Last night I met up with noise of rain, badscience and the Overpass Light Brigade and the Nuns on the Bus.
We met on the The Atkinson St. Pedestrian Bridge over I-43 in Milwaukee.
These intrepid Sisters are touring the country on a Question Austerity quest.
Click here to Yuri Rashkin's excellent diary about it.
The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel's Online edition has Barbra Miner's excellent account of the Nun's OLB visit here. (Unfortunately, the "comment" section is pure trollville.)
As part of their whirlwind visit to Wisconsin, they joined the Lite-Brite activists of the Overpass Light Brigade for the fellowship of some Catholics, some protestants, some Jews, some atheists, some FSM devotees and all the other people I have inexcuseably failed to mention. Mea culpa, mea culpa!
Full disclosure: I am an Ex-Catholic. Any mention of the pope, pedo-priests and their red-robed enablers makes me so angry that I get ill. On the other hand, I was educated by the School Sisters of Notre Dame through the eighth grade. They were so strict and yet loving and kind to me that to this day, a Nun could ask anything of me and I couldn't refuse her. When those four ladies walked out on the bridge, I felt like I was twelve. I felt as though my being out there counted as having my homework done. Without planning or forethought, I gave two of the Sisters some Badger-centric buttons I had picked up at the protests in Madison in 2011. If they had asked me for money, I would have emptied my wallet without question.
If a Bishop asked me for the time of day, I would turn away to avoid spitting on him.
Or not.
The Sisters arrive.
Hanging with the OLB. Hey, who's that guy in the yellow cap?
And here's the video!
Overpass Light Brigade is visited by the Nuns on the Bus from Overpass Light Brigade on Vimeo.
I'm going to add my own little rant right here.
Everybody is questioning austerity, so I'm giving a few answers about it.
Austerity is balancing this years budget by cutting loose our most vulnerable neighbors forever.
Austerity is stealing your social security and leaving you with a 401K that soils itself every time the banksters lose a bet. It's sort of like swapping forty acres and a mule for a box of jelly donuts and a bus ticket. Oooh! Sprinkles!
Austerity means destroying Medicare when it ought to be opened up to people of all ages.
Austerity means gutting our children's education so General Electric and Exxon won't have to pay any taxes.
Austerity is the same old "shock doctrine" in a clean white shirt and an old-school tie.
Dont be afaid to:
Today, the Sisters did a Solidarity Stop to pray and protest with striking workers at Palermo's Pizza.
Skeptical Sister is skeptical.
Today, the Nuns on the Bus rolled on to Illinois, reminding everyone they meet to
(The pictures and video in this diary come courtesy of badscience. The video was put together by Joe of Occupy Riverwest.) (My mistake, but we still love Joe!
Special thanks to BatmanWI and shoutouts to minvis and poison kitchen!