Random Views From A Community Activistby John Drury
Governors go to the fair
This past weekend, 30 or so Governors from across the country met in Des Moines for their annual conference. Likely 2008 presidential candidate and current Governor Vilsack put on quite a conference according to most reports. The governors were even treated to a mini state fair complete with rides and I’m guessing a corn dog or two. One bit of good news I saw today was that Governor Schwarzenegger of California and Governor Jeb Bush of Florida were not among the attendees. We can only hope this means they aren’t likely to run for President in 2008.
Bush to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court
I saw a little bit of the nightly news tonight and noticed that Bush is set to announce his replacement for Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. He was asked what he thought of a particular judge who is on the short list of nominees and he shot back, “Let me put it this way, when I want you to know who it is, I’ll tell you who it is.” Why does everything have to be such a Texas showdown with this guy?
Gaining new customers
I heard an interesting commentary on Marketplace Morning Report from commentator Adrian Wooldridge, who is a correspondent for The Economist. He looks at how businesses try to gain new customers and applies it to politics. He contrasts Democratic chairman Howard Dean to Ken Mehlman, saying that Howard Dean is focused on blasting Bush and speaks more to his base in an attempt to fire up his "existing customers," if you will. On the other hand, Republican chairman Mehlman is giving daily speeches to “new customers” of the Republican party; in this case, minorities. He comments that this approach is working and that’s why the Republicans are out fundraising Democrats 2 to 1.
The more I look at this blog …
The more I’m impressed with the content. Let’s look back at a few recent posts. Chad Thompson has a post up today about ethanol and the debate on whether it takes more energy to produce ethanol than it’s worth. His post contradicts an earlier post by Molly Regan that states the opposite, an interesting debate no doubt. A debate whose outcome probably depends on who is paying for the study, as Linda points out in her comment.
Last week, Caroline Vernon had a link to a site that pointed out pollution in Iowa and the responsible parties. On Monday, Linda posted a follow up article on Iowa’s pollution. She points out that Woodbury County holds the “honor” of being the Iowa county with the most pollution. Oddly enough, she was thinking about moving to Woodbury County and decided to check them out. Linda, I think we all want to know, are you still thinking about moving there?
And we can always count on Trish Nelson to go after the facts on the issues. She has an ability to analyze the spin and read between the lines of the propaganda being shoved on America.
I guess my point is that there are some very dedicated people that contribute to this blog and we should all send a thank you to Linda for being the driving force behind it. Her dedication to this never ceases to amaze me.
