Certainly, there is great joy for Chicago Cubs’ fans today with the signing of left-handed pitching mega-star Jon Lester – one of the top pitchers in this year’s free agent market.  And rightfully so!  After all, when an organization holds the record for futility and has embraced the ‘lovable-loser’ mentality for more than 108 years (but who’s counting) the signing of a top-shelf pitcher and proven winner like Lester is big news not only in Chicago but across the nation.

So, if Cubs Nation is hoopin’ and hollerin’ today and chanting that seldom-used line ‘Cubs win .. Cubs win’ I say let them enjoy their moment in the sun as we count the days until Spring Training.

OK, that’s long enough to celebrate, now let’s talk about facts and legend and lore.

I hate to be the person (really I don’t) to partially deflate the euphoric high that Cubs’ fans are feeling right now but I feel that somebody — and who better than me — has to mention the facts behind Lester’s hefty contract and … ugh … ugh … that 800-pound billy goat sitting in the corner.

Let me explain.

As I read the stats on Lester I just couldn’t help but think yet again that $155 million just won’t buy what it once would.  And that certainly isn’t sour grapes on my part or an indictment that the Cubs overspent to get their man.  You see, I think professional sports owners across the board (especially baseball) have more money than they do common sense so overspending is now a part of the game.  Do the names and contracts of A-Rod, Pujols and Zito ring a bell?  Check out this link for more of the insane spending for marginal players.

The $155 million, six-year deal that Lester signed for translates to $25.83 million per year.  During the past nine years the 30-year-old Lester has an overall record of 116-67, which factors out to 12.8 wins and 7.4 losses per season.  Lester has also pitched more than 200 innings in six of the past seven seasons, so he is durable and has stayed healthy, two very important stats.  During that same stretch Lester has had a not-so-great 3.58 ERA.  He has also shown the ability to win in big game situations as evident by his 3-0 record in World Series starts.

Let’s look at Lester’s numbers against his salary.  If he stays healthy (and that’s always the question on a zillion dollar contract) he will get a maximum 32 starts per year, which equates to $807,000 per start.  And if he continues on with his average wins per season — 13 wins per year over nine seasons — Lester will be paid $1.97 million per win.  But hey, that’s the world of professional baseball, every team overspends and takes chances.  It’s the name of the game.

However, while baseball pundits can dissect Lester’s contract from every angle, there is one gigantic issue that must be addressed – the ‘Billy-Goat Curse.’  The ‘curse’ that many Cubs’ fans believe really exists and is solely responsible for a century without winning a World Series.  While looking for some information on the ‘curse’ I was somewhat surprised to find that there is a website (Cubbiesbaseball.com) dedicated to this topic (see I told you some Chicago fans embrace the curse).  So, I just copied the information that you will find below.  It’s pretty amazing stuff … and information that probably didn’t come up in contract negotiations with Lester.

Chicago Cubs Curses

The Goat of 1945

Back in 1945, a man by the name of William “Billy Goat” Sianis attempted to bring a goat named, Murphy, to Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the World Series. Sianis was the owner of the “Billy Goat Tavern” and was a diehard Cubs fan.

Since there was no signs or warnings that barred animals from the park, Sianis figured he would have no problem bringing Murphy to the park. Ready with one ticket for himself and one ticket for Murphy, Sianis and his pet watched the game until late in the game when they were asked to leave. Orders came directly from Cubs owner, P.K. Wrigley, asking that both Sianis and his pet goat be ushered out of the park. The reason given was “because the goat stinks”. As a disgusted Sianis left, he was heard saying “The Cubs ain’t gonna win no more. The Cubs will never win a World Series so long as the goat is not allowed in Wrigley Field.”
After the Cubs lost the Series to the Tigers in seven games, Sianis sent a telegram to Wrigley that said “Who Stinks Now?” Diehard Cubs fans believe the curse still exists today.

The Collapse of 1969

The 1969 Cubs was a team consisting of Cubs legends like Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins, and Billy Williams. It was considered to be the greatest Cubs team ever assembled.

With a late season lead of 9 1/2 game lead over the Mets, nothing looked like it could stop the Cubs from returning to the World Series.

The curse is said to have reared its ugly head again on September 9th, 1969 when a black cat ran onto the field as the Cubs played a crucial series against the Mets at Shea Stadium. After running circles around Ron Santo in the on-deck circle, the black cat quickly disappeared underneath the stands.

The 1984 Cubs

Finishing the 84 season with a 95-64 record, the Cubs were primed and ready to finally return to the World Series. Led by MVP, Ryne Sandberg and Cy Young Winner, Rick Sutcliffe, the Cubs jumped to an early 2-0 series lead over the San Diego Padres. The Padres won game three and then won game four after Steve Garvey broke a 9th inning tie with a home run. Leading game 5 late in the game, it looked like the Cubs would finally break the curse. Instead, the Padres scored two runs to trim the lead to 3-2. In the 7th inning with a runner on second, a ground ball was hit to First Baseman, Leon Durham. Instead of making an easy second out and retaining a one run lead, the ball rolled between Durham’s legs and the Padres scored on the error. Two batters later, the Padres would take the lead, which eventually led to a Padres win.

Buckner’s Batting Glove in the 1986 World Series

Most baseball fans are aware of the infamous ball between the legs of Bill Buckner during the 86 World Series. The error caused Boston to lose game 6, forcing a game 7. Eventually the Mets won the series and many fans blamed Buckner, thus extending the Red Sox curse.

What hasn’t been noticed until recently was what Bill Buckner was wearing under his first basemen’s glove during that play.

A picture taken over 20 years ago showing Buckner walking off the field after committing the error revealed something that has been undiscovered until recently. As Buckner walked off the field, he removed his glove, exposing a worn Chicago Cubs batting glove with the Cubs logo on the back. Buckner had previously played for the Cubs before joining the Red Sox and was apparently wearing the batting glove for luck. Instead it acts as one more piece of evidence as to why the Cubs Curse exists.

Santo’s 1998 Call

Late in September of 1998, the Cubs were in a tight Wild Card race with the Mets and Giants. On September 23rd, the Cubs were leading the Brewers 7-0. As the Brewers crawled back, the Cubs still led 7-5 in the bottom of the 9th with two-outs and the bases loaded. With a count of 2-2, Rod Beck threw the pitch and a routine pop-fly to left field should have ended the game. Instead, the ball was dropped and the Brewers won the game. The loss was most felt through the emotions of broadcaster Ron Santo.

HUGHES: “Two down, the Brewers have the bases loaded, and a 2-2 count on the hitter. Here’s the pitch. Swung on. Fly ball to left field. Brant Brown going back. Brant Brown … drops the ball!”

HUGHES: “Three runs will score, and the Brewers have beaten the Cubs.”

Steve Bartman and the 2003 Cubs

On Tuesday, October 14, 2003 during a playoff game against the Florida Marlins, Steve Bartman, a local 26-year old global human resources worker from the Northern suburbs of Chicago, became the latest “goat” when he attempted to catch a foul ball near the left field wall. As Cubs left fielder, Moises Alou, attempted to catch the same ball, Bartman, and others could be seen deflecting the ball. What could have been a momentum killer for the Marlins eventually was a major blame to the collapse of the Cubs after being one game away from the World Series. After the game, Bartman apoligized to fans:

“There are few words to describe how awful I feel and what I have experienced within these last twenty-four hours. I am so truly sorry from the bottom of this Cubs fan’s broken heart.

I ask that Cub fans everywhere redirect the negative energy that has been vented towards my family, my friends and myself into the usual positive support for our beloved team on their way to being National League champs.” – Steve Bartman

Though Wrigley Field ushers will not tell you where Bartman sat during that game, a Cubs sticker can be seen on the back of the famous seat where Bartman interfered with the ball. Each game, you can see fans taking pictures at that same spot in the same pose as Bartman.

Since the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, the Cubs are the last team to be suffering from their famous curse. Whether its the curse of the goat or the curse of the 2003 playoffs, fans hope that each year they do not have to “wait until next year.”

——————-

See, I told you, it’s pretty amazing stuff.

In closing, as a St. Louis Cardinals’ fan I’d like to welcome Jon Lester to Chicago, the National League Central Division and one of the great rivalries in sports history .  And Mr. Lester, don’t believe all that nonsense about the ‘Billy Goat Curse’ … however it might be a good thing to avoid ladders, broken mirrors, black cats, full moons and anything that has to do with the number ’13.’

Play Ball!

I am yielding the floor for the second week to my friend Mark A. Pearson. Now retired, for more than a quarter of a century Mark was an institutional psychologist working in 7 different institutions for the states of Alabama and Illinois. Working with a diverse set of forensic and mental health populations, he continues to search for solutions to individual and group problems.
 
Walter V. Wendler

————————————————————————
By Mark A. Pearson

As we know from history republics (essentially governments of, for and by the people) at best survive only into a third century of existence, then collapse under the weight of more and more added on programs in a (misguided) effort to constantly do more and more for the people. Programmatic/governmental Apoptosis would limit maybe even reduce the likelihood of what is often perceived by historians as inevitable; that any republic, in fact, any governmental system, will end on the scrap heap of history. Planned apoptosis just might reduce the inevitability of that journey/ending.

In spite of the bureaucrat’s intentions to hold onto “the way things were” and to fight for more and more government, history also tells us that things do change. Since my Grandfather’s birth shortly before the beginning of the 20th century and on through my Grandson’s birth shortly after the beginning of the 21st century the world has changed radically. Long lived empires have fallen (the Ottoman; Japan), empires have risen and fallen (the Soviet Union; Nazi Germany), Central Europe and much of the continent of Africa has changed internal boundaries and governments numerous times, the United States has expanded and, if current administrators have their way – will be “fundamentally transformed.”

The problem is not that there is not change, the problem is that change tends to be poorly predicted, prescribed and managed; leaving it a chaotic process. Governmental apoptosis would constantly change things in predicable, prescribed and manageable ways. Problems would be identified and programs created to address them for the likely duration. Programs would not be created to be tended indefinitely. Historically, the military has been expanded in times of war and reduced in times of peace. All governmental problems can be addressed that way.

The intention here is to create a system (subject to review, of course) whereby programs – all programs – die in a prescribed, predictable fashion. Hopefully the program has “solved” whatever problem it was created to solve and resources can be moved onto other current problems (in this way money won’t be spent on eradicating small pox, but rather will be available to manage/eradicate Ebola). If the problem persists in a similar or advanced form a more up-to-date program can replace the previous, no longer useful program. Toward that end it is proposed that every law has a standard, time certain “sundown” provision. Ten years seems a reasonable time to address any identifiable problem (after all it only took the U.S. Military to mobilize, fight and win the greatest conflict of all time (WWII) a little over 4 years). Setting “sundown” dates addresses new laws, those presumably designed to address current problems.

But what do we do about “old” laws; created at some historical moment to address what was an important historical problem. The important thing is to not create a crisis, but rather a process. Thus, every law in existence can be assigned a number from one to 10 (two random number generators can be used – one to select the law as all laws are numbered and one to select the number from one to ten.) The process then is that on 1 January of the following year each and every law with a “one” becomes null and void. This allows the legislature a year to address the issues underlying one-tenth of the laws currently in effect (of course, as they research a given “problem” they may discover duplication of laws and act to “sun set” them also). On the next 1 January the laws enacted in the previous year would become effective while each law numbered “two” becomes null and void. Again, allowing the learned, deliberative legislators to deliberate on a current, better, right answer – knowing full well as the problem morphs, it will be readdressed ten years hence. Each year, in a systematic, predictable fashion one-tenth of the laws of the land – the answers to the old problems of society – are reviewed and updated. The “daughter laws” are more able to address the current state of affairs.

In addition to constantly updating the responses to the here-and-now problems of a society, Governmental Apoptosis, in effect making government more effective, Governmental Apoptosis will give politicians, legislators and leaders something (organized) to do. They say idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Under the current (non) system, when there is not a “crisis” legislators sit around idly and worry that they are – with nothing really to do – irrelevant. This leads many to search out ideas to implement that have nothing to do with the legitimate powers of government – much, if not most, of what the Federal Congress has done in the last century does not seem to be “limited and enumerated” in the U.S. Constitution (but that is for another column, another day).

Governmental Apoptosis will, then, reduce Fraud, Waste and Duplication. It will keep governmental solutions up-to-date with here-and-now problems and it will limit the damage unfettered and uncontrolled legislators can do (often called “unintended consequences”). A positive side-effect is likely that the amounts of money spent on any given problem will be markedly reduced and the workforce necessary to address a here-and-now problem will be reduced as Waste, Fraud and Duplication – especially Duplication are reduced.

(Seventh and final in the IMTE series)

By Walter V. Wendler

A reflection on October 6, “I’m Mad, too, Eddie,” (IMTE) claimed that minority points of view are swept under the rug and labeled as intolerant.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking at Harvard’s commencement, was correct when he said U.S. higher education is becoming dangerously narrow-minded.  Contravening perspective relative to the status quo is frowned upon. This reflection is not about “political correctness,” an overused, misunderstood, and meaningless phrase that is bantered about to demean any view with which an individual or group disagrees.

Walter V. Wendler

Jonathan Last writes thoughtfully in The Weekly Standard on the changing nature of virtues in our nation and the impact these changes have on how we see the world, or at least how we say we see the world. Last makes a compelling example regarding smoking and sex. While it is acceptable — according to “modern” virtue — to treat smokers as lepers, the idea of suggesting that indiscriminate sex likewise has a negative impact on human physical and emotional health is relegated to citizens of the Cretaceous epoch.  On the one hand the individual who detests smoking is current, proper, and virtuous.  On the other hand, if that same person rejects casual one night sexual “hookups,” fueled by instantaneous gratification, and too frequently alcohol and/or recreational drugs, or sexual relations outside the bond of marriage, they would be branded as stupid, uncaring, and Neanderthal.  On a good day.

Universities, to the diminishment of their effectiveness as reflective social forces, have become institutions prone to eye-rolling responses to diverse points of view.  Harvey C.  Mansfield of the Heritage Foundation provides thoughtful discussion on the issue and encourages caution of quick-draw, shoot-from-the-hip responses to complex issues.  And apart from proclamations from the Ivory Tower, the butchers, bakers and candlestick makers know that no educational opportunity is “value-free.” Some within the ivy covered walls believe freedom from values is the benchmark of university life. They are wrong.

Some points of view are just not welcome. And these unwelcome perspectives come from different locations on the spectrums of insight, knowledge, culture and morality. But, because virtuousness is determined by committees, standards are in flux.  Committees take votes and the view that rises to acceptability is the one that causes the least grief.  This falls short and transforms public morality into thresholds of acceptability. Different targets I fear.

The newest approaches to dealing with sensitive issues are “trigger warnings” to presage potential offenses to unwary audiences, like MPAA ratings for movies.  While dean at a major college of architecture I issued a “trigger warning” regarding a gallery exhibit over 20 years ago.  The show exhibited pencil drawings of acts of homosexual acts that many people found frightening for the content, but beyond that for the darkness and intensity of the presentations. A custodial worker asked me if she could be freed from cleaning the gallery as the images were so intense and disconcerting (she said “disgusting”) she did not want to see them. Said she, “I am having nightmares.” I told custodial service not to ask anyone offended by the exhibit to clean the gallery.  They could find no one willing to do it.

I wanted to remove the exhibit.  It was offensive to many beyond the janitorial staff.  The Office of General Counsel said I could close the exhibit, but I would likely have to reopen it after a protracted public discussion.   The attorneys suggested I post a “trigger warning” (they did not call it that) outside the exhibit hall. I acquiesced, fueled by fear of standing up for a value system that would be wantonly misconstrued by many.  Even the faculty whose protégés produced the exhibited work were concerned and believed fair warning was appropriate.

It is possible to walk on the knife’s edge of personally held values and free public expression, but it is, nonetheless, a knife’s edge.  What made the knife’s edge navigable was not a bureaucracy or a set of rules but thoughtful people trying to understand how to solve a difficult problem in a complex and changing world. In the end, I expressed my thoughts, representing many others, and the artists expressed their views through the work. A set of rules or a committee would not have achieved a desirable outcome.  The commentary about “trigger warnings” suggests every work of fiction ever written would need a caveat, most especially so if the work had any value:  Any idea worth its salt is offensive to some.  Pick the offender: Auclert, Tolstoy, King, Dickens, Laozi, Shakespeare, and Christ are a few examples.

Jonathan Last points out seven “modern” cardinal virtues: freedom, convenience, progress, equality, authenticity, health, and the grandparent of them all, nonjudgmentalism. By comparison, and in contrast, Christianity’s traditional virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility seem antiquated.  The primary difference between the two sets is simply summed up in Hindu philosophy:  Virtue cannot be imposed or external, but is attained and lived up to by each individual, as an internal commitment.  Interestingly, this is the foundation of Christian practice.
Universities are masters of their own fate and would do well to espouse and act on the fact that people are too.  No two the same.  Hide-and-seek with committees, rules, and processes obfuscate moral responsibility and diminish rather than define it.

Gay Bowlin, Manager

Temperatures have reached the lowest of the season and the National Weather Service states that these cold temps will be the norm for most of the winter months.

Gay Bowlin

We should not expect anything much warmer than the low 40s through midweek next week.
The fruit prices were incorrect in last week’s article – here are the correct prices listed below
We are taking orders for fruit again this year – the prices are as follows
Grapefruit – 4/5 bushel – $25    2/5 bushel – $15

Oranges – 4/5 bushel – $26       2/5 bushel – $16

Tangelos – 4/5 bushel – $25      2/5 bushel – $15The fruit orders must be received no later than November 24 and will be delivered the week of December 15.

Pecans sell for $9.00 1 lb bag and chocolate covered pecans are $8.00 for 12 oz – they will be available for pick up before Thanksgiving and we are taking orders.  Call the office at 435-3616.

Attention all Franklin County Farm Bureau Members – take the time to mark your calendars for Monday December 1 and to call the office to make your reservations for our County Annual Meeting.  The meeting will be at the Benton Civic Center with food served at 6:15 p.m. There will be a Silent Auction and this year we are pleased to announce that Magician Chris Egelston will be this year’s entertainment.  Call the office at 435-3616 by November 21 to make your reservations.

Drive through rural parts of Illinois and you’ll see them everywhere … on farms and at grain elevators. Piles of corn. Lots of them. Huge piles. Never before has this much corn been harvested in the U.S. In fact, the 2014 growing season was so successful that state officials have approved temporary storage for 107 million bushels of grain (hence the corn piles) because of the likelihood that storage silos will be full both on farms and at grain elevators.

Those piles of corn are symbolic of many things.

They symbolize farmers’ resilience. Just two short years ago, much of the nation’s corn crop burned up in the field as the country’s midsection experienced a punishing drought.

They symbolize farmers’ productivity. This year’s U.S. harvest will set a new record – in excess of 14 billion bushels of corn. For years there has been a trend away from making goods and toward service-industry jobs in this country. Yet farmers have never stopped delivering a tangible product.

They symbolize ingenuity and resourcefulness. Those kernels of corn will become food ingredients both here and abroad. They’ll feed livestock, ultimately nourishing populations around the world that are becoming more prosperous and desiring higher-quality protein. They’ll be converted into fuel in the form of ethanol, which provides jobs for American workers, is better for our environment and moves the U.S. closer to energy independence.

In this crop is food, feed, fuel and fiber. Produced humbly and quietly by farmers who, for generations, have done the same. Benjamin Franklin said, “Then plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.” All these years later, his words are true at a magnitude he surely never imagined.

With more corn in the U.S. this does not necessarily mean that farmers are making more money – the price of corn per bushel has fallen from over $7 per bushel in 2012 to just over $3 per bushel today. The price to grow corn has not fallen just the selling price. Farmers are not making more money just because they are growing more corn.

American consumers are putting together more meals at home — though not necessarily cooked meals — and eating fewer meals out, according to an a new study by the research firm NPD Group.

This makes for one of the biggest changes in eating patterns of Americans over the past five years, concludes the comprehensive study of more than 7,000 consumers, the 29th Annual Eating Patterns in America Report.

Visit us at www/fcfbil.org.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

By Walter V. Wendler

My reflection on October 6, “I’m Mad, too, Eddie,” (IMTE) criticized the notion of entitlement – not the common political understanding that refers to programs that look after people in old age, like Social Security, or assist with health care through affordable health insurance, such as Medicare – but rather benefits given to someone in public or private employment based on privilege, rank,  prerogative, or some other “due,” such as whom you know, not what you have earned or achieved.

Walter V. Wendler

The nature and purpose of the university require that anything the university provides to anyone should be earned, never given. Merit and accomplishment must rule, not time in grade, friends, or personal relationships.

People at every level of university life have accepted or created expectations beyond what any institution is capable of delivering. A recent Master’s thesis at Eastern Michigan University investigates self-entitlement among students. High grades for minimal work are frequently expected and often demanded in the face of second-rate performance. Males reportedly have higher expectations for low-work rewards than females. As students progress in study, their sense of entitlement for lackluster effort diminishes.  Students should come to the university with a clear understanding of expectations, but honest assessments of ability and attainment are withheld by loving parents, fearful teachers and administrators, and a culture that deifies dime-a-dozen-deeds.      Earnest honesty is entitlement’s elixir.

Sadly, in the last 45 years American students rate themselves 10 to 20% higher than their peers from 1965 in areas such as achievement, intellectual self-confidence, leadership ability, social self-confidence and writing ability. They bought the bluster. Conversely, cooperation, an appreciation for others, and spirituality saw little change or decreased over the same period of time according to a BBC report on the American Freshman Survey. Even to the uninitiated it seems like mushrooming narcissism. Parents, teachers, guidance counselors and university personnel must muscle-up and be honest.  Average is average, not a curse as commonly held. Not everyone is a genius. The most comforting words I ever heard on the occasion of the birth of our first son:  “Everything is normal.”

Student athletes may feel entitled through the culture of celebrity that exists everywhere in our nation. The Boston University hockey team is an unfortunate example.  The team was encumbered by a multitude of sexual assault allegations and it was purported that they lived in environment of “sexual entitlement.”  Boston University president Robert A. Brown confirmed this in his report on the Report of the Men’s Ice Hockey Task Force two years ago.

Old fashioned values help inoculate the inflated sense of entitlement of too many young people and those who lead, nurture, and mentor them.  Honest values foundational to the Christian faith:  love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, are the basis of a measured life as articulated by St. Paul is his Epistle to the Galatians, four of which are described in a Huffington Post piece that proposes a shift from an “entitled to empowered culture.” St. Paul and The Huffington Post in the same sentence: What is the world coming to?

Leadership can espouse the needed values:  Unapologetically.  Leadership at home, at places of worship, at schools and universities, but too frequently leadership falls into the entrapment of entitlement.  Mike Myatt, the author of Leadership Matters… The CEO Survival Manual says exactly that.  Leaders of every stripe feel they deserve whatever they can get.  The sense of entitlement is especially strong in universities says Mark J. Drozdowski in Inside Higher Ed.  Universities should smother it not spawn it.

Trickle down entitlement contaminates many aspects of institutional life.  Why even a scintilla of surprise when followers, a.k.a. students, are infected by the culture in the Petri dish.  The idiom, “Do as I say, not as I do,” never works on university campuses, in commerce, or in civic leaders, anywhere.   Whatever leadership “wants” a campus to be is of no consequence according to the Markula Center for Applied Ethics. Instead, the campus, like any human organization, emulates and eventually becomes what leadership is. A more hurtful realization for too many organizations is impossible to imagine. For example a state with a corrupt governor, or university with a corrupt president, becomes what that governor or president is, was, or will be.

Followers become what leaders are and if we don’t like what we see the mirror identifies the culprit.    Entitlement is present in students who expect too much for too little, but homes, houses of worship, schools, universities and businesses shoulder part of the blame.  Like him or not, Marshal McLuhan had it right, “We become what we behold,” reflecting on the impact of media on our lives.
Likewise, students anticipate entitlement when they behold it all around them.

SPRINGFIELD — Republican Bruce Rauner said he’d shake up Springfield if voters gave him the chance.

Here’s a link to the column by Kurt Erickson.

Mark Twain once said there are ‘lies, damned lies and statistics.’  After watching yet another election cycle where the politics of personal destruction is more important than the truth, maybe we should update Twain’s words to ‘lies, damn lies and politics.’

Certainly, we are all election-weary.

We’re tired of robo-calls, umpteen signs dotting the landscape and vicious attack ads, chocked full of lies, interrupting our nightly television viewing.  Heck, it’s gotten so bad that you can’t even listen to a song on YouTube without first having to hear yet another negative, throw-some-manure-against-the-wall-and-see-if-it-will-stick advertisement.  Sadly, it appears that the election cycle where a candidate actually tells us what they have done and why they should be re-elected are long gone.

The single issue that I find most irritating and dead-wrong is the belief by many folks that one party holds all the answers and has all the qualified candidates.  And it’s my belief that this type of flawed thinking is the single factor that makes election campaigns interminable and makes voters feel like their head is about to explode.  This line of reasoning also plays into a belief that I have that our elected officials count on two things from voters to remain in office – ignorance and apathy.  In short, some people vote for any candidate just because they belong to a particular political party while others are so sick and tired of the system that they don’t bother to vote at all.

Let me state unequivocally that I’m an independent voter and I’ve voted for many Democrats and many Republicans.  I try to learn about candidates, read how they vote and what they believe and certainly if they toe-the-line for the party bosses and not their constituents.  Without exception I believe there are good Democrats and bad Democrats and good Republicans and bad Republicans. No political party has a lock on good candidates. And while it may sound harsh, I also believe that anybody that votes a straight party ticket – either way – is a fool.

This point was driven home recently when I trudged off for my daily visit to the post office – another location that is not safe during an election.  In the mail that day I received a letter and a sample ballot from Kevin Acosta, who is a Democrat precinct committeeman on the west side of Franklin County.

Before I talk about the letter, let me say that I don’t have a problem getting a letter from a precinct committeman, in fact, I understand that rallying voters is a big part of what they do.  But, it was the content of the letter that I found troubling and untrue.

Let me explain.

The letter began by encouraging folks to go vote on Nov. 4 and talked about the importance of this particular election.  No problem with that as far as I am concerned. But, it was the second paragraph that was head-scratcher.  Here’s how it reads:

“The Republicans have gotten us in this mess and they have no plan to get us out.  If they get in they will cut programs to our most vulnerable citizens and destroy what’s left of the middle class.  We (Democrats) are the only hope for schools (children), hospitals (the sick), nursing homes (the elderly), organized labor and our veterans.”

Seriously? While I do agree we are in a mess, I have a different view about who got us there.

Let’s take that paragraph and dissect it line-by-line.

First, in Illinois and in Franklin County, Republicans are endangered species.  Illinois has a Democrat governor and a veto-proof Senate and House that is controlled by Democrats. In Franklin County, where unemployment is worst in the state, Democrats hold all elected positions, every single one.  In fact, there has not been a Republican elected to an office-holder position since 1960 when Bob Ice was elected sheriff.  And for the past 25 years I can remember two Republican county board members.  Currently, all nine county board seats are Democrats.

So, to say that ‘Republicans have gotten us in this mess’ is pure nonsense.  It would take somebody completely uninformed or with partisan political blinders on (or both) to believe that.

The first thought that came to my mind when I read the line that Republicans would ‘destroy the middle class’ was the 67 percent income tax hike in Illinois that was inflicted on us by Gov. Pat Quinn and Democrats.  Think about this — is there a more damaging way to attack the middle class than to go straight to their paycheck and help yourself to an additional 67 percent in income tax?

The final line in that paragraph is the most egregious.  That line reads: We (Democrats) are the only hope for schools (children), hospitals (the sick), nursing homes (the elderly), organized labor and our veterans.”

Keep in mind again, Illinois has a  governor and veto-proof House and Senate controlled by Democrats.  According to the Illinois State Board of Education, since 2009 there has been a $2.7 billion cut in education in Illinois – cuts that have led to the loss of teachers and aides, an increase in class sizes and the elimination of music, art, sports and other educational programs.

Additionally, massive cuts in health-related matters in Illinois have hurt the most vulnerable.  In recent months I have interviewed a mental health employee with the Illinois Department of Human Services who told me that her department has been decimated by budget cuts.

“I sit across the table from people asking for help and I know that they are going to die before I can get them the help they need,” she told me. Sad, huh?

And I recently talked with a nursing home administrator who told me that every month she spends money out of her own pocket for necessities such as toilet paper, paper towels, kleenexes and cleaning supplies because the state is running so far behind with payments.

It also seems to me if Gov. Quinn is the ‘only hope’ for organized labor they might be in serious trouble.  Despite the truckloads of money that unions are spending to try and get him re-elected, there has not been another Illinois governor in memory (Democrat or Republican) who has been more anti-union that Quinn.  AFSCME, the state’s largest public employees’ union, had to take Quinn to court to get a pay raise that had been gained through collective bargaining.  Here’s a link to the AFSCME website from 18 months ago.

As far as veterans – both Democrats and Republicans have done a poor job of meeting the needs of a group that should be near the top of the priority list, but it clearly does not fall on one party.

Regarding the letter I received, let me remind you again of my slightly altered version of Twain’s words one more time. There are lies, damn lies and politics.  And the letter I received was pure politics.  Look around on Nov. 4 and ask yourself if you are proud and satisfied with what you see in Illinois and your particular county.  Ask yourself if Illinois or your particular neck of the woods is better or worse than it was two years ago? Four years ago? Six years ago?  And then vote your conscience … regardless of political party.

(Editor’s Note:  I wrote this particular column and it appeared in the Southern Illinoisan on Dec. 13, 2005.  In a post today Danielle Gouge Belva (granddaughter of Eugene Moroni) mentioned this offering and that sent me digging through my archives.  I re-read this column and wanted to share it with readers.  I have written hundreds and hundreds of columns and this is on my short list of favorites.  I hope you enjoy.  JM)

I read the obituary and then I read it a second time more slowly. The name of the deceased was Eugene Thomas Moroni and as is always the case the obit told a brief chronological story about his life.

After reading the obit, paying particular attention about Moroni’s long history as senior vice president with Old Ben Coal Company, I laid the paper aside and thought about the countless times I’d heard his name mentioned. You see, as a kid growing up in a very middle-class, blue-collar family the name ‘Gene Moroni’ was revered and almost legendary around my house.

Let me explain.

As Southern Illinois residents are aware, coal mining has always been a cyclical industry, which means working as a coal miner has always been a feast-or-famine occupation.

My dad began his mining career in the late 1940s and in those ‘famine’ days tried to earn a living working two and three days a week at mines in Buckner, Coello and Valier. In 1956 Old Ben Coal Company started construction on Mine 21, located east of Sesser, and many miners believed a ‘feast’ era was about to begin.

The new multi-million dollar mine began hoisting coal in January 1960 and my dad was one of hundreds desperately trying to land a job there. I can recall many times sitting in the backseat of an old car at the Old Ben office, located where Benton City Hall is now located, while my dad waited in the lobby to try and talk to somebody about getting a job.

After numerous failed attempts my dad came up with a plan that proves necessity truly is the mother of invention. Realizing that the Old Ben officials he was hoping to see were leaving the building at day’s end through another exit, my dad moved his job-seeking vigil to a parking lot at the rear of the building. I’ve heard him recall the story countless times.

The first person my dad encountered in the parking lot that day was Gene Moroni and he approached the vice president of Old Ben Coal and, point-blank, asked him for a job.

Moroni’s answer was probably the standard line he used on the throngs of men seeking his help.

“Do you have an application on file,” Moroni asked my dad.

My dad’s answer was one of quickest-thinking lines I’ve heard.

“Yes, I have an application on file … but I don’t need an application on file, I have a family to take care of … I need a job,” my dad told him.

As I write this I can literally see the exchange that took place that spring day in 1960 between a successful mining executive and a man looking for a job to provide for his wife and four children.

I can let my mind wander and imagine that maybe Moroni looked my dad straight in the eye and tried to get a read on him or maybe he even considered my dad’s size – he was 42 years old and a big strapping man in those days. I’m more prone to believe that Moroni looked at my dad’s desire and his heart and realized that a man who would spend the afternoon standing in a parking lot trying to find somebody … anybody … to talk with about a job would surely make a good employee.

“Call my secretary in the morning and have her schedule you for a physical,” Moroni told him. “I’m going to give you a job.”

The significance of that meeting might not have been apparent to either man that afternoon, but it marked a turning point in my dad’s life and a turning point for his family. Mine 21 was called the ‘golden hole’ by miners and proved to be the best-ever Old Ben mine. My dad went from working two or three days a week to working six and seven days per week and everything he attained materially in life came after that meeting with Moroni.

Perhaps it was his attempt to pay Moroni back for giving him a job or maybe it was something in his make up – maybe it was a combination of both — but my dad would not miss a shift of work. He told Moroni he needed a job that day in 1960 and then for 25 years he went to work every day — regardless.

It’s my opinion that Old Ben Coal and my dad both benefited greatly because of Moroni’s decision that day.

Obituaries are adequate and purposeful when describing the highlights of a person’s life but they fail to reveal the real fabric of that person.

Today I would like to add a footnote to Gene Moroni’s obituary.

Along with the relevant facts that were listed Moroni should also be remembered as a man that helped shape and define the Southern Illinois coal industry, a good man that kept his word, a man of character and a person that undoubtedly possessed an uncanny knack for ‘sizing-up’ a man.

And most importantly it should be remembered that Moroni was admired by many working coal miners – particularly one he met by chance in a parking lot 45 years ago.

Gay Bowlin, Manager

Harvest season is one of the busiest times of year for farmers – carrying with it long days and tight deadlines. It can be tempting to bypass basic safety procedures.

Gay Bowlin

Each year, failure to follow these recommendations leads to thousands of injuries – in addition to deaths – for farmers and employees. Even though it may add a few minutes to your day, taking extra steps to ensure safety can help save both farmers and their employees’ lives.

It’s also important for motorists to “share the road” with farmers. Drivers should reduce speed when encountering farm equipment or when an SMV emblem is visible, keep a safe distance, be prepared to yield, and pass wide, large farm equipment only if conditions are safe.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture has recommended to Congress that the Section 179 tax deduction level in the Internal Revenue Service code remain consistent with the 2010-2013 limit for small businesses.

Currently under Section 179 of the tax code, a business taxpayer can currently deduct, or “expense,” qualified assets placed in service during the year, up to a specified amount. After a series of extensions (with some modifications), a maximum deduction of $500,000 was allowed for 2013, subject to a phaseout for assets costing more than $2 million. However, when this provision expired after 2013, the limit for 2014 reverted to a paltry $25,000 with just a $200,000 phaseout threshold.

The Stone Seed Group is offering a $1,000 scholarship to Illinois High School Seniors. Write a 250-word essay and telling “Why agriculture is so important to Illinois and your life”. Submit your application and essay to www.StoneSeed.com/EssayContest  beginning October 1. The deadline for submission is November 30 and winners will be announced on or about January 1, 2015.

I would like to encourage farmers right now to on line to www.growcommunities.com “America’s Farmers Grow Communities – Monsanto Fund” and enter the Franklin County Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Foundation for a chance to be awarded $2,500.  This will help to ensure the agricultural education of our Franklin County children.

Entrants must live or farm in Franklin County, be 21 years or older and actively engaged in farming a minimum of 250 acres of corn, soybeans and/or cucumbers. One entry per qualified person. Actively engaged means he or she performs the work, or hires and actively manages others who do so.

Franklin County Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Foundation is a 501©(3) and falls in the guidelines of qualifying to receive this grant.

Entries must be received by November 30, 2014 to qualify.  We could use your help – our Ag in the Classroom program is completely funded by grants and donations and is well respected in the community. If you have any questions please call the office at 435-3616.

Visit us at www/fcfbil.org.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.