FREE WHITEWATER

Monthly Archives: November 2010

Public Meetings

Sustainable Success Strategies Business Workshop

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Whitewater, Wisconsin (November 5, 2010) – Downtown Whitewater welcomes Margie Johnson and her Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop. Margie is a highly acclaimed speaker, trainer, author and consultant. She continues to provide entrepreneurs with the strategies to help their retail business endeavors survive in the competitive market as well as increase performance and profitability levels.

Margie’s firm, Shop Talk, has 25 years of expertise directed at consultations and research in retail, hospitality, health care, and financial industries. She has received numerous accolades including; The Fred Lazarus National Retail Federation Award and Inside Business 2006 Women in Business Achievement Award as well as coverage in the National Retail Federation, WHRO Public Television and NBC’s Today Show. Shop Talk has many clients some of whom include, Dallas Market Center, Denver Merchandise Mart, Farm Fresh Supermarkets, Lord and Taylor, Gray’s Department Stores, Prime outlets and Mayo Clinic. A more comprehensive list may be found on her website; www.shoptalk.org.

The Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop will cover topics that concern independent businesses and the situations that they face. The session will target such focuses as an update on retail sales by industry segments, trends concerning the consumer and the impact of the Internet, issues with customer service, marketing ideas and resources, sales and promotional ideas.

The free workshop will be held November 17, 2010 at the Cravath Lakefront Community Building from 8:00 am to 9:30 am. The workshop is being sponsored by the Wisconsin Main Street program as continuing assistance in recognition of Downtown Whitewater’s Main Street status. The Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop is being offered for the benefit of Main Street District Businesses in an effort to provide skill sets to survive and thrive in a demanding and dynamic marketplace.

Downtown Whitewater was formed in 2006 to Preserve, improve and promote Whitewater’s quality of life by strengthening our historic downtown as the heartbeat of the community.

If you have any questions you may contact Tami Brodnicki @ 262.473.2200 or e-mail Tami @ director@downtownwhitewater.com

Uncategorized

People of Cleveland vs. LeBron James and the Nike Corporation

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Basketball great LeBron James left Cleveland for Miami, and disappointed countless Cleveland residents (and other fans). Perhaps he thought that one of his sponsors, the multibillion-dollar Nike Corporation, could rehabilitate his image with a new advertising campaign.

It’s not that easy. Modern media have empowered ordinary people, and they’re able to produce videos as powerful, if not more so, as those of the largest corporate sponsors and the finest ad agencies.

See what you think — I think it’s Cleveland over LeBron, all the way —

Nike’s Ad —



Clevelanders’ Response —



more >>

Economy

Number of the Week: $10.2 Trillion in Global Borrowing – Real Time Economics – WSJ

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Aside from Japan, which has a huge debt hangover from decades of anemic growth, the U.S. is the most extreme case. Next year, the U.S. government will have to find $4.2 trillion. That’s 27.8% of its annual economic output, up from 26.5% this year. By comparison, crisis-addled Greece needs $69 billion, or 23.8% of its annual GDP….

Astonishing.

Via Number of the Week: $10.2 Trillion in Global Borrowing – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

Laws/Regulations, Libertarians, Liberty, Press Release

Libertarians Oppose Abusive TSA Strip-Search Machines

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The Libertarian Party of America issued the following press release about the Transportation Security Administration’s excessive security policies —


WASHINGTON – Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle commented today on the Transportation Security Administration’s use of strip-search machines at airports.

Hinkle said, “The TSA should end the strip-search machine program immediately.

“We’ve reached a point where our government has no qualms about humiliating us.

“Everyone who cares about civil liberties should be outraged that the Obama administration has shown no respect for travelers’ privacy or their right to be free from unreasonable searches. The fact that I want to travel on an airplane does not make me a threat, and it does not allow anyone to conduct a warrantless search under my clothing. The Obama administration apparently agrees with the neoconservative philosophy that there are no limits on government power in the areas of security and terrorism.

“Terrorists win when they provoke our government into overreacting. Apparently they have manipulated our government into chipping away at our rights and privacy. We should not let them get away with it.”

American Pilots Association president Dave Bates recently spoke out against the strip-search machines, expressing concern about the possibly harmful radiation they emit.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently filed the opening brief in its lawsuit against the program. EPIC says that the machines violate the federal Privacy Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the Fourth Amendment. EPIC’s president called the program “unlawful, invasive, and ineffective.”

Hinkle continued, “We can ignore the government’s assurances that images will not be stored. Regardless of policy, some security personnel will want to store the images, and they will find ways to do it. This is already reported to have happened in Florida, where U.S. Marshalls stored thousands of images from a courthouse scanner.

“Many airlines are probably relieved to have the federal government assume responsibility for security. But it’s the airlines who ought to be responsible, and they should bear the liability for what happens on their flights. Rather than have a one-size-fits-all approach imposed by the government, passengers and airlines should be free to work together to determine what methods and levels of security fit their needs best.

“We encourage Americans to call their newly-elected members of Congress and tell them that they don’t want this expensive, worthless, intrusive, unconstitutional program.”

For more information, or to arrange an interview, call LP Executive Director Wes Benedict at 202-333-0008 ext. 222.

The LP is America’s third-largest political party, founded in 1971. The Libertarian Party stands for free markets, civil liberties, and peace.

Science/Nature

Lucy Cooke: The Return of the Sloths (Video)

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Lucy Cooke “posted a short video [she] made called “Meet the sloth” that features some of the sleepy residents of the Aviarios del Caribe, the world’s only sloth orphanage in Costa Rica. The world then went nuts for sloths, the video went viral and has now been watched by more than 2 million people around the world….”

Here’s the original video —


Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

Here’s the second — where the sloths are potty trained —


Potty training at the sloth orphanage from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

Via Lucy Cooke: The Return of the Sloths (VIDEO). more >>

Economy

Broader U-6 Rate at 17%: The Long-Term Unemployed and the Dark Side of Jobs Report – WSJ

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The U.S. jobless rate was flat at 9.6% in October, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment dropped slightly to 17%, possibly due to long-term unemployed dropping out of the labor force….

The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs….

The drop in the size of the labor force is likely an indication that many discouraged workers are just giving up. The labor force is only about 50,000 higher than it was in October 2009, but the population of working-age Americans who aren’t in the military or an institution, such as a prison or home for the aged, has increased by nearly two million people over that time.

There’s a way out — and back to high levels of employment so necessary for prosperity and well-being — a shift away from government spending and taxation toward fewer burdens and lower taxes for private businesses.

Via Broader U-6 Rate at 17%: The Long-Term Unemployed and the Dark Side of Jobs Report – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

Politics

Capital Times: Disrespect for League Harms Democracy

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Over at the Capital Times, there’s an editorial entitled, “Disrespect for League Harms Democracy.” The Cap Times contends that major parties have come to ignore the League of Women Voters’ non-partisan voters’ guides and debates. (Hat tip to The Phantom Stranger for the link.)

The paper contends that ignoring the League harms our statewide politics.

Yes, I think it does.

Here’s the argument from the paper’s editors:

Historically, candidates of all parties have respected and worked with the league.

But as big money has taken over the electoral process, the league has been pushed aside by the power players, who would rather manipulate elections than allow voters to make honest and informed choices.

The disregard by the political class and its corporate sponsors for the LWV’s good work really began back in the 1980s, when the former chairs of the Democratic and Republican national committees conspired to take management of presidential debates away from the league. They established the Commission on Presidential Debates — with help from the television networks — as a vehicle to limit access to the most important forums for presidential nominees. It worked. With the league out of the picture, third-party and independent candidates were largely excluded from the national forums, while the formats and questions have been dictated more by partisan players than a respect for the public’s right to know.

They also note that the situation is one-sided in Wisconsin, where many more Republicans, rather than Democrats, ignore the League.

That’s too bad. No moderators will be perfect, but I’d be easily comfortable with the League’s role as moderator, especially over other alternatives.

I’ve been asked, sometimes, if I would ever debate someone in Whitewater. Of course. Websites will sometimes devote a day or few days to a back-and-forth exchange between two people. One takes one side of an issue, the other the opposite view, and they engage in an extended exchange. The fewer the constraints, the better.

As has been true from the first day of this website, my email address appears on the right sidebar: adams@freewhitewater.com.

City

On Recent Job Losses in Whitewater, Wisconsin

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I’m not sure what to make of a local job loss amounting to over one hundred people, of which a local politician reports that there are no bumping rights. (That is, the right of more senior workers to take the jobs of lower-level associates whose positions are not otherwise subject to termination.)

Bumping rights don’t help those lowest on an organizational chart — they hurt them, to the advantage of high-placed workers. The higher-level workers, rather than compete in the marketplace with their stronger skills, drop down and displace those more vulnerable, with lower skills, who will have a harder time making a go of it. Bumping rights are a way to insulate high-level workers from having to return to the job market, at the expense of lower-level workers. Worse, these rights-of-displacement are an incentive to lower productivity, as higher-level workers know that as long as the business endures, they’ll have a chair reserved for themselves, and be able to push someone else out.

Nor, by the way, would unionization have assured any of these workers a job, and especially not low-level workers in conditions of bumping rights.

See, Compulsory Unionism and the Free Rider Doctrine:

A widely accepted standard of wage equity is that an individual?s hourly earnings be tied to his productivity…. Super-seniority for union officials; wage rates based on seniority diverging from measured productivity; the determination of job assignment, job-bumping rights, job security, and assignment to overtime all by seniority; compressed wage differentials negotiated by the union; and union resistance to job evaluation all tend to sever the link between effort and reward.

In any event, mitigation of the effects of job loss isn’t the root problem; job loss, and job creation, themselves, are Whitewater’s problems.

Comment Forum

Friday Comment Forum: Thoughts on the 2010 Election

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Here’s the Friday open comments post.

Today’s suggested topic –thoughts on the 2010 election. What do you think — are prospects now better, the same, or worse?

The use of pseudonyms and anonymous postings is, of course, fine.

Although the comments template has a space for a name, email address, and website, those who want to leave a field blank can do so. Comments will be moderated, against profanity or trolls. Otherwise, have at it.

I’ll keep the post open through Sunday afternoon.

Have at it.

Cartoons & Comics

Underwire — Cinematic Superman: Earth One Reboots Man of Steel

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Here’s something for discerning readers — a new version of a great — and so very American — story —

J. Michael Straczynski’s cinematic comic Superman: Earth One reads like a blockbuster film while rebooting the Man of Steel’s origin story for a 21st century desensitized to supertropes….

While we have seen much of Superman: Earth One’s origin story before, give or take a few self-absorbed mope sessions from Earth’s greatest alien superhero of all time, Straczynski’s tale should satisfy longtime Superman fans as well as late adopters. It’s both recognizable and refreshed, carrying over some traditional narrative points — and even nodding in the direction of Superman’s first cover — while creating some new ones wholly out of supercloth….

Here’s a part of that story —



Image courtesy DC Comics