Tomorrow, Governor Walker will sign the budget. He will veto some things. Here are a few I hope that he strikes.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the "eviction" of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism from the UW campus. I suggested that this may have been the kind of thing that happens when you are as uninterested in intellectual diversity as the UW has been. I don't mind that the UW has institutions with a perspective. I do mind that they only have one kind, even if the WCIJ may not be as far to the left as many UW organizations.
Of course, as I noted, it is possible that this was just retaliation by politicians who didn't like a WCIH story and that's completely unworthy of the Governor and his administration.
But from the outset, I criticized a portion of the proposal that says that no UW employee may work with the WCIJ. This, I thought, was a violation of academic freedom.
The good people at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education agree and have written to the Governor.
Telling academics what they can work on needs to go. What conservatives need to do is attack the censorship of the academy and not try to match it.
The budget has a provision that disqualifies from the state bidding process any company that hasn’t already
performed work on a state or local project. Not a good idea.
I don't have a strong opinion about private bondsmen. (I am tempted to say that I have no dog in that fight.) There is evidence that this type of system - which exists in the overwhelming majority of states - can lead to fewer defendants failing to make court appearances at less cost to the state (albeit at higher costs imposed on defendants who are not found guilty.) My problem is that the advantages don't seem great while the opposition within the system is strong. That adds up to "not worth it" to me.
Finally, while I have nothing against the Kringle, the state pastry ought to be the cream puff or , in light of our strong German heritage, the Pfeffernusse. But Racine is a swing county and I'm a realist. It won't happen.
Cross posted at Purple Wisconsin
4 comments:
Your first two links do not work.
"I suggested that this may have been the kind of thing that happens when you are as uninterested in intellectual diversity as the UW has been. I don't mind that the UW has institutions with a perspective. I do mind that they only have one kind, even if the WCIJ may not be as far to the left as many UW organizations."
Do you have any data that supports your assertion? What is the overall ideological lines of the professors of UW? In what specific ways is the faculty at UW on a regular basis unable to set aside their "certain preconceptions...and do quality work of high integrity"? Is Marquette similar or different than UW in terms of promoting "diverse" opinions? How? Why?
You see, when these questions are not addressed in this post, all you have left is generalizing. Do you not take to task your students for making arguments without substantiation?
Is there anything like a beer n brot pastry?
wow not a word about prop 8 or DOMA
Hello!
My name is Lauren Bouton and I am the online Outreach Manager for the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity located in Arlington VA. If you are unfamiliar with us, we are a journalism organization that was established to address the falling standards in journalism and address the lack of coverage at the state level.
My job is to talk with bloggers from around the country to establish relationships with them to promote both of our causes. I aim to bring more attention to already established bloggers by posting on our national website and promoting through our social media. My goal for the Franklin Center is to expose government waste, fraud, and abuse that the local and national media stations may not cover and to get Franklin and these stories more established across the nation.
Wisconsin is one of the states that we are focusing on and I was wondering if you would be interested in establishing a relationship with us. I would simply send you any information that you may find interesting so that you may blog about it. In return we will promote your story and link back to your blog. I also aim to connect bloggers with similar interests from across the nation to establish a type of blogger community.
If you are interested in this experience, please let me know! You can call/text/email me at any time.
lauren.bouton@franklincenterhq.org
405.635.6988
I look forward to hearing from you,
Lauren
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