through the social worker that the state had assigned to us. We lived on about six thousand dollars per year and our needs were simple. Our rent was over 50% of our income, my domestic partner was a student and working part time and I was working for two different not-for-profit organizations, caring for developmentally disabled people and for the environment as a community organizer. We asked for a pizza cutter, because we made our own pizzas and thought it would be easier to use than our big old kitchen knife. We asked for a cutting board, a few new towels and I think we asked for a winter jacket for our baby daughter. The people who shopped for us were not in the least practical. The cutting board was big, but thin and cracked in half within a month, leaving us with two cutting boards smaller than the one we had sought to replace. The pizza cutter was made so poorly that the cutting wheel broke off the handle before it made the first pass across the pizza and the towels were so cheap that the threadbare ones we had before worked better for drying off after a shower. The jacket was much more of a fashion statement than a winter coat. I think we passed it on to Goodwill. The reason that I mention these issues and "presents" that we received is because that is the experience that I have with charity.

I do not ask for charity any more. I do not want what the ultra wealthy have and I certainly don't want them to give me what they think I need. The campaign season is a time for asking ourselves what do we need and finding out how to get it. The in-between times are just as important. No matter who holds the offices, we need to keep on them like flies on shit to do the right things for us and for our nation. just voting every four years is not enough and just listening to what the big money tells us and thinking that we have been educated is a sign of the end of Democracy. Perhaps there will be a change in the ways we do politics. I truly hope that there is. Even a few of the billionaires are beginning to wake up. wiser men than I have pointed out that the best way to measure a culture is by looking at the way we treat the least amongst us. The elderly, the children and the disabled are as much a part of our world as the billionaires. The baubles and material things that distract the wealthy also inhibit their ability to see what is needed for the vast majority of the rest of us. Next time you ask for help, be careful who you ask. We may all live to regret the handouts that come our way if we neglect our responsibility as world citizens.