Wisconsin native Woody Herman —
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 5.16.11
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
It’s a sunny day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of fifty-seven forecast fro the afternoon.
There’s a school board meeting tonight, in open session beginning at 7 p.m.
There are two Wisconsin birthdays for today on which the Wisconsin Historical Society remarks:
1913 – Big Band Leader Woody Herman Born
On this date Woody Herman was born in Milwaukee. A child prodigy, Herman sang and tap-danced in local clubs before touring as a singer on the vaudeville circuit. He played in various dance bands throughout the 20s and 30s and by 1944 was leading a band eventually known as the First Herd. In 1946, the band played an acclaimed concert at Carnegie Hall but disbanded at the end of the year. The following year, Herman returned to performing with the Second Herd that included a powerful saxophone section comprised of Herbie Steward, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, and Serge Chaloff. He died in 1987. [Source: WoodyHerman.com].1919 – Liberace Born
On this date Wladziu Valentino Liberace was born in West Allis. Liberace’s father played the French horn and was a member of the Milwaukee Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother played the piano. Liberace debuted as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony at the age of 14 and received a scholarship to attend the Wisconsin College of Music. In 1952, The Liberace Show, a syndicated television program, made Liberace a musical icon. Best remembered for his extravagant costumes and trademark candelabra placed on the lids of flashy pianos, Liberace was loved by his audiences for his musical talent and unique showmanship. He received two Emmy Awards, six gold albums, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame before he died on February 4, 1987. [Source: The Liberace Foundation].
Public Meetings
Common Council
by JOHN ADAMS •
Recent Tweets, 5.8 – 5.14
by JOHN ADAMS •
Explaining the harm of Rep. Wynn’s votes will prove an important test for those who respect individual rights and liberties
12 May
Few could have done more, in less time, against ordinary people than Rep. Wynn has done in these last five months
12 May
43rd’s Rep. Wynn has voted both to limit right of association for public employees & to restrict franchise for thousands of legal voters
12 May
RT @radleybalko: Um, what the hell? http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=14603700
11 May
Whitewater loses a creative, dynamic leader Zentner and Afterward | FREE WHITEWATER https://freewhitewater.com/?p=16249
10 May
Cartoons & Comics
Sunday Morning Comic: Pearls Before Swine
by JOHN ADAMS •
Open Government
WisconsinWatch.org: Lawmakers shouldn’t meet in secret
by JOHN ADAMS •
Town, village, city, school district and county governments are prohibited from having such closed-door meetings, except in very limited circumstances, to discuss sensitive matters such as employee discipline or negotiating purchases of property. And even then the public must be notified of the general topics to be discussed.
In contrast, the Wisconsin Legislature routinely passes sweeping bills after little public discussion because the thorny details and disagreements have been hammered out beforehand in private partisan caucuses.
Rep. Cory Mason wants to change that. The Racine Democrat has re-introduced a bill, Assembly Bill 89, requiring lawmakers to follow the same rules as other public officials.
“For me, the hypocrisy of it is that, at the state level, we mandate openness for lower levels of government,” Mason says. “We ask everybody else to live up to these rules, then we exempt ourselves from them at the state level”….
”In the end, the public is almost completely shut out of the real debate and instead hears mainly partisan talking points.“We are no longer a deliberative body,” says Mason.
“We break into our respective caucuses. We have all of our debate behind closed doors. We come out in public and make speeches. It’s very important for the public to see these debates.”
Via WisconsinWatch.org.
Libertarians, Politics
Liberal or Conservative? Neither
by JOHN ADAMS •
I had a spirited discussion with a conservative the other day, who seemed to think that I was drifting too far to the left. From her point of view, I probably do seem too far to the left.
She was mistaken, though, on two counts. First, libertarians aren’t naturally more right or left. Second, in my case, there’s no drifting involved. If what I believe seems more or less inclined to one politics, it’s not that I’ve changed (to my knowledge, anyway) — it’s that the political world shifts all the time, and most people simply respond to those shifts. Bloggers are no different from anyone else.
Libertarians, Politics
The Libertarian Republicans
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are two GOP presidential candidates with libertarian views: the well-known Ron Paul and the not-so-well-known Gary Johnson. Neither has much of a chance to be the GOP nominee. Really, neither has any chance at all.
Still, here’s a profile for each of them, from Reason.Their presence will still shape the race in ways that big-government Republicans won’t like, but that will benefit the rest of America. One does not have to be a Republican to wish these libertarian-leaning candidates good luck.
Congressman Ron Paul, who gave this interview just before he declared his intention to run:
Ron Paul Explores the 2012 Presidential Race.
Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson:
Cats, Music
Friday Catblogging: Special Friday the 13th Black-Cat Edition
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 5.13.11
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Whitewater’s forecast calls for a day of isolated thunderstorms, with a high temperature of sixty-six.
Quick note, for those who’ve asked: Returning next week — an updated Comment Forum, including a weekly poll.
From Wired, a view of nature — an amazing bird-cam:
City, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Politics, Walworth County, Wisconsin
Emily’s Post: ‘Welcome to Wisconsin, Jim Crow’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Emily Mills writes about Assembly Bill 7, sure to become law:
This bill is, at its core, a rollback of the right to vote that impacts the most vulnerable and already disenfranchised populations in this state. It spits in the faces of those who’ve come before and fought (and sometimes died) to see this most fundamental right guaranteed to all citizens….
Via Isthmus Daily Page.
It was wrong as policy and wrong for individual liberty to restrict freedom of association through collective bargaining – and yet, these unnecessary and unfair restrictions on citizens’ voting rights are even worse.
They’re despicably un-American.
Not a single legislator who voted in favor of this bill, and not a single one who should prove to support it in the Wisconsin Senate next week, is worthy of re-election. Contentions that this legislation is necessary to prevent fraud are, as Ms. Mills notes in her post, exaggerations and – most likely – lies.
In every race in Whitewater, in the 2012 election, candidates should be asked: Do you support elimination of workers’ bargaining rights for government workers, local, county, and state? Do you, in fact, support the elimination of these rights for some employees, and not others, as Gov. Walker does?
Do you support restrictions that would deny the ability to vote, under current circumstances, to these numbers of law-abiding citizens now lacking a photo ID:
177,000 elderly Wisconsinites, 17% of white men and women, 55% of black men, 49% of black women, 46% of Hispanic men, 59% of Hispanic women, 78% of black men aged 18-24, and 66% of black women aged 18-24?
These vast numbers are citizens who have done no wrong, represent no danger, and yet would be denied the exercise of a fundamental right.
This proposal stains our beautiful state, working an injustice on some, while tainting others who remain idle.
Uncategorized
The Policy of Perpetual War
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Atlantic, there’s a fine, yet troubling. essay about America’s war policy, entitled, How Perpetual War Became U.S. Ideology. James Joyner writes that
The United States has found itself in a seemingly endless series of wars over the past two decades. Despite frequent opposition by the party not controlling the presidency and often that of the American public, the foreign policy elite operates on a consensus that routinely leads to the use of military power to solve international crises….
Neoconservatives of both parties urge war to spread American ideals, seeing it as the duty of a great nation. Liberal interventionists see individuals, not states, as the key global actor and have deemed a Responsibility to Protect those in danger from their own governments, particularly when an international consensus to intervene can be forged.
Traditional Realists, meanwhile, initially reject most interventions but are frequently drawn in by arguments that the national interest will be put at risk if the situation spirals out of control.
Joyner’s right, about a decades-long war policy that’s been wrong and debilitating for America. We are no ordinary power, and should not act as an imperial one. America’s extraordinary strength (of well-trained soldiers and advanced weapons) should be used sparingly, for the specific, brief, decisive defense of our people (and those very few allies vital to our security).
(Finding and killing Bin Laden, by the way, was a legitimate and right use of our power: he was an enemy of our people, and deserved his fate. Every day after 9/11 that Bin Laden lived was a day too many. The president was right to use force; there could be few better uses of American power. I find objections to the strike against Bin Laden — including those of libertarian Ron Paul — to be morally obtuse.)
How long, though, will so many Americans fight wars against insurgents or governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya? How long until we add Syria to that list?
One should have no sympathy for the fanatics and dictators filling that list; yet all these many conflicts take a moral toll on America. Long after the Cold War, we have slowly drifted from peaceful republic — acting only in true emergencies — to a nation at war in more than one place — year after year.
The price of these long, indecisive struggles is a rotting of American principles of peaceful, commercial relations with other peoples, with war only as a last recourse.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 5.12.11
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Whitewater’s forecast calls for a day of scattered thunderstorms, with a high temperature of seventy-nine.
In Whitewater this evening, there will be a meeting of the Police Commission at 6 p.m. The meeting agenda is available online.
Wired UK offers video of a Ghostly ‘Winged’ Octopus Caught on Camera:
A rarely seen white deep-sea octopus has been captured on camera in high definition by researchers from the University of Washington. The octopus features two ‘wings’ which make it look just like the ghosts from Mario videogames, aka Boos. The Grimpoteuthis bathynectes octopus, also nicknamed the Dumbo octopus, was filmed with an HD video camera at a depth of more than 2,000 metres [6,500 feet] about 200 miles off the coast of Oregon.
City
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters May 2011 Newsletter
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ May 2011 Newsletter is out, and it includes articles and a calendar of upcoming LWV events. The latest copy of the LWV newsletter is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below, with coding through Google.
This June, on Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11, the Whitewater-Area League is sponsoring the State Annual League of Women Voters meeting. The two-day event will take place at the Connor Center, on the UW-Whitewater campus.
Friday, June 10th Events:
1:30 – 3:30 PM State Board Meeting
4:00 – 5:00 PM Registration
5:30 – 6:30 PM Dinner
6:30 – 8:30 PM Membership Recruitment Initiative Training
8:30 – 9:30 PM League Social Hosted by Whitewater-Area League
Saturday, June 11th Events:
7:30 – 8:30 AM Breakfast/Roundtable Discussion
8:30 – 9:10 AM Welcome/Introduction/Agenda
9:10 – 10:00 AM Keynote: Dr. Charles Franklin, UW-Madison, “Impact of Polarized Politics in Wisconsin”
10:15 – 11:30 AM Training: 501c3/Website
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Lunch
12:45 – 1:45 PM Parade of Leagues
2:00 – 4:00 PM Plenary
4:00 PM Adjourn
Registration for the event may be completed online at www.lwvwi.org.