Buffett Wisdom and a Palin Note

Warren Buffett was cited this morning as a believer in the three I's of the economic cycle. First come the Innovators; then the Imitators; and finally the Idiots. It is your guess as to where we are at this moment. (Hint, the first two don't count.)

The latest word from Arizona is that Gov. Sarah Palin will be released from the Witness Protection Program in order to debate Joe Biden on national TV Thursday evening. Further appearances may be made, but only if accompanied by Federal Marshall John McCain. Fred Thompson, former Republican candidate and Law and Order DA, admitted on CNN this morning that there was a possibility that Ms. Palin had been micro-managed.

Has Palin been the victim of a vicious media attack? There is no question that she has been placed under the proverbial magnifying glass in the last month. But we should also remember that nearly every voter in the lower forty eight had never even heard of her a month ago. These people do have some right to know as much as possible about an individual who has a 1 in 3 chance to become president of the United States. The skinny on Biden and McCain has been floating around for years and Obama's garbage can has been thoroughly sifted for nineteen months now. All the real dirt, the half truths, and the lies are out there to be studied. Issues like McCain's censure for his involvement in the Keating Five Scandal, Obama's poor pastoral choice, and Biden's unzipped mouth have been ground up, assimilated, and and for the most part discarded as significant campaign considerations. Palin's background is a catch-up target and unfortunately for Republicans some of it is still going to be current on election day. McCain and his people clearly knew this when they nominated an unknown and they will have to live with it.

McCain Wins Debate even before it begins

I know the New York Times is not a news organization any more, but their report of the McCain campaign releasing a "McCain Wins Debate" ad to the Wall Street Journal eleven hours before the debate began and even before the country knew whether Jumpin John was even going to show up is an astounding act of prescience.

"Mr. McCain’s campaign actually declared victory as early as 10 a.m. Friday, hours before the debate took place and even before he had agreed to take part in it. In what aides said was a mix-up, The Wall Street Journal posted an advertisement on its Web site 12 hours early that showed Mr. McCain proudly looking into the distance. “McCain Wins Debate!” read the text.

A reader of The Washington Post spotted it and alerted one of the paper’s blogs, The Fix, which posted it before the red-faced McCain campaign removed it.

It was an embarrassing, yet telling, false start to the most important battle to shape perceptions of the election year so far . . ." NYT 9/28/08

For a more complete analysis of McCain's week leading up to the debate look at
Frank Rich's "McCain’s Suspension Bridge to Nowhere" also in the Times.

Pioneer Cemetery Workday Reveals Earp Family Stone

The newly formed Prairieland Historical Society had it’s second workday at the Warren County Pioneer Cemetery on Thursday, September 18th. More brush was cleared on the north side of the cemetery, grass was trimmed around some of the visible tombstones, and work was begun to expose some of the stones that have become buried over the years. One interesting stone that was uncovered appeared to be that of the two week old daughter of an uncle of Wyatt Earp.

The cemetery sign is also being refurbished and sometime this fall will be re-located near the stairs that lead up to the historical kiosk.

The Prairieland Historical Association meets regularly on the 2nd Thursday of each month. Memberships are available at a cost of $15 for an individual and $20 for a family. Contact this blogger or Fred Jenks, the current president, at 309-734-2116 for further information.

More Arts News

If you are interested in the arts on any level, you do need to make sure that your thoughts are communicated to your political representatives. Who are your Illinois state officials? All you need to do is click on: This site will ask you for your zip code and then will get you information on how to contact your state officials by e-mail, by phone, or by regular mail. It is that simple and it is the thing to do right now!

October is Arts and Humanities Month. Activities will be held across the state of Illinois, bringing people together to engage with the arts and humanities through plays, musical performances, lecture series, film screenings, poetry readings, and more. Check it all out. at any of the links below.
• Visit the official AH! Month calendar to find public events in your area
• Submit an arts or humanities event to the AH! Calendar
• Request AH! Month Promotional Tie-ins and become an AH! Ambassador
• Join the official AH! Month Facebook Group
• Learn about National Arts & Humanities Month
Where do the presidential candidates stand on the arts? Try this website to start your research. http://www.artsactionfund.org/artsvote/

Does your town or city have an official “Cultural Plan” to show to prospective business investors or new residents? Fort Collins, CO does and you can read about it here. http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080825/NEWS01/808250307

And finally,

Some time ago I recommended a web site where you could get regular information on what is opening, closing, selling out, and available at the discount tickets booth in New York. e.g. This past week they noted that the Broadway musical Rent, winner of the 1996 Tony for Best Musical, played its final performance (7 Sep 2008) at the Nederlander Theatre. It will have done 16 previews and 5,124 regular performances, which makes it the seventh longest running show in Broadway history with a gross of over $280 million. There was also a story on the Broadway revival of David Mamet's archetypal Chicago play, American Buffalo, directed by Robert Falls, and starring Cedric the Entertainer, John Leguizamo and Haley Joel Osment. It opens on November 17th. To get your own free e-mail copy of the New York Theatre Guide on a weekly basis go to http://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/ and click on the left hand panel labeled Newsletter.

"It's da Economy Stupid!"

I would like to make lots of money and live happily ever after, but it seems that the big guys who make lots more money are never happy with their already inflated share of the pie.

As Paul Wilmott said in the NYT on 9/18 "As long as people are compensated hugely for taking risks with other people’s money, and do not suffer equally on the downside, then those risks will inevitably become outrageous. Whether markets are efficient or not I don’t know for sure, but I do know that if there’s a way for someone to make money at another’s expense, he will."

We are a long way from the eighties, but apparently greed is still good and the tax payers will pay the freight.

IRONY CHECK! The party that has claimed pay as you go fiscal conservatism for these oh so many years has given us the biggest deficit in history and an ongoing ten billion dollars a month going out in a sewer called Iraq. The latest round of bailouts is so huge that it has completely overpowered the giant sucking sound of the war.

This same party, whose deregulation champions McCain and Graham, are now sounding the panic bell to put a brake on the rapacious free market capitalism that they fostered, is lookng more like the government control "tax and spend" opposition every minute. Good folks all over there, with the possible exception of the VP choice who thinks that "creationism" is teachable science, that foreign policy experience is being able to see Russia across the water, and that Roe v Wade should be ditched in favor of abstinence only sex education.

I am not sure that anyone will be able to extricate us rapidly from the mess that Bush has made, but it seems probable to me that Obama has a better chance of getting started on it than "Maverick Man."

Just my thoughts this morning. jdy

McCain Continues to Disappoint

http://www.truthout.org/article/campaign-lies-disgraces-mccainThe St. Petersburg Times has an article that begins: "This nation is facing real challenges on the economy, health care, jobs and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are significant differences between how Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain would address them. But McCain's recent campaign ads suggest the most vital issues are whether Obama wanted to teach sex education to kindergarten children and whether he derided the Republican's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, by talking about lipstick on a pig. McCain's straight talk has become a toxic mix of lies and double-speak. It is leaving a permanent stain on his reputation for integrity, and it is a short-term strategy that eventually will backfire with the very types of independent-thinking voters that were so attracted to him."

When McCain appeared on "The View" last week and was challenged for approving the commercial that falsely accused Obama of supporting sex education for kindergarteners, his response was "You should see what the other guy's are doing!"
That is a logical fallacy known as "You're Another." Don't clean up your act, just holler that the other guy is just as bad or worse. I guess two wrongs make it right. Reminds me of the motorist who was accused of hitting a pedestrian while driving drunk. His defense? Yes, I was drunk your honor, but he was drunk too.

ART STILL TRUMPS POLITICS

For the past two days Ms. Sue Black, a storyteller from Naperville, IL has been captivating Monmouth school children with her participatory musical stories. Taking her cue from selected pictures in the exhibit titled “House and Home and Masks” that was brought to the community by the American Association of University Women’s Art Presenter Program, Black told a series of stories that featured activities and animals and lots of action. Most impressively she was able to adapt her program skillfully to age levels that ranged from kindergarten to middle school. All of this has been taking place at the Buchanan Center for the Arts in downtown Monmouth, IL. and the pictures that accompany this article are all you should need to measure Sue's impact on childrn.

The Art Presenter program has been serving area elementary schools for thirty-five years and for this year’s anniversary, Ms. Black was engaged to supplement an exhibition of arts works created by children from some thirty countries around the world. The show was compiled by the World Awareness Children’s Museum in upstate New York and it will be on view at the Buchanan Center until October 11th.





The AAUW Art Presenter program brings the joy of art to 56 classrooms and over 1000 students in area schools during the school year. It is staffed by a corps of dedicated volunteer presenters (parents, grandparents, seniors, and others) who visit classrooms with works of art on a monthly basis. For more information on this exciting program, contact Jan De Young at jdeyoung@maplecity.com or Lila Blum at blum@maplecity.com