Over the next two days, two candidates, Dr. Suzanne Zentner of Arizona, and Dr. Dennis Pauli of Illinois, will visit our city as candidates for District Administrator of the Whitewater Unified School District.  I know as much, from announcements in newspapers, private websites, and our own district’s announcement.  One can find that announcement through a…

Continuing for the next several weeks, it’s Prisoner Monday here at Free Whitewater. Why? Because a longtime reader previously suggested to me that being in Whitewater sometimes felt like living the plot of The Prisoner. It’s a great British series, that tells the story of a secret agent who resigns from his agency, only to…

Readers know that I am not a particular admirer of the English, denizens of a dank, cramped isle, practitioners (mostly) of a dank, cramped politics, (where have you gone, Mrs. Thatcher?), and adherents of a dank, cramped culture.       Yet, all is not lost, as I see from a fine speech from a British member…

Continuing for the next several weeks, it’s Prisoner Monday here at Free Whitewater. Why? Because a longtime reader previously suggested to me that being in Whitewater sometimes felt like living the plot of The Prisoner. It’s a great British series, that tells the story of a secret agent who resigns from his agency, only to…

In Salisbury, Maryland, outgoing mayor and scapegoater Barrie Parsons Tighman contends that malicious bloggers are ruining her town. Sounds familiar, I wouldn’t wonder. It’s just as false, too – an insular, thin-skinned town elite will often say whatever it wants, on any subject, about anyone, but quickly criticizes the First Amendment rights of bloggers on…

Continuing for the next several weeks, it’s Prisoner Monday here at Free Whitewater. Why? Because a longtime reader previously suggested to me that being in Whitewater sometimes felt like living the plot of The Prisoner. It’s a fine British series, that tells the story of a secret agent who resigns from his agency, only to…

The International Herald Tribune, a newspaper with a sharp-looking website, asks how long it will be until a major American city is without a hometown newspaper. Not that long, I wouldn’t wonder. I agree with the sentiment that loss of professional journalists would be a blow to civil society, but that hardly means that loss…

Great news in the world of music, and proof that Bono and U2 are super-smart. They’ve jumped from endorsing Apple to a deal with Research in Motion, maker of fine BlackBerry wireless phones. As you can guess, I think it’s a smart move. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/03/09/ u2_jumps_ship_from_apple_to_research_in_motion.html

I have written before that bloggers may appear new to the American scene, but that they really represent only a contemporary innovation on America’s tradition of pamphleteering.  America’s colonial and revolutionary writers published pamphlets on all manner of subjects, and that’s true of blogging, too.  Blogging on political affairs, whether about places near or far,…

There’s predictable, but troubling, news on the local economy, as the Janesville-Beloit area now has a double-digit unemployment rate. The national average of 8.1% looks favorable by comparison. Planners cannot keep up – a study on municipal mass transit between nearby towns was, and now surely is, immaterial. Getting people to and from work that…

On Tuesday, I posted a poll asking how likely a member of Whitewater’s Common Council would be to fall asleep during a 2009 meeting. The results – admittedly unscientific but nonetheless interesting- show that among respondents – 35% think there’s an even chance 22% think there’s an eighty percent chance 18% think it’s certain For…

How is it that Orin Kerr (see prior post) can ask plausibly if the Dow Jones Industrial Average will continue to fall, significantly, in the next few years? Because the markets have no confidence in the president’s plan: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0304/p09s01-coop.html

The Daily Kenoshan reports that Wisconsin has a new, free market think tank. Considering how poorly Wisconsin ranks in personal and economic freedom, our state could use several new free market think tanks. (George Mason University’s Mercatus Center’s study of American liberties entitled, “Freedom In the Fifty States” ranks Wisconsin poorly – 35th in economic…

I had some fun with a pop quiz for early January, and here’s another. What is the single biggest issue – problem, challenge, concern – facing Whitewater in 2009? I opened two categories for entries: dead-serious concerns, and silly ones. Entries were accepted through Friday, January 30th at 5:59 a.m. Here are the results, by…