FREE WHITEWATER

Laws/Regulations

Reason’s May 2010 Nanny of the Month (Raw Milk Edition )

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I’ve contended that Wisconsin residents should be able to buy and drink raw milk produced in America’s Dairyland. Sadly, even that’s not legal for consumers. Wisconsin Governor Doyle, under pressure from dairy industry lobbyists and their regulation-loving allies, vetoed legislation that would have made limited raw milk sales possible. See, Wisconsin Governor Doyle as a Dairyland Nanny.

It’s not just a prohibition imposed on Wisconsinites; a federal government lawyer, seeking to prevent interstate raw milk sales, contends that Americans have no fundamental right to eat the foods of their choice.

It’s true. Here’s a Reason.tv clip presenting the May 2010 Nanny of the Month.

From the accompanying caption:

Got milk? Only if Uncle Sam allows it.

Runners-up for Reason.tv’s Nanny of the Month for May 2010 features a proposed ban on drive-through restaurants in the hometown of In-And-Out Burgers, one of America’s most beloved drive-through restaurants, and the mayor of Kure Beach, North Carolina, whose got his undies in a bunch over thong bikinis.

But there can be only one Nanny of the Month and this time it goes to the federal lawyer who wants to give raw milk drinkers a raw deal, and who really, truly believes that Uncle Sam can control what you shove in your pie hole.

Presenting Reason.tv’s Nanny of the Month for May 2010: U.S. Attorney Stephanie Rose!

Link: Reason’s Nanny of the Month: May 2010 more >>

Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Politics

Institute for Justice: Protecting Grassroots Activism

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Freedom of speech and assembly are rights the United States Constitution, and the Wisconsin Constitution, readily recognize. Activism — persuading someone to a cause — should be free in a free society. Better put, we could not be a free society if conditions were otherwise.

And yet, that simple truth runs against the schemes of incumbents, insiders, and established groups to dominate the political landscape perpetually. To preserve their incumbency, politicians — once they become officer holders — are quick to discourage the activism of others.

In Washington State, and dozens of other states, legislators have made peaceful activism hard, and have consequently chilled peaceful political speech, to the benefit of the incumbents themselves.

The Institute for Justice shows how bad the situation is, and how extreme the penalties for political organizing.

Here’s the caption that accompanies the IJ video:

Washingtonians from both sides of the political spectrum filed a lawsuit today to stop their state from monitoring, collecting and publicly disseminating information about the political activities of private citizens who do nothing more than urge their fellow citizens to take political action. They seek to vindicate the belief that if the First Amendment protects anything, it protects the right of all Americans to speak to one another about the issues affecting their lives without having to first register with the government.

Link: Protecting Grassroots Activism.

Here’s a paper from the IJ that describes the challenge to political speech more fully —

Mowing Down the Grassroots. more >>

Government Spending

YouCut: A Project of the Economic Recovery Working Group

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I’m not a Republican, but here’s a good idea for supporters of any party. YouCut is “a first-of-its-kind project – is designed to defeat the permissive culture of runaway spending in Congress. It allows you to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House enact. Vote on this page today for your priorities and together we can begin to change Washington’s culture of spending into a culture of savings.”

There’s a video explaining how the program works:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e90m-iWEau8

This week’s five possibilities for cutting:

1. Refocus National Archives Activities On Preserving Federal Records, $10 million in Savings in the First Year ($100 Million Over Ten Years)

2. Reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Savings estimated at $30 billion.

3. Terminate Broadcasting Facility Grant Programs that Have Completed their Mission, $25 million in Savings in the First Year ($250 million Over Ten Years

4. Reduce Spending on Non-Essential and Questionable Research, $3.8 Million in Savings in the First Year

5. Consolidate and Reduce Funding for Federal Advisory Committees, $34 million in Savings in the First Year

I voted for reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Voting is easy, and requires only a email address — it’s a quick way to send a message against federal over-spending. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 6-1-10

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Good morning,

Whitewater’s forecast calls for a day with a high of eighty-seven degrees, with thunderstorms likely tonight.

There’s a Common Council meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. The agenda is available online.

The Walworth County Genealogical Society will meet tonight at 6:30 PM, in the Community Centre, 826 E. Geneva Street, Delavan, with featured speaker Ann Wells of Crystal Lake, Illinois. She will will present a program called “Access to the Archives,” about British National Archives. Wells will explain how to search the information from the British Archives through a home computer.

The Wisconsin State Journal has a series called Secret Places, and one of the most recent entries describes the observation deck at the state capitol building:

The lantern observation deck at the top of the state Capitol dome is visible to thousands every day, but it’s also one of Wisconsin’s Secret Places. The public hasn’t been allowed here, nearly 237 feet above the ground, for seven decades. The Wisconsin State Journal was granted access after making a request to the state Department of Administration and receiving approval from J.H. Findorff & Son, which is working on the dome.

Few get these unique perspectives of State Street, East and West Washington avenues and Picnic Point, all clearly defined. The deck surrounds the exterior of the lantern, the column on top of the dome, which is also accessible. But with no air conditioning or ventilation there, taking in the view is more comfortable on a warm day from the outside deck. This spot also reveals a bird’s-eye view of Monona Terrace and, if you use your imagination, a renovated Edgewater hotel at the end of Wisconsin Avenue.

The story includes photos from the deck, and a video of the rotunda. Wisconsin’s state website also has a photo tour and virtual reality tour of the Capitol building.

View from balcony of Wisconsin State Capitol Building from Wisconsin.gov

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 5-31-10

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Good morning,

Whitewater’s forecast calls for a chance of scattered thunderstorms giving way to a mostly sunny day, with a high of seventy-nine.

Whitewater’s Memorial Day Parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. at First Citizens Bank in downtown Whitewater, and take a route ending at American Legion post 173, at 272 Wisconsin Street.

Map and route diagram from Google Maps. Map is clickable for a larger image.

The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls a fateful second meeting in 1989:

1899 – Gideons Get Going

On this night two salesmen, John H. Nicholson and Samuel E. Hill, crossed paths a second time, in Beaver Dam. The pair had first met eight months before in the Central Hotel in Boscobel and discussed the need for some way to provide Christian support to traveling businessmen. During this second meeting in Beaver Dam the two decided to “get right at it. Start the ball rolling and follow it up.”

They invited their professional contacts to an organizational meeting to be held in Janesville on July 1, 1899, at which the organization was formally named and chartered. By 1948, The Gideons had distributed over 15 million bibles world-wide. View more information about the founding of the Gideons elsewhere at wisconsinhistory.org [Source: Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles]

Holiday

Memorial Day 2010

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Omaha Beach as seen from the top of the footpath leading down from the Normandy American Cemetery above the beach.

Date of photograph: May 2, 2000
Photographer: Anthony Atkielski (Agateller)
Released to public domain

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 5-23 to 5-29

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Truth, justice and DNA http://bit.ly/d6IXOC
about 6 hours ago via bit.ly

Rep. Pedro Colon says he is applying for Milwaukee Sewerage District job – the perfect job for him – JSOnline http://bit.ly/bbAQmq
about 19 hours ago via bit.ly

Brat Fest sets a record on its first day http://bit.ly/clfCDG
about 22 hours ago via bit.ly

RT @IJ: Institute for Justice is taking its 4th case to the Supreme Court in eight years! Learn more here: http://iam.ij.org/bSvtqg
2:10 PM May 28th via Seesmic

IJ What would you do if your town made it illegal to sell produce on your own farm? File a federal lawsuit! http://iam.ij.org/aLini6
9:14 AM May 27th via Seesmic

A politician who supports everything supports nothing Yet, it cannot be true that he’d support everything, as personal ambition beckons
4:30 PM May 26th via Seesmic

Sick Pig Watch: http://bit.ly/dzFo4A
3:13 PM May 26th via Seesmic

English socialists decry faceless free market Better than face-to-face, behind-the-back bias of politcians/bureaucrats http://bit.ly/c1XbRJ
2:51 PM May 26th via Seesmic

No large municipal project should be taxpayer funded unless city leaders put 10% of their personal wealth into the project
1:46 PM May 26th via Seesmic

Cato: We’re working hard to spread liberty throughout the world. “Libertarianism: A Primer” now in 15 languages http://bit.ly/dapuFX
1:39 PM May 26th via Seesmic

Cato: Want to skip the chatter and read an honest legal assessment of Arizona’s immigration law? Look no further – http://bit.ly/aGMrFX
11:18 AM May 26th via Seesmic

RT @CatoInstitute: When Will the Eurozone Collapse? http://bit.ly/96n2Ug #tlot The plans mice and men…
10:59 AM May 26th via Seesmic

Asset Forfeiture Fact: Forfeiture $ was used to fund a DA’s re-election campaign. More outrageous examples here: http://iam.ij.org/9Ml7wR
10:57 AM May 26th via Seesmic

Criticism is powerful through its underlying truth, a truth that erodes everything before it
1:23 PM May 25th via Seesmic

Criticism of municipal politics doesn’t alter a city’s future; the reason for criticism (the foolishness of city policies) seals her fate
1:20 PM May 25th via Seesmic

Whitewater, Wisconsin’s local government is convinced that it can, and should, pick winners Yet, for it all, the city lags her neighbors
1:11 PM May 25th via Seesmic

The case for free markets http://bit.ly/bGDZPL
1:08 PM May 25th via Seesmic

Libertarians, Liberty

Bob Barr’s Keynote Address to the 2010 Libertarian National Convention

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2008 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr spoke to this weekend’s 2010 LP Convention. He posted his address online at his website.

Here are excerpts from his address:

Keynote Address Before The National Convention of the Libertarian Party
Delivered By Bob Barr, 2008 Libertarian Party Nominee for President of the United States
At St. Louis, Missouri On Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010 at 2:30 PM

Fellow Libertarians, it is an honor to stand before you today, in 2010, as I did two years ago in accepting the Libertarian Party nomination for President of the United States. In these past two years, many of the consequences which we predicted in 2008 would befall America in the absence of Libertarian Party leadership, have in fact occurred. America’s national debt has ballooned to record and dangerous levels; government spending has risen to levels for which the term “irresponsible” fails to adequately convey the magnitude thereof; our civil liberties, supposed to be guaranteed against government encroachment in our Bill of Rights, continue to be diminished; property rights, understood by us as a fundamental underpinning of a free society, today remain naked in the face of government power; and the sanctity of the right to contract enjoys even less currency today than it did in 2008….

The privileges or immunities clause in the 14th Amendment – intended to protect fundamental rights such as the right to keep and bear arms, belonging to all free men – was artificially and dramatically weakened by an intellectually vapid Supreme Court in 1873’s Slaughterhouse Cases decision. (And there remain to this day justices in that body who pay hollow allegiance to that liberty-debilitating decision.)….

Each time economic rights and powers are taken from the American people, whether by the “Square Deal,” “New Deal,” or the “Great Society,” Atlas’ knees bend a little bit more. Every program that sucks vitality from free enterprise, and which steals from the American people the fruits of their labor, causes the ground to shift beneath Atlas, making it harder still for him to stand and bear the weight of free men on his shoulders….

Relevant Libertarianism means articulating a message using words comprehensible to others who may not be steeped in our movement’s work. What is Relevant Libertarianism?

Relevant Libertarianism tells America’s business – small and large — that their long years of having the regulatory and tax tails of the dog dictate their entire business plan need no longer continue.

Relevant Libertarianism shows American families that control of the education of their children will be once again placed in their hands, not those of government bureaucrats.

Relevant Libertarianism indicates unequivocally that decisions between a patient and a doctor are made between the patient and the doctor, without the intervening and arbitrary filter of so-called “government health care” bureaucrats or, even worse, the IRS.

Relevant Libertarianism promises America’s taxpayers that the country’s oppressive, complex, unfair and unfathomable tax system must and will be dismantled – not all at once or overnight, but that at least the process of dismantling it will begin.

Relevant Libertarianism reminds voters that they can at long last have a real voice for real change in our country’s political present and future.

Relevant Libertarianism clarifies that our system of criminal laws and procedures, which continues to grow and manifest itself far, far beyond those laws that are necessary or even reasonable for a free and ordered society, will be fundamentally reevaluated and reconstituted so as to protect liberty rather than stifling and taking liberty a criminal law “Grace Commission,” so to speak).

Relevant Libertarianism ensures that those laws on the books that are necessary and reasonable to ensure freedom, liberty and a fair and open economic system, are actually enforced consistently and appropriately; and not by creating massive, oppressive, and intrusive regulatory structures every time there is a problem within a particular sector of our economy.

Relevant Libertarianism shouts loud and clear across the land that the days of the Nanny State are over and the re-dawning of the Freedom State are again within the grasp of the American people.

These messages, which already resonate in the hearts of the vast majority of Americans, must be articulated by us through a short, clear and precise platform and agenda that is unequivocal in its enunciation of real-life political freedom. The message must be brought to individuals, businesses and communities across the country by candidates who are articulate and who can and will relate to real-life voters and businesspeople….

Our work will be his hope – America’s hope – for a real rebirth of Liberty in the real world. This is our challenge; this is America’s challenge. If we fail, America fails; and the world will be a far colder, darker place for generations to come. We cannot allow that to happen. Let us commit here, in two thousand and ten — in the year of America’s independence the two-hundred and thirty-fourth – that the Libertarian Party will at long last meet its true potential and destiny in the real world; for real, living Freedom….

2010 LP Convention Remarks of Bob Barr.

Free Markets, Liberty

“Tracy Foster is Free Enterprise”

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There are many inspirational videos available online, but few more so than one of the entries to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “I am Free Enterprise” video contest. A video about small-business owner Tracy Foster, who makes a line of stylish camera bags, is now a finalist in the Chamber’s contest. (I wrote about the contest and another excellent entry, A Delicious Free Enterprise Contest Entry, earlier this week.)

Here’s the entry describing Foster’s business, entitled, “Tracy Foster is Free Enterprise.”

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmTJ3lvvF-w.

Readers intrigued about Foster’s products can visit the Facebook page of Ona Bags, at http://www.facebook.com/onabags.

In this video, one sees the bright future of America as a free and productive place, the hope of so many people, on this continent, and far beyond. more >>

Government Spending, Politics

Reason.tv: Is Hillary Clinton Right That The Rich Don’t Pay “Their Fair Share” in Taxes?

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Secretary of State Clinton recently said that productive Americans, among others in the developed world, don’t pay their fair share of taxes. (Clinton offered that observation at the Brookings Institution earlier this week. Clinton was quick to say that she was not speaking for the administration of which she is, after all, a Senate-confirmed cabinet secretary.)

She’s wrong. Prosperous Americans pay huge amounts of their earnings into the federal treasury each year. Reason describes the real state of taxation in America, in a short, informative video. Here’s the caption that accompanies Reason.tv‘s film:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said that “the rich are not paying their fair share” of taxes in the United States and other developed countries.

Is she right? It depends on what you consider fair. Using 2006 data, The New York Times found that the richest 20 percent of households were paying 26 percent of their income to the federal government in the form of income, payroll, corporate, and excise taxes. The average for all families? 21 percent.

And there’s this: “In 2006, the top quintile of households earned 55.7 percent of pretax income and paid 69.3 percent of federal taxes, while the top 1 percent of households earned 18.8 percent of income and paid 28.3 percent of taxes.”

Paying in a lot more than you get out? That doesn’t seem fair.

The rich are different than you and me; they’ve got more money. And they pay more taxes.

Politicians are different too–they rarely say what they really mean. Perhaps what Secretary Clinton means is that the rich can always pay more than they’re already paying.

That would explain why she and the president are lobbying to let the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of the year, a policy that would raise all sorts of taxes on all sorts of people.

Which doesn’t sound all that fair either.

Produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie.

Go here for documentation and graphs.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzg0dGrfP60 more >>

Libertarians

Terry Michael’s Defense of Libertarianism

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Almost everyone in American who is burdened of politics knows what a fuss Rand Paul, a senate candidate from Kentucky, raised through his remarks on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Paul and his father are libertarians, but also candidates of the Republican party. The left has made great sport of the younger Paul’s remarks, not simply as his remarks, but as an attack on libertarian philosophy itself.

There have been many prominent defenses of this venerable political view, one worthily and easily defended. Terry Michael’s “In Defense of Libertarianism” in Reason is one of them.

I’ve had a commenter write twice to mention Ron Paul. (I assume it’s the same commenter, writing two posts, a week apart.) He’s not shown up this week, but then it’s a holiday.

Michael styles his defense as an open letter to the left, part of which appears below:

To my left-liberal Democrat friends:

As you engage in intellectual dishonesty using Rand Paul’s silly comments on the 1964 Civil Rights Act to misrepresent libertarianism, perhaps you might want to consider a little history of the political philosophy of the founder of our party, Thomas Jefferson, the original libertarian. Let me help you escape your ignorance about libertarianism without a capital L, a political philosophy far from conservatism….

Classical liberalism, on the other hand, has lasted centuries. It was a natural fit for an Agrarian Era, with self-sustaining farmers, frontiersmen, and shop keepers. When the Industrial Era arrived, these individualists railed against “wage labor.” They wanted no part of centralized industry and its abuses. Corporate excesses fed Progressive Era reformers, who promoted one-size-fits-all government to address the sins of the Robber Barons.

With adoption of the income tax and world wars, a depression, and a big tax-paying middle class after World War II, Big Government was in full bloom by the 1960s, complete with a tax-hungry Cold War military industrial complex, entitlement programs that devoured revenue, and government dependency by both an impoverished underclass and a corporate welfare class.

Then came the push-back that brought Ronald Reagan to power….

Concurrent with abandonment of the New Deal and Great Society by large blocks of voters, there arrived the third great economic wave, the Information Age, which intellectually empowers individuals, allowing them to enjoy more control over their own economic lives….

Of course, Rand Paul was ridiculous questioning four-decade-old settled law that recognized slavery and segregation as conditions justifying the coercive power of the state to prohibit discrimination. We libertarians could give you a long list of things, like fighting crime and enforcing contracts, we regard as appropriate for state intrusion. We just insist the use of government power be minimal, consistent with individual liberty and responsibility.

I’d agree.

I’ll write more about Rand Paul’s remarks over the weekend.