Friday, October 24, 2003
One Fine Friday Morning in Wisconsin
Our legislative Republicans have had themselves a good week, getting a bill legalizing the concealed carrying of guns through committee and passing a bill in the Assembly that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The so-called "Defense of Marriage" bill is co-sponsored by a number of legislators, seven of whom are either divorced or getting divorced. But when a Democrat pointed out that fact on the floor yesterday, Republicans whined that it was unfair.
Oh.
Presidential candidates are thick on the ground up here today. Carol Moseley Braun is in Milwaukee, Wesley Clark is in Madison, and Theresa Heinz Kerry will open her husband's Wisconsin office today also. But according to Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic's DC Dispatch, Mrs. Kerry should save herself the trip. Rauch says that like milk and bread, presidential candidates have an expiration date, and John Kerry, among others, has gone stale. This is not just Rauch's opinion--he's got the numbers to back it up.
We are also enduring another Wisconsin Public Radio pledge drive up here. WPR has two statewide networks and syndicates several popular national programs, such as Whad'ya Know and To the Best of Our Knowledge (which is This American Life without the intense smugness). But for a week every spring and fall, it stops doing what it does best to shill for money. I know it's necessary (and I'm a contributor myself), but it's as profoundly annoying as anything I've ever heard on the radio. Yesterday morning I heard one of the classical music hosts lamenting that he'd been on the air for half-an-hour and hadn't received any pledge calls yet. Yeah, I thought, that's because you drove everybody away during Morning Edition.
Speaking of public radio, John Nichols of the Capital Times writes about the Bill O'Reilly/Terry Gross throwdown earlier this month, and NPR's surprising reaction to it.
Yes, it is a fine Friday in Wisconsin. This feature will be light on new entries until sometime Sunday or Monday, when the pace will pick up again.
Our legislative Republicans have had themselves a good week, getting a bill legalizing the concealed carrying of guns through committee and passing a bill in the Assembly that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The so-called "Defense of Marriage" bill is co-sponsored by a number of legislators, seven of whom are either divorced or getting divorced. But when a Democrat pointed out that fact on the floor yesterday, Republicans whined that it was unfair.
Oh.
Presidential candidates are thick on the ground up here today. Carol Moseley Braun is in Milwaukee, Wesley Clark is in Madison, and Theresa Heinz Kerry will open her husband's Wisconsin office today also. But according to Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic's DC Dispatch, Mrs. Kerry should save herself the trip. Rauch says that like milk and bread, presidential candidates have an expiration date, and John Kerry, among others, has gone stale. This is not just Rauch's opinion--he's got the numbers to back it up.
We are also enduring another Wisconsin Public Radio pledge drive up here. WPR has two statewide networks and syndicates several popular national programs, such as Whad'ya Know and To the Best of Our Knowledge (which is This American Life without the intense smugness). But for a week every spring and fall, it stops doing what it does best to shill for money. I know it's necessary (and I'm a contributor myself), but it's as profoundly annoying as anything I've ever heard on the radio. Yesterday morning I heard one of the classical music hosts lamenting that he'd been on the air for half-an-hour and hadn't received any pledge calls yet. Yeah, I thought, that's because you drove everybody away during Morning Edition.
Speaking of public radio, John Nichols of the Capital Times writes about the Bill O'Reilly/Terry Gross throwdown earlier this month, and NPR's surprising reaction to it.
Yes, it is a fine Friday in Wisconsin. This feature will be light on new entries until sometime Sunday or Monday, when the pace will pick up again.
