FREE WHITEWATER

Holiday

Groundhog Day — Celebrating the Holiday Right

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Tomorrow, February 2nd, is no ordinary day. It’s Groundhog Day, one of America’s most endearing holidays. I observe the holiday, one that’s among my very favorites.


Over at Groundhog.org, the Official Website of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, visitors can learn about Groundhog Day, sign up to receive a text message of groundhog Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction, send a free e-card, and watch a streaming webcam video of Phil’s prediction.

(“…to get a text of Punxsutawney Phil’s Febuary 2, 2010 Weather prognostication from Gobblers Knob via your moble device by texting “Groundhog” to 247365 between now and Groundhog Day….You are so in the know, it’s like being in the burrow.”)

Here’s a video of Punxsutawney Phil’s 2009 prediction:

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=234N-3o55SE&feature=player_embedded

The website also offers the precise GPS coordinates of the tree stump from which Phil emerges:

  • N40.93027 W78.95772 (hddd.ddddd°)
  • N40 55.816 W78 57.463 (hddd°mm.mmm’)

For those wondering, last year Phil predicted 6 more weeks worth of winter, and he was absolutely, positively, completely and entirely correct.

Please, always remember: Celebrate responsibly. more >>

Economy

Federal Deficit to Hit All-Time High

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Over at the Wall Street Journal, there’s a troubling story from Jonathan Weisman entitled, Deficit to Hit All-Time High.

The situation is so alarming that a scholar from a left-leaning think tank is alarmed:

Isabel Sawhill, a budget expert at the Brookings Institution, criticized the president’s goal – a deficit of 3% of GDP long after the recession has ended – saying it amounted to “defining deficits down.”

“The pay-go rules will make it more difficult for Congress to dig the hole deeper but won’t affect currently projected red ink; and the commission will likely be a paper tiger,” she wrote on Friday. “In short, these proposals will still leave us with unsustainable deficits as far as the eye can see. It is depressing to discover that we can no longer even aspire to balance the budget once the recession is over.”

No matter how troubled our national finances, one cannot reasonably and honestly say that these problems began in the last year. When the previous federal administration abandoned a prudent policy of fiscal restraint, the path to even greater profligacy was made clear.

There’s a local version of this situation in small-town Whitewater, Wisconsin. Several so-called conservatives sitting on our common council, community development authority, or tech park board (sometimes the very same people serving on more than one) have developed a taste for spending tax money and issuing municipal debt for public projects.

They will point with pride to how much public money they’ve spent, asking sensible people to believe that if they’ve spent these sums – often millions – in tax dollars, the expenditure must, absolutely must, have been a wonderful idea.

Some of these same people undoubtedly decry the Obama Administration’s national policies while committing our town to a local version of the same. The rank hypocrisy of their approach is simultaneously disgraceful and laughable. The desire to fit in, go along, and abandon principle for the sake of a pat on the back is nearly irresistible to the weak-willed and weak-minded.

It takes nothing so extraordinary as the Sirens to tempt men of this needy ilk; they cast principle away for no more than the flattery of others as unreasonable and vain as they are.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 2-1-10

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Good morning,

The forecast today is for a slight chance of snow this afternoon, with a greater chance tonight, and a high temperature for the day of twenty-five degrees.

In the City of Whitewater, the Parks & Recreation Board meets today, at 5 PM.  The agenda for that public meeting is available online.

In our schools today, there’s a Music Parents meeting at 6:30 PM in the high school choir room.

In Wisconsin history on this date, the Wisconsin Historical recalls that on

1860 – Ma and Pa Ingalls Married

On this date Charles Ingalls and Caroline Quiner were married in Concord, Wisconsin. They were the parents of noted Wisconsinite Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the “Little House” series. [Source: Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum]

Uncategorized

The Free Speech Victory in Citizens United

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On January 21st,  the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Citizens United, following oral argument in March, and re-argument in September.   The decision is controversial (sometimes unfairly through misunderstanding), but is a welcome recognition of First Amendment principles.

I have mentioned the case at least once before,  after the original oral argument, in a post entitled,”From Cato: Citizens United (Hillary: the Movie) v. Federal Election Commission.”  I’ll offer some remarks on the decision in this post, and will consider local matters — apart from the federal statute under review in Citizens United (§203 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, 2 U. S. C. §441b) — in another post.

The full text of the decision, including the opinion, concurring and dissenting opinions, is available online.  Three quick remarks: 1. I have read all these opinions.  2.  They’re lengthy — sadly, modern court opinions often amount to scores of pages, making them daunting and less commonly read than they should be.  3.  The syllabus at the front of the opinion is not itself an opinion; it’s just there as a summary from the Reporter of Decisions for readers’ convenience, and has no other purpose or effect.

What was the issue before the court?

In early 2008, Citizens United released a film entitled Hillary: The Movie. It’s was 90-minute documentary about  (then) Senator Clinton, at the time a candidate for the 2008 Democratic 2008 presidential nomination. The documentary expressly mentioned Senator Clinton, and offered interviews with pundits who were mostly critical of Senator Clinton. The film was released in theaters and on DVD, and Citizens United sought to bring it to video on demand.

Citizens United sought to distribute their documentary via video on demand within 30 days of the 2008 primary elections. Yet, CU was concerned that their film, and advertising about it, would be banned by a provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act’s ban on independent, but corporately funded, expenditures. They sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the Federal Elections Commission, to prevent the FEC from seeking criminal and civil penalties for showing their documentary.

What’s the decision of the case?  Here it is —

The judgment of the District Court is reversed with respect to the constitutionality of 2 U. S. C. §441b’s restrictions on corporate independent expenditures. The judgment is affirmed with respect to BCRA’s disclaimer and disclosure requirements. The case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Why decide this way?

Some members of the public might consider Hillary [the movie that Citizens United made] to be insightful and instructive; some might find it to be neither high art nor a fair discussion on how to set the Nation’s course; still others simply might suspend judgment on these points but decide to think more about issues and candidates. Those choices and assessments, however, are not for the Government to make. “The First Amendment underwrites the freedom to experiment and to create in the realm of thought and speech. Citizens must be free to use new forms, and new forums, for the expression of ideas. The civic discourse belongs to the people, and the Government may not prescribe the means used to conduct it.”

A few remarks —

  • Constitutional Provisions and Statutory Regulations. The question here is whether a constitutional provision protects a film-maker’s speech rights comprehensively, or whether a federal law may prevent the exercise of a constitutional right.  It is, as the opinion of the court notes, a settled matter of our law — of liberty itself — that

political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it, whether by design or inadvertence. Laws that burden political speech are “subject to strict scrutiny,” which requires the Government to prove that the restriction “furthers a compelling interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.”

Note: the decision in Citizens United permits a continuing federal requirement on the disclosure of expenditures toward political speech; the decision, however, recognizes the right of citizens to political speech, not to be infringed during a campaign.

  • People Shouldn’t Lose Their Speech Rights Because They Band Together to be Heard.   One should note that Citizens United wasn’t simply an ‘organization,’ etc.: it was a group of real people, wanting to express themselves.  (In the scheme of things, it was far smaller than many politically active unions or corporations, for example.  The majority opinion notes that “Citizens United is a nonprofit corporation an annual budget of about $12 million. Most of its funds are from donations by individuals; but, in addition, it accepts a small portion of its funds from for-profit corporations.)

Ilya Somin, in a post entitled, “Corporate Rights and Property Rights are Human Rights: Why it’s a Mistake to Conflate a Right with the Means Used to Exercise it,” observes that

In my last post, I explained why it’s a mistake to deny free speech rights to people organized as corporations on the grounds that corporations aren’t “real people.” It’s true, of course, that a corporation is not a person. But the people who own and operate it are. “Corporate speech” is really just speech by people using the corporate form.

The mistake here is one we see in other contexts. Critics often denigrate rights by conflating them with the means used to exercise them. For example, a standard rhetorical attack on property rights is the claim that property rights aren’t really “human rights.” Property has no rights, it is said. Its true of course that property as such is not entitled to any rights. However, property rights actually belong to the people who own the property, not the physical objects themselves.

  • Party Affiliations.  I understand, but do not share, a partisan reaction to this decision.  I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat.  There’s consternation among many on the left about this decision, but I think that concern will soon pass. The left will find that this decision will permit the exercise of political speech in support of their views just as much as of those on the right.
  • Justice Stevens on Foreign Donations.  The decision in Citizens United did not overturn a ban on foreign donations:  “We need not reach the question whether the Government has a compelling interest in preventing foreign individuals or associations from influencing our Nation’s political process.” The decision left 2 U.S.C. section 441e, banning contributions and expenditures from foreign nationals, was untouched.
  • President Obama, Justice Alito. There’s so much fuss over what the president  said about the court, and how one of the justices responded, during the state of the union address.   I don’t think it matters much.  The president can say what he wants, and I don’t care if someone in the room mouths something in reply.  Concerns about decorum and what’s proper, about this matter, seem overwrought to me.  Presidents didn’t always deliver the state of the union in person, and justices haven’t always attended the speech when it’s been delivered before Congress.

I believe that the decision was a good one; campaign finance laws, of so many kinds, should not abrogate citizens’ political speech rights. The First Amendment is more than a policy proposal; it’s a recognition of fundamental and natural human rights.

Is there a local angle in all this?  Yes.  I don’t mean the federal statutes involved in the Citizens United case, but otherwise, in enforcement of election & campaign regulations, and equal treatment of incumbents and dissenters.

Sadly, beautiful Whitewater, Wisconsin (city and town) have become a disgusting, dank swamp of favoritism for incumbents, political conflicts of interest, supported by a lapdog and conflict-riddled newspaper, and sometimes aided by laughable, erroneous legal opinions of scarcely third-rate quality.  Seldom has any town in America been more ill-served and represented by its self-professed public servants, visionary bureaucrats, and community treasures.

No law in our fine state, no law of our beautiful republic, has made any good man in our city better; neither has either state or federal law kept any man in the city from the lies, exaggerations, errors, arrogance, and vanity to which he was otherwise lamentably inclined.

We cannot regulate away this foul pack of mediocrities and their sycophants.  They are here, and conduct themselves wrongly and stupidly, despite all the legislative efforts from Madison and Washington. What they don’t like, they ignore or distort in ways that would be shameful even to an ordinary child.

The answer to this sad affliction upon us is not restriction and regulation, but speech.

I am practical in all this; change will come slowly.  I know very well that change will not come from those shameful and selfish few who feast on the city now.  ‘Bad’ does not get better, but only worse. They will not improve, except in a better quality of lies and excuses, so much as they are able.   Yet even the best lie is still easily refuted and exposed, to be held to account and contempt.

That’s the benefit of speech — outside a small collection of smug, selfish back-patters who truly promote only themselves, others see the truth, and embrace the American tradition of open, honest government over the emptiness of mediocre and mendacious management.   Exercise of those speech rights is so very American, and part of the happy and invigorating tradition that is the very stuff of our extraordinary country’s greatness.

City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning, Press Release

On the Innovation Center’s Anchor Tenant, Part 2

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An official’s weak arguments don’t become better or more convincing on repetition. On the contrary, stubborn repetition only reveals additional errors and mistakes, offering more opportunities for a robust critique.

Last week, I wrote about the selection of CESA 2, a taxpayer-funded agency, as the anchor tenant for Whitewater’s upcoming Innovation Center, a taxpayer-funded and debt-financed building in a planned tech park. See, On the Innovation Center’s Anchor Tenant. On Tuesday, Whitewater’s Tech Park Board issued a press release touting the selection of the agency as anchor tenant.

In my original post, I offered four arguments against the suitability of CESA 2 as an anchor tenant for the Innovation Center. The Tech Park Board’s press release both strengthens the argument against that selection of anchor tenant, and reveals how flimsy is the case in favor.

First, a summary of my initial, four arguments against a schools agency as an anchor tenant in a tech park:

  • What’s an Innovation Center and Tech
    Park?

    • America has excelled at this sort of private,
    entrepreneurial initiative time and again. For it, we are the envy of the world. It distorts and stretches the meaning of both innovation and technology to apply it to any organization, anywhere, at any time.

  • CESA 2 is not a Reasonable Choice for a
    Tech Park Anchor Tenant

    • CESA is, I am sure, a fine organization. It’s just not a technology concern, and it never will be, by any reasonable definition. It’s not even a private organization — CESA itself discloses that “[t]he leading source of CESA funds, in all cases, was revenue from member school districts which totaled $68.1 million, or 63% of all monies received. Revenue from federal ($16.7 million, 15% of the total) and state governments [sic] ($14 million, 13%) were the other major sources of funds.” CESA isn’t a technology concern — not one bit. It’s a state-mandated agency, feeding from tax dollars, that will fill up space in a technology park built on tax dollars and public debt

  • Carts Before Horses

    • Having departed from a commitment to following private demand, and thus addressing true community
    needs, the City of Whitewater embarks on a presumptuous project of public debt to accommodate a public agency anchor tenant.

  • Press coverage has been unquestioning and fawning
    See, CESA 2 tenant for Tech Park. The story presents unquestioningly city manager Brunner’s opinions on the topics therein.

There’s now a press release, issued January 26th, from the Whitewater University Technology Park Board that touts the CESA 2 as an anchor tenant. See, CESA 2 to lease space in Whitewater University Technology Park.

I’ll consider the contentions contained from the release, and reply to them. The release’s text is in italics, my replies are in a regular font:

The Whitewater University Technology Park continues to take shape
as CESA 2, the state’s largest Cooperative Educational Service Agency….The agency offers extensive training for more than 70
school districts in southern Wisconsin …. Brunner said. CESA 2 serves more than 135,000 students and 7,200 teachers in 74 school districts in the seven counties of Dane, Green, Jefferson, Kenosha,
Racine, Rock and Walworth. The agency provides professional development opportunities for teachers and helps school districts with its regular and special education programs. Last year, nearly 3,000 students went through the agency’s various driver education
programs.

The size of the tenant across many counties will not benefit Whitewater — services in other counties, or — wait for it — the number of students in driver education programs! — offer no gain for Whitewater.

We have a McDonald’s in Whitewater, but no one would be foolish enough to claim that the billions of hamburgers that chain sells nationally benefit Whitewater’s local economy. McDonald’s employs countless thousands, but no one would say that these are jobs for Whitewater.

Touting the size of a taxpayer-funded agency across distant counties doesn’t demonstrate a local benefit. It certainly doesn’t justify millions in federal spending a municipal public debt.

“CESA 2 is a great match for the Whitewater Innovation Center,”
said University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Richard Telfer. “CESA 2’s mission of providing education and training support services for the area districts is a natural fit with the work already being done on campus in the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s College of Education. We look forward to partnering with CESA 2 and the many school districts it serves.”

Well, I am sure the university gains from a bond (public debt) issue on the city’s tab. I can see why Chancellor Telfer would like an educational tenant for the park. This tenant doesn’t match, however, the Tech Park’s own Mission Statement attributes.

Either Chancellor Telfer hasn’t read, doesn’t remember, or otherwise ignores the attributes of the board’s own mission statement, a board of which he is president.

Here’s what they are:

Attributes

  • The park will establish an innovation center which offers space, facilities, expertise and services to
    technology-based entrepreneurs and businesses.
  • Scientific and technological advancement will be promoted through the development of green and sustainable facilities.
  • The Whitewater University Technology Park is established to enhance the area’s quality of life, provide higher property values through improved building standards, and to strive for living wages and sustainable economic development.

Emphasis in red added.

(See, Mission Statement, three attributes.)

This anchor tenant is neither a technology-based business nor an
entrepreneur. It’s not a business, at all — it’s a publicly-funded agency.

[Gary] Albrecht [CESA 2 administrator] said 30 employees will work in the Innovation Center space.

Thirty? That’s 30, a whole number between 29 and 31. I am sure that the CESA 2 administrator, whose agency is renting the space, would know the correct number of employees who will need taxpayer-funded accommodations.

How very odd, though, that only a week ago, Whitewater city manager Brunner gave an interview with the Daily Union, and declared that CESA 2 would have “50 full- and part-time employees to work at the Innovation Center.”

See, CESA 2 tenant for Tech Park.

Brunner’s number is two-thirds higher than the figure that the very administrator of the anchor tenant cites in the Tech Park’s own press release.

Let’s assume that Brunner really meant fifty full-time employee equivalents, and the figure can be reconciled. I’m not sure that’s what the city manager meant, but let’s be charitable. If that’s true, then the earlier declaration of 50 is confusing, and exaggerates the effective number of employees, with a bigger-sounding, but erroneous, number. The earlier interview claim is grand; the actual number is considerably more modest.

Perhaps Brunner keeps a bottle of Miracle-Gro in his desk. In his Daily Union interview from last week, cited above, Brunner contends that the Innovation Center will host daily teacher and administrator training sessions that typically have between 20 and 100 attendees. In the Tech Park Board’s press release, there’s the claim that “upwards of 100 people per day visiting the facility.”

It only sounds impressive until one considers how vague the claim truly is. What does it mean that upwards of 100 people will daily be visiting the facility? To what do these visits amount, and how upward is upwards of 100? Are they the same as the 20 to 100 attendees Brunner cited a week ago, or would that bigger number include anyone — delivery people, lost motorists, vagrants, etc.?

The cost of the facility has been going upward, too, from its initial proposal. That cost, though, will finally settle on a definite amount to taxpayers in federal and local debt. The benefit remains vague and those numbers remain less credible than ever before.

In a more recent interview about the Tuesday press release, one finds that Brunner implicitly acknowledges that CESA 2 is not a traditional business candidate for a tech park.

Laughably, he tries to evade the selection of an unsuitable anchor tenant by contending that CESA 2 really is a support ‘business’:

City Manager Kevin Brunner said CESA 2 might not be a small startup business – a typical tenant of a business incubator – but it offers support to other business and could help attract small businesses to the park.

“We recognize the need for support businesses,” he said. “CESA 2 has the potential to offer support, and we’re already seeing interest from other education-related business in being a part of this.”

CESA 2 is not, itself a support business at all, as it’s not a private business. Using the word ‘business’ does not make the choice any more reasonable, as they designation is itself unreasonable.

(I am sure CESA 2 is a fine and needed taxpayer-funded agency — I don’t doubt they do good work. They’re just not a business. Here’s what they do — CESA 2 is a state-created agency “to assist districts in providing quality educational opportunities for students….[to] help school districts share staff, services and purchasing, and provide a link between local districts and the state.”

More about CESA is available at the following link:
http://www.cesa2.k12.wi.us/about/)

Selection of this anchor tenant is a poor decision, poorly defended.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 1-29-10

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Good morning,

Today’s forecast for Whitewater calls for a mostly sunny day, with a high of eleven degrees.

A smattering of stories available this morning:

  • Unemployment is up in Walworth County, yet again: Walworth County’s unemployment rate hits 9 percent.
  • Walworth County Today has a brief item about a diversity mural at Whitewater’s Lincoln School: “Students, teachers, parents and staff dedicated the mural, Celebrating Diversity and Community recently at Whitewater’s Lincoln Elementary School. Artist Reynaldo Hernandez helped dedicate the mural, which he created with the help of art teacher Jean Buckingham and the more than 300 students who attend Lincoln Elementary School.”
  • State Senator Judy Robson has decided not to run for re-election.
  • Meanwhile, Democratic Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan of Janesville declared that he does not intend to resign his position.
  • The Whitewater Register, a weekly newspaper available in town, was free yesterday.  I’d make a joke, but it’s bad form to speak ill of the dead.

On this date in 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame selected its first members: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson.

Today is also the anniversary of the publication, in 1845, of Poe’s The Raven.

….But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;

Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore —
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore

Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 1-28-10

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Good morning,

It’s a chilly forecast for Whitewater, with a predicted high of ten degrees, and blustery skies.

There’s a story over at the tech blog Ars Technica about Pope Benedict XVI, entitled, “Pope: Priests Should Blog, Tweet the Gospel Too.” Naturally, the blogging to which he refers doesn’t concern politics, but rather faith, as the story explains —

The Pope’s speech was posted in advance of the World Day of Communications set to take place in May, and it’s clear that this year, the Pope’s message is all about being active online. He emphasized that it’s not enough to merely be present on the Web—”Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”

Priests should also make sure they’re getting on board early, becoming familiar with these tools while still in seminary. The Pope noted that the Internet isn’t just an artifact of the past in digital form, but rather a present and engaging medium.

Today’s also a sad day in American history — on this day in 1986, the space shuttle challenger exploded shortly after takeoff, killing all on board:

Cape Canaveral, Fla. Jan. 28 — The space shuttle Challenger exploded in a ball of fire shortly after it left the launching pad today, and all seven astronauts on board were lost.

The worst accident in the history of the American space program, it was witnessed by thousands of spectators who watched in wonder, then horror, as the ship blew apart high in the air.

Flaming debris rained down on the Atlantic Ocean for an hour after the explosion, which occurred just after 11:39 A. M. It kept rescue teams from reaching the area where the craft would have fallen into the sea, about 18 miles offshore.

It seemed impossible that anyone could have lived through the terrific explosion 10 miles in the sky, and officials said this afternoon that there was no evidence to indicate that the five men and two women aboard had survived.

We recovered from that disaster, and another than followed, and we will recover from these listless years of uncertainty and official indifference to exploration. There are good ideas and private ambition, true innovations, and only the beginning of what’s possible, that will assure a future of space travel and exploration.

City, Press

For Whitewater, Wisconsin: No Reckless Pranks Needed

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Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, a group blog of law professors and academics, there’s a post about the unfortunate conduct of James O’Keefe, an activist.

In a post entitled, “One Sting Too Many,” Jonathon Adler writes about allegations against O’Keefe:

It’s one thing to pretend to be a pimp when interviewing ACORN employees. It’s quite another to pretend to be a telephone repairman to gain access to a U.S. Senate office and its telephone system. Apparently noted ACORN-sting film maker James O’Keefe and some compatriots did not see the difference, and are now facing federal charges and the possibility of significant jail time. Politico reports. here.

See, One Sting Too Many.

It’s odd about all this, because the best opportunities for reform – and the only acceptable ones – are lawful avenues of inquiry.

Wisconsin and America offer citizens rights of lawful inquiry seldom exercised in Whitewater. Our Open Meetings Law (WOML, Wis. Stat. ss. 19.81-19.98) and Public Records Law (WPRL Wis. Stat. ss. 19.31-19.39) provide fair and clear rights of information and access.

We have no need for misguided pranks and supposedly daring conduct.

There are problems receiving full and complete compliance under our laws, but there is recourse through the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office, and through supportive press inquiries. It’s not hard, either, to demonstrate officials’ third-rate efforts at obstruction and evasion. Hiding one thing typically reveals others.

Tenacity is required, but only lawful tenacity is necessary, permissible, and worthy of respect. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 1-27-10

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Good morning,

The forecast calls for a partly sunny day today, with a high of twenty-two degrees.

Over at the Janesville Gazette, there’s a story about a settlement in an case involving charges against Darien Village board members for violations of Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law, “Darien board settles in open meetings case.” (Wisconsin Open Meetings Law, Wis. Stat. § 19.81-19.98.)  

There likely aren’t enough cases like this in Wisconsin, as I’d guess violations are sadly common, and committed with near-impunity.

Helpful information on the Open Meetings Law is available from the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the Wisconsin Attorney General’s  Office.

It’s a happy anniversary for exploration, discovery, and science: on this day in 1888, the national Geographic Society was founded.  Wired recounts the anniversary:

1888: Bound together by an enthusiasm for geography and travel, a small cadre of distinguished businessmen, explorers, scientists and scholars officially incorporates the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C.

What began 122 years ago as a small, elite society for “the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge” is now one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions. Today its mission has a broader theme: “to inspire people to care about the planet.”

….The society’s publication, National Geographic magazine, began printing just 10 months after that founding meeting. It was initially a drab-looking scholarly journal sent to 165 charter members. Now its hallmark photography and more mainstream writing reach the hands of more than 40 million people per month….

From 1899 to 1910, membership grew from 1,400 to 74,000, and in the following 10 years advanced to to 713,000, and then continued to skyrocket. As a result, the society has become one of the largest and most inclusive in the world.

The explosive growth in membership is largely attributed to Grosvenor’s shift in the editorial direction of the magazine at the turn of the 20th century. Inspired by travelogues such as Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle and Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s Two Years Before the Mast, he made the magazine more accessible by including first-person narratives and the use of more straightforward, simple prose.

Grosvenor’s other game-changing decision was to feature photography prominently in the magazine. Surprisingly, National Geographic’s hallmark photojournalism began as a desperate attempt to fill 11 pages of the January 1905 issue before it went to press.

There is no tyranny so absolute as a printer’s deadline, but I simply did not have a good manuscript available. A large and rather bulky envelope lay on my desk. Still brooding about the unfilled pages, I opened the package listlessly … then stared with mounting excitement at the enclosures that tumbled out. Before me lay some 50 beautiful photographs of the mysterious city of Lhasa in Tibet.

Grosvenor considered the images so extraordinary that he used them despite the belief that they might cost him his job. But membership response was so positive that it became the genesis of the magazine’s popular appeal.

Uncategorized

Double dip recession risk significant, Martin Feldstein warns – The Globe and Mail

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I have no idea of the likelihood of a double-dip recession, and even Martin Feldstein, a respected economist, won’t lay odds on a second recession.

Still, if the likelihood of another recession grows, the prospect of nothing beyond minimal growth, at best, grows, too.

No better time to reduce public spending, taxes, and regulations.

See, Double dip recession risk significant, Martin Feldstein warns.

City

Searching for Cows in the City of Whitewater

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I sometimes receive questions from faraway places, from readers for whom rural America is the stuff of movies and books, but not direct experience. Someone once asked me how many cows there were in Whitewater. The question’s funny to anyone who lives in the City of Whitewater, Wisconsin, but not to someone who knows that Wisconsin is a major dairy state. The calculation would run like this:

Dairy State + Rural Town = Cows All Over the Place.

That’s not what life here’s like, and I decided to offer out-of-town readers a tour, of sorts. One early morning in December, I decided to take a driving tour of Whitewater, with a voice recorder to store my remarks, and a camera to take a few pictures.

For a trip around town like this, I thought I’d take on a co-pilot. There’s no better company for an expedition than a faithful canine.

My dog agreed, setting only one condition for the trip — that he could have a pseudonym of his own. He thought about it for a moment, mulled different choices, and settled on Dog X. So it would be — Dog X and I would travel around Whitewater by car, looking for cows. It was our brief, around-town homage to Travels with Charley.

I recorded my observations, and have transcribed and reproduced them, in italics, below. I have not printed everything that I recorded, just a few remarks as Dog X and I searched for cows. Interspersed are some photos I took along the way.

….It’s about 9:26, Dog X and I are in the car, we’re going to let the car warm up a bit, and then we’re going to take a trip around Whitewater. We’ll see what we can see, we’ll get some food, and look
for cows around town….This is just a ride through town this morning….Our first stop will be Whitewater’s Municipal Building, the Locus of All Evil in the Modern World. Not as bad as Elkhorn, though.

That’s our county seat, and there we have the closest thing to a modern day Palace of Pandemonium….

I need to get some money from a cash machine, so I’m going to stop, in this case, at the crappiest bank in town. Unfortunately, that would be my bank. I think it’s actually listed that way in the Yellow Pages….

There aren’t a lot of people in town this morning, and it’s below freezing outside. We’ll grab some food before we start….Dog X and I are early-risers, but that’s pretty typical around this community. People get up early, and eat [dinner] early. The only people who don’t get up early are usually bureaucrats….

In Wisconsin, a lot of cash machines are called Tyme machines. I think the person who thought of that became governor, senator, something big, no doubt….

There’s a guy on a bicycle, riding past, but not likely for exercise. It’s awfully cold, but he’s riding for transportation, I think. We tease about other countries where people need to rely on bikes, but we have a lot of poor in Whitewater, and it may the only way for them to get around….

[stop for cash, back to car, off to municipal building]

I stopped at a local coffee shop, not far from a lake in town (Cravath Lake) and the Locus of Evil in the Municipality our Municipal Building. (Note: See how I’ve tempered my words from my narration, ‘locus of all evil’ — to ‘locus of evil in the municipality?’ It shows how delicate I can be.)

I stopped in the coffee shop, purchased a medium latte and a raspberry croissant. The total was only five dollars — far less than one might pay in Chicago or New York. There was local photographers’ work for sale on the walls of the shop, and I promised to l remind myself to stop back for something I liked.

The barista was pleasant and friendly; very typical of most shops in Whitewater. There’s a private charm to our town that political mistakes and excuses cannot obscure.

When I went back to my car, I gave Dog X a biscuit from my coat pocket.

….I’m going to go into the Cravath Lakefront Park now, and get a
picture of the area of the lakefront, and a train depot that’s nearby.

Here’s what they look like:

Lovely, aren’t they? No cows, though.

I’ll take a picture of the municipal building….There’s no one around, and that’s disappointing, really. I’d love to meet a municipal leader like the city manager or the chief of police today….It’s probably not a good idea that they’d be working at this hour, though. I’ll stick with the less-is-more view of governance. We don’t need more schemes in Whitewater, we need fewer.

I’ll stop and take a picture of this drab, dull, impersonal building. No charm, no style, it could be a junior high somewhere….

Here it is, an ugly building with a silly name (it should be ‘City Hall’):

[back to car]

The street that the municipal building is on is called Whitewater Street, and driving down it, there’s a lumber yard at the end of the street. There’s a holiday tool sale in progress. We’re coming up on Whitewater and Janesville, and I’ll turn left and head down to a notorious intersection….this is probably the closest thing that we have to a real traffic problem. There’s no way that anyone else from anywhere else would think of it that way, but it’s a problem to us.

There’s also a crossing by the campus, where students keep getting hit by cars, and I don’t think that anyone’s found a way to make that safe, either.

I’m driving down through an old part of town, past Whiton Street.

It’s very common here for people to take fallen leaves, bag them, and place them along the side of the house for insulation, around the foundation. It’s something one may not see in other parts of the
country, but it’s common here.

I can see a sign from an out-of-town realtor. I remember a time when pretty much all the realtors were local, but that’s not true anymore. There’s out-of-town competition now. There’s a farmer on the left, and he puts produce out in a cart for people to purchase.

You can pass some of these homes, and it’s December, and they still have pumpkins out, even though it’s way past Halloween. Anyone with a pumpkin out now needs to buy himself a calendar, because it’ll be Christmas soon. I’m surprised there isn’t a city ordinance making this a seasonal violation. That’s absurd, of course, but we regulate
colors of signs, and sizes of signs, and lots of other aesthetics. Next up, pumpkins…

I’m going to turn left now, into our high school parking lot. Even though we’re a small town, we have a big high school. It’s a nice building. It has hundreds of students, all in a very modern building.

Behind the high school is an aquatic center, that was originally local, became part of a nearby hospital’s properties, and is local again. It’s doing much better now under local management. It’s an indoor pool, with water park, and a fitness center….

One of the things that’s true about a lot of small communities is that the school district will have a bigger budget than the municipality. That’s true of us…this district covers more than one town, and has a bigger budget than the City of Whitewater. It may be about a third
again as big, I think….I’ll take a picture of the school….”

Here’s our high school:

It’s the Home of the Whippets, the school mascot. Not the cow, thankfully — the Whippet.

…There are some homes near the high school, but no cows.

There are houses with barn stars. A barn star’s a traditional decoration on the outside of someone’s home. Someone once asked me what a barn star on a home meant. Most barn stars don’t mean much at all. If someone has a barn star that’s dark or teal or copper, that’s
not a problem. If you find someone with a bright red barn star, that’s a real problem. Those homeowners are probably communists….that’s the signal they use to each other, to rise up against representative government and the free market, I think….There’s probably a city task force that’s working on the problem….

I’m going to head over to an elementary school in town, Lincoln School, Home of the Leopards. I’m not sure when they took that mascot, but it’s a good choice. A lot of people in town have American flags out, on the side of their homes, or long poles. It’s not a national holiday, but there’s a lot of simple, proud patriotism in a town like ours. I’m on Prince Street, and I’ll stop here in front of Lincoln School.

Here’s Lincoln School, Home of the Leopards:

[I get back in the car, and Dog X sees another dog, outside in a yard near the school.]

There’s a dog outside, and he’s looking at us from his yard. It’s cold outside, but animals here are used to cold weather. Even a small dog like this one seems happy to be outside. Maybe dogs fear the cold in other places, but not here….

There’s a pumpkin in the middle of the street, for goodness’ sake….with a squirrel eating from it….That’s what happens when people leave pumpkins around.

Nearby is our college campus, and I’ll take a picture….There’s a crossing nearby that’s been a problem for pedestrians. I’ll take a picture of our campus’s alumni center.

Here’s the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Alumni Center:

….Leopards, Whippets, Warhawks…no cows. Not one. Students
are probably getting ready for exams, and it’s quiet around here….I’ll drive to the west side of town, where we have some strip malls, a Wal-Mart, hardware store, and movie theater…We have a Walgreen’s, a bank, McDonald’s, a vacant storefront, vacant for a long time, that sued to be a Dairy Queen….

We have a few cash stores in town, and I’m not sure that’s a good sign. Some retail businesses will not locate to a strip mall with a cash store….if a merchant’s concerned about his brand’s image, he’s likely to stay away from a location with a cash store….

There’s a supermarket and a Wal-Mart on my right….and the famous Hawk Bowl Bowling Alley….there’s a Culver’s just beyond….

We have a Chrysler dealer, and that must be a challenging situation, since Fiat has a poor reputation in Europe….I have no idea what will happen to Chrysler, and Fiat probably doesn’t either.

There’s a movie theater and a Taco Bell at the edge of the west side of town…Every time I see Taco Bell, I think of Demolition Man, where all restaurants in the future are Taco Bells. I’m not sure why we
haven’t capitalized on that, with a slogan like….Whitewater: Fast Food of the Future….

[I drive back past the McDonald’s again, to the east part of town, near Milwaukee Street.]

….I’m passing the Birge Fountain, a water fountain in town, and a nursing home, through our downtown. There’s a Masonic Lodge in town, with the several blocks of our downtown. There’s a Whitewater Register sign, a sign for our local newspaper’s office. There’s a travel service, art studio, bars….a dry cleaner’s with taxidermy animals in the front window….post office….more bars….a Mexican restaurant that once had a mariachi band….and I’ll head over to the
east side….

….A Citgo, a Firestone, a liquor store, a beer store….there’s no place for a cow….

That’s not all of our town, surely, but there’s no room for a cow in any of this. There’s more cow artwork in big cities than we have cows in our town. And yet, we do have an ordinance against livestock in town:

Livestock ordinances:

9.06.010 Livestock.

No person shall raise, store or keep livestock within the city on land which is less than two acres in size. “Livestock” includes, but is not limited to, sheep, goats, horses, cattle, or pigs.

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