Good morning, Whitewater
The City of Whitewater has scheduled no public meetings for today.
On this day in history, in 1877, Thomas Edison proposed the word “hello” as the greeting in a phone call. The word was around before that, but it was not common, and Edison’s advocacy surely made a difference.
The National Weather Service, predicts a high in of around 80 with patchy fog. The Farmers’ Almanac concludes a multi-day series with the prediction stormy, then fair.”
From Whitewater, Wisconsin comes a new blog about the 2008 Paralympics USA Wheelchair Basketball competition in Beijing.
The stylish blog is the work of Kelli Danielski, of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Chemistry Department.
Here’s the link to her blog about the upcoming competition:
www.wheelchairbeijing.wordpress.com
The UW-W wheelchair basketball team is world-renowned, and the 2008 Paralympic games will begin in about three weeks, from September 6th through September 17th.
A website with more information about the paralympic games is available here:
http://en.paralympic.beijing2008.cn/index.shtml
Good morning, Whitewater
The City of Whitewater has scheduled no public meetings for today. It’s been a private sector, private life week.
On this day in Wisconsin history, in 1935, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, “the Social Security Act was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt. The act, originally proposed to Congress under the name “Economic Security Bill” was drafted by the Committee on Economic Security, whose Executive Staff Director was Edwin E. Witte, economics professor at the University of Wisconsin and prominent social insurance expert.”
For ideas on choice in Social Security, and how the system could be improved, see http://www.socialsecurity.org/
Here’s a video of a panel discussion at Freedom Fest 2008, a gathering of libertarian authors and scholars.
This panel includes Steve Forbes, David Boaz, Richard Viguerie, and Bob Barr, discussing the Future of Politics. The event was held this year in mid July in Las Vegas.
(Here’s a link to the impressive list of speakers at this year’s meeting. I was not at this year’s meeting, but I am on a list for information about future events. )
From Reason.tv: Earmarks — 17 billion — that’s billion — dollars down the drain!
Good morning, Whitewater
The National Weather Service, predicts a high in the upper 70s and a nearly even chance of thunderstorms. The Farmers’ Almanac continues a multi-day series by predicting that conditions will be “squally over the Great Lakes.”
Whitewater has scheduled no public meetings for today.
On this day in Wisconsin history, in 1936, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, a freight trained derailed near Janesville, with property damage including a loss of thirteen oil tankers, at a cost of $150,000.
Over at Pajamas Media, there’s an article asking, “Will Barr Have an Impact on Presidential Race?”
It’s an article that combines a description of Barr’s views with an assessment of his likely impact. Here’s the impact assessment:
The campaign seems under no illusions about their chance of victory, describing it to me as “a long, hard hill to climb,” but continues to insist they are in this race to win. In terms of ballot access, Barr has already defied some early expectations. With a recent court victory in Ohio they are now on track to appear on the ballots of 49 states and the District of Columbia, with only Oklahoma leaving Bob out in the cold. In state by state surveys he has managed to score as high as 5% in a few places, including his home stomping grounds of Georgia. While victory may currently appear out of reach, many states are shaping up to be a photo finish between Obama and McCain. Bob Barr may well have more of an impact on the 2008 presidential election than many would have suspected or desired.
That’s probably as accurate a prediction as one could make in mid-August.
Good morning, Whitewater
Whitewater has no municipal public meetings scheduled today.
The National Weather Service, predicts a high of 78 degrees and a slight chance of thunderstorms. The Farmers’ Almanac starts a new four-day series by predicting that the weather will be “squally over the Great Lakes.”
On this day in American history, in 1981, IBM unveiled the 5150 personal computer. Here are some of the details, from Wired.com:
The 16-kb base model, with no data-storage drives included, cost $1,565 ($3,770 in today’s money). If you loaded a 64-kB box with all the standard features, that jumped to $2,880 ($6,930 today), and souped up with color graphics and 256 kB, it’d cost you about $6,000 ($14,400 today). Available software included the VisiCalc spreadsheet, Easywriter 1.0 and Adventure, Microsoft’s first game.
IBM retailed the 5150 through ComputerLand and Sears, Roebuck. It sold 65,000 PCs in four months, with 100,000 orders taken by Christmas.
Here’s an August 11th press release from the Barr Campaign, on a bungled police raid in Maryland, about which I posted earlier tonight:
Atlanta, GA — “We typically make fun of bungled police operations by saying they were conducted by the gang that couldn’t shoot straight,” notes Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president. “In this case they could shoot straight—as a result, they killed a family’s two dogs in the midst of a misguided drug raid.
In the case in Berwyn Heights, Maryland, county police raided the mayor’s home, in a case in which he appears to have been victimized by drug smugglers, who shipped marijuana to the addresses of a half-dozen unsuspecting families. “Rather than carefully checking the facts, including talking to the local police department, the county authorities acted rashly, illustrating how the drug war threatens the liberties of all Americans,” notes Barr, a former U.S. Attorney. The police broke down the door rather than knocking and charged in with guns drawn. They killed the couple’s two Labradors, one while it was running away. Mayor Cheye Calvo spent two hours in hand-cuffs while in his boxer shorts; his mother-in-law was hand-cuffed in another room, left beside one of the dead dogs.
“Absent exigent circumstances, not present here, so-called no-knock raids are an affront to the Constitution,” explains Barr. “So is a shoot first, ask questions later philosophy by the police. Yet the Prince George’s police have done this before—last fall they invaded a house at the wrong address and shot the family dog. All Americans are at risk when the police behave this way. Just ask yourself what might happen if a suspicious package is delivered to your home and the cops bust in,” says Barr
“But there is an even larger point. Law enforcement agencies have become more arrogant and less accountable in cases other than those involving drugs. Most people are aware of well-publicized examples like Waco and Ruby Ridge, but similar abuses are common across the country, though they usually receive little or no public notice,” notes Barr. “We all want police to do their jobs well, but part of doing their job well is respecting the people’s constitutional liberties.”
“As president I will ensure that federal law enforcement agencies set a good example for the rest of the country,” says Barr. “In a Barr administration, government officials will never forget that it is a free people they are protecting.”
Bob Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, where he served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. Prior to his congressional career, Barr was appointed by President Reagan to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and also served as an official with the CIA. Since leaving Congress, Barr has been practicing law and has teamed up with groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American Conservative Union to actively advocate every American citizens’ right to privacy and other civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Along with this, Bob is committed to helping elect leaders who will strive for smaller government, lower taxes and abundant individual freedom.
I’ve written about what’s rotten in the state of Maryland before: a tradition of spying or intimidating political critics. It’s a problem that began under former Democratic governor William Schaefer, and apparently resumed under former Republican governor Bob Ehrlich.
There’s more trouble in that troubled state: an apparent pattern of excessive force, sometimes wholly mistaken, against drug suspects. The most recent case involves a mistaken police raid on the home of Berwyn Heights, Maryland’s mayor, of all people.
The Prince George’s police department raided the mayor’s home, restrained the mayor, his wife, and mother-in-law, and killed his dogs on the theory that he had knowingly received a drug shipment. It wasn’t knowing at all – drug dealers will sometimes send a shipment to an unsuspecting homeowner, and intercept the package on its arrival. They must have thought that sending it to the mayor’s house would make suspicion and surveillance less likely.
Predictably, the police department refuses to apologize, and is the subject of lawsuits for similar erroneous and excessive use of force. (Serious, independent law enforcement officials contacted by area newspapers are on record stating that the raid was wrongly executed, and likely need not have involved killing of household pets.)
A startling example of unprofessionalism – the mayor contends that during the raid, while he and his family were restrained, a member of the police department used her cell phone to call someone and recount how exciting the raid was, that it was her first, and that she was at the mayor’s house.
The department is now the subject of a federal civil rights review. From the Post article to which I link, it’s evident that the department is concerned about outside review.
That’s an admission of inadequacy — a competent, professional department fears no independent review.
Why do I write that failure to acknowledge mistakes in procedure is predictable? Because when leadership in a force goes bad, it often goes thoroughly bad, and no excuse or rationalization is off limits. The same leaders who will not enforce good practices will insist that they’re without error.
To someone who doesn’t read about these cases, it seems startling and shocking. To those who do, it’s an all-too-common response of failed leadership. In mistakes like this, officials responsible often admit no true accountability or responsibility. That defensive, stonewalling response is typical – predictable — in a poorly led department.
These problems are not confined to Maryland: they’re present anywhere that leaders take a we-can-make-no-mistakes, need-accept-no-blame attitude.
Law enforcement leaders of this ilk batten on the natural desire of citizens to support their police to get away with third-rate leadership.
Over at the Christian Science Monitor, Gene Callahan of the excellent Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) has a article describing how fair trade schemes actually hurt third world residents.
Fair trade props up inefficient producers and pulls resources in people and land from their most efficient, productive uses.
The article, excerpted from FEE’s own publication, the Freeman, may be found at
http://www.csmonitor.com/200
8/0808/p09s02-coop.html
Here’s a video clip from the British television series, Yes, Prime Minister. The comedy series is from the 1980s, and offers how civil servants try to manage and guide policy in Britain.
In this clip, the British Prime Minister, James Hacker, suggests private school choice, and his status-quo-defending, don’t-make-changes cabinet secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, argues against change.
Enjoy.
Hat tips: Cato@Liberty and the Club for Growth. more >>
Fred E. Foldvary, a professor and member of the California Libertarian Party, offers ways to keep energy costs lower, in an article entitled, “A Libertarian Perspective on Energy Costs.”
Mass transit — even mass transit between small towns — just isn’t on the list.
Here’s a video with Libertarian candidate for president Bob Barr explaining the serious problems with a national ID, called a “Real ID” in federal legislation.
Over at Reason, Kerry Howley offers additional arguments against this jump in federal power, in her article, “Hiding From REAL ID: Why Honest People Might Run from a National ID Card“: more >>
