Indeed they should, as expressive content – Trevor Burrus discusses.
Posted originally on 5.10.12 at Daily Adams.
Monthly Archives: May 2012
City, Local Government, Open Government
Top-Secret, Ultra Hush-Hush Quadruped Directive No. 17
by JOHN ADAMS •
Consider two ways to discuss an event.
Let’s suppose the City of Whitewater’s municipal administration decides to erect a statue near Cravath Lake in honor of Gary Dahl, the creator of the pet rock. Dahl had no connection to Whitewater of which I’m aware, but he was innovative: he re-positioned rocks as pets, complete with an instruction manual for their proper care.
As city staff are erecting the statue on a pedestal, a piece of the sculpture’s big toe breaks off, and strikes a squirrel scampering by. The unfortunate creature is killed instantly. A small girl of about seven sees the accident, screams in horror, and faints.
After she’s revived, the city’s departmental directors ponder what to do, as they’re concerned that others will be similarly shocked at the accident.
They might choose from these alternatives:
Option 1
Issue an urgent memorandum to the members of Common Council, with the subject line, “TOP-SECRET, ULTRA HUSH-HUSH QUADRUPED DIRECTIVE NO. 17.”
The memorandum would relate the events of the morning, but caution that the account therein was confidential, lest there be a citywide uproar. Of particular concern would be the possibility that the nearby Maoist Animal Action League of Walworth County might learn of what happened, drive to the city in their aged VW van, and spread utter chaos through their customarily raucous leaflet-distribution schemes.
The memo would be emphatic on the need for secrecy, and generously peppered with the German words ACHTUNG and VERBOTEN.
Option 2
Promptly issue a news release telling the city that there was an accident during the installation of the Dahl statue, as a small piece broke off, killing instantly a squirrel walking underfoot. A girl witnessing the events was startled, momentarily fainted, but recovered quickly and was unharmed.
They are both options, and neither’s perfect, but Option 2 gives concise and prompt information on a public act to the public from whom all political authority ultimately derives. No fuss, no uncertainties, no counter-productive effort to make a public event into a confidential conversation.
I’d suggest Option 2.
Cats
Friday Catblogging: In Memory of Meow the Tabby
by JOHN ADAMS •
Thirty-nine pound fat cat Meow died this week, aged only two. Needless to say, that’s astonishingly large for a cat. (The news clip below says he was 37 pounds – most accounts put his weight at 39, although he had been on a veterinary-designed diet.)
Poll
Friday Poll: “Do you think Whitewater teaches and embraces free thinking?”
by JOHN ADAMS •
A smart reader wrote and offered an idea for a poll topic — “Here’s my suggestion for a poll question for your blog: Do you think Whitewater teaches and embraces free thinking?” Well, here we are, with that very question.
Quick assumptions:
(1) This question was about our schools, principally, but you may think of it more broadly if you’d like.
(2) I don’t have an answer – I know how I think, but not what’s being taught all over, throughout the community. I do think that there will be much more independent thinking in the years ahead.
(3) I’d say that free-thinking — whether of the left or right — is a good thing for a community, but others are sure to disagree, believing instead that an enforced consensus is preferable.
(In any event, I will always contend that free-thinking is an individual right, trumping compulsory-thinking expectations.)
Here’s that poll: Have at it.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 5.11.12
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Today looks to be a fine day – mostly sunny with a high of seventy-six.
That makes this afternoon a perfect opportunity for Great Flowers and Gifts at the Floral Villa Cash Mob —
Janesville, in 1931, was still battling over Prohibition, as the Wisconsin Historical Society records:
1931 – Janesville Police Nab Prohibition Violator
On this date Clifford Conn of Crandon was apprehended by Janesville police officers with 90 gallons of moonshine in his car. This was the largest single seizure of illegal alcohol by local law enforcement to this date. For the offense, Crandon was fined $700 and sentenced to two months in jail. [Source: Janesville Gazette]
Lots of elements to Google’s daily puzzle today: “What economics book, written by a clergyman, helped an English naturalist formulate a model of speciation that was controversial with creationists?”
Farming, Food, Liberty
Supporting food freedom, and agriculture without government subsidies
by JOHN ADAMS •
Reason interviewed free-market farmer Joel Salatin in an article published on 5.5.12.
Two of Salatin’s observations stand out.
On deciding what to eat:
I think the government should allow this debate to flourish in the marketplace of ideas. The government entered this debate in the early 1970s by publishing the first food pyramid, a guide for what Americans should eat. The obesity and diabetes epidemic in this country are a direct result of that intrusion, sponsored and massaged along by the grain cartel and big ag, from chemical companies to equipment dealers. Grain requires more machinery, more energy, and more risk (hence justification for manipulation) than pasture based livestock, and especially forage-based herbivores.
On the worst food law in America today:
The prohibition on raw milk specifically and direct producer-eater food commerce generally. If I could do one thing and only one thing legislatively for the food system, it would be to create a Constitutional Amendment called the Food Choice Emancipation Proclamation which would guarantee every citizen the inalienable, fundamental right to consume any product of their choice and legalizing the direct unregulated commerce between consenting adults of said product.
Right now, farmers can give away raw milk and home made pickles; the prohibition is on sales. What is it about taking money for something that suddenly turns it from a wonderful charitable product into a hazardous substance?
On organic milk, I’d say America is heading, however fitfully, toward liberalization. On government’s role in cajoling or banning other food choices, I’d guess we’re heading in the opposite direction.
Via Reason.
Originally posted on 5.8.12 at Daily Adams.
Beautiful Whitewater, City, New Whitewater
Whitewater’s Evolution
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update, 5.10.12 @ 8:20 PM: See, along these lines, Whitewater’s city manager’s published acknowledgement in a newspaper interview (online at 1:03 PM today) of a possible position with Walworth County.
Original post of 5.10.12 @ 12:30 PM:
Change comes at varying speeds, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, still other times seemingly (but only seemingly) not at all.
We’ll hear much in the days ahead about changes in Whitewater’s municipal administration. There’s no surprise in this: In general, once people start looking for a new position, they keep going until they find something.
I’ve written recently about possible changes. See, Qui-Gon Jinn’s Sound Advice for Whitewater and Whitewater’s present, future.
I cannot say precisely when there will be a new Whitewater, but I am certain of New Whitewater’s Inevitability. We’ve made the occasional step backwards or sideways, but our direction is principally forward.
Still much work to go, but then the work of the community has always been the work of many thousands, each shaping a part of the city’s future.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 5.10.12
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Today’s forecast predicts a sunny Thursday with a high of sixty-nine.
May 10th is a fine anniversary in Wisconsin history, as the Wisconsin Historical Society recalls:
1865 – Wisconsin Troops Capture Jefferson Davis
Just after dawn on May 10, 1865, Col. Henry Harnden of Madison and his squad of 30 volunteers from the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry captured Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. After Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, Davis fled south with his family and cabinet. Col. Harnden, commanding the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry at Macon, Ga., was ordered to scour the countryside for him. After four days they caught up with Davis and his entourage in the woods near Irwinville.
As they approached, Col. Harnden’s troops were attacked by soldiers in the brush. They returned fire, killing two adversaries before discovering they were U.S. soldiers who had converged on Davis from a different direction. Upon hearing the friendly fire, Davis attempted to escape. But Harnden “rode up, dismounted and saluted, and I asked if this was Mr. Davis. ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘I am President Davis.’ At this the soldiers set up a shout that Jeff. Davis was captured.” [Source: Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles]
A good day’s work.
Google’s daily puzzle has a bit of charm and wordplay to it: “What piazza were you standing in if you saw a Giraffe win a horse race last August 16th?”
Public Meetings
Tech Park Board
by JOHN ADAMS •
Libertarians, Presidential race 2012
Is the 2012 Libertarian Party National Ticket the Strongest Ever?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Connor Friedersdorf at the Atlantic thinks so:
A former governor of New Mexico, he was re-elected by that state’s voters, left office popular after two terms, and therefore has the most executive experience of any Libertarian Party presidential nominee. He can also cite the state he ran as evidence that nothing radical happens when he’s put in charge. An economic conservative and social liberal, he represents a new direction for a party that has long wrestled with its paleo-libertarian wing….
The question is whether he can match his party’s 1980 high-water mark and win 1 percent or more of the vote, and whether he might win even more in the key swing state of New Mexico, where voters already know and have cast ballots for him.
A result closer to 2% nationally would have an impact in states beyond New Mexico. This may really be the LP’s best year yet.
Via Comparing Gary Johnson to Past Libertarian Party Nominees.
Posted originally on 5.8.12 at Daily Adams.
City
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters May 2012 Newsletter
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ May 2012 Newsletter is out, featuring both articles and a calendar of upcoming LWV events.
This latest edition is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below.
Upcoming events:
Date: May 19 (Saturday)
Event: Annual Meeting
Where: 10 AM Fairhaven Fellowhip Hall
Date: June 5 (Tuesday)
Event: Recall Election
Date: July 4 (Wednesday)
Event: July 4th Parade — Look for the League entry!
www.lwvwhitewater.org
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 5.9.12
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
It’s a partly cloudy Wednesday, with a high of sixty-one, ahead for Whitewater.
Today at 2:30 PM Whitewater’s Community Development Authority will meet, in closed session, to conduct interviews for the now-vacant CDA director’s position. Whitewater has been ill-served by the practice these past few years of relying on her city manager to play a director’s role. One has no idea what sort of candidates the search has found, but this is the second effort in recent months at finding someone.
(It says much about how far the CDA has drifted from conventional standards that the search has not been more public, with candidates properly announced and biographies offered. Nonetheless, ending the use of a city manager as a makeshift CDA director is the right decision.)
Astonishingly, the History Channel’s highlight for 5.9. is the publication of L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics:
Today’s mention gives hope to crackpot hucksters everywhere.
Google’s daily puzzle offers a clue in a given name: “The famous tourist attraction named after Sir Benjamin Hall is not the largest of its kind in its city. Where will you find the one with that distinction?” more >>
Public Meetings
CDA Special Session
by JOHN ADAMS •
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Elections, Law, Liberty
Beautiful Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
If we were to have a blizzard, covering all the city, today would yet be a lovely day.
There are, of course, some individual losses for which there is no human recompense, but for the community, no day is more restorative, and so more welcome, than an election day.
Today will be a bit sweeter, a bit brighter, a bit more hopeful, for the exercise of the right to vote.
Some believe we have too many elections; looking at our long history, it would be truer to say we’ve not had enough.
