FREE WHITEWATER

Government Spending

Reason.tv: Porker of the Month – Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY)

by  • 

What led to U.S. Representative Hal Rogers’s victory as the Citizens Against Government Waste’s Porker of the Month?

Here’s the description accompanying the embedded video:


Conservation or nepotism? Since 2007 Rogers has been promoting a bill which would provide federal grants to overseas wildlife protection for lions and cheetahs.

Rogers’ daughter is the grants administrator for the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund, and has been since – you guessed it – 2007. Congratulations, Hal!

“Porker of the Month” is written and produced by Austin Bragg. Approximately 1 minute.



Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef8PUzxi9EI more >>

School District

A Referendum for Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Schools (Part 2)

by  • 

It does no good, in strength of argument, to repeat the same errors again, in the hope they’ll be more convincing the second time.

From the August 24th edition of the Daily Union, Whitewater school board advances two referendums:

If the new referendum is approved, the taxpayers will not see an increase in what they currently pay.

“At this point, it is tax neutral, since it is already in the levy,” said district business director Jim Strasburg.

From an August 16th post at FREE WHITEWATER, A Referendum for Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Schools:

….it’s unconvincing to suggest that the referendum carries no additional tax impact, since it’s a continuation of an existing tax burden. The WUSD’s Director of Business Services, Jim Strasburg, makes that contention:

Strasburg said the referendum – because it is a
continuation of an original referendum and its related tax
burden – carries no additional tax impact for district
residents. “That money is already in the levy,” he said.

There may be a justification for the referendum’s passage; this is not it.

Director Strasburg is wrong in his analysis. The extension of an existing tax burden, set to expire, is an additional burden, and so has an additional (tax) impact. For that matter, the imposition of a tax or cost is a burden at each time and occasion it’s imposed. It’s impossible for it to be otherwise. All resources are allocated, all costs borne, in conditions of scarcity where one use precludes other possible uses.

This is no reason to support the extension of tax or spending proposals – that something has been a burden and obligation in the past does not justify continuing it. The presumption in a community should always be against taking privately earned money from those who earned it. It may be a rebuttable presumption, but it should be a presumption nonetheless. To suggest otherwise it to declare that current tax and spending policy is unalterable, except by way of increase.

There’s a seeming change in the defense of the existing tax, from the contention that it presents no additional burden (of course it does) to the contention that it’s tax neutral.

Tax neutrality is another way of saying, as I noted over a week ago, that “current tax and spending policy is unalterable, except by way of increase.” In any event, there’s nothing neutral about a tax that one feels year after year, need not feel without a new referendum, and under a theory that defines neutrality only the same or more (never less) in taxes.

There may be a good case for this referendum. Unpersuasive claims about lack of additional impacts or ersatz neutrality aren’t part of that case.

Update: 9:22 PM — The argument here isn’t that there’s nothing such as tax neutrality as a concept (in any possible fiscal plan for any entity), but rather that the given referendum question on exceeding revenue caps for this district isn’t tax neutral, and to contend otherwise is a misuse of the term.

City, Government Spending, School District, Taxes/Taxation, University

Calls for Public Spending in a Small Town

by  • 

There are, I think, two principal ways that a government spending proposal in a small town succeeds. (There are more than two ways, but here I’m simply considering principal ways.)

The first way is how all spending proposals should be considered — on the merits. Is it necessary to tax for a public purpose, and even if so, what’s the least burdensome amount that taxpayers should be asked to bear? The presumption should rest against taxation and public spending, in favor of a wage earner’s retention of his or her earned income.

What begins as the income of a man or woman, only later becomes money for government to take, and use for a supposedly public purpose.

(Genuine public safety needs, and emergency assistance to vulnerable people, come to mind as legitimate expenditures.)

There’s a second way, however, that creeps into the thinking of politicians, bureaucrats, and boosters (boosters supposedly of the community, but mostly of themselves). It’s the idea that people have to get on board, be part of the team, go along, to cheer for bigger and better government projects. There are deadly narcotics less intoxicating than need to fall in line that a few exploit to turn people into lemmings.

It’s a nearly irresistible siren call reminiscent of a childhood exhortation: “Hey kids, lets put on a show…”

It’s often a tax-from-others to build-for-our-own-pride undertaking. Those who raise objections are deemed misfits, malcontents, complainers, lunatics, anarchists, misanthropes, community-haters, etc. The pressure that a small clique — only a few hundred of a town of many thousands — will exert is too much for many people. They find themselves unsettled, and worried that if they don’t agree with the latest project proposal, they’ll be picked on, etc.

Sometimes, they’re right — that is what happens. It’s how small officials abuse their authority by exercising petty tyrannies over others. These can be big problems in a small town.

Mostly, however, those who raise objections are carefully and deliberately excluded from task forces and appointed public boards where they might demonstrate how ill-considered the latest Next Big Project really is. Instead, a weak and manipulative municipal manager, for example, will rely on the same collection of People Who Can be Depended Upon to Agree with Any Project Proposed.

That’s a loss for a community, but no great impediment for honest, determined, and diligent critics. Those placed on committees simply as yes men are dull and narrow. A dozen of them are less effective than one sensible, common person.

I’m curious, though, which line of advance one is most likely to see in my town in the months ahead. One could guess, but the answer’s sure to be just around the corner….

Official Misconduct

Milwaukee County’s Immoral Utilitarianism: Update 16 (Journal Sentinel Calls for Chianelli’s Firing)

by  • 

Dr. John Chianelli’s leadership of Milwaukee County’s Behavioral Health Division and its Mental health Complex has been one of failure. He’s advocated and defended immoral policies, policies that have led to assault, neglect, and death. He’s unworthy of a public (or private) position, and should have been fired months ago.

In yesterday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the editorial board called for the firing of John Chianelli and those others responsible for abuse, neglect, and dishonesty (for some have lied about their involvement). It’s the right position.

In Those at the center of Mental Health Complex mismanagement must go, the paper sets out the clear and convincing case against Chianelli and his ilk:

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker should fire John Chianelli immediately as part of the effort to eradicate problems at the county’s Mental Health Complex.

But Walker should not stop there. He should insist that any Mental Health Complex employees who knowingly falsified documents or otherwise failed to do their jobs be shown the door. Their failures allowed a known predator, Omowale Atkins, to viciously sexually assault patients and impregnate one of them.

Even though the Journal Sentinel Watchdog team has shown a pattern of neglect and mismanagement at the complex, it appears very little discipline has been meted out. Heads need to roll, and that should begin with Chianelli, administrator of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division. He is in charge of the Mental Health Complex.

Articles by Journal Sentinel reporters Meg Kissinger and Steve Schultze detailed a mind-boggling lack of accountability and the tragic results of that ineptitude. As a result, we have very little confidence that the complex can keep safe some of the county’s most vulnerable people.

Walker and other county officials have argued that Milwaukee County treats more than 20,000 people with mental illness every year and that most of these patients receive good care. They are right. They also are missing the point.

Atkins had a lengthy history of violence and sexual assault; he had been accused of assaulting patients and physically assaulting staff. And though he was supposed to be supervised, he was allowed to roam about Ward 43-D and have sex with patients….

It wasn’t until federal inspectors cited the facility for the most serious violations that the county put in place new training for staff along with increased surveillance to help monitor and ensure safety….

Atkins is being held at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison. If he is sent back to the Milwaukee County facility, he must be isolated from other patients. The complex also should establish single-gender wards to protect women from assault….

The county cannot pinch pennies when it comes to the safety of vulnerable patients. [County Executive] Walker must take bold steps to clean up the mess at the complex. If a change in culture is required, then change the culture. Patients and staff must be kept safe, and everyone who enters the complex for treatment must be properly treated. The county’s most vulnerable must be protected.

The housecleaning should begin with firing Chianelli and any other staff member who failed the patients.

In May, following revelation of Chianelli’s justification of coed wards as a supposed trade between male-on-male patient violence for male-on-female sexual assault, I felt that his firing was well-justified. For that policy and its defense alone, Chianelli showed himself to be unfit to serve, unworthy of a public post in a decent society. His immoral utilitarianism led to abuse, suffering, and sexual assault.

Since then, Wisconsin has seen still more evidence of his failed leadership — the actual suffering of vulnerable mental patients — in news account after news account.

Yet Chianelli still remains in office.

The politicians and bureaucrats who allow Chianelli, and his kind, to remain in office are blameworthy for each day he continues to serve.

This issue will only go away when those responsible have been disciplined or removed, and those who come after assure more humane treatment.

Not a moment sooner.

I’ve posted about Chianelli’s policy, and the tragedy that is conduct at the MHC, before. See, A Milwaukee County Bureaucrat’s Immoral Utilitarianism, Update: A Milwaukee County Bureaucrat’s Immoral Utilitarianism, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Update 7, Update 8, Update 9, Update 10, Update 11, Update 12, Update 13, Update 14, and Update 15

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 8-24-10

by  • 

Good morning,

Whitewater’s forecast for today calls for a day of isolated thunderstorms with a high temperature of eighty degrees.

The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls that on this date in 1970, a dark day in Wisconsin history, a bombing at UW-Madison killed researcher Richard Fassnacht:

1970 – Sterling Hall Bombing on UW-Madison Campus

On this date a car bomb exploded outside Sterling Hall, killing research scientist Richard Fassnacht. Sterling Hall was targeted for housing the Army Mathematics Research Center and was bombed in protest of the war in Vietnam. The homemade bomb (2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate soaked in aviation fuel) was detonated by the New Year’s Gang, aka Vanguard of the Revolution, who demanded that a Milwaukee Black Panther official be released from police custody, ROTC be expelled from the UW campus, and “women’s hours” be abolished on campus. The entire New Year’s Gang fled to Canada the evening of the explosion. Four men were charged with this crime: Karleton Armstrong, David Fine, Dwight Armstrong, and Leo Burt. All but Burt were captured and served time for their participation. Leo Burt remains at large.[Source: On Wisconsin (online PDF) Summer 2005]

See, also, 40 Years Later FBI Still Hunts Alleged Bomber.



Cats

Associated Press: Wisconsin Man Accused of Neglecting 178 Cats

by  • 

Alleged, fiendish cat-abuser makes initial court appearance:

A Wisconsin man is accused of neglecting 178 cats and keeping dead kittens wrapped in foil in his refrigerator.

Allan C. Roach faces 20 misdemeanor charges….

The criminal complaint says many of the cats were missing patches of fur or were skinny.

Each count carries a maximum of nine months’ jail time.

(I haven’t found a mugshot of Roach, perhaps because he’s so ugly he would shatter an ordinary camera lens.)

If found guilty, then he’ll easily be among the most disgusting people in Wisconsin history.

Via The Associated Press: Wisconsin man accused of neglecting 178 cats.

More on the story is available at the Oshkosh Northwestern.

Economy

The Recovery Was An Illusion But That’s A Good Thing — Forbes

by  • 

Sy Harding, in Forbes:

Yes, the economic recovery was an illusion. So let’s not talk of double-dips. Let’s face the reality that the real economy’s first dip is still underway, that the real economy is still scraping along a bottom.

That’s not a bad thing. It’s better than the thought that the economy recovered but is already heading back into another recession. That the real economy is still scraping along a bottom brings hope that at some point soon it will begin a real recovery. That could come quicker than having to survive another dip into recession and another fear-filled wait for that recession to reverse into another recovery.

Maybe with the economy now shaking the artificial recovery out of the economic reports, showing us where the real economy lies, the government should just keep its hands off and let the free market system play out its normal cycle.

What’s better depends on what restores employment and prosperity most quickly.

Via The Recovery Was An Illusion But That’s A Good Thing – Great Speculations – Buys, holds, and hopes – Forbes.

Economy, Government Spending, Taxes/Taxation

Bury Keynesian Voodoo Before It Can Bury Us All: Kevin Hassett

by  • 

If the economy is in deep trouble, there are two economic policy steps that one could take in order to create a positive stimulus: reduce tax rates, or spend more money. (The so-called tax cuts in the 2009 stimulus had little effect because they were primarily credits and deductions, rather than reductions in marginal rates.)

But notice the problem for the Robin Hooders: If you cut tax rates in a recession in order to stimulate the economy, then you are conceding that lower tax rates can be a good thing. And if that?s true, then higher tax rates will be harmful — something the left has always denied.

See, Bury Keynesian Voodoo Before It Can Bury Us All: Kevin Hassett.

Film

A List of Favorite Films

by  • 

From last Friday’s Comments Forum, here’s a list of all the movies from those that that readers selected as their favorites, with my choices added to the mix. (Some films were listed as favorites by more than one reader.) I will post clips or trailers from the films throughout the week.


2001
Alien
Aliens
All the President’s Men
Avatar
Batman (latest series)
The Bicycle Thief
Birth of A Nation
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Bringing Up Baby
Casablanca
Citizen Kane
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Dark City
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Dead Poet’s Society
The Departed
La Dolce Vita
Dr. No
ET
Exorcist
Fountainhead
Frankenstein (1931)
Godfather
Godzilla (1954)
Gone with the Wind
Gorgo
Graduate
Henry V (1989)
High Noon
The Hills Have Eyes
His Girl Friday
Independence Day
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Ishtar (!)
Jaws
Jazz Singer
King Kong (1933)
King Kong (2005)
Lord of the Rings
Night of the Living Dead
North by Northwest
Nosferatu (original film)
Patton
Psycho
Rosemary’s Baby
Seven Samurai
Seventh Seal
Snow White
Star Trek
Star Wars, Episode IV
Star Wars, Episode V
Superman/Superman II (1978, 1980)
Taxi Driver
The Thing
Titanic
To Kill a Mockingbird
Wizard of Oz

This is a solid list (Ishtar not withstanding). (The final set of suggestions, sent on Sunday, included some great films without which the full list wouldn’t have been the same.) Many thanks to all — much appreciated.

Economy

LaToya Egwuekwe’s Decline: The Geography of a Recession

by  • 

Journalist and blogger LaToya Egwuekwe created a depiction of the recession entitled, The Decline: The Geography of a Recession that is as powerful for being so startling.

Here’s that depiction, showing the spread of the recession through the increase in unemployment across America:




Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ssIhiD8kKM.

Sad and astonishing in its subject, this is a video that’s truly brilliant for its simplicity and power. more >>

Free Markets

Markets and (Bathroom) Scales

by  • 

Over at the Christian Science Monitor, the Mises Economics Blog quotes P.J. O’Rourke:

The free market is not an ideology or a creed or something we’re supposed to take on faith, it’s a measurement. It’s a bathroom scale. I may hate what I see when I step on the bathroom scale, but I can’t pass a law saying I weigh 160 pounds. Authoritarian governments think they can pass that law – a law to change the measurement of things.

Well said.