Dear Scuba,

Last week, I put my body on the line for a better future. I was one of many Wisconsin fast-food workers who took part in the largest strike that the country has ever seen. And guess what? Our strikes are working.

In Milwaukee, 27 fast food workers, and five fast food workers in Madison, were all arrested in the fight for $15 an hour and the right to union rights. It was the latest in a series of strikes that continue to prove that we are willing to do whatever it takes to win dignity and a fair wage in the workplace.

Despite the fact that the fast food industry continues to ignore the movement, the world is taking notice. In fact, Congresswoman Gwen Moore stood with us and took an arrest too.



In the past year, I've watched as hundreds of workers have taken the courageous step to stand up to the huge corporations they work for. Many of them were inspired by the support of faith leaders, politicians and people like you.

But our work it not yet finished. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue to put pressure on the fast food corporations and demand that they put people over profits.

Thank you for your support and I'll see you on the strike line!

Mary Coleman
Milwaukee Popeye's Chicken Worker
PS. Check out pictures from the strike here!

Nestle’s Water-Bottling Activities Amid California Drought Underscore A Lack Of Policy Options

In recent weeks, a desert area of Southern California has seen focus suddenly turn toward a water-bottling plant owned by Nestle Waters North America, which has continued its operations despite the worsening water crisis. In an outraged action request in mid-August, the League of Conservation Voters, a prominent national lobby group, urged 50,000 of its members and consumers to petition the company on the issue. “Nestle … is bottling California’s water, selling it, and profiting while the state suffers from a scorching, record-breaking drought,” the groups warned in a series of emails. “Friend, we are fuming. To date, Nestle has refused to acknowledge concerns about the water they are taking.”

California has been hit particularly hard this year — the third consecutive year of drought — and as of early August, state water supplies were at less than two-thirds capacity. Most of the state is currently experiencing “exceptional drought,” the most severe rating according to a federal scale. Several other states, from Oregon to Texas, are also experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions. In response, California authorities have put in place a variety of policy and public relations measures, aiming to safeguard dwindling resources. As far back as January, Gov. Jerry Brown requested that the state’s residents voluntarily cut down their water use by a fifth, though this seemed to have only a middling effect.

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“We’re in a very bad drought right now and it’s time to really manage our public water resources wisely — and Nestle’s operations are really antithetical to good public water management,” Adam Scow, California director for Food & Water Watch, a watchdog group, told MintPress. “Yet, the state has no specific policy on water bottling. Here we are in the middle of this drought and no one even knows how much water the company’s taking at that plant or other plants,” he continued.

Two years ago, state legislators did pass legislation that would have required water companies to report how much water they were bottling, but that bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Likewise, attempts to have the state’s water authority oversee a comprehensive mapping and analysis of the state’s water resources — to many, a seemingly straightforward step — are again being held up. Scow said the broader problem underpinning this lack of legislative progress is the fact that California doesn’t formally view water as a resource in the public trust. As a result, it’s one of the very few states lacking comprehensive groundwater regulations.

At every corner throughout St. Louis County when an officer abused or harmed an African American, @RoordaJ was there to protect the officers. Little did we know that @RoordaJ now a Missouri State Rep was once fired by the police for falsifying evidence & making false reports. Then we learn that @RoordaJ is an undeniably close ally of @GovJayNixon and the St. Louis County Prosecutor. Now follow me for a second. Then we learn that @RoordaJ - fired as a police officer for falsifying reports - is behind the Darren Wilson @GoFundMe cash grab for $500k. It's public record that @RoordaJ was fired for police misconduct & public record he lied about this man "lunging"



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Yesterday I learned of an ultra conservative man who has basically moved to #Ferguson with expressed intent of defaming Mike Brown & family. This man, who actually appeared on the Rush Limbaugh Show yesterday, was the one who has requested Mike Brown's juvenile records. . @ChuckCJohnson is currently being investigated by the Mississippi Attorney General, Jim Hood :: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/dailyledes/2014/07/30/jim-hood-political-blogger/13363041/ .

You have to ask yourself, why is a man who paid for voter fraud in Mississippi now paying to defame Mike Brown & many of his family members? You have to ask yourself, why is the man who was fired by the police for misconduct (multiple counts) now on the Public Safety Commission.

Dale Schultz announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election to the Wisconsin Senate after serving in the Legislature for 32 years. But the Republican from Richland Center is not exiting quietly and has joined with Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, to promote legislation that would change Wisconsin’s flawed redistricting process.

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There is much to admire from politicians like Schultz, who went against his party on issues such as mining and Act 10 because he did something that seems to be lost in today’s political landscape — he listened to his constituents. He remains convinced that in order to fix the hyper-partisan process that dominates politics today, we must first fix the redistricting process.

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In 2012, Democratic candidates in Wisconsin received more votes than Republicans for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, state Senate and state Assembly. But because of redistricting, Republicans held their 5-3 lead in the House, took back control of the state Senate, 18-15, and dominated in the state Assembly 60-39.

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This can be fixed if we take the politics out of the process. A bill supported by Schultz and others is modeled after the redistricting system in Iowa, which has used the nonpartisan system since 1980. Under the Wisconsin proposal, the Legislative Reference Bureau would propose the political boundaries, which would still need approval from the Legislature with a limited ability to amend them.