Here’s a post from Slashdot, about Queen Elizabeth —
The Queen is set to have an official presence on Facebook when a British Monarchy page launches on the internet-based social networking site. Buckingham Palace says it is not a personal profile page, but users can ‘like’ the service and receive updates on their news feed….
I’m not on Facebook, but then if I were, I wouldn’t ‘like’ the Queen’s page anymore than I’d like the woman who lives the life of an hereditary monarch.
Utter folly —
Congress may fail to reach agreement on the Bush tax cuts by Dec. 31, and that means most Americans will see higher withholding on their paychecks starting in January. Also, the Making Work Pay credit ends, and that will shrink paychecks, too.
Via Video – Why Paychecks Will Likely Shrink in January – WSJ.com. more >>
The rabbits are from Washington State, near the decommissioned Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Admittedly, this may suggest a drawback to my longstanding proposal to build a nuclear reactor at 312 W. Whitewater Street, in Whitewater, Wisconsin. (See, Go Nuclear!)
There’s no reason residents, and animals, of the Whippet City couldn’t be issued protective apparel.
For more about the west coast rabbits, see Slashdot News Story | Researchers Race To Recover Radioactive Rabbits.
I received the following press release —
Whitewater, Wisconsin (November 5, 2010) – Downtown Whitewater welcomes Margie Johnson and her Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop. Margie is a highly acclaimed speaker, trainer, author and consultant. She continues to provide entrepreneurs with the strategies to help their retail business endeavors survive in the competitive market as well as increase performance and profitability levels.
Margie’s firm, Shop Talk, has 25 years of expertise directed at consultations and research in retail, hospitality, health care, and financial industries. She has received numerous accolades including; The Fred Lazarus National Retail Federation Award and Inside Business 2006 Women in Business Achievement Award as well as coverage in the National Retail Federation, WHRO Public Television and NBC’s Today Show. Shop Talk has many clients some of whom include, Dallas Market Center, Denver Merchandise Mart, Farm Fresh Supermarkets, Lord and Taylor, Gray’s Department Stores, Prime outlets and Mayo Clinic. A more comprehensive list may be found on her website; www.shoptalk.org.
The Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop will cover topics that concern independent businesses and the situations that they face. The session will target such focuses as an update on retail sales by industry segments, trends concerning the consumer and the impact of the Internet, issues with customer service, marketing ideas and resources, sales and promotional ideas.
The free workshop will be held November 17, 2010 at the Cravath Lakefront Community Building from 8:00 am to 9:30 am. The workshop is being sponsored by the Wisconsin Main Street program as continuing assistance in recognition of Downtown Whitewater’s Main Street status. The Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop is being offered for the benefit of Main Street District Businesses in an effort to provide skill sets to survive and thrive in a demanding and dynamic marketplace.
Downtown Whitewater was formed in 2006 to Preserve, improve and promote Whitewater’s quality of life by strengthening our historic downtown as the heartbeat of the community.
If you have any questions you may contact Tami Brodnicki @ 262.473.2200 or e-mail Tami @ director@downtownwhitewater.com
Eat * Shop * Enjoy
Transparent Conductive Material Could Lead to Power-Generating Windows http://bit.ly/9yyKqF
6 Nov
U.S. Fears Oil Is Settling on Gulf Floor – WSJ.com http://on.wsj.com/9Thbf0
5 Nov
RT @WSJ_Econ: Broader U-6 Unemployment Rate at 17%: The Long-Term Unemployed and the Dark Side of Jobs Report http://on.wsj.com/bCEmPM
5 Nov
RT @CatoInstitute: This is the last weekend to download a FREE digital copy of “The Struggle to Limit Government”: http://bit.ly/aLwdVU
5 Nov
Bedbugs Complaint at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel – Hotel Faces Second Allegation of Bedbugs – Metropolis – WSJ http://on.wsj.com/ckqXEd
4 Nov
Why Whitewater Isn’t a Progressive City; Why Whitewater’s ‘Conservatives’ Hold the City Tenuously « FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/d4IKSv
4 Nov
On the Wisconsin 43rd District Assembly Race « FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/cRtQFa
4 Nov
@radleybalko: Some encouraging election results on criminal justice issues. http://reason.com/blog/2010/11/03/last-nights-good-news-on-the-c
3 Nov
Casting the Ballot in Elections Gone By http://bit.ly/cs2xAl
2 Nov
Scott Rasmussen: A Vote Against Dems, Not for the GOP – WSJ.com http://bit.ly/cMtqfH
2 Nov
Millard church members work the land to feed food pantry — Walworth County Today http://bit.ly/9qMBIG
2 Nov
A listing of area Veterans’ Day events for Thursday:
Via Honoring our veterans: Ceremonies Thursday throughout Walworth County — Walworth County Today.
Whitewater, Wisconsin (November 5, 2010) – Downtown Whitewater welcomes Margie Johnson and her Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop. Margie is a highly acclaimed speaker, trainer, author and consultant. She continues to provide entrepreneurs with the strategies to help their retail business endeavors survive in the competitive market as well as increase performance and profitability levels.
Margie’s firm, Shop Talk, has 25 years of expertise directed at consultations and research in retail, hospitality, health care, and financial industries. She has received numerous accolades including; The Fred Lazarus National Retail Federation Award and Inside Business 2006 Women in Business Achievement Award as well as coverage in the National Retail Federation, WHRO Public Television and NBC’s Today Show. Shop Talk has many clients some of whom include, Dallas Market Center, Denver Merchandise Mart, Farm Fresh Supermarkets, Lord and Taylor, Gray’s Department Stores, Prime outlets and Mayo Clinic. A more comprehensive list may be found on her website; www.shoptalk.org.
The Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop will cover topics that concern independent businesses and the situations that they face. The session will target such focuses as an update on retail sales by industry segments, trends concerning the consumer and the impact of the Internet, issues with customer service, marketing ideas and resources, sales and promotional ideas.
The free workshop will be held November 17, 2010 at the Cravath Lakefront Community Building from 8:00 am to 9:30 am. The workshop is being sponsored by the Wisconsin Main Street program as continuing assistance in recognition of Downtown Whitewater’s Main Street status. The Sustainable Success Strategies Workshop is being offered for the benefit of Main Street District Businesses in an effort to provide skill sets to survive and thrive in a demanding and dynamic marketplace.
Downtown Whitewater was formed in 2006 to Preserve, improve and promote Whitewater’s quality of life by strengthening our historic downtown as the heartbeat of the community.
If you have any questions you may contact Tami Brodnicki @ 262.473.2200 or e-mail Tami @ director@downtownwhitewater.com
Wisconsin comes in 43rd place, up from 48th last year, but with a quality of life much higher, at 10th place.
See, Table: The Best States For Business And Careers – Forbes.com.
Aside from Japan, which has a huge debt hangover from decades of anemic growth, the U.S. is the most extreme case. Next year, the U.S. government will have to find $4.2 trillion. That’s 27.8% of its annual economic output, up from 26.5% this year. By comparison, crisis-addled Greece needs $69 billion, or 23.8% of its annual GDP….
Astonishing.
Via Number of the Week: $10.2 Trillion in Global Borrowing – Real Time Economics – WSJ.
The Libertarian Party of America issued the following press release about the Transportation Security Administration’s excessive security policies —
WASHINGTON – Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle commented today on the Transportation Security Administration’s use of strip-search machines at airports.
Hinkle said, “The TSA should end the strip-search machine program immediately.
“We’ve reached a point where our government has no qualms about humiliating us.
“Everyone who cares about civil liberties should be outraged that the Obama administration has shown no respect for travelers’ privacy or their right to be free from unreasonable searches. The fact that I want to travel on an airplane does not make me a threat, and it does not allow anyone to conduct a warrantless search under my clothing. The Obama administration apparently agrees with the neoconservative philosophy that there are no limits on government power in the areas of security and terrorism.
“Terrorists win when they provoke our government into overreacting. Apparently they have manipulated our government into chipping away at our rights and privacy. We should not let them get away with it.”
American Pilots Association president Dave Bates recently spoke out against the strip-search machines, expressing concern about the possibly harmful radiation they emit.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently filed the opening brief in its lawsuit against the program. EPIC says that the machines violate the federal Privacy Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the Fourth Amendment. EPIC’s president called the program “unlawful, invasive, and ineffective.”
Hinkle continued, “We can ignore the government’s assurances that images will not be stored. Regardless of policy, some security personnel will want to store the images, and they will find ways to do it. This is already reported to have happened in Florida, where U.S. Marshalls stored thousands of images from a courthouse scanner.
“Many airlines are probably relieved to have the federal government assume responsibility for security. But it’s the airlines who ought to be responsible, and they should bear the liability for what happens on their flights. Rather than have a one-size-fits-all approach imposed by the government, passengers and airlines should be free to work together to determine what methods and levels of security fit their needs best.
“We encourage Americans to call their newly-elected members of Congress and tell them that they don’t want this expensive, worthless, intrusive, unconstitutional program.”
For more information, or to arrange an interview, call LP Executive Director Wes Benedict at 202-333-0008 ext. 222.
The LP is America’s third-largest political party, founded in 1971. The Libertarian Party stands for free markets, civil liberties, and peace.
Lucy Cooke “posted a short video [she] made called “Meet the sloth” that features some of the sleepy residents of the Aviarios del Caribe, the world’s only sloth orphanage in Costa Rica. The world then went nuts for sloths, the video went viral and has now been watched by more than 2 million people around the world….”
Here’s the original video —
Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.
Here’s the second — where the sloths are potty trained —
Potty training at the sloth orphanage from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.
The U.S. jobless rate was flat at 9.6% in October, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment dropped slightly to 17%, possibly due to long-term unemployed dropping out of the labor force….
The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs….
The drop in the size of the labor force is likely an indication that many discouraged workers are just giving up. The labor force is only about 50,000 higher than it was in October 2009, but the population of working-age Americans who aren’t in the military or an institution, such as a prison or home for the aged, has increased by nearly two million people over that time.
There’s a way out — and back to high levels of employment so necessary for prosperity and well-being — a shift away from government spending and taxation toward fewer burdens and lower taxes for private businesses.
Over at the Capital Times, there’s an editorial entitled, “Disrespect for League Harms Democracy.” The Cap Times contends that major parties have come to ignore the League of Women Voters’ non-partisan voters’ guides and debates. (Hat tip to The Phantom Stranger for the link.)
The paper contends that ignoring the League harms our statewide politics.
Yes, I think it does.
Here’s the argument from the paper’s editors:
Historically, candidates of all parties have respected and worked with the league.
But as big money has taken over the electoral process, the league has been pushed aside by the power players, who would rather manipulate elections than allow voters to make honest and informed choices.
The disregard by the political class and its corporate sponsors for the LWV’s good work really began back in the 1980s, when the former chairs of the Democratic and Republican national committees conspired to take management of presidential debates away from the league. They established the Commission on Presidential Debates — with help from the television networks — as a vehicle to limit access to the most important forums for presidential nominees. It worked. With the league out of the picture, third-party and independent candidates were largely excluded from the national forums, while the formats and questions have been dictated more by partisan players than a respect for the public’s right to know.
They also note that the situation is one-sided in Wisconsin, where many more Republicans, rather than Democrats, ignore the League.
That’s too bad. No moderators will be perfect, but I’d be easily comfortable with the League’s role as moderator, especially over other alternatives.
I’ve been asked, sometimes, if I would ever debate someone in Whitewater. Of course. Websites will sometimes devote a day or few days to a back-and-forth exchange between two people. One takes one side of an issue, the other the opposite view, and they engage in an extended exchange. The fewer the constraints, the better.
As has been true from the first day of this website, my email address appears on the right sidebar: adams@freewhitewater.com.
