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.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
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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