FREE WHITEWATER

Crime, Law

Bad News for Drug Warriors

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Turns out Newt Gingrich, the man of a thousand shifting, contradictory, and I’ll-considered opinions, wants to escalate the Drug War. If there’s worse news for drug warriors than this, short of an endorsement from Syria’s Assad, I can’t imagine what that worse news might be.

In an interview with Yahoo!, Gingrich finds his model for a clampdown on drugs:

Places like Singapore have been the most successful at doing that. They’ve been very draconian. And they have communicated with great intention that they intend to stop drugs from coming into their country.

Vast, diverse America and the autocratic, city-state of Singapore: that’s Gingrich’s idea of a suitable analogue.

It’s late November, and surprisingly Mitt Romney has yet to write to me for campaign advice. (I’ll be sure to check my email again after I publish this post.) If he were to solicit my opinion, I’d recommend that Gov. Romney use all his campaign funds to put Gingrich on the air, nonstop and unscripted, for week after week.

There’s no better path to the GOP nomination for Romney that that.

Via Reason’s Blog.

Freedom of Speech

None needed: Teen Tweeter Won’t Apologize To Kansas Governor

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I don’t support government funding for art any more than Brownback does, but as for tweeting, Sullivan owes neither Brownback nor her principal any apology. On the contrary, they owe her one for their wrongly intrusive, restrictive (and oddly creepy) concern with an eighteen-year-old citizen’s use of Twitter.

A U.S. teenager who wrote a disparaging tweet about Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said Sunday that she is rejecting her high school principal’s demand for a written apology.

Emma Sullivan, 18, said she isn’t sorry and doesn’t think such a letter would be sincere.

The Shawnee Mission East senior was taking part in a Youth in Government program last week when she sent out a tweet from the back of a crowd of students listening to Brownback’s greeting. From her cellphone, she thumbed: “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person (hash)heblowsalot.”

She actually made no such comment and said she was “just joking with friends.” But Brownback’s office, which monitors social media for postings containing the governor’s name, saw Sullivan’s post and contacted the Youth in Government program.

Sullivan received a scolding at school and was ordered to send Brownback an apology letter. She said Prinicipal Karl R. Krawitz even suggested talking points for the letter she was supposed to turn in Monday.

Later in the story, it seems the principal has since recognized the mess into which he’s stepped, and is now insisting this is a ‘private matter.’ It should have been a private matter (without government involvement), but the censorious actions of a publicly-paid governor and a publicly-paid school administrator offer no retreat from widespread and legitimate criticism.

Via NPR.

Update 11.28.11: Gov. Brownback apologizes via Facebook.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.28.11

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Good morning.

It’s a cloudy Monday ahead for Whitewater, with a high of thirty-five. Most of the state, including Madison and Milwaukee, looks to be about the same.

If you’re near Whitewater, it’s only a few days until Whitewater’s Christmas parade on Friday evening at 6 PM.  There’s still time for individuals and groups to march.

NASA’s new Mars rover launched successfully on Saturday, and if all goes well, she’ll reach that neighboring planet in August 2012.

Google’s puzzle for today is from Sam Eagle, of Disney’s Muppets:

I am chagrined to learn that a well-known signer of the Declaration of Independence did not want the bald eagle to be the symbol of America.What lesser bird did he want to represent our great country?

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 11.20 – 11.26

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States expect budgetary fallout from ‘supercommittee’ failure – The Washington Post wapo.st/vCnKwv
24 Nov

Camera Trap App Sends Wild Animals to Your iPhone | Wired Science | Wired.com bit.ly/sUZNsM
24 Nov

No word about the rest of Congress; President Obama to pardon two turkeys bit.ly/uHCi5n
23 Nov

The X-Files’ Well-Manicured Man John Neville dies at 86 bit.ly/uJJPbC
22 Nov

Campus police chief put on leave in pepper spray incident
21 Nov

What Will Go Wrong After the Super Committee Collapses bit.ly/u8leLZ
21 Nov

Too funny (because too predictable) EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration – Telegraph tgr.ph/tVOKaQ
19 Nov

Supercommittee at impasse as deadline approaches Washington Post wapo.st/rR2foK
19 Nov

‘Near Poor’ – Not Quite in Poverty, but Still Struggling – NYTimes.com nyti.ms/rTVhsx
19 Nov

Business

Small Business Saturday

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It’s Small Business Saturday in America on 11.26.11. I’ve been critical of government’s intervention in the marketplace (between chains and local stores), but there’s much to recommend local merchants who find success through their own, private efforts. Shoppers don’t need a politician or bureaucrat’s guidance. (“Consumers should be able to decide for themselves without the misuse of government’s imprimatur.”)

In my own case, I’ve come to rely on those local merchants who offer specialized products and services, delivered with expert guidance. I was out and about today, and I will be out again tomorrow, visiting those very merchants.

Cats

Friday Catblogging: Thanksgiving Turkey for Cats

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Below is a video from someone who makes an entire turkey for his cats. (Alternatively, he makes the turkey for himself, claims it’s for the felines, and merely lets the cats lick it. The former and professed motivation is the more desirable and hygienic one.)

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.25.11

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Good morning.

I hope that your Black Friday (which is now expanding into a Black Thursday, Black Friday deals week, etc.) is a good one. The poll and comment forum will be on hiatus this week, recognizing that readers will likely be out and about.  If the year has been good to you (and I very much hope that it has been), it might not be a bad day to venture out, to find a deal here or there, boost a merchant or two, and generally observe the consumer frenzy. Enjoy.

There will be posts up throughout the weekend, patiently awaiting readers’ return from shopping expeditions.

If you venture out today, or if you’re returning from overnight shopping (!), you’ll find in Whitewater a breezy day with a high temperature of fifty-six.

Saturday is the date for the launch of NASA’s Mars rover, and embedded below is a live-stream window for tomorrow’s launch:

After eight years of planning, more than $600 million in cost overruns, and a two-year delay, NASA’sMars Science Laboratory is finally ready to launch.

Now you can watch the nuclear-powered, 1-ton rover — currently the largest machine that can feasibly land on the Red Planet — take off from Cape Canaveral and begin its journey to Mars.

Liftoff is currently scheduled for 10:02 a.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 26. NASA TV offers HD streaming of the launch (above). But if acronym-filled technobabble is hard on your ears, tune in to one of our other favorite video streams on Spaceflight Now or Spacevidcast .

Animals, Nature

Camera Trap App Sends Wild Animals to Your iPhone

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The Instant Wild app, free and newly released by the Zoological Society of London, streams images to your iPhone or iPad from camera traps in Kenya, Sri Lanka, Mongolia and England’s Whipsnade Zoo. Images can also be seen via browser.

“It’s amazing for people to just be sitting in their office or walking in the street and have these images pop up,” said Jonathan Baillie, conservation program director at EDGE of Existence, a ZSL program. “I find myself in board rooms and conferences and hotels a lot, and I’d rather be in the field.”

Via Camera Trap App Sends Wild Animals to Your iPhone | Wired Science | Wired.com.

Holiday

President’s Thanksgiving Proclamation 2011

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From the White House, following annual tradition, this year’s Thanksgiving proclamation:

THANKSGIVING DAY, 2011

– – – – – – –

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

       One of our Nation’s oldest and most cherished traditions, Thanksgiving Day brings us closer to our loved ones and invites us to reflect on the blessings that enrich our lives.  The observance recalls the celebration of an autumn harvest centuries ago, when the Wampanoag tribe joined the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony to share in the fruits of a bountiful season.  The feast honored the Wampanoag for generously extending their knowledge of local game and agriculture to the Pilgrims, and today we renew our gratitude to all American Indians and Alaska Natives.  We take this time to remember the ways that the First Americans have enriched our Nation’s heritage, from their generosity centuries ago to the everyday contributions they make to all facets of American life.  As we come together with friends, family, and neighbors to celebrate, let us set aside our daily concerns and give thanks for the providence bestowed upon us.

Though our traditions have evolved, the spirit of grace and humility at the heart of Thanksgiving has persisted through every chapter of our story.  When President George Washington proclaimed our country’s first Thanksgiving, he praised a generous and knowing God for shepherding our young Republic through its uncertain beginnings.  Decades later, President Abraham Lincoln looked to the divine to protect those who had known the worst of civil war, and to restore the Nation “to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”

In times of adversity and times of plenty, we have lifted our hearts by giving humble thanks for the blessings we have received and for those who bring meaning to our lives.  Today, let us offer gratitude to our men and women in uniform for their many sacrifices, and keep in our thoughts the families who save an empty seat at the table for a loved one stationed in harm’s way.  And as members of our American family make do with less, let us rededicate ourselves to our friends and fellow citizens in need of a helping hand.

As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives.  Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 24, 2011, as a National Day of Thanksgiving.  I encourage the people of the United States to come together    whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors    to give thanks for all we have received in the past year, to express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and to share our bounty with others.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

History, Holiday

The Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving Lesson

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A change in rights offered a path from starvation to dependable sustenance:

Faced with potential starvation in the spring of 1623, the colony decided to implement a new economic system. Every family was assigned a private parcel of land. They could then keep all they grew for themselves, but now they alone were responsible for feeding themselves. While not a complete private property system, the move away from communal ownership had dramatic results.

Via LP.org

Cats

“The Next Best Thing to Herding Cats”

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From the New York Times comes a story of the next great animal competition: feline agility contests. Consider the nature of the competition, and be intrigued:

Feline agility competitions, in which cats run through a miniature obstacle course full of hurdles and tunnels, have become fixtures on the cat show scene. Modeled after canine agility competitions, the tournaments feature a ring in which cat owners — some of whom have trained their pets from kittenhood — brandish a feather or sparkly wand to try to coax a cat to climb stairs, weave around poles and leap through hoops in as little time as possible.

Via New York Times (h/t The Atlantic Wire).