Looking back at a year of horrors By Curt Andersen News-Chronicle This past year has had enough bad news to last a lifetime. Looking back has been like viewing one of those old newsreels shown at a theater back in the 1950’s, and which would review a panoply of horrific events in mere minutes. As I look back, I see the damage done to the United States by the Bush Administration. Bush has put us nearly into bankruptcy. He has destroyed our national reputation (not that what we had was sterling), and he has sent our troops off to fight a war, first saying that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, then saying “we never said that,” and now using rhetoric that attempts to say the Iraqis were harboring Al Queda members (“even though we never said that.”) Meanwhile, we are losing about two soldiers per day…they are being wasted in an attempt to jam democracy down the throats of people who have no interest in it. Environmentalists and other decent citizens are horrified by the attacks on the environment and the plundering of our natural resources. The Bush Administration has chopped the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act into chum, making it more likely our children and grandchildren will suffer from the health effects of polluted air and water. Science is on the side of the angels, not the Bush Administration, which is rewarding big campaign donors in the chemical and energy industries, mineral extractors, and logging firms, et al. The Bush Administration has given away our timber at bargain basement prices. The prices for our trees were already so low that our taxes subsidized the cost of cutting them. These same logging interests have been telling us about their immense tree farms and their desire to grow super trees, but instead are cutting the nearly free ones from our national lands. The subsidies we pay will show up as increased income taxes. Because of the money being tinkled away in Iraq, and the unbelievably huge fatcat tax cut, our property taxes will also rise to keep up with services like schools and police and fire protection. The tax cut is a mighty reward for the top 1% of America’s Untouchables…the robber barons. The little bit that working families will get, perhaps $350 per family, is a loan that will be paid for by our children and grandchildren, if the country has not had to declare bankruptcy or devalue the dollar…both marks of shaky banana republic governments like those of Central America (and those countries were yanked around by the many of the same high-rollers that are clamped onto our leg now.) Among those who will benefit from the deregulation of policies that protect our health will be power companies…like those slickers with fancy advertisements in magazines that tell us what great neighbors they are, blah, blah, blah), and chemical companies and the companies that use their products…the paper industry, agricultural chemical manufacturers, and other industrial polluters. For a nice green-looking state like Wisconsin, where the poison is not as obvious at it used to be, there are hidden dangers…dangers that may harm your family in ways that will set your bank account back into the economic Stone Age. Over the years, the wide paintbrush term, “environmental damage” was really damage to our health, and it was the visible part of the problem, though the connection was not always made. Our economy also suffered real damage. A trashed environment shows a lack of careful planning and short-term voodoo economics that will leave us living in a dumpster. Parents understand this, after viewing the mess in their teen’s room. Fancy advertising by Republican candidates claim that they are environmentalists when they are the opposite. They claim they are working for jobs which really means they are working for their own jobs in the legislature, and supported by special interests who will profit 100-1 by their donations, IF they have any talent at all. As luck would have it, there is good news. This was the year the Crandon Mine’s threat to destroy the pristine Wolf River ended. The Mole Lake Chippewa and the Forest County Potawatomi tribes purchased the land and mineral rights after many years of deft blocking by environmentalists and conservationists who valued the Wolf River more than the phony claims of “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!” by the mining companies and their toadies in the Republican Party. The blocking moves by environmentalists and conservationists forced down the price so the tribes could afford to purchase the property. However, one obstacle remains. Whereas the Potawatomi paid $8 million in cash, the Mole Lake Chippewa inherited an $8 million note of debt, a “mortgage” which must be repaid in 2 ½ years. You who will benefit because your Wolf River property will not lose its value, or those who were against the mine because it would have harmed trout, walleye, and sturgeon fishing, can help be part of this purchase by donating to the Wolf River Protection Fund. Just the savings in gas and lost time from hearings, rallies, and meetings will be worth some sort of donation. Send tax-deductible donations, made out to Wolf River Protection Fund to: Sokaogon Chippewa Community, 3051 Sand Lake Road, Crandon, WI 54520. Your cancelled check will be the receipt unless otherwise requested. You can donate more than once. You may also donate online at http://www.wolfriverprotectionfund.org Other good news is the settlement of the Fox River Cleanup issue by our Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency…both recently emasculated and eviscerated by Republican administrations in Wisconsin and Washington. At the head of this PCB cleanup effort was Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin, which began working on this issue in the 1980s. The paper industry will try to weasel out of real clean up efforts, showing their lack of stewardship of the Fox River, in spite of their claims to being a “good neighbor.” Clean Water Action Council would gladly accept donations to continue their work to make sure Big Guys in the paper industry do a good job cleaning the Fox River so your children and grandchildren are safer. This means you have more free time while CWAC’s volunteers take on the giants. Mail tax-deductible donations to CWAC, Suite 120, 1270 Main Street, Green Bay, WI 54302. Andersen is a lifelong resident of the Green Bay area and a Navy veteran. He owns a small business and is an adjunct instructor at NWTC. He is vice president of the Clean Water Action Council. His column runs Wednesdays. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected]