Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:44 and sunset 7:15 for 12h 30m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.
On this day in 1812, a political cartoon in the Boston-Gazette coins the term “gerrymander” to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection.
A brief post today, about Boardmember Maryann Zimmerman to follow yesterday’s post about conservative populism more generally. (A more detailed series on the district and proposals to improve governance can wait until after the election. Too many people in this town have election fever, and it’s left them dehydrated and decomposed. Their malady is not mine.)
Anyone who has visited this site knows that this bleeding-heart libertarian blogger is, and always will be, an opponent of conservative populism, MAGA, Trumpism, or whatever one calls that ideology. Never Trump before Never Trump, so to speak. See yesterday’s example Rep. Mike Gallagher Knows that MAGA Will Be Someone Else’s Headache Soon.
I am also someone whose family, teachers, and professors did their level best to inspire in me a respect for principle, reasoning, and tradition (in that order). Any success that this pupil has had in that regard owes only to them; they had poor clay with which to work. All their effort on my behalf, over so many years, leads me now and again to see something clearly.
And this is one of those times: the claims and proposals that boardmember (and whistleblower) Maryann Zimmerman has made since December are not conservative populist claims. They are claims of no single ideology or partisan view. Mrs. Zimmerman may hold, as I think she does, conservative populist views. To the extent that she holds those views — but only to the extent that she holds those views — we would find ourselves in disagreement.
Some of her ardent supporters most assuredly hold conservative populist views. To the extent that they hold those views — but only to the extent that they hold those views — we would find ourselves in disagreement.
If in this beautiful city, the answer to Mrs. Zimmerman’s nonpartisan concerns and proposals is an answer directed in opposition to conservative populism, then that answer is misdirected, to the degradation of scholastic standards.
It’s that simple.
I’ve never met Mrs. Zimmerman; we may never meet. One needn’t have met her to grasp that she is willing to speak and write in support of her views when, by striking contrast, the current board president has done no better than to beg off every question with the false, self-protective claim that he cannot speak for legal reasons. (Those who know the law know that those assertions are not merely false but risibly self-serving.)
The district has a superintendent who not only won’t speak but has tried to prevent others from speaking. In Maryann Zimmerman’s recent claims, and in her composed defense of them, there’s no trace of partisan ideology. She’s been admirably clear and steady. Others want to see what’s not there; they are looking into an empty room.
These aren’t the MAGA claims they were looking for.
Total Solar Eclipse 2024 explained. Date, maps, times and more:
The United States, Mexico and Canada will experience a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Space.com’s Brett Tingley explains what you can expect. Total solar eclipse 2024: Everything you need to know: https://www.space.com/41552-total-sol…
WARNING: People should always use protective solar eclipse eyewear when viewing a solar eclipse.
Credit: Space.com | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, GreatAmericanEclipse.com
This is consistent for you. Some of us like you are crtics of this superintendent but that does not mean we support MAGA.
Yes, the board is self protective as much as the superintendent. There has been an undeniable run of school turmoil. It’s worse than area schools and that is a board problem as well as an administrative problem.
It is to your credit that you will consider an argument on the merits.
Good post today, thanks for being clear.
Those who believe in limited, responsible, and open government in a society of individual rights can prevail on those principles, not in spite of them. Indeed, adherence to those principles is the best (as most effective and most virtuous) way to prevail. There’s a conceit that, in times of crisis, serious men have to take dark measures. It’s merely a conceit — literally, an unduly favorable estimation of one’s own abilities or worth — that weak men advance when they’d rather not commit to a more principled way. ‘This is what all serious men do’ translates nicely into ‘this is what weak and lazy men do while saying they’re serious.’
lol too funny
arguments against open government aren’t just empty they are a bare room with peeling paint lol
will wait until later for your “detailed series on the district and proposals to improve governance”
so tell me what you think about election attacks on this board member?
“Too many people in this town have election fever, and it’s left them dehydrated and decomposed. Their malady is not mine”
that is even funnier.
thank you mr. adams
nice post
Having to burn the village (or some villagers) to save it appeals to those ignorant of villages and of salvation.
It is a huge credit to you, Mr. Adams, that you can separate local and partisan politics from issues at hand. And shame on officials who attempt to suppress open records.
Good morning, From a Distance. Thank you very much. My very best, Adams.