FREE WHITEWATER

Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 9.5.12

by  • 

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater: showers and thundershowers, with a high of eighty-six.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets this afternoon from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1972, Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich, killing eleven of the Israeli team.

On this day in 1836, Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas:

Houston served as the republic’s president until 1838, then again from 1841 to 1844. Despite plans for retirement, Houston helped Texas win admission to theUnited States in 1845 and was elected as one of the state’s first two senators. He served three terms in the Senate and ran successfully for Texas’ governorship in 1859. As the Civil War loomed, Houston argued unsuccessfully against secession, and was deposed from office in March 1861 after refusing to swear allegiance to the Confederacy. He died of pneumonia in 1863.

Google’s daily puzzle is of lemurs and geography: “If you see a lemur hanging from a branch, you’re probably on an island that formed during the prehistoric breakup of which supercontinent?”

43rd Assembly District, Politics

The 43rd District Assembly Race

by  • 

In this exciting season of politics – where Americans from one end of this continent to another will peacefully choose their federal, state, and local leaders — one of the many compelling local contests will take place here, in Wisconsin’s 43rd Assembly District. It’s a bad habit to believe that one’s own circumstances are unique beyond others, and yet this race – between Evan Wynn and Andy Jorgensen – will likely prove compelling, one of evident contrasts and close results.

Both are now incumbents (Wynn of one term for the 43rd, Jorgensen of three terms for the 37th). Redistricting brings them against each other this November.

It will be well worth watching, pondering, arguing over, writing about, and plainly choosing. They are not alike in their views; one could not imagine supporting both equally; ambivalence seems impossible.

Where these candidates stand on the issues, and what those stands might mean for our small city, matters.

However the race develops, and ends, we’ll not be able to lament that we lacked a clear choice between candidates.

Nature, Politics, Weather

The Exciting Season

by  • 

The Ancients saw (as some peoples still see) autumn as the beginning of the year: one’s calendar started when one reaped the harvest. The year began not in the bleak months of winter, but amid the earth’s bounty, made greater through cultivation. Even now, our school year traditionally begins in deference to an agricultural schedule.

I’m neither a farmer nor an academic (nor yet so old that one might link me to the ancient world), but I do love the fall, this short and beautiful season. Years past schooling, September still seems like the beginning of my year. Not spring, but fall: energetic, serious, intense, and hopeful. It’s hopeful precisely because it is full of energy, seriousness, and intensity.

Fall reigns from now until Thanksgiving, for three brief months, during which she invites us to accomplish more than some other peoples will accomplish in a full year. The autumn rush of energy and effort leads us toward that first Tuesday in November, a day that is in so many ways our finest political holiday and marks our greatest political accomplishment.

In our schools and on our campus, thousands will begin this new season excited, but a bit apprehensive, too. One wishes them the best: to work diligently, to compete ferociously, all the while dreaming the grand dreams that give hard work its meaning.

There’s so very much to do, looking out over the months ahead.

This invigorating season, fortunately, makes the work ahead almost easy, and certainly enjoyable.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 9.4.12

by  • 

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater brings a high of ninety-one, with a slight (20%) chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Whitewater’s Common Council meets at 6:30 PM tonight.

On this day in 1886, Apache chief Geronimo surrendered to US soldiers:

For 30 years, the mighty Native American warrior had battled to protect his tribe’s homeland; however, by 1886 the Apaches were exhausted and hopelessly outnumbered. General Nelson Miles accepted Geronimo’s surrender, making him the last Indian warrior to formally give in to U.S. forces and signaling the end of the Indian Wars in the Southwest.

For all the fury of Hurricane Isaac, what was it like inside the storm’s eye? Eerily calm:

Google’s daily puzzle asks about a poem, and a place: “Lord Byron wrote a poem inspired by a castle located in which of Switzerland’s cantons?” more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 9.3.12

by  • 

Good morning.

Labor Day in Whitewater will be sunny and hot, with a high of ninety.

From LiveScience.com, a tiger mom (the real kind) and her cubs are caught on camera in Thailand:

On this day in 1976, the Viking 2 lander touched down on Mars.

On this day in 1970, VInce Lombardi passed away:

On this date famed Green Bay Packer coach, Vince Lombardi, died at the age of 57. Lombardi played college football at Fordham, where he was one of the legendary “Seven Blocks of Granite.” Lombardi served as coach and general manager for the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967. He directed the team to five NFL championships in seven years (1961-62 and 1965-67). His 1966 and 1967 teams also made history by winning the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi’s Green Bay career was celebrated in this 1968 commemorative.

Google’s daily puzzle asks about a telephone code for a faraway place: “What city code do you dial to call the capital of the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea?”

Agriculture, Animals, Freedom of Speech, Laws/Regulations

How Ag Gag Laws Suppress Free Speech

by  • 

Utah and Iowa, among other states, have passed ‘ag gag’ laws to prevent the recording of videos that reveal animal abuse at slaughterhouses. These private recordings are a consequence of regulatory failure, just as laws to prevent them are proof of political hypocrisy. If states regulated properly the videos wouldn’t be necessary; likewise, proper regulation would obviate the selfish need for additional laws to conceal evidence of regulatory negligence.

Whistleblowers are a check on businesses (and lazy regulators):

The whistleblowing capacity of the videos adds to the marketplace of ideas. Video like that obtained by COK are an important driver of public opinion on animal welfare issues and—as in the case of In-N-Out Burger and others—serve as a signal to the food industry to demand scrupulous slaughterers and to better monitor the work of their suppliers.

See, How Ag Gag Laws Suppress Free Speech and the Marketplace of Ideas – Reason.com.

Published earlier on 9.2.12 at Daily Adams.