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Recent Tweets, 3.6 – 3.12

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Sunny day of peaceful protests at Capitol Building
12 Mar

Jackass or Criminal? RT @js_newswatch: Man charged in Mayfair mall threat says online posting protected http://bit.ly/hD11Ut
12 Mar

Of course RT @davidharsanyi: The Blaze Finds That The NPR ‘Sting’ Video Used ‘Questionable Editing & Tactics’ — http://mediaite.com/a/gntua
12 Mar

RT @ACLUofWisconsin: We just finished training 20 more legal observers @UWM #wiunion
12 Mar

Yes or no? RT @MadPolitics: Facing boycott threats, M&I Bank says it won’t take stand on #budget repair bill http://dlvr.it/JzJVt #wiunion
12 Mar

RT js_newswatch JSOnline – NewsWatch
by FREEWHITEWATER
The scene in the square http://bit.ly/hejXoF
12 Mar

RT Wisconsin Reporter
by FREEWHITEWATER
Foo fighter’s chris shiflett scheduled to perform at Capitol demonstrations, an organizer says.
12 Mar

For Wynn, it’s one and done
12 Mar

Indeed it was [Wynn standing behind Gov. Walker at bill signing on 3.11], supporting a measure bad for his district & state, & revealing what a poor fit he is for 43rd
12 Mar

Of reasons for GOP legislator from 43rd Assembly dst to stand w Gov Walker at anti-union bill signing getting re-elected not one of them
11 Mar

Leader’s first responsibilty is to public by bonds with field Not administration, not budgets, not Madison, but serving in, for community
11 Mar

There is no better leadership for Whitewater than leadershp that supports field workers Not administration, but true collaboration
11 Mar

The Libertarian Position on Unions: In Support of Freedom of Association « FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/gZOuKh
10 Mar

GOP incumbents, newly-elected in marginal districts, are likely done for reelection Almost theft of money for them to take contributions
10 Mar

There will be more than one Assembly or Senate seat flipping after last evening’s Capitol vote These men didn’t run on that platform
10 Mar

Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Search for a New Police Chief « FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/e3ylVQ
10 Mar

Consensus, Compromise, and Opposition « FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/i3Je5i
10 Mar

Acknowledging obvious: Fitzgerald Declares GOP Win in Collective Bargaining Battle to Make ’12 Difficult for Obama http://bit.ly/fGZXl0
9 Mar

One man’s resolve is many another man’s stubbornness. RT @clayboWSJ: Walker’s resolve can be found in his past http://bit.ly/htR5OB
9 Mar

Why conservatives are having mixed luck getting video of angry, violent liberals – Slate Magazine http://slate.me/glf02c
6 Mar

Daily Bread

Daily Bread 3.11.11

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Good morning,

It’s a mostly sunny day for Whitewater today, with a high temperature of forty-two degrees.

The Comment Forum will be on hiatus today, but back next week.

The New York Times recalls that on this day in 1941, President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill:

Five minutes after the bill was signed the President approved a list of undisclosed quantities of war materials to be transferred at once from the American Army and Navy to the British and the Greeks, to bolster these powers in their life-and-death struggle with the Axis. Most of these first materials, the nature of which the President guarded, will go to Great Britain. Having thus promptly set the machinery to motion toward making the United States “the Arsenal of democracy,” Mr. Roosevelt began work on a request to be sent to Congress tomorrow for an immediate appropriation of $7,000,000,000 with which to press the lease-lend effort to the fullest possible extent under the new law.

 

Libertarians, Liberty

The Libertarian Position on Unions: In Support of Freedom of Association

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For all the talk about where different groups stand on collective bargaining and the right of freedom of association, a bit of clarity on where Libertarians stand. (Not where conservatives or liberals think Libertarians stand, but where we truly and wholeheartedly stand.)

Here’s a message from the chair of the LP, excerpts of which I reproduce below:


LP Chair: The problem in Wisconsin is not unions but government

WASHINGTON – While Republicans and Democrats battle in Wisconsin over a bill to reduce the collective bargaining power of state employee unions as a means of balancing their budget, Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle points out that the problem lies with government control of activities it has no business running.

Hinkle comments, “Libertarians are neither pro-union nor anti-union. We believe that the right of association and freedom of contract allows any group of people to choose to bargain collectively rather than individually. Naturally, we oppose violence and threats of such, but unions per se can play a major role in a free society. The problem is that the battle between the Wisconsin state government and state employees isn’t even remotely a free market.

“Government monopolizes many services that could and should be provided in the voluntary sector by profit-making and/or non-profit organizations. This also gives them a ‘monopsony’ as virtually the only potential employer for workers in these fields. Once someone has trained to be a teacher or prison guard, they are essentially at the mercy of government for their employment in that field. Blaming them for wanting collective bargaining representation would be comparable to siding with the Polish government against the union Solidarity headed by Lech Walesa that freed Poland in 1989 from Soviet rule. The problem is with the employer: the government….

Wisconsin has seen an astonishing attack on the freedom of association.

Some Republicans are sure that attack is the right thing.

Libertarians know they’re wrong.

The full statement from the LP is available online.

City, Police

Whitewater’s Search for a New Police Chief

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There’s a story over at the Gazette that mentions the departure of Whitewater’s Chief Coan, an amount of money that he may owe Whitewater under contract, and the selection of a new police chief. (That process begins, but only begins, tonight.)

I’d be surprised if he doesn’t request to keep the ten thousand; there will be a few who insist that the by-the-letter standard that Coan’s leadership expected of ordinary residents not be applied to him.

It’s much harder still when someone describes Coan’s tenure with the observation that “he raised the standards in the department considerably.”

Opinions like that are not at issue in a request by the chief to withhold this amount from the city. The issue should not be conflated with other views.

Beyond this, our best course would be a serious search for a new chief through an independent firm. There will be, also, insistence against that course (with the false excuse that there’s no money for a search. We have money for all sorts of things, but there will be an unwillingness — a stubborn resistance — from some against an independent search.)

There will be an interim chief, but the easier and worse course would be to pick a final replacement without a pool provided from a serious, independent search firm.

For the story, see Whitewater police chief might have to pay to resign post — GazetteXtra.

City, Wisconsin

Consensus, Compromise, and Opposition

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Here, in America’s Dairyland, a place of astonishing beauty, one finds a political preference for consensus, leading to frequent and sensible compromises, but occasionally requiring opposition. That’s true in Whitewater, too.

Consensus.

Of all America, I know of no place that favors consensus more than Wisconsin does. There’s speculation of how she has come to prefer it so very much, but it hardly matters now; favor it she does. In politics, we are a people that prefers a common way. This seems so obvious to me — and likely to you also — that I will not belabor the point.

Compromise.

For most political matters, a compromise makes sense. Policies on spending, taxation, and budgets can be resolved, most especially in a state like ours, where our fellow citizens favor consensus. It’s easier to come to compromise on the ordinary debates of life in a place that favors consensus, so we have a leg up on many parts of the world.

Opposition.

Yet, there are some matters — of the administration of justice, and of the truthfulness of officials’ statements — over which there cannot be compromise. An official’s wrongful conduct, another’s shameless lying, should not be met with acceptance. One should not — of this I am sure — say, for example, “that’s just so-and-so, being how he always is.”

I’ve heard this, about a few in Whitewater, along the lines that one should excuse conflicts of interest, or dishonest statements, or wrongful public actions, on the theory that no one meant ill by them.

That excuse would, of course, exculpate almost anyone from almost anything, on the theory that he lied for a supposedly good, well-intentioned, public purpose.

Any town — and certainly an American town, being the inheritor of centuries of justice — deserves better.

Toward injustices and official lies there can be only opposition. There is no supervening local standard of conduct that trumps America’s tradition of public honest and integrity.

One yearns for compromise, but opposition, rather than compromise, is what dishonest officials deserve.

We are fortunate that there are few such officials; sadly, we are afflicted, as we have some, when no community deserves any.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.10.11

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Good morning,

It’s a day of clearing and milder weather ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of thirty-seven degrees.

There will be a meeting of Whitewater’s Police Commission tonight, at 6 p.m. The agenda is available online.

Note: Link to agenda updated to reflect amended agenda.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.9.11

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Good morning,

It’s a day of rain and snow for Whitewater, with a high temperature of thirty-five degrees. No matter how much some might hope for spring, there’s an undeniable power and beauty to snow, evidence of the power of nature, of the beauty of the created order.

Book fairs continue at Lincoln School and the middle school today, and there are school conferences throughout the district beginning this afternoon.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.8.11

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Our forecast calls for a cloudy day in Whitewater, with a high temperature of forty degrees.

In our schools today, book fairs continue at Lakeview School and the middle school.  There’s a 3 p.m. meeting of the PTO at Lincoln School, proud home of the Leopards.