Commentary Update For April 7, 2003: Omaha Bound, Election Upset, Chamber Fedayeen, On the Reform Front, War Stuff

Jim Mather and I are taking this week off from Commentary. Hosting the show this week is Nathan Wardinski, our student director. Nathan interviews Gavin Baddeley, an internationally recognized expert on issues related to the occult and satanism. Baddely is the author of "Lucifer Rising" and "Dissecting Marilyn Manson." He will be speaking at UWO on Tuesday, April 8 at 7:00 p.m. in Reeve Union 201. The topic of his speech will be "Heaven for the Climate, Hell for the Company - Just why is evil so appealing?" You can read an online interview with Baddeley here. I'm not particularly interested in much of what Baddeley writes about, but I found this line in the interview quite amusing: "I'm probably going to offend half the universe here, but baseball caps allow you to identify arseholes at a longer range."

On the 14th, Jim and I will interview Councilor Paul Esslinger and former Mayor Melanie Bloechl to get their views on what's happening in the city.

In other news:

Omaha Bound: This Thursday I am heading out to Omaha, Nebraska to deliver a paper on "Administrative Regulation of Student Expression" at the annual meeting of the Central States Communication Association. The paper is an expanded version of "The Free Speech Rights of Students," delivered last April at the Wisconsin Communication Association conference.

Election Upset: Former Oshkosh Mayor Jon Dell'Antonia, the darling of the Chamber of Commerce Circuit, finished last in last week's Oshkosh Common Council election. Dan Rylance wrote an analysis of the elections for Commentary. Dell'Antonia, many of you will recall, was the one who directed the City Attorney to "Nail to the Cross" an Oshkosh resident whose website he found deplorable. At the time I called for a mayoral vote of confidence. I guess the public decided to have that confidence vote on April 1st. It was refreshing to see the public put up some resistance to the Chamber of Commerce Fedayeen that has been ruling this city for too many years now. (Here's how absurd politics can get in Oshkosh: The Chamber of Commerce newsletter, also known as the Oshkosh Northwestern, endorsed the "smart growth" candidate for reelection because she voted to rezone a parcel of land so as to make room for what became a Wal-Mart Supercenter.).

Speaking of the Chamber Fedayeen, Governor Jim The New Democrat Doyle has made no secret of the fact that he's a "pro-business" kinda' guy. Sean Fitzgerald in this month's Lake Winnebago B2B discusses Doyle's business plans. You may recall that Sean and I debated the issue of Tax Incremental Financing in the March issue of B2B. Recently, the Appleton Post-Crescent took a position on TIFs that was much more responsible that what is typical of Gannett papers on this topic. When it comes to targeting state workers, New Democrat Doyle and Republican John Gard are just best buddies, as revealed in this letter from Johnny to Jimmy.

On The Reform Front: Jay Heck of Common Cause, who will be a guest on the April 21st edition of Commentary, wrote this analysis of the April 1st elections. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign recently produced a "Graft Tax Scorecard" and has also launched a reform ad campaign.

Some War Stuff:

• Remember Afghanistan? Mark Fiore's animated feature is an amusing look at what "liberation" has wrought in that country.
• An Israeli look at the war: American media rarely provides the views of Israeli citizens or pundits who are opposed to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Haaretz, one of Israel's major newspapers, frequently publishes such views. I found this piece by writer Gideon Levy ("America is not a role model") to be an especially hard-hitting looking at our Iraq policy.
• An Orwellian Cartoon: George Orwell's 1984 is probably more relevant than ever. (Imagine what he would have said about legislation featuring the acronym "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism"--USA PATRIOT). I found this cartoon by Shannon Wheeler to have an Orwellian edge to it.
• Patriotism is more than flag waving: Dave Zweifel reminds us of this simple truth in today's Cap Time.

Finally, my brother Frank is 44 years young today. Happy Birthday, bro'!

All the best,

-Tony