FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.17.11

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Good morning,

Whitewater’s forecast calls for a chance of showers,  and a high temperature of sixty-four degrees.

It’s Market Day pickup at Lincoln School today, from 5 to 6 p.m.  During the day, the 8th grade band will tour Whitewater’s elementary schools.

Wired‘s published a science story today,  entitled “Oldest Female Elephants Have Best Memory,” about a study from England:

Elephant matriarchs 60 years of age or older tended to assess threats in a simulated crisis more accurately than younger matriarchs did, says Karen McComb of the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. When researchers played recordings of various lion roars, elephant groups with older matriarchs grew especially defensive at the sound of male cats. Younger matriarchs’ families underreacted, McComb and her colleagues report in an upcoming Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B.

So, elephants may have good memories, but aged females remember particularly well.

Liberty

A Rally in Whitewater on Friday, March 18th

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Here’s a chance to exercise the freedom of assembly in defense of the freedom of association.

On Friday, March 18th, there will be a rally at the Main Street bridge in Whitewater, near Cravath Lakefront followed by a town hall meeting at the Whitewater City Council chambers.

Here’s more about the event, from a public notice:

Join us on Friday, March 18 for a rally to protest Governor Scott Walker’s budget and anti-union legislation. We will begin at 6:00 PM on the Main Street bridge, near the veterans flagpoles.

Then, at 7:00, follow us to the Whitewater City Council chamber for a town hall meeting where you can learn about the legislation, what effects it will have on the people of Wisconsin, and what you can do to oppose it and take our democracy back. Among our featured speakers will be Professor Kim Hixson. Come let your voice be heard!

Inbox Reader Mail

Reader Mail

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Here’s a post on questions or comments that readers have recently sent along. I’ve responded directly to these inquiries, but I’ll publish excerpts of some questions and replies here.

What do you think about the Madison/Capitol/union protests?

Lots of questions along these lines.

I’m from a movement family, and so I’m favorable toward the right to assemble and protest. (A ‘movement’ family: an old libertarian family, stretching back even before the term libertarian was coined.) I was at the protest Saturday, taking pictures and recording video. The crowd was huge and peaceful. For many, protesting was probably new to them. I’d guess they feel good about speaking out. So they should.

For pictures and video, see, from Daily Wisconsin, Scenes from Capitol Protest 3.12.11 and Capitol Protest 3.12.11.

Refutation to the charge that the protesters are ‘thugs’ or ‘pickets’ requires no more than a photograph or recording of the protests. These are peaceful people exercising their rights, and defending the right to freedom of association.

Insults from the right about these protesters sound like versions of insults that right-leaning Tea Party groups faced two years ago. There’s human nature: rather than see these collective-bargaining supporters as legitimate, the right now turns on their legitimacy with variations on insults the Tea Party, itself, faced.

That’s not a principled approach; it’s an opportunistic and cynical one.

When have you talked about freedom of association before?

Months ago, in a post about neighborhood associations. (The question comes as a result of a recent post entitled, The Libertarian Position on Unions: In Support of Freedom of Association, in which the national Libertarian Party noted that attacks on collective bargaining are attacks on the right to freedom of association.)

In a post from May 2010, I pointed out that some associations — by lobbying government — interfere with the freedom of association of other residents. See, Whitewater’s Planning Commission Meeting from 5/10/10: Residential Overlay, discussing the dissent in Village of Belle Terre v. Borass.

Questions about Daily Wisconsin: kind words, and some questions about how it’s doing.



First, thanks for visiting both FREE WHITEWATER and Daily Wisconsin. I’ve incorporated reader suggestions into DW, and there will be more on the way.

DW is about ten weeks old, and is off to a good start, without any press releases, etc. Its traffic is all word of mouth, so to speak, but that’s worked very well so far. I’m content to let it build as it has been.

Daily Wisconsin links to significant or interesting Wisconsin news stories. That’s DW’s main theme — what’s happening in America’s Dairyland, today?

The website has, though, this intended characteristic: that the headlines are punchy, epigrammatic. So much of what newspapers and blogs write is bland, lacking the flavor of a pithy summary. Posts and stories don’t need to be like that.

Here’s an example. Instead of writing “Manitowoc man sentenced for 12th OWI,” I’ve described that news as “Manitowoc Rumpot Sentenced for 12th Drunk Driving Offense.” After the headline, I might add some commentary, a sentence or two. Alternatively, I might quote from a portion of a story with the quotation highlighted for emphasis. In each post, I link to the original publication, listing the source’s name in the link.

The news is that someone’s been driving drunk time after time (perhaps more than the dozen times he’s been caught). That news carries a punch, and there’s no reason that a description of a miscreant’s repeated bad deeds shouldn’t be direct, sharp, and feisty.

The same is true of a good deed. A headline that reads “Local Boy Saves Dog” isn’t as lively as “Six-Year Old Saves Crippled, Drowning Dachshund.”

There’s more opportunity in this regard — practice makes perfect.

A survey of news, with a bit of commentary, interests me more than pretending there’s no commentary involved. Selection is commentary, placement is commentary, word-choice is commentary.

Requests for predictions of different kinds.

I publish a predictions feature at the beginning of each year, but I’m not a suitable prognosticator.

If I were, I’d already have made lawful bets on the outcome of the last few World Series. I think certain long-term trends are likely, but the day-to-day is often unpredictable. That’s true of unexpected political proposals as much as natural disasters. Most people wisely navigate uncertainties with the confidence from deeper, enduring principles.

I’m an optimist about America — our best days are yet ahead.

City, Law, Police

Simple and Reasonable Compliance with the Law

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To enforce the law, one must observe the law. Conversely, one cannot credibly enforce the law by ignoring portions one does not like.

This principle is so simple and clear that stating as much states the obvious.

Whitewater has a lawful requirement that senior city leaders live within the city limits, among them nearly a dozen positions. The requirement is reasonable — those who have authority over the community should live within its borders. Our Common Council approved an expansion of an earlier requirement that required residency on February 2, 2010, and it has been our policy since. So reasonable was the policy, that it received unanimous approval. It has been our policy for thirteen months. It had been discussed favorably at the council meeting prior, as well.

So important is this rule that it extends even to positions without the authority to exercise lawful force for public safety. Whitewater may lawfully require civilian leaders to be city residents; it’s simply absurd to think that the city would apply a lesser standards to someone exercising the authority of police chief. This is true regardless of the amount of time for which that authority is exercised; exercise must be in accordance with our law each moment of the day.

The video record of the February 2, 2010 council meeting is embedded at the bottom of this post.

Whitewater’s police chief will soon leave his post, and our city’s Police Commission met last week to consider an interim police chief, for the time between the incumbent’s departure and the selection of a new, permanent successor. For two published accounts of that meeting, see Whitewater Police Commission delays naming interim chief and Whitewater commission delays decision on interim police chief. (Reporting on the residency discussion appears in paragraph eleven of the latter story.)

Among two choices considered last Thursday, only one was a resident of the city. The Commission, being evenly divided between the resident and non-resident, made no decision (one commissioner was unable to attend).

Although a Police Commission has authority to appoint an interim or permanent chief, there is no authority in that commission, or any other in the city, to disregard the city’s lawful residency requirements. Council alone (excepting a court ruling or act of the legislature) has the power to repeal or modify an exiting municipal rule.

There is no legitimacy for a commission’s disregard of this clear and settled rule. To do so would be actually to negate existing lawful requirements.

That disregard would be both wrong and absurd. Not wrong and absurd as a matter of policy, but of law itself.

Upholding this lawful rule, by its obvious and plain meaning, would be a credit to the city – a necessary and simple willingness to comply with the law.

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Law

An Epic Eminent Domain Battle: Inner-City Kids, Boxing Gym Fight Back

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The Institute for Justice highlights a case that’s heartbreaking — how developers and government collude in the wrongful use of eminent domain, to the harm of at-risk children.

Here’s what’s at stake:

A San Diego-area boxing gym that serves at-risk kids is showing what it takes to fight for what is right and to win. The Community Youth Athletic Center (CYAC) has had to endure a series of low blows by National City’s local government in a case that time and again demonstrated how difficult it is for California property owners to defend themselves against tax-hungry governments and land-hungry developers bent on eminent domain for private gain.

Fortunately, the Institute for Justice has taken up the case on behalf of these children. For a backgrounder on the case, see Knocking Out Eminent Domain Abuse: Youth Gym Files Suit Against National City, Calif.

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Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.16.11

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Good morning,

It’s a mild day ahead for the Whippet City, with a high temperature of fifty-seven.

In the City of Whitewater today, there will be a meeting of the Police Commission at 6:15 in the main chamber of the building. The agenda for the meeting is available online. (I’ll publish a post today about an item under consideration tonight.)

At Lakeview School today, it’s pajama day. At the middle school, there’s a PTO meeting at 7 p.m. Tonight, at the high school, there’s an awards and recognition program at 7 p.m.

For those partaking in a pajama day, there’s no better fashion model than the one and only, Fantastic Mr. Fox. In several scenes in the film, Mr. Fox sports particularly dapper pajamas. In his attire, and so much else, he’s a fine example.

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Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.15.11

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Good morning,

Our forecast calls for a mostly sunny day, with a high temperature of forty-nine degrees.  There will be a Common Council meeting tonight, at 6:30 p.m.  The agenda is available online.

There will be a special meeting of Whitewater’s school board tonight, in closed session at 6:30 p.m. and open session at 7 p.m.

It’s Music Fine Arts night at Lincoln School tonight at 6 p.m.

Here’s a trailer for the upcoming film Super 8, from J.J. Abrams, that looks promising —


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Law, Open Government

Sunshine Week, March 13 – 19

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It’s Sunshine Week in America this week. Here’s a quick description of the initiative, from the Sunshine Week website:

Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.

Sunshine Week as a national effort is spearheaded by the American Society of News Editors. The key funder has been the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, with significant support from ASNE Foundation. In 2011, The Gridiron Club and Foundation contributed $10,000.

Though created by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why.

Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.

Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan, non-profit initiative.

Readers know that I’ve supported consistently initiatives of this kind. See, for example, Municipal Openness and Transparency, and Their Alternatives (Update). It’s part of the fight against deception, and the hope of a few that residents will be easily distracted, and hoodwinked. That hope, of those few, still plagues Whitewater, recently as much as ever. See, along these lines, Nietzsche and the Dark Hope Against a Better Local Politics.

Well, then — there’s no better time than now to double one’s efforts.