Wisconsin Jobs Now Protests at Ribble’s Green Bay Office

Workers will pay more.

Members and supporters of the Wisconsin based organization Wisconsin Jobs Now visited the Green Bay office of Congressman Ribble, Reid [R] today to express their dissatisfaction with Republican vote to block the bipartisan Senate plan for a $1,000 payroll tax cut for 160 million middle income taxpayers. The Payroll Tax Compromise was a bipartisan effort to keep in effect the lower tax rates of 4.2 percent of your pay for Social Security and 10.4 for the self-employed. The rates will now increase by 10%.  Last year around this time a President Obama basically had to agree to an extension of Bush-era tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans to pass a similar Bill. There was no option to submit to political blackmail this year.

Lightly Staffed

The only worker at the office present was a “social worker” who was neither a secretary nor had any idea of the Congressman’s schedule the protesters were told. She did have the contact information for the person to contact to determine the congressman’s schedule. That person and their office is in Appleton. The worker, Kerry Niemcek , has a degree in Journalism and Political Science.  Stated her sole mission was only to address veteran’s issues. One veteran asked what he would need to do to find out what medical benefits he was entitled to by his service in the US Marine Reserve. She did not know the answer immediately. As a veteran, I did. There is a website by the Department of Veteran’s Affairs that a former serviceman can enter his service dates and will receive a review and estimate of available benefits. She did get back to the veteran with an answer by mid- afternoon. She stated in her call for the veteran to direct his inquiry to the Brown County Veterans office. 

I am searching for sponsors for my blog reporting. Please, if you like you can Donate here. If you would like to become a full sponsor and advertise on my page or just show your support, please contact me through Facebook or email me at “mylastnameatgmail.com”. Your promo will appear on my pages and the sponsors will receive promotional mention in my videos in the form of custom produced advertisement spots at the beginning and end of the video reports. I am desperate need of a new full HD pro video recording camera. I have been unable to create video reports for some time now, and will be at major events throughout the United States in the next few months. Help me deliver the news in HD video to you. It takes a lot of time and effort to deliver you independent news and video. The time I can offer, but the costs of providing corporate influence free news and outlooks take time and money. You can help Wisconsin Confidential, and Green Bay Confidential by making a small donation to help pay for the gear, bandwidth, and gas we use to do these reports. Please, if you like you can Donate here. If you do not have a PayPal account, go to the lower left hand section of the donation page.

Packers finally loose a Game in 2011

These guys seemed to sum it up pretty good.  I noticed that they get hardly any views on their YouTube page, so I though maybe I could help them out by counter posting their video.

As they are making video for the Green Bay Press Gazette, I would have thought they would have more views. 

As a reminder, soon I will not be posting to this blog.  After my move I will be starting a new National orientated blog.  It will be based in San Francisco, CA.  I am looking for suggestions on what to call  it.

I am searching for sponsors for my blog reporting.  Please, if you like you can Donate here.  Your promo will appear on my pages and the sponsors will receive promotional mention in my videos in the form of custom produced advertisement spots at the beginning and end of the video reports. I am desperate need of a new video recording camera.  I have been unable to create video reports for some time now, and will be at major events throughout the United States in the next few months. Help me deliver the news in HD video to you.   It takes a lot of time and effort to deliver you independent news and video. The time I can offer, but the costs of providing corporate influence free news and outlooks take time and money. You can help Wisconsin Confidential, and Green Bay Confidential by making a small donation to help pay for the gear, bandwidth, and gas we use to do these reports. Please, if you like you can Donate here. If you do not have a PayPal account, go to the lower left hand section of the donation page.

An Odyssey to DC

Most Americans will always have some complaints when it comes to how they are represented, how their taxes are spent and how much they get paid.  Most Americans won’t travel across the country to the capitol to let their representatives know first hand their displeasure of how they are being represented, or for that matter, not being represented.  Last week, while travelling to Washington DC, I was in the company of a group of people that were willing to take the message all the way to the capitol. 

In my series of stories, starting with the initial trip to and arrival in Pennsylvania, I will document the trip there.  

Back in Wisconsin, DC Story in the Works

Now that I am back in Wisconsin, initially unsuccessful in getting out to California, I am working on a nice big accounting of the adventures in Washington DC.  I got myself one of those little netbooks and have been trying to get it configured and set up to blog from.  As I don’t have an internet connection at my location it has been sort of a struggle since our return from Washington DC on Friday.   

We immediately headed to the Steelworkers protest on  Saturday in Manitowoc.  It was an amazingly huge crowd.  I will be spending the next few day s getting setup to work on the net book and work on my story.  I will try to provide a chronological accounting of the events and key happenings of those 5 days and nights.

Look to my full story in a few days.

You can help me out hey ,,, It takes a lot of time and effort to deliver you independent news and video.  The time I can offer, but the costs of providing corporate influence free news and outlooks take time and money.  You can help Wisconsin Confidential, and Green Bay Confidential by making a small donation to help pay for the gear, bandwidth, and gas we use to do these reports.  Please, if you like you can Donate here.  If you do not have a PayPal  account, go to the lower left hand section of the donation page.

Update; No luck with Boehner

I was not able to See Rep Boehner, but that was due to my schedule.

On my way to John Boehner’s office.

There is a group going on a march that will end at his office.  There is only one person that has been selected to speak with Rep. Boehner if given the chance.   As I am not entirely confident that they will be educated in the actual pending bills that are relevant, I have decided to go it alone today.  My primary interest is in Hr 459.  This is the bill to audit the Fed. 

I was surprised that they (the organizers) would not let me talk to the Representative again.  I was with the group that went to Rep. Duffy’s office.  There was little interest shown by the staff there to see that the boss would actually see us.  Normal channels must be used and a meet must be scheduled several weeks in advance we were informed.  That was of course before I had one of his aids look up  HR 249, a bill that Rep Duffy co-sponsored. When I suggested that maybe Rep Duffy at least have a short meet with some of his constituents on this issue (one that supports some of the original Occupy Wall Street demands from the very first days), he may find there are a few of us that do in fact support his efforts in this specific matter. 
Suddenly there was a spark of interest.  His primary staff leader quickly went into his office and made some calls.  Within 45 minutes we were informed by his staff that he would meet with some of his direct constituents, which I am not.  As a result I was not allowed to attend the meeting.  There was little actual knowledge of any of the pending bills.  Primarily the usual outrage of lack of jobs and the economy, but no knowledge of why those situations exist as a result of our monetary policy,   I can understand why a rep may not wish to speak to those who are only interested in confrontation, and not constructive dialog.   As a Ranger, once again I am going to go on my own, and accomplish my mission to the best of my ability.  Wish me luck.   I will try to update my progress later if I have time and there is a computer available (I am using an Occupy Laptop in the media tent).  Again, wish me luck.

Washington DC gets Occupied in a Big Way

The streets of downtown Washington DC were filled today with the 99% as several separate Occupy groups converged on K  Street to protest economic disparity and the injustice that is embedded in our economic and monetary system. The  Lobbyists of K Street stood and aimlessly looked on as a very diverse group of Americans from all walks of life expressed their feelings to the power the leverage on the US Government and the people’s representatives.  With over 2700 registered occupiers taking it to the streets, as well as several hundred others, the number of protesters on the streets of Washington today most likely numbered more than 3000.  
Going by the title of “Take back the Capitol”, the weeklong augmented occupation has been seen as one of the most successful events to date by Occupy Wall Street activists and the 99%, as they are often called and now refer to themselves as.  With the initiation of what many of the 99% have referred to as the “Peoples Lobby”, the members of Congress and Senate may now feel more pressure on an almost daily basis. Many of the representatives who often feel that Washington DC is a sort of sanctuary from those they have been elected to represent, may soon have a change of heart.
As the separate groups (there are several different Occupy Camps throughout DC) converged on K  Street, I sensed a feeling of accomplishment as the groups then spread out to various locations and intersections. There was only one known arrest (as of 2:41 PM). With more activities planned, there should be much more to report on in the next day or two. I will be on the road as of tomorrow night but will try to get out another report before I leave.

Take Back the Capitol Begins with Some Success.

Members of the 99% have descended upon Washington DC with a mission that is more than carrying signs and singing chants. Today they have begun the “Peoples Lobby” as they have send small groups to seek out and “occupy” the offices of their representatives.  As to be expected, most of the elected representatives were unavailable to the 99%ers.  But in a few (two that I know of as  of the writing) elected representatives that did agree to see their 99% constituents.  One was Rep Sean P Duffy of Wisconsin.  When asked about bill BR 459 (#202 in the Senate) the aid that was present in the office and talked with the 99%ers showed interest as Rep Duffy is a co-sponsor of the bill.  The bill requires an abbreviated audit of the loans handed out to Wall Street during the bail outs of 2008.  Shortly afterword it was announced to the group that was assigned to him that he would indeed meet with the members of the group that were direct constituents.  This change in tactic,  from simple protest to actually lobbying may prove to actually show results . 
As I was in the office with the group, it seemed quite unlikely they would be able to meet at first, but as it was displayed to his staff that some of the group were actually informed and educated in bills he was co-sponsoring, as well as many of the issues at hand, there was a sudden change  of hart.   It will remain unlikely that the likes of Congressman Paul Ryan would with to speak to those who are quite opposite of this policies of placing corporate and big money interests in front of the average man.
I am not having very good luck getting any stories out but I will continue to try, so please be patient.   As I am not really being classified as a media person, it adds a bit of hardship to my efforts.  I also do not have a personal computer of my own on the ground and I am writing this report from one of the laptops in the media tent.  I will try to bring the most relevant and important developments of this phase of the movement to you as they occur here in Washington DC.

Last Preparations Underway

The final preparations for the Trip to Washington DC been made or are in the final stages.  With a final meeting and all coordination's set in motion, we will be boarding the buses in Milwaukee early on Monday morning.  Be sure to continue to follow the progress of the trip from this page or from the page that is exclusive to the trip, Occupy Washington DC American.

With a full itinerary for the week, we plan to have our voices heard on the hill and on K street, home of the corporate champion big dollar lobbyists.  Stay tuned for details of the trip and our actions in DC starting on the 5th of December.

 

 

Close to Closing in Wisconsin, then on to DC

As preparations here in Green Bay continue for the big trip to DC and the move to San Francisco, I will be posting a few recent and last photos of Green Bay here.  I am looking forward to new and interesting photo subjects.  

As I am not able to do any video on the trip, I will be shooting and posting more still photos to try to tell the story that way.

The march, protest and occupation of Washington DC is a hopeful to be one of the largest in the history of the country,  I will be there to see.

I know that as I have been studying monetary policy and the practice’s of Wall Street for the last few months, it was a coincidence that the Occupy Wall Street movement started just after I began researching the subject.  Although many of the protesters don’t seem to know what they are protesting, they DO know that something is not right with this country.   When an already very wealthy person can get tax dollars in the form of a bail out that amounts to what it would cost to provide free health care to the uninsured for a year … for the whole nation … something is wrong.  This Army Ranger will be looking at all of this very closely.  Keep checking back for more of my last local photos and updates on the trip preparations. 

It takes a lot of time and effort to deliver you independent news and video.  The time I can offer, but the costs of providing corporate influence free news and outlooks take time and money.  You can help Wisconsin Confidential, and Green Bay Confidential by making a small donation to help pay for the gear, bandwidth, and gas we use to do these reports.  Please, if you like you can Donate here.  If you do not have a PayPal  account, go to the lower left hand section of the donation page.

Fall Ends with the Beginning of Holiday Seasons

With the arrival of formal Winter just ahead, the weather has change just as quickly.  Changes are of course coming to my list of  blogs as well.  I am going to keep this blog page up, but only for reference.  I will not be posting here as of December 5th.   I will be posting to and and updating a few new pages.  The first will be only for the trip to Washington DC for the Nationwide based (Occupy folks will be coming from throughout the United States) protest and occupation of will be onsite live Occupy Washington DC America.  I will be counter posting (meaning that I will not be posting to that page now as well as my final postings to Wisconsin Confidential and Green Bay Confidential.

Once I reach my final destination of San Francisco, I will be starting a page suited to that area as well. 

Make a Donation for Free Independent Citizen Journalism  If you would like to support my blog and free independent journalism,  you can Donate here .

 

 

Local Boy Rob Schultze Makes the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle's Datebook

Local boy Rob Schultze went to the San Fransisco School of Arts.  He (his photos and a story about him) just made the front page of the datebook section of the San Franciso Chronicle.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/19/DDTV1LU0F1.DTL

His sites are  ...  http://www.robertschultze.net/ and somephotographer.com. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?

Green Bay Confidential / Wisconsin Confidential most likely Shutting Down.

With my camcorder mysteriously and suddenly not working any longer while simultaneously getting interference from local business persons and "social" activists and workers, my independent blogging and reporting is no longer tenable.  I was working (for a very competitive price) for a local children's development group.  This is the project that has just been nixed by the "powers that be".  I have included here the "sample" video that I shot (in 20 minutes) and edited (in 45 minutes) to bring awareness to the community of their existence and needs.  I know they cannot afford one of the local production houses, so I do feel bad and hope the best for their efforts. I have never been paid or asked for direct compensation for my work and content.  It has been a learning experience for me.  Never the less, it may be time for my to onward and upward.  I get a lot of pressure to "go work at the packing plant" from many individuals (many who are local social or technology professionals with amazingly poor technology and or social skills) who often seem quite offended by the skills I have gained in my many years of blogging, reporting, and photography and video.  I am quite sure many of the production houses and some (not all) media outlets will be quite please with my departure.  I really do appreciate my readers and the support of those out there who over the years have become faithful readers and viewers.  I will be departing for Washington DC on the 5th of December.  I will most likely not be coming back.  As one last effort, I have sent this message to several citizen journalism support groups, but I have little faith that anything will come out of it.   This would be the only way I could continue here as I have opportunities  in San Francisco. 
"My camcorder died as I arrived in Milwaukee to cover the Occupy the bridge event. It appears to be junk.  Do you know any one or any charitable organizations that helps impoverished citizen journalists like myself. I would not be asking for cash, but help getting a new or comparable camcorder and a laptop to replace the ones that just died and were broken.  The timing is interesting, as we (some OWS folks from Green Bay) have been planning  on going to DC Dec 5 - 9 for a big event there, and I have no way to cover it in video now. It would have been my biggest story to date. If interested, you can see examples of my work (all original content, including original music) below. You can see a promo at http://youtu.be/plFaQJQ_d44?hd=1 (this was shot with my Canon HF 10 Consumer Camcorder). My local news blog is http://greenbayconfidential.blogspot.com/. You can see a report I did recently on the Occupy movement in Green here at http://youtu.be/MeDeFhrVPf4?hd=1.    
Any advice or assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated and noted in my upcoming work as well".    
Thank You.

The 2011 Green Bay Thanksgiving Day Parade

Green Bay hosted a quite large and entertaining parade today to the enjoyment of it's citizens in the downtown area. One of the largest ccrowds ever showed to enjoy the parade floats from a local area business's, organizations and schools.  The parade was Broadcast live on MYNEW 32 and Re-broadcast on NBC 26.  Before the parade the public was invited to go over to to the YWCA Green Bay-De Pere for cookies and hot cocoa. After, head to The Daily Buzz Coffee Shop (130 E. Walnut) for free cookies and cocoa, pictures with Santa and a meet & greet wit the Door County Sled Dogs!  This years parade included marching bands, floats, special characters, a giant "Chilly Willy Penguin" balloon, Door County Sled Dogs and of course Santa on a custom horse drawn carriage.  It was nice to see large floats this again this year, along with a variety of animals.  Many also found it interesting to see an electric car as well.  Here are a few highlights. If you wish to purchase photos (I have close to 180 available) please contact me by leaving a comment on this post.