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If our last citizen reporter upset a few stereotypes about Repubicans then our next disproves the not uncommon European prejudice that an American who lives anywhere remotely rural must be a cultural conservative. Across the US on election day there will be votes on single issues from the death penalty to gay marriage. Here who lives on a farm near Menomonie Wisconsin "with his wife Lorelei and a menagerie of animal friends" kindly gave us his take on two initiatives in Wisconsin - there's more on this and other issues on his The picture is from the locality, it must be a beautiful place this autumn.

"Wisconsin voters are not only being faced with voting for elected offices in the Nov. 7 election, but are also being asked to vote on two referenda. These referenda (one to prohibit gay marriage and one to re-instate the death penalty) are on the ballot primarily in an attempt to bring out conservative voters to the polls. State constitutions throughout the US have been amended in the past few years to prohibit marriage of same-sex couples. Currently 43 states define marriage as between one man and one woman, and 19 states have voted in constitutional amendments prohibiting gay marriage. There have also been several attempts to pass a federal constitutional amendment on the subject to prevent individual states from legalizing gay marriage. In Wisconsin there has been a very vocal demand to prohibit gay marriage, and a constitutional amendment has passed the state legislature, and will be voted on in this election. Since this has already passed the legislature, this is a binding amendment - if it passes in the vote, it will become part of the state constitution.
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