Weekly US Map: Influenza Summary Update provides the current status of influenza activity in the nation. The latter part of January brought widespread reporting of infection in southern and western Wisconsin, and now northern and eastern Wisconsin counties are reporting escalating rates of infection. Remember, the influenza virus may be transmitted to others one day before onset of symptoms and up to seven days after the first sign of symptoms. Also, while Governor Doyle has lifted the restrictions on access to the influenza immunization in the state of Wiscosin, 4-6 weeks must pass before significant protection is present. To avoid infection,

# Try not to touch your eyes, nose, or mouth.

# Wash your hands often.

# Avoid touching surfaces such as doorknobs, grocery cart handles, cash... It's winter- try wearing gloves when in public as a simple solution to the problem.

# It's common sense, but often ignored... stay away from people who are sick!

# Wash your hands often.

# Stay home as much as possible and specifically avoid obvious situations where contagion is likely.

# If you get the flu, stay home from work or school. No one wants you to return before you're ready and infect everyone else.

# Wash your hands often!

Wisconsin State Rep. Terri McCormick (R) is planning to run for Mark Green's (R) seat in the 8th Congressional District, which includes all of Door County. McCormick set up a federal campaign account Wednesday, while Green recently converted his federal account to a state campaign fund in preparation for his campaign for governor. McCormick, resides in Grand Chute and she says the most important issues to her are national security, job creation and traditional values.

Word Spy! is devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases. These aren't "stunt words" or "sniglets," but new terms that have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites, and other recorded sources.

Billionaires for Bush packed the Platinum Club in Washington DC last night. Over a thousand people dressed to the nines, dancing on four different floors, celebrated four more years and four more wars compliments of of their man Bush... Marco Ceglie, a political activist that Compass Coffeehouse regulars will remember as "Monet Oliver D'Place," the billionaire that brought the “Get on the Limo” Tour to Fish Creek this summer has a new project in addition to his infotainment gig: wheredowego.org. Pictures from the Platinum Club will be posted ASAP...

The Human Flower Project is an international newsgroup, photo album and discussion of how people live through flowers. They report on art, medicine, society, politics, religion, and commerce.

Bill Bishop, a reporter with the Austin American-Statesman says, "I read on humanflowerproject.com that the flower decorations at the inauguration’s “Democracy Ball” will be only shades of red. Perfect. That’s the meaning of democracy these days: we keep all the red flowers over here, all the blue flowers over there and all the gold flowers in another spot."

Proposed wind farm project behind schedule
"As an application for the Forward Wind Energy Center continues to wind its way through the review process at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, a local group continues to fight the proposed 133-turbine wind farm."

Located near the Horicon Marsh, friends of the nationally recognized wildlife refuge are voicing concerns about the impact of the 400-foot tall turbines on birds and bats common in the area, group President Joe Breaden said.

Umbra Fisk of Grist Magazine says, "The number of animals inconvenienced by worldwide climate change will be exponentially higher than the number killed by wind farms, and for that reason, everyone who pauses to consider the big picture should be supporting wind farms in their community."

Its Eyes is a 6 minute and 30 second long film, freely available for download and alteration that envisions surveillance cameras as a biological organism slowly taking control of our urban space. Filmed on location in the Chelsea Market and Harlem, Its Eyes explores concepts of control, technological innovation, and surveillance.

"There are less than 40 pretzel shopping days left before Inauguration Day," say the developers of Pretzels for the Prez.

On a more serious note...
Each time the United States has gone to war, there has been pressure to limit
speech and to curtail other precious liberties in the name of national security, and a countervailing pressure to maintain our freedoms. By delving into the country's complicated, conflicted history with these issues, Professor Geoffrey R. Stone provides readers with the capacity to reflect and act on today's difficult civil liberties issues in his new publication... Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime.

The following message is from Julie Teskie, Sister Bay, who is organizing Door County activists wishing to participate in anti-war events on inauguration day in Washington D.C. Please contact her if you are interested in going or if you have a little extra money lying around for scholarship purposes. Some of the young folks going could use financial help.

Lakeshore Peacemakers (Manitowoc) has chartered a bus from Lamers and says anyone is welcome to join them. They'll be leaving from Green Bay on Wednesday, January 19. Cost is a minimum of $100 but that includes eats (www.lakeshorepeacemakers.org). There may be another bus out of Green Bay as well. Please let me know if you are interested in going, or if you can just help out!

thanks,
julie teskie.
blubyrd50@hotmail.com
920.421.1513

Why does Wal-mart want RFID ASAP?
Remember that sci-fi scene where Tom Cruise is walking through a shopping mall and the displays are hawking him, speaking directly to his individual tastes? Someday soon you may be scanned as you enter (and as you leave) a store to get data from the products that you are wearing or carrying in your purse, pockets or wallet. Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects.

RFID systems consist of a tag, (smaller than a grain of sand) that contains a microchip with a broadcast antenna... and a reader with an antenna that sends out electromagnetic waves. The tag receives them and converts the waves into power from the reader, using it to light up the microchip circuits. The chip then responds to the reader with its data.

The use of RFID technology is called "spy ware" by groups like CASPIAN, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering. They fear the following:

• The purchaser of an item will not necessarily be aware of the presence of the tag or be able to remove it;
  
• The tag can be read at a distance without the knowledge of the individual;
  
• If a tagged item is paid for by credit card or in conjunction with use of a loyalty card, then it would be possible to tie the unique ID of that item to the identity of the purchaser; and
  
• Tags create, or are proposed to create, globally unique serial numbers for all products, even though this creates privacy problems and is completely unnecessary for most applications.

Most concerns revolve around the fact that RFID tags affixed to products remain functional even after the products have been purchased and taken home, and thus can be used for surveillance, and other nefarious purposes unrelated to their supply chain inventory functions.

"Supermarket cards and retail surveillance devices are merely the opening volley of the marketers' war against consumers. If consumers fail to oppose these practices now, our long-term prospects may look like something from a dystopian science fiction novel," says Katherine Albrecht in RFID: Tracking everything, everywhere.

OK! Now here's the fun part... if you have $20 to blow.
It seems that RFIDs are already being inserted in the latest US currency. A fellow named Dave says he was recently scanned at a truck stop and his cash set off an alarm. Dave decided to try to deactivate the chips.

"We chose to 'microwave' our cash, over $1000 in twenties in a stack, not spread out on a carasoul. Do you know what exploded on American money? The right eye of Andrew Jackson on the new twenty, every bill was uniform in it's burning... Isnt that interesting?"

Ho, ho, ho! Have a Merry Christmas!

Support the Troops...
This summer Maj. Catherine Kaus and her soldiers commandeered several abandoned Army trucks in Kuwait to compensate for a shortage of their own vehicles. Kaus and her unit, the Ohio-based 656th Transportation Company, used commandeered trucks to fulfill their mission of transporting fuel. For that she and five other soldiers were court-martialed. Kaus, a graduate of Luxemburg-Casco High School was sentenced to six months in prison, fined $5,000 and given a dishonorable discharge. The 46-year-old divorced mother of one also faces the loss of her retirement benefits.

Kaus' sister said family members intend to contact U.S. Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, Wisconsin Democrats, to seek their support for clemency. A spokesman for Feingold confirmed that Kaus' family contacted the senator's office Friday, but he would not comment further.

The transcript of Major Kaus' court martial states that she received the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal, the Kuwait Liberation Medal and other awards during her long military career. Testimony also showed that when Maj. Kaus’ unit was ordered to march into Iraq from Kuwait, the company didn’t have enough vehicles to do the job. Darrell Birt – a chief warrant officer with Kaus' unit "found" two tractors and two trailers left in Kuwait.

According to Birt's testimony, "Major Kaus came back from a meeting with higher headquarters, I believe, it was with battalion and/or group ... and she told us that we were not getting any external support. In other words, we were going to have to move all of our assets ourselves, and Chief Parriman, who was there at the time, said, `Hey, I think I can solve that problem. I know where some vehicles are at,' something to that nature."

When asked how Kaus responded, Birt said he could not recall her exact words, but the gist was, "Do what you got to do. I just don't want to know."

Several weeks later, Birt and fellow scroungers also commandeered an abandoned cargo truck and stripped it for parts.

Birt who was later court-martialed for theft, destruction of Army property and conspiracy to cover up the crimes – was decorated not long ago with a Bronze Star for his “initiative and courage” in a combat zone. He too has been dishonorably discharged and stripped of all military benefits.

Col. David H. Hackworth (USA Ret.) is co-founder of Soldiers for the Truth and Senior Military Columnist for DefenseWatch magazine says, "As long as I served in the Army – from 1946 to 1971 – a cunning unit scrounger was one of the most important assets a commander had. From Korea to Germany to Vietnam, my guys were always officially short everything but never lacking in anything. We had hot jeeps, trucks, tents, kitchens, weapons and provisions of all types. I not only encouraged my trusty liberators to bring home anything that wasn’t nailed down, I frequently ordered them to de-nail goodies that were needed – like generators – and haul that stuff home quicksmart, too."

He says, "Make scrounging part of the Patriot Act."

Reaping the harvest...
"In the twilight of the Cold War, the United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation.

"The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system's core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books, though the radical movement scratched out human faces in keeping with its strict fundamentalist code.
From U.S., the ABC's of Jihad: Violent Soviet-Era Textbooks Complicate Afghan Education Efforts

The first day of winter dawns with 8 - 10" of new snow in Door County... off to a good old-fashioned white Christmas with great skiing ahead. I cannot remember a winter that started off this early with such an abundance of snow.

My Soldier is a program that puts politics aside and lets men and women serving in the armed forces know that someone back home cares. The goal of the program is to show support for troops by establishing pen-pal relationships with them.

Support the troops... demand ethical leadership!
"A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq."

"These documents raise grave questions about where the blame for widespread detainee abuse ultimately rests," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Top government officials can no longer hide from public scrutiny by pointing the finger at a few low-ranking soldiers."

The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists.

Newly Released Documents Show Possible Interference by Army Commander In Investigation Into Murder of Iraqi Detainee
December 21, 2004

FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane Interrogation Techniques
December 20, 2004

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.”

Tobusytoblog... lately but I couldn't pass this up:
From the The Daily Cardinal interviewing George Twigg:

DC: What role do you feel you played in Kerry's Wisconsin victory?

George Twigg: My job was really just to get our side of the story out, and, conversely, when Republicans came into the state and made all these claims about the things we were doing, that we did some truth telling and made sure people knew what we felt was their real record on those issues.

DC: By "truth telling," what do you feel you exposed?

GT: One point this fall, George Bush was in Wausau for a campaign rally, and he was talking about how he was going to support this program called MILC, a price supports system for dairy farmers ... Two days later, Republicans back in D.C. killed the program. It was a really clear example of him making these campaign promises out on the trail ... We got this 30-foot tall inflatable dairy cow called "Marathon the Mad Milk Cow," and she followed around Bush and Cheney to a bunch of their events. We had people dressed up in cow costumes, talking about how Bush was, we felt, not being forthcoming on his position.

Michael Moore writes:
"Fahrenheit 9/11" has been nominated by the People's Choice Awards as the American public's "Favorite Film of the Year." The five nominees were chosen from a poll of thousands of Americans in mid-to-late November. The other nominees for best film are "Spiderman 2," "The Incredibles," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (with Jim Carrey), and "Shrek 2." It is the first time ever a documentary has been nominated for best film by the People's Choice Awards.

The People's Choice Awards are considered, among all the awards shows, to be the one which most accurately reflects the "mainstream" public opinion in the United States.

OK, now, here's the best part: YOU get to vote! Online. Now. Just go to http://www.pcavote.com/voting/film/f01.shtml, click on the little circle next to "Fahrenheit 9/11" in the "Favorite Movie" category and press the "vote" button. Voting is going on now and continues only through this coming Monday, December 13, at 3:00pm ET, so send an e-mail to your friends and let them know they can vote, too. Winners will accept their awards live on CBS on January 9.

Now, normally I wouldn't make a very big deal out of something like this. It's nice and I'm honored, but it's not exactly the number one priority on any of our minds these days. In fact, when we found out we were nominated over a week ago, I didn't even think to tell you about it or put it up on our website.

But then a group of top Republicans took out a full page ad in USA Today (and placed a similar one in the Hollywood trade magazine, Variety) proclaiming that "An election is over, but a war of ideas continues." The point of the ad was to say that while they, as right wing conservatives, were proud of getting rid of Kerry, there was still one more nuisance running around loose they had to deal with -- me! They also issued a not-so-subtle threat to the Academy Awards voters that, in essence, said don't even THINK about nominating "Fahrenheit 9/11" for Best Picture. And Bill O'Reilly recently bellowed that if the Oscars recognize my work this year, Middle America will boycott Hollywood.

I promise, if we win, to give a nice and polite speech.


The Backbone Campaign and a growing coalition of grassroots organizations from around the nation have come together to initiate a process to empower citizens to nominate and elect "The Backbone Cabinet, A Progressive Parallel Government."

With the election behind us, progressives must lead the way to reclaim the moral language of our nation. Creating the Backbone Cabinet is an excellent way to put forward individuals capable of communicating our vision, values and expectations.

The success of this endeavor depends on you! Make a nomination, rate and comment on existing nominees. Forward this to your friends and colleages. If you are part of another progressive organization, urge the leadership to join the growing coalition of sponsors. If you lead a group invite your membership to join in the process! Numbers matter! Please advertise this effort on your webpage and in your newsletters, blogs, etc.

Between now and January we will hold a series of secure I.R.V. i.e. Instant Runoff Voting processes through which citizens around the country can select their top choices for each position. Be sure to sign up to be notified when voting begins.

You have one day left to place your bid on a ghost...
A woman, "marys454bb" in Hobart, Indiana is offering the ghost of her father for sale on eBay. So far, the ghost has received more than 80 bids, with a top offer of $14,935.66.

"Ever since my father died my 5 year old son has been afraid to go anywhere in the house alone whether it be day or night! I always thought it was just normal kid fears until a few months ago he told me why he was so scared. He told me "Grandpa died here, and he was mean. His ghost is still around here!" He then brought up the couple of times my dad tapped him with his cane and how mean his grandpa looked when he yelled at him. so up for auction is my dad's ghost along with his cane he used for getting around and hurt my 5 year olds feelings with."