Are you fed up with all the negative campaign commercials? Our local paper in Columbus, The Dispatch, analyzes ads for accuracy and prints the results. All the commercials I’ve read about included lies and half-truths.

Most candidates have a hard enough time telling the truth about themselves. How can they possibly get the facts straight about an opponent they never met?

Have you got your Halloween costume yet? There are quite a few restrictions this year. You can go as “President Obama” but not as “Al Jolson.” A girl can dress up as “Snow White,” but any “Prince Charming” had better not try to kiss her if she’s asleep. If you go as a Holstein cow, you had better hope there’s no one at the party from PETA.

You could go as “Elizabeth Warren” but, by golly, don’t make her look like a Cherokee Princess. Of course, that’s just me and the Cherokee Nation. No one except another Indian would understand why we would be upset.

I’m heading to Arkansas and Oklahoma this week. They’ve got an Arkansas State University at Mountain Home in the Ozark Mountains and I’ll be there Thursday evening. They call it a “Gaston Lecture” but I’ll be doing a whole lot more entertaining than lecturing.

Then on to Oklahoma (Friday to Sunday) to celebrate a birthday at Claremore. Yes, it’s #139 for Will Rogers on November 4. They put up a huge “HOLLYWOOD” sign on the hill at the Museum to celebrate 100 years as a movie star. To be accurate, “my” first movie, in 1918, was filmed in Ft. Lee, New Jersey, but putting up those letters would confuse everyone, except maybe Thomas Edison.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“If you want to visit the most beautiful country in the United States, don’t overlook these Ozark Mountains. This is where I grabbed off my only wife [Betty Blake]. So you will pardon me for bragging on Arkansas.”  DT #178, Feb. 22, 1927

“Come pretty near having two holidays of equal importance in the same week: Halloween and Election, and of the two, Election provides the most fun. On Halloween they put pumpkins on their heads, and on Election they don’t have to.” DT #1334, Nov. 2, 1930

“If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics” WA # 31, July 15, 1923