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Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters April 2011 Newsletter

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The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ April 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.

Here’s a sampling of upcoming events for the Whitewater-Area League —

Date: April 5 (Tuesday)
Event: Spring Election

Date: April 12 (Tuesday)
Event: Legislative Day
When: 11 AM – 3:30 PM
Where: Madison

Date: April 28 (Thursday)
Event: LWV Public Program “State Budget Impact on Environmental Programs and Transportation,” Steven Hiniker, Exec. Dir. of 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin.
When: 7 PM
Where: Common Council Chambers

Date: May 21 (Saturday)
Event: LWV Annual Meeting
When: 10 AM
Where: Fairhaven

Voters’ Guide to Wis. Supreme Court Candidates On-line

The LWVWI 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidates’ Answers Voter Guide can be accessed on-line at 2011 Supreme Court Voter Guide.

The League of Women Voters does not endorse individual candidates but provides information for citizens to make an informed choice on Election Day.

UW-Whitewater Lecture

The Political Science Department’s 26th Annual Kyle Lecture will take place Wednesday, April 13 at 7 PM in the Summers Auditorium in the University Center on the UW-Whitewater campus. Former state assemblyperson and state senator and current UW-Milwaukee professor of governmental affairs, Mordecai Lee, will present: “Trying to Understand Wisconsin Politics, circa spring 2011.“

Mordecai Lee is a 3rd generation Milwaukeean who graduated from UW- Madison and received degrees of MPA and Ph.D. in public administration from Syracuse University. Professor Mordecai specializes in public administration and nonprofit management, writing mostly about historical topics and about public relations as a management tool.

His books include The First Presidential Communications Agency; Bureaus of Efficiency: Reforming Local Government in the Progressive Era; and Nixon’s Super-Secretaries: The Last Grant Presidential Reorganization Effort. In August, the University of Oklahoma Press will publish his Congress vs. the Bureaucracy: Muzzling Agency Public Relations.

The event is free and open to the public.

Press Release, Walworth County

Historical Society Dinner of Walworth & Big Foot Prairie: April 28 at the Abbey Resort

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On Thursday, April 28th the Historical Society of Walworth & Big Foot Prairie will hold its annual dinner and McElwain quilt program at the Abbey, in Fontana at 6 p.m. Reservations must be made by April 20 along with a check made out to the Historical Society of Walworth & Big Foot Prairie, P.O. Box 336, Walworth, WI 53184-0336. Cost for the dinner and program is $25 per person.
For information call 262-275-2426.

Take a colorful step into the last century when Walworth was the place to shop for quilt patterns, quilting materials and beautiful finished quilts. The Historical Society of Walworth & Big Foot Prairie will have their annual dinner and program on Thursday, April 28 at The Abbey Resort, 269 Fontana Blvd., Fontana. The evening will begin at 6 PM with socializing and the viewing of a collection of McElwain quilts. There will also be display tables containing the history of the Fontana Ladies Aid Society, information from Kathi West, quilt expert, on the Scrapper Quilt Guild of Williams Bay and the Historical Society publications. Fred Noer, well-known photographer and owner of Image Source, Delavan, will present his note cards with remarkable scenes of the area. Sherrie of The Cornerstone – A Gathering, Walworth will offer various types of “past-times” items and several books, among which will include “Wisconsin Quilts – History in the Stitches” with information on the McElwain quilts along with many other Wisconsin quilts.

The featured speaker will be Amy Hanson of Stoddard, WI, who collects McElwain patterns. She will delight you with her quest for trying to locate the prized quilt patterns. Arlene Patek, a quilter from the Fontana Ladies Aid Society of the Fontana Community Church, will tell about the early history of the quilting group that hand-quilted many of the quilts from the McElwain shop. There will also be representatives from the Lydia’s Helpers of the Walworth Immanuel United Church of Christ who will tell about their projects of today. Genevieve Peters Wainwright, featured in the Wisconsin Quilt book, will provide information for a slide presentation about her early life as a quilter at the Mary A. McElwain Quilt Shop.

The cost of the entrée, which is a beef and chicken combination platter, is $25 including tax and gratuity. Reservations must be made by Wednesday, April 20 with a check made out to the Historical Society of Walworth & Big Foot Prairie, P.O. Box 336, Walworth, WI 53184-0336. For information: Call Richard Rasmussen at 262-275-5482 or Nancy Lehman at 262-275-2426

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 4.4.11

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Good morning.

Today’s forecast calls for a breezy day, with a high temperature of forty-five degrees.

Whitewater’s Parks & Rec Board meets at 5 p.m. today. The meeting agenda is available online.

Over at Wired Science, Rachel Ehrenberg begins a story on the alteration of a 19th century painting with these clever lines:

Experimenting with a vivacious blonde, only to settle instead on a somber brunette, is an old, clichéd storyline — in fact, it’s at least 200 years old. A new analysis of a 19th century painting reveals that the artist first depicted a blonde with purple ribbons in her hair, before painting the canvas over with a sedate, unadorned brunette.

Ehrenberg’s story, X-Rays Reveal 19th-Century Artist’s Cover-Up, describes an example of pentimenti, where a painter covers over an initial figure with a different one.  X-ray imaging revealed that

the painting now known as “Pauline in a white dress” emerged after substantial changes. The presence of cobalt indicated that blue pigment was used in the woman’s purple hair ribbons, and the orange-red pigment vermilion was indicated by mercury. The presence and distribution of antimony, which is associated with the pigment Naples yellow, and lead, indicating white paint, suggest that the woman initially had blond curls that tumbled loosely over her shoulders, contrasting sharply with the tidy brown pulled-back hair of the visible work.

In any event, whatever the motivation for the alteration, the woman in the final version is lovely in her own right.

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 3.27 to 4.2

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MT @js_newswatch: former WI Gov. Lucey resigns as honorary co-chair of Prosser campaign, endorses Kloppenburg http://bit.ly/h2hnM7
31 Mar

Hyperbole, Troll Bait: Althouse per Legal Insurrection, that Judge Sumi threatened ‘nuclear option’ @ union law hearing http://bit.ly/hilrAU
31 Mar

UW-Whitewater media site omits Jesse Jackson visit on 3.29.11, but noted ‘international sitar player’ on 3.4.11 http://bit.ly/hjapFk
30 Mar

WI Dems tease GOP’s Sean Duffy for whining about living on $174k: Food and Clothing Drive for “Poor” Sean Duffy http://bit.ly/dO1Y9h
30 Mar

Institute for Justice Shines Light on Law Enforcement Slush Funds | FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/h4wlJR
30 Mar

Walworth County in bottom half of Wisconsin 2011 County Health Rankings http://bit.ly/etlVWW
30 Mar

Michael Barone spreads the false contention that the Wisconsin Capitol protests were ‘often violent’ http://bit.ly/gskOyG
30 Mar

Video from a Janesville Protest, 3.29.11 | DAILY WISCONSIN http://bit.ly/f8XNjH
30 Mar

Scenes from a Janesville Protest, 3.29.11 | DAILY WISCONSIN http://bit.ly/gvOOSM
30 Mar

ACLU’s Cap City Liberty blog: Election Day – Photo ID NOT Required (yet…) http://bit.ly/g0Cegs
29 Mar

Headline of the Day™: Forger Shows Up In Court With Phony Doctor Note – WISN http://bit.ly/h6wJB8
29 Mar

Nuclear reactor for Whitewater still good idea Veronique de Rugy Discusses “Truth About Nuclear Power” FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/hXyemm
29 Mar

Textbook example of a read-between-the-lines story: Prison farm project halted Fond du Lac Reporter http://bit.ly/fvvkI3
29 Mar

Fear uncertainty doubt Schools told to hold off new contracts School Board Assoc never favored contract extensions http://bit.ly/fQMXk0
28 Mar

Understanding Wisconsin politics: Former state senator, assemblyman Mordecai Lee to speak at UW-Whitewater http://bit.ly/eDJfQf
28 Mar

Inevitable Supreme Court Election Parody | DAILY WISCONSIN http://bit.ly/fFBJCk
27 Mar

Cats

Friday Catblogging: The CatCam

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Here’s a link to the one and only CatCam, from California.

The camera, positioned under a card table, films toward where cats walk to a food dish. There are also still pictures available.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 4.1.11

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Good morning,

April begins with a chance of rain and snow, and a high temperature of forty-five degrees.

It’s VIP Day at Lakeview School today, and Eagle & Spirit Day at Washington School. At the middle school, there’s World Tour in the gym during the day, and activity night this evening at 7 p.m.

Google offers an April Fools’ Day prank, and it’s a good one. Enjoy.



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Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.31.11

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Good morning.

Whitewater’s weather for today looks to be mostly sunny and forty-nine degrees. We started the month with a temperature of abut forty-degrees. I’m not sure that fits the adage that March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb, but it’s evidence of a positive change.

In the CIty of Whitewater today, the Joint Review Board will meet at 9 a.m. That agenda is available online. It’s all about the wreck that is tax incremental district 4.

What happens when cat-like aliens decide to invade an inner city block in London? The working class residents decide to defend their turf. That’s the premise of Attack the Block, and I think it looks promising:


YouTube – Attack The Block – Official HD.

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Law, Laws/Regulations, Police

Institute for Justice Shines Light on Law Enforcement Slush Funds

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I’ve posted before about the harm to sound law enforcement through ‘policing for profit,’ where the promise of financial gain motivates law enforcement efforts. Fortunately, the Institute for Justice has done fine work exposing the distortion — and lack of accountability — in departments that drift into this bad habit.

See, for example, The Institute for Justice on ‘Policing for Profit.’

When police departments seize property, they should be required to catalog and account for it.

This problem is so bad, in so many places, that the IJ’s had to file suit in Georgia to ask a court to compel officials to comply with Georgia’s own laws. The case, filed today, is Van Meter v. Turner.

In Major Lawsuit Filed Today Seeks to Shine Light On Georgia Law Enforcement Slush Funds, the IJ reports that

Georgia has some of the worst civil forfeiture laws and practices in the country, but a lawsuit filed today by the Institute for Justice (IJ) and five concerned Georgia citizens seeks to change that.

Civil forfeiture laws allow the police to seize your home, car, cash or other property upon the suspicion that it has been used or involved in criminal activity. In an attempt to ensure civil forfeiture is subject to public scrutiny, Georgia law requires local law enforcement agencies to annually itemize and report all property obtained through forfeiture, and how it is used, to local governing authorities.

But many, perhaps most, local Georgia law enforcement agencies fail to issue these forfeiture reports, thus turning forfeiture proceeds into off-budget slush funds shielded from public view. A new report, Forfeiting Accountability: Georgia’s Hidden Civil Forfeiture Funds, finds that among a random sample of 20 law enforcement agencies, only two were reporting as required. Of 15 major agencies in Georgia population centers, only one produced the required report. Yet federal data show Georgia agencies taking in millions through forfeiture.

Examples of abuse with these funds include a Georgia sheriff spending $90,000 in forfeiture funds to purchase a Dodge Viper, and a Georgia district attorney’s office using forfeiture funds to purchase football tickets.

Here’s a short, humorous video that describes the problem:



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