Join us on Saturday for annual Bob Fest

[a kennedy]

by Ed Garvey

As we have every September since 2002, thousands of people who take democracy seriously and like to have fun will gather in Baraboo this Saturday, Sept. 12, for a Fighting Bob Fest.

The event is named for Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette, the Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator who founded the Progressive Party and battled the robber barons to reform our government when it was its most corrupt. "People before Big Money" was La Follette's credo, and it is for Fighting Bob Fest organizers too.

But we do not gather every year to simply commemorate La Follette. We do it to pick up where he left off and continue the fight.

This year's Bob Fest is coming on the heels of President Barack Obama's most important health care address to the nation. Everyone who attends Bob Fest will hear speeches from U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, and former health care insider-turned-whistle-blower Wendell Potter. These are the people leading the effort to deliver health care reform that puts people before Big Money - perhaps the most important fight of our lifetimes - and they will all be in Baraboo on Saturday.

Eight years ago, Hiroshi Kano and a group of survivors from the battle against the bottling company Perrier met in Wisconsin Dells to review that successful effort and plan for future encounters with corporate giants. We all wanted to build a coordinated force to oppose unwanted factory farms, ethanol plants, transmission lines, sprawl, Wal-Marts and other environmental threats.

full article: <http://host.madison.com/ct/article_d7c42552-9be3-11de-b44c-001cc4c002e0.html>

[a kennedy]

1. here's the website:

http://www.fightingbobfest.org/