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Recent Tweets, 1.29 to 2.4

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Lance Armstrong Doping Investigation Dropped: Prosecutors Close Inquiry, No Charges Filed huff.to/yFeTDg

Utter disgrace: Milwaukee attorney banned from federal courts – bit.ly/z0SRf5

RT @js_watchdog: No Quarter: As governor, Thompson touted benefits of collective bargaining. Now, not so much. (bit.ly/A5YrmG)

Japanese govt expects population to shrink by one-third by 2060, 40% ttl over 65

Lasse campaign release on suspension of U.S. Senate campaign misspells hometown De Pere as ‘Depere’ bit.ly/xLjDC9

Local Government, Official Misconduct, Police

Update: The Dismissal of Palmyra’s Police Chief, Charles Warren

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An update to an earlier post on Palmyra’s dismissal of Police Chief Charles Warren: I withheld a comment on the matter (it was mostly fine, with one impediment), but I’d like to respond here to the contention that Warren and other officials should be accountable for their actions.

Yes, I agree; I simply don’t know enough about the charges to say whether dismissal was reasonable.

I do know how rare any action is, in any city, town, or village: most commissioners can’t image holding anyone accountable.

Leadership accountability doesn’t make a police force worse; it makes it better. Needless to say, a selfish leader is quick to conflate a single role with that of an entire department, or to insist that any criticism is an attack on all policing. Were such a defense valid, no politician could be impeached, or no principal fired, despite his or her conduct in office.

Weak leaders across Wisconsin surround themselves with commissioners who will shy from legitimate oversight that, in fact, makes for better leaders, supported field officers, and safer communities.

I may be unsure about particular circumstances in Palmyra, but I’ve no doubt about a general policy of leadership accountability.

Comment Forum

FW Comments Policy

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This site has now opened comments on almost all posts, including for anonymous or pseudonymous posters. Comments stay open for a few days after a post’s publication, and then close automatically.

That’s new; for the site’s first four years, there were no generally open comments, with the exception of a weekly post on most Fridays.

It seems reasonable to have a short, simple comments policy, and I have now published one.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.3.12

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Good morning.

It’s a day of dense fog, with a high of thirty-seven, for Whitewater. In San Diego, it will be a sunny Friday with a high of sixty-seven.

On this day from 1917, an example of mistakes of German foreign policy: “In 1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, which had announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.” So much better not to anger the United States.

If you’re still basking in the afterglow of Groundhog Day — and how could one not be? — the Wisconsin Historical Society has a page about the holiday that I missed yesterday, but to which I will readily link today.

Few people are missing the snow (I’m one of those few), but for those wondering, NASA offers answers about snow, snowfall, and (for some of us) the happy days of Snowmageddon 2010.

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Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2012

The Tea Party’s Tepid Support for Ron Paul

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The Tea Party’s not even warm for Ron Paul, and CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield asks Dick Armey why that’s so. Armey doesn’t speak for every Tea Party group (Banfield’s introduction actually inflates his role within that movement).

Still, why?

Although I don’t think Paul’s libertarian enough, that shouldn’t stop the Tea Parties from favoring him over, say, Newt Gingrich on ideological grounds.

Reason’s Brian Doherty posits that this is because Tea Party supporters are not so libertarian, and that’s partly right.

They’re libertarian on some issues, conservative on others, and simply Republican on other matters. There’s no criticism implied; this assessment is descriptive, only. If they were very libertarian, they’d be libertarians (or even Libertarians).

But there’s a more practical reason, that likely separates Tea Party supporters from libertarians: Republicans and Democrats expect to win elections, and that’s part of the appeal of a major party. If many Tea Party members have traditionally voted for a major party (where both major parties win a good amount of the time), a true third-party position must seem impractical and unappealing.

Libertarians advocate to win, but routinely settle for being a political corrective to larger parties’ actions. I’d guess that Tea Party adherents are more accustomed to winning with a major party than Libertarians have ever been, and naturally like being part of a winning side.

That goal is hard to relinquish.

Animals, Nature

Six more weeks of winter

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Here’s a recording of Punxsutawney Phil’s 2012 prediction that six more weeks of winter await us.

I know that there are local groundhogs in the forecasting biz, but here at FW only the most reputable, established, and celebrated groundhog will do.

That’s Phil.

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Okay, for those who insist on something local, here’s Jimmy the Sun Prairie groundhog calling for an early spring –

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.2.12 (Groundhog Day Edition)

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Good morning.

It’s a day of dense fog with a high temperature of forty-four for Whitewater.

In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of prognosticating groundhog Phil, today will be mostly cloudy and thirty-five.

This morning, Phil saw his shadow, and so predicted 6 more weeks of winter.

The Wisconsin Historical Society remembers a sporting advance from this day in 1905:

Professional Baseball Arrives in Wisconsin

On this date the Wisconsin State League was formed, bringing professional baseball to five Wisconsin cities. The six-team league began play the following summer with franchises in Beloit, Green Bay, La Crosse, Oshkosh, Wausau, and Freeport, Illinois. The league lasted through 1914, although its named was changed to Wisconsin-Illinois in 1908.

Google’s daily puzzle asks about a life-changing decision: “What job did Poor Richard’s first-born son take that effectively ended their relationship?”

America

Underestimating America’s Influence: Why America’s Not in Decline

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There’s been much talk, from generation to generation about the rise of the next global power to supplant America.  The Soviet Union (yes, for many, this once seemed certain), Japan,  and now China:  in each instance, an insistence that America is in decline.  (For a post that addresses myths about China, see Overestimating China’s influence: ‘Five myths about China’s power’.)

At the New Republic, Robert Kagan examines and debunks the (persistent) theory of American decline, in a lengthy article entitled, Not Fade Away: The myth of American decline.  It’s not that decline is impossible, but that it’s improbable, for the many reasons Kagan offers.

Generations ago, to many, the Great Depression must have seemed not merely a present hardship, but proof of enduring ruin and eclipse.  The lingering, near-aftermath of the Great Recession surely seems this way to some, today.  Yet, for all our many and serious difficulties, we are a creative, industrious, and productive people.

Kagan’s article is a useful corrective to pessimism.