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Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

Business, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park

Innovation Center Offers a Seminar on How to Go Out of Business

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Nutty, but true: the Innovation Center – the Disappointment that Keeps on Disappointing™ – is apparently offering a program entitled, “What you Will Need to Know When You are Ready (or Not) to Sell Your Business.”

It’s part of – wait for it – the Center’s ‘Elements of Success‘ series.

Honest to goodness, for all the talk about marketing the town – about a comprehensive marketing plan – one would think that a seminar on getting out, folding, quitting, cashing in, giving up, etc., would not be a PR man’s first topic choice.

Chancellor Tefler, in particular, repeatedly & laughably hails his multi-million-dollar boondoggle as a great success.

Forget their ill-considered seminar.

There are opportunities to grow, build, and expand in Whitewater, and they’ll come in places wholly unconnected to a publicly-funded Tech Park and so-called Innovation Center.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.14.14

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday will be sunny with a high of seventy-four.

Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1945, the existence of a Japanese proclamation of surrender is made public:

…an official announcement of Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allies is made public to the Japanese people:

Even though Japan’s War Council, urged by Emperor Hirohito, had already submitted a formal declaration of surrender to the Allies, via ambassadors, on August 10, fighting continued between the Japanese and the Soviets in Manchuria and between the Japanese and the United States in the South Pacific. In fact, two days after the Council agreed to surrender, a Japanese submarine sank the Oak Hill, an American landing ship, and the Thomas F. Nickel, an American destroyer, both east of Okinawa.

In the afternoon of August 14, Japanese radio announced that an Imperial Proclamation was soon to be made, accepting the terms of unconditional surrender drawn up at the Potsdam Conference. That proclamation had already been recorded by the emperor. The news did not go over well, as more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers stormed the Imperial Palace in an attempt to find the proclamation and prevent its being transmitted to the Allies. Soldiers still loyal to Emperor Hirohito repulsed the attackers.

That evening, General Anami, the member of the War Council most adamant against surrender, committed suicide. His reason: to atone for the Japanese army’s defeat, and to be spared having to hear his emperor speak the words of surrender.

The emperor’s recording to his people was broadcast the next day, on 8.15.1945.

Today, a geography question from Google-a-Day:

After centuries of being passed between Genoa, France and Sardinia what European country was finally granted sovereignty in 1861?

Film

The Enduring Work of Film Stars

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Over this last week, both Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall passed away.  They were of different generations, of course, but both starred in memorable, compelling films. 

One often thinks of the films one liked most from an actor or actress.  For Williams and Bacall, I’ve two favorites.

For Williams, it’s Moscow on the Hudson (1984). He’s better known for other films, but I think Williams was convincing as a Russian defector who simply wanted a better life for himself in New York.

The film was one of politics of course, but that’s not the heart of William’s portrayal – as Vladimir Ivanoff is a musician who defects, in a Bloomingdale’s store in New York, from the Soviet Union. 

Bacall, aged eighty-nine, became a star in the black-and-white era of film, but that shouldn’t put off those who’ve not seen her films.  We sometimes think that if a film’s not new, it’s not clever, compelling, or worth one’s time. 

Oh, no – Bacall was clever and compelling in her time, as she would have been in any time. 

The Big Sleep (1946), in which she stars with Humphrey Bogart, is as modern in its way as any film of our time.  Bogart’s Philip Marlowe encounters Bacall’s Vivian Rutledge, and the encounter is … timeless. 

Williams and Bacall will be missed, but we have the comfort that they’ve left a fine, enduring legacy. 

Elections

August 12 Primary Results

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A few remarks on last night’s results; those results are, of course, as yet unofficial. 

1. Governor’s Race. In the city, Burke received 462, to Walker’s 288.  Neither candidate had meaningful opposition (Brett Hulsey was inconsequential, really).  Summer, no real opposition, campus mostly empty, but Burke takes over 61% of the top-candidate vote.

It’s a bluer city with each election.  The GOP’s let the town slip away these last ten years. 

The AP did not provide a statewide count for how Walker did across Wisconsin (they don’t tally uncontested races, and the GAB doesn’t have its own election-night totals), but Burke received just over 259,000 votes. 

Seeing how well Burke polled in rural areas will tell a lot about November.  There’ll be more than a few poring over those numbers today. 

2. The 15th Senate District Primary.  Janis Ringhand won, with about 40% (6,157) of the vote, but with Austin Scieszinski close behind with 38% (5,883).  Fellow Democrats didn’t think much of Mike Sheridan, with only about one-in-five voting for him.  

Scieszinski has future opportunities – he outpolled Ringhand in Rock County (5,422 to 4,857). 

Sheridan needn’t have bothered.

3. Blackhawk Technical College Referendum.  The referendum failed by a wide margin.  In Rock County, it was down 58.38% to 41.62% (11,367 to 8,104).  In much smaller Green County, it also failed, but by less, 50.55% to 49.45% (1789 to 1750).

In Rock County, this referendum didn’t fail because Republicans opposed it – it failed because Democrats and small-goverment conservatives saw through an attempt by a few to get a public subsidy for their businesses’ training needs (instead of paying themselves). 

Results like this will happen in more and more places: voters will no longer be persuaded by unsubstantiated claims of ‘economic development’ benefits.

4. Democrats’ AG Race.  Jon Richards was favored last night (he had most big names among WisDems behind him); Susan Happ won big, anyway. 

WISGOP candidate Brad Schimel will still be a favorite in November, perhaps, but not by much.  Last night, Democrats rejected their party leaders’ advice, and picked a candidate who seems to have connected very well with primary voters, is fundamentally moderate, and will be assertive in campaigning.   

Schimel would certainly have preferred Milwaukee-area Richards.  He’s got rural Jefferson County Happ instead. 

She’ll make this a competitive race.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.13.14

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Wednesday brings a slight chance of afternoon showers, but otherwise a partly sunny day with a high of seventy-eight.

The Fire & Rescue Task Force meets tonight at 7:30 PM.

On this day in 1961, Communist East Germany began construction of the Berlin Wall:

On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, “Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!” (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term Mauer (wall) had been used in this context.

The record of a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht on 1 August in the same year, suggests that it was from Khrushchev that the initiative for the construction of the wall came.[40][41] However, other sources suggest that Khrushchev had initially been wary about building a wall, fearing negative Western reaction. What is beyond dispute, though, is that Ulbricht had pushed for a border closure for quite some time, arguing that East Germany’s very existence was at stake.[42]

Khrushchev had been emboldened by US President John F. Kennedy’s tacit indication[how?] that the US would not actively oppose this action in the Soviet sector of Berlin.[43] On Saturday, 12 August 1961, the leaders of the GDR attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in Döllnsee, in a wooded area to the north of East Berlin. There Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall.

At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 156 kilometres (97 mi) around the three western sectors, and the 43 kilometres (27 mi) that divided West and East Berlin.

The barrier was built slightly inside East Berlin or East German territory to ensure that it did not encroach on West Berlin at any point. Later, it was built up into the Wall proper, the first concrete elements and large blocks being put in place on 17 August. During the construction of the Wall, National People’s Army (NVA) and Combat Groups of the Working Class (KdA) soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields and other obstacles were installed along the length of East Germany’s western border with West Germany proper. A huge no man’s land was cleared to provide a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees.[44]

Google-a-Day poses a question from its Art & Literature category:

What was the name of the pet that often traveled with the artist of “Tuna Fishing”?

Press

Why ‘This Woman’ Over and Over?

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At the Gazette, that paper’s editorialist has a new editorial entitled, Our Views: Support K. Andreah Briarmoon and her ramblings at your own risk (subscription req’d).

Readers may recall that I’m opposed to Ms. Briarmoon’s light and trivial discussion of litigation – it’s a serious matter, worthy of careful reflection.  Ms. Briarmoon takes a more casual approach, but casual has no place in litigation; I reject her method. 

See, on this point, A Game It’s Not.

(I’ve also felt that the Gazette probably uses stories about Ms. Briarmoon to make municipal critics, generally, look silly.)  

Still, why does the editorialist begin, in each of five consecutive paragraphs, with a description of her as ‘this woman’? 

This woman suggested….

This woman lost….

This woman keeps….

This woman has lost….

This woman wants….

I often wonder, after reading a Gazette editorial: Can this be the product of an editorial board?  Could more than one person possibly have thought this was any good? 

As a rhetorical effort, the editorial is another failure, and the repeated emphasis on her gender is simply overdone. 

A more insightful writer would also have understood that there’s a context to ‘this man’ and ‘this woman’ that’s different, as women have not had the same opportunities in society.   One might wish that the context were the same, but we do not yet live in the conditions of gender equality.

The Gazette‘s editorials are often deficient, in reasoning and composition, but here I think we find a worse perspective, whether by ignorance or intention.  

Ms. Briarmoon, it seems, isn’t the only one with a problem of understanding.

Elections, Politics

August 12 Primary Questions

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Here are a few results I’ll be looking at tonight, in the August primary:

1. Governor’s Race.  How do Walker, Burke (and even Hulsey, Burke’s eccentric challenger) fare in Whitewater?  Statewide and locally, how many votes do they get in a summer primary? 

2.  The 15th Senate District Primary.  For the Democrats, will it be a competitive Democrat (Ringhand or Scieszinski) or Sheridan (who is the only Democrat who would make this race competitive for the Republicans in November)? 

3.  Blackhawk Technical College Referendum.  Four million a year in taxes, backed by business interests and the Gazette in Janesville. 

(‘Business interests and the Gazette in Janesville’ are related in the way a screwdriver’s related to a screw.) 

Some in Janesville, as I cited yesterday in a quote from Rock Netroots, worry that one should

[n]ever underestimate the power of Forward Janesville, Rock County five-o or their Janesville Gazette media flacks. They’re a big “connected” club with a political agenda and operatives in every part of local government.

I’m curious how the referendum fares, and whether the Gazette (so proud as a self-declared ‘mover and shaker’) can push a bad idea to success. 

4.  Democrats’ AG Race.  Assemblyman Jon Richards, Jefferson County DA Susan Happ, and Dane County DA Ismael Ozanne are the candidates. 

Republican  Brad Schimel will be the GOP candidate in November. 

Richards is favored tonight, but statewide in November it might be that Susan Happ (with more prosecutorial experience than Richards) would prove a stronger match against Schimel. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.12.14

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Election day brings a one-third chance of morning showers, with gradual clearing into a mostly sunny day, with a high of seventy-three.

The city’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM today.

On this day in 1939, the Wizard of Oz premieres in Oconomowoc:

1939 – Wizard of Oz World Premier — in Oconomowoc

According to the fan site, thewizardofoz.info, “The first publicized showing of the final, edited film was at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on August 12, 1939. No one is sure exactly why a small town in the Midwest received that honor.” It showed the next day in Sheboygan, Appleton and Rhinelander, according to local newspapers. “The official premiere was at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 15, attended by most of the cast and crew and a number of Hollywood celebrities.” [Source: thewizardofoz.info/, link fixed from WHS site]

Google-a-Day has a baseball question:

As of 2012, of the 65 living members of the “National Baseball Hall of Fame,” twenty of them played what position?

Government Spending, Taxes/Taxation

On the Blackhawk Technical College Referendum

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Over at Rock Netroots, Lou Kaye’s published a post with observations about Rock County’s politics, entitled, Community Quotes #3.  (It’s in the syle of a similar Gazette feature, but thankfully without that newspaper’s ceaseless fronting of white-collar welfare.)  

On the Blackhawk Technical College referendum (four-million more annually, forever…), Kaye has three comments that sum it all up, nicely:

On Local Power Players Dishonesty and Deception:
* So typical. How self-serving business groups like Forward Janesville have claimed higher taxes, wages and benefits are a burden on local economic development and then lobby for tax breaks for themselves. But here they are endorsing a local tax hike on everyone else to pay for employee training at a technical college. The keyword: self-serving.

* I think members of the business chambers in Beloit including Forward Janesville are completely dishonest for supporting Scott Walker’s budget cuts on schools/technical colleges. Cutting revenue that came from a much larger tax base but now spin around promoting local tax hikes to restore those funding cuts. They’ll use the same strategy to promote raising local taxes for Janesville streets. Lots of people blind to the politics, fall for it every time.

* Never underestimate the power of Forward Janesville, Rock County five-o or their Janesville Gazette media flacks. They’re a big “connected” club with a political agenda and operatives in every part of local government.

It’s funny how in Whitewater some on the Left might think that supporting BHTC is an imperative, but Kaye and others in Rock County (themselves liberals, by the way) see the issue more clearly.

Regardless of Walker or Doyle, etc., in office, here’s one libertarian opposed to a perpetual referendum like this.  Republican or Democrat, it’s overreaching, either way.

The referendum is a money-grab pushed by so-called conservatives who have never met public spending for their private interests that they didn’t like.  They’re not, in fact, true conservatives at all. 

These sort of polices have wrecked the Right in Whitewater, but that won’t stop a few elsewhere from hoping they can dupe their own voters.  (See, along these lines, How Conservatives Ruined Conservatism in Whitewater.)   

City

Meteorology

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Meteorology’s just the study of the atmosphere.  Along the way toward of a better explanation of the atmosphere, however, comes the hope that an understanding will improve prediction: that we’ll not simply know, but know beforehand. 

Writing about a place like Whitewater – if one really tries – should be a mixture of both principled declaration (what one believes) but also of forecasting, as of the weather (where the city is heading, regardless of one’s beliefs).

When one looks at Whitewater’s stodgiest insiders, it’s quickly evident that those declining few will advocate for what they want, but that they have little or no understanding of where the city’s heading.

Some of this ilk would prefer Whitewater didn’t change, and so they avoid the topic.  Others tout supposed improvements of no practical value, pretending they’ve brought about changes to their credit, even though no one outside their circle thinks they’ve done so. 

Big changes have come to Whitewater, and almost without exception the biggest of them have been the cultural, economic, social, and technological changes sweeping all America.

Our local, insular clique, however, has no feel for meteorology, so to speak, and often doesn’t see this dynamic.  It’s as though they believe Whitewater’s weather is separate from places beyond the city limits.   

For the most part, they’ve ignored a broader perspective, think and react only to events of the moment, and are surprised when their short-sighted efforts come out badly. 

There’s one more thing, too: as they confront change that demands a broader perspective, they’ll actually turn ever more inward, to like-minded people who are as myopic as they are.

Counter-productive, to be sure, but that’s the only direction in which they’ll feel comfortable, nonetheless.