Points to ponder

Cleaning out the pending folder in preparation for a long holiday weekend.

Do you think Jim Doyle has screwed things up so badly that he's gotten wages to drop nationwide since taking office in 2003? Jay Bullock doesn't think so.

We're a long way from California and its system where anybody can get an initiative on the ballot and make it into law, and I hope we stay some distance away. But, in addition to the death penalty and gay marriage referenda, scheduled by Republicans in hopes of pulling out conservative voters, there's a healthy grassroots movement to get citizen participation on other issues, like health care, and at least eight more communities will vote on withdrawing troops from Iraq. Last April, 24 of 32 communities voting favored withdrawal, and support for the war has lessened since then.

One Wisconsin Now, the new progressive communications hub, has added an array of bells and whistles to its website. You can sign up to network with people interested in the same issues, start your own blog, and use organizing tools to createpetition drives, letter to the editor campaigns, make announcements, and plug into the progressive mocement. Check out the Institute website and "Voices for the Common Good," where experts will post commentary on a wide variety of issues. You can access all three sites by simply going to One Wisconsin Now.

Brew City Brawler says Patrick McIlheran lives in a dream world about the Iraq war, and relies on sources who have been proven wrong time and again. Surprised?

Just wondering: If you were named a community columnist in the state's biggest newspaper and could write about any topic you wanted, why would you choose dog shit?