October. It’s been sort of rainy and cool. The fields are clearing out, the deer are running, and the leaves are flying. Fortunately, most of mine flew down the street. It’s a Flubbing miracle.

The city manager and city council took a good shot at October’s flub. Using their usual conventional wisdom, they are wanting to increase the cost of everything in sight. Water rates, up. Real estate taxes, up. While many of them pride themselves in being businessmen, and wanting to run the city like a business, they obviously haven’t learned much from their business colleagues. Most, in order to balance a budget, cut staff and benefits. While I would not normally be supportive of such short-sighted management, it is unarguably evident that Galesburg is overly staffed for the shape it’s in, and city, as well as county and federal employees, have a deal seldom matched by any of us. It doesn’t make sense that we would finance employment and retirement deals that we can’t get from our employers. It is Flubbingly ridiculous for our city fathers and mothers to keep looking to us to bail them out of their financial woes. Read my lips: Our pockets are empty. How about looking elsewhere?

This month’s Flub goes to all the naysayers who believe Barack Obama is not ready to take a shot at the Presidency. Here is a 45-year-old U.S. Senator, former Illinois State Senator for seven years, graduate of Harvard Law School, who has not had life handed to him on a golden platter. He has fought his way up to a top contender. The more votes he makes in the Senate, the more vulnerable he becomes to a Republican smear campaign. The longer he is exposed to the system, the more likely he will be unable, or unwilling, to change it. I hear the black thing, that America is not ready for it. Here’s the bottom line: I would rather have the Democrats lose with a Barack Obama than win with a mainline, not-likely-to-change-anything, run-of-the-mill, white candidate. That’s what the Republican Party is for. Democrats need to stand taller than that. The best person currently out there to restore faith in the democratic process is Barack Obama. It is Flubbingly ridiculous to say he’s not ready. It is Flubbingly insane to worry about him being black. Let’s look to character, intelligence, and charisma for a change. Let’s hope the Democrats don’t Flub this one up. Let’s hope America doesn’t Flub this one up. We’re nearing our last chance.