Uppity Wisconsin

The FBI is again pushing to have all ISP's keep track of all web visits for the purpose of law enforcement. At a meeting Thursday arranged by the Commerce Department, FBI Director Robert Mueller again asked that all destination and source requests for web traffic would be tracked and retained for up to 2 years.

"I am not going to run for president. I'm just not going to do it. My head's not that big, and my kids are too small.

- U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan to Mike Gousha.  .

The Yes Men are at it again, creating a video interview with a "representative" of ADM from Davos.  ADM is currently trying to have these removed from the Internet.  Here's our small bit to help keep it alive.

Or don't read in the papers, depending upon which ones you read.

If you read the Chicago Trib, you might have seen this from the AP: 

MADISON, Wis. - Democratic U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold entered this election year with $3.65 million cash on hand for his re-election bid.

But if you rely on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel exclusively (and many still do), all you'd know about Feingold is that some guy wearing a Brett Favre jersey and a cheesehead might run against him.

Darn!

Just when the nuclear industry is doing such a great job of selling its "renaissance" as the way to fight climate change, along comes another irritating little problem.

As my mother used to say, there's always something to take the joy out of life.

This time it's a tritium leak at a Vermont plant -- something that's already happened in Wisconsin at Point Beach and Kewaunee, as noted in the map above. The AP reports:

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Radioactive tritium, a carcinogen discovered in potentially dangerous levels in groundwater at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, has now tainted at least 27 of the nation’s 104 nuclear reactors — raising concerns about how it is escaping from the aging nuclear plants...

Tritium, found in nature in tiny amounts and a product of nuclear fusion, has been linked to cancer if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.

Is it anything to be concerned about?

You may have noticed the little block to the right that cropped up a few days ago.  It's your opportunity to contribute to Russ Feingold's upcoming campaign, securely, and on-line through Act Blue.  We will in the coming months be adding in more progressive Wisconsin candidates that you can donate to right here.  There'll be more news about that later.  But in the meantime, help to keep a truly progressive senator representing our state in Congress. 

And by the way, we're open to suggestions on any other candidates who deserve support.

Bill Richardson of Middleton, the media coordinator for the Dane County Republican Party, greeting the news that Wisconsin will get $810-million for a rail initiative linking Madison and Milwaukee:

"Trains are a 19th century wonder," Richardson said. "To offer a train in the 21st century is like offering the public a telegraph instead of an iPhone."

Richardson must not get out much -- not even as far as Chicago, let alone the northeastern US, France or Japan.

Someone is indeed living in the dark ages, but it's not the railroads.