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Tuesday, July 19
John Drury: Random Views From A Community Activist
by
John Drury
on Tue 19 Jul 2005 09:08 PM CDT
 Random Views From A Community Activist
by 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.
Odds 'n' Ends
by
Chad Thompson
on Tue 19 Jul 2005 01:33 PM CDT
 Odds 'n' Ends
Today
seems to be one of those days where the news outlets are focused on
all-Karl-Rove-all-the-time, and some little things have flown past the
radar. Here are a few things that caught my eye.
Turning Over The Soil
The Des Moines Register ran an interesting special report Sunday on the coming property shifts
bound to happen in Iowa as a large generation of small farmers begins
to pass from the scene. It's a rather amazing fact that about
half of the state's farmland is owned by those 65 and older with a
quarter being held by those 74 and over.
The
issues of "local control" will haunt us if land begins to shift from
small farmers to corporate farmers and out-of-state interests.
How do we magically expect farm operations to be "good neighbors" when
the owners live in Chicago or Minneapolis?
KA-BOOM!!:
For a little fun, the Register is hosting a video
(Streamed QuickTime) of this morning's implosion of Knapp and Storm
halls on the Iowa State Campus. It's amazing how big a crowd can
be on a Tuesday morning.
Lose Weight: Drink More Milk? (Or Not?)
A
physician's advocacy group filed a lawsuit against three main dairy
advocacy groups to stop them from running an ad campaign promoting the
incredible fat-burning properties of milk consumption.
Not surprising:
PCRM
said the dairy industry’s weight-loss campaign is based solely on two
small-scale studies using questionable methodology, led by Michael
Zemel, Ph.D., an industry-funded researcher at the University of Tennessee.
Since 1998, Zemel has accepted nearly $1.7 million in research grants
from the National Dairy Council (NDC), and $275,000 from General Mills.
Gee -
who could doubt those studies? Look - there are valid reasons to
promote milk and dairy consumption, but paying someone to conduct
faulty studies to support a pre-supported conclusion is not one of
them. (Not surprising - the writers at the Coalition to Support Iowa's [Corporate] Farmers took offense at someone questioning the honesty of an ad campaign.)
Ethanol - A "Corn Dog"
A group of Cornell researchers pointed out that ethanol is not a magic solution to America's energy problem:
[E]thanol boosters are ignoring some unpleasant facts:
Ethanol
won't significantly reduce our oil imports; adding more ethanol to our
gas tanks adds further complexity to our motor-fuel supply chain, which
will lead to further price hikes at the pump; and, most important (and
most astonishing), it may take more energy to produce a gallon of
ethanol than it actually contains.
The
important thing to keep in mind: they're right. It takes
energy to produce the crops and process the outputs into ethanol (or
other biofuels). It sure won't help America's energy problem if
we have to burn more oil in tractors, pesticides, fertilizers and
processing plants.
Ethanol
has to be a part of a larger energy supply chain - taking into account
solar, wind and other renewable sources. (How about powering
ethanol production with wind farms?)
IBLTV Meets with Congressman Jim Leach
by
Trish Nelson
on Tue 19 Jul 2005 05:00 AM CDT
 IBLTV (Iowans for Better Local TV) Meets with Congressman Jim Leach
On
Monday, July 18, at the Iowa City Public Library, Congressman Jim Leach met with
several members of Iowans for Better Local TV (IBLTV) and other citizens concerned about the current
state of the media. The meeting was open to the public.
Special
guest was Nick Johnson, former FCC Commissioner and Professor at the
University of Iowa College of Law. Professor Johnson gave a brief
presentation outlining the past decades of FCC deregulation.
IBLTV members also gave presentations:
Charlie Miller presented data on the local impact of media consolidation and deregulation.
Arron Wings discussed pending legislation.
Mr. Leach had time for some remarks, then there was Q & A at the end.
IBLTV member Joe Barrash moderated the meeting.
Mr. Leach accepted IBLTV’s invitation to participate in a media forum at a later date.
Click here to
join
“Working to bring civility and public service back to broadcasting”
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