Local Government, Politics
The Three Ways Policy Goes Wrong
by JOHN ADAMS •
How does public policy go wrong? I’m sure the answer’s not complicated.
There are a few principal ways, with all else being derivations: (1) bad information, (2) bad ideas, or (3) bad motives.
So either knowledge is poor, theory is poor, or ethics are poor.
I’ve organized the possibilities this way in order of severity, from least to most troublesome. Unsound information is most easily corrected, unsound theory some more difficulty, and unsound ethics with the most difficulty (if susceptible of correction at all).
Of ethics, a community may face either intentional misdeeds (lies, theft), objective conflicts of interest (self-dealing), or the occasional character flaw (laziness, a sense of entitlement, needy self-promotion, excuse-making, bigotry). One might separate character flaws into a fourth category, but I’ve classed them as ethical problems because their presence in matters of public policy acts as a cheat against the public, of resources or opportunity.
What’s missing here is an excuse for bad policy that is, in fact, almost never true: lack of intelligence. It’s not an excuse because the overwhelming number of people in a community don’t lack for intellect. There’s no immutable characteristic within a community, in fact, that inhibits good policy.
That’s true and fortunate, of course, as it means that there really is no good (insuperable) excuse for bad policy.
Posted also at Daily Adams.
Film
Film: A Day in the Life of a British Clothing Factory
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.23.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater brings decreasing clouds and a high of seventy-five, with winds at 5 to 15 mph. Sunrise was at 5:37 AM, and sunset will be at 8:25 PM. The moon is in a waning gibbous phase with 98% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM today.
NASA’s Cassini probe took pictures of the Earth from near Saturn, and the results are astonishing:

On this day in 1885, the death of a former president cuts short a serving vice president’s visit to Wisconsin:
1885 – U.S. Vice President Visits Ashland
On this date the untimely death of Ulysses S. Grant cut short Vice President Thomas Hendricks visit to Ashland. The Vice President arrived in Ashland via the steamship China in 1885. While Vice President Hendricks was in Ashland, he and his wife enjoyed trout caught in the Brule River and Fish Creek. [Source: “B” Book I, Beer Bottles, Brawls, Boards, Brothels, Bibles, Battles & Brownstone by Tony Woiak, p.11]
Puzzability’s current puzzle series (7.22 to 7.26) is called Sun Screens:
Sun Screens
If you can’t stand the heat, we’ve got just the ticket. For each day this week, we’ll give a three-by-three letter grid in which we’ve hidden the title of a movie that’s set during the summer. Each has 10 or more letters and any number of words. To find the title, start at any letter and move from letter to letter by traveling to any adjacent letter—across, up and down, or diagonally. You may come back to a letter you’ve used previously, but may not stay in the same spot twice in a row. You will not always need all nine letters in the grid.
Example:
F S U
O M A
R E M
Answer:
Summer of Sam
Here’s Tuesday’s puzzle:
R A I
E W N
Y D O
Law, Liberty
Succinctly Stated: ‘Imprison the Royal Family and Abolish the Monarchy’
by JOHN ADAMS •

One wishes the Royal Baby, of whatever name he shall be christened, a long and happy life. But life would be better, for that young child, and all his country, if he were not a royal baby, but just a baby. Hamilton Nolan makes the sound case against royalty, only a part of which I’ve excerpted below:
The Royal Family is no better than a family of mobsters. It sucks its sustenance from the public coffers, enriching itself greatly at the expense of poor taxpaying citizens. It operates not as a meritocracy, but through strict nepotism and strategic alliances. And its strength is a rough measure of the lack of civilization in a particular culture. To be completely clear, we are not suggesting that people should “pay less attention” to the Royal Family, or that the UK should reduce the amount of money it spends on this obscene relic of a brutal monarchical past. We are suggesting that the Royal Family should, as an institution, be completely abolished, and that its remaining members be imprisoned and forced to work for the remainder of their lives to, in some token way, repay the public for all of these years of financial support. Perhaps by making license plates, or breaking rocks….
The Royal Family is more than an international embarrassment, though; it is a crime against the British public. It represents the taking of precious public resources for the most undemocratic, elitist, and unproductive use. It is akin to taxing the American public to support the Kardashian family…
Currently, the British monarchy gets 15% of the annual revenues generated by the Crown Estate. (Not to be confused with the slew of luxurious private estates that they own.) That will be well over $50 million this year. There are 2.5 million unemployed people in the UK right now. It is not too presumptuous to suggest that they might be able to find more productive uses for that money….
For the sake of all that is holy, please allow this Royal Baby to grow up free of the clutches of this crime family, lest its innocence be lost.
Via Imprison the Royal Family and Abolish the Monarchy.
Posted also @ Daily Adams.
Music
Monday Music: Gershwin’s Summertime
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.22.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Whitewater’s week begins with a mostly sunny day and a high of eighty-six, with a four-in-ten chance of thunderstorms this evening.
Downtown Whitewater’s Design Committee meets this morning at 8 AM.
On this day in 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer is caught in Milwaukee:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, police officers spot Tracy Edwards running down the street in handcuffs, and upon investigation, they find one of the grisliest scenes in modern history-Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment….
Apparently, police had been called two months earlier about a naked and bleeding 14-year-old boy being chased down an alley by Dahmer. The responding officers actually returned the boy, who had been drugged, to Dahmer’s apartment–where he was promptly killed. The officers, who said that they believed it to be a domestic dispute, were later fired.
A forensic examination of the apartment turned up 11 victims–the first of whom disappeared in March 1989, just two months before Dahmer successfully escaped a prison sentence for child molestation by telling the judge that he was desperately seeking to change his conduct. Dahmer later confessed to 17 murders in all, dating back to his first victim in 1978.
The jury rejected Dahmer’s insanity defense, and he was sentenced to 15 life terms. He survived one attempt on his life in July 1994, but was killed by another inmate on November 28, 1994.
On 7.22.1864, Wisconsinites participate in the Battle of Atlanta:
1864 – (Civil War) Battle of Atlanta, Georgia
The Atlanta Campaign had begun two months earlier, in May, but a decisive battle was fought on July 22. Union forces met 37,000 Confederate troops in a battle that some historians consider one of the most desperate and bloody of the war. Although 20 percent of Confederate forces were killed, wounded, or missing at the end of the day, the South still controlled the city. The 1st, 12th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 25th, 26th, 31st Wisconsin Infantry regiments and the 5th Wisconsin Light Artillery were engaged in the Battle of Atlanta.
Puzzability’s new puzzle series (7.22 to 7.26) is called Sun Screens:
Sun Screens
If you can’t stand the heat, we’ve got just the ticket. For each day this week, we’ll give a three-by-three letter grid in which we’ve hidden the title of a movie that’s set during the summer. Each has 10 or more letters and any number of words. To find the title, start at any letter and move from letter to letter by traveling to any adjacent letter—across, up and down, or diagonally. You may come back to a letter you’ve used previously, but may not stay in the same spot twice in a row. You will not always need all nine letters in the grid.
Example:
F S U
O M A
R E M
Answer:
Summer of Sam
Here’s Monday’s puzzle:
Y G A
T D N
R I C
Recent Tweets, 7.14 to 7.20
by JOHN ADAMS •
Moving on: Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight Blog Is to Join ESPN Staff – http://t.co/JvhVPxbRi3 http://t.co/i4E45cnRHx
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 20, 2013
There's no magic number: How Much Slowdown Can Beijing Tolerate? | The Diplomat http://t.co/w2bfbmkUDA
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 20, 2013
China cannot go on as she has: Hitting China’s Wall – http://t.co/JvhVPxbRi3 http://t.co/uu9KKTGb6t
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 20, 2013
Chinese State Capitalism: Perception Lags Reality | Daily Adams http://t.co/nCd9bO1MWF
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 19, 2013
The Volokh Conspiracy » More on Slavery , the Civil War, and Libertarians http://t.co/MkPdvDNmXs
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 18, 2013
Everything you need to know about PRISM | The Verge http://t.co/FVq0sNYrFN
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 18, 2013
Netflix hits it big with Emmy nominations for #HouseofCards & #ArrestedDevelopment http://t.co/Y48UXDwmP3
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 18, 2013
ACLU Presents Its Findings On License Plate Scanners, Most Of Which Is Bad News http://t.co/L9cmRhotrt
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 18, 2013
Denial: China defies IMF on mounting credit risk and need for urgent reform – Telegraph http://t.co/LCoBs1X2PL
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 18, 2013
China GDP Numbers a Mirage: Saxena: Video @ Bloomberg http://t.co/xujcBujtzs
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 18, 2013
Time to End FISA’s “Star Chamber” Court | Online Library of Law and Liberty http://t.co/k8rRR6pyNy
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 17, 2013
Kentucky officials try to ban advice columnist for “practicing psychology without a license” « Hot Air http://t.co/jr3AhT7whw
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 17, 2013
Well Said: The Volokh Conspiracy » Libertarianism, the Confederacy, and the Civil War Revisited http://t.co/48Xgq5iAis
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 17, 2013
Guess who doesn't get radar tickets in Colorado? Politicians | CNET News http://t.co/acwdv57VKw
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 15, 2013
Snowden reportedly has 'blueprint' on how NSA operates | CNET News http://t.co/uW2tX3TIBx
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 15, 2013
Restoration of famed WWII bomber Memphis Belle flies high http://t.co/d7J79Ct6QS
— John Adams (@DailyAdams) July 15, 2013
Animation, Film
Sunday Morning Animation: Film de Cube
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.21.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
We’ll have a high of seventy-nine with an even chance of thunderstorms in the late afternoon.
A quick reminder from an earlier post a several days ago – Film: Free Showing of Honor Flight, Sunday, July 21st at 2:30 p.m.

This Sunday, July 21st, there will be a showing of the film Honor Flight at 2:30 p.m. at Mulberry Glen, 1255 W. Main Street, Whitewater. It is being shown courtesy of Mulberry Glen and Capri Senior Communities.
The showing is free and open to the public.
It’s Hemingway’s birthday:
On this day in 1899, Ernest Miller Hemingway, author of such novels as “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Old Man and the Sea,” is born in Oak Park, Illinois. The influential American literary icon became known for his straightforward prose and use of understatement. Hemingway, who tackled topics such as bullfighting and war in his work, also became famous for his own macho, hard-drinking persona.
On this day in Wisconsin history, Gen. Mitchell conducts a demonstration:
1921 – General Billy Mitchell Proves Theory of Air Power
On this date Milwaukee’s General William “Billy” Mitchell proved to the world that development of military air power was not outlandish. He flew his De Havilland DH-4B fighter, leading a bombing demonstration that proved a naval ship could be sunk by air bombardment. Mitchell’s ideas for developing military air power were innovative but largely ignored by those who favored development of military sea power. Mitchell zealously advocated his views and was eventually court martialed for speaking out against the United States’ organization of its forces. [Source: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Division of Archives & Special Collections]
Public Meetings
Tech Park Board
by JOHN ADAMS •
Public Meetings
Urban Forestry Commission
by JOHN ADAMS •
Public Meetings
Downtown Whitewater Design Committee
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.20.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of eighty-one. Sunrise was at 5:35 a.m. this morning, and sunset will be at 8:28 p.m. The moon is in a waxing gibbous phase with 94% of its visible disk illuminated.
And of the moon, on this day in 1969, man first walks on its surface:
At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.
No less astonishing, these forty-four years later:
On this day in 1976, a baseball record:
1976 – Hank Aaron Hits Record Home Run
On this date Hank Aaron hit his 755th and last home run at Milwaukee County Stadium against the California Angels. [Source: Milwaukee Brewers]
