Yes-siree, we're in good hands!
Even uber-Kool-Aid consumer Rachel Maddow of MS(allObamaAllTheTime)NBC is admitting that The One and his posse are not getting it done.
Technologies and solutions that are ready to go, already tested and approved, sit on the sidelines. The Tulane professor, typically academic, tells her, no no no, we can't begin to do anything until we've done years of research. She complains of the globs of oil, and complains about the dispersant used to break up the globs of oil that so gross her out, but that might be easier to clean up.
She complains that Feds stopped doing anything about spill mitigation after the late 1980's--hmm, who was in charge in the 1990's girlfriend?
She knows that this is a fail, cause she can see the boom that was improperly laid, and the island eroding before her eyes.
By the way, most offers of assistance from around the world were rejected by The One. We could have had a massive effort underway a long time ago, had The One really desired a solution.
The One does not desire a solution. He desires a crisis, he loves a crisis, he thrives on crisis. It opens the door to the acquisition of power. Is that the Reichstag I smell burning? Is that the Russian naval mutiny I see on the horizon? It worked before, it can work again.
Good managers know one thing: Success is often gauged by what doesn't happen. That is, if you do your job well, things run so well that nobody notices how well they run. The product ships, the payroll gets met, the dividends flow to shareholders, the taxes get paid. Nobody notices.
Incompetent (or venal) managers only understand management as a path to power, and always make certain to have someone to blame when things inevitably break down. Thus the attempts to run BP over the cliff, British pensioners be damned.
That oil never had to reach that island. It's Obama's special gift to the Gulf Coast.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Stand Tall, Mr. Cameron
Looks like David Cameron and company are beginning to stand tall.
Obama and company are daily shown as being increasingly inept, and to create some sort of political cover, they ramp up the rhetoric, and even attempt a back-door seizure of BP via the US Federal courts.
It's now clear: For whatever reason, Obama's hostility to Great Britain is genuine, and out in the open. However irritated citizens here may be with BP, they do not share his antipathy for the UK. Again, Obama ran for office as one person, and has proven to be someone else entirely in office. It isn't like many of us weren't aware, and didn't scream until hoarse that the man is a dangerous fraud. There just weren't enough of us in November 2008.
Obama's numbers are tanking, and November's prospects are looking increasingly grim.
Politicians in trouble invariably do one thing: Attempt to change the subject. This is a classic example.
OldSouth hopes his British friends will encourage their government to stand up against this bullying. Yes, the well must be capped, and the mess cleaned up, and compensation paid to lives, businesses, and states disrupted by BP (not disrupted by the US government!). In order for that to happen, BP must remain healthily in business, with the resources to generate the cash to pay for the damages caused.
Stand tall, ya'll. This clown will be outta here in January 2013. Ya'll have survived a lot worse than him.
Obama and company are daily shown as being increasingly inept, and to create some sort of political cover, they ramp up the rhetoric, and even attempt a back-door seizure of BP via the US Federal courts.
It's now clear: For whatever reason, Obama's hostility to Great Britain is genuine, and out in the open. However irritated citizens here may be with BP, they do not share his antipathy for the UK. Again, Obama ran for office as one person, and has proven to be someone else entirely in office. It isn't like many of us weren't aware, and didn't scream until hoarse that the man is a dangerous fraud. There just weren't enough of us in November 2008.
Obama's numbers are tanking, and November's prospects are looking increasingly grim.
Politicians in trouble invariably do one thing: Attempt to change the subject. This is a classic example.
OldSouth hopes his British friends will encourage their government to stand up against this bullying. Yes, the well must be capped, and the mess cleaned up, and compensation paid to lives, businesses, and states disrupted by BP (not disrupted by the US government!). In order for that to happen, BP must remain healthily in business, with the resources to generate the cash to pay for the damages caused.
Stand tall, ya'll. This clown will be outta here in January 2013. Ya'll have survived a lot worse than him.
Friday, June 11, 2010
The BP Oil Spill: 50-Something Days In, Proven Technology For Cleanup
...and BP and the government are just now getting around to taking a look at it.
The company is Mycelx, located in Georgia. (For those of you who work in the White House, Georgia is located just above Florida, to the right of Alabama on the map.)
This technology has already been used successfully for several years. It's not experimental, this firm has been doing business cleaning up oil spills for some time now. They've got the product, the ability to manufacture, the ability to deploy, and multiple solutions to the problem available.
Now, the obvious question arises: Why didn't someone in the vast bureaucracy of the EPA, the White House, the Energy Department, the Coast Guard, the Navy, or BP pick up the phone and call these people about forty days ago?
Is is ignorance? Stupidity? Callousness?
An appetite for crisis, with the subsequent opportunity to cash in by seizing more power?
There has to be some explanation for the behaviour we are witnessing. OS is hoping it's just ignorance and stupidity.
This feels like the EPA stalling Governor Jindal, while 'deciding' if sand berms to keep the world's worst oil spill out of the Louisiana wetlands would be 'good for the environment'. (We are working our tails off, paying taxes for these people, their salaries, bennies, and pensions.)
It isn't like the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is urgent or anything.
The company is Mycelx, located in Georgia. (For those of you who work in the White House, Georgia is located just above Florida, to the right of Alabama on the map.)
This technology has already been used successfully for several years. It's not experimental, this firm has been doing business cleaning up oil spills for some time now. They've got the product, the ability to manufacture, the ability to deploy, and multiple solutions to the problem available.
Now, the obvious question arises: Why didn't someone in the vast bureaucracy of the EPA, the White House, the Energy Department, the Coast Guard, the Navy, or BP pick up the phone and call these people about forty days ago?
Is is ignorance? Stupidity? Callousness?
An appetite for crisis, with the subsequent opportunity to cash in by seizing more power?
There has to be some explanation for the behaviour we are witnessing. OS is hoping it's just ignorance and stupidity.
This feels like the EPA stalling Governor Jindal, while 'deciding' if sand berms to keep the world's worst oil spill out of the Louisiana wetlands would be 'good for the environment'. (We are working our tails off, paying taxes for these people, their salaries, bennies, and pensions.)
It isn't like the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is urgent or anything.
And Meanwhile, Back In Iran: Further Installment And Two Questions
OS looks in on the 'Persian-to-English' blog every week, which appears to be authored by people on the ground who oppose the current Iranian regime. It's impossible to vouch for their veracity, but their posts bear reading and considering.
Today's post describes one young man whose life appears to be in danger.
The details are far too disturbing to quote, but bear reading and considering. The Western press isn't paying attention, and the Obama Administration acts as if the resistance just doesn't exist.
Final paragraph can be quoted:
Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran would like to warn the world of the imminent danger threatening the life of Behrouz Javid Tehrani and the lives of other political prisoners at Gohardasht prison. Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran demand that immediate action be taken by the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international bodies to save the lives of these prisoners.
Now two questions:
1. If even 10% of this is true, how do you feel about the Iranian government holding nuclear weapons, and the ability to launch them?
2. If they'll do this their own people, what do you think they would do to countries nearby, like Israel? Or us, if they have the capability?
And a third question:
Just what does the West intend to do about this? Miz Hillary, yew got any ideas?
Today's post describes one young man whose life appears to be in danger.
The details are far too disturbing to quote, but bear reading and considering. The Western press isn't paying attention, and the Obama Administration acts as if the resistance just doesn't exist.
Final paragraph can be quoted:
Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran would like to warn the world of the imminent danger threatening the life of Behrouz Javid Tehrani and the lives of other political prisoners at Gohardasht prison. Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran demand that immediate action be taken by the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international bodies to save the lives of these prisoners.
Now two questions:
1. If even 10% of this is true, how do you feel about the Iranian government holding nuclear weapons, and the ability to launch them?
2. If they'll do this their own people, what do you think they would do to countries nearby, like Israel? Or us, if they have the capability?
And a third question:
Just what does the West intend to do about this? Miz Hillary, yew got any ideas?
Student Debt: The First Subject That Should Be Mastered Is Math
A thoughtful article in the New York Times from late last month bears reading, especially by parents and college-bound children--hopefully they read it together and talk it over.
It attempts to describe the Rube-Goldberg student loan system, and how badly it seems to serve everyone. And as always, it eventually leaves the taxpayer on the hook, via Sallie Mae.
It's a long article, but just a couple of observations are in order.
To be eighteen and headed off to university is to, by definition, be an optimist. So many don't even make it over the threshold to the local state u, much less to anything prestigious. That acceptance letter is a pure shot of adrenalin, followed by a chaser of 'the world is your oyster, kid'. And, why not? It took a lot of effort to get that letter to arrive, and that piece of paper is a tangible sign of success.
To be eighteen and headed off to university is to, by definition, be naive. It is that naivete that makes a young person teachable, able to absorb new ideas from new people.
It's a strange age: They have reached legal majority, but by no means can they be considered mature adults. They live in never-never land, having to make adult decisions, but often not able to understand the consequences of the same. They still need some guidance, and someone to watch their backs, even if they don't think it necessary. (Can you surmise OS is the parent of an eighteen-year-old?)
One thing that a kid just turned eighteen cannot be expected to understand is bankruptcy law. There are some real subtleties inherent, and one of them is--You can't bankrupt out of student loan debt under the US federal bankruptcy code. No matter what befalls you in the future; fire, flood, health, illness, wealth or poverty, you are on the hook to repay it all. It's tough to get an eighteen-year-old to imagine life at thirty, saddled with 80k of debt. He can't imagine life at thirty, period. Twelve years ago, he was entering the first grade.
The Times article traces the travails of one student, overwhelmed by debt, how she got there, and how long it will take to climb out of it. As so often happens, the most relevant bit of the story is buried toward the end.
She recently received a raise and now makes $22 an hour working for a photographer. It’s the highest salary she’s earned since graduating with an interdisciplinary degree in religious and women’s studies. After taxes, she takes home about $2,300 a month. Rent runs $750, and the full monthly payments on her student loans would be about $700 if they weren’t being deferred, which would not leave a lot left over.
100k in debt, for a B.A. 'interdisciplinary degree in religious and women’s studies.'
What!?!?!?!?!?!!!
Of course she's working at a job that a bright high-school graduate could do, because there is no job market for graduates in religious and women's studies, unless it's perhaps followed by a M.Div from a prestigious seminary or div school, like Duke or Yale.(And that's likely another load of debt.) Even at that, the jobs awaiting this person are not highly paid. Church staff people do important work, but their activities do not create economic return, do not create wealth that can flow back to them in the form of increased compensation. The glass ceiling is very low under every steeple.
This is not to add insult to injury on the young lady, but to offer her story as a cautionary tale. Mom and Dad, and Junior especially--think these things through, as unemotionally as possible. You are making huge decisions, choose as wisely as you can.
It attempts to describe the Rube-Goldberg student loan system, and how badly it seems to serve everyone. And as always, it eventually leaves the taxpayer on the hook, via Sallie Mae.
It's a long article, but just a couple of observations are in order.
To be eighteen and headed off to university is to, by definition, be an optimist. So many don't even make it over the threshold to the local state u, much less to anything prestigious. That acceptance letter is a pure shot of adrenalin, followed by a chaser of 'the world is your oyster, kid'. And, why not? It took a lot of effort to get that letter to arrive, and that piece of paper is a tangible sign of success.
To be eighteen and headed off to university is to, by definition, be naive. It is that naivete that makes a young person teachable, able to absorb new ideas from new people.
It's a strange age: They have reached legal majority, but by no means can they be considered mature adults. They live in never-never land, having to make adult decisions, but often not able to understand the consequences of the same. They still need some guidance, and someone to watch their backs, even if they don't think it necessary. (Can you surmise OS is the parent of an eighteen-year-old?)
One thing that a kid just turned eighteen cannot be expected to understand is bankruptcy law. There are some real subtleties inherent, and one of them is--You can't bankrupt out of student loan debt under the US federal bankruptcy code. No matter what befalls you in the future; fire, flood, health, illness, wealth or poverty, you are on the hook to repay it all. It's tough to get an eighteen-year-old to imagine life at thirty, saddled with 80k of debt. He can't imagine life at thirty, period. Twelve years ago, he was entering the first grade.
The Times article traces the travails of one student, overwhelmed by debt, how she got there, and how long it will take to climb out of it. As so often happens, the most relevant bit of the story is buried toward the end.
She recently received a raise and now makes $22 an hour working for a photographer. It’s the highest salary she’s earned since graduating with an interdisciplinary degree in religious and women’s studies. After taxes, she takes home about $2,300 a month. Rent runs $750, and the full monthly payments on her student loans would be about $700 if they weren’t being deferred, which would not leave a lot left over.
100k in debt, for a B.A. 'interdisciplinary degree in religious and women’s studies.'
What!?!?!?!?!?!!!
Of course she's working at a job that a bright high-school graduate could do, because there is no job market for graduates in religious and women's studies, unless it's perhaps followed by a M.Div from a prestigious seminary or div school, like Duke or Yale.(And that's likely another load of debt.) Even at that, the jobs awaiting this person are not highly paid. Church staff people do important work, but their activities do not create economic return, do not create wealth that can flow back to them in the form of increased compensation. The glass ceiling is very low under every steeple.
This is not to add insult to injury on the young lady, but to offer her story as a cautionary tale. Mom and Dad, and Junior especially--think these things through, as unemotionally as possible. You are making huge decisions, choose as wisely as you can.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Just What We Need, A Rerun Of The Falklands War
Yessiree, let's leave to it Miz Hillary and The One to get it 180 degrees backward.
The US backed a UN resolution this week calling on the UK and Argentina to 'negotiate' over the issue of the 'Malvinas' islands, which is what the Argentinians call the Falklands.
Riiiight...
There's nothing to negotiate. The Falklands are sovereign British territory, and the residents wish to remain British subjects.
End of story. No debate or negotiations needed. Nothing to negotiate.
Unless...you are one of the current crowd in power in Washington, where up is down, darkness is light, and despotism is freedom.
This sort of amoral chicanery ends up getting wars started.
Reagan and Thatcher knew up from down, right from wrong. What is not generally remembered is that the ass-kicking administered by HM Armed Forces against the Argentinians was the precipitating event that upended the military dictatorship in Argentina.
You know, the one with the death squads, torture chambers, and thousands of people simply 'disappeared' without a trace.
Argentina enjoys a bit more freedom, because Thatcher stood tall, and Reagan stood behind her.
The US backed a UN resolution this week calling on the UK and Argentina to 'negotiate' over the issue of the 'Malvinas' islands, which is what the Argentinians call the Falklands.
Riiiight...
There's nothing to negotiate. The Falklands are sovereign British territory, and the residents wish to remain British subjects.
End of story. No debate or negotiations needed. Nothing to negotiate.
Unless...you are one of the current crowd in power in Washington, where up is down, darkness is light, and despotism is freedom.
This sort of amoral chicanery ends up getting wars started.
Reagan and Thatcher knew up from down, right from wrong. What is not generally remembered is that the ass-kicking administered by HM Armed Forces against the Argentinians was the precipitating event that upended the military dictatorship in Argentina.
You know, the one with the death squads, torture chambers, and thousands of people simply 'disappeared' without a trace.
Argentina enjoys a bit more freedom, because Thatcher stood tall, and Reagan stood behind her.
The Next Time Someone Tries To Tell You How Benign The Iranian Regime Is...
..remember this article
TEHRAN – Iranian authorities have begun police patrols in the capital to arrest women wearing clothes deemed improper. The campaign against loose-fitting veils and other signs of modernism comes as government opponents are calling for rallies to mark the anniversary of the disputed presidential election, and critics of the crackdown say it is stoking feelings of discontent.
TEHRAN – Iranian authorities have begun police patrols in the capital to arrest women wearing clothes deemed improper. The campaign against loose-fitting veils and other signs of modernism comes as government opponents are calling for rallies to mark the anniversary of the disputed presidential election, and critics of the crackdown say it is stoking feelings of discontent.
Be Patient, Wait For It! Obama Never Neglects The Opportunity To Grab Power
Last night, OS was feeling downright grumpy, and he scribbled out words to this effect:
Maybe Obama actually likes this crisis, because it will give him the opportunity to stage some huge grab for power. The economy is not recovering significantly, and things are looking very grim in November. He's searching for some pretext to seize more power to himself, make Himself look like he saved the day, and BP may be providing his opportunity.
And, then OS thought: Nahh, that's just paranoid ranting. You're just feeling grumpy, don't embarrass yourself. A good night's sleep is in order.
Then, from the Wall Street Journal, this comes across the transom:
The Obama Administration ratcheted up its demands on Wednesday that BP PLC cover all costs stemming from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, including millions of dollars in salaries of oil-industry workers laid off because of the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling.
The sudden increase in BP's potential liabilities—along with growing evidence that even more oil than expected is gushing from BP's crippled well—helped send BP's shares plummeting almost 16% in New York, to $29.20. The stock has lost close to half its value, more than $82 billion, in the seven weeks since the spill started.
"There is no objective justification for this share price movement. BP faces this situation as a strong company," said BP chief executive Tony Hayward in an interview at the company's Houston crisis center. "We have significant capacity and flexibility in dealing with the cost of responding to the incident, the environmental remediation and the payment of legitimate claims."
BP didn't comment directly on the latest demand from Washington. But it is expected to argue that under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, BP is liable only for the direct costs of the clean-up and couldn't be held responsible for the lost wages of oil workers. "Somewhere a line has to be drawn," a company official said.
Several legal experts said they couldn't think of any law or precedent that would allow the U.S. to try to recover damages from BP on behalf of rig workers thrown out of work by a government moratorium on deep offshore drilling.
"I'm not aware of anything out there that would allow (President Obama) to latch onto a legal remedy on behalf of the out-of-work workers," said Benjamin A. Escobar Jr., a Houston-based labor and employment attorney for Beirne Maynard & Parsons. "I think he's in for a real court fight on these issues."
The White House has a different view. "The moratorium is a result of the accident that BP caused. It is an economic loss for those workers," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "Those are claims that BP should pay."
Lessee--let's make a decision that throws thousands of people out of work, and then send the bill for all those lost earnings somewhere else. In the meantime, let's turn what should be the world's most productive cooperative effort into the Mother Of All Litigations.
As badly as BP has acted, the last thing the world needs is a BP in bankruptcy, unable to pay its bills or raise money because the US government has pushed it under the bus, just to prove it can. We all need BP to remain in sound fiscal condition to be able to operate and clean this thing up. Down the road, the company that emerges will probably be smaller, wiser, and poorer, but it will exist. The one entity with the greatest stake in doing the right thing, and with the most to lose by failing to do the right thing, is BP. They actually will have to perform, whereas a politician like Obama only needs to look good at the photo ops.
There are a lot of totally innocent people in this world, especially in the UK, whose pension portfolios include healthy chunks of BP stock, because it pays a good dividend, and has been a stable stock. Now, Mr. Obama, if you push BP over the cliff, who's gonna make the 82-year-old pensioner in Yorkshire whole from the meltdown of his pension fund? The US government? Her Majesty's government is out of money, if you haven't heard the news.
By the way, Obama and company want to go to a US Federal Court in New Orleans to compel BP (a UK company) to suspend its dividends until such time as the US government deems it has cleaned up all the damage caused. That could be the twelfth of never, as one environmental group after another shows up with one more obscure species of algae it can claim was damaged by the oil spill.
Can you say 'Back-door, ad hoc nationalization of BP by the Obama Administration? I knew you could!'
For readers outside the US, this is just one recent and egregious example of our quandry in this country. Obama and company are clueless at running anything, and obsessed with the acquisition of power. We're not the only ones who will end up being hurt by these people.
If OS were a British subject, he'd be raising Cain with his MP about this stuff. Last time anyone checked, no one had ever attempted to nationalize a corporation chartered in another sovereign nation.
This is not the time to attempt that legal feat of derring-do.
This is the time to clean up the mess, not make a worse one.
Maybe Obama actually likes this crisis, because it will give him the opportunity to stage some huge grab for power. The economy is not recovering significantly, and things are looking very grim in November. He's searching for some pretext to seize more power to himself, make Himself look like he saved the day, and BP may be providing his opportunity.
And, then OS thought: Nahh, that's just paranoid ranting. You're just feeling grumpy, don't embarrass yourself. A good night's sleep is in order.
Then, from the Wall Street Journal, this comes across the transom:
The Obama Administration ratcheted up its demands on Wednesday that BP PLC cover all costs stemming from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, including millions of dollars in salaries of oil-industry workers laid off because of the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling.
The sudden increase in BP's potential liabilities—along with growing evidence that even more oil than expected is gushing from BP's crippled well—helped send BP's shares plummeting almost 16% in New York, to $29.20. The stock has lost close to half its value, more than $82 billion, in the seven weeks since the spill started.
"There is no objective justification for this share price movement. BP faces this situation as a strong company," said BP chief executive Tony Hayward in an interview at the company's Houston crisis center. "We have significant capacity and flexibility in dealing with the cost of responding to the incident, the environmental remediation and the payment of legitimate claims."
BP didn't comment directly on the latest demand from Washington. But it is expected to argue that under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, BP is liable only for the direct costs of the clean-up and couldn't be held responsible for the lost wages of oil workers. "Somewhere a line has to be drawn," a company official said.
Several legal experts said they couldn't think of any law or precedent that would allow the U.S. to try to recover damages from BP on behalf of rig workers thrown out of work by a government moratorium on deep offshore drilling.
"I'm not aware of anything out there that would allow (President Obama) to latch onto a legal remedy on behalf of the out-of-work workers," said Benjamin A. Escobar Jr., a Houston-based labor and employment attorney for Beirne Maynard & Parsons. "I think he's in for a real court fight on these issues."
The White House has a different view. "The moratorium is a result of the accident that BP caused. It is an economic loss for those workers," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "Those are claims that BP should pay."
Lessee--let's make a decision that throws thousands of people out of work, and then send the bill for all those lost earnings somewhere else. In the meantime, let's turn what should be the world's most productive cooperative effort into the Mother Of All Litigations.
As badly as BP has acted, the last thing the world needs is a BP in bankruptcy, unable to pay its bills or raise money because the US government has pushed it under the bus, just to prove it can. We all need BP to remain in sound fiscal condition to be able to operate and clean this thing up. Down the road, the company that emerges will probably be smaller, wiser, and poorer, but it will exist. The one entity with the greatest stake in doing the right thing, and with the most to lose by failing to do the right thing, is BP. They actually will have to perform, whereas a politician like Obama only needs to look good at the photo ops.
There are a lot of totally innocent people in this world, especially in the UK, whose pension portfolios include healthy chunks of BP stock, because it pays a good dividend, and has been a stable stock. Now, Mr. Obama, if you push BP over the cliff, who's gonna make the 82-year-old pensioner in Yorkshire whole from the meltdown of his pension fund? The US government? Her Majesty's government is out of money, if you haven't heard the news.
By the way, Obama and company want to go to a US Federal Court in New Orleans to compel BP (a UK company) to suspend its dividends until such time as the US government deems it has cleaned up all the damage caused. That could be the twelfth of never, as one environmental group after another shows up with one more obscure species of algae it can claim was damaged by the oil spill.
Can you say 'Back-door, ad hoc nationalization of BP by the Obama Administration? I knew you could!'
For readers outside the US, this is just one recent and egregious example of our quandry in this country. Obama and company are clueless at running anything, and obsessed with the acquisition of power. We're not the only ones who will end up being hurt by these people.
If OS were a British subject, he'd be raising Cain with his MP about this stuff. Last time anyone checked, no one had ever attempted to nationalize a corporation chartered in another sovereign nation.
This is not the time to attempt that legal feat of derring-do.
This is the time to clean up the mess, not make a worse one.
Too Clueless To Pick Up The Phone: Obama Admits He Has Never Spoken To BP's Hayward
Old South couldn't believe it, thinking 'Naw, this is just urban legend stuff spewed by some nutter. Couldn't possibly be true...'
To quote an old buddy: Well, cut my legs off, and call me Shorty!
It's true! Obama never bothered to pick up his telephone as the tragedy unfolded, first with the explosion that killed eleven of his fellow citizens, and then the leak that has polluted the Gulf of Mexico. OS is, however, relieved to report that the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Winner made his tee times. First thangs first, ya'll...
OS sought and he found: MSNBC's account of his interview on June 8 with Matt Lauer on the Today Show:
The president also defended not having spoken to Hayward.
"I have not spoken to him directly," he told Lauer. "Here's the reason. Because my experience is, when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he's gonna say all the right things to me. I'm not interested in words. I'm interested in actions."
(Pot, meet kettle.)
OS has one initial reaction: What?
Lessee--BP oil rig blows up in the Gulf, lots of folks killed, and perhaps a biiiiiig mess to clean up. BP is also a big employer in the US, in all sorts of ways. Don't cher normal person in a position of responsibility at a time like this do something like this:
1. Pick up the phone, and call someone high up at BP. Betcha someone can dig up Tony's cell phone number within the hour.
2. Express condolences, concern, and ask two simple questions: What's going on, and what can we do to help? We've got the world's best navy, the world's best hospitals, and the number one thang we need to pay attention to is makin' daaaaam sure that well ain't leaking no crude into the Gulf of Mexico! Everything we got, we'll throw at this thang, here's my cell phone number, Tony, I'm on my way to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Getcherself on your plane. I'll meet you there, and we'll get after this thang together. Already got a guest room set aside for you and the misses, 'cuz you'll probably be there for while. Bring yer clubs, and we'll even get in a couple of rounds to talk stuff over. And yes, we will be sending you the bill, dontchew doubt that. In the meantime, let's get this thang byGod solved.
Is this too hard a thing to do?
Moh', latuh. OS is attempting to digest this, and suspects there is much worse, more evil, news to learn. Something smells much worse than all that dead fish.
Call me Shorty, meanwhile.
To quote an old buddy: Well, cut my legs off, and call me Shorty!
It's true! Obama never bothered to pick up his telephone as the tragedy unfolded, first with the explosion that killed eleven of his fellow citizens, and then the leak that has polluted the Gulf of Mexico. OS is, however, relieved to report that the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Winner made his tee times. First thangs first, ya'll...
OS sought and he found: MSNBC's account of his interview on June 8 with Matt Lauer on the Today Show:
The president also defended not having spoken to Hayward.
"I have not spoken to him directly," he told Lauer. "Here's the reason. Because my experience is, when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he's gonna say all the right things to me. I'm not interested in words. I'm interested in actions."
(Pot, meet kettle.)
OS has one initial reaction: What?
Lessee--BP oil rig blows up in the Gulf, lots of folks killed, and perhaps a biiiiiig mess to clean up. BP is also a big employer in the US, in all sorts of ways. Don't cher normal person in a position of responsibility at a time like this do something like this:
1. Pick up the phone, and call someone high up at BP. Betcha someone can dig up Tony's cell phone number within the hour.
2. Express condolences, concern, and ask two simple questions: What's going on, and what can we do to help? We've got the world's best navy, the world's best hospitals, and the number one thang we need to pay attention to is makin' daaaaam sure that well ain't leaking no crude into the Gulf of Mexico! Everything we got, we'll throw at this thang, here's my cell phone number, Tony, I'm on my way to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Getcherself on your plane. I'll meet you there, and we'll get after this thang together. Already got a guest room set aside for you and the misses, 'cuz you'll probably be there for while. Bring yer clubs, and we'll even get in a couple of rounds to talk stuff over. And yes, we will be sending you the bill, dontchew doubt that. In the meantime, let's get this thang byGod solved.
Is this too hard a thing to do?
Moh', latuh. OS is attempting to digest this, and suspects there is much worse, more evil, news to learn. Something smells much worse than all that dead fish.
Call me Shorty, meanwhile.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Classical Education: Three Reviews And A Strong Advocacy
A quick referral to a most interesting article, in the Yew Nork Times, of all places, saying kind words about old-fashioned Classical Education.
Someone one at the Political Correctness desk must have been on his coke break when this came across the desk. It's dangerous stuff, advocating that kids be able to operate in classical languages, think coherently, and express themselves clearly.
Damn! This sort of stuff would put the teachers unions out of business, and then where would we be, I ask you?
Three books reviewed here, and OS plans to order up at least one of them.
This blog attempts to stay on focus, really, even if the author is a bit ADD.
That despicable advisor to the more despicable Bill Clinton kept hammering at his client in the 1992 campaign: 'It's the economy, stupid!' (Not hearing that from Democrat candidates now, are we?)
In any case, the despicable advisor was wrong, and OldSouth is right:
It's the culture, and you're not stupid.
We can create and hose cash into the system forever, turn back-flips to create employment of some sort, consume ourselves into a stupor, chase every political and religious fad that surfaces.
It won't help.
Until we get the culture back on track--our classical, liberal, free-market, Judeo-Christian, rule of law, literacy-is-not-an-option, everybody-needs-to-know-something-about-Bach-and-Rembrandt-and-Jefferson Western culture back on track--any hope of having a long-term stable and prosperous country is vain.
It's the culture.
And you're not stupid.
Someone one at the Political Correctness desk must have been on his coke break when this came across the desk. It's dangerous stuff, advocating that kids be able to operate in classical languages, think coherently, and express themselves clearly.
Damn! This sort of stuff would put the teachers unions out of business, and then where would we be, I ask you?
Three books reviewed here, and OS plans to order up at least one of them.
This blog attempts to stay on focus, really, even if the author is a bit ADD.
That despicable advisor to the more despicable Bill Clinton kept hammering at his client in the 1992 campaign: 'It's the economy, stupid!' (Not hearing that from Democrat candidates now, are we?)
In any case, the despicable advisor was wrong, and OldSouth is right:
It's the culture, and you're not stupid.
We can create and hose cash into the system forever, turn back-flips to create employment of some sort, consume ourselves into a stupor, chase every political and religious fad that surfaces.
It won't help.
Until we get the culture back on track--our classical, liberal, free-market, Judeo-Christian, rule of law, literacy-is-not-an-option, everybody-needs-to-know-something-about-Bach-and-Rembrandt-and-Jefferson Western culture back on track--any hope of having a long-term stable and prosperous country is vain.
It's the culture.
And you're not stupid.
No Worries, Senator Reid: You'll Win In A Walkover
Really, honest.
Those 10,000 or so people who showed up in your hometown to launch Sharron Angle's Senate campaign won't be donating to her, or paying attention to this campaign.
Since then, you know, the economy's doing soooo much better, and all the numbers released by the CBO confirm that that health-care-thangy you rammed through will save the guv'mint kajillions of dollars, not cost anybody anything, and deliver free care to everybody. And that national debt thang--some 15 trillion or so--no one's paying attention. And that little ole' oil leak that yoh' President is doing such a great job addressing, well, that'll all be patched up soon, and you can join him for the photo op in late October, cuz that's how long it's probably gonna be before BP really has that thang under control, and you can take credit for it. Everbody'll believe it was you who pulled it off.
And that 'continue to spend like a drunken sailor' thang, by calling absolutely everything an emergency...why nobody's gonna pay attention to that, neither.
They won't mind when you arrange to send hundreds of billions to Illinois, Kuhlifornia and New York, just to keep the Democrat machine propped up in those blue states. HellsBells, Senator, with 15 trillion in debt, 100 billion is just a rounding error, ain't no big thang.
And that housing and banks thang...it's all ok now. Don'chew worry your old gray head one little tiny bit, Senator, it's allll gonna be jus' fine.
All those people who turned out to get Miz Angle nominated...no worries. They just a buncha teabaggin' hicks. She's only got her husband, one press secretary, and her kitchen table to work with! She ain't nooooo problem at all. She ain't got no PR firms, or pollsters, or PACs, or union thugs, or ability to spend guv'mint money to buy no votes, none of that. She's toast.
Yew jus' go-on back to sleep now, MisterHarry. This ain't nothing to worry yoh' head about. We'll wake you up after it's all over. And, no, don'chew be taking no phone calls from that Specter clown. He don't know nuthin' 'bout this sort of thang...
Those 10,000 or so people who showed up in your hometown to launch Sharron Angle's Senate campaign won't be donating to her, or paying attention to this campaign.
Since then, you know, the economy's doing soooo much better, and all the numbers released by the CBO confirm that that health-care-thangy you rammed through will save the guv'mint kajillions of dollars, not cost anybody anything, and deliver free care to everybody. And that national debt thang--some 15 trillion or so--no one's paying attention. And that little ole' oil leak that yoh' President is doing such a great job addressing, well, that'll all be patched up soon, and you can join him for the photo op in late October, cuz that's how long it's probably gonna be before BP really has that thang under control, and you can take credit for it. Everbody'll believe it was you who pulled it off.
And that 'continue to spend like a drunken sailor' thang, by calling absolutely everything an emergency...why nobody's gonna pay attention to that, neither.
They won't mind when you arrange to send hundreds of billions to Illinois, Kuhlifornia and New York, just to keep the Democrat machine propped up in those blue states. HellsBells, Senator, with 15 trillion in debt, 100 billion is just a rounding error, ain't no big thang.
And that housing and banks thang...it's all ok now. Don'chew worry your old gray head one little tiny bit, Senator, it's allll gonna be jus' fine.
All those people who turned out to get Miz Angle nominated...no worries. They just a buncha teabaggin' hicks. She's only got her husband, one press secretary, and her kitchen table to work with! She ain't nooooo problem at all. She ain't got no PR firms, or pollsters, or PACs, or union thugs, or ability to spend guv'mint money to buy no votes, none of that. She's toast.
Yew jus' go-on back to sleep now, MisterHarry. This ain't nothing to worry yoh' head about. We'll wake you up after it's all over. And, no, don'chew be taking no phone calls from that Specter clown. He don't know nuthin' 'bout this sort of thang...
Oil In The Water/Oil Boom In The Warehouse
After reading items like this, one has to wonder if the people appointed by the winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, and one-time editor of the Harvard Law Review, have any clue about how to get anything done.
This story,undoubtedly, is making its way around, from its initial report at Pajamas Media.
It's just too typical of the Obama Administration to not share:
John Lapoint of Packgen in Auburn, Maine, says he’s got plenty of floating oil containment boom and can make lots more on short notice. There’s just one problem: no one will buy it from him.
He’s already had a representative from BP visit his factory and inspect his product. The governor of Maine, John Baldacci, visited the facility and made a video plea to no one in particular to close the deal. Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins wrote a letter on May 21 to the secretary of the Interior, the administrator of NOAA, and the commandant of the Coast Guard to alert them to the existence of Packgen, their supply of boom, and their demonstrated capacity to make more. I have no idea if those are the correct persons and agencies to notify about the manufacturing capacity and the availability of boom. One wonders if the senators know.
Look at that date again: May 21. That's, well, nineteen days ago.
If the boom works, and could be shipped to the site, well then, that's about seventeen days of oil containment lost. One thing the Commander-in-Chief has at his disposal is fifty states worth of Air National Guard units, many of whom are transport squadrons. A special note for those in the White House: A 'Transport Squadron' is a group of really big planes designed to carry stuff from one point to another. Like, for instance, oil boom from Maine to Louisiana.
Lots of posturing, press releases, promises to 'kick ass', meetings between Eric (I don't need to read no stinking laws) Holder and state AG's, etc. etc.
Oil in the water. Oil boom in the warehouse. Obama in the White House.
Hmmm....
This story,undoubtedly, is making its way around, from its initial report at Pajamas Media.
It's just too typical of the Obama Administration to not share:
John Lapoint of Packgen in Auburn, Maine, says he’s got plenty of floating oil containment boom and can make lots more on short notice. There’s just one problem: no one will buy it from him.
He’s already had a representative from BP visit his factory and inspect his product. The governor of Maine, John Baldacci, visited the facility and made a video plea to no one in particular to close the deal. Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins wrote a letter on May 21 to the secretary of the Interior, the administrator of NOAA, and the commandant of the Coast Guard to alert them to the existence of Packgen, their supply of boom, and their demonstrated capacity to make more. I have no idea if those are the correct persons and agencies to notify about the manufacturing capacity and the availability of boom. One wonders if the senators know.
Look at that date again: May 21. That's, well, nineteen days ago.
If the boom works, and could be shipped to the site, well then, that's about seventeen days of oil containment lost. One thing the Commander-in-Chief has at his disposal is fifty states worth of Air National Guard units, many of whom are transport squadrons. A special note for those in the White House: A 'Transport Squadron' is a group of really big planes designed to carry stuff from one point to another. Like, for instance, oil boom from Maine to Louisiana.
Lots of posturing, press releases, promises to 'kick ass', meetings between Eric (I don't need to read no stinking laws) Holder and state AG's, etc. etc.
Oil in the water. Oil boom in the warehouse. Obama in the White House.
Hmmm....
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Less Is More: Four-Day School Weeks, And Everyone's Life Improves
Hmmm...
In contrast to the unconvincing 'it's all about the children' rap from this morning's conversation on Fox Business, school districts that go to a four-day week are seeing both student performance and faculty morale improve.
Hmmm...
When the teachers unions try to lay on that guilt 'It's all about the children', remember it's not. And the less time invested with these people, the better.
Home-school, anybody?
HT to Mish.
In contrast to the unconvincing 'it's all about the children' rap from this morning's conversation on Fox Business, school districts that go to a four-day week are seeing both student performance and faculty morale improve.
Hmmm...
When the teachers unions try to lay on that guilt 'It's all about the children', remember it's not. And the less time invested with these people, the better.
Home-school, anybody?
HT to Mish.
Mexican Mass Grave Discovered: Drug Cartel Body Dump, At Least 55 Bodies
Front page on the BBC, buried in the New York Times.
OldSouth is unsurprised. After all, the White House and its cheerleaders have little appetite for revealing news about Mexico.
So, from our British cousins:
Mexican police say 55 bodies have been recovered from an abandoned mine that appears to have been used as a mass grave by drugs gangs.
Human remains were first discovered in the silver mine near Taxco in Guerrero state at the end of May.
The bodies appeared to have been thrown down a 200m (650ft) ventilation shaft over a period of time, police said.
Earlier reports that 77 bodies had been recovered were mistaken, officials said.
Only six have so far been identified - one was the director of a local prison.
Guerrero state is a focal point for drug-related violence that has claimed more than 22,000 lives in Mexico since 2006.
Police are now checking other mineshafts in the area to see if bodies have also been dumped there.
As well they should!
Now, what's the US government's reason for its refusal to aggresively enforce our southern border?
OS thinks that at least a few of those bodies are casualties of our government's negligence. And the bodies just keep stacking up...
Does this lend insight into why Arizona has acted to defend itself? Again, don't bother looking for this stuff in the Yew Nork Times.
OldSouth is unsurprised. After all, the White House and its cheerleaders have little appetite for revealing news about Mexico.
So, from our British cousins:
Mexican police say 55 bodies have been recovered from an abandoned mine that appears to have been used as a mass grave by drugs gangs.
Human remains were first discovered in the silver mine near Taxco in Guerrero state at the end of May.
The bodies appeared to have been thrown down a 200m (650ft) ventilation shaft over a period of time, police said.
Earlier reports that 77 bodies had been recovered were mistaken, officials said.
Only six have so far been identified - one was the director of a local prison.
Guerrero state is a focal point for drug-related violence that has claimed more than 22,000 lives in Mexico since 2006.
Police are now checking other mineshafts in the area to see if bodies have also been dumped there.
As well they should!
Now, what's the US government's reason for its refusal to aggresively enforce our southern border?
OS thinks that at least a few of those bodies are casualties of our government's negligence. And the bodies just keep stacking up...
Does this lend insight into why Arizona has acted to defend itself? Again, don't bother looking for this stuff in the Yew Nork Times.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Adios, Helen Thomas: Departed And Unlamented
Even Helen Thomas learns that it is possible to get caught in the act of being one's self. She was caught with her virulently anti-Semitic pants down last week, and finally is retiring.
Wikipedia updated her bio today:
On May 27, 2010, outside a White House Jewish heritage event, Rabbi David Nesenoff asked if Thomas had any comments on Israel. Thomas replied, "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine,"[10] and added that the people are under occupation. Asked where they should go she replied that "they should go home" to Poland, Germany, America and "everywhere else".[11][12] Thomas subsequently issued an apology on her personal web site.[12][13][14] On June 6, Thomas's agency, Nine Speakers, Inc., announced that they had dropped her as a client, due to her remarks.[15][16] Craig Crawford, who co-authored "Listen up, Mr. President", said that he "will no longer be working with Helen on our book projects".[17] Other fallout from Thomas' statements include a rebuke from the White House[18] and cancellation of a commencement speech she was to give at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland.[19] Around noontime on June 7th, 2010 in consequence to her comments from a few days earlier, Thomas tendered her immediate resignation and entered into retirement.
She wasn't a harmless little old lady, as she was so often portrayed, and happily let everyone believe. She was a bitter partisan, carrying a legacy of anti-Semitism inherited from her Lebanese family heritage. This latest outrage was the final straw.
Of course, there will be an obligatory period of silence, the acquisition of a new speaker bureau representation, a new book deal, and she'll be on the road this time next year, in front of sympathetic anti-Semitic audiences on the left of American politics, as well as Muslim groups , explaining how she was victimized by the Zionists and the Jooo-ish Conspiracy.
In the interlude, we all get a bit of relief.
Miss Thomas, Oprah's on the phone. You available to appear?
Wikipedia updated her bio today:
On May 27, 2010, outside a White House Jewish heritage event, Rabbi David Nesenoff asked if Thomas had any comments on Israel. Thomas replied, "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine,"[10] and added that the people are under occupation. Asked where they should go she replied that "they should go home" to Poland, Germany, America and "everywhere else".[11][12] Thomas subsequently issued an apology on her personal web site.[12][13][14] On June 6, Thomas's agency, Nine Speakers, Inc., announced that they had dropped her as a client, due to her remarks.[15][16] Craig Crawford, who co-authored "Listen up, Mr. President", said that he "will no longer be working with Helen on our book projects".[17] Other fallout from Thomas' statements include a rebuke from the White House[18] and cancellation of a commencement speech she was to give at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland.[19] Around noontime on June 7th, 2010 in consequence to her comments from a few days earlier, Thomas tendered her immediate resignation and entered into retirement.
She wasn't a harmless little old lady, as she was so often portrayed, and happily let everyone believe. She was a bitter partisan, carrying a legacy of anti-Semitism inherited from her Lebanese family heritage. This latest outrage was the final straw.
Of course, there will be an obligatory period of silence, the acquisition of a new speaker bureau representation, a new book deal, and she'll be on the road this time next year, in front of sympathetic anti-Semitic audiences on the left of American politics, as well as Muslim groups , explaining how she was victimized by the Zionists and the Jooo-ish Conspiracy.
In the interlude, we all get a bit of relief.
Miss Thomas, Oprah's on the phone. You available to appear?
Varney Interview With Randy Weingarten Fox Business 7 June 2010
Here is the interview referenced earlier. Weingarten is taking a more conciliatory tone than has often been heard in years past from teachers' unions. She still attempts to shift blame and change the subject, and Varney keeps her on the subject.
He brings up the subject of a Federal bailout, and she changes the subject entirely, which in poker terms, is a 'tell'.
OS has inquired about a transcript, hopefully will hear one exists and is available.
This is a most informative interview, but the video only contains the first four minutes, unfortunately.
He brings up the subject of a Federal bailout, and she changes the subject entirely, which in poker terms, is a 'tell'.
OS has inquired about a transcript, hopefully will hear one exists and is available.
This is a most informative interview, but the video only contains the first four minutes, unfortunately.
The States Versus The Unions: The Inevitable Conflict Is At Hand
The battle is now on--the inexorably shrinking tax base of the states vs. the entrenched unions holding Collective Bargaining Agreements with those states. The Federal Government kicked the can down the road into 2010-2011 budget year, by flooding the states with 'emergency cash', but there is a limit, and little stomach in Congress to continue this approach. A few Democrats can do math, and they know this can't continue, either fiscally or electorally.
The day of reckoning is now at hand in this budget year.
Chris Christie of New Jersey appears to have the will to win against the teachers' union. If he does, the job becomes easier for governors and legislatures everywhere else. If he loses...well, he said it himself in his remarks recorded below.
Worth a few minutes of your time to consider. If looking in from outside our borders, this is a pretty succinct explanation of the situation faced by each of our fifty states, and the thousands of local school authorities within the states. There is still a great deal of local control of schools, thankfully, although much less than in previous decades. For this we have Jimmy Carter to thank, who created in US Department of Education as a payoff to the National Education Association for their support in 1976.
The more the Feds intervene, the higher the costs, and lower the quality. Thus, in part, why we have arrived at this uncomfortable impasse. Thanks, Jimmy!
This morning's Fox Business segment with Stuart Varney featured a lively discussion with a teachers union president, attempting to spin the debate her way. After all, that's her job.
Varney didn't let her off the hook, and to the credit of both, all discourse remained civil. The name-calling usually resorted to by the union types (child-hater, education-hater, ignorant, racist) was not present, thankfully.
Will try to locate that video or transcript. It was an illuminating discussion.
The day of reckoning is now at hand in this budget year.
Chris Christie of New Jersey appears to have the will to win against the teachers' union. If he does, the job becomes easier for governors and legislatures everywhere else. If he loses...well, he said it himself in his remarks recorded below.
Worth a few minutes of your time to consider. If looking in from outside our borders, this is a pretty succinct explanation of the situation faced by each of our fifty states, and the thousands of local school authorities within the states. There is still a great deal of local control of schools, thankfully, although much less than in previous decades. For this we have Jimmy Carter to thank, who created in US Department of Education as a payoff to the National Education Association for their support in 1976.
The more the Feds intervene, the higher the costs, and lower the quality. Thus, in part, why we have arrived at this uncomfortable impasse. Thanks, Jimmy!
This morning's Fox Business segment with Stuart Varney featured a lively discussion with a teachers union president, attempting to spin the debate her way. After all, that's her job.
Varney didn't let her off the hook, and to the credit of both, all discourse remained civil. The name-calling usually resorted to by the union types (child-hater, education-hater, ignorant, racist) was not present, thankfully.
Will try to locate that video or transcript. It was an illuminating discussion.
You Know The Orchestra, Opera, And Ballet Are In The Fiscal Doldrums When...
...they turn to bingo and pull-tabs for a regular fund-raising source.
Really. No joke.
The Louisville Orchestra, Kentucky Opera, and Louisville Ballet all run weekly bingo games, with a 'pull-tab' operation on the side, to help fund operations.
Five years ago, the orchestra signed on at Bingo City, a hulking, blazingly lit space in Breckenridge Mall that once housed a department store. The opera and the Louisville Ballet have come on board during the past few months. Now, bingo regulars can attend an opera session at 10:30 a.m. Thursdays, orchestra sessions at 7:30 p.m. and midnight Thursdays, and a ballet session at 2 p.m. Sundays.
It's tempting to get preachy at this point, lamenting how these great organizations have muddied their hands with gambling, etc. etc., but OldSouth will resist the temptation.
Orchestras, operas, and ballet companies are, by definition, money-losers. They have always depended upon patronage from the wealthy quarters of society. The Austrian composer Haydn spent most of his career in the employ of the Esterhazy family, for example. Nothing new there, and nothing wrong. The Heinz family underwrote arts in Pittsburgh, the Fords in Detroit (and elsewhere), and more recently, the Ingram family fortune has fueled the high arts in Nashville. The great American arts institutions were built with private dollars, not tax money, and rightfully so.
What this presupposes, however, is the existence of businesses that operate profitably for long periods of time, which allows for the accumulation of wealth; wealth which can be reinvested, bequeathed and inherited, and eventually given away to worthy causes. This also presupposes a society in which new businesses can be born and succeed, to keep the cycle going.
It also presupposes that the orchestras, operas and ballets continue to prove their value to the community, as opposed to other needs such as hospitals for children, universities, medical research, orphanages and development needs in impoverished parts of the world. (Let's see, I can use this 50k to fund three performances of Giselle, or it can dig twenty wells and buy twenty thousand doses of medicine for HIV patients in southern Africa...what should I do?)
We now live in an economy that makes that long-term build of wealth much more difficult, its retention and transmission more fraught with hazards, coupled with a world of needs that make the purchase of a set of alpenhorns for next year's Ring Cycle seem relatively low on the list of priorities.
Thus, bingo for the arts, in a city that once prided itself on its generosity towards those activities, and enthusiastic attendance of them. It was a part of civilized and educated life, open to one and all. As the arts organizations increasingly isolated themselves from life around them (abetted by the unfortunate subsidy of tax dollars), the culture went on without them. Who needs Beethoven, when you've got the NBA?
We have both a cultural and economic quandry.
The bingo games are simply symptomatic.
Really. No joke.
The Louisville Orchestra, Kentucky Opera, and Louisville Ballet all run weekly bingo games, with a 'pull-tab' operation on the side, to help fund operations.
Five years ago, the orchestra signed on at Bingo City, a hulking, blazingly lit space in Breckenridge Mall that once housed a department store. The opera and the Louisville Ballet have come on board during the past few months. Now, bingo regulars can attend an opera session at 10:30 a.m. Thursdays, orchestra sessions at 7:30 p.m. and midnight Thursdays, and a ballet session at 2 p.m. Sundays.
It's tempting to get preachy at this point, lamenting how these great organizations have muddied their hands with gambling, etc. etc., but OldSouth will resist the temptation.
Orchestras, operas, and ballet companies are, by definition, money-losers. They have always depended upon patronage from the wealthy quarters of society. The Austrian composer Haydn spent most of his career in the employ of the Esterhazy family, for example. Nothing new there, and nothing wrong. The Heinz family underwrote arts in Pittsburgh, the Fords in Detroit (and elsewhere), and more recently, the Ingram family fortune has fueled the high arts in Nashville. The great American arts institutions were built with private dollars, not tax money, and rightfully so.
What this presupposes, however, is the existence of businesses that operate profitably for long periods of time, which allows for the accumulation of wealth; wealth which can be reinvested, bequeathed and inherited, and eventually given away to worthy causes. This also presupposes a society in which new businesses can be born and succeed, to keep the cycle going.
It also presupposes that the orchestras, operas and ballets continue to prove their value to the community, as opposed to other needs such as hospitals for children, universities, medical research, orphanages and development needs in impoverished parts of the world. (Let's see, I can use this 50k to fund three performances of Giselle, or it can dig twenty wells and buy twenty thousand doses of medicine for HIV patients in southern Africa...what should I do?)
We now live in an economy that makes that long-term build of wealth much more difficult, its retention and transmission more fraught with hazards, coupled with a world of needs that make the purchase of a set of alpenhorns for next year's Ring Cycle seem relatively low on the list of priorities.
Thus, bingo for the arts, in a city that once prided itself on its generosity towards those activities, and enthusiastic attendance of them. It was a part of civilized and educated life, open to one and all. As the arts organizations increasingly isolated themselves from life around them (abetted by the unfortunate subsidy of tax dollars), the culture went on without them. Who needs Beethoven, when you've got the NBA?
We have both a cultural and economic quandry.
The bingo games are simply symptomatic.
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