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Monthly Archives: June 2008

Daily Bread

Daily Bread: June 4th, 2008

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Good morning, Whitewater

There are no municipal public meetings scheduled in the city today. Civil society needs neither government calendar nor agenda — it’s ours freely to shape and enjoy.

At the high school , there are three meetings today. At 6 p.m., there is a model U.N. meeting. At 7 p.m., in the auditorium, there is an ELL (English Language Learners) awards program. Also at 7 p.m., there is a Future Farmers of America meeting.

The National Weather Service predicts that today offers a likelihood of thunderstorms with a high in the upper sixties. The Farmers’ Almanac awkwardly says that today will be “wet, especially for the Great Lakes.” They mean the area around the Great Lakes, of course. They’re also concerned about possible tornadoes for Illinois and Indiana.

On this date in 1861, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the “First Recorded Kidney Removal Occurs.” The WHS relates that “on this date Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott, a Milwaukee surgeon, performed the first recorded removal of a diseased kidney.” I do not know if they mean in Wisconsin, in America, or in history. If it’s in history, then the operation would be a milestone, albeit overdue in human experience.

Review

Reading List: Liberal Fascism

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I’ve added a reading list to the right side of my website. I have three books on my list – Liberal Fascism (finished), The Improving State of the World (now reading), and Nobodies (next in line).

The list is a website plug in called ‘Now Reading’ and is the work of a college student from England. (Finding the plug in would not have been possible without a global economy – a clever person in England can offer programs for a donation from people he would otherwise never meet.)

I have a brief review of Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg’s indictment of the American progressive movement, and its left-leaning progeny, as a fascism of the left. Clicking the link for Liberal Fascism on the right side of this page leads to more information about the book, and my brief review.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread: June 3, 2008

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Good morning, Whitewater

There is a Common Council meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. Published agenda topics include the following:

Amending the municipal code to allow three cars to part in the front or side yard of a home (instead of two cars as currently),

Amending the municipal code concerning limitations on the the number of residents in a non-family household.

The National Weather Service predicts that today will bring a fifty percent chance of thunderstorms with a high of 65 degrees. The Farmers’ Almanac says that today will be fair and pleasant.

The Wisconsin Historical Society reports that on this date in 1911, Ellen Corby, TV’s Grandma Walton, was born.

She was born in Racine, Wisconsin, and was best known for her role in the Waltons. Decades earlier, though, she was nominated for (but did not win) a best supporting actress Oscar for her role in 1948’s I Remember Mama.

City

Local Incumbency

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I’ve pondered before why progressives in Whitewater do well in big-issues elections (president, governor, referenda), but show no similar strength at the local level. Someone wrote back and suggested that at the local level, perhaps maintaining incumbency meant more to most politicians than ideology.

That may well be the reason, but if so, then it suggests a limit to progressives’ gains in Whitewater. They may win on national and state votes (as I am sure they will this fall when Whitewater will choose Sen. Obama over Sen. McCain), but their views have less local traction.

What does it say, too, about progressives’ views that in purely local matters, they look like any other self-preserving office holder? In the end, if they aren’t expressing a local alternative, is being on the left in Whitewater little more than voting on CNN headline issues (however important), and offering no distinctive, local political position?

(The same could be said in Whitewater if, for example, ‘opportunity conservatives’ — those in the tradition of former U.S. representative and VP nominee Jack Kemp — were ascendant. They’re not, and more traditional, less growth-oriented conservatives have eclipsed in them in GOP. Progressives are the more relevant case simply because they’ve had a string of successes carrying Whitewater on state and national races.)

If one were to look at local officeholders who would describe themselves as liberals or progressives, I don’t think one would see a different, substantive take on local policy. More likely, I think they’d seem like other office holders on the center or right. If ‘think globally, but act locally’ is a progressive saying, then I’m not sure it’s distinctive in town.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread: June 2, 2008

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Good morning, Whitewater

There are three municipal public meetings scheduled in the city today. At noon, there will be a Seniors in the Park senior forum at 504 W. Starin. At 5 p.m., there will be a Park and Rec Board meeting. Later, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a Hispanic Outreach Information Seminar at the Cravath Lakefront Building. Published agenda topics include the following:

City of Whitewater new parking permits, City of Whitewater events and services, consequences for driving without a Wisconsin driver’s license, what to do if the police stop you, domestic violence, information to aid with the guidance of your children, session for questions, suggestions and answers.

It is a singular choice of topics.

The National Weather Service predicts that today will mostly sunny with a high of 83 degrees. The Farmers’ Almanac says that today will be fair and pleasant. That’s a vague prediction from a long-range plan that could easily have been written over a few beers at 2 a.m.

The Wisconsin Historical Society reports that on this date in 1911, Wisconsin Supreme Court chief justice Edward G Ryan was honored. This must be a slow day in our history, because Ryan’s biography is unimpressive, including the observation that he was “irascible and over-sensitive” and “frequently at odds with his colleagues.”