FREE WHITEWATER

Federal Government

US Mail Continues Spiral After Ending One-Day Delivery

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Pretending that circling the drain is just a form of Olympic swimming:

The headline on the press release indicated that U.S. Postal Service was taking a big step forward. “Postal Service Progresses With Operational Efficiencies,” it read. But in reality, the US Mail is going backwards.

With its Monday press release, the Postal Service said it must reduce operating costs by $30 billion by 2015 in order to return to profitability, and to reach this goal, it has decided that First Class Mail will no longer be delivered within one business day. Delivery times will shift from 1-3 days to 2-3 days.

The change will require time to implement (following administrative rule-making requirements), but should take place during 2012.

Via Wired Enterprise | Wired.com.

Free Markets, Libertarians, Politics

GOP Message-Massager Frank Luntz, in the Wake of Occupy Wall Street

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Matt Welch writes about the GOP’s needless fear, and silly response, to the Occupy movement:

Did you need a little Monday morning reminder of why GOP politics and libertarian ideals so rarely mix when Republicans hold power? Well check out this piece from last week by Yahoo News Chris Moody, who went inside a recent Republican Governors Association plenary session to watch spinmeister Frank Luntz give a bizarre list of 10 GOP-messaging do’s and dont’s in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement….

Luntz’s desire to get the word capitalism “removed” from political discourse speaks for itself. My capitalism- and bad metaphor-loving heart reckons that the best way to make a urine-soaked rose smell better is to stop pissing on it, rather than try to banish the word “flower” from your vocabulary.

Via Hit & Run : Reason Magazine.

Crime, Government Spending, Police

Officers Punished for Supporting Eased Drug Laws

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These officers can expect to be hounded out, as so much federal and state money depends, not on solving the problem of addiction, but on waging an ineffective, endless campaign, all the while insisting that this time – yes, this time – everything will be different and better.

Those challenging their dismissals are buoyed by the case of Jonathan Wender, who was fired as a police sergeant in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., in 2005, partly as a result of his support for the decriminalization of marijuana. Mr. Wender won a settlement of $815,000 as well as his old job back. But he retired from the department and took up teaching at the University of Washington, where one of his courses is “Drugs and Society.”

Among those not yet ready to publicly urge the legalization of drugs is a veteran Texas police officer who quietly supports LEAP and spoke on the condition that he not be identified. “We all know the drug war is a bad joke,” he said in a telephone interview. “But we also know that you’ll never get promoted if you’re seen as soft on drugs.”

Via New York Times.com.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 12.5.11

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Good morning.

Flurries (and perhaps thereafter freezing rain) await Whitewater, with a high temperature today of thirty-six. On Manhattan’s Lower East Side, it will be a day of showers with a high of fifty-three.

Today marks the anniversary of the day in 1933 when Prohibition ended.

The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls that decades earlier, in 1879,

the Humane Society of Wisconsin was organized in Milwaukee. Inspired by Henry Bergh, a New York City philanthropist, and his Humane Movement, the state Humane Society was formed to protect both animals and children.  However, with the formation of child protection laws in the early 1900s, the Humane Society of Wisconsin began to focus primarily on animal protection. [Source: Humane Society of Wisconsin].

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 11.27 to 12.3

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Tommy Thompson as Wisconsin’s Mitt Romney | Waukesha Wonk bit.ly/s0m2gY
2 Dec

Favoring well-funded groups: Walker Admin would charge protesters for police, cleanup – JSOnline bit.ly/s5D0Gp
1 Dec

“@BorowitzReport: In a sign that he is losing focus, today Herman Cain could not remember the last number of his 9-9-9 plan.”
1 Dec

DAILY WISCONSIN » GOP Sens. Jim DeMint and Rand Paul tell Wisconsin’s Conservative Bloggers to Go to Hell bit.ly/vFO2AH
29 Nov

Certain trend: Gannett’s Sheboygan Press story comments switching to Facebook shebpr.es/u5ClJO
29 Nov

Trees die for this: @ChrisRickertWSJ: Everyone must participate for lake cleaning effort to succeed dlvr.it/yB3W1
29 Nov

Presidential race 2012

On Herman Cain’s Campaign

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Sadly, yes:

Steve Schmidt, who managed Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential race, offered a far harsher assessment of the Cain moment.

“That Cain’s candidacy was taken seriously for longer than a nano-second in a time of genuine crisis for the country raises fundamental questions about the health of the political process and the Republican party,” Schmidt said.

Via The Washington Post.

Education

Disability rights advocates warn of special education cuts

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Balancing the budget on the backs of the vulnerable:

The Survival Coalition of Wisconsin Disability Group sent a letter this week to federal education officials and members of the states congressional delegation, urging them to stick with federal rules requiring school districts not to reduce the amount of money they spend on special education.

Via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

See, also CESA 1 letter in favor of waiving federal safeguards for the disabled and Survival Coalition of Wisconsin Disability Group letter supporting existing safeguards.

Cross-posted at Daily Wisconsin.