Hat's off to Dan Egan...
At times he reports on Door County for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and has devoted a great deal of his attention to issues regarding the quality and survival of Lake Michigan. Today I discovered one of his latest works, the second in a troubling three-part series: Sea of change... a host of invasive species is wreaking ecological havoc in Lake Michigan.

I did a search for all of his other works to find part one: Paradise in peril... Lake Michigan is showing signs of vulnerability - or even ecological breakdown.

Thanks Dan, for bringing forth a number of important articles on the biological and geo-political issues that threaten one of the largest bodies of fresh water on Earth.

"I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our
time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the
Republican National Committee," says Bill Moyers. "We have an ideological press
that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press
that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant,
independent press whose interest is the American people."

"With the holidays upon us, some of us might wish to be mindful of who we patronize relative to their Election Cycle political donations, as reported by the Center for Responsive Politics," says Alan Abramowitz.

ChooseTheBlue.com compiles information from third party sources primarily to show certain reported spending by political action committees connected with a corporation and by that corporation's employees as political contributions, in each case related to recent federal elections.

"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." - George W. Bush

One way to see God... and ask for an opinion from the source, can be found in this interesting Holiday link sent by a Compass reader.

A large shadow looms...
Watch closely. Moving cautiosly, quietly, behind the scenes, a hunter stalks its prey. Using time-tested tactics perfected in communities across the nation, Wal-Mart continues to press for greater corporate profit through growth and expansion. While the debate over building a Sturgeon Bay Supercenter has subsided, it is far from over.

Wal-Mart's efforts to build a Supercenter in Sheboygan have hit some snags. On December 31, 2004 the Town Board refused to issue a conditional-use permit for the 212,000 square foot store. Save Our Sheboygan previously gave the board a petition with more than 500 signatures asking the board to deny the rezoning request. Over 200 people attended the Tuesday night meeting. But it's far from over.

The Town of Sheboygan is a different governing body from the City of Sheboygan. Many people fear Wal-Mart's next tactic - to ask the city to annex the land for the proposed site. The city would benefit in gaining a huge tax base.

The City of Sheboygan has already granted Wal-Mart permission to build one Supercenter, expected to open in late 2005.

“It’s not the need of a Wal-Mart store, it’s the greed of a Wal-Mart store,” said town resident Clarence Weigert. “It only takes 10 minutes to get to the south side.”