TonyPalmeri.Com update for March 1, 2005
1. Hentz, Scheuermann on March 4 Radio Commentary: Oshkosh Common Council candidates Cheryl Hentz and Meredith Scheuermann (rhymes with "fireman") will appear jointly on the March 4, 2005 edition of "Radio Commentary" from 6:20 - 7:00 p.m. on WRST-FM 90.3. If you have some suggestions as to the kinds of questions they should be asked, be email me at tony@tonypalmeri.com. Radio Commentary is a call-in program. Listeners can call 424-0444 or 424-3113. Audience input would be especially helpful in this case because, in the interest of full-disclosure, I must reveal that I collected 10 signatures to get Cheryl on the ballot, co-host "Eye on Oshkosh" with her, and consider her a close friend.
2. See County Exec Candidates on Eye on Oshkosh. In late February Cheryl and I taped interviews with Winnebago County Executive candidates Jane Van De Hey (incumbent) and Mark Harris. Those interviews can be seen on Oshkosh Cable Access Channel 2 this coming Thursday (March 3) at 1 p.m. and Saturday (March 5) at 6 p.m. More information about Eye on Oshkosh can be found here: http://www.eyeonoshkosh.com
3. S.O.B. Save Our Bandshell!: Last year the Leach family presented the Oshkosh community with a gift in the form of a bandshell. What many of us were naive enough to think was going to be a simple case of plopping a bandshell in a park has turned into a multi-million dollar riverfront development amphitheater project. Fine. But now it turns out that the city is determined to outsource entertainment promotions and concession sales, meaning that in return only for contributing to maintenance costs, a private company will be making some pretty sweet profits off of a publicly financed resource. At the last meeting of the common council, I and several others were able to persuade the council to lay over their outsourcing decision at least until the March 8th meeting: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/pmi.htm
If council puts itself in the position of having to choose between the local Supple-Hopper group or the Green Bay behemoth PMI (the folks who run Green Bay's Resch Center), it's probably a good idea to go with Supple since they have an established track record of local involvement and are more likely to produce consistently affordable events so that the average taxpayer might actually be able to attend a show at the venue they are paying for.
But why are these the only choices? Are we to believe that the city of Oshkosh is not able to sell beer and hot dogs and gain the concession revenue? In November Parks Director Tom Stephany was enthusiastic about the possibility of the city handling the concessions, claiming quite correctly and persuasively that the only way the city can make substantial revenue from the structure is through such handling. Why did he change his mind?
And what about concert promotion? Are we to believe that UW Oshkosh was able to get Bob Dylan to come here, but the city of Oshkosh is not capable of doing the same? That UW Oshkosh was able to get Michelle Branch and Jason Mraz but the city of Oshkosh cannot? That UW Oshkosh was able to get Dave Chappelle but the city of Oshkosh cannot? What's going on here? Why not, in the "town gown" spirit that the city fathers all claim to support, have the city of Oshkosh and UW Oshkosh jointly run the concert promotions? UW Oshkosh could produce scores of interns to run the bandshell if the city showed a genuine interest in the possibility.
Even more importantly, the Fox Valley is blessed with some tremendous musical talents: Janet Planet, Tom Theabo, John Harmon, the Airborne Burn Victims, Jason Moon, Road Trip and many, many others could pack the bandshell and some or all of them would probably play for free just to get us through the inaugural season of the amphitheater.
Anyone who wants to save the bandshell from being outsourced should contact me about becoming one of the SOBs--SAVE OUR BANDSHELL!
4. Palmeri's Websites for News Junkies: The March Media Rant http://www.tonypalmeri.com/mediarants36.htm
5. John Nichols to Retire From Oshkosh Public Library: In the city of Oshkosh, only UW Oshkosh professor Martin Gruberg is a greater civil libertarian than the Oshkosh Public Library's John Nichols. Mr. Nichols recently announced his retirement: http://www.oshkoshnews.org/oshblog/2005/02/nichols-leaving-library.html
6. Kalinoski's "Beast on the Moon" to premiere off-Broadway: Richard Kalinoski is an associate professor of theater at UW Oshkosh and an internationally acclaimed playwright. His award-winning "Beast on the Moon" will premier off-Broadway in April. According to the New York Times: "'Beast on the Moon,' a new play by Richard Kalinoski about two survivors of the Armenian genocide, will have its New York premiere in April at the Century Center for the Performing Arts on East 15th Street. The show, directed by Larry Moss, will star two Tony nominees, Louis Zorich ('45 Seconds From Broadway,' NBC's 'Mad About You') and, below, Omar Metwally ('Sixteen Wounded'). Previews begin April 12, and opening night is April 27. In the last 12 years the show has played in 17 countries around the world and elsewhere in the United States." A better write-up is in Playbill: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/89371.html
7. Kalinoski on Miller: After the recent death of Arthur Miller, who in my opinion was the greatest American playwright of the 20th century (I KNOW I am not the only person on this email list who was transformed after reading Death of a Salesman and The Crucible), I asked Richard for his thoughts. Here they are: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/kalinoski.htm
8. God Shuffled His Feet. That's the title of a cute CD by the Crash Test Dummies from 1994. Turns out that the editorial board of the Appleton Post-Crescent are capable of acting like dummies too, at least when it comes to publishing letters that question the benevolence of God. Here's a letter that Robert Nordlander has been unable to get published in the paper, followed by a rationale for non-publication by editor Larry Gallup that will make you go "MMM MMM MMM MMM":
To the Editor:
The tragedy caused by the Tsunami in southern Asia raises serious questions as to whether or not the universe is governed by a compassionate loving father-figure which some people call God.
After all, the toll now has reached some 260,000 dead human beings with five million survivors suddenly made homeless and without any means of earning a living.
Insurance companies refer to these natural disasters as "acts of God" in order to absolve them of any liability. But surely, the phrase "act of God" has a far more significant meaning and ought to force us to reflect on the possibility that there is no kindly deity overlooking us and that humanity is strictly alone and on its own in a universe that is absolutely indifferent to human suffering.
For believers in the Biblical god the problem of evil in a universe, allegedly created by a beneficent divinity, is even made more perplexing by the following verse from Isaiah 45:7:
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." (King James Version).
Voltaire suggested that this may not be 'the best of all possible worlds" in his sardonic commentary on human folly called "Candide" after the tragic Lisbon earthquake of 1755 which took some 15,000 lives, a tragedy that occurred on a holy day being celebrated by the local Roman Catholic population.
It should be remembered that God has been active in the 20th century also. According to Isaiah 45:7 - cited above - and our theologically observant insurance companies - God killed approximately 200,000 people in the Yokohama, Japan earthquake of September 1, 1923 and another 242,000 had their lives snuffed out in the earthquake that struck Tangshan, China on July 28, 1976.
Is there really a good god in charge of the universe?
Robert E. Nordlander
Gallup Response:
We've chosen not to run the letter in question. The decision won't be reconsidered.
With every letter we get, we have to ask ourselves, "Is this worth running?" Is there something in the letter that advances a conversation, or something that readers would be interested in? Is it written in a way that engages readers? Is it clear? Are the facts really facts or are they opinions in disguise or, worse, purported facts that are incorrect? Is there a gratuitous personal attack? Those are some of the questions we consider when deciding whether to publish a letter.
In the case of the letter you asked about, we decided it was not worth running. In our opinion, it did not advance a conversation. It was not written in a clear, engaging style. It appeared to be written for the writer, not for readers.
If you're concerned that your particular point of view on atheism is a problem, please be assured that we choose not to run many, many more contributions advocating a religious belief for the same sorts of reasons. Perhaps with our most frequent contributors, we hold a bit of a higher standard because, if they have a common theme in their contributions, it's gotten tedious to us. As a result, we fear they're also tedious to our readers.
My suggestion would be for you to take a month, or a couple of months off, to re-energize your contributions. Think about how you can get your point across in a new way, how you can really change the minds of your readers, or at least make them think, if that's your goal in writing to us.
Sincerely,
Larry Gallup
9. Free Speech Needs Defenders. For the exact opposite of a journalistic crash test dummy, we thankfully have the Madison Capital Times' John Nichols (not to be confused with the Oshkosh Public Library's Nichols mentioned above): http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion//index.php?ntid=30346&ntpid=0
10. Reform Groups Disagree on SB 46: Common Cause in Wisconsin are strong supporters of the most recent campaign finance reform legislation in Wisconsin, claiming that it is the best possible bill to get out of the current legislature: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/ccwisb46.htm The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign disagrees and claims SB 46 creates a system that will not work: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/wdcsb46.htm Today Ed Garvey called the legislation a "farce" http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion//index.php?ntid=30345&ntpid=1
Jay Heck of Common Cause/Wisconsin will be on Joy Cardin's Wisconsin Public Radio show at 6 a.m. tomorrow (March 2) to discuss SB 46.
11. RIP: Peter Benenson: Whenever my students doubt the potential impact of a letter to the editor or op-ed, I tell them the story of the late, great founder of Amnesty International Peter Benenson: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1426617,00.html
12. Credit Reports Available for Free: And now for something completely different . . . http://www.madison.com/tct/business//index.php?ntid=30114&ntpid=2
13. Money and Schools. Does it take money to make good schools? You
betcha', according to a recent study from The Campaign for Fiscal Equity: http://www.schoolfunding.info/resource_center/research/MoneyMattersFeb2004.pdf
Meanwhile a bipartisan group of public officials across the nation have started
an open revolt against the sham "No Child Left Behind" legislation.
As noted by Madison business writer Tom Still, "The commission convened
by the National Conference of State Legislatures, which includes 3,657 Republicans
and 3,656 Democrats as members, described the law as flawed, convoluted and
unconstitutional. The 77-page report said No Child Left Behind has undermined
school reform efforts that were already underway in many states, posed unnecessary
bureaucratic requirements, failed to provide enough money to get the work done,
and generally usurped state and local control of public schools. 'Under No Child
Left Behind, the federal government's role has become excessively intrusive
in the day-to-day operations of public education,' the NCSL panel concluded."
http://wisopinion.com/index.iml?mdl=article.mdl&article=1531
Here's the National Conference of State Legislatures' Executive Summary of the
Report: http://www.ncsl.org/programs/press/2005/NCLB_exec_summary.htm
14. Ritter: US Will Attack Iran In June. Former marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who has turned out to be right about virtually everything he said regarding what would happen if the US invaded Iraq, is now predicting that the US will attack Iran in June. http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2295/
Peace,
-Tony