TonyPalmeri.Com Update For October 3, 2005
Well, this is the first update in over a month. We started a new semester at UW Oshkosh, and my classes pretty much keep me off the streets, busy, and out of trouble. I'm teaching a course called "The Rhetoric of Rock Music" which is just loads of fun, though I must admit that while reflecting on the British Invasion the other day to the 19-22 year olds in front of me I caught myself thinking: "Self, you're freakin' OLD!!" If you'd like to listen to some of the tunes we've been dabbling with in that class, I'm keeping them in an archive: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/428songs.htm
1. The Gaylord Proxmire Fest: The latest Media Rants column is my take on the Fighting Bob Fest held in Baraboo, WI last month. Perhaps a better title for the piece would be "Defining LaFollette Down." Russ Feingold calling for a "target date" to get out of Iraq may be many things, but Fightin' Bob it ain't. http://www.tonypalmeri.com/mediarants43.htm
2. Radio Commentary Interviews: Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris discusses his sales tax proposal http://www.tonypalmeri.com/examples/audio/harris-interview.mp3 See the Mark Harris watch for more information:http://www.tonypalmeri.com/markharriswatch.htm
Last Friday we interviewed Nicky DeKeuster and Dani Stolley, organizers of the UW Oshkosh 5th annual Earth Charter Community Summit: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/examples/audio/earthcharter.mp3 You can get more information here: http://www.uwosh.edu/earthcharter/ (I will be introducing Winona LaDuke on Thursday).
Many thanks to Frank McCandless for taping and uploading the Radio Commentary programs.
3. Miller's Bay Archive: Back in June the Oshkosh Common Council rubber stamped a Parks Advisory Board recommendation to place a pier at Miller's Bay in beautiful Menominee Park. The Park's neighbors were given no opportunity to comment on the project, and the Parks Board approval was given during a half-hour meeting that included other items on the agenda. An archive of materials related to the matter can be found here: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/millersbayarchive.htm
4. TIFs as Crony Capitalism: Marquette University professor John McAdams sits on the political right, but I think he's right-on when it comes to Tax Incremental Financing: http://mu-warrior.blogspot.com/2005/09/tifs-crony-capitalism.html In Oshkosh, you can't play the development game until you learn to sing "TIF I were a rich man" http://www.tonypalmeri.com/TIFIwerearichman.htm
5. Babblemur's Asshat of the Month: F. James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin congressman who voted against Katrina relief because he was "looking out for the taxpayer," was a runaway choice for our friends over at Babblemur.Com's Asshat of the Month http://www.babblemur.com/asshat.htm You gotta love what Rolling Stone said about F. James: "Sensenbrenner is your basic Fat Evil Prick, perfectly cast as a dictatorial committee chairman: He has the requisite moist-with-sweat pink neck, the dour expression, the penchant for pointless bile and vengefullness." Sounds like a drug-free Rush Limbaugh.
Babblemur is always looking for Asshat nominations, though in October it will be very tough to outdo Bill Bennett: http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280006
6. Parenti at UW Oshkosh: Michael Parenti, an Italian-American radical scholar who'd fit in perfectly at a real Fightin' Bob Fest, will be at UW Oshkosh on October 19th at 7 p.m. to talk about "Empire vs. Democracy." More about Parenti can be found here: http://www.michaelparenti.org/ I've always liked Parenti's definition of foreign aid: "foreign aid is when the poor people of a rich country give money to the rich people of a poor country." The talk is being sponsored by the UW Oshkosh Campus Greens. For more information, contact Paul Schmidt: schmip56@uwosh.edu
7. Galloway v. Hitchens: Two masters of invective at work http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2005/sept/video/grapple.rm
8. The Brave New World of Ordering Pizza: This is frighteningly real http://www.adcritic.com/interactive/view.php?id=5927
9. Democratizing Education Convention: I'll be presenting at this convention in Madison later this month http://www.libertytreefdr.org/democratizingEducationConvention.htm Here's some news coverage from the Michigan Daily: http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/20/432fa7632deeb
10. Slain Soldier's Mom May Speak at Oshkosh Peace Rally: http://www.wisinfo.com/northwestern/news/local/stories/local_22792747.shtml
11. Fiore's Field Day: It's hard to laugh about current events these days, but Mark Fiore has been having a field day lately, especially with Kan Do Karl http://www.markfiore.com/animation/kan.html and Oh Yeah, That! http://www.markfiore.com/animation/that.html