FREE WHITEWATER

Libertarians, Liberty, Presidential race 2012

Not fear, but principled opposition, from libertarians to Rick Santorum

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Smart, conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin asks Why are libertarians afraid of Santorum? Our resolute opposition to his conservatism comes not from fear, as though irrational, but instead from our own liberty-oriented principles. (Rubin crafts her post title carefully to frame the discussion most favorably to Santorum.)

David Boaz of Cato answers her question in the way most libertarians would, by emphasizing that libertarians’ worry is ‘philosophically-minded’:

Being philosophically minded, what scares me most about Rick Santorum is not his specific policy mistakes but his fundamental objection to the American idea of freedom. He criticizes the pursuit of happiness! He says, “This is the mantra of the left: I have a right to do what I want to do” and “We have a whole culture that is focused on immediate gratification and the pursuit of happiness … and it is harming America.” And then he says that what the Founders meant by happiness was “to do the morally right thing.”

He really doesn’t like the idea of America as a free society, where adults make their own decisions and sometimes make choices that Santorum disapproves. In practice, I worry that he would continue and intensify Bush’s big-government conservatism….

There’s a cynical way in which some libertarians would welcome a Santorum
candidacy in the fall, on the theory that he’d do so poorly that the GOP would thereafter reject his approach.

Perhaps that’s true, but national rejection of Sen. Santorum’s approach in November would mean endorsement of Pres. Obama’s approach, and that’s simply another big-government solution.

For it all, there’s no libertarianism in those libertarians who insist that anyone who might defeat Pres. Obama is worthy of our support. The Kochs have this extreme view, and it’s why they’ve gradually (and now suddenly) stopped looking libertarian to movement families.

They insist on using all the movement as mere fuel for the conservative, partisan-in-fact Americans for Prosperity. Tens of millions of dollars later, the Kochs have made AFP influential, but libertarianism weaker.

Where they lead we’ve no reason to follow: no opposition to Pres. Obama justifies libertarian support for Sen. Santorum, who offers the liberty-movement nothing at all.

Posted originally on 3.15.12 at Daily Adams.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.16.12

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Good morning.

For Friday in Whitewater: “Patchy dense fog before 11 am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming south between 5 and 10 mph.” A nice day.

The Wisconsin historical Society recalls today as a memorable day in a rum war:

1924 – Antonio “Tony” Navarra murdered in Rum War

On this date Antonio “Tony” Navarra was gunned down by a hired killer. Born in Sicily in 1906 and longtime resident of Madison’s Greenbush neighborhood, Navarra presided over the Inner Council of Sicilians and sought to keep peace among the various factions engaging in illegal alcohol trade during Prohibition. With substantial income earned from his legitimate grocery business, he served as bail bondsman for the Regent Street gang. It was suspected that Navarra’s murder was orchestrated by Tony Musso, leader of the rival Milton Street gang and a former lieutenant of Al Capone. [Source: From Bishops to Bootleggers: A Biographical Guide to Resurrection Cemetery, pg. 191]

Hard to imagine a war over rum now, but it was a part of life then.

Google’s daily puzzle tests knowledge of nutrition: “Is beef or spinach a more potent source of the vitamin you need to prevent night blindness?”

Libertarians

The Think-Tank Addiction to Koch Money

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Over at Politico, one can read paragraph after paragraph of think-tank spokesmen insisting that they would never, ever be impressionable from the Koch brothers.

Their statements would be more credible if (1) they were all on the record, and (2) if those who were on the record didn’t pretend the Cato-Koch conflict was something far-removed from their own concerns.

It’s not, of course, as the story fails to describe adequately both the Kochs’ well-known insistence on having their way and their level of funding (Mercatus being an example).

It’s also telling that many of the think-tanks & groups the Kochs now support aren’t independently libertarian, but are instead conservative, and GOP-leaning.

That’s one of the problems with their effort to grab Cato for themselves: after millions for Americans for Prosperity, for example, the Kochs are partisans in everything but the name.

See, Think tanks still look for Koch cash.

Posted originally on 3.15.12 at Daily Adams.

City, Innovation Center/Tech Park

Innovation Center Executive Director Admits Building’s ‘Major Accomplishment’ Was Taking $11.5 Million in Public Money

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There’s no better summary of the millions wasted on Whitewater’s Innovation Center than that from the building’s own Executive Director, Robert Young:

The major accomplishment was raising $11.5 million to make this community-university project possible…

It’s not a perfect summary, of course: Young cleverly uses the term ‘raising,’ as though the money for the building came from private investment, charitable contributions, or bake sales. It didn’t: this building used federal taxpayer dollars and local municipal debt.

Otherwise, it’s a candid admission of what a sham this center is – this is a public boondoggle masquerading as a private initiative.

This was the true purpose of the nearly five-million dollar federal grant for this building, as the federal government intended it:

September 7-September 11, 2009

….$4,740,809 to the Whitewater Community Development Authority, the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, and the City of Whitewater, Wisconsin, to fund construction of the new Innovation Center and infrastructure to serve the technology industrial park, including a road linking the project with the University of Wisconsin’s Whitewater campus. The goal of the project is to create jobs to replace those lost in the floods of 2008 and those lost from recent automotive plant closures. The Innovation Center will serve as both a training center and technology business incubator and will be constructed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification standards. A portion of the project’s cost will be funded through EDA’s Global Climate Change Mitigation Incentive Fund.

This investment is part of an $11,051,728 project which grantees estimate will help create 1,000 jobs and generate $60 million in private investment.

The goal: One-thousand (new!) jobs, and sixty-million in (genuine!) private investment to replace lost jobs.

That’s not what this is.

Most of the workers in the building are public employees commuting from a prior location, and employees of a supposed capital-management firm who are really just publicly-paid faculty getting a leg up at state expense over genuine, private entrepreneurs. It’s cushy, state-supported capitalism.

Even the short list of tenants belies how tiny some of them truly are: some are renting space about that of a farm shed.

Meanwhile, the nearby business park has tens of thousands of square feet of empty building space (in two buildings alone, about 76,000 and 19,000 square feet, respectively).

That’s twice as much nearby vacant space as all possible space in the Innovation Center.

To the Tech Park Board: Nothing you do or say can make this sow’s ear a silk purse. You should not have taken this money — it should have gone to a community that would have used it properly for those in genuine need. Your selfishness denied another American town a chance to do something right and good.

Here’s a quick recap of your work:

(1) You took millions from a federal grant,

(2) issued millions more in public debt,

(3) issued those millions in municipal public debt even when you knew the city’s existing developments were troubled (that tax-incremental-district four was a candidate for distressed status)

(4) spent meeting after meeting worrying about trivial topics like signs, etc.,

(5) ignored the obvious principle that a project manager should not award itself a contractor’s job,

(6) madly scrambled when the Economic Development Administration had to remind you of that obvious requirement through a Cease and Desist order,

(7) avoided candidly telling the public about the EDA notice of federal violations at a Community Development Authority meeting shortly after that order was issued,

(8) only admitted the regulatory violations you committed after I published the EDA’s Cease and Desist order at FREE WHITEWATER,

(9) made every excuse under the sun why you didn’t follow written federal requirements that most communities manage easily and properly,

(10) poured hours into serial celebrations and grand-openings of the building,

(11) built something new when there was plentiful, vacant office space nearby,

(12) laughably talked about this ordinary building as though it were a cathedral,

(13) gave a presentation in Iowa about the success of the project even before it was completed (!) – and before the EDA rebuked your deficient understanding of conflict-of-interest requirements,

(14) spent time applying for awards (including supposedly international ones!) from obscure organizations that choose ‘winners’ only from among submissions of paid members,

(15) for an anchor tenant that’s actually a public employer relocating from an old building to this new one,

(16) insisted that the public anchor tenant was ‘paying the bills’ when, in fact, taxpayers are paying the bills both of the anchor tenant and for the public money and public debt of this project,

(17) called this a green project when, in fact, it’s a mediocre-looking building that’s brown both literally and figuratively,

(18) destroyed true greenspace for something that looks like a bottom-shelf middle school,

(19) and committed countless hours on this vanity project instead of care for thousands of struggling residents, including hundreds of impoverished children.

There’s no surprise that Old Whitewater will do and say anything to promote itself.

And yet, and yet — there’s no going back for this city, as a New Whitewater, of true priorities and so a better politics, draws nearer.

For a list of prior posts on this topic, see Innovation Center/Tech Park.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.15.12

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be a mostly cloudy, seventy-three-degree day.

Tonight @ 7 PM in Common Council’s chambers there will be a League of Women Voters’ hosted forum on the upcoming school referendum.

On this day in 1965, Pres. Johnson asked Congress for legislation guaranteeing the right to vote in all Americans.

Over at ScienceNews, Rebecca Cheung writes that Size doesn’t matter for crayfish’s one-two crunch: Biological deception may give crustaceans an advantage during a fight —

When it comes to male crayfish, not all claws are created equal. In these crustaceans, the left and right claws might be very different sizes — and the larger one isn’t necessarily stronger, researchers report online March 14 in Biology Letters.

This deceptiveness could help crayfish bluff or trick an opponent during a fight, says study coauthor Robbie Wilson, a biologist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. What’s more, the findings suggest that within a species, “dishonesty occurs in nature more commonly than we expect,” Wilson says.

It’s a mixture of food, geography, and language from Google’s daily puzzle: “How would you ask a grocer for “Edam cheese” in the language of the country where it originates?”

Food, Freedom of Speech

Why Marilyn Hagerty was right to review an Olive Garden restaurant

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Eighty-five year-old Grand Forks Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty recently wrote a review of an Olive Garden restaurant that opened in her North Dakota town. Her review caught people’s notice, in cities across America.

Established reviewers believe that one should not review a chain (and certainly not praise a restaurant chain, as Hagerty did). Some of them have sniffed and sniped about her column.

Criticism of Hagerty is so silly she needn’t concern herself with others’ condescension. It’s not only her right, but also a reasonable exercise of that right, to review places close at hand.

Her column is called EatBeat, and after a new eating establishment opened on her beat, she wrote about it.

Why not? I understand the custom of avoiding reviews of chain restaurants, but anyone should understand that the custom doesn’t apply to smaller, rural towns with few dining options.

Those complaining about Hagerty’s chain-restaurant review aren’t upholding an applicable principle; they’re calling attention to their self-perceived sophistication.

It’s perfectly proper for her to review any establishment she wants, and to conclude of that place whatever she wants.

By the way: her review is a sincere, straightforward appraisal of a new Olive Garden in her town.

Hagerty can rest easy: she delivered better for her readers than a few pretentious critics delivered for theirs.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.14.12

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Good morning.

Whitewater’s Wednesday could be a summer day: sunny and seventy-six.

The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls that in 1979 the Bucks set a scoring records: “Milwaukee set a team scoring record for a regulation-length game with 158 points against New Orleans. [Source: Bucks.com, Official Site of the Milwaukee Bucks]”

Google celebrates the birthday today of origami master Akria Yoshizawa, 1911-2005.

Here’s a video featuring some of his intricate, captivating designs:

Corruption Probe, Daily Adams, Gov. Walker, Law, Politics

Wisconsin’s Shoddy Partisan Analysis

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Wisconsin has a fuller political calendar than most states: we’ve not merely the traditional state and federal races, but recall elections likely for May and June.

A libertarian will look at these issues with sharp interest, but without a partisan attachment.

Perhaps all those contests, sure to be fought tooth and nail, have made some bloggers fuzzy-headed. Over at Shark and Shepherd, a conservative lawyer’s blog, blogger Rick Esenberg takes paragraphs to contend that Gov. Walker’s creation under statute of a legal defense fund does not, necessarily, mean that he’s under investigation in a campaign corruption probe. In Esenberg’s view, Walker might be establishing a defense fund because agents of his are under investigation.

(See, The Facts Regarding the Walker Defense Fund.)

It’s a silly argument, but of a kind one sees more and more from diehards who have an opinion – favorable or unfavorable – about Gov. Walker. Just about any explanation or rationalization makes its way into the wild.

There’s not the slightest political chance on earth that Gov. Walker would establish a legal defense fund in advance of a recall election unless he believed himself under investigation, and felt the necessity to create a legal dense fund for that reason.

It’s that simple.

The upcoming recall election will see strong pluralities for, and against, Gov. Walker, yet victory in the race will require support from lukewarm voters.

No sober, conscious candidate would risk alienating the sliver of independent & uncertain voters on whom victory in the recall will depend by creating a defense fund because others are being investigated.

Gov. Walker is neither drunk nor asleep. His critics have said many things of him, but never those things.

It’s more likely that a meteorite will strike Milwaukee tomorrow than it is that Walker has created this fund merely because others are under scrutiny.

I don’t know whether Esenberg is foolish enough to think his theory serious, or whether he thinks others are foolish enough to take him seriously.

Either way, his speculation is unpersuasive.

Posted originally on 3.13.12 at Daily Adams.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.13.12

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater: Sunny and sixty-four degrees.

In late January, I posted a link to a Condor Cam at the San Diego Zoo. These weeks since lead here, to a condor hatchling:

Google’s daily puzzle combines president, invention, and office furniture: “You can thank this president for doubling the size of the United States, and for making you more comfortable at work. What piece of office furniture did he invent?” more >>

Daily Adams, Libertarians

Where are all the libertarians coming from?

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In Britain, The Independent’s Anton Howes wonders where all the libertarians are coming from.

He sees the trend:

There’s a silent revolution happening on campuses across the world. Libertarian activism is on the rise. Political figures like Ron Paul have started to draw huge support from younger voters, but the trend seems to be much deeper and more sustained than any single political campaign. Rather than simply throwing support behind individuals and politicians, students are rallying around distinctly pro-liberty ideas and ideologies.

Anyone who’s been on campus has seen this — among independents and ever-larger numbers of major-party supporters, there’s a respect and interest in libertarian positions. In some areas, the libertarian trend among all Americans is clear, and the next generation is likely to change the criminal law in consequence of it.

So where are all these libertarians coming from?

The next generation.

Posted originally on 3.12.12 at Daily Adams.

Innovation Center/Tech Park

Deceptive Headline Can’t Hide Truth of Innovation Center’s Wasted Millions

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Over at the Journal Sentinel, the dodgy headline on Tom Daykin’s story can’t hide the truth of Whitewater’s taxpayer-funded ‘business incubator’ – after a year, the overwhelming majority of space is either for public tenants or is still empty.

Not businesses, not private concerns, but public money overwhelmingly for new digs for public employees…or used by no one at all.

The headline reveals the cynicism and condescension behind the entire project: the conviction that residents and readers are so dim-witted that they’ll think no father than a few words in large type.

The story – likely cribbed from a press release – shows how much more Whitewater’s municipal administration prefers exaggerations about accomplishments to actual accomplishments.

City, Hip & Prosperous, Holiday

Fiesta

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Here’s another sketch-post on how to make Whitewater hip & prosperous.

Whitewater should lead with what she uniquely and distinctively offers. What the city has today, and will have tomorrow, is a multi-ethnic and multicultural population. Our Mexican-heritage population is more than a fact; it’s an opportunity for everyone. We should lead with that unique demographic, and organize a weekend festival to celebrate truly for ourselves and others the diverse character of the city.

There’s a Cinco de Mayo celebration in town, but I’m not referring specifically to that event (nor do I have a connection to it). We might use 5.5, but we might alternatively pick another date, later in the summer. I don’t have a name for what I’m suggesting; only ‘Fiesta’ comes to mind. Stoughton’s Syttende Mai around the weekend of 5.17 is like what I have in mind, but there it’s a celebration Norwegian culture.

Whitewater now has several city festivals, of which the Independence Day holiday is easily the biggest. There are bigger holidays during the year (Christmas, of course), but I’m thinking of citywide gatherings. Of those, none is bigger than July 4th. Summer makes participation easy, and the commemoration is as broad-based as any in the city. In a hundred years, Independence Day will still be the city’s biggest outdoor event.

Whitewater would do better for herself, in so many ways, if she would embrace and advance the cosmopolitan vibe that Mexican-American residents offer.

Leaders in this city have trumpeted just about every idea that floats into their heads, but little has been done to lead with Whitewater as a multi-ethic, multicultural city. Contrasted with so many arranged and contrived efforts that are forgotten within a few months, a municipal embrace of an annual, weekend festival would be lasting and positive.

Those who think emphasis on a multicultural city will portray Whitewater poorly are mistaken; a multicultural emphasis is an honest (and trendy and sophisticated) way to present the city.

A few residents — only a few — shy from this because they feel reminders of a multicultural, multi-ethnic city make Whitewater seem downmarket. I’m convinced that’s not true.

An even small number have over the years done far worse, disingenuously presenting with shiny theories their dark work in opposition to an open city. Although they represent the very worst of Old Whitewater, they are a merely a few.

To our city’s common advantage, Old Whitewater has no future; a New Whitewater has begun, and though its full fruition may occasionally be delayed, it cannot be stopped.

Anyone could enjoy a festival like this. People who will like and enjoy a citywide Fiesta are the residents, visitors, and newcomers we most need: accepting, open, ambitious, creative, optimistic, successful.

Those traits, we may be sure, are truly and fundamentally American ones.

An annual celebration like this should be a top municipal priority.