Here’s a Felix the Cat cartoon from 1923. Entitled, “Felix the Cat Get Broadcasted,” it’s both an example of an emerging technology of the time, and a sci fi prediction of what might one day be possible. Enjoy.

There’s a story online at Newsweek entitled, “The Left Starts to Rethink Ronald Reagan.” The story features an interview with Sean Wilentz, a prominent liberal activist, who has been reconsidering Reagan’s legacy. (Wilnetz’s reconsideration follows Sen. Obama’s remarks that Reagan was a ‘transformational’ president.) Wilnetz sees much that was positive in Reagan, and urges others…

I’ve mentioned before that I consider blogging part of a Once and Future American Tradition. Americans were pamphleteers once, and some are bloggers now. There are hundreds of blogs in Wisconsin covering local affairs in their respective towns. More than half are written pseudonymously, the way many pamphlets were early in our tradition. If I…

Ballpark is an occasional series of posts following the Brewers season. In this post, I’ll talk about the Brewers’ opening series of the 2008 season. St. Louis may be a serious rival, but no Brewers fan doubts that the greater rivalry is with the Cubs. Like the Brewers, the Cubs have been a regular-season-and-out team.…

Ballpark is an occasional series of posts following the Brewers season. In this post, I’ll make a few general observations about the Brewers, and their prospects this season. The Milwaukee Brewers have been a professional ball club, under that name, since 1970. They played their first game on Tuesday, April 7th 1970 at County Stadium.…

I’ve received two messages concerning comment sections on blogs. The first one asked that I add a comment section on FREE WHITEWATER, and the second message contended that one could not advocate coherently a free speech position without a comments section beneath each post. I’ll address both points in turn. The first asks if I’ll…

In Wisconsin, there are thousands of independent websites, many of them covering a single city or town, but others devoted to an issue or project. From a student-led effort at Marquette University, there’s a new environmental website called Greenvoting.com. Here’s a description of the Greenvoting.com website: Greenvoting is sort of a hybrid between Wikipedia and…

Longtime readers know that, for the most part, I have confined my commentary to activities within the City of Whitewater, population 14,296. Not far from the city, however, sits the Town of Whitewater, a separate municipality, with a population of less than 2,000, situated near Whitewater Lake. There’s a story from the Town of Whitewater…

Beginning next week, FREE WHITEWATER will offer two new features. First, the website will have a weekday, early morning summary of events in Whitewater for that day. I have not hit upon a name for the feature, but if anyone has a suggestion for a name, please feel free to write me at adams@freewhitewater.com. Second,…

This (half) week’s coming attractions include — • Depression over the Holiday Schedule for the Whitewater Register? • Review of the latest School Board meeting • Choice in Education • Review of the latest Common Council meeting • Clear Information on the Lawsuit against Larry Meyer

Well over a decade ago, Maryland Governor William Schaefer threatened political critics in an abusive way: he had Maryland employees take pictures of his opponents at rallies, etc., and sent those photos to them. So great was his sense of entitlement, so arrogant was his presumption of the use of his political authority, that he…

This week’s coming attractions include — • Police and Fire Commission Series, continued • Common Council Meeting for December 18th, 2007 • Inbox: Reader Mail — Housing Monopolies and Subsidies • Choice in Education (holdover from last week) • Christmas Tales: How the Grinch Stole Christmas Break by John Adams • Friday Cartoon Feature

Last week’s posts included discussion of Dr. Roy Nosek’s views on student housing, the campus before exams, the contradiction of public officials supporting confidentiality in municipal litigation, the last Planning Commission meeting, and the last Common Council meeting. This week’s coming attractions include — • Planning/Architectural Review Board Meeting for December 10th • Beautiful Whitewater:…