Here’s Johnson’s latest LP ad:
Also posted on 9.6.12 @ Daily Adams.
City, Politics, Press
What Bill Clinton Correctly Teaches (and What Local Leaders Can Learn from It)
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m not a Democrat, but I have always admired and respected Bill Clinton’s rhetorical power, a power on display again last night in Charlotte. In a time when few politicians are persuasive, Clinton stands out even more.
James Fallows, writing in the Atlantic, in a post entitled, Why Bill Clinton’s Speeches Work,” posits that it’s
Because he treats listeners as if they are smart.
That is the significance of “They want us to think” and “The strongest argument is” and “The arithmetic says one of three things must happen” and even “Now listen to me here, this is important.” He is showing that he understands the many layers of logic and evidence and positioning and emotion that go into political discussion — and, more important, he takes for granted that listeners can too.
This is true about Clinton’s perspective, and about people: he treats people as if they are smart, and it works because they are smart.
People easily see through dodgy claims and shoddy reasoning. Local politics, local reporting, etc. fails when politicians, bureaucrats, and reporters futilely insist that sow’s ears are silk purses, and naked emperors are resplendently dressed.
Perhaps there’s an implicit compact between a few that they’ll brook each other’s mediocrity as the price for inclusion in a tiny social circle.
If so, it’s a deal that normal, thinking people would (and should) readily reject.
Clinton’s approach is the right one.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 9.6.12
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
It’s a sunny day with a high of eighty-four in store for Whitewater.
The city’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM today, with a work session of that commission to follow at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1915, in England, the first tank was built:
On this day in 1988, a Wisconsin entertainer, whose work is known to anyone who’s visited the Dells, passed away:
On this date Wisconsin Dells showman, Tommy Bartlett died. Bartlett began his show business career at the age of 13 when he went to work at WISN, a radio station out of Milwaukee. By the age of 17 Bartlett was hosting a show at Chicago’s WBBM. During World War II, Bartlett was part of the Army Air Corps. After completing his service he worked for a short time as a pilot for Northwest Airlines. In 1952, The Tommy Bartlett Water Ski & Jumping Boat Thrill Show was born in Chicago. After a single performance in Wisconsin Dells, he was asked to locate the show permanently at the growing tourist destination. The performance became the Tommy Barlett Show which is still popular with tourists today. [Source: Tommy Bartlett Show]
Google’s daily puzzle asks a question of metallurgy: “What do you get if you add tin to the element that’s named after the island of Cyprus?”
City
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters September 2012 Newsletter
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ September 2012 Newsletter has arrived, featuring articles and a calendar of upcoming events.
This latest edition is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below.
Date: September 20th (Thursday)
Event: Public Program, Civil Discourse
Where: 7 PM, Auditorium 275A, University Center, UWW Campus
Date: September 24th (Monday)
Event: Voter Registration Training
Where: 5:30 PM, University Center, Room 259, UWW
Date: October 13th (Saturday)
Event: LWVWI Issues Briefing
Where: Crown Plaza Hotel, Madison
Date: October 18th (Thursday)
Event: Public Program, Money in Politics
Where: 7 PM, Timmerman Auditorium, Hyland Hall, UWW Campus
Economy, Free Markets, Labor
Immigration Myths
by JOHN ADAMS •
Prof. Ben Powell dispels myths about immigration in a concise, thoughtful video. Well worth watching, as a quick reminder of the power of free markets in capital and labor.
Posted also on 9.5.12 @ Daily Adams.
City
Whitewater’s 9.4.12 Common Council Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tuesday night was common council night in Whitewater, and below are sundry remarks about the session.
City Budget Process. Our public budget process is surely a deliberative one: it stretches over October and November. Whitewater’s interim city manager plans to deliver a proposed 2013 budget to council on 10.9 (Tue), with specific portions considered on 10.16 (Tue), 10.23 (Tue), 11.8 (Thr.), possible revisions considered on 11.13 (Tue), and proposed adoption of a budget on 11.20 (Tue).
A Liquor License for the Black Sheep Restaurant. Council approved a liquor license for the restaurant, allowing it offer mixed drinks to its patrons. If there’s ever been a sensible candidate for a liquor license (and there have been many), it would be one like this. The city is skittish about any alcohol, and so perhaps to placate the most wary in the community, one even heard that the interim, acting Community Development Authority director found the license consistent with local development goals.
I’d like to think that, just walking about town, and thinking about what people might enjoy, one could come to that conclusion, without any title, and without reference to any state statutes.
Noise Ordinances. Are people making too much noise in the morning, and particularly, are they mowing their lawns too early? Changes in existing ordinances, where those changes would limit residents’ activities, should require a showing of a significant, compelling need for new restrictions.
It should be this simple: if no significant showing, then no justification, and so no new restrictions.
Permit Fees. Perhaps permit fees are oddly distributed; it wouldn’t hurt to adjust them for a few that might be out of alignment with the rest. Best prospect: a net reduction.
The City Manager Search. This is a big development for the city, but not everyone will think it’s big for the same reason. For the old guard, this choice matters for the person selected: “What will that person be like, how will he or she relate to me?”
Those things matter, but they matter not half as much as what the candidates think about, and will do about, managing the city. These last years have put lie to countless schemes, vanities, and conceits. One cannot improve life outside without being of firm stuff inside.
It’s really too funny — and so very predictable — that an initial proposal was for an invitation-only reception with Whitewater’s notables, and an open community forum thereafter. That proposal was sensibly discarded in favor of a reception and a later community forum, both open to all. Council would interview all the candidates in closed session a day later.
Whitewater’s town fathers are in a provincial version of the British and French situation during the Suez crisis: they’ve lost their former, preeminent positions, but they’re not aware (or are unwilling to acknowledge) that loss. They can act, but not with the same effect as a previously. They’re not done, but they’re no longer what they were.
A decade from now, when the city’s prospects will likely be stronger, theirs will be be weaker still. There is, in fact, a relationship between the two: as they wane, the city will grow.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 9.5.12
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater: showers and thundershowers, with a high of eighty-six.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets this afternoon from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1972, Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich, killing eleven of the Israeli team.
On this day in 1836, Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas:
Houston served as the republic’s president until 1838, then again from 1841 to 1844. Despite plans for retirement, Houston helped Texas win admission to theUnited States in 1845 and was elected as one of the state’s first two senators. He served three terms in the Senate and ran successfully for Texas’ governorship in 1859. As the Civil War loomed, Houston argued unsuccessfully against secession, and was deposed from office in March 1861 after refusing to swear allegiance to the Confederacy. He died of pneumonia in 1863.
Google’s daily puzzle is of lemurs and geography: “If you see a lemur hanging from a branch, you’re probably on an island that formed during the prehistoric breakup of which supercontinent?”
Public Meetings
Landmarks Commission (Work Session)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Public Meetings
Landmarks Commission
by JOHN ADAMS •
Public Meetings
Urban Forestry
by JOHN ADAMS •
43rd Assembly District, Politics
The 43rd District Assembly Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
In this exciting season of politics – where Americans from one end of this continent to another will peacefully choose their federal, state, and local leaders — one of the many compelling local contests will take place here, in Wisconsin’s 43rd Assembly District. It’s a bad habit to believe that one’s own circumstances are unique beyond others, and yet this race – between Evan Wynn and Andy Jorgensen – will likely prove compelling, one of evident contrasts and close results.
Both are now incumbents (Wynn of one term for the 43rd, Jorgensen of three terms for the 37th). Redistricting brings them against each other this November.
It will be well worth watching, pondering, arguing over, writing about, and plainly choosing. They are not alike in their views; one could not imagine supporting both equally; ambivalence seems impossible.
Where these candidates stand on the issues, and what those stands might mean for our small city, matters.
However the race develops, and ends, we’ll not be able to lament that we lacked a clear choice between candidates.
Nature, Politics, Weather
The Exciting Season
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Ancients saw (as some peoples still see) autumn as the beginning of the year: one’s calendar started when one reaped the harvest. The year began not in the bleak months of winter, but amid the earth’s bounty, made greater through cultivation. Even now, our school year traditionally begins in deference to an agricultural schedule.
I’m neither a farmer nor an academic (nor yet so old that one might link me to the ancient world), but I do love the fall, this short and beautiful season. Years past schooling, September still seems like the beginning of my year. Not spring, but fall: energetic, serious, intense, and hopeful. It’s hopeful precisely because it is full of energy, seriousness, and intensity.
Fall reigns from now until Thanksgiving, for three brief months, during which she invites us to accomplish more than some other peoples will accomplish in a full year. The autumn rush of energy and effort leads us toward that first Tuesday in November, a day that is in so many ways our finest political holiday and marks our greatest political accomplishment.
In our schools and on our campus, thousands will begin this new season excited, but a bit apprehensive, too. One wishes them the best: to work diligently, to compete ferociously, all the while dreaming the grand dreams that give hard work its meaning.
There’s so very much to do, looking out over the months ahead.
This invigorating season, fortunately, makes the work ahead almost easy, and certainly enjoyable.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 9.4.12
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater brings a high of ninety-one, with a slight (20%) chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Whitewater’s Common Council meets at 6:30 PM tonight.
On this day in 1886, Apache chief Geronimo surrendered to US soldiers:
For 30 years, the mighty Native American warrior had battled to protect his tribe’s homeland; however, by 1886 the Apaches were exhausted and hopelessly outnumbered. General Nelson Miles accepted Geronimo’s surrender, making him the last Indian warrior to formally give in to U.S. forces and signaling the end of the Indian Wars in the Southwest.
For all the fury of Hurricane Isaac, what was it like inside the storm’s eye? Eerily calm:
Google’s daily puzzle asks about a poem, and a place: “Lord Byron wrote a poem inspired by a castle located in which of Switzerland’s cantons?” more >>