LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

 

Mayoral Advice

 

– Bumper sticker of the week: You are 98% chimp.

– Quotes of the week: "There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you." Will Rogers

    "A conservative is a person who sits and thinks, mostly sits." Woodrow Wilson

– I haven't heard much from our mayor candidates up to this point. I hope they're not planning on running on their looks, or 5 or 6 are out before we ever begin. I heard Paulsgrove had a gathering at Crappy's, but it was probably mistaken for a GREDA or Chamber meeting. Peterson is another candidate vying for votes from the Has Been Party, but both will lose. Garza is a new face, but endorses an old plan. He's out. Lafferty is part of the current problem, she hasn't said anything new or done anything to make me think she has been enlightened. Sheehan and Hall have also been part of our ongoing failure, but I am withholding judgment until I hear what they are currently saying. Delawder and Roknich are both newcomers. They will need to campaign hard and get out their plans for recovery. They cannot win on their names alone. That leaves Marilyn Webb. I don't know anything about her. She, too, is a newcomer. She will have to campaign and spread her word. A Pulitzer Prize nominated author will not win her many votes. So far, it looks like we may have our first female mayor, depending on what Sheehan shows and tells us. A female mayor would make the whole thing worthwhile, in and of itself. The men haven't exactly outdone themselves over the years. The winner needs to form a coalition of him, or her, and four alderman. To help you, those alderman should be Goad, Dennis, Payton, and Allen. Short of that, the next mayor will make little difference. Unless, of course, we make the mayor full-time and give him or her a little power. While we worry that can create monsters, it's our only hope. No one is in charge! No one has been in charge for the last 30 years. The day has come to change that. The revolution is on.

– The stimulus package is an interesting array of band-aid approaches to our current economic problems. None of it promises much more than short-term relief from an economic system that cannot work over the long haul. Like a grant that you get from the federal, state, or local governments, when the money runs out, so does the program. No one, least of all Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, will talk about fixing an economic system that favors the rich at the expense of the poor. He seems to favor a Milton Friedman, free-market, non-regulated economy. Anyone not agreeing with that is branded a socialistic, unpatriotic, flag burning commie. No one seems up to holding capitalism accountable for our current situation. It's not conducive to a long career in government.

– If I had a buck for every time I said I needed to do something about hunger, poverty, homelessness, I'd unfortunately have a whole lot more money. I sit in front of my 40 inch TV, or fancy computer, or in my easy chair with a book and a beer, and wonder just exactly what it is I can do. The walls and windows, warmed to a pleasant 68 degrees, make me less than anxious to get up and actually do something. I pretty much go through this scenario on a daily basis. While I'm thankful for !he uneasiness I feel, I'm sorrowful and ashamed that I can't quite get up and moving. That I can't fling myself into the abyss. That I'm too comfortable to change my life. Too protected to go beyond the walls that have a hold on my soul.

– You can always tell a good singer or group by how much miscellaneous activity is taking place on the stage. If the singer is scantily clad, that's a dead giveaway that he or she is relying on more than their talent to get them through. Grabbing the crotch, singing about sex, while other people are dancing around near naked, are all indications that the person performing has probably moved beyond their personal level of God given talent and are looking for help any way they can get it. This often is the result of a good manager who has out-managed the talent of any particular person or group. I came to this conclusion the other night watching the Grammys. Seems to me it is a show featuring the good, the bad, and the ugly.