Advoken's Blog
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Category: Uncategorized
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I’ve long wondered why the majority of states in the United States continue to support the death penalty. It makes little sense, since it has long been felt by a consensus of criminologists (one survey says 88% so believe) that the death penalty does little to prevent crime. Homicide rates in death penalty states have…
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Standing in a cold, pouring April rain, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett looked out upon several hundred similarly wet onlookers to declare that he was seeing the most positive actions among young people that he’d ever experienced in his nearly sixty years. If the crowd standing before him was representative of progress among youth, he was…
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Far too many union members and African-Americans today may never have heard of A. Philip Randolph, not realizing the contributions he made both to the civil rights movement and to labor. Norman Hill, longtime labor and civil rights activist and president emeritus of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, outlined the major legacy that Randolph left…
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My wife is among the many dedicated fans of figure skating in the Milwaukee area who were disappointed when the Journal Sentinel’s Channel Four nearly totally obliterated an NBS Sports figure-skating competition with its coverage of Sunday’s snow storm. After showing only four skaters, Channel Four chose to replace coverage of the two-hour show with…
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There was a time when you could tell by your nose where you were in Milwaukee. When you felt the sour, sweet odors of animal renderings impregnate your senses you knew you were likely crossing the old 6th Street viaduct; scattered across the acres under the bridge and to either side stood Milwaukee’s thriving packinghouse…
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Some things you just can’t control. That’s so true when it comes to nature. We humans may try to fit into nature, but we can’t control it. From caveman days on, we found garments to keep the body warm and developed ways to make fire to heat the surroundings. Now, humans build anything from huge…
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The Norway Pine had to be 85 years old – at least according to a counting of the rings – and it was sturdy and healthy, ready to live on. But, it had to go! Thirty-seven years ago, when we built our small cabin deep in the heart of the National Forest, this tree stood…
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The end of the Milwaukee Labor Press: Another sign of perceived impending death of the U.S. labor movement? Not all all; it’s just a realistic look at the changing world of communications. The cost of printing, distributing and paying for the monthly publication is just too much for the Milwaukee Area Labor Council to bear…
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Perhaps the most memorable phrase in President Barack Obama’s Second Inaugural Address was this: “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths –- that all of us are created equal –- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall .…
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Myths continue to dominate discussions of the so-called right-to-work laws, as witnessed by letters to the editor and comments from columnists who should seem to know better. The principal myth is in the name, “Right-to-work,” since the law confers no right to a job for anyone! It’s an ancient bit of clever marketing by pro-business…
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