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City

A Debilitating, Lower Standard Needn’t Be Ours

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America is a place of countless success stories, some the product of luck, but most of talent, insight, and skill. Those talents, insights, and skills require (and also create) high standards in art, science, technology, etc. They’re not standards of – or for – only a few, but ones that a person from any place might embrace (just as we can learn from so many talented people who live in other parts of the world).

We need not settle for a lesser standard, when a national and international standard is accessible to us, to most peoples, in most places.

And yet, we settle for lesser standards all the time, the fault being our own. In writing these few years, I’ve heard more than once that one shouldn’t expect expect too much of officials, as they’re not able to do better than they are doing. (Astonishingly, this is meant to be an apology of their performance, as though by defending them in this way they should be paid a compliment.)

I don’t believe that better methods are beyond our community – on the contrary, better methods are all around us. I don’t believe that some local officials can achieve no better than they have – on the contrary, it’s most often not lack of talent but unwillingness that holds people back.

Whitewater is more than able to meet a true national standard. (It’s laziness, impatience, and pride that causes officials to fabricate false honors rather than taking the time to achieve real ones.)

Of that official laziness, impatience (and pride) we have too much. We have much too much.

When bureaucrats and politicians advocate a course of action, it’s not enough to declare nebulously that some problems occur ‘on occasion,’ or that a study about injuries in one place must and necessarily apply in our case.

What number constitutes ‘on occasion?’ How is the study’s subject similar to our city’s conditions? Without showing these simple things, one cannot make an informed, reasonable calculation. I understand that those few who are ill or disabled may not be able to calculate this way, and I would never expect them to do so.

Those who voluntarily take leadership posts and offices, however, should and can answer these questions, if they would only try. They owe it to others (including those who are ill and disabled) to make that effort. It’s unfair – lazily and selfishly so – for officials to expect an easy pass from solid efforts and sound reasoning. It’s especially wrong for officials to expect an easy pass while there are so many less fortunate people among their constituents.

Officials are not owed acquiescence in the low, debilitating standard of sloppy and flimsy arguments. Many among them hold to a higher standard; those who do not have ill-served our community, and are without entitlement to a waiver from solid standards.

City, Crime, Police

Meet the New Press Release, Same as the Old Press Release

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Just about a year ago, Whitewater’s former police chief authorized a raid on a drinking party; this year, almost to the day, the city’s new police chief did the same. Scores were cited a year ago; scores were cited this year.

Needless to say, last year’s raid did nothing to stop the underage drinking in a different house this October.

Unless one were to believe that in the last year no underage age residents drank from the former party until the latter party, one can reasonably conclude that there were intervening house parties during the last year, and even riskier circumventions as underage drinkers drove outside of town. How many, I cannot say; that there were none defies believability.

For a few – an unthinking or foolish constituency – these raids are an accomplishment. Yet, know this: they’ve not stopped underage drinking, and not a single proponent can even show they’ve made a statistically meaningful contribution to reducing that behavior. Whitewater’s chief has the power to act, but does not — and cannot — show persuasive progress. On the contrary, the formulaic nature of these raids suggests dumb show, not reduction in underage drinking.

All the opportunities for community awareness and education programs are lost by undertaking a dim, predictable, cookie-cutter approach like this. Once one goes down this road, leaders should not expect a closer relationship with underage residents. Nor should they expect any progress with so rote an enforcement effort.

We many be thankful for word processing as a time-saver: Except for the year and address, this year’s announcement might as well have been last year’s announcement.

That’s true for me, too. What I wrote last year about these raids is still true:

A Problem Unsolved. Whitewater’s cited, as the story correctly notes, more underage drinkers at a single time than this, previously. And yet, here’s another house party, with underage drinking. There were likely many parties between the last major house party citations (2002) and this recent one. Most were probably smaller, but add them all up, and this seemingly impressive raid looks like water on sand.

It’s odd to hear someone talk about ‘zero tolerance’ when all these efforts amount to so little behavioral change. It doesn’t matter how little one tolerates something if there’s no change in overall behavior.

There’s a mediocrity to these enforcement efforts, leaving real problems to fester beneath the headlines, and that’s not changed from last year, either.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 10.25.11

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Good morning.

Here in Whitewater, it’s rainy – typical of our fall – and today brings showers and a high temperature of sixty-six.

In the city today, there’s a meeting of Common Council at 6:30 PM. There’s a budget to consider, and copies of the budget proposal and tonight’s council agenda are available online. Consideration of the budget will stretch over some or all of the sessions into mid-November.

The World Series goes back to St. Louis, for games six (and perhaps seven), with Texas leading 3-2. One might think that pitching and hitting have brought these teams to this point, but then there’s a psychology as well as mechanics behind those skills.

At Ars Technica,  John Timmer writes about Placebo-ball: the science of baseball’s magical necklaces.:

….as the World Series begins between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers, the field will probably be full of men who are wearing what can best be perhaps described as magical necklaces. Or, if you’re the geeky type, call them +5 Amulets of Baseball Enhancement.

Over the last several years, many major league players have been spotted wearing these bulky metal necklaces during games. Their symbolism isn’t religious. They feature no cross, no star of David. Instead, these necklaces supposedly help players perform better by easing fatigue and shortening recovery time. The secret to these supposed benefits: titanium nanoparticles that help the body’s own energy flow more readily.

As we’ll see, there’s zero biological basis for any of these claims (as we’ll discuss at length). That does not mean, however, that there’s no benefit to wearing these things. The placebo effect is incredibly powerful, and the psychology of sports performance is a very complex beast. And let’s face it: if you were being paid anywhere from $80,000 to $18,000,000 per year to swing the ash (or maple) stick, you might not think twice about plopping down anywhere from $35 to several hundred dollars on something that, in short, can’t hurt. And if it gives you an edge? So much the better.

Timmer details the medical case against these necklaces, but concedes that a psychological case for them exists, and that if they change attitude, they may change performance. All the reason in the world for these two teams to leave well enough alone, and let their players do what they’ve been doing to bring them so far, after a long 162-game season.

Economy, Foreign Affairs

An American Phoenix

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We’ve played the phoenix before, and no matter how difficult conditions are today, I’ve no doubt that we will yet again.  We’re successful and resilient because we’re free: Americans are versatile and creative, and bounce back well.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes about how America’s world position is likely to be stronger than some fret. Part of this, of course, is because some of our global competitors face even worse problems (some of which are demographic, and thus significantly intractable).

It’s liberty that makes our successes and recoveries possible.  (The Koch-funded ‘Americans for Prosperity’ has the wrong name; it should be Americans for Liberty, the condition from which prosperity flows.)

We should — and God knows I and countless others will — write honestly about how difficult life is for so many today.  For it all, and because of candid reflection, American is sure to find her best days yet ahead.

See, World power swings back to America @ The Telegraph.

Music

Monday Music: Dark Grey Matter from Ben Sommer’s new album, Super Brain

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Ben writes about his latest release:

Here’s track #10 off the new album: Dark Grey Matter.

I lied last week when I said that Count To Twelve was the first rock song I wrote after grad school. This was the first one. I wrote it in the garret appartment that my wife and I rented in 2001 on Ibbeston St in Somerville. We had just moved out of oppressive Amherst, MA, gotten big-time (for then) day jobs in Boston, and had tons of hope. This is the only track on the album that features guitar recorded directly against my old amp w/mics. (Everything else was recorded direct to disk with software distortion, etc.)

Things turned south pretty fast that summer – my wife and I got laid off at the same time – after just 4 months on our jobs. My appendix ruptured, I spent a week in the hospital feeling near death, but soon landed on our feet in a beach cottage in Plymouth, MA. I got my first IT job soon after, and resumed composing that first album. THAT’S when I wrote that song I told you about last week…

Two more songs to go! Stay tuned….

Quick note: One of my nieces studies at Amherst – she’s doing especially well, but I’ll have to ask her about her impressions of life in town.  New England’s striking, but pseudonym notwithstanding, I’ve traveled there only occasionally, and then mostly for holidays.

Business, City, Economy, Government Spending

The Housing Market and Public Budgets

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There’s a story in the Washington Post about Pres. Obama’s latest initiative to help underwater homeowners (Government announces new program to help ‘underwater’ homeowners), following an earlier story — anticipating today’s announcement — about failed, past efforts (Obama’s efforts to aid homeowners, boost housing market fall far short of goals).

The former story pours cold water on the benefits of the new program:

But the program might not have a major impact on the economy. There are about 11 million underwater borrowers in the country. And under an illustrative example provided by FHFA, borrowers might reduce their payments by just $26 per month; the Obama administration is touting savings of up to $200 per month. It will depend on the fees charged to borrowers for taking part in the program.

But, the nationwide significance of the problem is unmistakeable. Not only are so many millions of homes underwater, but that number amounts to one-in-four of all homeowners (as the earlier Post story notes):

Millions of people are deeply indebted, owing more than their properties are worth, and many have lost their homes to foreclosure or are likely to do so. Economists increasingly say that, as a result, Americans are too scared to spend money, depriving the economy of its traditional engine of growth….

Doing more to address the housing crisis may be crucial not only for an economy flirting with another recession but also for a president running for reelection.

After watching their homes’ values collapse in recent years, a quarter of all homeowners are “underwater,” owing more than their homes are worth.

This situation – both as cause and effect of an ongoing stagnation – is one that persists mostly silently, but as long as it persists, prevents a powerful recovery. It’s also why declarations of an all-clear, or claims that it’s back-to-business, are simply nonsense.

Cities and states should continue budget as though we were still in recession, because we effectively are.

 

 

Politics

A Very Simple Venn Diagram of Where the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street Agree

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From Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic (h/t Althouse).

I’d say this is about right, and also shows where libertarians (who share some of the beliefs of these two groups, but definitely not others) land: in the overlapping area of TP and OWS, coming from the area Madrigal assigns to the TP (government has too much power).

Madrigal’s mistaken, really, only to think that the Tea Party consistently holds to the idea that government has too much power; in its support for one-size-fits-all collective bargaining restrictions, imposition of additional burdens on voting rights, and its nativist, anti-labor-market immigration restrictions, the Tea Party is anything but libertarian.

Via The Atlantic.

Crime, Politics

Guilty plea in marijuana case forces Whitewater city councilman to step down – Walworth County Today

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There’s a solid, straightforward story about the conviction by plea and subsequent resignation of Whitewater Common Council member Javonni Butler over at the Gazette, portions of which are excerpted below.

Of this, three things may be said with confidence: that for some, this is a moment of particular schadenfreude; that so hidebound is Whitewater that the loss of a single council member during weeks of upcoming budget deliberations will likely produce no change in the outcome; and that the Gazette is the only newspaper in the area that publishes news on the weekend.

….Butler pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge of delivering marijuana. Police say he twice sold drugs to an undercover informant earlier this year.

Butler, 22, New Berlin, will spend 45 days in jail and two years on probation as part of a plea agreement reached with the prosecution….

Other council members previously said they weren’t sure whether the crimes would affect his public position, but members of the state Government Accountability Board said anyone convicted of a felony is prohibited from holding office.

[Council President Patrick] Singer said Butler’s seat was immediately vacated Friday following the guilty plea. The city will soon advertise the open seat and look to appoint someone as early as November, Singer said.

See, from Kevin Hoffman, Guilty plea in marijuana case forces Whitewater city councilman to step down @ Walworth County Today. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 10.24.11

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Good morning.

It’s a sunny day in small-town Whitewater, with a high temperature of sixty-three in store. It’s dark more than it’s light these days, with fewer than eleven hours of sunlight, and about eleven and a half hours of daylight. If the evenings are clear, it’s particularly lovely.

There’s a meeting of the Community Development Authority today at 4:30 PM. The meeting’s agenda is available online.

Later in the evening, there will be a Whitewater School Board meeting, beginning in closed session and thereafter open session at 7 PM.  That agenda is available online.

On this date in 1933, Amelia Earhart visited nearby Janesville:

On this date Amelia Earhart spoke to the Janesville Woman’s History Club as part of the group’s 57th anniversary celebration. Four years later, Earhart disappeared as she attempted to fly across the Pacific Ocean. [Source: Janesville Gazette 10/24/1933, p.2 via Wisconsin Historical Society]

Foreign Affairs

More on Plans for U.S. Troops to Leave Iraq

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From Chris Preble, some remarks about an American troop departure from Iraq, with sentiments that seem sound to me:

….if the Obama administration carries through on its promise to remove U.S. troops by the end of the year, the president and his national security team will have heeded the wishes of the American people, not to mention abided by their promises, and those of their predecessor.

This costly and counterproductive war – launched under false pretenses, sold to the American people as a cakewalk and an operation that would be paid for by Iraqi oil revenues – may finally, mercifully, be coming to an end…”

America’s principal commitment should be the defense of over three-hundred million citizens on this continent.

Via Cato-at-liberty.