Contented Cow

“Black Horse One Zero, Black Horse One Zero, this is Shovel Six. Confirming Charlie One’s sighting as follows: large armored formation passed through inter-German border Zero Three Zero Five Zulu approximate brigade in size. Composed of Papa Tango 76s, Bravo Tango Romeo 62s and Tango 72s. Inform Black Horse Six that Shovel is engaging. Out.“

The Third World War: August 1985, General Sir John Hackett, 1978.

So begins one of the apocryphal books of the Cold War, outlining one of the many ground-based beginnings to World War III, a war we planned for from the early 1950’s through to the end of the Cold War, as declared by the press sometime in the 1990s. So sure were we that the basic equation had changed that even leaders like George H. W. Bush, President, had declared a “peace dividend” as we contemplated a future with reduced tensions and less need for defense spending. Fighting the Iraqis was a mere exercise in their stupidity, as Saddham Hussein foolishly engaged US forces in Kuwait as if he were the Russians, and the Powell Doctrine was applied (specifically its call to bring all ya got if you are going to fight).

Now we have seen the Russians invade a break-away province of a former satellite. (NYTimes, free registration required). George Santayana told us “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.“ We don’t want to repeat the past, so we’ll consider the recent events in Europe, and askourselves:

• Is this West Virginia deciding to rejoin the Union after Virginia became part of the Confederacy?
• Is this the Ruhr Valley and the Remilitarization of the Rhineland?
• Is this the southern frontier variant of the scenario proposed by General Sir Hackett
• Is this just a little police action (albeit with heavy armor)

Join us for the next, Politics and a Pint, sponsored by the Contented Cow

Legal details (in appropriately tiny font):

What: Politics and a Pint
Where: The Contented Cow
When: 6-7:30PM, 17 Aug 2008

Well we are heading into the 9 September primary with seven (7) candidates for Mayor of Northfield. Who’d have thought there were that many citizens ready to rescue us? Politics and a Pint is going to join the rush to judgment by hosting a well orchestrated series of events designed to expose the candidates to the people and the people to the candidates. We plan to have three special sessions on Thursdays before the primary.

• 14th August – meet the candidates. NEW! Change in format! We will be giving each candidate five (5) minutes at the microphone to introduce themselves, then they will step into the audience for one-on-one (or one-on-many) talks.  We will also be collecting questions from the audience (and the candidates, for that matter) that we will consolidate for the 21st.
• 21st August — meet the people. Using the basic questions as supplemented by our experts we will let each candidate talk for a limited time on the questions.  Each candidate will get to speak a total of 12 minutes, they can choose which questions to answer and how much time to use.  We provide the timer and the gong (well, maybe a guitar). They provide the insights.
• 28th August — meet the people, part 2. The same drill as 21st, but now for the 3rd Ward and the at-large council positions.

We hope you’ll join us at these special edition, Thursday Night, 6-8PM, Politics and a Pint!

We will continue some talking on local issues, and I have been promised a speaker by the ArtSwirl group (hence the use of their logo), said speaker to talk about the impact of an active arts community on the health of a community.  The ArtSwirl folks have promised a lively discussion, so, hope to see you this Sunday, at Politics and a Pint.

Legal details (in appropriately tiny font):

What: Politics and a Pint
Where: The Contented Cow
When: 6-7:30PM, 10 Aug 2008
References:

• ArtSwirl
• Previous discussion …

Every Sunday

• Politics & a Pint 6pm
• Northern Roots Traditional Folk Music Session  7:30pm

Every Tuesday

· Blue Grass & Old Time Traditional Music Jam

ON OUR STAGE

Thursday, Aug. 14 MEET & GREET CANDIDATES 6pm-8pm

Thursday, Aug. 21 MAYORAL CANDIDATE FORUM

Thursday, Aug. 28 CANDIDATES 3rd WARD & AT LARGE FORUM

Although your MC (Bruce) will not be at Politics and a Pint this week (duty calls, I will be at a conference in Denver), I’m sure that the conversation will be lively and with all the local news, very interesting. Soldier on, and I’ll see you all next week (10th). Cheers!

- Bruce

The Arts…. does having a large artistic community add to the bottom line? How does an active arts community aid the economic vitality of a community? The Northfield/Dundas area has several interesting arts-based businesses and community events going on at any one time, and we will discuss the multiplier effect and how to think about art as an engine for economic sustainability of our small town(s). Cohosted by ArtSwirl.

At the 10th August Politics and a Pint!