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Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Politics, Religion, Science/Nature, State Government, Wisconsin

Budget First

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Last week, Gov. Walker declined to answer Englishman’s question about whether he, Scott Waker, believed in evolution.

Today, in the Journal Sentinel, one learns that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos does believe in evolution. 

(I’ll bite: I was raised in a liturgical, high-church tradition that taught that the theory of evolution was consistent with faith.  I was well into my teens before I even met someone who contended otherwise.)  

Yet, let me ask this question, faith-and-evolution-reconciling man that I am: does it truly matter to the immediate politics of our state whether Walker or Vos believes similarly? 

If you’re a conservative, do you feel less inclined to either Walker’s or Vos’s policies knowing that Walker won’t answer affirmatively, but that Vos will, on a question about evolution?  

If you’re a liberal, do you feel more inclined to either Walker’s or Vos’s policies knowing that Walker won’t answer affirmatively, but Vos will, on a question about evolution?  

Let’s assume that Walker rejects evolution, and Vos accepts it.

What practical difference will an answer make – this year, in this budget, for the next biennium – to our state? 

The answer does have meaning; I see that. 

It’s simply that it doesn’t matter in a way that changes our politics (or should change our politics) between now and the next state fiscal year. 

There’s a budget proposal before us; it’s the allocation of those billions, for millions of Wisconsinites, that’s the key question in the months ahead.  

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.16.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a partly sunny day in the Whippet City, with a high of eighteen. Sunrise is 6:49 and sunset 5:28, for 10h 38m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 8.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1923, treasures see light again, after millennia being hidden from sight:

Tut-ankh-Amen’s Inner Tomb is Opened Revealing Undreamed of Splendors, Still Untouched After 3,400 Years

KING IN NEST OF SHRINES
Series of Ornate Covers Enclose Pharaoh’s Sarcophagus
WHOLE FILLS LARGE ROOM
Mortuary Chamber Opens into Another Room, Crowded With Great Treasure
EXPLORERS ARE DAZZLED
Wealth of Objects of Historic and Artistic Interest Exceeds All Their Wildest Visions
The Times (London) World Copyright, by Arrangement with the Earl of Carnarvon. Copyright, 1923, by The New York Times Company.

Special Cable to The New York Times

Luxor, Egypt, Feb. 16 — This has been, perhaps, the most extraordinary day in the whole history of Egyptian excavation. Whatever any one may have guessed or imagined of the secret of Tut-ankh-Amen’s tomb, they surely cannot have dreamed the truth as now revealed.

The entrance today was made into the sealed chamber of the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, and yet another door opened beyond that. No eyes have seen the King, but to practical certainty we know that he lies there close at hand in all his original state, undisturbed.

Moreover, in addition to the great store of treasures which the tomb has already yielded, today has brought to light a new wealth of objects of artistic, historical, and even intrinsic value which is bewildering.

It is such a hoard as the most sanguine excavator can hardly have pictured, even in visions in his sleep, and puts Lord Carnarvon’s and Mr. Carter’s discovery in a class by itself and above all previous finds.

Official Opening Sunday

Though the official opening of the sealed mortuary chamber of the tomb has been fixed for Sunday, it was obviously impossible to postpone until then the actual work of breaking in the entrance. This was a job involving some hours of work, because it had to be done with the greatest care, so as to keep intact as many of the seals as possible, and also to avoid injury to any of the objects on the other side which might be caused by the falling of material dislodged.

Puzzability begins a new week’s game, about those who didn’t win an Academy Award (at least in the year the game has in mind):

This Week’s Game — February 16-20
Oscar Losers
Sometimes when you lose, you lose big. For each day this week, we started with a nominee for the Best Actor Oscar who didn’t win it in at least one year (though he may have won it in another year). We then removed all instances of the letters in OSCAR, though not all five of the letters necessarily appear in the name.
Example:
HINFD
Answer:
Harrison Ford
What to Submit:
Submit the actor’s name (as “Harrison Ford” in the example) for your answer.
Monday, February 16
MLNBND

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.15.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

We have a partly sunny and cold Sunday before us, with a high of ten degrees. Sunrise is 6:50 and sunset 5:26, for 10h 36m 09s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 16.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked if readers had a worry over Friday the 13th. Respondents said that they didn’t, with 81.82% saying that date caused no particular concern.

On this day in 1898, the U.S.S. Maine, visiting Havana harbor, exploded, killing two-hundred sixty sailors. The New York Times reported the loss:

Havana, Feb. 15 — At 9:45 o’clock this evening a terrible explosion took place on board the United States battleship Maine in Havana Harbor.

Many persons were killed or wounded. All the boats of the Spanish cruiser Alfonso XII. are assisting.

As yet the cause of the explosion is not apparent. The wounded sailors of the Maine are unable to explain it. It is believed that the battleship is totally destroyed.

The explosion shook the whole city. The windows were broken in nearly all the houses.

The correspondent of the Associated Press says he has conversed with several of the wounded sailors and understands from them that the explosion took place while they were asleep, so that they can give no particulars as to the cause….

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.14.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

How ’bout some hand-made chocolate:

It’s a cold day in Whitewater, with an expected high of ten degrees. Sunrise is 6:52 and sunset 5:25, for 10h 33m 26s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 25.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Not everyone has embraced the romantic themes of the modern-day Valentine’s traditions. Among those who took a decidedly different approach were the organized criminals of late 1920s Chicago:

Chicago, Feb. 14 — Chicago gangland leaders observed Valentine’s Day with machine guns and a stream of bullets and as a result seven members of the George (Bugs) Moran-Dean O’Banion, North Side Gang are dead in the most cold-blooded gang massacre in the history of this city’s underworld.

The seven gang warriors were trapped in a beer-distributors’ rendezvous at 2,122 North Clark Street, lined up against the wall by four men, two of whom were in police uniforms, and executed with the precision of a firing squad.

The killings have stunned the citizenry of Chicago as well as the Police Department, and while tonight there was no solution, the one outstanding cause was illicit liquor traffic.

Best to stick with chocolate-making, for all concerned.

Poll

Friday Poll: Paraskevidekatriaphobia?

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It’s Friday the 13th, one of three times in 2015 that a Friday will be the 13th day of the month (February, March, November). If fear merely of the number thirteen is triskaidekaphobia, then fear of Friday the 13th is the even less-easily pronounced paraskevidekatriaphobia. (Use of Greek makes all of this sound more scientific than it is.)

In any event, are you worried over Friday the 13th?


Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.13.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday brings a one-third chance of afternoon snow, with a daytime high of twenty-two. Sunrise is 6:53 and sunset is 5:24, for 10h 30m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 35.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Horses are valuable in polo, and so valuable that there’s an Argentinian polo club that clones horses, to get what some players believe are just the right ones. Are they, really?

On this day in 1935, the State of Wisconsin intervenes in the marketplace to set a minimum price for gasoline:

1935 – Gasoline Price Wars Quelled
On this date, in an effort to stop gasoline price wars, the state of Wisconsin established a minimum price of 16 cents per gallon for gasoline. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Puzzability‘s Valentine’s series concludes today:

This Week’s Game — February 9-13
Hearts and Letters
Naturally, there’s romance in the mix this Valentine’s week. For each day, we started with a word, added the eight letters in the words TRUE LOVE, and rearranged all the letters to get a new phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.
Example:
Pool length; track and field athlete with a long stick
Answer:
Lap; pole vaulter
What to Submit:
Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Lap; pole vaulter” in the example), for your answer.
Friday, February 13
“Semper Fi” group; gadget to control all your electronic gadgets

City, Local Government, School District, University

The Power of Evaluating Simply

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image

A woman walks into a retailer, to buy a new computer.  She’s an architect, and her needs are like any capable member of that uncommon profession.  Her computer should be able to manage large files and demanding software, with a few accessories she already has in mind.   

Those needs are specific to an architect’s work, yes, but does that mean those needs are complicated, intricate, or convoluted?

No, it doesn’t.  She knows her work, and can list briefly the specifications for a computer, either in hardware or its capacity to manage the software an architect uses. 

A competent professional (as she is) would know her mind and needs without many small requests.  It’s a few main requirements that matter.  She needn’t list twenty-one specifications, for example, with an additional four for good measure, to buy a computer. 

She’s using the computer, after all, not building one in Cupertino.  Operating & storage capacities, graphics resolution, wireless capabilities, and required accessory devices will comprise a list of far less than twenty-one or twenty-five items.

So it should be when evaluating an official: what do you think the official is supposed to do, do you think he or she has done it, and how well do you think the official has done it?

There’s power of reasoning in the ability to ask and explain concisely.  I know that those concise explanations seem, to some, to be inadequate or unsophisticated.  

They’re quite the opposite; they’re how many capable people (from diverse & demanding vocations) speak, write, and manage their work. 

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.12.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday will be sunny and cold, with a high of nine degrees. Sunrise is 6:54 and sunset 5:23, for 10h 28m 04s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 46.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

It’s Lincoln’s birthday.

On this day in 2002, a Wisconsin athlete wins the gold:

Verona Athlete Wins Gold Medal in 2002 Olympics
On this date Verona’s Casey FitzRandolph won a gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games in the Men’s 500 Meters. He began his career on the ice playing ice hockey and was inspired by Madison native Eric Heiden, an Olympic speed skater. FitzRandolph tried speed skating in his hockey skates and soon caught the attention of coaches in Wisconsin. He became an Olympian in 1998, when he placed sixth in the 500 meters and seventh in the 1000 at the Nagano Olympic Games. At the Salt Lake City Games he broke the olympic record in the 500 meters with a time of 1:09:23.

Here’s the Thursday game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — February 9-13
Hearts and Letters
Naturally, there’s romance in the mix this Valentine’s week. For each day, we started with a word, added the eight letters in the words TRUE LOVE, and rearranged all the letters to get a new phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.
Example:
Pool length; track and field athlete with a long stick
Answer:
Lap; pole vaulter
What to Submit:
Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Lap; pole vaulter” in the example), for your answer.
Thursday, February 12
Really small results of fender benders; eloquent and persuasive, as an orator

Education, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Presidential race 2016, University

Gov. Walker, In-State and Out-of-State

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Two posts about Gov. Walker this week, one on how he’s come to propose a budget with so many education cuts, and the other on his considerable fundraising potential as a national candidate, are especially informative. 

Over at Urban Milwaukee, Bruce Murphy write about Waker’s budget proposal, in Why Walker Had to Cut UW Funding: His presidential ambitions left him with no other option. 

Murphy contends that, owing significantly to a prior tax cut, and rejection of Medicaid funding, it should be clear now that

[I]n retrospect, Walker must have been very worried about getting reelected, so worried that he was willing to give himself a huge budget problem in his second term. Just as his naysayers predicted, and as Fiscal Bureau figures suggested was inevitable, Walker has been forced to slash state spending, and has stirred up a hornet’s nest of opposition from defenders of the state’s universities.

Walker has proposed a $300 million or 13 percent cut in state funding for the UW System, the largest such cut in history. He’s also proposed cutting state aid to the K-12 schools by $127 million, cutting Senior Care by $15 million (though the full impact of that cut could be $100 million), cutting 66 positions from the state Department of Natural Resources and using a new funding formula for state voc tech colleges that could cut their funding.  Walker has also proposed the state borrow $1.3 billion to finance the transportation fund, which means an unprecedented 23 percent of taxes for roads will pay interest on bonds by 2016….

Murphy’s analysis won’t please Walker supporters, but it does explain how a politician who’s been shrewd (winning three statewide races in four years) finds himself with, of all things, a local education fight on his hands.

(If Gov. Walker had rejected so much roadbuilding, and taken $500 million in Medicaid funding, Murphy observes that “he could have made the second tax cut to help assure his reelection and would still have had $500 million more to play with, making the UW budget cut unnecessary while even leaving room to avoid cutting K-12 funding or reduce the amount of borrowing for the transportation fund.”)

What, though, of Gov. Walker’s national ambitions?  At the Upshot Blog of the New York Times, Derek Willis contends that To Understand Scott Walker’s Strength, Look at His Donors:

The best way to see the threat that Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor, poses to Jeb Bush in the Republican presidential race is to look at Mr. Walker’s donors.

They extend far beyond Wisconsin, in large part because of the 2012 recall election that made Mr. Walker a nationwide conservative hero. Many of Mr. Walker’s biggest donors are deeply conservative, giving him an opportunity to emerge as an alternative to the more moderate Mr. Bush. They also include many small-money donors, a group that many national Republicans have struggled to attract….

Murphy’s and Willis’s posts are well-worth reading, in full. more >>