FREE WHITEWATER

Charity, Press Release

Alzheimer’s Association: Basics of Dementia (Series Begins August 12th)

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I received the following press release that I am pleased to post:

Alzheimer’s Association to Present on Basics of Dementia

Program to offer tools and insight on Alzheimer’s and related dementia

The Alzheimer’s Association will be presenting a three-part workshop called the “Basics of Dementia” on consecutive Thursdays beginning August 12, 2010 and continuing through August 26, 2010 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. The workshop will be held at Fort Memorial Hospital, Auditorium, 611 Sherman Avenue East in Fort Atkinson.

This three-session program is ideal for those who have experienced the recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia in their family, friend, or neighbor, and want to educate themselves on this topic. There is no cost to attend.

The program will cover the warning signs of dementia; the differences between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, communication strategies, assessing behavior changes, safety issues, community resources and personal care for the caregiver. There will also be an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences with others who are coping with similar situations.

Registration for all three sessions is required. For information or to register, please contact Bonnie Beam-Stratz, MSW, 920-728-4088 or send an email to bonnie.beam@alz.org.

This program is being presented in collaboration with Fort Healthcare Memory Center and Jefferson County Aging & Disability Resource Center.

The Alzheimer’s Association is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research, to provide and enhance care and support for all affected and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. For more information about Alzheimer’s disease and local services visit www.alz.org/sewi or call the Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 Helpline at 800-272-3900.

Freedom of Speech, Law, Politics

Let Ieshuh Griffin Run with Her Chosen Description on the Wisconsin Ballot

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I’d never heard of Ieshuh Griffin, an independent candidate for a seat in Wisconsin’s Assembly, until Wednesday. I read yesterday about the Government Accountability Board’s denial of her request to describe her candidacy on the November ballot with the words

“NOT the Whiteman’s Bitch.”

(Candidates may have a brief description of their candidacies on the ballot.) There’s now a link to a video of her presentation before the GAB.

Her desired description is vulgar, but it’s not a threat of violence or defamatory statement. A candidate should be able to place words on the ballot so long as those words neither threaten violence nor defame. Current regulations are too restrictive. These are simply a few words directed to other adults, to appear on a ballot. In a free society, a candidate should be able to make a declaration like this, even if it’s wrong, foolish, or crude.

Voters would be able to decide for themselves what they think of those words, and that candidate, when voting. If they think what Griffin’s saying is true, and they find it compelling, they can vote for her. There must be at least a few voters who would be eager to vote for a woman who confidently tells the world that she’s “NOT the whiteman’s [sic] bitch.” Griffin must be serious, as she capitalizes the first word of her proposed statement. She’s generous to do so; it removes the ambiguity that she might, just might, be otherwise.

Alternatively, perhaps this is a false claim, and Ieshuh Griffin is, in fact, under the thumb of one or more white men. If that’s true, she’s either lying or mistaken about her own condition. There’s a simple answer for voters should she prove to be a liar or deluded about her supposed independence from white society: don’t vote for her. Voters in her Assembly district can express their rejection of her claims, or the way she’s expressed them, by voting for someone else.

I’d also like to note that Griffin received the support of 3 of the 5 members present on the Government Accountability Board for her proposed statement, although by law she needed the support of four. The board members were all white men. A majority of them attending supported her request. That’s a pretty good showing.

Perhaps, just perhaps, she’s not their bitch after all. Truer still, they’re surely not the people her proposed description suggests they are.

Yet, she should be able, in a free society, to use the wording she’s requested.

Law, Laws/Regulations

“You’ll Follow This Law, and You’ll Like It. And Don’t Roll Your Eyes at Me, Young Lady” – Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

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A community wants to impose a penalty for eye rolling at a meeting. An American community.

More absurd still, they’ve asked their city attorney to research the matter. Among the books they’ve asked him to consult is Roberts Rules of Order. It’s a venerable guide, but imagine someone so clueless that he’d use it as one of several bases for a criminal charge (albeit a misdemeanor).

Hey citizen, you’ve broken the rules of decorum because you’ve rolled your eyes, and that’s not permitted in a procedural handbook.

Why not just look through Emily Post?

It’s a deep recession for millions, but at least the Elmhurst city attorney’s getting work from the city. Don’t let him go hungry: Ask him how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

(In fairness, even he seems embarrassed by the city’s research request, as one can infer from the original news account.)

See, You’ll Follow This Law, and You’ll Like It. And Don’t Roll Your Eyes at Me, Young Lady. – Hit & Run : Reason Magazine.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 7-22-10

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Good morning,

Today’s forecast for Whitewater calls for a day of heavy rain and thunderstorms, with a high of eighty-two degrees.

The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls that on this date in 1820,

1820 – Louis P. Harvey Born

On this date Louis P. Harvey, Wisconsin Governor, was born in Connecticut. He taught school in both Kentucky and Ohio before relocating to Kenosha, where he worked as a newspaper editor. He was elected to the Wisconsin state senate in 1853, 1855, and 1857. In 1859 he was elected Secretary of State. He served as governor from January 6 to April 19, 1862. Louis P. Harvey died on April 19, 1862, in Savannah, Tennessee while delivering medical supplies to Wisconsin soldiers at Pittsburgh Landing. Harvey slipped while stepping from one boat to another and fell into the Tennessee River and drowned. His body was recovered four days later and returned to Madison. Governor Harvey is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery. [Source: First Ladies of Wisconsin-The Governors’ Wives by Nancy G. Williams, p. 255]

I don’t know of any other case — certain to be rare in any event — in which a Wisconsin governor died during military service. More about Harvey, and his wife, is available at Wikipedia.

Eleven Fifty-Nine

Eleven Fifty-Nine for 7-21-10

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Good evening,

The forecast for my small town calls for an overnight low of sixty-seven degrees, and a slight chance of thunderstorms.

I’ve been following the Tour de France, but today was a rest day, so there was no new cycling to watch this morning. It’s Stage 17 tomorrow morning, and Andy Schelck Talks Tough Before [the] Tourmalet Showdown.

Schelck had better do more than talk tough, as Alberto Contador has a slender lead, but a wide capacity to do whatever it will take to keep that lead. I think that if someone told Contador he’d have to eat his own parents to win, we’d see him serving both of them on Ritz crackers before the next stage begins.

Here are the top 10 General Classification riders after Stage 16:

1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 78:29:10
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:08
3 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:02:00
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0:02:13
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:03:39
6 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0:05:01
7 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack 0:05:25
8 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:05:45
9 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0:07:12
10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin – Transitions 0:07:51

Tomorrow’s stage is sure to be exciting.

Some readers will see this post tomorrow, but there are some — true night owls — who will see it tonight, before they go to bed. For those still up, I have a special treat, courtesy of CBS News, on the returning scourge of bed bugs.

That’s right — bed bugs are a returning menace in communities across America. I grew up thinking that they were a pestilence from another time, but they’ve come back.

Just watch this CBS report (a report I found at the Huffington Post):



Link: http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=69016&sitesection=ndnsubss&VID=89084.

For an earlier post, about a bed bug detecting beagle, see Bed bug problem? Call a dog named Max – Wisconsin State Journal.

FREE WHITEWATER’s now offered 2 — two — bed bug related posts. Readers won’t find this same solicitous attention to health and hygiene at just any website.

Oh, no.

Sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Free Markets

William Watson: Free Market Winning Fans

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Canadian blogger William Watson, writing at the Financial Post, notes that throughout the world, majorities support free markets:

Despite anti-market views in the media, polls show an eye-opening level of support for free markets around the world

How do you feel about the following statement? “Most people are better off in a free market economy, even though some people are rich and some are poor.”….

How do Americans feel about the free market? This year 68% either agreed or strongly agreed with the above statement that a free market economy is best even with the income inequalities it generates. That’s down a bit from previous years (72% in 2002, 70% in 2007 and 76% in 2009). But it’s just what you’d expect from Americans — namely, solid and not really wavering belief in the free market….

What’s really eye-opening about the numbers, however, is who else loves the market. This year, 84% of Chinese citizens polled agreed the free market is best. That was the highest approval rating among all countries polled. China. An officially communist country. Home not 50 years ago of the infamous Cultural Revolution, in which all symptoms of individual economic success were eradicated, down to people’s eyeglasses. India, too, long a bastion of Third-Way economic planning and regulation, gave the free market a 79% approval rating.

The market has fans everywhere in the emerging economic superpowers: In Brazil, 75% of those polled expressed their approval; in Nigeria, 82%. My favourite factoid from this data is that the highest approval rating ever, 96% in 2002, was recorded by Vietnam, i.e., what we used to think of as Ho Chi Minh’s Vietnam but maybe should be rethought of as Adam Smith’s Vietnam (even if 96% is the kind of majority Ho Chi Minh elections used to produce). In the Palestinian territories, the free market polls a vigorous 82%….

See, William Watson: Free market winning fans | FP Comment | Financial Post.

Politics

Democrats in Wisconsin Squander Incumbency: The Burden Tom Barrett Bears

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Over at the left-of-center Capital Times, John Nichols writes about the many difficulties Wisconsin Democrats will have this year. In What Barrett Must Do to Win Governor’s race, Nichols is candid about the difficult terrain for Democrats:

The gray governorship of Jim Doyle is edging to a close after eight years of uninspired managerialism. Even when Doyle was handed solid Democratic majorities in the state Assembly and Senate, he did little with them. As a result, he will finish his tenure without having made anything but the most minimal case for why it matters to put Democrats in charge.

And the embarrassing leadership of Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, will make it that much harder for the Democrats to claim that they are superior to the Republicans. Sheridan, voters may recall, kept company with a payday-lending industry lobbyist and then abandoned his commitment to crack down in a meaningful way on check-cashing operations that give a bad name to loan sharks.

So it is that, just by showing up, the Republicans are well positioned. Like Democrats who prevailed in 2006 and 2008 by simply noting that they were not associated with George W. Bush, Republicans are looking at the prospect of a year in which they might win simply by not being the Democrats.

Nichols suggests that Barrett should emphasize his, Barrett’s, plan for a more competitive redistricting of legislative districts. I wouldn’t wonder that, despite rhetorical support from some Democrats, most incumbents of either major party would oppose competitive redistricting should Barrett win.

Nichols is right, I’d guess, that Barrett needs to “differentiate him[self] not just from the Republicans but from Democrats who have compromised and failed.” Democrats have squandered their incumbency as Republicans previously did. It’s also true to observe that redistricting changes would not be enough, but that Barrett would need a whole package of structural reforms (and would need to emphasize those reforms day and night until November).

That’s a huge task; the election’s less than four months away….

Politics

Republicans Jump Too Quickly: “Baldwin Kept on Ballot After Board Nixes Complaint”

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Last week, Dane County’s Young Republicans challenged the campaign papers of U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin, alleging that she had improperly listed her Congressional office as her home address (and declaring that she was likely residing outside her district).

I received an email copy of the Republicans’ press release. The release surprised me, because Baldwin has validly listed her office address before, on prior filings. Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board has reasonably allowed her to list that address, for safety, because of threats she’s received.

The listing doesn’t mean she doesn’t live in the district, it simply means that she’s been given permission to withhold her address from that public filing. There’s nothing new about this; anyone who’d bothered to look as past filings would have seen the same listing. The GAB would have been able to explain the use of the office address easily, eliminating the need for a challenge, and the embarrassment of a false one.

At a hearing on the matter, the challenge to her campaign papers was dismissed. See, Baldwin Kept on Ballot After Board Nixes Complaint.

Free Markets

Stossel Asks: “Immigrants – Good or Bad?”

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Libertarians believe in free markets in capital and labor. How does that apply to immigration?

In a post on the subject, Stossel considers the views of conservative Heather Mac Donald [thus] and libertarian Jason Riley.

Stossel concludes in favor of fewer restrictions on labor:

Black markets make problems worse. America should let more people come here legally.

Yes, they do. Yes, we should.

See, “Immigrants – Good or Bad?”

Uncategorized

Bureaucracies First Afflict Their Own Frontline Workers

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There’s a great article in the latest issue (August 2010) of Wired about stress. The article’s not yet online, but it’s entitled “Under Pressure,” and it describes how the stress of those working in a bureaucracy can be particularly difficult.

The article refers to a studies of British civil servants, part of the vast Whitehall bureaucracy, and describes findings in which Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, was able to demonstrate that frontline workers carried more stress, of a more damaging kind, than leaders in that bureaucracy.

Here’s a link to more information on the Whitehall studies, information that includes links to the studies’ database.

Much of this confirms what people know, by experience — that lower-level workers are often brow-beaten and bullied, and that their lives are made miserable by leaders’ actions and inactions.

I’m not British, and I’ve not talked to anyone who ever worked in the British civil service, but I’d guess that at least some frontline workers had difficult lives because bureaucrartic leaders mistreated them while simultaneously projecting and image of civility and enlightenment to the outside world.

One can guess just as easily that this isn’t simply a British problem. America is lousy with self-promoting bureaucrats, grandstanding politicians, and their sycophants, who use government authority to advance themselves at the expense of those doing all the real work, behind the scenes.

It’s true, as has been said many times, that some leaders don’t think it’s enough to climb a ladder above others; they feel the need to kick down, at those beneath them.

I’m convinced that problems typically begin at the top, and spread downward.

This is the difference between someone who loves up and someone who loves down. A person who loves up cares mostly about his own interest, and is fawning to peers and superiors who might advance that interest. He mistreats those lower in the hierarchy as tools to his own end.

A person who loves down cares most for frontline and lower-level workers, and thinks first of them, even at the risk of his own career.

I’ll leave it to readers to conclude which environment is the one in which they work, and which is the one in which they’d wish to work.

Government Spending

Reason.tv: Steven Greenhut on Public Employee Paychecks, Perks, and Plunder

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In a nine-minute video, author and web publisher Steven Greenhut states his case against the financial demands of public sector employees. In his home state of California, Greenhut’s seen first hand how voracious the public sector can be, and how it’s left that state broke, and a pale version of its former attractiveness.

Quick note: Consistent with my prior remarks, I think cuts in a bureaucracy should always begin at the top. Leaders should sacrifice sooner and more than frontline workers.


Steven Greenhut, Editor in Chief of CalWatchdog.com and author of the new book, Plunder! How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation sat down with Reason.tv’s Ted Balaker to discuss the widening gap between public and private sector employment.

Approximately 9 minutes. Shot by Alex Manning and Paul Detrick. Edited by Austin Bragg.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or7jxSv29E8 more >>