The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee Post • September 27, 2013 AREA BRIEFS St. Florian Parish sets Oct. 4 fish fry MILWAUKEE – St. Florian Parish will hold an allyou-can-eat fish fry from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 4. The cost is $10 and $7 for children under 10. The meal includes salad bar and homemade clam chowder, beer batter fried or baked cod, chicken tenders, parsley buttered potatoes, french fries, rye bread, dessert, coffee and milk. Beer, wine and soda are sold separately Take-outs are available. . St. Florian Parish is located at 1215 S. 45th St., West Milwaukee. For more information, call 414-383-3565 or visit www.stflorian.org. Christ Church UCC to hold Oktoberfest MILWAUKEE – Christ Church UCC will hold its first-ever Oktoberfest from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 5. The event's food features a German sausage platter and a wiener schnitzel platter for $10 each, snack plates and desserts for $2 apiece, German and domestic beers and German riesling wine for $4 each, with proof of age required, and coffee and soda for $1 each. At 7 p.m., the German dance group D.A.N.K. will perform. Additionally, there will be live and digital Oktoberfest music and dance for all ages. The event is free to all attendees. Proceeds go to the Christ Church general fund. Christ Church is located at 915 E. Oklahoma Ave. Call 414-481-3530 for details. Area churches set 'Blessing of the Animals' services MILWAUKEE – First Lutheran Church, 7400 W. Lapham Ave., will hold an outside service called "Blessing of the Animals" at 10 a.m. Oct. 5, and Nativity Lutheran, 6905 W. Blue Mound Road, Wauwatosa, will hold its service at noon on the same day Attendees are encouraged to bring a leashed pet or . a picture of their pet. Kelly Center sets events during October MILWAUKEE – The Kelly Senior Center, 6100 S. Lake Drive, Cudahy, has announced three events. Tai chi classes will be held at 9:30 a.m. for five Wednesdays in October at a cost of $25 for five lessons. An open house, flu shots and resource fair runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 4. An event called "Discover the Magic of the Night Sky – Stargazing" will be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 9. The cost is $4. For more information on the upcoming events, call 481-9611. OPINION Say, brother, can you spare a lie? Patrick runs into his buddy, Michael, on O'Connell Street in Dublin one afternoon and cries out, "Michael, me boy, I had heard you died!" "Be gone with your nonsense," Michael says, laughing. "As you can see, I am very much alive." "Impossible," says Patrick. "The fellow who told me is much more reliable than you." Despite convincing evidence to the contrary, in communications of any kind, the position of authority or standing is frequently the authority other people accept. That's often the case in political campaigns and that's what is going on with the campaign regarding the opposition to the expansion of Indian gaming to the Kenosha area. People in southeastern Wisconsin are currently being bombarded through media procured by vested, competitive gaming interests who oppose the creation of an $800 million casino in Kenosha. Those opposing gaming interests launched a grossly deceptive and dishonest campaign that plays fast and loose with facts. The TV campaign has very responsible-looking actors that represent an ethnically diverse cross section of people; people who look just like us. The presentation of the information is more out of sorrow and concern as these actors tell us, the viewers, that our economy will be decimated if one more casino is built in Wisconsin. We'll lose jobs; tax revenue will decline, blah blah, blah, blah. There isn't an economist in the world that would buy into this copious outpouring of "cooked numbers" advancing manipulative falsehoods. Our stripling Governor Scott Walker is currently testing the presidential waters. Politics is about lists and he's augmenting his outside the state. Meanwhile, after more than a decade of trying, the Menominee Indians got the go-ahead from the federal government to build a casino in Kenosha. The feds, of course, investigated claims that this additional casino would have an adverse impact on other casinos and rejected that contention. The only caveat the feds threw in was that Governor Walker must approve it. This is where the odious part of the story kicks in. Walker said if all the tribes (12) currently running casinos approve the Kenosha casino, he would approve the construction and expansion of the Kenosha site. Our wily governor pulled a Pontius Pilate and washed his hands, at least temporarily, of the casino situation. The governor's directive is the equivalent of telling McDonald's that Burger King and Wendy's must give approval for their store locations and it must be unanimous with each of their stores voting. Starting to get that candy-ass "presidential aspirant" vibe? Perhaps if Walker had spent more time tackling the books at Marquette University he would understand that the arguments against the creation of a Kenosha casino is known as a "false equivalent." It means there is a false conclusion where there is an apparent logical equivalence or one shared trait. It assumes a common characteristic with equivalent properties is analogous. An example is my older brother and I share the same birthday. We were born two years apart but on the same day. Since we are also biologically related, the false equivalent would be that since we share the same birthday and parents, we're the same two guys. It's false logic because we couldn't be more different. So, when someone says to me, "Oh, you're just like your brother," they would be advancing a false equivalency; wrong in their supposition about us. The same is true with the information contained in the ad campaign trying to get Milwaukeeans to oppose the building of the Kenosha casino. Because of the proximity of the proposed TODD ROBERT MURPHY Kenosha casino to Milwaukee's Potawatomi Casino (80 miles round trip to and from Milwaukee) the false equivalency in their ad campaign is the assumption that the shared traits of the two casinos will damage the Milwaukee economy because of proximity and the competition for customers. The differences between Kenosha and Milwaukee are manifest. The opposition also claims Milwaukee will lose 3,000 jobs. That's just laughable and there is no data to support that statement except "cooked" numbers; dubious data bought and paid for by greedy people with an agenda. The feds approved the Kenosha casino after years of research and analysis. The effect on Milwaukee will, at the least, be teeny-weeny and at the worst, tiny. But the state receives a jumbo financial benefit. The Menominee tribe, one of the poorest and largest in the state, is the face of the Kenosha casino. Conversely, the Potawatomi, one of the smallest and richest tribes in the state, is the "secret" face of the opposition. They give a lot of money to one of Governor Walker's favorite benefactors, the Republican Governors Association. And, the wealthy Ho-Chunk tribe is trying to put a gaming facility in Beloit, so, surprise, they oppose the Kenosha expansion, too. In 2014, Walker stands for re-election. When he first ran for office, he promised us he would add 250,000 jobs to our economy. He's close to fulfilling one-third of his promise. Politicians get in trouble when they make promises. They hope we forget, and we always remember. The Kenosha casino will create thousands of jobs. Now he's calling his jobs promise a "goal." How about we call it a pledge? As a high school student, Walker purportedly knew governance was his chosen vocation after he allegedly met President Ronald Reagan. To the Gipper this would be a no-brainer. It will draw revenue from Illinois, and that's payback for those blasted tollbooths. So what's going on with our governor, who's book, "Unintimidated," is a treatise on doing the right thing? In the New Testament, to lose your soul is to lose your life. Jesus Christ said, "For what will profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" In Native American culture there is a broad array of beliefs and wisdom guiding a person's spirituality. They are the earth keepers, the teachers of all that surrounds; "Take what you need from the earth, but nothing more," is a theme common among tribes. Greed is never a welcome trait. Governor Walker knows this. The Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk tribes know this, and the rest of us know this. The fellow who told us that (Jesus Christ) is much more reliable than ... Murph Speak Mise le Meas (Todd Robert Murphy pays attention. You can contact him at toddrobertmurphy@gmail.com.)

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