Reason magazine yesterday had a post observing July 16th as Cost of Government Day.
It’s that day of the year when the average American has worked during enough of the year so that his cumulative gross income will pay his share of the cost of federal, state, and local spending and regulations.
The American Taxpayers Association conducted the study on which Reason remarks.
July 16th – more than half the year gone by.
The cost is far greater than the Taxpayers Association realizes – an even greater cost is the sense of entitlement that this vast government influence instills in public officials across America.
The post from Reason may be found at http://www.reason.com/blog/show/127586.html
There are no public meetings scheduled for the city today; private life goes on unimpeded.
Our part of the world is far from military conflict, but it was not always so. The Wisconsin Historical Society reports that, in 1832, Fort Koshkonong was completed. About a month later, the U.S. Army abandoned the fort in pursuit, and victory, over Black Hawk.
The fort had another use, though: wood from the fort went to the construction of new homes in the area around (now-named) Fort Atkinson. It was our own version of swords into plowshares.
There will be a meeting of the Community Development Authority’s Business Park Committee at 4 p.m. today in the municipal building.
The National Weather Service predicts that today will be offer a slight chance of thunderstorms, with a temperature of 88. The Farmers’ Almanac says fair and hot, with no modification for possible rain.
In American history today, in 1945, the United States successfully detonated the world’s first atomic bomb. The test took place near Los Alamos, New Mexico.
According to this morning’s Janesville GazetteXtra, with a byline from Steve Benton, Janesville will look more closely at candidates David Hales and Donald Carlsen.
Thereafter, the Janesville Common Council may either visit one of their communities, or ask the search consultant to begin again.
Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy is John Bowe’s account of selected guest workers in America.
Bowe describes how many of these workers become virtual prisoners or slaves of their employers. Nobodies relates three guest worker experiences: Hispanic crop workers in Florida, Indian (viz., from the nation of India) welders in Tulsa, and Asian factory workers in the American commonwealth of Saipan.
Clicking the link for View Full Library on the right side of this page leads to more information about the book, and my brief review.
There is now a Spanish language translation tool on the City of Whitewater website. It’s a new and welcome development for our city – there is a link on the City of Whitewater main page that translates English into Spanish.
It’s a welcome development.
Last year, on August 16, 2007, I called for a translation tool like this for the city’s website. I had a tool like that on my website before that time. It’s on the right side of FREE WHITEWATER’s main page. (See my post from last year, “Review: The City of Whitewater’s New Website.” For a reply from the Whitewater IT Administrator, and my response to his reply, see “City of Whitewater Website Review: Reply and Thoughts.”)
There are a few things of which one can be certain.
First, a meaningful number, although certainly not all, of our Hispanic neighbors use Spanish at least part of the time.
Second, the Hispanic population in Whitewater is large. It is surely larger than the reported census figures, or estimates since then.
Third, a translation tool on a website is more than a technical matter; it’s a matter of policy. I have no significant technical skill, but even I could put a translation tool on my website. This was never merely a matter of information technology administration – it was a matter of our city Administration itself, so to speak.
It’s an outlook, a perspective, of inclusion and acceptance to see that a translation link is a good idea. The perspective comes first, and the technical requirements come afterward. America has many clever people (like those at Google) who can design a translation program; we in Whitewater need only use the free fruits of their industry for our own community.
(Quick note — I am also trying to learn Spanish, so that I can write some of my posts in that language, but it has been slow going. No matter – I’ll keep at it.)
There are two principal public meetings scheduled for the city today.
At 5 p.m., the Community Development Authority will meet to receive a report and presentation from The Retail Coach, a retail recruitment firm. The meeting will take place in community room of the municipal building.
At 6:30 p.m., there will be a Common Council meeting. (The Nominations Committee meets earlier to consider vacancies in public boards.)
The National Weather Service predicts that today will be sunny, and hot, with a high temperature of 89. The Farmers’ Almanac says fair and hot.
Those interested in listening to the interview of Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner before a community panel in Janesville for the Janesville city manager’s position can do so.
Most people can tell the difference between a wild rat and a white laboratory rat, but apparently not every alleged con artist sees the importance of the difference.
The Wisconsin State Journalreports that Debbie Miller, aged 41, of Appleton
….claimed to find the rat in her lunch April 17 as she ate at the upscale Seasons Restaurant in Grand Chute, according to the criminal complaint.
She threatened to alert the media unless the owners paid her $500,000, the complaint said.
The owners turned the rat over to their insurance company. Investigators there determined the rodent was a white laboratory rat, not a wild rat, the complaint said.
Tests also suggested the rodent had been cooked in a microwave, but the restaurant doesn’t use microwaves in cooking.
(Emphasis added)
I am a blogger, and not a certified, credentialed ratologist, but even I could easily tell a lab rat from a wild one. What’s more, I could tell the difference between convection and microwave cooking. If I could tell, a restaurant could probably tell, too.
This morning, I asked a single – but perhaps puzzling – question:
What did Burt Bacharach and Jackie DeShannon know in 1965 that Whitewater’s city manager, officials, politicians, so-called ‘people of influence,’ and press do not understand even now?
Here’s the answer. In 1965, singer Jackie DeShannon had a pop hit with Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now.”
I have embedded, below, a YouTube video clip of DeShannon singing the song. (The performance is dated, but in a way that makes her stilted dancing almost beguiling, I think.)
Bacharach writes, and DeShannon sings, about how
….we don’t need another mountain,
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb,
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,
Enough to last ’til the end of time.
What the world needs now,
Is love, sweet love,
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…
They had their priorities straight in 1965 – material things, no matter how majestic or beautiful, are not what America most needed. They asked instead for love – and here they meant loving kindness, surely – to make the world a better place.
It is the fundamental values of the American tradition that matter most.
What Whitewater needs now, more than ever, is a commitment to individual liberty, free markets, and an honest acknowledgment of how we have fallen short of that commitment.
(A city or organization can also make improvements from another direction – modifying behavior to change attitudes. I would typically advocate beginning from first principles, but the opposite approach is possible, too.
It doesn’t matter: a behaviors-first approach has not happened in Whitewater. On the contrary, our administration offers excuses for misconduct, and praises trivial accomplishments. All the while, it proclaims its own great experience, professionalism, etc.)
A transformation in our thinking – embracing liberty, and private initiative – will make us a better city in which to ‘live work, and play.’
No number of municipally-financed projects will save this city from recession, or eclipse by neighboring communities.
No amount of cheerleading will serve us when we ignore, disparage, and transgress against the liberties of our fellow residents.
No lemming-like insistence on uniformity of thought will uplift or enrich us.
No expenditure on marketing will polish a reputation tarnished through rejection of America’s heritage of free people and free markets.
We will always be at our best when we embrace the American tradition of liberty.
Bacharach and DeShannon had it right, in their own way. Profound virtues matter. From that foundation much else is possible.
What did Burt Bacharach and Jackie DeShannon know in 1965 that Whitewater’s city manager, officials, politicians, so-called ‘people of influence,’ and press do not understand even now?
The week begins with a return to a more conventional schedule of public meetings. Today, at 5 p.m., there will be a meeting of the Library Board at 5 p..m. in at the Irvin Young Library.
On this date in 1836, Milwaukee’s first newspaper, The Milwaukee Advertiser, began publishing. published.
The National Weather Service predicts that today will be sunny with a high of 82. The Farmers’ Almanac says fair and continued hot. A match!
It’s Bastille day in France, and ironically, one of the best accounts of this year’s event is from the Ottawa Citizen, a Canadian paper.
The National Weather Service reports that today will have a likelihood of heavy rain, with a high in the upper eighties. The Farmers’ Almanac reports that there will be scattered showers today, with high temperatures.
In Wisconsin history on this day, in 1921, Wisconsin was the first state in America to guarantee women the same legal privileges as men. Our governor at the time was John James Blaine.
